Daniel Matthews Baptist Minister
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:33 pm
Just made connection between Clay family and others to Daniel Matthews Baptist Minister who broke away from George Barr & Rowley Parish Church to set up Baptist Chapel at Bell End details below
Could not find his marriage to Mary so if anyone can find it would complete story .
Before his ministry he was a Huckster which I thought was someone who sold door to door ?
http://www.bcconnections.tribalpages.co ... =625446542
Daniel Matthews and the strict Baptists of Bell End.
Strict Baptists owed their origins to Rowley and the preaching of the Rev George Barrs. Rowley Regis parish church had George Barr"™s as incumbent between 1800 and 1840, his forceful ministry was unlike any Anglican before him in Rowley. He bought about a change throughout the parish, raising moral standards, restoring law and order, getting rid of abuses and building up believers, he was vehement however against "believer"™s baptism." This led to some of his congregation check it out in their bibles "“ and found only believer"™s baptism to be there!
In his History of the Strict Baptist Chapels of England, Ralph Chambers tells us that George Barrs was a
"warm advocate for Scripture searching".Two of those who were members of the
Congregation of St. Giles Church were a Daniel Matthews and a Joseph Smith.
They listened to George Barrs' sermons on Infant Baptism and by searching the
Scriptures on their own became convinced in their own minds that baptism by immersion for believers only was the only baptism which Christ had given. This lead to a separation from the Church of England and eventually to
the formation of the congregations which became Strict Baptist churches. They
saw eye to eye with Barrs on the grand Scriptural truths of Covenant Redemption
but could not agree with his position on baptism.
Such men eventually started 3 strict Baptist churches within the Rowley parish which then included Old Hill and Blackheath. Including the churches which arose from them they gave the area more strict Baptist chapels per square mile than anywhere else in Britain.
In 1823 other Baptists opened a rented chapel in Bell End Rowley village and formed a church of seven members. Daniel Matthews had a choice between this new local Baptist group who"™s ministry had "a mixture of faith and works" and the more Calvinistic chapel in Bartholomew St Birmingham which was not Baptist, at first he chose the latter. One day Matthews revisited the Rowley Baptists "to see if they had altered" No preacher arrived so Daniel was persuaded to preach. His emphasis on mankind"™s "fallen and ruined condition" and on the need for a new birth seems to have upset them and many started leaving. They never asked him again. However in 1828 the chapel closed and the owner immediately offered it to Matthews.
"a warehouse at Rowley Regis registered for Protestant Dissidents by Daniel Matthews of Rowley, Rivet maker on 14/05/1829"
Matthews was an extreme isolationist, he never mixed even with other strict Baptists, he never preached anywhere else and never invited anyone else to preach at Rowley. This went on from 1828 to his death in 1888. He was viewed with derision by some inhabitants of the village, local hooligans often showered him with mud, stones and bricks on his way to or from chapel, once they put a heavy stone on the roof joists but mercifully it did not break through the ceiling until he was leaving the pulpit. A purpose built chapel replaced the original on a new site in Bell End, Rowley village in 1876, the original being now too small, it still exists today.
Could not find his marriage to Mary so if anyone can find it would complete story .
Before his ministry he was a Huckster which I thought was someone who sold door to door ?
http://www.bcconnections.tribalpages.co ... =625446542
Daniel Matthews and the strict Baptists of Bell End.
Strict Baptists owed their origins to Rowley and the preaching of the Rev George Barrs. Rowley Regis parish church had George Barr"™s as incumbent between 1800 and 1840, his forceful ministry was unlike any Anglican before him in Rowley. He bought about a change throughout the parish, raising moral standards, restoring law and order, getting rid of abuses and building up believers, he was vehement however against "believer"™s baptism." This led to some of his congregation check it out in their bibles "“ and found only believer"™s baptism to be there!
In his History of the Strict Baptist Chapels of England, Ralph Chambers tells us that George Barrs was a
"warm advocate for Scripture searching".Two of those who were members of the
Congregation of St. Giles Church were a Daniel Matthews and a Joseph Smith.
They listened to George Barrs' sermons on Infant Baptism and by searching the
Scriptures on their own became convinced in their own minds that baptism by immersion for believers only was the only baptism which Christ had given. This lead to a separation from the Church of England and eventually to
the formation of the congregations which became Strict Baptist churches. They
saw eye to eye with Barrs on the grand Scriptural truths of Covenant Redemption
but could not agree with his position on baptism.
Such men eventually started 3 strict Baptist churches within the Rowley parish which then included Old Hill and Blackheath. Including the churches which arose from them they gave the area more strict Baptist chapels per square mile than anywhere else in Britain.
In 1823 other Baptists opened a rented chapel in Bell End Rowley village and formed a church of seven members. Daniel Matthews had a choice between this new local Baptist group who"™s ministry had "a mixture of faith and works" and the more Calvinistic chapel in Bartholomew St Birmingham which was not Baptist, at first he chose the latter. One day Matthews revisited the Rowley Baptists "to see if they had altered" No preacher arrived so Daniel was persuaded to preach. His emphasis on mankind"™s "fallen and ruined condition" and on the need for a new birth seems to have upset them and many started leaving. They never asked him again. However in 1828 the chapel closed and the owner immediately offered it to Matthews.
"a warehouse at Rowley Regis registered for Protestant Dissidents by Daniel Matthews of Rowley, Rivet maker on 14/05/1829"
Matthews was an extreme isolationist, he never mixed even with other strict Baptists, he never preached anywhere else and never invited anyone else to preach at Rowley. This went on from 1828 to his death in 1888. He was viewed with derision by some inhabitants of the village, local hooligans often showered him with mud, stones and bricks on his way to or from chapel, once they put a heavy stone on the roof joists but mercifully it did not break through the ceiling until he was leaving the pulpit. A purpose built chapel replaced the original on a new site in Bell End, Rowley village in 1876, the original being now too small, it still exists today.