14. Preachers on probation were “not to ramble up and down, but to go where the assistant directed, and there only.”[541]15. No one was to exhort in any of the societies without a note of recommendation from the assistant, which was to be renewed yearly.[542]16. To make the Methodists sensible of the excellency of Kingswood school, every assistant was to read an account of it yearly; to exhort parents, who were able, to send their children thither; to answer all their objections, and refute all the lies they had heard about it; and to make a collection for it, at Midsummer, in every preaching house throughout England.[543]17. “Has the office of an assistant been thoroughly executed?“Answer. No; not by one assistant out of three. For instance, every assistant ought (1) To ‘see that the other preachers behave well.’ But who has sent me word whether they did or no? (2) ‘To visit the classes, regulate the bands, and deliver tickets quarterly.’ How few have done this! (3) Lovefeasts for the bands have been neglected. (4) Nor have persons been regularly taken in, and put out of, the bands. (5) I fear many of the quarterly meetings are formal, not spiritual. (6) The societies are not half supplied with books; not even with ‘Kempis,’ ‘Instructions for Children,’ and ‘Primitive Physic,’ which ought to be in every house. And why should not each of you do like William Pennington—carry books with you through every round? Exert yourselves in this. Be not ashamed. Be not weary. Leave no stone unturned. And let none print anything of his own, till it has been approved by the conference. (7) How few accounts have I had, either of remarkable deaths or remarkable conversions! (8) How few exact lists have we received of the societies! Take more time and more pains in preparing them. (9) Who of you has met the married and single men and women once a quarter, even in the largest societies? (10) You have not provided a private room everywhere for the preacher; nor a bed to himself; neither the ‘Library,’ for want of which some still read trash. Till this can be done, let there be, immediately, in every place, at least the ‘Notes,’ and the tract on original sin.”[544]18. “Is there any other advice which you would give assistants?“Answer. Yes. In every place, exhort those who were brought up in the Church, constantly to attend its service. And in visiting the classes, ask every one, ‘Do you go to church as often as ever you did?’ Set the example yourself. And immediately alter every plan that interferes therewith. Is there not a cause for this? Are we not unawares, by little and little, tending to a separation from the Church? Oh remove every tendency thereto with all diligence. (1) Let all our preachers go to church. (2) Let all our people go constantly. (3) Receive the sacrament at every opportunity. (4) Warn all against niceness in hearing; a great and prevailing evil. (5) Warn them likewise against despising theprayers of the Church. (6) Against calling our society a church, or the church. (7) Against calling our preachers ministers, our houses meeting-houses (call them plain preaching houses). (9) Do not license them as such. The proper form of a petition to the judge is, ‘A. B. desires to have his house in C. licensed for public worship.’ (10) Do not license yourself, till you are constrained; and then not as a Dissenter, but a Methodist preacher. It is time enough when you are prosecuted, to take the oaths. Thereby you are licensed.”[545]19. “What do you advise with regard to public buildings?“Answer. (1) Let none be undertaken without the consent of the assistant. (2) Build, if possible, in the form of Rotherham house. (3) Settle it in the following form.”
14. Preachers on probation were “not to ramble up and down, but to go where the assistant directed, and there only.”[541]
15. No one was to exhort in any of the societies without a note of recommendation from the assistant, which was to be renewed yearly.[542]
16. To make the Methodists sensible of the excellency of Kingswood school, every assistant was to read an account of it yearly; to exhort parents, who were able, to send their children thither; to answer all their objections, and refute all the lies they had heard about it; and to make a collection for it, at Midsummer, in every preaching house throughout England.[543]
17. “Has the office of an assistant been thoroughly executed?
“Answer. No; not by one assistant out of three. For instance, every assistant ought (1) To ‘see that the other preachers behave well.’ But who has sent me word whether they did or no? (2) ‘To visit the classes, regulate the bands, and deliver tickets quarterly.’ How few have done this! (3) Lovefeasts for the bands have been neglected. (4) Nor have persons been regularly taken in, and put out of, the bands. (5) I fear many of the quarterly meetings are formal, not spiritual. (6) The societies are not half supplied with books; not even with ‘Kempis,’ ‘Instructions for Children,’ and ‘Primitive Physic,’ which ought to be in every house. And why should not each of you do like William Pennington—carry books with you through every round? Exert yourselves in this. Be not ashamed. Be not weary. Leave no stone unturned. And let none print anything of his own, till it has been approved by the conference. (7) How few accounts have I had, either of remarkable deaths or remarkable conversions! (8) How few exact lists have we received of the societies! Take more time and more pains in preparing them. (9) Who of you has met the married and single men and women once a quarter, even in the largest societies? (10) You have not provided a private room everywhere for the preacher; nor a bed to himself; neither the ‘Library,’ for want of which some still read trash. Till this can be done, let there be, immediately, in every place, at least the ‘Notes,’ and the tract on original sin.”[544]
18. “Is there any other advice which you would give assistants?
“Answer. Yes. In every place, exhort those who were brought up in the Church, constantly to attend its service. And in visiting the classes, ask every one, ‘Do you go to church as often as ever you did?’ Set the example yourself. And immediately alter every plan that interferes therewith. Is there not a cause for this? Are we not unawares, by little and little, tending to a separation from the Church? Oh remove every tendency thereto with all diligence. (1) Let all our preachers go to church. (2) Let all our people go constantly. (3) Receive the sacrament at every opportunity. (4) Warn all against niceness in hearing; a great and prevailing evil. (5) Warn them likewise against despising theprayers of the Church. (6) Against calling our society a church, or the church. (7) Against calling our preachers ministers, our houses meeting-houses (call them plain preaching houses). (9) Do not license them as such. The proper form of a petition to the judge is, ‘A. B. desires to have his house in C. licensed for public worship.’ (10) Do not license yourself, till you are constrained; and then not as a Dissenter, but a Methodist preacher. It is time enough when you are prosecuted, to take the oaths. Thereby you are licensed.”[545]
19. “What do you advise with regard to public buildings?
“Answer. (1) Let none be undertaken without the consent of the assistant. (2) Build, if possible, in the form of Rotherham house. (3) Settle it in the following form.”
Here follows the trust deed for the chapel in Manchester, to the effect that, during their lifetime, Wesley, his brother, and Grimshaw of Haworth, and others, whom they might appoint, should have the use of the said chapel; and that, after their death, the trustees should permit such persons to preach in it as were appointed by the yearly conference; provided always, that such persons preach no other doctrine than is contained in Wesley’s Notes upon the New Testament, and his four volumes of sermons; and provided also, that they preach —— evenings in every week, and at five o’clock on each morning following.[546]
20. “How may we raise a general fund?“Answer. By a yearly subscription, to be proposed by every assistant when he visits the classes at Christmas, and to be received at the visitation following.”
20. “How may we raise a general fund?
“Answer. By a yearly subscription, to be proposed by every assistant when he visits the classes at Christmas, and to be received at the visitation following.”
To this end, the assistant was to enlarge on the following hints. (1) That the debts on the chapels of the Connexion amounted to about £4000. (2) That God had raised up preachers, and that they were greatly needed; but could not be employed for want of money to find them food. (3) That, in order to quell riotous mobs, it was necessary to have recourse to the King’s Bench, and that a suit there usually cost £50 or £60, which must be met by a general contribution.[547]
21. “How may provision be made for old or worn out preachers?“Answer. As to their employ, they may be supernumerary preachers,or assistants, in those circuits wherein there is most need. As to their subsistence,—(1) Let every travelling preacher contribute ten shillings yearly. (2) Let this be lodged in the hands of three stewards, approved of by the majority of the preachers. (3) Out of this, let what is needful be allowed yearly; first for the old or sickly preachers and their families; then for the widows and children of those that are dead.”[548]22. “If God should call you away, what would be the most probable means of preventing the people from being scattered?“Answer. Let all the assistants, for the time being, immediately go up to London, and consult what steps are fittest to be taken. And God will then make the way plain before them.”[549]
21. “How may provision be made for old or worn out preachers?
“Answer. As to their employ, they may be supernumerary preachers,or assistants, in those circuits wherein there is most need. As to their subsistence,—(1) Let every travelling preacher contribute ten shillings yearly. (2) Let this be lodged in the hands of three stewards, approved of by the majority of the preachers. (3) Out of this, let what is needful be allowed yearly; first for the old or sickly preachers and their families; then for the widows and children of those that are dead.”[548]
22. “If God should call you away, what would be the most probable means of preventing the people from being scattered?
“Answer. Let all the assistants, for the time being, immediately go up to London, and consult what steps are fittest to be taken. And God will then make the way plain before them.”[549]
We have thus endeavoured, in as brief a form as possible, to embody all the points, in the Minutes published in 1763, that are not contained in the previous publication of 1753. Some of these are curious, and others of the greatest consequence. Three connexional funds are sanctioned and recommended. A trust deed for chapels is supplied. Continued union with the Church of England is strongly urged. To say nothing of the discipline prescribed for the preachers, and for the people, these were matters of the utmost moment, and deserve more attention than we have space to give them. Facts are furnished; the reader himself must ponder them.
Before leaving the conference of 1763, it may be added, that its sessions were held in the chapel at Spitalfields; and that Howel Harris was present, and exhorted the preachers to have faith in God, and whenever they met a man, in any of their journeyings, to speak to him about his soul. “If I meet a poor man,” said he, “I give him a halfpenny, if I have one; but I always remember that the man has a soul as well as a body, and therefore I say something to him respecting his salvation. And if I meet a rich man, why should I be afraid of him? For aught I know, he may be worse than the beast he rides upon. Perhaps the beast carries the devil upon its back.”[550]
The conference being ended, Wesley set out, on the 15th of August, perhaps in company with Howel Harris, to the principality of Wales. At all events, four days afterwards, he reached Trevecca, and wrote: “Howel Harris’s house isone of the most elegant places which I have seen in Wales. The little chapel, and all things round about it, are finished in an uncommon taste; and the gardens, orchards, fishponds, and mount adjoining, make the place a little paradise. He thanks God for these things, and looks through them. About sixscore persons are now in the family; all diligent, all constantly employed; all fearing God and working righteousness.”
Wesley continues: “August 20.—We took horse at four in the morning, and rode through one of the pleasantest countries in the world. I will be bold to say, all England does not afford such a line of fifty miles’ length, for fields, meadows, woods, brooks, and gently rising mountains, fruitful to the very top.”
On completing his Welsh tour, Wesley wrote: “I was more convinced than ever, that the preaching like an apostle, without joining together those that are awakened, and training them up in the ways of God, is only begetting children for the murderer. How much preaching has there been for these twenty years all over Pembrokeshire! But no regular societies, no discipline, no order or connection; and the consequence is, that nine in ten of the once awakened are now faster asleep than ever.”
These are weighty words, and well worth pondering by those, in modern days, who advocate a revision of the laws respecting Methodists meeting together in weekly class. Wesley spoke from experience; these are theorists, who, in the absence of experience, will do well to hesitate before they step.
During his journey in Wales, Wesley informed himself respecting a Welsh extravagance, referred to in the following letter, published inLloyd’s Evening Post, for June 27, 1763.
“There is here” [at Lancroyes] “what some call a great reformation in religion among the Methodists; but the case is really this. They have a sort of rustic dance in their public worship, which they call religious dancing, in imitation of David’s dancing before the ark. Some of them strip off their clothes, crying out, Hosannah, etc., in imitation of those that attended our Saviour when He rode into Jerusalem. They call this the glory of the latter day; and when any person speaks to them of their extravagance, the answer they give is, ‘You have the mark of the enemyin your forehead.’ Such are the delusion and uncharitableness of this people.”
“There is here” [at Lancroyes] “what some call a great reformation in religion among the Methodists; but the case is really this. They have a sort of rustic dance in their public worship, which they call religious dancing, in imitation of David’s dancing before the ark. Some of them strip off their clothes, crying out, Hosannah, etc., in imitation of those that attended our Saviour when He rode into Jerusalem. They call this the glory of the latter day; and when any person speaks to them of their extravagance, the answer they give is, ‘You have the mark of the enemyin your forehead.’ Such are the delusion and uncharitableness of this people.”
These Welsh jumpers are called Methodists; but they were Methodists over whom Wesley had no control. He writes:
“1763, August 27.—Mr. Evans gave me an account, from his own knowledge, of what has made a great noise in Wales. ‘It is common, in the congregations attended by Mr. W. W., and one or two other clergymen, after the preaching is over, for any one that has a mind, to give out a verse of a hymn. This they sing over and over with all their might, perhaps above thirty, yea, forty times. Meanwhile the bodies of two or three, sometimes ten or twelve, are violently agitated; and they leap up and down, in all manner of postures, frequently for hours together.’ I think, there needs no great penetration to understand this. They are honest, upright men, who really feel the love of God in their hearts. But they have little experience, either of the ways of God, or the devices of Satan. So he serves himself in their simplicity, in order to wear them out, and to bring a discredit on the work of God.”
“1763, August 27.—Mr. Evans gave me an account, from his own knowledge, of what has made a great noise in Wales. ‘It is common, in the congregations attended by Mr. W. W., and one or two other clergymen, after the preaching is over, for any one that has a mind, to give out a verse of a hymn. This they sing over and over with all their might, perhaps above thirty, yea, forty times. Meanwhile the bodies of two or three, sometimes ten or twelve, are violently agitated; and they leap up and down, in all manner of postures, frequently for hours together.’ I think, there needs no great penetration to understand this. They are honest, upright men, who really feel the love of God in their hearts. But they have little experience, either of the ways of God, or the devices of Satan. So he serves himself in their simplicity, in order to wear them out, and to bring a discredit on the work of God.”
Strangely enough this jumping in public worship found an advocate in good William Williams, the Welsh hymnist, who wrote a pamphlet in defence of it.[551]To the injury of religion it was perpetuated for many years.
At the end of August, Wesley came to Bristol, in the neighbourhood of which he remained a month, frequently preaching out of doors, and expressing the opinion, that in no other way could the outcasts of men be reached. He cautioned the Bristol Methodists, not to “love the world, neither the things of the world”; and writes, in language and tone which ought to be a warning to the Methodists of the present day: “This will be their grand danger; as they are industrious and frugal, they must needs increase in goods. This appears already; in London, Bristol, and most other trading towns, those who are in business have increased in substance sevenfold, some of them twenty, yea, an hundredfold. What need, then, have these of the strongest warnings, lest they be entangled therein, and perish!”
On October 1, he returned to London, and says: “I found our house in ruins, great part of it being taken down, in order to a thorough repair. But as much remainedas I wanted; six foot square suffices me by day or by night.” He adds: “All this week, I endeavoured to confirm those who had been shaken, as to the important doctrine of Christian perfection, either by its wild defenders, or wise opposers, who much availed themselves of that wildness.”
He then made a three weeks’ tour to Norwich, where he read the rules of the society, adding: “Those who are resolved to keep these rules may continue with us, and those only.” He told them he would immediately put a stop to Methodist preaching in the time of Church service; and wound up by saying: “For many years I have had more trouble with this society, than with half the societies of England put together. With God’s help, I will try you one year longer; and I hope you will bring forth better fruit.”
On October 29, Wesley returned to London, where he continued the remainder of the year. He visited the classes, and found that, since February, one hundred and seventy-five persons had left the society, one hundred and six of whom were Thomas Maxfield’s friends. All his leisure hours he employed in reading over, with the London preachers, the publications of himself and his brother; considering the objections that had been made against them; and correcting whatever they judged wrong either in matter or expression.
Hitherto Wesley had consorted but little with Dissenting ministers. He had visited Doddridge, and had been in friendly communication with Gillies and a few of the presbyterians of North Britain; but that was well-nigh all. With a heart big enough to embrace all men, without distinction of nation, sect, or colour, he had, hitherto, intentionally or otherwise, been as exemplary an observer of the etiquette of episcopal caste as almost any high church ritualist could wish. In December, 1763, he added to his friends the presbyterian minister of Staplehurst, in Kent. A few months before, the Rev. Jacob Chapman, the minister alluded to, wrote to Wesley, saying: “I am a minister of the presbyterian denomination; but my Master has enabled me to love real Christians of all denominations. I have reason to bless God for my acquaintance with the Methodists; they have beengreat blessings to me and my dear wife. The Lord has inclined us to receive the preachers most freely and joyfully.”[552]Mr. Chapman was not an episcopalian; but he was a Christian, and, on December 7, Wesley went to visit him. He writes: “Mr. Chapman, who loves all that love Christ, received us gladly. At six, the congregation, gathered from many miles round, seemed just ripe for the gospel; so that, contrary to my custom in a new place, I spoke merely of ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Immediately after Wesley’s return to London, Mr. Chapman wrote him as follows.
“Staplehurst,December 10, 1763.“Reverend Sir,—You shall be always most heartily welcome to the best part of my house, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose you are, and whom you serve. Whatever preachers you send, we shall joyfully receive, be their opinions what they may. I would like those best, who are most like Christ. I very greatly approve of the rules of the society, and very fervently love you; and I trust never to let a day pass without praying for you. I make no doubt, the lay preachers are sent by our Lord as extraordinary messengers; and that His design is, that they shouldgo aboutcalling poor sinners to repent and believe the gospel, and consequently that they arenot to settleanywhere. This is a very difficult office. The Lord strengthen them for the arduous undertaking.”[553]
“Staplehurst,December 10, 1763.
“Reverend Sir,—You shall be always most heartily welcome to the best part of my house, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose you are, and whom you serve. Whatever preachers you send, we shall joyfully receive, be their opinions what they may. I would like those best, who are most like Christ. I very greatly approve of the rules of the society, and very fervently love you; and I trust never to let a day pass without praying for you. I make no doubt, the lay preachers are sent by our Lord as extraordinary messengers; and that His design is, that they shouldgo aboutcalling poor sinners to repent and believe the gospel, and consequently that they arenot to settleanywhere. This is a very difficult office. The Lord strengthen them for the arduous undertaking.”[553]
The friendship, thus begun, was long continued. Mr. Chapman’s house and chapel were open to the Methodist preachers. He himself became a member of the Methodist society, and was as docile and humble as though he had been one of the most illiterate among the people. His stipend was £80 per annum; he lived on £20, and gave away the rest in charity. He almost, if not entirely, used a vegetarian diet, and principally for the purpose of being able to relieve the necessities of his poorer brethren. He survived Wesley; and when visited by Robert Miller, about the year 1790, gave him the heartiest welcome, saying: “I have entertained the preachers for seven-and-twenty years, and hope they will never forsake me while I live.” Mr. Miller adds: “Mr. Chapman was one of the best men I ever knew”;[554]and good oldJohn Reynolds testified: “Of all the men of God, with whom I have had the happiness to be acquainted, in a life of more than threescore years, I have never known one who appeared to possess so much of the mind of Christ as Mr. Chapman.”[555]
The world is full of changes. Man’s circle of acquaintance alters in character, though not materially in size. New friends spring up on earth; but old friends are removed to heaven. Thus it was with Wesley. In 1763, he became acquainted with Mr. Chapman; in the same year, he was bereaved of Dr. Byrom.
Byrom was the son of a linen draper, and born at Kersal, near Manchester, in 1691. After being educated in his native town, and at the Merchant Taylors’ school in London, he was, at the age of sixteen, admitted a pensioner of Trinity college, Cambridge. In 1714, he was elected fellow of his college, and, in the same year, became a contributor to Addison’sSpectator. Two years later, he resigned his college preferment, and went to Montpelier, to study physic. On his return to England, he assumed the office of teacher of shorthand writing, of which he was preeminently a master. On the death of his brother, he came into possession of the family estate, at Kersal, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of domestic and social felicity. He was a profound admirer of the great English mystic, William Law; but was also a man of unaffected piety. At a time when much obloquy was attached to the name of Methodist, he was not ashamed of being known as the particular friend of Wesley. He died September 28, 1763.[556]His only son died ten years afterwards.[557]
In many respects, Byrom was a remarkable man. In stature, he was one of the tallest men in England; so that, in the course of fifty years, he appears to have met only two others taller than himself.[558]In stenography, he was the greatest proficient then existing. The extent, variety, and accuracy of his literary studies were amazing, as is shown by his manuscriptsstill extant. There seems hardly to have been any language, of which the literature was of any value, which he did not master; and his writing of Hebrew, Arabic, etc., was such as the engraver might vainly attempt to imitate.[559]His poetry, quaint but pungent, is too well known to need description. As a specimen of it, and of his politics, the following is far from being bad:
“God bless the King, and bless the Faiths Defender;God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;But who Pretender is, and who is King,Why, bless us all, that’s quite another thing.”[560]
“God bless the King, and bless the Faiths Defender;God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;But who Pretender is, and who is King,Why, bless us all, that’s quite another thing.”[560]
“God bless the King, and bless the Faiths Defender;God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;But who Pretender is, and who is King,Why, bless us all, that’s quite another thing.”[560]
“God bless the King, and bless the Faiths Defender;
God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;
But who Pretender is, and who is King,
Why, bless us all, that’s quite another thing.”[560]
Wesley inserted not a few of his poems in the oldArminianmagazines; and writes: “It cannot be denied, that he was a man of uncommon genius, a man of the finest and strongest understanding; and, yet, very few even of his countrymen and contemporaries have so much as heard his name.”[561]“He has all the wit and humour of Dr. Swift, together with much more learning, and, above all, a serious vein of piety. A few things, in the second volume of his poems, are taken from Jacob Behmen; to whom I object, not only, that he is obscure, and not only, that his whole hypothesis is wholly unsupported either by Scripture or reason; but also, because the ingenious madman over and over contradicts Christian experience, reason, Scripture, and himself. But setting these things aside, we have” [in Dr. Byrom’s poems,] “some of the finest sentiments that ever appeared in the English tongue; some of the noblest truths, expressed with the utmost energy, and the strongest colours of poetry.”[562]
One or two other matters, belonging to this period of Wesley’s history, must be mentioned.
The increase of Methodism was one of Wesley’s difficulties, as well as his great encouragement. His societies, especially the larger ones, naturally wished to receive the sacrament in their own chapels: but as Wesley had no clerical helper, entirely devoted to the work, except his brother; and as he himself was almost always itinerating, it was physically impossible to meet the demands of London, Bristol, and otherplaces. Neither of the Wesleys was prepared to allow the unordained preachers to administer, and they themselves were utterly unable to attend to the reasonable claims of all that wanted them. Hence the difficulty. This was partly met, when Thomas Maxfield received ordination from an Irish bishop. For several years, Maxfield was stationed in London, to read the liturgy and to administer the sacrament in Wesley’s absence. But now Maxfield had left him, and his embarrassment was greater than ever. One of his principal helpers was John Jones, a man of considerable learning, of good abilities, and of deep piety, and who, for seventeen years, had faithfully acted the part of an itinerant preacher. Just at this juncture, Erasmus, a bishop of the Greek church, visited London; and, as it was impossible to obtain ordination, for the Methodist preachers, from the bishops of the English Church, it occurred to Wesley, that it might be expedient to apply to Erasmus to ordain Mr. Jones. Previous, however, to doing this, Wesley felt it necessary to satisfy himself, that Erasmus really was a bishop. By his direction, Jones wrote to the patriarch of Smyrna on the subject; and received an answer, stating that Erasmus was bishop of Arcadia in Crete. To this was added the testimony of several gentlemen who had met the eastern prelate in Turkey. Wesley says, “he had abundant unexceptionable credentials as to his episcopal character.”[563]Being fully satisfied of this, Wesley requested him to set apart Mr. Jones, to assist him in administering the sacrament to his societies. Erasmus did so; and, if the matter had ended here, the thing would hardly have deserved further notice.
No sooner was it known, however, that one of the itinerants had been ordained, than several others applied to the good tempered bishop for the same episcopal favour. The following appeared inLloyd’s Evening Post, for December 7, 1764.
“To the article in the papers relating to three tradesmen being ordained by a Greek bishop, another may be added, a master baker. And two celebrated Methodist preachers made also an application to the same bishop, to consecrate one or both of them bishops; but the Greek toldthem, it was contrary to the rule of his church foronebishop to make another: yet, notwithstanding all he said, they very unwillingly took a denial.”
“To the article in the papers relating to three tradesmen being ordained by a Greek bishop, another may be added, a master baker. And two celebrated Methodist preachers made also an application to the same bishop, to consecrate one or both of them bishops; but the Greek toldthem, it was contrary to the rule of his church foronebishop to make another: yet, notwithstanding all he said, they very unwillingly took a denial.”
Whether this was strictly true, we can hardly tell; but certain it is, that John Jones, Samson Staniforth, Thomas Bryant, and others were ordained. The result was, Charles Wesley took huge offence; and, shortly after, Mr. Jones was obliged to leave the connexion; Samson Staniforth had to refrain from exercising his priestly functions; and Thomas Bryant put on a gown, and made a rent in the Methodist society of Sheffield.[564]
The unpleasantness did not end even here. In 1771, Augustus Toplady, one of Wesley’s bitterest opponents, published “A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley,” in which he revived the thing. With his unenviable scurrility, he called Erasmus “a foreign mendicant”; and said: “to this day, the Greek church in Amsterdam believes him to be an impostor.” He also supplied a certificate, written in Greek, of which the following is a translation.
“Our measure from the grace, gift, and power of the All-holy and Life-giving Spirit, given by our Saviour Jesus Christ to His Divine and holy apostles, to ordain subdeacons and deacons; and also, to advance to the dignity of a priest; of this grace which hath descended to our humility, I have ordained subdeacon and deacon, at Snowfields chapel, on the 19th day of November, 1764, and at Wells Street chapel on the 24th of the same month, priest the reverend: Mr. W. C.[565]according to the rules of the holy apostles, and of our faith. Moreover, I have given to him power to minister and teach, in all the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbidding him in the church of God. Wherefore, for that very purpose, I have made this present letter of recommendation from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W. C. for his certificate and security.“Given and written at London, in Britain, November 24, 1764.“Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia.”
“Our measure from the grace, gift, and power of the All-holy and Life-giving Spirit, given by our Saviour Jesus Christ to His Divine and holy apostles, to ordain subdeacons and deacons; and also, to advance to the dignity of a priest; of this grace which hath descended to our humility, I have ordained subdeacon and deacon, at Snowfields chapel, on the 19th day of November, 1764, and at Wells Street chapel on the 24th of the same month, priest the reverend: Mr. W. C.[565]according to the rules of the holy apostles, and of our faith. Moreover, I have given to him power to minister and teach, in all the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbidding him in the church of God. Wherefore, for that very purpose, I have made this present letter of recommendation from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W. C. for his certificate and security.
“Given and written at London, in Britain, November 24, 1764.
“Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia.”
Toplady proceeds to ask Wesley four insinuating questions.
“1. Did you get him to ordain several of your lay preachers according to the Greek ritual? 2. Did not these preachers both dress and officiateas clergymen of the Church of England, in consequence of that ordination; and under your own sanction and approbation? Nay, did you not repeatedly declare, that their ordination was, to all intents and purposes, as valid as your own? 3. Did you not strongly press this supposed Greek bishop to consecrate you a bishop, that you might be invested with a power of ordaining what ministers you pleased, to officiate in your societies as clergymen? And did he not refuse to consecrate you, alleging this for his reason,—That, according to the canons of the Greek church, more than one bishop must be present to assist at the consecration of a new one? 4. In all this, did you not palpably violate the oath of supremacy, which you have repeatedly taken? part of which runs thus: ‘I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm,’”
“1. Did you get him to ordain several of your lay preachers according to the Greek ritual? 2. Did not these preachers both dress and officiateas clergymen of the Church of England, in consequence of that ordination; and under your own sanction and approbation? Nay, did you not repeatedly declare, that their ordination was, to all intents and purposes, as valid as your own? 3. Did you not strongly press this supposed Greek bishop to consecrate you a bishop, that you might be invested with a power of ordaining what ministers you pleased, to officiate in your societies as clergymen? And did he not refuse to consecrate you, alleging this for his reason,—That, according to the canons of the Greek church, more than one bishop must be present to assist at the consecration of a new one? 4. In all this, did you not palpably violate the oath of supremacy, which you have repeatedly taken? part of which runs thus: ‘I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm,’”
How much truth was there in all this? It will be seen, that the pretended certificate was signed only a fortnight before the statement, already quoted, appeared inLloyd’s Evening Post. Both the chapels mentioned were Wesley’s chapels. Alexander Mather, who had been six years in the itinerancy, was a baker before he entered it, and had a considerable amount of innocent ambition. Wesley was in great difficulty arising from the want of ordained preachers to administer the sacraments; and, though he had long held the theory of Lord King, that, according to New Testament teaching, every presbyter was, in reality, a bishop; and therefore, that he himself, being a presbyter, was also a bishop, and as fully authorised to ordain others as any bishop in the world; yet, for prudential reasons, this was an authority which, at present, he was not prepared to exercise: and, hence, it would not have been surprising if he had made the application to Erasmus which it is surmised he did.
All this gives considerable plausibility to the half affirmative queries of Augustus Toplady. On the other hand, however, we have the absolute declaration of Wesley himself, that Erasmus never rejected any overture that he made to him;[566]and, if this were so, it follows that, either Erasmus did actually ordain him a bishop (which no one ventures to assert); or, that Toplady’s insinuation is calumniously untrue. To this, also, must be added, the testimony of ThomasOlivers, who with Wesley’s consent,[567]if not at his request, replied to Toplady’s attack; namely, that though Wesley did get Erasmus to ordain John Jones, and though John Jones did dress as a clergyman of the Church of England, and did assist Wesley in administering the Lord’s supper in the Methodist societies, yet Wesley had authorised him (Olivers) to give the most positive and unqualified denial to the insinuation, that he had asked Erasmus to ordain himself to the high office of a bishop. “But,” continues Olivers, “suppose he had, where would have been the blame? Mr. Wesley is connected with a number of persons who have given every proof, which the nature of the thing allows, that they have aninward callto preach the gospel. Both he and they would be glad if they hadan outwardcall too. But no bishop inEnglandwill give it them. What wonder then, if he was to endeavour to procure it by any other innocent means?”[568]
This was written in 1771, only six or seven years after the alleged events took place. Which is likeliest to be true—the bitter insinuation of a malignant opponent like Toplady; or the positive assertion of Wesley himself, and the authorised declaration of Wesley’s friend Olivers? Here the matter must be left. Though somewhat tedious, it is also important, as tending to show, that the growth of Methodism was one of Wesley’s greatest difficulties, and rendered it absolutely imperative—either that he should make the Methodists Dissenters; or, that he should procure episcopal ordination for his preachers; or, that he should do something else, which he tried to do in 1764, and which will have to be noticed in the year following.
Wesley’s life was a continued warfare. In 1763, there was published, “A Caution against Religious Delusion: a sermon preached at the visitation of the Archdeacon of Ely, in the church of St. Michael, Cambridge, on Thursday, May 19, 1763. By William Backhouse, M.A., fellow of Christ’s college, and vicar of Meldreth.” 8vo, 20 pages. Of course, this was another attack on Methodism. Methodist preachersare “modern pretenders to supernatural informations”; they are “hurried away with the exorbitancies of ungoverned piety”; they are “enthusiastic preachers, who are mindful enough of one part of St. Paul’s injunction to Timothy, ‘to give attendance toexhortation, and todoctrine,’ but alas! if they really would, they could not give heed to the first and fundamental part of it—reading.”
Another onslaught was made by a greater Church dignitary than Mr. Backhouse. Dr. Thomas Rutherforth was a fellow of the Royal Society, archdeacon of Essex, regius professor of divinity at Cambridge, and an author of repute; though Warburton says of him: “If he knows no more of theology than, he does of morals, he is the meanest pedant of the age.” In 1763, Rutherforth published “Four Charges to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Essex”; in which he took the liberty to tell his readers, that though “the Methodists pretend to be the genuine sons of the Church of England, they adopt the language and opinions of the conventicle; for they maintain, that every believer, provided he has the gift of utterance, is qualified to preach, and that human learning is rather an impediment than otherwise.” His pamphlet of ninety-five pages, octavo, is dull and dreary, though upon the whole, respectful. Five years afterwards, Wesley wrote an answer to it, from which the following are extracts. Rutherforth charges Wesley with maintaining contradictions. Wesley replies:—
“If all my sentiments were compared together, from the year 1725 to 1768, there would be truth in the charge; for, during the latter part of this period, I have relinquished several of my former sentiments. During these last thirty years, I may also have varied in some of my sentiments and expressions without observing it. I will not undertake to defend all the expressions which I have occasionally used during this time, but must desire men of candour to make allowance for those‘Quas aut incuria fudit,Aut humana parum cavit natura.’It is not strange if, among these inaccurate expressions, there are some seeming contradictions, especially considering, I was answering so many different objectors, frequently attacking me at once. Nevertheless, I believe there will be found few, if any, real contradictions in what I have published for near thirty years.”
“If all my sentiments were compared together, from the year 1725 to 1768, there would be truth in the charge; for, during the latter part of this period, I have relinquished several of my former sentiments. During these last thirty years, I may also have varied in some of my sentiments and expressions without observing it. I will not undertake to defend all the expressions which I have occasionally used during this time, but must desire men of candour to make allowance for those
‘Quas aut incuria fudit,Aut humana parum cavit natura.’
‘Quas aut incuria fudit,Aut humana parum cavit natura.’
‘Quas aut incuria fudit,Aut humana parum cavit natura.’
‘Quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura.’
It is not strange if, among these inaccurate expressions, there are some seeming contradictions, especially considering, I was answering so many different objectors, frequently attacking me at once. Nevertheless, I believe there will be found few, if any, real contradictions in what I have published for near thirty years.”
Again, Dr. Rutherforth had objected to the Methodists,on the ground of their doctrine of assurance. Wesley’s reply to this is well worth pondering.
“I believe a few, but very few, Christians have an assurance from God of everlasting salvation; and that is the thing which the apostle termsfull assurance of hope.“I believe more have such an assurance of being now in the favour of God as excludes all doubt and fear; and this, if I do not mistake, the apostle means by thefull assurance of faith.“I believe a consciousness of being in the favour of God, (which I do not termfull assurance, since it is frequently weakened, nay, perhaps interrupted, by returns of doubt or fear,) is the common privilege of Christians, fearing God and working righteousness. Yet I do not affirm there are no exceptions to this general rule but, I believe, this is usually owing either to disorder of body, or to ignorance of the gospel promises. Therefore, I have not, for many years, thought a consciousness of acceptance to be essential to justifying faith.“After I have thus explained myself once for all, I hope all reasonable men will be satisfied; and whoever will dispute with me on this head must do it for disputing’s sake.”
“I believe a few, but very few, Christians have an assurance from God of everlasting salvation; and that is the thing which the apostle termsfull assurance of hope.
“I believe more have such an assurance of being now in the favour of God as excludes all doubt and fear; and this, if I do not mistake, the apostle means by thefull assurance of faith.
“I believe a consciousness of being in the favour of God, (which I do not termfull assurance, since it is frequently weakened, nay, perhaps interrupted, by returns of doubt or fear,) is the common privilege of Christians, fearing God and working righteousness. Yet I do not affirm there are no exceptions to this general rule but, I believe, this is usually owing either to disorder of body, or to ignorance of the gospel promises. Therefore, I have not, for many years, thought a consciousness of acceptance to be essential to justifying faith.
“After I have thus explained myself once for all, I hope all reasonable men will be satisfied; and whoever will dispute with me on this head must do it for disputing’s sake.”
Rutherforth’s main accusation, however, is that the Methodists teach, that “Christianity rejects the aid of human learning.” To this Wesley replies: “Mr. Berridge thinks it does; but I am not accountable for him, from whom, in this, I totally differ.” In proof of this he appeals to his “deliberate thoughts on human learning” in his “Serious Address to the Clergy”; to his establishment of Kingswood school; and to the fact that, though his preachers did not profess to know the languages and philosophy, yet some of them understood both one and the other better than great part of his pupils at the university did. He continues:
“What I believe concerning learning is this: that it is highly expedient for a guide of souls, but not absolutely necessary. What I believe to be absolutely necessary is, a faith unfeigned, the love of God and our neighbour, a burning zeal for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, with a heart and life wholly devoted to God. These I judge to be necessary in the highest degree; and next to these a competent knowledge of Scripture, a sound understanding, a tolerable utterance, and a willingness to be as the filth and offscouring of the world.”[569]
“What I believe concerning learning is this: that it is highly expedient for a guide of souls, but not absolutely necessary. What I believe to be absolutely necessary is, a faith unfeigned, the love of God and our neighbour, a burning zeal for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, with a heart and life wholly devoted to God. These I judge to be necessary in the highest degree; and next to these a competent knowledge of Scripture, a sound understanding, a tolerable utterance, and a willingness to be as the filth and offscouring of the world.”[569]
Noble words are these of Wesley. Let all Methodist quarterly and district meetings and conferences act upon them.
The most furious attack on Wesley, in 1763, was by Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, in an octavo volume of 259 pages, first published in 1762, and entitled, “The Doctrine of Grace: or, The Office and Operations of the Holy Spirit vindicated from the Insults of Infidelity, and the Abuses of Fanaticism.” Warburton allows, that Wesley is “an extraordinary man”; but finds fault with him for having “laid claim to almost every apostolic gift and grace in as full a measure as they were possessed of old.” In earnest raillery, and trenchant language, the Gloucester prelate professes to establish this, by citations from Wesley’s Journals. To attempt a summary of his episcopal scoldings is impracticable; indeed, it would be of little use. It is a curious fact, that Warburton sent the manuscript to Wesley before the work was printed, with a request to notice its errors. Wesley says: “the manuscript abounded with quotations from poets, philosophers, etc., both in Greek and Latin. After correcting the false readings, improper glosses, and other errors, I returned it.”[570]This incident helps to explain a sentence in one of Wesley’s letters to his brother, dated “January 5, 1762”: “I was a little surprised to find Bishop Warburton so entirely unacquainted with the New Testament; and, notwithstanding all his parade of learning, I believe he is no critic in Greek.”[571]
Wesley lost no time in replying to Warburton’s attack. This he did, in “A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Gloucester. Occasioned by his tract on the office and operations of the Holy Spirit. London: 1763.” 12mo, 144 pages. The character and substance of Wesley’s answer may be inferred from its concluding paragraphs.
“I have now finished what I had to say, either concerning myself, or on the operations of the Holy Spirit. In doing this, I have used great plainness of speech, and yet, I hope, without rudeness. If anything of that kind has slipped from me, I am ready to retract it. I desire, on the one hand, toaccept no man’s person; and yet, on the other, to givehonour to whom honour is due.“If your lordship should think it worth your while to spend any more words upon me, may I presume to request one thing of your lordship,—to be moreserious? It cannot injure your lordship’scharacter, or yourcause.”
“I have now finished what I had to say, either concerning myself, or on the operations of the Holy Spirit. In doing this, I have used great plainness of speech, and yet, I hope, without rudeness. If anything of that kind has slipped from me, I am ready to retract it. I desire, on the one hand, toaccept no man’s person; and yet, on the other, to givehonour to whom honour is due.
“If your lordship should think it worth your while to spend any more words upon me, may I presume to request one thing of your lordship,—to be moreserious? It cannot injure your lordship’scharacter, or yourcause.”
Warburton’s book was principally an attack on Wesley and Conyers Middleton; but as the title page, at least, referred to the “office and operations of the Holy Spirit,” others, beside Wesley, deemed it their duty to call the jaunty bishop to account for his errors and omissions. Whitefield, though scarcely alluded to by Warburton, sent forth a pamphlet of twenty-four pages, in which he charges the bishop with having, “in effect, robbed the church of its promised Comforter; and, thereby, left us without any supernatural influence or Divine operations whatsoever.” The Rev. John Andrews, LL.B., of St. Mary hall, Oxford, published a book of 224 pages to correct his lordship’s notions; and soon after was dismissed from a small Church benefice the prelate had previously bestowed upon him. John Payne also, once a bookseller, but afterwards accountant of the Bank of England, issued a volume of five hundred pages, accusing the bishop of unfairness to Mr. Law. Dr. Thomas Leland, a fellow of Trinity college, Dublin, the most admired preacher of that city, and whose classical learning Dr. Johnson considered to be unrivalled, gave to the world his “Dissertation on the Principles of Human Eloquence,” in which he refuted the arguments used by Warburton in reference to the style and composition of the New Testament. Thus the irate bishop got into a nest of hornets. Wesley considered, that he himself had so “untwisted the bishops arguments,” that to put them together again was a thing impossible.[572]Andrews so stung his lordship, that he was soon dismissed from his benefice. And Leland so vanquished his antagonist, that, instead of the bishop defending his own, Dr. Hurd, in a tone of sarcasm and contempt, thought proper to answer on behalf of his episcopal master, and, three years afterwards, was made archdeacon of his master’s diocese. Samuel Charndler, also, of Newington, appeared as the bishop’s champion, in “An Answer to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Letter to William, Lord Bishop of Gloucester.” 8vo, 22 pages. With no slight degree of egotism, he tells his readers, that his “remarks are not the fruits of idle conceit, or mere conjecture, not party suggestions, or newfangled notions, but a plain series of wellconsidered thoughts.” He informs Wesley, that Methodist “doctrine has filled Bedlam and the several madhouses in England with shoals of patients”; that he had “occasioned many and great violations of the peace”; and that he is “well skilled in the rudiments of deceit.” Poor Samuel Charndler, by the side of Bishop Warburton, was a Lilliputian playing antics in the presence of a Patagonian giant.
The other publications of Wesley, in 1763, were as follows.
1. “Letters wrote by Jane Cooper, to which is prefixed some account of her Life and Death.” 12mo, 41 pages. Jane Cooper was born in Norfolk, in 1738; and, in the twentieth year of her age, came to London as a domestic servant; was converted; and joined the Methodists. Four years afterwards she died of smallpox, and Wesley buried her. She was evidently one of Wesley’s pattern saints, and professed to live in the enjoyment of Christian holiness. Indeed, her experience forms a part of Wesley’s “Plain Account of Christian Perfection.” Considering her social position, her letters are remarkable productions. “All here,” says Wesley, “is strong, sterling sense, strictly agreeable to sound reason. Here are no extravagant flights, no mystic reveries, no unscriptural enthusiasm. The sentiments are all just and noble; the result of a fine natural understanding, cultivated by conversation, thinking, reading, and true Christian experience.” The last words of this servant maid were: “My Jesus is all in all to me; glory be to Him through time and eternity.” Wesley calls her “a pattern of all holiness, and of the wisdom which is from above.”
2. “Farther Thoughts upon Christian Perfection.” 12mo, 39 pages. This has been already noticed.
3. As also the following: “A Sermon preached before the Society for the Reformation of Manners; on Sunday, January 30, 1763. At the chapel in West Street, Seven Dials.” 8vo, 31 pages. At the end of it, the names of five gentlemen are given, who would receive subscriptions to the funds of the society, on behalf of which it was delivered.
4. The substance also of another pamphlet has been already given: “Minutes of several Conversations between the Rev. Mr. John and Charles Wesley, and others.” 12mo, 30 pages.
5. The “Sermon on Sin in Believers” was written March 28, 1763. Its object is to refute the doctrine of Zinzendorf, thatalltrue believers areentirelysanctified. The sermon is one of Wesley’s ablest homilies; and, doubtless, had its origin in the excitement arising out of the subject of Christian perfection. “I wrote it,” says he, “in order to remove a mistake which some were labouring to propagate,—that there is no sin in any that are justified.”
6. “An Extract from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ with Notes.” 18mo, 320 pages. Wesley’s object, in this publication, may be gathered from his preface. “This inimitable work, amidst all its beauties, is unintelligible to abundance of readers: the immense learning, which Milton has everywhere crowded together, making it quite obscure to persons of a common education. This difficulty I have endeavoured to remove in the following extract: first, by omitting those lines which I despaired of explaining to the unlearned; and secondly, by adding short and easy notes. To those passages, which I apprehend to be peculiarly excellent, either with regard to sentiment or expression, I have prefixed a star; and these, I believe, it would be worth while to read over and over, or even to commit to memory.”[573]
7. “A Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation; or, a Compendium of Natural Philosophy.” 2 vols., 12mo. This work was begun as early as the year 1758;[574]and was published by subscription. In a circular to his assistants, Wesleysaid: “Spare no pains to procure subscriptions for the Philosophy. It will be the most complete thing of its kind in the English tongue.”[575]A second edition, in three volumes, was issued in 1770; a third, in five volumes, in 1777. In theLondon Magazine, for 1774, a long letter, signed “Philosophaster,” was addressed to Wesley, criticising some of his statements. In his reply,[576]Wesley, in some points, acknowledges himself to be in error; but not in others; and then concludes: “Permit me, sir, to give you one piece of advice. Be not sopositive; especially with regard to things which are neither easy nor necessary to be determined. I ground this advice on my own experience. When I was young, I wassureof everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as before. At present, I am hardly sure of anything, but what God has revealed to man.”