FOR MAY, 1835. BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. JAMES TOWNLEY, D.D.: THE name of the late Rev. James Townley, D. D., is justly dear to an extensive circle of surviving relatives and friends; it is held in affec tionate remembrance by many thousands in the Wesleyan-Methodist societies of which he was, from early life, a member and a Minister; and it is known and respected by many beyond that community, in consequence of the interesting works which he published, and the services which he rendered, by his industrious researches, to the cause of learning in general, and to the lover of Biblical literature in particular. Of such a character it would be desirable to have a lengthened memoir. Many are the valuable lessons it would suggest. A history of increasing experience in personal religion, and of a holy walk with God; of a ministerial career, whose precious results were the conversion of many souls from sin to holiness, and increase and edification to the church; and of that diligent study which, notwithstanding the unavoid. able and frequent interruptions of numerous official avocations, was rewarded with an extensive knowledge of ancient ecclesiastical history, and a familiar acquaintance with Biblical criticism; could not fail to be instructive to all the followers of Christ, encouraging to the junior labourers in the same vineyard, and deeply interesting to such as, under similar circumstances, are not unmindful of the pleasures and toils of literary pursuits. It is therefore regretted that materials for such a memoir do not exist. Dr. Townley left no connected record of the circumstances of his life; and it is to the recollections cherished by his friends, and a reference to his works, that we are chiefly indebted for the following particulars. James Townley was born of respectable parents in Manchester, May 11th, 1774. His father, Mr. Thomas Townley, was in extensive business. His mo ther, a very sensible woman, was a regular attendant at the services of the established Church, and an occasional hearer at the evening services in the Methodist chapel. Her maternal faithfulness and affection were eminently conspicuous in the sedulous attention she paid to the best interests of James, her youngest child. The influence of this excellent parent's example and counsel was happily successful. Filial love and religious feelings were observable traits in the character of her beloved son even in infancy; and when, as a youth, his thoughtless associates had carried him to the fascinating amusements of the theatre, her advice sufficed to induce him, at once and for ever, to renounce a gratification, which VOL. XIV. Third Series. MAY, 1835. with a boyish folly, he had persuaded himself was both innocent and beneficial. The care of his education was entrusted for some years to the late Rev. David Simpson, of Macclesfield: after his death he was continued at the school of his Curate, where he was instructed in some departments of classical literature, and passed through the usual routine of an English education. Mr. Townley's early religious impressions were powerfully re-awakened by the solemn services connected with the funeral of the Rev. David Simpson, and particularly by the address then delivered; an event which he frequently alluded to in after-life, and generally with deep emotion. He returned from the school in Macclesfield to Manchester, and became a member of the Methodist society. His course in the Christian life was evidently progressive: "the spirit of bondage unto fear," painfully disclosing to him the corruption of his nature, and the sinfulness of his life, was succeeded by the Spirit of adoption," which bore testimony to his believing heart of his interest in the redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, effecting in him also that new and spiritual character which fitted him for the service of his divine Master in whatever sphere of life he might be called to move. The consistency of his religious profession and the gravity of his deportment, at this early period, may be concluded from the circumstance, that in his seventeenth year he introduced family prayer into his father's house with the entire approval of his parents; and when about nineteen years of age he began to labour as a Local Preacher in Manchester and its immediate neighbourhood, under the direction of the venerable Alexander Mather. He did not enter upon this important work without much anxiety and serious reflection. He was greatly apprehensive of self-deception, and feared to run before he was sent but his path brightened before him; the ministry of the "word of reconciliation" became his delight; with much prayer, and entire dedication to God, he gave himself to the work of the Lord. With a view to the direction of his future life, he had been placed in the house of an eminent cotton merchant in Manchester. His employer was a good and benevolent man, of another denomination of Christians, who knew how to estimate his integrity and piety; and under such auspices, the prospects of Mr. Townley, in that metropolis of commerce and wealth, may be considered encouraging. But Providence had marked out for him another course. His employer, when informed by him that he was about to quit his service to become an Itinerant Preacher in the Methodist Connexion, replied, that he would not readily have consented to part with him for any other cause; and either then, or at an imme. diately subsequent interview, he generously presented him with one hundred pounds, for the purchase of books, as a token of his regard. In his twenty-second year, Mr. Townley was received on probation as a Travelling Preacher by the Wesleyan-Methodist Conference. From this time till the year 1832, when by a failure of health he was compelled to retire, a period of six-and-thirty years, he continued, with uniform consistency and increasing honour, to fulfil his duties as a Minister, and to occupy some of the most important offices of the Connexion to which he belonged. Without particularly mentioning the different Circuits to which he was successively appointed, it is sufficient to say, that many persons in each of them have in remembrance his intelligent and faithful ministry, tempered as it was with tenderness and discretion. In several instances his wise counsel and conciliatory deportment rendered him successful, under the divine blessing, in allaying some degree of uneasiness which had been excited in the societies under his pastoral care. The advantages resulting from his wise and gracious ministry in Stockport are well remembered. In Warrington, during his stay, the chapel was enlarged, and the society greatly increased; the debt, which had burdened the society, was also considerably reduced. In Bradford he saw a revival of the work of God; and under the date of January 19th, 1826, he writes, "Mr. T. H. Walker and I met some of the persons who have received good during the revival: seventy-six were present, who professed to enjoy the blessing of entire sanctification; and more than forty to have received a sense of justification. It was a most blessed time. Glory be to God alone." Many indeed were the seals of his ministry; even after he was laid aside by affliction, his heart was sometimes made to glow with gratitude, and his eyes to fill with tears, by the intelligence of one and another who had been brought to God under his ministry, and by his visitation of the sick in past years, when he had not been immediately acquainted with the fruit of his labours. The life of a Methodist Preacher, attentive to the great business of his calling, is at all times one of much exertion; his Sunday ministrations, and his daily engagements in the pulpit and at the bedside of the afflicted, throughout an extensive Circuit, make large demands on his mental and physical energies. Mr. Townley found this to be the case in his own experience; yet, by economy of time, and by persevering diligence, he successfully cultivated sacred literature; and presented to the world several publications of considerable merit and value; besides those occasional compositions, which do not bear his name, some of them having only a temporary or local interest. In addition to the advantages of education, Mr. Townley had received the impulse arising from early literary associations. While in Manchester. he had become a member of a Philological Society, originated by the late Dr. Adam Clarke; and, in common with many other young men, was urged, by the example and exhortations of that celebrated scholar, to great diligence in the pursuit of knowledge, the fruits of which were seen throughout his future course. His first publication of note was a volume of "Biblical Anecdotes," which appeared in the year 1814. He had been desired by his children to preach them a sermon on the history of the holy Scriptures, and on the early translations of them into different languages. As he found that they and others were delighted with the facts he had collected and arranged for their information, he yielded to the further request of his family, and prepared the volume already mentioned. In the Methodist Magazine for that year, it is said, that "the work abounds with important and interesting matter, well digested and well expressed, and contains proper references to the authorities by which the historic facts recorded in it are supported." ་་ The work which next proceeded from his pen was one which procured to him considerable celebrity in the literary and religious world. Appearing about seven years after the publication of his Biblical Anecdotes," it affords striking evidence that he continued his diligent researches into ecclesiastical history and sacred criticism, with unabated ardour. It was entitled Illustrations of Biblical Literature, exhibiting the History and Fate of the Sacred Writings, from the Earliest Period to the present Century, including Notices of Translators and other eminent Biblical Scholars." ་་ ་་ It was no small tribute to its worth, that a review of it, for the Methodist Magazine, was written by one of the most accomplished Biblical scholars of the present day. He thus describes it :-" These volumes present a connected view of the history of Biblical translations from the earliest date to the present century, and are enriched by most copious and interesting biographical notices of the most eminent scholars and critics, and such occasional sketches of the history of the manners and superstitions of the darker ages, as may illustrate the advantages to be derived from a more general dissemination of the inspired writings." The magnitude and extent of the research required in the compilation of this elaborate work can only be fully appreciated by those who have been engaged in similar pursuits. Many volumes had to be read, in some cases, for the composition of a single page, and those volumes in old monkish Latin or in obsolete French. To ascertain a date, it was often necessary to search and compare many writings of his predecessors; and frequently had he to suspend his proceedings for several weeks, whilst waiting for books to be sent from Germany or other parts of the Continent, to establish facts not otherwise to be correctly ascertained. His residence for several years in the neighbourhood of Manchester greatly favoured his design, by affording him free and constant access to the collegiate library in that town; an establishment so rich in ancient Biblical literature, that, when the late Archbishop of Dublin was compiling his work on the Atonement, he resided several weeks in Manchester for the sole purpose of having uninterrupted reference to the books there deposited. The literary excellence of Mr. Townley's erudite and valuable work was acknowledged in almost every respectable periodical of the day; and procured for him from an American University the well-earned honour |