Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page i The Romance of Primitive Methodism BY JOSEPH RITSON (1852–1932) i Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page ii First published by Edward Dalton, Primitive Methodist Publishing House, 48–50 Aldersgate Street, London, E.C., 1909 Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page iii The 12th HARTLEY LECTURE. The Romance of Primitive Methodism BY JOSEPH RITSON (1852–1932) Quinta Press Weston Rhyn 2004 iii Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page iv Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page v PREFACE HE Centenary of Primitive Methodism naturally suggested that Tthe story of this Church should once more be told, not from the historical point of view so much as from that of romance. The most prosaic reader of the history must be impressed with its romantic elements, and these have been brought into special prominence by the various Centenary celebrations all over the country. For the facts embodied in this volume I have freely availed myself of what has been written, not only by those who have taken in hand to set forth in order the history of, the Church whose origin is inseparably associated with Mow Cop, but by the large number of writers who have happily been led during these Centenary years to gather up the facts respecting a given Circuit or District. Many of these local Souvenirs are of deep interest and of considerable historical value. But my first and warmest thanks are due to the Rev. HB Kendall, BA, whose Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church must ever remain the standard work on the subject. Again and again I have been impressed with the ability, the research, and fine historical instinct of the writer. Then for some of the facts in one or two chapters I am indebted to the Rev. Henry Woodcock’s Romance and Reality, a mine of interesting material respecting the early days of Primitive Methodism. Necessarily, the limitations of space precluded anything approaching an exhaustive history of Primitive Methodism, even from the single point of view here chosen; but for those who may not have access to Mr Kendall’s monumental work, or who desire a briefer presentation of the main facts, the present volume may be found helpful. Selection has been the great difficulty, and it would have been easier to write a much larger book. The writer counts it an honour to have been privileged to tell again, from so fascinating a standpoint, v Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page vi vi the romance of primitive methodism the story of the Church in which he was cradled, converted, and educated, and to which his ministry of thirty-five years has been devoted. If the volume should serve to awaken in the minds of the rising generation of Primitive Methodists a deeper sense of personal obligation to the heroic men and saintly women who freely gave their lives to the work of founding and upbuilding this Church, its main purpose will have been served: for this all too inadequate tribute to the makers of Primitive Methodism has been penned in the hope that it may kindle in the hearts of their descendants a deeper loyalty and a more passionate enthusiasm, so that the closing celebrations of the Centenary may be worthy of a splendid past, and lead on to a grander future. THE AUTHOR The Editorial Office, 45 Ferme Park Road, London, N. Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page vii CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. Of Its Genesis 3 2. Of the Making of Its Moses 19 3. Of the Moulding of Its Mighty Evangelist 33 4. Of Its Camp Meetings 55 5. Of Its Exodus 75 6. Of Its Pioneers 99 7. Of Its Women Preachers 133 8. Of Its Persecutions 161 9. Of Its Local Preachers 175 10. Of Its Pursuit of Learning 191 11. Of Its Circuit Life 205 12. Of Its Chapels 219 13. Of Its Orators 233 14. Of Its Distinguished Families 243 15. Of Its Early Hymns and Tunes 263 16. Of Its National Service 275 17. Of Its Modern Progress 289 Index 308 vii Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page viii viii Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page 1 TO THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND ROBERT HIND. 1 Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page 2 Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page 3 THE ROMANCE OF PRIMITIVE METHODISM CHAPTER 1 OF ITS GENESIS T is not with fiction, but with fact, that this volume proposes to Ideal, and this will at once determine the sense in which the word romance is used in the title. Into the story of the Primitive Methodist Church, which is still celebrating its Centenary, there enters to an unusual degree the element of the wonderful and even the mysterious. From the early days the men and women who had been associated with it were filled with astonishment as they contemplated the humility of its origin, the lowliness of its agents, and the marvellous manner in which it had grown. Such sayings as: ‘What hath God wrought!’ ‘It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes,’ were constantly on their lips. Many of the elements of romance which arrest our attention were not visible to the makers of Primitive Methodism. But the same is true of all great movements. The actors 3 Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page 4 4 the romance of primitive methodism therein saw chiefly the stern realities with which they were called to deal. The lighter side, the beauty and the wonder, were scarcely perceived, if at all, till long afterwards, and often only by those 4 who were able to study the whole from a position of comparative detachment. History records the hard facts associated with the origin and growth of the Primitive Methodist Church. In dealing with the romance of the story, the facts will still have to be considered; but they will form the background of the picture, and emphasis will be laid upon those elements which, whether viewed ‘through memory’s sunset air’, or in the light of all that goes before and after, inspire us with wonder and surprise. If in some sense there is attempted here an imaginative reconstruction of the facts of a remarkable story, it is done strictly within the limits of historic accuracy, and without having recourse to anything of the nature of fiction. This is done in the hope that many may be induced to read it who would be repelled by a merely historical presentation of the facts. But there is another sense in which the word romance may be fitly employed to describe the story that is to be told in these pages. In his Modernism and Romance, Mr RA Scott-James defines the term as conveniently designating the feeling which comes to us ‘when suddenly a thought, an action, the gleam of a moment makes us leap to our feet as at a vision, as at the promise of some instant fulfilment of life.’ Is not this in its highest sense 5 The light that never was, on sea or land, The consecration, and the poet’s dream? The multitudes of men and women who made Primitive Methodism may not have been poets, and yet they had this gleam, this vision splendid. if the valiant knight of old was moved by a sublime vision, and went forth under its inspiration on distant crusades and into strange lands, the men and women who figure in these pages were also inspired by a glorious vision that stirred their blood—the vision of a regenerated world, a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. They knew nothing of the weapons carnal, these weak women and toil-worn men, but never did knight- errant go forth on his sacred quest with a loftier vision, a nobler courage, or a sterner resolve. Romance.qxp:Romance.qxd 5 12 2008 02:10 Page 5 of its genesis 5 The Church needs such stories as this today. For the moment she is oppressed by the thought of the terrible problems of the new time. She has allowed the bitterness of her enemies to daunt her, and is obsessed by the new revelations which the modern press furnishes of the difficulty and complexity of the work requiring to be done. She must have a new vision or the people will perish. There must come to her a fresh realisation of the true sources of her strength, and of the splendid possibilities that lie before her in this twentieth century. And the story of how Primitive Methodism, without wealth, or learning, or social prestige, transformed rural England and set in motion a thousand regenerative forces throughout the land, may well serve to nerve her with the hope, the courage 6 and the all-conquering enthusiasm which should characterise the ‘Knights of the Spirit.’ Then there is a romance of beginnings. We never consider anything that has grown to greatness without being reminded of its beginning, and the contrast is always suggestive of romance. The close of the nineteenth century, and the jubilee of English railways, furnish familiar illustrations of this. And does not the fascination of English history consist, to a very considerable degree, in tracing back our empire, our political constitution, and our social and religious conditions to the misty past where they had their origin? In endeavouring to reconstruct imaginatively, in this Centenary time, the England and its life of one hundred years ago, an atmosphere of romance gathers round us at once.