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Calendar of Ryland Manuscripts in the Congregational Library, MS. II. c. 5.
Letters of, or relating to, Rev. John Ryland, Northampton; Letters, mostly to Dr. Rippon, from Rev. John Ryland, D. D.; Hymns by Dr. Ryland designed for Dr. Rippon’s Hymn book; Letter to Dr. Rippon from J. T. Ryland, son of John Ryland, Jr.; also a letter from John Collett Ryland's daughter to Rippon. Transcriptions of the letters by the various Rylands can be found on this site under their respective names in "Baptist Letters" or by clicking on the letter citations below that are hyperlinked.
1. John Collett Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson, stationer, Horsley-down, Southwark, undated [postmark 16 December, c. 1769-70]. Letter mentions Mr. Benjamin Hartley, Mr. John Sandys (both of the church at Tottlebank) and John Palmer, the latter a student at Northampton. Ryland’s letter is written on the back of a letter by John Sandys to the Particular Baptist Fund (undated). Click here for a transcription of that letter.
2. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to Joseph Flight, London, 26 February 1770. [member of Maze Pond, at that time under Benjamin Wallin], concerning Hartley and Sandys, and the upcoming meeting of the Northamptonshire Association at Ryland’s church; mentions Flight’s brother “the banker,” and the “subscription” he left with Flight (probably about Ryland's book, Contemplations).
3. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson (“and his friends”), stationer, Horsley-down, Southwark, 20 March 1770. [Letter concerns Isaac Woodman at Sutton near Leicester looking for students.]
4. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson, stationer, in Horsley-down, Southwark, 4 March 1770. [Letter about Hartley and Sandys.]
5. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson, stationer in Shad Thames, Southwark [“to go by M.r Adams to M.r Buttons on Saturday Night”], 23 March 1770. [More about John Palmer, now going to Leicester.]
6. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson, stationer in Shad Thames, Southwark, 8 April 1770. [Letter is about Isaac Woodman and about the controversy at Kettering involving John Brown.]
7. J. C. Ryland, Northampton, to John Robinson, stationer in Shad Thames, Southwark, 25 April 1770. [More about Woodman and Brown.]
8. H. M. Ryland [J. C. Ryland’s daughter, but not previously known or still identified], Enfield, to John Rippon, 28 November 1791. [Concerns J. C. Ryland’s approaching death. On the back of the letter Rippon has written what appear to be sermon notes.]
[There is an unlisted MS. here (not in Crippen’s calendar), a small piece of paper on which Rippon has placed some notes that were obviously a part of his funeral sermon on Ryland in 1792. One page reads, “God has heard thy prayers. May 1741 Feb. 15 1744.” At the latter date Ryland was apparently at Didmerton , for which Rippon writes, “The event proves it as bright as the sun.” A further note reads, “This was a season of much prayer for direction about going to Bristol as a student; but on that day his diary says he “had no answer.” A note attached to the former date reads, “May 1741 was probably the time of Mr Ryland’s awakening.” Another note on the back of the piece of paper reads, “Didmarton. A place between Tetbury & Sodbury, in Gloucestershire, where he slept in his way to Bristol.”]
9. John Ryland, jun., “Rousing Motives to Prayer for our Church Members,” dated 9 September 1776 (in Ryland’s hand).
Motives listed (in five parts) are Fear, Hope, Gratitude, Ambition, Self-interest, and Glory and Pleasure.
10. MS. of “An Elegy to the Memory of the Reverend John Ryland, M.A. late Minister of the Gospel at Northampton, who departed this Life July 1792, aged years.” The poem is signed “S.A.” and dated August 1792. This poem probably appeared in Rippon's Register or was privately printed.
11. A portion of a John Ryland, Jr., letter, most likely to Rippon, undated [most likely from the 1790s]. The letter has been “x’d” out from top to bottom, and Rippon has added various notes in his shorthand style on the back of this letter.
13. John Ryland, Jr., [Bristol], to Thomas Rippon, Drawing Office, Bank of England, London, undated [c. 1795].
This is a funeral oration, most likely upon the death of Thomas Trinder, Ryland’s longtime friend and associate in Northampton, in 1795. A note in Rippon’s hand reads, “Here Ryland gave the outline of Mr Trinders History.” This is probably what appeared in the Register as the obituary for Trinder [Vol. 1 (1790-93), pp. 135-42]. Thomas Trinder (1740-94) came to Northampton from Gloucestershire in 1762 to be an usher in Ryland’s academy. After joining the congregation at College Lane, however, he removed to London in April 1764, where he joined Edward Hitchin’s Independent congregation at White Row, Spitalfields. He returned to Northampton in 1765, and in 1768 married Martha Smith, a member of the College Lane church and governess of the girl’s boarding school at Northampton since 1765. Trinder did not rejoin the church at College Lane, however, until 1775, and wasn’t baptized until 1783. In 1777, he and Joseph Dent (who married John Collett Ryland’s daughter, Elizabeth, a member of the prayer society at Mrs. Trinder’s [see note 73]) were made deacons. Martha Trinder died in 1790, aged 54. Her husband died in 1794, leaving £500 to the church at Northampton to be distributed among the poor. A spiritual autobiographical statement by Thomas Trinder appeared in John Rippon’s Baptist Annual Register, vol. 2 (1794-97), pp. 286-303. See also the College Lane Church Book, ff. 43, 190; Ernest A. Payne, College Street Church, Northampton 1697-1947 (London, 1947), p. 19; T. S. H. Elwyn, The Northamptonshire Baptist Association (London, 1964), pp. 26-27.
14. Isaac James, Bristol, to John Rippon, London, 3 February 1797. [Also attached is a letter from John Ryland, Bristol, to John Rippon, London, undated, but both letters are written on the same page and would appear to have been written at the same time. Click here for the Ryland letter.]
15. John Ryland, Jr., Bath and later at Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, 9 June 1797.
17. John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, c. 1802 [no postmark].
18. John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, c. 1802.
19. John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, 11 July 1803.
20. John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, c. 1807.
22. Portion of a letter from John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, undated. The letter includes accounts of John Rowe at Redruth and Moses Baker in Jamaica. Left hand side has been clipped so that many words are missing and unreadable.
23. Ryland signature from a letter, with reference to Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana.
25. John Ryland, Jr., to John Rippon, Grange Road, undated. Ryland has sent 3 hymns to Rippon (the second one appeared in Rippon’s Hymnal (Exod. xiv. 15).
Phil. iv. 6,7. This is the Art I want to learn . . .
Exod. xiv. 15. Like Israel Lord am I . . .
Acts xxvii. 23 “Where I am & whom I send” [Gracious God I wd be thine]
26. Ryland sends three more hymns to Rippon, this time from Northampton, to the care of Mr. Thomas Hill, Long Room, Custom House, London, undated [mid-1790s]. [One hymn appeared in Rippon’s Hymn Book, 3rd ed., p. 580].
Rev. xxii. 3-5. Jerusalem my heav’nly home . . .
Isa. xiv. 10 Look down my soul on hell’s domain . . .
Ye are not your own [Good is thy word O Lord] . . .
27. John Ryland, Jr., Bristol to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, 15 May 1796. Ryland has sent six more hymns [all but one appeared in later editions of Rippon’s Hymn Book].
Zech. ix. 13 &c. [How many years has Man been driv’n . . .]
Rom. xv. 30 [The Love the Spirit I sing . . . ] (1796)
To the Trinity [“Holy, holy, holy Lord, ...] (1796)
Three we adore Eternal Word . . . (1796)
The Song of a Christian [paper torn] “Rejoice the Savior reigns, Among the Sons of Men; . . .
Hosanna to the King Of Righteousness & Peace ...
28. John Ryland, Jr., [Northampton], to John Rippon, London, undated (c. 1785). Ryland is sending Rippon several hymns; he also adds a note about Rev. Gregg, who published a book of hymns when Button was Ryland's school in Northampton. Button “was first awakened under Greggs funeral sermon for Master Yallowley"; there is also the reference to Dan Taylor's response to Fuller's Gospel Worth of All Acceptation (1785), which dates the letter. And Ryland's favorite hymns from the Olney Hymns of Newton and Cowper.
29. More hymns composed by John Ryland, Jr. (dated 19 August 1804 and 18 June 1810); letter is undated, but obviously to John Rippon.
The Man of Nazareth I sing ...
Omniscient God I wish to live .. [Ryland adds, “Composed in the Coach going from Bristol to Birmingham, 18 June 1810 (note on another autograph copy)”
Jesus, the woman’s promis’d Seed ... (dated by Ryland “August 19: 1804”)
30. John Tyler Ryland (Ryland’s son by his first wife, aged fifteen at this time) to Rippon, 8 February 1823, sending three more hymns, dated 1798, 19 February 1806, and 1806, signed “To M.rs D.r Rippon, with J & E R’s love. Feb. 8. 1823.” (in the hand of J. T. Ryland).
31. Letter from John Tyler Ryland at Bristol to John Rippon, Grange Road, Southwark, London (“by favor of Mr Douglass”), 18 April 1801 (on a folio page).
32. List of the hymns (first lines) by Ryland not found in any printed collection (added by T. G. Crippen.
Souls, precious souls &c . . .
This is the art I want to learn . . .
Gracious God, I would be thine . . .
Whate’er the case with others be . . .
Lord, it is sweet when in they light . . .
Just overwhelmed with sore distress . . .
O for a strong, a lasting fault . . .
The man of Nazareth I sing . . .
Omniscient God I wish to love . . .
Not in Sedgwick (1862), but in Rippon's Selections:
Like Israel, Lord, am I . . .
Look down my soul, on hell’s domain . . .
Thee we adore, Eternal Word . . .
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