Back to Oxford 
 
 A SEARCH FOR THE 
 
 ESSENTIALS OF METHODISM 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES HENRY POTTS 
 
 CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE 
 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS
 
 Copyright by 
 
 EATON & MAINS 
 
 1903
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 METHODISM, like other important move- 
 ments, has certain elements, which either 
 originated with it or sprang into being under 
 it, which constitute its essentials and are 
 necessary to its perpetuity. These elements 
 are its vital life-strands, its ruddy heart- 
 drops, the very essence and proof of its re- 
 ality. They have given it name, character, 
 history, and prestige. They are the secret of 
 its early power and the cause of its perennial 
 fruitfulness. They render it an interesting 
 theme for study, a worthy subject for prayer, 
 and an inspiring cause for work. They should 
 engage the attention of every lover of earnest 
 Christianity, if happily we, like the Metho- 
 dist fathers, may in our day prove a tre- 
 mendous force for righteousness, a resistless 
 power for reformation, and an indispensable 
 agency for spiritual progress. 
 
 The world needs unquestionable truth, it 
 needs divine light, it needs moral earnestness,
 
 4 Foreword 
 
 it needs evangelistic skill, it needs effective 
 leadership in all that elevates, ennobles, puri- 
 fies, and saves. Can Methodism furnish these 
 requisites? Has it the cardinal principles, 
 the inherent values, the vital forces, the ade- 
 quate inspirations, the available methods that, 
 under present conditions, can make it a new 
 godsend to society? Let us look into this 
 subject, study it, master it, apply it, develop 
 it, become a part of it, and go with it to 
 victory. 
 
 God has been in Methodism. Let us hold 
 fast the things which he has sanctioned and 
 make them a tenfold greater power to call 
 down spiritual blessing now and lift men up 
 
 to God. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 Detroit.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Origin of Methodism 7 
 
 The Principal Founder 19 
 
 The Substance of Methodism 32 
 
 The Genius of Methodism 44 
 
 Backbone of the System 55 
 
 The Moving Force 75 
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 85 
 
 Operations of the Spirit 96 
 
 Progress in the Justified State 105 
 
 Scriptural Holiness 115 
 
 Training of Youth 122 
 
 Higher Education 132 
 
 Philanthropy and Reform 143 
 
 Missionary Zeal 153 
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 165 
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 178 
 
 New Developments 194 
 
 Discarded Customs 206 
 
 Features that Should Live 214 
 
 The Future . . 230
 
 BACK TO OXFORD 
 
 ORIGIN OF METHODISM 
 
 To understand the essentials of Methodism 
 we must study its origin, analyze its charac- 
 ter, and consider its work. This will not be 
 an irksome task, because the theme is of such 
 lively interest. 
 
 As to the exact moment when Methodism 
 originated, no man knoweth. The period of 
 its origin is a matter of history, but not its 
 day and hour. 
 
 It was in 1726 when Charles Wesley, "a 
 sprightly, rollicking young fellow, with more 
 genius than grace," was elected to Christ 
 Church, Oxford. John Wesley was then serv- 
 ing as his father's curate at Epworth. John 
 had previously spoken to Charles about ex- 
 perimental religion, but Charles had said,
 
 8 Back to Oxford 
 
 "What, would you have me to be a saint all 
 at once?" 
 
 But Charles began at once to do saintly 
 work. He attended the weekly sacraments, 
 and induced two or three other students to 
 attend with him. When John returned to 
 Oxford he also joined the band. The religious 
 regularity of the boys led a young collegian 
 to call them Methodists, and "as the name was 
 new and quaint it clave to them immediately." 
 John Wesley became director of the club, the 
 members of which increased until upward of 
 twenty persons three of whom were college 
 tutors and the rest bachelors of arts, or un- 
 dergraduates demonstrated their willingness 
 to suffer reproach under the guidance of "the 
 curator of the Holy Club" as John Wesley 
 was called. 
 
 METHOD 
 
 "Every night they met together, to review 
 what each had done during the day, and to 
 consult what should be done the day follow-
 
 Origin of Methodism 9 
 
 ing; their meetings always commencing with 
 prayer, and ending with a frugal supper. 
 Their plans of action were various. Some 
 conversed with young students, and endeav- 
 ored to rescue them from evil company, and 
 to encourage them in a sober and studious 
 life. Others undertook to relieve the dis- 
 tresses of the poor; others, to minister to 
 prisoners; others, to labor in the parish work- 
 house; others, in raising funds to buy medi- 
 cine, books, and other necessities for the relief 
 of the sick, the unfortunate, the distressed, 
 and the children of poverty."* 
 
 "THE HOLY CLUB" 
 
 In the original list of names of these Ox- 
 ford Methodists were John and Charles 
 Wesley, Robert Kirkham, William Morgan, 
 George Whitefield, John Clayton, J. Brough- 
 ton, Benjamin Ingham, James Hervey, John 
 Whitelamb, Westley Hall, John Gambold, 
 
 * Condensed from Tyerman's Life of Wesley, vol. 1, pages 
 70, 71.
 
 10 Back to Oxford 
 
 Charles Kinchin, William Smith, and others. 
 William Morgan was the first to die, and 
 Charles Kinchin next. Others achieved great 
 distinction in Christian labor, while a few 
 went back to the world and sin. Those who 
 proved faithful were ridiculed as "Bible big- 
 ots," "Bible moths," and the like, but they 
 chose rather to suffer affliction as the people 
 of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
 a season. When their enemies found that 
 persecution did not avail to check the move- 
 ment, a conspiracy was formed to "blow up 
 the Godly Club," but it seems to have come 
 to naught. They were lied about, and slan- 
 dered in print, until at length a defense 
 seemed necessary, and after consulting with 
 Rev. Samuel Wesley, John's father, an epistle 
 of defense appeared, "the first defense of 
 Methodism ever published," in which was 
 shown that "the three points to which these 
 gentlemen think themselves obliged to adhere 
 were: 1. That of visiting and relieving the 
 prisoners and the sick, and giving away Bibles,
 
 Origin of Methodism 11 
 
 prayer books, and other religious works; and 
 of explaining the catechism to the children of 
 poor families, and of dropping a shilling or 
 so to such families where they deem it need- 
 ful. 2. That of weekly communion. 3. That 
 of observing strictly the fasts of the Church, 
 which has caused some to call them superero- 
 gation men." 
 
 But their work among prisoners was not 
 one of "supererogation." John Wesley once 
 preached the condemned criminals' sermon 
 in Newgate. Forty-seven were under sen- 
 tence of death. As they came marching in 
 the clanking of their chains was awful. Wes- 
 ley preached on the joy in heaven over re- 
 penting sinners. The power of God was felt. 
 Most of the prisoners were in tears. A few 
 days after twenty of them were executed at 
 once, five of whom died in peace. This was 
 only one instance in hundreds in which these 
 young Methodists obeyed the command of 
 their Master. They were bent on saving 
 others as well as themselves.
 
 12 Back to Oxford 
 
 THE TRUTH DISCOVERED 
 
 Speaking of the rise of Methodism, Mr. 
 Wesley himself says: "In 1729 my brother 
 and I read the Bible; saw inward and out- 
 ward holiness therein; followed after it, and 
 incited others so to do. In 1737 we saw, 'This 
 holiness conies by faith.' In 1738 we saw, 
 'We must be justified before we are sanc- 
 tified.' But still holiness was our point in- 
 ward and outward holiness. God then thrust 
 us out, utterly against our will, to raise up a 
 holy people. When Satan could not otherwise 
 prevent this he threw Calvinism in our way; 
 and then Antinomianism, which struck at the 
 root both of inward and outward holiness." 
 
 A great deal is involved in the above state- 
 ment, but the exact date of the origin of 
 Methodism is not revealed. Mr. Wesley does 
 not say that he and his brother first read the 
 Bible in 1729, but that in that year they 
 made an important discovery, eight years af- 
 terward another important discovery, and the
 
 Origin of Methodism 13 
 
 next year another. "Then," he says, "God 
 thrust us out." Then Satan threw obstacles 
 in tKeir way, and the struggle began. But 
 when did Methodism originate? Was it in 
 the conflict with Satan? Was it in the in- 
 citement of others to holiness? Was it in the 
 discovery that justification precedes sanctifi- 
 cation, or that holiness is by faith, or that 
 holiness is taught in the Bible? Or was it 
 in holiness itself? or in Bible study itself? 
 Or, did it precede all this and take its rise 
 in the diligent instructions of a pious mother 
 who consecrated her infant children to God 
 and taught them to study the Bible and love 
 the Lord in an age when infidelity was rife 
 and when irreligion was the order of the day? 
 Certain it is, as Abel Stevens observes, that 
 "Susanna Wesley is universally credited by 
 Methodist writers as the real foundress of 
 this mighty success. She planted its germ at 
 Epworth; she kept it alive by her vigilant 
 nurture when it was transplanted to Oxford; 
 she guarded and nurtured it into mature
 
 14 Back to Oxford 
 
 strength in London." This being so, the ex- 
 act date of the development of this "germ" is 
 made all the more uncertain. History shows 
 that the Wesley boys, in 1729, when "reading 
 their Bibles," had not yet come into the en- 
 joyment of experimental religion, far less 
 into the experience of holiness. Their re- 
 ligious state was the object of deep solicitude 
 in the heart of their devoted and godly 
 mother. They were "following after," ex- 
 horting others to join them, opening up the 
 way of truth, but had not yet attained. Is 
 Methodism simply a truth? Is it an incite- 
 ment to holiness? Is it a fight with error? Is 
 it a series of discoveries in the deep things 
 of God? Is it an impulsive force which 
 thrusts men Out, utterly against their will, to 
 raise up a devout people? Upon the answer 
 to these questions depends knowledge of the 
 origin of Methodism. 
 
 THE SCENE LAID 
 
 Look at the facts. The land and century 
 in which this movement originated had their
 
 Origin of Methodism 15 
 
 peculiar relations and opportunities. Eng- 
 land was a central little island with extensive 
 commerce, unbounded ambitions, vast re- 
 sources, a migratory population, and related 
 by political ties to extensive dominions both 
 in the old and new worlds. The eighteenth 
 century was likewise a sort of turning point 
 in history, a period when the old was being 
 rung out and the new being ushered in. The 
 great work of preparation had been accom- 
 plished. The geographical discoveries begun 
 by Columbus were about to be completed by 
 Captain Cook, bringing unknown regions of 
 vast extent into view for the dominion of 
 Christ. The Reformers and martyrs had 
 broken the iron yoke of popery, had exhumed 
 the precious treasure of sacred truth from 
 beneath a putrid heap of superstitions, and 
 had given back the Bible to the world. The 
 Nonconformists had secured religious liberty, 
 and had built up a literature in defense of 
 Christian truth. All that was needed now 
 was a deep and widespread revival of spiritual
 
 16 Back to Oxford 
 
 religion, rebuking lukewarm Christians, con- 
 victing shameless sinners, and condemning 
 foolish error and reckless wickedness wherever 
 found. That revival came in Methodism. 
 The fifteen young men in Oxford with their 
 well-worn Bibles, calloused knees, holy aspira- 
 tions, and baptized energies, cultivated, God- 
 fearing, sin-hating, the fire of God pent up 
 in their bones, new discoveries in vital truth 
 within them and panting for unfolding, with 
 God behind them thrusting them out, the 
 world around them sneering at their methods, 
 the devil before them casting obstacles in 
 their path these young men under God were 
 the planters of a tree which had its roots in 
 eternal truth, its body in omnipotent power, 
 its branches in infinite grace, and its flower 
 and fruit in love which passeth knowledge. 
 Never since time began was there more ear- 
 nest preaching, or more soulful singing, or 
 more courageous defending of the faith, or 
 more passionate appeals to the conscience, or 
 more terrific proclaiming of the law, or more
 
 Origin of Methodism 17 
 
 brotherly solicitation into the way of life. 
 And it was effective, too. The power of God 
 came down upon the multitudes, while strong 
 men fell to the ground and redeemed souls 
 cried out for exceeding joy. That age and 
 country had never known religion after such 
 a fashion. The ease-cursed clergy frowned 
 upon the movement and closed the churches 
 against the new evangelists. "Church or no 
 church," said Wesley, "we must save souls;" 
 and on they went preaching in the highways, 
 the market places, the graveyards, the open 
 fields, the broad roads, by day and night, 
 whenever and wherever they could find a wall 
 or a box or a tombstone to stand upon, and 
 room for the people to assemble and hear. 
 There was intense excitement among the peo- 
 ple, but perfect calmness and self-control 
 among the preachers. The doctrines pro- 
 claimed, while as old as the Bible, were 
 stripped of their accumulated rubbish and 
 flashed like naked swords in the light of a 
 holy presence, to penetrate through the gar-
 
 18 Back to Oxford 
 
 ments of self -righteousness and find the 
 hearts of a wicked people who had long de- 
 fied God. The slain of the Lord were many. 
 Victories without number were won. New 
 captains were commissioned and "thrust out." 
 Organization followed organization, until, 
 almost before these God-led men had time to 
 pause and consider, the fir tree and the pine 
 and the box tree which God had set in the 
 desert were grown to an immense height and 
 had extended their branches into many lands, 
 yielding rich fruit and casting grateful shade 
 over peoples parched in the dry heat of sin 
 and selfishness or withered in the consuming 
 fires of a hell already begun on earth. 
 
 " Glory to God for this shelter of love ! 
 'Tis planted by Him who is pleading above, 
 Who offers to sinners the wealth of his grace 
 And lifts them, restored, to the light of his face."
 
 THE PRINCIPAL FOUNDER 
 
 A RELIGIOUS system partakes largely of the 
 spirit of its founder. His ideas and senti- 
 ments, his teachings and life habits, his tact 
 and humor, his power as a leader, and his 
 bearing under trial become ensamples to the 
 flock that rises to follow him, and through 
 them are handed down to other generations. 
 
 In the early Methodist movement John 
 Wesley was the controlling force. He di- 
 rected its undertakings, appointed its agents, 
 and guarded its interests. He stamped the 
 impress of his thought upon its principles and 
 formulas. He embodied its genius, illustrated 
 its character, and gave bent to its energies. 
 
 From childhood he had manifested a re- 
 ligious spirit. His father was an educated 
 minister. His mother was a minister's daugh-
 
 20 Back to Oxford 
 
 ter. He was born and reared in an atmos- 
 phere of piety. At the age of eight he was 
 admitted to the communion table, an uncom- 
 mon thing for those days. All through his * 
 youth he evinced a remarkable knowledge of 
 true religion. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two he was ordained 
 a deacon, and at twenty-five an elder. At 
 thirty-two he became a missionary to Georgia, 
 laboring among the Indians and colonists. 
 While here he formed the acquaintance of 
 some Moravians, who questioned him closely 
 touching his religious experience, and he be- 
 came satisfied that he had not attained the 
 vital experience of a real Christian. "I went 
 to America," he afterward said, "to convert 
 the Indians, but O! who shall convert me?" 
 He returned to England, sought the blessing 
 of assurance, found it, entered upon evan- 
 gelistic work with new energy, and became 
 in fact what he had always sighed to be, a 
 Christian in heart and life. He worked in- 
 cessantly, stirring up the energies of a dead
 
 The Principal Founder 21 
 
 Church, rebuking the sophistries of a skep- 
 tical age, revolutionizing the practices of a 
 wicked world, and reviving the essence of 
 spiritual religion as no other man had done 
 since the days of Paul. 
 
 Wesley was great in elements of personal 
 efficiency, and he was also a born leader. He 
 knew how to arouse latent talent into activity. 
 He feared nobody. He trusted God. He lived 
 in the smile of his Saviour. He had a fine 
 intellect. His judgment was quick and sound. 
 His reasoning was convincing. His preach- 
 ing was plain and direct. His life was cir- 
 cumspect and devout. His observation was 
 keen. He knew how to criticise effectively. 
 He never inflicted unnecessary wounds. His 
 counsels were words in due season. He 
 studied character and knew the measure of 
 each mind. He made young preachers feel 
 that he was their best friend. He could de- 
 vise original methods to suit emergencies, 
 and could develop in strange situations an at- 
 mospheric condition that told the presence of
 
 22 Back to Oxford 
 
 God. Everybody felt at home with him. The 
 poorest of the poor were made to feel at ease. 
 He was strict in religion, and required his 
 followers to be faithful in worship. 
 
 When organizing the work in Georgia he 
 required the children to be present in the 
 Sunday classes unless they were sick. Poor 
 clothing was not considered an excuse. Some 
 of the boys had no shoes or stockings, and 
 were made the butt of ridicule by others who 
 had. Wesley heard of this, and his first im- 
 pulse was to rebuke the rude tormentors in a 
 public lecture. Then he thought he would 
 insist that all children should come to the 
 school barefoot. Finally he decided to set the 
 pattern himself, and thus shame the offend- 
 ers. Sure enough, the next Sunday he walked 
 into the place of worship with clean bare feet, 
 and in conducting the session he took occasion 
 to refer to the human body as fearfully and 
 wonderfully made, using his own foot, which 
 he placed on a convenient chair, as an ex- 
 ample in marvelous anatomy. The effect was
 
 The Principal Founder 23 
 
 magical. No boy was thereafter ashamed of 
 his naked feet. 
 
 His APPEARANCE 
 
 Close observers who knew Mr. Wesley per- 
 sonally describe him as low in stature, slender 
 in body, muscular in frame, firm in step, fresh 
 in complexion, cheerful in countenance, com- 
 manding in presence, sprightly in conversa- 
 tion, tranquil in repose, and somewhat re- 
 served in bearing. His habits of constant 
 exercise and strict temperance gave him the 
 aspect of perfect health. In old age his face 
 was fine and beautiful. His clear, smooth 
 forehead, aquiline nose, bright and piercing 
 eye, and grave but sweet countenance made 
 him a striking and interesting figure. 
 
 He dressed neatly and simply, wore no silk 
 or velvet, no knee buckles or other ornaments, 
 had a narrow cravat, a coat with small up- 
 right collar, and, with his snowy hair and 
 dignified, pleasant ways, gave an idea of some- 
 thing primitive and apostolic.
 
 24 Back to Oxford 
 
 In mind and heart Wesley was always 
 young. In the treatment of moral questions 
 he was a century in advance of his age. His 
 views of temperance, slavery, and kindred 
 evils are quoted as alive unto this day. 
 
 He was a busy man. Though never in a 
 hurry, he had no leisure. He would not con- 
 verse with anybody for more than one hour 
 at a time, deeming further talk unprofitable. 
 
 People beset him with all sorts of foolish 
 suggestions. One woman told him that the 
 Lord had sent her to rebuke him for living 
 at ease and treasuring up money. "The Lord 
 knows me better," said he, "and if he had sent 
 you on such an errand he would have given 
 you a more proper message." Instead of liv- 
 ing at ease, Wesley was constantly burdened 
 for the salvation of sinners and for the edifi- 
 cation of saints. When not actually preach- 
 ing the Gospel he was breathing after the 
 Gospel spirit to go about continually doing 
 good. His sighings and exultations show how, 
 iu his struggles with error and with evil, he
 
 The Principal Founder 25 
 
 sought for better manifestations of life. "O 
 what may not a single believer do," he cried, 
 "who seeks nothing but the glory of God!" 
 "O what shoals of half-awakened sinners," he. 
 cried again, "will be broad awake when it is 
 too late!" And here are other of his deep 
 breathings : 
 
 "O what a pity that so many even of the 
 children of God do not know the day of their 
 visitation !" 
 
 "O what light and comfort did I enjoy in 
 my own soul, and what a taste of the pardon- 
 ing love of God!" 
 
 "0 how good it is to have no choice of our 
 own, but to leave all things to the will of 
 God!" 
 
 "0 what a flame did God kindle! Many 
 were on fire to be dissolved in love." 
 
 "O how patient, how meek, how gentle to- 
 ward all men ought a preacher, especially a 
 Methodist, to be!" 
 
 "0 what zeal, what prudence and patience, 
 are requisite to bear the manners of an unto-
 
 26 Back to Oxford 
 
 ward people, and to train them up in Chris- 
 tian discipline, till they come to the full 
 stature of Christ!" 
 
 "0 what a meeting was our last class meet- 
 ing! In three minutes, or less, God, quite 
 unexpectedly, convinced an old opposer of the 
 truth, and wounded many. I never felt the 
 abiding presence of God so exceeding power- 
 ful before." 
 
 STRANGE EXPERIENCES 
 
 Extravagance in religious devotion was 
 something that Mr. Wesley did not like, but 
 could not always avoid. Sometimes the peo- 
 ple were so lively that three or four, yea, ten 
 or twelve, would be praying aloud together. 
 Some of them would scream at the top of 
 their voices. Some would use wild expres- 
 sions in prayer. Some would drop as dead, 
 and become "as stiff as a corpse;" then they 
 would start up and cry, "Glory! glory!" per- 
 haps twenty times together. These things
 
 The Principal Founder 27 
 
 tended to bring the work into contempt, but 
 whenever he reproved them it was in the most 
 mild and gentle manner possible. 
 
 He met with many strange and laughable 
 experiences, and in his Journal, which Mr. 
 Birrell, a bright Englishman, has well called 
 "the most amazing record of human exertion 
 ever penned by man," he has recorded not a 
 few. In telling of a disturbance at an out- 
 door preaching he says: "One called a gen- 
 tleman came with his pockets filled with rot- 
 ten eggs. A young man came unawares and 
 clapped his hands on either pocket and broke 
 the eggs so that the stench made him turn 
 and flee." His criticisms of books and men 
 were apt. Of the author of a volume he says, 
 "A well-meaning man, but deeply ignorant of 
 his subject." When a curate at St. Andrews 
 read the lessons badly he remarks, "It would 
 be better to pay the gentleman for doing 
 nothing." Of the Glasgow people he slyly 
 says, "They dearly love the Gospel on the 
 Sawl>ath day."
 
 58 Back to Oxford 
 
 Like all other mortals, he had his failings'. 
 He was too credulous, and he married un- 
 wisely. There was no honeymoon. Three 
 days after his marriage, he wrote: "I met the 
 single brethren of the society, and advised 
 them to remain single/' therein following the 
 example of another great Englishman, Mil- 
 ton, who wrote his essay on divorce a few 
 weeks after his wedding. 
 
 He had a weakness for doctoring himself, 
 and he despised both doctors and their drugs. 
 His own prescriptions, however, indicate that 
 he knew less about medicine than about the- 
 ology. For a swelling in the cheek he recom- 
 mends boiled nettles and warm treacle for 
 outward application. In another place he 
 says, ''I applied pounded garlic to my feet, 
 which took away my hoarseness." 
 
 A HUMOROUS VEIN 
 
 Tyennan asserts that Wesley was naturally 
 of an irritable disposition, but, by the grace
 
 The Principal Founder 29 
 
 of God, his thorough command of himself en- 
 abled him always to appear in good humor. 
 
 At one of the early Conferences a preacher 
 was occupying too much time in narrating 
 his religious experience, and Charles Wesley 
 threatened to leave the room if John, who was 
 presiding, did not stop the speaker. John's 
 only reply was, "Keach him his hat." Charles 
 did not go out. 
 
 On one occasion, when Methodism held 
 many wealthy people in her communion, Wes- 
 ley and one of his preachers sat down at a 
 sumptuous repast at a rich man's table. "O, 
 sir,'' cried the preacher, with more piety than 
 politeness, "what a sumptuous dinner! Things 
 are not now as they once were! No self- 
 denial now amongst the Methodists!" Wesley 
 silenced him by calmly saying, "My brother, 
 there is a fine opportunity for self-denial 
 now." 
 
 Once while passing Billingsgate market he 
 and a friend saw two women quarreling most 
 furiously. Wesley paused to listen. His
 
 30 Back to Oxford 
 
 friend said: "Pray, sir, let us go! I cannot 
 stand it." "Stay, Sammy," answered Wesley, 
 as he looked at the earnest viragoes, "stay and 
 learn how to preach." 
 
 Such traits of character were well adapted 
 to Mr. Wesley's position as ruler of the so- 
 cieties. He could become all things to all 
 men if by any means he might save some. 
 His genial spirit, ready wit, quick judgment, 
 and great courage enabled him to pass many 
 a perilous point in safety, and helped to per- 
 petuate his efficiency to the end of his career. 
 
 He worked to the last, traveling five thou- 
 sand miles a year, and never reaching a sec- 
 ond childhood. One year before his death, at 
 the age of nearly eighty-eight, he preached a 
 mighty sermon to two thousand people, and 
 he preached his last sermon only ten days be- 
 fore he died. He was in the ministry sixty- 
 five years, and gathered around him three 
 hundred itinerant preachers, one thousand lo- 
 cal preachers, and eighty thousand members. 
 He founded eight mission stations in the
 
 The Principal Founder 31 
 
 West Indies, eight in British America, and 
 founded the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 with fourteen Annual Conferences, two hun- 
 dred and fifty-nine preachers, and sixty-three 
 thousand members. During his life he 
 preached forty thousand sermons, and wrote, 
 revised, or compiled three hundred books in 
 science, literature, and theology. 
 
 He died as he had lived, poor. He re- 
 quested in his will that "six poor men should 
 carry his corpse to the grave." He allowed 
 for no hearse, no coach, no pomp, no demon- 
 stration. He was buried by torchlight just 
 before daylight to "avoid a tumult." He was 
 born June 17, 1703, and died March 2, 1791. 
 
 Wesley was a man, simply a man, earnest, 
 honest, humble, persistent, consecrated to God, 
 contented to do one work, determined to fulfill 
 his mission whatever might come, and abun- 
 dantly illustrating the old axiom, "Preaching 
 which comes from the soul is sure to work 
 most on the soul."
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF 
 METHODISM 
 
 A VERY natural inquiry with reference to 
 an interesting subject is, What is there of it? 
 What is its nature, its essence, its character? 
 
 Especially is this true of Methodism. 
 Learned men have sought to penetrate its 
 depths and expose the secret of its strength. 
 
 Perhaps no one has come nearer to an un- 
 folding of the real gist of the subject than 
 Dr. Isaac Taylor, the philosophical recluse of 
 the Established Church in England. He de- 
 clared that the Methodistic proclamation of 
 the Gospel was rendered effective by a Divine 
 Energy, granted at that time, in a sovereign 
 manner, and in an unwonted degree; and 
 that the impression which the Methodistic 
 preaching produced resolved itself into four 
 elements, namely:
 
 The Substance of Methodism 33 
 
 1. A waking up of that deep-seated soul- 
 sense which has its home in the structure of 
 human nature and which differentiates man 
 from other portions of the creature world. 
 Under Wesleyan preaching this religious 
 sense asserted its being in a peculiar manner. 
 There was tumult in the soul while a power 
 irresistible was claiming its rights over both 
 soul and body. Every hearer felt himself ut- 
 terly-alone for the time being even though 
 surrounded by a crowd. Even the preacher 
 himself was almost forgotten while the im- 
 mortal and guilty spirit was brought into the 
 presence of eternal justice. It seemed as if 
 the whole moral condition of the dismayed 
 heart were for the first time thoroughly spread 
 open for impartial scrutiny. Levity ceased, 
 lightness vanished, indifference fled away, and 
 mockery was hushed while the mind and heart 
 of the trembling sinner seemed irresistibly 
 laid bare in the presence of the supreme recti- 
 tude. The dormant religious consciousness, 
 or innate sense of relationship to God, was
 
 34 Back to Oxford 
 
 aroused in various degrees of intensity, but so 
 effectually in most cases as to give it an en- 
 tire newness of manifestation like as of a 
 fresh and unheard-of thing in the world. 
 
 2. As this spiritual quickening proceeds in 
 the soul a deeper feeling also intervenes, a 
 consciousness of the relationship of God, the 
 Father of Spirits, to the individual spirit, 
 which is thus beginning to live a life divine. 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ was manifested in the 
 flesh that he might "show us the Father." He 
 told his disciples that he was in the Father, 
 and the Father in him. "He that hath seen 
 me hath seen the Father." This doctrine was 
 what gave to primitive Christianity its tre- 
 mendous force, its vital warmth, and its 
 marvelous animation, and it was a renovation 
 of this doctrine that made Methodism such a 
 remarkable season of religious refreshment. 
 Every sinner was brought most vividly to see 
 the Saviour beckoning him toward God and 
 to hear him calling upon him to repent and 
 believe the Gospel. It was almost as if Jesus
 
 The Substance of Methodism 35 
 
 had come again in the flesh, as he really had 
 in the Spirit, to startle men into a conscious- 
 ness of new life and duty after slumbering 
 through the long and dreary night of the 
 dark ages. 
 
 3. While Methodism was producing this 
 powerful agitation of soul, and setting before 
 the consciousness of humanity the imminent 
 presence of God as a Father and rightful 
 Sovereign of the heart, it brought also into 
 conspicuous prominence the thrilling truth of 
 a gracious Saviour come into the world espe- 
 cially for man's deliverance. Pardon was pro- 
 claimed for repented sin. Salvation was set 
 forth for appropriating faith. Adoption was 
 presented for the trustful cry of "Abba, 
 Father!" Kegeneration was offered for ac- 
 cepting confidence. Full deliverance was de- 
 clared to be available to all mankind who 
 would comply with the Gospel conditions. It 
 was New Testament theology set on fire of 
 spirit life and held flaming with light and 
 warmth before the vision of despairing souls.
 
 36 Back to Oxford 
 
 "Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and 
 not for ours only, but also for the sins of the 
 whole world." "The Father sent the Son to 
 be the Saviour of the world." Our Lord's 
 discourses and the Pauline epistles were laid 
 under special tribute for the enrichment and 
 irradiation of the preaching which made this 
 Gospel truth so comprehensive in its "swing 
 of conquest." 
 
 4. Having stirred the immortal spirit to a 
 sense of accountability to God and to an 
 acceptance of the Bible plan of salvation, 
 Methodism next proceeded to the lively devel- 
 opment of that evangelic philanthropy which 
 Jesus and Paul so plainly taught but which 
 had been forgotten or tainted through the con- 
 tact of Christianity with paganism and its 
 degeneration under the corrupting influences 
 and tendencies of Romanism. "Then shall 
 the King say unto them on the right hand, 
 Inasmuch as ye did it unto these my brethren, 
 ye did it unto me." "Now concerning the 
 collection for the saints, as I have given or-
 
 The Substance of Methodism 37 
 
 der to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." 
 Methodists were instantly thrown into the 
 habit of giving liberally and systematically 
 for the benefit of the poor and perishing. The 
 bodies as well as the souls of men were to be 
 cared for in her economy. "A penny a week 
 and a shilling a quarter" became the min- 
 imum standard of giving. The regular rule 
 for the government of all members was, 
 "First, get all you can by honest industry; 
 second, save all you can by prudent economy; 
 and, third, give all you can with Christian 
 liberality." In order to set wholesome ex- 
 amples in beneficence, the leaders denied 
 themselves all luxuries, and even dispensed 
 with many necessities. Wesley expended his 
 own income in deeds of charity. The tax 
 commission once got after him to make re- 
 turns of silver plate or something else to be 
 taxed, but his laconic reply was, "I have two 
 spoons, one at Bristol and the other at Lon- 
 don; and I cannot afford to have any other
 
 38 Back to Oxford 
 
 plate, while so many poor are around me cry- 
 ing for bread." 
 
 5. In order to facilitate and perfect the 
 plans for the sustenance of the poor, and for 
 the rescue of the perishing, there was insti- 
 tuted that effective system of Christian fel- 
 lowship and mutual watchcare which became 
 so distinguishing a feature in the economy of 
 Methodism the class meeting. It was the 
 business of the leader to meet the members 
 weekly, to inquire after their souls, to advise 
 with them, comfort, exhort, or reprove them, 
 as occasion might require, and to receive their 
 contributions for the relief of the preachers, 
 church, and poor. This institution instantly 
 became an immense agency for good. Presi- 
 dent Green affirms that "it was the strongest 
 bond of union in Methodism; its most effect- 
 ive means of spiritual improvement and cul- 
 ture; its most successful method of bringing 
 the church members into close intercourse on 
 spiritual things; and its most effectual way 
 of guarding each individual believer, and of
 
 The Substance of Methodism 39 
 
 securing mutual help, consideration, and care. 
 It afforded the opportunity for true spiritual 
 oversight, and an actual brotherly com- 
 munion. While it declared the common in- 
 terests of all, it took careful cognizance of 
 each. Every sheep in the flock was known 
 and named and numbered; every one was 
 watched over and accounted for; no one was 
 too mean to be recorded."* 
 
 But perhaps the most marked element in 
 the abiding essence of Methodism was the ele- 
 vation which it gave to the standard of Chris- 
 tian life and character. In the popular 
 theology and worship of the time there was 
 almost nothing which served to gratify the 
 heart life. A cold and stately ritualism was 
 made to answer the deep hunger of the soul 
 after the hidden manna of God's eternal truth 
 and righteousness. The religious doctrines 
 and services which Jesus instituted and Paul 
 unfolded had become utterly lost to life and 
 thought. The heart of flesh for the heart of 
 * Mission of Methodism, page 52.
 
 40 Back to Oxford 
 
 stone, a deep regeneration, growth in grace, 
 an eradication by faith of the roots of de- 
 pravity, a refreshing of the soul by the con- 
 stant ministrations of the divine Spirit, a 
 going on to perfection with all that this "cen- 
 tral idea of Christianity" involved all this 
 had become a lost benefaction, a forgotten 
 heritage. Methodism revived these things 
 and did it in such a spirit and under such 
 conditions that they became attractive to all 
 earnest souls, and repellent to none. They 
 were offered as the normal privileges and 
 rights of free men in Christ, not as the 
 slavish duties and burdens of a legal yoke. 
 Indeed, liberty of conscience and freedom of 
 spirit were conspicuously promulgated along 
 with holiness of heart and life as constituting 
 the very essence of Methodism. 
 
 If ever any man loved religious liberty it 
 was John Wesley. lie had tasted by bitter 
 experience the fruits of bigotry and intoler- 
 ance, and had been delivered from bonds only 
 by a most remarkable providence. Having
 
 The Substance Of Methodism 41 
 
 been made free himself, it became the passion 
 of his life forever to secure freedom to all 
 his followers and to instill into their minds 
 ideas of liberty in doctrine, polity, and modes 
 of worship. The motto that always governed 
 him, in this respect, was this: "Prove all 
 things, hold fast that which is good." He 
 wanted nothing in his principles, creed, or 
 opinions which would not bear the strictest 
 examination and the severest test of truth. 
 
 "He was a Puritan, in every sense of the 
 word, without Puritanic exclusiveness ; and 
 no man ever lived who held the rights of con- 
 science in a more sacred regard. To enjoy 
 the utmost spiritual religious freedom him- 
 self, and to perpetuate it in the Methodist 
 community throughout the old and new world, 
 was the great end and aim of his life."* 
 
 It will thus be seen that Methodism as it 
 first took hold of the world was not so much 
 an issuance of new dogmas, beliefs, and 
 
 * Genius and Mission of Methodism, by W. P. Strick- 
 land, page 29.
 
 42 Back to Oxford 
 
 methods, as it was a revivifying and reapply- 
 ing of the elementary truths, or rather facts, 
 which constitute, in substance, the Christian 
 religion. It was a soul-stirring consciousness 
 of Christian verities. It was the power hy 
 which New Testament truth and life and 
 grace were made new manna for hungry souls. 
 It was, in a word, the new advent of all that 
 made Christianity effective at the time that 
 Stephen suffered martyrdom and Saul of Tar- 
 sus was transformed from the character of a 
 persecutor to that of a preacher of righteous- 
 ness and the greatest missionary this world 
 has ever known. Could Paul issue the chal- 
 lenge, "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speak- 
 ing in me, which to youward is not weak, but 
 is mighty in you," so could Wesley. Christ 
 spoke in him, and through him, making his 
 ministry the mighty power of God unto all 
 that believed. 
 
 Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto 
 you, they are spirit and they are life," and 
 the spiritual life of these words through the
 
 The Substance of Methodism 43 
 
 preaching of Wesley, under the baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost, took on its primitive fresh- 
 ness, brightness, and power. The power of 
 every Church is its hold on the Holy Ghost. 
 "Not by might, nor by power, but by my 
 Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 
 The word "revival" is, therefore, the true 
 one to apply to Methodism. It revived the 
 Protestant Churches of all lands. It revived 
 the spiritual life of all peoples. It did not 
 create new life, but revived the old. "There 
 is nothing new in it, save as a fresh develop- 
 ment of that which is old may be called new. 
 The doctrines are old; the disciplinary prin- 
 ciples are old; the spirit of activity is old; 
 the methods of evangelism are old; the forms 
 of beneficence are old; the aims and purposes 
 are old all is old. But as the breath of 
 spring causes old roots to burst forth to new 
 and vigorous life, so the spirit which breathed 
 through Methodism an old spirit withal 
 caused that great revival of the eighteenth 
 century, from which dates a new era in the 
 spiritual history of mankind."
 
 THE GENIUS OF METHODISM 
 
 THE genius of a person is that peculiar 
 mental structure or aptitude which especially 
 qualifies for certain lines of action, or success 
 in a given pursuit. It reaches its ends by a 
 kind of intuitive power, and thus differs from 
 ordinary talent or ability which is amenable 
 to training and more or less dependent upon 
 instruction. 
 
 Wesley tells of a lifelong friend of his, a 
 
 Dr. S , who was the greatest genius in 
 
 little things he had ever known. He had in- 
 vented his own fire screen, his lamps, his ink- 
 horn, his very save-all, and "I really believe," 
 said Wesley, "that were he seriously to set 
 about it, he could invent the best mouse trap 
 that ever was in the world."
 
 The Genius of Methodism 45 
 
 PERSONS OF GENIUS 
 
 Wesley himself had a genius, not for the 
 invention of mouse traps, but for the perfect- 
 ing of devices for saving men. His power for 
 the discernment of spiritual truth, the con- 
 centration of religious forces, the application 
 of sound doctrinal principles, the development 
 of effective working plans, and for the quick 
 organization of those whom he rallied to his 
 support was well-nigh intuitive. 
 
 His brother Charles had a genius for the 
 composition of sacred songs and hymns, put- 
 ting into them more wealth of thought, depth 
 of discernment, clearness of exposition, and 
 felicity of expression than any other bard of 
 history. 
 
 And no wonder, for their mother had a 
 genius for the culture of childhood, the train- 
 ing of youth, and for directing the energies 
 and controlling the impulses of her sons. 
 
 George Whitefield had a genius for impas- 
 sioned oratory and for seizing upon an
 
 46 Back to Oxford 
 
 opportune occasion for preaching. His flame- 
 like appeals for sinners to repent seemed to 
 come from a divinity within him that made 
 every word and motion a direct message from 
 God to men. 
 
 Fletcher of Madeley, "the designated suc- 
 cessor of Wesley," had a genius for fervent 
 piety, perfect charity, effective controversy, 
 and seraphic ministry. 
 
 Dr. Coke had a genius for voluminous writ- 
 ing, extensive travel, fervent preaching, and 
 thorough planting of the germs of Methodism. 
 His soul was all on fire for missions. He 
 sighed for the wings of an angel and the voice 
 of a trumpet that he might proclaim the Gos- 
 pel through the East and West, the North and 
 South. 
 
 Francis Asbury had a genius for quick 
 adaptation to his surroundings, masterly 
 grasp of a situation, firm execution of plans, 
 and tireless application of his energies, liter- 
 ally wearing himself out in the service of his 
 Lord.
 
 The Genius of Methodism 47 
 
 All the early itinerants had a genius for 
 self-sacrifice, entire consecration, and un- 
 yielding devotion to the propagation of 
 Methodism. As early as 1769 they hound 
 themselves by a solemn compact to do the 
 following three things: "1. To devote our- 
 selves entirely to God; denying ourselves, 
 taking up our cross daily; steadily aiming at 
 one thing, to save our own souls and them 
 that hear us. 2. To preach the old Methodist 
 doctrines, and no other. 3. To observe and 
 enforce the whole Methodist discipline." 
 
 This peculiar pledge made these peculiar 
 geniuses a peculiar power, and gave them pe- 
 culiar success in their chosen line of action. 
 Their movement took on the characteristics 
 of its own genius, and the endowment of its 
 own animating spirit. It was ever impelled 
 forward by its own inherent forces, and 
 seemed to move intuitively into its own fa- 
 vorite conditions of life and forms of effort. 
 It came to have a genius not only for the 
 invention of little things in Church polity
 
 48 Back to Oxford 
 
 and administration, but for the discovery of 
 great things in experience and achievement. 
 
 A GREAT DISCOVERY 
 
 It can be said of Methodism that very early 
 in her career she uncovered and brought into 
 new prominence the greatest truth that ever 
 dawned upon Christian intelligence, namely : 
 
 1. That the living God comes in direct con- 
 tact with the consciousness of believing man. 
 
 2. That salvation is a conscious experience 
 resulting from godly sorrow and saving faith, 
 and that it may be full in this life. 
 
 This discovery, while not new in the his- 
 tory of the Church, was new to that period of 
 Church life; and the manner in which 
 Methodism grasped this truth, gave it empha- 
 sis, practically illustrated it, and made it 
 plain to mystified minds, was abundant proof 
 that a new religious genius had appeared in 
 the world. 
 
 Consider the historic facts. From time im-
 
 The Genius of Methodism 49 
 
 memorial the world had been feeling after 
 God. The old philosophical systems were 
 nothing more than an expansion of man's in- 
 born desire to come in contact with the in- 
 finite. The noblest monument intellectual 
 culture had ever reared was the Athenian 
 altar with its unsatisfactory inscription, "To 
 THE UNKNOWN GOD." The most intense cry the 
 human heart had ever uttered was, "O that I 
 knew where I might find him!" Christianity 
 was sent into the world to reveal the meaning 
 of that altar inscription and to still the cry 
 of that agonized heart. "Whom therefore ye 
 ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." 
 The apostles and the primitive Christians had 
 a blessed knowledge of this distinguishing 
 feature of the Christian faith. They saw and 
 proclaimed the truth that Christianity differs 
 from all other religions in bringing to men a 
 knowledge of God and in bringing to God the 
 homage of men. "Other religions are seeking 
 God; the Christian religion is seeking man." 
 Christianity had entered upon its marvel-
 
 50 Back to Oxford 
 
 ous career by making this central truth its 
 foremost maxim. "In the beginning was the 
 Word, ... and the Word was God." "All 
 things were made by him." "In him was 
 life; and the life was the light of men. And 
 the light shineth in darkness; and the dark- 
 ness comprehended it not." "There was a 
 man sent from God ... to bear witness of 
 the Light." "That was the true Light. . . . 
 And as many as received him, to them gave 
 he power to become 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" (John 1. 
 1-13). 
 
 In this brief record is contained the whole 
 essence of the Christian scheme. The apostle 
 John understood it, so did Luke and so did 
 Paul. In its first contact with paganism 
 Christianity demonstrated the truth that 
 "God" was in it. His "life" was manifest. 
 His "light" shone over its conflicts. The 
 "darkness" fled away. The men of God bore
 
 The Genius of Methodism 51 
 
 witness of the light, and God gave them the 
 assurance of acceptance and the power of 
 triumph amid the terrors of persecution and 
 the agonies of martyrdom. 
 
 Then came the corrupting influences of the 
 early centuries and the midnight of the dark 
 ages, obscuring the "light" of the Gospel 
 dawn and shutting away from human expe- 
 rience the gracious power of sonship. Christ 
 was no longer preached as the direct source 
 of life and light, and the necessity of regen- 
 eration became a forgotten truth. The doc- 
 trinal reformation under Luther paved the 
 way for the spiritual reformation which fol- 
 lowed under Wesley. God returned again to 
 his people, the light shone into their minds, 
 the life glowed in their souls, and they were 
 born again, "not of blood, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God." 
 
 THE SECRET UNFOLDED 
 
 No intelligent person can study the career 
 of Wesley without knowing that he had re-
 
 52 Back to Oxford 
 
 discovered the secret of the long-lost life and 
 power. His writings abound with testimo- 
 nies to the truth that true religion is God 
 revealed to man, God seeking man, God in 
 man, and God working through man. Take 
 a few expressions: 
 
 "0 what a dull thing is life without re- 
 ligion! I do not wonder that time hangs 
 heavily upon the hands of all who know not 
 God." "What a blessed thing it is to be with 
 those who are alive to God!" "I desire noth- 
 ing but Christ; and I have Christ always 
 reigning in my heart. I want nothing; he is 
 my sufficient portion in time and in eternity." 
 "God has given me all I want; I am as happy 
 as I can live!" "Hundreds of us met at the 
 room and solemnly renewed our covenant with 
 God." "I scarcely ever saw the people here 
 so much alive to God." "I soon forgot 
 my weariness; God was there, and it was 
 enough." "0 what day of God's power was 
 this!" "More of the real power of God at- 
 tends the uncouth expressions of some of our
 
 The Genius of Methodism 53 
 
 weak people than attends the studied dis- 
 courses of stronger minds." "I have many 
 times known God to attach his power to the 
 words of extremely weak men." "I came to 
 
 TTtley, and found E K just alive, but 
 
 all alive to God." "I returned to London and 
 saw Dr. Dodd for the last time. He had en- 
 tirely and calmly given himself up to the will 
 of God. None could converse with him with- 
 out acknowledging that God is with him." 
 
 Such testimonies could be multiplied in- 
 definitely. The writings of all the saints and 
 worthies of the Methodist movement abound 
 with declarations of God imminent in the life 
 of man, directing his movements, inspiring 
 his thoughts and words, and using him con- 
 stantly in worship and service. 
 
 The distinctive feature of the Methodist 
 creed that which differentiates it from other 
 evangelical formulas may be stated briefly 
 as this: 
 
 God's Spirit is in the believer, witnessing 
 to his adoption, cleansing his heart from sin,
 
 54 Back to Oxford 
 
 filling his soul with light and knowledge, re- 
 newing him in the life of holiness, and pre- 
 paring him to say when his work is done, 
 "The best of all is, God is with us." 
 
 This is the genius of Methodism, the ani- 
 mating spirit which brings God and man to- 
 gether, reconciled, and united as coworkers in 
 saving lost souls.
 
 BACKBONE OF THE SYSTEM 
 
 As originally defined, a Methodist society 
 is "a company of men having the form and 
 seeking the power of godliness, united in or- 
 der to pray together, to receive the word of 
 exhortation, and to watch over one another 
 in love, that they may help each other to work 
 out their salvation." 
 
 It was further declared that "there is only 
 one condition previously required of those 
 who desire admission into these societies 'a 
 desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to 
 be saved from their sins.' But wherever this 
 is really fixed in the soul it will be shown 
 by its fruits." 
 
 Around these original definitions noble 
 truths and sentiments crystallized as rapidly 
 as actual experience and practical work could 
 develop them.
 
 56 Back to Oxford 
 
 Mr. Wesley formally stated some of these 
 sentiments, and others came to light in the 
 Annual Conference deliberations. Here are 
 a few: 
 
 I. PRINCIPLES 
 
 1. Justification is by faith alone, and until 
 a man experiences this grace he has no power 
 to do any work pleasing to God. 
 
 2. Three things go together in justification : 
 (1) God's mercy and grace. (2) Christ's 
 satisfaction of the divine justice. (3) Man's 
 true and living faith. 
 
 3. Repentance, hope, and love are joined 
 with faith in the justified soul. 
 
 4. The doctrine of justification by faith is 
 to be taught with the complementary doctrine 
 of good works. 
 
 5. Good works are expected to follow justi- 
 fication as the fruit and proof of it. Faith 
 without works is dead. 
 
 6. No willful sin is consistent with justify-
 
 Backbone of the System 57 
 
 ing faith. If a believer sin willfully he casts 
 away his confidence in the Lord. 
 
 7. Obedience from a loving heart is always 
 to follow saving faith. We do not make void 
 the law through faith, but establish it. 
 
 8. A Christian must respond to the claims 
 of truth, right, and conviction, even at the 
 sacrifice of personal friendships and private 
 benefits. 
 
 9. Forasmuch as "a measure of the Spirit 
 is given to every man to profit withal," every 
 disobedient soul stands condemned. 
 
 10. It is meet, right, and the bounden duty 
 of a Christian to declare unto all men, wher- 
 ever in the world he may find them, the glad 
 tidings of salvation. 
 
 11. It is the duty of every believer to use 
 his talent, his gift, for the good of the whole 
 Church; his privilege to receive from the 
 Church personal and constant oversight; and 
 it is a mutual duty to maintain discipline and 
 promote effective service. 
 
 12. Whatever Methodism is adapted to do
 
 58 Back to Oxford 
 
 at any period of her history, that is her mis- 
 sion and calling to do. 
 
 13. It is the standing duty of Methodism to 
 adapt herself more and more to all conditions 
 of society, and to minister effectively to all 
 accessible needs. 
 
 14. If the whole work of Methodism is to be 
 regarded as a direct divine interposition, then 
 the calling and qualification of each of her 
 servants must be considered as "of God." 
 
 15. While believers have the right of pri- 
 vate judgment, because they are responsible 
 to God, nevertheless they should obey the 
 rulers and governors of the Church so far as 
 is consistent with their duty to God; when 
 they cannot, they will quietly obey God rather 
 than man. 
 
 16. Religion is not designed to displace 
 reason, judgment, the moral sense, or common 
 sense, but in harmony with these to fit the 
 heart for God's indwelling. 
 
 17. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to 
 glorify Christ in the regeneration and sancti-
 
 Backbone of the System 59 
 
 fication of men; therefore, we give to the 
 Spirit due prominence in our doctrines and 
 worship. 
 
 18. The Bible is the only infallible guide 
 to faith and practice; therefore any supposed 
 leading of the Spirit which collides with reve- 
 lation is of necessity spurious. 
 
 19. Conversion to God is an instantaneous 
 work. The moment a man exercises living 
 faith in Christ he is justified. 
 
 20. Knowledge of this great spiritual 
 change necessarily goes with it. No man 
 can have this justifying faith without know- 
 ing that he has it, because this faith brings 
 peace, and peace is a conscious experience. 
 
 21. A man is justified at the same time that 
 he is born of God. Conversion involves three 
 things: pardon of past sins, regeneration 
 from present guilt, and adoption into the 
 family of God. 
 
 22. He that is born of God doth not commit 
 sin, and this deliverance from sin is a con- 
 scious experience.
 
 60 Back to Oxford 
 
 23. Salvation implies ultimate holiness of 
 heart and life springing from a true and liv- 
 ing faith. 
 
 24. The working out of salvation is simply 
 "perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord," 
 bearing fruit unto God, and continuing faith- 
 ful in duty and responsibility unto death. 
 
 25. "Going on to perfection" is the normal 
 course of a saved heart which is aflame with the 
 love of God; it is showing forth God's praise 
 by thought, word, deed, bearing, and example. 
 
 In the successful application of these prin- 
 ciples to the individual life, and to the varied 
 relations and responsibilities of the societies, 
 the backbone of Methodist character appears. 
 Man's power alone is not sufficient for these 
 things. God must work in man and through 
 man to accomplish such results. His power is 
 therefore manifest in the Methodist charac- 
 ter. Take this away, and the distinctive force 
 is gone. Let it decline, and every peculiar 
 function of Methodism will wither. Let it be 
 lost, and our very name will perish.
 
 Backbone of the System 61 
 
 II. EULES 
 
 Along with these principles certain rules 
 were found serviceable, and these, under the 
 title of "General Rules," have become a fixed 
 quantity in Methodism; that is, they are a 
 part of the organic law and cannot be changed 
 except by constitutional process. They date 
 from the year 1739. 
 
 Given in condensed form, perhaps the most 
 essential are the following: 
 
 1. Avoid all evil, notably profanity, Sab- 
 bath - breaking, slaveholding, drunkenness, 
 fighting, quarreling, evil-speaking, smug- 
 gling, usury, cheating, and unprofitable con- 
 versation. 
 
 2. Keep the golden rule: Do to others as 
 you would have them do to you. 
 
 3. Abstain from what you know is not for 
 the glory of God, such as putting on gold and 
 costly apparel, taking diversions that cannot 
 be used in the name of the Lord Jesus, sing- 
 ing songs or reading books detrimental to real
 
 62 Back to Oxford 
 
 piety, softness and needless self-indulgence, 
 hoarding, and reckless borrowing or buying. 
 
 4. Do good. Be merciful. Help others. 
 Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit 
 the sick. Remember those in prison. 
 
 5. Look after the souls of men. Reprove 
 and exhort. Urge yourself into religious work. 
 
 6. Be especially mindful of each other. 
 Employ those of the household of faith in 
 preference to others. Buy one of another. 
 Aid each other in business. 
 
 7. Deny yourself. Take up the cross. Be 
 patient. Run the Christian race. Bear re- 
 proach for Christ. 
 
 8. Attend church. Take the sacrament. 
 Have a family altar. Pray in secret. Search 
 the Scriptures. Observe fasting. 
 
 9. Admonish those who do not keep these 
 rules. Bear with them for a season. If they 
 repent not, separate yourself from them. 
 
 Besides the General rules, there are many 
 special maxims which have an important 
 bearing upon deportment. Here are several:
 
 Backbone of the System 63 
 
 III. ADVICES 
 
 1. Be temperate iu all things; a total 
 abstainer. 
 
 2. Abstain from hurtful foods. 
 
 3. Let alcoholic beverages alone. 
 
 4. Keep out of the liquor traffic. 
 
 5. Cooperate in prohibition measures. 
 
 6. Dress plainly and becomingly. 
 
 7. Discourage marriage with unawakened 
 persons. 
 
 8. Eecognize no divorce except for adultery. 
 
 9. Guard the doors of the Church against 
 unawakened persons. 
 
 10. Acquaint probationers with our doc- 
 trines, rules, and regulations. 
 
 11. Watch over each other in love. 
 
 12. Help each other to work out salvation. 
 
 13. Search carefully into the character and 
 spirit of those who think themselves called to 
 preach. 
 
 14. Admonish erring souls; bear with them 
 for a season; expel them if you must.
 
 64 Back to Oxford 
 
 15. Build plain churches; make hearers 
 welcome; avoid unnecessary expenses. 
 
 16. Provide for higher education and the 
 Christian training of the young. 
 
 17. Take care of missions, home and for- 
 eign, and utilize every means for the salva- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 18. Confess your faults one to another, and 
 pray one for another that you may be healed. 
 
 19. Keep in close union. Guard against 
 the tempter. Build up each other in the faith. 
 Provoke one another to good works. 
 
 20. Be plain and open in dealing with souls. 
 Be mild, tender, patient. Be honest, sincere, 
 and thorough. 
 
 Surely a character controlled by such pre- 
 cepts and swayed by such influences bears the 
 impress of a divine molding, and proves that 
 the infinite potter has marvelous power over 
 redeemed clay. 
 
 TV. MARKS 
 
 The distinguishing marks of a Methodist
 
 Backbone of the System 65 
 
 1. Not mere opinions. As to all opinions 
 which do not strike at the root of Christianity, 
 we think and let think. 
 
 2. Not words or phrases of any sort. We 
 have no pet Scripture passages not quaint 
 modes of expression. 
 
 3. Not peculiar customs, usages, or actions 
 of an indifferent nature. No form of apparel, 
 or fashion of headdress, or posture of body, 
 or habit of eating and drinking determines 
 the character of a Methodist. 
 
 4. Not making any part of religion seem- 
 ingly the whole of it. We do not make the 
 whole of religion to mean doing no harm, or 
 in doing good, or even in becoming pure. 
 These are implied, however. 
 
 5. A Methodist is known by loving God 
 with all his heart, and by giving proof that 
 God's love is shed abroad in his heart by the 
 Holy Ghost given unto him. 
 
 6. He is happy in God. He "rejoices in the 
 Lord always." He has the witness in him- 
 self that he is born of God,
 
 66 Back to Oxford 
 
 7. Having the Christian's hope, he gives 
 thanks in everything. This is the will of God 
 in Christ Jesus concerning him. 
 
 8. He "prays without ceasing." It is given 
 him "always to pray, and not to faint." He 
 is present whenever practicable in the house 
 of prayer. In retirement, in company, in 
 business, or in social life his heart is ever with 
 the Lord. 
 
 9. He loves his neighbor as himself. He 
 hates no one. He does good to all. He prays 
 for those who despitefully use him. 
 
 10. He is crucified to the world, and the 
 world is crucified to him. He loves not the 
 world, neither the things which are in the 
 world. He uses the world as not abusing it. 
 
 11. He has a single eye. The loving eye 
 of his soul is fixed upon God. It is the su- 
 preme purpose of his life to accomplish the 
 will of God. 
 
 12. As the tree is known by its fruits, so 
 he keeps the commandments of God. He 
 seeks to have a conscience void of offense.
 
 Backbone of the System 67 
 
 What God has forbidden he avoids; what God 
 has commanded he performs. 
 
 13. He watches out against wrongdoing. He 
 seeks to shun the very appearance of evil. It 
 grieves him to bring reproach upon God's cause. 
 
 14. He disregards worldly fashions and fol- 
 lies. His heart is in higher and better things. 
 He makes no provision for the flesh to fulfill 
 the lusts thereof. 
 
 15. He does good unto all men, neighbors 
 and strangers, friends and enemies, in every 
 way and degree within his power. Having 
 the mind that was in Christ, he strives to 
 walk as he walked. 
 
 V. DOCTRINES 
 
 The name of religion implies a body of doc- 
 trine as well as a system of worship. No man 
 can be religious without believing something. 
 Infidelity is negative, but religion is positive. 
 Unbelief may do nothing, but faith must do 
 something. Hence St. James considers it 
 safe to judge a man's faith by his works. No
 
 68 Back to Oxford 
 
 works, no faith. Where faith is, works will 
 appear. 
 
 Religion cannot subsist without a founda- 
 tion in essential truth. An outward creed 
 may not always be necessary, but the original 
 facts of religion, the fundamental truths 
 which bear upon the inner life of the soul, 
 must be put in shape for consideration and 
 acceptance. A creed is the open statement- of 
 those doctrines and truths which lie near the 
 heart of the believer. It is a means to an end, 
 not an end for the means. It is for the truth, 
 not the truth for it. It is an exponent of the 
 Christ life, not the life itself. It is a declara- 
 tion of the Gospel, but not the essence of it. 
 We should adhere to important truth as em- 
 bodied in our formulas, but we must adhere 
 to the vital life and essential principles of the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Of Methodists we can say that, while they 
 are liberal, they do believe something. They 
 put away bigotry, but not the "form of sound 
 words." They allow much latitude for opin-
 
 Backbone of the System 69 
 
 ion, but hold to biblical standards of doctrine. 
 They cannot help it. 
 
 Mr. Wesley was a great doctrinal preacher. 
 His sermons teem with exposition of Bible 
 theology. He did not harp upon threadbare 
 dogmas, but he did seize upon the strings of 
 truth which put the soul in tune. He did not 
 glory in the exhibition of skeleton creeds, 
 white and worn and dead, but he did cling 
 ardently to vital beliefs, nourishing them, 
 keeping them alive and "well covered with the 
 muscle and fiber and cuticle and beauty of a 
 holy, benignant, loving, working Christian 
 life." He believed that a Church "must have 
 the elasticity of youth in her step, the fullness 
 of maturity in her form, the grace of liberty 
 in her motion, the blush of the morning on 
 her cheek, the light of eternity in her eye, and 
 the glory of heaven on her head. She must 
 be like the bow of the archer, an embodiment 
 of beauty and strength. She must be centered 
 about some great dominating conviction. This 
 means a creed."
 
 70 Back to Oxford 
 
 Methodism is set for the capture of this 
 world for Christ. She proposes to move upon 
 the enemy's works, and cannot, therefore, 
 afford to load herself down too heavily 
 with dogmatic munitions. A short creed 
 and a simple one is her motto. She has 
 it arranged so that any godly person may 
 subscribe to her articles, and then go to 
 work for Christ. If afterward the person 
 feels an interest in theological research he 
 can find abundant material for it in the 
 standards of doctrine. 
 
 Methodism acts upon the conviction that 
 man is free, a monarch doing as he will in 
 the earthly life. She knows that he cannot 
 be suborned by any power in earth or heaven 
 or hell. Man is what he makes himself by the 
 grace of God. If he sins he thereby demon- 
 strates his power to resist the will of God and 
 defy the penalties. If he accepts salvation, he 
 thereby demonstrates his power to break 
 through all opposing forces and become a 
 "free man in Christ."
 
 Backbone of the System 71 
 
 Methodism has therefore always been in 
 deep earnest with man. She respects him, 
 loves his soul, uses him well, tries to reason 
 with him, preaches a plain Gospel, is plain 
 herself, discards ceremonies, gowns, wigs, lays 
 no stress on nonessentials, but insists strongly 
 on surrender to God, submission to his will, 
 and purification by the truth. 
 
 Methodism believes in the universality of 
 the atonement. With the utmost consistency 
 she can stand in the door of the world's hos- 
 pital and cry, "There is none so sick that they 
 must die." "By the grace of God, Jesus 
 Christ tasted death for every man." "She 
 does not regard God as austere and impla- 
 cable electing some to be saved and others 
 to be lost but as a Being of love, justice, and 
 mercy, who elects all to be saved on the 
 amicable terms of the Gospel." She does not 
 look upon those who have complied with the 
 Gospel requirements as one whit better by 
 nature, or by the decree of God, than those 
 who are still procrastinating, but with tearful
 
 72 Back to Oxford 
 
 eyes urges all to come into communion with 
 those who have obtained like precious faith. 
 She believes that the Gospel saves, saves now, 
 saves fully, and she does sharply distinguish 
 between those who accept and those who 
 reject it. "Only see," said John Wesley, 
 "that your heart be right toward God; 
 that you know and love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; that you love your neighbor, and 
 walk as the Master walked, and I ask 
 no more." 
 
 To all earnest seekers and to all regener- 
 ated souls Methodism extends a hand of wel- 
 come as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Her 
 communion is open, and she invites to her 
 table all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity. 
 
 In common with all evangelical Christians, 
 Methodists hold to such fundamental truths 
 as the immortality of the soul; the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead; the .final judgment; a state 
 of eternal rest for the righteous, and a condi- 
 tion of endless punishment for incorri-
 
 Backbone of the System 73 
 
 gible sinners. They hold to these doctrines 
 strenuously. 
 
 A celebrated infidel, being asked how he ac- 
 counted for the success of Methodism, thought 
 seriously for a moment and then said: 
 "Methodists believe in a heaven for the good, 
 and a hell for the bad, and they are not 
 r.shamed to preach it. They believe in a God 
 who is willing to boost if the sinner is will- 
 ing to climb." There is much truth in this 
 homely conception of our rudimental the- 
 ology. We do proclaim divine mercy for the 
 returning sinner, and infinite helpfulness to 
 enable him to overcome his evil propensities. 
 
 Methodism also holds to a belief in the 
 Trinity, to the divine inspiration of the Scrip- 
 tures, to the corruption of man's nature by 
 sin, to the necessity of divine grace working 
 with the human will to produce saving faith 
 and fruitful works, to the impossibility of 
 merit attaching to good works, to baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper as the only sacraments, to 
 the oblation of Christ on the cross as the only
 
 74 Back to Oxford 
 
 and sufficient sacrifice for sin, to the duty of 
 all Christians to be good citizens of the gov- 
 ernment under which they live, and to the 
 right of Christians in common with all other 
 citizens to their own political prerogatives and 
 property rights.
 
 THE MOVING FORCE 
 
 A DIVINE movement requires effective hu- 
 man agencies. In 1780 the Methodist preach- 
 ers inquired among themselves, "In what view 
 are we and our helpers to be considered?" and 
 the answer was, "Perhaps as special mes- 
 sengers designed, 1. To provoke the regular 
 ministers to jealousy; 2. To supply their lack 
 of service toward those who are perishing for 
 lack of knowledge." 
 
 Another question which had been raised in 
 1763 was, "What may we reasonably believe 
 to be God's design in raising up the preachers 
 called Methodists?" The reply was, "To re- 
 form the nation, and, in particular, the 
 Church; to spread scriptural holiness over 
 the land." 
 
 Here we have the keynote to Methodist en- 
 deavor reformation of life and purification
 
 76 Back to Oxford 
 
 of character. All the powers of the mind and 
 forces of the soul were to be brought into ex- 
 ercise for the accomplishment of this extraor- 
 dinary mission. All who approved of this 
 plan and consecrated themselves to this work 
 were hailed as "fellow-laborers." One per- 
 sonal principle, and one only, bound them in 
 their activities, namely, "A desire to be a 
 Christian; and a conviction that whatever I 
 judge conducive thereto, that I am bound to 
 do; wherever I judge I can best answer this 
 end, thither it is my duty to go." Acting on 
 this principle, both the preachers and the 
 members engaged in their toils, their travels, 
 their preaching and praying, exhorting and 
 praising, evangelizing and organizing, trust- 
 ing God, fearing no man, declaring truth, and 
 attending to one thing, "going about continu- 
 ally doing good." 
 
 The preachers were men, of one work, that 
 of preaching the Gospel and caring for the 
 souls of men. As helpful agencies, they em- 
 ployed lay talent, both of men and women,
 
 The Moving Force 77 
 
 and adopted every legitimate means within 
 their power for the accomplishment of the 
 great ends to which they had devoted all their 
 talent and strength. Those ends were spirit- 
 ual experience and Christian fellowship as the 
 privilege and duty of all believers. And what 
 a power for good these preachers, in their 
 capacity as itinerants, became in the world! 
 What a living, moving force were they 
 against every form of evil! 
 
 Mr. Wesley had revived the scriptural plan 
 of a traveling ministry, because he could not 
 see how the divine command, "Go, preach," 
 could be carried into effect without it. The 
 apostles had traveled from place to place. So 
 had Paul. So had Luther and his coadjutors. 
 So had Wesley himself. At first he changed 
 his preachers every six months, or every year 
 at longest. The circuits were large, and the 
 preachers could not complete their rounds of- 
 tener than once in four or six weeks. Yet 
 each preacher had to move once a year. Wes- 
 ley said: "We have found by long and con-
 
 78 Back to Oxford 
 
 stant experience that a frequent exchange of 
 teachers is best. This preacher has one talent, 
 that another; no one whom I ever yet knew 
 has all the talents which are needful for be- 
 ginning, continuing, and perfecting the work 
 of grace in a whole congregation." To this 
 opinion he adhered to the last. In 1788, 
 when some one objected to the frequent 
 changes he wrote: "For fifty years God 
 has been pleased to bless the itinerant plan, 
 the last year most of all. It must not be 
 altered till I am removed, and I hope it 
 will remain till our Lord comes to reign 
 on earth." 
 
 In the course of time, however, in the 
 American Church, the limit was extended to 
 two years, then to three years, then to 
 five years, and then to an indefinite pe- 
 riod, but with annual appointments. This 
 has been called the natural limit. It is 
 the genius of Methodism to make every- 
 thing as religiously natural and normal as 
 possible,
 
 The Moving Force 79 
 
 A SPLENDID IDEAL 
 
 The theory of the itinerancy is to appoint 
 every effective preacher to the work he is best 
 qualified to serve, and to every church the 
 pastor best adapted to supply its needs. That 
 there are failures in the practical working of 
 the system is no proof that the system itself 
 is at fault. Perfection is not claimed for the 
 itinerancy, and yet, were preachers and 
 churches all in close sympathy with the pro- 
 visions of discipline as they stand, and dis- 
 posed to allow those provisions full swing in 
 shaping their future appointments, the out- 
 come possibly would be more satisfactory than 
 it is, and an astonishment to those who fancy 
 that a central authority is a hindrance rather 
 than a help to the adjustment of pastoral 
 relations. 
 
 There can be no question that the election 
 of bishops, and the appointment of presiding 
 elders to districts for support, tend to consti- 
 tute a disinterested cabinet. These men have
 
 80 Back to Oxford 
 
 no personal interest in the pulpits they are 
 to man. Rivalries and jealousies are supposed 
 to be to them unknown. They are officially 
 interested in the welfare of all preachers and 
 all charges alike. To favoritism and preju- 
 diced local influences they are expected to be 
 strangers. Were it possible to make the ideal 
 equal the real, a Methodist cabinet would be 
 about the most complete supervising power 
 on earth. 
 
 Under the itinerant plan our Conference 
 sessions have for presiding officers men of 
 large experience, much wisdom and grace, 
 gentle hearts and sympathetic natures. In 
 the cabinet these presiding officers, or bishops, 
 have as their counselors the presiding elders, 
 who are in turn supposed to be "picked men," 
 the noblest and best-equipped of our Confer- 
 ences, brothers beloved, manly, candid, ap- 
 proachable, perfectly honest, and always de- 
 cided. It is held that a hesitating, unstable, 
 and unreliable preacher is incapacitated for 
 the delicate work of the eldership. The work
 
 The Moving Force 81 
 
 is so essentially personal and conspicuous that 
 every error or failure will prove a target for 
 criticism and an element of friction and 
 discontent. 
 
 THE ITINERANT'S STAFF 
 
 The itinerant preacher in his work has his 
 staff of advisers and helpers. These are the 
 class leaders and stewards of his charge. The 
 first are subpastors. They are to supplement 
 the work of the preacher by making a prac- 
 tical application of the sermon in the class 
 room and the exhortation of the pulpit by 
 private admonition. The pastor cannot always 
 see all the sick, weak, and wayward of his 
 flock. Often the leader can go in his stead. 
 The pastor may not always know the spiritual 
 condition of each member of his charge. It is 
 the duty of the leader to meet them in special 
 meeting, appointed for the purpose, to find out 
 "how their souls prosper." 
 
 The stewards are a kind of bodyguard to 
 the pastor. They are to care for him, soul 
 and body, telling him what they see wrong in
 
 82 Back to Oxford 
 
 his conduct and see that nothing be lacking 
 in his temporal supplies. They are supposed 
 to be "persons of solid piety, who know and 
 love the doctrine and discipline" of the 
 Church. As such they take an interest in 
 Church work. They should be persons pos- 
 sessed with that charity which "covereth a 
 multitude of sins," and liberal in order that 
 they may "devise liberal things." Thus a pas- 
 tor will not be embarrassed in his work on 
 account of pecuniary circumstances, and will 
 often be lifted to a higher moral and religious 
 life by the godly admonition they give him. 
 
 While both these offices are closely identi- 
 fied with the pastorate, they have each a 
 widely different relation to it. The former 
 are appointed by the pastor and help to look 
 after the flock, the latter by the church and 
 help to look after the pastor. 
 
 SERIOUS Vows 
 
 Itinerant Methodist preachers are called to 
 the. work under very strict rules, and are or-
 
 The Moving Force 83 
 
 dained under the most solemn vows. The 
 Church grants them their first license to ex- 
 hort and preach only after rigid examination 
 as to their grace, gifts, and usefulness. Then 
 the official hoards recommend them to the An- 
 nual Conferences. After two years of travel 
 and labor as students and pastors they are 
 ordained deacons, and after two years more 
 they are ordained elders. 
 
 Preachers are enjoined to be diligent, always 
 employed, serious, prudent, discreet, frank, 
 fair, humble, holy, and punctual. They are 
 expected to lead souls to Christ, to take care 
 of the societies, and to build up the people in 
 holiness. They are to preach, visit, walk 
 closely with God, watch carefully over each 
 other, to be prayerful, studious, to watch 
 against the world, deny themselves pleasures, 
 and to be ashamed of nothing but sin. They 
 are pledged to preach the truth, drive away 
 error, promote peace, quietness, and love, and 
 to be wholesome examples to the flock. 
 
 In such exacting and uncompromising ar-
 
 84 Back to Oxford 
 
 rangements for securing the shepherding of 
 the flocks, and the calling in of the wandering 
 sheep, the genius of Methodism is conspicu- 
 ously manifest. It demands safe folds, good 
 shepherds, and well-disciplined sheep. It hears 
 the cry of the perishing, and makes of every 
 preacher, official member, and layman a rescue 
 party. It relies on the great Shepherd to 
 know his sheep, and through the blood of the 
 everlasting covenant to make them perfect in 
 every good work to do his will, working in 
 them that which is well-pleasing in his sight. 
 It is, in a word, an agency by which God can, 
 through wisdom and grace, accomplish the 
 utmost possible for humanity now, henceforth, 
 and for evermore.
 
 THE GERM OF METHODIST 
 LIFE 
 
 WHEN the doctrine that saving faith in 
 Christ is given in a moment, and that a man 
 may be turned instantly from sin and misery 
 to righteousness and joy, was first brought to 
 the attention of Mr. Wesley, who was then 
 thirty-five years of age, he refused to accept 
 the theory. His informant, however, Mr. Pe- 
 ter Bohler, referred him to the Scriptures and 
 to vital Christian experience. Wesley searched 
 the Scriptures and found very few other than 
 instantaneous conversions. He then tested 
 the doctrine by the experience of living wit- 
 nesses and found it abundantly substantiated. 
 He then declared: "Here ended my disputing. 
 I could now only cry out, 'Lord, help thou my 
 unbelief.' I was now thoroughly convinced; 
 and by the grace of God I resolved to seek this
 
 86 Back to Oxford 
 
 faith unto the end (1) By absolutely re- 
 nouncing all dependence, in whole or in part, 
 upon my own works of righteousness; on 
 which I had really grounded my hope of sal- 
 vation, though I knew it not, from my youth 
 up. (2) By adding to the constant use of all 
 the other means of grace continual prayer for 
 this very thing justifying, saving faith, a 
 full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for 
 me; a trust in him as my Christ, as my sole 
 justification, sanctification, and redemption." 
 
 THE GERM OF METHODISM 
 How Mr. Wesley found his Christ is a 
 familiar but very important story. He had 
 long hated and denounced sin. He had long 
 loved and preached the way of salvation. The- 
 oretically he was a Christian, but practically 
 a stranger to grace. When he entered that 
 "humble meeting in Aldersgate Street," his 
 soul was struggling for light and knowledge; 
 when he left it his soul had entered into the
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 87 
 
 liberty of the children of God. The conscious- 
 ness that God was reconciled, that he had 
 really heard his pardoning voice, flooded his 
 heart with sunshine and joy. "I felt that I 
 did trust in Christ Christ alone for salva- 
 tion; 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." The 
 above experience in the soul of John Wesley 
 was really the germ of Methodism, the true 
 source of Christianity in earnest, and it was 
 a pivotal point in the religious history of 
 England and of the world. All the great lead- 
 ers of the Methodist movement Charles 
 Wesley, Whitefield, Fletcher, Coke, Lady 
 Huntington, and many more, entered this 
 same strait gate of a conscious change of 
 heart as the primal source of personal religious 
 experience, and they insisted upon it most 
 strenuously as the essential beginning of every 
 true Christian life. "No longer a servant, but 
 a son," was a sort of a motto among this 
 happy band, and there was not one of them
 
 88 Back to Oxford 
 
 who could not testify in ringing tones from 
 a clear experience that the new birth was as 
 real an occurrence as the birth into earth 
 life. John Nelson, who was converted under 
 Wesley's preaching and who became his first 
 native Methodist preacher in Yorkshire, made 
 the knowledge of salvation through the re- 
 mission of sins the one theme of all his first 
 attempts to preach; he told his eager hearers 
 that this was "the old faith of the Gospel," 
 and that as to a man's knowing his sins to be 
 forgiven, he himself was "as sure that his own 
 were forgiven as he could be of the shining 
 of the sun." 
 
 The bearing of Wesley's conversion, and the 
 conversion of all his coworkers, on the future 
 of Methodism, and indeed on the future of 
 world-wide Christian life, is too vast, too far- 
 reaching and profound, to be known this side 
 of eternity. To the founder of Methodism 
 personally it represented the change which no 
 human spirit could forego and still expect to 
 enter heaven. On the forefront of his teach-
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 89 
 
 ing he now emblazoned the divine mandate, 
 "Ye must be born again. Except a man be 
 born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter the kingdom of God." This authorita- 
 tive declaration he ever laid down with all the 
 energy of his redeemed powers. He had tested 
 its truth by a personal experience, and could 
 
 say: 
 
 " What we have felt and seen 
 With confidence we tell." 
 
 This is what Rev. Richard Green calls "the 
 central germ of Methodism. It is its inner 
 core ; the secret spring of its activity, its vital 
 essence, its very life. It is its first essential 
 characteristic."* 
 
 WONDROUS POWER 
 
 Illustrations of the power of God to con- 
 vert the soul, and to do it in a moment, are 
 numerous in Mr. Wesley's writings. The 
 worst of men and women were saved. Scores 
 
 * The Mission of Methodism, page 16.
 
 90 Back to Oxford 
 
 and hundreds of sinners were rescued at a 
 time. In some instances, raging mad men 
 were overwhelmed with conviction, subdued in 
 spirit, and brought into peace. One woman, 
 Ann Hooley, who had declared that "the 
 Methodist God shall never be my God; I will 
 sooner go to hell than to go to heaven in their 
 way," was melted down in soul, made confes- 
 sion of sin, gained evidence of pardon, became 
 a pattern to young people, and passed away to 
 heaven in the fellowship of those she had 
 despised. 
 
 DEPTH OF EXPERIENCE 
 
 This doctrine of an instantaneous change 
 of heart, as will be perceived, goes deep into 
 the life of man, involving his intellect, will, 
 and affections. The mind perceives clearly 
 the real source and power of the life hid with 
 Christ in God, the will lays hold upon that 
 power, renouncing all other sources of pardon 
 and redemption, and the affections come into 
 sweet, close, and trustful relations to the Sav-
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 91 
 
 iour as "my Christ," my own and only 
 Saviour. That such a change can he instanta- 
 neous and yet thorough and all-embracing is 
 one of the "mysteries of godliness." The whole 
 experience becomes as fresh and new as life 
 to a newborn babe; indeed, it implies a birth, 
 the new birth, a new creature in Christ Je- 
 sus. All things wear a different look, the 
 heart undergoes a transformation, the charac- 
 ter a new molding, and the whole life a com- 
 plete revival. It is the result of divine power 
 exercised upon human nature, and constitutes 
 really a supernatural change. If the conduct 
 before was right new motions and activities 
 are given to it, and if wrong a radical revolu- 
 tion takes place. Thus, a strictly moral man 
 by conversion becomes as much a new creature 
 as a wicked man, though his outward life may 
 not undergo the same visible reconstruction. 
 Whatever the previous habits, the result of 
 conversion is always the awakening of new in- 
 terests, the implanting of a new spirit, the 
 cherishing of new desires, and the enthrone-
 
 92 Sack to Oxford 
 
 ment of new motives, aspirations, and pur" j 
 poses. A mere moralist keeps the law, but a 
 true Christian is kept by the higher law writ- 
 ten on his heart. He does right not simply 
 because it is better to do so, but because he 
 cannot think of doing otherwise. He sees God 
 and truth and loveliness in everything that is 
 right and honorable, and sees Satan and 
 error and ugliness in everything that is 
 base and wrong. He serves God with glad- 
 ness, and maintains his integrity as a matter 
 of course. His morality is not only as com- 
 plete as that of the moralist, but it is inci- 
 dental to his spirituality and grows out of it. 
 He does not pride himself in it, nor boast of 
 it, but stays his soul on God and keeps the 
 whole law of man from the inward impetus 
 which the law of God stamped on his soul 
 gives him. 
 
 WHAT CONVERSION DOES 
 The new spirit which conversion gives to 
 an unrenewed heart is pleasantly signified by
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 93 
 
 an Irishman's description of his own conver- 
 sion. As is well known, the Irish have always 
 made good Methodists, or, if you prefer, 
 Methodism has always made good Irishmen, 
 and, either way, there is nothing better in 
 Irish-Methodist experience than a work of 
 grace which takes fight out of the heart. 
 
 " Be there a sad note 
 In an Irishman's lays, 
 Yet joy will be found 
 In his rhythmical line ; 
 And be there a cloud, 
 Over all of his days, 
 He gladdens the rifts 
 With effulgence divine." * 
 
 The story of the Irishman's conversion was 
 related by Kev. A. Youcler in the Northwest- 
 ern Christian Advocate, as follows: 
 
 "As I was comin' from town the other night 
 a neighbor told me that there was a little lad 
 in the schoolhouse beyont that crazed me son- 
 in-law. Indade he was bad enough before, 
 without makin' him worse, for he used to get 
 drunk an' bate rne darter ; indade if I had been 
 able I'd bate him. 
 
 * Lyrics of the Lariat, by Nathan Kirk Griggs.
 
 94 Back to Oxford 
 
 "I said in me wrath, 'I'll take me wa happer 
 [cane] and I'll go over and bate him.' Well, 
 when I came to the schoolhouse, it was that 
 paleface, no teeth a-hitterin' fellow, Porneroy. 
 'Troth,' I said, 'I'll not take a napper to that 
 fellow, for I can bate him without it.' I met 
 me son-in-law sittin' there, an' he never looked 
 so dacent before. But he was sayin' 'Amen,' 
 and I could not tell what they were all amenin' 
 about. 
 
 "The first thing the cratur said was that we 
 were all sinners, and I said, 'That's true for 
 ye.' And the next thing the cratur said was, 
 'We're all goin' to hell.' And I said, 'Mebbe 
 ye'll be there first.' And the next thing he 
 said was that we could all get good an' go to 
 heaven. And I said, 'Not so bad for the 
 cratur.' 
 
 "And there was a load come upon me, the 
 weight of the stone, and I said, 'I'll leave; I'll 
 stay here no longer.' I got up to go out, and 
 I getted him by the coat tail and went out 
 behint him. And when I got out there was
 
 The Germ of Methodist Life 95 
 
 a weight upon me, the weight of a stone. And 
 I knelt down in the snow bank, and I prayed 
 and I prayed, and when I got up there wasn't 
 the weight of the down on a goose's back upon 
 me. And ever since the Hooly Ghost has had 
 a wee house to me heart."
 
 OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT 
 
 THE doctrine of the witness of the spirit is 
 not original with Methodism, but the empha- 
 sis given to it by Methodism makes it seem 
 peculiar. 
 
 St. Paul, speaking of the spirit of adoption, 
 adds, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with 
 our spirit, that we are the children of God" 
 (Rom. 8. 16). This is a plain and positive as- 
 sertion that God does give to man the assur- 
 ance of adoption into his family. In John 5. 
 11 this assurance is called "the record," or 
 testimony. This testimony is given by the 
 Spirit of God to and with our own spirit. It 
 is what Wesley denominates as that "inward 
 impression on the soul whereby the Spirit of 
 God immediately and directly witnesses to my 
 spirit that I am a child of God; that Christ 
 hath loved me, and given himself for me; that
 
 Operations of the Spirit 97 
 
 all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am 
 reconciled to God. Meantime let it be ob- 
 served, I do not mean thereby, that the Spirit 
 of God testifies this by any outward voice; no, 
 nor always by an inward voice, although he 
 may do this sometimes. Neither do I suppose 
 that he always applies to the heart, though he 
 often may, one or more texts of Scripture. 
 But he so works upon the soul by his imme- 
 diate influence, and by a strong though inex- 
 plicable operation, that the stormy wind and 
 troubled waves subside, and there is a sweet 
 calm. The heart rests as in the arms of 
 Jesus; and the sinner is clearly satisfied that 
 God is reconciled, that all his iniquities are 
 forgiven and his sins covered."* 
 
 It is clear, then, that the witness of the 
 Spirit is not a reflex act, but it is God himself 
 shining on the soul, as a reconciled Father, 
 dispensing doubt and fear from the mind. The 
 reflex acts follow, as the soul turns its eye in- 
 ward upon its own state and actions. 
 * Sermon on the Witness of the Spirit,
 
 98 Back to Oxford 
 
 Paul says again, "Because ye are sons, God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your 
 hearts" (Gal. 4. 6). And John says, "He that 
 believeth on the Son of God hath the witness 
 in himself" (1 John 5. 10). Language could 
 not make it plainer that the divine Spirit, 
 proceeding from the Father and from the Son, 
 does enter into and unite with the human 
 spirit, at the moment of adoption, to give con- 
 sciousness of the great spiritual transition. 
 Blessed truth and precious Comforter! 
 
 This is the doctrine which Jesus himself 
 had in mind when he said, "Ye shall know 
 the doctrine." The mission of Jesus into this 
 world was to give "knowledge of salvation;" 
 not salvation alone, but the "knowledge" of it. 
 This knowledge was foreshadowed in the ex- 
 perience of God's ancient saints. "The psalm- 
 ist said, "The secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear him ; and he will show them his cove- 
 nant." The marginal reading in this case is 
 preferable to the accepted "and his covenant 
 to make them know it." This makes the cove-
 
 Operations of the Spirit 99 
 
 nant the subject, and not the object, of the 
 verb. So that the whole should read, "The 
 secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, 
 and his covenant is that he will make them 
 know it," that is, know the secret. God has 
 no richer secret to make known to those that 
 fear him with loving holy fear than the se- 
 cret that he has saved them. "His secret is 
 with the righteous." He hides it in their 
 hearts, and they know of the hiding. It is to 
 them a conscious and precious truth, just as 
 actual as any other fact of experience. Hence 
 Mr. Wesley observed: "How does it appear to 
 you, that you are alive, and that you are now 
 at ease, and not in pain? Are you not imme- 
 diately conscious of it? By the same imme- 
 diate consciousness you will know if your soul 
 is alive to God; if you are saved from the 
 pain of proud wrath, and have the ease of a 
 meek and quiet spirit. By the same means 
 you cannot but perceive if you love, rejoice, 
 and delight in God. By the same you must 
 be directly assured if you love your neighbor
 
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 as yourself; if you are kindly affectioned to 
 all mankind, and full of gentleness and long- 
 suffering." 
 
 If it be asked, How can God thus witness to 
 man? How can the infinite intelligence pro- 
 duce such an impression upon the finite soul? 
 the answer is, He does it, and that is enough 
 to satisfy us. Many things happen in this 
 world that cannot be explained, but mystery 
 does not diminish their value nor lessen their 
 truth. How can men communicate their 
 thoughts to each other? We know that the 
 process is by words and sounds, but the deeper 
 mystery we cannot fathom. How can a mother 
 impress upon the mind of her helpless babe 
 the truth of her love? The babe understands 
 no words, nor the significance of sounds. Yet 
 the answering smile and the playful trust tell 
 plainly that it feels the truth. Surely the in- 
 finite God who created us and knows us well, 
 can bear witness with our spirits, as easily as 
 a mother with her child, to the fact of his 
 love.
 
 Operations of the Spirit 101 
 
 In this connection let us refer to the doc- 
 trine of "The Spirit-filled life. From the 
 prominence given in recent years to this idea 
 one would be led to suppose that the doctrine 
 is new, and is for the first time conferring its 
 benefits upon the world. This is very far from 
 the truth. No Christian doctrine is older. 
 The Church of England Prayer Book abounds 
 with it. In her daily service she teaches all 
 to beseech God to "grant us his Holy Spirit 
 that those things may please him which we 
 do at this present, and that the rest of our 
 life may be pure and holy;" that he would 
 send down upon all the clergy and people "the 
 heartfelt Spirit of his grace;" and that "we 
 may receive more abundantly the Spirit of 
 God in our hearts." "O, what comfort is this 
 to the heart of a true Christian, to think that 
 the Holy Ghost dwelleth in him." All the col- 
 lects are full of petitions for the guidance and 
 comfort of the Holy Spirit. So with the 
 writings of John Wesley. They magnify the 
 office and work of the Spirit in the truly
 
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 saved heart. He goes as far as to say that 
 "every good gift is from God, and is given to 
 man by the Holy Spirit. By nature there is 
 in us no good thing; and there can be none, 
 but so far as it is wrought in us by that good 
 Spirit." Methodism has always made the 
 Spirit-filled life a prominent feature. She is 
 justified in this, too, by the abundant teaching 
 of the word of God. 
 
 At Pentecost the disciples "were all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2. 2). Peter was 
 "filled with the Holy Ghost" when he arose to 
 defend himself before the Jewish council (Acts 
 4. 8). Paul at conversion was "filled with the 
 Holy Ghost" (Acts 9. 17). So he was when he 
 rebuked Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13. 9). He 
 prayed that the Ephesian brethren might be 
 "filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 
 3. 19). He exhorted them to "be not drunk 
 with wine, but be filled with the Spirit" 
 (Eph. 5. 18). The angel said of John that 
 he should "be filled with the Holy Ghost, even 
 from his mother's womb" (Luke 1. 15). Eliza-
 
 Operations of the Spirit 103 
 beth, his mother, and Zacharias, his father, 
 were both "filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke 
 1. 41-67). Mary, the mother of Jesus, was 
 constantly in the presence and life of the 
 Spirit. The angel said to her, "The Lord is 
 with thee;" "The Holy Ghost shall come up- 
 on thee" (Luke 1. 28-32). Jesus himself was 
 always filled with the Spirit. "God giveth not 
 the Spirit by measure unto him" (John 3. 
 34). He said himself, "The Spirit of the 
 Lord God is upon me; for the Lord has an- 
 ointed me to preach the Gospel" (Luke 4. 18). 
 Our Lord inaugurated the dispensation of the 
 Spirit and promised his Spirit to comfort his 
 people and to reprove the world of sin until 
 the end of time. We live in the dispensation 
 of the Spirit, and are to live in the Spirit, 
 walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and 
 manifest the fruits of the Spirit. It is the 
 Spirit which makes us "free from the law of 
 sin and death," and we are divinely assured 
 that "to be spiritually minded is life and 
 peace." It is by "the Spirit of adoption" that
 
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 we first cry, Abba, Father, and it is the Spirit 
 of assurance which "beareth witness with our 
 Spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 
 8. 15, 16). We know not how a Bible truth 
 could be made more prominent than Metho- 
 dists from the beginning have made this, and 
 the fact that earnest people of other denomi- 
 nations are just fairly waking up to the idea 
 is only another illustration of the fact that 
 everything good in Methodism is sure sooner 
 or later to be picked up and pushed forward 
 under some guise or in some modified form by 
 Christians who will have none of it while it 
 remains distinctively the working feature of 
 another Church.
 
 PROGRESS IN THE JUSTIFIED 
 STATE 
 
 IT is a pity that so few writers on the spirit- 
 ual life have enlarged with proper enthusiasm 
 upon the inexpressibly rich and precious emo- 
 tions attending justification. 
 
 " Tongue can never express 
 The sweet comfort and peace 
 Of a soul iu its earliest love." 
 
 When a person is justified two other things 
 occur, namely, regeneration of the heart by the 
 Holy Spirit and adoption of the soul into the 
 family of God. This threefold experience gives 
 a substantial basis for growth and progress. 
 The soul is now alive unto God, and live 
 things generally grow until they reach matu- 
 rity. Peter commands us to grow in grace 
 and in the knowledge of the truth. Christ
 
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 taught us to grow from sprout to blade; from 
 blade to ear; from ear to full corn in the ear. 
 He desires that none should be barren or un- 
 fruitful in the kingdom of God. 
 
 Growth is proof of life. Advancement is 
 evidence of effort. We grow by keeping our- 
 selves under the laws of growth. We advance 
 by keeping ourselves in touch with power, or 
 rather in the exercise of power. God's plan is 
 that every life shall advance toward life's 
 divinest end. Once brought into harmony 
 with him, he designs that we shall become 
 more like him, better fitted to reign with him, 
 more and more full of his love, and more and 
 more abounding in his holy work. 
 
 Now, what are the conditions for continu- 
 ance in such a state. Wesley said that "a 
 clear conviction of the love of God cannot re- 
 main in any who do not walk closely with 
 God." He testified that he knew "no one per- 
 son who had lost this without some voluntary 
 defect in his conduct, though perhaps at the 
 time he was not conscious of it, but upon
 
 Progress in the Justified State 107 
 
 prayer it was revealed to him." It follows 
 that the justified persons must give heed to 
 his calling lest he lose the ground of his con- 
 fidence and fail to make headway in working 
 out his salvation. 
 
 Suppose that the justified Christian does 
 not interest himself in the teachings of the 
 Bible as to the conditions of progress, the 
 laws of growth, and the sweet possibilities of 
 advancement in grace, what will be the con- 
 sequence? Can he retain his justification if 
 he lives, or go to heaven if he dies. It is 
 upon this point that light needs to be thrown. 
 
 No doubt would I cast upon the precious 
 truth that heaven is the inheritance of God's 
 children, that adoption gives title to it, and 
 that the justified person, dying in the state of 
 justification, enters upon his inheritance. So 
 far, so good. But what is the essential part 
 of heaven? Is it not to see God, to know 
 God, to love God, and to be prepared to enjoy 
 his presence forever? Is it not to be with 
 Jesus, to be like Jesus, and to enjoy his sane-
 
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 tity and approval to all eternity? And did 
 not John state a most significant and vital 
 truth when he said, "He that hath this hope 
 in him purifieth himself even as he is pure"? 
 Do we want heaven simply because we are 
 legally or graciously entitled to it? or do we 
 want it because we feel ready to enjoy it, to 
 share its purity, its delightful service, and 
 bring honor to Him who hath washed us and 
 made us white in the blood of the Lamb? 
 
 Evidently such a preparation for heaven is 
 not the immediate and sole result of justifica- 
 tion. Eternal blessedness is not the fruit of 
 mere forgiveness. The justified soul is an 
 accepted candidate for heaven, but the candi- 
 dacy, if life continues, implies more than 
 standing still. Let us consult with God about 
 this matter. Hear him: 
 
 "He that hath my commandments, and 
 kcepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he 
 that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
 and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
 Unto him." "If any man say, I know him,
 
 Progress in the Justified State 109 
 
 and keepeth not his commandments, he is a 
 liar, and the truth is not in him." "How shall 
 we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" 
 "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." "And every one that heareth 
 these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, 
 shall be likened unto a foolish man which built 
 his house upon the sand," etc. 
 
 In the foregoing inspired statements we 
 find that "keeping the commandments," look- 
 ing after "the great salvation," and "doing 
 the will of the Father," are all involved in 
 the idea of continuing in the justified state. 
 In keeping the commandments we must keep 
 all of them, not excepting that big one, "Be 
 ye holy.'' The justified person is expected to 
 be as holy according to his light and knowl- 
 edge as those who have advanced much faster 
 in Christian experience. The truth is, the 
 justified life, or, rather, the regenerated life, 
 is the beginning of the holy life; it involves
 
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 obedience, search for the fullness of the bless- 
 ing, and a constant effort to do the will of 
 God. The pardon of sin to-day implies all 
 that, and also some progress to-morrow. "The 
 path of the just(ified) is as the shining light, 
 which shineth more and more unto the per- 
 fect day." How can there be "more and 
 more" of this shining unless there be more 
 and more of progress in this pathway? Paul 
 said at the endJ^of^ his journey, "I have 
 fought," "I havfe'vffimshed," "I have kept;" 
 "henceforth, tfosuKiMDfvm." Evidently he had 
 no thought tha<f<li&avkn was the reward of his 
 conversion. tCfhey'OTowji awaited him because 
 under GodJJmhafll fitted himself to wear it. 
 
 The ChrisMaaiiJf$if4> is very simple. It is 
 pardon of slninatAdr then pushing ahead for 
 everything that God wants us to be and to do. 
 This is practical. It is a phase of duty that 
 anyone can understand. Be sure your past 
 sins are forgiven, and then live so that God 
 can approve your spirit and progress every 
 moment afterward.
 
 Progress in the Justified State 111 
 
 A marked proof that regeneration is not 
 the finality of spiritual experience is to be 
 found in the fact that new converts almost 
 invariably express a desire for completeness 
 in the good work already begun. After a 
 sound conversion there is generally an emo- 
 tion of great joy and happiness mingled with 
 the sense of peace. This continues for a 
 time, and then a struggle often ensues. The 
 soul becomes dissatisfied with itself, its state 
 of advancement, its clearness of vision, its 
 consciousness of liberty, and its sense of the 
 abiding presence of Christ. There is a con- 
 ception of richer possibilities in grace, and 
 consequently a holy yearning after better 
 things. 
 
 Some religious teachers explain this phe- 
 nomenon as a temptation of the devil. No 
 doubt the evil one does need to be guarded 
 against at this point, but there is a philosophy 
 of soul life which also requires consideration. 
 The truth is that the experience of regener- 
 ating grace is only the beginning of God's
 
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 great work in a believing heart the portico, 
 as it were, to the spiritual edifice which the 
 all-wise Master Builder has begun to erect 
 within. When this portico is passed there 
 opens before the spiritual eye a scene of clas- 
 sic beauty, touched by angel fingers, and rep- 
 resenting the rich things in store for the 
 worthy heir to immortal honors. 
 
 When a person is convicted of sin and re- 
 solves to lead a new life the burden of the 
 desire is to be pardoned. "Have mercy upon 
 me," is the cry. In this hour of penitence the 
 thought rarely extends beyond the hope of 
 pardon and the desire for adoption into the 
 family of God. Then, when this goal is 
 reached, the soul surveys its vantage ground, 
 inhales deeply the invigorating atmosphere 
 of the renewed life, catches a glimpse of the 
 luscious fruits which overhang the straight 
 pathway before it, and begins to reach out 
 after higher and better things. The word of 
 God is studied, the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ are apprehended, the comfort of the
 
 Progress in the Justified State 113 
 
 Spirit is felt, the encouragements to growth 
 are realized, the fullness of the blessing dis- 
 cerned, and pretty soon the idea takes form 
 that first principles should be left behind and 
 the adoring heart should go on to perfection. 
 
 A close study of the word and of Christian 
 biography will encourage this step. Then fol- 
 lows conviction for purity, and a search for 
 the conditions of entrance upon this expe- 
 rience. Should the conditions be complied 
 with, a distinct and precious blessing is often 
 the result, followed by a far holier ardor to 
 do good in the world. 
 
 It is a principle of the Christian life that 
 if we would retain present blessings we must 
 ever be reaching out after new ones. This is 
 what may be called exercise in godliness. It 
 is laying hold in earnest on eternal life. It 
 is drinking at the fountain until "filled," and 
 then using the refreshment to help others. 
 Isaiah says the Lord's mercies are new every 
 morning. If this be so, the Christian should 
 seek a new supply every morning, and be
 
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 ready for new experiences throughout the 
 day. The new life must never be allowed to 
 get old. It never will and never does when 
 supplied by "daily bread" from the hand of 
 God.
 
 SCRIPTURAL HOLINESS 
 
 HOLINESS is a scriptural idea. The Bible is 
 full of it. God's character is represented as 
 holy. His name is holy. He dwelleth in 
 the holy place. He is referred to as "glorious 
 in holiness." 
 
 The old priesthood was also designated as 
 holy. In 2 Chron. 31. 18 we are told that "in 
 their set office they sanctified themselves in 
 holiness." To "sanctify" is to set apart to 
 religious use, to make free from sin, to fit 
 man for the service of God and the society 
 of heaven. 
 
 The Church is designed to furnish a means 
 and power of holiness. "Holiness becometh 
 thine house." "Upon Mount Zion there shall 
 be holiness." Any number of passages could 
 be quoted to show that holiness is the normal 
 condition of the Christian life. 
 
 Turn to Heb. 12. 9, 10: "Furthermore we
 
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 have had fathers of our flesh which corrected 
 us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not 
 much rather be in subjection unto the Father 
 of spirits, and live ? For they verily chastened 
 us after their own pleasure; but he for our 
 profit, that we might be partakers of his holi- 
 ness." From this we infer that Christian 
 holiness bears a semblance to divine holiness; 
 that is, that the soul "partakes" of takes a 
 part in the holiness of God. The idea is that 
 Christian holiness has some of the properties 
 of divine holiness, and that by experience the 
 Christian becomes a sharer in the holiness 
 which God designs his creatures to have. 
 
 Turn next to Eph. 4. 23, 24: "And be re- 
 newed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye 
 put on the new man, which after God is cre- 
 ated in righteousness and true holiness." It 
 is clear that Christian holiness is a "creation" 
 (meaning that something is brought into the 
 human experience which was not there be- 
 fore), and that the creation of this new expe- 
 rience is after the divine pattern "after God-"
 
 Scriptural Holiness 117 
 
 Pass on to 1 Thess. 3. 12, 13: "And the 
 Lord make you to increase and abound in 
 love one toward another, and toward all men, 
 even as we do toward you; to the end he may 
 establish- your hearts unblamable in holiness 
 before God." This teaches us that God is the 
 author of holiness, and that he establishes it 
 in human hearts that "abound in love." In 
 the next chapter (seventh verse) we read, 
 "For God hath not called us unto unclean- 
 ness, but unto holiness." The divine aim and 
 purpose is to make us holy. We are to 
 "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
 flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the 
 fear of God" (2 Cor. 7. 1). Holiness is, there- 
 fore, a cleansing away of all uncleanliness 
 and the implanting of divine grace that we 
 may gain fitness for holy associations. 
 
 Let some facts now be stated: 
 
 1. Holiness is Godlikeness, or godliness. 
 It is not to be divine. "Ye shall be as gods" 
 is Satan's lie. There is one God, only one. 
 We shall never be anything but human, nor
 
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 do we need to be, and need not desire to be. 
 But the human can partake of the divine. 
 Man was created in the moral image of God. 
 By sin he lost that image. The design of the 
 Gospel is to restore. Yet so terrible are the 
 effects of sin that many believe it impossible 
 for man to regain any semblance of that state 
 of holiness which he lost by the fall. His 
 judgment is weakened. He is marred by sin. 
 His is an evil heart of unbelief. All that he 
 gains in holiness is attributable only to divine 
 grace. The degree of holiness possible to each 
 one is best determined by a personal trial. 
 
 2. Holiness is sanctification complete. Sanc- 
 tification begins with the new birth, and should 
 be carried on to perfection. The moment we 
 experience God's saving grace in our hearts 
 we cease from willful transgression. Our 
 whole desire now is conformity to the will of 
 God. We turn away from the sinful to that 
 which is good, and we ask God to make the 
 transformation complete; when he does so we 
 are holy. Sometimes this blessing is called
 
 Scriptural Holiness 119 
 
 "entire sanctification." This is not a Scrip- 
 tural phrase, but there are passages which 
 justify it. Writing to the Thessalonian Chris- 
 tians, the apostle Paul says: "Abstain from 
 all appearance of evil. And the very God of 
 peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God 
 your whole spirit and soul and body be pre- 
 served blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, 
 who also will do it." This is a wonderful 
 prayer, and it implies the possibility of a 
 wonderful experience. 
 
 3. Holiness is presented in many passages 
 as "perfect love." God is love, and just in 
 proportion as we are like God do we abound 
 in love. The sum of the commandments is 
 that we love God with all our hearts, and our 
 neighbor as ourselves. To keep this com- 
 mandment is to become perfect in love, and 
 to become perfect in love is to be holy. This 
 is all Mr. Wesley and other trustworthy teach- 
 ers have meant by the term "Christian per- 
 fection." He said, "Perfection is nothing
 
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 higher and nothing lower than this the pure 
 love of God and man; the loving God with all 
 our heart and soul, and our neighbors as our- 
 selves." This is the perfection we ask in 
 song: 
 
 "Come, Saviour, come, and make me whole; 
 
 Entirely all my sins remove ; 
 To perfect health restore my soul, 
 
 To perfect holiness and love." 
 
 Therefore, when you speak of Christian per- 
 fection do not think of absolute perfection 
 this belongs to God only; nor of angelic per- 
 fection this belongs to angels only; nor of 
 Adamic perfection this belonged to a human 
 nature unmarred by sin. Speak and think of 
 Christian perfection as that state of grace in 
 which the soul loves God with all the heart, 
 and neighbor as itself. It is a unique expe- 
 rience. It can be compared only with itself. 
 It is all of grace. It is the work of the Holy 
 Spirit in the heart and of normal growth in 
 the religious life. It differs in intensity and 
 completeness in different individuals, just as 
 regeneration does. Its fullness depends upon
 
 Spiritual Holiness 121 
 
 the previous life, the power of faith, the men- 
 tal endowments, and various other environ- 
 ments. In its smallest degree it is an un- 
 speakably rich blessing, a prize to be sought 
 after with all diligence. It should be prayer- 
 fully sought rather than argued about. When 
 we get to heaven we must have it; better take 
 it with us and have a good start in the blessed- 
 ness of the glory land.
 
 TRAINING OF YOUTH 
 
 METHODISM holds that infants dying in in- 
 fancy are eternally saved. The atonement pro- 
 vides unconditionally for those who pass from 
 earth while yet innocent of willful sin. 
 
 Jesus said of children, "Of such is the king- 
 dom of God," meaning that the relation of 
 infants to the covenant of grace is such as to 
 bring them clearly within its benefits, and that 
 all true subjects of his kingdom are, like chil- 
 dren, made innocent in heart and life. If the 
 infant is an heir of immortality, so are such 
 adults as comply with the conditions of en- 
 trance upon the heavenly inheritance. 
 
 David said, "In sin did my mother con- 
 ceive me." No infant is born in a state of 
 holiness. The poison of original sin is in 
 every constitution. The native depravity of 
 man is such that as soon as a child approaches
 
 Training of Youth 123 
 
 adult age the innocence of infancy uniformly 
 fades away and the need of a new heart mani- 
 fests itself. This is the point in early life 
 when wise and diligent attention should be 
 bestowed. 
 
 THE NURTURE OF CHILDHOOD 
 Wesley held that true religion should be 
 instilled into the minds of children as early 
 as possible. His language is : "From the very 
 time that reason dawns, laying line upon line, 
 precept upon precept, as soon and as fast as 
 they are able to bear it." "Scripture, reason, 
 and experience jointly testify that, inasmuch 
 as the corruption of nature is earlier than 
 our instructions can be, we should take all 
 pains and care to counteract this corruption 
 as early as possible. The bias of nature is set 
 the wrong way; educatic^ is designed to set 
 it right. This, by the grace of God, is to turn 
 the bias from self-will, pride, anger, revenge, 
 and the love of the world, to resignation, low- 
 liness, meekness, and the love of God. And
 
 124 Back to Oxford 
 
 from the moment we perceive any of those 
 evil roots springing up it is our business im- 
 mediately to check their growth, if we cannot 
 yet root them out." 
 
 A PLAN OF INSTRUCTION INSTITUTED 
 
 Mr. Wesley was so solicitous for the correct 
 training of the child mind that he early and 
 seriously called the attention of his preachers 
 to the subject. 
 
 "What shall we do for the rising genera- 
 tion?" he asked. And here are the answers 
 he helped to frame: 
 
 "1. Where there are ten children in a so- 
 ciety, meet them at least an hour every week. 
 
 "2. Talk with them every time you see any 
 at home. 
 
 "3. Pray in earnest for them. 
 
 "4. Diligently instruct and vehemently ex- 
 hort all parents at their own houses. 
 
 "5. Preach expressly on education. . . . 'But 
 I have no gift for this.' Gift or no gift,
 
 Training of Youth 125 
 
 you art to do it; else you are not called to 
 be a Methodist preacher. Do it as you can, 
 till you can do it as you would. Pray ear- 
 nestly for the gift and use the means for it." 
 It will thus be seen that Methodism from 
 the start has been in earnest for the salvation 
 of boys and girls. 
 
 THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER 
 Our present Disciplinary provisions all have 
 this important end in view. Reasoning people 
 know that childhood offers the supreme oppor- 
 tunity for shaping character. It is the most 
 propitious period in life for instilling those 
 precepts, ingrafting those truths, and forming 
 those habits which adorn a Christian soul. In 
 the vicinity of Paris there is a quarry the 
 stones from which are at first soft and pliable, 
 but after being laid in the wall they become 
 hard as adamant. The youthful mind is like 
 that pliant stone. In its early state you can 
 shape it almost as you will, but when it is
 
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 once shapen and set it becomes firm and hard. 
 Some one has said that, "It is common sense 
 to put the seal to the wax while it is soft, to 
 bud the tender twig with the fruit it should 
 bear, to go to the fountain head to guide the 
 current of the stream, and to lay hold on 
 the young tendrils of the shooting vine, and 
 to train them as we would have them go." 
 Who, wishing to give a sapling a peculiar 
 bend, would wait "till the nursling had be- 
 come a full-grown tree"? Mirabeau was once 
 asked what was the best way of teaching popu- 
 lar liberty. He replied, "Begin with the in- 
 fant in the cradle, and let the first name it 
 learns to lisp be 'Washington.' " So, in teach- 
 ing religion, begin wisely at the cradle, and 
 let the first name be "Jesus." There is magic 
 in that name. Write it on the heart, impress 
 it on the moral nature. Have faith in child- 
 hood and in the God of childhood. Claim the 
 tender plants for Christ. Train them in piety 
 and wisdom. Pray for them. Labor with 
 them. Bring them to church. Let pas-
 
 Training of Youth 127 
 
 tors endeavor to win them by making ser- 
 mons that they can understand. Grown 
 people love such sermons as much as chil- 
 dren do. By any means, by all means, 
 win the lambs of the flock for the shelter- 
 ing fold of the great Shepherd. Mr. Spur- 
 geon. used to say that those church mem- 
 bers who gave him the least trouble were those 
 who gave their hearts to Jesus when young. 
 When a child is old enough to love, to trust, 
 and to obey its parents, it is old enough to 
 love, trust, and obey Christ. The Bible never 
 makes age a condition of salvation ; and when 
 Christ is truly accepted, then Christ should be 
 openly confessed. What is the use of having 
 a fold if the lambs are to be kept out until 
 they can stand the winter? 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
 
 Devoted Christians of a very early day 
 sought to bring children together for cate- 
 chetical instruction on the Lord's Day. In
 
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 England, in 17G9, Miss Hannah Ball taught 
 a religious school on Saturday and Sunday, 
 and reported progress to Mr. Wesley. In 1781, 
 Miss Cook, prompted by Robert Raikes, taught 
 the neglected street waifs of Gloucester to 
 read, and also took them to church. Several 
 schools were then organized and sustained 
 through the wealth of Mr. Raikes. Mr. Wes- 
 ley heard of them, liked the idea, and sug- 
 gested the plan of securing volunteer teachers 
 to establish schools in all his congregations. 
 
 In 1784, at the organization of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church, it was recommended 
 that Methodist children should meet once a 
 week for religious instruction. In 1786 Bishop 
 Asbury instituted at the house of Thomas 
 Crenshaw, in Hanover County, Virginia, the 
 first regular Sunday school in America, and 
 four years later the General Conference or- 
 dered Sunday schools to be established for 
 the instruction of poor children, white and 
 black, in learning and piety, being the first 
 American Church to recognize this institu-
 
 Training of Youth 129 
 
 tion, which is now so influential and powerful. 
 Here is the text of General Conference action 
 in 1790: 
 
 "Q. What can be done for the instruction 
 cf poor children (whites and blacks) to read? 
 
 "A. Let us labor, as the heart and soul of 
 one man, to establish Sunday schools in or 
 near the place of public worship. Let persons 
 be appointed by the bishops, elders, deacons, 
 or preachers to teach gratis all that will at- 
 tend, and have a capacity to learn, from six 
 o'clock in the morning till ten; and from two 
 o'clock in the afternoon until six, where it 
 does not interfere with public worship." 
 
 The extent to which Sunday school work is 
 now carried on, both in Europe and America, 
 indicates that so powerful and useful a factor 
 in Christian labor can never cease. So long 
 as there is a Sabbath day and live Christians 
 in this wicked world, so long will effort be 
 put forth to do good to children in Sunday 
 schools. The tree planted so long ago has 
 budded abundantly, brought forth boughs like
 
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 a plant, and must be made to yield yet richer 
 fruit unto God. 
 
 THE EPWORTH LEAGUE 
 
 It was to be expected that in the fullness of 
 time a young people's society worthy of 
 Methodism should take form, name, character, 
 and mission. Accordingly, on the 15th day of 
 May, 1889, in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, the 
 Epworth League emerged. Several societies 
 for youth had previously been organized, but 
 none on such a broad and comprehensive basis. 
 The name "Epworth League" was chosen in 
 preference to the Oxford League, the Wesley 
 League, the Christian League, and some others 
 which were suggested, because, without being 
 either pretentious or sectarian, it did savor of 
 Methodist origin and a distinctive purpose. 
 
 The Maltese cross was adopted as the badge, 
 and a white ribbon with a central scarlet 
 thread was chosen as the colors. The motto, 
 "Look up; lift up," became the Epworth 
 legend, and at the General Conference of 1892
 
 Training of Youth 131 
 
 the constitution was adopted. The object is 
 "to promote intelligent and vital piety in the 
 young members and friends of the Church, to 
 aid them in the attainment of purity of heart 
 and constant growth in grace, and to train 
 them in works of mercy and help" a mission 
 truly worthy of Christian endeavor. 
 
 The League has since been organized in 
 other branches of Methodism, and in England 
 under the style of the "Wesley Guild." The 
 Junior department aims to provide Epworth 
 League benefits for boys and girls, especially 
 in the direction of training for Christian 
 work.
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 
 
 METHODISM originated in a college atmos- 
 phere. Its founders were students and tutors 
 in a great university. John and Charles 
 Wesley began in their college days, and con- 
 tinued to the end of their lives, the practice 
 of conversing with each other in Latin. In 
 their daily walks and rides they studied in- 
 structive books, and discoursed on thoughtful 
 themes. Their public addresses and sermons, 
 as well as their private letters and conversa- 
 tions, all breathe the educational spirit. 
 
 John Wesley especially became one of the 
 foremost scholars of his own or any other age. 
 lie was a student in German, French, Italian, 
 Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic. He could con- 
 verse in German and Latin, and could hold 
 church services in French and Italian. He 
 wrote text-books and histories in several of
 
 Higher Education 133 
 
 these languages, and had a fine teaching 
 knowledge in several sciences, in philosophy 
 and literary lore. He was the author of a 
 complete dictionary of the English language. 
 He lived to learn, and to encourage learning 
 in others. In August, 1831, writing to one of 
 his pupils, he said: 
 
 "You, who have not the assurance of a day 
 to live, are not wise if you waste a moment. 
 The shortest way to knowledge seems to be 
 this : 1. To ascertain what knowledge you de- 
 sire to attain. 2. To read no book which does 
 not in some way tend to the attainment of 
 that knowledge. 3. To read no book which 
 does not tend to the attainment of it, unless 
 it be the best in its kind. 4. To finish one 
 before you begin another. 5. To read them all 
 in such order that every subsequent book may 
 illustrate and confirm the preceding."* 
 
 The above bit of advice shows the instincts 
 and knowledge of a true educator. The rules 
 laid down are even more applicable now than 
 
 * Methodist Magazine, 1850, page 10G4.
 
 134 Back to Oxford 
 
 they were when given, because worthless or 
 unhelpful books have so greatly multiplied, 
 and modern educational methods are so diver- 
 sified and in some respects confusing. 
 
 The school at Kingswood, which Whitefield 
 commenced, and of which Wesley afterward 
 became sole proprietor, though never an ideal 
 one, nevertheless became far-famed, and by 
 many years of checkered history demonstrated 
 his persistent belief that all Christian work- 
 ers are at their best when possessing trained 
 intellects as well as sanctified hearts. The 
 opinion has been expressed that had he under- 
 valued education, or had he not by example 
 and precept earnestly encouraged it among his 
 people, the societies he formed would not long 
 have held together, and the great revival he 
 introduced would have rapidly subsided, and 
 would probably have had no historian. 
 
 Seven great facts can be affirmed of Metho- 
 dism in respect to education: 
 
 1. She has sought to train her own teachers 
 and preachers, impressing them first of all
 
 Higher Education 135 
 
 with the truth that saving souls is the great 
 end of their work, but that a thorough mental 
 preparation is an important means to that end. 
 "Getting knowledge is good; saving souls is 
 better." Education is subordinate, not coor- 
 dinate, but it is indispensable to leadership. 
 Methodism seeks the right men for ministers, 
 and the correct training for these chosen men. 
 Her Conference courses of study, as well as 
 her institutions of higher learning, bespeak 
 her solicitude for intelligence in her pulpits. 
 
 2. She has sought to make her educational 
 work practical arid popular. She has designed 
 her schools to turn out good citizens and use- 
 ful members of society. The late President 
 Joseph Cumrnings claimed that the graduates 
 of Methodist schools, in sturdy independence 
 of thought, in self-reliance, in practical power 
 over men, in usefulness and influence, and in 
 the amount of work accomplished, have sur- 
 passed the same number of graduates, not spe- 
 cially selected, of any other colleges in the 
 country.
 
 136 Back to Oxford 
 
 3. She has sought to produce symmetrical 
 scholarship and well-balanced and thoroughly 
 rounded characters. She has united secular 
 with moral and religious education, seeking 
 to produce whole men as well as holy men. 
 She has not interfered with the Church rela- 
 tions or sectarian opinions of her students. 
 She has required that they abstain from vice 
 and live moral lives, and she has thrown 
 around them wholesome religious influences, 
 but never has invaded the domain of their in- 
 tellectual freedom. Revivals have character- 
 ized her college life, but her graduates have 
 gone forth with untrammeled thought. 
 
 4. She has aimed to give women as high 
 educational advantages as men. Coeducation 
 has been a fact if not a watchword. She has 
 acted upon the principle that women are quite 
 as much free moral agents as men are, and 
 just as accountable to God for the training 
 and use of their gifts and powers. 
 
 5. She has sought through educational agen- 
 cies to equip her missionaries and teachers for
 
 Higher Education 137 
 
 the capture of all mankind, and not of any 
 one particular class. She has remembered the 
 poor, the ignorant, and the wretched, and has 
 not forgotten the rich, the wise, and the pros- 
 perous. She holds that the favored classes of 
 society have souls to be saved, and has trained 
 her workers for success in laboring with them. 
 
 6. She has depended upon Christian educa- 
 tion, as well as the grace of God, for an anti- 
 dote to skeptical tendencies. She fears no 
 truth, scientific or otherwise, but proposes to 
 raise up scholars capable of ascertaining truth 
 and of stating it for themselves. It is folly 
 for a Church to be intellectually at the mercy 
 of the giants of unbelief. 
 
 7. She has provided for the thorough cul- 
 ture of her sons and daughters because she 
 wishes them to maintain leadership in any and 
 all the ranks of life. The increase of general 
 intelligence is one of the wonders of our times. 
 The wide extent of commerce and trade, the 
 vast development of newspaper and periodical 
 literature, the boundless resources and keen
 
 138 Back to Oxford 
 
 competition of the industries and arts, the 
 breadth of intercourse and rapidity of commu- 
 nication in ordinary business life as well as 
 in the learned professions, renders it necessary 
 that the common man or woman shall occupy 
 the position of a thinker and a critic. Metho- 
 dism must be up with the times, must possess 
 and utilize the means for securing the highest 
 mental discipline and keep step with the march 
 of progressive thought. 
 
 The birth-year of organized British Metho- 
 dism was 1739, and in that year also the 
 foundations of Kingswood School was laid. 
 Thus Church and school started together. 
 
 The first provision for higher education in 
 American Methodism was the establishment 
 of Cokesbury College at Abington, Maryland. 
 Its name was a combination of the names of 
 Coke and Asbury, who were chiefly instru- 
 mental in founding it. It was opened for 
 Students September 17, 1787, and was under 
 the presidency of the bishops. It was sup- 
 ported by annual collections in the circuits.
 
 Higher Education 139 
 
 It had three objects in view : 1. To educate 
 the sons of ministers; 2. To educate poor or- 
 phans; 3. To provide a seminary for other 
 Methodist children where learning and reli- 
 gion might go hand in hand. The students 
 were instructed in English, Latin, Greek, 
 logic, rhetoric, history, geography, natural 
 philosophy, and astronomy. Other languages 
 and sciences were to be added as the school 
 should develop. Wisdom and holiness were 
 the watchwords. The conditions of admission 
 were strict, and purposely calculated to shut 
 out vicious young men. The tuition fee was 
 "four guineas a year." Here are some of the 
 rules for the students, abridged: 
 
 1. Rise at five. 
 
 2. Prayers at six, then recreation. 
 
 3. Breakfast at seven. 
 
 4. Study from eight to twelve. 
 
 5. Recreation, dinner at one, then recrea- 
 tion until three. 
 
 6. Study from three until six. 
 
 7. Supper at six.
 
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 8. Prayers at seven. 
 
 9. Recreation until nine, then to bed. 
 
 10. Recreation to consist of walking, riding, 
 bathing, gardening, and various mechanical 
 trades. 
 
 11. No bathing in the river. 
 
 12. Only one minute in the bathtub. 
 
 13. No worldly playing. 
 
 14. Idleness to be punished by confine- 
 ment. 
 
 15. Open sin to be reproved in private for 
 first offense, in public for second, punished for 
 the third, and if incorrigible, expelled. 
 
 In 1789, a gracious revival occurred among 
 the students, showing its wholesome spiritual 
 atmosphere. 
 
 In 1795 the college burned down, causing a 
 loss of ten thousand dollars a large amount 
 for those days, representing the gifts of many 
 poor people. A new enterprise was at once 
 inaugurated at Baltimore, but in one year fire 
 put an end to that. 
 
 The formation of academies next began.
 
 Higher Education 141 
 
 One was started in Baltimore in 1817, another 
 in New York, and another in New Hamp- 
 shire. In 1823 Augusta College, in Kentucky, 
 was organized, and in 1825 Madison College, 
 in Pennsylvania. These were soon followed 
 by many more, the spirit of education having 
 become thoroughly aroused. North and south, 
 east and west, among all branches of Metho- 
 dism, seminaries, colleges, universities, biblical 
 and theological schools, summer universities 
 and training assemblies have been thoroughly 
 established. 
 
 Many millions of dollars are now invested 
 in Methodist educational institutions, and 
 some far-reaching plans have been laid. It is 
 proposed to provide for the highest educational 
 advantages the world affords right here in 
 America, so that our Methodist youth, male 
 and female, need not go to Germany, Eng- 
 land, Egypt, or anywhere else for the culture 
 that equips for practical usefulness in the 
 work of life. 
 
 Education to be true and progressive must
 
 142 Back to Oxford 
 
 equip a person for his own life mission. It 
 must embrace the best knowledge obtainable 
 of both the past and present, and it must equip 
 the intellectual faculties for a new stride 
 ahead. Progress is impossible if one genera- 
 tion learns only what past generations have 
 known and lived. There must be selection. 
 The student should obey Wesley's first rule 
 and ascertain what knowledge he requires for 
 his particular calling and age, and he then 
 must bend himself to the task of gaining wis- 
 dom from the best sources and by the most 
 approved methods for his individual career.
 
 PHILANTHROPY AND REFORM 
 
 THE determining quality of all true religion 
 is its attitude toward the destitute, the af- 
 flicted, and the unfortunate, and the provision 
 it makes for their relief. 
 
 The old philosophies were strikingly defi- 
 cient in this regard. The Epicureans were too 
 busy with feasting and merry-making to feel 
 much concern for the less favored classes. The 
 stoics were too closely occupied with the task 
 of proving that happiness is not an essential 
 of life, and that pain may be triumphed over, 
 ever to give much heed to the living illustra- 
 tions of suffering and woe. 
 
 Patriarchal piety was the first to inculcate 
 that humane principle that man is "his 
 brother's keeper." The Mosaic system was the 
 first to provide practical measures for the re- 
 lief of the poor and the refreshing of the 
 stranger. (See Exod. 23. 9-13; Lev. 19. 10.) 
 Huxley, the agnostic, truthfully confessed that
 
 144 Back to Oxford 
 
 "there is no code of legislation, ancient or 
 modern, at once so just and so merciful, so 
 tender to the weak and poor, as the Jewish 
 law." The Greeks with all their culture, and 
 the Romans with all their power, never ap- 
 proached the Hebrews in instituting plans and 
 methods for making the common life worth 
 living. Only those who, through inspired 
 light and knowledge, drew near to the loving 
 heart of Jehovah ever felt the supernatural 
 warmth which melts the human heart into pity 
 and compassion. The prophets and poets of 
 the old dispensation rang the changes upon 
 the blessedness of considering the poor and 
 the righteousness of showing them mercy. 
 Then came Jesus into the world, saying, 
 "Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom 
 of heaven" (Luke G. 20). It was given out 
 as one of the tokens of his Messiahship that 
 "the poor have the Gospel preached unto 
 them" (Matt. 11. 5). To the rich young man 
 who sought his counsel how to inherit eternal 
 life he laid down the crucial condition, "Sell
 
 Philanthropy and Reform 145 
 
 whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor" 
 (Mark 10. 21). 
 
 And as the divine Teacher taught, so his 
 followers practiced. The first churches under 
 Paul's ministrations made their contributions 
 for the poor saints at Jerusalem (Kom. 15. 
 20). St. James, the conspicuous teacher of 
 practical morality, laid down a definition 
 which has commanded the universal admira- 
 tion of the Christian continues: "Pure reli- 
 gion and undefiled before God and the Father 
 is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in 
 their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted 
 from the world" (James 1. 27). "Hearken," 
 said he, again; "hath not God chosen the poor 
 of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the 
 kingdom?" "But ye have despised the poor." 
 "If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin" 
 (James 2. 5, 6, 9). 
 
 WESLEY'S EULES 
 
 John Wesley, baptized with apostolic tender- 
 ness and patriarchal wisdom, like his Master
 
 146 Back to Oxford 
 
 before him, "went about continually doing 
 good." With his own face he begged from 
 door to door for help to his own scant purse to 
 minister to the indigent and suffering. One 
 of the very first rules he laid down to his 
 stewards was : 
 
 "If you cannot relieve, do not grieve the 
 poor; give them soft words, if nothing else; 
 abstain from either sour looks, or harsh words. 
 Let them be glad to come, even though they 
 should go empty away. Put yourself in the 
 place of every poor man ; and deal with him as 
 you would God should deal with you."* After 
 one of his own rounds of visitation he wrote : 
 "I visited as many as I could of the sick. How 
 much better is it, when it can be done, to 
 carry relief to the poor than to send it! and 
 that both for our own sake and theirs. For 
 theirs, as it is so much more comfortable to 
 them, and as we may then assist them in 
 spirituals as well as temporals; and for our 
 
 * This rule was No. 11 in the schedule of instructions 
 given to the stewards at Moorsfield in 1747,
 
 Philanthropy and Reform 147 
 
 own, as it is far more apt to soften our heart, 
 and to make us naturally care for each other." 
 Writing to one of his members in 1776, he 
 gave this loving counsel : "I have found some 
 of the uneducated poor who have exquisite 
 taste and sentiment; and many, very many, of 
 the rich who have scarcely any at all. But I 
 do not speak of this : I want you to converse 
 more, abundantly more, with the poorest of 
 the people, who, if they have not taste, have 
 souls, which you may forward in their way to 
 heaven. And they have (many of them) faith, 
 and the love of God, in a larger measure than 
 any persons I know. Creep in among these, in 
 spite of dirt and a hundred disgusting circum- 
 stances; and thus put off the gentlewoman. 
 Do not confine your conversation to genteel 
 and elegant people. I should like this as well 
 as you do; but I cannot discover a precedent 
 for it in the life of our Lord or any of his 
 apostles. My dear friend, let you and I walk 
 as he walked." 
 
 It was just such Christ-like habits and.
 
 148 Back to Oxford 
 
 common-sense rules as the above that gave to 
 early Methodism its power of expansion. Its 
 very spirit was a protest against every form 
 of luxury and extravagance. The General 
 Rules, which were read puhlicly every few. 
 weeks, embodying as they did those moral, 
 charitable, and practical elements of Bible re- 
 ligion, became the crystallization of Gospel 
 grace and tenderness. The powerful sermons 
 of Wesley, backed up as they were by personal 
 practice, served as an almost inspired medium 
 for the popularization of doctrines and prin- 
 ciples which were more like the teachings of 
 Moses and David and Christ and Paul and 
 James than anything that had been heard on 
 earth for fifteen hundred years. Not that they 
 contained a different Gospel from that of 
 other evangelical Churches, but that they had 
 a way of presenting it that suited the poor 
 and met the mournful necessities of their 
 condition.
 
 Philanthropy and Reform 149 
 
 THE CHURCH OF THE POOR 
 It was a fact in the life of our Lord that 
 when he rose to speak the poor, the needy, the 
 outcast, the lonely, the mourners, and the 
 masses were drawn toward him as by un- 
 earthly power. They were conscious that One 
 was among them who was touched with a feel- 
 ing of their own infirmities, and most gladly 
 they pressed near to his side and heard the 
 Gospel from his lips. And may we not re- 
 cord, in no spirit of boasting, that a character- 
 istic of Methodist ministration has been an 
 uprising and an ingathering of the poor, just 
 as if a special evangel had been instituted in 
 their behalf ? Surely there has been something 
 in the popular yearning for this practical Gos- 
 pel which seemed to testify, "Here is a real 
 message from God to me; here are a people 
 who seem to satisfy my wants and feelings, 
 and who come with a message that meets the 
 sad necessities of my being and life." 
 
 It will be a sorry day for Methodism if she
 
 150 Back to Oxford 
 
 loses this lovely spirit of compassionate min- 
 istration for the lowly. The rich have souls 
 to save, and we must not forget that fidelity 
 to our calling demands plain preaching for 
 those who pamper their bodies and deny their 
 souls, but we must keep in mind the truth that 
 those who are bound by lighter ties to the 
 world are the easiest won for God. Kiches in- 
 dispose the heart toward God. Poverty en- 
 genders a frame of mind conducive to piety. 
 And piety in turn establishes rules of life 
 conducive to prosperity and happy living. 
 Save the poor, therefore, and you help to lift 
 up mankind. Save the poor, and you exem- 
 plify pure religion. Save the poor, and you 
 accomplish the mission of Methodism and help 
 to usher in the millennial glory of the Gospel. 
 
 "Speak gently, kindly to the poor; 
 
 Let no harsh term be heard ; 
 They have enough they must endure, 
 
 Without an unkind word." 
 
 TEMPERANCE 
 
 As with the poor, so with all other unfortu- 
 nate classes. Deal with them mercifully.
 
 Philanthropy and Reform 151 
 
 Rescue them from the slavery of debasing hab- 
 its. Strive to correct the tendencies that put 
 them in chains. Methodism has always done 
 this. It is related that a nobleman on one 
 occasion sought to obtain liquor in a town in 
 Cornwall, England, and became enraged be- 
 cause he could not get it. Asking an old 
 man who was passing why there were no grog- 
 shops in the place, he was told, "About a hun- 
 dred years ago a man by the name of John 
 "Wesley came into these parts," and the old 
 man passed on. 
 
 What a beautiful reply! How complimen- 
 tary to the founder of our Church, and to his 
 sons and daughters too ! Wherever Methodists 
 have their way no liquor is sold, and no drunk- 
 ards are to be found. 
 
 Mr. Wesley, both by precept and example, 
 enjoined upon his followers habits of strict 
 sobriety, and total abstention from traffic in 
 intoxicants. The American Methodists, too, 
 early began to speak out plainly upon this 
 subject, and they keep speaking plainly at this
 
 152 Back to Oxford 
 
 day. As early as 1780 we find in the General 
 Minutes that strong action was taken: 
 
 "Q. Do we disapprove of the practice of dis 
 tilling grain into liquor ? Shall we disown our 
 friends who will not renounce the practice? 
 
 "A. Yes." 
 
 Again, in 1T83 : 
 
 "Q. Should our friends be permitted to make 
 spirituous liquors, sell, and drink them in 
 drams ? 
 
 "A. By no means. We think it wrong in its 
 nature and consequences; and desire all the 
 preachers to teach the people by precept and 
 example to put away this evil." 
 
 By word of Discipline, Methodists now "re- 
 gard voluntary total abstinence from all in- 
 toxicants as the true ground of personal tem- 
 perance, and complete legal prohibition of the 
 traffic in alcoholic drinks as the duty of civil 
 government." The phrase, "The liquor traf- 
 fic cannot be legalized without sin," coined in 
 1888, has become a national watchword.
 
 MISSIONARY ZEAL 
 
 "THE kingdom of God ... is like a grain of 
 mustard seed, which a man took, and cast in- 
 to his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great 
 tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the 
 branches of it" (Luke 13. 18, 19). 
 
 History testifies that the entrance for Chris- 
 tianity in all the kingdoms and continents 
 has been made by the foreign missionary. He 
 is the man that takes the "seed" and casts it 
 into his "garden." The garden may be at his 
 own door, or far away; no matter, it is his if 
 he tills it, and God takes care of the seed 
 which he plants. 
 
 America is a Christian country by reason of 
 the foreign missionary's work. Rev. Robert 
 Hunt, of England, was the first to administer 
 the holy communion to the Jamestown colony.
 
 154 Back to Oxford 
 
 This was in 1607. A church was also built, 
 and the "seed" was thus planted for the con- 
 version of the "infidel savages." By the time 
 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Kock, in 
 1620, "there were already in Virginia eleven 
 parishes and five clergymen." The seed had 
 "waxed a great tree." 
 
 Who introduced Christianity into England? 
 It was a foreign missionary from Rome. His 
 name was Augustine, afterward Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, A. D. 597. The seed he planted 
 has waxed not one mighty tree only, but a 
 whole forest of them, dropping their fruits 
 through other missionaries into all the lands 
 of earth. 
 
 Who introduced Christianity into India? 
 Dr. William Carey, from England, who en- 
 tered India in 1793. Dr. Adoniram Judson, 
 from the United States, who landed in Burma 
 in 1814. The Gospel seeds they planted germ- 
 inated and grew, and are producing in our 
 own day the mightiest moral and social revo- 
 lution ever known in the pagan world. The
 
 Missionary Zeal 155 
 
 great deep in India, Japan, and even in China 
 is breaking up. 
 
 Methodism is a youthful development of 
 good old Christianity, and the beauty of it 
 is that the missionary spirit has characterized 
 every step of its progress. Itself a missionary 
 movement, it has not failed, in whatever 
 country planted, to extend its stakes and en- 
 large the place of its tent. "The world is my 
 parish," was its founder's motto and the actu- 
 ating spirit of his life. From city to city, 
 from nation to nation, across oceans and seas 
 he flew on tireless wing to proclaim a full and 
 free salvation. His sons and daughters in the 
 Gospel inherited his zeal, and have handed it 
 down through the generations to us. Wher- 
 ever you find a Methodist church you find a 
 collection plate that wears out but never rusts. 
 The claims of the poor, the instruction of the 
 ignorant, the awakening of the careless, the 
 evangelization of the masses both at home and 
 abroad and the erection of chapels and 
 churches in poor settlements on the frontiers
 
 1S6 Back to Oxford 
 
 are some phases of a common missionary 
 cause that lies near the Methodist heart. Dif- 
 fer as they may in questions of denomina- 
 tional expediency, all branches of Methodism 
 are enthusiastically persuaded that the mission 
 of the Church is to convert the world and 
 bring it home to God, and that a goodly share 
 of this tremendous responsibility rests with 
 those who believe and teach the doctrines of 
 free grace. 
 
 The inception of foreign missions as a part 
 of the work of Methodism is found in the very 
 terse words of certain questions proposed in 
 the Wesleyan Conference of 1769, and the 
 answers given: 
 
 "What is reserved for contingent expen- 
 ses?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "We have a pressing call from our brethren 
 at New York (who have built a preaching 
 house), to come over and help them. Who is 
 willing to go?" 
 
 "Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor."
 
 Missionary Zeal 157 
 
 "What can we do further in token of our 
 brotherly love?" 
 
 "Let us now make a collection among 
 ourselves." 
 
 "What is the whole debt remaining?" 
 
 "Between five and six thousand pounds." 
 
 So between the pressure of two difficulties 
 an empty treasury and a heavy debt these 
 early itinerants take up the collection and 
 start their first mission. 
 
 In the Minutes of 1771 these words appear: 
 
 "Our brethren in America call loudly for 
 help. Who are willing to go over and help 
 them?" 
 
 Five responded, but only two Francis As- 
 bury and Richard Wright were sent. 
 
 Two years later eight names appear, and in 
 five years more (1778) a membership of 
 nearly seven thousand was reported from the 
 "mission." 
 
 In 1784 Thomas Coke, Wesley's associate in 
 London, was appointed to America, and in the 
 course of the year he and Asbury were or-
 
 158 Back to Oxford 
 
 dained superintendents, and from that time 
 forward the American mission became a sepa- 
 rate Church. 
 
 But Mr. Wesley wanted a mission still, and 
 so, while providing for the establishment of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, he began 
 casting about for another mission to foster. 
 He says : "I desired all our preachers to meet 
 and consider thoroughly the proposal of send- 
 ing missionaries to the East Indies. After the 
 matter had been fully considered we were 
 unanimous in our judgment that we have no 
 call thither yet, no invitation, no providential 
 opening of any kind." Like the apostles, he 
 was waiting for the cry, "Come over and help 
 us," and he was also intently listening lest 
 that cry might be sounding from some foreign 
 shore with no one to send back a pitying 
 response. 
 
 As with Wesley, so with his colleagues. 
 They were all imbued with the same broad 
 spirit of love for their fellow-men, no matter 
 where on earth those men might be found.
 
 Missionary Zeal 159 
 
 The eye of Dr. Coke, himself the most illus- 
 trious example of devotion to the interests of 
 the heathen, fell upon Ceylon, and away he 
 flew with a little band at his own expense to 
 plant the Gospel among the Ceylonese. He 
 sleeps within the bosom of the Indian Ocean, 
 the first great gift of Methodism for the re- 
 demption of India. His missionaries who 
 survived him erected the standard of the cross 
 on that fragrant island, then crossed over to 
 India and China, South Africa, Western Af- 
 rica, and elsewhere to make known the Gospel 
 of conversion first, and form and doctrine 
 afterward. 
 
 Methodism is a born missionary. For forty 
 years every Methodist preacher was a mission- 
 ary. One of the fundamental regulations was, 
 "Let every Methodist preacher consider him- 
 self as called to be, in point of enterprise, zeal, 
 and diligence, a home missionary." And some- 
 times that word "home" embraced everything 
 within the range of travel. Dr. Coke went 
 everywhere. He visited Ireland annually. He
 
 160 Back to Oxford 
 
 traversed England, Scotland, Wales, and 
 crossed the Atlantic eighteen times. To the 
 end of his seventy years of life he had charge 
 of Wesleyan missions throughout the world. 
 He founded the negro missions of the West 
 Indies, spent his own fortune in planting mis- 
 sions, and begged for missions from door to 
 door. While he lived it was not deemed neces- 
 sary to organize a missionary society, for he 
 embodied that interest in his own person. He 
 was called "the foreign minister of Metho- 
 dism." His zeal for missions was simply the 
 essence of Methodism. 
 
 The expressive hymns of Charles Wesley 
 are surcharged with the missionary spirit. 
 The sigh of his very being was, 
 
 " O for a trumpet voice, 
 On all the world to call! " 
 
 As far as his voice could be heard he was 
 ever crying, 
 
 " Look unto him, ye nations; own 
 Your God, ye fallen race."
 
 Missionary Zeal 161 
 
 And no doubt these hymns have gone far to 
 foster in Methodism the heartfelt pity for 
 
 " The heathen lands that lie beneath 
 The shades of everlasting death." 
 
 Probably there never has been since the days 
 of the great missionary to the Gentiles an- 
 other band of men so completely devoted to 
 the fulfilling of the command, "Go ye into all 
 the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature." 
 
 "It was a glad, day for the world when 
 American Methodism took its place in the sys- 
 tem of universal evangelization as an inde- 
 pendent Church. It was in its organization 
 essentially a missionary scheme. Francis As- 
 bury and his fourscore associate preachers 
 were all missionaries, and all eager for the 
 upbuilding of a Church through whose agency 
 the work of Jesus should keep pace with the 
 growth of the young republic. The last 
 British sentry in the War of the Revolution 
 had left his post and gone home. The stars
 
 162 Back to Oxford 
 
 and stripes of American independence floated 
 where had waved the imperial standard of 
 England. National America had taken the 
 place of colonial America. Washington was 
 the builder of the new republic. Asbury con- 
 temporaneously, under the blessing of God, 
 laid broad and deep the foundations of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in the United 
 States. Every man of them, from Bishop As- 
 bury down, was an organized missionary so- 
 ciety in himself and filled with the spirit of 
 an intense evangelism. Under men of God 
 thus equipped, armed with weapons not 
 shaped by mortal skill, strong-souled, earnest 
 men, knights of the true order of Jesus, 
 leagued in solemn covenant, American Metho- 
 dism grew mightily and prevailed."* 
 
 And the missionary spirit of these pioneers 
 flamed on in energy, taking form in the or- 
 ganization of the Missionary Society in 1819, 
 and in other missionary organizations since 
 that day, providing for a world-wide, system- 
 * General Clinton B. Fisk.
 
 Missionary Zeal 163 
 
 atic, persistent, enthusiastic, and unyield- 
 ing proclamation of the Gospel among all 
 the nations of the earth. 
 
 Nowhere has the sublime injunction of our 
 departing Lord, "Go ye, preach the Gospel," 
 found a more hearty or ready response than 
 among the American Methodists. And why 
 should it not be so? What else have Chris- 
 tians to do upon this earth but to evangelize 
 its people? With all that has yet been done, 
 probably eight hundred millions, represented 
 by the "every creature," have not heard the 
 Gospel. Paul is dead. Wesley is dead. Coke 
 is dead. Thousands of missionaries have 
 fallen, but the world is not redeemed. Who 
 shall stay his hand, or shut his purse, or steel 
 his heart, or lapse into indifference while the 
 vast masses of mankind are "without God 
 and without hope"? 
 
 The truth is that aggressive missionary 
 work is both the token and promoter of spirit- 
 ual life in the Church. The lack of this spirit 
 is always the sign of weakness and decay, and
 
 164 Back to Oxford 
 
 infidelity is never more rife or powerful than 
 when professing Christians have reached that 
 condition of apathy in which they manifest 
 no concern for lost souls. As Christ loved the 
 world, and gave his life for it, so his loyal 
 followers love the world and give what they 
 have for its redemption. Love for Christ and 
 love for souls are the moving forces of Chris- 
 tian achievement. No higher motive can stir 
 human hearts. When these die out, farewell 
 to the power of Christianity and the hope of 
 the world. While these live on, missionaries 
 will continue to go out, and prayer will con- 
 tinue to follow them, that the seed they sow 
 may "grow up and shoot out great branches, 
 so that the fowls of the air may lodge under 
 the shadow of it."
 
 UTILIZATION OF LAY TALENT 
 
 IF in her external life Methodism has one 
 essential which is providential and important 
 above another, it is that of effectively utilizing 
 the talents of laymen. 
 
 John Wesley was at first averse to lay 
 preaching, and his brother Charles denounced 
 it as "a pestilent error," nevertheless they both 
 lived to recognize its great usefulness and 
 popularity. 
 
 Thomas Maxfield was the father of lay 
 preaching. He was a fervent Christian and a 
 mighty expounder of the Scriptures. Many 
 were saved under his preaching, yet Wesley 
 considered it "irregular" and would probably 
 have proceeded against it but for his mother, 
 who said, "John, take care what you do; that 
 young man is as surely called of God to 
 preach as you are." Wesley then went to hear 
 Maxfield, and agreed with his mother as to
 
 166 Back to Oxford 
 
 Maxfield's call. From that time on lay preach- 
 ing had free course. Indeed, Methodism could 
 hardly have flourished without it. Its prin- 
 cipal promoters, save a very few clergymen, 
 were laymen. Even some of the clergymen 
 who gave it support did not relinquish their 
 Church affiliations and perquisites to do so. 
 There was William Grimshaw, curate of 
 Ilaworth, in Yorkshire, who though in close 
 union with the Methodists, an ardent assistant 
 of its founder, and the mainstay of the con- 
 nection in that part of the country, did not 
 sever his relation with the established Church. 
 He was a natural orator, carrying fire wher- 
 ever he went, yet he lived and died an Episco- 
 palian. The same is true of Fletcher, the 
 sweet, devoted, seraphic vicar of Madeley. He 
 belonged more to the Methodists than to the 
 Establishment, yet he did not relinquish his 
 hold upon the latter. Indeed, Mr. Wesley him- 
 self in his last days found consolation in the 
 fact that he had "lived and died in the Church 
 of England." It is due to Dr. Coke to say that
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 167 
 
 though capable of making his way to distinc- 
 tion in the church, he chose rather to become 
 a plain Methodist preacher, to labor and suf- 
 fer reproach and affliction with the despised 
 and persecuted Methodists, than to enjoy 
 ease and emoluments among those who mani- 
 fested so little piety, and exhibited so little 
 zeal in spreading righteousness and truth 
 abroad. 
 
 The first layman, after Thomas Maxfield, 
 who desired to serve Mr. Wesley as "a son in 
 the Gospel" was Thomas Richards, and the 
 third Thomas Westall, both of whom, with 
 many more, became effective in converting 
 sinners, organizing classes, and ministering 
 to the needs of the people. In the selection 
 of these lay preachers zeal was the principal 
 qualification that Mr. Wesley required. The 
 speaker was expected to produce results, the 
 judgment was to be convinced and the emo- 
 tions stirred, else his ardor soon cooled and 
 the candidate quietly withdrew from the field. 
 In some instances enthusiasm was united with
 
 168 Back to Oxford 
 
 great strength of mind and character, and 
 Wesley knew how to seize such valuable ele- 
 ments and mold them for good use in his 
 Master's service. Wesley licensed his own lay 
 preachers without recommendation from the 
 societies, hut after his death the candidates 
 were required to avail themselves of formal 
 recommendations. 
 
 Local preachers have always constituted a 
 strong arm of the Methodist service, and in 
 the early days became more numerous than 
 the itinerants, and were almost as conspicuous, 
 in a few instances even more so. 
 
 Three of the founders of American Metho- 
 dism were local preachers, and their names 
 will be held in reverence as long as Chris- 
 tianity endures. The first of these is 
 
 PIIILTP EMBURY, 
 
 the first class leader and local preacher on 
 the American continent. He was a serious- 
 minded and thoughtful young man who sailed 
 with a pilgrim band from Limerick to New
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 169 
 
 York in the spring of 1760. So well was he 
 known by his Irish countrymen, and so greatly 
 was he respected, that many of his acquaint- 
 ances drove long distances sixteen miles in 
 some instances to bid him farewell and re- 
 ceive his parting words of counsel and instruc- 
 tion. After he had embarked, and before the 
 vessel had unloosed its moorings, he was 
 begged to break to them once more the bread 
 of life. He stood on the side of the vessel, 
 offered prayer, and breathed upon his brethren 
 the benediction of peace. As the vessel moved 
 away he stood with uplifted hands and be- 
 nignant countenance until his face and form 
 were lost to sight in the distance. 
 
 Arriving at New York, he became identi- 
 fied with the little band that held Methodist 
 services as early as 1766, first in a private 
 room, then in the famed "rigging loft." Be- 
 ing a carpenter by trade, he did much in 
 building the old John Street Church, making 
 the pulpit with his own hands, and carrying 
 many of the heavy burdens of such a pio-
 
 170 Back to Oxford 
 
 neer effort on his great, consecrated heart. 
 In 1770 he removed to Camden, organized 
 a society, preached the Gospel, and was 
 appointed justice of the peace. In 1775 
 he received a severe injury while mowing 
 in his meadow, and shortly afterward died, 
 lamented by his fellow-laborers and revered 
 by the Church until now. He was not a 
 great preacher, but a consistent character and 
 a useful man. In 1873 the National Lo- 
 cal Preachers Association erected a marble 
 monument, suitably inscribed, to perpetuate 
 his memory as "the founder of American 
 Methodism.'? 
 
 CAPTAIN WEBB 
 
 The most active of the pioneer preachers of 
 America was Captain Thomas Webb, a sol- 
 dier in the British army who scaled the 
 Heights of Abraham with General Wolfe at 
 the capture of Quebec, and lost his right eye 
 in that famous conflict. Having returned to 
 England in 1764, he was converted under Wes-
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 171 
 
 ley's preaching and was licensed as a local 
 preacher. About 1766 he was sent to Albany, 
 New York, to take charge of the Barracks, 
 under General Braddock, and paid an early 
 visit to the society at New York, surprising 
 Mr. Embury and his friends, but soon greatly 
 cheering them. He wore the complete British 
 uniform even when preaching, laying his 
 sword on the table before him, making the 
 most impassioned appeals and arousing the 
 utmost enthusiasm. Mr. Wesley described 
 him in a single sentence as "a man of fire 
 whose word the power of God always accom- 
 panied." He made the largest subscription, 
 thirty pounds, for the erection of John Street 
 Church, and collected a great deal more for 
 it. He visited Philadelphia, organized a Meth- 
 odist society, and actively aided Mr. Pil- 
 moor in the purchase of the old St. George's 
 Church. He did missionary work in Long 
 Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. 
 In 1772 he returned to England and urged 
 Mr. Wesley to send additional preachers. In
 
 172 Back to Oxford 
 
 the following year he returned with Thomas 
 Rankin and Mr. Yearby. 
 
 Captain Webb was not a profound preacher, 
 but he was lively, produced conviction in the 
 minds of sinners, and edified believers in love. 
 When the Revolutionary War broke out he 
 went back to England, built a Methodist 
 chapel at Bristol at his own expense, and died 
 suddenly, December 20, 1796, aged seventy- 
 two. He has been styled "the first apostle of 
 Methodism in America." 
 
 EGBERT STRAWBRIDGE 
 
 About the time that Mr. Embury was plant- 
 ing the Methodist tree in New York, and 
 Captain Webb, to use his own language, was 
 "felling the trees on Long Island," and some 
 other places, there arrived another local 
 preacher from Ireland, Mr. Robert Straw- 
 bridge, who settled on Sams Creek, in Fred- 
 erick County, Maryland. Being a pious man 
 and full of zeal, he began to preach in his 
 own house, and elsewhere, and soon a society
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 173 
 
 was organized and a chapel built. This was 
 the first Methodist society in Maryland, if 
 not the first in America. Strawbridge was a 
 a good talker, a pointed preacher, and made 
 many converts. One man who was listening 
 to him thought him personal, and went home 
 in disgust. He came again, however, and hid 
 behind the people so that Strawbridge could 
 not see him, but his character was delineated 
 the same as before. He tried once more, 
 hiding behind the door. The preacher took 
 for his text, "And a man shall be as a hiding 
 place," etc., and in the middle of his sermon 
 cried out, "Sinner, come from your scouting 
 hole!" The poor fellow came forward, looked 
 the preacher in the face, and said, "You are 
 a wizard, and the devil is in you; I will hear 
 you no more." 
 
 Strawbridge was a very self-reliant man, or 
 he would have sent to England for help in his 
 pioneer labors, as the class at John Street, 
 New York, had done. To him God was an 
 ever-present reality, and he preached the Gos-
 
 174 Back to Oxford 
 
 pel of omnipresent efficacy, traversing the 
 wilds of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and 
 Pennsylvania to make it known. He raised 
 up other preachers, too. Kichard Owen, the 
 first American Methodist preacher, was one 
 of his converts. Within thirteen years, or in 
 1773, when the first statistics of the societies 
 were gathered, it was found that five hundred 
 of the total eleven hundred and sixty Metho- 
 dists in the country were in Maryland, and 
 one hundred more in Virginia, all largely the 
 fruit of his energetic labors. 
 
 Such were some of the pioneer local preach- 
 ers, but to pay anything like a proper tribute 
 to local preachers as a class would require the 
 space of volumes. They usually begin as ex- 
 horters, and often end as traveling preachers. 
 Unless engaged as pastors, they are not un- 
 der salary, and many of them, being poor 
 men, have toiled hard at manual labor through 
 the week to support themselves and families, 
 and then have traveled long distances on Sun- 
 day to break the bread of life to the perishing.
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 175 
 
 ExHORTERS 
 
 The term "exhorter" first appears in the 
 Conference Minutes in 1746. It was then 
 provided that none should be allowed to ex- 
 hort in the societies without authority from 
 the preachers, and that this license must be 
 renewed each year. It is probable that many 
 exhorters had up to this point been rendering 
 service without license, and that the rule now 
 adopted was designed to limit their number 
 and regulate their work. 
 
 In July, 1747, Mr. Wesley preached at St. 
 Ives and at Sithney, and met all the stew- 
 ards of the societies. He inquired how many 
 exhorters there were, and found not fewer than 
 eighteen in the county. He then inquired 
 after their gifts, holiness, and the fruit of 
 their labors. The result was that three were 
 found to have "no gifts at all, either natural 
 or supernatural;" that a fourth had "neither 
 gifts nor grace" but was "a dull, empty, self- 
 conceited man ;" that a fifth had gifts but had
 
 176 Back to Oxford 
 
 made shipwreck of grace; that three "had 
 gifts and grace and had been much blessed in 
 the work;" and that the rest might be helpful 
 when there were no preachers around. He 
 therefore peremptorily set aside the first five 
 and advised the people not to hear them. The 
 last ten he advised to take no step without 
 consulting persons more experienced than 
 themselves. The other three he warmly com- 
 mended. This shows how determined Mr. 
 Wesley was to make every man effective in his 
 calling. He had no use for mere figureheads. 
 He would not bestow an office upon anybody 
 out of compliment. He demanded that all 
 subordinate workers as well as the regular 
 preachers should be competent and worthy or 
 quit the field. Here is a rule that modern 
 Methodists would do well to follow. It is an 
 essential in our day as well as in his. The 
 curse of many a society is that it is ruled 
 by ungodly official members. Were Mr. Wes- 
 ley alive he would scatter them as he did 
 the pretentious but useless exhorters around
 
 Utilization of Lay Talent 177 
 
 St. Ives. Were worldly officials eliminated 
 from all our Quarterly Conferences a long 
 step would be taken toward restoring Metho- 
 dism to its primitive simplicity and effective- 
 ness. Plain, pious, energetic, faithful officials 
 are the need of thousands of societies. 
 
 In England, lay preachers are not eligible 
 to ordination, but in America they are, and 
 they constitute a strong force in the army of 
 capable Christian workers. Exhorters, hav- 
 ing no authority to preach, are not eligible to 
 ordination, but they are very useful in evan- 
 gelistic work. 
 
 It can no longer be said that lay preaching 
 is peculiar to Methodism. Other denomina- 
 tions are now utilizing this arm of power. Mr. 
 Moody was a lay preacher, and there are thou- 
 sands more teachers, exhorters, leaders, su- 
 perintendents, and evangelists who are doing 
 as much as any class of men on earth to serve 
 well their generation, and to minister "as of 
 the ability which God giveth."
 
 PROFITING BY WOMAN'S GIFTS 
 
 METHODISM holds that all Christians should 
 accomplish something worthy of their high 
 calling. An active laity is as essential to suc- 
 cess as a competent ministry. The world can- 
 not be saved by a few preachers laboring alone. 
 Every gift of every member must be brought 
 into requisition. This was the plan of action 
 in the apostolic and primitive Churches. St. 
 Paul says, "As the Lord hath called every one, 
 so let him walk. And so ordain I in all 
 churches" (1 Cor. 7. IT). 
 
 During the Christian era religious responsi- 
 bilities have devolved upon woman as well as 
 upon man. Jesus emancipated woman from 
 pagan servitude, and gave her liberty among 
 the sons of God. St. Paul utilized woman's 
 gifts in Christian work, and declared that in 
 Christ "there can be no male and female" (R.
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 179 
 
 V., Gal. 3. 28). The early Christians gave to 
 woman a conspicuous place in philanthropy 
 and every kind of tender ministration. 
 
 Pagan society was startled by the freedom 
 with which Christian women went on errands 
 of charity. "What heathen," asked Tertullian, 
 "will suffer his wife to go ahout from one 
 street to another, to the houses of strangers, 
 to the meanest hovels indeed, to visit the 
 heathen ? What heathen will allow her to steal 
 away to the dungeon to kiss the chain of the 
 martyr ?" 
 
 Women became the confessors of the faith 
 under the most brutal and savage persecu- 
 tions; their martyrdoms on the cross, in the 
 bloody arena, or under frightful tortures 
 formed the most touching incidents in Chris- 
 tian story. The sufferings and death of wom- 
 an in the early ages of the faith forever hal- 
 lowed the sex in the history of the Church. 
 Christianity gave to woman a new position, 
 attached to marriage a sacred value, and has 
 been teaching man through the centuries that
 
 180 Back to Oxford 
 
 the rightful position of the weaker sex is that 
 of social, legal, and religious equality. 
 
 John Wesley knew all this, and, being a 
 statesman as well as a student, he proceeded 
 to reenact, in the movement he was leading, 
 the principles and order for women which he 
 found in the New Testament. Recognizing 
 the truth of Shakespeare's saying that "beauty 
 lives with kindness," and believing that the 
 fairest and loveliest of created things was de- 
 signed for God's use and glory, he directed 
 the women of his societies to engage at once 
 in ministering to the sick, comforting the dis- 
 tressed, strengthening the weak, quickening 
 the faint, encouraging the weary, and exhort- 
 ing all believers to go on to perfection. 
 
 Lowell says that "earth's noblest thing is a 
 woman perfected," but Wesley had enacted 
 the very regulations which gave Lowell a prac- 
 tical basis for his remark. Tennyson says 
 
 " Howe'er it be, it seems to me 
 
 'Tis only noble to be good ; 
 
 Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
 
 And simple faith than Norman blood ; "
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 181 
 
 but Wesley had established the institutions 
 in which this truth found a happy illus- 
 tration. 
 
 "It has long passed for a maxim," said 
 Wesley, "that women are only to be seen, not 
 heard. ... Is this doing honor to the sex? No, 
 it is the deepest unkindness; it is horrid cru- 
 elty; it is mere Turkish barbarity. And I 
 know not how any woman of sense and spirit 
 can submit to it. Let all you that have it in 
 your power assert the right which the God of 
 nature has given you. You, as well as men, 
 are rational creatures; you, like them, were 
 made in the image of God; you are equally 
 candidates for immortality; you, too, arc 
 called of God, as you have time, to do good 
 unto all men." 
 
 And as he talked, so he acted. He gave 
 woman a place among his useful agencies. He 
 called her to do service not only as a mission- 
 ary and a burden-bearer, but also to exercise 
 her gifts as the called of God, in prayer, testi- 
 mony, and exhortation. He knew that she had
 
 182 Back to Oxford 
 
 the purity of character that would warrant 
 earnestness of speech. 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed, 
 "There are at least two saints among the 
 women to one among the men the world over." 
 This agrees with Luther's remark that "when 
 women receive the doctrine of the Gospel, they 
 are far more fervent in faith, they hold to it 
 more stiff and fast than men do." And this 
 makes one think of Dean Swift's rendering of 
 the psalm, "Oh that men would praise the Lord 
 for his goodness" the women always do so. 
 
 Wesley even went so far as to tolerate, if 
 he did not openly encourage, woman's preach- 
 ing. In 1761, when he had already shocked 
 the prejudices of his clerical brethren by ap- 
 pointing unordained men to preach, he found 
 himself called to decide whether women should 
 not be accorded the same privilege. His ac- 
 tion, of course, was guarded. Sarah Crosby 
 had been leading class and talking much in 
 public, but she became troubled in mind 
 whether she should likewise exhort and preach.
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 183 
 
 One day she stood before a large audience at 
 Derby, gave out a hymn, prayed, testified, and 
 then tried to persuade others to flee from sin. 
 This was a startling step to take, but within 
 a few days she repeated it, and then wrote to 
 Mr. Wesley for advice. He said: 
 
 "Hitherto, I think you have not gone too 
 far. You could not well do less. I apprehend 
 all you can do more is, when you meet again, 
 to tell them simply, 'You lay me under a great 
 difficulty. The Methodists do not allow of 
 women preachers; neither do I take upon me 
 any such character. But I will just nakedly 
 tell you what is in my heart.' ... I do not see 
 that you have broken any law. Go on calmly 
 and steadily." 
 
 This was the commencement, but not the 
 end, of woman's preaching among the Metho- 
 dists. Sarah Crosby continued to preach un- 
 til her death, in 1804. Other women also 
 preached, among whom were Hannah Harri- 
 son, Miss Bosanquet (afterward the wife of 
 Fletcher), Miss Horral, Miss Newman, and
 
 184 Back to Oxford 
 
 Mary Barrett. The thing was never formally 
 sanctioned by Wesley's Conference, but, as 
 Tyerman says, Wesley himself "connived at 
 it." He told Miss Bosanquet when she sought 
 his advice in 1771 that the strength of the 
 case rested upon the question whether she had 
 "an extraordinary call." "The whole work of 
 God termed Methodism," said he, "is an ex- 
 traordinary dispensation of Providence. There- 
 fore, I do not wonder if several things occur 
 therein which do not fall under ordinary rules 
 of Discipline. St. Paul's ordinary rule was, 
 'I permit not a woman to speak in the con- 
 gregation.' Yet, in extraordinary cases, he 
 made a few exceptions; at Corinth in 
 particular." 
 
 Again, in 1791, when he was eighty-eight 
 years old, a case came up. Miss Cambridge, 
 an Irish Methodist, had been praying and ex- 
 horting in public for some time, and a few of 
 her hearers had pronounced her addresses "en- 
 tirely irregular" and thought they "ought not 
 to be tolerated in the Christian Church." She
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 185 
 
 wrote to Mr. Wesley for advice, and he, broad- 
 minded man that he was, replied: 
 
 "Give them all honor, and obey them in all 
 things as far as conscience permits. But it 
 will not permit you to be silent when God 
 commands you to speak; yet I would have you 
 give as little offense as possible; and there- 
 fore I would advise you not to speak at any 
 place where a preacher is speaking at the same 
 time, lest you should draw away his hearers. 
 Also, avoid the first appearance of pride or 
 magnifying yourself. If you want books, or 
 anything, let me know; I have your happiness 
 much at heart." 
 
 The above was Wesley's last utterance on 
 this subject, and certainly he did not need to 
 say any more. He left the matter of woman's 
 preaching entirely with woman's conscience, 
 advising only that she bring not her attractive 
 gifts in direct competition with those of man. 
 He told her plainly that he had her "happiness 
 much at heart," and suggested that he would 
 provide books needful for preparation.
 
 186 Back to Oxford 
 
 That all Methodists have taken a similar 
 view of this question is evident from what 
 they have done. Some branches of Methodism 
 have gone so far as formally to license and or- 
 dain women preachers. Others have suffered 
 the preaching to be done without license, hav- 
 ing the command of God to individuals greatly 
 in respect, and the happiness of those who feel 
 themselves called "much at heart." 
 
 In all other departments of Christian work, 
 Methodists of every form of polity have al- 
 lowed full privileges to woman. How could 
 they do otherwise with such examples of wom- 
 an's usefulness before them as the New Testa- 
 ment and early Methodism gave? And to the 
 credit of Methodist women be it said that 
 wherever they have enjoyed their liberty they 
 have refrained from the grotesque and ex- 
 travagant, and have developed the type of 
 rational, level-headed, pure-spirited, and loyal- 
 hearted servants who have sought God's honor 
 only. 
 
 Who can tell what the women of to-day may
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 187 
 
 do for the future of Methodism? Who can 
 estimate the value of Barbara Heck's example 
 and influence upon the cause we love? To her 
 more, perhaps, than to any other person is due 
 the praise for first stirring up the slumbering 
 consciences of the band of immigrants who 
 had found a humble home in the New World. 
 It was in the house of a newly arrived rela- 
 tive, in 1765, that Barbara Heck's spirit was 
 "roused to vigorous remonstrance when she 
 found the inmates engaged in playing a game 
 of cards. Throwing the cards into the fire, she " 
 earnestly expostulated with the culprits, and 
 warned them most solemnly of their danger. 
 Hastening to the residence of Philip Embury, 
 who was her cousin, she told what she had 
 done and added with dramatic emphasis, 
 Thilip, you must preach to us, or we shall 
 all go to hell, and God will require our blood 
 at your hands !' This appeal aroused Embury, 
 who had been in the country nearly five years, 
 and in October, 1766, he preached one of the 
 first Methodist sermons in America and held
 
 188 Back to Oxford 
 
 the first Methodist class meeting at its close. 
 The congregation and the class were alike 
 indicative of the day of small and feeble 
 things. Five persons composed it, namely, 
 Barbara and Paul Heck, John Lawrence, 
 Mrs. Embury, and Betty, an African serv- 
 ant this impressively foreshadowing the abid- 
 ing characteristic of Methodism that she is the 
 Church of bond and free, black and white, the 
 gifted and the humble."* 
 
 Barbara Heck well deserves the name of 
 the saint of Methodism. In advanced age she 
 could testify that from the period of her con- 
 version, at the age of eighteen, she had never 
 for twenty-four hours lost the testimony of 
 her acceptance with God. She was found dead 
 in her chair in 1804 with her well-worn Ger- 
 man Bible upon her lap. 
 
 The first American Methodist chapel was 
 also largely the result of Barbara Heck's im- 
 portunate pleadings. The lease of the John 
 Street (New York) property bears date March 
 * The Western Pioneers, page 8.
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 189 
 
 29, 1768. Mrs. Heck insisted that God him- 
 self had assured her that he would help in 
 securing it. She and her husband were among 
 the first trustees, and they contributed about 
 sixteen dollars toward its purchase. Philip 
 Embury was the first treasurer, and he also 
 preached the first sermon, his text being, "Sow 
 to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; 
 break up your fallow ground : for it is time to 
 seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteous- 
 ness upon you" (Hos. 10. 12). Among other 
 observations, he remarked that "the best con- 
 secration of a pulpit was to preach a good 
 sermon in it." And he might have added 
 that the best sermon possible in such a pulpit 
 is the proclamation of a Gospel which allows 
 all Christians, women as well as men, to make 
 it their vocation to save as many as they can. 
 This at least is the disposition of true Meth- 
 odism, and it is the secret of her success. She 
 says to all candidates for glory, Come in and 
 do your best. Pray if you know how, and if 
 you don't know how, please learn. Talk, too.
 
 190 Back to Oxford 
 
 Sing, testify, exhort, shout if you must, or 
 even preach! "Go on calmly and steadily." 
 We apply no gags. We stifle none into abject 
 silence. Strange to say, our practice is more 
 liberal even than our theory. The women of 
 Methodism are doing grandly. They are al- 
 lowed their own way. Every worker finds a 
 suitable place, and every important place finds 
 a suitable worker. This is the philosophy of 
 power. When you find what a person can do, 
 and do it well, see that an opportunity is given 
 for the performance. 
 
 Ordinarily, when inspiration moves a 
 Christian to some special duty or mission, 
 the ways and means for its accomplishment 
 are provided. Woman's agency in estab- 
 lishing missions among women in heathen 
 lands and in the home field affords a fine 
 illustration of God's guiding hand in her 
 Christian activity. The organization of the 
 Wesleyan Women's Foreign Missionary So- 
 ciety in 1861, of the Woman's Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 191 
 
 Church in 1869, of the Woman's Home Mis- 
 sionary Society of the same Church in 1881, 
 and of the splendid deaconess movement in 
 1888, all serve to prove that God directs both 
 women and men in their special lines of use- 
 fulness, and that he sets the seal of his ap- 
 proval upon their obedience and fidelity in 
 executing his inspirations. 
 
 It would be difficult to point to a movement 
 in which providential guidance is so manifest 
 as the deaconess cause. The modern Chris- 
 tian world was ripe for it. Woman's devoted 
 heart was strangely warmed to enter it. Suc- 
 cess in similar activities abroad, especially in 
 zenana work and medical missions, fore- 
 tokened the favor which has attended the 
 movement here. Excellent homes and promis- 
 ing training schools have been founded in 
 many cities, and doors of usefulness have been 
 opened to the candidates as fast as they could 
 be trained. 
 
 This is a world of suffering, much of which 
 is hidden and unknown. Mental strain is as
 
 192 Back to Oxford 
 
 tense as physical agony is keen. _ The relief of 
 overtaxed devotion is often as blessed as sooth- 
 ing of the fevered brow, or pouring balm on 
 an inflamed wound. Rev. S. 0. Royal tells us 
 that while pastor at Urbana, Ohio, his wife 
 and two children were stricken with scarlet 
 fever in a malignant form. He could find no 
 nurse. None was willing to risk the chances 
 with that dread disease. In his distress he 
 wired the Cincinnati deaconess hospital for 
 aid. Soon a telegram came, "Miss Blank will 
 be at Urbana on the next train." She came. 
 On entering the parsonage she said : "Now, 
 all you weary, anxious watchers lie down and 
 sleep. I will take entire charge of the sick 
 and of all the interests of the home." So 
 much for trained nursing. Mr. Royal well 
 says : "No human being can imagine what a 
 burden was lifted from our hearts, and what 
 a sense of security came into our minds 
 through the presence and words of this conse- 
 crated woman; and although our little babe 
 was taken away by death, yet we rejoiced and
 
 Profiting by Woman's Gifts 193 
 
 praised God that through his mercy and her 
 skilled nursing the other dear ones were 
 saved." The physician who attended the sick 
 ones said, "This young deaconess is the most 
 competent nurse I have ever had under my 
 supervision." 
 
 That testimony will be duplicated a thou- 
 sand times within the next few years. Ade- 
 quate natural gifts, combined with purified 
 Christian graces, all centered, consecrated, and 
 trained under the auspices of these deaconess 
 schools, will surely result in devotion un- 
 paralleled and efficiency unexcelled in the an- 
 nals of woman's loving services for humanity 
 and God.
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 EARLY Methodism devoted its energies 
 chiefly to the work of evangelization, and 
 to the responsibility of providing facilities 
 for fellowship. In the latter department, how- 
 ever, was included the idea of philanthropy. 
 The poor, the sick, and the prisoners were the 
 objects of deep solicitude both of preachers 
 and people. In due time missions were 
 founded, and Wesley's splendid maxim, "The 
 world is my parish," came to include a world 
 of meaning. 
 
 A religion that is big enough for the world 
 is truly a big thing. A religion that is strong 
 enough to endure the test of time is truly a 
 strong thing. And a religion that is elastic 
 enough to adapt itself to the needs of differ- 
 ent generations and the demands of different 
 nations and peoples is truly an elastic thing. 
 So far, Methodism has stood these tests, and
 
 New Developments 195 
 
 has gloried in them. It is the same Metho- 
 dism that the Wesleys founded and fostered, 
 and yet it is not the same. It retains much 
 of its early fire and force, and all of its firm- 
 ness and elasticity, yet it has adapted itself v 
 to the changed conditions, and has taken on 
 the esprit de corps and the accouterments of 
 the age and country in which it is now work- 
 ing. In other words, it has done in our day 
 exactly what it did in Wesley's day, adapted 
 itself to the requirements of the hour. Indeed, 
 this is its distinguishing trait. It is not a 
 cast-iron machine, but a living spirit. It is 
 always abreast of the age, as its founder was, 
 and never behind the age. Had Wesley lived 
 until now, he would probably have done much 
 that his followers have done, and he would be 
 ready to do whatever the times require. Meth- 
 odism has grown and developed. Divine force 
 has been running through the whole course of 
 its history. It still retains the unique posi- 
 tion originally laid down for it, "the friend of 
 all and the enemy of none." It is an aggres-
 
 196 Back to Oxford 
 
 sive Church, a missionary Church, a compre- 
 hensive Church, in a word, a live Church, and 
 it proposes to demonstrate its life to all the 
 world. 
 
 Methodism is always a religion for the 
 present. Anything less than this is not Meth- 
 odism. The Methodism we know has in it all 
 the moral power and thought stimulus which 
 characterized Methodism during the first fifty 
 or sixty years of its organic existence. It 
 moves ahead by the same tokens of inherent 
 strength, and develops as it moves new agen- 
 cies and methods of usefulness the same as in 
 its primitive stage. The Epworth League is 
 just as providential and timely a development 
 for our day as the Sunday school was for its 
 day. The woman's missionary societies, home 
 and foreign, and the brotherhood movements, 
 arc as certainly of God as was the utilization 
 of lay talent in other forms by Mr. Wesley. 
 
 Methodism is always a movement in the 
 thought-life of man. It stirs the intellect just 
 as thoroughly as it moves the heart. It orig-
 
 New Developments 197 
 
 inates its own facilities for usefulness as it 
 goes along. It seems to be carried forward by 
 that mysterious law of the conservation of 
 forces which sees that nothing vital is lost 
 and that all which is retained is ready at the 
 opportune moment to blossom into being, and 
 mature into fruit, for the edification and 
 strengthening of the generation it serves. 
 
 The Methodism of to-day is as good as the 
 Methodism of any other day, and better for 
 the present time than any past phase of it 
 could be. It has more intelligent piety, more 
 enlightened zeal, greater consecration of 
 wealth, a broader view of Christian duty to 
 the heathen world, a livelier sense of obliga- 
 tion to itinerant heroism, a stronger convic- 
 tion of the need of organized systems of 
 charity, a wiser concern and more systematic 
 effort for the conversion and proper training of 
 childhood, than at any past period of its his- 
 tory. It is exactly the force and life we need 
 for the mission God expects us to fulfill. With 
 an intensified zeal and a quickened energy in
 
 198 Back to Oxford 
 
 the use of the appliances it places at our com- 
 mand, we can push it ahead and accomplish 
 as much with it in capturing this world for 
 Christ as ever the fathers did. Away with the 
 notion that a revival of old-style eccentricities 
 would make us more efficient than we can be 
 without it. This is not a true Methodist 
 notion. 
 
 Methodism is progressive in all its work and 
 ways. It has ever been its method to do pre- 
 cisely the thing needed in its own time. It 
 follows the leadings of the Spirit, whether 
 they comport with the ways of men or not. It 
 does not fear innovations. It is willing to 
 try a new thing when the old no longer serves. 
 It cannot, in the very nature of the case, cling 
 to its customs when they become effete. It 
 casts them off and adopts newer ones. Some 
 of our people deplore this fact, and talk about 
 the better things of early days. They dote 
 much upon "old-fashioned Methodism," and 
 tell us that we need it now. They forget the 
 truth that what is now "old" was in the day
 
 New Developments 199 
 
 of its power and glory fresh and new. It was 
 an encroachment upon stereotyped methods 
 then in vogue, and, having served its time and 
 place, itself gave way to other appliances. The 
 restoration of old customs would not give us 
 the ancient power. We need the power the 
 revival of old-time zeal for the conversion of 
 sinners and the saiictification of believers, but 
 not the old-fashioned peculiarities. These 
 alone would not vitalize us, but paralyze. 
 They would cut us off from the cooperation 
 and sympathies of all other Churches in their 
 common effort to save mankind. 
 
 Turn, my friend, from the past, and begin 
 to live in the present. The greatest word in 
 the Christian vocabulary is NOW! Trust in 
 God now. Work with your brethren now. 
 Pray and act now. Seize upon the levers now 
 extended to your hand, open the throttle, 
 nerve your arm for duty, keep a level head 
 and a pure heart, and move forward upon the 
 track of progress. When some agency differ- 
 ent from any we now have is required for
 
 200 Back to Oxford 
 
 higher efficiency in our work God will send 
 it. He has stood by Methodism faithfully thus 
 far. He has kept her altars clean, her doc- 
 trines pure, her services lively, and he has 
 used her agencies marvelously in the salvation 
 of sinners and the purification of believers. 
 
 The manner in which the Epworth League 
 has, within half a generation, sprung into the 
 foremost place in the thought, legislation, and 
 endeavor of the Church is unmistakable evi- 
 dence that the divine mind suggested it to 
 its human originators. It is a "wheel within 
 a wheel," and has obtained such momentum 
 in its onward course that its revolutions will 
 probably never cease. 
 
 So with the deaconess establishment. What 
 a flame of holy fire has spread through the 
 Church from the little spark so recently 
 fanned into existence! Already it has ex- 
 tended to almost every nook and corner of 
 our Zion. Its influence and results are so 
 benign that few can withhold their sympathy 
 from it. Just think what the official duties
 
 New Developments 201 
 
 of a deaconess are : "To minister to the poor, 
 care for the sick, provide for the orphan, com- 
 fort the sorrowing, seek the wandering, save 
 the sinning, and, relinquishing all other pur- 
 suits, to devote herself to these and other 
 forms of Christian labor." Was a more 
 Christlike mission ever designated in terser 
 or more expressive and winning terms ? Would 
 not Wesley himself have gloried in such an 
 agency with all its diversified plans for hu- 
 manitarian and Christian usefulness. Most 
 certainly he would. And if disembodied spir- 
 its know anything about the activities of 
 spirits still enshrined in clay, he rejoices now 
 and is glad that such an organization has a 
 place in Methodism. 
 
 And what shall be said of all the assem- 
 blies, associations, and unions which share so 
 prominently the thought and sympathy of 
 Methodism to-day? Are they not born of the 
 Spirit that moved the Nazarene to die for us 
 all? Do they not bear the impress of the 
 same Mind that made Wesley the benefactor
 
 202 Back to Oxford 
 
 and helper of his kind ? Do they not voice the 
 sentiment of redeemed humanity as unmis- 
 takably .as any of the appeals which fell from 
 the fire-touched lips of our fathers in the Gos- 
 pel? Verily, yes. They are the institutions 
 for our times. They meet the demand. They 
 have the promise of triumph. 
 
 The great problem to be solved by living 
 Methodism is how to redeem the cities. These 
 are the centers of throbbing life and power. 
 The bad as well as the good finds in them a 
 congenial home. Their possibilities of corrup- 
 tion and injury cannot be measured. The 
 demand upon character, prayer, sacrifice, and 
 practical effort for their redemption cannot 
 be estimated. If these cities are ever saved 
 some one must pour out his life for them as 
 Jesus poured out his pity over Jerusalem. 
 One, did I say? Yea, many! It will cost 
 tears and treasure, mental contests, heart ago- 
 nies, and painful crucifixions to save our 
 cities. But it must be done. Our city evan- 
 gelization unions, alliances, and mission bands
 
 New Developments 203 
 
 must be encouraged and abundantly sustained. 
 God is turning his searchlight into the cities 
 to find the elect in whom he may put his 
 Spirit persons to plead, persons to pray, per- 
 sons to give, persons to throw themselves into 
 the battle with sin and death until Satan is 
 expelled and the cities are redeemed. 
 
 Among other modern phases of Methodist 
 philanthropy, hospital service combined with 
 Florence Nightingale mission work attracts 
 much sympathy. Up to the year 1881 "the 
 people called Methodists" had not erected a 
 full-fledged hospital anywhere on earth. They 
 had been too intent on saving souls to give 
 great attention to the healing and care of 
 bodies. But now their eyes are open to the 
 truth which Wesley discovered by personal 
 philanthropies, that timely aid to the sick, the 
 wounded, the indigent, and the unfortunate 
 is not only a high Christian duty, but an ad- 
 vantageous policy in gaining the respect of 
 men and in evangelism as an ulterior purpose. 
 The encouraging philanthropic enterprises in
 
 204 Back to Oxford 
 
 several cities, the social settlements, immi- 
 grant homes, mission institutes, training 
 schools, orphanages, asylums, industrial 
 schools, refuges for outcasts, homes for the 
 aged, mission houses, and other auxiliaries, 
 all added to the numerous official benevolences 
 and general undertakings of the Church, be- 
 speak the enlarged sympathy and broadened 
 conception of Methodism in respect to the 
 claims of universal brotherhood upon the good- 
 will, generosity, and cooperation of those 
 whom Christ has purified and set free. 
 
 The current developments in Methodist life 
 certainly prove that vitality of conviction has 
 not died out. Never before was there such an 
 uprising for intellectual culture and moral 
 training in all departments of work. Our 
 people are seeking to be at their best. Our 
 Conferences are awake to the need of educated 
 ministers. Our young people aspire after 
 knowledge. Our old people grow young -again 
 as they unite with the "circles" and "clubs" 
 (the original band of Methodists was nick-
 
 New Developments 205 
 
 named "the Holy Club") to gain better prepa- 
 ration of mind and heart for the discharge of 
 duties which confront us all. 
 
 Perhaps our wisest safeguard in the present 
 broadening of our thought is a deepening of 
 our spiritual life. We must not drift away 
 from the experience of the fathers. We must 
 not let go the witness of the Spirit nor the 
 striving after perfect love. Theories are good, 
 but verities are better. New methods and 
 adaptations are wise, but keep them refreshed 
 by the vital stream which ever flows from the 
 hills of God.
 
 DISCARDED CUSTOMS 
 
 IN the initial stages of every new move- 
 ment some transitory things appear, just as 
 in the growth of a tree some branches or leaves 
 or fruit appear which ultimately droop and 
 die. Among those in Methodism was the 
 
 BAND MEETING, 
 
 which was intended to produce a severe dis- 
 cipline, and in this respect probably defeated 
 itself. 
 
 The band meeting was not original with 
 Methodism. Its charter was entitled "Orders 
 of a Religious Society, met together in obe- 
 dience to the command of God by St. James, 
 chap. 5. 16 'Confess your faults one to an- 
 other, and pray one for another, that ye may 
 be healed,'
 
 Discarded Customs 207 
 
 The bands were composed of from five to 
 ten persons, all of one sex, and of similar age 
 and condition in life. The members were 
 bound to observe fasting, secret prayer, the 
 searching of the Scriptures, the use of the 
 Sacraments, and other means of grace. They 
 were to deny themselves in the most rigid 
 manner, and to walk before God blameless all 
 the days of their lives. So far so good. But 
 the questions propounded were of so search- 
 ing and personal a character as to render them 
 objectionable, if not offensive, to sensitive 
 minds. Take these : 
 
 "Has no sin, inward or outward, dominion 
 over you? 
 
 "Do you desire to be told of your faults, 
 and that plain and home? 
 
 "Do you desire that every one of us should 
 tell you, from time to time, whatsoever is in 
 his heart concerning you? 
 
 "Do you desire, in doing this, that we 
 should come close, cut to the quick, and search 
 your heart to the bottom?"
 
 208 Back to Oxford 
 
 The foregoing were occasional questions, 
 but the following were asked at every meeting : 
 
 "1. What known sins have you committed 
 since our last meeting? 
 
 "2. What temptations have you met with? 
 
 "3. How were you delivered? 
 
 "4. What have you thought, said, or done 
 of which you doubt whether it was sin or 
 not?" 
 
 All the directions given to the bands were 
 of the same rigorous pattern, reaching to the 
 most minute details of dress, conversation, 
 habits, and business transactions. The ad- 
 vantages which flowed from so close and sa- 
 cred a union were many and great, and no 
 doubt hundreds of souls were helped amazingly 
 in their walk with God, but the cry soon arose 
 that the bands were "mere popery," "man's 
 invention," and their decay began. 
 
 FIELD PREACHING 
 
 Another agency employed by these saga- 
 cious evangelists, and perhaps the most novel
 
 Discarded Customs 209 
 
 and striking of all, was preaching in the open 
 fields. It arose from two circumstances: 
 1. The opposition of the Church of England 
 clergy, who refused the use of their pulpits to 
 the Methodists. 2. The inadequacy of any of 
 the houses of worship to hold the crowds that 
 came to hear these earnest preachers. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield introduced field preaching in 
 England. Wesley did not like it at first. He 
 considered "the saving of souls almost a sin 
 if not done in a church." Besides this, he in- 
 stinctively shrank from the coarse contacts 
 which the practice involved. "What a mar- 
 vel," he said, "the devil does not like street 
 preaching. No more do I. I like a soft 
 cushion and a handsome pulpit." But he 
 thrust aside his own tastes, and went out to 
 endure scorn and abuse while proclaiming the 
 Gospel to untold thousands wherever they 
 would hear him. His first open-air sermon 
 was preached at Bristol, April 2, 1739, and his 
 last was in the same place in 1790, about five 
 months before his death. Thus his efforts
 
 210 Back to Oxford 
 
 through this fruitful scheme covered a period 
 of more than fifty years. The energy of God 
 was in it too. One writer has ventured to 
 say that "apart from open-air preaching, 
 Methodism would never have had an exist- 
 ence." Whitefield often preached to audi- 
 ences of ten thousand people. So did Charles 
 Wesley. They literally went out into the 
 highways and compelled people to come in. 
 The torch of truth they held aloft had been 
 kindled on the altar of their own regenerated 
 hearts, and it proved a beacon light to un- 
 numbered thousands who otherwise would 
 never have been led into the way of life. 
 
 Of course there were strenuous objections 
 to this conspicuous innovation, just as there 
 were to everything else that proved successful 
 in gathering in the outcasts, but these objec- 
 tions were to these heralds of truth only as 
 so many idle tales or whiffs of empty air. 
 They justified themselves in this practice by 
 pointing out the necessity for it. "1. Be- 
 cause our calling is to save that which is lost.
 
 Discarded Customs 211 
 
 Now, we cannot expect the wanderers from 
 God to seek us. It is our part to go and seek 
 them. 2. Because we are more peculiarly 
 called, by going out into the highways and 
 hedges (which none will do if we do not) to 
 compel them to come in. 3. Because that 
 reason against it is not good, 'The house will 
 hold all that come.' The house may hold all 
 that will come to the house, but not all that 
 would come to the field. 4. Because we have 
 always found a greater blessing in field preach- 
 ing than in any other preaching whatever." 
 This was in 1747, and it serves to show how 
 thoroughly the minds of these men were im- 
 bued with the grand idea that the chief mis- 
 sion of Christian men is by any or all means 
 to save the lost. 
 
 SEPARATE SITTINGS 
 
 Mr. Wesley wanted his congregations seated 
 to advantage for hearing the Gospel. He 
 directed that the preaching houses should be 
 built in "octagon form," as best for the voice
 
 212 Back to Oxford 
 
 and more commodious. He wanted no pews, 
 and "no backs to the seats." He did want 
 aisles on each side, and the seats "parted in 
 the middle by a rail running all along, to 
 divide the men from the women." The pecu- 
 liar tastes and habits of his own followers, 
 and the disposition and character of the 
 crowds that thronged to hear him, rendered 
 this regulation fitting and necessary. He de- 
 clared that if he came into one of his new 
 churches and saw the men and women sitting 
 together he would immediately go out. The 
 separation of the sexes in worship continued 
 for many years, but the adoption of pewed 
 churches, with provision for family sittings, 
 brought the custom to an end. 
 
 "THE AMEN CORNER" 
 
 When men and women sat apart it was 
 very natural for the men of fervent spirit to 
 cluster together near the pulpit or altar, and 
 Owing to their habit of responding "Amen" to
 
 Discarded Customs 213 
 
 every forcible sentiment the seats they habit- 
 ually occupied took the name of "the Amen 
 corner." 
 
 The custom of responding with an "Amen" 
 was not original with Methodism, however. 
 In the early Christian Church all the wor- 
 shipers uttered "Amen" at the close of prayer. 
 St. Jerome says this "united voice of the peo- 
 ple sounded like the fall of water or the noise 
 of thunder." In the Church of England, the 
 people are directed at the end of all prayers 
 to answer, "Amen!" The early Methodists 
 having been trained in the Church of Eng- 
 land, transferred this practice into extempore 
 prayer, and into preaching and testimony 
 meetings also. 
 
 It is a pity that the custom should have 
 passed away. In earnest worship the soul 
 finds relief in expressions of approval and 
 praise. Any possible abuses of the privilege 
 are more than offset by the encouragement 
 given to a speaker or petitioner, and the re- 
 flex influence upon the congregation.
 
 FEATURES THAT SHOULD 
 LIVE 
 
 No good custom should be discarded simply 
 because it is old, nor shunned because it is 
 new. If a custom has warrant in Scripture, or 
 is sanctioned by utility, it is entitled to de- 
 fense when assailed, and to new adjustment 
 when found waning or deficient. 
 
 Methodism has some peculiar usages which 
 have served a noble purpose and which have 
 grafted themselves upon its system. Future 
 conditions may render them unnecessary, in 
 which case they will be relegated to the shades, 
 just as the band meeting has been. At pres- 
 ent they seem to be almost indispensable. 
 Take, for instance, 
 
 PROBATIONARY MEMBERSHIP 
 The period of probation fixed by Mr. Wes- 
 ley was two months, but in the parent body
 
 Features that Should Live 215 
 
 of American Methodism it has always been 
 six months. Efforts have heen made to abolish 
 this system, but in a revival Church, where 
 whole multitudes are admitted at one time, it 
 seems proper and wise that a trial period 
 should precede full membership. 
 
 This usage points two ways toward the 
 Church and toward the probationer. It gives 
 the Church an opportunity to study the can- 
 didates while extending to them all her spir- 
 itual rights and privileges, and it gives the 
 candidates an opportunity to study the doc- 
 trines, polity, and usages of the Church while 
 giving to her the zeal and devotion of their 
 first love. It is a just, safe, and practicable 
 arrangement. 
 
 Another excellent custom is that of 
 
 FREE SEATS 
 
 In turning Gospel preachers loose upon the 
 world, Methodism sought to have worshipers 
 free in the Church, and this custom has always
 
 216 Back to Oxford 
 
 been popular. The first subscription paper cir- 
 culated in America asked for funds to erect 
 a house "where the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
 might be preached without distinction of sect 
 or party." Methodism erects chapels where 
 rich and poor meet together, the Lord being 
 the Maker of them all. The free-seat system 
 has saved thousands to the Church, and should 
 be retained. Plain chapels and free pews 
 where the masses may feel at home and not be 
 crushed by heavy financial burdens are condi- 
 tions of religious success. In the cathedral at 
 Cologne the poorest laborer feels at home be- 
 cause its benches are of wood and its floor is 
 bare. Similar conditions should ever charac- 
 terize Methodist meetinghouses. 
 Another feature is 
 
 THE COLLECTION PLATE 
 Methodism would hardly be Methodism 
 without a collection plate. At the organiza- 
 tion of our Church, in 1784, the following 
 provision was incorporated in the Discipline:
 
 Features that Should Live 2 17 
 
 "How many collections are to be made in 
 a year? 
 
 "Ans. 1. A quarterly collection to support 
 the preachers, and when that is deficient, a 
 public quarterly collection. 
 
 "2. A yearly collection for church building. 
 
 "3. A collection at love feasts, and on sac- 
 ramental occasions, for the poor of our society. 
 
 "4. An annual collection or subscription for 
 the college. 
 
 "5. An annual collection for Conference 
 contingencies." 
 
 If the above collections yielded an overplus 
 it was to be divided among the poor, to make 
 deficiencies in pastors' salaries, and to plant 
 missions in distant parts of the continent. In 
 our days the number of annual collections has 
 not grown beautifully less. 
 
 CHOIRS AND ORGANS 
 
 Early Methodism had no objections to choirs 
 and organs to lead in the singing, but
 
 218 Back to Oxford 
 
 did object to fiddlers, and to merely artistic 
 music of any sort. The Methodists always 
 wanted their instruments of music to bear a 
 "good report of them which are without." On 
 one occasion a violinist suggested to his pas- 
 tor the propriety of changing the couplet, 
 
 " O may my heart in tune be found, 
 Like David's harp of solemn sound," 
 
 So that it would read, 
 
 " O may my heart be tuned within, 
 Like David's sacred violin." 
 
 The preacher was a wit, and suggested rather 
 that the couplet should read, 
 
 "O may my heart go diddle, diddle, 
 Like Uncle David's holy fiddle." 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL SINGING 
 Let us sing with the spirit and with the un- 
 derstanding also. Choirs may do to lead, but 
 let all the people sing. Methodism has sung 
 many souls into the kingdom of God. She has 
 incorporated into her hymns so much of Gos- 
 pel truth that her singing is a chant of argu-
 
 Features that Should Live 219 
 
 ment. Dr. Talmage once said that either 
 Methodist throats are different or their hearts 
 are different. They sang their way all over 
 England, and the howling of persecution 
 could not silence them. They sang their way 
 across the Atlantic, and the ocean hurricane 
 could not heat down the song. They sang 
 their way all through those "Western wilds, and 
 the moaning of the wildwood could not over- 
 power their melody. Let them not fall from 
 grace and surrender to choirs this essential 
 feature of noble worship. 
 
 FREEDOM AS TO MODE 
 
 As an illustration of Methodist freedom 
 as to modes of worship, take the following 
 standing rules: 
 
 "Let persons who have scruples concerning 
 the receiving of the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper kneeling be permitted to receive it 
 either standing or sitting." 
 
 "Let every adult person, and the parents of
 
 220 Back to Oxford 
 
 every child to be baptized, have the choice 
 of either sprinkling, pouring, or immersion." 
 
 The foregoing rules represent the spirit of 
 Methodism. Broad, liberal, accommodating, 
 it leaves open to the individual conscience all 
 nonessentials of worship and custom. 
 
 The sacraments are to be used by Chris- 
 tians, not abused by ecclesiastical edicts. 
 These sacraments are designed for universal 
 application, and must not be transformed in- 
 to cast-iron regulations which limit and de- 
 base them. 
 
 Wesley held that baptism is the initiatory 
 sacrament which enters us into covenant with 
 God; that it was instituted in the room of 
 circumcision as a sign and seal of that cove- 
 nant; that the matter of this sacrament is 
 water because its natural power of cleansing 
 makes it a fit symbol ; that the mode of apply- 
 ing it is dipping, sprinkling, or pouring be- 
 cause the Scriptures nowhere stipulate, either 
 by express precept or example, in which of 
 these ways it shall be done. The word bap-
 
 Features that Should Live 221 
 
 tize, as used in the New Testament, while the 
 most expressive word that could have been 
 selected to represent the seal of the new cove- 
 nant, contains no force or meaning which 
 necessitates the choice of immersion as its 
 only proper mode. The most reliable scholar- 
 ship teaches that the word represents a result 
 rather than a process, a cleansing rather than 
 a method of cleansing. Thus we are told that 
 "John truly baptized with water." His cleans- 
 ing was outward and formal. "But ye shall 
 be baptized with the Holy Ghost." The pen- 
 tecostal cleansing was inward and spiritual. 
 
 The word "baptism" has thus come to have 
 a specific meaning, and can by no narrow, 
 sectarian process (such as the attempt to sub- 
 stitute the word "immerse" for it) be success- 
 fully changed. It has entered into the service 
 of all Churches, in all lands, and for all time, 
 and the day is not far distant when the word, 
 clothed with the dignity of crystalline per- 
 manence, will be lifted out of the arena of 
 debate.
 
 222 Back to Oxford 
 
 LOVE FEASTS 
 
 The love feast is a feast of love. The first 
 one in Methodism, held December 9, 1759, be- 
 gan and ended with thanksgiving and prayer. 
 Mr. Wesley declares that it was celebrated "in 
 so decent and solemn a manner that a Chris- 
 tian of the apostolic age would have allowed 
 it to be worthy of Christ." It was designed 
 to evince brotherly affection and Christian 
 fellowship by taking together "a little plain 
 cake and water." In primitive days the feast 
 was more elaborate, and watchfulness was re- 
 quired to prevent "excess in eating and drink- 
 ing." In England the "plain cake" has given 
 place to common biscuits. In some parts of 
 India the water is displaced by coffee. In 
 America clear water and plain bread serve 
 as the sole visible elements of the feast. But 
 the fellowship and brotherly affection are 
 everywhere the same. It is a happy assembly 
 and will remain as long as there are Chris- 
 tians to testify and love to flow. It is the
 
 Features that Should Live 223 
 
 only thing among us approximating to a festi- 
 val, and the freedom of its spirit and volun- 
 tariness of its service have made it ever 
 popular. 
 
 THE CLASS MEETING 
 
 The class meeting arose in this way: Wes- 
 ley's meetinghouse which he huilt in Bristol 
 in 1739 had an embarrassing debt, and on 
 February 15, 1742, he called a meeting of the 
 principal members to determine what could be 
 clone. One said, "Let every member of the 
 society give a penny a week till the debt is 
 paid." Another answered, "Many of them 
 are poor, and cannot afford to do it." "Then," 
 said the former, "put eleven of the poorest 
 with me ; and if they can give anything, well ; 
 I will call on them weekly; and if they can 
 give nothing, I will give for them as well as 
 for myself. And each of you call on your 
 neighbors weekly; receive what they give, and 
 make up what is wanting." It was done, and
 
 224 Back to Oxford 
 
 the arrangement struck Wesley as the very 
 thing he wanted. He then interviewed the col- 
 lectors and told them, in addition to collecting 
 money, "to make particular inquiry into the, 
 behavior of the members whom they visited." 
 They did so. Many disorderly walkers were 
 detected and thrust out. Within six weeks 
 Wesley introduced the same plan in London, 
 and thus class meetings began. 
 
 The advantages flowing from these "pru- 
 dential regulations" were so great that Wesley 
 to his dying day praised God for them. The 
 fellowship, brotherliness, mutual burden-bear- 
 ing, and fidelity which they promoted were of 
 infinite value. Complaints of poor leadership 
 arose, but the best available men were always 
 appointed, and the class meeting became a 
 distinctive and perpetual feature of the Metho- 
 dist economy. 
 
 At first the leaders called upon the members 
 in their own homes, but as this required so 
 much time it was found more practicable for 
 all to meet together in some convenient place,
 
 Features that Should Live 225 
 
 there to testify, to be exhorted, reproved, or 
 comforted as occasion required. 
 
 To ascertain who belonged to the society, 
 and to prevent designing persons from im- 
 posing upon him, Wesley gave to each of the 
 serious-minded attendants a ticket, on which 
 was printed a Scripture text, the date of is- 
 suance, and the person's name. Only ticket- 
 holders were considered members. The tick- 
 ets were renewed quarterly. All were eager to 
 secure these vouchers of good standing, and 
 the membership rolls were thus kept fresh and 
 reliable. Those who habitually neglected class 
 were, after proper reproof, "laid aside," and 
 hence no form of trial was necessary to keep 
 the class lists well purged. It should be re- 
 membered that no church had yet been organ- 
 ized. The "classes" were auxiliary to the 
 "societies," and the societies were simply 
 informal religious organizations for the de- 
 velopment of a good financial system and for 
 promotion of the spiritual life. 
 
 Wesley was considered the spiritual father
 
 226 Back to Oxford 
 
 and guide of all the Methodists, as he was 
 literally the head of the entire system, and to 
 him unusual authority was allowed to the day 
 of his death. Some members chafed not a 
 little under the strict surveillance of the class 
 leader plan, a few denounced it as unscriptu- 
 ral, but those who faithfully availed them- 
 selves of its peculiar advantages were helped 
 amazingly in their spirituality, sympathy, and 
 practical usefulness. 
 
 THE PRAYER SERVICE 
 
 Methodism began in a prayer meeting, and 
 attendance at the prayer meeting is a part of 
 our unwritten law. To bring something a 
 song, a thanksgiving, a praise or a prayer 
 as an offering unto the Lord, is also a part 
 of the unwritten law. In the old "scheme of 
 self-examination" devised by Mr. Wesley these 
 questions were propounded: "Have I prayed 
 with fervor? at going in and out of church? 
 in the church? morning and evening in pri-
 
 Features that Should Live 227 
 
 vate? with my friends at rising? before lying 
 down? at my work? Have I prayed for hu- 
 mility, faith, hope, love?" Prayer has ever 
 been inculcated as the very spirit and life 
 of Methodism; the services for prayer have 
 been among the richest and most helpful of 
 all our means of grace. 
 
 KNEELING IN PRAYER 
 
 The historic and correct Disciplinary at- 
 titude of Methodists in prayer is that of kneel- 
 ing. The Discipline says : "Let the people 
 be earnestly exhorted to take part in the pub- 
 lic worship of God, first in singing, second 
 in prayer, in the scriptural attitude of 
 kneeling." 
 
 There is an ancient tradition that the 
 apostle James spent so much time on his 
 knees that the skin became calloused almost 
 like bone. At the dedication of the temple 
 Solomon stood upon his knees to pray. In 
 1 Kings 8. 22 it is said that "Solomon stood
 
 228 Back to Oxford 
 
 before the altar." But in the fifty-fourth 
 verse the explanation appears: "And it was 
 so, that when Solomon had made an end of 
 praying all this prayer and supplication unto 
 the Lord, he arose from before the altar of 
 the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his 
 hands spread up to heaven." The passage in 
 2 Chroii. 13 confirms the above. Read: "For 
 Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, of five 
 cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three 
 cubits high, and had set it in the midst of 
 the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled 
 down upon his knees before all the congrega- 
 tion of Israel, and spread forth his hands to- 
 ward heaven, and said," etc. Solomon's at- 
 titude while praying was that of "kneeling 
 upon his Jcnees" not standing upon his feet. 
 So with King David. When he called upon 
 the people to worship he said: "Come, let us 
 worship and bow down; let us kneel before 
 the Lord our Maker (Psa. 95. 6). In 2 Sam. 
 7. 18 and 1 Chron. 17. 16 it is stated that 
 David "sat." There is no evidence that he
 
 Features that Should Live 229 
 
 stood upon his feet in prayer. When Daniel 
 prayed he "kneeled three times a day on his 
 knees" (Dan. 6. 10). Jesus in the garden 
 agony "kneeled down and prayed" (Luke 22. 
 41). Surely the servant is not better than his 
 Lord. When Stephen prayed for the forgive- 
 ness of his murderers "he kneeled down" 
 (Acts 7. 60), although to do so was to place 
 himself perfectly at the mercy of his execu- 
 tioners. Peter "kneeled and prayed" (Acts 
 9. 40). Paul "kneeled and prayed" (Acts 20. 
 36). Paul's brethren "kneeled on the shore 
 and prayed" (Acts 21. 5). The suppliants 
 who sought mercy from Christ habitually 
 kneeled. See Matt. 17. 14; Mark 1. 40, 10. 17, 
 etc. No such divine authority can be quoted 
 in favor of standing or any other posture as 
 an attitude of prayer. The Pharisee "stood 
 and prayed," but his prayer did not avail, 
 while the publican humbled himself, that is, 
 he would not so much as lift up his eyes to- 
 ward heaven, and he went to his house justi- 
 fied (Luke 18. 11-13).
 
 THE FUTURE 
 
 METHODISM has had a glorious past. Her 
 history of a little more than one century and 
 a half is radiant with spiritual light. She 
 stands before the world as the daughter of 
 Providence, nurtured and matured, under 
 God's loving protection and care. She is not 
 faultless far from it; but she bears upon her 
 person the trophies of conquest, and wears up- 
 on her brow the expression of trust and deter- 
 mination for a noble future. What is her 
 prospect ? 
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS TO COME 
 Some fifty years ago the social circles of 
 America were ringing with the melody of a 
 song entitled "A Hundred Years to Come." 
 The sentimental lines flowed from musical 
 lips in words like these:
 
 The Future 231 
 
 "Where, where, will be the birds that sing 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 The flowers that now in beauty spring 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 The rosy lips, the lofty brow, 
 The heart that beats so gayly now, 
 O, where will be love's beaming eye, 
 Joy's sparkling smile or sorrow's sigh, 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 
 " Who'll tread for gold this busy street 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 Who'll tread yon aisle with willing feet 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 Pale, trembling age, and fiery youth, 
 And childhood with its heart of truth, 
 The rich, the poor, on land and sea, 
 Where will the mighty millions be 
 
 A hundred years to come ? 
 
 " We all within our graves will sleep 
 
 A hundred years to come. 
 No living soul for us will weep 
 
 A hundred years to come. 
 But other men our fields will till. 
 And others then our places fill, 
 And other birds will sing as gay, 
 And bright the sunshine as to-day, 
 
 A hundred years to come." 
 
 To this rather gloomy view of the outcome 
 of a hundred years a more hopeful poet pro- 
 tested, and penned this addendum : 
 
 " What though we're numbered with the dead 
 
 A hundred years to come ; 
 What though for us no tears be shed 
 
 A hundred years to come ?
 
 232 Back to Oxford 
 
 " Our Saviour slept within the tomb, 
 And shall we fear its shadowy gloom ? 
 Ah, uo ! Triumphant faith will sing 
 That death hath lost its venomed sting 
 Since Christ our Lord has come." 
 
 If we turn from the "birds" and "flowers," the 
 "rosy lips" and "lofty brows," and even from 
 the more serious descriptions of human life 
 and ambition, and apply this sentiment to the 
 doctrines, powers, and customs of our beloved 
 Methodism, asking where or what these shall 
 be "a hundred years to come," who can give 
 the answer? What is the outlook? what the 
 tendency ? 
 
 AN ENDURING ELEMENT 
 Of one thing there is certainty, namely, 
 that, whatever may be the future of organic 
 Methodism, the power or weakness of her 
 Church life, the permanence or transitoriness 
 of her ecclesiastical forms, the popularity or 
 repulsiveness of her authoritative discipline, 
 the essential principles of Methodism are sure 
 to abide.
 
 The Future 233 
 
 Wesley himself thought so. His great soul 
 was permeated with the hope that the germ 
 God had planted through him and others was 
 to live, grow, flourish, and abound to the end 
 of time. He looked upon Methodism not only 
 as a signal revival of religion, but as a prin- 
 cipal preparation for the glory of the latter 
 days, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall 
 come in and all Israel shall be saved. Up to 
 the present time at least his hope seems to 
 have been well founded. The Methodist 
 tree is firmly rooted. Its substance is be- 
 ing fed and nourished from rich and deep 
 soils. The various branches are growing 
 encouragingly, and the fruits are abound- 
 ing luxuriantly. 
 
 Is the ax ever to be laid at the root of this 
 tree? Is the trunk to be cut down, the 
 branches destroyed, and the roots pulled up? 
 Is another tree to be planted in its place, 
 and all that we now behold of is power 
 and beauty and glory to become a for- 
 gotten dream.
 
 234 Back to Oxford 
 
 We cannot think so. It is inconceivable 
 that such fundamental truths as those upon 
 which Methodism is based, and such broad and 
 vigorous principles as those by which it acts, 
 should be supplanted, or relegated to the rear, 
 by any new discoveries, advancements, or ap- 
 pliances of which mankind is capable. 
 
 The itinerancy may pass away, pastoral 
 charges become a thing of the past, An- 
 nual Conferences end, ecclesiastical structure 
 crumble, church architecture undergo trans- 
 formation, polity, custom, and form be revo- 
 lutionized, but so long as man has a soul to 
 save and there is evidence of a God in Israel 
 the real essence of Methodism conscious 
 peace through justifying faith preceded by re- 
 pentance must command the attention and 
 sympathy of mankind. 
 
 LIVING PRINCIPLES 
 
 And who can conceive of principles more 
 likely to commend themselves to the approba-
 
 The Future 235 
 
 tion of all serious minds than these: The 
 saved sinner to become a working Christian; 
 the cleansed heart to he an aspirant for purity ; 
 the heir of God a brother of men; the servant 
 of Christ a pleader for righteousness; the 
 recipient of bounty a bestower of good; the 
 free man in Christ a herald of liberty; the 
 candidate for heaven an exemplar to the 
 world; and the fallible believer the imper- 
 sonation of humility and liberality. 
 
 If such a spirit will not adorn the sturdy 
 character and polished mind of the future, in 
 the name of reason, what would do so? It is 
 not necessary, nor would it be true, to affirm 
 that Methodism alone embodies this spirit, 
 nor that these and other phases of Methodist 
 life possess exclusive fitness for future exem- 
 plification, but it is appropriate to say that 
 whatever system of truth, or plan of work, or 
 form of belief may secure the final hold upon 
 human society, and meet its utmost spiritual 
 necessities, it will of a surety contain within 
 itself the real heart and the vital essence of
 
 236 Back to Oxford 
 
 the living, healing plant which has come into 
 view under the name of Methodism. 
 
 EBB AND FLOW 
 
 Let no man say that because there are and 
 have been fluctuations in the growth and de- 
 velopment of the Methodist tree, therefore it 
 is lacking, in the elements of stability 
 and vitality necessary to unending existence. 
 Fluctuation characterizes all religions. Ebb 
 and flow mark every tide. Variations attend 
 all cycles. Evolution implies involution. The 
 whole course of human history is dotted by 
 changes, uprisings and recedings, limitations 
 and extensions, characteristic of all life and 
 progress. 
 
 A MISLEADING HABIT 
 
 The disposition to compare the moral con- 
 ditions of to-day with those of some other 
 generation or century is very natural, and
 
 The Future 237 
 
 may also be very misleading. We know more 
 about our own times, the state of the Church, 
 the condition of society, and the peculiar drift 
 and status of our own personal consciousness 
 than we do about those of the past. History 
 perpetuates very little that mankind can seize 
 upon. It is only an outline at best, and 
 marked by all the bias and misconceptions 
 that necessarily mar the best work of the 
 wisest minds. 
 
 Likewise the tendency to judge living think- 
 ers and workers with brilliant leaders and 
 great reformers who achieved their mission 
 and had their day is unfair and hurtful. That 
 Methodism has not produced another Wesley 
 cannot be laid to its charge. Christianity has 
 not produced a second Paul. Every age has 
 its reformers. The future will be as the past. 
 New workers will arise. Revivalists will come. 
 Discerners of essential truth will separate the 
 vital from the superfluous, and apply with new 
 force the principles that shall endure. In- 
 terpreters of the word will discover new mean-
 
 238 Back to Oxford 
 
 ings in the promises, new applications in the 
 warnings, new depths in the doctrines, and 
 new riches in the numberless passages which 
 hitherto have been misunderstood or ignored. 
 Dr. Daniel Steele suggests that the Church is 
 in its infancy as to the realization or spiritual 
 blessing, just as mankind is in babyhood in 
 its application of electricity to human utili- 
 ties. Many Christians seem to think that their 
 first days in grace are necessarily their best 
 days, their sweetest, brightest, and richest 
 spiritual experiences. All wrong. God has 
 prepared for every one of his children su- 
 premer triumphs, diviner baptisms, holier 
 advancements, and more ecstatic joys than 
 their eyes have seen, or ears heard, or hearts 
 felt. The life more abundant should be a 
 blessed realization with all those who pretend 
 to believe that "he is able to do exceeding 
 abundantly above all that we ask or think." 
 
 Methodists must lead the van in all stages 
 of true Christian experience. They must hold 
 firmly to Bible standards and reach out
 
 The Future 239 
 
 bravely for providential openings. They must 
 keep their ranks free from insane doctrinal 
 speculators and hopeless spiritual apostates. 
 They must apply vigorous discipline when nec- 
 essary, and thus lop off the branches which 
 bear no fruit to the glory of God and the 
 honor of the Church. They must keep their 
 distinctive mission conspicuously in sight and 
 strive to make their organization a living 
 power in accomplishing that to which God has 
 called them. 
 
 PROFIT BY EXPERIENCE 
 
 We must profit by experience. Past defects 
 must sharpen our wits to avoid future fail- 
 ures. If we have been losing sight of our true 
 mission we must brush away the gathering 
 cobwebs and gain clear vision for the future. 
 We must insist upon a radical change of 
 heart, and a holy, fruitful life as the normal 
 condition and privilege of every believer. We 
 must guard against those intrusions of world- 
 liness, formalism, and listlessness which would
 
 240 Back to Oxford 
 
 sap our strength and leave us to wither and 
 die. Keep the holy fire burning. Keep the 
 spiritual revival at white heat. Preach the 
 Gospel of the Holy Ghost. Infuse our leagues, 
 Sunday schools, and other societies with the 
 spirit of evangelism, of philanthropic service, 
 and of world-wide conquest. Keep low at the 
 cross, hut high in the forefront of action. 
 Utilize living forces upon a hroader and more 
 effective scale. The lay talent of the Church 
 can be turned to better account. Ministers 
 must rally the members to their aid. Those 
 social qualities and tendencies in which the 
 seers find hope, or alarm, as the case may be, 
 must be grasped, developed, curbed, or trans- 
 formed so as to give to the Christian move- 
 ment all the force and impetus possible from 
 complete human cooperation with divine pow- 
 er. The popular demand that a pastor must 
 invariably be an entertaining speaker must 
 be met to a large extent by the utilization of 
 the dormant talent of the pew. Leadership, 
 instruction, and spiritual counsel must become
 
 The Future 241 
 
 the distinguishing forces in pulpit and pas- 
 toral work, while strong cooperation, quick 
 execution, constant support, unswerving fidel- 
 ity, intelligent application, and loyal, lively 
 upholding of all things good, pure, and 
 lovely must become the dominant efforts of 
 pew and home service. 
 
 Methodism must hitch up her enginery 
 to reform movements. She has the practical 
 and secure basis for true reforms. Get the 
 heart clean, and you will have less trouble in 
 keeping the lips from wine, the hands from 
 unholy traffic, the feet from unrighteous er- 
 raiids, the tongue from false arguments, and 
 all the other members of the body from those 
 practices and tendencies which destroy hu- 
 manity and offend God. 
 
 I believe in the unity of reform. Heart 
 reformation includes all other reformations. 
 Methodism must carry heart reformation in- 
 to the temperance cause, the labor agitation, 
 the socialistic craze, the white ribbon move- 
 ment, and a hundred other things. Evan-
 
 242 Back to Oxford 
 
 gelism is the key to all the successful humani- 
 tarianisms of the age. But to be adepts in 
 the application of that key we must be a peo- 
 ple born, of God ourselves, trained in all 
 the wisdom of revelation, experience, and con- 
 secrated knowledge, and we must go with 
 bread in our arms for the poor, kindness in 
 our spirits for the unfortunate, medicine in 
 our chests for the suffering, love in our souls 
 for the outcast and forsaken, truth upon our 
 lips for the untaught, and testimony upon our 
 tongues for the unbelieving and despairing. 
 There is no reason why Methodism should not 
 gird herself to-day for the God-given mission, 
 of to-morrow. She is equipped for advance. 
 Her cause has the approval of earth and the 
 sanction of heaven. Her history is ablaze 
 with divine fire, and her forces are mustered 
 in the clearest light of the age. The weapons 
 of her warfare are not carnal, but mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds. Forward, O army of the saved ! Keep 
 step to the music of the skies! Trust in the
 
 The Future 243 
 
 great Captain of salvation! Be regulated by 
 the unfoldings of the word! Rely on the 
 might of the Spirit! Make no compromises 
 with the foe ! Insist on surrender in the name 
 of God! Transform the enemies of truth into 
 the friends of Jesus and the allies of the King !
 
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