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Signature: _______________________ ________ Elizabeth Jane Bouldin Date “Chosen Vessels:” Protestant Women Prophets and the Language of Election in the Early Modern British Atlantic By Elizabeth Jane Bouldin Doctor of Philosophy History _________________________________________ James Van Horn Melton, Ph.D. Advisor _________________________________________ Jonathan Strom, Ph.D. Advisor _________________________________________ Sharon Strocchia, Ph.D. Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date “Chosen Vessels:” Protestant Women Prophets and the Language of Election in the Early Modern British Atlantic By Elizabeth Jane Bouldin B. A., North Carolina State University, 2002 M. A., North Carolina State University, 2006 Advisors: James Van Horn Melton, Ph.D Jonathan Strom, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History 2012 Abstract “Chosen Vessels:” Protestant Women Prophets and the Language of Election in the Early Modern British Atlantic By Elizabeth Bouldin “'Chosen Vessels” considers over one hundred women who prophesied between the British Civil Wars and the eve of the eighteenth-century transatlantic awakenings. I argue that the rich and varied expressions of election rhetoric among women prophets from a range of religious groups attest to the existence of a broad cultural discourse on election and chosenness. Election, or the claim of being chosen by God, was more than doctrinal; it became a powerful rhetorical tool with far-reaching effects on the formation of religious and national identities. How women prophets participated in and negotiated election discourse was key to how they worked out their own beliefs about their elect status. More broadly, it was also central to how women shaped ideas about the role of election in the lives of individuals and communities in the diverse religious environment of the expanding Atlantic world. Through a consideration of groups such as the Quakers, Philadelphians, French Prophets, Labadists, and radical German Pietists, this dissertation examines how transsectarian and transnational encounters challenged British prophets' understandings of who comprised the “elect” and what “election” signified. The study also challenges arguments that have tied the feminization of late seventeenth-century religious discourse to the domesticization or decline of women's religious roles. I show how some women continued to participate actively in public religious life by claiming that they had been chosen for particular roles related to the end times. These women played a central part in the development of a transnational religious sphere, one in which dissenters carried out conversations and critical debates with one another about the nature of radical Protestantism. “Chosen Vessels:” Protestant Women Prophets and the Language of Election in the Early Modern British Atlantic By Elizabeth Jane Bouldin B. A., North Carolina State University, 2002 M. A., North Carolina State University, 2006 Advisors: James Van Horn Melton, Ph.D Jonathan Strom, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History 2012 Acknowledgments Numerous people have helped me through the process of researching and writing the dissertation. The Blair Rogers Major and John Russell Major Dissertation Award provided me with generous support to conduct dissertation research abroad. A dissertation completion fellowship at the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry offered the time and funding to improve and revise the project. James Melton and Jonathan Strom graciously took me on as a student at the end of my third year. I am grateful for their direction, insights, generosity, and professional example. Sharon Strocchia provided encouragement and scholarly acuity at critical points during the dissertation process. I also thank Patsy Stockbridge, Amy Erbil, Colette Barlow, Keith Anthony, Debra Madera, and the many helpful archivists and librarians I encountered on both sides of the Atlantic. A special thanks to Becky Herring. My experience as a graduate student in Atlanta was enriched by wonderful friends and colleagues. I especially acknowledge my fellow historians—including Rory, Melissa, Leah, Nathalie, and Lauren—for bringing empathy and fun to my time as a graduate student. Many thanks to Lori, Maryann, Mazi, and Stephanie for their warm and genuine friendship. During my fellowship at the FCHI, I was fortunate to get to know Christine and Angie, office-mates and friends extraordinaires. Last but certainly not least, I am deeply appreciative of my family for their constant love, support, and encouragement. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One Female Prophecy and Language of Election during 36 the Civil Wars and Restoration Chapter Two Female Prophecy, Election, and the Transatlantic 73 Quaker Community Chapter Three “Cloathed with the Sun:” Ann Bathurst and the 132 Gendering of Prophecy Chapter Four The Philadelphians, the French Prophets, and the 181 Problem of Prophetic Authority, c. 1706-1715 Chapter Five “Peculiar People in all Parts and Denominations of 232 Christendom:” Religious Encounters among Radical Protestants, c. 1660-1730 Conclusion 279 Bibliography 292 1 Introduction In 1662, the Quaker prophet Esther Biddle published The Trumpet of the Lord Sounded forth into these Three Nations, an admonitory tract addressing the king and others who persecuted Quakers. She also directed a few words to her fellow Friends, the “Royal Seed…chosen of God, and separated from the World.” Her tract referred to England as “the most fruitful and famous Land, in which the Lord hath been pleased to make manifest his Life and Power, Beauty and Glory, more than in any Nation under the Heavens.” But she continued that this England, saddled with wayward rulers, priests, and people, had sparked God’s ire. In a passage adapted from Isaiah, chapter 62, Biddle spoke for God: “Now I will arise, saith the dreadful and terrible God…I will tear and devour, and for Sions sake I will not be quiet, and for my beloved Jerusalem I will not be silent.” Biddle’s prophetic language is filled with references to election. She mentioned the “royal seed,” an early term used by George Fox to refer to the Friends, but which also had biblical connotations of God’s covenant with the elect. Biddle also implied that England was special, set apart as an elect nation by God. And in adopting the words of Isaiah she drew a certain parallel between the situation of Quakers in her current society and the Israelites in Babylonian captivity.1 Biddle was not unique in her choice of language. In the seventeenth-century British Atlantic, we find myriad references to the belief that God favored certain individuals, religious groups, or even nations as “chosen” or “elect” people. As the Calvinist doctrine of election expanded into a powerful idea in the post-Reformation British Atlantic world, its effects on the formation of religious and national identities 1 Esther Biddle, The Trumpet of the Lord Sounded forth unto these three Nations (London, 1662). 2 were far-reaching. Most notably, the idea of England or America as an “elect nation” resonated ideologically for centuries to come. Among those who participated in discourses of election were several hundred women prophets who, like Biddle, claimed to prophesy as “instruments” of God. The prophetic renderings of these women shed light both on the language of election in the early modern Atlantic and on the ways in which women contributed to ideas about election. Women from a variety of confessional backgrounds articulated and promoted notions of election through their rhetoric and actions. Concepts of election in prophetic discourse ranged from an emphasis on the soteriological (or salvific) implications of election, to the idea of the prophet as an elect messenger of God, to the idea of the “female ambassadress” chosen to usher in the new age. In all of these cases, election and chosenness functioned to convey a sense of God-ordained authority. Language of election thus offered women what they believed was an immediate and powerful claim to authority, although this authority was then negotiated between prophet and audience. The prevalence of election language in female prophetic discourse was notable. For example, the Quaker prophet Elizabeth Bathurst proclaimed, “Tis in him we are elected; not in our selves, as though personally some were chosen, and others past by: but in the Seed Christ, the Elect of God, the Object of the Father's Love; all who are gathered into him, are made a chosen Generation, an Elect People by the Lord.”2 Bathurst presented an understanding of election that argued against Calvinist soteriology. However, the concept of election clearly remained important to her frame of reference, as it did to the conceptual frameworks of many seventeenth-century women prophets. My 2 Elizabeth Bathurst, Truth's vindication, or, A gentle stroke to wipe off the foul aspersions, false accusations and misrepresentations cast upon the people of God call'd Quakers (London, 1683), 15.