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 L I B RA FLY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVLRSITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 A PASTORAL 
 
 WESLEYAN METHODISTS 
 
 DIOCESE OF LINCOLN, 
 
 BISHOP OF LINCOLN 
 
 WITH A NEW PREFACE. 
 
 EIGHTH EDITION. 
 
 LINCOLN : 
 
 PRINTED BY JAMES WILLIAMSON, HIGH STREET. 
 
 LONDON : RIVINGTONS.
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 Let me thank tlie many kind friends who have given a hearty welcome 
 to this Pastoral. In some quarters, it has met with a different reception. 
 Let me here advert to some comments upon it. 
 
 And first,— to prevent misconception, — let me repeat— what is freely 
 allowed in the following Pastoral — that we ourselves, the Clergy and Laity of 
 the Church of England, have been much to blame ; and that the unhappy 
 separation between us and the Wesleyans is due, in no small degi-ee, to our 
 want of faithfulness and zeal, and to the lack of definite teaching : and that 
 therefore we ought to repent and amend our ways ; and to pray earnestly, and 
 to labour diligently, that the schism may be healed ; and to invite them to 
 help us in healing it. 
 
 I have been charged with using strong language, — for instance, in saying 
 that there may be such a sin as the "gainsaying of Core " (Koi'ah), as St. Jude 
 calls it, in the Christian Church. If my readers will have the goodness to 
 look at the Pastoral (p. 9, 10, 11), they will see that I was quoting John 
 Wesley ; and that they who have censured me have also condemned him. 
 
 But it has been asked. Why should a Bishop write a Pastoral to Wes- 
 leyans ? Why does he not let them alone ? He had better attend to his 
 Diocese. Why does he trouble them ? They are quiet and contented as they 
 are. He is only stirring up strife, and is exposing himself to the charge of 
 foUy, pride, and presumption, by meddling with them. 
 
 My dear friends, (let me reply to such enquirers,) precisely the same 
 questions as these were addressed more than 1,460 years ago to one of the 
 wisest Bishops of ancient Christendom, St. Augustine, when he was endeavour- 
 ing to bring back the Donatists of Africa to the communion of the Church 
 from which they had separated themselves. 
 
 Why does Augustine trouble us ? Why does he not let us alone ? We 
 are very happy as we are. We do not belong to him. He had better look to 
 his own Church, and leave us to take care of ours. He is acting very foolishly, 
 and is chargeable with usui-pation, and bigotry, by endeavouring to domineer 
 
 over us. 
 
 But that wise, loving, learned, and holy Bishop was not moved by such 
 language as that. He thought that the Donatists might be led to consider 
 whether they were in a safe condition ; and for their sake, and the sake of the 
 Church, he longed to heal the separation between them and her. He laboured 
 to restore them to her communion ; and thus encountered obloquy from them, 
 and from some luke-warm Churchmen, who thought him rash, and blamed 
 him as a fanatical zealot, a hot-headed controversialist, and an impolitic en- 
 thusiast. But he pm-sued the work of " troubling," (as it was called,) because
 
 11. PREFACE. 
 
 it was a work of love. He compared it to tlie work of a surgeon, who, 
 while he gives pain, endeavours to restore health. "Not every one (says 
 Augustine, Epist. 93) who spares, is a friend ; nor every one who wounds, is 
 an enemy. "Open rebuke," says the wise man, "is better than secret love ; 
 faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful " 
 (Prov. xxvii. 5, 6). "Melius est cum severitate diligere, qnkm cum lenitate 
 decipere." " He who binds a man in a phrenzy, or arouses one in a, lethargy, is 
 troublesome to both, but he loves both ; and he would not trouble them, if he 
 did not love them." St Augustine, — when preaching a Sermon on that grand 
 homily of the prophet Ezekiel to the Shepherds of Israel, which is a Manual 
 for all Christian Bishops and Pastors (Ezek. xxxiv. : see St. Augustine, Sermon 
 xlvi.), and referring to the case of the Donatists, — thus speaks : "Many sheep 
 stray from the fold of Christ, and are impatient with those who endeavour 
 to bring them back to it. ' What (they ask) do you want with us ? Why 
 do you seek us ? ' My answer is, ' because you are going astray, and are in 
 danger of perishing. ' ' But (they reply) I love to stray, I am content to 
 perish, — as you call it.' Do you indeed desire it? How much better (I 
 answer) do I desire that you should not perish, but be saved ? Doubtless I 
 am importunate ; but the Apostle commands me ' to preach the word, and to 
 be instant in season and out of season ' (2 Tim. iv. 2) ; and Almighty God 
 condemns aU careless pastors who do not seek the erring ; He says, by the voice 
 of the prophet Ezekiel, ' The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have 
 ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was 
 broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither 
 have ye sought that which was lost ; My sheep wandered through aU the 
 mountains, and upon every high hill, yea My flock was scattered upon the face 
 of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, thus saith 
 the Lord God, Behold, I am against the Shepherds, and I will require My flock 
 at their hands ' (Ezek. xxxiv. 4 — 10). Yet, further, (says Augustine) I have a 
 commission from Christ, the Chief Shepherd, ' We must all stand before His 
 judgment seat ' (2 Cor. v. 10). You cannot overturn the tribunal of Christ, 
 and set up that of Donatus in its place. Therefore I must seek and search for 
 Christ's sheep, when they are astray ; and though in doing so I must go among 
 thorns and briars and brambles, which pierce and wound me, yet I will gladly 
 do it." And why? because he loved Christ, who said, "Feed My sheep" 
 (John xxi. 16, 17), and he did it for His sake, in order to bring back to His 
 fold the sheep for which He shed His blood ; and for which He prayed that 
 they might all be One as He and the Father are, One (John xvii. 21, 22) ; so 
 that there might be one Fold and one Shepherd (John x. 16). 
 
 ' ' Besides, " adds St. Augustine, " if I do not endeavour to reclaim dissenters, 
 but connive at schism, the members of the Church will imagine that schism 
 
 ^t^ 1 
 
 5 UIUC 
 
 ^"
 
 is harmless, and that it matters little wh ether they belong to the Church or 
 no. They will suppose that it is indifferent wliether they resort to one place 
 of worship or another. They will say, that if religious divisions are evil things, 
 and are blamed by God in His Word, the Bishops and Pastors of the Church 
 would endeavour to heal them. But if the Bishops and Clergy do not 
 endeavour to do so, the members of the Church will infer that the sin of 
 schism is a mere idle and empty sound, and that only quarrelsome people ever 
 talk about it ; and thus the children of the Church are lost, because Bishops 
 and Pastors do not care whether schismatics are saved. " 
 
 Again, S. Augustine thus speaks (on Psalm xxi. and in other places) — 
 "You Donatists say to me, ' You have your sheep, and we have ours. Do not 
 be troublesome to me and to my sheep, and I will not be troublesome to you 
 and yours.' No, my dear friends (answers Augustine), these sheep are 
 not yours nor mine ; but they belong to Cheist. Let His sheep follow Him. 
 Wherever the Good Shepherd is, there let the flock be. If Christ is with you, 
 let my sheep, as you call them, go to you. But no, you have separated your- 
 selves from the Church ; and Christ loves unity, and blames di\asion ; there- 
 fore let divisions be healed, and unity prevail. Come back to the communion 
 of the Church from which you have strayed. Nothing, says St. Paul, profits 
 without charity (1 Cor. xiii., 1 — 3), and they cannot be rightly said to have 
 charity who break the unity of the Church." 
 
 For saying such things as these, St. Augustine was called a very trouble- 
 some person by some in his own day, and was said to stir up strife, and was 
 censured by many. But (said he), " The man who willingly detracts from my 
 good name when I labour for Christ, unwillingly adds to my future reward 
 from Him." He looked to posterity and to the judgment-seat of Christ. He 
 looked to the commission he had received from Christ. " Nothing," he says, 
 (Epist xxi.) " is more easy and more popular, than the office of a Bishop or a 
 Priest, if it be discharged in a careless and adulatory manner ; but nothing is 
 more miserable or more worthy of condemnation, in the sight of God, than 
 such an Episcopate or Priesthood as that. " He was, therefore, contented to be 
 accounted troublesome, and to be said to be a man of strife, as Jeremiah was ; 
 (Jerem. xv., 10.) He remembered that woe is denounced in Holy Scripture 
 against those false teachers who said, ' ' Peace, Peace, when there was no 
 Peace" (Jerem. vi., 14), and who "put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, 
 and called evil good, and good evil" (Isaiah v., 20), and daubed a wall with 
 untempered mortar (P^zek. xiii., 10), so that it looked white and fair outside 
 while inside it was unsound and tottering. He remembered also that it was said 
 of the greatest of prophets, "Art thou he that troublest Israel ?" (1 Kings xviii., 
 17) ; and that tlie pool of Bethesda in the Gospel would have had no liealing 
 virtue, unless the angel had descended and troubled the water (John v., 4) ;
 
 and tliat it was said of St. Paul and Iiis companions, " These men do exceed- 
 ingly trouble our city" (Acts xvi., 20), and "they have turned the world up- 
 side down" (Acts xvii., 6), and that St. Pavil was called a madman (Actsxxvi., 
 24 ; 2 Cor. v., 13.) And more than this. He who is the Lord of Apostles 
 and Prophets, the Prince of Peace, the Incarnate Word and Wisdom of God, 
 the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls, had to encounter similar treatment. 
 They said of Christ, " He stii'reth up the people (Luke xxiii., 5). "He is 
 beside himself" (Mark iii., 21) ; " He is a Samaritan and hath a devil " (John 
 viii., 48). 
 
 St. Augustine was content to be found in such company as that ; and his 
 name is now honoured on earth, and will be blessed in eternity. 
 
 Besides, in addressing a Pastoral to the Wesleyans I desired to recognize 
 them as not unwilling to be followers of John Wesley, who ( as I have shewn 
 below, pp. 8 — 10,) solemnly charged them "never to separate from the 
 Church." I therefore regarded them as not altogether aliens from it, and 
 from myself, a Pastor of the Church. Have I done them wi'ong in giving 
 them the credit of being ready to be loyal to tlieir founder, and to be true to 
 their own name ? 
 
 Brethren : it was for such reasons as these, that 1 put forth the following 
 Pastoral. I have there invited the Wesleyans to a friendly Conference ; and 
 if a Conference with them, like the "coUatio"* of St. Augustine with 
 the Donatists, were ' conducted in a spirit of brotherly love and of prayer 
 to God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Truth and Peace, we might hope 
 that the temporary trouble would lead to quietness and unity, and to our hap- 
 piness in this life and a better ; and to the advancement of God's glory, and 
 the salvation of many souls. 
 
 It has been alleged that the prevalence of Wesle3"anism is due to the 
 carelessness, incapacity, or immorality of some Pastors of the Church. It may 
 be so. But one of the blessings of the Church of England is, that true 
 doctrine is taught, and grace is dispensed, in all her congregations by reason 
 of the Holy Scriptures read in her Churches, and by the use of her Liturgy, 
 and by the administration of the Holy Sacraments, and by the love of Christ 
 acting in and by His Word and Sacraments, and in answer to the prayers of 
 the faitliful. In the Holy Scriptures, Sacraments, Liturgj', Creeds, Catechism, 
 and other formidaries of the Church of England, every member of all her con- 
 gregations possesses safeguards of orthodoxy and symbols of unity, whatever 
 the personal defects or dissensions of her Ministers may be ; and therefore the 
 sheep may be saved everywhere, even though some of their shepherds may 
 perish. Evil Pastors will be punished hereafter, if not here. In the mean 
 time, their failings and sins try and exercise the faith, charity, patience, and 
 steadfastness of the people, which will not fail of an eternal reward. Would 
 * S. Augustin. Opera; Tom. ix., p. 833, 884.
 
 it not also be a salutary thing, that unworthy Pastors should be warned 
 that they are stumbling-blocks and offences to many, and be brought to 
 repentance and amendment, and thus the discipline of the Church be 
 strengthened ? And, as Augustine and his brethren made overtures of union 
 to the Donatist Bishops and Clerg}-, might not we, in a Conference, invite 
 our Wesleyan brethren to help us in the work of the ministry, and thus the 
 breach between us be healed, and our efficiency be increased in winning souls 
 to Christ ? 
 
 It has also been represented by some, that the tendencies to Eomanism, 
 in doctrine, practice, and ritual, wliich are now visible in some of our Churches, 
 repel our Wesleyan brethren from us, and widen the separation between us. 
 This, it is to be feared, is true. But, again, let me ask, is it not very desir- 
 able that these evil results of such tendencies shoiild be plainly set forth and 
 brought to light, and that Clergy who are chargeable with such delinquencies 
 as these should be warned that they are sinning against Christ, and against 
 souls for which He died, and are fostering and perpetuating the sin of schism ? 
 Is it not probable that many of them would be debarred from sucli uncharitable 
 proceedings as these, by plain and affectionate words spoken in public Con- 
 ference with those who are scandalized by them ? 
 
 It has also been alleged by some, that Wesleyans cannot be said to be 
 chargeable with schism, "because schism means division in a Church, and not 
 separation /?'o??i it ; " and that therefore they have nothing to regret. 
 
 I should have thought, that if a rent i)i a Church were a sin, a rent from 
 it was a greater one. 
 
 But I had rather reply to this allegation by words of great and good 
 men, than by my own. Thus, then, the original word used in the New 
 Testament by St. Jude (v. 19) concerning those of whom he speaks so severely 
 means separatists /ro7)i. the Church. S. Cyprian says (Epist. 65), " Schisma 
 est, quum de Ecclesid receditur et altare foris collocatur," and St. Jerome thus 
 writes (in Epist. Paul, ad Tit. c. iii.) — "Schisma ab Ecclesia .separatm'." 
 
 It has been said by .some, that the doc-.rine of Apostolic Succession on 
 which I lay stress in the following Pastoral (pp. 16, 17,) is a mere fable. If 
 so, it is a fable which was believed, and acted upon, for fifteen centuries by 
 the Church of Christ Univer.sal — which is His Body and Spouse (Eph. i. 23), 
 "the Pillar and Ground of the Truth," "the House of the Living God" 
 (1 Tim. iii. 15), to which He promised His presence even to the end (Matt. 
 xxviii. 20), and the gift of the Holy Ghost to teach her all tilings, and to 
 guide her into all truth (John xiv. 20, xvi. 13), and to abide with her for ever
 
 (John xiv. 6) ; and, therefore, if she was deceived in this, Christ's promise 
 has failed ; and the Holy Ghost has not done the work for which He was sent. 
 Surely no thoughtful and devout Christian will entertain such a supposition as 
 this ; but will reject it with indignation and abhorrence as an insult to our 
 adorable Redeemer, and to God the Holy Ghost the Comforter. 
 
 Let me assure you my dear friends, that if the Church of England were 
 to be so ill-advised as to give up her claim to "Apostolical Succession," the 
 person who would most exult and triumph at such a surrender on her part, 
 woiild be the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 Again, it has been urged that John Wesley was of opinion that Presbyters 
 or Priests have equal power to ordain with Bishops. Be it so. Then he was 
 very singular in that opinion. It was the opinion of Aerius and Colluthus, 
 and was condemned by the Church of Christ Universal. But let me be pardoned 
 for adding, that even if this were true, it would not serve the Wesleyan cause. 
 The present Wesleyan Ministers, for the most part, have not even presbyterian 
 ordination ; and, therefore, (though I shall be said, I fear, to stir up strife,) 
 I am bound to declare that no well-instructed Christian for the first fifteen 
 himdred years after Christ would have thought it safe to receive the Holy 
 Commimion at their hands. 
 
 Wesleyans either hold to John Wesley, or they do not. If they do, 
 they must acknowledge that their own ordinations are invalid, and that the 
 Sacraments ministered by their Preachers are irregular. For John Wesley 
 never supposed that persons could ordain, who were neither Bishops nor 
 Priests ; but their Preachers have not been ordained either by Bishops or Priests. 
 
 But if they do not hold to John Wesley, ought they to call themselves 
 Wesleyans ? and can they retain those chapels, which were built by him on the 
 condition that they who held them should conform to his opinions ? Might 
 not those Chapels be claimed by persons, genuine Wesleyans, who cleave to 
 Wesleyanism in that form in which John Wesley established it ? 
 
 As to the ordination of Wesleyans, an appeal has been made in its favour 
 to Stillingfleet's Irenicum, a juvenile work, which he himself retracted (see 
 Bp. Burnet's Own Time, 1, 189), and all that can be said of it is, that it did 
 not condemn presbyterian orders ; — which the Wesleyans have not. Let me 
 add, that one of the most saintly and wise men that Scotland ever produced, 
 Robert Leighton (afterwards Archbishop of Glasgow), and one of the holiest 
 and most learned men of Lincolnshire, Simon Patrick (afterwards Bishop of 
 Ely), having already Presbyterian orders, accepted Episcopal Ordination. No 
 one need be ashamed to imitate such examples as those. 
 
 Much might be said in excuse of non-episcopal communities in countries 
 where Episcopacy does not exist, or where the Church enforces sinful terms of
 
 coinmiinion, as the Church of Eome does. But this plea cannot be alleged on 
 behalf of Wesleyanism, such as it has now become, since the days of Wesley, 
 and in spite of his commands. (See below, pp. 8—10.) It now sets up a 
 priesthood of its own, — for the administration of the Sacraments,— against the 
 priesthood of the Church of England. This (I say it with sorrow), if done 
 wiljully, is the essence of schism. Some persons have recently urged it to do 
 this the more, in reprisals to the following Pastoral. If it does so, it will 
 prove more clearly tliat the Pastoral is true. 
 
 But, brethren, I am fully aware tliat much of the separation, to which I 
 have referred, is the result rather of circumstances of birth, education, and 
 society, than of deliberate convictions. There is not sufficient room in our 
 churches in our great towns for the population ; the number and endowments 
 of our Clergy are scanty and inadequate. 
 
 But here is another reason for conference and co-operation. If the 
 Wesleyans would unite with us in an earnest endeavour to maintain the true 
 faith, ami to contend earnestly for it against unbelief, superstition, and vice, 
 how great and glorious would be the result. 
 
 But as it is now, the Cluirch of Kome points with scorn to our religious 
 divisions, and triumphs over what she calls the chaotic confusion of our dis- 
 cordant Protestantism, as bearing more resemblance to a Babel, the tower of 
 confusion, than to Zion, the City of Peace. And thus she draws many to 
 herself. Not the arguments of Rome (which are utterly unsound), but the 
 divisions of Protestants make Romanists. 
 
 And, on the other side also, the unbeliever says to us, " First go and 
 agree among yourselves, as to what the truth is, and then come and preach it 
 to us — but not till then." 
 
 Thus, brethren, Romanism and Infidelity gain by our religious divisions ; 
 and moral depravity, insubordination, and anarchy, and all their calamitous 
 consequences, public and private, are threatening to rend asunder the fabric of 
 civil society, and to involve us in confusion and ruin. 
 
 For the sake, therefore, of England and of Christendom, I praj' for the 
 friendly Conference of those who are separated from one another, and who 
 ought to be united as brethren in Clirist. 
 
 What the result of the present appeal may be, God only knows. It 
 has been said by some that the Wesleyan Society is immoveably rooted 
 in its present position. But I have seen enough to convince me, tliat 
 whatever may be the case with tlie body itself as a whole, there are very 
 many members of it, and not a few ministers in it, who are not satisfied with 
 their present condition, and who are looking earnestly to the Church, and veiy 
 many, in my own knowledge, have recently joined it. 
 
 a
 
 VIIL PREFACE. 
 
 I have been told that I ought not to busy myself ■with the affairs of 
 "Wesleyans, but to emploj' myself in attending to the work of my own Diocese, 
 and to be "putting my own house in order, which is tumbling about my ears." 
 
 Let me then be permitted to say — since 1 am constrained to speak of 
 myself, as St. Paul was, by accusations of others, so that he becomes, he says, 
 "a, fool in glorying; ye have compelled me" (2 Cor. xii., 11) — that, while 
 conscious of many short-comings, I have endeavoured to attend to the affairs 
 of this Diocese, and may I be allowed to add, with feelings of devout thank- 
 fulness to God from whom, and from whom alone, all strength comes of body 
 and mind, that I have been enabled by Him in the present year to hold Con- 
 firmations in numerous places, and to hold Visitations in almost every part of 
 the Diocese, and that (as I have said in the Pastoral), I regard the Wesleyans 
 as forming a very considerable part of the population of this Diocese, and 
 that in addressing them, I was attending to the affairs of the Diocese in 
 a very important respect. 
 
 As to the danger of our house falling about our ears, 1 am fully aware that 
 it needs a good deal of care, and may be greatly strengthened, improved, and 
 beautified ; and that the Wesleyans might do much to help us in this good 
 work. But here, again, let us thank God for His mercy. I trust that our house 
 is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being 
 the head corner stone (Eph. ii. 20). I believe it to be built upon Chi'ist, Who 
 is the Rock (Matt. xvi. 18 ) ; and while it remains steadfast on that foundation, 
 it will not fall. (Matt. vii. 25). 
 
 As to the work of Christ in this Diocese, let me only mention a single 
 specimen of it. To day is the 21st July ; and if I live for another ten days I 
 shall be called upon in that time to re-open three Churches in this Diocese, 
 two partly re-built from their foundations, namely, at Nettleton, and West 
 Ashby, and Helpringham, in the County of Lincoln ; and my Right 
 Reverend Brother the Bishop Suffragan, who has been holding Confirma- 
 tions throughout Nottinghamshire, is engaged to re-open a fourth restored 
 Church— Cromwell, in the County of Nottingham— in the same period of 
 time. Nearly 100 Churches have been either restored or built in the Dio- 
 cese in the last three years. This does not look as if the house were tumbling 
 about our ears. To God be all the praise ! 
 
 Let me now bid the reader farewell, with an earnest prayer for a blessing 
 on all endeavours to promote Union in the Truth. 
 
 Riseholme, Lincoln, July 2\st, 1873.
 
 KisEHOLME, Lincoln, 
 
 Tuesday in Whitsun Week, 
 June 3, 1873. 
 
 Bbethren, 
 
 A few days ago a Clergyman of this Diocese came to me 
 for advice concerning a tombstone which had been lately placed in 
 his churchyard, bearing the following inscription : — " In memory 
 
 of , a happy labourer in the Wesleyan Methodist Church." 
 
 The question put by him was this : — Would he be justified in 
 allowing a monument to remain, which might lead his parishioners 
 to suppose that the Wesleyan Society is a Church ; and that it 
 matters little, whether they belong to it, or to the Church of 
 England '\ Ought he not to protect them against such a supposi- 
 tion as that % 
 
 The answer given was to the following effect : — 
 A clergyman ought to take care that no gravestone is placed in 
 his churchyard, without previous communication with himself. 
 He ought to see the design of the tombstone, and to examine 
 what is intended to be inscribed on it. He ought to see that 
 nothing is engraved on it which is contrary to Holy Scripture, or 
 to the doctrine of the Church of England as declared in her Articles 
 Canons and Formularies. And if any dispute arises on this point, 
 there is an appeal to the Ordinary for a final decision.^ But to 
 remove a gravestone once placed in a churchyard is a different 
 thing — especially to remove one which was placed there in the 
 presence of the Sexton (as the stone in question was), who is sup- 
 posed to be an officer of the Clergyman and of the Parish. Such 
 removal would require a faculty, and this might lead to a legal 
 process, of which it is not easy to foresee the issue. It might also 
 be alleged, that in popular language a Christian Society, like the 
 Wesleyan, is called a Church ; that Richard Hooker,^ and Bishop 
 
 (1) Bunr.s Ecr/esiastical Law, I., 27:!. 
 (2) B.ooker's L'ccl. Pol. Pruf. § 6, Book iii., ch. xi. U. iv. ch. xiii.
 
 Andrewes,^ and in our own day Mr. Keble,* speak of "Foreign 
 Protestant Churclies,"— " Swiss Churches," &c., which have not 
 Episcopal Ordination, and that, as is generally supposed, the 
 Presbyterian Kirk is called the " Chiu'ch of Scotland" in the Canons 
 of 1603.6 
 
 What, then, should be done 1 The advice given to the Clergy- 
 man was — Liberate your conscience. Disabuse your people of 
 erroneous notions. Imitate the Apostle St. Paul, who beheld an 
 altar at Athens, and took a text from it, and preached a sermon 
 upon it.* Use this Inscription in your churchyard as a subject 
 for one or more sermons to your people, on the present relation of 
 "Wesleyanism to the Church, and on the sin and unhappiness of 
 Schism, and on the duty and blessedness of Unity in the Truth. 
 
 Brethren, I now propose to follow the advice which I then gave. 
 
 This holy season, Whitsuntide, in which we bless God for the 
 Coming of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, Peace and Love, 
 prompts me to do so. I have just completed a Visitation of this 
 Diocese ; and I cannot overlook you who form so large and impor- 
 tant a part of it. I pray God to heal our divisions. My heart 
 yearns for union with you. You often bring your children to be 
 confirmed by me. In how many things are we united with you, 
 and you with us. You have the same Bible with ourselves ; and 
 in many respects the same Prayer Book. Your Service Book is 
 derived from our Liturgy. ''^ We have the same Creed. In how 
 many things are we with you, and you with us. And why not 
 in all 1 
 
 Ever since the commencement of my connexion with the Diocese 
 of Lincoln, in which Wesleyanism had its origin, and in which it 
 largely prevails, I have longed to address you, and to speak to you 
 "the truth in love" (Eph. iv. 15). One of the first Confirmations 
 which I held in this Diocese, in the Spring of 1869, was at Epworth, 
 
 (3) Bp. Andrewes' Letter to Peter Moulin, Dec. 12, 1618, and Answer to Third Epistle. 
 
 (4) Keble in his edition of Hooker, Vol. I., p. 169, 597, 617. Ed. Oxford, 1B36. 
 
 (5) Canon Iv. 
 
 <&) Acts xvii., 23. 
 
 (7J &QQ The Sunday Service of the Metho. lists and other Occasional Services. Lond. : Mason, 
 1842.
 
 where John Wesley was born, one hundred and seventy years ago. 
 In the churchyard, on the south side of the chancel, is the grave- 
 stone of his venerable father, Samuel Wesley, thirty-nine years 
 Rector of that Parish, who, as the inscription on it declares, died, 
 as he had lived, "in the true Catholic Faith of the Undivided and 
 Ever Blessed Trinity, and of the Godhead of Jesus Christ." On 
 that stone John Wesley stood and preached. 
 
 When I visited Epworth, in 1869, I was informed that no 
 Confirmation had been held in that important Parish^ since the 
 22nd August, 1686, when the Bishop of Peterborough of that day 
 confirmed there; and it is recorded, that on that occasion a mul- 
 titude of persons, about a thousand in number, was gathered 
 together to be confirmed at once. 
 
 Is it surprising that in such a state of things Wesleyanism 
 should have arisen 1 
 
 In the course of several tours of Confirmation and Visitation 
 from Parish to Parish in that and succeeding years, I have observed 
 that in almost every one, especially in North Lincolnshire, 
 Methodism presents itself in two forms, and often in three, viz., 
 Methodism proper. Free Methodism, and Primitive Methodism. 
 
 This suggests serious reflexions. 
 
 When Methodism arose. Clerical non-residence was almost the 
 rule, and Clerical residence was the exception. The Parochial 
 Cures were ill endowed, and there were comparatively few Parson- 
 ages. Many of the Parochial Clergy dwelt in the towns, and rode 
 forth on Sunday mornings to serve several churches in rapid suc- 
 cession, and returned in the evening to the towns, and saw little of 
 their country parishes during the week. 
 
 It reflects great credit on the piety, zeal, and self-sacrifice of the 
 people of Lincolnshire, that they could not exist patiently in such 
 a state of spiritual starvation. The Church did not supply them 
 with religious food, and they resolved to provide it for themselves. 
 Wesleyanism is due, in great measure, to the Church ; it is due to 
 Clerical Pluralities and to Clerical non-residence, and to a lack of 
 
 (8) The population is 2,295.
 
 adequate Episcopal oversight, which could hardly be exercised in 
 this enormous Diocese, containing at that time more than 1240 
 parishes. This must be allowed. And of all unfair things it 
 would be one of the most unjust, to charge the evil consequences 
 of Wesley anism mainly on John Wesley and his followers. "Physi- 
 cian, heal thyself" (Luke iv. 23). We must look at the beam 
 in our own eye and try to cast it out (Matt. vii. 3). 
 
 But still, brethren beloved in the Lord, let us not disguise the 
 truth, declared in God's holy Word, that wilful Schism— by whom- 
 soever it may be caused — is a deadly sin, and a tremendous evil, 
 both for time and eternity ; and that of all the blessings in this 
 world, for which Ave ought to labour and pray, religious Unity is 
 one of the best ; that " Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall 
 be called the children of God " (Matt. v. 9). 
 
 Listen, brethren, I entreat you, not to me, but to the Holy 
 Ghost, speaking by the Apostles, whom, as at this time. He was sent 
 to teach, and to guide them into all truth (John xiv. 26 ; xvi. 13), 
 and to abide with them for ever. Hear His divine words — " Whereas 
 there are divisions among you, are ye not carnal '?" (1 Cor. iii. 4.) 
 And " to be carnally minded is death " (Rom. viii. 6). Among the 
 "works of the flesh" are "variance, strife, heresy" (Gal. v. 20.) 
 They that " separate themselves " are described as " sensual, having 
 not the Spirit" (Jude 19). Therefore the Apostle says, "I beseech 
 you, brethren, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be 
 no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in 
 the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. i. 10). "I 
 beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye 
 are called, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace " (Ephes. iv. 1-3). 
 
 Brethren, if your revered founder, John Wesley, were to rise 
 from his grave, what would his feelings be ? what would be his 
 language 1 If he stood once more on his father's tombstone at 
 Epworth, inscribed with that profession of faith to which I have 
 referred ; and if he looked down upon the town lying on the west 
 beneath the churchyard, there he would see a large buUding of red
 
 brick, in -which a religious sect assembles for worship, which has 
 split off from the Wesleyans — the sect of Kilhamites ; '-^ and if he 
 extended his contemplation to the neighbouring countrj^ he would 
 see in almost every village one or more places of worship frequented 
 by persons wlio bear the name of Methodists, but who dissent, not 
 only from the Church of England, but from the form of Methodism 
 originated by John Wesley. 
 
 Suffer me also, brethren, to enquire, AVhether, even as to 
 Wesleyanism itself, as it is now, he would acknowledge it as his 
 own work ] Would John Wesley be a Wesleyan 1 Eefer to the 
 inscription on the tombstone recently erected, to which I adverted 
 at the beginning of this letter. It describes the deceased as " a 
 happy labourer in the Wesleyan Church." John Wesley acknow- 
 ledged only one Church in this country, the Church of England. 
 In 1790 he thus wrote : "I never had any design of separating 
 from the Church. I have no such design now. I declare that I 
 live and die a Member of the Church of England ; and that none 
 ■who regard my judgment will ever separate from it."^'' "We do 
 not, and will not, form any separate sect ; but from principle we 
 will remain what we always have been, true members of the Church 
 of England."^^ He did not allow his disci])les to call themselves 
 " Dissenters. "^2 jje would not permit his preachers to license them- 
 selves " as dissenters, but as Methodist preachers."^^ In the " Code 
 of Directions" drawn up by him, and given to his preachers, as 
 " the Rules by which they were to walk," and which are described 
 by the Wesleyan Conference in 1797 as " the Rules to which they 
 consented when they were admitted," are the following instruc- 
 tions : — "How should an Assistant be quaHfied for his charge? — 
 By loving the Church of England, and by resolving not to separate 
 from it. Let this be well observed. I fear that when the Metho- 
 dists leave the Church, God will leave them. 0, use every means 
 
 (9; In the description of Epworth, in White's Directory of Lincolnshire, p. 449, ed. 1872, 
 it is stated that Mr. Alexander Kilhani, the founder of the " New Connection," was also a 
 native of this parish, and died in 1798, after fighting hard against the " priestly domination 
 of the Wesley Conference." 
 
 (10) John Wesley in the Arminian Magazine, quoted in p. 172 of Mr. Urlin's volume on 
 John Wesley's Plo.ce in Church Jlislory. I-ondon, 1S70. 
 
 (in Wesley's ,SV;7»(/«.«, i.,. 075. (12) Ibid. 
 
 (13) Minutes, A.D. 1772, Vol. i., p. 541.
 
 8 
 
 to prevent this. (1) Exhort all our people to keep close to the 
 Church and Sacrament. (2) Warn them all against niceness in 
 hearing — a prevailing evil. (3) Warn tJiem against despising the 
 prayers of the Church ; (4) against calling our Society 'a Cliurclif 
 (5) against calling our preachers '■Ministers;' our houses 'Meeting 
 Houses :' call them plain ' Preaching Houses.'' " 
 
 These " Minutes " were delivered to Wesleyan Preachers on 
 their admission to the office, and these Preachers were then told 
 that they would " be acknowledged as fellow-labourers in the cause 
 as long as they freely consented to these rules, and earnestly 
 endeavoured to walk by them."^^ 
 
 John "Wesley was the founder of an Order of Lay Preachers. 
 This was his special work. He desired to supplement the Church, 
 not to supplant it. He had no intention of setting up an indepen- 
 dent Priesthood in opposition to that of the Church, for the 
 ministry of the Sacraments. He expressly disclaimed any such in- 
 tention. Hear his OAvn words :^^ 
 
 '' In 1744 all the Methodist Preachers had their first Conference. 
 But none of them dreamed that the being called to preach gave 
 them any right to administer sacraments. And when that question 
 was proposed, 'In what light are we to consider ourselves ■? ' It 
 was answered, ' As extraordinary messengers, raised up to provoke 
 the ordinary ones to jealousy.' In order hereto, one of our first 
 rules was, given to each Preacher, ' You are to do that part of the 
 work which we appoint.' But wJiat work was thisl Did Ave ever 
 appoint you to administer sacraments, to exercise the Priestly Office ? 
 Such a design never entered into our mind : it was the farthest from 
 our thoughts. And if any Preacher had taken such a step, we 
 should have looked upon it as a palpable breach of this rule, and 
 consequently as a recantation of our connexion. 
 
 " For supposing (what I utterly deny) that the receiving you 
 as a Preacher, at the same time gave an authority to administer the 
 
 (14) Chronicles of Wesleyan Methodism, i p. vii. p. 78-80, 88. See also Rev. H. W. Hol- 
 den's Volume on John Wesley, p. 158. Loncl., 187ii. 2nd Edition. 
 
 flo) The Rev. John Wesley ; in his Sermon preached at Cork, 4th May, 1789, and printed 
 by him in his Arminian Magazine for 1790.
 
 sacraments ; yet, it gave you no other authority than to do it, or 
 anything else, where I appoint. But where did I appoint you to 
 do this] Nowhere at all. Therefore, by this very rule you are 
 excluded from doing it. And in doing it you renounce the first 
 principle of ]\Iethodism, which was loholly and soleh/ to preach the 
 gospel. 
 
 " It was several years after our Society was formed, before any 
 attempt of this kind was made. The first was, I apprehend, at 
 I^orwich. One of our Preachers there, yielded to the importunity 
 of a few of the people, and baptized their children. But as soon 
 as it was known, he was informed it must not be, unless he designed 
 to leave our connexion. He promised to do it no more : and I 
 suppose he kept his promise. 
 
 " ISTow, so long as the Methodists keep to this plan, they cannot 
 separate from the Church. And this is our pecuhar glory. It is 
 new upon the earth. Eevolve all the histories of the Church, from 
 the earliest ages, and you will find, whenever there was a great 
 work of God in any particular city or nation, the subjects of that 
 work soon said to their neighbours, ' Stand by yourselves, for we 
 are holier than you ! ' As soon as ever they separated themselves, 
 either they retired into deserts, or they built religious houses ; or at 
 least formed parties, into which none was admitted but such as 
 subscribed both to their judgment and practice. But with the 
 Methodists, it is quite otherwise. They are not a Sect or Party. 
 They do not separate from the Religious Community to which they 
 at first belonged. They are still members of the Church ; such 
 they desire to live and to die. And I believe, one reason why God 
 is pleased to continue my life so long, is to confirm them in their 
 present purpose. Not to separate from the Church. 
 
 " I wish all of you who are vulgarly termed INIethodists, would 
 seriously consider what has been said. And particularly you, whom 
 God has commissioned to call sinners to repentance. It does by no 
 means follow from hence that ye are commissioned to hapAize, or to 
 administer the Lord's Supper. Ye never dreamed of this, for ten 
 or twenty years after ye began to preach. Ye did not then, like 
 
 h
 
 10 
 
 Kordh, Dafhan, and Abimm, seek the Priesthood also. — (N'um. xvi. 
 10.) Ye knew that " No man taketh this honour unto himself, hut 
 he that is called of God, as was Aaron." — (Hebr. v. 4.) contain 
 yourselves within your own bounds. Be content with preaching 
 the Gospel. Do the tvork of Eva7ige lists. Proclaim to all the world 
 the loving-kindness of God our Saviour ; declare to all, TJie king- 
 dom of heaven is at hand : rejyent ye, and believe the Gosioel. I 
 earnestly advise you, abide in your place : keep your own station. 
 Ye were, fifty years ago, those of you that were then Methodist 
 Preachers, extraordinary Messengers of God, not going in your own 
 will, but thrust out, not to supersede, but to provoke to jealousy the 
 ordinary messengers. In God's name, stop there ! Both by your 
 preaching and example, provoke them to love and to good works. 
 Ye are a new phenomenon in the earth ; a body of people who, 
 being of no sect or party, are friends to all parties, and endeavour 
 to forward all, in Heart Eeligion, in the knowledge and love of God 
 and man. Ye yourselves were at first called in the Church of 
 England ; and though ye have, and will have, a thousand tempta- 
 tions to leave it, and set up for yourselves, regard them not. Be 
 Church of England men still. Do not cast away the peculiar glory 
 which God hath put upon you, and frustrate the design of Provi- 
 dence, the very end for which God raised you up." 
 
 Such are John Wesley's words. I beseech you, ponder them 
 well. 
 
 After Wesley's death, his intimate friend and biographer, Dr. 
 Whitehead, who was appointed to preach his funeral sermon,^^ was 
 chosen also to write his epitaph, which was placed on a marble 
 tablet in the 'New Chapel in the City Eoad ; and in that epitaph 
 John Wesley was described (in words, I believe, now erased) as 
 " the Patron and Friend of Lay Preachers." 
 
 In the year 1793, two years after Wesley's death, the Conference 
 put forth certain Minutes, in which it is said that " the Wesleyan 
 teachers are only preachers and expounders of God's Holy Word," 
 and that " the attempts that have been lately made to introduce 
 
 (16) Wesley was born June 17, 1703, and died March 2, 1791.
 
 the Ordination Scheme have produced many and great evils in 
 various places, and if persisted in must divide the people, and in 
 the end destroy the cause. We, therefore, stand forward to declare 
 our intention of abiding by and supporting the original Methodist 
 plan." 
 
 Brethren, beloved in Christ, would to God that another John 
 "Wesley might arise to preach a sermon on Wesleyanism ! He 
 would tell you in plain words, derived from Holy Scripture, that 
 wilful schism is a deadly sin, that it is a work of the flesh, and that 
 to be carnally minded is death. He would tell you that the 
 essence of schism (which means division) is to make a separation or 
 rent in a Church, or from a Church ; that it consists in setting up 
 altar against altar, and priesthood against priesthood ; and in 
 assuming a right to minister in holy things, such as the Sacraments 
 of the Church, without a due call and mission. He would tell you 
 that " no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called 
 of God, as was Aaron." — (Heb. v., 4.) He would remind you, that 
 Korah and his company, who were Levites, and invaded the Priest's 
 office, were consumed by fire from God — (Num. xvi., 35), and that 
 an Apostle of Christ, St. Jude,^'^ warns Christian men, under the 
 Gospel dispensation, against the commission of this sin, lest they 
 incur hereafter a punishment like that of those who " perished in 
 the gainsaying of Korah." These are awful words ; but they are 
 spoken in love. 
 
 Let me urgently entreat you, as you value your everlasting 
 salvation, to consider carefuUy, whether you are guilty of this sin ; 
 or abet others in committing it ; lest you fall into the same con- 
 demnation. 
 
 You may perhaps say in reply, that God has visibly blessed the 
 work of those who minister the Sacraments in your congregations. 
 We do not deny it. But are they, therefore, safe who minister? 
 The Israelites were refreshed by the water flowing from the rock 
 struck by Moses ; but he was excluded from Canaan for striking it 
 
 (17) Judell.
 
 12 
 
 (I^iunb. XX. 12). Balaam and CaiaiDlias prophesied of Christ, and 
 many have been edified by their prophecies ; but nevertheless they 
 who prophesied were objects of God's wrath. St. Paul rejoiced 
 that Christ was preached, althougli some who preached Him 
 " pieached In stiife" (Phihp. i. 15), but yet the same Apostle says, 
 " Let nothing be done through strife " (Phil. ii. 3) ; and St. James 
 declares (James iii. 14 — 16) that "where there is strife, there is 
 every evil work," and, " if ye have strife in your hearts, this wisdom 
 is eartJily, sensual, devilish." St. Paul did not rejoice in their 
 strife, but in the Gospel of Truth and Unity, which they 
 preached. And how much mofe would he have rejoiced if they 
 had preached it in unity ! God often elicits good from evil, and 
 overrules evil for good ; but evil is not the less evil on that account. 
 God brought about the greatest good, namely, the Salvation of the 
 World, from the greatest sin, the Crucifixion of Christ. But Judas, 
 and the Chief Priests and People of the Jews, who were the in- 
 struments in the Crucifixion, were actuated by Satan, the Evil One, 
 and are condemned by God in Holy Writ (John xiii. 2 ; Acts ii. 23). 
 
 We do not deny that persons who resort to schism atical Teachers 
 and Ministers, and receive the Sacraments at their hands, but who 
 are not wilfully partakers of their schism, or even conscious of it, 
 may derive benefit from God's Word and Sacraments ministered by 
 those Teachers and Ministers ; but this does not in any way diminish 
 the guilt of those who schismatically preach and minister, or who 
 knowingly and wilfully abet and encourage them in their teaching 
 and ministrations. 
 
 It is also said by some persons, that they deem it right to go to 
 any place of worship whatsoever, where they may " get the most 
 good ;" and that they go to a Meeting-house, because they " get more 
 good " there than in a Church. I do not doubt that they think that 
 they get more good there than in a Church. But, my friends, we 
 shall be judged hereafter, not according to what we think, but 
 according to what God says. And if God says in His Word, — as 
 He certainly does, — that schism is a deadly sin ; then we shall not 
 be saved by thinking that we are wiser than God, and that He was
 
 13 
 
 mistaken iu saying so. 'No : the Word that He has spoken to ns, 
 that will judge ns in the last day (John xii. 48). " There is a 
 way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the 
 ways of death" (Prov. xiv. 12). 
 
 But it may be alleged by some, that, if this reasoning is correct, 
 then the Church of England is guilty of sin for separating herself 
 from the Church of Eome ; and it may be asked, " If the Church of 
 England is right in separating herself from the Church of Eome, 
 why are the Wesleyan^ wrong in separating themselves from the 
 Churcli of England?" 
 
 Brethren, let me tell you. 
 
 The Church of Eome not merely teaches many great and grievous 
 errors, at variance with Holy Scripture, and with the doctrine of 
 the ancient Catholic Church, but she endeavours to impose those 
 errors upon all men ; and she will not hold communion with any- 
 one who will not communicate with her in those unscriptural and 
 anti-scriptural errors. She makes communion in her errors to be 
 essential to communion with herself. She excommunicates all who 
 will not accept her errors ; and thus she is guilty of the sin of the 
 schism between the Church of England and herself. Wilful schism 
 is always a deadly sin. But the guilt lies with those who commit 
 the sin, and who cause the separation, not with those who suffer 
 from its commission. 
 
 Brethren, believe me, it will not be enough for you to show 
 that there are evil men and evil ministers in the Church of England, 
 and that some in her communion are semi-rationalists or semi- 
 Eomanists ; it will not be enough for you to shew that the Church 
 of England connives at errors in doctrine, discipline, and worship. 
 Even if all these things can be proved, they would not justify 
 you in separating from her, and in making divisions in her. No 
 Church on earth is free from manifold imperfections. Tares grow 
 up among the wheat, till the harvest. There are bad tish 
 together with good fish in the net ; goats with sheep in the Hock 
 chaff with good grain on the threshing-floor j unfruitful branches
 
 14 
 
 with fruitful on the Vine, in every visible Church on earth. And 
 so it will be till the end of the world ; and then a severance will be 
 made. But prove to us, if you can, that the Church of England 
 has not the Holy Scriptures in her hands ; prove to us that she 
 has not the Creeds of the ancient Catholic Church ; prove to us 
 that she does not minister the Holy Sacraments by that form of 
 Church Government which, and loliicli alone, for fifteen hundred 
 years was known and accepted by the Universal Church of Christ, 
 to which He promised His continual presence and the indwelling of 
 the Holy Ghost to " teach her all things," and to " guide her into 
 all truth," — (John xiv., 16, 26, xvi., 13); namely, by the three 
 orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ; prove to us that she 
 imposes and eiifo'ces heretical doctrines, contrary to Holy Scripture 
 and the teaching of the primitive Church, and then you will have 
 said something to palliate what you must allow me to call the sin 
 of separation from her — but not till then. 
 
 Where, then, is the remedy '? 
 
 First, in prayer to God for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit 
 upon us, that He will " give us grace seriously to lay to heart the 
 great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions ; and that He 
 will take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may 
 hinder us from godly union and concord ; that, as there is but one 
 Body, and one Spirit, and one Hope of our Calling, one Lord, one 
 Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may 
 henceforth be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy 
 bond of Truth and Peace, of Faith and Charity, and may with one 
 mind and one mouth glorify God ; through Jesus Christ Our 
 Lord."i8 
 
 Next, let the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Church humble 
 themselves before God, and confess their sins, and pray for pardon 
 and grace from Him. If the Bishops and Clergy of England — 
 especially in her Provincial and Diocesan Synods — had taken 
 counsel together how to guide the great religious movement set in 
 
 (18) Prayer for Unity ; in the Book of Common Prayer.
 
 15 
 
 action by John Wesley, it might, by God's providence, have been 
 controlled and regulated, and have done much to quicken the 
 spiritual life of the Church, and to increase her pastoral and minis- 
 terial efficiency, and have conduced to the advancement of His 
 glory and the diffusion of His truth, and to the salvation of souls ; 
 and the evil effects which have proceeded from it might have been 
 averted. But the opportunity was lost; and now we mourn over the loss. 
 
 The Laity also of the Church of England have their share of 
 responsibility. As we have said, Wesleyanism was due in great 
 measure to pluralities and non-residence of the Clergy; and pluralities 
 and non-residence were due to the poverty of our parochial Cures, and 
 to the want of Parsonages. Even at the present time the clerical 
 income of one-ninth of the benefices in Lincolnshire is not more 
 than £100 a year; and the income of one-third is not more than 
 £200 a year. And more than £30,000 a year of the Tithes of this 
 Diocese are now in the hands of Icuj Impropriators. 
 
 Let the Laity of the Church be entreated to remember that all 
 property is held in trust from God and for God ; and that He has 
 said in His Holy Word that it is held in trust for certain purposes, 
 one of the first of which is the maintenance of the Christian 
 Ministry (Gal. vi., 6; 1 Cor. ix., 13, 14) for the salvation of souls. 
 Can large Proprietors and Capitalists look forward with any comfort 
 to the Great Day of reckoning (when they will be called upon by 
 the Judge of all to give an account of their stewardship), if, while 
 they themselves are living in affluence, many of the Clergy in 
 Parishes where they themselves reside, or where they have pro- 
 perty and are blessed with wealth, are left to pine in poverty, and if 
 all the evils, spiritual and temporal, are alloAved to remain unabated 
 which prevail in our Parishes from the indigence of their Ministers ? 
 " Every man " (says Lord Bacon) " owes to God a tenth of His 
 substance." Let the Laity, for Christ's sake, remember these things. 
 Let them do their duty in this respect, and they will reap an 
 abundant harvest, even in this world; and how blessed will be 
 their recompense in the life which is to come !
 
 16 
 
 Next, Brethren, beloved in the Lord, let me exhort and entreat 
 you, who are Wesleyan Methodists, to consider your own position, 
 as in the sight of God, Who searcheth the hearts, and Who has 
 revealed His Will in His Word, and Who will judge us all. Listen 
 not to me, but to God, Who declares that schism is a sin — a deadly 
 sin ; and that Unity is a great good, which all Christians must 
 desire to attain and hold fast. Consider with yourselves, whether 
 Christ did not promise to be always with His Church even to the 
 end of the world (Matt, xxviii. 20), and to send to her the Holy 
 Ghost, the Comforter, *the Spirit of Truth, to teach her all things, 
 and to guide her into all truth, and to abide with her for ever (John 
 xiv. 16, 26, xvi. 13). And then ask yourselves this question — Can 
 these promises of Christ have been fulfilled (as assuredly they must 
 have been, for He is the Truth), if the Church of Christ did not 
 knoiv for fifteen centuries lohat ought to be her own form of govern- 
 ment in the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, and If it was 
 left for men in the seventeenth century to discover it 1 Can we 
 imagine that the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit of God, have 
 failed in their Word and Work ? This is impossible. Such a sup- 
 position must be repudiated with indignation by all faithful 
 Christians, as an insult to the Son of God, and as an outrage against 
 the Spirit of God. Well, then. Can you yourselves be safe, either 
 in ministering the Sacraments without a due mission and ordination 
 to minister them (in opposition to the imiform judgment and practice 
 of the Universal Church of Christ for fifteen centuries), or in 
 abetting and encouraging any who minister them without such mis- 
 sion and ordination, and in receiving the Sacraments at their hands'? 
 I think not. And as one who desires your everlasting salvation, I 
 earnestly exhort and implore you to examine these things well, as 
 in the presence of God ; and, whatever sacrifice it may cost you, to 
 act accordingly. Inquire whether it be not true, that the Universal 
 Church for fifteen hundred years after Christ believed that ncne 
 but Bishops could confer Holy Orders, Inquire Avhether the 
 Church did not condemn the contrary opinion when broached by 
 Aerius.* Inquii-e whether it be not true, that what is called the 
 
 S.'Augustin. lie Ilaeres. § .53. Bpiphaiiius. dt Flatret.
 
 17 
 
 " Apostolical Succession of Ministers " lias been actually continued 
 from the Apostolic age 1 and wliether tliis may not be reasonably 
 inferred from the fact that the Church knew that it was necessary 
 for her to provide for herself persons to minister the Word and 
 Sacraments ; and that she did not knoio of cmy other way of 
 providmg them than by Episcopal Ordination ? In our Book of 
 Common Prayer, wliich declares the Law of the Church of England, 
 for which John Wesley ever expressed the greatest reverence, are 
 the following words -P — " It is e\adeut unto all men diligently 
 reading the Holy Scripture and ancient Authors, that from the 
 Apostles' time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Clirist's 
 Church — Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ; which Offices were ever- 
 more had in such reverent estimation, that no man might presume 
 to execute any of them, except he were first called, tried, examined, 
 and known to have such qualities as are requsite for the same ; and 
 also by Publick Prayer, with Imposition of Hands, were approved 
 and admitted thereunto by lawful Authority. And, therefore, to 
 the intent that these Orders may be continued, and reverently used 
 and esteemed, in the United Church of England and Ii eland, no 
 man shaU be accounted or taken to be a lawful Bishop, Priest, or 
 Deacon, in the United Church of England and Ireland, or suffered 
 to execute any of the said functions, except he be called, tried, 
 examined, and admitted thereunto, according to the Porm hereafter 
 following, or hath had formerly Episcopal Consecration, or Ordina- 
 tion." Also by the Act of Uniformity (Sect. 14) a person who is 
 only a Deacon [i.e. who has not been ordained Pi test by a Bishop 
 and other Priests) is liable to a heavy penalty if he presumes to 
 consecrate and administer the Holy Communion. 
 
 And further, may I not venture to enquire, whether even in 
 secular respects your present position is secure 1 If I rightly 
 apprehend the matter, the tenure of your places of worship depends 
 on the fulfilment of certain prescribed terms and stipulations. The 
 Holy Scriptures, as explained in the Sermons of John Wesley and 
 in his Notes on the New Testament, are, I believe, your standards o 
 
 (19> Book of Common Prayer— Preface to the Ordination Service 
 C
 
 18 
 
 doctrine and discipline, and your places of worship are held on the 
 condition of conformity to those standards. ^^^ I have qnoted extracts 
 from his Sermons, and from other of his works. Might it not even 
 be alleged, that yon incur the danger of losing your own places of 
 worship, if you drift away from what your Founder has repeatedly 
 affirmed in the clearest and most solemn tones in those very worl:s 
 which are the code and charter of your Society 1 
 
 But in saying this, let me add in Christian Truth and Love, 
 that we ourselves in the Church of England have need of you, and 
 that you have need of us. '' Shs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong 
 one to another?" — (Acts vii., 26.) "We love you for your zeal: 
 and there is much in your organization that we admire. You and 
 we have common enemies, who desire our destruction ; Satan and 
 sin, the world and the flesh. We have formidable foes leagued 
 against us ; Romanism and Unbelief. "Why do we not unite in 
 doing battle against them, and in contending earnestly for the faith 1 
 Our separation has lasted too long already, and if it continues, it 
 will widen itself still more. How many discordant forms of 
 Methodism already exist ! You will be split into endless divi- 
 sions, and perhaps lapse into secularism, and our adversaries will 
 triumph over us. But if our separation can be healed, how much 
 would the holy angels rejoice, and what blessings would accrue to 
 us and to countless myriads of souls in time and eternity, from 
 
 our union 
 
 I may be mistaken, but this union, of which I speak, is not 
 impracticable ; and if we would resolve not to contend for our 
 own private opinions, but for the Truth as revealed in God's "Word, 
 and as declared by the consent and practice of the ancient Church 
 of Christ, and would conform to that standard, the solution of the 
 problem would be easy. 
 
 Let me be allowed to invite you to a friendly Conference on 
 these matters ; and in doing so, let me advert to some details. 
 
 You have your " Lay Preachers." " We in the Church of England 
 have our " Lay Eeaders." Might not these two orders be united ? 
 
 (20) See John Wesley's Journal, Sept. 5, 1783. — Besides, John Wesley formed the 
 
 Wesleyan Conference" out of his Preachers; whom, for the most part, he regarded as 
 
 Laymen; but now the Members of the Conference exclude all whom they caXi Laymen from it.
 
 19 
 
 We have great need of additional Clergy, and this need is annually 
 increasing. Might not some of your Preachers be found willing to 
 conform to the rule of the Church with regard to Ordination. In 
 oifering these suggestions, I am only repeating what your Founder, 
 John Wesley, if he were alive, would earnestly desire. He declared 
 with his dying breath that he did not dissent in anything from the 
 doctrine and discipline of the Church of England ; he died in the 
 communion of the Church ; and he solemnly conjured his followers 
 never to separate from it. In the present address to Wesleyans I 
 am only echoing the words of John Wesley, and of his wise and 
 saintly brother, the Rev. Charles Wesley, who " hoped and prayed 
 that Methodism would merge in the Church, and that a Bishop 
 would be found to confer ordination on its preachers. "^^ He being 
 dead yet speaketh (Heb. xi., 4.) Will you not listen to his voice] 
 
 It is not indeed to be forgotten, that, in the year 1784 — and 
 not till then — when Wesley was more than eighty years of age, 
 and when he had attempted in vain to obtain ordination for some 
 of his preachers from the EngHsh Episcopate, he took upon him- 
 self to ordain two of them for America ; and he gave a commission 
 to Dr. Coke, who was also a Presbyter of the Church of England, to 
 " superintend" the Wesleyan Society in that country. 
 
 John Wesley represented these acts as exceptional acts, and as 
 necessitated by circumstances ; but it cannot be denied that they 
 were infractions of Church discipline ; and that he thus involved 
 himself in embarrassment, and placed himself in an attitude of incon- 
 sistency and self-contradiction, and exposed himself to the charge of 
 doing that very thing which he most deprecated and condemned ; 
 namely, of separating himself from the Church. He had taken a 
 false step ; and he was next led on to " yield to the judgment of 
 others" (as he himself expressed it), and to ordain three preachers 
 to minister the Sacraments in Scotland. It has been affirmed by 
 some writers, that he Avas carried on stiU further, and was prevailed 
 upon to ordain three of liis preachers to minister also in England. 
 
 (21) See Jackson's Memoirs of the Rev. C. Wesley, pp. 266, 306, 426, 473, cited by UrlU 
 p. 110.
 
 20 
 
 But this is doubtful. In fact, after Wesley's death, the Trustees of 
 the principal Wesleyan places of worship in London and Bristol 
 made the foliowiug statement to the Wesleyan Conference in 
 1793 -P — "Although Mr. Wesley, by dint of importunity, towards 
 the close of his life was prevailed upon to ordain a few of liis 
 preachers for America and Scotland, he by no means intended to 
 extend it or make it general." 
 
 This declaration is corroborated by Dr. Whitehead, Wesley's 
 biographer, who says that Wesley was prevailed on to ordain, 
 against his own judgment ; and Avho contravenes the assertion that 
 Wesley intended any of his ordinations for England. ^^ Even, 
 therefore, if it could be conceded that Presbyters are qualified to 
 ordain (a theory repugnant to the judgment of the Universal Church 
 for 1,500 years), and even though Wesley, who was a Presbyter of the 
 Church, may be appealed to, in a certain limited sense, for such an 
 opinion as that ; yet, suffer me to say, it would by no means follow 
 that the great body of your Ministers have been duly ordained (for 
 they do not possess even presbyterian orders), or that they can 
 rightly minister the Sacraments to you, or that you can safely receive 
 the Sacraments at their hands ; or that they and you can justly 
 appeal to John Wesley for any sanction or countenance in doing so. 
 
 But, brethren, what are men, that we should refer to them 1 let 
 me not speak to you of John Wesley, but of Jesus Christ. Let 
 me solemnly conjure, and affectionately entreat you, to remember 
 the words of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Who has purchased 
 to Himself His Universal Church by His own Blood, and Who 
 will judge us all at the Great Day, and Who thus prayed for His 
 disciples : " As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they 
 also may be one in Us ; that they may be One, even as We are 
 One (John xvii. 21, 22)." 
 
 I am, beloved brethren in Christ, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 C. LmCOLK 
 
 (22) See Urlin, p. 162. (23) Ibid, 164.
 
 
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