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Untitled Article
for their goodness ; but no events occur in the private station in which thev are placed that demand greater talent than is requisite for the ordinary business of life : their capacity for higher things remains therefore unexcited , and they are remarkable in their circle only for what is usually termed
strong sense and punctuality : that is , for the clearness and justness with which they decide on every subject that comes before them , and for the exactness with which they perform their duty . It is this description of men who possess in the highest degree the confidence and affection of their friends ,
and who enjoy the greatest portion of human felicity . And such in an erciinent measure was the subject of the present memoir . The Rev . William Blake was descended from virtuous and pious ancestors who left him , in their own
bright example , an inheritance which he highly valued ^ nd of which he was worthy . He was descended from a collateral branch of that great officer and true patriot , Admiral Blake . His great-grandfather was the Rev . Malachi Blake , a Nonconformist minister , who
resided at Blagdon , a village near Taunton , who laid the foundation of the Dissenting congregation at Wellington , in the ccmnty of Somerset , amd who , after the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth , to whose cause he had
been friendly , was obliged to fly to London in disguise . His father , the Rev . William Blake , filled 45 years , with distinguished reputation and usefulness , the pulpit to which his son succeeded . This venerable minister
was a pupil of Dr . Doddridge , and so faithful was he in the discharge of his public duties , and so amiafele in his private deportment , that he was not only respected btot revered b y all who were intimately acquainted with him .
William , his second son , the subject of the present memoir , was born at Crewkerne in Somersetshire , the 29 th of March , 1773 . He received the ua-rly part of his classical education at Litton ,
a . retired village m Dorsetshire , under the Rev . James Kircup , and afterwards jrt the Free School in Crewfcerne . Prom a child he was remarkafcfe for diligeat and regular attention , aind for & steady « n& solid progress in learnmg , and at ttn early period displayed con-
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siderable talent for figures and calculation . The regular habits of the family of which it was his happiness to be a member , and the example of purity and goodness which was continually exhibited before his eyes , co-operating with a mind naturally disposed to reflection , generated an early taste for piety . And this leading to an uniform observance of the outward acts of
devotion , so fostered the growth of its genuine spirit , that it became the spring and the guide of the whole conduct of his life . And yet , were that doctrine true which many Christians believe and inculcate , that there can be
no satisfactory evidence of the existence of true religion in the heart , unless the period can be distinctly remembered , when the heart opened itself to the reception of religion , and renounced for ever every thing which is opposed to it , it would be impossible to prove that this excellent man was a
Christian : for no chaege ever teok place in him , bearing any resemblance to that signified by the term conversion or by the figure of the new-birth : nor in the nature of things was such a change possible . He could not be converted from a love of sin to a love
of holiness who scarcely knew sin but by name , and who always exemplified the most amiable dispositions and the most virtuous manners : he could not be converted from irreligion to piety , who always entertained the most profound reverence for the Supreme Being ,
and delighted to trace to him the blessings he enjoyed , to thank him for them , &&d to express his gratitude both by a holy and a devout life . The doctrine of conversion , therefore , as
commonly taught , must be taken with some limitation . However necessary an entire change of feeling and conduct raray be , to men in general , in order to constitute them Christians , yet there are true Christians who were never
converted : men of genuine piety who were never born again : men upon whose hearts the principles of Christianity made as early an impression as is possible , and who from that early period have ^ habitually lived under their influence .
Having manifested a fixed desire to < tevofce himself to the Christian ministry , Mr . Blake werct in 1790 to the
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Memoir &f tlw late Rev . frilHam Blake , of Urewkerne . 263
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 263, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/7/
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