Particular Pilgrims

"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 number of subjects."

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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 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.

"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 episode."

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.

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 hymns.

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.

"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 preached at North Wales in 1779, he deliberately speaks to the lost several times. Listen in as he calls to them while extolling what he called God’s “sparing goodness”, that is, his long-suffering toward sinners."

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.

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 lifetimes show them wearing the same style of wig!

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 Paradise was the second pastor of the Baptist Church in Alexandria from 1811 to 1816 when he resigned due to ill health. There is a record that shows him to be a witness in the manumission of several black slaves. Since there are known to have been black members of the church, it seems likely that this Virginia Baptist pastor was against slavery. Joseph Rakestraw was a long-time, prominent Quaker printer in Philadelphia who bought some of his equipment from Benjamin Franklin.

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 the educational disadvantages of being a conscientious dissenter, Hall demonstrated a strong mind and discipline in study. He was especially helped by the writings of Jonathan Edwards and found both doctrinal and practical ministerial clarity in such volumes as “The Freedom of the Will.”

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 license is quoted, and it is dated April 18, 1757. So this licensing occurred about four years after Robert first came to the church.

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 Robert Hall of Arnsby. Arnsby is the very small village where he ministered for almost 40 years. Even today there are only about 350 people who live there, 8 miles south of Leicester.