Solomon Stoddard

Wikipedia Biographical Summary:

"...Solomon Stoddard (September 27, 1643, baptized October 1, 1643 – February 11, 1728 or 1729) was the American colonial minister who succeeded Rev. Eleazer Mather as pastor at Northampton, Massachusetts, where he died, after Mather's death. Stoddard significantly liberalized church policy while promoting more power for the clergy, decrying drinking and extravagance, and urging the preaching of hellfire and the Judgment.

Religious leader

The Reverend Solomon Stoddard was one of the most important puritan religious leaders in the colonial period and was the grandfather of the famous Rev. Jonathan Edwards. For 55 years, Stoddard held an unprecedented amount of power in the Connecticut River Valley. His opponents disparagingly called him "Pope" Stoddard, rhetorically placing him in the locally detested camp of the Roman Catholic Church. His theology was not widely accepted. Stoddard insisted that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper should have been available to all who lived outwardly pious lives and had a good reputation in the community, even if they weren't full members of the church. This was his attempt to save his church from a "dying religion", and the cause of one of the greatest theological controversies in 18th century New England (see also Halfway Covenant). His ideas covered a wide variety of topics, often contrasting with mainstream Puritan thought and foreshadowing much of modern theological thought.

Early life

Solomon Stoddard's life began in Boston in 1643, where he was born and baptized. He was the son of Anthony Stoddard (died March 16, 1686 or 1687), a wealthy Boston merchant, and Mary Downing, daughter of Emmanuel Downing and wife Lucy and a niece of Governor John Winthrop. This placed him in the highest level of aristocratic New England. Solomon graduated from Harvard College in 1662. Shortly there after he was appointed "Library keeper", and Library Laws were enacted specifying that he should keep the Library "duly swept" and the books "clean and orderly." The following is found in the records of Harvard College:

March 27, 1667, "Mr Solomon Stoddard was chosen Library keeper." "For the rectifying of ye Library & Rules for the Library Keeper", sixteen "orders were made." "No person resident in the College, except an Overseer", and "no Schollar in the College, under a Senior", could borrow a book, and "no one under master of Art (unless it be a fellow) . . . without the allowance of the President."

To improve his health, Stoddard went to Barbados and served as a chaplain from 1667 to 1669. But he soon felt the need to return to New England. As he prepared to depart he received the calling to Northampton Church to replace the late Eleazar Mather. Stoddard accepted the offer, and relocated to Northampton in 1670. Within a few months, Stoddard had married Mather's widow, née Esther Wareham (circa 1644 - February 10, 1736), moved into his house, and took over his pulpit to become Northampton's second minister. He held the post for 55 years, and he and Esther produced thirteen children.

Although well versed in the Latin and Hebrew of the Boston Puritan Elite, he preferred to use the common language of the frontier in his sermons. A sense of the frontier life may be gleaned from his proposal in 1703 to use dogs "to hunt Indians as they do Bears", the argument being that dogs would catch many an Indian who would be too light of foot for the townsmen. This was not considered inhuman, for the Indians, in Stoddard's view, "act like wolves and are to be dealt with as wolves." Three years later Massachusetts passed an act for the raising of dogs to better secure the frontier borders.

The Halfway Covenant

Stoddard is credited with The Halfway Covenant, a relaxation of the rules of Communion that accompanied a decline of piety in the Congregational church. Stoddard's interest was to insure the growth of church congregations in a colony of second-generation pilgrims who were increasingly interested in politics and economics, and less interested in religion than their immigrant parents. He taught that people who had grown up in the church, who were not scandalous in behavior could receive communion as a means of grace and have their children baptized, despite the fact that the Puritan tradition had required members to be limited to those who had experienced a spiritual "conversion".

In his theology, Stoddard contradicted nearly every standard belief of his Puritan colleagues. Puritan theology stressed a strict methodology in salvation. Stoddard believed that everyone had to experience God's glory for himself through Nature or through Scripture. When one sees this glory for himself, his will is automatically affected. Stoddard explains, "The gloriousness of God has a commanding power on the heart". According to Stoddard's thought, conversion came experientially rather than through any set process or amount of education. Though a Harvard education may aid in the pulpit on Sunday mornings, the sermon is useless unless the minister has experienced God's saving grace.

Stoddard's concepts of theology were not widely accepted either by fellow clergy or laymen, in New England. As Stoddard felt the ministry was key in bringing people to the Lord, his main goal, was converting the hearts of sinners. Stoddard believed that the only source of salvation was God's Word, especially as related through the sermon. He felt that if a community continued to remain unconverted, then (1) the preacher himself was unconverted, or (2) the preacher needed to upgrade his sermons to reach the unconverted. This called for a revision in church policy. Stoddard wanted to develop the "Instituted Church" in order to preserve purity among the ministers. Each individual church would be instructed through a national church, which would determine the proper qualifications for ministers. The redemption of the sinner's soul was to be the evangelical purpose of this church. The idea gained no support from either his congregation or others. Therefore one assumes that Stoddard's popularity and influence in New England stems from his personality, rather than his theology.

Stoddard's position was expressed through debates with Cotton and Increase Mather. As leaders of one of Boston's primary churches, Cotton Mather held an enormous amount of influence during Stoddard's lifetime. Stoddard, however, could not be swayed by Mather's arguments. Although Congregationalism eventually adopted Stoddard's stance on communion, Mather remained a formidable opponent for Stoddard.

Another contrast between Stoddard and the other Puritan leaders of his time was his belief in the strict dichotomy between the converted (or regenerate) and the unconverted. Stoddard rejected the Puritan claim that no one could discern whether he was saved. Like his own conversion experience, he believed that a person would know when he had been converted, because there exists a wide gap between those whom God had saved and those who were unregenerate. This belief led to the communion controversy: Because of his conversion experience, Solomon stressed the importance of an open communion which would be used as a converting ordinance. In 1677 all members of the community who were instructed in Christian doctrine, made a public profession of faith, and were living decent lives, could participate in communion. Stoddard explained that there was no biblical justification for allowing only regenerate members to take communion.

Stoddard's change in the sacraments produced little increase in the number of communicants. Because of this, Stoddard made two motions to the Northampton Church in 1690; first, to abolish the public profession of faith and second, to appoint the Lord's Supper as a converting ordinance. The first passed by a majority and as a result the population of Northampton doubled from 500 to 1000 in twenty years. The second motion was opposed by the elders of the church and the motion was denied, although the younger people supported it.

In 1725, his congregation decided to bring in an assistant to help him. They chose his grandson, Jonathan Edwards. Stoddard had a major influence on his grandson and was succeeded by him as the pastor of the church at Northampton.

Edwards later repudiated his grandfather's views, becoming the most famous and fiery orator of the Great Awakening of 1735-1745. The Great Awakening was to some extent a reaction to the failure of The Halfway Covenant to strengthen the church. But Stoddard's influence was long-lasting. Ultimately, Edwards’ views displeased his parishioners, and he was dismissed from the Northampton pulpit.

Stoddard may have been too liberal for his grandson Jonathan Edwards, but he was apparently lampooned for prudishness concerning petticoats by none other than Benjamin Franklin. Stoddard published a pamphlet in 1722 entitled "Answer to Some Cases of Conscience" in which he argued that the newly fashionable hoop petticoats were immoral. He stated that the petticoats were "Contrary to the Light of Nature" and that "Hooped Petticoats have something of Nakedness". Franklin's satirical response was an anonymous pamphlet entitled "Hoop-Petticoats Arraigned and Condemned, by the Light of Nature, and Law of God".

Ultimately, Stoddard's power seems to derive more from his personality, political influence, and preaching ability, than from the force of his ideas. One man describes Stoddard with a poem:

   His venerable Looks let us descry

He taller was than mean or common size,
Of lovely Look, with majesty in's Eyes.
From Nature's Gate he walk'd like King's on Earth
There's scarce such Presence seen 'mongst human breath
Source: Downloaded 2009 from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Stoddard

From Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century page 895:

STODDARD, SOLOMON, clergyman, author, was born in 1643 in Boston, Mass. He was a congregational clergyman, and pastor at Northampton, Mass., from 1669 until his death. He was the author of Appeal to the Learned; Guide to Christ; Safety in the Righteousness of Christ; and Doctrine of Instituted Churches Explained, a reply to Increase Mather's Order of the Gospel, and one which occasioned much exciting controversy. He died Feb. 11, 1729, in Northampton, Mass.

The life and struggles of Jonathan Edwards cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the character and theology of his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who preceded Edwards in the Northampton pulpit. Though Edwards now stands alone in history, during his life he lived in the shadow of the great man who had gone before him. Solomon Stoddard was referred to as the "Pope" of the Connecticut Valley and was revered almost as a god in that area. It was when Edwards departed from Stoddard's idea of church membership and the sacraments that he was rejected and expelled from his congregation. Though Stoddard had died more than twenty years before, his ideas were still alive in the minds of the people of Northampton.

His home is located at 54 Prospect Street, Northampton, MA. It is a private residence and not open to the public. He pastored the Northampton Congregational Church prior to Jonathan Edwards.

The town of Northampton was a frontier outpost settled in 1654 for economic reasons rather than religious ones. There was no official church until 1661, when the citizens voluntarily decided to become a Puritan community. Eleazar Mather, brother of Increase Mather, was asked to become their minister. In 1664, the Half-Way Covenant was proposed, which allowed the children of non-church members to be baptized. Although Mather disagreed with the Half-Way Covenant, the church in Northampton was one of the first churches to adopt the proposal. When Mather died in 1669, Stoddard was selected as a candidate for the position partly because of his support of the Half-Way Covenant. Stoddard was asked to be the pastor in 1670. He promptly accepted, married Esther Warham Mather, the widow of Eleazar Mather, and settled in to the house of his predecessor. He took care of Esther's three children as if they were his own, and to those three Stoddard and Esther added twelve more. Stoddard was to remain at Northampton for the next sixty years until his death in 1729.

Stoddard was essentially Calvinistic in his theology. He held to the fundamental tenets of Reformed Christianity: "God's arbitrary dispensation of free grace and His command of worship." Although in his basic doctrine Stoddard remained committed to Puritan theology, he shocked the church with his liberal views on church membership, the sacraments, and church government.

With the Half-Way Covenant, baptism was made available to the children of non-covenant members. Generally, though, these children grew up without having an "experience" of grace. Thus, they joined their parents in not being eligible for Communion. When the majority of the town was refused the Table, Stoddard decided to change something. After much consideration, he went beyond the Half-Way Covenant by doing away with degrees of membership. Everyone now was in the category of a "state of education." This included anyone who "owned the covenant," whether they could relate an experience of grace or not. Stoddard did not require an experience of grace because he believed that something of that nature could not be judged by other humans. In his first treatise, published in 1687 and entitled The Safety of Appearing at the Day of Judgment in the Righteousness of Christ, Stoddard claimed that although there are some external signs of grace, the church cannot know for sure if someone has been converted. Only God can see into a man's soul. A church cannot expect someone to profess their faith and then have it inquired into to prove it true. In changing this standard, Stoddard believed that he was protecting the covenant of grace from men who would impose upon it their idea of the experience of grace.

Evangelism was of great importance to Stoddard. He cared deeply about those struggling spiritually. He longed to see everyone as a part of the church body, and he thought that those who had not yet experienced grace but were interested in religious things might receive their salvation if they were brought into the church. The irony of Stoddard's liberal changes was that the Puritans had originally broken with a church that admitted the unsaved. Within a century, the Puritan church had gone full circle.

Since everyone in the church was classified in the same category, Communion was open to everyone. Stoddard thus expanded the Half-Way Covenant by "admitting to the Lord's Supper those who were unable to give a personal 'narrative of grace'" as long as they were not guilty of any heresy or scandal. Stoddard defended his "open communion," as it came to be called, by claiming that the sacraments were a "converting ordinance." Communion was not simply a special privilege for church members; it was also a means God used to reach the unregenerate. It is thought that Stoddard himself received his experience of grace at the Lord's Table after several years as a minister. He was not a member of any church until he joined at Northampton in 1672, three years after he began his ministry there. The story claims that he was giving the Lord's Supper one Sunday when he was overcome with the sovereignty and grace of God. If this story is true, it would help to explain Stoddard's passion regarding open communion.

Stoddard also broke with Puritan tradition in the area of church government. Congregational church government in New England consisted of autonomous churches that settled debates within the church or by asking neighboring churches. Stoddard found this system quite ineffective, and he boldly departed from even the basic idea. The Puritan churches had been founded on the idea of the covenant. They believed that each church was a covenant of the people between themselves and God. In the Doctrine of Instituted Churches (1700), Stoddard declared that individual church covenants were unscriptural, and the church government structure was unfounded. Stoddard defined a church as "a society of saints joined together, according to the appointment of Christ for the constant carrying on of his public worship." He supported a Presbyterian-style of government, where the pastor was elected by the church body but then received almost ultimate power. The pastor was assisted by church elders, also elected by the body. Except for the electing of their leaders, the congregation had basically no power. Congregations were overseen by authoritative synods. These were comprised of both ministers and lay representatives. Together the synods would produce a national church. Stoddard's idea became quite popular in the Connecticut Valley and northern Massachusetts. He and other ministers formed the Hampshire Association, which disciplined churches of the Connecticut Valley, even though the group was never given a legal warrant. Stoddard ended up with great authority and power, both in his local congregation and in New England. This position led to his nickname, "Pope" of the Connecticut Valley.

Stoddard thought that there was generally a long preparation period before someone received salvation. In his mind, those who were interested in religious things were in the beginning stages of this preparation. The pastor's role in this development was to preach terror to the congregation. Stoddard was a very forceful preacher, who strongly spoke the realities of Hell and the judgment of God. He once wrote that ""the word is an Hammer, and we should use it to break the rocky hearts of men. Work of humiliation" was also necessary for someone to realize their complete need for Christ. This "work of humiliation" required that "men should try their best to save themselves, because only by having done so would they really understand that it wasn't sufficient. Once an unbeliever came to recognize his sin and need for Christ's salvation, a pastor was to encourage the unbeliever's soul and prepare it for grace. Stoddard felt vernced great success in Northampton. Five brief revivals (1679, 1683, 1696, 1712, and 1718) occurred during his ministry there. Due to the number of revivals, Northampton was nicknamed the most "enthusiastical" town in the colonies. Stoddard found great respect and reverence within his church. As the intellectual and moral leader, he was characterized as a great Father-figure or Patriarch, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He provided his people with "stern behavioral judgment and gentle emotional support." In Jonathan Edwards' later description the people admired him almost as a deity. Stoddard found great respect throughout New England, though many disagreed with his liberal views. He was invited each year to give the infamous election sermon in Boston on the day following Harvard's commencement. He preached the sermon each year until 1719 when Stoddard was too old to travel the distance. At his funeral, Reverend Doctor Benjamin Colman described him as "a Prophet and a Father not only to the neighboring churches of his own county, but also to those of the whole land." He also stated that there was "none more diligent and laborious in his studies; none more lively, fervent and unwearied in the Pulpit"

Such was the reputation of the man Jonathan Edwards succeeded in Northampton. As the congregation watched Stoddard get older, they prayed that God would bless Edwards as He had blessed his grandfather and that the torch would be passed from Stoddard to Edwards as from Elijah to Elisha. Edwards did faithfully adopt the ministry in Northampton, but he was slowly convinced that the bold stances of his grandfather on church membership and the sacraments were mistaken. He believed that the Puritan founders had been correct in desiring a pure church, where full membership and participation in the sacraments were kept closed to all but visible saints. He demanded a profession of faith and an experience of grace for Communion, doing away with the Half-Way Covenant. His official split with Stoddard came in 1749 in An Humble Inquiry. Although it was no easy decision for Edwards to break away from the man he considered his father-figure, the congregation considered it a direct attack on their Patriarch and an act of treason to the community. They felt like Edwards' last twenty years of ministry had been lived in hypocrisy and a pretended allegiance to his predecessor. In their extreme anger, the congregation removed him from the church within two years.

The turmoil and struggle of Edwards' last years at Northampton were directly related to his differences in theology from his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. The legend and character of Stoddard continued to haunt Edwards even twenty years after Stoddard's death. Though history now praises the name of Jonathan Edwards, the people of his day reserved their reverence for his grandfather. When Edwards died, most papers only mentioned it in a sentence, but when Stoddard passed away, all of New England mourned. His eulogy, which was over a column long was published in the Boston News-Letter, saying that he was "too Eminent a Person to be suffer'd to slip into his Grave in silence." He should not continue to rest in silence, either, because a true study of Jonathan Edwards cannot find completion without him.

Another story about Solomon Stoddard:

Solomon Stoddard, minister in Northampton Massachusetts, is viewed as one of the most important ministers of the Eighteenth century. Stoddard's attempts to save New England from a "dying religion" did not go unnoticed. In fact, they created some of the biggest controversies in Eighteenth century New England. These controversies did not only affect his generation of ministers, but the results of these debates would also affect the next generation of ministers. Through his views on communion and the ministry, one regards the importance of Stoddard's reputation, personality, and political influence which may have attributed to the dismissal of his predecessor, Jonathan Edwards, in the next generation of Northampton ministry.

Solomon Stoddard grew up in a prominent family where his father, Anthony Stoddard, was a wealthy aristocrat, and his mother was the niece of John Winthrop. In 1662 Solomon graduated from Harvard college in Boston. From there he spent some time as a Chaplain in Barbados. Upon his return to America, Solomon felt the need to return to England; even amidst all the fighting there. However, as he prepared to depart for the homeland, he received the calling to Northampton Church. Solomon accepted the offer, and in 1670 he arrived in Northamptom where he would marry the recently widowed Esther Mather, and take over her husband's position in the pulpit. But, it was not until two years later that Solomon Stoddard would be assured of his conversion. Upon this assurance, Stoddard ordained himself in the Northapton Church.

In 1677 Solomon Stoddard assured himself of his conversion while administering the Lord's Supper. His sermon at the Table overwhelmed him with emotion as he caught a glimpse of Christ's presence, and His glorious love. Thus, because of his revelation, Stoddard felt that "the place where the soul was likely to receive spiritual light and understanding was at the Lord's Table". Stoddard's communion controversy, later in life, reveals the importance of this revelation. After his ordination that same year, Stoddard remained in the pulpit for 55 years, where his ideas would not be easily understood, or excepted.

Solomon Stoddard's concepts of theology were not widely excepted either by fellow clergy or laymen, in New England. First, Stoddard felt that ministry was a key ordinance in bringing people to the Lord. Therefore, his main goal, as an evangelist, was converting the hearts of sinners. Solomon believed that the only source of salvation was God's Word and it was most effective when applied to powerful preaching. Furthermore, he felt that if a community continued to remain unconverted, then there must be one of two things happening: (1) the preacher himself was unconverted, or (2) the preacher needed to upgrade his sermons in order to reach the hearts of the unconverted. This, Solomon felt, called for a revision in church policy. Stoddard wanted to develop, what he called, the Instituted Church, in order to preserve purity among the ministers. Each individual church would be instructed through a national church, which would determine the proper qualifications for ministers. The redemption of the sinner's soul proved to be the evangelical purpose of this church. The idea gained no support from neither his congregation or others. Therefore one assumes that Stoddard's popularity and influence in New England stems from his personality, rather than his theological beliefs. Consequently, the other New England Ministers felt that Stoddard endangered the unity of New England's Way with his new ideas.

The second, and perhaps most important debate that Solomon Stoddard faced was the communion controversy. Because of his conversion experience, Solomon stressed the importance of an open communion which would be used as a converting ordinance. So, in 1677 all members of the community who were instructed in Christian doctrine, made a public profession of faith in Christ, were living decent lives, although unregenerate, could participate in communion. Therefore, opening the door for an expansion of the halfway covenant by allowing baptism to unregenerate children. Stoddard justified these changes in Puritan tradition by explaining that the prevailing thought, regarding the church covenant, contained no biblical background for its tradition of allowing only regenerate members to partake of communion. Furthermore, Stoddard explains that no man can see the heart of another, only God can. God's unconditioned will allows equal rights for every man to be a member of the elect people who participate in communion. Therefore, no church covenant meant no distinction between sinners and saints, hence, everyone who fit his criteria could take communion. However, Stoddard's change in the Sacraments showed no great increase in the number of communicants.

Because of the lack of increase in communicants, Stoddard made two motions to the Northampton Church in 1690; (1) abolish the public profession of faith in front of the church, and (2) appoint the Lord's Supper as a converting ordinance. The first passed by a majority and as a result the population of Northampton doubled from 500 to 1000 in twenty years. Also, it brought an increase in the number of communicants from about 70 to nearly 400 (Murray 88). Though, the latter was not as successful and the motion was denied, the younger people in the church were behind it and they supported Stoddard in the vote. Consequently, these members would be those who oppose Jonathan Edwards' ideas later in the century. The elders of the church strongly disagreed with viewing the Lord's Supper as a converting ordinance. Therefore, these statistics show the significant factors which may have attributed to the dismissal of Jonathan Edwards, and the influence that Stoddard made in the last few decades of his life.

Solomon Stoddard's radical thought, in a time of Puritan tradition, opposed all other thought in the early Eighteenth century. However, Stoddard's influence lived on to affect the next generation. The results of his movements, and his ministry, impact the Northampton church and develop changes in theological ideas for the congregation. Thus, when Jonathan Edwards steps into the pulpit, in 1725, and attempts to purify the church, back to the New England Way, the congregation dismisses him for opposing Solomon Stoddard's way. So, from his controversies, one concludes that Stoddard's personality, reputation, and political influence, attributed to the disunity of the New England Way and the change of theological thought in the generations to come.

His gravestone epitaph in the "Old Burying Ground" in Northampton:

Here is intered The Body of the Rev. Mr. Solomon Stoddard A M

Sometime fellow of Harvard College, Pastor of ye Church in Northampton, N.E. for near 60 years, who departed this Life 11 February 1729 and in the 86 year of his age; A Man of God, an able Minister of the New Testament, singularly qualified for that sacred Office and faithful therein; A light to the Churches in general, a peculaiar blessing to this; Eminent for the holiness of his life, as remarkable for his peace at death.

Solomon Stoddard's life began in Boston in 1643, where he was born and baptized. He was the son of Anthony Stoddard (died March 16, 1686 or 1687), a wealthy Boston merchant, and Mary Downing, daughter of Emmanuel Downing and wife Lucy and a niece of Governor John Winthrop.

• WARHAM, Esther
• b. 8 DEC 1644 Windsor, Hartford, CT.
• d. 10 FEB 1735/6 Northampton, Hampshire, Mass.
• Parents:
• Father: WARHAM, John
• Mother: DABINOTT, Jane
• Family:
• Marriage: 29 SEP 1659 Windsor, Berkshire, Mass.
• Spouse: MATHER, Eleazer
• b. 13 MAY 1637 Dorchester, Suffolk, Mass.
• d. 24 JUL 1669 Northampton, Hampshire, Mass.
• Parents:
• Father: MATHER, Richard
• Mother: HOLT, Catherine
• Children:
  • MATHER, Eunice
  • MATHER, Warham
  • MATHER, Eliakim b. 22 SEP 1668 Northampton, Hampshire, Mass. d. ABT 1706
• Family:
• Marriage: 8 MAR 1669/70 Northampton, Hampshire, Mass.
• Spouse: STODDARD, Solomon
• b. 26 SEP 1643 Boston, Suffolk, Mass.
• d. 11 FEB 1728/9 Northampton, Hampshire, Mass.
• Parents:
• Father: STODDARD, Anthony
• Mother: DOWNING, Mary
• Children:
  • STODDARD, Mary
  • STODDARD, Esther
  • STODDARD, Christian
  • STODDARD, Anthony
  • STODDARD, Sarah
  • STODDARD, John
  • STODDARD, Hannah
• From: http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_20.htm#62 ____________