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Gadsby’s Convictional Statement Of Faith
William Gadsby (1773-1844) was a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher, who for thirty-eight years served as pastor for the church meeting at Black Lane, Manchester. His son John (1808-1893) was an author and printer, who in 1835 started a new religious magazine entitled, “The Gospel Standard, Or, Feeble Christian’s Support.” He immediately gained the help of his father, together serving as its first Editors. The first Issue of the magazine was printed in August 1835, beginning with an “Address” to the “Christian Reader”, the content of which sets forth the articles of faith drawn up and embraced by the Editors (most likely the convictional statement of William Gadsby):
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William Gadsby’s Sentiments On The Eternal Sonship
My dear Friend,—It is not a little which surprises me now-a-days; but I certainly was surprised to hear from you, on my return from Egypt, that persons were going about circulating the report that my late dear father did not believe in the Eternal Sonship of the Second Person in the Trinity; and, had I not known something of the pride and doggedness of the parties making the remark, that surprise would have been greatly increased upon hearing, as I did a few days ago, that at an assembly of "divines" at Hitchin it was asserted that "Mr. Gadsby had more sense than to believe such nonsense." Now, there was no doctrine in the whole Bible about which my father was more tenacious than that…
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Odd Sayings
My dear Friend,—You request me to send you some of Mr. Gadsby's odd sayings. If they are, odd, they are striking, when we consider their spiritual signification. I wish I could send the beautiful truths he conveys in them. He is continually lashing Arminianism. Free-will, he terms a filthy dirty lane, and the poor creatures in it go hobbling along besludged all over. He warns us not to stir a step to hear an Arminian minister, as we each of us carry one in our own bosom. He tells us he has one that gets up with him, and has the assurance to breakfast, dine, drink tea, and sup with him. Our hearts are full of lumber and rubbish, which he earnestly prays for the…
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The Fear Of Death
I do not know that death ever appears to me more terrific than when I feel a fear that I shall die in darkness; I do not want such a death as that. But I can tell you what the Lord has brought me to know a little of, and to feel a little satisfaction in; and that is, that if God should see good that I should be in darkness, I am but level with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was in darkness, and cried out in darkness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
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The Dark Cellar
Go into a close, dark, damp cellar; you can see nothing. But open the shutters. How frightened you are! Toads, spiders, and reptiles of various sorts are there. So with your hearts. You don't see them as they really are until God lets in his light. In our country there is a weed called cadlock; but it never appears on the surface until the land is ploughed up. So with your hearts. When God puts his plough and turns up the fallow ground, O what weeds appear to your sight!
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Man Is Worst Than A Machine
Some people say we make man into a mere machine. Nay, he is worse than a machine; for a machine will keep still if you will let it alone; but man is continually at work, doing evil.
