James Relly

James Relly (1721/2-1778) became widely known as a heterodox Dissenting minister for his positions on the controversial topic of Universal Restoration. Originally from Wales, Relly was most likely converted during one of the preaching tours in Wales by George Whitefield or one of his assistants in the early 1740s, at the height of the English Evangelical Revival. Relly soon became a Calvinistic Methodist minister in the Midlands and the West Country, and by 1746 was preaching on occasions at Whitefield’s Tabernacle in Tottenham Court Road. By the early 1750s he had split from Whitefield and his followers and formed two chapels of his own in Wales, with his followers now known as “Rellyites,” usually being charged with holding Universalist and Antinomian positions (the idea that all individuals, elect and non-elect, will eventually be saved in the end, and that grace overrules the believer’s adherence to the moral law found in both the Old and New Testaments). He remained on good terms with the Moravians, however (Mary Lewis, the primary Moravian printer/booksellers, published six works by Relly between 1756 and 1776, and treatises opposing his restorationist theology by William Cudworth and William Mason). Relly preached to his London followers (now openly attacked by Whitefield, Wesley, and other evangelicals) at Coachmaker’s Hall (1757-64), Bartholomew Close (1764-69), closing out his life living in Crosby Square. Relly is best known for his Union, or, A Treatise of Consanquinity and Affinity between Christ and his Church (1759), which most evangelicals believed was an implicit defense of Universalism, though Relly denied the charge. Surprisingly, he was buried in the Baptist burial ground at Maze Pond. Relly’s disciple, John Murray (1741-1815) is generally recognized ass the founder of the Universalist Church of America. For more on Relly, see Andrew M. Hill, “Relly, James,” ODNB.