On this day in 1873, Baptist pastor, Noel, passed away at the age of 74. (I wonder how he pronounced his name. Was it “Noll” or “No-ell”?) I mention that because his name is almost a play on words. Noel was not born a Baptist, but rather as an Anglican. His family name means “birth of God,” but his given name wasn’t “Christmas,” like the famous Welsh evangelist. Rather, somehow this son of the Church of England was given the name “Baptist.” This bit of Baptist history is about Baptist W. Noel.
Baptist came from a rich and powerful family, and he was groomed to be an elite in the Church of England. After graduating from Trinity College in Cambridge, he became one of the most eminent Anglican preachers in London. Noel had a really sharp mind which he used in writing and preaching, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that the Protestant practice of the ordinances is unbiblical. When he came to accept the obvious, Baptist Noel was publically baptized in London on August 9, 1849, after which he clearly and biblically declared what the Bible teaches on the subject. Thereafter he also wrote two essays on baptism.
The following year he became the pastor of the Baptist church in John Street. He served that church for nearly twenty years before becoming an evangelist. His last message at John Street was from Galatians 6:14 – “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
– Source: This Day in Baptist History II, Cummins and Thompson