{"id":18196,"date":"2023-06-24T04:01:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T04:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=18196"},"modified":"2023-06-24T04:01:47","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T04:01:47","slug":"the-life-and-death-of-john-stevens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2023\/06\/the-life-and-death-of-john-stevens\/","title":{"rendered":"The Life And Death Of John Stevens"},"content":{"rendered":"

J. A. Jones, \u201cBunhill Memorials: Sacred Reminiscences Of Three Hundred Ministers And Other Persons Of Note, Who Are Buried In Bunhill Fields, Of Every Denomination\u201d (1849):<\/strong>[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n

John Stevens, Baptist. Sacred is the memory of the Rev. John Stevens, who exchanged mortality for immortal vigour, and for a crown of life, after a long affliction of excruciating pain from the stone, &c., under which he enjoyed great supports, lively joys, and strong comforts; composedly and resignedly waiting and wishing for the uninterrupted enjoyment of his covenant God, whom living, he delighted to proclaim; whom dying he glorified, October 17, 1778, aged 56.\u2014Rev. 14:13, \u201cBlessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook up my friends, pant towards the eternal hills,
\nThose heavens are fairer than they seem;
\nThere pleasures all sincere glide on in crystal rills:
\nThere not a dreg of guilt defiles,
\nNor grief disturbs the stream.
\nThat Canaan knows no noxious thing.
\nNo cursed soil, no tainted spring.
\nNo roses grow on thorns, no honey wears a sting.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Head Stone, E. and W. 81,\u2014N. and S. 35.<\/p>\n

John Stevens was born about the year 1722, at a small village near Exmouth, in Devonshire. Being bound apprentice to a ropemaker, in Plymouth, he received his first religious impressions under the celebrated Andrew Kinsman. He soon commenced preaching, and coming up to London., be was introduced to the Tabernacle, in Moorfields, and officiated there for some time. Afterwards embracing the sentiments of the Baptists, he received an invitation to succeed the Rev. George Braithwaite, as pastor of the Baptist Church, in Devonshire Square, and was ordained there, in May, 1750. Upon the resignation of Dr. Gill, he was chosen, in conjunction with Mr. Brine, to carry on the Wednesday evening lecture, in Great Eastcheap. At his setting out in the ministry, Mr. Stevens was exceedingly popular; had a crowded congregation wherever he preached, and which continued for several years; when being removed from Devonshire Square, he engaged a newly-erected Meeting-house, in Redcross Street, and formed those persons that gathered to him into a church, to whom he preached till his death. He endured a long bodily affliction, and was subjected to the most excruciating pain; from which he was released, Oct. 17, 1778, aged 66.\u2014W.<\/p>\n

——————————-
\n[1] The reader is encouraged to visit Bunhill Fields, a nonconformist cemetery located at 38 City Road, London, England.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Stevens, Baptist. Sacred is the memory of the Rev. John Stevens, who exchanged mortality for immortal vigour, and for a crown of life, after a long affliction of excruciating pain from the stone, &c., under which he enjoyed great supports, lively joys, and strong comforts; composedly and resignedly waiting and wishing for the uninterrupted enjoyment of his covenant God, whom living, he delighted to proclaim; whom dying he glorified, October 17, 1778, aged 56.\u2014Rev. 14:13, \u201cBlessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook up my friends, pant towards the eternal hills,
\nThose heavens are fairer than they seem;
\nThere pleasures all sincere glide on in crystal rills:
\nThere not a dreg of guilt defiles,
\nNor grief disturbs the stream.
\nThat Canaan knows no noxious thing.
\nNo cursed soil, no tainted spring.
\nNo roses grow on thorns, no honey wears a sting.”<\/p>\n

Head Stone, E. and W. 81,\u2014N. and S. 35.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":18197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1356],"tags":[1232,1226],"class_list":["post-18196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john-stevens","tag-baptist-history","tag-gospel-preachers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18198,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18196\/revisions\/18198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}