Samuel James

Samuel James (1716-73) was born near Litchfield, in Staffordshire, 4 August 1716.  His father, Rev. Philip James, was a native of Glamorganshire, born in 1664.  He went to Oxford to enter the church, but fell among some Baptists and was thereafter effectively disowned by his father.  In 1705 he became pastor at of the Baptist church at Warwick, then moved around some, and ended at Hemel-Hempsted, in Hertfordshire in, where he pastored until his death in 1748 at 84.  In 1721 Samuel began school at Hempsted under the tutorship of Daniel Turner, who had been a student there as well under Samuel’s father.  Turner later became a significant Baptist minister at Abingdon (133-34). Eventually, after further schooling in various places, Samuel ended up in Hitchin on 31 October 1742, where he remained until his death.

Isaac James includes a series of passages from Samuel’s diary in his Memoir and under 3 December 1759 he writes, “This morning set out for London in order to print the Experiences.   Got safe to Newington.  Spent the evening with my friend Bowles.” [This was later published as An Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of God with Several Eminent Christians (London, 1760; 6th ed. 1786)]

On June 1, 1761,  James preached at Cambridge at the ordination of Robert Robinson from Heb. xiii.18, “shewing what great need ministers have of the peoples’ prayers.  Pray for us.  Found some freedom in pressing the exhortation.  Hope it was a comfortable opportunity.  Mr. Wallin gave the charge, and a very serious, suitable one it was.” On March 6 he notes that he “proposed the eldest son and two daughters of our friend Robinson to the church.  Remarkable that three out of one family should be brought in together” (148). On March 18, 1763, he writes: “Agreed to introduce hymns into the congregation and at the Lord’s table, which I have greatly wished’ (150). On 5 September 1770, the Baptist College in Rhode Island conferred on Samuel James the degree of M. A. Samuel James spent some time in Bristol in June 1772 “to try the effect of the waters” and recovered somewhat, but soon his health went bad again (he had the dropsy).  He died on 22 August 1773, at the age of 57 (154).  John Ryland, Jr., then at Northampton, preached for the church at Hitchin that day (to which Isaac adds, “and it is with heartfelt pleasure I add that he has been my highly esteemed pastor for more than thirty years”[154]).  John Ryland, Sr. spoke at the graveside ceremony, and Benjamin Wallin preached the funeral sermon, which was printed.  His wife Mary Needham James died in London in 1779 at the age of 65. 

Isaac James writes in his "Memoir" of his father in 1824 that his “sentiments were Calvinistic, but in his preaching he was rather practicl than docrinal, abut not to the neglect of the latter.  His library contained a rich treasure off the old Puritan divinity.  He lived on the most friendly terms with his Independent brethren at Hitchin, viz. the Rev. James Webb (once his fellow student) and his successor the Rev. Edward Hickman” (155).  He practiced Bunyan’s model of mixed communion. 

Samuel James had 11 children, of which Issac was the youngest.  His oldest sister Mary Needham married Mr. William Burder of Fetter Lane Church, brother to the Rev. George Burder, pastor of that church; the second daughter Anna married the Rev. William Button, who was born in 1754, schooled at Ryland’s academy in Northampton, baptized there in 1767 with John Ryland, Jr.  Button took over for Samuel James at Hitchin in 1773, but since he was opposed to open communion, he could not stay and left in January 1774.  He then took over a group who had withdrawn from Carter’s Lane church upon the death of Dr. Gill, also over open communion, and they formed a new church at Dean Street, Southwark, with Button as pastor; John Rippon took over at Carter’s Lane.  Button pastored there for the next forty years, until his death in 1821 (155-156).  Rev. John Geard took over at Hitchin in 1775 and was still there in 1825!  Quotations above from Isaac James about his father are taken from Isaac James,  Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel James, M. A, in An Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of God with Several Eminent Christians, in their Conversion and Sufferings.  Taken from authentiic manuscripts, and published for the comfort and establishment of serious minds,  9th ed., with considerable additions, and memoirs of the author, by his son, Isaac James (Bristol: I. James, 1824).