Papers, c. 1633-1665.

ArchivalResource

Davenport, John, 1597-1670. Papers, c. 1633-1665.

Papers, c. 1633-1665.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191259287

This collection consists of one letter, six religious essays, c. 1633-1665, and copies of a title page. The folder contains seven items. The first item, dated c. 1663, is a photocopy of a two-page letter written by Davenport to Lady Mary Vere (1580-1670), a Puritan noblewoman (living temporarily in the Hague, Netherlands) and patron of St. Stephen's Church. It was probably written after Davenport's flight to Amsterdam and details his reasons for absenting himself from St. Stephen's pulpit, among them his unwillingness to conform to established ceremonies. The original letter is located in the British Museum. It has been printed in Isabel MacBeath Calder's _Letters of John Davenport_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937), p. 38-40. The second item, dated 1639, is entitled, "Nine Positions Relative to the Church Government in New England, answered," 36 p. (London: printed for T[homas] P[ayne] and M[atthew] S[immons] by Benjamin Allen, 1643). This essay was apparently transcribed for Davenport by John Ferniside ( - ) in 1639 and embodies the leading New England ministers' responses to the English Puritans' "A Letter of Many Ministers in Old England, requesting The judgement of their Reverend Brethren in New England concerning Nine Positions," 1637. The nine positions include questions concerning baptism, the admission of sacraments, and church membership. The English ministers still wished to remain within the Church of England and work to reform it. An English rejoinder to Davenport's answers by the Rev. John Ball (1585-1640) followed in 1640, and a defense of Davenport's essay was written in 1645 by the Rev. Thomas Shepard (1605-1649) and the Rev. Thomas Allen (1608-1673) [see Shepard Family, Papers, c. 1636-1681--folder #5]. The third item, dated 1662, is entitled, "Rev. Mr. Davenport's Answers to the 21 Questions put to the Revd. Author," 11 p. Written in his own hand, this essay appears to be an earlier unpublished manuscript intended to be read at the Synod of 1662. It includes Davenport's views on infant baptism. A later version was printed with a preface by Increase Mather (1639-1723), under the title, "Another Essay ..." [see folder items #6]. The fourth item, dated c. 1663, is entitled, "A Reply To the 7 Propositions Concluded by the Synod, Sitting at Boston, June 10, 1662 in Answoar to the first Question, vizt...Subject of Baptism," 8 p. The essay was written in response to events at the Synod of 1662 and establishes that the Synod had settled upon the seven propositions (which resulted in the Half-Way Covenant) during midsummer, 1662, rather than in September, as historians have believed [see Michael G. Hall and William L. Joyce, "The Half-Way Covenant of 1662: Some New Evidence," AAS _Proceedings_ (1977), vol. 87, Part I, p. 104-105]. The fifth item, dated 1664, is entitled, "A Vindication of the Treatise entitled Another Essay...being A Reply to a Defence of the Answer and Arguments of the Synod...in the year 1662," 19th century copy, 18 p. The essay concerns the subjects of baptism and the consociation of churches, and placidly expresses Davenport's belief in the strength of church unity in New England. The sixth and seventh items are two copies, dated 19th century, of a title page of Davenport's "Another Essay for Investigation of the Truth ...", 1663 (Cambridge: Printed by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 1663). The folio volume is actually a one hundred sixty-three page unbound treatise titled, "The Third Essay containing a Reply to the Answer unto _the other Essay_ printed In Defence of the Synods Booke..." It was copied by an amanuensis in 1665 and is a draft with marginal notes (possibly in Davenport's handwriting). The treatise is an historic sketch of his views on half-way church membership since the 1650s, and also details occurrences at the Synod of 1662 and his attitudes towards them, as well as his premise that "printing dissent from the Synod is not blame-worthy."

1 folder (7 items)1 v. (163 p.) ; folio.

Gadsden Public Library