John Aquila Brown

Bruce,

 

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Jeff

DEATH.

On Wednesday, January 20th, at his house, Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, London, Mr. John Aquila Brown, for some time past the active and zealous secretary of the Philo Judean Society, in the 56th year of his age. He was for several years connected with the church and Sunday school at Jewin-street; also secretary to the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union, and a very useful member of the committee of the Sunday School Union.

Mr. Brown having been much exposed to the inclemency of the weather during the fire which happened near his house, took a severe cold. No alarming symptoms were at first manifested, but when, at length, he appeared in some danger, a physician was sent for; before he arrived, however, the hand of the fell destroyer, death, had snatched Mr. B. from this earthly scene, and his spirit had Winged its way to a heavenly abode. From the resting-place of his ashes will be heard the admonition – “ Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” –The Sunday School Teachers’ Magazine and Journal of Education, March 1830, Page 192.

MEMOIR OF JOHN AQUILA BROWN.

BENEVOLENCE is that disposition of mind, which, when genuine, is always attended with sufficient decision of character to excite the person who possesses it, to form greater projects, to devise more extensive plans, and to engage in more arduous labors, for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, than can ever be accomplished by a single individual.

“His heart contrives for their relief, More work than his own hands can do.”

Such a person contemplating, with the deepest feelings of sympathy, the misery which exists in the world as resulting from ignorance and sin, cannot suffer himself to rest in a state of inactivity; but fixing his mind on the amelioration of the condition of mankind, as an object worthy of his noblest efforts, he employs all suitable means to afford relief, to the illiterate, the wretched, and the abandoned part of the community.

An individual of this description was our lamented friend and fellow-laborer, JOHN AQUILA BROWN. His prevailing disposition was benevolence; his general plans of Operation were the result of intense thought; and his active exertions for the attainment of his philanthropic objects, were not to be impeded by any difficulties, however formidable.

Our acquaintance with Mr. Brown commenced at a time when the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union was in a languishing state, for want of proper officers to attend to the concerns of that institution. A special meeting was held in the year 1817, in the vestry room of St.--------church, in Silver-street, for the purpose of considering how the Auxiliary Union could be revived. Mr. B. attended that meeting, and such a man “could not be hid.” The interest he took in the proceedings of that evening, and his connexion with a flourishing Sunday school in the district, pointed him out to the meeting as a proper person to be elected SECRETARY to the Auxiliary Union; which was accordingly done unanimously. He with some diffidence and hesitation, at length consented to accept the office. His active mind speedily set him to work, and in connexion with the Committee, he revived and re-organized the Auxiliary, and brought it to a state of efficiency to which it had never previously attained.

Mr. B. took great interest in the establishment of the QUARTERLY CONFERENCE of Sunday School Teachers belonging to the North Auxiliary, and at its various meetings he manifested deep interest on every subject that was calculated to improve the minds of Sunday school teachers, to render the plans adopted in the various schools more effective, and to promote the prosperity of these useful institutions.

Mr. Brown held the office of secretary to the Jewin-street chapel Sunday school, from the year 1817 to 1827, during which period he had the principal superintendence, and general management of its affairs. His indefatigable exertions conferred great benefit on that institution, and the rules which he arranged for its general regulation were admirably adapted to answer the important purposes for which they were designed. He proposed, and established a Relief fund, for the assistance of the most necessitous scholars, which still continues in useful Operation.

In the year 1821, the EDUCATION BILL, as proposed to parliament by H. Brougham, Esq. M. P. claimed the strict examination of Mr. B. and after mature deliberation, so thoroughly convinced was he, that, if passed into a law, its tendency would prove injurious to the cause of Sunday schools, that he exerted his utmost influence to promote opposition to this measure. He accordingly drew up the resolutions which were passed by the North Union, and published in in the Teachers’ Magazine, vol. v. page 100; reference to which will show what were the opinions of himself and his co-adjutors on the proposed plan, which its advocates considered as likely to promote general education, but from which Mr. B. differed exceedingly.

At that time, he spared no trouble to collect an accurate account of the number of children who attended Sunday schools in the north district of the metropolis, and who also received education at day schools. On turning to the Teachers’ Magazine, vol. v. page 168, it will there be observed that nis communication to the Editor States, “I have now before me the returns from 19 Sunday schools, which contain 3,840 children, of whom are educated in day schools 1,594, being as near as possible, in the proportion of 41 to 10. It should also be observed, that by far the largest portion of the day school children are in the lowest classes, so that those who stand most in need of the instruction imparted in Sunday schools, would, in general, be deprived of the advantages which their age requires, were it not for the existence of such institutions.”

ln the same year, Mr. B. transmitted also to the Teachers’ Magazine a very forcible appeal which he had written “On the Education of Jewish Children.” vol. v. page 239.

“The attention of Sunday school teachers has lately been directed to the gipsy babes, and shall the children of Abraham be neglected? Forbid it honesty, charity, and Christianity; all our comforts and religious advantages have descended to us from the Jews; consequently they have the first claim to our benevolence, O, let it be extended to their young and rising generation; let the different auxiliaries open schools exclusively for their instruction; let the Old Testament be the school book, and I am satisfied they will attend. I speak not at random, for I have four Jews in the school under my own care, who attend on these conditions,—that they read the Old Testament exclusively, and return home instead of going to chapel.”

This extract will serve to show the extreme ardor of his mind towards “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and will in a great measure account for his sub sequent secession from several societies to pursue more vigorously the plans which he had formed and unfolded for benefiting the Hebrew nation in its present scattered condition.

Mr. Brown, as a representative of the North London Auxiliary, was a member of the Committee of the Sunday School Union, and during his connexion with this institution, he was remarkable for his constant attendance at the meetings, and his close application to the business of the society. While secretary to the book Department, his exertions and habits of business contributed greatly to the firm establishment and subsequent good management of the Depository in Paternoster Row, which has proved so extensively useful in supplying Sunday schools with suitable books at low prices. To his diligent revision, many of the publications of the Sunday School Union owe much of their correctness and excellence. To the cash accounts his attention was peculiarly directed, which tended greatly to enable the Committee to present clear and well-arranged Statements to the public in their annual reports. His spirited and argumentative addresses delivered at the quarterly meetings of the Union, will long be remembered by many of his co-adjutors. The natural warmth of his temper might on some few occasions have carried him rather farther, in his expressions of difference in opinion, than was quite agreeable, but no doubt could be entertained of the sincerity and uprightness of his intentions.

Whenever Mr. B. was completely convinced that important benefits were likely to result from energetic proceedings, he was never to be satisfied with half measures. To prove this fact, he, in the year 1824, was the chief promoter of a very spirited Statement which was published by the North Auxiliary, and circulated among the committee and members OF “THE SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.” This address respectfully recommended to the Society a revision of its rules, and a decisive change in its measures.  Many of his friends at that time considered that he was too intemperate in this measure, and though they were desirous of seeing that Society extend its usefulness, they could not agree with Mr. B. as to the mode which he had adopted to force the members to compliance with his wishes.

Still they respected his ardent zeal, and the result was, that the Society's donations of books were subsequently considerably extended, from which necessitous Sunday schools reaped a decided advantage.

The devoted attention of Mr. B. to the concerns of the North London Auxiliary Sunday School Union, during the eight years in which he was secretary, will be evident from the Statement, that at the time of his appointment in 1817, that Auxiliary reported 5,520 scholars, and 550 teachers, in connexion with the Union, and in the year 1825, THE NUMBERS HAD INCREASED TO 14,012 SCHOLARSs, and 1,371 teachers.

From the early age of 15 years, we have been informed, that the mind of Mr. B. had been very sensibly impressed with the deplorable state of the Hebrew Nation, and his sympathies never suffered him to tum his attention from the prophecies that he considered had a favorable aspect towards the Jews. He had on several occasions shown a strong disposition to render any assistance that he could towards benefiting that ancient people. He accordingly wrote and published in the year 1823 the “Even Tide,” in two octavo volumes; also an abstract of it, called the “Mount of Vision,” designing thereby to show that the period for the re-gathering of the Jews was not far distant, and explaining, according to his views, the prophecies relating to that event. By the year 1827, his mind had become so completely absorbed in the subject, and his time so fully occupied in attending meetings, and carrying into effect plans which he had devised for bringing to the knowledge of the Jews the cause of their present condition as a people, and their future delightful prospects; that having his attention thus engrossed, and his time thus constantly employed, he was obliged, in a great degree, to cease from his other benevolent labors, in connexion with Sunday schools, and the Sunday School Union. By this secession, the cause of religious instruction in Sunday schools, lost one of its most efficient and arduous supporters; and from that time the Jews, almost exclusively, reaped the advantages of his disinterested labors.

This was particularly the case since the establishment of the PHILO-JUDEAN SOCIETY, in the year 1826, of which he was the chief originator and principal agent. His interest in the concerns of the Jewish nation, and in the prophecies relating to them, was, however, of much earlier date, and in fact it was this subject which first called him to the scene of public life. Shortly after the formation of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, Mr. Brown, formed with a few friends of the cause, at the west end of the town, in the year 1810, the “Westminster Auxiliary Committee” of which he was secretary, until its dissolution in 1817, when a “Westminster Auxiliary Society” was formed instead. In connexion with that committee, he proposed and carried into effect the establishment of a library of books relative to the prophecies, to be circulated among its members, which, while it served to spread more widely a knowledge of, and interest in those portions of the sacred volume, which refer to the expectations of the church, and of the chosen seed, afforded him ample opportunities for pursuing his own assiduous studies on these subjects. Still farther to awaken the attention of the public, separate courses of lectures to Jews and to Gentiles, were at the request of the committee delivered in various places of worship, both by clergymen of the establishment and dissenting ministers.

Mr. Brown’s intimate acquaintance, not only with the scriptural prospects of the Jews, but also with their habits and modes of thinking, led him to the conviction, that to produce a general and permanent effect upon the minds of that interesting people, a more enlarged plan of proceeding must be adopted, than that permitted by the rules of the London Society; which, together with the change of his residence to the city, induced him to relinquish the part which he had taken in the proceedings of the Westminster Auxiliary committee, when it was merged into a distinct auxiliary society. But although, during a period of nearly eight years from that time, he was not in any public capacity engaged in the Service of the Jewish cause, his writings, published in the interval, show that his attention was not in the slightest degree diverted from it, nor his zeal relaxed. In 1825, at last, a circular, issued by Mr. William Brooks, of Salvador-house, entitled Domestic Mission to the Hebrews, renewed his hopes of enlisting the public energies in support of an object to him so interesting. The result of the first deliberations at Salvador-house, was the formation of a new society, under the name Abrahamic Association, which, however, was soon dissolved, in consequence of a clashing of views between the parties concerned in it. A secession took place, and the remaining members formed the PHILO-JUDEAN SOCIETY, which has ever since been actively engaged in promoting the temporal as well as spiritual welfare of the Jewish people; the former chiefly by its exertions to procure the removal of the civil disabilities under which they labor, and by charitable assistance to poor Jews, irrespectively of their creed; the latter by the circulation of the Scriptures, the establishment of schools, and argumentative discussions on the Old Testament, and especially prophetic subjects. Mr. Brown*s views were, however, not confined to the benefiting of the Jews; they extended to the enlightening of the Gentiles, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the cause for which he had suffered much obloquy and ill favor, powerfully vindicated in the celebrated lectures delivered in 1827, by the Rev. Hugh McNeile, at the church of St. Clement Danes.

A further object soon presented itself to his active mind; and at the end of the year 1828, he put forth the plan of an institution for the reception of enquiring Jews, who should find in it an asylum against the persecution of their brethren, and an opportunity of supporting themselves by some regular employment. This plan gained ground so rapidly, that a society was almost instantaneously formed, of whose committee Mr. B. became an active member. Two houses having been taken in Randolf-street, Camden Town, the Hebrew Institution was commenced in spring 1829, and at the time of Mr. B’s. death contained seventeen inmates.

During a fire which happened nigh to his house, he was so much exposed to the severity of the weather, that he took a severe cold. No immediate danger was apprehended, his disorder however increased, but such was the activity of his mind, that with in four days of his death, he made daily efforts to rise, at least for a few hours, notwithstanding the exhausted state of his Constitution. At length the ties of nature were broken, and his spirit winged its way to the abodes of bliss, on Wednesday afternoon, the 20th January, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. His mortal remains were carried to the grave by Jews belonging to the Hebrew Institution, at their own particular request, and deposited in Bunhill-fields, on Wednesday, January 27th; the family procession being joined by his fellow laborers of the Philo-Judaean committee. The impression produced upon the minds of the Jews by the intelligence of his death, was very great; and the officiating clergyman remarked, that during the long period of his appointment at Bunhill-fields, he had never seen such an assemblage of Hebrews on the ground. The same interest was manifested by their numerous attendance at the sermon preached in memory of the deceased, by the Rev. T. S. Miller, minister of Salem Chapel, on the appropriate text: “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”

We conclude with an extract from a letter written by the Rev. Thomas Wood, of Jewin-street chapel, which, while it bears additional testimony to the excellences of our departed friend, calls to notice several more particulars of his useful and truly Christian career.

“I have personally known Mr. Brown about 13 or 14 years, and on October 3rd, 1817, I had the pleasure of giving him the right hand of Christian fellowship, on his admission to the church over which I am pastor, in Jewin-street. Of his zeal, his activity, his tact for business, his liberality, &c. &c. in promoting the cause of Christ amongst us for a number of years, I cannot speak too highly, nor recollect without the highest admiration and esteem. We took sweet counsel together, and went to the house of God in Company, with mutual delight. It is well known, how-ever, that within the past two or three years, our excellent friend was completely abstracted from almost every object of a public nature, excepting the Philo-Judaean Society. On that point I had the unhappiness to differ from him in opinion, and our intercourse of late has been much less frequent; but at the same time, I believe our reciprocal friendship had not suffered the least declension. When we could not accord in opinion, we could exercise Christian candor, and it affords me great satisfaction in saying, that I always experienced the utmost kindness from him. When he had in a considerable measure withdrawn himself from worshipping with us, I was not astonished; indeed, my surprise was, under all circumstances, that he had continued so long, because our ideas on that very point on which his whole soul was set, were in complete Opposition. But, I repeat, he acted in that affair, not in the spirit of dictatorial insolence, not with censoriousness, not as one determined to make divisions in the church of God; but with the meekness of wisdom, as a friend, a gentleman, and a Christian. He ever took an active part in the annual meetings of our sabbath school; and it is with more than ordinary satisfaction that I have to state, that on the very last monthly association of the congregational churches in London, which was held at our chapel, on the 7th January, our deceased friend was with us, both at the public Service and at dinner. He took a part in the interesting conversations and discussions of the afternoon; and subsequently expressed himself as much gratified with the proceedings of the day. But, alas! ere one short fortnight had passed away, he was numbered with the dead, and separated from all transitory scenes, to hold an immediate intercourse with the realities of eternity. Of Mr. Brown’s birth, parentage, and early life, I know nothing, excepting I have sometimes heard him say, he was a pupil under the late excellent Cornelius Winter, of Painswick. Under that-reverend gentleman, I trust our deceased friend received those important instructions, and imbibed those evangelical principles, which were so closely connected with HIS USEFULNESS ON EARTH, and HIS HAPP1NESS IN HEAVEN.” -The Sunday School Teachers’ Magazine and Journal of Education, April 1830, Pages 227-235.