Horse Sense - Bathsheba Kingsley

D. 1748

Sometimes it’s hard to know what the real story is. If you have kids, you know how playground scuffles can get twisted in the retelling. In the modern era, the Internet gives us a huge playground in which facts give way to feelings.

We encounter a similar issue in a strange story from Massachusetts in 1741. Bathsheba Kingsley felt she had a revelation from God and needed to tell people. Taking her husband’s horse, she rode from town to town, preaching wherever she could. This is not as unusual as it might seem. The previous year, preacher George Whitefield had come through the area, addressing crowds in open, outdoor venues. Kingsley might indeed have drawn a crowd by riding furiously into the town square and speaking loudly about God. There is also some indication that she went door-to-door, telling people they weren’t getting the whole truth from their local pastors.

Kingsley’s behavior was, of course, shocking. But why? That’s where we enter the playground of history. Was it because she was critical of other preachers? Was it because she spoke in the open, and not in church buildings? Was it because she spoke of a personal experience of God’s revelation? Was it because she “stole” her husband’s horse? Or was it because she was a woman doing the “man’s work” of preaching?

Church leaders—including the respected theologian Jonathan Edwards—counseled her and corrected her. While she was not excommunicated, Kingsley did face congregational discipline. She was asked to stay home, keeping her private revelations private.

Some modern observers see this discipline as a travesty. How dare they silence this courageous woman! But is that the whole story? Certainly the culture of 1741 Massachusetts had little concern for “women’s rights,” but it seems that those church leaders had an even larger issue to consider—the expression of truth. Should the church allow just anyone to get up and preach whatever they feel God has told them? Doesn’t the Bible itself prescribe some checks and balances on the sharing of a new revelation? Perhaps Jonathan Edwards and company did Mrs. Kingsley a favor by reining her in, encouraging her to sort through her God thoughts with family and Christian friends before broadcasting them.

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God.

1 John 4:1