In 1770 at age 16, Andrew Fuller confronts a drunk church member even though he wonders whether man can abstain from committing sin.

At age 16 in 1770, Andrew Fuller confronts a drunk church member and the member is excluded from the church.  But Fuller wonders whether man can control his behavior, abstain from sin, and do good rather than do evil.



Andrew Fuller (1754 – 1815) was an English Particular Baptist minister and theologian. Known as a promoter of missionary work, he also took part in theological controversy.

Andrew Fuller finds a drunk member who says he has no control over his drunkenness and Andrew tells the pastor

The Drunkenness of Noah by Michelangelo

But in the autumn of the same year an unhappy affair occurred in the church, which occasioned a breach between our pastor, Mr. Eve, and the people, which terminated in his leaving them; and, what rendered it the more afflicting to me, I was much concerned in it. The case was this: one of the members having been guilty of drinking to excess, I was one of the first who knew of it. I immediately went and talked to him, as well as I could, on the evil of his conduct. His answer was, 'He could not keep himself; and that, though I bore so hard on him, I was not my own keeper.' At this I felt indignant, considering it as a base excuse. I therefore told him that he could keep himself from such sins as these, and that his way of talking was merely to excuse what was inexcusable. I knew not what else to say at that time; yet the idea of arrogating to be my own keeper seemed too much. He, however, was offended, and told me that I was young, and did not know the deceitfulness of my own heart. Well, I went and told my pastor, who highly commended me, and said, 'We certainly could keep ourselves from open sins. We had no power,' he observed, to do things spiritually good; but as to outward acts, we had power both to obey the will of God and to disobey it.'

The drunken member is kicked out of the church.  But  can sinful men do the will of God or keep themselves from sin?

An imaginative depiction of Pope Gregory VII excommunicating Emperor Henry IV.

The business soon came before the church, and the offender was unanimously excluded: the excuse which he had made, too, was considered by all, I believe, as an aggravation of his offence. But, this affair being disposed of, the abstract question of the power of sinful men to do the will of God, and to keep themselves from sin, was taken up by some of the leading members of the church, amongst whom was my friend Joseph Diver. They readily excused me, as being a babe in religion; but thought the pastor ought to have known better, and to have been able to answer the offender without betraying the truth. They alleged that the greatest and best of characters, as recorded in Scripture, never arrogated to themselves the power of keeping themselves from evil, but constantly prayed for keeping grace; that, were it not for the restraining goodness and constraining grace of God, earth would be a hell, and the best of men incarnate devils; in short, that though we are altogether blameworthy for our evil propensities, yet, if they were restrained or conquered, it was altogether to be ascribed to God, and not to us. To support these ideas, they alleged the prayers of the faithful to be kept from evil, even from presumptuous sins, Psal. xix. 13; the declaration of the prophet, that 'the way of man is not in himself: it is not in him that walketh to direct his steps,' Jer. x. 23; the case of Hezekiah, whom the Lord left, that he might try him, that he might know all that was in his heart, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31; and the acknowledgments of such men as John Bradford the martyr, who, on seeing a man go to be publicly executed, said, 'There goes John Bradford by nature.'

If we have no power to comply with Scripture exhortations, why were they given to us?

Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law (1659) by Rembrandt.

"On the other hand, the pastor distinguished between internal and external power. He allowed that men had no power of themselves to perform any thing spiritually good; but contended that they could yield external obedience, and keep themselves from open acts of sin. In proof of this he alleged a great number of Scripture exhortations; asking, If we had no power to comply with them, why were they given us? The opponents did not deny our being exhorted to do good and to avoid evil, nor that it was our duty to do both and our sin to act otherwise; but they denied that this implied our being sufficient of ourselves to do any thing, even to think a good thought.

Some power is necessary to render us accountable beings

"In these disputes I continued for some time on the side of my pastor; but after a few months I felt difficulties on the subject which I could not answer, and which rendered me unhappy. I perceived that some kind of power was necessary to render us accountable beings. If we were like stocks or stones, or literally dead, like men in a burying ground, we could with no more propriety than they be commanded to perform any duty; if we were mere machines, there could be no sin chargeable upon us. Yet, on the other hand, the Scriptures expressly affirm that 'the way of man is not in himself,' and represent the godly as crying to Heaven for preservation from evil, ascribing all the good that was in them to Him who worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure. I prayed much, and laboured hard to solve this difficulty.

It is the grace of God alone that can make us conform to Divine precepts vs. It is a sufficiency in ourselves to conform to every Divine precept

Saying Grace is a 1951 painting by American illustrator Norman Rockwell, painted for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post's November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving issue.

My worthy friend Joseph Diver, who sustained a high character for wisdom and integrity, would reason thus with me: -- 'We ought to hate evil, and love the Lord; but it is the grace of God alone that can make us what we ought to be.' He would often speak of the equity of the Divine requirements in the words of David, 'I esteem all thy precepts in all things to be right; and I hate every false way.' And again, 'Thou hast commanded us that we should keep thy precepts diligently: O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!'' Thus it is,' said he, 'that we should turn every precept into a prayer, instead of inferring from it a sufficiency in ourselves to conform to it. All our conformity to the Divine precepts is of grace; it will never do to argue from our obligations against our dependence, nor from our dependence on grace against our obligations to duty. If it were not for the restraining goodness and preserving grace of God, we should be a kind of devils, and earth would resemble hell.'

Pastor Eve leaves the church

In October, 1771, our pastor, Mr. Eve, left us. I loved him, and he loved me, and took it hard that I had in some respects changed my views. I learned afterwards that he had entertained thoughts of me as being formed for the ministry, but this contention damped his hopes on that subject. He settled, when he left Soham, with a people at Wisbeach. I never look back upon these contentions but with strong feelings. They were to me the wormwood and the gall of my youth; my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. But though, during these unpleasant disputes, there were many hard thoughts and hard words on almost all hands, yet they were ultimately the means of leading my mind into those views of Divine truth which have since appeared in the principal part of my writings. They excited me to read, and think, and pray, with more earnestness than I should have done without them; and, if I have judged or written to any advantage since, it was in consequence of what I then learned by bitter experience, and in the midst of many tears and temptations. God's way is in the deep.

Andrew Fuller concludes that we have it in the power of our hands to do good, but we are disposed to do evil, and so to do good is not naturally in the power of our hearts

John Gill (1697 – 1771) was an English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology.

About this time I met with a passage in Dr. Gill, (I think it was in his Cause of God and Truth,) in which he distinguished between a thing being 'in the power of our hand, and in the power of our heart.' This, thought I, is the clue to our dispute. Every man has it in the power of his hand to do good and abstain from evil; and this it is which makes us accountable beings. We can do, or forbear to do, this and that, if we have a mind; but many have not a mind, and none would have such a mind but for the restraining goodness or constraining grace of God. We have it in the power of our hands to do good, but we are disposed to do evil, and so to do good is not naturally in the power of our hearts. 

Statue of Robert Hall (by sculptor John Birnie Philip), off New Walk, Leicester.  The Rev. Robert Hall (2 May 1764 – 21 February 1831) was an English Baptist minister.

It was some time after this that I became acquainted with Mr. Robert Hall of Arnsby, who, in conversation on the subject, recommended Edwards on the Will. On reading this work, and some other pieces on physical and moral impotence, I saw the same things clearly stated, in other words, which I had learned by bitter experience.

Source: Fuller, Andrew. The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller with a Memoir of His Life by Andrew Gunton Fuller. London, UK: G. And J. Dyer, Paternoster Row, 1846, pages 24-25.

Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) did not believe that people had the freedom of choice to become Christians using their own will, reasoning, mind, rationality or logic.

Benjamin Keach was pilloried for writing a catechism

Keach, a Calvinist theologian

Benjamin Keach (29 February 1640 – 18 July 1704) was a Particular Baptist preacher and author in London whose name was given to Keach's Catechism.

Given Keach’s importance within the denomination, his solid commitment to Calvinism was very influential. Consider, for example, his final major work, Gospel Mysteries Unveiled, published only three years before his death in 1704. This work was originally a series of sermons which exhaustively expounded all of Christ’s parables and similitudes. The discussion of the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7), for instance, ran to sixteen sermons and well over a hundred pages in the four-volume edition that was issued in the 1810s. Now, in his fifteenth sermon on this particular parable, Keach presents an understanding of regeneration and conversion that was common to most Calvinistic Baptists of his day and served to distinguish them from other denominational bodies like the Presbyterians who were fast moving out of the Calvinist orbit. 

The parable of the lost sheep 

Keach begins by observing that this parable clearly teaches that “lost sinners cannot go home to God of themselves,” but must be carried to him on the shoulders of Christ. To Keach this doctrinal conclusion was clear first of all from the reference to the lost sheep being placed on the shoulders of the shepherd. When other passages of Scripture talk of the “finger of God” (Luke 11:20) or the “arm of the Lord” (Isaiah 53:1), these anthropomorphisms are to be understood as references to God’s power. Likewise, Keach reasons, the mention of the shepherd’s shoulders in Luke 15:5 must be a reference to “Christ’s efficacious and effectual power,” especially, given the nature of the parable, as it relates to “regenerating and converting.”  

James Tissot - The Good Shepherd (Le bon pasteur) - Brooklyn Museum

Depiction of the Good Shepherd by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne showing the influence of this parable.

Regeneration is wholly God’s work

Keach then adduces further Scriptural proof that regeneration was wholly God’s work, a work in which men and women are entirely passive. There was, for example, John 15:5, where Christ informed the apostles, “without me ye can do nothing.” This verse clearly has to do with the living out of the Christian life, but Keach evidently sees principles embedded in it that also apply to entry into that life. Keach understands Christ’s statement “without me” to be a reference to Christ’s “almighty arm … made bare” and his “power exerted.” If it be true, therefore, that Christ’s power is vital for the presence of “acceptable fruit to God” during the Christian life, how much more is it the case that this power is required for “a sinner’s implantation into Christ.” Yet, because the verse has to do with living a fruitful Christian life, which involves effort on part of both the believer and Christ, it does not really substantiate Keach’s assertion that the sinner is passive in regeneration.

Keach Pilloried at Aylesbury

God inclines, bows, and subjects the stubborn and rebellious will to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ

The next verse that he cites, John 6:44a—“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”—is much more germane. The drawing involved here, according to Keach, is “the sublime and irresistible influences of the holy God upon the heart, by which he inclines, bows, and subjects the stubborn and rebellious will to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ.” Keach rightly links this verse with one later in the same chapter: “no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:65). That which is given, Keach emphasizes, is what enables a sinner to come to Christ: the gift of the indwelling Spirit, the affections of a new heart, grace, faith, and divine power. 

The children of God are born of God, not of man

An illustration of normal head-first presentation by the obstetrician William Smellie from about 1792. The membranes have rupturedand the cervix is fully dilated.

The third text that Keach cites is yet another Johannine one, John 1:13. The children of God, this verse asserts, are born “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Regeneration is not based on one’s physical lineage, nor on one’s “legal privileges” (so Keach reads “nor of the will of the flesh”). Nor is the new birth accomplished by any “power of man’s will, for “before a vital principle is infused” into a person, all that he or she can do are “dead works.” The “plain and evident” declaration of this verse is that “God is the efficient or great agent in regeneration.” 

The preacher cannot render his preaching effective

The painting Savonarola Preaching Against Prodigality (1879) shows the Florentine preacher Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) denouncing frivolous possessions and activities, in preparation for a bonfire of vanities by Ludwig von Langenmantel.

The Baptist preacher then quotes a series of Pauline verses—Romans 9:16; Titus 3:5–6; 2 Corinthians 3:5; 4:7; Philippians 2:12–13—as further confirmation of his position. With regard to the two texts from 2 Corinthians, Keach especially emphasizes that when it came to preaching, it was not the preacher who could effect the change about which he had been talking. It is not “in the power of the most able minister in the world, that the word preached becomes effectual; no, no,…it is from God” that preaching receives the power to change the hearts of men and women. 

In regeneration the unbeliever's enmity towards God is taken away and replaced by love and delight for God

"The Regeneration of Mother Earth", Contemporary Folk Art Painting by Jeanne Fry

In the next section of this sermon Keach provides additional arguments in support of his perspective on regeneration. These are based on a variety of Scripture texts, most of them drawn from the New Testament. It is in this section of the sermon that Keach defines what he understands regeneration and conversion to be. Regeneration he describes as “the forming of Christ in the soul,” a new creation or a new birth, which is accomplished by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Keach believes that regeneration takes place when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell a person, and a new nature, that of Christ, is formed within the heart of that individual. By this means the enmity towards God that grips the heart of every unbeliever is taken away, and a love and delight for God as their chiefest good imparted. Moreover, just as an unborn child contributes nothing towards its formation in the womb, so are “sinners wholly passive in regeneration.” 

In conversion, Christ seeks us first

Constantine's conversion, by Rubens.

When Keach comes to define conversion he includes what he had already said about regeneration and thus appears to blur the distinction between the two terms. Conversion, he states, involves a “two-fold act”: 

The Conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus as painted by Michelangelo

(1) Passive, which is the act of God’s Spirit, by which he infuseth a vital principle, and gracious habits, or divine qualities in the soul: in this act the creature is wholly passive. Christ…infuses life in the dead soul, as he did to dead Lazarus.


(2) Active, whereby through the power of that grace, the sinner being quickened, is capacitated to believe, and return to God: being acted, we act; for the Holy Spirit…so moves the soul, and the soul acts, and moves towards God. …first the sinner’s heart is turned, and then the sinner returneth, then, and not till then: if Christ sought us not first, and found us not first, and took not us up first by his arms and shoulders of divine power, we should never seek, find, nor return to him. 

The passive act is wholly an act of God to which humans contribute nothing

Benjamin Keach, Pillory

Although this passage shows Keach failing to observe a clear distinction between the two terms, his meaning is clear. What he calls the “passive” aspect of this “two-fold act” is what he has already termed “regeneration.” It is wholly an act of God, to which human beings contribute nothing. The Holy Spirit comes into the soul, and gives it both the power and the desire to turn to God. Thus, it is in regeneration that “the seed of actual conversion is sown” in a person’s heart. In conversion, on the other hand, the individual is vitally involved as his or her newly-given capacity to turn to God is now exercised. 

Keach’s pulpit ministry was characterized by vigorous evangelism and regular calls to the unconverted

Billy Graham by Boris Chaliapin (1904 – 1979)

Keach’s pulpit ministry was characterized by vigorous evangelism and regular calls to the unconverted to respond to Christ in faith. According to C.H. Spurgeon, in speaking to the lost Keach was “intensely direct, solemn, and impressive, not flinching to declare the terrors of the Lord, nor veiling the freeness of divine grace.” Typical of Keach’s evangelistic appeals to the unconverted is the following, cited by Spurgeon to illustrate the above statement: 

Christ is able to save you

Allegory of Salvation by Antonius Heusler (ca. 1555)

Come, venture, your souls on Christ’s righteousness; Christ is able to save you though you are ever so great sinners. Come to him, throw yourselves at the feet of Jesus. Look to Jesus, who came to seek and save them that were lost… You may have the water of life freely. Do not say, “I want qualifications or a meekness to come to Christ.” Sinner, dost thou thirst? Dost thou see a want of righteousness? ’Tis not a righteousness; but ’tis a sense of the want of righteousness, which is rather the qualification thou shouldst look at. Christ hath righteousness sufficient to clothe you, bread of life to feed you, grace to adorn you. Whatever you want, it is to be had in him. We tell you there is help in him, salvation in him. “Through the propitiation in his blood” you must be justified, and that by faith alone. 

Here we see the Baptist evangelism at its best: cleaving to Christ alone for salvation and intensely desirous that others might truly know this joy. 

Source: Haykin, Michael A.G. "LECTURES 1–2: THE ENGLISH PARTICULAR BAPTISTS, 1640s–1740s." Pages 23-29.

Pastor Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) warns his own daughter Mary that she is not aware of just how evil a sinner she is

To Mary Fuller

Are you convinced of your having done deeds worthy of death, eternal death?

The skull of Adam at the foot of the Cross: detail from a Crucifixion by Fra Angelico, 1435

And is it so, my dear Mary, that your desire is to the Lord and to the remembrance of his name?  Are you convinced of your having done deeds worthy of death, eternal death; and that all your hope and help is in the Lord Jesus Christ?  Is he precious to your soul ? And are you willing to give up all your sins, and to be his servant for ever ? If so, I know of nothing that ought to hinder your being baptized in his name. To see you thus put on the Lord Jesus Christ, will afford the greatest pleasure to us, though it may be a pleasure mixed with trembling. You are, at present, my dear, but little acquainted with the snares and temptations of the world, with the fickleness and sinfulness of your own heart, and with the difficulty, on these accounts, of persevering in the good ways of the Lord; preserving a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man: but, if God has begun the good work in you, it will be carried on. There is strength to be had from above; and we are encouraged to ask it of him.

Source: Haykin, Michael. The armies of the Lamb: The spirituality of Andrew Fuller. Dundas, ON: Joshua Press, 2001, page 137.

King David takes impregnable Jerusalem from the Jebusites, makes it a royal, political and theological capital, and is promised an eternal dynasty fulfilled in his descendant, Jesus.

2nd Book of Samuel, Chapter 7

Mazar, Eilat. The Palace of King David; Excavations at the Summit of the City of David Preliminary Report of Seasons 2005-2007

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

Jacopo Palma il Giovane, The Prophet Nathan Admonishes King David, early 17th century

Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”

But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

Painting Depicting Tabernacle In The Old Testament by Eileen Szydlowski

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

Child's Story of the Bible, by Mary A. Lathbury

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

King David's Tomb is a site considered by some to be the burial place of David, King of Israel, according to a tradition beginning in the 12th century. The majority of historians and archaeologists do not consider the site to be the actual resting place of King David

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

Vision of John of Patmos from the Book of Revelation (4:4)—four seraphim surround the throne of Christ, twenty-four elders sit on thrones to either side (Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry)

D.F. Payne (Senior Lecturer in Semitic Studies at Queen's University of Belfast and Academic Dean of London Bible College) comments:

7:1-17 Nathan's prophecy

Nathan, on the right, with King David, by Matthias Scheits (1630-1700)

This chapter continues and completes the story of David and the Jerusalem sanctuary.  The events recorded in it belong to a fairly lade date in David's reign, as verse 1 implies.

The most important passage in the books of Samuel, and one of the key passages in the whole OT

The Hereford Mapa Mundi (c. 1280 AD), depicting Jerusalem at the centre of the world

We have here the most important passage in the books of Samuel, and one of the key passages in the whole OT. It discusses the future of the Jerusalem sanctuary and of the Davidic monarchy—the two institutions which were vital to the people of Israel for several centuries after David. Through the prophet Nathan, God made firm promises to David about both of these things. These solemn divine promises amounted to an ‘everlasting covenant’ given to David (see 23:5).

A house for God and a house for David

The Tel Dan Stele (870–750 BCE) with reference to the "House of David"

The two themes are cleverly linked by the use of the word ‘house’. The same Hebrew word not only meant an ordinary house, but also a temple, and thirdly a dynasty (just as in English, the current British royal family is called ‘the house of Windsor’). The chapter begins by discussing David’s plans to build a temple for Yahweh, a house for God (5). Then in verse 11, the theme of a house for David is introduced—not his palace, but the Davidic dynasty, i.e. the sons and descendants who would succeed him as kings in Jerusalem.

The dynasty will last for ever even though some of David’s descendants would be unworthy kings, and would deserve and get divine punishment

The genealogy of the kings of Israel and Judah. Based on a literal interpretation of 1 and 2 Kings. Note: In the kings of Israel, a horizontal arrow can indicate a change of dynasty (lack of known genealogical connection).

God’s promises about both these things are brought together in verse 13: David’s son will build the temple; the dynasty will last for ever. These are very positive promises, but the chapter contains a number of negative points too. First, David’s plan to build the temple is refused. Secondly, God does not take pleasure in temples. (These two points are implied by verses 5-7.) Thirdly, verse 14 recognizes that some of David’s descendants would be unworthy kings, and would deserve and get divine punishment. These various points, both positive and negative, provide a description and an explanation for the events from David’s time (early tenth century BC) down to 587 BC. In that period the temple was built, not by David, but by his son Solomon. Many of their successors were weak or sinful, but the dynasty continued unbroken for four centuries.

In 587 BC, while Judah ceased to be a kingdom and the family of David never regained the throne, God's promise about David's descendants was permanent and fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ

Mary nursing the Infant Jesus. Early image from the Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome, c. 2nd century.

In 587 BC, the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and Judah ceased to be a kingdom. The family of David continued in existence, but never regained the throne. What message does this chapter hold for such a changed situation? It tells us first that God is not dependent on temples, and his people, therefore, do not need temples. Stephen re–emphasized this lesson in NT times (see Acts 7:44-50). Secondly, God’s promise about David’s descendants was permanent. It was the basis of the expectation of the Messiah, ‘great David’s greater Son’. This promise gave assurance to the generations of God’s people who lived in the last centuries of the OT period, and then received its fulfilment in the birth of Jesus Christ; as the whole New Testament and the Christian church bear witness.

Jesus Christ is the Son of David, the Messiah

The acronym INRI (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) written in three languages, as in John 19:20,^[112] Ellwangen Abbey, Germany.

All these promises, as God fulfilled them, would make David’s name great (9). Without question, David was Israel’s greatest king and his reputation stands for all time as one of the greatest men of history. However, his God–given greatness was not for his own benefit and glory, but in order to benefit the nation he ruled. So verse 10 indicates God’s plans and promises for Israel through David. These promises came true during David’s own reign and remained God’s ultimate plans for his people despite the fact that in later times Israel and Judah often suffered political hardships, chiefly because of their sins against God. These plans depended on the fulfilment of God’s promise to send a Son of David, the Messiah, who would be the one finally to bring God’s people the security and peace they always need.

Source: Payne, D.F.  "1 and 2 Samuel."  In New Bible Commentary – 21st Century Edition, eds D.A. Carson, R.T. France, J.A. Motyer, and G.J. Wenham.  Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1994, page 325.

Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) leaves "lying, cursing and swearing," for Christianity and becomes a pastor and theologian.

The Conversion of Fuller

Andrew Fuller (1754-1815)

The events surrounding Fuller's conversion are vital to a clear understanding of his subsequent life and ministry.  Fuller came to believe that he had been unnecessarily held back from salvation by the faulty theological assumptions that permeated the church of his upbringing.  He dedicated much of his ministry to working to overturn the High Calvinistic system then in vogue in many British Particular Baptist churches.  The story of Fuller's conversion can largely be told in his own words, thanks to the preservation of a series of lengthy letters he wrote on that topic.

"What believing was, I neither knew nor was I greatly concerned to know."

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, by Rembrandt

Fuller recounts that the sins of his childhood included "lying, cursing, and swearing."  He matured into a powerfully built man over six feet tall.  This strong build helped him to excel in wrestling.  His success in this popular pastime opened the door to spending free time with "other wicked young people," by which means his "progress in the way of death became greatly accelerated."  Petty gambling, acts of daring, and adolescent pranks worked together to deaden Fuller's conscience.  Though he sat regularly under the preaching of Pastor Eve, there was little visible effect.  Fuller describes why: "The preaching upon which I attended was not adapted to awaken my conscience, as the minister had seldom anything to say except to believers, and what believing was I neither knew nor was I greatly concerned to know."


In spite of Pastor Eve's shortcomings as an evangelist, the Word he preached became an effective tool when wielded by the Holy Spirit.  Fuller records that at about age 14, he began to have episodic bouts of deep conviction.  For example, he recalled,

What doest though here, Elijah?

Elijah in the wilderness, by Washington Allston.

"One winter evening, I remember going with a number of other boys to a smith's shop, to warm ourselves by his fire.  Presently they began to sing vain songs.  This appeared to me so much like reveling, that I felt something within me which would not suffer me to join them, and while I sat silent in rather an unpleasant muse, those words sunk into my mind like a dagger, "What doest though here, Elijah?"  I immediately left the company, yet shocking to reflect upon, I walked away murmuring in my heart against God, that I could not be left alone, and suffered to take my pleasure like other young people."

Andrew Fuller thinks about the future

William Blake: Christian Reading in His Book (Plate 2, 1824–27) from Pilgrim's Progress (1678) by John Bunyan

For the first time in his life, the onset of these seasons of conviction caused Fuller "to have much serious thought about futurity."  Following a path familiar to almost all English Dissenters, Fuller began to read some of the classic treatises of evangelical Christianity.  Among the titles he mentioned are John Bunyan's (1628-1688) Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and the ubiquitous Pilgrim's Progress.  He also derived benefit from the work of a Scottish author, Ralph Erskine (1685-1752); he particularly mentions being "almost overcome with weeping" at reading his A Gospel Catechism for Young Christians; or, Christ All in All in Our Complete Redemption.

Relief of allegory of Faith on the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc

Armed now with more direct information on the necessity of a personal conversion, Fuller struggled for several years with whether or not he had come to faith.  Scenes like the following happened to the conscientious young Fuller more than once:

"I felt myself the slave of sin.  I perceived that my heart was wicked, and that it was not in me to turn to God, or to break off my sins by righteousness.  Iniquity will be my ruin!"

Depiction of socage on the royal demesne in feudal England, ca. 1310.

"I was at times the subject of such convictions and affections, that I really thought myself converted; and lived under that delusion a long time.  The ground on which I rested that opinion was as follows --- One morning, I think about the year 1767, as I was walking alone, I began to think seriously what would become of my poor soul, and was deeply affected in thinking of my condition.  I felt myself the slave of sin, and that it had such power over me that it was vain for me to think of extracting myself from its thralldom.  Till now, I did not know but that I could repent at any time; but now I perceived that my heart was wicked, and that it was not in me to turn to God, or to break off my sins by righteousness.  I saw that if God would forgive me all the past, and offer me the kingdom of heaven, on condition of giving up wicked pursuits, I should not accept it.  This conviction was accompanied with great depression of heart.  I walked sorrowfully along, repeating these words: Iniquity will be my ruin!  Iniquity will be my ruin!  While poring over my unhappy case, those words those words of the Apostle suddenly occurred to my mind, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace."  Now the suggestion of a text of scripture to the mind, especially if it came with power, was generally considered by the religious people with whom I occasionally associated, as a promise coming immediately from God.  I therefore so understood it, and thought that God had thus revealed to me that I was in a state of salvation, and that therefore iniquity should not, as I had feared, be my ruin.  The effect was, I was overcome with joy and transport.  I shed, I suppose, thousands of tears as I walked along, and seemed to feel myself, as it were, in a new world....But strange as it may appear, though my face that morning was, I believe, swoln [sic] with weeping, yet before night all was gone and forgotten, and I returned to my former vices with as eager a gust as ever."

Fuller assumed that he must be essentially passive in conversion.  His mind was blinded to the possibility that he could throw himself on the mercy of God as a sinner.

The Conversion of Saint Paul, a 1600 painting by Italian artist Caravaggio (1571–1610)

Fuller assumed that he must be essentially passive in conversion.  Following the hyper-Calvinistic teaching of the Soham Baptist Church, he devoted his spiritual energy to seeking evidence that God had moved upon his soul in regeneration.  In the parlance of the day, he was seeking a "warrant" to believe.  At this point, his mind was blinded to the possibility that he could throw himself on the mercy of God as a sinner.

Fuller never exercised personal faith in Christ and was never converted.  Each repeated failure to find a spiritual peace led to increasing despair

Despair (1894), Edvard Munch

Though this process was repeated several times during his early teen years, Fuller never exercised personal faith in Christ and was never converted.  As he said, "I have great reason to think that the great deep of my heart's depravity had not yet been broken up, and that all my religion was without any abiding principle."  Each repeated failure to find a spiritual peace led to increasing despair in Fuller's life.  He poignantly describes the dilemma he felt:

 To hope for forgiveness in the course that I was in was the height of presumption

Rembrandt – "The Return of the Prodigal Son

"Indeed, I knew not what to do!  I durst not promise amendment: for I saw such promises were self-deception.  To hope for forgiveness in the course that I was in was the height of presumption; and to think of Christ, after having so basely abused his grace, seemed too much.  So I had no refuge.  At one moment, I thought of giving myself up to despair.  "I may," said I within myself, "even return, and take my fill of sin; I can be but lost."  This thought made me shudder at myself.  My heart revolted.  "What!," thought I, "Give up Christ, and hope, and heaven!"  Those lines of Ralph Erskine's then occurred to my mind:


'But say, if all the gusts
And grains of love be spent,
Say, Farewell Christ, and welcome lusts --
Stop, stop; I melt, I faint!


I could not bear the thought of plunging myself into endless ruin.

Though he had gone down these spiritual blind alleys, he finally found the Savior:

The Passage (The Dead End)

Though he had gone down these spiritual blind alleys "perhaps ten times over," one cold November morning in 1769, he finally found the Savior:

To cast my perishing soul upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, to be both pardoned and purified

The Damned Soul. Drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti c. 1525

"I was like a man a man drowning, looking every way for help, or, rather, catching for something by which he might save his life.  I tried to find whether there were any hope in the divine mercy, any in the Saviour of sinners; but felt repulsed by the thought of mercy having been so basely abused already.  In this state of mind, as I was moving slowly on, I thought of the resolution of Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."  I paused and repeated the words over and over.  Each repetition seemed to kindle a ray of hope, mixed with determination, if I might, to cast my perishing soul upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, to be both pardoned and purified; for I felt that I needed the one as much as the other.

King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther (artist unknown)

"I was not then aware that any poor sinner had a warrant to believe in Christ for the salvation of his soul; but supposed there must be some kind of qualification to entitle him to it.  Yet I was aware that I had no qualifications.  On a review of my resolution at that time, it seems to resemble that of Esther, who went into the king's presence contrary to law and at the hazard of her life.  Like her, I seemed reduced to extremities, impelled by dire necessity to run all hazards, even though I should perish in the attempt.  Yet it was not altogether from a dread of wrath that I fled to this refuge; for I well remember that I felt something attracting in the Saviour.  "I must -- I will -- yes -- I will trust my soul, my sinful, lost soul in his hands.  If I perish, I perish!"  However it was, I was determined to cast myself upon Christ, thinking, peradventure, he would save my soul; and if not, I could be but lost.  In this way I continued above an hour, weeping and supplicating mercy for the Saviour's sake.  My soul has it still in remembrance and is humbled in me!  And as the eye of the mind was more and more fixed upon him, my guilt and fears were gradually and insensibly removed."

Fuller clarified the role of hyper-Calvinism in sidetracking him spiritually

A peace sign, which is widely associated with pacifism

Fuller's extended struggle to find peace in Christ was a formative influence in the life of the pastor-theologian.  He clarified the role of hyper-Calvinism in sidetracking him spiritually:
"I now found rest for my troubled soul; and I reckon that I should have found it sooner, if I had not entertained the notion of my having no warrant to come to Christ without some previous qualification.  This notion was a bar that kept me back for a time; though, through divine drawings, I was enabled to overleap it....And if, at that time, I had known that any poor sinner might warrantably have trusted in him for salvation, I believe I should have done so and have found rest to my soul sooner than I did.  I mention this because it may be the case with others, who may be kept in darkness and despondency by erroneous views of the gospel much longer than I was."

In my ways, Fuller's life work can be seen as a labor to correct these "erroneous views of the gospel."

Source: Brewster, Paul. Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2010, pages to 11 to 16.