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Published May 11825. for the Congregational Mag by B.J.Holdsworth Pauls Church Yard London.

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MEMOIR OF THE REV. DAVID SOME, LATE OF MARKET HARBOROUGH, LEICESTERSHIRE, With some Notices of the Church under his Pastoral Care.

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"THE glorious Head of the Church has furnished some ministers with such distinguishing abilities, that they appear as stars of the first magnitude in his right hand; and are so eminently burning and shining lights in their generation, that they attract not only the eyes, but the admiration of multitudes.".

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The congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Harborough, was early distinguished by having such men to preside over it. Matthew Clarke, (father and son,) Some, and Doddridge are names identified with, and conferring on it no mean lustre; men enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and coming behind in no spiritual gift.

Mr. David Some, the successor of the celebrated Matthew Clarke, at Market Harborough, was born in the year 1680. That his parents were persons of some birth and respectability, is well ascertained; but all beyond this is involved in obscurity, as we know neither who they were, nor where they resided. But we might have been content to remain in ignorance on this subject, could we but have been favoured with an authentic and particular account of the leading circumstances of Mr. Some's very useful life." The friend and patron of Doddridge," as he has been justly called, would have found in that excellent person, one as well qualified as he was disposed to do ample justice to his NEW SERIES, No. 5.

numerous excellencies; and it may be made a question, how far the principle is either just, or laudable, which would withhold from posterity the benefit of so illustrious an example of piety; the model, be it remembered, on which the character of such an one as Doddridge was principally formed. At least, we may be permitted deeply to regret, that Mr. Some's excessive modesty prevented his friends from gratifying themselves, and benefiting the world by the publication of his life and writings. There is of necessity a great deficiency of materials; we have endeavoured to collect the few scattered relics of this excellent person, and herewith present them to our readers.

Mr. Some was an instance of the blessing usually attendant on a religious education: the fruits of parental care and instruction early appeared, and while yet young, he determined on devoting himself to the work of the christian ministry. Indeed, it is somewhere observed, that the great majority of the ministers of that day were not persons, who, having passed the spring of life in vanity and sin, were afterwards brought to the knowledge of the truth; but who had been from their childhood trained up in the ways of God, and seemed, like Samuel, to have been devoted to the service of the sanctuary, as it were, from their mother's womb. "After passing through the usual 2 G

forms of the grammar school," to use the words of a former biographer of Mr. Some,* "he was placed for academical learning under the care of the celebrated Mr. Richard Frankland, who was for many years a learned and useful tutor in the north of England. It appears, from a list of Mr. Frankland's students, now before the writer, that Mr. Some entered his academy, which was then kept at Rathmell, in Durham, on July 4, 1698. Mr. Frankland dying soon after, the care of the academy devolved on his successor, the eminent Mr. Timothy Jollie, who removed the academy to Attercliffe, near Sheffield, Yorkshire." Here those excellent graces, which in after life so adorned his character, and enriched and blest the church of God, had already attained such a growth, as to render their possessor worthy of the testimony Dr. Latham bears to him. "That he left behind him a fragrant odour of his name." "Having finished his studies, and passed his trials for the ministry in the manner usual in those days, he began to preach with great acceptance, and after some time accepted an invitation to settle with the congregation at Harborough." Mr. Some appears to have commenced, as he certainly concluded his ministry, at this place. It is probable, that he came there some time in the year 1706, if not before, his name occurring in the first trust deed of the meeting at Ashley, (then united with Harborough,) as the recognized minister of both congregations, in whom the freehold of that place of worship was thereby vested. Its date is January 27, 1706-7. This was more than two years previous to Mr. Clarke's

* Vide Mr. Some's Life in one of the volumes of the Theological Magazine, to which the writer confesses himself indebted for some facts, independently of those which lay open to both in Doddridge's Life and Works.

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death; and as the former biographer of Mr. Some asserts, that Mr. C. was disabled some years before his decease, we may conclude, that Mr. Some came on Mr. C.'s retirement and change of residence. Thus much is certain, that Mr. Clarke never resigned the pastoral office, but by death; and Mr. Some, by an expression he employs in his church-book, would lead us to conclude, that he was not so much the assistant, as copastor with his venerable predecessor. When, by the death of Mr. Clarke, the church was committed to his sole watch and care," April 18, 1709, it was in a very flourishing and prosperous condition; having no less than 202 members, all, with the exception of 28 from the town, collected from about 30 villages around Harborough, some being full ten miles distant. In comparing the present state of these villages, with their condition at the time here alluded to, it is matter of pleasing reflection, that the means of religious instruction, then with such difficulty procured, now are at their very door. Within this circle, of which Harborough may be considered the centre, there is a goodly number of Independent, Baptist, and Methodist congregations, while in most of these thirty villages, the truth of God is preached by one or other of these denominations. glance, too, over the names of the members of the church, these

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early spoils of nonconformity," has not a little gratified some well acquainted with the neighbourhood, in finding that they were not strange to their ears; but that the descendants of many of these yet advocate and adorn the same righteous cause-and that instead of the fathers, there are the children. The distance of a large majority of the members from Harborough, and the consequent inconvenience of attending there with their families every Sabbath-day, at an early

period of Mr. Clarke's ministry, suggested the propriety of a place of worship at Ashley, a village about five miles from Harborough, and in the neighbourhood of many of the villages where the members lived. At first a barn was employed for the purpose, which we believe is still standing, and Mr. Clarke went there, as Dr. Calamy justly calls it, three long miles in all weathers, and preached every Sabbath morning, returning to Harborough to preach in the afternoon. But the use of the barn being also attended with its disadvantages, both to the occupier and the congregation, Mr. Some had not long been settled amongst the people, ere the barn was forsaken, and a new place of worship was erected; the ground being given by Mr. Wm. Butler. Here Mr. Some, like his predecessor, officiated every Sabbath morning-here, too, during his residence at Harborough, Dr. Doddridge often occupied Mr. Some's place on the Sabbath; and it was to the ancestors (as village tradition says) of some, who yet worship within its walls, that he preached that excellent sermon, entitled "The Orphan's Hope." In the second trust deed of this place, dated November 6, 1729, Dr. Doddridge's name is inserted, as its minister, in whom the freehold was vested, he being then assistant to Mr. Some;-but we are anticipating. We know but little of the history of many years of this excellent person's ministry, except that his faithful and zealous labours in the town and neighbourhood were greatly blessed, scarcely a month passing without some addition to his church; and when he was removed by death, it was in the midst of his usefulness, the number of new converts being greater than at any former period. So great, too, were the order and harmony of the society under the superintendence of its exemplary pastor, that there is but

one instance of church-censure on record. There is yet extant in his own hand-writing an account of the method he adopted in the admission of members. We here transcribe it. "When any person

is to be admitted into that church of Christ, to which I minister in holy things, I think it convenient to ask them the following questions..

"1. Wherefore do you desire communion with this church?"

"2. Will you endeavour to walk circumspectly and peaceably amongst us, as it becometh a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?"

3. Will you attend upon the ministry and ordinances of this church as often as you can?"

"4. Do you purpose to stand by us, and stedfastly to adhere unto us, if times of difficulty and trial should come?"

5. Do you, therefore, in the presence of God, and his people here assembled, give up yourself to the watch and care of this church, promising to submit to that discipline, that is exercised therein, so far as it is agreeable to the mind of Christ, revealed in his word ?”

"If these be your designs, then in the name of our blessed Redeemer, by and with the approbation and consent of this church, I open the doors thereof for your admittance into it, and declare you a member of it, earnestly desiring that God would bless you in it."

Mr. Some was greatly concerned for the spread of practical religion, and very assiduous to maintain the power of it among his people. With this view, as well no doubt as to spread still more widely the savour of the knowledge of Christ, he was accustomed at stated seasons to visit his friends in the villages, and preach in their houses, and what is related by his biographer of similar visits of Dr. Addington, who had thus followed in his predecessor's steps, we may be assured was no less applicable to

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