The Story Of A Seaman

The Story Of A Seaman

He was an adventurer with the heart of a poet.

WAR BROKE OUT between England and France in 1755, and a sixteen-year-old named Samuel Medley fulfilled his dream by becoming a midshipman in the Royal British Navy. During the battle of Cape Lagos in 1759, Medley’s leg was severely wounded when most of his calf was shot away. The wound would not heal, and the ship’s surgeon informed him that gangrene had set in and the leg would have to be amputated. Medley protested, and the surgeon granted him one more day before removing the leg. Medley had a Bible in his trunk and spent the whole night reading it and praying. The next day the surgeon reported that healing had begun and surgery would not be necessary. Did this lead Medley to God? No, he rejoiced in his good fortune and packed away his Bible.

When the ship returned to London, Medley was carried to the home of his grandfather to recuperate. Medley’s grandfather was a godly man and was concerned about the spiritual state of his wild and worldly grandson and repeatedly shared the gospel with him to no avail until one Sunday evening when he read Medley a sermon by Isaac Watts. God used the sermon to convict Medley of his sin and to transform his life. He started reading the Christian books in his grandfather’s library and was baptized in December 1760.

Medley soon resigned from the navy and began preparing for the ministry, learning both Greek and Hebrew. In 1767 he became pastor of the Baptist church in Watford, Hertfordshire. The next four and a half years were very difficult since the church was small and unable to support him fully. However, in 1772 Medley was called as pastor of the Particular Baptist Church in Liverpool (Particular Baptist meant Calvinistic Baptist). He served there for the rest of his life. He especially enjoyed ministering to the sailors of this seaport city.

Samuel Medley is best remembered for the hymns he wrote. Most familiar is “O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth”:

O, could I speak the matchless worth,

O, could I sound the glories forth

Which in my Saviour shine,

I’d soar and touch the heavenly strings

And vie with Gabriel while he sings

In notes almost divine.

I’d sing the precious blood he spilt,

My ransom from the dreadful guilt

Of sin and wrath divine!

I’d sing his glorious righteousness,

In which all-perfect heavenly dress

My soul shall ever shine.

Samuel Medley died on July 17, 1799. Ever the seaman, he said from his deathbed, “I am now a poor shattered bark, just about to enter the blissful harbor; and O, how sweet will be the port after the storm.” He could then experience the reality of what he had written:

Soon the delightful day will come

When my dear Lord will bring me home,

And I shall see his face;

Then with my Saviour, Brother, Friend,

A blest eternity I’ll spend,

Triumphant in his grace.

Reflection

Samuel Medley longed for heaven. He knew he was going there because he trusted “the precious blood he spilt, / my ransom from the dreadful guilt / of sin and wrath divine.” What are you trusting to get you there?

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!”

Revelation 7:9-10