CHAPTER III

SIMEON, ROWLAND HILL, ROBINSON, ISAAC AND JOSEPH MILNER, HAWEIS, LEGH RICHMOND, WILBERFORCE, HANNAH MORE

THE Evangelical serious or earnest clergy, as they were called by their followers, the fanatics and enthusiasts, as they were called by those who opposed them, were more conspicuous for their personal influence than for any depth or originality of theological speculation. Their religion rested mainly on feeling and experience. It was enthusiasm in the proper and literal sense-God working within. Yet they were never deficient in the dogmatic spirit. Few have been more persistent in maintaining that religion and their special dogmas were inseparable.

Evangelical theology has always been more or less the theology of Calvin, but this has been gradually d.appearing, and now is found, where it is found at all, only in a mitigated form. The spirit too has in some measure changed. It is not so dogmatic as it once was. The lisping Ephraimite is not so closely watched, and sometimes it is admitted that there may be other interpretations of the Christian faith.

The Evangelical movement had its origin in the last century. Those who were living at the beginning of this belonged to the second or third generation. The most prominent of these was Charles Simeon, who for a long life-time was a great spiritual power in Cambridge and throughout England. His first text and the great theme of all his ser

mons was 'Christ and Him Crucified.' With Simeon, and the party to which he belonged, this meant that man was fallen, that he could not help himself, but that He had help in a Mighty One, who by His death had brought redemption to the world. The cross was the centre. There satisfaction was made to divine justice. Simeon was a strict Churchman in the sense that he delighted in the services of the Prayer Book and adhered to the Articles of Religion in their literal, natural, and original meaning. His theology was Calvinistic, but qualified by the admission that though there was a system of theology in the Scriptures, it had really been found by neither Calvinists nor Arminians. There was truth on both sides, which could not be made to fit into either system. The truth was larger than the dogmatic creed. This was illustrated by the wheels of a complicated machine. They might be moving in opposite directions and yet subserve one common end.1 So truths, apparently opposed to each other, might yet be reconciled in a higher or deeper ground.

Rowland Hill was in the zenith of his strength and fame when the century began. He was the brother of Sir Richard Hill, and like the other members of the family, was early associated with the serious or earnest men of the time, especially those who were doctrinal Calvinists. He sympathised with the six students expelled from Oxford, who practised what in those days were reckoned irregularities. This stood in the way of his ordination. Six different bishops to whom He was at length made Wells, but he never sucSurrey Chapel, where he

he applied refused to ordain him. deacon by Dr Willis of Bath and ceeded in getting higher orders. preached and read the Church of England service for fifty years, was built for him. He always professed to be a Churchman. To his congregation he once said, 'I have a right to declare my predilection for our Establishment. Her public Liturgy is a public blessing to the nation, nor is there a Church upon earth that so much promotes the abundant reading of the Word of God.'

An eminent preacher of the party at this time was Thomas Robinson of Leicester. His first sermons were listened to by 1 Preface to Horae Homil.

crowds of hearers, but his earnestness subjected him to the charge of being a Methodist. He answered that if to be in earnest was to be a Methodist, then apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself, must bear this reproach, and he did not object to be in the same category with them. He had to give up one curacy because he introduced hymns in the place of the psalms of Tate and Brady. When he first appeared in St Mary's, Leicester, and gave out a hymn, the congregation started a psalm in opposition, and the two blended together in harmonious confusion. On his decease after thirty years as Vicar of St Mary's, Robert Hall said of him, 'that by the manifestation of truth he commended himself to every man's conscience, as in the sight of God, and the success which followed was such as might be expected from such efforts.'

Isaac1 and Joseph Milner were also prominent members of the Evangelical party. They had come under the influence of Wilberforce, and mainly adopted his religious opinions. Isaac, Dean of Carlisle, defended the Bible Society against Dr Marsh, declaring his loyalty to the Prayer Book, though he wished the Scriptures to go forth as their own interpreter ; and in this work he rejoiced in the co-operation of Nonconformists. He also wrote against Bishop Mant on regeneration in baptism, arguing from the Church Catechism that as repentance and faith were necessary in those who were to be baptised, and as they were not found in infants but in their sureties, regeneration in baptism must be hypothetical. These conditions had to be fulfilled before the blessings of the Sacrament were realised. There was no actual regeneration till the change was manifest, so that conversion and regeneration were the same thing.

In seeking the meaning of any words in the Liturgy or Articles, we should be guided by the Scriptures on which the formularies of the Church profess to be grounded, also by Church history and the principles of the Reformation. From these sources, light is often thrown on the meaning of a doubtful word. Baptism was at first only administered to adults. It was the baptism of believers. This came to be identified with regeneration, because the persons either were, or were supposed to be, genuine believers. When the custom

mons was Christ and Him Crucified.' With Simeon, and the party to which he belonged, this meant that man was fallen, that he could not help himself, but that He had help in a Mighty One, who by His death had brought redemption to the world. The cross was the centre. There satisfaction was made to divine justice. Simeon was a strict Churchman in the sense that he delighted in the services of the Prayer Book and adhered to the Articles of Religion in their literal, natural, and original meaning. His theology was Calvinistic, but qualified by the admission that though there was a system of theology in the Scriptures, it had really been found by neither Calvinists nor Arminians. There was truth on both sides, which could not be made to fit into either system. The truth was larger than the dogmatic creed. This was illustrated by the wheels of a complicated machine. They might be moving in opposite directions and yet subserve one common end.1 So truths, apparently opposed to each other, might yet be reconciled in a higher or deeper ground.

Rowland Hill was in the zenith of his strength and fame when the century began. He was the brother of Sir Richard Hill, and like the other members of the family, was early associated with the serious or earnest men of the time, especially those who were doctrinal Calvinists. He sympathised with the six students expelled from Oxford, who practised what in those days were reckoned irregularities. This stood in the way of his ordination. Six different bishops to whoin he applied refused to ordain him. He was at length made deacon by Dr Willis of Bath and Wells, but he never succeeded in getting higher orders. Surrey Chapel, where he preached and read the Church of England service for fifty years, was built for him. He always professed to be a Churchman. To his congregation he once said, 'I have a right to declare my predilection for our Establishment. Her public Liturgy is a public blessing to the nation, nor is there a Church upon earth that so much promotes the abundant reading of the Word of God.'

An eminent preacher of the party at this time was Thomas Robinson of Leicester. His first sermons were listened to by 1 Preface to Horae Homil.

crowds of hearers, but his earnestness subjected him to the charge of being a Methodist. He answered that if to be in earnest was to be a Methodist, then apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself, must bear this reproach, and he did not object to be in the same category with them. He had to give up one curacy because he introduced hymns in the place of the psalms of Tate and Brady. When he first appeared in St Mary's, Leicester, and gave out a hymn, the congregation started a psalm in opposition, and the two blended together in harmonious confusion. On his decease after thirty years as Vicar of St Mary's, Robert Hall said of him, 'that by the manifestation of truth he commended himself to every man's conscience, as in the sight of God, and the success which followed was such as might be expected from such efforts.'

Isaac1 and Joseph Milner were also prominent members of the Evangelical party. They had come under the influence of Wilberforce, and mainly adopted his religious opinions. Isaac, Dean of Carlisle, defended the Bible Society against Dr Marsh, declaring his loyalty to the Prayer Book, though he wished the Scriptures to go forth as their own interpreter ; and in this work he rejoiced in the co-operation of Nonconformists. He also wrote against Bishop Mant on regeneration in baptism, arguing from the Church Catechism that as repentance and faith were necessary in those who were to be baptised, and as they were not found in infants but in their sureties, regeneration in baptism must be hypothetical. These conditions had to be fulfilled before the blessings of the Sacrament were realised. There was no actual regeneration till the change was manifest, so that conversion and regeneration were the same thing.

In seeking the meaning of any words in the Liturgy or Articles, we should be guided by the Scriptures on which the formularies of the Church profess to be grounded, also by Church history and the principles of the Reformation. these sources, light is often thrown on the meaning of a doubtful word. Baptism was at first only administered to adults. It was the baptism of believers. This came to be identified with regeneration, because the persons either were, or were supposed to be, genuine believers. When the custom