A Crown and a Cross: the Origins, Development and Decline of Volume I
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Andrew Frank Goodhead A Crown and a Cross: The Origins, Development and Decline of the Methodist Class Meeting in 18th Century England Volume I This thesis is my own work and has not been submitted previously in support of any qualification or course. April 2007 A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sheffield at Cliff College. With thanks to the Rev John Munsey Turner, the Rev Dr Henry Rack, and the Rev Dr Martyn Atkins for their support, patience and encouragement. ii Abstract This thesis concerns the origins, development and decline of the Class Meeting. Section one contains an overview of religious and societal change from the sixteenth century onwards. The heritage of John and Charles Wesley is studied within this milieu, and the inheritance which John Wesley drew from that examined. The consideration of the Unitary Societies and Fetter Lane is both chronological and analytical, charting the methods adopted to accommodate a desire for association, and reviewing the distinctive purposes of each societal model. The study of English religious association has not been previously brought together in the manner of this thesis, and is vital to a full understanding of the following sections. The material collated for section two, the Class Meeting as the crown of Methodism is original, and draws on testimony, diary and journal records. Wesley's class was a successful conflation of disparate doctrines, and modelled growth in grace and holiness, which promoted a vital affective journey. An analysis of the primary aims of the class, which gave the Methodist people their distinct characteristics, is followed by a study of the social identity and group processes that occurred when prospective members considered joining the Methodists. Section three considers the Class Meeting's decline prior to Wesley's death in 1791. Using the work of Weber (routinisation), Durkheim (totemism) and Troeltsch (primary/secondary religion) as themes, the section evaluates reasons why the class became a cross. Journal, diary and testimonial material supports the Methodists' declining interest in the class which led to its irrelevance to a people seeking respectability. This thesis adds to the body of knowledge in relation to the Class Meeting by investigating the origins, rise and decline of the class in Wesley's lifetime, particularly through the use of social sciences to examine reasons for success and decline of the class. (299 words) iii Table of Contents Paqe No Volume I Acknowledgments i Abstract ii Table Contents of iii - viii Introduction 1-17 Section One 18-179 Introductory Comments 18 Chapter 1 Religion and Society at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century 19-50 Context 19-20 Continental Pietism 20-29 English Puritanism & Piety 29-40 Social Developments 40-49 Chapter Summary 49-50 Chapter 2 The Heritage of John and Charles Wesley 51-104 Context 51-52 The Family Home Life 52-57 From the Family Home to Oxford 58-70 iv Missionary to Georgia 70-80 The Journey to Faith 80-83 The Conversion of the Wesleys 83-89 John Wesley's Conversion Reviewed 89-92 The Wesleyan Inheritance 92-103 Chapter Summary 103-104 Chapter 3 Religious Societies in England from 1678 105-134 Context 105 The Savoy Society and the Poplar Regulations 105-113 The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge 113-115 The Epworth Society 115-117 John Wesley and the Religious Societies 117-121 Anglican Responses to Methodism 121-127 The Distinctives of the Unitary Societies 127-132 The Turn to Seriousness and Holiness 127-128 Reformation of Manners 128-129 Young Membership 129 Rules of Entry 129-130 OrdainedlLay Leadership 130-132 James Hutton and the Unitary Societies 133 Chapter Summary 134 Chapter 4 The Fetter Lane Society 135-179 Context 135 The Foundation of Fetter Lane 135-137 The Fetter Lane Society Rules 137-140 Fetter Lane and the Oxford Methodists Compared 140-142 Wesley the Anglican and Fetter Lane 142-144 Disagreement at Fetter Lane 144-152 Separation 152-157 The Distinctives of Fetter Lane 158-178 Communal Pattem 158-160 How Many Bands can Be Identified? 160-162 Faith Development 162-166 Female Membership 166-168 Oversight and Leadership 168-172 Lay Leadership 172-174 Discipline 174-177 Communal Living 177-178 Chapter Summary 178-179 Section 2 180-234 Introductory Comments 180-181 Chapter 5 The Classes of Methodism 182-234 Context 182-183 Emerging Wesleyan Regulation 183-190 Methodist Rules and Walker's Rules Compared 191-192 Methodist Rules and Fetter Lane's Rules Compared 192-195 Methodist Rules and Perfection 195-199 The Class Meeting and Band Meeting Compared 199-200 The Formation of the Class Meeting 200-207 vi The Class Meeting: The Crown of Methodism 207-222 Fellowship 208-212 Conversion and Discipleship 212-217 Financial Accountability 217-218 Discipline 218-222 The Class Meeting Reviewed 222-225 The Class Meeting: Social Identity and Group Processes 225-232 Chapter Summary 232-234 Volume H Section 3 235-353 Introductory Comments 235-245 Chapter 6 Routinisation 246-272 Chapte Totemism 273-295 Chapter 8 The One Generational Meeting 296-334 Chapter 9 Conclusion 335-353 Abbreviations 354 vii Bibliography 355-376 Primary Sources 355-364 Manuscript 355-359 Printed 359-364 Secondary Sources 364-376 Unpublished Dissertations & Theses 364 Printed Journals 364-367 Printed Articles 367-370 Miscellaneous 370 Printed Material 370-376 Appendices 377-419 Appendix 1 The Rules of Anthony Horneck's Savoy Society 377-378 Appendix 2 The Poplar Regulations 379-383 Appendix 3 Samuel Wesley's Rules for the Epworth Society 384-386 Appendix 4 The Rules of the Rev Samuel Walker's Truro Society 387-391 viii Appendix 5 Articles of the Religious Societys at Truro 392-394 Appendix 6 The Rules of the Fetter Lane Society (A) 395-398 Appendix 7 The Rules of the Fetter Lane Society (B) 399-402 Appendix 8 The Rules of the Fetter Lane Society (C) 403-404 Appendix 9 Religious Societies from John Wesley's Diary 405-408 Appendix 10 The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the Wesleyan Societies In London, Bristol, Kingswood and Newcastle-upon-Tyne 409-413 Appendix 11 The Rules of the Band Societies 414-415 Appendix 12 Directions Given to the Band Societies 416-417 Appendix 13 Of the Right Method of Meeting Classes and Bands in the Methodist Societies 418-419 I Introduction This thesis is concerned with the class meeting. In 1742, Captain Foy, a member of the Bristol Methodist Society suggested that grouping members together into classes and appointing a leader over them to collect one penny per week would assist defraying the debt on the recently built Meeting House in the Horsefair. The class quickly developed from a method of collecting money house to house, into an opportunity for the class leader to enquire about the spiritual condition of the society members in his or her class, and thereafter into a weekly meeting for mutually accountable conversation, support and fellowship. The class meeting is considered by many, including exponents of Cell Church theories' the high point of Wesley's organisation. Some argue today that the class would revitalise the Church if it could be 'rediscovered' and used within churches as a point of entry. It has been romanticised and credited with the force to convert millions. D. Michael Henderson makes this bold assertion when he writes: Wesley left nothing to chance. He made sure that those who were serious about leading a new life were channelled into small groups for growth in discipleship. These little meetings were later called "classes" and formed the backbone of the Methodist reformation for the next century. The "class meeting" turned out to be the primary means of bringing millions of England's most desperate people into the liberating discipline of Christian faith.2 This rather sweeping statement requires contextualisation and evidence will be adduced to show that the 'millions of England's most desperate people' suggested by Henderson simply did not exist in the eighteenth, nor indeed the nineteenth century. David Lowes Watson quite properly evinces the reality, 1 For a definition of Cell Church see, S. Croft, J. Leach, & T. Bradley, 'A Future for Housegroups' in Grove Pastoral Series 66 (ed. P. Simmonds; Cambridge: Grove Books Ltd. 1996) p. 5. 2 D. M. Henderson,John Wesley'sClass Meeting A Modelfor Making Disciples (Nappanee:Evangel Publishing House. 1997) p. 28. 2 Methodist to have membership seems ... comprised artisans or tradespeople, persons who were in possession of at least a rudimentary education and who, whilst living in the midst of social unrest, were usually not among those hardest hit by the changes.3 Even pre-Wesleyan Societies reached the semi-skilled and skilled trades, rather than the illiterate lowest classes. Portus, in Caritas Anglicana notes that membership of the early Unitary (Anglican) Societies was generally confined to skilled manual trades: occupations such as 'Buttonseller, Milliner, Tailor, Salesman, Perfumer, Goldsmith, Confectioner, PerukemakerP4 Amongst the . founders of the Fetter Lane Band was a bookseller, a brazier, a barber, a poulterer, a clog maker, a wine-cooper, a barber, a retired Attorney.5 In his 1932 MA dissertation, W.A. Goss evidenced the earliest Bristol Methodists were primarily artisan; John Deschamps was a stuff maker, John Alldin and James Kelson cordwainers, John Tripp was a gunsmith.6 There was one gentleman, John Dyer,7 and one freeholder, Thomas Gough.8 Clive Field has shown in his comprehensive article, The Social Composition of English Methodism to 1830: A Membership Analysis,9 the social, marital and gender make up of Methodism in its earliest years using extant membership 3 D. L. Watson, The Early Methodist Class Meeting (Nashville: Discipleship Resources.1985) p.