The Oxford Methodists : $b Memoirs of the Rev. Messrs. Clayton, Ingham, Gambold, Hervey, and Broughton, with biographical notices of othersTyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Oxford Methodists : $b Memoirs of the Rev. Messrs. Clayton, Ingham, Gambold, Hervey, and Broughton, with biographical notices of others
Though Bishop Gambold was a man of great learning, and of extensive
reading, especially in the early writings of the Christian Church, he
himself was not a voluminous author. Excepting his translations, and
the works he merely edited, all that he published of his own were two
sermons; his Short Summary of Christian Doctrine; a few Prefaces; and
some brief Hymns and Poems. In this respect, he differed widely from his
old friend Wesley. Then again, though an able and effective preacher,
his pulpit exercises were almost entirely confined to the small village
of Stanton-Harcourt, and the Brethren’s Chapel in Fetter Lane, London.
In this also, he differed, not only from Wesley, but from Whitefield.
Still, it would be incorrect to say, that his life, to a great extent,
was a useless one. Wesley, after publishing one of Gambold’s poetic
pieces, is reported to have said: “And this light was buried _under a
bushel_! How might he have enlightened all Christendom!”[140] We scarcely
concur in this. Gambold, notwithstanding his learning and his piety, was
constitutionally too timorous and retiring to be the man to enlighten
all Christendom; but, at the same time, he was of such service to the
Moravian Church, that, it is an extravagance to say, “his light was
buried under a bushel.” With all its weaknesses, follies, and faults, at
the beginning of its history, the Moravian Brotherhood set a Christian
and heroic example to other Churches, in its missions to the heathen; and
the man who chiefly helped to edify, purify, improve, and perpetuate such
a community, did no mean service to the cause of the Divine Redeemer.
Gambold’s poetry has been over-estimated by Methodist and Moravian
writers; and, perhaps also, his natural ability and learning; but all
must admit, that he was an exceedingly devout and earnest Christian;
and that, though he might, for a season, be somewhat tainted with
the religious lusciousness of the early Moravian society, his moral
character, from first to last, was without a speck.
Perhaps it ought to be added, that, a beautiful portrait of Gambold
was painted by Abraham Louis Brandt, an earnest and laborious Moravian
minister, and that an exquisite engraving from the original picture was
prefixed to Gambold’s works, when first published in 1789.
REV. JAMES HERVEY, M.A., THE LITERARY PARISH-PRIEST.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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