RICHARD WATSON

THEOLOGIAN AND MISSIONARY ADVOCATE

by

EDWARD J. BRAILSFORD

London

CHARLES H. KELLY

2 Castle St., City Rd., and 26 Paternoster Row, E.C.

The Library of Methodist Biography

Edited by

REV. JOHN TELFORD, B.A.

to the

REV. W. THEOPHILUS DAVISON,

m.a., d.d.,

himself a preacher, scholar, and theologian,

is inscribed this sketch of

the life and work of

RICHARD WATSON.

CONTENTS

I. Home, School, and Workshop

II. Call and Early Ministry

III. 1801–1812

IV. Circuit and Official Life

V. The Great Missionary Movement

VI. Pulpit and Platform

VII. Theologian and Apologist

VIII. Personal Traits and Place in Methodism

RICHARD WATSON

THEOLOGIAN AND MISSIONARY ADVOCATE

CHAPTER I

HOME, SCHOOL, AND WORKSHOP

The soil of Lincolnshire is held sacred by the millions of the people called Methodists. Near the western edge of the county lies the town of Epworth, where Wesley was born. It rests quietly on a tract of undulating land reclaimed from the surrounding marshes. Many pilgrims visit it devoutly from time to time. They come from both hemispheres; for, however far that little spot may be from the whirl of busy life, they know that a force has gone out of it which has moved the world.

But Lincolnshire is rich in Methodist associations. Dotted over it here and there are the birthplaces of men who have shaped its history and spread its influence. Thomas Fuller, summing up a remarkable list of Lincolnshire worthies, exclaims, ‘Thus sea and land, church and camp, sword and mace, gospel and law, were stored with prime officers out of this county.’ In like manner—and almost in equal variety—Methodism has been indebted to this shire of broad acres. Richard Watson, Robert Carr Brackenbury the ‘squire’ and scholarly evangelist, John Hunt the missionary, Charles Richardson the ‘peasant preacher,’ John Hannah the theologian, Daniel Isaac ‘the polemical divine,’ and Frederick J. Jobson, were all men of renown. But the greatest of these was Watson.

The period of Methodist history to which he belonged was transitional. Methodism was developing rapidly, and every movement it made was important and critical. Its life was being shaped into new forms, and its energies were feeling on all sides for outlets of expression. Men were needed to inspire, direct, and mould; and they were given. Adam Clarke, Joseph Benson, Jabez Bunting, Robert Newton, were remarkable for their varied talents. They were all mighty preachers; but each of them had a specific force as scholar, theologian, statesman, or orator, which was his distinctive quality. Greatness may either lie in intensive powers or extensive energy. The subject of this memoir was great in both. He had a union of forces, a combination of qualities, and a range of influence which none of his contemporaries possessed.

Richard Watson was born at Barton-on-Humber in the year 1781. His father, Thomas Watson, was a saddler—intelligent, honourable, God-fearing. Ann Watson, his mother, who came from London, seems to have endowed ...