Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century Part 7

{52} John Wesley was born in 1703.

{54} "I rode over to a neighbouring town," says Wesley, "to wait upon a justice of peace, a man of candour and understanding; before whom I was informed their angry neighbours had carried a whole waggon load of these new heretics." But when he asked, "what they had done," there was a deep silence, for that was a point their conductor had forgot. At length one said, "Why they pretend to be better than other people, and besides they pray from morning till night." Mr. S--- asked, "But have they done nothing besides?" "Yes, Sir," said an old man, "an't please your wors.h.i.+p they have _convarted_ my wife; till she went among them she had such a tongue, and now she is as quiet as a lamb." "Carry them back," replied the justice, "and let them convert all the scolds in the town."-(Wesley's Journal.)

{55} Watson's Life of Wesley, page 484.

{56} Lackington.

{59a} "Who does as he would be done by, in buying or selling?

particularly selling horses? Write him a knave that does not, and the Methodist knave is the worst of all knaves."-_Wesley's Large Minutes_, Q.

13.

{59b} Snuff-taking and drams are expressly forbidden.

{59c} In May 1776, an order was made in the House of Lords, "That the Commissioners of His Majesty's Excise do write circular letters to all such persons whom they have reason to suspect to have plate, as also to those who have not paid regularly the duty on the same." In consequence of this order the Accountant-general for household plate sent a copy of it to John Wesley. The answer was as follows:

Sir,

I have _two_ silver teaspoons in London and two at Bristol: this is all the plate which I have at present, and I shall not buy any more while so many round me want bread.

I am Sir, your most humble servant, JOHN WESLEY.

{61} "I used my prayers," says the author of the 'Bank of Faith,' "_as gunners do swivels_; _turning them every way_ as the cases required."

Wesley relates in his Journal that "By prayer he used to cure a violent pain in his head," &c.

{62} This writer, the celebrated Lackington the bookseller, relates the following occurrence soon after he turned Methodist. "One Sunday morning at eight o'clock, my mistress seeing her sons set off, and knowing they were gone to a Methodist meeting, determined to prevent me from doing the same, by locking the door; on which in a superst.i.tious mood I opened the Bible for direction what to do, and the first words I read were these, "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." This was enough for me, so without a moment's hesitation I ran up two pair of stairs to my own room, and out of the window I leapt to the great terror of my poor mistress. My feet and ancles were most intolerably bruised, so that I was obliged to be put to bed; and it was more than a month before I recovered the use of my limbs. I was then ignorant enough to think that _the Lord had not used me very well_; and I resolved _not to put so much trust in him_ for the future. My rash adventure made a great noise in the town, and was talked of many miles round. Some few admired my prodigious strength of faith; but the major part pitied me as a poor ignorant, deluded, and infatuated boy."

{64a} Wesley's Works, vol. xii. p. 49. Some of Wesley's expressions, when confronted with each other, appear incompatible; in such cases the main drift of the writer must always be considered; for it is much more usual to fail in expressing our meaning than to express contradictory opinions: since the latter implies a cerebral defect verging on insanity, the former merely results from a faulty style. Scripture does not any where warrant us in saying "_the moment_ a penitent sinner," &c.; but requires from us a proof of this belief by actions conformable to it.

G.o.d has promised us immortality through his Son, only if we not merely believe, but "do that which is lawful and right."

{64b} Wesley censured some of his preachers for pus.h.i.+ng the doctrine of perfection too far.

{65} Wesley's Works, vol. viii. p. 219. and vol. xi. p. 415.

{66} So called from their habit of rebaptizing those who entered their communion. They were afterwards called _Antipaedobaptists_, from their objection to _paedo_ or infant baptism; and finally, the English habit of abbreviation of words at all commonly used, contracted the word into _Baptist_.

{67} Mosheim. Ecc. Hist. Cant. XVI. Sect, iii. Part 2.

{68a} Milton belonged to the cla.s.s of Anti-Trinitarian General Baptists.

{68b} That the body of Jesus was not derived from the substance of the blessed Virgin, but created in her womb by an omnipotent act of the Holy Spirit.

{68c} V. Mosheim's Ecc. Hist.

{69} All who baptize infants may be termed paedo-baptists; the word is derived from the Greek p??? a child or infant, and ?pt? to baptize.

{70a} Yet the bishop ought to have known that baptism by immersion was practised in the church for many centuries, and the rubric of our common prayer leaves the option of immersion or aspersion.

{70b} Condor's View. p. 380.

{75a} Marriage is enumerated in one of the Moravian hymns amongst the services of danger, for which the United Brethren are "to hold themselves prepared."

"You as yet single are but little tried, Invited to the supper of the bride, That like the former warrior each may stand Ready for land, sea, marriage, at command."

{75b} See Latrobe's edition of Spangenburgh's Exposition of Christian Doctrine.

{79} Litany of the New Church. Office of ordination, p. 151.

{80a} Rom. xxi. 27.

{80b} 1 Cor. i. 3.

{81a} John i. 18.

{81b} John vi. 46.

{82} Liturgy of the New Church Office of Baptism, p. 58.

{84} "Jesus the Fountain of Life and Light," p. 12.

{85} In some places it is not till the end of a fortnight.

{87a} Examination of the opinions of the Plymouth Brethren.

{87b} The following is a sample from one of their published works: "The first eclogue of Virgil has always appeared to me to express most felicitously the pleasures of a _pastoral_ life as we too frequently see it in these days. With what force the following lines describe the grateful feeling of a _young clergyman_, who is recounting the benefits conferred on him by his patron:

O Melibe, Deus n.o.bis haec otia fecit.

Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus- Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum Ludere, qaee vellem, calamo permisit agresti.

My patron shall always be a divinity to me, for he put me into this life of ease when he gave me this _gem_, _the prettiest living in England_.

He gave me this _easy duty_, so that I can let my flock wander wheresoever it may please them, as you see they do; while I myself do just what 1 like, and occasionally amuse myself with a _pianoforte_ by Stoddart, that cost eighty-five guineas."

"He (the congregational minister) is now, in his own opinion, the ONE MAN of the whole body of believers in all the services of the sanctuary. He utters all their sentiments of faith and doctrine, and offers up all their prayers! How can he justify the position he has a.s.sumed as _an usurper_? yea as a _grievous wolf_! in that he has swallowed up _all the gifts of the Holy Ghost_ in the _voracity of his selfishness_," &c. It is not thus that the "unity of the church," which they profess to desire is likely to be cemented.

{90} Bishop Jewel, in his "Defence of his apology for the Church of England," says, that "the term _Calvinist_ was in the first instance applied to the Reformers and the English Protestants as a matter of reproach by the Church of Rome."

{91} Whatever difference may have subsisted between Luther and Calvin on the subject of Divine decrees, no language can be stronger than that in which Luther insists upon the moral impotence of man's depraved nature in opposition to the Pelagian doctrine of freewill.

{93a} It is difficult to reconcile this doctrine with 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.

1 Tim. ii. 6. 2 Pet. iii. 9. Rom. viii. 32. 1 Tim. iv. 10. &c.

{93b} The best account of their system is to be found in "The a.s.sembly's Catechism," which is taught their children. To this sect belongs more particularly the doctrine of _Atonement_, or, "that Christ by his death made satisfaction to the Divine justice for the _Elect_; appeasing the anger of the Divine Being, and effecting on his part a reconciliation."

That thus Christ had, as they term it, "the sin of the Elect laid upon him." But some of their teachers do not hold this opinion, but consider Christ's death as simply a medium through which G.o.d has been pleased to exercise mercy towards the penitent. "The sacrifice of Christ," says Dr.

Magee, "was never deemed by any (who did not wish to calumniate the doctrine of atonement), to have made G.o.d placable: but merely viewed as the means appointed by Divine wisdom by which to bestow forgiveness." To this it may be further added, that the language used throughout the Epistles of St. Paul with regard to the redemption of man, is that of the then familiar slave market. Man is "bought with a price" from his former master, Sin, for the service of G.o.d. The scholar who will consult Romans vi. will see immediately that all the metaphors used are those of purchase for military service; "Your members," says he, ver. 13, "shall not be the arms (?p?a) of unrighteousness used for the service of sin; but the arms (?p?a) of righteousness for G.o.d." And ver 23, t? ??? ?????a t?? ?a?t?a?, ???at??? t? d? ?a??sa t?? ?e??, ???, a?????? ?? ???t?

??s?? t? ????? ???. i.e. The rations of sin are death, but the donative of G.o.d is eternal life, by means of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is impossible to express more clearly that it was not the wrath of G.o.d which required to be appeased by the great sacrifice-the slave was _bought by Him for Himself_-the price was of course paid to another. Much misunderstanding has arisen from the careless interpretation of these and the like pa.s.sages, whose phraseology has become obsolete along with the practice of buying and selling slaves, at least in this country.

{95a} Matt. xvi. 27.

{95b} Matt. xviii. 14.