The Life And Ministry Of John Slate Anderson

Earthen Vessel 1891:

By G. Ruffell

“It is ungrateful so to magnify our living friends as to forget the merits of those that are gone to whose memories there is a debt of honour due. All the respects must not be paid to the rising sun; and, on the other hand, it is unjust so to cry up the merits of those that are gone, as to despise the benefit we have in those that survive and succeed them. Let God be glorified in both.”—Matthew Henry

In an old note-book of ours, under date May, 1872, we found the following account of:

Mr. James Wells And Mr. James Foreman

The spring of 1872 will long be remembered by the Strict and Particular Baptists of England, as the period when they were deprived by death of two of their greatest preachers, Mr. James Wells and Mr. John Foreman. It is not necessary to write a panegyric upon their lives and characters. The thousands of devout men and women who followed them to their burial prove the high esteem in which they were held. As trees of the Lord’s right hand planting, their fruit was good even to old age, and God was glorified both by them and in them. They rest now from their labours, and their works follow them. There were traits in the characters of both which deserve attention and command respect. They were men of grace and gifts, with which they glorified the great Giver of them. We do not suppose that either laid claim to great erudition in a worldly point of view, nor were their pulpit ministrations characterised by oratorical flourish, but they were ministers of great force—of character, earnest workers who served their day and generation according to the will of God.

“If anyone designs to accomplish anything (says Foster in one of his essays) during the short space allotted him in this life, he must apply himself to it with such assiduity that is regarded as insanity by those who live only for pleasure;” a sentiment which was acted upon by both these good men; and when we reflect upon what they accomplished of the prodigious amount of labour in preaching the Gospel, of the value of their services, &c., we involuntarily repeat the lines of Cowper on the death of Johnson—

“O, men immortal by a double prize,

By fame on earth and glory in the skies!”

Mr. John Hazelton And Mr. John Slate Anderson

Sixteen short years after the fall of the two cedars referred to above, we were called upon as a denomination to mourn the loss by death of two other ministers, men who in a measure filled the gaps made by the removal to a brighter and holier sphere of service of Messrs. Wells and Foreman. We refer to the death of Mr. John Hazelton in January and that of Mr. John Slate Anderson in April of 1888. Of the former an elegantly written memoir by Mr. W. J. Styles has been published. Mr. Hazelton was our first spiritual preceptor, having been brought under the influence of his ministry at Chadwell-street in 1860 by two never-to-be-forgotten texts. He was to us in our youth as Paul was to the Thessalonians: “But we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children: as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children” (1 Thess. 2:7-11). We were dismissed from communion at Clerkenwell to that at New Cross, in 1868, with these words: “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:3-18). “I did know thee in the wilderness in the land of great drought” (Hos. 13:5), was peculiarly and preciously fulfilled to us through

The Ministry Of Mr. J. S. Anderson

at Zion Chapel, New Cross-road, a few grateful recollections of which during 20 years shall here (by permission) briefly follow. The first time we saw and heard Mr. Anderson was on an anniversary occasion at Chadwell-street in 1860. He had then scarcely attained his prime, and was settled in his first regular pastorate at Bethseda Chapel, St. Luke’s. Physically, like Joseph and David, he was well favoured and goodly to look to (Gen. 39:6, with 1 Sam. 16:12). His was a face one never tired of looking at, calm, dignified, reliant, and self-collected. His perfect naturalness and unaffected simplicity of manner came out there and then. The first sentence we heard him utter stuck in our memory, viz.: “Just before coming to the meeting I took up Matthew Henry to pick up a thought, and it is worthy of notice that in scripture phraseology more is frequently implied than is expressed.” Here was no pilfering and parading of the thoughts of others, but plain honest dealing, which commended itself to the conscience. The glare and boldness of some speakers dazzle us, but when a preacher gets up and tells us that “he too is a man” with whom thought is scarce, and whose conceptions of divine truth are meagre, we feel that touch of nature which makes the whole world kin. We have wondered how it was that this first utterance of his in our hearing made such an impression upon our mind, and cannot account for it otherwise than as Campbell puts it:—

“‘Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,

And coming events cast their shadow before.”

We commenced our attendance at “Zion” while Mr. Anderson was at Bradford, and after he resumed his ministry at Deptford we were among the first batch of new members that he received into the Church. The pleasure it afforded him to get back again was evident in the first sermon he preached after it was settled that he should return. It was on a Wednesday evening, and the place was full. The text was Solomon’s Song 2:10-13, “For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” The hand-shakings and congratulatory expressions on all sides after that service took nearly an hour. In the midst of it a cautious—we will not say captious—brother exclaimed,” Ah! they’ll make a hash of it.” We think it has been generally understood that the friends did make a hash of it, but it was a very good one.

It comes not within our province to refer to Bradford. Some surprise was expressed that Mr. Anderson left Deptford to go there, and greater surprise was felt that he was so successful after he returned from Bradford to Zion. We know little about it beyond the fact that he did go, and that he came back again, and while there as editor of the Voice of Truth he expressed his intention to make the Voice of Truth heard in Yorkshire. At that time there were three principal Baptist Chapels in Bradford—Zion, which was popularly known as Mr. Chown’s; Westgate, to which Mr. J. E. Bloomfield went on leaving Meard’s Court, London; and Trinity, to which Mr. J. S. Anderson was invited at the suggestion of Mr. Bloomfield. Anyhow, it came to pass that two gentlemen from Yorkshire visited Deptford one Lord’s-day morning and were so well pleased at what they heard, that the Church at Trinity Chapel, Bradford, soon afterwards invited Mr. Anderson to become their pastor.

In the obituary article in the “Baptist Handbook, 1889,” p. 135, it is stated that Mr. Anderson removed from Zion Chapel, Deptford, or New Cross (for the terms are interchangeable, the chapel being not more than three minutes’ walk from the Broadway, Deptford, and in the New Cross-road), to Zion Chapel, Bradford. It is also stated that he met with little encouragement there. This is quite a misapprehension, for Mr. Anderson received every encouragement from man. The greatest kindness was manifested towards him, both personally and officially. He was very popular with the good people at Trinity, and when he resigned a paper containing many influential signatures was sent to him earnestly requesting him to stay. They made him promise, however, that he would preach for them once every year, which he did uninterruptedly, and many and life-long were the friendships which he formed at Bradford.

In the year 1876, when the enlargement and alterations of the chapel were in progress, Mr. Anderson visited Bradford, and collected a handsome sum in aid of the building fund.

The Voice of Truth, which had been successfully edited by Mr. Roddy, Mr. W. Palmer (the renowned scribe of Homerton-row) and Mr. J. E. Bloomfield, was at this time conducted by Mr. Anderson. But soon after his return from Bradford a private meeting was held at Deptford respecting the amalgamation of the two magazines, viz., The Gospel Herald and The Voice of Truth, which was eventually effected.

A new edition of Stevens’s selection was edited by Mr. Anderson, and published by a committee of Zion’s friends. It happened on this wise. In 18i5 the cause at Meard’s-court was getting very low. Churches. that had adopted the hymn-book were running short; besides, a need was felt for a shilling edition, and there was no one left of Mr. Stevens’s flock who took an interest in the matter save Mr. Roddy, but what could he do alone?

At this juncture Mr. J. T. Briscoe, who was then pastor at Meard’s-court, took the matter in hand. Representatives from several of the London Churches where the book was used were invited to the pastor’s vestry at Salem, when Mr. Briscoe solemnly read over the new hymns which he proposed to insert. These gentlemen not being very critical or combative (at the time at least), Mr. Briscoe pulled the book through to his own satisfaction, omitting about forty of Kent’s Supralapsarian hymns and putting all Mr. Stevens’s together at the end. The first thousand was printed by Briscoe and Sons, and at a Church meeting at Deptford we were asked to adopt the book, especially as five hymns of Mr. Anderson’s were inserted in that new edition. The Church warmly and unanimously voted against doing so, and thereupon elected a hymn-book committee, requesting the pastor to undertake the editorial work in connection therewith. How this succeeded is evidenced by the number of Churches both in London and the provinces that have since adopted this selection, and the satisfactory manner in which the work was brought out. Our senior deacon, the late Mr. Wm. Matthews had under God much to do with its continued success. The five hymns above referred to of Mr. Anderson’s are Nos. 247, 276, 387, 845, and 925 of Stevens’s selection as now in use.

Mr. Anderson’s Preaching

was characterised by great plainness of speech. Allied to this, however, was another quality: he was pictorial. Addison has somewhere said in his Spectator “that it is the faculty of true genius to make things obvious.” This Mr. Anderson had a happy way of doing. Such was his simplicity of style and expression that the meanest, capacity could not fail to understand him. He would generally begin with some trite saying or well-known text, as: ”The Old Testament is the New with a veil on, and the New Testament is the Old with the veil off.” The ingenious prescription for preachers was natural to him—

“Begin low, go on slow;

Rise higher, and take fire.”

His opening sentences were designed to interest the most listless hearer: the subsequent ones to influence. The beginning of a sermon might be poetical or descriptive; it might abound with pleasing pictures and imagery—the play of the mind sporting in shallow waters—until his hearers’ attention was fully secured, when he would “fetch his knowledge from afar ascribing righteousness to his Maker,” and leaving us at the close under the influence of a delightful and heavenly calm, constraining us to exclaim:—

“Our willing souls would stay

In such a frame as this,

And sit and sing themselves away,

To everlasting bliss.”

One occasion we particularly remember when the place seemed to us like the tabernacle of old. The text was from Isa. 53. It was not the depths nor heights, but the common level where the sheep and lambs alike love to feed that his ministry traversed. Well-worn tracks under his guidance were found to yield many a sweet morsel.

Speaking with him once about a sermon from Ruth 2:14, “At meal-time come thou hither,” &c. (a sketch of which was put in the Silent Messenger under the title, “Meal-times “—most of the articles in the Messenger were sketches of sermons): “Yes,” he said, “I always try to have a taking title.” It was his office to catch souls. He was an adroit fisherman, and net-mending is an important branch of that business (Matt. 4:21 ; Mark 1:19). One who sat under his ministry for many years thus described her experience of it: “A sunny sylvan spot: the birds singing, the flowers blooming, and waters rippling.” His preaching was certainly of a comforting tendency. He was a true Barnabas. His, we might say, favourite theme—the theme upon which he always seemed most happy—was Christ exalted, Christ at God”s right hand, from such texts as: “They shall see His face”; “I go to prepare a place for you”; “Having obtained eternal redemption for us” (1) Redemption obtained; (2) The Redeemer enthroned; “Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God”; “So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God”; “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne: even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne”; “And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually.” At which times he would appositely introduce one or two favourite verses of Watts, as:—

“O for a sight, a pleasing sight,

Of our Almighty Father’s throne!

There sits our Saviour, crowned with light,

Clothed in a body like our own.

Adoring saints around Him stand,

And thrones and powers before Him fall,

The God shines gracious through the man,

And sheds sweet glories on them all.”

It is a singular fact that, though a poet himself, his attempts to quote off-hand in the pulpit generally ended in a compromise, or a paraphrase. His longest quotation of this kind was from Wesley’s hymns, which it would seem had been blessed to him in his early days. He would quote the following frequently and with much feeling:—

“And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died He for me who caused His pain?

For me who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love I how can it be

That Thou, my God, should’st die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night,

Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,

I woke; the dungeon flamed with light,

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.”

A very favourite text that he would often quote was Acts 17:26. “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.” This text unfolds two subjects which he loved to comment upon—(1) The universal brotherhood of all men, and (2) The special providence that encompass the saints. Some pastors are excellent preachers but poor rulers. Mr. Anderson had the qualification of a bishop in an eminent degree, and seldom was his ruling questioned. He was a fatherly pastor. Rebuking, though at times necessary, was painful work to him. He had his infirmities, of course, and they were often very candidly confessed and grotesquely enumerated, but he was never little. Reflections on brother ministers never disfigured his sermons. Witty sayings, when presiding or speaking at public meetings, he could and did give, but his witticisms were generally seasonable.

Solomon’s songs were a thousand and five. Mr. Anderson’s are not quite so numerous as that, but he wrote a great many. He had a very felicitous gift of presenting the Gospel in rhyme. His original hymns, in the body of Stevens’ Selection, are but five. The Hymn-book Committee, however, has lately published thirty others, which are to be added to future editions, thus making the total number of hymns in the Selection a thousand. The occasions for which he composed them were, The Death of Members, Birthdays, Sunday-school Anniversaries, Gospel Narratives, &c. In November, 1882, 

Mr. R. A. Lawrence, Pastor Of Lynton-Road Baptist Chapel, Bermondsey,

died, cut off in the midst of his usefulness, at the early age of 46, leaving a widow and family nearly unprovided for. A fund was subscribed for the bereaved ones, and collections taken at the various chapels. Here are a few notes of Mr. Anderson’s sermon, preached on Lord’s-day evening, January 28, 1883, when a collection was taken for the above Fund-text, Exodus 16:35: “And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited. They did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” God is never surprised, but He often surprises His people. He increases faith by trying it. Former deliverances generate confidence, and “Ebenezer” is written upon every trial—“a stone of help.” The Israelites murmured, a sin that cost them much trouble, and a sin that the apostle would have us all beware of. God might have rained fire upon them for that, but He rained food. Thus how slow is His anger, and how great is His mercy. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” Altogether, the manna was plainly a type of Christ. (1) In its name, which indicated a mystery; (2) in its colour, white; (3) in its taste, sweet like honey. “Unto you which believe He is precious.” How sweet to a soul that knoweth Him is Jesus; and (4) in its position, on the ground which typified the condescension of Christ. Here God’s love met the people’s necessities. It was suited to hungry souls. There was plenty for all. It was constant and unfailing, but when the sun waxed hot it melted. They gathered it. In this provision the Lord called their various powers into exercise; it was not in heaps. Do not say you have no time to read the Scriptures. Make time for it; take this hint. Allow time for all such duties. After gathering they took it home. Meditation should follow reading, just as digestion follows eating. Christ, in the Bible, is like a child’s puzzle map. Sympathy and cooperation were called forth. Some gathered more, some less; but they that gathered much had nothing over, and they that gathered little had no lack. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be kindly affectioned one to another.” Lastly, there was no other provision. Some despised the manna, and some despise Christ. Have I any here to-night who see no beauty in the Son of God? Hear this word: “There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” May God help and give an appetite. Amen.

Mr. Anderson As A Thinker

There is a striking resemblance between Mr. Anderson’s prose and Thomas Scott’s; indeed, he had much in common with the Author of “The Force of Truth.” Scott was brought from Arminian mystification to free-grace simplicity, as is well known, through the preaching and friendship of John Newton. This Mr. A. explained with some animation, at the same time presenting us with his copy of that work in 1874, while the new edition of Stevens’ hymns was in preparation. On the fly-leaf is written, “J. S. Anderson, 1847,” at which period he was engaged in the London City Mission, and the prayerful perusal thereof evidently stablished, strengthened, and settled him as a staunch Calvinist. As a thinker he was independent, though not deep. In his addresses to the young men, at the Mutual Improvement Class, he would seek to stimulate what was so peculiar and profitable to himself. He would often remark: ”You young people, I would have you think for yourselves.” And again: “How few Christians seem to understand the doctrine of justification by faith.” 

Among the numerous notes, in his own hand-writing, in “The Force of Truth,” we find one so characteristic of him as to warrant its being transcribed here. It seems, that during the author’s exercises of mind in the transition from sand to rock, and from darkness to light in doctrine, he did not read any works written by Churchmen calculated to help him, but after chaos had given place to order, and the rest of his heart had been found, he received several books upon those very subjects he had been in doubt about. “Sometime in November, 1777,” Scott wrote, “I was, by a then unknown friend, furnished with a considerable number of books written, in general, by the old divines, both of the Church of England and of the Dissenters, and to my no small surprise, I found that these doctrines, which are called Methodistical, are, in these books, everywhere discoursed of as known and allowed truths; and that the system which, despising to be taught by men, and unacquainted with such authors, I had, for near three years together, been hammering out for myself, with no small labour and anxiety, was to be found ready-made to my hands.” The following is Mr. Anderson’s note upon the above:—“Why were not these books sent before? because God would have us hammer out for ourselves.”

Mr. Anderson’s hymns and poems may be compared to John Newton’s. He was very partial to Newton’s hymns. Upon the highest and brightest of all themes, he would often quote the verses:—

“What think ye of Christ? is the test,

To try both your state and your schemes;

You cannot be right in the rest,

Unless you think rightly of Him.”

At the Lord’s Table, after the opening hymn had been sung, he would look lovingly round upon his flock then present, and sometimes preface the few remarks he was wont to make with,—

“Time, by moments, steals away,

First the hour and then the day;

Small the daily loss appears,

But it soon amounts to years.”

Those who have the old editions of Stevens’ Selection will remember that the last two verses only of the well known hymn of Newton’s—”Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God”—are found there. Mr. Anderson at once restored the hymn to its original fulness, save that one verse is omitted, four verses being considered sufficient to sing at once. Being so naturally tender to the weak, he used to defend the verse,—”‘Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought,” from the tabooing it has received in some quarters. Also the spiritual discernment contained in the hymn, “I asked the Lord that I might grow,” was often commented upon and given out. These hymns that we have cited were all “dear Newton’s,” as Mr. A. would say; and it will be seen how much his thoughts and experiences harmonised with the author of, ”Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near.” We shall never forget the sweetness of the hymn, “Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat,” as given out by Mr. A. one evening, after a sermon from: “I was brought low, and He helped me.” Mr. Anderson generally underrated his own performances in this respect, which certainly have been, and will continue to be, useful to the Church of Christ, and as certainly are not calculated to disgust persons of the most superior discernment, if only they have the love of Christ.

Referring again to Stevens’ Selection for a moment (concerning the compilation of which we have quite a little history), it was a happy thought to make the grand hymn of Perronetts, “All hail the power of Jesus’ name,” No. 777, for of all hymns there is a sevenfold harmony in that. We always associate the singing of it with the Ascension Psalm (47).

Mr. George Wyard, A Solid And Faithful Preacher,

stood for some years pastor of Zion and other London Churches. He was a painstaking and interesting author, and hymn-writer as well. Amongst other works he published three volumes, entitled, “Daily Reflections,” containing good Gospel truth in prose and verse. During his pastorate at New Cross, several members of his family settled at Deptford and Lewisham, and amongst them at last he returned to die. His stately and venerable form would be often with us at Zion. He died December 3, 1873, from effusion of serum on the brain, in a good old age. On the Monday evening previous to his death, he was present at the usual prayer-meeting, when Mr. Anderson requested him to engage in prayer, and we well remember (it was noticed by many) the sweetness with which he was evidently led out at the throne of grace.

“His Maker kissed his soul away,

And laid his flesh to rest.”

To many hearts, doubtless, his memory is still dear. It is embalmed in Stevens’ Selection by two hymns—No. 607, “O Thou, who dost Thine Israel keep”; and 608, “Just and holy, Lord, art Thou”—which were selected from “Daily Reflections” at Mr. Anderson’s request. His widow, much beloved, has recently passed to her everlasting home.

Metropolitan Association Of Strict Baptist Church, Annual Meetings, March 10, 1891

Zion Chapel, New Cross, in which the annual meetings of the Association were held, is indeed a most beautiful building, and one that reflects the good taste of those who planned it. The dear friends here warmly cherish the memory of their late pastor, and are very happy with our brother J. H. Lynn, who is a choice man of God, and worthy of the honoured position he holds as successor of our beloved brother J. S. Anderson. On the wall of the chapel, in a line with the pulpit, is a handsome mural tablet of marble, containing the annexed inscription:—

“In memoriam, John Slate Anderson, who fell asleep April 20th, 1888, aged 69 years. He was for 31 years a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, 24 of which were spent in the service of his Divine Master as Pastor of the Church meeting here for worship.

“This Tablet, together with a monument placed over his remains in Brackley Cemetery, have been erected as memorials to his worth by the sorrowing Church and congregation.

“HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH.”