The Reverend Jacob Rice: Anglican ministry and preaching in early eighteenth century Newfoundland

• Main Author: Peddle, Geoff
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1996
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/6649/; https://research.library.mun.ca/6649/1/GeoffPeddle.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/6649/3/GeoffPeddle.pdf

This thesis will examine the ministry and sermons of the Rev. Jacob Rice, who served in St. John's in the early years of the eighteenth century. Chapter One will focus upon the specific religious, social and economic conditions of life in Newfoundland during the early eighteenth century, and show how the first decades of that century were not conducive for the development of religious institutions in Newfoundland. The next chapter will look at Jacob Rice's relationship with the Church of England and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and examine his ministry in Newfoundland from his arrival in 1705 until his departure in 1712 or 1713. Chapter Three will explore both the development and practice of preaching within the Church of England as a whole, and also the approach to preaching favored by Rice. The thesis will show that the structure and style favored by Rice was consistent with that of the average Anglican preacher in the early eighteenth century. The content of his sermons, however, was evangelical in theology and directed toward a personal experience of God. The strongest pastoral concern for Jacob Rice, as evidenced from his sermons, seemed to be the need to save the souls of his flock. His urgent pleas for his listeners to repent of their sins would have been out of place among the subdued preaching favored by most Anglican preachers during his lifetime but is comprehensible within the context of his Newfoundland missionary situation. The themes of sin, repentance and conversion dominated his sermons as he expounded on the need for his listeners to turn away from their former selves and turn toward a state of living more acceptable to God. The content of the sermons of this early Newfoundland missionary suggests that Rice was an evangelical at heart who rejected the rather tepid preaching that dominated the Anglican Church during his lifetime in favor of a more enthusiastic and evangelical approach.