MEMOIR OF THE REV. MARK DOCKER, LATE CHAPLAIN OF THE SHEFFIELD CEMETERY: WITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS PAPERS AND HYMNS. BY R. C. PRITCHETT. "THE SECRET OF THE LORD IS WITH THEM THAT FEAR HIM."-DAVID. SHEFFIELD: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. H. GREAVES, SNIG-HILL. 1853. PREFACE. THIS volume has originated in the desire expressed by many of Mr. Docker's friends to possess some memorial of one, whose sterling worth and genuine piety were acknowledged by all who knew him. The number of his manuscript volumes, consisting of Diary, Essays, Short Sentences, and Hymns, are so numerous that the writer has had no small difficulty in making a proper selection from the papers committed to his care. Some of the essays marked for insertion have been unavoidably omitted, and out of four hundred hymns, less than sixty have been retained. Enough it is hoped has been inserted to exhibit the subject of this Memoir in his true light, and to preserve the lineaments of a character, which all who knew, admired. His highest ambition on earth was to be a good Minister of Jesus Christ, his most ardent desire to win Christ and to be found in Him. He lived "As ever in his great task-master's eye," and devoted all his energies to the ministry which he received from the Lord. Not only in these pages but in the abundant results of his work, "he being dead yet speaketh ;" and if by these accents any are led to value the cross of Christ more highly, or to live in more habitual preparedness for heaven, the writer's task will not have been undertaken in vain. April, 1853. |