Perry, Gardner B. Submission to the Will of God. A Sermon preached in Newbury, (Mass.) 3d Parish, Feb. 4th, 1819. Occasioned by the Death of Rev. John Kirby, A. M. Late Minister in that place, who was Cast Away in the sloop Henry, on the Ocracok Bar and Drowned, in the night of the 5th of December, 1818. Newburyport: Printed by Ephraim W. Allen, At the Herald Office, 1819. First Edition. [12306]
Removed, no wrapper, 8 1/2 x 5 inches, a couple of signatures in brown ink at the top of the title page, 28 pp., light foxing. Good. Pamphlet.
The text is Luke 22:2, "Thy will be done." "Our duty to submit willingly and cheerfully to the governing providence of God might be supported, by considerations drawn from the 'power he has over us, and the property he has in us.' He has made us and not we ourselves. 'We are His people and sheep of his pasture,' and I do not think the force of this argument can be too sensibly felt - it is calculated to give us becoming views of God, and of ourselves."
After expounding the text the author relates the story of the life of the Rev. John Kirby.
Rev. John Kirby (1783-1818), b. Middletown (now Berlin), Saratoga Co., New York; d. at sea. He was educated at Union College, Schenectady, NY, afterwards teaching school in Aurora, NY. He prepared for the ministry under the care of the Albany Presbytery, but his feeble health prevented him from obtaining a church. He preached at various times, was interested in helping other young men in their studies, and during a storm while sailing from New York city to Charleston, SC, he was washed overboard while praying for his companions on deck.
The author, Gardner Braman Perry (1783-1859), educated at Brown University and at Union College, Schenectady. He was for forty-five years the pastor of the Second Congregational Church at Groveland, Mass. He was one of the original members of Newburyport Presbytery and remained a member of Presbytery during the years of his ministry.
