THE LATE REV. HENRY ACTON.*

MR. ACTON is another to be added to the honourable list of those who have pursued knowledge and gained reputation "under difficulties." This distinction finds not any where a more congenial soil than in our own beloved country; and from the place of his birth (Lewes, in Sussex) as well as his temperament, the subject of the Memoir before us may be regarded as presenting no unworthy specimen of those Saxon elements of character that lie at the base of genuine English qualities, and the high position and widely-spread influence of Great Britain. To the sterling excellences to which we have alluded, is it owing that there are incessantly rising out of the lowest levels of English society, men who are an honour at once to themselves and their country; and the number of whom, great as it already is, promises to become greater every generation, as superincumbent materials are removed, and the natural springs are left free to send forth their waters.

Born in one of the lowliest positions of English life, Henry Acton was from the first thrown all but exclusively on his own resources; and having in his boyhood to gain his living in a menial office, he had little time for pursuits connected with mental culture. Having, however, received superior gifts from the hand of his Maker, he found time for gaining knowledge in the midst of circumstances which ordinarily destroy any intellectual tendencies, or at all events offer a most ungenial soil for their development. The mastery over outward things which the writer of these discourses shewed throughout life, he exerted successfully in his boyhood; and in so doing gained sufficient information to fit him for such an elevation as was implied in being apprenticed to the trade of a book-printer-a business which he may be presumed to have chosen from its connection with literature, and which was less than most other handicrafts uncongenial with the high and important duties in the discharge of which he spent his manhood. In the associations which his trade led him to form, Henry Acton was unusually fortunate, his companions being young men of strong literary tastes, who in their intercourse with their shop-mate gave and received impulse and direction in their common pursuit of self-culture. It would be idle to suppose that they or he had any very accurately-defined view of the tendencies of their common strivings. They read, talked and debated at and after their work, because they felt a pleasure in so doing; and by the mental discipline that hence ensued, were they unconsciously prepared for higher engagements in life. Something of the kind young Acton found in religion; for, with a true English peculiarity, he soon took part in the conferences and debates which were held in the Unitarian Baptist chapel of his native town. Here the views and prejudices of which, as one born of parents belonging to the Established Church, he was possessed, were gradually worn away, while, as in the case of many before and after him, aptitudes and tastes were developed, which first turned his attention to and gave him his earliest preparation for the Christian pulpit. Of this preparation not by any means the least

Sermons by the late Rev. Henry Acton, of Exeter; with a Memoir of his Life. Edited by the Rev. William James and the Rev. J. Reynell Wreford, F.S.A. London-Chapman, Brothers. 1846.

important element was a certain skill in the valuable faculty of extemporaneous speaking. From the earliest period of his appearing as a Christian teacher, Mr. Acton was distinguished for his ability in preaching without the ordinary aid of written compositions; and we well remember with what pleasure and profit he was heard by a congregation in the South of England, when, long before he had gained his welldeserved reputation, and yet a young man, spare in figure and unformed in manner, he preached for the first time in the place to which we refer, giving extemporaneously a discourse marked by that clearness, simplicity, force and pious feeling by which his pulpit services were at a later period characterized.

When, however, Mr. Acton had resolved to devote himself to the office of a Christian teacher, he began in earnest that struggle with his outward condition which he had more or less to continue through life, and in which, though, like a strong swimmer, he sometimes rose buoyantly above the waters, he at last sunk prematurely. In a community so highly cultivated as that of England, and among a body-the Unitarian Baptists-who, whether for intelligence or strength of principle, held no humble position among their fellow-countrymen, a sound, if not a learned, education was an indispensable requisite in one who sought the high office of being a religious teacher. For such a course of mental discipline, Mr. Acton had yet received no other training than he had given himself; and although all true education is self-education, severe indeed is the struggle, and after all imperfect the success, in the case of any individual whose almost sole aids are books and his own indomitable will. And when the time comes for an exclusive devotement to letters, there are certain questions touching food, raiment and shelter, which, however homely in their nature, are very imperious in their demands. Difficult, too, if not all but impossible, is the attainment of the higher culture of literary and theological knowledge, apart from assistance given by men of solid acquirements and matured excellence. In surmounting these impediments which lay in his way, Mr. Acton, destitute as he was of pecuniary resources of his own, met with kind, liberal and encouraging aid. Yet had he to contend with narrow means; and when he had passed through such a training as he could command, he had still to struggle upwards to usefulness and comfort, in a state of society in which a humble origin is practically a serious disqualification.

Having, however, spent three years in the enjoyment of valuable and efficient aid rendered by the late Rev. Dr. Morell, of Brighton, Mr. Acton at length entered on his career of distinguished usefulness, by becoming the pastor of the Presbyterian congregation at Walthamstow, near London. The period (1821) was in some respects favourable to Mr. Acton's advancement. The Presbyterian body of this country were just beginning to be alive to the new duties required of them as the depositaries of important doctrinal truths. A convert from Trinitarianism and an experienced disputant, Mr. Acton was well fitted to profit by and enhance the popular feeling in the Unitarian community. What is commonly termed an accident, gave him a distinguished opportunity for putting his views before the public; and being called on to preach the annual sermon on behalf of "the Unitarian Fund," he displayed on the occasion a zeal, judgment and eloquence which at once

placed him high in the ranks of his brother ministers. His removal from Walthamstow to Exeter (1823) ensued as a natural consequence; and in this important post he entered on that career of eminent usefulness in which he served his congregation faithfully, and rendered very important services to Christian truth in general.

We have not space to follow Mr. Acton through the several exertions which he made in that ancient city for the enlightenment and welfare of his flock, his townsmen and his country, but must pass at once to the close of his ministry on earth. His course was almost as brief as it was useful. In the middle period of life, on the 22nd of August, 1843, he left this for another world, after an unexpected and brief illness of six days, truly lamented by a wide circle of friends whose attachment was founded on the solid excellences of his lofty character.

In the Unitarian church at Exeter, Mr. Acton found true and lasting friends, who took a pleasure in repaying their pastor's spiritual ministrations by ministering to him in worldly things and in kind attentions and warm sympathies. Yet did some influence from his early days not fail to make itself felt; for the strongest natures can only imperfectly overcome and subdue the outward. To something of the kind may also be ascribed a certain coldness and hauteur of manner felt by strangers in Mr. Acton's presence, who may by such an exterior have sought to keep rude familiarity at a distance, but who was also, we think, in this in part the unwilling and uneasy subject of a constitutional sluggishness, the predominance of which at last may have been connected with the cause of his early demise. Certain, however, it is that in the safe and warm seclusions of private life, and with intimate and valued friends, Mr. Acton melted into a frank, warm-hearted, genial companion, whose humour, good-nature and logic were all of high order, and endeared him to many brother ministers and others who hold his memory in true fraternal love. The tendency to a certain degree of torpor to which we have referred, was not without its effect on his character as a public man. His exertions, great as they were, it in a measure diminished; his ordinary style and manner in the pulpit it made somewhat heavy; his truly great powers it clogged, so that they produced less than otherwise they must have done. But as an extemporaneous speaker, Mr. Acton derived advantage from this quality, for it prevented the excitement consequent on the effort being so undue as to interfere with his self-possession. When roused by some unjust attack on his opinions or some emergency in the course of professional duty, his fine natural powers were kindled enough (and not too much) to come forth with great ease and most admirable effect, and then he spoke or preached with a dignity, force and eloquence which, united with great recommendations of voice and person, seemed in its highest condition to bear some resemblance to inspiration. On such occasions, and indeed whenever his powers appeared in their full display, Mr. Acton impressed on his auditors and friends the feeling that he was distinguished no less for strength of mind than soundness of judgment and deep, heartfelt piety. Strength, however, appears to us to have been the chief quality of his mind. Much as he did, and noble as were his displays of genuine Christian eloquence, he always appeared capable of more. There was a source of latent power in him, on which he seemed to draw at will and without going near to exhaust its resources.

This strength, pervading his whole nature and all his efforts, communicated to him a tone of greatness which raised him above others. Hence all his feelings were genuine. His heart was as sound as it was warm. His feelings were pure and elevated. Sincere himself in his inmost soul, he hated hypocrisy and all unreal, superficial things in others. He was an earnest, because he was a true man. The same feelings conduced to his becoming a Unitarian, and to his finding satisfaction and peace in the bosom of the Unitarian community. Dogmas which revolt the understanding; practices which retire from the full light of day; a position of compromise, outward splendour with unrest of conscience-any thing hollow, counterfeit, assumed, artificial, he could not have endured, whatever the bribe might have been; and unless he had been directed to a home in which the claims of intelligence and honesty could be harmonized with those of "faith, hope and charity," he must have renounced the advocacy of the Christian religion. Such an ark he, with many others like-minded with himself, found in the simple, heart-satisfying and philanthropic views and principles held by the best representatives of the Unitarian church; and therefore he enjoyed deep peace of mind, was able to work out a high character, and to render great and durable services to the cause of a pure Christianity. The volume which has led to these observations is a worthy labour of love, performed by two ministers who had extraordinary opportunities of personal intercourse with the deceased, and whose testimony to his many virtues is guaranteed-if guarantee be necessary-by their own well-earned and well-sustained reputation in the Christian church. While we honour them for the satisfactory performance of the duty, we honour them also for the perseverance they have shewn in the completion of their task under hindrances which they ought not to have had to encounter. Now, however, that the result of their care and labour is before the public in an interesting Memoir of their departed friend and a judicious selection from his discourses, we trust that they will receive an appropriate reward by finding Unitarians at least ready to pay respect to one of their best advocates, while also they do service to themselves in making this useful and neatly-printed volume one among the works reserved by them for domestic worship and private meditation.

DOUBT.

Most remote was Jesus, who no less mildly than ceaselessly bore with the ignorance, distrust, open disbelief and denial of his immediate followers, from blaming that uncertainty of mind which a faithful use of the means of information had not removed, and which, in its inevitable consequences of pain and weakness, was attended by severe penalties. As little would Paul approve of the use which is often ignorantly made of the words, "He that doubts is damned," so as to alarm the timid inquirer, make the bold hesitate, and throw around a certain set of opinions, "framed by art and man's device" many centuries ago, and in ages of mental tyranny and darkness, the awful and terrific sanctions of endless burnings or immortal bliss. After such a manner Paul had not learned Christ; and the entire chapter whence these words are taken (Rom. xiv.), shews that the meaning ordinarily put upon them is a perversion.-Dictionary of the Bible, art. DOUBT.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. ROBERT ASPLAND.

CHAPTER I.

THE late Rev. ROBERT ASPLAND occupied for more than forty years a very prominent place amongst the Protestant Dissenters of England, and during that time his opinions and counsels had great weight with the religious denomination with which he more particularly united himself. A full and faithful memoir of his life is due alike to his memory and to the public. Happily, abundant materials for writing his life exist in his letters and journals, which, with a few slight interruptions, extend from the year 1793 to the close of his life,-in his extensive manuscript and printed works,-and in the recollections of his numerous surviving family and friends. From these materials, his eldest son, to whom he by will bequeathed his manuscript books and papers, trusts to be able to form a narrative which will be regarded as a not unworthy memorial of the labours and virtues of his revered Father, and a not unacceptable contribution to the history of liberal Dissent in England during the present century.

pre

The family of Aspland has for more than a century been seated chiefly in the village of Wicken, in the county of Cambridge. The first of the family who settled there was Isaac, the son of Robert Aspland, of Downham, in the Isle of Ely. He successfully established himself as the proprietor of the village shop which supplied the various wants of all the inhabitants. For more than a hundred years have the mises which his successful industry enabled him to purchase been devoted to the same purpose, and been in the successive possession of members of the same family. It may be added as a proof of the primitive and unchanged character of this Cambridgeshire village, that when, in the beginning of the year 1846, the writer visited it, he found that the shop established by his ancestor was still the sole village store. Isaac Aspland died in the year 1762, and was followed in a few months by his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Steadman. They left a young family, of which Robert, the eldest son, had not completed his 16th year at the time of his father's death. He was fortunately gifted with considerable vigour of character, and proved himself equal to the heavy responsibility thus early thrown upon him. He is still remembered by a few aged people, and spoken of with respect as a man of sterling sense, of simple manners, and possessed of a very kind heart. His name was never mentioned by his late son but with reverential affection.* He was twice married. His second marriage was the

The following tribute to his father's memory was inserted by the Rev. Robert Aspland in the Universal Theological Magazine, Vol. II. pp. 340, 341. It shews some striking points of resemblance in the character of father and son. "On Saturday, Nov. 3, (1804,) Mr. Robert Aspland, of Wicken, in the county of Cambridge, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. In him were united a rare assemblage of virtues, and his loss is deeply felt and sincerely deplored by all who knew him. In business he was distinguished for capacity, integrity, industry and punctuality. He was long known in his neighbourhood as the avowed enemy of parochial tyranny, and as the friend to humanity and the poor In his family, he was uniformly tender, forbearing and kind; no man ever possessed more innate benevolence, or delighted more in exercising it, than himself; always serene and cheerful in his aspect, and mild and charitable in his deportment, he conciliated universal esteem, and died lamented by a whole village. With an