Particular Pilgrims

"In presenting the life of Benjamin Francis, I previously mentioned that there is not a lot of information about the rural Baptist church he pastored in Horsley. But as I continued to research, I found a modern social study of religion and society for that area of England that is called the Vale of Nailsworth. Horsley is one of the communities in the Vale along with Shortwood, Minchinhampton, Avening, and of course, Nailsworth. This is in what is today called the Cotswold region of Gloucestershire in western England, north-east of Bristol and south of Gloucester."

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"When he had been at Horsley about ten years, the great London Baptist pastor, John Gill, considered retiring from his half-century of pastoral labors due to physical problems. He was over 70 years old. While some of his people wanted him to have an assistant in the ministry, Gill was willing to completely step aside if Benjamin Francis would become his successor. It doesn’t appear that Francis was approached at this time. But when Gill died a few years later in 1771, Francis was asked to preach for the Carter Street congregation. By the next year, the church’s deacons had floated the idea of him moving to London to become the pastor."

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"One of the highly regarded Particular Baptist pastors in the 18 th century in England and Wales was Benjamin Francis. But there are several challenges to telling his story. The first is that he was preeminently a preacher yet we have no surviving sermons. Second, he was a native Welsh speaker and so most of the hymns he wrote are not in English. Third, he pastored a relatively small and always poor country church about which there is not a lot of information. And finally, there is only one main source of information about his life. This is a biographical account written by his son-in-law shortly after Francis’ death. But what we do know of God’s work through Francis is worth telling and there are several confirmatory lessons that a study of his life yields."

Since the last episode on Samuel Wilson, I’ve obtained one of his published sermons. It’s entitled “A Sermon occasion’d by the Death of the Reverend George Braithwiate, A. M. preach’d at Devonshire-Square, on July the 24 th , 1748. Publish’d at the Request of the Congregation.” Before we learn about Braithwaite, let me explain a bit about funeral sermons.

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Samuel Wilson was a significant Particular Baptist pastor in London during the second quarter of the 18th century. Though almost unknown today, he was a popular preacher and important author, who died young at the age of 47.

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"David Crosley was not primarily an author; instead he was a preacher who didn’t use notes or a manuscript. And so he only occasionally had anything published. His two most significant pieces of writing were originally sermons that were then written out after-the-fact and published. But he did occasionally produce other things for print."

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CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

"David Crosley was a traveling evangelist and pastor whose life seems oddly reflective of the Biblical character, Samson in several ways. First, Crosley was reputed to be one of the largest men in the county of Lancashire, England, weighing for many years, it was thought, about 300 pounds. Second, his life though full of godly accomplishments was stained by serious sin. And third, his best-known sermon was a comparison of Samson with Christ."

Informed Scholarship Pastoral Heart

Helping the church to prepare men to undertake the full range of pastoral responsibilities in serving Christ and His kingdom.

Samuel Kilpin had a special love for and ministry to poor children and through them to their parents. Not every man’s pastoral ministry looks exactly the same of course. And Samuel’s attention to the physical and spiritual plight of Exeter’s children is noteworthy. He performed the usual ministerial responsibilities to his congregation, but added to it a specific focus on destitute children. I’ll explore the relationship of Samuel and children under three headings. First,

Last time we learned a bit about how the widows of Particular Baptist pastors were cared for in western England in the early 1800s by examining a letter in regards to Elizabeth Kilpin. Her husband was Samuel Kilpin. And we will see that his ministry had some special emphases. But before we look at those, let me give you a short biography of him with my attempts at accurate dating. There are several birth and death dates for Samuel. Some of this relates to the fact that as a dissenter, his information was not added to the books until later. For example, his pastor, Joshua Symonds, registered his birth on Sept 3, 1887, when Samuel was 13. Mistakes in memory and in writing easily occurred.

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"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. And the Baptists participated in this. Most of you will have heard of the Baptist Missionary Society formed in 1792 by William Carey, Andrew Fuller, and others to bring the gospel to the nations. Well, the Western Baptist Widows Society was similarly formed for the purpose of financially supporting the widows and children of Baptist ministers who had served in western England."

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.