Judith Sargent Murray: Forming a New Era in Female History - 2
Judith Sargent Murray :
Forming a New Era in Female History
A Unitarian Universalist sermon by Bonnie Hurd Smith
Part 2
Even after Judith married her first husband when she was 18, her new residence was not far from the influence and comfort of the Sargent family home. And all of a sudden, a new influence entered her consciousness and forever changed her life.
Somewhere around 1770, when Judith was nineteen years old, her father read James Relly 's book in which the Welsh itinerant preacher reinterpreted Calvinism’s explanations of sin, redemption, and grace. According to Relly’s Universalist logic, put very, very simply, if all had sinned in Adam, then all were saved in Christ.*
God was loving, not angry, and promised salvation to His faithful, Universal family. There is much more to say about Rellyan Universalism, of course, but suffice it to say that Relly’s new theology made sense to Judith's father, and it made sense to Judith. Winthrop Sargent invited family and friends to meet in his Gloucester home to discuss Universal salvation, and Judith was an eager participant.
By the time the Universalist preacher, John Murray, arrived in Gloucester in 1774, at Winthrop Sargent’s invitation, the Universalists welcomed him heartily. After four years of traveling in the colonies as an itinerant preacher, John chose to make Gloucester his home.
The Gloucester Universalists met in private homes to continue exploring Universalist theology with their new pastor, and in 1778 they were suspended from First Parish Church for not attending. Judith was among those cited in the public document. Several months later, in 1779, the Universalists published their Articles of Association, creating their own organization: the Independent Church of Christ. Judith’s name appears in the document. In 1780, the Universalists built and dedicated their own meetinghouse, officially calling John Murray as their pastor. In 1782, First Parish seized articles of value owned by some of the Universalists, including Judith’s father and uncle, in lieu of the taxes they refused to pay to the church — which was still the law.
We need to understand, that in these days, to go against the church and the local government meant facing social isolation, physical threats, and loss of business income. But the Gloucester Universalists did this, and Judith, as a woman in her late twenties, was among them — taking action at a time when women did not have political or legal standing.
The Committee of Safety that governed Gloucester took the Universalists to court to challenge their refusal to pay taxes, but the Universalists won their case — and the first ruling in this country for freedom of religion — not only for themselves, but for others.
Well, not only were women not supposed to be involved in church or state matters — as Judith clearly was — but people in the 18th century truly believed that women were not in ANY way the equals of men. Our minds were simply inferior.
Not so, according to Judith. As a Universalist, she knew that in God's eyes, women and men are every bit equal, or as she put it, “whatever is essential to the ethereal spark which animates these transient tenements, will exist when the distinction of male and female, shall be forever absorbed.” To the core of her being, Judith believed in equality.**
She went so far as to challenge the ages old myth about the Fall of Eve — scriptural proof, supposedly, that women are inferior. She wrote, "that Eve was the weaker vessel, I boldly take upon me to deny. Nay, it should seem that she was abundantly the stronger vessel since all the deep laid Art, of the most subtle fiend that inhabited the infernal regions, was requisite to draw her from his allegiance, while Adam was overcome by the softer passions, merely by his attachment to a female."***
Women were not supposed to have a public voice in the eighteenth century either. Not only were we inferior and, therefore, didn't have anything intelligent or important to say, but our place was behind the scenes in a supportive, deferential role. Stay in our place and keep quiet.
That didn't sit well with Judith. These were defining days in America. There were passionate and thoughtful national conversations in newspapers, magazines, and parlors about what kind of country we could create and what we should expect of our citizens.
The men who were having these conversations were not going to make the world a better place for women. Abigail Adams knew that, which is what prompted her to ask John Adams to “remember the ladies” while he and his colleagues drafted our country’s defining legal documents.
Judith not only had firm ideas about improving the status of women in America, she also had the ability to write well enough to be published.
Why shouldn't she speak up? Who else would? Didn't she have a responsibility to stand up for women who could not? For her daughter, her nieces, and for future generations? And, of course that’s exactly what she did.
To be continued...
*James Relly, Union: or A Treatise of the Consanguinity and Affinity between Christ and His Church. London, published anonymously, 1759.
**Judith Sargent Stevens (later, Murray), Some Deductions from the System Promulgated in the Page of Divine Revelation: Ranged in the Order and Form of a Catechism Intended as an Assistant to the Christian Parent or Teacher. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Norwich, Connecticut: published privately, 1782.
***Judith Sargent Stevens to Catherine Goldthwaite, 6 June 1777.
Forming a New Era in Female History
A Unitarian Universalist sermon by Bonnie Hurd Smith
Part 2
Even after Judith married her first husband when she was 18, her new residence was not far from the influence and comfort of the Sargent family home. And all of a sudden, a new influence entered her consciousness and forever changed her life.
Somewhere around 1770, when Judith was nineteen years old, her father read James Relly 's book in which the Welsh itinerant preacher reinterpreted Calvinism’s explanations of sin, redemption, and grace. According to Relly’s Universalist logic, put very, very simply, if all had sinned in Adam, then all were saved in Christ.*
God was loving, not angry, and promised salvation to His faithful, Universal family. There is much more to say about Rellyan Universalism, of course, but suffice it to say that Relly’s new theology made sense to Judith's father, and it made sense to Judith. Winthrop Sargent invited family and friends to meet in his Gloucester home to discuss Universal salvation, and Judith was an eager participant.
By the time the Universalist preacher, John Murray, arrived in Gloucester in 1774, at Winthrop Sargent’s invitation, the Universalists welcomed him heartily. After four years of traveling in the colonies as an itinerant preacher, John chose to make Gloucester his home.
The Gloucester Universalists met in private homes to continue exploring Universalist theology with their new pastor, and in 1778 they were suspended from First Parish Church for not attending. Judith was among those cited in the public document. Several months later, in 1779, the Universalists published their Articles of Association, creating their own organization: the Independent Church of Christ. Judith’s name appears in the document. In 1780, the Universalists built and dedicated their own meetinghouse, officially calling John Murray as their pastor. In 1782, First Parish seized articles of value owned by some of the Universalists, including Judith’s father and uncle, in lieu of the taxes they refused to pay to the church — which was still the law.
We need to understand, that in these days, to go against the church and the local government meant facing social isolation, physical threats, and loss of business income. But the Gloucester Universalists did this, and Judith, as a woman in her late twenties, was among them — taking action at a time when women did not have political or legal standing.
The Committee of Safety that governed Gloucester took the Universalists to court to challenge their refusal to pay taxes, but the Universalists won their case — and the first ruling in this country for freedom of religion — not only for themselves, but for others.
Well, not only were women not supposed to be involved in church or state matters — as Judith clearly was — but people in the 18th century truly believed that women were not in ANY way the equals of men. Our minds were simply inferior.
Not so, according to Judith. As a Universalist, she knew that in God's eyes, women and men are every bit equal, or as she put it, “whatever is essential to the ethereal spark which animates these transient tenements, will exist when the distinction of male and female, shall be forever absorbed.” To the core of her being, Judith believed in equality.**
She went so far as to challenge the ages old myth about the Fall of Eve — scriptural proof, supposedly, that women are inferior. She wrote, "that Eve was the weaker vessel, I boldly take upon me to deny. Nay, it should seem that she was abundantly the stronger vessel since all the deep laid Art, of the most subtle fiend that inhabited the infernal regions, was requisite to draw her from his allegiance, while Adam was overcome by the softer passions, merely by his attachment to a female."***
Women were not supposed to have a public voice in the eighteenth century either. Not only were we inferior and, therefore, didn't have anything intelligent or important to say, but our place was behind the scenes in a supportive, deferential role. Stay in our place and keep quiet.
That didn't sit well with Judith. These were defining days in America. There were passionate and thoughtful national conversations in newspapers, magazines, and parlors about what kind of country we could create and what we should expect of our citizens.
The men who were having these conversations were not going to make the world a better place for women. Abigail Adams knew that, which is what prompted her to ask John Adams to “remember the ladies” while he and his colleagues drafted our country’s defining legal documents.
Judith not only had firm ideas about improving the status of women in America, she also had the ability to write well enough to be published.
Why shouldn't she speak up? Who else would? Didn't she have a responsibility to stand up for women who could not? For her daughter, her nieces, and for future generations? And, of course that’s exactly what she did.
To be continued...
*James Relly, Union: or A Treatise of the Consanguinity and Affinity between Christ and His Church. London, published anonymously, 1759.
**Judith Sargent Stevens (later, Murray), Some Deductions from the System Promulgated in the Page of Divine Revelation: Ranged in the Order and Form of a Catechism Intended as an Assistant to the Christian Parent or Teacher. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Norwich, Connecticut: published privately, 1782.
***Judith Sargent Stevens to Catherine Goldthwaite, 6 June 1777.
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