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Peace, toleration and decayQuestion of unity?PEACE, TOLERATION AND DECAY Historians have struggled to explain the apparent weakness of nonconformity after the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689. Disunity has often been suggested as a major cause. Martin Sutherland has tackled this question by studying the career, teaching and legacy of John Howe (1630 - 1705). Presbyterians led by Richard Baxter hoped that they could be comprehended within a national church. That was never a real possibility after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. Although Baxter clung to that ideal, it was a fading dream throughout the remaining years of his long life. John Howe, an admirer of Baxter, sought to respond to the situation by emphasising the invisible church over against visible structures. He hoped for union, but was wary of any scheme which threatened the exercise of individual conscience. Martin Sutherland describes this as the development of an 'invisibilist ecclesiology'. Howe advocated 'moderate nonconformity'. Edmund Calamy, Howe's biographer, explained that 'he was for having nothing as a Test or Boundary of Christian Communion, but what has its foundation as such in plain reason or express Revelation'. This position was not able to sustain unity between Presbyterians and Independents in the 1690s. In 1719, a more serious crisis exploded after Howe's death. Faced with apparent Unitarianism among the ministers of Exeter, the Presbyterians appealed for help and advice from their brethren in London. A meeting was called at Salters Hall, but instead of discussing the problem in Exeter, the propriety or otherwise of creedal statements was discussed. A majority concluded that they constituted unwarranted religious tests. Calamy had advocated Howe's ecclesiology but it was clear that there was no way to deal with a serious doctrinal crisis in nonconformity. Like John Howe's own writings, this book is not the easiest to read. Nevertheless, it does deal with very important issues. The question of unity is ever with us. Today we struggle with evangelical unity rather than nonconformist unity, but we do not seem any more able to settle upon a creedal basis or agree on how to handle doctrinal deviations. This is a book for ministers and church officers to ponder. Robert Oliver, © Evangelicals Now - March 2005 |