Excerpt from The Christian Graces, Faith, Hope and Love, Vol. 2
The situation and circumstances of the Christian during his state of discipline and probation upon earth, are singularly, awfully, and perilously, critical. His attention is divided between two worlds. He is placed amidst the scenes, the duties, the possessions, the trials of the one, all of which are ever appealing to the senses, and urging their claims upon the faculties and instincts of our nature, claims which he cannot, dare not, altogether resist or neglect; and yet amidst these objects always present to him, he is, upon peril of his immortal soul, supremely to value, pursue, and enjoy the objects of the other world, of which he knows nothing but by report. He must not neglect one just and proper interest of this life, to which he is related by ties both various and tender and yet he must regard, practically and constantly, as his highest interest, the life that is to come. He must, to a certain extent, mind the things on earth, and yet his affections must be set on things in heaven: the visible must not be neglected, yet the invisible must be supremely regarded: the temporal must be attended to in due season and measure, and yet the eternal must predominate. If this is easy, nothing is difficult. If this can be readily accomplished, how is it that so few succeed in accomplishing it.
John Angell James was an English Nonconformist clergyman and writer, born at Blandford Forum. After seven years apprenticeship to a linen-draper in Poole, Dorset, he decided to become a preacher, and in 1802 he went to David Bogue's training institution at Gosport in Hampshire. A year and a half later, on a visit to Birmingham, his preaching was so highly esteemed by the congregation of Carrs Lane Independent chapel that they invited him to exercise his ministry amongst them; he settled there in 1805, and was ordained in May 1806. For several years his success as a preacher was comparatively small; but he became suddenly popular in about 1814, and began to attract large crowds. At the same time his religious writings, the best known of which are The Anxious Inquirer and An Earnest Ministry, acquired a wide circulation.
He was one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. Municipal interests appealed strongly to him, and he was also for many years chairman of Spring Hill (afterwards Mansfield) College. He was also an ardent slavery abolitionist.
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