Roe had recommended to be curate at Macclesfield, and who was said to be a Methodist. This conveyed to my mind as unpleasing an idea of him as if he had been called a Romish priest; being fully persuaded that to be a Methodist was to be all that is vile under the mask of piety. I believed their teachers were the false prophets spoken of in Scripture; that they deceived the illiterate, and were little better than common pickpockets; that they filled some of their hearers with presumption, and drove others to despair; that they had dark meetings, and pretended to cast out devils; with many other things, equally false and absurd, but all of which I believed: I heard also that this new clergyman preached against all my favourite diversions, such as going to plays, reading novels, attending balls, assemblies, card tables, &c. But I resolved he should not make a convert of me; and that if I found him such as was represented, I would not go often to hear him. "When I returned to Macclesfield, the whole town was in an alarm. My uncle Roe and my cousins, seemed very fond of Mr. Simpson, and told me he was a most excellent man; but all the rest of my relations were exasperated against him." However, he lived to see these seeds of strife and party, which had so unfortunately prevailed, and shot forth their bitter weeds from his first settlement in Macclesfield, gradually wither and die away before the potent flame of Christian love and forbearance. Even Mrs. Rogers had cause afterwards to bless his ministry, which had been instrumental, to her conversion. As he respected all whom he thought to be sincere in their professions, without attention to names and sects: so he was, in his turn, beloved by all denominations of Christians. Even those who could not subscribe to his creed as a divine, were forced to venerate his character as a man. So general was the respect, and so prevalent the solicitude for his health and welfare, that in his last sickness, public prayers were offered up in his behalf, not only at his own church, but among the Dissenters and Methodists, and even at that very church from which he had been driven in the violent manner already narrated. So that at length he could apply these lines: "To earth born pain superior you shall rise, And also: "I stand and admire thy outstretched arm: ^ Concord and harmony being again restored, his ministry was diligently attended and much blessed. Many sinners were awakened, who became serious Christians, and who adorn the gospel at this day: besides many others who died happy in the Lord, have gone before, and welcomed his arrival in the Father's kingdom. But there is nothing stationary in this world: no blessing without its concomitant adversity. In the spring of 1781, six years after his settlement, Mr. Simpson sustained an irreparable loss in the death of his beloved patron, Charles Roe. He died, after a short illness, on the 3d of May. The day before his departure he was reconciled to all his children, with whom there was some little altercation, and called much upon God. He begged Mr. Simpson and others to pray for him; and though scarce able, got upon his knees in bed, to pray for himself. That night he lay composed. At ten next morning, he suddenly opened his eyes, and fixed them on some object for several minutes, with seeming delight. Soon after he silently breathed away his immortal spirit, no doubt, to endless life. On the eighth his remains were carried, by his own carriage and horses, in great pomp to the New Church, accompanied by coaches, torches, and a vast concourse of people. Mr. Simpson interred him in a new vault he had but lately prepared for himself, Thus died this great, rich, useful, and good man! It brings to mind the beautiful lines of Dr. Young: "An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave; While Mr. Simpson was indefatigable in his pasto ral charge, where he has profited hundreds, he was usefully employed in instructing thousands from the press. He wrote much; and his various publications were all designed to promote the cause of religion. His greatest and largest performance is his Sacred Literature, in four volumes. The Key to the Prophecies has been justly admired. He wrote a work, stiled Religious Characters. Finding the theatre to be pernicious in its influence, he put out a pamphlet on the Use and Abuse of the Stage: and such is the reported efficacy of those strictures, that it had almost overturned theatrical representations in Macclesfield for that winter. He also put out a book against Priestley's Essay on Fatalism. This had been attacked with some applause, by Joseph Benson, an itinerant preacher, and one well versant in Greek and Hebrew lore, being sometime head master of Tiverton college in Wales. Benson was one year stationed in Birmingham, where Priestley resided; at which time they frequently went to hear one another preach. Benson's book becoming popular, Priestley was interrogated why he did not answer it. He gave for reply, that he would not contend with a layman. Simpson, it is said, hearing this, took it in hand, and challenged him to write with a clergyman. But of all his works, none has experienced so rapid a demand as the Plea for Religion, issued in 1797, with which we are more intimately acquainted. Two edi» tions were printed in his life time, and two since his death, in London. Three more have since been published in America. In the second edition of his Plea, printed in 1799, he subjoined, among other matter, the Appendices, wherein he declared his determination to have relinquished his charge in the established church, for which he gave his reasons at length. "Yet Providence, that ever-waking eye, And so it proved with him. Shortly after this determination he was summoned from this world; to one where there is no imperfection, no wrong, no flaw. All his writings bear much the same character. They are all enriched with numerous notes, anecdotal, profitable, and amusing. Many extracts from the most celebrated poets are interspersed; rightly imagining, "A verse may catch him whom a sermon flies, And turn delight into a sacrifice." Few men in England had more extensive information than Mr. Simpson. His large library contained many useful books of ancient and modern literature. He was a man whose rare talents, both as a preacher and writer, were powerfully enforced by the convincing eloquence of an upright life; a life which was a practical illustration of the doctrines he taught. He visited and relieved the sick with exemplary diligence. He encouraged, as far as his ability extended, every charitable design; and was at once the oracle, the friend, the physician, and the patron of the poor. When he was clearly persuaded that any thing was proper to be done, he hesitated not: No probable inconvenience prevented, no dangers retarded, no per secutions withheld, no worldly considerations could move him from following where he conceived his duty led. In fine, as a clergyman, he may be held up for the imitation of his brethren, in every respect. The pastoral duties of his office were performed with zeal and exactness. The sick and the poor had his peculiar attention; and his great influence was always employed to their advantage. Were they afflicted?-He visited them. Were they in want?-He relieved them. Was there a difference between any of them?-His arbitration settled it. One hour every day, Saturday and Sunday excepted, his study door was thrown open, when the diseased, the needy, the disconsolate, and the oppressed, crowded in to receive relief from him; and to their great felicity, were dismissed with the oil and the wine poured into their wounds. He preached with the zeal and faithfulness of an apostle; and during the course of his ministry, he discovered, on every occasion, how much his soul was devoted to promote the good of his fellow-creatures. Whatever respected their happiness; whatever related to the melioration of their condition; whatever contributed to their prosperity; or advanced their temporal and spiritual interests, but especially the latter, were the subjects to which he devoted his time, his talents, his money, his influence. But it were endless to trace all the means which his benevolent mind devised to accomplish his purposes: "And as a bird each fend endearment tries Such are a few of the traits in the character of Mr. Simpson. It might well be said of him, that he was a pattern in life and deportment of the doctrines he |
