gical writer, was born at Wicken, a small village near Soham in Cambridgeshire, February 6, 1754. His parents were small farmers, and sent him for a plain education to the free school of Soham. He was himself a farmer till his twentieth year, when he began to preach among the Baptists, to whose fellowship he had been admitted when about sixteen years of age. He often regretted that, in the interval between his conversion and his assuming the pastorate, he "had not put himself under the instructions of some father in the ministry;" but his superior talents, his love of study, and his indefatigable industry, enabled him to overcome to a great extent every early disadvantage. His first charge was at Soham, where he was ordained in 1775. In 1776 he married. During his ministry at Soham, his theological views underwent an important change. He had begun to preach on the hyper-Calvinistic scheme of doctrine; but by study and reflection he became convinced of the errors of that scheme, and embraced more moderate and scriptural views; "but my change of views," he says, "never abated my zeal for the doctrine of salvation by grace, but in some respects increased it. I never had any predilection for Arminianism." In 1782 he removed to Kettering, where his sphere of usefulness was much enlarged. In 1792 was formed the Baptist Missionary Society, of which he was appointed secretary, an office which he continued to fill till his death, and to the duties of which he devoted a large amount of his time and energies. He was for many years the main stay of the mission at home, while the devoted William Carey and his companions pushed its triumphs abroad; and be found a rich reward for all his toil and anxiety in this work of christian love. "My engagement," he remarked, "in the missionary undertaking had a wonderful influence in reviving true religion in my soul, and from that time, notwithstanding all my family afflictions, I have been one of the happiest of men." But it was chiefly as a theological and religious author that Fuller distinguished himself, being "equally successful," as Robert Hall observes of him, in "enforcing the practical, in stating the theoretical, and in discussing the polemical branches of theology—a man whose sagacity enabled him to penetrate to the depths of every subject he explored; whose conceptions were so powerful and luminous that what was recondite and original appeared familiar; what was intricate, easy and familiar, in his hands." The following were his principal works—"The Gospel worthy of all Acceptation"—a work which involved him in a twenty years' controversy with the Pseudo-calvinists; "The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems compared as to their moral tendency;" "The Gospel its own Witness, or the Holy Nature and Divine Harmony of the Christian Religion contrasted with the immorality and absurdity of Deism;" "Strictures on Sandemanianism;" "Memoir of Samuel Pearce of Birmingham;" and "Apology for the late Christian Missions to India." In 1813 Fuller took an active part in securing legal toleration to missionaries in India, on occasion of the renewal of the charter of the East India company, and on May 7, 1815, he ended his laborious and useful life. His principal works are still held in high esteem.—P. L.
FULLER, Nicholas, an eminent Oriental scholar and divine, called by Wood "the most admired critic," and by Orme "one of the best Oriental scholars" of his time, was born at Southampton in 1557, and died in 1622. He was for some time secretary to Horne and Watson, successively bishops of Winchester, after which he engaged in tuition, and devoted his leisure time to his favourite linguistic and theological pursuits. He was an indefatigable student, and, fired with the love of sacred learning, worked on cheerfully in the midst of poverty and neglect. His talents at length, but only late in life, brought him out of the obscurity in which his modesty had so long detained him. He was then made a prebendary of Salisbury, and was subsequently preferred by the bishop of Winchester to the valuable rectory of Bishop's Waltham in Hampshire. His death occurred soon after. Fuller was author of "Miscellanea Theologica, lib. iii.," which was first printed at Heidelberg in 1612, and afterwards at Oxford, with the addition of a fourth book, in 1616. The learned Drusius accused Fuller of plagiarism, against which charge he successfully defended himself in his "Miscellanea Sacra, cum apologia contra V. Cl. Johan. Drusium." Two unpublished MSS. of Fuller's are contained in the Bodleian library, Oxford.—R. M., A.
FULLER, Sarah M. See Ossoli.
FULLER, Thomas, one of the most voluminous and original divines of the English church, born in 1608, was the son of the Rev. Thomas Fuller of St. Peter's, Aldwinkle, in Northamptonshire. His early education was conducted chiefly by his father, sent him in 1621, at twelve years of age, to Queen's college, Cambridge, of which his uncle. Dr. Davenant, afterwards bishop of Salisbury, was at that time the master. Fuller took his degree of B.A. in 1624-25, and that of M.A. in 1628. In the following year he removed to Sidney Sussex college, of which he was chosen a fellow in 1631. Shortly after taking orders in 1630 he was presented to the living of St. Bennet's, Cambridge, where he attained great popularity as a preacher. In the following year he obtained the prebendal stall of Netherby, in the church of Salisbury. The same year appeared his first publication—a quaint and almost forgotten poem—entitled "David's Heinous Sinne, Heartie Repentance, Heavy Punishment." In 1634 he was presented to the rectory of Broad Windsor in Dorsetshire, where he remained about seven years. In 1638 he revisited Cambridge to take his degree of B.D., and in 1640 he married; but either in the following year, or in 1642, he had the misfortune to lose his wife. In 1640 Fuller published his "History of the Holy War," which gained him "some money and more reputation." He was a member of the Westminster convocation of 1640, which was authorized by King Charles to make new canons for the better government of the church, and he has given in his "Church History" a minute and graphic account of its proceedings. The troublous times of the great civil war were now at hand, and Fuller, though a lover of moderation and peace, was speedily involved in the contest. On the anniversary of the accession of Charles, March 27, 1643, he preached on the text, 2 Samuel xix. 30, "Yea, let him take all, so that my lord the king return in peace." The sermon, which was afterwards printed, gave great offence to the parliamentary party, and the preacher having soon after refused to take an oath to the parliament, except with certain reservations, was obliged to leave London, and join the king at Oxford. In obedience to the royal order, he preached before Charles, but his urgent recommendation of mutual concessions with a view to peace was as unpalatable in Oxford as it had been in London, and he was pronounced by the courtiers as little better than a puritan. Sequestration was now pronounced against him by the parliament, his books and manuscripts were seized, and he was ejected from his living. He was in part compensated for his heavy losses by the generosity of Henry Lord Beauchamp, and of Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex, the latter of whom gave him the remains of his father's library. Fuller found Oxford so distasteful to him that he resolved to leave it; but in order to obviate any suspicion of want of zeal in the royal cause, he sought and obtained, from Sir Ralph Hopton, the office of chaplain in the king's army. While accompanying the troops from place to place throughout the country, he employed himself in collecting materials for his "Worthies of England." He was at the same time zealous in the discharge of his duty as a chaplain, and when he was left by Hopton with a party of the royalists in Basing-house, which was soon after besieged by the parliamentary forces, under Waller, Fuller animated the garrison to so vigorous a defence that the enemy was compelled to raise the siege. When the royal forces under Lord Hopton were drawn into Cornwall, Fuller obtained permission to take refuge in Exeter, where he preached regularly to the citizens. During his residence in this city he was appointed chaplain to the infant princess, Henrietta Maria, and was presented to the living of Dorchester. Here he published, in 1645, his "Good Thoughts in Bad Times," and two years later, his "Good Thoughts in Worse Times." He was present at the siege of Exeter, and on its surrender in April, 1646, he repaired to London, where he delivered a week-day lecture, first at St. Clement's, Lombard Street, and subsequently at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. He was soon silenced, however, by the dominant party; but notwithstanding the prohibition of his public preaching, he was in 1648 presented by the earl of Carlisle to the living of Waltham, Essex. He was examined by the court of "Triers," and duly authorized by them to preach, and he appears to have remained unmolested during the remainder of his life. In 1654 he entered a second time into the married state. His wife, who survived him, was the sister of Viscount Baltinglass. His "Pisgah Sight of Palestine" was published in 1650, and his "Church History of Great Britain" in 1656. Two years later he was presented to the rectory of Cranford, Middlesex, by Lord Berkeley. A short
