網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

BE it remembered, that on the sixth day of May, A.D. 1816, in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY, of the said district, has deposited in this office the Title of a Book, the right whereof she claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"Records of the Life of the Rev. JOHN MURRAY; late minister of the Reconciliation, and senior pastor of the Universalists, congregated in Boston. Written by himself. The records contain Anecdotes of the writer's infancy, and are extended to some years after the commencement of his public labours in America. To which is added a brief Continuation, to the closing scene. By a Friend.

To Christian Friends this Volume makes appeal;

FRIENDS are indulgent....CHRISTIAN FRIENDS CAN feel.

[ocr errors]

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for the Encouragement of learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the Act, entitled "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the time therein mentioned," and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other Prints."

[blocks in formation]

THE pages, which compose the Volume now

presented to the public, were originally designed only for the eye of a tender and beloved friend.

They were written at the earnest request of one, to whom the Author was endeared by many years of intimate friendship, and still more by those divine and soul-soothing tenets, of which it was his distinguished lot to be ORDAINED the Promulgator.

For those who, like this individual, have dwelt with rapture upon the blessed assurance of the boundless and enduring love of a redeeming God, as powerfully exhibited by those lips which rarely opened but to expatiate upon the glad tidings which was the theme of the angelic song : For those, who loved the philanthropic, the inspired Preacher, for the sake of the glorious inspiration; these sheets will possess the strongest, and most important interest : To such, and to such only, they are addressed. It is in compliance with their solicitations that they are sent into the world, and it is not even expected that those who turned a deaf ear to his consolatory message, and who knew not the powers of his mighty mind, or the pure, and exalted benevolence of his heart, will have any interest in inquiring, "What manner of man was he who told these things, nor what spirit he was of ?"

BOSTON, MAY 2, 1816.

LIFE

OF

REV. JOHN MURRAY.

CHAPTER I.

Containing an Account of the Author's Birth and Parentage, until the
Decease of his Father.

How sweetly roll'd over the morning of life,
How free from vexation, from sorrow and strife;
Kind Nature presented rich scenes to my view,
And every scene she presented was new.

But soon was the morning of life clouded o'er,
And its charming serenity lost;

Too soon was I forc'd to abandon the shore,

And on ocean's rude billows be tost.

OUR earnest solicitations, my inestimable, my best friend, have,

YOUR

with me, the force of commands, and consequently I am irresistibly impelled to retrace for your gratification, as many of the incidents of early life, as live in my memory. Assured of your indulgence, I unhesitatingly commit to your candour, and to your discretion, the following sheets.

I am induced to regret, that my anecdotes of this charming season are not more multiplied. Were my recollection perfect, my enjoyments would be reiterated, but this would not be right, therefore it is not so; every season has its enjoyments, and the God of Nature has thought proper to keep them distinct, and appropriate.

I think, if I mistake not, I was ushered into this state of being on the 10th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1741, four years before the rebellion, in Scotland, of forty-five. I mention this circumstance, as it proved to me, in early life, a source of some vexation. The rebellion terminated in the destruction of many of the Scotch nobility of my name, and this same rebellion was long the subject of political con

B

"

troversy, which generally finished in the execration of the Scots, and, on account of my name, I was looked upon as a party concerned.

I drew my first breath in the island of Great Britain, in the town of Alton, in Hampshire. This town boasts a Church, a Presbyterian and a Quaker meeting-house; a celebrated free school, an extensive and very useful manufacture, and it is environed by a plantation of hops. Alton is seated on the River Wey, 18 miles east-north-east of SouthHampton, and 48 miles west-south-west of London.

Being the first born of my parents, it is not wonderful that my appearance gave much joy, nor that the little complaints, incident to infancy, gave great apprehension. It was in consequence of some little indisposition, that they solicited and obtained for me private baptism. My parents were both sincerely religious, though members of different sects. My father was an Episcopalian, my mother a Presbyterian, yet Religion never disturbed the harmony of the family. My mother believed, as most good women then believed, that husbands ought to have the direction, especially in concerns of such vast importance, as to involve the future well being of their children, and of course it was agreed, that I should receive from the hands of an Episcopalian minister, the rite of private baptism; and as this ordinance, in this private manner, is not administered, except the infant is supposed in danger of going out of the world in an unregenerate state, before it can be brought to the church, I take for granted I was, by my apprehensive parents, believed in imminent danger; yet, through succeeding years, I seemed almost exempt from the casualties of childhood. I am told that my parents, and grand parents, had much joy in me, that I never broke their rest nor disturbed their repose not even in weaning, that I was a healthy, goodhumoured child, of a ruddy complexion, and that the equality of my disposition became proverbial. I found the use of my feet before I had completed my first year, but the gift of utterance was still postponed. I was hardly two years old, when I had a sister born; this sister was presented at the baptismal font, and, according to the custom in our Church, I was carried to be received, that is, all who are privately baptized, must, if they live, be publicly received in the congregation. The priest took me in his arms, and having prayed, according to the form made use of on such occasions, I articulated, with an audible voice, AMEN. The congregation were astonished, and I have frequently heard my parents say, this was the first word I ever uttered, and that a long time elapsed, before I could distinctly articulate any other. Indulged,

« 上一頁繼續 »