|
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932.〔Farndale, W.E. ''The Secret of Mow Cop''. Epworth press, London. 1950.〕 The denomination emerged from a revival at Mow Cop in Staffordshire. 'Primitive' meant "simple" or "relating to an original stage"; the Primitive Methodists saw themselves as practising a purer form of Christianity, closer to the earliest Methodists. Primitive Methodists were characterised by the relatively plain design of their chapels and their low church worship, compared to the Wesleyan Methodist Church which they had split from. Gradually the differences between the Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyans became smaller, and the two denominations eventually merged (together with the United Methodists) to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain, in 1932. ==Origins== Primitive Methodism originated in "Camp Meetings" held in the area of The Potteries〔Information on the Potteries at Mow Cop's relationship to primitive Methodism can be found at http://www.thepotteries.org/chapel/009.htm〕 at Mow Cop, Staffordshire, on 31 May 1807.〔Farndale, op. cit. page 70〕 This led, in 1811, to the joining together of two groups, the 'Camp Meeting Methodists' and the 'Clowesites' led by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, respectively. The movement was spawned from the followers of these men. Bourne and Clowes were charismatic evangelists. Both had reputations for zeal and were sympathetic to ideas the Wesleyan Connexion condemned. Their belief that was most unacceptable to the Wesleyan Connexion was their support for so-called camp meetings. These were day-long, open air meetings involving public praying, preaching and Love Feasts. Clowes was a first-generation Methodist convert—at the age of 25 he renounced his desire to be the finest dancer in England. The movement was also influenced by the backgrounds of the two men: Clowes had worked as a potter while Bourne had been a wheelwright. Both of them had been expelled from the Wesleyan Connexion—Bourne in 1808, and Clowes in 1810. The reason given for Clowes' expulsion was that he had behaved "contrary to the Methodist discipline" and therefore "that he could not be either a preacher or leader unless he promised to attend no more Camp Meetings"〔Ritson, Joseph, ''The Romance of Primitive Methodism''. Edwin Dalton, Primitive Methodist Publishing House, London. 1909., page 86.〕 It seems likely that this was not the only concern regarding the pair. Bourne's association with the American evangelist Lorenzo Dow would have put him in a dim light with Wesleyan leaders. The Wesleyan leadership's hostility to Dow is demonstrated by a threat Dow received from prominent Wesleyan Thomas Coke (twice president of the Conference, in 1797 and 1805) on Dow's arrival in London around 1799. Coke threatened to "write to Lord Castlereagh to inform him who and what you are, () that we disown you,... then you'll be arrested and committed to prison". The Wesleyan Connexion was also concerned about Bourne and Clowes' association with the "Magic Methodists" or "Forest Methodists" led by James Crawfoot, the "old man of Delamere Forest". Crawfoot was significant to both Bourne and Clowes and was for a time their spiritual mentor. He held prayer meetings where people had visions and fell into trances. Crawfoot, according to Owen Davies, had developed a reputation for possessing supernatural powers. Indeed, Henry Wedgwood, writing later in the century, recalled that many locals at the time were terrified of the magical powers of an innkeeper called Zechariah Baddeley, but that they considered Baddeley's powers nothing next to Crawfoot's prayers and preaching. The enthusiasm associated with revivalism was seen as disreputable by the early 19th century establishment. In 1799, the Bishop of Lincoln claimed that the "ranter" element of Methodism was so dangerous that the government must ban itinerancy. Men like Bourne and Clowes were not educated, and their preaching and mass conversion was felt as threatening. The Wesleyan Methodists, such as Coke, wanted to distance themselves from such populism. The death of John Wesley removed a restraining influence on popular Methodism: there was no obvious leader or authority, and power was invested in the Wesleyan Conference. The Wesleyans formally split from the Church of England, which led them to greater organisation and self-definition, and the leadership could now withhold the tickets of members like Bourne and Clowes who did not behave in the way expected by the Conference. The result was less tolerance for internal dissent, and a weakening of the movement's leadership. The Camp Meeting Methodists looked back to the early days of the Methodist movement and considered that field preaching was acceptable.〔Edwards, John, Gentry, Peter & Thorne, Roger, ''A Methodist Guide to Bristol and the South-West''. Methodist Publishing House 1991. ISBN 0-946550-70-0. Page 9: "Here Kingswood Methodist missionary work began. On his first day in Bristol, Sunday April 1st 1739, Wesley went with George Whitefield to Hanham Mount and heard his friend preach to the miners. A week later he preached there himself ..."〕〔''John Wesley's Journal: Abridged Edition''. London 1903. Pages 65-66: "I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in church."〕 Despite their exclusion from the Connexion, Clowes and Bourne and the assistants who appeared to help them became involved in a task which ''The Romance of Primitive Methodism'' saw as a work of primary evangelisation.〔Ritson, op. cit. Page 99: "The pioneers of Primitive Methodism were to an extraordinary degree inspired with the passion of Divine love, and made ceaseless war upon the kingdom of darkness."〕 The same book also regards the Primitive Methodist denomination as an independent growth rather than as an offshoot of mainstream Methodism.〔Ritson, op. cit. page 89: "If it has been our glory, it was at the outset also our salvation, that we did not originate in a secession."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Primitive Methodism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|