Brinkworth District

“I love to think of our church in the dawn of her glory. I love her because of the volcanic fire of her heart, the thrill of song, the buoyant testimony of her saints. I love her because of her unquenchable ideals, the largeness of her hope, the untiring energies of her faith, the freedom of her spirit, and the elasticity and adaptability of her methods.”

– Rev. F. W. Harper Brinkworth and Swindon District Synod Souvenir and Hand Book 1932

Such sentiments remind me also of Charles Wesley’s longing for the spirit of the early Christian church, which (I feel) can apply also to the early Primitive Methodism exemplified at Brinkworth:

To Jesus they perform’d their vows:
A little Church in every house,
They joyfully conspired to raise
Their ceaseless sacrifice of praise.

O what an age of golden days!
O what a choice, peculiar race!
Wash’d in the Lamb’s all-cleansing blood,
Anointed kings and priests to God.

Where shall I wander now to find
The successors they left behind?
The faithful whom I seek in vain,
Are ’minished from the sons of men.