John Sheppard (15 October 1785 – 30 April 1879) was an English religious writer.

Life

Born on 15 October 1785 at

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, where the Sheppard family had resided for a century, he was son of Mary Kelson, daughter of John Banger of

Puddletown Puddletown is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name, about northeast of the county town Dorchester. Its earlier name Piddletown fell out of favour, probably because o ...

, Dorset, and her husband, John Sheppard (c1748-92). He left school in 1800 to enter the woollen trade, in which most of the family were engaged. In 1806, after his father's death, he and his mother joined the

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

, to which many of his relatives belonged. With John Foster, a Baptist minister in Frome for a period from 1804, Sheppard developed a close friendship. The death of his uncle, Walter Sheppard, who made him his heir, allowed Sheppard to retire from business. In 1812 he entered the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

as a medical student, but switched to the study of philosophy and Hebrew. During two years' residence at Edinburgh he formed friendships with

Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...

and

John Pinkerton John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory. He was born in Edinburgh, as one of three sons to Ja ...

. In 1816 and 1817 he made tours through France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and studied for some months at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. In 1818 he married; his wife died 16 months later, giving birth to a son, Walter. In 1823 Sheppard published his ''Thoughts preparative or persuasive to Private Devotion'', which went through five editions in as many years. Then for the rest of his life he concentrated on religious authorship, lay preaching, and foreign travel. He undertook active involvement in the affairs of the

Particular Baptists Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...

. In 1837 he published ''An Autumn Dream,'' a popular blank verse poem over 150 pages that went into three editions. It was a Calvinistic version of Dante's ''Paradiso''. In February 1838, he talked with a friend, Thomas Bunn and told him he was experiencing considerable disquiet ‘about fixing the professional destination of his only son’. Bunn believed that Walter possessed ‘the best principles and dispositions’, and was ‘an agreeable person’ with ‘a good capacity and health’. Later that same year Walter, at the age of 19, became insane. In 1871 John Sheppard made an address at the installation of the fountain in the Market Place, along with the donor Rev Boyle. Rev T G Rooke was also present on that occasion; in 1881 he edited the first of five of his own editions of Sheppard's ''Thoughts chiefly designed as preparative or persuasive to Private Devotion''. Sheppard died at Frome on 30 April 1879, and was buried in the dissenters' cemetery. He was twice married.

Works

Sheppard wrote: * ''Athaliah'', translated from

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

, 1815. * ''Letters on a Tour in France'', London, 1817. * ''Thoughts preparative or persuasive to Private Devotion'', 1823. * ''An Autumn Dream'', poem, London, 1837; 2nd edit. 1841. * ''Cursory View of the State of Religion in France'', London, 1838. * ''On Dreams'', London, 1847. * ''On Trees, their Uses and Biography'', London, 1848. * ''The Foreign Sacred Lyre'', London, 1857. * ''The Christian Harp'', London, 1858. * d''Hymns, Psalms and Poems by

Anne Steele Anne Steele (pen name, Theodosia; 171711 November 1778) was an English Baptist hymn writer and essayist. For a full century after her death, she filled a larger place in United States and British hymnals than any other woman. At an early age, Ste ...

, with a memoir by John Sheppard'', London, 1863.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, John 1785 births 1879 deaths English writers English Baptists People from Frome English male writers 19th-century Baptists