Bible Christian Magazine Edmund Mountjoy

Mr. Edmund Mountjoy
ON the sixth day of October, 1835, at Lamerton Farm, in the parish of Holsworthy, was born a child destined to exert a most wholesome religious influence, both in the pulpit and out of it. When the harvest of the world shall have been reaped, not a few will be the sheaves gathered by the devoted labours of Edmund Mountjoy. Converted in February, 1859, he has laboured in season and out of season to bring others to a knowledge of Christ. His experience prior to the spiritual change effected in his life is not unlike that of many others who "know their sins forgiven." Conviction, contrition, wrestling in prayer, and mighty struggling - these were the prelude to the happy day when the peace of God first became his blest possession.

Four months after his conversion he had a reference on the local preachers' plan, and he made his first attempt at speaking in public at Tamerton, in the Holsworthy Circuit. Since then he has conducted innumerable services, preached hundreds of sermons, and, what is most gratifying of all, led scores to the Cross of Christ. The sphere of his labours has not been limited to his own district. He has preached in every chapel in the Holsworthy and Shebbear Circuits, and has travelled as far afield as Launceston, Kilkhampton, Hatherleigh, Tavistock, Bideford, and Southmolton. In the days of young manhood he delighted to spend his evenings in conducting revival services in the local churches, and many were the souls won for Christ as a result. An experience at Holsworthy one Sunday night, when several at the prayer meeting were converted, made an indelible impression upon his heart, and fired him with an intense zeal to seek the souls of men. Many a thrilling story he could relate of battles fought and victories won -of soul struggles, strong crying and tears, followed with inexpressible joy. He devoted several weeks in labouring for the Baptists at Germansweek, with the result

that between thirty and forty surrendered to Christ.

Soon after being placed on the plan he was appointed class leader, and this office he has filled ever since. In 1864 he was elected circuit steward, and attended the Plymouth Conference as the representative of the Holsworthy Circuit. He was also appointed representative to Conference in 1865, 1884, 1885, 1889, and 1890. A loyal Bible Christian, his interest in the denomination reveals itself in multifarious forms. A robust Christian of a healthy type, he pours out in service to others the wealth of his own life, and his soul is never more delighted than when the vision is his of witnessing men and women pressing forward to surrender their lives to the Master. His ministerial service as local preacher covers a period of forty-six years, and during that time only three appointments has he failed to keep because of the weather. In sunshine or rain, calm or storm, amid biting winds and blinding snow, he pursued the line of duty, which, evidently, to his conscience, was the line of least resistance. One Sunday night he was the subject of a bitter experience. He was

returning from a service at Derril, in the Holsworthy Circuit. Deep snow lay on the ground, and the air was bitterly cold. He mounted his saddled horse, and started for home, but ere he reached the homestead the frosty air attacked his feet, and the skin -the "outside shell," as he terms it - came away from the flesh.

A wonderfully-entrancing story Edmund Mountjoy has to tell, and one would that space in this volume permitted the telling. As one listens to the tales of heroism and suffering and conquest, one is delighted with the thought that here is a man-unclerical, unordained, unrecognised by the wise and the mighty, who bears upon his heart the burdens of others, and who, in "labours more abundant," is a true spiritual successor of the Apostles, willing to spend and be spent in that service which affects the highest interests of men, both in this life and in "the life everlasting." Such men as he are the salt of the earth.

The following is from the pen of Mr. T. Ruddle: For more than twenty years Mr. Edmund Mountjoy has been accepted at

Sutcombe as the successor of the late William Allin, of Thuboro' and Chapel House, his wife's father, who, from the hour of his conversion till his death in 1875, was the greatest religious force in his own neighbourhood. Mr. Mountjoy belongs to a type that unhappily is becoming rarer as the years pass by. A yeoman, living plainly on his own little farm, afraid of no hard work, believing that neither the rough hand nor the coarse jacket disgraces a man, that falsehood, treachery, and impurity are the things that defile, courting no man's smile, fearing no man's frown, trusting in God and doing what he believes to be right, he is a survival of what was best in early Methodism, and in the Puritanism of an earlier date. In politics he is an uncompromising Liberal, and in the darkest hours of the Liberal eclipse was true to his political faith. Plain in fare and plain in dress, he is yet one of our most generous givers; and those who have need of help, and many who really have no pressing need, know his address and remember it. As a local preacher he is earnest, intelligent, and very impressive never more so than when, casting aside the trammels of traditional pulpit form, he pleads the value of religion,

and a steadfast faith in Christ, by reminiscences of his own experience. No one would contend that Mr. Mountjoy is an utterly faultless character; only soulless, colourless people are free from flaw. Living all his life in a remote country district, it was impossible to escape some taint of prejudice and narrowness. But if at any time his judgment has been at fault, no one could deny his earnest integrity of purpose. Men like him have always been, and are even yet, the pride and strength of our fatherland and our faith; and all will join in the hope and prayer that when his work is done, his children and his children's children may be in their turns faithful witnesses of the Truth in which their father lived.

[ Volume 1 pages 79 - 83 ]

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