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REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 METHODISM; 
 
 INTENDED 
 
 TO SHEW ITS DISCORDANCE 
 
 3In cwtaftt Polittja:, 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 % a Minister of the Church of England. 
 
 « All Eitors. Sects, and Heresies, as they are mixed with some inferior truths, to 
 make them the more passable to others; so do thej usually owe their original to some 
 eminent Truths, (either misunderstood or misapplied) whereby they become less dis- 
 cernible to their own Teachers: whence it is that such Teachers, hoth deceive^ and are 
 
 ^'^^^'^^' Bishop Saunderson'8 Preface to Us Sermons. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 PRINTED AND SOLD BY OTKIDGE AND SON, STRAND; 
 
 F. AND J. RIVINGTON, SAINT JPAUL's CHURCH YARD 5 
 
 AND J. HATCHARD, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1813. 
 
W. Sniitli A Co. Printer*, 
 Kin;: street, Stsveo Dials, 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 A HE following tract is not occasioned hy the 
 love of controversy, nor hy any aversion to a 
 single individual of the Methodistical persuasion ; 
 hut solely hy a desire of promoting the cause of 
 true religion. 
 
 Fanaticism and Infidelity are its most dan- 
 gerous enemies : hut in this nation, if the latter 
 abound, the former does much more ahound; 
 and whether it he not the most dangerous of the 
 two, let those who have considered its influence 
 and effects determine. The reasoning unbeliever 
 has been refuted time after time, and on the 
 ground of fair argument, on which alone he 
 affects to stand. — His cause is hopeless. The 
 Fanatic corrupter of religion is not so easily cor- 
 rected. He not only rejects argument on the 
 plea of inspiration, hut poisons the source of that 
 pure stream, of which the other vainly atternpts 
 to resist the current. 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 The per verier of Christian principles is there- 
 fore the most formidahley as well as the most 
 insidious enemy of Christian truth. 
 
 The superstitious frauds of Popery have at' 
 most entirely destroyed the sincere profession of 
 the gospel in Catholic countries; and the vain 
 pretensions of Enthusiasm threaten the speedy 
 extermination of it in the Reformed church. 
 Many are disgusted by its arrogant presumption 
 and affected piety; but more are misled by its 
 claims to extraordinary illuminations and pe- 
 culiar grace. 
 
 HencCf with the most charitable disposition 
 towards the 3Iethodists, we may be allowed to 
 expose the pernicious tendency of their tenets and 
 their preaching ; calculated on the one party to 
 increase scepticism and jyrofaneness, and on the 
 other, to create that blind infatuation which has 
 heretofore been the scourge and terror of man- 
 kind. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The principles of Christianity conformable with Reason and 
 Morality. — Discordant Opinions with respect to the Doc- 
 trines of Christ and his Apostles.— The solution of obscure 
 and difficult passages, by a reference to those which are 
 more clear and intelligible, the obvious remedy for such 
 dissensions. — ^The purpose of this Work explained i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Scriptural Doctrine of Regeneration and Grace con- 
 trasted with the opinions of Methodists. — Their primary 
 error in considering feeling and experience as an evidence 
 of their conversion. — The absiu-dity and contradiction 
 which are consequent on this delusion. — The diffusion of 
 its pernicious influence 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The signs and privileges of Regeneration insisted on by 
 Methodists. — Not acknowledged by the Church of Eng- 
 land, nor warranted by Holy Writ.— The import of the 
 assurances with respect to Divine Grace delivered by the 
 Evangelists.— The tnie criterion of a renewed life, and 
 the dangerous folly of supposing it to consist in sensible 
 emotions > 42 
 
▼1 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The INTethodistical Doctrine of Refreneration and Grace 
 tends to discourage good resolutions and virtuous cn- 
 deavonrs, and to create vain confidence and vague pre- 
 saraptions. — Various instances of its effects. — Infatuation 
 of Methodists exemplilied in their substitution of feeling 
 for repentance. — ^The wicked released by this delusion 
 from the fear of future punishment 64 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JVIethodistical Doctrines obtruded on the sick and dying. — 
 They supersede a final judgment. — A remarkable instance 
 of Methodistical infatuation. — Religious duties esteemed 
 of no account. — Practical eviLs resulting from such erro- 
 neous opinions. — Self-examination reprobated. — Percepti- 
 ble illapsc of the Holy Spirit. — Its absolute and immediate 
 effect in converting sinners. — Repentance confounded with 
 Regeneration. — Compulsory Grace. — Infusion of this doc- 
 trine into the minds of children.— Its pernicious influence 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The doctrines foiinded by Methodists on detached or imper- 
 fect Texts of Scripture contradicted by the context. — The 
 earnest, or witness of the Spirit misapplied, to favour their 
 notions of Divine Grace. — Their opinion of *' True-heart 
 Religion V of Salvation upon mere belief, without any 
 regard to good works. — Sudden transition from a state of 
 sin to a state of grace. — Confidence of Methodists that 
 the New Birth ensures salvation, and that no farther care 
 is required for its attainment 132 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The error of Methodists in confounding causal and final 
 justification. — The latter shewn to depend on the practice 
 of Christianity. — Union Avitli Christ no unfailing assurance 
 of it, ar;;crding to St. Paul and St. Peter. — Moral fitness a 
 requisite qualification for the divine favour.— The Clergy 
 calumniated as preachers of new doctrines. — Opinions that 
 were held in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I. upon 
 this subject, as recorded by Fuller and Strype 153 
 
CONTENTS. VU 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The charge against the Clergy, as the authors of a new 
 doctrine ; grounded on the plea, that no spiritual efficacy 
 attends their preacliing. — The success of Methodism falsely 
 attributed to that efficacy. — Zeal without Charity, dangerous 
 and unc];ristian. — Moral doctrine of the Gospel maintained. 
 Condemnation denounced by the Methodists against those 
 who teach it. — The Clergy assailed with obloquy and 
 insult. — Reason vilified by Metliodists. — Its proper exercise 
 in the search and defence of truth, compatible with spi- 
 ritual illumination. — Caution against imaginary experi- 
 ences. — The answer of a good conscience a test of sancti- 
 ficatiou. — The humble hopes and sincere endeavours arising 
 fronai Christian faitli 17? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Fanaticism of the first Methodists. — Extracts from the Work 
 of Bishop Lavington in proof of this. — .The conversions, 
 assurauces, raptures, and experiences asserted by Wesley 
 and Whitfield. — Their notion of Regeneration as attended 
 Avith agonies and torments, but productive of absolute 
 perfection. — Analogy of a conversion in the Komish Church 
 to the New Butli of the Methodists.— Their claims of 
 spiritual gifts disproved by their luicharitableness. — The 
 modern Methodists maintain the tenets of their prede- 
 cessors.-^-The former effects of puritanic zciil to be 
 reasonably apprehended from a recurrence of the same 
 canse. — The reprehension of its principles not inconsistent 
 with tolerance and charity. — Christian practice the true 
 criterion of Divine Grace.— Conclusion , 2 J 6 
 
REFLECTIONS 
 
 ON 
 
 METHODISM, 
 
 8zc. &c. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY CONFORMABLE 
 WITH REASON AND MORALITY. — DISCORDANT OPI- 
 NI01I5 WITH RESPECT TO THE DOCTRINES OF CHRIST 
 AND HIS APOSTLES.— THE SOLUTION OF OBSCURE 
 AND DIFFICULT PASSAGES, BY A REFERENCE TO 
 THOSE WHICH ARE MORE CLEAR AND INTELLIGIBLE, 
 THE OBVIOUS REMEDY FOR SUCH DISSENSIONS. — 
 THE PURPOSE OF THIS M^ORK EXPLAINED. 
 
 The pretensions of a sect, which peculiarly 
 assumes to itself the title of evang-elical, ob- 
 viously suggest an inquiry, on what grounds 
 these pretensions rest : and whether those teach- 
 ers, who claim exclusively that sacred appella- 
 tion, do really inculcate the doctrines of Jesus 
 Christ. This, according to the tenor of the 
 gospel, might seem no difficult or perplexing- 
 question. That heavenly dispensation was 
 
 B 
 
2 ReflecUoiis on [ciiAP. i. 
 
 preached to the poor and ignorant, " as a liglit 
 to them who sat m darkness." The evidences 
 of its truth, therefore, are proposed in the 
 clearest, and most intelligible form ; and oar 
 blessed master establishes the faith of his dis- 
 ciples on the miracles he wrong-ht. " The 
 works that I do, in my father's name, they bear 
 witness of me." * And again, " if I do not the 
 works of my father, believe me not; but if I do, 
 though ye believe not me, believe the works, 
 that ye may know that the father is in me and I 
 in him." f A test more infallible in itself, or 
 more easily comprehended, by men of all ca- 
 pacities, could not liave been devised. { And 
 
 * John X. 25. t John x. 37, 38. 
 
 I That there are mysterious points in holy scriptule which 
 are the proper object of Christian faith, is no objection to 
 the credibility of the gospel, nor any exception to the clear 
 revelation it contains ; because mysteries are inseparable from 
 religion. Yet, an author, to whom the public is much in- 
 debted for his forcible exposure of Methodism, reasons thus : 
 " As mysteries cannot be made manifest, they of course can- 
 not be understood; and that which cannot be understood, 
 cannot be believed, and can consequently make no part of any 
 system of faith, since no one, till he understand a doctrine, 
 can tell, whether it be true or false. Till then, therefore, he 
 can have no faith in it, for no one can rationally affirm that he 
 believes that doctrine to be true, which he does not know to 
 be so; aud he cannot know it to be true if he does not under- 
 stand it. In the religion of a true Christian, therefore, there 
 can be nothing unintelligible, and if the preachers of that re- 
 ligion do not make mysteries they will never find any."* 
 
 ♦ Hints by a Barrister, part iii. p. 19. 
 
CHAP. I.] Methodismf ^c. 3 
 
 with regard to those qualifications which might 
 ])est dispose his hearers to receive the word of 
 
 This position is equally untenable on the grounds of natural 
 or revealed religion. In saying, " that which cannot be under- 
 stood cannot be believed," &c. if the writer mean to assert 
 that nothing is a proper object of faith which we cannot fully 
 comprehend, we dissent entirely from his opinion. The evi- 
 dence of revealed truth may be incontrovertible, while the 
 subject of it is incomprehensible. Otherwise, the being of a 
 God would* be incredible ; for surely no one pretends to 
 understand the mode of his existence ; and whether the Divine 
 Nature, which is one in essence and substance, reside in the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or only in a single person : the 
 difficulty of understanding the mystery of his existence is 
 equally great. 
 
 If the barrister's argument intend no more than this, that 
 we cannot believe any proposition, except we understand the 
 terms in which it is conveyed, there is no question about it. 
 " But if our assent be required to a proposition which hath 
 some meaning and no inconsistency in it, and is undeniably 
 ^asserted in a revelation well proved : but only, we have no 
 other evidence for it, nor should of ourselves ever have ima- 
 gined any such thing; indeed, should have thought it very 
 unlikely, and still cannot thoroughly comprehend it, or so 
 much as guess at the reasons, the manner, the circumstances 
 of what we are taught: All this is absolutely no foundation 
 for our disbelieving it. Nay, though we should see difficulties 
 and objections against it, which we could not particularly 
 answer, we should allow them only their proper weight, which 
 may be far overbalanced by the general attestations given of 
 its divine authority."* 
 
 There must be mysteries in that, which infinitely exceeds 
 the utmost stretch of human capacity. For as the wisdom of 
 the creature caimot understand wholly and absolutely the 
 
 * Archbishop Seeker's Sermons, vol. iv. serm. xviii. 
 B 2 
 
4 Reflections cm [chap. i. 
 
 God, our Lord declares, that " the seed which 
 bare fruit an hundred fold, are they, who, in an 
 
 counsels of the Creator, which therefore can only be revealed 
 in part, while " we see through a glass darkly," a mystery 
 must consequently intervene wherever the Divine Nature or 
 designs become inscrutable. " The preachers of the Christian 
 religion do. not make mysteries ;" but the error lies in adopting 
 mysteries to the exclusion of what is not mysterious, — in re- 
 jecting those plain rules of a holy life which are manifestly 
 revealed, — and in resolving the terms of salvation into mys- 
 ticism. 
 
 These observations may not appear misplaced at the begin- 
 ning of this treatise, when it is considered, that the denial of 
 mysteries in the doctrine delivered by Jesus Christ, is to a cer- 
 tain extent, an impeachment of that gospel which contains 
 them; and that the intelligent writer who has so pointedly 
 exhibited the falsehood, folly, and pernicious tendency of 
 Methodism, has advanced some opinions, which the advocates 
 of that ject have not failed to remark, as tinctured with So- 
 cinianism ; and have thence taken occasion to stigmatize his 
 wliole perfor^nance. 
 
 Since tliis note was written, the barrister has repeated his 
 assertion, that Christianity contains nothing mysterious ; with 
 more sophistry, than argument, he says, " To talk of mysteries 
 of revelation is a perfect solecism ; a mystery revealed is a 
 mystery no longer ; it would not be more absurd to talk of a 
 concealed discovery,"<)tc.* We talk not of the mysteries of 
 revelation, but of those points which were mysterious before 
 that revelation unfolded them ; or which are still mysterious 
 because they are not fully revealed ; but are involved in those 
 truths, and inseparably coiniected with those articles of faith 
 which are incontestably established. Thus we believe our 
 Saviour's declaration, " I and my Father are one," because he 
 has proved his " words to be spirit and truth." But how the 
 
 * Hints, part iv. p. 48. 
 
CHAP. I.] Methodism^ ^c. 5 
 
 honest and g-ood heart, having- heard tlie word, 
 keep it, and bring- forth fruit with patience. "* 
 How accordant is this with tlie natural appre- 
 hensions of man, whose virtuous propensities are 
 engag-ed in the support of that holy rehgion, 
 for which a moral disposition is declared to be 
 the most suitable preparation ! What perfect 
 harmony subsists then between that light of 
 truth which God hath graciously revealed through 
 Jesus Christ, and that light of reason, the judge 
 of truth, which he first inspired when man be- 
 came a living soul! There is no discrepancy 
 between his former and his latter gift ; his ways 
 are always equal, just, and true. To evince 
 the authority of his gospel, he appeals to the 
 evidence of our senses and rational faculties; 
 and for the practice of its precepts, he requires 
 
 Father and Son are one, (ev, one thing, or substance,) is a 
 mystery, which when the barrister has explained, we will allow 
 his defiance to be something more than a mere bravado: — - 
 " I will defy any one to produce any doctrine that our Saviour 
 ever delivered, that contains in it any thing incomprehensible, 
 or that has any thing of mystery in it."t Had he coniined his 
 assertion to the practical doctrines of the gospel, there would 
 have been no difficulty in admitting it. 
 
 The church of England is much beholden to this learned 
 advocate of its rights and interests ; but really it is rather too 
 friendly in him to defend its cause by attacking its creed ; and 
 to profess " his faith and attachment," while he undermines 
 the principles on which it is established. 
 
 * Luke viii. 15. 
 
 t Hints, part iv. p. 57. 
 
6 Hfiflectiom on [chap. i. 
 
 " an honest and good heart." Thus, by the 
 divine goodness, under the directing influence 
 of the holy spirit, the knowledge of the truth 
 is placed within the reach of our understanding, 
 and the observance of its laws is subject to the 
 power of our will : Whence our Lord addressed 
 tliis pressing question to his unbelieving hearers: 
 " Yea, and why even of yourselves, judge ye 
 not what is right ?" * 
 
 But notwithstanding the plain and obvious 
 doctrine of the gospel, what unhappy dissensions 
 prevail among christians, with regard to the in- 
 terpretation of the sacred text? Divisions which 
 are daily increasing, and which seem more 
 likely to terminate in the breach of all charity, 
 than in reconciliation and brotherly love. 
 
 In this state of religious discord, it becomes 
 the express duty of every christian, to separate, 
 as far as may be, the truth which is in Jesus, 
 from the errors which overcloud it. To com- 
 pare the terms and conditions of salvation, pro- 
 muigcd by Christ, with the tenets which are 
 taught by those who now profess themselves ex- 
 clusively the preachers of his gospel ; and to dis- 
 tinguish him who speaketh of God, from him 
 who speaketh of himself. This mode of treating 
 a subject so important in its nature and its con- 
 sequences, seems the more necessary : First, 
 because nothing but the word of truth, contained 
 
 * Luke xii. 57. 
 
CHAP. I.] Methodism, ^c. 7 
 
 in the New Testament, can satisfy a sincere 
 christian in the discussion of such a subject: 
 Secondly, because, strang-e as it may appear, 
 the simple and positive declarations of Christ 
 and his apostles, have l>een too much overlooked, 
 if not absolutely disregarded ; where their au- 
 thority, and that alone is decisive. This error, 
 it is well known, has been occasioned by a mis- 
 interpretation of some passages in the epistles 
 of St. Paul. In those epistles, as another great 
 apostle observed, immediately after they were 
 written; " there are some things hard to be 
 understood, which they that are unlearned and 
 unstable, wrest, as they do also the other scrip- 
 tures unto their own destruction." * And in 
 these days it is too evident, that certain tenets, 
 which have been imputed, and falsely imputed 
 to St. Paul, are so much insisted on, that the 
 writings of the four evangelists are almost su- 
 perseded by the commentary of Calvin. 
 
 Let it not, however, be supposed, that to dis- 
 approve of the imputed meaning is to dispute 
 the undeniable authority and genuine doctrines 
 of that apostle, whose inspired eloquence, whether 
 it be applied to refute the errors of Judaism, — 
 to convince the unbeliever, — to illustrate the 
 gospel of his blessed master, — or to enforce those 
 moral precepts with which he concludes every 
 epistle, has all the characters and energy of 
 
 « 2 Peter, iii. 16. 
 
8 llejiections on [chap. i. 
 
 truth. But his earnest expostulation with the 
 Corinthians deserves to be very seriously con- 
 sidered in the present distracted state of religious 
 opinions : " Is Christ divided ? Was Paul cru- 
 cified for you? Or were you baptized in the 
 name of Paul ?" * 
 
 That the tenets he inculcated are indisputably 
 true, and evangelical, who will deny ? And if 
 this be the case, how can his epistles be con- 
 sidered otherwise than as being in perfect unison 
 with the whole tenor of the gospel, delivered by 
 the four evangelists ? In regard to the terms of 
 salvation, strictly the same; in regard to occa- 
 sional points that occurred between him and the 
 churches, which he addressed, in perfect harmony. 
 " Who then is Paul, and who is ApoUos, but 
 ministers by whom ye believed, even as the 
 Lord gave to every man ?" f Such is the modest 
 language of this inspired writer : being the 
 minister of Christ, he could inculcate only the 
 word of Christ, as necessary to salvation. What- 
 ever is contained in his epistles must be construed 
 therefore agreeably to the purport and intent 
 of the gospel ; or, if interpreted in a different 
 sense, must be false, because truth is uniform 
 and consistent ; a supposition which an infidel 
 may cherish, but which it would be blasphemous 
 for a christian to entertain. J Yet the unhappy 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 13. 1 1 Cor. iii. 5. 
 
 I The epistles may contain additional doctrines, but doc- 
 trines that are perfectly accordant with those which Christ 
 
CHAP. I.] Methodism, ^c. 9 
 
 schisms which divide the church have generally 
 arisen from an exposition of the doctrines insisted 
 on by St. Paul, in contradiction to those delivered 
 by Christ himself. This fruitful source of error 
 
 himself promulged. This is the auiount of all that can be 
 truly said with regard to any apparent difference between 
 these writings and the gospels. And to such farther enun- 
 ciations of his word by the mouth of his inspired apostles, 
 our Saviour directed the expectation of his disciples in his 
 last valedictory address, recorded by St. John: — "I have 
 yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
 now. Howbeit, when he the spirit of truth is come, he will 
 guide you into all truth : for he shall not si)eak of himself; 
 but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak, and he 
 will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he 
 shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."* Had 
 Lord Bolingbroke chosen to consider this, and examined the 
 real argument of St. Paul, he might have spared the 
 malignant sarcasm, which exposes his own ignorance, while 
 it calumniates the apostle as a preacher of new doctrines, 
 contrary to those of Christ, " St. Paul," he says, " might 
 very well talk of his gospel, even in contradistinction to that 
 of Christ ; since he taught several doctrines which had no 
 foundation in that of Christ; and others, as I have said, that 
 were directly repugnant both to the word and example of the 
 Messiah." — Essay JV. vol. iv. 4to. edition. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, Sir Richard Hill refers to the noble 
 writer, as authority in favour of Galvanism : " Even Lord 
 Bolingbroke says, Paul taught Predestination, and then 
 arraigns his impudence for teaching it. However, fas est et 
 ah, hoste doceri."f 
 
 Now if Lord Bolingbroke's premises were true, his con- 
 clusions would be just ; if St. Paul did really deliver those 
 
 * St. John xvi. 12, 13, 14. 
 
 t Sir Rd. Hill's Preface to Babington's Sermon, p. 9. 
 
10 Reflections on [chap. i. 
 
 would be cut off, if one fixed standard of inter- 
 pretation were admitted, viz. that the plain, 
 indisputable sense of many passages in the New 
 Testament being certain, other passages which 
 are more obscure should be explained by a 
 reference to such clear and explicit declarations. 
 When, for instance, it has been expressly as- 
 serted, that ^' God will have all men to be 
 saved,"* it cannot be supposed that the author 
 of this assertion would say elsewhere, he willeth 
 certain persons to be damned ; and thence, such 
 texts as these, " What, if God willing to shew 
 his wrath, and to make his power known, 
 endured with much long suffering, the vessels 
 of wrath fitted to destruction !" f and, " there- 
 fore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, 
 and whom he will he hardeneth." J Such texts 
 as these evidently impart a very different meaning 
 
 doctrines, which this infidel writer, and the Methodists say he 
 did, they certainly were repugnant to the word and example of 
 the Messiah ; and the apostle subjected himself to that curse 
 which he so solemnly denounced. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Galat. i. 8,9. 
 
 But wisdom is justified of her children. St. Paul did not 
 contradict his divine master, whatever his mistaken friends 
 may say /or him, or his bitter enemy against him. By Lord 
 Bolingbroke he is scandalously misrepresented ; and by the 
 Methodists he is exposed to the slander of malevolent revilers. 
 Such is the defence of Christianity furnished by tliese zealots ! 
 Alas ! — Non tali auxilio, nee de/ensoribus istis tempus eget.— 
 They must not venture to take up the weapons of infidelity, 
 in order to protect our holy faith. 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii. 4. t Rom. ix. 22. I Id. ix. 18. 
 
CHAP. I.] BIcthodism, ^c. 11 
 
 from that eternal reprobation which has been 
 established as an article of faith by Calvin and 
 his followers, on the authority of the great 
 apostle. For, " since in all other cases it is 
 allowed to be one most reasonable and just 
 method of interpretation, (if not the only one,) 
 to explain such passages of any author as are 
 obscure and difficult, by such other passages in 
 the works of the same author as are more clear 
 and perspicuous :" * Surely in this case, where 
 a divine revelation is unfolded, where such high 
 and mysterious matters as the being and attri- 
 butes of God, his will and providence, are the 
 subject matter of discourse ; — where thus the 
 infinite perfections of the creator are laid open 
 to his imperfect creatures, so far as human 
 language wdl permit ; (and how inadequate is 
 it to so great a work !) surely in this case, with 
 humble reverence, and conscious ignorance, we 
 should modestly receive the clear enunciations 
 of our heavenly teacher, acknowledge their 
 authority and truth ; and from their unclouded 
 lustre, attempt to derive a light which may 
 elucidate more abstruse and darker intimations. 
 Surely we shall not presume to oppose our 
 notions on peculiar points of doctrine, to the 
 evident manifestations of his will ; nor pass over 
 with negligence the most positive commands, 
 while we insist only on those intricate matters, 
 
 * Bundy's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 443. 
 
12 Reflections on [chap. i. 
 
 ■wliicli neither eng-ag-e us to lead a holy life, nor 
 prepare us to die in the Lord. 
 
 That the express declarations of Christ and 
 his apostles, which enforce the indispensable 
 jiecessity of moral goodness, founded on the 
 principle of Christian faith, in order to the 
 attainment of salvation, carry with them an 
 infallible assurance of the divine will, is gene- 
 rally admitted. It might be hoped then, that 
 their authority would be deemed sufficient, and 
 the conclusions thence arising completely satis- 
 factory. That whoever receives them as the 
 oracles of truth, would be steadfast and im- 
 moveable in the persuasion which they inculcate, 
 that the unlearned in particular, who are ignorant 
 of many things which are requisite for the 
 solution of scriptural difficuties, would rest and 
 confide in the plain rule of faith and practice, 
 established by the gospel, and depend on the 
 promise of Christ, that " his words will not 
 pass away." When any passage occurs of 
 which the meaning is less obvious, their own 
 incapacity might be reasonably acknowledged, 
 as the cause of such obscurity. And should any 
 text that is more abstruse, seem irreconcileable 
 with those which convey one clear, direct," in- 
 disputable sense, their belief in the unchangeable 
 will, and unerring word of God, might convince 
 them that the difference is not real, but apparent 
 only ; and they might well tremble at the 
 thought of attributing a diversity of doctrines 
 
CHAP. I.] Meiliodism, ^c. 13 ^i* 
 
 to their divine instructor, being- assured, that 
 " as God is true, his word toward them was not 
 yea and nay ; but that all the promises of God, 
 in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the 
 glory of God." * 
 
 Were this principle of faith, humility, and 
 piety, impressed on the professors of religious 
 truth, they would no longer perplex their minds 
 with things that exceed their comprehension; 
 but would " receive with meekness the ingrafted 
 word, which is able to save their souls." 
 
 The preceding observations may not appear 
 inapplicable to the purpose designed in this 
 humble attempt, to contrast the fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity, delivered by Christ 
 and his apostles, with those which are maintained 
 by many modern teachers — self-entitled evan- 
 gelical. Such a comparison will enable us to 
 decide whether the tenets peculiar to those 
 teachers be the gospel of Christ or not ; and if 
 they appear repugnant to it, there will ))e no 
 difficulty in deciding which is false ; — a criterion 
 that has the advantage of being level to every 
 capacity. Nor is it unreasonable to expect, 
 that those opinions, however authoritatively 
 urged, which oppose the doctrine of sound 
 words contained in the gospel, would be re- 
 tracted as untenable and false ; and that those 
 Christians who mistakingly pervert it, would 
 
 * 2 Cor. i. 18, 20. 
 
14 Rejiections on [chap. i. 
 
 acknowledoe tbeir own error, and the infallible 
 veracity of their divine master; — that touched, 
 like Satan, by Ithuriel's spear, 
 
 " for no falsehood can endure 
 
 Touch of celestial temper, (they would) start. 
 Discovered and surprized."* 
 
 or if their own prejudices are incurable, at least, 
 that their unscriptural preaching would no longer 
 lead astray a multitude of followers. 
 
 * Milton's Paradise Lost, book iv. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodismy ^c. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION AND 
 GRACE CONTRASTED WITH THE OPINIONS OF 
 METHODISTS. — THEIR PRIMARY, ERROR IN CONSIDER- 
 ING FEELING AND EXPERIENCE AS AN EVIDENCE 
 OF THEIR CONVERSION. — THE ABSURD-ITV AND CON- 
 TRADICTION WHICH ARE CONSEQUENT ON THIS 
 DELUSION. — THE DIFFUSION OF ITS PERNICIOUS 
 INFLUENCE. 
 
 An order to reduce this subject into some order 
 and method, (for it is impossible to follow the 
 incoherent tenets of the Methodists through all 
 the wilderness of their opinions,) it may be 
 proper to discuss the points in question distinctly ; 
 and they naturally fall under these several 
 heads, viz. regeneration and grace ; foreknow- 
 ledge and free will ; predestination and election; 
 justification, faith, and good works. These are 
 indeed weighty matters, to which we approach 
 with humility and diffidence. But they have 
 been lately expounded with so much clearness 
 and ability by an eminent and learned prelate, 
 tliat the difficulties attending them are obviated -, 
 and the true doctrine contained in those com- 
 prehensive terms is so fully established, that it 
 can no longer be mistaken or misapplied by the 
 candid and unprejudiced christian. Still as they 
 
16 Rejlections on [chap, ii, 
 
 are made the cause of strife, rather tlian of 
 Godly edifying-, any attempt, however imper- 
 fect, to represent the erroneous construction of 
 them, by which a munerous sect justifies its 
 peculiar tenets, may not be wholly unserviceable 
 to the cause of true religion. 
 
 The article of regeneration, or a new birth, 
 with which that of grace* may properly be 
 
 * Grace, cXa^K;,) says Packliurst, denotes, 5thly, the gracious 
 unmerited assistance of the holy spirit in his miraculous gifts ; 
 Rom. xii. 6. 1 Cor. i. 4. (comp.v.7.) Eph. iv. 7. 1 Pet. iv. 10. 
 But though I firmly believe his blessed operations or influences 
 on the hearts of ordinary believers in general; yet that X»pk 
 is ever in the New Testament used, particularly for these, is 
 more than I dare, after attentive examination, assert. — Lexic. 
 ad Verb. This learned man refers to Whitby, and his opinion 
 is confirmed by Pyle.— Vid. James iv, 6. But as the term is 
 identified by the Methodists with the inward operation of the 
 spirit, it is treated here under that idea. A full account of 
 its various meanings is given by Dean Stanhope in the fol- 
 lowing words, admitting this questionable signification: — 
 
 Grace in the general notion of it, denotes favour and kind- 
 ness, freely bestowed ; and in this sense the grace of God 
 imports that aftection and good will which lie bears to men, 
 and all those benefits proceeding thence of his own mere 
 motion, and as a free act of mercy. 
 
 2. The grace of God in a more restrained sense, is fre- 
 quently set to signify the gospel of Jesus Christ. So stiled, 
 because the terms and privileges of that salvation tendered by 
 it, are the effect of his infinite and undeserved goodness ; the 
 knowledge and publication of it imparted to whom, at what 
 time, and in what measure he pleases ; and the blessings and 
 rewards of it, when so imparted, (though to such indeed 
 covenanted mercies, if they perform their part,) yet still so 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, ^c. 17 
 
 joined, obviously presents itself first to our 
 consideration ; of which the true scriptural doc- 
 trine may be collected from the following texts. 
 It is thus stated by St. John, " As many as 
 received him, to them gave he power to be- 
 come the sons of God, even to them that 
 believe on his name, which were born not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
 will of man, but of God."* Here those who 
 
 vastly disproportionate in value to their best services, as to 
 deserve the name not of wages, but of gift. 
 
 3. The grace of God does sometimes signify a certain in- 
 ward Avorking of his spirit in and with the minds of men, which 
 by suggesting, and disposing them to comply with reasonable 
 argum-nts and good motions, renders the outward ministry of 
 the word, and other means instituted for our salvation, per- 
 su'.isive and successful. This is represented as the principle 
 of goodness and spiritual life. By this the saints " are what 
 they are." " This quickens those that were dead in trespasses 
 and sins." By this God " works in us that which is acceptable 
 in his sight ; even to will and do, of his good pleasure :" 
 and by " growing in this," we persevere in well doing, and 
 " are kept from falling from our own stedfastness." Thus our 
 being and living, and moving in a spiritual sense and capacity, 
 our beginning, our proceeding, our finishing as we ought, all 
 are owing to that grace and spirit of God in our souls, f 
 
 The notions of divine grace thus distinctly stated by this 
 excellent commentator, appear little understood by those 
 enthusiasts, who are for ever repeating that word, as if it were 
 a charm, without any definite idea of its meaning. 
 
 * St. John i. 12. 
 
 t Stanhope's Commentary on the Ep. for the First Sunday iu 
 Lent. 
 
 C 
 
18 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 believe are called regenerate, or born again, 
 and have power to become the sons of God ; 
 not as Jews by the law of Moses, nor as mere 
 men by the law of nature, but by the grace of 
 God ; who hath declared by his Apostle, that 
 " he willeth all men to be saved, and to come to 
 the knowledge of the truth :"* and " who giveth 
 his4ioly spirit to them that ask him,"t according 
 to his express promise, " Ask and it shall be 
 given you." J 
 
 So general and unlimited is the privilege of re- 
 generation ; the manner in which it is applied 
 and the seal by which it is confirmed, are related 
 in the third chapter of St. John's gospel : where 
 cm' Saviour having said, " Except a man be born 
 again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 God," thus explains his doctrine, " Except a 
 man be bom of water and the spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God :" (Vers. ^, 5.) 
 Baptism and the Holy Ghost then arc re- 
 quisite to constitute a Christian, that is a rege- 
 nerate person, one dead to the world and living 
 unto God : not that it secures his continuance in 
 this justified state, but enables him to persevere 
 in it, and be saved. This is plain, simple, and 
 intelligible. The natural man cannot become 
 spiritual, holy, good, without faitli in Him " who 
 justifies," without washing away his sins in bap- 
 tism, and calling on the name of the Lord: 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii. 4. t Luke xi. 13. + Matt. vii. 7. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, b^c. 19 
 
 whence alone he can receive '^ the spirit of adop- 
 tion, whereby we cry Abba, Father."* » 
 
 To this blessed change he is led by the pre- 
 venting grace of God, who hath not only re- 
 vealed the word of truth in the gospel, but gives 
 sufficient grace to all who will embrace it, by 
 the assistance of which tliey may become heirs 
 of his everlasting kingdom. 
 
 Contrast with this scriptural account the strange 
 opinions entertained by certain teachers on this 
 article of faith. In entering the sanctuary, they 
 stumble at the threshold, and never afterwards 
 recover their steps. Departing from the true doc- 
 trine that baptism is the means of gTace, and 
 the pledge of it; and that those who have re- 
 ceived sanctification by this sacrament, are re- 
 generate, and grafted into the body of Christ's 
 church ; that hence they become sons of God, 
 and have power to do " his will from the heart," 
 as the obedient children of a merciful father : 
 departing from this sound principle of faith, 
 they rest their hopes of heaven on feelings or 
 impressions, the supposed proof of an instanta- 
 neous conversion, which takes place long after 
 baptism, and their admission into the christian 
 covenant, t So that the humble and sincere be- 
 
 * Titus iii. 5. 
 
 t Dr. Paley, in his seventh Sermon, has cleared this sub- 
 ject from that confusion in which the methodistical writer 
 have involved it. He sliews that the division of mankind into 
 two classes, the converted and the unconverted, is too abso- 
 
 C 2 
 
20 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 liever, who endeavours to fulfil the condition of 
 that covenant, but does not experience those 
 
 lute, and leads to a conclusion too universal. That Clnistians, 
 piously educated, do not fall under either description. They 
 are not converted, because they cannot be sensible of such a 
 religious alteration, as can possibly be called conversion: 
 they are not unconverted, because that implies reprobation. 
 That all have been born again, i. e. have had the spirit im- 
 parted to them at some time or other, as in baptism, is cer- 
 tain ; but that is not attended with a sensible change, here in- 
 tended by conversion, nor is any such radical change neces- 
 sary to Christians, who have grown up in a religious course ; 
 no, nor even possible. Real changes must take place, where 
 errors in opinion and practice have prevailed, and all can- 
 not be educated in error, on whatever side truth be sup- 
 posed to lie. Our preaching should be not conversion to all, 
 but to all conversion or improvement. This is proved from 
 the gospel. Wicked persons must be converted, in order to 
 be saved ; there must be a revolution within, and of this they 
 must be sensible at the time, and remember it afterwards. 
 Those who allow themselves in any particular sin may be con- 
 verted, and such conversions may be sudden, as well as last- 
 ing, and the fruits will prove it. But improvement is neces- 
 sary to all." — This abstract, imperfect as it is, will set the 
 matter of which it treats in a proper light. Conversion, accord- 
 ing to the account here given, is as distinct from the compulsory 
 grace of Calvinism, as it is opposite to the self-sufficiency of 
 Telagianism. And though we reject the opinions of both those 
 sects, we neither deny the internal succours of the spirit on 
 the one hand, nor the use of our natural faculties on the other. 
 We admit, with Dr. Paley, that as conversion is necessary to 
 the habitual sinner, so the time when he began to amend may 
 be ascertained, like all other periods of change; but here 
 we stop: — We affect not to have been converted by a per- 
 ceptible impulse of the spirit ; we pretend not to have received 
 forgiveness, much less to have been assured of it, by a vw- 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, ^c. 21 
 
 emotions, to which, from constitution, he may 
 be a stranger, is a hopeless outcast, a condemned 
 reprobate. And to this forlorn and desperate 
 state are those reduced, however humble, pious, 
 and sincere, who are not conscious of a divine 
 impulse. Dr. Hawker, the Vicar of Charles, 
 in Plymouth, after having- said, that " to be 
 perfectly satisfied in our mind of the great truths 
 
 mentary and irresistible act of grace.— Tlie doctrine of con- 
 version is treated in the clearest manner, and with the most 
 accurate knowledge of the subject, by Archbishop Tillotson, 
 Sermon 55th, whose ' discourses on " The Nature of Pcegene- 
 ration, and its necessity in order to justification and salvation," 
 contain an admirable exposition of the whole matter, placing 
 both its real import, and the gross misapprehensions of it, in 
 the fullest and strongest light. His motives for examining this 
 point at large, arc thus modestly and candidly expressed : — 
 " That I have so long insisted upon this argument, and handled 
 it in a. more contentious way than is usual with me, did not 
 proceed from any love to controversy, which I am less fond of 
 every day than other ; but from a great desire to put an end 
 to those controversies and quarrellings in the dark, by bring- 
 ing them to a clear state and plain issue, and likewise to un- 
 deceive good men, concerning some current notions and doc- 
 trines, which I do really really believe to be dishonourable to 
 God, and contrary to the plain declarations of scripture, and 
 a cause of great perplexity and discomfort to the minds of 
 men, and a real discouragement to the resolutions and endea- 
 vours of becoming better. Upon which consideiations I was 
 strongly urgent to search these doctrines to the bottom, and 
 to contribute what in me lay to the rescuing of good men from 
 the disquiet and entanglement of them." — Serm. 56. 
 
 Had the Archbishop lived in our days, would he have been 
 less urgent to put an end to these controversies and quarrellings 
 in the dark ? 
 
22 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 of the gospel, and to be as perfectly convinced 
 of having a personal interest in all the blessings 
 of the gospel," is an object of the first concern, 
 adds the following extraordinary assertion : 
 " That every truly regenerated believer in Christ 
 hath those evidences in his own experience, is 
 what I not only affirm from the authority of the 
 holy word, (whatever reproaches it may bring 
 upon me from the carnal and ungodly world) 
 but I venture to believe that the facts themselves 
 are so fully and circumstantially proved to the 
 believer's own experience, in the daily occur- 
 rences of his life, who is made the happy partaker 
 of such unspeakable mercy, that they require 
 nothing more than the suitable attention of the 
 mind, in order to ascertain their reality."* Such 
 is the fundamental principle of this divine; and 
 this confused passage, which, however, is one 
 of the clearest in his book, is a proper intro- 
 duction to all that follows. It intimates that in 
 every regenerate christian his own experience is 
 the test not only of divine truths, but of his per- 
 sonal interest in all the blessings of the gospel, 
 that is of his own salvation. The daily occur- 
 rences of his life, and the suitable attention of 
 his mind, will ascertain the certainty of these 
 fads.'' The regenerate christian must have this 
 experience ; and this experience, therefore, is a 
 
 * Preface to a Pamphlet, entitled, " The Spirit's Work jn 
 the Heart." 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, ^c. 23 
 
 necessary criterion of a regenerate clu'istian. 
 Those persons, who having* adopted the doctrine 
 of St. John, considered themselves as born again 
 by the sanctification of the spirit, because they 
 had been baptized in the name of Christ, and 
 believed his word, are informed, by a new evan- 
 gelist, that this is no pledge, or, at least, an in- 
 sufficient pledge, of the divine favour. The 
 sensible experience of grace is the only assurance 
 ])oth of faith and hope : the only proof of a re- 
 generate state ! so that the calm dispassionate 
 believer, who obeys the laws of the gospel, and 
 practises ihe duties it enjoins, may still be an 
 alien from Christ, if his temperate imagination 
 do not discern the fact to be otherwise in the 
 daily occurrences of his life, that is in those emo- 
 tions, which are peculiarly termed experiences. 
 Let not the reader suppose that good works are 
 intended by such occurrences, those are pro- 
 fessedly disclaimed, and out of question : but, 
 the Doctor's meaning will be best explained, so 
 far as it is explicable, by some passages in 
 the treatise itself." '* If," he says, *' I do not 
 greatly err, from the very first traces of the re- 
 newed life, until that grace is consummated in 
 eternal glory, there may be found, more or less, 
 in the circumstances of every believer's expe- 
 rience, a multitude of the most sweet and pre- 
 cious instances."* 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. 20. 
 
24 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 Reader, shall I possess so much influence with 
 you, as to prevail upon you to look into the 
 working^s of your heart for those decipherings 
 of the blessed spirit.* For as in the greatness 
 and sovereignty of this almighty character, he 
 testities for all the sacred persons of the godhead, 
 and to them, in the heart of the believer ; so he 
 no less gives assurances to all the covenant-pro- 
 mises of redemption, that they are " yea and 
 amen in Christ Jesus." And without this pre- 
 cious testimony of the spirit, the believer, in 
 the seasons of soul exercises, would neither be 
 enabled to see them in their fulness, or discover 
 their suitableness and sufficiency to his own case 
 and circumstances, much less to find the privi- 
 lege or the power of pleading for the fulfilment 
 of them before the mercy seat."t Reader, do 
 you know what these things mean? Do you know 
 what it is at times to mourn the absence of the 
 blessed spirit, when you come before the mercy 
 seat, and pine under the sensible abatements or 
 with-drawings of his influences ? Can your closet 
 witness for you or your bed in the night-watches 
 how self-abashed you have lain before the 
 high throne, when a sense of sin, and a con- 
 scious distance from God hath forced your heart 
 to cry out, like the church of old, " The com- 
 forter that should relieve mv soul is far from 
 me!" Alas! if you are altogether ignorant of 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. 20. t Id. p. 29. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism^ ^c. 25 
 
 such soul exercises as these, how shall you ever 
 have a proper estimate of divine gifts; or learn 
 the immense difference between those heart- 
 straitening-s and bondage-frames well known to 
 the true believer in prayer ; and that freedom of 
 soul under the actings of grace, in which as the 
 apostle saith, " Where the spirit of the Lord is, 
 there is liberty."* 
 
 I have found this office in the spirit's work at 
 times so very interesting and precious (if I may 
 venture to say so) in my own experience, that I 
 cannot but beg to recommend it to the reader's 
 notice, with the more particular attention. My 
 memory of divine things is so treacherous, that, 
 like a sieve, every thing valuable runs through 
 it, and leaves nothing of the finer parts be- 
 hind. "f An unfortunate confession! "If, per- 
 chance, I should be addressing a heart, some- 
 what like my own, prone to the forgetfulness of 
 divine things, and who i^els a partiality from the 
 consciousness of it, to this feature of ofiice in the 
 Holy Ghost's ministry, there is a method I would 
 recommend to him, which, under grace, I have 
 found useful to myself in this particular ; to 
 bring to remembrance again the things of God ; 
 and that is, by committing to his keeping for a 
 future day of necessity, what our memories are 
 too treacherous to keep for ourselves. We should 
 do in this instance by God the Holy Ghost, as 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. 34, 35. f Id. p. 38. 
 
26 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 Avell-taught children do by their parents. When- 
 ever any thing vaUiable is given them, they put 
 it into their parents' possession to preserve for 
 them nntil they want it. Reader, let you and I 
 do the same : Let us commit into the hands of 
 the Holy Ghost all those precious things which 
 he hath mercifully taught us in respect to our 
 salvation; and blessed spirit, I would say:"* 
 &c. &c. One quotation more from this specimen 
 of methodistical orthodoxy, (if the reader's pa- 
 tience be not already exhausted,) will shew his 
 ability as a commentator, as well as an evan- 
 gelist. " My brother, is it your happiness to be 
 thus taught of God ? and have you this testimony 
 to the work of the spirit in your heart ? Let this 
 be the standard with you at least, for ascertaining 
 all the doctrines proposed to you by men : — Put 
 that question, which Paul the Apostle proposed 
 as the first, and most important of all questions 
 to the church of Ephesus, to every one who 
 would tempt you to swerve from the truth once 
 delivered to the saints: Have you received the 
 Holy Ghost since you believed ? This will be the 
 only method to prove the doctrhie, whether it be 
 of God ; for the time is arrived, which the apostle 
 predicted, " when men will not endure sound 
 doctrine." And it is in vain to oppose argument 
 to argument, for even the scriptures themselves 
 are perverted and wrested by the several advocates 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. '6D. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, ^c. 27 
 
 of the various heresies of the present day, to 
 countenance their several tenets. But in the 
 blessed spirit's work in the heart, there can be 
 no possibility of error. And when the word and 
 the testimony are confirmed by his almig-hty as- 
 surance, they exactly correspond, like as the 
 impression made by the seal on wax, manifests 
 their relation to each other. And this is what, 
 if I mistake not, the apostle meant, when he 
 said, " In the mouth of two or three witnesses, 
 shall every word be established. The heart 
 which is taught of God is one, the word of God 
 is another ; and God himself the Holy Ghost is 
 the third, who sets to his seal in the heart all the 
 great truths, as yea and Amen in Christ Jesus."* 
 What an etraordinary gloss ! 
 
 From these extracts, which are thus largely 
 adduced, both because it would scarcely be cre- 
 dited by many readers, that such divinity existed 
 if it were not placed before their eyes ; and be- 
 cause their author stands foremost in the ranks of 
 raethodism, and is a principal pillar of that 
 church: — The tenets of his coadjutors, (which 
 shall hereafter be considered) as well as his own, 
 may be justly estimated, on that most awful and 
 important subject above mentioned: the influ- 
 enceof the divine spirit : most awful in itself, but 
 how debased, how vilified by such presumptuous 
 familiarity ! Could it have been believed, did not 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. 42, 4y. 
 
28 ^ Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 their own words testify against them, that such 
 confused, unmeaning-, and fanatic rant, should 
 pass current as the very essence of Christianity? 
 This maze of error would be as unaccountable, 
 as it is inextricable, did not Dr. Hawker, by 
 his own avowal, give us some insight into his 
 mental incapacity. " His memory of divine 
 things" he tells us, * is so treacherous, that, 
 like a sieve, every thing valuable runs through, 
 and leaves jiothing of the finer part behind." 
 What wonder, then, that instead of refined gold, 
 we find the coarsest dross ! But, in the name 
 of Religion, is a person, thus deficient, qualified 
 to instruct others in its most valuable doctrines, 
 which, according to his own acknowledgement, 
 he forgets himself? Since the blind cannot lead 
 the blind, without the utmost hazard, can the 
 forgetful teacher assist the recollection of his 
 disciples, and direct it to the indispensable prin- 
 ciples of Christianity? or, is it consistent with 
 that modest humility, which v/ould most become 
 him, to attempt so great a work ? Is it reason- 
 able that he should expect the holy spirit to 
 supply his natural defects, when, in spite of those 
 defects, he assumes the high prerogative of 
 ghostly wisdom, and delivers his opinions as if 
 they were the indisputable oracles of truth ? A 
 heathen poet would suggest a more prudent 
 conduct : 
 
 Metiri se quemque suo modulo ac pede rerum est. 
 
CHAP. II.] Metliodisniy ^c. 29 
 
 In order to relieve himself from that difficult 
 and perplexing" obstacle of his favourite theory, 
 called Reasoning — Dr. Hawker says, *' It is in 
 vain to oppose arg-ument to argument, for even 
 the scriptures themselves are wrested by the 
 several advocates of the various heresies of the 
 present day, to countenance their several tenets." 
 This might have been supposed a sufficient cause 
 for confuting such erroneous interpretations of 
 holy writ, by more convincing arguments, drawn 
 from the source of truth. But, no: This is a 
 test which the author's divinity will not bear. 
 His favoured heresy must have the immediate 
 aid of heaven. He asks but one immediate ques- 
 tion, " Have you received the Holy Ghost since 
 you believed ?" We know what that inquiry in 
 the methodistical sense implies : " Have you felt 
 the irresistible impulse of the divine spirit ? 
 Have you experienced the precious evidences of 
 his truth in the daily occurrences of your life ? 
 Let this be your standard for ascertaining all the 
 doctrines proposed by men."* But what if some 
 humble unassuming Christian should not be con- 
 scious to himself of these " practical, experi- 
 mental lessons taught by God the spirit ?" * What 
 if he do not perceive " the blessed spirit wit- 
 nessing his adoption-character,* and dare not as- 
 sert an appropriating right to call Jesus, brother, 
 kinsman, husband, friend?"* What if he be 
 
 * Spirit's Work, passim. 
 
30 Reflections on [chap. it. 
 
 without these " truest evidences of soul-expe- 
 rience;" and have not discovered so much sweet- 
 ness in a promise and its contents so exactly 
 suited to his own case and circumstances, as if 
 it had been purposely written for him ?"* Why 
 then, adds Dr. Hawker, " I pity the man who 
 is altogether unconscious of this work of God 
 the spirit in the soul, and hath yet to learn what 
 his influence means, when drawing nigh the 
 mercy seat."* This is gentle treatment where 
 nothing less than utter reprobation was to be ex- 
 pected. His pity, however, is such as is shewn 
 by a spectator to a condemned criminal whose 
 doom is irreversibly fixed. For according to* 
 him, " Every truly regenerated believer in Christ 
 hath those evidences in his own experience ;"* 
 and we know, from a higher authority than Dr. 
 Hawker's, that " Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." The evi- 
 dence of the new birth being resolved solely into 
 the sensible experience of it, which, in his opi- 
 nion, is necessarily felt by the " truly regene- 
 rated believer ;"* it follows that the wretched 
 man, who is unconscious of this work of God, 
 is excluded from the kingdom of heaven. This 
 is the unavoidable conclusion resulting from the 
 premises of a writer, who ventures to advance 
 this bold unqualified declaration, " That an in- 
 fallible method is discovered at once to secure 
 
 * Spirit's Work, passim. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism^ SfC. 31 
 
 from the possibility of apostacy, and to afford 
 comfort and satisfaction to the believer's own 
 mind concerning the great truths of God, namely, 
 from the spirit's work in the heart.* How na- 
 turally does this remind us of those infallible 
 remedies, which are daily announced by other 
 empirical doctors of great note, not less versed 
 in the science of medicine, than is the vicar of 
 Charles in that of divinity !| The pompous 
 and high sounding apostolic address by which 
 this " infallible remedy" is ushered into the 
 world, might well make one exclaim with pro- 
 found astonishment, 
 
 Quid dignum tanto, feret hie promissor hiatu ? 
 
 " To the church of Christ throughout the earth, 
 grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied !" The 
 note of admiration is Dr. Hawker's own, as well 
 as the salutation ; Is he amazed at his own sub- 
 limity ? Then follows the performance, thus so- 
 lemnly announced, with this exordium : " I send 
 
 * Spirit's Work, &c. p. 6. 
 
 t In treating lightlyany circumstances belonging to a subject, 
 which regards the sacred principles of our holy faith, we tread 
 on tender ground, and may stand in need of some apology. 
 But when it is considered that such wild fanaticism admits no 
 other kind of argument, and that serious reasoning would in 
 this case be entirely misapplied and lost : the liberty, which is 
 taken here, and in some other instances, it is hoped, will not 
 appear improper. In fact, the cause of religion is no more 
 injured by the ridicule of enthusiasm, than that of reason is 
 by the means which are used to cure the ravings of a dis- 
 ordered mind. 
 
32 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 forth this little tract :" the poet's answer to his 
 question, will suggest itself to every reader : 
 
 Parturiunt niontes, nascetur ridiculus mus. 
 
 But puerility and bombast are not the greatest 
 defects of this writer; for he appears to con- 
 tradict his own assertions, on a point which 
 is of infinite moment to our frail imperfect nature. 
 " Man is not only altogether as passive in the 
 new creation as in the old, but he is altog-ether 
 as unconscious of it."* Leaving the first posi- 
 tion uncontroverted at present, we scarcely need 
 observe how repugnant the second is to the feel- 
 ing and experience of which these preachers 
 boast. Many pages are employed in resolving 
 the influence of the spirit entirely into feeling, 
 by the same author, who here asserts, " That 
 these acts of the spirit are all wrought by his al- 
 mighty power, at a time and in a manner per- 
 fectly unperceived and unknown to the soul.* 
 Thus, in another passage, even of this very 
 tract, he speaks another language. " If you 
 say, how shall the soul know when it is the 
 spirit's work, and not man's ?" The answer is 
 direct. " The very state of the soul will readily 
 distinguish the Lord's absence from his pre- 
 sence.!" When the spirit returns, (and well is 
 it for sinners that he doth not wait for their first 
 approaches to return,) he comes with a quicken- 
 
 * Spirif s Work, p. 19. t Id. p. 42, 43. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism f S^c. 33 
 
 ing, illuminating, and reproving power,* of 
 which the inspired person cannot be unconscious, 
 if he will listen to his sage instructor, who thus 
 admonishes him : " Do you feel the rising desire, 
 tile awakening prayer opening in the soul, that 
 Jesus would again draw you with the cords of 
 his love, that ye might run after him ? Go then, 
 my brother ; *go to the still waters and the 
 pastures of his ordinances, beside which Jesus 
 feedeth his flock, and maketh them to rest at 
 noon. — Depend upon it, these feelings of your's 
 are among the first intimations of his blessed 
 spirit's work on the soul. — Every sweet move- 
 ment you feel is from his blessed spirit, who turns 
 the heart,"f &c. So far, then, is the time and 
 manner of the spirit's agency from being un- 
 known to the soul, that it is assured by feelings 
 of his first approach, and every " sweet move- 
 ment" that he makes. We are afterwards re- 
 quired to seek those out-pourings of the Holy 
 Ghost,J yet we had been previously informed 
 that man is " altogether passive." — From these 
 mifounded assumptions of spiritual wisdom, not 
 less contradictory than absurd, let us turn to the 
 real doctrine of Jesus Christ, and guide our souls 
 by that unclouded light, which will at once dis- 
 pel the mists of doubt and error, and direct us 
 in the way of truth. 
 
 We are taught in holy scripture, that the 
 
 * Id. p. 42, 43. t Id. p. 47. I Id. p. 54. 
 
 D 
 
34 Reflections on [chap, iir 
 
 " Righteousness of God by Jesus Christ is unto 
 all, and upon all them that believe: for there 
 is no difference : for all have sinmed, and come 
 short of the glory of God, being justified freely by 
 his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus.* That he that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved. t That by one spirit we are all 
 baptized into one body. J That by baptism at- 
 tended w^ith repentance, and faith working effec- 
 tually (ae^siJktvv) by charity, § we shall be saved ; 
 having become new creatures by the mystical wash- 
 ing away of sin, when we were admitted into the 
 christian covenant, when we were born again of 
 water, and the holy spirit," || and rendered meet 
 for the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. 
 We believe, therefore, that being thus made 
 members of Christ, we partake of his grace, 
 even as they who pretend to more extraordinary 
 endowments. " That unto e^ ery one of us is 
 given grace, according to the measure of the gift 
 of Christ;^ which grace is sufficient for us, if we 
 grieve not the holy spirit, whereby we are sealed 
 tinto the day of redemption ;** wherefore receiv- 
 ing a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us 
 have grace, since God hath placed it in our own 
 power : " whereby we may serve him acceptably 
 with reverence and godly fear/'ft Since God 
 
 * Rom. iii. 22, 23, 24. § Gal. v. 6. ** Id. 30. 
 
 t Mark xvi. 16. \\ John iii. 5. tt Heb. xii. 28. 
 
 : 1 Cor. xii. 13. H Ephes. iv. 7. 
 
CHAP II.] Methodism^ 8^-c. 35 
 
 hath been gracious to all, let us all be obedient 
 to him. " For the grace of God, that bringeth 
 salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching 
 us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 we should live soberly, righteously, and godly."* 
 If we thus do, we shall obtain the recompence 
 of reward ^" but if professing that we know God, 
 in works we deny him, being abominable and 
 disobedient, and to every good work reprobate ^f 
 « then we do despite to the spirit of peace, and 
 shall be judged worthy of the sorest punishment." { 
 These are the doctrines which we receive and 
 teach ; they are in admirable harmony with each 
 other, as well as with the perfections of God, 
 and the imperfect nature of man : worthy of the 
 Creator who revealed them, and adapted to the 
 creature to whom they are applied: calculated 
 to promote the great ends of true religion, glory 
 to God, peace on earth, and good will amongst 
 men: to humble our vain hearts, to excite our 
 most earnest diligence, to animate our devotions, 
 inflame our gratitude, and raise our affections to 
 things above. This we aver to be the purport 
 of that gospel which hath brought life and im- 
 mortality to light; and we venture to assert, 
 that if the style and matter of the Methodistical 
 teachers on this awful subject be fairly compared 
 with the tenor of that gospel, they will appear a 
 vile and spurious copy of a divine original. 
 
 * Titus u. 11, 12. t W. 1«. * Heb. x. 29. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 Tfi6 following' extraordinary account of re- 
 g-eneration will evince the truth of this assevera- 
 tion. " Where once, says Dr. Hawker, a spirit 
 of grace, hath quickened, animated, and re- 
 newed the soul, which was before dead in tres- 
 passes and sins, and united it to the person of the 
 Lord Jesus, the life of grace which originates 
 in the Almighty Head, is diffused through all 
 the members of his mystical body, and preserves 
 them in an union with him and with each other. 
 Hence, that sympathy and affection which takes 
 place between them, by which, both in sorrow 
 and joy they feel alike, and weep or rejoice to- 
 gether." The Almighty Head feel sorrow and 
 weep ! ! " And this certainly forms, as well it 
 may, every believer's own personal experience, 
 when, from the spirit's teaching, he is enabled 
 to discover his being gathered out of nature's 
 corruption, and can trace his affinity and con- 
 nection with the Lord Jesus, from the uniformity 
 of heart and mind between the head and its 
 members." * 
 
 This rhapsody is founded on St. Paul's just 
 and beautiful description of a truly christian 
 community : " In which, whether one member 
 suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one 
 member be honoured, all the members rejoice 
 with. Now ye are the body of Christ, and 
 members in particular." 
 
 ■ Hawker's Union vith Christ, p. 14. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodising ^c. 37 
 
 This sympathy of christians with each otlier, * 
 the Doctor converts into an entire sympathy 
 ** between the Almighty Head and the members 
 of his body." He brings down the impassible 
 nature of the Godhead to suffer the sorrows of 
 repentance and of shame : to partake in the 
 rapturous extasies, or return the sighs and groans 
 of his infatuated creatures. He asserts an uni- 
 formity of heart and mind between them ; that 
 is, between Christ and the new evangelists; for 
 they alone can be esteemed worthy of so great a 
 privilege, or capable of attaining it : " They 
 feel alike, and weep or rejoice together; and 
 this certainly forms, as well it may, every be- 
 liever's own personal experience!" 
 
 On the same subject he enlarges afterwards ; 
 and though the reader must be wearied by the 
 quotations that have been already taken from 
 this writer's works, yet it is so necessary to 
 prove his opinions by his own words, that another 
 passage or two must be brought forward to place 
 them beyond all doubt : " They whom the Lord 
 Jesus," he says, " hath united to himself, by the 
 Holy Spirit's work on the heart, are as sensible 
 of this spiritual union from the unity of senti- 
 ment and affection, as the natural affections in 
 common life, testify the degree of attachment. 
 When once a truly regenerate soul can echo to 
 the language of the church, and say, " I am my 
 
 * 1 Cor. xii. 26, 27. 
 
3S Reflections on [chap. ii. 
 
 beloved, and my beloved is mine, when the 
 interest of one becomes the interest of the other; 
 and so intimately blended are their desires, their 
 affections, their pursnits, that while Jesus is 
 present the soul rejoices ; when he is absent the 
 soul mourns. As these are never the effects of 
 natural causes, and these sweet flowers of grace 
 grow not in nature's garden, the possession of 
 them affords so charming a testimony of grace, 
 wrought in the heart, that there can be no pos- 
 sibility of mistake or delusion." * This strain 
 of tender and impassioned language, to which a 
 much harsher name might justly be applied, is 
 exceeded, if possible, by the following marvel- 
 lous account of a doctrinal point alluded to 
 before. " Neither are these all the effects of this 
 soul-refreshing doctrine : it is a sweet addition 
 to it to consider, that the Lord's people, in con- 
 sequence of this union with the person of the 
 Redeemer, not only partake in his merits, but 
 he graciously participates in their sufferings. 
 The foot indeed cannot be supposed to be crushed, 
 but what the head must feel." 
 
 That Christ *' entered not into his glory be- 
 fore he had suffered pain," is a tmth we all 
 acknowledge ; but that he suffers after his exal- 
 tation into the kingdom of heaven, is an article 
 of faith peculiar to the new evangelists : his 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 17. t Id. t Id. 
 
CHAP. II.] Methodism, S^c. 89 
 
 office there is to succour all those who suffer for 
 him, but not to suffer with them. 
 
 Yet it seems, according to Dr. Hawker, that 
 such an union with Christ as he has above de- 
 scribed, " can be the only possible means of 
 enjoying communion with God. All prepara- 
 tions short of this are, in fact, no preparations 
 at all ; you may have in them the form, but not 
 the power of godliness : and were they multi- 
 plied by thousands, and followed up with ten 
 thousand sacraments, ordinances, prayers, and 
 the like, yet void of this sweet life-giving, soul- 
 enriching principle, they tend only to carry the 
 heart from God, instead of bringing it to 
 him."* 
 
 Thus are the ideas of this writer on the sub- 
 ject of regeneration, and the communication of 
 the Divine Spirit, too explicit to need any com- 
 ment ) and too extravagant to admit of any pal- 
 liation. Had he intended to make the gospel a 
 laughing-stock for infidels, or to expose its most 
 sacred and mysterious truths to mockery and 
 insult, he could not have circulated effusions 
 more likely to produce that deplorable effect. 
 If they should appear to have been cited more 
 copiously than the case required, let it be consi- 
 dered, that unless the wild fancies of enthusiasm 
 are brought home to the conviction of Metho- 
 
 "* Union with Christ, p. 31. 
 
40 Reflections on [chap, ii, 
 
 dism, as they stand attested by the confession of 
 its advocates, we shall be charged with a misre- 
 presentation of their opinions, or a misappre- 
 hension of their meaning. Let it be considered 
 also, that these are not merely speculative points, 
 but are embodied with the practical tenets of 
 their professors, and the moral conduct of their 
 numerous disciples : that they are authoritatively 
 laid down as the indisputable positions of a true 
 Christian's creed; and that a denial of their 
 validity, and their exclusive claim to an implicit 
 assent is reproved as a sin approaching to blas- 
 phemy — a sin neither to be forgiven in this 
 world, nor in the next. Were they the senti- 
 ments of Dr. Hawker alone, or cherished only 
 by his select friends — were they the secret com- 
 panions of his closet, or the solace of his literary 
 hours, the public would not be much concerned 
 with his favourite lucubrations : but since he is 
 the established minister of an extensive parish, 
 and is listened to by a congregation of admiring 
 auditors, who adopt his notions, as if they were 
 the substance of holy writ, and the dictates of 
 the Divine Spirit— since his occasional visits to 
 the metropolis are announced as the harbingers 
 of glad tidings, and thousands who press into 
 the fold of such a pastor, surrender their souls 
 entirely to his guidance or controul : the spi- 
 ritual influence arising hence is so widely dif- 
 fused, that his merits should be duly appreciated, 
 
CHAP. II.] 3l€thodism, &;c. 41 
 
 and his capacity for relig-ioiis instruction gene- 
 rally known. It is presumedl, no doubt can exist 
 on these points among-st any persons, but those 
 to whom his discourses are particularly ad- 
 dressed. 
 
 Eripitur persona, manet Res. 
 
Reflections on [chai». hi. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SIGNS AND PRIVILEGES OF REGENERATION IN- 
 SISTED ON BY METHODISTS. — NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 
 BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, NOR WARRANTED 
 BY HOLY WRIT. — THE IMPORT OF THE ASSURANCES 
 WITH RESPECT TO DIVINE GRACE DELIVERED BY 
 THE EVANGELISTS. — THE TRUE CRITERION OF A 
 RENEWED LIFE, AND THE DANGEROUS FOLLY OF 
 SUPPOSING IT TO CONSIST IN SENSIBLE EMOTIONS. 
 
 X HE opinions maintained by the Methodists 
 with reg"ard to the signs and privileges of rege- 
 neration, are calcnlated to perplex and confound 
 the sober-minded member of the church of Eng- 
 land. He has been taught, that being brought 
 to Christ in baptism, and admitted by that holy 
 sacrament into his church, he thence became 
 " regenerate, dead unto sin, and capable by God's 
 grace of living unto righteousness; of crucify- 
 ing the old man, and utterly abolishing the 
 whole body of sin." * " Baptism," says the ar- 
 ticle, " is not only a sign of profession, and 
 mark of difference, whereby Christian men are 
 discerned from others that be not christened, but 
 it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, 
 whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive 
 
 » Service for the public baptism of infants. 
 
CHAP. III.} Methodism Sfc, 43 
 
 baptism rigbtly are grafted into the church : 
 the promises of the forg^iveness of sin, and of our 
 adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy 
 Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed ; faith is 
 confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of 
 prayer unto God." * 
 
 This is the language of the church, and con- 
 sonant, as we believe, both to the language and 
 spirit of the gospel. The position of the Me- 
 thodists bears another character. In a pamphlet 
 published a few years ago, with this magnificent 
 title, " An Apology for the Church of Christ 
 and the Church of England," f this principle is 
 asserted. 
 
 * Article XXVII. 
 
 t This work bore the name of a Mr. Willat, but was gene- 
 rally attributed to a more learned writer. The Rev. Mr. 
 Cecil, late preacher at St. John's chapel, Bedford Row, and 
 author of the Life of the Hon. and Rev. William Bromley 
 Cadogan, was supposed to have been the real editor or chief 
 contributor to this work. That zealous minister is now num- 
 bered among those whose probation is past, and whose sen- 
 tence is yet to come. May the Father of Mercy extend to 
 him, mid all who embraced his doctrine, that blessing, which 
 is not limited according to their narrow conception of that 
 divine attribute, but is as infinite as God himself! — It was 
 addressed to the rector of St. Giles's, Reading, and contains a 
 series of remarks on a sermon preached by him at the 
 Bishop's visitation, 1798. It was deemed a weighty perform- 
 ance by the Methodists, and may be considered as a standard 
 of their feith. It carries with it some shew of Christian 
 knowledge, but none of its substance ; misapplying the t^rms, 
 and misinterpreting the sense of scripture ; and is calculated. 
 
44 Reflections on [chap. hi. 
 
 " In order to ascertain my election, I must 
 first prove that I am effectually called out of 
 darkness into the marvellous light of the gospel ; 
 so that through an efficacious supernatural call 
 by the Holy Ghost, termed regeneration, I might 
 manifest to the world that I am one whom the 
 Lord has adopted into his family.* 
 
 We had been led to consider baptism as the 
 sign and pledge of this regeneration, whereby 
 the promises of the spirit are visibly signed and 
 sealed ; and having been instructed, that these 
 privileges of grace and salvation were vouch- 
 safed to us in the baptismal covenant, we did not 
 contemplate the necessity of any other " super- 
 natural call by the Holy Ghost, termed regene- 
 ration:" but being persuaded, that we were 
 thereby enabled " to lead a godly and a Chris- 
 tian life," we have sought no other " proof of 
 an effectual call," than this ; viz. " to bring 
 forth fruits meet for repentance." 
 
 If that essential duty were performed, then, 
 with all humility, conscious of our own imper- 
 fections, yet trusting in the atonement of our 
 blessed Saviour, we hoped to be justified by his 
 grace, which alone can sanctify us, and all the 
 
 like other treatises of the same description, to perplex the 
 ignorant, to disturb the diffident, and embolden the wicked, 
 by raising its own scheme of grace on the ruins of true reli- 
 gion, reason, and morahty. 
 * Willat's Apology, p. 51. 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism^ S^c. 45 
 
 elect people of God. But this by no means cor- 
 responds with the creed of Methodism ; this will 
 not support their doctrine of the divine decrees* 
 nor warrant them to set the seal of election on 
 whom they please. 
 
 Yet to those members of that sect, who pro- 
 fess the doctrines of the church of England, the 
 argument drawn from its articles and liturgy 
 must, upon their own principles, be conclu- 
 sive.* Now, if the baptismal service do not 
 
 * The Bishop of Lincoln has shewn the scriptural doctrine 
 of regeneration in its true light by such undeniable evidence, 
 drawn both from the New Testament, and from the articles 
 and liturgy of our church, supported by the primitive fathers, 
 that it is sufficient to refer the reader to his exposition of this 
 subject.* The result, as he states it, is, that neither scripture 
 nor the writings of our church authorize us to call upon those 
 who have been baptized, whether in their infancy, or at a ma- 
 ture age, to regenerate themselves, or to expect regeneration, 
 through the workings of the Holy Ghost ;" t — " that regene- 
 ration of those who are already baptized by the forcible opera- 
 tion of the spirit, is one of the doctrines by which the weak 
 credulity of unthinking persons is imposed upon in the present 
 times ;"J and that " regeneration, in its true sense, signifies an 
 inward effect produced by the Holy Ghost through the means 
 of baptism, whereby the person baptized exchanges his natural 
 state in Adam for a spiritual state in Christ," &c.§ Yet a 
 minister of the church of England avows a different opinion : 
 " It hardly need be said that the ordinance of baptism, how- 
 ever administered, is not the regeneration by the spirit." — 
 " No doubt," he adds, in order, it may be supposed, to ob- 
 
 • See "Refutation of Calvinism, chap. ii. ou Regeneration." 
 t P. 92. X 94. § 95. 
 
46 Reflections on [chap. hi. 
 
 explicitly declare, that the new birth takes place 
 in the administration of that holy sacrament, 
 
 viate certain objections, " baptism is (as circumcision was) 
 the outward sign of regeneration. But they who are sa- 
 tisfied with the outward sign, witliout the inward spiritual 
 grace, should return to school or to the nursery, and learn 
 over again a part of their catechism, which they have no doubt 
 forgotten; for it expressly states the inward and spiritua 
 grace of baptism to be " a death unto sin, and a new birth 
 unto righteousness." * 
 
 Now this concession is all we contend for. We are 
 not satisfied with the outward sign, but as it indicates an 
 inward grace; as a means whereby we receive that grace, 
 and a pledge to assure us thereof. But if we receive it 
 by these means, we are regenerate; heirs of God, and 
 joint-heirs with Christ; members of that spiritual body, of 
 which he is the head ; in one word. Christians, and enti- 
 tled to the glorious privileges of Christians, if we live ac- 
 cording to that holy ordinance ; for being by nature born in 
 sin, we are hereby made the children of grace. We bear on 
 our body the sign of the cross, the mark of our Lord Jesus, 
 in token of our devotion to his service ; and we rely entirely 
 on that divine grace which is communicated to the soul by the 
 blessed Spirit, into which we are baptized. 
 
 Mr. Scott tells us what regeneration does not signify, viz. 
 *' not merely reformation ;" — " nor conversion ;" — " nor does 
 it consist in any kind of impressions, or new revelations ;" — 
 *' nor are new faculties communicated in tliis change." So far, 
 then, we are agreed. But when he defines it to be " a change, 
 wrought by the power of the holy spirit in the understanding, 
 will, and affections of a sinner, which is the commencement of 
 a new kind of life, and which gives another direction to his 
 judgment, desires, pursuits, and conduct;" f we cannot sub- 
 
 * Scott's Essay on Regeneration, p. 200. 
 t P. 303. 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism, S^c. 47 
 
 the expression, " seeing now this child is reo-e- 
 nerate," has no signification; will the Metho- 
 
 scribe to his opinion. If regeneration were such a complete 
 and absolute transformation as is here described ; if the un- 
 derstanding, will, and affections of the sinner were thus radi- 
 cally changed, his judgment, desires, pursuits, and conduct 
 must needs be directed by their impulse. This necessary effect 
 would unavoidably follow a prevailing cause ; for what is there, 
 under the divine appointment, which can influence the choice, 
 or regulate the conduct of man, but one or all of these facul- 
 ties? And if the holy spirit works such a change in them, as 
 gives them a new and heavenly direction, then is the sinner 
 safe and secure from a possibility of relapsing into wickedness. 
 But were this the case, what occasion would there be for those 
 exhortations which are addressed to the regenerate ? " Be not 
 conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renew- 
 ing of your minds ;" for it will not be disputed, that the " be- 
 loved of God,* called to be saints" t — " who had received the 
 spirit of adoption, whereby they cried, "Abba, Father; the 
 spirit itself bearing witness with their spirit, that they were 
 the children of God." J It will not be disputed, that such 
 Christians were regenerate. 
 
 The source of confused ideas and false tenets, on this sub- 
 ject, is a departure from the true meaning of scriptural terms, 
 and thence a misapprehension of scriptural doctrines, accom- 
 panied with a great deal of contradiction. Mr. Scott had for- 
 mally declared that ** regeneration does not merely signify a 
 reformation of the outward conduct, or a ceasing from vice to 
 practise virtue." — " Nor does it consist in any kind of impres- 
 atons or new revelations"— Yet he tells us, the regenerated 
 person " possesses, as it were, a wJiole system of sensations, 
 of which he formerly had no conception," and speaks of him 
 as a " person who has recently experienced this saying 
 
 • Romans xii. 2. f »• 7, t viii. 15, 16. 
 
48 Reflections on [chap. hi. 
 
 dists say tliat one new birth is insufficient, and 
 urge that it mast be repeated ? That is not 
 
 change." Thus reducing it to feeling and experience. He 
 says again, " we must he changed, or wc cannot be either holy 
 or happy." This is very true in a general sense, for we must 
 " repent, or perish." But as the phrase is intended here to 
 express regeneration, it is misapplied. 
 
 The introduction to Christianity, under the influence of the 
 Holy Ghost in the baptismal covenant, which is properly 
 termed regeneration, does not necessarily produce this happy 
 effect ; which if it do ensue, is not regeneration, but repent- 
 ance. The renewal of the mind is not inherent in the new 
 birth, but consequent upon it ; and results from those means 
 of grace, when they are productive of their due effect. But 
 why should ^the word regeneration be interpreted, as inevitably 
 involving them 1 All the arguments for divine grace may be 
 urged without straining that word to imply what it does not 
 imply, in the language of holy writ. And the occasion which 
 is given to the fanatacism of the credulous and the blasphemy 
 of unbelievers, by resolving the new birth into sensations and 
 experience, should restrain its advocates from countenancing 
 such chimerical fancies as "bring discredit on their profession, 
 and injure the holy cause which they so vehemently endeavour 
 to promote. 
 
 It is but justice, however, to Mr. Scott, to obser^'e that he 
 has objected to those delusions which prevail almost univer- 
 sally among the more ignorant part of his peculiar disciples, 
 and which are supported, it may be feared, although unin- 
 tentionally by his own opmions. " Regeneration," he very 
 truly says, in a passage already quoted, " does not consist in 
 any kind of impressions or neiv revelations; any successions of 
 terrors, or consolations ; or any whisper, as it were, from God 
 to the heart, concerning his secret love, choice, or purpose to 
 save us. Many such experiences have been related by those 
 who still evidently continued the slaves of sin ; and " Satan 
 
CHAP, ill.] Methodism, S^c. 49 
 
 agreeable to scripture, or to common sense, un- 
 less they intend to argue, that by relapsing into 
 sin we become dead unto righteousness and for- 
 feit the privileges of the new birth, which can 
 only be recovered by repentance, tliroiigh the 
 assistance of the holy spirit; and this we readily 
 
 transformed into an angel of light," has done immense mis- 
 chief in this way : for the confidence of these persons seems 
 in general, lo be rather the effect of delusion and self-flattery, 
 than an express design of imposing upon other men. Some of 
 these things indeed (as terror, and consolation -succeeding it,) 
 commonly accompany a saving change ; others, which are 
 evidently enthusiastic, may, nevertheless, be found in the case 
 of some who are really born of God: yet Ihey are neither 
 regeneration itself, nor any effect or evidence of it ; but rather 
 a disgraceful and injurious appendage to it, arising from 
 human infirmity and the devices of Satan."* 
 
 How pleasant it is to see a ray of truth break through the 
 clouds of error ! But what a sad reverse to find " the fathers 
 and our pious reformers" traduced, in order t^) weaken the 
 argument drawn from their authority. " Indeed, the fathers, 
 as they are called, (that is, the teachers of the christian 
 church, during some ages after the death of the apostles) soon 
 began to speak on this subject in unscriptural language : and 
 our pious reformers, from an undue regard to them and to the 
 circumstances of the times, have retained a few expressions in 
 the liturgy, which not only are inconsistent with their other 
 doctrines, but also tend to perple.% men's minds and mislead 
 their judgment on this important subject." f To such cen- 
 sorious remarks on those wise and holy men, does a minister of 
 the church of England descend, as a cover for his dereliction 
 of that doctrine which their superior knowledge of the truth 
 lias sanctioned and affirmed. 
 
 * P. 202. t P. 201. 
 
 E 
 
50 Reflections on [OHAP. ill. 
 
 admit, but we apprehend sometliing- more is 
 implied in " that efficacious supernatm*al call, 
 which they term regeneration." 
 
 The reasoning" pursued by the author above 
 mentioned, and the instances brought forward 
 in confirmation of it, are exactly suited to the 
 opinions he maintains. After having- said, that 
 very frequently the objects of mercy are some of 
 the vilest and most notorious for their sinful and 
 profligate lives and conversation, and having 
 instanced Manasseh, and Mary Magdalen, and 
 the thief upon the cross, he adds in a note, 
 " The work of the Lord is the same now that it 
 was tlien^ and the spiritual operation of his grace 
 must display itself now in the conversion of no- 
 torious sinners, as much as it did formerly." 
 There are very many living witnesses to this 
 truth, who may be addressed by their spiritual 
 pastors and teachers in the same language which 
 St. Paul used to his Corinthian converts : " And 
 such were some of you ; but ye are washed, but 
 ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the 
 Siame of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of 
 our God."— 1 Cor. vi. 11.- 
 
 An example and text of scripture are thus 
 cited in a manner which tends to encourage the 
 most notorious sinners, and to sanction the ab- 
 solution pronounced on them by these Protestant 
 Popes. Now, first let us take the scriptural 
 account, and then the inference which they draw 
 from it. The history of Manasseh will be found, 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism, S^c. 51 
 
 II Chron. xxxiii. 12. That of Mary Magdalen, 
 Luke vii. 37, and that of the thief upon the 
 cross, Luke xxiii. 43. Each of these instances 
 undoubtedly shews, that great offenders, upon 
 turning to God, have been forgiven. Bat their 
 cases vrere peculiar. Not only had the guilt of 
 all been incurred before they were enlightened 
 by the gospel ; but the two last received pardon 
 immediately from him who had power on earth 
 to dispense that blessing, and knew the hearts 
 of those who miafht deserve it: and the first, 
 notwithstanding his Jewish obstinacy, manifested 
 his contrition by the most undeniable tokens of 
 sorrow, prayer, and humiliation. 
 
 These examples were therefore singular, and 
 the error lies in making them a ground of con- 
 fidence to those who have sinned against the 
 light and authority of the gospel. In teaching 
 such unhappy persons that a sudden impulse of 
 the holy spirit, will convert them at once, and 
 enroll them in the number of the elect ; and in 
 depreciating " a moral and virtuous deport- 
 ment." * 
 
 But, it is the common argument of the new 
 evangelists to vindicate their doctrine by such a 
 kind of exemplification, and thence to draw a 
 general conclusion in favour of their votaries. 
 Mr. Rowland Hill has applied it to this purpose, 
 in his village dialogues, an extract from which 
 
 * Willat's Apology, p. 37. 
 E 2 
 
52 ReJIections on [chap. hi. 
 
 may serve as a corollary to Mr. Willat's pro- 
 position. 
 
 Thomas Newman, a convert to his creed, 
 speaking- of Mr. Lovegood's sermon, says, " he 
 shewed all the Bible over, that never did poor 
 sinner sue for mercy but he had it. He told us 
 of Manasseh, of Saul, the Philippian gaoler, 
 and the thief upon the cross : that all these poor 
 bleeding penitents were at once accepted, with- 
 out any other righteousness but what was to be 
 found in him who died to justify the ungodly ; 
 and that whosoever, and again he said it, " who- 
 soever Cometh to him, he will in no wise cast 
 out." Oh! what a time of love was this! 
 How Edward looked at me, and I at him; 
 while we both began, for the first time, to look 
 to Jesus Christ, who died for tlie redemption of 
 oui' poor ruined souls. 
 
 Farmer. — And was this all you did for your 
 salvation ? 
 
 Thomas, — Why master, nothing more could 
 be done ; for the love of Christ broke our hearts 
 into a thousand pieces: from that moment we 
 felt the chains of sin drop off from the soul, and 
 we were at liberty to love and serve the Lord. 
 For now we began to experience what it was to 
 be made new creatures in Christ Jesus. " Old 
 things passed away, and all things became 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. i. p. 30, 31. 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism^ c^c. 53 
 
 There is no need to dwell long upon this 
 passage, since the remarks already made on the 
 preceding extract from Mr. Willat's apology 
 may be applied to the village dialogues. Let it 
 merely be observed that the multitude of Mr. R. 
 Hill's proselytes is easily accounted for, on the 
 principles here avowed. Is there an ungodly 
 person in the world, whose ignorance and self 
 deceit are equal to his Avickedness, that will not 
 eagerly resort to the standard which this hierarch 
 hath set up ? 
 
 We are justly alarmed by the allurements of 
 Papal superstition; but, surely there is no less 
 cause of alarm from blind fanaticism, while Me- 
 thodism is thus attractive ; and while it proposes 
 terms of salvation, easier even than those which 
 are sanctioned by the church of Rome. That 
 church must abolish the performance of penance 
 and pilgrimages, the counting of beads, the as- 
 persion of holy water, and the repetition of 
 Rosaries and Ave Marias, in order that the 
 Catholic communion may cope, upon equal 
 ground, with a sect which maintains such doc- 
 trines as these : viz. " That never did any poor 
 sinner sue for pardon but he had it,"-* — without 
 any righteousness but what was to be found in 
 Christ: and " that nothing more can be done 
 for our salvation." 
 
 Wonderful is the effrontery of these teachers, 
 in asserting that the " work of the Lord is the 
 
54 JReflecf,io7is on [chap. hi. 
 
 same now, that it was then :"* the same new 
 miracles have ceased, and the gospel of Christ 
 is fully re\ ealed, as it was during' his ministry, 
 and first promulgation of the gospel ! When 
 extraordinary gifts of the spirit were dispensed, 
 and the sinner was called from the darkness of 
 Pagan ignorance, or Jewish error, to the light 
 of knowledge, and of truth. This unwarranted 
 position would indeed excite surprize, if any 
 presumption were surprising in these mistaken 
 men. 
 
 The text by which this opinion is supported, 
 viz. 1 Cor. \i. 10. if compared with the context, 
 proves the very reverse of the doctrine respect- 
 ing regeneration and grace, which it is quoted to 
 
 * The author of " Christianity not founded in Argument," 
 says Bishop Law, to give this extraordinary scheme of his a 
 scriptural air, lays liold on oome passages of scripture history, 
 and draws in several detached parts of texts, about the spirit 
 of God, or such as sound that way, which he applies to this 
 point indiscriminately, whether they concern those ordinary 
 assistances, and imperceptible operations, that may be ex- 
 pected from the Holy Ghost, in every age ; or are confined to 
 his extraordinary miraculous gifts, that were, we think, pe- 
 culiar to the first publication ©f the gospel, aud produced 
 those wonderful effects which this writer alludes to, aud which 
 he with some modern sectaries seem still to claim, upon that 
 ever weak foundation, of believing strongly that he has the 
 same, without being able to bring any of the same proofs in 
 justification of such his belief. Well might the bishop term 
 this " a self-destructive scheme." — Law's Theory of Religion, 
 p. 21. 
 
CHAP. III.] Blethodism, ^c. 65 
 
 prove. The Corinthians were " yet carnal," iii. 3. 
 of which their " envying, strife, divisions," were 
 a melancholy instance : but what then ? W ere 
 they unregenerate ? — Were they unredeemed ? 
 Far from it. The inspired apostle convinces them 
 of the contrary in this earnest expostulation, 
 " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
 and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 
 iii. 16. And again, " What ! know ye not that 
 your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye 
 are not your own? For ye are bought with a 
 price : therefore glorify God, in your body, and 
 m your spirit, which are God's." vi. 19, 20. 
 Were not these sufficient assurances of their 
 regenerate state ? Not only had they been 
 washed, but sanctified, not only sanctified, but 
 justijied, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
 the spirit of God. Still they were not treading 
 in the steps of their blessed master, and conse- 
 quently not walking in the way of salvation. 
 " I speak to your shame," says St. Paul, vi. 5. 
 " Now therefore there is utterly a fault among 
 you, because ye go to law one with another." 7. 
 " Nay ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your 
 brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God ?" 8, 9. 
 
 Let this be a warning to these rash and in- 
 considerate teachers ; first, that they endeavour 
 to comprehend the entire import of holy writ; 
 and next, that they lay aside all confidence of 
 
•"jO lleflcctions on [chap. hi. 
 
 boasting. Since it they be g-ifted in as great a 
 degree as the first converts to Christianity, still 
 they may " do wrong," and be wanting in that 
 cliarity which is the condition of their obtaining 
 niercy ; and although bonght with an inestimable 
 price, yet even they may " perish for whom 
 Christ died." viii. 11. 
 
 Our Saviom*"* hath said indeed, "All that 
 the Father giveth me, shall come imto me;"t 
 and again, '' No man can come to me, except 
 the Father which hath sent me draw him :" J and 
 it is well known to what purpose these texts 
 have been perverted : but whatever countenance 
 they have been considered as affording to the 
 Methodistical doctrine of the new birth and 
 irrespective grace, the many clear and decisive 
 assertions of the same divine teacher, in other 
 places, which entirely overthrow it, clearly 
 prove that no such article of faith was intended 
 here. The passages above cited, are moreover 
 perfectly accordant with those numerous texts of 
 scripture which are altogether irreconcileable 
 with the favourite dogma of the new evangelists. 
 St. Paul illustrates the meaning of our Lord, 
 
 * " No man," saith our Lord, " comoth unto the Father but 
 by me." St. John xiv. 6. As by faith in Clirist, we are led to 
 God, so by the testimony which the Father hatli givfn of the 
 Son's divine mission and autliority, are we led to Christy. It is 
 very injurious to the cause of truth, to strain the terms in 
 whicli it is conveyed beyond thieii- proper meaning. 
 
 t John vi. 37. t 44. 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism, Ifn^c. 57 
 
 when he says, " As many as are led by the 
 spirit of God, they are the sons of God ;"* and 
 we are assured by the highest of all authorities, 
 that " he giveth his spirit to them that ask 
 him." t 
 
 God is undoubtedly the author of every good 
 and perfect gift : to him, therefore, be the glory. 
 The means of grace and salvation, and every 
 faculty we possess, are equally derived from 
 him ; and all who make a right use of these 
 blessings, will embrace and ever hold fast the 
 hope of everlasting life, rcA^ealed by Jesus Christ : 
 and being thus redeemed from death, are given 
 to him by God the Father both now and for 
 evermore. There is one infallible rule laid 
 down by our Saviour, which, if observed, would 
 prevent all misapprehension. " He that is of 
 God, heareth God's word ;"J and " he that 
 keepeth my saying shall never see death." § 
 God has graciously vouchsafed to " draw all men 
 unto him," through the atonement of Christ, who 
 was " lifted up,"|| as he himself also assures us, 
 for that very purpose, and those only that ** resist 
 shall receive to themselves damnation." The 
 39th and 40th verses of the 6th chapter of St. 
 John's gospel throw light upon each other. 
 " This is the Father's will ; that of all which 
 he hath given me I should lose nothing, but 
 should raise it up again at the last day : and this 
 
 * Rom. viii. 14. J John viii. 47. || John xii. 32. 
 
 t Luke xi. 13. § 51. 
 
o8 Reflections on [chap. hi. 
 
 is the will of him that sent me, that every one 
 which seeth the Son, and bflieveth on him, may 
 have everlasting life, and 1 will raise him up at 
 the last day."* So that, " all which the Father 
 hath g-iven me, is equivalent to this expres- 
 sion, '* Every one that seeth the Son, and be- 
 lieveth on him ;" for the same thing is predicated 
 of both. The just conclusion therefore is, that 
 instead of testifying the new birth by any sensible 
 and immediate infusion of the holy spirit ; and 
 instead of limiting it to a few persons arbitrarily 
 chosen by God, the gospel has extended this 
 grace, and salvation consequent upon it, to all 
 christians whatsoever. " He that believeth, and 
 is baptized, shall be saved." f And our Sa- 
 viour's expression implies the unbounded effi- 
 cacy of his merciful dispensation. n<M o hiuai fco» 
 n*T))i.J " All,"§ without restriction, and with- 
 
 • John vi. 40. t Mark xvi. 16. J John vi. 37. 
 
 § Bishop Latimer, in his Sermon on Matt. xxii. 2, says, 
 " The promises of Christ our Saviour are general ; he made 
 a general proclamation, saying, * Whosoever believeth in me 
 hath everlasting life.' He saith, * Come to me all ye that 
 labour, and are laden, and I will ease you.' Mark, here he 
 saith, ' Come all ye ;' wherefore then should any man despair, 
 or shut himself out from the promises of Christ, which be 
 general, and pertain to the whole world ? He that leaveth his 
 wickedness and sin, and is content to mend his life, and then 
 believing in Christ, seeketh salvation and everlasting life by 
 him, no doUbt that man or woman, whosoever they be, shall 
 be saved." Yet this the Methodists would persuade us is a 
 Tiore/ doctrine, and taunt us with the title of Universalists ; 
 of which more hereafter. 
 
CHAP. Ill] Methodism, ^c. 59 
 
 out exception, " all that the father giveth me:" 
 that is, according; to the context, " Everij one 
 which seeth the Son and believeth on him, may 
 have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at 
 the last day."* He shall partake of a joyful 
 resurrection ; but on this condition, " that he 
 have done oood,"t for otherwise, " he will come 
 forth to the resurrection of damnation." 
 
 . Regeneration, as we have before stated, in its 
 strict and primaiT sense, takes place in the sacra- 
 ment of baptism, when we are born of water 
 and the spirit, and become new creatures, the 
 adopted children of God through Christ ; when 
 we are admitted into the christian covenant, 
 renounce the devil and all his w^orks, and are 
 spiritually transferred from the fellowship of the 
 world into the communion of saints : qualified to 
 exercise the same holiness in this life ; and if we 
 do so, entitled to the same happiness in that 
 which is to come. This is so great a change, so 
 complete a transformation from a carnal to a 
 spiritual, from an earthly to a heavenly state, 
 that it might justly be called regeneration, or a 
 
 new birth. 
 
 But it is not denied, that those who having been 
 thus made " members of Christ, and children 
 of God," and having afterwards lived in wilful 
 negligence of the gospel, or in disobedience to 
 its laws, are recalled from a course of sin, and 
 renewed in the spirit of their minds ; It is not 
 
 ■ 40. t John V. 29. 
 
60 Reflections on [chap. hi. 
 
 denied that such persons are converted, restored 
 to the principles and practice of Christianity, and 
 to all the privileg'es of the g'ospel covenant. If 
 it be the pleasure of certain professors of that 
 gospel to call this reformation a new birth, let 
 them employ that term,, but let them not attach 
 to it a meaning and an application which the 
 scriptures never warrant. 
 
 " Except ye be converted," says our Lord, 
 " and become as little children, ye shall not 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven." * 
 
 Lowliness and meekness, humility and inno- 
 cence, are the best proofs of a regenerated mind. 
 But these endowments are not the effect of an 
 involuntary and overruling impulse. Neither 
 conversion from Judaism and Heathenism to 
 Christianity, from unbelief to faith, nor from a 
 vicious to a virtuous propensity, is any where 
 declared in scripture to be the immediate work 
 of the holy spirit, without the concurrence and 
 co-operation of man. 
 
 " There have been many," says Dr. Water- 
 land, " both in former and latter times, who have 
 laid great stress upon I know not what sensible 
 emotions or violent impulses coming upon them 
 at times, which they bohlly and rashly impute to 
 the holy spirit '. presuming also to date their 
 conversion or new birth, (as they call it) from 
 such fanciful impressions. There is not one 
 syllable in .sacred writ to countenance the notion 
 
 * Matthew xviii. 3. 
 
CHAP. III.] Methodism, ^c. 61 
 
 of such impulses ; it is all mere fiction, invention, 
 presumption, exceedinoly dangerous in its issue 
 or tendency.* For by that blind rule, a man 
 may very easily mistake the sugg'estions of Satan 
 for divine impulses ; therefore, if they do indeed 
 feel any emotions extraordinary, the first and 
 most important inquiry is, whether these emotions 
 are not really Satan's illusions, rather than di- 
 vine impressions ; or, whether they are not rather 
 marks of possession, than inspiration ? Confi- 
 dence is no argument in a dark aftair." There 
 is but one certain rule whereby we know when 
 we are led by the spirit ; and that is the rule of 
 God's commandments. When we so think and 
 so do, as the spirit of God has directed in God's 
 holy word, then and then only are we sure, that 
 we are led by the spirit, or born of the spirit." f 
 St. John has said all in a very few words : 
 
 * Speaking of the inward light to which some Methodists 
 pretended, Johnson said, " It was a principle utterly incom- 
 patible with social or civil security. — If a man pretends to a 
 principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay not so 
 much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it, how 
 can I tell what that person may be prompted to do 1 When a 
 person professes to be governed by a written ascertained law, 
 I can then know where to find him." — Boswell's Life of Johnson, 
 p. 343, 4to, edition. 
 
 t " You have two ways," says Bishop Sherlock, with his 
 usual perspicuity, " of judging yourselves, which must both 
 concur. You have inward and outward signs of grace : the 
 inward signs are, a pure conscience, a sincere love for God and 
 religion, and whatever tends to the glory and honour of your 
 Maker ; the outward signs are, acts of obedience conformable 
 to the inward purity and love of your mind. These are fruits 
 
&2 Reflections on [chax», hi. 
 
 " Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit 
 sin ;" * that is, dotii not allow lumself in any 
 known sinful practices. There is the mark, and 
 the only time mark of regeneration, and the 
 spiritual life. Let every man examine himself 
 by this rule ; and when they can, upon sure 
 grounds, speak peace to their own consciences, 
 then let them attribute the glory of it to God's 
 holy spirit, for that is right; but let them not 
 blaze it out to the world, however certain they 
 are of it ; for that will he seeking honour of men, 
 and endeavouring to share with the holy spirit 
 in that glory, which belongs to him only ] and it 
 will be forfeiting the favour of that very spirit 
 whereof they so proudly boast. 
 
 I am well aware that the false pretenders to 
 the spirit have often laid hold on that text of 
 
 by which you may judge yourselves. Our Saviour tells us, 
 " that we may know men by their fruits :" much rather may 
 we know ourselves by our own fruits ; especially when we may 
 know the stock too from whence they grow, the motions and 
 workings of our ovyn heart. 
 
 '• Hence, it appears, that the evidence of the spirit is not any 
 secret inspiration, or any assurance conveyed to the mind of 
 the faithful ; but it is the evidence of works, such as by the 
 spirit we perform ; and therefore the only sign of sanctilication 
 is holiness, and the only mark of grace is to obey irom the 
 heart the word of God : and therefore they err, not knowing 
 the scriptures, who from this or the like passages, imagine, 
 that the spirit ever gives, or was ever designed to give, inward 
 assurance or certainty to men of their future state." — Discourse 
 viii. on Romans viii. 16. — ' The spirit itself beareth witness 
 with our spirit, that we are the children of God.' 
 
 * 1 John iii. 9. 
 
€HAP. III.] Methodism^ S^c. 63 
 
 St. John, warping' it unnaturally, so as to draw 
 it to favour their own fond delusions. They first 
 take it for granted that they are born of God ; 
 (which is their fond presumption,) and then, the}'^ 
 conclude that they are without sin. This is vilely 
 perverting, and abusing the text : for they ought 
 first to know that their ways are right, and tlien 
 to draw their conclusion ; and not vainly pre- 
 sume that they have the spirit, and then from 
 thence to conclude that their ways are right. 
 
 But such has often been the self-delusive me- 
 thod of vain pretenders; and they have some- 
 times carried it so far as to argue, that since 
 they are saints, and born of God, (that is, in 
 their own fond imaginations) they cannot be 
 guilty of sin : but let them do what they please, 
 the spirit is to warrant and sanctify all ; for God 
 sees no sin in his saints. How dangerous a 
 principle this is ; how productive of all ungodli- 
 ness, and of th€ most shocking impieties, was 
 too sadly seen in the last century, and stands 
 upon record in histories of those distracted 
 times." * 
 
 The whole discourse, from which this large 
 extract has been made, well deserves the at- 
 tention of those who would adopt a correct 
 standard of judging on this fundamental point of 
 religion ; the error against which, we contend, 
 cannot be more clearly stated, or more justly 
 reproved. 
 
 * Waterland's Serm. on 1 John iv. 1. 
 
64 Reflections on [chap, iv 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE METHODISTICAL DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION 
 AND GRACE TENDS TO DISCOURAGE GOOD RESOLU- 
 TIONS AND VIRTUOUS ENDEAVOURS, AND TO CRE- 
 ATE VAIN CONFIDENCE AND VAGUE PRESUMPTIONS. 
 VARIOUS INSTANCES OF ITS EFFECTS. — INFATUA- 
 TION OF METHODISTS EXEMPLIFIED IN THEIR SUB- 
 STITUTION OF FEELING FOR REPENTANCE. — THE 
 WICKED RELEASED BY THIS DELUSION FROM THE 
 FEAR OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 
 
 JL he opinions which are maintained by the 
 Methodists, tend most evidently to undermine 
 the foundation of true religion, by discouraging- 
 all virtuous endeavours, and assurino- uncondi- 
 tional forgiveness to the worst of men, as the imme- 
 diate effect of their regeneration : yet Mr. Styles 
 has ventured to say, in his Letter to a Barrister, 
 " I challenge you to produce, from any accredited 
 writer on the side of evangelical truth, a single 
 sentence, which by any ingenuity of interpreta- 
 tion can- be made to favour the sentiment, that 
 the atonement of Chi'ist ' alters the nature of 
 sin, annuls the solemn declaration of God, that 
 in a future life he will render to every man ac- 
 cording to his works ; or that is in any way 
 opposed to the doctrine or repentance, or refer- 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism^ $^c. 65 
 
 niation of life.' " * This is a bold challenge, and 
 may be fairly met. 
 
 Sir Richard Hill, a gentleman possessed of 
 some learning', and liberally educated, insists on 
 absolute, controlling grace, in a manner which 
 is wholly irreconcileable with " the solemn de- 
 claration of God, that in a future life he will 
 render to every man according to his works." 
 This author, we may presume, is an * accredited 
 9vriter^ f with those of the same persuasion, and 
 his decision is therefore entitled to the more con- 
 sideration. 
 
 He thus addresses Mr. Daubeny: *' The ut- 
 most you will allow Christ to have done for sin- 
 ners is, that he has obtained for them a possibi- 
 lity of salvation ; but their being made partakers 
 of that salvation, and being brought to the pos- 
 session of it, depends upon themselves; a very 
 pleasing, pride - soothing conceit," Sec. " A 
 possibility of salvation must end in an impossi- 
 bility of salvation." — " The first covenant was 
 all of works, the second all of grace ; but there 
 never was a third covenant between the two, or 
 patched up by faith and works joined together : 
 
 * Styles's Vindication of Evangelical Preaching, &c. p. 82. 
 
 t It is extremely ditficult to ascertain what writers on the 
 side of evangelical truth are acrrcditcd; but the author of 
 Willat's Apology, speaking of Sir Richard Hill's publication, 
 says, " the whole of which, I conceive, is most satisfactory, 
 interesting, and evangelical." This testimony, we presume, 
 will not be disputed by the advocates of evangelical truth. 
 
66 Rejiections on [chap. ly, 
 
 so that it' that grace and love, which before all 
 worlds gave Christ for sinners, do not also give 
 Christ to sinners, by working in them that true 
 justifying faith, through which alone they be- 
 come one with him, and have close union with 
 him, they must for ever remain at a distance 
 from him, and strangers to all hopes of happiness 
 by him:"* thus confounding causal und Jinal 
 justification, and renouncing works, which al- 
 though they have no efficacy with regard to the 
 first, which is entirely gratuitous, are yet posi- 
 tively enjoined as necessary towards the last, 
 which is conditional ; this writer " does annul 
 the solemn declaration of God, that in a future 
 life he will render to every man according to his 
 works." He adds a new article, that God must 
 give Christ to sinners, in order to their election ; 
 it is not enough that he gave himself /or our 
 sins." (Galat. i. 4.) 
 
 There must be, according to the methodistical 
 doctrine, a special gift, a personal gift, super- 
 added to that " fall, perfect, and sufficient sacri- 
 fice, oblation, and satisfaction, which Christ 
 made upon the cross, for the sins of the whole 
 worlds" otherwise there is no union with him: 
 and " that professor in religion," says Dr. Haw- 
 ker, " who is unconnected by any vital union to 
 thef person of the Lord Jesus, stands in the 
 
 * Sir Riiihard Hill's Apology, p. 40, 41. 
 t Wliy a personal union should be insisted on by these 
 writers, when a spiritual union with Christ is all which the 
 
CHAP. IV.] MeiJiodism, ^c. 67 
 
 church's garden but as a stick, supporting in- 
 deed, (if it can be called support) the tender 
 plant of the gospel with his unmeaning hand." * 
 Now, were this intended to import the same 
 meaning- as that declaration in our communion 
 service, " If with a true penitent heart, and 
 lively faith, we receive the holy sacrament, we 
 are one with Christ, and Christ with us;" the 
 doctrine would be unexceptionable : but this 
 does not come up to Sir Richard Hill's sense of 
 a " real union or fellowship with Jesus Christ ; 
 an experience of being born again of the spirit." t 
 No: there must be feeling, sympathy; a per- 
 ceptible impulse, an overpowering act of grace : 
 that, and that alone, will be sufficient. " I can 
 form no idea of grace," he says, " but as it con- 
 quers whatever opposes its progress; if it do 
 not, then grace is no more grace ; and the power 
 of nature in man overmatches the power of God 
 
 language of scripture suggests, it would be difficult to say, 
 did not the doctrine, which that expression is intended to sup- 
 port, explain it. Enthusiastic and mystical opinions must be 
 couched in new-fangled phrases, or they will not obtain cur- 
 rency: and nothing is more observable than the perversion of 
 scriptural terms, and the use of words in a sense unwarranted 
 by holy writ, to which the Methodists have had recourse, in 
 order to convey their strange notions of regeneration and 
 grace. Numberless instances of this will be recollested by 
 any one who is familiar with their works. We admit a spi- 
 ritual union with our blessed Lord in the fullest sense ; but 
 what a vital union to his person means, we confess ourselves 
 unable to <;omprehend. 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 10. f Apology, p. 134. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Itejiections on [chap. iv. 
 
 in willing" a conversion which he cannot effect, 
 and is tlierefore obliged to give up in disap- 
 pointment." * 
 
 This language is as extraordinary as the sen- 
 timent it expresses ; a text or two from scripture 
 will shew that both are alike unwarranted by 
 holy writ.f " Thy will be done," says Christ; 
 
 • Preface to Babington's Sermons, annexed to the Apology* 
 p. 8. 
 
 t It is astonishing, that any one who has read the Bible, 
 should not perceive and acknowledge, that the whole code of 
 the divine laws is in direct contradiction to the dogma of irre- 
 sistible grace, and founded entirely on the principle of freedom 
 and volition in man. " Now, therefore, if ye will obey my 
 voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a pecu* 
 liar treasure unto me." Exodus xix. 5. This is the condition 
 of reward; " Because I called, and ye refused." Prov. i. 24. 
 This is the just cause of punishment, held forth alike to Jew 
 and Christian. The disciples of Christ " received grace for 
 obedience to the faith," Rom. i, .5. but this obedience was 
 free, and if it were refused, then they " received the grace of 
 God in vain." And this rendered the sinner inexcusable, be- 
 cause he would " not obey the truth," when every motive that 
 could influence a free, rational, and accountable agent was 
 proposed to his choice, his understanding, and his conscience. 
 Yet the power of God ivas not overmatched by the power of 
 man ; nor was the Almighty obliged to give up his purpose in 
 disappointment. What profanation does the supposition carry 
 with it ! 
 
 The distinction between that divine power, which absolutely 
 controls all nature, and that gracious purpose which ordained 
 that rational creatures should be free agents, the Calvinists 
 will not see nor apprehend. It is clearly stated by Archbishop 
 Seeker, whose explanation of it is well worthy their consi- 
 deration. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, S^c. 69 
 
 plainly intimating' that it may net be clone. *' Ye 
 do always resist the Holy Ghost," says St. Ste- 
 phen ; " as yom' fathers did, so do ye." * 
 
 The strang-est point of all, however, is, that 
 the advocate of controlling- grace should deny 
 that it is perfect. He does not hesitate to say, 
 that " grace, as well as nature, is liable to mis- 
 takes in conduct." t This wonderial assertion 
 is occasioned by his zeal to excuse the errors of 
 his brethren ; some of whom " may, in the ju- 
 venile warmtli of their hearts, and in the fervour 
 of their first love and religious affections, have 
 fallen into imprudencies," &c.J Here was a 
 dilemma. The propagators of Methodism were 
 certainly actuated by grace ; that could by no 
 means be given up ; yet they had acted wrong : 
 how then does their advocate extricate himself 
 from this embarrassment ? By transferring the 
 fault from them to divine grace ! the blasphe- 
 mous tendency of which it is needless to remark ; 
 the passage itself will prove to what shockingly 
 profane expedients the defence of a favourite 
 opinion will reduce even a religious mind. 
 
 " What God wills to do Ijimself, that he doth accordingly, 
 both in the army of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of 
 the earth; and none can stay his hand. But what he wills us 
 to do, that he only requires of us, as we value his favour, or 
 fear his displeasure ; leaving us designedly that power of not 
 doing what he bids us, without which doing it were no virtue,'' 
 Lecture XXXI. on the Church Catechism. 
 
 * Acts vii. 51. t Apology, p. 20G. % Id. id. 
 
70 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 ** Grace, as well as nature, is liable to mis- 
 takes in conduct; and it would be hard indeed 
 to make no allowances for, but to punish with 
 rigour the actings of the former, and to palliate 
 or pass over unrebuked the follies or even the 
 vices of the latter." 
 
 This is a strain of reasoning that could scarcely 
 have been expected from one who had said, 
 " God is jealous of his own honour and sove- 
 reignty, and the Redeemer will not suffer the 
 jewels to be plucked from his crown of grace, 
 and placed on the sinner's head." * 
 
 Could it have been imagined, then, that not 
 only a jewel of grace should be placed on the 
 sinner's head, but that a debased jewel should 
 be placed there by Him, who is the sole author 
 of every good and perfect gift ? That he should 
 bestow a defective, insufficient grace, liable to 
 mistakes in conduct, nay, as liable as our frail 
 nature is, which it was especially designed to 
 correct and amend, and lead into the way of 
 truth; or, according to Sir Richard Hill, to 
 control by an invincible necessity? Where is 
 the holy reverence, where the humble faith of 
 this pious writer ? for pious undoubtedly he was. 
 Yet his own argument might lead us to a dif- 
 ferent conclusion, and might induce us to exclaim 
 with unaffected sorrow and amazement, 
 Heu pietas, heu prisca fides ? 
 
 * Apology, p. 80. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^c. 7 1 
 
 Here we leave Sir Richard, that we may 
 proceed to notice the productions of his brother, 
 the Rev. Rowland Hill, who resembles him in 
 principle, and maintains that principle through 
 all its consequences. In his Village Dialogues, 
 Thomas Newman is the first instance given of 
 the manner and efficacy of the new birth. In 
 his unregenerate state he met with a dangerous 
 accident. " And what thoughts I then had," he 
 says, " no mortal can tell. I thought these 
 words sounded like thunder in my ears — ' lost 
 once, lost for ever!' " Notwithstanding this 
 warning voice, he soon forgot his vows and good 
 resolutions, for which he afterwards assigns the 
 reason — " I have since found, that all our reso- 
 lutions to mend our ways come to nothing, till 
 God changes the heai't; and so it was with me," * 
 &c. At length this period arrived, and on hear- 
 ing a sermon of Mr. Lovegood's, who " wept 
 like the rain, as a father would over a dying 
 child he dearly loved, f he began for the first 
 time to weep over his sinful state." The dia- 
 logue is thus continued. 
 
 Farmer. — Thomas, why should you cry ? You 
 should not be melancholy, for I dare say God 
 Almighty will forgive you. 
 
 Thomas. — Why, my dear master, I know he 
 has forgiven me, and, like poor Magdalene, it 
 is fit that I should weep as she did, out of love 
 
 * Village Dialogues, fifth edition, vol. i. p. 21. 
 t Id. p. 26. 
 
72 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 to him that loved lier so much, hecause she liad 
 so much forgiven.* 
 
 That ]\[r. Lovegood's sermon might affect his 
 hearer with a godly sorrow, we will not deny ; 
 but the intimation, " that all our resolutions to 
 mend our ways come to nothing," not through 
 our neglecting t]»e means of grace, and wilfully 
 continuing in sin, but because God hath not 
 " changed the heart," is an excuse for all ini- 
 quity, on the ground of our inability to avoid it ; 
 and an imputation on the goodness and justice 
 of God, who " is faithful, and will not suffer us 
 to be tempted above that we are able, but will 
 with the temptation also make a way to escape, 
 that we may be able to bear it."f 
 
 This is the consolation and encouragement af- 
 forded by St. Paul to the Corintliians, when he 
 tells them, " there hath no temjjtation taken you 
 but such as is common to man." 
 
 Mr. Rowland lliil would deprive the humble 
 and contrite heart of this consolation, and instead 
 of it, buoy up the presumptuous enthusiast with a 
 confident assurance of the divine favour. Having 
 shewn that the sinner can do nothing " till God 
 changes his heart," he farther intimates that he 
 need do nothing afterwards to secure his [)ardon; 
 since the passive object of this grace asserts, " I 
 know he has forgiven me." Nor is it easy to 
 decide, whether it be a more dangerous persua- 
 
 * Village Dialogues, fifth edition, vol. i. p. 26. 
 t 1 Cor. X. 13. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^c. 73 
 
 sion, that the shiner must sit down hopeless and 
 mipotent, waiting for the influx of the spirit, 
 and defending his guilt by the plea that he has 
 not received it, and that his wickedness is there- 
 fore unavoidable ; or that he may speak peace to 
 his soul, and rise up before his Judge with an 
 arrooant conviction that he has received it, and 
 that his forgiveness is at once complete. The 
 obvious consequence of either opinion is this, 
 that virtue and vice are equally the effect of a 
 controlling cause ; that the one is necessary, and 
 the other worthless ; and thence all virtuous en- 
 deavours are discouraged and repressed. How 
 rashly this divine intermixes the agitation of an 
 infirm mind with the motions of the spirit, may 
 be seen in the instance of one whom he styles 
 " a most lovely boy, who, though once inclined 
 to be very wicked, yet his heart became so ten- 
 derly impressed with the Saviour's love to fallen 
 sinners, that he would be frequently quite over- 
 powered by the tender feelings of his own mind.* 
 This dear child," it seems, '* was too full of 
 heaven to live long on earth. Before he died, 
 he called his brothers and sisters round his bed, 
 and told them all that he was going to his dear 
 Saviour, who had pardoned his sins and changed 
 his heart." t 
 
 Had this youth been animated by a less san- 
 guine temperament, instead of assurance that 
 he was already pardoned, he might have felt an 
 
 * Id. p. 115. t Id. p. 116. 
 
74 Reflections on [chap. rv. 
 
 apprehension that he was already condemned. 
 The deceitfulness of feeling-, especially when 
 the spirits are much aifected, may elate us into 
 groundless hope, or sink us into deep despair. 
 
 Another instance of the same kind is that of 
 an old lady, the widow of a dissenting minister, 
 of whom Mr. Lovegood says, " I well remem- 
 ber how affectionately she looked up at me, and 
 wept so painfully, that she even bedewed my 
 hands with her tears. What a sweet proof was 
 this of the loving and uniting spirit of the gospel 
 among all who love the Lord Jesus in since- 
 rity !" * In her dying moments she becomes 
 quite rapturous, and exclaims, " This is not dy- 
 ing — believers never die — I am just going to 
 enter the presence chamber of my Lord — Oh, 
 this precious believing in the Son of God — he 
 sheds abroad this his most precious love in my 
 heart, and I feel it like a warm coal of living 
 fire, while I am struggling in the cold arms of 
 death !" f 
 
 Thus are the meek contrition, the humble 
 hope, the pious resignation of a dying penitent 
 entirely set aside. We are accustomed to pray 
 in this manner over a sick or dying Christian : 
 " Renew in him most loving Father, whatever 
 hath been decayed by the fraud and malice of 
 the Devil, or by his own carnal will and frail- 
 ness ; — consider his contrition, accept his tears, 
 assuage his pain ; — impute not unto him his 
 
 * Vol. iii. p. 22. t Id. p. 23. 
 
CHAP. IV.] 3Ielhodism, ^c. 75 
 
 former sins, but strengthen him with thy blessed 
 spirit, and when thou art pleased to take him 
 hence, take him unto thy favour, through the 
 merits of Jesus Christ. * 
 
 But that supposed acceptance which is deter- 
 mined by feeling, supersedes these sighings of a 
 contrite heart, and emboldens it to entertain the 
 most presumptuous confidence. What edifica- 
 tion is such a conviction, where the rational 
 faculties seem entirely subdued, likely to pro- 
 duce ? Were the salvation of the soul to depend 
 upon it, as the Methodists would fain persuade 
 us ; and were there no regeneration, unless ac- 
 companied by such impassioned and vehement 
 ejaculations, still the present peace of the de- 
 parting spirit is no more secured than his ever- 
 lasting peace, by the test of what they call 
 experiences. For after all their descriptions 
 and affirmations of it, nobody can tell on what 
 evidences of this spiritual impulse he may un- 
 doubtedly rely. They deny that baptism is 
 regeneration, and they also deny that it consists 
 in reformation : they will not admit that outward 
 acts betoken it, nor are they agreed what inward 
 emotions certainly evince it. One should ima- 
 gine that the anguish of a contrite heart must 
 have appeared an undoubted testimony of divine 
 grace to those who resolve it entirely into feel- 
 ing, and divest mankind of all freedom in 
 thought and will. That they, at least, would 
 
 * Service for the Visitation of the Sick. 
 
7G Reflections on [chap. i^'. 
 
 have attributed the sinner's groans and lamenta- 
 tions to the influence of that divine power, who, 
 according to their creed, controls the motions 
 of the soul with an arbitrary hand. But no : 
 the abhorrence of sin, the pangs of remorse, 
 and the sorrows of despair, may distract the 
 guilty bosom, without the presence of a reno- 
 vating cause, whicii they term regeneration. 
 And this we believe to be the case*, that the 
 reflections of a wicked mind may move it to cry 
 aloud for mercy, although the holy spirit do not 
 cleanse its thoughts. But how does this accord 
 with the doctrine of the new evangelists, who 
 attribute no volition, no choice, no aversion to 
 man, but assign every impression immediately 
 to God ? They will probably introduce another 
 agent, the evil spirit, as the author of those 
 agonies which torment a desponding sinner: but 
 if he change his just fears for unreal hopes, if 
 dissolved into extasy and transports, he profess 
 to be inspired with a triumphant kind of rapture, 
 which can be compared to nothing but delirious 
 phrenzy ; this they will pronounce to be the 
 work of the Holy Ghost, the token of God's 
 favour, and the earnest of salvation. That this 
 is not an unfounded supposition, will appear 
 from the account given by themselves in various 
 instances, of persons suddenly transferred into 
 the number of the elect, and thence assured of 
 preserit pardon and future glory. 
 
CHAP. IV.] 3Iethodis77if ^-c. 77 
 
 The Evangelical Magazine, — the repository 
 of Methodistical experiences, and the medium 
 through which they are conveyed to all the 
 members of the congregational unions * contains 
 numberless cases in which the precise moment 
 of the new birth is ascertained, and the happy 
 convert assured of his sudden transition to a 
 state of grace. But before we take a view of 
 them, let a different objectbe considered. The 
 description given in the Village Dialogues of a 
 poor wretch who had been convicted of a capital 
 offence, and after his reprieve, is represented as 
 a real penitent, confessing his sins with unspeak- 
 
 * The enlarged scale on which Methodism is now propo- 
 gated throughout this country, may be in some measure 
 estimated from the establishments whicli have been set on foot 
 to strengthen and extend its empire. To give the scattered 
 societies of this sect a corporate system and a more combined 
 energy, they are now collected into one vast ecclesiastical 
 assembly, called, " The general Union of Congregational 
 Ministers and Churches throughovt England and Wales" 
 And that the diffusion of those publications which animate this 
 body, with a zeal for the cause of evangelism, may be pro- 
 moted with a correspondent spirit, that office is undertaken by 
 " the Societi/ of United Theological Booksellers" 
 
 It is questionable what period may elapse before these 
 engines are capable of subverting the ecclesiastical establish- 
 ment of this kingdom; but that after they have acquired 
 sufficient power, their force will be employed in shaking the 
 foundations of this venerable fabric, is a point too certain to 
 be deemed problematical. And since the desire seems so 
 vehement, may it not be feared, that its accomplishment, 
 whenever the means are fully prepared, will be attempted with 
 all the fury ef a holy war. 
 
78 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 able anguish, and making- voms of reformation. 
 " And then he cried," says Mr. Lovegood, 
 " which pleased me most of all, * but none of 
 these resolutions will ever do, if God does not 
 change the heart:* adding, " oh, Mr. Lovegood, 
 pray, pray, above all things, that God would 
 change my heart. 
 
 Mr. Worthy remarks on this, " One would 
 hope that he would hardly have expressed him- 
 self in such language without somewhat of the 
 grace of God." * 
 
 Mr. Lovegood had before made this sound 
 observation : " I have a long time learnt not to 
 draw hasty conclusions from appearances of this 
 sort." A remark so just, demands our unqua- 
 lified assent. But how does the observation, or 
 the relation which suggests it, agree with the 
 opinions maintained in the Village Dialogues, and 
 in the other ieffusions of Methodism ? The heart 
 of the culprit above-mentioned, as to the senti- 
 ments which now prevail in it, is evidently 
 changed -, yet it is implied that God, who, if the 
 doctrine of that sect be true, has given the heart 
 neither will nor power to correct itself, has not 
 yet changed it! Their creed acknowledges as 
 well as ours, that from God's blessed spirit " all 
 holy desires, and all good counsels proceed," 
 although we differ much in regard to the manner 
 of his operation : yet the repentance and good 
 resolutions of this sinner are mentioned doubt- 
 
 * Village Dialogues, iv. 212, 213. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodisnif 3}C. 79 
 
 in^li/f as tokens of tliat gTace ! Had the sorrow- 
 ful crying" of the prisoner been converted into 
 a frantic exclamation of enthusiastic joy ; — had 
 he said, like Thomas Newman, " I know he 
 has forgiven me," his salvation would have been 
 deemed secure. Such is the criterion of feeling 
 or experience. We shall now see how it is 
 exemplified in the Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 " Mrs. Letitia Parsons was the subject of early 
 convictions, but permitted at times to go great 
 lengths in sin, and during her unregeneracy , she 
 was often alarmed by dreams, and terrifying 
 apprehensions of the badness of her state, which 
 often led to a temporary reformation."* 
 
 It may surprise the reader, who is unacquainted 
 with the lore of Methodism, that this good lady 
 should have early convictions, and be led to any 
 reformation, while she was unregenerate, and 
 utterly alienated from that divine spirit " who 
 alone shows to them that be in error the light of 
 his truth, to the intent that they may return into 
 the way of righteousness." f But, it seems, her 
 unregeneracy appeared in this : " She was en- 
 deavouring to establish a righteousness of her 
 own by the works of the law, having no idea of 
 the precious blood of atonement by which guilty 
 sinners are brought nigh unto God." She had 
 not learned the evangelical creed : " that we 
 make a bad hand of it when we reform our- 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine for May, 1809. 
 t Collect fo^ the Third Sunday after Easter. 
 
80 Refections on [chap. iv. 
 
 selves;"* and that the moral law has been totally 
 excluded from having- any thing to do in a sinner's 
 pardon and acceptance."f She had not yet 
 heard this edifying advice, — " Come then (to 
 Christ) you who never came before. You shall 
 have heaven if you come. Think not foolishly 
 first to mend yourselves, and then come to him ', 
 you will never be better till you do come. 
 
 " Come needy, corae guilty, come loatlisome and bare. 
 You cannot come too filthy ; come just as you are." J 
 
 She did not yet know that this was the amount 
 of the glad tidings announced by Jesus Christ ! 
 Her conversion, however, at length took place. 
 " When about thirty years of age, the Lord in 
 a more especial way revealed himself unto her. 
 The set time being come, to favour her soul, 
 a passage of scripture (Cant. iv. 6. until the 
 day break, and the shadow flee away,) being 
 applied with peculiar energy, set her soul at 
 a happy liberty, about which time she was 
 brought to hear and attend the glorious gospel;" 
 ttiat is, of course, to hear a Methodist preacher. 
 The conclusion of the article relating to her is, 
 that " her great conflict of mind, peculiar deli- 
 verances, and divers consolations she at times 
 enjoyed, appear in an eminent point of view, 
 from a number of detached scraps of paper fonnd 
 in her pocket-book after her decease, which may 
 
 * Village Dialogues, iv. p. 179. 
 
 i Sir Riciiard IJill's Apology, p. 132. 
 
 % Burdcr's Village Sermons, vol. ii. p. 86, 5th edition. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^c. 81 
 
 be called Ehenezers, registering- the time and 
 place when the Lord graciously appeared on her 
 behalf." * 
 
 The periodical work from which this account 
 is extracted, and of which it is said, the " cir- 
 culation, continues to enlarge," exhibits in almost 
 every page the grossest specimens of a fanaticism 
 which is gradually undermining both the prin- 
 ciples and the practice of the gospel. The delirium 
 of sickness, the eegri somnia, and all the ravings 
 of a distempered mind, are reported as undoubted 
 proofs of a spiritualized and heavenly state. — 
 " I have not seen Jesus as he is," says the Rev. 
 J. Parkin, " but I have had a sweet interview 
 with him ; I have been holding sweet converse 
 with my Saviour- — If he does not receive me 
 into his presence, I hope he will into his anti- 
 chamber." f 
 
 Mrs, Davey said, with sweet composure of 
 soul, " Jesus I love thy charming name, 
 
 Tis music to my ear;" 
 
 and then turning to her husband, " Ah ! how 
 little do I lov^ Jesus, — I don't love him enough." 
 But 3Irs. Elizabeth Reeve exulted, saying, 
 " My Jesus is all my desire ; I long to be with 
 him, that I may see him face to face, without 
 a veil. I am fixed on the rock, I am going to 
 glory ! 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine, May, 1809, p. 201. 
 t Evangelical Magazine, June, 1809, p. 227. 
 
82 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 More happy but not more secure 
 The glorified spirits iu heaven ! 
 
 I embrace Jesus in my arms," &c. * 
 
 " Lord's Day Morning, April 16, Elizabeth 
 Portlock was remarkably favoured with the 
 manifestations of her Redeemer's grace and 
 mercy, and was enabled to express the feelings 
 of her heart, to the astonishment and joy of those 
 who were present with her : — * I never thought 
 dying was like this!' She said, * Oh! 'tis glo- 
 rious dying ! I am going to heaven — I am going 
 to glory — I shall soon be there. 
 
 Soon shall I bathe my weary soul 
 In seas of heavenly rest. 
 
 If I (hd not believe that my name was written 
 in the Lamb's book of life, this room would not 
 contain me. In a few moments I shall be in 
 glory ! Sweet Jesus ! Sweet Jesus ! He is 
 precious! He is precious !" f 
 
 " 3l7'S. Paynter, upon hearing these beautiful 
 lines — 
 
 The soul that on Jesus has lean'd for repose, 
 
 I will not, 1 will not desert to his foes : 
 
 That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake 
 
 I'll never, no never, no never forsake ! 
 
 appeared in extasies; — after this, with con- 
 siderable difficulty, she spoke as follows : *' I am 
 numbered to enter into the feast ; I must be 
 
 ■* Evangelical Magazine, July, 1809, p. 288. 
 
 + Evangelical Magazine, October, 1809, p. 410, 420. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, 5fc. 83 
 
 married this day ; I shall be with him, and he 
 with me." * 
 
 " Captain Perry was a gentleman of rank, 
 and what is commonlj^ called a man of pleasure : 
 he entered into the army when young, and al- 
 most immediately gave himself up to folly and 
 dissipation ; gratifying to the extent of his abi- 
 lity every appetite of fallen nature. The follies 
 of youth, and the sins of riper years, cut short 
 the day of life, and caused his sun to go down at 
 noon. Seeing himself on the verge of the grave, 
 and his soul unfit to stand before God, he attended 
 the preaching of the gospel, which seemed to 
 make some impression upon him ; and all hopes 
 of recovery having fled, he sincerely determined 
 to seek the knowledge of salvation from the 
 friend of sinners. "f 
 
 This miserable man, then, who was emaciated 
 by disease, and terrified by approaching death, 
 finding that he could no longer enjoy the plea- 
 sures of sin, " determined to seek the knowledge 
 of salvation from the friend of sinners j" un- 
 doubtedly the best, the only means of comfort 
 to a guilty and despairing soul. But although 
 he might be expected to cry out for mercy, and 
 implore forgiveness, yet that he should " close 
 his mortal career with the lanpfuao-e of tri- 
 umph" — good heavens! what an instance of 
 grace is this. Such, however, is the purport of 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine, April, 18H, p. 141, 142. 
 t Evangelical Magazine, July, 1811, p. 265, 266. 
 G 2 
 
84 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 the narrative; viz. that Capt. Perry, after he 
 had passed his life in a course of abandoned pro- 
 fligacy, and '* belonged to a society or class of 
 men, the members of which, and he among the 
 rest, bound themselves in solemn league against 
 God, and agreed to work all manner of abomi- 
 nations, and to vie with each other who should 
 most grieve the spirit of God" — after all this, 
 became in his last hour a chosen vessel of divine 
 mercy, which was communicated to him by a 
 species of inspiration. " One night he awoke, 
 and broke out in a rapture of praise, saying, 
 Glory, glory for ever be to my redeeming God ! 
 Oh, for power to praise the sin-pardoning God ! 
 On being asked if he was asleep, he answered, 
 No; but I feel what language cannot express. 
 Were I possessed of the powers of an angel, and 
 the eloquence of all the heavenly host, I could 
 not make known to the sons of men what love 
 and joy I feel within my soul; I can scarce bear 
 in the body what love 1 feel at present ; my tot- 
 tering frame can scarcely bear these raptures of 
 love;"* with more to the same purpose. The 
 voice of conscience indeed sometimes sounded 
 an alarm. " About noon, the fourth day after 
 his conversion, he awoke out of his sleep, de- 
 prived of his peace and confidence. Never was 
 such distress seen : he cried aloud, *' I have lost 
 my peace ! I have lost my peace ! I have lost 
 my God ! I have lost my all !" But conscience 
 
 ' Evangelical Magazine, July, 1811, p. 266. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^c. 85 
 
 was immediately silenced by * some pious friends 
 who attended him, and encouraged him, by 
 saying it was the work of the enemy, and that 
 God would again restore him to peace."* 
 
 Good creatures ! they spoke peace where there 
 was no peace ; they would fain have quieted 
 that " troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose 
 waters cast up mire and dirt." But their endea- 
 vours for awhile were ineffectual. " They sung 
 and prayed with him ', and never did they wit- 
 ness such struggling and agonizing of soul for 
 deliverance. It was now that the sins of his 
 youth stood in dreadful array before his mind, 
 and that the powers of darkness appeared to be 
 let loose against him. In this state he continued 
 from Wednesday till Sunday. "f 
 
 Then, however, bis confessor, Mr. Wood, pre- 
 vailed over the enemy, by telling him " the gos- 
 pel held forth pardon to the vilest of the human 
 race ; that salvation was of grace alone, without 
 money, and without price; and therefore free 
 for every guilty soul," &c. Upon which the 
 dying man " cried aloud in the language of joy 
 and confidence, ' I do believe it, and I shall 
 never more feel darkness : let all come in now, 
 and I can and will declare what God hath done 
 for my soul.' Thus the prey was taken from the 
 mighty, and the lawful captive delivered. Life 
 now sunk apace ; yet while he could articulate, 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine, July, 3811, p. 267. 
 t Id. p. 267. 
 
86 Bejlections on [chap. iv. 
 
 he continued saying, * Praise the Lord, oh mj 
 soul ! Glory, glory be to God ! Thus 
 
 on liis lips, 
 His dying lips, the sound of glory quivered ; 
 
 and with this language of triumph he closed his 
 mortal career."* 
 
 The lesson of religion and morality taught by 
 this profane relation is, that the worst of men 
 may be certainly persuaded that their sins are 
 forgiven, may dismiss the terrors of a future 
 judgment, and close their career in triumph ; 
 although their repentance be deferred till the 
 hand of death has seized them, " and all hopes 
 of recovery have fled !" The observation which 
 such a case suggests are very obvious; and let 
 it be remarked, that this is not a solitary case ; 
 examples of a similar kind, but not equally ag- 
 gravated, for that could hardly be, are scattered 
 throughout the olntuary of the Evangelical Ma- 
 gazine. 
 
 " 31rs. Martha PauT was a very different 
 character ; " she was blessed with a religious 
 education, through which she obtained a reve- 
 rence for God, his ordinances and his people." 
 She was to outward appearance blameless, and 
 made choice of GodV people for her constant 
 companions at all times, and in all places, 
 avoiding the company of the world, and shun- 
 
 * Evauo-elical Magazine, July, 1811, p. 268. 
 t Evangelical Magazine, August, 1811, p. 30^7. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism^ S^c. 87 
 
 ning" every appearance of evil."* Yet this vir- 
 tuous woman suffered the same spiritual ag-onies, 
 and was regenerated in the same crisis as the 
 abandoned libertine above mentioned. During 
 her last sickness, " The Lord began to operate 
 powerfully by his spirit on her soul, and caused 
 her to tremble before him on account of her sin. 
 She was afraid she was going to die, and that 
 if she did she would go to hell. She then 
 broke out in an agony, and cried to the Lord 
 for mercy. The Lord heard her cry, answered 
 her supplications, pardoned all her sins, shed 
 his love abroad in her heart, and caused her to 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable. The change, in- 
 deed, was very apparent, for naturally she was 
 timid and bashful; but all her fears fled away, 
 and now she could proclaim the loving-kindness 
 of the Lord to her soul with confidence and cou- 
 rage. A friend called at night to see her, and 
 when he was praying, she seemed lifted up above 
 every earthly object, saying often, ' I will go, 
 I will go!' On being asked where she would 
 go, she said, to heaven !" f 
 
 Rebecca Gwennap's history furnishes an ex- 
 ception to the general rule of experiences. From 
 her infancy she evinced a pious disposition, so 
 that it was impossible for her friends, and very 
 probably for herself, to fix the precise era of her 
 conversion." J 
 
 * Erangelical Magazine, August, 1811, p. a07. 
 
 t Id. p. 308. 
 
 t F.vansrelical Magazine, June, 1809, p. 247. 
 
88 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 This was extraordinary indeed, according- to 
 the creed of Methodism : but it appears that she 
 was of a melancholy temper, and bein^ ex- 
 hausted by a ling-ering consumption, was rather 
 depressed with imaginary terrors, than elated 
 with false confidence. " She complained that 
 Satan had been endeavouring- to persuade her she 
 was on a wrong' foundation, and of darkness of 
 soul, saying, * Satan has been accusing me of hy- 
 pocrisy; but,' said she, * if I perish, it shall be at 
 the feet of Jesus." 
 
 However, before her departure, she took 
 courage, and exclaimed, " Soon the conflict 
 will be over, and the battle won, and then I 
 shall enter into the joy of my Lord, all through 
 rich grace," &c.* 
 
 " Mrs. Bk}w\ first hearing (of the doctrine of 
 grace) was attended with such strong emotions, 
 that they moved her whole frame, shook her 
 pride, and brought her down to be saved in God's 
 own way; yet at seasons she resolved to hold 
 out, and began to spurn at the sovereignty of 
 grace." She had a will of her own, it seems, 
 and was not overpowered yet ; " she wandered 
 from place to place, seeking rest, but finding 
 nothing to fill the void : at length she determined 
 on taking a seat in the chapel, saying, * Here 
 will I worship till I die." She still exercised 
 that abjured principle, the power of choosing for 
 herself; but as it led her to a conventicle, all 
 
 * Xvangelical Magazine, June, 1809, p. 248, 249. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, S^c. 89 
 
 was well. After this, the " effects of divine grace 
 were remarkably clear in her humility. In one 
 of my visits," adds her biographer, " she said 
 to me, * I have peace with God, pardon through 
 blood, and righteousness divine to appear in hea- 
 ven. I will not stand in my own righteousness 
 before my Judge — no, no : 
 
 Jesus, thy blood and righteousness 
 My beauties are, my glorious dress.' " 
 
 Her ecstasy increased towards the last, when 
 she '* had a sharp conflict with Satan; — and after 
 prayer she exclaimed, ' I conquer! My Jesus is 
 near— it will soon be over — my adversary is 
 fled — I shall soon be in glory ! 
 
 O !^vhat hath Jesus brought for me 
 
 Before ray ravish'd eyes ? 
 Rivers of life divine I see. 
 
 And trees of paradise!' 
 
 Lifting up her withered arms, she cried out — 
 
 I'll clap ray wings, and soar away. 
 And mingle with the blaze of day." * 
 
 Can one read such relations as these, without 
 reverting to the apostle's caution against those, 
 '* who having the form of godliness, but denying 
 the power thereof, creep into houses, and lead 
 captive silly women, laden with sins, and led 
 away with divers lusts?" Can we too earnestly 
 
 * Supplement to Evan. Mag. 1809, p. 549. 
 
90 Rejiections on [chap. iv. 
 
 exhort our brethren, and more especially our 
 sisters, in the apostle's words, " From such turn 
 away." * 
 
 These specimens will probably be considered 
 more than sufficient to evince in what manner 
 the influence of the holy spirit is represented by 
 the editor of this periodical and popular work, 
 as deciding the salvation of the departing soul. 
 
 This article forms a material part of its con- 
 tents; and it is observed by a writer, who ap- 
 pears to think that the notice of such cases is still 
 too limited, " that the Evangelical Magazine 
 would prove a suitable repository for these his- 
 tories of converting grace ; and the religious 
 public would be much obliged to ministers and 
 others, who would favour this work with short 
 accounts of this description," &c.t 
 
 Certainly, these records of infatuation would 
 best become a publication that propagates more 
 extensively than any other those erroneous doc- 
 trines from which they all proceed : but what a 
 ministry must that be, which can lend the weight 
 of its authority to such delusions ?" J 
 
 * 2 Tim. iii. 5, 6. 
 
 t Magazine for March, 1810, p. 104. 
 
 X A writer on " Sudden Conversions," in this very Maga* 
 /ine, exposes the danger and absurdity of publishing " so 
 liberally and incautiously" these marvellous accounts. " On 
 reading in our works," he says, " the obituaries of those who 
 are said to have been converted in their last days, I have 
 asked, * Supposing such conversions real, what good can their 
 publication do? i deny, however, that you can have foil 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^-c. 91 
 
 They are not more absurd, than pernicious 
 and degrading' to the Christian character ; they 
 
 proof that such repentances are sincere. We liave seen in our 
 experience persons as apparently converted as any there, who 
 have upon recovery lost all traces of seriousness. And what 
 proof can you have that the repentance of those who die is 
 not equally unsound ? And why we should obtrude on the 
 public as unquestionable verities, accounts of conversions 
 which are liable to such serious doubts, I know not. It is, I 
 suppose, to magnify the grace of God. I think its natural 
 tendency is to make our enemies despise us as presumptuous, 
 in determining without the means of forming a judgment; 
 and to encourage men in health to put off to a dying momenf 
 the vast concerns of an eternal world. The manner in which 
 some of these sudden and late conversions are stated, is dread 
 fully exceptionable. One would imagine, that in visiting a 
 condemned malefactor, whose whole life has been marked with 
 crimes of the deepest dye, the only object was to make him 
 contented and happy. 
 
 I should feel much more satisfied in reading that such a 
 man died under deep impressions of guilt, and with trembling 
 anxiety for his eternal happiness, than that he went to the 
 gallows with all the triumph of a martyr ; and at the place of 
 execution sung louder than all others, " From thee, my God, 
 my joys shall rise," &c. 
 
 The writer then instances a criminal, in whom there were 
 " extraordinary, and, as it appeared, unquestionable marks of 
 a saving change : he seemed fully prepared to say in sight of 
 the gallows, * I am happy, I am going to die !' The next 
 morning a pardon arrived ; he was soon discharged. 
 
 The night after his discharge he spent in rioting and 
 drunkenness ; and in about twelve months he was again tried, 
 convicted, condemned, and executed. 
 
 Why don't we learn prudence and modesty from such les- 
 sons as these 1 My two great objections then to such publi- 
 cations, are, that we decide with certainty, where it is ijupos- 
 
92 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 represent it under a mask, whose distorted fea- 
 tures exhibit nothing" but deformity. It may at- 
 
 sible to ascertain the fact; and that admitting the fact, the 
 circulation may do much harm, and can do but little, if any 
 good." * 
 
 This paper was occasioned by the Bishop of London's pri- 
 mary charge. Had the author's opinion of conversions been 
 generally received among the Methodists, his lordship would, 
 in that respect, have had little ground of censure or complaint. 
 
 But from the complexion of the Evangelical Magazine, it is 
 rery evident, tiiat is not the case. The same extravagancies 
 are still inserted, notwithstanding the judicious observations 
 above mentioned. But what apology can be made for 
 the evangelical editor, who, after giving a place in that 
 publication to these well-grounded objections, still continues 
 to circulate the extravagancies which they condemn. The 
 story, for instance, of Captain Perry ! Does he think it proper 
 to infuse the bane, because he has applied the antidote ? Does 
 he not know that the most numerous class of his readers will 
 swallow all the fanatic tales, which he disseminates, without 
 attending to the remonstrance of his sensible correspondent? 
 And does Jie think it consistent with his religion, to proselytize 
 the credulous and ignorant by holy frauds? Surely, the 
 Bishop of London had cause " to rank such sudden conver- 
 sions among the follies of Methodism," not to call them by a 
 harsher name. 
 
 The fact is, that the doctors of this sect do maintain the 
 frequency and certainty of such absolute conversions, particu- 
 larly at the close of life. " How many," says Dr. Hawker, 
 ** like the thief on the cross, or like the jailor at Philippi, 
 have been surprised into grace at such seasons, by the sove- 
 reignty of Him, • who calleth things that are not, as though 
 they were!' "f 
 
 ♦ Evangelical Magazine for May, 1811. 
 
 t The Poor Man's Evening: Portion, p. 456, cited in the Evan- 
 gelical Magazine for June, 1811. 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism, ^c. 93 
 
 tract the vStaring wonder of the infatuated zealot, 
 but dissrusts the sober reason of those who wor- 
 ship God in spirit and in truth. Even the com- 
 mon feelings and natural apprehensions of man- 
 kind are outraged by these descriptions of wild 
 and frenetic agitation. The temperate influence 
 of religious wisdom is lost in the tumult of reli- 
 gious madness. 
 
 We see a number of guilty and accountable 
 creatures entering into eternity, and going to 
 appear before their Almighty Judge, without 
 humble penitence or reverential awe; uttering 
 their ejaculations more like the enthusiastic wor- 
 shipper of a false God ; Ev(B Bacche fremens ! 
 than rational believers in the true. It is indeed, 
 most melancholy and distressing, to see this 
 dance of death performed with such vehemence 
 of tone and gesture ; to view the professors of 
 our holy faith, in the crisis of their dissolution, 
 fluttering and singing like poetic swans. But 
 alas ! the subject is too serious for mythological 
 allusion — sit Dicto Venia ! 
 
 Those who have finished this period of trial, 
 in whatever religious persuasion they may have 
 lived or died, are summoned before that impar- 
 tial tribunal: where, if they have nothing else 
 to plead but their own confidence in their re- 
 generacy, it may be feared, they are very ill 
 prepared for the just decision that awaits them. 
 When their Lord comes to reckon with them, 
 and they are required to give an account of their 
 
94 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 stewardship, it will not be enough to say, * Lord, 
 we have been washed in thy blood; we have 
 been justified by thy death ; and are clothed 
 with thy righteousness : all this hast thou done 
 for us, and therefore we could do nothing for 
 ourselves. Lo! there thou hast that is thine/ 
 If this be the only account which they can give 
 of the improvement of those talents committed 
 to their trust by God, may he not answer, 
 ■** Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou know- 
 est that I reap where I sowed not, and gather 
 where I have not strawed; and in punishment 
 of such passive and stupid negligence, may he 
 not pronounce tliat dreadful sentence, " Cast 
 ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness ?'* 
 God forbid that we should anticipate such a 
 judgment, with regard to any of our fellow- 
 christians and fellow-sinners. We will hope 
 that their hearts were sincere though their un- 
 derstandings were deluded, that the tempest of 
 passion did not entirely extinguish the spark of 
 repentance. Indeed, it is evident from what is 
 said at times, of their " darkness of soul" — 
 *' their conflicts with Satan" — and *' his accusa- 
 tions of hypocrisy" — that the power of conscience 
 was still active in some of these misguided per- 
 sons, and excited those apprehensions of futurity 
 which are natural to sinful man. " For the 
 fears of another world will ever and anon be 
 stirring and crowding themselves in, and will 
 fret and gall the sinner sorely, and make his 
 
CHAP. IV.] Methodism^ 8^'c. 95 
 
 thoughts troublesome to him. An uneasy bed, 
 a broken sleep, a sudden affliction, a " hand 
 writing on the wall," ^vill sometimes force us, 
 whether we will or no, to smite upon our breasts, 
 and reflect sadly upon our past dishonourable 
 misdeeds and the fatal issue of them ; and very 
 often our own conscience will fly in our face, 
 notwithstanding all our arts to divert it, and our 
 charms to lull it asleep." * 
 
 But, the mischief is, and indeed it is most 
 serious, that these pangs of an upbraiding heart, 
 are coloured over by the new evangelists, with 
 a false pretext, as if they were produced by the 
 artifices of the tempter to lead us from Christ,, 
 and were not what they really are, — the re- 
 proaches of conscience, which should lead us to 
 him, with unfeigned repentance. 
 
 By this perversion of truth, the dying man is^ 
 encouraged to reject and silence his bosom- 
 monitor ', is deceived with vain assurances, that 
 the terrors of the Lord are the machinations of 
 the evil one ; and, like an intoxicated criminal, 
 enters into eternity unconscious of his danger. 
 Thus is a death bed, on which the contrite 
 penitent should lie, humbled, but not in despair,, 
 converted into a scene of mental disorder and 
 turbulent exultation. The still voice of reason 
 and reflection is drowned in this turmoil, and 
 the delirious suflferer dreams that his salvation 
 is thus accomplished. 
 
 * Calamy's Seventh Sermon : — on a Death-bed Repentance. 
 
96 Reflections on [chap. iv. 
 
 " And would this do, it were indeed a very 
 fine and subtile manag-ement of things, for thus 
 we might have both the pleasure of being wicked 
 and the hopes of being saved : we might spare 
 ourselves all the trouble of religion, and yet not 
 miss the reward of it; live all our life long- 
 without God in the world, and yet die at last 
 in the Lord." * 
 
 The excellent author, from whom this and a 
 former citation is extracted, furnishes a com- 
 plete, though it may be an indirect refutation of 
 the Methodistical doctrine, with respect to sud- 
 den conversions, particularly in the last hour. 
 For if his reasoning be immediately applied to 
 a death-bed repentance, it will apply at least as 
 forcibly to a death-bed, without repentance. 
 And it is very remarkable how exactly his allu- 
 sion to the Roman Catholic usage tallies in this 
 particular with the practice of the Methodists. 
 " There is, indeed, another church in the world 
 that can teach men to be saved on a death-bed, 
 even without repentance, which hath found out 
 ways to make it not only possible, but very easy 
 for any ungodly wretch to secure himself from 
 hell, at length, when he comes to die, by less 
 than half an hour's work : but, we have not so 
 learned Christy nor dare we be so false to our 
 tnist, or to the souls of men, as to give them 
 certain assurance of everlasting life on any other 
 terms than a constant, habitual obedience to the 
 
 * Calamy's Sermon. 
 
CHAP. IV.] 3Iethodism, ^c. 97 
 
 laws of the g-ospel. The only certain way to die 
 well is to live well." * 
 
 One more passage from the same preacher, 
 who may he truly called a preacher of righteous- 
 ness, will not be unacceptable to any reader who 
 " has renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, 
 not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word 
 of God deceitfully."! " Nothing," he says, " hath 
 done more mischief in the world, hath made 
 Christians more lazy and secure, or given greater 
 occasion to that prevailing religion without vir- 
 tue amongst us, than this one principle that we 
 are converted (as 'tis usually called) by those 
 operations of God's spirit, wherein we are wholh'^ 
 passive ; so that it is in vain to strive, contend, 
 and labour for the making ourselves holy, as we 
 must do for the attaining of any other perfec- 
 tions and accomplishments, since the habits of 
 all goodness are supernaturally infused into us. 
 But this is all but fancy and idle talk, for the 
 spirit of God works not now-a-days but according 
 to the methods of reason and discourse ; assisting 
 us, while we sincerely use such moral means, as 
 religion teaches, or reason prescribes ; and that 
 with as much diligence, vigour, and constancy, 
 as if we had no assistance at all, but were left 
 wholly to ourselves ; so that the way to recover 
 ourselves to a christian temper of mind, after a 
 vicious course of life, is in truth the very same 
 
 * Calamy's Sermon: — on a Death-bed Kepentancff. 
 t 2 Cor. iv. 2. 
 
 H 
 
98 Refections on ' [chap. I v. 
 
 by which a man recovers his health, after a long' 
 disease, viz. by God's blessing upon the diligent 
 use of fit means ; and any other way is now no 
 more to be expected, than pro])hecy or mira- 
 cles." * 
 
 Were the arguments of this good and learned 
 man, and the evangelical truths which they sup- 
 port, duly considered, the errors of enthusiasm 
 would vanish away, as mists before the sun. 
 
 "* Tt^nth Sormoii on Repentance. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism f &^c. 90 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 METHODISTICAL DOCTRINES OBTRUDED ON THE SICK 
 AND DYING. — THEY SUPERSEDE A FINAL JUDG- 
 
 ^ MENT.— A REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF METHODISTI- 
 CAL INFATUATION. — RELIGIOUS DUTIES ESTEEMED 
 OF NO ACCOUNT. — PRACTICAL EVILS RESULTING 
 FROM SUCH ERRONEOUS OPINIONS.— SELF-EXAMINA- 
 TION REPROBATED. — PERCEPTIBLE ILLAPSE OF THE 
 HOLY SPIRIT. — ITS ABSOLUTE AND IMMEDIATE EF- 
 FECT, IN CONVERTING SINNERS.— « REPENTANCE 
 CONFOUNDED WITH REGENERATION.— COMPULSORY 
 GRACE. — INFUSION OF THIS DOCTRINE INTO THE 
 MINDS OF CHILDREN.— ITS PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE. 
 
 Xt has been shewn in what manner and to 
 what extent the ideas which the Methodists en- 
 tertain of regenerating- grace, militate against 
 that reformation of life, which is the great end 
 of true religion ; — against that exhortation of the 
 prophet, " Repent, and turn yourselves from all 
 your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your 
 ruin :"* — against the purport of tlie gospel which 
 taught both Jews and Gentiles " that they should 
 repent and turn to Ood, and do n'orks meet for 
 repentance.' They deem it necessary to charac- 
 terize the lives, and even the exits of their de- 
 luded votaries, by marks which are at utter 
 
 * Ezekiel xviii. 30. 
 H 2 
 
100 Reflections on [chap, v, 
 
 variance with the principles of our holy faith* 
 Hence, as we have seen, the sick chamber is 
 disturbed, and the mind of its lanofuishina: inha- 
 
 ' 3 3 
 
 bitant dejected with new terrors, or elated with 
 groundless hopes. Into this sanctuary of pious 
 grief and resignation, do these visionaries in- 
 trude, and suggest to the sick and dying their 
 own fanciful ideas of grace and union with 
 Christ. When the regular minister of the church 
 has done his office, and has required the sick 
 person " to examine himself and his estate, both 
 towards God and man; so that accusing and 
 condemning himself for his own faults, he may 
 find mercy at our heavenly Father's hand, for 
 Christ's sake :" and has g-iven him this comfort- 
 able assurance : — " Know you certainly, that if 
 you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your 
 sickness patiently, trusting in God's mercy, for 
 his dear son Jesus Christ's sake, and render 
 unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visita- 
 tion, submitting yourselves wholly unto his will, 
 if shall turn to your profit, and help you forward 
 in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting 
 life." * 
 
 When this lesson of self-examination and re- 
 proof, of resignation, humility, and repentance, 
 has been inculcated, and on these grounds, hope 
 and confidence revived; the gospel-minister, as 
 he chooses to call himself, not unfrequently gains 
 admittance, and obliterates the impression of this 
 
 * Visitation of the Sick, 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism^ ^^c. 101 
 
 important truth, by questions such as these : * 
 " Have you any soul-experiences? Are you 
 heart-feltly acquainted with the precious tokens 
 of the Holy Ghost ? Have you felt the grace of 
 God converting" your soul? Are you sympa- 
 thetically united with Christ; washed in his 
 blood; clothed with his righteousness?" 
 
 This is the import of his interrogatories, ac- 
 companied with certain promises of salvation, 
 if the patient can answer, ye«, to these enquiries, 
 and threats of condemnation on the contrary. 
 Hence the astonished Christian, who humbly 
 trusted that by faith, repentance, and charity, 
 he should die in peace with God, his neighbour, 
 and himself, now finds that this confidence is 
 void ; that something more is necessary, — a con- 
 viction " o/' his personal union with Christ,^' — 
 " an assurance that Christ is formed in his heart 
 the hope of glory.'"' f 
 
 With this sort of ghostly counsel, is inter- 
 mixed much of that enthusiastic rant, which con- 
 founds the understanding, and misleads the con- 
 science ; but not a word of the conditions necessary 
 to salvation: they are cancelled and annulled by 
 the imputed righteousness of that meritorious 
 cause, which indeed alone renders them efficient, 
 but still requires their performance at our hands. 
 Yet this is termed peculiarly gospel doctrine ; 
 
 * It is well known by those who visit the sick, that this is 
 no uncommon case, 
 t Hawker's Union with Christ, p. 25, 54. ^ 
 
102 liejhctions on [chap. v. 
 
 and our blessed Lord is represented as declarinf»-, 
 " The single qualiiication I expect, is to believe 
 the gos[)el, and even tliat my spirit shall be- 
 stow."* Repentance and charity, then, are 
 entirely excluded, and faith abstracted i'rom 
 works, and converted into the presumptuous con- 
 fidence of a heated imagination, opens the door 
 of heaven to the guilty soul. 
 
 Did ever Pope or. council propound a doctrine 
 more pernicious P Do extreme unction, or abso- 
 lution, administered by the Catholic confessor, 
 embolden the wicked to meet his Judge, and 
 enter unprepared into eternity with more falla- 
 cious assurances? What is the difference to the 
 deluded sinner, whether he be acquitted by the 
 last office of the Romish priest, or of the gifted 
 Methodist ? f n either case, he is equally de- 
 ceived ; and whether an outward form or an 
 !n^^ ard feeling be substituted for true repentance, 
 svhether priestly craft or blind fanaticism sup- 
 plant the genuine knowledge and practice of 
 religion, the error is alike fatal and irretrievable. 
 " For the gospel promiseth not eternal life and 
 glory to any but to persons who are qualified for 
 it, by holiness, humility, purity, meekness, jus- 
 tice, patience, temperance, charity ; and God 
 will judge every man according to his works, 
 and the deeds he hath done in the flesh." This 
 is the condition, these are the terms on which we 
 may expect with confidence the approbation of 
 
 * Prop against Despair, p. 15. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 10^ 
 
 our Judge ; and when we have failed in the per- 
 formance of this necessary duty, (and who, alas! 
 has not?) by earnestly repenting' of our sins, by 
 resolving to lead a new life, following the com- 
 mandments of God, and walking henceforth in 
 his holy ways, we may still obtain his favour and 
 forgiveness, through the mercy of our Redeemer. 
 *' For we must all appear before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
 things done in his body, according to that he 
 hath done, whether good or bad." * 
 
 This most important article of faith, the verv 
 basis of Christianity, which is thus distinctly 
 stated by our church, " Forasmuch as after this 
 life there is an account to be given unto the 
 righteous Judge, by whom all mast be judged, 
 without respect of persons ;"-f- and of which this 
 awful account is given by St. John : " I saw the 
 -dead, small and great, stand before God, and 
 the books were opened ; and another book was 
 opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead 
 were judged out of tiiose things which were 
 written in the books according to their works. 
 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, 
 and death and hell delivered up the dead which 
 were in them ; and they were judged every man 
 according to their works." f This solemn truth 
 is utterly perverted by the sophistry of Metho- 
 
 * 2 Cor, V. 10. 
 
 t Service for the Visitation of the Sick. 
 
 X Rev. XX. 12, 13. 
 
104 Reflections on [chap, v, 
 
 dism, in regard to those ^vlio are " united with 
 the person of the Lord Jesus."* — " As in the in- 
 stance of the resurrection, so also in the event 
 of judgment which is to follow, their case is 
 peculiarly secured from even the apprehension 
 of condemnation, in consequence of their union 
 with the Lord ; for though all must appear be- 
 fore the Judgment-seat of Christ, that every one 
 may receive according to those things done in 
 the body, yet to them it is to receive the reward 
 of their Redeemer's merits, not to be arraigned 
 for their sins, and to await the issue of their 
 trial." * — " This view of that great day of God 
 is sweet and consolatory" indeed to those who 
 are released by it from the terrors of a future 
 judgment j in contemplation of which, the stout- 
 est heart should tremble, and the least guilty of 
 us sinful creatures stand appalled. But how 
 does it aeree with the word of Christ ? Does he 
 inform us that we shall receive the reward of 
 his merits, and not of ovr own deserts ? that we 
 shall not await a trial ? or, " that he will reward 
 every man according to his works ?"t St. Paul 
 well knew the doctrine of his divine Master, 
 when he said, *' that every man shall receive his 
 own reward, according to his own labour; and 
 that if any man's 7Vorh abide, which he hath 
 built upon, Jesus Christ, he shall receive a re- 
 ward. "J 
 
 * Hawker's Union with Christ, p. 28. 
 t Matt. xvj. 27. I 1 Cor. iii. 8, H. 
 
CHAP, v.] 3Iethodism, b;c. 105 
 
 How dares any teacher, then, who professes 
 to be either of Panl or of Christ, attempt to 
 abohsh that belief which they so forcibly incul- 
 cated, as being the only motive sufficient to 
 restrain the wickedness of man ? 
 
 Yet to overthrow this simple, reasonable, and 
 most awful doctrine, is the tendency, if it be not 
 the design, of Methodism; and to effect it, are 
 the principles of Christianity unhappily per- 
 verted. 
 
 The delusion is carried on through life and 
 death ; nor does it end there : the departed saint 
 is made to address his brethren on earth from 
 the mansions above, and to assure them that their 
 fond imaginations are all realized in heaven. 
 In the collection of " Religious Tracts," called 
 " The Cottage Library,"* there is a letter, en- 
 titled " The Triumph of Glory," left by the 
 Rev. S. Hayward for a friend after his decease, 
 and addressed as from the celestial mansions ;" 
 in which, after describing the felicity " that grace 
 has exalted him to," in strains of rapture, he 
 thus concludes : " Fly away, ye lingering mo- 
 ments, and bring my dear Fido, and my other 
 dear friends, to the arms of Jesus. Farewell, 
 till I see you here- Go on your way, rejoicing, 
 Christ has your inheritance safe in his hands, 
 and ye shall surely have it. Oh ! love him, love 
 him more and more, and lay yourself out for 
 him. My love to your dear companion ; tell her 
 
 * Part i. No. iii. 
 
10(5 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 to press forward, and she shall not be disap- 
 pointed. Adieu, Adieu ! 
 
 Your eternally affectionate 
 
 and triumphant brother, 
 
 S. Hay WARD." 
 When the rich man in the parable,* proposed 
 that I^azarus should be sent from the mansions 
 of bliss, to testify unto his brethren, lest they 
 also should come into the place of torment, he 
 urged this reason for his request ; " If one went 
 unto them from the dead, they will repent." 
 Now since we are all gone out of the way, and 
 if we say that we have no sin, deceive ourselves : 
 since, therefore, all have urgent need of repent- 
 ance, it would have been more agreeable to 
 Christian humility, had brother Hayward taught 
 his sublunary friends that salutai'y practice, which 
 the rich man trusted would result from the cer- 
 tain knowledge of a future state. But not one 
 word of this does his epistle from the skies incul- 
 cate; no virtue is enforced, no vice reproved; 
 no sorrow for sin, no fear of punishment, no ter- 
 rors of the Lord (which even the inspired apostle 
 knew, and therefore persuaded men) are held 
 forth as means or motives to repentance. '• Cease 
 to do evil, learn to do well," forms no part of 
 this valedictory salutation. And why should it? 
 The triumphant saint was assured of going to 
 heaven, while he was a militant saint on earth, 
 and wrote his letter by anticipation; and he ad- 
 
 * St. Luke xvi. 19. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 107 
 
 dresses his living- friends as equally assured of it 
 with himself. This is perfectly consistent, and 
 the antinoniian scheme is thus complete. It has 
 a beginning", a middle, and an end, which har- 
 monize together ; and g-ood works, voluntary or 
 active virtue, have no part in working out the 
 salvation of the elect. Indefectible grace, ne- 
 cessary perseverance, and unconditional salva- 
 tion, are their indefeasible privileges : sin they 
 must not, fall they cannot. _ The contention 
 amongst them is, not who shall be most zealous 
 in the discharge of moral and religious duty, but 
 " who shall strike the loudest string, and sing 
 grace ! grace ! the loudest." * 
 
 That the rhapsody, called " The Triumph of 
 Glory," should flow from the pen of methodisti- 
 cal inspiration, is not surprising; but that it should 
 be delivered from the pulpit of the established 
 church, may well occasion both wonder and in- 
 dignation : yet such was really the case, as the 
 following note, which is subjoined to the letter, 
 testifies : 
 
 " N. B. The above letter was, soon after Mr. 
 Hayward's death, read from the pulpit of St. 
 Saviour's church by the late excellent Mr. T. 
 Jones, chaplain." 
 
 Some ignorant people mistaking the matter, 
 raised a report that Mr. J. said he had received 
 a letter from glory; but the fact was as here 
 stated." t It is very probable, not only that 
 
 * Triumph of Glory» p. 6. f Id. id. 
 
108 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 some ignorant persons raised such a report, but 
 that many others would readily believe the Jact; 
 for an infatuated mind will believe any thing. 
 How much then does it concern those who are 
 ** the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the 
 mysteries of God, of whom it is especially re- 
 quired that a man be found faithful;" how much 
 does it concern the pastors of our church " to 
 charg-e some that they teach no other doctrine" 
 than that which Christ and his apostles taught ; 
 " neither give heed to fables, which minister 
 questions, rather than godly edifying, which is 
 in faith." What this godly edifying is, the great 
 apostle hnmediately explains : " Now the end of 
 the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, 
 and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned : 
 from which some having swerved, have turned 
 aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers 
 of the law ; understanding neither w^hat they say, 
 nor whereof they affirm."* 
 
 The inference which must unavoidably be 
 drawn from the doctrine of the Methodists by 
 those who embrace it, is, that tlieir own religious 
 acts are of no efficacy in promoting their salva- 
 tion. This indeed is explicitly acknowledged by 
 their most approved instructors. They declare 
 that " acceptance with God is looked for, not in 
 the duty, not in the ordinances, not in repent- 
 ings, and tears, and services, and prayers, and 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 109 
 
 sacraments, but wholly in the Lord Jesus." * 
 As some qualification of this anti-scriptural posi- 
 tion, Dr. Hawker adds, " These indeed, as so 
 many gifts of the holy spirit, are sweet effects 
 of divine, love, and evidences that a spirit of 
 grace is wrought in the heart, but not in the 
 smallest degree the cause of salvation." f 
 
 What impression this gloss is calculated to 
 make upon the minds of ignorant and unthink- 
 ing men, is evident enough : they will naturally 
 conclude that no one can help himself in the 
 performance of his duty, or, that if he can, duty 
 is of no avail. We may be told that Christ is 
 the sole cause of our salvation. This is an in- 
 disputable truth, in its proper signification ; but 
 has he not appointed the means of salvation also? 
 and do they not consist in those very instances of 
 religious duty, which are thus disparaged, in re- 
 pentance, prayer, and in the holy communion? 
 Are not these sacrifices with which God is well 
 pleased ? Are not these services accepted by him 
 as an offering of a contrite heart, thankful for 
 his mercies, and obedient to his laws — and may 
 we not thence " look for acceptance with God," 
 through the merits and mediation of Jesus 
 Christ? 
 
 But as this doctrine is stated by Dr. Hawker, 
 how can the vulgar and undiscerning part of 
 mankind distinguish truth from falsehood, when 
 their trust in the Redeemer is opposed to that 
 
 * Dr. Hawkers Union with Christ, p. 33. f Id, 
 
110 Be/iections on [chap. v. 
 
 religious practice which he himself required as 
 the earnest of our faith ami hope in his atone- 
 ment ? When " to ascertain the fact, on which 
 all depends, " whether the spirit of Christ dwell 
 in them," the fruits of rijihteousness are not con- 
 sidered a sufficient test : but " if he convinces 
 you," says this teacher, " of your emptiness, and 
 the Saviour's fulness, and is bringing you daily, 
 and sometimes hourly, in a w ay of sweet barter, 
 to resign your sins for his righteousness, &c. &c. 
 these are sweet and precious proofs of an union 
 with his person."* After saying this, he adds, 
 " I do not know whether I sufficiently explain 
 myself by these terms to the apprehension of 
 every reader." f Alas! if the learned writer 
 " do not know," the unlettered reader mioht 
 inform him, that when the divine simplicity of 
 the gospel is thus obscured, no intellect can dis- 
 cern its heavenly light. When the leader is 
 blinded by these vain conceits, what sight can 
 the blind follower have, or how shall he escape 
 those errois in which his guide himself is lost ? 
 But the consequences do not end here : the mis- 
 takes of a deluded mind under the influence of 
 religious zeal, usually produce the worst practi- 
 cal evils, by distorting the word of truth, and 
 propagating the most pernicious doctrines. Thus, 
 speaking of divine grace, the aulhor above 
 mentioned says, " As no merit of man induced 
 God to be thus bountiful, so no demerit prevents 
 
 • Hawker's Union, &c. p. 32. t Id. p. 33 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodismf ^c. Ill 
 
 man from receiving such clemency. These are 
 indeed glad tidings of good things, and great 
 joy to all people, to tell a poor sinner, that no 
 sins are too great, — no life too impure, — no of- 
 fences too many, or too aggravated to prevent 
 the blessed influence of gospel mercies. 
 
 But only reverse the case, and suppose that 
 some qualification of merit is necessary in the 
 objects of this favour, and that these mercies are 
 suspended on the performance of such and such 
 duties: What a vast alteration would it make 
 in the circumstances of the gospel ! " It is 
 matchless grace." He subjoins, " unspeakable 
 grace indeed, when that grace riseth higher and 
 higher, in the proportion as the miserable ob- 
 jects of sin and iniquity have sunk lower and 
 lower. But if it reaches only to such an extent, 
 or, if it be clogged with certain limitations, that 
 the objects of it be found qualified to receive it, 
 it loses its very name, and ceases to be grace. 
 * Grace is no more grace, if it be of works.' " 
 (Rom. xi. 6.) * 
 
 How does the prospect of human depravity 
 expand under the influence of these antimonian 
 tenets? How rapid may be its progress, en- 
 couraged by such promises ; its extent how uni- 
 versal ! The doctrine is so strongly recommended 
 to the heart of man, by the corruption that works 
 within, and the temptations that beset it from 
 without, that it may be feared, no arguments 
 
 * Prop against Despair, p. 10. 
 
112 Keflections on [chap. v. 
 
 will prevail against such seductive preaching. 
 If truth, however, must be rejected, at least, 
 let scripture be fairly stated. 
 
 Now, the text from St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans, with which this divine endeavours to 
 support his reasoning, has no relation whatever 
 to the point in question. The apostle intended 
 to shew that the w^orks of the Jewish law were 
 not entitled to the favour manifested by the gos- 
 pel, or the mercy which it dispensed. That 
 this people, therefore, were not chosen by God, 
 in reward of their works ; but that the remnant 
 of them who embraced the gospel, were '* ac- 
 cording to the election of grace ; and if by grace, 
 then it is no more of works ; otherwise, grace is 
 no more grace." The privileges and perform- 
 ances of the Mosaic law, could not give them a 
 title to the blessings promised by Jesus Christ ; 
 which were the efi'ects of his free grace alone ; 
 and of which, there would have been no occa- 
 sion, could the observance of that law have been 
 effectual to salvation. 
 
 Now what authority does this passage of St. 
 Paul afford to the dangerous tenets which it is 
 cited to enforce ? 
 
 The conclusion to which all their reasoning 
 tends, is this:- — The grace of God is absolute, 
 and his acceptance of sinners unconditional. 
 What corruptions does this short theorem in- 
 clude? Dr. Hawker disclaims the exercise of 
 our own endeavours, and thus applies his doctrine 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 113 
 
 to the sacrament of the Lord's supper. " The 
 only actual preparation for every duty or ordi- 
 nance of worship in our approach to God, must 
 originate in the sweet influences and teachings 
 of the Holy Ghost ; and if so, what a mass of 
 weakness and folly, (to speak the least offen- 
 sively of it) must be that swarm of books called 
 Weekly Preparations, which human wisdom 
 hath drawn up for the use of communicants ?" * 
 Our own preparations then are folly, because the 
 spirit actuates us. Human diligence is super- 
 seded altogether by the divine impulse. Thus 
 argues the evangelical preacher : but what says 
 the evangelical prophet? " Wash you, make 
 you clean; put away tlie evil of your doings 
 from before mine eyes : cease to do evil ; learn 
 to do well." f And the apostle James, " Cleanse 
 your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye 
 double-minded." J And the apostle Paul : " Let 
 us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
 flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
 God." § And that venerable church, of which 
 Dr. Hawker is a minister, in her exhortation 
 before the holy communion, by which we are 
 enjoined : " so to search and examine our own 
 consciences, that we may come holy and clean 
 to such a heavenly feast, in the marriage-gar- 
 ment, required by God in holy scripture, and 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 35. % St. James, Ep. iv. 8, 
 
 t Isaiah i. 16, 17. § 2 Cor, vii. 1. 
 
114 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 be received as worthy partakers of that holy 
 table."* 
 
 It should seem, from these authorities, that 
 the holy spirit left some kind of preparation to 
 the agency of man; nor would he otherwise 
 have said, by the mouth of the prophet Haggai, 
 " Consider your ways :'* nor would the psalmist 
 have acted as he did, agreeably to this principle : 
 " I called mine own ways to remembrance, and 
 turned my feet unto thy testimonies." f 
 
 His conduct, according to Dr. Hawker*s 
 judgment, was weakness and folly. And our 
 Saviour, when he asked that pointed question, 
 *' Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what 
 is right?" J may be arraigned by the same 
 casuist, for attributing some capacity to the 
 human mind of judging what is fit to be done. 
 A weelUs preparation^ indeed, may be insufficient 
 of itself to qualify us to be meet partakers of the 
 holy table ; nor do we insist on it as absolutely 
 requisite to reclaim the wicked, or confirm the 
 good. But is it weakness, is it folly, during 
 
 * It can hardly be necessary to remind Dr. Hawker, that 
 this exhortation is founded on the authority of St. Paul, " Let 
 a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and 
 drink of Uiat cup."* But tJiere is a general rule, given by 
 the son of Siracli, which he appears to have forgotten: 
 " Before tliou prayest, prepare tjiyself; and be not as one 
 that tenipteth tiie Lord." f 
 
 t Ps. 119. : Luke xii. 57. 
 
 ''' 1 Cor. xi. 28. t" Eccl. xviii. '?.'^. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodisnif ^c. 115 
 
 that time at least, to consider our ways and call 
 them to remembrance, before we turn our feet 
 to that awful testimony of divine grace— the 
 blessed sacrament of the body and blood of 
 Christ? The true preparation for it we believe 
 to consist in repentance and amendment of life, 
 in faith and charity : not merely in pemsing " the 
 books called Weekly Preparations." 
 
 But why should the pious christian who needs 
 this aid of his devotions, be treated as a fool and 
 formalist? Why may he not employ it to assist 
 him in the serious work of self-examination ? 
 
 To shew this author's sentiments in their full 
 scope and real import, the following declaration 
 soon after presents itself to our notice : — " I do 
 indeed desire to be understood, as very highly 
 reprobating- that preparation which is in man, 
 because I learn, from an authority not to be 
 questioned, that the preparation of the heart is 
 from the Lord." * 
 
 He reprobates that which prophets and evan- 
 gelists have required of us ; nay,' which Christ 
 himself repeatedly commands, when he says, 
 "Watch" — " Be ready," or prepared; "take 
 heed to yourselves." And the neglect of which 
 he thus severely threatens: — " That servant 
 which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not 
 himself, neither did according to his will, shall 
 be beaten with many stripes." f 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 38. t Luke xii. 47- 
 
 I 2 
 
116 Rejiections on [chap. v. 
 
 This doctrine is highly reprobated by his 
 illuminated disciples, to whom he might well 
 address this merited reproof. " How is it that 
 ye do not miderstand ? Having" eyes, see ye not, 
 and ears, hear ye not ?" 
 
 These teachers have the art of opposing dif- 
 ferent parts of scripture, but not of reconciling 
 them to each other. To reconcile seeming in- 
 consistencies, an intimate knowledge of the 
 whole scheme of Christianity is requisite ; that 
 by comparing spiritual things with spiritual, the 
 true meaning may be extracted, and scripture 
 may become its own interpreter. But to affix 
 a peculiar unqualified sense to each text, which 
 appears to favour our own prejudices and pas- 
 sions, is the easy business of every enthusiastical 
 sciolist. And such an one will hastily conclude, 
 that as " the preparation of the heart is from 
 the Lord," our Saviour had no meaning when 
 he condemned the servant who did not prepare 
 himself. No meaning should we say ? or rather, 
 that he condemned him for not doing what he 
 was unable to do? They will not admit that 
 God hath vouchsafed to us the means of grace 
 during this period of trial, and that we are em- 
 powered to improve them as a preparation for 
 the attainment of our reward; but will gravely 
 tell us, that this " frame of mind is not induced 
 by our prayers, our repentings, tears, humili- 
 ations, preparations, and the like : for, alas ! a 
 man may run through the whole of these in self- 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, 8^c, 117 
 
 preparation, and yet be wholly unprepared by 
 the Lord," * May he so? He may bring- forth 
 the fruits of the spirit, and yet not have the 
 spirit : he may do what is enjoined by Christ, 
 without whom we can do nothing, and yet not 
 be strengthened by his might! We had been 
 taught that we should be known by our fruits ; 
 but it now appears that our fruits are no criterion 
 of our spiritual state. Bat this conclusion re- 
 sults naturally enough from the premises of a 
 reasoner, who assumes that " grace is shewn in 
 a sovereign way ; not waiting the return of the 
 backslider; not withholding his mercy till that 
 mercy is implored ; but bestowing* it very fre- 
 quently without application, without the smallest 
 pretensions to his favour, and at a time when we 
 have done nothing to merit his returns of love, 
 but have done every thing to deserve his severest 
 displeasure."* 
 
 The conditions of the gospel are thus annulled, 
 and the sins which it forbids virtually encou- 
 raged, under the pretence of preaching exclu- 
 sively its holy precepts. There is some detailed 
 advice given by this pastor to his flock, " in re- 
 spect to the particular time of receiving the 
 communion, whether at i\ie first or last, or any 
 intermediate table," which evidently supposes the 
 illapse of the spirit to be felt by the communi- 
 cant ; and shews how that sensible impulse is 
 believed to operate in the act of divine worship. 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 45. 
 
118 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 " The plan I should observe myself," he says, 
 and this is grave authority, *' should be to go to 
 the table in that moment when I found my heart 
 most drawn towards it ; so that if in the early 
 season of administering', I found grace much in 
 exercise, I should then desire to draw nigh. If, 
 on the contrary, a deadness or indisposition pre- 
 vailed in the early pai t of the service, I should 
 wait for another table, lying low in the mean 
 time before the Lord for his quickening influ- 
 ences." If this, and some other expedients sug- 
 gested by him, prove unsuccessful, " I should 
 still hope," he adds, " in the very moment of re- 
 ceiving, the Lord might manifest himself to the 
 soul. That sweet expression directed by the 
 minister, and personally applied by the holy 
 spirit, * The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which 
 was given for thee,' hath been found to awaken 
 desire, when every other hath failed; and 
 prompted the soul to cry out under its influence, 
 Lord ! how is it thou thus manifestests thyself to 
 me, and not unto the world?"*! Now, what 
 
 * Union with Christ, p. 62. 
 
 t In the Evangelical Magazine for May, 1811, p. 183, we 
 have an instance of the disappointment which sometimes suc- 
 ceeds these warm desires, in the experience of Mrs. Evans ; 
 who "thus writes on her return fronv her first attendance on 
 this ordinance : * While at the Lord's table, I was in great 
 distress, for fear I never should meet him whom my soul lovctb. 
 J did not find that comfort and pleasure which I expected; I 
 believe, I expected too much.' " Poor soul ! what a pitiable 
 object is the tendrt ccoscknce, when thus harassed by fanatic 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism^ ^c. 119 
 
 warrant is there in the word of God, what pre- 
 text does it afford for this \ isionary transport ? 
 What grounds are there in our Saviour's institu- 
 tion, or in St. Paul's account of this blessed sa- 
 crament, on which this qualification oi feeling 
 can rest? A criterion, which would send only 
 enthusiasts to the Lord's table, and keep all so- 
 ber-minded Christians from it. If Dr. Hawker's 
 congregation observe his directions, " lying low 
 before the Lord for his quickening influences, till 
 desire is awakened," (which it seems may chance 
 to happen, from "a neafer view of the altar, 
 and the sight of others waiting round the clois- 
 ters of our Bethesda")* and in the mean time 
 have no freedom to approach :"f it may be feared 
 that the presumptuous alone, whose imagina- 
 tions are warm, and passions strong, will be im- 
 pelled to communicate ; and that the devout and 
 
 fears. " Not experiencing, on one sabbath morning, that sa- 
 tisfaction she longed for, she writes thus : * What a dreadful 
 sabbath hath this been to me thus far ! Oh ! may the evening 
 of it be better improved." ' 
 
 These distresses of mind are related of a person " who 
 prayed, hoped, and rejoiced in all-sufficient grace." But what 
 can be said in favour of a persuasion which excites such terri- 
 fying thoughts, or in justification of any Christian minister, 
 who inflames the morbid passions of a superstitious mind : 
 
 Qui pectus inaniter angit ; 
 Irritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet 
 Ut Magus? 
 * Union with Christ, p. 61. f Id* id. 
 
120 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 timid Christian, the humble and contrite heart, 
 would long continue in that prostrate state. 
 
 How different is the language of our excellent 
 liturgy, and the preparation it requires of those 
 who approach the altar ! 
 
 " Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of 
 your sins, and are in love and charity with your 
 neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, fol- 
 lowing the commandments of God, and walking 
 from henceforth in his holy ways, draw near with 
 faith, and take this holy sacrament to your com- 
 fort, and make your humble confession to Al- 
 mighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees."* 
 Such is the voice of true religion, prompted by 
 that divine spirit, with whom is no variableness 
 nor shadow of turning. Let the discourses of 
 those teachers, who call themselves evangelists, 
 be compared with it, and there will be no diffi- 
 culty in deciding which is conformable to the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Indeed, the essential principles of Christianity 
 disappear, when touched by the talisman of Me- 
 thodism. Conversion does all at once in the day 
 of grace : " And then only can it be said to be 
 the day of grace y when God the Spirit makes 
 sinners willing in the day of his power. And 
 whenever this blessed day of grace comes, (that 
 is, "w hen sinners are made willing in the day of 
 God's power) it can never be said to come too 
 
 * Communion Service. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism^ ^c. 121 
 
 late."* — " The dying- thief," and " the labourers 
 in the eleventh hour," are instanced to support 
 this arg-ument of compelling- grace ! 
 
 Mr. Burder furnishes an example of " a young 
 gentleman, whose sensual lusts were extremely 
 violent, and who procured an entire female skull, 
 and every morning-, before he went out, spent 
 some minutes in surveying it; expecting that 
 the sight of so unpleasing an object would ope- 
 rate as an antidote to the power of that tempta- 
 tion, to which he was so subject. But, alas! his 
 corrupt inclination still prevailed, and he sinned 
 as frequently as ev^r ; so he gave away the skull, 
 finding it did him no service. Afterwards, God 
 was pleased to convert him ; and vital grace did 
 that for him, which a dead skull was unable to 
 effect. His easy besetting sin had no more do- 
 minion over him, from the day that the Holy 
 Ghost laid effectual hold of his heart." f This 
 disgusting story is introduced into a sermon, in- 
 tended, of course, for the perusal of both sexes : 
 but how little is it calculated to restrain licen- 
 tiousness ! how offensive to virgin modesty ! 
 
 It is a suitable illustration, however, of the 
 gospel-dcctrine, which it exemplifies. The most 
 incorrigible sensualist was converted in the day 
 of grace, not because he repented, and endea- 
 voured to reform himself ; that point was given 
 up, and he continued to indulge his passions in 
 
 * Prop against all Despair, p. 32. 
 t Village Sermons, v. iii. p. 114. 
 
122 Reflections on [chap, v, 
 
 defiance of his reason and conscience, till " the 
 Holy Ghost laid eft'ectual hold of his heart;'* 
 not as a co-operating assistance, but as an arbi- 
 trary power. 
 
 Thus, when the emaciated libertine has wasted 
 life and strength in his debaucheries, after he 
 has corrupted others, and destroyed himself, his 
 last miserable moments, and all the bitterness of 
 remorse and shame will be converted into joy 
 and exultation, if he listen to this consoling 
 preacher. 
 
 " Come then by faith to Jesus ; tell him of the 
 power of thy sins, and of thy inability to destroy 
 them; plead the fulness that is in him for thy 
 supply ; beseech him to subdue thine iniquities, 
 a^nd leave the matter in his hands. His grace is 
 sufficient for thee, his strength shall be perfected 
 in thy weakness." * This is the great pillar of 
 Methodism, the foundation and support of the 
 new evangelical church. It is no wonder that 
 thousands and tens of thousands assemble within 
 its walls, when they are assured, that " whoever, 
 under a sense of his sin and misery, flies to the 
 refuge of his Saviour's arms, is gladly received 
 and freely pardoned. In the fountain of his 
 blood, he is washed from all ^in ; in the righteous- 
 ness of Jesus, he is justified from all accusa- 
 tions : he is no longer in a state of condemna- 
 tion ; he has passed from death unto life. And 
 what condition can equal this ?"t Well may he 
 
 * Village Sermons, v. iii. p.llG. f Id. v. ii. p. 142. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism^ S^c. 123 
 
 ask the question : and surely, if eternal life and 
 present peace had been offered to mankind by 
 Christ in this large, unqualified manner, without 
 terms or conditions, it would not have needed 
 the testimony of martyrdom, and the authority 
 of miracles to recommend it to the acceptance of 
 the world : nor would it have been so obstinately 
 opposed by flesh and blood, by the rebellion of 
 human nature against that commandment which 
 is holy, just, and good. The revelation of Christ 
 would have been too agreeable to those general 
 and depraTed propensities, which debase the 
 heart, if the luSts of the flesh could thus be re- 
 conciled with the joys of the spirit; the pleasures 
 of the world with the felicity of heaven. The 
 guilty and self-convicted conscience would have 
 flown to the refuge of the Saviour's arms, and 
 have sheltered itself under the shadow of his 
 imputed righteousness, in the worst periods of a 
 degenerate age. How cheerily Would the sated 
 voluptuary have exclaimed, " What condition 
 can equal this !" 
 
 It is true, these new evangelists will some- 
 times argue that " repentance is regeneration,* 
 
 * That repentance is very inaccurately termed regeneration 
 by those writers who have applied it in that sense, has been 
 plainly shewn by the Bishop of Lincoln, in his excellent Refu~ 
 tation of Calvinism, p. 83 et sequent : This subject has also 
 been discussed in a clear and satisfactory manner by the Rev. 
 Tlieophilus St. John, in bis Sermon on the New Birth.* His 
 
 * Vol. ii. 6, 
 
124 Reflections on [chap, v. 
 
 that it means a change of mind, and it is impos- 
 sible that a man can live in sin, when by the 
 grace of God he is utterly set against it, by being 
 thus renewed in the spirit of his mind.* 
 
 It might have been supposed the next conces- 
 sion would be, that repentance is a condition : 
 " No," says Mr. Hill, *' what you call conditions 
 required of us, I call gifts bestowed by him ; 
 repentance is his gift. Christ is exalted a Prince 
 and Saviour to give repentance.*'! 
 
 By the common misapprehension of these 
 teachers, a scriptural text is cited to contradict 
 its own meaning. The whole sentence, of which 
 this passage is a part, runs thus : " Him hath God 
 exalted M'ith his right hand, to be a Prince and 
 a Saviour, for to give repentance unto Israel, 
 and forgiveness of sins." J 
 
 " The council and the senate of the children 
 of Israel," who sat in judgment on St. Peter, 
 when he made this declaration, afford no testi- 
 mony in favour of his doctrine, as it is inter- 
 preted by Mr. Rowland Hill : " for immediately 
 after they had heard it, they took counsel to slay 
 the apostles." § 
 
 If Christ had given them repentance, accord- 
 ing to his sense of that expression, this might 
 
 conclusion that regeneration, according to scripture and the 
 liturgy of our church, takes place in the sacrament of bap- 
 tism, appears fully established. 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. iii. p. 152. + Id. id. p. 143. 
 
 X Acts V. 31. § Id. V. 33. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 125 
 
 well have appeared a very extraordinary effect 
 of it: the malicious and obdurate guilt of the 
 Jewish sanhedrim wonld have been an astonish- 
 ing proof that they were no longer sinful, but 
 truly penitent. 
 
 Does not this account of those who " rejected 
 the counsel of God against themselves," evi- 
 dently prove that the gift of repentance was not 
 absolute, but conditional ; granted to those who 
 would fulfil the terms on which it was bestowed, 
 and thus " save themselves from an untoward 
 generation?" Christ was exalted, to give to 
 Israel and to all mankind the means of repent- 
 ance, and forgiveness of sins upon repentance. 
 And when we pray for this gift in our litany, we 
 farther pray that God would endue us with the 
 grace of his holy spirit, to amend our lives, 
 according to his holy word." 
 
 Now, the change of mind, termed " repent- 
 ance," and the change of conduct, which is its 
 necessary consequence, termed " amendment of 
 life," are wrought in us undoubtedly by the grace 
 of God, without which neither of them could be 
 effectuated ; and therefore we entreat God for 
 that gift from which they both proceed. But 
 the improvement in these virtues, our adoption of 
 holy resolutions, and our progress in a better 
 course of life, are not the thing given, but the 
 use made of it : the power is from Godj the 
 application of it from ourselves. 
 
126 Jlejlections on [chap, v* 
 
 Conscious, however, that our success is attri- 
 butable to his assistance, we pray that he will 
 complete what is in some measure already be- 
 gun ; for our very prayers are an evidence that 
 we are not altogether aliens from God, not alto- 
 gether destitute of saving grace : we pray that 
 repentance may have its perfect work, and bring 
 forth in us the fruits of a good life. But this 
 doctrine of scripture will not be easily reconciled 
 with the creed of Mr. Hill. " Repentance," he 
 says, " is regeneration ;" but it signifies little by 
 "what name it is called, since, according to his 
 scheme of Christianity, it is the effect of com- 
 pulsory, irrespective, arbitrary grace. 
 
 In his sermon, entitled, " An Apology for 
 Sunday Schools," * a conversion is mentioned of 
 
 * The instruction of the lower classes by Sunday and weekly 
 schools is so agreeable to the principles of Christianity, of 
 reasoa, and of true political wisdom, that it needs no apology, 
 but is entitled to our warmest wishes and most earnest endea- 
 vours for its success. But inasmuch as early education has the 
 greatest influen<;e upon the habits and conduct of maturer age, 
 and consequently upon the state of society at large ; insomuch 
 should it be most cautiously guarded from perversion, and di- 
 rected to the advancement of virtue and of truth. The pre- 
 judices which have been raised against it, are easily accounted 
 for, when we find that such doctrines as those here alluded to, 
 are propagated among thousands of ignorant children, who 
 are thus taught to consider their destiny as inevitably deter- 
 mined by arbitrary power, and that " it is in vain for them to 
 resist the resistless grace of God." 
 
 When this lesson, with the inferences usually drawn from it 
 by the Calvinistical Methodists, has been sedulously inculcated. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, Sj-c. 127 
 
 " one, profligate in the extreme, who was a 
 remarkable instance of divine grace : the faith of 
 
 and no stress lias been laid on our Saviour's instant exhorta- 
 tions to love and to good works, what regard will be paid to 
 that divine morality which is summed up in this most compre- 
 hensive rule of virtuous practice : — Whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them? This 
 may be called " the poor thin morality, which an Atheist may 
 practise ;" but it is so essential to the well-being of mankind, 
 that many serious persons have felt little inclination to encou- 
 rage those seminaries in which it is depreciated. Nor will 
 their objections be diminished by the reflection, that the 
 scholar is there also alienated from the established church : 
 that he is taught, even from his cradle, to look upon the 
 clergy, as apostates, and corrupters of the word of God ; and 
 therefore, as objects of abhorrence rather tlian veneration. 
 A persuasion which is always followed by another preposses- 
 sion, viz. that the government which maintains such an es- 
 tablishment, is radically defective, and requires to be purged 
 from these dregs of corruption which render it unworthy of the 
 attachment of the evangelical brotherhood. 
 
 These are sufficient causes for the distrust and apprehension 
 with which these schools have been viewed by many persons 
 who are religiously disposed. But the proper conduct which 
 these circumstances suggest, is not the suppression of sucb 
 charitable institutions, but a zealous endeavour to counteract 
 these elements of religious dissent, and civil discord, by dif- 
 fusing the true knowledge of the gospel, and disseminating 
 the word of Christ pure, and unadulterated by false interpret 
 tation: in a word, by establishing parochi«l schools, under the 
 inspection of tho&e ministers who are scoffingly denominated 
 " a moralizing priesthood." 
 
 Since this note was written, the syjstem of National Educa- 
 tion for the Infant Poor has been brought forward with so 
 much success, that the purpose to which it points has been iu 
 
128 Reflections on [chap. v. 
 
 the g-ospel brought her to Jesus, and a long 
 train of sister graces adorned her life, and fol- 
 lowed her to the grave. She lived godly and 
 died triumphantly -, and all that knew her were 
 constrained with admiration to say, < What 
 hath God wrought?' Can the advocates of mere 
 
 a great measure realized, and promises, under divine Provi- 
 dence, the best security against those dangers which migiit 
 otherwise arise from a misguided and fanatic multitude. 
 
 " We are a religious as well as civil communitj'," says an 
 accurate observer of human nature, " and rules have been 
 established for our guidance in both : nor could it be other- 
 wise, for the people will have some imaginations or other con- 
 cerning the invisible world ; if you do not provide them with 
 a rational system, they will run after conjurors, diviners, tales 
 of fairies and apparitions, and lie open to the first crafty or 
 enthusiastic deceiver who wishes to make dupes of them. 
 Therefore, the polity of a nation would be grossly defective, 
 where no provision was made for instructing the ignorant, 
 warning the thoughtless, and educating children : but how 
 can such provisions be made without a summary of doctrines, 
 and set of articles composing the system to be taught ? Or 
 would you have a law enacted, that the people shall be duly 
 instructed, and that parents shall educate their children, with- 
 out giving the least direction in what manner the instruction 
 and education shall be carried on ? But if the system of doc- 
 trines established is believed beneficial by those who have it 
 in charge to make provision for the public welfare in all its 
 parts, it is natural as well as incumbent on them to have the 
 benefit secured by the protection of the laws ; and this is all 
 that is ever aimed at."* Yet we are accused of bigotry, if we 
 act on this wise and religious principle. 
 
 * Tucker's Light of Nature pursued. Abridgement, p. 420. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, ^c. 129 
 
 reason or morality produce such miracles of 
 grace and mercy as these ?" * 
 
 Such conversions may have taken place, and 
 we hope, have often been the fruit of true con- 
 trition, assisted by the Holy Spirit. That there 
 is joy in heaven over a sinner that repenteth, we 
 are taught by Christ ; and that to whom much 
 is given, the same loveth much. But it is no 
 where intimated in scripture, that such repent- 
 ance is the effect of a force that subdues the 
 freedom of man by an irresistible impulse : far 
 otherwise. *' Repent, and turn yourselves from 
 all your transgressions, saith the Lord God, so 
 iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from 
 you all your transgressions whereby ye have 
 transgressed, and make you a new heart, and a 
 new spirit." t The inference which Mr. Hill 
 draws from the case, which he has stated, is in 
 direct opposition to that suggested by the pro- 
 phet: a direct denial of free agency in man; 
 and an assertion, no less positive, that God com- 
 pels the sinner to be saved. " What shall we 
 say to these things ?" he subjoins. " Is it pos- 
 sible to contradict matters of fact? In vain 
 then does the sinner strive to resist the resistless 
 o-race of God. It sweetly disarms resistance, 
 and leads us cheerful captives in the silver chains 
 of obedience and love, while we are made 
 
 * p. 25. t Ezek. xviii. 30, 31. 
 
 K 
 
130 Reflections on [cHAP. v. 
 
 Christ's willing" subjects, in the day of his 
 power." * 
 
 With what propriety the " sinner, striving" to 
 resist," can be called " a willing* subject of 
 Christ," let those explain who can reconcile such 
 glaring- contradictions. 
 
 That the minds of youth should be imbued 
 with this tincture of fanaticism, before they know 
 how to distinguish truth from falsehood, when 
 reason is beginning to dawn and the passions to 
 play, is an evil, pregnant with the most fatal 
 consequences. After being taught to surrender 
 their natural faculties, and trust entirely to super- 
 natural light, how easily will they be wrought 
 upon under such an infatuation, by the craft and 
 subtlety of the devil, or man ? What a fruitful 
 harvest of iniquity may this seed of enthusiasm 
 produce ? The presumption it generates in the 
 tenderest bosoms, is exemplified in the history of 
 a child, named Mai-y Bartlett, who had been 
 " admitted to the Tabernacle Benevolent Daily 
 School, and was reserved to be one instance 
 among many, of the vast advantage to be de- 
 rived from schools, founded on the principles of 
 the gospel." The advantage this poor child re- 
 ceived, was a confident persuasion that she was 
 favoured with a divine revelation, and that her 
 sins were forgiven. It is related, that " on the 
 
 " Apology for Sunday Schools, p. 20. 
 
CHAP, v.] Methodism, S^c. 131 
 
 12th of July, she heard the Rev. John W s 
 
 preach, previous to the Lord's supper, on 1 Cor. 
 xi. 35, and it appears, that at this time, the 
 Lord was graciously pleased to reveal himself to 
 her, as he does not unto the world. On her 
 going home, she was observed to retire imme- 
 diately to her room ; and when she came down, 
 she said, ' This has been a blessed day to me. 
 God has pardoned my sins, through the blood of 
 atonement !' " * Nurtured in the same semi- 
 naries, how many are instructed in the same 
 principles, and cherish through life the danger- 
 ous opinions to which they lead — opinions dan- 
 gerous to the best, but to the worst and most 
 depraved, pernicious in the extreme! To the 
 authors of such erroneous tenets, this warning 
 denunciation would not improperly be applied— 
 ** Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the 
 Lord, that use their tongues and say. He saith. 
 Behold I am against them that prophesy false 
 dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and 
 cause my people to err by their lies, and by 
 their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor com- 
 manded them : therefore, they shall not profit this 
 people at all, saith the Lord."f 
 
 * Evangelical Magazine, June, 1809, p. 243. 
 t Jeremiah xxiii. 31, 32. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINES FOUNDED BY METHODISTS ON DE- 
 TACHED OR IMPERFECT TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE CON- 
 TRADICTED BY THE CONTEXT. — THE EARNEST, OR 
 WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT, MISAPPLIED, TO FAVOUR 
 THEIR NOTIONS OF DIVINE GRACE. — THEIR OPINION 
 OF "TRUE-HEART RELIGION!" OF SALVATION UPON 
 MERE BELIEI, WITHOUT ANY REGARD TO GOOD 
 WORKS. — SUDDEN TRANSITION FROM A STATE OF 
 SIN TO A STATE OF GRACE. — CONFIDENCE OF ME- 
 THODISTS THAT THE NEW BIRTH ENSURES SALVA- 
 TION, AND THAT NO FARTHER CARE IS REQUIRED 
 FOR ITS ATTAINMENT. 
 
 XF the purport of scripture be compared with 
 the comments of Methodism, it will invariably 
 be found that the sense of the context will over- 
 throw the peculiar doctrines grounded on parti- 
 cular texts, by the theologists of that persua- 
 sion ; and in no case does the true meaning- of 
 any passage of holy writ support the opinions 
 ■which they have endeavoured to confirm, by 
 citing detached and unconnected phrases of the 
 sacred writers; as one instance in point: there 
 is no passage in scripture more frequently quoted 
 by them than the latter part of verse 7 of the 1st 
 chapter of the 1st Ep. of St. John — " The blood 
 of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." But 
 the former part is not less generally omitted : 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism, 8^c. 133 
 
 and the reason is obvious, for a condition is as- 
 signed in it. Now, conditions they deny, and 
 therefore do not scruple to give out a g-ai-bled 
 text of the apostle as a rule of faith. The con- 
 text is this : " If we say that we have fellowship 
 with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do 
 not the truth ; but if we walk in the light, we 
 have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
 of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.'* 
 ' In the 9th and 10th verses of the second chapter, 
 St. John illustrates the import of his expressions, 
 " walking in darkness and walking in the light," 
 by these familiar, but impressive instances : " He 
 that saith he is in the light, and hateth his bro- 
 ther, is in darkness even until now. He that 
 loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there 
 is none occasion of stumbling in him." On this 
 alternative does the efficacy of Christ's blood, 
 as applied to the case of each individual, by the 
 wise and gracious appointment of the all-merci- 
 ful Redeemer himself, expressly depend. If we 
 perform the condition required on our part, we 
 shall obtain the remission of sins promised on 
 God's part ; the blood of Christ will then wash 
 out our sins, we shall then be purified from all 
 iniquity, and lay hold on the hope of eternal life, 
 by living in holiness and godly love. 
 
 But notwithstanding the doctrines which Me- 
 thodism peculiarly inculcates, are so entirely sub- 
 versive of the terms of the gospel-covenant, that 
 the slightest comparison will shew their repug- 
 
 t 
 
134 Reflections on [chap. vr. 
 
 nance to each other, yet such is the confidence 
 of that sect in their own infalhbility, that they 
 will not suffer the sense in which they are pleased 
 to interpret the holy scriptures to be questioned. 
 Not only do they deny that " God willeth all 
 men to be saved j" and that his g-race, without 
 which none can be saved, is impartially bestowed 
 on all who will receive it ; but they taunt those 
 who believe God's mercy to be over all his works, 
 and class them in the same rank with unbelievers. 
 " Put the case," says Dr. Hawker, *' that the 
 reader himself is the very subject of divine grace 
 we have been speaking of, and in relation to the 
 work of the Holy Ghost in the heart, can adopt 
 the motto in the title-page of this little book, 
 and say, * The spirit itself beareth witness to 
 my spirit ;* let the patrons of modern infidelity 
 advance what they please to deny all revelation, 
 or the advocates of universalism to confound it, 
 this is a testimony which will stand by him 
 against all. He can humbly assume the lan- 
 guage of the apostle, and from the same unques- 
 tionable authority say as he did, * I know whom 
 I have believed, for he that wrought us for the 
 self-same thing is God, who hath also given unto 
 us the earnest of his spirit."* 
 
 Under the shelter of the apostle's name, a 
 meaning is given to his words which he never 
 intended to convey. It was not an imaginary 
 feeling", or experience of the spirit, or what is 
 
 * Hawker's Spirits' Work oa the Heart, p. 41. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism, ^c. 135 
 
 now called " soul-experience," " sweet and pre- 
 cious instances," " decypherings of the spirit," 
 " the sweet lessons which he instructeth his peo- 
 ple in;" it was not the idea which such phrases 
 are desig-ned to excite, that the great apostle 
 impressed on the Corinthians : much less did he 
 intimate " that the sweet influences of the spirit 
 would secure the believer from the possibility of 
 apostasy:" and, least of all, did he confine his 
 saving- power to a handful of men, who conceive 
 themselves the highly-favoured objects of his 
 grace. No; St. Paul's argument is vitiated with 
 no such absurdities ; nor were his views of the 
 divine goodness circumscribed within such nar- 
 row limits. The context will best explain the 
 purport of the text. 
 
 " We that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
 being burthened ; not for that we would be un- 
 burthened, but clothed upon, that mortality 
 might be swallowed up in life. Now he that 
 hath wrought us for the self-same thing," i. e. he 
 that lits and prepares us Christians for this im- 
 mortal state, " is God, who has also given unto 
 us the earnest of his spirit ;"* i. e. his spirit is an 
 earnest of our immortality, since our conversion 
 to the gospel of Christ, which has revealed that 
 happy state, is effected by the miraculous attesta- 
 tion of the spirit to all its glorious truths, parti- 
 cularly that of the resurrection from the dead : 
 '* therefore we are always confident — we labour 
 
 * 2 Cor. v.— 4, 5, 6, a, 20, 
 
136 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 that we may be accepted of him — Me pray you 
 in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God * — we 
 beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God 
 in vain.f — Here is no appeal to passionate feel- 
 ings as an earnest of the spirit, no assurance of 
 our election arising- from such feelings, no arbi- 
 trary choice of the objects of his fa\'our, no inti- 
 mation that it is confined to a few chosen vessels, 
 or that it supersedes our own endeavours to make 
 our calling sure. Quite the contrary ; the apos- 
 tle's argument is utterly inconsistent with the 
 opinions which it is brought to support ; and with 
 all the wild and dangerous assumptions that are 
 built upon them. 
 
 Mr. Burder argues on the same grounds, that 
 religion, or, as he calls it, " true-heart reli- 
 gion," is not shewn by prayer, repentance, and 
 good works, which he disparages as " empty 
 boasts.' — " Consider," he says, " what your re- 
 ligion consists in, and what you depend upon. 
 Is it that you were born and bred a Christian, 
 that you were baptized, that you have gone to 
 church or meeting, that you can say the creed, 
 the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments; 
 that you have taken the sacrament, been sorry 
 for your sins, and do to others as ye would be 
 done unto — or that you have done your best, and 
 put your trust in God ? Are these your pleas, is 
 this your religion ? Then pardon me, if I speak 
 the truth in love, and tell you plainly this will 
 
 * 2 Cor. V. 4, 5, C, 9, 20. t 2 Cor. vi. 1. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism, ^c. 137 
 
 not do. These empty boasts prove that you are 
 a stranger to true-heart religion. All these things 
 you may imagine you have done ; but if this be 
 all, it is only crying. Lord, Lord ! Had you gone 
 much farther than this, and equalled the phari- 
 sees in their zeal and devotion, all v^'ould be in- 
 sufficient without a conviction of your sin and 
 misery; a heart humbled for your iniquities; a 
 \ievf of the only way of salvation, through Jesus 
 Christ ; and that faith in him, which purifies the 
 heart, works by love, and overcomes the world. 
 Be not deceived then, satisfy yourselves with 
 nothing short of that which Christ will accept 
 and approve : this is doing the will of God, which 
 will, as you have now heard, requires in the first 
 place believing in the Lord Jesus, coming to him 
 as a guilty, helpless sinner, and receiving him 
 as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 redemption. Come, then, my fellow-sinner, to 
 Jesus, beg of him to wash you in his blood, beg 
 of him to give you his spirit,"* &c. 
 
 This is the preacher's comment upon the text 
 from Matthew, c. vii. v. 21, a text of which, 
 by way of introducing his own exposition and 
 inference, he has completely inverted the mean- 
 ing. " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, 
 Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; 
 but he that doeth the will of my Father which is 
 in heaven." Thus spoke Christ; but his ex- 
 pounder changes, by a stroke of his pen, doing 
 
 * Burder's Village Sermons, vol. ii. p. 22, 23, 
 
138 Reflections on [chap. vt. 
 
 into believing. " This is doing the will of God, 
 which, as you have now heard, requires in the 
 first place believing in the Lord Jesus." 
 
 No doubt, God requires faith as the foundation 
 of all religion, but what has it to do with the 
 text ? Our Saviour is inculcating throughout the 
 seventh, and the two preceding chapters of St. 
 Matthew, the principles of practical Christianity. 
 Accordingly he says, ** Whosoever shall break 
 one of these least commandments," viz the moral 
 commandments in the law and the prophets, 
 (see chap. v. v. 17,) " and shall teach men so, 
 shall be called the least in the kingdom of 
 heaven." * These principles the new evangelist 
 sweeps away at once, and tells us plainly this 
 will not do, and intimates that Christ will not 
 accept or approve our good works, which in the 
 sixteenth verse of this chapter we are so empha- 
 tically called on to exhibit. This is the way with 
 these gifted teachers ; they first puzzle the plain 
 sense of scripture, give a wrong clue to their 
 followers, and then lead them blindfold through 
 a maze of errors. 
 
 But what is most extraordinary, Mr. Burder 
 supposes, in the passage above mentioned, every 
 duty discharged which God enjoins, every act of 
 faith which Christ appoints ; he supposes that a 
 person has not only been educated in Christian 
 principles, and observed the solemn ordinances 
 of our holy religion, but that he is sorry for his 
 
 * Matt. V. 19. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism^ ^c. 139 
 
 sins, lives in charity, does his best, and trusts in 
 God; and notwithstanding is void of that saving 
 faith from which all tliese virtues flow. To the 
 same purpose he repeats, " Others think that 
 because they belong to a good church, and have 
 been baptized; and say their prayers, and take 
 the sacrament, all is well with them ; while they 
 are strangers to heart-work in religion ; were 
 never alarmed on account of their sins ; never 
 humbled for their sins; never fled to Jesus for 
 refuge from their sins ; and never knew any 
 thing of that great change of heart, called in 
 scripture regeneration, or the new birth." 
 
 Here the secret meaning of this declaimer 
 against practical piety starts up in something 
 like an intelligible shape. Heart-work in re- 
 ligion consists not, according to his doctrine, in 
 faith, repentance, and good works, as those 
 terms are commonly understood ; but in what 
 he calls regeneration, which is not the regene- 
 ration of baptism, but an imaginary spiritual 
 infusion, that changes the heart by an instan- 
 taneous motion, and is peculiarly entitled the 
 new birth. 
 
 These fathers of the new faith admit that we 
 may partake of the sacraments, believe the word, 
 and obey the commands of Christ, and yet deny 
 that we are Christians, renewed by the spirit of 
 holiness. They confound these evidences of our 
 trust in the mercy of our redeemer, and of our 
 devotion to his service, with pharisaical pride. 
 
140 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 tell us that " these are empty boasts ;" (we boast 
 not of them,) " and prove that we are strangers 
 to true heart religion." 
 
 Let them, however, inform us, by what species 
 of casuistry we can communicate at the Lord's 
 table, " without flying- to Jesus for refuge ;" or 
 repeat those impassioned confessions : " Almighty 
 God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of 
 all things, judge of all men, we acknowledge 
 and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, 
 &c. &c." and again, " We do not presume to 
 come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting 
 in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and 
 great mercies," &c. without a " conviction of our 
 sin and misery ; a heart humbled for our iniquities; 
 a view of the only way of salvation through Jesus 
 Christ." Did they affirm that there are some 
 formal hypocrites who pretend to be thus reli- 
 gious, we should lament, but not dispute the fact. 
 But this is not their meaning' ; they do not suppose 
 any insincerity in the case ; but, on the contrary, 
 that we are " sorry for our sins, and have done 
 our best," and yet they exclude us from the pri- 
 vileges of the gospel covenant ; they shut the 
 door of salvation against all who have not felt as 
 they feel, nor experienced what they experience. 
 The deluded people who listen to them are taught 
 to think that godliness is a sort of enthusiastic 
 transport, which they are persuaded is an im- 
 mediate operation of the spirit ; that this is what 
 Christ will accept and approve ; that this is 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodistn, ^^^c. 141 
 
 heart-work in religion ; this is regeneration ; this 
 is the new birth. 
 
 Consistently with this opinion, the author of 
 " Villag-e Sermons" assures his convert, that the 
 " sinner, however deeply dyed in sin, double dyed 
 ' and drenched in the most enormous aggravated 
 bloody sins, shall upon believing, be as tho- 
 roughly discharged from the guilt of them as 
 if he had never sinned at all." And afterwards 
 addresses him in these congratulating terms of 
 absolution : " Believer, all hail ! Blessed art thou 
 whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is 
 covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the 
 Lord imputes not iniquity. Happy art thou. 
 God gave to thee to see thy sins, to feel thy sins, 
 to lament thy sins. God opened thine eyes to 
 understand his gospel. God enabled thee to 
 come with all thy sins to Christ, and believing in 
 him thou hast passed from death unto life, and 
 shall never come unto condemnation. Admire 
 the love of God. Admire the blood of Christ. 
 Admire the grace of the holy spirit. 
 
 And let your glad obedience prove. 
 
 How much you owe, how much you love."* 
 
 Obedience, then, is a contingent act of the 
 acquitted sinner, and altogether subsequent to his 
 attainment of present pardon and of future bliss. 
 St. Paul declares that Christ " became the author 
 
 * Village Sermons, vol. iii. p, 129, 130, 
 
142 Rejections on [chap. vi. 
 
 of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."* 
 But the villag'e preacher does not urge the 
 " believer" to prove his sincerity by this un- 
 questionable test, till he has pronounced him 
 " as thoroughly discharged from the most enor- 
 mous aggravated bloody sins, as if he had 
 never sinned at all." The culprit who had 
 long" known his master's will, and his revelation 
 against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of 
 men, though loaded with the most heinous and 
 unrepented guilt, upon his mere belief, passes 
 instantly from death unto life, and shall never 
 come into condemnation. To lead his " happy" 
 hearers to this conclusion, the preacher had 
 before informed them, that " We are not to 
 suppose some men obtain mercy because they 
 have not sinned so much as others. "f 
 
 The text of St. John, which Mr. Burder 
 weaves into his discourse, will be found upon 
 examination not to strengthen the thread of his 
 argument, nor to suit the colour of his reasoning. 
 Our Saviour declares, " Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth 
 on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 
 shall not come into condemnation, but is passed 
 from death unto life." J The " hearing of his 
 word," implies not only receiving his commands 
 with our ears, but admitting them into our 
 hearts ; the expression is cleared from all uncer- 
 
 * Heb. V. ix. f Vill. Serm. v. iii. p.l27. J St. John, c. v. 24. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism^ S;c. 143 
 
 tainty, by the fifty-first verse of the eig-htk 
 chapter of the same evang-elist, " Verily, verily, 
 I say imto you, if a man keep my saying-, he 
 shall never see death." To keep {Tv^ui} is: to- 
 observe, to embrace, and hold it fast, to make 
 it the governing" principle of our lives* But this 
 condition the villag-e preacher does not condescend 
 to notice. Our blessed Lord affirms that sal- 
 vation is granted unto all men who will hear and 
 obey his word, believing- that it proceeds from 
 God. That on these gracious terms not only the 
 Jews are delivered from the curse of the law, 
 but the whole world is no longer subject to that, 
 which was entailed upon the descendant:^ of 
 Adam : that all are alike entitled to the promise 
 of eternal life, through faith in Christ, if they 
 live worthily of their holy vocation. These com- 
 fortable words are represented in quite another 
 light by this interpreter. He will not allow that 
 the believer will be saved, unless he believe the 
 doctrines of Methodism. He may have heard 
 attentively, with an obedient and faithful mind, 
 the saying of his divine teacher, and yet lie under 
 the sentence of condemnation : but the moment 
 he approves the calvinistical interpretation of it, 
 he is hailed as one of the elect, and passes from 
 death unto life. 
 
 It is much to be lamented that this expositor of 
 scripture did' not carry his eye forward to the 
 twenty-eighth and twenty -ninth verses of the 
 same chapter, from which he has borrowed an / 
 
144 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 imperfect text. He would there have read, 
 " That the hour is coming in the which all that 
 are in the g-raves shall hear the voice of the Sou 
 of man, and shall come forth ; they that have 
 done g-ood unto the resurrection of life, and they 
 that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
 damnation." A due consideration of this awful 
 enunciation might have induced him to pause 
 before he positively denied, " that the tears, or 
 prayers, or reformation of any man can merit 
 favour at the hands of God, that all these and 
 every thing else that looks like merit must be 
 renounced altogether." * 
 
 Now surely there is some merit in doing good, 
 if it obtain the reward of immortal life. We 
 do not assert that there is an intrinsic worth in 
 any of our actions, but if there be an imputed 
 worth, and if they commend us to the divine 
 favour, shall we say that they have no desert ? 
 Since our salvation depends, through the alone 
 absolute merit of Christ, on the performance of 
 good works, to what does this derogation of 
 them lead, but to the discom'agement of virtuous 
 resolutions, and a holy life? The intention of 
 those who promulge such doctrines may be strictly 
 religious, but they are not the less mischievous on 
 that account. When a vulgar, unreflecting mind 
 has imbibed this dogma with implicit confidence, 
 " That one man is pardoned rather than another, 
 is a matter of mercy alone," f what will be the 
 
 * Village Sermons, vol. iii. p. 127. t W- Id- Id. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism^ ^c, 145 
 
 conclusion ? Will it not obviously be inferred, 
 that the labour of love and of good works is 
 rain ? This is the consequence of that fatal mis- 
 apprehension which confounds the preventing 
 and assisting gi-ace, which has placed all sin- 
 ners in a state of reconciliation with God, upon 
 their admission into the Christian covenant, 
 with that grace which is consequent only on 
 repentance and good works, viz. final pardon, 
 and a heavenly recompense. And hence the 
 guilty wretch is emboldened to rush into the 
 presence of his maker, " with all his crimes 
 full blown ;" rather to rejoice in the recollection 
 of his iniquities, which have called forth such an 
 instance of over-ruling grace, than to bewail 
 them with that true contrition of heart which 
 God will not despise. Can vice and profligacy 
 desire a more secure retreat from the anguish of 
 remorse, and the terrors of judgment, than this 
 assurance : that " the most enormous, aggra- 
 vated, and bloody sins are instantly and irre- 
 versibly forgiven ?" This doctrine the village 
 preacher founds on the eighteenth verse of the 
 first chapter of Isaiah, " Come now and let us 
 reason together, saith the Lord ; though your 
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow | 
 though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool," — to which he rejoins, " Lord I come at 
 thy call ; my sins are indeed as scarlet ; for thy 
 name sake make them Avhite as snow : my crimes 
 are red like crimson ; wash me in the fountain 
 
 IL 
 
146 Reflections on [chap. Vi. 
 
 of the Saviour's blood, and they shall be as 
 wool." * 
 
 To any reader unacquainted with the context, 
 it would naturally occur, that the prophet had 
 promised this gracious effect of divine mercy to 
 those who are *' washed in the fountain of the 
 Saviour's blood." Instead of which, the verses 
 which immediately precede the text, assign a 
 very different ground of hope and consolation, 
 " Wash you, make you clean ; put away the 
 evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease 
 to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment; 
 relieve the oppressed ; judge the fatherless ; plead 
 for the widow. Come now, and let us reason 
 together" — and so forth. These exhortations to 
 repentance, purity, justice, and charity, are en- 
 tirely overlooked, as if they had no weight nor 
 place in the view of the prophet, who has been 
 eminently and properly distinguished by the title 
 of evangelical! His inspired language is thus 
 perverted by a writer, who presumes to say of 
 his own discourses, that he " lias reason to be- 
 lieve the Lord, the spirit, has condescended to 
 make them extensively useful !" f 
 
 Extensively circulated they may iiave been, 
 but their extensive utility is a questionable point, 
 which a few more extracts will probably deter- 
 mine. 
 
 In adverting to the instantaneous effect, which 
 is attributed to converting grace, in transmuting 
 
 * Village Sermons, vol. iii. p. 130. t Preface to vol. v. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism^ ^c. 147 
 
 the hearts of the most inveterate sinners, it is 
 impossible not to recollect the well known pas- 
 sage of the prophet Jeremiah: — " Can the 
 Ethiopian change his skin, or the leOjiard his 
 spots ? Then may ye also do good, that are 
 Accustomed to do evil." * ' '"-' 
 
 This expostulation, not less rertiark^T)!^ for 
 its beauty than its truth, might suggest this ob- 
 vious reflection, that habitual wickedness ib noi 
 so easily relinquished; nor regeneration, as the 
 Methodists understand the term, so immediately 
 accomplished as they imagine. Mr. Burd^r, 
 however, not only insists on the sudden transi- 
 tion by which a sinner becomes a saint, but 
 enters into a minute description of the manner 
 in which it is effected. " Regeneration is a great 
 change : It makes a man quite the contrary to 
 what he was before ; as contrary as east to west ; 
 north to south ; light to darkness ; flesh to spirit. 
 It is such a chanofe as if a negrro should become 
 white, or a lion become a lamb. In a word, 
 God takes away the heart of stone, and gives a 
 heart of flesh. It is aii universal change, a neW 
 creature, a complete creature; not a monster 
 with some human parts, and others wanting." f 
 
 How edifying is all this ! But let us proceed 
 to the application of this doctrine. " You must 
 be born ao^ain : do not think that outward re- 
 formation, or morality, or religious professions, 
 
 * Jeremiah xiii. 23. 
 t Village Sermons, vol. i. p. 76. 
 J. 2 
 
148 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 or religious duties are sufficient. All these are 
 short of this inward spiritual change. You 
 jiiust be born again. As sure as there is a God 
 in heaven, you must be born again, or you can 
 never go to heaven." * 
 
 We had before been cautioned " to avoid the 
 common mistake, that baptism is regeneration ;"t 
 and here we are taught that it does not consist 
 in " living unto righteousness:" neither the sign, 
 nor the thinar sisfnified : neither the admission into 
 the covenant of grace, nor the leading of a godly, 
 and a christian life, is a sufficient proof of a 
 regenerate state. Although you may have at- 
 tested your new birth, by these evidences, once 
 deemed infallible, you are yet to be born again. 
 For you are directed " to fall down on your knees 
 before God, and earnestly desire him to make 
 you a new creature. He can do it in an instant. 
 And as for you, who have experienced this 
 blessed change, forget not to give God the 
 glory, and take the comfort of it to yourselves. 
 Are you born again? Then heaven is yours." J 
 Not only is sensible experience made the test of 
 regeneration, but, that having been felt, thei'e 
 is no possibility of relapse, the great object is 
 infallibly secured, and " heaven is yours." Thus 
 are the most saving truths converted into the 
 most pernicious errors. Prayer to God for his 
 assisting grace, to renew in us a right heart and 
 
 * Village Sennous, vol. i. p, 83, 84. I Id. id. p. 84. 
 
 + Id. id. p. 83. 
 
CHAP. VI.] Methodism, ^'C. 149 
 
 a right spirit; and gratitude for that inestimable 
 blessing, without which our best endeavours 
 would be vain; are constantly enjoined by the 
 ministers of our church, as the dictates of true 
 religion. But what a turn is given by the Me- 
 thodists to this sound and salutary doctrine! 
 Humility is changed into presumption, and gra- 
 titude into self-congratulation. 
 
 This vain confidence of boasting is the only 
 security from despair in this world, and con- 
 demnation in the next. " As sure as there is 
 a God in heaven, you must be born again ;"— 
 born in the sense above explained, " or you can 
 never go to heaven." 
 
 In another of these sermons, the doctrine of 
 St. Paul : " Now if any man have not the spirit 
 of Christ, he is none of his," * is thus familiarly 
 applied : " And, now, dear immortals, what do 
 you think of these things? Seeing that having 
 the spirit determines your state, how is it with 
 you ? Have you the spirit ? It may be known ; 
 it ought to be known ; for our all depends upon 
 it. Heaven is ours if we have the spirit. Hell 
 will be ours if we die without it. And as to 
 those who have obtained this greatest of all 
 blessings, who have the holy spirit; what more 
 can be said to you? Survey the wonderous gift 
 with grateful acknowledgment. What has God 
 wrouglit ? Deny not from false humility, the 
 heavenly benefit. Have you experienced those 
 
 * Rom. viii. 9. 
 
160 Rtflections on [chap, vu 
 
 sacred effects of the spirit, which have been so 
 frequently mentioned ? Here then is the broad 
 seal of the majesty of heaven, securing" your re- 
 lation to Christ, and your title to mansions of 
 glory." ^ — It is difficult to do justice to these 
 passages, and they are left to the reflection of 
 the reader, f 
 
 * Village Sermons, vol. i. p. 95, 97. 
 
 t Cromwell, in his last illness, asked Goodwin, one of his 
 preachers^ " if the doctrine were true, that the elect could 
 never fall, or suffer a final reprobation?" — "Nothing more 
 certain," replied the preacher. "Then am I safe," said the 
 protector, " for I am sure that once I was in a state of grace."* 
 What a lesson does this short anecdote teach those who main- 
 tain the doctrine of indefectible grace ? The arch hypocrite, 
 after all his atrocities, consoles his dying moments with a bold 
 and inipious assurance, confirmed by the authority of his 
 saintly confessor. 
 
 The cruel slaughter at Tredah and Wexford (see vol. vii. 
 p. 170) was obliterated from the records of his conscience by 
 this stroke of self-deceit ; the panoply of grace repelled those 
 " compunctious visitings," which might otherwise have awak- 
 ened it to a late repentance. 
 
 The crafty delusion practised on Fairfax, who was cajoled 
 into player for divine illumination, while the fatal blow was 
 given to the unhappy Charles, which he would have endea- 
 voured to avert, did not cost the usurper a moment's anguish : 
 nt) ; nor the execution itself. Such complicated guilt will fa- 
 naticism expunge from the recollection of the criminal. 
 
 And with this sweet, oblivious antidote. 
 Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff. 
 Which weighs upon the heart. 
 
 • Hume's Hist. vol. vii. p. 285, last edition. 
 
CHAP. VI.] MetJiodism, ^c, 151 
 
 We wiU only observe cursorily, what will 
 hereafter be shewn more at large, that St. Peter 
 thought it not only possible, but necessary, to 
 say something more to those who were *' elect 
 throug-h the sanctification of the spirit."* 
 
 He did not caution them against humility, but 
 required them to be " clothed" with it. He did 
 not puff them up with a persuasion that their 
 salvation was accomplished, but said, •* If ye 
 call on the Father, who without respect of per- 
 sons judgeth according to every man's work, 
 pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."* 
 And again — " Seeing ye have purified your souls 
 in oheying the truth, through the spirit, unto un- 
 feigning love of the brethren, see that ye love 
 one another with a pure heart fervently, being 
 born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incor- 
 ruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and 
 abideth for ever."* 
 
 Thus did that truly-inspired evangelist exhort 
 even those who had been ** born again," and 
 *' had purified their souls in obeying the truth, 
 through the spirit," to love and to good works. 
 Nay, he admonished them " to pass the time of 
 their sojourning here in fear;" and for this 
 weighty reason, because " the Father without 
 respect of persons, judgeth according to every 
 man's work." 
 
 But this, we are now told, is not gospel-doc- 
 trine j this is not preaching Christ! The spirit 
 
 * 1 Peter, c. i. v. 2. v. 17. v. 22, 23. 
 
152 Reflections on [chap. vi. 
 
 of modern evangelism has superseded that which 
 spake in time past by the prophets and apostles, 
 and the Son of God himself. This seducing 
 spirit speaks a different language from that of 
 St. Peter, the rock on whom our Lord promised 
 to build his church, and vainly endeavoijrs to 
 prevail against it. " Are you born of God, then 
 heaven is yours. The righteousness of Christ is 
 your title to it, but herein is your fitness for it. 
 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 kingdom of God; it follows, therefore, if he be 
 born again, he shall see it. God has made you 
 to differ from the mass of mankind."* 
 
 * Village Sermons, vol. vii, p. 84, 85. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism f ^c. 153 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ERROR OF METHODISTS IN CONFOUNDING CAUSAL 
 AND FINAL JUSTIFICATION. — THE LATTER SHEWN 
 TO DEPEND ON THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY. — 
 UNION WITH CHRIST NO UNFAILING ASSURANCE OF 
 IT, ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL AND ST. PETER. — MO- 
 RAL FITNESS A REQUISITE QUALIFICATION FOR THE 
 DIVINE FAVOUR. — THE CLERGY CALUMNIATED AS 
 PREACHERS OF NEW DOCTRINES. — OPINIONS THAT 
 WERE HELD IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND 
 JAMES I. UPON THIS SUBJECT, AS RECORDED BY 
 FULLER AND STRYPE. 
 
 JL HE great and fundamental error which be- 
 trays the Methodists into these false and danger- 
 ous opinions, appears to be this: they do not 
 distinguish the general and unlimited act of 
 mercy, even the atonement, which justifies all 
 who believe the gospel, from the particular in- 
 fluence of div'ne grace, which accompanies those 
 only who continue in the practice of religious 
 duty, or having neglected it, repent and amend 
 their doings, and thus become qualified for the 
 recompense of the just. 
 
 To throw a fuller light, therefore, on the point 
 at issue between us, it m ill be necessary to touch 
 briefly on the doctrine of justification, which al- 
 though it be a separate article, is intimately con- 
 nected with this subject. 
 
154 Reflections on [chap. tii. 
 
 Causal or present, and final or fiiture justifica- 
 tion, are two things: the first is the work of 
 God's mere grace, the last depends subordinately 
 on the will of man. " The word Antawu," says 
 * Parkhurst,t " is most usually applied to evan- 
 gelical justification ; to justify, to esteem, pro- 
 nounce, or declare just or righteous, to acquit or 
 
 * Lexicon ad verb : 
 
 t Tlie authority of this learned and pious man will hardly 
 be disputed; and his humility, the usual attendant of true 
 excellence, well deserves the notice, and challenges the imita- 
 tion of those who are little acquainted with that eminent 
 christian virtue. " For my own part," he says, " as long as I 
 continue on this side the grave, I expect and desire to continue 
 in the condition of a learner. Sufficient, abundantly sufficient 
 honour is it for me," he modestly subjoins, " if I have been 
 able, /or the benefit of all who understand English, to produce 
 a tolerable Hebrew Lexicoo, and such as may initiate my 
 readers in the true knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. But 
 why speak I of honour or reputation among men ? Alas ! the 
 fashion of this world passeth away; which great and indis- 
 putable truth should remind us all " to seek that honour which 
 cometh of God only." May / then express an humble hope, 
 that ray labours in this blessed harvest will be graciously re- 
 membered by the Lord of that harvest, aud yield n»e comfort 
 in that day, which cannot be very distant, when all creature- 
 comforts will and must fail ; and He alone, who expired upon 
 ike cross, can, through the consolations of the eternal spirit^ 
 support the pardoned si7i7ier. — Preface to Heb. Lexicon, 
 p. ix. 
 
 If this quotation, the matter of which is so truly evangelical, 
 should induce one preacher, who arrogates that title, to con- 
 sult the letter, and imbibe the spirit of this pious interpreter of 
 holy writ, it may happily recover a soul from the error of hi* 
 way. 
 
CHAP. VII.] M^thodimif 5fc. 155 
 
 absolve fram past offences, and accept as just to 
 tlie reward of righteousness. In this view it is 
 plainly a forensic term. It is in the New Tes- 
 tanfient applied either to present justification in 
 this life. Acts xiii. 39. Rom. v. 1, 9. viii. 33. 1 
 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 6. James ii. 21,24,25. et 
 alibi ; or to final justification at the last day. 
 Matt. xii. 37. comp. Romans ii. 13. 
 
 This distinction liarmonizes many passages of 
 scripture, w^hich, without it, might be thought 
 repugnant to each other. 
 
 If it be considered that the community of 
 Christians was a new state, or society, from 
 which Jews and Gentiles were alike aliens, ancj 
 strangers to the covenant of promise, * proposed 
 to them by the gospel : but that " now through 
 Christ, both have access by one spirit unto the 
 Father, and are therefore no more strangers and 
 foreigners, but fellow-citizens with th^ saints, 
 and of the household of God :" f It will not be 
 difficult to understand the value of that blessing 
 which is granted to us on our admission into the 
 " covenant of promise :'* a blessing of ines- 
 timable worth ; for by that grace, we are saved 
 through faith. We should have still remained 
 far off from the communion of saints, " having 
 no hope, and without God in the world," had 
 we not been thus made " fellow heirs and par^ 
 tinkers of the divine promise in Christ, by the 
 gospel." J To this privilege we are entitled 
 
 * Eph. ii. 12. t Id. 18, 19. : Id. iii. 6. 
 
156 Uejledions on [chaf. vii. 
 
 through baptism in the name of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost. We thence becotne 
 members of a heavenly community, * and pos- 
 sess all the benefits of that holy state: our 
 names are written in the book of life : we are 
 delivered from the bondage of corruption, and 
 the power of darkness ; and translated into the 
 kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Of this regeneration, baptism is the sign and 
 pledge ; denoting our adoption as the children of 
 our heavenly father ; our election as the disciples 
 of his dear son ; and our fellowship with his holy 
 spirit. But, notwithstanding, we are grafted 
 into the body of Christ's church, and so far sanc- 
 tified, chosen, and justified : yet are we still pro- 
 bationers ; still bound to press forward towards 
 the high prize of our calling ; and to walk 
 worthy of our vocation ; for otherwise, we shall 
 have no future inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Christ and of God. Should the remission of 
 sins that are passed, which is our primary justi- 
 fication, not be followed by works meet for re- 
 pentance ; our acquittal at the great day, that is, 
 our final justification, will be forfeited and lost. 
 We shall then be liable t to that wrath which 
 
 * Vid. Philip, iii. 20. Where " conversation"* might be 
 more properly rendered " community," or, the state of which 
 we are citizens. 
 
 t Archbishop Tillotson long ago distinguished justificatioa 
 into first, and final. The first as implying our faith and re- 
 pentance; ihc final, our solemn acquittal, and absolution at 
 
 * lloXntvfAct. 
 
CHAP. VII.] 3Iethodismy S^c. 157 
 
 Cometh upon the children of disobedience : and 
 as we have partaken of their sins, shall have our 
 portion with them in punishment. 
 
 Hence we may easily apprehend the extent 
 and import of the apostle's meaning", when he 
 addresses the converts to Christianity generally as 
 " the beloved of God: the called: the saints."* 
 " As them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." "f 
 " As justified in the name of the Lord Jesus." J 
 And further, when he says, " we give thanks to 
 God for you all, — knowing*, brethren, beloved 
 in God, your election. § 
 
 They had all been saved by grace, through 
 faith, from the curse to which all were subject, 
 and were " received into the ark of Christ's 
 church;" but it was incumbent on them to be 
 " stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, and 
 rooted in charity ;" if they would " finally come 
 to the land of everlasting life." 
 
 Did they maintain this Christian course, and 
 after being united to their divine head by the 
 sanctification of the spirit, was their conduct 
 worthy of that holy communion:^ They were, 
 in one sense, already " made meet to be par- 
 takers of the inheritance of the saints in liffht, de- 
 
 the great day; which, in scripture, is called salvation and 
 eternal life.* Had this definition not been overlooked, what a 
 strife of words would so obvious a distinction have prevented ? 
 
 * Rom. i. 7. X vi. 11. 
 
 t 1 Cor. i. 2. § 1 Thess. i. 2. 4. 
 
 * Serrn. 5Q. 
 
158 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 livered by the fathef*, from th^ power of darkness^ 
 and translated into the kingdom of his dear son^ 
 in whom we have redemption, through his blood, 
 even the forgiveness of sins." * They were 
 restored, that is, to a capacity of happiness, by 
 the remission of sins that are past, through the 
 propitiation of tlie redeemer : a grace which is 
 universal ; for, " by the righteousness of one the 
 free gift aime upon «// men unto justification of 
 life." t But, did they all, according to the 
 apostle's prayer, " walk worthy of the Lord unto 
 all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, 
 and increasing in the knowledge of God?";}: 
 A qualification this, essential to their being 
 Jiftally approved by him who is of " purer eyes 
 than to behold iniquity." We shall fiiid, from 
 the subsequent parts of each epistle, that they 
 were deficient in tliis essential point, since the 
 holy penmen remonstrate with them on account 
 of their failure, in the strongest and most im- 
 pressive terms. Tlie twelfth and following 
 chapters of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans are 
 alone sufficient to confirm this observation ; and 
 so writes he in every epistle. He tells the 
 Corinthians who are " sanctified and called," 
 that they arc " still carnal," § because "there is 
 among them envying, strife, and divisions.'* 
 Yet he says, " Know ye not that ye are the 
 temple of God, and the spirit of God dwelleth 
 
 * Coloss. i. 12, 13, 14. J Coloss. i. 10. 
 
 t Rom. V. 18. § 1 Cor. iii. 3, 4—16. 
 
GMAP. vii.] Methodisnif <Sfo. 159 
 
 in yon ?" Now as " the carnal rtiind is enmity 
 with God," and attended with a curse, for " to 
 be caraally minded is death;" aiid as even those 
 who are spiritual, may still become carnal, and 
 defile the temple in which the spirit dwells ; and 
 " if any man defile the temple, him shall God 
 destroy," it is a necessary consequence, that 
 those who are called and sanctified, are still 
 liable to sinj, and to its fruits ; that is, to death 
 eternal. Whence, the ministei* of Christ, so far 
 from daring to say to the most unworthy believers, 
 " Your title to mansions of glory is secul-ed, and 
 heaven is yours," should rather advise tlie best 
 Christians *' to take heed lest they fall, and give 
 all diligence to make their calling and election 
 sure;" groimding his exhortation on this infal- 
 lible and awful truth : " That God will render to 
 every man according to his deeds ; to them who 
 by patient continuance in well doing, seek for 
 glory, and honour, and immortality, — eternal 
 life ; but unto them that are contentious, and do 
 not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,-^ 
 indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish 
 upon every soul of man that doeth evil." * 
 
 Thus does St. Paul affirm, " that the un- 
 righteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
 He sets before the " elect, the justified," the 
 dreadful penalties of sin, and he charges them 
 with the commission of it. " Now ye do wrong," 
 he says, and instances many heinous offences 
 
 * Rom. ii. 6, 7, 8, 9, 
 
160 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 which prevailed amongst them, and ag-gravates 
 the enormity of their guilt by this pointed ques- 
 tion : " Know ye not that your bodies are the 
 members of Christ ?"* Our union with him then 
 is no security ; the in-dwelling of the spirit is 
 no security ; but St. Paul's entreaty is, " We 
 beseech you that ye receive not the grace of 
 God in vain." f 
 
 The epistles of St. Peter are pervaded by the 
 same argument, couched in that unaffected, yet 
 glowing" and energetic language, which as it 
 conveys the genuine sentiments of an inspired 
 writer, might well put to shame the ignorance 
 of foolish men who pretend to that sacred cha- 
 racter. He calls the Christians, who were scat- 
 tered throughout divers countries, generally, and 
 without exception, *' Elect according to the 
 foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanc- 
 tiiication of the spirit ;" — " Begotten again unto 
 a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ;" 
 and speaks of them as " kept by the power of 
 God through faith, unto salvation, as receiving 
 the end of their faith, even the salvation of their 
 souls." X He entules them, " A chosen gene- 
 ration, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a 
 peculiar people :" § distinctions high as those, to 
 which the new evangelists lay claim. But 
 having dignified them with such glorious appel- 
 lations, as converts to the christian faith, he 
 
 * 1 Cor. vi. 15. X 1 Peter i. 2, 3. 5. 0. 
 
 til Cor. Ti. I. § ii. 9. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 161 
 
 gives them this warning- in particular: " Let 
 none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief."* 
 Of what crimes, then, may the saints be guilty ? 
 How necessary is it for him '* who thinketh he 
 standeth, to take heed lest he fall." 
 
 The apostle says, " Baptism doth now save 
 lis, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ;"t and 
 speaks of the virtue of that baptism as con- 
 sisting- " in the answer of a good conscience." 
 Mr. Burder gave us a different account. The 
 privileg-es granted to believers are mentioned as 
 including " exceeding" great and precious pro- 
 mises, that by these they might be partakers of 
 the divine nature." J But what is the inference ? 
 No vain confidence in their regenerate state ; no 
 " leaning" by direct acts of faith upon the person 
 and righteousness of the mediatory" § no as- 
 surance of an unconditional and indefectible title 
 to salvation. Instead of this an earnest per- 
 suasion to the practice of all virtue, which " he 
 that lacketh is blind, and cannot see afar off, 
 and hath forgotten that he was purged from his 
 old sins. Wherefore the rather brethren give 
 diligence to make your calling and election sure ; 
 for if ye do these things ye shall never fall : 
 for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
 abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of out 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ||" 
 
 * iv. 15. t iii. 21. % 2 Ep. i. 4. 
 
 § Hawker's Union with Christ, p. 58. 
 II 2 Ep. i. 9, 10, 11. 
 
 M 
 
1G2 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 The spirit which breathes in these epistles, 
 will fully establish what was briefly intimated 
 before, that we have something more to do 
 when we are born again, than to " survey the 
 wondrous gift," and say with complacent satis- 
 faction, " Heaven is ours." We are taught by 
 the apostle to practise those virtues which adoi-n 
 a holy life, and spring from a sincere faith, 
 through the sanctiiication of the spirit, but 
 which depend on our own diligence, activity, and 
 free choice ; whence he enforces this duty with 
 great earnestness, *' a«o ^«xxo» crweJa^eTs ; " an ex- 
 pression which is feebly rendered in our trans- 
 lation, " Wherefore the rather give diligence ;" 
 for it imports that zealous intention of mind 
 which impels us forward the more vehemently 
 towards the prize of our high calling, from a 
 persuasion that our own efforts will ensure 
 success. 
 
 The awful description of the general disso- 
 lution is emphatically applied to the same pur- 
 pose : " Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for 
 such things be diligent, that ye may be found 
 of him in peace, without spot and blameless. 
 Beware lest ye fall from your own stedfastness : 
 but grow in grace, and in tlie knowledge of onr 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." " 
 
 Such is the discrepancy between the doctrine 
 delivered in the New Testament by those who 
 drew their knowledge of their Lord and Saviour 
 
 * a Ep. iii. 14. 17; 18. 
 
CHAP. VII.] 3Iethodwn, ^c. 163 
 
 from his living word and quickening spirit^ and 
 that doctrine of absohite grace which makes a 
 " complete creature" at once, and afterwards 
 assures a never-failing perseverance to the saints. 
 When those who disseminate these tenets, assume 
 the hallowed name of evangelists,* under the plea 
 of preaching exclusively the word of salvation, 
 is it too severe to say of them in the language of 
 the apostle, that " they are wells without water, 
 and speak great swelling words of vanity ?" f 
 
 * Mr. Merryman in the Village Dialogues,* says, " Indeed, 
 sir, I had no conception at first that there could be any other 
 evangelists than the miters of the four gospels." The reader, 
 as well as Mr. Merryman, may now be convinced that there 
 are other evangelists ; but O ! how fallen ! how changed ! 
 
 Far be it from us, however, to charge them as a body, with 
 wilful falsehood, or premeditated delusion. Their errors, it 
 is admitted, are errors of the understanding, rather than the 
 will ; they may be guided by conscience, but a conscience that 
 is misinformed ; they may believe and act according to their 
 judgment, but a judgment which is misled by prejudice and 
 ignorance ; and which " confounds obstinacy with conviction. 
 Many opinions pass for judgment, that are the pure result of 
 humour, inclination, passion, interest, or hasty choice ; and a 
 judgment formed from a light then present to the mind, may 
 be changed afterwards with reason, upon an extrinsic, as well 
 as intrinsic evidence. When such evidence hath been ex- 
 hibited, and men are not stirred up by it, to examine their 
 former tenets, or to recede from what they did once imbibe, 
 they have just cause to doubt the sincerity of their hearts, and 
 to suspect that worldly considerations have a part in their 
 persuasions." — Chandlers Defence of Christianity^ p. 342. 
 
 t 2 Pet, ii. 17, 18. 
 
 * Vol. iii. p. 42. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 Nothing is more clearly affirmed in scripture, 
 than that " grace may become void, that the 
 spirit may be quenched ; and that present justi- 
 fication is not a proof of ultimate salvation : no 
 more than the remission of sins past implies the 
 remission of sins future : nor is there any one 
 passage in the New Testament, properly undeN 
 stood, which warrants an opposite conclusion. 
 And that the special aid and continued assistance 
 of the holy spirit are not granted irrespectively, 
 our Saviour plainly intimates, by making the 
 love and obedience of his disciples a qualification 
 for that gracious gift. " If ye love me keep my 
 commandments, and I will pray the father, and 
 he shall give you another comforter, that he may 
 abide with you for ever."* He also mentions 
 prayer as the means of obtaining it. " How 
 much more shall your heavenly father give the 
 holy spirit to them that ask him." f And St. 
 Peter testifies that " the spirit is given by God 
 to them that obey him," viz. Christ. % 
 
 In the parable of the marriage feast, we are 
 told that " they which were bidden were not 
 worthy ;" and that ** many are called, but fe\\ 
 chosen :" § because as the context shews, they 
 have not on a wedding garment ; they live with- 
 out holiness ; and therefore though called by the 
 gospel, and invited to partake of those blessings 
 which are reserved in heaven for the righteous, 
 are disqualified for that happiness by living un- 
 
 * John xiv. 15, 16. X Acts v. 32. 
 
 + Luke xi. 9. J3. ^ Matt. xxii. 8. 14. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 165 
 
 worthily of their vocation, and are cast into outer 
 darkness. 
 
 The history of the centurion relates, that 
 ** his prayers and alms went up as a memorial 
 before God." * They commended him to the 
 divine favour, for " he was a just man, and one 
 that feared God ;'* and the apostle declares that 
 ** in every nation he that feareth him, and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." 
 In confirmation of this truth, " the Holy Ghost 
 fell on all them which heard the word ;" of whom 
 the centurion had said before, " We are all here 
 before God, to hear all things that are com- 
 manded thee of God." 
 
 In this account there is an enumeration of 
 several qualifications : — A devout and charitable 
 temper in the centurion : a readiness to hear the 
 things commanded of God, in his attendants: 
 nay, the fear of God and work of righteousness 
 in any one : to which succeeds the testimony of 
 the Holy Ghost, " which fell on all them which 
 heard the word." 
 
 Whether these preparatives be called qualifi- 
 cations or not, is immaterial ; the thiro: itself is 
 clear, that grace is not arbitrary and irrespective 
 in bringing us to Christ, and sealing us unto 
 salvation. That the worthiest and unworthiest 
 of men, are not alike the objects of wrath, or 
 mercy, without regard to their fitness for the one 
 or the other , 
 
 * Acts X. 4. 22. 33. 35. 44. 
 
166 ReJiecUons on [chap. vii. 
 
 If it should be imagined that the case of St. 
 Paul is an exception to this rule, we have no 
 hesitation in affirming', that it is a remarkable 
 confirmation of it. " He obtained mercy," he 
 sa5's, " in that he did it," viz. opposed the gos- 
 pel " ignorantly, in unbelief,"* " concerning zeal, 
 persecuting the church ; touching the righteous- 
 ness which is in the law blameless." f When 
 he w^as chosen by God to know his will, and to 
 be his witness unto all men, the secret motives 
 and intents of his heart were regarded by the 
 great searcher of hearts ; and in this as well as 
 in other respects, he was a " pattern to them, 
 which should hereafter believe on Christ, to life 
 everlasting." J 
 
 St. Paul was actuated by an honest, though 
 mistaken zeal, in resisting the truth : he had 
 " lived in all good conscience before God," 
 during his devotion to the Jewish law; and after 
 Jiis Conversion, the same earnest desire of doing- 
 God service, (for it was still the same in prin- 
 ciple,) was applied to the propagation of the 
 glorious gospel committed to his trust. Hence, 
 " he laboured more abundantly than all the 
 apostles, and was at last justiified in saying", with 
 ardent and pious exultation, " I have fought a 
 good fight; I have finished my course; I have 
 kept the faith : hence forth there is laid up for 
 me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord 
 the righteous judge shall give me at that day." § 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 13. t Philip in. 6. JlTira.i.lG. §2Tim.iv.7,8. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 167 
 
 The *' grace of God given to St. Paul, and 
 the spirit of wisdom and revelation, with which 
 he preached among: the gentiles, the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ, by the effectual working 
 of his power," is an instance therefore of divine 
 mercy, bestowed on a devout, sincere, and con- 
 scientious man. It is an apt illustration of that 
 saying of our blessed Lord, which refers the 
 knowledge of divine truth to the previous dispo- 
 sition of the heart : " If any man will ($ix«, 
 i.e. desires, or chooses to) do his will, he shall 
 know my doctrine, whether it be of God, or 
 whether I speak of myself." * He shall possess 
 that wisdom which will lead him into all the 
 truth; save him from error, if he will learn it; 
 and from condemnation, if he will obey it. This, 
 indeed, is the tenor of our Lord's repeated de- 
 clarations. - " Take heed," he says, " how ye 
 hear, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given. "f 
 Care on our part, and a prudent use of the means 
 already vouchsafed to us, will procure for us a 
 more enlarged assistance, according to the testi- 
 mony of St. John. " As many as received him, 
 to them g-ave he power to become the sons of 
 God." % And this is perfectly agreeable to the 
 divine justice, since good and bad men, seek or 
 refuse the truth, even as they are disposed to 
 observe or disobey it. '* Every one that doeth 
 evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, 
 
 * John vii. 17. t John i. 12. 
 
 t Luke vKi. 18. 
 
168 Reflections on [chap, vii, 
 
 lest his deeds should be reproved : but he that 
 doeth truth, cometh to the lijrht."* 
 
 In the introduction to the sermon on the 
 mount, what is assigned as the occasion of bles- 
 sedness, but the right disposition of the heart? 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit," &c. And par- 
 don is promised to us on this single condition : — 
 " If ye forgive men their trespasses." Thus did 
 he, who brought life and immortality to light, 
 explain the means of grace and salvation : yet, 
 if we so preach, and persuade others so to be- 
 lieve, we are accused of apostasy to Christ, and 
 of substituting a " heathenish morality" for the 
 vital spirit of the gospel. Our Saviour indeed 
 supports us by his authoritative assurance. *' My 
 w^ords, they are spirit, and they are life:" and 
 however we may be traduced, we ^eel it our 
 duty to obey him rather than man; for we know 
 tliat " his words will not pass away." 
 
 The censorious and uncharitable manner in 
 which the advocates of Methodism decry the 
 preaching of the clergy, in general, or at least, 
 that sound part of them who deny that the doc- 
 trines of Methodism are the doctrines of the 
 churcii of England; and the church of Christ is 
 clearly exemplified in a pamphlet f noticed 
 above, wjiich undertakes the defence of them, 
 as, if they were one and the same. 
 
 The writer of this work boldly assumes, that 
 the preachers who enforce practical virtue as 
 
 * John iii. 20, 21. t Willat's Apology. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 169 
 
 the great object of Christianity, are apostates 
 from the true faith ; mere moralists in doctrine, 
 and infidels in opinion. In confirmation of this 
 sentiment, he adds the following note to his 
 fourth letter : — '* 1 am surprized that in this en- 
 lig-htened age, people are so blind as to affirm, 
 that the doctrines of the gospel, are new doc- 
 trines, and that those which moralists hold out, 
 are the original; but notwithstanding the doctrines 
 of the gospel are now charged with enthusiasm 
 and fanaticism, yet at the Reformation, in the 
 times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. there 
 were no other doctrines generally heard or ap- 
 proved of; but the spirit of innovation crept in 
 afterwards, and in a great measure supplanted 
 the gospel of Christ in the church. But it is 
 remarkable, that no operation of God's holy 
 spirit, no good effects have appeared to attend 
 the new mode of preaching, while that which I 
 seriously apprehend to be the true gospel of 
 Christ, is mighty indeed in operation, and tes- 
 tifies by its beneficial consequences, that its author 
 i§j, divine. 
 
 This is the strongest proof, that the moral 
 preaching is a novel system of theology ; for as 
 we can only know a good tree by its fruit, so 
 wetjcan only know true religion by the effects 
 it has on the hearts and lives of men ; and if 
 the effects are the same as they were in the 
 apostle's days, as to the common operations of 
 
170 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 the spirit, it must be concluded that this is the 
 gospel of Christ, and not the other/'* 
 
 It is obvious to remark on this passage, that 
 the question is begged in princi^no. The first 
 sentence is a fallacy : it is taken for granted that 
 the doctrines of Methodism are the doctrines of 
 the gospel, and then surprise is expressed that 
 they should be called new doctrines. But the 
 wonder is misplaced, it lies all on the other side ; 
 for it is astonishing indeed, that " in this en- 
 lightened age" people should be so blind as to 
 affirm that these <* n€7V doctrines are the word of 
 Christ." 
 
 Nor is it true, that *^ at the Heformation, in 
 the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. there 
 were no other doctrines generally heard and ap- 
 proved of." Our liturgy and articles demon- 
 strate this assertion to be false. To enter deeply 
 into this subject is foreign to our present pur- 
 pose ; and the controversy in which it is involved 
 has been brought to so complete an issue by the 
 late publication of a learned prelate^f that it 
 might be deemed supei-fluous to mention it. But 
 since this objection, however groundless, is per- 
 
 * P. 44. 
 
 t Refutation of Calvinism by the Bishop of Lincoln. The 
 Dean of Peterborough, Dr. Kipling, in his «' Artides of the 
 Church of England, not Calvinistical," has also contributed sp 
 materially to the vindication of scriptural faith, ^s it is pr|t>- 
 fessed in our liturgy, and preached in our pulpits, that he de 
 serves to be noticed with particular esteem. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 171 
 
 petually urged agauist the clergy of the esta^ 
 blished church, and is considered to be the head 
 of their offence, it is iiot unimportant to observe, 
 that a complete refutation of it is furnished by 
 a well-informed and impartial writer, in his 
 « Church History" of those times, when it is 
 said that one kind of doctrine alone " was heard 
 and approved of." 
 
 " Now also, (anno Elizabethoe 38) began some 
 opinions about predestination, free-will, perse- 
 verance, &c. much to trouble both the schools 
 and the pulpit ; whereupon Archbishop Whitgift 
 called an assembly of divines at Lambeth, who 
 resolved on the nine articles, thence called the 
 Lambeth articles." These, it is well known, 
 were designed to maintain the peculiar opi- 
 nions of Calvin, and to establish them as the 
 principles of the church of England ; and the 
 proposed addition of them is in itself an argu- 
 ment that the same tenets were not inserted in 
 the Thirty-nine Articles. It does not appear, 
 however, from the historian's relation, that they 
 were " generally approved of," or acknowledged ; 
 '" for when these articles came abroad into the 
 world, men's brains and tongues, as since their 
 pens, were employed about the authority of the 
 same, and the obedience due unto them. Some 
 almost equalled their authenticalness with the 
 acts of a synod, requiring the like conformity of 
 men's judgments to them ; others maintained 
 the contrary. But a third sort, offended with 
 
172 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 the matter of the articles, thought that the two 
 archbishops and the rest at this meeting' deserved 
 censure, for holding an unlawful conventicle : 
 for they had not express command from the 
 queen to meet, debate, and decide such contro- 
 versies. Those of the opposite party were not 
 solemnly summoned and heard, so that it might 
 seem rather a design to crush them, than to hear 
 the truth."* 
 
 This report deserves the greater attention, 
 because though Fuller treats the subject with 
 extreme caution, yet he evidently favours the 
 authors of the Lambeth articles, and says, " their 
 testimony is an infallible evidence, what was the 
 general and received doctrine of England in 
 that age about the forenamed controversies j"t 
 notwithstanding his own statement plainly con- 
 tradicts this conclusion. That statement, there- 
 
 * Fuller's Church History, book ix. p. 229, 30, 31. 
 
 t Id. id. p. 232. 
 
 t This assertion of Fuller's is nearly equivalent to that 
 which we are combating, and very probably, the source from 
 which it was derived. It is a remarkable instance of the bias 
 by which even an honest mind is warped in favour of its own 
 prejudices; for that it is wholly untenable, the premises on 
 which his conclusion rests, eufticiently evince. They amount 
 to this ; that an unauthorized assembly of divines passed cer- 
 tain resolutions agreeable to their own opinions, in order to 
 suppress the opinions of their opponents. 
 
 The very act of this meeting, and the motive which called 
 it together, shew the prevalence of those sentiments which it 
 condemned. This, as will presently be seen, is confirmed by 
 Strype. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism, ^c. 173 
 
 fore, is in direct opposition to the bold and un- 
 warranted declaration, " that in Elizabeth's reign 
 there were no other doctrines generally heard 
 and approved of:" and in James the First's reigu 
 the Hampton-Court conference will convict Mr. 
 Willat of palpable misrepresentation. 
 
 In that conference, Dr. Reynolds* proposed 
 an alteration of the sixteenth article to this effect : 
 ** Whereas it is said. After we have received the 
 Holy Ghost, rve may depart from grace, those 
 words may be explained with this or the like 
 addition, yet neither totally nor finally; to which 
 end it would do very well, if the nine orthodoxi- 
 cal assertions concluded on at Lambeth might be 
 inserted into the book of articles." 
 
 The Bishop of London replied, " Upon the 
 first motion concerning- falling- from grace, may 
 your Majesty be pleased to consider, how many 
 in these days neglect holiness of life, presuming 
 on persisting in grace, upon predestination. If 
 I shall he saved, I shall he saved. A desperate 
 doctrine, contrary to good divinity, wherein we 
 should reason rather ascendendo, than descen- 
 dendo ; fiom our obedience to God, and love to 
 our neighbour, to our election and predestination. 
 As for the doctrine of the church of England 
 touching predestination, it is in the very next 
 paragraph, viz. We must receive God's promises 
 in suck wisCy^ &c. 
 
 * Dr. Pteynolds was u non conformist. 
 
174 Re/iectioiu on [chap. vii. 
 
 King James : " I approve it very well, as 
 consonant to the plan of St. Paul, " work out 
 your own salvation with fear and trembling-."* 
 
 " It appears that " the Nine Assertions" were 
 drawn up to appease a dispute in the miiversity 
 of Cambridge, against a proposition there deli- 
 vered by the dean of St. Paul's, viz. " That 
 whosoever, though before justified, did commit 
 any grievous sin, as adultery, murder, &c. do 
 become, ipso facto, subject to God's wrath, and 
 guilty of damnation until they repent. Against 
 this doctrine some did oppose, that persons once 
 truly justified, though falling into grievous sins, 
 and though they never repented of them, through 
 forgetfulness, or sudden death, they nevertheless 
 were justified and saved." King James. — " I 
 dislike this doctrine, there being a necessity of 
 conjoining repentance and holiness of life with 
 true faith ; and that is hypocrisy, and not justify- 
 ing faith, which is severed from them." f 
 
 " It may be observed," says Strype, " con- 
 cerning the seventeenth article, which treats of 
 predestination and election^ that it is drawn up 
 without any mention of absolute rejji^obation, or 
 decreeing the cause thereof, which seems to have 
 been to prevent any scruple that might arise to 
 any Protestant against subscribing the said article : 
 for we are to know that among those that now 
 professed the gospel, and had suft'ered persecution 
 
 * BookX. p, 11. + Id. p. 13. 
 
CHAP. VII.] Methodism^ ?^c. 175 
 
 for it under Queen Mary, there were considerable 
 numbers differing from the rest, that followed 
 some foreign divines of great name in the point 
 of predestination, denying the doctrine of God's 
 being any cause of the sins of men, and thereby 
 of their damnation." * The same author, in his 
 Life of Whitgift, says, '' That till about the 
 year 1595, Calvin's way of explaining the divine 
 decrees was not entertained by many learned 
 men in the university of Cambridge ;" and again, 
 " Although Calvinism prevailed much in her 
 (Elizabeth's) reign, both in the schools and in 
 the pulpit, yet it was not imderstood to be cer- 
 tainly the sense of our articles, even by those 
 who held this doctrine." Nay, they acknow- 
 ledged " That indeed the book speaketh very 
 dangerously of falling from grace, which is to 
 be reformed, because it too much inclineth to 
 their error," meaning the error of those who are 
 now called Arihinians. "f 
 
 By God's blessing, the " Nine Assertions of 
 Lambeth" were never sanctioned by authority, 
 nor received as articles of our church ; and 
 happy had it been if the opinions to which they 
 
 * Annals, ch. xxviii. p. 293. A.D. 1562. 
 
 t Life of Archbishop Whitgift, p. 35, 435. — ^These passages 
 from the Life of Whitgift are cited by Dr. Nowell iu his 
 Answer to the author of Pietas Oxouiensis, where several other 
 extracts from the works of our reformers prove them to have 
 been no less repugnant to the tenets of Calvin, than the clergy 
 of the present day. 
 
176 Reflections on [chap. vii. 
 
 relate, and which liave continued " to trouble 
 both the schools and pulpit," had sunk with them 
 into neglect and silence ; but the subject under 
 consideration is pregnant with too many evi- 
 dences, that these obnoxious doctrines still disturb 
 the peace and union of those who profess one 
 Lord, one faith, one baptism. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Alethodism, S^c. 177 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHARGE AGAINST THE CLERGY, A3 THE AUTHORS 
 OF A NEW DOCTRINE; GROUNDED ON THE PLEA, 
 THAT NO SPIRITUAL EFFICxVCY ATTENDS THEIR 
 PREACHING. — THE SUCCESS OF METHODISM FALSELY 
 ATTRIBUTED TO THAT EFFICACY. — ZEAL WITHOUT 
 CHARITY, DANGEROUS AND UNCHRISTIAN. — MORAL 
 DOCTRINE OF THE GOSPEL MAINTAINED. — CON- 
 DEMNATION DENOUNCED BY THE METHODISTS 
 AGAINST THOSE WHO TEACH IT. — THE CLERGY AS- 
 SAILED WITH OBLOQUY AND INSULT.— RE ASON VILI- 
 FIED BY METHODISTS. — ^ITS PROPER EXERCISE IN 
 THE SEARCH AND DEFENCE OF TRUTH, COMPATIBLE 
 WITH SPIRITUAL ILLUMINATION. — CAUTION AGAINST 
 IMAGINARY EXPERIENCES. — THE ANSWER OF A GOOD 
 CONSCIENCE A TEST OF SANCTIFICATION. — THE HUM- 
 BLE HOPES AND SINCERE ENDEAVOURS ARISING 
 FROM CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 X. HE digression into which we have been led, 
 seemed necessary, to vindicate the ministers of 
 the established church from a false and fre= 
 quently-repeated imputation ; and to make way 
 for a fair and impartial view of such unjust con- 
 clusions as are drawn from their supposed de- 
 sertion of those evangelical principles which they 
 have solemnly vowed to maintain. They are 
 taunted and reviled as the authors of a new mode 
 of preaching f xidnnely, moi'al preachinf/, which is 
 
 N 
 
178 Reflections on [chap. vih. 
 
 scornfully termed a novel system of theology ; and 
 it is averred to be so because its impugner as- 
 sumes, " that no operations of God's holy spirit, 
 no good effects have appeared to attend it, while 
 that which he apprehends to be the true gospel 
 of Christ is mighty indeed in operation ^ and 
 testifies by its beneficial consequences that its 
 author is divine." 
 
 Certainly the operation has been extensive, and 
 the consequences important, but whether they 
 have been beneficial, is a question on which we 
 must beg leave to differ from these confident 
 assertions. It is matter of reasonable inquiry, at 
 least, whether the absolution of the Methodist 
 may not be equally seductive with that pro- 
 nounced by the pope ; and the seal of election af- 
 fixed by the former, as favourite a sanction of 
 unrepented sins as the indulgence granted by the 
 latter ? If men are taught that iniquity and sal- 
 vation are compatible, or that the damnable sins 
 by which the guilty are polluted, may be sud- 
 denly washed away, it signifies not whether it 
 be by holy water f or the pretended oil of grace ; 
 whether they be justified by works of superero- 
 gationy or the arbitrary imputation of the righ" 
 teousness of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Tenets are not the more true, because they are 
 popular ; and when the weakness or wickedness 
 of men is flattered by a doctrine which indulges 
 vjce and folly, a strong presumption is naturally 
 raised against its truth. Indeed, the very advo- 
 
€HAP. Vni.] Methodism, ^c. 179 
 
 dates of Methodism sometimes attribute its 
 widely-spreading influence to other causes than 
 the operation of the holy spirit. 
 
 The Evangelical Magazine for October, 1809, 
 p. 408, contains a remarkable paper, in which 
 several reasons are assigned for the large attend^ 
 ance upon gospel-preachers. They are briefly 
 these: 1. Curiosity; 2. Fashion; 3. Worldly in- 
 terest ; 4. Doctrines alluring to the carnal man ; 
 5. Energetic style of worship ; 6. Double service 
 on the sabbath; 7. Natural conscience; 8. An 
 indistinct sort of hope which carnal persons feel 
 in associating with the godly ; 9. Despair. The 
 exposition of the fourth cause deserves particular 
 attention, as coming from the pen of a new evan- 
 gelist; it is thus stated. "Perhaps, without al- 
 lowing for their spiritual influence upon the mind, 
 we may say there is something in the nature of 
 gospel-doctrines highly attractive to some states 
 of the carnal man : they hold forth pardon, free 
 pardon, for all manner of sin and iniquity ; they 
 point to mercy exercised, without regard to hu- 
 man merit, ready for the vilest publican, as for 
 the most moral pharisee. They represent the 
 Almighty God, as operating with his influences 
 in a sovereign and uncontrollable way, giving 
 all grace, strength, and mercy, as seemeth him 
 good. 
 
 Pity that such divine truths should be abused ! 
 But to some this seems a most easy and conve- 
 nient sort of religion; they would like to be 
 
 N 2 
 
180 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 saved, and have no trouble about it : so they un- 
 derstand the proposition; they find sinners at 
 the eleventh hour may be saved. To continue in 
 sin is exactly what they wish ; and as the great- 
 ness of sin is no bar to mercy, but God is indeed 
 honoured by saving the chief of sinners, they 
 hope to be saved, I had almost said /or their sin; 
 and as no merit or righteousness can have a share 
 in obtaining justification, they feel easy in neg- 
 lecting uncomfortable duties. Such as are yet 
 ignorant that not justification alone, but holiness 
 also is salvation, conceive great hopes and feel 
 much peace in the confused idea they have thus 
 formed of the gospel ; prefer it much to that sort 
 of laborious morality, which those who know not 
 the gospel as the source of living morals, must 
 preach upon. This sensation and mistake cause 
 many to desert other places, and come where 
 they think they have discovered the easiest mode 
 pf obtaining heaven." 
 
 ^ .This is a fair and just account of the motives 
 wjiich induce a multitude to follow the teachers 
 of Methodism : it reminds us of the just observa- 
 tion of Dr. Johnson, " To find a substitution for 
 violated morality, is the leading feature in all 
 perversions of religion."* 
 
 The success of gospel-preaching, as it is falsely 
 termed, being admitted, for indeed it is too no- 
 torious, does it follow then that the consequences 
 are beneficial ? 
 
 -■ Boswell's Life of Johnson, p. 345, 4to. cJition. 
 
CHAP, vrii.] Methodism, ^c. 181 
 
 Their advocate argues that they are so, on a 
 supposition which, if it were well grounded, 
 would be conclusive. " If the effects are the 
 same as they were in the apostle's days, as to the 
 common operations of the spirit, it must be con- 
 cluded, that this is the gospel of Christy and not 
 the other.* 
 
 But, as we cannot allow that imaginary im- 
 pulses of the Holy Ghost, that presumptions and 
 arrogant claims to the divine favour, and an ex- 
 clusive title to the inheritance of the saints, are 
 beneficial consequences, so we must consider the 
 effects as somewhat dissimilar from those blessed 
 fruits which evinced the inspiration of apostolic 
 men. 
 
 The criterion established by St. Paul does not 
 consist in the emotions of an impassioned mind, 
 or in the vain glory of imputed righteousness. 
 He declares the fruits of the spirit " to be love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meek- 
 ness, and temperance." Where these virtues are 
 manifested, there we acknowledge the influence 
 of that holy and efficient cause ; " for as we can 
 only know a good tree by its fruits, so we can 
 only know true religion by the effects it has on 
 the hearts and lives of men." 
 
 In this we fully agree with our opponent. 
 But what, if the contrai'y vices should appear ! 
 " Hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, se- 
 ditions, heresies, envying;" which the apostle 
 
 * Note, p. 44. 
 
1S3 Reflections on [chap, viii, 
 
 instances as the works of the flesh. From what 
 spirit do these proceed, and Avhat evil conse- 
 quences do they portend ? * 
 
 When the hearts and lives of men are re- 
 formed, then, and then only is the spirit proved 
 by its fruits : but Methodism does not seem to 
 have wrought this reformation. " The end of 
 the commandment is charity;" and " charity 
 vaunteth not itself, thinketh no evil, is not easily 
 provoked," Far from condemning- and putting" 
 ill constructions on the motives and conduct of 
 any one, it rather " covers a multitude of sins." 
 
 As " faith worketh by love, so there can be 
 no true faith where love doth not exist; and a 
 meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of 
 God is of great price," will always accompany 
 this pre-eminently christian virtue. The absence 
 of meekness, gentleness, and mutual forbear- 
 ance, betrays the want of charity, f There may 
 
 * It is not meant to charge the Methodists generally with all 
 these vices; but it should be considered that any one of them 
 infringes what St. James calls the " Royal law— Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 
 t Nightingale, in his " Portraiture of Methodism," gives 
 the following opinion : — " Of evil speaking, I believe, it may 
 be fairly said, that it is the great besetting sin of Methodism. 
 Certainly there are few professing Christians, so much guilty 
 of slander and back-biting, as these people. They exercise 
 this disagreeable propensity, even against their own friends : 
 what then have those to expect, whom they regard as ene- 
 mies?"— p. 338. 
 
 Mr. Styles, in his answer to the Barrister, has shewn, what 
 they have to expect ; — '< You ri&e so distinctly before me," he 
 
CHAP. YTil.] Methodism, S^c. 183 
 
 be fervent zeal ; but what is that in a christian 
 view, without discretion, humihty, and above all, 
 brotherly kindness? It is that alas! which has 
 inflamed the fury of infatuated men, during- the 
 ages of persecution against those who dissented 
 from the opinions that happened to predomi- 
 nate : which has armed the inquisition with the 
 instruments of torture : which lighted the fires 
 tliat consumed a Cranmer, a Ridley, and Lati- 
 mer, and converted even Calvin into a sanguinary 
 persecutor ! 
 
 We must hesitate, therefore, in admitting that 
 his rule of faith, is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, 
 and no other, till we see the genuine spirit of 
 the gospel actuate his followers. 
 
 But while they continue to decry moral preach- 
 ing, as inconsistent with the doctrine of the gos- 
 pel, what concord is there betwixt them and 
 Christ? 
 
 says, " as a false accuser of the brethren ; as an unsightly, 
 hideous offspring of the father of lies, that 1 cannot but view 
 you with the mingjed feelings of disgust and horror." — Post- 
 script, p. 86. 
 
 Again, he says, " You seem to be deficient in no quality of 
 savage nature. You are alike distinguished by the meanness 
 that creeps, and the ferocity that devours. — p. 131. 
 
 Does not Mr. Styles know that such abuse is not only re- 
 pugnant to the charity, which is peculiarly inculcated by the 
 gospel; but that it proverbially betrays a weak cause? 
 
 " This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, 
 sensual, devilish; for where envying and strife is, there is 
 confusion, and every evil work."— Ep. Gen. of St. James, c. iii. 
 15, 16. 
 
184 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 After we have read his sermon on the mount, 
 and are then informed, that such preaching is 
 not evangelical, we could almost imagine our- 
 selves carried back to those dark ages, which 
 disgraced the Christian church, when the word 
 of God was made of none effect, by the tradi- 
 tions of its deluded professors. 
 
 O, blessed Saviour! shall we renounce thy 
 divine morality, and shut our ears against that 
 heavenly voice, which taught us " to do to others 
 as we would have them do to us?" Which gave 
 us this practical admonition, " If thou wilt 
 enter into life, keep the commandments:" An 
 admonition, which is thus explained : — " Thou 
 shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit 
 adultery -, thou shalt not steal ; thou shalt not 
 bear false witness : honour thy father and thy 
 mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself." * Shall we brand such holy precepts 
 with this profane stigma, — a novel system ? 
 
 Yet, on this mistaken notion, a general charge 
 is brought against the established clergy, as 
 being false to their trust, and Spostates from 
 their blessed master. " There are many, ver}'^ 
 many, who do not preach the gospel," says our 
 accuser ; and addressing himself to f Mr. Eyre, 
 in particular : " If you have not kept back any 
 of the peculiar doctrines of our holy religion, 
 you must have preached the doctrines of the 
 cross ; and then you must have had your lot 
 
 * Matt. xix. 17, 18, 19. t Willat's Apology, p. 78. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^'C. l«o 
 
 amon^ those who now differ from you." * The 
 INIethodists alone then profess the religion of 
 Christ ! Again, he says, " I tremble when I 
 read that part of your discourse, where you as= 
 sure. us, that your people, for years, have looked 
 up to you, as a dispenser of true hnowledge. 
 This, however, I must needs say;— my feelings 
 are too acute ; nor can I find language strong 
 enough to paint the horror of my thoughts, when 
 I calculate the value and worth of immortal 
 souls, and their danger of perishing for lack of 
 true knowledge." t Intimating plainly enough, 
 that Mr. Eyre's flock will be doomed to per- 
 dition, on account of his anti-evangehcal doc- 
 trine. X 
 
 The parable of the ten virgins is explained in 
 
 * The clergy are thus reduced to a dilemma: first, they are 
 accused of not preaching the gospel ; which charge being de- 
 nied, they are then told, they must have held the opinions of 
 the new evangelists. 
 
 It is hoped that these pages will in some measure shew the 
 very reverse of this allegation to be the fact ; and that we op- 
 pose the pretenders to evangelical doctrine, because we main- 
 tain the truth, according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 t Willat's Apology, p. 92. 
 
 I " Our modern innovators," says Abraham Tucker, " pro- 
 nounce upon every thing with the peremptoriness of an ab- 
 solute monarch ; and I have been informed, that one of them 
 in particular, if any body scruples doing as he desires, never 
 stands to reason the case, but tells him with a confidential air, 
 " You'll be damned if you don't." This was all the pope ever 
 had to say : yet we know too well, what a mighty influence 
 this little terrifying word gave him over kings and states, and 
 all temporal affairs.— Light of Nature pursued, abrid. 415. 
 
186 Reflections on [ghap. vin. 
 
 the following manner : — " Five of them were 
 wise, and five foolish : the wise are said to have 
 taken oil in their lamps, the oil of grace, as well 
 as the lamp of profession ; and when the bride- 
 groom came they were ready; they went in with 
 him to the marriage, and the door ivas shut. The 
 foolish virgins had also a lamp of profession, but 
 alas ! none of the oil of grace ; they professed to 
 believe, but they believed not to the saving of the 
 soul," &c. * 
 
 The purpose for which the parablfe is thus inter- 
 preted will soon appear. Mr. Eyre had recom- 
 mended " less vehemence, and more candour;" 
 on which the writer observes, " the candour of a 
 blinded world is to hope the best of all, let their 
 sentiments in theology be ever so heterodox. 
 This is not the candour of those who have been 
 convinced of sin, and have found that in Christ 
 there is salvation^ and in none other'' f 
 
 This censorious remark being closed, according 
 to usage, with a scriptural text, might lead an 
 
 ♦ Willat's Apology, p. 116. 
 
 ■\ The following opinion is of a very different cast; it pro- 
 ceeded from that sound judgment and christian temper which 
 distinguished the great and unansMerable advocate of evan- 
 gelical truth: — " Though we wish heartily that all controver- 
 sies were ended, as we do, that all siu were abolished, yet we 
 have little hope of the one or the other, till the world be 
 ended. And in tl.e mean while think it best to content our- 
 selves with, and to persuade others unto an xmity oj charity 
 and mutual toleration. — Chillingworth's Religion of Protes- 
 tants, &c. p. 84. ed. 1638. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 187 
 
 unwary reader to suppose that there is some con- 
 nection between that undeniable truth, " there is 
 no salvation but in Christ," and the illiberal sneer 
 which it is intended to support ; and that St. Paul's 
 declaration, " Charity hopeth all things," is ir- 
 reconcileable with the doctrine of St. Peter, 
 which is thus wrested and opposed to it. 
 
 " The candour of the blinded world" may b© 
 understood in an irreligious sense ; but a vague 
 term is not sufficient for an argument. Let us 
 look to the candour of a Christian, and that will 
 ffive us a more definite idea. " Judge not," 
 says our Lord, that ye be not judged: — and why 
 beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's 
 eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine 
 own eye." * 
 
 " A new commandment I give unto you, that 
 ye love one another ; — by this shall all men know 
 that ye are my disciples." f And more imme- 
 diately to our present purpose, is this salutary 
 counsel of St. James; — " My brethren be not 
 many masters, {i. e. teachers, J) knowing that 
 we shall receive the greater condemnation ; for 
 in many things we offend all. Who is a wise 
 man, and endued with knowledge among you ? 
 let him shew out of a good understanding, his 
 words with meekness of wisdom, &c." The 
 characters of which are thus beautifully expres- 
 sed : — " The wisdom that is from above, is first 
 
 * Matt. vii. 1, 3. % lnUvKcihat. 
 
 t John xiii. 34, 35. 
 
188 Reflections on [chap. tiii. 
 
 pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be in- 
 treated ; full of mercy and good fruits, without 
 partiality, and without hypocrisy : and the fruit 
 of righteousness is sown in peace, of them that 
 make peace." * 
 
 From these declarations of Christ and his 
 apostles, it should seem, that rashly to arrogate 
 the teacher's office ; f to pass an unqualified 
 judgment on the heterodox, and condemn those 
 who differ from us; to mark with severity the 
 errors of our brethren, whilst we overlook our 
 own : in a word, to decide the worst, rather than 
 
 * Chap. iii. 1. 13. 17, 18. 
 
 t Stanhope, in discoursing on St. Paul's 1 Cor. chap. xiii. 
 observes on that quality, by which charity is distinguished, as 
 " vaunting not itself." That " the word in the original * is 
 obscure and ambiguous, but seems here chiefly to denote (with 
 the negative) sedateness and prudence, meekness, and modesty; 
 not being rash, and forward, and assuming ; " not exercising 
 ourselves in matters too high for us ;" not thrusting into busi- 
 ness beyond our capacity and sphere. By this we preserve 
 order and public peace, and contentedly keep within the 
 bounds of that station which the providence of God hath 
 called us to. Private men are satisfied with obeying, and 
 those who have no lawful authority, with learning. The one 
 does not aspire to government in the state, nor the other usurp 
 the office of teachers in the church ; for where these things 
 are inordinately arrogated, the persons guilty of it, betray a 
 spirit manifestly defective in this divine virtue, by aiming at 
 posts which they are by no means qualified for, and so intro> 
 ducing mischief and confusion." — Comment on the Ep. for 
 Quinquagesima Sunday, sect. 4. 
 
 * IIcpTrfptvET**. 
 
CHAP. VTii.] Methodism, <5f.c. 189 
 
 to hope the best of all, is utterly repugnant to 
 that candour recommended by our divine master 
 and his apostles. 
 
 But as there certainly are some *' damnable 
 heresies, brought in by false teachers,"* it might 
 be thought, that those to which the term he- 
 terodox is here applied, are of that number. It 
 is proper, therefore, to inquire who are particu- 
 larly pointed at, under that denomination ; and 
 this will appear from page 110. 
 
 Mr. Eyre had said, " You differ a little in 
 some few points from us." To which his ad- 
 versary replies : " It will not be difficult to prove 
 that you differ from us, in many great points; 
 yet with that kind of charity, I wish ever to 
 reprobate, you hope at last to meet together at 
 the same end of the journey. It is my wish, 
 as much as it can be yours, that we may meet at 
 last, in the same world of endless joy and peace ; 
 yet it must never be allowed, that characters 
 holding sentiments so opposite, ever can arrive 
 at the end of the same journey, f as you term it, 
 unless their sentiments as to the essentials of 
 their creed correspond. J To be sure, in one 
 
 * 2 Pet. ii. 1. 
 
 t Mr. Eyre had said the same end of the journey. 
 
 X On this principle, what will be the fate of the Methodists 
 themselves? They differ, it is well known, in the most im- 
 portant points ; and while the disciples of Whitfield assert the 
 doctrines of irresistible grace, the perseverance of the saints, 
 imputed righteousness, unconditional election and reprobation, 
 and consequently absolute predestination. 
 
Ii30 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 sense, we may meet at the end of the same 
 journey; and this may be ilhistrated by the 
 parable of the ten virgins." 
 
 Thus is scripture perverted to cover a censo- 
 rious zeal ; and the kind of hope of one Christian 
 minister, rebutted by the intolerant deprecation 
 of another. He reprobates such charity, and 
 damns with faint wish, for he adds, *' it must 
 never be allowed ;" and pronounces with the 
 most calm indifference, that awful judgment 
 which belong-s to God alone, as the certain doom 
 of those whose sentiments, as to the essentials 
 of their creed, do not correspond with his own. 
 So that the amount of all is, that the author and 
 his Calvinistical brethren will be saved, and such 
 men as Mr. Eyre will be lost! Thus is that 
 merciful dispensation abrogated, by which God 
 
 The strict followers of Wesley deny these articles of faith, 
 not to mention several other points of difference which subsist 
 between them. " Can characters holding sentiments so oppo-* 
 site, ever arrive at the same end of the journey 1" Either the 
 one party or the other, must, by their own acknowledgment, 
 go away into everlasting punishment. 
 
 But their dissensions suggest a more safe and reasonable 
 conclusion, viz. — That their pretensions to the special guidance 
 of the spirit, are manifestly false. The Holy Ghost is ex- 
 pressly called, " one and the self-same spirit ;" and there can 
 be no doubt, that he leads those who are illuminated by his 
 uucliangeablc light, into one and the self-same truth. Yet, if 
 the Methodists are all directed by his motions, truth, divine 
 immutable eternal truth, must be diverse, and " God the au- 
 thor of confusion." To such impious profanation does the 
 unwarrimted presumption of enthusiasm lead. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism f ^c. 191 
 
 ** willeth all men to be saved," and that com- 
 mand violated, in which he says, " condemn not 
 that ye be not condemned." 
 
 The interpretation of the parable above men- 
 tioned, may agree with the creed of the inter- 
 preter, but does not accord with the meaning- of 
 its divine author. Let any one read the twenty- 
 fifth chapter of St. Matthew, and judge whether, 
 as the lamp denotes the profession, the oil do not 
 denote the works of Christianity. A sense which 
 is confirmed by the following parable of the 
 talents, and the impressive ksson of benevolence 
 which is delivered in the conclusion of that 
 chapter : — " I was hungry, and ye gave me no 
 meat," &c. 
 
 To talk therefore of the oil of grace, in dis- 
 cussing this subject, is to divert the mind from 
 the momentous duties of religion, to an imaginary 
 unction, which is thus administered to the de- 
 luded soul. 
 
 In objecting to such infatuation, there is no 
 derogation from the efiicacy of divine grace, 
 much less any denial of its influence; but a real 
 exaltation of its holy oflSce, as intended not to 
 supersede good works, but to promote them. 
 " That being justified ])y this grace, we should 
 be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal 
 life." To which end " we affirm constantly," 
 as the apostle directed Titus, " that they who 
 have believed in God, may be careful to main- 
 tain good works ;" and we assert upon his au- 
 
iy2 Rijl cat ions on [chap. viti. 
 
 thority, that " these things are good and profit- 
 able unto men." * 
 
 So far we confess the allegation to be true, 
 that we are guilty of preaching moral doctrine ; 
 but is it therefore true that we do not preach the 
 gospel ? By what evidence is it proved that mere 
 morality alone is taught in our churches ; or that 
 " dissertations upon the beauties of a Socrates, 
 a Seneca, a Zeno, or a Plato are substituted for 
 plain theological discourses ?" f 
 
 Moral preaching, it is known, was the more 
 generally adopted and approved, on account of 
 that disgust which the cant of puritans % excited ; 
 
 * Ep. to Titus iii. 7, 8. f Willat's Apology, p. 89. 
 
 X For a specimen of their style, which resembles very nearly 
 that of the modern evangelists, the reader is referred to 
 Echard's " Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the 
 Clergy." In his observations upon the answer to that work, 
 amongst many other instances of their absurdity is the follow- 
 ing. " It happens that I have now by me a book called 
 * Apples of Gold for young Men and young Women :' a book 
 so famous among them, that it has to my knowledge deceived 
 the world to no less than eight editions ; and yet when we look 
 into it, (notwithstanding the subject is very large and pro- 
 fitable,) we shall there find little besides Christ, the soul, con- 
 science, faith, and such like very good words, over and over re- 
 peated to very small purpose, and as often ushered in with an 
 engaging and crying introduction of " Ah ! young men," and 
 sometimes " Ah ! young men and women." It is all one, sir, 
 where you open the book, his rhttorical humour is so very 
 much the same. "Ah!" says he, (p. 181,) "young men, 
 young men, if you must needs be leaning, then lean upon 
 precious promises, lean upon the rock that is higher than 
 yourselves, lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as John did; 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodismy ^c. 193 
 
 and as extremes usually produce extremes, the 
 subject might not always be treated with an 
 
 John leaned much, (John xxi. 20,) and Christ loved him much. 
 Ah! lean upon Christ's wisdom, lean upon his power, lean 
 upon his purse, lean upon his eye, lean upon his righteous- 
 ness, lean upon his blood, lean upon his merit." And whence 
 do you think, sir, came all this idle rant about leaning] Only 
 from John's being placed next to our Saviour at supper, and 
 laying his head or elbow in his bosom ; therefore young men 
 must run their heads into our Saviour's purse, and put their 
 elbows into his eyes. And from this place of scripture alone, 
 arises all their insignificant canting about a believer's leaning 
 and rolling on Christ, it being no where else mentioned in the 
 whole New Testament.— Edition of 1698, p. 116, 117, 118. 
 
 With regard to experiences, and other terms now so much 
 in use, they are nothing more than the old puritan cant re- 
 vived. Witness another passage from the same author : " An 
 old disciple, an old christian is rich in spiritual experiences. 
 O, the experiences that an old Christian hath of the ways of 
 God, of the workings of God, of the word of God, of the 
 love of God ! O, the divine stories that an old Christian can 
 tell of the power of tlie word, of the sweetness of the word, 
 of the usefulness of the word ! O, the stories that he can tell 
 you concerning the love of Christ, the blood of Christ, the 
 offices of Christ, the merits of Christ, the righteousness of 
 Christ, the graces of Christ, and the influences of Christ ! 
 O, the stories that an old disciple can tell you of the in- 
 dwellings of the spirit, of the operations of the spirit, of the 
 teachings of the spirit, of the sealings of the spirit, of the 
 witnessings of the spirit, and of the comforts and joys of the 
 spirit," &c. p. 121, 122. 
 
 The compound phrases so much hacknied by the modern en- 
 thusiasts, are borrowed from the same source : " soul-softening 
 means, soul-melting means, soul-hardening company, soul- 
 hardening examples, conscience-wasting, and soul-undoing 
 opportunities," p. 124. These terms, with those above men- 
 
 O 
 
194 liejiections on [chap. viii. 
 
 express reference to the great principles of 
 christian morality, viz. " Faith towards oar Lord 
 Jesus Christ," and " the sanctification of the 
 holy spirit.'* These principles might not be in- 
 sisted on in terms, though they were virtually 
 considered as the real ground of every argument 
 which could enforce religious practice. It was 
 natural for those who had witnessed the perverted 
 use of the sacred text, and the jargon occasioned 
 by the unmeaning and endless repetition of cer- 
 tain scriptural phrases, to avoid a mode of dis- 
 course which would have exposed them to the 
 suspicion of hypocrisy or fanaticism : those deadly 
 enemies of pure religion, which have so frequently 
 assumed her voice, and worn her cloak ; " but 
 hid the dagger underneath the gown." Yet, 
 whatever has been, or may hereafter be the style 
 of preaching' in the established church, we con- 
 fidently appeal to that standard which is alone 
 infallible, in vindication of the doctrines deli- 
 vered by the English clergy. And to the question, 
 whether we or our antagonists preach as our 
 Saviour preached, his word if it be examined, 
 will afford an answer decisively in our favour. 
 For this is the purport of our instruction : 
 
 tioued, were used in the seventeenth century, for the same 
 purpose that they are repeated now ; " and this is tJiat in which 
 chiefly consist the power and edifyingness, (as they call it,) of 
 their preaching, and by which they think themselves so far to 
 excel the instructions of the conformable ministers ; and \ 
 wonder where lies the mystery and great ditJicuUy of thi? 
 «ifted sort of rhetoric!" — Echard, p. 119 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 195 
 
 " Beloved, follovr not that wliich is evil, but 
 that which is g-ood : he that doeth good is of 
 God ; but he that doeth evil hath not seen God :"* 
 Virtuous practice is the manifest emanation of 
 relig-ious wisdom : and consistently/ with this 
 doctrine, we urge our blessed master's gracious 
 assurance, " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the 
 Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him." t Faith in Christ is the only 
 means by ^ which we can attain salvation; but 
 this end must be effectuated by moral obedience, 
 by the fulfilment of that condition on which it is 
 promised: " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments." J That such doctrine is evan- 
 gelical, the source from which it is drawn Will 
 abundantly prove ; that it is not Methodistical is 
 no less certain : for Methodism annuls the con- 
 ditions of salvation, and thus dishonours its 
 meritorious cause. The displeasure, or, it might 
 be said, the contumely we have incurred by 
 teaching this sound doctrine, would scarcely be 
 credited if it did not break oat with undisguised 
 malignity. Sir Kichard Hill did not scruple 
 to vent his spleen in this unfounded calumny : 
 " They (the clergy,) do not admit the scripture 
 account of the fall, and its consequences." § And 
 supposing the case of an " evangelical minister's 
 removal from his church," he asks, " What must 
 
 * 3 Ep. John ii. X Matt. xix. 17. 
 
 t John iii. 36. ^ Sir Richard Hill's Apology, p. 125. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 Reflections on [chap. vm. 
 
 the congregation do ; having been nourished with 
 marrow and fatness, with Christ the true bread 
 of life, they cannot feed on husks, or swallow 
 poison ; they must seek for wholesome meat, 
 where they can find it ; but from principle they 
 love the church, though alas ! the sweet sound of 
 her essential doctrines is no longer heard from 
 the pulpit, where they used to hear it,"* &c. 
 Can language be more reviling, or an imputation 
 more unjust ? By such slander separation is en- 
 couraged, and variance made a principle of con- 
 science ; and by such criminations, it may be feared 
 the rage of persecution will one day be fomented. 
 
 The Rev. Rowland Hill descends to the same 
 base arts of scurrility and detraction. In his 
 Village Dialogues the coarse abuse of our ministry 
 is repeated, even to the disgust, one might sup- 
 pose, of his professed admirers ; at least, thai 
 part of them which is raised above the lowest of 
 the vulgar. A few extracts from this popular 
 work will place the temper of the author, and 
 the design with which he addressed his village 
 readers, in a light too clear to be mistaken. 
 
 ** It will be a great merc)"^ if some of the clergy 
 in these parts should be influenced by divine grace 
 to preach what all of them should preach, ac- 
 cording to the bible and their own subscriptions ; 
 the glad tidings of salvation, instead of a down- 
 right heathenish morality, or a sort of undefinable 
 jumble between law and gospel, which nobody 
 
 ■ Id. p. 159. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 197 
 
 can understand." * " Old Mr. Deadman, and 
 his cousin-german, 3Tr. Blindman,^ had preached 
 no more the true doctrine of the bible, as it re- 
 lates to salvation by Jesus Christ, than if they 
 had been two of the priests of Jupiter." J 
 
 Under these characters are designated clergy- 
 men of the establishment, for the obvious pur- 
 pose of exposing them to scorn and ridicule. 
 To the same end it is related of a Mr. Steadyman, 
 that when he became inquisitive after the truth 
 of the gospel, he discovered there was in the 
 same town a worthy dissenting minister, whom 
 in the days of his ignorance he had overlooked ; 
 whose life was exemplary, and who had preached 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. iv. p. 102. 
 
 t This evangelical writer is pleased to contemplate the facility 
 with which the appellations he has invented will be understood, 
 and says, in allusion to one of them, " Learned men should 
 have learned names. No wonder that Dr. Nescience has his 
 name from a Latin derivation, though in plain English, Dr. 
 Know-nothing. All my other names, I believe, my readers 
 can pretty well comprehend, without understanding Latin."* 
 Certainly there is little difficulty in decyphering the characters 
 of this facetious author ; and those which occur in the page 
 before us, are eminent instances of his talent for this species of 
 satyr, viz. " Dr. Numscull, Dr. Papscull, and Dr. Loggerhead." 
 The ingenious application of this witty device is equalled only 
 by its novelty ; but in good truth, the mind that can have 
 recourse to such scurrility, betrays its insufficiency for better 
 things, and deserves pity rather than resentment. 
 
 X Village Dialogues, vol. i. p. 114. 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. iii. p. 95. 
 
198 Reflections on [chap. viti. 
 
 more of the doctrines of the church of England 
 in his meeting in one sermon, than was to be 
 heard in the church for seven years together." * 
 Might we not admonish these declaimers as 
 St. Paul did the Colossians ? " Lie not one to 
 another, seeing ye have put off the old man with 
 his deeds." f If ye be regenerate, at least speak 
 truth. 
 
 Did not " the spirit which lusteth to envy" 
 blind the heart of man with prejudice and 
 passion, the cause of such foul aspersions cast 
 by a minister of Christ upon his brethren would 
 be inexplicable ; and if they be countenanced by 
 other teachers, who profess to disseminate the 
 genuine dictates of the gospel, it is plain they 
 know not " what spirit they are of." It would 
 seeni that they are entirely ignorant of the 
 scripture, whicli commands us " to speak evil 
 of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shew-r 
 ing all meekness unto all men;" J otherwise those 
 pestilent invectives Which disgrace the " Village 
 Dialogues," and " Scriptural Characteristics" 
 would never have contaminated writings, avow- 
 edly published for the sole purpose of diffusing 
 evangelical doctrines. rNor would the characters 
 of the clergy have been a;ssailed by a member of 
 their own order with taunts and insults, alike 
 mconsistent with the charity of a christian, and 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. i. p. 69. % Titus iii. 2. 
 
 + Ch. iii. 9. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Alethodism, ^c. 199 
 
 the dignity of a man. Had the gracious ad- 
 monitions of St. Paul penetrated the liean. and 
 corrected the spleen of this acrimonious author, 
 he would not have given vent to language such 
 as this : " If I vi'as to quarrel with our parson, 
 I should not have any peace in the parish, and 
 he would raise my tithes directly, for he is always 
 griniiing after more money f^* he would not 
 have termed the clergy " A race of pseudo- 
 spiritual monkies/'f nor have scoffed at them as 
 objects of abhorrence and contempt. | 
 
 It is no light charge agaipst us, in the opinion 
 of this gentleman, and in that of his coadjutors, 
 that we consider reasoning and argument of some 
 moment in the investigation of divine truth. 
 These instruments of knowledge they set ^t 
 nought, as having no concern with religious 
 matters, and treat the principle of reason itself 
 as if it were in direct opposition to revelation. 
 The author of " Willat's Apology*' confidently 
 asks, " Would it not be the highest mark of 
 enthusiasm, and a still stronger one of folly, for 
 fallen creatures to trust to their own corrupt 
 
 * Village Dialogues, vol. i. p. 5. t Vol. iii. p. 107. 
 
 X " The Village Dialogues," says the Barrister, " abound in 
 such descriptions as are calculated to compel the deluded 
 peasantry of this kingdom to think and act towards their parish 
 minister with no feeUngs but those of aversion and disdain. 
 The sale of curates is but another quiver laden with arrows of 
 stronger venom, and directed at the same target. — Hints, 
 part II. p. 124. 
 
200 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 reason as a sufficient guide to direct them in 
 their search after truth ?" * f 
 
 * P. 39. 
 
 t For my part I am certain," §ays an excellent writer, " that 
 God hath given us our reason to discern between truth and 
 falsehood, and he that makes not this use of it, but believes 
 things ho knows not why, I say it is by chance that he believes 
 the truth, and not by choice ; and I cannot but fear that God 
 will not accept of thi$ * sacrifice of fools.' " ^ Again, he asks, 
 " Why do you make it such a monstrous absurdity, that men 
 in the choice of their religion should make use of their reason? 
 Which yet, without all question, none but unreasonable men 
 can deny, to have been the chiefest end why reason whs given 
 them."* " Controversies," he observes, '* wherein the scrip- 
 ture itself is the subject of the question, cannot be determined 
 but by natural reason, the only principle, beside scripture, 
 which is common to Christians."! To what purpose this 
 champion of the Protestant cause employed his reason, will 
 never be forgotten by his adversaries, whatever be the neglect 
 or ingratitude of those whose triumph he ensured. 
 
 It would be amusing, if the subject were not too serious, to 
 remark the resemblance in every material point between the 
 Methodists and their puritanical predecessors ; of whom the 
 historian relates, " What they were chiefly anxious about, was 
 the fixing the precise moment of their conversion, or new 
 birth ; and whoever could not ascertain so difficult a point of 
 calculation, could not pretend to any title to saintship. The 
 zealots," (after the parliament became masters of Oxford,) 
 " insulted the scholars and professors, and intruding into the 
 place of lectures, disclaimed against human learning, and 
 
 * Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants, a safe Way to Sal< 
 vation, p. 96. 99. 
 
 t Id. p. 53. edition of 1638. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 201 
 
 Reason, mere human reason, and the wisdom 
 of this world, powerfully oppose themselves to 
 vital experimental religion ; though the promise 
 standeth sure, that they shall never prevail 
 against it. Let the learned rationalists continue 
 to wander in labyrinths of error. * 
 
 To what end is this scoff at the reasoning 
 faculty in man ? Why is it confounded with 
 " the wisdom of this world ?'* — a term which in 
 scripture language conveys an idea of arrogant 
 impiety. It can proceed only from this sinister 
 motive : a wish to seclude ignorance from the 
 rays of light, which would dissipate its darkness; 
 to wrest from our hands those weapons which 
 have been so successfully employed against the 
 direct assaults of infidelity ; and which we trust, 
 will not fail in repelling the insidious attacks of 
 fanaticism. 
 
 Let the stigmatizers of reason and learning 
 reflect, that these noble endowments have been 
 the ornament and support of the ablest defenders 
 of our holy faith ; that the glorious Reformation 
 owed its birth, under Providence, to the exercise 
 
 challenged the most knowing of them to prove, that their 
 calling was from Christ." — See Wood's Fasti. Oxon. p. 740.* 
 
 Mr. Hill speaks of experimental knowledge as superseding 
 educational knowledge, (to use his own terms,) with the same 
 contemptuous sneer at men of learning.— Village Dialogues, 
 vol. ii. p. 23, 24. 
 
 * P. 41. 
 
 * Hume, vol. vii. p. 33. edition of 1807. 
 
202 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 of the human mind on the subject of relig-ious 
 truth, and was raised to maturity by the fostering 
 care of " learned rationalists i' that the same 
 guardians have since secured the armoury of 
 God from the most pointed shafts which wit and 
 genius, aided by all the arts of sophistry, have 
 aimed at its destruction ; that Boerhaave,* Locke, 
 Clarke, Chandler, Lardner, Leland, Campbell, 
 and Paley have successfully refuted Herbert, 
 Hobbes, Collins, Toland, Tindal, Woolston, 
 Bolingbroke and Hume, and have rendered all 
 the attempts of modern sceptics, the sarcastic 
 ridicule of Voltaire, and the malignant in- 
 sinuations of Gibbon, impotent and harmless, 
 by means of that reasoning and learning* which 
 are thus defamed. Let this consideration " put 
 to sileiace the ignorance of foolish men," who 
 would degrade that high prerogative by which 
 God hath specially distinguished his intellectual 
 creatures ; and having given them a capacity to 
 know his will, has thence rendered them ac- 
 countable for their transgression of it. To give 
 some colour to his objections against reason, the 
 author speaks of our " trusting to it as a suj- 
 Jicient ^mde in our search after truth;" an im- 
 
 * Of this learned foreigner, Johnson observes, that " He dis. 
 cussed the important and arduous subject of the distinct nature 
 of the soul and body with such accuracy, perspicuity and 
 subtlety, that he entirely confuted all the sophistry of Epicurus, 
 Hobbes, and Spinosa, and equally raised the characters of his 
 piety and erudition."— Life of Boerhaave. 
 
CH4^p. VIII.] 3fethodism, 6^c. 203 
 
 putation which he repeats afterwards, in terms, 
 however, that are materially different : " If you 
 mean to charge those with enthusiasm who do 
 not trust to the guidance of their own reason in 
 matters of relij^ion, I must be allowed to differ 
 from you/'*f We allege no such charge; nor 
 do we " fix the term enthusiast or fanatic indif- 
 ferently on all those who acknowledge and 
 lament' their utter ruin and lost estate by the 
 
 * For the full ituport of the term enthusiasm, as contrasted 
 with reason, the reader is referred to a passage already cited, 
 from Mr. Rowland Hill ; where having instanced " the con- 
 version of a profligate in the extreme," he asks exultingly, 
 " Can the advocates of mere reason and morality produce such 
 miracles of grace as these V Allowing this eminent preacher 
 all the superiority he claims, of which we pretend not to dis- 
 pute the palm, may we be permitted humbly to observe, that 
 we are not the advocates of mere reason and morality, but of 
 enlightened reason, and christian morality, which derive all 
 efficacy and virtue from the God of light and truth ; " from 
 him as we acknowledge in our daily prayers all holy desires, 
 all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; but they 
 proceed from him in such a manner as still to be our desires, 
 our counsels, and our works. We know we cannot come to 
 Christ except the father draw us, and therefore we are sure 
 thait as many as cwne are drawn ; but then they are drawn by 
 the cords of a man — invited and wrought upon by ihe dictates 
 of reason, by the instructions and exhortations of God's word, 
 by the admonitions and checks of their own consciences, in a 
 manner suitable to their rational nature and faculties ; in a 
 way that requires their own co-operation and consent ; and the 
 more men work, the more God will work with them."— 
 Sermons by Dean Stanhope, on several Occasions, Serm. 7. 
 
 t P. 39. 
 
204 Rejlections on [chap. vm. 
 
 fall." * We disclaim the acciisa<^iou; neither do 
 we trust in reason, nor in any other fucul; y of so 
 imperfect a being- as man. We use it indeed as 
 our " g-uide in the search of truth," but with 
 submissive deference to him who hath promised 
 to lead us into all truth, and hath directed our 
 course by the light of his word, and the revelation 
 of his will. In " matters of religion" generally 
 we trust solely to that revelation, and place no 
 confidence m the discovery of our own under- 
 standing. We know that " spiritual things are 
 spiritually discerned 3'* nor do we strain the view 
 of reason, to penetrate the depths of divine wis- 
 dom, and scan the secret decrees of the Almighty, 
 to *' seek out the things that are too hard for 
 it, or to search the things that are above its 
 strength." f 
 
 We believe that " reason, till she has been 
 taught by the lively oracles of God, knows nothing 
 of the spiritual life, and the food brought down 
 from Heaven for its sustenance." J We are 
 assured that till Christ made known the way of 
 life, we walked in the valley of the shadow of 
 death. Reason was perverted, misled by false 
 philosophy, and clouded by the grossest sen- 
 suality. But though t'-e heathen became " vain 
 in their imagination, an! their foolish heart was 
 darkened," still they might have " understood 
 
 * Willat, p. 15. t Ecclus. iii. 21. 
 
 ; Horsley's Primary Charge in the Diocese of St. David's. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 205 
 
 the eternal power and g-odhead; because, that 
 which may be known of God was manifested in 
 them, for God had shewed it unto them, so that 
 they were without excuse." * 
 
 It was their condemnation, that they would 
 not glorify God, who " left not himself without 
 witness" even then, but " worshipped the crea- 
 ture more than the creator." It is our con- 
 demnation that " light is come into the world, 
 and we love darkness rather than light, because 
 our deeds are evil." But reason is the principle, 
 which distinguishes between good and evil, light 
 and darkness ; aided, not suppressed by the in- 
 fluence of the Holy Ghost ; f and even that 
 which is spiritually discerned, is approved as the 
 object of our search by the human intellect. 
 
 * Rom. i. 19, 20. 
 
 t " God, when he illumhiates the mind with supernatural 
 light, does not extinguish that which is natural. If he would 
 have us assent to the truth of any proposition, he either evi- 
 dences that truth by the usual methods of natural reason, or 
 else makes it known to be a truth, which he would have us 
 assent to by his authority, and convinces us that it is from him, 
 by some marks which reason cannot be mistaken in. Reason 
 must be our last judge and guide in every thing." I do not 
 mean that we must consult reason, and examine whether a 
 proposition, revealed from Go^, can be made out by natural 
 principles ; and if it cannot, that then we may reject it : but, 
 consult it we must, and by it examine whether it be a revela- 
 tion from God or no. — Locke on Enthusiasm, vol. i. 349. fol. 
 edit. 
 
 This passage may furnish a hint to the Banister, as well as 
 the Methodist. 
 
206 Reflections ott [chap, viii. 
 
 The same scripture which teaches us that " the 
 things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit 
 of God,"* requires us to " prove all things," to 
 " judge what is rio^ht," " to choose the g-ood 
 part," and ** abounding yet more and more= in 
 knowledge, and all judgment, approve the things 
 which are more excellent." 
 
 Our Saviour frequently chides his hearers with 
 this just reproof: — " How is it that ye do not 
 understand?" " Strong meat," says the apostle 
 to the Hebrews, or, the more perfect knowledge 
 of Christianity, " belongs to them that are of full 
 age, and have their senses exercised to discern 
 both good and evil." f 
 
 Let not reason be disparaged J then, much 
 less opposed to the illumination of the spirit; 
 each is the gift of God ; a gift of transcendant 
 worth ; and each may be improved to our salva- 
 tion, or neglected to our condemnation. But 
 our great danger is, lest " professing ourselves 
 wise, we become fools." § 
 
 * 1 Cor. ii. 11. t Chap. v. 14. 
 
 I See Law's Theory of Religion, p. 20, et seq. where this 
 subject is well discussed. 
 
 The Methodists would persuade us, that the foolish things 
 of the world, are still chosen to confound the wise, no less 
 than they were in the apostolic age; which is contrary to ex- 
 perience and" truth. 
 
 § "Concerning a preacher who despised head ktiajvledgi", 
 Charles Wesley said, * such a preacher never have I heard be- 
 fore, and hope I ivever shall again; it was beyond description. 
 I cannot say he preached false doctrine or true, or any doctrine 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism^ ^c. 207 
 
 Dilig-ently to exercise our reasoning" power, 
 and modestly to confine its efforts within their 
 proper scope, is the duty of an intellectual, but 
 imperfect being-. It is the province of this 
 faculty to compare and judge ; to try all things* 
 and hold fast that which is good; and, in a 
 word, to observe the necessary connection of 
 cause and effect. This rule may be universally 
 applied. 
 
 Reason, for instance, may affix the value on 
 every divine . gift,, which its superior worth and 
 the Almighty Being from whom it proceeds, ab- 
 solutely claim. Reason may also apprehend 
 that the spirit of God acts upon the human mind, 
 infusing holy thoughts and good desires, by his 
 preventing and assisting grace, although the 
 manner and time of his doing this be a secret to 
 man inscrutable. But feeling and experiences, 
 however they may be boasted of, are a very 
 fallible criterion of spiritual mterposition ; a very 
 insufficient substitute for those fruits of a good 
 life, by which alone its presence can be ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 There may, indeed, be special favour and as- 
 sistance yielded by the divine comforter, to those 
 who need and ask his heavenly succour. The 
 humble and contrite heart may be cheered in its 
 most desponding moments, and supported in its 
 several trials, by his consolations. But let this 
 
 at all ; but pure unmixed nonsense." — Nightingale's Portraiture 
 -of Methodism, p. 359. 
 
208 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 be between the sinner and his God. Let him 
 not vaunt of transports and illuminations, * at- 
 tested by no evidence. Let him not argue from 
 feeling's, which are so frequently the effect of 
 constitutional temperament, or a disordered mind, 
 that his soul is purified by the influx of the holy 
 spirit, and his lot among- the saints. Let him 
 not mistake even passionate sorrow for repent- 
 ance, nor pervert hope into assurance. The 
 comforts flowing" from communion with the para- 
 clete, God forbid we should deny, God grant 
 we may possess ! But we must caution our fel- 
 low Christians to avoid delusions, whether of the 
 head or of the heart. We must warn them, that 
 there is one only ground of confidence towards 
 God, " faith which worketh by love.'' The 
 " answer of a good conscience" is not to be con- 
 founded therefore with visionary raptures. It is 
 worse than absurd to persuade an agitated and 
 over-heated mind, " that religion without feeling 
 is but a painted sun ;" f and to intimate, that 
 " they must conclude equally against the being 
 and operations of the Holy Ghost, who are not 
 
 * It is afHrmed of the Rev. Mr. Cadogan, " doubtless he 
 could have said, that he delivered to his hearers that which he 
 received of the Lord Jesus." * The language of St. Paul, who 
 was favoured with special revelations, is thus applied to a gen- 
 tleman who certainly never appeared to possess any superna- 
 tuitd endowments. 
 
 + Willat's Apology, p. 144. 
 
 * Willat's Apology, p. 77. 
 
 9 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Methodism, ^c. 209 
 
 -* decided by any experience of light or teaching, 
 by him communicated to them." * f 
 
 Such ideas we think ought not to be encou- 
 raged, because they are apt to mislead unwary 
 Christians from the plain rule of God's revealed 
 will. They tend to the neglect of that patient 
 continuance in well-doing, which is the best 
 proof of our sincerity, and of the divine blessing 
 upon it. 
 
 In fine, our conclusion is, that if our lives be 
 conformable to the precepts of our blessed mas- 
 ter ; " and whatsoever we do, in word or deed, 
 we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
 thanks to God and the father by him ;"t we then 
 may be assured that his spirit abideth in us : w^e 
 then may have peace with him, and with our- 
 selves : a peaee which the world cannot give, 
 but which God only can bestow. Inspired by 
 these religious motives, confirmed in these pious 
 sentiments, and blessed with a consciousness of 
 
 * The whole sentence from which this passage is taken» 
 Islands thus : — " Thougli it must be owned with grief, that in 
 every church professing Christianity, too many are to be found, 
 who have scarcely considered, ' if there be any Holy Ghost ;' 
 and if they are to be decided by any experience of light or 
 teaching by him communicated to them, they must conclude 
 equally against his being and operations." 
 
 It is given at length, lest we should appear to have garbled 
 or changed the author's argument, which we have endeavoured 
 to understand : but if we have failed in this difficult point, the 
 reader will interpret it for himself. 
 
 t Willat's Apology, p. 140. I Col. iii. 17. 
 
 P 
 
210 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 sincere faith, stedfast hope, and fervent charity, 
 the most humble Christian may beUeve that he 
 is influenced by that being from whom " all holy 
 desires, all g-ood counsels, and all just works 
 do proceed." And this is our answer to the 
 inquiry : " How could you have been inwardly 
 moved by the Holy Ghost, without feeling* some- 
 thing- like a supernatural impulse ;"* or, to use 
 Dr. Tottie's words, by which this writer endea- 
 vours to support his own tenets : " we feel, and 
 confess the enlivening presence of the holy spirit, 
 in the peace of conscience ; in having a delight 
 in virtue ; in the possession of all those Christian 
 graces that purify and refine the soul; in the 
 assurance of God's favour; and in hope full of 
 immortality. These effects, the pious Christian, 
 who is led by the spirit, does most undoubtedly 
 feel." t 
 
 This testimony of the heart, is the only ground 
 of confidence, the only perception of spiritual 
 operation we can admit. And since that holy 
 influence is necessary to produce such a heavenly 
 frame of mind, those who possess it, may be 
 therefore said " to feel in themselves the work- 
 ings of the spirit of Christ." { § 
 
 * Willat's Apology, p. 71. 
 
 t Quoted in Willafs Apology, p. 72. 
 
 : Article XVII. 
 
 § His motions are not discernible by us, from the natural 
 operations of our minds. We feel them no otherwise than we 
 do our thoughts and meditations ; we cannot distinguish them 
 
CHAP, vrii.] Mefhodisin, S^^e. 211 
 
 The general accusation iirg'ed agauist us by 
 our evangelical brethren, that we do not preach 
 the gospel, but make void the grace of God, 
 which is alone sufficient for us, and quickeneth 
 whom he will. That we trust in ourselves, that 
 is, in our own righteousness, instead of relying 
 on the unmerited mercy of our redeemer : 
 
 This accusation is not supported by any shadow 
 of proof; it is inconsistent with truth, and irre- 
 concileable with charity. 
 
 We acknowledge, the preventing grace of God 
 to be the only efficient means of a sincere conver- 
 sion to the religion of Christ ; " that no man can 
 say, Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 
 " That the spirit quickeneth, the flesh profiteth 
 nothing." But adds our blessed Lord : " The 
 words that I speak unto' you, they are spirit, 
 and they are life." * Whosoever receiveth his 
 words therefore is prevented by his spirit : who- 
 soever " calleth him Lord, doth it by the Holy 
 Ghost ;" and whosoever has been admitted into 
 his church by baptism, has been baptized into 
 
 by the manner of their affecting us, from our natural reason- 
 ings, and tlie operations of truth upon our souls ; so that if 
 God had only designed to give the holy spirit to us, without 
 making any mention of it in his word, we could never have 
 known, unless it had been communicated to us by some private 
 revelation, that our souls are moved by a divine power, when 
 we love God and keep his commandments. — Dr. Stebbing's 
 Treatise concerning the Operations of the Spirit, c. vii. 124.— 
 See King's origin of Evil, p. 377. 
 * John vi. 63. 
 
 P *1 
 
212 Reflections on [chap. viii. 
 
 one body, and made to drink into one spirit, 
 by the washing' of regeneration, and renewing" 
 of the Holy Ghost." * f 
 
 We acknowledge also, that his assisting grace 
 is the only sufficient support of a Christian life, 
 " without which we can do nothing :" to him 
 therefore we have recourse as our safe-guard in 
 temptation, and our succour in distress, as fur- 
 therino;' our endeavours, enlio-hteninsf our under- 
 standino-s, suQ;'2-estinfjr g-ood thouohts, maintain- 
 ing stedfast resolutions, interceding for oiu* par- 
 don, and obtaining our reward. The question 
 between the Methodists and us, is in what man- 
 ner we receive this grace; whether as free 
 agents, or as passive machines: whether as 
 working with .us, or upon us ; whether as a 
 violent impulse controuling our minds ; or as 
 still small voice admonishing, persuading, teach- 
 ing us, what 716 must do to be saved : whether 
 sensibly experienced in its immediate act, or 
 known only by its blessed fruits. J 
 
 * I Cor. xii. 13. ■\ Titus iii. 5. 
 
 X Do not accustom yoursell to trust to impressions. There 
 is a middle state of mind between conviction and hypocrisy, of 
 which many are conscious. By trusting to impressions, a man 
 may gradually come to yield to them, and at length be subject 
 to them, so as not to be a free agent, or, what is the same 
 thing in effect, to suj>pose that he is not a free agent. A man 
 who is in that slate should not be suffered to live ; if he de- 
 clares he cannot help acting in a particular way, but is irre- 
 sistibly impelled, there can be no confidence in him, no more 
 than in a tyger. But, no man believes himself to be impelled 
 
CHAP. VIII.] Melhodisniy 8^c. 213 
 
 We acknowledge the especial dispensation of 
 this grace, on occasions which require its extra- 
 ordinary influence. We beUeve that during the 
 first promulgation of Christianity, its operations 
 were mighty in deed and word, evinced by mi- 
 racles and siffns, which could not be mistaken. 
 We believe moreover that the spirit of God still 
 actuates the soul in all the exercises of a religious 
 life ; that it excites remorse, and godly sorrow 
 in the penitent; and fervent hope, and pious 
 gratitude in the thankful. We confess with all 
 humility, that the spirit helpeth our infirmities ; 
 and we pray that we may daily be renewed by 
 his grace. 
 
 irresistibly. We know that he who says he believes it, lies. 
 Favourable impressions, at particular moments, as to the state 
 of our souls, may be deceitful and dangerous. In general, no 
 man can be sure of his acceptance w ith God ; some indeed 
 may have had it revealed to them. St. Paul, who wrought 
 miracles, may have had a miracle wrought on himself, and 
 may have obtained supernatural assurance of pardon, and 
 mercy, and beatitude. Yet St. Paul, though he expresses 
 strong hope, also expresses fear, lest having preached to 
 others, he himself should be a cast-a-way. * 
 
 These sentiments of the great moralist deserve the more at- 
 tention, because they are the result of his deliberate judgment, 
 notwithstanding he was by constitution extremely susceptible 
 of impressions, and had felt the danger of yielding to their in- 
 fluence, in those moments of morbid melancholy, when his 
 " fear betrayed the succours which reason offereth." — Wisdom 
 xvii. 12. 
 
 ♦ Boswell's Life of Johnson, p. 403, 4to. edit. 
 
214 Reficctions on [chap, viii. 
 
 But, we do not arrog-ate to ourselves the pe- 
 culiar favour of heaven ; we do not consider the 
 mercies thus vouchsafed to us, as the seals of 
 our election ; nor are we so elated by them as to 
 over value ourselves, and despise others; to 
 think our own state secure, and theirs desperate. 
 We do not presumptuously boast, however we 
 may hope, that God hath heard our petition, and 
 will assuredly save our souls : much less do we 
 pretend to superior sanctity and peculiar gifts; 
 or assert that we are chosen and cannot be re- 
 jected ; raised up and cannot fall : much less do 
 we claim an entire release from sin, from sin 
 future as well as past, through the imputed righ- 
 teousness of Christ, and thence pronounce our- 
 selves incapable of committing it. We do not 
 suppose, that we are finally justified during our 
 probation in this world, or exclusively predesti- 
 nated to happiness in the next. 
 
 These opinions we dare not entertain : we 
 have not so learned Christ ; but when we turn to 
 him, it is with penitential sorrow, and when w^e 
 rejoice in him, we rejoice with trembling. So 
 far from believing ourselves to be secure, we 
 hold it to be our most urgent duty " to watch 
 and pray, lest we enter into temptation ; to strive 
 to enter in at the strait gate, not as though we 
 had already attained, either were already per- 
 fect ; but we follow after, if that we may appre- 
 hend that, for which also we are apprehended of 
 Christ Jesus. We count not ourselves to have 
 
CHAP. viiT.] Methodism^ S^^c, 215 
 
 apprehended; but this one thing we do, forgetting 
 those thing-s which are behind, and reaching 
 forth unto those things which are before, we 
 press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling- of God in Christ Jesus." * In this we 
 observe the advice and pattern of the great 
 apostle, who exhorts us to be thus minded: in 
 this we act conformably to the doctrine of our 
 divine master, and therefore we jjrotest against 
 the tenets of the pretended evangelists, as un- 
 scriptural and unchristian ; as false in their prin- 
 ciples, absurd in their conclusions, and pernicious 
 in their consequences. 
 
 • Philipp. iii. 12, 13, 14. 
 
216 Reflections on [chap, ix. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FANATICISM OF THE FIRST METHODISTS. — EXTRACTS 
 FROM THE WORK OF BISHOP LAVINGTON IN PROOF 
 OF THIS. — THE CONVERSIONS, ASSURANCES, RAP- 
 TURES, AND EXPERIENCES ASSERTED BY WESLEY 
 AND WHITFIELD. — THEIR NOTION OF REGENERA- 
 TION AS ATTENDED WITH AGONIES AND TORMENTS. 
 BUT PRODUCTIVE OF ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. — ANA- 
 LOGY OF A CONVERSION IN THE ROMISH CHURCH 
 TO THE NEV.' BIRTH OF THE METHODISTS. — THEIR 
 CLAIMS TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS DISPROVED BY THEIR 
 UNCHARITABLENESS. — THE MODERN METHODISTS 
 MAINTAIN THE TENETS OF THEIR PREDECESSORS. — 
 THE FORMER EFFECTS OF PURITANIC ZEAL TO BB 
 REASONABLY APPREHENDED FROM A RECURRENCE 
 OF THE SAME CAUSE. — THE REPREHENSION OF ITS 
 PRINCIPLES NOT INCONSISTENT WITH TOLERANCE 
 AND CHARITY. — CHRISTIAN PRACTICE THE TRUE 
 CRITERION OF DIVINE GRACE. — CONCLUSION. 
 
 XF, from the view that has been taken of the 
 doctrines now disseminated by the Methodists, 
 we look back to the authors of these extravagant 
 opinions, we shall find them possessed by a wild 
 enthusiasm, embittered with a rancorous zeal. 
 To prove so plain a fact in the most compendious 
 manner, a reference to the work of Bishop La- 
 vington, viz. " The Enthusiasm of Papists and 
 Protestants compared," may be sufficient : and 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, S^^c. 217 
 
 as that treatise is now in few hands, and the 
 matter of it cannot be too generally known, the 
 following- extracts, it is presumed, will not ap- 
 pear irrelevant to our present purpose, nor unac- 
 ceptable to the reader: 
 
 The learned author thus states his opinion of 
 that divine grace, the misapprehension of which 
 has been the source of so many fatal errors. 
 " Though I do by no means deny that the holy 
 spirit may, or sometimes doth, by some extraor- 
 dinary act of grace throw such a light and in- 
 fluence on the mind of man, as suddenly to 
 arrest him, as it were, in the midst of a wicked 
 and unbelieving course, yet surely this is not to 
 be expected of course ; the extraordinary me- 
 tliod of heaven being that of drawing us by 
 gradual means, good education and instruction, 
 improvements by learning, reading, and study- 
 ing the holy scriptures, which direct us in an 
 honest and good heart to * grow in grace, and 
 build up ourselves in our holy faith,' and not pre- 
 sume that we shall start up perfect men at 
 once.* But by the Methodist's ' Faith, and 
 being born of God, are said to be an instanta- 
 neous work at once, and in a moment as light- 
 ning.' Wesley's 2d Journal, 16, 17, 39. ' My 
 being born of God was an instantaneous act, 
 enabling me from that moment to be more than 
 conqueror over those temptations which before I 
 
 * Bishop Lavington's Enthusiasm of Papists and Methodists 
 compared, v. i. p. 30, 32. 
 
218 Reflections on [chap. ix» 
 
 was always a slave to/ 3d Journal, 16. * Very 
 many persons chang-ed in a moment, always sud- 
 denly, as far as I have known.' Id. 49. 
 
 " After these sudden conversions, usually they 
 receive their assurances of salvation, and these 
 (as also the proofs of their conversion) are cer- 
 tainly known, heard, seen, or feltj they can as- 
 certain the particular time and place of their 
 receiving them, as so many seals of the spirit. 
 * All this while, I was assured God had forgiven 
 me. It is a dreadful mistake to deny the doc- 
 trine of assurances. I know numbers, whose 
 salvation is written on their hearts, as it were, 
 with a sun-beam.' Whitfield's 5th Journal, 17, 
 &c. Then for Mr. Wesley—* I felt faith in 
 Christ, and an assurance was given me that he 
 had taken away my sins, even mine.' 2d Journal, 
 30. * My sister received atonement on St. Pe- 
 ter's day.' 3d Journal, 17. * At that hour, one 
 who had long continued in sin, received a full, 
 clear sense of his pardoning love, and power to 
 
 sin no more."* 
 
 It is evident, from the many extraordinary 
 passages which Bishop Lavington has collected 
 from the writings of those noted founders of 
 Methodism, that the fanatic flame burst forth at 
 once with all its fury. 
 
 " God," says Mr. Whitfield, " was indeed 
 there, riding in the congregation.'.* — " Jesus has 
 been with me much to-day, at another time he 
 
 '* Bishop Lavington, v. i. p. 33, 34. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, S^c. 219 
 
 was with me on the road; but, oh! how was 
 he met with me in Abergavenny !" — "I 
 lean on Jesus's bosom from morning to night, 
 yea, all the day long." — " I sweetly leaned on 
 my Saviour's bosom, and sucked out of the 
 breasts of his consolation." * 
 
 In his 2d Journal he says, " Could the trees 
 of a certain wood near Stone-house speak, they 
 would tell what sweet communion I and some 
 more dear souls enjoyed with the ever-blessed 
 God there." — " The love of God was shed abroad 
 in my heart," says Mr. Wesley, *' and a flame 
 kindled with flames so violent, and yet so very 
 ravishing, that my body was almost torn asun- 
 der. I loved. The spirit cried strong in my 
 heart. I sweated, I trembled, I fainted, I sung. 
 My soul was got up into the holy mount ; it had 
 no thought of coming down again into my body," 
 with more of the same ranting flame. f Wesley's 
 3d Journal, 19. 
 
 The same enthusiast describes the Holy Ghost 
 descending into his congregation as on the day of 
 Pentecost; nay, with greater evidences of his 
 power : " The spirit at length came down hke a 
 mighty rushing wind, and carried all before it. 
 In my prayer the power of God came down, 
 and gave a great shock; such an abiding, uni- 
 versal shock I never knew before. In the after- 
 noon again the shock was very great ; the place 
 
 * Lavington, v. i. p. 39. t Id. p. 44. 
 
220 Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 was almost rent by the power and presence of 
 God." Wesley's 7th Journal, 57. 
 
 With no less presumption, though in a milder 
 tone, Mr. Whitfield says, " I felt more and more 
 of the divine assistance to-day ; the Lord en- 
 dowed me with power on high. In the midst of 
 my discourse the power of the Lord came upon 
 me ; God enabled me to speak with such irre- 
 sistible power," &c. 2d Journal, 23. And after- 
 wards he makes this insolent appeal to heaven — 
 
 " Past is thy word, I here demand. 
 And confident expect thy aid."* 
 
 He has the audacity to vouch for all his pre- 
 tensions, by declaring, " The eternal Almighty, 
 lam, hath sent me."f 3d Journal, 58. Which 
 is equalled in fanaticism, if not in arrogance, by 
 an old hardened sinner's daring to assert, " The 
 Saviour of sinners has saved me ; he told me so 
 on Sunday morning." Wesley's 4th Journal, 52. J 
 
 When the minds of men are infatuated with 
 these strong delusions, can any thing be matter 
 of wonder which they think or say ? But to see 
 the infinite Majesty of heaven, and the ineffable 
 grace of God, treated with such shameless fami- 
 liarity, is calculated to excite feelings in every 
 sober mind, which no language can express; and 
 the amatory strains in which the raptures of en- 
 thusiasm are recited, cannot be read without 
 
 * Lavington, v. i. p. 47. t Id. p. 52. X Id. p. 52. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, ^c. 221 
 
 disgust and horror. Surely, then, it is our duty 
 to guard the weak, the ignorant, and the credu- 
 lous, from that fundamental error in which these 
 indignities appear to have their origin, viz. the 
 false notion entertained by the Methodists of the 
 new birth. 
 
 "Mr. Whitfield," says Bishop Lavington, "ex- 
 plodes the scriptural doctrine adopted by our 
 church of regeneration by baptism, and calls it 
 the Diana of the present age. Mr. Wesley de- 
 clares, " Though I have used all the means for 
 twenty years, I am not a Christian. Verily, ve- 
 rily, I say unto you, I must be born again.'* 
 3d Journal, 23. And he calls those " Blind, 
 leaders of the blind," who speak of the new- 
 birth as if it were no more than baptism." 3d 
 Journal, 82. Therefore, another greater and 
 better new birth must be added to supply the 
 defect. And yet one would think the former 
 sufficient for all the purposes of a Christian, sup- 
 posing only that St. Paul speaks truth. " Christ 
 sanctified and cleansed the church with the wash- 
 itig of water by the word; that he might present 
 it to himself a glorious church, not having spot 
 or wrinkle on any such thing, but that it should 
 be holy and without blemish." * 
 
 Mr. Wesley's assurance of his new birth was 
 given him May 24, 1738. " Till that time, I 
 sought saving faith," he says, " with great indif- 
 ference; but then assurance was given me that 
 
 * Ephes. V. 26, 27. 
 
222 Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 he had taken away my sins, even mine."* 2d 
 Journal, 29, 30. Nevertheless, many relapses, 
 it appears, take place after this assurance; 
 whence it seems to be nothing- more than ordi- 
 nary Christian's experience, if at any time they 
 repent and turn to God. And yet it must be 
 more; for in order to attain this new birth, they 
 are to undergo " the torments of a woman in tra- 
 vail." — " I thought the pains of hell were upon 
 me," says Mr. Wesley, 3d Journal, 18 — " was 
 in tliis violent agony for about four hours, then 
 began to feel I was born of God." Nothing less 
 than feeling, as it were, the pains of hell will 
 serve. — " Devils are dragging them to hell : 
 they are seized with the spirit of fear, horror, 
 
 * In Nightingale's " Portraiture of Methodism," we find a 
 similar account of this marvellous event, and of the strange 
 uncertainty which preceded and followed it. 
 
 " After all the virtuous toil of the two Wesleys, during a 
 period of nearly ten years, they were both well convinced that 
 as yet they had not the faith of the gospel ! p. 78. — The time, 
 however, was happily drawing near, when they should emerge 
 from Egyptian darkness : at length the time arrived, p. 81. — 
 About a quarter before nine, (while hearing Luther's Preface to 
 the Epistle to the Romans, and one was describing the change 
 which God works in the heart through faith in Christ) I 
 felt," says Mr. Wesley, " I did trust in Christ alone for sal- 
 vation ; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away 
 my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and 
 death." 
 
 Yet it was very often a matter of great doubt with him, whe- 
 ther he even yet possessed the right faith ; whether even yet 
 God had pardoned his sins, p. 88. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodismj S^c. 223 
 
 and despair; one in the pains of hell is justified ; 
 another sinking down, even as dead, hath her 
 sins taken away." Id. 19. 46. In general, as 
 Mr. Wesley speaks, " the being* in orco is thought 
 an indispensable preparative for being a Chris- 
 tian." 1st Journal, 66. 
 
 Hence cryings, yellings, convulsions, <Scc. &c. 
 are symptoms of the new birth. 
 
 " A woman was seized with little less than the 
 afi^onies of death; five days she travailed and 
 ffroaned, then in a moment was full of love and 
 joy: her friends have accounted her mad for 
 these three years." Whitfield's 3d Journal, 43. 
 " One having dropped down as if shot with a 
 gun, upon his rising I had half an hour s con- 
 versation with him on the subject of the new 
 birth." 7th Journal, 12. 
 
 This kind of regeneration, we must acknow- 
 ledge with Mr. Wesley, " to be something more 
 than that of baptism."* But the torments in- 
 flicted on the Methodists are the means of bring- 
 ing them to a state of perfection : witness Mr. 
 Wesley's *' certain experiences of some of his 
 followers being as free from inward corruption, 
 as Christ himself was ; thoroughly renewed after 
 the image of Christ ; an entire change from the 
 imagre of the devil to the image of God." 4th 
 Journal, 51. 
 
 According to Mr. Whitfield likewise, " All 
 experience, pangs, and troubles ere Christ is 
 
 * Lavington, v. ii. p. 217, 218, 219, 220, 221. 
 
224 Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 formed in them, and brought forth in the mea- 
 sure of his fulness who filleth all in all." 3d Jour- 
 nal, 82. Such is their perfection equal to God's 
 fulness, and so to be brought forth in us.'* 
 
 After citing many passages to the same pur^ 
 pose, Bishop Lavington indignantly exclaims, 
 " Would not this amaze any person who has any 
 reverence or regard to certain inspired writings, 
 called the Bible — with what face or by what au- 
 thority do these bold miscreants f make these 
 hellish horrors and tortures a fundamental part of 
 the Christian religion? Where is it required 
 that such infernal seizures are the appointed pre- 
 parations for a Christian's regeneration ?| 
 
 This learned writer has so fully exposed their 
 enthusiasm, by comparing it with the supersti- 
 tion of the Papists, and shewing that their gross 
 delusions exceeded even the impostures of the 
 Romish church, that it might seem superfluous to 
 add another word upon the subject. 
 
 But there is an example of the resemblance 
 that exists, in one particular at least, between 
 these two Christian communities, however they 
 may differ in many others, recorded by the Bi- 
 shop of Meaux, which may form an apposite 
 conclusion of this particular. 
 
 ♦ Lavington, v. ii. p. 221. 
 
 t Miscreant — One that holds a false faith.— Johnson. This 
 definition will save Bishop Lavington from the charge of using 
 language, in this instance, unjustifiably severe. 
 
 J Lavington, v. ii. p. 237. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, ^c. 22-^ 
 
 In his Oraisons fiinehres, the conversion of 
 Anne de Gonzaque de Cleves et Princesse Pala- 
 tine, is described in terms to this effect : 
 
 " The Princess had become an infidel, inso- 
 much that she thought the mysteries of Chris- 
 tianity mere errors and chimeras; and when 
 they were mentioned, could scarcely refrain from 
 laughter, considering them as things ridiculous 
 and impossible. From this darkness she was 
 roused by a dream or vision, and by an impulse 
 of the spirit was suddenly reclaimed from her 
 infidelity and dissipated course of life." During 
 that period her eulogist remarks, " the hour of 
 the Princess Palatine was not yet come." At 
 length the hour of grace arrived ; " God, who 
 has no need of time, nor of a long course of rea- 
 soning to make himself known, opened her eyes 
 at once : then by a sudden illumination she fejt 
 herself so enlightened and so transported with 
 joy! These are her own expressions, &c. — Thus 
 God changed her by an instantaneous light and 
 . an ecstatic dream ; thus she passed at once from 
 a deep darkness into manifest light. The clouds 
 of her mind were dispersed; a miracle no less 
 astonishing than that wherein Jesus Christ caused 
 the sort of scales to fall off, which covered the 
 eyes of Saul. Who then would not exclaim upon 
 this sudden change, * The finger of God is here ! 
 the consequence does not permit us to doubt of 
 it, and the work of grace is acknowledged in its 
 
 a 
 
22(> Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 fruits." In sum, " the Princess Palatine is totally 
 changed in an instant."* 
 
 Can the warmest advocates for immediate and 
 miraculous conversion bring forward a stronger 
 instance of such a transmutation? The subject 
 of it had all the qualifications which they usually 
 consider as the proper requisites for divine inter- 
 position; she was an abandoned profligate, an 
 avowed infidel, who made a mockery of religion, 
 and violated its laws : in her, therefore, the fa- 
 vourite rule of Methodism was exemplified, The 
 greater the sinner, the greater the saint. 
 
 The manner of it is no less congenial with the 
 principles of this Protestant sect ; the use of rea- 
 son, in examining the truth of Christianity, was 
 entirely set aside. Without any reformation on 
 her part, or even a wish, so far as it appears, to 
 renounce her wicked habits ; she was suddenly 
 illuminated, changed, subdued, by a miracle 
 equal to that which convinced the great apostle 
 of his mistaken but conscientious zeal. So that 
 neither her intellect, nor her will ; no honest 
 intention, no moral principle, no exercise of any 
 human faculty, concurred in the least degree 
 with this extraordinary operation of the spirit. 
 It agrees in all respects with the motives of 
 those blind and deluded men, who attribute the 
 abuse of an arbitrary and capricious power, to 
 that holy being, whom the prophet addressed in 
 
 * Bossuet's Oraison Fuiiebre d'Anne de Gonzaqiie. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, S^c. 227 
 
 language of a very different import : " The way 
 of the jvist is uprightness: thou most upright 
 dost weigh the path of the just." * 
 
 Let it be remarked, however, by the advo- 
 cates of irrespective grace, that the object of it 
 in this case, was led by her illumination to em- 
 brace all the superstitions of the Romish church ; 
 and that she proved her devotion to them by 
 leavinsf to the benedictines of St. Germain, " the 
 wood of the true and holy cross, which I protest," 
 she says, " that I have seen in the flames, with- 
 out being burned. I also give them the mira- 
 culous blood, &c. I also give the abbey of St. 
 Germain, the reliques," &c. &c. f 
 
 The same convert who attested so absurd a 
 falsehood, and bequeathed these instruments of 
 idolatrous worship, with a Hrm persuasion that 
 she asserted the cause of truth ; felt also an un- 
 doubting assurance that she was under the divine 
 protection. 
 
 " I found myself," she says, *' supported by a 
 hope as stedfast and tranquil as if I had heard 
 even from an angel, that God would not abandon 
 me."t Now we would ask those religious 
 persons, who depend with implicit faith on the 
 testimony of their feelings, what stronger con- 
 viction of supernatural influence they can enter- 
 tain, than that which deluded this unhappy 
 woman ? And whether, since the grossest errors 
 of the Roman Catholics are cherished by the 
 
 * Isaiah xxvi. 7. t Oiaison Funebre, &c. 
 
 Q 3 
 
'22S Reflections on ' [chap. ix. 
 
 same sentiments as prevail among* the Me- 
 thodists,* it be not reasonable to conclude, tliat 
 the presumption of the one is equally fallacious 
 with the Confidence of the other. If this be still 
 a qhestion^ let it be examined by one test which 
 may be deemed infallible. St. John hath pro- 
 nounced this jlositive decision : " If a man say, 
 I love God, and hateth his mother, he is a liar."t 
 Had the high claims of inspiration, asserted by 
 the foimders of the new church, been tried b^y 
 this simple rule, the unchaiitable, rancour ^hich 
 tinctured their inteniperate zeal, would have 
 proved them to be impude^it and false-^ , 
 
 The fortunate impotence of those enthusiasms 
 seems alone to have exempted them from that 
 merited ig-nominy which the defenpe of religious 
 Opinions,- by the arms of. persecution, hasxilvvays 
 ultimately incurred. T4ieir anathemas.. are ^a,s 
 contradictory to their, own professions, as to the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. " Read Mr. AV^esley's 
 Character of a Methodist," says Bishop I-av- 
 ington/ " and tlie love of God has purified his 
 heart from every unkind temper, and malign 
 affection, from all revengeful passions, envy, 
 malice, and wrath* He cannot utter an unkind 
 word oi' any one: but read his controversial 
 
 * In the Fourth Tastoral Letter of Bishop Gibson, thei;- 
 chimerical pretensions arc exposed in their true colours ; but 
 it is unnecessary to multiply instances of that extraordiuarSf 
 enthusiasm which is already sufHciehtly evinced. ^ ^^^^ *^ 
 
 t 1 John iv. 20. 
 
GHAP.ix.] Methodism^ ^c. (^^ 
 
 writings, with his .opposers>:;aad j aE' these fiue 
 professions are Yanished and contrauictfid^ uftd 
 that in some of Jus latest performiaces. For 
 not to repeat: their calumnies against, their 
 brethren,, nor: to regai-d : Mr. Whitftel^'s raat, 
 That all morality set up in opposition taJ(i)t, 
 shall sink with its professors mia. hell,. Mix^< let 
 any one but look into the latter part of- Mv. Wes- 
 ley*s Further. Appeal, and he will find enongOitdf 
 uncharitabie and damnatory; clausas, dispatchirig 
 aU mankind to hell, (as far: as lies :m human 
 .^ower,) who are not Methodists. ili^J/ieJr op- 
 posers are labouring heartily in. the eause of hell:; 
 they are blasphemous,; openly: fighting against 
 God, fight under the devil's bauiie^^iiare* tafcpg 
 part with the devil against God;." a -il'u -.■:' : : 
 ..Whitfield in his Fourth Joiii-nal, p. 33^ says, 
 ;« Preached this evening at\IvenningifemCommGni: 
 God crave me great povvier, and XmeJvefi* opened 
 1 my mouth so freely n^Mnsi ' th&t lettej^i^drykd 
 clergy of the church of England., I should liot 
 die in peace unless I bore my testimony against 
 them.--^-Woe be unto such blind leaders:of tl^e 
 blindy how can you escape; the damnation of 
 hell?"* /;iA Oil ^iim^<^^J - 
 
 vji^.^Thei scm-let whore of Babylon,"; says Mr. 
 Seward, v^om-nal, p. 71, "is nott more corrupt ill 
 prineipleuor practice,; than the churclt of Eng- 
 JfendjOiifii|tswhatia. ^ickedness^^is itlo thiow iout 
 
 Vifinslq emj£?>{ Qfl3 fiiiw floiJu'ioadfi 'lo aO'tanmrAi 
 * Enthusiasm of Papists and Methodists comparf d, part II. 
 
 p. 86, 87. • "'• ^ 
 
230 Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 so much gall and bitterness against persons whose 
 chief power of doing good, and promoting the 
 common salvation, depends upon their character? 
 And how much more to impute this black art of 
 calumny to the spirit and power given from 
 God?"* 
 
 What extenuation or excuse can be offered for 
 such anti- christian sentiments by those who pro- 
 fess to respect the new commandment of our 
 divine teacher, and to believe that " God is love," 
 we are at a loss to imagine. But the modern 
 Methodists may say, what have we to do with 
 the errors of Whitfield, or Wesley : are we ac- 
 countable for their excesses ? Certainly the dis- 
 ciples of Mr. Rowland Hill are not answerable 
 for the outrageous folly of his great precursor; 
 no more are the Jesuits for the chivalrous fanati- 
 cism of Ignatius Loyola ; nor the Anabaptists 
 for the anti-social, rebellious, and immoral tenets 
 of Munzer and Matthias ; nor the disciples of 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, for his Extatic Reve- 
 ries. But inasmuch as the new evangelist of the 
 present day treads in the steps of his vehement 
 predecessor, wears his mantle, propagates the 
 peculiar dogmas of his creed, and lays claim to 
 the same extraordinary gifts; since he asserts 
 that the new birth is effected, not by the bap- 
 tismal covenant, but by some emotion sensibly 
 communicated to the soul ; since he pronounces 
 damnation or absolution with the same plenary 
 
 * Id. part I. p. 13, 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism f ^c. 231 
 
 authority, sets the seal of election on the saints 
 with infallible assurance, defames the clerg-y and 
 traduces their doctrines with the bitterest re- 
 vilings, raises an indignant outcry against the 
 most innocent amusements, whilst every atrocious 
 offence is sheltered under the cover of human 
 inability and divine predestination ; since he 
 affirms that the imputed righteousness of Christ 
 cleanses the heinous sinner from all his iniquities 
 at once, and that the virtuous believer is irre- 
 coverably lost, if he think otherwise ; since, in a 
 word, he represents the Deity as an arbitrary 
 tyrant, and man as the passive object of his love 
 or hatred, who must await the elective call, 
 which, without any regard to his own will, word, 
 or work, summons him instantly and irresistibly, 
 to the assembl}^ of saints, numbers him among 
 the children of God, and consigns him to eternal 
 bliss : Surely the same spirit of infatuation which 
 impelled the father of this sect, still rules in his 
 misguided children. 
 
 They may have prudently tempered their lan- 
 guage in some respects, have lowered their pre- 
 tensions in others, and have improved their 
 Catholic scheme, of converting the world to 
 their opinions by a variety of new expedients : 
 expedients better calculated to gain over the 
 ignorant, the wicked, the melancholy, and the 
 timid to join their meetings and adopt their creed. 
 But in the same degree as their folly or madness 
 is diminished, their art and cunning may be in- 
 
« 
 
 ^32 Reflections oil [cHAp^.i^t, 
 
 , creased, and what is subtracted from the former, 
 added to the latter ; there may be less imputable 
 to the ramblings of the brain, but more to tlie 
 
 deflexions of the heart. But whether the errors 
 
 .■fj.' 
 
 of the head or of the heart preponderate, is a 
 question of little importance in comparison with 
 the momentous consequences to which they lead. 
 The great preservative of religion, and of order 
 and regularity in the exercise of it, is the pro- 
 vision that is made for the performance of public 
 offices, by persons lawfully appointed within 
 particular bounds and districts ; and if these be 
 taken down, nothing- can follow but disorder and 
 (Confusion. This nation in the time of our fore- 
 fathers had sufficient experience of the mischief 
 and contempt that may be brought upon religion 
 by inspired tongues and itching ears. When the 
 holy spirit was alleged to sanctify the greatest 
 .extravagances, and the most ridiculous fancies ; 
 when the most ordinary actions and incidents of 
 life were ascribed to the influences of the same 
 spirit; when the doctrine of justification by faith 
 alone was carried into an utter exclusion of the 
 necessity of good works, and under that notion 
 grew to be the distinguishing' mark of a whole 
 sect; and when the bounds of order and dis- 
 cipline were broken down, and the settled minis- 
 tries and offices of the church depreciated and 
 brought into contempt, as dispensations of a low 
 and less spiritual nature."* 
 
 * Gibson's Fourth Pastoral Letter, p. 279. 
 
c^^Ai^r^ixJ] Methddisiii);:-^. 233 
 
 5/ii^y^j.g ^rg -vvilting- to take counsel from the 
 ^eixample which OHi* ancestors have beqneathed to 
 us, there is terror enough in that examplx5 to 
 -tilanri the a]Tprehertsions, and excite the vigilance 
 of the bravest, the wisest, and the best. Bat this 
 is^an^ age in which the experien66' af tliosfe who 
 *htit^ gbile before tts is esteemed of no account^'; 
 arid the wisdorti'derivablte from the oliservation <if 
 former events, the most instructive and least 
 fallible that mere reason can attain, not I'Onger 
 regTilates our judgment or our conduct. We 
 contemplate without dismay the .dangeTS of the 
 coming storm, and stupidly forget the JTm^y pf 
 the past. The records of history are to us a dead 
 uninteresting letter. To the melancholy relation 
 of those miseries which i^prung from a faiiatic 
 zeal we pay no regard, or pteriise with philoSo]phic 
 apathy the a.wful lesson which it teaches. " But 
 the judgments of God ate for ever unchangeably," 
 says a learned and sagacious WJ«iter, "neither is 
 he wfearied by life' Ibtig^^rocess of time, and won 
 to give his blessiiig in one age to 'th^t which he 
 hath cursed in another," *i y --hv -- 
 
 " iThe same disastj-ous consequenjces wfiicK AV^re 
 occasioned by the excess of puritanic violence in 
 a former pMbd, '"will ilindeubtedly etisue again, 
 if we are subjected t6 the asceiidan'cy 6f a sitnlEr 
 enthusiasm. And surely our apprehensions of it 
 will not be allayed by the consideration of ihose 
 ' Yeligious tenets which it has been the purpose ^f 
 
 * Raleigh's Preface to bis History ^f-the World. 
 
234 Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 these pages to unfold : tenets which are alike 
 repug^nant to moral virtue, sound wisdom, and 
 christian charity. 
 
 The danger which threatens the ecclesiastical, 
 and together with it, the civil establishment of 
 this happy country from the angry spirits of con- 
 tending sects, will not appear less imminent,* 
 because the predominant spirit of Methodism is 
 
 * That tkis spirit will submit to no controul, is evident 
 from the temper and language of those who entertain it. 
 Some restrictions on itinerant preachers having been proposed, 
 a writer in the Evangelical Magazine, on the supposition of 
 their being enacted as a law, thus declares his sentiments : 
 
 " The ministers of the gospel, who, in compassion to the 
 souls of men, think it their duty to preach in the villages, 
 will not be silenced by unjust and persecuting restrictions: 
 they loill unquestionably persist in preaching, whenever they 
 think themselves called to do it ; and should severe punishments 
 be enacted, the prisons would be filled with persecuted Me- 
 thodists and Dissenters, as in the days of the Stuarts they were 
 with persecuted Puritans and Quakers. 
 
 Evang. Mag. Oct. 1809, p. 437. 
 
 Mr. Styles, in observing on the Barrister's suggestion, that 
 self-appointed teachers should not be exempt from the militia 
 ballot, says, " You indeed seem chiefly to depend on the 
 eflScacy of subjecting evangelical ministers to serve in the 
 militia. This would perhaps be the most effectual way to 
 shut our pulpits ; but we should go into the army, and preach 
 there : you will not be able by any means to quench this new 
 spirit."* What a presage of public calamity does this intima- 
 tion, which is not obscure, convey ! A fanatic army, impelled 
 by designing agitators, immediately presents itself to the ima- 
 gination : tlie troubles which preceded Cromwell's usurpation, 
 
 * Styles's y indication, p. 141. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism, S^c. 235 
 
 swallowing up all the rest. Our fears will rather 
 be frightened, when we consider the gigantic 
 strides and the malignant looks of that religious 
 spectre ; when we observe the desire of pre-emi- 
 nence, spiritual and temporal, concealed by the 
 shallow disguise of holy zeal for Christ, and Christ 
 alone; when we see a system of proselytism re- 
 gularly arranged throughout the British empire, 
 and a multitude of converts seduced by doctrines, 
 most agreeable indeed to our depraved nature, 
 but utterly subversive of all social and private 
 duty : When the influence of fanaticism is thus ex- 
 citing the passions of the ignorant and vulgar 
 against the best interests of mankind, and the 
 venerable institutions by which those interests 
 have been effectually secured, are we not justi- 
 fied in calling the attention of our countrymen 
 to the progress of that evangelism, which pro- 
 fanes the gospel of Jesus Christ, under the sanc- 
 tion of its hallowed name ? 
 
 Far be it from us to awaken an intolerant 
 disposition towards any description of our fellow 
 Christians, or to cherish an uncharitable senti- 
 ment towards any man: the principles, not the 
 persons, of our opponents are the just object, of 
 our ceusure and aversion. With t^he most sacred 
 
 and the baleful influen«e of that gloomy superstition, which 
 almost extinguished the light of science and of truth during 
 its continuance, occur at once, on the bare mention of army 
 preachers, and forewarn us to defend ourselves from the malig- 
 nity of this nm spirit, if it cannot he quenched. 
 
2§I5 Reflections OH' icMAi^.' Ik. 
 
 regard for the freedom of conscience/' iVe'tiiay 
 reasonably be afraid of its activity, when ig-rio- 
 rantly misguided, and violently impelled. Let 
 opinions be free; but the application of those 
 opinions to measures which are fraught with 
 public mischief, is an offence cognizable by th^ 
 community, whose safety they endanger, on this 
 acknowledged principle : Sahis populi suprema 
 lea:. The severest reprehension, in this case, is 
 perfectly consistent with the most hberal td- 
 lerance. ^-^^ iiiiDoa iiss io s»7i>,f>/(iitr- yhjjiir irjd 
 
 "^"T^arb&itfroni us alsb^'tiy confound the pidii* 
 Iheligionisft with the' raving enthusiast^'' <?'€rbii 
 fbrbid that' in^ this profane and degenerate agfe 
 ■iisvery thing that has the appfearance of piety and 
 ■devotion should not be considered in the most 
 ^aiv^urable light that iV is capable of." * Toihe 
 "ifittcere ^aith and virtuous practice of manyeXcel- 
 I^W:' p^^s()iik,'^'whd^e naine and patronagfe^^ive 
 countenance to the host of itinerdiit Methddf^, 
 -^e-bedr-oiii^ hdrtible t^itiiiiohy.' However we 
 inay diffet frohi th^m ill' sotaie point^; i^'rfeipect 
 thfe - € hri^tiim motive's V^hich ' actuitee Iffr^' ' fcbn- 
 dtict. But it i^^^iiiiptjssibl*^ n^ tt/^Mrti^iit^'tMl 
 ^octifiiifes-'''^ disseminated;'' dttH ' tHei^ntS^fdii' 
 Wed;- und^i^^Hfhte '^anctrcyft -of- jiti*bh ^hk^S^tM, 
 which tend to corrupt religion and degrade mo- 
 rality itd'dissdlve 'the 'fe ffie 
 
 * Bishop Gi^soiiV F«iirth Pas^^jLfittei:^^: j ^o x.Ua 
 
CHAP. ix.]j Methodisfh, ^-c. 237 
 
 ment that factious disunion, which is invariably 
 produced by the baneful influence of religion? 
 discord. 
 
 We are all so liable to prejudice and error in 
 oui* theolog-ical, as well as our political opinions^ 
 that we should regard those who differ from us 
 in merely speculative tenets with . unbounded 
 charity, i But in the practice of Christianity 
 there is no 'room for misapprehension; if that 
 7iew spirityih&tr spirit of meeknessyvof wisdom 
 and of truth, whidhr proceedeid from the divine 
 Author of our religion, dwell in us^ it -^iH 
 manifestitself by its fruitiS : '< Now the ft*uits oj[" 
 the spitit are love, joy,? peace^ long suffering, 
 g-entleness^ goodness, faith, :meekncss, temper- 
 ance-"* Hence it follows most undeniably, that 
 let morat duties^ be ,e:v«r;; s.q> rmuch disparaged as 
 mea»j^ and "lowi- and legale yet wheresoever we 
 j^ee. aily^^man liting iightedusly, where wo find 
 suc^ a mixture of faith, and charity, and all that 
 bright constellation of ^ virtues mentioned just 
 itowjiwe may> and ought to pronounce that man 
 boi^n of the^ spiritv .For though- the tre^ .be-not 
 visible to us, yet the ft-uits arej ^and since those 
 practices are the g^iuine product of the influ- 
 ences of the spirit, and cannot be produced from 
 any other principle ; to attribute them to nature, 
 or to any thing besides, is in effect to say, that 
 " grapes may be gi-athered of thorns, and figs of 
 thistles." And a necessary consequence of this 
 
 ■ * Galat. V. 32. 
 
238 ~ Reflections on [chap. ix. 
 
 particular is, that if such good practices, where 
 they are conspicuous, declare that they are 
 wrought by the spirit, and that God hath re- 
 newed that man, and did, and does still act 
 and dwell in him ; then it is no less certain, that 
 where the contrary vices and dispositions are 
 predominant, those men are not regenerate, 
 nor does the spirit of God work in them. " Let 
 no man deceive you," says the apostle ; " whoso- 
 ever doth not righteousness is not of God, neither 
 he that loveth not his brother.*' * 
 
 Men may delude themselves and their igno- 
 rant followers with boasting pretences; they 
 may have the impiety to sanctify their blackest 
 crimes, by fathering them upon divine impulse 
 and inspiration : but while we see them turbu- 
 lent and factious, proud and disobedient, censo- 
 rious and bitter, unjust and uncharitable, can we 
 think that God is the author of, or dwells with 
 these froward dispositions? It were a contra- 
 diction to all religion to suppose so ; and how- 
 ever they may be exalted by their own vain ima- 
 ginations, yet, alas ! they hiow 7iot themselves, 
 nor what spirit they are of^ f 
 
 This truly scriptural exposition of the doctrine 
 we have been considering, no sophistry can 
 evade, no argument refute. It comprises the 
 substance of all that need be said upon this sub- 
 ject — a subject that appears to have been pur- 
 posely involved in mysterious obscurity; the 
 
 * John iii. 10, t Stanhope's viith Sermon. 
 
CHAP. IX.] Methodism f S^c. 239 
 
 misconception of which has produced the great- 
 est injury to the cause of Christianity, has occa- 
 sioned the ignorant to err, the wise to mourn, 
 and the enemies of Christ to blaspheme. 
 
 To contribute in some degree to the vindica- 
 tion of that divine revelation, which is thus 
 slandered and abused, is the duty of every pro- 
 fessor, and more particularly of every minister 
 of the gospel. The corruption of Christianity is 
 so prevalent and so contagious an evil — Malum, 
 quo non aliud velocius allum — that no endea- 
 vour should be wanting to stay the progress of 
 this pestilent disease. For the sake of truth, of 
 virtue, and even of common decency and com- 
 mon sense, we should protest against the opinions 
 of a sect which would overwhelm them all in 
 darkness and confusion^ — a sect that has imbued 
 the fountain of knowledge with the bitter waters 
 of a morose fanaticism; that has disowned the 
 obligations of the moral law, and annulled the 
 conditions of the gospel-covenant ; that has sub- 
 stituted its own vain imaginations for the reason- 
 able service enjoined by Jesus Christ; that has 
 divested God of his attributes, and man of his 
 faculties; has denied the responsibility of the 
 sinner, and thence arraigned the justice of his 
 Almighty Judge ; that has straitened the way of 
 salvation, admitting its own votaries indeed, 
 however wicked and depraved, but excluding 
 all other human beings; thus daring to defeat 
 the purpose for which " God sent his Son into 
 
240 Itejiectiom oh [cHAp. ix. 
 
 the world— that the world.thrflugli him mi^ht be 
 
 saved."* * ,, 
 
 . ,4^gainst such doctrines it is our. duty to pro- 
 test, from reverence to " the gospel, which we 
 have received, and wherein we stand; by which 
 also we are saved :" and from a regard to the 
 well-being" of the community in which we live; 
 for surely there is too much ground of jeal fear, 
 that this country is fast approaching to that 
 crisis, when a mild and tolerant establishment 
 may be subverted by its false friends and rea.1 
 enemies. When the blessingfs of religfious free- 
 dom and internal peace, may be exchanged for 
 spiritual tyraniiy.and rancorous dissension, f 
 
 * John iii. 17: ■""'-'* •'-' '"' ' 
 
 t Tlie following remarks of the acute, and ingenious author, 
 who has been formerly cited, and x;annot-i>e suspected of having 
 written them fronji any interested motive, well deserve, and at 
 %\iis lime especially^ the most serious attention. 
 
 " We see, that in all countries upon earth, that have any 
 religion among them, there is some established discipline; and 
 though the wisest and most rational, tolerate other fonns be- 
 side their own, there are particular institutions and usages 
 appointed for the generality, and for such as have no opinions, 
 and hut little thought of their own. I know there are some 
 people disturbed at the dignities and revenues established in 
 the church: if they have so contemptible an opinion of re- 
 ligion, as to wish it were utterly lost out of the world, I can- 
 not blame them. But 1 will not suppose this of them ; and as 
 those who complain loudest, are such as would be thought very 
 rational men, they will hardly expect the world should be well 
 instructed by means of extraordinary illuminations, or super- 
 natural impulses imparted to private persons, qualifying them 
 instantaneously for the office : or. if the thing were doubtful 
 
CHAP. IX.] 3Iethodism, S^-c. 241 
 
 This surely is too probable a conjecture to be 
 contemplated without serious apprehension by 
 any one, who will observe impartially, and con- 
 sider attentively, the peculiar signs of these 
 eventful times. 
 
 in speculation, experience testifies what wild work has been 
 made by persons undertaking it on those pretences. For it is 
 well known, the doctrines of religion may be grossly misunder- 
 stood, and perverted to very mischievous purposes, as well 
 through ignorance, indiscretion, or mis-applied zeal, as by de- 
 sign. If we do not think a common artificer well qualified for 
 his business, without having served a regular apprenticeship; 
 surely this, which is a more dangerous edge-tool than the saw 
 or the chisel, requires an early preparation to handle it skil- 
 fully. As one of the most valuable liberties of mankind is 
 that of forming into societies, and enjoying the benefit of re- 
 gulations made for public order and convenience, whoever 
 endeavours to propagate opinions tending to disunite or disturb 
 the society, to weaken the authority of those regulations, or 
 hinder the good effects of them, is an infringer of that li- 
 berty, and consequently a proper object for the restraint of the 
 law."* 
 
 * Tucker's Light of Nature pursued, p. 41(3, 420, of tlie 
 Abridgment. 
 
 jn 
 
( 242 ) 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 JlT was proposed in the commencement of this 
 Avork, to examine the other doctrines, which the 
 pretended evangelists have g-rat'ted on the word 
 of God; as well as that which respects yrace 
 and reaenerat'njn. But this article is extended 
 to so great and unexpected a leng^th, that it may 
 be advisable perhaps to proceed no further. In- 
 deed, after the publication of the Bishop of Lin- 
 coln's Refutation of Calvinism, and Mr. M ant's 
 Bampton Lectures, it might seem needless, if 
 not presum[3Uious, to attempt any new defence 
 of those doctrines, which we affirm to be de- 
 livered in the gospel and asserted by our church. 
 But in extenuation of such apparent temerity, 
 it may be proper to state, that the materials of 
 tliis treatise were collected before the former 
 excellent work appeared ; and that the copy was 
 ready for the press, when the " Appeal to the 
 Gospel' was presented to the public. The first 
 though* that occurred, and in this case possibly the 
 best, was the propriety oi relinquishing a design, 
 the main object of which had been attained by 
 such superior abilities and learning. But sub- 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 24S 
 
 sequent reflection led to a diflferent determina- 
 tion. For although we pretend not to proceed 
 j)an passu in vindicating the divine doctrines of 
 our blessed Master, and only Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ ; yet it appeared probable that a more 
 familiar exposition of so grave a matter, however 
 inferior in dignity and value, might not be alto- 
 o-ether unserviceable to the common cause. In 
 venturing therefore to publish this cursory review 
 of Methodism, after the comprehensive and ac- 
 curate examinations of the subject which have 
 preceded it, we have been chiefly influenced by 
 these considerations, viz. That a light, and even 
 a superficial tract will often find its way, where a 
 more deep and weighty disquisition is less readily 
 admitted; and that when the principles of truth 
 itself are perverted, then it is allowable, if it 
 ever be, to " write the same thing-, to add line 
 upon line, and precept upon precept." If the 
 subject be trite, and the remarks anticipated; 
 and, if in pursuing the same end with the 
 Bampton Lecturer, we have occasionally trod in 
 the same path ; we presume to hope that a con- 
 currence of sentiment, purely accidental, may 
 add some force to the argument, and some credit 
 to the opinion it supports. 
 
 The bold assumptions of Calvinistic Methodism 
 have indeed been sufficiently repelled, and its 
 high claims to a divine original, have been ut- 
 terly disproved. But the adversary with whom 
 we are contending never remits his vigilance 
 
244 POSTS C RIP T. 
 
 or activity ; though defeated, he is not subdued ; 
 lie returns to the charge with the same weapons 
 which have been repeatedly blunted and foiled. 
 It is necessary, therefore, to oppose the same 
 means of defence which have been so frequently 
 resorted to before. 
 
 To make an effectual stand, we must put on 
 the whole armour of God : but still, in vain shall 
 we resist him, with the " breast plate of righte- 
 ousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of sal- 
 vation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the 
 word of God ;" those arms of truth of which he 
 bears the counterfeit; unless the imposture be 
 exposed to those, who are most liable to be de- 
 ceived by the specious semblance. His success 
 is favoured by darkness and delusion. 
 
 Fallere et effugere est triumphus. 
 
 We must, therefore, unravel all his windings, 
 unfold his intricacies, and discover his evasions. 
 The detailed, and numerous extracts from 
 Methodistical authors may possibly be very tire- 
 some to the reader; but if these particulars had 
 not been specified, we might have been charged, 
 as another opposer of their opinions has been, 
 " of dealing in generalities, and of reproaching 
 all its teachers with one sweeping censure, as 
 illiterate, and self-appointed." * We might 
 have been accused of imputing sentiments to 
 them, which their advocates disclaimed. 
 
 * Stvles's Letter to a Barrister, p. 91. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 245 
 
 It may be some apology for the loose manner 
 in which these strictures have been composed, to 
 observe, that they were written under the dis- 
 advantage of continual interruptions, and at short 
 intervals ; and that the time bestowed upon them 
 has been literally snatched from pressing, and 
 necessary engagements, which would scarcely 
 allow either abstraction of mind^ or arrange- 
 ment of thought. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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