Nathanael Emmons, sometimes spelled Nathaniel Emmons, (April 20, 1745 – September 23, 1840) was an American
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
minister and influential theologian of the
New Divinity school. He was born at
East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census.
History
Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the Ni ...
.
Emmons graduated at
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
in 1767, studied
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
under the Rev. John Smalley (1734–1820) at
Berlin, Connecticut
Berlin ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,175 at the 2020 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of Connecticut is located in the town. Berlin is residential and industrial, a ...
, and was licensed to preach in 1769. After preaching four years in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
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* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
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* '' ...
and
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, he became, in April 1773, pastor of the Second church at
Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
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* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
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(until 1778 a part of
Wrentham, Massachusetts
Wrentham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,178 at the 2020 census.
History
In 1660, five men from Dedham were sent to explore the lakes near George Indian's wigwam and to report back to the ...
), of which he remained in charge until May 1827, when failing health compelled his relinquishment of active ministerial cares. He lived, however, for many years thereafter, dying of old age at Franklin on the 23rd of September 1840.
It was as a theologian that Emmons was best known, and for half a century probably no clergyman in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
exerted so wide an influence. He developed an original system of divinity, somewhat on the structural plan of that of
Samuel Hopkins, and, in Emmons's own belief, contained in and evolved from Hopkinsianism. While by no means abandoning the tenets of the old
Calvinistic faith, he came to be looked upon as the chief representative of what was then known as the
New Divinity.
His system declared that holiness and sin are free voluntary exercises; that men act freely under the divine agency; that the slightest transgression deserves eternal punishment; that it is through God's mere grace that the penitent believer is pardoned and justified; that, in spite of total depravity, sinners ought to repent; and that regeneration is active, not passive, with the believer. Emmonsism was spread and perpetuated by more than a hundred clergymen, whom he personally trained. Politically, he was an ardent patriot during the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, and a strong Federalist afterwards, several of his political discourses attracting wide attention.
He was a founder and the first president of the Massachusetts Missionary Society, and was influential in the establishment of
Andover Theological Seminary
Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...
. More than two hundred of his sermons and addresses were published during his lifetime. His ''Works'' were published in 6 vols (Boston, 1842; new edition, 1861).
See also the ''Memoir'', by
Dr EA Park (Andover, 1861).
Early life and education
Born in
East Haddam, Connecticut
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census.
History
Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the Ni ...
, Emmons was the sixth son, and twelfth and youngest child, of Samuel and Ruth (Cone) Emmons.
[William Buell Sprague, ''Annals of the American Pulpit: Trinitarian Congregational'' (1857), pp. 693–696.] Both his parents were professors of religion, and he was the subject of an early Christian training.
Early in his life, his father intended to give Nathaniel a liberal education, and to allow him to enter some one of the professions; but on witnessing his volatile, trifling spirit, he changed-his mind, and determined to sober his views by making him a farmer.
[David Sherman, ''Sketches of New England Divines'' (1860), pp. 361–370.] Emmons, however, never cared for labor, and intended in some way to escape it if possible.
Being indisposed to agricultural pursuits, to which his childhood and early youth were devoted, and having an ardent thirst for knowledge, he gained his father's consent to commence a course of classical study.
He studied vigorously, and after ten months he was admitted to
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in September, 1763.
He graduated in 1767, in the same class as
John Treadwell
John Treadwell (November 23, 1745 – August 18, 1823) was an American politician and the 21st Governor of Connecticut.
Biography
Treadwell was born in Farmington, Connecticut the only son of Ephraim and Mary (Porter) Treadwell, on November 23 ...
,
John Trumbull
John Trumbull (June 6, 1756November 10, 1843) was an American artist of the early independence period, notable for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Rev ...
, and several other of the noted New England natives. Emmons lost his father about three months before his graduated, inheriting only a bequest for defraying the expenses of his education.
Emmons devoted a few months to the business of teaching, and then went to reside with the Rev. Nathan Strong of
Coventry, Connecticut
Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public.
Coventry was in ...
, as a theological student.
However, after a short time, he placed himself under the instruction of the Rev.
John Smalley, of Berlin, who had then the reputation of being one of the ablest Divines in New England.
Of his early religious history Emmons stated that "by reading the life of a pious youth, I was sensibly struck with a conviction of my great guilt and the awful thought of dying unprepared",
noting that "
en one of my sisters died of consumption, my fears about myself were again alarmed, and I had some lively apprehensions of the state of the damned, especially of the lake that burned with fire and brimstone".
Emmons further described the feelings that led him to pursue a career in the ministry:
Ministry
Emmons was licensed to preach by the South Association of Hartford County, in October, 1769. The examination which he underwent, on that occasion, was, on several points, unsatisfactory to a part of the Association,—particularly on the doctrines of depravity, regeneration, human and Divine agency.
Several of the older clergymen voted against his licensure, and one of them, the Rev. Mr. Eells of Middletown, went so far as to throw in a written remonstrance.
Emmons may have originally been somewhat inclined to
Arminian
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
views.
Under the teachings of the Rev. Strong, he embraced
Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
, as embodied in the writings of theologians like
Thomas Ridgeley and
Samuel Willard
Samuel Willard (January 31, 1640 – September 12, 1707) was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by ...
.
Subsequently, under Dr. Smalley, he become, in the then popular acceptation of the word, a new-school man.
The points which were specially agitated at his examination, came up for discussion, at several subsequent meetings of the Association, and the result was the formation of a "conciliatory creed" upon the points in question, in which the different parties agreed to unite.
Having preached in various places for nearly four years, he accepted a call from the church in Franklin, then the Second church in Wrentham, Massachusetts, to become their pastor, formally begin his pastorship there on April 21, 1773.
Emmons was a zealous
Whig during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
.
He spoke publicly and without hesitation in favor of independence, which caused some hostility in his congregation, which was considerably divided on the issue.
He also went through some financial distress during the war, due to the irregular and partial payment of his salary.
Both his prosperity and his popularity rebounded after the conclusion of the war.
Emmons considered himself an intellectual theologian, rather than an orator, and sought to influence his parishioners with reasoned arguments rather than stirring speeches.
However, he was noted to have "a kind of haughty confidence in his own creed ... as though all his tenets were the accredited verities of heaven", which "caused him to think disparagingly of all other creeds".
A Universalist once replied to a sermon of his, and published the sermon and reply in the same pamphlet. A friend asked Emmons what he thought of it. "It is against the law," said Emmons, "for Moses says, 'Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.'"
In 1798 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College.
''The New England magazine'' wrote of him:
Throughout his life, Emmons abstained almost entirely from alcohol, seldom drank tea or coffee, and ate simply and in moderate quantities.
He studied from twelve to seventeen hours a day, seldom leaving his study for anything but meals, rest, and his parochial duties.
He was described as "a man of strong convictions and an indomitable will, which gave to his character an aspect of sternness, of chilly dignity".
Personal life
In 1775, Emmons married Deliverance, daughter of Moses French, of Braintree, Massachusetts, who was said to have been "a pattern of prudence, condescension, benevolence, and faithfulness".
However, she quickly fell into a decline, and died in June 1778.
Within two months from her death, his two little sons, the only surviving members of his family, suddenly sickened and died in one day, and were buried in the same grave.
His recorded reflections on the occasion show that, while his heart was deeply smitten, it was full of humble trust in the Divine wisdom and goodness.
Within about a year and four months from the death of his first wife, Emmons married Martha, daughter of the Rev.
Chester Williams
Chester Mornay Williams (8 August 1970 – 6 September 2019) was a South African rugby union player. He played as a winger for the South Africa national rugby union team (Springboks) from 1993 to 2000, most notably for the team that won the 19 ...
of
Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,325 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around the Hampshire and Mountain Farms Ma ...
. He found her to be a companion not only distinguished for her excellent intellectual and moral qualities, but of such exemplary domestic habits as to relieve him, in a great measure, from the ordinary cares of his family.
By this marriage he had six children, two sons and four daughters.
In 1813, Emmons' second daughter died, followed within a few years by another son and daughter.
Emmons' second wife, Martha, died in August 1829, when Emmons was 85.
In 1831, Emmons married for the third time, to the widow of the late Rev. Edmund Mills of Sutton, Massachusetts. His health and spirits seemed to revive, so that he was enabled to endure the fatigue of several journeys of considerable length.
Later life and death
In May 1827, Emmons fainted at the pulpit, in the midst of his discourse, and had to be carried home.
He was able, however, on the next Sabbath, to finish his discourse.
It was listened to with uncommon interest, in part because the impression was very general in the congregation that it would prove to be, as it actually did, his last public service.
On the next Sabbath he sent a letter resigning his pastoral charge, and requesting that the congregation make immediate provision for the supply of the pulpit.
His resignation was accepted with some objections, but Emmons continued ministering in private.
After he retired from the active duties of his office, he spent a large part of his time in reading.
In the summer and autumn of 1840, his strength began perceptibly to decline, he died at about three o'clock on Wednesday morning, September 23, 1840.
His funeral was held the following Monday, and a sermon was preached by the Rev. Thomas Williams, from Ecclesiastes XII, 9; which was published.
See also
*
Seraph Frissell
*
Herman Daggett
References
External links
*Entry "Emmons, Nathanael" in ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emmons, Nathanael
Yale College alumni
1745 births
1840 deaths
American theologians
People from East Haddam, Connecticut
People of Connecticut in the American Revolution
American Congregationalist ministers