On John Gill

by Andrew P. Beauchamp

On November 23, 1697, in Kettering, Northampshire, England, Edward and Elizabeth Gill were blessed with a boy whom they named John. As he grew up under the instruction of his parents, John developed into a knowledgeable and learned lad. His large capacity for learning pushed him out of reach of common teachers, and John was sent to grammar school, where he studied with uncanny ability. John was but eleven when he left, having surpassed his comrades and others who were much older. He had become superbly versed in the principal Latin classics and had mastered Greek, considering he met with the local clergyman in the bookseller’s shop so often that when those in the neighborhood wished to express a certainty, they would finish their statement with, "It is as sure, as that John Gill is in the bookseller’s shop." Those who knew him well, later in his life regularly used a form of this colloquialism: "As surely as Dr. Gill is in his study." You can see that John was very dedicated to his studies.
As I stated before, he had to leave the school at eleven years of age. This was because the Master had insisted that each pupil learn the church catechism and attend the Parish church. Edward and Elizabeth’s Particular Baptist convictions were so strong, they would not allow this and they quickly withdrew him from the school. This, however, did not quench his desire to learn, and at home, without any human aid, John taught himself Hebrew by the way of Buxtorf’s grammar and lexicon. It was not too long before he could read the language as well as he could English.
At about twelve years, Mr. Gill became absorbed in spiritual things, especially after being a recipient of an Eld. Wallis’s sermon on Gen. 3:9, "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" The Lord showed him his helpless state as a sinner and, being convicted, Mr. Gill was baptized by Mr. Thomas Wallis, Mr. W. Wallis’s successor as pastor, on November 1st, 1716. The following Sunday, Nov. 4th, the church received him as a member.
Mr. Gill was soon divinely impressed to preach, and everywhere he went, the Lord blessed him. He moved to Higham-Ferrers to continue his studies under Rev. John Davis, but it was not long before Mr. Gill recognized his move to be by the providence of God, for there he met and married a young lady in 1718. In the span of their forty-six-year marriage, they had many children, all of whom died in infancy except three.
Soon after their marriage, the church at Kettering called him to be their pastor, which he accepted. He was a great blessing there, but in 1720, the church converging at Fair Street, Horselydown, Southwark, London, because of the recent death of their pastor, called him to pastor them after he had preached there multiple times.
Now that we have covered his life to his position as a minister and pastor, we will examine some of the accomplishments he made throughout his journey here on earth. As I stated before, Mr. Gill, at a very early age, learned the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. Afterwards he added to his knowledge the Arabic, Syriac, Chaldiac, and Persiac languages, as well as being well acquainted with the languages of Modern Europe. He also confessed at forty-two years of age that he had read Logic, Rhetoric, Ethics, Physics, and Metaphysics; the Ethnic Philosophers, Platonists, and Stoics; the Greek and Roman Historians, Herodotus, Pausarias, Livy, Sallust, etc.; the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Christian Church, and its church history; also the Jewish-Torgums, the Minsah, the two Talmuds, Babylonian, and Jerusalem; the Rabbot, Midrashim, Zohar and other Jewish writings, both ancient and modern. After this confession, Mr. Gill added, "I am not now too old to learn, and through divine goodness do not want industry, diligence and application."
He wrote An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, which is certainly a masterpiece. For, besides the fact that he hits on every verse, when he meets a controversy, he examines all sides of the argument, generally removing the difficulty. During the span of his life, Dr. Gill also completed four other works of literature: Discourses upon the Book of Canticles, The Cause of God and Truth, Sermons and Tracts, and probably Mr. Gill’s most profound and widely known work, his Body of Divinity. This book contains doctrinal and practical beliefs that he acquired through the study of the scriptures. One John Ryland said of his literature, "Dr. Gill is the only systematic writer in our language who has treated wisely on the divine perfections. His discourses are clear, judicious, and very correct." Had these works been published as one, the pages would have counted to MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND, all written (and corrected, when going through the press) by his own hand.
John Gill was, during his time, the most complete minister and student of the Scriptures. He could defend the five points of Calvinism like no other because his arguments were always consistent with scripture. He was an ardent believer in immersion baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances of Christ. The following quote he inserted in a Church book: "We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be continued until his second coming; and that former is absolutely requisite to the latter: that is to say, that those only are to be admitted into the communion of the church, and to participate in all ordinances in it, who, upon profession of their faith, have been baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
And of baptism particularly, he wrote: "This is a way of duty, but not of life and salvation; it is a command of Christ to be obeyed by all believers in him, but not to be trusted in and depended on; IT IS ESSENTIAL TO CHURCH COMMUNION, not to salvation… The faith in Christ alone for salvation is a prerequisite to baptism. Can any man in his senses think that we depend on this ordinance for salvation, when we require that a person should believe in Christ, and profess that he believes in Christ alone for salvation, before he is baptized; or otherwise, we judge he is not a fit subject?"
John Gill’s "very distinguished progress in sacred literature, the oriental languages, and Jewish Antiquities" earned him in the year 1748, a Diploma from the Marischal College, Aberdeen, declaring him a "Doctor of Sacred Divinity." Regarding this reward, he said, "I neither sought it, nor thought it, nor bought it."
In his final days, Dr. Gill wished to end the song of Zacharias, that is "to depart in peace." Sadly, his health slowly decreased, bringing with it pain and loss of appetite. This, however, did not weaken his faith and trust in God. To summarize his creed, that which he firmly and whole-heartily supported, even to his deathbed, I will quote a passage of a letter he wrote to his nephew during his last days.
"I depend wholly, and alone, upon the free, sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love of God; the firm and everlasting covenant of grace, and my interest in the Persons of Trinity, for my whole salvation; and not upon any righteousness of my own; or on anything in me, or done by me under the influences of the Holy Spirit…Not upon any services of mine, which I have been assisted to perform for the good of the church, but, upon my interest in the Persons of the Trinity, the free grace of God, and the blessings of grace streaming to me through the blood and righteousness of Christ, as the ground of my hope. These are no new things to me, but what I have long been acquainted with; what I can live and die by. I apprehend I shall not be here long, but this you may tell to any of my friends."