Ivimey on Wallin 02

Mr. Wallin was enabled, notwithstanding all his fears, to fill up this important station with great respectability for upwards of forty years. In 1752 he was deprived of his wife, who was interred in the same grave with his honoured father: and on the 19th of February, 1782, at the age of seventy-one years, he finished his course with joy. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Stennett, from Matt. xxv. 23. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. This was printed with the title, "The faithful Minister rewarded." Mr. Booth's address at the interment is appended to the sermon. Both of these discourses were published at the request of the church. From Dr. Stennett's sermon the following account of Mr. Wallin's character and labours is extracted:— 

"Mr. Benjamin Wallin was the son of Mr. Edward Wallin, who was an excellent man, and for many years a worthy pastor of this church. On his decease, Mr. Abraham West, a promising young person, was chosen to that office. He dying, our dear departed friend, after the interval of about seven years from his father's death, was invited to accept the charge. It was with no small reluctance, the effect of self-diffidence and a deep sense of the importance of the work, he complied. My dear and honoured father was the principal instrument, under God, of removing his difficulties, and of assisting him in his preparations for this service; which he often acknowledged with great affection and gratitude. And there are those yet living who can testify what serious regard he paid to the voice of God in this matter. Nor should I forget to observe here, that in his last illness he assured me, with pleasing satisfaction, that, upon the fairest examination he was capable of making into the principles and views with which he first entered on a profession of religion, and afterwards engaged in the work of the ministry, he had the sentence of his mind and conscience in his favour.

"Thus setting out in the service of his divine Master, he pursued the great objects of his ministry with faithfulness, diligence, and success. An habitual reverence he had of God upon his spirit, particularly in prayer. The voice of providence he attentively regarded in the various incidents of his life. To the gospel of Christ, as a scheme adapted to magnify both the justice and the grace of God, and to restore men to his likeness as well as his favour, he steadily adhered. In explaining the doctrines, and recommending the institutions of primitive Christianity, he paid a very particular regard to the Scriptures, often observing how much it is the duty of ministers, like the, apostles, to reason out of the word of God. So that his preaching was methodical, scriptural, and practical. He was happy, too, in accommodating his subjects to public occasions, having the great object of doing good ever in view. He laboured to get at the consciences of his hearers, to rouse the impenitent, to direct the inquiring, to comfort the distressed, to animate the slothful, and to edify the faithful. And it pleased God to succeed his labours, in not a few instances, to the great joy of his heart. Many of you, my friends, if not all, may be said to be his spiritual children. And as such he tenderly loved you. Your interests, in your individual and collective capacities, lay near his heart. He sympathized with you in your sorrows, and rejoiced with you in your joys, both on a spiritual and temporal account. Your attention to the social duties of religion, to which he earnestly pressed you, gave him no small pleasure. Never was he so happy as when presiding among you, on stated or occasional meetings of the church. And with particular satisfaction he mentioned to me, in his last illness, your having so many of you met together to offer prayer to God on his account.

"Nor were his labours for the glory of God, and the good of men, confined to this community. He was glad of every opportunity to promote the interests of other churches, and the cause of religion in general, by his counsels and occasional services. He was a man of a public spirit. And, firmly attached as he was to the doctrines of the reformation, and to that particular denomination to which he belonged, he sincerely loved all good men wherever he met with them; and gave proof of his cordial regard to the interests of religious liberty, by using his endeavours,, in concert with his brethren, to promote and enlarge it.

''In short, it may be truly said of him, he was a good man, a steady friend, an experienced Christian, and an able and faithful minister of the gospel. He was not indeed without his infirmities, but these were of such a kind as quickly to recede from the view of those who knew him: and they who were intimately acquainted with him will ever retain a deep sense of his great worth.

"Forty years and a few months he spent, my friends, in your service. And how holily, justly, and unblameably he lived, you know, and indeed all who knew him will testify; for he maintained to the last a character honourable in the sight of all men. During this long term he was but rarely interrupted in his work by illness. Yet afflictions he did meet with, which he patiently endured, and the sanctified use of which he evidently experienced. And, as he was often used to say, it was in his heart to live and die with you, so his wish was gratified.

"His last illness was not protracted to a very great length; and whatever pains he suffered, many comforts were mingled with them. He was surrounded with friends who tenderly felt with him in his sorrows, as he had been used to feel with them in theirs. And what was his greatest mercy of all, he enjoyed sweet composure of mind, well satisfied as to his state towards God, and that he had built his hope on the right foundation. He knew whom he had believed, and was verily persuaded that he was able to keep what he had committed to him against the great day. The faithfulness of God, in particular, he frequently spoke of, as a source whence he drew substantial consolation.

[Mr. Wallin was one of the ministers who, in 1772, petitioned the legislature for relief in the matter of subscription to the articles of the Church of England.]

"His reason was continued to him very nearly to the close of life. And some of the last words he was heard to pronounce were -  'Oh! pardon! - rejoicing! - I .' Thus died this excellent man. And oh! how inconceivable must have been the pleasure his immortal spirit felt, when, as he passed the gates of the celestial city, he heard his master say, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"

Mr. Booth's address is characteristic of himself, and shews the great man, even at that period of his life:—

"On such an occasion as this, it is proper that we, who bear the ministerial character, should feel, with redoubled force, our obligations to diligence in the faithful discharge of that sacred trust which is reposed in us. Our great business is, as my brethren well know, to preach the gospel of God, and to watch for the souls of men. We are bound so to preach as to commend ourselves to the enlightened and impartial conscience; and so to watch, as those that must give an account of their whole conduct. To entertain and to please, are the design of an actor on the stage, not of a minister in his pulpit. Our parts and learning, our spiritual gifts and sacred office, answer the great end of the Christian ministry no further than they are means of promoting true virtue and real piety. Nor, in any other view, can the exercise of them afford peaceful reflections when we come to die. It is possible for us to gain the applause of a multitude, while the principles on which we act and the end at which we aim are detestable in the sight of God; and such as our consciences, if awake, must abhor in the near views of eternity. Of this our venerable deceased friend was well aware, as I learnt from frequent conversations with him.

Mr. Wallin was interred in the burial-ground behind the meeting-house, and the following inscription is on his tombstone:—

Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Beniamin Wallin, M.A.

A man (Human frailty abated)

Exempt from all the faults,

And endowed with all the virtues,

Of a Christian minister.

By the unanimous desire of a free people,

He succeeded his father, Edward Wallin

As pastor of this church

And, 

By a diligent discharge of his office,

By a constant course of manly and social actions,

By a wise application of means to incidents,

For more than forty years,

Rendered a large congregation happy.

In the year 1782

On February the 19th

In the seventy-first year of his age

His tranquil soul departed

Happy in itself

At peace with God

And all mankind.

The following is a list of W. Wallin's works:

— 1. The Compassions of a dying Saviour on those who crucified him, 1746

— 2. The Christian Life in divers of its branches described and recommended, in four parts, with a serious Exhortation to Prayer, 1746.

—3. The Redeemer's Charge against his declining Churches, 1748.

—4. An Exhortation against quenching the Spirit, 1748.

—5. An humble Address to the Churches of Christ not to forsake their Assemblies, 1750.

—6. Evangelical Hymns on various Views of the Christian Life, for the Closet, 1750

—7. Exhortations to Prayer and the Lord's Supper.

—8. A Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Burford, Goodman's-fields, 1755.

—9. Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Walter Richards, Devonshire-square, 1762.

—10. The Experience of the Saints with the Operations of the Holy Spirit explained and defended, 1763.

—ll. The Christian's Concern not to be a Cast-away; two Discourses on 1 Cor. ix. 27, 1765.

—12. On the Decease of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 1765.

—13. The Eternal Existence of our Lord Jesus Christ considered and improved, 1766.

—14. The Christian Salutation; a Farewel Sermon, 1766.

—15. The Constitution of a Gospel Church; at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Reynolds, 1766.

—16. Thirty-two Lectures on Primitive Christianity, 1768.

—17. The Folly of neglecting Divine Institutions, 1758.

—18. The Christian's Duty and Confidence in times of Public Calamity, occasioned by the late dreadful Earthquakes, and the apprehensions of a French War, 1-56.

—19. The joyful Sacrifice of a prosperous Nation; a Thanksgiving Sermon for Victory and Peace, 1759.

—20. Funeral Sermon on the Death of Mr. E. Tomkins, 1753.

—21. Ditto on the Death of Mr. Jonas Thorowgood, of Hertford, 1753.

—22. Ditto on the Death of Mr. T. Wildman, 1754.

—23. Ditto on the Decease of the Rev. Mr. John Author, of Waltham Abbey, 1762.

—24. A Letter to the Congregation meeting near the Maze-pond, Southwark, 1755.

—25. Charge at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr. Abraham Booth, Goodman's-fields, 1768.

—26. Pious Memorial; three Sermons on three deceased worthy Professors.

—27. Gospel Requisites to acceptable Prayer, 1770.

—28. The Importance of Family Religion, 1771

—29. Scripture Doctrine of Christ's Sonship, 1771.

—30. At the Grave of Dr. John Gill, 1772.

— 31. Funeral Sermon on Mr. Job Heath, 1773.

—32. Ditto on the Rev. Mr. Samuel James, of Hitching, 1773.

—33. Sermon on the Settling a new Church, 1774.

—34. On the Death of Miss Macgowan, 1774.

—35. Memoirs of a young Gentleman for the Warning of Deists, 1774.

—36. The popular Concern in the Choice of Representatives, 1774.

—37. Case of a fallen Professor, 1775.

—38. Discourses on the Prodigal Son, 1775.

—39. The ancient Believer's Transition from Mortality to Life; on the Decease of Mrs Hannah Munn.
—40. Satan rebuked and the Son defended, 1781.

—41. Sermon on the Decease of the Rev. Mr. John Macgowan.