Morning Exercises

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This article is about the English Puritan religious observance. For common activities in the morning, see Morning activities.

Morning Exercises refers to a religious observance by Puritans in London which started at the beginning of the English Civil War.

Origins[]

As most of the citizens of London had either a near relation or friend in the army of the Earl of Essex, clergymen were getting overwhelmed with requests to include prayers for these soldiers in their Sunday services. So a group of them agreed to set aside an hour at 7 am, every morning, with half an hour for prayer and half an hour for a broader exhortation of the population. It was started by Thomas Case the Presbyterian minister at St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street[1] and continued there for a month. The exercises were then taken up by other churches across the City of London. Shortly after Westminster Abbey also started to host religious lectures between 6 - 8am, not only for local residents, but also for Members of Parliament. The preachers here included Edmund Staunton, Philip Nye, Stephen Marshall, Herbert Palmer, Charles Herle, Jeremiah Whitaker and Thomas Hill.[2]

At Cripplegate[]

After the Civil War the Morning Exercises were continued, with many collected by Samuel Annesley being subsequently published in six volumes.

Preachers published by Annesley[]

The following list of 75 was published in 1844.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Mullet, Michael (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Neal, Daniel (1811). History of the Puritans. London.
  3. ^ Dunn, Samuel (1844). Memoirs of the seventy-five eminent divines: whose discourses form the. London: Snow.
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