Jabez Earle

Rev. Jabez Earle DD (?1673 - 29 May 1768), was a London preacher and an occasional English poet who wrote in both English and Latin.

Jabez Earle, Verses upon Several Occasions (1724). Gale ECCO, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.

Life

Youth and education

Earle was probably a native of Yorkshire; the date of his birth is uncertain. He was brought up for the ministry by Thomas Brand (1635–1691).

In December 1691 he witnessed the funeral of Richard Baxter, and long afterwards told Palmer, of the Nonconformist's Memorial, that the coaches reached from Merchant Taylors' Hall (from where the body was carried) to Christ Church, Newgate, the place of burial.

Career

In 1692 he became tutor and chaplain in the family of Sir Thomas Roberts, at Glassenbury, near Cranbrook, Kent. In 1699 he became assistant to Thomas Reynolds at the Weighhouse presbyterian chapel, Eastcheap, and soon afterwards became one of the evening lecturers at Lime Street.

In 1706 or 1707 he succeeded Glascock as pastor of the presbyterian congregation in Drury Street, Westminster. In 1708 he joined with 4 presbyterians and an independent (Thomas Bradbury) in a course of Friday evening lectures at the Weighhouse on the conduct of public religious worship.

He increased his congregation, partly by help of a secession from the ministry of Daniel Burgess (1645–1713), and moved it to a new meeting-house in Hanover Street, Long Acre. At Hanover Street he established a Thursday morning lecture, and maintained it till Christmas 1767.

In the Salters' Hall conferences in 1719 [see Bradbury, Thomas] Earle was among the 27 presbyterian subscribers. In 1723 he was elected a trustee of Dr. Williams's foundations.

In the late 1720s he held the position of chaplain to Archibald, duke of Douglas (1694–1761).

In June 1730 he was chosen one of the Tuesday lecturers at Salters' Hall, and held this post, in connection with other duties, to the last, in spite of extreme age and blindness; remarking, when his friends pressed him to resign the lectureship, "I am sure you will not choose a better in my stead."

Later life

Earle had remarkable vigor; he was never out of health, though he once broke his arm, and became blind many years before his death. At the age of 90 he could easily repeat 100 lines at any given place from his favorite classic authors. The hackneyed stories of his jokes relate chiefly to his 3 wives, whom he called "the world, the flesh, and the devil;" to one of them he explained the difference between exportation and transportation by saying, "If you were exported I should be transported."

He preached on the last Sunday of his life, smoking his pipe in the vestry before sermon as usual, and died suddenly in his chair on 29 May 1768, aged 92, or (according to another account) 94 years.

Writing

Earle published: 1. ‘Sermon to the Societies for the Reformation of Manners … at Salters' Hall, 26 July,’ 1704, 12mo (dedicated to Sir T. Roberts). 2. ‘Hearing without Doing,’ 1706, 4to (last sermon at Lime Street lecture). 3. ‘Sacramental Exercises,’ 1707, 12mo; reprinted, Boston, Mass., 1756, 12mo; a version in Gaelic, Edinb. 1827, 12mo. 4. ‘On Prayer and Hearing the Word,’ 1708, 12mo (part of the Weighhouse Friday series; reprinted in ‘Twenty-four Practical Discourses,’ 1810, 12mo, 2 vols.). 5. ‘Sacred Poems,’ 1726, 12mo (dedication, dated 27 June, to Mrs. Susanna Langford; styles himself ‘chaplain to his grace the Duke of Douglas’). 6. ‘Umbritii Cantiani Poemata,’ 1729, 12mo (anon. dated ‘ex agro Cantiano Cal. Mart. 1729;’ a small volume of Latin verse; contains poem addressed to Prince Frederick, also elegies on Addison, Burnet, Tong, &c.).

Earle published some 20 other separate sermons, including 7. Ordination Sermon at Newport Pagnell (William Hunt), 1725, 8vo; and funeral sermons 8. For John Cumming, D.D., 1729, 8vo. 9. Joseph Hayes, 1729, 8vo. 10. Alice Hayes, 1733, 8vo.

He contributed to the Occasional Papers, 1716-1719; and translated into Latin sundry treatises by Daniel Williams for foreign distribution in accordance with the terms of Williams's will. At the end of Matthew Clarke's funeral sermon for Rev. Jeremiah Smith, 1723, 8vo, is Smith's character attempted in verse by Earle. Kippis published his facetious lines on the value of degrees in divinity; his lines on the burial service are given in Evangelical Magazine, ii. 264.

Recognition

On 21 August 1728 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Earle by the University of Edinburgh; shortly afterwards the same degree was conferred upon him by King's College, Aberdeen.

Robert Dodsley included Earle's poem "A Winter Thought" in his Collection of Poem in Six Volumes; by several hands.

Publications

Poetry

• Verses upon Several Occasions. London: J. Humfreys, for S. Chandler, 1724.
• Sacred Poems. London: 1726.
• Umbritii Cantiani Poemata. Londini: Joannis Graii, 1729.

Non-fiction

• A Sermon Preach'd to the Societies for the Reformation of Manners. London: John Lawrence, 1704.
• Sacramental Exercises, 1707; reprinted, Boston, Mass., 1756; Boston: Lincoln & Edwards, 1813; Middletown, CT: Seth Richards, 1815; Boston: Thomas Fleet, for Daniel Henchman, 1725; Boston: S. Gerrish, 1729; Edinburgh: J. Symington, 1798; New Haven, CT: A.H. Maltby, 1821
  • also printed as The Christian's Looking Glass; or, Sacramental exercises. Montpelier, VT: Walton & Goss, 1817.
  • Cleachdan luchd-comanachaidh (translated to Gaelic by J Macdonald & Angus MacGillivray, of MacGillivray). Deneidin: Clodh-Bhuailte le I. & D. Collie, 1827.
• Hearing without Doing Not Sufficient to Salvation. London: J. Phillips, 1708.
• Practical Discourses of Singing in the Worship of God. London: J. Darby, for N. Cliff & J. Philips, 1708.
• A Preach'd Sermon in Gravel-Lane, Southwark. London: John Clark, 1719.
• Two Sermons Preached at the Old Jewry (with John Evans). London:J. Clark & R. Hett / E. Matthews / R. Ford / J. Chandler, 1727.
• A funeral sermon occasioned by the death of the late Reverend John Cumming. London: J. Gray, 1729.
• The Popish Doctrine of Purgatory. London: John Noon / Thomas Cox / Richard Ford / Richard Hett / John Gray, 1735.
• A Serious Exhortation to Repentance: A sermon. London: R. Ford & R. Hett, 1737.
• On Prayer and Hearing the Word (1708) in Twenty-four Practical Discourses. 2 volumes, 1810.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

 Gordon, Alexander (1888) "Earle, Jabez" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 16 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 319-320  . Wikipedia, Apr. 7, 2020.

External links

Poems

• Jabez Earle at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive ("A Winter Thought")

Books

• Jabez Earle at Amazon.com