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WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1881.

TOO PARTICULAR':

A MEMOIR OF JOHN DONKERSLEY, OF BRADFORD:

BY THE REV. SAMUEL WRAY.

CAN a Christian be too scrupulous in his observance of those duties which he owes to God and to his neighbour? Mr. JOHN DONKERSLEY was deemed by some, who ought to have known what they were talking about, righteous somewhat overmuch. He was conscientiously attentive to the requirements of both tables of the law; and though his obedience was never otherwise than humble, loving and childlike, he was not unfrequently assured by good people of laxer views and habits, that he was 'too particular.' On these occasions the good man would simply open his eyes a little wider and look perplexed, as one who understood not what was meant.

He was born and brought up at Honley, a populous village three or four miles from Huddersfield, November 30th, 1817, and had the advantage of a godly ancestry; his parents being devoted and consistent Wesleyans, as were also his paternal fore-elders from the early days of Methodism. His father's house was the home of the Huddersfield Ministers when they visited Honley, and the boy derived life-long advantage from his frequent, familiar intercourse with them. Of the high character, the effective ministry and the edifying and inspiriting conversation of such men as the Revs. Robert Wood, John C. Leppington, Robert Jackson and John Farrar he often spoke, with delight and reverence, to the close of his life.

His father knew how to govern well his household, and was especially strict in the matters of Sabbath observance and public worship. Mr. Farrar once announced: Whoever may be late or absent, Mr. George Donkersley and his family are always in their places when the service begins.' The youth, therefore, had a 'particular' training, 'too particular,' according to the views of certain heads of houses, whose children-being left to the enjoyment of what is thought a more intelligent and large-hearted freedom-grow up to form that class among our professed adherents which furnishes the greater number of cavillers and doubters and seceders to other Churches. Mr. Donkersley's strict religious training was a blessing for which, while he lived, he never ceased to be grateful, and which he cannot but commemorate in heaven, with his more perfect view of the gracious way by which God led him in the wilderness.

Being thus carefully brought up, Mr. Donkersley escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.' Sin in its gross and open forms he never

knew. He was deemed, no doubt, by persons of like age, 'too particular': for he never lost his conscientiousness, was never shamed out of his correct behaviour or betrayed into folly by the laughter of the fool. Yet, though pious as a child, and though upright and never prayerless in his youth, his religious impressions for some time grew weaker as he grew older, and it was not till he was nineteen that he made that personal agreement with Christ wherein, according to the Covenant Service, the essence of Christianity lies. Then, however, he wholly yielded to the gracious Spirit's drawings; sorrowed after a godly sort; believed with his heart unto righteousness, and was made glad with a conscious pardon. Shortly afterwards he was pressed to preach; and, truly, he was a chosen vessel. He evinced, from the first, considerable ability and a wisdom beyond his years; and he remained a very efficient and acceptable Local Preacher to the end of his days.

His love and reverence for his parents never wavered, and his affectionate care and filial attention to them-continued, after he had removed to some distance from them, to the end of their unusually protracted lives-was a subject of much admiring observation. Knowing how needful was his assistance and how they counted upon his visits, he could not disappoint them. No condition of the weather, no bodily fatigue, no ordinary indisposition could keep him from their side: never complaining, never shrinking, never saying 'Corban,' never wishing himself released from an inconvenient and costly obligation, there at the stated time-was he, blessing the latter end of those who had blessed his beginning. It was this characteristic of my friend that first won my admiration, though it was also in reference to this that I first heard the remark: He is too particular.'

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Query 1: Are sons and daughters who are less particular as blessed as he?

Query 2: Can parents who are less particular than they were count upon equal love and honour from their children in time to come?

The occasion of a visit, in after times, from his eldest brother-for many years a Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States-was chiefly spent in conversation on their early life, and in devout and joyous praise for parents who, with all their strictness, had equally illustrated the happier side of religion and made it appear so attractive that their children had been led by their example to choose it for themselves. Very delightful it was to hear their animated talk about the old times, and all they owed to their Christian upbringing. It was a happy, Providential reunion. The brothers parted, only to meet in heaven.

Having chosen the calling of a Wesleyan Day-school Teacher, Mr. Donkersley, though his means were limited, resolved to defray the whole cost of his preparatory training, in order that, if at any future time he saw fit to quit that employment for some other, he might be able to do so without injustice. Some, no doubt, would say that in this matter he was 'too particular'; some who ought to know better, who, having received a

valuable and costly training at Westminster, or Southlands, or one of our Theological Institutions for the service of Methodism, have afterwards carried off their acquirements to some other vocation.

The same conscientiousness marked Mr. Donkersley's conduct on all occasions-great and small, public and private-throughout life. But, surely, in an age when great numbers of professing Christians are not particular enough, the rare example of one who is regarded as 'too particular is, at least, worthy of note, perhaps of praise and imitation. In his punctual and diligent attention to all duties, secular and religious, Mr. Donkersley was a pattern to all believers. Integrity and uprightness preserved him.

For many years he was in chief charge of the Wesleyan Day-school at Keighley. As a teacher, he was much beloved by the scholars and respected by the parents, and always stood well with his Committee. Few things ever gratified him so much as the cordial reception his old friends and pupils gave him when he revisited the scene of those interesting and successful labours.

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His last and not least useful years were spent at Bradford. vided 'a help meet for him' in the daughter of the late Rev. John Aslin : the union contributed to the spiritual weal of both; they were 'heirs together of the grace of life'; their prayers were 'not hindered.' He was well known in Bradford as a very useful Local Preacher, and as a man of unblemished character and an excellent spirit,' willing rather to suffer than run the slightest risk of wrong-doing to others. His preaching was so intelligent and acceptable that he was usually the first person thought of as a supply for the pulpits of the larger chapels. As a Class Leader he was greatly beloved, and showed himself well able to instruct his members in 'the things of God.' He was eminently a man of prayer, his public exercises being remarkable alike for pathos and variety.

His attachment to Wesleyan Methodism amounted to a passion, and he was singularly jealous of all innovations. These he uniformly resisted in public and private; not always quite fearlessly, for it sometimes cost him much feeling, but always firmly, yet courteously and kindly. He was of opinion that simple, old-fashioned Methodism needs but to be faithfully carried out to ensure in perpetuity such results as gladdened the hearts of our fathers. Here, again, he was called 'too particular'; and probably on some few occasions, where the proposed changes were not incompatible with the spirit of old Methodism, his zeal led him into error; but it must be owned that in this case also the charge was mostly made by persons at least as far astray in the contrary direction.

From a conviction of the necessity of such a movement, Mr. Donkersley identified himself with the modern Temperance cause' at a time when the advocates of total abstinence were as speckled birds in the community. For forty years he laboured without flinching for this movement, and at the time of his decease he was President of the Bradford Wesleyan Temperance Society and Band of Hope Union. His advocacy was always earnest,

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