MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 158
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CITATION: John Bennet Queries humbly proposed to the Rt. Reverend and Rt. Honourable Count Zinzendorf, MSS 158, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University
John Bennett was a British Methodist who became one of John Wesley's itinerant preachers in 1747. He formally separated from Wesley in 1752, accusing him of preaching papist doctrine and of being a "pope." A number of people left Methodism with Bennet. He became the pastor of an independent congregation at Warburton, in Cheshire. Bennet died May 24, 1759.
This collection consists of a set of questions, here referred to as queries, posed to Count Niclaus Ludwig graf von Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian Church. The queries are written in the hand of John Bennet, a Methodist preacher who was an associate of John Wesley. Both Bennet and Wesley had been closely associated with the Moravian Church. They eventually distanced themselves from the Moravians because of theological differences and issued public charges against the movements. The questions were intended to point out weaknesses in Moravian doctrine and Zinzendorf's personal belief.
The piece is thought to be a revision of Wesley's 1755 manuscript Queries
but it is possible that is was composed by Bennet.