The following biography of Elder Wilson Thompson is found in History Of The Church Of God, From The Creation To A.D. 1885; by Cushing Biggs and Sylvester Hassell.

Elder Wilson Thompson (1788-1866), a native of Hillsborough, Kentucky, is regarded as the ablest consisted of a small Bible, Rippon-s Hymn Book, and Bunyan-s Pilgrim-s Progress; and his study was either on his little cabin hearth, with a light made from bark, or in his clearing, while his brushfires were throwing a brilliant light around him; and at the midnight hour the sound of his axe echoed through the solitary forest, and he meditated upon the deep things of God revealed in the Scriptures, and in the earth around him, and in the spangled firmament above. The good work of God continued in that section eighteen months, and Elder T. baptized there some four or five hundred persons all professing to be sinners, and to trust in Christ alone as their Savior; by the almighty power of Divine grace the barren wilderness had been made to blossom as the rose. And yet, soon after this time, he became as despondent as Elijah fleeing from Jezebel after the display of God-s glory on Carmel. He felt himself to be a poor, useless rod, that had been used by the Father for the good of His children, but was not itself a child, and was now to be cast away. He resolved never to preach again; but God comforted him and encouraged him to go on. He remained there another year, working hard for the support of his family, preaching in four different places and traveling two hundred and forty miles a month, a good deal on foot, and receiving no aid from those whom he served in the gospel-the people themselves being very poor and also negligent of their obligation as hearers. His wife became fevered and deranged, and, by the advice of the doctor and friends, he traveled with her in Kentucky and Ohio, and preached, and finally settled in Indiana.

He was requested by Elder Isaac McCoy to join him in his Mission to the Indians, and he was at first disposed to do so; but, upon a thorough examination of the New Testament, he became entirely satisfied that the modern missionary system was, in all respects, directly contrary to God-s plan and to apostolic practice; and this persuasion increased the longer he lived. He moved to Lebanon, Ohio, on a call from the church at that place, and while living there he published two books, -Simple Truth- and -Triumph of Truth,- opposing Fullerism, and thus brought upon himself much persecution.

Considering -person- to mean a distinct and separate individual, he objected to the saying that there were three persons in the Godhead; though he maintained the unity of God, and, at the same time, the divinity of the Father, Son and Spirit. Challenged to discuss religious questions publicly with the champions of other denominations, he displayed transcendent powers of debate. Going to Cincinnati to observe for himself a wonderful modern -revival,- he could see no evidence of any genuine work of grace.

In 1834 he moved to Fayette County, Indiana, having received special direction to leave Lebanon; and he became the pastor of three churches in the Whitewater Association. There were not many additions to the churches, until in 1843 there were 247 that joined the churches in that Association. While residing in Indiana he made extensive tours of preaching in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia; and his ministerial gifts and Christian virtues shone with starry brilliancy, and numerous sinners were moved, and multitudes of saints were comforted and established in their most holy faith, remembering and mentioning with delight, as long as they lived, those wondrous ministrations of the divinely called and divinely qualified servant of God. In regard to the use and effect of the preached gospel, Elder Thompson held, with the majority of Old School Baptists, that it is not the means of imparting spiritual life to the dead sinner; that as no means can be used to give life to one literally dead, even so no means can be used to give eternal life to those who are dead in sins; that, as all temporal means are used to feed, nourish and strengthen living subjects, and not dead ones, so the preaching of the gospel is the medium through which God is pleased to instruct, feed and comfort His renewed children, and not by which He gives life to the dead sinner whom the Spirit alone can quicken; that the gospel is the proclamation of good tidings of great joy to those who have a hearing ear and an understanding heart to receive it, and to these it is the power of God unto salvation, saving them from the false doctrines of men, and feeding and making them strong in the truth.

He deeply regretted that brethren in heart should suffer themselves to be divided on this subject by partisanship and ambition; and he lamented the coldness resulting from such divisions, and earnestly labored to heal the breach thus caused, though he would not compromise the truth.

In a sermon preached in 1859 on 1Cor 15:54, he, among other things, said:

-The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, as shown by Paul in this chapter, is emphatically a cardinal point in that heavenly message of glad tidings sent to earth, called the gospel of our salvation. If the dead rise not, then Christ is not risen, and we shall not rise, and our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins. But if Christ be risen from the dead as the first fruits of them that slept, then all His saints, as the entire crop or harvest, shall finally rise in His likeness. Paul says that the Apostles, including himself, and more than five hundred brethren, the most of whom were living when he wrote, were personal witnesses of the resurrection of Christ; and that, as Adam represented the whole crop of his posterity, and they all died in him, so Christ represents the whole crop of His spiritual seed, and they shall all be made alive in Him, and in His heavenly and perfect likeness. Some modern Sadducees profess to believe in a resurrection, but not of this identical body. They say that when the body dies, the never-dying spirit is separated from this dying body-being mortal, it will return to its mother earth and never be resurrected; but the living spirit, which never dies, leaves the body, and in a living, spiritual body ascends up to God who gave it, and there enjoys the eternal glory. Now who does not see through the mist of this sophism? Where is any particle of the resurrection of the dead in this system? What dies? The body only; and, according to this hypothesis, that which dies never rises again, only the spirit in a spiritual body which never died. There is no resurrection of the dead in this theory; but the Apostle argues the resurrection of the dead, even these vile bodies of ours-that they shall be changed and fashioned like our Savior-s glorious body-that this mortal shall put on immortality, that this corruptible shall put on incorruption. He maintains that it is sown a natural body, but is raised a spiritual body; that it is sown in corruption, but it-yes, it is the same body-it is raised in incorruption. All this shows the identity of the body, but that this identical body shall be not only raised from the dead, but shall, in that process, be changed from natural to spiritual. Flesh and blood, in the present depraved state, shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven, neither corruption inherit incorruption. The same body of Christ that was crucified and laid in the sepulcher, was raised again to life, and made spiritual, and ascended to Heaven. Enoch and Elijah did not leave their mortal bodies behind to decay, but they were translated or changed, in the process, from natural to spiritual. The saints who shall be alive on earth at the second coming of Christ shall not sleep, but shall be changed-not exchange these bodies for some other bodies, but these bodies shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; from being terrestrial, they shall become celestial bodies, incorruptible, glorious and immortal. Then shall death be swallowed up in victory. Under a conditional covenant, the ministration of law and of death, Adam, with all his posterity, fell into ruin; but under the unconditional covenant of grace, ordered in all things and sure, the ministration of the Spirit and of life, all the heirs of promise shall certainly be saved, both in soul and in body, forever. A conditional plan of salvation can reach only the good, the obedient, the righteous; and, as the Bible declares there are none such on earth, such a plan can reach no member of the human family. While conditionalists are preaching to moral free agents and to the good, do let me preach the gospel to the poor, to them who are without strength, to them who are naked, and hungry, and thirsty. Let me say to the poor, ungodly sinner, -This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.- Let me tell the helpless sinner that Christ is able to save to the uttermost. Though their sins be red as scarlet or crimson, let me tell them that He can cleanse them white as wool or snow. If the conditionalist can find a good, righteous man, a moral free agent, he may preach to him; for, as Christ -came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,- I have but little to say to such, and I cannot find them. Let me preach to sinners, for these I can find everywhere, and the gospel of the grace of God is the gospel of their salvation. Its language is, -The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost.- We learn from John 5:28, 29, that all the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, shall be raised from their graves; and, from Revelation 20:12-15, that all shall stand before God, and the books shall be opened, and another book shall be opened, which is the book of life, and that the dead shall be judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works, and that all except those who are found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire-the second death. I understand the books to be the books of the law-the five books of Moses. -There is one who judgeth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. They that are under the law shall be judged by the law.- The law is the conditional system, and every conditionalist desires and expects to be judged by the books of the law according to his works. So the books and their works will be compared, and they will all be cast into the lake of fire. Such will be the final fate of all whose names were not found written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Such are the awful results of the conditional plan, which is the law, the ministration of condemnation and death. May the Lord save His people from the curse. The gospel of our salvation opens a brighter prospect before us than all the schemes and systems which philosophy, criticism, speculation or the wisdom of the world ever devised. By man came death and all its gloom; we look at it with dread and repulsive fear. Its gloom is deep and dark; not one bright star to guide, or one bright beam to cheer the lonely traveler!-all, all is gloom! But hark! in accents soft and melodious as seraphs sing, we hear it proclaimed, -By man came also the resurrection of the dead;- -death is swallowed up in victory;- the gloom recedes. Clothed in bright immortality and incorruption we behold the saints arise. This is the hope of the gospel.-

Elder Thompson-s last sermon was preached before the Antioch Church, in Wabash County, Ind., the third Sunday in April, 1866, from 1John 5:1,2. He spoke, with his accustomed energy, nearly an hour and a half. He gently fell asleep in Jesus on the evening of the first of May, testifying in his last moments,

-I have preached that which I believed to be the truth, and in prospect of death it is my only hope. For many years I have not known the fear of death, but have been waiting till my change should come, leaving the event entirely in the hands of a just God. How great a blessing it is to have a merciful and faithful God to trust in when I come to die ! My God is a God of purpose and power; He doeth all things right.-