Apparently Mike Huckabee has the impression that “most signers” the Declaration of Independence were “clergymen.” I immediately thought, even though I don’t quite know, “No, more like three.” 1776 was during the height of the Age of Reason, after all.
I said aloud that this seemed wrong to me, & my cousin said, “Well, it depends on how you define ‘clergymen.’” Well, yeah, I said but “clergyman” doesn’t mean that you go to church once in a while. “No,” he said; he meant, how many were elders & that kind of thing?
OK, fair enough. This is well before the Presbyterian Church (USA) or the Restoration Movement, so I’m guessing the kind of lay “elders” I grew up did not commonly exist with that name at the time. And don’t the churches of the Apostolic Succession treat elders as part of the ordained hierarchy?
But deacons did exist, & other church offices with which I’m not familiar. There were vestrymen, which are like the “elders” I know; I’m told George Washington was one, even if he only attended church infrequently from some reports, & was not actually clergy.
So, Presbyterian non-teaching elders, deacons, vestrymen, whatever else? How many non-clerical church officers among signers of the Declaration of Independence?