Coffee with John Gill

B.A.-“How did you meet your wife?”

J.G.-“I met Elizabeth while I itinerated in some churches.  We were married in 1718.  We would be married for 46 years until her death.”

B.A.-“Any kids?”

J.G.-“Yes. Though regrettably only three of our many children survived beyond infancy, and even one of those three died when she was 13.  I preached her funeral.”

B.A.-“You have influenced many other great saints.  You had a large impression on George Whitefield and John Wesley.  Spurgeon referred to you as ‘the mantle and chair of the Metropolitan Tabernacle’.  Is it true that you were also given the nickname ‘Dr. Volumnious’?”

J.G.-“Unfortunately”.

B.A.-“Would you say that your blockbluster work was The Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity?”

J.G.-“I think that is safe to say it has been an indelible mark on many.”

 
B.A.-“I know you were involved in several controversies, and became a lightning rod for many of those.  Do you care to specify what some you were involved in?”
J.G.-“ I attempted to champion the cause against a moral revelation as a means of salvation.  I defended the doctrines of grace against those who were weak in them.  I sought to refute a deists claims that there was no Messianic prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament.  I also challenged John Wesley on the issue of perseverance of the saints.  Those among other things kept me occupied.”

B.A.-“What were some of your convictions about the church?”

J.G.-“ I believed that a church must have and should use a confession of faith for its own purity and safety.  I was an unwavering Baptist defending the believer’s baptism position even to the point of associating the paedo-baptist position as akin to Catholicism.  I also defended the Baptist belief that a church should have a regenerate church membership.”

B.A.-“What were some of your beliefs related to the gospel?”

J.G.-“ Central to my preaching was the total sinfulness and therefore helplessness of man, and the total power of God to save. I also strongly believed in using the law and the gospel in his salvation messages, making his presentation similar to that of Whitefield.”