"Some say that golden days are past, And will no more return, That, long since, they have breathed their last, "To such, by way of a reply, My thoughts I will unfold, Life's chequered scene behold. "Then why with sad repining sigh? Reigns not the same Great Power on high? Soft and refreshing showers? "Is there no animated sound To cheer life's rugged way? Do then the thistles so abound, "Oh! weigh it well-nor longer sigh, Their golden days are not gone by Life's chequered scenes behold." In an old album we find a little piece, written in the following year, with the title, "We culled the early saxifrage." Two verses run thus : "We culled the sweet flower and though many a smile Was called forth by its overgrown stem, Yet a feeling arose in my bosom the while, And a thought which I told not to them; And I longed for the pen of some bard to unfold, The mental delights which are bought not with gold. 66 HE FIRST SPEAKS AS A MINISTER. Let none then despise this poor spring-blowing flower, But smiling, like friendship, at tempests gone by, 15 Some of his pieces were humorous; and like more thoughtful ones, were written for an Essay Society at Saffron Walden called "The Budget." At the age of twenty-four he removed to Darlington, and became the Private Secretary of the late Joseph Pease, the son of Edward Pease, who, with George Stephenson, had made the Stockton and Darlington Railway five years before. Isaac Sharp took an active part, locally, in the General Election of 1832, when Joseph Pease was returned to the House of Commons, being the first Friend who took his seat in that assembly; for although John Archdale, some time Governor of the Carolinas, was in 1698 elected for Wycombe, Bucks, he did not sit, on account of his conscientious objection to taking an oath. The year before Isaac Sharp went to Darlington the “Middlesbrough owners,” of whom Joseph Pease was the chief, had bought the five hundred acres of land on which the town now stands. The estate at first contained only a single farm-house, but is now a large town with 70,000 inhabitants. The development of this estate brought much thought and work to Isaac Sharp, but not to the exclusion of other claims. He accepted the post of Secretary to the Auxiliary Bible Society, and to the Friends' Public School at Great Ayton, as well as the lighter labour of the Secretaryship of the Friends' Essay Society at Darlington. Many of his business journeys for his employers became, with their approval, opportunities for religious service. The writer has heard an old lady Friend allude to being present at the meeting for worship at Darlington in which Isaac Sharp for the first time spoke in the ministry. This was in 1832. We believe that at that time Isaac Sharp was kindly acting as door-keeper, and that he left his seat and stood in the aisle as he spoke. His younger brother, John, afterwards Superintendent of the Friends' School at Croydon, writes in his diary in reference to this event, on the day before Isaac's twentysixth birthday. It is evident that he is astonished to find that his very lively brother should have such information to confide to him. John writes: "I have received a letter from dear brother Isaac, in which, to my great surprise, he informs me of his appearing in the ministry. This was totally unexpected to me, but I trust that he has been careful in this most important undertaking not to move (in such service) without his Divine Guide. On reading his letter, my heart overflowed with gratitude to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. I felt emboldened to supplicate that my dear brother may experience divine preservation and support." How truly was that brotherly prayer answered. John Sharp goes on to say: "Dear Isaac's conflict of mind appears to have been very great, yet abundantly made up to him by the sweet feeling he was favoured with on yielding to the divine requiring." In a letter to his great friend, Joshua Green, written some five years after leaving Saffron Walden, Isaac Sharp says: "There are many in your circle for whom I feel deeply interested. Gratitude for past kindnesses forbids it to be otherwise." Further on in the letter we get glimpses of his affectionate disposition, when, after alluding with concern to the slight illness of a sister, he goes on to say: "From Brighton I have received but mournful intelligence. My beloved father was seized rather suddenly with rheumatic fever. How tried of late years has been the lot of my beloved parent." In another letter to this friend he alludes to a most grievous wrong that had been done to his father, and adds the significant words: "I humbly trust, through a power beyond our own, we are enabled to forgive." But he shares his joys as well as his sorrows with Joshua Green: "My thirty-second birthday finds me thoroughly satisfied that I have not waited in vain. The endeared object of my tenderest affection has consented to be mine, and bright are the beams which illuminate my pathway. Oh, that a grateful sense of mercy, past and present, may more and more fill my heart, and enable me to enjoy such a blessing in the divine favour, giving Him the praise to whom it is due. It is about two years since I first paid my addresses, and truly I have abundant cause for rejoicing, in finding in my dearest friend, Hannah Procter, more than I could reasonably expect, and all that I could wish. It is inexpressibly comforting to think of the prospect before me." In February, 1839, Isaac Sharp married Hannah Procter, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Procter of North Shields, and sister of the late Joseph and John Richardson Procter. He was then in his thirty-third year, and his bride had not long passed her thirtieth birthday. The home to which he brought her was in West Terrace, Darlington. As we write, there lies before us a little faded ornamental card, on which is traced with exquisite neatness in printed. characters, almost microscopically small, three verses, bearing the title of "The Benediction." These lines were written at Chester during the wedding tour, and seem to be almost prophetic When the bright glow of health its gladness lends, And pleasure gilds thy sunlit path with joy, Or when the sombre shade thy step attends, The glad and sunny vision to alloy— In weal or woe, Ah! be it thine to feel The Rock thy refuge and thy sure reward; Wait, humbly wait, and He will yet reveal His blessed will as thy redeeming Lord. And when, through matchless mercy, o'er the tomb In her diary, Hannah Sharp writes: "We are sweetly and preciously united, and have often been favoured to feel the overshadowing of divine power." And again, as we turn over the leaves, we find the prayer: "O, that THOU wilt be mercifully pleased to bless our union, and to enable us to serve Thee wholly, and to love Thee with all our heart." She shared in her husband's earnest longings for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ "until"—as she writes-" all nations love and serve Thee." Their keen appreciation of the beauties of Nature was a mutual joy, whether "the shell upon the seashore, the beautiful flower of the field, the majestic ocean, or the mountain towering to the skies " "For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies, For the love which, from our birth, Christ, our God to THEE we raise, But this most happy union was to be but of short duration in this world. Hannah Sharp died in the fourth summer after her marriage. Her husband writes of her memory being deeply graven on his heart, and adds: "Her character written there will there remain, lasting as life itself.” In her last illness she loved to talk to him of her earlier days; of how, at the time of her mother's funeral in her childhood, the words of faithful ministers were as a message calling her to yield her heart and life to the Lord's blessed control; and of a visit to York when, whilst walking alone in the garden at "Cherry Hill," she was comforted by a visitation of heavenly love, whilst to her heart were applied the gracious words, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." Her husband says: "The sweet remem * F. Pierpoint. |