english separatists wanted to separate from the church of england.
english separatists wanted to separate from the church of england.
who wanted to separate from the church of england?
english separatists
mary and william dyer were puritans, as evidenced by their acceptance into the membership of the boston church in new england. the puritans wanted to complete the separation of the anglican church from catholicism that had begun under the rule of the english monarch henry viii. the conformists in england accepted the english monarch as the head of the church, and the form of worship that greatly resembled that in the catholic church. the puritans, as non-conformists, wanted to do away with the vestments, bowing and making the sign of the cross that were prevalent in anglican worship, and observe a much simpler and biblical form of worship. some of the non-conformists, such as the pilgrims, wanted to separate completely from the anglican church, while the puritans wished to reform the church from within. as the ranks of puritans began swelling in england, so too did the severity of government intervention, including exile or death for ministers not adhering to the state religious practices. in the 1620s england's king charles i, with little understanding of religion, was adamant that english subjects conform to the same uniform religion, which included the vestments and procedures found in the catholic church. as exploration of the north american continent was then leading to settlement, the puritans found a way to practice their form of religion by emigrating from england.
mary dyer
it seems a link between the colonial bible belt (the north, especially new england with its puritan heritage) and the later southern bible belt may be seen in the impact which some northern figures had on the religious development of the south (perhaps not incomparable to the origins of mormonism in the north, in spite of its later association with utah). "the centre of particular baptist activity in early america was in the middle colonies. in 1707 five churches in new jersey, pennsylvania, and delaware were united to form the philadelphia baptist association, and through the association they embarked upon vigorous missionary activity. by 1760 the philadelphia association included churches located in the present states of connecticut, new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, delaware, virginia, and west virginia; and by 1767 further multiplication of churches had necessitated the formation of two subsidiary associations, the warren in new england and the ketochton in virginia. the philadelphia association also provided leadership in organizing the charleston association in the carolinas in 1751." an influential figure was shubal stearns: "shubael stearns, a new england separate baptist, migrated to sandy creek, north carolina, in 1755 and initiated a revival that quickly penetrated the entire piedmont region. the churches he organized were brought together in 1758 to form the sandy creek association". stearns was brother-in-law of daniel marshall, who was born in windsor, connecticut and "is generally considered the first great baptist leader in georgia. he founded kiokee baptist church, the oldest continuing baptist congregation in the state". also, wait palmer, of toland, connecticut, may have influenced african american christianity in the south: "the silver bluff, south carolina, revival was a seminal development, whose role among blacks rivalled that played by the sandy creek revival of the separate baptists, to which it was indirectly related. it was probably the same wait palmer who had baptized shubal stearns in 1751 who came to silver bluff in 1775, baptizing and constituting a church. abraham marshall, who encouraged the later offshoots, was a separate baptist of the sandy creek school. the revival at the silver bluff plantation of george galphin (some twelve miles from augusta, georgia) had brought david george to the afro-baptist faith and had provided a ministry for george liele". according to thomas s. kidd, "as early as 1758, sandy creek missionaries helped organize a slave congregation, the bluestone church, on the plantation of william byrd iii, which may have been the first independently functioning african american church in north america. the church did not last long, but it reflected the baptists' commitment to evangelizing african americans". and according to gayraud s. wilmore, "the preaching of new england congregationalists such as jonathan edwards about the coming millennium, and his conviction that christians were called to prepare for it, reached the slaves through the far-ranging missionary work of white evangelists such as shubal stearns, wait palmer, and matthew moore - all of whom left congregationalism and became separatist baptist preachers in the plantation country of virginia, north and south carolina, and georgia".
bible belt