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OBITUARY.
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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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thodist , and at seeing him regularly attend their meetings . But he was of too sanguine a mind to be a mere passive convert ; he became zealous for the diffusion of their sentiments , and for the welfare of others , as well as of himself . The writer met him by accident one day ,
and got into religious conversation , and was about bidding him good morning , when he warmly expressed himself at my haste to be gone , but accounted for it by my being conscious of my inability , with the very erroneous views which I held , to meet or reply to the truths he was
urging upon my attention . Feeling both my zeal and confidence equal to his , I assured him that he had mistaken my motive , and to convince him that nothing was more desirable on my part , than to converse with him stnd his friends , I appointed an evening when I would call upon
him for the express purpose . At the time appointed I repaired to Ms lodgings . All work wa& laid aside , and all sat round , and we had a regular set-to for four hours , without any refreshment or interruption of any kind . One of the party , a young man very confident and fluent of speech ,
and who had been longer in the way , and was withal preparing himself for commencing preacher , and , of course , was looked up to v was-my chief opponent . We discussed many subjects , but those chiefly that related to conversion , saying faith , the work of the spirit , atonement , &c . Torrance was exceedingly attentive
to all that passed—frequently asked the meaning of this and that passage of scripture . To be brief , when we separated he took his hat and insisted upon setting me home ; during which we had much conversation till a late hour , when he assured me , again and again , that he never felt so interested in Ms life : his whole
views seemed changed , and those just given of the character of God and of Christ , and which I had insisted upon , he was pleased to say , though new to him , appeared so scriptural and rational , as to far better accord with his judgment than what he had been accustomed to hear ,
and , as a consequence , he changed his lodgings , and regularly ever after , to the day of his death , attended and worshiped with the Unitarian Baptists , and was a preacher amongst them for 28 years , and
latterly their chief leading man . ( 1 ought to have added that his landlord , Mr . White , also joined the society , and was remarkable for his steady attendance till his death . ) His habits were plain , simple and easy , and so unassuming and unosten-
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( 752 )
Obituary.
OBITUARY .
Untitled Article
On Friday last , in the 56 th year of Tils age , after enduring a lingering illness with Christian resignation , Mr . James Torrance , of the firm of Torrance and Darling ' , of this city , boot and shoe-makers . He had for many years been the gratuitous and faithful minister of the
Unitarian Baptist Church . He was pos * sessed of much energy of mind and decision of character , combined with the most catholic sentiments tdwards those who might conscientiously differ from his religious views . Though he could not be termed a scholar , in the classical sense of
the word , his literary attainments were respectable : and although his lot forbade an intimate acquaintance with Homer or Xenophon , he was much read in Jesus and Paul , In argumentation he was close and pointed , and when it was
requisite to defend the necessity of a divine revelation against the attacks of infidelity , he displayed no common share of penetration in unravelling a sopTiism , or drawing ihe line between what nature discovers ,, and what it is necessary for revelation to teach . The doctrines he
had preached were his consolation on his approach to the dark valley , and he expired with humble confidence in a joyful resurrection to that life and immortality which was brought to light by Jesus Christ . "—York C our ant .
To the above just statement , the writer , who knew him most intimately for above thirty years , can add a biographical sketch not , perhaps , unworthy of being known . James Torrance was a native of Kilmarnock , in Scotland , was carefully and morally educated by his parents , who , though
in the humbler ranks of life , had , by their industry , acquired some property . Being of an ardent temperament he determined to travel , and on his way to London , stopped at York . He was soon distinguished , to use a trade phrase , as a don in his profession , and , like many other superior workmen , was given much to
company and drinking ; this he carried to such excess that , in the language of good John Buriyan , he might be termed a " town sinner . " Having sunk himself in great wretchedness , he went to lodge with Mr . George White , a very sedate man , who , with others of his lodgers , belonged to the Wesleian Methodists . From their
conversation and example ,, poor Torrance , from being in rags and poverty , through dissipation , soon became steady , sober and decent in his appearance . And I well remember how great the surprise that was excited at his becoming a Me-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1824, page 752, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2531/page/48/
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