Sovereign Grace Church

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: 
for the end of that man is peace.

(PSALM 37:37)

…His mind was pleasingly occupied in contemplating the following passage of the word of God, and which it was his privilege to appropriate [take to himself]:—“Ye are complete in him.”—From this period, till his death, his mind was generally tranquil. [COLOSSIANS 2:10]

During the early part of the night of his dissolution [death], he slept tolerably well, while his wife and brother anxiously watched around his bed. On a sudden, he awoke; saying “I am going. The Lord take me to himself: receive my spirit”—His wife asked him whether he was comfortable in his mind?—he replied, “Quite comfortable. Glory! glory! salvation! salvation! I am going—farewell all my earthly friends; the world, and all the vanities of the world.” Having joined in prayer with a friend, he was heard, a few minutes afterwards, to say “Heaven! heaven! heaven!” and on being asked if his prospects were bright, replied, “Yes;” and immediately, without a struggle or a groan, fell asleep in Jesus. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.” (PSALM 37:37)

He has left a young widow and an infant to bemoan his loss. On the 10th of May his remains were interred [buried] in the vestry of the meeting-house, at New Mill, Tring, Hertfordshire, England. Mr. Hunt, of Tring, delivered the funeral oration. Mr. Newman, of Stepney, preached the funeral sermon from 2 Corinthians 4:7 who testified that Mr. Rees, while at Stepney [The Baptist Academical Institution], had uniformly conducted himself as a pious, diligent, affectionate, and grateful pupil.

Mr. Wake, of Leighton-Buzzard, and Mr. Liddon, of Hemel Hempstead, engaged in prayer. May the death of our young friend be improved by the church, and his relatives, particularly by the brethren in the ministry.—To them the voice thus speaketh: “Work while it is called to-day for the night cometh when no man can work.” [JOHN 9:4]

^{Excerpt taken from The Baptist Magazine for 1815}

Obituary of Pastor John Rees (1790—1815)