1832.] of a large circle of attached friends, both lay and clerical, who have long looked up to him as he looked up to his departed predecessor for counsel and guidance, desiring to follow him as he and his revered friend followed their all-perfect and Divine Exemplar. If we are to speak of theological schools, where there ought to be but one school, that of Christ, we should say that Mr. Tandey was of the school of his venerable father in the faith, Mr. Romaine: and Mr. Biddulph, in the third generation, has in this discourse proved himself a proficient in that which was the favourite theme and strain of both these divines, as it was of Prophets and Apostles,-the love, the power, the grace, the inexhaustible fulness of Christ. His text is," Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" and he expatiates upon it with a freshness and ardour which seem never to tire while contemplating the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of the love of God in Christ Jesus, and joining by anticipation in the never ceasing anthem of eternity, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' Such a biographer was befitting for a friend whose affections were so remarkably centered upon this absorbing theme of Christian contemplation, and who in a peculiar manner had by the grace of God determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. We are not unaware of the branchings out of which this fundamental doctrine is susceptible, and which it necessarily requires in the discharge of the Christian ministry, into all the details of faith and practice; but if some holy men on the one hand have been so jealous of turning the eye from Christ to any inferior object, as practically to narrow the range of important scriptural topics, there are those on the other, including some clergymen of real piety, who fall into an opposite system of preaching; orthodox indeed, and sincerely intended to bring glory to God, and to win souls to Christ, but defective in the warmth and unction which can flow alone from the direct and vivid beams of the Sun of Righteousness. To such, in particular, a brief record of the life of Mr. Tandey will be peculiarly instructive. They will find exemplified in it much of that faith, and hope, and peace in believing which are the exalted privileges of the disciple of Christ; they will discern one on whose heart was inscribed as a motto, the blessed declaration which Mr. Biddulph has selected for his text, and will feel urged to cling amidst the shifting sands of the desert, the storms of a tempestuous world, and the assaults of a powerful enemy, to that Rock of ages which is a secure shelter and an impregnable fortress. Amidst the shadows which flit around them, faith will grasp things unseen and eternal, cleaving We now proceed to the narrative, giving it chiefly in the words of Mr. Biddulph, and referring the reader for additional particulars to the publication itself. Addressing the parishioners of St. Werburgh's, Bristol, Mr. Biddulph says: "The Rev. William Tandey, your late pastor, and my long esteemed and venerated father in the ministry, was born in the year 1750. Of his early years I have been able to obtain only a very meagre account. He was always backward to speak of himself. He had a higher and holier theme, a richer subject, for his own meditations, and for his conversations with his friends. But from what he once said to a friend who repeated the conversation to me, he appears to have been a partaker of the grace of God from his earliest years. He stated that when a child, in the first school to which he was sent, his heart was so engaged in prayer while sitting at his desk, that he was for some time unconscious of what was addressed to him by the boy who sat next to him. He was from his earliest years an invalid in body, owing to a malformation about his chest. He once observed to me, referring to his enfeebled constitution, that if he had not been sent to Brislington in I have never his childhood, he should not, in all probability, have been then alive. At the heard where or from whom he received the rudiments of his education. proper age he entered at St. Edmund Hall, in Oxford. In the year 1773 he was ordained a deacon by the celebrated Bishop Newton, author of the well known Dissertations on the Prophecies, who died in 1782; and in 1774 he was ordained a priest by the then Bishop of Bath and Wells. Little did either of these Right Reverend fathers of the church anticipate, when they laid their hands successively on the stripling's head, the blessings which they were thereby the means of conveying to the Church of Christ: little did they think, when the book of the Gospel was delivered into the candidate's hands, of the important use which he who received it would make of that book: little did they know of the many sons that would be brought to glory through the instrumentality of the chosen vessel who was then kneeling at the altar of his God, and receiving his commission to preach the glad tidings of salvation to a lost world." Mr. Biddulph traces Mr. Tandey through several clerical appointments, in which God was pleased greatly to bless his ministrations, to his settlement as rector of St. Werburgh's, in 1799. He says that he had the privilege of labouring with him for many years as his assistant, especially during the long periods in which Mr. Tandey was unable to officiate on account of ill health; and with much humility and Christian feeling, he adds, " For nine years and a half, it was my privilege to enjoy the public and private instructions of my excellent and venerable friend. I look back, I hope, with thankfulness, on this important period of my life. But my thankfulness is mixed with keen regret. The providence of God placed me in a school of instruction for the work of the ministry fraught with peculiar advantages, in which I might have derived to myself far greater profit than I did. But whatever qualification for the arduous work I have, I ascribe, under God, to my connexion with my venerated friend as the channel through which it has flowed. I cannot help exclaiming, O that I had drunk more into his spirit, and had obtained a deeper insight into those precious and momentous truths, which his public ministrations, private conversations, and daily pattern, uniformly brought before me.' Mr. Tandey lived in habits of intimacy for many years with Mr. Romaine; and the character of their intercourse may be learned from the following specimen of Mr. Romaine's letters: "My dear Mr. Tandey,-I heard a dying friend of mine exhorting a minister who came to see him- Preach Christ, sir; preach Christ. You cannot preach too much, nor exalt Him any way equal to what He is; for his name alone is excellent, and his praise above heaven and earth.' I thank God that you do preach Him, and I pray God you may do it better every day. How unfit were you once! Remember to use the strength He gives. Neglect no opportunity. He can soon lay you by again. Therefore exert your self in magnifying Him; and doubt not that He will give you both strength and success, as will be most for His own glory, and for your good. Take me for an example. Consider my years. What a miracle of His love! Yesterday morning I was able to preach and assist at the sacrament, and in the afternoon to read prayers and preach again, to very crowded congregations. This morning I am quite well, and fit to go to my delightful work again. Blessings on that dear, dear Jesus, who loadeth me with seventy years' mercies, and has said to me by the mouth of His holy prophet (and I believe him), Isaiah xlvi. 3, 4. Mr. Tandey, trust Him, and be not afraid. Look at Him. Read what he promises, and give him full credit. He will be better to you than you can even think. The bearer of this will inform you of the state of our friends here, so as to make you thankful for them. Mrs. R. wishes to be remembered in your prayers, as does "W. R. "Southampton, Oct. 17, 1785." Mr. Tandey did not long minister in the pulpit of St. Werburgh, being permanently laid aside by illness in the year 1803. The first Sermon which he preached as rector, was from Rom. x. 1: "Brethren, my heart's desire, and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." This expressed the fervent prayer of his soul in regard to all those with whom he had formed a new relation. He closed his ministry on the 2d of January, 1803, with a subject very appropriate, though little suspecting it to be the termination of his public testimony to the truths of God. "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and I have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."—" What were the fruits of his short ministrations in this pulpit," says Mr. Biddulph, “I know not; but I cannot doubt that the glory of his Saviour was made known, and some precious souls made savingly acquainted with it; and that the songs of angels were swelled by the repentance of awakened sinners, here as well as at the other scenes of his important labours." Mr. Biddulph sums up as follows, the character of his public ministry:-" Few of those who are now around me can remember his powerful addresses to the hearts of his hearers. Thirty years bave elapsed since his lips were providentially closed; and thirty years form a period within which a generation of our species disappears from the stage of life. Those, however, and there are some, survivors who remember his sermons, will bear me cut in asserting that there was something in them that was peculiar to my venerable friend. The solemnity of his manner bespoke a man that was deeply in earnest; and the richness and sweetness of his thoughts and language were, to my mind, such as I have never met with in any other preacher. He was too much occupied by the responsibility of his high office, and with the grandeur and importance of his subject, he was too much absorbed in his own awful responsibility to glorify his Saviour, and to seek the salvation of immortal souls, to admit of the littlenesses which arise from a spirit of self-exaltation in his mode of communicating the gospel of the grace of God.' which his frequent and long seasons of bodily indisposition afforded him such favourable opportunities, produced a deep acquaintance with the depravity of human nature, as radical, universal, and extending to all the faculties of soul and body. Though he was preserved from his youth, from the corruptions which are in the world' through the evil coneupiscence of fallen nature, yet I never met with any man who entered so deeply as he did into the utter sinfulness and helplessness of the fallen heart. On these points he continually expatiated, both in public and private, with a deep feeling, discovered by his words and looks, of the awful and melancholy truths he uttered. These views rendered his preaching of a very awakening nature, while he led his hearers into the successive chambers of imagery' in their own hearts. "Mr. Tandey's sentiments coincided with those which have been usually designated as the doctrines of grace.' Should it be asked what those sentiments are, I refer the inquirer to the doctrinal Articles of the Church of England, as exhibiting them clearly and fully, though in a condensed form. These were subscribed by him in their literal and grammatical import, without addition or subtraction. But, while he conscientiously adhered for his own comfort to these doctrines, and proclaimed them to others, they were, as maintained and published by him, experimental and practical truths. They were built on personal experience, and formed by a practical acquaintance with his own heart. He was no theorist in the awful doctrines of his Bible. He regarded them as food for the heart, and not merely as theses for argumentation, of which different opinions might be admitted without injury arising from error. "But it was in speaking on the subHe dreaded the mixture of the smallest ject of our text that he chiefly excelled. drop of poison with the elixir of life. The experimental acquaintance he had His tenets were not like an excrescence with the depth and extent of the Fall, from the natural body, which, though led him to explore the Divinely appointed arising out of it, is unconnected with its means of recovery through all their wide vital functions; but they were the cir- results. The Godhead of Christ,-the culating fluid which, prevading every part love of Christ, the all-sufficiency of His of the spiritual system, conveys life, and atonement,-justification by faith in His vigour, and health, to the whole. They righteousness,―sanctification by the omwere not, in his estimation, like a branch which might be lopped off from the tree without injuring the root; but they were the sap which, raised by the influence of the Spirit of Grace, is the cause of verdure and fruit. A crude statement of uninfluential doctrine never dropped from the preacher's lips; and it was this experimental mode of stating doctrinal truth, which gave to his sermons the peculiarity and energy which they eminently possessed. nipotence of His Spirit, the blessedness of communion with Him in His church on earth, and the prospect of future glory with Him in heaven; these were his favourite themes on which his heart dwelt with delight, and on which his tongue expatiated with an eloquence that enjoyment only can dictate. "He often addressed the afflicted believer, well knowing that the path of affliction is generally and wisely appointed for the children of God by their heavenly Father. On such occasions he would remind them that it is a privilege to follow the Man of Sorrows in the path in which he trod. That the present life affords the only opportunity for glorifying Him, by having fellowship with him in his sufferings,' that this honour had never been vouchsafed to angels, but is confined to the tried and tempted disciple of the crucified Jesus during his abode on earth, and that the period of its duration would soon come to an end." "He carried no other document with him into the pulpit than his Bible, from the time that I became his hearer; and I have found no sermons among his papers. But, though his mode of preaching was what is called extemporaneous, his discourses were carefully studied. His Saturdays were conscientiously reserved to himself for this important pur pose. Though free from the trammels of system, his pulpit exercises were well digested. He has left behind him a large number of sketches; but they consist Such was his public ministry. Of his chiefly of single words, which, though hours of social intercourse Mr. Biddulph understood by himself, will not admit says, "Mr. Tandey's conversations were of being filled up by another hand. His short sermons on his favourite topics. mind was well stored with useful informa- He possessed a peculiar facility in introtion; and it appears by extracts which ducing them without any degree of awkhe made from the authors he read, that in wardness, and when introduced he purhis early years, notwithstanding the fre- sued them so as to leave no inclination in quency of his public preaching, his pro- his friends to offer any interruption till fessional reading was not inconsiderable. he himself paused. The tenor of his But in his later years, he became homo private intercourse with his friends corunius libri, and read little besides his responded with that of his public disBible. courses its uniform tendency was the prostration of the sinner in the dust at the "The study of his own heart, for Saviour's feet, a recommendation of the Saviour's love to the sinner's heart, and the exaltation of his name above every name that is named. From the depths of the valley of self-humiliation, he directed the eyes of his visitors to Mount Calvary, and pointed out to them the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He left to fallen man nothing wherein to trust,-nothing whereof to glory in himself: He left to the believer in Jesus nothing to wish for that he might not find and freely enjoy in Him. In short, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever,' was His theme, his inspiration, and his On the cover of the MS. book in which he has recorded his St. Werburgh's texts, he has inscribed the habitual sentiment of his own soul, Worthy is the Lamb.' Mr. Biddulph subjoins the following remarks, which are of great importance, not only from their intrinsic value, but as correcting some mistaken views which are productive of great spiritual injury to those who entertain them. "It is not to be inferred from the foregoing account of Mr. Tandey's walk with God, nor from the selection which has been made from his letters, that he was a stranger to hesitation, solicitude, and depression, respecting the safety of his soul, and his hope of eternal life. Such an exemption seems to be inconsistent with a state of warfare,' the good fight of faith.' It may be claimed by persons who are sleeping the sleep of spiritual insensibility. It may be expected by those who have just entered on the Christian life. But all those who are veterans in the service, and have fought the good fight,' have maintained a struggle not only from temptation from without, but also with unbelief within the fortress of the heart. Mr. Tandey's intimate friends, to whom he opened his mind freely, were made acquainted with conflicts which his ordinary acquaintances little suspected to have any place in his soul. His deep sense of innate depravity caused him, not only to 'groan being burdened,' but to question his interest in the great salvation, and his hope of future happiness. It seems to have been, in such a period of trial, communicated to his friend, the venerable Mr. Romaine, that the latter addressed to him the following letter. This letter proves that Mr. Romaine did not set aside evidence of a state of grace, as unnecessary to the enjoyment of it in the heart. "To the Rev. Wm. Tandey. "Dear Sir, Jan. 27, 1784. "I observe your complaints. I should tremble for you, were you delivered from them. The sight and sense of that of which you complain, are from God. The application is not from Him. You feel sin: that is right; but it should lead you to Jesus. You feel remaining sin: still His blood has almighty virtue to pardon. and to subdue. Your duties do not please yourself. I am glad of it. Woe be to you when you take any delight in your own doings. But you pray so badly. The best prayer that ever was made, was made by him who had the least dependance on it. Much perfume from the Mediator must make acceptable your person, and ALL your duties. My dear sir, you must be content to be what you feel yourself to be, a poor sinner saved by Jesus-a helpless creature saved by the arm of Jesus-and one who, without Christ, can do nothing, presenting himself and his duties for acceptance in the Beloved. I have often heard you with delight, not to yourself, but to me, give real evidence of the truth of Grace, and also of the power of it. Much I have to say, and if you provoke me, may say it, against Mr. Tandey, and for Jesus Christ. But I now conclude. Pray for "WILLIAM ROMAINE." Mr. Biddulph has said too little of Mr. Tandey's latter days, and of the instructions and consolations which we doubt not were to be gathered from visiting his couch of affliction, during nearly thirty years of retirement and trial. The defect is however partly supplied by extracts from his letters, including the last which he ever wrote, and which we copy as being peculiarly seasonable at the present moment. The venerable writer it will be remembered was in his eighty-second year. To H. D., Esq. "My dear sir, " "1, Richmond Hill, Bristol, Jan. 26, 1832. Many thanks to you for your kind help in this scene of difficulty and trial. The rod appears to be shaken over the land, and public affairs have a serious aspect. May your heart and mine be laid up in the Saviour's bosom ; and may our souls pro fit and prosper. God has an object in view when He permits alarming events to awaken attention; may the end be answered. May the Holy Spirit lead you and me to Christ, fix our faith on His hands and His side; and convince us that those wounds were made to heal our souls. "Union to Christ and fellowship with Him are sweet and heavenly, and make many a bitter sweet, and sweet things sweeter. If we are in trouble, opening the heart to the loving Saviour is the remedy. May your family be of those whom the Lord hath blessed. May your house be a house of prayer, and then a house of praise. With all my heart I say, the Lord be with you, and may you spend a sweet eternity with your God. May your unworthy brother witness it. So prays WM. TANDEY." We cannot refrain from adding another extract from a letter to a parent on the loss of a daughter, who had died in the faith and love of Christ. A minister's scene of trial was not useless, if though he could not issue forth from it into the pulpit fraught with lessons of heavenly wisdom, his pen could yet supply such consolations as the following: "Our sister liveth. She has cast off mortality, and the immortal is now in triumph. Another soul is received into glory. The beloved child is in her Father's bosom. The desire of her heart is granted. Happy soul! Her robe is white, her palm for ever green. Her heart is love, her soul is joy. Hark how sweetly she sings. Her history (how well she tells it!) is a mystery to angels. If lovely while a dying sinner, how truly such is her humble soul, bending with a crown of glory at her Master's feet! If a stone, sculptured by human heart, attracts wonder and admiration, how much more does the spark of immortality glitter, when He who spake the sun into its glory, touches it with perfection. Could the holy soul revisit earth, with what heavenly pathos would she say, 'Brother, the Saviour's heart is love, lean upon it and be happy."" We need add nothing to the preceding sketch, except our earnest prayers, that whatever shades of opinion, or modes and proportions of exhibiting sacred truth may exist among the disciples of the same Divine Master, we and they, may live, and think, and feel, and die, like the venerable man whose portraiture has been so profitably sketched by his surviving friend. If Bristol has lost her Tandey, it is some consolation that she retains her Biddulph: or rather would we say, it is a source of infinite gratitude that He in whose guidance are the ways of his servants, He who is the Wonderful Counsellor to direct the church which he hath purchased with his most precious blood, raises up from time to time men who shine as lights in a dark world, and often renders them instruments of spiritual benefit, even after they are incapacitated for public usefulness, and by their writings to generations yet unborn. How much he has been pleased to bless and honour the beloved and respected individual, whose memoir of a departed friend has furnished these remarks, needs not be told. The powerful and extensive influence which Mr. Biddulph has long enjoyed, has been for many years exerted so simply and zealously for the cause of God and his church, that many will one day rise up and call him blessed. friend was called to exercise the passive graces of years of silence and suffering, while he has been retained in the burden and heat of the day; but, blessed be God, whatever be the varied lot and appointed duties of his servants in this life, all without exception-not for their own worthiness, but their Saviour's merits shall be greeted with the welcome salutation, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." His VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THIS protracted and eventful session of Parliament is drawing towards its close; and already are measures in progress in various parts of the kingdom by rival candidates for obtaining seats in a new house of commons, which, it is fully understood, is to be elected as soon as the machinery appendant to the reform acts is completed. Under these circumstances we cannot perhaps better discharge our duty as Christian observers, in our sketch of the affairs of the month, than by presenting to our readers a few observations upon the solemn obligations which devolve upon those who have a voice in the choice of the national representatives. We should perhaps have delayed our remarks till the dissolution of parliament, had not the commencement of preparations for electioneering rendered it necessary that every man should early decide upon those principles which are to guide him in conscientiously exercising his vote. The subject is the more important at the present moment, on account of the elec toral suffrage being extended to many new places, and to numerous individuals who never before possessed it; and not a few of whom, we are persuaded, will feel the responsibility which it lays upon them, to exercise it for the glory of God, and the best interests of their country and the world. It is probable that some hundreds of our readers may be among this number, and they will not feel displeased that we should thus early invite their attention to the subject. The reform bills for England and Scotland having passed, and that for Ireland being in its concluding stage, it is too late to lose time in arguing their good or evil: they are now the law of the land, and the important question is, How can the benefits held out by them be best attained, and dangerous consequences be prevented? This cannot be effected by religious and conscientious persons, those who are the salt of the earth, keeping aloof in despair or disgust, and resigning the whole management of the national ma |
