Sandeman Scrapbook

Sandemanians

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SANDEMANIANS

The National Encyclopaedia (c.1875)

In the article GLASSITES (q.v.), it has already been mentioned that Mr. Robert Sandeman, a native of Perth, was led to embrace the opinions of Mr. Glas, which he so zealously diffused both in England and America, that at length the name of the founder was lost in that of the zealous advocate, and the sect came to be known, south of the Tweed, exclusively by the appellation of Sandemanians. The writings of Mr. Sandeman ultimately obtained a more extensive circulation than those of Mr. Glas, and though, from the year 1755, he openly avowed his adherence to Glassite opinions, it was not until he removed to London in 1760, that the sect became known in England. Having gradually gathered round him a congregation in the English metropolis, he laboured among them with indefatigable earnestness, but in 1764 he sailed for America, where, after enduring much opposition and many trials, he was cut off in 1771 in the prime of life, at Denbury in Massachusetts. The inscription on his tomb refers to his peculiar views on the nature of justifying faith: "Here lies, until the resurrection, the body of Robert Sandeman, who, in the face of continued opposition from all sorts of men, long and boldly contended for the ancient faith; that the bare death of Jesus Christ, without a deed or thought on the part of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners spotless before God."

Soon after Mr. Sandeman had embraced Glassite opinions, he published "Letters on Theron and Aspasio," under the signature of Palæmon. This work excited considerable sensation in England, and gave rise to what is familiarly known by the name of the Sandemanian controversy. The peculiar doctrines maintained in the ‘Letters,’ are thus described by the author himself: "The motto of the title-page of this work is, ‘One thing is needful;’ which he calls the sole requisite to justification, or acceptance with God. By the sole requisite, he understands the work finished by Christ in his death, proved by his resurrection to be all-sufficient to justify the guilty; that the whole benefit of this event is conveyed to men, only by the apostolic report concerning it; that every one who understands this report to be true, or is persuaded that the event actually happened, as testified by the apostles, is justified, and finds relief to his guilty conscience; that he is relieved, not by finding any favourable symptom about his own heart, but by finding their report to be true; that the event itself, which is reported, becomes his relief so soon as it stands true in his mind, and accordingly becomes his faith; that all the Divine power which operates on the minds of men, either to give the first relief to their consciences, or to influence them in every part of their obedience to the gospel, is persuasive power, or the forcible conviction of truth:

"That all men are equally fit for justification, or equally destitute of any plea for acceptance with God; that those called the stricter sort cannot, by their utmost assiduity in devotion, contribute any more to this end than the most notorious felons ready to suffer for their crimes; that in this respect, no one of mankind has the least room to glory over another; that man’s impotency to do what is pleasing to God, lies in the aversion of his will; and that all men are as able to please God as they are willing:

"That the supernatural facts recorded in the writings of the apostles, open to view a further discovery of the Divine character than can be learned from any thing observable in the course of nature; that in the work finished by Christ on the cross, this new discovery of the Divine character was made; that thence it appeared that God might be just in justifying the ungodly, or those who have nothing about them but what fits them for condemnation; that this is proved and demonstrated, with evidence sufficient to counterbalance all objections, by the resurrection of Christ from the dead; that every one who is persuaded of the fact of Christ’s resurrection, as circumstanced in the gospel history, even when he finds nothing about himself in the way of wish, desire, or otherwise, but what renders him obnoxious to the Divine displeasure, knows how God may be just in justifying him into favour presently as he stands; so finds relief from the disquieting fear for which no remedy can be found by any argument drawn from any appearance of God in the course of nature:

"That the great mistake of popular preachers, or the chief leaders in devotion, lies in this, that they cannot understand how God can appear to an unrighteous person just in justifying him as he presently stands, without feeling some motion or tendency in his will towards a change to the better; whether this motion be called some faint desire to close with Christ, to trust in him, to put forth an act of faith, or by any other name:

"That, in effect, they make their acts of faith to stand not only for the ground of acceptance with God, but also for the evidence and proof of one’s being in favour with God; that accordingly they show their disaffection not only to the justifying work of Christ, but also to the works of self-denied obedience, wherein his people are called to be conformed to him, as a proof of their being his disciples indeed; that the appropriation contended for in the popular doctrines is disagreeable to the Scripture, and productive of the worse consequences; that no man can warrantably be assured that he is a Christian, a believer in Christ, or an object of the peculiar favour of God, in any other way than by being assured, on good grounds, that his practice in obedience to the peculiar precepts of Christianity is influenced by the love of that same truth which influenced the lives of the apostles."

The main position of this system evidently is, that justifying faith is nothing more than a simple assent of the understanding to the Divine testimony--a doctrine which was ably combated by Mr. Andrew Fuller. It is an undoubted truth that faith in itself without reference to its object, but viewed simply as a fundamental principle of the human mind, may be regarded as a purely intellectual act. But when we speak of the faith which justifies, we dare not separate the act of faith from the object of faith. It is Christ the object which lends all its force and efficiency to the act of faith, and hence we find the Scriptures declaring concerning justifying faith what cannot be affirmed in regard to any merely intellectual act, that "it works by love," "purifies the heart," and "overcomes the world." It is, in short, a thoroughly practical principle influencing the whole heart and life of man, thus sanctifying while it saves.

After the departure of Mr. Sandeman for America his congregation in London received considerable accession to its numbers under the ministry of his successor, the Rev. S. Pike, who enjoyed much popularity as a preacher. Congregations holding the same principles were afterwards formed in different parts of England, as well as in America. Like the Glassites in Scotland they partake of the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s day, observe love-feasts, mutual exhortation, washing each other’s feet, the use of the lot and other practices, which they believe to have been followed by the primitive Christians. The numbers of this sect have considerably diminished in course of time, so that at the last census, in 1851, only six congregations were reported as belonging to the body, and these having each of them a very small attendance. The Faiths of the World By the Rev. James Gardner.

A small religious sect, consisting of persons who profess to be followers of Robert Sandeman, a native of Perth, born 1713. They are, however, really an offset from the Glassites of Scotland, followers of Mr. John Glass, a minister in the Presbyterian church, who was removed from his office on account of certain peculiarities of religious opinions in 1728. Mr. Sandeman married Catherine Glass, daughter, we believe, of John Glass, and adopted his new doctrines. In 1757 he commenced publishing his system. In 1760 he removed to London, where he preached in various places, and attracted much notice, and in 1764 he emigrated to the American colonies, where he continued till his death.

The leading doctrine of the sect is thus expressed in the epitaph on Mr. Sandeman’s tomb at Danebury in New England:-- ‘Here lies, until the resurrection, the body of Robert Sandeman, who, in the face of continual opposition from all sorts of men, long and boldly contended for the ancient faith, that the bare death of Jesus Christ, without a deed or thought on the part of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners spotless before God.

The best account which has been given of this sect is to be found in The History and Antiquities of the Dissenting Churches in London, by Walter Wilson, in four volumes 8vo. The Sandemanians are more numerous in America than in England.

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The New International Encyclopaedia (Dodd, Mead, 1907)

Sandemanians, or Glassites. A sect founded in Scotland by John Glas about 1730 and extended in England and America by his disciple and son-in-law Robert Sandeman. The sect was called Glassites in Scotland, but Sandemanians became the more usual designation in England and America. The main doctrine of Glas was that all national establishments of religion and all interference of the civil authority in religious affairs are inconsistent with the true nature of the Church of Christ. Both Glas and Sandeman held that saving faith consists in ‘a bare belief of the bare truth,’ which belief they regarded as the fruit of divine grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. It was considered necessary to separate from the communion and worship of all societies which appeared not to profess the ‘simple truth,’ and it was even held unlawful to join in prayer with any one not a brother or sister in Christ. The Lord’s Supper was observed weekly, and ‘love feasts’ or dinners were held every Sunday at the members’ houses. There was a communistic tendency in that everyone was required to consider all that he had at the service of the poor and the Church, and forbidden to lay up treasures on earth for any future or uncertain use. The discipline was primitive and severe; the kiss of charity was given at their meetings and foot-washing of fellow disciples practiced. The sect, never very large, steadily declined in numbers after the beginning of the nineteenth century. It has been strongest in America at Danbury, Conn.

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NOTED SANDEMANIANS IN CANADA

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (University of Toronto Press)

Note: The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (University of Toronto Press) gives details of the lives of a couple noted Sandemanians in Canada. Relevant sections of their biographies are reproduced below.

(1)

Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. VII (1836-1850) pp.814-816

SMITH, Titus, farmer, surveyor, office holder, botanist, author and journalist. b. 4 Sept. 1768 in Granby, Mass., eldest child of the Reverend Titus Smith and Damaris Nish; m. 4 Jan. 1803 Sarah Wisdom in Halifax, and they had five sons and nine daughters; d. 4 Jan. 1850 in Dutch Village (Halofax).

Titus Smith’s father, a native of Massachusetts, was an itinerant minister, likely a Congregationalist, and an avid student of mathematics, theology, botany, chemistry, medicine, and languages......

In 1768 Titus’s father became a convert to the teachings of the Reverend Robert Sandeman and was later ordained in his sect. When the American revolution broke out, Smith and other Sandemanians discovered that the sect’s opposition to participation in violence or rebellion left its members vulnerable to the suspicion of rebels, who operated on the assumption that "he who is not for us is against us." The family took refuge on Long Island, N.Y., and in 1783 was evacuated to Halifax, where the Reverend Mr. Smith responded to a call to preside over a church group. The family also farmed at Preston, near Dartmouth, and in 1796 moved to Dutch Village, west of Halifax......

(2)

Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. VI (1821-1835) pp.128-130

CHAMBERLAIN, Theophilus, soldier, JP., surveyor, and office holder; b. 20 or 27 Oct. 1737 in Northfield, Mass., fourth son of Ephraim Chamberlain and Anne Merriman; m. 15 May 1768, apparently in Danbury, Conn., Editha White, and they had two children; m. secondly 24 Dec. 1781 Lamira Humphraville, and they had eight children; d. 20 July 1824 in Preston, N.S.

It was a Chamberlain characteristic to answer the call of duty. Ephraim, a blacksmith, was killed during the New England expedition against Louisberg, Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island), in 1745. An uncle adopted the seven-year-old Theophilus and saw that he received an education. In the Seven Years’ War the young man served with Burke’s Rangers. Ingenious, determined, and physically fit though Chamberlain undoubtedly was, no one could have done all the things during the next few years which are ascribed to him by two divergent sources.

The accounts agree that the rangers joined the British at Fort William Henry (also called Fort George; now Lake George, N.Y.), where Chamberlain shared in fighting, and reconnoitring. In one skirmish he was one of two survivors. After the fort fell to Montcalm in August 1757 the Indian allies of the French seized part of the British garrison. At the end of a march to the Indian encampment at Montreal several prisoners, headed by Chamberlain, escaped into the town. He and a friend were sheltered by one of Montcalm’s interpreters, a Northfield native. Dressed as women, the two were escorted to a nearby prison to prevent recapture, and then transferred to Quebec. From this point accounts differ, but it seems likely that Chamberlain and a second Northfield man were exchanged for French prisoners. After his arrival in Halifax, in October 1757 Chamberlain worked at an inn; by February 1758 he had saved enough for passage to Boston.

Joining his foster parents, who had moved to South Hadley, Mass., Chamberlain became foreman in his uncle’s tannery. Within a few years he entered Yale College, graduating BA IN 1765. After studying theology under the Reverend Eleazor Wheelock at Lebanon, Conn., he was ordained a Congregational minister on 29 April 1765, and with a fellow minister was immediately despatched to the settlements of the Six Nations in New York. By September 1767, however, he was teaching in a private Latin School in Boston. He also served briefly as minister of a Presbyterian congregation in Worcester, Mass.

By this time, Chamberlain had become interested in the teachings of Robert Sandeman. In 1768 he was re-ordained as a Sandemanian bishop, married, and moved to Danbury, where he set up a clothing business. Sandemanianism laid stress upon personal salvation, and the Danbury group had an especially sensitive religious conscience and strong convictions on civil duties. Overt persecution began about 1770, when Chamberlain and others found themselves before the courts for ignoring warnings to leave town. Within months of their appearance in court most of the group had moved to New Haven, Conn. There Chamberlain established a dry-goods store, which he soon abandoned, and in 1772 he returned to teaching. Ill will among the townspeople and the onset of the revolution again made the Sandemanians’ position difficult, since their faith required obedience to constituted authority. For their refusal to contribute to the war fund some, including Chamberlain, were imprisoned; they were then freed and allowed to go to British-controlled territory. Chamberlain and his family settled on a farm near Bedford Village, N.Y. In 1776 his infant son died, and in 1779 his wife. Two years later he remarried and by 1782 was teaching again, this time at a private school in New York City.....

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