Samuel, up to this time like his father, had individual sermons published. But in 1769, a group of
seventeen of his sermons were published in two volumes under the title, Discourses on Personal Religion . 051 This was the first time in the Stennett family that during a man's lifetime more than three
sermons had been published in a group. A second edition of these Discourses was published in two volumes in 1786. 052 Under the editorship of his son Rev. Joseph Stennett (IV), as third edition in one volume was
published in 1796. 053 The sermons were published again at Edinburgh in Scotland in 1801 in
two volumes 054 and finally in Samuel's Works in 1824. As far as I know, the five
editions make the Discourses the most popular theological work ever published by a Seventh Day Baptist.
In his Discourses on Personal Religion , Samuel says in the beginning that many people think it
is hard to comprehend religion.
yet if men would but soberly listen to the dictates of reason, together with concurrent testimony of
scripture and experience, they would not find it so hard a task as they imagine, to acquire at least some general notions about it.
055
Samuel's intention in these sermons is to further the idea that Christianity should be a personal
experience.
As the heart is the place where he [God) hath erected his throne, so the powers of it, the
understanding, will and affection, are the proper subjects over which he sways his scepter. 056
Although God speaks to the hearts of men, and is known to everyone individually, personal experience
with God can be over done. Some men do that when they
place the whole of their devotion in sudden impulses, ecstatic visions, and other wild reveries of a
heated imagination; they do not leave themselves possess[ed] of any certain principles, upon which hey can at all be reasoned with.
057
wild spiritual experience which does not create valid Christian knowledge is unsatisfactory to Samuel.
"Knowledge ... is of great importance to direct our conduct in most of the affairs of life." 058 "These exercises of the soul are not wild flights of enthusiasm, but real, substantial, rational
religion." 059 "If God be a perfect and spiritual Being, the rational and
spiritual natures with which he had endowed us, must be employed in his service," 060
Stennett, in speaking on "the sameness of religion," appears to cling to the idea that all
men should come to think alike.
... most of the dissensions which prevail in the Christian church, are rather owing to some unhappy
defect in men's tempers than in their judgments. 061
He goes on, however, to recognize that because religion is personal, men just don't think alike
on all points and he implies that there is nothing really harmful about some variation in Christian belief.
That men do reason very differently, and that too upon the essential points of divine revelation, is
acknowledged; and that many do make religion to consist in what does not really belong to it, and profess themselves to be what they
are not, is likewise as certain. But it does not follow from these abuses of religion, that is itself a vague, loose and uncertain
thing. There is but one way to heaven, and however the themselves as to apprehensions of good men themselves as to some lesser things,
may not all alike clear, and there external forms of profession may in many respects differ; yet the leading principles of their
judgment, and the main feelings and experience of their hearts, are strictly analogous and similar. 062
This is perhaps the first clear-cut statement of religious freedom published by the Stennett
family.
Difference of opinion must not only be tolerated, but the one must love anyone who has a different
opinion.
As we ought all 'to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints,' so we are
obliged, by the simplicity and sameness of that divine spirit and temper which hath been infused into our hearts, 'most sincerely
and affectionately to love one another.'... Can we believe him [a Christian of different belief] to be the offspring of God - the
brother of Jesus, and a partaker of the same nature with ourselves, and not embrace him with the utmost cordiality in the arms of
Christian charity? God forbid that we should be insensible to such divine impressions! Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
of God: and every one that loveth is born of God, for God is love.' May this temper live and increase in each of our hearts, so
proving us to be the disciples of Jesus.... 063
Personal Religion has as one of its attributes the potentiality of effectually motivating Christian
living.
True religion, wherever it prevails, infuses a certain vital heat or energy into the soul, which fails
not to produce some substantial effects in a man's temper and conduct. It is however to be feared, that too many mistake the
unhallowed flame of mere natural passion, for this living principle of divine grace. 064
As religion is personal, God inspires inner consecration to Christian living; a mere following of
outward forms is worthless and despicable.
Rest not in your duties. What I mean by this is the cautioning you against laying such a stress upon
your duties as shall defeat their true intent. And of this we are guilty, when we attend carefully and precisely to the form of
religion, without a due concern to enter into the spirit of them. But of what avail are all the external labours of fasting and
prayer, and ... expensive service, if the heart be not engaged in the them? Scripture and reason teach that they are not only
unprofitable to ourselves, but an abomination to the Lord... . That confidence, likewise, in duty, which, in the least degree,
precludes a regard to Christ, and the influences of divine grace, is highly pernicious and sinful. 065
In similar vein, he has a preference for Christianity that is expressed in positive terms, as contrasted
to negative ] expressions. When he interprets Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God", Samuel says,
It is not merely refraining from impatience, anger and resentment, but maintaining inward quietness,
serenity and constancy. 066
There are, of course, many other ideas in this series of sermons, but the above gives the thesis of
the sermons. Some other ideas will be included in the section on his "Thought."
As a leading Baptist minister Stennett had occasion to take a problem to King George III. In 1767,
the colony of Massachusetts in America imposed taxes upon all its citizens for the benefit of the Congregational churches. As the
Baptists could not secure exemption from the tax by the action of local authorities, the minister of the First Baptist Church of
Boston, Rev. Samuel Stillman, 067 wrote to Samuel Stennett in London. Accordingly, Stennett
got the king in council to veto the Massachusetts tax law (1771). Whitley says that this was the first time George III had used the
royal veto; George I and George II before him never exercised their inherent right of veto! 068
At the same time when the king relieved the Massachusetts Baptists from being taxed for the benefit of
Congregational churches, the British Parliament placed the colonies as a whole under special taxes to help Britain reduce its debt
from previous wars! In particular, the Stamp Act was imposed in 1764; it brought forth such loud objections from the colonists that it
was repealed the next year. In 1767, however, the Townsend Revenue Act was passed although three years later all its taxes were
removed except that on tea. There remained, however, the principle of the taxation of the colonies without representation in the
British Parliament. Such was the type of discrimination that led to the American Revolution. 069
After having had nothing published for four years, Samuel's sermon of March 21, 1771 was published
at the "request of the ministers and others who heard it." This sermon was preached at a "Monthly Exercise"; I
would guess that the "Monthly Exercise" was an interchurch meeting, for Whitley says the Little Wild Street Church joined
the "Monthly Meetings" in 1748. 070 Stennett preached on The Folly and Danger of
Conforming to the world (Rom. 12: 2). By "world" Stennett appears to mean the world of people or society. The world has been
sinful "ever since the apostasy of our first parents." 071 (He never uses the
terms "original sin" or "original guilt," but he recognizes that sin is universal.) He warns that men must be
careful not to fall into the sins of the world such as avarice, oppression, deceit, falsehood, malice, revenge, pride, vanity, vice,
debauchery, lewdness, quarrels, etc. 072 It is interesting to note that Stennett does not
preach just for the avoidance of the "world" but also points out occasions when Christians should be sociable.
In general, to accommodate ourselves to the understandings and tempers of mankind is certainly very
right, provided we do not sacrifice truth and conscience to such a conformity. This is what we call good nature... . Surely no one
will be so mad as to say, that religion requires us to be ill-natured. 073
In another paragraph, he seems to have in mind Puritans and perhaps some groups of his time when he
speaks on religion and conventions of dress.
It is very allowable to conform to the indifferent customs and usages of the country where we dwelt.
Some indeed have made religion to consist very much in dress ... [to] distinguish themselves by a remarkable plainess and peculiarity
of habit. But there seems to be no just ground for this in reason or in the word of God. Every one's dress should be agreeable to
his rank; decency, and consequently of religion. ... [it] leads persons to imagine that religion consists in what is wholly foreign to
it. 074
By a partial conformity to the world, have lost much of the spirit and pleasure of religion,
obstructed their usefulness, disgraced their character, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ... 075
Later in the same year, specifically, October 24, 1771, Samuel preached a special sermon following
the death of Dr. John Gill, an elderly Baptist minister. It was Dr. Gill who had participated in the ordination of Joseph Stennett II
and later preached at his funeral. He, too, had ordained Samuel to the ministry. In much the same vain as the sermon which had been
published just previously, Samuel says,
We wage war with the appetites, passions and corruptions of human nature, with flesh and blood, with
principalities and powers with spiritual wickedness in high places - enemies who would fain enslave our immortal minds, overpower the
dictates of reason and conscience, carry us away into captivity to sin, and so plunge us in temporal and everlasting shame and misery.
076
As to Dr. Gill, Stennett says,
His religious principles, which were strictly Calvinistical, he maintained with great warmth. ... he had a charitable and
affectionate regard for those who held the grand leading principles of Christianity, though they could not agree with him in his
explanation of some points. 077
In Spite of American protests against taxation, the Dissenters centered their political activity on
trying to get themselves freed from the technical penalties which were attached to the century_old laws against Dissenters. These laws
were prevented from being in operation only by the Toleration Act and the swearing by Dissenter Ministers that they believed the
doctrinal articles of the Church of England. Accordingly, the Dissenter minister ministers of and around London met on March 4, 1772
and appointed a committee of the three denominations to apply to Parliament to remove the discriminatory laws. Samuel Stennett was the
Baptist minister on the committee, in part, perhaps but only in part, because his church was only about a mile and half from the
Houses of Parliament. The committee applied to Parliament for the legal security of Dissenter ministers and teachers. The desired bill
was passed by the House of Commons, but it was rejected by the House of Lords. 078
The ambitious Dissenter committee, however, was criticized for its aggressiveness. Many Calvinists
objected to the releasing of fellow Christians from the oath of allegiance to the doctrinal articles of the Church of England. They
feared that if subscription to the articles was repealed, there would be a "greater spread of error."( 079 In that same year, 1772, a meeting of General Baptists approved this resolution:
Resolved unanimously that the late Application to Parliament to take off the Subscriptions required
of Protestant Dissenting Ministers the Toleration Act & to obtain relief for Tutors & School Masters & to procure an
Exemption from the Penal Laws now in force was highly proper and expedient.
The record of that meeting also says that the "three Baptists champions were Dr. Samuel Stennett
of Wild Street, Robert Robinson of Cambridge, and Joshua Toulmin of Taunton." 080
Stennett himself wrote a fifty page booklet defending the appeal to Parliament by the committee of which he was a member. In his
booklet, Stennett said that "an enlarged Toleration hath a direct tendency to promote the interests of truth and religion."
081 In reply to the Calvinist objectors, he says that repeal of the laws is "a question
not of Principles, but of Liberty" 082 For many Dissenters, basic honesty is at stake,
for many of them "do not hold several doctrines contained in the articles; others do believe them in the main, but not every part
of them; and a considerable number of them do readily assent to them all." 083 Stennett
has another objection to the subscription besides basic honesty. The support of orthodoxy by force is contrary to the very nature of
Christianity:
Sure I am the gospel of Jesus Christ wants not the support of the sword. It was not the first
propagated in the world by such means, nor has it ever since courted them. THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE ARE NOT CARNAL, BUT SPIRITUAL.
Nay indeed I may venture to affirm that the tribute of worldly splendor and magnificence which the civil power officiously presented
at the shrine of Christianity, when it first became the established religion, tended infinitely more to disgrace and impoverish it,
than all the insults that have been offered to it by persecution . ... the moment he the Christian flies to the sword in defense of
his religious principles, ... he loses sight of the grand object, he betrays a want of confidence in Christ the great Head of the
church, he violates the oath of allegiance to his Sovereign, he induces a suspicion in others that the truth is not on the side of
those doctrines for which he contends, in short he weakly, if not treacherously, abandons them to the insult of opposers. 084
In replying to the conservative Calvinists, Stennett points out that
The time may come when the articles of the Church of England may be revised and altered.... Nor is it
to be doubted, if that scheme should take place, that an Armenian turn will be given to the established doctrines.... such Ministers
as are Calvinists will probably become liable to those very penalties, from which persons of the contrary sentiments are now praying
for a legal exemption. In this situation, they the Calvinists will doubtless wish to have the subscription taken off ...! 085
At last the Dissenters are giving attention to systematically thinking of the implications of the
whole Dissenter movement. They realize their movement is based on (1) religious liberty and (2) a necessity for the separation of
religion from worldly power. Some conservative Calvinists were not able to grant these implicit presuppositions of the Dissenter
movement. Those Calvinists are much like some portions of Protestantism today which do not grant religious liberty as one of the
presuppositions of Protestantism; they demand religious freedom but fall in turn to grant it to others.
Does Stennett reveal his own theological position in that book? We can say at least that he is not a
"conservative Calvinist," Likewise he recognizes that Calvinism is being weakened and that Armenianism is becoming the
fashion, even in the staid Church of England. This book does not tell his position, but at least, we can say that he is aware of the
breaking down of Calvinism and that he is not emotionally tied up with Calvinism like his Father seems to have been. From his other
writings, I think he continued to be Calvinistic, but he was far from a naive follower of Calvin. (Samuel's mention of
"Calvinists" in connection with this application to parliament is one of the few times any of the Stennetts have mentioned
Calvin," "Calvinists," or "Calvinism," in their extant materials which are available to me!)
Website by Allen Harrington
https://blue-hare.com/stennett/Samuel/sauellp.html
Copyright © 1950, 2012 Oscar Burdick & 1999-2022 Allen Harrington
Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source
>
051 (London); The heading of the preface tells us that Samuel lived in Hatton Garden in 1769 (this was a
part of London, I suppose).
back
052 (London); this edition may be seen at the historical section of the Library of Colgate-Rochester
Divinity School, Rochester, New York.
back
053 This edition may be seen at the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society in Plainfield, New Jersey.
(now in Janesville, Wisconsin)
back
054 These may be seen at Colgate-Rochester or here at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkley,
California.
back
055 Discources on Personal Religion as found in Works : I, 1.
back
056 Ibid. , I, 5.
back
057 Ibid. , I, 16.
back
058 Ibid. , I, 66.
back
059 Ibid. , I, 30.
back
060 Ibid. I, 31.; cf. i, 358.
back
061 Ibid. , I, 46.
back
062 Ibid. , p. 61.
back
063 Ibid. , pp. 61ff. These quotations on religious tolerance and Christian love are also found
in a book by John Evans: A Preservative Against the Infidelity and Uncharitableness of the Eighteenth Century or Testimonies in
Behalf of Christian Candor and Unanimity (London: prob. 1796), pp. 205ff. This Evans might be a son of Caleb Evans, who was a
friend of the Stennetts.
back
064 Works , I, 267f.
back
065 Ibid. ., I, 280.
back
066 Ibid. , I, 311.
back
067 This Samuel Stillman a Baptist minister in Boston in 1763. He is to be distinguished from the Samuel
Stillman of Philadelphia also a Baptist who in 1776 preached the funeral sermon for Gov. Samuel Ward, a Seventh Day Baptist, who died
in 1776. Although the name "Stillman" has been a common name among American Seventh Day Baptists, as far as I have been able
to find out, neither of these men were connected with Seventh Day Baptists. ( Dictionary of American Biography , ed. by Dumas
Malone [New York: Scribners, 1936 1, XVIII, SDBd in EA , II, 638.)
back
068 Whitley, A History of British Baptists , p. 208. There is another account of what was probably
the same action; it tell of a Mr. Manning writing to Stennett on June 5, 1771. Stennett, with Dr. Llewelyn and Mr. WalIin, went to
King George III about the tax law, and the king "disallowed" it on July 31, 1771.
back
069 Encyclopaedia Britannica , XXII, 780ff.
back
070 The Baptists of London , p. 125.
back
071 The Folly and Danger ... , p. 8; cf. p. 2 ( Works , III, 400; cf. III, 399).
back
072 The Folly and Danger .... , pp. 5ff. ( Works , III, 399f.).
back
073 The Folly and Danger .... , p. 18; cf. p. 15 ( Works , III, 405; cf. pp. 403 f.).
back
074 The Folly and Danger .... , p. 20 ( Works , III, 406).
back
075 The Folly and Danger .... , pp. 28f. ( Works , III, 410).
back
076 The Victorious Christian Receiving the Crown (London: 1771 and 1772 [second ed]; this
quotation is from Works , III, 151.
back
077 Works , III 171. It is said that Gill and Joseph Stennett II differed "on the subject of
the invitations of the gospel to ... unconverted hearers" (Ivimey, op. cit., III, 578).
back
078 Ivimey, op. cit. , IV, 26f; Samuel Stennett, A Free and Dispassionate Account of the Late
Application of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers to Parliament (London: 1772), pp. 3-6, 26-31.
back
079 Ibid. , p. 15.
back
080 Minutes of the General Assembly of the General Baptist Churches in England , II, 146f.
back
081 A Free and Dispassionate Account ... , p. 1.
back
082 Ibid. , pp. 37f.
back
083 Ibid. , p. 8.
back
084 Ibid. , pp. 15ff.
back
085 Ibid. , pp. 41f.
back
