James P. Boyce

James P. Boyce was born January 11, 1827, in Charleston, S.C., of Mr. and Mrs. Ker Boyce, considered the wealthiest man in South Carolina. He was of Scot-Irish and Presbyterian descent on his father’s side, his mother’s family being the Johnston family which produced many lawyers, judges and statesmen in the Carolinas. Charleston was the most cultured American city of that day, and young Boyce entered the best homes and had the best education available at Charleston College, Brown University (R.I.) and Princeton Seminary (N.J.)

As a child, the good natured and rotund Boyce was always inclined toward books rather than athletics. He was raised hearing some of the greatest preachers in America: Basil Manly, Sr. (under whom Boyce’s mother was converted and became a Baptist in 1830), Richard Fuller (whose preaching influenced Boyce’s conversion while home from Brown) and James Henley Thornwell, that great Presbyterian preacher and theologian. While a young man, Boyce once attended a Presbyterian church because he was enamored with a young girl. However, Boyce recalls that Thornwell preached so powerfully that he was held spellbound for one hour, forgetting about the girl. Boyce and Thornwell evidently became friends later during Boyce’s first pastorate in Columbia, S.C. Boyce was greatly affected by Thornwell’s Discourses on Truth published in 1854.

 

(from Abstract of Systematic Theology, James P. Boyce)

How came it (the Bible) to be written?

God inspired holy men to write it.

Did they write It exactly as God wished?

Yes; as much as if he had written every word himself.

Oughtn’t it, therefore, to be believed and obeyed?

Yes; as much as though God had spoken directly to us.

 

James P. Boyce

First President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

President, 1872-79, 1888

From A Brief Catechism of Bible Doctrine

 

 

Source [Reformed Reader]

Men Worth Remembering: Andrew Fuller

Men Worth Remembering: Andrew Fuller

By his Son, Andrew Gunton Fuller

The British Quarterly Review, 1883

 

WE question if “the Truth as it is in Jesus” has ever had, at any rate in some important respects, a nobler champion than it found in Andrew Fuller. He was the main instrument employed by Divine Providence for purifying and liberalising the theology of the “orthodox” churches in England a century ago. He begin to exercise his gifts as a preacher in 1773, when nineteen years of age, and few ministers of Christ have wielded a more commanding and wholesome pulpit influence than that which he maintained for the best part of forty years. His sermons were remarkable for their solidity, clearness, pungency, and unswerving fidelity to Scripture teaching, whilst his set expositions of some important portions of the Word of God were sound and lucid in the extreme. Much of his public life was spent in controversy, which he never coveted, but from which he never shrank when duty called him to it, and which he always conducted with Christian fairness and kindliness of spirit. As to his zeal for missions to the heathen, the prolonged and unremitting toil which he cheerfully underwent on their behalf, and the respect and devotion which his wise advocacy secured for them on every hand — all this is a matter of well-known history. His life has, with more or less of detail, been frequently written — the two chief biographies being those of his son, Andrew Gunton Fuller (prefixed to his collected works), and his grandson, Thomas Fuller (for the “Bunyan Library”). To these should be added those of Dr. Ryland and the Rev. Mr. Morris. There remained a yet further possibility of doing justice to Mr. Fuller’s memory, and of extending its usefulness; and a favourable opportunity of accomplishing this task occurred in the publication by Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton of their admirable series under the general title of “Men Worth Remembering”. They wisely entrusted this new biography of Mr. Fuller to his son, Andrew Gunton Fuller, who, though now in the later stages of a very long life, still retains his wonted mental vigour and literary skill. In his Preface he says: “I have long felt that, if any further presentation of my father’s life were made, a more special reference than has yet appeared to his homelife, and its influence upon the various aspects of his public engagements, was desirable, and this could scarcely be supplied with so much advantage as by one who has been an actual sharer of its conditions.”

This extract will give a sufficient clue to the character of the present work. The story is most admirably told. It abounds in telling anecdotes and charming reminiscences, and gives a greatly enhanced interest to our study of the man who was so devoted a servant of the Saviour, so affectionate a husband, so wise and tender a father, so faithful a friend, and so bright a light to our own denomination and to the Church and the world at large during the later years of the last century and the earlier years of the present. The hook is beautifully printed and firmly hound, and its price is so moderate that none need be deterred from a purchase.

—————–

Andrew Fuller was more than accidentally or denominationally remarkable in the religious world of England at the close of the last century and the first fifteen years of this. He was intrinsically a strong man; of homely type and humble feeling, but essentially an independent thinker and an indomitable worker, a man whose counsels would have been heard and whose hand would have been felt in any social or political movement. A Baptist minister, in almost extreme contrast at almost every point but that of piety with his brilliant compeer, Robert Hall, he was one of the founders of modern missions — a typical man to hold the rope while others went down into the pit; not because he would not have gone down himself as simply and heroically as the foremost, but because his course otherwise was marked out for him. His wisdom, fearlessness, and determination as Missionary Secretary in difficult times could scarcely be surpassed. In dealing with the inimical government of the day, his tact was as great as his purpose was indomitable. He made strong men feel his strong hand. His letters to missionaries are full of devout feeling and tenderness; for both strength and tenderness in him were finely blended with deep piety and unaffected humility. His robust thinking did much to break the very heavy yoke of Antinomian Calvinism which then bound the churches. He died in 1815, and his son survives to tell the story of his life, which he does in a way equally delicate and vigorous. It is a most interesting record of a most remarkable man.

===========

[From The British Quarterly Review, Volume 77, 1883, pp. 44-46. Published in London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1882. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

 

Source [Baptist History Homepage]

Walter H. Brooks (Walter Henderson), 1851-1945

Walter Henderson Brooks, author and Baptist minister, was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1851. He studied at the Wilberforce Institute in Ohio, and he received his B. A. from Lincoln University (PA). In 1876, Brooks was ordained a Baptist minister, and he served as a Sunday School Missionary for the American Baptist Publication Society for two years (until 1878). From 1882 until his death, Brooks served as pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. During his career, Brooks was a strong supporter of temperance movements. He also wrote several articles on African American Baptist history. Walter Henderson Brooks died in 1945.

Karen Ruffle

History of Negro Baptist Churches in America

Walter H. Brooks

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Library

 

Source [Reformed Reader]

John Albert Broadus

(b. Culpeper County, Va., Jan. 24, 1827; d. Louisville, Ky., Mar. 16, 1895). Scholar, teacher, preacher, and denominational leader. The fourth child of Major Edmund and Nancy (Sims) Broadus, he came into a home which, though not wealthy, was distinguished by intelligence, culture, and piety. When he was about 16, he was converted. His early education had been at home and in a private school. From 1844 to 1846 he taught in a small school and engaged in disciplined independent study. In the fall of 1846 Broadus entered the University of Virginia to prepare for the ministry, receiving the M.A. degree in 1850. During the next year he taught in a private school in Fluvanna County, Va., preached in small country churches, and diligently studied church history, theology, sermons, and the Bible. During this year two notable events occurred-his ordination, Aug. 12, 1850, and on Nov. 13, 1850, his marriage to Maria Harrison, a daughter of Gessner Harrison (1807-62), professor of ancient languages at the University of Virginia.

Calls of various kinds came to the young teacher, and he finally accepted the post as tutor in Latin and Greek at his alma mater and pastor of the Baptist church at Charlottesville. After one year he resigned his teaching position in order to devote full time to his pastorate. This he did with the exception of two years when he was given a leave of absence to serve as chaplain at the University of Virginia.

In 1858 Broadus was asked to become a member of the faculty of the new Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Though he had a part in planning the institution, he declined the offer because of his attachment to preaching and pastoral work. After months of struggling with the decision, he agreed to become a member of the first faculty when the seminary opened in Greenville, S. C., in 1859. For the next 36 years he was professor of New Testament interpretation and homiletics, and his life was inextricably bound to the school.

While the seminary was closed during the Civil War, Broadus preached in small churches and spent some time as chaplain in Lee’s army in northern Virginia. When the seminary reopened in 1865, it struggled for existence and remained open largely because of the heroic efforts of Broadus and James Petigru Boyce (1827-88). However, during this period of stress and strain, Broadus did some of his best work. In 1870 he published On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, a book which has become a classic in its field. Broadus received nationwide recognition as a preacher and teacher and was offered many influential pastorates, professorships, and other positions.

The last years of Broadus’ life brought increasing recognition. He published the following works: Lectures on the History of Preaching(1876, revised, 1896); Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (1886); Sermons and Addresses (1886); Jesus of Nazareth (1890); Memoir of James Petigru Boyce (1893); Harmony of the Gospels (1893); twenty or more pamphlets, tracts, etc.; and many periodical articles. In 1889 he gave the Yale Lectures on Preaching and is the only Southern Baptist ever to be accorded this honor. He died Mar. 16, 1895, almost at the zenith of his fame, and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Ky.

Biographical Sources:

Robertson, A. T. Life and letters of John Albert Broadus, 1901.

Bogard, Ben Marquis. Pillars of orthodoxy, 1900.

“John A. Broadus” Shapers of Southern Baptist Heritage – Southern Baptist Historical Society.

Archival sources in Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives

Broadus, John A. Collection. MF 1308.

Broadus, John Albert. Addresses, essay, lectures. MF 5899.

Broadus, John Albert. Daybook, 1857-1894. MF 1308-1.

Compere, Ebenezer Lee. Papers, 1852-1945. AR. 2.

©

1998, Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives

 

 

Source [Reformed Reader]

John Bunyan

John Bunyan, the author of the “Pilgrim’s Progress”, was born at Elstow, near Bedford, in 1628. The Bunyan family had been settled in that country since the beginning of the thirteenth century. Thomas Bunyan, his father, was a “brazier”, or tinker, and John was brought up to his father’s trade. But after his mother’s death in 1644, he enlisted in the army; probably on the side of the Parliament, but as to this there is no direct evidence. In 1646 the army was disbanded; but before that Bunyan had passed through an experience which had left a lasting mark on him. “When I was a soldier,” he says, “I with others were drawn out to go to such a place to besiege it; but when I was just ready to go one of the company desired to go in my room, to which when I had consented, he took my place; and coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel he was shot into the head with a musket bullet and died.”

Shortly after this Bunyan married, but nothing is known of his wife’s family. With her, Bunyan talked of religion, and read in two books which he names: “The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven”, by Arthur Dent (first published in 1601), and “The Practice of Piety (1612). During the four years he went through a terrible spiritual struggle. In speaking of himself afterwards, he describes himself as the worst of sinners; but the only wickedness in which he is known to have indulged is “swearing, lying, and blaspheming”, and from coarser vices he seems to have been free. The fury of his spiritual struggle, and the darkness of his own description of himself, both were due to the strength and depth of his own nature. At last it ended. Those who wish to know how Bunyan came to the light should read his own wonderful story of it.

In 1653 he joined Mr. Gifford’s church in Bedford, which then worshipped in St. John’s Church, and a year or two later he went to live in that town. He began about this time to preach, and so great was his success that he was set apart more especially for this work. At the Restoration (1660), the pastor of Bunyan’s church was dead, and their building was taken from them and given back to the Established Church. On November 12, 1660, Bunyan was arrested for unlicensed preaching; and being again arrested in 1661, and refusing to abstain, he was kept in prison with one short interval until 1672, when he was released at the Declaration of Indulgence. He spent his time in making many hundred gross of long tagg’d laces”, and possibly in other work of the kind. He also preached, and now and again was allowed to go out and attend the meeting of his church, which meet in different houses as best it could. Bunyan wrote and published several books of meditations whilst in prison, and one of the most remarkable auto biographies ever written, Grace Abounding (1666)

In 1672, on his release, Bunyan was chosen minister of the community at Bedford with whom he worshipped, and a barn in Mill Lane was licensed for their meeting-place. He seems to have been imprisoned again, in the winter of 1675-6, in the jail on Bedford bridge, and there to have compsed the “Pilgrim’s Progress” (published in 1678). The book at once leapt into fame; it has been republished scores of times, and translated into more than seventy languages. In 1685 the Second Part, dealing with Christiana and her family, was published. The year 1682 saw the issue of the “Holy War made by Shaddai upon Diabolus”. His numerous other books and pamphlets may be omitted here. In 1688 he travelled to London, and their died, and he was buried in Bunhill Fields.

Of all Bunyan’s books, only two are still commonly read, and these will be read as long as the memory of England survives: the “Pilgrim’s Progress” and the “Holy War”. Both are allegories, a droll composition as a rule; but these books are so true to human nature, so full of pictures of life and character, that children enjoy them as stories without understanding, while their elders admire them for other qualities as well.

 

Source [Reformed Reader]