Mr. John Brine, a divine of considerable celebrity among the Calvinistical Baptists, was a native of Kettering, and born some time in the year 1703. His parents were in very low circumstances, so that he possessed scarcely any advantages in respect to his education. When a lad he was placed in the staple manufactory of his native town, at which he worked for some considerable time, as did his friend Dr. Gill, who was some years his senior, and under whose ministry he received his first serious impressions. Being effectually called to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, by the energy of the Holy Ghost attending the gospel, he was admitted a member of the Baptist church in his native place, under the pastoral care of Mr. Wallis. Though the straitness of his circumstances compelled him to have recourse to his daily labour for a subsistence, yet he was careful to improve all opportunities for the cultivation of his mind; and he must have taken prodigious pains at this period to acquire so respectable and acquaintance with the learned languages, and with other branches of useful knowledge as he possessed. Here he married a daughter of the Rev. John Moore, a respectable minister of the Particular Baptist denomination at Northampton, from whom he inherited Hutter’s Hebrew Bible, which was to him, at that time, a treasure of no small value. With this lady he lived in a state of conjugal happiness for many years, till she was removed by death, on the 6th of August, 1745; upon which occasion Dr. Gill preached, and afterwards published a funeral discourse. After some interval, Mr. Brine again entered into the marriage state, and his second wife survived him.
Mr. Brine was called into the ministry by the church at Kettering, to which he stood related, and after preaching some time in an occasional way, received a call to undertake the pastoral charge of a Particular Baptist church at Coventry. In that station he continued a few years, till he was invited to London, to succeed Mr. Morton, as pastor of the Baptist congregation at Curriers-Hall, Cripplegate. This was about the year 1730. His removal to the metropolis gave him great satisfaction, as it afforded him an opportunity of being near to his friend Dr. Gill, with whom he cultivated a particular friendship, which was strengthened by a perfect congeniality of views upon religious subjects. When the Doctor retired from his Wednesday evening lecture at Great Eastcheap, it was carried on for some years by Mr. Brine, in connection with other minister: he also preached in his turn at the Lord’s day evening lecture, in Devonshire Square. During the period of five and thirty years that he resided in London, he took a principal lead in the public transactions that concerned his own denomination. The weight that he acquired with his brethren, occasioned his being frequently called upon to preach at the ordination of younger ministers, and to improve the deaths of ministers and private Christians. Many of his discoursed on these occasions are printed.
Mr. Brine resided for many years in Bridgewater Square, but during his last illness he took lodgings at Kingsland, where he died. Not long before his decease, he expressed himself in the following words: “I think I am of sinners the chief, of saints the least; I know that I am nothing; but by the grace of God I am what I am;” which latter words he ordered to be inscribed on his tombstone. His death took place on the 21st of February, 1765, in the 63rd year of his age. He left positive orders that no funeral sermon should be preached for him, which injunction could not proceed from any dislike to such services, seeing he preached so many himself. His request as to this particular was partly complied with, but not entirely. His intimate friend, Dr. Gill, preached a sermon upon the occasion to his own people, from 1 Cor. xv. 10. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” In the following May the Doctor preached the same discourse at St. Albans, and then thought himself at liberty to publish it. The only notice which he takes of Mr. Brine, is contained in a note to the following purpose; “I am debarred from saying so much of him as otherwise I could do, we both being born in the same place, and myself some years older than him, and from his being among the first fruits of my ministry. I might take notice of his natural and acquired abilities, his great understanding, clear light, and sound judgement in the doctrines of the gospel, and the great and deep things of God; of his zeal, skill, and courage, in vindicating important truths, published by him to the world, by which he being dead yet speaketh. In fine, I might observe to you, that his walk and conversation in the world was honourable, and ornamental to the profession he made, and suitable to the character he sustained as a minister of Jesus Christ, all which endeared him to his friends. But I am forbid to speak any more”.
Mr. Brine was in person short and thick, and his countenance was not calculated to prepossess strangers greatly in his favour; but his manners were very much those of a gentleman. He was a man of considerable attainments in learning and excelled in his knowledge of the learned languages. He possessed good ministerial abilities, and was very faithful in the discharge of the pastoral duties. He was a man of exemplary life and conversation; he cultivated the Christian tempers with assiduity, and was an ornament to the religion he professed. His amiable character procured him general respect, and it should be remarked, he would by no means admit the dangerous tendency which others apprehended from the doctrines he inculcated; on the contrary, he considered them of such importance, that he was their zealous defender, both from the pulpit and the press. His publications are very numerous, but they consist chiefly of sermons, besides a few distinct treatises designed to vindicate the doctrine of free grace. As most of them have passed through but on edition, they are now become scarce, insomuch that it is become difficult to procure a complete set of his works. They are however highly esteemed by many persons, especially such as are partial to the works of Dr. Gill.
Mr. Brine was buried in Bunhill Fields, where upon his tombstone (which has been lately repaired) may be seen the following inscription:
Here lie the interred remains of
The Rev. John Brine,
Who departed this life
Feb. 21,1765,
In the 63d year of his Age.
His ministerial Abilities were very Extraordinary,
And his Zeal and Faithfulness
Equally Conspicuous;
Not long before his Decease
He expressed his Sentiments in the following Words,
“I think I am of Sinners the Chief; of Saints the least,
“I Know that I am Nothing;
“But by the Grace of God I am what I am.”
Also,
Mary Brine,
Widow of the above John Brine,
Obit. 31 Jan. 1784, Ætat 86 years
28 JY 58
THE END.
The Southern Pulpit 