THE Annual Meeting of the British | and Foreign Bible Society, will be held at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, on Wednesday, the 7th of May inst. The President will take the chair at twelve o'clock precisely. N.B. No Ladies can be admitted. THE Annual General Meeting of the Sunday School Union Society will be held at the City of London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, on Wednesday morn ing, the 14th of May. Breakfast will be provided by six o'clock, and the chair taken punctually at half past six. THE Annual Meeting of the Religious Tract Society will be held at the City of London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, opposite Threadneedle-street, on Thursday, the 15th of May inst. at six o'clock in the morning. The chair will be taken at seven precisely. THE Annual Meeting of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty will be held at the New London Tavern, Cheapside, on Saturday, May 17, at 10 for half past 10 precisely. THE Anniversary of the Bedfordshire Union of Christians will be held at Bedford, on Thursday, May 22; when the Rev. Robert Hall, of Leicester, is ex• pected to preach. Poetry. LINES ADDRESSED TO AN ONLY DAUGHTER ON THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF HER BIRTH DAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1816. "The King's daughter is all glorious within, her raiment is of wrought gold." Let the unthinking crowd admire By earthly princes worn; Let them with fascinated eye, Be it my EMMA's wish to shine, Far more illustrious will appear, Than the rich tints of orient light, O may her bosom ne'er aspire, Or rank, or towering fame; And leave an empty name. Will place upon their head, COMPLAINT TO JAVA ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. T. TROWT Thou sickly isle-and was thy burning breath, The traitor's kiss upon the lip of love! Hadst thou no guerdon* but the gale of death, SARISSA! To greet thy gentle envoy from above! Yet from that lonely grave, shall Java's sigh Float on the breezes of his native shore, Where his last accents breathed their living lore. * Reward. London: Printed by J. BARFIELD, 91, Wardour-Street, Soho. S. THE Baptist Magazine. JUNE, 1817. MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN VERNON, LATE PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT DOWN-END, NEAR BRISTOL. MR. John Vernon was born at | Pailton, near Coventry, in the year 1785. His parents were professing Christians, and he was, therefore, from infancy, accustomed to hear the gospel, to which, perhaps, may be attributed, in a great degree, a peculiar tenderness of conscience that marked his early years, and afforded considerable reason to hope that a work of grace was already begun upon his soul. At the age, he was sent to school; and here, also, he manifested a great seriousness of mind: during those hours of relaxation which are generally by children devoted to some kind of amusement, he would retire with two or three of his companions, for the purpose of social prayer; and this practice was, I believe, (with probably a few interruptions,) continued for some time. usual Pleasing, however, as was this early dawn of piety, it soon after this period gradually passed away, and for a while his impressions wore off. On leaving school, he was placed at Birmingham, where he attended the ministry of Mr. Pearce and Mr. Brewer, from both of whom he derived much VOL. IX. benefit: his early impressions were now revived and deepened, and although he made no public profession whilst at Birmingham, yet his whole deportment evinced that his mind was imbued with the spirit of the gospel of Christ. His situation here being in a retail trade, from the system of prevarication which he found prevailed in it, he soon became decidedly averse to it; and his conscience not allowing him to follow this plan of evasion, his attentions were, during the remainder of his apprenticeship, confined to the counting-house. In 1805, he left Birmingham, to pay a visit to his sister, who at that time resided at Yarmouth, in Norfolk, and who was married to the Rev. W. Walferd, minister of the Independent congregation at that place. It was during his stay at Yarmouth, which had been protracted to some months, that he joined the Baptist church at Norwich, under the pastoral care of Mr. Kinghorn: after which, his views were first directed to the Christian ministry; and upon mature deliberation, and fervent prayers for divine guid 2 D ance in this important and interesting step, he determined to devote himself to the service of the Redeemer; and, in July, 1807, he became a student at Bristol Academy. Earnestly, however, as he desired to feed immortal souls with the bread of life, it pleased him, whose thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways, to check, and nearly to destroy, his hopes of usefulness. His constitution and mind were alike delicate, and unable to bear the rough storm and chilling blast. During the vacation of 1808, which he spent at Yarmouth, he caught a violent cold, after preaching at Gorleston, a village two miles distant from Yarmouth; and increasing it by a second exposure to easterly winds, he became seriously unwell, and was prohibited by his medical attendant, (who considered his lungs considerably affected,) from engaging in any public service for some months: still, however, he returned to Bristol, to pursue his studies, but on the approach of winter found it necessary to relinquish them; and his friends, alarmed at the progress of the disorder, advised him to make trial of the hot wells. his joy and peace in believing were still more remarkable and uninterrupted in the latter time of trial than in the former. At length it pleased God to restore him to a good measure of health, and though he was discouraged from returning to the academy, where his amiable and exemplary deportment had secured him the high esteem of his tutors, and was afraid to indulge any sanguine hope of resuming the work of the ministry, yet he engaged in worldly business with great concern, lest the cares of the world should damp his ardour in religion: and after his health became more confirmed, his desire of being useful to the souls of men induced him again to think of preaching the gospel. He was at length invited to Downend, about four miles from Bristol. Here a chapel had been erected, many years ago, by Dr. Caleb Evans, and a good congregation attended the preaching of the word; as well as at the Fishponds, a mile nearer to Bristol, in a little chapel, fitted up by the late Dr. Mason, grandfather of Dr. Cox. A number of persons from this neighbourhood had joined the church in Broadmead, fourteen of whom applied for a letter of leave to form themselves Here he continued for several months, in a very precarious state as to his recovery; and not un-into a distinct church, which was acquainted with the imminent danger which was apprehended by the physicians. Mr. Morgan, of Birmingham, at that time lodged under the same roof, in similar circumstances. It appears from a diary kept by Mr. Vernon at this period, that his mind was greatly supported, and he was enabled calmly to resign himself to the Divine disposal, under the influence of the same evangelical consolations which he enjoyed in his last illness; though readily granted them in February, 1814; after which, they invited Mr. Vernon to become their pastor, who was ordained over them July 1, 1814. Four persons were added to them in the following October; and after considerable discouragements, and many fears lest his labours should not be crowned with success, he had the pleasure to have ten members added to his church, who were baptized for him by Dr. Ryland, at Broadmead, May 30, 1816. |