The Stennetts of England IV Seventh Day Baptists

Seventh Day Baptists

Finally, in 1785, the Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church secured its own minister. Robert Burnside, who had been preaching in the afternoons, was called to the full pastoral office on January 7, 1785. The church voted its "most grateful thanks" to "the Rev. Dr. Stennett" for his many years of "labor of love" among them. In reply, he assured the church "of his affectionate wishes" and added that he prayed "for their prosperity" and was ready "to counsel and adjure them on any ... occasion." On May 25 that year, Stennett, a Rev. Mr. Thompson and Rev. Abraham Booth ordained Burnside. 176

In 1753, which was ten years before Stennett became the main supply preacher for the Seventh Day Church, the church had about twenty members.

The church had held its own, but had not grown, for in 1785, when his supply work was no longer needed, the church had twenty-one members. After this the church did not prosper, dropping to fourteen members in 1796. In 1814, there were only five members. Burnside died in 1826 and was succeeded by John B. Shenstone who kept up the meetings; he died in 1844. Mrs. Shenstone, the last member of the church, died in 1863. The Mill Yard Seventh Day General Baptist Church had been weakening also, but the decline of Calvinism and the popularity of the Arminian Wesleyan movement likely hastened the decline of the Seventh Day Particular Baptist Church. 177

I know very little about Robert Burnside except for a letter he wrote in 1821 to Rev. Eli S. Bailey, the corresponding secretary of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in the United States. In the Letter he displays a great concern about theological systems:

... I certainly agree with you, that we are not required to believe the manner in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are each truly, and properly God, consistently with their being one God; yet I always judge it necessary to declare against Sabellianism, as well as against Tritheism; and to say, that Trinity is not nominal, or titular, like that which consists merely in three distinctions, given to the same person.

... When you mentioned the sentiments of the Presbyterians, I should have felt happy had you stated your own concerning Election, Predestination and the final Perseverance of the saints. You observe that there are differences among the Calvinists, as well as among the Calvinists, as well as among the Armenians. I own it, as likewise the impossibility of two societies, or even two individuals, and much more of many Churches, though under one denomination, agreeing in every minute particular. But there are differences which the parties consider compatible with Church communion, and differences which one of the parties, at least, considers as utterly incompatible with it... 178

On one page, Burnside shows more concern for theoretical theology than Samuel Stennett does in two thousand pages! If scholastical theology was so important to Burnside, it is no wonder the church faltered during his pastorate. Samuel Stennett preached for the expression of Christianity in life and he disapproved of any Christianity which made theology its primary concern. Under Stennett, the church held its own, but under Burnside it virtually collapsed.

Times were not so hard for the Little Wild Street Baptist Church, for during the ministry of Samuel Stennett, it became "the principal Baptist church in the metropolis." 179 We remember that in 1753, the church had sixty members while two Baptist churches in London had one hundred fifty members each. 180 The church must have greatly enlarged in membership, for in 1788 it rebuilt its "chapel" so that it would seat about five hundred people. 181

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