Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – “The Prince of Preachers” – Robert Hall, Jr.
Thomas E Kresal February 21, 2019
Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – “The Prince of Preachers” – Robert Hall, Jr.
Robert Hall, Jr. died on Feb. 21, 1831. In his day he was viewed as the greatest preacher that had ever spoken the English tongue. He was the youngest of 14 children having been born near Leicester, England. His development in speaking and walking was very slow, but a nurse took him on frequent walks in a cemetery and taught him the alphabet by reading the gravestones. By the time he was eleven he was dismissed from school because he was more advanced than his instructor. He entered Bristol College at the age of 15 but was too mortified to give the vestry address and ran from the hall. He later became influenced from John Ryland, who had become influenced by Jonathan Edward’s Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will. This position holds that Christ died for the entire world. Hall Sr. opposed the works of John Gill, the strong Calvinist Theologian. He also portrayed hyper-Calvinism as a barrier which prevented sinners from coming to their Savior. It was printed and William Carey read it and stated, “I do not remember to have read any book with such raptures.” It was this book that persuaded Carey to become a Baptist. This was the theological atmosphere that Robert Hall, Jr., grew up. In 1781 he went to Aberdeen where he served as pastor for four years. In 1785 he became the assistant pastor at Bristol Baptist at Broadmead Baptist and attracted large crowds to hear him preach including many Episcopal clergymen. In 1791 he became pastor of the church in Cambridge. Their pastor Robert Robinson had been leading them into Unitarianism, but Hall, Jr. In the city of Cambridge with the most famous Episcopal University Hall could not distance himself from the orthodoxy of the Bible and soon acquired the reputation as the most finished and eloquent preacher in the British Isles. From this time on Hall was spoken of as the “Prince of Preachers.”Prepared by Thomas E. Kresal condensed from: This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 106-08.
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