Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century

Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century <UN> Brill’s Series in Church History and Religious Culture Edited by Wim Janse (Amsterdam) Fred van Lieburg (Amsterdam) In cooperation with Jan Wim Buisman (Leiden) Paul van Geest (Tilburg/Amsterdam) Alastair Hamilton (London) R. Ward Holder (Manchester, nh) Scott Mandelbrote (Cambridge, uk) Andrew Pettegree (St Andrews) Karla Pollman (Canterbury) VOLUME 70 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsch <UN> Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century The Life and Thought of William Stevens, 1732–1807 By Robert M. Andrews LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> Cover illustration: Silhouette of William Stevens contained within the archive of the Club of Nobody’s Friends, © The Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Andrews, Robert M. (Honorary Research Associate) Lay activism and the high church movement of the late eighteenth century : the life and thought of William Stevens, 1732-1807 / by Robert M. Andrews. pages cm. -- (Brill’s series in church history, ISSN 1572-4107 ; VOLUME 70) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-29377-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Church of England--History--18th century. 2. Laity--Church of England--History--18th century. 3. High Church movement--England--History--18th century. 4. Stevens, William, 1732-1807. 5. Church of England--Biography. 6. England--Church history--18th century. I. Title. BX5088.A73 2015 283.092--dc23 [B] 2015008923 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1572-4107 ISBN 978-90-04-29377-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-29379-3 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. <UN> The extraordinary career of the last Prince Bishop of Durham, like almost everything else about the early nineteenth-century High Church movement, had its roots in the eighteenth-century circle surrounding William Stevens. – e.a. varley, The Last of the Prince Bishops ∵ Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 Park’s Memoirs 3 Structure and Contents 10 1 Contexts: High Churchmanship and the Lay Precedent 12 High Churchmanship: A Definition 14 The Problem of Terminology 18 High Churchmanship in Recent Scholarship 21 Lay Activism in High Churchmanship: The Concept 35 Lay Precedents 38 Selected Biographical Sketches 42 Robert Filmer (1588-1653) 42 Izaak Walton (1593-1683) 45 John Evelyn (1620-1706) 46 The Nonjurors and Robert Nelson (1656-1715) 47 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) 50 Edmund Burke (1730-1797) 52 A Forgotten Phenomenon: High Church Women 55 Evangelical Lay Activists 66 Conclusion 68 2 Background: A Man of Faith and Commerce 70 Birth and Early Life 71 An Apprentice in a Commercial World 73 The Hosiery Trade 80 A Pious and Studious Layman 84 The Trappings of Commercial Success 87 In Partnership with “Moloch the Iron King” 90 Conclusion 98 3 Theological Activism (i): The 1770s 100 Stevens’ Theological Sources 102 Hutchinsonianism 113 Benjamin Kennicott and the Lettres de M. L’Abbé 118 viii Contents The Attack on the Thirty-nine Articles 134 Cursory Observations 140 An Ecclesiological Primer: The Treatise 147 The Sin of Rebellion: The American Revolution 160 A Discourse on the English Constitution 163 Strictures on a Sermon 168 The Revolution Vindicated and Constitutional Liberty Asserted 176 Conclusion 182 4 Theological Activism (ii): 1780s to 1800s 184 The 1780s and the Rise of Theological Heterodoxy 184 The French Revolution and the Conservative Reaction 186 The Society for the Reformation of Principles 189 The British Critic 193 The Scholar Armed 196 The Fallout with the British Critic 197 Defending the Legacy of Jones of Nayland 199 The Anti-Jacobin Review and the Orthodox Churchman’s Magazine 208 Defending John Hutchinson 212 The High Church Critique of Natural Religion 216 Conclusion 220 5 Ecclesiastical Activism 222 The Art of Holy Living 222 The Church Societies 228 Treasurer of Queen Anne’s Bounty 230 Friends in the Episcopate 239 In Aid of the “Poor Scotch Bishops” 241 “Nobody” and His Friends 260 “Nothing but Death” 267 Conclusion 268 Conclusion 270 Bibliography 277 Index 306 <UN> Foreword William Stevens (1732–1807) was a devout Anglican layman affectionately known as “Nobody.” I first came across a mysterious reference to him when reading Ronald Jasper’s life of Bishop George Bell1 where, at the head of the first and some subsequent chapters, there is a verse with a reference to Nobody, the first stanza ran: Till eighteen hundred and eight-three NOBODY ever heard of me, That winter day which saw my birth, In a quiet corner of Hampshire earth, NOBODY (out of Heaven) knew What the new Vicar’s son would do. A footnote gave a clue to what this was all about. ‘Nobody’s Friends’ was a club founded in 1800 in honour of William Stevens, the religious writer and treasurer of Queen Anne’s Bounty. Its members consist of equal numbers of clergy and laity who dine together three times a year. A newly-elected member on his first appearance has to ‘justify’ his presence and tell members something of himself, his career, and his qualifications to be a ‘Nobody’. George Bell chose to do so in verse.2 The Club, which celebrated 200 years of its existence in 2000, still continues, bringing together clergy and laity, bishops and lawyers, academics and politi- cians, for a convivial evening of interesting conversation – I recall a discussion with a former Foreign Secretary as to how significant was the election of a Polish Pope in the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe – and delight in the justifications of new members. The toast to the founder, “To the Immortal Memory of Nobody,” is always drunk in silence – a tribute to both his convivial- ity as the founder of the Club, and his characteristic self-effacing humility, in the publication of a posthumous collection of his works under the title, Works of a Nobody.3 Judge James Allan Park, in his Memoirs of Stevens, which ran to 1 Ronald C.D. Jasper, George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, London: Oxford University Press, 1967. 2 Jasper, George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, 1. 3 Works of a Nobody, 1805. <UN> x Foreword five editions, said that the Club, as a forum for meetings of eminent High Churchman throughout the nineteenth century, might be regarded “in a cer- tain sense, as his posterity.”4 But, since Park’s Memoirs, there has been no criti- cal evaluation of Stevens, his life, thought and work, until this new study by Robert Andrews. This is a book to be warmly welcomed. First because it reminds us of a remarkable personality, and an outstanding example of piety and charitable activity. As Dr Peter Nockles wrote in his entry on Stevens in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Stevens was of a playful, often whimsical disposition, but a man of holy life. He was assiduous in private devotion and public worship from an early age. He regularly attended weekday matins and evensong at a time when the custom was relatively neglected, and was a constant communi- cant with a high view of the real presence. His habits of fasting and regard for clerical celibacy owed much to the nonjuror William Law’s spiritual classic Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728). He also believed in and practised prayers for the dead.5 Stevens is an eminent example of eighteenth-century lay piety in the tradition of older Anglican High Churchmen. As such Andrews’ study is a key which opens larger doors, once again underlining the fact that the late eighteenth- century church was not lacking in piety, not without significant representa- tives of the high church tradition, as well as the contrasting latitudinarian and evangelical traditions. It is surprising that Stevens as an example of lay piety does not appear in the chapter on the laity in Gordon Rupp’s magisterial sur- vey, Religion in England, 1688–1791.6 Andrews also draws out significantly Stevens,’ a hosier in the City of London by trade, links with commerce, and the part he played, not only through his private charity, but through his involvement with the support of poor clergy as Treasurer of Queen Anne’s Bounty, as well as with his engagement with Anglican societies, such as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and his concern for the Scottish Episcopal Church. He also explores Stevens’ theological position, including his links with the idiosyncratic Hutchinsonians, and draws out his links with precursors of the Oxford Movement, such as Jones of Nayland. 4 James Allan Park, ‘Preface’ in Memoirs of the late William Stevens, 1859 edn, London, 1859, iv. 5 Peter Nockles, ‘Stevens, William,’ odnb. 6 Gordon Rupp, Religion in England, 1688–1791, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986, 518–552. <UN> Foreword xi It is good to have this carefully researched and readable study of William Stevens, not least because he is an outstanding example of what Hannah More would have called “practical piety.” Much as he might himself, who was so happy to describe himself—and be described by his friends—as a Nobody, have shied away from any study of his life and thought, it is good to be reminded of one who is a somebody, who deserves the scholarly assessment that Robert Andrews has undoubtedly provided.

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