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The Way to True Excellence: The Spirituality of Samuel Pearce is a dissertation that seeks to understand why and how the late eighteenth century pastor, Samuel Pearce (1766–1799) was a model for spirituality. Pearce was the pastor of Cannon Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, England from 1790 until death in 1799. Pearce only lived to be thirty-three years old, but he had a very successful ministry in Birmingham, was sought after as a preacher through Great Britain, and was an integral part of the Baptist missionary movement that helped bring about a sea-change in evangelicalism. For decades after his death, John Ryland and other Baptist leaders referred to Pearce as the “seraphic Pearce.” One year after his death Andrew Fuller published Pearce’s memoirs, Memoirs of the late Rev. Samuel Pearce, and the latter became a model of eighteenth-century Baptist piety. In this thesis, three areas of his piety are examined against the backdrop of eighteenth-century evangelicalism: his preaching as a model for a spirituality of the word, his marriage and friendships as a model for a spirituality of love, and his commitment to the Great Commission as a model for a spirituality of mission. With the examination of these three areas, this thesis seeks to show to what extent Pearce’s spirituality captures the quintessence of late eighteenth-century Baptist spirituality.

This dissertation examines the manner in which Benjamin Keach used metaphors in his published sermons. The first chapter provides a thorough introduction to the dissertation, including the research objective, methodology, and source materials. Chapter 2 concerns Keach's role as a preacher. In particular, the chapter assesses the formative influences upon Keach's preaching, including the political and religious environment of England in the mid-seventeenth century. Keach's preaching in rural Buckinghamshire as well as his pastoral ministry in London are explored. Chapter 3 contains a survey of Keach's published sermons. These messages are organized into three primary groups: pastoral, doctrinal, and parabolic. Each sermon or collection of sermons is examined for general themes and textual basis. Chapter 4 considers Keach's own understanding of metaphors in general, which is necessary in order to demonstrate the ways in which Keach employed metaphors and perceived the relationship of metaphor to the task of preaching. Keach's Tropologia contains substantial material pertinent to this investigation. Chapter 5 explores the various ways in which Keach interpreted specific metaphors, both metaphors from Scripture and those from his personal experiences. His interpretive method was informed heavily by a commitment to the authority of the Bible. Chapter 6 details the manner in which Keach specifically used metaphors, and his sermons provide many supporting examples. The use of established rhetorical criteria makes possible the task of locating, categorizing, and evaluating the material. Chapter 7 synthesizes the pertinent information from the previous chapters and draws specific conclusions from the research. These conclusions support the thesis of the study and bring the dissertation to an appropriate end. This work contends that Keach utilized metaphors in his sermons as a primary means to enable a greater understanding of the biblical text and to connect readily with the intellect and emotions of his audience. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Mid-seventeenth-century England saw numerous religious sects come into existence, one of which was the Calvinistic Baptist group. During the upheaveal of the revolutionary years this group was often accused of heresy by their orthodox/reformed contemporaries. At that time Hanserd Knollys, one of their London pastors, was personally charged with holding heterodox beliefs, in particular, Antinomianism, Anabaptism and Fifth Monarchism. In addition, Knollys has been accused of hyper-Calvinism. This version of Calvinism was held by some eighteenth-century English Calvinistic Baptists. Some Baptist historians have suspected Knollys of holding this teaching in the seventeenth-century, or at least they have felt it necessary to defend him against it. All of these charges are serious, and consequently bring into question Knollys' orthodoxy. This thesis will systematically examine each charge made against Knollys in its context, and comprehensively from Knollys' writings seek to determine if they were valid. Furthermore, this thesis will elucidate Knollys theology, particularly his soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology.

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