Samuel Stennett

{{short description|English minister and hymnwriter (1727–1795)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} thumb|right|150px|Samuel Stennett '''Samuel Stennett''' (1 June 1727 – 24 August 1795) was an English Seventh Day Baptist minister and hymnwriter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sanford |first=Don A. |title=A Choosing People: The History of Seventh Day Baptists |publisher=Broadman Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-8054-6055-1 |location=Nashville, TN |pages=127–286}}</ref>

==Pastor and hymnwriter== He was born in Exeter, to a family of clergymen. His great-grandfather Edward was a dissenting pastor<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bibletruthpublishers.com/the-little-flock-hymn-book-its-history-and-hymn-writers/a-roach/lbd23757 |title= The Little Flock Hymn Book: Its History and Hymn Writers |author= |date= |website= Bible Truth Publishers |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> and his grandfather Joseph Stennett was a pastor and hymnwriter.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Crosby |first=Thomas |title=The History of the English Baptists, from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I, 4 vols |publisher=Church History Research and Archives |year=1978 |isbn=978-1140743910 |location=Lafayetter, TN |pages=322}}</ref><ref name=Upenn>{{cite web |url= https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Stennett%2C%20Joseph%2C%201663-1713 |title= Joseph Stennett |last= |first= |date= |website= University of Pennsylvania Online Books |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> His father Joseph was also a preacher.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/stennettfamily |title= Stennett Family |author= |date= |website= Duke University Libraries (Collection Guides) |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

At the age of 10 his family moved to London, where his father served as the minister of the Baptist church in Little Wild Street.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/samuel-stennett |title= Samuel Stennett: 1 June 1727 - 24 August 1795 |last= Hatfield |first= Edwin |date= |website= Hymnology Archive |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> Samuel succeeded his father as minister in 1758, a position which he held until his death. Samuel Stennett received a Doctorate of Divinity from King's College, Aberdeen in 1763.

Although friend and supporter to the reigning monarch, George III, Stennett refused political opportunities to devote himself to ministry. He attained prominence amongst the Dissenting ministry and used his influence with political figures on behalf of Dissenters prevented from fully participating in society, especially as teachers, under the Clarendon Code.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3160600|title=Some Essays on Toleration in Late Eighteenth Century England|author=Mullett, Charles F.|year=1938|journal=Church History|volume=7|issue=1|pages=24–44|accessdate=23 July 2020|doi=10.2307/3160600|jstor=3160600|s2cid=159822734 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Stennett authored some 39 hymns, five of which appeared in Rippon's Selection, which was published in 1787. His grandfather, Joseph Stennett, had also been a prominent Dissenting hymn writer.<ref name=WL>{{cite web |url= https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/hymns-jewels-from-samuel-stennett.html |title= Hymns - Jewels From Samuel Stennett |last= Cloud |first= David |date= 15 January 2025 |website= Way of Life Literature |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> Samuel continued this tradition, although with less passionate language than had marked his grandfather's Puritan-influenced notions of Christian experience. {{Baptist}} More than any other of Samuel Stennett's hymns, "On Jordan's Stormy Banks", which was published in Rippon's Selection under the title "Promised Land," found enormous popularity especially amongst 19th-century American Methodists. It was sung in camp meetings and brush arbors, and also found its way into the 1835 Southern Harmony and is part of the American shape note tradition. Several of Stennett's hymns are preserved in the Sacred Harp.

==Hymns by Stennett== * [http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/c/hcitplac.htm How Charming Is the Place] * [http://historichymnals.com/song.php?s=1384 Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned] *[http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/j/o/r/ojordsbi.htm On Jordan's Stormy Banks I stand] (also known as "I am Bound for the Promised Land") *[http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/p/r/o/prostrad.htm Prostrate, Dear Jesus, At Thy Feet]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/t/e/n/stennett_s.htm Biography] at the Cyber Hymnal * [http://www.hymnary.org/person/Stennett_S Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology: "Samuel Stennett" at Hymnary]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stennett, Samuel}} Category:1727 births Category:1795 deaths Category:Clergy from London Category:British Christian hymnwriters Category:English hymnwriters Category:18th-century English Baptist ministers Category:Seventh Day Baptists Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Category:Burials at Bunhill Fields