The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fuller, Richard

FULLER, Richard, American Baptist clergyman: b. Beaufort, S. C., 22 April 1804; d. Baltimore, Md., 20 Oct. 1876. In 1820 he entered Harvard University, but was obliged, on account of feeble health, to leave during his junior year. He then studied law in Beaufort, was admitted to the bar and soon rose to eminence in his profession. During a period of great religious interest in Beaufort he felt it his duty to abandon the law and devote himself to the Christian ministry. At the same time he was constrained to leave the Protestant Episcopal Church in which he had been brought up. He was at once ordained, and called to the pastorate of the Baptist church at Beaufort. His reputation as a preacher soon became national and his services were widely sought in promoting religious revivals. During his residence in Beaufort he was engaged in two memorable controversies — one with Bishop England of Charleston, on the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, and the other with President Wayland, of Brown University on the subject of slavery. In 1836 he traveled in Europe for the benefit of his health and in 1846, became pastor of a Baptist church in Baltimore, Md., where he spent the remainder of his life. He was more than once president of the Southern Baptist convention. In addition to pamphlets and various sermons published separately, he was the author of volumes of ‘Sermons’ and ‘Letters’; ‘Argument on Baptist and Close Communion’ (1849); ‘Psalmist.’ Consult the memoir by his nephew, James H. Cuthbert (New York 1879).