Samuel Fothergill
Samuel Fothergill
Samuel Fothergill (1715-1772) was the youngest son of eminent Quaker minister, John Fothergill. As a young man, Samuel yielded to various temptations, “giving way to the indulgence of his evil passions, and abandoning himself to the pursuit of folly and dissipation.” So great was his rebellion against the Truth, that his father, upon embarking on a long trip to America, took leave of him with these words—“And now, son Samuel, farewell!—farewell!; and unless it be as a changed man, I cannot say that I have any wish ever to see you again.” These words pierced Samuel’s heart, and were used of the Lord as a means to turn him to the path of repentance and conversion. Feeling the terrors of the Lord for sin, Samuel was made willing to abide under His righteous judgments, and so yielded to the transforming power of divine grace that, in time, he became one of the most distinguished and influential ministers of his day.
Here also, I met with Samuel Fothergill, then young in the ministry; but even then appearing with a solemnity, brightness, and gospel authority, which gave friends lively hopes of his proving, as he did, through the succeeding stages of his life, a bright and shining light, a vessel of honour indeed, of eminent service in the church of Christ.
- James Gough
Books by Samuel Fothergill
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The Life and Letters of Samuel Fothergill
The Life and Letters of Samuel Fothergill
A memoir of the life and gospel labors of Samuel Fothergill, consisting chiefly of extracts from his written correspondence and journal entries of his travels, with biographical and historical information supplied by George Crosfield; also containing a short account of the life and travels of his father, John Fothergill.
- 469 pages
- journal
“The passionate preacher has affected the passionate hearer; both have been in raptures, and neither of them edified. Mistake not the warmth of the passions for the gospel authority. The first is like the rattling thunder, which frights, but never hurts; the last is like the lightning from the east, which illuminates, and, at times, breaks through all opposition and melts every obstruction.”
— Samuel Fothergill