THE DEATH OF LEGAL HOPE
THE
LIFE OF EVANGELICAL OBEDIENCE.
AN ESSAY ON
Galatians 2:19

Abraham Booth
(1734-1806)

In offering to the public an uniform edition of the Works of the late Mr. Abraham Booth, it may be expected that, in compliance with general custom, it should be accompanied with some account of their estimable author. His writings, indeed, where known, stand in no need of panegyric to recommend them to the regard of any who have a cordial attachment to divine truth; and of his personal history there is little to be told with which his contemporaries are not already acquainted, But in collecting his numerous productions into one body*

* It may be proper to state in this place, that the present edition comprises all that Mr. Booth published during his life time, except his controversial treatises on the subject of Baptism; viz. his 'Pædobaptism Examined on the Principles, Concessions, and Reasonings of the Pædobaptists,' 2 vols. 12mo.; and his 'Defence of Pædo-baptism Examined,' in 1 vol. 12mo. These two publications, however excellent in themselves, and important to their author's reputation as a writer, are of such extent that, to have annexed them to the present edition, would, by increasing it to at least double the number of volumes, have prevented many from purchasing it, into whoso heads it will now come.

thinking that they are now performing a service which in opinion of many, has been too long delayed; that they are taking the most effectual means to prevent any of his smaller pieces from falling into obscurity; and establishing a repository for the instruction and edification of numbers yet unborn: for it surely can be no presumption to affirm that, so long as the churches of Christ in this country shall continue to cherish a reverential regard for the doctrine of sovereign, rich, and free grace, these Volumes will continue to be held in high estimation.

The advantages of education, which are of such unspeakable importance to the cultivation of our mental powers, are generally of difficult attainment in villages and the retired districts of the country; and a century ago they were probably more so than at present may help us to account for a circumstance which Mr. Booth has often been heard to mention amongst his friends; that until he quitted the farming business he never spent six months at school. His father taught him to read, making it a general practice to hear him his lesson every day after dinner.

It is certainly a very just remark, that there are no characters however eminent among our species, whose biography is so instructive, or in which we feel more interested, than those which exhibit to our view persevering efforts surmounting formidable obstacles, and distinguished eminence gradually arising out of obscurity and depression. Such is the discipline through which many of the greatest names in the republic of letters have passed; nor have any of the original favourites of nature or the children of affluence attained a superiority so solid and durable as that which has been acquired by such a state of probation.

The energy of our author's mind, which appeared so conspicuously throughout the subsequent period of his life, began very early to develope itself. He was indebted almost entirely to his own industry and application for his proficiency in the art of writing and in the science of arithmetic. And as he grew up, so devoted did he become to his studies, that he chearfully sacrificed the hours usually allotted to repose and recreations for the pleasure he found in prosecuting them. When the other members of the family retired to rest, Abraham withdrew to cultivate his mind.

The parents of our author, were professedly members of the church of England; and of course trained up their son in a customary reverence for the national establishment of religion. The first direction of his mind towards the dissenters took place when he was about ten years of age; and was occasioned by the preaching of some plain and illiterate teachers belonging to the denomination of General (or Arminian) Baptists who occasionally visited his neighbourhood. They drew the attention of the family; and under their discourses our author was first awakened to a concern about the salvation of his soul, his convictions were permanent and increased with his years; but it is plain from the history of his own mind that it was long after this ere he attained any just and clear views of the true, grace of God, or was enlightened into the important doctrine of acceptance with God as revealed in the New Testament. He, however, applied to the society of General Baptists to be admitted into their communion, and was accordingly baptized on a profession of his faith, by Mr. Francis Smith, at Barton, in 1755, at which time he was about the age of twenty-one.

Some years previous to this, young Booth had relinquished the farming business; and, induced probably by the hope of being able to pursue his studies with less interruption, he had applied himself to learn the business of a stocking-maker, but was never articled as an apprentice to the trade. He, however, managed to support himself by that means, from the age of sixteen to that of four-and-twenty, at which period he married Miss Elizabeth Bowmar, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer, with whom he enjoyed much domestic felicity during more than forty years.

But, possessing so vigorous a mind, it was not likely that Mr. Booth should long continue a mechanic. He had now been diligently occupied for several years in the acquisition of useful knowledge; his capacity had attained to a considerable degree of maturity; he had entered into an important domestic relation; and he had before him, the prospect of a numerous family for whom he was bound to provide; and he, therefore, adopted the resolution of opening a School at Sutton Ashfield, about two miles from Kirby, for the instruction of youth. Mrs. Booth assisted the undertaking by instructing, the female pupils in the useful branches of needle work, for which she had been eminently qualified by her education, in respect of which she had been privileged far beyond what commonly falls to the lot of young women in the same rank of life. They also wished to take a few boarders, but that part of the plan met with but little success, for the number seldom exceeded two or three.

The society of General Baptists, with which Mr. Booth now stood connected, had sufficient discernment to perceive that he possessed abilities, which only required cultivation to mature and raise to excellence. They accordingly invited him to assist occasionally in the public preaching of the word; and so rapid was his improvement, that, in a little time, he was considered as a leading person among them. Their profession increased considerably throughout the neighbouring districts; and our author was frequently at Melbourne, Barton, Loughborough, Diseworth, and other places at the distance of twenty, thirty, and even forty miles from home, preaching the glad tidings of salvation to his fellow sinners, according to the views which he then had of divine truth.

In the year 1760, it was thought advisable to collect into churches those who had professed the faith and been baptized, and to appoint over them pastors and teachers after the example of the first churches. The society of Kirby-Woodhouse was accordingly submitted to the superintendance of Mr. Booth, who continued for several years to labour among them in the ministry of the word; though, for reasons, which do not appear, he declined to take upon himself the pastoral office. His preaching is, nevertheless, said to have been with considerable acceptance; and success; and in the regulation of these newly formed societies he proved highly instrumental. We find him in the same year assisting at the ordination of Mr. F. Smith: and Mr. T. Parkins over the General Baptist church at Melbourne and delivering a solemn charge to them from Acts xx. 28. Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, &c.

In this stage of their proceedings, however, a memorable and important change took place in the religious sentiments of Mr. Booth. He had hitherto held the Arminian doctrine of Universal Redemption, and been a strenuous advocate for the universality of divine grace He had written and printed a Poem on 'Absolute Predestination,' in which the fervour of his zeal for what he then esteemed truth, had vented itself in reviling the doctrines of election and particular redemption, in language as replete with contumely and reproach as is to be found in the writings of Wesley or Fletcher. We cannot doubt for a moment, that this pamphlet, though its circulation was very inconsiderable, must have been a source of painful reflection to him in the subsequent period of his life, when his mind was better instructed on this sublime subject; for, in the preface to the 'The Reign of Grace,' he thus records his own judgment of it; "As a poem, if considered in a critical light, it is despicable; if in a theological view, detestable, as it is an impotent attack on the honour of divine grace in respect to its glorious freeness, and a bold opposition to the sovereignty of God, and as such I renounce it." It may indeed be pleaded as some apology, for its author, that he wrote it when only twenty years of age; and it is important, as serving to demonstrate the greatness of the change which afterwards took place in his mind relative to the character of THE SUPREME BEING.

To an attentive observer of what passes among the various sects of religious professors of the present day, scarcely any thing will appear more remarkable than the disposition there is to fritter away the differences which exist among them, relative to the doctrines of the everlasting gospel and the practices of the first christians. Mr. Booth, who was, in regard to this principle, a happy exception to an almost general rule, has entered his protest against it, and expressed his mind on the subject so strikingly in his writings that I shall beg leave to extract a passage or two in this place. Thus, for instance, he quotes with approbation a modern writer.

A considerable succcdaneum for the Christian unity is the catholic charity, which is like the charity commended by Paul in only this one circumstance, that it "groweth exceedingly." –Among the stricter sort it goes chiefly under the name of forbearance. We shall be much mistaken if we think that, by this soft and agreeable word is chiefly meant the tenderness and compassion inculcated by the precepts of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It strictly means an agreement to differ quietly about the doctrines and commandments of the gospel, without interruption of visible fellowship. They distinguish carefully between fundamentals,or things necessary to be believed and practised; and circumstantials, or things that are indifferent, –If men have different notions of Jesus Christ, his divinity, his sacrifice, his kingdom, and the customs of his religion, even from what the apostles seemed to have, charity, with many, demands that we think well of their religious characters notwithstanding this. It is unbecoming the modesty of wise men to be confident on any side, and contending earnestly for opinions injures the peace of the Christian church. Thus kind and humble is modern charity. Instead of rejoicing in, or with the truth it rejoiceth in contemplating the admirable piety that may be produced from so many different, yea opposite principles.' *

* Works, Vol. ii.

These pointed strictures upon a mode of procedure which, as it appears to the writer of this Memoir, is pregnant with serious evil to the churches of Christ, cannot be too often repeated; and their application to the case in hand is too obvious to need pointing out. Mr. Booth was fully aware that the change which his sentiments had undergone, was of such a nature as to render it utterly impossible for himself and his friends to walk any longer together in a way that would be productive of mutual comfort; and he had too much integrity to conceal the difference. The change itself was the fruit of deep conviction, and thus at a future period of his life we find his own pen recording it. "The doctrine of sovereign, distinguishing grace, as commonly and justly stated by Calvinists, it must be acknowledged, is too generally exploded. This the writer of these pages knows by experience, to his grief and shame. Through the ignorance of his mind, the pride of his heart, and the prejudice of his education, he, in his younger years often opposed it With much warmth, though with no small weakness; but after an impartial enquiry, and many prayers, he found reason to alter his judgment;' he found it to be the doctrine of the Bible, and a dictate of the unerring Spirit. Thus patronized, he received the once obnoxious sentiment, under a full conviction of its being a divine truth." *

* Works, Vol. i.

The revolution that had now taken place in our author's sentiments was soon observed by his friends, and it occasioned considerable uneasiness in their minds. They respected his character and approved his ministry. Meetings were held for the purpose of investigating the differences, which subsisted between them, when each party produced the best arguments they could in behalf of their respective tenets; but neither party succeeding in convincing the other, they mutually agreed to part. In vindication of the principles of Christian integrity Which on this occasion governed his conduct, Mr. Booth chose as the foundation of his farewell discourse, the parable of the unjust steward, which naturally led him to remark–that fraud and concealment of various kinds may obtain the friendship of men–that when friendship is obtained by such means, he who gains it, and they who grant it are chargeable with injustice peculiarly execrable–and that Scripture, reason, and conscience unite their authority in recommending universal fidelity to accountable creatures, and especially to the ministers and professors of religion, in the view of the great day of account, when they must all give up their stewardship!

Mr. Booth's separation from the General Baptists suspended for a while his public ministrations; but in a short time a place was procured at Sutton Ashfield, called Bore's Hall, which was licensed for the purpose, and in which he recommended his labours as a preacher of the gospel of peace. Here he gathered, in process of time, a small society of the Calvinistic or particular Baptist denomination; and it was at this time that he composed his invaluable treatise, The Reign of Grace. The substance of that excellent work was originally delivered in a series ofdisc0urses at Sutton Ashfield, and afterwards at Nottingham and Chesterfield; at both of which towns, he, for several years, was in the practice of preaching on alternate sabbaths.

The exertions of Mr. Booth, during this period, will, to many, appear to have been truly astonishing. He had to labour throughout the week, for the support of a family every year increasing, and even then become numerous. He had frequently to travel the distance of twelve or fifteen miles on the Lord's day morning, and afterwards to preach twice or thrice, during the day, for which the only remuneration he accepted was barely the expence of horse hire, which at no time exceeded ten pounds a year; –and it was under these unfavourable circumstances that he wrote The Reign of Grace. But to such as have "tasted that the Lord is gracious," the solution of the problem will not be difficult. When we examine our author's publication, and remark what the subjects are which then occupied his public ministrations, viz. the nature and properties of divine grace–when we think of him as tracing that grace in all its rich aboundings; as reigning in our election–effectual calling–the pardon of sin–justification–adoption–sanctification–perseverance–and at length crowning the sinner with eternal glory, we may safely conclude that "the word of Christ dwelt richly in him," and that he "spake of these things out of the abundance of his heart," –"bringing forth that which was good to the use of edifying and which ministered grace to the hearers." When the mind is filled with the doctrine of divine grace it delights to dwell upon so transporting a theme, and the tongue speaks of it with inexpressible pleasure.

When the manuscript of the Reign of Grace was completed, it was shown by the author to some of his friends; though, probably, without any view to immediate publication. He was yet an obscure, and unfriended individual, little known even in the circle of his own denomination; and he might possibly recollect the maxim of the poet, that

At any rate we are said to owe its first publication to the following train of circumstances. A friend of Mr. Booth's, who had perused the work in manuscript happening to be at Huddersfield in Yorkshire, called upon Mr. Henry Venn, a clergyman professing evangelical sentiments, and well known as the author of a popular work, entitled "The Complete Duty of Man," to whom he mentioned Mr. Booth's intended publication, and gave such an account of it as excited in Mr. Venn an eager desire to see it. The manuscript was accordingly transmitted to him, and so strongly prepossessed was he by a perusal of it, that he took a journey Huddersfield to Sutton Ashfield, that he might enjoy the pleasure of a personal interview with the author. The result was an acquaintance which ripened into intimacy; and notwithstanding the dissimilarity of their views respecting the nature, constitution and order of a Christian church, that intimacy was cemented by the bonds of reciprocal esteem and friendship which continued with unabated ardour through life.

Every liberal mind will contemplate with pleasing emotions, the attachment that now subsisted between these worthy men. Mr. Venn strongly urged upon his friend the publication of "The Reign of Grace;" and, with the view of making it more generally known, wrote a recommendatory preface to the work, which accompanied the first and second editions, but which it was afterwards thought unnecessary to continue. Mr. Venn sometime afterwards removed into Huntingdonshire, and Mr. Booth to London; but they continued to correspond, and their friendship sustained no diminution, as is too often the case, from change of scene, or the formation of new connections. Whenever the former visited the metropolis, he gladly availed himself of the opportunity of making a friendly call upon his Nonconformist brother; and as often as the latter had occasion to visit that quarter of the country in which the good Vicar resided, he failed not to shew his respect for him by taking up his abode at the parsonage house. Mr. Booth has often been heard to relate the following anecdote, and it may be here quotes as a decisive proof of the cordial esteem and reciprocal attachment which subsisted between them. On one of his visits to Mr. Venn, after his removal to Huntingdonshire, the latter expressed an anxious wish to hear the author of "The Reign of Grace: preach, but for some time was at a loss how to get it accomplished. At length, however, he hit upon the following happy expedient. "I dare not," said he, "introduce you into my pulpit, but I will have a pulpit constructed for you in my own kitchin, and I will procure you a congregation, and there you shall preach to us." The project was carried into effect; and the author of the "Essay on the Kingdom of Christ," the consistent and determined opposer of all religious establishments, was engaged in holding forth the word of life, under the roof of a dignified clergyman of the national church! But to return.

The "Reign of Grace," was first published in April 1768, and soon attracted pretty general regard. The Particular Baptist Church in Little Prescot Street, Goodman's Fields, London, had recently lost their pastor, Mr. Samuel Burford, and were then looking out for a successor. Some of the members of the church happening to meet with Mr. Booth's book, and approving the performance, they came to the resolution of taking a journey into Nottinghamshire, to see the author, and, upon the supposition that they liked his preaching, that they might have the better opportunity of commencing an acquaintance with him. The result of this visit was an invitation to our author to supply the church in Goodman's fields, for a few sabbaths, to which he consented; and in the month of June following he arrived in London and preached to them three Lord's days in succession. This led to a second invitation for further assistance, with which also, after visiting his own family, he complied, and preached four sabbaths more; and in the issue the church unanimously agreed to invite him to become their pastor. By a letter bearing date October l, 1768, he signified his acquiescence with their call; and on the sixteenth of February, 1769, was ordained by prayer and the imposition of hands. On this solemn occasion, he delivered before the church a public and explicit confession of his faith, which was afterwards printed; and as it serves to exhibit a view of his doctrinal sentiments at the time of his ordination, it may be here not improperly introduced.