Bakewell, John (1)

Bakewell, John (1), an early Methodist preacher and poet, was born in 1721. In 1749 he began to-preach, and from that time to the end of his long life he was one of the most useful and honored of all Wesley's lay helpers. He was on intimate terms with John and Charles Wesley, Toplady, Madan, and other good men. He was present at the ordination of Fletcher in 1757. He resided successively in Derbyshire, London, Bedford, Kent, and Staffordshire. The first class met in his house, and there the Rev. Thomas Rutherford died. It was in his house also, at Westminster, that in 1772 another Methodist itinerant, Thomas Olivers (q.v.), wrote the immortal hymn "The God of Abraham praise." Bakewell died at Lewisham, near London, March 19, 1819, and James Creighton left his house for the last time to read the service over the body of his dear friend. The hymn "Hail, thou once despised Jesus!" will keep Bakewell's name green forever. It first appeared in A Collection of Hymns addressed to the Holy, Holy, Holy, Triune God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate (1757). It is also found in Madan's Collection (1760), and in Toplady's Psalms and Hymns (1776). Bakewell wrote other hymns of excellence, which Mr. Stevenson thinks are a legacy to the Church, and should be published. See Stelfox, in Wesl. Meth. Magazine, 1863; Stevenson, City Road Chapel (Lond. and N. Y., 1872, 8vo), p. 461; id. The Methodist Hymn-book and its Associations (Lond. 1874, 12mo), p. 318; Belcher, Historical Sketches of Hymns, p. 79.