Here lie The earthly remains of JOHN BERRIDGE, Late Vicar of Everton, And an itinerant servant of Jesus Christ, Who loved his Master, and His work, And after running on His errands many years, Was called up to wait on Him above. Reader, Art thou born again? No salvation without a New Birth! I was born in sin, February, 1716, Remained ignorant of my fallen state till 1730, Lived proudly on Faith and Works for Salvation Till 1751. Was admitted to Everton Vicarage, 1755. Fled to Jesus alone for refuge, 1756. Fell asleep in Christ Jesus, January 22, 1793. With the exception of the date of his death, it was written by the hand that moulders beneath the stone; it is characteristic that its writer caused himself to be buried in that part of the churchyard where, up to that time, only those had been interred who had destroyed themselves, or come to an ignominious end. Before his death he had often said that he would take this effectual means of consecrating that unhallowed spot. This epitaph sufficiently shows that John Berridge was an original character. Southey says of him that he was a buffoon and a fanatic. Southey’s judgments about the men of the Revival were frequently as shallow as they were unjust; he must have felt a sharp sting when, as doubtless was the case, he heard the well-known anecdote of George IV., who, on reading Richard Watson’s calm reply to Southey’s attacks on the Methodist leaders, exclaimed, as he laid down the book, “Oh, my poor Poet Laureate!” He deserved all that and a good deal more, if only for the verdict we have quoted on Berridge. So far as scholarship may test a man, John Berridge was most likely a far deeper scholar than Dr. Southey; he was a distinguished member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and for many years read and studied fourteen hours a day; but he was an uncontrollable droll and humourist; pithy proverbs fell spontaneously along all his speech. As one critic says of his style, “It was like granulated salt.” As a preacher, he was equal to any multitudes; he lived among farmers and graziers, and the twinkling of his eye, all alive with shrewd cheerfulness, compelled attention even before he opened his lips. The late Dr. Guthrie, not long before his death, thought it worth his while to republish _The Christian World Unmasked; pray Come and Peep_; and it is characteristic of Berridge throughout.