Page 66 - Pilgrims in Georgia

V The Anglicans - (Church of England)

From England to
Savannah, Georgia

The original charter for Georgia had listed amongst its purposes that of charity to
help English citizens, so there were many colonists who were members of the

mother church of the colony, the Church of England, called Anglicans. Because the
Anglican Church had begun as more of a political break under Henry VIII than a
religious reformation, it remained the closest Protestant Church to the Roman
Catholic Church in many of it’s teaching and practices. The Archbishop of
Canterbury, the clerical leader of the English Church, Thomas Cranmer is credited
with being a principle leader behind the reforming teachings found the Book of
Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles which the Anglican Church still uses
today. But he paid for them with his life as a traitor and heretic under Catholic
Queen Mary I. Reformation came slowly in fits and starts over the next 150 years, as
Thomas Cranmer
the Catholic / Protestant struggle, the debate over the relationship between the
church and state, and the pressure from the Puritans and dissenters continued until
the Reign of William and Mary. The !689 “Bill of Rights” reformed the British
monarchy as a “Constitutional Monarchy”, a King that was no longer a law unto
himself, but subjected to law and legislature, to protect the Church of England and
never again to be Catholic. The 1689 Act of Toleration protected Protestant
dissenters, this fact made the Georgia Trustees plan possible for the inclusion of
varied Protestant groups to come to Georgia 40 years later. The sponsoring country
would be England, and sponsoring Church it’s Church.

As an organization within this church, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in foreign parts, made sure from the inception of the colony, that “the Trustees
made careful provision for religious guidance” for the colony. They supplied a
clergyman (pastor), school master, and property to support them from the Church
of England. John Wesley and George Whitfield both would pastor their Church. The
first church services were held in General Oglethorpe's tent or in the open air.
The Book of Common Prayer