'""'I'-^V'^^:' ;>M^^*fc^fl^i 
 
 miim£ 
 
 miifUi 
 
 'mi .:■ 
 
 
 
TJBRARY 
 
 FRIWCETOIV, W. J. 
 
 IKINM'ION UK 
 
 SAMUEL A a N K W , 
 
 OY P H 1 L A i> K L V H 1 A . PA. 
 
 *?/-^ 
 
 No. ^> 
 
 «^^«^ 
 
 Bv 4400 .M5 1851 c.l 
 
 "^^^'.UfofSe local or U, 
 ministry ^ 
 
Alf ESSAy ?aui^^ 
 
 LOCAL OR LAY MIMSTHY, 
 
 AS EXERCISED IN 
 
 THE WESLEYAN AND OTHER BRANCHES OF THE 
 METHODIST FAMILY. 
 
 " Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them ; for 
 in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." — 
 1 Tim. iv. 16. 
 
 By RICHARD MILLS, 
 
 WESLEYAN LOCAL PREACHER, RUGELEY, STAFFORDSHIRE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN KAYE AND CO., 80, FLEET-STREET. 
 
 1851. 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 €l)t Cnml nr ITiu] Hiiiiistn). 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Essay which is now presented to the world, owes its 
 paternity to the generosity of John Kaye, Esq., of Dalton 
 Hall, near Huddersfield. In the course of last year (1849), 
 Mr. Kaye offered for competition two prizes, the one of fifty 
 pounds, and the other of twenty-five pounds, for two Essa}'« 
 on the Methodist Local Ministry ; to be written exclusively 
 by Local Preachers, and to embrace the several topics which 
 are discussed in the following pages. 
 
 It is well known, that, within the last few years, a number 
 of Prize Essays have been added to the religious literature of 
 this country. These Essays, which embrace subjects of the 
 highest conceivable interest and importance, and combine the 
 loftiest talent with the deepest piety, are the legitimate 
 offspring of British benevolence. Several of the Essays have 
 emanated from the mental recesses of the pious and erudite 
 principal of Cheshunt College, and are deservedly entitled to 
 a place of distinction in the public estimation. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 lu a country like this, where social and religious creeds are 
 unfettered by national restrictions, it is easy to conceive, 
 that, without the application of strong moral counterchecks, 
 the wildest opinions might be generated and diffused under 
 the sanction and authority of legal toleration. 
 
 It would, in many instances, be extremely difficult to deal 
 forensically with infidelity in many of its modifications, how- 
 ever mischievous it might be in its design or influence, unless 
 it assumed a tangible opposition to, or a violation of, consti- 
 tutional principles ; and even then, to visit moral evils with 
 judicial penalties might be a very questionable policy. If it 
 would not be fighting with symptoms rather than with the 
 disease, it would certainly be dealing with the effect rather 
 than with the cause. The well-known aphorism, " Prevention 
 is better than cure," is a maxim founded in sound 
 policy ; and those individuals who apply the i)rinciple 
 it involves, with any degree of practical effect, are de- 
 servedly entitled to be classed among the truest benefactors 
 of mankind. 
 
 It is to this principle, in its best acceptation, that our 
 nation owes the immerous Prize Essays, which, under the 
 charm of literary attraction, have brought out in prominent 
 relief some of the most important collateral branches of the 
 New Testament economy. 
 
 The importance of these special means may at once be 
 found in their acknowledged necessity. With all the moral and 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1849, at a time when attention 
 was drawn to the claims and position of Wesleyan Local 
 Preachers, by the then proposed establishment of a Mutual- 
 Aid Association, the following announcement appeared : — 
 " The Proprietor of The Wesleyan Times offers two prizes, 
 of fifty pounds and twenty-five pounds respectively, for the 
 two best Essays on the Local or Lay Ministry, as existing in 
 the Wesleyan and other branches of the Methodist family. 
 The Essays should exhibit the Scriptural character of a 
 Lay Ministry, and its employment in Apostolic times; 
 trace its use in subsequent ages of the Church ; and point 
 out the providential circumstances which led to its intro- 
 duction in Methodism. They should also embrace an 
 inquiry into its adaptation to the spiritual wants of an 
 unconverted world ; exhibit its past success and present 
 position ; and fiu'nish suggestions for its future and more 
 extended usefulness. Any Methodist Local Preacher (Wes- 
 leyan or otherwise) will be eligible to compete for the prizes. 
 
VI ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Essays should extend to from 250 to 300 pages of 300 
 words ; and should be sent, under cover, to the Editor of 
 The Wesley an Times not later than the 1st of February, 
 1850." 
 
 The period so fixed was afterwards, by special request, 
 considerably extended, to afibrd time to those whose circum- 
 stances restrict their opportunities for literary composition. 
 
 Eventually about thirty-six Essays were sent in. Most 
 of them were of a superior order ; some of them surprisingly 
 so, when it is considered that they were the productions of 
 men who labour with their hands for the bread that 
 perisheth. One of them, and not the least valuable, was 
 from the pen of a miner in one of the Northern collieries. 
 After a careful perusal of the whole, the prizes were awarded 
 to Mr. R. Mills, of Colton-hall, near Rugeley ; and Mr. J. 
 H. Carr, of Leeds. To the former, £50 ; and to the latter, 
 £25. 
 
 JABEZ BURNS, D.D., ) 
 
 JOHN HARmSON, } ^^^^^i^^*-^' 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 oblivion, he will fall back with some consolation on the 
 elevated sentiment of the poet — 
 
 "In generous deeds 'tis noble even to fail." 
 The Author has offered a few strictures on one or two 
 departments of the polity of Methodism, which, he conceives, 
 operate adversely on the body of Local Preachers, and inju- 
 riously on the general interests of the Connexion. He has 
 not, however, in a single instance, ventured witliin the sacred 
 enclosure of private character. Indeed, he conceives that the 
 private character of the preachers generally is unassailable ; 
 but, as public acts are public property, and are open to com- 
 mendation or rebuke, according to their obvious character 
 and probable tendency, he hopes, in the remarks he has made, 
 he shall not be charged with having trespassed beyond the 
 legitimate bounds of privilege to which the laws of author- 
 ship give unquestionable claim. 
 
 Coltoii-hall, near Riigeley, 
 April \st, 1850. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 social advantages wliicli we pi-e-einineutly enjoy iu this cV^g 
 and country, it cannot be concealed that the present period 
 is distinguished by an extraordinary development of irreligion, 
 in forms the most specious and attractive. No one who has 
 paid much attention to past and passing events, can be blind 
 to the fact, that a powerful anti-Christian influence, under 
 various forms and operating in various ways, has been difiused 
 over a large surface of society, through the medium of one 
 department of the press ; wliich, actuated by mercenary or 
 less reputable motives, is prostituting its talents, and wasting 
 its energies, by publishing and circulating, in every accessible 
 quarter, the principles of infidelity, under the most insidious 
 and dangerous modifications. The progress of general infor- 
 mation through the innumerable channels which are now 
 accessible to all classes of the community, has fearfully 
 increased the bold and daring spirit of the times. Many of 
 the cheap publications wliich inundate our land, pander to 
 the worst passions of the human heart, and destructively 
 counteract all measures of moral and religious improvement. 
 That we live in times of great enlightenment, teeming with 
 advantages of various kinds, must be gratefully acknow- 
 ledged ; but we must not, therefore, shut our eyes to the 
 perils of the age. The bold front which infidelity and irreli- 
 gion assume ; the wildness of opinion ; the extravagance of 
 desire ; the rash and reckless spiiit which animates a large 
 portion of the working population of this country, and which, 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 at different times, has threatened to break down the very 
 framework of social organisation, loudly call for some effectual 
 breakwater to prevent the further si)read of a deluge, so 
 sweeping in its course, and so desolating in its consequences. 
 Under these circumstances, it is some consolation to find, 
 that no small amount of talent and energy are called forth 
 by benevolent individuals for the purpose of counteracting 
 the destructive tendencies of such mischievous publications, 
 and thus of rescuing from vice and debasement those who 
 have unhappily been caught in the artful web of their 
 delusions. 
 
 The writer of the following Essay makes few preten- 
 sions to authorship. He has occupied a status on the 
 Local Preachers' Plan for upwards of thirty years, and 
 is, therefore, no stranger to the varied working of the 
 Wesleyan Local Ministry ; still, he is perfectly aware, 
 that a functionary in any public department may have a 
 correct knowledge of the duties and obligations which 
 his particular office imposes, and yet possess a very slender 
 competence to prepare such a digest of those duties and 
 obligations as should justify a pretension to public acceptance. 
 Though he has ventured to enter the field of competition for 
 one of the prizes so nobly offered by the generous donor, 
 yet he has done so with considerable distinist and diffidence ; 
 and, therefore, should the offspring of his present effort share 
 the fate of the many which must necessarily be consigned to 
 
CONTENTS. I 
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE CHARACTER, QUALIFICATIONS, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES, OBJECTS, 
 AND RESULTS OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAOB. 
 Character of the Ministry — Remarks on the Diaconal Office — Local 
 Preachers not connected with the Diaconate — Analogy between 
 Ministers and Ambassadors — Ministerial Responsibility 135 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Gospel Commission — Ministerial Qualifications — The Talent Necessary 
 for Preachers — Study Necessary to produce Effect — Reading — 
 Narrow Policy of Book-Room — Necessity of Spiritual Influence — 
 Ministerial Impediments; How to be Metand Removed 14.3 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Duties of the Christian Ministry — Various Kinds of Preaching — Mr. 
 Wesley's Directions on Preaching — Necessity of Exhibiting, with 
 due Prominence, the Distinguishing Doctrines of Christiuaity : Faith, 
 the New Birth, the Witness of the Spirit, Justification, and Sancti- 
 fication — Why Preaching produces so little Effect — Evening Soirees : 
 their Mischievous Tendency — Robert Hall's Opinion — Anecdote of 
 the Rev. James Hervey 159 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Responsibility of the Ministerial Office — St. Paul's Preaching and 
 Writings — Bunyan's View of the Ministry — His own Method of 
 Preaching — Baxter's Preaching — Reflections on Popular Preaching — 
 Baxter's Opinion of Preaching generally 176 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Archbishop Williams' Reflections — Piety the Chief Requisite for the 
 Ministry — Treatment of Local Preachers by the Conference — Objects 
 of the Local Ministry — Feeling not to be Substituted for Faith — 
 Bishop Corry's Plan in India — Grounds of Encouragement — Fallacy 
 of Utilitarian Schemes — Man's Natural State Described, and the 
 Opposition offered by that State to the Operation of the Ministry 186 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Results of the Ministiy — Prosperity the consequence of Pious Zeal — Gospel 
 Results not alwaj^s Concomitant with the Means b}' which they are 
 Instrumentally Produced — Enthusiasm Defended — Primitive and 
 Modem Preaching Contrasted — Revival Services virtually Proscribed 
 by Travelling Preachers generally — Experimental Preaching Recom- 
 mended — The Rev. Mr. Grimshaw's and Mr. Wesley's Laboxirs — 
 Privileges of the Saints Described 198 
 
XVI C!ONTENTS. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR RENDERING THE METHODIST LAY MINISTRY MORK 
 COMMENSURATE WITH ITS ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE. 
 
 Apelles' Wish Moralised — Closer Union Recommended in the Ijocal 
 Ministry— Apostolic Sanction of Deliberative Assemblies — Local Con- 
 ferences Advantageous — Frequent Meetings of Ministers in Previous 
 Ages — Deliberative Meetings essential to Prosperity 211 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 State of Population in large Towns — District Visitation in Towns Re- 
 commended — Union of Denominational Bodies to Promote the Object 
 Desirable — Tract Distribution a Means of Awakening Inquu-y — Case 
 Illustrative of its Advantages — Suggestions Offered 219 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Pastoral Visitation greatly Neglected by Travelling Preachers- 
 Pastoral more important than Ministerial Duties, both to the Flock 
 and to the Minister— Dr. Doddridge's Rules— Testimonies of Matthew 
 Henry, Professor Miller, and the Rev. Legh Richmond— A Case in 
 Point 225 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ragged-chapels, after the Model of Ragged- schools, Recommended 
 —Objection Answered— Sunday-schools should be more sedulously 
 Cultivated— Teachers should be Pious : should apply the Principles 
 of the New Testament to the Consciences of the Children— Sunday- 
 schools ought to be regarded as Nurseries for the Church 235 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Revivals of Religion essential to Prosperity— Early Methodism Promoted 
 in its Growth and Spii-ituality by Revivals— Revival Sei-vices Defended 
 Revivalism the Spirit of the Old and New Testament— Recom- 
 mended by Isaiah— Conclusion 242 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAUT I. 
 
 THE HISTORY, CONSTITUTION, MINISTRY, AND SPREAD OP THE GOSPEL, 
 DURING THE FIRST AGES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAOR. 
 Introduction of Christianity — Its Rejection by the Jews — Definition of 
 a Church — Tho first Ministry a Lay Ministry — The Character and 
 Social Position of the Apostles 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Bishops and Presbj'-ters in the Primitive Church — In whj t Respects 
 they Differed — Appointment of Deacons — Their Office and Duties 
 Defined — Appointment of Deaconesses — Their Employment in the 
 Church — Female Preaching 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Ordination in the Apostolic Church — Seventy Disciples not Ordained— 
 Ordination Defined — Tractarian Dogmas respecting Ordination — 
 Opinions of Archbishops Cranmer and Whitgift on Ordination and 
 Preaching 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Moral State of the World on the Introduction of Christianity— Effects 
 of Natural Religion — Rapid and Extensive Spread of Christianity — 
 Hostility armed against the Gospel — Tertullian's Remarks — Sufferings 
 of the Early Christians — Ten Persecutions — Spread of Christianity 
 accounted for 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Character of Christianity — Ministry of John the Baptist — Ministry of 
 the Redeemer — Sermon on the Mount — Pai'abolic Mode of Preaching 
 — Style of Christ's Preaching — Preaching of the first Apostles — 
 Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost — Conversion of 
 St. Paul — Persecutions at Jerusalem the occasion of a wider Dif- 
 fusion of Christianity by Means of Lay Instrumentality 46 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Opening of the Gospel Door to the Gentiles — Introduction of Christianity 
 into Europe — Spread of the Gospel over European Cities — Character 
 of St. Paul — Character of Christianity — Recapitulation of the Con- 
 quests of the Gospel during the first Thirty Years of its publication. . . 67 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ADAPTATION, AND USEFULNESS OF THB 
 METHODIST LAY OR LOCAL MINISTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE. 
 
 Objects and Discharge of the Christian Ministry — Effect of Whitfield's 
 Preaching — French, Scotch, Irish, American, and English Preachers 
 Contrasted — Sermons of Tillotson, Barrow, Blair, and Paley De- 
 scribed — Anecdote of Garrick — State of Religion at the Opening of 
 the Eighteenth Century — Origin of Methodism — Opening of the 
 Foundry — Commencement of Class Contributions — Mr. Wesley's 
 Separation from the Moravians 71 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Originof Lay Preaching among the Methodists — Opinion of Mr. Wesley's 
 Mother on Lay Preaching — Mr. Wesley's Defence of Lay Preaching — 
 Spread of Methodism — Mr. Wesley's Talent — Character of the Early 
 Preachers — Ministerial Qualifications of Local Preachers — Bunyan's 
 Preaching 82 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Clerical Opposition to Lay Preaching — Mr. Wesley's Letter in Defence 
 to Archdeacon Fleury — Introduction of Methodism into America — 
 Spirit of the Early Preachers — Altered State of Things — Anecdote of 
 Thomas Aquinas — Discussion of Important Points at the Conference 
 of 1763— Mr. Wesley's Twelve Rules for a Helper 94 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Moral Government of God— Adaptation of Talent in the Local Ministry 
 to its varied Requirements — Anecdote of Florid Preaching — Robert 
 Hall's Opinion of it — Mistakes of Young Preachers — Affecting 
 Dream — The Author's Early Mistakes as a Local Preacher — Letter 
 by Dr. Clarke to the Author on Preaching — The Local Preachers 
 unaltered in Primitive Character — How regarded in Social Life — 
 Their Laboiirs and Liabilities — Bunyan and the Bishop of Peter- 
 borough — Spread of Methodism 104 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Methodism Established by Lay Preaching — Ordination Introduced into 
 the Methodist Society — Numerical Statistics in 1767 — Ditto in 1790 — 
 Mr. Wesley's Letter on American Methodism — Episcopal Form of 
 Church Government Adopted in America — Remarks on Earl}-- 
 Methodist Preaching — Observations on Extemporaneous Preaching 
 —Ditto on Memoriter Sermons— Dr. Clarke's Plan of Preaching- 
 Bishop Burnet's and other Opinions on Preaching 116 
 
INTEODUCTION. 
 
€\)t ICflnil nr f aij Binistrij. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 From the earliest period in the history of mankind, 
 whether in barbarous or civilised states, the disposition 
 has prevailed to accomplish all great enterprises, possessing a 
 common interest, by the united agency of organized associa- 
 tions. In the first eras of the world, the principle of combi- 
 nation exerted a powerful influence over man, however i-ude 
 and uncultivated the state of society in which he was found 
 to exist ; an influence which, whilst it embodied the main- 
 spring of power, frequently gave an impulse to the exercise 
 of that power which affected for good or evil the varied 
 interests of the social economy. That this disposition has 
 kept pace with the advance of civilisation, may be taken as 
 a general proof of the favour with which it has been received. 
 In this country, institutions are spread over every part of its 
 surface ; embracing every variety of object, possessing every 
 element of power, combining eveiy degi'ee of energy, and 
 affording scope for the development and exercise of the vast 
 resources of diversified talent which give to this nation its 
 acknowledged pre-eminence over other civilised states. 
 
 It is not necessary to the establishment of the general prin- 
 ciple which is set out in these observations, to show, that asso- 
 
 b2 
 
* INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ciations, having a common object, necessarily operate for the 
 general advantage of the whole community. The experience 
 of every day is sufficient to support a converse position. Some- 
 times societies unite to promote the accomplishment of objects 
 of a very questionable character. Of this class are the organized 
 secret societies of a neighbouring state, and, indeed, those 
 that recently distracted one branch of our own empire ; which, 
 by the impetuous rush of strong under-currents, have seri- 
 ously threatened, at various times, to effect a complete disrup- 
 tion of the social state. Still, when organised associations are 
 under the control of well-framed and wisely-executed laws, 
 they develops the resources and springs of society, consoli- 
 date its working power, and command results which no 
 amount of disjointed agency could possibly bring about. 
 
 The extent to which the principle of combination may be 
 carried out, the powerful energy it is capable of calling into 
 action, and the varied effects resulting from its operation, 
 are points which have frequently forced themselves on the 
 reflections of the thinking portion of the community. It is 
 by combination that large bodies of men are brought to con- 
 centrate their power of action, either for good or evil, so as 
 to accomplish objects the magnitude of which is sometimes 
 as much beyond the reach of human foresight as beyond the 
 control of human counteraction. Such combinations, what- 
 ever their design, bring power within the attraction of power, 
 and affinities reciprocally to act on each other. In these co- 
 operative agencies kindred minds generate kindred sympa- 
 thies, and kindred sympathies interchange impulses with 
 kindred minds. Such power, it must be confessed, is far 
 more easily created than controlled ; for, when combined 
 agency acquires the force of maturity, and is brought fairly 
 to act in any given direction, it becomes an engine for good 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 or evil wliich cannot be viewed otherwise than with appro, 
 bation or alarm. In all combinations where unity of design 
 calls forth unity of action, it is natural to inquu'e whether 
 the objects contemplated, and the means for their accom- 
 plishment, are legitimate and authorised, and what guarantees 
 they offer for the maintenance of the public security ; because, 
 if no standard were erected by which their claims might be 
 measured, and their character and objects defined and un- 
 derstood, anarchy and misrule might become rampant, and 
 the safeguards of society be seriously endangered. 
 
 It is pretty generally known in the present day, that 
 Methodism acquired its organised establishment in the year 
 1739. An entire decade had elapsed from the time that the 
 first germ was planted in the University of Oxford, and 
 the interval had been employed in preparing the nation for a 
 complete reconstruction of practical Christianity. The rise and 
 progress of Methodism may be taken as a standing comment 
 on these words of the Apostle James, " Behold how great a 
 matter a little fire kindleth ! " and, whilst they supply a cate- 
 gorical answer to the questions, " What are the duties imposed, 
 and what the obligations created, by the possession of moral 
 power ?" present, at the same time, a strange and striking in- 
 stance of the important advantages which may be derived from 
 a judicious estimate and a right application of favourable 
 conjunctures. Two individuals, without name, without dis- 
 tinction, ^vithout funds, without influence, and without an 
 adequate idea of the magnitude of the undertaking, set out 
 through this kingdom on a mission of mercy involving diffi- 
 culties, imposing labours, and superinducing results too great 
 for human calculation. The proximate effect was electric. 
 The nation was convulsed from one end to the other. Mul- 
 titudes quailed under the terrors of the Lord, and were led to 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 seek " redemption through the blood of Christ, even the for- 
 giveness of their sins." Societies sprang up in every direc- 
 tion. Methodism gi-adually assumed a systematic form ; and 
 in less than twenty years after its introduction, the present 
 comprehensive plan, with all its complicated machinery, was 
 devised, digested, organised, set in motion, and had produced 
 effects as unexampled as they were astonishing. Nor did it 
 confine itself to this country. It first crossed the Atlantic ; 
 then traversed the immense shores of Continental India; 
 afterwards penetrated the burning deserts of Africa ; and, 
 lastly, visited the scattered Islands of the Sea. So that, in 
 a single century, the arms of Methodism encompassed the 
 world ; the principles of Methodism were recognised by every 
 civilised state, and the members of Methodism entered largely 
 into the population of every country on the face of the earth. 
 " What hath God wrought ! " 
 
 Since the introduction of Methodism by the Rev. John 
 Wesley, the Methodist Society, with its variously organised 
 ramifications, has acquired a power and exerted an influence 
 for the moral advantage. of man which have no counterpart 
 in the history of this great country. Combining in one im- 
 mense Connexional body a large portion of the British popu- 
 lation, it is scarcely possible to form anything like a correct 
 estimate of the amount of spiritual and religious benefit 
 which its united agency has diffused throughout the length 
 and breadth of the empire. With twelve hundred ordained 
 and fifteen thousand unordained Ministers, who, on every 
 Sabbath-day, dispense the Word of Life to nearly four hun- 
 dred thousand Members of Society, and that number quad- 
 rupled of persons who compose the regular congregational 
 attendance on Wesleyan-Methodist ordinances, it cannot but 
 be conceded that the Methodist Society has given a powerful 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 momentum to the moral machinery now in active employ- 
 ment ; and has never, either directly or indirectly, allowed 
 the exercise of its acknowledged prepotency to move in a 
 direction adverse to the highest ends and interests of the 
 general oommiiiiity. 
 
 It is well known that the responsible duties of the Wes- 
 leyan Ministry ai-e discharged by Itinerant and Local Preachers, 
 the former being usually selected from the latter, and ad- 
 mitted to the itinerancy after having received ordination ; 
 and the latter, who are simply lay agents, receive their 
 official authority to exercise the office of the ministry at their 
 respective circuit Quarterly Meetings, by the approving votes 
 of their co-ordinate brethren. With the Itinerant branch of 
 the Wesleyan Ministry this Essay will have little to do, ex- 
 cept in the way of occasional reference, as affording incidental 
 particulars of illustration. It may, however, be said, en passant, 
 that the upper department of the Wesleyan Ministry has 
 numbered amongst its members men of distinguished learn- 
 ing, of eminent talent, of ardent piety, and of extensive use- 
 fulness — men who would have shed a lustre on any age or 
 countiy ; and the author might employ much time and space 
 in placing before the public, in full relief, the many features 
 of fitness for the effective discharge of ministerial functions, 
 which have confessedly ai)pertained to this branch of the 
 administration of Methodism, especially in bygone days ; but 
 that would be foreign to the primary object which this Essay 
 contemplates. It is the general and particular adaptation of 
 the Lay or Local Ministry to the moral and spiritual neces- 
 sities of the scattered masses, in our villages and small towns, 
 who are chiefly indebted to lay instrumentality for the dif- 
 fusion of spiritual light and the communication of moral in- 
 fluence, which this Essay is designed to lay before the world. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Without the appointment of Local Preachers, who, in the 
 "Wesleyan Ministry, bear the proportion of twelve to one, it 
 is difficult to understand how Methodism could have ex- 
 tended its ramifications, like a complicated piece of net-work, 
 over the entire surface of the empire ; or, if by any force of 
 influence it could have acquired an unexampled numerical 
 status, still, it is difficult to conjecture how it could have 
 maintained its position intact. For, although the plan of 
 itinerancy would probably have secured for it the popular 
 favour in large towns, yet, without its Lay Ministry, village 
 preaching, which constitutes the buttresses of its stability, 
 could never have been adopted as part of its constitutional 
 economy. 
 
PAET I. 
 
 THE HISTOEY, CONSTITUTION, 
 
 MINISTRY, AND SPEEAD OF THE GOSPEL, 
 
 DURING THE FIEST AGES. 
 
 " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from 
 between his feet, vintil Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering 
 of the people be." — Gen. xlix., 10. 
 
 " Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion ; shout, daughter of 
 Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having 
 salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal 
 of an ass." — Zech. ix., 9. 
 
€l)t ICntfll nr Ciuj Biuistrij. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OP CHRISTIANITY — ITS REJECTION BY THE JEWS — DEFINI- 
 TION OF A CHURCH — THE FIRST MINISTRY A LAY MINISTRY — THE 
 CHARACTER AND SOCIAL POSITION OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 " Lo ! echoing skies resound the gladsome strain, 
 Messiah comes ! — ye rugged paths, be plain I 
 The Shiloh comes ! — ye towering cedars, bend , 
 Swell forth, ye valleys ; and, ye rocks, descend ; 
 The withered branch let balmy fruits adorn. 
 And clustering roses twine the leafless thorn : 
 Burst forth, ye vocal groves, your joy to tell — 
 The God of peace redeems his Israel !" 
 
 This Essay takes its stand on the tlireshold of Christianity. 
 The points it occupies, and the events it contemplates, are 
 of the highest conceivable interest to Man. In the grand 
 scheme which the Gospel reveals, we are presented with a 
 mirror which reflects the perfections of the Divine character; 
 which brings before us m full manifestation the "glory of 
 God, in the person of Jesus Christ ;" and which contains a 
 summary of the direct and collateral, present and future 
 advantages with which it was designed to bless mankind. 
 Never, in the history of the world, has an event been an- 
 nounced so mysterious in its character, so stupendous in its 
 design, and so glorious in its results, as that with which 
 mankind was about to be favoured. The great plan of 
 Human Redemption, wliich, for foiu" thousand years, had been 
 
12 REJECTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE JEWS. 
 
 but imperfectly shadowed forth through a series of dark and 
 typical dispensations, was now to be clearly unfolded, and 
 the mystery into which the angels so anxiously desired to 
 look, was to be thrown open to the upper and lower worlds. 
 
 The fulness of time had arrived, when the Saviour of 
 the world, who, for so many ages had been concealed under 
 a dense cloud of symbolical representations, was to be mani- 
 fested in the flesh. Four hundred years had elapsed 
 from the time that prophetic inspiration had ceased. The 
 intei-vening space had been dark and eventful. The in- 
 habitants of Judea were deeply sunk and degenerated. Not 
 only had darkness covered the Roman world, but even the 
 Jewish people had lost the light and glory of former days. 
 Jehovah had ceased to be invoked by TJrim and Thummim. 
 The Divine glory which formerly appeared over the mercy- 
 seat, as the mysterious symbol of the Divine presence, had 
 been withdrawn. The tongue of the prophet was mute, and 
 the harp of the minstrel unstrung. " Ichabod " was written 
 on the architrave of the temple, and the shrine of the Lord was 
 served by a venal priesthood. The pure Word of Truth was 
 adulterated by corrupt and interested expositors, and the 
 gorgeous ceremonial of Jehovah's appointment had lost much 
 of its significance and grandeur. The lofty independence of 
 their national character was entrammelled by a ruthless and 
 relentless power ; and, to complete the sad picture of their 
 crest-fallen condition, their religious hierarchy was rent by 
 a thousand splittings and factions, having lost 
 
 " The spii-it in the letter. 
 The substance in the shade." 
 
 The crisis at which mankind had arrived when the Gospel 
 dispensation first beamed upon the world was important and 
 eventful. The destmies of future ages were embodied in the 
 
REJECTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE JEWS. 13 
 
 issue. Christianity majestically appeared as the angel of 
 deliverance, to effect the emancipation of the fetter-bound 
 sons of Adam. A change was about to be introduced, 
 which had no counterpart in the history of the world ; and 
 that change, though ushered in by the choral greetings of 
 an angelic host, was marked by concomitants which gave evi- 
 dence of its character and were tokens of its power and pur- 
 pose. The dispensation of Moses — with its imposing ritual ; 
 the pomp and parade of its religious ordinances ; its magnifi- 
 cent temple ; its blood-stained altars ; its economy of priests 
 and Levites ; its national commemoratipns ; its burnt-ofier- 
 ings, sin-offerings, trespass-offerings, peace-offerings, meat- 
 offerings, and drink-offerings ; its fires and its incense ; its 
 ablutions and legal purifications, with all its expensive and 
 burdensome requirements — was to do homage to a better 
 dispensation, — a dispensation of life and immortality ; a dis- 
 pensation far more simple in its constitution, but far more 
 elevating in its bearings and tendencies ; a dispensation 
 rich in the diffusion of spiritual elements, ample in its 
 resources, liberal in its supplies, vast in its immunities, 
 irrestrictive in its privileges, entrancing in its prospects, 
 ennobling in its communications, inspiriting in its influ- 
 ence, and glorious in its consummation ! A dispensation that 
 was never to end ; but, having laid its foundation in grace, 
 was to find its top-stone in glory. The period had arrived 
 when this change and substitution were to take effect ; when 
 Moses, and Aaron, and Elias, the representatives of the legal, 
 the priestly, and the prophetic institutions, were to merge 
 their respective offices in the provisions of a better covenant, 
 and acknowledge Christ to be all in all. 
 
 It might naturally be expected that a change which pro- 
 posed the entire reconstruction of the social economy ; which 
 
14 REJECTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE JEWS. 
 
 predicted the ultimate subversion of tlie Jewish dynasty ; 
 which placed itself in direct antagonism to the ancient 
 mythics of heathen states ; which denounced the oracles and 
 other mummeries of pagan temples ; which demanded the 
 unqualified surrender of man's moral powers, in order that they 
 might be placed under Gospel control ; which claimed the su- 
 preme right to indoctrinate the human mind in the principles of 
 religion, and which tolerated no practices unauthorised by Gos- 
 pel institutions, would everywhere be met with the most violent 
 and determined opposition. The tocsin of alarm was sounded 
 through the land. The Saviour and his followers were de- 
 nounced by the priests and civil magistrates, as men who 
 sought to dethrone the supreme authority and undermine 
 the foundations of established institutions. Their doctrines, 
 it was represented, contained the seeds of blasphemy and 
 sedition. They were regarded as cheats and jugglers, in 
 league with the devil. Their movements were placed under 
 the most watchful surveillance ; and they were everywhere 
 scowled upon as men who endeavom*ed " to turn the world 
 upside down." 
 
 At the time the Redeemer made his advent into this 
 lower world, the state of things under the Jewish economy 
 was dark and disastrous. The throne of David had mingled 
 with the wrecks and relics of fallen empires. The kingdom 
 of Israel had lost its national supremacy, and groaned under 
 the iron yoke of Roman bondage. The social condition of 
 the Jewish people was one of prostration and calamity, and 
 their religious privileges were held by sufferance and re- 
 straint. Under such galling circumstances, it might have 
 been expected that the Jews, at least, would have hailed the 
 advent of their promised Messiah with the warmest demon- 
 strations of joy ; but that blind and infatuated people were 
 
DEFINITION OF A CHURCH. 15 
 
 SO thoroughly imbued with the notion, that the crowning 
 object of the Messiah's advent was to re-erect the throne of 
 David, to reconstruct the kingdom of Israel, to remodel their 
 political economy, and to confer upon their nation the powers 
 and pri\ileges wliich it enjoyed in the palmy days of its regal 
 glory : that, as Christianity offered no secular advantages, 
 proposed no political distinctions, was unaccompanied by 
 any of those concomitants of dignity and splendour which 
 they had fondly preconceived, they indignantly rejected its 
 offers of mercy, spurned its tenders of salvation, ti-ampled 
 upon its authority and sanctions, and made common course 
 with the opposition that had armed itself to effect its 
 overthrow. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Redeemer, on entering upon 
 public life, was the appointment of a Ministry to aid him in 
 publishing the Gospel of the grace of God ; to form churches 
 after his resurrection ; and, generally, to promote the evan- 
 gelisation of the world. Nothing could be more simple than 
 the constituent elements of which the first ministry was com- 
 posed ; and, even at this distance of time from its original 
 appointment, with all the artificial refinements which have 
 been introduced into tliis department of the Christian 
 Church,* it cannot but be admitted by every unprejudiced 
 
 * The term Church has been variously interpreted by different writers 
 under the Christian era. Without entering into a critical examination of 
 the many derivations of the term, it may be proper to notice a few of its 
 acceptations. The term Church is sometimes employed to comprehend all 
 behevers throughout the world, whatever may be their particular designa- 
 tion ; and in this sense it is frequently called the Catholic, or Universal 
 Church. It is frequently used to denote a particular body of Christians 
 under one common denomination, as the State Church, the Methodist 
 Church, the Baptist Church, &c. In the Establishment of this country the 
 term is generally applied to designate the building in which congregations 
 meet for public worship. There are other senses in which the term is 
 employed by early writera, but they appear to be simple modifications of 
 
16 THE FIRST MINISTRY A LAY MINISTRY. 
 
 mind, that the variations which mark the discriminating 
 features of the Christian ministry, throughout the different 
 branches of the Church of Christ, all suffer by a comparison 
 with the model, in proportion as they have departed from 
 its primitive simplicity. 
 
 The first ministry appointed by Our Blessed Lord to carry 
 out the varied administration of Christianity, was, beyond all 
 controversy, a Lay Ministry, in the strict acceptation of the 
 tenn. That the Apostles were inwardly moved, as well as 
 outwardly called, to the ministerial office, can admit of little 
 doubt ; but no mention is made of ordination, in any form 
 whatever, as having been employed by the Saviour at the 
 induction to office of the twelve Apostles. Under the special 
 circumstances of their appointment, it might be somewhat 
 difficult to prove whether the mode of ministerial appoint- 
 ment in that instance was intended to be taken as a standing 
 type of ministerial induction ; but, it must be confessed, 
 the circumstances add little strength to the foundation on 
 which the figment of the apostolic succession is raised. 
 
 In appointing the first ministry, the Saviour limited the 
 number to twelve, and, in the original commission given to 
 them, restricted their labours to the narrow confines of Judea. 
 On the renewal of that commission, after his resurrection, he 
 removed all local restrictions ; invested them with an enlarge- 
 ment of ministerial competence to meet every class of exi- 
 gence that might arise in the prosecution of their labours ; 
 endued them with plenary inspiration, accompanied by plenary 
 
 those now referred to. Lord King, in his ''Enquiry into the Constitution, 
 Discipline, Unity, and Worship of the Primitive Church," describes it as 
 *' A society of Christians, meeting together in one place, under their proper 
 pastors, for the performance of religious worship, and the exercising of 
 Christian discipline ; " and this is the sense, when not otherwise defined, 
 in which the term must be understood in the course of this Essay. 
 
CHARACTEK AND POSITION OF THE APOSTLES. 17 
 
 power and authority to establish such institutions, from time 
 to time, as opening circumstances might render necessaiy ; 
 to appoint secular and other subordinate agencies, ordain 
 elders, and, generally, to institute and carry out those arrange- 
 ments which might appear best adapted to accomplish the 
 general design of their ministry. 
 
 In the selection of men to discharge the difficult and 
 responsible duties of the Christian Ministry, the Saviour paid 
 little regard to circumstances of a merely extrinsic chai'acter. 
 The social status of the Apostles selected by the Saviour, 
 would not be likely to recommend them either to the Jewish 
 aristocracy, or to the different orders of the priesthood; and 
 still less to the elite among the polished Greeks and Romans 
 who were located at Jenisalem and throughout the tetrarchies. 
 Tt is, therefore, not so much to be wondered at, that the 
 preaching of the Cross, by men undistinguished by social rank 
 or scholastic erudition, should be " to the Jews a stumbling- 
 block, and to the Greeks foolishness." 
 
 In the selection and appointment of the first ministry 
 there appears to have been no regard paid by the Sanour to 
 official distinctions. Peter, although the primate in the 
 order in which the Apostles were called, does not appear to 
 have obtained any official pre-eminence above his fellow- 
 disciples. It is true, that, during the personal ministry of 
 the Saviour, Peter appears, on several occasions, with much 
 greater prominence than the rest of the Apostles ; but it is 
 easy to unagine that his natural warmth and eagerness of 
 temper would readily assign to him the post of general inter- 
 locutor. Thus, when Jesus interrogated his disciples as to the 
 public opinion that was entertained respecting his person and 
 ministry, Peter immediately replied, " Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the Li\dng God." — Matt, xvi., 18. This prompt and 
 
18 CHARACTER AND POSITION OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 spontaneous reply, no doubt, was expressive of their common 
 con\dction. Indeed, tlie commendatory observations which 
 afterwards fell from the Saviour, though they were addressed 
 to Peter, and have a figurative allusion to his name, * appear 
 to have been intended to put honour not only on the faith 
 of Peter, but of the other Apostles also, whose faith was 
 reY>resented by him on that memorable occasion. " I say 
 unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock" (this 
 confession of faith) " I will build my church, and the gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto 
 thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever 
 thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and 
 whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
 heaven." Now, as these words were addressed to Peter 
 individually, they have been understood by many as de- 
 claratory of his apostolic supremacy, and as tantamount 
 to a declaration of the Saviour's intention to confer upon 
 him powers and privileges which were not to be exercised 
 nor enjoyed by the other Apostles. But who does not see, 
 that, although the Redeemer addressed himself to Peter, yet 
 that the address was intended to apply equally to all the 
 Apostles, whose views were coincident with their zealous 
 spokesman 1 No one, surely, will contend that the Christian 
 Church, considered in its broad and comprehensive sense, 
 was to be built on Peter singly ! St. Paul has told us that 
 the Church of the Living God was " built on the foundation 
 of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
 chief comer-stone." And as little can it be sustained that 
 the power of binding and loosing was to be confined to Peter ; 
 because, when the Saviour was giving private instructions to 
 
 * Cephas, a rock ; or, Petra, a stone. 
 
CHARACTER AND POSITION OF THE APOSTLES. 19 
 
 his disciples generally on several points of practical import- 
 ance, recommendatory of the gi'eat principles of Christianity, 
 he reiterates to them collectively what he had previously 
 addressed to Peter individually : " Verily, I say unto you, 
 whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; 
 and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
 heaven." — Matt, xviii., 18. And he confirmed that reitera- 
 tion after his resurrection from the dead : " Whose soever 
 sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose 
 soever sins ye retain, they are retained." — John xx., 23. To 
 this may be added, that, as Peter made his noble confession 
 in answer to a question wliich Jesus had put to all the dis- 
 ciples, that confession was made in the name of the whole ; 
 and, therefore, what Jesus said to liim in reply, was designed 
 for the whole, without distinction.* 
 
 * " When Christ declared that he would build his chvu-ch upon a rock, 
 and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, he did not say he 
 would set up a power on earth which would possess his authority, — act in 
 his stead, or act as his vicegerent, to dispense either his favour or his anger. 
 We look in vain for a single sentence which, without the grossest perver- 
 sion, could imply such a purpose as this. But advantage has been taken 
 of the obscurity of language to maintain and encourage this view ; and 
 thus the church has been made — first an abstraction, then a person, and 
 then a saviour. The church, thus invested with Divinity, has a ministry, 
 and her visible repi'esentatives, who have assumed the place of God. To 
 set up church principles in opposition to the principles of the Gospel, and 
 to place them in inridious contrast, is both unreasonable and un-Scriptural. 
 It is to confound the means of grace with the Author of grace ; to worship 
 the thing made, and to dishonour the Maker. Shall the earthly members 
 assume the authority of their heavenly principal ? And yet such seems to 
 be the fact, when they confound church membership with faith, or so 
 magnify the ministrations belonging to their office as to leave it to be infer- 
 red, that except through their instrumentality there can be no salvation." 
 — Bishop of Chester s Charge. 
 
 c2 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BISHOPS AND PRESBYTERS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH — IN WHAT RESPECTS 
 THEY DIFFERED — APPOINTMENT OF DEACONS — THEIR OFFICE AND 
 DUTIES DEFINED — APPOINTMENT OF DEACONESSES — THEIR EMPLOYMENT 
 IN THE CHURCH — FEMALE PREACHING. 
 
 In the Apostolic age, and during the first three centuries of 
 the Christian era, the only orders in the church were bishops, 
 or presbyters, and deacons. According to Lord King, in his 
 " Constitution of the Primitive Church," eVio-KOTros, or bishop, 
 was the " pastor, or minister of the parish, to whose care 
 and trust the souls of the church or parish over which he 
 presided were principally and more immediately committed ;" 
 and a>pea^vT€pos, or presbyter, was " a person in holy orders, 
 having thereby an inherent right to perform the whole office 
 of a bishop." So that a presbyter was subordinate to a 
 bishop in gradu, in degree, but equal to him in ordini, in 
 order ; the bishop being merely, as the old writers term it, 
 primi inter pares, the first among equals.* It appears that 
 
 * Milner, in his ''Church History," when quoting Ignatius, says : — " At 
 first, indeed, or for some time, at least in some instances, church governors 
 were only of two ranks, presbyters and deacons. This seems to have been 
 the case at Philippi (Phil, i., 1), and at Ephesus (Acts xx., 17) ; and the 
 term bishop was confounded with that of presbyter. The church at Corinth 
 continued long in this state, so far as one may judge from Clement's 
 epistle ; and thence we may in part account for the continuance of their 
 contentious spirit. As these churches grew numerous, they could never be 
 all assembled in one place ; and the presbyters must have ministered to 
 different congregations, though the church continued one. Towards the 
 end of the first century, all the churches followed the model of the mother 
 church at Jerusalem, where one of the Apostles was the first bishop. A 
 
BISHOPS AND PRESBYTERS. 21 
 
 presbyters had, in the Primitive Church, equal rights with the 
 bishops. Both presbyters and bishops were indifferently 
 addressed by tlie same appellation. Cyprian, bishop of 
 Carthage, calls both bishops and presbyters, j^cf'Stores ovium, 
 the pastors of the flock, and he styles his own presbyter, 
 colkffis meis, my colleague. So Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, 
 in his Epistle to the Pliilippians, exhorts the members of that 
 church to be subject to the presbyters and deacons, evidently 
 including the bishops under the general term " presb3rter." 
 Irenseus, in his synodical epistle, says of the bishops of Rome, 
 Qui in ecdesid sunt presbyteri. According to Ignatius, bishop 
 of Antioch, it would seem that the term presbyter, generally 
 included all persons belonging to a church who were in holy 
 orders ; and in their collective capacity they are called coni- 
 muni concilio. In convocations of the presbytery, the bishop 
 took the first seat, and hence Clemens Alexandrinus says of 
 a presbyter, " He is in truth a presbyter of the church, and 
 a minister of the will of God, who does and teaches the 
 things of the Lord ; not ordained by men, or esteemed just 
 because a presbyter, but because just, therefore received into 
 the presbytery ; who, although he be not honoured with the 
 first seat on earth, yet shall hereafter sit down on the twenty- 
 and-four thrones mentioned in the Revelations, judging the 
 people." So that bishops and presbyters were members of the 
 same presbytery, equal in order, entitled to perform the 
 same acts, and only distinguished in degree by the bishop 
 being primi inter pares, and occupying the first seat on the 
 conventional bench. 
 
 settled presidency obtained, and the name of Angel was given to him, 
 though that of Bishop soon succeeded." From this extract it clearly ap- 
 peal's that the bishop in the Primitive Church was the senior presbj^r, and 
 was called elder (superintendent), or bishop, as a murk of official dis- 
 tinction. 
 
22 BISHOPS AND PRESBYTERS. 
 
 The Apostle Peter, in his first Epistle, which was ad- 
 dressed to Jewish converts, has these words : — " The elders 
 wliich are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, 
 (6 o-vixnp€(r^vTcpo$), and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, — 
 feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight 
 thereof^ (ema-Konovvres, being bishops of it,) not by constraint, 
 but willingly." — 1 Peter v., 1, 2. 
 
 " This passage," says the late Eev. Richard Watson, 
 " is a very strong one. The Apostle speaks of himself 
 in liis extraordinary capacity, as a witness of the sufferings 
 of Christ, and in his ordinary capacity as a teacher : show- 
 ing, by the use of a very significant term, that he was on a 
 footing of equality with the other pastors or presbyters. 
 He gives it in charge to them to feed the flock of God ; the 
 charge which, under most particular and affecting circum- 
 stances, he had received from the Lord after the resurrection, 
 and which includes in it the performance of everything 
 requisite for the comfort and the edification of Christians ; 
 and he accordingly expresses this by the word eTna-KOTrovvres, 
 being bishops over them. It cannot, with any shadow of 
 reason, be supposed that the Apostle would exhort the 
 elders or presbyters to take to themselves the office, and to 
 perform the duties of a bishop, if that term really marked 
 out a distinct and higher order ; or that he would have con- 
 sidered the presbyters as fitted for the discharge of the whole 
 ministerial office, if there were parts of that office which he 
 knew that it was not lawful for them to exercise." 
 
 It seems quite clear, that, in the primitive age, each church 
 had its bishop, and each bishop had his church. The 
 o ema-Konos was properly the elder, or superintendent, of each 
 particular church, to whose care and trust the souls of that 
 church, or parish, were committed. Cyprian says there is 
 
DEACONS. 23 
 
 but one bishop in a cliurch at a time, " uniis in Ecdesici ad 
 temjnis sacerdos ;'' and lie enunciates his official designa- 
 tions thus : bishop, overseer, pastor, governor, superinten- 
 dent, and priest : " Episcopus, p-ospositus, jjastor, gubeniator, 
 antistes, et sacerdos."" These appellations sufficiently denote 
 the nature, duties, and extent of the pastoral office. Ac- 
 cording to ecclesiastical winters, no term was known in the 
 Primitive Church that expressed the word diocese, or could 
 be constructively employed to convey the idea which is now 
 attached to that word. In the synodical ei)istle of Irena3us 
 to Vo^e Victor, the bishoprics of Asia are called parishes ; 
 and Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, so applies the term : 
 as the parish of Alexandria, the parish of Ephesus, the parish 
 of Corinth, the i)arish of Athens, the parish of Cai-thage, and 
 so of the other churches. 
 
 It appears from ancient liistory, that the office of bishop 
 was elective, and that the election was in the whole body of 
 church membership. According to Cj^Drian, it was one of 
 the decrees of the African synod, held in the year 258, that 
 the ordination of ministers ought to be done with the know- 
 ledge and in the presence of the people ; that, the people 
 being present, either the crimes of the bad might be detected, 
 or the merits of the good declared ; and so the ordination 
 might be just and lawfid, being approved by the suffi-age and 
 judgment of all : ^' Ordbiationes sacerdotales non nii>i sub pojndi, 
 assistentes coiiscientia fieri oportere^ ut jjlebe prcesente, vd dete- 
 gantur inaloi'um ci'imhui, vel hon(yrum merita jjvcedicentur, et 
 sit ordinatio justa, et legitinia, quce omnium siiffragio et judicio 
 fuerit examinatar 
 
 The office of Staxoj/os, or deacon, diffi?red from that of 
 bishop or presbyter, being partly spiritual and partly secu- 
 lar. The origin and specific duties of the diaconal office are 
 
24 DEACONS. 
 
 given in Acts vi. : " And in those days, when the number 
 of the disciples were multiplied, there arose a murmur- 
 ing of the Grecians " (or Hellenists *) " against the Hebrews, 
 because their widows were neglected in the daily ministra- 
 tion. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples 
 unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave 
 the Word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, 
 look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of 
 the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over 
 this business. But we will give ourselves continually to 
 prayer, and to the ministry of the Word." But, although 
 deacons were to attend chiefly to the administration of 
 secular affairs, yet some have thought that their ordination 
 was understood to confer a right to exercise spiritual func- 
 tions, when required to do so by the bishop of their respective 
 churches. It is clear, that, shortly after their appointment, 
 two of the number, namely, Stephen and Philip, exercised 
 the functions of the ministry ; but whether in virtue of 
 their office as deacons, or of any subsequent appointment, 
 does not appear. Without discussing the inference which 
 might be drawn from Acts vi., 8, we have an entire sermon 
 preached by Stephen, in Acts vii., as an answer to the accu- 
 sation which was brought against him by the Libertines, 
 Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others, with whom he un- 
 answerably dispvited in the synagogue, as stated in Acts vi., 
 9 ; and, although the martyrdom of Stephen was the effect 
 of that sifting, searching sermon, yet it stands on the sacred 
 page as an imperishable monument of the uncompromising 
 fidelity of that devoted servant of God. Although we are 
 not favoured with the entire sermon which Philip preached 
 
 * Hellenists were Jews born in districts where the Greek language was 
 spoken. 
 
DEACONESSES. 25 
 
 to the treasurer of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, on his return 
 from Jerusalem, on Isaiah liii., 7, 8, as given in Acts vi., 26, 
 et seq., yet we are presented with a touching account of the 
 results of its delivery and application. 
 
 The qualifications of deacons for the office are given, in 
 connection with those of bishops, in 1 Tim., iii. 
 
 There were also deaconesses ai)pointed in the Apostolic 
 Church, probably to discharge such of the pastoral duties 
 as the laws of decorum might deem it right to assign to 
 grave, serious, and aged females. According to Romans xvi., 
 1, Phoebe held the office of deaconess in the Church of 
 Cenchrea. Whether these holy women ever exercised the 
 duties of the ministry, involves a problem of difficult solu- 
 tion. St. Paul's prohibition against women speaking in the 
 churches (1 Corinth, xiv., 34, 35), has raised the inference 
 that they were not permitted to preach. But, although 
 Euodius and Syntyche, mentioned in Phil, iv., 2, whom St. 
 Paul affectionately admonishes to draw in the same yoke, 
 were, doubtless, women of some distinction at Philippi, pro- 
 bably deaconesses, yet, as they are mentioned in contradis- 
 tinction to the " honourable women " in the next verse, 
 who, St. Paul says, " laboured with me in the Gospel^'' it almost 
 seems to favour the presumption that those honourable 
 women were occupied in some way as coadjutors with the 
 Apostle himself in the propagation of Christianity. 
 
 The Greek verb which we translate " laboured," is derived 
 from the agonistic contentions by the wrestlers in the 
 Olympic games ; and the application of that term to the 
 honourable women who laboured loith the Apostle in the 
 Gospel, suggests the idea that they bore some part in the 
 work necessary to carry on the administrative department of 
 Christianity, if not throughout the wide Held over which the 
 
26 FEMALE PREACHING. 
 
 apostolic mission extended, yet certainly at Philippi and its 
 immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 On the subject of female preaching much has been said 
 and written, and generally in its unqualified condemnation. 
 In 1 Cor. xiv., 34, 35, the Apostle says : " Let your women 
 keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted for 
 women to speak in the church." Now, there is some diffi- 
 culty in reconciling this prohibition with 1 Cor. xi., 5, where 
 the Apostle's correction of a mode which had gained preva- 
 lence in the church involves the admission of a practice which 
 has given rise to some controversy. The whole question 
 seems to rest on the constructive sense in which the term 
 'prophesying ought to be received. Some writers, as Beza, 
 Thomas Aquinas, Calvin, and Parseus, take it to signify, to 
 interpret Scripture under Divine inspiration. Others, as Estius, 
 Wells, and Bishop Pearce, to teach and communicate hy inspi- 
 ration the doctrines of Revelation. However, as the word is 
 applied to women (who, in chapter xiv., 34, 35, are not per- 
 mitted to teach in public), some commentators of the last 
 century conceived it was shiging sacred hymns under tlis 
 impulse oftlie Holy Spirit. But, according to the criticism of 
 Dr. Blomfield, such a sense of the word is altogether unautho- 
 rised. Bishop Pearce contends that teaching is consistent 
 with both the above-cited passages, and says : " When St. 
 Paul imposes silence on women in the church, he means 
 silence, not in opposition to any gift of the Spirit, but to the 
 desire which those who had not tJie Spirit might have of 
 instructing others in Christian knowledge." " I see not," 
 says Dr. Blomfield, in his "Critical Notes on the New 
 Testament," "why he (Bishop Pearce) should confine the 
 sense to teaching. It may, I think, include every other 
 sort of speaking under Divine inspiration, — to edification, 
 
FEMALE PREACHING. 27 
 
 exhortation, and instruction, in addition to that of praying, 
 just before mentioned by the Apostle ; all equally fulfilling 
 the prophecy of Joel ii, 28, applied by St. Peter (Acts ii., 17) 
 to the times of the Gospel ; namely, that their daughters 
 sliovld propJiesy'' See also Acts xxi., 9. 
 
 It seems, that, on the day of Pentecost, the extraordinary 
 gift of tongues was not confined to the twelve Apostles. The 
 number of disciples assembled in the upper room was one 
 hundred and twenty ; but what proportion of women com- 
 posed that number does not appear. In Acts i., 14, it is 
 stated that women were present ; and Mary, the mother of 
 Jesus, is expressly mentioned by name. In Acts ii., 16, 
 et seq., Peter distinctly refers to that miraculous effusion of 
 spiiitual influence, as a fulfilment of Joel's propnecy when 
 the Spirit should be poui-ed out on " women," as well as on 
 men ; and when their " daughters" should prophesy as well 
 as their sons. Indeed, it would be difficult to understand 
 how that prophecy could have been fulfilled on that occa- 
 sion, unless the Spii'it had been poui'ed out upon all the dis- 
 ciples then present.* 
 
 Other officers are mentioned by the early Fathers, as having 
 
 * Mr, Wesley seems to have taken a coincident view of the subject, as 
 appeai-s from a letter to Miss Bosanquet, afterwards Mrs. Fletcher, who, for 
 many years, preached the Gospel with great acceptance and usefulness : — 
 
 " Londonderry, Jime 13th, 1771. 
 
 "My dear Sister,— I think the strength of the cause rests in yoiu- having 
 an extraordinary call. So, I am persuaded, has every one of our lay 
 preachers ; otherwise, I would not countenance their preaching at all. It 
 is plain to me, that the whole work of God termed Methodism is an extra- 
 ordinary dispensation of his providence. Therefore, I do not wonder if 
 several things occur therein which do not fall under ordinary rules of dis- 
 cipline. St. Paul's ordinary nile was, ' T permit not a woman to speak iu 
 the congregation ; ' yet, iu extraordinary cases, he made a few exceptions, 
 at Cormth in particular.— I am, my deal- sister, yom- affectionate brother, 
 
 "JouN Wesley." 
 
28 FEMALE PREACHING. 
 
 exercised functions in the PiToiitive Church ; as aolyths, 
 or acolytes, exorcists, and lectors, who all appear to have 
 been lay agents employed in the performance of certain 
 duties belonging to the sanctuary. The first were sub- 
 deacons, who had no spiritual functions, but assisted in the 
 discharge of such diaconal duties as were strictly secular. 
 It is not easy, at this advanced period of the Christian era, 
 to ascertain what constituted the office of an exorcist. The 
 Greek word from which it is derived signifies, in its best 
 sense, to administer an oath. Whether oaths were adminis- 
 tered in ordination, or otherwise, cannot now be determined. 
 There is another sense in which the word is sometimes 
 applied, but which application could not be accepted in con- 
 nection with Christianity. The lectors had, probably, some 
 official affinity to the Scripture-readers who have lately been 
 introduced into the Established Church of this country. All 
 these offices were held in prospect of ministerial ordination, 
 as bishops usually passed through one or more of them before 
 they were raised to the ministerial office, no bishop having 
 arrived per saltum, by a leap, to the pastoral dignity. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ORDINATION IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH — SEVENTY DISCIPLES NOT ORDAINED 
 — ORDINATION DEFINED — TRACTARIAN DOGMAS RESPECTING ORDINATION 
 — OPINIONS OP ARCHBISHOPS CRANMER AND WHITGIFT ON ORDINATION 
 AND PREACHING. 
 
 As no mention is made in the New Testament of ordination* 
 having been instituted by the Saviour, or of any positive 
 directions given to his Apostles to institute such a rite after 
 his death, the premises are open to an inference in favour of 
 a Lay Ministry. In Luke x., 1, we have an account of the 
 Saviour sending forth seventy disciples, two and two, as he 
 had sent forth the twelve, on their admission to the apostle- 
 ship. The whole history of that transaction affords proof 
 
 * Ordination is the act of conferring holy orders upon persons who are 
 admitted to exercise the functions of the sacred ministry, and is done 
 either with or without the imposition of hands. In the Church of England 
 the several ordei's of the priesthood within an ecclesiastical district or 
 diocese, are ordained by the bishop of that diocese, the exercise of the rule 
 being one of the exclusive prerogatives of the episcopal order. In most 
 of the Pi-otestant Churches in Europe, the form of ordination is Pres- 
 byterian ; that is, by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery 
 within a particular church ; and which appears to have been the primitive 
 mode. The instructions given by Paul to Timothy were, "Neglect not the 
 gift that is in thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the 
 'presbytery.'' According to Cyprian, "All clerical ordinations (in the 
 Primitive Church) were performed by the common council of the whole 
 presbjiiery ;" and it is a fact well known to those who are read in ecclesi- 
 astical history, that, in the Church of Alexandria, presbyters ordained 
 their ov-n bishops for more than two hundred years. Among the Metho- 
 dists, the ordination of the ministers is in the Annual Conference, with 
 the President at its head, and is by prayer, and, latterly, with the imposi- 
 tion of hands, according to the Presbyterian form. 
 
30 ORDINATION IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 that they were commissioned to propagate Christianity. 
 Their mission comprehended, not merely the publication of 
 the Gospel, but the working of miracles in attestation of the 
 divinity of that mission. The instructions they received 
 from the Saviour are given in considerable detail by the 
 EvangeUst Luke in the opening of the chapter ; and the 
 report they gave, on their return, of the success of their 
 ministerial labours, stands as part of the narrative. That 
 they were lay, or unordained, preachers can scarcely be 
 doubted. Indeed the whole structure of the narrative is 
 confirmatory of such a presumption. Had the Saviour 
 intended that ordination should become one of the Christian 
 institutes, and that no minister of the New Covenant could 
 legitimately exercise the functions of the sacred ministry, 
 without having first received ordination, it seems reasonable 
 to presume that he would, either by example or precept, 
 have left so important a question beyond the reach of future 
 controversy. 
 
 The first account of ordination we have in the New 
 Testament is given in Acts vi., where the seven deacons 
 received that rite by the imposition of hands. Before 
 Stephen and his fellow-deacons had been ordained, Barnabas 
 had been chosen hy lot to supply the apostolic vacancy occa- 
 sioned by the treason and death of Judas ; but no mention 
 is made of his ordination ; and the very mode of his selection 
 seems to negative the idea that he was ordained, he having 
 taken the office of an Apostle who had been specially called to 
 the apostleship by the Saviour. Twenty years after the 
 Saviour's ascension, a Jew, named Apollos, "an eloquent 
 man, and mighty in the Scriptures," visited Ephesus,* and 
 
 * In Ephesus, at that time the metropolis of Asia Minor, the temple of 
 Diana was erected ; and such was the veneration in which that goddess 
 
ORDINATION DEFINED. 31 
 
 " spake boldly in the synagogue, proving by the Scriptures 
 that Jesus was Christ." At that time he appears to have 
 been in his Christian novitiate, for he "knew only the 
 baptism of John." Aquilla and his wife Priscilla, two Jewish 
 Christians (expelled with others from Italy by an edict of 
 the Emperor Claudius), who had been converted under the 
 ministry of St. Paul, at Coiinth, where they had wrought 
 with him as tentmakers, accompanied him on his journey to 
 Jerusalem as far as Ephesus, where they remained and pur- 
 sued their occupation. Having obtained considerable acquaint- 
 ance with doctrinal, preceptive, and experimental Christian- 
 ity, and perceiving that ApoUos was sincere, they imdertook 
 to " teach him the way of God more perfectly." It seems 
 quite clear, however, that Apollos, at his outset, was an 
 unordained, and, consequently, a lay, preacher. Though 
 he might have been subsequently ordained (of which there 
 is no evidence), yet, were it even so, it would not diminish 
 the force of the argument in favour of lay preaching. 
 
 On the subject of ordination to the ministerial office, much 
 has been said and written, especially in later times. Those 
 who have enlisted under the banners of Tractarianism have 
 brought all their powers of learning to blight and blast the 
 doctrines of the Reformation ; and the man is little to be 
 envied, either for his head or heart, who can subscribe to 
 
 was held, that all Asia contributed to support the magnificence of her 
 wealth and the extent of her superstitious influence. It is said that this 
 temple, which was one of the seven wonders of the world, was 220 years 
 in building. It was adorned with 127 columns of Parian marble, each 
 composed of a single shaft, sixty feet in height, and elaborately ornamented. 
 It contained a theatre, gorgeously decorated, which would accommodate 
 20,000 spectators, and was in all respects the most costly structure in the 
 world. For ages the responses of its far-famed oracles acquired for it a 
 reputation, and secured for it a treasury, which placed it far beyond the 
 reach of human rivalry. 
 
32 TRACTARIAN DOGMAS. 
 
 dogmas like the f(jll owing : — " Eacli bishop of our church 
 lias, at the hands of another bishop (himself similarly called 
 to the office), received in the most solemn manner the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost, and that apostolic power in the church, for 
 the support of which the Saviour pledged himself that his 
 assistance should not be wanting to the end of time." — 
 " Tracts for the Times," vol. i., No. 10, p. 2. And again, that 
 " it is only this (the apostolic commission) that can give any 
 security that the administration of the Word and sacraments 
 shall be effectual in the saving of souls. The Dissenting 
 teacher has it not." — " Tracts," vol. i., No. 35, p. 4. So, 
 again : " Thus the Apostles had spiritual sons, then spiritual 
 grandsons, then great-grandsons, and so on." — " Tracts," 
 vol. i., No. 4, p. 1. Again : " Presbyterian ministers have 
 assumed a power which was never entrusted to them. They 
 have presumed to exercise the power of ordination, and to 
 perpetuate a succession of ministers, without having received 
 a commission to do so." — " Tracts," vol. i.. No. 7, p. 2. 
 
 Now, in opposition to the Tractarian heresy, we have the 
 testimonies of some of the most pious and distinguished 
 prelates that have ever dignified the episcopal bench, in sup- 
 port of the constitution of the Primitive Churches ; and they 
 certainly form a mass of information and a body of evidence 
 on this much-disputed question which are most valuable and 
 important. From this list of divines two only are selected. 
 
 Archbishop Cranmer, who will not be accused of sectarian- 
 ism, says : — " That in the admission of these officers (persons 
 appointed to the Christian ministry), there be divers comely 
 ceremonies and solemnities used, which be not of necessity, 
 but only for a good order and seemly fashion ; for if such 
 offices and ministrations were committed without such 
 solemnity, they were nevertheless truly committed. And 
 
CRANMER AND WHITGIFT. 33 
 
 there is no more promise of God, that gi'ace is given (liy 
 those who commit it) in the committing of ecclesiastical 
 office, than it is in the committing of the civil office. Some- 
 times the Apostles, and otlier unto whom God had given 
 abundantly his Spirit, sent or appointed ministers of God's 
 Word ; and when any were appointed or sent by the 
 Apostles or otJoer, the people, of their own voluntary will, 
 with thanks, did accept of them ; not for the supremity, 
 impery, or dominion that the Apostles had over them, to 
 command, but as good people, ready to obey the voice of good 
 counsellers, and to accept anything that was necessary for 
 their edification and benefit. There is no certain rule jyre- 
 scrihed or limited hy the Word of God for ilie nrntiinxition, 
 ehction, presentation, or aj)pointing of any ecclesiastical minis- 
 ters ; but the same is left unto the j^ositive laws and ordinances 
 of every Christian region.^' '^ 
 
 Archbishop Whitgift is equally clear and cogent. He 
 says : " The electing and ordering of ministers doth appertain 
 to bishops. / do not say only to hishoj^s : I will prove that 
 there is no certain form of electing prescribed in ScrijDture, 
 but that the same is left free for the church to appoint as 
 shall be thought most convenient for their states and times. 
 Christ did of himself alone, without the consent of any, call 
 and choose his Apostles, and likewise the seventy disciples 
 whom he sent to preach. The Apostles (Acts i.) altered 
 this manner and form, for they presented two, and one of 
 them was chosen by lot. In the 6th of Acts they clean 
 altered this also, for the people presented seven to the 
 Apostles, and they were all chosen without lots, the Apostles 
 laying their hands upon them. In the 14th of Acts this 
 
 * See Jenkins's " Remains of Cranmer ; a Confutation of Unwritten 
 Verities," and other of his works. 
 
34 CRANMER AND WHITGIFT. 
 
 form is likewise changed, for Paul and Barnabas ordained 
 ministers in every city, without either presentment by the 
 people or casting lots. In the 13th of Acts it is manifest 
 that Paul and Barnabas were sent only by the prophets and 
 doctors, without any consent of the people either given or 
 required. Paul sent Timothy and Titus, and gave them 
 authority to ordain others. So that it is certain, that there 
 is no prescript manner and form appointed to be observed 
 for ever, seeing that the Apostles themselves did not bind or 
 tie themselves to any such rule. Whereupon I conclude, 
 that, in the Scriptures, there is no certain form prescribed of 
 electing ministers, and that the doings of the Apostles in 
 that matter are not at all times of necessity to be followed ; 
 but it is sufficient to respect their end and purpose ; that is, 
 that there be meet ministers." * 
 
 These are the testimonies of two archiepiscopal divines, 
 of great learning and still greater piety. Tractarianism 
 may sneer at the "low church" views of these excellent 
 dignitaries ; but unprejudiced men will form their own 
 judgment upon opinions so fairly and honestly stated, and 
 so unmistakeable in the sense they convey. Nor are these 
 solitary notions. Bishop Hooper, and a multitude of later 
 divines, held coincident views. And, indeed, with the New 
 Testament in our hands, it is difficult to understand how 
 opposite views could be safely entertained ; but, recollecting 
 that judgment and prejudice seldom draw in the same yoke, 
 the mystery is unravelled. When the institutions of Chris- 
 tianity are tried at the bar of human opinion, and the specu- 
 lations of men are substituted for the truths of Revelation, 
 then the sheet-anchor of safety is lost, and the frail bark is 
 
 * See " The Defense of the Answere to the Admonition against the 
 Heplie of T. Cartwright," and various Tracts, by John Whitgift, D.D. 
 
SUMMARY. 35 
 
 either driven over a boisterous sea, or left to fotindcr on the 
 rocks of perdition. Christianity is not now npon its trial. 
 It is true that its doctrines and institutions have been 
 brought under the scrutiny of man, and he has boldly decided 
 upon its character and claims ; but, hitherto, it has passed 
 through the heat of ordeal-fires unscathed, and, phoenix-like, 
 has come forth on every fresh occasion with new and in- 
 creasingly-resplendent beauties. 
 
 Upon a careful re\'iew of this important branch of the 
 general subject, there is strong reason to believe that the 
 Saviour, who, throughout his personal ministiy, adapted his 
 various means to the respective ends to which those means 
 were to be applied, left it with his successors, to the end of 
 time, to fi*ame their local institutions, and to accommodate 
 their working plans, so as to meet the variations in the 
 human condition, and the changing exigencies which time 
 might introduce. Christianity, viewed in its broad and com- 
 prehensive character, is not a system of precise legislation, 
 comprising a number of specific details, and marking out 
 with literal exactitude everything to be done and to be 
 avoided. The standard of moral obligation is rather general 
 than defined, and leaves every man to infer his particular 
 duty from the circumstances with which he is surrounded, 
 and the amount of his cajjability to act in accordance with 
 those circumstances. Christianity is, in fiict, an inculcation 
 of great principles, which are entrusted to the Church to be 
 applied in such a way as may be best calculated to further 
 the chief ends and interests of life. Doubtless, the Apostles 
 exercised a sound discretion in the institution of ordination, 
 as a rite preliminary to the exercise of ministerial functions. 
 In a multitude of instances it might have been extremely 
 necessary. Judaism Avas tenacious of the minutest parts of 
 
 d2 
 
36 SUMMARY. 
 
 its temple, ritual, and formulary ; and for the Apostles to 
 have tolerated the indiscriminate admission of persons to 
 perform duties so sacred and responsible as those of the 
 Christian Ministry, without some mode of induction befitting 
 the office, might have given great offence to those amongst 
 the Jews who were well-disposed towards Christianity. It 
 seems that the Apostles were regulated in the exercise of 
 their discretionary powers rather by expediency than law, 
 and hence they relaxed the strictness of the rule, when its 
 exception would better promote the gi-eat interests they 
 uniformly sought to sei've. What amount of lay agency 
 has been employed throughout the long space which has 
 intervened between the introduction of Christianity and the 
 establishment of Methodism cannot be ascertained, but that 
 the Local or Lay Ministry of Methodism has the closest 
 approximation to the ministry appointed by the Saviour, 
 both in principle and practice, may be fiercely denied, but 
 can never be successfully refuted. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 MORAL STATE OF THE WORLD ON THE INTRODUCTIOX OF CHRISTIANITY — 
 
 EFFECTS OF NATURAL RELIGION — RAPID AND EXTENSIVE SPREAD OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY — HOSTILITY ARMED AGAINST THE GOSPEL — TERTULLIAN'S 
 
 ■ REMARKS — SUFFERINGS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS — TEN PERSECUTIONS 
 
 (note) — SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY ACCOUNTED FOR. 
 
 One of the primary objects of the New Testament was to 
 bring life and immortaUty to light through the medium of a 
 published revelation of God's will. On the first promulga- 
 tion of the Gospel scheme, Christianity placed itself in direct 
 antagonism with the various forms of heathenism which, at 
 the period of its introduction, had obtained the sanction and 
 authority of the different states through which the Gospel 
 was intended to carry its propagation. At the time Chris- 
 tianity broke upon the world, natural religion had attained 
 the climax of its glory. Corinth, Ephesus, Athens, E-ome, 
 and other celebrated cities, had temples of sui'passing magni- 
 ficence ; and in Athens alone, 30,000 gods were acknow- 
 ledged and adored. On the altar of Grecian pliilosophy the 
 whole civilised world offered the incense of its admiration, 
 while the military prowess and civil polity of Rome were 
 everywhere acknowledged. To the potency of those nations 
 the whole world tendered its ready submission. But with 
 all the perfection of their social institutions, the acquirements 
 of their literature, the polish of their manners, the skill of 
 their diplomacy, and the terror of their name, the moral 
 character of both Greeks and Romans was sunk to the lowest 
 
38 EFFECTS OF NATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 conceivable point of human degi'adation. Indeed, if it had 
 not been a fact of Revelation, we could scarcely have con- 
 ceived it possible that men so celebrated for the splendour of 
 their literary acquisitions, so polished, so free from the bar- 
 barisms of other states, could by possibility have sunk into 
 such deep and awful degeneracy, as to justify the Apostle's 
 description of them, when he tells us they were ^^ filled with 
 all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, 
 maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; 
 whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boast- 
 ers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without 
 understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, 
 implacable, unmerciful : who knowing the judgment of God, 
 that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not 
 only do the same, bvit have pleasure in them that do them," 
 Rom. i., 29, et seq. 
 
 But our surprise will be diminished considerably when we 
 learn from Gibbon, — that accomplished but dangerous writer, 
 — that " the various modes of religious worsliip which pre- 
 vailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people 
 as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by 
 the magistrate as equally useful. Indeed, their religious 
 observances throughout were so modelled and arranged, as 
 rather to indulge than to shock the ruling predilections of 
 the human character. Not only were their rites and cere- 
 monies in the highest degree obscene and disgusting to 
 morality, but their carnivals, and other festivals and shows, 
 so congenial to natural inclination, dragged the passions and 
 interests at will." 
 
 With principles and practices so utterly repugnant to the 
 spirit and genius of Christianity, the Gospel had to contend at 
 the opening of its ministry. No sooner had its great aud 
 
HOSTILITY ARMED AGAINST THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 glorious purpose been proclaimed than the anti-Christian 
 legions were summoned to the muster ; and the Saviour, with 
 his little chosen band, had to stand forth against the power 
 and policy of the god of this world and his earthly followei*s. 
 The preaching of the Cross soon roused the prejudices of 
 superstition, the hatred of the Jews, the contempt of the 
 Greeks, the power of the Romans, the pride of philosophy, 
 and the craft and malice of priests. With all these the 
 Gospel had to grapple in turn ; and, as may be supposed, 
 the conflict was arduous and difficult, allowing of neither 
 truce nor termination. The condensed energies of wicked 
 men and wicked spirits were thrown into the onslaught. 
 The struggle was with adversaries who were crafty in strata- 
 gem, powerful in battle, and incessant in attack ; adversaries, 
 at least some of them, with whom Christianity could make 
 no armistice, and from whom it could expect no quarter. 
 Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and all the ecclesiastical 
 machinery that Judaism could call to its aid, were placed in 
 antagonistic array against the Gospel. Every inch of ground 
 was pertinaciously disputed, and every attempt at advance 
 determinately opposed ; and, as the Saviour's name had not 
 been enrolled among the presiding or local deities in the 
 Pantheon, Chiistianity received neither countenance nor pi-o- 
 tection from the Roman people. 
 
 But was Christianity crushed in this stand against such 
 unequal opposition 1 Quite the contrary. We have it on 
 the authority of several early writers, whose testimony has 
 never been shaken, that within thirty years after the ascen- 
 sion of the Redeemer, it had S23read over Asia Minor ; visited 
 the scattered islands in the ^'Egean and throughout the 
 Mediterranean ; planted its standard on the western bounda- 
 ries of Europe ; opened communications with the noi-thern 
 
40 RAPID SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 shores of Africa ; found its way into the very household of 
 the Caesars, and extended its power and influence to the 
 utmost boundaries of the Koman Empire. According to 
 Pliny, in his celebrated letter to the Emperor Trajan, the 
 " contagion of the superstition," as he termed it, had spread, 
 not only through villages and cities, but over the entire 
 surface of the Roman dominions. By the end of the third 
 century, Christianity had been received throughout the 
 greatest part of the known world. Tertullian, a presbyter of 
 the Carthagenian Church, who lived in the beginning of the 
 second century, and the first Latin Father whose works have 
 .come down to us, says, in his "Apologies:" " Were we dis- 
 posed to return evil for evil, it were easy for us to revenge 
 the injuries which we sustain. But God forbid that his 
 people should vindicate themselves by human fire, or be re- 
 luctant to endure that by which their sincerity is evinced. 
 Were we disposed to act the part, I will not say of secret 
 assassins, but of open enemies, should we want force and 
 numbers 1 Are we not dispersed through the world "? It is 
 true we are but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all your 
 places, cities, islands, castles, boroughs, councils, camps, courts, 
 palaces, senate, forum ; we leave you only your temples." 
 He adds, " We could make a terrible war upon you, by 
 simply being so passively revengeful as only to leave you. 
 Should the numerous host of Christians retire from the 
 empire, into some remote region, the loss of so many men, of 
 all ranks and degrees, would leave a hideous gap, and inflict 
 a shameful scar upon the Crovernment. You would stand 
 aghast at your desolation, and be struck dumb at the general 
 silence and horror of nature, as if the world were departed."* 
 
 ■•* TertuU. Apol., xi,, 57. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. 41 
 
 Now, it must be confessed that the extraordinary triumphs 
 of Christianity received no aid, directly or indirectly, from the 
 established authorities of the countries over which it extended 
 its moral and spiritual influence. So far was the Gospel 
 mission from being promoted by the Jews, the Greeks, or 
 the Romans, that those powers, although on national grounds 
 hostile to each other, consented to merge political differences 
 in a common coalition to oppose Chi'istianity by all the 
 means it might be desirable to employ. But, though perse- 
 cution had recourse to all the refinements of cruelty, and though 
 the gladiatorial shows, and other exhibitions of torture, were 
 every-day spectacles, still the Christians multiplied ! Thus 
 " the blood of the martyrs became tlie seed of the church,''' and the 
 generative properties of that seed gloriously appeared in the 
 immense harvests which it successively brought forth. 
 
 In an early stage of the Christian dispensation, the Saviour 
 prophetically announced to his immediate disciples the storms 
 aud tempests which were gathering thickly around them ; and, 
 like a faithful friend who was well acquainted with the 
 severities of the exigence, gave them such affectionate counsel 
 and caution, as the threatening circumstances evidently ren- 
 dered necessary. " They shall lay their hands on you, and 
 persecute you, delivering you up to the sjTiagogues, and into 
 prisons, being brought before kings and nders for my name's 
 sake. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, 
 and kinsfolks, and friends, and some of you shall they cause to 
 be put to death : yea, the time cometh that he that killeth you 
 Avill think that he doeth God service. But these things have I 
 told you, that when the time shall come you may remember 
 
 * " The more you mow us down, the thicker weiise ; the Christian blood 
 you spill is the seed you sow ; it springs from the eai'th again, and £i-ucti- 
 fies the more." — Teriidl. ApoL, c. 50. 
 
42 SUFFERINGS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. 
 
 that I told you of them." How literally was this prediction 
 fulfilled in the days of the Apostles ! They were treated 
 with every indignity ; were represented as the organs of 
 sedition ; as men who aimed at the subversion of civil go- 
 vernment ; as troublers of the earth. They lived in dens and 
 caves of the earth ; their lives were hunted " like partridges 
 on the mountains." They were dragged before civil tribunals, 
 imprisoned, scourged, put to death. They were crucified, 
 slain with the sword, sawn asunder, burnt to ashes, and 
 othei'wise slaughtered for the gratification of sanguinary mul- 
 titudes, not of savage barbarians, but of men who had carried 
 civilisation and the arts to the highest conceivable degree of 
 perfection. It is said, that, under the Emperor Nero, in 
 whose reign the Apostle Paul suiFered martyrdom, every 
 engine of torture which human cruelty could devise, was 
 brought into play against the unoffending Christians. " Their 
 sufferings," says a truthful historian, "were aggravated by 
 insult and mockery. Some were disguised in the skins of 
 wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs. Some were cru- 
 cified ; others were wra^Dped in pitched shirts and set on fire, 
 when the day closed, to illuminate the night. For these 
 executions Nero lent his gardens, and amused the people by 
 a mock Circassian entertainment, being a spectator of the 
 whole in the dress of a charioteer, sometimes mingling with 
 the crowd on foot, and sometimes viewing the spectacle from 
 his car." Indeed, the persecutions with which the first Chris- 
 tians were relentlessly visited, followed each other in such 
 rapid succession, that there was scarcely any interval left for 
 breathing between those acts and monuments of popular and 
 sanguinary cruelty.* 
 
 * The Ten Persecutions, referred to by several ecclesiastical wiiters, took 
 place in the following order : — The first commenced under Nefo, A.D. 65. 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY ACCOUNTED FOR. 43 
 
 But whence did the Gospel acquire an influence so mys- 
 terious and potent as to invest with an inextinguishable zeal 
 and energy, persons of every colour, caste, clime, sex, age, and 
 condition, in the face of cnielties so refined and sanguinary 1 
 Was it the offspring of human invention ? — the effect of 
 human sagacity, or policy, or power ? Can it be accounted 
 for on any rational or worldly principle ? Certainly not. 
 The whole is utterly at variance with every class of natural 
 causes within the range of human knowledge. The reputed 
 son of a carpenter — without birth, rank, wealth, or other 
 human distinction ; without the parade of pretension, the 
 assumption of power, or the aid of popularity — selected a few 
 followers from the humble walks of life, to accompany hirn 
 on a mission which everywhere created the most inveterate 
 prejudices, and armed the most threatening hostilities against 
 it : and yet this despised and persecuted band convulsed the 
 whole world ; triumphed over kingdoms ; defied the rage of 
 
 The second happened under Domitian (the last of the Caesars), a.d. 90. 
 The third began under Trajan, the contemporary of Pliny, a.d. 100, in 
 which Clement, Bishop of Rome, and Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, suffered 
 mai-tyrdom. The fourth took place under Adrian, a.d. 126, and continued 
 under Antoninus Pitts, to A.D. liO. In this pei-secution, Polycarp, Bishop 
 of Smyrna, the personal friend and companion of the Apostle John, was 
 sacrificed to the popular fury. The fifth was under Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 
 162. The sixth took place under Severus, a.d. 20-3. In this persecution 
 Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, was martyred. The seventh was under Jhui- 
 uiiiius, A.D. 2-36. The eighth was under Decius, a.d. 251. The ninth com- 
 menced under Valerian, a.d. 258, in which Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, 
 sufiered martyrdom. The tenth and last was under Diodesian, a.d. 303. 
 In this last persecution, we are told that the greatest conceivable cruelties 
 were exercised upon the Christians. On one Christmas-day 20,000 were 
 slaughtered by order of the tyrant ; and to commemorate the total 
 extirpation of Christianity by that monster of iniquity, a medal was struck 
 bearing the inscription. Nomine Christianoruiu deleto ; at once announcing 
 to the world that he had not only effected a genei-al extermination of the 
 Christians, but that he had effectually blotted out the Chi-istiau uame.— 
 See Milncr and Easebias. 
 
44 SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY ACCOUNTED FOR. 
 
 potentates ; smiled at fetters, fires, and death ; planted the 
 standard of Cliristianity in every land ; sealed the tinith of 
 their testimony with their own blood, and diffused the con- 
 verting influence and efiects of the Gospel over every civilised 
 and barbarous state. The cause of all this is to be found in 
 the omnipotence of Divine Truth ! 
 
 The first preachers of righteousness were men little skilled 
 in the formation of organised plots for the propagation of 
 falsehood. Even had they formed a conspiracy for such a 
 purpose, the opposition with which they were everywhere 
 met would have crushed such a conspiracy in its very germ. 
 Indeed, every circumstance by which they stood surrounded 
 is diametrically opposed to such a presumption. They had 
 no earthly interests to serve, either of gain or ambition. 
 What they denounced in others they renounced in them- 
 selves. In life they exemplified the purity of their prin- 
 ciples, motives, and aims, and in death they bore triumphant 
 testimony to the power of Divine Truth. 
 
 When Christianity was first announced by its Divine 
 Founder, it was natural to expect that the character and 
 claims of a religion which proposed utterly to exterminate 
 the hoary-headed institutions of heathen states, and abrogate 
 the divinely-instituted ceremonial of the Mosaic economy, 
 would be subjected to the most rigid investigation and 
 scrutiny. It was not to be expected that a religion so novel 
 in its character, so bold in its assumptions, so sweeping in its 
 demands, — a religion that declared war against the venerated 
 mythology of paganism ; denounced the Pantheon as the 
 pest-house of idolatry ; held up the tutelary deities of Greece 
 to scorn and execration ; claimed for the Saviour the moral 
 jurisdiction of the world, and the supreme dominion over the 
 hearts of all mankind, — should be allowed to propagate its 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY ACCOUNTED FOR. 45 
 
 pretensions with impunity. The world simultaneously rose, 
 not merely to dispute its claims, but to crush its rising 
 power and exterminate its very name. The Jewish San- 
 hedrim thundered out its anathemas against it, and engaged 
 the authorities of Greece and Rome as its powerful allies. 
 Still Christianity spread, like the branching rays on the 
 approach of day, until its circumfulgent beams scattered the 
 moral gloom with which the world had been enveloped for 
 so many ages ! 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY— MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST— MINISTRY 
 OF THE REDEEMER — SERMON ON THE MOUNT — PARABOLIC MODE OP 
 PREACHINO — STYLE OF CHRIST'S PREACHING — PREACHING OF THE FIRST 
 APOSTLES — DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST — 
 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL — PERSECUTION AT JERUSALEM THE OCCASION 
 OF A WIDER DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY BY MEANS OF LAY INSTRU- 
 MENTALITY. 
 
 A RELIGION from heaven might be expected to furnish the 
 most clear, the most elevated, the most impressive, and the 
 most glorious conceptions of the character and attributes of 
 the Deity, with the most distinct and specific duties it 
 required from man. It should contain incentives to 
 piety and dissuasives from sin ; and the promises and 
 threatenings it awarded and denounced should possess suffi- 
 cient encouragement and alarm to aid the effects they respec- 
 tively sought to accomplish. It should be competent to 
 give to man a correct knowledge of his true character ; to 
 convey proper estimates of the opposite destinies of futurity ; 
 and to supply motives and means to secure eternal happi- 
 ness and to avoid eternal misery. It should brand with 
 condemnation whatever is adverse to the soul's present and 
 future interests, and stamp with approval whatever promotes 
 its intermediate and final happiness. It should define 
 the elements of spiritual character ; develope the resources 
 of spiritual joy ; mark out the nature and extent of recipro- 
 cal duties and social claims ; explain and enforce whatever 
 tends to sublimate the human character ; trace out the lines 
 
MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 47 
 
 of thought and of action ; show the approaches to holiness 
 and heaven ; point out tlie springs, motives, faculties, and 
 powers by which human nature is actuated ; exhibit the 
 difficulties and dangers of life in its attractions and variations ; 
 blend and modify the influences which outward circumstances 
 exert on the heart and its numerous dependencies. Its 
 doctrines and precepts should correspond with, and be pro- 
 motive of, its general design ; and, externally and inter- 
 nally, it should bear the visible imprint of its Divine origin- 
 ality. Such was, and such is. the Christianity of the New 
 Testament dispensation, and it invites the most searching 
 investigation into its character and pretensions. 
 
 Let us now direct our attention more immediately to the 
 Scriptural character of the first ministry, as established under 
 the Gospel. 
 
 Before the Saviour entered upon his public ministry, John 
 the Baptist had preached for several months in the wilds of 
 Judea. He appears to have formed a connecting link between 
 the Jewish and Christian dispensations ; and, doubtless, 
 received his commission as a preacher of righteousness, like 
 the prophets, immediately from God. His appearance and 
 manners excited the greatest attention. His habits were 
 simple, and his life austere. He was clothed ^vitll " raiment 
 of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and 
 his meat was locusts'^' and wild honey." Both Isaiah and 
 Malachi had propheti<3ally announced him as a " voice crying 
 in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
 straight in the desert a highway for our God ;" alluding to 
 
 * The Eastern locusts, which are much larger than those known amongst 
 us, were anciently used in Asia and Africa as an article of food ; and they 
 are said to be a luxury with the Ai'abs to this day, They generally move 
 in large swarms, and, therefore, are very plentiful. 
 
48 MINISTRY OF THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the custom of Eastern monarchs, who, before they set out on 
 an expedition over countries little traversed, sent pioneers 
 before them to open passes, fill up valleys, and remove 
 obstructions to the advances of an army. The leading 
 doctrine he preached was "repentance." His object was to 
 awaken conviction, to excite alarm, in order to prepare men 
 for the ministry of reconciliation. His preaching was plain, 
 pointed, and energetic ; and the effect produced was extra- 
 ordinary. " Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, 
 and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of 
 him in Jordan, confessing their sins." His message was 
 delivered with uncompromising fidelity, and pointed to the 
 more important ministry of the Saviour. " But when he 
 saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his bap- 
 tism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath 
 warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth, 
 therefore, fruits meet for repentance. I indeed baptize 
 you with water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after 
 me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : 
 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : 
 whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his 
 floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; but he will burn 
 up the chaff mth unquenchable fire." The sanctity of his 
 life was a standing attestation of the spirit of his mission ; 
 and it was his glory to be the first martyr for the truth, 
 under the New Testament dispensation. 
 
 The preaching of repentance by the Baptist had prepared 
 the way for the correlative doctrine of " remission of sins " 
 by the Saviour and his Apostles. Shortly after the Redeemer 
 had been baptized of John in Jordan, he selected his minis- 
 terial associates, and entered at once on his mission of mercy 
 to a perishing world. His first sermon is a comprehensive 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 49 
 
 epitome of Christianity, and contains a condensed embodi- 
 ment of the pri\T.leges, proliibitions, duties, and claims com- 
 prehended in the Gospel, It is throughout a practical 
 discourse, insisting upon what the old writers called the 
 agenda, or things to be done, rather than the credenda, or 
 things to be believed. It was delivered not in the syna- 
 gogue, but in the open air, affording a substantial intimation 
 that the sanctity of religious services is not in the place but 
 in the ordinance. The congregation that listened to the 
 Saviour's inaugural address was large and attentive — and, 
 such was the clearness and authority with which he ex- 
 plained and enforced the great points of instruction, "the 
 people were astonished at his doctrine," The proximate 
 effect of the sermon is stated in the first verse of Matt, viii. : 
 — "When he came down from the mountain gi-eat multitudes 
 followed him." Whether the multitude were prompted by 
 curiosity, or actuated by motives of a higher order, must be 
 decided when results will be traced to the acts which gave 
 them birth. 
 
 In pursuing his ministry the Saviour appears to have 
 adopted no systematic plan, but to have seized for improve- 
 ment every passing occurrence and circumstance which was 
 capable of being turned to spiritual advantage. On many 
 occasions his instructions were conveyed through the medium 
 of parabolic or allegorical representations, which were power- 
 fully applied to the illustration of some great and important 
 truth, concealed behind the drapery of natural imagery. 
 This mode of instruction, though not new, acquired incom- 
 parable force and effect in the hands of the Redeemer, The 
 parable of the Prodigal Son is inimitably touching and beau- 
 tiful, and far transcends anything of the kind ever placed on 
 Record. Its double interpretation stands forth with irresistible 
 
50 PREACHING OP THE APOSTLES. 
 
 clearness, and commands at once the assent and conviction 
 of the understanding and heart. Again, what pathos and 
 affection breathe through the serial discourses of the Saviour 
 contained in John xiv., xv., xvi., and xvii., especially 
 as viewed in connection with the affecting circumstances out 
 of which they arose. Indeed, the " beloved disciple " has 
 given a number of the Saviour's discourses on various occa- 
 sions — some doctrinal, some preceptive, some admonitory, 
 and all affording practical instruction. In many instances 
 his discourses are associated with miracles, or other criteria 
 of the Divinity of the preacher. 
 
 But if on some occasions he adopted the sua/citer in modoj 
 on others he employed the fortiter in re. What an extraordi- 
 nary exhibition of ministerial faithfulness is given in Matt, 
 xxiii., especially in that part of the application contained in 
 the thirty-third verse ! How must the hypocritical Pharisees, 
 and others, who fell under his unqualified rebuke and denun- 
 ciation, have quailed and writhed under that sifting, searching 
 address ! In all the Saviour's discourses one uniform aim is 
 apparent, which, though occasionally presented under figura- 
 tive comparisons, is never lost behind the curtain of conceal- 
 ment. What a ministerial model has the Saviour left in the 
 inspired record ! His various discourses embody all the 
 essentials for congregational address ; whilst his adaptation 
 of mode, and fidelity of application, invest his ministry with 
 the highest conceivable charm and importance. 
 
 The preaching of the Apostles was identical in spirit vnXk 
 that of their Divine Master. Though they were not remark- 
 able for capaciousness of mind, acuteness of intellect, or ex- 
 tensive and varied erudition, yet they had that within them 
 which gave vigour to thought, promptitude to purpose, and 
 energy to action. They formed a holy band — 
 
PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 51 
 
 " In motive, aim, 
 And deed coincident. Their common mle 
 Of life the Word of God ; their power to act 
 His grace ; their highest end his praise," 
 
 Tt may well be conceived that the propagation of a new re- 
 ligion would be attended with considerable difficulty and 
 danger. To the Jews, Christianity was a system ostensibly 
 adverse to all the opinions upon which their hopes were 
 founded. That people had, tlirough all their national 
 vicissitudes, clung to the notion, that the coming of the 
 promised Messiah was to effect some great and advantageous 
 change in their political condition. This was not the opinion 
 of a few wild, visionary enthusiasts among them, but one on 
 which the popular hope was founded. They clung to this 
 hope, with an irrelaxative tenacity, under all the misfortunes 
 and calamities which they endured. To find, therefore, their 
 expectations suddenly blighted, that their hopes were to end 
 in the propagation of a religion which professed none of the 
 elements of their ancient faith, — and which, instead of beincj 
 accompanied by victories, and triumphs, and other blandish- 
 ments of human glory, and resulting in the exaltation of 
 their nation above the rest of the world would advance 
 their most inveterate enemies to an equality with themselves, 
 was no pleasing discovery to a Jewish mind. The mes- 
 sengers of such intelligence could not expect to be well 
 received, or implicitly obeyed. Such a doctrine could not 
 be otherwise than harsh and repulsive. To extend the pri- 
 vileges of religion to those who did not conform to the laws 
 and institutions of Moses, was an idea that had never before 
 entered into the Jewish notion of moral policy. 
 
 The character of Christianity was, in other respects, repug- 
 nant to Jewish habits and prejudices. The Mosaic economy 
 was in a high degree technical. Great stress was laid on the 
 
 e2 
 
52 PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 ceremonial law, and its virtue and efficacy were exti'avagantly 
 magnified, as the instrument of their reputation and influ- 
 ence. The Christian scheme, without formerly repealing the 
 Levitical institutions, reduced them to a very low standard. 
 Instead of a punctilious strictness and a fiery zeal in carry- 
 ing out the external observances of that code, the Apostles 
 preached faith in a crucified Kedeemer, and the necessity of 
 inward purity and moral rectitude. 
 
 Had the Apostles confined themselves to mere questions 
 of Jewish policy, as between Judaism and Christianity, 
 the Roman government, which despised all religion, would 
 have interposed no interference between the parties, but 
 have left them to settle their difierences alone ; but there 
 was that in Christianity which was calculated to rouse the 
 susj)icions of a vigilant and jealous government. The Messiah, 
 it was predicted in the Jewish Scriptures, was to come into 
 the world armed with all the authority of regal power ; and 
 the spiritual nature of his kingdom, and other concomitants, 
 were distinctions too refined to be entertained by governors 
 who viewed the matter through the perverted medium of 
 hostile representations. 
 
 The Apostles, therefore, had to contend with prejudice aided 
 by power. They had to appease the clamours of a disappointed 
 people, and meet the opposition of a dominant priesthood, 
 which possessed a considerable share of municipal authority 
 and was actuated by motives of invincible resentment. They 
 had to do this under a government to whose power they 
 made no pretensions, and from whose resources they could 
 expect no aid ; and, therefore, there is little in the circum- 
 stances by which the Apostles were surrounded, which could 
 lead us to suppose that, under the difficulties and dangers 
 with which they had to contend, and entirely destitute as 
 
PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 53 
 
 they were of force, authority, or protection, they could exe- 
 cute their mission with personal ease and safety. 
 
 We collect from the history of the four Evangelists, that, 
 shortly after the Redeemer had been put to death, the Apos- 
 tles, who had received a commission from him to publish his 
 Gospel throughout the world, assembled at Jerusalem, to 
 devise such plans and arrangements as might afford the best 
 facilities for securing the objects of their important mission. 
 The occasion was urgent and eventful. A renewal of effort 
 upon a largely extended scale was imperatively demanded, or 
 Christianity might sustain considerable loss. The Founder 
 of their faith had been savagely murdered by the Jews, under 
 the sanction of Roman authority ; and the chief priests had 
 widely circulated a report that the disciples had stolen the 
 dead body of the Saviour, and had palmed upon the world a 
 fictitious resurrection. It was a crisis wliich involved the 
 truth, the honour, and the success of Christianity. The 
 whole body of the disciples, therefore, met in solemn con- 
 clave, to consider what was to be done. It was the celebra- 
 tion of a great national festival, and Jerusalem was filled 
 with Jews from every quarter. Whilst the disciples were en- 
 gaged in their momentous deliberations, and looking for aid 
 and direction from above, "suddenly there came a sound 
 from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all 
 the house where they were sitting : and there appeared unto 
 them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
 them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 began to speak with other tongues as the Spiiit gave them 
 utterance." Here was a renewal of their ministerial charter, 
 with an extension of powers and qualifications suited to the 
 diversified character of the mission they were employed and 
 empowered to carry through the world. 
 
54 
 
 THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 The report of this strange and singular occuiTence at once 
 became known, " and Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and 
 the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, 
 in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and 
 in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, 
 Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians," in fact, " devout 
 men out of every nation under heaven " heard in their own 
 " tongues the wonderful works of God !" Thus was an avail- 
 able and effective medium opened for diffusing the convert- 
 ing influence of Christianity far beyond the narrow confines 
 of Judea, by an agency, which, though not ecclesiastical, 
 would be irresistibly powerful, as having partaken of the 
 Pentecostal infusion of Divine influence, so miraculously 
 poured out on that memorable occasion. As was natural 
 under such extraordinary circumstances, the ruling faction, 
 who were ever ready to traduce whatever tended to elevate 
 the character or promote the interests of the Gospel, 
 attempted, by malevolent insinuations, to show, that the 
 gift of tongues was nothing more than the mere ebullition 
 of visionary excitement, produced by overcharged surfeiting 
 and drunkenness — that, in fact, the disciples were " full of 
 new wine." This, like many other attempts of the arch- 
 adversary, defeated its own purpose. Peter met the insinu- 
 ation in a manly, straightforward manner. He refuted the 
 foul calumny, charged the murder of the Saviour upon them, 
 proved the resurrection of Christ from their own Scriptures, 
 pointed out his exaltation and his promise of spiritual influ- 
 ence, and then boldly asserted the Deity of him whom they 
 had crucified as a malefactor. The sermon produced an 
 amazing effect. The multitude were "pricked in their 
 hearts," and simultaneously cried out, " Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do ? " and three thousand souls were converted 
 from Judaism to Christianity ! 
 
CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL, 55 
 
 Such an occurrence could scarcely fail to attract the 
 attention of the Jewish sacerdotal authorities ; and, as the 
 Apostles openly pursued their ministerial vocation, "the 
 priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Saddu- 
 cees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the 
 people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the 
 dead." Two of the Apostles — Peter and John — were seized, 
 committed to prison, and afterwards brought before a judicial 
 tribunal ; but they were inspired with fortitude equal to 
 the difficulty of the exigence, and to the threats of punish- 
 ment they temperately, but firmly, replied : " Whether it 
 be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than 
 unto God, judge ye ; for we cannot but speak the things 
 which we have seen and heard." — Acts iv., 19, 20. 
 
 The death of Stephen began a new epoch in the history of 
 Christianity. A young man named Saul, who had signalised 
 himself by his hostility to the new religion, applied for and 
 obtained a commission from the council at Jerusalem to 
 proceed to Damascus, — whither, it seems, many of the early 
 converts had sought refuge from persecution, — and seize 
 upon all persons, irrespective of sex, age, or condition, who 
 were found to have embraced the new faith. His miraculous 
 conversion to Christianity on the way so strongly excited the 
 fierce resentment of the Jews at Damascus, that, to escape 
 their ungovernable rage, he had to be let down in a basket 
 fi'om an upper window without the walls, and so repair 
 privately to Jerusalem. 
 
 There is a remarkable fact connected with the history of 
 this period. At the time of Stephen's martyrdom a fierce 
 and farious persecution raged against the infant church at 
 Jerusalem : " and they " (the Christians) " were all scattered 
 abroad throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, exc^t 
 
56 LAY PREACHING. 
 
 the Apostles'' (Acts viii., 1), who probably remained at Jeru- 
 salem to devise such legislative measures as the eventful cir- 
 cumstances of the times might appear to render necessary. 
 "And they that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
 preacJmig the Word.'' — Acts viii., 4. That their ministry 
 was a Lay Ministry, no one will probably deny. The Apostles 
 remained at Jerusalem, and the converts thus " scattered 
 abroad " preached the religion of Jesus wherever they went ; 
 It is added by the Scripture historian, that " the hand of 
 the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and 
 turned to the Lord." On this point Archdeacon Paley, who 
 cannot be suspected of favouring Lay Preaching, says : " Their 
 preaching was in effect the preaching of the twelve ; for it 
 was so far carried on in concert and correspondence with 
 them, that, when they heard of the success of their emissaries 
 in a particular country, they sent two of their number to 
 complete and confirm the mission." "We find also," says 
 that eminent wi'iter, " that those who had been expelled from 
 Jerusalem by the persecution which raged there, travelled 
 as far as Phoenice, Cyprus, and Antioch ; and, lastly, we 
 find Jerusalem again the centre of the mission, the place 
 whither the preachers returned from their several excursions, 
 where they reported the conduct and effects of their ministry, 
 where questions of public concern were canvassed and settled, 
 and whence directions were sought and teachers sent forth." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OPENING OF THE GOSPEL DOOR TO THE GENTILES — INTRODUCTION OP 
 CHRISTIANITY INTO EUROPE — SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL OVER EUROPEAN 
 CITIES — CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL — CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY — RE- 
 CAPITULATION OF THE CONQUESTS OP THE GOSPEL DURING THE FIRST 
 THIRTY YEARS OF ITS PUBLICATION. 
 
 Up to this time the first preachers of the Gospel had confined 
 their ministry exclusively to the Jews j but an event oc- 
 curred at this point of the New Testament histoiy, which 
 gave to Christianity an entirely new feature. The exclusive 
 and unsocial character of the Jewish economy, which forbad 
 all intercourse with strangers, interposed an insuperable bar 
 to the spread of Christianity among the Gentiles. The con- 
 version of the Ethiopian eunuch, under the ministry of Philip, 
 the deacon, and his admission into the Christian Church by 
 the initiatory rite of baptism, was an event which would not 
 be likely to meet with much sympathy from the Apostles, 
 who were still deeply tinctured with the prejudices of their 
 nation. Cesarea, a town of sufficient importance to be made 
 the residence of a Koman governor, contained a mixed popu- 
 lation of Jews and Gentiles. Cornelius, a devout centiu'ion, 
 stationed with the Roman cohorts in that city, was brought 
 under the saving mfluence of religion, — whether through the 
 instrumentality of Philip, the deacon, who exercised his 
 ministry in that town for several years,* or otherwise, does 
 not appear. Whilst Cornelius was engaged in his devotional 
 
 * Compare Acts viii., 40, with Acts xxi., 8. 
 
58 THE GOSPEL AND THE GENTILES. 
 
 exercises, an angel appeared to him, and said, " Cornelius, thy 
 prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before 
 God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, 
 whose surname is Peter; he lodgeth with one Simon, a 
 tanner, whose house is by the sea-side ; he shall tell thee 
 what thou oughtest to do." Whilst the messengers from 
 Cornelius were on their way to Joppa, Peter was favoured 
 with a most extraordinary vision, which was thrice repeated, 
 to impress the important instruction it was intended to con- 
 vey the more deeply on the mind of this slowly-assenting 
 Apostle. — Acts X., 9, et seq. As he was wondering what the 
 vision could mean, the messengers from Cornelius arrived at 
 Simon's house, and inquired for Peter ; and the Spirit said 
 to Peter, " Behold three men seek thee ; arise, therefore, and 
 get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I 
 have sent them." Peter's prejudices at once did homage to 
 Christianity. He went to Cesarea, obtained a solution of 
 the mysterious vision, and preached to Cornelius, and to the 
 company whom he had collected, the glorious doctrine of re- 
 mission of sins through the atonement and in the name of 
 Jesus Christ ; and, at the close of that instructive sermon, 
 " the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word," 
 and they were at once baptised, and added to the church. 
 — Acts X., 44, et seq. Thus were the covenants of promise 
 thrown open alike to Jew and Gentile, the middle wall of 
 partition was broken down, and all restrictions to the general 
 spread of Christianity were removed at once and for ever. 
 
 Por some considerable time after the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity, the Apostles, and other preachers of the Gospel, con- 
 tinued to labour within the limits of Proconsular Asia. The 
 extension of their ministry beyond those limits broke upon 
 them by degrees. In Acts xvi., we learn that, after Paul 
 
THE GOSPEL INTRODUCED TO EUROPE. 59 
 
 and Silas had left Antioch, they visited the several churches 
 in Galatia, Phrygia, and the interadjacent country, and were 
 preparing to go into Bithynia, on the shores of the Euxine 
 Sea, when an extraordinary interposition induced them to 
 alter their course, and take a route which eventually led them 
 to cross the European boundary by way of the ^gean Sea, 
 and proceed to Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia. The 
 introduction of the Gospel into Philippi was marked by 
 some remarkable circumstances. The fii^st attempts to plant 
 the standard of the Cross presented few indications of success. 
 On the Sabbath-day after their arrival, the Apostles visited 
 an oratory, without the city, on the banks of a river, 
 where a few pious women met for devotional purposes, to 
 whom they made known the Gospel of our common salvation. 
 The effect was the conversion of Lydia, a person of some pro- 
 perty engaged in trade, and who had probably chosen Philippi 
 as a residence for commercial purposes. She at once opened 
 her house for preaching, and, with her family, became the 
 nucleus of a Christian Church. The dispossession of a Python 
 from a young female who interrupted the Apostles in their 
 ministry, raised a violent persecution against them. The 
 Apostles, without even the formality of a trial, were scourged 
 and imprisoned. An earthquake, with other concomitants of 
 Divine power, attested the authority of their mission, and the 
 jailer and his family were added to the infant church, as 
 monuments of the power of Divine grace. 
 
 Having visited Amphipolis, ApoUonia, Thessalonica, Berea, 
 Athens, Corinth, Rome, and other European cities, where, 
 with various degrees of success, Paul and his missionary 
 colleagues preached the everlasting Gospel, they returned to 
 Jerusalem to recount their labours and renew their minis- 
 terial commission. 
 
60 CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL- 
 
 What an illustrious instance of the power and influence of 
 converting grace do we find in the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles. How dignified and noble his character ! Where 
 shall we find such genuine disinterestedness as his — such an 
 utter renunciation of self ! In all the great outlines of his 
 extraordinary life, whether viewed as a Christian or as a 
 Christian minister, he has no counterpart among men. He 
 stands solitary and alone ! We trace him, in the Gospel 
 history, travelling from country to country in the prosecution 
 of his generous design ; encountering every extremity of 
 peril ; enduring every variety of hardship ; submitting to 
 every kind and degree of privation, reproach, and sufiering ; 
 stoned, beaten, scourged, and his life in constant jeopardy ; 
 when driven from one city, preaching in another; spend- 
 ing his whole time in the work of the ministry, sacrificing on 
 this shrine his profit, pleasure, ease, safety ; unswerving from 
 his course by the difficulties with which he had to contend ; 
 unsubdued by watchings, weariness, hunger, thirst ; uninti- 
 midated by bonds, imprisonments, scourgings, and death ; 
 in seasons of the greatest peril displaying undaunted courage, 
 quenchless zeal, and indomitable perseverance. His beha- 
 viour is everywhere calm, dignified, and rational ; adapted to 
 the varied and varying exigencies of his ministerial course, 
 and throwing a reflex lustre on the moral and social character 
 of Christianity. 
 
 The following remarks by. Hug, on the character of St. 
 Paul, will be read with interest : — " This most violent man, 
 having such terrible propensities, whose turbulent impulses 
 rendered him of a most enterprising character, would have 
 become nothing better than a John of Gishald, a blood- 
 thirsty zealot, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, had 
 not his soul been changed. The harsh tone of his mind 
 
CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL, 61 
 
 inclined liim to the principles of Pharisaism, which had all the 
 appearance of severity, and was the predominant party among 
 the Jews. Nature had not Avithholden from him the external 
 endowments of eloquence, although he afterwards spoke very 
 modestly of them. At Lystra, he was deemed the tutelar 
 god of eloquence. This character, qualified for great things, 
 but, not master of himself from excess of internal power, was 
 an extreme of human dispositions, and, according to the 
 natural course, was prone to absolute extremities. His reli- 
 gion was a destructive zeal ; his anger was fierceness ; his 
 fiiry required victims. A ferocity so boisterous did not 
 psychologically qualify him for a Christian, nor for a philan- 
 thropist ; but, least of all, for a quietly-enduring man. He, 
 nevertheless, became all this on his conversion to Christi- 
 anity, and each bursting emotion of his mind subsided directly 
 into a well-regulated and noble character. Formerly hasty 
 and irritable, now only spirited and resolved ; formerly 
 violent, now full of energy and enterprising ; once ungo- 
 vernably refractory against everything that obstructed him, 
 now only persevering ; once fanatical and morose, now only 
 serious ; once a harsh zealot, now feaiing God ; formerly 
 unrelenting, deaf to sympathy and commiseration, now him- 
 self acquainted with tears, which he had seen without efiect 
 in others. Formerly the friend of none, now the brother of 
 mankind ; benevolent, compassionate, sympathising, yet 
 never weak — always great ; in the midst of sadness and sor- 
 row, manly and noble ; so he showed himself at his deeply 
 mo\T.ng departure from Miletus. — Acts xx. It is like the de- 
 parture of Moses, like the resignation of Samuel, sincere and 
 heart-felt, full of self-recollection, and, in the midst of pain, 
 full of dignity. His writings are a true expression of his 
 character, with regard to the tone predominant in them. 
 
62 CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL. 
 
 Severity, manly seriousness; and sentiments wliicli ennoble the 
 heart are interchanged with mildness, affability, and sym- 
 pathy ; and their transitions are such as nature begets in the 
 heart of a man penetrated by his subject, noble and discern- 
 ing. He exhorts, reproaches, and consoles again ; he attacks 
 with energy, urges with impetuosity, and again he speaks 
 kindly to the soul ; he displays his finer feelings for the wel- 
 fare of others, his forbearance, and his fear of afflicting any- 
 body — all as the subject, time, opposite disposition, and cir- 
 cumstances require. There prevails throughout in them an 
 importuning language, an earnest and lively communication. 
 Rom. i., 26 — 32, is a comprehensive and vigorous description 
 of morals. His antitheses, Rom. ii., 21 — 24, 2 Corinth, iv., 
 8 — 12, vi., 9 — 11, ix., 22 — 30 ; his enumerations, 1 Corinth, 
 xiii., 4—10, 2 Corinth, vi., 4—7, 2 Tim. iii,, 1—5, Ephes. 
 VL, 4 — 7 V,, 3 — 6; Lis gradations, Rom. viii., 29 — 30, 
 Titus iii., 3, 4 ; the interrogations, exclamations, and com- 
 parisons, sometimes animate his language even as to give a 
 visible existence to it. That, however, which we principally 
 perceive in Paul, and from which his whole actions and oper- 
 ations become intelligible, is the peculiar impression which 
 the idea of a universal religion has wrought upon his mind. 
 This idea of establishing a religion for the world had not so 
 profoundly engrossed any soul, nowhere kindled so much 
 vigour and projected it with such a constant energy. In 
 this he was no man's scholar ; this he had immediately 
 received from the Spirit of his Master ; it was a spark of the 
 Divine light which enkindled him. It was this which never 
 allowed him to remain in Palestine and in Syria — ^which so 
 powerfully impelled him to foreign parts. The portion of 
 some others was Judea and its environs ; but his mission was 
 directed to the nations, and his allotment was the whole 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY. 63 
 
 of the heathen world. Thus he began his career among tlie 
 different nations of Asia Minor, and, when this limit also 
 became too confined for him, he went with equal confidence 
 to Europe, among other nations, ordinances, sciences, and 
 customs ; and here likewise he finally, with the same indefa- 
 tigable spirit, circulated his plans, even to the pillars of 
 Hercules, In this manner Paul prepared the overthrow 
 of two religions — that of his ancestors, and that of the 
 heathen." 
 
 Such was Christianity, in its rise and progress, during the 
 Apostolic dynasty. For ages it illumined the world, carrying 
 light into the regions of darkness and mildness into the 
 habitations of cruelty. It "beheld the foundations of every 
 pagan temple shake ; the statue of every false god totter 
 on its base ; the priest fly from his falling shrine, and the 
 heathen oracle become dumb for ever." For three centuries, 
 power, leagued with power, employed every artifice that 
 human ingenuity could devise to paralyse its energies and 
 crush its rising growth ; but, like the rolling tide, impatient 
 of control, it bade defiance to artificial restraints, and swept 
 away every embankment of human construction. It is true 
 the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers took counsel 
 together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed ; but 
 he that sitteth in the circle of the heavens laughed at their 
 puny attempts ; the Lord had them in derision. 
 
 We affect no surprise that Christianity gradually carried 
 its ramifications over every country, into which its leavening 
 influence prepared the way for its ready admission. Expan- 
 sion and perpetuity were essential elements in its practical 
 composition. For, although, in most instances, its entrance 
 into any place was scowled upon, — its character maligned, — 
 its supporters traduced, simply because its objects were mis- 
 
64 CONQUESTS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 understood, and consequently misrepresented ; yet, in propor- 
 tion as its advancing light beamed upon any country, the 
 intelligence of its converts was elevated, the tone of their 
 character sublimated, the standard of their morals raised, 
 and their social duties and religious obligations performed 
 and discharged with far better results to the general com- 
 munity, and with incomparably higher satisfaction in their 
 relation to, and bearing upon, the interests of another world. 
 Had Christianity rested its pretensions on human specula- 
 tions, on theories of philosophy or deductions of reason ; had 
 its progress been traced to the prevalence of certain opinions 
 which had gained possession of the public mind, then our 
 postulatum must have stood on different ground, and we 
 must have had recourse to another and totally different class 
 of arguments to account for its amazing spread and eventual 
 establishment. But the irrefragable proof of Christianity is 
 found in its irresistible power ; a proof which has success- 
 fully rebutted the multitudinous aspersions cast upon it by 
 infidelity, from the acrid bitterness of Celsus, to the disgusting 
 ribaldry of Paine. 
 
 The following recapitulation contains a condensed summary 
 of the progress of Christianity, within the first thirty years 
 after the ascension of the Saviour. The first assembly of 
 Christ's disciples which we meet with, and which was but a few 
 days after the Saviour's ascension, consisted of " one hundred 
 and twenty." About a week after this " three thousand " 
 were added in one day ; and the number of Christians pub- 
 licly baptised, and publicly associating together, was very 
 soon increased to " five thousand." " Multitudes of both men 
 and women continued to be added ; " " disciples multiplied 
 greatly," and " a great company of the priests were obedient 
 to the faith ; " and these great and important accessions to 
 
CONQUESTS OF THE GOSPEL. 65 
 
 the inftiiit church of Clirist, it is commonly believed, took 
 place within two years from the resurrection of the Kedeemer. 
 In consequence of a violent persecution which raged against 
 the church at Jerusalem, the converts were driven from that 
 city, and dispersed throughout the regions of Judea and 
 Samaria. Wherever they went they took their religion with 
 them ; for the Evangelist Luke records that " they that were 
 scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the Word." The 
 effect of this preaching comes afterwards to be noticed, where 
 the historian, in the course of his narrative, is led to observe, 
 that then (that is, about three years posterior to this) " the 
 churches had rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and 
 Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the 
 Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multi- 
 plied." This brought the church down to the sixth year of 
 its age. 
 
 It was not at that time revealed to the Apostles, that they 
 were at liberty to make a tender of the provisions of Divine 
 mercy to the world at large. Hitherto, their preaching had 
 been confined to Jews, to Jewish proselytes, and to Samari- 
 tans. That " mystery," as St. Paul calls it, was revealed to > 
 Peter by a special miracle. It appears to have been about 
 seven years after Christ's ascension that the Gospel was 
 preached to the Gentiles at Cesarea. One year after this, a 
 great multitude of Gentiles were converted at Antioch, in 
 Syria. The terms employed by the historian are these : " A 
 great number believed, and turned unto the Lord ; " " much 
 people was added unto the Lord ; " "the Apostles, Barnabas 
 and Paul, taught much people." Upon Herod's death, which 
 happened in the next year, it is observed, " that the Word 
 of God grew and multiplied." Three years from tliis time, 
 upon the preaching of Paul at Tconium. the metropolis of 
 
66 CONQUESTS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Lycaonia, "a great multitude, both of Jews and Greeks, 
 believed ; " and afterwards, in the course of this very progress, 
 he is represented as "making many disciples " at Derbe, a 
 principal city in the same district. Three years after this, 
 which brings us to the sixteenth year after the Ascension, the 
 Apostles wrote to the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and 
 Cilicia, — with which letter Paul travelled through those coun- 
 tries, and found the different Churches " established in the 
 faith, and increased in numbers daily." Erom Asia, the 
 Apostle proceeded into Greece, where, soon after his arrival 
 in Macedonia, we find him at Thessalonica ; in which city, 
 "some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great 
 multitude," We meet here with an accidental hint of the 
 general progress of the Christian Mission, in the exclamation 
 of the tumultuous Jews of Thessalonica, "that they, who had 
 turned the world upside down, were come thither also." At 
 Berea, the next city at which St. Paul arrived, the historian, 
 who was present, informs us that " many of the Jews be- 
 lieved." The next eighteen months of St. Paul's ministry 
 were spent at Corinth. Of his success in that city we re- 
 ceive the following intimations : " That many of the Corin- 
 thians believed and were baptised ;" and "that it was revealed 
 to the Apostle, by Christ, that he had much people in that 
 city." Within less than a year after his departure from 
 Corinth, and twenty-five years after the Ascension, St. Paul 
 fixed his station at Ephesus, for the space of two years and 
 something more. The effect of his ministry in that city and 
 neighbourhood drew from the historian a reflection — how 
 *' mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed ! " And we 
 find Demetrius, the head of an insurgent cabal, alarmed at 
 the progress of Christianity, complaining, " that not only at 
 Ephesus, but also throughout all Asia, this Paul hath per- 
 
CONQUESTS OF THE GOSPEL. 67 
 
 suaded and turned away much people." Besides these direct 
 accounts, there occurs, incidentally, mention of converts at 
 Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Macedonia, 
 Pliilippi, and other places. 
 
 The Christian institution, which properly began only after 
 the Saviour's removal from the world, had, before the end of 
 thirty years spread itself throughout Judea, Galilee, and Sama- 
 ria, and almost all the numerous districts of Lesser Asia, 
 through Greece and the islands of the ^gean Sea, along the sea 
 coast of Africa, and had extended itself to Rome and into 
 Italy. At Antioch in Syria, Joppa, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessa- 
 lonica, Berea, Iconium, Derbe, Antioch in. Pisidia, Lydda, 
 Saron, the number of converts is intimated by the expressions, 
 " a great number," " great multitudes," " much people." Con- 
 verts are mentioned, without any designation of their num- 
 ber, at Tyre, Cesarea, Troas, Athens, Philippi, Lystra, 
 Damascus. During all this time, Jerusalem continued not 
 only the centre of the mission, but a principal seat of the 
 religion ; for when St. Paul returned thither, at the conclusion 
 of the period of which we are now considering the accounts, 
 the other Apostles pointed out to him as a reason of his com- 
 pliance with their advice, " how many thousands there were 
 in that city who believed." — (See Pcdeys Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity.) 
 
 f2 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE OKIGIN, CHAEACTER, ADAPTATION, 
 
 AND USEFULNESS OF THE METHODIST LAY OR 
 
 LOCAL MINISTRY. 
 
 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth 
 good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good tidings of 
 good, that publisheth salvation ; that saith imto Zion, thy God 
 reigneth ! " — Isaiah lii., 7. 
 
 *' For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew 
 not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them 
 that believe." — 1 Corinth, i., 21. 
 
(Cjjt l^nrnl nr X^ Mlnmin]. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OBJECTS AND DISCHARGE OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY — EFFECTS OF 
 WHITFIELD'S PREACHING — FRENCH, SCOTCH, IRISH, AMERICAN, AND 
 ENGLISH PREACHERS CONTRASTED — SERMONS OF TILLOTSON, BARROW, 
 BLAIR, AND PALEY DESCRIBED — ANECDOTE OF GARRICK — STATE OP 
 RELIGION AT THE OPENING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— ORIGIN OF 
 METHODISM — OPENING OF THE FOUNDRY— COMMENCEMLNT OF CLASS 
 CONTRIBUTIONS— MR. WESLEY'S SEPARATION FROM THE MORAVIANS. 
 
 ' See, forth he comes, his holy office 2:iven, 
 Herald of Christ, hi^h harbin^^er of heaven ! 
 While poor and rich, the soldier and tho sage. 
 The bloom of youth, and hoary locks of a:2:e. 
 In gathering crowds Mcssiali's name adore. 
 And rush all trembling to the sacred shore ; 
 Bend with pale reverence 'neath the sprinkled wave. 
 Their crimes confess, and hail the power to save." 
 
 The ministry of the Gospel is unquestionably an ordinance of 
 Divine appointment. Its paramount design was to bring 
 about a reconciliation between an offended God and offending 
 man ; to effect not merely a temporary suspension of hos- 
 tilities between the conflicting parties, but to ratify a per- 
 manent peace, on such broad and comprehensive grounds, 
 as woidd brmg the parties together on terms of mutual amity 
 and reciprocal intercourse. It is natural to suppose, that a 
 Ministiy so immeasurably important in its present bearings 
 and future results, should be so modified and arranged in its 
 
72 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 
 
 essential constitution and working power, as to discharge the 
 diversified duties which its fulfilment requires, with a com- 
 manding reference to the intermediate purposes and ultimate 
 results contemplated in that appointment. In a complex 
 community like that which peoples our earth, possessing an 
 indefinite variety of views, interests, and aims, the Ministry 
 of the Gospel should, in its working plans, adapt itself to 
 the diversified circumstances in which it is brought to act ; 
 for, although it cannot be denied that the various modes of 
 pulpit administration, both in and out of the Established 
 Church, have many bonds and analogies in common, yet it 
 would argue a palpable ignorance of the moral and spiritual 
 economy of man, to contend that the discharge of ministerial 
 functions, under all the varieties of circumstances to which 
 the Ministry of the Gospel extends its application, should be 
 brought within one uniform category. Such a conclusion 
 would be as absurd as that which is not unfrequently palmed 
 on human credulity by certain charlatan pathologists, who 
 recommend the application of one class of remedies for every 
 description of constitution and disease. 
 
 In no department of life, within the limits of the mental 
 domain, is such a diversity of talent employed, and such a 
 versatility of mode adopted, as in the Christian Ministry. 
 And yet, looking at the model as laid down by the Saviour, 
 it may be clearly perceived that the qualifications for the 
 discharge of its important and responsible duties have far 
 less to do with the head than with the heart. The secret of 
 the prevalence, power, and efiect of the Apostolic Ministry, 
 appears to have been found in the combination of two simple 
 elements ; namely, purity of motive and plainness of manner ; 
 and yet, from the structure of the sermons preached or 
 j^rinted by those divines, in this and other countries, who 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF PREACHERS, 73 
 
 have drawn most largely on the public admiration, one might 
 almost imagine that the Saviour's model, which was impli- 
 citly followed by the Apostles, and by their successors for cen- 
 turies, was to be regarded by modern divines in the "breach, 
 rather than in the observance." The sermons of the most 
 distinguished French preachers, with a few exceptions, are 
 extremely imaginative ; * rich in the decorations of verbal 
 drapery ; embellished with attractive imagery, with beau- 
 tiful representations of Divine Tnith, and with the vivid 
 exhibitions of the diversified subjects which Christianity 
 embodies. But they seem to lose their vital power in the 
 enchantment of plastic descriptions ; the practical and soul- 
 elevating influence of experimental religion in the brilHant 
 flashes of an exuberant fancy, and the warm and generous 
 glow of spiritual affections in the clear, but cold illustrations 
 with which their sermons abound and are emblazoned. 
 
 * There are a few instances in which the imagination has been most 
 effectively employed in furtherance of the great objects of truth. That 
 extraordinary preacher, George Whitfield, was once addi-essing a mixed 
 multitude at Philadelphia, on the other side of the Atlantic ; and not per- 
 ceiving any outward signs of mwrought conviction, he suddenly stopped, 
 and with great solemnity of manner informed his auditory that the Arch- 
 angel Gabriel was just about to return to heaven without the news of a 
 single conversion. After a short pause, he added, with peculiar earnestness 
 of manner, " Will you let him go ? " A poor man, whose soul had been 
 pierced, and whose face was diffused with tears of penitential contrition, 
 immediately cried out, " No, sir ! I pray! " Whitfield, with one of those 
 master-strokes of eloquence for which as a preacher he was so remarkable, 
 cried out, " Stop, Gabriel ! stop ! and carry the tidings to heaven ! " The 
 effect was electric. — William Dawson excelled most of his ministerial con- 
 temporaries in the imaginative mode. His images, always true to life, 
 often produced the most thiilUng effect. Who that ever heard his graphic 
 description of the man carried down the fearful rapids, from Lake 
 Erie to the ten-ific falls of Niagara, can forget the varied feelings 
 it called forth as the description proceeded, and especially the wild rush of 
 emotions when the catastrophe was announced ? In these men the imagi- 
 native faculty was often rendered an eflcctive auxiliary to the other agencies 
 of the soul. 
 
74 CHARACTERISTICS OF PREACHERS. 
 
 The Scotch divines seem to take their pulpit cue from the 
 bold and striking features of their picturesque country. 
 Cool, calculating, and argumentative, they are the very anti- 
 podes of their Celtic brethren. In preaching, they seldom 
 allow the imagination to occupy the seat of judgment. In 
 their estimation, stern truth needs not the aid of artificial 
 ornament ; and, although they occasionally display an expan- 
 sion of intellect, a loftiness of conception, and a vigour of 
 delineation which unmistakeably indicate great mental capa- 
 city, yet, in their pulpit discourses, their language is usually 
 simple and unembellished, and seems to come nearer to the 
 plain, pointed, energetic style of the Apostolic Ministry than 
 most of the churches of modem times. The preachers of 
 Hibernia difier very considerably from those either of Gaul 
 or Caledonia. Irish preachers, for the most part, are 
 extremely ardent, fervid, zealous, and not unfrequently send 
 out scintillations of sparkling brightness, which at once 
 delight and astonish their hearers. Quick in perception, san- 
 guine in temperament, energetic in action, full of the excite- 
 ment which is created and fed by their native enthusiasm, 
 their fire and feeling have little to do with the intricate 
 researches of thought, or the abstruse deductions of reason. 
 It has been said that an Irishman's soul is his Aristotle, and to 
 make you think as he thinks, is to make you feel as he feels. 
 American preachers, though imaginative, are unenergetic. 
 Their descriptive powers, which have been denominated a 
 kind of mental mechanism, are cultivated with considerable 
 effect ; and as their style is light, and abounds with striking 
 illustrations, their sermons are generally of a highly popular 
 character. They appear to form a link between the 
 French and Irish preachers, possessing a good deal of the 
 fancy of the former, with some small portion of the enthusiasm 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF PREACHERS. 75 
 
 of the latter. With them elocution appears to be carefully 
 studied, and hence, American oratory, though dull, is florid. 
 English preachers may be said to combine many of the qua- 
 lities of these different divines. Sometimes their sermons 
 contain great originality and depth of thought, with a studied 
 elaboration of style. Many of the leading preachers in Non- 
 conformist communities are men of first-rate talent, and 
 are entitled to be classed among the most distinguished 
 lumieres of this or any other country. If the growth 
 of transforming religion were to be measured by the high 
 standard of pulpit acquirements, Britain would immeasur- 
 ably take the lead among the nations of the earth. 
 
 In the published sermons of our most admired English 
 divines, we discover very great diversity of style and composi- 
 tion. Though their sermons occupy the divinity compart- 
 ment in every private library of importance, and are set up 
 as standards of appeal in questions of doctrinal controversy, 
 yet they exhibit some of the imperfection which is insepa- 
 rable from all human productions.* The sermons of South 
 are witty and playful, rather than dignified and profound. It 
 is true that the prevailing vices of the age are occasionally 
 exhibited, assailed, and denounced ; but the serio-comic view 
 in which the learned doctor occasionally kidulges, almost 
 leads one to imagine that his sermons were intended for stage 
 representation, rather than for spiritual efiect.t The sermons 
 
 * The cream of English divinity is to be found in the works of Ambrose, 
 Taylor, Chamock, Howe, Hall, Homeck, Baxter, and other preachers and 
 writers of that class, who, though their ponderous tomes are in the posses- 
 sion of a few spiritual clergymen, yet theu* quaintness of style and pointed- 
 ness of application have placed them under the general ban. 
 
 + It is related that a certain bishop once asked Garrick, the English 
 Comus, how it came to pass, that, whilst theatrical representations pro- 
 duced such powerfal effects on the passions and feelings of an audience, 
 the most affecting appeals from the pulpit were listened to without emotion 
 
76 CHARACTERISTICS OP PREACHERS. 
 
 of Tillotson are prolix and cumbrous. In many respects they 
 are desei'vedly esteemed, and are an important addition to 
 the divinity department of our national literature. They 
 are as completely surcharged with solid matter, as though 
 their contents had been packed under the pressure of an 
 hydraulic machine of fifty-horse power. It must, however, 
 be admitted, that they are admired rather for their style, 
 than for their application ; and, consequently, that, though 
 their clearness is appreciated by the understanding, and their 
 truth acknowledged by the judgment, yet they seldom gain 
 access to the inner chambers of the heart. The sermons of 
 Barrow are diffuse and heavy. With Barrow, points of 
 divinity are treated very much like problems in Euclid — ^both 
 are reduced to mathematical demonstration. His great mind 
 was cast in a metaphysical mould, and hence, every class of 
 truth was measured by one common standard ; and yet, his 
 versatility of illustration is remarkable, as he has given 
 twelve sermons on the text, " I have learned in whatsoever 
 state I am, therewith to be content" (Phil, iv., 11), — a lesson 
 which, by the way, many find much more difficult to acquire 
 than either Greek or Latin. Blair's sermons are greatly 
 admire<l in many circles. His style is fluent, and his language 
 ornate. His sermon on " Keep thy heart with all diligence, 
 for out of it are the issues of life," and the one on " Father, 
 the hour is come," embody great elevation of sentiment and 
 beauty of delineation. The latter sermon has many touches 
 of the sublime, and it can scarely be read without drawing 
 upon the fountains of the soul. But, still, his sermons are 
 
 and without effect. The answer of Garrick contains an admonitory solution 
 of the problem of that episcopal dignitary : " My lord, we are in earnest ! " 
 It is as much as if he had said, "We treat fiction as truth, but you treat 
 truth as fiction ; we invest imagery with the force of reahty^ but you clothe 
 reality with the trappings of imagery." 
 
ORIGIN OF METHODISM. 77 
 
 generally deficient in tlieir appeals to the heart : they keep 
 up a running fire of small arms upon the outworks, but they 
 seldom bring the heavy artillery to play m^on the citadel. 
 Paley's sermons are lamentably defective ; and it is difficult 
 to understand how a man that could write so admirably on 
 " Natural Theology," should be so little acquainted with the 
 theology of the souL But there are two kinds of divinity — 
 the speculative and the experimental : one is the divinity of 
 the head, the other the divinity of the heart ; the fonner is 
 acquired at the feet of Gamaliel, the latter at the feet of 
 Chi'ist ! 
 
 The opening of the eighteenth century was a period of 
 great moral darkness and degeneracy. The infidelity of 
 France and the neology of Germany had found gi-eat sym- 
 pathy in this country. The fountains of literature were 
 poisoned, and the destructive effects were everywhere seen 
 in the melancholy wreck of moral principle. Much of the 
 current divinity was either scholastic or polemical, and that 
 which was of a more practical character was either too pro- 
 found or too prolix for the popular taste. The clergy set up 
 but few counter-checks to prevent the spread of infidelity 
 and ii-religion. Indeed, many of them, without formally 
 renouncing Christianity, lived in such an habitual violation of 
 its laws, and contradiction to its spirit, that, had their minis- 
 try been faithfully discharged, their own lives would have 
 afforded the most palpable ground for rebuke and condem- 
 nation. All classes, from the prince to the peasant, seemed 
 to have caught the moral epidemic ; and although the faithful 
 among the Noncomforming preachers denounced from their 
 respective pulpits the crying sins of the multitude, yet theii' 
 thunders were either unheard or unheeded. 
 
 In the year 1720, Mr. John Wesley, then only seventeen 
 
78 
 
 ORIGIN OF METHODISM. 
 
 years of age, was entered a student at Christ's Church Col- 
 lege, Oxford; and on the 19th September, 1725, he received 
 Deacon's Orders, as Bachelor of Arts, under Dr. Potter, then 
 Bishop of Oxford. On the 17th March, 1726, he was elected 
 Fellow of Lincoln College, and in the following year received 
 his degree as Master of Arts. He was ordained Priest by 
 Bishop Potter, on the 22nd September, 1728. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1729, the Messrs. John and 
 Charles Wesley, and two other collegians, were brought 
 under the power and influence of spiritual religion. Although 
 at that time the elder University was untainted with the 
 heretical dogmas which have since given it such an unenvi- 
 able notoriety in the religious world, yet, its boasted ortho- 
 doxy had little affinity with the spirituality of the New 
 Testament. About the beginning of that year, these two 
 excellent men, with Mr. Morgan, a commoner of Christ's 
 Church, and Mr. Kirkham, of Merton College, set apart two 
 or three evenings in the week to read, for their mutual aid 
 and spiritual edification, the Greek Testament. They were 
 subsequently joined by several pupils of the Messrs. Wesley ; 
 by Mr. Ingham, Mr. Broughton, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Hervey, 
 and the justly celebrated Mr. George Whitfield ; altogether, 
 about fourteen in number. Their reading was reduced to 
 three heads of classification ; namely, grammatical, analytical, 
 and exegetical. Their rules of life were remarkably strict 
 and irrelaxative. They visited the sick, and the prisoners 
 in the county gaol ; observed the Wednesday's and Friday's 
 fasts of the Primitive Church, and partook of the Lord's 
 Supper once in every week. 
 
 It was scarcely to be expected that the strictness of their 
 self-imposed regulations and the remarkable sanctity of their 
 lives would escape public observation; and a Fellow of 
 
ORIGIN OF METHODISM. 79 
 
 Merton College applied to the little band the distinctive 
 appellation which the Connexion has since borne, in allusion 
 to the great exactitude with which their ascetic rules of life 
 were observed and carried out. 
 
 As Mr. Wesley's mind gradually unfolded its gigantic 
 capabilities, he took higher and broader views of the duties 
 and obligations which Christianity imposes. He saw the 
 world around him sunk in a deep and ominous sleep, — lying 
 in the calm of death, on the very brink of the yielding preci- 
 pice which overhangs the gulf of perdition. He perceived 
 that, among the higher classes especially, attempts were made 
 " to negotiate a treaty between the service of Christ and the 
 service of Satan ; to reconcile the claims of Christianity with 
 those of sin ; to compromise the high and holy principles of 
 religion; to amalgamate sensual pleasures with spiritual joys; 
 to live on amicable terms with Christ and Belial ; to keep up 
 a running intercourse with both worlds ; and to mingle 
 elements which possess, in their very nature and essence, the 
 principles of absolute aud eternal contrariety." His eye 
 affected his heart. His sympathies were awakened, and he 
 soon framed the skeleton of an enterprise second only to 
 that which resulted in the glorious Eeformation. Like 
 Luther, Huss, and other master spirits, unchecked by oppo- 
 sition, unintimidated by the threatening aspects around 
 him, he began at once to publish through the land the 
 distinguishing doctrine of a present, full, fi'ee, and eternal 
 salvation, on the simple condition of faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. As in the days of the Saviom-'s personal ministry, 
 the temple authorities first took the alarm, and closed the 
 doors of the different churches against him. He then began, in 
 London, Bristol, and other places, to preach in the open air, 
 with a success that greatly exceeded his utmost expectations. 
 
80 OPENING OF THE FOUNDRY. 
 
 It was on the lltli November, 1739, that the first Metho- 
 dist chapel was opened for public worship. That was the 
 celebrated Foundry,* in Moorfields, London, purchased from 
 Government, in which the thunderbolts of war had long been 
 manufactured ; but which, for the future, was to resound 
 with the high praises of the Prince of Peace. A chapel hav- 
 ing been built at Bristol, it became a serious question how 
 the increasing pecuniary difficulties should be met, and Mr. 
 Wesley convened the Bristol Society to bring that question 
 fairly before them. On his asking, " How shall we pay the 
 debt upon the preaching-house 1 " Captain Foy stood up and 
 said, " Let every one in the Society give a penny a week, 
 and it will be easy done." " But many of them," said one, 
 " have not a penny to give." " True," said the Captain ; 
 
 * The Foundry, with which is associated some of the best recollections of 
 Methodism, was situated in what now bears the name of Windmill-street, 
 and is parallel with the City-road, abutting on the north-west corner of Fins- 
 bury-square. It stood on the east side of Windmill-street, about twenty 
 yards from the comer of Providence-row. Including the coach-house and 
 yard, the front dimensions of the premises were about one hundred and 
 twenty feet, from north to south ; and about one hundred feet in depth, 
 from west to east. Behind the chapel, on the ground floor, was the band- 
 room, being about eighty feet long, and twenty feet wide ; near the south 
 entrance to which stood the book-room, for the sale of Mr. Wesley's publi- 
 cations. Over part of the band-room were three rooms, two of which were 
 occupied by assistant ministers (superintendents), and the third was used 
 for electiifying afflicted persons and other occasional purposes. Mr. Wes- 
 ley's apartments were a storey higher, and over the rooms just mentioned. 
 The large room, called the band-room, would accommodate about three 
 hundred persons. In that i-oom, during the winter, at five o'clock, the 
 morning service was held. The bands met on Thursday evenings, after 
 preaching. On every Wednesday and Friday, at two o'clock, there used 
 to be a meeting for intercession and prayer. The north end of the room 
 was used as the school, being fitted up with desks, &c. The dwelling- 
 house was occupied by some of the preachers, and by the domestic servants. 
 There were no pews in the body of the chapel ; but in front of the pulpit 
 were about ten or more fixed seats, with back rails, — the front and last oc- 
 cupied by men, the others by women. Under the front gallery were free 
 seats for women, and underneath the north and south galleries, for men. 
 The front gallery was for women, the north and south galleries for men. 
 
ORIGIN OF CLASS-MONEY. 81 
 
 " then put ten or twelve of them to me ; let each of these 
 give what he can weekly, and I will supj^ly what is wanting." 
 Many others made the same offer ; so Mr. Wesley divided 
 the Societies among them, assigning a class of about twelve 
 jiersons to each of these, who were termed Leaders. Thus 
 the fulcrum and lever-power of Methodism was effectively 
 brought into play. 
 
 Up to the middle of the year 1740, Mr. Wesley had been in 
 close connection with the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian 
 brethren ; but, in July, of that year, doctrinal disputes arose 
 between Mr. Peter Boehler and Mr. Molther, the heads of 
 that community, and Mr. Wesley, chiefly on the nature and 
 operation of saving faith, Mr. Molther entertaining Antino- 
 mian views, which led to a separation. The publication, by 
 Mr. Wesley, of a sermon against the Calvinist notion of 
 predestination, was the primary occasion of Mr. Whitfield's 
 withdrawal from the ranks of Methodism. 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 ORIGIN OF LAY PREACHING AMONG THE METHODISTS — OPINION OP WR. 
 WESLEY'S MOTHER ON LAY PREACHING — MR. WESLEY'S DEFENCE OP LAY 
 PREACHING — SPREAD OF METHODISM— MR. WESLEY'S TALENTS— CHARACTER 
 OF THE EARLY PREACHERS— MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS OP LOCAL 
 PREACHERS— BUNYAN'S PREACHING. 
 
 Although at an early period in the liistoiy of Methodism 
 Mr. Wesley called laymen to his aid, as preachers of the 
 Gospel, to act in conjunction with those who were ordained, 
 and publish through the land the tidings of salvation, yet it 
 was not until he felt the pressure of circumstances from with- 
 out that his prejudices on this point did homage to his judg- 
 ment. 
 
 In the Life of Mr. Wesley, prefixed to the edition of his 
 Sermons published in 1838, the following account is given 
 of the circumstances out of which Lay Preaching in the 
 Methodist Connexion arose : — 
 
 " Several pi-eachers, not episcopally ordained, were now employed 
 by Mr, Wesley to assist in the gi'owing work, which already had swelled 
 beyond even his and his brother's active powers suitably to supply 
 with the ministration of the Word of God, Mr. Chai'les Wesley had 
 discouraged this from the beginning, and even he himself hesitated ; 
 but with John the promotion of religion was the first concern, and 
 church order the second, although inferior in consideration to that 
 only. With Charles these views were often reversed. In the year 
 1741, Mr. Wesley had to caution his brother against joining the Mora- 
 vians, after the example of Mr. Gambold, to which he was at times 
 inclined ; and adds, * I am not clear that Brother Maxfield should not 
 expound at Greyhound-lane ; nor can I as yet do without him. Our 
 clergymen have increased full as much as the preachers.' Mr. Max- 
 field's preaching had the strongest sanction of the Countess of Hunt- 
 ingdon ; but so little of design, with reference to the forming of a sect, 
 
ORIGIN OF METHODIST LAY PREACHING. 83 
 
 had Mr. Wesley in the employment of Mr. Maxfield, that in his own 
 absence from London he had only authorised him to pray with the 
 society, and to advise them as might be needful ; and upon his beginning 
 to preach he hastened back to silence him. On this his mother ad- 
 dressed him : — 'John, you know what my sentiments have been. You 
 cannot suspect me of favoiuing readily anything of this kind. But 
 take care what you do with respect to that young man, for he is as 
 surely called of God to preach as you are. Examine what have been 
 the fruits of his preaching, and hear him also yourself.' He took her 
 ftdvice, and could not venture to forbid him." 
 
 Having once broken through the restrictions of ecclesiasti- 
 cal order, in the employment of Lay, or unordained, Preachers, 
 Mr. Wesley proceeded to carry out a plan, which, though 
 it formed no part of his original design and was regarded 
 by him with very considerable repugnance, yet, as it appeared 
 to him to be necessary to meet the exigencies wnich were 
 springing up around him in every direction, he adopted as 
 one of the administrative elements in the working economy 
 of Methodism ; and which, though unacknowledged by the 
 Conference, has, in its effects, been very much like the intro- 
 duction of the fly-ijoheel into some departments of heavy 
 machinery, to give increasing momentum to its working 
 speed and power. It ought not to be forgotten, especially by 
 Local Preachers, that the suggestions of the mother of Mr. 
 Wesley, a woman of exalted piety and extraordinary endow- 
 ments, led to the institution of a Lay Ministry ; to which, in 
 conjunction with the Lay Pastorate, Methodism owes by far 
 the gi'eater part of its numerical strength and its internal 
 stability. After Mr. Maxfield had begun to preach, others 
 followed in the same irregular course ; first Mr. Thomas 
 Richards, next Mr. Thomas Westall, and shortly afterwards 
 the celebrated John Nelson ; who all, except the first, died 
 in the work. 
 
 ''Mr. AVesley's defence of himself on this point may be considered 
 irrefutable, and turns upon the disappointment of the hope he had 
 
 g2 
 
84 MR. Wesley's defence of lay preaching. 
 
 ever cherished, that the parochial clergy would take the charge of 
 those who in different places had been turned to God by his ministry 
 and that of his fellow-labourers : — 
 
 ** * It pleased God,' says Mr. Wesley, ' by two or three ministers of 
 the Church of England to call many sinners to repentance, who, in 
 several parts, were undeniably turned from a course of sin to a course 
 of holiness. 
 
 " * The ministers of the places where this was done, ought to have 
 received those ministers with open arms, and to have taken those 
 persons who had just begun to serve God into their particular care ; 
 watching over them in tender love, lest they should fall back into the 
 snare of the devil. 
 
 " 'Instead of this, the gi'eater part spoke of those ministers as if the 
 devil, not God, had sent them. Some repelled them from the Lord's 
 table ; others stirred up the people against them, representing them, 
 even in their public discourses, as fellows not fit to live ; Papists, 
 heretics, traitors, conspirators against their king and country. 
 
 *' 'And how did they watch over the sinners lately reformed? Even 
 as a leopard watcheth over his prey. They drove some of them from 
 the Lord's table, to which till now they had no desire to approach. 
 They preached all manner of evil concerning them, openly cm-sing 
 them in the name of the Lord. They turned many out of their work, 
 persuaded others to do so too, and harassed them in all maimer of 
 ways. 
 
 " ' The event was, that some were wearied out, and so turned back to 
 the vomit again ; and then these good pastors gloried over them, and 
 endeavoured to shake others by their example. 
 
 " ' When the ministers by whom God had helped them before came 
 again to those places, great part of their work was to begin again, if it 
 could be begun again ; but the relapsers were often so hardened in sin 
 that no impression could be made upon them. 
 
 " * What could they do in a case of so extreme necessity, where so 
 many souls lay at stake ? 
 
 " ' No clergyman would assist at all. The expedient that remained 
 was, to find some one among themselves who was upright of heart, and 
 of sound judgment, in the things of God; and to desire him to meet 
 the rest as often as he could, in order to confirm them, as he was able, 
 in the ways of God, either by reading to them, or by prayer, or by 
 exhortation.' 
 
 " This statement," adds the biographer, " may be considered as 
 affording the key to all that, with respect to church order, may be 
 called irregularity in Mr. Wesley's future proceedings. God had given 
 him large fruits of his ministry, in various places. When he was 
 absent from them, the people were as sheep having no shepherd ; or 
 
SPREAD OF METHODISM. §5 
 
 were rather pei*secuted by their native pastors, the clergy ; and he wa« 
 reduced, therefore, to the necessity of leaving them without religious 
 care, or of providing it for them. He wisely chose the latter ; but, 
 true to his own principles, and even prejudices, he carried this no 
 further than the necessity of the case. The hours of service were in 
 no instance to interfere with those of the Establishment, and at the 
 parish church the members were exhorted to communicate. Thus a 
 religious society was i*aised up within the National Church ; and with 
 this anomaly, that, as to all its interior arrangements, as a society, it 
 was independent of its ecclesiastical authority. The irregularity was, 
 in principle, as gi-eat when the first step was taken as at any future 
 time. It was a form of practical and partial sepai-ation, though not of 
 theoretical dissent ; but it arose out of a moral necessity, and existed 
 for some yeai's in such a state, that, had the clergy been disposed to 
 co-operate in this evident revival and spread of true religion ; and had 
 the heads of the Church been willing to sanction itinerant labours 
 among its ministers, and private religious meetings among the serious 
 part of the people, for mutual edification, the great body of Methodists 
 might have been retained in strict communion with the Church of 
 England." 
 
 Mr. Wesley, at this eventful period of his history, found 
 himself suiTounded by circumstances which, in extent, he 
 could scarcely have contemplated ; and for which he possessed 
 not the requisite materials for making what, in his judgment, 
 appeared to be an adequate provision. A new and powerful 
 impetus had been applied to the public mind. Large masses 
 in London, Bristol, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and other 
 densely-populated districts, had been brought under the 
 ministry of the Gospel, awakened to a sense of their guilt 
 and danger, and in every direction were uttering the plaintive 
 wail — " What must we do to be saved ? " The crisis was 
 momentous. It was a pivot around which the destinies of 
 futurity whirled in fearful revolution. It was not an occasion 
 that allowed time to be wasted in calcidating contingencies, — 
 in adjusting the balances of probability, — in determining 
 questions of ecclesiastical policy, — in discussing the litei-ajry 
 and moral components of ministerial qualification. Eternity 
 
86 SPREAD OF METHODISM. 
 
 rested on a point, and the present and final salvation of mul- 
 titudes hung on the issue of the moment. Had clerical aid 
 been available, Mr. Wesley would, beyond all question, have 
 brought it to bear on the exigence, and then the idea 
 of emplopng Lay Agency would, in all probability, never have 
 entered into his mind. But the means to be employed, 
 irregular though they were, had been suggested by the diflEi- 
 culties with which he was surrounded ; and he adopted the 
 best means then at hand, and left the result with God. Let 
 the event decide the wisdom of his choice. 
 
 To a reflecting mind, uninfluenced by party prejudice, it is 
 pleasing to trace the small beginnings, the gradual advances^ 
 and the crowning success of Methodism during the first half- 
 century of its existence. Few public events in our domestic 
 history have furnished materials more pregnant with varied 
 instruction, or have presented a national episode more fruitful 
 in varied incidents, than the rise of Methodism, viewed in 
 connection with its amazing spread prior to the death of its 
 celebrated founder, John Wesley. And it can scarcely be 
 denied that much of its success is to be ascribed, instrumen- 
 tally, to the employment of Lay (itinerant and local) Preachers 
 in carrying out the working plans which were gradually and 
 cautiously adopted by that extraordinary man, as measures 
 of expediency rather than of immediate conviction, arising 
 out of exigencies which, as they could not have been contem- 
 plated by ordinary foresight, were necessarily placed beyond 
 the reach of ordinary means and provisions. 
 
 In the employment of a Local Ministry as one of the 
 administrative elements of its constitution, Methodism stands 
 out in marked distinction from every other branch of Non- 
 conformity. It is not denied that a large amount of Lay 
 Agency is employed by other religious denominations in 
 
MR. Wesley's talents. 87 
 
 carrying out cei-taiu parts of their respective syatems ; but 
 the agency they employ is rather collateral than direct in 
 its relation to the Local Ministry which forms so important 
 an ingi'edient in the economy of Methodism. 
 
 That Mr. Wesley had imbibed liis ultra notions of clerical 
 supremacy and other liigh-church dogmas, whilst under the 
 fostering care of liis alma mater, there can be little doubt ; 
 but that he gradually relaxed his hold on human traditions, 
 however venerable by age or sanctioned by authority, in pro- 
 portion as his capacious and penetrating mind received clearer 
 and more extensive views of the spiritual nature and com- 
 prehensive designs of Christianity, is equally evident and 
 convincing. He was no common man. He was endowed 
 with gifts which have been imparted to few of the human 
 race. His intellectual qualities were of the highest order. 
 His gi'asp of thought was not to be measured by ordinary 
 standards. His acquirements as a scholar were rich, varied, 
 and profound. His knowledge as a theologian was acute, 
 correct, and extensive. As a writer he was vivid, terse, and 
 nervous ; and his style of composition was clear, sententious, 
 and convincing. He usually saw things through an atmo- 
 sphere of light powerful but diaphanous. Whenever a sub- 
 ject came before him requiring the close exercise of his 
 thinking powers, his keen penetration at once '^ shut out the 
 side lights and seized u])on its strong points." In preaching, 
 his maimer was calm, sedate, and dignified. His voice, though 
 not powerful, was clear ; and the solemnity of his manner 
 invariably rivetted attention. He had no puerilities ; no 
 sudden flights of eloquence ; no oratorical display ; no 
 fanciful embellishments. His pulpit discourses were chaste, 
 and sometimes elegant ; but their great charm was their 
 simplicity of diction and earnestness of appeal. In his hands, 
 
8S CHARACTER OF THE EARLY PREACHERS. 
 
 abstract truths became living and practical principles, and 
 
 his great aim through life was 
 
 " To teach, convince, correct, reprove, 
 And build men up in holiest love." 
 
 He was conscious of that within him, which gave vigour 
 to thought and energy to action ; and, though the human 
 mind at that period of our history was thickly veiled by 
 darkness and awfully debased by superstition, he fear- 
 lessly and resolutely grappled with the difficulties of the age, 
 and lived, like Luther, the great archetype of Reformers, to 
 see the day-star of a brighter dispensation rise with Divine 
 effulgence above the moral horizon. 
 
 Mr, Wesley, on resigning his Fellowship at Oxford for a 
 more important and extensive field of labour, struck out a 
 new path, wliich enabled liim to bring the light and influ- 
 ence of the Gospel to bear with telling effect on the gloom 
 and insensibility which almost universally prevailed. The 
 clergy, at that time, with very few exceptions, had settled on 
 their lees, and many had adopted the sports of the field as a 
 succedaiieum for the discharge of ministerial and pastoral 
 duties. The services of the churches were generally cold, 
 formal, and inappropriate to the state and necessities of the 
 population around them. Pulpit harangues, for the most 
 part, consisted of senseless diatribes, dry sentimentalisms, 
 and scraps of ethics from Pagan moralists, interlarded 
 with extracts from the early Fathers. Although occasional 
 scintillations of heavenly light " shot athwart the gloom 
 profound," yet, as they had to pass through the medium of a 
 speculative and perverted theology, they only appeared and 
 disappeared to make the darkness more palpable than before. 
 
 The men whom Mr. Wesley selected as his Itinerant and 
 Local coadjutors during the first years of his arduous and 
 
MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 89 
 
 difficult enterprise, were not taken from the schools of learn- 
 ing and science ; still less were they distinguished by worldly 
 rank or worldly greatness. Though they were unlearned, 
 in the scholastic acceptation of that terra, yet were they men 
 of purity, whom no insults could provoke ; of zeal, which no 
 labours coidd extinguish ; of energy, which no difficulties 
 could repress ; of courage, which no dangers could intimidate ; 
 and of ])erseverance, which no obstacles could retard or turn 
 aside. They were men who avoided no amount of labour, and 
 shunned no extreme of peril, but who rushed to the onslaught, 
 however pregnant with danger, "not counting their lives dear 
 unto them, so that they might finish their coui-se with joy, 
 and the ministry they had received of the Lord Jesus, to 
 testify the gospel of the gi-ace of God." That man is little 
 to be envied, who can read the lives of such men as John 
 Nelson, and the other burning and shining lights, without 
 catching some portion of the effluent inspiration by which 
 they were actuated in their work of faith and laboiu' 
 of love.* 
 
 We are well aware that a correct knowledge of the higher 
 branches of scholastic learning has frequently been paraded 
 forth by a certain class of theoretic divines, as the chief 
 qualification for the efficient discharge of ministerial func- 
 tions ; and, consequently, that every person not having 
 
 * Nothing is more remarkable than the amazing spread and eventual 
 establishment of Christianity in the Apostolic age, especially when we con- 
 sider the nature and quality of the instrumentality employed. Twelve 
 fishermen of Galilee, without the acquirements of human ei'udition, the 
 influence of worldly station, the possession of pecuniary resources, or other 
 adventitious aids, — friendless, powerless, penniless, — erected the standard 
 of the Cross in the very heart of Satan's dominions. Hosts of opposition 
 gave way before them ; and all the wealth and wisdom, the pride and 
 prejudice, the power and pohcy of Jews, Greeks, or Komans, could not 
 resist its tiiumphal advances. 
 
90 MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS 
 
 obtained the usual literary distinctions confeiTed by the 
 Senatus A cctdemiciis, is totally ineligible for the office of the 
 sacred ministry. Without wishing to disparage, in the slightest 
 degree, the acquisitions of human science in any of its depart- 
 ments, we have yet to learn where lies the necessary con- 
 nection between Latin, Greek, mathematics, and Salva- 
 tion. It may be contended, that the Apostles who were 
 assembled at Jerusalem, in solemn convention, on the 
 memorable day of Pentecost, were miraculously endowed 
 with a correct knowledge of most of the languages and 
 dialects then known ; and that the Parthians, Medes, 
 Elamites, and others, who were present during the celebra- 
 tion of that great national festival, heard in their " own 
 tongues the wonderful works of God." But who does not 
 see that the "gift of tongues," on that extraordinary 
 occasion, was imparted, rather as a vernacular medium, 
 through which to convey the ministry of mercy and salva- 
 tion to such a mixed assembly, than as a mere literary 
 distinction] The most elaborate Essays on ancient ethics, 
 drawn from the classic stores of Greece and Kome, and 
 delivered with all the pomp and parade of studied elocution, 
 would do little towards converting the soul, unless accom- 
 panied by Divine influence, in its dii-ect or collateral 
 agency."* 
 
 * The first Wesleyan preachers had few of the external aids which are so 
 sedulously cultivated in the present day. They had no Theological Insti- 
 tution in which to study divinity secundem arteiu, and to acquire those 
 artificial refinements which are now deemed essentially necessary to give 
 efiFect to pulpit ministrations. They were little skilled in dialectical theo- 
 logy ; but they were men of prayer, and, therefore, men of power. Their 
 constant emplojonent was to break up the fallow ground, throw in the seed 
 broadcast, and carry on the work, through its successive stages, according 
 to the rules of Apostolic husbandry. No doubt, as a mere abstract question, 
 much might be urged in favour of educational refinement, even in its appli- 
 
OF LOCAL PREACHERS. 91 
 
 What, if it be contended, that the Apostle to tlie Gentiles 
 was a man of extensive and varied eiiiditioii ! Did he 
 employ his learning in furtherance of his primaiy objects as 
 a Gospel Minister, or as an element for the acquirement of 
 either political power, or personal popularity ? Quite the 
 reverse. His preaching, he has told us, was " not with 
 wisdom of words," nor "excellency of speech," but "in 
 demonstration of the Spirit." But why did he not display 
 his divei'sified learning before the litei'ury magnates of 
 Corinth, which had acquired, as its distinctive cognomen, 
 totius G-rcecice lumen ? He has given a powerful and com- 
 manding reason, " that their faith slwvld not stand in the 
 loisdom of man, hut in the powei' of God /" Every minister 
 of the Gospel, whose simple aim is the exaltation of the 
 Saviour, and the salvation of the sinner, should take the first 
 epistle to the Coiinthians as a vade mecv/m, and discharge his 
 pulpit duties in conformity with the Apostle's recommenda- 
 tions and practice. 
 
 Eighteen hundi'ed years have passed away since Chiis- 
 tianity was introduced by tentmakers and fishermen j and 
 with all the refinements of the age at which we have 
 arrived, that preaching is the most useful which stands less 
 in the words that man's wisdom teacheth, than in the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Without instituting comparisons between the Methodist 
 Local Ministry, and the Lay Agency employed by other 
 denominational sections of the Christian Church, the author 
 conceives that he should not expose himself to the charge of 
 presumption, were he to claim for it, as a collective body, a 
 
 cation to the Christian ministry ; but, looking at it in its practical bearings 
 tipon Methodism, there is some ground for the fear that its results on 
 the Connexional prosperity have to be calculated in an inverse ratio. 
 
92 QUALIFICATIONS OF LOCAL PREACHERS. 
 
 distinguished place in the just estimation of the Non- 
 conforming portion of the British community. That the 
 members of this large body contribute the greatest amount 
 of motive power to the complicated machine which hebdo- 
 madally exerts its mighty energies for the moral welfare of 
 the people of this country, is a fact, which, it is presumed, 
 will scarcely be denied. The author readily admits that 
 many of the Methodist Local Preachers are as little dis- 
 tinguished by social rank, or scholastic erudition, as the 
 herdman of Tekoa ;* yet, like that faithful and uncompro- 
 mising reprover of the crying iniquities of the masses around 
 him, they every Sabbath-day distribute themselves over the 
 face of the land, and proclaim as they go, " Prepare to meet 
 thy God ! " But, if it be admitted, that a large portion of the 
 lay fraternity of the Methodist ministry move within the 
 circle of an undistingviished sphere, the fact must not be 
 concealed, that a considerable number traverse the plane of 
 a higher orbit. Passing over mere social distinctions, the 
 author contends, that the Local Ministry of the Methodist 
 Society " combines in its vital constitution, and generates in 
 its moral influence, ' Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
 peace, good-will towards men.' " Among the fifteen thousand 
 Local Preachers who constitute the Lay branch of the Methodist 
 ministry are found men of superior intellectual stamen ; of 
 highly cultivated talent ; of extensive erudition ; and it may 
 generally be said of the large majority, whose mental capabilities 
 and literary acquirements are measured by a lower standard, 
 that they possess strong natural genius, sound common sense, 
 
 * It is said that after Owen had gratified a strong desire to hear Bunyan 
 preach, King Charles II. ridiculed him for going to hear a tinker prate. 
 "Please your Majesty," said Owen, "could I possess that tinker's abilities 
 for preaching, I would most gladly relinquish all my learning." 
 
bunyan's preaching. 93 
 
 active zeal, fervent piety, indomitable energy, all directed 
 by a paramount aim to advance the intermediate interests 
 and the crowning felicities of their fellow-men.* 
 
 * " Southey," says Cheever, in his " Lectures on the Life and Times of 
 Bunyan," "has observed, apparently by way of excuse for the arrest of 
 Banyan by the Establishment, that his office of preaching might well be 
 deemed incompatible with his calling. Perhaps the poet and historian had 
 forgotten, or might never have had his attention directed to a passage which 
 he might have found in the Acts of the Apostles, descriptive of the early 
 teachers and preachers of Christianity : ' And because he was of the same 
 craft, he abode with them and wrought ; for by their occupation they were 
 tent- makers.' John Bunyan had no more need to be ashamed of his 
 temporal than of his spiritual calling ; nor was there any such inconsistency 
 between the two as could fonn the most distant shadow of justification to 
 a persecuting hierarchy for forbidding him to speak in the name of Christ 
 to the people. Indeed, had the Tinker of Bedford been pursuing his humble 
 occupation when Matthew, Peter, and John were upon earth, Lis was a cha- 
 racter of such native elements, that he might have been chosen as one of their 
 associates in the work of the primitive Gospel ministry. Our Saviour com- 
 mitted the Gospel to unlearned, but not to ignorant, men ; and Bunyan, 
 though illiterate, was not ignorant : no man is so who believes with the 
 heart in Him who is the Hght of the world — beholds spiritual realities, and 
 acts with reference to them." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CI.ERICAL OPPOSITION TO LAY PREACHING — MR. WESLET'S LETTER IN 
 DEFENCE TO ARCHDEACON PLUERY— INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM INTO 
 AMERICA — SPIRIT OF THE EARLY PREACHERS— ALTERED STATE OF THINGS 
 —ANECDOTE OF THOMAS AQUINAS— DISCUSSION OF IMPORTANT POINTS AT 
 THE CONFERENCE OF 1763 — MR. WESLEY'S TWELVE RULES OF A HELPER. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1748, the question of Lay 
 Preaching was much agitated throughout the country, and 
 various objections were loudly urged against the lawfulness 
 and expediency of admitting laymen to exercise the func- 
 tions of the ministry. Mr. Wesley was aware of the 
 state of public feeling on the subject, but waited until a 
 fitting opportunity arrived, in which he might fairly grapple 
 with the objection and show its futility and weakness. That 
 opportunity soon presented itself. Whilst Mr. Wesley was on 
 his second tour through Ireland, he was personally addressed 
 by Archdeacon Fluery, to whom he sent the following letter, 
 which, as it was subsequently published, appears to have set 
 
 the matter at rest : — 
 
 " Tullamore, May 4, 1748. 
 
 *' Rev. Sir, — I have at present neither leisure nor inclination to enter 
 into a formal controversy ; but you will give me leave just to offer a few 
 loose hints relating to the subject of last night's conversation. 
 
 "I. 1. Seeing life and health are things of so great importance, it is, with- 
 out question, highly expedient that physicians should have all possible ad- 
 vantages of learning and education. 
 
 "2, That trial should be made of them by competent judges, before they 
 practise publicly. 
 
 " 3. That, after such trial, they be authorised to practise by those who 
 are empowered to convey that authority. 
 
 " 4. And that, while they are preserving the lives of others, they should 
 have what is sufficient to sustain their own. 
 
MR. Wesley's letter to fleurv. 95 
 
 " 5. But, siipposin.o- a gentleman bi-ed at the University of Lxthlin, with 
 all the a<lvantaf;es of education ; after he has undergone all the usual trials, 
 and then been regularly authorised to practise : 
 
 " 6. Suppose, I say, this physician settles at , for some years, and 
 
 yet makes no cures at all ; but, after trying: his skill on five hvmdred per- 
 sons, cannot show that he has healed one, many of his patients dying under 
 his hands, and the rest remaining just as they were before he came. 
 
 " 7. Will you condemn a man, who, having some httle skill in phy.sic, 
 and a tender compassion for those who are sick or dying all around him, 
 cures many of those, without fee or reward, whom the doctor could not 
 cure ? 
 
 ''8. At least did not (which is the same thing as the case m hand), were 
 it only for this reason, because he did not go to them, and they would not 
 come to him. 
 
 ''9. Will you condemn him, because he has not learning? or has not 
 had an University education ? What then ? He cures those whom the 
 man of learning and education cannot cure. 
 
 '•' 10. Will you object, that he is no physician, nor has any authority to 
 practise ? I cannot come into your opinion. I think he is a physician who 
 heals — Medicus est qui non medetiir — and that every man has authority to 
 save the life of a dying man. But if you only mean he has no authority to 
 take fees, 1 contend not ; for he takes none at all. 
 
 " 11. Nay, and I am afraid it will hold, on the other hand, Medicus non 
 est qui non rnedetur. I am afraid, if we use propriety of speech, he is no 
 physician who works no cure. 
 
 "12. ' Oh I but he has taken his degree of Doctor of Physic, and therefore 
 has authority.' Authority to do what ? ' Why to heal all the sick that 
 will employ him.' But (to waive the case of those who will not employ him, 
 and would you have even their Hves thrown away ?) he does not heal those 
 that do employ him. He that was sick before, is sick still ; or else he is 
 gone hence, and is no more seen. Therefore his authority is not worth a 
 rush ; for it serves not the end for which it was given. 
 
 " 13. And surely he has no authority to kill them, by hindering another 
 fi-om saving their lives ! 
 
 "14. If he either attempts or desires to hinder him, if he condemns or 
 dishkes him for it, it is plain to all thinking men, he regards his own fees 
 more than the lives of his patients. 
 
 "II. 1. Now to apply. Seeing life everlasting, and holiness, or health 
 of soul, are things of so great importance, it is highly expedient that minis- 
 ters, being physicians of the soul, should have all the advantages of educa- 
 tion and learning. 
 
 " 2. That full trial should be made of them, in all respects, and that by 
 the most competent judges, before they enter on the public exercise of their 
 office, the saving souls from death. 
 
 " 3. That after such trial, they be authorised to exercise that office, by 
 those who are empowered to convey that authority. (I believe bishops are 
 empowered to do this, and have been so fix>m the Apostolic age.) 
 
96 MR. Wesley's letter to fleury. 
 
 " 4. And that those whose souls they save, ought in the meantime to pro- 
 vide them what is needful for the body. 
 
 " 5. But suppose a gentleman bred at the university of Dublin, with all 
 the advantages of education ; after he has undergone the usual trials, and 
 been regularly authorised to save souls from death : 
 
 " 6. Suppose I say this minister settles at for some years, and yet 
 
 saves no souls at all, saves no sinners from their sins ; but after he has 
 preached all this time to five or six hundred persons, cannot show that he 
 has converted one from the error of his ways ; many of his parishioners 
 dying as they lived, and the rest remaining just as they were before he 
 came. 
 
 " 7. Will you condemn a man who, having compassion on dying souls, 
 and some knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, without any temporal reward, 
 saves many from their sins whom the minister could not save ? 
 
 "8. At least did not, nor ever was likely to do it, for he did not go to 
 them, and they would not come to him. 
 
 "9. Will you condemn such a preacher because he has not learning ? or 
 has not had an University education ? What then ? He saves those sin- 
 ners from their sins whom the man of learning and education cannot save. 
 
 ** 10. Will you object, 'But he is no minister, nor has any authority to 
 save souls V I must beg leave to dissent from you in this. I think he is a 
 true evangelical minister, diakonos, servant of Christ and his church, who 
 atos diakonos, so ministers as to save souls from death, to reclaim sinners 
 from their sins ; and that every Christian, if he is able to do it, has autho- 
 rity to save a dying soul. But if you only mean he has no authority to take 
 fees, I grant it. He takes none. As he has freely received, so he freely gives. 
 
 "11. But to carry the matter a little further. I am afraid it will hold, 
 on the other hand, with regard to the soul as well as to the body, Medicus 
 non est qui non medetur. I am afraid reasonable men will be much inclined 
 to think he that saves no souls is no minister of Christ, 
 
 ** 12. Oh ! but he is ordained, and therefore has authority. Authority to 
 do what '? To save all the souls that will put themselves under his care< 
 True ; but (to waive the case of them that will not ; and would you desire 
 that even those should perish ?) he does not, in fact, save them that are 
 under his care. Therefore, what end does his authority serve ? He that 
 was a drunkard, is a drunkard still. The same is true of the Sabbath- 
 breaker, the thief, the common swearer. This is the best of the case ; for 
 many have died in their iniquity, and their blood will God require at the 
 watchman's hand. 
 
 " 13. For surely he has no authority to murder souls, either by his neglect, 
 by his smooth, if not false, doctrine, or by hindering another from plucking 
 them out of the fire, and bringing them to life everlasting. 
 
 " 14. If he either attempts or desires to hinder him ; if he condemns or 
 is displeased with him for it, how great reason is there to fear that he re- 
 gards his own profit more than the salvation of souls ! 
 
 " I am, Rev. Sir, your affectionate brother, 
 
 <'JoHN Wesley." 
 
INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM TO AMERICA. 07 
 
 From the " Minutes of the American Methodist Confer- 
 ence," held in 1780, it appears that, twenty years prior to 
 that time, Methodism had been introduced into New York 
 and Maryland, by two emigrant Local Preachers from Ireland. 
 The information is given in the following words : — 
 
 *' During the space of thirty years past, i. e., from the year 1756, 
 certain persons, members of the societies, emigrated from England and 
 Ireland, and settled in various pai-ts of this country. About twenty 
 years ago (1766), Philip Embury, a local preacher from Ireland, began 
 to preach in the city of New York, and formed the first society of his 
 own countrymen and the citizens. About the same time Robert Straw- 
 bridge, a local preacher from Ireland, settled in Fredei'ic County, in the 
 state of Maryland, and, preaching there, formed some societies. A 
 little after, Thomas Webb, Esq.,* at that time a Lieutenant in the 48th 
 Regiment of Foot, preached at New York and Philadelphia with great 
 success. He, with the assistance of his friends, erected a chapel in New 
 York, in the year 1768, which was the first belonging to the Methodist 
 Society in America." 
 
 Such were the men who, in the stormy days of our Con- 
 nexional infancy, stood the brunt of the battle, when heaven 
 and hell were contending for victory ; — a victory which was to 
 decide the momentous question, whether the sinner should 
 be happy or miserable for ever — the slave of Satan, or the 
 freed-man of Christ. The adverse legions mustered all their 
 forces, and laid under contribution all their munitions of war, 
 to crush the infant cause ; which, notwithstanding the deter- 
 mined opposition it had to encounter, gathered strength in 
 every successive conflict. Power, leagued with power, 
 
 " Stood forth in phalanx strong ;" 
 whilst the clashing of arms, the booming of cannon, and the 
 furious yells of the confederate combatants, gave token of the 
 demon-like spirit by which they were actuated. 
 
 * Lieutenant Webb resigned his military commission, and became a tra- 
 velling preacher, and died in the work m 1796. He was usually called 
 Captain Webb. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 SPIRIT OP THE EARLY PREACHERS. 
 
 Nevor were men more fitted for a great moral enterpnse 
 than those who enrolled themselves as watchmen in the eai'ly 
 ranks of Methodism. The first preachers, who, in fact, con- 
 stituted the forlorn hope, were well aware that the breach in 
 the enemy's escarpe must be achieved by conflict and struggle. 
 Like the Reformation, Methodism was to grow up amid 
 convulsions and storms ; to triumph over opposition, not by 
 its own energies, but by the irresistible power of Divine Truth. 
 Its champions and chiefs were moved by a principle at once 
 invincible and diffusive ; unfettered by the narrow restric- 
 tions of human policy, or unintimidated by the combinations 
 of human power. Infidelity and other forms of irreligion 
 were struggling, not only for ascendancy, but for perpetuity, 
 and were only to be effectually broken down by the applica- 
 tion of moral power. The deathless interests of a nation 
 were at stake, and it was necessary to defend and protect 
 them with zeal and enthusiasm. To John Nelson and his 
 indomitable associates, were communicated moral light, 
 and energy, and influence, suited to the difficulty of the 
 enterprise on which they had set out. Having themselves 
 struggled out of the " bondage of corruption into the 
 liberty of the sons ofGod," they came to the work unshackled 
 by technical prejudices and unwarped by party opinions ; 
 with minds richly imbued with the simple truth as it is in 
 Jesus ; and with lives remodelled by the transforming power 
 of the Holy Ghost. They took their stand on the broad 
 principles of Christianity, and exhibited the Saviour, not as 
 set forth in creeds or human systems, but as living and mov- 
 ing in the spirit of his Word. Like the Baptist, they raised the 
 voice of denunciation against sin, irrespective of the rank of 
 the sinner ; and their thunders fell like death-strokes in every 
 direction. The Gospel, and the Gospel only, was their 
 
ALTERED STATE OF THINGS. 99 
 
 standard of faith, of practice, and of appeal. It must be con- 
 fessed that their work was arduous and difficult. They liad 
 to eradicate long-cherished corniptions which had spread 
 their cancerous fangs through the entire moral frame ; to assail 
 and reprobate vices which had been sanctioned by ages and 
 tolerated by universal custom. And all this at the expense 
 of their social reputation, at the hazard of their personal 
 liberty, and sometimes at the peril of their lives. These 
 labours, privations, and sufferings were only to be endured 
 by men who constantly drew their support from God ; and 
 only to be compensated by the delightful results which their 
 ministry yielded to themselves and others. 
 
 Time, however, has greatly altered the aspects of things. 
 The numerous and varied innovations which the progress of 
 refinement has introduced, have given an entirely new phase 
 to society, — have genei*ated a morbid feeling and a feverish 
 appetite, which are the melancholy but certain indications of 
 moral deterioration. The preachers, in the early days of our 
 Connexional history, sought the nearest way to men's hearts 
 and consciences ; and, by plain and pointed exhibitions of 
 Divine Truth, generally succeeded in producing conviction. 
 Modern sermons are more adorned, and are strongly tinctured 
 with a soporiferous quality, which, as it opiates the con- 
 science, leaves the heart cold and torpid and unaffected. 
 The fact is, many of the passive elements of life are artificial ; 
 the medium through which objects are seen is deceptive, 
 frequently magnifying what should be minified ; and hence 
 the anomalies which mar and deform the best features of our 
 moral and social economy. In the present day, nothing is 
 more common than for members of our societies and congre- 
 gations, where any claim or pretension to education is set 
 up, to form their estimate of ministerial qualities by mere 
 
 h2 
 
100 ALTERED STATE OF THINGS. 
 
 external circumstances, which neither fully nor fairly warrant 
 their conclusions. They listen to the eloquent appeals and 
 splendid imagery of popular divines with astonishment and 
 admiration ; but they coldly repudiate the simple, pious, 
 unassuming local preacher, who, without noise or show, 
 endeavours to fix in the human mind principles which are to 
 decide the eventful destinies of futurity ; and then, in the 
 pleading power of earnest prayer, invokes that influence 
 without which " nothing is wise, or strong, or holy," to give 
 to those principles a right direction, and lead their exercise 
 to a saving issue. 
 
 Primitive Methodism is little known in the present day, 
 except as a matter of historical record. It is true that many 
 of its original forms are retained ; but its substance has been 
 materially altered. The change which it has undergone 
 resembles, in some respects, that which is described by 
 ecclesiastical writers as having taken place in the time of 
 Constantino ; when the church, which for centuries had been 
 struggling with poverty and persecution, suddenly found itself 
 raised to the summit of worldly gi-eatness. Its treasures were 
 drawn from the imperial exchequer, and its name stood 
 identified with eveiything that was honourable and dignified 
 in human estimation. But, if we may credit the religious 
 historians of former days, the earthly pomp and glory of the 
 church ministered little to its spiritual growth or advantage. 
 Anthony Horneck, a shrewd and pious theologian, has 
 observed, that, before the time of Constantine, the church had 
 wooden chalices and golden priests ; but, afterwards, it had 
 golden chalices and wooden priests.* 
 
 * It is related of the celebrated Thomas Aquinas, that on one of his visits to 
 the Pope, he found that dignitary contemplating vast stores of wealth which 
 had recently been poured into the Pontifical treasury. " Holy father, " said the 
 
DISCUSSION OF IMPORTANT POINTS. 101 
 
 The Itinerancy of Methodism has retained few of its origi- 
 nal features. Both the warp and the woof are greatly 
 changed. The useful has, to a considerable extent, been 
 superseded by the onuimental, — to keep pace, it is said, with 
 the so-called march of social and intellectual improvement. 
 Between the former and the latter preachers there is this 
 difference : in the former, the preacher was sought by his 
 office ; in the latter, the office is sought by the preacher. 
 This, though the rule, has many honourable exceptions. In 
 Mr. Wesley's day a preacher's office was no sinecure. He 
 had to preach or expound every tnoi-ning and evening, and 
 frequently four times on the Sabbath-day. He was con- 
 tinuously travelling from place to place. The " round," as 
 it was then called, sometimes extended over several modem 
 circuits. In addition to which, the preachers had to visit 
 the bands, the select societies, and the penitents, and also 
 to direct or superintend all the working machineiy at every 
 place where they came. 
 
 At the twentieth Conference, held in London in 1763, 
 several important points were discussed which had more 
 immediate reference to the ministers of God's Word. After 
 describing the office and duties of a " Helper," now denomi- 
 nated Superintendent, the "Minutes" of that Conference 
 proceed as follow : — 
 
 " Q. How shall we tiy those who think they are moved by the Holy 
 Ghost and called of God to preach ? 
 
 " A. Inqviire, 1. Do they know God as a pardoning God ? Have they 
 the love of God abiding in them ? Do they desire and seek nothing but 
 God ] And are they holy in all manner of conversation ] 2. Have they 
 
 Pope to his pious and distinguished visitor, " the chvirch cannot now say, as did 
 our Apostolic founder to the lame man at the beautiful gate of the temple, 
 who solicited alms, ' Silver and gold have I none.'" " No," replied the 
 holy father ; " neither can it say, as did that illustrious Apostle, ' In the 
 name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk ! ' " 
 
102 "TWELVE RULES OF A HELPER. 
 
 gifts as well as grace for the work ? Have they, in some tolerable 
 degree, a clear, sound understanding ? Have they a right judgment in 
 the things of God ] Have they a just conception of salvation by faith ? 
 And has God given them utterance ? Do they speak justly, readily, 
 clearly ? 3. Have they fruit] Are any truly convinced of sin and 
 converted to God by their preaching 1 As long as these three mai'ks 
 concur in any one, we believe he is called of God to preach. These we 
 receive as a sufficient proof that he is moved thereto by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " Q. But how shall we know whether they concur or no in any par- 
 ticular person ? 
 
 "A. 1. If he is near us, we will talk with him on the preceding 
 heads, and then hear him preach. 2. We will desire him to write down 
 or relate his reasons why he thinks he is called of God thereto. 3. We 
 will examine those who seem to have been convinced of sin or converted 
 to God by his preaching. 4. If he is at a distance, we will desire the 
 assistant (helper) to do this, and to inquire what is the judgment of the 
 society in that place concerning him." 
 
 The following are the " Twelve Rules of a Helper," which 
 
 were then agi-eed upon : — 
 
 "1. Be diligent. Never be unemployed a moment. Never be 
 triflingly employed. Never while away time ; neither spend any more 
 time at any place than is strictly necessary. 2. Be serious. Let your 
 motto be, Holiness to the Lord. Avoid all lightness, jesting, and foolish 
 talking. 3. Converse sparingly and cautiously with women, particularly 
 with young women. 4. Take no step towards marriage without first 
 consulting with your brethren. 5. Believe evil of no one ; unless you 
 see it done, take heed how you credit it. Put the best construction 
 upon ever}i;hing ; you know the judge is always supposed to be on the 
 prisoner's side. 6. Speak evil of no one, else your word especially would 
 eat as doth a canker. Keep your thoughts within your own breast 
 till you come to the person concerned. 7. Tell every one what you 
 think wrong in him, and that plainly, as may be, else it will fester 
 in your heart. Make all haste to cast the fire out of your bosom. 8. Do 
 not aflfect the gentleman. You have no more to do with this character 
 than with that of a dancing- master. A preacher of the Gospel is the 
 servant of all. 9. Be ashamed of nothing but sin ; not of fetching wood 
 (if time permit) or drawing water ; not of cleaning yom- own shoes or 
 your neighbour's. 10. Be punctual. Do everything exactly at the 
 time ; and, in general, do not ineiid our rules, but keep them ; not for 
 wrath, but for conscience' sake. 11. You have nothing to do but to 
 save souls ; therefore spend and be spent in this work ; and go always 
 not only to those who want you, but to thoae that want you most. 
 
"TWELVE RULES OF A HELPER." 1U3 
 
 Observe, it is not your business to preach so many times, and to take 
 care of this or that society ; hnt to save as many souls as you can ; to 
 bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and, with all 
 your powei*, to build them up in that holiness without which they 
 cannot see the Lord. And remember, a Methodist preacher is to mind 
 every point, great and small, in the Methodist discipline ; therefore, you 
 will need all the sense you have, and to have all your wits about you. 
 12. Act in all things, not according to your own will, but as a son in the 
 Gospel. As such, it is 3'our part to employ your time in the manner which 
 we direct : partly in preaching and visiting from house to house ; partly 
 in reading, meditation, and prayer. Above all, if you labour with us in 
 the Lord's ^'ineyard, it is needful that you should do that part of the 
 work which we advise, at those times and places which we judge most 
 for his glory." 
 
 At tliis time all the Travelling Preachers were called 
 
 Helpers ; i. e., helpers of Mr. Wesley ; some as Assistants in 
 
 everi/ part of his office, and others as Preacliers ; and he 
 
 considered them, with himself, as extraordinai';y messengers, 
 
 designed by the Lord to provoke others to jealousy. He 
 
 considered them as extraordinary, because, in general, they 
 
 were not educated for the office, but were mostly young men 
 
 intended for trade. They liad no thought of preaching till 
 
 they knew the Lord ; but their labours were j^^^^^erfully 
 
 owned of God in the conversion of souls. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MORAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD— ADAPTATION OF TALENT IN THE LOCAL MINIS- 
 TRY TO ITS VARIED REQUIREMENTS— ANECDOTE OF FLORID PREACHING : 
 ROBERT hall's OPINION OF IT— MISTAKES OF YOUNG PREACHERS— AFFECT- 
 ING DREAM — THE AUTHOR'S EARLY MISTAKES AS A LOCAL PREACHER — 
 LETTER BY DR. CLARKE TO THE AUTHOR ON PREACHING — THE LOCAL 
 PREACHERS UNALTERED IN PRIMITIVE CHARACTER — HOW REGARDED IN 
 SOCIAL LIFE— THEIR LABOURS AND LIABILITIES— BUNYAN AND THE BISHOP 
 OF PETERBOROUGH — THE SPREAD OF METHODISM. 
 
 In the moral government of God, we distinctly trace, through 
 all the variety of its arrangements and operations, the clear 
 and unmistakeable evidences of Divine intelligence. Every 
 act of that government forms a separate item in one great 
 unity of design, all tending to a common point of convergence ; 
 namely, the full and final salvation of man. 
 
 It is true, that the Almighty is an infinite being, — that his 
 powers and perfections, his plans and operations, his ends and 
 his means, are absolutely without limits, and, therefore, incom- 
 prehensible by man. But, still, we may form some general 
 ideas of the nature and properties of his attributes , and, by 
 analogy, may draw inferences from those ideas, as justly as 
 from others which we are accustomed to form on subjects 
 within the ordinary grasp of our apprehension. 
 
 We cannot trace the Almighty's benevolence, mercy, 
 justice, and other moral attributes, throughout the wide 
 field of their extensive operations ; but we know sufficient 
 of these attributes to enable us to form a tolerably correct 
 judgment of what agrees Avith, or what is opposed to, them. 
 The moral attributes of the Almighty^ though they are infi- 
 
MORAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 105 
 
 nite, do not essentially differ from the same attributes iu 
 man, the difference being not of essence, but of degree. 
 
 *' God nothing does, or sufiFers to be done, 
 But thou would'st do thyself, could'st thou but see 
 The end of all events, as well as He." 
 
 Now, in forming our judgment upon those acts of our 
 fellow-men which from time to time fall under our observa- 
 tion, we notice how they are exercised, what are their obvious 
 bearings, and thence draw our conclusions with reference to 
 the motives by which they are superinduced ; and, although 
 we cannot bring imder the ken of our inspection the motives 
 by which the Almighty is actuated in the various parts of his 
 procedure towards man, yet, without presumption, we may 
 occasionally draw inferences from the outbeamings of his 
 mercy, or the outpourings of his wrath, which leave us in 
 little perplexity or doubt as to the springs from whence they 
 issue. "It is a law of our nature," says a popular writer, 
 " to argue from the effect to the cause, — from the action to 
 the agent, — from the ends proposed, and the means of pur- 
 suing them, to the character and disposition of the being in 
 whom we observe them. By these processes we learn the 
 invisible mind and character of man ; and by the same pro- 
 cesses we ascend to the mind of God, whose works, effects, 
 operations, and ends, are as expressive and significant as tlie 
 best and most decisive actions of men." All the acts of God's 
 moral government, whether they relate to providence or 
 grace, bear such internal, as well as external, marks of their 
 Divine originality, as to render their objects and aims per- 
 fectly coincident with our liighest conceptions of God. 
 
 In full accordance with the principle of this reasoning, it 
 may be fairly assumed, that the appointment by the Saviour 
 of a standing Ministiy was one branch of this unity of design. 
 It is not necessary to debate the question, whether other 
 
106 ADAPTATION OF TALENT. 
 
 means might, or might not, have been appointed to accom- 
 plish the objects of the Christian Ministry. The author's de- 
 liberate conviction is, that the provisions in the economy of 
 Redemption are, in their general and particular adaptations, 
 the best, both in design and application, that could have been 
 appointed. 
 
 It will scarcely be denied by those persons who have any 
 considerable acquaintance with the character and working of 
 the Methodist Local Ministry, that it possesses adaptations 
 for the particular sphere within which it is exercised exactly 
 fitted for the duties which its fulfilment requires. The 
 social position of Local Preachers gives them many advantages 
 with the working population, which can scarcely be over- 
 estimated. It must be obvious to every one who understands 
 the common-place relations between cause and effect, that, 
 for preachers of the Gospel to render their ministrations 
 useful to the labouring classes, they should avail themselves 
 of the idioms of speech and the general modes of life which 
 prevail in their respective localities, as channels through which 
 to gain access to the understanding, and thence to the heart. 
 This is an acquirement which cannot be obtained in the 
 schools. It is that kind of knowledge which, in many cir- 
 cumstances, gives the artisan an advantage over the jjhilo- 
 sopher. As language is the ordinary medium of communica- 
 tion between man and man, it is essential to mutual under- 
 standing that the terms employed should be such as are 
 intelligible to, and comprehended by, both parties ; otherwise 
 the objects of intercourse would necessarily be defeated. A 
 lecture on chemistry, or any other branch of physical science, 
 if encumbered with technicalities, would be utterly unintelli- 
 gible to an illiterate assembly. So a preacher of the Gospel, 
 however dibtinguished by the originality and brilliance of 
 
ADAPTATION OF TALENT. 107 
 
 his conceptions ; the power and persuasion of his logical 
 skill ; the loftiness and beauty of his language ; the eloquence 
 of his style ; the splendour of his imagery, or any other ora- 
 torical decorations ', if he were to clothe his sei-mons with the 
 mere fiippery of rhetorical trappings, they would be utterly 
 lost upon a congregation whose scholastic attainments were 
 confined to the simple rudiments of education, and whose 
 knowledge of modes of speech extended little beyond the 
 dissyllabic elements of the English language.* It requires 
 little refinement of learning to show, or little depth of pene- 
 tration to discover, that pulpit discourses, to benefit the 
 uneducated masses, especially in the rural districts, must be 
 adapted, in their constructive composition, style, and diction, 
 to the mental capabilities and literary acquirements of those 
 to whom they are addressed. The adaptation of means to the 
 end, is the secret and mainspring of success in all the depart- 
 ments of life ; and the adverse results of human enterprise, 
 whatever be the specific character of the object sought, may 
 generally be traced either to a want of correspondence 
 between the means and the end, or to some capital defect in 
 the mode by which those means are applied. 
 
 * Some years a^o, one of our young local preachers, who indulged rather 
 freely in rhetorical flourishes, had to address a congregation of coUiers, 
 in one of the mining districts of North Staffordshire. After soaring for 
 some time in the regions of imagination, and scattering ai-ound him flowers 
 of elocution with much self-complacence, a colUer, whose educational ac- 
 quirements were not of a cognate order, fixed his swart glare on the youth- 
 ful Demosthenes, and having caught his eye, exclaimed, in a manner which 
 sufficiently betokened Ms disgust and mortification : — "Eh I which a bit o' 
 stuff" it is." 
 
 It is related of the celebrated Robert Hall, that havdng once heard a 
 popular preacher, who embellished his discourses with the richest garniture 
 wliich he could cull from the fields of imageiy, was asked on leaving the 
 chapel, what he thought of the sermon, when, with his usual quaintnesis, 
 he replied — " Why to be suie it was very preity, but you know a man 
 cannot feed on flowers." 
 
108 MISTAKES OF YOUNG PREACHERS. 
 
 It not unfrequently occurs that the young men who enter 
 the Local Ministry, — if they happen to possess an elastic mind, 
 a vivid imagination, an ardent temperament, and have ac- 
 quired a moderate degree of elementary education, — take a 
 wrong direction at the outset of their professional life, and 
 never afterwards recover their lost advantages. Not having 
 the benefit of well-digested and well-applied counsel during the 
 important stages of their initiatory course, they usually 
 follow the suggestions of their own untutored minds, and 
 adopt plans which enfetter the faculties of thought, and 
 place the mental economy under the pressure of mecha- 
 nical restrictions, at once destmctive of its liberty and power. 
 An overwhelming sense of their responsible ftmctions, as set 
 forth in the Gospel commission (Ezek. xxxiii., 7, et seq.), 
 associated with an idea of unfitness for their efficient and 
 saving discharge, leads them to imagine that the subjects 
 brought before their congregations, to be effective, must be 
 arranged with special regard to order and perspicuity j and 
 that the phraseology must be in accordance with the weight 
 and dignity of the subjects which it is employed to com- 
 municate to the people ; and, therefore, they write out 
 their sermons verbati7n, commit them to memory, and recite 
 them, time after time, to every class of congregation, literate 
 or illiterate, without the slightest verbal alteration. It is 
 easy to understand, that, although such a plan may develope 
 the resources of the preacher s ingenuity, and secure for him 
 the meed of popular applause,* yet, as it diverts the natural 
 current of thought from its legitimate channels, and places 
 
 * The following remarkable dream appeared some years ago in the 
 columns of the Imperial Magazine, a monthly periodical edited by the late 
 metaphysical Samuel Drew, and enriched with many articles of a first-rato 
 literary character :—^" A Gospel minister of evangelical principles, whose 
 name from the circumstances that occurred it will bq necessary to conceal. 
 
THE author's mistakes. 109 
 
 an incubus on the mind which paralyses its native energies, 
 it is, at best, but a poor compensation for the melancholy 
 wreck of what constitutes the highest natural dignity of man. 
 The author speaks feelingly on this subject. At the time 
 he received his appointment to a place on the local preachers' 
 plan, in 1817, he was the subject of considerable nervous 
 irritability. Though not by any means constitutionally 
 timid, yet the ministerial office appeared to him to be armed 
 with such solemn sanctions, to involve such terrible respon- 
 sibilities, and to require such versatility of talent for the 
 
 being much fatigued at the conclusion of the afternoon servdce, retired to 
 his apartment, in order to take a little repose. He had not long reclined 
 upon his couch before he fell asleep, and dreamed, that, on walking into 
 his garden, he entered an arbour, where he sat down, and begr.n to meditate. 
 Whilst thus employed, he thought that he heard some person enter the 
 garden, and, leaving the arbour, he hastened to the spot whence the sound 
 seemed to come, in order to discover who it was that had entered. He had 
 not proceeded far before he saw coming towards him a particular friend of 
 his, a Gospel minister, of considerable talents, and who had rendered him- 
 self extremely popular by his zealous and unwearied exertions in the cause 
 of Chiist. On approaching his friend, he was surprised to observe that 
 his countenance was covered with a gloom which it had not been accus- 
 tomed to wear, and that it strongly indicated a violent agitation of mind, 
 apparently arising from conscious remorse. After the usual salutations had 
 passed, his friend asked the relater the time of day, and was told twenty- 
 five minutes past four. On hearing it, the visitor said, " It is just one hour 
 since I died, and now I am damned!" "Damned for what?" inquired 
 the dreaming minister. " It is not," said he, "because I have not preached 
 the Gospel ; neither is it because I have not been rendered useful ; for I have 
 now many seals to my ministry, that can bear testimony to the truth as it 
 is in Jesus, as they had received it from my lips : but it is because / have 
 been accumulating to myself the applause of men, more than the honour which 
 comethfrom above, and verily I have my reward ! " Having uttered these 
 words, he hastily disappeared. The minister awaking shortly afterwards, with 
 the contents of the dream deeply engraven on his memory, and overwhelmed 
 with serious reflections, proceeded to the chapel to conduct the evening 
 service. On his way he was accosted by a friend, who inquired whether he 
 had heard of the severe loss which the church had sustained in the death of 
 
 that able minister . He replied, "No." But being much affected 
 
 by this singular intelligence, he inquired the time when his departure took 
 place ; to which his friend replied, " This afternoon, at twenty-five minute.^ 
 past three o'clock." 
 
110 LETTER OF DR. A. CLARKE. 
 
 discharge of its sacred duties, that, in a short time after he 
 had made his inaugural attempt, he requested permission to 
 retire from the important field of labour which, he had 
 some reason to fear, he had entered without due delibe- 
 ration. The superintendent, to whom he preferred his 
 request, gave him great encouragement to maintain his 
 ground ; placed in his hands Claude's Essay on the Compo- 
 sition of a Sermon, Hannam's Skeletons, and other pulpit 
 aids ; and kindly promised to render him any personal 
 assistance within his power. Under these circumstances, 
 the author was induced to revoke his decision and renew his 
 feeble attempts. Contrary, however, to his inwrought 
 convictions, he adopted, by degrees, the memoriter plan ; 
 and though it relieved him from much embarrassment in his 
 public services, yet he derived little satisfaction from its 
 adoption, and still less from its continuance. On calm con- 
 sideration, he conceived that it contravened the principles 
 and purposes ol the Gospel ministry ; first, by restricting 
 the free exercise of the powers of the mind ; secondly, by 
 checking the operations and resisting the influences of tlie 
 Holy Spirit ; and, thirdly, by closing the ears of a preacher 
 against the sudden calls of duty, whatever the emergence, 
 unless supplied with a sermon, prepared according to the 
 " specific rules of the art." Feeling these convictions gather- 
 ing thickly around him, and being about to remove to a 
 scene of labour requiring him to preach two or three times 
 a week to the same congregation, he wrote to Dr. Adam 
 Clarke on the subject, and received from the doctor the fol- 
 lowing reply : — 
 
 " Pinner, Middlesex, July 7, 1827. 
 
 *' Dear Sir, — ^In general reference to the subject of your letter, I may 
 
 say that the Christian ministry, from its nature, must be so frequently and 
 
 variously exercised as to render it impracticable to write, commit to memory, 
 
 and recite all the public discourses which its fulfilment requires. This case 
 
THE LOCAL PREACHERS UNALTERED. Ill 
 
 is so clear, that I think controversy would be lost on it. What I think has 
 spoiled many of our promising yomig men, is the reading of the sermons of 
 others in reference to copying the manner and imitating the phraseology 
 of those emdito preachers ; they have, in consequence, become slaves to a 
 certain method not at all congenial to the operations of their own minds ; 
 and, having once missed the current in their minds, which, under the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit, would have led them on to that degree of 
 perfection attainable in their caso^ they have ever after been ' bound in 
 shallows and in miseries.' Your present mode, leaving every other thing 
 out of the question, must be to you an incessant drudgery ; and I think the 
 sooner you break off from it, the better it will be both for yourself and 
 them who hear you. I dare not say, nor would reason or fact bear me out, 
 that written or recited sermons do no good : great and impressive truths 
 may be thus conveyed to the public ear ; and, therefore, I cannot say give 
 up. But I am perfectly satisfied, that he who can compose a sermon, get 
 it by heart, and recite it in public in an agreeable, solemn, and impressive 
 manner, is capable of a greater work, — the work where feeling, judgment, 
 and reason are constantly in exercise, which they all are in proper extem- 
 pore preaching. In the recital of prevdously composed sermons these can 
 have little operation ; and, consequently, much must be wanting to consti- 
 tute the living Christian ministry. The very circumstance that you 
 mention is an irresistible argument against the mode, — a sudden, unexpected 
 call to go and preach Jesus to souls perishing for lack of knowledge, and 
 to believers who need to be strengthened and built up in their most holy 
 faith. See that your heart be full of God ; and then a person of your good 
 sense will soon feel that your mouth will not lack an abundance of appro- 
 priate words. As to 'egregious blunders,' or 'gross errors,' to which 
 you unagine you wovdd be infallibly liable were you to change your plan, 
 I must say I do not beheve one word of this. You may be a little embar- 
 rassed for a few times at first ; but your good sense will prevent the former, 
 and your piety and thorough knowledge of the Gosj>el will prevent the 
 latter. The subject that a man undei-stands he can reason on ; and that 
 on which he can reason he can discourse. Take up your subject ; under- 
 stand it thoroughly : then go to the people with it ; recommend it to their 
 notice ; press it upon their attention ; and reason on its utility and absolute 
 necessity. Do in preaching as you have often done when maintaining a 
 point in social discourse ; and, to follow the fable, if your waggon appears 
 to stick in the mud, whip your horses, and set your shoulder to the wheel, 
 and then call upon Hercules and he will help you. — I am, dear sir, yours, 
 tnily, <'A, Clarke. 
 
 "'To Mr. Mills, Stafford." 
 
 The Methodist Local Ministry has, throughout the succes- 
 sive revolutions which have marked the general history of 
 Methodism, maintained its integral character intact. No 
 change has taken place in its internal constitution since the 
 
112 LOCAL PREACHERS IN SOCIAL LIFE. 
 
 day tliat Mr. Wesley framed its first code of laws. Its col- 
 lective talent lias kept pace with the advancing sjiirit of the 
 age ; and the piety of its individual members has sustained 
 no perceptible deterioration. A large portion of the Local 
 Preachers, being also class-leaders, imite the ministerial with 
 the pastoral functions, and thus devote their time, and 
 employ their energies, in order to promote the spiritual 
 interests of their fellow-men in time and in eternity. The 
 upper and lower branches of the Wesleyan Ministry are 
 somewhat similar in their working relations to those which 
 are found to exist between iron manufactured into imple- 
 ments used in the various departments of agriculture and 
 into those articles of the same material which have received 
 the higher polish of the artisan. The Local Preachers, who 
 have allowed no intromissions to weaken the safeguards of 
 the Methodist constitution, may fitly be termed the sta/ple 
 of the ministry j whilst the Itinerant Preachers, who have 
 passed through innumerable transmutations, may not 
 inaptly be designated its decorative branch. 
 
 The Local Ministry of the Methodist Society offers few 
 inducements for those individuals to enter within its official 
 precincts who are influenced by motives of worldly policy. 
 Although, happily, the day is gone by when to assail a 
 " Swaddler," as the early Methodist preachers were deri- 
 sively called, with rotten eggs and other offensive missiles, 
 and afterwards to drag them through horse ponds, was the 
 highway to obtain the premium of magisterial and clerical 
 favour, yet the offence of the Cross has by no means ceased. 
 A local preacher, in this day of rehgious enlightenment and 
 liberality, whatever may be his intellectual capabilities or 
 literary acquirements, occupies an invidious position in the 
 general estimation of the world. His office closes against 
 
THEIR LABOURS AND LIABILITIES. 113 
 
 him the door to every civil appointment within the extensive 
 range of Chiircli influence or State patronage. He has little 
 intercourse with the world beyond the limits of his own 
 communion. The term Local Preacher is adopted in many 
 circles as a general synonyme for all that is undignified and 
 contemptible as applied to man : and although these unpre- 
 tending members of the community provoke no political 
 controversies ; meddle with no state affairs ; fomeiit no jmrty 
 broils or animosities ; offer no resistance to constituted 
 authorities ; attempt no innovations upon established insti- 
 tutions ; interpose no opposition to the national executive, in 
 any of its branches, but quietly and unassumingly pursue the 
 even tenor of their way ; — yet little doubt may be enter- 
 tained, that, were it not for the protection of British law, the 
 outrage and violence with which these humble hcn'alds of 
 salvation were assailed in the infancy of Methodism, would 
 be re-enacted with as much vigour and as little compunc- 
 tion as in the middle of the last century. 
 
 But, in addition to the contumely and reproach which 
 Local Preachers have to endure, in the prosecution of their 
 arduous and difficult toil, tlieii' office creates trials and 
 imposes labours which can only be sustained and performed 
 by men who are aided by Divine power and actuated by 
 Divine influence. Their continuous mental studies have a 
 wasting effect on the physical frame. Solomon observes, 
 that much study is a weariness to the flesh ; but weariness 
 is not all — it saps the foundation of bodily energy and 
 brings on premature old age. It has been ascertained, by 
 reference to the statistics of mortality, that those men who 
 have been most distinguished for intellectual acumen and 
 metaphysical power, have seldom attained the full age 
 assigned to human life. Besides, the office of a Local 
 
 I 
 
114 BUNYAN AND THE BISHOP. 
 
 Preacher imposes duties of another kind which contribute to 
 accelerate bodily decay. Among these may be mentioned 
 Sabbath journeyings, generally on foot, and often many 
 miles from their residence,"* with frequent exposure to 
 the alternations and extremes of atmospheric temperature. 
 Sometimes on leaving a cottage, where he has been hold- 
 ing forth the Word of Life, and where the heat has stood at 
 from seventy to eighty degrees, the preacher has had to 
 rush suddenly upon the death chills which lie below Zero. 
 Although the effect of these sudden transitions is not 
 always immediately felt, yet they insidiously sever the cords 
 of life. 
 
 With such ample stores of pvilpit materiel, the wonder is 
 not that Methodism should have acquired a position of com- 
 manding importance among the various sections of the 
 Anglican Church ; but, considering its age and standing in 
 
 * John Bunyan, when pastor of the Baptist Church at Bedford, was in 
 the habit of preaching in the surrounding villages, and frequently walking 
 many miles within the week for that purpose. In his itinerant excursions 
 he was often met by the Bishop of Peterborough, riding in his carriage. 
 The bishop's coachman, who was a Dissenter, and sometimes heard Bunyan 
 preach, had made such representations of his wonderful talents as excited 
 his lordship's curiosity ; he consequently ordered the man, the next time 
 he met Mr, Bunyan, to let him know. The coachman, in a short time, met 
 him on the high road ; and, as he was desired, stopped the carriage, inti- 
 mated to his master that that was Mr, Bunyan, and to Mr. Bunyan that 
 his lordship wished to speak to him. The bishop, from his carriage-window, 
 thus addressed the Nonconformist : " Mr. Bunyan, I understand you are 
 very clever in interpreting difficult passages of Scripture. What do you 
 think is the meaning of St. Paul, when he says to Timothy, ' The cloak 
 that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and 
 the books, but especially the parchments?'" "Why, my lord," said 
 Bunyan, "the passage is simple enough: Paul was a travelling preacher, 
 and Timothy was a primitive bishop. In those days it was customary for 
 bishops to wait on travelling preachers : Paul, therefore, instructs Timothy 
 to look after his baggage, and to bring it with him when he came. Times 
 are altered since then : now bishops ride, and travelling preachers walk." 
 The bishop threw himself back in the carriage, cried " Humph ! " and 
 ordered the coachman to drive on. 
 
SPREAD OF METHODISM. 115 
 
 the religions world, its numerical strength, its collective 
 piety, its external and internal resources, its adaptation and 
 powerful facilities, that its results should not have been more 
 largely commensurate with its means. But there are moral 
 as well as astronomical cycles ; and although the observation 
 of a distinguished writer has less to do with the nascent 
 principles of operative Christianity than with their fitful use 
 and application by man, yet we cannot but see and feel 
 some admonitory force in that observation ; namely, " that all 
 great revivals of religion, proceed, after a time, in an inverse 
 ratio, and descend by a graduated scale from the higher to 
 the lower degrees of temperature." Admitting this to be 
 true in an abstract sense, still it affords no proof that religion 
 may not gradually exert its influence over the springs and 
 motives of human action, control the will, regulate the pas- 
 sions, and give an upward tendency to the exercise of spirit- 
 ual affections, without any considerable degi-ee of external 
 manifestation ; and, therefore, if the present accession to the 
 ranks of Methodism be not so great as in the day when its 
 varied administrations were more novel, and, consequently, 
 more in accordance with popular views and feelings, it would 
 be both ungenerous and unjust to infer its internal stability 
 and growth from the mere occun^ence of accidental circum- 
 stances. Whilst, therefore, it still remains an object of deep 
 and undiminished interest mth the general ministry to gain 
 converts to Methodism, another object of equal solicitude is 
 to build up and mature those who, through its instrumen- 
 tality, are brought "from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 METHODISM ESTABLISHED BY LAY PREACHING — ORDINATION INTRODUCED 
 INTO THE METHODIST SOCIETY — NUMERICAL STATISTICS IN 1767 — DITTO 
 
 IN 1790 — MR. Wesley's letter on American Methodism — episcopal 
 
 FORM OP CHURCH GOVERNMENT ADOPTED IN AMERICA — REMARKS ON 
 early METHODIST PREACHING — OBSERVATIONS ON EXTEMPORANEOUS 
 PREACHING — DITTO ON MEMORITER SERMONS— DR. CLARKE'S PLAN OF 
 PREACHING — BISHOP BURNET's AND OTHER OPINIONS ON PREACHING. 
 
 That tlie introduction and establishment of Methodism 
 was, under the blessing of God, mainly owing to the 
 instrumentality of Lay Preaching, is a fact that stands out 
 in full relief in all our early Connexional records. Up to 
 the year 1787, (only four years before Mr. Wesley's death,) 
 the English T /ravelling Preachers were unordained, and 
 were, therefore, in every sense of the word, Lay Preachers. In 
 that year the Presbyterian form of ordination was introduced 
 into English Methodism ; and Messrs. Alexander Mather, 
 Thomas Kankin, and Henry Moore, were the first Methodist 
 preachers, exercising their functions in England, who received 
 that rite. The Pev. John Wesley, the Rev. J. Creighton, 
 and the Rev. Peard Dickenson, Presbyters of the Church 
 of England, were the ordaining ministers. 
 
 The first Conference, which was held in London in June, 
 1744, was composed of Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, 
 four clergymen, and four lay preachers. At tliat time the 
 Methodist body was confined within narrow limits, its 
 strongholds being London and Bristol. In August of that 
 
NUMERICAL STATISTICS. 117 
 
 year, Mr. Wesley preached his hist sermon before the 
 University of Oxford, prior to his formal resignation of his 
 Fellowship. Though he still held communion with the 
 Church of England, and had the assistance of several pious 
 clergymen in carrying out his objects and plans of usefulness, 
 yet, the churches being generally closed against him, his 
 excision as a minister was virtually proclaimed from every 
 pulpit in the kingdom. 
 
 The points debated at the first Conference, though few, 
 were extremely important. The outline of a great plan was 
 drawn ; and the two main doctrinal pillars on which the 
 structure of Christianity rests, namely, justification and 
 sanctification, were carefully considered in their relations, 
 bearings, operations, and results j the doctrines of imputed 
 righteousness and of Christian perfection were respectively 
 examined, and their lines defined, as to their practical appli- 
 cation. This was the day of small things in Methodism ; 
 but the Httle cloud which then showed its opening indications 
 of promise on the distant horizon, gradually rose and extended 
 itself over the entire face of the land. 
 
 At the twenty-fourth Conference, held in London in 1767, 
 the number of circuits, of preachers, and of members, was 
 published for the first time, when the following tabidar 
 statement was placed on the " Minutes : " — 
 
 Circuits. Preachers. Members. 
 
 In England 25 75 22,410 
 
 — Ireland 9 19 2,801 
 
 — Scotland 5 7 468 
 
 — Wales 1 3 232 
 
 40 104 25,911 
 
 At the Conference of 1790, the year before Mr. Wesley 
 died, and twenty-three years after the fii^t publication, the 
 statement was as follows : — 
 
118 NUMERICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 Circuits. Pre:icheis. Members. 
 
 In England 69 195 52,832 
 
 — Ireland 29 67 14,106 
 
 — Wales 3 7 566 
 
 — Scotland 8 18 1,086 
 
 — Isle of Man 1 3 2,580 
 
 — Norman Isles 2 4 498 
 
 — West Indies 7 13 4,500 
 
 — Canada 4 6 800 
 
 — United States 97 198 43,256 
 
 220 511 120,224 
 
 Being an average annual increase of upwards of four thou- 
 sand members. 
 
 Although at the above Conference the members belonging 
 to the American Societies are incorporated with those under 
 British superintendence, yet it appears that they had become 
 an independent church in the year 1784. This was a new 
 epoch in the History of Methodism, and is explained in the 
 following letter from Mr. Wesley to the elders of the 
 American branch of the Methodist Church : — 
 
 " Bristol, September 10, 1784. 
 " To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and our Brethren in North America. 
 
 " \. By a very uncommon train of providences, many of the provinces 
 of North America are totally disjoined from the mother country, and erected 
 into independent states. The English Government has no authority over 
 them, either civil or ecclesiastical, any more than over the states of Holland. 
 A civil authority is exercised over them, partly by the Congress, partly by 
 the Provincial Assemblies ; but no one either exercises or claims any eccle- 
 siastical authority at all. In this peculiar situation, some thousands of the 
 inhabitants of these states desire my advice ; and, in compliance with their 
 desire, I have drawn up a little sketch. 
 
 *' 2. Lord King's account of the Primitive Church convinced me many 
 years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and conse- 
 quently have the same right to ordain. For many years I have been im- 
 portuned, from time to time, to exercise this right, by ordaining part of 
 our travelling preachers ; but I have still refused, not only for peace's sake, 
 but because I was determined as little as possible to violate the established 
 order of the National Church to which I belonged. 
 
 " 3. But the case is widely different between England and North 
 America. Here there are bishops who have a legal jurisdiction. In 
 America there are none ; neither any parish ministers. So that, for some 
 hundred miles together, there is none either to baptise or to administer the 
 
AMERICAN METHODISM. 119 
 
 Lord's Supper. Here, therefore, my scruples are at an end ; and I con- 
 ceive myself at full liberty, as I violate no order, and invade no man's right, 
 by appointing and sending laboui-ers into the harvest. 
 
 " 4. I have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis Asbury to 
 be joint superintendents over our brethren in North America ; as also 
 Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey to act as elders among them, by 
 baptising and administering the Lord's Supper ; and I have prepared a 
 liturgy little differing from that of the Church of England (I think the best 
 constituted national church in the world), which I advise all the travelling 
 preachers to use on the Lord's-day, in all the congregations, reading the 
 Litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying extempore on all 
 other days, I also advise the elders to administer the Supper of the Lord 
 on every Lord's-day. 
 
 " 5. If any one will point out a more rational and Scriptural way of feed- 
 ing and guiding those poor sheep in the wilderness, I will gladly embrace 
 it. At present I cannot see any better method than that I have taken. 
 
 "6. It has, indeed, been proposed, to desire the English bishops to 
 ordain part of our preachers for America. But to this I object. 1. I de- 
 sired the Bishop of London to ordain only one, but could not prevail. 2. If 
 they consented, we know the slowness of their proceedings ; but the matter 
 admits of no delay. 3. If they would ordain them now, they would like- 
 wise expect to govern them. And how grievously would this entangle us ? 
 4. As our American brethren are now totally disentangled, both fi-om the 
 State and from the English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again, 
 either with the one or the other. They are now at full liberty, simply to 
 follow the Scriptures and the Primitive Church ; and we judge it best that 
 they should stand fast in that liberty wherewith God hath so strangely 
 made them free. " John Wesley." 
 
 At the American Conference, held at Baltimore, in the 
 
 January following the receipt of this letter, the following 
 
 note was published in their " Minutes : " — 
 
 " Therefore, at this Conference we formed ourselves into an inde- 
 pendent church ; and, following the counsel of Mr. John Wesley, who 
 recommended the episcopal mode of chiu'ch government, we thought it 
 best to become an episcopal church, making the episcopal oflBce elective, 
 and the elected superintendent, or bishop, amenable to the body of 
 ministers and preachers.'' 
 
 It also adds : — 
 
 " As the translators of our version of the Bible have used the English 
 word bishop, instead of superintendent, it has been thought by us that 
 it would appear more Scriptural to adopt the term bishop." 
 
 The pulpit discourses of the travelling and local preachers, 
 
 who led the van during the headship of our venerable 
 
120 EARLY METHODIST PREACHING. 
 
 Founder, were not generally distinguished by a parade of 
 human learning, and were, therefore, more intelligible to 
 tlie large crowds who attended the Methodist ministiy of 
 that day. The style of the early preachers was simple 
 and unadorned, and not always to be measured by the 
 strict rules of grammatical construction. Their endowments 
 were natural endowments — and their eloquence, the eloquence 
 of the heart. Their sermons were not lectures on elocution, 
 but truth in simple guise ; not intended to charm the ear, 
 but to affect the heart ; not arrayed in the decorations of 
 studied phraseology, but delivered in words of fire ; — the 
 glowing expressions of minds deeply imbued with the spirit, 
 and deeply impressed with the importance, of their work ; 
 moved by love and tenderness for sinners, and intently soli- 
 citous to awaken conviction and to bring the conscience and 
 heart under the direct influence and operation of the grace 
 of God. They had learnt that the Gospel is a mighty 
 engine, but especially mighty when its energies are influ- 
 enced by the Spirit of God. They were, for the most part, 
 men well calculated to meet the physical and moral exi- 
 gences of the times in which they lived. Rocked by billows, 
 and cradled in storms, they knew how to administer sympathy 
 to those who were called to struggle on through life's disci- 
 plinary training. They knew 
 
 that woes 
 
 And weals together blent, make up the sum 
 Of life." 
 
 They placed no sacrifice on the temple altar without 
 invoking fire from heaven to descend on it, in token of its 
 acceptance. Indeed, in all the more essential points of the 
 ministerial character, — in public zeal and intrepidity, in pri- 
 vate faith and practice, — they stand forth as models for the 
 
EARLY METHODIST PREACHING. 121 
 
 imitation of tlieiv successors. That tliey were more abun- 
 dant in labours than those who have succeeded them, 
 may be inferred from the following restrictive inile, which 
 was passed at the Bristol Conference in 1790 (the last 
 Conference which was attended by Mr. Wesley) : " No 
 preacher shall preach oftener than twice on a week-day, or 
 oftener than three times on the Lord's-day." A iiile which, 
 for many years, has been like some of the obsolete laws on 
 the statute-book of England, — a perfect nullity. 
 
 Much of the success of the early Methodist preachers lay 
 in the Scriptural character and practical application of their 
 ministiy. Their preaching was strictly extemporaneous. 
 They had little mechanical skill in pulpit arrangement : 
 even had they possessed it in a large degree, the frequency 
 of their labours would have rendered its cultivation utterly 
 impossible. Sin and salvation formed the burden of theii* 
 ministry. In addition to the Bible, they studied the book 
 of nature, the book of providence, and the book of grace, in 
 their several relations to, and coincidence with, each other : 
 nor did they neglect the study of the human character in its 
 ever-varying phases. The passing incidents of Hfe which 
 fell under their observation, were, as far as practically useful, 
 made to tell either in the way of instruction or admonition ; 
 and their sermons were seldom mthout effect ; — not the 
 startling effect that is sometimes produced by an extraordi- 
 nary outburst of pulpit eloquence, which, like the explosion 
 of the sky rocket, delights you with its shower of variously- 
 tinted stars wliich vanish to make the darkness greater. 
 The effects to which their ministry gave birth were like that 
 produced by the opening light of day, diffusing joy and 
 gladness all around. 
 
 Mr. Wesley, as though looking forward with the glance ot 
 
122 EXTEMPORANEOUS PREACHING. 
 
 prophetic destiuy, and contemplating the changes which time 
 
 wouki introduce, writes : 
 
 " Where shall I wander now to find 
 The successors they left behind ? 
 The faithful, whom I seek in vain, 
 Are minished from the sons of men." 
 
 On the subject of extemjDoraneous preaching, which still 
 forms one of the distinguishing features of the Methodist 
 ministry, it may be proper to offer a remark ; because, in the 
 present day, it has lost some of the constituent elements 
 which formed its essential character and invested it with its 
 effective importance, in the palmy days of our Connexional 
 piety and power. In extemporaneous preaching, as at 
 present practised, one of two extremes is too commonly 
 adopted by local preachers ; namely, either to make no 
 preparation at all for the pulpit, but place a passive depend- 
 ence on the aid that may be imparted by the Holy Spirit 
 whilst engaged in the act of preaching ; or, the adopting of 
 such previous arrangements as effectually prevent all mental 
 expansion, and close every avenue against the free operation 
 of the Spirit. Both modes are open to serious objections : 
 the one practically repudiating everything that is mechani- 
 cal in connection with the discharge of ministerial duties, 
 — which is the offspring of enthusiasm ; the other virtually 
 investing human agency, in pulpit ministrations, with Divine 
 power, — which is an offshoot of Pelagianism. 
 
 It would be extremely difficult to lay down a rule on the 
 subject, which would have the effect of reducing all pulpit 
 preparations to one uniform standard. The mind of man is 
 variously constructed, possessing all the versatility of intel- 
 lectual inflection which lie between the most distant 
 extremes. But, although it would be next to impossible to 
 frame a rule which would meet every conceivable case, yet 
 
EXTEMPORANEOUS PREACHING. 123 
 
 such general rules may be laid down as may, at least to 
 some extent and with some modification, be rendered aj^pli- 
 cable to the present Local Ministry of Methodism. 
 
 In all sermons of a strictly extemporaneous character, 
 there is much danger of becoming too colloquial, and, con- 
 sequently, of detracting from the proper dignity of the 
 ministerial office, especially where the mind is not furnished 
 with a faculty of analytical dissection. Unless an extem- 
 poraneous preacher be extraordinarily gifted, his resources 
 must necessarily soon become exhausted, simply because the 
 supplies will not meet the growing demands of his office. 
 Repetition and tautology, the inevitable concomitants of bar- 
 renness of thought, would render his sermons vox j^'f^terea 
 nihil; and, instead of the powerful and awakening exhibi- 
 tions of Divine Truth, so essential to the success of ministerial 
 eifort, the feebleness of his conceptions, and the poverty of 
 his illustrations, would render his sermons powerless and 
 vain. Even fluency of utterance will not be accepted by 
 sensible persons as a substitute for solidity of thought. Due 
 preparation for the pulpit, by reading, meditation, and 
 prayer, is absolutely necessary to a proper discharge of minis- 
 terial duties ; and the man who presents himself before a 
 congregation of intelligent persons, mthout having first pre- 
 pared a digest of his subject, according to the best of hLs 
 ability, offers an insult to the understanding of his hearers, 
 and a sacrifice to God that costs him nothing. When a 
 preacher enters the pulpit, he gives a virtual pledge to his 
 hearers, that he will increase their amount of information 
 on Gospel verities ; and, at the same time, supply them with 
 motives to give to that information practical effect. The 
 redemption of that pledge can only be secured by keeping 
 his knowledge in ad\ance of liis congregation. 
 
124 MEMORITER PREACHING. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the sermons preached by 
 the Apostles were strictly extenipoi-aueoiis, and, in every 
 popular sense of the word, unpremeditated. Their difficulties 
 were frequently such as could not have been brought within 
 the ordinary range of human foresight, and, therefore, could 
 not have been met by any previous mode of arrangement. It 
 was evidently to meet the special circumstances to which 
 their ministry applied, that plenary instruction and aid was 
 promised and vouchsafed. But though their ministry had 
 in it much of speciality, both in its difficulties, and also in 
 the means by which those difficulties were to be met, yet no 
 precedent can be drawn from miraculous influence, super- 
 induced for the surmounting of natural disadvantages in an 
 extraordinary work. Much, very much, may be said in 
 favour of extemporaneous preaching, where men possess a 
 proper adaptation of talent for its effective discharge. There 
 can be no doubt that communications from heart to heart 
 are more direct, and kindred sympathies are more likely to 
 act on each other, when conveyed through the natural chan- 
 nels of the human heart, than when communicated through 
 the more cold and formal medium of a written sermon. The 
 look, attitude, mode, animation, and manner of address of an 
 extemporaneous preacher, are far more calculated to generate 
 conviction, than the more systematic mode of a pulpit com- 
 positor. 
 
 But there is a converse mode adopted by a different class 
 of preachers which is scarcely less reprehensible ; namely, 
 that of preparing for the pulpit as actors prepare for the 
 stage, by committing to memory every word that is to be 
 recited before a congregation. These, in their endeavours to 
 avoid the dangers of Scylla, are engulphed in the whirlpool of 
 Charybdis. Apart from the incessant toil which such a mode 
 
MEMORITER PREACHING. 125 
 
 must necessarily impose upon preachers who have frequently 
 
 to appear before the same congregation, it has Uttk of the 
 
 character, less of the unction, and least of the effect of the 
 
 living Gospel ministry. This mode, in skilful hands, may 
 
 communicate light to the understanding, but it rarely imparts 
 
 Jieat to the soul. It was the judicious advice given by a 
 
 distinguished lay divine : 
 
 " Never to your notes be so enslaved 
 As to repress some instantaneous thought 
 That may, like lightning, flash upon the soul, 
 And blaze in strength and majesty divine." 
 
 It may seriously be questioned whether sermons can be 
 previously arranged for general use ; for, according to the 
 different shades of ignorance or knowledge in different spheres, 
 a sermon might be too elementary, or too full and enlarged, 
 or not sufficiently systematic or detailed, and, therefore, to 
 a great extent, inappropriate. Tliis animadversion of the 
 slavish use of foreign resources does not imply that every sen- 
 timent or sentence in a sermon should be, strictly speaking, 
 original. The habit of reading will furnish many illustra- 
 tions and trains of thought, which are insensibly moulded 
 into our minds, and become our own by an individual method 
 of application. Thus, whilst we learn from all, we may 
 almost be said to borrow from none. The fruits of personal 
 study, aided by an acquaintance with the moral condition of 
 the people, and blent with the incense of devotional feeling, 
 will generally prevent the complaint of ministerial barrenness. 
 In memoriter preacliing, one faculty — namely, the memoiy 
 — is liea\ily taxed, whilst the understanding, the judgment, 
 and the spiritual affections are unemployed In process of 
 time these sink, by desuetude, into inertness and degene- 
 racy. The effects of memoriter preaching are very much 
 like those produced by stage representation, — evanescent and 
 
126 DR. A. Clarke's plan. 
 
 ineffective. In some of Shakspeare's tragedies, the emotions 
 which are pent up during the successive incidents of the 
 drama, burst their barriers the instant the catastrophe has 
 been announced. The touching details in some depart- 
 ments of life's sad history frequently draw deeply on the 
 well-springs of the heart ; but these are mere sympathetic 
 emotions, which show a simple conformity of nature, as 
 expressing the interchange of kindred feelings, and cease with 
 the occasion which called them forth. Besides, in memoriter 
 preaching there is a great temptation held out to preachers 
 to commit the sin of plagiarism, — of purloining the sentiments 
 and language of men of talent and learning, and then taking 
 the produce of their literary thefts into the pulpit, and 
 solemnly invoking upon them the blessing of the Holy Spirit. 
 The late Dr. Adam Clarke, one of the brightest ornaments 
 of the Wesleyan-Methodist body, has had few ministerial 
 compeers in proper extemporaneous preaching. His sermons 
 were fine specimens of pulpit elocution ; his manner was 
 dignified, his language chaste, his illustrations familiar ; his 
 conceptions, however grand and lofty, were reduced to the 
 ordinary standards of capacity ; and his uniform aim was to 
 improve both the heads and the hearts of his hearers. A 
 short time before he became a local preacher, his memory 
 became so much impaired as to be of little service to him — 
 he could recollect nothing distinctly.* But this he after- 
 wards considered a wise dispensation of a kind Providence. 
 
 * It must be admitted that the memory is one of those faculties which 
 contribute to promote the happiness of Hfe. " There is a near relation 
 between memory, reminiscence, and recollection. But what is the differ- 
 ence between them ? Wherein do they differ from each other ? Is not 
 memory a natural faculty of the mind, which is exerted in various ways ? 
 And does it not exert itself, sometimes in simply remembering, sometimes 
 in reminiscence, or recollection ? In simply remembering things the mind 
 of man appears to be rather passive than active. Whether we will or no, 
 
BISUOP BURNET ON PREACHING. 127 
 
 " Had my memory," says he, " been as circumstantially 
 perfect as it once was, I should no doubt have depended 
 mucli on it, less on God, and, perhaps, neglected the cultiva- 
 tion of my understanding and judgment. In a word, I should 
 have done probably what many eminent memoriters have 
 done, especially some preachers, — meanly stole the words 
 from my neighbours, being able to repeat verbatim the ser- 
 mon I had heard, and delivered it in the pulpit as if it were 
 my own. I have, therefore, been obliged to depend much 
 on the continual assistance of God in my ministerial labours, 
 and cultivate my judgment and understanding to the utter- 
 most of my power ; for I never dared to expect the Divine 
 assistance and unction so essentially necessary for me, unless 
 I had previously exercised my judgment and understanding 
 as far as possible. Now, strange as it may appear, from this 
 very circumstance, — the verbal imperfection of my memory, — 
 I have preached, perhaps, five thousand sermons, on all kinds 
 of subjects, and on a great variety of occasions ; a'iid did iwt 
 hnmjo beforehand one single sentence that I should utter. And 
 were I to preach before the two universities, I must preach 
 in this way, or not at all." 
 
 A course equidistant from the above extremes, as appli- 
 cable to preachers generally, and especially to local preachers, 
 appears to be most in accordance with the true character 
 and objects of the Chiistian Ministry. No instructions, on 
 this head, appear to be more appropriate than those which 
 
 we remember many things which we have heard or seen, said or done ; 
 especially if they were attended with any remarkable pleasure or pain. 
 Biit in reminiscence, or recalli.ig what is past, the mind appears to be 
 active. Most times, at least, we may or may not recall them as we please. 
 Recollection seems to imply something more than simple reminiscence ; 
 even the studious collecting and gathering up together all the facts of a 
 conversjition or transaction which had occurred before, but had in some 
 measure escaped from the memory." — Wesley s Works. 
 
128 BRIDGES ON PKEACHING. 
 
 are given by Bishop Burnet, in his " Pastoral Care :" " He 
 that intends truly to preach the Gospel, and not himself : he 
 that is more concerned to do good to others than to raise his 
 own fame, or to procure a following after himself; and that 
 makes this the measure of all his meditations and sermons, 
 that he may put things in the best light, and recommend 
 them with the most advantage to his people ; that reads the 
 Scriptures much, and meditates often upon them, and pi-ays 
 earnestly to God for direction in his labours and for a bless- 
 ing upon them ; that directs his chief endeavours to the 
 most important and most indispensable, as well as the most 
 undeniable, duties of religion ; and chiefly to the inward 
 reformation of his hearers' hearts, which will certainly draw 
 all other lesser matter after it ; and that does not spend his 
 time nor his zeal upon lesser or disputable points ; — this man, 
 so made and so moulded, cannot miscarry in his work. He 
 will certainly succeed to some degree : the word spoken by 
 him shall not return again. He shall have his crown and 
 his reward from his labours. And to say all that can be 
 said in one word, with St. Paul, * He shall save both himself 
 and them that hear him.' " 
 
 " Preaching," says the Pev. C. Bridges, in his work on the 
 Christian Ministry, " in order to be efiective, must be reduced 
 from vague generalities to a tangible, individual character, 
 coming home to every man's business, and even to his bosom. 
 The slumbering routine of customary attendance is continued. 
 Nothing but the preacher's blow, — the hand not lifted 
 towards him, but actually reaching him, — will rouse the 
 man to consideration. There is no need of the mention of 
 the name, The truth brought into contact with the con- 
 science speaks for itself The general sermons, which are 
 preached to everybody, are, in fact, preached to nobody. 
 
OPINIONS ON PREACHING. 129 
 
 They will, therefore, suit the congregations of the last cen- 
 tury, or in a foreign land, jnst as well as the people before 
 our eyes." "Such discourses," says Bishop Stillingfleet, "have 
 commonly little effect on the people's minds ; but, if any- 
 thing moves them, it is a particular application as to such 
 things in which their consciences are concerned." To be 
 effectual, we must preach to our people, as well as before 
 them. The conscience of the audience should fed the hand 
 of the preacher searching it, and every individual know in 
 what particular class to place himself* 
 
 It has been well observed, that the secret of effective 
 preaching consists in its adaptation to the capacities of those 
 to be instructed. It may be Scriptural in its statements, 
 experimental in its character, and practical in its application ; 
 indeed, it may have all the distinguishing features of analysis, 
 discrimination, and perspicuity ; yet, if it be above the mental 
 standard of those to whom it is addressed, it must necessarily 
 fail in accomplishing the end it proposes. The discourses of 
 the Saviour are totally devoid of artificial oratory. Though 
 they frequently abound with the most striking imagery, yet 
 they are perfect models of simplicity. Whenever he bor- 
 rowed illustrations from nature, his comparisons, or figures, 
 were usually taken from the objects around him ; and, whilst 
 the subjects were perfectly familiar to his hearers, his mode 
 
 * When John the Baptist preached before Herod on Gospel generalities, 
 he "heard him gladly," and "did many things " ; but when he came to 
 apply his subject, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife," 
 the preacher lost his head. "A minister," says Hildersham, "should 
 have some knowledge of each man's particular case, to enable him to guide 
 his application with particular effect. Though he may not make private 
 faults public, or so touch the sin as to note and disgrace the sinner, yet he 
 may apply his reproofs with such effect, as that the guilty party may know 
 and feel himself touched with the reproof. Doctrine should be like a gar- 
 ment, fitted to the body it is made for ; a garment that is fit for everybody, 
 is fit for nobody." 
 
1 30 ON PREACHING. 
 
 of explaining and applying them was perfectly intelligible. 
 The Apostles closely followed the type. They felt themselves 
 to be equally " debtors to the wise and to the unwise." If 
 they never sunk beneath the dignity of the subject, they 
 never soared above the intelligence of their hearers. They 
 ordinarily used " great plainness of speech." It is true, the 
 Apostle Paul occasionally alluded to the Grecian games when 
 preaching before persons who were well acquainted with 
 them, and who would, therefore, be well able to estimate the 
 fore of the allusion ; but all the apostolic preaching and 
 vn^iting, though remarkable for perspicuity, is brought down 
 to the level of the meanest capacity. " Florid preaching," says 
 an old writer, " is like painting the windows, and shutting 
 out the clear light of heaven." To think of adding perspi- 
 cuity or adornment to sermons, by the study of oratory or 
 the embellishments of diction, is something like attempting 
 to increase the natural beauties of the rainbow by artificial 
 colouring. The Apostle's aim was to find words " easy to be 
 understood." But we are told that education has taken an 
 elastic spring, and, therefore, pulpit oratory, to be accept- 
 able, must keep pace with the advancement of intellectual 
 improvement. This, if admissible at all, would prove too 
 much ; because, to make Cliristianity throughout in keeping 
 with it, we must modernise the Bible, remove all its anti- 
 quated terms and idioms, introduce classical phraseology, and 
 altogether put it in a more fashionable dress. The measure 
 of capacity ought to be the measure of speech. Flowers in 
 sermons are like flowers in corn-fields, — they variegate the 
 landscape, but are most mischievous to the farmer. There is 
 nothing like plain food for the sustentation of life. Confec- 
 tionary has introduced many stimulants to the palate ; but, 
 as Addison observed, death often lies in ambuscade among 
 
ON PREACHING. 131 
 
 dishes of highly-finished sweetmeats. There is something 
 veiy attractive in human oratory ; but the charm usually 
 ceases with the music. We occasionally hear in sennons 
 elaborate reasonings, metaphysical dissertations, scholastic 
 refinements, curious researches, ingenious distinctions, critical 
 elucidations, and abstruse proofs of facts and evidences. They 
 astonish, perplex, and confound, but they impart neither 
 light nor heat. 
 
 In connection with plainness of speech, a minister should 
 use affectionate entreaty, " speaking the truth in love ; " as 
 no mode is more conducive to be reconciled to God. The 
 method recommended by the pious and amiable Archbishop 
 of Cambray, was, to address a congregation with the generous 
 energy of a father, blended vyith the exuhera/nt affection of a 
 mother* The Apostle's direction to Timothy, was, to " exhort 
 with all longsufiering." " This," says Bishop Stillingfleet, 
 " is like stroking the conscience with feathers dipped in oil." 
 There is a class of preachers who, though we do not doubt 
 their piety, give us great reason to question their prudence. 
 They mingle "strange fire" with the "live coals from the 
 altar of God." In delivering the denunciations of Divine 
 wrath, they combine human passions with religious zeal, and 
 appear to give vent to their own angry displeasure, rather 
 than describe the holy indignation of God. It is certainly of 
 great importance that the Gospel should be fully and faith- 
 fully exliibited, — that there should be no overweening tender- 
 ness on the one hand, nor presumptuous rashness on the 
 other. To ^vithhold or conceal the threatenings of the Gospel 
 is a fearful perversion of the truth ; but to hurl the thundei-s 
 of Divine vengeance in a light and careless manner, is to incur 
 
 * There is a French proverb, not le.ss trite than true, that a drop of 
 honey will catch more flies than a pint of vinegar. 
 
 k2 
 
132 ON PREACHING. 
 
 that rebuke of the Saviour, " Ye know not what manner of 
 spirit ye are of" To expect spiritual effect from vehemence of 
 manner, from theatrical gesture, or from the unnatural eleva- 
 vation of the voice, is to look for the Lord " in the whirlwind 
 and the earthquake," rather than in " the still small voice." 
 Love has an electric attraction, and when seen in the 
 looks, and language, and manner of a preacher, iiTesistibly 
 commends itself to the best feelings of the heart. How 
 affecting is the plaintive wail which the Saviour poured over 
 devoted Jerusalem : " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often 
 would I have gathered thee, as a hen doth gather her brood 
 under her wings, but ye would not." What pathos and ten- 
 derness breathes through his prayer for his murderers : 
 " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The 
 sainted Fletcher once remarked, with reference to the minis- 
 terial office, that " love, continual, universal, ardent love, is 
 the soul of all the work of a minister .^" 
 
PART III. 
 
 THE CHARACTER, QUALIFICATIONS, 
 
 DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES, OBJECTS, AND 
 
 RESULTS OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 " Now, then, we are ambassadors for Chiist, as though God did beseech 
 you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." — 
 2 Corinth, v., 20. 
 
 " For we preach not oui'selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and our- 
 selves your servants for Jesus' sake." — 2 Corinth, iv., 5. 
 
CjjE ITural nr ICiiq Biiiiistrij. 
 
 CHAPTEH I. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE MINISTRY— REMARKS ON THE DIACONAL OFFICE- 
 LOCAL PREACHERS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE DIACONATE — ANALOGY 
 BETWEEN MINISTERS AND AMBASSADORS — MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY, 
 
 Be this our joy, to calm the troubled breast, 
 Support the weak, and succour the distrest ; 
 Direct the wand'rer, dry the widow's tear. 
 The orphan guard, the sinking spirits cheer : 
 Though small our pow'r to act, though mean our skill, 
 God sees the heart, he judges by the will." 
 
 From the earliest period of sacred history, we have incidental 
 notices of religious instruction having been communicated to 
 mankind by means of preaching. The references occasionally 
 made to Enoch and Noah seem to connect tlie institution of 
 preaching with the antediluvian era. Under the patriarchal 
 dispensation, each house appears to have had its domestic 
 sanctuaiy and altar, and the head of the family was the 
 priest. In the Je^vish economy, Moses received his commis- 
 sion immediately from God, and was first assisted by 
 Aaron, and afterwards, as the people increased in number, 
 by seventy elders. During the administration of Joshua, 
 that distinguished chief frequently collected the people to 
 hear the message of Jehovah. Following the stream of time, 
 we read of the schools of the prophets, which became tha 
 
136 CHARACTER OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 acknowledged institutions for public teaching throughout the 
 land. After the captivity, preaching seems to have been 
 adopted in a manner not very dissimilar to the forms which 
 prevail under the Christian dispensation. Ezra, the priest, 
 is said to have occupied a pulpit, surrounded by liis congre- 
 gation ; to have expounded the law, and to have received 
 the responses of the people to the expositions and inter- 
 pretations he laid before them. That, during the prophetical 
 period, the prophets preached to the people, can admit of 
 little doubt ; as, interwoven with their predictions, we have 
 many addresses and appeals, which had a primary applica- 
 tion to the times in which they were respectively delivered. 
 The opening of the dispensation under which we have the 
 glory to live was distinguished by the institution of the 
 Christian Ministry, together with the spirit and mode of its 
 administration, by Jesus Christ. 
 
 The means employed in the construction of the Christian 
 Church, are illustrative not less of the wisdom, than of the 
 mercy of God. Divine power was made perfect in human 
 weakness, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Though 
 the tender of mercy was first made to the Jews, yet, before 
 the ascension of the Redeemer, the Gospel charter was 
 renewed, with powers of illimitable extension : " Go ye into 
 all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.'* 
 Thus every step in the Divine procedure with reference to 
 man, left the visible imprint of infinite majesty, wisdom, and 
 goodness ; wliilst the kingdom of heaven was opened to all 
 believers, and salvation — full, free, eternal salvation — filled 
 the entire amplitude of earth and heaven. 
 
 Douglass, in his " Advancement of Society in Knowledge 
 and Religion," admirably illustrates the power of the 
 Christian Ministry, as the grand agent tor the conversion 
 
CHARACTER OF THE MINISTRY. 137 
 
 of the world : — " Of all methods for diffusing religion, preach- 
 ing is the most efficient. It is to preaching that Christianity 
 owes its origin, its continuance, and its progress ; and it is to 
 itinerating preaching (however the ignorant may undervalue 
 it) that we owe the conversion of the Roman world from 
 paganism to primitive Christianity ; our own freedom from 
 the thraldom of Popery, in the success of the Reformation ; 
 and the revival of Christianity from the depression which it 
 had undergone, owing to the prevalence of indifference and 
 infidelity. Books, however excellent, require, at least, some 
 previous interest on the part of the person who is to open 
 and peruse them. But the preacher arrests the attention, 
 which the written Word only invites ; and the living voice, 
 and the listening numbers, heighten the impression by the 
 sympathy and enthusiasm wliich they excite ; the reality 
 which the truths spoken possess in the mind of the speaker, 
 is communicated to the feelings of the hearers ; and they 
 end in sharing the same views, at least for the moment, and 
 in augmenting each other's convictions." 
 
 The ministry of the Gospel is the grand momentum of 
 Divine agency — the powerful engine of pastoral operation. 
 It is the boast of our land, the glory of our age. In navi- 
 gating the stormy ocean of life, we look to the ministry as 
 our compass and chart. In prosecuting the dark and devious 
 pathway through this waste-howling wilderness, we turn to 
 the ministry as our directory and guide. It explains the 
 charter of our liberties ; offers itself as the palladium of our 
 hopes ; points to the bulwarks of our spiritual safety ; and 
 unlocks the exhaustless treasury from which the believer 
 draws his continuous and necessary supplies for this life and 
 that which is to come. For eighteen centuries the Christian 
 Ministry has stood, like the majestic rock in the midst of the 
 
138 LOCAL PREACHERS NOT CONNECTED 
 
 ocean, which rears its lofty head above the surrounding 
 
 surges, and offers the security of its protection to the 
 
 tempest-tossed traveller. Though assailed by the united 
 
 subtlety and malice of human and superhuman machinations ; 
 
 and though, like an unprotected coast-light when threatened 
 
 by the conflicts of contending gales, it has been exposed to 
 
 a running fii*e from the scarps and counterscarps of earth 
 
 and hell ; yet, like an iron-bound coast, which looks down 
 
 with frowning magnificence on the furious breakers which 
 
 vainly lash its immoveable foundations, it wi-aps itself in the 
 
 security of its conscious impregnability, and laughs to scorn 
 
 the puny attempts of its powerless assailants. 
 
 It may be proper, in the opening of this division of the 
 
 subject, to offer a remark on an opinion which has been put 
 
 forth in a talented prize essay,* which bears some general 
 
 affinity to the subject of the present work. The opinion is 
 
 as follows : — 
 
 " These valuable men (the Local Preachers) are properly reckoned 
 among the diaconal body, because, from very early antiquity ,^ deacons 
 were wont to preach. Origen, indeed, preached before he was appointed 
 to the ministry at all. Baxter, in his ' Christian Ecclesiastics,' allows 
 the lawfulness, and even desirableness, of pious laymen engaging in 
 this work. The good which has been done by the Local Preachers of 
 Methodism shall only be fully known at that day when the secrets of 
 all hearts shall be revealed." 
 
 Although the excellent author has, in these words, paid a 
 high tribute of commendation to this useful class of labour- 
 ers, it is not quite clear where the lines of resemblance 
 between the Local Ministry and the diaconate meet. The 
 diaconal office was created to meet a class of circumstances 
 very different from those out of which the Local Ministry 
 arose, and to discharge duties of a very different nature ; for, 
 
 * " An Essay on the Pastoral Office." By the Rev. A. Barrett. 1839. 
 Page 128. 
 
WITH THE DIA(JONATE OFFICE. 139 
 
 though the deacons (at least two of them, Stephen and 
 Philip) exercised the functions of the ministiy, yet, according 
 to Mr. Wesley, in his notes on the diaconal appointment, 
 they did not preach in vii-tue of their office as deacons, but 
 as evangelists, an office subsequently conferred upon them ; 
 and that, on their elevation to the evangelical office, they 
 ceased to perform diaconal duties, others being appointed to 
 supply their places. Beza is of the same opinion. The seven 
 deacons, whose appointment is recorded in Acts vi., were to 
 perform duties which had previously been performed by the 
 Apostles. The converts to Christianity had greatly multiplied, 
 and the Hellenistic members of the increasing community 
 conceived that there was some partiality in the distribution 
 of the public funds, and that their widows were '' neglected 
 in the daily ministrations." A formal complaint having been 
 submitted to the Apostles, they convened a general assembly, 
 and submitted that the case would best be met by the appoint- 
 ment of officers to attend to the necessities of the poor, and 
 generally to manage the administration of other affairs of a 
 secular nature. To show the impartial spirit by which the 
 appointment was made, the whole seven, as their Greek 
 names import, were selected from the Hellenistic members 
 of the community. The analogy between the diaconal 
 and ministerial offices, under the Christian dispensation, 
 seems to be somewhat similar to that which existed between 
 the Levitical and priestly offices under the dispensation of 
 Moses. Whether the diaconal office in the Primitive Church 
 conferred the right to exercise ministerial functions, it might 
 be difficult to prove ; but, certainly, the analogy between the 
 offices of deacons and Local Preachers must fail in one point, 
 as secular duties, in a diaconal sense, do not fall within the 
 legitimate province of the Local Ministry. 
 
140 MINISTERS AND AMBASSADORS, 
 
 In presenting to the public the character, duties, responsi- 
 bilities, difficulties, objects, and results of the Methodist 
 Ministry, the author has drawn no distinction between Tra- 
 velling and Local Preachers ; because the lines and laws of 
 the New Testament which define and regulate ministerial 
 operations, are as applicable to the one department as to the 
 other. 
 
 One of the highest and most important offices connected 
 with the administration of State affairs is that of an ambas- 
 sador, — an official designation which has been applied to 
 ministers of the Gospel, as denoting the similarity of their 
 functions, their trusts, and their responsibilities. 
 
 An ambassador is a high diplomatist, appointed by the 
 Government of a country as its representative at a foreign 
 court, to watch the interests of the country which he repre- 
 sents, and to keep up a friendly intercourse between the two 
 States. He is properly the vicegerent of the Sovereign, to 
 whom alone he is responsible for the discharge of his public 
 functions. His powers are all but absolute;* and although, 
 under extreme circumstances, he might be impeached, yet 
 such an impeachment could only be sustained in a case of the 
 grossest and most flagrant dereliction of duty. It is pre- 
 sumed that the Government, who are the responsible coun- 
 sellors of the Sovereign, would not advise the committal of a 
 country's welfare to an individual, whatever his social rank, 
 unless they had the fullest possible conviction that he was 
 naturally and morally invested with the necessary qualities 
 for the safe exercise of the powers, and the satisfactory 
 
 * The term plenipotentiary {i. e., ambassador) is compounded of two 
 Latin words which literally signify 'plenitude of pover ; power without limit 
 as to all the points contained in the dii)loma of this important state fimc- 
 tionary. 
 
MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 141 
 
 discharge of the duties, of his high commission. It is easy to 
 conceive, that, with such an amplitude of power, and power 
 resting on such sanctions, an ambassador might betray his 
 trust, and sacrifice his country ; and there is no officer 
 of a Government whose powers require to be exercised 
 with greater delicacy, and caution, and fidelity, than those 
 of an ambassador. Take a case for illustration. An ambas- 
 sador conceives an insult is ofiered to his nation. He com- 
 municates his own version of the insult to the Government 
 under which he acts. Keparation is demanded and refused. 
 A war is proclaimed, and a hundred thousand men are 
 slaughtered to settle the dispute. From all this it appears 
 that an ambassador should possess rare qualifications, and 
 should never allow private considerations to interfere with 
 the requirements of public duty. 
 
 It requires no great amount of dialectical skill to draw 
 practical inferences from these clear and unmistakeable pre- 
 mises. If the official responsibilities of an ambassador rise 
 in proportion to the relative dignity of the Sovereign whom 
 he represents, then we see at a glance the incomparably 
 greater amount of responsibility which attaches to the office 
 of an ambassador of the Sovereign of the universe. Were an 
 earthly ambassador, by secret intrigues, to betray his country, 
 he might be attainted of high treason, and sufifer the highest 
 penalty the laws of his country could inflict, — which is tem- 
 poral death ; but the violation of the responsible trusts con- 
 fided by the Almighty to his delegates, or ambassadors, is 
 threatened -svith the pains and penalties of endless damna- 
 tion ! In both cases the crime and punishment are commen- 
 surate. As all our modes of comparison fail to show 
 the disparity between God and man, between finity and 
 infinity in crime, so we are equally at fault in bringing our 
 
142 MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 conceptions to comprehend the relative deserts of guilt, in 
 their opposite application to time and to eternity. 
 
 These preliminary observations will be sufficient to prepare 
 the mind for receiving in detail such particulars as may serve 
 to surround with greater light, and to invest with greater 
 importance, the highest, the most honourable, and the most 
 responsible office which it is possible for man to hold. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 GOSPEL COMMISSION — MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS — TALENT NECESSARY 
 FOR PREACHERS — STUDY NECESSARY TO PRODUCE EFFECT — READING — 
 NARROW POLICY OF THE BOOK-ROOM— NECESSITY OF SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE 
 — MINISTERIAL IMPEDIMENTS ; HOW TO BE MET AND REMEDIED. 
 
 In laying before his readers the character of a Gospel 
 minister, the author has adopted the idea contained in 2 Cor. 
 v., 20, in its application to Methodist preachers ; not only 
 because it is an idea suggested by the Holy Ghost, and, 
 therefore, entitled to the gravest consideration ; but because 
 it embraces a number of details which serve to throw addi- 
 tional light on the general subject. 
 
 The Gospel commission is set out in general terms in 
 Ezek. iii., 17 — 21 inclusive, and repeated with some additions 
 in Ezek. xxxiii., 7 and following verses ; and although it was 
 framed considerably more than two thousand years ago, and 
 applied to a state of society very differently constituted, in 
 many circumstantial respects, from that which now exists, 
 yet, as the broad outlines of man's moral condition presents 
 the same substantial features, and as mankind generally 
 remain in a state of alienation and hostility, that commission, 
 which has never been repealed, retains all the force and 
 authority with which it was invested when it first received 
 the signature, and seal, and sanction of the King of kings. 
 
 " Son of man, I have made thee a watchman vinto the house of Israel ; 
 therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 
 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die. and thou givest 
 
144 MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, 
 to save his hfe, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his 
 blood will I require at thine hands. Y"et if thou warn the wicked, and 
 he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die 
 in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righ- 
 teous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniqmty, and 
 I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die : because thou hast not 
 given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which 
 he hath done shall not be remembered ; but his blood will I require at 
 thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the 
 righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely hve, because he is 
 warned ; also thou hast delivered thy soul." 
 
 In all states in which embassies are exchanged, they are 
 laid under mutual obligations to avoid whatever might inter- 
 rupt the exercise of friendly relations, or provoke the spirit 
 of national hostility : in fact, to preserve perpetual peace by- 
 cultivating commerce and the arts ; and the stipulations of 
 their respective treaties are intended to provide against any 
 adverse contingency which might fall within the range of 
 human foresight. In this view of the case the parallel fails ; 
 because, as man is in a state of guilt and condemnation, there 
 can be no mutuality of advantage : all the benefit must be on 
 one side ; and, therefore, as the Almighty has framed a 
 treaty of mercy and reconciliation, and commissioned his 
 heralds to publish it throughout the world, it becomes at 
 once the interest and the duty of man to adopt the counsels 
 and recommendations it embodies ; to discharge the prac- 
 tical stipulations and duties it demands ; that he may stand 
 in security when the destroying angel shall pour out upon 
 the world the last vials of God's avenging wrath. 
 
 To discharge with proper effect the duties of an ambas- 
 sador, it is necessary that he should have a correct know- 
 ledge of international law ; should perfectly understand the 
 nature, bearings, application, and results of the powers with 
 wliich he is entrusted ; and should have sufficient judgment 
 
MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 145 
 
 to exercise, with sound discretion, the responsible functions 
 on which the successful issue of his embassy depends. 
 
 On the question of qualification for the Christian ministry 
 much diversity of opinion has been, and is still, entertained. 
 All human standards have differed, less or more, on this 
 point. The Society of Friends, a most pious, unassuming, 
 and excellent body, repudiate the cultivation of scholastic 
 science altogether, as a pre-requisite for the ministerial 
 office. They consider that their ministers are endued with 
 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, whenever they officiate 
 ministerially ; and that the adventitious aids of human 
 learning are not only unnecessary, but would, if employed, 
 he an infraction of primitive laws, fraught with presump- 
 tion and pregnant with danger. On the other hand, the 
 Established Church of this country has set up a converse 
 standard, and requires, as a sine qua non, that all candidates 
 for ministerial appointments should possess what the Univer- 
 sities deem a competent knowledge of Greek, Latin, 
 mathematics, logic, natural, moral, and political philosophy, 
 with other educational et cetceraa. Were the author dis- 
 posed to form a comparative judgment on these idtra-minis- 
 terial notions, he should certainly give it in favour of the 
 Friends, whose mode of conveying religious instruction 
 unquestionably comes much nearer to the primitive standard 
 than tliat of the Church of England. Perhaps the point lies 
 somewhere between these two extremes ; but whether equi- 
 distant, or otherwise, the author has not the presumption to 
 decide. 
 
 It cannot be denied that human learning, when brought 
 under the hallowed influence of the grace of God, is a valu- 
 able acquisition to a preacher of the Gospel, and has fre- 
 quently been employed with telling effect by the pious 
 
 L 
 
146 TALENT NECESSARY FOR PREACHERS. 
 
 messenger of mercy ; but were it the only, or indeed the 
 chief, qualification for a successful discharge of ministerial 
 functions, then a very large proportion of the Local or Lay 
 Ministry must retire from the work in which they are 
 
 The author is of opinion that every minister of Methodism, 
 itinerant or local, should be a man of talent. But it is 
 important that the term talent should be properly defined, 
 and distinctions drawn between the talent which is natural, 
 and that which is acquired. In strictness, talent, which is a 
 cognate quality or endowment of the mind, cannot be 
 acquired by artificial means. It may be improved in various 
 ways, and extended by various degrees j but it is an integral 
 part of our nature, and, therefore, not to be obtained at the 
 Universities, or other seats of human learning.* It is true, 
 that we use the terms talent and education synonymously , 
 but that corruption in use does not at all afiect the distinc- 
 tions between them. A man may possess a considerable 
 amount of talent, who has acquired but a very slender 
 education, and vice versa ; and although the acquisitions of 
 logic, mathematics, and other abstract sciences, cannot be 
 obtained without talent, yet a man may be a clever linguist, 
 provided his memory possess a full amount of efficiency, 
 almost without any talent at all. 
 
 Now, the Methodist Local Preachers, as a body, possess a 
 considerable amount of native talent ; and though many of 
 them are not favoured with extensive educational advantages, 
 
 * Dr. Samuel Johnson was once attempting to make himself understood 
 by a man, whose natural endowments were somewhat below par. After 
 tmsuccessfully placing his proposition in different ways, in order to bring it 
 within his comprehension, the person said to the doctor, with some naivete, 
 " I don't exactly understand you." "Don't you?" said the cynical phi- 
 losopher, " I don't wonder at that ; I can give you arguments, but I cannot 
 give you brains." 
 
TALEXT NECESSARY FOR PREACHERS. 147 
 
 yet their experimental and practical acquaintance with 
 doctrinal and preceptive Christianity, and their familiar and 
 prayerful mode of explaining and applying their valuable 
 knowledge, has far more effect with rural and uneducated 
 congregations than the most finished and laboured exhibitions 
 of scholastic divinity.* 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, it may safely be contended 
 that piety stands at the head of ministerial qualifications ; 
 and that the success of preaching will generally be in pro- 
 portion to the depth and fervour of the piety of the preacher. 
 There is some reason to fear that our Connexional piety does 
 not keep pace with our numerical advancement. Our gene- 
 ral ministry is certainly much more educated than it was 
 half-a-century ago ; but whether the increase of education in 
 the ministry has generated a corresponding increase of per- 
 sonal holiness, may be seriously questioned. The compli- 
 mentary remark of a distinguished writer, that " Methodism 
 contains the elements of perpetuity," had probably more 
 reference, in that Avriter's mind, to the wise policy displayed 
 in its general constitution, than to the elements by whicli it 
 was to be fed and regulated in its working power. Methodism 
 is essentially connexional. It recognises the principle of 
 combination, through all its departments, as the mainspring 
 of its power ; and to the practical development of that 
 
 * Collins was what is termed a free-thinker ; i.e., an infidel. One day he 
 met a plain countryman going to church, and feeling a little disposed to 
 banter the nistic, he said to him, '' Wliere are you going ? " " To Church, 
 sir," Wfxs the reply. " What do you go to Church for ? " "I worship God, 
 sir." " Pray, is your God great or little ?" " He is both, sir." '' Indeed ! 
 Pray how do you make that out ? " " Why, sir, he's so great that the 
 heaven of heavens can't contain him, and so little, that he can dwell in my 
 heart." Collins was silent ; but afterwards ingenuously confessed, that the 
 simple answer of the rustic had more effect on his mind than all the 
 elaborate treatises he had read in defence of Christianity. 
 
 l2 
 
148 STUDY NECESSARY FOR EFFECT. 
 
 principle it stands indebted, under God, for the distinguished 
 position it has acquired among the denominational sections 
 of the Anglican Church. 
 
 On tliis branch of the subject it may be proper to intro- 
 duce a few points which exert a greater or less degree of 
 influence on the labours of the Methodist ministry. 
 
 It is of great importance that every Methodist Local 
 Preacher should bring all his arrangements for the pulpit 
 under the stem regulation of well-digested, methodised plans, 
 which will do far more, as aids to his ministry, than the 
 mere acquisition of academical erudition. 
 
 No man can succeed, as a preacher of the Gospel, without 
 deep devotional study, in order to acquire the best facilities 
 for securing the objects of his mission. It would be to little 
 purpose, in any department of mechanical science, to have 
 the best materials, unless there were a suificient amount of 
 skill to use them. The one belongs to the theory of the 
 science, the other to its iTuxictice. The labours of the study 
 are confined to the science of theology ; but the labours of 
 the pulpit show the application of that science to practical 
 results. 
 
 Study, to be really advantageous to ministers and people, 
 should be so mechanically regulated, as to bring it within the 
 rules of disciplinary method. The author is well aware that 
 it would be next to impossible to lay down rules of study, 
 applicable to all the social conditions of the Local Ministry ; 
 but every one must see the importance of having some rule 
 on the subject. The good Philip Henry has bequeathed to 
 his ministerial legatees a valuable piece of advice on this 
 head : " If we cannot do what we vjill, let us do what we 
 can."" Seneca, though a heathen moralist, has taught us a 
 most valuable part of Christian duty : " It is a virtue to be 
 
READING. 149 
 
 covetous of time ;" that is, to be like the miser, saving with 
 care, and spending with caution. A man without an object 
 is an idle man ; and the Spaniards have a proverb, " that 
 the devil tempts every man but the idle man, and he tempts 
 the devil." Boyle, in liis " Reflections," says, " it is of great 
 importance to have the parentheses, or interludes of time, 
 filled up profitably, so as to tell beneficially on the general 
 economy." 
 
 " Patient application," says Professor Miller in his Letters, 
 " is literally everything. Without it you may have a num- 
 ber of half-formed ideas floating in your mind ; but deep, 
 connected, large, and consistent views of any subject you 
 will never gain. Impatient haste is the bane of deep intel- 
 lectual work. If you are investigating any important doc- 
 trine, be not ready to leave it. Come to it again and again, 
 seeking light from every quarter, and perusing with atten- 
 tion the best books, until you have entered as far as you are 
 capable into its profoundest merits ; and, if compelled by 
 any circumstance to leave the subject before you have 
 reached this point, hold it in reserve for another and more 
 satisfactory examination. In short, let yoiu' motto be, to 
 leave nothing until you have thoroughly mastered it." 
 
 There is generally, among our young Local Preachers, too 
 much haste in the acquirement of knowledge. They seem to 
 expect it to fall from the clouds ; and, therefore, they do not 
 enter calmly and patiently upon the study of subjects to 
 which their thoughts are directed. Hence arises that injuri- 
 ous habit of skimming books, rather than of reading them. 
 The mind, by hovering on the sm-face, gains only a confused 
 recollection of the more prominent facts and incidents ; — far 
 too imperfect a knowledge for any purposes of pi-actical 
 utility. 
 
150 READING. 
 
 Much discretion is required in reading. " A little study," 
 says Burnet, " well digested in a good and serious mind, will 
 go a great way, and lay in materials for a whole life." It is 
 possible to read a great deal, and digest very little ; in which 
 case the result is on the wrong side. Large quantities of 
 food taken into the stomach require time, in order that the 
 digestive organs may properly perform their functions. 
 Were it otherwise, internal derangement would produce 
 the most mischievous consequences to the physical economy. 
 And the mind, if svircharged with an incongruous mass of 
 materials, is unable to perform its functions properly, and so 
 sinks under the accumulated pressure. Quesnel has left on 
 record some valuable observations on this point : — 
 
 " Not to read or study at all, is to tempt God ; to do nothing but 
 study is to forget God ; to study only to glory in one's knowledge, is a 
 shameful vanity ; to study in search of means to flatter souls, is a deplor- 
 able pi-evarication ; but to store one's mind with the knowledge proper 
 to the saints by study and prayer, and to diffuse that knowledge iu 
 solid instructions and practical exhortations, is to be a prudent, zealous, 
 and laborious minister." 
 
 After all our preparations, the oratory is the best place to 
 obtain pulpit power. The chief of the direct qualifications 
 for Gospel preaching is piety, and collateral advantages wiU 
 profit little unless they are connected with the influence of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 In close alliance with the study for pulpit exercises, may 
 be mentioned a well-digested course of reading, to furnish 
 material, and to give efiect to the discipline of the mind, in 
 analysing its subjects for the public ministry. 
 
 Although it would be difficult to make a selection of books 
 for Local Preachers, which would adapt itself to the pecuniary 
 resources, mental standard, or educational acquirements of 
 every member of the Lay Ministry, yet a hint on that head may 
 
POLICY OP THE BOOK-ROOM. 151 
 
 not be tlirown away. And here the author is free to express 
 a regret that the Wesleyan Book-room should virtually close 
 its doors against local preachers, by its extremely high scale 
 of charges. The author is not ignorant, that Local Preachers 
 are allowed, under certain restrictions, a deduction from 
 the published prices ; but when that deduction is made, it 
 generally leaves the work something like fifteen or twenty 
 per cent, higher than the charges of other booksellers. The 
 author is of opinion that local preachers should be allowed 
 to purchase all works printed under the authority of Confer- 
 ence at half ilw published ]o^ice ; and that liberality would 
 not be felt detrimentally to that branch of the Connexional 
 funds. Every Local Preacher ought to read Wesley's Sermons, 
 and Fletcher's works ; they would give him clear views of 
 the doctrinal economy of Methodism. As the generality of 
 our Local Preachers have little time to read books for mere 
 general gratification, they should select such as are calculated 
 to aid their main design ; namely, the obtainment of know- 
 ledge for the promotion of Christianity. The extension of 
 knowledge supplies materials for practical purposes ; it stores 
 the mind with subjects calculated to increase the general 
 interest ; it leads to diversified modes of instruction ; and 
 protects the ministerial ofiice from that contem^Dt to which^ 
 an inferiority of general knowledge on the part of a preacher 
 exposes him. No intelligent congi-egation will accept mere 
 effusions of enthusiasm, or noisy declamation, as a substitute 
 for the materials of solid thought. 
 
 The author has not the presumption to give a catalogue 
 of books for the varied purposes of the Lay Ministry. He is 
 aware that it is far more easy to furnish a library with books 
 on divinity, than to furnish the understanding with the 
 elements of useful insti-uction. A man may have read 
 
152 BEADING. 
 
 extensively, even on tlieological subjects, and yet be a mere 
 tyro in theology, as to its useful application. The possession 
 of a well-stored library does not necessarily infer the posses- 
 sion of a well-stored mind. Dr. Watts, in his " Improvement 
 of the Mind," has the following truthful observation : " A 
 well-furnished library, and a capacious memory, are indeed of 
 singidar use towards the improvement of the mind ; but if 
 all your learning be notliing else but an amassment of what 
 others have written, -without a due penetration into its 
 meaning, and without a judicious choice and determination 
 of your own sentiments, I do not see what title your head 
 has to true learning above your shelves." Archbishop Usher, 
 true to the character of a Christian Minister and a divine, 
 gives the following directions to students for the ministry : 
 " Read and study the Scriptures carefully, wherein is the 
 best learning, and only infallible truth. They will furnish 
 you with the best materials for your sermons ; the only rules 
 of faith and practice ; the most powerful motives to persuade 
 and convince the conscience ; and the strongest arguments 
 to confute all errors, heresies, and schisms. Take not liastUy 
 uf with other mens opinions ; hut compa/re them, first, with the 
 UTudogy of faith, and rules of holiness, recorded in tlie Scrip- 
 tures, which are tlie lyroper tests of all opinions aud doctrine.^'' 
 
 But it must not be forgotten, that, after all available 
 means and appliances have been used by a preacher of the 
 Gospel, that human agency will effect little in the work of 
 salvation apart from the influence of that Spirit, "without 
 whom nothing is wise, or strong, or holy." 
 
 Much valuable information on spiritual subjects is fre- 
 quently drawn from the contemplation of natural causes 
 mid effects. In the cultivation of the soil we observe an 
 almost infinite variety of results from one common class of 
 
NECESSITY FOR SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE. 153 
 
 causes. A large fann may be cultivated throughout on 
 exactly the same principles; but almost every field will 
 show a difierence of result. Some soils are light, and some 
 heavy. Some are rich and fruitful, others sterile and barren ; 
 and after all the care and cultivation of man, if the refresh- 
 ing showers and the solar influence be withheld, all human 
 efforts must end in failure and disappointment. It is 
 precisely so in the ministerial economy. Preachers may 
 plough, and sow, and cultivate their respective fields of 
 labour according to the best methods of ministerial 
 husbandry ; yet, if the refreshing dew of the Spirit, and the 
 genial warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, be not vouch- 
 safed, the efforts of men will be powerless and vain. The 
 divine Charnock asks : " Can a well-composed orauion, setting 
 out all the advantages of life and health, raise a dead man 
 or cure a diseased body ? You may as well exhort a blind 
 man to behold the sun. No man ever yet imagined that 
 the stre^ving a dead body \vith flowers would raise it to life ; 
 no more can the urging a man spiritually dead, with eloquent 
 motives, even make him open his eyes, or stand upon liis 
 feet. A new suasion does not confer a strength ; it only 
 persuadeth him to use the power which he hath already." 
 Whatever zeal and energy may be expended in preaching 
 the Gospel of salvation, until the Spii'it be poured from 
 on liigh, the \vilderness, notwithstanding the most diligent 
 cultivation, must remain a wilderness still. 
 
 The preacher of the Gospel, whether Itinerant or Local, 
 cannot be too deeply sensible of his own insufficiency in the 
 work of saving souls. It was the trembling exclamation of 
 the great Apostle to the Gentiles, on a prayerful contempla- 
 tion of the magnitude of his ministerial enterprise, viewed in 
 contrast with the sense he entertained of his general want of 
 
154 NECESSITY FOR SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE. 
 
 fitness for so important a work, — "Wlio is sufficient for 
 these tilings ! " Indeed, were not ministerial sufficiency of 
 God, the ministry must be at once abandoned in utter 
 despair by every human being, whatever the quality of his 
 talent or the amount of his piety. The subjects of the 
 Christian ministry present such a variety of aspect, and are 
 armed with such weighty responsibilities, that to approach 
 the office without a due sense of human incompetence, would 
 be an act marked by presumption and fraught with danger. 
 
 To obtain a correct representation of the ministerial office, 
 it is important to grasp the Gospel, not merely in its general 
 outline, but in its character, claims, duties, privileges, weals, 
 woes, and other details, in their diversified application to the 
 ever-varying presentments of the human character. The 
 calculations sometimes founded on the opposition which an 
 ungodly world presents, the barrenness of ministerial labour, 
 the inconstancy of some professors and the inconsistency of 
 others, with many considerations of a kindred nature, fre- 
 quently lead the faithful minister to mourn in secret places 
 before the Lord, and to break forth in the plaintive language 
 of the weeping Prophet : " O that my head were waters, 
 and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day 
 and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.'' 
 — Jer. ix., 1. 
 
 But the Word of God has its delightful counterpoises. 
 " As is thy day, so shall be thy strength." " Lo, I am with 
 you always, even to the end of the world." " In due time 
 ye shall reap, if you faint not." " If in the world ye have 
 tribulation, in me ye have peace." Does Job sink beneath 
 the weight of his complicated calamities ? Let him answer 
 the question : " Though he slay mo, yet will I trust in him." 
 Does David yield to his discouragements and trials ? Listen ; 
 
NECESSITY FOR SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE. 155 
 
 " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
 I will fear no evil, for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy 
 staif they comfoi-t me." Do Paul's trials evoke complaint ? 
 Hear him : " I reckon that the sufferings of the present 
 time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that 
 shall be revealed in us." Let it never be forgotten, that 
 He who 
 
 " Tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," 
 
 will connect support with conflict, invigoration with toil, 
 encouragement with difficulty, reward with labour, and will 
 crown grace with glory. Many natural causes contribute to 
 create discouragement in the mind of a faithful preacher of 
 the Gospel, arising out of the local difficulties with which he 
 may be surroimded. The kingdom of God may be esta- 
 blished in saving power, with but little outward observation. 
 Preachers have to do with principles : consequences are not 
 under their control. The labour is with them : the result is 
 with God. Pictorial representations, if dexterously executed, 
 may receive much enchantment from the skill of the artist ; 
 but no picture of the sun, however beautifully displayed on 
 canvass, can impart heat. The most attractive paintings of 
 rui-al scenery do not give living verdure to fields, nor hang 
 with real fruit the beautifuUy-pendant branches. Fire may 
 be painted so as to give it the distant effect of reality, but 
 it sends forth no warmth. The human figure may be so 
 placed on the canvass as to bring out all its proportions in 
 the nicest order ; but, as Shakspeare says, " there is no 
 speculation in the eyes which it doth glare with." Buffon, 
 the great naturalist, has justly remarked, that no arrange- 
 ment of matter can give mind. There may be the external 
 similitude, the exact profile, the correct lineaments, the 
 perfect outline ; but the lile is wanting ; and as the body 
 
156 MINISTERIAL IMPEDIMENTS. 
 
 would be formed for limited ends if it had not a soul to 
 direct its operations, so the soul, if not fed and led by Divine 
 influences, will have served but few of the purposes of its 
 original creation. No man can properly discharge the duties 
 of the living ministry who has not realised in liis own ex- 
 perience the translation from nature to grace — unless he have 
 travelled from the City of Destruction, as far as the house 
 of the Interpreter, in his progress to the celestial city. A 
 preacher possessed of a strong mind and highly imaginative 
 powers might, without experimental religion, gratify the 
 taste and contribute to the pleasure of persons whose hearts 
 were not strongly imbued with the love of God ; but gratifi- 
 cation is one thing, and edification another. 
 
 Delightful as is the work of the ministry, when the heart 
 glows with generous emotions, and when all the powers are 
 moving in the right direction, yet that work is not without 
 its drawbacks. Impediments, huge and gigantic, sometimes 
 rear their towering heads, and, like Apollyon, spread their 
 dragon wings over the entire breadth of the way. It can 
 excite little astonishment in the contemplative mind, that 
 the work of evangelising the human soul, considering the 
 natural constitution of man, and the varied influences which 
 are constantly exerted by adverse agencies, both human and 
 superhuman, that its advances should be met by impediments 
 at every step it takes in the way to heaven. Without 
 reducing these impediments to categorical distinctions, and 
 showing the amount of positive or relative influence they 
 respectively exert, it may be sufficient to glance at a few 
 which are less dependent on the intrinsic character of the 
 ministry, than on the extrinsic causes which connect them- 
 selves with diflerent spheres of ministerial labour. Thus, a 
 large manufacturing town, where diflerent classes of the 
 
HOW TO BE REMEDIED. 157 
 
 inhabitants become associated in large masses, presents many- 
 obstructions to ministerial usefulness, which have no exist- 
 ence in rural districts, where the facilities of intercommuni- 
 cation between individuals are " few and far between." The 
 moral state of the lower classes in Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Birmingham, and other large towns, to say nothing of Lon- 
 don, is perfectly horrifying. Drunkenness and prostitution, 
 with their usual concomitants, prevail to a frightful extent ; 
 and, through a morbid delicacy, these sinks of iniquity are 
 never religiously visited, — at least, with any practical effect ; 
 and thus those who are grown old in crime are left to form 
 the unformed habits of the youth of both sexes, who too 
 aptly learn the seductive lessons which are taught in such 
 schools of infamy and vice. It will be at once conceded, 
 that the almost moral impossibility of penetrating the dense 
 masses of population in the great hives of iniquity, or of iso- 
 lating the several component parts, renders it extremely 
 difficidt to carry personal instruction, or rebuke, to individual 
 consciences ; a thing so essential to the success of the pulpit 
 ministry. Even the different denominational sections of the 
 Church of Christ, though recognising in common the grand 
 fundamental doctrines of Christianity, are, nevertheless, so 
 extremely jealous of their own peculiar modes of faith and 
 forms of church government, that they consider the frame- 
 work of their separate communities to be endangered, in 
 proportion as they admit the spirit of general unity. 
 This necessarily weakens the native power of the ministry. 
 " Even," says Bridges, " if the respective ministers are men 
 of forbearance and brotherly love, and, in the true spirit of 
 their commission, lay far more stress upon points of agree- 
 ment than upon points of difference, still it is not likely that 
 the same spirit should universally spread through their 
 
158 MINISTERIAL IMPEDIMENTS. 
 
 congregations; and the defect of this mutual forbearance^ often 
 called foi-th by comparative trifles, reminds us, in its baneful 
 consequences, of the observation of St. James, ' Behold how 
 great a matter a little fire kindleth ! ' " Were the general 
 ministry of the Gospel properly organised, combined, and 
 directed against the several points of attack, success would 
 be far more commensurate with its power of operation ; and 
 the visible effects would stand out more prominently, as so 
 many practical exhibitions of the saving influence of the 
 grace of God. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY— VARIOUS KINDS OF PREACHING 
 
 MR. Wesley's directions on preaching — necessity of exhibiting, 
 
 WITH due prominence, THE DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINES OF CHRIS- 
 TIANITY : FAITH, THE NEW BIRTH, THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT, 
 JUSTIFICATION, AND SANCTIFICATION— WHY PREACHING PRODUCES SO 
 
 LITTLE EFFECT — EVENING SOIREES, THEIR MISCHIEVOUS TENDENCY 
 
 ROBERT hall's OPINION — ANECDOTES OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 
 
 On the right discharge of the duties of the ChristiTii Ministry 
 greatly depends the salvation of a lost world. It may 
 at once be presumed, that an embassy of such immeasurable 
 moment must be charged with important duties, as well 
 as invested with responsible powers ; and that everything 
 must be in keeping with the dignity of the Sovereign from 
 whom it has emanated. 
 
 The ministerial office has two great objects : the one inter- 
 mediate, the other ultimate. The fii'st of these objects is 
 set out in 2 Cor. v., 20 : " Now then we are ambassadors 
 for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray 
 you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." The first 
 business, therefore, is to bring about a reconciliation between 
 God and his rebel subjects ; and then to carry on the inter- 
 mediate work, until the two objects are amalgamated in the 
 crowning consummation. 
 
 The duties of a preacher require a considerable acquaint- 
 ance with constructive Christianity, and such a knowledge of 
 the state of his people as may guide him in the selection of 
 
160 DUTIES OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 his subjects, and give tone and effect to the practical applica- 
 tion of the subjects selected. The recommendation given by 
 the Rev. Legh Richmond to a brother minister is full of 
 importance : — " Never preach a single sermon from which 
 an unenlightened hearer might not learn the plan of salva- 
 tion, even though he never afterwards heard another sermon. 
 Sin and salvation are the two grand subjects of our preach- 
 ing, and they ought to be brought forward unceasingly, both 
 doctrinally, practically, and above all, experiifmntally. Preach 
 from the heart, and it will always reach to the heart." 
 
 In preacliing, it is not enough to be instructive. Mere 
 didactical discourses will seldom yield a profitable return. 
 The minister should take a higher aim. Many preachers are 
 exceedingly dictatorial, and appear to try the method of 
 dragooning their congregations into obedience. Others are 
 very argumentative, emplojdng a good deal of logical skill, 
 to establish, by learned proofs ct priori and d, posteriori, 
 what everybody belie ves^namely, the existence of a God. 
 Some reduce a subject to such analytical refinement, as to 
 leave it without any tangible matter at all — a mere bag of 
 bones ; and others give you their sermons in a crude, undi- 
 gested mass, and leave to their hearers the difficult work of 
 analysation. Some sermons aliound with biblical criticisms 
 and varied readings, which show little beyond the ingenuity 
 and learning of the preacher ; others are made up of anec- 
 dotes, fragments of Christian experience, and scraps of 
 poetry, which show as little tast^ as judgment. Some 
 preachers shout as though ministerial effect depended 
 on the strength of tlie lungs ; others are very dreamy and 
 quiet, and make Tip in length what they lack in depth. 
 Some are as clear and cold as a Canadian frosty night ; 
 others are as dark and impenetrable as a Russian winter 
 
MR. Wesley's directions. 161J 
 
 i<>s^. Althougli these excrescences are occasionally found, 
 yet tlie body of tlie Methodist ministry stands second to 
 none in the simplicity of its constitution, tlie fiithfnlness of 
 its discharge,, the energy of its operations, or the majesty of 
 its results. 
 
 At the Conference held in London in 1763, the following 
 directions were given to the preachers respecting the method, 
 the manner, and the subject of their preaching : — 
 
 "I. The method. They were — 1. To itiYite. 2. To convince. 3. To 
 offer Christ. 4. To build up, and to do this in some measure in every 
 sermon. 
 
 "II. The manner. 1. To begin and end precisely at the time. 2. To 
 suit their subjects to their audience, and to choose the plainest texts 
 they could. 3. To be serious, weighty, and solemn, in their whole 
 deportment before the congregations ; and to tell each other if they 
 observed any deviation from these rules. 
 
 "III. The subject. 1. To preach Christ in all his offices, and to 
 declare his law, as well as his Gospel, to believers and unbelievers. 
 2. To insist upon practical religion in general, and upon relative duties 
 in particular. 3. To preach against Sabbath-breaking, dram-drinking, 
 evil speaking, unprofitable conversation, lightness, gaiety, or expensive- 
 ness of apparel, and contracting debts without sufficient care to dis- 
 chai'ge them. In a word, to preach against all kinds of vice, and to call 
 the people to general repentance, in order to prevent a general visita- 
 tion ; for national sins call aloud for national judgments." 
 
 Eighty-six years have elapsed since these curt, but pithy, 
 directions were entered uj^on the Connexional records ; and, 
 though time has introduced many new elements into the 
 ministry of Methodism, adapted to the many improvements 
 in the social state, yet they are as applicable to the times in 
 which we live, as those in which they were originally wiitten. 
 
 The author is of opinion that the distinguishing doctrines 
 of Methodism do not, in the present day, stand out in that 
 prominent relief wliich they did prior to the death of IVIr. 
 Wesley. It is true that faith, which is the key-stone in the 
 instrumental arch of Christianity, Is occasionally brought 
 
162 FAITH. 
 
 before our people, but generally in so vague and indetermi- 
 nate a manner, as to be totally useless for all practical pur- 
 poses. In the perorations of our pulpit discourses, congre- 
 gations are often called upon to believe ; but, although no 
 exhortation is more frequent, it is oft, like a spectre, impal- 
 pable to the touch. A hand-book of faith, adapted to the 
 ordinary standards of comprehension, and varied by every 
 form of familiar illustration which it is capable of receiving, 
 is still a desideratum ; and the man who possesses the compe- 
 tence for such an important, though difficult, undertaking, 
 and would lay that competence under contribution for such 
 an object, would deserve the everlasting benediction of his 
 race. 
 
 On the subject of faith much darkness and error exist. 
 The principle and the act are frequently confounded. Faith 
 and believing are sometimes indifferently used by the sacred 
 writers ; and, therefore, whenever the term faith is employed, 
 we have to determine by the connection in which it stands, 
 whether the principle or the act is to be understood. Believ- 
 ing is the act of faith, just as seeing is the act of sight. We 
 have eyes, but we may close them if we please, and so defeat 
 the purposes for wliich they were given. And although we 
 may be blessed with moral vision, yet even that capability 
 is held in connection with a power (a power which, alas ! is 
 too commonly exercised) of closing the eyes of the soul, and, 
 by consequence, of shutting out the light of salvation, so 
 that infidelity is less negative than positive in its character. 
 Sometimes abstract truths are rendered more clear by plain 
 illustrations. Believing, i.e., the act of faith, may be said to 
 rise in a graduated scale, thus : the first degree is persuasion ; 
 the second, conviction ; the third, trust ; and the fourth, assur- 
 ance, at which point of the scale pardon is communicated. 
 
FAITH. 1G3 
 
 Then follow, in an upward ratio, first peace, then adoption, 
 then joy, and onward until the meetness for glory is acquired. 
 This may receive a further illustration, by comparing its 
 gradations of exercise to a man ascending an eminence. The 
 first step in advance gains upon the summit, but it requires 
 a succession of steps before the summit is gained ; so it is in 
 believing. The lowest degree of its exercise is a step towards 
 justification ; but until the point of assurance is gained, the 
 work is incomplete. Many seekers of salvation transpose 
 the order of things in the economy of salvation, and look for 
 the fruits or evidences of faith the instant they make the 
 experiment, which is somewhat like looking for the harvest 
 as soon as the seed is cast into the ground, or for the fi-uit 
 the instant the tree is planted. Our faith has to be tested, 
 tried, proved. We have to show whether we can trust where 
 we cannot trace. Our faith must not only take hold, but 
 keep hold, of the great Gospel sacrifice. Belie\dng is a con- 
 tinuous act ; like Jacob's ladder, its foot is placed on the 
 earth, but its top reaches to the throne of God. 
 
 The author makes these remarks with the fullest convic- 
 tion, that believing is the sole instrument in the initial 
 salvation of the sinner ; that sinners are reconciled to God 
 by a simple act of trust in the Atonement, without any 
 reference to works in any sense whatever. What he contends 
 for is, that although believing may, when fairly brought into 
 exercise, run up the scale as rapidly as the quicksilver in 
 the thermometer on some sudden transition in the state of 
 the atmosphere, yet that it must arrive at the point of trust, 
 which constitutes assurance, before it can obtain the blessing 
 of pardon, for which its exercise is applied. Such a belief is 
 not a cold, dry, speculative sentimentalism, wliich is akin to 
 infidelity ; but a warm, generous, actuating principle, which 
 
 m2 
 
1 04 FAITH. 
 
 embodies and fijenerates all the best elements of practical 
 Christianity. It is the faith that opens heaven ; the faith 
 that revolutionises the soul ; the faith that carries the 
 conquest and seizes on the syjoil ; the faith that soars " on 
 eagles' wins^s and scales the mount of heaven :" the faith 
 
 that — 
 
 " Laughs at impossibilities, 
 And cries it shall be done." 
 
 But who has this faith in the present day? That is a 
 question much more easily asked than answered. Much of 
 the faith that is current amongst us is spurious — is counter- 
 feit. It is assent without confidence ; persuasion without 
 reliance ; belief without trust. It sends not up the incense 
 cloud to heaven ; it imparts no leavening influence ; it 
 breathes no hallowed fire ; it rises not in the scale of spiritual 
 elevation ; it is fixed and stationary, below the freezing 
 point ; clear it may be, but cold as Zero. Where are the 
 mighty men, the giants of former days ? those moving 
 pillars of living fire? those lofty spirits, whose upward glance 
 attracted the smile of heaven ? those restless souls who wore 
 out their bodies by the continual friction of agonising- 
 prayer ? Where are they ? Echo answers — Where ? Alas ! 
 they are " 'minished from the sons of men." Our race is 
 deteriorated in moral strength and stature. Shadows super- 
 sede substances ; signs take the places of things, and 
 well-constructed ceremonials have elbowed out the unpre- 
 tending simplicity of devotional piety. It is true that 
 professional credit is taken for growth in religion, and many 
 stand high on the stilts of pretension ; but — 
 
 '' Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch 'd on Alps," 
 
 With all the parade of extemalism ; the running to-and- 
 fro, the activity and bustle, the loud and lengthy prayers, 
 
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. HiO 
 
 the rich and talented sermons ; with ail the improvements 
 in the moral and religious machinery with which our age is 
 so replete ; it cannot be concealed that our faith stands in 
 word, not in deed ; in theory, not in application ; in pro- 
 fessional statements, not in practical exhibitions. 
 
 How beautifully descriptive of the power and propei-ties of 
 saving faith are the words of our poet : — 
 " Faith lends its realising light, 
 
 The clouds disperse, the shadows fly ; 
 The invisible appears in sight. 
 And God is seen by mortal eye." 
 
 The twin doctrines of the new birth and the witness of 
 the Spirit appear in our pulpits with as little prominence as 
 that to which their experimental application is instrumen- 
 tally ascribed ; namely, faith. In the early days of our 
 Connexional history, pastoral questions on these fundamental 
 points were much more close and searching than at present. 
 The questions then put to members of our classes, irrespec- 
 tive of their social position, were something like the 
 following : — " Are your sins pardoned 1 Are you born 
 again 1 Have you the abiding witness of the Spirit ?" And 
 these questions were expected to be answered, not in vague 
 generalities, but with categorical definiteness. The distinc- 
 tion between a sort and a servant was then clearly defined ; 
 but these distinctions are now to a lamentable extent con- 
 founded. What was then the rule is now the exception ; 
 and inferences are substituted for direct evidences as to the 
 internal state of our people generally. 
 
 On the subject of the witness of the Spirit, Mr. Wesley 
 was extremely tenacious. In a sermon which he preached 
 at Newry, in 1767, on Rom. viii. IG, in explanation and 
 defence of this doctrine, — a doctrine which is held by the 
 Methodists in contradistinction from all Congregational 
 
166 WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Churches, — he observes : " It more immediately concerns 
 the Methodists so-called clearly to understand, explain, and 
 defend this doctrine ; because it is one grand part of the 
 testimony which God has given them to bear to all mankind. 
 It is by his peculiar blessing upon them, in searching the 
 Scriptures, confirmed by the experience of his children, that 
 this great evangelical truth has been recovered, which had 
 been for many years well nigh lost and forgotten." 
 
 The author is aware that the doctrine of adoption into the 
 family of God, witnessed to the believer's heart by the direct 
 testimony of the Holy Spirit, has been stigmatised by the 
 world as the mere dream of visionaries and fanatics. We 
 have been tauntingly asked, by the adversaries of inwrought 
 and inruling religion, how the work of conversion can be 
 known 1 how the pardon of sins can be ascertained 1 It is 
 readily admitted, that, by the unbelieving world, these expe- 
 rimental realities cannot be ascertained, and for a plain 
 reason, — a reason given by the Holy Ghost, and, therefore, 
 entitled to consideration : " The natural man receiveth not 
 the things of the Spirit of God ; they are foolishness to him." 
 But, why 1 Simply because they are spiritually discerned, 
 and he has no spiritual discernment. You may just as well, 
 therefore, attempt to describe colours to a blind man, or 
 sounds to one who is deaf, as to describe inward religion to 
 those who are strangers to its power and influence. Grace 
 must be felt to be understood, in its power, operation, and 
 tendencies; otherwise the natural man, on looking at the 
 question, will naturally fall back on the exclamation of 
 Nicodemus, " How can these things be 1 " 
 
 The consecutive doctrines of justification and sanctifica- 
 tion are, like the other distinguishing doctrines of our 
 community, far less frequently brought before our people 
 
JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 167 
 
 than they ought to be. We seldom hear a sermon on either 
 of these doctrines. They appear to have been virtually placed 
 under the ban of repudiation ; or, that the standard of 
 Christian experience had been lowered, and, therefore, the 
 necessity for their practical exhibition had either ceased to 
 exist, or had been considerably narrowed. We cannot raise 
 the standard of religion, either experimental or practical, too 
 high. The more prominently its great discriminating 
 features are brought out, the more stable become the safe- 
 guards of our public and private security. 
 
 We can only draw one of two inferences : either that the 
 doctrines are not experienced in their saving power and 
 influence ; or else the distinctions between them are not 
 sufficiently understood. Dr. Bennett has given to the world 
 a number of instances, in which they are clearly distinguish- 
 able from each other : — 
 
 " Justification and sanctification agi'ee in the following points : — 
 
 " They are both essential to our salvation from the state into which 
 we ai-e ftillen, and from the dangers to which we are exposed. 
 
 " Both are sovereign favours bestowed on us by the God of salvation. 
 
 " Both came to us through the redemption that is in Christ. 
 
 " In both the operation of the Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ. 
 
 " Both are designed to honour the law, and government, and gi-ace of 
 God. 
 
 *' Both ai-e, therefore, enjoyed by all believers, and by believers only. 
 But the two blessings differ in various ways. 
 
 "Justification is specially related to the rectitude of God's govern- 
 ment ; sanctification relates to the holiness of God's natm-e. 
 
 '" Justification is an act ; sanctification is a process. 
 
 " Justification is the sentence of the Father, as moral governor on the 
 throne of gi-ace ; sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in the 
 temple of the heart. 
 
 " Justification changes our state ; sanctification is a change of our 
 natvu-e or character, 
 
 " In justification we ai-e pronounced righteous ; by sanctification we 
 are made holy. 
 
 " Justification is tlie acceptance of our person into God's favour ; 
 sanctification is the renewal of cm" heait into God's image. 
 
168 LITTLE EFFECT FROM PREACHING. 
 
 " Justification, therefore, is a forensic tenai, expressive of God's juris- 
 diction over us; sauctification is catharistic, expressing God's moral 
 influence over us. 
 
 " In justification the guilt of sin is remitted ; in sanctification its de- 
 filement is cleansed. 
 
 " Justification gives a title to heaven ; sanctification a fitness for it. 
 
 " Justification is by union to Christ, as the law's fulfiller ; sanctifica- 
 tion, by union to him as the purifier. 
 
 " Justification comes by uniting us to Christ as om- legal head ; sane- 
 4fication, by miiting us to him as our vital head. 
 
 " Justification is by faith only on our part ; sanctification is by many 
 means, chiefly the Word and prayer, but also by ordinances and afflic- 
 tions, under the influence of the Spirit. 
 
 " Justification is complete as soon as we believe ; sanctification then 
 commences amid great imperfections. 
 
 " Justification may be referred to a known definite time ; sanctifica- 
 tion is spread over the whole life. 
 
 " In justification there is no difference among believers ; in sanctifica- 
 tion there are great varieties. 
 
 " Justification comes fii'st as the root ; sanctification follows as the 
 fruit. 
 
 " Justification, therefore, may be known by sanctification. 
 
 " Justification pronounces our title to the enjoyment of heaven ; sanc- 
 tification is given to fulfil the sentence." * 
 
 Why, it may be asked, do the labours of the pulpit pro- 
 duce so little effect upon the masses who attend the public 
 ministry of the Gospel 1 Why is it that a formal profession 
 of Christianity is accepted, throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land, as a substitute for the renovation of the heart 
 and the fruits of the Sj^irit of God 1 Why is it that specula- 
 tive infidelity is so rife and rampant in our thickly-populated 
 districts, and so much to be deplored in its practical 
 
 * The distinction between a justified and a sanctified state may be shown 
 by a simi:)le illustration. Fill two decanters with water, the one from a 
 pure spilng, and the other from a running brook, whose waters have been 
 rendered turbid by a heavy fall of rain. In the morning the water in both 
 decanters will appear equally clear, but on shaking them the difference will 
 be immediately ajiparent ; for, whilst the spring water will remain un- 
 affected by the action of shaking, the other will instantly show its dregs. 
 
LITTLE EFFECT FROM PUEACHING. 169 
 
 exenipliticatioiis ^ Why is it that popuhir (nitbreaks so 
 daringly threaten the safeguards of moral and social order I 
 Much of this may be attributed to the loose and indeteiminate 
 manner in which the fundamental doctrines of Christianity 
 are exhibited in our pulpit ministrations, and the absence of 
 close personal application. If there were more clearness of 
 description, and more earnestness of appeal ; if the distin- 
 guisliing doctrines of Christianity were more faithfully 
 brought out^ its duties and sanctions more clearly defined, 
 and more practically enforced ; if the symbols of the Divine 
 gloiy were more frequently invoked ; if there were more 
 pathos and prayer efflised and blent in pulpit exercises, then 
 the apothegm, " like priest like people," instead of being 
 used as a reproach, would be set up as the clistiiictive badge 
 of ministerial glory. 
 
 If the great body of our preachei's were men of highly- 
 cultivated piety, uniformly devoted to the spiiit of the work 
 in which they are engaged, they would instinunentally efiect 
 a moral revolution within their respective spheres of action. 
 The influence of their principles, practically developed, would 
 leaven that part of the commimity on which their piety and 
 zeal were brought to act, and the moral character of our 
 congregations, and especially of our young members, would 
 be far less liable to be affected by accident or impulse, than 
 under the existing state of things. 
 
 On a pruiia fade view, it seems almost a libel on the 
 ministerial character to give expression to hints which 
 involve a suspicion of the spiiitual integrity of those who 
 minister between " the porch and the altar ;" because the 
 preacher of righteousness is supposed to be an impersonation 
 of the Gospel in its broad requirements, — an embodiment of 
 the active and passive graces of Christianity, — a living 
 
170 LITTLE EFFECT FROM PREACHING. 
 
 exhibition of the power and influence of converting grace in 
 its successive stages, from commencement to consummation. 
 
 A minister of religion is a beacon, a pilot, a guide. Though 
 but a single item of the great community, he concentrates in 
 his character a large amount of moral power and influence, 
 and a still larger amount of moral responsibility. Every act 
 he performs, every word he utters, is influential. He never 
 moves without giving an impulse to some power, a vibration 
 to some of the chords of life which bear upon the moral 
 economy. He takes his place in the social circle ; every one 
 takes his cue from him^ he is the soul and centre of the 
 party ; he utters a hon mot, it feeds the pleasurable 
 vivacity of his hearers ; another and another follows, and 
 though there may be nothing wrong in the subjects 
 broached, yet the tendencies are all in the wrong direction. 
 Associations are awakened and feelings excited, which, whilst 
 they promote the natural levity of the mind, operate as a 
 countercheck to emotions of an upward aspect and bearing j 
 and sometimes become the instruments of incalculable and 
 irreparable mischief.* Most evils, says a practical writer, 
 flatter in their rise, but their beginnings are dangerous, their 
 growth imperceptible, and the evils they carry in their train 
 lie concealed until their dominion is firmly established. 
 " The beginning of strife," says Solomon, " is as when one 
 
 * It is related of the Rev. James Hervey, one of the pious and excellent 
 contemporaries of the Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, that, during the 
 latter part of his ministry, he seldom appeared in company ; and, although 
 frequently invited to grace by his presence the social circle, yet he uni- 
 formly declined. On one occasion, being requested by an intimate friend 
 to assign a reason for his conduct, he made a reply which was alike honour- 
 able to his character both as a minister and a Christian : " There are few 
 families belonging to my congregation where the conversation turns upon 
 the deep things of God. I hear much religious chit-chat, and but little of 
 Christ ; and I have made up my mind never to go into any company where 
 there is not room for my Master as well as for myself." 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 171 
 
 letteth out water ; he knowetli not where it may end." It 
 issues from a small chink, wliich might easily have been 
 stopped, but, being neglected, it is widened by the current, 
 until the bank is thrown down, and the flood left at liberty 
 to deluge the plain. The talented author of " Mammon" 
 has observed : " The most casual remark lives for ever in its 
 effects ; every word has a moral history ; and hence it is 
 that every idle word that men shall speak assumes a 
 character so important as to become the subject of inquest 
 at the Day of Judgment." 
 
 Social intercourse, when regulated by right principles and 
 carried out by legitimate means, greatly contributes to pro- 
 mote the best ends and interests of life. It serves to 
 strengthen the bonds by which mind is bound to kindi-ed 
 mind, to increase the cementing power of social unity ; and, 
 when properly conducted, it receives and confers reciprocal 
 advantages. 
 
 This is, however, what social intercourse should be — not 
 what it is. Within the domain of Methodism, where the 
 distinctions of caste are found, it has become fashionable with 
 the upper classes of society to give their evening parties. It 
 is true the preacher is usually invited to occupy the modera- 
 tor's chair, and to give a tone to the party. But, instead of 
 these select coteries being sources of useful information, or 
 vehicles of spiritual edification, they too often difiuse a mias- 
 matic influence, and poison all the purer spi'ings of devotional 
 piety. " I will not experimentalise upon my constitution," 
 said the venerable and pious Rowland Hill, "in order to 
 ascertain what quantity of poison it will bear ^vithout 
 endangering my life. I will take no poison at all. I will 
 not run the risk of breaking my leg, because I am told that 
 in the ueighboiu'hood resides an experienced bone-setter. I 
 
172 EVENING SOIREES. 
 
 will not place myself within the desolating iniiuence of a 
 putrid fever, because I aui told that an infallible febiifuge 
 has been discovered. I will endeavour to keep out of harm's 
 way, because I have learnt the policy of the maxim, ' Preven- 
 tion is better than cure.'" An inspired writer asks : "Can 
 a man take fire into his bosom and his clothes not be burnt 1 " 
 Would a man be likely to escape a plague who deliberately 
 })laced himself in the focus of the pestilential miasma? 
 Would a man who was seeking the salvation of his soul, 
 expect to find it in the carousals of obstreperous hilarity ? 
 Would the Levitical high priests have descended from their 
 functional elevation and immediate intercourse with God, to 
 participate in the frivolities of fashionable worldliness? 
 Would Paul, or Peter, or the beloved John, have sought to 
 grace the apostolic dignity, by joining in the levities of 
 evening soirees ? Would John Wesley, who was as covetous 
 of time as a miser is of gold, have eiFected the moral 
 revolution which he instrumentally achieved, if he had 
 " whiled " away his evenings at private pai-ties ? These 
 are questions which require no comment — they enforce their 
 own appeal. 
 
 The author makes these remarks with the fact in mind, 
 that these private soirees generally escape the censures not 
 only of the world, but of the church. But so far from being 
 the less dangerous on account of their falling so little under 
 human censure, they are the more so on that very account. 
 " If," as Andrew Fuller justly remarks, " we are guilty 
 of anything which exposes us to the reproaches of those 
 about us, such reproofs may assist the remonstrances of our 
 consciences, and lead us to examine and correct our lives in 
 the sight of God ; but of those things of which the world 
 acquit us, we shall be too much disposed to acquit ourselves." 
 
ROBERT hall's OPINION. 173 
 
 A fashionaljle evening party, wliero the conversation is nsnally 
 light and fVivolons ; where popnlar music puts forth its vocal 
 and instrumental charms ; where wit excites laughter, and 
 laughter excites wit ; where the mind becomes less or more 
 intoxicated by the vivacity and pleasure which the enchant- 
 ment imparts to the scene, is not the most fitting place for 
 a minister, who has to denounce in the pulpit what he 
 tolerates in the drawing-room. " All I sir," said Robert Hall 
 to a friend, on leaving a party which had been distinguisliod 
 by gaiety and brilliance, " I have again contributed to the 
 loss of an evening, as to everjrfching truly valuable ; go home 
 with me, that we may spend at least one hour in a manner 
 which becomes us." 
 
 A minister of religion should never lose sight of the 
 awakening fact, that Christianity is not only a religion of 
 truth and purity, — it is a religion of honesty. Men around 
 us, whether religious or profane, will set up the ministers of 
 the Gospel as standards, not only of doctrine, but of morals. 
 The hackneyed proverb, which is applied to a large class of 
 ministers, " Do as I say, and not as I do," is the standing 
 reproach to the ministry in a Christian land. Congregations 
 will be much more disposed to draw theii* conclusions of the 
 moral integrity and purity of the ministerial character from 
 what they see in the conduct of ministers, than from what 
 they hear in their pulpit discourses. On this estimate the 
 conduct of David, in one melancholy instance, is said to have 
 given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blas- 
 pheme j and acts of public or private dereliction in temple 
 fiinctionaries operate now precisely as they did in David's 
 day. Whatever of an adverse character is done by a minis- 
 ter in holy things, is ascribed not so much to his private as 
 to his official character : and hence un-Christian conduct 
 
174 OPINIONS. 
 
 bears false witness for God, and gives a false representation 
 of his Gospel to the world. 
 
 " Oh ! " said a pious divine, when contemplating, amid the 
 extensive wreck of public morals, the little conformity with 
 Christian principle he found among the standard-bearers of 
 the Cross, " how little of pure Christianity is retained. Either 
 we are not Christians, or Christianity is not true ! " Need it be 
 remarked, that, even among the ministers of our solemnities, 
 there is too much levity and too little devotional feeling ; 
 too much worldly conformity and too little abstraction of 
 mind and manners ; too much external show and pretension 
 and too little of the inwrought power of transforming godli- 
 ness ; too much regard paid to mere circumstantials and too 
 little to the inward renovation of the heart. It is true these 
 things are admitted and deplored ; but they are, neverthe- 
 less, tolerated and practised.* 
 
 If, as is observed by a distinguished living divine, every 
 individual infected by a moral disease is surrounded by an 
 atmosphere combining the principal elements of that disease, 
 and that every person, not previously infected, who comes in 
 contact with that infected atmosphere, inhales its properties, 
 and becomes less or more affected by the influence it has upon 
 
 ■* The Rev, James Hervey, to whom reference was made in a preceding 
 note, had a pecuUar tact in conveying rebuke, and of turning the subject of 
 that rebuke into a means of instructive advantage. On one occasion, during 
 the early part of his public life, he was invited to meet a select party at tea. 
 After tea, cards were introduced, and Mr. Hervey was politely asked 
 whether he had any objection to join in that amusement. On his replying 
 in the negative, the card-table was duly placed, the cards brought out, and 
 the party about to commence the game. At this moment Mr. Hervey rose, 
 and, with great solemnity of manner, said, " Let us first ask a blessing." 
 "Oh! sir," said one of the party, "we never ask a blessing upon cards." 
 *' Don't you ? " rejoined the minister of God ; ''then I dare not play. / 
 cannot join in any amusement upon which I cannot ask the blessing of God! " 
 It is needless to add that the cards were put aside. The remote effect has to 
 be told in another day. 
 
OPINIONS. 175 
 
 his moral system ; then we see clearly how the deadly 
 miasma is communicated. A number of individuals in a 
 party of this kind are under a morbid influence ; the conta- 
 gion is caught by all who come in contact with them. It 
 spreads, increases, prevails, until all are contaminated ; and 
 the only difference between them is, not that which is observ- 
 able between sickness and health, but that which is perceptible 
 between the different stages of the same disease ; and, there- 
 fore, whatever measure of hallowed feeling a man takes with 
 him into a social party of this kind, it will be a miracle if he 
 takes any away. It will all be absorbed. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 KKSPONSIBILITY OF THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE — ST. PAUL'S PREACHING AND 
 WRITINliS— BUNYAN'S VIEW OF THE MINISTRY — HIS OWN METHOD UK 
 
 PREACiiixr, — Baxter's preaching — reflections on popular preach- 
 ing — Baxter's opinion of preaching generally. 
 
 As the Christian minister is invested with the highest official 
 dignity that can possibly be conferred upon a human being, 
 it is expected that the character and bearings of a preacher 
 of the Gospel should comport, in all respects, with the distin- 
 guished office which he sustains, and the responsible results 
 which that office involves. The responsibility which he 
 incurs is public as well as private. He embodies and exerts 
 an influence which must operate for good or evil throughout 
 the circle of which he is the centre ; and where so much is at 
 stake,— the gain so great, the loss so irreparable, — it becomes 
 him to act with the greatest circumspection. He is to live 
 and act in vital union with Christ ; to be one with him in 
 spirit, motive, design, interest, and aim. He is broadly and 
 unequivocally to demonstrate, in his conduct, the power and 
 purity of the Gospel of the grace of God ; and practically to 
 illustrate, in all the manifestations of his life, the commanding 
 verity and operative influence of regenerative godliness. His 
 motives are to be ingenuous and unalloyed, his conduct open 
 and unambiguous, and his whole life not only above guilt, but 
 above suspicion. He is to abjure the world, in its spirit, 
 principles, and end; to have no communion with its disci- 
 ples, no identity with its interests, no appetite for its amuse- 
 ments, and no sympathy with its aims ; but to pursue a 
 
MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 177 
 
 retired and separate walk, and towards its acknowledged 
 votaries to maintain a distant and studied reserve. He is 
 expected to show in his forehead the white stone bearing the 
 mystical inscription, as the seal of his adoption, and to exhibit 
 in full attestation and relief the substantial evidences of 
 inwrought and inriding transformation. Having placed on 
 record a solemn pledge to consecrate his entire life to God, in 
 motive, manner, means, and end, he can only redeem that 
 pledge by devoting himself to his work without truce, or com- 
 promise, or reservation. 
 
 Such a minister will never want incentives to labour, nor 
 a field in which that labour may be profitably employed. 
 The salvation of souls is his ^;7*M?ir«, media, ultima — liis polar 
 star ; and from this point of convergence, all the rays of his 
 spiritual character are difiused around their common centre. 
 
 There is something exceedingly solemn and afiecting in 
 the ministerial charge given by Paul to Timothy (2 Tim. iv. 
 1, et seq.), especially when we consider the circumstances 
 under wliich it was delivered. The A2:«ostle, at tha* time a 
 prisoner under Nero, was standing on the confines of both 
 worlds : the one receding from sight, the other appearing in 
 full \dew ; and with all the weight of motive drawn from 
 such a presentment, regardless of his own death, or the cir- 
 cumstances of torture by which it might be accompanied, he 
 appears to have but one object of solicitude, and that is the 
 spread of the Gospel of Jesus : " I charge thee, therefore, 
 before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Avho shall judge the 
 quick and dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, preach 
 the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, 
 rebuke, exhort, with all longsufiering and doctrine. Watch 
 thou in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evan- 
 gelist, give full proof of thy ministry." 
 
 N 
 
178 ST. Paul's preaciiixo. 
 
 Tlie Apostle, like a wise and skilful minister of Jesus 
 Christ, adopted a great variety of method, both in his 
 preaching and writings, with the view more effectually to 
 accomplish the objects of his important and difficult mission. 
 Sometimes he hurled the thunders of Divine vengeance, to 
 rouse those whom he found in the treacherous calm of 
 spiritual death ; at others, he employed the mild persuasives 
 of the Gospel, to encourage and lead onward the faint and 
 feeble-minded. Sometimes he led his hearers to Sinai's trem- 
 bling mount, and showed them the unmitigated iDenalties of a 
 broken law ; at others, he led them to Calvary's suffering 
 summit, and pointed them to the Lamb of God, that taketh 
 away the sin of the world. Sometimes he laid open the 
 caverns of misery and despair, to intimidate the bold and 
 adventurous votaries of sin ; at others, he unveiled the 
 glories of heaven, to ravish the hearts and inflame the love of 
 the sanctified disciples of Jesus. On some occasions his learn- 
 ing and eloquence burst forth with such resistless power as to 
 astonish •and confound the philosophers of Greece and Rome ; 
 on others, the learning of the scholar was merged in tlie 
 simplicity of the Christian, and he left the feet of Gamaliel 
 to sit at the feet of Christ. Indeed, he employed every 
 diversity of mode and subject, so as to meet every variety of 
 case, that he might become " all things to all men ;" — not for 
 his own aggrandisement, but for the glory of God. 
 
 With what admirable skill he adapts his varied instruc- 
 tions to an almost infinite diversity of persons, occasions, and 
 circumstances : to their strength or feebleness ; their progress 
 or decay ; their mistaken or wilful abuses ; their different 
 capacities, advantages, or disadvantages. With what effect 
 does he deal out mildness or vehemence, tenderness or 
 sharpness, affection or reproof; so that, in the particular 
 
MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 179 
 
 administration of the duties of his office, he miglit approve him- 
 self "a workman that needed not to be asliamed," — a faithful 
 steward of the mysteries of God ; thereby showing, that as 
 much wisdom was required in building the spiritual edifice 
 under the Christian dispensation, as was imparted to Bezaleel 
 and Aholiab for the construction of the tabernacle under the 
 Levitical economy. Were this model faithfully followed, 
 the Gospel would be far more successful in its moral con- 
 quests, and the responsibilities of its ministers would be far 
 less trembling than they are under the present state of 
 things. 
 
 The responsibility of the ministerial office will appear with 
 commanding force and clearness, if we rightly estimate the 
 important results which are connected with, and dependent 
 upon, the discharge of its functional duties. It should con- 
 stantly be borne in mind by every minister of the Gospel 
 that in the great and eventful day, when acts and motives 
 will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and 
 when the destinies of futurity Avill be irreversibly fixed 
 and determined, an inquiry will be instituted into every 
 man's work, and a comparison made between the talents 
 which each minister has received and the returns he has 
 yielded ; and that such inquiiy will go to the extent of 
 demanding an account of the use and improvement of every 
 talent. The minister who received ten talents will have to 
 account for the whole ten ; the minister who received five 
 will have to account for five ; he who received two Avdll have 
 to account for two ; and he who received one mil have to 
 account for one : so that it mil be no answer to the ques- 
 tion, by a minister, that he has made some improvement, 
 unless his improvement shall have been correspondent with 
 the talents he has rfcf^ived, bnUi in quality and amount. 
 
 N -2 
 
1<S0 bunyan's view of the ministry. 
 
 It should never be forgotten tliat every Gospel minister is 
 a steward, and not a jyrojmetor, of the gifts and graces with 
 which he is endowed ; and, therefore, the promotion of the 
 purposes of God's mercy and grace is the trust and condition 
 on which those powers are committed to hira. "Whatever 
 other use he may make of them mil stand him in no stead, 
 or be admitted as any proof of his fidelity, in the day of 
 reckoning. He may cultivate his understanding by learning, 
 and extend his researches through all the subjects of human 
 inquiry ; but if his object be his own gratification, that is 
 not serving God, but himself So again, his talent may be 
 of the highest order, and exercised with the nicest skill ; but 
 if it be made a stepping-stone to the acquirement of 
 popularity, or power, or place, the object and means will 
 both be denounced by the Judge of the whole earth. 
 
 Bunyan, in his account of his call to the ministry, 
 feelingly refers to the deep exercises and breathings of his 
 soul for the salvation of his fellow-men. " In my preaching 
 I have often really been in pain, and have, as it were, 
 travailed to bring forth children to God ; neither could I be 
 satisfied unless some finiit did appear in my work. . If I 
 were fruitless, it mattered not who commended me ; but, if I 
 were fruitful, I cared not who did condemn. If any of those 
 who were awakened under my ministry did, after that, fall 
 back (as sometimes too many did), I can truly say their loss 
 hath been more to me than if my own children, begotten of 
 my own body, hsd been going to the grave. I think, verily, 
 I may speak it without any ofience to the Lord, notliing 
 has gone so near me as that, unless it was the fear of the 
 loss of the salvation of my own soul. I have counted as if I 
 had goodly buildings and lordships in those places where my 
 children were born. My heart has been so wrapped up in 
 
Baxter's preaching. 181 
 
 the glory of this excellent work, tliat I counted myself more 
 
 blessed and honoured of God by this than if he had made me 
 
 emperor of the Christian world, or the lord of all the glory of 
 
 the earth without it. O ! these words : — ' He that converteth 
 
 a sinner from the error of his ways doth save a soul from 
 
 death. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life ; and he 
 
 that winneth souls is wise. They that be wise shall shine as 
 
 the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
 
 righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. For what is 
 
 our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing ? Are not ye even 
 
 in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? 
 
 For ye are our glory and joy !' These, I say, with many 
 
 others of a like nature, have been great refreshments to me." 
 
 The divine Baxter was evidently actuated by a kindred 
 
 spirit in the prosecution of the solemn and responsible 
 
 objects which his ministry contemplated : — 
 
 " I preached, as never sure to preach again, 
 And as a dying man to dying men !" 
 
 One of his recent biogi^aphers* has given to the world a 
 
 vivid account of his style of preaching, and thence drawn 
 
 some important reflections on a style of preacliing in which 
 
 many young men of education indulge : — " He preached 
 
 Christ crucified in a crucified style, without ever diverting 
 
 his hearers by extravagance, or offending them by coarseness. 
 
 He never ranged over poetical fields to cull flowers for his 
 
 sermons. All his flowers, and many of them are of the 
 
 loveliest and freshest hues, grew out of his subject ; and 
 
 there he let them stand, because they were either medicinal 
 
 or nourisliing to his hearers, as well as beautiful to their 
 
 sight. He preached as feeling that the truths of God were 
 
 too great and too glorious in themselves to be covered up 
 
 * The Rev. T. W. Jenkyn, D.D., President of Coward College. 
 
182 Baxter's preaching. 
 
 with the little trappings of human adornments. He would 
 as soon have thought of hanging the rainbow with corals, as 
 of dressing the Cross with tinsel. His eloquence consisted 
 in fit thoughts, and not in rounded sentences. Consummate 
 and ready dialectician as he was, he very rarely or never 
 introduced metaphysics into his sermons. Sometimes, in- 
 deed, as has been recorded, he would say something profound 
 or abstruse, just to convince his hearers that his plain 
 preaching, and his simple style, were not to be traced either 
 to a feeble intellect, or to a superficial knowledge ; still he 
 was never a metaphysical essayist in the pulpit ; he never 
 preached a sermon to display his scholastic learning, or his 
 powers of logic ; but his aim was ever to win souls to Christ." 
 
 " His sermons are all distinguished for directness of purpose and 
 singleness of aim. He neither preached about his hearers, nor at them, 
 but to them. All his sermons have a given and intelHgible aim, which 
 stood directly and prominently before his eye, and that was the heart 
 or the conscience. He aimed at producing impression, and producing 
 it while he was yet speaking : he, therefore, never sent his hearers home 
 to decide, but always insisted on ' Now or never.' In preaching, his 
 heart burnt within him ; and, while he was speaking, a live coal from 
 the altar fired his sermon ^ith seraphic fervour. Into his pulpit he 
 brought all the energies and sympathies of his entire nature. He had a 
 large mind, an acute intellect, a melting heart, a holy soul, a kindling 
 eye, and a ' moving voice ; ' and he called on all that was within him to 
 aid him in his preaching. Being deeply earnest himself, he wished his 
 hearers to be deeply earnest also. Himself being a burning light, he 
 wished to flash the hallowed fire into the hearts of others. He seems 
 never to have studied action or the ' start theatric' The only teacher 
 that gave him lessons in action and attitude was feeling, — real, genuine, 
 holy feeling ; and this taught him how to look, how to move, and how 
 to speak. In preaching, as well as in everything religious, he believed, 
 with Paul, that ' it is good to be always zealously affected ; ' and, con- 
 sequently, that earnest, fervid preaching is truly apostolic." 
 
 On this most important, but nearly exploded, mode of 
 preaching, Mr. Baxter's biographer makes the following 
 awakening reflections : — 
 
Baxter's preaching. 183 
 
 " Would God that there had beeu, in the Chuich of Christ, a I'eal, 
 uuiuterrupted succession in the fervour of apostolic preachiug; and that 
 the uiautle of apostolic Elijahs had beeu taken up by succeeding 
 EIisha.s, aud by men like Apollos, * an eloquent man, and mighty in the 
 Scriptures, who, being fervent in spirit, spake and taught dihgently the 
 things of the Lord.* If tine and elegant sermons are tolerable at all, it 
 is in the press only, when they are to be read as discussions of a subject, 
 and read either as an intellectual exercise, or as a discii)line of con- 
 science. In the pulpit splendid sermons are splendid sins. They dazzle, 
 and amuse, and astonish, like brilliant fire-works ; but they throw 
 daylight on no subject. They draw attention to the preacher instead 
 of to the Gospel. The splendid preacher, like the pyrotechnist, calcu- 
 lates on a dark night among his attendants ; and, amid the corruscations 
 of the pulpit, his skill and liis art are admired and applauded ; but 
 Christ is not glorifted. If angels weep, and devils mock, it is at the 
 pulpit door of a splendid preacher. The modern mode of preachiug is 
 more like Joseph's coat of many colours, than like Elijah's mantle which 
 raised the dead ; it has never descended from a chariot of fire, and is so 
 flimsy that it gives neither heat nor warmth even to the preacher liimself." 
 
 Were all pulpit ministrations performed after the manner 
 and in the spirit of Baxter, the vineyard of the Lord would 
 appear in all the freshness of vernal beauty, instead of that 
 wintry, withering aspect which it too commonly presents. 
 A minister who is unfaithful to the liigh and responsible 
 trusts of his commission will appear in the presence of God 
 in garments saturated with the blood of lost souls, and will 
 be assailed, on every hand, by cries of " Vengeance ! venge- 
 ance !" He will have many more sins to answer for than his 
 own separately considered. He is a traitor to God ; a traitor 
 to his peoj)le ; and a traitor to himself. We speak not now 
 .of those " blind guides" and " dumb dogs," who never 
 knew the truth of religion in its experimental and reno- 
 vating influence ; but of those preachers who, though they 
 have felt the powers of the world to come, have, never- 
 theless, allowed themselves to be warped by the seductions of 
 a perilous popularity ; and thus have " sacriticed to theii* own 
 net, and burnt incense to theii* own drag." 
 
184 
 
 BAXTERS OPINION 
 
 Every consideration with which the ministerial offica is 
 surrounded invests it with a character overwhelmingly 
 momentous. On the faithful or unfaithful discharge of its 
 resj^onsible functions the destinies of futurity are fearfully 
 suspended; and the final consignment to heaven or to hell of 
 multitudes will gi-eatly depend vnpon the manner in which 
 the truths of the Gospel have been preached and enforced. 
 
 Baxter, in his " Reformed Pastor/' has some stirring 
 thoughts on a vigorous and energetic style of preaching, in 
 contradistinction to that heartless, soulless, Christless man- 
 ner which prevailed in his day ; and which is the type 
 of a mode that extensively prevails in the present day : — 
 " How few ministers do preach with all their might? or 
 speak about everlasting joy or torment in such a manner as 
 to make men believe that they are in good sadness. It 
 would make a man's heart ache to see a company of dead 
 and drowsy sinners sit under a minister, and not have a 
 word that is like to quicken or awaken them. To think 
 with ourselves, 0, if these sinners were hut convinced and 
 cvwakeTied, they might yet he converted and live ! And alas ! 
 we speak so drowsily or gently that sleepy sinners cannot 
 liear. The blow falls so light that hard-hearted persons 
 cannot feel it. Most ministers will not so much as put out 
 their voice and stir up themselves to an earnest utterance. 
 But if they do speak out loud and earnestly, how few do 
 answer it with earnestness of matter ? and then the voice 
 doth but little good ; the people will take it for mere 
 bawling, when the matter doth not correspond. It would 
 grieve me to hear what excellent doctrine some ministers 
 have in hand, and let it die in their hands for want of close 
 and lively application. What fit matter they have for 
 convincing sinners, and how little they make of it, and 
 
ON PREACHING GENERALLY. 185 
 
 what a deal of good it might do if it were sent home ; and 
 yet they cannot or will not do it. Oh, sirs ! how plain, 
 how close, and earnestly should we deliver a message of such 
 a nature as oui's is ! When the everlasting life or death of 
 men is concerned in it, methinks we are nowhere so 
 wanting as in this seriousness. There is nothing more 
 unsuitable to such a business than to be slight and dull. 
 What ! speak coldly for God ! and for men's salvation ! 
 Can we believe that our people must be converted or con- 
 demned, and yet can we speak in a drowsy tone ? In the 
 name of God, brethren, labour to awaken your hearts before 
 you come ; and when you are in the work, that you may be 
 lit to awaken the hearts of sinners, remember that they 
 must be awakened or damned ! and a sleepy preacher will 
 hardly awake them." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP Williams' reflections — riETY the chief requisite for the 
 
 MINISTRY — TREATMENT OF LOCAL PREACHERS BY THE CONFERENCE — 
 OBJECTS OF THE LOCAL MINISTRY — FEELING NOT TO BE SUBSTITUTED FOR 
 FAITH — BISHOP CORRY's PLAN IN INDIA — GROUNDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT 
 — FALLACY OF UTILITARIAN SCHEMES— MAN 'S NATURAL STATE DESCRIBED, 
 AND THE OPPOSITION OFFERED BY THAT STATE TO THE OPERATION OF 
 THE MINISTRY. 
 
 It is recorded of Arclibisliop Williams, a pious and dis- 
 tinguished prelate, that, shortly before his removal from the 
 woiid, he made the following important statement : — " I 
 have passed through many more places of honour and trust, 
 both in Church and State, during the last seventy years, 
 than any man of my order in England ; yet, were I but 
 assured, that, by my preaching, I had but converted one soul 
 to God, I should draw more spiritual joy from that assurance 
 than from all the honours and offices which have been 
 bestowed upon me." This statement is of more than ordinary 
 value, because it is the testimony of a man of distinguished 
 learning and exalted piety ; and made at a time when he 
 was standing on the threshold of the grave, with the reflex 
 and the prospective standing out, in full review, before his 
 spiritual vision. 
 
 There can be little security for the eftective discharge of 
 ministerial functions given by men whose hearts are not 
 rightly aftected by a proper estimate of the sanctions undei- 
 which they act, or an adequate sense of the objects which 
 their oflice contemplates. Eveiy ministerial act has a 
 
PIETY REQUISITE FOR THE MINISTRY. 187 
 
 bearing iii30ii the destinies of eternity. The inipoi-tant ti-usts 
 and issues which the Gospel embodies ; the fearful 
 obligations it creates ; the responsible duties it imposes ; 
 and the momentous results it involves, invest it Avith a 
 character which cannot be viewed otherwise than with 
 solemnity and awe. 
 
 As a simple matter of reference to eternity, it is of little 
 consequence whether the pious Local Preacher stands high 
 or low in the social circle ; whether his mind is capacious or 
 confined ; whether his talents are many or few. At the 
 general inquest, decisions will apply to actions, res])ective of 
 their quality, rather than their quantity. Public or piivate 
 acts will not be investigated abstractedly, but in connection 
 with their respective motives. On tliis estimate the widow's 
 mite was deemed a nobler contribution to the treasury of 
 God, than the large sums which were thrown in by wealthy 
 contributors. Had a judgment, in that instance, been 
 formed on the acts, relatively considered, it would have stood 
 in direct opposition to that pronounced by the Saviour ; but 
 with Christ all transactions are tested by the motives from 
 which they spring. 
 
 The late pious and excellent vicar of Olney has a remark 
 which has been regarded as a ministerial axiom : — " None but? 
 he who made the world can make a minister of the Gosi)el." 
 Tliis position he illustrates thus : — " If a young man has 
 capacity, culture and application may make him a scholar, a 
 philosopher, or an orator ; but a true minister must have 
 cei-tain principles, feelings, and aims, which no industry or 
 endeavours of men can either acquire or communicate ; they 
 must be given from above, or they cannot be received.'.' 
 
 A Local Preacher may occupy an obscure corner of the 
 world ; may ha\e little private intercourse with his 
 
188 LOCAL PREACHERS AND THE CONFERENCE. 
 
 fellow-men ; may have to straggle through life with adverse 
 
 circumstances ; and yet he may stand closely allied to that 
 
 noble band, of whom it was said, " the world was not 
 
 worthy." His chamber is the place of audience with God. 
 
 It is in familiar but hallowed communion with the Father, 
 
 through the Son, by the Holy Ghost, that he derives his 
 
 successive supplies of grace to perform, and joy to stimulate 
 
 and crown, his labours. His studies are those of the heart 
 
 rather than those of the head. Every subject he takes up is 
 
 viewed through the mirror of truth. He aims at divine 
 
 conquest rather than human distinction. Prayer is the 
 
 ladder by which he ascends to heaven, and praise is the 
 
 fragrant incense of a grateful heart. 
 
 I venerate the man, 
 Whate'er his station in this babbling world, 
 Who preaches not himself, but Christ ; and makes 
 The Cross the burden of his theme. 
 
 No class of men occupying a place in the philanthropic 
 world are more really disinterested than those who compose 
 the Lay Pastorate of Methodism. Employed throughout the 
 week in secular avocations, they are no charge to the people 
 among whom they labour. Their services are perfectly 
 gratuitous, and their office does not relieve them from the 
 pecuniary demands necessary to keep up the supplies for the 
 public exchequer. Indeed the private resources of those 
 who have the ability are frequently laid under contribution 
 to meet expenses, necessarily incurred, in attending distant 
 appointments, no circuit funds being available for that pur- 
 pose ; so that, calculating the simple question of abstract 
 character, as between the members of the Itinerant and Local 
 Ministry, the sum-total is greatly in favour of the latter ; that 
 is, supposing the calculation to be made on equal numbers of 
 both branches of the executive. 
 
LOCAL PREACHENS AND THE CONFERENCE. 189 
 
 In makiiiiij this remark, tlie author lias not ])een actuated 
 by invidious feeling. During the somewhat long period he 
 has had the honour of a place on the Local Preachers' plan, 
 it has been his privilege to enjoy intercourse with many 
 members of the upper department of the Methodist Ministry, 
 and to be favoured with their counsel and instruction. But 
 he has, nevertheless, felt, in common with many others, that 
 although the Local Preachers constitute the arterial strength 
 of the Connexion, yet their social condition calls forth little 
 inquiry ; their sorrows excite little sympathy ; their com- 
 plaints obtain little redress ; their labours evoke little 
 gratitude ; their piety commands little favour ; their poverty 
 awakens little commiseration ; their character, standing, 
 age, usefulness, do not obtain that consideration to which 
 their position in the body gives them a legitimate claim. 
 The author cannot allow one matter to pass without notice. 
 As an incalculable amount of our Connexional prosperity 
 has, confessedly, resulted from the labours of the Lay Pasto- 
 rate, it might have been expected that the Conference, at its 
 annual sittings, from time to time, would have recorded in 
 its " Minutes" some recognition of the immense aid con- 
 tinuously derived from that branch of its administration ; 
 and that, among the numerous " votes of thanks" to the 
 many lay and clerical functionaries employed in the different 
 working departments of the body, the Local Preachers would 
 not have been overlooked ; but it has always been a matter 
 of surprise to the author that theii' labours should have 
 uniformly been passed over suh silentio, as though they did 
 not form an integral part of the Connexion, or that their 
 labours were unentitled to public approval. 
 
 There is what poets have termed the sublimity of silence ; 
 a lofty sentimentaUsm, which breathes itself forth in 
 
190 OBJECTS OF THE LOCAL MINISTRY. 
 
 unspoken but intelligible language ; such as that which was 
 successfully employed by Amynias before the Athenian 
 judges, when the mere exhibition of the stump of his arm, 
 which he had lost at the battle of Salamis, procured the 
 immediate pardon of his brother, ^schylus, the celebrated 
 tragedian and poet. But there is the converse of this — the 
 indignity of silence ; the exponent of a feeling diametrically 
 at variance with the noble and generous spirit of our 
 common Christianity. Whether the silence of Conference 
 may be placed in either of these catagories, or whether it 
 occuj^ies a position somewhere between them, is a question 
 which must be left to men to decide for themselves. 
 The author deplores the fact for this reason, and only 
 for this reason, that it has a tendency to produce feelings of 
 mutual repulsion, instead of mutual attraction ; and to 
 diminish, if not to extinguish, those reciprocal interchanges 
 of fraternal affection, which would give to the Conference a 
 disposable power that nothing could possibly withstand. 
 
 Though the ministry of mercy contemplates a number of 
 serial objects, gTaduating on an ascending scale, yet they are 
 all subsidiary to the crowning end of life ; namely, the soul's 
 jrlorification in heaven. The means to secure these successive 
 objects it is the business of the Christian ministry, whether 
 Itinerant or Local, to explain, enforce, and apply. Let us 
 see how this point is made out. A profligate enters the 
 sanctuary of God ; a faithful Boanerges is proclaiming the 
 terrors of the Lord ; the truth seizes the sinner s conscience 
 with unanswerable conviction ; his alarm is excited ; he 
 fpiails under the wi'ath of God, and the jDlaintive wail in- 
 stinctively escapes him, " What must I do to be saved ? " 
 Here is the beginning of a work of grace. He leaves the 
 chapel ; ondeavours to shake off his convictions, but his 
 
FAITH XOT FEELTNO, 191 
 
 endeavour* are vain — lie has been seized with the in^elaxative 
 grasp of an outraged law. He repeats his visit to the sanc- 
 tuary ; he hears of the dying love of Jesus, and hope springs 
 up in his soul ; he adopts the recommendatory instruction 
 of the preacher ; goes believingly to the fountain of blood, 
 as did the blind man to the pool of Siloam ; gets the lintels 
 of his heart sprinkled ; the chains of his vassalage fall off, 
 and he at once steps into the liberty of the children of God. 
 This may be taken as a general type of the process by which 
 Gospel conquests are achieved. The outward aspects of 
 different cases may exhibit some circumstantial variation ; 
 but, substantially, all pass from nature to gi'ace, and from 
 grace to glory, by the same road. Every sermon should 
 embody a condensed epitome of Christianity ; show the 
 respective offices of the Law and the Gospel in their several 
 relations and deiDendencies, and be sent home to the con- 
 science by earnest and affectionate apj^eals. 
 
 Too much caution cannot be employed by Local Preachers 
 in guarding our people against the substitution of feeling for 
 faith, an error which has gained extensively among persons 
 who are not very clear in their notions of constructive Chris- 
 tianity. Frequently excitements and impulses are mistaken 
 for the operations of the Spirit of God, especially by persons 
 of a warm and sangiiine temperament. Easily elated and as 
 easily depressed, their religion is, to a gi-eat extent, depen- 
 dant on frames and feelings, which are not always to be 
 taken as a safe standard by which to measure it in its power 
 and extent. Christianity draws its inferences of religious 
 principle not from what appears under any sudden excite- 
 ment, but by the uniform tenor of a man's life. On mere 
 constitutional grounds, a man of real piety may be greatly 
 depressed in feeling, without being chargeable with the 
 
192 BISHOP corry's plan. 
 
 commission of sin, or any dereliction of duty ; and, on the other 
 hand, a man whose religion has few of the elements of true 
 piety in its composition, may be greatly excited under the 
 ministry of a fervid or impassioned preacher, without 
 receiving any increase of vital godliness, and sometimes 
 without any religion at all ; so that to draw inferences from 
 our own state, or from the state of others, by any particidar set 
 of feelings, is altogether unsound and un-Scriptural. Chris- 
 tianity does not depend for its existence or growth upon the 
 flux or reflux of feeling, but is a life of faith upon the Son of 
 God. 
 
 It not unfrequently happens that those persons whose 
 feelings are the most easily excited, have the least upon 
 which to fall back in seasons of trial. Their excitements 
 seldom outlive the occasions which gave them birth ; like 
 seed scattered on the rock, they only spring up to wither 
 and die. Their constitutional feelings, having no spiritual 
 stamina on which to feed, soon lose their unnatural warmth, 
 and leave them in greater coldness than before. At the 
 same time it must not be denied, that where there is much 
 religion there will be much feeling. But there is an immense 
 difference between that calm and dignified feeling which is 
 generated and fed by the Spirit of God, and that which 
 spends itself in noisy ebullitions. The one is like the sim, 
 unvaried in the amount and quality of the light it diffuses ; 
 the other is like the meteor's glare, which suddenly breaks 
 in upon the midnight gloom, and then vanishes to make the 
 surrounding darkness tenfold greater. 
 
 The preacher of the Gospel is sometimes dispirited, be- 
 cause he has seen little or no fruit of his labour.* But it 
 
 * The late Bishop Corry, when chaplain to the East India Company, 
 adopted a plan of communicating instruction which practically illustrated 
 
GROUNDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 103 
 
 would be extremely improper to nish upon the conclusion, 
 that his labours have been unproductive, because the visible 
 results appear to bear no proportion to the labour employed. 
 Great and everlasting good may have been done, although, 
 for reasons best known to the Almighty, the agent may not 
 have been permitted to know it. If all preachers were to be 
 made acquainted with the saving effects of their instrumen- 
 tality, it might call forth feelings which, for public and 
 private reasons, it is important should be kept out of 
 existence. 
 
 Although we cannot entertain views too humbling of our 
 own insufficiency, yet there is a voluntary humility which is 
 the offshoot of pride. Our encouragement, as preachers, 
 should take hold, and keep hold, of the covenant grace of 
 Jesus. What has human instrumentality, under the power 
 of God, effected 1 Moses had very humbling views of his 
 unfitness for the office of God's vicegerent, in the conducting 
 of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan ; but the promise of 
 Jehovah's direction and support at once silenced his 
 
 the saying of the wise man : ''In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
 evening withhold not thine hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall 
 prosper, either this or that." Before the Scriptures were translated into 
 the vernacular dialects of Continental India, he wrote on small slips of 
 paper striking passages of the New Testament, in Hindostanee, and scat- 
 tered them every morning from his own door. The doctor was subsequently 
 removed to a distant part of India. Some twenty yeai-s afterwards he re- 
 ceived a letter from a missionary at his former station, informing him that 
 a native had come there in ill health, to see his friends and to die among 
 them. He sought out the missionary who visited him, and who was asto- 
 nished -to find him well acquainted with the most important facts and narra- 
 tives of Scripture ; but that astonishment was grsatly increased when he 
 learnt from the dying man that he had never before conversed with a mis- 
 sionary, and had never seen a copy of the Scriptures. On inqiiiry how he 
 had obtained his accurate knowledge of Christianity, the man put his hand 
 behind his pillow and drew forth a bundle of these tattered slips of paper, 
 which he had obtained in the manner described, and through the medium 
 of which he had derived a suviiig accjuaintance with eternal realities. 
 
194 FALLACY OP UTILITARIAN SCHEMES. 
 
 reasonings. He enters upon the work, and at every step his 
 authority is acknowledged. He waves his rod, and the 
 waters of the Red Sea instantly become walls of adamant. 
 He smites the flinty rock, and immediately waters rush forth 
 in flowing streams. Joshua issues a command, and nature 
 obeys in the suspension of her general laws. Elisha smites 
 the waters of Jordan with the mantle of EHjah, and they 
 divide to afibrd a passage as on dry land. Though 
 these are not examples for imitation, yet they show the 
 honour that God puts on human agency, when that agency 
 is exercised with a paramount aim to promote his glory. 
 
 It may be assumed, without fear of contradiction, that no 
 country in the world, of equal extent and population, has 
 such an amount of ministerial agency in constant operation 
 as that in which it is our happiness to live. If the promo- 
 tion of the cardinal objects of Christianity were in proportion 
 to the amount and quality of the agency embarked, and the 
 steadiness with which that agency is pursued, then the 
 criminal statistics of Britain would be far less deplorable 
 than they are shown to be by our public records, and the 
 moral aspect would be more bright and encouraging. It 
 has frequently excited the astonishment of the philanthropist, 
 that, in this Christian land, where the Bible is accepted by 
 all classes as the standard of moral action, the inmates of our 
 prisons should bear such a large proportion to our aggregate 
 population. Moral utilitarians have given to the world 
 various solutions of this difficult problem. One has 
 suggested that the world might be greatly improved by a 
 new plan of social organisation ; a second has proposed to 
 cure the woes of our suffering humanity by the universal 
 diffusion of human knowledge ; a third has laid down a 
 benevolent scheme of morals as a sovereign panacea for all 
 
man's natural state. 195 
 
 the ills that flesh is heir to ; and others, equally visionaiy 
 and vain, swell the list of these speculative regenerators of 
 mankind. But, alas ! for man, none of these schemes touch 
 the core of the evil they profess to cure. They all assume 
 false premises, and, consequently, lead to false conclusions. 
 They proceed upon the hypothesis, that man possesses an 
 independent power to regulate all the springs of the soul and 
 control the passions and appetites at will ; and that a reme- 
 dial scheme, once adopted, works out its own completion ; — a 
 conclusion which needs not the adduction of argument to 
 show its absurdity. 
 
 Look at the case of man, as he actually stands, without 
 flattery and without disguise. With the powers and capa- 
 bilities of an angel are strangely united the passions and 
 appetites of a devil. With the highest acquirements of 
 learning and social refinement, are associated habits the most 
 irregular and demoralising, as though superior capabilities 
 had only been given to afford superior capabilities for the 
 refinements of sensuality. Had man remained innocent, 
 there would have been nothing in his desires or gratifications 
 that would have violated the law or opposed the will of God. 
 But, as the case actually stands, it is far otherwise. With his 
 desires for God's mercies, he mingles no desire for God him- 
 self ; and with the enjoyment of his numerous favours, he 
 associates no remembrance of the God who bestows them. 
 Thus his desires rise and terminate in himself, and the enjoy- 
 ment of them is as much detached and separate from God, as 
 though the belief of God had no place in his creed, and God 
 himself had no place in creation. Nor is this only true of 
 the grosser appetites of man's nature j it is equally true of 
 eveiy appetite which has for its object something separate 
 from God. For instance, there may be as little true piety in 
 
 o2 
 
19G OPPOSITION OFFERED TO THE MINISTRY. 
 
 the paths of literature as in the paths of sensuality. If it be 
 true, that he only who doeth the will of God endureth for 
 ever, then the philosopher may be as little connected with 
 God as the sensualist. " Don't talk to me," says Burke, " of 
 the religion of a merchant : his gold is his god ; his desk his 
 altar ; his ledger his Bible j his exchange his church ; and 
 the only being in whom he has any faith is his banker." 
 
 In preaching, there is comparatively little difficulty in 
 gaining access to the mind through the intellectual percep- 
 tions, and of obtaining its ready concessions to the clear 
 convictions of sound reasoning on Scripture verities. The 
 infidelity which so extensively prevails, and which is so deaf 
 to calls of duty, is less speculative than practical ; it is less 
 the infidelity of the head than of the heart — a heart that 
 will not adopt in practice what it admits in theory. The 
 understanding allows its moral obligations, but the heart is 
 hardened. Though sin is seen, it is not felt ; and holiness, 
 though understood theoretically, finds no corresponding 
 emotions in the heart, either with respect to its nature or its 
 enjoyment. The reason is no secret. Man cherishes a 
 disrelish for holiness and the means which lead to it. His 
 heart, sensitive to its own rights, interests, and pleasures, 
 is cold and torpid towards God. Motive will not act upon 
 it ; persuasion has no force ; because, to use the solemn 
 language of Scripture, it is " dead in trespasses and in sins." 
 
 We need more of that preaching which carries direct 
 appeals to the conscience and heart, — which, by moving, 
 melting sympatliies, draws upon sympathies of a kindred 
 nature. Baxter's advice on reproving sin, if followed, is 
 admirably calculated to gain access in the right quarter : — 
 " Go to sinners Avith tears in your eyes ;" let them see that 
 the solicitude you avow is unaffected and real. Frequently, 
 
Baxter's advice. 197 
 
 under a heart-searching appeal, the truth has come home to 
 the conscience with irresistible conviction. That conviction 
 has instantly led to the formation of new plans of life. So 
 far the effect has answered to the cause j and, had those 
 resolves been carried out into habitual practice, by so much 
 the Grospel would have carried its conquest. But, the work 
 not being followed up, the resolves thus promisingly made 
 are left to wither and die. Like the stone tlu^own into the 
 placid lake, the undulating cii'cles become fainter, and fiiinter, 
 and less distinct, as they increase in distance from their 
 central point. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE MINISTRY— PROSPERITY THE CONSEQUENCE OP PIOUS ZEAL — 
 GOSPEL RESULTS NOT ALWAYS CONCOMITANT WITH THE MEANS BY WHICH 
 THEY ARE INSTRUMENTALLY PRODUCED — ENTHUSIASM DEPENDED — PRI- 
 MITIVE AND MODERN PREACHING CONTRASTED — REVIVAL SERVICES 
 VIRTUALLY PROSCRIBED BY TRAVELLING PREACHERS GENERALLY — 
 EXPERIMENTAL PREACHING RECOMMENDED — THE REV. MR. GRIMSHAW'S 
 AND MR. WESLEY'S LABOURS — PRIVILEGES OF THE SAINTS DESCRIBED, 
 
 The results of tlie Methodist Ministry are either interme- 
 diate or final ; either relating to time or to eternity. The 
 first class of results are those which relate to, and are 
 measured by, time ; the other, those which are consummated 
 in glory. Gospel results are consecutive ; rising in a 
 graduating ratio, until the structure, which lays its foundation 
 in grace, finds its top-stone in glory. Indeed, grace and glory 
 are co-relatives — one in essence, though difiering in degree ; 
 grace is glory in commencement, and glory is grace in con- 
 summation. Mr. Wesley has somewhat quaintly told us, 
 that " time is a fragment of eternity cut off at both ends." 
 The Rev. J. A. James, says : — " There is no such thing as 
 time ; it is but space occupied by incident. It is the same 
 to eternity as matter is to infinite space ; a portion of the 
 immense occupied by something within the sphere of mortal 
 sense. We ought not to calculate our age by our passing 
 years, but by the passing of feelings and events. It is what 
 we have and suffered that makes us old." 
 
 As showers are the usual symbols of fruitfulness to the 
 earth, so the dew-fall of the Holy Spirit upon the vineyard 
 
PROSPERITY THE RESULT OF PIOUS ZEAL. 199 
 
 of the Lord, under the ministiy of the Gospel, is invariably 
 indicative of spiritual prosperity. This, indeed, is the end of 
 ministerial labour, the seal of ministerial fidelity. 
 
 Nothing can be more delightful to a devoted minister of 
 Christ than to see Zion in prosperity ; her cords lengthened ; 
 her stakes strengthened ; her institutions honoured j her 
 ordinances improved ; her converts multiplied ; and piety 
 advancing throughout all her departments. This is, indeed, 
 as it should be ; and if the state and aspects of any branch 
 of Methodism do not correspond with such a representation, 
 the why and wherefore are to be traced either to a non- 
 application, or a misapplication, of the means which God 
 Almighty has placed in the hands of his ministers to bring 
 Ruch a state about. Nothing is more natural, an-l nothing is 
 more certain, than that the blessed God should honour the 
 means of his own appointment; and that those means, when- 
 ever or wherever employed, according to the terms and 
 spirit of the appointment, should accomplish the purposes for 
 which they are called into requisition. The history of 
 Methodism is a iimning commentaiy on this principle. In 
 all times and places, where preachers and people have joined 
 issue with the Holy Spirit to carry on, and carry out, the 
 purposes of the Gospel ministry, prosperity has been the 
 invariable result. 
 
 The results of faithfid preaching do not always immediately 
 follow the application of the causes to which they may be 
 instrumentally ascribed. In some instances, " one soweth 
 and another reapeth." Even of some of the Apostles it was 
 said, " other men laboured, and ye have entered into the 
 fruit of their labour," To seek for the haiwest of spiritual 
 labours only in the immediate and visible results, would be 
 not less absiu'd than to take our mcasm-e of infinite space 
 
200 RESULTS AND MEANS MAY BE UNEQUAL. 
 
 from the limited prospect with which our short-sighted 
 vision is bounded ; or to estimate the endless ages of eternity 
 by the transient revolutions of time. See how this case is 
 made out in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul and Silas are 
 favoured with an extraordinary vision. A man of Macedonia 
 appears to the preachers, and imploringly says, " Come over 
 and help us." They, assuredly gathering that the vision 
 was Divine, immediately went into Macedonia; but, after 
 enduring the greatest cruelties and sufferings, only two souls, 
 namely, Lydia and the Philippian jailer, appear to have 
 been the immediate finit of their ministry. But that visit 
 ultimately led to the establishment of a number of churches 
 in various parts of south-eastern Europe. The fruit of 
 faithful preaching is not always apparent in its proximate 
 symptoms ; not always immediate in its results ; not always 
 proportioned to the degree of ministerial fidelity employed. 
 In this, as in other parts of the Christian economy, faith 
 is sometimes severely taxed and exercised. But it is 
 encouraging to know that the time and measure are both 
 Avith the Lord, and, though the harvest may be delayed, it 
 cannot be defeated. 
 
 Though success in the ministry is not always to be taken 
 as the measure of ministerial duty, yet all will agree that the 
 performance of duty, when accompanied or followed by 
 Divine success, is delightful beyond all comparison. Visible 
 success is not always vouchsafed to the messengers of mercy ; 
 yet there are seasons when the dry bones become instinct 
 with life ; when God sets his seal to the work of his servants, 
 and when the thunders of Sinai are lost in the melting 
 sounds of a Saviour's dying love. 
 
 The history of Methodism throughout has been distin- 
 guished from that of every other community by the occasional 
 
ENTHUSIASM DEFENDED. 201 
 
 revivals of spiritual religion. With few exceptions, however, 
 revivals are virtually proscribed by the Travelling Preachers, 
 especially in circuit towns ; and, therefore, it is chiefly 
 within the precincts of the Lay Ministry, in the rural districts, 
 that this relic of our primitive economy is kept alive. The 
 author is well aware, that when, as Local Preachers, we 
 depart from the cold, calculating sentimentalism which 
 characterises much of the formalism of the present day, and 
 take a more warm and generous view of Gospel means and 
 objects, we at once expose ourselves to the charge of 
 enthusiasm, and are set down as fanatics and fools. If by 
 enthusiasm, according to its commonly-received acceptation, 
 be meant an " expectation of the end without the use of 
 the means," then we repudiate the charge in tot'^ ccdo, and 
 send it back to those from whom it emanates. If, however, 
 by the charge be meant the employment of zeal and energy 
 invincible to opposition in the prosecution of ministerial 
 objects, then we plead guilty to the charge, and admit that, 
 in tliis sense, we are enthusiasts ; and we will be enthu- 
 siasts ; and we pray God that this enthusiasm may be revived 
 tlu'oughout the length and breadth of our Connexion ; that 
 it may rise higher in the scale of religious temperature, 
 degree after degree, as rapidly as may be, until the fire of 
 Divine love shall have communicated its pure and generous 
 flame to every human heart ! 
 
 In the palmy days of our Connexional history, when pulpit 
 exercises were more strongly imbued with zeal and energy, 
 Methodism was denominated " Christianity in earnest." 
 But the fear may be entertained, that it is far less entitled to 
 that honorary distinction, in the present day, than when it 
 was first applied. Much of the simple but energetic piety of 
 the fathers of the present ministry has been substituted by a 
 
202 PAST AND PRESENT PREACHING. 
 
 cold and studied formalism, which possesses few of the 
 sterling attributes of the spirit-stirring ministry of bygone 
 times. It is admitted that the class of men of whom William 
 Bramwell was a type, were not distinguished by extensive 
 erudition or remarkable for sparkling talent ; were little 
 skilled in meretricious embellishments of style or pomp of 
 diction j but they were men of unassuming excellence, 
 singularly fitted to meet the difiiculties and discharge the 
 duties of the ministerial office with great acceptance, and still 
 greater usefulness. Their sermons were characterised by 
 plainness, point, and power ; and, though little polished by 
 human adornment, contained the germs of mighty thought, 
 and sometimes touched — 
 
 " A secret spring 
 
 Which made the soul of man recoil upon 
 
 Itself, and tremble at the prospect of 
 
 Eternity !" 
 
 Many of the sermons of the most erudite Travelling 
 Preachers, of the present day, are beautiful specimens of com- 
 position. They are lofty in conception, elegant in language, 
 vigorous in description, and, indeed, possess whatever is 
 calculated to dazzle and attract ; but, generally, they are too 
 cold, too learned, too speculative, too uninteresting, for the 
 great majority of our congregations. In a Methodistical 
 sense, there is nothing noble, nothing dignified, nothing 
 elevating, nothing enthusiastic about them. They kindle no 
 warm and generous emotions ; they feed no living fires ; and, 
 therefore, are far less adapted to the pulpit than the press.* 
 
 * In a recent publication, a comparative sketch of the poUtical powers 
 of those two great statesmen, Pitt and Fox, is given with uncommon 
 vigour of description ; and the following extract faithfully represents the 
 two classes of preachers who are found within the pale of the Methodist 
 ministry: — "Pitt's oratory was like the frozen stalactites and pyramids, 
 which glitter around Niagara in mid-winter, stately, clear, and cold ; 
 Fox's, like the vehement waters which sweep over its brink, and roar and 
 
REVIVAL SERVICES PROSCRIBED. 203 
 
 Revival services, in the present day, are far more 
 " honoured in their breach than in their observance." In a 
 few isolated spots, rendered verdant by Local Preachers, 
 oases relieve the dreary efiect of the surrounding monotony ; 
 but revival meetings are generally discouraged by Travelling 
 Preachers, because they interfere with a system of pnidential 
 policy which has extensively obtained, by prescription, the 
 force of law. 
 
 In Newton's Life of Grimshaw, it is said : — " Perhaps the 
 theory of the Gospel was never better understood since the 
 days of the Apostles than at present. But many who preach 
 it lay too much stress upon a systematical scheme of senti- 
 ments, and too little upon that life and power — that vital, 
 experimental, and practical influence — which form the 
 character and regulate the conduct of an established Chris- 
 tian." Our statements may be fuU and simple, connected 
 and unfettered ; but, unless there be in sermons a fervent, 
 telling application, which finds reciprocation in the sympa- 
 thies of the soul, the best instructions will impart only a 
 cold and uninfluential knowledge. Experimental preacliing, 
 when the heart of the preacher beats responsively to his 
 doctrine, will do infinitely more to promote the spiritual 
 interests of a people than the most elaborate exhibitions of 
 abstract truth. The life of religion is fed, not by dry, 
 studied exhibitions of Scriptural doctrine, but by direct 
 application of the truth conveyed by powerful appeals to the 
 heart. "Witsius, in his De Vero Tlieologo, says : — " He is the 
 most effective preacher, who, when he has not only heard, 
 but seen, and handled, and tasted of the Word of Life ; and 
 
 boil in tho abyss below. Pitt was art ; Fox uaturo. Pitt was dignified, 
 cool, cautious ; Fox was manly, generous, brave. Pitt had a mind ; Fox a 
 soul. Pitt was a majestic automaton ; Fox a living man. " 
 
204 EXPERIMENTAL PREACHING RECOMMENDED. 
 
 has been taught, not by mere speculation, but by actual 
 experience, what he has found out ; he safely inculcates, from 
 the assured persuasion of his mind, and applies to every case 
 from his own knowledge of what is suitable to each." 
 Experimental addresses flow directly to the heart with a 
 warmth and impressiveness, which is like the enlivening 
 glow of the sun, as contrasted with the cold clearness of 
 moonlight. For, although the Word of God is the same 
 under the varied aspects of mannerism in which it may be 
 presented to congregations, yet the glow of zeal proceeding 
 from the experimental enjoyment of the truths delivered, 
 touches the master-springs of conviction, and, consequently, 
 greatly aids the saving effect of the Gospel ministry. It is 
 certainly necessary to convince the understanding, because 
 that is the highway to the heart. But there is a far greater 
 necessity that the heart, which is the seat of action and 
 contains "the issues of life," should be influenced and 
 moved by practical appeals, in order to bring it under 
 the control of the Gospel. King James is said to have 
 remarked to one of his courtiers, when speaking of the 
 vividness of description and faithfulness of appeal of one of 
 his chaplains, " This man preaches before me just as if 
 death was seated at his elbow." Blair, in liis Lectures on the 
 Eloquence of the Pulpit, says, "Gravity and warmth 
 united form that character of preacliing which the French 
 call onction ; the affecting, penetrating, interesting manner, 
 flowing from a strong sensibility of heart in the preacher to 
 the importance of those truths which he delivers, and an 
 earnest desire that they may make a full impression on the 
 hearts of his hearers." Our ministry is generally too cold 
 and phlegmatic. Do we plead " in the demonstration of the 
 Spirit, and beseech men to be reconciled to God ?" Do we, as 
 
MR. WESLEY AND MR, GRIMSIIAW. 205 
 
 necessity requires, " cry aloiul, spare not, lift up our voices 
 like trumpets, and show the people their transgressions'?" 
 Do we, by affectionate appeals, enforce the necessity of a 
 change of heart, and of holiness of life 1 Do our bowels yearn 
 over ignorant, careless, and impenitent sinners? Do we 
 " tell them, weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross 
 of Christ?" Do we "teach them publicly, from house to 
 house, at all seasons, and with many tears V Or, rather, do 
 we not study to gain the applause of our fellow-men, as 
 though " to point a moral and adorn a tale" were all a 
 minister had to do % 
 
 How much do modern Methodist preachers suffer by a 
 comparison with those of bygone days ! The Rev. Mr. 
 Grimshaw, the clerical associate and fellow-labourer of Mr. 
 Wesley, usually preached as many as twenty times a week ; 
 and the Founder of Methodism, in addition to his numerous 
 publications and other labours, is calculated to have preached 
 40,000 sermons, not to notice occasional exhortations and ad- 
 dresses in the course of his ministry, besides travelKng, annually, 
 between four and five thousand miles. Such labours brought 
 out, in full display, the mainspring of their zeal and energy ; 
 "the constraining love of Christ" producing sympathy for 
 perishing sinners. We find it much more easy to register 
 our admiration of labours so generous and Godlike, than 
 to imitate the practical operation of the high moral and 
 religious qualities with which they were so rarely, but yet 
 so transcendently, endowed. 
 
 Among the direct results of ministerial agency, when pro- 
 perly discharged and faithfully applied, may be numbered in 
 consecutive order, pardon of sin, peace of conscience, 
 adoption into the family of God, the witness of the Spirit, 
 holiness of heart and life, and, finally, the fruition of gloiy in 
 
206 THE PRIVILEGES OP THE SAINTS. 
 
 the eternal world. The preliminary enjoyments here enu- 
 merated vary in degree, according to the measure and 
 strength of faith put forth in exercise ; for, although the 
 blessings of Christianity are offered to all, — ^irrespective of 
 country, colour, clime, sex, age, or condition, — faith, in 
 every instance, determines both the degree and the duration 
 of spiritual joy, and constitutes the varied shades of distinc- 
 tion between one man and another in the religious world. 
 
 In speaking of the privileges of Christianity, the author is 
 free to confess his want of ability to do full justice to the 
 subject. They contain a depth which no line can fathom ; 
 a height which no conception can reach ; a breadth which no 
 comprehension can grasp ; and a length which no intelli- 
 gence can measure. The ample stores of rhetoric ; the force 
 and beauty of Eastern imagery ; the richness and variety of 
 thought and expression, have all been laid under repeated 
 contribution, to describe the fulness, the freeness, and the 
 perpetuity of the treasures of grace and mercy ; and yet, 
 after all, it must be confessed, the subject of privilege 
 remains a problem unsolved and unsolvable. " Eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
 man the things wliich Grod hath prepared for them that love 
 him." Indeed, every successive contemplation of the subject 
 only serves to increase the previous difficulties with which it 
 was surrounded ; and after all our researches, with a view to 
 penetrate the mystery in its length, and breadth, and height, 
 we are compelled to confess that it is a subject for thought, 
 rather than for discussion ; to be conceived, rather than 
 to be described. 
 
 There is sometliing so exceedingly vast and comprehensive 
 in the privileges which Christianity embodies, that we are at 
 a perfect loss to know where to place boundary lines to mark 
 
THE PRIVILEGES OP THE SAINTS. 207 
 
 their extent. Taking our station on tlie Word of God, the 
 only infallible standard of appeal in religion, and looking at 
 the vivid and soul-inspiriting descriptions therein contained, 
 we are taught, not by inference, but by dii^ect intimation, 
 that the privileges of Christianity are like the desires of man, 
 measureless and unconfined ; bounded only by the limits of 
 a faith too often, alas ! cramped in its exercise. Were 
 faith allowed its free and unfettered course, it would stop 
 short of nothing necessary to constitute the perfection, the 
 plenitude, and the perpetuity of human bliss. To select the 
 experience of any particular Chi-istian as a standard, by 
 which to measiu'e the privileges of grace, would be just as 
 absurd as to suppose that the world is no larger than a sheet 
 of paper, because the map that describes it is confined witliin 
 that space. What says the Saviour ? " Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall 
 say to yonder mountain remove, and it shall obey you ;" and 
 again, " All things are possible to him that believeth." 
 It is a matter of comparatively little moment whether these 
 words are to be understood literally or figuratively : they 
 are evidently intended to show the moral power with which 
 the grace of faith is armed. 
 
 Let us select an illustration from St. Paul's prayer for the 
 Ephesian converts : — " That he would grant you, according 
 to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by 
 his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your 
 hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and gi'ounded in love, 
 may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
 breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know 
 the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye 
 might he filed with aU tlie fulness of God!'' Here we 
 find no assignable limits ; no circumscriptive bounds ; 
 
208 THE PRIVILEGES OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 no definable point at which to stop short of being 
 "filled with all the fulness of God!" Throughout this 
 remarkable prayer the Apostle evidently labours for 
 language by which to give expression to ideas too great for 
 human utterance. The words, " may be able to comprehend 
 with all saints," cannot be fully expressed in any translational 
 form. " To be filled with God," is an idea which leaves our 
 conceptions in darkness and perplexity. " To be filled with 
 the fulness of God," adds increase to the difficulty ; but " to 
 be filled with all the fulness of God," as Dr. Clarke justly 
 observes, bewilders the sense and confounds the understand- 
 ing ! And yet such, whatever it may import, is the privilege 
 of every believer in Christ. 
 
 That we do not enjoy religion in the full essence and 
 vitality of its power, and in the full extent and plenitude of its 
 present fruition, is no argument against the doctrine. The 
 prayer put into our mouths, by the Founder of Methodism, is 
 a striking comment on the above remarkable passage : — 
 
 " Stretch my faith's capacity- 
 Wider, and yet wider still ; 
 Then with all that is in Thee 
 My soul for ever fill !" 
 
 If language has any meaning, then, what is the import of 
 
 these prayers ? Why, that the Christian cannot ask too 
 
 much, if what he asks he labours to obtain ! 
 
PART IV. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR RENDERING THE 
 
 METHODIST LAY MINISTRY MORE COMMENSURATE 
 
 WITH ITS ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 
 
 " We have this treasure ia earthen vessels, that the excellency of the 
 power may be of God, and not of us." — 2 Corinth, iv., 7. 
 
 ''Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season; rejirove, 
 rebuke, exhort with all longsufFering and doctrine. Watch thou in all 
 things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof 
 of thy ministry."— 2 Tim. iv., 2, 5. 
 
€i)t tml nr ICai} ?Hini0tn|< 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 APELLES' WISH MORALISED — CLOSER UNION RECOMMENDED IN THE LOCAL 
 MINISTRY — APOSTOLIC SANCTION OF DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES — LOCAL 
 CONFERENCES ADVANTAGEOUS — FREQUENT MEETINGS OF MINISTERS IN 
 PREVIOUS AGES— SUCH DELIBERATIVE MEETLNGS ESSENTIAL TO PROS- 
 PERITY. 
 
 ' Give me the priest these graces shall possess ; 
 Of an ambassador the just address : 
 A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care, 
 A leader's courage, which the cross can bear : 
 A ruler's awe, a watchman's wakeful eye, 
 A pilot's skill, the helm in storms to ply ; 
 A prophet's inspiration from above ; 
 A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. 
 
 It is related of Apelles, a celebrated Greek painter in tlie 
 time of Alexander the Great, that being once asked why he 
 bestowed so much labour upon the productions of his pencil, 
 made this memorable reply, "I paint for eternity." Per- 
 haps this answer was nothing more than an ingenious stroke 
 of artistic policy, expressive of a wish that his fame might 
 sui^vive his existence ; a wish natural enough by a man 
 whose sole ambition was the acquisition of human glory. 
 Now, although as ministers of Christ our motives to act are 
 far higher and holier in their character and aim, yet we 
 cannot but discover in the words of Apelles a moral of great 
 practical utility and importance ; and one which, if honestly 
 applied to the several departments of the work assigned us, 
 
 p2 
 
212 CLOSER UNION IN THE LOCAL MINISTRY. 
 
 would attach to our best acts the stamp of perpetuity. If 
 every preacher could say with feelings of enthusiasm equal 
 to those with which Apelles was inspired, " I preach for 
 eternity ! " and if every private Christian, in all his public, 
 private, social, and family acts of devotion, could rest his 
 appeal to God on a similar ground, not only would the aspects 
 of religion become more bright and encouraging ; but the 
 spii-it of religion would reacquire its original purity, power, 
 and place. 
 
 Philosophers tell us that there is a gravitating point in 
 space, which is deemed the centre of the universe. Let us 
 conceive of some intelligent being occupying that focal pointy 
 and comprehending the movements of the grand machinery 
 in its concurrent and contrary motions, and watching the 
 bearings of that great central influence which preserves 
 uniformity throughout the whole. Now what is fancy in one 
 case, is fact in another. We are placed at this moment at a 
 point of the moral universe from which we can look around 
 and see the complex and diversified machinery — constructed 
 by divine skill — moving for purposes of incalculable impor- 
 tance ; and which, by the superintending power of the 
 government of God, is so harmoniously arranged in its varied 
 combination, that things apparently contrary are admirably 
 made to concur. 
 
 In suggesting measures for carrying on and carrying out 
 the working plans of Methodism, the author conceives that 
 one great means of promoting the more extensive spread 
 and permanent establishment of the vital principles of 
 Methodism, in their saving influence and successful operation, 
 is a wider cultivation of the primitive sj^irit of religious 
 federalism in the members of the Local Ministry. It is 
 presumed that all corporate bodies, whether secular or 
 
CLOSER UNION IN THE LOCAL MINISTRY. 213 
 
 religious, are cemented by one common bond, actuated by 
 one common motive, regulated by one common law, and are 
 aiming at one common end. The success of all great enter- 
 prises depends on the skilful application of combined effort. 
 The secret of military success is not always found in the 
 numerical strength of an army, but in the skill of those who 
 have to du'ect its operations ; — to condensed energy ; to 
 indomitable courage ; to the improvement of critical con- 
 junctures, and other adventitious circumstances. It is the 
 wisdom of a skilful general to concentrate his forces, to con- 
 solidate his disposable power, to bring his men to act 
 together, well knowing, that, if his ranks are broken and his 
 men scattered, defeat must follow as a necessary conse- 
 quence. 
 
 In all enterprises where a common end is sought by a 
 combination of agency, unity of effort is essential to accom- 
 plishment j because, however comprehensive and perfect 
 a scheme of operations may be, both in principle and 
 detail, if there be disjunction on the pai-t of the agency 
 employed, the end may have to grapple with the risk of 
 defeat. The converse of this position is equally apparent. 
 There is much practical truth in the aphorism, " Unity is 
 strength ; " and the effect of its antithesis, " Severance is 
 weakness," is as easily calculated. The Local Preachers of 
 every cii'cuit may be regarded as a separate municipality, 
 possessing a community of Connexional interest, and seeking 
 to accomplish an object common to all. 
 
 Although, in principle, the Local Preachers constitute one 
 great association, and in their case 
 
 " Mind with mind concurrently should act^" 
 yet, in practice, and, consequently, in effect, they are little 
 more than a nimiber of disjointed items of a great whole 
 
214 CLOSER UNION IN THE LOCAL MINISTRY. 
 
 Every Local Preacher forms an integral part of an immense 
 working power ; and the practical development of individual 
 agency, whatever may be the modus operandi, contributes to 
 show what the general result might be, if all those separate 
 agencies were acting under one general principle of combina- 
 tion. 
 
 There is in naturea property which we call attraction, — 
 that is, a power or principle by which bodies mutually tend 
 towards each other. There is another property, which we call 
 gravitation, — that is, a power or principle by which all bodies 
 tend towards a common centre ; and there is a third property, 
 which we call repulsion, — that is, a power or principle by 
 which bodies fly off from each other. Now when a Christian 
 society, well arranged, is in a healthy, working state, attrac- 
 tion and gravitation are in active operation. The members 
 are attracted by, and mutually tend towards, each other ; and 
 the whole gravitate towards Christ, who is the soul and 
 centre of spiritual gravity or attraction. But, when a Chris- 
 tian society, or any association, is composed of disjointed 
 items, then the elements of repulsion are brought into play, 
 and functional derangement marksthe acts and proceedings 
 of the body corporate. 
 
 In the early constitution of the Christian Church, and 
 during the existence of the Apostolic dynasty, the common 
 motto of the infant ministry was, " Each for all, and all for 
 Christ." Unity was their distinguishing badge ; and that 
 unity contained a spell, and diffused an influence, to which 
 the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans were compelled to 
 yield an unwilling homage. The Apostles, and other minis- 
 ters acting in concert with them, usually met at Jerusalem 
 as a deliberative assembly, to confer on the measures best 
 adapted to extend and establish the infant cause of Christ. 
 
LOCAL CONFERENCES ADVANTAGEOUS. 215 
 
 Having digested their working plans, they went forth in the 
 several directions assigned to each, and on performing their 
 respective duties returned to Jerusalem to report the suc- 
 cess of their ministry, and to caiTy on consultations with 
 reference to prospective labours. 
 
 There can be little doubt of the advantage of such a course 
 as that adopted by the Apostles, if it were copied by the 
 members of the Local Ministry within their respective circuits, 
 when such conferences feU within the limits of practicability. 
 It usually happens that a considerable proportion of the Local 
 Preachers reside in the circuit-town. If they were to 
 hold monthly meetings, many points of vital importance 
 might be prayerfully discussed ; the state of religion in the 
 rural districts would be thus frequently brought under 
 review, and measures debated promotive of the general pros- 
 perity. These meetings — opened by prayer for Divine 
 direction to guide in the selection of such means as 
 might be best adapted to secure the advancement of 
 vital piety ; and closed with special invocations for 
 Divine aid and influence in their respective ministrations 
 — would confer many advantages both direct and colla- 
 teral. Each preacher would feel the necessity of possessing 
 what the old writers called a speculum gregis, or a looking- 
 glass of the flock. It would induce him to watch the aspects 
 and record the variations of each place where his ministry 
 was exercised ; and that knowledge would exert a beneficial 
 control in the choice of suitable subjects for public instruction 
 and advantage. It would tend to promote the personal reli- 
 gion of each preacher, and would generally infuse and diffuse 
 a much larger measure of the element of Christian fraternity. 
 
 The author has long been of opinion, that if the principle 
 of ministerial unity were more extensively carried out under 
 
216 CONFERENCES IN PAST AGES. 
 
 the Holy Spirit, it would greatly increase the spiritual pros- 
 perity of the Connexion. It is by the union of minister with 
 minister that more correct and enlarged views of Scriptural 
 doctrine are obtained j increased exertion called into activity ; 
 communications made of ministerial plans; encouragement 
 given to the interchange of fiiendly relations and kindred 
 sympathies. It is by the union which the several parts 
 supply, that the body becomes more perfectly connected with 
 its covenant Head. If Solomon's aphorism be true in a 
 general sense, that " in the multitude of counsellors there is 
 safety," how much that sentiment acquires importance when 
 particularly applied to the counsels of God's ministers, in 
 their special reference to the interests of his church. 
 
 Meetings of this character, and with these objects, are by 
 no means novel. According to Strype, the historian, 
 meetings of ministers were frequently held in and before his 
 day, within given districts, under the presidency of some 
 experienced minister, for the purpose of discussing seriatim 
 passages of Scripture previously proposed, always commencing 
 and ending with prayer. These meetings were put down by 
 an arbitrary enactment of Queen Elizabeth, at the instance of 
 her favourite, the Earl of Leicester, and in direct opposition 
 to a most noble and faithful protest from Archbishop Grindall. 
 In Archbishop Tenison's Circular, dated April 6th, 1699, 
 quoted by Dr. Woodward, in his account of religious societies, 
 there is the following advice : " It were to be wished that 
 the clergy of every neighbourhood would agree upon frequent 
 meetings, to consult for the good of religion in general, and 
 to advise with one another about the difficulties that may 
 hapjien in their particular cures ; as, by what methods any 
 evil custom may be most readily broken ; how a sinner may 
 most effectuall}' be reclaimed ; and in general, liow each of 
 
DELIBERATIVE MEETINGS IMPORTANT. 217 
 
 them, in their several circumstances, may contribute most to 
 the advancement of religion." Such a course would promote 
 closer union with the Federal Head of the Christian ministry, 
 and a more connected hannony among her working members ; 
 it would produce a continuous supply of spiritual gifts and 
 graces, and carry on the salvation of the church in God's own 
 way, by imitmg preachers as the links of one great chain, 
 and make each to each the medium of spiritual communica- 
 tion and life. 
 
 It is difficult to understand how a complex machine, like 
 that of the Local Ministry, can carry on its work with any 
 considerable amount of success, without occasional inspection 
 of its several departments, in order to ascertain whether all 
 its parts perform their functions regularly, so as to promote 
 the general design ; and whether any and what alterations 
 and additions ought to be introduced to regulate its mode of 
 operation and increase its momentum. The work might 
 become more complicated, and the workmen require more 
 pai*ticular instmctions. Numberless points might arise 
 involving questions of difficult solution, which, being viewed 
 in different aspects and by different lights, might afford 
 facilities for supplying such answers as would effectually meet 
 the case to which those answers were applied. 
 
 In all the gi^eat departments of life, questions of import- 
 ance are usually settled in deliberative assemblies. The 
 great concerns of the nation are adjusted in the senate-house ; 
 military affairs of consequence are arranged in councils of 
 war ; questions of legal difficulty are usually referred to the 
 judicial bench ; and the different sections of the church have 
 their assemblies for ordinary or special purposes. Though 
 meetings of the Local Preachers, after the manner of those 
 suggested, would be far less assuming, yet they would be 
 
218 DELIBERATIVE MEETINGS IMPORTANT. 
 
 not less important in their essential cliaracter, and might 
 become of great practical utility to themselves and others. 
 Conducted in a Christian spirit, their beneficial results would 
 be far beyond doubt or peradventure. The tone of the pri- 
 vate and public character of the Lay Ministry would be ele- 
 vated ; the elements of reciprocal affection would be greatly 
 strengthened ; their knowledge of their work, and the best 
 materials for performing it, would be largely increased ; and 
 whilst at each meeting they would receive accessions to their 
 love, and zeal, and energy, they would go forth amongst the 
 people as flames of heavenly fire. 
 
 Even in the days of Jewish declension, when darkness 
 brooded over the land of Judea, and just before the spirit of 
 prophecy, the last of their theocratical distinctions, had ceased, 
 there were some remaining who kept up the exercises of 
 social devotion : " Then, they that feared the Lord spake 
 often one to another : and the Lord hearkened and heard it, 
 and a book of remembrance was written before him for them 
 that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And 
 they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when 
 I make up my jewels ; and I will spare them, as a man 
 spareth his own son that serveth him." — Malaclii iii., 16, 17. 
 Though this intimation is given in very general terms, still, 
 it seems to embody the essentials of that course we now 
 recommend. That these worshippers were sincere, is clearly 
 to be inferred from the high commendation which their con- 
 duct receives, as well as the delightful result with which it 
 is promised to be rewarded in the final day. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 STATE OF POPULATION IN LiVRGE TOWNS — DISTRICT VISITATION IN TOWNS 
 RECOMMENDED — UNION OF DENOMINATIONAL BODIES TO PROMOTE THE 
 OBJECT DESIRABLE — TRACT DISTRIBUTION A MEANS OF AWAKENING IN- 
 QUIRY—CASE ILLUSTRATIVE OF ITS ADVANTAGES — SUGGESTION OFFERED. 
 
 In a former part of this Essay, the author has refen^ed to the 
 demoralised condition of many of our large towns, and he now 
 returns to that appalling question, as showing the imperative 
 necessity of framing some plans of amelioration more adapted 
 to meet the particular state of circumstances than those 
 already in operation. 
 
 In our large towns we can boast of splendid temples, over- 
 flowing congregations, and ministers of first-rate popular 
 talent. Much zeal and liberality are annually expended in 
 enlarging plans of social and religious philanthropy, to meet 
 the general state of destitution at home and abroad. But, it 
 must be confessed, many of these plans and institutions 
 are much wider in object than in application. Whilst we 
 send bibles and missionaries to the heathen, which must 
 certainly be regarded as one of the delightful fruits of opera- 
 tive Christianity, we seem to overlook the ^videly-spread des- 
 titution at home, and appear to imagine that our pecuniary 
 contributions will be accepted as a full discharge and com- 
 pensation for the neglect of personal duties of higher and 
 more commanding importance. 
 
 This state of things is either true or false. If it be true, 
 — and the author deliberately adopts that alternative, — then 
 
220 STATE OF SOCIETY IN LARGE TOWNS. 
 
 it involves questions of the highest conceivable moment. 
 Though the author refers more particularly to large towns, 
 yet the description he is about to give, and the remedial 
 measures he is about to propose, are applicable to the entire 
 field of ministerial labour. It cannot be denied, that, in 
 every town, a considerable part of the population never attend 
 the Sanctuary of God ; some through age ; others through 
 sickness or infirmity ; and the non-attendance of a far larger 
 number has to be placed to causes which can afibrd no excuse 
 whatever. These facts clearly show that general appeals 
 from our pulpits, however powerful, are utterly lost on those 
 individuals ; and the case seems to submit the choice of one 
 of two alternatives : — either to leave them altogether in their 
 sins, or to construct a plan of arrangements adapted to the 
 circumstances in which such individuals are found. It will 
 not relieve preachers from their official responsibility to say, 
 " The Sanctuary is open at stated times, and, therefore, those 
 who are physically able are bound to attend its minis- 
 trations." If it were a question of mere social policy, then 
 this reasoning might be admissible ; but it is a culpable 
 subterfuge when viewed in its application to the deathless 
 interests of immortal souls. 
 
 The conduct of Government, in reference to the recent 
 national visitation by cholera, may suggest some valuable 
 hints of a practical nature. On learning that the disease was 
 approaching our shores, the Cabinet held a succession of 
 meetings, appointed boards of health, and instituted the 
 best means which human skill and prudence could sug- 
 gest, as well to prevent and check the ravages, as to cure, if 
 possible, that dreadful malady. Every precautionary mea- 
 sure which the soundest medical wisdom could devise 
 was adopted, and the faculty were unremitting in their 
 
DISTRICT VISITING. 221 
 
 endeavours to prevent what, in innumerable cases, set at 
 nought all methods of human prescription. This was a wise, 
 but necessary policy ; otherwise this country might have been 
 much more extensively depopulated than it was. And is 
 not the existence and fearful spread of that malady which is 
 incomparably more destructive in its present ravages and 
 future results than cholera, suggestive of a similar course of 
 policy 1 Ought not spiritual practitioners to be tremblingly 
 alive to the state of the morally dead and dying around 
 them 1 And ought not the appliances to be the very best 
 that could be devised to meet the condition of those affected 
 by the moral epidemic ? Viewed by analogy, ministers have 
 greatly the advantage of medical men. In the cholera, the 
 few cases cured appear to have yielded to accidental treat- 
 ment, rather than to any ascertained rule of medical science. 
 The varying symptoms appear to have baffled the skill of the 
 most celebrated of the faculty ; but, in cases of moral disease, 
 the symptoms are well known, and the remedy and mode 
 of application both infallible. 
 
 To meet the general state of circumstances as now pre- 
 sented, the author proposes a plan of district visitation, to 
 be varied in detail according to local cii-cumstances. His 
 general proposition is, that each town should be divided into 
 a given number of districts ; that a board should be formed, 
 consisting of delegates from such religious communities as 
 would be willing to co-operate, in order to devise a workin<y 
 scheme of arrangements ; and that a number of lay agents 
 should be ai)pointed to su[)ply the several districts with 
 weekly instruction in the elementary principles of Cliristianity, 
 going from house to house, or otherwise, as might be deemed 
 most conducive to the object sought ; making the reading 
 of the Scriptures the uniform groimdwork of their labours 
 
222 DENOMINATIONAL UNION DESIRABLE. 
 
 and opening and closing each meeting with prayer and singing, 
 if practicable. The delegates should mark all noticeable 
 occurrences in the prosecution of their labours, and meet 
 once a month to report progress. Thus a Christian Instruc- 
 tion Society might be formed on a practicable basis, and 
 embrace a comprehensive plan, capable, under the blessing 
 of Almighty God, of conveying a large amount of spiritual 
 instruction to those who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other 
 less-excusable reasons, never appear within the walls of God's 
 house. 
 
 Were some plan of this kind adopted, and steadily and 
 perseveringly carried out, we should see an amazing difference 
 in the criminal statistics of our respective localities, and not 
 only the moral aspects of society brightened, but its moral 
 constitution essentially altered and improved. At such a 
 crisis and in such a state of things as that which we so greatly 
 deplore, it is much to be desired that the right-minded of 
 every community of Christians would merge their minor 
 differences in the higher considerations of moral policy, and, 
 by a unity of design, followed out by a corresponding unity 
 of effort, labour to bring about a " consummation so devoutly 
 to be wished." 
 
 It is not a little to be regretted, that the various bodies of 
 professing Christians should have so long entrenched them- 
 selves within the slender trelhs-work of their respective com- 
 munions, and virtually refused to co-operate in general plans 
 of usefulness, lest, by such co-operation, they should damage 
 their own peculiar interests. It cannot but be deplored, 
 that, in Britain, the beacon to the world, the several bodies 
 of Protestant Christians should have so narrowly restricted 
 themselves to one indispensable form and interpretation of 
 the Christian constitution, and have denounced as heterodox 
 
EMPLOYMENT OF LAY AGENCY. 223 
 
 every creed, formulary, and constitution in which they coiild 
 not distinctly trace an exact identity with their own. Now, 
 although it cannot be expected nor desired that all the 
 articles and formularies of the several sections of the Christian 
 Church should be strictly regulated by a legislative act of 
 uniformity, yet the author is of opinion that every pious 
 Churchman or Dissenter who really desii'es the moral and 
 spiritual elevation of his race, would hail with unaffected 
 delight any conventional plan wliich embodied in its principle 
 and operation the widely-recognised apothegm, "Each for 
 all, and all for Christ," and which, without compromising the 
 sacred rights of conscience, might receive the seal and sanc- 
 tion of all Protestant communities, irrespective of their 
 different creeds and designations, and induce them to bring 
 their best efforts to bear with beneficial effect on the vice 
 and misery wliich are so fearfully extensive. The man who 
 is anxious to carry out the application of the Apostle's state- 
 ment will never want inducement to labour, nor a field in 
 which that labour may be advantageously employed. 
 
 There can be little doubt but that an immense amoimt of 
 spiritual good might be communicated to the ignorant and 
 profane of every locality by the emplojrment of pious lay- 
 men, to act in conjunction with those who minister between 
 the porch and the altar, in assisting to discharge duties 
 which belong to the pastoral, rather than to the ministerial 
 office. Though this kind of agency would add a somewhat 
 new feature to the administration of the Gospel, yet it would 
 in nowise contravene the principles of Christianity. Moses, 
 when his labours became too heavy for his personal discharge, 
 appointed seventy elders to aid him in administering the 
 functions of his responsible office. So, in the primitive 
 churches, subordinate agencies were appointed by the Apostles, 
 
224 EMPLOYMENT OF LAY AGENCY. 
 
 in carrying on the work of the world's evangelisation ; and 
 the attention of the Established Church of this nation has 
 lately been called to the subject, and hence, it has appointed 
 Scripture readers, to assist the clergy in discharging one branch 
 of their pastoral labours, and whose duties bear some affinity 
 to those now recommended in this division of this Essay. 
 
 By lay visitation, a large extent of ground might be 
 brought under regular cidtivation, which must necessarily be 
 altogether neglected, or receive very partial attention, if left 
 to the stated ministry. Particular cases would thus be 
 brought under weekly review, and such cases would suggest 
 their own modes of treatment. In the Providential economy, 
 the Almighty has variously gifted his creatures ; and this 
 appears to have been done for the purpose of supplying such 
 diversified agency as might be necessary to cultivate the 
 different parts of the vineyard of the Lord ; and the wisdom 
 of that Providence is signally manifested in the appropriate 
 fitness each possesses for the specific work that might be 
 assigned to them. The methodical arrangement of a suitable 
 lay agency is, in the judgment of the author, a serious 
 desideratum. District visitation, if prayerfull}^ and steadily 
 carried out, would speedily give an upward aspect to the 
 state of religion amongst us. It would lay bare all those 
 excuses which are too frequently urged to palliate non- 
 attendance on the public ministry of the Gospel. These 
 practical displays of solicitude would overcome the most 
 inveterate prejudices ; and the church would be continually 
 receiving fresh accessions to the flock of the Pedeemer. Com- 
 bination of effort is the soul of enterprise ; and a well- 
 organised district visitation machinery, once set fairly in 
 motion, would carry its contemplated results, despite every 
 kind of human or superhuman opposition. 
 
TRACT DTSTRTBUTION. 225. 
 
 Witli district visitation, tract distribution might be 
 effectively employed as an auxiliary, though it ought to 
 be carried out by other agency. The circulation of religious 
 tracts has been of immense benefit in this and other 
 oountries, and though its machinery is somewhat mechanical 
 in form, it might be reiidored immensely important in result. 
 A well-constituted Tract Society, when the working plans 
 are properly methodised and its agency is adapted to the 
 work, can scarcely be overrated as to its moral and religious 
 advantages. A tract may be read in secret. It counts no 
 tears ; it witnesses no blushes of conscious guilt or shame ; but, 
 having stealthily wormed its way to the source of conviction, 
 itseizes the conscience, affects the heart, and suggests the first 
 steps to reformation of life. These silent but effective pioneers 
 have often prepared in the desert a highway for the Lord. 
 
 The author distinctly recollects, that, about twenty-five 
 years since, a warm-hearted Local Preacher left the tract 
 called "The Gospel Invitation," with an old pensioner 
 who had been remarkable for his hostility to religion. On 
 leaving the tract, the distributor made an incidental observa- 
 tion, wliich induced the old man to read it. He had 
 not proceeded far before he was unanswerably smitten by 
 conviction. As he proceeded his convictions increased. He 
 was dreadfully alarmed. On the following Sabbath the dis- 
 tributor found him in the pangs of the new birth. He 
 directed the sinner to the Saviour, instructed and prayed 
 with him. The author visited him whilst struggling with 
 nature's throes. At length grace triumphed, and redemption 
 came in all its saving power. The case was so remarkable 
 throughout, that the author di'ew it up, and forwarded it to 
 the Religious Tract Society, and received in return a copy of 
 their bound publications. 
 
226 TRACT DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 In tract distribution great regularity should be observed 
 in the order of distribution, otherwise confusion will be the 
 result; and each distributor should make it an undeviating 
 rule to follow up the reading of each tract by some practical 
 hint bearing upon its particular subject, and delivered in an 
 affectionate manner. If circumstances are favourable, entreaty 
 might be added j and, if a word of prayer could be superadded, 
 it might, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, leave a 
 lasting blessing behind. All agency throughout the wide 
 circle of religious administration has one common centre of 
 unity, one grand point of convergence, from which light and 
 heat emanate; and the man who draws his supplies from 
 above, will rarely have to complain of barrenness either in 
 his own soul or in his labours. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PASTORAL VISITATION GREATLY NEGLECTED BY TRAVELLINQ PREACHERS — 
 PASTORAL MORE IMPORTANT TIIaN MINISTERIAL DUTIES, BOTH TO THE 
 FLOCK AND TO THE MINISTER — DR. DODDRIDGE'S RULES — TESTIMONIES 
 OP MATTHEW HENRY, PROFESSOR MILLER, AND THE REV. LEOH RICHMOND 
 — A CASE IN POINT. 
 
 About ten years ago, a gentleman offered a prize of one 
 hundred pounds for the best Essay on the Pastoral Office. The 
 author, in common with many others, was much delighted 
 when that announcement was made, because a \7ork on the 
 Christian Pastorate was a desideratum. The prize was 
 awarded to the Rev. Alfred Barrett, whose work possesses 
 very considerable merit ; but it is chiefly confined to the 
 ministerial department of a preacher's office, and only inci- 
 dentally treats on pastoral duties and claims. 
 
 The duties of a Christian pastor differ from those of a 
 district visitor in this particular : that, whilst the former 
 have respect to individuals who already form part of the 
 flock of the Redeemer, the other have respect to persons \^'ho 
 have not yet been brought within the Gospel fold ; and the 
 respective duties pertaining to these two classes require an 
 agency suited each to each. It is extremely desirable that 
 the district visitor (who would generally have to address 
 unenlightened persons) should have some acquaintance with 
 the natural state and practical workings of the human heart ; 
 and such a knowledge of the Scriptures as would suppJy 
 facilities for suitable instruction. But pastoral duties more 
 immediately concern parties who have been favoured with 
 
 q2 
 
228 PASTORAL VISITATION 
 
 spiritual illumination ; and, therefore, a pastor should have, 
 not only an experimental acquaintance with religion, but 
 should possess a ready competence to administer such 
 instruction, advice, encouragement, or correction as might be 
 required by the varied and varying exigencies which arise 
 out of the present disciplinary state of man. 
 
 The author is of opinion that the office of a pastor is far 
 more important than that of a mmister ; because, whilst the 
 duties of the latter are general in their application, those of 
 the former are personal. Public rebukes from the pulpit do 
 not always command conviction. The heart, ever ready to 
 evade the force of personal appeal, resorts to any subterfuge 
 which may serve to give a colouring for the transfer of con- 
 demnation to other jiersons, reserving to itself impunity ; 
 but, in closing with individuals, when personally addressed^ 
 you shut the side doors of every false refuge, and car*ry 
 truth at once to the conscience with unanswerable conviction. 
 
 In the early part of our Connexional history the minis- 
 terial and pastoral offices were united, and the secret of a 
 preacher's usefulness was to be sought not in the blandish- 
 ments of pulpit oratory, but in the less ostentatious, though 
 far more powerful, pleadings in the several domestic sanctu- 
 aries of the people. The pastoral duties are now transferred 
 altogether to class-leaders, and, except at the quarterly 
 visitations, the members of Society are rarely personally 
 addressed by the preachers. 
 
 The author has for many years entertained the opinion, 
 that personal application to the individualities of our people 
 is a work of far greater magnitude and moment than that of 
 the pulpit ministry. Each individual within the range of a 
 minister's charge, has a distinct and separate claim upon 
 his spiritual care and attention. It is a broad tmth, that 
 
NEGLECTED BY TRAVELLING PREACHERS. 229 
 
 Local Preachers sustain a degree of responsibility in their 
 respective circnits, much higher than the Travelling 
 Preachers, who, by their period of labour being restricted at 
 most to t\m:e^ years, divide their responsibility among the 
 circuits in which they travel. The Local Preachers seldom 
 extend their labours beyond the bounds of their particular 
 circuits, and, consequently, their responsibility lies within 
 its limits. Every minister of the Gospel unites in himself 
 the offices of watchman and evangelist ; and the evangelical 
 department of his work is divided into two branches — the 
 ministry and the pastorate. 
 
 In the present day the duties of the pastoral office are much 
 neglected. When Methodist preachers were less assiduous 
 in pulpit preparations, because more slenderly educated, pas- 
 toral visitation was followed up with regularity and useful- 
 ness. As there are cases that cannot be brought out in 
 the pulpit in all their minute and diversified particulars, 
 so there is much in the varied and varying experience 
 of individuals, with which a minister can only be made 
 acquainted in the privacy of pastoral visitation. But if it be 
 of importance that a minister should possess a key to the 
 experience of his flock individually, then, where his labours 
 are heavy, he may acquit his conscience of the responsible 
 charge of those over whom he watches as one that must give 
 an account, by doing per cdiimi, by another, what it might 
 be difficult to do in all cases per se, by liimself ; and thus, by 
 the em[)loyment of a co-ordinate agency, set in motion a 
 moi*al power, which, though emanating from himself, yet 
 worked by other hands, might effectually aid him in his 
 arduous and responsible duties. 
 
 If the salvation of men be the ))aramount object of a 
 ministers lal)ours, then it is difficidl to understand how he 
 
330 PASTORAL MORE IMPORTANT 
 
 can obtain correct information of the individual state of the 
 members of his flock without personal visitation. A skilful 
 practitioner in medical science is extremely careful to weigh 
 the several symptoms which a case may present, in order 
 that he may be safely guided in the treatment to which 
 he may have recourse. A mere charlatan might accident- 
 ally hit upon an expedient which suited the case to which it 
 was applied ; but no sensible man would place his life in the 
 hands of an ignorant quack, whose successful experiments 
 were those of chance. Individual cases require individual 
 examination and treatment ; and the moral state of indi- 
 viduals can only be properly ascertained by personal visita- 
 tion. It seems quite clear that the Apostolic mmistry was 
 framed after this pattern. During the three years that 
 St. Paul was resident minister at Ephesus, " he taught the 
 people publicly, and from Jwuse to house ; " and during that 
 time, " he, cecised not to warn every one of them day and night 
 with tearsr — Acts xx., 20, et seq. Indeed, his intimate 
 knowledge of the spiritual state of a large number of indi- 
 viduals in the several churches, is evident, as well as from 
 his frequent salutations, as from the relative appropriateness 
 of his instructions given in the precise kind of exhortation, 
 encouragement, or rebuke, to which he perfectly well knew 
 the personal distinctness of their experience would instantly 
 respond. 
 
 " But," as a recent minister has observed, " the uses of this 
 pastoral system to ourselves are of the highest moment. By 
 a judicious improvement of this intercourse we may receive 
 instruction from the meanest of our flock. Teachers must 
 be constant learners; and much is learned, consciously or 
 unconsciously, by this system. It is at once the seal to the 
 testimony of the preceding Sabbath, and the treasure-house 
 
THAN MINISTERIAL DUTIES. 231 
 
 which furnishes the most valuable materials for onr ensuing 
 ministrations. Perhaps there is no better way of filling up 
 interesting subjects for the pulpit, than in our pastoral coui-se 
 to draw them out familiarly in contact with those individual 
 cases to which they might be adapted. The sermons thus 
 made in our pastoral visitations are of a very different 
 character from those that are composed in the study. If 
 they are less abstract, tliey are more pointed and experi- 
 mental. We mark the precise evil requiring caution; the 
 deficiency calling for exhortation ; the circumstances needing 
 advice ; the distress or perplexity desiring consolation and 
 encouragement ; and thus pastoral preaching gives a local 
 character to the style of our pulpit ministry, far more 
 instructive and close in its application." . 
 
 Dr. Doddridge's rules on this head are very important, 
 and well worthy to be followed : — 
 
 " 1. To take a more particular account of the souls committed to 
 my cai-e. 2. To visit, as soon as possible, the whole congi-egation, to 
 learn more particulai'ly the circumstances of themselves, their children, 
 and servants. 3. Will make as exact a list as I can of those I have 
 reason to believe are imconverted, awakened, converted, fit for commu- 
 nion, or already in it. 4. When I hear any particular relating to the 
 religious state of my people, I will visit them and talk with them. 5. I 
 will especially be careful to visit the sick. I will begin immediately 
 with the inspection of those under my own roof, that I may with the 
 greater freedom urge other families to the like care." 
 
 A course like this, uniformly carried out, must inevitably 
 be followed by ministerial success. It was the advice of 
 Mathew Henry to ministers, " Acquaint yourselves with the 
 state of your people's souls, their temptations, their infirmi- 
 ties ; you will then know the better how to preach to them." 
 Professor Miller, in his pastoral letters, says : — " Rely upon it, 
 that he who hopes to discharge the duties of his pidpit ably, 
 appropriately, seasonably, and to the greatest advantage to 
 
232 A CASE IN POINT, 
 
 his flock, without being mvA^h among them, entertains a hope 
 which is perfectly unreasonable, and will certainly be disap- 
 pointed." "Tell Henry," said the Rev. Leigh Richmond, 
 " his father learnt his most valuable lessons for the ministry 
 in the 'poor mcvrCa cottage." 
 
 Now, whatever pleasure a minister may have in proclaim- 
 ing to sinners the glad tidings of salvation, the express 
 commission of the watchman is accompanied by a weight of 
 responsibility .unknown to tlie m&re preacher. The trembling 
 necessity is laid upon him to " watch for souls, as one that 
 must give an account ;" and how can he give " full proof of 
 his ministry," unless he "watch in all things, and do the 
 work of an evangelist?" If he is equally "a debtor to the 
 wise and to the unwise," he can only cancel his high obliga- 
 tions, by giving seasonable warning, encouragement, instruc- 
 tion, or consolation, to do it with the constancy, seriousness, 
 fervour, and energy which every case requires ; and thus 
 "become all things to all men, in order that he may save 
 some." 
 
 In the year 1815, the Rev. William Harrison, senior,* was 
 appointed to the Hinckley Circuit. He found the Society low 
 in numbers, and still lower in vital piety, and the congrega- 
 tion the mere shadow of a shade. He was not a man of 
 talent, in the popular acceptation of that term, but he pos- 
 sessed a thorough knowledge of human nature, a warm 
 and generous heart, and ready facilities for pastoral visitation. 
 He immediately constructed a map of the town, divided it 
 into districts, personally visited every house where he could 
 gain access, and spoke to, and prayed with, the people. His 
 mode, though novel, was fully justified by the result. He 
 
 ^ v.* Mr. Harrison entered the ministry in 1804, and died in 1835. 
 
A CASE IN POINT. 233 
 
 commenced his philanthropic course at one end of a given 
 street, and took tlie houses seriatim. Having obtained admis- 
 sion, he first asked one or two leading, but appropriate ques- 
 tions, fell upon his knees, offered up a short prayer, in which 
 he invoked the Divine blessing upon the family ; and was in 
 the next house similarly engaged, before those whom lie had 
 left had recovered from the surprise his visit had occasioned. 
 Before he had completed his first tour, the congregation had 
 so greatly increased that it became necessary to enlarge the 
 chapel considerably, and the Society received a corresponding 
 impulse. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RAGGED-CHAPEI5, AFTER THE MODEL OF EAGOED-SCHOOLS, RECOMMENDED 
 — OBJECTION ANSWERED— SUNDAY-SCHOOLS SHOULD BE MORE SEDULOUSLY 
 CULTIVATED — TEACHERS SHOULD BE PIOUS, SHOULD APPLY THE PRINCIPLES 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT TO THE CONSCIENCES OF THE CHILDREN — SUNDAY- 
 SCHOOLS OUGHT TO BE REGARDED AS NURSERIES FOR THE CHURCH. 
 
 The author, who has not been unobservant of the moral or 
 political changes which have marked the latter period of our 
 history, is free to record his unqualified approval of recent 
 benevolent attempts to rescue from vice and degradation 
 those children who, if not orphans, are fearfully neglected by 
 their natural guardians, both as to education and morals. 
 The institution of Ragged Schools forms a new era in our 
 politico-moral history, and the philanthropy which these 
 schools have called into activity is a fine feature in our 
 national character. If they should not, in the stricter sense 
 of the term, become nurseries for the church, they will 
 unquestionably exert an immense amount of beneficial influ- 
 ence on the lower departments of social life ; and where the 
 rising generation acquire correct habits for the discharge of 
 relative duties, it affords some ground to hope that the means 
 which are employed to regulate the springs of social action, 
 will hereafter become tributaries to the higher purposes and 
 ends of life. 
 
 That a large amount of moral destitution exists in our 
 great manufacturing towns and districts, is a fact which has 
 already been shown, and which can scarcely admit of con- 
 troversy ; and that means, calculated to meet the frightful 
 
RAGGED CHAPELS. 235 
 
 and growing exigency, have yet to be devised, is scarcely less 
 evident to those who have given the subject theii* serious 
 consideration. In the densely-populated districts of North 
 and South Staffordshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, and other 
 mining localities, great masses of the working inhabitants, 
 especially miners, never attend the ordinances of God's 
 house, either in the church or out of it ; and the too 
 common excuse they urge is, the want of decent apparel in 
 which to appear in the sanctuary of the Lord : for there is 
 low caste as well as high caste, and pride, as an innate prin- 
 ciple, runs through all the subordinations of society. 
 
 Now, without inquiring whether the ostensible be the real 
 ground on which this serious negligence rests, the mere fact 
 at once suggests the question, whether means suitable in 
 their adaptation to such a state of circumstances might not, 
 under the Divine blessing, be beneficially brought to bear on 
 these voluntary outcasts of religious society. Witnessing, as 
 the author has done, in many instances, the darkness and 
 demoralisation of miners and their families, it has frequently 
 occurred to him, that if places of worship, on the plan of the 
 Ragged Schools were established in such localities, and 
 suitable provision made for supplying them on the Sabbath- 
 day with instruction in the elementary principles of Chris- 
 tianity, numbei*s of persons in these neglected and degenerate 
 haunts of life, might, by personal invitation and persuasion, 
 be induced to give their attendance and attention, and so 
 obtain a 
 
 " Knowledge of their sickness, and 
 A knowledge of their cure." 
 
 The author anticipates an objection : viz., that the scheme 
 of Ragged Chapels is much more feasible in theoiy than 
 in practice, and therefore better intended than apjilied : 
 
236 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 that the native predilections of the human character, in 
 every department of life, set themselves in direct antagonism 
 against whatever appears to be ostensibly invidious in 
 social distinction, and, therefore, that the difficulties to be 
 encountered at the outset would be almost, if not altogether 
 insurmountable. But such an objection has no stable 
 foundation in experiment. The scheme, to render it bene- 
 ficially efiective, would certainly require a suitable agency — 
 a class of preachers well acquainted with the idioms of 
 speech and habits of life of those to be instructed. But 
 the Local Ministry, in every circuit, contains a greater or less 
 number of persons who possess the precise adaptations for 
 this class of labour ; and who are, for the most part, men 
 whose hearts beat responsively to the various forms of human 
 woe, — whose warm and generous sympathies feed the flame of 
 their zeal ; and who are always in armour when the battle 
 has to be fought. 
 
 This objection assumes a state of things which does not 
 exist. It cannot be denied that there is a feeling in human 
 nature which will not tamely yield to the intolerance 
 of dogmatism ; still, there are few men to be found on whom 
 the law of kindness, if properly administered, does not make 
 a favourable impression. The embassy of the Gospel is a 
 mission of entreaty. Preachers are to beseech men to be 
 reconciled to God. They are to use all means of persuasion 
 that are compatible with moral principle ; and to do all this 
 in the spirit of meekness and love. How gentle is the 
 Apostle's method with Roman sinners : — " I beseech you 
 by the mercies of God." Some preachers assume the judicial 
 functions of the Almighty, and consign to wholesale destruc- 
 tion all who do not practically adopt the recommendations 
 oflc»ed to their acceptance : a couriie which has little affinity 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 237 
 
 witli that "charity whicli liopeth all things, and suffereth 
 long, and is kind." 
 
 Returning to our established institutions, the author directs 
 the attention of his brethren in the Local Ministry to the 
 subject of Sunday-schools, which he is deliberately of opinion 
 are not improved to the extent of their capabilities, as 
 auxiliaries from which to recruit the varied casualties which 
 are continually taking place in our militant army. To the 
 pious and reflecting mind few subjects present more materials 
 for serious and interesting contemplation than a Sunday- 
 school. Of the vast number of children now in course of 
 training in our Sunday seminaries, it is more than probable, 
 that, in ten or twelve years, a large majority will have entered 
 upon manhood, and assumed relations imposing a variety of 
 duties, and involving a series of responsibilities, which will 
 have a most important beaiing upon the eternal destinies of 
 themselves and others, upon whom their influence will be 
 brought to act. The seed of mental and moral action is 
 frequently planted in a Sunday-school ; and its luxuriant 
 growth or otherwise will mainly depend on the amount and 
 quality of cultivation which may be applied to the mental 
 and moral powers. All the elements of the man are found 
 in the child ; and they gradually develope themselves as life 
 advances. Childhood is the state in whicli the mind unfolds 
 its capabilities, — the state when those habits are formed 
 which constitute the happiness, or occasion the misery, of 
 after life. 
 
 Without instituting and carrying out comparisons between 
 secular and religious education, in their respective aims, influ- 
 ences, and results, it will be more in keeping with the design of 
 this essiiy to confine oiu' observations to the purposes, means, 
 and end of Sabbath-school education. And liere a question very 
 
238 SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING. 
 
 naturally presents itself to those who are not well acquainted 
 with the constitution of Sabbath-schools : What is the chief 
 end it is sought to secure in the instruction of the cliildren 
 of our Sunday-schools 1 The ready answer is : The salvation 
 of their souls. The paramount object of Sabbath-school 
 institutions is to give the children clear conceptions of their 
 danger and the means of deliverance ; their fall, and the prin- 
 ciple of restoration ; their sickness, and mode of cure ; and 
 then apply these things to their hearts with a view to prac- 
 tical purposes. No doubt, in the institution of Sabbath- 
 schools, one branch of the general design was to teach gratu- 
 itously the art of reading to those poor children whose 
 parents might not have the means of procuring for them such 
 elementary instruction by payment. But this was evidently 
 the subordinate branch. The chief design was the education 
 and discipline of the soul. It was to train the infant mind 
 for heaven. It was to call forth early convictions, and then 
 direct them to the fountain of grace and mercy. It was to 
 teach them the broad principles of the New Testament, and 
 to show the application of those principles to the ordinary 
 transactions of secular, social, and spiritual life. 
 
 The author conceives that no office takes higher rank in 
 the scale of comparative importance than that of a Sunday- 
 school teacher. Much as is the respect which is confessedly 
 due to the pious minister of God's Word, yet his office, high 
 and responsible as it is, must in some respects peld in magni- 
 tude and moment to that of training the youthful mind for 
 heaven, and of applying to it those great principles of moral 
 action which are to determine the destinies of both worlds. 
 The Sunday-school teacher has not only to open the youthful 
 mind, to apply a lever to its powers, and an impetus to its ener- 
 gies, — to teach the child how to regulate the springs of thought 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING. 239 
 
 and control the actions of life ; but the great secret of his 
 influence, importance, and responsibility, is found in the 
 direct personal access he has to minds in a state of forma- 
 tion, and which, like iron in a state of fusion, receive their 
 mould, and form, and character, from the Sabbath-school 
 teacher. 
 
 If it be an essential ingi'edient in the working economy 
 of our Connexion, that class-leaders should possess a more 
 perfect knowledge of the nature, claims, importance, and 
 application of religion, and a more extensive experimental 
 acquaintance with the high and holy spirit of regenerative 
 Christianity, than those whom they are appointed to lead, 
 it appears to be scarcely less necessary that those who are 
 selected to educate the rising generation in our religious 
 seminaries, should not only be competent to instinict, and apt 
 to teach the rudiments of Scripture knowledge, but should 
 themselves enjoy such a measure of the hallowed spirit of 
 the Gospel, as to give them a quenchless desire to lead the 
 children of their charge from Adam to Jesus Christ. Where 
 is the parent, where is the philanthropist, where is the 
 patriot, where is the Christian, who does not regard the 
 effectual moral training of our youth, in connection with the 
 application of Divine grace, as the gi-eatest mainstay of our 
 national security, and the stable foundation on which rests 
 our hopes of future felicity 1 
 
 The very acceptance of office by a Sabbath-school teacher 
 is itself a virtual pledge that he will use his best endeavours 
 to carry out the objects to which that office has respect, as 
 far, at least, as his abilities will aid him ; and the redemption 
 of that pledge can only be secured by a conscientious discharge 
 of the very important duties which that office involves. The 
 mere inculcation of Scriptural knowledge is not a sufficient 
 
240 Solomon's advice. 
 
 discharge of those duties. If the teacher should stop here/ 
 the main object of Sunday-school education would be defeated. 
 The author need scarcely say, that the value and importance 
 of all knowledge, whether scientific or religious, is found, not 
 so much in its acquirements, as in its use and application. 
 It would avail us little to know the properties and value of 
 light, if our eyes were closed in perpetual darkness. To 
 know how to make bread, or any other aliment of life, will 
 not feed the body : we must eat to live. The knowledge, 
 indeed, of any branch of science, is only useful so far as it 
 can be brought to bear with practical effect on those purposes 
 of life to which it is applicable. So the mere communication 
 of Scriptural knowledge will avail little for practical pur- 
 poses, unless applied to the heart, and there be productive of 
 ^he fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ to the glory 
 of God. 
 
 The familiar aphorism of Solomon, " Train up a child in 
 the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not 
 depart from it," contains a proposition sound in principle, 
 effective in operation, and important in result, and is appli- 
 cable alike to all periods, states, and circumstances of the 
 world. It adapts itself to every constitution and form of 
 society ; it contains a commanding incentive to generous and 
 indefatigable exertion ; and it contemplates a result as 
 encouraging in its prospects as it will be delightful in its 
 ultimate consummation. Though short, it is very compre- 
 hensive. The object it proposes is the mental and moral 
 cultivation of youth ; the direction and control of the powers 
 of the mind as they open and expand ; the formation of 
 character, and the regulation of the springs of thought and 
 of action, with a view to fit them for this life, and especially 
 for that which is to come. 
 
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 241 
 
 If the educational apothegm be admissible, that, " As the 
 twig is bent, the tree 's inclined," then the claims it embo- 
 dies and the duties it inculcates are of the most serious 
 importance in their application to the times in which we 
 live. The present is confessedly a period of great moral 
 danger. The principles of our young people are exposed to 
 fearful assaults. Temptations, varied in form and powerful 
 in attraction, throng the downward path of life, so that the 
 safeguards of society in some of its departments are daringly 
 threatened. In such circumstances it is natural to ask, 
 What must be done 1 and the response is, The question is 
 far more easily asked than answered. The author says, No ; 
 the answer is at hand : Implant in the rising generation the 
 principles of Christianity, and the case is met, iind met wdth 
 effect. Teachers should pray with and /or their children- 
 They should inculcate the story of the Cross ; endeavour to 
 get the lintels of their hearts sprinkled with the blood of the 
 Pascal Lamb. They should lay siege to their hearts, blockade 
 them at every avenue, and cease not the assault until they 
 have secured a victory. 
 
 Sunday-schools ought to be viewed as religious nurseries, 
 out of which to transplant saplings into the Church of Christ, 
 both for its use and ornament ; to fill up our numerical 
 vacancies ; to supply the places of those whom death mows 
 down or Providence removes ; so tliat the children taught in 
 ur Sunday-schools might to come forth from those semi- 
 naries as practical illustrations of spiritual Christianity in 
 its power and application. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 REVIVALS OP RELIGION ESSENTIAL TO PROSPERITY — EARLY METHODISM 
 PROMOTED IN ITS GROWTH AND SPIRITDALITT BY REVIVALS— REVIVAL 
 SERVICES DEFENDED — REVIVALISM THE SPIRIT OF THE OLD AND NEW 
 TESTAMENT— RECOMMENDED BY ISAIAH— CONCLUSION. 
 
 Lastly, the author is exceedingly anxious to see a resuscita- 
 tion, for practical purposes, of the zeal and enthusiasm which 
 fed the flame of revivalism within these realms, when 
 Methodism, in the palmy days of its unsophisticated simplicity, 
 purity, and power, threw the reflected beams of spiritual 
 illumination, which it had caught from the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, 
 
 *' Athwart the gloom profound ; " 
 
 and accompanied the diffiision of that light with a difiusion 
 of spiritual influence, which was only second in its eflects 
 to the moral revolution which shook the foundations of 
 Central Europe just two centuries before. On this point the 
 author addresses himself more immediately to the members 
 of the Local Ministry ; because, with but few exceptions, the 
 Itinerant Preachers virtually repudiate revival services as 
 hoary relics of religious antiquity, as solitary specimens of 
 the production of past ages, as obsolete memorials of a vision- 
 ary fanaticism which has been quietly consigned to the tomb 
 of the Wesleys. 
 
 The history of Methodism up to the death of its venerable 
 and venerated Founder, is a running commentary on the 
 doctrine of re^-ivals. A warm and generous enthusiasm, fed 
 
REVIVALISM. 243 
 
 and regulated by Divine influence, and generating a well- 
 tempered zeal and an indomitable energy, was the element 
 brought to bear on the gloom and insensibility which, up to 
 the middle of the eighteenth century, held in worse than 
 Egyptian vassalage the population of these realms. The 
 early preaching of the English Reformers evoked a spirit of 
 inquiry, which no measures of human policy, however restric- 
 tive, could possibly repress. Salvation by faith was the 
 simple spell which 
 
 *' Broke the power of cancell'd siu, 
 And set the prisoner free." 
 
 In modem Methodism, the simple but sterling piety of 
 the fathers of the Connexion has been substituted by a for- 
 mulary far more attractive in its external embellishments, 
 but, nevertheless, cold and lifeless in operation and practical 
 effect. Whatever is calculated to shock the prejudices of 
 social refinement, is, by a questionable policy, carefully 
 excluded from the pulpits of our circuit towns. 
 
 The author admits, that, in all revivals of the work of God, 
 there is a breaking in upon that cold and calculating quietism 
 which, in the prudential currency of the more erudite of the 
 Travelling Preachers, " ought always to be preserved in the 
 house and service of God." He has, however, yet to learn, 
 that stillness in social devotion is an essential element of 
 genuine piety. The principle and practice of the New 
 Testament seem to favour a contrary inference, and that 
 inference is confirmed by analogy. The very notion of a 
 revival of religion presupposes a previous state of liikewarm- 
 ness and spiritual decline ; and the means employed in 
 reference to that state, to be effectual, must be adapted to 
 the case on which they are brought to act. What are the 
 effects usually brought about in revivals of religion ? Why, 
 
 r2 
 
244 BEVIVALISM. 
 
 believers are quickened, backsliders are awakened, and sinners 
 are brought to feel their lost condition. And where such 
 results are produced by the Spirit of God operating on the 
 human heart, shall there be no corresponding agency on the 
 part of man 1 Shall believers be established, backsliders 
 restored, and sinners saved, without effort and without 
 emotion 1 When the three thousand, on the day of Pente- 
 cost, were pricked to the heart under the sifting, searching 
 sermon of Peter, did they breathe out the simultaneous 
 expression of alarm — "Men and brethren, what shall we 
 do ? " — in a cold and listless whisper 1 Why, it is said they 
 were " pricked to the heart." They were in distress ; they 
 quailed under the wrath of God ; and, under such circum- 
 stances, would they be likely to put a violent restraint upon 
 their feelings 1 Again, will the recipients of God's favour — 
 those who have exchanged grace for nature, light for dark- 
 ness, liberty for bondage, happiness for misery, heaven for 
 hell — exhibit no excitement, no rapture, no ecstacy 1 What ! 
 
 shall the 
 
 ** Feast of reason and flow of soul " 
 
 be confined to philosophers and poets ? To argue thus is to 
 contravene the purposes of the Almighty. It is to thwart 
 the genius, to destroy the constitution, and to deny the power 
 of vital Christianity. It is to substitute an orthodox formu- 
 lary for the transforming influence of inwrought religion. It 
 is to take the outward profession for the inward renovation. 
 It is to put the sign for the thing signified. If the descrip- 
 tive imagery of the New Testament means any tiling, it must 
 mean all and everything which its language imports accord- 
 ing to its ordinary acceptation. Wrestling, running, striving, 
 fighting, must, at least, imply vigour, energy, spirit, determi- 
 jiation in those who are candidates for a heavenly world. 
 
REVIVALISM. 245 
 
 The subjects of religion are absorbing subjects. Sliall men 
 look on the Saviour's dying love with indifference ; contem- 
 plate the opposite destinies of futurity without emotion ; 
 realise the hallowed and hallowing influence of the Spirit of 
 Grod on the heart unmoved and unaffected ? The man 
 who can is little to be envied. The author feels with the 
 poet, that on such themes 
 
 " 'Tis impious to be calm : 
 
 Passion is reasou — transport temper here ! " 
 
 It is said, that, when the curses were uttered on Mount 
 Ebal, and the blessings on its neighbouring mountain Gerizim, 
 the whole body of the Jewish people uttered one simultaneous 
 loud Amen ! Such an expression of concurrence, escaping at 
 the same moment from more than half a milEon of voices, 
 would be likely to rend the heavens, and pierce the upper 
 skies. Was that enthusiasm, in its denunciated acceptation 1 
 When the foundations of the second temple were laid, " all 
 the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the 
 Lord, and the noise of their shouting was heard afar off!" 
 Was that fanaticism ? Will the full chonis of redemption's 
 anthem, sung by a multitude which no man can number, each 
 outvjdng each in the swell of grateful praise, and filling the 
 entire amplitude of the upper world, be deemed fanaticism ? 
 If so, then let such enthusiasm spread, until all mankind shall 
 feel the prevalence of its power. Admitting that, in all gi-eat 
 revivals of religion, there is much that carries the air of con- 
 fusion, and sometimes of extravagance, yet even that derives 
 an illustration from the laws of nature, seen in the operation of 
 electric agencies ; where, although the thunder and lightning 
 may disturb, the one the quiescence of the mind, the other 
 the death-infected calm of the atmosphere, the rush and 
 tempest of elemental strife arc invariably followed by the vital 
 
246 REVIVALISM. 
 
 air being rendered more fit for the ordinary purposes of respi- 
 ration. Let it not be imagined from these remarks that the 
 author is an advocate for rant and confusion, — that he con- 
 ceives a man's religion is to be tested by the strength of his 
 lungs, — that shouting and uproar are to be taken as the 
 standards of piety. He advocates no such things. He con- 
 ceives that prosperity and advancement in religion require, 
 in conjunction with Divine influence, zeal, energy, and enthu- 
 siasm (he employs the word in its best sense), on the part of 
 the church, and that, though collective revivals of reli- 
 gion may produce some apparent confusion, the settled 
 result is an increase of all the best elements of practical 
 Christianity. 
 
 A telling illustration, to show the effect of this reasoning, 
 is found in the history of Jacob. When the patriarch was 
 on his return from Laban, he took up his lodging for the 
 night under the broad canopy of heaven. During that 
 memorable night he wrestled with an angel. On the pre- 
 cise nature of that conflict Revelation is silent ; but that 
 the individual and the transaction were representative 
 there can be little doubt. The struggle was severe and pro- 
 tracted. The morning dawned, and neither party appeared 
 inclined to yield the palm to his adversary. The angel 
 struggled, but in vain, to unloose himself from the firm 
 grasp of his antagonist. At length he cried out, " Let me 
 go, the day breaketh ! " Jacob, however, aware of his pre- 
 valence, replied, with the natural air of conscious advantage, 
 " I will not let thee go unless thou bless me." This was the 
 stipulation, and with it the angel forthwith compHed. He 
 blessed him ; and Jacob let him go. The history relates to 
 Jacob ; the application relates to us. Whatever else it may 
 have been intended to teach^ it evidently shows the power 
 
REVIVALISM. 247 
 
 and prevalence of prayer, when the lieart is right with God, 
 and when faith is determined to carry its purpose. 
 
 Let us see how far the course recommended by this beau- 
 tiful and instructive ilhistration stands authorised by other 
 parts of the Word of God. In Isaiah IxiL 6, 7, we have these 
 remarkable words ; — " Ye that make mention of the Lord, 
 keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish and till 
 he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Were this language 
 uninspired, we should pause before we used it, as considering 
 it far too presumptuous and familiar in its application to 
 Jehovah ; but, when we recollect that it is the recommenda- 
 tion of a prophet to the praying and wrestling watchmen of 
 Israel, for the prosperity and advancement of religion, we 
 are encouraged to adopt the same course, in dependence upon 
 the same aid, and with special reference to the same end. Ye, 
 therefore, my brethren in the Local Ministry, who believe in 
 Christ Jesus, whose hearts beat in unison for the prosperity 
 of Zion, who prefer the peace of Jerusalem to your chief 
 earthly joy, keep not silence : let your cry be heard in 
 heaven ; let your prayers in union rise, as clouds of incense, 
 to the throne of the Eternal. Cry aloud : lift up your voices, 
 and lift them up with strength. Give him no rest. Besiege 
 the throne of grace with efforts untired and imtiring. Let 
 repulse only quicken your energies, and encourage you to 
 the renewal of action. Act thus, without abatement and 
 without intermission, until he arise, and until he again make 
 Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 
 
 In closing this Essay, the author feels that he should be 
 guilty of a serious dereliction of duty, if he did not endeavour 
 to enfix on his own mind, and on the minds of his fellow- 
 labourers in the Local Ministry, some permanent imjiressions 
 calculated to give an impetus to future exertions. The 
 
248 CONCLUSION. 
 
 position occupied by Local Preachers in the social state is one 
 of trembling importance. Planted, as many of them are, in 
 isolated situations, where the glimmerings of moral light, 
 seen through the dim and obscure medium of clerical ortho- 
 doxy, are but just sufficient to make more visible the palpable 
 darkness which broods around ; or where the iynisfatuus of 
 dogmatic Puseyism, which, by one of the skilful contrivances 
 of the fifteenth century, only illumines by side-lights the 
 right and left hand paths of danger and destruction; they 
 are often the only lenses which converge the rays of heavenly 
 illumination, and scatter those rays to enlighten the pathway 
 to heaven. Their office, therefore, creates responsibilities, 
 imposes duties, and involves results immeasurably momentous ; 
 and the preacher who does not bring his reflex acts and 
 motives under review, and connect the spirit and aims of his 
 labours with the present and future interests and ends of 
 Christianity, will have but very slender ground on which to 
 rest his hopes of ministerial success. The mere fact of 
 official designation in the Church of Christ, though it confers 
 official authority and presumes an official fitness, does not 
 necessarily infer the possession and retention of spiritual 
 elements in an ascending and, therefore, improving ratio. 
 Were the springs, motives, faculties, and powers of all the 
 members of the Local Ministry uniformly actuated with a 
 paramount reference to the salvation of souls, they would 
 instrumentally effect a moral revolution within the sphere 
 of their ministrations. Their influence would leaven that 
 part of the community on which their piety and zeal were 
 brought to act, and the application of moral principle would 
 operate as an effectual countercheck to the accidents or im- 
 pulses of human conduct, which are the natural consequences 
 of unset tledness in religious character. 
 
CONCLUSION. 249 
 
 Permit me, my brethren, then, in conchision, to ask — 
 Have we uniformly endeavoured to elevate the 
 Cross 1 This shoukl ever be the fulcrum and lever power of 
 the Christian Ministry. Every subject of pulpit address 
 derives the measure and spirit of its importance from the 
 Cross of Christ. Christ crucified, the great theme of the 
 Christian Ministry, judiciously opened and faithfully applied, 
 is itself a complete body of divinity ; a connected scheme of 
 religious duties ; a never-failing supply of motives, and an 
 inexhaustible treasury of spiritual joy. Every part of the 
 Gospel contains this master theme, substantially, if not /arm- 
 ally. Every personal and relative obligation di-aws its 
 quickening influence from this source. It is the centre of 
 every circle, — the soul of every theme. It is the pivot around 
 which all the dispensations of God revolve. It contains the 
 principle and means of reconciliation, with the secret of their 
 available application by man. The resolution, therefore, of 
 the Apostle, " to know nothing" — to glory in nothing — " but 
 the cross of Christ," marks a soul deep in its convictions, and 
 high in its elevations, on having found a remedy commensu- 
 rate Avith the disease of sin, and only intent on magnifying 
 Christ Jesus the Lord. It is said, that, when the Moravian 
 missionaries first introduced the Gospel into Greenland, they 
 called the attention of that benighted people to the nature 
 and perfections of God, and his claims to their services. 
 The Greenlanders heard with attention ; but their hearts 
 remained as frozen as their icy mountains. But when the 
 missionaries exhibited before them the affecting scenes 
 of Gethsemane and Calvary, their hearts melted with 
 tenderness, contrition, and love. If the atonement be 
 the warp of every pulpit address, the weft will easily 
 accommodate itself to the state of man. If Christ be 
 
250 CONCLUSION. 
 
 our polar star, our vessel will infallibly gain the port of 
 safety. 
 
 Has the conversion of souls been our primary object ? 
 Or liave we satisfied ourselves with a mere routine of external 
 duties, just sufficient to cancel the formal obligations of 
 official requirement 1 No official responsibility is equal to 
 that which is sustained by the minister of the Gospel. All 
 the labours of a preacher of righteousness are pregnant with 
 issues of a deathless character ; and, if his heart be filled with 
 God, he will consider no labour too arduous, no difficulty too 
 great, no sacrifice too costly, to adorn the shrine of his Saviour. 
 What a memorable example is that which is supplied by the 
 Apostle Paul. His heart was filled mth the love of Christ, 
 and his tongue was like a flame of seraphic fire. His ministry 
 varied according to circumstances. Sometimes he preached 
 publicly, and sometimes "from house to house ;" "warning 
 every one night and day with tears ;" " keeping back nothing 
 that was profitable j" " declaring the whole counsel of God ;" 
 and his whole ministerial life, extending over a period of 
 more than thirty years, was so uniformly devoted to his 
 labours, as to justify his appeal : " God is my witness, whom 
 I serve in my spirit, in the Gospel of his Son." Every Local 
 Preacher should be like Chaucer's parson : " a living sermon 
 of the truth he taught." Nothing is distributed to them, 
 either in judgment or in mercy, upon the common scale of 
 apportionment, or according to the general balance of Divine 
 dispensations. Is it true, that the eternal destinies of our 
 congregations are bound up with our own, and that we are 
 responsible to God for the final misery of every soul lost 
 through our means ? Is it not very probable, that St. Paul's 
 " watchings often" were connected with the deep intensity of 
 his ministerial solicitude 1 Ministers, of all men, have the 
 
CONCLUSION. 251 
 
 greatest need to make David's petition the burden of tlieir 
 prayers: "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God!" espe- 
 cially the blood-guiltiness of lost souls. Scougal, in a sermon 
 on this text, observes : " If a man should speak fire, blood, 
 and smoke, if he had a voice like thunder, and an eye like 
 lightning, he could not sufficiently represent the dreadful 
 account that an unfaithful pastor will have to give." 
 
 Are we anxious for the spread of the Gospel, and do 
 we contribute our largest amount of spirit and labour to 
 promote that consummation ? And is that spirit and labour 
 so disposed of in our public arrangements as to afford good 
 reason to believe that they will aid the general result ? Do 
 we pray much in secret for success in our spiritual labours ? 
 and do we prefer spiritual prosperity to earthly joy ? Do we 
 fix our spiritual residence near the fountain head of Divine 
 influence, in order that we may obtain continuous supplies 
 of light and consolation and power, in all their freshness and 
 vigour, to enable us to discharge our functions Avith accept- 
 ance and success ? Do we seek to obtain, by all accessible 
 means, a clearer and more extensive insight into the work- 
 ings of human nature and the operations of Divine grace ? 
 and, by frequently contrasting the blackness of sin with the 
 brightness of holiness, do we employ all our moral ability to 
 give effectual counteraction to the one, and increasing promi- 
 nence to the other ? When the appointment of deacons 
 relieved the Apostles from the burden of secular duties, it 
 was to enable them to "give themselves continually to 
 prayer and to the ministry of the word." It was said by 
 the heavenly-minded Fletcher, that " his deepest and most 
 sensible communications Avith God were enjoyed in those 
 hours when the door of his closet was shut against human 
 creatures as well as human cares." There is much reason to 
 
252 CONCLUSION. 
 
 fear tliat Luther's unyielding rule, to devote " three of the best 
 hours of each day,'' in the privacy of his closet, to hold com- 
 munion with God, and Bradford's custom, of studying on his 
 knees, are much more extensively approved than adopted. 
 It is true that Luther's rule is inapplicable to Local 
 Preachers as a class: because, generally, their disposable 
 time is very much restricted ; but a settled habit of devo- 
 tional feeling might be so closely interwoven with secular 
 avocations as to give a preacher all the spiritual advantages 
 which such a course might yield, without adopting its 
 mechanical form. If the spirit of the ministry is a spirit of 
 prayer, and if the violence which is necessary " to take the 
 kingdom of heaven by force " is the violence of the oratory, 
 then the duty of every preacher is plain, and the demand 
 imperative. There is what Lord Shaftesbury denominated 
 "the heroic passion for saving souls;'" and how much it is 
 to be desired that this passion were the rule of all the 
 departments of the Christian Ministry ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY JOHN KAYE, 80, FLEET-STREET. 
 

Date Due 
 
 Wr 0. 3fi 
 
 
 
 4^ 10 '39 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 j 
 ! i 
 
 
 ; 1 
 1 
 
 
 1 i ! 
 
 i i 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 i i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 «^»