A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
of George Whitefield; and if it is fair to judge of his style by the
sermons that have been preserved, he never said a word in those sermons
that would not pass muster in most evangelical pulpits to-day. He never
attacked the doctrines of the Church of England; he spoke of the Church
as "our Church"; and he constantly backed up his arguments by appeals
to passages in the Book of Common Prayer. In spite of his lack of
University training he was no illiterate ignoramus. The more he knew
of the Wiltshire villagers the more convinced he became that what they
required was religious education. For their benefit, therefore, he now
prepared some simple manuals of instruction: a "Treatise on the Holy
Ghost," an "Exhortation to Steadfastness," a "Short Catechism for the
Instruction of Youth," a volume of hymns entitled "A New Hymnbook,"
a second entitled "Sacred Hymns for the Children of God in the Day of
their Pilgrimage," and a third entitled "Sacred Hymns for the Use of
Religious Societies." What sort of manuals, it may be asked, did Cennick
provide? I have read them carefully; and have come to the conclusion
that though Cennick was neither a learned theologian nor an original
religious thinker, he was fairly well up in his subject. For example,
in his "Short Catechism" he shows a ready knowledge of the Bible and a
clear understanding of the evangelical position; and in his "Treatise
on the Holy Ghost" he quotes at length, not only from the Scriptures
and the Prayer-book, but also from Augustine, Athanasius, Tertullian,
Chrysostom, Calvin, Luther, Ridley, Hooper, and other Church Fathers
and Protestant Divines. He was more than a popular preacher. He was a
thorough and competent teacher. He made his head-quarters at the
village of Tytherton, near Chippenham (Oct. 25, 1742); there, along with
Whitefield, Howell Harris and others, he met his exhorters and stewards
in conference; and meanwhile he established also religious societies at
Bath, Brinkworth, Foxham, Malmesbury, and many other villages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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