William Vivian

Tom, are you able to relook at the scanning of Parts 1 & 2 of “The Cake of Barley Bread”? See your comments. Do you, or anyone else know more about William Vivian?

He refers to his book, “Essays on Prophecy.” Does someone have access to it? I’m also not sure about authorship of all the hymns in the listed “Christian Hymns.”

This young believer had remarkable insight into the Scriptures. He died at the age of 33! He attended the Christian Church at Tor (Torquay, Devon) it seems. Was he the minister? The “Customs and Practices” of the Church at Tor in the Appendix to Part 1 seem so much along the lines of the “Brethren,” and that in the early 1830’s.

The following are some notes I made on William Vivian some years ago:
Captain William Vivian (7 Apr 1803 – 11 Apr 1836) was the third surviving child and second surviving son of Richard Vivian (1754-1825, Fellow of Exeter College and Rector of Bushey, 1797- 13 May 1825, who died ‘suddenly whilst walking along the Strand, London’ [G.C. Boase, Bibliotheca Cornubiensis ii. 834]) and his wife Mary Catherine Emmett (d. 22 Oct 1843).
He was born at Bushey (a living with a long established connection with Exeter College where he was christened 10 May 1803. He retired as a Captain in the 52nd Regiment on half-pay in November 1828. At some point (date unknown) he married Anne Sivewright, daughter of John Sivewright of Old Windsor, but they had no children.
Many years after his death he was ‘renamed and ordained’ as the Rev. John Vivian by David Beattie (in Story of Great Recovery,63) with Tim Grass following (Gathering to His Name, 42)
His father was a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford where his (William’s) younger brothers Charles (aged 19) and Edward (aged 16) both matriculated in 1824 (which was the year in which B W Newton matriculated from the same college). Edward went on to be a geologist, writing several books on the subject (Climate, caves, meteorology etc) and living at Woodfield, Torquay not far from his brother William. Their uncle William Henry Vivian also matriculated from Exeter College and became the Rector of Charles, Plymouth where he died in 1840.
William Vivian wrote The Cake of Barley Bread; or Emancipation of the People of Christ from Protestant Domination, which was published in London by E Palmer and Son, and in Torquay by E. Cockren, c. 1836. [E. Cockren appears to have been a publisher with evangelical or at least anti-catholic sympathies…]
The book begins with an enquiry, “What is the truth as regards the transmission of apostolic authority and who are the rightful rulers in the church of Christ?” This appears to have been a previous publication to which the Rev. R. B. Paul, Minister of Torquay Chapel, had published an answer A Letter to William Vivian, Esq. in Answer to a Pamphlet, entitled, “The Cake of Barley Bread,” &c. (Torquay: Cockren, ?1835), because, following his opening enquiry, Vivian replies to Paul’s answer.
The second part of Vivian’s work asks the question “To whom is the office of teacher committed and limited in Protestant establishments and what are the means which the Lord has appointed for the edification of His churches?”
The third part offers “A comparison of the articles and practices of the Christian church at Tor, with the word of God, and an examination of the administrative authority assumed in Protestant establishments, with reference to baptism and the supper of the Lord.”
In a review of Vivian’s book, the editor of The Spiritual magazine; or, Saint's treasury (a magazine published in London) commented:
“Under each of these discourses, Mr. Vivian has very fully explained his views of church discipline, and of the departure from apostolic direction and gospel simplicity among all denominations of professors. He confines the government of the churches to two officers, overseers as rulers, and deacons or servants. The term elder, he contends applies exclusively to aged men, whom the Holy Ghost has made its overseers. Mr. V. also advocates the breaking of bread every Lord's day—submission to the written word of God — approves of believer's baptism, but adopts open communion — any male member at liberty to give a word of exhortation at their public meetings — opposes the setting apart as exclusive ministers any body of men, as paid dispensers of the word. These are the leading views of Mr. Vivian, and which he defends with much earnestness, and we think with an evident anxiety to promote what he believes to be the primitive usage of the church. We must refer our readers to the work itself, which is worthy a careful perusal.” (The Spiritual magazine; or, Saints’ Treasury, xii [June 1836] p. 189.)
A couple of years later, J E Howard, a one time Quaker, writing for dissatisfied Quakers in The Inquirer (ii [1839] 598-601) wrote an approving critique of Vivian’s Cake of Barley Bread but had reservations about his “old men eldership.”
William Vivian also wrote a poem Contemplation, or a Christian’s Wanderings (London: Simpkin and Co, 1836.)
Timothy Stunt

Thanks so much, brethren; this is an interesting part of "ecclesiastical dissenters'" and "Brethren" history.

Sorry, I took the lazy route to ask, and should have searched the site. The notes under "Hymnology and Poetry" fill in quite a bit on the Vivian's history. And then, DavidS's note there from 2016 - even after Timothy's reply - may still invite further contributions:

"If anyone has any other information about Vivian, or these early days at Torquay, I would be interested in hearing from them."

Hi Syd, I've put it on my list for next time at the British Library, to rescan the missing pages, though might be a while before I go back.
Tom

At the beginning of this exchange Syd spotted that on the title page of the 'Cake of Barley Bread' Part 1, the author, William Vivian, acknowledged that he was the author of 'Essays on Prophecy'. I have been unable to find such a title written by Vivian, but I suspect he published the book under the pseudonym, "Biblicus". The only book I can find (with that exact title is by "Biblicus" and was published by the evangelical London publisher John Hatchard in 1831. It is subtitled Part I but it seems that subsequent volumes were not forthcoming which would tally with William Vivian's early death in 1836. The volume is accessible on line at https://books.google.com/books?id=JcYFK85EmqoC&pg=PA1&dq=%22the+origin+of+the+essays+on+prophecy .
Timothy Stunt

There's another item by "Biblicus" in 1852.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=YfeiCaMmp5kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22by+Biblicus%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiI3YDJgICFAxXydfUHHf_LClYQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=%22by%20Biblicus%22&f=false

Might this suggest another "Biblicus" or that it was not Vivian?

Another on prophecy by "Biblicus". 1819 might be a bit early for WV.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2ORhAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR8&dq=%22by+Biblicus%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiI3YDJgICFAxXydfUHHf_LClYQ6AF6BAgMEAI#v=onepage&q=%22by%20Biblicus%22&f=false

Thorn, William, 1794-1870, also called himself Biblicus.
"The history of tithes: patriarchal, levitical, Catholic, and Protestant:
with reflections on the extent and evils of the English tithe system, and
suggestions for abolishing tithes and supporting the clergy" by Biblicus.
Author: Thorn, William, 1794-1870
Published: London : J. Dinnis, 1831.
Edition: 2nd ed., enl.
Physical Description: iv, 64 pages
(Access digital copy through HathiTrust)

"Biblicus" is a predictably popular religious pseudonym likely to be taken by many anonymous authors, but the title "Essays on Prophecy" seems only to occur in 1831 and there is no Part II to follow Part I. From the Introductory dedication to "Contemplation" we know that William Vivian was physically challenged before December 1835. If Biblicus in 1831 is William Vivian we need not be surprised to find the writer advocating a pre-millennial second coming and that "nothing remains to be fulfilled before his coming, and that therefore we know neither the day nor the hour" (p. 42)
On another issue we may also observe that William's younger brother, Charles, cannot have drowned with the poet Shelley in 1822 as he matriculated at Exeter College in 1824; see "Register of Exeter College" (1894) p. 102. Timothy Stunt

Timothy,
Could not find the reference online for
"Register of Exeter College" (1894) p. 102.
Ancestry has his death as 1822, 1824 & 1841.
I may have had the wrong Charles Vivian.