AI Interview

An imagined interview with Reverend Benjamin Francis

Setting: It is the late 1780s, and we are in the home of Reverend Benjamin Francis in Horsley, Gloucestershire. The house is a hub of activity, with people coming and going. The Reverend, though in his fifties, possesses an energetic presence and a warm demeanour. The room is filled with books, reflecting his scholarly nature, yet the simplicity of the furnishings speaks to his rural ministry.

Interviewer: Reverend Francis, thank you for inviting me into your home. You're known far beyond this village, not only as a preacher but as a prolific writer of hymns and poems. It's an unusual path for a boy who grew up speaking only Welsh. Can you tell us about that journey?

Benjamin Francis: (He smiles warmly.) Ah, yes. I was indeed born in Wales, the youngest son of a well-regarded minister, though I barely knew my father. After being orphaned at a young age, the Lord, in His mercy, brought me into the fold. My path to ministry was not a straight one, and English was a great obstacle. When I arrived at the Bristol Baptist Academy, my grasp of the language was so poor that the principal initially thought I should return to Wales. But the younger tutor, himself a Welshman, interceded, and with much diligent study, I eventually learned to preach in both tongues.

Interviewer: After your time at Bristol, you settled here in Shortwood, where you have served a Baptist church for over thirty years. Your ministry here has been described as both happy and successful. What was your vision for your church when you first arrived?

Francis: My vision was simple: to preach the Gospel faithfully and to shepherd the flock with love. The success is not my own but the Lord's. When I first came, the congregation was small, but the Lord has been good to us. The building has been enlarged several times to accommodate the growing numbers. We have been blessed to see many souls converted. The strength of our ministry lies in the clear proclamation of the good news of Christ, not in any great show of human wisdom.

Interviewer: You became known for your extensive evangelistic circuit. You travelled hundreds of miles each month, preaching in villages across Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Wiltshire. Why did you feel so compelled to undertake such a demanding schedule?

Francis: The state of many rural communities was spiritually barren. There were many towns and villages that had not heard the Gospel preached clearly. My father had been a gifted evangelist, and I felt a similar burden to carry the message of salvation beyond the walls of my own chapel. It was a difficult life—balancing my pastoral duties, a large family, and even farming to make ends meet—but the joy of seeing the Lord's work spread and souls come to faith was a great motivation. I was a circuit rider for the Lord, and it was my privilege to be used in that way.

Interviewer: In addition to your preaching, you were a notable author. In 1770, you published Conflagration, a Poem in Four Parts. The poem speaks of the Last Judgment. What inspired you to write on such a weighty theme?

Francis: My meditations were often drawn to the solemn realities of eternity, and I believed it was my duty to stir the hearts of God's people to a sense of urgency. My hope was that the poem would help both the converted and the unconverted to contemplate the grandeur of Christ's return and the final judgment. It is an awesome, though humbling, theme, and I found poetry to be a powerful vehicle for expressing the sublime truths of the Scripture.

Interviewer: You also published hymns, some of which appeared in John Rippon’s influential Selections. What role did hymnwriting play in your ministry?

Francis: For me, hymns were not merely songs to be sung but theological tools to impress the truths of the Gospel upon the hearts of the people. While I wrote both in English and Welsh, my aim was always the same: to produce songs of praise that were doctrinally sound and spiritually moving. I desired that our congregations would sing with both understanding and affection, with their heads and hearts engaged in the worship of God. To have my hymns included in Rippon’s collection was a great honor, and I pray that they will continue to be a blessing to many.

Interviewer: Despite your busy public life, it's noted that you were a man of deep humility and prayer. In your private writings, you express a sense of your own sinfulness and a need for the cleansing blood of Christ. How did you balance your public image with your personal spiritual struggles?

Francis: Public ministry can be a source of great temptation to pride, but the mirror of God's Word constantly reminds me of my own failings. The truths I preach to others are the same truths I must preach to my own soul every day. I have found that a close walk with God is not about a perfect exterior but a contrite heart continually resting upon Christ. My truest comfort and greatest hope lie not in my service but in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Interviewer: You are a tireless minister and an accomplished writer. When you reflect on your life's work, what do you hope your legacy will be?

Francis: I desire no legacy for myself. I hope only that my life and my ministry will be seen as a testimony to the power of God’s grace. I hope that the hymns I have written might help others to sing of His praise, and that the many miles I have travelled might show a generation the boundless mercy of a loving Saviour. In the end, it is not about me or my work, but about Him alone. My greatest desire is simply that Christ will be exalted.

Flint on the Piety of Francis

Flint says that Francis's views of religion,

... together with the tenderest sympathy for man, prompted him to those exertions he constantly made for God. The value of the souls of men made such an impression upon his mind, that he could never be at ease in idleness. He was always "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." If at home in his family, he would ever be employed, one way or other, in exemplifying and promoting religion. And those who were blessed with the closest connexion with this excellent man, so as to have formed a part of his household, cannot recollect his spending an hour in social conversation, without introducing religious subjects. And as though his greatest happiness consisted in such discourse, they could not but notice what a pleasing lustre would brighten up his countenance, as soon as the social intercourse was turned into a holy channel. And what indicated still more fully the vigorous exercise of grace in his soul, was his stated topic of conversation. He was uniformly aiming at the glory of God, in the subjection of the whole heart to his dominion. And whenever the more subordinate concerns of religion had been insisted on for a season, he would be anxious to recur to those of still higher importance. In his visits to his people, (which were as frequent as their wide dispersion round the country would admit), however short a time he stayed, the great end of the gospel was always briefly explained. He literally tarried in each house till he had sketched a portrait of a good man, into which be would always introduce features well designed to correct those counterfeit traits, which he knew deformed the religion of too many professors.

Flint goes on to say that Francis adopted a method, which he probably took the hint for from Cotton Mather, of proposing questions to himself every morning of the week, to assist him in the best method of doing good in all his connections.

Lord's Day morning. - What can I do more for God, in the promotion of religion, in the church over which I am pastor?

Monday. - What can I do for my family, as a husband, a father, or a master?

Tuesday. - What good can I do for my relations abroad?

Wednesday. - What good can I do in the societies of which I am a member?

Thursday. - What good shall I do for the churches of Christ at large?

Friday. - What special subjects of affliction, and objects of pity, may I take under my particular care? and what shall I do for them?

Saturday. - What more have I to do for the interest of God in my own heart and life?

Flint on Francis's Final Days

J Ryland

Flint felt that Francis's final years were among his most fruitful. The church continued to grow and he had the joy of baptising his daughters. A third enlargement of the building was necessary and Francis threw himself into the fund raising necessary. At the same time is enthusiasm was sometimes dampened by the thought that he might not live to see the work completed, which proved to be the case. A day was appointed for the opening and Dr John Ryland invited but he was called away to the funeral of Samuel Pearce. In the end Francis fell ill and grew worse and worse so that when Ryland did come to Horsley it was to preach at Francis's funeral. Remarkably, Francis was able to preach three times on his final Sabbath on earth.

In a letter written in 1796 Francis writes

Alas! how few professors are there who seem in every respect ornamental, and what we would wish them to be. One has this, and another has that glaring imperfection. One is too forward, and another too slothful. One is too loquacious, and another too reserved. One is too indifferent about doctrine and discipline, another is too rigid and censorious. One is vain, volatile and fickle, another is morose, sour and headstrong. One is generous with his money, but dishonorable in his walk; another strict in his morals, but unfeeling and penurious. One has a great gift, but little grace, while another has much grace, but no abilities. Alas! why do not all professors strive to cultivate every Christian virtue, and live to excel in all things which are praiseworthy? Why not all lay their whole selves out, for the honour of religion, and the glory of God? What value can they find in life, but under this impression and pursuit? To me, life with all its enjoyments, detached from religion and usefulness, is a poor, low, insipid thing. O to live, indeed the Christian's Life! What self-denial, what constant watchfulness, what faith and hope and love, what patience and resignation and what heavenly mindedness should I daily exercise!

Flint declares that Francis was an orthodox preacher who was not cool towards

... the leading sentiments of Scripture, whenever he considered the minds of his auditors as needing to be refreshed by the evidences of such facts. But though in many instances, he might have been censured by individuals, as introducing in each discourse too large a portion of practical religion, yet he persevered in urging the necessity of inward sanctity and an upright conversation. In his public prayers, a holy fervor, like a powerful pulse indicated the influence of the divine Spirit, renewing the life of God in his own soul, and seemed as if it could hardly fail of rousing the affections of the most languid believer. In all his sermons he would insist on the nature of vital faith, as productive, not only of transient emotions of the passions but of uniformity of character, and devotedness to the service of God.

More from Flint on Francis

Thomas Halyburton

Flint felt that as Francis came nearer to the grave, the more warmly he wrote. In a letter on experimental religion he wrote

I find it to be the nature of the life of God in the soul to aim at the destruction and the death of sin; nor will its desires be fully satisfied with any thing short of heaven itself, Blessed be God I know what it is to thirst for himself, not for speculative knowledge, nor merely for assurance, nor for a speedy entrance into glory; but for the Holy Spirit to rule, to reign, to dwell in my heart so as to have my thoughts, judgement, will, desires, designs, tempers and dispositions under his direction and influence that I may know what God would have me know, be what God would have me be, do what God would have me do, suffer what God would have me suffer, and enjoy what God would have me enjoy. But alas! notwithstanding my breathings and groanings for an inward Redemption, I am yet a wretched captive groaning in my chains for perfect liberty: The cares and pleasures of life, my corporeal senses and a body of death, keep my soul in a painful bondage, so that I never live a day of or seldom perform a duty to my entire satisfaction and I now need the blood of Christ to atone for my sin, and the Holy Spirit to fan my heart, as much as ever. O when shall my polluted soul unite with the spirits of the just made perfect and shine as bright as a glorious Angel.

In a letter to a friend, dated November 6, 1798, he thus writes,

Your last favour fanned the feeble spark of love I feel to the infinitely glorious and gracious Redeemer, to whom I owe and freely give my all. Having Christ, I have more than the whole material Creation. I want to love him unspeakably more than I ever did as yet; first, for the sake of his own excellencies, and then for his love and goodness towards me. O that every sacrifice I offer 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.

Referring' to his laborious exertions in 1798, when he visited many of the churches in Wiltshire and preached an average of 6 to 7 times a week, he has this observation

Never have I been called to engage in more public services than in the past year, and yet. I cannot but exclaim, My Barrenness, my barrenness when I read the life of a Halyburton, an Eliot, a Brainerd, how am I ashamed and confounded! What langour, formality, and contractedness of heart do I often experience, in private and in public! The flesh is ready to cry out Spare thyself. When shall the branches and roots of sinful self love be consumed by the fire of the love of Christ. I want nothing so much as the spirit and love of the blessedness. I want large gifts and abilities, but I far more desire a burning zeal for God to make my present endowments turn to greater advantage; I have but a few more years if any to serve Christ and his Church on earth, being now in my 65th year. O pray for me that I may be faithful, diligent and successful unto death.

Note on Ticmore End

This note is made by a descendant

ALTHOUGH my brothers and sisters are so familiar with this endeared abode as to render a description of the engraving unnecessary it may prove interesting to their descendants and with the former revive emotions which will find appropriate expression in the lines of Cowper

I seem to have liv'd my childhood o er again

To have renewed the joys that once were mine

On approaching the front door mantled with jasmine and roses the window on the right lighted the Parlour that on the left the Kitchen. Immediately over the former was the Study adjoining it, in front a Bedroom and over the Kitchen the Best Chamber (regarded as sacred by many who there received the counsels of their dying Pastor). That occupied by my venerated ancestors was directly behind it the house extending considerably in this direction and resembling in form the letter L. The Attic was divided into two rooms. The Garden, that lovely spot whose flowers seemed more fragrant and fruits more delicious than all others was a large square plot walled round and quartered by two broad grass walks intersecting each other at its centre. The lofty elm and sombre firs like landmarks were distinguishable far distant while its yew tree bowers and shady filbert walks recall associations the most tender and affecting. Truly no stately edifice could be more prized by its possessor than was this lowly abode by my ancestors nor could the expiring poet bid farewell to earth without one fond allusion (from The Dying Christian bidding adieu to the World by Mr Frandis See Rippon Comprehensive edition p 553).

My loved habitation and garden adieu

No longer my footsteps ye greet

The house was erected in 1762 under the direction of the Rev B Francis and rendered permanently the property of the Church. It is situated on high ground but not sufficiently on the brow of the hill to command the picturesque scenery surrounding it. Ticmore end is in the parish of Horsley about three quarters of a mile from the village and midway between it and Shortwood.

Ticmore End, where Francis lived 1762 until his death

 

Flint on Francis and his afflictions

Francis married in 1757, the year he began at Horsley. He met his Welsh wife, whose maiden name was Harris, while in Bristol. They lost several children but the second, Mary, lived until she was 31, dying ten years before her father. His first, named Enoch for his father, died after just 18 months.

The year 1765 proved to be a very tough one for Francis. In that year, his wife died on April 26 and then on June 18 his four year old son, named after himself. On July 4 his youngest daughter Sarah died and on July 10 his daughter Elizabeth, only three years old. In the face of these blows he decided to move from the place where he had been living. He also published a plaintive elegy expressing his grief and describing the comfort he found in God.

On July 27, 1766, he remarried, to a Miss Wallis, who would outlive him. They named their first son Enoch and though he was a joy to them, being born deaf he was unable to speak. Always a good boy, sadly he died young at the age of 15 after a short illness. A daughter, Hesther, and two boys died young. A second Hesther died at the age of 11 in 1790 but not before she had shown good evidence of her piety. The same was true of her older sister who also died that year at the age of 16. A son whom they called Benjamin lived until he was 27 when he died in 1795 of yellow fever in South Carolina, America. He had gone there and done well and was about to marry. We gain some idea of the consolation Francis knew in this further grief from the letter he wrote to his son's intended where he says

Though overwhelmed with grief at the loss of a dear and affectionate son, whom 1 tenderly loved, yet I dare not repine at the disposal of unerring Providence, but am enabled to say, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Christ is altogether worthy of your entire confidence, chief esteem, and everlasting adoration. May this bitter cup be abundantly mixed with divine consolations; and while you lament the loss of the uncertain stream of temporal felicity, may you drink eternal happiness at the fountain head.

In another letter, written to a friend, he reveals his perspective on suffering

In my afflictions and confinements I have felt inexpressibly for perishing sinners, especially for those under my own ministry: and I would in every sermon I preach, enjoy much of that compassion which dwells in the heart of the dear Redeemer. I want to preach as if standing at the bar of God. I now see so many sad defects in every grace, and imperfections in every duty I perform, with so many errors and sins in professors, that by these things my heart is heavily pressed, and I could dwell long on these painful subjects. But as to myself, I am more or less daily a burden to myself. I find my heart to be my chief, if not my only enemy. If the devil accuse me, I seldom accuse him; and it often disgusts me to hear professors charge their sins on that evil spirit. When I was young in religion, I wanted joy and assurance; but what I now mostly desire is, the mortification of all corruption, the spirit of Christ in my heart, and a universal conformity to the will and image of God. My consciousness of great deficiency in these things fills me with shame and sorrow; nor shall I be perfectly easy and happy till I am perfectly holy. O! how sweet, how beautiful, is true holiness! This is no part of our justifying righteousness, but it is a great part of our salvation. I desire to love the truths, and to embrace the promises of the gospel, not only as calculated to enlighten .my understanding, and to rejoice my heart, but also to transform me into the divine image, and to fill my soul with a holy admiration of the infinite Jehovah. I want to lose sight of self in the refulgence of his glory, and to shrink into nothing, that God may be all in all. I long, I long, at least in some of my happier moments, to serve, to praise, to glorify my dear Redeemer, as my chief business, my chief delight, and as the chief part of my heaven. O when shall I praise him as angels do!

In a letter to a Mrs Tomkins in Abingdon (the Tomkins were an influential family in the church and town) on the death of her husband, he wrote

The Lord liveth forever, liveth to be your guide, your supporter, your comforter, your wall; and ere long you shall see your dear friend who is only gone to his native home a little before yourself; yes, you shall see him with tearless and joyful eyes, a glorified saint before the throne of God. Though the stream of so much satisfaction and delight has ceased to flow, yet the fountain of all consolation and happiness is still the same; thither you will repair more than ever. O! there is enough in the favour and presence of God to solace, to satisfy your sorrowing mind! Look up, from the gloomy repository of the sleeping dust, to the bright abode of the immortal spirit, adorned with perfect purity, filled with consummate happiness and crowned with celestial glory.

We see here how his sympathy towards those in distress extended beyond his family to others.

More from Flint on Francis

Some Horsley people lived in Minchinhampton, which is three miles from Horsley. In 1765 Francis had a building erected and began to preach there regularly. The ungodliness of the place is apparent from the way they treated a Whitefield preacher called Adams 21 years earlier, assaulting him and dragging him through the town before throwing him into the brook. Though Francis laboured there over a 35 year period, it was not until after his death that a congregation was finally established.

In Horsley, meanwhile, some 54 people joined the church between 1771 and 1773 and in 1774 a further enlargement of the building was necessary. The congregation was still poor but zealous and liberal with their gifts and with the help of friends the debt for the enlargement was soon paid. People attended the meeting house in Shortwood from some 15 different places, some as far as ten miles away.

During his ministry it seems he baptised 450 people. Some 42 of these came under church discipline and were removed but by the time of his death membership stood at 262. He also made monthly preaching trips into other parts of Gloucestershire and into neighbouring Worcestershire and Wiltshire.

From 1772 to 1784 on his Worcestershire trip he preached in Cheltenham 130 times, at Tewkesbury 136, at Pershore 137 and at Upton on Severn 180. His pattern was to leave home Monday morning and return on Friday evening, after covering 90 miles or more and preaching every night.

He would regularly preach in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, from 1771-1799. He preached 282 sermons there. He also preached 84 sermons in Christian Malford in the same county. He preached 56 times in Devizes and more often in Frome, Melksham, Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon, where he preached 90 times each.

He preached regularly at Uley, five miles from Horsley, preaching 350 sermons there. He also preached 803 sermons in Hampton and more than four thousand in Horsley or Shortwood itself.

Further afield, in Bristol he preached 101 times at Broadmead and 28 times at the Pithay. He preached 22 times each in Portsmouth, Plymouth and Plymouth Dock. He ventured 20 times down into Cornwall and saw many converted there and was often involved in baptising converts.

He often preached in his native Wales, both in Welsh and in English. There are records of over 150 times that he preached. In 1791 he went to Ireland and preached over 30 times in the Dublin area. he also preached often in London and in many other parts of England.

Flint on the early part of Francis's life

Francis's son-in-law says that Benjamin Francis was the second son of Enoch Francis. He was born in near the midsummer of 1734. His father died when Benjamin was still young, in 1740, and in the following year the young boy began to pray in private and came under conviction of sin.

When he was 15, he and his brother Jonathan were baptised on profession of faith in their native Wales. Both sons followed their father into the ministry, beginning at the age of 19. By this time Francis had moved from the Swansea area to Pontypool. It was the pastor Mr Griffith Davies who enabled him to study at the academy in Bristol. Francis's lack of English was a problem at first and Bernard Foskett was keen for him to return to Wales but his compatriot Hugh Evans pleaded his case and son Francis found himself not only able to express himself in English but to do so with great fluency.

He was in Bristol 1753-1756 receiving a definite call to the ministry from his home church at the end of 1755. At the end of his studies he preached in Chipping Sodbury for a while but was then called to Horsely in 1757. Though the stipend was smaller he felt the call of God to the place and it was there that he spent the rest of his life in ministry.

Francis was ordained on October 12, 1758. John Tommas of Bristol and Hugh Evans preached. Mr [Thomas] Davis of Fairford and Mr [Samuel] Bowen, the previous pastor were also present. Tommas gave the charge, from Colossians 4:17 and Evans addressed the church, from 1 Thessalonians 2:19.

There were only 66 members when Francis came. They were generally poor and the building was ina rather remote place. However, in the first year 13 new members were introduced and in 1760 the building had to be enlarged. Early on he was called to a large London church but declined. This call came from Devonshire Square and was later followed by another from Carter Lane, Southwark, in 1772, after the death of Gill.

The Horsley congregation continued to grow and in 1764 they added a vestry to the meeting house.

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.

One more bit of Thomas Lewis

Again loosely translated

His first wife was a Miss Harris, from Wales. They had several children, many of whom died in infancy. In the year 1765 he buried his wife and three of his children. That was a devastating blow to sustain in just a few weeks. His second wife was Miss Wallis, who outlived him. They had ten children, but only three survived him.

The chapel was being extended for the fourth time when its minister died. Francis composed an elegy on his deathbed to his friend who had died just before him, the seraphic Samuel Pearce, of Birmingham. Francis was a very pious man. Thomas Flint says that shortly before he died he said

“O how glad I am to belong to Christ. I love his name, his ordinances, his people, his servants, his service, and his praise; and I do not expect to go to hell. No, the kingdom of Satan is not for me. I cannot blaspheme God; I cannot unite with evil men and be among them; I cannot have anything to do with such, with pleasure, but rather I want to love and praise my dear Jesus. If I'm not owned by the Lord” he said “I do not know to whom I can go!”

He had his Welsh Bible with him in the bed; he read Psalm 23 in the Bible, clutched it to his bosom, then said, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, etc”. He was buried in the chapel at Shortwood, December 20th, 1779. It was Dr. Ryland who came at the end of the week and delivered the funeral sermon, which was printed.

More from Thomas Lewis

Another section from the article in Seren Gomer translates loosely thus

BENJAMIN FRANCIS was the youngest son of the famous Rev. Enoch Francis, who died Feb 4th, 1740, aged 51, and was buried in Cilfowyr. Francis was born in 1734 so he was only about 6 years old when he lost his beloved father having buried his mother when he was five years old. There was a love for God and a fear of sin in Francis from the time he was seven years old. He was baptised when he was 15 years old, and he began to preach when 19. He became a member of the church of the Rev David Griffith, in Swansea. He went to Broadmead in 1753, and remained at the college until 1756. He went to Horsley in 1757, and was ordained there in the autumn of the year following. Number of members 66; the salary per year £20. The field was not very promising; for there were few people in the area and the chapel was on a hillside at the head of a wooded valley. However, the church grew and prospered and the chapel was extended in 1760. Francis went to London to raise funds at one point and was called to Devonshire Square but declined. Some 12 years later, he was called to the church where Dr Gill served, but he remained with his dear people. He was a great preacher and a popular one. Says his son-in-law, Mr. Flint: “He obtained, not only a thoro' grammatical knowledge of our language, but such a fluency of utterance, and so agreeable a delivery, that very few of the most popular English preachers excelled, or indeed equalled him, in these respects while he still retained the same ready command of his mother tongue." Because the church grew quite quickly, it was necessary to add ancillary rooms and to extend the chapel in 1764. In 1765, he started a chapel in Minchin-Hampton, three miles from Horsley. The cost was £400 but this was soon paid. The good man continued to go there twice a month for 35 years. In 1774, the Horsley chapel was extended a third time. Members and hearers came from 15 different parishes, and worshipped together so that some lived 30 miles from each other. He baptised 450 in his time and the membership was 262 by the time he died. He was also successful in his work in the surrounding counties. He would begin on a Monday and return late in the day guided by the stars. He preached in the following places

Horsley 4000

Cheltenham 130

Tewksbury 136

Pershore 137

Upton-on-Severn 180

Malmesbury 232

Christian-Malford 84

Melksham 90

Frome 90

Trowbridge 90

Bradford [on Avon] 90

Wootton-on-Edge 394

Uley 350

Hampton 802

Broadmead 101 [Bristol]

Pithay 28 [Bristol]

Portsmouth 22

Plymouth 22

Cornwall 20

Travelling frequently to Wales, he preached in many association meetings. He also visited Ireland in 1791, where he preached 30 times. He preached too in London. Although Francis had little in this world, he was generous with what he had. He was once in business and lost £500.