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Joseph Stennett II was born in London on November 6, 1692. The tolerant Protestant, William of Orange, had been ruling England for about three years. Thus in a time of peace, Joseph, Jr. was able to acquire his "grammar and classical learning from two of the ablest scholars of that day, Mr. Ainsworth, author of the Latin Dictionary, and Dr. Ward, professor of Rhetoric in Gresham College."001 Joseph, Jr. was baptized at fifteen and joined his father's church, the Pinners' Hall Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church.002 As far as I know, he spent all of his boyhood in London. However, in 1713, during the last illness of his father, apparently most of the family moved to the home of William Morton, the father's brother-in-law, in Knaphill in Buckinghamshire. The father from his death bed gave Joseph, Jr. "very particular directions with respect to the management of his studies, and how to conduct himself as a minister in his future life." One does not know the content of these directions; however, Joseph, Jr., after the death of his father, July 11, 1713, did not go back to London to become pastor of the Pinners' Hall Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church, as one might have expected. As far as I know, he was not even called to the pastorate of that church: probably as he was only twenty, he was regarded as too young. Instead, he remained in Buckinghamshire, living at Hitchendon.003 On April 8, 1714, Joseph Stennett II married Rebecha Davies at Radnage, her home village, which was five miles west of Hugenden.004 That same year, the new couple settled at Leominster in Herefordshire,005 which is far west of the county of Bucks, and therefore is mainly west but about twelve miles from Wales. Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, an early twentieth century publication, says there was a "Sabbath-keeping church" in Leominster. Proof for that statement, it seems to me, is inadequate.006 All I can say is that the couple settled at Leominster for reasons which are not now ascertainable. When he was twenty-two (which I would think would have been sometime in the year after his twenty-second birthday, November 6, 1714), Stennett began his public ministry at the Baptist church in Abergavenny in Monmouthshire.007 Abergavenny is thirty miles south of Leominster, one hundred thirty miles west of London, and only three miles from the Welch border. He "preached with great acceptance" to the Baptist church in Abergavenny for several years.008 Ivimey also says that Stennett was an assistant in the Baptist church at Leominster under a Mr. Holder and that Stennett moved from Leominster to Exeter about 1719. I point out that Leominster and Abergavenny are thirty miles apart which even today is quite a commuting distance between two parishes! I think that the Stennett moved to Abergavenny and perhaps severed connections with Leominster. My only proof is that on August 28, 1718, Joseph Collet, an old family friend, replied to a letter of Stennett's; Collet's heading was "To Mr. Joseph Stennett at Abergavenny in Monmouthshire."009 I think Stennett would be receiving most of his correspondence at the town in which he actually lived. A greater difficulty in trying to recover Stennett's life story is that while he was at Abergavenny, it is said he married a daughter of Nathaniel Morgan.010 It is possible that Rebecha Davies had a step-father by that name, but there is no way to explain the change in Stennett's address from Hugenden in Bucks to Abergavenny unless it be that of inaccurate information. Another phase of this tradition is that he married a lady from Wales, where he lived a few years, where many of his children were born and during which time he ministered to the Baptist church in Abergavenny.011 Another bit of information is that the name of his wife who died in 1744, which is a quarter of a century later, is "Rebecca," quite likely only a variant in spelling from "Rebecha." 012 As the chances are very slim that a man's first and second wives would have the same Christian name, I am inclined to think that probably the marriage accounts I have mentioned in this paragraph are either additional information or simply misinformation. On the other hand, it is possible his first wife died not long after their marriage and he had remarried while he was the Baptist minister at Abergavenny. After he became a minister at Abergavenny, Stennett received "two very pressing invitations from different congregations in London which he declined accepting." Finally, about 1719, he did accept the call to become pastor of the Baptist church in the city of Exeter.013 Exeter is eighty miles south of Abergavenny and about one hundred sixty miles west of London. While at Exeter, Joseph Stennett II was active in the Western Association of Baptists; his name is signed to the association letters for 1722, 1725, and 1726.014 Almost as soon as he had moved to Exeter, Stennett found himself on the edge of the "Exeter controversy" which apparently had started a couple years earlier. Two Presbyterian leaders, James Pierce and Joseph Haller, Jr., were accused of holding "Arian views"; they said they did not hold Arian views but simply thought that within the Trinity the Son and Holy Spirit were not equal with God, the Father. The Presbyterian ministers caused a great deal of discussion on the topic. The Baptist congregation was terror-stricken and became suspicious that their own minister "also had inbibed the heresy of Arius." Consequently, they dismissed him. This account reads as if there were one Baptist church in Exeter and that the dismissal of the minister occurred before the time that Stennett was called to Exeter. I surmise, but cannot prove that this vacancy provided the opportunity for Stennett, Jr. to become the Baptist minister there. Eventually the two Presbyterians were expelled from their denomination. It is said that, relating to the controversy, Stennett brilliantly defended the doctrine of the Trinity.015 After the Exeter controversy, in which unorthodox theology had been brought to light, many of the younger Presbyterian ministers openly denied the divinity of Jesus. Likewise, the thorough-going Deists were having an easier time insisting on natural religion alone and discrediting revelation.016 In 1720, not too long after Stennett Jr. had moved to Exeter, the Mill Yard Seventh Day General Baptist Church, Goodmans' Fields, London, called him to be their pastor. I think it unusual that a General Baptist Church would call a Particular Baptist to its pulpit; the call recognizes the difference but rises above it, "Trusting to his Moderation he knowing our Principals about ye General Point." The seventh-day was the doctrine which the church thought was more important than whether God chose men in general or the elect in particular. 017 Stennett declined the call for reasons that are not known. It is said that he always kept the seventh day Sabbath,018 yet he does not accept the pastorate of a seventh-day church. I think of three possible reasons why he might have turned down the call; I will name them in the order of decreasing importance. (1) Stennett has been in his present pastorate only about a year, a very short pastorate indeed. (2) As a Particular Baptist, he is wary of difficulties which could arise if he served a General Baptist church; his father had probably told him of the troubles he had when he served the Barbican church in London, a church which tried to be neither General or Particular Baptist. (3) He is not sure he wants to put in a fairly sizable portion of his time debating or discussing whether Saturday or Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. In 1737, when he was forty-five and after eighteen years as pastor of the Baptist Church in Exeter in western England, Joseph Stennett, Jr. was called to the pastorate of Little Wild Street Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church in London. Like Pinners' Hall, the Little Wild Street Baptist Church is north of the Thames and in the central section of London. The latter church is at or near Lincoln's Inn Fields which is about a mile and a half west of Broad Street on which I think Pinners' Hall was located.019 In the days of Joseph Stennett, Sr., the Little Wild Street Church had as its pastor John Piggott, a close friend of Joseph, Sr. Joseph Stennett, Jr. was "ordained over" the Little Wild Street Church on September 15, 1737. Two other Baptist ministers, Dr. John Gill and Mr. Samuel Wilson, preached on the occasion and the rest of the Baptist ministers in the area were present.020 In London, Stennett was also active in the interchurch Baptist circles as he had been in western England. His name often appears in the minutes of the Baptist Board (of ministers). Edmond Townsend of the old Bampfield-Stennett Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church was also active in Baptist interchurch meetings.021 Ivimey gives a listing of the Baptist churches in London and their memberships in 1753. At that time there are two large Baptist churches of one hundred fifty members each. Among the "average" churches is that at Little Wild Street with sixty members. Townsend's Sabbatarian Baptist church of Curriers' Hall has twenty-members.022 Reactionary Preaching
But this is not all: for corruption in principle has been attended with the most scandalous immorality in practice.027 Stennett goes on to name sins of the age which he thinks are due to Deism. There is the "pride and luxury of the nation in general," "proneness to all sorts of sensual gratifications," fraud and violence, falsehood and corruption, wilful perjury, blasphemies and drunkenness.028 "PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD, O BRITAIN."029 Stennett calls "all such who have any remains of true religion left," to be humbled before God and reform'd so that providence does not bring some calamity upon the nation.030 This is truly a reactionary, Calvinistic sermon. Early the next year, February 9, 1738, Stennett preached at a Rev. Mr. Hill's meeting-place on Thames-street in London to a society of ministers and laymen who were trying to help young men who were studying for the ministry. This, too, was a reactionary sermon. On the title page is a scripture very appropriate to his state of mind: "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18: 8). Thus the sermon title is, "The Christian Strife for the Faith of the Gospel." He again criticizes Deism for its unorthodox theology and the moral failures of at least a portion of its adherents.031 The sin of the sermon is to affirm what he thinks is a minimal Christian Framework of beliefs: divine revelation as opposed to "carnal and unrenewed reason," the uniform doctrine of the whole Bible, original sin, and the certainty of the saints' final perseverance.032
Return of War May we never cease to pray for the safety and glory of our king, . . . May we study the things that make for the public peace and welfare . . . . 039 While the war of the Austrian Succession was in progress, the French urged the "Young pretender," Charles Edward, grandson of James II, to attempt to seize the English crown. Accordingly he landed with seven followers on the northern coast of Scotland, picked up help from the Scotch Jacobites of the Highlands and defeated the English near Edinburgh. Even before the first defeat of the English, the Dissenter Ministers were alarmed. On October 3, 1745, Stennett, accompanied by several other ministers presented an address to the king on behalf at the "Protestant Dissenting Ministers, in and about the cities of London and Westminster."040 They pledged their affection to the king and his government and expressed their grave concern about the Young Pretender's progress. After his first victory, the Young Pretender marched south, arriving in Derbyshire in England, about one hundred miles north of London on December 4. Lacking support from the people of England and hearing of the approach of a British army, the Young Pretender began retreating on December 6. The patriotic Dissenter minister, Joseph Stennett, Jr., is greatly disturbed by the partial successes of the Young pretender, whom I suppose was a Catholic. Accordingly, on December 18, the day appointed for a general Fast because of the "present rebellion," Stennett preached a very heated sermon, tie was shocked that the people were not more keenly aware of national sins, namely rejecting divine revelation and being immoral, the people should also have a greater personal concern that the Young pretender not be allowed to take over the country; if he should do so, the country would not be ruled by a contract between the ruler and the people, but as a dictatorship with no liberties for the people.041 In
When the war of the Austrian Succession drew to a close, because of weariness and exhaustion, a peace was signed in October, 1748, at Aix-laChapelle on the basis that all possessions should be the same as when the war started (except that Prussia would keep Silesia). At London, it seems that most of the Dissenter ministers were disappointed with the treaty. Stennett, however, is quite satisfied as long as England and Holland have been saved and there is a balance of power in Europe. Accordingly he patriotically preached an appropriate sermon on the day of thanksgiving for peace, April 25, 1749.044
A second religious event is the "Evangelical Revival" in England. In 1739, George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley all started preaching out-of-doors whenever they could get an audience. In this way, Christianity was brought to the populace. Among the results of the movement were improved morality, a widespread popular interest in Christianity, and improved social conditions. (These results, of course, came gradually.)046 Butler's Analogy and the Evangelical Revival prepared the way for dated from 1742, the publication date Argument by Henry Dodwell, Jr. Dodwell wrote that religion stems from true source. Previously, even "orthodox" defenders of Christianity had assumed that "true religion is rational and capable of defense" by rational means. About this same time, the philosopher David Hume's writings are presenting a position which virtually shifts Deism over to skepticism, perhaps the main cause, however, in the decline of Deism was the Evangelical Revival led by Whitefield and the Wesleys. This movement presented Christianity as "a religion of zeal and fervor and power." On this basis it presented Christian morality much more effectively than did Deism. As such, it did not oppose Deism directly but directly but made Deism virtually irrelevant. By 1760 Deism was no longer of great importance.047 At this time, various records tell us of Stennett's personal activities. The death of Mr. Samuel Burch, who I think may have been a member of Stennett's church, took Joseph II out to Watford in Herefordshire in June, 1741. The sermon he preached at the interment he repeated later for the Little Wild Street Seventh Day Church.048 That same year, Whitley says that Stennett put out a new version of the Psalms of David. I suppose Whitley is correct, but this is the only mention of his having skill in language, except for an occasional reference to Greek in his sermons.049 On September 23, 1743, he was at Bourton, preaching at the ordination of Benjamin Beddome.050 In December, 1749, he was out to Reading in Berkshire, a city that was familiar to his grandfather. At Reading he participated in the ordination of Thomas Whitewood to the ministry along with two men to the diaconate. Samuel Wilson, from London, and Daniel Turner, from Abingdon, also shared in the ordination.051 Joseph Stennett's wife Rebecca, though perhaps only fifty years old, died in 1744. The funeral sermon for her was preached by Samuel Wilson, and it was entitled, God the portion of his people; it was published in London the same year.052 In that same year 1744, another funeral sermon by Joseph II was published. It was The Power and pleasure of the Divine Life and it was preached for Mrs. H. Housman.(053; Another published funeral sermon was that preached at Limehouse, June 2, 1748, for Rev. David Rees.054 Stennett also preached the funeral oration (at the interment) for his colleague, Samuel Wilson, on October 12, 1750. This oration was published along with the main sermon preached by another minister.055 A letter Joseph II wrote to Rev. John Walrund in Exeter on March 22, 1750 gives some insights into his life and interests. He is now about fifty-eight years old and according to this letter, he has just been recovering from "a violent rheumatic pain" in his right arm which has almost kept from being able to write. He has spent three afternoons in the previous weeks in the gallery of the House of Commons listening to debates about excessive use of liquor. (The reign of George II 1727-1760 was called the "Gin age"; drunkeness was rampant in all social classes.)056 He has recently been talking with the bishop of London.057 During the conversation, he indulges in a bit of playful sarcasm, saying that he could now see more value in the book of Common Prayer, for the Scriptures are seldom read by common people; if people did not hear Scripture from the prayer book, some would forget there had ever been a Christ!058 As to the lack of knowledge of the Bible, this very same year, 1750, saw the founding of "The Society for promoting religious Knowledge among the poor." Joseph Stennett II was one of its leaders.059 Three years later, on November 15, he addresses this society at a meeting in Haberdasher's-Hall. This sermon, The Importance of Religious Knowledge is based on Moses 4: 6: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." He says that it is religious knowledge which is meant in the text.060 Primarily this is revelation and is found in the bible, which is one of the main publications the society distributes.061 Stennett takes note of the unparalleled generosity of the people, an effect possibly caused by the Wesleyan revival.
Two other sermons complete our survey of the second Joseph's miscellaneous publications. On June 9, 1752, he preached on "The Complaints of an Unsuccessful Ministry" "to the ministers and messengers of several churches in the West of England, met together in association at Bratton."064 This I suppose was the Western Baptist Association. Finally, Christ's Care of the Future Blessedness of his People, his funeral sermon for Mrs. Mary Roberts of Abingdon in Berks was published in 1754.065 About 1752, Stennett was active in an Education Society in London which aided Particular Baptist students who were studying for the ministry.066 I don't know whether of not they were aided by the society, but from his own church altogether three men became ministers (besides his own two sons). They were the famous Caleb Evans, who later taught in the Dissenter academy at Bristol, Joseph Palmer and Wm. Clarke.067 A glimpse of Stennett's everyday activities is found in the diary of Rev. Samuel Payles, a minister of Hanover, Virginia who was visiting London in 1753. Davies and another who minister were in England, soliciting money for Princeton University. Davies learned that Stennett was the Dissenter minister with the most influence at the court. In talking over legal problems of the college with Stennett, Davies found that Stennett was well acquainted with previous court actions that might bear on Davies' problems. According to Davies, Stennett was acquainted with the Duke of Argyle, Lord Duplin and the Duke of Newcastle. (As to government leaders, other sources report that Stennett knew Arthur Onslow, Esq., a Speaker of the House of Commons and King George II knew Stennett and thought well of him.)068 The diary also shows a society with an active social life. Davies was often entertained at dinner at the home of leading citizens. Once he and Stennett were entertained together. Also, while dining at the home of Samuel, Davies met Samuel's older brother, Joseph III, and while at the home of a Mr. William Stead, he met Stead's minister, Robert Cornthwaite, the Socinian (Unitarian) Seventh Day Baptist minister of Mill Yard.069 Early in this sketch of Joseph II, we noted that he observed the seventh day as the Sabbath. What is his relationship then to Seventh Day Baptist when he actually does live in London? There is a letter with the dateline September 2, 1753 from America to which asks if Stennett "communes" with Mill Yard; however, no reply to the letter is preserved.070 The letter at least suggests that Stennett does not see very much of the Mill Yard General Baptists. Some concrete evidence is found in Davies' Diary, for he says he preached for Stennett on Saturday afternoon, March 23, 1753, to a small congregation of Seventh Day Baptists, "who seem very serious people."071 The wording seems to indicate that Stennett preached quite regularly for a Seventh Pay Baptist congregation. However, Cornthwaite is at Mill Yard and Townsend is pastor of the former Bampfield-Stennett Church.072 As Joseph Stennett II's church is a Particular Baptist Church073 I would give preference to his helping Townsend carry the preaching load for the Particular Baptist Church of which his father had once been the minister for over twenty-three years.074 As is still a common practice, when an older man has distinguished himself in the ministry, universities sometimes bestow upon him another honorary degree, Doctor of Divinity. Joseph Sr. had not been so honored, but his brother-in-law, Daniel Williams had received one.075 Likewise, Joseph Stennett II received his honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh, the degree being conferred on him in 1754.076 Joseph II, by that time, was getting up in years, and his wife had died some years previous, but as he left a widow when he died, apparently he had remarried. Finally, death caught up with him, too. Late in 1757 he was in Bath,077 a city in western England, under medical care, but gangrene of one foot set in and he died on February 7, 1758, at sixty five years of age. Dr. John Gill preached the funeral sermon for him at Little Wild Street Church. Gill described him as a man
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