The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

VI. Justice Dudley-Founds Harvard Lectures on Romanism

PAUL DUDLEY (1675-1751), Puritan jurist, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Both his father and grandfather had been governors of Massachusetts. Paul was graduated from Harvard with an M.A. in 1693 and then studied law at Middle Temple, London, being admitted to the bar in 1700. Returning to America, he was appointed attorney general of the province of Massachusetts and elected a member of the legislature. He introduced several judicial reforms. By 1718 he was promoted to the superior court bench, and was made chief justice of Massachusetts in 1745, which position he held until his death. In all these positions Dudley served with distinction. He was also an accomplished naturalist and a fellow of the Royal Society of London-a rarity in colonial America in those days. A pronounced Puritan in religious matters, he wrote several theological tracts. PFF3 173.1

In his will he left a bequest to Harvard College providing for certain annual lectures. ³¹ These were initiated largely be cause of certain profound conclusions he had reached on perils confronting America-perils which would come because of a failure to see the prophetic significance of the Papacy. Long before he inaugurated the Dudleian Lectures, he had written an anonymous pamphlet entitled An Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves & Souls of Men, Revel. XV 111.13. with an Application thereof to the Church of Rome (1731). ³² It is noteworthy that various authors and cataloguers in citing this title give only the first part of the full title-An Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves and Souls of Men-and omit the final portion which reveals its prophetic aspect; namely, Revel. XV 111.13. with an Application thereof to the Church of Rome. It is characteristic of a definite softening and tempering to remove the historical strictures against Rome. (Title page appears on page 174.) PFF3 173.2

Picture 1: JUSTICE DUDLEY INAUGURATES HARVARD LECTURES ON PROPHECY
Judge Paul Dudley’s Exposition of Revelation 18 (Upper Right); Portion of Will Found Lectureship on Prophecies of Antichrist for Harvard (Upper Left); Jonathan Mayhew’s Samuel Cooper’s Printed Lectures in the Field Specified, and Manuscript Copy of Samuel Math Sermon of 1769, Typical of Other Printed and Manuscript Sermons in the Series
page 175

In its earlier years forty per cent of Harvard’s entire enrollment entered the ministry. ³³ Many became important figures in church and state. The ministers of New England were supplied by her graduates. The college was controlled by a Congregational clergy of Calvinistic affiliations. The bequest, left to Harvard ³⁴ by Dudley in his will of January 1, 1750, was for a continuing lectureship. Its purpose, as later fully defined, was to provide for an annual discourse on various aspects of religion-the third in each four-year cycle, to deal with the doc trines and practices of the church of Rome. ³⁵ Its specific scope is stated in the Dudley will: PFF3 175.1

“The third Lecture to be, for the detecting, and convicting and ex posing the Idolatry of the Romish Church, their Tyranny, Usurpations, * damnable heresies, fatal Errors, abominable superstitions, and other crying wickednesses in their high places, and finally that the Church of Rome is that mystical Babylon, that Man of Sin, That Apostate Church spoken of in the New Testament.” ³⁶ PFF3 175.2

The Dudleian speakers formed a distinguished list, the full series being inaugurated by Harvard’s President Edward Holyoke in 1755. The lecturers, all able men, included Joseph Willard, a later president of Harvard, for the lecture in 1785. Thus the institution itself was tied vitally into the plan. The five special lectures between 1757 and 1773 on the “Errors of the Church of Rome” were as follows: PFF3 175.3

1. “Infallibility,” by Edward Wigglesworth (1757). PFF3 175.4

2. “The Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome,” by Thomas Foxcraft (1761). PFF3 176.1

3. “Popish Idolatry,” by Jonathan Mayhew (1765). PFF3 176.2

4. “Popery a Complexity of Falsehoods,” by Samuel Mather (1769). PFF3 176.3

5. “The Church of Rome the Man of Sin,” by Samuel Cooper (1773). PFF3 176.4

Personal scrutiny of the actual text of the Dudleian Lectures from 1755 onward discloses the following facts: There were some twenty-three individual speakers in this special graduated series on Romanism, between 1755 and 1853 inclusive. Five of the lectures were printed, while the rest remain on file in manuscript at Harvard. ³⁷ The earlier presentations frequently applied the symbols of prophecy to the Papacy. But a definite change in tone and treatment marks the transition of the years, the intent of the founder being increasingly forgotten. These earlier lectures carried great weight and exerted a molding influence. A frank Catholic appraisal of these lectures and their content is also available. ³⁸ PFF3 176.5

The sequel of the story is significant: The lectures continue up till 1857, when a break occurs. A memorandum for “1857-1887,” states, “The lectures were discontinued after 1857 in order that the fund might be increased.” ³⁹ Then appears an interesting entry for 1890-91, listing John J. Keene as lecturer on “Revealed Religion, delivered in Harvard University Chapel”-this being none other than the Roman Catholic bishop of the Catholic University of America, the “Rt. Rev. J. J. Keene.” ⁴⁰ Then in May, 1891, fifty-eight members of the Harvard faculty of arts and sciences, law, and divinity petitioned the University Corporation to suppress the third Dudleian lecture of the cycle, or to abolish the whole series if necessary. This, however, brought the following action: PFF3 176.6

“The Corporation cannot concur in this conclusion and is of opinion that the suppression of one of the four lectures provided for under this bequest would be a breach of trust which might amount to a renunciation of the whole trust.... PFF3 177.1

“The Corporation must decline therefore to take the steps proposed in the remonstrance either in whole or in part.” ⁴¹ PFF3 177.2

However, in 1910 the president and Fellows of: Harvard, with the concurrence of the trustees, decided that the third lecture should be omitted and the other three continued. ⁴² The entire series was brought to an end in 1928, the presentations of the last twenty-five years not being on the topic. PFF3 177.3

And now a few extracts, first from Dudley and then from but two special Dudleian lecturers in the years following, in the very chapel of Harvard College itself, will show its unique place and influence. PFF3 177.4

1. MAN OF SIN’S DESOLATIONS ENDED BY ADVENT

In the Introduction to his Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves & Souls of Men, Revelation 18:13. with an Application thereof to the Church of Rome, Dudley frankly avows it to be an indictment of the Man of Sin. Writing in 1731, twenty-four years before his notable lectureship was inaugurated, he surveys the ruin that came to the churches of Bohemia, Hungary, Piedmont, and France, and exclaims concerning the “Romish Church,” “Oh! thou Enemy! What Desolations hast thou wrought.” ⁴³ Then he declares that the “Man of Sin” will be “destroyed by the Brightness of His [Christ’s] coming,” observing further that before the “final Ruine of Antichrist,” there will be a short time of “Distress of Nations, and of Tribulation to the Church of God, as the Ages past never saw.” ⁴⁴ But Dudley insisted that the exact hour and order could not be determined “before the accomplishment.” ⁴⁵ PFF3 177.5

2. IDENTIFIED SO AS TO BE SHUNNED

In his opening sentence Dudley asserts it to be of “mighty Consequence” to discover Antichrist’s identity, so as to be able to separate from it. Then he proceeds to identify it as the scarlet-colored Mystical Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, sitting as a queen, drunken with blood, on seven-hilled Rome, reigning over the kings of the earth, ⁴⁶ her merchandise being the slaves and the “Bodies and bones of men”-the relics of canonized saints. This traffic is denominated dishonest, and the buyers “cheated & abused.” ⁴⁷ PFF3 177.6

3. STIRRED BY PROPOSED UNION WITH ROME

The occasion of Dudley’s concern was the fact that certain leading Protestants had proposed an unthinkable union with papists. Concerning this Dudley cites the dread warning of Revelation 14:9 against worshiping the Beast and receiving his mark. ⁴⁸ The then-present plight and trend was declared to exist because the preaching of the angelic messages of Revelation 14 had not resulted in the people’s coming out of Babylon. While Britain, Holland, parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia responded, France, Spain, Italy, and the greater part of Germany were still “perishing in Antichristian darkness.” ⁴⁹ PFF3 178.1

4. MATHER EXPOUNDS PAPAL LITTLE HORN (1769)

SAM UEL MATHER, ⁵⁰ Dudleian prophetical lecturer at Harvard chapel for 1769, chose as his topic, “Popery a Complexity of False hoods.” ⁵¹ This remarkable discourse was based on 2 Thessalonians 2, the key sentence being, “The prophecy had its accomplishment in the Bishops of Rome and their adherents.” ⁵² Mather located the apex of early usurpation under Boniface III, and the climax about 1300. The closing sentences exemplify his exposition of Daniel 7: PFF3 178.2

“After the Division of the Romish Empire, mentioned in the fore going lecture, the 10 horns then began to emerge, concerning which we read in Revelation 17:12; or such a number of kingdoms or nations, by means whereof the Power of the Empire was greatly broken and shattered.... PFF3 178.3

“Now amidst the Disturbances and Confusion in the Western Empire, are that Little Horn concerning which the prophet Daniel predicted and prophecys in Daniel 7:24, i.e. the Power of the Romish Bishops.” ⁵³ PFF3 179.1