R. BERNARD. , 461 souls.' He died in the month of March, 1641, aged seventy- four years.+ Fuller has given him a place among the learned writers of Christ's college, Cambridge ;T. and Granger denominates him " the worthy rector of Batcombe in Somersetshire."§ Mr. Conant gives the following account of Mr. Bernard's character, labours, and usefulness i " I had for sundry years past, some intimate acquaintance with him; during which time, as, by the testimony ofmany godly and learned per- sons long before, he bath constantly been very laborious in the public exercise of his ministry ; the fruit whereofwas sealed by the couyersionof many souls to God. His labours in the ministry were bestowed not only in his own Congre- gation, but in several of the adjacent market towns ; where 'weekly lectures were for many years continued, by the free and voluntary assistance of pious, godly, and orthodox divines, until theywere, by the last bishop of that diocese, to the great prejudice of manysouls, imperiously suppressed. In his ministerial work hewas a leader and pattern to many, exemplifying in his sermons that method of preaching, which many years since, in his " Faithful Shepherd," he prescribed, or at least proposed, in zeriting. Divers painful and profitable labourers in the Lord's vineyard had their first initiation and direction from and under him ; to whom also many others had recourse, and from whom they borrowed no small light and encouragement. His people, by his constant pains in catechizing, (wherein he had an excellent facility,) as well as his preaching, were more than ordinary proficients in the knowledge ofthe things of God; and the youth ofhis congregation were very ready in giving a clear account of their faith, whereof he would often speak with much rejoicing. That the knowledge of his people was not merely speculative, appeared by the many liberal contributions which, for pious and charitable uses, were made by them ; wherein, I suppose, they were not inferior to any congregation in the whole county wherein he lived. " His preachinc, and catechizing," our author adds, " were accompanied with zeal, frequency, and fervency in prayer, wherein he was very ready and powerful, and whereby all his other labours became the more successful. With all these, his ordinary andmore private conversation MS. Chronology, vol. iii. A. D. 1640. p. 45. f Wood'sAthens Oxon. vol. ii. p. 514. t Hist. of Cam. p. 92. Granger's Biog. flist. vol. ii. p. 129. 1111.11111111EMMUSLLIV-ir
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