Particular Pilgrims

"In 1807 the Particular Baptist churches in Bristol and the west of England formed what they called “The Baptist Western Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Ministers of that Denomination”. In the later 18th century and all through the 19th, social welfare in England was typically administered by groups of people bonded by a common interest. It was the age of benevolent societies....

"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 recently. 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 numb...

Samuel Medley lived at the peak of the Age of Letters. In the 1700s, the art of letter-writing was an essential part of being an educated man. And so, of course, Medley wrote and received correspondence. As we have mentioned in the past, some of his compositions are in rhymed or poetic form. Others, especially those more formal, are of course in prose. Confessional, Affordable, Theological Educati...

"There is another hymn of Samuel Medley’s that I want to introduce to you. It has a personal connection for my wife and me and so I want to share it with you. It was originally entitled, “The Wisdom and Goodness of God”. It is one of my wife’s favorite hymns and one she wrote a paper on for Dr. Michael Haykin in her classes at CBTS. I’ll be using some of the fruit of her research in this epis...

Samuel Medley’s hymns were first published during his lifetime. I have a modern reprint of the “second edition, enlarged” from 1789, that contains 77 hymns, their titles and Scripture texts. Some of Medley’s hymns were used by John Rippon in his famous hymnal of about the same time. Then, after his death in 1799, a much larger collection was gathered and printed in London in 1800. It contained 232...

"In his sermons, Samuel Medley directly addressed the unconverted. He is sometimes presented as a High Calvinist and perhaps he was of a sort, although I don’t think we have enough sermon material to make that judgment. Being limited to only two specimen sermons is inadequate. But what is clear from those two is that he did not ignore those outside of Christ. In his association sermon preache...

Our episode today tells the story of Samuel Medley, a man whose story in several respects parallels that of John Newton, the famous author of Amazing Grace. These men lived at the same time and spent their early adult years at sea. Both were saved in dramatic circumstances, and both became pastors and hymn writers. And much less importantly, the drawings and paintings of them made during their lif...

Robert Hall Sr’s most important writing was “Help to Zion’s Travelers.” Having recently finished re-reading it, I want to give you an overview of this valuable book and make some observations. My copy of “Help to Zion’s Travelers” is an 1814 printing that claims to be the First American Edition. It was published by John Paradise in Alexandria, VA, and printed by J. Rakestraw of Philadelphia. John...

Robert Hall spent 38 years ministering to his flock in Arnsby. He was a sought-after preacher whom God blessed with what Andrew Fuller called “the conversion of great numbers.” He was also esteemed for the loveliness of his personal character and life. Fuller again described his “unaffected humility” that “concealed from the world, and almost entirely from himself” his virtues and talents. Despite...

As I mentioned last time, Robert Hall Sr. had a great-grandson named Robert Hall Warren, who wrote a family history after finding some old and forgotten papers. The book emphasizes Robert Hall Sr. and his illustrious son, Robert Hall Jr. Some of the biographical content is well-known. But some aren’t, and one special transcription is of Robert Hall Sr’s “license to preach” in Arnsby. The entire li...

Robert Hall is an underappreciated pastor who played a vital role in preserving and propagating healthy Particular Baptist church life in the 1700s in central England. He is often referred to as Robert Hall, Senior, because he had a more famous son identically named, Robert Hall, and who is known, of course, as Robert Hall, Junior. Another way they are differentiated is that the father is called R...

We continue with becoming acquainted with the small and rural but long-lived Particular Baptist church at Weston-By-Weedon. It is encouraging to see that over the years, the focus in the church book is spiritual things. Over time, some congregations begin to spend their time, money, and memories on externals, especially buildings. But the records of Weston By Weedon for several centuries show a co...

We continue with the Particular Baptist church at Weston-By-Weedon, by examining their early document they referred to as their articles. We would consider these something like a church constitution. Joseph Lea, pastor of the church and author of its history, introduces these articles in this way: “the articles are in the very neat handwriting of John Stanley; they are without date and from the su...

We are learning about the small Particular Baptist congregations centered around Weston-By-Weedon in Northamptonshire, England. In many ways, their story is probably the more typical one compared to the few more famous men and churches in the 17th to 19th centuries. I say this simply because Baptists of these times didn’t generally have the same opportunities or standing as their neighbors. To be...

For the past year, I have been introducing you to important English Particular Baptist pastors and poets of the 18th century, mostly from outside of London. But I want to remind you that the vast majority of our like-minded brethren of the time are unknown to us. Unless they had special gifts or blessings from God, most labored in faith without fanfare.

As explained before, Gifford’s friends were almost all outside of Particular Baptist circles. I noted his personal friendship with George Whitefield and his preaching for him. Whitefield was, of course, already famous. And with other early friends such as Sir Richard Ellys, it seems that Gifford’s mental gifts, manner, and spirituality gained him connections in prestigious places. This is somewhat...

We continue the story of Andrew Gifford the Younger as he began his pastoral ministry at Little Wild Street church in London. In 1729 he preached on probation to the congregation with a view toward being called as pastor. His ministry was well received and a unanimous call was made by the church. Gifford accepted in a letter dated Dec 27, 1729. Shortly after, according to the church book, he was i...

Gifford admired Whitefield and after the evangelist’s death, published a book of 18 of his sermons. In his preface to them, Gifford wrote as follows: “This poor orphan’s plea is that it attempts to preserve the genuine remains of the one who has incontestably proved himself the destitute orphan’s friend”. Now all this should strike you as odd. Since when did an 18 th century Particular Baptist pas...

This was a time of persecution against dissenters from the English church and his father was, you may recall, often hunted and jailed during this time. And Emmanuel, even as a boy, supported his father’s work. A story is told of him acting as a watchman for his father as he preached out of doors to the Kingswood coal miners. He was only 7 at the time and because it was so cold his coat froze to th...

Caleb Evans lived during the emerging strength of the Age of Reason or as it is often called, the Enlightenment. It was an intellectual movement that challenged long held scientific, governmental, legal, and religious beliefs through the use of reason and empirical discovery. Its focus was on the natural world as understood without the helps of divine revelation. And so it produced philosophical a...

He was educated at first under the hand of his father and Pastor Foskett. But he was then sent to London for further education because it was clear he was a very gifted young man. So in 1753, just 15, he entered Mile End Academy in London. He attended Little Wild Street Church, and sat under the ministry of Samuel Stennett. On Nov 29, 1753, aged 16 he was baptized “on profession of faith with repe...

Hugh Evans came from a line of Baptist pastors. His grandfather, Thomas Evans, was licensed to preach during the Commonwealth period and led a Welsh parish until the monarchy was restored. In 1662 he was put out of his position after which he joined a Baptist church in Pentre, Wales, and became their pastor. Thomas’ eldest son was named Caleb. He succeeded his father as pastor and remained there u...

In the last episode we described Berned Foskett’s leadership in re-constituting the Western Association upon the basis of the 1689 Confession. Full subscription was required annually with the only exceptions being in a church’s views of singing in public worship and on which day the Sabbath was to be celebrated. What was the response by the churches? Some refused to be a part of this of course. Th...

When Berned Foskett came to Bristol Broadmead as the assistant to Pastor Peter Kitterell in 1720, the regional Baptist Association, called the Western Association, had already entered an unhealthy period. There had been a Baptist association of churches in western and south-western England since the middle of the 1600s. But it was an amalgam of various beliefs. There was no confessional basis for...

Bernard Foskett came to Broadmead as the assistant to Pastor Peter Kitterell and to train men for the Baptist ministry under the terms of the will of Elder Edward Terrill. This was in 1720. In 1714, the church had hired a young man named Caleb Jope for this purpose. He had the requisite language skills having been trained in a General Baptist academy in nearby Trowbridge. But he seems to have been...