PRIMITIVE METHODISM

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 9

PRIMITIVE METHODISM

THE STORY OF A GREAT RE LI Cl* I OUB MOVEMENT. , The forthcoming confcrcnco of the J New Zealand Primitive Methodist .] Church, to be held in this city nest ' week, recalls tho story of what may bo ■'.! .termed ono .of the most remarkable i .evangelical movements in modern times. ' I JTor this great Church, tho second larg- j est of British Methodist denominations, , "j is only a century old, and'is tho .pro- ' ";.j duct, not of splits' or divisions from" ■ I •any older Methodism, but of a great. revivalistic movement in England at '. '! tho beginning of tho nineteenth- cen- 1 tury. . . '1 . Tho founders of the Church were two -j working men—Hugh Bourne, a carpcn-' I ter, and William Clowts, a working '] potter. They wero men of' widely dif- : -! fercnt gifts and characteristics/ Bourne had considerable intellectual.ability,.had j a.fair acquaintance with tho-literature. ,= ! of his day, and .was-' conversant'with the vi Greek, Hebrew, and Latin -'languages; In disposition he was shy and .'reticent, s to a degree, and-very per- I sistent in carrying out any' project/ j which lie had in. hand. Ho had great. . . j organising ability, and rendered'much -i .servico to tho new movement in* this i respect. Ho was the legislator and ad- '. j ministrator of the movement. William \ Clowes had gifts as great,- but.of,-a dif-1; forent character. He. was tlie.orator of . ; the movement. .Possessed of a-fine pro-. '■ sence, of genial personality, much per- : sonal magnetism, and a powerful, melo- , t dious voice, ho held spellbound-with " ? liomely eloquence' tho multitudes who < gathered in hall, street,. or meadow to . ; hear him. If Bourno was tho admimV .trator, Clowes was tho apostle of early Primitive Methodism. ... Both men were of simple habits of ' ■ life, and. were well fitted to 'influenco •-■' ..j tho labouring classes of industrial and rural a century - ago,, which -I they and their helpers so effectually 1-1 did that tho Church they founded has its great strength among . the workers m : i tho northern and'midland counties, and < tho farm labourers .of East .- Aiiglia. .- . 'j When theso -two men commenced ' their '. -'-A work they had 110 thought'of founding . i a how denomination. They had.been associated wiili tlic ?ilethodist Church,' but the rigid conservatism of that body V. demanded that they should cease: to take V -f : part in a certain irregular, .kind of . open-air servica" called camp meetings. .V :"-: Thesewere simnly a revival of the'field 1 preaching of Wesley and Whitfield; and :: being convinced that good was. being accomplished, by them, Bourn:! anil Clowes continued to , hold and attend : : .• them. Tho consequence, was that-they ; j yere deprived of office and membership in tho Methodist Church. ■ They did not . . seek to arouso sympathy for •'thornselves, or to foment- a division, but continned'to labour as unattached evangelists without- pay. Eventually .there, grew up around each'of these two 'men — ; a small religious community. In 1811 these'-two small bodies, known respec- • tiveiy as "Tho .Clowesites" and tho • ' ; "Camp Meeting Methodists," -'amalga- ' mated, and in the following year took the name Primitive Methodist.' ---. ..The infant denomination thus formed' v:has become a power.inr the Jand. 1 '" Im- '..■■' bued_.wifch an aggressive and; earnest': missionary spirit,' it ..spread over Eiig- -J.-! ■ land, and into Scotland-arid Ireland. ■;?. Then its missionaries jvere' sent into the 1 : United States,' into Canada, Australia, . 1 and New Zealand. l Subsequent foreign rmissions wero commenced ; in. Africa, .where the Church' now has important''■ mission stations,' in tho south, west, • and centre of that great continent.. Tho ■ American branch of the Church has for ■ riiany .years . been a separate r.nd : iridependent body. -In-1& the< Canadian . ■ section united with tho othe'rtMetliod-'.' ists of ;that Dominion, to form the Methodist Church of Canada.'-The Aus-. ■■ tralian Conferences-some years'ago fol-' .. ; : . lowed_the 'example of those :iii, Canada.; Tho'New Zealand Church is still'in, as- ; ■ sociation with the English Conference, v , while possessing self-governing- -pow-V ers, and., is-, tho. only remaining- - ! ; -J colonial branch of tho . Church . . Notwithstanding tho; many thousands of ' members' and adherents which, have been thus severed from the parent body, the Primitive Methodist Church is to-day : tho second largest of the English-Metli- ■ ; odist denominations, having in. the. Brit- . ,ish Isles and Africa-upwards of 210,000 V riiembers, and. over, 600,000 worshippers, while' the Sunday'scholars total'.nearly. : - half a, million, arid ..the valun of tho Church property reaches £5,000,000.' . .. V In polity tho .Church is deriiocratic; . . the principle , of representativo; govern-.. ■ .- irient being , a characteristic of.its. con-. v, stitution from its-.commencement...-'All '■ the members of the-conference, minis- 1 ; , : terial and; lay, are tho elected., rcpro* sentatives of the circuits, committees,;.' and institutions from- which they come. . The Primitive Methodist Church lias.. .V plhyed- a largo ,part in ' the, lifo\of indu'strial'aud rural England during t]ie last century. .Very much of the moral and social improvement .of-the-English " labouring classes .is due to its ministry ainong tliem. Sueli'men as the famous • Joseph Arch,-and Mr. John . Wilson,. M.P., are examples .of Primitive Metho-'. ■; dists . who have taken their. .part in the councils of tho nation. Primitive , Hetb&disin lias only, one titled person-; ;i ■age in its ranks., That pne Vis'.the iar ;; mous philanthropist,' 'Sir Williain V.."' 1 ; .-Hartley, to. whose: princely- gerie'rosity, ; the Cliurcli owes very much. ; ; -~ .; The^Church began, its work' in : -;' Zealand in :1544, w'hen the Rev;- Re-. 'V, bert . Ward arrived in New -Plymonthj l ; and. there founded ;tho' first' Primitive ? Methodist Church in -this Dominion. .. Wellington was reached in 1547, the first quarterly meeting being held ia September of that year. Shortly after-. ' wards a site "was secured in Sydney .' Street, 011 which a mud; church was . erectcd. .. This first modest building was ...- 1 destroyed 'by an earthquake in the. fol- '/i; lowing year, but was replaced ,by. a weatherboard building. In those early days the:work of the minister and his wife was of a varied character, not only did tho llev. H. Green, who .was the; ':. first. Primitive Methodist.. minister sta-, tioned iri-Wellington, prosecute the work of the' Church, but liis wifo cstab- - . lisheil and taught a day school, for the",: >. days of State-provide<l education "were' . not yet." The Rev. H. Green remained in; Wellington ten years, and during that .- term, in addition" to the church in • ■ Wellington, services were established. ■: ind churches erected at Tawa Flat, the Hutt, and. Stoko's Valley.' In 1557 Mr! Green was succeeded by tho Rev. Joshua ; jSmitli, who was" followed in IS6-1, by \lie Rev. C. Waters, during whoso minis--try tho work was steadily developed. . : In IS<SB the R-ev. R. Ward arrived from , Now-Plymouth,.and comnicnced a min-.-.t. istry of largo influence' in. Wellington. 'During his ministry the present church in Sydney Street was built, .and a church ■ erected 011 tho site in Webb' Street, now -v occupied by 'tho fine church in which tho conference sessions are to be ho!<i. Tho Newtown church was founded, in' .. 1879, during the ministry of the .'Rev..; D. Duttori, F.R.A.S. Wellington Prinii- ;' tive Methodism consists of eight eon-, "rogations, which are grouped in threecircuits, each served by, two ministers. ;. : During recent years considerable activity '» ' .. has been manifested - by tho denomination in the city and'suburbs. Hand- . sonio, churches, have been erectcd .ij] - -; Webb Street and Newtown,.and less ini- ' posing, though comfortable, buihlings, - at l'etone, Northland, and Island' Bay. ; This,-however, dces_ not represent the 1 •wholo. fruit of Wellington Primitive Methodism. The Manawatu circuits,. which there are three, comprising' 15 con- : . - gregatious, are an outgrowth of the' work of the Wellington churches.'; During recent years thcMcnomiuation " in New Zealand has experienced a steady ': growth.. At the last census 21,000 persons wero returned as Primitive Moihodisis. The Cliurcli property is v.ilncu at £S4,000; there are 35 circuits, ISO eon-'' gregatious, J-l, ministers, qui! six homo missionaries.