THE CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE LAST CENTURY OR ENGLAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO ...

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THE CHRISTIAN LEADERS
OF
THE LAST CENTURY
OR
ENGLAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
By the
REV. J. C. RYLE, B.A.,
Christ Church, Oxford;
AUTHOR OF “ EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS”
“ Enquire, I pray thee, of the former life, and prepare thyself to the search of
their fathers.” — Job 8:8.
LONDON:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;
EDINBURGH AND NEW YORK.
1869
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Augustus Montague Toplady
PREFACE
The volume now in the reader’s hands requires a few prefatory sentences of
explanation. I should be sorry if there was any mistake as to its nature and intention.
It consists of a series of biographical papers, contributed to a well-known and most
valuable monthly periodical during the years 1866 and 1867. (The Family Treasury).
My object in drawing up these papers was to bring before the public in a
comprehensive form the lives, characters, and work of the leading ministers by
whose
agency God was pleased to revive Christianity in England a hundred years ago. I
had long felt that these great men were not sufficiently known, and their merit in
consequence not sufficiently recognised. I thought that the Church and the world
ought to know something more than they seem to know about such men as
Whitefield, Wesley, Romaine, Rowlands, Grimshaw, Berridge, Venn, Toplady,
Hervey, Walker, and Fletcher. For twenty years I waited anxiously for some worthy
account of these mighty spiritual heroes. At last I became weary of waiting, and
resolved to take the pen in my own hand, and do what I could in the pages of a
periodical. These papers, in compliance with the wishes of friends, are now brought
together in a portable form.
How far my attempt has been successful, I must now leave the public to judge. To
literary merits, the volume can lay no claim. Its chapters were written from month to
month in the midst of many ministerial engagements, under a pressure which none
can understand but those who write for periodicals. To expect such a volume to be a
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model of finished composition would be absurd. I only lay claim to a tolerable degree
of accuracy about historical facts. I have been careful to make no statement for
which I could not find some authority.
The reader will soon discover that I am an enthusiastic admirer of the men whose
pictures I have sketched in this volume. I confess it honestly. I am a thorough
enthusiast about them. I believe firmly that, excepting Luther and his Continental
contemporaries and our own martyred Reformers, the world has seen no such men
since the days of the apostles.
I believe there have been none who have preached so much clear scriptural truth,
none who have lived such lives, none who have shown such courage in Christ’s
service, none who have suffered so much for the truth, none who have done so
much good. If any one can name better men, he knows more than I do.
I now send forth this volume with an earnest prayer that God may pardon all its
defects, use it for his own glory, and raise up in his Church men like those who are
here described. Surely, when we look at the state of England, we may well say, “
Where is the Lord God of Whitefield and of Rowlands, of Grimshaw and of Venn, “ O
Lord, revive thy work!”
J. C. RYLE.
Stradbroke Vicarage, August 10, 1868,
PS — I think it right to say that the chief substance of the biography of “ Whitefield”
,in this volume, was originally delivered as a lecture in London in 1852. It now
appears remoulded and enlarged. The other ten biographies were prepared
expressly for the Family Treasury.
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CONTENTS
1. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Importance of the History of the Eighteenth Century — Political and Financial
Position
of England — Low State of Religion both in Churches and Chapels — Testimonies
on the subject — Defects of Bishops and Clergy — Poverty of the Printed Theology
— Wretched Condition of the Country as to Education, Morals, and Popular
Literature—The “ Good Old Times” a mere Myth.
2. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Improvement of England since middle of Eighteenth Century an undeniable Fact —
Agents in effecting the Change a few isolated and humble Clergymen — Preaching
the chief Instrument they employed — The Manner of their Preaching — The
Substance of their Preaching.
3. GEORGE WHITEFIELD AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1.
Whitefield’s Birth-place and Parentage — Educated at Gloucester Grammar School-
Enters Pembroke College, Oxford— Season of Spiritual Conflict— Books which were
made useful to him — Ordained by Bishop Benson — First Sermon — Preaches in
London — Curate of Dummer, Hants — Goes to America — Returns in a year.
Preaches in the open air — Is excluded from most London Pulpits — Extent of his
Labours for thirty-one years— Dies at Newbury Port, America, in 1770— Interesting
circumstances of his Death.
CHAPTER 2.
Estimate of Good that Whitefield did— Testimonies to his direct Usefulness —
Indirect
Good that he did — Peculiar character of his Preaching — Witnesses to his real
power
as a Preacher — Analysis of his seventy-five published Sermons — Simplicity,
Directness, Power of Description, Earnestness, Pathos, Action, Voice, and Fluency,
his leading Excellences — Inner Life, Humility, Love to Christ, Laboriousness, Self-
denial, Disinterestedness, Cheerfulness, Catholicity — Specimen of his Preaching.
4 JOHN WESLEY AND HIS MINISTRY
John Wesley — Reason why better known than many of his Contemporaries —
Birth-
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place—Sketch of his Father and Mother — Educated at Charter-House and Oxford
— Early Religious History— Ordained, 1725 — Lives at Oxford eight Years — Joins
the Methodist Club— Sails for Georgia, 1736— Returns to England, 1738 —
Commences Field-preaching — Continues Working for fifty-three Years — Dies in
1791 —Singleness of Eye, Diligence, and Versatility of Mind — Arminianism.
CHAPTER 4.
Wesley’s Preaching — Preface to Published Volume of Sermons — Extracts from
Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford — Rules for the Guidance of his
Helpers — Advice to his Preachers — Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln — General
Estimate of Wesley’s Merits
5. WILLIAM GRIMSHAW OF HAWORTH AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1.
Born at Brindle, 1708 — Educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge — Ordained, 1731
Curate of Rochdale and Todmorden — Death of his Wife — Minister of Haworth,
1742 — Description of Haworth — Style of his Ministry — His Manner of Life,
Diligence, Charity, Love of Peace, Humility — His Ministerial Success.
CHAPTER 2.
Extra-Parochial Labour in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire — The Nature of this
Labour Explained and Defended — Persecution at Colne — The Archbishop of
York’s
Visit to Haworth — His Love for the Articles and Homilies— His Last Illness, Dying
Sayings, Death, and Funeral.
CHAPTER 3.
Literary Remains — Covenant and Summary of Belief— Letter to Christians in
London — Anecdotes and Traditions — Influence in his Parish — Haworth Races
Stopped — Mode of Discovering False Professors — Peculiarities in his Conduct of
Divine Service — Testimony of Romaine, Venn, and Newton.
6. WILLIAM ROMAINE AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1.
Born at Hartlepool in 1714 — Educated at Houghton-le-Spring and Christ Church,
Oxford — Character for Learning at Oxford — Ordained, 1736 — Curate of
Lewtrenchard and Banstead — Lectures at St. Botolph’s 1748, and St. Dunstan’s
1749 — Troubles at St. Dunstan’s — Morning Preacher at St. George’s, Hanover
Square, 1750— Loses his Preachership, 1755 — Gresham Professor of Astronomy
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— Morning Preacher at St Olave, Southwark, and St Bartholomew the Great —
Preaches before the University of Oxford — Gives great Offence.
CHAPTER 2.
Rector of St. Anne’s, Blackfriars, 1764 — Difficulties in the way of his Appointment —
Letter to Lady Huntingdon — Usefulness at Blackfriars — Peculiarities of Address
and Temperament — Last Illness and Dying Saying — Death, 1795 — Public
Funeral — Literary Remains.
7. DANIEL ROWLANDS AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1.
Born in Wales, 1713 — Educated at Hereford, and never at a University — Ordained,
1733 — Curate of Llangeitho — An Altered Man in 1738 — Extraordinary Effect of
his
Preaching — Extra-parochial and Out-door Preaching — License Withdrawn by the
Bishop in 1763 — Continues to Preach in a Chapel at Llangeitho — Died 1790 —
Account of his Portrait 180
CHAPTER 2.
Analysis of his Preaching — Much of Christ — Richness of Thought — Felicity of
Language — Large Measure of Practical and Experimental Teaching — Manner, De
livery, and Voice — Christmas Evans’ Description of his Preaching — Testimony of
Mr. Jones of Creaton — Specimens of Rowlands’ Sermons — Inner Life and Private
Character — Humility, Prayerfulness, Diligence, Self-Denial, Courage, Fervour-
Rowland Hill’s Anecdote
8. JOHN BERRIDGE AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1
Born at Kingston, Notts, 1706 — Educated at Nottingham — Fails to learn the
Business of a Grazier — Goes to Clare Hall, Cambridge, 1734— Elected Fellow of
Clare, 1742— Curate of Stapleford, 1749— Vicar of Everton, 1755- Begins to Preach
the Full Gospel, 1757 — Open-air Preaching — Itinerant and Extra-parochial
Ministrations — Singular Physical Effect on some Hearers — Opposition and
Persecution — Dies, 1793 — His Epitaph
CHAPTER 2.
His Quaintness and Eccentricity — No Quaintness in his Outlines of Sermons — His
Style of Preaching Defended— Specimen of his Quaint Thoughts— His Humility,
Love of Christ, Kindness, Self-Denial, Shrewdness, Courage — His Sympathising
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Letters.
9. HENRY VENN AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1.
Born at Barnes, Surrey, 1724 — His Ancestors — Curious Anecdotes of his Boyhood
and Youth — Enters St. John’s, Cambridge, 1742 — Fellow of Queen’s, 1749 —
Curate of West Horsley, 1750 — Curate of Clapham, 1754 — Change in his
Religious Views — Becomes acquainted with Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon —
Married, 1757 — Vicar of Huddersfield, 1759
CHAPTER 2.
Mode of Working at Huddersfield — Effect of his Ministry — Fruits found in 1824 —
Extra-parochial Labours— Friendly Relation with Whitefield — Health Fails— Wife
Dies — Leaves Huddersfield for Yelling — Description of Yelling — Second Marriage
— Description of Life at Yelling — Dies, 1797
CHAPTER 3.
His Preaching Analysed — His Literary Remains Examined — Extraordinary Power
as a Letter-writer, Soundness of Judgement about Doctrine — Wisdom and Good
Sense about Duties — Prudent Management of his Children — Unworldliness and
Cheerfulness — Catholicity and Kindliness of Spirit — Testimony of Cowper, Simeon,
and Sir James Stephen
10 SAMUEL WALKER OF TRURO, AND HIS MINISTRY
Born at Exeter, 1714 — Educated at Exeter College, Oxford — Ordained, 1737—
Curate of Truro, 1746 — At First very ignorant of the Gospel — Mr. Conon’s
Influence — Effect of his Preaching — Opposition — Self-denial and Holy Life —
Remarkable Effect on Soldiers — Private Unity Meetings — Died, 1761 — Literary
Remains— Preaching.
11 JAMES HERVEY OF WESTON FAVELL AND HIS MINISTRY
Born near Northampton, 1713 — Educated at Lincoln College, Oxford — Intimacy
with
John Wesley — Ordained, 1736— Curate of Dummer, 1738; of Bideford, 1740; and
of Weston Favell, 1743 — Early Religious History— Correspondence with Whitefield
— Studious Habit at Weston Favell — Literary Remains Analysed —
Correspondence —Humour — Private Life— Charity— Self-denial — Died, 1758 —
Testimony of Romaine, Venn, Cowper, Cecil, Bickersteth, and Daniel Wilson.
12. AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY AND HIS MINISTRY
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Born at Farnham, 1740 — Ordained, 1763 — Vicar of Broad Hembury, Devonshire,
1768 — Removes to London, 1775 — Dies, 1778 — Conversion, 1756— His
Preaching — His Writings as a Controversialist— His Hymns
13. WILLIAM FLETCHER OF MADELEY AND HIS MINISTRY
CHAPTER 1
Born in Switzerland, 1729 — Educated at Geneva and Leutzburg— Wishes to be a
Soldier — Becomes a Tutor in England, 1750 — Private Tutor in Mr. Hill’s Family,
1753 — Becomes Acquainted with Methodists — Inward Conflict — Ordained, 1757
— Vicar of Madeley, 1760— Correspondence with Charles Wesley and Lady
Huntingdon
CHAPTER 2.
Ministerial Labours at Madeley — Superintendent of Trevecca College, 1768 —
Resigns Trevecca, 1771 — Laid aside by ill health, 1776 — Goes to Clifton,
Newington, and Switzerland — Returns to Madeley, 1781 — Marries— Dies, 1785 —
His Preaching — Writing — Private Character — Testimony of Wesley and Venn.
14. CONCLUSION.
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ENGLAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO
1. THE RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CONDITION OF ENGLAND AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Importance of the History of the Eighteenth Century — Political and Financial
Position of England — Low State of Religion both in Churches and Chapels —
Testimonies on the subject — Defects of Bishops and Clergy — Poverty of the
Printed Theology — Wretched Condition of the Country as to Education, Morals
and popular Literature — The “Good Old Times” a mere Myth.
The subject I propose to handle in this volume is partly historical and partly
biographical. If any reader expects from the tide a fictitious tale, or something partly
drawn from my imagination, I fear he will be disappointed. Such writing is not in my
province, and I have no leisure for it if it was. Facts, naked facts, and the stem
realities of life, absorb all the time that I can spare for the press.
I trust, however, that with most readers the subject I have chosen is one that needs
no apology. The man who feels no interest in die history and biography of his own
country is surely a poor patriot and a worse philosopher.
“ Patriot” he cannot be called. True patriotism will make an Englishman care for
everything that concerns England. A true patriot will like to know something about
every one who has left his mark on English character, from the Venerable Bede
down to Hugh Stowell, from Alfred the Great down to Pounds, the originator of
Ragged Schools.
“ Philosopher” he certainly is not. What is philosophy but history teaching by
examples? To know the steps by which England has reached her present position is
essential to a right understanding both of our national privileges and our national
dangers. To know the men whom God raised up to do his work in days gone by, will
guide us in looking about for standard-bearers in our own days and days to come.
I venture to think that there is no period of English history which is so thoroughly
instructive to a Christian as the middle of last century. It is the period of which we are
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feeling the influence at this very day. It is the period with which our grandfathers and
great-grandfathers were immediately connected. It is a period, not least, from which
we may draw most useful lessons for our own times.
Let me begin by trying to describe the actual condition of England a hundred years
ago. A few simple facts will suffice to make this plain.
The reader will remember that I am not going to speak of our of our condition from a
financial and economic point of view. I might easily tell him that, in the days of Sir
Robert Walpole, the Duke of Newcastle, and the elder Pitt, the position of England
was very different from what it is now. Great statesmen and orators there were
among us, no doubt But our standing among the nations of the earth was
comparatively poor, weak, and low. Our voice among the nations of the earth carried
far less weight than it has since obtained. The foundation of our Indian Empire had
hardly been laid. Our Australian possessions were a part of the world only just
discovered, but not colonised. At home there was a strong party in the country which
still longed for the restoration of the Stuarts. In 1745 the Pretender and a Highland
army marched from Scotland to invade England, and got as far as Derby. Corruption,
jobbing, and mismanagement in high places were the rule, and purity the exception.
Civil and religious disabilities still abounded. The test and corporation Acts were still
un-repealed. To be a Dissenter was to be regarded as only one degree better than
being seditious and a rebel. Rotten boroughs flourished. Bribery among all classes
was open, unblushing, and profuse. Such was England politically a hundred years
ago.
The reader will remember, furthermore, that I am not going to speak of our condition
in a financial and economical point of view. Our vast cotton, silk, and linen
manufactures had hardly begun to exist. Our enormous mineral treasures of coal
and
iron were scarcely touched. We had no steam-boats, no locomotive engines, no
railways, no gas, no electric telegraph, no penny post, no scientific farming, no
macadamised roads, no free-trade, no sanitary arrangements, and no police
deserving
the name. Let any Englishman imagine, if he can, his country without any of the
things that I have just mentioned, and he will have some faint idea of the economical
and financial condition of England a hundred years ago.
But I leave these things to the political economists and historians of this world.
Interesting as they are, no doubt, they form no part of the subject that I want to dwell
upon. I wish to treat that subject as a minister of Christ’s gospel. It is the religious
and moral condition of England a hundred years ago to which I shall confine my
attention. Here is the point to which I wish to direct the reader’s eye.
The state of this country in a religious and moral point of view in the middle of last
century was so painfully unsatisfactory that it is difficult to convey any adequate idea
of it. English people of the present day who have never been led to inquire into the
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