“The writing of the few lines before the present, was the work
of several days, attended with more difficulty and pain than
any one is able to conceive, who does not feel what I have
suffered. But to complain is disagreeable to me. The constant
prayer of my heart, most tenderly united with yours, is for the
welfare and prosperity of the Church of God, and especially
that part of it which is the immediate object of our care. May
our faithful and best Friend, who purchased it with His blood,
and is the supreme Head thereof, so defend His people amidst
all opposition, and support His servants who labour in the word
and doctrine, and have the general charge over His house, that
the several members of it may increase in faith, hope, and
love, to their comfort and joy.
“With respect to myself, if I may judge from what I feel, I
can think no otherwise than that I am very near the end of my
course. Therefore, all my prayers are centred in this, that my
gracious Lord may wash me, a sinner, in His blood, and abide
always near me, especially in my last extremity.”
The last time that he attended the public celebration of the Lord’s
Supper, was only five days before his death. At the conclusion of it,
weak and wasted as he was, he commenced singing a verse of praise and
thanksgiving, and the impression produced was such, that the whole
congregation began to weep.
From the nature of his disease, it was seldom he could sleep; but he
was always patient and confiding. “All He does is well done,” said he;
“let us only look to Him, and the end will be blessed.” He was deeply
thankful for the kind offices of his friends, and especially for those
of his loving wife, who nursed him, in every stage of his illness, with
the greatest tenderness. Just before the close of all his sufferings, he
was heard to pray: “Dear Saviour! remember my poor name, and come, come
soon!” His prayer was answered. Shortly after these words were uttered,
he peacefully expired, on September 13, 1771, leaving behind him,
besides his widow, two children, a son and a daughter, to lament their
loss.[139]
Gambold, like Wesley, wrote an epitaph on himself; and, as it is a fair
specimen of the better class of his poetical productions, it is here
subjoined:—
“Ask not, who ended here his span?
His name, reproach, and praise, was—Man.
Did no great deeds adorn his course
No deed of his, but show’d him worse!
One thing was great, which God supplied,
He suffered human life,—and died.
What points of knowledge did he gain?
That life was sacred all,—and vain;
Sacred, how high? and vain, how low?
He knew not here, but died to know.”
Though Bishop Gambold was a man of great learning, and of extensive
reading, especially in the early writings of the Christian Church, he
himself was not a voluminous author. Excepting his translations, and
the works he merely edited, all that he published of his own were two
sermons; his Short Summary of Christian Doctrine; a few Prefaces; and
some brief Hymns and Poems. In this respect, he differed widely from his
old friend Wesley. Then again, though an able and effective preacher,
his pulpit exercises were almost entirely confined to the small village
of Stanton-Harcourt, and the Brethren’s Chapel in Fetter Lane, London.
In this also, he differed, not only from Wesley, but from Whitefield.
Still, it would be incorrect to say, that his life, to a great extent,
was a useless one. Wesley, after publishing one of Gambold’s poetic
pieces, is reported to have said: “And this light was buried _under a
bushel_! How might he have enlightened all Christendom!”[140] We scarcely
concur in this. Gambold, notwithstanding his learning and his piety, was
constitutionally too timorous and retiring to be the man to enlighten
all Christendom; but, at the same time, he was of such service to the
Moravian Church, that, it is an extravagance to say, “his light was
buried under a bushel.” With all its weaknesses, follies, and faults, at
the beginning of its history, the Moravian Brotherhood set a Christian
and heroic example to other Churches, in its missions to the heathen; and
the man who chiefly helped to edify, purify, improve, and perpetuate such
a community, did no mean service to the cause of the Divine Redeemer.
Gambold’s poetry has been over-estimated by Methodist and Moravian
writers; and, perhaps also, his natural ability and learning; but all
must admit, that he was an exceedingly devout and earnest Christian;
and that, though he might, for a season, be somewhat tainted with
the religious lusciousness of the early Moravian society, his moral
character, from first to last, was without a speck.
Perhaps it ought to be added, that, a beautiful portrait of Gambold
was painted by Abraham Louis Brandt, an earnest and laborious Moravian
minister, and that an exquisite engraving from the original picture was
prefixed to Gambold’s works, when first published in 1789.