Obadiah Sedgwick 1500-1658

I want to speak to you today about a forgotten Puritan called Obadiah Sedgwick. First, I want to say something about Coggeshall in Essex, where he once ministered. Then I want to talk about his life and times. Thirdly, I want to say a little about his theology and writings and finally draw out some lessons.

Coggeshall in Essex

On an east west Roman road in Essex, between Braintree and Colchester, on the Blackwater River, lies the little town of Coggeshall. With over 300 listed buildings and a thriving antiques trade, it fair teems with history. Founded in Roman times, the settlement is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. In 1140 King Stephen founded an abbey there and a pair of carvings in the parish church are said to represent him and his Queen Matilda. Since 1256 a weekly market has taken place there under a charter granted by Henry III. Its oldest pub, the Chapel Inn, was first licensed in 1554. There is also a plaque in the town recalling Thomas Hawkes who was martyred near there in 1555. 

The parish church, St Peter-ad-Vincula (St Peter in chains), occupies the site of an earlier Norman church. One of the largest churches in Essex, it once vied with Chelmsford to be the Cathedral. The present church is in late Gothic perpendicular style and was built in the first quarter of the 15th Century with wealth accrued in the wool trade; its large size testament to Coggeshall's affluence at the time. 

The first reference to an incumbent, John the Vicar, goes back to the taxation of the Borough of Colchester in 1286. He was the first in a long line of vicars and curates to serve the parish. 

John Owen

In the 16th and 17th centuries some few incumbents were Puritans. Most famous is John Owen (1616-1683) who moved there in 1647, having begun his ministry 40 miles north in Fordham. In 1644 he had married Mary Rooke (d 1675) a native of Coggeshall. Three daughters were born to them between 1647 and 1648, while in Coggeshall - Mary who died in infancy, Elizabeth and another Mary. 

In Coggeshall, Owen served congregations of around 2000, Sunday by Sunday, the population being swollen at the time by an influx of Flemish tradesmen. Shortly after his arrival, Parliamentary forces led by General Thomas Fairfax (1612-1671), came to recover Colchester from Royalists and rescue a group of Parliamentarians trapped within the town. They maintained a strict siege of the town for close on ten weeks, based in Coggeshall. It was at that time that a lifelong friendship developed between Owen and Fairfax, who introduced him to Cromwell, who appointed Owen as an army chaplain, despite his strong desire to remain in Coggeshall. 

William Dyke

Before Owen there was a William Dyke, who appears to have had Puritan sympathies. The Victorian historian George Beaumont believes this is the same man as the one Benjamin Brook (1776-1848) in Lives of the Puritans calls Daniel Dyke. It is more likely that Daniel was William's son. Daniel was born in Hempstead, Essex, between Haverhill and Saffron Walden, and educated at Cambridge. When the anti-puritan three articles of Archbishop Whitgift (1530-1604) appeared in 1583, Dyke appears to have been suspended by Bishop Aylmer (1521-1594) and driven out of Essex. He then ministered in St Albans, dying in 1614. Several of his works were published posthumously by his better known brother, Jeremiah Dyke (1584-1639). He collected Daniel's works and published them in two volumes in 1635. 

Others after Dyke and before Owen

Various men followed Dyke in Coggeshall, including the leading Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688). Before he was imposed on the church two other Puritans were driven out, according to Bryan Dale in his Annals of Coggeshall - Laurence Newman (d 1599) and Thomas Stoughton (1567-1622). In 1609 a John Dodd was presented to the living, remaining until his death in 1639. His wife Martha died in 1630. Their son Nehemiah appears to have been John's curate for some time. 

Beaumont references an interesting note he found that says of this John Dodd 

I have often heard it reported of holy Mr Dodd, yt. when one, inraged at his close convincing doctrine, pick't a quarrell with him, smote him on ye face and dashed out two of his teeth, this meek servant of CHRIST spat out the teeth into his hand and said, 'See here you have knocked out two of my teeth and that without any just provocation, but on condition that I might do your soul good, I would give you leave to dash out all the rest.' 

Despite often being identified with the John Dod (c 1549-1645) known as Decalogue Dod, a minister in Oxfordshire, this is probably not the case, although both were Puritans.

Obadiah Sedgwick

John Owen's story is fairly well known. What we wish to do this evening is to turn the spotlight on his lesser known predecessor Obadiah Sedgwick. Sedgwick followed Dodd and preceded Owen, serving in Coggeshall 1639 to 1647. 

Sedgwick was born near the end of the reign of Elizabeth I and grew up during the reign of James I, 1603-1625. He would have been in his mid-twenties when Charles I came to the throne and was approaching 50 when Charles was beheaded in January, 1649. Sedgwick died before the end of Cromwell's Protectorate which lasted 1553-1559. These were momentous and often tumultuous days both for the Kingdom of England and for the Kingdom of God.

Earlier years

Sedgwick was born not in Essex but in Marlborough, Wiltshire, around 1600. He was the son of Joseph Sedgwick (b c1575), the vicar of St Peter's, Marlborough, a Puritan who later moved a short distance north to Ogbourne St Andrew. 

Obadiah was the third of eight children. Preceded by Elizabeth and John, he was followed by Margaret (who died in infancy), Abigail, Sarah, Joseph and Jane. 

His older brother John Sedgwick (1601?-1643) followed a similar career path to Obadiah, becoming Rector of St Alphege's, London Wall, in 1641, having served as Obadiah's curate in Coggeshall after his studies in Cambridge. In 1643 he died and was buried at St Alphage’s, the funeral sermon being given by Presbyterian Puritan Thomas Case (1598-1682). A younger brother, Joseph Sedgwick (1634-1702), also became a preacher after studying in Cambridge. He outlived all his brothers and sisters. 

We know nothing of Sedgwick's earlier education but we know he was sent to be educated at Queen's College, Oxford, in June, 1619, later moving to Magdalen Hall (now merged with Hertford College) which had been a hotbed of Puritanism since the 1560s. He gained his Bachelors' degree in May 1620 and his Master's in January 1623. 

Having taken religious orders, in 1624 Sedgwick became chaplain to military leader Horace Vere, first Baron Vere of Tilbury (1565-1635) whom he accompanied to the Netherlands, where the Thirty Years War showed no signs of abating. There is a manuscript letter in the British Museum from Sedgwick to Lady Vere, a great friend to several Puritans. Sedgwick may have been recommended to Vere by Puritan minister John Davenport (1597-1670). Barbara Donagan (ODNB) says Sedgwick and Davenport corresponded at this time and that they were "part of a network of reform-minded clergy". 

Vere had previously been in the Platinate having been personally commissioned by James I to defend his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Frederick V (1596-1632), King of Bohemia, in a Protestant uprising against King Ferdinand (1578-1637). 

Interestingly, in his will Sedgwick went on to bequeath to his son "one piece of gold plate given to me by the King and Queen of Bohemia and two other pieces of plate". 

Gerald Mick says that Sedgwick would have "witnessed first hand Lord Vere's remarkable ability to deliver his troops from seemingly hopeless circumstances through his calm, wise and brave leadership." 

In 1626, on the recommendation of Anthony Kingscot (d 1654), Sedgwick became tutor to Kingscot's cousin Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) later to become Lord Chief Justice. Hale was a Puritan sympathiser, although at that time he was struggling very much between the temptations of the flesh and thoughts of becoming a minister. In January 1630 Sedgwick gained his BD from Oxford. 

Ministry

Sedgwick's first preferment in the church was as lecturer and curate at St Mildred's, Bread Street, London, one of many churches later lost to the Great Fire of 1666. Lectureships so beloved of the Puritans, aimed to be independent of the bishops but Sedgwick's Puritanism got him into trouble with Bishop of London, William Juxon (1582-1663), who had him removed in 1637, the only London minister he was able to treat this way. 

Sedgwick found refuge in Essex, in Leez Priory, Little Leighs, near Chelmsford, with Robert Rich, the second Earl of Warwick, (1557-1658). Leez Priory became a frequent haunt. Rich was an English colonial administrator, an admiral, a Puritan by conviction and a friend of Cromwell's. Donagan says of Sedgwick "in person he appears to have possessed the sociability that Warwick valued in his clerical friends". 

In June 1638 the lawyer and diarist Robert Woodford (1606-1654) heard Sedgwick preach and wrote 

Blessed be thy name Oh Lord for so good an instrument in thy church Lord bless his labours and endeavours to thy glory and the salvation of souls for the Lord's sake. 

Just over a year later, in July, 1639, Sedgwick was presented by Robert Rich to the vicarage of Coggeshall, in succession to Dod. 

Coggeshall

While in Coggeshall, Sedgwick and his wife Priscilla Goddard, who had married back in Wiltshire in July 1638, had a son called Robert, born in 1641. he lived only 11 days. Beaumont says that they also had Francis (1640) and Susannah (1642). Sedgwick had been widowed twice before he married Priscilla. With his first wife Joane Fellow who he married in 1630 he had three children - Obadiah, Frances and Joseph. Joane died in 1635, when he married Judith Langley, to whom Susan was born. Judith also died a short way into the marriage. 

Donagan says Sedgwick was said to be uxorious, which means to be excessively fond of one's wife. In the judgement of his enemies, she says, he was "a sensual and voluptuous man" which is no doubt unfair.

The Civil War period

For 11 years, from 1629-1640, Charles I had ruled without Parliament but in 1640 Parliament was recalled - first a short three week Parliament and then the Long Parliament, which was to last for 20 years. One of the first ways the change affected Sedgwick was that he regained his lectureship at St Mildred's. 

A hostile witness, Anthony Wood (1632-1695), says that Sedgwick preached only to exasperate the people to rebel and confound episcopacy. He says 

'twas usual with him, especially in hot weather, to unbutton his doublet in the pulpit, that his breath might be the longer, and his voice more audible to rail against the king's party, and those that were near to him, whom he called popish counsellors. He was a great leader and abettor of the reformation pretended to be carried on by the presbyterians; whose pious and peaceable maxims (like razors set with oil) cut the throat of majesty with a keen smoothness. 

A similarly hostile Zachary Grey (1688-1766) unfairly calls him "a preacher of treason, rebellion and nonsense". The Royalist Sir John Birkhead (c 1617-1679) claimed that Sedgwick stole from Stephen Marshall (c1594–1655), another Essex preacher, and Marshall from Sedgwick but with no evidence. 

An interesting story from the St Mildred period concerns a certain John Trumbull. He appears to have come to faith through Sedgwick's preaching. Trumbull says of himself that he grew up to be a man who regarded “nothing but back and belly and fulfilling my own lusts.” He became a sailor, and while away at sea came by a copy of Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent (d 1607),. He acquired it to practice his reading but was enthralled by the contents and went on to read a sermon on repentance by Dent and "so saw my misery" as he put it. He then moved “to a place where the means were twice” that is, where he could hear a Sunday sermon and a weekday lecture. It was when his ship came to London that he heard Sedgwick at St Mildred’s explain the difference between true believers and hypocrites. Moving on to Massachusetts, he settled there, Sedgwick's preaching now being part of his testimony. 

In Autumn 1642 Sedgwick became chaplain to the regiment of foot raised by Denzil Holles (1599-1680). This Roundhead regiment fought at Edgehill in the first pitched battle of the Civil Wars. 

Nehemiah Wharton, a young Parliamentarian volunteer, writes to his employer George Willingham (d 1651) of a parliamentary army fast at this time and how Sedgwick preached, the Lord extraordinarily assisting him “so that his doctrine wrought wonderfully upon many of us and doubtless hath fitted many of us for death which we all shortly expect."

In The Civil War in Worcestershire, 1642-1646, and the Scotch Invasion of 1651 John William Willis-Bund claims that Sedgwick, who he calls "one of the most fanatical of the fanatics of that day" fell into an argument with an Episcopalian rival called Cotterell over whether the Lord's Supper should be given to a Colonel Sandys, who was dying from gangrene caused by his wounds. Bund's source is a Royalist newspaper Mercurius Rusticus that refers to Sedgwick as "that scandalous, seditious minister of Essex". 

Between 1642 and 1648 Sedgwick preached some 14 or 15 times to one or other of the houses of parliament. Donagan says that from 1642 to 1644 these sermons served the interests of his old political and religious allies. She cites Haman's Vanity (1643) on the discovery of Waller's plot, An Arke Against a Deluge (1644), making the best of defeat at Lostwithiel, and an unpublished sermon of 18 December 1644 supporting the self-denying ordinance, which demanded all MPS to choose between Parliament and the army. Thereafter, she suggests, new preachers and new issues took centre stage, and only one of his later parliamentary sermons was published (The Nature and Danger of Heresies, 1647).

J F Wilson in Pulpit in Parliament: Puritanism During the English Civil Wars says 

Sedgwick preached at the May fast to Commons in 1642, early in the series. Although he appeared once more in that sequence and several times in the Lords regular fasts, he made his basic contribution to the program on extraordinary occasions, delivering sermons to nine or ten of them between 1643 and the early fall of 1648.

Westminster Assembly

Sedgwick was considered worthy to sit at the Westminster Assembly that met from 1643 to 1653. Brook says "he constantly attended" the sessions, Donagan that he was “an original and assiduous member”. He was appointed to a committee of 19 to work on the Confession and was part of a committee of 20 that endeavoured to deal with differences between Congregationalists and Presbyterians. A fervent Presbyterian, Sedgwick showed some sympathy to the Congregationalists but advocated the removal of Congregationalist Philip Nye (1595-1672) from the Assembly when he appealed for liberty of conscience and spoke of the dangers of established presbyterianism. 

When William Barker deals with a number of Westminster Divines in his Puritan Profiles, he interestingly puts Sedgwick among the preachers. Robert M Norris calls him one of the liveliest and most colourful preachers at the Assembly and Gerald Mick says of him "He was a popular preacher who did not mince words". A faithful preacher, he saw many conversions. 

Chad van Dixhoorn says interestingly of Sedgwick that he believed that it was "but labour lost to set up anything but Christ" when preaching. Ministers are "to be much in preaching Christ". Again, "your labours in preaching, will come to little, perhaps to nothing, if it not be Christ, or something in reference to Christ, on which you so laboriously insist in preaching." 

Sedgwick was also appointed a licenser of the press in 1643. This was a censorship role that arose when a new licensing act was passed in 1643, following the abolishment of Starchamber in 1640. This is the act John Milton (1608-1674) wrote against in his famous Areopagatica. 

On 6 October 1643 Sedgwick spoke at the Guildhall in favour of the solemn league and covenant with Scotland, a speech later published, along with others by Gardiner, Calamy and Burroughs, in Foure Speeches, 1646. 

Covent Garden 

Sedgwick held for a short time the rectory of St Andrew's, Holborn, on the sequestration (13 December 1645) of John Hacket (1592-1670) later Bishop of Lichfield. The next year, however, before May 1646, he was appointed Rector of St Paul's, Covent Garden, which had recently become a parish independent of St Martin's in the fields. Around this time he was also appointed to preach once a month at St James' Palace in the presence of Charles I's short-lived daughter, Elizabeth Stuart (1635-1650). 

It was at this time that he resigned his Coggeshall pastorate to be succeeded by John Owen. Covent Garden was a prestigious church with influential people in the congregation, people such as Oliver St John MP (1598-1673), diarist Sir John Evelyn (1620-1706) and Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656). Brook says of Sedgwick in Covent Garden that there "he was exceedingly followed, and was instrumental in the conversion of many souls."

Under the Protectorate 

Sedgwick became a member of the eleventh London classis in the Parliamentary Presbyterian system. In 1651 he unsuccessfully petitioned Parliament on behalf of his Presbyterian friend Christopher Love (1618-1651) who was tried by Sir Matthew Hale. The Welsh preacher had been involved in an unsuccessful plot to restore the crown. 

On 20 March 1654 Sedgwick was appointed one of Cromwell's 'triers' and in August of the same year was a clerical assistant to the 'expurgators' or ejectors. The Commission of Triers was a 38 man administrative commission established by Cromwell to assess the suitability of future parish ministers. The triers, and a related set of "ejectors" (whose role was to dismiss ministers and schoolmasters who deemed unsuitable for office) were intended to be at the vanguard of Cromwell's reform of parish worship in England. The 38 were made up of nine laymen and 29 clergy including Joseph Caryl, Walter Cradock, Daniel Dyke, Thomas Goodwin, Thomas Manton, Philip Nye, John Owen, etc.

Portrait 

A portrait of Sedgwick exists. It was engraved by William Richardson from the work of an unknown artist. Thomas Athow created a water colour portrait from this engraving in the 19th century. It shows a thin faced man in clerical dress with moderately long wavy hair under a skull cap and a generous moustache but no beard. 

Final years 

When his health began to fail, Sedgwick wanted to resign from his St Paul's rectorate. This he did in 1656, when a successor was found - another great Puritan, Thomas Manton (1620-1677). Manton is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Sedgwick's son-in-law. Manton was in fact married to a Mrs Morgan from Devon.

It appears from Sedgwick's will that by this time he had become a man of property, being lord of the manor of Ashmansworth, Hampshire, purchased in 1649 and left to his eldest son Obadiah. He also had land in Albourne, Sussex. He retired back to Marlborough, where he died at the beginning of January, 1658 being buried near his father, in the chancel of Ogbourne St Andrew. In his will he left 40 books and money to his wife; land, books, money and plate to Obadiah; money to his daughters and son and to his sisters, his niece and brother-in-law. The 'godly poor' of Covent Garden were also remembered.

Sedgwick's writings and theology

In his lifetime and immediately after as many as twenty works by Sedgwick appeared, some single sermons and some full length books.
Donagan says

The style of his printed sermons is clear and easy, less bloodthirsty than that of many of his contemporaries, but marked by vivid images: God's special providence, he said, 'clasps the Church, as the fethers of the hen doth the chicken' (Haman's Vanity, 15, 16).

• His earliest work seems to be Military discipline for the Christian soldier drawne out in a sermon preached to the captains and soldiers exercising arms in the artillery garden, at their general meeting in St Andrew's Undershaft, in London, October 18. 1638.
• Another of his early publications (1640) is Christ's counsell to his languishing Church of Sardis or the dying or decaying Christian, etc.
• In 1641 he published The doubting believer a treatise on assurance of salvation, looking at the nature of doubt in the lives of believers and suggesting a remedy grounded in faithfulness.
• In 1642 England's preservation or a sermon discovering the only way to prevent destroying judgements: preached to the Honourable House of commons at their last solemne fast, being on May, 25, 1642 appeared. It expounds the only way to escape judgement.
• Haman's vanity a sermon displaying the birthless issues of church-destroying adversaries preached to the Commons in 1643 explains how enemies of the church's attempts to destroy it are ultimately thwarted by God. "Written in the throes of the English Civil War" someone has written "Sedgwick’s work is a poignant testimony to God’s faithfulness in the midst of chaos."
• An ark against a deluge (1644) is another Parliamentary sermon. It discusses the nature of fear (the flood) and hope (the ark). It explains that when trials come, it is normal to be moved with fear - but in preparation for a flood, it is necessary to build an ark. It argues that we must fear enough to take action but have hope enough not to despair.
• The nature and danger of heresies of 1647 asks three central questions: What is God without truth? What is all the goodness of the gospel without truth? And what is the fabric of man’s salvation without truth? He concludes that a church is never closer to death than when it gives up its claim to the only truth.
• Also in 1647 he published a catechism A short catechisme being a briefe instruction of the most ignorant, before the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper.
• In 1648 The best and the worst magistrate or the people's happiness and unhappiness, laid open in a sermon preached at the late election of the Lord Mayor for the famous City of London, Sept. 29. 1648.
• Elisha's lamentation over the translation of Elijah was preached in 1654 at the funeral of a minister, William Strong. "His sermon is both a moving eulogy and clear window into Puritan teaching on death and heaven."
• In 1656 came The humbled sinner resolved what he should do to be saved or, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation for sensible sinners. On Acts 16:39, 31 this work testifies to Christ’s status as the only way of salvation for sinners. Sedgwick distinguishes strong and weak faith, discusses the difficulty of believing, the misery of unbelief and the nature of living by faith. He also examines the concept of assurance and much more.
• In 1657 The fountain opened and the water of life flowing forth, for the refreshing of thirsty sinners was published. It grew out of sermons on Isaiah 55:1-3 preached in Covent Garden.
• Another work of 1657 is The Riches of Grace displayed in the offer and tender of salvation to poor sinners on Revelation 3:20. Here he says

What is meant by Christ’s standing at this door … Christ is a thousand times more willing to come to thee, than thou art to come to Christ … (pp 4, 5). He also speaks of Christ’s “earnest desire” for admittance. ... Yet at their doors does Christ stand and knock, he begs at the doors of beggars, mercy begs to misery, happiness begs to wretchedness, riches begs to poverty … (p 15) ... He hath stood at our doors more than one day or night, more than one week or two, more than one year or two, more than twenty years or two. Would he do this if he were not willing to come in and save us? (p 22)

• A final late work is on Psalm 23 The Shepherd of Israel, or God's pastoral care over his people which was published together with The doctrine of providence, practically handled on Matthew 10:29-31.

Posthumously, there was

• The anatomy of secret sins, presumptuous sins, sins in dominion, and uprightness: Wherein divers weighty cases are resolved in relation to all those particulars based on sermons from his St Mildred's days on Psalm 19: 12, 13. In it he says

The principal object of God’s eye is the inward and secret frame of the soul: labour, therefore, to be cleansed from secret sins. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Ps 66:18). Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts (Ps 51:6). Therefore is he often said in Scripture to search the heart and reins which intimates his special observation of the secret frame. It is true that God gives charge against open sins. Why? Because He would not have any to be profane; and so He gives singular charge against secret sins. Why? Because He cannot endure any to be hypocritical. The man is to God what his inside is. If you work wickedness in your heart, God will destroy you. Plaster your visible part with all sorts of pious expressions: if yet you can set up a form of sinning within, you are no-table hypocrites. The Lord sees you to be false and rotten, and He will discharge himself of you ….

• The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant, wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation. Here he says in one place

… Christ did grieve at the hardness of man's heart, and yet thou dost not grieve at the hardness of thine own heart; he shed tears and wept over the hardness of Jerusalem, and yet thou weepest not at the hardness of thine own heart ….

• The parable of the prodigal containing The riotous prodigal, or, The sinners aversion from God; Returning prodigal, or, The penitents conversion to God; Prodigals acception, or, Favourable entertainment with God.

Lessons

1. The story of Obadiah Sedgwick is a reminder what a rich seam there is to mine in our Puritan heritage. There is so much to benefit from. Sedgwick is one of the more obscure Puritans and yet some of his books are well worth delving into.

2. There is perhaps a warning here against mixing politics with the gospel. It can be argued that at one point Sedgwick became so taken up with the politics of the day that there was the danger of it detracting from the gospel. We need to take care that nothing so distracts.

3. Let me quote again from his sermon on Revelation 3:20

There is a latitude, a full latitude in the offer of Christ and grace: No sinner (under the Gospel) is excluded by Christ, but by himself. Although the Application of Christ be definite and particular, yet the proclamation is indefinite and general.

Donald J McLean points out how committed Sedgwick was to the free offer of the gospel. It is reminder that the best Puritans while holding to particular atonement were in no doubt about freely offering Jesus Christ to sinners, as we should also.

4. Finally, there is the providence of God. Neither the church in Coggeshall nor the one in Covent Garden appear to be evangelical today. However, the gospel does continue. Next to Coggeshall parish church is the Wool Pack inn where Scotsman Thomas Lowrey ejected in 1665 held worship meetings under license from 1672. Evangelical churches exist in the area to this day and even in Covent Garden there is a Reformed evangelical church.

Paper given at the Essex onference

A Call to the Unconverted by Richard Baxter 1658

Some 350 years ago this year (2007), in December 1657, a little book was published that has had a great impact not just in the life-time of its author but ever since. The book's author was Richard Baxter and the book, the most widely circulated of all his writings, is known as A call to the unconverted or to give it its full title A call to the unconverted to turn and live and accept of mercy while mercy may be had, as ever they would find mercy in the day of their extremity from the living God by his unworthy servant Richard Baxter; to be read in families where any are unconverted.

Timothy Beougher says that “Puritan religious experience centred around conversion”. Baxter's book is one of two books from the Puritan era (the other is Joseph Alleine's Alarm to the unconverted published 15 years later and partly based on Baxter) widely considered to be “outstanding classics on the subject”.

In 1829 a writer in Boston wrote of the great energy of style and fervent zeal for the salvation of sinners found in Baxter. He went on

The present work holds a prominent rank among his publications. A rapid succession of editions has been published in various countries, and multitudes have undoubtedly been trained for heaven, whose attention was first awakened to the concerns of the soul by reading his Call to the Unconverted. 

In his biography of Baxter William Orme surmised that

The results in the conversion of men, arising from this book, have been greater probably than have arisen from any other mere human performance.

A more recent writer says of Baxter that without doubt

his most famous and enduring contribution to Christian literature was a devotional work published in 1658 under the title Call to the unconverted. This slim volume was credited with the conversion of thousands and formed one of the core extra-biblical texts of evangelicalism until at least the middle of the nineteenth century. 

The first evangelistic pocket book

According to Jim Packer the Puritans invented evangelistic literature. He called Baxter's Call “the first evangelistic pocket book in English”. Orme suggests that until Baxter

Conversion in all its important aspects, and unutterably important claims, had not before been discussed, at least in our language; nor had any man previously employed so boundless a range of topics, in conjunction with such an energetic and awakening style of addressing sinners.

The book has remained in print down the years and has been greatly used by God many times. Packer speaks of how it “brought an unending stream of readers to faith during Baxter's lifetime”. In a note found after his death Baxter himself tells us that the occasion for his book was the urging of Archbishop Ussher “to write directions suited to the various states of Christians, and also against particular sins”. Baxter felt incompetent but later, after Ussher's death, he set about it, he says,

yet, so as that to the first sort of men, the ungodly, I thought vehement persuasions meeter than directions only: and so for such I published this little book, which God hath blessed with unexpected success, beyond all the rest that I have written, except The Saint's Rest. In a little more than a year, there were about 20,000 of them printed by my own consent, and about ten thousand since, beside many thousands by stolen impressions, which poor men stole for lucre's sake. Through God's mercy, I have information of almost whole households converted by this small book which I set so light by: and, as if all this in England, Scotland, and Ireland, were not mercy enough to me, God, since I was silenced, hath sent it over in his message to many beyond the seas; for when Mr Elliot had printed all the Bible in the Indian language, he next translated this my Call to the Unconverted, as he wrote to us here. And yet God would make some farther use of it; for Mr Stoop, the pastor of the French Church in London, being driven hence by the displeasure of his superiors, was pleased to translate it into French. I hope it will not be unprofitable there; nor in Germany, where it is printed in Dutch. 

Eliot's Algonquin version appeared in 1688. A Welsh edition appeared in 1559 (reprinted 1667, 1677, 1751 and abridged in 1777). In his printed funeral sermon for Baxter, William Bates wrote

His books of practical divinity have been effectual for more conversions of sinners to God than any printed in our time: and while the church remains on earth, will be of continual efficacy to recover lost souls. - There is a vigorous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake and attentive .... His Call to the Unconverted, how small in book, but how powerful in virtue! Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy, that it makes the reader to lay his hand upon his heart, and find that he hath a soul and a conscience, though he lived before as if he had none. He told some friends, that six brothers were converted by reading that Call, and that every week he received letters of some converted by his books. This he spake with most humbled thankfulness, that God was pleased to use him as an instrument for the salvation of souls. 

Edmund Calamy added that it was “a book blessed by God with marvellous success, in reclaiming persons from their impieties” and adds that

Cotton Mather, in his life, gives an account of an Indian (ie native American) prince, who was so well affected with this book, that he sat reading it, with tears in his eyes, till he died. 

English editions regularly appeared down the years. By 1659 the fifth edition had appeared, by 1660 the ninth. Further editions in Baxter's lifetime include those of 1663, 67, 69 (13^th edition), 71 (15^th) 75 (18^th) 78 (20^th) 82 (21^st). After his death it continued to be printed. Another edition was published in 1692 and by 1704 the 29^th (carefully corrected) edition had appeared. There were further editions in 1646 and 47. The latter was printed in Edinburgh rather than London and led to a Gaelic edition, printed in Glasgow, in 1750 (reprinted 1845 and 94). English editions kept coming too – at least two editions in the 1760s, four in the 1780s, another four in the 1790s.

Maurice Roberts has noted its influence on George Whitefield prior to his conversion. Doddridge is another who was helped by Baxter's book. A perhaps more unusual example of someone affected by it in this period is the freed slave and autobiographer, James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (c 1705-1775). In his autobiography he tells how having come under conviction of sin his master gave him Baxter's book. He says at first

This was no relief to me neither; on the contrary it occasioned as much distress in me as the other (Bunyan's Holy War) had before done, as it invited all to come to Christ; and I found myself so wicked and miserable that I could not come.

He was ready to commit suicide and was unwell for some few days. However, in a while he became more encouraged and soon writes “I now began to relish the book my master gave me, Baxter's call to the unconverted, and took great delight in it.” He so delighted in Baxter that he came to the point where “above all places in the world” he “wish'd to see Kidderminster, for” he says “I could not but think that on the spot where Mr. Baxter had lived, and preach'd, the people must be all righteous.”

There was no let up in the 19th Century with editions regularly appearing in different forms throughout the period. Several times in the early years of the century an abridged version by Benjamin Fawcett appeared (1806, 20, 35) as well as other editions (1811, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25). From 1829 several editions appeared with an essay by Dr Thomas Chalmers (1829, 31, 50) and with additional material from Baxter including his Now or never and 50 reasons why a sinner ought to turn to God this day without delay.

It is worth noting here that Baxter's Call was not his only book on conversion. A few months before he had published a larger Treatise on conversion and just after Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion. Now or never appeared in 1663. Beougher says that the theme of conversion appears regularly throughout his writings.

In October 1834, when just 21, after finishing Baxter's Call, Robert Murray M‘Cheyne wrote

Though Baxter's lips have long in silence hung,
And death long hush'd that sinner-wakening tongue
Yet still, though dead, he speaks aloud to all,
And from the grave still issues forth his "Call,"
Like some loud angel-voice from Zion Hill,
The mighty echo rolls and rumbles still,
O grant that we, when sleeping in the dust,
May thus speak forth the wisdom of the just.

In June of that year C H Spurgeon was born. His familiarity with Baxter's little book is well known.

When I was seeking the Lord I read a great deal in Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul and Baxter's Call to the Unconverted. I would wake up as soon as the sun was up in the morning that I might read these books.

“Oh, those books, those books!” he would exclaim “I read and devoured them”. He thanked God for Baxter's Call and remembered his mother using it. “There was a little piece of Alleine's Alarm, or of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted,” he says

and this was read with pointed observations made to each of us as we sat round the table; and the question was asked, how long it would be before we would think about our state, how long before we would seek the Lord. Then came a mother's prayer, and some of the words of that prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is grey.

Spurgeon's contemporary Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902) was also brought up on Baxter in America. As he got older, he says, he read Doddridge's Rise and Progress and Baxter's Call to the Unconverted as well as other books. He once spoke about the power of the printed page noting how Baxter himself had been affected by the printed page as a young man and then how

Richard Baxter wrote a book entitled A Call to the Unconverted, which brought thousands into the kingdom, among others Philip Doddridge. He wrote a book entitled The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. Its harvest is uncounted multitudes for the kingdom of heaven, among others the great Wilberforce. Wilberforce in turn wrote a book on The Practical Views of Christianity. It has done good beyond all earthly computation, and brought many into the kingdom, among others Leigh Richmond. Leigh Richmond wrote a book called The Dairyman's Daughter. It has brought tens of thousands to the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.

One final thing worth mentioning here is that in 1991 the evangelist John Blanchard produced an updated version of the book entitled Invitation to live, which has also no doubt been used to bring some to the Lord.

Having given something of the book's background we want now to say something about the author of this remarkable book and then something about the book itself.

The author

Early life

Richard Baxter was born November 12, 1615 in Rowton, a village in Shropshire. He lived through most of the tumultuous 17^th Century, dying December 8, 1691 in London. A church leader, theologian, controversialist and evangelist he has been dubbed “the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen” and “the most successful preacher, winner of souls and nurturer of souls that England has ever had.”

Forced to live with his maternal grandmother until he was 10 because of his father's gambling debts his beginnings were inauspicious. His early education was poor. In six years he had four different teachers, all ignorant and two of them immoral. After his father's conversion he returned to the parental home in Eaton Constantine but things did not improve. The parish church was no help. However, chiefly through his father's influence and through good books he read he was converted at some point in his teenage years.

Baxter would have loved a university education but instead studied at a preparatory school in Wroxeter and at Ludlow Castle with Richard Wickstead. Wickstead was not much help but Baxter made good use of the library. After a brief dalliance with court life in London he set himself to study divinity and after a brief spell as a schoolmaster read theology with a local clergyman in Wroxeter. In about 1634, he met Joseph Symonds and Walter Cradock who both had a strong nonconformist influence on him.

From the ages of 21-23 Baxter was constantly sick and did not expect to live. He continued to labour with such sicknesses from time to time for the rest of his life. Meanwhile he had a growing desire to enter the ministry of the Church of England and in 1638 he became master of the free grammar school in Dudley for nine months, having been ordained and licensed by the Bishop of Worcester.

His success as a preacher was at first limited but he soon transferred to Bridgnorth, where, as curate to a Mr Madstard, he established a reputation for conscientiousness. He was at Bridgnorth nearly two years, during which time he took a special interest in the controversy relating to nonconformity. He soon became alienated from the Church on several matters and after the requirement of what is called "the etcetera oath" in 1640, he rejected episcopacy in its English form and became a moderate Nonconformist, which he remained. Generally regarded as a Presbyterian, he was an unconventional one, often prepared to accept a modified Episcopalianism. He regarded all forms of church government as subservient to the true purposes of religion.

Kidderminster

One of the first measures of the Long Parliament was to reform the clergy. They appointed a committee to receive complaints and among the complainants were the inhabitants of Kidderminster whose minister was a drunkard who preached only once every three months! Moves were made that led to Baxter being invited to deliver a sermon before the people and his unanimous election as minister followed in 1641. He was 26.

Some 15 months after this his ministry was interrupted for five years due to the Civil Wars. While loyal to the Royalists Baxter had spoken in favour of the Parliamentarians and so he moved first to Gloucester then (1643-1645) to Coventry, where he preached regularly both to the garrison and citizens. After the Battle of Naseby he became chaplain to Colonel Edward Whalley's regiment, and continued as chaplain until February 1647. During these stormy years he wrote his Aphorisms of Justification, which on its appearance in 1649 excited great controversy.

Baxter joined the Parliamentary army in an attempt to counteract the growth of the sectaries in that field and maintain the cause of constitutional government in opposition to the republican tendencies of the time. He regretted that he had not previously accepted Cromwell's offer to become chaplain to the Ironsides, being confident in his power of persuasion under the most difficult circumstances. His success in converting the soldiery to his views was limited but he preserved his own consistency and fidelity. He did not hesitate to urge what he saw to be true on the most powerful officers, any more than he hesitated to instruct the camp followers.

In 1647, Baxter languished for five months at death's door at the home of Lady Rouse. It was at this time that he wrote most of his famous work, The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650). On his recovery he returned to Kidderminster, where he ministered for the next 14 years. During that time he accomplished many reforms in Kidderminster and the neighbourhood. He formed the ministers of the area into an association, uniting them irrespective of ecclesiastical differences. He visited all 800 families in the parish every year, teaching each person individually. His Reformed Pastor, a book describing his pastoral approach became a classic and is still read and admired today. The outstanding feature of his preaching was his earnest zeal. In his writing and preaching he shows his belief that pastors need “the skill necessary to make plain the truth, to convince the hearers, to let in the irresistible light into their consciences, and to keep it there, and drive all home; to screw truth into their minds and work Christ into their affections.”

He was eager to give glory to God for his success and pointed to factors such as his youthful vigour, singleness, moving voice, diligent assistants, his ling service and the town's size and the fact as the people were mostly carpet weavers they were able to read the books he gave them at the loom.

London

After the Restoration of 1660 Baxter, who had helped bring it about, settled in London, where he preached until the 1662 Act of Uniformity took effect. In response to the Savoy Conference of 1661 he produced his Reformed Liturgy, which was cast aside unconsidered. Baxter established a strong reputation in London as he had elsewhere. The power of his preaching was universally felt and his capacity for business placed him at the head of the Nonconformist party. He had been made a king's chaplain, and was offered a bishopric but could not in conscience accept it. He found consolation in his marriage in September 1662 to Margaret Charlton, a woman like-minded with himself. She died in 1681. Baxter wrote the words for the Hymn "Ye Holy Angels Bright" in that year.

From 1662 until the indulgence of 1687, Baxter's life was constantly disturbed by persecution of one kind or another. He retired to Acton for the purpose of quiet study but was placed imprisoned for keeping a conventicle. He was taken up for preaching in London after the licences granted in 1672 were recalled by the king. The meeting house which he had built for himself in Oxendon Street was closed to him after he had preached there only once. In 1680, he was taken from his house; and though he was released that he might die at home, his books and goods were seized. In 1684, he was carried three times to the sessions house, being scarcely able to stand and without any apparent cause was made to enter into a bond for £400 in security for his good behaviour. In 1685 he had been imprisoned on the charge of libelling the Church in his Paraphrase on the New Testament, and was tried before the notorious Judge Jeffreys. The trial is well known as among the most brutal perversions of justice which have occurred in England. Jeffreys is even said to have proposed he should be whipped behind a cart. Baxter was now 70 and remained in prison for 18 months, until the government, vainly hoping to win his influence to their side, remitted the fine and released him.

Books

Baxter's health had grown steadily worse, yet this was the period of his greatest activity as a writer. Edmund Calamy called him “The most voluminous theological writer in the English language.” He wrote 168 or so separate works altogether including his huge Christian Directory, the Methodus Theologiae Christianae and the Catholic Theology, each of which might have been the life's work of an ordinary man. His Breviate of the Life of Mrs Margaret Baxter records the virtues of his wife and reveals his tenderness. The remainder of his life, from 1687 onwards, was passed peacefully. He died in London, and his funeral was attended by many churchmen as well as dissenters.

Theology

As for his theology, Baxter was quite distinct and held to a theology best described as Baxterian. Baxter's method was unique - one obvious feature being his desire to subdivide material into three parts where possible. He also saw the kingdom of God as a key to understanding Scripture. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was an important influence. Baxter did not accept his Arminianism but he admired his political approach. Beougher points out that Baxter also gave a high place to reason, was quite eclectic in forming his theology and believed that holiness was the essence of Christianity. Baxter first came across antinomianism in the army and it so horrified him that he spent the rest of his life opposing it.

Baxter's understanding of atonement can be described as a form of Amyraldianism, although Baxter did not get it from Amyraut, or 'hypothetical universalism'. This moderate form of Calvinism rejected the doctrine of particular redemption in favour of Grotius' universal redemption. He sought to tread an eclectic middle path between Beza's Reformed understanding and Grotius's Arminian one. “Instead of saying that Christ satisfied the law in the sinner's place through substitution; Baxter asserted that Christ satisfied the Lawgiver and so obtained a change in the law”.God has now made a 'new law' offering pardon and amnesty to the penitent. Repentance and faith, being obedience to this law are the believer’s personal saving righteousness. As for justification, Baxter insisted, that this required at least some degree of faith and works. He also spoke, confusingly, of present and final justification.

Baxter's theology made him very unpopular in his own day and split Dissenters in the following century. As summarised by Thomas W Jenkyn, it differed from the Calvinism of Baxter's day on four points:

1. Christ's atonement did not consist in his suffering the identical but the equivalent punishment (ie one which would have the same effect in moral government) as that deserved by mankind because of offended law. Christ died for sins, not persons. While the benefits of substitutionary atonement are accessible and available to all men for their salvation; they have in the divine appointment a special reference to the subjects of personal election.
2. The elect were a certain fixed number determined by the decree without any reference to their faith as the ground of their election; which decree contemplates no reprobation but rather the redemption of all who will accept Christ as Saviour.
3. What is imputed to the sinner in the work of justification is not Christ's righteousness but the faith of the sinner himself in the righteousness of Christ.
4. Every sinner has a distinct agency of his own to exert in the process of his conversion.

Much disagreement exists concerning not only the propriety of Baxter's views but also their precise nature. These differences probably arise from a combination of factors. Baxter's discussions are often extremely intricate. In a real sense, Baxter is a scholastic theologian. His constant use of distinctions is nearly proverbial among critics as well as students. To understand his theological positions one must go through the arduous process of analysing his numerous distinctions. Neglect of various nuances in these distinctions can easily lead to a misunderstanding of certain aspects of his theology. Further, his theological system is a tightly knit one and a failure to grasp it all may result in an inaccurate portrayal of his theology.

Such facts need to be borne in mind when considering his book. To what extent they impinge on its contents is open to debate.

The book

In the original Baxter began with a fairly lengthy preface headed “To all unsanctified persons that shall read this book; especially of my hearers in the Borough and Parish of Kidderminster” and signed “Your serious Monitor, Richard Baxter”.

He is especially concerned to counter the idea that if God saves, we can do nothing. He wants people to seriously read the book, to then get alone with God and not delay to close with Christ as soon as possible. The preface itself is a powerful sermon and sets the tone for the rest of the book. It is important to remember that, as he states elsewhere, his intention here is “to speak to the impenitent, unconverted sinners, who are not yet so much as purposing to turn ; or at least are not setting about the work.” He felt

a winning persuasive was a more necessary means than mere directions; for directions suppose men willing to obey them. ... the persons that we have first to deal with, are wilful and asleep in sin, and as men that are past feeling, having given themselves over to sin with greediness. My next work must be for those that have some purposes to turn, and are about the work, to direct them for a thorough and a true conversion, that they miscarry not in the birth.

The book itself, in good Puritan fashion begins with the text of the original sermon the book has grown out of, Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

He briefly expounds the text by saying that it is surprising to see what the Bible says about how few will be saved and how many will go to hell. By nature we think that the one who does evil should be the one to pay so when we hear that so many will go to hell we must ask why. Of course, the devil is involved but then whose fault is it beyond that, God's or man's? That, he says, is the text's subject. He notes that God clears himself by saying that he is not to blame but wants them to repent. He then exhorts the wicked to return to him. He not only commands this but seeks to persuade them to it. He is willing to reason with them. Why will they die ? He wants them to turn and live. He wants to convince them that it is not God's fault if they are miserable and convince them of their obvious wilfulness in rejecting all his commands and arguments that it is their fault if they die.

Having 'opened' the text he announces seven doctrines from the text, which he then works through.

1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked men must turn or die. He quotes a string of supporting texts by way of example then gives seven arguments for the reasonableness of this doctrine. He says

You see then, though this be a rough and unwelcome doctrine, it is such as we must preach, and you must hear. It is easier to hear of hell than feel it. If your necessities did not require it, we would not gall your tender ears with truths that seem so harsh and grievous. 

He clarifies what is meant by wicked and conversion and how we may know whether we are wicked or converted. He says 

O sirs, conversion is another kind of work than most are aware of. It is not a small matter to bring an earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable excellences of God, till he be taken up in such love to him that can never be quenched; to break the heart for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and thankfully embrace him as the life of his soul, etc.

2. It is the promise of God, that the wicked shall live, if they will but turn; unfeignedly and thoroughly turn. He says

It is life, not death, that is the first part of our message to you; our commission is to offer salvation, certain salvation; a speedy, glorious, everlasting salvation, to every one of you

Again he quotes a whole series of Scriptures to support his commission.

3. God taketh pleasure in men's conversion and salvation, but not in their death or damnation. He had rather they would turn and live, than go on and die.

Here he pleads the gracious nature of God, his frequents commands to turn, his commission to his ministers, his providence , the sufferings of his Son.

4. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by his oath, That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live; that he may leave man no pretence to doubt of it. He goes on to ask ' Who is it then that takes pleasure in men's sin and death? It is not God, not ministers nor any good men. No, it is the devil, the wicked and a man's own flesh.

5. So earnest is God for the conversion of sinners, that he doubleth his commands and exhortations with vehemency, "Turn ye, Turn ye". He calls on all who love themselves, who are cold and merely outward professors, who are void of the love of God to consider what preparations mercy has made for their salvation, the call they have had to turn and live. Here he mentions 10 things then says

Lay all these together now, and see what should be the issue. The holy Scriptures call upon thee to turn; the ministers of Christ call upon thee to turn; the Spirit cries, Turn ; thy conscience cries, Turn; the godly, by persuasions and examples cry, Turn; the whole world, and all the creatures therein that are presented to thy consideration cry, Turn; the patient forbearance of God cries, Turn; all the mercies which thou receivest cry, Turn; the rod of God's chastisement cries Turn; thy reason and the frame of thy nature bespeaks thy turning; and so do all thy promises to God; and yet art thou not resolved to turn?

6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with unconverted sinners, and to ask them, Why they will die? He says it is a strange disputation with regard both to the question and the disputants. He speaks firstly of man's determination to go to hell. It is as if they say they will drink poison yet not die. He speaks too of their unwillingness to use means and their lack of desire for salvation. God argues with man because he is a reasonable creature and he wants to leave him without excuse.

He shows how unreasonable sinners are and shows how wrong are their apparent reasons. He deals with 12 specific objections

1. If none shall be saved, but such sanctified ones as you talk of, heaven will be but empty. God help a great many." 

Answer, "What! It seems you think that God does not know, or else that He is not to be believed. Measure not all by yourselves. God has thousands and millions of his sanctified ones." Etc. 

2. "I am sure if such as I go to hell, we shall have store of company" 

Answer. "And will that be any ease or comfort to you, or do you think you may not have company enough in heaven? Will you be without company, or will you not believe that God will execute his threatenings because there are so many that are guilty? All these are silly unreasonable conceits.”

Other objections dealt with are

3. "But all men are sinners; even the best of you all"
4. "I do not see that professors of religion are any better than other men."
5. "But I am no whoremonger, nor drunkard, nor oppressor; and therefore why should you call upon me to be converted?"
6. "But I mean nobody any harm, nor do any harm. Why then should God condemn me?"
7. "I think you would make men mad under pretence of converting them." Answer. "Can you be madder than you are already?" etc 

Etc. He also explains why men are unreasonable and so unwilling to turn

7. If after all this, men will not turn, it is not God's fault that they are condemned, but their own, even their own wilfulness. They die because they will; that is, because they will not turn.
He speaks of how unfit the wicked are to charge God with their damnation. It is not because God is unmerciful, but because they are cruel and merciless to themselves. He then answers the objection he had considered in the preface “We cannot convert ourselves, nor have we free-will”. He also speaks of subtlety of Satan, the deceitfulness of sin and the folly of sinners and how it is little wonder that the wicked hinder the conversion and salvation of others. Man is his own worst enemy.

Ted Donnelly has noted how at the close of the book Baxter “appeals to his hearers with such tender earnestness that we can almost see the tears upon his cheeks”. Baxter says

My heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you, lest ... I should leave you as I found you, till you awake in hell ... I am as hearty a beggar with you this day, for the saving of your souls, as I would be for my own supply, if I were forced to come a begging to your doors. And therefore if you would hear me then, hear me now. If you would pity me then, be entreated now to pity yourselves ... O sirs, believe it, death and judgement, heaven and hell, are other matters when you come near them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar off. Then you will hear such a message as I bring you with more awakened, regardful hearts. 

Finally he gives 10 directions as to what those seeking conversion should do. We summarise

1. Labour to understand the necessity and nature of true conversion. He deals then with for what they must turn, from what they must turn, to what end they must turn and by what they must turn. 

2. Be much in secret, serious consideration 

3. Attend upon the Word of God 

4. Pray to God earnestly and constantly 

5. Give up all known and wilful sins 

6. Change your company if necessary 

7. Deliver yourself up to Jesus the physician of souls 

8. Act speedily, without delay 

9. Do it unreservedly, absolutely and universally 

10. Do it resolvedly. Do not waver. He says 

Now, while you are reading, or hearing this, resolve; before you sleep another night, resolve; before you stir from the place, resolve; before Satan have time to take you off, resolve. You never turn indeed till you do resolve, and that with a firm unchangeable resolution. 

Conclusion

'If you want to know the art of pleading' said Spurgeon 'read Baxter.' This book is certainly a lesson in that art. At the close of a paper on Baxter some years ago Maurice Roberts says quotes Packer saying that "The content of Baxter's Gospel is not in any way distinctive. It was the historic, Puritan, evangelical, New Testament message of ruin, redemption and regeneration." He then asks what made Baxter so successful. He suggests a number of things to which we have added some points taken from Timothy Beougher.

1. The seriousness with which he goes about his task.

2. The directness with which he addresses his hearers. He takes his hearer by storm. He almost takes us by the throat in his earnestness.

3. The eagerness with which he seeks to be effective in his presentation.

4. The reasonable way he presents his case. Baxter did not rant; he did not make an assault on the will or on the emotions but on the mind. He deals with man as a rational being.

5. The way he uses the ploughshare of exhortation to rip up his hearers' conscience. Almost every word is a challenge to the conscience of sinful man, to drive him from his refuge to Christ.

6. The thoroughness that he shows. He said it and then said it again. He put it in different forms, different ways: arguing, reasoning, persuading, convincing.

7. The clarity of his method. He follows the Puritan plan and begins with a text, drawing out the doctrines then proving them, explaining and expounding them. Then there is relentless application to the conscience. In light of what God says, you must do this and this, if you do you will be blessed in such and such ways; if you refuse then you will inherit such and such a curse.

8. The focus on primary truths. He does not get side-tracked but deals with the great themes: heaven and hell, God and Christ, faith and repentance, Christ's cross, the need to come at once.

9. His deep pastoral compassion and concern. He cared profoundly for the lost state of man. He had a burning heart of love to Christless sinners and his motive is to move men to God.

10. His determination to answer every conceivable objection anyone might at any time raise against the truth. He strips the sinner of his armour and leaves him naked before God's Judgement Throne.

11. His unmasking of sin and laying bare of the heart. Man is shown to be a sinner; sin to be very sinful.

12. His presentation of God in Christ as supremely delightful, desirable and to be attained to, no matter what the cost or difficulty, the sacrifice or the apparent loss in this life.

13. The urgency with which he spoke. He demands a response. There is no better time than now.

14. His constant looking to the Lord to do the work, not to his own efforts.

Paper given at the Evangelical Library

Daniel Wilson (1776-1858) - An introduction to his life

Some years ago I sent for books and booklets from the Lord's Day Observance Society. Among them was a little book advocating the observance of the Lord's Day by a man I'd not heard of. His name? Bishop Daniel Wilson. Being a good nonconformist the word 'bishop' gave pause but I was well enough acquainted with things to know that did not necessarily mean the man was completely suspect! Anyway, I read the little book and found it a help.

I have more recently learned that it grew out of sermons preached in 1827 and was originally published in 1830. It "engendered deep concern on the part of the clergy and men of good standing" and led to Wilson and his cousin Joseph Wilson forming the LDOS the following year. It is still in existence and is just one example of Daniel Wilson's energy and how it still has its effects today.

Wilson's name has hardly arisen since then but more recently I came across him again with the reissue of Sir Marcus Loane's The Oxford Cambridge Evangelical Succession. This looks in turn at the great evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770), preacher and hymn writer John Newton (1725-1807), the commentator Thomas Scott (1747-1821), the preacher Richard Cecil (1748-1810) and finally Daniel Wilson (1778-1858). Loane relies chiefly on the two volume biography of Wilson by his nephew and son-in-law Josiah Bateman that appeared in 1860. Bateman in turn makes use of a journal that Wilson kept from the very end of 1797, shortly after his conversion, until 1807 and then after a 23 year gap, from 1830 until the end of his life. There were also hundreds of letters. Bateman and Loane note how carefully Wilson's friends kept these. 'That surely goes to prove' says Loane 'that there was always a tone of greatness in the man.'

Early life

As Loane says 'Wilson belonged to the fourth generation of the evangelical revival' and as we look at his long life we will note his links with the more familiar names just mentioned. The George Whitefield connection comes through his mother Ann Collett (d 1829). She was the daughter of Daniel West, one of George Whitefield's friends and trustees. She, with her husband, Stephen Wilson (d 1813), a wealthy London silk manufacturer, were hearers of William Romaine, Cecil, Scott and other Evangelicals and were the earliest spiritual influences on Wilson, their eldest son, from his birth in Spitalfields, London, on July 2, 1778.

A delicate child, he soon grew stronger and came to have a buoyant personality and good looks. He began school in Eltham, Kent, when he was 7 and from the age of 10 until he was 13 was under the care of Rev John Eyre at Hackney. Eyre had served as curate to Richard Cecil in 1780.

After finishing school in 1792, he began a seven year apprenticeship in Cheapside, London, under his uncle, William Wilson of Worton, near Woodstock. Though the hours for it were few he continued to study hard at Latin and French and other subjects.

Conversion

Spiritually, however, by this time he was not in a good state spiritually. He was irreverend in church, did not pray, scarcely read the Bible and enjoyed posing as sceptic. His line was that as God was sovereign there was nothing a mere mortal could do to alter his fate.

Then on evening of March 9, 1796 things began to change. He was warmly advocating his cynical vie of God's sovereignty to some friends when he was challenged. Surely the God who chooses the ends also ordains the means it was suggested. When Wilson objected that he did not have the necessary feelings, it was countered that he should pray for them. He tried to laugh it off but the shaft had struck home and a period of protracted conviction followed. He wrote first to his old tutor John Eyre who was a help to him. On April 20 he had an interview with John Newton. Here is Wilson's report of the interview at the time (writing to Eyre).

I this morning breakfasted with Mr. Newton. I hope the conversation I had with him will not soon be effaced from my mind. He inculcated that salutary lesson you mentioned in your letter, of 'waiting patiently upon the Lord'. He told me God could, no doubt, if He pleased, produce a full-grown oak in an instant, on the most barren spot; but that such was not the ordinary working of His Providence. The acorn was first sown in the ground, and there was a secret operation going on for some time; and even when the sprout appeared above ground, if you were continually to be watching it, you would not perceive its growth. And so, he said, it was in spiritual things.
"'When a building is to be erected for eternity, the foundation must be laid deep. If I were going to build a horse-shed, I could put together a few poles, and finish it presently. But if I were to raise a pile like St Paul's, I should lay a strong foundation, and an immense deal of labour must be spent underground, before the walls would begin to peep above its surface.
"'Now,' he continued, 'you want to know whether you are in the right road; that is putting the cart before the horse; that is wanting to gather the fruit before you sow the seed. You want to experience the effects of belief before you do believe'. 'You can believe a man if he promises you anything, but you cannot believe Christ when He says, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." If you are cast out, it must be in some wise, but Christ says, 'in no wise.' If he had said, I will receive all who come except one hundred, then you might certainly think you were of that hundred: but the "In no wise" excludes all such arguing. There are few awakened sinners who doubt Christ's ability to save, but the fear seems to run on His willingness, which, of the two, is certainly the most dishonouring to our blessed Saviour. To illustrate my meaning: Suppose you had promised to pay one hundred pounds for me and had given me the promise in writing. Now, if you should refuse to pay the money when I sent for it, which do you think would involve the greatest impeachment to your character, to say that you were perfectly willing to fulfil your commitment, but really had not the power; or to say that no doubt could be entertained of your ability, but you were unwilling to be bound by your promise
"'Unbelief is a great sin. If the devil were to tempt you to some open, notorious crime, you would be startled at it; but when he tempts you to disbelieve the promises of God, you hug it as your infirmity, whereas you should consider it as a great sin, and must pray against it.
"When Evangelist, in the "Pilgrim's Progress" asked Christian if he saw a wicket-gate at the end of the path, he said No. Could he then see a shining light? He thought he could. That light was the Bible, and it led him to the wicket-gate. But when he had passed that gate, he still retained the burden. It was not till he looked to the Cross that the burden fell from his back and was felt no more. Now,' said Mr Newton, 'the gate through which you have to pass is a strait gate; you can but just squeeze in yourself. There is no room for self-righteousness; that must be left behind.'"

It was probably some time in October 1797 that he eventually came through. As Loane remark there was 'something quite out of the common in the depth of his penitential sorrow and his self-abasement, as well as in the long lapse of 18 months before he found pardon and peace. But there was a purpose in it all, for his was a life marked out for God.'

Preparation for the ministry

From very early on he felt drawn to the ministry but there was some reluctance on his father's part to allow it, the apprenticeship still being incomplete. When he consulted with the well-known preacher Rowland Hill patience was urged. After a year's wait an interview was arranged with Richard Cecil, who felt sure of the genuineness of the call. Arrangements were made for Wilson first to study under the evangelical minister Josiah Pratt for six months and then to enter St Edmund Hall, Oxford in November, 1798.

Oxford at this time was in a low state both academically and spiritually. Charles Simeon's work was just beginning in Cambridge but at Oxford St Edmund's was the one ray of despised evangelical light. Six students had famously been expelled from there in 1768 for Methodism but it became a real evangelical centre for years to come. At this point it was better known for its piety than its learning. By means of fellowship with men from several colleges it was a time of spiritual growth for Wilson. He studied hard and even became a byword for it. It is said that he translated Cicero's Epistles into English and then translated them back in again to perfect his Latin style.

He gained a first-class degree, graduating BA in March 1802 and MA in 1804. In 1803 he won the chancellor's English prose essay prize for his essay on ‘Common sense’.

Early years of ministry

He went on to be ordained in September 1801, taking up a curacy in Chobham and Bisley in Surrey. This was under the well-known Anglican evangelical Richard Cecil, though Cecil was only present in the summer months and so Wilson had plenty of opportunity to preach and to get to know the parish, which he did with great willingness. At the end of the time he writes

They have first seen me as a preacher: they have cherished, comforted, and loved me. All things there have worked for good. Church, rector, and people have alike smiled on me. Nor has the Spirit of God left me without fruit. I know that some have, by the grace of God, and through my instrumentality, been awakened and born from above. I speak, of course, only as a man, for God only can see the heart.

In November 1803, he married his cousin Ann, daughter of William Wilson. She was to be his partner in life for the next 24 years. They had six children, three of whom reached adulthood. The sudden death of Ann in 1818 when she was just seven years old was a hard blow as were the other two deaths. His son John grew to manhood but proved to be a source of great grief to him because of his spiritual rebellion. He did eventually come to salvation before an early death in 1833 but not without much heart searching on his father's part.

Back at St Edmund's

In January, 1804, he returned to St Edmund Hall as a tutor. In January, 1807, he was appointed vice-principal, combining both positions with charge of the parish of Worton, between Banbuury and Woodstock, and which was in his uncle's gift. We have emphasised Wilson's standing in the evangelical succession and as Loane suggests one might have expected 'useful service comparable to that of Charles Simeon in the sister sea of learning'. 'But' observes Loane 'Wilson was neither fitted by nature nor suited by office to do for Oxford the work which Simeon had done for Cambridge' – not being rector of a church or fellow of a college at first.

He did say before going there

I fear Oxford. I tremble to think of its Dons, and its duties, and the general tone and colouring of its maxims and opinions. I cannot forget the past. I cannot but dread to encounter new trials, new men, new pursuits, with a variety of difficulties and temptations hitherto unknown, unheard, unthought of. But to shrink, would prove me faithless. I undertake the office, not of my own will, but from a sense of duty.

Oxford was not a failure. He was asked to preach before the University in January, 1810. However, it did take its toll on him inwardly. Already in 1804 he is writing

I like my position. Everything falls out as I could wish. But I see many dangers looming in the distance. My heart is already becoming entangled in worldly studies, so that divine things lose their savour. I wish to count all things loss for Christ. I wish to love and cherish divine concerns; but pride, ambition, secular pursuits, and cares, beset me and make my path slippery and insecure. Pray for me.

Two years later he is writing

My soul is sick. I am perplexed and overborne with college and university business. I have wandered from God. You would not believe, my friend, how weak my mind is, how perturbed, not to say hardened, so that I feel no love for sacred things, nor derive any profit from them. Sin, disguising itself in the form of those literary pursuits in which I am engaged, has deceived, wounded, and almost slain me. I scarcely see Christ, and scarcely love Him. That glow and fervour which I used to feel spreading over my whole soul, is extinguished. Well do I know that I have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Then in 1807 he laid aside his journal not to take it up again for over 20 years. By 1809 he was convinced of the need for a return to pastoral ministry.

The employment of a tutor at Oxford has been far from being perfectly congenial to my mind. As to the propriety of my leaving the university, and giving myself wholly to my ministry, I cannot have a doubt. The gradual decay of vital piety in my own heart, is too obvious and too alarming a symptom, not to force itself upon my conscience. May God yet spare me for His honour!

He summed up much later

My time at Oxford was utterly without profit as to my soul. Pride grew more and more, and carnal appetites enchained me. On the other hand, Worton afforded me much spiritual consolation. These nine years were passed, I trust, in the path of duty, though amidst struggles, temptations, and frequent estrangements of soul and spirit.

St John's Chapel

Worton had been the one bright spot in this time of dearth and he had ministered faithfully there until he began, from 1808,, to assist Cecil at St John's Chapel, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London. In June 1812 he took full charge there, resigning his Oxford posts and moving to London. Begun as a Chapel of Ease in the reign of Queen Anne, St John's was seen as the headquarters of London's evangelical party and Wilson was an obvious choice.

There he devoted himself to 'ceaseless activity' as a powerful, forthright and popular preacher. Loane speaks of his 'commanding oratory' and of 'years of great blessing' noting how, having preached only 640 sermons in the 11 years of ministry before Bedford Row, he now preached 1187 sermons in just 15 years! His 2000 strong congregation of 'lawyers and merchants', swollen by other visitors in the season, was peppered with Wilberforces, Macaulays, Thorntons and Grants of Clapham Sect fame. Very diligent in preparation, he would take only a few notes with him into the pulpit. Loane says

He stood as God's servant to do God's work and his power was soon felt by all. He was in earnest at a time when earnest men were still comparatively hard to find; he preached a full gospel in an age when preachers of the gospel were few and far between. He was steadfast where many were given to change, and moderate when others ran to extremes. His grave and dignified bearing was a solemn rebuke to the spirit of levity or unbelief, and his impassioned address to conscience was varied with an impressive pathos of appeal.

In 1821 Wilson took the funeral of the commentator Thomas Scott. He was always a fan of Scott. He describes their last interview in 1819 thus:

I sat up with Mr. Scott last night till near 12 O'clock, talking over my correspondence with the Bishop of Chester on the doctrine of salvation. This morning he gave us a most beautiful exposition of Romans x. 12, &c. Afterwards Mr Scott went over my homily sermon with me. He alters but very little, and approves of most of my ecclesiastical notions. Mr Scott is tolerable in health, though 72 years old, and asthmatical for 45 years. He is very busy with his new edition of the Commentary on the Bible. He has now finished the whole of the first volume, and parts of the second and third. He finishes four or five sheets a week, expounds twice a day, has above a hundred communicants at his sacrament, is popular and beloved in his neighbourhood, and has fuller churches than ever. It is quite delightful to see him once more in the flesh.

Scott was someone he always delighted to honour.

There was no one in whom he placed more confidence, no one whose writings he more habitually studied. To the close of his life, Scott's Commentary on the Bible was the book of his choice. It exactly suited him. He never seemed sensible of its defects. He never felt it heavy. New authorities arose, new comments appeared : but still his word remained the same - "The old is better." He recommended it to every one whom he valued, and read it always himself. Its accordance with Scripture, its perfect honesty and integrity of purpose, its moderation in statements of doctrine, the practical and holy tendency everywhere manifest; all these won his heart and kept it.

He used Scott's commentary with his Bible daily. He never passed a copy, however old the edition, without buying it. At one point he began having it translated into French. When his two sermons on Scott were published some thought his praise too great.

“Thomas Scott was a wonderful man" he used to say, "as wonderful in his way as Milton or Burke. He overcame great difficulties, and lived down great unpopularity. Why, he was at first quite hooted in London for his long sermons.

Also in 1821 opportunity was taken to enlarge the building. Uncompromising in his readiness to fight the good fight for evangelical principles and practice, he inevitably emerged as a forceful public figure and Loane observes how he soon became 'the most prominent Evangelical in the whole of London'.

Wilson also embraced a wide range of evangelical causes, including foreign missions, anti-slavery, church building and education. On alternate Mondays his vestry was home to the well known Eclectic Society for ministers (founded in 1783). In 1816 he founded the London Clerical Education Society for helping young men prepare for the ministry. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) committee from 1810 and in 1817 he preached their annual sermon. A frequent contributor to the Christian Observer, he also published various sermons and pamphlets. He also toured the country most summers for the CMS or for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Not one year passed from 1813-1822 in which he did not take undertake extensive tours speaking on behalf of these societies in various places. He was often accompanied by William Marsh who remarked on how the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning he would see would be Wilson on his knees in prayer.

While preparing this paper I found myself on the pleasant Channel Island of Guernsey. I was very interested to read a brief account, therefore, of Wilson's one and only visit there – on behalf of the CMS. It sounds typical of the man in many ways.

I left London on Monday, August 5th, and reached Exeter on the Friday, where our friends the Cornishes received us most hospitably. 1 preached there twice on the Sunday, and was present at the missionary meeting.
On Friday, August 14th, I embarked at Weymouth for the Channel Islands. Twenty-four hours of calm, and then of contrary winds and tempest (throughout which I felt as if I should die from sea-sickness) brought me to Guernsey. It is a delightful island – 30,000 souls, Normandy customs, beautiful scenery, soft, mild climate, delicious fruits; - the novelty of everything charmed and fascinated me. I was never more struck. In addition to all this, I was greatly touched by the kindness and friendship of Mr Brock. I preached in French, for the first time in my life. Imagine my embarrassment on mounting the pulpit, and seeing before me a vast array of a thousand listeners, understanding nothing but French. I managed to be understood. I believe the warmth of my heart opened my way, for it seemed to me that the more interested they were in the subject, the more they listened. There is one universal language which religion purifies and strengthens - the love of Christ, contrition of heart, faith in the redemption of the Cross - this attracts the soul of man, and is conveyed better by feeling than by words.

During much of 1822–4 he suffered a breakdown, probably due to overwork. He travelled with his family to the continent to recuperate but it did not solve the problem. Loane comments too that he 'found that in London no less than at Oxford, the iron would eat into his soul. A later journal entry says

My course in London was strangely intermingled with great mercies from God, and great miseries from my own evil heart. My Saviour knows all. I can neither record nor realise all the temptations, the backslidings, the corruptions of heart, which have defiled me. It is terrible to think of.

Islington

Having inherited the rights to St Mary's, Islington, London, from his uncle, in 1821, he decided on the death of the incumbent in May 1824 to take up the parish, to the initial dismay of a congregation not known for its evangelicalism. He was instituted as vicar on 4 June and by the end of that year had recovered his former energy. He returned to the tasks of church extension and school building, established the Islington Clerical Conference, formed the Islington Association for the CMS (which rapidly became one of the society's most substantial sources of funds), and continued to write. Once gain he was successful in reaching out in an area of great need.

Meeting as we are in the Evangelical Library it may be of interest to note that in 1827 he built a new and imposing library that contained some 10,00 volumes and was a great delight to him. Bateman says

His love for books was well known, and he seldom returned home from his morning drive without finding a little bazaar established at his gates. Thither the various books purchased at book-sales, so frequent in Calcutta, were brought and spread before him. He could not pass without examining the contents of the stalls; and if an old copy of "Scott" appeared, it was at once bought and given away. ...
Whilst he had any work in preparation for the press, everything having any bearing on the subject was purchased without stint, and then retained. He was careful of his books; said that he looked upon them as his children, and could not bear to see them ill-used. No turning down of the leaves was tolerated, and even a "mark" was deemed unmanly. "If you cannot tell where you leave off, you arc not worthy to read a book," he would say. He needed quiet for study, but not solitude. "Go or stay, as you please; but if you stay, be quiet;" and then he would turn, and in a moment enter the world of books. He kept no late hours; his last reading (as his first) was always devotional and scriptural; and he generally retired about eleven o'clock. In working hours, all his reading had reference to the sermon, or the controversy, or the publication which might be in hand. But in the hour of repose, after dinner, or in the country, the current literature of the day had its turn, and one member of the family generally read aloud to all the rest.

Perhaps this would be a good point to mention his literary output. Apart from various sermons and pamphlets, works for children and young people and his descriptions of his travels on the continent we can mention among his more important works his substantial foreword to a new edition of Wilberforce's A Practical View (1826). He praises Wilberforce who was still living. It is said that the latter protested that 'such things ought never to be published till a man is dead'. He also wrote prefaces in the same series for Thomas Adams' Private Thoughts, Butler's Analogy and Baxter's Reformed Pastor. Other works include Thoughts on British colonial slavery (1827) The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day (1831) The Evidences of Christianity (2 vols, 1828, 1830), 'a work as traditional as it was lengthy'. He later wrote On the distinction of castes in India (1834) and Expository lectures on St Paul's Epistle to the Colossians (1853).

India

By the time Wilson was 54 then he had lived a full and useful life as an Anglican churchman and a doughty supporter of the evangelical movement in England. On this basis alone he may have merited our attention. However, in 1832 he became the fifth Anglican Bishop of Calcutta (then a vast diocese reaching as far as Australia). From Calcutta, with only one break to return to England, in 1845-6, when recovering from illness, he went on to serve the Lord for another 25 years. It was during this visit home that he made a severe attack on the policies of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in India and received an unprecedented invitation to preach a second anniversary sermon to the CMS.

Wilson had always shown an interest in missionary work and in 1829 John Turner, consecrated Bishop of Calcutta in 1829, visited Islington before leaving England and there considered the needs of the diocese with Wilson. When Turner died in 1831, the third bishop to do so in five years, Wilson, while sharing the general anxiety about the succession, was not an obvious candidate. However, when several others refused the offer and Wilson, in some desperation, indicated his willingness to be considered, the influence of evangelical friends, including Lord Glenelg, secured his appointment. He therefore resigned his post at Islington, received his DD by diploma, and was consecrated at Lambeth Palace in April, 1832.

In the manner of the day his eldest son, Daniel (b 1805), who had been appointed to Worton in 1828, succeeded him at Islington, and his nephew Josiah Bateman (subsequently his son-in-law and biographer), went with him to India as his chaplain. They left Portsmouth in June 1832 and arrived in Calcutta on November 5.

Wilson's predecessors had made only limited headway in establishing the extent of episcopal authority, defining the nature of the ecclesiastical establishment and standardising liturgical practice. Bishop Wilson's years in India were to be devoted to these fundamental tasks. He re-established the physical and social presence of the bishop in Calcutta, brought order to episcopal administration and revived or set in motion many of the activities familiar to him from his London parishes - clerical meetings, lecture series, infant schools, writing for the Christian Intelligencer and church building. Between 1839 and 1847 he masterminded construction of Calcutta's cathedral.

To make his leadership felt outside Calcutta he exploited the practice of episcopal visitation to the full. In five major journeys between 1834 and 1857, each lasting between two and three years, his episcopal cavalcade, often with more than 250 soldiers, elephant attendants, bearers and camp-followers, traversed the huge diocese from Simla to Colombo and from Delhi and Bombay to Singapore.

His task was slightly eased by the erection of new dioceses for Madras (1835), Bombay (1837), New South Wales (1836) and Colombo (1845) and his own appointment as metropolitan.

With his forceful personality and struggling, in his own words, to maintain ‘firm churchmanship … in the face of high-church principles and no-church principles’, Wilson often appeared to others as the embodiment of episcopal pretension. His contempt for Tractarianism, ‘this egregious drivelling fatuity’ and his sustained attacks on it, notably in his second charge in 1838 and subsequent sermons, did not save him from perhaps the greatest irony of his career - serious conflict with the CMS and its lay supporters in India over the licensing and superintendence of missionaries. To one who had done so much for the cause of missions at home, the suspicion with which missionaries on the ground viewed his plans to make Bishop's College the great training centre for ministers in India, their frequent neglect of ecclesiastical order partly under the influence of the society's Lutheran employees and, above all in southern India, compromises with caste, came as a great disappointment.

Wilson tackled these issues with characteristic vigour and displayed sufficient flexibility to reach generally acceptable agreements with both the CMS and the civil authorities on many church–state questions. He called the Indian caste system a 'cancer' and in his famous essay, On the Distinction of Castes in India (1834), he abandoned Reginald Heber's temporising for the demand that in the church it ‘must be abandoned, decidedly, immediately, finally’. Reinforcing the requirement with personal visitations, Wilson carried the missionaries with him but lost the allegiance of many local church members.

Loane sums up this final period as proving him to be a great man and a first-class bishop, a time when he did a noble work for India.

Conclusion

A physically striking figure, Wilson impressed some with, 'his spiritual egotism and … eminently technical view of religion' and others by his ‘pure simplicity of mind and artlessness of demeanour’. The pattern of his last years in India was apparently little changed. Occasionally he demonstrated an unexpected sensitivity to Indian culture, troubling to learn Hindi and acknowledging the importance of varying biblical terminology to suit the customary usages of different ethnic groups. His wide interest in missionary work brought personal contact with figures such as William Carey, Alexander Duff, Adoniram Judson and Elijah Bridgman. The mutiny of 1857 he interpreted as a devastating judgement on Britain's record in India; it prompted his final sermon in the cathedral at Calcutta, entitled ‘Humiliation in national troubles’. There followed a few months of steady deterioration, and he died at Calcutta on 2 January 1858. After an official funeral he was buried in his cathedral.

Bateman lists some 15 characteristics of Wilson and we will close by highlighting these.

1. Energy. Even in this short survey I think this comes out. 'He wearied others: but was never weary himself'. What an example he is for us here.

2. Simplicity of his aim. 'Men said he was ambitious, and loved power. But, if so, it was only as a means to an end. The great end and object of life with him, was to save the souls of men; and to this, time, talents, influence, and property, were all devoted.' Again he is an example to us.

3. His deep piety. Despite the failures we have noted it is true to say 'religion was never laid aside, never forgotten. It was his comfort, his solace, his delight, his joy. It was entwined about his heart, and wrought into the very fabric of his nature. It constituted his strength.'

4. Spirit of prayer. He was always praying. In later life it occupied almost half his day.

5. Study of Scripture. "The more we read it," he used to say, "the more we may. It is certain that we shall never exhaust it."

6. Moral courage. In this respect the mind controlled and commanded the body. When, halting on his first visitation between Bombay and the Himalayas, he received from Bishop Corne a letter warning him of danger, and entreating him to return, — he paused, reflected, took counsel, saw no real cause for alarm, — and then calmly and courageously persevered in his journey. Who but he, or one like-minded, would have linked his little pilot-brig to a great steamer, and faced the monsoon in the China Seas, in order to carry out his purpose in reaching Borneo? Who but he would have ventured to grapple with the caste question in the way (he did)? The evil was admitted; the moral courage was exhibited in applying the remedy. Compare his handling of tractarianism with the modified and timid disapprobation it met with at the hands of others. He gave utterance to his own deep convictions, and openly denounced it as "another gospel." To stand in the gap thus fearlessly, as a rallying-point for others, demands and manifests high moral courage.

7. Untiring industry. It served him instead of originality and genius. It made him learned, powerful, useful, influential. No labour daunted him when some important work was in hand. When he had a major sermon to deliver he would work over it again and again.

In Ceylon he reached on "The Pearl of Great Price ". He was 78 when he gave it. Bateman describes him preparing with a desk full of sermons; any one might have been preached without labour to himself, and with profit to the hearers. But he is in the neighbourhood of the pearl fishery; the subject will be interesting; attention may be arrested, and good done. Hence, on the Saturday his table is covered with books, and on the Sunday every description is lively, every allusion correct. His industry never failed. When action did not so much require it, study had it. No man in India read half so much as he did; and his comments and criticisms prove how well the reading was digested. Even on the very last day of his life, he was looking at "Livingstone," and learning something about " Africa."

8. Consistency. Early in life he had grasped the primary truths of the gospel, and he held them firmly to the end. Many secondary truths were added, but they were kept secondary. He never rode a hobby in divinity. His sermons were always good to hear, his books always safe to read. In a charge delivered in 1851, he could say: "I retain the sentiments I publicly expressed in 1817." This inspired confidence ; and the idea of instability and changeableness was never attached to his character. He had no opinion of those who, in order to give the public the benefits of their own thoughts, neglected what had been previously thought and said by others. He laid aside a recent commentary, unread, because the author professed to have written it without consulting previous commentators.

9. Deep self-abasement. It ran through life, and found expression everywhere. The " bitter things " he wrote against himself would make unobservant men deem him a sinner above others. But he only had a deeper insight into his own heart, and a higher sense of the holiness of God. The extent of the sorrow is the point of difference amongst God's people, and not the extent of the sin.

Speaking once of having been in the ministry 56 years he said, "Ah, yes; but it is a long time to have to answer for. None can answer for me but ONE, and that one CHRIST JESUS. I cannot answer for myself."

10. Fidelity to Christ. He never ceased to teach and preach Jesus CHRIST; and when he quarrelled with any scheme of doctrine, it was chiefly because it took from Christ the honour due unto His name. The savour of His name was in every sermon ; the pleadings of His merits marked every prayer. To add to His dominion, to extol His grace, and to extend His church, was the very joy of his heart. Every doctrine of the gospel had its niche, but Christ was on the pedestal. Nothing was put before Him - nothing suffered to obscure His glory.

11. Missionary zeal. His willingness to go to India in his fifties speaks volumes. His perseverance there too. It all grew out of a zeal that had begun long before. Back in 1797 and just converted he had felt “great desires to go or do anything to spread the name of Jesus”. He wrote “I have even wished, if it were the Lord's will, to go as a missionary to heathen lands." The reason he stayed and died in India was not a lack of interest in his homeland – far from it – but a sense of commitment to the work.

12. Growing charity. No-one was more of a churchman than he; but he was always ready to hold out the right hand of fellowship to those that differed. His warfare was defensive. This catholicity increased with his years, till, at length, he uttered what Bateman calls 'those memorable words, significant, at all events, of his own aspirations for India': "Unity and love prevail amongst the different divisions of the Protestant family here. We no longer maintain the old and fatal mistake that Christian men are not to co-operate for anything, till they agree in everything. We now hold the antagonistic and true maxim, that Christian men should act together so far as they are agreed."

13. Unbounded liberality. None will know its extent; but very nearly all that he ever received from India was returned to India. By dint of self-denial he must have passed on thousands of pounds to the work of God in India.

14. Fearlessness in a righteous cause. He feared the face of no man in a righteous cause. When he saw anything which required a word of caution, the rank of the individual never daunted him. The fitting occasion was watched for, the friendly word spoken, or the private note sent. If the desired effect was produced, he rejoiced ; if the interference was resented, he bore it as "a cross," but it never made him angry. Public scandals, however, drew from him public condemnation; and it often made the breath come short, to hear him from the pulpit denounce an offence, and almost name the offender. On one occasion of a public scandal, after frequent public demonstrations of this kind, he invited thirty or forty influential ladies to his house, and entreated them in private to stem, by their influence, the current of immorality which was setting in.

15. Peculiarities.

He suffered them to grow, and they became marked features. It was not originality or eccentricity, so much as peculiarity and oddity - an odd way of saying and doing odd things. And yet there was something of originality in what was thus done and said - something of set purpose - something which gave point to the expression, and took firm hold upon the memory.

Speaking of a missionary who had sought and obtained a chaplaincy, he said, "Ah! he was a true missionary; perhaps there was not a better in India. But Satan and Eve have persuaded him to quit the work."

One of the chaplains in the upper provinces had preached a sermon, in his presence, strongly directed against Calvinism. The argument was elaborate, and claimed to be triumphant. The bishop said nothing at the time ; but when about to step into his palanquin, and leave the station, he shook hands kindly with the chaplain's wife, and thanked her for her courtesy, adding: " Please to tell your husband that he has not settled that question."

He would often join together a commendation and a caution. Introducing a chaplain to the governor, he mentioned him as one "who bids fair to be very valuable to us, if only God keeps him humble."

It characterised his expositions of Scripture. One of his chaplains was ordered up to the Punjab, but his wife was unwilling to go. In the course of the morning's reading, it happened that this passage occurred : " Having his children and his household in subjection with all gravity." — "Now," said the bishop, commenting upon it, "I don't call it having his household in subjection with all gravity, when one of my chaplains is ordered up to Lahore, and his wife says she won't go."
His lectures on the Epistles to Timothy or Titus, to his candidates for ordination, have been already alluded to. They were invaluable, full of force, and calculated to impress the mind most beneficially. But here, also, he sometimes forgot himself, and said more than he meant. The candidates were required to take down the lectures, and the examination of their notes formed part of the preparatory trial. On one occasion, some quick, clever candidates took down every word ; but before the papers were submitted to the bishop, they brought them to his chaplain, pointing out many 'odd remarks and strong expressions, and asking whether they should be left out. "Not a line, not a letter," said the chaplain. The papers were accordingly handed in, and the perusal of them was to the bishop like a man beholding his natural face in a glass. He could scarcely believe that the expressions were correct; but, undeceived on this point, the last morning's lecture was very much taken up in modifying the previous statements, and preventing all consequent misunderstandings. Especially - having said that "he would rather be a poor little Baptist, with God's grace in his heart, than the Archbishop of Canterbury without it" - he was anxious to explain, that though he stood to the sentiment, he would not have them picture to themselves an Archbishop of Canterbury without grace in his heart.

But still there is such a thing as being too much at home in the pulpit; and, many times, things were said by the bishop which had better have been left unsaid. But, though men might smile, they never slept. India is a sleepy place, and he effectually roused it. And it may be surmised that he intended to do so. Hence short, strong, pithy sentences, which might be fixed like goads. Hence familiar anecdotes of other times and earlier days. Hence reference to matters of local interest - to offensive paragraphs in newspapers, to unlawful, though fashionable amusements. These were the outpourings of the heart, and the impulse, often, of the moment - graphic, pungent, and sometimes ludicrous. But all these peculiarities affected not the great features of his character. There is something of affection in the smile they raise.

Bateman admits the faults in Wilson – he cannot deny them but using the word of another he ends by calling him

A BRAVE AND NOBLE SOLDIER; A WISE, BOLD LEADER. I ESTEEM IT THE GREATEST PRIVILEGE OF MY LIFE TO HAVE KNOWN HIM.

One understands such sentiments.

Paper given at the Evangelical Library