The Oxford Methodists

by L. Tyerman

To furnish an idea of the work of the Society in this department, it may be added, that, the Catalogue, when Broughton became Secretary, embraced, besides Bibles, Psalters, New Testaments, and Prayer-Books—1. Small books and tracts on the Holy Scriptures. 2. On the Church Catechism. 3. On the Christian Religion, Doctrine, and Practice. 4. On the Sacraments and Church Service. 5. On Education and Schools. 6. On Devotion. 7. Miscellanies. 8. On Confirmation. 9. On Particular Duties. 10. On Common Vices. 11. On Charity Schools. 12. On Popery. And, finally, on Enthusiasm, under which heading were two publications only, namely, Bishop Gibson’s “Caution against Enthusiasm,” and “An Earnest and Affectionate Address to the Methodists.” All the Bibles, books, and tracts were sold to the members of the Society at cost price. The number of the Society’s publications were about 160. The Treasurers were the Rev. Dr. Denne, Archdeacon of Rochester, and Rector of St. Mary’s, Lambeth; William Tillard, Esq., Holborn; and Benjamin Hoare, Esq., Fleet Street.

The number of Charity Schools, in London and Westminster, in 1744, were 136, containing 3119 boys and 1950 girls; and, since their establishment, 15,250 boys had been apprenticed, sent to service, or to sea, or had been taken out by their respective friends. Of the girls, 1658 had been apprenticed, and 6162 had been employed in domestic service, etc.[271] Besides those in the metropolis, there were, throughout the kingdom, 1703 other charity schools, in which were educated, and “inured to industry and labour,” 31,184 boys, and 4515 girls.

It must not be understood, that, these charity schools were supported by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge;[272] but the Society had promoted their establishment; and, to some extent, furnished them with books and tracts. Every year also, a sermon was preached, in London, under the auspices of the Society, at “the time of the yearly meeting of the children educated in the charity schools, in and about the cities of London and Westminster;” and all of these sermons (many of them exceedingly able) were published in the Society’s Reports. That, such Schools were needed, there can be no question. The following description is taken from the sermon preached by the Rev. Glocester Ridley, LL.B., in 1757, and is alarmingly true of the “London Arabs” now existing. Speaking of the outcast children of the metropolis, the preacher represents them, as, “A brood of miserable wretches in themselves, and noxious vermin to society; a kind of rational brutes, but worse than savages, being equally beasts of prey, but more mischievous, from their use of reason and resemblance of human kind. They may be the care, the admiration, the triumph of Infidelity; but every generous heart must grieve to see reason so disordered and human nature so in ruins.”

From what has been already written, an idea may be formed of the Society of which Broughton was the Secretary, from 1743 to 1777. It was a Bible, Prayer-Book, Religious Tract, Home and Foreign Mission, and Industrial Society, all in one. The present “British and Foreign Bible Society” was established in the year 1804; the “National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church,” in 1811; the Religious Tract Society, in 1799; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was long anterior to the oldest of these.

It had two kinds of members; 1. Those who gave annual subscriptions, lived in or near London, and were called Residing Members; 2. Corresponding Members, being persons, in Great Britain and Ireland, and other Protestant countries, who were chosen to correspond with the Society, on the state of religion in the places where they dwelt, to distribute the Society’s publications, and to remit any occasional benefactions, which they or their friends might be pleased to contribute. No one, however, was elected a corresponding member, who was not “well affected to his Majesty King George and his Government, and to the Church of England as by law established;” and who was not “of a sober, and religious life and conversation, and of an humble, peaceable, and charitable disposition.” The subscribing members were chiefly clergymen and bishops; including the following, who were often called Methodists, the Rev. Thomas Adam, Richard Conyers, Thomas Hartley, Henry Venn, and Vincent Perronet.[273] The last mentioned became a member as early as 1744. Among the few highly respectable lay-members, Sir John Thorold, an early friend of the Oxford Methodists, was the most munificent subscriber. The number of members altogether was, in 1767, upwards of 700; and the income, for that year, including a balance in hand, was £5580. In the same year, the Society sold, 3829 Bibles; 2281 New Testaments; 5416 Prayer-Books; 8902 other bound books; and 58,429 tracts. Of these, 1014 books and tracts were given to the Society, and 19,423 bought by it; the remainder, 58,420, were its own publications.

Such, then, was the Society of which Broughton was the chief manager. Its operations, comparatively speaking, might be small, but it had the honour of being the pioneer of some of the greatest movements of the present day. It distributed Bibles long before the British and Foreign Bible Society existed. The great Religious Tract Society was not formed until twenty-two years after Broughton’s death. Its Foreign Missions were few in number, but were important and successful; one of its missionaries being the celebrated Schwartz, who, as early as 1772, had five native assistants, and was held in such high esteem, by the Hindoos, among whom he laboured, that, the Rajah of Tanjore made him tutor to his son. In the education of the children of the poor, the Society deserves the utmost commendation, for it promoted the work when all others neglected it; and not only gave the children useful and religious instruction, but “inured them to industry and labour,” and prepared them to become useful subjects of the commonwealth.

Little is known of Broughton’s pulpit labours; and, though his parishioners at Wotton numbered not more than about 600, if they had any pastoral visitation at all, their visitor must have been, not Broughton himself, but, a curate employed by him. Five days every week were spent in the Society’s House, in Hatton Garden; Saturday and Sunday, Broughton reserved for other duties. Some will doubt the propriety of his holding the Wotton living, when most of his time was devoted to work, which prevented him residing among his people; and that is a fair subject for discussion. All that we are disposed to say, is, that, Broughton was, unquestionably, a conscientious man, and, though liable to mistakes, there cannot be a doubt, he acted for the best. Broughton had a large family,—fifteen children altogether, five of whom died in infancy; and his official salary was small, the entire payment, by the Society, for “rent, taxes, and salaries” to himself and a “messenger,” being, for the year 1767, not more than £290 8s. 9d. Was it surprising, that, with such a family and such a pittance, he was willing to accept preferment? It is true, when inducted into the Wotton living, he might have relinquished his secretarial office, and, perhaps, should have done; but, on the other hand, he, doubtless, felt that, as Secretary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, he had the opportunity of being far more extensively useful than he could be as a village clergyman, whose ministerial labours had to be confined to a population of six hundred souls. The two-fold position that he occupied is open to objection; but, without all the facts, for and against it, to pronounce a decisive judgment might be rash.

One thing is certain, Broughton’s secretaryship was not a sinecure. The supervision of the missions in India and Georgia; the continuous printing and publishing of Bibles, books, and tracts; the charity schools’ affairs; the publication of the annual Sermon and Report; and the correspondence with more than seven hundred subscribing and corresponding members, would find the Secretary quite enough of work, without the claims of Allhallows, Lombard Street, or the parishioners of Wotton, Surrey.

Two facts, connected with Broughton’s term of office, are too important to be omitted.

In 1743, when Broughton became Secretary, Wales was almost without Bibles, and the poverty of vast numbers of the people was such, that, it was impossible for them to buy them. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, becoming acquainted with this disgraceful fact, appealed to the public, without delay, for special contributions to publish a new edition of the Bible in the Welsh language, with the Common Prayer, and with the Psalms in Metre. The success of this appeal was such, that, the Society issued an edition, in 1748, of 15,000 copies; in 1752, a second edition of 15,000 Bibles, besides 5000 New Testaments, and as many Prayer-Books; and, in 1768, a third edition, with marginal references, of 20,000 copies. These copies of the Holy Scriptures were not given, but were sold at the lowest price possible.