STODDARD, SOLOMON
(27 September 1643, Boston, MA-11 February 1729, Northampton, MA). Education: B.A., Harvard College, 1662; postgraduate theological study, Harvard, 1662-65. Career: tutor, Harvard, 1666; librarian, Harvard 1667; chaplain, Barbados, 1667-69; minister, Northampton, MA, 1670--1729.
During the first century of Congregationalism in America debates over the nature of the sacraments frequently divided the church. Congregationalists began by declaring that communion would be open only to those who had experienced conversion, but that baptism would be administered more liberally, to the infant children of any saint. That practice lasted only a decade or so before it was at-tacked from several directions. Some people wanted to make the sacraments more restrictive, limiting even baptism to the mature saints. Others wanted to open both sacraments to anyone but the most depraved members of the community. On the issue of believer's baptism, Congregational leaders refused to make any concessions or to tolerate diversity. A Congregationalist who embraced antipedobaptism the opposition to infant Baptism-could well find himself or herself exiled from the church and the colony. No less a figure than Henry Dunster*, first president of Harvard, lost his job, home, and friends because he adopted Baptist views.
The Congregationalists would not allow the sacraments to be made more restrictive, but they were far less dogmatic in dealing with arguments that the sacraments should be less restrictive. They argued bitterly about liberalizing admission standards to communion or baptism, called each other names, and predicted that this innovation or that would be the ruin of the church. But rather than send dissenters to the perdition of Rhode Island, they agreed to disagree. And so, despite much opposition, Congregationalists accepted the Half-Way Covenant in the mid-1600s, allowing the children of the unconverted, but baptized, adults to be baptized. By 1700 what had begun as one innovation became many: some churches baptized grandchildren of the baptized, some made baptism available to all children, and some opened communion as well as baptism to the descendants of the saints. Solomon Stoddard, minister of Northampton and "pope" of the Connecticut River Valley was leader of the movement to liberalize admission to the sacraments, opening communion to all adults who lived decent lives.
Increase* and Cotton Mather* and other more conservative ministers considered Stoddard a heretic and preached and wrote against "Stoddardeanism." They would gladly have seen Stoddard consigned to Rhode Island, or even to Barbados, where he once served as a chaplain. But no such thing happened. By 1700 there were several different sacramental practices existing side by side within the family of Congregationalism. Stoddard was able to be innovative for several reasons. A dynamic personality, he had an effective "power base" in western Massachusetts, where he was the leading figure in political and religious life. A legend tells of a party of Frenchmen and Indians who had a chance to ambush Stoddard as he rode along from Northampton to Hatfield. An Indian who knew of Stoddard was said to have told the French not to fire, because "that was the Englishmen's GOD." Among the Mathers he was hardly a god, but in the valley it was another matter.
The acceptance of the Half Way Covenant facilitated Stoddardeanism, for it had established a precedent for more liberal access to the sacraments. Moreover, in other ways Stoddard was well within the mainstream of Congregational thought. He preached sermons about damnation and published a book titled, The Efficacy of the Fear of Hell to Restrain Men from Sin (1713). And he was orthodox, too, in his belief that the sole way to salvation was through God's grace. In fact, he believed that communion was itself a means of grace, or as he called it. a "converting ordinance." Stoddard thought that just as hearing a sermon could bring one to God, so also participation in communion could lead to a saving change of heart. Stoddard also sought to foster grace through revivals, "harvests" that periodically brought large numbers of converts into the church.
As an old man in his mid-eighties, Stoddard was blessed by the assistance at Northampton of a favorite grandson, Jonathan Edwards·. Edwards was in many ways Stoddard's disciple, and in 1734 only five years after his grandfather's death, he led the greatest revival Northampton had ever seen. Edwards also backed the Great Awakening, but then he decided to reject Stoddard's view of the sacraments. The old man's ghost, however, proved more powerful than the young man's presence, and Edwards was dismissed from his pulpit in 1750 for having the effrontery to contradict ''Pope" Stoddard
Bibliography
A: The Safety of Appearing at the Day of Judgement in the Righteousness of Christ (Boston, 1687); The Doctrine of Instituted Churches Explained and Proved from the Word of God (London, 17(0); The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God (Boston, 1708); An Appeal to the Learned (Boston, 1709); A Guide to Christ (Boston, 1714); A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Saving Conversion (Boston, 1719).
B: AAP I, 172-74; DAB 18, 59-60; DARB, 434-35; NCAB 7, 84-85; SH 11, 100; SHG 2, 111-22; Ralph J. Coffmann, Solomon Stoddard (Boston, 1978); Thomas M. and Virginia L. Davis, eds., Edward Taylor vs. Solomon Stoddard: The Nature of the Lord's Supper (Boston, 1981); James P. Walsh, "Solomon Stoddard's Open Communion: A Reexamination," New England Quarterly, 43 (1970), 97-114; Paul R. Lucas, "'An Appeal to the Learned': The Mind of Solomon Stoddard," William and Mary Quarterly, 30 (1973), 257-92; Thomas Davis and Jeff Jeske, "Solomon Stoddard's 'Arguments' Concerning Admission to the Lord's Supper," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 86 (1976), 75-111; Karl Keller, "The Loose, Large Principles of Solomon Stoddard," Early American Literature, 16 (1981), 27-41; Philip F. Gura. "Preparing the Way for Stoddard: Eleazar Wheelock's Serious Exhortation to Northampton," The New England Quarterly, 57 (1984), 240-49.
During the first century of Congregationalism in America debates over the nature of the sacraments frequently divided the church. Congregationalists began by declaring that communion would be open only to those who had experienced conversion, but that baptism would be administered more liberally, to the infant children of any saint. That practice lasted only a decade or so before it was at-tacked from several directions. Some people wanted to make the sacraments more restrictive, limiting even baptism to the mature saints. Others wanted to open both sacraments to anyone but the most depraved members of the community. On the issue of believer's baptism, Congregational leaders refused to make any concessions or to tolerate diversity. A Congregationalist who embraced antipedobaptism the opposition to infant Baptism-could well find himself or herself exiled from the church and the colony. No less a figure than Henry Dunster*, first president of Harvard, lost his job, home, and friends because he adopted Baptist views.
The Congregationalists would not allow the sacraments to be made more restrictive, but they were far less dogmatic in dealing with arguments that the sacraments should be less restrictive. They argued bitterly about liberalizing admission standards to communion or baptism, called each other names, and predicted that this innovation or that would be the ruin of the church. But rather than send dissenters to the perdition of Rhode Island, they agreed to disagree. And so, despite much opposition, Congregationalists accepted the Half-Way Covenant in the mid-1600s, allowing the children of the unconverted, but baptized, adults to be baptized. By 1700 what had begun as one innovation became many: some churches baptized grandchildren of the baptized, some made baptism available to all children, and some opened communion as well as baptism to the descendants of the saints. Solomon Stoddard, minister of Northampton and "pope" of the Connecticut River Valley was leader of the movement to liberalize admission to the sacraments, opening communion to all adults who lived decent lives.
Increase* and Cotton Mather* and other more conservative ministers considered Stoddard a heretic and preached and wrote against "Stoddardeanism." They would gladly have seen Stoddard consigned to Rhode Island, or even to Barbados, where he once served as a chaplain. But no such thing happened. By 1700 there were several different sacramental practices existing side by side within the family of Congregationalism. Stoddard was able to be innovative for several reasons. A dynamic personality, he had an effective "power base" in western Massachusetts, where he was the leading figure in political and religious life. A legend tells of a party of Frenchmen and Indians who had a chance to ambush Stoddard as he rode along from Northampton to Hatfield. An Indian who knew of Stoddard was said to have told the French not to fire, because "that was the Englishmen's GOD." Among the Mathers he was hardly a god, but in the valley it was another matter.
The acceptance of the Half Way Covenant facilitated Stoddardeanism, for it had established a precedent for more liberal access to the sacraments. Moreover, in other ways Stoddard was well within the mainstream of Congregational thought. He preached sermons about damnation and published a book titled, The Efficacy of the Fear of Hell to Restrain Men from Sin (1713). And he was orthodox, too, in his belief that the sole way to salvation was through God's grace. In fact, he believed that communion was itself a means of grace, or as he called it. a "converting ordinance." Stoddard thought that just as hearing a sermon could bring one to God, so also participation in communion could lead to a saving change of heart. Stoddard also sought to foster grace through revivals, "harvests" that periodically brought large numbers of converts into the church.
As an old man in his mid-eighties, Stoddard was blessed by the assistance at Northampton of a favorite grandson, Jonathan Edwards·. Edwards was in many ways Stoddard's disciple, and in 1734 only five years after his grandfather's death, he led the greatest revival Northampton had ever seen. Edwards also backed the Great Awakening, but then he decided to reject Stoddard's view of the sacraments. The old man's ghost, however, proved more powerful than the young man's presence, and Edwards was dismissed from his pulpit in 1750 for having the effrontery to contradict ''Pope" Stoddard
Bibliography
A: The Safety of Appearing at the Day of Judgement in the Righteousness of Christ (Boston, 1687); The Doctrine of Instituted Churches Explained and Proved from the Word of God (London, 17(0); The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God (Boston, 1708); An Appeal to the Learned (Boston, 1709); A Guide to Christ (Boston, 1714); A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Saving Conversion (Boston, 1719).
B: AAP I, 172-74; DAB 18, 59-60; DARB, 434-35; NCAB 7, 84-85; SH 11, 100; SHG 2, 111-22; Ralph J. Coffmann, Solomon Stoddard (Boston, 1978); Thomas M. and Virginia L. Davis, eds., Edward Taylor vs. Solomon Stoddard: The Nature of the Lord's Supper (Boston, 1981); James P. Walsh, "Solomon Stoddard's Open Communion: A Reexamination," New England Quarterly, 43 (1970), 97-114; Paul R. Lucas, "'An Appeal to the Learned': The Mind of Solomon Stoddard," William and Mary Quarterly, 30 (1973), 257-92; Thomas Davis and Jeff Jeske, "Solomon Stoddard's 'Arguments' Concerning Admission to the Lord's Supper," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 86 (1976), 75-111; Karl Keller, "The Loose, Large Principles of Solomon Stoddard," Early American Literature, 16 (1981), 27-41; Philip F. Gura. "Preparing the Way for Stoddard: Eleazar Wheelock's Serious Exhortation to Northampton," The New England Quarterly, 57 (1984), 240-49.
