The next pastor was Mr. Jonathan Sanderson. Application was first made to Mr. Wheeler, of Axminster, in Devonshire, who came and preached to them four Sabbaths, but entirely declined all thoughts of settling with them. After this, Mr. Job Orton was invited; but he declined accepting the invitation. Then application was made to Mr. Sanderson, who promised to come and assist them for three or four Sabbaths, when he had finished his studies with Mr. Eames. After a trial he was invited to become their pastor; when he thought the call of God so clear and plain, that he could not refuse complying with it, though considerable offers, more to his temporal advantage, were made to him. In May, 1741, he was set apart to the office. He gives the following account of the solemnity:—
On this day, the Church renewed their call to me to take upon me the pastoral charge of them under the great Shepherd. Upon that, after having given the Church a particular account of my faith, publicly declared my acceptation of their call to the pastoral office, I gave up myself in a solemn manner to the great work they had called me to. Ebenezer.
On June 3rd of the same year we had a day of prayer appointed, and invited several sister Churches in communion with us to join in seeking a blessing upon us as a Church, and upon my poor labours amongst them.
Dr. Doddridge spake to the people, and Mr. Hall, of London, gave me a word of exhortation upon the occasion.
The ministry of Mr. Sanderson was devoted and useful, but short. Only six years after the time of his settlement we find it recorded, "Mr. Jonathan Sanderson fell sweetly asleep in Christ Jesus, April 18th, 1747."
When he entered on his office, and transcribed the names of those that were then members of the Church, he wrote—"The Lord grant that the Church of Christ at Rowell may increase in numbers, gifts, and graces, and purity, under the pastoral care of their unworthy servant, for Christ's sake, J. S. So be it. Amen." 38 members were added to the Church during his short ministry.
Mr. Sanderson was a native of Bradfield, a village about eight miles from Sheffield, in Yorkshire. He became early devoted to God, and dedicated himself sincerely to the work of the sanctuary. In the year 1737, when about 19 years of age, he entered a seminary in London, patronized by the Independent Fund, then under the direction of Mr. Eames, F.R.S., who, in the esteem of his contemporaries, was one of the most learned men of the age. The piety of Mr. Sanderson when at the academy appears to have been of the most decided, humble, evangelical, and experimental character. His preaching was very acceptable and useful, so that opportunities were presented to him to have settled in London, and he was advised by some of the ministers of his acquaintance to do so; but he yielded to the invitation of the people at Rowell, and believed that he saw plainly the finger of God pointing him there. He was received with much kindness and cordiality, and was greatly encouraged in the prospect of usefulness there presented. He was welcomed into the county by Dr. Doddridge, who addressed to him the following letter, almost immediately after he came to Rowell:—
Permit me, my dear brother and friend—for so, though personally unknown, I will take the liberty to call you; permit me, with the utmost sincerity and pleasure, to assure you of my thankfulness to the great Shepherd of Israel for bringing you into these parts, to be employed among us, and under him, in the delightful work of feeding his flock, his pleasant flock.
I rejoice to hear by many hands of the acceptance you meet with at Rowell, and of the respect you have of neighbouring brethren and friends, who are so happy as to be at all acquainted with you; respect, which I fully concluded from the manner of your writing (in which I saw at once so much of the gentleman, the scholar, and the Christian) you could not fail to meet with in these parts, where, I bless God, we are not utterly forsaken of the spirit of serious piety and faithful friendship. Were not my engagements so many as they are, and now increasing by the care of finishing my 'Expositor' as soon as possible, I would have waited upon you before this. But I send these to beg the favour of you to breakfast with me at Mr. Saul's, at Kettering, Thursday se'nnight, if God spare our lives till then; and to contrive your affairs so as to go with me from thence to Wellingborough, where I shall dine that day, if God permit. By this means I shall have the pleasure of enjoying your company, and also of introducing you to the acquaintance of a friend or two there, with whom, if you do not yet know, it will be agreeable to you to form an acquaintance, or if you do know them, to improve that acquaintance.
I desire you would make my cordial service acceptable to all my dear friends at Rowell, for whom I have an unfeigned and tender regard; and assure yourself that I have all imaginable propensity to enter into a free, easy, and respectful friendship with you; and that, heartily recommending you to Him in whom, I hope, our friendship does and will centre,
I am, Reverend and dear Sir,
Your most affectionate brother and humble servant,
P. Doddridge.
Northampton, March 16th, 1740.
Mr. Sanderson commenced his labours at Rowell with great diligence and zeal; tokens of the divine blessing attended his labours. But his frame appears to have been too feeble to sustain the amount of labour in which he engaged, and it was not very long before symptoms of an unfavourable nature were discovered.
Notwithstanding the great affection manifested towards him at first, and the encouraging prospect opening before him, trials soon arose among his people. There were some whose spirit and conduct had been the occasion of painful trial to his predecessor, Mr. Maurice; and they began, but too quickly, to show a similar spirit towards him: those who denied the Gospel call to sinners as such, and who wanted all the privileges of Christianity without its obligations. Some of them soon withdrew their subscriptions from him, and talked of building a new Meeting. There was a worthy deacon of his Church, who stood firmly by him, and who wrote a very sensible letter, kindly and faithfully expostulating with them on their conduct; in the course of which he observes, "We are not without several sad instances which have fallen under our own cognizance, of Churches who, upon ceasing to contribute to a handsome maintenance of their pastor what was in their power, without injury to their families, have gradually dwindled and come to nothing. The reason of this, we apprehend, is very obvious; for when Churches cease to walk in the path of duty, the blessed God is pleased to suspend the influence of his grace, and to visit them with his afflictive hand. We are not arguing for a superfluity, for that you are incapable of doing; but only for a proper expression of love and kindness to your pastor," &c.
Mr. Sanderson proved to be consumptive, and gradually grew worse, until he was removed by death in the 29th year of his age.
Dr. Doddridge was amongst the number that visited him in his last illness; and after his visit he wrote a kind letter to the father of Mr. Sanderson, in which he says, "Greatly have I loved him and esteemed him, as one of the most completely excellent and accomplished persons of his age that I have ever known. Greatly has God honoured him, as the instrument of usefulness, during these few years of ministerial service."