THOMAS MANTON, D.D.
IN times of persecution when the world threatened to swallow up the cause of Christ the Lord favoured His cause by raising up men whom He made polished shafts in His hand to do a work in the church of God which was a benefit to her, not only in the times in which they lived, but which was handed down to succeeding generations as a priceless legacy, enriching all who take a delight in it. Among these polished shafts was Thomas Manton. Little is known of his parents and of his boyhood beyond the fact that his father was a minister, and that he himself was born at Lawrence-Lydiat, in the county of Somerset in the year 1620, that he first attended school at Tiverton in Devonshire and at the age of fifteen years entered Wadham College, Oxford, where in due course he began the study of divinity. His divinity course being completed he was ordained by the godly Bishop Hall of Exeter before he was twenty years of age. This seems to indicate that he was a brilliant scholar and that he early gave promise of usefulness in the Church of Christ.
It was, however, a considerable time after this that he became regularly employed when he was appointed to give a weekly lecture at Culliton, in Devonshire. His preaching had a marked effect on his hearers, but he preached no less by his consistent walk, so that he earned the respect of the most of those with whom he came in contact, and was the means of reforming certain disorderly practices in the neighbourhood in which he lived. About three years after his ordination he was presented to the living of Stoke Newington in Middlesex where he continued for about seven years. From Stoke Newington he removed to St. Paul’s Covent Garden, of which he became Rector. Here he succeeded Mr. Obadiah Sedgewick, a man famous in his own day, and had a large congregation, chiefly drawn from among the nobility. He was a rare example of what a minister of Christ ought to be in that he set a higher value upon his office than he did on the esteem of his fellow-creatures. That he feared no frowns nor courted any favours may be seen in his attitude to Mr. Christopher Love, a godly minister, who was beheaded in 1651 by the then Parliament, for his Royalist sympathies. Dr. Manton attended him on the scaffold at Tower Hill, and though the authorities signified their displeasure, and the soldiers threatened to shoot him, he preached Mr. Love’s funeral sermon at St. Lawrence Jewry to a large congregation. His text on the occasion was, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” I. Cor. xv. 57. This sermon was sometime afterwards published under the title of “The Saint’s Triumph over Death.” Throughout this sermon he carefully avoids any reference to Mr. Love until he comes to the closing paragraph when, after stating the lack of necessity for any direct reference, he says, “I have indeed spoken of him, and that in the judgment of your consciences; the duties which I passed upon you he performed; the comforts which I propounded to you he enjoyed. I shall not make any particular rehearsal of the passages of his exemplary life: I judge it not convenient. Only to you of this place I may take liberty to commend his doctrine, and entreat you to be careful of those precious truths which he sowed among you while the Lord used him here as a skilful seedsman.” These words amply testify to Dr. Manton’s estimate of Christopher Love.
When in the year 1653 Cromwell became Lord Protector, Dr. Manton was appointed as one of his chaplains, and also about the same time appointed a member of the Committee of Triers to examine applicants for vacant livings, the duties of which he discharged conscientiously and with an eye to the glory of God. He was often asked to preach before the Long Parliament on special occasions, and his published sermons together with his choice of texts plainly show how skilfully and faithfully he performed these duties, often under very difficult circumstances. Five years later, on 3rd September 1658 Oliver Cromwell passed from this world of strife, and his son Richard, who succeeded him, in a few months resigned the Protectorship and went to live in the country. It soon became apparent that many in England were longing for a return to Monarchy, and the eyes of many were turning to King Charles II. who was in exile in Holland. In the year 1660 Dr. Manton with some other divines waited upon the king at Breda where they were well received, and the king made them fair promises which after events proved he never intended to keep. On the strength of these promises Dr. Manton with many of the Presbyterian divines played a very important part in the restoration of King Charles—a matter for which many of them were poorly rewarded afterwards. Some time after this he was offered the deanery of Rochester, and though he was pressed by many influential persons to take it, yet such was the strength of his convictions and the honesty of his purpose that he refused it, and thus showed clearly that a clean conscience was of more value to him than position and riches. For refusing it he incurred the displeasure of the Lord Chancellor, who on one occasion accused him to the king of making some treasonable statements in his sermon. After the king heard Dr. Manton’s notes read to him, he said, “Doctor, I am satisfied, and you may be assured of my favour; but look to yourself, or else Hyde will be too hard for you.” This kind treatment of Dr. Manton is like an oasis in the desert in the life of a monarch whose good points were, as a rule, conspicuous by their absence.
This faithful preacher of the gospel, however, was not suffered to pass through this world without trials. In 1662 two thousand ministers were ejected from their congregations by the passing of the Act of Uniformity, for they made choice of trials rather than bring guilt on their consciences. Among them was Dr. Manton, whose connection was thus severed with the congregation of St. Paul’s Covent Garden. He preached his farewell sermon from the words, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”—Heb. xii. 1. In it he makes no direct reference to the position in which he and the congregation were placed but the whole sermon is a commentary on the action of those who with him suffered for conscience sake. Who can describe the feelings of these ambassadors of Jesus Christ as they parted, through the violence of those who should have protected them, with devoted congregations where God had acknowledged their labours, and where souls were still hungering for the bread of life? After he was ejected he preached for some time on Sabbath evenings and Wednesday mornings in his own house to as many as would come, his congregation increasing so that he had to remove a partition between two rooms, thus converting them into a fairly large hall. Later on he removed to a more convenient meeting place, and in 1670, when the laws against such meetings had been temporarily relaxed, he had, in common with many other ministers who were in the same position, a very large congregation. This relaxation, however, was of short duration, and he was committed to prison. The keeper of the prison was Lady Broughton, who was noted for her strictness, yet God, who has the hearts of all creatures in His hand, moved her to deal kindly with Dr. Manton so that he had a large room and a small one, sufficient to hold a bed, and when she went for any length of time out of town she ordered the keys of the prison to be brought to him every night. Here he sometimes had opportunities of preaching to a few friends who at stated times came to see him. After his release he preached for some time in a large room taken for him near his house, and also for a time acted as lecturer at Pinner’s Hall.
The time now came when the worn-out tabernacle was to be dissolved. Not feeling well, he went to Woburn for a change of air, but deriving little benefit from the change he returned to his congregation, intending to dispense the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper on the following Sabbath. Before that day came his condition grew worse, and before taking to his bed he took leave of his study, blessing God for the many happy hours he had spent there. At family worship he expressed the desire that if God had no further work for him in this world, He would take him to Himself. He died on 18th October 1677 in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and was buried in the chancel of the church at Stoke Newington. Thus died a diligent servant of the Lord Jesus, a faithful preacher of the gospel, a sound theologian, and one highly esteemed by the Lord’s people. Spurgeon says of him, “Manton needs no praise from us. Whatever he does is done in a style worthy of a chief among theologians.”
—J. C.