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[German Version] The Primitive Methodist Church arose as an independent revival movement in the first decade of the 19th century out of the British Methodist Church formed by J. Wesley (Methodists: II, 2). The intensification of priestly authority and the placating of the government, to the effect that there was no danger to public order, made it hard for the old Wesleyan Connexion to maintain its original line. The beginnings of the Primitive Methodist Church go back to Hugh Bourne (1772–1852), a Methodist lay preacher and timber merchant who held revival meeti…

[German Version] 1. John (Jun 17, 1703, Epworth, Lincolnshire – Mar 2, 1791, London), the founder of Methodism (Methodists). Wesley attended Charterhouse School and Christ Church in Oxford; he received his B.A. in 1724, was ordained dean and priest in 1725 and was elected Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1726. Originally Dissenters, Wesley’s parents now held strong high-church, ¶ even Jacobite views (James I); his own early impressions were strengthened by his Oxford education. Parental influence also marked his personality. His mother’s dominance c…

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1. Term The terms “Puritan” and “Puritanism” were originally terms of abuse but were defined in 1646 by the Presbyterian John Geree (1601–49) as a moderate and middle way in religion: “The Old English Puritan was such an one that honoured God above all, and under God gave everyone his due. His first care was to serve God … making the word of God his rule in worship. He highly esteemed order in the house of God: but would not under colour of that submit to superstitious rites.… He reverenced authority wi…

1. British Protestant Christians who worship outside the Church of England (Anglican Communion) have been designated at different times as Anabaptists, Brownists, Separatists, Dissenters, Nonconformists, and Free Churchmen. Those in the 16th century who inherited Lollard attitudes and heterodox opinions from the Netherlands were called Anabaptists. The Brownists and Separatists, losing hope of Puritan reform in the church, met in secret conventicles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. ¶ Dissenters were those who would not accept the Act of Uniformity of 1662 and included some who had refused to conform even to the reformed establishment of the Commonwealth. The term “Nonconformist” gained greater currency in the 19th century, though by then it was a…

[English Version] Primitive Methodist Church, unabhängige Erweckungsbewegung, die im ersten Jahrzehnt des 1…