John Gill: A Child Prodigy and Autodidact Polymath
John Gill, D. D. The Baptist Encyclopedia , 1881 John Gill, D.D., was born at Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, Nov. 23, 1697. His father, Edward Gill, was a Baptist in the membership of a union church composed of Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists, in which, beside a Pedobaptist pastor, Mr. William Wallis, a Baptist was a teaching elder, with authority to immerse adults. As Isaac Backus found this system a cause of controversy and strife in New England, so it proved in Kettering, and Edward Gill, William Wallis, and their friends found it necessary to withdraw and form a Particular Baptist church. Edward Gill was elected one of the deacons. To the end of his life he obtained a good report for "grace, piety, and holy conversation." His son John early showed uncommon talents, and quickly surpassed those of his own age, and many much older, in acquiring knowledge. Before he was eleven years of age, under t...