60-518: The Brownists were a Christian group in 16th-century England. They were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England . They were named after Robert Browne , who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland , England , in the 1550s. The terms Brownists or Separatists were used to describe them by outsiders; they were known as Saints among themselves. A majority of
120-602: A Church of England parish church . Browne was offered a lecturer position at St Bene't's Church in Cambridge, possibly through Greenham, but his tenure there was short. Browne came to reject the puritan view of reform from within the Church, and started to look outside the established Church . In 1581, Browne had become the leader of this movement and, in Norwich , attempted to set up a separate Congregational church outside
180-569: A Grindletonian, and simultaneously in New England John Winthrop thought that Anne Hutchinson was one. The last known Grindletonian died in the 1680s. The Levellers was a political movement during the English Civil War that emphasised popular sovereignty , extended suffrage , equality before the law and religious tolerance . Levellers tended to hold a notion of "natural rights" that had been violated by
240-427: A charge against which they defended themselves by distinguishing fanaticism from "religion of the heart". The Familia Caritatis ("Family of Love", or the "Familists") were a religious sect that began in continental Europe in the 16th century. Members of this religious group were devout followers of Dutch mystic Hendrik Niclaes . The Familists believed that Niclaes was the only person who truly knew how to achieve
300-508: A major role in keeping the early Traskite congregations growing in numbers. Sunday Sabbatarianism became the normative view within the Church of England in one form or another. The Puritans were known to harbour First-day Sabbatarian views , which became well established in their successive Congregationalist Church , in addition to becoming entrenched in the Continental Reformed and Presbyterian churches, all of which belong to
360-436: A new church established by Christ upon his return could possess his grace and power to change them within. Their anticipation of this event was found in their practices. For example, Seekers held quiet meetings as opposed to more programmed religious services and as such had no clergy or hierarchy. During these gatherings they would wait in silence and speak only when they felt that God had inspired them to do so. Seekers denied
420-632: A new organisation but for profound theological reform for the existing churches. At the end of his life, he endured a rare Swedish heresy inquiry by the Swedish Lutheran Consistory. He died before it was concluded, and the Consistory shelved the inquiry without reaching a decision. Swedenborg's primary critiques of orthodox theology centred on the tri-personal constructions of the Trinity, the idea of salvation by faith alone , and
480-662: A personal God, and in many ways they resemble the Brethren of the Free Spirit in the 14th century. The Ranters revived the Brethren of the Free Spirit's beliefs of amoralism and followed the Brethren's ideals which "stressed the desire to surpass the human condition and become godlike". Further drawing from the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Ranters embraced antinomianism and believed that Christians are freed by grace from
540-784: A schoolmaster and, after 1591, a Church of England parish priest. He was much engaged in controversy with some of those who held his earlier separatist position and who now looked upon him as a renegade. In particular, he replied to John Greenwood and Henry Barrowe several times. He is buried in St Giles's churchyard, Northampton. The Brownist movement revived in London from around 1587, led by Henry Barrow and John Greenwood . Both were arrested in 1587 and kept in prison until their execution in 1593. They wrote numerous books of Brownist theology and polemic in secret during their imprisonment, which were smuggled out by their followers and printed in
600-469: A specific passage in the Book of Acts . The Diggers tried (by "levelling" real property ) to reform the existing social order with an agrarian lifestyle based on their ideas for the creation of small egalitarian rural communities. They were one of several nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around this time. Several Protestant sects of the 16th and 17th centuries were called Enthusiastic. During
660-720: A state of perfection, and his texts attracted followers in Germany, France, and England. The Familists were secretive and wary of outsiders. For example, they wished death upon those outside of the Family of Love, and re-marriage after the death of a spouse could only take place between men and women of the same Familist congregation. Additionally, they would not discuss their ideas and opinions with outsiders and sought to remain undetected by ordinary members of society: they tended to be members of an established church so as not to attract suspicion and showed respect for authority. The group
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#1732780942279720-598: Is now home to the Stamford Shakespeare Company . English Dissenters English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. English Dissenters opposed state interference in religious matters and founded their own churches, educational establishments and communities. They tended to see the established church as too Catholic , but did not agree on what should be done about it. Some separatists emigrated to
780-542: Is still very little dialogue between Anabaptist organisations (such as the Mennonite World Conference ) and the Baptist bodies. Baptist historian Bruce Gourley outlines four main views of Baptist origins: Henry Barrowe maintained the right and duty of the church to carry out necessary reforms without awaiting the permission of the civil power; and advocated congregational independence. He regarded
840-417: Is to bring the world to an end. Muggletonians avoided all forms of worship or preaching and, in the past, met only for discussion and socialising amongst members. The movement was egalitarian, apolitical, and pacifist, and resolutely avoided evangelism . Members attained a degree of public notoriety by cursing those who reviled their faith. The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in
900-783: The Cathari of France, and according to Thomas Fuller in his Church History, dated back to 1564. Archbishop Matthew Parker used "puritan" and "precisian" with the sense of stickler . T. D. Bozeman therefore uses instead the term precisianist in regard to the historical groups of England and New England . The Philadelphians, or the Philadelphian Society , were a Protestant 17th-century religious group in England. They were organised around John Pordage , an Anglican priest from Bradfield , Berkshire, who had been ejected from his parish in 1655 because of differing views, but
960-537: The Lord's Day (Sunday), the Seventh-day Sabbatarians challenged the church's day of rest being on Sunday rather than Saturday . Some Dutch Anabaptists embraced Sabbatarianism and may have helped to introduce these practices into England. In England, Seventh-day Sabbatarianism is generally associated with John Traske (1585–1636), Theophilus Brabourne , and Dorothy Traske (c. 1585–1645), who also played
1020-811: The New World , especially to the Thirteen Colonies and Canada . Brownists founded the Plymouth Colony . English dissenters played a pivotal role in the spiritual development of the United States and greatly diversified the religious landscape. They originally agitated for a wide-reaching Protestant Reformation of the established Church of England, and they flourished briefly during the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell . King James I had said "no bishop, no king", emphasising
1080-696: The Reformed tradition of Christianity . Additionally, the Moravian, Methodist, and Quaker denominations teach Sunday Sabbatarian views. The Seekers were not a distinct religion or sect but instead formed a loose religious society. Like other Protestant dissenting groups, they believed the Roman Catholic Church to be corrupt, which subsequently applied to the Church of England as well through its common heritage. Seekers considered all churches and denominations to be in error and believed that only
1140-444: The vicarious atonement . He revived an allegorical tradition of reading scripture, which he believed was composed in correspondences. He believed in a theory of symbolic values in the literal text, which could produce an inner sense wherein the individual could ascertain the new theology. [REDACTED] Media related to English Dissenters at Wikimedia Commons John Greenwood (Puritan) John Greenwood (1556 – 6 April 1593)
1200-529: The 1640s his works appeared in England, and English Behmenists developed. Eventually, some of these merged with the Quakers of the time. Böhme's writings primarily concerned the nature of sin , evil and redemption . Consistent with Lutheran theology, Böhme believed that humanity had fallen from a state of divine grace into a state of sin and suffering, that the forces of evil included fallen angels who had rebelled against God, and subsequently that God's goal
1260-495: The 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England. The designation "Puritan" is often used incorrectly, based on the assumption that hedonism and puritanism are antonyms: historically, the word was used to characterise the Protestant group as extremists similar to
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#17327809422791320-566: The Church of England, rather than separation from it. Certain denominations of Dissenter Christians gained prominence throughout the world, including the Anabaptists , Baptists , Methodists , Plymouth Brethren , Puritans ( Congregationalists ) and Quakers . In existence during the English Interregnum (1649–1660): Anabaptist (literally, "baptised again") was a term given to those Reformation Christians who rejected
1380-620: The Church of England. He was arrested but released on the advice of William Cecil , his kinsman. Browne and his companions left England and moved to Middelburg in the Netherlands later in 1581. There they organised a church on what they conceived to be the New Testament model, but the community broke up within two years owing to internal dissensions. His most important works were published at Middelburg in 1582: A Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie , in which he asserted
1440-721: The English government had other plans on the re-establishment of the Anglican Church, after the Catholic Mary 's reign, and these dissenters looked towards setting up a separate church. The first wave of separatism from the Elizabethan Church of England came in London after March 1566, when Archbishop Parker enforced strict adherence to the Prayer Book and 14 ministers were deposed from office. Some of
1500-535: The Interregnum. They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that four ancient monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman) would precede Christ's return. They also referred to the year 1666 and its relationship to the biblical Number of the Beast indicating the end of earthly rule by carnal human beings. In a sermon preached at St Paul's Cross on 11 February 1627, and published under
1560-585: The Netherlands, the most important being Barrow's A Brief Discoverie of the False Church . Dozens of other Brownists were imprisoned and many of them died in jail. After the execution of Barrow and Greenwood, the Brownist church was led by Francis Johnson . As a puritan minister, Johnson had been given the job of burning Brownist books, but kept one back for himself and was converted by it. To escape
1620-460: The New Birth, as well as after Entire Sanctification. The early Methodists were known by careful lifestyle, including wearing of plain dress , fasting on Fridays , devout observance of the Lord's Day , and abstinence from alcohol . The Muggletonians , named after Lodowicke Muggleton , were a small Protestant Christian movement which began in 1651 when two London tailors announced they were
1680-780: The Separatists aboard the Mayflower in 1620 were Brownists, and the Pilgrims were known into the 20th century as the Brownist Emigration. The Brownists were eventually absorbed into the Mennonite Church , while others joined the Baptist Church . There had been early advocates of a congregational form of organisation for the Church of England in the time of Henry VIII . It became clear that
1740-681: The Swedenborgian enthusiasts became disillusioned with the prospects for thorough Swedenborgian theological reform within their respective traditions. These left those churches to form the General Conference of the New Jerusalem, often called simply the New Church. Other Swedenborgian converts, such as Anglican John Clowes and Thomas Hartley, argued for remaining within existing traditions. Swedenborg did not call for
1800-536: The acts of justification , regeneration , and adoption . In the second work of grace, which Wesley taught could be bestowed instantaneously, the believer is made perfect in love, original sin is uprooted, and he/she is empowered to serve God with an undivided heart. Wesley taught that those who receive the New Birth do not willfully sin. Additionally, he taught that the second blessing—entire sanctification—was "wrought instantaneously, though it may be approached by slow and gradual steps". Growth in grace occurs after
1860-719: The development of the English Presbyterians, the English Unitarians and the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland . In the 18th century, one group of Dissenters became known as "Rational Dissenters". In many respects they were closer to the Anglicanism of their day than other Dissenting sects; however, they believed that state religions impinged on the freedom of conscience . They were fiercely opposed to
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1920-536: The effectiveness of external forms of religion such as the sacraments , water baptism and the Scriptures as a means of salvation . Many of them later became Quakers, convinced by the preaching of George Fox and other early Friends. The followers of Socinianism were Unitarian or Nontrinitarian in theology and influenced by the Polish Brethren . The Socinians of 17th century England influenced
1980-455: The experience of regeneration ; 5) an impulse to gather with others who had had this experience; 6) mission to those who had not yet had this experience. Additionally, Fox taught the doctrine of perfection —"spiritual intimacy with God and Christ, entailing an ability to resist sin and temptation". The Plymouth Brethren originated in Dublin in 1827. The Ranters were a sect in
2040-737: The fate of Barrow and Greenwood, the Brownists made an abortive attempt to settle in Newfoundland , before going into exile in Amsterdam. There the church was co-led by Henry Ainsworth and became known as the Ancient Church. Johnson and Ainsworth printed numerous works in Amsterdam which were smuggled into England. Another wave of Brownism resulted from Archbishop Richard Bancroft 's campaign against puritanism from 1604. John Robinson and John Smyth founded Brownist congregations in
2100-544: The hierarchical structure of the established church and the financial ties between it and the government. Like moderate Anglicans, they desired an educated ministry and an orderly church, but they based their opinions on the Bible and on reason rather than on appeals to tradition and authority. They rejected doctrines such as the original sin or Trinity , arguing that they were irrational. Rational Dissenters believed that Christianity and faith could be dissected and evaluated using
2160-559: The journey. Smyth's church joined the Mennonites , while a group of Baptists returned to London led by Thomas Helwys . Half of Robinson's church sailed on the Mayflower to New England. The Brownists are mentioned in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night , believed to have been written around 1600–02, in which Sir Andrew Aguecheek says, "I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician" (III, ii). The Browne family seat of Tolethorpe Hall
2220-565: The king's side in the civil wars. At the Putney Debates in 1647, Colonel Thomas Rainsborough defended natural rights as coming from the law of God expressed in the Bible. Methodism arose as a movement started by Anglican priest John Wesley , who taught two works of grace— (1) the New Birth and (2) entire sanctification . In the first work of grace, individuals repent of their sin and embrace Jesus as their saviour, accomplishing
2280-550: The last prophets foretold in the biblical Book of Revelation . The group grew out of the Ranters and in opposition to the Quakers. Muggletonian beliefs include a hostility to philosophical reason, a scriptural understanding of how the universe works, and a belief that God appeared directly on Earth as Christ Jesus. A consequential belief is that God takes no notice of everyday events on Earth and will not generally intervene until it
2340-598: The most radical led their followers in forming the London Underground Church , meeting in secret locations. From possibly a thousand members at its height, this movement shrank, through imprisonment and deaths, to a small group of members in Browne's days. He and Robert Harrison knew of the London church, but seem to have believed it had died. Robert Browne (d. 1633) was a student who became an Anglican priest late in life. At Cambridge University , he
2400-519: The necessity of obeying Mosaic Law . Because they believed that God is present in all living creatures, the Ranters' adherence to antinomianism allowed them to reject the very notion of obedience, thus making them a great threat to the stability of the government. Sabbatarians were known in England from the time of Elizabeth I. Access to the Bible in English allowed anyone who could read English to study scripture and question church doctrines. While First-day Sabbatarians supported practices that hallowed
2460-524: The newly emerging discipline of science, and that a stronger belief in God would be the result. A tradition that emerged at the end of the 18th century is the Swedenborgian church , which continues today in several branches around the world. It originated in London in 1780. Beginning as groups reading Emanuel Swedenborg , whose members were composed largely of Methodists, Baptists, and Anglicans, some of
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2520-456: The north of England and then led them to Amsterdam around 1608. This was the high point of the movement, with three sizeable Brownist churches, on good terms with each other, in one city. Smyth, however, broke away from Brownism to form the first Baptist church, Robinson responded by removing his church to Leyden , while Johnson and Ainsworth quarrelled with each other and formed congregations. Johnson took his faction to Virginia, but few survived
2580-611: The notion of infant baptism in favour of believer's baptism . It is generally assumed that during the Interregnum, the Baptists and other dissenting groups absorbed the British Anabaptists. Despite this, evidence suggests that the early relations between Baptists and Anabaptists were quite strained. In 1624, the five existing Baptist churches of London issued an anathema against the Anabaptists. Even today there
2640-625: The pages out of prison and their maid Cycely smuggling the books back in. He was formerly thought to have been at liberty in the autumn of 1588; but this was probably merely "the liberty of the prison." However, Greenwood was released in July 1592, after four years in the Fleet, and he was elected "teacher" of the underground church. Meanwhile, in 1590, Greenwood wrote "An Answer to George Gifford's pretended Defence of Read Prayers", which like much of his writing argued that prayer must be spontaneous, and even
2700-432: The right of the church to effect necessary reforms without the authorisation of the civil magistrate; and A Booke which sheweth the life and manners of all True Christians , which set out the theory of Congregational independence. Two men were hanged at Bury St Edmunds in 1583 for circulating them. Browne was an active Separatist only from 1579 to 1585. He returned to England and to the Church of England, being employed as
2760-744: The role of the clergy in justifying royal legitimacy. Cromwell capitalised on that phrase, abolishing both upon founding the Commonwealth of England . After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the episcopacy was reinstalled, and the rights of the Dissenters were limited: the Act of Uniformity 1662 required Anglican ordination for all clergy, and many instead withdrew from the state church. These ministers and their followers came to be known as Nonconformists , though originally this term referred to refusal to use certain vestments and ceremonies of
2820-494: The surviving Brownist church of Norwich. Around September 1585, Greenwood embraced Brownism, renounced this ordination as "wholly unlawful," resigned from All Saints, and travelled to London to join the underground church. Details of the next few years are lacking; but by 1586 he was the recognized leader of the London Separatists, of whom a considerable number had been imprisoned at various times since 1567. Greenwood
2880-478: The time of the Commonwealth who were regarded as heretical by the established Church of that period. Their central idea was pantheistic , that God is essentially in every creature; this led them to deny the authority of the church, of scripture, of the current ministry and of services, instead calling on men to hearken to Jesus within them. Many Ranters seem to have rejected a belief in immortality and in
2940-480: The title "The White Wolfe " in 1627, Stephen Denison, minister of St Katharine Cree in London, charged the 'Gringltonian [ sic ] familists ' with holding nine points of an antinomian tendency. These nine points are repeated from Denison by Ephraim Pagit in 1645 and Alexander Ross in 1655. In 1635 John Webster , curate at Kildwick in North Yorkshire , was charged before a church court with being
3000-469: The whole established church order as polluted by the relics of Roman Catholicism and insisted on separation as essential to pure worship and discipline. The Behmenists religious movement began on continental Europe and took its ideas from the writings of Jakob Böhme ( Behmen being one of the adaptations of his name used in England), a German mystic and theosopher who claimed divine revelation . In
3060-628: The years that immediately followed the Glorious Revolution , "enthusiasm" was a British pejorative term for advocacy of any political or religious cause in public. Such "enthusiasm" was seen as the cause of the English Civil War and its attendant atrocities, and thus it was a social sin to remind others of the war by engaging in enthusiasm. During the 18th century, popular Methodists such as John Wesley and George Whitefield were accused of blind enthusiasm (i.e., fanaticism),
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#17327809422793120-532: Was "none upon the earth" that could cure unbelief and sinfulness. The inward experience of Christ, confirmed by the Bible, was the foundation of the Religious Society of Friends. The following characterized the Quaker message: 1) an in-breaking of God's power; 2) a realization of how sinful the believer's life had been, how far it had fallen short; 3) the chance to repent and accept new life; 4)
3180-441: Was an English Separatist Puritan , or Brownist , minister who was executed for his faith. He led the London underground church from 1587 to 1593 and wrote several works of Brownist apologetics, working closely with Henry Barrow . Greenwood was born in 1556 in Heptonstall , West Riding, Yorkshire, England. He entered as a sizar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge , on 18 March 1577/1578, and commenced B.A. 1581. Whether he
3240-529: Was arrested but released on the advice of William Cecil , his kinsman. Browne and his companions moved to Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1581. He returned to England in 1585 and to the Church of England, being employed as a schoolmaster and parish priest. The Diggers were an English group of Protestant agrarian communists , begun by Gerrard Winstanley as True Levellers in 1649, who became known as Diggers due to their activities. Their original name came from their belief in economic equality based upon
3300-458: Was arrested on 8 October 1586, along with 20 others, when their service was raided in the house of Henry Martin in the parish of St Andrew-by- the Wardrobe, and held in the Clink prison . Greenwood was interrogated at the Newgate Sessions under the 1581 Recusancy Act, fined £260 and moved to the Fleet Prison . During his imprisonment he wrote some controversial tracts in conjunction with his fellow prisoner Henry Barrow , Mrs Greenwood smuggling
3360-468: Was considered heretical in 16th-century England. Among their beliefs were that there existed a time before Adam and Eve ; Heaven and Hell were both present on Earth; and that all things were ruled by nature and not directed by God. The Familists continued to exist until the middle of the 17th century, when they were absorbed into the Quaker movement. The Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men were Nonconformists who were active from 1649 to 1661 during
3420-468: Was directly influenced by the teaching of Robert Browne , a graduate of the same college, is uncertain; in any case he held strong Puritan opinions, which ultimately led him to Separatism of the most rigid type. In 1581 he was chaplain to Lord Rich, at Rochford, Essex. He had been made deacon by John Aylmer , Bishop of London , and priest by Thomas Cooper , Bishop of Lincoln . He was appointed Vicar of All Saints, Rackheath, in Norfolk, just five miles from
3480-465: Was influenced by Puritan theologians, including Thomas Cartwright (1535–1603). Browne became a Lecturer at St Mary's Church, Islington where his dissident preaching against the doctrines and disciplines of the Church of England began to attract attention. During 1578, Browne returned to Cambridge University and came under the influence of Richard Greenham , puritan rector of Dry Drayton . He encouraged Browne to complete his ordination and serve at
3540-450: Was then reinstated in 1660 during the English Restoration. Pordage was attracted to the ideas of Jakob Böhme. The Quakers began as a loosely knit group of preachers, many of whom had previously been Seekers. George Fox 's journal attributes the name "Quaker" to a judge in 1650 calling them Quakers "because I bid them tremble before the Lord". George Fox, often regarded as the father of Quakerism, taught that apart from Christ himself, there
3600-445: Was to restore the world to a state of grace. However, in some ways, Behmenist belief deviated significantly from traditional Lutheran belief. For example, Böhme rejected the concepts of sola fide and sola gratia . By 1580, Robert Browne had become a leader in the movement for a congregational form of organisation for the Church of England and attempted to set up a separate Congregational Church in Norwich , Norfolk, England. He
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