Heart for Missions, A

208 pages.

“Of Pearce’s godliness William Ward wrote, ‘I have seen more of God in him than in any other person I ever knew.'” - Erroll Hulse

“The chapter of his correspondence during his last illness is some of the most heavenly material I have ever read.” - Joel Beeke

“William Ward, who had been profoundly influenced by Pearce’s zeal and spirituality, well summed up his character when he wrote not long before the latter’s death: ‘Oh, how does personal religion shine in Pearce! What a soul! What ardour for the glory of God! ‘you see in him a mind wholly given up to God; a sacred lustre shines in his conversation: always tranquil, always cheerful’ I have seen more of God in him than in any other person I ever met.’ At the heart of Pearce’s spirituality, both lived and taught, was the theological conviction that ‘real religion consists in supreme love to God and disinterested [i.e. impartial] love to man’. Measured by this standard, there seems little doubt about the reality of Pearce’s Christian faith and spirituality. There is also little question of the challenge it poses to Christians today.” - Michael Haykin

“The beloved friend of Andrew Fuller and William Carey, Samuel Pearce (1766-1799), personified the living relation between doctrinal purity and passion for God’s glory in evangelism. Pearce participated with boundless energy and sacrifice in the Missionary society work and served as editor of the Periodical Accounts. Not only did he promote the mission cause in England with all his might, he urged William Rogers of the Philadelphia Association to begin a Baptist foreign mission society in America that would involve the energies of the entire denomination. Cathcart’s Encyclopedia calls him ‘one of the warmest advocates of foreign missions that dwelt on earth since the Son of Mary came from his heavenly home on a foreign mission to this lost world.’ He has been compared to Robert Murray McCheyne and David Brainerd for combination of fervent piety and zeal.” - Tom Nettles