Chapter II
Joseph Stennett
A. Life 000
Chapter II
Joseph Stennett
A. Life
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Joseph Stennett was born at Abingdon in Berkshire in 1663, the year between the Act of Uniformity and the Conventical Act.
When he was seven or eight years old, the family moved to the ruins of the old castle at Wallingford, ten miles southeast
of Abingdon. In that old castle which could not be forcibly entered by many of the lower governmental officers, this
Dissenter family had some protection against authorities who were trying to enforce laws against Dissenter meetings.
At Wallingford, Joseph received his early education in the public school. Religiously, he was trained at home and was
converted while young, an experience for which he later praised God and his parents.
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After he finished his grammar school education, "he soon mastered the French and Italian languages." For a broad education, he studied the liberal sciences and acquired a considerable proficiency in philosophy. Beginning in his childhood, he also studied the Scriptures and related the fruits of his studies in philosophy to the understanding of the Bible. 002 In preparation for the ministry, he read the early church fathers and also examined many later church writings. 003 Truly that is an outstanding education for a Dissenter of those times, for Oxford and Cambridge Universities were not open to Dissenter and as yet there were few Dissenter academies. 004 As an adjunct of education, he wrote poetry. His first poem to be published (1684) was a one page epitaph for Francis Bampfield, the London Seventh Day Baptist minister who died while in prison for his Dissenter beliefs. 005 Leaving the shelter of Wallingford Castle, he came to London in 1685 at the age of twenty-two. For a vocation, he turned to his great love for education, and "employed himself in the instruction and education of youth."However, he did not let his own education stop. He turned from his wide knowledge of books to a study of men, and London was a good place to study great men. With his education, he was able to become acquainted with several persons "eminent for their piety, good sense, and learning." 006 The same year he came to London, 1685, he wrote a twelve verse poem on martyrdom. It reflects martyrdom by the method of burning at the stake, 007 yet I think it could be interpreted more broadly for, to me the language is vague. He may have been concerned about the French persecution of protestants. Again, does he not have in mind the English protestant martyrs of the reign of "Bloody Mary" one hundred and thirty years before this time? 008 perhaps Stennett wrote the poem while he had in mind Francis Bampfield, the London Seventh Day Baptist minister who died in 1683 while in prison for his Dissenter activity, perhaps he had in mind the nearly eight thousand Nonconformists who died in prison during the reign of Charles II. 009 Again, he might have in mind the Scotch Covenantors, for whom the years 1684 and 1685 came to be called "Killing time." 010 It is practically impossible now to decide the exact historical motivation for this poem, so I say that most any or several of these circumstances could easily be the data prompting him to write a rather general poem on martyrdom. Remember also that he himself has known nothing but the threat of persecution in these first twenty-two years of his life. In 1686, he joined the revived Bampfield Seventh Day particular Baptist Church, at Pinners' Hall. 011 On November 6 of that year, he and Samuel Thompson were appointed to record the activities of the church. Formerly there had been some difference between this congregation and that of John Belcher. Stennett and Thompson were appointed to write a letter to the latter congregation to find out and study the differences and to cement their Christian friendship.
Joseph Stennett married one of the daughters of a family of French Protestants (Huguenots) who had come to England due to religious pressure in France. For nearly a century, French protestants had been living the partial toleration and protection of the edict of Nantes. Never-the-less, George Guill, Esq., a merchant, moved to England in 1682. He was admitted as a gentlemen to the English privy-chamber and the French ambassador secured for him a "brevet" from the French king saying he would be exempt from anti-protestant edicts and could live in England and serve the English in as long as he wished to do so. 015 Then on July 2, 1684, George Guill, His wife Susanna and their children, John, Jane, Susan and Martha were naturalized in England. 016 In 1685, the family is back in France, perhaps on a visit. An account in the family Bible tells of their hurried exit from France; the narrative begins a week before the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
Stennett often expressed himself in Poetry. Because of his keen awareness of the French persecution, He wrote:
Mighty here! born to be Heavens delight and Europe's wonder: Born for easy victory, Born to trample tyrants under! .... 022 Poetry again flowered from his pen on the Accession of William and Mary to the throne in 1689: (Reading between the lines one sees the Toleration Act of the same year.)
Arnold Toynbee, the great twentieth century historian, sees in the events of the late seventeenth century a turning point of history. The sixteenth century and much of the seventeenth century were filled with "Wars of Religion." The coming of religious toleration is to be seen as the first rally of Western Society as against the "Wars of Religion" which were "a symptom of social breakdown.". 025 Right at the time of the arrival of William of Orange, in London there is a conference of representatives of a hundred Baptist churches. Pinners' Hall Sabbatarian Baptists were not invited, but desired to participate so Joseph Stennett and another man were appointed as representatives. Because of the hesitancy of the conference leaders and the unsettled times, the two men were not seated at the conference. 026 After Jehudah Stennett had moved into the country, after about 1688, both John Jones and Joseph Stennett were asked to preach "every Sabbath when they had not assistance from any other church." 027 On Sunday, January 26, 1690, 028 a business meeting of the church called Joseph to take upon himself the office of "Teaching-Elder, or Pastor." In reply "he thought himself bound in duty to serve God in any station he should call him to, and serve this church so far as he should be capable ..." He delayed, however, about making a final decision. After a time the church pressed him for an answer and in turn he asked the church to set aside Sunday, March 2, 1690 for prayer; then he would decide. He accepted that day and was ordained two days later, March 4. 029 The day of ordination was kept by fasting and prayer. Those, participating in the ordination were John Belcher, Sr., Hanserd Knollyns, and Issac Lamb. 030 Belcher was a long-time friend of the Stennett family. Knollyns was an elderly Baptist minister, who had been a Fifth-Monarchy man. 031 Lamb, likewise, was not a Seventh Day Baptist. Although the Pinners' Hall Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church could not pay him much, Joseph served it loyally, Becoming their minister when he was twenty-six, he served it for the last twenty-three years of his rather short life. Often he preached on Sundays for other congregations. From various sources we gleam bits of information and insight concerning his ministry. Among these there is a 1692 letter to a student. Like his father, Joseph is cautious in the search for truth. Dissenters had to be careful in order not to lose the principles for which they stood by following the majority Church of England. 032 This letter is to a student of
About 1693 Joseph showed his broad-mindedness by praising a poem written by a Church of England minister. Samuel Wesley published that year a long poem entitled The Life Of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wesley's 348 page poem was dedicated to Queen Mary. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) later said it was a poor poem, but the queen was impressed and in 1696 she rewarded Wesley with a better rectory. Wesley moved from South Ormsby to Epworth, both in Lincolnshire, an east coast country. It was Epworth which was to become famous when Wesley's sons John and Charles, were to lead the Evangelical revival which evolved into the Methodist church. As far as I know, there is no personal contact between Samuel Wesley and Joseph Stennett, but the letter was impressed by the long poem of the former, and wrote a short poem in praise of it. 034 It was typical of Stennett that he praises men outside his own denomination. He writes in memory of several ministers, he compliments one man on his shorthand; another for his philosophical dress. Few if any of these are Seventh Day Baptists. 035 He releases three sermons for publication in 1695. These sermons which he had preached a year previously, are entitled, Advice to the Young or, the Reasonableness and Advantages of an Early Conversion to God . One might reflect in them his own experience of having early become a Christian and having given thanks to his parents for their Christian nurture. The sermons use built around the idea of God as our Creator and therefore it is our duty to become Christians. In these sermons, Stennett keeps in mind the intellectual atmosphere of the times in which he is living, Early Deism is flourishing with its emphasis on reason in religion, besides revelation. He preaches for his generation:
The good friend of the Stennett family, John Belcher, Sr., died in March 1695. Joseph had called on him often in his illness and on April 1 Stennett preached the sermon at Belcher's funeral. Later that year the sermon was published. Joseph says he preaches the sermon on this principle:
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