METHODISM AND By the same Author THE LOVE-FEAST CHARLES WESLEY AS REVEALED BY Hts LETTERS THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM THE METHODIST PII,ORIM IN ENGLAND TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS: A PLAY By Tim STORY OF CLEETHOI{PES AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF METHODISM FRANK BAKER A CHARGE TO KEEP : AN INTRODUCTION TO THE P&OPL& CALLED METHODISTS B.A., B.D., Ph.D. i i THE EPWORTH PRESS LONDON 'I.Ji',;,;, '}( ; ; ,. i THE EPWORTH PRESS (FRANK H, CUMlllilRS) PREFACE 25-35 City Road, London, lil.C.l NEW YORK TORONTO THE attention of Church leaders of various denominations has i, MlilLBOURNlll OAI'lll TOWN ;;, been focused on the Agape or Love-feast as a possible medium 1 , 11 for a for1n of intercommunion freed from the difficulties associated with the Lord's Supper, At the same time there is !i!,, among Methodists a renewed interest in one of the charac­ terestic features of Methodis111 which is almost extinct, This interest appears to be not only antiquarian but religious--a genuine desire to understand the spiritual genius of early 11 Methodism in order that it may be recaptured in whatever Ali rtghta r&'ferved M adr, wn Groot BritMn forms prove appropriate for modern conditions. PubUshcd in 1957 I It is surprising both how little is known about the old Methodist love-feast, and how difficult it is to increase that meagre store. The standard work on the whole subject is by i: I a Methodist, the Rev, R, Lee Cole's Love-Feasts. A History of the Christian Agape (1916). Even here, however, only a I very small section is devoted to the Methodist adoption and adaptation of the agape, In Methodist Origins, by the Rev. Francis H. Tees of Philadelphia (1948), a chapter is divided I between the love-feast and the watch-night service. The ,I best brief survey, however, is that by Dr Leslie F. Church in More About the Early Methodist People (1949), pp, 237-42, The present book endeavours to present an authoritative but readable historical survey of the development and decline of I the Methodist love-feast, and to relate it to the patterns and I possibilities of modern worship. !1 ,, I am indebted to Dr Church for helpful suggestions, and 11 to the Rev. Wesley F. Swift for his unfailing kindness in candid criticism and the careful reading of manuscript and proofs. FRANK BAKER HULL, 1956 i: i 'j;,i I I !.: r '-~·'. I ,,,,, I ii CONTENTS , , I '::i..:• .. i I 1 11 l: 'I': ·I:· I I 1 THE LOVE~FEAST COMES 'I'O ENOLAND 9 1,, . ';II !i · 1 I I 2 HYMNS FOR THS LOVE.. FEAST 17 :',,:; ~ i' 3 TESTIMONY MEETING - 25 " I 4 DECENTLY AND IN ORDER 32 5 TIMES AND PLACES 41 48 I 6 THE LOVE~FEAST IN THE DAUGHTER C~URQHES . I 7 SURVIVAL AND REVIVAL 56 I 8 THE LOVE~FEAST AND CRRlSTIAN JtEUNION 63 APPENDIX. HOW TO CONDUCT A LOVE--FEAST - 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 INDEX 82 :I I ' 2 ! IJ·J i 1,·:t1 ;, i ;,1, f­ f;t I ONE • I I ''I The Love,Feast Comes to England , I :, I T WILL be remembered that in Apostolic times Christians ,, I I periodically observed a common meal known as the Agape, 1 ,,Ii I from the Greek word meaning 'love' -by which was im­ ',,I plied 'brotherly love', though the meaning later degenerated i'-.: i to mere 'benevolence', or 'charity' in the modern sense. That i this fellowship meal was in some way associated with the Lord's Supper is certain, but historians are not agreed on the exact relationship. Gradually the Agape became a charity7 supper, which during the third century fell into decay and I disrepute. St Chrysostom, who died in A.D. 407, spoke of itJ wistfully as 'a custom most beautiful and most beneficial; for I it was a supporter of love, a solace of poverty, and a discipline of humility'. The Agape did not entirely die, however. Some relics of it are to be found in sections of the Eastern Orthodox Church and among the Christians of St Thomas in South India. In England the only faint survival for many centuries was in the Maundy Thursday d.istributions to the poor. The same. was -, true of Europe generally until in 1727 the little colony of Moravians gathered by Count Zinzendorf at Herrnhut spon­ taneously reintroduced it as a common meal for social inter.. _) course and religious rejoicing. Speedily they realized that this was in fact a revival of an apostolic usage, and they took care to prevent abuses such as had eventually degraded the Agape in sub-apostolic times. Moravian missionaries and emigrants took the custom to America, and it was here on Monday, 8th August 1737-only ten years after its reintro­ duction--that John Wesley met with it in Savannah, recording in his Journal: 1. Pronounced a•ga-pay. 9 Aftel' evening prayers, we joined with the Germans in one of their This love-feast was attended by seven ordained clergymen, all love~feasts. It was begun and ended with thanksgiving and prayer, and of them Oxford Methodists. It struck the note of intense celebrated in so decent and solemn a manner as a Christian of the apostolic age would have allowed to be worthy of Christ. religious fellowship which was to sound for the remainder of the century, and which continued to find its fullest ex­ As the above quotation shows, Wesley's interest was quickened pression in the love.feast, though inevitably the spiritual not only by the pastoral possibilities of such a gathering, but temperature did not remain at quite this high level. by the fact that it was a revival of 'primitive Christianity', The Jove-feast quickly became a normal feature of the \ always a vital subject for him, but more especially at this Evangelical Revival in England, first of the Anglican Reli- \ period of his own spiritual pilgrimage. gious Societies such as that meeting in Fetter Lane, and Wesley's return from America, and his 'evangelical con .. thence of the Methodist and Moravian Societies. A month version', by no means diminished his interest, but heightened later, on Sunday the 4th February 1739, there was another _it. The spiritual awakening of 24th May 1738 was speedily love-feast at Fetter Lane, lasting from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m., followed by a lengthy visit-13th June to 16th September-to Like that on 1st January, this seems to have been for men ) the Moravian settlements in Germany, where he had further ~' On 18th February a women's love-feast was held during/ ( first-hand experience of the love-feast. On his return to more respectable hours, aided by a cup of tea-not quite so London he resumed his place in the Fetter Lane Religious inevitable then as now. A careful comparison of John Society, which he had helped to found on 1st May 1738, and Wesley's diary and Chades Wesley's Journal shows that this it is surely significant that among the many additional rules fortnightly alternation of men's and women's love-feasts cona adopted by the Society on 26th September was the following: tinued at Fetter Lane, though there were occasions when neither of the Wesleys could be present, and James Hutton I' 'That on Sunday Se'en-night following ,(the monthly day of ii general intercession] be a general Love-feast, from seven till took charge. The same process was commenced at Bristol,\, ten in the Evening.' · where the w~el)_Jield their first love-feast on 15th April, \ ' 'I ,- According to this ruling there should have been love-feasts while what=was presumably the first for the men, in the ; ! on 1st October, 5th November, 3rd December, and 31st Baldwin Street Society room, lasted from 8.30 until 10 p.m. / ,,I '~_pecember of that year. Wesley's diary makes no mention of on 29th April. Some linking up of the men's and women's I them on the first two dates, however, and on the third he love-feasts possibly arose quite early on, for both the separa• was in Oxford. The gathering for 31st December 1738 was tion of the sexes and their periodical united gatherings were; postponed to the following evening, a Monday, and was a characteristic of Moravian love-feast practice. In any easel most memorable occasion, when the 'seven till ten in the men and women would be seated (again in Moravian fashion)°' evening' rule was far exceeded. Wesley thus described it in at opposite sides of the building. his .Tournal: Strangely and sadly enough, the love-feast soon becarne a focal point of dissension. On 13th April 1740, what would Mr Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother normally have fallen to be a women's love-feast at Fetter Charles were present at our love-feast in Fetter Lane, with about sixty Lane was a joint or 'general' one, about which Charles Wesley of our brethren. About three in the morning; as we were continuing instant in-prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch wrote: that many cried out for exc'eeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement My soul was exceedingly sorrowful at the love.feast, to find so little at the presence of His majesty we broke out with one VQice: 'We love, and so much dispute. I spoke as healingly as I could.