[4] The churches: schism and consolidation

There is little doubt that such voluntary organizations as the London Hibernian Society, the Irish Society and the Bible Society made a lasting contribution to the Protestant churches. Bible distribution, better levels of literacy, and the growing popularity of religious seriousness helped to increase attendances at church and communion. The societies also drew together otherwise isolated rural clergy whose involvement in the supervision of schools and distribution of Bibles kept them in close touch with their parishioners and with other evangelicals throughout Britain. But if evangelical voluntarism brought fresh enthusiasm to the churches, it also threw up a new range of problems. On the formation of a Hibernian auxiliary to the CMS, for example, Daniel Wilson stated that ‘It will now form a center of friendly acquaintance and union between them and that suspected class of churchmen who cherish the vital interests of Religion. By making both approximate to each other, it may be the means of improving both.’1 Wilson’s statement not only reflects the aspirations of ardent evangelicals, but hints at the degree of dissension which separated them from their more orthodox colleagues. For, although evangelicalism had already taken root among certain sections of the major churches by the end of the eighteenth century, its advocates were, at that stage, a powerless minority. Lacking authority either at Presbyterian synodical level or among the Anglican hierarchy, their influence was largely confined to the localities in which they operated. The evangelical societies not only organized such ‘godly’ individuals into more cohesive units, but also increased their capacity for disruption. The practice of itinerancy, for example, both undermined the professionalism of the clergy and encouraged an individualism which was difficult to control. Moreover, the voluntary societies appropriated functions, such as teaching and bible distribution, which the churches considered to be in their own domain. The

resultant tension between voluntarism and denominational loyalty was one of the most important features of early nineteenth-century religion.