1774 RARE FEMALE BAPTIST LETTER. Elizabeth Turner Reports on the Preaching of a Questionable Baptist Evangelist.

Very scarce letter from Elizabeth Turner, whose husband was the pastor at Birmingham's Cannon Street Baptist Chapel. A fascinating snapshot in a rather volatile period in the emerging Baptist Church. The movement was on the cusp of launching the modern missionary movement via William Carey [whom Sutcliffe, along with John Ryland, etc., would inaugurate as a missionary]. However, the lack of education, formal organization, and the intrusion of false teachers was plaguing them. As most emerging organizations figure out through painful experience, organization and structure are necessary.  Sutcliffe would join Turner as associate the following year before leading the Chapel at Olney, near John Newton. He seems to have queried Mrs. Turner about a preacher's theology and manner. Sutcliffe and James Turner were both leading men among the Baptists, signatories to the Association Documents, etc.,  James Turner (1726-1780) became a member of the Baptist congregation in Rossendale, where he was