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William Gadsby
William Gadsby (January 3, 1773 – January 27, 1844) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and pastor whose 39-year ministry at Black Lane Chapel in Manchester shaped the Strict and Particular Baptist movement. Born in Attleborough, Warwickshire, to John Gadsby, a road-mender, and Martha Lingard, he was one of 14 children raised in dire poverty—often barefoot and in rags. With only two days of schooling at Nuneaton church school, he worked as a ribbon weaver from age 13 and later a stocking weaver in Hinckley. Converted at 17 in 1790 through a sermon on sin’s terrors, he was baptized in 1793 at Coventry’s Cow Lane Baptist Church, joining under John Butterworth’s pastorate. Married to Elizabeth Marvin in 1796, he had six children—three daughters before 1805 and three sons after. Gadsby’s preaching career began reluctantly in 1798 at Bedworth, ordained in 1800 to serve Hinckley and Desford, Leicestershire, where he built Ebenezer Chapel in 1803 despite opposition, including an assassination attempt by stoning. In 1805, he moved to Manchester’s Black Lane Chapel (later Rochdale Road), pastoring until his death. Traveling over 60,000 miles—mostly on foot—he preached nearly 12,000 sermons, planting 40 churches and earning the title “Apostle of the North.” His ministry, marked by a powerful voice and wit, championed the poor, opposed the Church of England, and resisted Arminianism, clashing with Andrew Fuller over “duty faith.” Known as a Strict Baptist, he preached sovereign grace, rejecting free offers of salvation, a stance critics labeled Hyper-Calvinist.
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William Gadsby preaches about the necessity of having a righteousness that surpasses human capabilities, one that only Jesus Christ can provide through His perfect obedience and spotless righteousness. He emphasizes that those who rely on their own righteousness will never understand their need for Christ's righteousness, but for the broken sinner who recognizes their unworthiness, receiving God's righteousness will bring joy and exaltation. Gadsby highlights how Christ's righteousness, when imputed to believers, covers them with a robe of salvation and enables them to glorify God's name through praise and thanksgiving.
A Righteousness in Which Jehovah Himself Cannot Find a Flaw
We must have a righteousness in which Jehovah Himself cannot find a flaw, a righteousness which Jehovah cannot mend, a righteousness which neither sin nor Satan can mar; and unless we have on a righteousness of this nature, we can never enter into the blessedness of the world to come. Where, then, are we to find it? Eternal praises to the matchless mercy of a covenant God, we have it in the blessed Person, glorious work, and spotless obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ! And, therefore, as it was essential for Him to fulfill all righteousness for His people, He loved the Lord His God with all His heart, with all His mind, and with all His strength. He began at the beginning, and went through holily, righteously, and steadily every step of the law of God and all in justice and righteousness. He fulfilled every iota of it, and gave it immortal glory and honour. The law could only require the perfect obedience of a perfect man, but He gave it the perfect obedience of the God-Man, and stamped forever a holy dignity and majesty on it, in order to manifest that this glorious righteousness is suited to every sinner's case, to all their needs, and to honour and glorify all the perfections of God; and thus He has "forever perfected them that were sanctified," all those who were set apart for Himself. They are perfected forever in His own blessed obedience and spotless righteousness; and this righteousness which God gives shall endure forever. As for you who have a righteousness of your own, you never can feel your need of Christ's righteousness. You do not know your need of it, and it is an insult to your pride to mention it. But, for the poor creature who feels himself to be a loathsome, vile, and ruined sinner, and is brought experimentally to feel what he is before a heart-searching God, and that every iota of the law is against him - for God to give this righteousness to him, to put it upon him and communicate the power of it to his soul, why it will raise and exalt him to such a blessed enjoyment of God's righteousness that his tongue will sing aloud and speak forth praise to the honour and glory of His blessed Name; and he will say, "My soul shall be joyful in my God; I will glory in the God of my salvation; for He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; He hath adorned me with the garments of salvation." –William Gadsby, from a sermon preached June 1, 1843
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William Gadsby (January 3, 1773 – January 27, 1844) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and pastor whose 39-year ministry at Black Lane Chapel in Manchester shaped the Strict and Particular Baptist movement. Born in Attleborough, Warwickshire, to John Gadsby, a road-mender, and Martha Lingard, he was one of 14 children raised in dire poverty—often barefoot and in rags. With only two days of schooling at Nuneaton church school, he worked as a ribbon weaver from age 13 and later a stocking weaver in Hinckley. Converted at 17 in 1790 through a sermon on sin’s terrors, he was baptized in 1793 at Coventry’s Cow Lane Baptist Church, joining under John Butterworth’s pastorate. Married to Elizabeth Marvin in 1796, he had six children—three daughters before 1805 and three sons after. Gadsby’s preaching career began reluctantly in 1798 at Bedworth, ordained in 1800 to serve Hinckley and Desford, Leicestershire, where he built Ebenezer Chapel in 1803 despite opposition, including an assassination attempt by stoning. In 1805, he moved to Manchester’s Black Lane Chapel (later Rochdale Road), pastoring until his death. Traveling over 60,000 miles—mostly on foot—he preached nearly 12,000 sermons, planting 40 churches and earning the title “Apostle of the North.” His ministry, marked by a powerful voice and wit, championed the poor, opposed the Church of England, and resisted Arminianism, clashing with Andrew Fuller over “duty faith.” Known as a Strict Baptist, he preached sovereign grace, rejecting free offers of salvation, a stance critics labeled Hyper-Calvinist.