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    She died at Stoke-Newington , teb . 8 , 1776 , ag ^ d 6 l . They bad five children ; of whom two only , a son ( the late Rev . Josiah Townsend ) and a daughter , now survive their excellent parents , 4 € Mr . Townsetid's residence at Hull was not of long . continuance . His usefulness and comfort were

    destroyed by the prevalence of a very unchristian spirit in the society with which he was connected . He , therefore , accepted an invitation given him to succeed the Rev . Samuel Snashall as pastor of the congregation of Protestant Dissenters at

    Stoke-Newington , in Middlesex : and , accordingly , after taking a most affectionate leave of his friends at Hull , on Lord ' s-day , April b 9 17 52 $ he left them the day following * At Stoke-Newington he was the " much-esteemed shepherd of a numerous and respectable flock ; and no one who ever sustained the

    ministerial character , could more justly have addressed to his bearers ( had not his well-known humility and modesty forbidden it ) the appeal of Paul to the Thessalonians : * Ye are

    witnesses , and God also , how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you , as ye know how we exhorted and admonished and charged every one of you , as a father doth his children , that ye would walk worthy of God . who hath called

    you unto his kingdom and glory / Most of his , early connexions at Newington took leave of this world before him , of whom a list is given , and to whom a very honourable testimony is borne , in an obituary found among

    his paper * . Those of them who remain ( it is not doubted ) will long regard his memory as precious ; and will be ready to attest , that he faithfully declared the gospel according to the views he was led to entertain

    of it , and especially as a doctrine according to godliness * , that in public prayer he was ferveut ; in preaching , plain , serious and earnest ; in the administration of the Lord ' s Supper , and in his addresses to young people ,

    remarkably affectionate and pathetic : that his temper was unassuming ; Ins conversation , whenever an opportunity could be found or made of introducing any thing serious , instructive : and that , in consequence of the pru-

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    dence and peaceableness of h \ & behaviour , he had not an enemy living or dying . For the space of thirty , seven years did the congregation at Sioke-Newingtoti enjoy the benefit of his ministerial labours . But in the y ear 1787 , the total failure of his voice brought on most probably by pulpit exertions ,, which always exceeded his strength , obliged him to resolve on retiring from public services . The congregation , therefore , over which he presided , invited the Rev . Mr

    Hodgkins to be his assistant , and , two years afterwards , to be his successor . After bearing an important part in the ordination of Mr . Hodgkins , and once more administering the Lord ' s Supper to his beloved flock , he quitted them ia July , 1789 , to their mutual

    regret . ** From Stoke-Newington Mr . Townsend removed to Fairford , in Gloucestershire , and took up his abode for seven years in the bouse of his son , who was then minister to a small congregation there : but on the removal of the latter from Fairford to

    Ealand , in Yorkshire , he chose to fix his residence in Bath , that he might be near his daughter . And here he received , what he had long been wishing and waiting for , a release from infirmity and pain . He had been

    frequently exercised , for many years , with very painful attacks of the stone and gravel . The summer before his death he suffered from one , which was peculiarly violent and distressing , and from which his constitution

    received a shock he never recovered . He continued enfeebled in body , but cheerful in mind , till the night of November 17 , 1801 , when , having occasion to get out of bed , he fell on the floor , and was unable to rise without help . When his daughter once and

    again lamented this accident as unfortunate , he gently chid her , saying , * Why do you call that unfortunate which may be the method that Divine Wisdom has thought fit to make use of to brine : about what I have been so

    long wishing and praying for ? ' He continued perfectly collected to the last f complained of nothing but increasing weakness , and discovered a full persuasion that his end was drawing near . Frequently would he aay » * I have been quietly and , I hope ,

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    718 Same . Account of the Rev . Meredith Tewnsend .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 718, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/2/