Primitive Church. An expression used to de- note the conditii fthe Church, as respects doctrine
and discipline, in the early stages of its history. Though
this term is employed with little precision by eo lesias-
tical writers, it most frequently refers to the Church of the first tlir. e centuries. See < in tu h.
Primitive Doctrine. It is the opinion ol some persons that then- i- a •■primitive doctrine." indepen- dent oi Scripture, " always to be found somewhere in the Catholic traditions;" by which language, apparent- ly, they mean to teai h i ti.it the whole doctrine of the Church is not to he found in the Scriptures, nor yet in
the writings of the early father-: but they seem to sup- pose that some part of the oral teaching of the apostles
might, though in an unwritten form, be yet in the pos- Bession of the Church, so that the ( hurch might at any time declare a doctrine not opposed to Scripture, on \n bat is called the unanimous consent of antiquity, to have come down by successive oral delivery from the apos- tles. The opponents of such views consider that they are incapable of abiding the test of sober examination, because it i- not possible for us. at this distance of time from the days of the apostles, to know what they did or did not teach orally, or how far what they really did teach may not since have been corrupted. They eon- tend, therefore, that to the ancient apostolical writings alone can we look for that which is without doubt to be regarded as ancient apostolical teaching. See Doc- tkine; Tradition.
Primitive Methodist Connection is the name of a Wesleyan body of believers principally in England and the Mritish colonies.
I hiring the tirst decade of the present century stirring reports floated across the Atlantic of t lie power of God marvellously displayed in the camp-meetings of Amer- ica. The practice of holding religious services in the open air bad much declined among British Methodists, as in all the large towns and many of the villages they now had commodious chapel-, and the tidings of pen- tecostal gatherings in Western fore-ts renewed the memory of the days of Wesley and Whitelield. This renewed interest was increased by the visits of Lorenzo Dow to England and Ireland. On the threshold of this period, a young man of studious habits, named Hugh Bourne, was suffering intensely through an agonizing conviction of sin. From his sixth to his twenty-sixth year, be seldom went to bed without a dread of being in hell before morning : and morning brought him no relief, for he thought he would be in hell before night. He pursued his studies, year after year, with intense zeal, 'nut nowhere in his learning did be find saving knowledge. In 1799, when twenty-seven years of age, there fell in his way a volume containing the Life of Fletcher, some of Wesley's Sermons, AUeine's Alarm, and Baxter's Cattto tin Unconverted. In one of We.-ley's sermons be found " more real light than in anything else be bad ever read." It taught him that "opinion is not religion; . . . even right opinion is as distant from religion as east is from west." The time of his redemption drew nigh. A- he read Fletcher's letters mi the manifestation of the Sou of God, light Hooded his soul. He rapturously tells us. "I was horn in an instant; yea, passed from death unto life. ... I was tilled with joy. love, and glory, which made full amends for the twenty year-' Buffering." Soon after his Conversion be joined the Wesleyans. and zealously sought the salvation of the rough lumbermen who were in his employment. On May 31, 1807, Mr. Bourne, as- sisted by Messrs. William Clowes. Thomas Cotton, and others afterwards prominent in the Primitive Methodist Connection, held a camp-meeting at Mom Cap, a moun- tain on the border-line between Statl'ordshire and ( hesh- ire. Though the Connection did not really exist till three years later, this is looked upon as the initial point in its history, and its annalists delight to quote the
lines.
"The little cloud Increases still
Which first began upon Mow Hill."
The immediate spiritual results of this meeting more
than equalled the hopes ol its founders, and during the
following summer several meetings of a like character
were held ill the same neighborhood. The novelty of
these proceedings roused much opposition among the Wesleyan Methodists, who feared the rise of a fanati- cism that might throw ridicule on true religion : ami the
preacher- ol the surrounding circuits issued handhills
disclaiming all connection with the movement. At the next -e— mil of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference the
following resolution was passed : "It is our judgment that, even supposing such meetings to he allowed in America, they arc highly improper in England, and
PRIMITIVE METH. CONNECTION 593 PRIMITIVE METH. CONNECTION
likely to be productive of considerable mischief; and we disclaim all connection with them." This declared judgment of the conference had naturally much weight with the societies in general, and most of the leading Methodists held aloof from the camp -meeting move- ment. Bourne and a few others, however, held on firm- ly, having their meetings recognised by civil authority, and taking precautions for preserving order.
Matters now came to a crisis. The Church author- ities felt they could no longer bear with such contumacy, and Bourne and Clowes were expelled from the Connec- tion. The untrammelling of these men from Church bonds, so far from silencing them, had rather the effect of increasing their active zeal. At this time there lived in Cheshire an old man, named James Crawfoot, " noted as a man of extraordinary piety and faith." He believed himself called to the ministry, and had prayed and watched for the leading of Providence. In 1809 Hugh Bourne and his brother James hired him to preach in neglected places, for three months, at a salary of ten shillings a week. " This is generally looked upon as the commencement of the Primitive Methodist ministry." In the spring of 1810 several persons were converted in meetings held by Hugh Bourne, and formed into a class. " This class was offered to the Burslem Circuit (Wesleyan) ; but as they declined to accept them unless they pledged to sever their connection with Hugh Bourne, and as they respectfully declined acceding to this demand, their application was refused." Bourne then took it under his charge as a distinct society, and the formation of this class may be considered the birth of the Connection. The camp-meeting agency was now more extensively employed, and numerous soci- eties were formed. In September, 1810, there were 10 preachers, 13 preaching places, and 136 members. Next year the first general meeting was held, com- posed probably of preachers and leaders. This confer- ence resolved that money should in future be regularly collected in the societies, in order to meet the necessary expenses; " and if this should prove insufficient, recourse should again be had to the benevolence of private individ- uals. The two travelling preachers, Messrs. Crawfoot and Clowes, were to receive their salaries from the societies, and Mr. James Steele was appointed the circuit stew- ard, the first officer of that kind in the Connection." In 1812 the Connection, then employing 23 preachers, for- mally took the title of Primitive Methodist, and two years later a comprehensive body of rules was for the first time adopted. From that time till the present the increase of the denomination has been very rapid, being from 1851 to 1872, in the 108 towns of Great Britain, over 108 per cent.