PORTRAIT AND EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BERRIDGE, M.A.

THROUGH the kindness of one of our correspondents, we are enabled to furnish our readers with a portrait of this truly great man, whose "praise is in all the churches where free grace is a welcome theme. Nothing that we may say can add to the esteem in which his memory is held. Jehovah has declared, "He will not leave himself without witness;" and JOHN BERRIDGE was one of those-shall we say it?-by which apostolic succession was maintained. Apostolic succession! what do we mean? The handing from Peter to the Pope, and from the Pope to the Cardinal, and from the Cardinal to the Bishop, and from the Bishop to the Priest, age after age, and generation after generation, in one unbroken link, an authority to preach, an authority to pardon, an authority to consign their fellow-men to perdition, or to liberate them from perdition? Is this what we mean by apostolic succession? Nay, nay! God forbid that we should take part in any such blasphemous intrigue against the prerogative of the Majesty of heaven! By apostolic succession we mean-what every Spirit-taught soul means-the outpouring, in their humble measure and degree, of the same Spirit of divine light, and love, and liberty with which the apostles were endowed; so that, be he lettered or unlettered-rich or poor-Episcopalian or non-Episcopalian-destined to preach in a cathedral or a barn-the man thus imbued with the Spirit maintains the true apostolic succession, by "preaching Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Annexed are some extracts from the Life in question.

The Rev. John Berridge was the eldest son of John Berridge, a respectable and wealthy farmer and grazier, residing at Kingston, in Nottinghamshire. He was born at Kingston, March 1, 1716, and spent the early years of his life chiefly with an aunt at Nottingham, where he also received an education suitable to the life he was intended for; viz., that of his father's business. "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." So it proved in this case; for, notwithstanding the pains bestowed on him by his father, he seemed to be quite unable to form a correct judgment of the value of cattle. This inaptitude to business, joined to his early impressions on religion, at last determined his father to send him to college, "in order," as he jocosely, but unthinkingly, said, "that he might be a light to lighten the Gentiles." This word, spoken in jest, was indeed marvellously true in his after life.

Berridge most readily fell in with his father's plan of sending him to college; and in his nineteenth year he entered at Clare Hall, Cambridge, on October 28, 1734, and took the degree of B.A. in 1738, and of M.A. in 1742. He pursued his studies with great eagerness, and attained much reputation as a scholar of great human learning, and became a Fellow of his College. His learning, joined to a great vein of humour, caused his company to be much sought for; and as "evil communications corrupt good manners," it is no marvel that his religious impressions soon wore off. He, at this time, even fell into Socinian views; i. e., denying the eternal Divinity of Christ; and also for ten years neglected private prayer, with the exception of a few short occasional intervals, when his conscience accused him, and he sighed out, "Oh, that it were with me as in years past!" At the end of this time he returned to his former religious sentiments, perceiving that these Socinian views not only lessened God the Son in his esteem, but God the Father also; and tended to promote no higher morality than what agreed with all the maxims and pleasures of the present world. This revival, however, of his former views, and mode of religious life, was but little, if any, better than a Pharisaic form of godliness, whilst he denied the power thereof.

Soon after, having a strong desire to exercise his ministry, he took the curacy of Stapleford, five miles from Cambridge, which he served for six years, and was then presented by his college to the vicarage of Everton, on the 7th of July, 1755.

In a letter written July 3, 1758, and therefore about three years after he came to Everton, and which was shortly after the remarkable change in his preaching, he writes as follows:-"When I was about the age of fourteen, God was pleased to show me that I was a sinner, and that I must be born again before I could enter into his kingdom. Accordingly, I betook myself to reading, praying, and watching; and was enabled hereby to make some progress in sanctification. In this manner I went on, though not always with the same diligence, till about a year ago. I thought myself in the right way to heaven, though as yet was wholly out of the way; and imagining I was travelling towards Sion, though I had never yet set my face thitherwards. Indeed, God would have shown me that I was wrong, by not owning my ministry; but I paid no regard to this for a long time, imputing my want of success to the naughty hearts of my hearers, and not to my own naughty doctrine.

"You may ask, perhaps, what was my doctrine? Why, dear Sir, it was the doctrine that every man will naturally hold whilst he continues in an unregenerate state; viz., that we are to be justified partly by our faith, and partly by our works. This doctrine I preached for six years at a curacy which I served from college; and though I took some extraordinary pains, and pressed sanctification upon them very earnestly, yet they continued as unsanctified as before, and not one soul was brought to Christ. There was, indeed, a little more of the form of religion in the parish, but not a whit more of the power. At length I removed to Everton, where I have lived altogether. Here, again, I pressed sanctification and regeneration as vigorously as I could; but finding no success, after two years' preaching in this manner, I began to be discouraged; and now some secret misgiving arose in my mind, that I was not right myself. (This happened about Christmas last). Those misgivings grew stronger, and at last very painful. Being then under great doubts, I cried unto the Lord very earnestly, 'Lord, if I am right, keep me so; if I am not right, make me so. Lead me to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.' After about ten days' crying unto the Lord, he was pleased to return an answer to my prayers, and in the following wonderful manner :As I was sitting in my house one morning, and musing upon a text of Scripture, the following words were darted into my mind with wonderful power, and seemed, indeed, like a voice from heaven; viz., Cease from thine own works.' Before I heard these words, my mind was in a very unusual calm; but as soon as I heard them, my soul was in a tempest directly, and tears flowed from my eyes like a torrent. The scales fell from my eyes immediately, and I now clearly saw the rock I had been splitting on for nearly thirty years.

"Do you ask what this rock was? Why, it was some secret reliance on my own works for salvation. I had hoped to be saved partly in my own name, and partly in Christ's name; though I am told there is salvation in no other name, except in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts iv. 12). I had hoped to be saved partly through my own works, and partly through Christ's mercies; though I am told we are saved by grace, through faith, and not of works (Eph. ii. 7, 8). I had hoped to make myself acceptable to God, partly through my own good works, though we are told that we are accepted through the Beloved (Eph. i. 6).

"And now let me point out to you the grand delusion which had liked to have ruined my soul. I saw very early something of the unholiness of my nature, and the necessity of being born again. Accordingly I watched, prayed, and fasted too, thinking to purify my heart by these means, whereas it can only be purified by faith (Acts xv. 9), Watching, praying, and fasting, are necessary duties; but I, like many others, placed some secret reliances on them, thinking they were to do that for me-in part, at leastwhich Christ only could. The truth is, though I saw myself to be a sinner, and a great sinner, yet I did not see myself an utterly lost sinner, and therefore I could not come to Jesus Christ alone to save me; I despised the doctrine of justification by faith alone, looking on it as a foolish and dangerous doctrine. I was not yet stripped of all my righteousness-could not consider it as filthy rags; and therefore I went about to establish a righteousness of my own, and did not submit to the righteousness of God by faith (Rom. x. 3). I did not seek after righteousness through faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. Thus I stumbled and fell (Rom. ix. 31, 32). In short, to use a homely similitude, I put the justice of God into one scale, and as many good works of my own as I could into the other; and when I found, as I always did, my own good works not to be a balance to the Divine justice, I then threw in Christ as a make-weight. And this every one really does who hopes for salvation partly by doing what he can for himself, and relying on Christ for the rest.