by Doug Kutilek
The dominant perspective of English Baptists when Andrew Fuller was born in Wicken, England, in 1754 was that of “high Calvinism.” By a rigid application of “logic” founded on highly defective premises, those holding this view concluded that the “non-elect” had no warrant to embrace or believe the Gospel message (since, they had concluded, it was never intended for them by God). Therefore, it was proper and right for preachers to omit any offer of the Gospel to the non-elect, and indeed, it was in fact wrong for them to make a general offer of the Gospel to people at large. And the notion of foreign missions to evangelize the heathen never even crossed their minds, it was so “absurd” from this perspective. Had Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys held this view, there would have been no Great Awakening in America and no sweeping spiritual revival in 18th century England.
This spiritually poisonous, zeal-deadening, and soul-killing view found its most influential advocate in the writings of the learned London pastor John Gill (1697-1771), native of Kettering in the English Midlands, the very town where, three quarters of a century later, Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) would do his great work in refuting this misguided opinion and refocusing Baptists on worldwide evangelism.
Unlike the older generation of English Baptist preachers who had deeply imbibed “Gillism,” there was a core of younger men who recognized the Bible commanded the Gospel be offered to all men and that sinners everywhere be urged to embrace the Gospel, with blessed results promised for those who did so. This group included future missionary to India William Carey (1761-1834), and pastors John Sutcliffe (1752-1814), Samuel Pearce (1766-1799), John Ryland, fils (1753-1825), and Fuller.
Though lacking any early educational advantages – no college and no mastery of any foreign language (though later acquiring rudimentary knowledge of Greek) – Andrew Fuller nevertheless became a well-read, well-informed, and quite influential leader among the Baptists of his day.
Raised by Baptist parents (of the usual Gillite persuasion), Fuller was converted in his mid-teen years, pastored two congregations, first at Sohan (1775-1782) then in Kettering where he was ordained (1782-1815). I was happy to learn in a visit to Fuller’s grave in Kettering some eight years ago that Fuller’s church is still in existence, and still adheres to the fundamentals of Biblical faith, with a concerted effort to reach its community with the Gospel.
Convinced by Scripture and convicted by the Holy Spirit, Fuller, Carey, and the others organized the Baptist Missionary Society in October 1792 in the parlor of the widow Wallis in Kettering. Carey offered himself as the first missionary, and the others, especially Fuller, vowed to “hold the rope” for Carey as long as they lived. Fuller was elected as secretary of the society, and on him fell the greatest responsibility in keeping Carey’s tenuous lifeline strong and secure (a round trip for correspondence from India to England and back required ten months, minimum).
This “novelty” of a foreign missionary society faced indifference from many Baptists, ridicule from the secular press, and strong opposition from the East India Company as well as the British government. Fuller had to deal often with each of these opponents.
Fuller traveled extensively, almost continuously, throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and even to Ireland promoting the cause of foreign missions, awakening the churches and preachers from their spiritual lethargy, raising money, and soliciting prayers for the mission enterprise. Fuller literally exhausted himself in this work which gripped his soul.
Fuller was also a voluminous writer. His most famous publication was The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, written when he was just 28. It brought him much controversy and opposition, but it drew Baptists back from the hyper-Calvinism that had widely deadened the denomination. He also wrote notable treatises against Socinianism as well as Sandemanianism (a form of “easy believe-ism” which affirmed nothing more than mere mental assent to the facts of the Gospel was required for conversion), besides numerous sermons and Bible expositions, as well as many, many letters.
Cathcart states, “to [Fuller] more than to any other human being was the first foreign missionary society of modern times indebted for its protection in infancy, and the nurturing influences that gave it the strength of a vigorous organization.” A highly commendable legacy.
A memoir of Fuller’s life by his son Andrew G. Fuller is included in the three-volume Complete Works of Andrew Fuller (vol. I, pp. 1-116; Sprinkle reprint 1988). William Cathcart, The Baptist Encyclopedia (1881; pp. 420-422); and Thomas Armitage, History of the Baptists (1887; pp. 583-585) also have brief accounts of Fuller’s life and labors. A biographical sketch and an analysis of Fuller’s writings by Phil Roberts is in Baptist Theologians (1990; pp. 121-139) edited by Timothy George and David S. Dockery.