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To: rwfromkansas; P-Marlowe; xzins; Revelation 911; Starwind
Meanwhile, the Methodists etc. opposed it.

More commonly they took a pacifist stance and sided neither with England nor the colonies.

For that they were fined, jailed, beaten and tarred.

Apparently the tulip doesn't fall far from the tree. ;-)

49 posted on 12/16/2004 7:17:57 PM PST by Corin Stormhands (CHRISTmas: One season. One reason.)
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To: Corin Stormhands; rwfromkansas; P-Marlowe; Revelation 911; Starwind
Corin, the methodists were not a denomination at the time of the Revolution....they were Anglicans.

Some Anglicans went with the English (Tories), and some went with the colonies, and, as you've stated, some remained neutral.

On the frontier, there were no methodists, reformed, baptists or otherwise who were not forced to choose sides. (Read "The Frontiersman" by Alan Eckert for a decent understanding of that era.)

The first general overseer ordained by John Wesley was Thomas Coke in 1784....after the War was over. It is only from that point that one can even begin to separate the methodistic Anglicans into the Methodist Episcopal denomination.

Throughout the Methodist awakening Wesley had forbidden his lay-preachers to administer the sacraments lest his people be accused of separating from the Church of England. An Anglican by conviction, Wesley wanted his unchurched converts to find a spiritual home in Anglicanism too. He knew as well that the Toleration Act that provided refuge for Dissenters wouldn't protect his people, since he had never had them register with the authorities as Dissenters. His people would be seen as disruptive concerning the established church (and therefore liable to criminal prosecution) yet unsheltered by the laws safeguarding Christians who had publicly identified themselves as non-Anglicans. Wesley had always wanted Methodism to remain a renewal movement within the mother-Church.

In America the Methodist people were largely deprived of clergy and the sacramental ministry they provided. Wesley asked the Bishop of London to ordain men for the new world. The bishop refused. The shortage worsened after the American Revolution when nearly all the Anglican clergy, steadfastly loyal to the crown, returned to England. After much anguish Wesley "laid hands on" Coke. To anyone steeped in Anglicanism this could mean only that Coke had been consecrated bishop. On the same occasion Wesley ordained two lay-preachers as clergy for the New World. In the face of outrage from Anglican officialdom -- and fury from his brother Charles who had always vowed, "Ordination means separation!" -- Wesley resolutely stood by an insight that all biblical scholars today agree on: in the New Testament "bishop" (overseer) and "presbyter" (elder) describe the same person. Coke was to be the first Methodist bishop in the new world.


50 posted on 12/16/2004 7:34:45 PM PST by xzins (Retired Army and Proud of It!)
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