Henry Jessey, A.M. — John Canne — Vavasor Powell — Abraham Cheare
"Besides his constant labours in the work of the ministry, there was another profitable work wherein his soul was engaged, and in which he took great pains for divers years, and this was no less than the making a new and more correct translation of the Holy Bible."He was very industrious, in the first place, to understand fully those languages in which it was written: the Hebrew and Greek Testaments he constantly carried about him, frequently calling one his 'sword and dagger,' and the other his 'shield and buckler.' And besides the Hebrew and Greek, he studied the Syriac and Chaldee dialects, which the unlearned Jews spoke in their captivity. But, notwithstanding his qualifications in this and many other respects, he had not the vanity to think this a work fit for any single man to encounter with, and, therefore, sent letters to many
learned men of this and other nations, desiring their assistance and joint labours with him in this great design. And, by his persuasions, many persons of great note for their learning, faithfulness, and piety, did engage in it; particularly Mr. Rowe, the Hebrew professor of Aberdeen, took great pains with him herein. The writer of Mr. Jessey's life says that he made it the master study of his life, and would often cry out, 'Oh! that I might see this done before I die!'"In that book there is a specimen given of the errors he took notice of in the present translation, the rules he observed in correcting them, and the progress that was made in this work.
"It appears that it was almost completed, and wanted little more than the appointing commissioners to examine it, and authorize its publication, which was what he always intended, and of which he had from the first some assurances given him. But the great turn that was given to public affairs, both in Church and State, by the Restoration, caused this great and noble design to prove abortive." 1
"Whatever friend comes hither,
Despatch in brief, or go,
Or help me busied too."
"He spent his last days and nights in searching his heart, humbling his soul, extolling free grace, and exhorting all about him to keep close to God, to persevere in faith, and prepare for trials; adding, for their encouragement, the long experience he had had of the goodness of the Lord in all times and conditions. The last evening but one before his departure, having a mind to walk, he was led about the room, and often repeated this expression, 'God is good; He doth not lead me whither I would not, as He did Peter: good is the Lord to me.' Being soon tired, he sat down on his bed, and one who sat by him said, 'They among whom you have laboured can witness that you have been a faithful servant of Christ; making His glory your utmost end, for the good of their souls.' But he replied, 'Say no more of that; exalt God — exalt God.' He spent the first
part of his last night in blessing God and singing praises to His name, and fell asleep about eleven o’clock. Waking again between two and three, he fell into a wonderful strain of abasing himself, and admiring the love of God, 'that He, should choose the vilest, the unworthiest, and the basest,' which last word he repeated many times, and then cried out, 'Oh, the unspeakable love of God, that He should reach me, when I could not reach Him!' And when the cordial ordered for that night was brought, he said, 'Trouble me not — upon your peril, trouble me not!' He was then as if he had seen some glorious vision, or had been in a rapture . . . The last words he was heard to speak were these: — 'He counted me worthy.' And when the sound of his words ceased, his lips were observed still to move, and he seemed to be inwardly adoring that God whom, in his health, he served, feared, and praised, and made his boast of continually; whose law he preached, and whose goodness he proclaimed. Such was his habitual sense of the goodness of God, that, when he met an acquaintance, it was a common thing for him (after the usual salutations) to say, 'Verily God is good — blessed be His name — stick to Him.' . . . He was so great a Scripturist, that if one began to rehearse any passage, he could go on with it, and name the book, chapter, and verse where it might be found. The original languages of the old and New Testaments were as familiar to him as his mother tongue."2
"I received yours of the 11th of the seventh month, and in it a testimony of teaching and supporting grace and presence continued to you abroad, which He is pleased not to deny His poor worms here, in these holes of the earth, where violence hath thrust us in as so many slaughter-houses of men; but over-ruling grace makes them as the presence-chambers of the great King, where He brings and feasts His favorites with the best things, and proclaims among them, 'Thus shall it be done to them whom the King delights to honour.' This honour have not all, that yet are saints; much less have any this mercy, who either through the fear or formality of their unconverted souls are enforced shamefully to put off that profession which hypocritically they did put on in a day of seeming prosperity; not but these walls, as a draw-net, do enclose bad and good; but at length a discovery is made more manifest; he chooseth in this furnace of affliction, a week in a prison giving plainer discovery of a man's spirit than a month in a church."
[From J. M. Cramp, Baptist History, 1871; rpt. 1987, pp. 356-369. — jrd]