When sorrow fills thine eye with tears, Shall prove thy everlasting gain. When sin sits heavy on thy soul, And conscience wakes within thy breast, While clouds of terror round thee roll, And nought of earth can give thee rest; Hope thou in God-his pity gave A Saviour's precious blood for thee; Approach-his mercy humbly crave, And he from sin shall set thee free. When time to thee must be no more, And earth and all her pomp shall fade, Go, little messenger of peace, From Satan's bonds the soul release, And oh on him, whose feeble hand May ev'ry grace, by Heav'n's command, The wand'ring bark he stay, Edinburgh. Miscellaneous. SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF REV. JACOB GREEN, A. M. Agreeably to an intimation at the close of Mr. Green's autobiography, we are now to give some account of the last thirteen years of his life. We shall first take a brief view of what may be denominated his ministerial life; and then notice some incidents and transactions of H.E. a secular kind, in which he took a deep interest, and had a considerable agency. After what is stated in Mr. Green's own narrative, till the genele ral revival of religion in the congregation of which he was the pastor, and which took place in the year 1790, and in the midst of which, as we have already mentioned, his ministry was terminated by death, we know of nothing remarkable to record, among the people of his particular charge. He continued to serve them with his wonted fidelity and diligence; and after he relinquished the practice of medicine, which he did about eight years before his death, his time was almost wholly devoted to their spiritual concerns and interests. His health was frequently interrupted by short turns of illness, which, however, seldom prevented his preaching on the Sabbath, and did not much interfere with the discharge of his parochial duties. Some additions, it is believed, were every year made to the communion of his church; and to the last he possessed without diminution, the affection and veneration of the people to whom he ministered. With them, his opinions were considered as decisive, in almost every doubtful question; and the usages to which he had accustomed them were not easily changed by his successors-even in some cases in which changes, from altered circumstances, were desirable and proper. Thus, in the quiet but efficient performance of his pastoral duties, he passed the years that elapsed between the period at which his own narrative ends, and the time of his decease. He was infinitely overpaid for all his faithful labours, in a congregation which he served for four-and-forty years, by seeing them, at the close of his life, generally and earnestly inquiring what they should do to be saved, and many of them rejoicing in the hope of eternal life, through the abounding grace of their Lord and Redeemer. Mr. Green had a principal agency in forming the Morris county presbytery. The origin of this presbytery, and its first constituent members, will appear by a short extract from a pamphlet before us, of 62 quarto pages, and entitled, A VIEW OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT; con taining many interesting matters; with an address to our congregations, and an appendix, representting the case and circumstances of the aforesaid presbytery of Morris county-To which is subjoined a letter relative to the same subject. By the associated presbytery of Morris county." The extract is as follows: "Hanover, May 3, 1780. "We, ministers of the gospel, viz. Jacob Green, Amzi Lewis, Joseph Grover, and Ebenezer Bradford, for various reasons, which we think sufficient to justify ourselves, have withdrawn from the presbytery of New York, and from the synod of New York and Philadelphia; and without desiring or designing to make any unscriptural or uncharitable breach or se paration among ministers and churches, think proper to form ourselves into a voluntary society for promoting the interest of religion. And as we consider ourselves Presbyterians, in a scriptural sense, we agree to call ourselves and be known by the name of The Presbytery* of Morris County. And as it may be expected that we should give some reasons why we have withdrawn, we think the following sufficient:"-Then follows a statement of reasons, the sum of which is, that the parties forming the Morris County presbytery thought that the Presbyterianism of Scotland and of the synod of New York and Philadelphia (the General Assembly had not then been formed) was not entirely scriptural, and that "many of their rules, canons, or orders" were unduly and unscripturally restrictive of Christian liberty. In a word, the statement contained in our last number, of Mr. Green's "Tenets or Doctrinal sentiments," "We did not, for some reasons, use the word associated when we first formed, yet then supposed it proper in itself, and have since concluded to add it when we mention ourselves as a presbytery." as made by himself, exhibits the basis, and may be regarded as a fair epitome of this whole pamphlet. Nor shall we add any thing to the note with which we chose to accompany that statement; showing the reasons on which we differ on the subject of church order and government, from the opinions adopted by our venerated parent and his associates. The Morris county presbytery did not produce all the good effects which its founders (honestly we doubt not) expected, and almost predicted. Its influence was never extensive, and it gradually dwindled, till it has become nearly, if not altogether extinct. We believe that an individual or two, perhaps more, of those who have belonged to it are still in life; but if it ever meets or acts as a presbytery, the fact is unknown to us. Mr. Green was an ardent friend of liberty, both personal and social. He was more than half a century in advance of the public sentiment, on the subject of African slavery. He spoke against it, preached against it, wrote against it, and acted against it, while yet there were comparatively few who did not regard it as compatible with the rights of human nature and the spirit of the gospel. It was made a term of Christian fellowship and communion in the church of which he was pastor, that no Christian brother or sister should hold a human being in slavery; and it is among the earliest recollections of the present writer, that he had a perfect abhorrence of African slavery, derived from parental influence. When the controversy commenced between Great Britain and her American colonies, on the right of the parent state to tax the colonies without their consent, Mr. Green was among the earliest and most decided of those who thought and maintained, that the claim to such a right ought to be a As a resisted, even to the last extremity. He was in favour of the declaration of independence, and published a pamphlet to show its reasonableness and necessity, some time before that opinion had obtained the general suffrage. He was elected, although it was contrary to his wishes and remonstrance, as member of the provincial congress. of New Jersey, which set aside the royal government of that province, and formed the present constitution of that State; and he was chairman of the committee which draughted the constitution. soon, however, as it was ratified by the Congress, he left that body and returned, after about month's absence, to the duties of his pastoral charge; deeming it inconsistent with his clerical functions to engage in political concerns, except on some special emergency. He did not, however, think it incompatible with his ministerial duties, to employ his pen in writing occasionally for the public press, on important subjects. He even believed it to be incumbent on him to apprize the publick of what he was confident would be the result of the paper currency, with which the country was then inundated. His experience in early life had taught him a lesson on this subject which he well remembered. His paternal inheritance had been materially diminished, by the depreciation of the money denominated “ Old Tenor," in the then province of Massachusetts Bay: and when he saw some of his friends, and many individuals in every part of the country, selling their farms and houses, on the offer of what appeared to be an enormous price, he felt it to be his duty to give a publick warning of the loss which he was sure the sellers would sustain—and a loss indeed it proved, which many suffered, of nearly the whole of their estates and worldly prospects. The Continental Bills, as they were called, for which they had sold their possessions, became at last entirely worthless in their hands, or were redeemed at a rate little better than a total loss. Mr. Green, at this time, published in a newspaper, a series of essays over the signature of EUMENES, in which he foretold, with a precision as great as if it had been prophetick, the course and ultimate destiny of the "Continental Bills of Credit." These essays were republished in almost all the newspapers at that time in our country: and the plan which was laid down in these publications for the redemption of the "Continental currency," was in substance, and indeed almost exactly, that which the Congress eventually adopted. But in the mean time Mr. Green was denounced, in no measured terms, as acting the part of an enemy to his country, and if his long and well known character as a Whig of the most decided class, had not proved a protection to him, he would have been in danger of being tarred and feathered, the allotted punishment of tories in those days, and in that part of the country. For a publication, about this time, against African slavery, he did suffer a personal insult-so far as language could insult him-in his own house, by a company of slave holders, who paid him a domiciliary visit. He made them no irritating reply, but endeavoured to reason with them mildly, and requested them when about to leave his house, to pledge him in a mug of cider-but they were too angry to consent. When the state of New Jersey was overrun by the British troops, in the autumn of 1776, and the beginning of 1777, his prominence as a friend and favourer of the American revolution rendered him peculiarly obnoxious to the tories and the British troops-a corps of whom was, for a considerable time, within twelve miles of his residence. It was rumoured that a detachment of cavalry was ordered to make a prisoner of him, and to seize a few other individuals, who were stigmatized as leaders among the rebels. At the entreaty of his friends, he left his house for a single night, and lodged in a remote and obscure part of his parish; but he refused to do it in any other instance, although believed by many to be in great jeopardy. He had, indeed, on one occasion, good reason to think, for a short space, that he had acted with more resolution than prudence— About midnight, his house was actually surrounded by a company of light-horsemen; and sentinels, with drawn swords, were placed at the doors and windows. His wife entreated him to endeavour to secrete himself in some part of the house; but he told her, with great calmness-we write what we witnessed-that any such attempt would be useless, and that all he should do would be to dress himself as speedily as possible, that he might not be carried off naked. He did so; and then treated the men in whose power, and at whose mercy he perceived he was placed, with as much civility as possible. He opened the doors of his house to the invaders, and asked them to declare their purpose. It was then discovered that they were not British dragoons, but a lawless band of American cavalry, who, unknown to their officers, had come, on a night excursion, to search for tory property, which they had heard was concealed in the house of Mr. Green. He told them to search the house effectually, but begged them to take care of their candles, and not set fire to his dwelling, which he presumed they did not intend. He accompanied them to every place which they chose to examine; and they were soon satisfied that they had come to the wrong house to search for the goods of tories; and they left him without further molestation. His devotion to the cause of his country was indeed very ardent. The American troops were often, at that time, without regular supplies, both of food and clothing, and they used, occasionally, to commit serious depredations, especially on the poultry of the farmers. At a certain time he, in this way, suffered pretty sensibly himself; and his wife particularly lamented the loss of a fat turkey, that had been reserved for a Christmas dinner. But he rather justified what the soldiers had done, and quoted a text for he always went to the Bible for his ethicks-from the book of Proverbs-" Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." He could not always content himself to remain out of sight of the conflicts which took place between the British troops and the militia of his neighbourhood. On one occasion, the writer remembers that when he was marching under arms, with his comrades, to resist an incursion of the enemy-and he thinks it was the bloody one in which Mrs. Caldwell was shot by a British soldier-he saw his father on horseback, at a short distance, on an elevated spot, from which he might witness the pending contest. But enough of this-As characterising not only the subject of our narrative, but also the times in which some of the latter years of his life were passed, a recital of the incidents we have related was thought to be allowable. Besides the pamphlet and the essays already mentioned, Mr. Green published a number of occasional sermons, and two or three pamphlets of a religious character. The subjects of the sermons, that are recollected were-The nature of Natural and Moral Inability; The Sins of Youth visited with Punishment in subsequent Life; and The Nature of an acceptable Fast; preached on a fast day appointed by Congress. In this last discourse, he attacked African slavery, and sent a copy or two of it, when printed, to members of Congress. Of the pamphlet publications, we recollect only two.-The one was "A Small Help, offered to heads of families," on the religious instruction of their households. It consisted chiefly of questions on the historical parts of Scripture, with some remarks and directions, as to the manner in which his "Small help," might be most advantageously used. The other pamphlet was entitled "A Vision of Hell." It consisted chiefly of a dialogue between the devils, in the pit of eternal perdition, on the temptations which they had found most successful in ruining immortal souls. This pamphlet was, for several years, exceedingly popular, and passed through several editions. It was published without the author's name. left also, several manuscripts, one of which appears to have been prepared for the press. His numerous preparations for the pulpit, with two or three exceptions, are in Weston's short hand. He kept a diary for nearly half a centuryIt is written in short hand-except a margin containing a monthly account of the weather. He The last illness of Mr. Green was not of long duration. In May, 1790, the influenza was epidemick, and he was affected by it. The symptoms, however, did not seem threatening, and he did not consider himself as in a dangerous illness, till a very short time before his dissolution. He then appeared to be suffering under stupor, and although not incapable of answering rationally to any question that was asked him, he was not disposed to converse. He was at length apprized by his physician and his wife, that he was probably in the article of death, and was asked by her, what were his views |
