SALTERS' HALL.-English Presbyterian. ately within the design of our work; yet sufficient has been said in some former pages to give the reader a general idea of their nature, and we shall have occasion, in some subsequent articles, to recur again to the subject. In this place it will be sufficient to observe, that Arianism having made some progress in the West of England, and many Dissenting ministers being suspected of having caught the infection, the good people at Exeter, and some other places, wrote to London for advice, as to the best mode of proceeding in this business. Several fruitless journies were made upon the occasion; and on the 19th of February, 1718-19, the general body of Dissenting ministers, in and about London, was convened together at Salters'-Hall, to consider of advices for peace, to be sent to their brethren at Exeter. But they soon began to fall out among themselves, upon the expediency of subscribing a test of their own orthodoxy. This met with considerable opposition; and the ministers, at length, dividing, there appeared 53 for a subscription, and 57 against it. The breach now grew wider and wider, and produced much recrimination on both sides. Each party sent their own advices to Exeter; but they had very little effect towards allaying the heats in that city. It is no part of our design to enter into the merits of the question which occasioned the above decision. The respectable characters of the ministers who appeared on both sides, prevents our impeaching their motives. The one thought that error would be more effectually checked by a declaration of their own faith in the Trinity; while the other considered that such a declaration would be an infringement of their Christian liberty. In times of abounding error, it certainly is not only lawful, but highly proper that all who have the interest of religion at heart, should exert themselves by every justifiable method to stem its progress; but how far it is right in such cases, to propose a test for general adoption, we must confess, we entertain considerable doubts. The progress and issue of ecclesiastical synods and councils in different ages of SALTERS'-HALL.-English Presbyterian. the church, make us very suspicious of the propriety of such assemblies; at least, when they are called to decide upon matters of faith. The good they have done is very problematical-the evil certain, and incalculable. The ill temper discovered by both parties, at the Salters'-Hall synod, had a very ill aspect upon the cause of religion, especially of Nonconformity; and gave advantage to their enemies to speak all manner of evil against them. Numerous lampoons were issued forth by the high-church party, who laboured to place them in the most ridiculous light. One of the most singular of these productions was, "The Anatomy of the Heretical Synod of Dissenters at Salters'-Hall;" subjoined to an infamous high-flying book, called, "The Scourge ;" written by one Thomas Lewis, and accompanied by a satirical frontispiece. The ministers of Salters'-Hall, from the earliest accounts that can be obtained, have been as follows: SALTERS-HALL-English Presbyterian. RICHARD MAYO. This excellent Divine was born about the year 1681, but at what place we are no where informed. As he is wholly passed over by the Oxford historian, it is probable that he received his education in the Univer sity of Cambridge. The instrument appointed by Providence for his first awakening, was the Rev. John Singleton, a gentleman well known in London for his great skill in the education of youth. Of the prudence and piety of this worthy person, he always spoke with a mixture of delight and thankfulness.* Mr. Mayo being impressed with a strong sense of religion himself, was earnestly desirous to inculcate the same spirit in others. He, therefore, entered very young upon the ministerial office. With the sphere of his early labours we are entirely unacquainted. It appears, however, that in the different places of his abode, he left behind him a pleasing savour of those excellent talents with which Providence had favoured him. In process of time, he was fixed in the living of Kingston-upon-Thames, in the county of Surry, where he had a large opportunity for service, and his labours were crowned with abundant success. Here he continued many years; and though the circumstances of the times compelled him, at length, to quit the place, yet his name and memory continued to live many years in the affectionate remembrance of his people. During his residence at Kingston, he preached for several years a weekly lecture at Whitechapel church, London, where multitudes flocked to hear him, insomuch that the place became literally thronged. The life and zeal he discovered upon these occasions, were more than ordinary; and he was the happy means of working a deep sense of religion in the people.+ At length, the fatal day arrived, when so many excellent * Mr. N. Taylor's Sermon on the Death of the Rev. Richard Mayo, p. 25. + Ibid. VOL. II. SALTERS'-HALL.English Presbyterian. and useful ministers were ejected from their stations in the church, and driven into comparative obscurity. Mr. Mayo not being able to satisfy himself in the terms of conformity, was compelled to resign his living; but as he did not receive his ministry of man, so he could not consent to lay it aside at the command of man, considering himself under a prior obligation to preach the gospel of Christ.* After the fatal act of Uniformity, he experienced a variety of changes, till Providence fixed him in Londen, towards the latter end of the reign of Charles II. His first place of worship was Buckingham-house, College-hill; but after the Revolution, his people built the present meeting-house at Salters'Hall. Here he had a large and flourishing congregation; and continued many years an affectionate and useful preacher.‡ His discourses were solid and substantial, calculated at once to affect and instruct his hearers. The subjects he handled embraced the most important topics of revealed religion. Christ crucified was the continual theme of his discourses, from which he derived the strongest motives to practical religion. Mr. Taylor notices these excellencies in his preaching that it was methodical, clear, and derived naturally from his text. The success he met with was very great; as appeared abundantly in the lives and conversations of his hearers. Mr. Mayo was a man of great learning and ingenuity; and well skilled in polemical and practical divinity. As he was a firm friend of peace and union, so he pursued them with unwearied zeal in the midst of discouragements. He possessed great sweetness of natural temper, and in the whole of his conduct discovered remarkable sincerity and prudence.§ After the division in the Pinners'Hall lecture, and the establishment of a new one at Salters' SALTERS'-HALL.English Presbyterian. Hall, he was one of the first chosen to complete the numbers at the latter place.* The end of this good man, like the setting sun in a serene evening, was brilliant, and without a cloud. Though he possessed naturally a strong constitution, and enjoyed for many years, a considerable share of health, yet experience has taught us that these advantages are no security against the attacks of the last enemy. A variety of disorders eventually seized him, and issued in his death, after an illness of six weeks continuance. During this interval, his mind was serene and peaceful. To Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, who visited him, he said, "I have not, indeed, those raptures of joy which some have felt, though yet, blessed be God, I have sometimes tasted of them too, but I have a comfortable well-grounded hope of eternal life." At another time he observed, "I have had my infirmities and failings; but my heart hath been right with God as to the main, and I look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Again, "I know that I have passed from death unto life— Blessed be God for our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath delivered me from the wrath to come." When the lamp of life was nearly extinguished, and he expected every moment to be his last, he expressed himself with more than ordinary cheerfulness in the words of the Psalmist, "Into thy hands I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth." He would often say in his sickness, "If God hath any pleasure in me, and any more work for me to do, he will raise me up; but if not, lo, here am I, let him do with his servant what seemeth him good." In this happy frame did this good man enter upon his everlasting sabbath, about five o'clock on Lord's-day morning, Sept. 8, 1695, in the 65th year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, his assistant, on 2 Cor. * Calamy's Continuation, p. 972. |