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

[Sibyl Smirl]

Of course, the Wesleys did EVENTUALLY, in the outcome, start a new 
branch of the Church, (or a "new church") but Charles wasn't writing 
hymns for it, not then, he was writing hymns for "Christian Education", 
or an Anglican "Sunday School".  He didn't expect there to _be_ "members 
of his new churches".


On 2/21/16 11:41 AM, Sibyl Smirl wrote:
> 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