SIMEON, CHARLES [1759-1836] – Evangelical leader who was educated at Cambridge and on entering the college discovered that attendance at Communion was compulsory. His preparation to take the sacrament was the main factor in his subsequent conversion. His own adoption of evangelical views was fostered by his friendship with Henry and John Venn [see 1749 and 1783]. Appointed vicar of Holy Trinity in Cambridge in 1782 he ministered there until his death. He overcame early opposition mainly through the pastoral care he gave, and while firmly attached to the Church of England, he became the centre of the evangelicalism in Cambridge. As well as encouraging the British and Foreign Bible Society he helped to found the Church Missionary Society and the London Jews Society, and his curate Henry Martyn [see 1805] as a chaplain of the East India Company became one of India's best known pioneer missionaries. He established the Simeon Trust, which purchased livings for Evangelicals, and this trust still exists.
1783
CRABBE, GEORGE [1754-1832] – English poet who was born in Suffolk and hence much of his poetry was set in that county including “The Village” of 1783 which is an exposure of social conditions in a small seaside community. He was successively rector at Muston and Trowbridge. There is a strong underlying moral comment in his skilful analyses of character and action and this is found also in his sermons.
GERASIMUS III Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria [1783-1788] see 1766 and 1788
JONES, THOMAS [1756-1820] – Welsh Calvinistic Methodist theologian whose education was limited but it gave him an excellent grounding in the classics. He began to preach among the Calvinistic Methodists in 1783 and ministered to their societies for the next 40 years. He was closely associated with Thomas Charles after whose death in 1814 Jones was the most learned and distinguished leader of the Calvinistic Methodists. In the theological controversies that dominated Welsh intellectual life at the beginning of the 19th century he took a firm but moderate Calvinist position.
MOORE, JOHN – Archbishop of Canterbury [1783-1805]. He was the son of a butcher from Gloucester and was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. Patronage from the third duke of Marlborough gained him a position at Durham Cathedral in 1761 and held a number of other positions including bishop of Bangor [1774-1783] before taking up his appointment of archbishop of Canterbury which he held until his death in 1805. He succeeded Frederick Cornwallis [see 1768] and was succeeded by Charles Manners Sutton [see 1805].
VENN, JOHN [1759-1815] – Clapham Sect chaplain who was the son of Henry Venn [see 1749]. He was educated at Cambridge and became a rector in Norfolk in 1783 and nine years later became rector at Clapham through Charles Simeon [see 1782]. The Thorntons, Wilberforce and Zachary Macaulay were among his parishioners and he became virtually the chaplain to the Clapham Sect of Christian political activists [see 1844]. Venn took an active part in the formation of the Church Missionary Society. His health, always bad, required his resignation of these duties in 1808.
1784
ALLEN, ETHAN [1737-1789] – American soldier and exponent on Deism who was the military leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont during the War of Independence and captured Fort Ticonderoga .He then identified himself with the ideals of the French Enlightenment and became Deistic in outlook. In 1784 he wrote the first book to be published in America openly attacking Christianity called “Reason the Only Oracle for Man” in which he rejected the Christian claim that the Bible is the special revelation of God to man.
ASBURY, FRANCIS [1745‑1816] – Born in Birmingham England, he was one of two American Methodist bishops appointed by Wesley after responding to Wesley’s call for ministers for America. He was viewed by some as autocratic but he emphasised discipline and the values of itinerant ministry. Although sickly he travelled some 300,000 miles on horseback to nurture the emerging denomination which by the time of his death had grown from a few hundred to a membership of 200,000.
ARTICLES OF RELIGION was the doctrinal standard of the United Methodist Church of America. In 1784 John Wesley prepared a revised and shortened version of the Thirty Nine Articles [see 1536] for use in American Methodism. Wesley’s objective was to remove from the Articles whatever inclined toward ritualism or Calvinism. The American Methodists added an article of their own affirming their loyalty to the American government following the War of Independence. The Twenty Five Articles were adopted in 1784 by the Baltimore Conference.
CHARLES, THOMAS [1755-1814] – Welsh Methodist educator. He was converted under the ministry of Daniel Rowland [see 1763] and lived at Bala from 1784 being involved with the Methodist Society. He organised Sunday Schools as an extension of day schools and from his approach to the Religious Tract Society for Welsh Bibles in 1802 initiated the start of the British and Foreign Bible Society [see 1804]. He was responsible for the separation of the Calvinistic Methodist Church of Wales separating from the Anglican Church by ordaining ministers [see 1811].
1785
BALTIMORE CONFERENCE adopted the 25 articles of the Limited Methodist church of America all except one having been drawn up by John Wesley. The 25th affirmed their loyalty to the American Government.
BRAMWELL, WILLIAM [1759‑1818] – Lancastrian Wesleyan preacher who was the tenth of eleven children born to a devout Anglican family in Elswick. While apprenticed he devoted spare time to Bible study and was converted but finding a lack of Christian companionship within the Anglicans he joined the unpopular “Wesleyan devils” to the horror of his parents. He was an evangelist who led hundreds to the Lord and well known for his preaching, generosity and self denial. He preached until the last, dying suddenly after declaring the Lord had told him he only had a short time to live.
HALL, ROBERT [1764-1831] – English Baptist minister who was a precocious child writing hymns before he was nine and preaching his first sermon at 11. He was educated at the famous Nonconformist academy run by John Ryland and graduated in 1785 from Aberdeen University, beginning his ministry in Bristol. Theologically he moved his position from an early Calvinism view to a basically Arminian system. He was deeply interested in the rapid progress of scientific research. In 1791 he moved to the pastorate of Cambridge. A period of ill health including two mental breakdowns caused him to seek relief in drugs, then after a period of rest he became the minister of a Baptist church in Leicester in 1807. Like many evangelicals of the time, Nonconformist and Anglican, he took close interest in social need. He published a pamphlet appealing for help for a fund to provide relief for the distressed stocking-makers of Leicester during periods of unemployment. A germ of the Trade Union movement could be seen in this development.
HOFBAUER, CLEMENT MARY [1751-1820] – Redemptorist [see 1732] priest whose father was a Moravian grazier and butcher. He worked as a baker from his father's death in 1757 to 1771 and then for a period lived as a hermit until 1775. The generosity of three Viennese ladies saw him through Vienna University, after which he went to Rome and joined the recently founded Redemptorists. He was ordained in 1785, returned to Vienna, and then went to Warsaw from 1787 to 1808 doing a lot of pastoral work in urban schools; he founded several houses in Poland, working mainly in the German-speaking population. Driven from Warsaw by Napoleon he returned to Vienna. He established the Redemptionists in Austria in 1819 and at his death Pius VII said “Religion in Austria has lost its chief support”.
PROCOPIUS I – Patriarch of Constantinople [1785-1789] succeeded Gabriel IV [see 1780]. There is no additional information readily available.
1786
JOHNSON, RICHARD [1753-1827] – Anglican clergymen who was educated at Cambridge and was appointed as the first chaplain to the convict colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia in 1786. He was a member of the Clapham Sect [see 1844] which helped to secure his appointment. He conducted the first service in Australia on 3rd February 1788. As the only chaplain his task was made more difficult by opposition from the military junta in the colony. He built a church at his own expense. His emphasis on personal salvation brought charges of Methodism against him. Independent observers however recognised his unsparing help towards the sick among the convicts and the orphans. Like most government officials he acted as farmer and magistrate but he made his main concern was for his clerical duties. Johnson left the colony in 1800.
MACGREGOR, JAMES [1759-1820] – Presbyterian minister in Nova Scotia born and educated in Edinburgh he was ordained in 1786. The following year he was sent to Pictou in Nova Scotia by the General Associate Synod. He became concerned about the decline in moral and cultural life in the Scottish communities there. Because of this he became a part-time itinerant minister and appealed for more workers from Scotland. He was the first Presbyterian minister to preach in New Brunswick and on Prince Edward Island. He aided the establishment of the Pictou Academy in 1817.
PISTOIA, SYNOD OF [1786] – This was a Jansenist attempt at ecclesiastical renewal. Its 57 points of church reform included the desire for liturgical revision, a just distribution of church goods, purification of private and public piety, and reorganisation of the clergy. Doctrine was widely discussed and the proceedings published in many languages. The pope however condemned many of the proposals.
WHITE, WILLIAM [1748-1836] – Organiser of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Born in Philadelphia he studied at the College of Philadelphia and was ordained in England in 1772 serving in Christ Church and St Peter's in Philadelphia [1772-1836]. He was joint chaplain of the Continental Congress and its successor. White drafted the constitution for the church to be free of state in which the laity were equally represented with the clergy. He was elected bishop of Pennsylvania in 1786 and served in Philadelphia from 1787 until his death.
1787
ALLEN, RICHARD [1760‑1831] – American founder of the African Episcopal Methodist Church. Born a slave he was sold to a farmer in Delaware. Converted under Methodist influences he was allowed to conduct services in his home which resulted in the conversion of his master and freedom for him and his family. He self-educated while working at woodcutting and hauling. He began to preach in churches and his preaching attracted so many Africans to the services that it caused a reaction from the white congregation. He withdrew from the Methodist Church to form this predominantly black church group called the “Free African Society” in 1787. Fifteen other Negro churches joined the group and he became the first bishop of the denomination in 1816.
CLARKSON, THOMAS [1760-1846] – Abolitionist and author who in 1785 wrote a prize winning essay on abolition and two years later joined with William Wilberforce [see 1807] and others to campaign on this issue. His main work was collecting information for the group. The campaign was successful with the ending of the slave trade in 1807 and emancipation in the British Empire in 1833.
HIGHER CRITICISM – This name seems to have been first applied to biblical literature by J. G. Eichhorn [see 1780] in the preface to the second edition of his Old Testament Introduction in 1787. Higher criticism is so designated to distinguish it from lower or textual criticism. Although higher criticism is essentially a positive term it is used by conservative Christians in a negative sense.
HUNGARY [see also 1525] – Not until 1787 did Hungarian Protestants gain a degree of freedom, when the Habsburg Edict of that year either eased or removed entirely the earlier restrictions. Protestants were thereafter given the same civic rights as Roman Catholics. During the 19th century Protestants in Hungary felt the effects of evangelical movements which were so influential in Britain, Switzerland, and the USA. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1920 after a short period of communist control, the religious situation of the 19th century was restored, but in 1944 the Nazi regime was created which brought great hardship to both Protestants and Catholics. When the Nazis gave way to Communists after World War II the situation was even worse, and all branches of the Christian Church suffered from 1949.
INGLIS, CHARLES [1734-1816] – First Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia who was born and educated in Ireland and ordained in London in 1758 before being sent as a missionary to Delaware. In 1783 he sailed with a group of loyalists to Nova Scotia and in 1787 was consecrated the first bishop of Nova Scotia. A devoted churchman and incessant traveller, he did much to organise the Anglican cause in his diocese. Because of failing healthy he retired to his farm in 1796 but remained active being named to the Council of Nova Scotia in 1809.
NEW JERUSALEM, CHURCH OF THE – This church is commonly called Swedenborgians and was a group organised in London in 1787 by followers of the theological teaching of Emanuel Swedenborg [see 1771]. The organisation and growth of the church is peculiar because the movement was started by books without the influence of any personal leadership. Swedenborg never preached a sermon and made no effort to gather followers about him but he left his Latin works in 20 volumes to ministers and university librarians. They were translated and won disciples who were organised by Robert Hindmarsh a Methodist. The emphasis in their worship is liturgical concentrating on Jesus Christ with preaching based on the “inspired parts” of the Bible, 29 books of the Old Testament and 5 in the New Testament. Baptism and Lord's Supper are observed and in addition to the usual Christian holidays, New Church Day is observed on June 19. The New Churches maintain active missionary programmes and have very successful work in Africa.
PORTEUS, BEILBY [1731-1808] – Bishop of London who was educated at Cambridge and became rector of Hunton where he displayed great pastoral concern. In 1762 he became chaplain to Archbishop Secker [see 1758] and in 1769 a royal chaplain. He was appointed bishop of Chester in 1776 and transferred to London in 1787. As bishop he encourage residency of incumbents, better stipends for curates, regular preaching, and higher standards of clerical duty. In the House of Lords he battled for public morality and vainly tried to hedge divorce legislation. As bishop of London he was responsible for the overseas interests of the church, and he opposed slavery and founded the “Christian Faith Society” for West Indian slaves and proposed other forms of church mission. He was more sympathetic to the Evangelicals and enterprises like the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society than were most high churchmen.
PROCOPIUS I Patriarch of Jerusalem [1787-1788] see 1775 and 1788
SHAKERS – The common name of the celibate communities of United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing which originated in the Quaker revivals of mid 18th century England. Mother Ann Lee [d.1784] [see 1766] is generally considered the founder of the movement. Persecution, limited success, and a direct revelation led Mother Ann and seven followers to migrate to New York in 1774. In 1787 the first Shaker settlement was established at New Lebanon, New York which became the main base of the society's missionary enterprise in America. They believed that in Mother Ann the female principle of Christ was manifested and in her the promise of the Second Coming was fulfilled. The society reached its zenith in the decade before the Americans Civil War but by the second half of the 20th century only a handful of Shakers remained in three small communities.
1788
ANTHIMOS Patriarch of Jerusalem [1788-1808] see 1787 and 1808
HORSLEY, SAMUEL [1733-1806] – Anglican bishop who was educated at Cambridge and was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1767. He was consecrated bishop of St David’s in 1788, Rochester in 1793, and St Asaph in 1802. He enjoyed science and was a High Churchmen and a prominent Tory. He upheld the establishment and opposed all innovations, particularly Sunday schools. Through the impact of the French Revolution he became mentally unbalanced and remained so until he died.
MORE, HANNAH [1745-1833] – English writer and philanthropist who was born near Bristol where she and her sisters developed a successful school. An unexpected settlement gave her financial independence and enabled her to exploit a remarkable range of literary and artistic gifts which were combined with marked administrative ability. In the second phase of her life from the 1780s John Newton [see 1779] became a strong influence and she was brought into close contact with the entire evangelical community centred on Clapham [see 1844]. Hannah More was much inspired by William Wilberforce who together with Henry Thornton financed many of her activities. The local action was based on a Sunday School in Cheddar to which was attached a school of industry, training personnel in spinning and domestic service. From about 1788 she aimed at producing cheap tracts for a wide range of readers. The result financed by Thornton was the series of Cheap Repository Tracts. Though the connection is not clear some of the inspiration of the Religious Tract Society can be traced to the success of Hannah’s work. Because of her work she caused some controversy. William Cobbett described her as the “Old Bishop in Petticoats”. Hannah More never married but following the custom of the time assumed the designation of Mrs.
