Introduction
Andrew Fuller imitates for us the grace of God in the heart of a man called by Jesus. As a Particular Baptist Pastor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Fuller fought rigorously against hyper-Calvinism, the humanism of sandemanianism; becoming an advocate for the church’s responsibility of global mission. Robert Hall said of Fuller’s influence, “He laid the world under lasting obligations.”[1]Anthony L. Chute notes: “Charles Hadden Spurgeon did not hesitate to describe Fuller as “the greatest theologian” of his century, and for a good portion of the nineteenth century, American Baptist historian A.H. Newman noted, “his influence on American Baptist” was “incalculable.” Fuller became the chief proponent of a theological trajectory that came to dominate British Particular Baptist life and strongly influenced Baptists in America.”[2] Fuller’s theological convictions would not go unchallenged, however, his work had immediate and lasting influence, and maybe most significant, “Fuller’s vital involvement in the “Great Commission Resurgence” of his day provides extremely helpful guidelines for ours on how to sustain a missionary mind-set in both the pulpit and the pew.”[3] Authorial intent seeks to provide encouragement to this same end: a grace for the task of theological commitment and a zeal toward missional endeavor, as observed in the life of Andrew Fuller.
Early Life
Andrew Fuller was born on February 6, 1754 in Wicken, Cambridgeshire. Engulfed in a “Puritan stronghold,”[4]his family were considered “’Dissenters of Calvinistic persuasion,’ who worshipped at a Baptist Church.”[5] Fuller was the youngest in a family of dairy farmers, to which Brewster conveys, “None of the boys received anything beyond the most rudimentary education,” however, Andrew “was naturally gifted with a sharp mind.”[6] It would seem higher education was not necessary in their farming context. While it is one thing to marvel at Fuller’s lack of formal education, it would be a mistake to assume he was entirely unlearned and/or incapable. As early as age fourteen, though he would remark of a later conversion, Fuller turned to Bunyan’s “Grace Abounding”[7] to help him battle temptation. Later, under the pastoral care of John Eve (“Eve was committed to High Calvinism,” which “Fuller remembered his ministry, Eve ‘had little to nothing to say to the unconverted. I, therefore, never considered myself as any way concerned in what I heard from the pulpit.’”[8]) there is evidence Fuller had access to the works of John Calvin and others.[9] Of course, Fuller engaged in “a lifelong study of the works of the New England theologian Jonathan Edwards, his chief theological mentor after the Scriptures.”[10] One must acknowledge in Fuller a hunger to absorb and wrestle through available resources with an intellectual and spiritual capacity to learn and mature in discipleship growth.
Although Fuller was brought up in a Particular Baptist Church with Christian parents, he struggled internally. On the eve of his death, he wrote To a friend in Liverpool (January, 1815) recollecting his youth, saying, “yet, being a boy under sixteen, I found at times boyish inclinations and strong struggles of mind respecting youthful follies.”[11] His struggle concerned the “nature of faith.”[12] Did God save people merely by their rationale of Him, or was belief more supernatural in its undertaking? Arthur Kirkby elaborates wonderfully, writing,
“The chief theological difficulty which Fuller felt was what he called having a qualification to come to Christ. He did not understand at the time that the only qualification lay in the Divine mercy itself; it was not in some human attribute. Later he drew a distinction between a warrant and a qualification to come to Christ. Man has a warrant because of the Divine mercy, and therefore no further qualifications are required. To suggest qualifications is to direct attention to man, and in consequence to make salvation depend on works, not on grace. Man is justified in coming to Christ, not because of what he (man) is, but because of what Christ is, the Son of God and the merciful Saviour. In a kind of despair Fuller resolved to cast himself upon Christ, “Thinking peradventure He would save my soul; and, if not, I could but be lost.” He discovered that he was caught and held, and he ‘found rest for [his] troubled soul.’”[13]
Fuller spent much of 1767-1769 in a state of trying to prove himself regenerate.[14] He ebbed and flowed between what he believed to be at peace with God in his mind, versus living for himself. Brewster notes, “Though he sat regularly under the preaching of Pastor Eve, there was little visible effect. Fuller describes why: ‘The preaching upon which I attended was not adapted to awaken my conscience, as the minister had seldom anything to say except to believers, and what believing was I neither knew nor was I greatly concerned to know.’”[15] Furthermore, of this time Fuller later wrote, “’I was at times the subject of such convictions and affections, that I really thought myself converted; and lived under that delusion a long time.’”[16] He considered his inconsistent faith experience as “passive in conversion,”[17] and “Though this process was repeated several times during his early teen years, Fuller never exercised personal faith in Christ and was never converted…Each repeated failure to find spiritual peace led to increasing despair in Fuller’s life.”[18] Finally, in late 1769, alongside coming to terms with there being “no warrant to come to Christ without some previous qualification,”[19] Fuller threw himself upon the mercy of God for saving faith. Salvation could not be earned by earnable qualification, only God’s grace could save unrepentant souls. Then in 1770, being moved to tears while observing another’s baptism, Fuller was baptized about a month later.[20]
In the Fall of 1770, a theological debate surfaced at Soham concerning hyper-Calvinism and Church discipline.[21] As a result, Pastor John Eve resigned, leaving a pastoral void left in the hands of the newly baptized Fuller and his dear friend, Joseph Diver. Diver, being forty-years of age took on the most responsibility, while the sixteen-year-old Fuller filled in from time to time. From 1770-1774 Fuller preached occasionally until Diver suffered an injury, demanding more responsibility of Fuller to deliver sermons. Then, in 1775 the congregation recognized Fuller’s gift to expound the Scriptures, thereby, he was ordained pastor of Soham Baptist Church at only age nineteen.[22]
Formational Years at Soham
Fuller’s pastoral service at Soham Baptist Church for seven-years was characterized by hardship.[23] The year after his ordination Fuller married Sarah Gardiner in December 1776. Brewster notes, “Though deeply affectionate toward each other, their life together was characterized by a succession of heartaches. Sarah Fuller gave birth to 11 children before eventually dying of complications from childbirth. Of those children, only two survived into adulthood. One daughter, Sally, died at age six. Her illness and death were particularly grieving to her parents. The rest died in early infancy.”[24] The Fuller’s also struggled with financial difficulties. Andrew attempted bi-vocational endeavors to which all failed, and the Soham Baptist Church could only afford to pay him thirteen British Pound per year.[25] And though “Fuller frequently expressed the belief that God was at work through difficulty,”[26] Sarah “suffered debilitating bouts of mental illness and required near constant supervision.”[27] The month before her death, Andrew wrote in his diary, saying, “My family afflictions have almost overwhelmed me, and what is yet before me I know not!,” and after her death he wrote,
“The tender parent wails no more her loss,
Nor labors more beneath life’s heavy load;
The anxious soul, released from fears and woes,
Has found her home, her children, and her God.”[28]
Amidst loss and hardship at Soham, Fuller solidified his core theological convictions. With help from his friend Dr. Ryland, Fuller made “considerable progress in the study of the Greek language, and…gained a sufficient mastery over Hebrew to enable him to refer to the original of the Old Testament Scriptures.”[29] During such time he also grappled with handling the high-Calvinism of John Gill versus the Calvinism of John Bunyan, John Owen, and many other English Puritans.[30] In the onset of his ministry at Soham he leaned sympathetically toward John Gill’s hyper-Calvinism, however, this would not remain. At this juncture, Piper is right to convey of Fuller’s writing, “…his battle with hyper-Calvinism…with Sandemanianism recovered and preserved a kind of vital faith that is essential for missions. And in both cases, the battles were distinctly exegetical and doctrinal, even though the all-important outcomes were deeply experiential and globally practical.[31]
Hyper-Calvinism. Fresh off the backside of Whitefield and Wesley’s First Great Awakening hyper-Calvinism maintained there was no need for an evangelistic call to faith in Christ. For example, “Peter Morden points out that ‘the prevalence of high-Calvinism had led not only to a refusal to “offer Christ” but also to a general suspicion of all human “means,” such as ministerial training and associating.’”[32] Meaning, evangelism/evangelistic activities which stressed conversion were out of step with God’s prescribed sovereignty to save sinners without such a need for missionaries to plead a cause. Afterall, “The practical conclusion that hyper-Calvinist drew was that faith in Christ is not a duty for the non-elect. It is not a duty for the unregenerate. Therefore, you never call for faith indiscriminately. You never stand up before a group of people-whether in Britain or in India-and say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!” you never exhort, plead, call command, urge.”[33] The effect of high-Calvinistic preaching, which Fuller grew to see as lazy and apathetic, were costly: “in the forty years after 1718, the Particular Baptists declined from 220 congregations to 150.”[34] High-Calvinism taught sinners to trust God to show them by “warrant of faith,” meaning their faith would be warranted as they truly “believe the goodness of their state.”[35] On the contrary, Fuller sought to undermine the kind of passive Calvinism which promoted a sort of patiently waiting upon God to draw a sinner to faith; rather, if one were to test their election in Christ, it is not by waiting, it is by receiving Him and obeying Him one may test themselves: “Receive him, trust in him, cast yourself on him for his promised mercy. And you will prove to be elect and to be regenerate.”[36] Simply put, if humankind responds to the Spirit of God by irresistible grace, “one has to know before he believes that he is being irresistibly called or regenerated.”[37] Though the season at Soham proved hard, Fuller would solidify the foundation for his position against hyper-Calvinism, which he later defended wonderfully in The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation (1785): e.g. “It is a grievous misapplication of such language to consider it as expressive of a mere attendance on the means of grace, without any spiritual desire after God; and to allow that unregenerate sinners comply with it. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Scriptures abound in promises of spiritual and eternal blessings to those who thus hearken, hear, and seek after God.”[38]
As with Fuller’s theological transition out of hyper-Calvinism, so with his preaching. There seems little evidence to suggest any major backlash from within Soham Baptist Church, if so, not with overwhelming extent. In fact, Brewster adds, “If some of Fuller’s congregation were offended by their pastor’s theological shift, the lost in his community responded favorably to a more fervent appeal. Soon the Baptist Church at Soham began to attract more hearers than could comfortably fit in their tiny building. Fuller came up with a plan whereby they could expand the size of their building, but it was rejected by his people. This choice appears to have a major factor in Fuller’s decision to accept the call of the Baptist Church at Kettering,” which he had been considering for some time. [39] Whether other matters were present or not, it would appear Andrew Fuller’s transition from Soham to Kettering went well. Though Fuller was by no means alone in Soham, here in Kettering he would form deep and lasting relationships with Robert Hall, and several other young ministers in the Northants Baptist Association, including John Ryland, John Sutcliff, and William Carey. These men were “responsible for a new awakening in the Particular Baptist denomination.”[40] Of course these men and their families would go on to steward the spark of the modern mission’s movement.
Out of Kettering Came Influence
After three-years consideration, Fuller arrived in Kettering in October of 1782 where he would spend 33 years serving as pastor in the care of a large congregation eager to glean from his so-called evangelical Calvinism.[41] As Brewster notes, the Baptist Church at Kettering was an otherwise unlikely location to produce influence from. However, “From an unlikely village in Northamptonshire, Fuller emerged as one of the leading theological writers of the day.”[42]From Kettering, “Over a period of thirty years, he wrote definitive responses to [hyper-Calvinism], Socinianism, Deism, Universalism, Antinomianism, and Sandemanianism.”[43] He stood the test of those firing back at him. High-Calvinists accused his theological drift as an abandonment of the “true gospel,” and Arminian’s accused him of stopping halfway, to which they insisted he make the full leap.[44] Furthermore, through much toil, Fuller left a theological legacy.
As mentioned in the beginning, Andrew Fuller had only rudimentary level schooling, alongside no higher academic study to speak of. Before it was all said and done both Princeton and Yale offered him honorary Doctor of Divinity, to which he kindly declined to receive due his feelings toward receiving a degree he did not attain by his own means.[45] Nevertheless, British Baptist historian, A.C. Underwood called Fuller “’the soundest and most creatively useful theologian,’” and American historian, McBeth, said of him, “’perhaps the greatest theologian English Baptists ever produced.’”[46] How could it be, a no-named pastor from Soham (then Kettering), a minister with no formal education, who emerged to theological preeminence among his contemporaries? Agreeing with Brewster, there is an element of Fuller’s centralization of theological method which may have set him up, unwittingly, to have an advantage. Leading up to Fuller’s era systematic study of the Scriptures was abandoned due a perceived freedom of free enquiry. Fuller not only learned from his Puritan influences for sound theology, he also learned their systematic structure for expounding the Scriptures. Fuller advocating such systematic fashion, writing, “God, in all his works, has proceeded on a system; there is a beautiful connection and harmony in everything which he has wrought…Now if God proceeds on system, it may be expected that the Scriptures, being a transcript of his mind, should contain a system; and if we would study them to purpose, it must be so as to discover what the system is.”[47] Recognizing the grievance people had with not all systems working, Fuller proposed a centrality around the supremacy of Scripture. If Fuller found a system was not working it was evident that his system needed revision, not Scripture itself.[48] He wrote, elaborating, “’The best criterion of a good system is its agreement with the Holy Scriptures.’”[49] Fuller valued a high view of Scripture and committed himself to the prioritization of the Scripture, above his system. For example, Brewster notes Fuller’s faithfulness to read Scripture thoroughly before consulting other theological works.[50] In an age marked by reason and rationality, Fuller maintained, “God’s special revelation in the Scriptures was both more complete and more convincing than anything acceptable through the light of general revelation.”[51] Over all, Fuller was not afraid to challenge status quo theological stances which did not stand the test of prioritizing a high view on Scripture. This almost single-handedly intrigued his readers and listeners. And maybe most influentially, his systematic method for expounding the Scriptures led to a convincing and robust missiology.
The Missionary Advocate
Alongside William Carey (and others), Fuller agreed to serve as secretary of the newly formed the Baptist Missionary Society (1792), he would hold this line of service honorably until his death in 1815. Brewster writes on the nature of their association, “Whereas Carey and his associates were obliged to devise a missionary strategy from scratch on the field, Fuller did the same at home with regard to a strategy to recruit, fund, resupply, and otherwise support those who were being sent out.”[52] Fuller would write of commitment to the association, recalling, “Our undertaking to India really appeared to me, on its commencement, to be somewhat like a few men, who were deliberating about the importance of penetrating into a deep mine, which had never been explored. We had no one to guide us; and while we were deliberating, Carey, as it were, said, “’Well, I will go down if you will hold the rope.’”[53] And hold the rope he did! Ryland would later note, his “opinion that he “probably fell victim” to the heavy burden of holding the rope for the missionaries.”[54]
John Piper acknowledges Fuller’s missionary advocacy as “the vital link between the doctrinal faithfulness of the church and the cause of world missions.”[55] In Fuller one finds within the justifying faith of Scripture an appeal to preach the Gospel to everyone, everywhere. Hyper-Calvinism reduced the churches urgency for evangelism and missional endeavor. God would save a person, in His sovereignty willed them saved, in their right time; God’s time. Sandemanianism reduced the revelation of Christ by the power of God’s Spirit alone to mere intellectualism, or reason. Fuller’s era was trapped in gospel passivity. In Andrew Fuller one finds God’s representation of doctrinal faithfulness applied rightly. Theology, rightly handled, should always lead to godly action. In Fuller we see one who had thrown himself upon the mercy of God, and the only right response is a worship-based obedience which testifies of God’s mercy for all peoples who should hear God’s truth for salvation in Christ. Fuller “denies that faith is a mere passive persuasion of the mind,”[56] and therefore requires regeneration by grace through faith at the preaching of God’s Word.
Conclusion
As observed in the life of Andrew Fuller one is struck by the grace of God to gift human vessels with a capacity for doctrinal faithfulness as means toward stewarding the proclamation of Christ’ Gospel. Fuller emerged on the scene with no formal education or academic theological training. His life and testimony remind us, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”[57] God often equips saints from what may seem foolish or weak sectors of society to be the right person at the right time for the job. As we reflect concerning our own time and the challenges experienced by faithful churches laboring for the glory of Christ among the nations, let us be moved by two key proponents: (1) Let nothing persuade us to hesitate in casting ourselves upon the mercy of God. There are several moments in Fuller’s life where he could have laid his concerns to rest, however, rather than finding peace in the objections of others, he searched the Scriptures, then compared the diversity of thought of other expositors, and finally, by God’s grace, found peace in searching out the truth for himself. This enabled him to stand firm in God’s grace as others challenged his positions. (2) Doctrinal faithfulness always leads to faithful obedience of Christ’ command to proclaim the Gospel and disciple persons from all nations.[58] Personality and gifting come and go. If we are to enjoy fruitfulness in life and ministry, let us be given to the prioritization of a high view of Scripture. Our day, not too unlike Fuller’s day, is full of churches with human made justifications for Gospel passivity. It is only by a commitment to the preeminence of Jesus Christ, by the Word of God, through the power of the Spirit by which the Church will move to overcome this doctrinal error and passivity. May the life of Andrew Fuller serve to motivate a desire to pursue Christ by His Word. For by the Word of God Fuller persisted. And by His grace may we learn from Fuller to endeavor the same.
[1] Arthur H. Kirkby. Andrew Fuller. London, ENG: Independent Press LTD, 1961. P. 3. Print.
[2] Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn and Michael A.G. Haykin. The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2015. Pp. 101, 102. Print.
[3] Paul Brewster. Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2010. p. xv. Print.
[4] Ibid., Chute. p. 102.
[5] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 4.
[6] Ibid., Brewster. p. 9. Brewster goes as far as to highlight “Fuller reports that the towns people of Soham generally believed he was “more learned than my master.” In such a setting, there was no point in Fuller tarrying long and school. While he was still young, he was pressed into the demanding work of maintaining the farm” (Ibid., p. 9, 10).
[7] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 4.
[8] Ibid., Brewster. p. 10.
[9] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 5.
[10] Ibid., Chute. p. 102.
[11] Michael A. G. Haykin. “Pure Religion and Undefiled”: Spiritual Letters of Andrew Fuller. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Christian Publications, 1994. p. 11. Print.
[12] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 4.
[13] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 4.
[14] Ibid., Brewster. p. 13.
[15] Ibid., Brewster, Pp. 11, 12.
[16] Ibid., Brewster. p. 13.
[17] Ibid., Brewster. p. 13.
[18] Ibid., Brewster. p. 14. “He poignantly describes the dilemma he felt: ‘Indeed, I knew not what to do! I durst not promise amendment; for I saw such promises were self-deception. To hope for forgiveness in the course that I was in was the height of presumption; and to think of Christ, after having so basely abused his grace, seemed too much. So I had no refuge. At one moment, I thought of giving myself up to despair. “I may,” said I within myself, “even return, and take my fill of sin; I can be but lost.” This thought made me shudder at myself. My heart revolted. “What!,” thought I, ‘give up Christ, and hope, and heaven!’” (Ibid., Brewster. p. 14.).
[19] Ibid., Brewster. p. 15.
[20] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 4.
[21] Ibid., Brewster. p. 18.
[22] Ibid., Brewster. p. 21. “The effect on the congregation was so great that Soham Baptist Church recognized that God had raised up a pastor from within their midst” (ibid., Brewster. p. 21).
[23] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 5.
[24] Ibid., Brewster. p. 21, 22.
[25] Ibid., Kikby. p. 5.
[26] Ibid., Brewster. p. 5. “Fuller came to see that the poverty against which he often chafed during the Soham years was a ctually a gift from God to render him more dependent on the Almighty” (Ibid., Brewster. p. 22).
[27] Ibid., Brewster. p. 22. “During her final few months, the situation progressed enough that she lost all touch with reality and was unable to recognize her husband or children. She died in August 1792” (Ibid., Brewster. p. 22).
[28] John Piper. Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2016. Pp. 24, 25. Print.
[29] Ibid., Brewster. p. 23.
[30] Ibid., Brewster. p. 24.
[31] Ibid., Piper. Pp. 27, 28.
[32] Ibid., Piper. Pp. 35, 36. “The effect of this rationalistic distortion of the biblical Calvinism was that the churches were lifeless and the denomination of the Particular Baptist was dying” (Ibid., Piper. p. 36).
[33] Ibid., Piper. p. 33.
[34] Ibid., Piper. p. 36.
[35] Ibid., Piper. Pp. 36, 37.
[36] Ibid., Piper. p. 38, 39.
[37] Ibid., Piper. p. 39.
[38] Andrew Fuller. The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation. Philadelphia, PA: Charles Cist, 1805. p. 30. Print.
[39] Ibid., Brewster. p. 26.
[40] Ibid., Kirkby. p. 7.
[41] Ibid., Brewster. p. 29.
[42] Ibid., Brewster. p. 32.
[43] Ibid., Chute. p. 104. Emphasis added.
[44] Ibid., Brewster. p. 32.
[45] Ibid., Brewster. p. 37.
[46] Ibid., Brewster. p. 37.
[47] Ibid., Brewster. p. 39.
[48] Ibid., Brewster. p. 41.
[49] Ibid., Brewster. p. 41.
[50] Ibid., Brewster. p. 46, 47. “To go first to expositors is to preclude the exercise of your own judgment” (Ibid., Brewster. p. 47).
[51] Ibid., Brewster. p. 50. “Some of Fuller’s strongest affirmations regarding the inspiration of the Bible are found in a piece titled, “The Veneration of the Scriptures.” This work was published in 1793 as one of the 15 letters that comprised a work titled The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Compared” (Ibid., Brewster. p. 50).
[52] Ibid., Brewster. p. 34.
[53] Ibid., Brewster. p. 34.
[54] Ibid., Brewster. p. 34.
[55] Ibid., Piper. p. 50.
[56] Ibid., Piper. p. 49.
[57]1 Corinthians 1:27. ESV. English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2001. Print.
[58] Ibid., ESV. Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 15:17-20.