Solent Gospel Partnership The Earl of Shaftesbury 1801

Solent Gospel Partnership The Earl of Shaftesbury (1801 -1885) A case study in conservative evangelical social concern Revd Dr Richard Turnbull 12 th March 2012

Solent Gospel Partnership Shaftesbury’s Evangelicalism • Theology of mission • Shaftesbury and the missionary societies • Shaftesbury and the London City Mission • Shaftesbury’s theology of social action

Solent Gospel Partnership Shaftesbury’s theology of mission • Centrality and authority of Scripture • Evangelical Catholicity • Lay agency • Eschatology and the unity of body and soul

Solent Gospel Partnership “Let us then as Protestants, stand by that which alone was the pillar and ground of truth – the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. ” The Record, 16 May, 1839

Solent Gospel Partnership “such will be the religion of the future, in which Vishnu, Mahomet, Jupiter and Jesus Christ will all be upon a level. ” Diaries, 18 th March, 1868.

Solent Gospel Partnership “One important view of the Society is, that it is catholic in character – catholic in all its operations; that it enables us to form in these realms, in times of singular distress and difficulty, a solemn league and covenant of all those who ‘love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, ’ that it shows how, suppressing all minor differences, or treating them as secondary, members of the Church of England Nonconformists may band together in one great effort, not only of resistance to, but, I hope, of aggression on , Popery and Satan. ” Bible Society Annual Meeting, 1851

Solent Gospel Partnership “…put all that aside, and let all establishments and all distinctive Churches sink into the ground, compared with the one great effort to preach the doctrine of Christ crucified to every creature on the earth, to every creature that can be reached on this habitable globe. ” LCM Annual Meeting, June 1863.

Solent Gospel Partnership “I hold myself to be, and I hold all my brethren to be, Lay-agents. ” CPAS, Abstract, 1850

Solent Gospel Partnership “We want men, not churches. ” How true! I have known many churches without congregations, but I never knew a pious congregation which did not desire, and soon obtain, a place of worship. ” CPAS, Abstract, 1873.

Solent Gospel Partnership “A living agent may save the church: the multiplication of cathedrals will rather tend to sink it. ” CPAS, Abstract, 1879.

Solent Gospel Partnership Eschatology • Historicist premillennialism • Futurist premillennialism (dispensationalist) • Gradualist postmillennialism • Amillennialism

Solent Gospel Partnership “The time is coming when matters will not be measured by the talent, or the ability, or by fine clothes, or by power to speak, or by being on platforms, or by listening to those upon platforms; but the time is coming when matters will be measured by those who have the truest faith, the deepest love, and the most sincere acts of obedience to their Lord and Saviour, and most devoted and strong imitation of his blessed example. ” RSU Magazine.

Solent Gospel Partnership “I am now looking, not to the great end, but to the interval. I know, my friends, how great and glorious that end will be; but while I find so many persons looking to no end, and others rejoicing in that great end, and thinking nothing about the interval. I confess that my own sympathies and fears dwell much with what must take place before that great consummation. ” CPAS, Abstract, 1876.

Solent Gospel Partnership Eschatology and social welfare Time period Postmillennial Premillennial (historicist) (contemporary) Future Imminent Near Details of millennium Vague Detailed Moderate Preaching Means Witness Means and witness Activist Social welfare Quietist

Solent Gospel Partnership The great missionary societies • The Church Pastoral Aid Society • The Ragged School Union • The London City Mission • The London Society for the …among the Jews • The Church Missionary Society • The British and Foreign Bible Society • The Colonial and Continental Church Society

Solent Gospel Partnership “I ought to stand forward at this emergency, and declare what I have seen and heard in my many peregrinations through the dens and recesses of this metropolis in company with your admirable and devoted missionaries. ”

Solent Gospel Partnership “In all difficulties of research, our first resource was to the City Missionaries, because we knew that their inquiry would be zealous and immediate, and their report ample and trustworthy. ”

Solent Gospel Partnership “whenever you enter a Ragged School, remember this – we are indebted for nine-tenths of them to the humble, the pious, the earnest City Missionary. ”

Solent Gospel Partnership Shaftesbury’s vision for Christian social concern • A vision for God in society • Uncompromising conservative Protestantism • Partnership of state and Christian voluntary society • Role of the state important but limited • Faithful discipleship in light of Second Advent • Unity of body and soul – social and evangelistic