England in XVIII century

ENGLAND IN XVIII CENTURY: RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS INTRODUCTION In the XVIII th century, England has known a lot of oppositions about religion. But there wasn't any real war with an available reason. So we are going to introduce you the differents parts that created conflicts between God's priers. I- The Anglicanism In England, in the XVIII th century the religion is the anglicanism. The anglicanism is a christian confession which began in the XVI th century when the king Henry VIII wanted to divorce but it was refused by the pope and the catholic church. The anglicanism is a severe religion with a lot of rules. 1. The Anglican Church The England Church is the « mother church « of the anglican communion. From the XVII th century to the XIX th century it spreads some missionaries activities. The british king has an official fonction. It's a catholic but reformed church. The anglican church's priesthood is composed of bishops and priests. It's composed of a high church and a low church. 2. The High Church and the Low Church Some groups believe that theology, the cult and the authoritarian organization of Anglicanism are the true form of Christianity. they are designated as the "High Church". By contrast, in the early eighteenth century, theologians and politicians who wanted more reforms in the Church of England and further liberalization of the structure of the Church, were named "Low Chuch." 3. The Nonconformists To be nonconformist means to act and to hold opinions which are not conform to the most of the population. In the XVIII th, in England, the nonconformists represent the population that refuses to follow the doctrine of the Anglican Church. A political party is formed, the Catholics join forces with non-conformists to enter Parliament and to end the Anglicanism II- The Methodist Revival 1. Inventors a) John Wesley John Wesley was the second son of a nonconformist. After six years of education at the Charterhouse, London, he entered Christ Church, Oxford University, in 1720 and graduated in 1724. He was ordained a priest on Sept. 22, 1728. Recalled to Oxford in October 1729, John joined his brother Charles, Robert Kirkham, and William Morgan in a religious study group that was called the "Methodists" because of their methodical study and devotion. Taking over the leadership of the group from Charles, John helped the group to grow in numbers./ The "Methodists," also called the Holy Club, were known for their frequent communion services and for fasting two days a week. From 1730 on, the group added social services to their activities, visiting Oxford prisoners, teaching them to read, paying their debts, and attempting to find employment for them. The Methodists also extended their activities to workhouses and poor people, distributing food, clothes, medicine, and books and also running a school. When the Wesleys left the Holy Club in 1735, the group disintegrated./ In 1735, John was persuaded by an Oxford friend, to oversee the spiritual lives of the colonists and to missionize the Indians as an agent for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Accompanied by Charles, John was introduced to some Moravian emigrants who appeared to him to possess the spiritual peace for which he had been searching. He worked through existing church societies, but resistance to his methods increased. / In 1739 George Whitefield, who later became a great preacher of the Evangelical revival in Great Britain and North America, persuaded Wesley to go to the unchurched masses. Wesley published, in 1743, Rules for the Methodist societies. To promote new societies he became a widely travelled itinerant preacher. Because most ordained clergymen didn't favor his approach, Wesley was compelled to seek the services of dedicated laymen, who also became itinerant preachers and helped administer the Methodist societies. / Many of Wesley's preachers had gone to the American colonies, but after the American Revolution most returned to England. Because the Bishop of London would not ordain some of his preachers to serve in the United States, Wesley took it upon himself, in 1784, to do so. In the same year he pointed out that his societies operated independently of any control by the Church of England. Toward the end of his life, Wesley became an honored figure in the British Isles. b) Georges Whitefield As a boy in Gloucester, England, he read plays insatiably and often skipped school to practice for his schoolboy performances. Later in life, he repudiated the theater, but the methods he imbibed as a young man emerged in his preaching. He put himself through Pembroke College, Oxford. While there, he fell in with a group of pious "methodists"-who called themselves "the Holy Club"- led by the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. Under their influence, he experienced a "new birth" and decided to become a missionary to the new Georgia colony on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean./ When the voyage was delayed, Whitefield was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church and began preaching around London. He was surprised to discover that wherever he spoke, crowds materialized and hung on every word. These were no ordinary sermons. He portrayed the lives of biblical characters with a realism no one had seen before. He cried, he danced, he screamed. Whitefield eventually made it to Georgia but stayed for only three months. When he returned to London, he found many churches closed to his unconventional methods. He then experimented with outdoor, extemporaneous preaching, where no document or wooden pulpit stood between him and his audience./ In 1739, Whitefield set out for a preaching tour of the American colonies. Whitefield selected Philadelphia as his first American stop. But even the largest churches could not hold the 8,000 who came to see him, so he took them outdoors. Every stop along Whitefield's trip was marked by record audiences, often exceeding the population of the towns in which he preached. The crowds were also aggressive in spirit. Though mentored by the Wesleys, Whitefield set his own theological course: he was a convinced Calvinist. His main theme was the necessity of the "new birth," by which he meant a conversion experience. He never pleaded with people to convert, but only announced, and dramatized, his message./ 2. The Methodists and Evangelists John Wesley and George Whitefield are the inventors of the Methodism. This nickname is taken from the noun "method" of praying and the religious studies that they had created in their studies group in Oxford University. The term was originally applied to a religious society which was established at Oxford University in 1729 by Whitefield and the Wesley brothers Subsequently, it was applied to a variety of evangelical religious groups who took their original inspiration from the movement's founders, whose views on certain subjects were very different. Whitefield, for example, accepted many traditional Calvinistic views, while the Wesleys tended toward Arminianism and rejected, in particular, the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, insisting that if a man could acquire through the intercession of the Holy Ghost the conviction that Christ loved him and had sacrificed himself for him, his sins would be forgiven./ Conservative members of the Church of England in the mid-eighteenth century found the Methodist laws on private revelation and religious enthusiasm repugnant. When the brother Wesley met The Brothers Moraves, he converted in 1738. After the conversion, you can feel that you're a new born and you have the impression that you have been saved by the Christ. This experience is a sort of new beginning of an evangelization activity in Great-Britain and in the world. / George Whitefield travels a lot around the world, especially around America where he tried to convert people to the Methodism. But John and George disagreed for the predestination because Whitefield was closer to the Calvinism and Wesley praying god grace for all. The Methodist prediction enthusiastic and emotional is criticized from the Anglican Church. The Methodists preach in some churches which welcome them or outside, at work, as Whitefield used to do. They'd known a huge success with the least important part of the population. The new converts are regrouped in some biblical circles and are encouraged to follow this religious life forever. / The Break with the Anglican Church had been in 1784, when Wesley compelled a hundred of religious and gave them a theological guide. The Methodist Church had developed in America too and it came to France by the end of the century with the evangelist Charles Cook. The Methodism has changed the religious sight of the whole world. CONCLUSION In England, in the eighteenth century, the religion is the Anglicanism. However, there were several oppositions between the Anglicans and the nonconformists. Then came the Methodists evangelists, who had different opinions too and clans were created./