“London,December 9, 1758.“My dear Brother,—From time to time, I have had more trouble with the town of Leeds than with all the societies in Yorkshire. And Inow hear, that the leaders insist, that such and such persons be put out of the society! I desire the leaders may know their places, and not stretch themselves beyond their line. Pray let me judge who should be put out of the Methodist society, and who should not. I desire Faith and Ann Hardwick may not be put out of the society, unless some matter appear against them; and, if any new matter does appear, let it be laid before me. He shall have judgment without mercy who hath shown no mercy.“I am your affectionate brother,“J. Wesley.â€[344]
“London,December 9, 1758.
“My dear Brother,—From time to time, I have had more trouble with the town of Leeds than with all the societies in Yorkshire. And Inow hear, that the leaders insist, that such and such persons be put out of the society! I desire the leaders may know their places, and not stretch themselves beyond their line. Pray let me judge who should be put out of the Methodist society, and who should not. I desire Faith and Ann Hardwick may not be put out of the society, unless some matter appear against them; and, if any new matter does appear, let it be laid before me. He shall have judgment without mercy who hath shown no mercy.
“I am your affectionate brother,
“J. Wesley.â€[344]
Another annoyance was the publication of a sermon, preached against the Methodists, by the Rev. Mr. Potter, at Reymerston, in Norfolk. This was answered by Cornelius Cayley, jun., in an octavo pamphlet of 41 pages. In itself it was hardly worth Wesley’s notice; but, having been preached and circulated in the neighbourhood of Norwich, where Methodism had to encounter difficulties of no ordinary kind, Wesley deemed it his duty to dissect it, which he did in a long “Letter to the Reverend Mr. Potter,†12mo, 11 pages.
During the year 1758, he also published “A short Account of the Life and Death of Nathaniel Othen, who was shot in Dover Castle, October 26, 1757.†12mo, 12 pages. This was the romantic history of a common soldier, who was executed for deserting the army.
Another of his publications was, “A Letter to a Gentleman at Bristol,†dated January 8, 1758: 12mo, 24 pages. Wesley says, that this was written at the request of several of his friends, “in order to guard them from seeking salvation by works on one hand, and from antinomianism on the other.â€[345]
Another work of Wesley’s, published in 1758, was entitled, “Reasons against a Separation from the Church of England.†12mo, 22 pages. This was an abstract from a larger work, which Wesley wrote, but never published, and which remains in manuscript to the present day. Wesley meant it for publication; but the Rev. Samuel Walker, of Truro, to whose friendly inspection it was submitted, advised that it should not be printed. The fact is, in this treatise against separationfrom the Church, Wesley conceded points, which Walker thought might be used as reasonsfora separation rather thanagainstit. The objections of Dissenters to some parts of the liturgy and canons, to the spiritual courts, and to the character of too many of the clergy, were acknowledged to be just; but Wesley argued, that these objections did not form a sufficient ground for separation. Walker was afraid that, if the premises were admitted, Wesley’s readers might draw a conclusion opposite to what Wesley did; and hence the treatise was withdrawn;[346]with the exception that, in 1758, Wesley published an extract from it, with the title already given. The reasons are twelve in number. 1. Because, it would be a contradiction to the solemn and repeated statements of his brother and himself. 2. Because, it would give huge occasion of offence. 3. Because, it would prejudice many good Christians against being benefited by Wesley’s preaching. 4. Because, it would hinder multitudes of the unconverted from hearing him at all. 5. Because, it would cause many hundreds, if not some thousands, to leave the Methodist societies. 6. Because, it would produce inconceivable strife and contention. 7. Because, it would engage him in a thousand controversies, both in public and private, and so divert him from useful labours. 8. Because, to form the plan of a new church would require more time, care, thought, and wisdom than any of them possessed. 9. Because, barely entertaining a distant thought of it had already produced evil fruits. 10. Because, though the experiment of separation had been frequently tried by others, the success had never answered the expectation. 11. Because, melancholy instances of failure might now be witnessed. 12. Because, to separate would be to act in direct contradiction to the very end for which, he believed, the Methodists had been raised up by Providence.
Such were Wesley’s reasons. He allows, that thelawfulnessof the Methodists to separate from the Church of England is a point which may fairly be debated; but he has no doubt, that for them to separate is notexpedient. He replies to the objections that, till they separate, they cannot be a compact,united body; and that it is mere cowardice, fear of persecution, that makes them desire to remain in union. He asserts, that the Methodists are not a party, but living witnesses, raised up by God, for the benefit of all. He suggests, that it should be a sacred rule with all the preachers, to evince “no contempt, no bitterness to the clergy,†and also, “to frequent no Dissenting meetingâ€; for, if the preachers did this, the people would imitate their example; and this, in point of fact, would be separation. Many of the Dissenting ministers were “new-light men, denying the Lord that bought them, and overturning His gospel from the very foundationsâ€; or they were predestinarians, whose doctrines were not wholesome food, but deadly poison. The singing at Dissenting meetings was slow, and drawling; and the prayers were objectionable in tone, language, and length. He concludes, by expressing a wish, that all the Methodist preachers, except those who have scruples concerning it, would attend the services of the Church as often as they conveniently could; and that they would prepare themselves to answer the arguments usually employed in favour of separation.
To this notable pamphlet, Charles Wesley appended seven “Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Preachers;†and says: “I subscribe to the twelve reasons of my brother with all my heart. I am quite clear, that it is neither expedient, norlawful, formeto separate. I never had the least inclination or temptation so to do. My affection for the Church is as strong as ever. Would to God, that all the Methodist preachers were, in this respect, likeminded with—Charles Wesley.â€
In the year 1758, Wesley issued a remarkable 12mo volume of 246 pages, entitled “A Preservative against unsettled Notions in Religion.†In his Journal he says: “I designed it for the use of all those who are under my care, but chiefly of the young preachers.†In his brief preface he observes: “My design, in publishing the following tracts, is not to reclaim, but to preserve: not to convince those who are already perverted, but to prevent the perversion of others. I do not, therefore, enter deep into the controversy even with deists, Socinians, Arians, or papists: much less with those who are not so dangerously mistaken, mystics, quakers, anabaptists,presbyterians, predestinarians, or antinomians. I only recite, under each head, a few plain arguments, which, by the grace of God, may farther confirm those who already know the truth as it is in Jesus.â€
The first piece in the volume is “An extract of A Short and Easy Method with the Deists,†by the celebrated Charles Leslie. The second, “A treatise concerning the Godhead of Jesus Christ, translated from the French.†The third, Wesley’s own production, is entitled, “The Advantage of the members of the Church of England over those of the Church of Rome.†The fourth is, “An extract of a letter to the Rev. Mr. Law, occasioned by some of his late writings:†the letter here, in part, republished, was the one which Wesley addressed to Law in 1756. The fifth piece is “A letter to a Person lately joined with the People called Quakers,†which Wesley first wrote in 1748. The sixth is “A treatise on Baptism,â€â€”a treatise really written by his father, though published as his own in 1756. The seventh is “A letter to the Rev. Mr. Towgood, of Exeter; occasioned by his ‘Dissent from the Church of England fully justified,’â€â€”the object of Wesley’s letter being “to show that a dissent from the Church of England is not the genuine and just consequence of the allegiance which is due to Christ as the only lawgiver in the church.†The eighth, entitled “Serious Thoughts concerning Godfathers and Godmothers,†was first published in 1752. The ninth, “The Scripture Doctrine of Predestination, Election, and Reprobation,†was extracted from a late author, and published, in the first instance, by Wesley in 1741. The tenth, “An extract from A Short View of the Difference between the Moravian Brethren, and the Rev. Mr. John and Charles Wesley:†the eleventh, “An extract from A Dialogue between an Antinomian and his Friendâ€: both issued in 1745. The twelfth, “A letter to the Rev. Mr. Hervey,†written in 1756, and which Hervey said was “palpably weak,†and dealt “only in positive assertions and positive denials.â€[347]The last, his “Reasons against a Separation from the Church of England.â€
This was an important work, comprising, as it did, in asingle volume, the opinions of Wesley on all the subjects which, at that time, excited the attention of the Methodists.
Two more publications, belonging to the year 1758, remain to be noticed.
1. “The Great Assize; a sermon preached at the assizes, in St. Paul’s church, Bedford, on March 10, 1758.†8vo, 36 pages.
2. Two separate letters to the Rev. Dr. Free,[348]an everlasting pamphleteer, of the most scurrilous genus. Free was a native of Oxford, and was now forty-seven years of age, and vicar of East Coker, in the county of Somerset; also Thursday lecturer of St. Mary-Hill, London, and lecturer at Newington, Surrey. He lived long enough to be senior doctor of the Oxford university, and died in distress and poverty in 1791.[349]His publications against the Methodists were: 1. “A Display of the Bad Principles of the Methodists,†1758. 2. “Rules for the Discovery of False Prophets; or, the dangerous impositions of the people called Methodists, detected at the bar of Scripture and reason. A sermon preached before the university at St. Mary’s, in Oxford, on Whit Sunday, 1758.†3. His “Edition of the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s Penny Letter.†4. His “Edition of Mr. Wesley’s Second Letter.†5. His “Speech to the London Clergy, at Sion College.†All these were published during the years 1758 and 1759. The following are spicy specimens of the style adopted by this clerical reviler. There is, says he, “in Mr. Wesley’s second letter, such a strange mixture of sanctity and prevarication, such praying, sneering, canting, and recanting, expunging and forging, that I no longer feel bound to give him a civil answer.†Again: “Wesley raves, and rants, and domineers, and scolds.†He is, in the estimation of this Oxford doctor, a perfect “weathercock.†He has “the itch of fame and popularity; and the romantic project of being the founder of a sect has prompted him to go amaddinghimself wherever he could find people likeminded.†For their benefit, he has “extracted near fourteen volumes, all quintessences, from the fanaticism of the Germans,the English, and other nations.†He “prints and distributes gratis his lying, and blasphemous, and delusive pamphlets, to the remotest corners of the land.†Free informs his readers, that the name of Methodists was first given to Wesley and his friends, at Oxford, because they affected to be so “uncommonly methodical, as to keep a diary of the most trivial actions of their lives,—such as, how many dishes of tea they drank, and how many slices of bread and butter they eat, how many country dances they called for at their dancing club, and how many pounds of a leg of mutton they might devour after practising a fast.â€
No wonder that we find the following entries in Wesley’s Journal for 1758. “May 2.—I wrote a short answer to Dr. Free’s weak, bitter, scurrilous invective against the people called Methodists. But I doubt whether I shall meddle with him any more: he is too dirty a writer for me to touch.†Again: “August 24.—I wrote a second letter to Dr. Free, the warmest opponent I have had for many years. I leave him now to laugh, and scold, and witticise, and call names, just as he pleases; for I have done.â€