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Noel, Baptist Wriothesley

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Noel, Francois

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D.D., an eminent English dissenting divine, was born July 10, 1799. He was the youngest son of Sir Gerard Noel-Noel, bart., and the baroness Barham, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with distinction in 1826. Having been ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England. he was appointed one of the chaplains to the queen, and became pastor of St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row, London. He soon secured a reputation as one of the most popular and influential ministers in England, and his name was identified with almost every Christian movement of the time. About the year 1848 Mr. Noel brought himself to accept the immersion theory; and his decided dissent from the views inculcated by the Church of England on baptism caused him to sever his connection with that Church. He was publicly immersed, and joined the ministry of the Baptist Church. About this time he published his Essay on the Union of the Church and State, and also that on Christian Baptism, defending the step which he had taken. In 1869 he retired from his pastoral duties of the John Street Chapel, London; but, despite his advanced years, engaged actively in evangelistic labors, and became one of the founders and promoters of the Midnight Mission. He was ever thus busily engaged in promoting Christian labors. Indeed his zeal for religion never flagged. He died Jan. 19,1873. As a preacher he was fervent, spiritual, tender; and, although his addresses were extemporaneous, his flow of thought was clear and consistent. His eloquence always attracted large audiences. Of his personnel, Dr. Stevens thus wrote in Letters from Europe: "His (i.e. Noel's) features are very symmetrical, and present a really beautiful profile. He is not very clerical in his appearance.

He has light hair, light-blue eyes, and, in fine; the general aspect of a good rather than a great man . Baptist Noel is one of the best and most agreeable men I have met in Europe." Of his preaching, Dr. Tyng says, in Recollections of England (1847), p. 542: "He is certainly a most interesting and delightful preacher; altogether extemporaneous; mild and persuasive in his manner, yet sufficiently impressive, and sometimes powerful, having a very clear and consistent flow of thought; decidedly evangelical in doctrine, though less deep and instructive in doctrine than I had expected." Besides the publications already mentioned, Mr. Noel brought out Notes of a Tour through Ireland (1837): — Sermons on the First Five Centuries of the Church (1839): — Sermons on the Unconverted (1840): — Christian Missions to Heathen Lands (1842): — Sermons on Regeneration (1843): — Case of the Free Church of Scotland (1844): — Meditations in Sickness and Old Age (5th ed. 1845): — Protestant Thoughts in Rhyme (2d ed. 1845): — Messiah: Sermons on Isaiah (1847) -Notes of a Tour in Switzerland (1847): — Infant Piety (4th ed. 1848): — Sermons at St. James's and Whitehall Chapel: Christian's Faith, Hope, and Joy; Gospel of the Grace of God (1849): — Essay on External Act of Baptism (1850): — Christianity compared with Unitarianism (1851): — Letters to Farant on the Church of Rome (1852): — Notes of a Tour in the Valleys of Piedmont (1855): — Essay on the Duty of Englishmen to the Hindû s (1858): — Freedom and Slavery in the United States of America, and Rebellion in America (1863): — and Case of George William Gordon, of Jamaica (1866). See the Lond. Qu. Rev. 78. 382, 404; N. Y. Eccles. Mug. 16:237; Eccles. Revelation 4 th ed., 26:640; Brit. Qu. Rev. Feb. 1849. Interesting information respecting the pulpit ministrations and philanthropic labors of this excellent man will be found in the Metropolit. Pulpit (1839), 2:36-59; Pen Pictures of Pop. Engl. Preachers (1852), p. 58-81: — Fish, Pulpit Eloquence of the 19th Cent. p. 541, 542.