Most information about Buck's life comes from extracts from his diaries and letters found in Memoirs and remains of the late Rev.
[2] He began his formal education in a boarding school in Hillsley run by the Rev William Hitchman, a Baptist minister.
[4] Buck does not describe what he saw or did at the theatre that he considered immoral, but the history of the London theater gives clues.
Jeremy Collier's pamphlet, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (S. Keble, 1698) was in print.
"In front of the stage, young men would drink together, eat nuts and mingle with prostitutes down below in the notorious ‘pit’."
In a letter of 19 April 1794, Buck suggested that the old temptation was still present because he said that he had been reading Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (E. Baines, 1799).
Thomas Wills of Silver Street Chapel, London, who treated Buck as a son always welcomed at his table with "free access to his library."
"[17] After returning to London, Buck resumed his "secular employment" as a lawyer and his work at Silver Street chapel with Mr. Wills.
Buck wrote that "he was heard with attention and pleasure by numerous congregations," but that he was "derided and ridiculed" by other lawyers.
[18] Although Buck had "engaged in much public preaching," at age 19 he recognized that his "classical knowledge was but small" and his "theological attainments" were "superficial."
[19] In a letter dated 14 April 1794, to Mr Wills from Banbury (76 miles/122 km) from London, Buck said that he wanted to get back to the Academy for the "last three weeks or month of my time.
[22] Three important events in Buck's life happened in 1795: he married, he accepted a call to Sheerness, and he was ordained to the pastoral office.
William Shrubsole, the pastor of the Independent Church in Sheerness, had suffered a paralytic stroke, so Buck was "publicly ordained as co-pastor with him."
In spite of the fact that Buck ministered with "exemplary zeal and diligence," the congregation waned because of other events.
[27] On 3 December 1797 Buck began preaching in the newly acquired Princes Street Chapel, Moorfields.
[28] During his time at Princes Street Chapel, Buck was chosen to be a director of the Missionary Society and later became a Trustee and Stated Contributor of the Evangelical Magazine.
Theological Dictionary, Two Volumes in One Notices of all or nearly all the existing religious denominations of the United States are given, accompanied with historical sketches and ecclesiastical statistics.[46]2.
The Young Christian's Guide; Or, Suitable Directions, Cautions, and Encouragement to the Believer on His First Entrance into the Divine Life (London: J. Haddon, 4th edition 1814) 5.
The Practical Expositor: Or, Scripture Illustrated by Facts, and Arranged for Every Day in the Year (Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward, 1815) 6.
Serious Enquiries: Or, Important Questions Relative to this World and That Which Is to Come; to Which Are Added, Reflections on Mortality Occasioned by the Death of Rev.
A Treatise on Religious Experience: its Nature, Evidences and Advantages (Board of Publication of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1855) 13.