Life of John Heskins 2

One morning, in reply to an inquiry respecting his feelings, he said to his beloved sister—

"'Content my Father with thy will, 

And quiet as a child;' 

That's how I am, my dear."

To a similar question, at another time, he replied with great energy, "Oh, very well! there's not a single jar in the whole machine—it all goes smoothly."

One day, when really weaker, and less able to enjoy his food than usual, he looked up with a countenance full of gratitude and benignity, and said, "I wish all the world were as happy as I."

To a friend, who happened to remark that the weather was dull, he Quickly replied, " Oh, don't say that any thing is dull here I we don't know what the word means." Having walked round the garden one morning, and brought in some (lowers, he said, "How beautiful! and then to enjoy Christ in all!" His eyes were overflowing with tears as he spoke.

One evening, as some friends were about to leave him to attend public service In the house of God, he said, "Ah, if I could, I would gladly go with you. Let us have that hymn,

|"1 love the windows of thy grace 

Through which my Lord is seen.'" 

He always wished the twilight hour to be spent in singing.

One morning he told his sister, that if he had not, like Paul, been "caught up into the third heavens," he had enjoyed such manifestations of the love of Christ that he could truly say, "Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell.

Referring to the dying words of a beloved niece, twelve months before, he said, "What an expressive word that was of dear 's, 'And you will soon come, uncle; I am glad I am going first; I am glad I shall not have to sec you go.'" He then inquired which day she died, and added, "I shall soon be with her."

On the last Lord's day evening he spent on earth, a beloved relative having in the course of his prayer at the family altar referred to his ardent love for the church at Shortwood, he was asked, if he had been able to join in this devotional exercise—"Oh, yes," he said, "I hope so—

'My soul shall pray for Sion still, 

While life and breath remains.'" 

A night or two before his death, his cough being worse tlian usual, he said, "This is sharp work; this cough will soon bring me down; but it must be met with christian patience, and with uncomplaining complacency in my heavenly Father's will.'

On being asked by his beloved wife, if his waking hours during the preceding night had been comfortable, he said, with great emphasis, " Oh, delightful! I have had many things communicated to me of a most interesting nature." Soon after this, he was heard to whisper—

"None but Jesus, none but Jesus 

Can do helpless sinners good.'" 

Something was then said to him about the peace of mind he enjoyed; he quoted, as in answer to the observation, those well known and expressive lines,

"Jesus, our great High Priest, 

Hath full atonement made.'" 

Whenever he heard an allusion to Mr Francis' first labours, he evinced the most genuine humility, and never suffered it to be supposed, for a single moment, that he could think with complacency on his own doings. On such occasions he usually said, "My simple trust is in the finished work of the divine Redeemer;" and would reply to an inquiry respecting the state of his mind, in the short but emphatic sentence—"not a cloud! not a cloud I"

The closing scene was now at hand. On the morning of Wednesday the 17th of October, the evidences of approaching dissolution were too distinct to be mistaken. On the preceding day our beloved friend had spent several hours in the sitting room, and on this morning too he was anxious to leave his couch and his chamber; but, listening to excuses for delay, it soon became impossible for him to reiterate his request. The writer was permitted a place in the sorrowing circle round that bed on which this man of God was "languishing into life," and had the satisfaction of witnessing the final triumph of the dying saint. A few short sentences were exchanged, "Do you now find the Saviour present with you, and precious to your soul?" "Yes, indeed, I do!" "You will soon be with him." "I hope I shall." Shortly afterwards, a wish having been expressed that the writer would lead the devotions of that weeping group, he intimated to his dying friend that he was about to engage in prayer—an intimation which was welcomed with a benignant and satisfied look, and a kind and gentle "Thank you—thank you!" These were his last words; for during that engagement the power of articulation was rest, and in a few moments the ransomed soul ascended to its rest.

The removal of such a man, in the present state of society, is no common loss. The world has few such, and in the immediate circle from which he has been taken, his loss is irreparable. The estimation in which his character was held was strongly marked on the day of his funeral. Hundreds followed his remains; the pall was borne by six neighbouring ministers; many shops were closed in the line by which the procession moved towards Shortwood; and, at the grave, and in the meeting-house, at least a thousand persons were assembled to pay their silent but cordial tribute to his worth. In several of the neighbouring pulpits, funeral sermons were delivered on the following Lord's day; while at Shortwood, where he had so long and so worthily sustained an official connexion with the church, an attempt was made to improve the dispensation in a discourse from Colossians i. 12, which was listened to by a very numerous audience, for the most part clad in the garb of mourners, gathered from the surrounding country, and from different sections of the church of Christ; but all united in the opinion, that neither the world nor the|church could well spare such a man.

In this memorial, it has been the writer's aim so to present the character of his estimable friend, as to improve the reader, as well as to interest his mind. Mr H was not a man whose eminence could be ascribed to adventitious circumstances, or to the possession of mental endowments in which few men ate permitted to share. Though his powers of understanding were originally good, and improved by habits of reading and reflection, yet to his piety, deeply seated, and diligently cultivated, must be referred both the charm of his personal character, and the rich combination of qualities by which he was fitted for most important service in the church of Christ. His religious views were moderately Calvinistic; and never was there a mind more impregnable both to ancient and modem heresies. Having at the commencement of his spiritual life sought after and found "the good old way," the growing experience of his own heart confirmed his attachment to the unsophisticated and ungarbled truth; and that truth, clear of all extravagancies and whims, rendered him a holy, happy, and useful man. Its influence on mm, and his attachment to it, combined to preserve him from those errors, both of sentiment and of spirit, which have ever abounded in the antinomian school; while he was equally secure from the more plausible and subtle inventions which even now disturb the peace of churches, and cripple the energies of good, though mistaken men.

His conscientious and devout observance of instituted means, was unquestionably instrumental in promoting the maturity to which he attained. Indeed, the very theory which he was at first led to embrace, as it combined an entire dependence on the Holy Spirit, with a full admission of the value of all the divine appointments, was likely to conduce to this result.

Reference has been made to his early morning devotions in the closet. These, on the Lord's day, were preparatory to a prayer-meeting, commencing at half past six, from which he was rarely absent during a period of many years. In this social engagement his soul delighted, and from it he often carried away a frame so heavenly, that in the domestic circle and during the more public engagements of the day, he was evidently bearing about with him the vivid impression of " things not seen."

As a hearer, he was remarkable for his attitude of fixed and prayerful thought, seldom appearing to notice any person, or any object, except that, occasionally, towards the close of the sermon, he would rise, with a heart full of love to the gospel, and to the souls of men, and by his look seem to say, "Oh, that these appeals may reach their hearts!'' To the preacher he listened, not as a critic, but as a Christian; not with "itching ears," but with a relish for the truth, and a desire to receive it for himself. Though to him every part of divine truth was welcome, that sermon best pleased him which, while it displayed the riches and the sovereignty of grace, divested the sinner of all excuse for unbelief, and pressed on the believer in Christ his obligations and responsibilities.

In reference to his official station, it has already been intimated that his qualifications were unusually ample. Prudence, zeal, temper, perseverance, a kind regard to the feelings of others, with a readiness to exercise the spirit of self-denial; these were among his prevailing characteristics. Though often prominent, and always active, there was no display, no dogmatism. It is not known, that by a severe remark, or a look of unkindness, he ever wounded the mind of a fellow-member; while his devotion to the church, and his love to the brethren, combined with the gentleness of his manner, prepared him to become a peace-maker, and a healer of the wounded.

Among the poor of the flock, Mr H was perpetually evincing the love of a brother in Christ. In a church which for many years had been steadily advancing in numbers, and which at the time of his decease consisted of about six hundred members, the great majority of whom are at all times exposed to the anxieties, and often to the sufferings of poverty, our lamented friend found ample scope for his "labours of love." It was his delight to enter the humble dwellings around, and to offer the counsel and the consolation which his own heart most readily suggested. The greater part of his time was devoted to this employ; and not only did the objects of his solicitude derive advantage from his attentions, but on the general state of the church their influence was highly beneficial.

Of his pulpit exercises the writer never had an opportunity of forming an opinion for himself; but from others he has learned that in that station, and in that employ, Mr. H was distinguished by pathos and affection, while presenting to his hearers those evangelical sentiments with which his own heart was so deeply imbued. Nor were his pulpit labours "in vain in the Lord." Immortal souls were thus "made alive from the dead;" and for him was prepared the unspeakable joy of being by them preceded or followed to the glorious inheritance above.

This admirable man seemed to live but to do his Master's work. "For him to live was Christ." When disease had weakened his frame, and rendered him incapable of exertion, no regrets for himself were heard; but it did sometimes grieve him that he could no longer visit the habitations of the poor and the afflicted. "It was in his heart" still to serve the Saviour in these "works of faith;" but his labours were terminated, and his home prepared.

Much of the foregoing memorial has necessarily been drawn from the testimony of those whose intimacy with this man of God was extended through the greater part of his valuable life. Still, the writer soon saw enough to convince him that his lamented friend was specially raised up for the position he so honourably and so usefully occupied. Nor can he permit himself to lay down his pen without recording his grateful sense of obligation for the expressions of personal respect and kindness which it was his privilege to receive. Though a much younger and less experienced man, his mind was never pained by one particle of assumption or dictation; but it was often cheered and animated by the prayers and the cordial greetings and the little quiet tokens of affectionate interest which were supplied by his lamented friend. The very grasp of his hand, and the benignant smile on the

Lord's-day, often produced tliis conviction—"His heart is all alive to the cares and fears which attend the minister of Christ in the discharge of his public duties." In seasons of depression, his sympathy was sincere and prompt; while the joys of success were heightened and hallowed by his warm-hearted gratulations. If in his death, to whose worth this feeble testimony is borne, the church has lost one of the best deacons that ever a church of Christ was blessed with, the minister feels that he has been deprived of a friend and coadjutor, of whom he must ever speak in the most unqualified terms of affection and veneration.

Life of John Heskins 1

MEMOIR OF THE LATE MR. JOHN HESKINS. 

BY THE REV. T. F. NEWMAN.

John Heskins was bom at Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, on the 24th of November, 1778, and was descended, on the paternal side, from William Harding, one of the little band of praying men with whom the church at Shortwood originated. It was in his house that meetings were held for prayer, with occasionally a sermon, from 1707 to 1715, when they were removed to a little modest and unfinished structure on the site where, after three enlargements of the original building, tlic present large and substantial meeting-house was built in 1838. On taking possession of their humble sanctuary, thirteen persons united with each other in the fellowship of the gospel, and were formed into a church of Christ. When the foundation-stone of the present edifice was laid, our lamented friend made a public and affecting reference to his great-grandfather, abovementioned, in terms of honest and grateful satisfaction, avowing that he felt it to be a greater honour to have descended from an ancestor in humble station, who had been instrumental in planting a church of Christ, than if he could trace hack his lineage to nobility, or even royalty itself.
Mr. Heskins' father became a member of the church at Shortwood in the year 1752; he was chosen deacon about 1760, and held that office till his decease, May 2, 1813; liaving been a member of the church sixty-one years, and a deacon more than fifty years. He was a man of sterling piety, of inflexible steadiness of purpose, and uniformly secured the confidence and esteem of the church. It was his happiness to have been united with a few like-minded men in securing the services of Benjamin Francis, whose pastorate extended from 1758 to 1799 and under whose able and affectionate ministry, the little cause rapidly and steadily advanced. Mr. H.'s mother was an eminently devoted Christian, exceedingly useful m her day; and, even up to the present moment, there are those who kindle at her name, and delight to speak of her active benevolence, and the affectionate earnestness which she employed to commend the Saviour, and promote the interests of his cause.

From a very early age, the subject of this memoir was distinguished by sweetness of temper and susceptibility of feeling. At that period, these qualities greatly endeared him to his immediate relatives, who in riper years were equally attracted by his devoted attachment to his parents, and his warm and tender affection for sisters who could at once appreciate and return his love. It does not, however, appear that his heart was savingly impressed till he had nearly attained to manhood. Still, the instructions, the prayers, and the example of parents so distinguished for piety, were not without effect; for a sister, who survives him, well remembers that, while quite a child, he talked to her about the Saviour, telling her of his compassion while on earth, and presenting such a winning representation of his love as to make a strong impression on her mind.

But though in his eighth year he could thus speak of the Saviour, the days of childhood and youth passed away without witnessing his conversion to Ood. Others looked on him with hope; but, adverting to that period he himself says, "Though outwardly moral, my thoughts were big with the lusts of the flesh, and I felt hatred in my heart to the holiness of the law of God. I did not see the infinite evil of sin, nor the beauty of the way of salvation; nor did I perceive the absolute need of a God-man Mediator, to save sinners from the curse of the law. It is true I had convictions, but they were very few, and very transient; for sin being of such a hardening nature, the more I cherished it the more I was rooted in it, till at last I was brought to the verge of obstinate infidelity; so that at times I deemed the sacred word of God to be invented and written by uninspired men; and thus I trampled it under the feet of haughty pride and carnal self-sufficient reason."

It is well known to surviving friends, that at the period referred to in the above extract, his mind had been unsettled by the sophistries of deism; but, as the darkest moments arc those which immediately precede the dawn of day, so was it in his spiritual history. It pleased God at this crisis to remove by death one of his earliest friends and correspondents, Mr T Allsop, son of the respected Baptist minister of Culmstock, Devon. The reflections awakened by this event led to an earnest and faithful examination into his own state; and this work, in connexion with the counsels of Christian affection, and the statements of a searching and affectionate ministry, was blessed, not only to the defeat of an incipient scepticism, but to the surrender of his heart to God. To use his own words, "convictions that had been stifled before were revived; and I verily believe, that, under the influence of efficacious grace, they were made uncommonly useful in tearing away the thick bandage of delusion which before had covered the eyes of my mind. Thus was shown me the long black catalogue of my sins, and my awful state by nature; and the conviction was produced, that I should be utterly lost to all eternity, unless redeemed from my inexpressible load of guilt by the all-atoning blood of the I iamb of God." Thus was he brought to Christ. Speculations, fancies, the dictates of carnal reason, the sophisms of infidelity, all gave way before that discovery of sin, and that revelation of Christ, which his soul now received. In mercy to himself and the church which taught them, and counselled them, as a man knowing the vast importance of christian decision and consistency. In other instances lie caused himself to be conveyed to the scene of affliction, that he might tell yet once more of the precious Saviour, and speak of the unfailing consolations of religion. His last visit, which was less than a fortnight before his own decease, was to the bed-side of a dying friend, the relict of abrotlicr-dcacon who had been removed a few months previously. To her he presented the great truths which were the stay of his own soul, and dwelt on the joyful anticipations they might indulge in reference to that meeting in a better state which could not be far distant. She preceded him to heaven.

The last few days of his abode on earth were spent in quiet waiting for the hour of departure. No cares disturbed him—no shadow overhung his prospect —'' he knew in whom he had believed." For the church his affection remained in perfect strength, and in uninterrupted exercise; but no anxiety, even for " his beloved Sion," was now permitted to interfere with the unbroken repose of his soul. To his wife, to other much loved and long loved friends, he spake so cheerfully, and with such humble confidence, that to them it almost appeared a sin to lament his approaching death.

Obituary Sophia Heskins daughter of Benjamin Francis

The late Mrs. Sophia Heskins was born February 24, 1784, and was a daughter of that devoted servant of Jesus Christ, Benjamin Francis, who was pastor of the church at Shortwood from 1757 to 1799. There yet remain a few who remember the truly apostolic zeal of Mr. Francis, and the unction with which he preached " the unsearchable riches of Christ." Among the productions of his pen are some of the choicest of those hymns in which Christian truths are beautifully embodied, and Christian feeling most appropriately expressed: " Glory to the Eternal King," " My gracious Redeemer I love," "In sweet exalted strains," &c, &c. Towards the close of his career he was permitted to baptize his two daughters, Catherine Holbrow and Sophia. This happy event took place May 18th, 1798, and at the end of the following year his Master called for him, and he entered into rest.* The elder daughter became the wife of Mr. Thomas Flint, at that time assistant minister at Shortwood, and who, after the decease of his venerable father-in-law, succeeded to the pastorate. He finished his course at Weymouth, where the remembrance of his eloquent and faithful ministrations is still fresh and fragrant with the few of his friends and hearers who yet survive,  Mrs. Heskins, whose removal is now recorded, was united in marriage to Mr. John Heskins in the year 1802. A more suitable and happy connection could scarcely have been formed. Both had been born and nurtured in an atmosphere of piety, and all their early impressions were favourable to the formation of character, which must ever be valuable in the church of God. The writer would love to dwell on the excellences and the high qualifications of his once dear friend and counsellor—a man whose name cannot be mentioned in any circle where he was known without calling up the sincerest feelings of esteem and veneration. From their outset in domestic life, this admirable couple were not only helpmeets to each other in the ways of God, but they were eminently fellow-helpers to the truth. They had the fullest sympathy with each other in all good, and being without a family, they were enabled to give expression to their deep interest in the cause of Christ by unremitted exertions. Mr. H.'s father long held the office of deacon, with honour and usefulness, and the son, in the same office, became yet more honoured and useful than the father. During the later years of Mr. Winterbotham's pastorate, when that eminent servant of God was prevented by infirmity from engaging much in directly pastoral work, Mr. H., released from the cares of business, devoted himself almost exclusively to the service of the church, visiting the afflicted and the poor, with a heart full of love, and with a sound judgment, comforting, counselling, and in every way fulfilling the apostolic injunction, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." At the same time neighbouring churches were often indebted to him for gratuitous and most acceptable ministrations. Mr. H. finished his course October 17th, 1838.*

While giving herself heartily to every good word and work, Mrs. H. was specially devoted to the interests of the young. The Sabbath school was instituted in the year 1802, and from its commencement to the close of her days, it engaged her head, and heart, and hands. For many years, in connection with one who was sooner compelled to retire from active life, but who has not yet been welcomed home, our dear friend superintended the girls' school, and often has the writer' heard the expressions of grateful love from those who, no longer young, could recur with deepest interest to the days when they shared in her attentions, and rejoiced that their children were permitted to come under her care. Mrs. H. was not a person to do anything by halves, nor was she one of those who are guided rather by impulse than by principle —a class of persons whose zeal depends on external stimulants, and on whom no reliance can be placed in a dark and clouded day. She was not fitful, but firm. Her hold on any good cause was intelligent and hearty, and was sustained by reflection and prayer. This was very manifest in every department of Christian service, but especially in the Sabbath school. She never forgot those who had once shared an interest in her efforts and her prayers. In after life she would accost them as often as opportunities occurred. If they had not become followers of Christ, she renewed her attempts to gain their hearts for him. If they were numbered with his people, she had always an appropriate word of congratulation, counsel, or caution. It is impossible for the minister of Christ to know the full amount of usefulness with which his labours have been attended, and the same is true of those who heartily and perseveringly devote themselves * A memoir of Mr. Heskins appeared in the Magazine for February, 1840. to works of faith and labours of love. This will apply to the dear friend of whom we write. But "the day will declare it," that day when all secrets will be revealed, and when the Lord himself will own his servants, and receive them to his glory. Mrs. H. was an habitual and devout reader of the Scriptures, hence she derived her motives and her strength. She could say, "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart." In her early days she had been taught to prize the word of God, and her love for it increased with advancing years. In the hours of deepest sorrow, when bowed down under the bereaving stroke which left her a mourning widow, she often quoted the lines — "Thy word, which I have made my choice, Shall cheer my darkest hours." When she had attained to ripeness of years and of Christian experience, she was invariably anxious to engage young Christians in the delightful aud profitable work of searching the Scriptures. She did that herself, not simply as a devout person, but with a keen sense of their beauty and fullness, and was ever delighted with such works as served to bring out those features of the word of God which an ordinary reader would scarcely look for. Indeed, while our departed friend cannot he described as a literary person in the ordinary sense of the term, she was a reader and an admirer of good books. Her mind was above the common level, and she discovered its superiority in the class of works which she preferred. And this prepared her to enjoy the conversation of the eminent men who delighted to visit the dwelling where the holy and happy couple resided. There, among others, Chalmers and Hall spent pleasant hours, and left with strong impressions of the Christian worth and dignity of its inmates. Beneath that roof ministers and missionaries ever found a hearty welcome and a congenial home; and our beloved friend was never more gratified than when she could show hospitality in the Saviour's name to the Saviour's friends, and especially to those who lived and laboured to "testify the gospel of the grace of God." It will be inferred from the foregoing remarks, that Mrs. H. was a truly valuable member of the church with which her connection extended over more than half a century. This may be ascribed, in a great measure, to the early adoption of settled views on religion, its doctrines, and its duties. For this she was indebted in no small degree to Mr. Winterbothani's ministry, which she enjoyed without interruption during the twenty-five years of his pastorate. Sound, judicious, talented, in the best sense of the term, as full of the pure gospel as it was free from eccentricity and extravagance, dealing fairly with the whole counsel of God, and rendered attractive by an affectionate manner and by an unusual knowledge of human nature, Mr. W.'s teachings were greatly blessed to the formation of character. The influence of such a ministry on one who was fully alive to its value, must have been considerable; and then her devotional habits, and her earnest and deep regard for the word of God, concurred to establish and ripen her principles. So, with a spirit eminently catholic and loving towards all, she was firm as a rock on every question touching the essentials of the faith. The church was her home, the friends of the Saviour were her friends. She was no trifler with the Sabbath, with the house of God, with the social gatherings of the saints. She had no sympathy with those who talk of profiting by a private reading of the Scriptures, instead of honour ing the ministry of the word or the meetings for prayer; nor did she think that time well spent in whicli other engagements were needlessly permitted to interfere with those of the sanctuary. It has been the privilege of the writer to have his hands sustained, and his heart comforted, by the steadfastness of those who, in advanced years, like our departed friend, were patterns in this respect to the younger members of the flock. And if in such a case we may apply the Almighty's words, " Them that honour tnc I will honour," may we not conclude that the eminence of their piety was the result of God's blessing on their fidelity in this respect, and that their everlasting joys will be proportionably enhanced. In a brief record like the present, it would be improper to attempt an analysis of character, and the writer will only add, that, in connection with the graces which commended her to the esteem and love of her fellow-Christians, Mrs. H. possessed those qualities which all can admire—public spirit as far as it may co-exist with feminine delicacy; a high sense of honour; integrity the most unbending; activity, unshrinking and untiring, in works of general benevolence. She did not deem it necessary to seclude herself from the haunts of men, or to refrain from the enjoyments of social life, or to profess indifference to the beauties and the glories of the visible creation. Her piety enabled her both to enjoy God in all things, and to commend her religion wherever she went. At length, in a good old age, it pleased her heavenly Father to call her to a more exalted fellowship than that which she had loved and enjoyed on earth. After an affliction, not long but very severe and distressing, she died serenely, and was for ever re-united to beloved ones who had gone before to the eternal mansions and to the presence of the Lamb. If holy aud unbroken peace, child-like acquiescence in the will of God, longings after perfect holiness, a loving, grateful, tender spirit, the sweetest and most perfect reliance on the sufficiency and immutability of Christ—if these qualities, in rich and beautiful combination, •prove a soul to be on the very confines of heaven, her sorrowing friends were right when they looked on the worn and faded form with high thoughts of the glory on which she was about to enter. Utterances few but expressive, intimated that all was well. And herein was the grand power of the Cross. At the Cross she became a Christian; near the Cross she lived; the transforming influence of the Cross she had experienced; and in a dying hour the Grots was everything. Often had she sung with delight:— "Oh! the sweet wonders of that Cross On which my Saviour loved and died! Her noblest life my spirit draws Prom his dear wounds and bleeding side!" And when death was laying his cold grasp upon that outer and visible form over which he was allowed to triumph, that "noblest life" in the soul, the pure immortal vitality, defying death and hell, and secure in union to its glorious Head, had only to ascend to the world of life above. She died May 3rd, 1857, but died to live for ever. "Thus star by star declines, Till all arc pass'd away; Ac morning high and higher shines To pure and perfect day j Nor sink those Btars in empty night,
But hide themselves in heaven's own light,'*

* A memoir of Mr. Francis, with the funeral sermon, by Dr. Ryland, attached to it, was published in 1800.
+ An obituary of Mr. Flint will be found in the Magazine for June, 1844.

Heskins Beddome connection

Further to the earlier statement that a Beddome son was apprenticed to John Heskins of Nailsworth, see this advertisement in the British Museum here. It is not entirely clear which Beddome son was involved. The Norton is Robert Norton 1744-1808, originally a clothier in Bristol.

John Heskins etc

In an article on The Morgans of Birmingham found here, F W Butt-Thompson says that John Heskins had a long connection with the Baptist Church at NaiIsworth. His son, John Heskins jr (1778-1838) married Sophia, daughter of Benjamin Francis, pastor at Nailsworth for 42 years. Sophia was born 1784. The marriage was childless. Both Heskins were Shortwwod deacons (Junior from 1807). Mary Francis died in her early twenties. Francis' other daughter, Catherine Holbrow Francis, married a minister, Thomas Flint (d 1819) who briefly succeeded his father-in-law, She lived to the age of 67. Flint's father, also Thomas, was an Ashford ironmonger.
Their son Abraham March Flint joined a Shortwood deacon (from 1816) Samuel Enoch Francis in the clothing business. he married his first cousin Lydia Jane Flint and they called their daughter Catherine Holbrow Flint. She married Thomas Mayow Newman, son of another successor of Francis' at Shortwood, Thomas Fox Newman, pastor 1832-1864.

He also says that an apprentice of John Heskins was one of the sons of Benjamin Beddome, of Bourton-on-the-Water.

Heskins, like his father before him, a clothier, was a deacon in Nailsworth. Heskins Senior served in that capacity for 50 years. The father at one time ran Nailsworth Mills.
John Heskins Senior (c 1731-1813). He married Hannah Horwood in 1755 and she died in 1772. No children are recorded from this marriage.
He then married Mary Bliss in 1775 and had four children - John junior, and three girls, Mary, Sarah and Hannah.
Hannah married Abraham Flint, brother of Thomas Flint and died of complications during her first pregnancy. He was a Shortwood deacon from 1816 and subsequently married Mary Shurmer. Her twin Hannah had married William Clissold (1779-1820) in 1802, yet another Shortwood deacon (from1816) who was a clothier. His father of the same name had been a deacon in the church too.
Sarah married Edward Barnard and had numerous children but the male line died with John. Clissold Junior had two sons who became deacons in due time.
Also see here.

Portrait

This portrait appears in the Evangelical Magazine 1796

Letter to Nephew Stephen Davis

Baptist Magazine Vol 16, 1824

Copy of an original Letter from the late Rev. Benjamin Francis, to the Rev. S. Davis of Clonmel, when a Youth of the Age of Twelve Years.

My dear young Nephew,

I take it kind that you have written to me, and am glad you write and spell so well. Be sure to learn the English Grammar, and always endeavour to speak and to write grammatically. Early and constant practice will render speaking, writing, and spelling correctly, easy and familiar to you, which will be very ornamental and commendable. Be determined to be a good English scholar. Read much; think more. You know not as yet of what great future advantage learning may be to you. But learning without virtue will only do you harm; above all things, therefore, seek the grace of God, and the kingdom of heaven. Let your prayer be, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Set the Lord always before you, Watch over your thoughts, words, and actions. Abominate hypocrisy, and every secret sin. Cultivate a humble, meek, placid, even, contented, loving, and benevolent disposition of mind, which is both amiable and beneficial. Be always very obedient to your parents. Hate all evil, love all moral good, and Oh! rest not without Christ in you the hope of glory.

You are the descendant of eminently pious ancestors; you are the child of many prayers; Oh be much in secret prayer! I shall rejoice to see you a good, a happy, and a useful member both of civil and religious society. Oh my dear S-, be a son of consolation to your affectionate parents, an honour to your relations, and an ornament to the Christian religion. God bless you with grace and glory!

My dear Stephen,

Your affectionate Uncle,

B Francis

Horseley, March 12, 1796

(Francis had a cousin in the ministry, Abel Francis and his eldest son, Jonathan Francis, was long a faithful minister. His son, Enoch Francis, became pastor of a Baptist church at Exeter. A second son, Nathaniel Francis, a pious and promising youth, died at 18. Two of Abel Francis's daughters were eminent Christians, and in prosperous circumstances. Another daughter married Rev. Stephen Davis, pastor of one of the Baptist churches in Caermarthen, who was also a man of considerable distinction in society as to wealth and influence. His grandson was the above Rev. Stephen Davis of Clonmel, Ireland, a missionary on behalf of the Irish Baptist Society.)

Michael Haykin on Benjamin Francis Part 3

See here

Part III. Benjamin Francis and prayer

In the archives of Bristol Baptist College there is an unpublished manuscript that records a precious friendship. It was between Benjamin Francis, whose ministry we have been exploring in Parts 1 and 2, and fellow Welshman Joshua Thomas (1719-1797), who was pastor of the Baptist cause in Leominster for forty-three years.

The manuscript is actually a transcript, drawn up by Thomas, of letters that passed between them from 1758 to 1770.

Questions and answers

The practice of Francis and Thomas appears to have been for one of them to mail two or three queries periodically to the other. Then, some months later, the recipient mailed back his answers, together with fresh questions of his own.

The recipient made comments on these replies, the new questions were answered, and both comments and answers were despatched along with new queries, and so on. All in all, there are sixty-eight questions and answers in two volumes – fifty-eight in the first volume, the remaining ten in Volume II.

Only once during the years from 1758 to 1770 was there a noticeable gap in correspondence. That was in 1765 when Francis lost his wife and his three youngest children.

It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the correspondence the two friends sign their letters simply with their names or initials. However, as time passes, their mutual confidence and intimacy deepens, and they begin to write ‘yours endearingly’ or ‘yours unfeignedly’ (even ‘yours indefatigably’ or ‘yours inexpressibly’!).

It was in October 1762 that Thomas first signed himself ‘your cordial Brother Jonathan’ and, in the following February, Francis replied with ‘your most affectionate David’. From this point on this is how the two friends refer to each other.

Instructive

The questions and their answers are extremely instructive, revealing the areas of theological interest among mid-18thcentury Calvinists. For instance, the question is asked: ‘When may a Minister conclude that he is influenced and assisted by the Spirit of God in studying and ministring [sic]the word?’ (Query 5).

Queries are raised about the eternal state of dead infants (Query 17, 22); how best to understand the remarks in Revelation 20 about the millennium (Query 18); and whether or not inoculation against smallpox, the dreaded killer of the 18thcentury, was right or wrong (Query 45).

A good number of the queries relate to what we would call ‘spirituality’. In 1763, for example, Francis asked Thomas: ‘Is private fasting a moral or ceremonial Duty? and consequently is it a duty under the gospel?’ (Query 43).

When Thomas sent his response, one of his questions in return was: ‘What are the best means of revival, when a person is flat and dead in his soul?’ (Query 47).

Other similar questions were asked: ‘How often should a Christian pray?’ (Query 44, by Francis); ‘When may a Christian be said to be lively and active in his Soul?’ (Query 48, by Francis); ‘Wherein doth communion and fellowship with God consist?’ (Query 55, by Thomas).

Let us look more closely at the questions and answers that relate to prayer.

Teach me to pray!

‘How often should a Christian pray?’ To this very vital question posed by Francis, Thomas has an extensive answer.

He deals first with what he calls the ‘ejaculatory kind’ of prayer – prayers that arise spontaneously during the course of a day’s activities. He then considers prayers offered during times set apart specifically for prayer (what a later generation of Evangelicals would call ‘the quiet time’).

Addressing his friend as ‘my Jona-than’ (a reference to the bond of fellowship between the Old Testament figures David and Jona-than), Francis confesses:

‘I wish all our Brethren of the Tribe of Levi were so free from lukewarmness, on the one hand, and enthusiasm, formality and superstition on the other, as my Jonathan appears to be.

‘I am too barren in all my Prayers, but I think mostly so in Closet prayer (except at some seasons) which tempts me in some measure to prefer a more constant ejaculatory Prayer above a more statedly Closet prayer, tho I am persuaded neither should be neglected.

‘Ejaculatory prayer is generally warm, free, and pure, tho short: but I find Closet prayer to be often cold, stiff or artificiall [sic], as it were, and mixt [sic] with strange impertinences & wandrings [sic] of heart.

‘Lord teach me to pray! O that I could perform the Duty always, as a duty and a privilege and not as a Task and a Burden!’

Smoke on a windy day

In another of Francis’ comments we find the same honesty and humility: ‘How languid my faith, my hope, my love! how cold and formal am I in secret Devotions!’ (Remarks on Thomas’ answer to Query 48).

These remarks surely stem from deep-seated convictions about the importance of prayer. Francis would undoubtedly have agreed with Thomas that a believer’s ‘Great and chief delight, his meat & drinke [sic], the life of his life’ is his ‘closet prayer and communion with God’ (Query 48).

Francis’ frank remarks also arise from his belief that because the Lord had led him to Christ at a very young age – and, in his words, ‘overwhelmed me with Joy by a sense of his Love’ – he should be more eager to pray out of a sense of gratitude.

Instead, he confessed, ‘A stupid, indolent, sensual or legal Temper sadly clog the Wings of my Prayers’ (Remarks on Queries 7-8, Volume II).

Thomas sought to encourage Francis by reminding him that ‘closet prayer [is like] the smoke on a windy day. When it is very calm the smoke will ascend and resemble an erect pillar, but when windy, as soon as it is out it is scattered to and fro, sometimes ’tis beaten down the chimney again and fills the house.

‘Shall I not thus give over? Satan would have it so, and flesh would have it so, but I should be more earnest in it.’

Francis sought to pray to God twice daily, but confessed that he had difficulty in following the discipline of a set time for prayer because he was away from home much of the time.

He also admitted that he had taken up ‘an unhappy Habit of Sleeping in the Morning much longer’ than he should. And this cut into valuable time for prayer. He did not try to excuse such failings.

How much has changed since Francis’ day – and yet how much remains the same! We have the same struggle with sin and poor habits that hinder our praying and devotion.

Answered prayers

In 1767 Thomas asked: ‘How may one know whether his Prayers are answered or not?’ (Query 2, Volume II). Thomas gives six brief answers:

‘By the removal of the evil pray’d against, or the reception and enjoyment of the good pray’d for.

‘By the peculiar and extraordinary circumstances that may attend the removal of the evil or the reception of the good: as the success of Abraham’s servant etc.

‘When one does not receive the Blessing pray’d for, but receives another, perhaps not thought of by him, yet more seasonable, needful and useful.

‘When he is assisted by the Spirit to pray, to pray in Faith, and to wrestle with God. His Prayer will then be answered, whether he perceives it or no, or whether he lives to see it or no, yea tho’ he does not receive the particular good he prays for.

‘When God meets, that is, revives and relieves him in prayer, that is a speedy way in which God answers the Prayer of his People. “I will not remove thy sore affliction, Paul, tho thou hast intreated me thrice; but my grace shall be sufficient for thee to bear it”. Thus God sometimes answers a Prayer with a Promise, but not the immediate Blessing.

‘In general one may conclude that God answers his Prayers, when he is made more Holy and resigned to the will of God, and enabled to persevere in all the Duties of Religion, and to rejoice in the God of his salvation.’

Fervent prayers

The last of these six answers is especially important. It displays the mature realisation that four of the most important things for which we can pray are: (1) growth in holiness; (2) unreserved commitment to God’s sovereign will over one’s life; (3) perseverance; and (4) a heart of joy in God.

When Francis died in 1799, it is noteworthy that what his close friends remembered most, in regard to his devotion, were his ‘fervent prayers’. Given what has been noted above, this would have surprised Francis, who felt his prayer life to be so full of faults and failings. This surely indicates that often a man is not the best judge of his spiritual strengths and weaknesses.

Michael Haykin on Benjamin Francis Part 2

See here

Part II: Loving Christ

As mentioned in the first part of this three-part article on Benjamin Francis, it is disappointing that none of his sermons have survived. Describing his preaching, his son-in-law Thomas Flint (d.1819) emphasised two things: Francis was always firm in expressing his doctrinal convictions but was also a compassionate preacher, who often wept openly for his hearers.

Possibly the closest we get to hearing what some of his contemporaries termed his ‘melodious voice’ is in the circular letters he drew up for the Western Association of Calvinistic Baptist Churches.

Baptist associations

Associations of churches in geographical areas had been a feature of Calvinistic Baptist life since the denomination began in the mid-seventeenth century. By the last half of the eighteenth century these associations were in the habit of holding annual meetings that usually lasted for two or three days.

At these meetings, representatives of the various churches (usually the pastor and one or two elders) would meet for times of corporate prayer and fellowship. And there would also be occasions for the public preaching of the Scriptures.

A poem that Francis penned, entitled ‘The Association’, sought to capture the ideals that informed these yearly gatherings.

Thee, bless’d assembly! emblem of the throng

That praise the Lamb in one harmonious song

On Zion’s hills where joys celestial flow,

The countless throng redeem’d from sin and woe;

Thee, bless’d assembly, have I oft survey’d,

With sweet complacence, charmingly array’d

In robes of truth, of sanctity and love,

Resembling saints and seraphim above…

The sacred page thy only rule and guide,

‘Thus saith the Lord,’ shall thy debates decide;

While charity wide spreads her balmy wings

O’er different notions, in indifferent things,

And graceful order, walking hand in hand

With cheerful freedom, leads her willing band …

In thee, the guardians of the churches’ weal,

Whose bosoms glow with unabating zeal,

With balmy counsel their disorders heal,

And truth and love and purity promote

Among the sheep, Immanuel’s blood has bought.

In thee, impartial discipline maintains

Harmonious order, but aloud disclaims

All human force to rule the human mind,

Impose opinions and the conscience bind.

Circular letters

No doubt this gives an idealistic picture of these annual meetings, yet it shows us what one eighteenth-century Baptist saw as the ethos of these assemblies.

For Francis, they were times when wise advice could be sought and given; when God’s people could be free to discuss, in love and without bitterness, non-essential issues on which they disagreed; and when the sole binding force on the conscience was Scripture alone.

Most importantly, Francis saw in these gatherings a visible symbol – in his words, an ’emblem’ – of the unity and joy that would fill believers when they were in heaven, worshipping Christ the Lamb.

Each of the churches in the association was supposed to send a letter to the annual meeting informing their sister congregations of their spiritual condition, newsworthy items and prayer concerns.

Also, at some point during the meeting, one of the pastors would be chosen to write a letter to all the churches in the association on behalf of the association itself. He may actually have been chosen before the annual meeting, giving him time to ponder what he wanted to say on behalf of the association.

The letter would be read to the delegates, ratified, and then printed and sent out as a circular letter after the meeting.

Genuine faith

The Western Association, which had existed since 1653, gave Francis the privilege of writing this letter no less than five times – in 1765, 1772, 1778, 1782 and 1796. In these letters Francis touches on a number of themes.

He speaks, for instance, of the challenges of poverty and affluence among his readers. He mentions the danger of dead orthodoxy and discusses the nature of genuine faith. He presses home the need for a Christianity in which the heart is vitally engaged.

He treats of the various disciplines of the Christian life. And he seeks to nurture a concern for unity in the churches to which he is writing.

But there is one theme that comes up again and again: the beauty of Christ and the passion that should be ours in serving him. In the final analysis, it was this passion for Christ and his glory that underlay all the evangelistic and pastoral labours of Benjamin Francis, mentioned in Part I.

Live daily on Christ

In the circular letter of 1772, for example, Francis addresses those of his readers ‘who are sickly and feeble in the spiritual life’ and who have become ‘almost strangers to closet devotion, deep contrition for sin, earnest wrestling with the Lord in prayer, heavenly affections, and sensible communion with God’.

He encourages them to ask themselves these sobering questions: ‘Will you call this the religion of Jesus? Is this the fruit of his love and crucifixion?’

Without a ‘living faith in Jesus Christ’, Francis reminds his readers, ‘our orthodox notions’, church attendance, and outward morality will ultimately avail for nothing.

Consequently he urges upon his readers their need for ‘a spiritual sight of the awful perfections of God, of the adorable glories of Christ, and of the ineffable excellency of divine and eternal things’.

They also need to beware of resting their salvation on their performance as Christians and their faithful attendance on ordinances. ‘Constantly rest in Christ alone’, says Francis, making use of one of the central watchwords of the Reformation, solus Christus, Christ alone.

He encourages his readers to ‘look for every blessing … in and thro’ [Christ,] the infinitely prevalent Mediator’. Building on this exhortation, Francis urges his readers to ‘live daily on Christ as your spiritual food, and seek hourly communion with him as the beloved of your souls’.

Spirituality for all

It should not be forgotten that all of this counsel was being given to men and women who were farmers, labourers, shopkeepers, croppers and weavers; people who spent much of their time simply ‘getting by’.

Yet Francis rightly believed that such were capable of living out their daily lives as ‘the sincere disciples and intimate friends of Jesus’.

In other words, his advice was not for a select few who had leisure to spend in spiritual pursuits. It was advice for men and for women who had much to occupy their time. But such was the glory of eighteenth-century Evangelicalism – the spirituality that was promoted in its ranks was for all.

An inexhaustible fountain

The 1778 circular letter, which is mostly concerned with the nature of genuine faith, has a similar emphasis. In a section that deals with the differences between assurance and faith, Francis exhorts his readers:

‘Place then your entire confidence in Christ for the whole of salvation: let the declarations and promises of the gospel be your only warrant for believing in him: and consider your purest principles, happiest frames, and holiest duties, not as the foundation, but the superstructure of faith.

‘Let not your sweetest experiences, which are at best but shallow cisterns, but Christ alone, be the source of your comfort, and constantly live upon that inexhaustible fountain.’

For the believer, Christ alone is the source of salvation and he alone gives the strength for the Christian life. The final sentence alludes, of course, to Jeremiah 2:13. There, the Lord rebukes his people for forsaking him, ‘the fountain of living waters’, and living instead on the water drawn from ‘broken cisterns’ of their own devising.

Inspired, no doubt, by such New Testament passages as John 4:10-13 and 7:37, where Christ states that he is the source of ‘living water’ that quenches spiritual thirst, Francis identifies the ‘fountain’ of Jeremiah 2 as Christ.

Ardent love

Francis’ Christ-centred spirituality continued to the end of his life. In a letter written on 6 November 1798, only a year or so before his death, he declares:

‘O that every sacrifice I offer were consumed with the fire of ardent love to Jesus. Reading, praying, studying and preaching are to me very cold exercises, if not warmed with the love of Christ.

‘This, this is the quintessence of holiness, of happiness, of heaven. While many professors desire to know that Christ loves them, may it ever be my desire to know that I love him, by feeling his love mortifying in me the love of self, animating my whole soul to serve him, and, if called by his providence, to suffer even death for his sake.’

Michael Haykin on Benjamin Francis Part 1

This is from Evangelical Times and can be found here.

Part I: The irrepressible evangelist

Benjamin Francis was the youngest son of Enoch Francis (1688-1740), one of the most respected Welsh Baptist ministers of his day and an extremely gifted evangelist. But Francis hardly knew his father, for he was orphaned at the age of six.

God may well have used his father’s death to draw him to Christ, for Francis was later convinced that he experienced God’s saving grace when he was but a boy. When he was fifteen he was baptised at Swansea. Four years later he began to preach.

Study at Bristol

He soon became conscious of a need for further training. Far too many Baptists of that era scorned theological education, calling it going ‘down to Egypt’ for help. The young Francis, though, believed differently.

He went to the Bristol Baptist Academy, the only Baptist ministerial school in that day. There he found a vibrant evangelical Calvinism yoked to ardent evangelism. Francis’ studies at Bristol ran from 1753 to 1756.

When he first arrived, his knowledge of English was so slight that he could not even give thanks for his food in the language. Bernard Foskett (1685-1758), the principal of the academy, was convinced that Francis should be sent back to Wales because of the language barrier.

However, the tutor at the school, Hugh Evans (1713-1781), who was himself a Welshman and had been converted under the preaching of Enoch Francis, spoke up for Benjamin and persuaded Foskett to let him stay. Eventually Francis obtained a good enough knowledge of his adopted tongue to preach in English with the same ease as in Welsh.

It was this experience that underlay advice he gave to a nephew many years later in 1796: ‘Be sure to learn the English Grammar, and always endeavour to speak and to write grammatically. Early and constant practice will render speaking, writing, and spelling correctly, easy and familiar to you’.

Trials in ministry

After his graduation, Francis spent a brief period preaching at the Calvinistic Baptist work in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire. Eventually, in 1757, he moved to Horsley, where he was ordained the following year.

He was twenty-four years of age. The church consisted of 66 members. Most of them were poor artisans and cloth-workers who were unable to provide financially for his support.

Francis would later describe the financial circumstances of most of the congregation as ‘extremely indigent’. Not long before his death, he remarked that his congregation was for the most part ‘poor, plain, and have not had the advantage of literature’.

He had no alternative but to find other means of monetary support. He reared pigs, grew his own vegetables and fruit, ran a school (like many other Baptist ministers of the day), and even tried his hand at business. The latter, unfortunately, was a complete failure.

Domestic sorrow

Along with these financial problems, Francis also went through a long series of domestic trials. His first wife and three of their children all died within the space of three months in 1765.

He was married again a year later, to Abigail Wallis. They had ten children, of whom they buried seven! Francis, though, drew much comfort from the genuine piety that a number of his children exhibited as they were dying.

For example, Hester, one of the children from his second marriage, was dying at the age of eleven in August 1790. She said to her mother: ‘My soul is as full of joy as it can contain — the Lord is become my salvation — the gates of heaven are open to me, and I shall soon be there’.

Her parting words to her father were: ‘I love you, but I love Christ more’.

These were deep trials, which could have easily embittered Francis or plunged him into melancholy. By God’s grace, however, he remained joyful in the midst of his sorrows.

Horsley

An evident witness to this joy was his irrepressible evangelism. We are told that he delighted in ‘telling poor sinners the unsearch-able riches of his compassionate Redeemer’.

During his time at Horsley, Francis had the privilege of baptising nearly 450 persons who had been converted through his ministry. At the time of his death the number of members in the church had risen to 252.

The meeting-house had to be enlarged three times during his ministry, so that by the early nineteenth century the church was one of the largest in the British Calvinistic Baptist community.

It is noteworthy that Francis attributed much of the success that attended his preaching to the church’s Sunday prayer meetings, held at six o’clock in the morning and before the afternoon service.

Fifty or sixty would come to the Sunday morning prayer meeting, while at the afternoon prayer meeting, the vestry would literally overflow with people.

Indefatigable

It is also noteworthy that his indefatigable preaching and evangelism were not limited to Horsley. His son-in-law, Thomas Flint (d.1819), drew up a biographical sketch of Francis within a few weeks of his death in December 1799.

In it he details some of Francis’ itinerant ministry. To grasp its extent one needs to trace his preaching circuit on a contemporary map and remember that in the eighteenth century travel to a town but twenty miles away was a significant undertaking.

Flint wrote: ‘He was the first means of introducing evangelical religion into many dark towns and villages in all the neighbourhood round [Horsley]. For many years he made excursions monthly into the most uninstructed parts of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Wiltshire; besides visiting his brethren, and strengthening their hands in God.

‘In the course of his route through Worcestershire, which he regularly attended from about 1772 to 1784, it appears he had preached in Cheltenham 130 Sermons, at Tewkesbury 136, at Pershore 137, and at Upton upon Severn 180.’

Extensive labours

Flint’s narrative continues: ‘His manner was to set out from home on Monday morning, and return on Friday evening, after taking a circuit of 90 miles, and preaching every evening. In Wiltshire, on the other side of Horsley, he established a monthly lecture at Malmesbury which he supplied from 1771 to 1799, so that he preached there 282 sermons, and for the latter part of the time he reached as far as Christian-Malford where he had preached 84 Sermons.

‘He extended his journey frequently as far as Devizes, 30 miles from home, where he preached 56 times, and oftener to Melksham, Frome, Trowbridge, and Bradford, at each of which four places he had preached 90 Sermons.

‘At Wotton-under-edge, seven miles from Horsley, he kept up a monthly lecture for thirty years and preached there 394 times. At Uley, five miles distant, he maintained another stated lecture for many years, and had preached 350 Sermons there.’

In addition to these extensive labours, he regularly preached in places as far away as London and Dublin, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and undertook repeated preaching tours of his native Wales.

His preaching

When it comes to Francis’ literary remains, we do have some poems that he wrote and a number of elegies. Subjects of the latter included John Gill, the doyen of eighteenth-century Calvinistic Baptist theology, George Whitefield (1714-1770), the great evangelist, and the ‘seraphic’ Samuel Pearce (1766-1799).

There is also a two-volume collection of his hymns in Welsh, entitled Aleluia. Only a few of these hymns have been translated into English. But it is disappointing that given his extensive preaching, not one of his sermons appears to have been preserved.

When Thomas Flint came to describe his preaching, he emphasized that Francis was always concerned ‘to declare the whole counsel of God’, even when he preached for other denominational bodies. While he was firm in expressing his doctrinal convictions, he was also a compassionate preacher, one who often wept openly for his hearers.

Possibly the closest we get to hearing the tone of his preaching are in circular letters he wrote for the ‘Western Association’, the Baptist Association to which his church belonged. Next month, we shall look at some of the themes of those letters.

Samuel Rowles 1734-1820

Despite his lack of success at Minchinhampton, his labours at Horsley and the surrounding area "were owned to the spiritual benefit of many." One convert was Samuel Rowles (1734-1820), who first came under Francis' ministry in the spring of 1763, but after a time away from the church returned in April 1764 when he was converted as the result of Francis' funeral sermon for Rowles' aunt, preached from the text Philippians 3.4, "And be found in him." Rowles was baptised and became a member of the church, and was "introduced to the ministry in 1765" by Francis, presumably meaning he started preaching.He entered the Bristol Academy on 17 October 1765, where he studied for three years under Caleb Evans. Rowles went on to serve churches at Bampton in 1767, Rotherhithe near London in 1776, Chard in 1783, Canterbury in 1797, and Colnbrook in 1801.

Anthony R Cross Useful Learning: Neglected Means of Grace in the Reception of the of the Evangelical Revival among English Particular Baptists Page 75
In 1810 Rowles published The Necessity of Personal Religion, and the Importance of Adult Baptism asserted. In a Letter to a friend. 
A brief death notice reads JAN. 28th, 1820, died, at Colnbrook, Bucks., aged 76, the Rev. Samuel Rowles, Baptist Minister, a solid, judicious, and Evangelical preacher.
Apparently he left the Church of England to become a Baptist.

Western Association

Francis regularly attended the Western Association from the time of his coming to Horsley. These are the places where it met 1755-1799.

1755 Exeter c 100 mls
1756 Pithay, Bristol c 30 mls
1757 Bradford, Wilts c 30 mls
1758 Broadmead, Bristol
1759 Wellington, Somerset c 75 mls
1760 Bath, Somerset 25 mls
1761 Exeter
1762 Pithay, Bristol
1763 Tiverton, Devon c 90 mls
1764 Horsley, Gloucestershire
1765 Frome, Somerset c 40 mls
1766 Broadmead, Bristol
1767 Plymouth c 140 mls
1768 Wellington, Somerset
1769 Salisbury, Wilts c 65 mls
1770 Pithay, Bristol
1771 Bratton, Wilts c 40 mls
1772 (Chipping) Sodbury, Gloucestershire c 15 mls
1773 Broadmead, Bristol
1774 Yeovil, Somerset c 70 mls
1775 Bradford, Wilts
1776 Kingsbridge, Devon c 140 mls
1777 Prescott, Collumpton, Devon (M) c 85 mls
1778 Horsley, Gloucestershire
1779 Exeter
1780 Frome, Somerset
1781 Pithay, Bristol
1782 Salisbury, Wilts
1783 Tiverton, Devon
1784 Calne, Wilts c 26 mls
1785 Yeovil, Somerset
1786 Broadmead, Bristol
1787 Wellington, Somerset (M)
1788 Portsmouth Common (Portsea), Hampshire c 107 mls
1789 Horsley, Gloucestershire
1790 Plymouth
1791 Wotton-Under-Edge c 7 mls**
1792 Lyme (Regis), Dorset c 92 mls
1793 Bradford, Wilts
1794 Chard, Somerset c 80 mls
1795 Frome, Somerset
1796 Exeter*
1797 Bath, Somerset
1798 Salisbury, Wilts
1799 Pithay, Bristol

The Western Association first met in 1653.

Francis appears to have been the Moderator in 1777 and 1787
and author of the letter in 1765, 1772, 1778, 1762 and 1796.

The distances are the approximate distances from Horsley.

** NB ‘At Wotton-under-edge, seven miles from Horsley, he kept up a monthly lecture for 30 years and preached there 394 times. At Uley, five miles distant, he maintained another stated lecture for many years, and had preached 350 Sermons there.’

Elegiac Poem for Hugh Evans

Francis was the author in 1781 of a poem in memory of Caleb Evans's father Hugh Evans, An Elegiac Poem Sacred to the Memory of Hugh Evans, Etc.

Elegy on Caleb Evans

Yet another elegy by Francis was one for his fellow Welshman Caleb Evans An elegy on the death of the Rev. Caleb Evans D.D. who departed this life, August 9, 1791, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Caleb Evans (1737-1791) was the son of Hugh Evans (1712-1781) head of the Baptist Academy in Bristol. Born in Bristol, Caleb became his father's coadjutor in 1758 and his successor in 1781, He had a DD from Aberdeen. He published several books. He is remembered for his championing of the American colonists against John Wesley in 1778. Though he and his father had left Wales, like Francis neither lost touch with Wales and would attend association meetings there. However, Caleb could not speak Welsh.

Elegy on Robert Day

Another elegy written by Francis was for fellow Baptist minister Robert Day 1720-1791. The title is Elegy on the Death of the Reverend and Much-Esteemed Mr. Robert Day: Pastor of the Baptist-Church, at Wellington, Nearly Forty-Five Years; Who Departed this Life, April the 1st, 1791, In the Seventy-First Year of His Age. Day had been a student in Bristol before entering the pastorate. He finished in Bristol in 1746 and although called to Abingdon he settled in his home church of Wellington, Somerset in 1747. He remained there for the rest of his life. In 1754 he received an MA from the university in Rhode Island. In 1758 he wrote the Western Association letter. He preached for the association at least 13 times. Perhaps he was the author of Free thoughts in defence of a future state.