"On the side of whigism": A brief note about Andrew Fuller's political preferences
Andrew Fuller could speak to issues of political theology as the need arose (see his involvement in securing freedom for missionaries in Bengal or his sermon on the eve of Napoleon Bonaparte’s threatened invasion of England), but generally speaking he said little about politics as he considered the rage for politics in his day not a sign of healthy spirituality. In fact, he included a passion for politics as a sign of backsliding in his famous tract, The Backslider.
But, as my dear friend Revd. Jared Skinner just sent to me, he did once pronounce on where his political sympathies lay, and they were left of centre! But that would be true of most Particular Baptists of his day.
Here are his words:
“if I have any political predilections , they are on the side of whigism.”
(J.W. Morris, MIscellaneous Pieces on Various Religious Subjects, Being the Last Remains of the Rev. Andrew Fuller (London: Wightman and Cramp, 1826).
PS Thomas Cramp was the publisher of this text. He was the father of John Mockett Cramp (1796-1881), the famous Baptist educator and author in Nova Scotia.