Thomas Olivers (1725–1799) was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

preacher and hymn-writer from Tregynon,

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

, Wales. He was also author of the '' Arminian Magazine'' from 1775 to 1789, when he was dropped from the position by

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

for numerous printing errors.

Early life

Thomas Olivers was born in 1725 in the Welsh village of Tregynon in Montgomeryshire. Both his father and his mother died when he was four years old. He grew up to be an apprentice shoemaker and he became a profligate and reckless young man. After his involvement in a scandal which forced him to leave his home, Olivers travelled to Bristol where he heard George Whitfield preach on the text "is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" (). Olivers was converted and stated a desire to follow Whitfield however one of Whitfield's preachers discouraged him and instead he joined the Methodist society and met one of the founders of Methodism,

there.

Ministry

After joining Wesley as a preacher, Olivers was initially stationed to preach in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. He was later stationed to preach all around

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

because of his fearless preaching style. In 1757 he was part of the Limerick circuit in Ireland where he inspired Eliza Bennis with his insights. Olivers also had good relations with Great Britain's Jewish community, attending Jewish

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

s and became friends with Rabbi

Myer Lyon Myer Lyon (, Germany – 1797, Kingston, Jamaica), better known by his stage name Michael Leoni, was a hazzan at the Great Synagogue of London who achieved fame as a tenor opera singer in London and Dublin, and as the mentor of the singer John ...

. In 1775, Wesley appointed Olivers to co-write the '' Arminian Magazine'' with him. Olivers often exercised control over the content of the magazine. Due to a lack of formal education, Olivers' editorial of the magazine contained several printing errors, which annoyed Wesley but he persevered with Olivers whom he counted as a friend and attached a list of errors at the back of the yearly annual in 1778. However following an "astounding number of errata", Wesley declared in a letter that "I cannot, dare not, will not suffer Thomas Olivers to murder the Arminian Magazine any longer. The errata are intolerable and innumerable. They shall be so no more" and removed Olivers from his position in 1789. Despite this, Olivers and Wesley remained good friends, often viewed as a father-son relationship. When Olivers died in March 1799 in London, he was buried in Wesley's grave.

Hymn writing

Along with preaching, Olivers was also a hymn-writer and wrote 20 hymns. His most well-known hymn was " The God of Abraham Praise", which he wrote after hearing Lyon sing "

Yigdal Yigdal () is a Religious Jewish music, Jewish hymn which in various rituals shares with ''Adon Olam'' the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the Maimonides#Thirteen principles of faith, ...

" in the Great Synagogue of London. He was inspired by Lyon and paraphrased Yigdal to give it a Christian character and was given the music by Lyon, which Olivers subsequently titled "Leoni" after Lyon.

References

External links

Olivers, Thomas at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olivers, Thomas 1725 births 1799 deaths Arminian ministers Arminian writers Welsh Methodist hymnwriters Welsh magazine editors People from Montgomeryshire 18th-century Welsh Methodist ministers 18th-century Welsh writers 18th-century Welsh male writers

Early life

Ministry

Hymn writing

See also

References

External links