The Life And Ministry Of Thomas Hull

The Sower 1896:

The Silver Wedding Of His Pastorate

Twenty-five years is a sufficient time to test the true union that exists between minister and people, and truly the friends at Hastings have a hearty way of showing that they still love, esteem, and reverence their pastor; but, before giving an account of the interesting gathering which was held to memorialize the silver wedding, we would record a few incidents of the earlier period of the pastor’s life story.

Childhood And Youth

It was on the 16th of August, 1831, that Thomas Hull was born at Foleshill, near Coventry, a spot that was favoured at one time with the ministry of Mr. William Nunn (afterwards of Manchester), whose discourses were greatly valued by Mr. Hull’s mother. The father of little Thomas died when the boy was only three years of age. He was known as one of the best ribbon weavers in the county, and when the bread winner was taken away, hard times fell to the lot of the little family at Foleshill. The mother gallantly entered upon the struggle to provide food for her household, but in two years the hard labour so told upon her health that she became an invalid, and continued so for twenty-eight years. When this affliction came, the Union seemed to be the place where the widow would end her days, and relatives were ready to urge it, but the children now took up the struggle. Even little Thomas said he would go to work, so that his dear mother should not go to the Union, and at six years of age, he did go to work in a ribbon weaver’s shop, working from six in the morning until nine at night (Fridays ten o’clock). No schooling fell to his lot till about the age of ten, when one of the ribbon weavers, George Smith, who was a local preacher, and one ever ready to do good to others, opened a school for the working boys on Saturday afternoon. To this school Thomas went, and being of a persevering disposition, and having a retentive memory, he soon obtained an elementary knowledge of spelling, writing, and arithmetic. The Bible was the first book he learned to read. As he grew older, he went to a night school, in which he still further improved his knowledge.

At meal times he had his books, and would sit up studying till after midnight. Besides the ordinary branches of knowledge, he also obtained lessons in Euclid and land surveying. The latter he so far mastered that his master told him he might go and put a brass plate upon his door, “Mr. Hull, land surveyor,” but the Lord had other work in store for him than either ribbon weaving or land surveying; and this leads us to speak of his spiritual awakening. 

Conversion To Christ

Thomas Hull’s mother was a godly woman, whose memory he frequently speaks of with tender love and reverence, He believed in the godliness of his mother, and on one occasion, when he had a most difficult piece of work to do, and knew not how, he knelt down and prayed to his mother’s God to help him. He then attempted the work, and succeeded in accomplishing it; he felt this was an answer to prayer. He was twenty-two years of age when the praying mother’s petitions were answered, in the conversion of her son. One Sunday, in the year 1853, he was in the singing gallery of the Baptist chapel at Longford, when the minister preached from the words, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,” &c. (Joshua 24:15). The bow drawn at a venture entered between the joints of the harness; he knew that he had hitherto been choosing self and the things of the world, and not the things of God; he felt so conscious of his sinfulness and the just judgment of God, that he felt as he sat in the gallery ready to drop into the pit of despair. This anxiety continued, with no comfort, till early in the following year, when a Wesleyan preacher was one day speaking to him and some other young men, and, finding they were anxious about their souls, he said, “Have you ever fell upon your knees and said—”‘Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee’?” Thomas felt his heart respond, “Yes, that I have, and hang upon Him I will, even if I drop into hell.”

A few months after, at Easter time, he had been into Coventry and, returning home, he had proceeded some three hundred yards from the city gate, when his heart went up, “O Lord, give me a word; say Thou art mine, and I am Thine.” Immediately the words dropped with power into his heart, “Ye are complete in Him. Christ was brought nigh; he felt he was accepted in the Beloved—felt all his sins gone, as if he had never committed one. Then followed the lines, which were very precious— 

“But, since my Saviour stands between

In garments dyed in blood,

‘Tis He instead of me is seen,

When I approach to Gcd,”

Baptism

In July, 1854, he was baptized in the canal at Longford, his baptism taking place only a few yards from where he once, as a little boy, nearly lost his life. He was playing on the bank, and fell in; a young woman, being near, missed the child she had seen playing, and saw his hand still visible above the water; she raised the alarm, and a man left his loom and jumped into the water, but had to go down two or three times before he found him. Fortunately, he was not lifeless, and soon came round, spared, for the Lord had need of him.”

First Sermon

In the autumn of 1854 he was asked by a friend to go with him one Sunday to a village called Sowe, where he was going to conduct services. He went, and gave out the hymns in the afternoon. After the service, his friend said, “Now, my lad, you will have to preach tonight.” In vain he protested that he could not; but the friend went away and left him to think the matter over, coming back just in time for the meeting, and having entered the pulpit, he conducted the earlier part of the service, and then came down, and told young Thomas he must go up. In fear and trembling he did so, and spoke from the text, “God so loved the world,” &c., telling his hearers, among other things, that God’s love was like the round “o” in the little word so—without beginning and without end. The friends seemed favourably impressed, and wished him to come again.

Mr. George Smith, the friend who had started the Saturday afternoon school, which gave Mr. Hull his first instruction, was sorry that he had not had the first hand in leading his young friend to speak in the Lord’s name. So the next Sabbath he would have him go with him to Bedworth, and there he spoke from the words, ”The Spirit and the bride say, Come; let him that heareth say, Come; and whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.” He spoke of the Gospel spring being an open one, to which the thirsty were free to come and drink. An old man, speaking in prayer afterward, said, “O Lord, we thank Thee the Gospel is an open spring, and not shut up and padlocked.” In this remark the old man referred to the fact that, owing to water in the neighbourhood of Bedworth being scarce, those who had wells and pumps would shut them up and padlock them at night, lest the precious water should be stolen.

Mr. Hull had a great esteem for his old teacher and friend, George Smith, and remembers how he used to say to those who might be perplexed respecting the doctrine of election, “Seek to have thy heart right with God, and He will bring thy head right.” He also was very fond of quoting the lines—

“No more, my soul, attempt to draw

Thy life and comfort from the Law;

Fly to the hope the Gospel gives,

The man that trusts the promise lives.”

Brought Into Clearer Light

Mr. Hull was married on May 25th, 1857, and his beloved partner, the sharer of his many sorrows and joys, is still spared to him. A few months after his marriage he fell ill, and for a time it was feared he would not live. Now was the Lord’s sifting time: his mind was so dark that he felt to have lost his hope, and feared he was “twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” Presently the words came to him, “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” He replied, “Lord, I have no part in it.” The words came the second time; again he said, “Lord, I have no part in it.” The words came again the third time, and such was the power and light that came with them, that he felt lifted clean out of his despondency, and moreover could see now more clearly than he had ever done before, that salvation was alone of free and sovereign grace. Now he began to search the Scriptures respecting Divine sovereignty and man’s responsibility, and he wore out his Bible in his anxious search. He at length became so perplexed, that he pushed the Bible away, and said, “It is a mystery no one ever has been able to explain, and no one ever will.” Presently an inward voice said, ”Who made man a sinner? Did God?” “No,” he mentally replied, “sin lies at man’s door.” “Then,” said the inward monitor, “God has still power to command, though man has lost his power to obey.” He saw clearly the difference between the covenant of works and the Covenant of life, and that salvation was, and must be, of free and sovereign grace, and his heart was filled with joy.

Hitherto he had been worshipping with, and preaching amongst the General Baptists, now he had to leave them, and moreover he felt his mouth was stopped, and he could preach no more. The next Sunday after his deliverance he stayed at home, and an old lady, a good woman, came to visit his mother, and finding Thomas at home, she began to inquire why he was not out preaching as usual, and by degrees she found out the truth, with which she was so overjoyed that she said, “Come, my lad, let us sing ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow.'”

The next Sabbath he found his way to the little Strict Baptist Chapel at Bedworth. Mr. Doe was preaching, and he felt at home. After service he found out another old friend of his mother’s who lived in an almshouse, and went into her room to eat his dinner, and delighted was the old lady to have his company, and to lend him her frying-pan to hot up his dinner. It is true it had a hole in it, but with a little careful management it cooked the dinner beautifully. He was now a constant hearer at the chapel, and his soul was often refreshed under the Word. After a time he was prevailed upon to speak in prayer at the prayer-meeting, but he did so with much fear and trembling. At length, in 1865 (after six years’ silence), he was constrained by the Lord, and by the wishes of the friends, to again go forth in the ministry of the Word, preaching first before the Church and congregation at Bedworth. He was soon actively and acceptably engaged in preaching amongst the Churches the Gospel that he so dearly loved, till at length, in the providence of God, he was settled at Hastings, where for twenty-five years he has laboured amongst a loving people.

The Commemoration Meeting

On Wednesday, November 27th, 1895, a large gathering of friends took place at Ebenezer Chapel, Hastings. Nearly two hundred sat down to tea, after which a meeting was held in the chapel, which was well filled. Mr. Hull presided. The opening hymn was 952 (Gadsby’s)—

“Beloved Saviour, faithful Friend,

The joy of all Thy blood-bought train,

In mercy to our aid descend,

Or else we worship Thee in vain.”

Psalm 32 was then read, a Psalm that had spoken words of guidance to the Pastor twenty-five years ago, respecting his settlement at Hastings. Mr. Hull then engaged in prayer and thanksgiving. The following are a few of the desires given utterance to: “Thy goodness for twenty-five years has kept us in unity and peace. We thank Thee for the comfortable circumstances under which we meet. Many Churches and ministers have been parted, and saints have had to mourn, but we have been preserved. We have had many shakings and tremblings, seasons of barrenness and desolation, at the Land’s End in our feelings. Thy promise has helped us, ‘Fear not, I am with thee.’ The secret of our union has been, ‘Our springs are all in Thee.’ We render praise. We thank Thee we ever knew our friends. We pray for one another. Let us ever know what it is to have Christ within the doors.”

Hymn 289 was then sung— 

“Thus far my God has led me on,

And made His truth and mercy known;

My hopes and fears alternate rise,

And comforts mingle with my sighs.”

Mr. Hull’s Address

Twenty-five years ago, the 20th of last February, a stranger amongst strangers, I stood in this pulpit for the first time. Mr. Godwin had mentioned my name to the deacons, but I had many tremblings about coming. I was only a poor ribbon weaver, with no education except what I had pulled together after a hard day’s work, often sitting up till after midnight, and I felt altogether unfit to come to a fashionable watering-place. I told Mr. Godwin I would rather go into a wood to preach. He replied, “My lad, they are not a fashionable people, but those who love the truth. Thee go, and if you do not find them so, then come and say I was mistaken.” The only text I could get to come with was, “No more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints,” &c. I felt so at home in preaching, that it seemed as if I must have known the friends for years; indeed, I felt as I used to do at my old home at Bedworth. A few months after this visit I received an invitation to supply for eight weeks, with a view to the pastorate. I had previously received over a dozen invitations to take the pastorates of different Churches, and some of them I would have accepted, could I have felt quite at home, and believed it was the Lord’s will I should do so, but I could not. At Hastings I did feel at home, but I wanted to know the Lord’s will. I felt tired of the wandering life of a supply. I have slept in eleven different beds in a fortnight. I spread the letter from Hastings before the Lord, and very sweetly He at that time spoke the words, “I will instruct thee and teach thee the way in which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye,” &c. (Psalm 32:8, 9); and after a time He decided my steps with these words, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

But after my mind was settled as to the Lord’s will, I felt a great mountain was before me, as I knew my wife objected to leaving all our friends, and going to live amongst strangers; but when I told her of the Lord’s leading, in my mind, I found the mountain had melted, and she at once said, if it was the Lord’s will, she would go to Hastings, for she felt that my continued absence from home, when supplying the Churches, was like having a husband and no husband, a home and no home. After this conversation I attempted to write the letter to Hastings, but my hand trembled so that I could not do so. I was obliged to go to the Lord again in prayer, when He graciously spoke home the words, “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works” (Ecc. 9:7).

A minister from London just at this time preached from these words at Hastings, and two of our friends in hearing wished that the Lord would give me this text, to decide my mind to come to Hastings, and He granted their desire, as they afterwards told me.

I began the eight weeks’ probation at the beginning of October, 1870, and towards the close of November I received an invitation to take the pastorate. Since that time there have been many ups and downs, thousands of deficiencies, much anxiety, but “Thus far my God has led me on.”

Mr. Robinson Funnell’s Address

It was sixty years ago last July, in the year 1835, that I first entered this chapel. I loved Mr. Fenner (the former pastor) as a faithful servant of the Lord. Seven years I remained outside the Church, then I felt I must come inside. Thus I have been a member of this Church fifty-three years. Mr. Fenner was afflicted eleven years, and at one time we had forty consecutive Lord’s Days without a minister. When Mr. Fenner was removed by death, we began to inquire for a godly minister, and as both Mr. William Freeman and also Mr. Godwin spoke of Mr. Hull, we wrote for him to come. After the first Sabbath, an old man that attended here, who wore a white smock frock, said to me, “He’ll do, and if you are a good boy we shall have him,” which in due course came about. During Mr. Hull’s pastorate, one hundred and thirty-two members have been added to the Church, and for twenty-five years he has served the Church honourably, usefully, and profitably. Mr. Robinson Funnell then said that an album was to be presented to Mr. Hull, containing photographs of the chapel, the pastor, and the deacons, and an illuminated address, which he then read.

Congratulatory Address To Mr. Hull

The Members of the Church, Congregation, and Sabbath Schools, assembling at Ebenezer Chapel, Hastings,

To our beloved Pastor, THOMAS HULL:

We desire the sweet anointing of the Holy Ghost may warm our hearts in true thanksgiving to our gracious God and Father, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the goodness and mercy continued to us these twenty-five years as Pastor and People.

We joyfully followed the Divine leading which brought about your first settlement amongst us, when our hearts were united in mutual love to walk together in the ordinances of the Lord’s house.

And since that auspicious time, when the hand of our Covenant God was so plainly seen, it has been our happy privilege to watch His goings in the sanctuary, in blessing your ministry, lengthening our cords, strengthening our stakes, and causing us to break forth on the right hand and on the left.

Many precious souls have been awakened to eternal life, and seekers brought to rejoice in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Saviour; and some have seen the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your hand towards our children of the first and second generation, while the Family of Grace, amid many and varied dispensations of sorrow and joy, are living Epistles of your ministry as an Interpreter to lead us to Jesus Christ, our Living Way.

We have also sweet memories of the dying testimonies of dear departed ones, who set their seal to the Truth of God proclaimed among us, while many aged ones continue to find under the preached Word food convenient for them, and the rod and staff of the Good Shepherd still comfort them. Joining in this our desire to acknowledge the Lord’s great and continued goodness to us, and our abiding affection towards His servant, are many friends whose names appear on the following pages, who, having reaped spiritual blessings by your ministry, think it a small thing to contribute to the accompanying purse of £128, desiring that it may be made acceptable to you by the Lord, flowing into your soul as precious ointment coming down from our great High Priest, and we, as within the skirts of His garment, may share the heavenly joy, while we united]y pray that health and strength may be continued to you for many years yet to minister among us the Word of Life, to the ingathering of many more precious souls, and the prevailing of its gracious effects in the hearts and lives of your hearers, while truth and peace and love abound in all our borders.

Thus we commend you to our gracious Lord, who hath said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

Deacons: Mr. R. Funnell, Mr. F. S. Mann, Mr. J. Trimming, Mr. G. Goldsmith, Mr. T. White, Mr. H. T. Floyd, and Mr. J. Glazier.

After the reading of the address—[The beautifully illuminated address was written by Mr. J. Trimming, one of the deacons, who did much to make the memorial meeting a success]—Mr. Mann (one of the deacons), with a few loving words, presented the album and the purse, containing £128.

Mr. Hull’s Reply

Mr. Hull seemed quite overcome with this manifestation of his people’s affection. He said, “It is no use attempting to speak. I wish every Church had such deacons, and such a loving people, and no other change may it sustain, save only to increase. Since I have been here, there have been temptations to draw me away, but I have always said, ‘The Lord brought me here, and He must remove me.’ I have had many tokens of your love, but the last overwhelms me. It is fruit that will not be forgotten by Him. Do accept my humble attempt to thank you from my heart. May the choicest of Heaven’s blessing rest upon you each in soul, in body, and in circumstances. May the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush be with you. May we meet in the upper sanctuary, to see His face, and meet with those who have gone before.”

The congregation gave expression to their feelings of gratitude to the Lord for His mercies by singing most heartily hymn 959—

“For mercies countless as the sand,

Which daily I receive

From Jesus, my Redeemer’s hand,

My soul, what canst thou give?”

Mr. William Smith’s Address

Mr. Smith, pastor of Rehoboth Chapel, Tunbridge Wells, gave an interesting and humorous address. He said, “I have known your pastor longer than any of you, and I knew him when he was not nearly so well off, when he had only sixpence in his pocket to go to market with. We joined the Church at Bedworth together. We have wept together, we prayed together, and when someone presented him with a hare, we dined together. I knew him when he was amongst the Arminians, but they said he was a Calvinist in those days. God likes fruit-bearing trees, and there has been yellow fruit tonight. May the Lord’s richest blessing rest upon you each.”

Mr. E. Wilmshurst’s Address

Mr. Wilmshurst, pastor of Tamworth Road Chapel, Croydon, said he was reminded of David’s words, “Our family hath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother hath coromanded me to be there” (1 Sam. 20:29). He felt this was a meeting of ”our family,” and his dear friend and brother, Mr. Hull, had commanded him to be there, and his commands were not grievous, for he believed he loved him as much as the Hastings friends did, and that, he knew, was saying a great deal. He felt that a union of twenty-five years had been long enough to winter and summer one another, and he was glad to see their steadfastness to their pastor and to the truth; he was also glad to see their sympathy and their practical gratitude. But he wished to say that Mr. Hull had a larger family circle than was found in Hastings; it not only extended through England, but through all English-speaking lands. It is said the sun never sets on the Queen’s Empire; so we might say the sun never sets on the parish in which (through the press) your pastor is called to labour, and therefore on behalf of that world-wide family circle, he spoke tonight, to express, on their behalf as well as his own, an earnest desire that his life might long be spared, and that the richest heavenly blessings might rest upon all his labours.

Conclusion

Mr. Trimming (one of the deacons) expressed very feelingly his affection to the Church at Ebenezer Chapel, and to our beloved pastor.

Mr. Hull then, by way of conclusion, said, “Mr. Smith has said he remembers when I had only sixpence in my pocket to go to market. I can remember when I had not a penny. After the war in the Crimea, a treaty was made with France for the admission of French ribbons into England duty free. This ruined the English ribbon trade, in which I was engaged. I struggled hard to hold my own, often chin deep in difficulties. When I rose in the morning, I feared I not have my bed to lie on at night; a stranger passing would make me tremble for fear it might be the sheriff’s officer. On one occasion I picked up a threepenny piece. Never did a threepenny piece sparkle in my eyes like that one. I felt it was sent by the God of heaven. One Saturday I had no food for the Lord’s Day. A person called to ask my advice. After he had left I chided myself for not having asked him to lend me some money, but in a little while back he came, saying that he felt sure I must be in straitened circumstances, and asked if five shillings would be useful to me. This I gratefully accepted, and it gave us needful food for the next day. I came out of all this trouble just by the skin of my teeth, and this has given me a deep sympathy for those whose pathway in providence is full of difficulties.”

The Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” was then sung, and Mr. Robinson Funnell pronounced the Benediction. Thus closed a red-letter day at Hastings, a day that will ever give pleasant and grateful remembrances to the pastor and his loving people at Hastings.