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The Demise of English Presbyterianism: 1660–1760

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

James C. Spalding
Affiliation:
State University of Iowa

Extract

In The History and Character of Calvinism, John T. McNeill dismisses the story of English Presbyterianism in the eighteenth century with the following statement: Here we may return for a brief reference to Calvinism in England, where the Presbyterian … nonconformity carried its banners but weakly in the eighteenth century… After the death of Matthew Henry (1714) … Presbyterian leadership was undistinguished. A tincture of rationalism and Socinianism entered the nonconformist academies, and many of the Presbyterian ministers rejected the Westminster standards and doctrines … Those who remained orthodox were in general dull and ineffective ministers. The result was a decline in numbers and significance. This decayed Presbyterianism was restored, or more accurately replaced by the activity of Scots in England, including both those of the Kirk and those of the secessions1.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1959

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References

1. MeNeill, John T., The History and Character of Calvinism. New York: Oxford Press, 1954, p. 370.Google Scholar

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19. Ibid., p. 153.

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21. Robert Bosher, in his excellent treatment of this period from the point of view of the Landian party, holds that Baxter minimizes the actual numbers of the intransigent Presbyterians. He lists Lazarus Seaman, William Jenkyn, Zachary Crofton, Henry Hickman, John Gailhnrd, Cornelius Burgess, Arthur Jackson, and Giles Firmia as irreconcilable to even the most modified form of Anglicanism. He states that his list is based upon a study of the tracts of the period. This is deceptive, for many of the tracts were published at a time when it could still be hoped that Presbyterianism could become the pattern of the Establishment. Baxter admits that Lazarus Seaman and William Jenkyn were uncompromising. Crofton and Jackson are also mentioned as balky at this point, but they were not so irreconcilable as to avoid participation in conferences with the Anglicans which had comprehension as their goal. Cornelius Burgess was noted at the Westminster Assembly for his stand in favor of not breaking with the episcopal party. Baxter speaks of him as being in favor of a moderate episcopacy. At the time of the discussions with the Anglicaas in 1660–1661, Burgess was an aged man, suffering from a painful cancer, with complicated financial problems, and hardly in a position to take leadership in any case. Giles Firmin stated that “some episcopacies I will own.” What do we know of Gailbard other than the two pamphlets from the year 1660? He is not in Calamy's list of ejected ministers so we hardly know if he was uncompromising in the final analysis or not. What amazes mc is that in this list of Bosher's are only two veterans of the Westminster Assembly, Burgess and Seaman! Burgess does not belong on the list, leaving Seaman only as the lone veteran of the Westminster Assembly to carry on the cause of strict Preshvterianism in England. Rosher, Robert S., The Making of the Restoration Settlement. New York, Oxford, 1951.Google Scholar

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