Particular Pilgrims

Some of the earliest members of the Loughwood Baptist church were colorful characters, a few of which we’ll look at next episode. Others were quite unexpected. Who would guess that several prominent families in the early years of the church were Huguenots, French protestants escaping persecution? For more information, visit CBTSeminary.org

In some ways, John Ash is reminiscent of Thomas Llewelyn, our previous pilgrim. Both men lived during the same years, were educated at Bristol, became moderately well off, and exercised academic gifts and pastoral heart. But the differences brought into their lives by providence, help us understand the variety of life in the Particular Baptist churches of mid-18th century England. For more informa...

Today’s story of another little-known Particular Pilgrim concerns Thomas Llewelyn and the use of his academic-oriented gifts. Thomas’ last name “Llewelyn” begins with two “Ls” and gives away his Welsh origins.   For more information, visit CBTSeminary.org

The 50th Anniversary celebration of the Baptist Missionary Service was held on May 31st and June 1st, and 2nd, 1842, in Kettering. So large were the expected crowds that two meetinghouses were used – one the Baptist and the other the Congregational. On the first day in the evening, Andrew Leslie was asked to preach. His text was Acts 14:27, “and when they had arrived and gathered the church togeth...

"Andrew Leslie’s grief over the death of the one he called “his dear Eliza” hindered him for some years. In the months following his “great affliction” he stopped writing letters and doing most work. But after an initial period of grieving, he began to reengage in his various missionary pursuits. And in a letter written to R. B. Sherring six months after Eliza’s death, he includes some news o...

"Any missionary heading to India had to wrestle with the reality that they could die shortly after arrival. Surely, none of them expected to return to England. Moving to a hot, wet climate without immunities or medical remedies against exotic diseases, was part of the cost of reaching the lost. And Eliza Leslie had considered this." For more information, visit  CBTSeminary.org  

"The Leslies grew in love for one another and appear to have sincerely rejoiced at the opportunity to serve God in India, despite the sacrifices this involved. Their first year passed relatively quietly with no children, but with much learning and usefulness." For more information about CBTS, visit CBTSeminary.org

"We know little else about Eliza’s early childhood, but I have a careful portrait of her drawn about age 18 by William Thomas Fry, an important English engraver. It shows a small, attractive young lady with elaborately curled hair sitting in a chair holding a letter. She bears a pleasant resemblance to her father."

Francis Franklin, father of Eliza, was born on December 9, 1772 in Mursley, Buckinghamshire. He was the youngest of seven children; his parents being William and Mary Franklin. Just before he turned 15 he moved to Oxford to apprentice as a cabinet and chair maker to his cousin, John Payne. He regularly attended the parish church, as he had been raised, but found the Baptist ministry of James Hinto...

"It is clear from his letters that Andrew Leslie was marked for India as a missionary after graduation from Bristol Academy. But before he could go there were several things he needed to do." For more information about CBTS, visit  CBTSeminary.org

The next person I want to present to you is Andrew Leslie. I’m fairly certain none of you know that name. But I hope that after several episodes, his “hidden life” and “unvisited tomb”, to use George Eliot’s phrases from the last line of her novel “Middlemarch”, will be honored. For more information, visit CBTSeminary.org

"One of the few original letters I possess from our Particular Baptist forebears is from Robert Hall Jr. to John Ryland. Robert was the youngest son of Robert Hall Sr. whose life we explored. Robert Jr. was blessed with unusual gifts and was one of the greatest preachers of the first half of the 1800s. Like his father, Robert was a Particular Baptist, but with peculiar views on a number of su...

Now that we have begun to see the gifts of John Ryland and his growth in the grace of humility, it is time to tell more of his story. He spent 10 years helping his father in the school and church before his ordination to the pastoral office. During this time, he was frustrated in his inability to find a wife. And so he wrote to John Newton about it, who regularly responded with good counsel. For m...

As a young believer, John Ryland struggled with the ups and downs of doubts and assurance. At times, he despaired of being truly converted. He also knew times of considerable confidence that Christ had saved him. His parents both ministered to his spiritual needs and a few months before age 15, his father baptized him, crying out, “Thanks be to God for this boy”. John said he never forgot that sou...

"John Ryland was born on January 29, 1753, as the oldest child of John Collett Ryland and his wife Elizabeth. His birthplace was Warwick, where his father first pastored and established his boarding school. As mentioned in previous episodes, John Ryland was often called John Ryland Jr. to distinguish him from his father, though technically, he wasn’t a junior. The son often signed his name th...

John Collett Ryland played an important role in English nonconformist education for forty years. Dissenting academies, as they were called, were necessitated by the reestablishment of the monarchy and state church in 1660. Subsequent legislation made it impossible for conscientious dissenters to gain entrance to English universities. Pre-university education was also difficult because any school h...

If you ever heard the name of John Collett Ryland before these podcasts, it was probably in regard to an infamous interchange he was reported to have had with William Carey. There are several accounts of it in print, but I especially like the details and perspectives that Dr. Michael Haykin provides in his biography of John Sutcliff, entitled “One Heart and One Soul”. For more information about Co...

Having seen how John Collett Ryland’s wide friendships likely influenced his change of views regarding church communion, let us now examine his only writing on the subject. This came in a 3 page broadsheet-style publication in very small type dated June 15, 1772 and signed Pacificus. It was entitled “A Modest Plea for Free Communion at the Lord’s Table; between true believers of all denominations:...

We now turn to John Collett Ryland’s espousal of what he called free communion, also known as open or mixed communion. His position was familiar to his fellow Baptists. For example, John Rippon states, “it is well known that he was what is commonly called, a mixed communion Baptist; that is, a Baptist admitting other good men to the Lord’s table, though in his opinion they are unbaptized." Fo...

We continue with our survey of the open and closed communion debate. In 1816, the year following Robert Hall Jr.’s “Terms of communion” came out, Joseph Kinghorn answered Hall with “Baptism, A Term of Communion at the Lord’s Supper”. Kinghorn was the pastor of Norwich Baptist Church and a former pupil of Hall’s at the Bristol Baptist Academy. For more information, visit CBTSeminary.org

An open communion answer to Booth finally came in the formidable writing of Robert Hall Jr. In the early 1800s he was perhaps the greatest orator in England, possessed a genius mind, and liked to practice radical politics. In 1815 he produced “Terms of Communion”, a direct challenge to Booth’s Apology. For more information about CBTS, visit CBTSeminary.org

We continue with our survey of the open and closed communion debate in preparation for a later review of John Collett Ryland’s principles and practices related to it. Next I’ll review the interactions of John Bunyan and William Kiffen. For more information about CBTS, visit CBTSeminary.org

Before I finish the study of John Collett Ryland’s interesting life, I want to explore three topics in which he played a significant or exemplary role. One of these is his view of who was qualified to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Another is his version of High Calvinism and his interactions with William Carey. And finally, there is his important place in 18th-century English education.   For more...

"Ryland was a friend to everyone he thought to be a true believer. So he was personal friends with like-minded men such as John Gill and John Brine. But he was also friends with those of a different kind of Calvinism such as Andrew Gifford, Robert Hall Sr., and John Rippon." For more information about CBTSeminary, visit CBTSeminary.org

The life and ministry of John Collett Ryland will transition our studies away from hyper-Calvinism among Particular Baptists. He is an appropriate figure for this move because he was close friends with a number of orthodox men with varied views on Calvinism. For more information, visit CBTSeminary.org