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Copyright © 2012 Barry Randolph Chesney, Jr. All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. THE SABBATH IN ENGLISH NONCONFORMITY, 1830-1860 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Barry Randolph Chesney, Jr. December 2012 APPROVAL SHEET THE SABBATH IN ENGLISH NONCONFORMITY, 1830-1860 Barry Randolph Chesney, Jr. Read and Approved by: __________________________________________ David L. Puckett (Chair) __________________________________________ Gregory A. Wills __________________________________________ Michael A. G. Haykin Date______________________________ To my beautiful wife, Courtney, who did the real work of taking care of our home and children so I could complete this project; to my parents, Randy and Miriam, who have always believed in me; my in-laws, Dr. Mac and Debbie Brunson, who are constant encouragers; and finally to my late grandfather, Howard Carpenter (1918-1996), who began his Ph.D. but with a full teaching load at the College level along with complete devotion to his loving wife and five children, did not finish his dissertation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE . vi Chapter 1. NONCONFORMITY IN CONTEXT . 1 Introduction . 1 Purpose of Study . 4 The British Context . 10 Moral Reform . 17 Nonconformity as a Growing Movement . 20 Nonconformity’s Battle . 27 Nonconformity and the Sabbath . 29 Conclusion . 36 2. THE BIBLICAL WARRANT FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE . 37 Introduction . 37 The Beginning and Reappearance of the Sabbath . 37 Jesus and the Sabbath . 57 Conclusion . 70 3. PROPER OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH . 71 Introduction . 71 Neglect of the Sabbath . 73 Acceptable Work on the Sabbath . 88 iv Chapter Page Proper Sabbath Observance . 91 Conclusion . 109 4. BLESSINGS AND CURSES OF SABBATH OBSERVANCE . 110 Introduction . 110 Societal Blessings and Curses . 110 Personal Blessings and Curses . 122 Conclusion . 129 5. LEGISLATING THE SABBATH . 130 Introduction . 130 Sabbath Legislation . 132 Sabbath Legislation and Recreational Venues . 153 Conclusion . 169 6. CONCLUSION . 170 Appendix 1. NONCONFORMIST WRITERS . 174 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 180 v PREFACE The doctoral studies journey began for my wife, Courtney, and me on the second week of our honeymoon in early March 2005. Nearly five months later, we moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to begin course work. After completing classes and exams, more than seven years have passed. We began as newlyweds and now have three children: Broc (5), Asa (3), and Audrey (1). In the second semester of my coursework, I took the Puritanism seminar under Dr. Gregory Wills. When discussing potential paper topics for his class, he mentioned the Puritan Sabbath. I was curious and interested in this topic and wrote on it. In a later seminar under Dr. David Puckett, I examined the Sabbath as it related to Bishop Beilby Porteus in the late eighteenth century. After writing on John Calvin’s understanding of the Sabbath, I felt near the end of the Sabbath journey and was unsure of my dissertation topic. Thankfully, Dr. Puckett encouraged me to consider studying the Sabbath in a later time period. I am grateful for Dr. Puckett’s wisdom and encouragement or this project would have never commenced. God has met our every need through this journey. He has provided financially through a secular job (W. W. Grainger), two churches that I have previously served (Highview Baptist in Louisville, Kentucky, and First Baptist, Woodstock, Georgia) and the one where I currently serve on staff (First Baptist, Plant City, Florida). In each place, God has granted favor, and my superiors and friends have been incredibly supportive. Dr. Jerry Johnson, President of The Criswell College, graciously allowed me to travel to Oxford, England, with his students to study abroad. These two trips sharpened my amateur writing skills. I am especially grateful for Nathan Miller at First Baptist, Woodstock, who did extra jobs at times so I could begin this study. In addition, I am vi thankful for the faithful workers at Boyce Library at Southern Seminary. They have been a tremendous help along with the divinity library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, the University of South Florida library and multiple libraries in the United Kingdom. In preparing this manuscript, Chris Bosson and APlus Edits were a tremendous help. I greatly appreciate Chris’ editing skills, encouragement and friendship through this journey. Most of all, I am grateful to my sweet wife, Courtney. She does not know married life without doctoral work. She has sacrificed much time so I could work on this degree. She deserves it as much as or more than I. She has been an encourager, a supporter, a good listener, and a faithful friend. I am so grateful for my wife! To God be the glory for giving grace to complete this project. Barry R. Chesney, Jr. Plant City, Florida December 2012 vii CHAPTER 1 NONCONFORMITY IN CONTEXT Introduction As a category of English religious history nineteenth-century Nonconformity has remained relatively unexplored. There have been significant studies published on general aspects of Nonconformity1 but thorough studies of some important issues within Nonconformity remain undone.2 One of these elements is Sabbatarianism in Nonconformity. Sabbatarianism for the purposes of this study is defined as the practice of 1Dale A. Johnson, The Changing Shape of English Nonconformity, 1825-1925 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 3. For helpful studies on aspects of Nonconformity, see Kenneth D. Brown, A Social History of the Nonconformist Ministry in England and Wales, 1800-1930 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988); Kenneth D. Brown, “An Unsettled Ministry: Some Aspects of Nineteenth-Century British Nonconformity,” Church History 56 (1987): 204-23; David W. Bebbington, Victorian Nonconformity (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2011); Clyde Binfield, So Down to Prayers: Studies in English Nonconformity, 1780-1920 (Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977); Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, pt. 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966); Richard J. Helmstadter, “Orthodox Nonconformity,” in Nineteenth-Century English Religious Traditions: Retrospect and Prospect, ed. D. G. Paz (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995); Richard J. Helmstadter, “The Nonconformist Conscience” in The Conscience of the Victorian State, ed. Peter Marsh (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1979); Timothy Larsen, Contested Christianity: The Political and Social Contexts of Victorian Theology (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2004); Timothy Larsen, Friends of Religious Equality: Nonconformist Politics in Mid-Victorian England (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 1999); James Munson, The Nonconformists: In Search of a Lost Culture (London: SPCK, 1991); M. J. D. Roberts, Making English Morals: Voluntary Association and Moral Reform in England, 1787-1886 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); Alan P. F. Sell, Testimony and Tradition: Studies in Reformed and Dissenting Thought (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2005); Ian Sellers, Nineteenth-Century Nonconformity (New York: Homes & Meier, 1977); Jane Shaw and Alan Kreider, eds., Culture and the Nonconformist Tradition (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1999); David M. Thompson, Nonconformity in the Nineteenth Century (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972); Michael R. Watts, The Dissenters, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978); and Michael R. Watts, The Dissenters, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1995). 2Johnson wrote that in Chadwick’s The Victorian Church there was a noticeable omission of specific issues confronting the Nonconformists and that since Chadwick’s work, there had been a combination of anthologies, surveys, and monographs on Nonconformity, but many unexplored areas still remained. See Johnson, The Changing Shape of English Nonconformity, 3. 1 allocating one day out of seven as a day of rest and worship to God.3 Previous publications either briefly mentioned Sabbatarianism in Nonconformity without offering a detailed account of its practice or avoided the subject altogether. Two particular works represent this need for further study on Sabbatarianism. First, in The Victorian Church, Owen Chadwick referred to nineteenth-century Sabbatarianism but only as it related to Evangelical Anglicans.4 Next, Michael R. Watts presented a general development of Nonconformity but only briefly reviewed Sabbatarianism in his work, The Dissenters. He explained that Nonconformists observed Sunday in similar fashion to the manner that Jews treated Saturday; a day on which neither work nor was leisure acceptable unless it was of a specific religious kind.5 Watts’ general characterization of Nonconformist Sabbatarianism is helpful but lacks a detailed account from primary sources. Richard J. Helmstadter recognized the absence of studies on finer aspects of Nonconformity and explained that little had been written about the manners and morals of Nonconformists in the first half of the nineteenth century.6 Thus, a full presentation of Sabbatarianism within 3For an excellent definition of Sabbatarianism, see Patrick Collinson, “The Beginnings of English Sabbatarianism,” Studies in Church History (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1964), 1:207. 4Chadwick discussed the English Sabbath from pages 455-468 of his work. He focused on Sabbatarianism