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A BURNING AND A SHINING LIGHT
The Life and Ministry of William Bramwell
Dr Herbert McGonigle,
Chairman of the Wesley Fellowship, writes about
the one of Wesleyan Methodism’s greatest holiness
evangelists.
In the three decades following John Wesley’s
death in 1791, William Bramwell was the most
significant revivalist and holiness evangelist
in Methodism. From his leadership of the great
revival that broke out in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire
in 1792 until his untimely death in 1818, Bramwell’s
ministry was marked by fervent prayer, powerful
preaching, unremitting pastoral care of converts
and a clear and uncompromising emphasis on what
John Wesley called Scriptural holiness. At a
time when revival preaching was under scrutiny
among John Wesley’s preachers, and when
there was likewise some uncertainty about the
doctrine of entire sanctification, Bramwell’s
ministry was a model of faithfulness to Wesley’s
own practice and convictions. Jabez Bunting (1779-1858),
emerging as the dominant figure in Wesleyanism’s ‘high
church’ party, had little sympathy with
Bramwell’s ministry and made it clear he
would be delighted if Bramwell and his fervent
admirers left Wesleyan Methodism altogether.
By contrast when William Booth, a minister in
the Methodist Connexion Church, and his wife
Catherine, had their first son, born in 1856,
they named him Bramwell in honour of the great
evangelist. So who was this William Bramwell
who not only had passionate supporters and vocal
critics in his lifetime, but who continues to
receive both bouquets and brickbats from Church
historians and biographers to the present?
William
Bramwell was born in February 1759 at Elswick,
some ten miles from Preston in Lancashire. 1 His
parents were devoted members of the Church of
England and instilled into young William a deep
respect for God and spiritual matters. Following
his years of uninspiring schooling, he was apprenticed
to a currier in Preston. From his earliest years
he had shown great interest in serious religion
and for a while he was attracted by the claims
of the Catholic Church. In pursuit of spiritual
assurance he frequently cut his fingertips and
refused any healing ointments, believing that
this mortification would lead to greater spiritual
profit. Dissatisfied with his experiences of
the Catholic faith, he returned to the Church
of England and prepared himself with diligent
devotion for the service of confirmation. While
partaking of holy communion, he felt a clear
sense of his acceptance with God and almost immediately
afterwards began to witness to his newfound faith.
But after some time he lost the sense of assurance,
though to all who knew him well, his honesty,
uprightness and moral earnestness marked him
as an exemplary Christian. It was then that he
met another Preston man, Mr Roger Crane, a recent
convert of Methodist preaching and destined to
be a leading light in Lancashire Methodism. Bramwell
and Crane became firm friends in a friendship
that lasted their lifetimes. Crane was anxious
to introduce Bramwell to Methodism but Bramwell
refused to attend their meetings, knowing it
would distress his parents to hear that their
son was attending dissenting services. Eventually
he gave in to his friend’s invitations
and agreed to hear a Methodist preacher. He
was immediately captivated by the Methodist
spirit and enthusiastically joined the Society.
In late
April 1780 John Wesley visited Preston and
Bramwell was introduced to Methodism’s
founder. His biographer, James Sigston, recorded
what Bramwell later related to him about the
meeting.
Wesley looked attentively
at him and said, ‘Well,
brother, can you praise God’? Mr Bramwell
replied, ‘No, Sir!’ Mr Wesley lifted
up his hands and said, ‘Well, but perhaps
you will to-night.’ And so it came to
pass; for that very night he found the comfort
he had lost, and his soul rejoiced in the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. 2
Shortly after this meeting
Bramwell was appointed
a class leader and a local preacher. He set
up morning prayer meetings at 5 am which was
to be a feature of his work in the future.
Now a journeyman currier, he preached all over
the Fylde area with an undaunted passion to
save souls and no amount of threats or physical
attacks could check his ardent enthusiasm. He
battled in his mind over whether or not he had
a call from God to full-time ministry and on
at least one occasion spent thirty-six hours
in prayer as he sought to know God’s will. This preaching
ministry continued for about five years and many
converts were added to the Methodist Societies
as a result. One of his converts was a Miss Ann
Cutler, a handloom weaver, who was to become
an evangelist herself and established a reputation
in the annals of Methodism as ‘Praying
Nanny,’ a reference to her mighty exploits
in prayer. In subsequent years Bramwell would
ask Ann Cutler to come to his help with her prayer
ministry when he faced great difficulties in
a number of circuits.
Bramwell’s conviction that he now had
a call from God to enter full-time ministry was
confirmed when John Wesley appointed him to a
vacancy in the Liverpool circuit in 1785. He
preached there only a few months when his friends
in Preston implored Mr Wesley to let him return
home and continue the good work among them. Bramwell
returned to Preston, purchased a shop and a house,
took up again his part-time itinerancy and prepared
to marry one of his converts, Ellen Byrom. But
hardly had he settled in Preston before he had
repeated invitations from Dr Thomas Coke to give
up his business and become an itinerant preacher
in the Kent circuit. Bramwell’s response
was typical of his dedication to the work and
call of God in his life. He prayed long and hard
over Dr Coke’s invitation, consulted trusted
friends and then made his decision in the light
of what he believed to be God’s will. He
made arrangements for his business in Preston
to be taken care of, bought a horse and set off
for Kent. Bramwell’s devotion to God’s
work was simply without qualification. He would
go wherever he believed God was calling him,
and no circumstance or friendship or fear of
financial hardship could deter him.
When Bramwell
arrived in Canterbury in the winter of 1785
it was the beginning of thirty-three years
of itinerant ministry among the Wesleyan Methodists
in fourteen circuits, most in the north of
England. Before some attention is given to
Bramwell’s more notable ministries,
it is important to look at his spiritual experience
in Preston some time before he left for Kent.
While he was earnestly searching the Scriptures
to discover whether or not he was called to
full-time ministry, he became deeply convinced
about his personal need of the blessing of
entire sanctification. Referred to by Mr Wesley
as Methodism’s ‘grand
depositum,’ 3 and claimed by many of his
Methodist people, it was widely understood
to be the cleansing of the Christian’s
heart from all inner sin and the filling of
the heart with the love of God and man. In
the two decades following Mr Wesley’s
death, no Methodist preacher proclaimed this
blessing of ‘love
excluding sin’ more powerfully or passionately
than Bramwell. He recorded that he had sought ‘the
blessing,’ as it was commonly known,
many times, but then the Lord showed him he
was seeking it by works rather than by faith.
Being now convinced of my error, I sought it
by faith only.... When in the house of a friend
at Liverpool.... with my mind engaged in various
meditations concerning my present affairs and
future prospects, my heart now and then lifted
up to God.... heaven came down to earth; it came
to my soul. The Lord, for whom I had waited,
came suddenly to the temple of my heart; and
I had an immediate evidence that this was the
blessing I had for some time been seeking. My
soul was then all wonder, love and praise. It
is now about twenty-six years ago; I have walked
in this liberty ever since. 4
Bramwell went on
to say that he was immediately tempted not
to testify to what he had experienced for he
would surely lose it. Later that night he walked
to a preaching appointment and felt so filled
with the sense of God’s presence
that he knew he must tell the congregation
of this great work of grace.
I walked fifteen miles
that night and at every step I trod the temptation
was repeated, ‘Do
not profess sanctification, for thou wilt
lose it.’ But in preaching the temptation
was removed, and my soul was again filled with
glory and with God. I then declared to the people
what God had done for my soul; and I have done
so on every proper occasion since that time,
believing it to be a duty incumbent upon me.
For God does not impart blessings to his children
to be concealed in their own bosoms; but to be
made known to all who fear him and desire the
enjoyment of the same privileges. I think such
a blessing cannot be retained, without professing
it at every fit opportunity; for thus we glorify
God, and ‘with the mouth make confession
unto salvation.’ 5
In the past two centuries Methodism’s ‘grand
depositum’ has had much written both
for and against it. While this is not the place
to debate the subject, two facts are beyond
dispute as that doctrine related to William
Bramwell’s
life and ministry. First, all those who knew
Bramwell personally during his lifetime saw
in his purity of life, his humble walk with
God, and his utter devotion to a soul-saving
ministry, the evidences of a truly sanctified
man. Bramwell was an unashamed preacher of
John Wesley’s
doctrine of Scriptural holiness, and even those
fellow Methodists who later disagreed with
his revivalist methods did not question that
the doctrine found exemplary witness in the
preacher’s
own life. Second, Bramwell’s ministry
cannot be fully evaluated without giving attention
to the place this Methodist doctrine had in
his creed. Bramwell was wholly dedicated to
the purpose for which John Wesley had earlier
asserted that the Methodist preachers were
raised up; viz. ‘To
reform the nation, particularly the Church,
and to spread scriptural holiness over the
land.’ 6 For
Bramwell this teaching was an integral part
of the gospel and he preached and enforced
it throughout his ministry. It was particularly
prominent in the revival ministry which Bramwell
promoted. He was well aware that John Wesley
had made the same connection.
Where Christian perfection is not
strongly and explicitly preached there is
seldom any remarkable blessing from God and
consequently little addition to the Society
and little life in the members of it. …Till
you press the believers to expect full salvation
now, you must not look for any revival. 7
Between the years 1788 and 1791 Bramwell
served, successively, in the Blackburn and
Colne circuits. He had married Ellen Byrom
in July 1787 and their first son, George,
was born in September the following year.
William’s ministry in these
two circuits set the pattern for the years
to come. He organised early prayer meetings
wherever possible, faithfully visited every
home belonging to the circuit, preached incessantly
in the chapels and out of doors and exercised
everywhere a strict disciplinary oversight.
The careless were warned, the scoffers were
rebuked, the backsliders were implored to
turn back to God, and any professing members
who did not live according to the rules of
the Methodist Societies were put on trial
until they either altered their ways or left
the Methodists. Needless to say this strict
pastoral oversight did not meet with unanimous
approval but William Bramwell was not a man
to comprise his principles for fear of being
unpopular. What could not be argued against
was the increased Society membership and
attendance that followed his labours. He
rose early, prayed, studied, visited, preached,
admonished and encouraged the faithful and
such was his devotion to his people that
in the far-flung Colne circuit he was often
away from home five or six weeks at a time.
At the Conference of
1791, the year of John Wesley’s death, Bramwell was appointed
to the Dewsbury circuit. It was in this West
Yorkshire district that Bramwell witnessed the
first stirrings of what was afterwards designated
the Great Yorkshire Revival, and which also gave
him the tag of being a ‘revivalist.’ Before
Bramwell’s arrival, there had been a serious
split in the Dewsbury Society. The main Wesleyan
preaching house had been lost to John Wesley’s
former Book Steward, John Atlay, who broke away
from the Connexion, taking many of the people
with him and setting up an independent congregation.
The divisions had caused much bad feeling among
former friends, the Methodist witness in Dewsbury
was in disarray, and Bramwell was grieved to
find the spiritual temperature at a very low
level as a general atmosphere of apathy and suspicion
prevailed everywhere. ‘I could not find
a person,’ he wrote, ‘who experienced
sanctification and but few were clear in pardon.’ He
resolved not to have any conversation with anyone
about the divisions or who was at fault. The
loss of the preaching house was a small matter
to him compared to the challenge of seeing the
work revived in the circuit. Bramwell had much
personal experience in the power of prevailing
prayer and he gave himself to protracted intercession
every morning at five o’clock. Some idea
of the task facing Bramwell is conveyed by
the impression given by another preacher, John
Nelson, who came to Dewsbury in 1792.
Things were in a disagreeable situation,
which gave me great concern. Such was the
distance between Mr Atlay’s people
and ours, as I had never witnessed among
professors who retained any fear of God.
Disputes, hard speeches, and I fear backbiting
had soured the minds of many, and took the
time that should have been in prayer for
each other. I was exceedingly tried for the
appearance of the people under the Word,
and soon wished myself in some other place,
so ignorant was I of God. 8
Bramwell invited Ann Cutler to
come to Dewsbury and help him in the serious
work of prayer and visitation. Morning after
morning, week after week and month after month,
Bramwell and Cutler, in their separate quarters,
interceded for the cause of God in Dewsbury.
With prayer went regular house-to-house teaching
and instruction and strong preaching on the need
of new birth and entire sanctification. Bramwell
admitted that that first year was one of ‘hard labour and much grief,’ but
finally the great spiritual break-through came.
It began in a band meeting in November 1792 when
four members professed to have received the grace
of full salvation. Bramwell spoke of the assurance
he had received from the Lord, saying he received ‘an
answer from God in a particular way and had the
revival discovered to me in its manner and effects.’ This
seems to be the first time that Bramwell referred
to the work in Dewsbury as a ‘revival’ but
more controversial was the implication that the
Lord had somehow shown him what was going to
happen. Bramwell may have meant no more than
that he had a strong impression that great blessing
was coming on the work but it began to be suggested
by some of his closest friends that he was gifted
with something like ‘second sight.’ In
subsequent years those who did not like his revivalist
methods also criticised him for claiming he could
discern spirits and that God sometimes revealed
to him events that had not yet happened.
Now,
however, in late 1792, the situation in Dewsbury
began to change rapidly. Open confession of
past sins and cries for mercy characterised
many of the cottage and larger meetings and
everywhere the spirit of prayer seemed to have
been poured out upon the people. In a matter
of weeks, Bramwell reported, some sixty members
had claimed entire sanctification, many more
were spiritually quickened and many conversions
were reported. Love- feasts began to be crowded
and when the news spread of what was happening,
many people from neighbouring circuits began
to visit Dewsbury to see for themselves.
Whatever
is thought about revivals and however they
are to be described and accounted for, what
happened in Dewsbury under Bramwell’s
ministry was not without precedent. When his
account is compared with the Awakening in New
England in the mid 1730s under the preaching
of Jonathan Edwards, or the Cambuslang Revival
of the early 1740s during the preaching of
George Whitefield, there are striking similarities.
While the Dewsbury Revival could not be compared
with either of the other two in terms of the
numbers of people involved, yet all three of
them saw the same emphases and techniques.
Foremost was the overt soul-saving preaching,
the faithful pastoral visitation and exhortation,
the open confession of sin and cries for pardon
by the penitents and the reports of many finding
instantaneous answers to prayer in assurance
of their sins forgiven. What was exclusive
to the work in Dewsbury was the Wesleyan emphasis
on Christians seeking the grace of entire sanctification,
and Bramwell became convinced that this was
a prerequisite for revival everywhere among
the Methodist Societies. Neither should it
be thought that what happened in Dewsbury in
1792 and 1793 was something new among Wesleyan
Methodists. John Wesley himself carefully investigated
what came to be known as the ‘Otley Revival,’ also
in Yorkshire, in February 1760. Like the later
awakening in Dewsbury, the work in Otley began
with meetings for prayer for revival and a
strong emphasis on the need for the entire
sanctification among professing Christians.
In his recent research into what he aptly names ‘The
Methodist Pentecost,’ Dr Charles Goodwin
speaks of the Otley movement as ‘the
first Methodist holiness revival.’ Likewise
the awakening at Dewsbury was a holiness revival 9
and Bramwell’s
ministry would witness many such holiness/revivalist
awakenings in the next ten years.
After the
success in Dewsbury Bramwell was appointed
to the neighbouring circuit of Birstal in 1793.
He recorded that Ann Cutler had visited Birstal
some time before and her work there was fruitful.
Bramwell came to where revival had already
begun under the leadership of the two preachers
stationed there, Thomas Jackson and Robert
Smith. During his two-year stay in Birstal,
Bramwell preached and visited and exhorted
and disciplined as he had done in Dewsbury,
and in cottage meetings, love-feasts and Sunday
services, there were many who claimed to have
found their sins forgiven and even larger numbers
testified to the blessing of ‘a clean
heart.’ Mr
Thomas Pearson of Gomersal was a class leader
and he left an account of what happened when
Bramwell came to the circuit.
Mr Bramwell came to us full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost. His powerful preaching and
fervent prayers were so mighty, through faith,
that the stoutest hearted sinners trembled
under him. Before that time we had a partial
outpouring; but a mighty shower then descended
and the truth and power of God wonderfully
prevailed. My class soon increased to sixty
members, and all ranks and degrees of men began
to attend the preaching. Every place of worship
in the neighbourhood was crowded. Young persons
only ten years of age, were clearly awakened
and savingly convinced; this had such an effect
upon their parents that many of them were also
awakened and brought to God. 10
Membership statistics
for the Birstal circuit make interesting reading
for the years 1790 to 1797. In 1790 the membership
stood at 1266 and two years later it fell to
720. In 1793, the year Bramwell arrived in
Birstal, the membership was 820 but one year
later it had risen to 1300. The following year
the figure was 1400 but by 1797 it had fallen
again to 1070. This means that during Bramwell’s
two-year ministry there had been a near 60% increase
in membership. It can hardly be questioned that
this significant membership increase was directly
related to Bramwell’s
revival ministry and the extensive pastoral
oversight he conducted. Enthusiasm for this kind
of ministry and its apparent dramatic results
must, however, be tempered by the sobering fact
that in the two years following Bramwell’s
departure from Birstal, the circuit lost nearly
one quarter of its members.
This Methodist Awakening
in West Yorkshire was not confined to Dewsbury
and Birstal. Using the analogy of fire to describe
revival, as Charles Wesley had done some decades
earlier, it can be said that while the first
sparks were ignited in Dewsbury the resulting
conflagration spread widely. There were similar
scenes of spiritual awakening and revival phenomena
experienced in the Bradford, Wakefield, Otley
and Leeds circuits. One of the preachers stationed
in Leeds, Joseph Entwisle, recorded vivid eyewitness
accounts of the revival.
One meeting, held
about a fortnight ago [at Woodhouse], was remarkable.
A number of people were assembled in expectation
of a prayer meeting. It happened, however,
that none of the persons who exercise on such
occasions attended. After they had sat in silence
for a considerable time, a poor woman fell
upon her knees, and with an extraordinary loud
and bitter cry, pleaded for mercy. While she
continued crying, ‘God
be merciful to me a sinner,’ some
of the company went out, and called upon
one or two of the leaders, who came and
held a meeting, in which several were brought
into the liberty of the children of God. 11
Another account reads:
I preached at Woodhouse
at noon. Here the Lord is pouring out His
spirit in a very extraordinary manner. Almost
all the inhabitants of the village appear
to be under a religious concern. They have
been praying night and day most of the week,
generally continuing together from evening
till morning. As far as we can judge, great
numbers are flocking to Christ. 12
Entwisle recorded similar scenes at Scarcroft,
Harwood, Chapletown and Bellisle, all in the
Leeds circuit. But he had serious doubts about
some of the happenings he witnessed in Bellisle.
Our warm friends from Woodhouse were there:
they had gone beyond all bounds of decency,
such screaming and bawling I never heard.
Divided into small companies in different parts of
the chapel, some singing, others praying,
others praising, clapping of hands, etc. all was confusion
and uproar. I was struck with amazement and
consternation. What to do I could not tell.
However, as there appeared to be no possibility
of breaking up the meeting, I quietly withdrew.
They continued thus until five o’clock
in the morning. What shall I say to these
things? I believe God is working very powerfully
on the minds of many; but I think Satan,
or, at least, the animal nature has a great
hand in all this. 13
What had begun during Bramwell’s ministry
in Dewsbury in 1792 had spread to most areas
in West Yorkshire by 1795 and even farther afield
into East Yorkshire. Alexander Mather, one of
John Wesley’s most senior and respected
preachers, was stationed at Hull, and he
reported his experiences of the revival.
When we heard of the great outpourings of
the Grace of God upon the circuits of the
West Riding of Yorkshire, where hundreds,
even thousands have lately been awakened
and converted, a very earnest desire was
kindled in the heart of the people, especially
among the leaders, for a revival in our society. 14
The 1795 Conference appointed Bramwell to Sheffield
where the chapels had experienced much blessing
under the inspired leadership of Alexander
Mather. From the very beginning of his time
in Sheffield, Bramwell was to witness some of the
greatest movements of the Spirit he saw anywhere
in his entire ministry. Soon after his arrival
he wrote to a friend.
On the day appointed for thanksgiving,
the work broke out here in our chapel, at
the evening meeting. Many souls had been
previously set at liberty in the classes,
and at the prayer meetings; but on that night
there was a general outpouring of the Spirit.
We desired all in distress to come into the
vestry, when eight souls were delivered from
the bondage of sin. Eight more received pardon
on the Sunday. Monday was our love feast,
and near the close of it the power of God came
upon us. We concluded at the usual time, but
begged of all in distress to stay, and before
eight o’clock it appeared to many good
men, that more than twenty souls were delivered:
the work has gone forward every day since,
less or more. In two classes more than twenty
experienced salvation. I have had clear evidence,
and, to speak within bounds, I am persuaded,
of more than one hundred persons having found
liberty, in three weeks. 15
From Baslow he wrote
on November 19, 1795.
There is a revival in most
places, and in some of them it is a great one.
I preached here last night in a new chapel,
for the first time, when five persons received
the blessing of sanctification, and one rich
man found mercy. Congregations are uncommonly
large in almost every place. This revival,
if attended to and cherished, crowds our
chapels and houses wherever it takes place....
The last time I preached in Sheffield, I
had the happiness of seeing the large chapel
much crowded, and was told hundreds could
not enter. This has lately been the case
every Sunday morning. The good work still
proceeds. 16
A particularly important
part of Bramwell’s
ministry was his interest in all his helpers,
both itinerant preachers and local preachers
and class leaders. Attention has already been
drawn to his extraordinary pastoral concern for
the people under his care. He was no less concerned
to encourage and support all his colleagues in
the work of God and under his example and support,
the revival spread into every area where the
Methodist preachers were employed. Bramwell’s
letters show that his prayers and concerns spread
far beyond his own circuit and while in Sheffield,
he was rejoicing with his friends who were experiencing
revival in their own ministries. Speaking of
Bramwell’s work in Sheffield, his biographer,
James Sigston, summarised a remarkable three-year
ministry.
Mr Bramwell always employed the
talents of the local preachers, leaders
and others, in prayer; and they became
important helpers to him in every place.
The embers of love were kindled all around,
and when he revisited the Societies, he
found them ‘striving together for the furtherance
of the gospel.’ Opposition was broken
down, lukewarmness was destroyed, a holy
union was maintained, and the work of God
in the town and country broke out in a
flame of life, and power and zeal. Itinerant
and local preachers, with others, have
come to Mr Bramwell more than fifty miles
in search of the blessings of a clean heart....
Wherever he went, visible signs and wonders
ere wrought in the name of Christ: and
in the course of his first year in Sheffield,
twelve hundred and fifty members were added
to the Society! 17
It would be interesting
to follow the progress of William Bramwell’s
ministry as, for the next nineteen years,
he served in the following circuits; Nottingham,
Leeds, Wetherby, Hull, Sunderland, Liverpool,
Sheffield, Birstal, London West, Newcastle
upon Tyne, and, finally, Salford. Although
the spreading fires of the revival largely
died down by about 1797, yet in all the places
Bramwell laboured his ministry was blessed
with conversions, many members seeking entire
sanctification and the general building up
of the work. From Sheffield Bramwell moved
to the Nottingham circuit and one of his
colleagues wrote about his three-year ministry
there.
In 1799 I was again called to labour with Mr
Bramwell in the Nottingham circuit. Our chapel
in Nottingham was taken from us by the separatists;
in consequence of which, our preachers and people
were under the necessity of meeting in a barn
till another place of worship was erected in
the town. Here many souls were awakened and brought
to the knowledge of the truth.... Perhaps Mr
Bramwell, in all his travels, never witnessed
more glorious displays of the divine power, than
in this circuit.... The societies were united
and edified.... and their increase, during the
two years I travelled with Mr Bramwell, was about
one thousand persons. 18
As noted earlier, the Yorkshire
Revival, though it was not confined to Yorkshire,
began in 1793 and began to decline in about
1797. That coincided with the first major split
in Wesleyan Methodism when Alexander Kilham
and his followers siphoned off some 5000 sympathisers
into the newly formed Methodist New Connexion.
Undoubtedly the divisions and strong partisan
feelings engendered by this split did not further
the work of the revival but it is not easy
to determine exactly why this movement began
to wane in about 1797 and had generally disappeared
by about 1800. It may be that such was the
intensity of the emotions aroused by it that
it was impossible for it to continue beyond
four or five years.
A
contemporary sociologist, Dr Julia Werner,
has investigated the Yorkshire Revival and
came to the following conclusions about its
origin and nature. 19
- It
flourished where Methodism was well established.
- It broke out in areas of economic distress
- It
was promoted by a network of revivalist
preachers like William Bramwell.
- There was a desire
among the people for ‘the
work of the Spirit.’
- There was a
willingness to allow innovations in methods
and ministry.
- There were the means of
communicating the revival to other circuits.
It
would be interesting to ask what William
Bramwell might have thought about these six
sociological suggestions. Almost certainly
he would have argued that three very significant
constituents of the revival, as he understood
it, are missing from this assessment. First,
the work of the sovereign Spirit of God.
Second, the strong and clear preaching on
justification and sanctification. Third,
the prolonged and prevailing prayer that
characterised the revival in every place
where it caught fire. And a fourth might
be added - the diligent and exemplary pastoral
visitation, counselling and care that marked
all William Bramwell’s
ministry.
This re-appraisal has given
quite a bit of attention to Bramwell’s
leadership in the Yorkshire Revival and that
is justified by the recognition that the
years 1792 to 1800 were among the most important
in his entire ministry. Assessing his thirty-three
years as a Wesleyan Methodist itinerant preacher,
what were the characteristics of Bramwell’s
life and ministry?
First, his extraordinary
life of private and public prayer. One
of his biographers, C. W. Andrews, wrote: There is something
perfectly dumfounding about Bramwell’s praying.... Bramwell’s
daily prayers occupied several hours. Under special
circumstances, such as finding the circuit to
which he had been appointed in a low spiritual
condition me made colossal exertions in prayer.
When in Leeds he used to go now and then to Harewood,
staying with Mr Richard Leak. There was a wood
adjoining Mr Leak’s house, and
there Bramwell would bury himself in
prayer, becoming entirely oblivious of
he flight of time. Often he would pray
on, in a loud voice, for four hours. 20
Throughout
his entire ministry Bramwell’s
prayer life, both private and public,
was regular and impassioned. He encouraged
his colleagues in prayer, he normally called
for a season of prayer following the preaching
where penitents were welcomed to confess
their needs openly, and in every circuit
he served he organised early morning prayer
meetings and at other times as he believed
the situation demanded.
Second, his
faithful pastoral visitation. Some of the
more recent evaluations of Bramwell’s
ministry, usually drawing critical attention
to his ‘revivalism,’ have failed
to note the unwearied pastoral care he exercised
for all his congregations. In all the circuits
he served Bramwell set an example of diligent
house-to-house ministry. These were never allowed
to become occasions merely for social pleasantries,
but in every home Bramwell encouraged the family
to seek the Lord and always concluded with prayer.
Historians of 19th century revivalism have suggested
that Bramwell’s revivalist ministry anticipated
that of Charles Finney in America a few decades
later. This may account for the success that
Sigston’s biography of Bramwell enjoyed
in America, running to six editions in the first
twenty years of publication. However, this comparison
between the revivalist methods of Bramwell and
Finney does not take account of Bramwell’s
unceasing devotion to pastoral care and visitation
which was not paralleled in Finney’s ministry.
Third,
his forceful evangelistic preaching. First
and foremost, William Bramwell was a preacher
and it was not accidental that his only major
publication was a translation of a French
work on preaching which he entitled, The
Salvation Preacher. He did not preach merely
to confirm Christian doctrine or inform his
hearers - he preached always for a verdict.
Not only did he put much prayer into his
sermon preparation, he also put in careful
study of the Scriptures and related subjects
where appropriate. With hard labour he
acquired a very good working knowledge of
Hebrew and Greek but seldom quoted other
than the English text in the pulpit. His
sentences were generally short, the exposition
and the appeal were direct and forceful and
his hearers were left in no doubt about their
soul’s
salvation.
Fourth, his life of daily
personal discipline and the attention he
gave to exhortation, warning and discipline
throughout his ministry. Some of his contemporaries
thought that Bramwell was too strict and
too severe in his enforcement of discipline.
Certainly Bramwell was fully committed to
the regulations that John Wesley had drawn
up for his Societies. He believed that
the careless should be warned, the disobedient
should be disciplined and that all Society
members needed constant reminders to walk
humbly with the Lord. Bramwell dealt very
faithfully, lovingly and strictly with all
those under his pastoral care. He made it
clear that he believed this life is a preparation
for eternity and that chastisement is necessary
to enable Christians to be holy. Part of
a letter he wrote to a fellow Methodist preacher
in 1806 gives a sample of Bramwell’s plain
dealing in spiritual matters. This is the
time for your improvement. Give yourself entirely
to the work. Rise early. Continue in prayer,
in earnest prayer. Keep all your life, all
your zeal, yet never be wild…Go on
your way. Speak evil of none. Never debate about
the work. ‘Be a lamb dumb, open not your
mouth.’ Live in entire sanctification – all
your heart God’s throne. Never
grieve Him, or cause Him to depart from
you. Take care how you act toward women:
keep your eyes, your heart, from wandering.
Determine, if you need it, upon fasting.
Keep your body under. Be a man of God. 21
Fifth,
his
emphasis
on
the
doctrine
of
entire
sanctification.
On
Bramwell’s arrival in
a new circuit, he first enquired how many members
professed the blessing of Christian holiness.
He came to the conclusion that where this privilege
was not constantly and strongly preached and
encouraged, the whole work of God tended to fall
into spiritual apathy. When the first sparks
of the Yorkshire Revival were ignited, Bramwell
identified them among a number who sought and
testified to entire sanctification. He preached
the blessing incessantly to all the Society members,
for as far as he was concerned, it was not merely
a Methodist doctrine, it was Scriptural teaching.
Writing in December 1807 to his friend, and later
biographer, James Sigston, he noted: ‘I
am certain the Doctrine of Entire Sanctification
is upon the decline, and, if not enforced, will
produce a declension in the work amongst the
people.’ 22 Bramwell’s own promulgation
of this doctrine was enthusiastic and
on going. From the pulpit, in class and
band meetings, in counsel, conversation
and letters, he promoted Scriptural holiness
over the land.
At the 1817
Conference he was appointed to the Salford
circuit. He attended the 1818 Conference
that convened in Leeds, and ended on Wednesday
evening, August 12. He stayed with his long-time
friend, James Sigston, and on the Thursday
afternoon he left Sigston’s house to catch the coach
to Manchester. A few yards down Woodhouse Lane
he collapsed with apoplexy and died almost immediately.
He was fifty-nine years of age. With his passing,
there passed also the greatest exemplar of revivalist
holiness preaching in Wesleyan Methodism in the
generation after John Wesley’s death.
The Methodist Magazine for 1818 recorded: Deep humility, ardent love to God and compassion
for the souls of men perishing in sin appeared
uniformly in his whole spirit and conduct. In
every circuit where this holy man laboured, he
had seals to his ministry. He was eminent for
the possession of every Christian grace, and
the practise of every Christian duty.... As a
minister his talents were respectable, and his
usefulness seldom equalled, perhaps never surpassed.
Thousands of his spiritual children have, no
doubt, hailed him on the blissful shore, and
thousands are left behind to deplore the loss.
Neither
among his contemporaries
or subsequent biographers
has Bramwell’s loyalty
to Wesleyan Methodism been questioned in
relation to theology and doctrinal conviction.
William Bramwell was ardently a Wesleyan
in his interpretation of the Christian
faith and no preacher proclaimed and explained
those doctrines more passionately than
he did. In three other areas, however,
serious questions were raised in his lifetime,
and since, about his loyalty to the Wesleyans.
These three areas of concern were:
- in relation to the Kilhamite secession
in 1797
- his sudden departure from his Leeds circuit
in 1803 and the time he spent with the
Manchester ‘Band
Room’ revivalists
- his alleged scheme to bring together
the various revivalist groups under his
leadership.
These three areas were
linked in overlapping interests. Bramwell
feared that the authority and influence
of the Wesleyan Conference gave too much
ecclesiastic power to the preachers at
the expense of the lay people. Side by
side with this was what he perceived to
be a hardening of Wesleyan ecclesiology
against revivalism and revivalists, and
he was persuaded that this would result
in a lessening of evangelistic effort in the
circuits and therefore less soul winning. These
concerns lay at the heart of the three disputes
where some of his colleagues questioned his
denominational loyalty.
The Kilhamite Secession:
When Bramwell was
appointed to the Sheffield circuit in 1795
it was the centre of the agitation that
eventually led to Alexander Kilham’s
expulsion from the Wesleyan ministry
by the 1796 Conference. There had been a furious
pamphlet war for the previous two years when
Kilham bombarded the circuits with publications
that complained about the autocracy of the
Conference and claiming that lay people had
no voice or representation in Methodism’s
ecclesiological structures. Although Bramwell
was not overtly involved in either side of
the conflict, there is no doubt that he had
warm sympathies for Kilham. Part of the problem
in assessing his response to this crisis is
that, by his prior direction, all his papers
were destroyed at his death. Kilham’s
biographer, writing forty years later,
was convinced that Kilham had every
expectation that Bramwell, and some
of his closest colleagues, would
join him. 23 One of those colleagues
was Henry Taylor, and in a letter
to Kilham from Sheffield, dated 11
May 1797, he spoke in conspiratorial
tones.
Mr Bramwell is now in
the room with me, and what I now
write you must consider as coming
from both of us. We want to see
you, and indeed we must see you here as
soon as possible, and we intreat you, let
every other plan give place to this. Your
visit to us must be without any person,
directly or indirectly, knowing anything
about it; the nature of the business requires
this secrecy… You must keep the matter
from all your friends here, and from every one… When
you have fixed on the night, send me a private
letter, and meet us the next morning by four
o’clock. Our business we
think of such importance that we
wish to see you before our district
meeting at Leeds, the 24th instant. 24
Kilham read this letter
as a promise of Bramwell and Taylor’s
support and he left for Leeds to meet them.
He recorded:
I met Mr Taylor and early
the morning after I had a secret
interview with him and Mr Bramwell.
They both spoke freely on the necessity
of a reform, and deemed determined
to have this effected or leave
the Connexion. I saw the paper
they had written on Church government,
and dictated some alterations which
had their approbation. They both
appeared timorous, but if their
professions are deserving of credit,
they are determined to have a reform
at all events, or risk the consequences.
I preached several times to large congregations
with much satisfaction; many persons seem resolved
to have a redress of grievances, and appear confident
that their preachers at Sheffield would either
see this effected or separate from the Conference.
Nevertheless I found much reasoning in my own
mind on the conduct of Messrs. Bramwell, Taylor
and Emmet -–they appeared so exceedingly
afraid of the higher powers. 25
In his biography of Joseph Benson,
James MacDonald recounts what happened
at Leeds when the Wesleyan preachers
met. In his role as Superintendent,
Benson recounted.
For a time they all seemed united
in love to each other and determined to labour
together in harmony. But upon the 25th it was found
that Mr H.T. and Mr W.B. had determined
that should the Conference not comply and adopt
their Rules, they would separate from
their brethren. Mr B. who, however erroneous
in some of his views, was a man of eminent piety,
said, ‘They
had drawn up Rules for a separate
Connexion; not having intended to unite
with Mr Kilham on the one hand, or the
Conference on the other; that they had
communicated this to several Local Preachers
and others, who had promised to stand by
them, and that they had come to the District
Meeting with a view to separate if
we did not comply with, and adopt their
Rules.’ 26
Benson went on to say that while he believed that Bramwell
and Taylor had agreed with ‘the
utmost sincerity’ to continue to work with
the their Wesleyan colleagues, yet ‘the
destructive fire of contention at Sheffield,
which, if not kindled by them, they supplied
with abundance of fuel.’ In his Memoir
of the Rev. Charles Atmore, John Stamp maintained
that Kilham was encouraged ‘in his divisive
speculations’ by the preachers stationed
at Sheffield, particular Bramwell and Taylor. 27
Kilham’s biographer notes that
Bramwell and Taylor were chief among
the preachers that Kilham had relied
on to join him, following the support
and encouragement they gave him.
Although
the evidence that remains is not
fully conclusive, there can be little doubt
that William Bramwell had promised his support
to Alexander Kilham. The Rules that Bramwell
drew up were approved by Kilham and there
is every reason to believe that Bramwell
determined that if the Wesleyan Conference
did not accede to these demands, then he
would either join Kilham or set up his own
connexion. So why, in the end, did
Bramwell not go in either direction? It looks
very much as if Bramwell, at the point of
crisis, lost his nerve about leaving his
own connexion. He was unsure about the future
of Kilham’s
dissidents and he lacked the courage to follow
his conviction s and set up his own independent
ministry. Perhaps the kindest construction that
can be put on the whole episode is that when
push came to shove, Bramwell concluded that he
could effect more reform by staying in the ranks
of the Wesleyan Methodists.
Bramwell and the Revivalists:
In
the closing years of the 1790s, groups
of revivalists began to form in various Wesleyan
circuits, mostly in the north of England.
These revivalists were members of their local
Methodist societies but their enthusiastic
revivalist conduct in prayer and worship
and singing alienated many of their former
friends. Many of these revivalists were Bramwell’s converts and soon he was
being regarded as their leader. Two of the most
prominent of these groups were found in Leeds
and Manchester. What they had in common was some
local charismatic lay leader, a love of noisy
and extravagant prayer and worship and a growing
independence from the rules that governed the
Wesleyan Methodist Societies and particularly
the ministry and authority of the appointed Preachers.
The acknowledged leader in Leeds was a schoolmaster,
James Sigston, a friend and firm supporter of
Bramwell and later his biographer. Criticised
for his refusal to adhere to Methodist rulers
and disciplines, he left and Wesleyans, followed
by some three hundred supporters. They met for
worship in the Assembly Rooms in Kirkgate and
their style of worship earned them the epithet,
the Kirkgate Screamers. 28
In Manchester a draper,
John Broadhurst, joined the Wesleyan
congregation in Oldham Street. He supported
revival prayer groups and evangelistic efforts
that resulted in five new congregations being
formed between 1795 and 1798. One of these,
in North Street, was known as the ‘Band
Room’ and it soon became a recognised centre
of revivalism. Sigston wrote that its meetings
were ‘eminently owned of God to the conversion
of hundreds. The doors, however, were so wide
as to admit all who wished to enter in; to this
the preachers objected and their strenuous efforts
to enforce discipline caused a division in the
society in 1806.’ 29 A different estimate
was given later by Jabez Bunting’s son.
He described Broadhurst and his supporters as ‘more
zealous than wise, and gathered round them a
number of good but ignorant persons, who pursued
the most unlikely means for promoting serious
religion whether in their own or other hearts.’ 30 It
is certainly ironic that Jabez Bunting, later
so strongly opposed to Bramwell, Sigston and
the whole revivalist movement, should have preached
his trial sermon in Manchester’s Band Room,
after having spent some years in Sigston’s
academy in Leeds.
Bramwell was appointed
to Leeds for a second time, in 1801, and
quickly identified himself with the revivalist
movement. Among his fellow preachers there
were serious doubts about his loyalties.
His near-defection to the Kilhamites four
years earlier was not forgotten and this
suspicion was reinforced by his close association
with James Sigston and the Kirkgate
Screamers. During his second year in Leeds,
Bramwell was in deep distress of spirit as
he believed there was a conspiracy against
him in the circuit. One of his closest friends
was accused of immorality and although Bramwell
was convinced of his innocence, he was removed
from the society. Bramwell wrote to a friend. ‘I am quite ignorant at the
present why the Lord has kept me here. Things
are low indeed in this circuit, and means must
have been used to make them as they are… I
must in a few weeks, if spared, strike home and
leave the whole to God. I see hell will rise
but our God is almighty.’ 31 Soon after this
Bramwell left Leeds without any explanation and
fled to his revivalist friends in Manchester.
Two of the Leeds preachers came to Manchester
in search of Bramwell but could not find him.
In the July District Meeting Bramwell’s
absence was discussed but lack of evidence meant
that no action was taken and the situation was
referred to the Conference, soon to meet in Manchester.
The
Conference re-admitted Bramwell,
much to the dismay of Bunting and the other
preachers who distrusted him and his revivalist
friends. He was appointed to Wetherby and
continued as a Wesleyan preacher until his
death in 1818. Bramwell’s flight to
Manchester was probably occasioned by the
depression he felt as he faced the opposition
and distrust of some of the preachers and
leaders in Leeds. In Manchester he was encouraged
by John Broadhurst to become the
leader of the revivalist groups in Manchester,
Leeds and Macclesfield. Bramwell had much
sympathy with these revivalists and they
would certainly have welcomed him as their
popular leader. But again Bramwell hesitated,
just as he had done in relation to
the Kilhamite division seven years earlier.
His love of prayer, evangelism and revival
methods attracted him to the Revivalists
but he could not bring himself to make a
formal separation from his own connection.
The written evidence that survives
suggests that his depressed spirit in Leeds
drove him to find shelter and comfort and
understanding among John Broadhurst’s
Band Room Ranters.
When the depression passed,
Bramwell returned to the Wesleyan ranks.
When the 1803 Conference received him back,
although a vocal minority strongly objected,
it gave Bramwell the assurance he
needed. We can only guess that deep down
this good man felt assured that his remarkable
pastoral and revival ministry was more likely
to bear permanent fruit when exercised in
the ranks of Wesleyan Methodism, rather than
in the uncertain future of either the Kilhamite
sessionists or the Revivalist Ranters. All
in all, Bramwell’s
life and ministry was a living demonstration
of the Spirit of Christ indwelling
a believer. The doctrines of grace that Bramwell
preached so passionately, particularly the
doctrine of entire sanctification, found
living embodiment in the preacher’s
life. What Jesus said about the life and
ministry of John the Baptist is not out of
place when applied to William Bramwell. ‘He
was a burning and a shining light’ (John
5:35).
Revd
Dr Herbert McGonigle
Senior Lecturer in Historical Theology
and Wesley Studies
Nazarene Theological College
Manchester
England
HMcGonigle@nazarene.ac.uk
top
References
1. Biographical
details from J. Sigston, Memoir
of the Life and Ministry of Mr William
Bramwell (1846).
2. Op. cit. p.16.
3.
J Wesley, Letters (1931) 8:238.
4. Sigston, p. 21.
5. Op. cit.
6. J Wesley, Works, 8:299.
7. J Wesley, Letters (1931) 4:321.
8. V. Ward, A Memoir of the Rev. John
Nelson (1838) p. 27.
9. C Goodwin, Methodist
Pentecost: The Wesleyan Holiness Revival
of 1758-1763 1739-1818 (1996), p.
1.
10. J Baxter, ‘The Great Yorkshire Revival,’ A
Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 7
(1974), p. 52.
11. W . Entwistle, Memoir of the Rev.
Joseph Entwistle, fifty-four years a Wesleyan
minister (1848) p. 128.
12.
Op. cit. p. 131.
13. Op. cit. p. 111.
14. J. Baxter, op. cit.
p.53.
15. J. Sigston, op. cit.
p. 68.
16. Op. cit., Vol. 2 p. 4.
17. Op. cit. pp. 55-56.
18. Op. cit. p. 83.
19. J S Werner, The Primitive Methodist
Connexion Its Background and Early History (1984),
p. 44.
20. C W Andrews, William Bramwell Revivalist (1909),
pp. 47-52.
21. J Sigston, op. cit. p.
105.
22. J Sigston, op. cit.
p. 117.
23. Life of the Rev. Alexander Kilham (1838),
p. 317.
24. Op. cit.
pp. 318-319.
25. Op. cit. p.
319.
26. J Macdonald, Memoirs of the Rev Joseph
Benson (1822), p. 310.
27. WMM (1845),
pp. 434-437.
28. C Dews, Methodism in Leeds from 1791
to 1861 (unpublished MPhil thesis,
2 Vols. 1984), 1:330-333.
29.
J Sigston, A
Brief Memoir of Joseph Woolstenholme (1846),
p. 3.
30. T P Bunting, The Life of Jabez Bunting (1887),
1:96.
31. J Sigston, op. cit.
p. 99.
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