John Berridge was an English evangelical revivalist and hymnist.

He was born in Kingston, Nottinghamshire and educated at Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

. He was the son of a wealthy grazier in Nottinghamshire. In 1749, he was ordained to the parish of Stapleford

Stapleford, Cambridgeshire

Stapleford is a village located approximately four miles to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England on the right hand bank of the River Granta. Stapleford is first mentioned in 956 when it was given the Latinised name of Stapelforda, formerly Stapleton. Unlike...

, near Cambridge. In 1755 he became Vicar of Everton

Everton, Bedfordshire

Everton is a small village and civil parish located in north Bedfordshire, England. Everton has no shop but is home to a pub, local church, and a lower school...

. He never married.

By 1758 he would ride on horseback far and wide across the whole of Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. He preached up to twelve open-air sermons and travelled over 100 miles each week. .

Berridge, the vicar of Everton, was commended by John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 as one of the most simple as well as most sensible of all whom it pleased God to employ in reviving primitive Christianity. C.H. Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a large British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers"...

 included John Berridge on his list of Eccentric Preachers along with Hugh Latimer

Hugh Latimer

Hugh Latimer was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, Bishop of Worcester before the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555, under Queen Mary, he was burnt at the stake, becoming one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism.-Life:Latimer was born into a...

, Hugh Peters

Hugh Peters

Hugh Peters [or Peter] was an English preacher.-Early life:He was baptized on 29 June 1598 in Fowey, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge....

, Daniel Burgess

Daniel Burgess

Daniel Burgess , English Presbyterian divine, was born at Staines, in Middlesex, where his father was minister. He was educated under Richard Busby at Westminster School, and in 1660 was sent to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but not being able conscientiously to subscribe the necessary formulae, he quit...

, Rowland Hill

Rowland Hill (preacher)

Rowland Hill A.M. , was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic evangelical and an influential advocate of small-pox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of a wholly independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London; chairman of the Religious Tract Society; and a keen supporter of the...

, Matthew Wilks, William Dawson

William Dawson

-Politicians:* William Johnston Dawson , U.S. Representative from North Carolina* William L. Dawson , U.S. Representative from Illinois* William M. O. Dawson, Governor of West Virginia...

, Jacob Gruber, Edward Taylor

Edward Taylor

Edward Taylor was a colonial American poet, pastor and physician.-Early life:...

, Edward Brooke

Edward Brooke

Edward William Brooke, III is an American politician and was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican from Massachusetts in 1966, defeating his Democratic opponent, Endicott Peabody, 60.7%–38.7%...

, and Billy Bray

Billy Bray

William Trewartha Bray was a Cornish preacher born at Twelveheads, a village in the parish of Kea, near Truro, Cornwall, England.His grandfather and father were pious Methodists, but his father died when his children were young...

.

Take for instance John Berridge. Berridge was quaint by nature. In the former lecture I quoted purposely from his letters rather than from any of his sermons or didactic works, because in a letter you see a man at ease. Berridge could not help being singular, for the form of his mind led him in that direction, and his bachelor life helped to develop his idiosyncrasies. His quaintness was all his own, and you see it in his household arrangements, as, for instance, when he says to a friend: "I am glad to see you write of a visit to Everton; we have always plenty of horse provender at hand; but unless you send me notice beforehand of your coming, you will have a cold and scanty meal; for we roast only twice in the week. Let me have a line, and I will give you the same treat I always gave to Mr. Whitefield, an eighteen-penny barn-door fowl; this will neither burst you nor ruin me; half you shall have at noon with a pudding, and the rest at night. Much grace and sweet peace be with yourself and partner; and the blessing of a new heart be with your children. With many thanks, I remain your affectionate servant, J.B."

His first collection of hymns was published as A Collection of Divine Songs in the 1760s. In 1785, a collection of 342 hymns were published.

He died at the age of 77 and thousands attended his funeral. At his own request John Berridge was buried on the north-east side of Everton churchyard as "a means of consecrating it". This piece of ground had previously been reserved for those who had come to a dishonourable end. His gravestone is a testament to his humble faith.