Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

In Dr Woodward’s account of the rise of these societies in London there isreference to a stirring sermon by Dr Anton Horneck at the Savoy Chapel.Horneck was a German who studied theology at Heidelberg University andcame to London in 1661. He became an Anglican, a member of Queen’sCollege, Oxford, and in 1670 Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral. The next year hebecame a Chaplain to King William III and a preacher at the Savoy Chapel. He iscredited with being among the first in London to organise young men of thechurch into groups for weekly prayer and spiritual exhortation, and wastherefore a chief instigator of the Religious Societies.One of the most famous of the spontaneous societies was the one founded atEpworth Rectory in 1701 by the Reverend Samuel Wesley, father of John andCharles. His wife, Suzannah, ran what was virtually a society in the kitchen ofthe Rectory. Little wonder that it could be said that ‘John Wesley was bornwith religious societies in the blood,’ 70 and that he carried the idea into OxfordUniversity. There the society, dubbed by his contemporaries at the Universitythe ‘Holy Club‘, influenced a whole cohort of earnest young men, many ofwhom were influential as leaders in the Evangelical Revival.Later, on their return to England in 1738 from Georgia, where their attempts tostir holiness in the hearts of the settlers and in their own hearts had largelybeen a failure, the Wesleys found themselves drawn into helping to found asociety in Fetter Lane, off Fleet Street. It was at a similar and nearby societymeeting that John Wesley found assurance of faith, salvation and peace withGod. This society in Nettleton Court, off Aldersgate Street, not far from StPaul’s Cathedral, was founded by James Hutton, who was later to become aMoravian.The concept of the Religious Society gave rise to the founding of societies withspecific objectives. The Reformation of Manners was formed from 1691 to tryto enforce the laws against profanity, drunkenness and sexual immorality.Others were founded for the distribution for Christian literature at home andabroad, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) in 1698 and theSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), to givespiritual provision in the growing numbers of colonies and trading stations andto take the Gospel to native populations, in 1701.70Evans, Eifion, Daniel Rowland and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales, TheBanner of Truth Trust, 1985, p 80.Page 108