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High Calvinists in ActionCalvinism and the City, Manchester and London, 1810-1860Meticulous studyHIGH CALVINISTS IN ACTION: This is an important piece of work in a previously neglected area. Dr. Ian Shaw has focussed on the social involvement of four Hyper-Calvinists or, as he prefers to term them, High Calvinists, two from Manchester and two from London. The group includes one Anglican, William Nunn; two Strict Baptists, William Gadsby and James Wells; and one Independent, Joseph Irons. Their work is set against that of two Evangelical Calvinists, William McKerrow, a Presbyterian and Andrew Reed, a Congregationalist. Ian Shaw's meticulous study explodes a number of myths. Whatever inhibitions may have limited the gospel presentation of his main characters, they were not men unconcerned about the serious social needs which surrounded them. Each man served close to scenes of deep poverty and degradation. Each was convinced of the primacy of preaching and to that devoted his main energies, 'all four stood or fell by their preaching' (p.326). There are interesting discussions of High Calvinist gospel preaching, often indirect in application and yet for a variety of reasons in these cases very effective. Gadsby built up 'the largest Dissenting cause in Manchester' (p.121), and Wells the biggest Strict Baptist congregation in the country (p.243). Recognising the priority of preaching the Word, they all knew that they had to do something to meet the needs of their areas. Gadsby was drawn into radical politics, supporting the Peterloo demonstrators in Manchester, the Anti-Corn Law League and, on occasion, even sharing a platform with a Roman Catholic priest on a social issue (p. 139). Joseph Irons, who was the most outspoken in his opposition to Romanism would not have countenanced such involvement. On the other hand, 'Wells was probably the highest in his Calvinism, yet he granted that Catholics and Jews should have civil liberty and freedom of worship' (p. 338). He insisted that 'popery was "Christianity heathenised", but urged that only spiritual weapons should be employed against it'. He 'looked forward to the day when "it will not matter a straw whether the monarch of this realm be a Catholic or a Protestant, a Wesleyan or a Calvinist"' (p. 274). The three Nonconformists studied all pressed for the disestablishment of the Church of England. Understandably William Nunn did not. There were other differences. William McKerrow and Andrew Reed, who were not High Calvinists, were more deeply concerned to promote a system of state education, and Reed, in particular, was involved in a number of schemes to set up hospitals and institutions for orphans and the mentally handicapped. The High Calvinists, on the other hand, tended to advocate direct giving through their churches. In co-operative ventures they were happier in working with other High Calvinists through the Aged Pilgrims Friends' Society, but their compassion was not limited to fellow believers. The needs of Manchester proved more powerful in producing civic action than did those of London, and there Gadsby was the most active in affairs, sometimes to the disapproval of his fellow Strict Baptists. With the proviso that other districts need to be studied, one can endorse Ian Shaw's conclusion: 'The active efforts of Gadsby, Reed and McKerrow to repeal the Corn Laws, and promote free religion and (in McKerrow's case) free education', suggests that Calvinists, influenced to one degree or another by the legacy of the Evangelical Revival, did actively attempt to alter social structures to benefit the poor. Added to this was a significant amount of church-based and personal philanthropy. Here was no escapist spirituality born of high-Calvinistic doctrine' (p. 337). Robert Oliver, © Evangelicals Now - September 2003 |