John Clifford (1836–1923): Irrepressible Liberal -- By: Thomas J. Nettles
Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 06:4 (Winter 2002)
Article: John Clifford (1836–1923): Irrepressible Liberal
Author: Thomas J. Nettles
SBJT 6:4 (Winter 2002) p. 58
John Clifford (1836–1923):
Irrepressible Liberal
Thomas J. Nettles has served as Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 1997. He has taught previously at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1976–1982), Mid-America Seminary (1982–1988), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1989–1997). Dr. Nettles is a prolific author and has written extensively about Baptist history.
Introduction
William Carey died in June of 1834. Just prior to that, the notable Baptist Pastor and historian Joseph Ivimey had died in February 1834. Robert Hall Jr. preceded both in his presence before the Lord in 1831. Hall had preached a sermon on the death of John Ryland, Jr., in 1825 that set all of these deaths in perspective when he noted the strength and character of those who were passing so quickly from the scene.
That denomination of Christians, of which he [Ryland] was so long a distinguished ornament, will especially lay this providence to heart. Our hands are weakened this day; and if the glory is not departed from us, it is at least eclipsed and obscured. We have been visited with stroke upon stroke. Our brightest lights have been successively extinguished; and in vain do we look around for a Beddome, a Booth, a Fuller, or a Ryland; names which would have given lustre to any denomination, and were long the glory of ours.1
Hall’s own influence generated massive admiration, not only for him personally, but for dissenters in general. His eloquence, his masterful and courageous stance on important social issues such as freedom of the press, his magnificent defense of the character, integrity, and cause of historic English Dissent, his energetic support of the Baptist Missionary Society, and his patient perseverance under the pain and vagaries of poor health garnered accolades and recognitions of greatness from which Baptists benefited immensely.
His greatness, however, failed to hide, and perhaps contributed to, his chief weakness. Hall’s power could compensate for the intrinsic unworthiness of a cause thus granting it a recommendation far beyond its merits. His insistence on the preeminence and unifying effects of the central issues of Protestant theology, his zeal for the personal discovery of truth from the whole Bible without being hampered by shallow assent to narrower, and merely human, formulas, and his zeal for the practical and moral in Christian thought created inattention to important aspects of Baptist witness. Zeal for doctrinal distinctiveness, the positive usefulness of confessions, and the conserving power of theological expansiveness suffered severe blows from Hall’s overall infl...
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