The Life And Ministry Of John Gadsby
Gospel Standard 1893:
The Birth, Early Life, Call By Grace, After Life And Experience, Illness, Last Days, Death, And Funeral Of Mr. John Gadsby
John Gadsby’s Birth
It was the sun which shone on the 19th of November, in the year 1808, which first shone upon me, if, indeed, the sun were visible at all in Manchester on that day, a question exceedingly problematical, as my native town is not proverbial for sunshinings, especially on a November day.
Like the rest of the human race, I was “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin” (Ps. 51:5); or, as the margin reads, warmed in sin. I was brought up, nourished, sustained in sin—in the house of sin. I was the slave of sin, just as those born in Abraham’s house were Abraham’s slaves. (Gen. 14:14; 15:3.) Sin was my master. I ate and drank at his table, and obeyed his commands. I was “under” him (Rom. 3:9); and not under him merely as a hired servant, at liberty to leave his service upon giving due notice to quit, but I was “concluded” under him (Gal. 3:22), under him for ever, unless a Redeemer could be found. I had, by my own “act and deed,” sealed and delivered the conveyance, or compact; and, so far as any power of my own could aid me, had no means of escape from its covenants or their consequences. As with Paul, so with me. I was “sold under sin,” and gave proof that in my flesh dwelt no good thing. (Rom. 3:14-18.) I had sold myself by my iniquities. (Isa. 1:1.) Ahab sold himself to work wickedness, but he could not, like Paul, and as, I trust, I have been enabled to say, in his inner man he delighted in the law of God. I was not only born in sin, and compelled to remain in sin’s service until I be came of age, as it were; but I sold myself to him when I arrived at maturity, and did his work more readily after that than I had done while in my minority. Just as was the case with the Israelites: A man might sell himself into slavery if he pleased; and though at the end of every seventh year he and all the other slaves could, by the law of Moses, claim their liberty, yet if any said they loved their masters, and would not go free, then they were bound to their masters during the term of their natural lives. They were “concluded” under them. Such must, however, be a voluntary act on the part of the slave. And so it was with me. I was Satan’s slave, and loved his service well; so well, that it was my delight to remain with him and obey him in most things; and I should have lived and died in his service had not an almighty arm rescued me.
John Gadsby’s Early Life And Call By Grace
All this time I was tolerably regular in my attendance at a place of worship, and almost everybody thought I was a very steady young man; but my master did not trouble about this. Satan has no objection whatever to his slaves attending church or chapel. He is quite willing, too, that they should be, as I sometimes was, liberal and charitable, and, indeed, sometimes even urges them to be so, as it serves to quiet conscience; but they are slaves—merely whited sepulchres, all the time.
Satan tried hard to make Christ sin; the Jews tried still harder, if possible; but all failed. He knew no sin; he knew none, therefore could not fall into it. No sin was in him. Sin was laid upon him, but it was not in him.
Solomon says there is “a time to be born and a time to die!” Is it not strange that he does not say, “And a time to live?” He might imply that there hardly is a time to live; our lives are so short. Sin made Adam try to hide himself from his Maker, and a consciousness of sin causes us to do the like, until we see that there is forgiveness with God; and then, O how glad we are to throw ourselves upon his mercy! I have heard men speak of “so small a sin ruining the world.” Did Adam think it was a small sin? No, truly, or he would not have hidden himself. But, in truth, no violation of God’s commands can rightly be called a little sin.
There were some things, however, which my master never succeeded in compelling me to do; such as to throw myself into what are called the grosser sins of human nature. And this in later years often filled me with wonder, even after my eyes were opened to see the state I was in as a sinner before God; for never, perhaps, was youth more exposed to temptations or who had more opportunities to fall in with the temptations than I had. But when light shone into my soul, then I understood it all, and was enabled to say, in this as in other respects, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” The most fascinating scenes were often placed before my eyes; the delights of the sins to which I am referring were, not only by Satan, but also by my sinful companions, vividly portrayed; but fearful as were the forces employed against me—persuasions, allurings, jeerings—so far from being drawn or impelled onwards, I more and more recoiled from them; not because I felt that the sins were sins against a holy God—such a thought rarely entered into my head—but because I dreaded the consequences, not only having read of such consequences, but having seen them in some of my companions. O what a black page I could write here! What a mercy that either reading, or seeing, or anything, was made the means by God, in his providence, of restraining me! The singing-club, the card-table, the theatre, betting on horse-races, dancing-booths and the like at fairs, were my delight; while, for the amusement of my companions, I gloried, not only in singing foolish comic songs, but in forging ridiculous lies, and confirming them with the most awful oaths.
Well do I remember, on one occasion, in the singing-gallery of my late dear father’s chapel, using a most awful oath. One of the congregation who stood by corrected me, when I exclaimed, “I’ll be —— if ever I swore in my life!” My face burns while I record the fact. O if the Lord had taken me at my word! Some friend, I never knew who it was, reported the matter to my father, and he was the means of making me feel so ashamed of myself that from that day to this I believe a profane oath has never polluted my lips. Many times afterwards did one quiver on my tongue, but it never escaped; and, I repeat, into the grosser sins, as they are called, of human nature, I was never left to fall. This I write, as though with my dying pen, Aug. 11th, 1876. O the restraining and preventing mercy of God!
At one time I had free admission to the Surrey Theatre, London, and went two or three times a week; now I am kept from having the slightest desire to visit one at all. I have sometimes, when on board steamers, or staying at hotels, been thrown unavoidably into the company of “gentlemen” playing at cards, but have never had any temptation to “take a hand.” And as for betting, I look upon it as persons hoping to defraud each other. There is a good old English maxim, “He that bets and is not sure to win is a fool; and he that bets and is sure to win is a knave.”
If, for some time past, one passage of Scripture has been more than another on my mind, it is this: “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” And again I from my very soul exclaim, “O the restraining and preventing mercy of God!”
I once heard a minister ask this question, “Do you who are older in the divine life feel the plague or evils of your hearts as you did when you were younger?” Alas! alas! How little could he know of his own heart! For I am persuaded that no sooner is a man manifestively rescued by divine grace from the hands of Satan than his old master attacks him with double fury; and the longer he lives the more he feels of his innate vileness. At any rate, if this be not the fact, then I am quite out of the secret; for I confess, to my shame, that I have often felt a stronger desire to do my old master’s fulsome work since I was made free than I ever did while I was under his yoke, though the very thought of doing that work is now most horrifying to my mind. And I am sure I am not alone in this; for the late Mr. Philpot proved the same in his own experience. He says, “I remember when I, who do not even remember to have heard a blasphemy in my youth, much less to have uttered one, heard rushing through my soul an infinite number of curses and blasphemies against the most high God, till I put my hand to my mouth lest they should be uttered, and I cried to God that he would save me from them.”
And what says Job? What says Paul? What says every true Christian?
I have sometimes thought if I had been equally powerfully tempted in my young days I should have fallen under the power of the temptation. But this is limiting the Holy One of Israel. I believe his eye was as much upon me then, as it is now. There was the same restraining power then as there is now, though I was not then sensible of it. Hitherto, with every temptation of the kind referred to, the Lord has made a way for my escape.
Nor is the power of temptation felt only as to the common and grosser sins of human nature; but the enemy will often, too often, alas! inject his poison of a more deadly and hateful nature still. Well do I remember that while on my bed of sickness, in June, 1864, after my return from Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, having been at the latter place attacked with dysentery, &c., I had so fierce a battle with infidelity that I never had the like before: “Now you have been over the whole ground; you have crossed the dreary desert; you have seen the Red Sea; you have three times visited Jerusalem. How could the host of 600,000 Israelites, besides women and children and a mixed multitude, with their cattle, have been supported in that desert? How could they cross the Red Sea? How could Jerusalem have ever been so sublime a place as is described in the Bible?” and so on. I had a sore trial for some hours. At last I was enabled to answer the first proposition as I have recorded it in my “Visit to Sinai,” which answer was the result of and written after my conflict. As to the Red Sea, if no miracle were performed, why is so much said and sung, as in the Psalms, about it? It were worse than a cheat if the people crossed, as our moderns would have us to believe, where it was only knee deep. And as to Jerusalem, I was soon set at rest; for comparatively modern history, as in the time of the Romans, confirms the whole. And, moreover, I may now add that the Palestine Explorations have confirmed it still more.
My mind being set at rest on these points, I was attacked on a yet more vital point: “How do you know there is a God at all?” But it was by no means the first time I had been thus assailed, and my mind set at happy rest. If there be no God, there could be no universe. If there were no great Uncreate, there could have been nothing created. And I was moreover able to give the answer that John Marrant gave to the king of the Cherokees. When asked by the king where God was, as he could not see him—“I feel him,” said John. “And I have felt him in his Law, I have felt him in his threatenings, I have felt him in his judgments; and I trust I have felt him in his Gospel, in his promises, and in his pardoning love and mercy.” Temptations on this point are the most painful of all. The corruptions of our nature, though sorely distressing, we may often be enabled to set aside, as it were, as being revolting to even our ordinary senses; but these, on the being of a God, I have sometimes felt to make me tremble on my very seat. To cast aside such thoughts, I have sometimes taken up the paper, not only to read the news of the day, but to look over the police reports, in hope of meeting with something sensational, or even horrid, or anything which could divert my mind from so harassing a subject. But these carnal means are of no avail. Sometimes I have been delivered by the blessed Spirit bringing to my remembrance the days of old—what I once was, and what I have been now made, and sometimes by melt ing me down with, “Thou shalt remember all the way,” or some other sweet passage of Scripture, applying it to my heart in a way beyond the power of anything and everything human. Now, how is this, I have sometimes thought, that I should be thus tempted now more than I was in my younger days? for the power of temptation seems to increase with my years. And as with me, so with others, as I have said. It is to show us what is in our hearts, as it was with Hezekiah. “God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart;” that is, that Hezekiah might know what was in his heart—in his own heart; not that God might know, for he knew already (John 2:25), but that Hezekiah might know something of his weakness when left to his own heart. See also Deut. 8:2: “To know what was in thy heart”—“that thou mightest know what is in thy heart.” And when we see this, we are in a great measure preserved from self-confidence, and constrained to cry for restraining and withholding grace, feeling that we need divine power to uphold us now as much as in our earlier days. Christ was tempted of the devil, but he did not fall into the temptation. What harm can a flame do if it fall into water? So it was with Christ; but with us it is too often like a flame falling into oil, or a spark into gunpowder. “Lead us not into temptation;” “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation;” that is, lest ye fall in with the temptation. To be tempted is not a sin, but to cherish temptation is. Satan may tempt us not to pray, seeing that sometimes we feel as if it would be a sin to pray, when looking at our own hearts; but the sin is when we listen to the temptation, and cease from crying against it.
Notwithstanding all that I have said, I must add that I never remember the time when I was able to sin without some qualms of conscience; not exactly, as I have said, because I felt I was sinning against God, but because my education had taught me that it was wrong; but I always brushed those qualms aside as an elephant brushes aside the canes which are in his way in a jungle. And even here I see the restraining power of God.
John Gadsby’s Latter Life And Experience
I am not now, nor have I been for some time, in the enjoyment of those almost ecstatic feelings I realized when writing ten years ago. I seem to lack powerful testimonies within. I am not ignorant of the cause. I am persuaded, as I have more than once said, if a child of God, from temporal prosperity, from a sense of natural gifts above others, or from any other cause, becomes lifted up with pride and self-importance, the Lord will send upon him some affliction, or suffer him to fall into some calamity which will cause him to go with broken bones and an aching breast the remainder of his days. Still, I feel something like a ship at anchor outside a port, waiting for the tide to take it in. O those precious words, “There is forgiveness with thee!” How many times they have been the means of my support when cast down through my unbelief and on account of my many failings, internal and external.
We often wonder what Bible saint those persons are like who say they never have a doubt or fear. Nay, we are bound to say they are altogether out of the category of Bible saints, and cannot, boast as they may, know anything of the sweetness of the precious promises and “Fear nots,” when applied to the hearts of the Fearings. We believe, nay, are sure, that even to this day God does sometimes, in his providence, bring things to pass, in answer to his own Spirit-indited prayer, as conspicuously to the satisfaction of his people as the fleece was to Gideon; yet we are equally sure it is wrong always to be looking for visible signs. The Lord can make “the still small voice” in the soul as confirmatory as if he worked an out ward miracle. More than that; we believe a sweetness may be left on the soul which an outward miracle would not produce. We may be different to some others, but we can truly say we never ask the Lord to give us any outward sign. We want his inward voice; and that has many times, in trials, in afflictions, given us a peace and an assurance of deliverance temporally and victory spiritually which we firmly believe were not exceeded in the case of Gideon.
John Gadby’s Illness, Last Days And Death
Mr. John Gadsby, whose decease we announced in a few words on the wrapper of the “Gospel Standard” for November, and whose portrait we have given in the present issue, and who departed this life Oct. 12th, 1893, in the 85th year of his age, was, as is well known, the son of Mr. William Gadsby, who was for many years the minister of the church of Christ in Rochdale Road Chapel, Manchester, and around whose name there still hangs a sweet fragrance. “The memory of the just is blessed.” God greatly honoured him in his ministry; his labours were abundant, and his praise is still in the churches, and for many reasons his name will doubtless be handed down to generations yet to come.
Mr. John Gadsby, who finished his earthly course at Brighton on the above date, was well known as the author of “My Wanderings,” and other works of Biblical and Oriental travel. He was a man of no mean parts and attainments. His life was most interesting and useful, some of his works being of that nature that they will speak for their author in future generations.
When we wrote the notice for the wrapper of the “G. S.” for November, we were not aware of the decision which had been arrived at respecting publishing the funeral ceremony, and the services connected with it, in the “G. M. E.,” and not in the “G. S.” This, however, was thought by Mrs. Gadsby, and those more immediately connected, to be the best way.
We have given extracts from some of the works of Mr. J. Gadsby, as we thought our readers would prefer to read from Mr. Gadsby’s own pen an account of himself, expressed in his own language and in his own style, both before and after grace took possession of his heart, which we must say commends itself much to us, and reads like a true work of God, carrying upon the very face of it the stamp of the Holy Ghost’s gracious and merciful operations. God’s work begun, is carried on and perfected. Our dear friend’s religion was such as “endureth to the end.” He was no changeling. You do not find him in his writings drifting about, first from one thing and then to another. For a number of years together, you will find that his religion and his people were the same, without the slightest change. The old beaten path, and the same truths, held and preached by his dear father, were those which were dear to hint all through life to its close.
His exceeding kindness to the poor of God’s people for a number of years, in such a variety of ways, and that, we believe, for Christ’s sake, is by no means trifling as evidence that he was prompted by no mere love of applause, but as flowing from principles far higher and purer in their nature. We know that he has been accused of being influenced by unworthy motives in the bestowment of his goods; but we believe that nothing could be more unfounded, nor could the accusers know anything really of the person they thus accused. Not many men, perhaps, have received more ingratitude for their kindness than Mr. Gadsby; but nothing of this kind could stay his hand, for it was kept open to the very last, as events will show. We well remember his saying to us, on one occasion, “that, comparatively speaking, he knew but little of trouble till he began to give away his goods as liberally as the Lord had enabled him, and he had had but little peace since;” but this, while it is a fact, is sad to relate. We were reminded of a saying of dear Martin Luther, which we had read some years ago, and with which, when we had repeated, he was much pleased. It was to this effect; Luther, addressing his learned brethren, said, “My dear doctors, we must, by God’s grace, try in every possible way to do all the good we can, and then not expect to be kissed and caressed, but well kicked and clouted.” “Ah!” said our friend, as he smiled: “Yes, yes; that’s it, that’s it.” This may and does seem hard to flesh and blood, but no child of God can get well through a world like this without a few kicks and clouts; but no amount of this sort of thing will be permitted to kick or clout him out of the covenant. This is our mercy. Our dear friend, like every heir of grace, as he came up from the wilderness and passed into the kingdom, entered it “through much tribulation.” The desert is, however, passed, and Canaan, “the glory of all lands,” is well reached, to go no more out. “The wicked cease from troubling, and the weary is at rest”—sweet, sweet rest.
We venture to think that no unprejudiced person could have been present on the occasion of the funeral, and witnessed the scene which presented itself on that day, when the spacious building, Rochdale Road Chapel, was filled by an assembly consisting of many hundreds of God’s dear people, with their ministers, for several miles round, as well as from a greater distance—expressing by their presence and appearance the greatest interest during a service which lasted about two hours—without coming to the conclusion that our deceased friend was held in the highest esteem and affection. Their demeanour was that of loving friends come to witness one who was dear to them, comfortably laid in his last resting place. William Gadsby, of sweet and blessed memory, and his dear son John, rest near together, and will sweetly sleep on till the great morning of the resurrection, when the voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall awake them out of their sleep, shall change their vile bodies, and fashion them like unto the glorious body of Jesus, their Lord, to shine in that likeness for ever and ever.
The church of God has lost one of her oldest pillars, and one of her best supporters. His gifts to the Societies in connection with the “G. S.” alone would make such a sum as few people have little idea of, to say nothing of his kindness to God’s poor people in a variety of ways, which people know nothing whatever about. The recipients only are in the secret.
It is now about sixty years since he first mentioned to his father the idea of bringing out the “Gospel Standard”—a magazine to be issued monthly, and of which his honoured father was the first editor. Its success as to its circulation, and the blessing of God resting upon it, as thousands can testify, and its existence being sustained for so many years, notwithstanding the opposition which such a work must necessarily experience, is abundant proof that the magazine had a divine Originator, and that Mr. John Gadsby and his father were the instruments that God made choice of to bring it into actual being. Mr. Gadsby was favoured to witness its jubilee in London a few years since, when such a gathering of people from all parts of the country were present at the services as was never before witnessed, and as never before in our history took place among our people in any part of the kingdom. And a wonderful day it was, as those who were present could testify—a day of the blessing of God, and in such a gracious measure that they could not conceal it in their looks nor refrain from speaking about it; and to this day they do so. We perfectly remember the appearance of that vast assembly, how like sheep in a good pasture they appeared to be filled with peacefulness and contentment. This was a high day with Mr. Gadsby—yes, and with a host of others. He had previously been doing business in deep waters and under cloudy skies; but the sun shone out again in its full strength, the troubled seas were again calmed, and he saw the prospect of brighter and better days. What Judah said to Joseph about his father’s life being bound up in the lad’s life, will, I am sure, well apply to our departed friend and his dear “Gospel Standard;” the lives and prosperity of the two were so wonderfully entwined that the life of the one seemed indeed to be bound up in the life of the other; and even up to the very last he showed the same earnest and affectionate concern in its welfare.
One thing is quite certain, the cause of God has sustained a great loss—how great, we cannot at present say; but God, who gave to his cause and people so great a gift, has continued him to us for a great number of years, and used him for his own glory and his people’s good, both in his gifts and in his goods. He has been enabled, by God’s grace, to spend himself, to his latest strength, in the interest of those things and of that people and cause that were dearer to him than his life. His own pen, in his own writings, precludes the idea that he thought himself free from infirmities. He was no self-righteous man, but has made wonderful confessions, and laid himself down to the very lowest, and to a much greater extent, we believe, than very many persons have anything like grace enough to do. His confessions of sin and backslidings, written by his own hand, speak clearly enough for the grace which God gave him, and by which alone he was enabled to unbosom himself before both God and man. We are certain that he himself would be quite ready to say to friend and foe, “Copy not my example where it will not bear imitation; and that which you have seen in me that is not consistent with the truth and Spirit of Christ, forgive, but do not imitate.”
Brethren, let us look into our own bosoms, and when we can find nothing to complain of there, then may we commence our complaints of others. If we see ourselves as he many times saw himself, we shall put our hands upon our mouth, and say, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?” Like him, we shall be glad to know and feel the blessedness of the fact in which he himself delighted: “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” If God were strict to mark but one sin among a thousand, where would the best of men be found? To those who are made as sensible of themselves as Mr. Gadsby, the answer is quickly found: Hell, a thousand times over, must be our portion. But God, who is rich in mercy, forgives ten thousand times ten thousand times over, to the praise of the glory of his grace. That which we see in the best of men, which is unlike the great pattern which shines in our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, we may not copy, but shun; while that which we see in others, which is like him in doctrine and practice, may we have grace given us to imitate, and we shall do well. Brethren, pray for us.
We come now to the close. At the commencement of the month of October Mr. Gadsby was taken very much worse; and later on the nature of the disease was such as greatly to reduce his strength and cause alarm. As he lay prostrate and exhausted, his dear wife saw, as she thought, visible signs of much meekness, quietness, and submission in his spirit, and said to him, “I am sure, my dear, that the everlasting arms are underneath you.” He said, with much meaning, “They are! they are!” At another time he said, in a whisper, “Bible, Bible.” His wife understood him to mean “Fetch the Bible,” which she did, and turned to the 46th Psalm, being a favourite of his. She read on to the fourth verse, “There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.” He said, “Yes, yes, a river; that is it—a full river.” And on the following day he said, “Let me see the King in his beauty.” On another occasion he was asked by one of the attendants who waited upon him, “if there had been anything brought to his mind?” He said, “Yes,—
“His love in times past forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review
Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.”
And hence, when the period arrived for God’s dear servant to finish his course, having “fought a good fight, and kept the faith,” he gave up the ghost, being old and full of days, and was gathered unto his fathers. “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”
When I received a card, stating that “Dear father quietly passed away at 7.30 this morning, October 12th,” these words instantly came to my mind: “Absent from the body, present with the Lord;” and “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” I believed it was so. I was glad of the words; they were a comfort to me.
I wrote to dear Mrs. Gadsby, telling her of the portions which I believed the Lord had brought to my mind, hoping that they might be a comfort to her. I pray the Lord to sanctify the great loss which she has been called to experience. I am sure our dear friends, with myself, very deeply appreciate the kindness of God to our late dear friend, in giving to him, in the person of his wife, such a kind and patient friend—so constant, faithful, affectionate, and unwearied in her attention throughout the whole of his affliction. The Lord graciously remember and bless the widow and her fatherless son. Give her to realize the blessedness of God, her Maker, the Lord of Hosts, being her husband. And may the Lord in mercy reveal himself as the God of the fatherless, and let his father’s God be his, and make him as good and useful a man, and as great a blessing to the cause of God as his late dear father.—Amen and Amen.—Ed.
Tributes And Reflections On The Life And Testimony Of John Gadsby
A Grateful And An Affectionate Tribute To The Memory Of The Late Mr. J. Gadsby By An Old And Long-Tried Friend
It is now upwards of fifty years since I first became acquainted with our dear departed friend, Mr. John Gadsby, and which was to me in a way and manner never to be forgotten.
When I first commenced business, in the year 1842, I had only a very small capital to begin with. I then engaged to do certain works for a person, amounting to £150; but as soon as I completed the work my employer failed and was completely insolvent. I then could not see any way of paying my debts. This brought me into great distress of soul, and caused me to be so situated that I could not comfortably attend a place of worship on the Sabbath Day, being so reduced in my circumstances that I had only one threadbare coat to put on. I had not then ever heard the truth fully and clearly preached, as I have done ever since, yet I hope the fear of God was in my heart at the time, having sat under the ministry of a Scotch gentleman a few years previous, who preached in his own hired house at Waterloo, when there was no other place of worship anywhere near. But during my distressed state, as above, I could see no way of escape from my difficulties; I cried mightily to the Lord, that he would appear for me, and send deliverance in some way or other; and, strange to say, during this time my father-in-law had been on a visit to Preston, and brought therefrom a “Gospel Standard” and one of Gadsby’s Hymn Books, which I had never seen or heard of before; and O! how did my thirsty soul drink in the refreshing streams contained therein; and my little room at home, on the Sabbath Day especially, with my little family around me, was a real Bethel indeed! Never had I experienced anything like it before, and, I may say, never to the same extent since, for I was then brought fully into that experience of Berridge’s, when he says,
“I fell into his sea outright,
And lost myself in Jesus quite.”
While I was in this state of experience, a young man that knew nothing of the state of my affairs, came and said to me, “Mr. Knight, I have £100 in my box. Will you take it and make use of it for me?” This I readily accepted in answer to prayer.
I have merely named my own experience to show how specially the Lord had raised him (Mr. Gadsby) up to commence the “Gospel Standard,” which, in after years, was not only made such a blessing to me, but also to many others throughout the land, and which will never be fully known till we join the ransomed throng above, where we now believe our dear departed friend is gone, to sing the everlasting song, “Hallelujah to God and the Lamb.”
I would now mention the special benefit he has been made to the poor of the Lord’s flock. I well recollect, many years ago, how he encouraged his daughter (the late Mrs. Gee) to collect a thousand pounds for the benefit of the poor connected with the “Aged Pilgrims’ Friend Society,” besides many other ways assisting them; and again, the present “Aid and Poor Relief Societies,” which he formed and so largely contributed to. How many have we known, both ministers and people, that have blessed God for the relief they have received all through his instrumentality in this respect. Is it not written, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor?”—and I have heard of the poor of the Lord’s family, both ministers and people, while lying on their sick beds, raising their hands and hearts in gratitude to God for the relief they have received from these societies.
Look again at his firmness for the truth in its purity, both in doctrine, practice, and experience; while many I have known during my pilgrimage have softened down these blessed truths in their preaching, and turned into forbidden paths, and gone after forbidden objects. The wise man says, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.” It is one of the best sights in an old disciple, to see silver hairs adorned with golden virtues.
James Knight
To The Spiritual Readers Of The “Gospel Standard”
Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord,—Grace, mercy, and peace be with you. Amen.
We, the readers and lovers of the “Gospel Standard,” have sustained a great loss in the removal by death of our dear friend, Mr. Gadsby, of Brighton, who blessedly and peacefully passed away on October 12th, 1893, from all that is mortal in this world to those immortal joys and to that eternal weight of glory, where peace and love for ever reign. We suppose that it is generally known that Mr. Gadsby was the originator and the publisher of our excellent monthly magazine, the “Gospel Standard,” which commenced its prosperous career amongst the lovers of truth as far back as the year 1835; and perhaps no periodical advocating the doctrines of divine grace in these modern times has met with greater success in the church of God, or has been made a greater spiritual blessing to the Lord’s chosen family than the “Gospel Standard,” which is a fact not to be gainsaid by any competent judge, and therefore it should fill our hearts with praise and thanksgiving to the great GIVER of all our mercies.
We sincerely hope, then, that the death of its founder and supporter will not in the future tell against its usefulness amongst the Lord’s people, or that the deep interest the numerous readers have manifested should become lukewarm, and fade away. We, who have received much spiritual benefit from its pages, crave for it a continuation of those rich blessings from on high, and the Lord’s continued approbation in the future, which have marked its progress in the past; and we hope that, in this solemn bereavement, and grief, and sorrow, the lovers and readers generally of the “G.S.” will rally round our esteemed Editor to encourage him in the great work he is engaged in, and we hope they will use every lawful means to assist its sale amongst the churches of truth, and that the divine blessing may attend their every effort, and the spiritual consolations of Israel be abundantly made manifest in the hearts of those that are heirs of God and joint-heirs with his Son Jesus Christ.
We cannot help saying, with very grateful feelings, that the good hand of the Lord has been stretched out on the behalf of the “G. S.” from its earliest commencement; and we believe that when our late dear friend, Mr. John Gadsby, launched this monthly magazine upon the ocean of time, he was carrying out the eternal purpose of Jehovah, and thus became the honoured instrument in the Lord’s hands of much spiritual good to the church of God in the past, the present, and we hope, too, in time to come. And did not the Eternal God display infinite wisdom when he raised up and made choice of Mr. J. Gadsby to plan and to scheme such a valuable monthly oracle for the spiritual edification of his people on the earth? And was it not a marvelous display of infinite goodness to set the “Gospel Standard” afloat just at that special time when his godly father (the late Mr. William Gadsby) was so richly endowed with those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, as to enable him to take unto himself the spiritual management and the conducting of the magazine from its first number? And O, how ably he performed that labour of love, in conjunction, at the first outset, with his dear friend and brother, the late Mr. M’Kenzie, and then later on, in harmony and in spiritual union with the beloved Mr. Philpot, of most blessed memory. And how abundantly the divine blessing rested upon the united labours of those godly men, whom we dare venture to say were specially raised up by God for the times in which they lived, and to be made signal blessings to the church of Christ! Those gracious men were not only pillars of the church militant in the wilderness, but they were stars of the highest magnitude. Their godly lives were such as to illuminate God’s Zion with such golden hues of practical religion and godliness, that few equalled them, and none surpassed them in experimental teaching and preaching.
When, then, they began to unfold the mysteries of iniquity and the mysteries of godliness, as they had been taught them by the Spirit of truth in their own hearts, and so ably and clearly set them forth in the pages of the “Gospel Standard,” what a revolution those deep things of God made in the churches of truth throughout the land, and also in the hearts of the tried and afflicted of God’s people! Month by month, then, the “G. S.” carried these wonderful tidings far and near, and the Lord continually bore testimony to the truth of his own word, as was constantly being published therein, by signs following. Many poor sinners who were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death were brought into the light of the Glorious Gospel of God’s Grace. Others of God’s people, who were still dead in trespasses and sins, were pricked in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and led to seek a “Shelter from the Wrath to Come.”
Thus the “Gospel Standard,” by God’s appointment, fell into the hands of these and such like persons, and pointed them to a door of hope, and to the good Physician, where the precious balm of Gilead could be obtained with out money and without price. Thus the “G. S.” became a most blessed medium, through which the Lord communicated the rich consolations of his blessed Gospel into the hearts of many of his dear sorrowing children, and by which means a precious Christ has been made known to their souls.
Can we, then, with these facts before our eyes—yes, and in our hearts—think, or even speak lightly of our excellent magazine? for it was admitted by very many of the Lord’s people, now in glory, that the Holy Spirit did most assuredly bless the reading of its spiritual matter to their souls; and there are many now living of the Lord’s people who can and do testify to the truth of the same.
As, then, the God of all our many mercies did so clearly begin our “Gospel Standard” by the instrumentality of our departed friend, Mr. John Gadsby, and did so abundantly bless it under the able editorship of his beloved father, who was the Great Apostle of the North, and most signally continued those showers of blessings throughout the whole range of dear Mr. Philpot’s useful life and abundant labours as Editor, and, we may add, and onwards through the labours of other esteemed Editors, therefore we take encouragement from the past to believe that the Lord is still with our Spiritual Magazine, and making known from time to time through its pages the riches of his grace, and the comforts of his Holy Spirit in the hearts of his dear people. And what the good Lord has done in the past, and is doing now, so he is able to do the same in the future. “He rests in his love.”
If, then, he has made known the riches of his grace in the hearts of his people through the medium of our “Gospel Standard” (and we are convinced he has done so), then we say be can do the same again and again; and judging from its wide circulation, the many spiritual favours that attend it, and the large pecuniary help derived from it for the poor saints, we cannot help saying at this special season, “Brethren and sisters in the Lord, help us.” The Editor needs your united help and prayers. The committee of the “Gospel Standard Aid and Poor Relief Societies ” greatly need the combined efforts, both spiritually and temporally, of all lovers of divine grace, in their labours of love which they have to perform for the good of the poor of the flock of slaughter.
And now, as our esteemed friend and liberal supporter to the “G. S.” and the Societies is gathered home from our midst, we shall greatly miss his miss counsel, his burning zeal for the Lord’s honour, glory, and his holy truth, his great liberality to the poor saints, and to suffering humanity generally. We are pleased to hear that the Lord the Spirit so graciously prepared him for the solemn change, and so sweetly blest him in his soul, so as to cause him to rest his soul upon the oath and promises of God, and long to die and depart hence, that he might “see the King in his beauty.” O! blessed dismissal from this vale of tears, to that land of pure delight where all is joy, and peace, and love.
We have now no Mr. Gadsby at the helm of our little bark, the “G. S.,” which is still floating on the ocean of time, and sometimes sailing in rough weather, and in deep waters, against wind and tide; but he that hath mercifully stood by it nearly sixty years, and has kept it afloat for the good of his people, we humbly hope will not forsake the “Gospel Standard” now. And now, brethren and sisters in the Lord, we wish you every needful blessing, and, with Christian love, remain yours sincerely in the bonds of peace.
E. Freazey
Leamington, October 27th, 1893
John Gadsby (1808-1893) was a Strict and Particular Baptist author and printer. In 1835, he started “The Gospel Standard” magazine, gaining the support and participation of his father (William Gadsby) who together served as its first editors. In addition to the magazine, John wrote a few books, among which are “A Memoir Of The Late William Gadsby”, “Memoirs Of The Principal Hymn-Writers And Compilers Of The 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries” and “My Wanderings, Being Travels In The East”.
