The Life And Ministry Of Thomas Henson
Earthen Vessel 1908:
Pastor Thomas Henson
This aged servant of God departed to be “with Christ” on July 4th, after a brief but painful illness, borne with great fortitude and a humble reliance upon Divine grace.
Mr. Henson was in his eighty-sixth year, and had served the Lord from his youth upwards. It was about 1841 that he was baptized at Park Street Chapel, Nottingham, and joined the Scotch Baptist Church worshipping there. Ere long he became a “preaching elder” of that Church. About this time he had a great desire to enter the foreign mission field, but the way was not opened. Instead, an invitation to undertake home mission work, first at Gravesend and afterwards at Pontypool, led to his removal from Nottingham. Subsequently he was for seven years Pastor of the little Baptist Church at Limps-field, Surrey. A period of home mission work in London followed, and then followed more pastoral work. One of the Churches of which Mr. Henson was Pastor was the historic Kingsgate-street, or which, in its Eagle-street days, Joseph Ivimey (the historian of the Baptists) was Pastor.
At the age of seventy-four Mr. Henson retired from active work, and, joining the Church at Carmel Chapel, Woolwich, threw himself heartily into the work there so long associated with the disinterested labours of Mr. and Mrs. Daynes Wood. As time went on he became a welcome supply among our Churches, and his deep, experimental preaching was blessed to many. From his earliest years he had been an earnest student of the Scriptures, and as years went by he had an increasing realisation of the doctrines of grace and a firm hold of the Word of God in all its fulness. He will be greatly missed in our Churches by both young and old, by whom he was much loved, and his translation to higher service leaves a gap on earth which will not be easily filled.
One of our Pastors, who knew him intimately, writes:—“Mr. Hensons’s ministry was characterized by the insight of the expositor, the force of the logician, the fervour of the evangelist, and the pathos of the sufferer. There were times when his prayers proved peculiarly helpful by their deep reverence, wide sympathy, and earnest pleading of the Divine promises. His presence in the pulpit or on the platform was an assurance that the hearers would not be affronted by triviality of thought or frivolity of spirit. His uniform example was calculated to impress his younger brethren with a sense of the serious nature and solemn issues of their high vocation. His bluntness of speech and manner towards men of gushing professions and effusive epithets recalls the discriminating criticism in the interesting Memoirs of the late John Hazelton (p. 194:), But to those who were privileged with his confidence there was revealed the rare combination of the feminine heart with the masculine head. The writer has often noticed the moistened eye and the quivering lip as, sitting in the study at Charlton, the veteran of many a hard fight has rallied his fainting comrade, and comforted him with the comfort wherewith he himself had been comforted of God.
“Our departed friend was eminently gifted with ‘the pen of a ready writer,’ and, like the inspired Psalmist, he used it to transcribe ‘the things he had made touching the King.’ During the previous editorship of the Eearthen Vessel & Gospel Herald Mr. Henson was a frequent contributor to its pages. A series of papers on ‘The Baptism’ and ‘The Temptation of Christ,’ ‘Jesus the Questioner’ and ‘Jesus the Healer,’ ministered to the edification of a large circle of discerning believers. Vigorous thought was expressed in graceful diction, thus supplying at once discipline for the reader’s mental powers and gratification of his literary tastes.”
As Pastor E. White remarked, in conducting the burial service, the truths our friend preached were the source of his strength while living, and the support of his weakness when dying. In the midst of excruciating pain he observed, in reply to his wife’s distressful query, “Why does the Lord permit you to suffer so?” “Since He wills it so, it must be best.” He ever avowed himself “a sinner saved by sovereign grace,” and as such—
“Fearless He entered Jordan’s flood;
At peace with heaven he closed his eyes;
His only trust was Jesu’s blood,
In sure and certain hope to rise.”—Kent
At the interment in Charlton Cemetery Pastors J. Wilson (representing the Free Church Ministers of Woolwich), J. Seeley, and W. H. Rose took part, and there were present deacons and friends from our Churches at Gravesend, Richmond, New Cross, Lewisham, Wilton Square, Woolwich, and Highbury.
Thomas Henson (1822-1908) was a sovereign grace preacher. In the early 1840’s, he became a “preaching elder” for the Scotch Baptist Church, Nottingham, which in essence was the church’s commission for him to serve as a circuit preacher in the local community. Eventually, he served the pastorates of several churches, including those meeting at Limps-field, Surrey and the historic Kingsgate-street, Bloomsbury (at one time overseen by the Baptist historian Joseph Ivimey). Throughout the course of his ministry, he came to adopt many of the views embraced by the Strict Baptists, not only becoming a highly esteemed supply preacher among them, but also contributing many articles to their magazines.
