On September 12, 1805, Andrew Fuller (1754–1815) wrote to William Ward (1769–1823) describing an encounter he had during a summer visit to Scotland earlier that year.
Dr. Charles Stuart (1746–1826), a companion of Fuller’s on such trips, accompanied Fuller through Scotland that summer. Stuart set up a meeting for their company with an old friend of his. Gathering for breakfast at an inn in Cupar, Fuller witnessed firsthand a theological system becoming prevalent in Scotland at the time: Sandemanianism. This meeting, arranged by Stuart, happened partly because, according to Fuller, Stuart himself identified with aspects of Sandemanianism.[1] Fuller wrote of his new acquaintance, unnamed in Fuller’s letter: “I perceived he was a violent Sandemanian.”[2]
Sandemanianism, named after Robert Sandeman (1718–1771), was birthed from a movement begun by Sandeman’s father-in-law, John Glas (1695–1773). Glas began a restorationist movement among Scottish Presbyterians, wherein he had become convinced of regenerate church membership. This led to his removal from serving as a Presbyterian and his becoming an Independent minister.[3]
Under Glas and later Sandeman, the movement practiced communalism among its members, held strictly to all biblical commands and practices, rejected all things which were not biblical commands, appointed a plurality of elders in every church, and held to an intellectualist view of faith.[4] The movement impacted many throughout Scotland, including the Scotch Baptists.[5]
Yet, it also made landfall in other places such as the United States and Ireland.
In Fuller’s letter to Ward, he referenced John Walker (1769–1833) as an example of the Sandemanian influence he was seeing in Scotland. The year before Fuller’s Scotland trip, Walker had departed from the Church of Ireland and fully embraced Sandemanianism.[6] When Fuller met Walker in 1804 in Ireland, he described him thus in his diary: “I found him, like most of the sect, calm, acute, versed in the Scripture, but void of feeling.”[7] Walker avoided praying in public and would have refused to pray with his family if any were unbelievers. Instead, he only prayed with a small group, or society, whom he knew were all believers.[8]
Sandemanians distinguished between moral institutions (like mercy ministry) and Christian institutions (prayer, praise, etc.). They were exclusive when it came to Christian practices.[9] Fuller stated his own approach,
When in a mixed assembly I express what I conceive to be the desires of Xns, & personate them. I also pray for the others. And as many as can find in their heart to unite with me, let them. If I were at the head of a family where all but myself were unbelievers, I w[oul]d pray with them, but it should be [sic] impersonally, making no use I mean of such terms as we pray thee, or I pray thee: but do, & give, & forgive &c.[10]
Fuller acknowledged this challenge, which was in part shared by those partial to Sandemanian views. One would not want to give an unbeliever the wrong impression about the nature of that person’s standing before the Lord. Nevertheless, for Fuller, excluding nonbelievers in the family from prayer was, in one sense, detrimental to Christian family life. He stated, “The consequence is all family worship is given up among the Sandemanians, or thereabouts.”[11]
Fuller’s approach to praying before unbelievers is in keeping with the Lord Jesus’s own practice, as in the raising of Lazarus (see John 11:41-42) or with Paul on his way to Rome giving thanks among those on the ship with him (see Acts 27:45).
Fuller elsewhere wrote, “Truth is the model and standard of true religion in the mind.—That doctrines, whether true or false, if really believed, become principles of action—that they are a mould into which the mind is cast, and from which it receives its impression—is evident both from Scripture and experience.”[12] This was true for both the Sandemanians and for Fuller, whose theological perspectives directly shaped their spiritual practices.
[1] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805. This was Fuller’s estimation of Stuart, that he was “still half a Sandemanian.”
[2] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805.
[3] Nathan A. Finn, “Overview of Sandemanianism,” in CWAFD, 9:1–3.
[4] Nathan A. Finn, “Overview of Sandemanianism,” in CWAFD, 9:4–5.
[5] Nathan A. Finn, “Overview of Sandemanianism,” in CWAFD, 9:3.
[6] Crawford Gribben, The Revival of Particular Baptist Life in Ireland, 1780–1840, ed. Michael A.G. Haykin (Louisville, KY: The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, 2018), 16.
[7] Andrew Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Vol. 1, Memoirs, Sermons, Etc, ed. Joseph Belcher (1845; Reprint, Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 83.
[8] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805.
[9] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805.
[10] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805.
[11] Andrew Fuller to William Ward, Sept 12, 1805.
[12] Andrew Fuller, “An Essay on Truth,” in The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Vol. 3, Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (1845; repr., Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 528.