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From: "Colleen" <>
Subject: Re: Great Wigborough
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 00:06:05 +0100
References: <BAY4-F36E67G7lUVu7p00027d71@hotmail.com> <00c301c35d75$a8673a00$0376e150@dlamb> <002a01c35def$deb55ae0$68790650@w966300019> <002701c360bd$e8b0eb60$247be150@dlamb>


Thanks for that very clear explanation David, now the very broad catchment
area of the Great Wigborough Dissenters church - a tiny church in a one
horse village at the back of beyond - makes much more sense. I think you're
right about my Dices too.

Colleen

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lamb" <>

>
> One or two possible reasons came to mind as to why Protestant Dissenters
> from other places should have been christened at Great Wigborough.
> Legislation under the later Stuarts (Charles II and following) could be
one
> reason. In 1662, the Act of Uniformity insisted that all clergymen should
> give their full assent to, and make exclusive use of, the Book of Common
> Prayer. To quote from "Sketches from Church History" by S. M. Houghton
> (published by Banner of Truth Trust, ISBN 0 85151 317 4): "Not far short
of
> 2,00 clergy were unable to do this with a good conscience, and they were
> driven from their livings into Nonconformity, often called Dissent." Then
> in 1664 the Conventicle Act forbade gatherings of more than 5 people for
> worship where the Book of Common Prayer was not used. The following year,
> 1665, came the "Five Mile Act", which forbade men ejected under the Act of
> Uniformity to come within 5 miles of a city or corporate town. Great
> Wigborough is about 7 miles from Colchester, its nearest corporate town,
and
> almost 50 miles from London, its nearest city. It could be that people
who
> were Nonconformists were forced to travel long distances, and join a
church
> far from their homes. That was certainly the case here in Devon, where
> Newhouse Baptist Church, which celebrated its 350th anniversary last year,
> had members in the early part of its history who would travel many miles,
> even from Exeter, 25 miles away. The Newhouse chapel is situated on the
> Blackdown Hills, over 7 miles from the nearest town of Honiton. But back
to
> Great Wigborough. If the baptisms you refer to were later than the later
> Stuarts, the reason could be that some people joined that church, rather
> than one nearer to their homes, because of a particular doctrinal stance
> taken by that church.
>
> Non-conformist churches don't run on a parish system, so a Non-conformist
> would look upon the church of which he or she is a member as "their own
> church", regardless of whether it was the closest to their home address.
I
> have no idea how strict or otherwise the church at Great Wigborough may
have
> been, but it's perhaps worth bearing in mind that people who joined such a
> church did so because they wished to - the legislation referred to before
> would have made it unlikely that anyone would have joined a Non-conformist
> church on a whim. As far as Congregational or Independent churches were
> concerned, although each local church was independent, most if not all
would
> have agreed with the Savoy Declaration of Faith (1658). Amongst other
> things this stated:
>
> "Such reforming churches as consist of persons sound in the faith and of
> conversation becoming the gospel, ought not to refuse the communion of
each
> other, so far as may consist with their own principles respectively,
though
> they walk not in all things according to the same rules of church-order."
>
> This statement at least implies that it would be unlikely that a
> Congregational church would be "very strict or restrictive".
>
> I imagine the DICEs you refer to came much later, as Methodism (as a
> separate denomination from the Church of England) did not come into being
> until after the death of John Wesley in 1791. I notice that you only say
> they attended the Congregational Church at Tiptree - perhaps they were not
> members of it, but went there for convenience, or after a falling-out with
> their Methodist minister. The famed Victorian preacher, Charles Haddon
> SPURGEON came from a Congregational family. His grandfather was a
> Congregational minister, and his father, who had a business in Colchester,
> preached regularly at the Congregational Church at Tollesbury, usually
> taking his son Charles with him. One winter's day, the snow was so bad
that
> Charles's mother said to him, "You cannot go to Tollesbury. Therefore you
> had better go to the Primitive Methodist Chapel." (in Artillery Street,
> Colchester). It was at that service that Charles was converted, but he
went
> on to become a Baptist preacher and pastor. I am almost certain that his
> family did not look upon him as a "black sheep" because of this.
>
> I'm afraid I have been able to provide nothing definite, but hopefully I
may
> have suggested one or two pointers. If you would like further details of
> anything I have written, just contact me off list.




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