Particular Pilgrims

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 until his death. One of Caleb’s sons was Hugh, the subject of our study. He was born in 1713 and given an excellent education under the care of a nearby dissenting minister.

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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. The General Baptists and those with Arian or Unitarian leanings went their own way.

But 24 churches, including several from Wales, answered this invitation in the affirmative and in 1733 met in renewed association. These included both of the Particular Baptist churches in Bristol – Broadmead and Pithay. Bradford-on-Avon was represented and there is still a 1689 confessional Baptist church in that town. In fact, two of the articles I used in preparing this episode were written by pastors of that church. Smaller and more rural churches were represented, often with meetings in multiple towns due to distance. Larger cities such as Exeter, Plymouth, and Swansea also signed on.

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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 union. Some churches were Particulars, some were Generals and some were becoming something very different. Under various influences, the associational orthodoxy declined. The causes included the effects of the instability and heresies of Thomas Collier which strongly influenced some churches negatively and the rationalistic pressures brought in by the Age of Reason which produced Arianism and Unitarianism in some General Baptist churches. It seems the Western Association churches were agreed on believer’s baptism but often on little else.

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 unable to get along with others, being too self-interested and self-willed. He had originally received a call to pastor the Baptist church in Plymouth, but decided the Broadmead opportunity was better. Despite advice from older associational pastors, he went to Bristol Broadmead.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://CBTSeminary.org⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Bernard Foskett was born on March 10, 1685, in North Crawley. That is a small town about 50 miles north-north-west of London. His father, William, was a local magistrate, which tells us Bernard grew up well-off and Anglican. He was schooled privately at home and excelled at his studies. So he was sent to London to train as a doctor. One of his successors at Broadmead reported that the young Mr. Foskett “qualified and eventually practiced medicine for a number of years”.

Since I have called Anne’s letter writing her most important and best work, I want to give you a few samples. These were written approximately 275 years ago. So the language and style are different. Some social conventions have dramatically changed. But her grasp of Scripture and her heart of concern and love for God’s people still reach across the years to our profit.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

Anne’s view of the nature of baptism is high, historically confessional, and Scriptural. This Particular Baptist woman used Reformed, puritan, and Baptist terminology in a time when non or anti-sacramentalism was growing. And so she can be a help to us today.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

Anne Dutton’s “Thoughts on the Lord’s Supper” is a wonderful piece of doctrine and devotion. Her view of the Table retains the richness of the predominant Particular Baptist understanding of the Supper from the previous century. She is very much a baptized puritan in her perspectives and practice. There is no mere remembering an absent Christ here!

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

"Anne Dutton also wrote against Sandemanianism and its antinomianism. Her work on this was fifty years ahead of Andrew Fuller’s more thorough and famous work against it. However, her short letters must have been useful to some against this confusing distortion of saving faith."  

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.

As a writer in the middle 1700s, Anne Dutton had several personal advantages. First, her maturity was well known to her acquaintances. She began writing for an audience in her early 40s by which time she displayed both spiritual and theological sobriety. She didn’t write about trivialities; she was always orthodox. God used her upbringing, diligent personal study, and connections with sound pastors, including her husband, Benjamin, to form in her a deep biblical understanding and wisdom. Second, her intellectual education and associated library were excellent. Third, since she was childless, she had time to pursue writing.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.