Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

MR. NOBLE'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS RECEPTION OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH.*

WHATEVER relates (says the Rev. E. Madeley, in his excellend Discourse at Birmingham on the same occasion) to the early life and religious experience of distinguished men, is always and justly regarded as peculiarly interesting and profitable; and providentially, of Mr. Noble's state of mind, when he was a very young man, he himself has left a record too important to be passed over, and which it would be impossible to present so powerfully us in his own words:

"Though so young," says he, writing of his nineteenth year, “I had been, for two or three years previously, intensely anxious upon the allimportant subject of religion. This anxiety was first awakened by the writings of the notorious Thomas Paine, which, pernicious as they are in themselves, were made to me, by the over-rulings of Divine Mercy, instrumental to the greatest good. I had been brought up in an orderly, but not a particularly religious manner. I had learned, when a child, the Church of England Catechism, and had been accustomed regularly to attend the worship of the Established Church on a Sunday morning; and, except that the only parent who survived my infancy was ever careful in impressing on her children the great principles of moral duty, this formed the whole of my religious education. When I was about the age of sixteen, I was present in a large company, composed chiefly of my relations, in which Paine's Age of Reason, then lately published, was made a subject of conversation, and in which the book was produced, and portions of it were read; I am sorry to say, to the great amusement, and apparent enjoyment, of most of the assembly. The style of that extraordinary combination of arrogance and ignorance (for such it really is) is well calculated to make a strong impression on the young and the uninformed; I can compare the effect of what I heard upon me, to nothing less than the striking of a dagger into my vitals. The agonizing thoughts that took possession of my mind, and kept darting to and fro within me day and night, for the space of three weeks, are indescribable. The most distressing suggestion that was made to me, I well remember, was, that there was no such Being, and never had been, as the Lord Jesus Christ: under which idea I felt, even at that time, though I had never reflected much about Him, as if

Extracted from the Discourse entitled "A Case of Entrance into the New Jerusalem," &c., by the Rev. S. Noble, and printed here from the Rev. E. Madeley's excellent Sermon, preached September 11th, as a funeral discourse on the occasion of Mr. Noble's death.

I could not bear to exist: a more direful sensation accompanied the thought than would be experienced by the untutored savage, to whom the world is every thing, should he awake in darkness with the horrible conviction that the sun had been blotted out of the firmament. I had no one to whom I felt at liberty to speak of what I suffered; and the mere effect of time, and of my own reflections, was to increase, and not to allay, the perturbation of my mind. At length, on awaking one morning to the load of anxiety which always seemed to fall upon me as soon as I returned to consciousness, this inquiry darted into my thoughts: What is the reason that so many are possessed by such a hatred to the Bible?' And the answer occurred as instantaneously:'They wish to get rid of the belief of Revelation, that they may be free from its restraint: they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.' The characters of all those of my acquaintance who were most violent in their hostility to the Word of God, in a moment passed before me; and I saw but too plainly the flaw in them all that they were anxious to conceal, by renouncing the authority that would condemn it. Never since have I seen more clearly the truth of that statement so often made in the doctrines of the New Church,— that evil is the prime root and origin of all false persuasions respecting religion, and especially of all positive enmity against the Word of God. All my anxiety vanished in an instant, and was succeeded by confidence and peace. Not a shadow of doubt respecting the authority of the Scriptures, as being a Revelation from God, ever afterwards entered my mind; and I hope I shall ever be thankful to Divine Mercy for thus awakening me to the importance of the subject, and so completely settling my convictions respecting it. After I had thus become so fully impressed with the truth and importance of the Word of God, I began to grow solicitous about its genuine doctrines, and desirous to acquire some positive assurance respecting the means of salvation which it offers. I began to be dissatisfied with the discourses on common morality, without touching upon any vital principle, or presenting anything either to affect the heart or to enlighten the understanding, which I was accustomed to hear. I betook myself, therefore, to the diligent reading of the Scriptures; and for about two years I never was without a small Bible or Testament in my pocket, which I read as I walked along the streets, and at every other opportunity; and this, I have often thought, laid the foundation, from which I was brought to the assurance I so much desired, as to what the real doctrines of the Scrip

tures are.

"My desire at last to obtain certain knowledge of the truth, and to

be fully satisfied respecting the right way of salvation, grew so intense, as to fill me with constant anxiety. In seeking relief also from above, I began to be much disturbed with doubts as to the proper Object to whom prayer should be directed. I became conscious that my mind wandered from one Divine Being to another; and I sometimes felt exceedingly distressed with the apprehension, that, while I was looking to one, another might take umbrage; so that I well know, by experience, what the effect is, upon truly serious minds, of entertaining an idea of more Divine Persons than one; and that, call them one as they may, a plurality of persons cannot be distinguished in the mind from a plurality of gods. In this state of perplexity it was, that the doctrines of the New Church were sent to my relief. In a remarkable manner, some of the works containing them were brought to my hands; but I had heard some of the common calumnious reports, and began to read with much distrust and prejudice. The first book that I opened was the treatise on Heaven and Hell. I read some pages near the middle; but meeting with some things that greatly contradicted my prejudiced notions, I soon began to treat it with derision, and at length threw it down with contempt. Getting hold, however, of some of the doctrinal works, I speedily became very much interested. I saw, from the beginning, that every doctrine advanced must be the truth and I had imbibed so much of the common erroneous sentiments, as to dread the thought of embracing new ones, lest, erring from the faith, the consequences should be fatal. At length, I heard that there was a place where these doctrines were preached, and I went to hear. Whether what I then heard was more suited to my state of apprehension than what I had read; or whether it be that truth spoken by the living voice has a more powerful influence than truth read in a book, I cannot say; but I went away with a full assurance, that the doctrines advanced as those of the New Jerusalem must be those of the New Jerusalem indeed. I felt perfectly convinced that there could be no danger in venturing my salvation on their truth. I solemnly and devoutly resolved to do so. I dismissed all my former obscure notions of three Divine Persons, and the doctrines which require three distinct divinities for their support, to the winds, I cast my idols to the moles and to the bats and all my anxieties and fears went with them. If I was convinced, on the former occasion, that the Scriptures are assuredly the Word of God, I was now made as thoroughly certain that the doctrines of the New Jerusalem are the genuine doctrines of the Scriptures: and never since, from that hour to this, has a doubt upon that subject been able to obtrude itself upon my mind."

[ocr errors]

:

The period here alluded to was Sunday morning, the third of June, 1798. The Rev. Mr. Proud, formerly of Birmingham, was at that time the popular minister of the New Jerusalem Temple, Cross-street, Hatton-garden, London. The sermon he preached that morning, in the ordinary course of his ministry, was from these words in the 19th Exodus, 4 to 6 :-" Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenants, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." Mr. Noble, accompanied by Mr. Rhodes and his daughter, for the first time entered a New Church place of worship on that occasion, and heard a New Church minister.

Irresistibly impressed with the beauty and truthfulness of the Heavenly Doctrines so ably and zealously advocated by that distinguished preacher, and prepared by a previous severe mental discipline, it appeared to him as if the sermon were preached expressly for them; and the text in the evening was the more appropriate, from Psalm cxvi., 12 to 14:- "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." But let Mr. Noble himself again relate the effect of those services on his mind :

66

"I cannot," says he, "now express my feelings on that happy day so vividly as I did on the first annual return of it, when I wrote some lines, bearing the title of A Celebration of the third of June, 1798," which were printed in the Magazine of the New Church then publishing, called "The Aurora." They began thus:

"Now the bright season Nature smiles to see,
Leads the sweet morn that rose so fair on me.
And I will hail that lovely morn when first
The light divine through each obstruction burst;
Bade Falsehood's powers forego their dire control,
And roused to freedom all my opening soul;
Roused from the doubts that yet its reign withstood,

And bade me own the Truth which lives from Good."

"Then addressing Mr. Proud as the human instrument through whom the convictions went home, and alluding to the chief points of the text as he explained them, I proceeded thus :

"Hail, blest Apostle of the Word revealed!
How did my doubts to thy persuasions yield!
And how my ravish'd heart within me glow'd,
When from thy lips the living waters flowed,

And Wisdom fair, displayed in heavenly light,
Expelled the science of Egyptian night!
I saw, till then, I'd dwelt in Egypt too,
And found deliv'rance open to my view:
I saw on high the eagles' wings displayed,
And hailed the promise of Almighty aid.

'For sure 'tis here,' I said, 'the truths are found,
Which shall transport me from Egyptian ground.
Oh, let me quit the arid land I've trod,
And bear me, bear me to thyself, O God!
Then first I 'woke, and saw the heavenly way
Displayed to those who Jesus' voice obey;
Believed the promise to obedience given,
And hailed the covenant of benignant Heaven.
'O joyful task!' I thought, delightful word!
And shall I not obey thy voice, O Lord?
And shall I not thy holy covenant love,
The blest conjunction I am called to prove?
Receive, receive me to thy kingdom pure
Of chosen priests, in sacred love secure!
Oh, join me, join me to thy Zion's sons,
The holy nation which all evil shuns!'"

"Afterwards, I said

[ocr errors]

"And I will, too, the hallowed eve revere
Whose soothing voice engaged my unstopp'd ear,
When I beheld the cup which love bestows,
The blessed cup in which salvation flows,
And burned, the sole required return to give-

To take the gift, to drink the balm, and live!"

In conclusion, he adds-" Happy shall I be, if any person ever has derived, or ever shall, from any sermons of mine, a quarter of the satisfaction which I experienced that day!"

We have received an excellent Discourse delivered by the Rev. E. Madeley, at Birmingham, September 11th, on the occasion of Mr. Noble's departure into the spiritual world, an extract from which is the above paper; also extracts from a sermon delivered on the same occasion by the Rev. R. Storry, of Dalton. But as these discourses relate similar facts in the biography of Mr. Noble, and contain similar expressions of respect for his life, his talents, and his uses, as those in the discourses by Messrs. Bruce and Smithson, we can here only acknowledge the receipt of such testimonies to the memory of the departed. We also understand that the Rev. W. Woodman, of Kersley, the Rev. J. Cull, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and others, have, in a similar manner, testified their respect to departed worth.—EDITOR.

N. S. No. 166.-VOL. XIV.

3 D

« AnteriorContinuar »