Wallin, Benjamin

Wallin, Benjamin an English Baptist minister, was born in London in 1711. He received a good education; and although it was the earnest wish of his friends that he should enter the ministry, he felt so distrustful of his qualifications for the work that, for a long time, he resisted their importunities. "When I consider," said he, "the design of such a care to be employed more or less in preaching the Gospel, the very thought strikes me with terror. It is a work of an awful nature." His scruples were, however, in time overcome, and he consented to be set apart to the Christian ministry, and was ordained as the successor of his father, Rev. Edward Wallin, as pastor of the Baptist Church, Maze Pond, London. This position he filled for more than forty years, his death occurring in February, 1782. Mr. Wallin was the author of the hymn, "Hail, mighty Jesus, how divine is thy victorious sword!" See Belcher, Historical Sketches of Hymns, p. 252. (J. C. S.)