Francis and Samuel Pearce according to John Ryland

John Ryland reckoned that Francis and the silver tongued Samuel Pearce, for whom Francis wrote an elegy on his early death, were the best preachers he knew. He once wrote, beginning with Pearce,  that

Much as that seraphic young man was esteemed by many, I know not that anyone thought more highly of him than myself. I was used to think that Benjamin Francis, as an aged man, and Samuel Pearce, as a young man, were the two most popular preachers I had personally known, who, without rising to sublime eloquence, owed no part of their popularity to eccentricity. A peculiar fluency of delivery, and a most serious and affectionate address, would have made them acceptable to all classes of hearers, in any part of the kingdom.

10 Eighteenth Century Baptist Hymn Writers

1. Anne Steele
2. Benjamin Beddome
3. Benjamin Francis
4. Benjamin Wallin
5. Daniel Turner
6. John Fawcett
7. John Rippon
8. John Ryland Jr
9. Robert Robinson
10. Samuel Medley

Funeral sermon and first biographical sketch

In 1800 the following volume appeared

Ryland, John. The Presence of Christ the Source of Eternal Bliss: A Funeral Discourse, Delivered December 22. 1799, At Shortwood, Near Horsley, In Gloucestershire, Occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Benjamin Francis, A.m. By John Ryland, D.d. To Which Is Annexed, A Sketch of Mr. Francis's Life, and of His Death-bed Consolations, Drawn of by His Son and Assistant Thomas Flint. [Bristol]: Printed for the benefit of Mr. Francis's family, by Ann Bryan Corn-Street, Bristol and sold by Button in London, and James in Bristol

It can be accessed on ECCO.