William Black: The Apostle of Methodism in the Maritime Provinces of CanadaMacLean, John
Religion
William Black: The Apostle of Methodism in the Maritime Provinces of Canada
MacLean, John
Black, William, 1760-1834; Wesleyan Methodist Church -- Clergy -- Biography
He was a man of prayer, rising early to be alone with God. Never did
hunter pursue game with greater zest than he in his passion for the
souls of men. His sermons had ever in view the conversion of sinners,
and he often employed his pen in writing to individuals about
salvation. Three of these letters addressed respectively, to Lawyer
Hilton of Cornwallis, Major Crane of Horton, and James Noble Shannon
of Horton, who afterwards removed to Parrsboro where he died, breathe
a spirit of intense solicitude, and remind one of the writings of
Richard Baxter the noble Puritan. In the letters he pleads with these
gentlemen to seek salvation, and with such arguments, persuasive
speech and love, that they were effective in leading them to Christ.
In conversation he was chaste in language and always spiritual. In one
of his letters to his father-in-law, he pleads with him to be
reconciled to God, and after pressing home the truth with fidelity
without rudeness, he concludes; "This is the religion, in the
propagation of which I desire to spend my life. This I recommend to my
father. But I stop, perhaps I offend. I did not think of saying half
so much. But this is my darling topic, and therefore I must beg you to
bear with me." He was charitable towards others, though he differed
with them in religious belief, and with commendable liberality, he
held both ministers and people of the Anglican faith in the highest
esteem, and associated with the Baptists often preaching in their
churches, even going so far, though believing in the validity of
sprinkling as a mode of baptism, as to baptize by immersion, those who
desired that mode of having the ordinance administered. Whilst holding
tenaciously the doctrines and institutions of Methodism, he loved
those who were united to him by a common faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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