William Romaine

William Romaine (1714-1795) was, like Augustus Toplady and John Newton, an evangelical Calvinist minister in the Church of England. Influenced by the preaching of George Whitefield in the 1750s, he soon faced significant opposition to his preaching among his fellow Anglican ministers, resulting in the loss of several of his pulpit ministries because of his religious “enthusiasm.” He finally settled as vicar of St. Anne’s, Blackfriars, in London, in 1766, and continued preaching there until his death in 1795. He also preached late in life at St. Dunstan in the West, near Fleet Street. Romaine joined with John Newton (after his arrival in London in 1780) to become one of the leading voices of the evangelical revival among Anglicans in London. Among Romaine’s writings are The Life of Faith (1763), The Walk of Faith (1771), and The Triumph of Faith (1795). See DEB.