Scholars of eighteenth-century American religion have long been familiar with the accomplishments of important Baptists like Isaac Backus, John Leland and Richard Furman. In this beautifully written and thoroughly researched monograph, Eric Smith makes a convincing case for Oliver Hart (1723–95) to be added to this list. In fact, Smith argues that, by 1780, Oliver Hart was ‘the South's most revered Baptist’ (p. 1). However, this volume is more than a biography. It also tells the story of how American Baptists grew from 800 members in 1700 to 67,000 adherents by 1790. As it turned out, Oliver Hart played a major role in making this rapid growth happen.
Although it is organised into thirteen chapters, this book can be seen as having three major sections. The first section, which includes the first three chapters, discusses Hart's early life, his conversion and the beginnings of his ministry. Oliver Hart grew up in south-eastern Pennsylvania, a region remarkable for its ethnic and religious diversity. As one settler stated: ‘this land is an asylum house for all expelled sects, a refuge for all delinquents of Europe, a confused Babel, a receptacle for all unclean spirits, a shelter of devils, a first world, a Sodom’ (p. 28). Within this confused ethno-religious environment, two events gave structure to Hart's early life. In 1739 George Whitfield began an extended revivalistic campaign and a year later, the evangelist spoke at the Pennepek Baptist Church. It is not known if Oliver Hart was among the 2,000 people who attended, but it seems quite possible that this was the case. Less than two years later, Hart experienced saving grace, was immersed in Pennepek Creek and before long, became a preacher himself. He soon was in contact with the Philadelphia Baptist Association, a confederation of churches that worked together to promote Baptist doctrine, establish norms for congregational governance, vet ministers and promote ministerial education. This association provided an organisational model for Hart when he headed south to begin the most important phase in his ministerial career.
Chapters iv–x discuss Hart's tenure at the Charleston Baptist Church in South Carolina. As it turned out, Hart fitted smoothly into Charleston society. One of his main concerns was his social status as he ‘walked the line between evangelical fervor and cultural respectability with considerable skill’ (p. 95). He was aware that Anglicans, Congregationalists and Presbyterians looked down on the Baptists as presenting a lesser, and perhaps uncouth, version of Christianity. As a result, Hart preached from the pulpit wearing a black robe similar to those worn by upper-class clergymen. Although he lacked the theatrical talent of George Whitefield, his sermons were sincere, straightforward and effective. He was a Particular Baptist who, unlike the Separate Baptists, eschewed extreme emotionalism and physical exuberance in revival meetings. He was personally welcoming and promoted interdenominational cooperation even as he held fast to Baptist doctrine. His diary reveals that he was exceptionally introspective and sought divine guidance in his daily activities. Not surprisingly, under Hart's leadership the Charleston church's membership grew. Like the vast majority of White southern Baptists, he chose to ‘sanctify’ slavery by urging slaveholders to be just and merciful to those under their control, instead of making the risky move of questioning the institution itself. By accepting slavery as part of ‘the natural order’, Hart enhanced Baptist popularity among Whites even as he helped support justifications for slavery that would haunt the South for generations to come.
Oliver Hart, however, had larger goals than just promoting the Baptist faith in the immediate Charleston area. His dreams could not be fulfilled by serving a single congregation, and he went on missionary journeys to the western frontier. Using the Philadelphia Association as his guide, Hart formed the Charleston Association of Particular Baptists in 1751. This group sought to place effective ministers in every church and served as a confederation of congregations that adhered to the Charleston Confession and the association's Summary of church discipline. By the 1770s, member churches shared an annual circular letter and were corresponding with other Baptist associations spread across the colonies. Hart was a major promoter of Rhode Island College (now Brown University), which he saw as ‘advancing two of his lifelong passions: the education of Baptist ministers and the union of American Baptists into an effective, national denomination’ (p. 187). Thanks to Hart and his colleagues, ‘on the eve of the Revolution, the diverse Baptist groups along the eastern seaboard were closer than ever to coming together’ (p. 122).
Oliver Hart found the era of the American Revolution to be both harrowing and exhilarating. He, like the vast majority of White low-country South Carolina Baptists, strongly supported the Patriot cause. Although he was too old to take up arms, Hart was a member of a three-member team that sought to convince backcountry farmers to join the fight against the British. The common theme was that Americans needed to win their freedom from the British and, at the same time, restrictions on Baptist worship should be eliminated. In short, the three men conducted revival meetings for both political and religious freedom. The biblical phrase, ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed’, served both religious and secular purposes.
Some may find Smith's emphasis on religious freedom as the primary motivation for South Carolina's Baptist Patriots to be overstated. In geographic areas where Baptists faced the most serious discrimination, they often divided into Loyalist and Patriot camps. By contrast, the South Carolina low country, where anti-Baptist measures were relatively mild, was a hotbed of Baptist Patriot activity. I suggest that the issue of slavery better explains White Carolinian opposition to the British. Smith only grants one paragraph to the role of slavery in the revolution, but it is telling. On page 243, we learn that Charleston's residents feared a slave uprising where the Black majority would join forces with the British and overturn the social order. Ever since the deadly 1739 rebellion at the nearby Stono River Bridge, Charleston's White residents knew they were sitting on a racial powder-keg that under the right circumstances could explode. But why did they fear the British might be the ones to light the match? In the 1770s, some British leaders revealed a growing anti-slavery disposition. In 1772, Lord Mansfield's ruling in the Somerset case effectively ended slavery in Great Britain. Three years later, Lord Dunmore's proclamation stated that slaves who fought for the British against Virginia's rebels would win their freedom. If such actions suggested growing ambivalence about slavery, perhaps many White South Carolina Baptists believed that an alliance between Charleston's slaves and British officials was a genuine possibility. If so, perhaps White Carolina Baptists’ revolutionary instincts were motivated more by a desire to protect slavery in a colony with a Black majority than a wish to gain greater religious liberty. Whatever, their motivations, after the state's Regular Baptists and Separate Baptists served together in American Revolution, they finally overlooked their differences and joined as equal members of the Charleston Baptist Association. Oliver Hart's goal of uniting all South Carolina Baptists into one organisation had finally become a reality. The last three chapters of the book bring Oliver Hart's story to a conclusion. In 1780, the minister left Charleston to accept a call as pastor of the Hopewell Baptist Church in New Jersey. Here he was frustrated by the congregation's lack of spiritual fervour. He was also beset with the physical ailments that come with old age. Furthermore, he probably realised that his personal influence was fading, that younger men were now assuming the roles that he had once occupied. Nevertheless, there was one major change that Hart had to address. In 1789, Hart's beloved Philadelphia Association endorsed abolition. Contemporary testimony suggests that Hart had joined the anti-slavery cause. But how complete was his conversion? Smith notes, ‘Even after embracing abolition, Hart retained slaves to the end of his life, though he made arrangements for their liberation by the age of twenty-five’ (p. 297).
In sum, Eric Smith has given us a portrait of an important eighteenth-century Baptist who helped promote his denomination's rapid expansion in the American South. Like many important leaders, Oliver Hart had amazing strengths and significant weaknesses. Eric Smith's account of Hart's career is central to understanding the Baptist cause in early America and is highly recommended.
