“Fate has divided all our shares Of pleasure and of pain; In love the comforts and the cares Are mix’d and join’d again. “But whilst in floods our sorrow rolls And drops of joy are few, This dear delight of mingling souls Serves but to swell our woe. “Oh, why should bliss depart in haste, And friendship stay to moan? Why the fond passion cling so fast, When every joy is gone? “Yet never let our hearts divide, Nor death dissolve the chain: For love and joy were once allied, And must be joined again.” For several years the ministry of Mr. Nokes, at Beccles, was attended with success. In the early part of 1710, however, there were some things in him of which his people disapproved; chiefly, it has been supposed, his disposition to conform. But he was not hastily or harshly dismissed. The case was submitted to the ministers of the neighbouring churches in Norfolk and Suffolk, for their advice. {172} The result was, however, a determination, recorded in the church book and signed by the deacons and several other members, to withdraw their communion from him, with a renewed resolution stedfastly “to adhere to their church covenant, and pursue the common interest of Christ among them.” Mr. Nokes did not, as has been imagined, immediately conform. In the same year in which he left Beccles, he undertook the charge of the congregation at Ropemaker’s Alley, London, which had been for many years under the pastoral care of Mr. Walter Cross, a minister of considerable attainments. {173a} In 1712, Mr. Nokes had a good living given him in the Church of England, {173b} which he accepted. Little more is known of him. Mr. Harmer says, “he was afterwards disordered in his mind, and died in one of the streets of London;—some think, on the steps of St. Andrew’s church, Holborn.” {174} * * * * * For about a year the church was without a pastor. On the 16th May, 1711, MR. EDMUND SPENCER was received into communion with them, preparatory to his assuming that office. They seem to have been very happy with him for many years. But growing old and infirm, he received a good deal of uneasiness from a part of the congregation, who wished him to resign. The mischief was greatly aggravated through the undue influence exercised by an individual who introduced some preachers from a distance. These occupied the pulpit, while the aged pastor consented to continue preaching in a private house. The most eminent ministers of Norfolk and Suffolk evinced the greatest respect for Mr. Spencer, and expressed their disapprobation of what they regarded as a sad violation of Christian tenderness. Mr. Spencer was pastor at Beccles nearly twenty-five years, and died there about 1736. His remains were carried to Norwich, and deposited in the Congregational meeting-house, St. Clement’s,—several of his own people attending.