Meredith
Didier
18th
Century Theology
1720Õs
Paper
10-5-15
While
the 1720Õs werenÕt a decade defined by a great religious awakening or a
revolutionary movement, this decade did contain some events that held great
religious significance in New England. Two major decadal incidents stand out in
the 1720Õs, Father RaleÕs War and the 1727 New England earthquake. While one
event was military and the other was a natural disaster, both assumed religious
causes and elicited religious responses.
The
first religiously influential event of the 1720Õs began due to the not uncommon
conflict between the English and the French. The Wabanaki Indians territory was
lodged in between the domains of New England and New France. This tribe was not
only a valuable trading partner for the Europeans, but each nation wanted to
convert the savages to their own Òtrue religion.Ó In both matters of conversion
and trade, the French had the advantage. The Jesuits, and in particular Father
Sebastian Rale, has successfully brought Catholicism to the Wabanakis. So, when
New England began encroaching upon the territories of the Wabanakis, the French
saw this as a religious statement. The English were seizing their lands and
Òtaking away their prayersÓ by planning to force their Protestant religion upon
the Wabanakis. On the other side, New Englanders saw the FrenchÕs protection of
Wabanaki rightÕs as a threat to New EnglandÕs security. New England saw this as
a battle between civility and barbarism, between Òtrue religionÓ and popery.
The issues were stemming from the evil combination of ÒJesuit lies and Wabanaki
savagery[1].Ó
Furthermore, the English saw the French as forming a noose of Indian alliances
around the neck of the English colonies that they could then hang the British
with. These tensions heightened and finally came to a boil in the spring of
1722.
Attempting
to curtail the odious affects of the Jesuits, in March of 1722 Governor Shute
of Massachusetts commanded some men to capture Rale for his work inciting the
Indians against the British. These men failed, and in retaliation the Wabanakis
began raiding British settlements. To counter these raids, Governor Shute
declared war on the Wabanakis in July of 1722. The war, which came to be known
as Father RaleÕs War, was largely a series of raids between the two parties. Protestant
ministers in New England narrated the war as a battle between Protestantism and
Catholicism. Some ministers saw this as an indication of New EnglandÕs sin and
therefore a threat to rally to holiness by trusting in God to lead them to a
victory in this war. Other ministers, including Solomon Stoddard believed this
war was a punishment from God for not caring enough about the Indians, thus
failing to bring the gospel and the Òtrue religionÓ of Protestantism to the
savages[2].
No matter the divine reasons for this
war, by the summer of 1724 New England was ready for the fight to be over. To
deliver the final blow the new governor of Massachusetts, William Dummer,
ordered some men to travel to Norridgewock where Father Rale lived, destroy the
town, and kill Rale. This time the British attack was successful and Rale was
shot and scalped along with many other Indians. Finally in November of 1725 New
England authorities met with members of the leading Wabanaki tribes to end the
conflict. The Wabanakis agreed to submit to British rule and not ally with any
conflicting parties[3].
As Father RaleÕs War clearly demonstrates the French and British used the New
World as another theater where they could sort out their conflicts. Also made
apparent by Father RaleÕs War was the EnglishÕs prominent concern with the
battle of empire and the fate of Christianity.
The
second major Colonial event, the New England earthquake of 1727, took place on
the night of October 29. New Englander, Paul Dudley, wrote a detailed
recollection of the terrifying night. Dudley described the earthquake as a
terrible trembling of the earth. He observed that while for the most part
things remained in the same position, some man-made structures, such as
chimneys, had toppled. While Dudley said it would be impossible to give an
exact description of what the earthquake sounded like, he wrote that he
initially thought that the sound of the quake was his servant dragging a
trundle bed across the floor. Many other people thought that the noise was
thunder at first. As terrifying as the sounds were, the quaking that followed
was even more terrible. Dudley described his house as squeezing together and
shaking along with all the items inside it. A neighbor reported to Dudley that
he was outside walking at the time of the quake and it was incredibly hard for
him to remain standing. He feared that the ground was going to open and swallow
him up. Along with describing the sounds and feels of the earthquake, Dudley
also reports that there was a strong sulfur scent during the quake[4].
The New England earthquake of 1727Õs physical effects however were not as
impressive as the religious excitement it incited.
Even
more monumental than the earthquake was the New England ministerÕs response to it.
The Puritans looked to analyze this event and uncover what God meant by it.
While most ministers accepted that the causes of the earthquake were primarily
physical, no good Puritan would deny that God and his will
were the secondary cause of this natural event. Ministers interpreted the
earthquake as GodÕs punishment for all the sins New Englanders had committed
lately. New England was a divinely appointed land and the Puritans were a chosen
people, so God took special interest in their sinfulness. The general theme of
sermons directly following the earthquake is best summarized as detailing Òthe
just wrath of an angry God whose chosen people,
sinning and declining form their earlier virtue, required correction and
warning.[5]Ó
However, while the sermons published a time after the earthquake did note that
the quake was a result of GodÕs judgment, these later discourses put more
emphasis on the mercy that God showed New England. Noting that there were no
fatalities due to the 1727 earthquake many pastors interpreted the quake as a
call to reform and repentance in the light of GodÕs mercy. Pastor Samuel
Phillips encouraged his congregation to renew their covenant with God due to
the immense mercy and divine favor he had shown them[6].
Whether primarily interpreted as GodÕs punishment or GodÕs mercy, the New
England earthquake of 1727 clearly demonstrated that the Puritans saw natural
events as manifestations of GodÕs will, which ministers capitalized on by
insisting upon reformation and repentance.
As
demonstrated by the immense religious reactions to the events of the 1720Õs,
New EnglandersÕ faith was a driving factor in not only in daily life, but also
foreign relations, as Father RaleÕs War proved. Even natural disasters were
believed to have religious causes and warranted immense spiritual responses,
which one can see from the sermons following the 1727 earthquake. Be it the
quarrels of man or the perils of nature, New Englanders of the 1720Õs relied on
religion to interpret the events of the decade.
Bibliography
Andrews,
William D. ÒThe Literature of the 1727 New England Earthquake.Ó Early American
Literature
7, no. 3 (1973): 281-294. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25070589.
Dudley, Paul. ÒAn Account of the Several Earthquakes Which Have
Happened in New
England, Since the First
Settlement of the English in That Country, Especially of the
Last Which HappenÕd on
October 29, 1727.Ó Philosophical
Transactions 39, no. 1
(1736): 63-73. URL: www.jstor.org.library.hillsdale.edu/stable/103977.
Huber, Donald L. ÒTimothy Cutler: The Convert as
Controversialist.Ó Historical Magazine of
the Protestant Episcopal
Church 44,
no. 4 (1975): 489-496. URL:
www.jstor.org.library.hillsdale.edu/stable/42973484.
Kidd, Thomas S. ÒÕThe Devil and Father Rallee: Narrating Father
RaleÕs War.Ó Protestant
Interest: New England after Puritanism. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2004.
[1] Thomas S. Kidd, ÒÕThe Devil and Father Rallee: Narrating Father RaleÕs WarÓ in Protestant Interest: New England after Puritanism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 94.
[2] Thomas S. Kidd, ÒÕThe Devil and Father Rallee: Narrating Father RaleÕs WarÓ in Protestant Interest: New England after Puritanism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004).
[3] Thomas S. Kidd, ÒÕThe Devil and Father Rallee: Narrating Father RaleÕs WarÓ in Protestant Interest: New England after Puritanism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004).
[4] Paul Dudley, ÒAn
Account of the Several Earthquakes Which Have Happened in New
England,
Since the First Settlement of the English in That Country, Especially of the
Last
Which HappenÕd on October 29, 1727.Ó Philosophical
Transactions 39, no. 1
(1736):
63-73, URL: www.jstor.org.library.hillsdale.edu/stable/103977.
[5]
William D. Andrews, ÒThe
Literature of the 1727 New England Earthquake,Ó Early American
Literature 7,
no. 3 (1973): 288, URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25070589.
[6]
William D. Andrews, ÒThe
Literature of the 1727 New England Earthquake,Ó Early American
Literature 7,
no. 3 (1973): 281-294, URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25070589.