Horslow Street, Potton
Sandy, Beds, SG19 2NS
John Berridge -
John Wesley opens a letter from Mrs Blackwell, who lives in Lewisham, near London. Her letter contains a report of a remarkable Sunday afternoon in Everton, a village in Bedfordshire, on 20th May 1759, where she heard the preaching of the vicar, John Berridge. It was standing room only, in the small parish church, with some sitting on the window ledges and others on the pulpit steps. Some had come thirteen miles, having set off at 2 o’clock in the morning. Berridge, feeling unwell, could hardly make his voice heard above those who wept and screamed as he preached from 2 Timothy 3:5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”.
She wrote, ‘The presence of God really filled the place. And while poor sinners felt the sentence of death in their souls, what sounds of distress did I hear? The greatest number of them who cried or fell were men, but some were women, and several children, felt the same almighty Spirit, and seemed just sinking into hell’. After the service, crowds squeezed into the vicarage anxious about their souls but before long, many of these laughed with the joy of pardoned sins. John Wesley had preached at Everton on 1st March 1759, two months before Mrs Lewisham’s visit.
Cambridge
Who was John Berridge? He was born in the village of Kingston, Upper Soar, in Nottinghamshire, on 1st March 1716, son of a wealthy livestock farmer, though he spent his childhood living with an aunt in Nottingham. Returning home at the age of fourteen, John showed more interest in books than in farming, therefore his father reluctantly sent him to study theology at Clare College. He graduated with honours in 1742 and became a Fellow of the College. While a student Berridge often received invitations to parties because of his eccentric sense of humour.
Stapleford
Ordination at Lincoln Cathedral in March 1745, at the age of thirty-
Conversion
Berridge felt depressed when he became vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, in Everton in
1755 at the age of forty. He remained at Everton for thirty-
The Everton vicar became a Christian but nothing seemed to have changed -
The Gospel Pedlar
Berridge’s burden to take the gospel to sinners compelled him to preach, as did Whitfield and Wesley, beyond parish boundaries and in the open air. Berridge regularly preached twelve sermons a week, riding over 100 miles on horseback. Writing to Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, in 1767, he described his itinerating as ‘long rides and miry roads, in sharp weather, cold houses to sit in, with very moderate fuel, and 3 or 4 children roaring or rocking about you’. Besides this, he endured ‘course food, lumpy beds to lie on and too short for the feet, with blankets like boards for a covering. Rise at 5 in the morning to preach. At 7 breakfast on poor tea. At 8, mount a horse with boots never cleaned, and then ride home praising God for all his mercies’.
Preaching
Berridge was above all else, a preacher. He wrote ‘Much reading and thinking may
make a popular minister; but secret prayer must make a powerful preacher’. Berridge
used his natural gift of humour to good effect in gospel preaching to his rustic
congregations but always preached earnestly and persuasively for the conversion of
sinners. Berridge’s preaching went alongside his pastoral visiting and letters written
to those in trouble. When visiting the sick he would sometimes sing one of his own
hymns -
A bishop reproved Berridge for preaching ‘at all hours and on all days’. To which the gospel pedlar replied, ‘I preach only at two seasons’. ‘Which are they?’ asked the puzzled bishop. ‘In season and out of season’ answered Berridge.
Poor health and death
Having suffered with asthma for many years, Berridge had a serious attack in 1768 that lasted until 1773, so that sometimes even taking the Sunday services was beyond his powers. He sunk low into a pit of depression until he accepted that his suffering came from the hand of his loving heavenly Father. He found comfort from Christian friends such as John Newton who came to visit him.
Towards the end of 1792, knowing that death was not far away, the old vicar spoke
of resting on Christ the Rock and said to visitors, ‘What should I do now if I had
no better foundation to rest on?’ Overcome at last by his asthmatic condition, Berridge
died at his vicarage on 22nd January 1793, aged 77. Rev Charles Simeon of Cambridge
preached the funeral sermon on the following Sunday, 27th January, from 2 Timothy
4:7-
He was buried on the northwest side of Everton churchyard. ‘This’ he said would ‘consecrate a piece of land for those who have come to a dishonourable end’. It’s interesting to note that John Berridge died the same year as William Carey, the Baptist pastor, sailed for India because he shared the gospel pedlar’s passion to take Christ’s message to lost sinners.
Epitaph
Berridge wrote his own epitaph.
Here lay the earthly remains of John Berridge
Late vicar of Everton and an itinerate Servant of
Jesus Christ who loved his Master and his Work
And after running on his errands many years was
Called upon to wait on him above.
Reader art thou born again?
No salvation without a new birth.
I was born in sin. Feb 1716
Remained ignorant of my fallen state till 1730.
Lived proudly on Faith and Works for Salvation till 1754
Admitted to Everton Vicarage 1755
Fled to Jesus alone for Refuge 1756
Fell asleep in Christ Jan 22nd 1793
Heaven
When Berridge ‘fell asleep’ on earth, his soul went at once to heaven. This is how Berridge wrote about heaven: ‘Here below we are often meeting and parting but above we shall meet to part no more. And oh, what a meeting! when this noisy world and the roaring lion will be far removed, and the body of sin wholly broken down; when the soul will be all peace, all love, all joy, and become all eye to gaze on Jesus, and from his sweetness and fullness drink eternal pleasures’.
You will only gaze on Jesus if you can answer ‘yes’ to the question on Berridge’s tomb: ‘Reader art thou born again?’
By Pastor Stan K. Evers
