{"id":19159,"date":"2023-07-24T06:27:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T06:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=19159"},"modified":"2023-07-24T06:27:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T06:27:34","slug":"the-life-and-ministry-of-walter-ranson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2023\/07\/the-life-and-ministry-of-walter-ranson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Life And Ministry Of Walter Ranson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earthen Vessel 1895:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walter Harry Ransom, Somersham, Suffolk<\/p>\n

Dear Brother,\u2014By your request, I send you a brief sketch of my life. I was born on August 31, 1859, in the parish of Hitcham, in the county of Suffolk. I was blessed with a godly mother, my father was the reverse. But the Lord placed him in the furnace of affliction, and I believe made it a blessing to him. They are both gone home, and have left me with one sister.<\/p>\n

It appeared I had convictions when very young. I remember once being troubled about sin when attending school, so as to be forced to pray. I never could enjoy myself in the ways of sin as some appear to. There was an aching void the world could never fill; this went on till I grew up to be a young man. I attended a Bible-class at Hitcham chapel, conducted by Mr. C. Clover, of Buxhall. This little chapel was in connection with the Wattisham church at that time. The means used there was made a blessing to the awakening of me to see my state and condition as a sinner. Here I was in a state of anxiety for weeks, until I heard a sermon one Sunday evening at the chapel at Hitcham, by Mr. Wilkins, who divided his text under three heads\u2014humbleness, contrition, and poverty; the text I never remembered. This was the time I was able to say,<\/p>\n

“How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then as to following the Lord in the ordinance of baptism, I knew it to be the way: like many more, did not attend to it at once; this was no comfortable time. How true are those words in John 13:17.<\/p>\n

On August 10, 1884, I was baptized at Wattisham, by Mr. Huxham, who was then pastor at Rattlesden, and received into the church.<\/p>\n

I was very much impressed before baptism, and much more after, as to what I could do in the Master’s service. This I made a matter of prayer. I was a teacher in the Sunday-school a while; thoughts of preaching arose; but I thought this can never be. I might say I used to be very fond of playing preaching when a boy. But the Lord made it plain to me that I was to speak in His name. I commenced first by reading a chapter in the prayer meeting; after which I was impressed to take a text and try and say a little from it. The first text was Mark 10:50.<\/p>\n

After this I supplied in various places, till asked by the Church at Somersham for three months, which I accepted. Before this expired, I was asked for another three months, with a view. Before this expired, I was asked to accept the pastorate. I then asked for three months to consider this, as I felt this to be such an important step to take. What this Church offered me\u2014and it was all they dare promise, I feel sure\u2014it was not anything tempting to move a family from one’s native home. But it is evident it was of the Lord. I was recognised as pastor on March 28, 1888. Mr. S. K. Bland presided. Mr. F. S. Reynolds, then pastor of Wattisham Church, gave the charge from 2 Tim. 2:15. Mr. Kern addressed the Church, and brethren Northfield, Haddock, and Clover took part.<\/p>\n

The Lord has blessed both pastor and Church. We have been rejoiced to know the Lord has blessed our labours. Our congregations are very encouraging. I have many friends far and near. I feel after labouring in the service this short time, what a glorious Gospel to preach! how fresh and full it is! If it is the Lord’s will, I would preach it for many years. O may I be made more useful, truthful, firm, and loving in His service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

W. H. Ranson<\/p>\n

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

Dear Brother,\u2014By your request, I send you a brief sketch of my life. I was born on August 31, 1859, in the parish of Hitcham, in the county of Suffolk. I was blessed with a godly mother, my father was the reverse. But the Lord placed him in the furnace of affliction, and I believe made it a blessing to him. They are both gone home, and have left me with one sister.<\/p>\n

It appeared I had convictions when very young. I remember once being troubled about sin when attending school, so as to be forced to pray. I never could enjoy myself in the ways of sin as some appear to. There was an aching void the world could never fill; this went on till I grew up to be a young man. I attended a Bible-class at Hitcham chapel, conducted by Mr. C. Clover, of Buxhall. This little chapel was in connection with the Wattisham church at that time. The means used there was made a blessing to the awakening of me to see my state and condition as a sinner. Here I was in a state of anxiety for weeks, until I heard a sermon one Sunday evening at the chapel at Hitcham, by Mr. Wilkins, who divided his text under three heads\u2014humbleness, contrition, and poverty; the text I never remembered. This was the time I was able to say,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":19157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1495],"tags":[1232,1226],"class_list":["post-19159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walter-ranson","tag-baptist-history","tag-gospel-preachers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19159","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\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19160,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19159\/revisions\/19160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}