The Emergence of Religious Toleration in Eighteenth-Century New England: Baptists, Congregationalists, and the Contribution of John Callender (1706-1748)

260 Pages·2018·1.319 MB·English

by  Waldrop, Jeffrey A.

Jeffrey A. Waldrop
The Emergence of Religious Toleration in 18th Century New England
Arbeiten zur
Kirchengeschichte
Founded by
Karl Holl † and Hans Lietzmann †
Edited by
Christian Albrecht and Christoph Markschies
Volume 138
Jeffrey A. Waldrop
The Emergence of
Religious Toleration
in 18th Century New
England
Baptists, Congregationalists, and the Contribution
of John Callender (1706–1748)
ISBN 978-3-11-058627-5
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-058819-4
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-058655-8
ISSN 1861-5996
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2018006874
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
www.degruyter.com
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Academic Significance of the Study 1
On the Effects of the Enlightenment on Callender’s Thought 6
Literature Review 10
Methodology 14
Chapter 2: Backgrounds of Puritanism in New England 17
Introduction 17
Puritanism in England 18
Possible Theological Roots of Puritanism 18
The Changing Definition of “Puritanism” 22
Puritanism and Various Forms of Piety 24
Nomistic Piety 25
Evangelical Piety 26
Rationalistic Piety 27
Mystical Piety 28
Transatlantic Puritanism Characterized by Covenant and Nomistic
Piety 29
English Puritanism Summarized 31
Chapter 3: Emergence of Religious Toleration in Puritan New England 33
Puritanism in America 33
Toleration and Persecution in Seventeenth-Century New England 35
Toleration in the Seventeenth-Century Context 36
Degrees of Toleration in New England 39
Little Toleration in Massachusetts 39
Moderate Toleration in Plymouth Colony 43
Freedom of Religion in Rhode Island 46
The Emergence of Religious Toleration in Puritan New England 50
Pressure from Britain 50
Economic Factors 54
De-Centralization of Church and Government 55
Kinship with Baptists 56
Conclusion 57
VI Contents
Chapter 4: The First Baptist Church of Boston and the Influence of the
Callenders 62
The First Baptist Church of Boston 64
The Ministry of Ellis Callender 75
The Ministry of Elisha Callender 77
Chapter 5: Religious Toleration between Boston Congregationalists and
Baptists 87
The Metamorphosis of Cotton Mather 87
The Ordination of Elisha Callender 100
Conclusion 111
Chapter 6: John Callender: Early Life and Ministry 113
Early Life 114
The First Baptist Church of Swansea and the Influence of John
Myles 118
Callender’s Decision to Leave Swansea 125
Relationship with Congregationalists 128
Friendship with Samuel Mather 128
Friendship with Harvard Congregationalists 130
Chapter 7: John Callender: Later Lifeand Ministry 136
First Baptist Church of Newport 136
The Funeral of Nathaniel Clap 142
The Ordination of Jeremiah Condy 148
Baptist Leader 160
Relationships within the Newport Community 162
The Newport Philosophical Society 163
The Advantages of Early Religion, School Master and Colony Assembly
Member 165
Friendship with Newport Quakers 167
Death 169
Conclusion 171
Chapter 8: Callender’s Historical Discourse and Religious Toleration 173
Introduction 173
Select Themes of Tolerance in the Historical Discourse 174
Themes of Toleranceand the Founding of Rhode Island 178
Themes of Tolerance in the Religious Affairs of Rhode Island 181
Callender’s Exhortation for Freedom of Conscience 185
Contents VII
Callender’s Understanding of Toleration in Context 188
Callender’s Toleration and the Debate between Williams and
Cotton 191
Full Liberty of Conscience in Callender and Williams 194
The Parallel between Williams and John Locke 196
Chapter 9: Callender’s Historical Method and His Contribution to Isaac
Backus 201
Callender’s Historical Method 201
Callender as a Whig Historian 202
Callender as a Revisionist Historian 206
Callender’s Scholarship 208
Callender’s Contribution to Rhode Island History 212
The Historical Discourse as a Source for Isaac Backus 215
Conclusion 223
Chapter 10: Conclusion 225
Summary 225
Concluding Thoughts 230
Bibliography 232
Primary Sources 232
Secondary Sources 235
Books, Essays, and Entries 235
Articles 244
Index 248

Chapter 1
Introduction
This book examines the life and work of the Reverend John Callender (1706‒
1748),placinghimwithin the larger context of the emergence of religious toler-
ationinPuritanNewEnglandinthelaterpartoftheseventeenthcenturyandthe
early part of the eighteenth century. A cursory survey of the array of literature
aboutcolonialAmericanchurchhistoryrevealsthewell-wornthemeofpersecu-
tion,butthesubjectofthereluctantconsenttotolerationbythePuritansinNew
England is a relatively understudied subject. John Callender was a product of
bothPuritanandBaptistinfluences,andhislifeandworkserveasoneexample
of the contribution to the newfound toleration between Baptists and Congrega-
tionalists in the early eighteenth-century.
The goals of this studyare fourfold:toidentify the natureand rise of toler-
ation in New England at the close of the seventeenth, and into the eighteenth-
centuries;tohighlighttheriseoftolerationbetweentheBaptistsandCongrega-
tionalistsinBoston,anddetailthefirstofficialecclesiasticalactoftoleration;to
studyaspectsofCallender’scontributiontothenew-foundtolerationbysurvey-
ingkeypartsofhislifeandministry;andtostudyCallender’sworks,analyzing
theologicalaspectsofhistolerantthought,anddetailinghiscontributiontothe
disciplineofhistoryingeneral,andtoIsaacBackus’sworkonNewEnglandBap-
tist history more specifically.
Academic Significance of the Study
The specific conditions surrounding the emergence of religious toleration be-
tween the Congregationalists and Baptists in Boston in the late seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries has not been treated at length. An in-depth
studyofJohn Callender’scontributions to the idea of denominationaltolerance
willstrengthenthedepthofthisresearch,ashewasaproductoftheofficialec-
clesiastical displayof toleration by the Congregationalists in 1718.
Thisbookcontributestotwomajorareasofchurchhistory.First,thestudyof
the relationship between the Puritans, Baptists, and other groups in colonial
New England in the light of the rise of toleration, rather than through the lens
of persecution, provides a unique distinctive. Second, an examination of the
lifeandworkofJohnCallenderaddstothefieldofBaptisthistory,sincelengthy
treatments of John Callender’s life and thought have not been written.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110588194-001
2 1 Introduction
ThisstudywillfocusontolerationasthechangeincontextinNewEngland
ratherthansummarizinginstancesofPuritanpersecutioninthecolonies.Imen-
tionsomeoftheoft-studiedinstancesofpersecutionthroughout,butIdothisin
ordertoprovideacontextforanexaminationoftheriseoftolerationinPuritan
NewEngland.Iapproachthisparticularaspectbyfirstsynopsizingthechanging
definitionof“Puritanism”frompreviouslyunderstoodparameters,aspropound-
ed by scholars such as Peter Lake and Jerald Brauer. Part of the changingdefi-
nitionofthetermincludesviewingPuritanismintermsof “piety.”¹Understand-
ing this angle of Puritan history helps guide my analysis of how the Puritans
dealt with the changes in their society that led to a “grudging toleration,” a
term that historian William McLoughlin frequently employs.² In addition, I will
show how the New England Puritans, newly established in the colonies,were
characterized differently than their English counterparts.This form of “transat-
lantic Puritanism” playsa rolein how the Puritan establishment reactedtodis-
senters in the comingdecades.³
My focus then narrows from the broader context of toleration in New Eng-
land to the contentious, then cooperative relationship between the Baptists
andCongregationalistsinBostonbetween1692andthemid1730’s.Thistimepe-
riodissomewhatconfined,becauseitfallsbetweentwodistinctperiodsinAmer-
ican Church History—the founding, flowering, and decline of the New England
Way from the early 1630’s to the early 1690’s, and the beginnings of the Great
Awakeninginthe late1720’s.Duringthe decline ofthe Puritan theocracy,toler-
ationarrivedmorefullyduetopressurefromBritishgovernment,economicfac-
tors,immigrationtoNewEnglandbydissentinggroups,andasaresultoftheAct
ofTolerationin1689.Tolerationcameabout“grudgingly,”becausethePuritans
werefearfulofthegodlessnessthatwouldevolveastheirlawswereoverruledby
 SeePeterLake,“DefiningPuritanism—Again?”inPuritanism:TransatlanticPerspectivesona
Seventeenth-CenturyAnglo-American Faith, MassachusettsHistoricalSocietyStudiesinAmeri-
can History and Culture, ed. Francis J. Bremer (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society,
1993); Jerald Brauer, “Types of Puritan Piety,” Church History 56, no. 1 (March 1987): 39‒58;
CharlesHambrick-Stowe,ThePracticeofPiety:PuritanDevotionalDisciplinesinSeventeenthCen-
tury New England (Ann Arbor, MI:University Microfilms International,1980), and Geoffrey F.
Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago
Press,1992).
 For example, see chapter five, “Toleration Grudgingly Connived at,1682‒1692,” in William
McLoughlin, New England Dissent, 1630‒1833:The Baptists and the Separation of Church and
State,v.1(Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1971),91‒110.
 SeePatrickCollinson,“SectsandtheEvolutionofPuritanism,”inPuritanism:Transatlantic
Perspectives,151.