1838 - Methodist Minister John Lyth - Handwritten Manuscript Journal

Description: John Lyth was born in York on the 13th of March, 1821, the son of the eminent York Methodists, John and Mary Lyth. He was educated at Heigham's Academy in Doncaster between 1831 and 1834, and then at St. Peter's, York between 1834 and 1837. We read that the young John Lyth was "....obliged to mingle with a number of youths at St. Peter's who possessed no sense whatever of religion and whose morals were corrupted and depraved". In 1837 he was placed to serve his apprenticeship with R. Cussons, a bookseller and printer of Hull. After a few pages on his earlier life this diary begins in August 1838. The diary measures 8.25" x 6". There are 136 pages written between 1838 and 1844 and further 8 pages added 1846. There is also a 3 page list of books read in that period and a 10 page Table of talks and sermons delivered between 1840 and 1844 giving dates, places, times and subjects. The bulk of the journal is devoted to the writer's spiritual development, detailing the various meetings and services attended, the lessons learned from sermons etc. In his years in Hull he was much troubled with "besetting sins" and "corrupt desires" with which he battled and which he occasionally failed to resist. While at Hull the teenage writer became a Sunday School teacher, though eh found the children difficult to handle. He says "I do not ever remember being so much grieved with the behaviour of the children who seemed by common consent to unite in disorder." In 1841 he describes visiting his home in York where the famous Methodist missionary, David Cargill, was staying with his parents. Cargill had returned to England on the death of his wife in Fiji, and was about to return to Fiji. John Lyth's brother, Richard, was a medical missionary on Fiji and he sends him a parcel and letter with Cargill. (This probably failed to arrive as the returning Cargill got no further than Tonga, where in a state of depression over the loss of his wife, he died in a mixture of brandy and laudanum...these facts not in diary.). In February 1842 with his apprenticeship ended, Lyth returns to York to set up a shop with another brother. Sadly no details are forthcoming but it possibly was book-selling or printing. This apparently did not work out and the diary ends with the writer entering college to join the Methodist ministry. As a minister he served in Colchester, Stroud, Gloucester, Deptford, Nottingham, Halifax, and Burnley and in 1859 was sent to do church missionary work in Wuerttemberg, Germany. He later served in various English towns, finally retiring to York where he died in 1886. The diary also contains a loosely inserted sheet "A Solemn Covenant with God", signed by Lyth and dated Colchester 1844, and renewed and dated Stroud 1845. The entries in this journal are concerned with the writer's spiritual rather than temporal life. This important record will be of great interest to anyone interested in the history of Methodism. Good condition. The binding itself is worn and the covers are beginning to detach, but the pages themselves remain in great condition. The handwritten text is still bold and readable and only a couple of pages display fading. Box 302

Price: 2250 USD

Location: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

End Time: 2024-01-21T18:05:12.000Z

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