Anglican Church Policy, Eighteenth Century
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ANGLICAN CHURCH POLICY, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONFLICT, AND THE AMERICAN EPISCOPATE By Kenneth Ray Elliott A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Department of History Mississippi State, Mississippi December 2007 Copyright by Kenneth Ray Elliott 2007 Name: Kenneth Ray Elliott Date of Degree: December 15, 2007 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: History Major Professor: Dr. William Anthony Hay Title of Study: ANGLICAN CHURCH POLICY, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONFLICT, AND THE AMERICAN EPISCOPATE Pages of Study: 324 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy This dissertation examines how leaders in the Church of England sought to reorganize the colonial church at critical moments, in the late 1740s, the early 1760s and the mid 1770s, by installing one or two resident bishops when the British government moved to bring the colonies into closer economic and political alignment with England. Examining Anglican attempts to bring bishops to the American colonies within the context of the Anglo-American world moves beyond the current literature and provides insight into the difficulties British political and ecclesiastical authorities had managing the colonies more efficiently. Even though the Church of England sustained wide influence over the population, the failure of the Anglicans’ proposal to install bishops into the colonies was symptomatic of the declining influence of the Church on politics in the eighteenth century. Differing views over political and ecclesiastical authority between the colonists and the Anglicans, and the possibility religious conflict might have on elections, concerned British authorities enough to reject Anglicans’ proposals for resident bishops for the colonies. The failure also highlights how the British government in the eighteenth century increasingly focused on the political and economic administration of the expanded more diverse British Empire than it did on religious administration. Key words: British History, Colonial Anglicanism, Episcopacy, Eighteenth Century ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses his sincere gratitude to the many people whose selfless assistance made this dissertation a reality. First of all, sincere thanks are due to Dr. William Anthony Hay, my dissertation advisor, who was my “Ebenezer” by guiding me through the elaborate dissertation process. Additional thanks are also due to the other members of my committee, namely Dr. Alan I. Marcus, Dr. Peter C. Messer, and Dr. Richard Damms, for the invaluable aid and direction they provided. I would also like to thank other distinguished professors namely, Dr. James E. Bradley, Dr. Nancy L. Rhoden, and Dr. Robert G. Ingram for their interest and advice. I also express my appreciation to the Board and Faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary for their support and encouragement. Their approval of my sabbatical and subsequent research in London provided the necessary foundation for the dissertation. I further wish to recognize Dr. Allen Curry, former Dean of the Faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary for his initial encouragement to begin doctoral studies. I cannot express enough gratitude to the library staff of Reformed Theological Seminary namely, Rev. John McCarty, John Crabb and David Ponter for their invaluable assistance. In addition, I wish to thank Professor Philip H. Eveson for allowing me to stay at the London Theological Seminary and Dr. David L. Wykes for the privilege of doing research at the Centre for Dissenting Studies at the University of London. ii I express my deepest appreciation to my wife Linda Elliott and my mother Kathryn Elliott, for their constant support and never ending encouragement. Finally, I would like to give thanks to God for his mercy and grace by bringing me through many deep waters with the loss of my father Kenneth G. Elliott during the research and writing of this dissertation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………….ii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………….………..…………1 II. THE MAKING OF A CONTROVERSY…………….…………………18 III. CHURCHMEN AND DISSENTERS: CONTINUITIES AND DISCONTINUITIES…………………………………..………...78 IV. THE ECCLESIASTICAL POLICY OF BISHOP SHERLOCK AND COLONIAL REACTION 1740-1761……………………………..123 V. THOMAS SECKER’S ECCLESIASTICAL POLCY 1758-1768…......180 VI. THE SERMON HEARD ROUND THE WORLD………..……………217 VII. ANGLICAN TACTICS AND THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT…...…256 VIII. CONCLUSION…………………...…………………………………….294 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………304 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Conflict between the Church of England and those Protestants who refused to conform marked a fundamental divide that shaped politics and culture in England and its North American colonies. Differences went beyond theology and ritual to engage questions of ecclesiastical polity that involved views of social relations and the nature and purpose of government. Where Churchmen saw hierarchy as divinely ordained in both civil and ecclesiastical matters and the Church as a pillar of royal authority, Dissenters rejected the authority of bishops and insisted that elders and ministers lead independent congregations of the faithful. Such mutually exclusive positions allowed no room for compromise but plenty of opportunity for conflict and recrimination. If Anglican dominance in England solved the problem by limiting the political influence of Dissent after 1660, a very different situation developed in North American where Dissenters often formed a majority and the Church of England lacked the leadership and organization to hold its own. Establishing a colonial bishopric offered an appealing solution that a series of influential Churchmen in England sought to implement between 1740 and 1770. Unfortunately, the solution of providing resident bishops for the colonies generated confrontations that became increasing heated over the three decades leading to the American Revolution. 1 The Church of England in the colonies was one among many sects and was not dominant like it was in England. In the early Restoration period, the Church of England in the colonies adopted new ways of functioning that were inconsistent with the Church of England’s statutes. The initial organization of the Church in America centered on the local vestry, the authority of the governor, and commissaries sent to the colonies by the Bishop of London. This arrangement left the colonial Church mismanaged and undisciplined. Over time, the Church realized it needed at least one or two bishops in the colonies who had the authority to establish proper discipline. The bishops in England along with zealous Anglicans in the colonies promoted the notion, but the Dissenters and many leading Anglicans, particularly in the southern colonies, rejected it. More importantly, the Anglican bishops were never able to persuade the British government to install bishops in the colonies. The government feared that a public proposal for an American bishop would create civil unrest at home and overseas. Even so, the Anglican Church continued to propose an Anglican bishop for the colonies as late as 1775. Their continued efforts and the resulting colonial agitation have fascinated many scholars who believe that it contributed to the American Revolution. Numerous scholars have investigated the controversy from various perspectives. Arthur Cross (1873-1940) wrote the first and only full-length work on the American episcopate in 1898. He chronicled the activities and arguments of the major players from the seventeenth century until after the American Revolution. He provided a broad 2 narrative of events and people around the activities of the Bishops of London, but he did not fully explore the eighteenth century context in which the dispute unfolded. 1 Whether the English government and the Anglican Church conspired to undermine the civil and religious liberties of the colonists is a significantly debated issue about the American episcopate. In his book Mitre and Sceptre, Carl Bridenbaugh espouses the view that "the Anglicans aimed at nothing less than a complete re-ordering of American society." 2 According to Bridenbaugh, the British government tried to limit American liberties by attempting to establish resident bishops in the Colonies through a conspiracy between Anglican missionaries and English bishops. Even though Bridenbaugh’s thoughts are persuasive, his ideology is flawed. His approach begs the question, “whose conspiracy was it?” The colonists certainly believed Britain conspired to rob them of their freedom. However, one might also believe the colonists conspired to undermine British policy. Additionally, the notion of conspiracy negates the idea that spiritual and theological motivations influenced Anglican policy rather than a determination to undermine the colonist’s liberties. Bridenbaugh's book shows how greatly agitated the colonists were over the attempt to establish an Anglican episcopate. 3 1 Cross based his work on the bibliographical research of the Episcopalian historiographers Francis L Hawks and William Stevens Perry. Arthur Lyon Cross, The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies (Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, 1964). 2 Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities, and Politics 1689-1775 (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), xix. 3 Ibid, 207. 3 The belief by scholars that this controversy affected the America Revolution confirms the importance of religion in the eighteenth