THE

BAPTIST MISSIONARY MAGAZINE.

VOL. XIX.

MAY, 1839.

NO. 5.

Memoir of Rev. Jesse R. Hampson, grace of God, and as fellow-laborers in

An accepted Missionary of the A. B. Board of

Foreign Missions.

JESSE R. HAMPSON was born March 20th, 1804, at Mill Creek, Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania. As he was blessed with pious parents, whose example and instruction were adapted to exert a happy influence upon their children, it is by no means strange that, from very early life, he was inclined to seriousness, and often was more or less deeply impressed with the importance of experimental religion. It was not, however, till he had attained the age of twenty-one or twenty-two years, that he gained satisfactory evidence of his own personal interest in Christ. Soon after, viz. in the year 1826, he publicly professed faith in the Lord Jesus, and yielded himself, in willing, joyful obedience, to his example and command, by being buried with him in baptism, and uniting in fellowship with the Baptist church in his native town, of which his father was then a deacon. Our young friend was the first youth that became connected with the church in that place; but his union with it was soon followed by that of a number of his youthful associates. Deeply impressed himself with the worth of souls, as measured by a Savior's death, and impelled by the inexpressible joys of a hope full of immortality, he gladly sought out and embraced convenient opportunities of introducing the subject of personal religion to his young companions. Nor did he labor in vain. Within the space of a single year, he enjoyed the rich gratification of welcoming nearly half a score of those whose salvation he had so earnestly sought, as participants with him of the

the cause of their Lord and Master.

It is not surprising that, coming forward under such circumstances, possessing promising gifts, and a heart warmly engaged in the promotion of religion and virtue, he was looked upon as a rare example of pious consecration, and drew down upon himself the notice and the admiration of both old and young. To one of different temperament, and with less of genuine humility, this might have been a fatal, or at least a severely injurious trial; but, by the grace of God, he was preserved from undue exaltation; and the early exercise of watchfulness over his own heart, which was thus made imperative, became of permanent benefit to him afterward.

Not very long after this period, he began to be seriously impressed with the conviction that it might be duty for him to devote his life to the work of the Christian ministry. An humble sense of his own insufficiency, and the want of better literary advantages than he had enjoyed, seem to have been the principal impediments to his yielding up his mind to a full conviction of duty on this subject. Even these obstacles do not appear to have led to an abandonment of the idea that Divine Provdence might yet open the way for his acquiring some of those useful requisites, without which he could not bear to think of responsibilities so vast and solemn. This period of suspense was one of spiritual profit to his own soul, and his daily growth in grace and in knowledge, together with his steadfastness in the doctrines and duties of his Christian profession, pointed him out to the church in Williamsburg, whither he had removed, and of which he was a member, as one whose gifts

should not be buried in a private station. By the earnest persuasion of the leading members of the church, he was induced to exercise his gifts in a more public manner; and the satisfaction resulting from these incipient efforts, was so universal, that the unqualified approbation and license of the church was given him as a preacher of the gospel.

It was a happy circumstance for him, that his best and wisest friends in the church, instead of seeking to engross him in present labors, and keep his mind still immature and unfurnished for the great work to which he was henceforth to be devoted, acquiesced most cheerfully in the propriety of his own convictions that he ought to make such arrangements as would enable him to give his time principally to studies directly subservient to his great object. At this time he was engaged in mercantile business, with an enterprising partner, and in a flourishing establishment. He had begun to taste of success, and was in just those circumstances which are ordinarily most alluring to the ardent minds of young men. It may readily be conceived, therefore, that he had to meet a worldly temptation of no inconsiderable power, when called to renounce these flattering prospects. But his love to Christ and to souls enabled him with cheerful promptness to make the required sacrifice. Immediately he "conferred not with flesh and blood," but was obedient to the heavenly mandate which beckoned him away. In a letter addressed by him to the Rev. Dr. Brantly, then of Philadelphia, he describes with honest simplicity his early course of life, as the son of a farmer in moderate circumstances, with a numerous family of children, who all received a common backwoods education. He goes on to express his own desire for additional advantages, and the plans he had formed for securing them, viz. to fit himself first for a teacher of a common school, and then spend one year in giving instruction, that he might procure the means of farther literary advancement. He had pursued this plan until his health failed; and he had then been compelled to resort to more active employment than teaching. The chief purpose of the letter, after modestly explaining his circumstances, was to inquire for a manual labor school, where he might secure exercise and thereby promote his health, at the same time that he was striving to enrich his mind.

Such a situation he found in the Haddington Institution, near Philadelphia, to which he came in the fall of 1833. He entered immediately upon the course marked out for him in that seminary, and for three years (with some slight interruptions, occasioned by ill health,) he prosecuted his studies, under the direction of the faculty, with honor to himself and satisfaction to them. His mind, if not of the very first order, was well balanced and highly respectable; and his acquisitions were such as might put to shame many a versatile genius, so vain of its powers of rapid progress as to be unable to confine its soarings to a steady and useful course of study. In acquiring ancient languages, and especially a biblical familiarity with the Greek and Hebrew, he evinced great satisfaction; and his advancement, considering the limited time he could apply to these acquisitions, was highly commendable. It has been remarked of him by an intimate associate, "that being naturally fond of retirement, he found it less difficult than many, to withdraw from society, and concentrate his powers in the pursuit of that knowledge for which he had a thirst so ardent and insatiable." But whether this peculiarity of his disposition be regarded as cause or effect, the results were equally satisfactory.-Soon after entering the Institution at Haddington, he transferred his church relation to the Spruce Street Baptist Church, Philadelphia; and almost every Sabbath found him engaged in some destitute place in the vicinity, with eager desires to proclaim the unsearchable riches of the gospel to the perishing. These labors were not in vain. Many can testify to the fidelity and power with which he uttered the messages of salvation, and the Lord made his testimony effectual in several instances to the awakening and conversion of souls. There are those in whose cherished recollections his image will long remain identified with the pious conversation, the earnest importunity, and the consistency of a holy and devout example, by which they were instrumentally led to give the subject of religion more serious regard than before; some of whom have already been led to embrace the Savior as their only hope.

As he was often called to minister to destitute churches on the Sabbath, a solicitude was expressed that he should receive ordination, that he might be

duly authorized to administer the ordinances of the gospel. It is believed that in assenting to this, he rather yielded to the importunity of others, than to an intelligent conviction of its | propriety at that time, or to any feeling of desire for this premature investment with official honors. Though, as a general rule, the ordination of students, while engaged in prosecuting a course of preparation for usefulness, is decidedly to be deprecated, yet there were here some special reasons for exception; and, by the request of the church of which he was a member, he was ordained as an evangelist, the 26th of Jan., 1835.

In the autumn of the following year, the Baptist Church in Blockley, to which he had frequently ministered, and which for a considerable period anterior to this time, had been in a destitute and broken state, vexed with schism and party, as well as depressed with coldness and remissness in duty, were induced to solicit his services as their pastor. His mind was long and painfully exercised with doubt in reference to his path of duty. On one hand, he desired still farther to prosecute his studies, and to carry out some plans which seemed incompatible with so early a settlement. On the other, the distressed situation of this church, | the importunity with which they pressed their suit, and the plea which was urged upon him that his refusal to accede to their wishes would probably result in their dissolution and ruin, kept his mind in painful indecision. At length he sacrificed his predilections, and to promote the advantage of others and, as he hoped, the cause of the Redeemer, he acceded to the request of the church, and, before the end of the year, was publicly recognized as their pastor.

In this new relation his labors were abundant, and to a very happy degree successful. Union and peace were restored to the church, and he was cheered by the privilege of welcoming a considerable accession to its numbers. The manner in which he bore the office and discharged the duties of pastor, gave entire satisfaction to his people, and, by the blessing of heaven, promoted their advancement in intelligent, practical godliness. This very success seems to have awakened in the bosom of Mr. Hampson those feelings and desires, in reference to a missionary life, which in a few months led him to offer himself for this service. There

is abundant evidence, that from the early period of his exercises in reference to his duty to become a preacher of the gospel, his mind had been directed to the great missionary field. In the letter above referred to, he says: "The condition of the Indians has deeply affected my feelings, for several years. I have had a great desire to go amongst them. I have made it a subject of much prayer that I might be led in the path of duty; and the desire bears with increased weight upon my mind."

He next mentions having seen an account of a translation of the scriptures into the Ojibwa language by the worthy Dr. James, which gave him great pleasure. He also intimates his desire, if that could be, of putting himself immediately under the instruction of Dr. J., that he might learn the language of that tribe, and go to teach the untutored savage the knowledge of the true God, and of a crucified Savior. These feelings of ardent desire for missionary toils, never left him during his course of studies. Although at times he feared that his precarious state of health, and the anxious solicitude of a now widowed mother, to have him near her, might throw insuperable obstacles in his way, yet he trusted in God, and hoped, rather than felt the assurance, that one day this cherished purpose might be realized, and he be permitted to stand on heathen ground. His desires in this respect, were very similar to those of the pious Samuel Pearce; and though neither of them was permitted to enter the missionary field, yet was not their willing self-consecration to this work in vain. Mr. Hampson, at this period, conferred freely with his personal friends, and the friends of missions in this vicinity, and the result was a determination on his part to offer himself to the Board. Their annual meeting, the last of April, 1837, was held in Philadelphia, and this gave him an opportunity to carry his design into execution. On the 15th of the following month he was appointed a missionary of the Board to India,

Within a few weeks after he received information of this appointment, he took a journey into the interior of the State, principally for the purpose of visiting that aged, widowed mother, whose strong reluctance to part with him, had been his chief hindrance to an earlier decision. He was absent several months; and though, in setting out on this journey, he had confidently

quiry after his welfare. Especially did he bear on his heart that missionary enterprise with which he had hoped to be identified. The Board, and all the missionaries in heathen lands, as well as the poor pagans for whom he had hoped to live, and toil, and with them die, these all shared his continual supplications. Without any manifestation of extatic fervor, he was blessed with continual peace. His reliance was not on his own frame and feelings, but on the perfect righteous

was unshaken, and on this solid foundation his hope rested immoveable. There was nothing of very peculiar interest, either to himself or to his friends, in the closing scene of life. Such was the weakness of exhausted nature, that he made very little effort to converse. Indeed, it seemed unnecessary. He had finished the work which God gave him to perform, and it only remained for him to die as he had lived, TRUSTING IN CHRIST ALONE. He fell asleep on Lord's-day evening, April 8, 1838, aged 34. His remains were followed to the grave by a numerous collection of friends, among whom were many of his brethren in the ministry. An appropriate discourse was delivered by the Rev. J. J. Woolsey, his successor in office as pastor of the Blockley Church. In the cemetery adjoining their place of worship, and by the side of the remains of the lamented Ashton, his dust has been deposited, to await the summons of the resurrection day.

reckoned on an improvement of his | in the form of constant and kind inhealth, which was rather delicate, it seemed to have a contrary effect, for he returned decidedly more feeble. Still it was hoped that a little rest, and the usual remedies, which he had been accustomed to employ with good effect, would soon restore him. But the event proved otherwise. The clouds seemed to return after the rain; one relapse followed another, until nature, exhausted by the frequent effort of her recuperative energies, sunk down entirely prostrated. Before the close of autumn, it was evident that consump-ness of his Redeemer. Here his faith tion had fixed its tenacious, unyielding grasp upon his vitals; and it only remained for friends to watch over the protracted sufferings of his remaining days, uncheered with any hope of his recovery. The sufferer himself was not ready, at first, to acquiesce in this conviction of the fatal character of his disease. He seemed to cling to life, not because he dreaded to think of its termination, but from the conviction that God had yet a work for him to perform on earth, and among the heathen. By degrees, however, this idea faded away, and, with a cheerful countenance, and evidently from a happy heart, he said, "The will of the Lord be done." After this period, he still lingered for some ten or twelve weeks, in the perfect possession of his faculties, an example of patience, resignation, and hope. His was a privileged chamber; and proximity to the grave, and to eternity, shed around him a holy and cheerful calmness, as foreign to the melancholy and gloom which are the usual concomitants of the scene of death, as was the Christian composure of this young man unlike the trifling and evanescent joys of the worldling. He conversed freely with his friends on every appropriate topic, gave minute directions in reference to his secular affairs, entered with kind and benevolent sympathy into the feelings and condition of those around him, and especially manifested a most devotional spirit; a frame of mind which made prayer and praise ever welcome to his feelings. Whenever the privilege could be enjoyed, he united with his ministering brethren, in offering up their petitions at his bedside; but he was not dependent on such aid. His communion with heaven seemed continual. His prayers were offered for his relatives, for the church of which he had been pastor, and whose sympathizing tenderness now followed him

Such, briefly, was the earthly course of our beloved brother, and such his departure from this world of suffering, to one of peace and holy rest. While he was yet with us, he was devoted, in a high and peculiar sense, to the cause of missions to the heathen, and when his wasting frame and hopeless decline forbade all reasonable expectations, that in person he might go far hence to proclaim a Saviour's love to the benighted nations, with "the ruling passion strong in death," he gave his little all of worldly substance to promote this sacred object. So early, however, was his removal, and so humble and unobtrusive had been his whole course of life, that he has left behind him no abiding tangible memorial; and beside these pages, and the simple marble slab which covers his grave, no public record will remain, to perpetuate his memory. [Comm.]

American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions.

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF MR. arch over a large tract of territory, but