In the last article I
described the English Reformation and the tension in England between
Protestants and Catholics and between Conformist and Dissenter and Puritan Protestants. This tension would boil over in what would
come to be known as the English Civil War.
In 1603 Queen Elizabeth
I was succeeded by her cousin James I (The King James of the King James Version
of the Bible which was first printed in 1611) who was later succeeded by his
son Charles I in 1625. Both James and
Charles attempted to increase royal power and decreased the role of
Parliament. Both also suppressed the
Puritans and encouraged more Catholic-like theology and practice in the Church
of England. Remember, it was in 1620,
during the reign of King James I, that a group of Puritans fled England on the
Mayflower.
Needless to say many
people, especially Puritans and members of Parliament, and especially Puritan
members of Parliament were unhappy with James and Charles. In 1642 the English Civil War broke out
between the forces of King Charles and the Parliamentary forces under the
leadership of Oliver Cromwell. In 1649
Charles was executed and his son Charles II was eventually exiled to France.
From 1649 until the
restoration of Charles II in 1660 is known as the Commonwealth Period in which
England was ruled by Parliament under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell. During this time Puritanism held sway in the
Church of England, dissenters (except for Catholics) were tolerated, and
Catholicism and Catholic-style practices were virtually illegal.
In 1660 Charles II was
restored to the throne. The Church of
England returned to more Catholic-style worship, Puritans and Dissenters were
once again, along with Roman Catholics, oppressed.
It was not until 1688
that Dissenters, but not Roman Catholics, were officially allowed to own
buildings and hold worship
under the Act of Toleration.
I said all that to set
the background for the story of a Church of England priest named Samuel Wesley
and his wife Susanna, both of whom came from dissenting backgrounds, and two of
their 19 children, John and Charles, who became the founders of the Methodist
movement.
John Wesley (June 28,
1703 –
March 2, 1791) and his brother Charles
(December 18, 1707 –
March 29, 1788) were both born in
Epworth, England where their father served as priest in the Church of England.
John and Charles were
given a very strict religious and academic education by their mother, who was a
talented theologian and Bible teacher in her own right. Susanna held a Bible study in her home by
inviting others to join in family devotions; a woman leading a group like this
beyond her own family would have been a scandal at the time.
On February 9, 1709,
when John was six years old, the Epworth rectory (parsonage) burned down. Some believe that the fire may have been
started by Samuel’s own parishioners
because they did not like his preaching!
The rest of the family fled the house but John was rescued unharmed from
an upstairs window moments before the roof collapsed. Susanna said that John was a “brand plucked from the burning.” (Zechariah 3:2) John’s mother knew that he was destined to do
great things for God.
John and Charles would
go on to study for ordination at Oxford University. It was here that, along with some others,
they would start a study, fellowship, and service group called the Holy Club
that would become the beginnings of the Methodist movement. That is where we will pick up our story next
time.
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