The nonsense my wife talks!

My Wife says I must buy no more books 'till I build another house and advises me to first read some of those I have already - What nonsense she talks sometimes!

Josiah Wedgwood to Thomas Bentley
December 1779

What Dave had for Christmas

Yes, you guessed ...

A Primitive Methodist Centenary plate. It's over a hundred years old, and celebrates the movement's achievements from 1807 to 1907.

The inscription on the back of the plates reads as follows:



“What hath God wrought!”

Chapels & Preaching Places…. 4,905
Ministers …. 1,153
Local Preachers … 16,209
Church members … 210,173
Adherents … 607,682
Sunday Schools … 4209
Teachers … 61,275
Scholars …. 477,114
Value of property … £4,958,978

RD. No 491901
Royal semi porcelain
Manufactured by Wood & Sons, Burslem

In summary, by 1907, that's over 800,000 members and adherents, five thousand churches and nearly half a million scholars.

Repost: A Christmas Day story from 1800

In 1800, life for ordinary working people in England was hard. Times were tough and no-one really cared for the “masses”. One of these men was a coal miner by the name of Daniel Shubotham, who lived in the North Staffordshire village of Harriseahead.

Daniel was a fist fighter, drunkard, gambler and poacher, and prone to outbursts of violence and uncontrolled anger. Although he had been left a considerable amount of property by his father, he had reduced himself and his family to comparative poverty.

Above all else, he excelled at swearing, cursing and profanity. Even his hard living friends, themselves no stranger to foul language, thought that Daniel was the worst swearer they had ever heard.

After bouts of drinking Daniel began to feel remorse and guilt. One day he went to see a friend, a blacksmith, who suggested that Daniel go and see his cousin Hugh Bourne. Bourne himself had been converted to Christ the previous year (in 1799), and had decided to write down his testimony.

Hugh was by nature and temperament shy, bashful and timid, but he took courage went to see Daniel on Christmas Day, 1800. He shared the gospel with his cousin, and gave him a copy of his testimony. Daniel was soundly converted, and news of the dramatic change in his life soon got round the village. From that moment gospel spread like wild fire in the community.

Once converted, Daniel proved a champion of the faith, deterred neither by difficulty nor opposition. In everyday conversation he preached “Jesus and Him crucified” with great zeal. The effects of Daniel’s dramatic change were soon noted in the community and the whole neighbourhood soon felt the effects. Hugh Bourne recalls “In our conversational way, we preached the gospel to all - good and bad, rough and smooth; people were obliged to hear, and we soon had four other coal miners under deep conviction of sin.”

The new converts were great “talkers for the Lord”, and soon the village of Harriseahead was “moralised” (to use their original expression) and the revival quickly spread to the surrounding villages and towns. Conversions spread among the coal miners of Kidsgrove, and five months later, by the time of the Congleton May Fair, the transforming power of the gospel was felt in Mow Cop, Congleton, and beyond. It was like the epicentre of an earthquake, whose effects sent shock waves through the locality.

New believers gathered in homes and they held lively and loud prayer meetings. One woman was converted because she could hear the sound of prayer and praise from a distance of two kilometres.

Once the fire of the gospel took hold, there was no stopping it. There was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1804. In 1807 they held their first open-air camp meeting at Mow Cop; by 1810 they formally became the Primitive Methodists, and ten years later they had eight thousand members. We have a lot to learn from this revival that became a movement.

Dynamic prayer meetings (part four)

The Primitive Methodists were well known for their lively and loud prayer meetings. They were loud for two particular reasons: shouting and singing.

The practice of shouting became a consistent feature of the movement. They would have a shout of praise to God – it was simply a demonstrative form of prayer. William Clowes describes preaching at Englesea Brook in 1826 “the glory was great, and the shouts of praise and thanksgiving were loud and general among the people”.

They were also known for their lively singing, and their hymn books became very popular. Whenever an open-air preacher came to a market place he and his companions would sing as they walked through the streets.

Charles Spurgeon says of the Primitive Methodists. “I had heard of this people from many, and how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache; but that did not matter. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they made my head ache ever so much, I did not care.”

Perhaps our modern day prayer meetings would benefit from loud shouting and singing in praise to God!

Quotes from “The Journals of William Clowes”, p274 originally published in 1844 and republished 2002 by Tentmaker Publications 121 Hartshill Rd, Stoke-on-Trent and "Charles H. Spurgeon: His Faith and Works", H.L. Wayland, 1892.

Dynamic prayer meetings (part three)

The Primitive Methodists demonstrated wisdom in their scheduling of prayer meetings. They recognised that their constituency consisted of working men with demanding physical jobs.

Accordingly weekday evening prayer meetings lasted for about an hour and a quarter, and they were quite deliberate in not letting them continue beyond the allotted time. As working men, they felt it their Christian duty to be fit for work the next day.

There is a wise balance between zeal and balance here. Sometimes unwise zeal causes us to “burn the candle at both ends”. Whilst that may be fine in the short term, it is not usually sustainable in the longer term.

Dynamic prayer meetings (part two)

Prayer was an integral part of the Primitive Methodist movement. It was not simply something they did occasionally; dynamic prayer was at the very core of the movement. Prayed fuelled the passion of the movement, and the “pious praying labourers” were the engine room.

Preaching services were usually followed by prayer services. The work of ministry begun during the sermon continued during the prayer service. It was often the case that those who were being convicted of sin, would enter a time of “mourning” until being brought into “liberty”.

Occasionally in response to powerful preaching, people would fall off their seats, or would shake violently. Sometimes those under conviction would lie motionless on the floor, appearing lifeless except for still having a pulse. The outward response usually indicated an inward work of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, people would experience a deep conviction of sin and sinfulness, before being born again as new believers in Christ. Preaching and prayer were inextricably linked in Primitive Methodism.

Prayer and evangelism are intimately linked – they are two sides of the same coin. Passion is fuelled by prayer and passion fuels evangelism. Oh, that we had more effective, fervent prayer in the church today!

Dynamic prayer meetings (part one)

In the early 1800s the Primitive Methodists developed prayer meetings which had a transforming effect on young Christian believers and led to many conversions in the neighbouring localities of Kidsgrove, in North Staffordshire, and Congleton in Cheshire. Here is one description of their prayer gatherings:

The providential manner in which these prayer meetings originated, the way in which timid, inexperienced Christians were led to become energetic workers for Christ, and the marvellous converting power which rested upon them, …in these prayer meetings the new converts learned to travail in birth for souls. They learned that the trial of their faith is more precious than gold, and they learned to offer the effectual, fervent, prevailing prayer.

In other words, new converts quickly learned how to pray and they rapidly became zealous evangelists and “conversation preachers”. They learned how to preach the gospel in everyday conversation.

Surely one of the first requirements for new believers in our day and generation should be to teach them to pray, effectively and fervently!

Quote from “The Life of the Venerable Hugh Bourne", by Jesse Ashworth, 1888, p14