Evangelical Library Lecture on Benjamin Francis

Thomas Trotter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Last Monday (March 14) we had the second of two Spring lunchtime lectures. The first was on John Frith by Norman Hopkins and this one was on Benjamin Francis, which I did myself. Numbers were a little down, probably because the name Benjamin Francis means nothing to most people. I provided a series of visuals to help the listening and we had a little time for questions at the end. He certainly deserves to be better known. I have a blog for him here. Next up is the annual lecture on June 6 on the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre with Dr Robert Strivens, on zoom I expect.

Blog of the Week 17

Rather late with this once again.

Benjamin Francis 1734-1799

Benjamin Francis came from Wales

But he soon spread his sails.

First he went to Bristol College

To increase his knowledge

Then pastored a church in Horsley

For years - over forty!

He preached sermons, wrote elegies,

And words for melodies.

This blog was started in April 2016 and is about the 18th century Baptist Benjamin Francis, a pastor and hymn writer who grew up in Wales. There are 50 posts by now. The hit count is low - about 2300. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog is the second part of a piece on John Heskins one of the deacons at Shortwood, Gloucestershire, where Francis ministered. You can find it here. 

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

Whitefield Elegies Footnotes 1 and 2

George Whitefield's grave in the crypt of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts between Jonathan Parsons and Joseph Prince

1. One of the things that came up the other night was the fact that Whitefield died at the age of 55 (which I had forgotten). I turned 55 the other week. There was a time when it was thought his problem was asthma but it is now agreed that it was probably angina pectoris, ie heart problems. I can confirm that such heart problems do present with breathlessness, which could be misconstrued to be asthma.

2. The other things follows Dr Atherstone saying that he had difficulty finding Baptists who had preached or written elegies in memory of Whitefield. At the back of my mind I recalled that Benjamin Francis of Shortwood, Horsley had written something and when I checked I found that to be the case, though I can't see anything online. John Fellows was quoted briefly and though some doubt it he was a Baptist. So no problem there then.