Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: Abraham Lockwood.]
LITTLE ABE;
OR,
_THE BISHOP OF BERRY BROW_.
BEING THE LIFE OF
ABRAHAM LOCKWOOD,
_A Quaint and Popular Yorkshire Local Preacher
in the Methodist New Connexion._
BY
F. JEWELL.
TWENTY-SECOND THOUSAND.
London:
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETOR,
ROBERT CULLEY,
25-35 CITY ROAD, AND 26 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
Abraham Pilling, Esq.,
ASTLEY BRIDGE,
BOLTON,
I DEDICATE TO YOU THIS RECORD OF THE
LIFE AND LABOURS OF ONE WHOSE WORTH YOU KNEW
AND APPRECIATED, AS A
MARK OF ESTEEM FOR YOUR ZEALOUS EXERTIONS
TO
ADVANCE THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.
PREFACE.
I desire to express my thanks to all those friends who have kindly
assisted me in collecting materials for these pages; and I am
especially indebted to my friends the Rev. T. D. Crothers and the Rev.
W. J. Townsend for the cheerful services they have rendered me in
preparing the little work for printing.
Whilst trying to give a faithful account of the life and character of
Abraham Lockwood, I have done my best to make the narrative both
readable and profitable; but I am sensible that there are many faults
in the volume. Such as it is, however, I humbly offer it to the
public, with the earnest prayer that it may prove a blessing to many.
F. JEWELL.
BETHEL VILLA,
HULL, 1880.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
CHAPTER II.
EARLY INCIDENTS
CHAPTER III.
HIS CONVERSION
CHAPTER IV.
ABE A NEW CHARACTER IN THE VILLAGE
CHAPTER V.
IN MEMBERSHIP WITH THE CHURCH
CHAPTER VI.
"FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE"
CHAPTER VII.
WIND AND TIDE AGAINST
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CLOUDS BEGIN TO BREAK
CHAPTER IX.
SALEM CHAPEL
CHAPTER X.
ABE BECOMES A LOCAL PREACHER
CHAPTER XI.
IN PRACTICE
CHAPTER XII.
"BUTTERFLY PREACHERS"
CHAPTER XIII.
VARIOUS WAYS OUT OF DIFFICULTIES
CHAPTER XIV.
ABE'S TITLES AND TROUBLES
CHAPTER XV.
A BASKET OF FRAGMENTS
CHAPTER XVI.
"I AM A WONDER UNTO MANY"
CHAPTER XVII.
ABE AS A CLASS LEADER
CHAPTER XVIII.
"WORKING OVERTIME"
CHAPTER XIX
METHODIST LOVEFEAST
CHAPTER XX.
PATIENT IN TRIBULATION
CHAPTER XXI.
"THE LIBERAL DEVISETH LIBERAL THINGS"
CHAPTER XXII.
USED UP
CHAPTER XXIII.
"BETTER IS THE END OF A THING THAN THE BEGINNING"
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage.
Abraham Lockwood was born on the 3rd November, 1792. His birthplace,
also called Lockwood, is situated about a mile and half out of
Huddersfield.
It makes no pretensions to importance in any way. The only public
building which it boasts, is the Mechanics' Institute, a structure of
moderate size, yet substantially built. Its one main street is lined
with some very excellent shops, some of whose owners, report says, have
made a nice little competency there. It still boasts a toll-bar of its
own, which is guarded on either side by two white wooden posts, that
take the liberty of preventing all cattle, horses, and asses from
evading the gate, and of unceremoniously squeezing into the narrowest
limits every person who prefers pavement to the highroad. Lockwood is
also important enough to receive the attention of two or three 'buses
which ply to and fro between there and Huddersfield, as well as to have
the honour of a railway station on the L. and Y. line. Of course years
ago, when Abraham Lockwood was brought into the world, this locality
was not so attractive as it now is; only a few cottages straggled along
the level or up the hill towards Berry Brow, mostly inhabited by
weavers and others employed in the cloth manufacture of the
neighbourhood. Among these humble cottages there stood, on what is
known as the Scarr, one even more unpretentious than the rest: it
boasted only one story and two or three rooms in all; it was what Abe
used to call a "one-decker."
In this little hut dwelt the parents of Abe Lockwood; the fact of their
residing in such a humble home, shows sufficiently that they were poor,
perhaps poorer than their neighbours. However, in that same
single-storied cot in Lockwood, Abe Lockwood was born, a Lockwoodite by
double right, and though age has seriously told upon its appearance, it
stands to this day. We sometimes see little old men living on, and
year by year growing less and less, until we begin to speculate about
the probable time it will require at their rate of diminution for
nothing to remain of them; and the same may be said of the little old
house in which Abe Lockwood was born; it was always little, but as
years have slowly added to its age, it has gradually begun to look
less, and now, as other houses of larger size and more improved style
have sprung up all around the neighbourhood, it has shrunk into the
most diminutive little hut that can well be imagined as a dwelling
house, and it only requires time enough for it to be gone altogether.[1]
Abe's parents were a poor but honest pair, and laboured hard to make
ends meet. William Lockwood, his father, was a cloth-dresser, and
worked on Almondbury common, about a mile from his home, earning but a
scanty living for the family. In those days, when machinery was almost
unknown in the manufacture and finish of cloth, the men had to work
harder and longer and earned much less than now. Those were the times
when hard-working men thought that the introduction of machinery into
cloth mills would take all the work out of their hands, and all the
bread out of their mouths; and this was the very locality where the
greatest hostility was shown by the people to such innovations. Many a
threatened outbreak was heard of about that time, and in two or three
instances the smouldering fire in the men's minds actually burst forth
into riot and rising, when they found that the great masters were
determined to have their own way and introduce machinery into their
mills. Abe himself was led, some years after, to take part in one of
these risings, and narrowly escaped the hands of the law, while several
others were lodged for some time in York jail in recognition of the
part they had taken in the riots.
Abe's father was a quiet, moral-living man, whose chief aim for many
years seemed to be to provide for his own household; but in after times
his thoughts were drawn to things higher as well, and he became a
God-fearing man; yet during Abe's early life, the most that can be said
for his father is that he was an honest, hard-working, and
well-disposed man.
His mother was a good Christian woman, and was for a long time a member
with the Methodists in Huddersfield, and attended the old chapel which
formerly stood on Chapel Hill. There is no doubt that the early
teaching of his kind and pious mother had a great deal to do with the
formation of Abe's Christian character in after years. Certainly a
long time elapsed before there was any sign of spiritual life in her
son; indeed, she was called away to her eternal rest before there was
any indication of good in his heart; what matters that? the good seed
was there; it would bide its time and then grow all the stronger.
Sometimes people conclude that because there is not immediate growth
there is no life; this does not follow; the grain may slumber for
years, then wake up and grow rapidly. I on one occasion saved some
orange pippins, dried and planted them with the hope that they might
grow; as time went on, I watered and watched them, but there was no
indication of growth; months went by: I lost heart, gave over watering,
threw the plant-pot in which they were sown out of doors; a year was
gone by and more, when one day my eye fell on this same pot all covered
with green growth. "Hey! what's this?" why, positively, they are young
orange plants, standing up hardy and healthy, protesting against my
want of faith and patience. It is often the same with the growth of
other seed in the human breast; when parents have waited long in vain,
their faith grows gradually less and less, until it dies out in
despair; but the good seed may not die, it is sleeping, it lives its
winter life, and then under the tender and genial touch of some
spring-like influences it begins to grow. "Be not afraid, only
believe," said the Master of the vineyard.
Why the young baby that had come to reside in that little cot should
have the honourable name of Abraham may be a subject of question by
some. It evidently was not to perpetuate his father's name, though
from the beginning of generations this has been a sufficient argument
for calling son after father; on that ground John Baptist had a narrow
escape from being called Zacharias. That however could not influence
the decision in Abraham Lockwood's case, because his father's name was
William. Perhaps it was that the child indicated a patriarchal spirit,
and conducted himself like a _stranger in a strange land_, in which
case there might be a suggestion of that name. Perhaps it was a piece
of parental forethought, for knowing well that they could never confer
riches upon him, or place him in a position to make them himself, they
determined to do that for him, which everyone must say is far better,
they would see to it that he had a _good name_ among men, and so they
called him Abraham. This ancient and venerable name, however, soon
underwent a transformation, and appeared in the undignified form of
"Abe." The alteration at least exhibited a mark of economy, even if it
involved the sacrifice of good taste; there certainly was a saving of
time in saying "Abe" instead of "Abraham," which is very important when
things have to be done in a hurry; and then it may be that to some ears
it would sound more musical and familiar than the full-length
designation. Howbeit, there always seemed a strange contrariness
between Abe and his name. When he was a baby they called him by the
antiquated name of "Abraham." As he grew older and bigger, they
shortened his name to "Abe," and when he was a full-grown man, and
father of a family, he was commonly known as "Little Abe." The name
and the bearer seemed to have started to run a circle in contrary
directions, till they met exactly at the opposite point in old age,
when for the first time there was seen the fitness between the man and
his name, and he was respectfully called "Abraham Lockwood."
[1] Since the above was written, this little cottage has been removed
to afford room for a larger building.