No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Politics of the Bible: Radicalism and Non-Denominational Co-Operation in the Birmingham Political Union*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
In May 1832, as emissaries from the Birmingham Political Union sought to gain support for the Reform Bill in Staffordshire, the editor of the pro-Reform Birmingham Journal, W. G. Lewis, exhorted ‘Our cause is a holy cause, — it is the cause of religion, - it is the cause of humanity, — it is the cause of the Bible.’ This is but one of many declarations by radical Christian figures of the intrinsic connection they saw between religion and politics. They not only confirmed that it was right for Christians to be involved in the political sphere, but asserted that the teachings of Scripture demanded fundamental changes to the socio-political order and the principles upon which it was founded.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1996
Footnotes
*
I am grateful to David M. Thompson and Alison Winter for their suggestions on this paper.
References
1 Reports of the Staffordshire Reform Meetings, Held on the 14th of May, 1832 (Birmingham, 1832), p. 2. Flick, Carlos, The Birmingham Political Union and the Movements for Reform in Britain 1830-1839 (Hamden, Conn., 1978), p. 46 Google Scholar.
2 Reports of the Staffordshire Reform Meetings, p. 2.
3 Groth, Eileen L., ‘Politicians in the pulpit: Christian radicalism in Britain, 1830-1850’ in Fulton, Richard, ed., A British Studies Sampler (Vancouver, Washington, 1994), pp. 93-108Google Scholar; idem, ‘Christian radicalism in Britain, 1830-1850’ (Cambridge Ph.D. thesis, 1993).
4 Brewster, Patrick, Chartist Sermon I in The Seven Chartist and Military Discourses Libelled by the Marquis of Abercorn, and Other Heritors of the Abbey Parish (Paisley, 1843), pp. 11–12 Google Scholar.
5 Ibid., p. 25.
6 Ibid., p. 25.
7 Rom. 13.1-7; I Pet. 2.13-18.
8 Report of the Proceedings of the Public Meeting of the Inhabitants of Birmingham. Held at Newhall-Hill, May 10. 1832 … (Birmingham, 1832), p. 3.
9 Ibid., p. 3.
10 Ibid., p. 3.
11 Judith F. Champ has pointed to the vociferous opposition that McDonnell received from a powerful faction within his congregation which may well have contributed to his decision to resign from the Council of the BPU: Champ, ‘Priesthood and politics in the nineteenth century: the turbulent career of Thomas McDonnell’, Recusant History, 18 (1987), p. 296.
12 William McDonnell tried to solicit payment from the Home Office for information about his uncle’s activities. (It is not clear whether such an offer was taken up.) PRO, HO 45/264A fols 27-9: William McDonnell to the Home Office, Sheffield, 15 December 1842.
13 For examples see: Townley, William Gale, A Sermon Occasioned by the Late Chartist Movements, Preached at Upwell, St. Peter, In the County of Norfolk, and the Diocese of Norwich, On Sunday, the 11th of November 1839 (London, 1839)Google Scholar; Francis, James, Sermon, to the Working Classes, Preached in St. Paul’s Church, Newport, On Sunday Evening, April 21st, 1839 (Newport, 1839)Google Scholar; Casebow Barrett, J., The Christian Patriot’s Duty at the Present Crisis. A Sermon Preached at St. Mary’s Chapel, Birmingham, On Sunday, August 4, 1839 (London, 1839)Google Scholar; J. Rawlings, Animadversions Upon a Sermon Preached by Mr. John Warburton, Minister of the Gospel, At Zion Chapel, Union Street, Trowbridge, Sunday Morning, May 26, 1836 upon The Doctrine of Non-resistance to the Higher Powers (Bath, (1839]).
14 Scott, John, Popular Delusions Exposed by Scripture. A Sermon Preached Before the Corporation of Hull, in Holy Trinity Church, October 21, 1832, On Occasion of the Mayor’s Entrance Upon Office (Hull, 1832), p.27 Google Scholar. The sermon was regarded as a paradigm of conservative exegesis and was reviewed in The Bristol Job Noll; or Labouring Man’s Friend (LVII, 10 Jan. 1833, pp. 225-6; LVIII, 17 Jan. 1833, p. 232, LIX, 24 Jan. 1833, pp. 235-6), a newspaper published ‘to try the power of TRUTH against FALSE HOOD, of LOYALTY against SEDITION, and of RELIGION against INFIDELITY’ (V, 12 Jan. 1832, p. 17) in the wake of the riots in Bristol (1831).
15 Ibid., p. 22.
16 Ibid., p. 23.
17 Hole, Robert, Pulpits, Politics and Public Order in England,1760-1832 (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 12-31, 34–6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 E.g. Edinburgh, Scottish Record Office [hereafter SRO], CH2/2/294/15, fols 309-10.
19 SRO, CH1/2/186 Assembly Papers, Main Series 1842 (1); CH1/3/35 Record of the Commission of the General Assembly from 1841-1848, fols 155-9; CH2/294/15, fols, 342-61, 364-7, 371-2, 399-435, 474; CH2/294/16, fols 5-6, 10, 41.
20 Testimonials in Favour of the Rev. Patrick Brewster, One of the Ministers of the Abbey Parish, as a Candidate for the Chair of Church History in the University of Glasgow (April 1851).
21 Edinburgh, National Library of Scodand, broadside ¡pressmark: 6.1699 (8)]: The Rights of a Christian Congregation. Mr. Brewster of Paisley and His Congregation versus Patronage and Clerical Subserviency. Appeal of the Paisley Abbey Congregation Committee to the People of Great Britain; SRO, CH2/490/47 {Brew ster’s protest at not being appointed to the First Charge - erased by order of the Presbytery], fols 349-51; CH2/490/48 [description of the stricken portion may be surmised by the order for erasure], fol. 175; CH2/294/17, fols 279, 282-4, 288-90, 310-35; Paisley, Paisley Abbey MS; Andrew Wilson, Minister in the First Charge to Murray, James, Paisley, 17 December 1852; Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the First Charge of The Abbey of Paisley. With an Appendix Containing the Sermons Charged with Heresy (Paisley, 1853)Google Scholar.
22 Waterman, A. M. C., Revolution, Economics and Religion. Christian Political Economy, 1198-1833 (Cambridge, 1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ‘The ideological alliance of political economy and Christian theology, 1798-1833’, JEH, 34 (1983), pp. 231-44; Hilton, Boyd, the Age of Atonement. the influence of Evangelicalism on Social and Economic Thought, 1185-1865 (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Mandler, Peter, ‘Tories and paupers: Christian political economy and the making of the New Poor Law’, HistJ, 33 (1990), pp. 81–103 Google Scholar; Rashid, Salim, ‘Richard Whatcly and Christian political economy at Oxford and Dublin’, JHI, 38 (1977), pp. 147–55 Google Scholar.
23 Bird Sumner, John, A Treatise on the Records of the Creation, And on the Moral Attributes of the Creator, 2 vols (London, 1816)Google Scholar.
24 Ibid., 2, Part 3; for further remarks on Sumner’s thought, see Dell, Robert S., ‘Social and economic theories and pastoral concerns of a Victorian archbishop’, JEH, 16 (1965), pp. 196–208 Google Scholar. For examples of the endorsement of Sumner’s synthesis by other leading churchmen see Soloway, R. A., Prelates and People. Ecclesiastical Social Thought in England, 1783-1852 (London, 1969), pp. 101–6 Google Scholar.
25 PRO, HO 45/55 fol. 46v; Barrow, Isaac, A Standard Lifted for the People. A Sermon Delivered on Castle Hill, Hindley, On Sunday, August 14, 1839 (Bolton, 1839), p. 14 Google Scholar.
26 Ibid., p. 14.
27 Birmingham, Birmingham Central Reference Library, Local Studies Department [hereafter, BCRL, LSD|: ‘Death of Hugh Hutton, M.A.’ in Newspaper Cuttings, Birmingham Biography, 1, pt 1, p. 2.
28 Hugh Hutton, E.g., Unitarian Christians Distinguished From Unbelievers in Christianity … (London, 1832)Google Scholar; idem. An Appeal to Scriptural Principles in Support of the Claims of Unitarian Christians (London, 1829).
29 Hutton put very clear limits on his level of involvement in politics as was seen by the considerable effort he made to correct a report in the radical press which indicated that he supported trade unionism: Hutton, Hugh, Gathered Leaves of Many Seasons (London, 1858)Google Scholar, preface.
30 Address Presented to the Rev. Hugh Hutton, M.A., April 1, 1839. By a Deputation from the Congregation assembling in the Old Meeting House, Birmingham (printed at the request and for the use of the Congregation, 1839).
31 London, Dr Williams’s Library, MSS 38.123 (7-10): Hugh Hutton to T. E. Lee [Chairman of the Vestry Committee. Old Meeting House, Birmingham], 7, 15 Dec. 1821; 20 Jan. 1822; 14 Feb. 1822. At the time of writing, Hutton was still minister to a congregation at Warrington. The correspond ence was occasioned by the desire for Hutton to ‘supply’ the Old Meeting. Hutton clearly placed the congregation at Warrington above all other engagements. We may assume that he felt this same sort of responsibility toward all the congregations to which he ministered.
32 Hutton, Gathered Leaves, pp. 73-6.
33 Report of the Proceedings of the Public Meeting of the Inhabitants of Birmingham Held at Newhall-Hill, May 16, 1832 … (Birmingham, 1832), p. 4.
34 Ibid., p. 4.
35 Hutton, Hugh, The Duty and Benefits of Co-operation Among the Friends of Scriptural Christianity; A Sermon Preached in the Meeting House of the Second Presbyterian Congregation, Belfast … (Belfast, 1827), p. 2 Google Scholar.
36 Ibid., inscription.
37 BL, Add. MS 27,820, fol. 119.
38 The Case of the McDonnell, T. M. Rev., Late of St. Peter’s Mission, Birmingham, Stated by Himself in a Series of Letters (London, 1842-4), p. 27 Google Scholar.
39 Ibid., p. 27.
40 Report of the Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Birmingham Political Union, On Monday July 26, 1830 (Birmingham, 1830), p. 14.
41 BCRL, LSD: ‘Death of Mr. George Edmonds’ in Newspaper Cuttings relating to Birmingham Obituaries, p. 34.
42 Report of the Proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting of the Birmingham Political Union, On Monday, July 4, 183t (Birmingham, 1831), p. 7.
43 Case of McDonnell, p. 194.
44 Bossy, John, The English Catholic Community, 1570-1850 (London, 1975), p. 352 Google Scholar.
45 Wolffe, John, The Protestant Crusade in Great Britain, 1829-1860 (Oxford, 1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
46 Dudley, Dudley Archives, Samuel Cook Broadsides SC4[4c]: Samuel Cook, The Bible is the Best Political Book in the World!, Dudley, 1 September 1836.