'Y^ILEoWMimEI^SIIirY'

1933

A VIEW
OF THE CONDUCT

OF THE

WESLEYAN METHODIST PREACHERS

IN THE

ZfiTIiAND ISIiANDS*
SECOND EDITION.

BY A CALM OBSERVER.

'• Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep'i clothing,
- but inwardly they are ravening wolves."— Matthew vii. 15.

XiElTHf
PRINTED FOR THE ifttfTHOH,
1825.

INTRODUCTION.

When religion is prostituted into a cover, to promote the
individual fame of its misguided votaries ; when it is attempt
ed to propagate the divine doctrine.s of our blessed Saviour,
by sowing dissension among the nearest relations of the same
family ; instead of rendering them conducive, as they were in
tended to be, to the growth of humility, love and peace, it is
full time that common sense interpose its authority to check
the dissemination of unfounded pretensions, and to expose the
delusions of Pharisaical hypocrisy. The following observations
are intended to present to the general reader, a critical review
of the conduct of the Wesleyan Methodist Preachers, in the
Zetland Islands, and I shall draw my information respecting
them, almost exclusively from their pulpit orations, printed com
munications, and the polemical discussions to which they have
given rise.

A VIEW, &c.

See page 13th.

SECTION I.

Origin and Establishment op Methodism in Zetland.
" At ,a Meeting of the Methodist Preachers of Scotland,
" held at Edinburgh, in June 1821, the President of the Con-
" fej-ence for that year, submitted to the consideration of the
" Ministers then assembled, a letter which had come into his
" hands, from Mr John Nicholson, (a disbanded soldier) in
'' which the Mission of some preacher in our connection to the
*' IShetland Islands, was strongly urged. It was recommended
" to the Conference soon afterwards, held in Manchester, and
" by them unanimously agreed,, that one of the preachers of the
" Edinburgh circuit, should visit those Islands in the course
" of the year, and report to the ensuing Conference, his ob-
" serrations and opinion, as to the necessity of additional efforts
" for- the religious instruction of the inhabitants, and the pro-
" babilities of successful labour among them. This service was
" undertaken by Dr M'Allum, in June 1821."*
* Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for February 1823.

6
Such was the origin of Methodism in Zetland. The reader
is then presented with Extracts from Dr M'Allum's report ;
and making due aUowances for the f^ets, that he spent but a
few days in the country ,• that he appears to have consulted no
printed authorities on the subject, and that consequently his
opportunities of acquiring either extensive or accurate infor
mation were few and itoiperfect ;^the report does credit to his
piety as a preacher, and to his discrimination as a man. He
laments the paucity of preachers, and expatiates on the in
telligence, sensibility and hospitality of the inhabitants, but
exaggerates the difficulties of travelling among the Islands.
The following statement is alike honourable to the reporter,
and to those of whom he reports, " There was not an indivi-
" dual, high or low. Churchman or Dissenter, Minister or
" Layman, with whom I conversed on the subject, who did not
" recommend the mission of a preacher." He concludes his
report by expressing his persuasion, that the Conference " will
" see it good to send a suitable person to itinerate in these Is-
" lands, and especially in the more destitute regions, which are
" those of Midyell and Northmavine."
At the time when Dr M'AUum visited Zetland, and for ge
nerations before, the different parishes had been divided into
twelve ministries, to which were attached twelve clergymep.
Besides these permanent ministers, there were resident dissent
ing preachers ; and it has been thg cijstom for several, years
past,, for the dissenting establishment in Scotls^iid, with which
the dissenters in Zetland arp in connection, to. send over to the
latter annually new preachers to itinerate through the Is
lands. Over and above all these sources of religious instruc
tion, each individua,! parish was provided -with one or more
parochial schools, in which the Bible was most especially read
and studied ; and in those parishes, in which the clergyman
could not officiate every Sabbath, the schoolmaster or clerk
read a Sermon to the people, from the works of some of the
most celebrated Scottish or English divines, prayed, sung
psalms, and had a, Sabbath-evening school. It may therefore
be affirmed, without the fear of contradiction, that " poor ne-

7
glected Zetland," as it has been styled, even in the alle"-ed
height of its misery and abandonment, was more highly favour
ed in the important points of moral and religious instruction,
thaii certain places are to this very day in England, Wales,
Ireland and Scotland. But abundance of the law does not
weaken the force of it ; and when the facts are stated, which
ought not to be concealed, that Northmavine is an .extensive
and a populous parish, having only one church, instead of two,
which it formerly had ; and that one too, situated at one of
its extreme angles ; and that the inhabitants of Mid and South
Yell, have been in open war with their clergyman for the last
twenty years, and are at present anxiously endeavouring to
effect his deposition, — every intelligent and liberal-minded Zet-
lander will, without hesitation, acquiesce in the rrioderate and
reasonable recommendation of-Dr M'Allum.
From the number of the Wesleyan Magazine already quot
ed, I learn that Messrs Raby and Dunn, had been appointed bv
the Conference to execute the plans prescribed by Dr M'Callum,
and that they arrived in Zetland, in the early part of Autumn
1822. The next communication which I shall notice, as touch
ing this Northern mission, is one from Mr Raby to Dr Clarke,
dated Midyell, 10th Dec. 1£22. He says that, on the morning
after their arrival at Lerwick, " We hastened on shore, and
" as we had letters of introduction to different respectable in-
" dividuals, we found no difficulty in stating our motives, ob-
" ject and design ; and without one single exception, they sig-
" nified their approbation, and wished us success in the great
" work in which we were engaged. The Rev. Mr Reid, the
" Independent Minister, wh-ose Chapel is large and commo-
" dious, kindly lent us the use of it." — On the 11th Sept.
1822, — Mr Raby landed in Unst, the most northerly island in
the Zetlandic group, haying passed the day before through
Midyell, which is the residence of the minister ; Mr Raby
was received at Midyell, in a hospitable and friendly manner,
by a gentleman there, to whom he carried a letter of introduc
tion  Speaking of the clergyman of Unst, Mr Raby observes,
" thqy (the people) have an opportunity of hearing the Gospel

8

" in the kirk once a-week, and their present worthy minister
" feels interested in their eternal -welfare, and strives to pro-
" mote it ."—On the 14th of Sept. following, Mr Raby " had
" an interview with J. R. Esq. who resides in another part
" of the island (Yell) and so deeply does he feel for the peo-
" pie, that he offered to open his house for the pteaching of the
*' Gospel." It was soon after this, arranged, that Mr Raby
should take up his residence in Midyell, which he did for a
considerable length of time, and he preached frequently in Mr
R  's house, and gratefully acknowledged the elegant hospi
tality which he never failed to receive.
Thus far, the people, the resident priests of every pers-ua-
sion, and the itinerant preachers, were reciprocally pleased with
each other ; for the expectations and Schemes of aU parties
were moderate, consistent and rational.

SECTION II.
Review of certain METHODisTicAL Communications relating
to Zetland, published in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine.
The next methodistical communication, connected with Zet
land, on this subject, of which I shall give some analysis, is one
from Mr Samuel Dunn, the colleague of Mr Raby: it is con
tained in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazines for February and
March 1823, and is dated 19th Dec. 1822. This gentleman
is much more sanguine in hisliopes of the wide spread of Metho
dism in Zetland, than either M'AUum or Raty had been.
His labours, according to his reports, were incessant and full of
danger. The country, in his eyes, resembles the South-sea is
lands, and the roads over which it was his fate to pass, are "full
" as bad as those over which the indefatigable Shaw, and his
" brethren travel in Africa." — He appears to have encountered
more hardships " through flood and fell " than even Hercules
complained of when he rid the earth of monsters and wild beasts.

This man coUld scarcely step out of doors, but the wind \vai
so strong that " it blew him several times off his legs, the
rain descended in such torrents as completely to drench him ;
ind at times, the hailstones made his face smart with their
blows j" alid yet during all this turmoil, he " had not for years
" enjoyed better health." Instead of one " suitable person,''
¦(vhifch the good sense of Dr M'AlIum led him to recommend to
the Conference as sufficient for the duty, Mr Dunn is " cer-
" tain that six Methodist preachers might find abundance of
" work in these islands ;" and he modestly solaces himself with
the satisfactory reflection, that he has had the honour o{ form
ing the most northerly Methodist Society in the whole world.
As this person, from his first arrival in Zetland, felt disposed
to find fault -vvitli every thirlg he saw ; to speak in terms of no
great approbation, either of the religious or literary attainments
of its ministers, to challenge competition ; to provoke to con
troversy, and to hold up to his admiring parasites, as models, of
eloquence and accuracy, his own compositions of every kind ;
I shall put the reader in possession of some extracts from his
Journal, illustrated by such observations as occur to me ; so that
those " hundreds of friends, both in England and in Wales^
" who sincerely love him," may be enabled duly to appreciate
the liberality of his heart, and the intelligence of his head.
On the 11th Oct. 1822, Mr Dunn crossed a ferry, which ap
pears to have been Bressa Sound, — in a small boat. He then
goes on to state : " All their boats are first put up in Norway,
" then taken down, the planks sent over here, and then nailed
" together again ; they are remarkably slender, yet their ex-
" treme buoyancy, and the ease with which they cut or mount the
" waves, with their two borus, (for they are sharp at each end,)
" render their construction adapted to those .seas, in which
" there is almost a continual swell." These assertions are new
to Zetlanders. — Mr Dunn has not condescended to mention
the manner in iihich this first putting up is accomplished iri
Norway. The boards present no traces of holes, through which
nailshad been previously driven. Although these boats appeared
to Dr M'AUum and Mr Dunn, to be so remarkably slender, yet
B

10
it happens that the boards which compose them are three times
thicker than those of the Deal-boats,sofamedforbeingsea-worthy.
Like the wherries of Portsmouth and London, both bow and stern
end in a point ; yet the merest tyro in naval architecture and
boat sailing, would not on that account bp guilty of the clumsy
pleonasm of describing the m as two boms ; for they do not admit
of indiscriminate substitution. But the best boats of every
size, and some of them as good as any in the kingdom, are built
in Zstland itself, out of timber M'hich neither grew, nor was
fashioned in Norway. A man never -appears to such disadvan
tage, as when he confidently speaks on a subject of which he is
profoundly ignorant, aud authoritatively asserts that to be true,
which thousands know and can prove to be false. After hav
ing thus displayed his knowledge of the origin and character
of the Zetland boats, Mr D. observes, " after walking two miles
" across the Island of Bressa, which rises about 2000 feet above
" the level of the sea, into a fine symmetrical hill, of a conoid
" form, and then crossing another narrow Sound, I landed in
" the Island of Noss, and was kindly received by Mr Copland's
" family." The direct road from the usual landing place in Bressa, to
the spot at which persons embark for Noss, is very little raised
above the level. The conically shaped hill so poetically de
scribed by Mr D. is siturtted several miles on the right hand
side of this road, and its height has been measured by the as
tronomers at present engaged in conducting the Trigonometrical
Survey of Great Britain. The case, according to them, stands
thus : — supposed height 2000 feet — measured height 720 feet.
Thus early did Mr D. begin to make mountains of mole hills,
and to indite for the edification of the readers of the Wesleyan
Methodist Magazine, those imaginary and marvellous difficul
ties which he surmounted in Ultima Thule.
October I2tli.—" This morning, while travelling along the
" steep banks of Sandstone, frequently broken into deep chasms,
" the rain descended in torrents, but there was no place to
'• which rue could run for shelter : so we walked on till the fa-
" motis Holm of Noss came to view, bounded by precipitous

11

" cliffs ; we then passed to the Noup, a tremendous precipice.
" In the evening, I preached from Isa. Iiii. 6."
Now, any person not topographically familiar with the pla
ces described in the above paragraph, would be irresistibly led
to believe, that in the performance of his religious duties, Mr
D. had been necessarily subjectt d to the inconvanicnces which
he details, and that not until the evening had he been refresh
ed by warmth and food. Mark, how a plain tale shall put him
down. The Holm and Noup of Noss are about a mile and a
half distant from Mr Copland's house; and Mr Copland's sister
then livedin one situated about halfway between them. A per
son therefore undertaking a journey to the Holm or Noup of Noss,
at the time when Mr D. did, need never have been farther than
three quarters of a mile from a house. But aU this travelling,
which perhaps might occupy two hours, was merely an excur
sion of amusement, with a view to gratify curiosity.
Oct. 29lh. — Mr Dunn having preached in the school house of
Tingwall, about five miles from Lerwick, and being " tired, wet
and hungry, but not knowing where to get a bit of any thing
to eat, when a servant from the Rev. John Turnbull, (minister
of the parish) came to invite me to his house, where I met with
a most cordial reception." And farther on, Mr D. says, that
" Mr Turnbull requested me to come that way often, and take
" a bed at the house like one of the family." This is all' as it
should be, Mr TurnbuU's hosjjitality is as proverbial as his bene
volence is unbounded.
Mr Dunn being at this time impressed with the notion that
his presence was especially demanded in the western parishes
of Zetland, prepared for the expedition. His -(vords are : —
Nov. 6lh. — " Hearing that the people on the western side of
Mainland were anxiously waiting my arrival umong them, and
earnestly praying ' come over and help us,' — I decided on
paying them a visit for two or three weeks : — so I left with
my bible, a hymn book, a few tracts, and a dozen ship bis
cuit." Does he mean to say, that he set out from an unnamed
place, leaving his bible in charge of a hymn book, a few tracts,
and a dozen of ship biscuit .-' or does he intend that it should

12

be understood that he set out from some place, conveying with
him the above-mentioned articles ? His meaning may be gues
sed at, but who shall be at the pains to decypher such vulgar
and uiigrammatical idiom ?
Nov. 20th. — By this time Mr D. had reached the Island of
Papa, on the west side of Mainland, from which it is separated
by a Sound between two and three miles broad, (having in his
way thither repeatedly preached in the parish kirks of Walls'
and Sandness,) and which, together with Papa, forms a ministry,
under the care of the Rev. David Thomson. Either in Papa
or in Sandness, on the 24th Nov. he felt very unwell ; but whe
ther his indisposition " proceeded from eating small sillocks,
(fishes) drinking mossy water, a change of climate, or excessive
exertion, he knew not." During the days he spent in Papa,
he was kindly treated in the very hospitable house kept by
Mr Henderson in that Island. So disinclined, however, was this
Methodist to indulge on that occasion in the above-mentioned
lent-Uke aliment, that he demanded and had prepared for hinr
beef-steaks three times a-day, and he had an opportunity of re
galing himself with a thicker potation than mossy water, but
no word of thanks to his bountiful host escapes his lips. E-
very thing considered, it is just as likely that his morning sick
ness, and the short faint of four or five minutes which he ex
perienced at noon on the 24th in the kirk, was the consequence
of a previous surfeit, as of inanition.
Nov. 25ih. — Mr D. having resolved to return to Lerwick
through Walls, observes : " So I borrowed a Utile equuleus a-
bout 40 inches high, and began about ten o'clock to ascend a
steep hill about a mile and a half JiigJi." As the word equuleus
is the only one which he has ventured upon, out of the beaten
track of vernacular Cornwalliim, his classical friend Dr Clarke, to
whom this enchanting communication is addressed, cannot fail
to be struck with the felicitous selection of the qualifying
epithet little immediately preceding it. Every school boy
knows, that the height of a hill is the altitude of its summit a-
bove the level of the sea ; the height of the hill therefore
which the unfortunate little equuleus of 40 inches high, with

13

the Wesleyan Methodist preacher, Samuel Dunn, on his back,
had to climb, was just 7920 feet above the level of the sea ; or
between eighteen and nineteen hundred feet higher than Mois
Cenis, one of the Alps. But the reader will recollect the re
duction made from the symmetrically formed conoid hiE of
Bressa ; and for his information, I may acquaint him, that if
he subtract 7000 feet from the height of Sandness hill, he will
bring the result pretty near to the truth. And this fact should
be made public, for the quiet of all the little equulei in that
part of Zetland which may in future be employed to transport
itinerant methodist preachers over it.
But his translation over the above-mentioned hill, was the least
of ]Mr D.'s perils during this ominous day. After having preach
ed on the eastern side of it, he had to mount over other hills ;
but the moment he commenced his progress, " the rains descend
ed, the floods came, and the winds blew. My umbrella was
blown away out of my hands about half a mile, and broken
in pieces. In crossing two or tliree burns or rivers, I and my
pony were nearly carried away to the sea."
It was truly fortunate that iMr D. was able, during this hur
ricane, to retain his seat, and to keep his eyes steadily fixed on
the scattered fragments of his umbrella, when removed to the
distance of half a mile from him. The word burn, taken in the
sense used here, is Scottish ; ]\Ir Dunn makes it synonymous
with river, but it means nothing more in correct English than
streamlet or brook : and without venturing on that accuracy
of admeasurement which characterizes all Mr Dunn's details,
I am inclined to believe that the reflecting reader wUl be dis
posed to think that the stream of that river could neither be
very deep, very rapid, or very broad, in crossing which, a little
pony 40 inches high, could keep his feet on the bottom, car
rying at the same time on his back, a Methodist preacher, hav
ing his pockets charged with divers books, and a dozen of ship
biscuits to boot. This gentleman appears to be really as jealous
of the exploits of William Shaw among the Caffres, as Don Quix-
otte was of those of Amadis de Gaul, but in a different vein,
and although he cannot rival that missionary in truth, he la
bours to surpass him in fiction.

14

Mr Dunn preached repeatedly in Mr Henry's house, in?
Burrowsto, and once in that of Mr Scott, in the adjoining Is
land of Vaila ; yet, althoHgh he descants with apparent com
placency on the roofless barns, and smoky huts, in which he
domesticated himself with cows, pigs, sheep, &c., he never
once expresses a sentiment of acknowledgement to his kind
hosts, for the civilities with which they had loaded him. He
behaved in a still more ungracious manner to Mr Thomson the
minister. This gentleman made him welcome to the use of his
different kirks, yet, without stating the reasons for it, he never
fails to draw the attention of his readers to the paucity of
sermons which Mr T. preached annually to the parishioners,
while he gives a false colouring to every insignificant circum
stance which has a tendency to blazon abroad his own reputation.
To give one example, he says : — " Dec. 1st. I preached in Bay-
hall this morning, and in the Kirk of Walls in the afternoon
and evening, which was crowded each time, though it is sixty
feet long by twenty wide, and has three galleries." In giving
the dimensions of this kirk, he carefully withholds the height
of the side wall, and thus the reader is left to fancy gallery
piled upon gallery. The fact, however is, that the side wall is
not 20 feet high, and just one low gallery occupies one of the
sides, and both of its ends, as occurs in most of the country
kirks in Scotland. There is something selfish, cold-hearted
and designing in all this. " Vanity of vanities — all is vanity."
Opinions and statements of the nature which I have taken
notice of, and contained in the communications quoted, soon
brought Mr Dunn a reinforcement of two additional preachers,
Messrs Lewis and Thomson. I shall make a few observations
on a long extract of a letter from Sir Lewis to Dr Clarke, dated
Lerwick, January 12th 1824.
This reverend personage, (for by a misapplication of aca
demical courtesy, they dub themselves reverend) like Mr Dunn,
is disposed to be poetical, if obscurity in diction, confusion of
thought, and an inclination to convert imaginary inconveniences
into real distresses, be indications of that attribute of style. He
moreover possesses some occult tendencies to the exact sciences.

15

"which now and then break out in his writings. He " went to
the Island of Unst, the most northernmost of all Shetland : the
distance from Lerwick is thirty-six miles : after twelve hours
hard rowing we reached the island : for twenty-four miles, the
oar was not out of my hand, but through mercy we had fine
weather. Unst is eleven mUes long," &c.
As twenty-four are to thirty-six, so are eight to twelve. Mr
Lewis therefore had a spell at the oar of eight hours on a stretch ;
^n exertion that might have fatigued an experienced rower.
But as the weather was fine, and no mention is made of any
deficiency in the crew, the voluntary nature of the exploit takes
away considerably from its merit. He remained ten days in
Unst, and he observes, " I met seventeen by way of class ; 
good appeared in many of them ; but they are forty-six miles
from this place, and a wide sea rolls between." Now, as the
south part of Unst is 36 miles from Lerwick ; as Unst by hy
pothesis, is 11 miles long; and as these class-fellows are46«iiles
from Lerwick, they are all situated within one mile of the
" most northernmost of all Shetland." — Q. E. D. The theorem
that " a wide sea rolls between Lerwick and Unst," does not ad
mit of a satisfactory demonstration. A person takino- a pas-
-sage in a boat from Lerwick to Unst, has to coast along Main
land and Yell, and frequently among islands ; so that at no time
need, or ought he to be more than a mile and a half from the
shore. Besides, a person may go over land to Unst, by crossing
only two ferries, one two mUes, and the other one mile broad.
The -wide sea, therefore, which rolls between Unst and Lerwick,
has no existence but in the poet's imagination.
Sed aliquando donnitat bonus Homerus.
Mr Lewis having returned to, and refreshed himself at Ler
wick, begins a new sentence in the following manner. " In
three days, I left again for Sandwich parish about fourteen miles
south, and was mercifully preserved from a watery grave."
I notice this passage chiefly to show that Mr Lewis is emulous
of the idiom of Mr Dunn, and that he too mshes to impress on
the preterite tense of the verb to leave, the double function of
expressing both time and place, without reference to any ante
cedent whatever.

16
About ten days after the above expedition, Mr Lewis set off
to visit some of the central parishes ; he says, " I preached
thirty-one times, besides visiting, talking and praying with the
people : I was four or five days without dinner ; lived the whole
of the time, one day excepted, in the cottages, on bear and oat
meal bannocks, fish and bad potatoes. '' He arrived in Lerwick
greatly exhausted ; but although he appears to have engaged
more deeply during his peregrinations in the Pythagorean or
Hindoo diet, than Sir Dunn did in Papa ; yet, as he was never
sick in the morning, nor fainted for four or five minutes ill
church, during divine service ; the cause which I have ventur
ed to assign, for the brief syncope of the former person, de
rives additional confirmation from these circumstances.
I shall conclude this review of Methodistical communications,
with a few observations on one from Mr Dunn to Dr Clarke,
dated Lerwick, Jan. 29th 1824, and iftimediately following the
above-mentioned one, from Sir Lewis. Both occur in the Wes
leyan Methodist Magazine, for April 1824. Speaking of
Northmavine, Sir Dunn observes, " the minister is gone to
" Scotland on a visit, for three ot four months, during which
" time his scattered flock, above two thousand two hundred iil
" number, will be without a shepherd." This allegation is aS
ungenerous as it is false. When the necessary business of a cler
gyman demands his temporary absence from his charge, he lays
his case before the Presbytery, and solicits their permission ;
in granting him leave, the Presbytery make it a sine qua non,
that the religious instruction of the people shall suffer no in
terruption during the absence of their pastor, and by changing
about among themselves, the ministers mutually aid and assist
each other ; over and above this, the Rev. Sir Watson, the
minister of Northmavine, paid a licensed clergyman to preach
in his kirk every Sabbath, when a brother minister did not offi
ciate for him. Thus the cloven foot may always be seen peep
ing out, notwithstanding the rich purple mantle under which
Mr Dunn vainly attempts to conceal its deformity.
Further on, Mr Dunn says, " Indeed, I am quite satisfied that
" our fruit will not remain, unless we attempt this (the form--

17

" ing of classes) wherever we preach , and I shall think it my
" duty in future to give iip, at least for a time, those places
" where \ve have often preached and see no probability of
" forming societies." I shall endeavour to translsite the above
enigmatical passage into plain English. When we merely preach
to the Zetlanders, we make but little impression on their
minds, because we discover that the same doctrines have been
preached to them over and over again. Indeed, although it is
our interest to allege the contrary, yet there are as many among
the ministers who entertain Arminian as Calvinistic principles!
Besides, they are all men of good education, which we seldom
are, and Some of them are celebrated for their knowledge of
the scriptures in their original tongues. No wonder, then, that
our preaching is neither with demonstration nor with power;
But in private meetings, we can opei'ate on the passions and
prejudices of many; we flatter some, bribe a few, and threaten
all ; and thus we organize a useful system of partisanship.
It may appear to some, that I have enlarged too much in ex-i
posing the contemptible pueirilities with which the immediate
ly preceding communications are filled. But I deemed it es
sential in a discussion of this kind, to ferret ignorance out of
its most secret lurking places, and to hold-up" to view in their
naked deformity, the jesuistical attempts of such men to impose
On the public. It i'equires, however, bnt little penetration to
discover, that the real design of blazoning forth an account of
self-imposed privations, and of ideal dangers, is to enhance the
merit of their services in the eyes of their employers, and' to
wheedle the good people of England out of their money, to
buUd unnecessary chapelsj and to favour their darling wo*k-
of proselytism. G

18

SECTION IIL
Of Dissensions among the Methodists, and Controver
sies to which they gave rise.
Such conduct as that which I have already stated, excited
general disgust ; but arbitrary proceedings on the part of Mr
Dunn, towards some of his own sect ; ludicrous disputes with
persons who heard him preach abo^ut his own affected sinless'.-
ness ; ungenerous insinuations against the doctrine taught by
the established clergymen, and the circulation by him and lis
friends, of pamphlets hostile to the Presbyterian Church ; — gave
rise to correspondences and controversies which have disturbed
the peace of society, and done any thing but advance the cause
of religion.
Soon after the arrival of Messrs Dunn and Raby, Gilbert
Nisbet, a disbanded soldier, like John Nicholson, and long a
member of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, waited on Mr
Dunn, and expressed his anxiety to renew his connection with
it. Mr Dunn appears always to have treated this man with
harshness, ingratitude, and injustice, and at last excommuni
cated him, without assigning a reason for doing so. Nisbet
says, " that I was cut off frqm the Society without even being
charged with any fault, the members all well know ; and, that
the only excuse to be given for such being done, is, that it was
Mr Dunn's -wiU or pleasure, is a real truth."* Sir Raby too,
appears to have been concerned in this expulsion of Nisbet, ia
a manner not very creditable to his character. Nisbet further
asserts : " It happens to be well known to many of the inha
bitants of Lerwick, that from the time Mr Dunn came to Shet
land, I was always with him in his travelling through it. He
had nothing to do when he travelled by land, but mention the
* A Plain Statement of the causes of difference between Mr Samuel Dunn,
one of the Methodist Preachers in Shetland, and Gilbert Nisbet, a member of
the Wesleyan .Methodist Society. By Gilbert Nisbet. Page 3.

19

minute he was to depart, and I waited on him. When he went
by sea, I had a boat always in readiness to receive him ; and
when he preached in town, whatever services were necessary,
I generally performed them. What could I do more .'' Yet I
did more. For in the course of his travelling through and be
tween Lerwick, and Bresgay, and Gulbervidck, I paid all the
expenses of boat-hire or freights ; yea, I even paid for oars and
Ihofts that had been broke or stolen from the boats employed ;
and, in short, for whatever loss in materials, or. other injury,
had been sustained on such occasions. And farther, I have
carried his luggage myself, so as to make his travelling as ex
peditious and convenient as I could ; and during the whole
time that I accompanied him through Shetland, he never pa^d
one farthing of expenses on my account ; yet, never to this day
did Mr Dunn so much as say to me, what have you paid ?" *
Nisbet too, has a very good remark on the character of Sir
Dunn's journal. " Sir Dunn preaches iji a place where the
people regularly attend the ordinances, and then states, that a
sermon has not been preached there before ; but had he confin?
ed himself to facts, the good people in England would not have
been so liberal, in givipg money to build chapels to please Sir
Dunn. Mr Dunn dines or sups on potatoes and -water, and
then states it in his journal, as if he could get nothing else.
How easily are the honest Englishmen imposed on ! and what
are we to think of foreign journals, if there is in them the same
regard to truth, as in these journals of Mr Dunn ?"t As Nisbet
enjoys the reputation of being a strictly honest man, and one
of unimpeachable veracity ; and as he has been circumstantial
in giving the names of persons and places connected with his
narrative, which remains as yet unanswered; every rational maif
must believe in the truth of his statements, until they are fairly
contradicted, or satisfactorily explained.
Sir Dunn had been preaching, as is too often the custom
-svith Methodists, in the ariecdotical or chit-chat style, and ex,-
" Plain Statement, page IB.
•f- Plain Statement. Note on page 21.
C2

20

patiating, as he frequently does, on his own perfections, wl)pn
he took occasion to assert that he had not drank one glass full
ef ardent spirits in the course of nearly ten years. A person
of the name of Innes Henry, who happened to be in the chapel
at the time, laughed at this saHy, and boldly declared that he
knew it to be false. This led to the following correspondence
between Dunn and Henry.
Sir Dunn to Innes Henry.
" Innes Henry, " Having been informed by William Halcrow, that you
publicly asserted this afternoon, that I had taken three glasses
of spirits in one house since my arrival in Shetland, which I
flatly deny ; I shall insist on your informing me from whom
you received such felse information, or you rnust expect that
reward which all defamers of other men's characters So justly
deserve. Your!s, &c. (Signed) Samuel Dunn.
Lerwick, March 30<A 1824.
Innes Henry to Sir Dunn.
" Lerwick, 2d April 1824.
" Sir, " For aught that I know, it may be no difficult matter
for you either flatly to deny, or bluntly to assert what may suit
your purpose. " ^you have not « drank three glasses of sp'irits in one
house since your arrival in Shetland,' do you not think it pos
sible you may have drank more than ' one glass in ten years'?"
" I may have been led into a mis-statement by false
information, although I am not aware that I have, but I do not
think you should quarrel with a little latitude of speech. You
have walked over a hill two thousand feet high, (if I recollect
right) in crossing from Lerwick to Noss, and other wonderful
discoveries ; slept with three sheep in a barn, (a number of
people admire your taste) and undergone other hardships and
persecutions, that we poor Shetlanders could have had no con-

21

ceptibn of, till enlightened by the publication of your most ele
gant journal. 'First cast the beam out of thine own eye,
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mot out of thy
brother's eye.'
"If all that I am alleged to have said, whether false
or true, can hurt your character, I pity your case.
I am. Sir, Your obedient Servant,
(Signed) Innes Henry.
To Sir Samuel Dunn, Lerwick.''

Advertisement put up in different places in Lerwick by
Innes Henry.
A False Report Contradicted !
" The circumstances which led to a correspondence between
Sir Samuel Dunn and Innes Henry, are perhaps generally
knosvn, namely, — That his «everence sometime ago, having as
serted in the course of a Sabbath-evening's sermon, that he ' had
not drank one glass of liquor in nearly ten years, were it all put
together ;' Hemy affirmed that the assertion was false, and he
could prove it so.
" But a report has been very actively circulated, particiilarly
in the country parishes, that Innes Henry has been prosecuted
for so saying, and by legal measures, obliged to confess himself
a liar. "Such a report, however, is entirely without foundation, and
altogether false. For Innes Henry, although threatened, has not
been prosecuted ; and he is ready at any time to prove what he
said to be perfect truth : he only regrets that an opportunity
of so doing is not likely to be given him.
Lerwick, June 23d 1824."
It is a well known fact, that Sir Dunn drinks the generous
•wines whenever they come in his way, even in the forenoon,
and it must surely be the very height of Methodistical casuis
try, to assert that they contain no alkohol. Chemists wiU tell

22

him, that the elements of which wine and alkohol are compos
ed are the same, though combined in different proportions ; and
that independently of this primary combination, a certain quan
tity of alkohol in the form of brandy or whisky -is mixed up
with every bottle of the juice of the grape, to enable it to keep
and to bear transportation from one place to another. ' So that
through the medium of wine, he may have drank many gallons
of spirituous liquors, in the course of ten years. What would
be thought of a toper, who went to bed regularly muddy with
punch, who should say that he never drank a glass of spirits
in ten years, because with a view to keep up a juggling kind
of mental reservation, he always mixed the rum before drink-.
ing it with sugar, acid, and boiling water ?
The origin of Mr Dunn's controversy with the Rev. Mr
Turnbull, I shall state in Mr TurnbuU's own words. " As I
" frequently attend a Sabbath school after sermon, on one of
" these occasions a book, entitled ' the Ten Horns of Calvinism,'
" was put into my hands by one of my parishioners, with this
" remark. You will see from this what sort of men these preach-
" ers are, whom you seem to have favoixred. Being but little
" acquainted -with the genius of Methodism, I was in no small
" degree astonished at that impudence, which could delibe-
" rately circulate tracts, so eminently calculated to mislead the
" uDderstandings; and distress the minds of the simple and
" Well meaning people. I was also next day informed, by one
" of my Sabbath school teachers, that Sir Thomson, a Me-
" thodist preacher, when presenting this tract, said, ' this will be
" the cause of much mischief ;' upon which it was observed,
" ' you had better not give it then.' * O yes,' was the reply,
" ' never mind.' After this, I -wrote a short address intended
" phiefly for the young, urging them to attend to the import-
" ance of the essential doctrines revealed in the Gospel ; set-
" ting before them, that the evidences of ' election were from
" repentance, faith, holiness of heart and life ;* ' that they
" must be convinced, that they are restored to the favour of
" God, not on account of their doings, but on account of the
" fiacrjfice of his Son,' &c. Next Lord's day, I read this at one

23

" of my Sabbath schools, and was earnestly Requested to print
" a few copies for their use, which wish was complied with,
" although the tract was neither published nor sold, nor was
" there one expression therein contained, intended to apply to
" any individual, but to the authors of siich tracts, and of
" works, in which the authors, under the mask of hostility to
" Calvinism, show their enmity to those principles which we
" account essential to vital holiness. — And such are many whom
" the Methodist now claims as companions, who maintain what
" I have stated." *
The pamphlet entitled, " the Ten Horns of Calvinism," is,
as Sir Turnbull characterizes it, a miserable and blasphemous pro
duction. The author speaks of the Deity, as he would of a ca
pricious la-wyer. It was published more than fifty years ago,
when Wesley was in the heat of his controversy, -with men who
avowed high Calviilistic tenets. These days have happily pass
ed by, and that man is no friend either to peace or religion,
who endeavours to revive their memory. Now, Mr Turnbull
discovers accidentally, that a Wesleyan Slethodist preacher, is
bestirring himself in circulating pernicious tracts among his
people, in the full conviction that they will do mischief ; and hfr
endeavours to counteract the effect, by an address to his pa
rishioners, illustrative of the doctrines which he was in the con
stant practice of teaching them ; this address although printed,
was neither published nor sold. Sir Dunn therefore had nothing
to do with it ; he was not the author of the Ten Horns, neither
was he the person engaged at the time of detection, in circu
lating it. By coming forward with his violent attack on that
address, he demonstrated clearly, that he was the chief mover
in a conspiracy to excite dissension, and to provoke to contro
versy. Sir Dunn was a stranger in Zetland ; the Slethodists
profess to support, not to run counter to the established reii-
gioos -worship of any place. Sir TunibuU had treated him with
confidential affection and kindness, bnt like Judas, Mr Dunn
lays snares to betray his benefactor, and then glories in his fan-
• Beply to Observations of Mt Samuel Dunn, Wesleyan Methodist, p. iih.

24

cied success. But what will tlie reflecting reader tlihik of th^
man, embroiled as he was at the time with so many persons iu
Zetland, unjustly excommunicating some, threatening others
with legal prosecutions, accused himself of falsehood and
prevarication, which he has hitherto b een unable to refute ; to'
commence his uncalled-for attack on Sir Turnbull, in the follow
ing eulogium on himself and copartnery preachers. " Ye remem-
" her our labour and travail ; ye are witnesses, and God also, how
" holily, and justly and unblamea bly, we have behaved ourselves
" among you." * The appeal is impious, and the , words in
which it is expressed, contain downright blasphem y. The om
niscient and omnipotent Creator and Governor of the universe^
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ; to wh om every
one must render an account of every idle word which he ut
ters, and who charges even his angels with folly, is challenged
to bear witness to the unblameable holiness of a vain, ignorant,
fallen human creature ! ! 1 The wildest fanaticism offers no
apology for such conduct, — .insanity alone can explain it. The
sagacity of a Bacon, and the metaj)hysical acuteness of a Locke,
even if united in the same individual, would utterly fail, ini
any attempt to reason with such a man.
The controversy between Mr Turnbull and Dunn, as it re
gards their individual opinions on the mysterious si^bjects of
predestination and prescience,-^of election and reprobation, —
of free agency and conditional salvation, — is in its very nature
interminable. The discussion of these points has engaged the-
attention of the ablest theologians for more than a thousand
years; and the result has been, and ever must be fruitless^
for its premises are founded in error. They must assume as-
their basis, that finite man can scan, the counsels of infinite
wisdom, which in its very essence is an impossibility ; and-^
every edifice attempted to be erected on such sandy foundations'
is at the mercy of every blast of ecclesiastical dogmatism, or
wave of whimsical scepticism that may ¦ assail it.
The duty of the minister is plain, — let him read the scrip-
• Dunn's Reply to Mr TurnbuU's Address, page Ist.

tures diligently, and endeavour to keep the commandments, —
let him often supplicate by pr-ayer that the grace of God be
shed abroad in his heart,— let his faith rest on the blood of the
atoning Slediator, and let him imitate the example of the meek
and lowly Jesus, as he is offered to us in the Gospels in the
New Testament, and he will suffer no loss if the names of Cal
vin and Wesley had never greeted his ear, or if his eyes had
never beheld a page which either of them had wTitten.
There is one point of Slethodistical doctrine which I have
always held to be unscriptural, — that the minds may become con
scious to itself of the remission of sins. This popular, consola
tory, yet irrational opinion, their pulpit orations, class-meeting
colloquies, love feasts,^ sweet experiences, and daily publishing
biographies, amply confirm. The Slethodists admit original
sin and human depravity, in their fullest extent ; and
they grant, that every thing good in man is owing to the grace
of God. Now, as no mortal ever yet dared to pretend to a
knowledge of the intentions of the most High, so he can never
acquire an evidence of the divine interposition in his favour, but
by some miraculous revelation. He may cherish a well-ground
ed hope, that his sins will be pardoned through the means a-
bove stated ; and this hope will gain strength in his mind in pro
portion as he acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with
his God : but it is the height of fanatical ignorance and pre
sumption to assert, that he can acquire this knowledge by his
own powers of perception.
" Shall mortal man be more just than God ? Shall a man
be more pure than his Slaker ?"
The Slethodists may descant on " awakenings" from sin by
sensible impulses, and on seeing the gates of Paradise open to
receive them, as disclosed by weeping aloud during divine ser
vice, in hysterical paroxysms, and in their midnight vigils ; but
all such hallucinations merely indicate weak minds and disorder
ed intellects. Sir Dunn has himself given the finishing stroke
to this frenzied deception. He says, in a letter to Dr Clarke,
dated Lerwick, March 30th 1824.—" I firmly believe that
for every pound we have expended in Shetland, we shall have a,
D

26
soul! ! .'" What a pity that this man should have the disposal
only 6f a few hundred pounds, when he can purchase souls for
heaven, at the cheap rate of twenty shillings a-piece, and ex
press a certain belief in a profit on the commodity, as if he
were speculating on a cask of salted pilchards.
" When ignorance is bliss,
•Tis folly to be wise."

SECTION IV.
Concluding Observations.
The facts contained in the preceding Sections, respecting
the conduct of the Wesleyan Methodist Preachers, are noto
rious, and their authenticity is unquestionable. They have had
the effect of exciting the ill will of a great part of the more
respectable inhabitants against them ; of rousing the open hos
tility of the clergy ; and of fomenting dissensions between
husband and vrife, between parent and child.
The people of Zetland, of all descriptions and classes, have
long been kno-wn, and justly celebrated for their politeness and
hospitality to strangers. A native author, and one who, from
his experience of it in all its bearings, may be considered a
competent judge, says, " In their intercoiirse with strangers,
the Zetland gentry are polite and modest ; and if the former
possess any information beyond what they do themselves, they
readily admit and generally over-rate it. But while they are
thus disposed to pay respect to real abilities, few people sooner
discover the ground on which a claim to superiority over them
is founded, or can more accurately appreciate the value of such
pretensions. Most strangers who have visited Zetland, have
been highly pleased -with its society, have felt regret at leaving
it, and have borne public testimony to the kindness and civility
of its inhabitants."
" The ancient, or as some call it, the savage virtue of hos-

27

pitality, is carried to a much greater length in the country
than in the town ; for a traveller may look upon every house
as his own, and, with a very few exceptions, he mil not be disap
pointed if he do so. The clergy form a respectable part of the
country gentry, and are proverbially hospitable; Like their
brethren to the southward, they are men of education, and
fond of literature. As the church in Scotland cannot be under
stood to hold out the prospect of much worldly wealth to its
votaries, they are in general, moderate in their desires, and
temperate in their enjoyments. Having no claims on their
situations, beyond their own natural lives, they look upon all
mankind as children of the same family, journeying on to the
same common home ; and among no set of men -will an intelli
gent stranger discover more genuine hospitality, and urbanity
of manners, than among the ministers of the preshyterian
faith," And the same author, in the chapter on the manners
and character of the Zetland peasantry, observes, " They are
both social and hospitable, and never fail to invite the stran
ger to share with them the passing morsel. Indeed, it is easy
to perceive, that the practice of this patriarchal virtue, is highly
congenial to their minds : for, if they cannot entertain their
friends, they are earnest and sincere in their apologies for their
inability to do so.* Dr Edmondstone had been preceded in
the same opinions by other -writers ; and he has been more re
cently followed by the French Philosopher Biot, and the En
glish Captains, Parry and Lyon.
In all the ministries, there are gentlemen who reside in the
different parishes which compose them, and so familiarly
known are they to each other, that a single recommendation to
any respectable person, either in the town or country, can ensure
a stranger a kind reception from all the rest, who live in a
style of as elegant affluence, as the same class of society
either in Scotland or in England. Besides the gentry, there
are small merchants, and some substantial tenants in every pa
rish, in whose houses good temporary accommodation may be
• Di Edmondstonc's History of the Zetland Islands. Vol. II.
D 2

28

had. But if men, instead of availing themselves of such ac
commodation, and of expressing themselves with gratitude, for
kindness spontaneously offered thera, shall not only treat such
disinterested services with indifference, but endeavour by their
false representations of every circumstance, to traduce and vil-
lify the country, and prefer smoky huts to carpeted parlours ;
roofless barns to warm bed-chambers ; loose straw to good
feather-beds ; and to spunge on the unfortunate peasantry while
they have a sillock, a potatoe, or a bannock left them ; they
ought to have the decency or discretion to hold their tongues ;
for the same sentence which offers an insinuation unfavourable
to the polite hospitality of the Zetland gentry, and attempts to
dilate on the poverty of its fishermen, records their own uri-
worthiness, and proclaims their ingratitude.
I have been informed, that Sir Dunn, when rated by 'some
individuals, for having sent up such reports respecting Zet
land to Dr Clarke, attempted to justify himself by alleging,
that he never intended them to be published. This explana
tion is, in my opinion, worse than the first transgression. Did
Sir Dunn intend to traduce the inhabitants of Zetland, and at
the same time, to conceal from them the name of tlieir tradii-
cer ? And now haying discovered his mistake, has lie made
the Christian-like reparation — ^has he acknowledged his error,
and expressed his regret for it ? If so, he has done it so recently
and in a manner so little known, as not to entitle him to be
spared this castigation or exposure. There are few individuals
possessed of the faculty of writing well and correctly off-hand.
A man writing carelessly and in a h'arry to his friend, may
neither have the leisure nor the inclination to copy or correct
his epistle. But he who transcribes from a journal, copies that
-which had been already written, and the matter as well as the
manner of the said composition, must then be considered as
the best which he can produce.
But Sir Dunn is no stranger to such sophistications. From
the pulpit he. rails at those preachers who compose before
preaching, and \\ho either read or repeat their compositions to
their hearers,-as drivellers in religion, and novices in eloquence ;

29

and in his jdurnal he congratulates himself, that he " felt some
liberty though he had two ministers by his side," in preaching
to about 100 hearers ; yet when cross-examined as to his parti
cular tenets, he referred two clergymen with whom he con
versed on the subject, to his own written sermons, which he of
fered for their perusal, as the best evidences of misrepresenta
tion against him. For what purpose were these sermons writ
ten ?
But Methodism -will never thrive in Zetland, for the bulk of
the inhabitants are too intelligent and too poor to admit of their
favouring and supporting different religious establishments ;
and the Slethodist preachers at present in it, have rendered it
unpopular. There are few districts in Great Britain, in which the peo
ple are so well informed as in Zetland. Their frequent inter
course -with strangers through shipping, their ardent curiosity,
and natural love of instruction, and the facilities by means of
parochial and other' schools, which they enjoy, of acquiring in
formation, concur to render them acute and intelligent.
Although fond of novelty, they very soon set about ascer
taining the nature, utility and advantage, of any new project
offered to their consideration, and the cui bono is ever upper
most in their minds. I could mention different individuals,
who left the Established Church to unite with the dissenters ;
who left the dissenters, to connect themselves with the Sletho
dists, and who have abandoned the Slethodists in their turn,
to go back to the church of their fathers. Sir Dunn, in de
ploring the want of funds in Zetland, says in one of his letters
to Dr Clarke, "but many of them (the people,) are willing to
give us themselves, and any thing of which they are possess
ed, — potatoes, fish, even sheep." If this assertion be true, it
win be found to prove too much. If a farmer surrender to an
itinerant Methodist preacher, his stock in food and cattle, and
withal the produce of his personal labour, I apprehend he
would have very little left on which to subsist himself and
family ; yet even if he- were disposed to make this unnatural
sacrifice to prejudiced opinion, he has it not in his power ; for a

30

certain portion of his substance must be appropriated to make
up his own minister's stipend, and the salary to the parochial
school-master. If report be true,, the annual contributions of
the members of the Wesleyan Slethodist Establishment to its
support, is on an average more than double the amount of the
tiends to the regular clergyman. No wonder then, that we
hear them boast so clamorously of their numbers, and of their
pious and disinterested anxiety to convert sinners from the
evil of their ways ; for their secular benefits are in the direct
ratio of their numerical force. But to persuade or to frighten
a well-meaning people, into such a compound and expensive
system of religion, is to put them into a situation not much
better than the Catholics of Ireland.
I have already said enough respecting the immediate succes
sors of Dr M'Allum ; but they have committed an additional
and recent imprudence, in authorising the preaching of the gos
pel by members in their connection, whose previous characters
and line of life were any thing but pious or respectable. A
person who holds, and had held for some time, the situation of
clerk to the Justice of the peace, uneducated and ignorant of
law ; who, noted for the capricious exorbitancy in the amount
of the fees of his office, and for the issuing of illegal arrestments
in absence, against the sailors who went to Greenland, and
which system he had been compelled to relinquish, — suddenly-
renounced his legal pursuits ; and fancying himself filled witthi
the spirit of holiness and apostolical inspiration, devoted himself
to the tutelage of Sir Dunn ; and under his auspices is now,
like James of old, engaged in preaching to the different parishes.
This person must surely expect to speak with " other tongues"
than his own, for he has an unlucky habit of stuttering when
ever he attempts to utter a word. Although the new preach
ers, who are annually reinforcing Mr Dunn from the Soutfi-
ward, may not be so holy and unblameable in their lives and
conversations as he is, yet a useful obscurity envelopes their
former character, and spares them at least those unfavourabla
contrasts -which attach to Zetlandic Neophytes.

31

To conclude, — had the plan proposed by Dr Sl'Allum to the
conference, — ^namely, that of sending over to Zetland " a suit
able person" to itinerate in the islands, been strictly followed,
it might have been productive of good effect. A learned and
pious man, and one of a gentlemanly turn of mind, would have
been received every where with approbation and delight. * He
would have supplied many occasional vacancies, the clergy
would have offered him the use of their kirks, and entertained
him in their houses as one of their own family : and thus the
unnecessary expence of building houses and chapels would have
been avoided. But it is now too late to give effect even to this
moderate scheme. A general prejudice prevails in the country
against the whole sect of Methodists ; and the reflecting por
tion of the people looks upon Methodism as a combin-ation of
arrogance, fanaticism, and unscriptural self-righteousness.
Their chapels, as they are at present in some parts of Scotland,
will soon be exposed to sale, and Messrs Dunn, Lewis & Co. be
released from their protracted and self-created martyrdom.
* In mentioning Dr M 'Allum's scheme, it must appear somewhat singular
to the reader to learn, that his successors should have abandoned Northmavine
and Yell as hopeless,— being in reality the only districts in Zetland, in which
additional means of promoting religious instruction were wanting,— and attach
themselves in an especial manner to Lerwick and Sandness, which are crowd-
ed with preachers and studded with Churches and Chapels. This fact speaks
volumes.

APPENDIX

to

THE FIRST EDITION.

Almost contemporary with the publication of the preceding
ol)servations, appeared other productions relating to the pro
gress and character of Slethodism in Zetland. The one which
I shall notice first is entitled. Misrepresentation Exposed, and
Methodism Defended, in Answer to the Reverend John TurnbuU's
Reply to Observations on his. Address. By Samuel Dunn. Like
its predecessor, by the same author, this pamphlet consists
chiefly in a compilation of plagiarisms from the writings of
Wesley, Whitby, Fletcher, and other authors of the Arminian
school. In this work. Sir Dunn treats Sir Turnbull with great
unfairness and injustice, misstating facts ; misrepresenting his
motives ; travestising his scriptural quotations, and by the
plausible means of inverted commas, putting words in Sir
TurnbuU's mouth which he never made use of. I can conde
scend to make two observations only, on this meagre effort of
expiring Methodism.
Sir Turnbull, in his reply above alluded to, page 14, had
said, "but what cause is safe,- if sneers, caricatures, and bold and
unfounded assertions, supported by scraps of doggerel rhyme,
and detached fragments of scripture are resorted to, instead of
sound argument, founded on and borne out by the plain word
of God?" This was, no doubt,- both sharp and severe, but it was
true. In the short pamphlet to which Mr Turnbull was re
plying, there were no fewer than ffteen separate quotations
from English poetry, and some of them poor enough in all con-
E

34

science. A terse and elegant couplet, appropriately introducr
ed, often rounds a period, and gives stability and interest to
the sentiment, especially in oratory and descriptive details.
But recourse should be had very seldom to any such assistance ;
it is utterly inconsistent with, and beneath the dignity of theo:?
logical discussions ; and the preacher of the gospel, who inter
lards his illustrations pf passages of scripture, with Hudibrastic
stanzas, degrades the subject, and exposes at the same time, his
own bad taste and emptiness of mind. But let us see how he
answers Sir Turnbull on this point. Sir Dunn, page 27, says,
" Mr TurnbuU's scraps of Latin and Greek, will perhaps serve
to amaze the unlearned, and make the learned smile." This
contemptible sneer is bolstered up by four lines of rnost nauseous
poetry, pretending to insinuate tha,t Sir Turnbull is apquainted
with no language at all, Mx Turnbull gave his interpretation
of a single Greek word, wljich was essential to render the dis
cussion perspicuous, and he made use of one Latin quotation
only, consisting of six words. When Sir Dunn, therefore, cari
catured these soUtary examples by designating them " scraps
qf Latin and Greek," he either asserted deliberately, that
which he knew to be false, or he is ignorant of the distinction
between singular and plural. I question much whether Sir
Dunn could translate the Latin quotation short though it be ;
for the aUusion by Sir Turnbull is expressed ambiguously, and
had Mr D\jnn reflected on the equivocal meaning of the word
fabula which occurs in it, he might ha.ve retorted Mr TurnbuU's
quotation with interest. But the character and extent of that
man's scholarship in Latinity may be guessed at, who in a lite
rary controversy -yvith a man of acknowledged education, quotes
Horace in English.; instead of his own elegant and classical
original. I have elsewhere endeavoured to hold up to merited execra
tion, the senseless and daring impiety of which Sir Dunn has
been guilty, in laying clajm to equal holiness of mind, with the
inspired Apostle of the Gentiles, the cliospn vessel of Jesus
Christ. In this second pamplilet he aims at that identity, for

35

he has taken his motto from Acts xxv. 7- They laid rnaiiy and
grievous complaints against Paul, which they coidd not prove.
O ! the height and the depth, the breadth and the length of hu
man conceit, when undirected by reason, and unrepressed by a
sense of christian humility. AVere his ungenerous and untrue
insinuations against the clerical characters of the Revd. Messrs
TurnbuU, SlarshaU, * Thomson and Watson, not " grievous
complaints," and can they not b? " proved ?" Had not Gil
bert Nesbitt^referred "many and grievous complaints" against
this soi-disanl Paul, and has he attempted to disprove one of
them ? Was it not a " grievous complaint " against the un.
blameable character of this self-dub'd apostle, to engage in a Iji-
dicrous and fruitless squabble with Innes Henry, and offer per
sonal violence to him within the facred waUs of the Wesleyan
Methodist Chapel ? Are aU hjs slanderous traductions of the
population of Zetland mere forgeries, or do they not stare him
in the face as incontrovertible truths ? What man professing
to preach the Gospel of our blessed Saviour, would aUow sleep
to visit his eye-lids, until he had disproven these " grievous
* Although from the circumstance of Mr Marsha's ministry, consisting of
different islan^^s detached from each other, he never bad it in his power to visit
every place in it so often as he could have wished, yet he never omitted an op
portunity within his reach, of promoting the religious instruction of his parish
ioners. He composed and publisheil for their benefit, an able and interesting
tract on Self Examination, and the state of mind becoming those who partake
of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; and I may add, that the ministers of
Zetland dispense this solemn ordinance on the Lor4's day, and not on a Thurs
day evening between tea and supper, a-s indecently and irreverently piactised
by Mr Dunn. At the time when Mi Dunn was alleging that Mr Marshall's
parishioners were like " iliccp wit/tout a iJiejiherd^" * that gentleman was la
bouring under a distressing depression of spirits, occasioned by a domestic ca
lamity ; and he was the object of the deep sympathy and commiseration of e-
very one, but a flinty hearted, self-conceited Methodist. — But his flock was
never deserted ; and now that 1 is health has improved, he is prosecuting bis
professional duties with renewed earnestness. This clergyman possesses more
genuine theology in bis little finger, aa one may say, than the body corporate
of Methotiist preachers in all Zetland.
" Sec Wesleyan IHa^aniuc,

36

complaints " agalnk him, or witTi deep contrition, had acknow
ledged and repented of them ? The attempt to brave the storm
in the Kean Jashion, by arrogant assertion ar(d fulsome self-
adulation, wiU only sink him deeper in the mire ' of deceit, in
•»vhich he ought to perceive that he is already sufficiently in-
- gnlphed. Besides the publidation just noticed, two anti-'methodistical
works ha-ve appeared by native Zetlanders. One is entitled,
" A Letter to Mr Sarrittel Dunn, Methodist. Preacher in Ler
wick, on certain Doctrines promulgated by him in the course of
his Ministrations in Zetland, by Sinclair Thomson.'' This man
is a common farmer, and fisHei", shrewd and acute. His object
- is to refute certain unscriptural opinions held by Methodists;
' and he has idone so. He exposes also some farcical formalities
practised by the sect wherever dispersed. The other produc
tion is entitled, '' Notes on the liev. Samuel Dunn's .Observa
tions on the Rev. John Tutnbull's Address to the Teachers and
)^cholars of the Sabbath Schools, in tlie Parishes of Tingwall and
.^^Vhiteness," The author has not given his name, but he says
^hat he is in a humble sphere of life. His work does him great
^edit, and it displays art extent of reading not usually met
w'ith among persons of his rank. He has pointed out several of
Mr Dunn's plagiarisms, and exposed his inconsistencies. Each
in his way, becomes a useful auxiliary to the worthy minister
of TingwaU, and upholds the truth of the beautiful observation
of Ovid : ¦' Nescio, qua natale solum dulcedino ciincfos ducit."

W. Keid & Son, Printers, Leith.

Gaylorf Br?.s.. lae. .^^^^ UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
makers lllllllllllllll lllllllll III llllllllllllllllllllll
Syraci]3e, N. Y, II
PAT. JAH 21, 1908 II

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