Part 9 (1/2)
In 1884 the Primitive Methodists of Canada formed themselves into an independent community, although with expressions of mutual good will on both sides; their numbers at that time were 8223, with 99 travelling and 246 local ministers, and 237 chapels.
From the middle of the 19th century to its close was a period of great expansion, a return in 1888 reporting the existence in Great Britain of 4,406 chapels, there having been in 1843 only 1278. In 1864 Elmfield College was opened at York, as a middle cla.s.s school, one of their best; John Petty being first Warden; in 1876 a college was opened at Birmingham, named after the great founder, ”Bourne College.” At Sunderland a Theological College was opened in 1868, the former Infirmary building being bought; and here, from that date till 1881, Dr. William Antliff, a.s.sisted, and afterwards, succeeded by Mr. T. Greenfield, trained candidates for the ministry. The college was afterwards transferred to a new building at Alexandra Park, Manchester.
In 1889, at the 70th Annual Conference, held in Bradford, the members.h.i.+p of the society numbered 194,347, with 1,038 itinerant and 16,229 local preachers; 430,641 Sunday School scholars, 4,436 chapels and 1,465 smaller places of wors.h.i.+p; the value of the connexion's property being estimated at over 3,218,320.
For these details I am largely indebted to the notes of the late Mr.
William Pacy, of the Wong, Horncastle, and to the courtesy of the Rev. R.
B. Hanley, Minister 19035.
THE INDEPENDENTS.
Next in size to the Wesleyan Chapel and its Sunday Schools, on the west side of Queen Street, are the Chapel and Sunday Schools of the Independent, or Congregational, community, which stand nearly opposite, on the east side of the same street; the former being a handsome substantial building of brick, enclosed by a high wall, and tall iron rails and gate, to the precincts in front, at the north end. Its dimensions are 50-ft. by 36-ft., with schools behind, of the same solid structure, as will be seen hereafter, erected at a later date.
Like the Baptists this society dates from the time of the Commonwealth, or even earlier, though at first known by a different name. They arose, indeed, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The persecutions of Protestants, under Queen Mary, drove many to take refuge in Germany and in Geneva, where they became familiar with the wors.h.i.+p of the sects established there, which, as an unchecked reaction from the superst.i.tious and elaborate ceremonies of Roman Catholicism, took a more extreme form than the carefully developed Reformation of the English Church allowed.
These persons, returning to England in the reign of Elizabeth, found, as it seemed to them, too much Romish doctrine and practice still retained; the Reformation, according to their ideas, had not gone far enough.
The Queen, as head of the English Church, was not disposed to listen to their demands for further change, and they were themselves too much divided to have the power to enforce them; dissension and disruption were the consequence. A chief mover in this process of disintegration was one, Robert Brown, who founded a sect called the ”Brownists.” He was the son of a Mr. Anthony Brown, of Tolethorpe near Stamford, in Rutlands.h.i.+re, whose father, a man of good position, had obtained the singular privilege (granted only to others of n.o.ble birth) by a Charter of Henry VIII., of wearing his cap in the presence of Royalty. Robert Brown was educated at Cambridge, graduating from Corpus Christi College, and became a Schoolmaster in Southwark. About 1580 he began to put forward opinions condemnatory of the established church. He held, as opposed to the uniformity of wors.h.i.+p by law established, that each minister, with his congregation, were ”a law unto themselves;” that each such small community had a right to be independent of all others; that it was not ordination which gave a minister authority to preach, but the fact that he was the nominee of a congregation; that councils or synods might be useful in giving advice, but that they could not enforce their decisions, and had no punitory power of censure, or excommunication, against any who chose to adopt an independent course.
Such opinions, put forward in somewhat intemperate language, aroused much opposition and bitter feeling, which Brown was too impetuous to avoid, or to mitigate. He continued his teaching and presently formed a congregation at Norwich, holding his views.
An Act of Parliament had been recently pa.s.sed (23 Eliz., c. 2) which made anyone guilty of felony who should write, or set forth, seditious matter; and the Queen, as supreme head of the Church, regarded Brown's action as an interference with the Royal prerogative. Severe measures were adopted in order to restrain this new teaching. Two preachers, Elias Thacker and John Copping, who embraced and proclaimed these tenet, were tried at the Bury a.s.sizes in 1583, condemned, and shortly afterwards hanged. Brown was himself thrown into prison, but released through the intercession of Lord Burghley, with whom he was connected.
He now left England, and, with a number of followers settled, by permission of the state, at Middlebourg, in Zealand, where they formed a congregation. There, however, freed from all restraint, their principles of independence carried them so far that differences arose among themselves, which broke up the community. Brown presently returned to England, and for a time conformed to the Church, which he had so freely abused, being allowed even to hold the Benefice of Thorpe Achurch, in Northamptons.h.i.+re. But again and again his independence a.s.serted itself, and it is said that he incurred imprisonment no less than 32 times, finally ending his days in Northampton jail. While at Middlebourg he had published, in 1582, a book ent.i.tled _A Treatise of Reformation_, of which he sent many copies to England, and it was for distributing these, and other of his pamphlets, that the two above-named offenders were executed.
{78} (Collier's _Ecclesiastical History_.)
The movement which Brown originated did not die with himself, and in 1593 a congregation of Brownists was formed in London, which numbered some 20,000 members. A few years later their obnoxious tenets again provoked persecution, and once more they had to take refuge on the continent.
Churches were established by them at Amsterdam and elsewhere, the princ.i.p.al one being at Leyden, under the Rev. John Robinson, who afterwards came to be regarded as the founder of Independency. He was a man of considerable attainments; of more genuine piety than the impetuous Brown; and while equally with him, holding that each congregation was in itself a perfect and independent church, under Christ, he would avoid all bitter invective against other communities, who, with different regulations, might still be regarded equally as churches.
Although the Brownists had no regularly ordained ministry; as newly const.i.tuted under Robinson, there were a number of ministers elected by the congregations, and no one was allowed to teach publicly until, after due examination, he had been p.r.o.nounced qualified for the work. The Independents differ chiefly from other religious societies, in that they reject all creeds of fallible man, their test of orthodoxy being a declaration that they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and adhere to the scriptures as the sole standard of faith and practice.
In 1616 a number of the society again returned to England under the leaders.h.i.+p of Henry Jacobs, who had served under Robinson, and once more established a meeting house in London; while others, in charge of a Mr.
Brewster, who had been a lay Elder, also under Robinson, went out, in 1620, to North America, in the good s.h.i.+p Mayflower, and another vessel, and founded a colony at Ma.s.sachusetts.
Although, as has been already stated, under the influence of Robinson sectarian bitterness was much modified, yet throughout the reigns of James I. and Charles I., the Independents were in frequent conflict with the Presbyterians; nor was there only sectarian strife, for both parties had numerous supporters in Parliament, as well as partizans in the army.
Preaching Generals and praying Captains abounded; but Cromwell favoured the Independents, as against Presbyterians, and this gradually paved the way for toleration.
[Picture: Interior Congregational Chapel]
At the ”Savoy Conference” in London (so called because held at the palace of that name), in 1658, the Independents published an epitome of their faith, and henceforth, with occasional interruptions, they held on their way; although it was not till 1831 that the ”Congregational Union of England and Wales” was finally and fully const.i.tuted. They again published, in 1833, a more definite ”Declaration of Faith, Order, and Discipline,” which continues still to be the charter of the community.
We have seen that in the early annals of this society the name of John Robinson stood high in general estimation, but his was by no means the only honoured name. Among early members of mark was Dr. John Owen, of Queen's College, Oxford, a learned writer, and Chancellor of the University in 1652; he became Chaplain to Protector Cromwell, as an Independent. The Rev. Isaac Watts, who had been tutor to the sons of Sir John Hartop, became the popular minister of a Congregational Chapel, in Mark Lane, London, in 1693. Dr. Philip Doddridge was also a valued member, as Minister at Norwich, Northampton, Kibworth near Market Harborough, and other places. From his candour and learning he held friendly relations with the highest dignitaries of the established church; he is chiefly known for his two great works, _The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul_, and his _Family Expositor_. To the regret of many he died of consumption, at a comparatively early age, in 1751, at Lisbon, whither he had been ordered by his doctors for the milder climate. The friend and biographer of the last-named, Mr. John Orton, was another esteemed member, who published several valuable works, he died in 1783.
Another was Robert Hall, who ministered at Cambridge, Leicester and Bristol, where he died in 1831. He was a great writer and very eloquent preacher. Professedly he was a Baptist, but he frequently occupied Independent platforms, and admitted that he had more feeling of fellows.h.i.+p with an Independent than with a strict Baptist. {80a} None of these, however, was more highly esteemed than Dr. Isaac Taylor, of Norwich and Colchester, author of several instructive works, and commonly called ”the glory of the Independents.” He died in 1829.
By the year 1851 this community had grown to such dimensions that it had, in England and Wales, 3,244 chapels, with a members.h.i.+p of 1,002,307.
{80b}
The connection of the Congregationalists with Horncastle is of comparatively recent date, and the evidence on this subject is somewhat conflicting. Weir, in his _History of Horncastle_, published in 1820, does not name them, in his list of Nonconformists, as existing here at that time, but Saunders' _History_, published in 1836, gives them with the others. Hence they would appear to have established themselves in the town somewhere between those two dates; yet there exists a curious small publication, ent.i.tled ”The Confession of Faith of the Society of his Majesty's Protestant subjects (dissenting from the Church of England) called Independents, in Horncastle, in the County of Lincoln, and places adjacent, Framed in the year of Christ, 1781, by W. R. Lincoln, printed by S. Simmons.” {80c}
The inference from these facts would seem to be, that, at that date, 1781, there was an Independent congregation in the town, probably small, consisting of ”W.R.” and his personal adherents; as the wording of the confession is said {80d} to be very remarkable, and indeed unique, ”W.R.”