[Magdalen] Was: Prayers ANSWERED: Now, Chant.

[Sibyl Smirl]

On 2/21/16 11:32 AM, Sibyl Smirl wrote:
> On 2/21/16 9:27 AM, Roger Stokes wrote:
>> .... Charles Wesley certainly assumed members
>> of his new churches would sing when he wrote all those hymns for them.
>
> The "Wesleyans" were not making "new churches", they were making
> something like "Sunday Schools" or a "Pious Educational Foundation" to
> educate the (adults as well as children) in Christianity.  Of course,
> they included devotional practices, but the people were expected to get
> their Eucharist and worship from C of E, which was doing little or
> nothing to teach its parishioners theory (theology) and Church History,
> and teaching them to _study_ the Bible.  Singing is a major way of
> getting things grooved inside your head.

A little bit of backup: the general article (before it gets down to 
biographical specifics) from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley

John Wesley
 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Wesley (/ˈwɛsli, ˈwɛzli/;[1] 28 June [O.S. 17 June] 1703 – 2 March 
1791) was an Anglican minister and theologian who, with his brother 
Charles and fellow cleric George Whitefield, is credited with the 
foundation of the evangelical movement known as Methodism. His work and 
writings also played a leading role in the development of the Holiness 
movement and Pentecostalism.[2][3]

Educated at Charterhouse School and Oxford University, Wesley was 
elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1726 and ordained a 
priest two years later. Returning to Oxford in 1729 after serving as 
curate at his father's parish, he led the Holy Club, a society formed 
for the purpose of study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life; it 
had been founded by his brother Charles, and counted George Whitefield 
among its members. After an unsuccessful ministry of two years at 
Savannah in the Georgia Colony, Wesley returned to London and joined a 
religious society led by Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738 he 
experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when 
he felt his "heart strangely warmed". He subsequently departed from the 
Moravians, beginning his own ministry.

A key step in the development of Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, 
to travel and preach outdoors. In contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism, 
Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that dominated the Church of 
England at the time. Moving across Great Britain, North America and 
Ireland, he helped form and organise small Christian groups that 
developed intensive and personal accountability, discipleship and 
religious instruction. Most importantly, he appointed itinerant, 
unordained evangelists to travel and preach as he did and to care for 
these groups of people. Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became 
leaders in many social issues of the day, including prison reform and 
the abolition of slavery.

Although he was not a systematic theologian, Wesley argued for the 
notion of Christian perfection and against Calvinism – and, in 
particular, against its doctrine of predestination. He held that, in 
this life, Christians could achieve a state where the love of God 
"reigned supreme in their hearts", giving them outward holiness. His 
evangelicalism, firmly grounded in sacramental theology, maintained that 
means of grace were the manner by which God sanctifies and transforms 
the believer, encouraging people to experience Jesus Christ personally.

Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the established Anglican 
church, insisting that the Methodist movement lay well within its 
tradition.[4] Although sometimes maverick in his interpretation and use 
of church policy, he became widely respected and, by the end of his 
life, had been described as "the best loved man in England".[5]


-- 
Sibyl Smirl
I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net