Midland Churches: A History of the Congregations on - General ...

elationship to Birmingham people as does that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ancient Chapel <strong>of</strong>
Toxeth to Liverpool.
David Lewis seems to be <strong>the</strong> first resident minister whose name has
.come down <strong>the</strong> stream <strong>of</strong> time. Mrs. Hutton Beale includes his gravestone
amongst those facsimiled in her sumptuous MEMORIALS OF THE OLD
MEETING. On it he is described aspastor
<strong>of</strong> a congregation <strong>of</strong> Protestant Dissenters assembling at King's Wood,
near this Town.
George Lewis, his son, who, for some time assisted him here before he
became afternoon preacher at Carter Lane, Doctors' Commons, is described
by Belsham, in his list <strong>of</strong> Daventry students, as-
eminently acceptable ; quitted <strong>the</strong> ministry ; and became a merchant.
John Hobson's name is twice met with in <strong>the</strong> MS. Minutes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Double Lectures for 1787, when he was second preacher at Dudley and
first at Oldbury.
Tingcombe, says his biographer*-
was characterized by benevolence, good sense, delicacy <strong>of</strong> feeling, and
particularly by humility.
His closing years were passed in Bristol, and it was <strong>the</strong>re, whilst on
his way to attend service at Lewin's Mead, that <strong>the</strong> illness came on him,
which, in a few hours, proved fatal. He preached a Dudley and an Old-
bury Lecture in 1794.
Moore was also a student at Daventry Academy ; alluding to it a few
months before his death, he said :-
There were, at <strong>the</strong> time I was at Daventry, upwards <strong>of</strong> fifty students in
<strong>the</strong> Academy ; indeed, it was <strong>the</strong> most flourishing period <strong>of</strong> that institution ;
and I once heard Mr. Robins (Mr. Belsham's predecessor) say that he never
knew so many young men, respectable, both for <strong>the</strong>ir talent and good
conduct, in <strong>the</strong> establishment at one time.
For some time prior to his relinquishing his connection with <strong>the</strong> Kings-
wood society, he lived in Birmingham-
where he kept a day school, which he continued for many years in London,
whi<strong>the</strong>r he removed with his family about 1810, in which year was printed
his " Sermon on <strong>the</strong> Sin and Folly <strong>of</strong> Cruelty to Brute Animals, preached
at Kingswood, and also at <strong>the</strong> New Meeting, Birmingham.
Rees Lloyd was a man <strong>of</strong> sterling excellence, and to <strong>the</strong> last had, to
use his own words-
a strong faith in <strong>the</strong> mercy <strong>of</strong> God to penitent man, as that mercy is
revealed through His Son Jesus."
The story <strong>of</strong> " Euthanasy " Mountford's life was tenderly and touchingly
told in <strong>the</strong> Inquirer, on 10 December, 1887, by Russell Lant Carpenter,
B.A., who had entered Manchester College, York, with him in 1833. His
best work was done .in <strong>the</strong> town <strong>of</strong> Icing's Lynn. 'Martyria,' a Legend,
wherein are contained Homilies, Conversations and Incidents <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Reign
<strong>of</strong> Edward <strong>the</strong> Sixth, first appeared in <strong>the</strong> Christian Pioneeq and after it
had been collected into a volume was republished by Dr. Huntingdon, <strong>the</strong>n
a very popular Unitarian minister at Boston, U.S.A., and one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> editors
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ReZzgioz~s Magazifze, and <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Christian Register. In King's Lynn he
also wrote " Christianity, <strong>the</strong> Deliverance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Soul and its Life." Dr.
Sadler says :--&Yr. Edwin Field thoz~ght very high& <strong>of</strong>' Martyria,' and from
some things in it was a?zxious that 2fountford should wyife a book on death. The
suggestion was conznzunicated, I think, throz~gh ~nyseg and <strong>the</strong> rep4 was that
'Euthanasy' was al~eady in pre$araz'ion. This work was first published in
Boston, its full title being " Euthanasy ; or Happy Talks towards <strong>the</strong> End
<strong>of</strong> Life." It comprises forty-three chapters, in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> conversations
between <strong>the</strong> aged Marham and Aubin, his nephew, who had not long to
live. It contains many passages <strong>of</strong> rare beauty, and--
brea<strong>the</strong>s a singularly thoughtful and elevated spirit <strong>of</strong> piety.
He could not have written it but for <strong>the</strong> great trials and sorrows
through which he had passed, while it bears evidence <strong>of</strong> his varied studies.
It cost him dear,
What with <strong>the</strong> writing <strong>of</strong> that book and <strong>the</strong> wretched climate, I was near
dying last autumn (1847).
He suffered from <strong>the</strong>-
aguish intermittent fever, <strong>the</strong> peculiar product <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> swamps
near King's Lynn, and though lie was greatly attached to many friends
<strong>the</strong>re, he did well to remove to Kingswood. At that time <strong>the</strong> Post Office
was three miles <strong>of</strong>f, <strong>the</strong>re were hardly twenty houses within a mile <strong>of</strong> him,
and almost all his acquaintances were farmers, and men who did not read
books.
"C.R., 1839, p. 631.