Charles Spurgeon once prayed that God would give more “men fit to mark eras” (MTP 20:751). In restless colonial America, perhaps no man marked the era among Baptists more than the Rev. Dr. Samuel Stillman, pastor of First Baptist Boston from 1765–1807. He was widely recognized as the most famous preacher in Boston, having the largest church in the city. John Adams, John Hancock, and Henry Knox were among his listeners. He was a man of new beginnings, helping to found the Warren Association, Brown University, the Federal Constitution of the United States, one of the first Baptist missionary societies in the world, the Boston Female Asylum, and more. One writer, tongue-in-cheek, called him the “Baptist Bishop of New England” since he seemed to act as a kind of gatekeeper for Baptists in New England. There was rarely a minister’s ordination or funeral where he was not preaching. And yet, in posterity he has faded from the prominence he once held. What happened?
My paper will survey the remarkable life and ministry of Dr. Stillman and situate him in the context of 18th century New England Baptists. By doing so, I will argue for his importance for rightly understanding Baptists in colonial America. I will also speak to how missing documents have led to his decline in popularity, and speak of my recent efforts to find his lost journals.