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discourse from Job ix . 12 : Behold , he taketh away ; who can hinder him ? Who will say unto him , what doest thou } " * Mr . Blake was twice married , first to Miss Hannah Jarman , in May
1808 , who died in April 1810 , leaving one daughter ; and , secondly , to Miss Elizabeth Jarman , in October 1812 , who still survives , and by whom he has left four children , who are all too young to comprehend the loss they have sustained , or to share the sorrow
of their afflicted mother . The distinguishing character of Mr . Blake ' s mind was clearness , of his heart benevolence , and of his manners simplicity . He was so remarkable for discretion , that his friends often resorted to him for counsel ; his probity and moderation were so well known ,
and his talent for business so universally acknowledged , that his advice was extensively sought , and it generally gave complete satisfaction . In the public business of the town in which
lie resided , he was actively and usefully employed , and his services were well appreciated : whatever he recommended was listened to with attention , and whatever he undertook was executed
with decision and judgment . In the more private relations of life , the dispositions he exemplified were such as to secure esteem and affection .
He was capable of much tenderness , and even ardour , though a stranger might have doubted it , for he might have been misled at first by the extreme calmness of his manners . Yet
those to whom he sustained the relations of husband , father , brother and friend , well know with what strength of affection his heart could glow , and with what promptitude and exactness lie fulfilled every engagement , arising out of the connexions which bound him to his fellow-beings : a promptitude and exactness which resulted as
much from the impulse of the heart as from the sense of duty . His temper was mild , seldom ruffled by anger ; his passions were well regulated and never hurried him into intemperate language : no one knew better than he the strength there is in gentleness . Of the fidelity of his friendship , the
* These are printed for private circulation only .
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writer of this memoir has received proofs , of which the sense can perish only with memory itself . An inter- * course of nearly twenty years' duration , commenced on one part in childhood , continued through the period when the tastes and affections fluctuate most ,
bound each to each ; and the friendship thus formed was never once interrupted by an unkind word or an unfriendly suspicion , but the progress of time and the change of circumstance served only to justify and strengthen the
predilection of early youth . Nor can death itself destroy the tie that unites us , or put a final period to our friendship . It was his firm belief , and it is the unwavering conviction and the best consolation of more than one who
now mourn his loss , that we shall meet again ; that the memory of feelings and circumstances , with the endearing associations arising out of them , shall be revived , and that , each purer , better
and happier , we shall recommence an intercourse , of tlie value of which , the exquisite pleasure which we have sometimes experienced in each other ' s society may give us some , though but a faint conception .
To few men has a more equal and happy lot been granted . In the possession of competence , occupied in the duties of a profession which was his early choice , and which exactly accorded with his disposition , surrounded by friends who esteemed and loved him ,
and peculiarly happy in his domestic connexions , he might seem , indeed , to have been exempted from that portion of suffering which the moral Governor of the world sees fit to dispense to every human being . Yet suffering , sufficiently severe , sprung up
out of the very sources of his felicity . No sooner had one who principally contributed to his happiness , taught him the uncommon worth of her character and the great value of her society 3 than she was taken from him . *
And subsequently , though brighter days were in reserve for him than he could at one period have anticipated , yet there have been sources of anxiety and distress , connected especially with his infant family , which have brought
* See his own account of this mournful dispensation hi Mon . Repos . Vol . V , pp . 269 , 260 .
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Memoir of the late Rev . William Blake , of Crewherne . 265
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VOL . XVI . 2 M
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/9/
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