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THE METHODISTS 
 
 AND 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 BY 
 
 F. C. IRELAND. 
 
 "Witness" Puintinu Hoi hi;, St. .Iamks Strkkt. 
 
 1887. 
 
J^REFACE. 
 
 There tloubtless is a true cliurcli within every 
 (;lmrch, and true believers in the essentia^ merits of 
 (lod's redeeming love to be found scattered through 
 all the various religious denominations of the present 
 day ; and, Avliile the subject treated in the following 
 pages is in reference to the Methodists and the Church 
 of England, there is no intention to disparage the one 
 or unduly laud the other because of their various 
 faults or excellencies, nor to overlook the good that 
 has been accomplished by them both. 
 
 The main question is : Which system is the nearest 
 to the Scriptural form of church government ? Is it 
 one of unity or division 1 Which is of Divine ap- 
 pointment or comes nearest to it ? This is a question 
 which should interest everybody and its study recom- 
 mends itself to all true Christian people. The writer 
 does not aim at originality of thought or expression in 
 the following pages, but makes free use of all the 
 material within his reach, with such illustrations, 
 inferences and remarks as have suggested themselves to 
 liis mind, at the same time keeping to facts which may 
 have been overlooked by many, or not fully considered 
 in the relationship in which they are now introduced. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH 
 OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Most persons wlio have seen the interior of West- 
 minster Abbey must have appreciated the various 
 beautiful paintings and ornaments of monumental 
 grandeur thai enrich the sacred edifice. The windows 
 embellished with full -length paintings on glass of 
 Moses and Aaron, the patriarchs, Christ and the Apos- 
 tles, with every here and there in the naves and 
 transepts and on the walls are works of art of a high 
 classical character, sculptured in marble as monuments 
 to the illustrious dead. Among them and prominently 
 l)laced on the wall of one of the principal parts of the 
 Abbey is a medallion on which are embossed the faces^ 
 of John and Charles Wesley, the first great preacher 
 and singer of Methodism, but who both lived and died, 
 loyal members of the Church of England which 
 embraces and has always permitted several schools of 
 thought within its broad domain of catholic brother- 
 hood. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wa& 
 an extraordinary man, of deep learning, amazing zeal,. 
 some force of genius and devoutly pious. He searched 
 to the foundation for Scriptural truths and the divine^ 
 form as a model for success in his work of evangeliza- 
 tion. He found the first Christian Church was estab- 
 lished by the Apostles of Christ at Jerusalem and 
 governed by them, but their government induced most 
 active labor, so that they visited every available 
 country for the purpose of planting churches and carry- 
 
f) THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ing on the groat work committed to them by their 
 Head and Master who said "Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature." Wesley 
 appeared to he actuated by the principle that to achieve 
 great success, there was need of great labor. He like- 
 wise continually maintained the doctrines, forms and 
 general principles of the primitive church, which, he 
 •declared, were embodied in the Church of England. 
 On one occasion, when Methodism was about twenty 
 years old, a clergyman by the name of Ingham said to 
 him, " God is with you of a truth and so he will be 
 with you, while you continue in the Church, but 
 whenever the Methodists leave the Church, God will 
 leave them." Some time after this, Mr. Ingham left 
 the church himself and turned all the societies under 
 his care into congregations of Independents. Twenty 
 years afterwards, Mr. Wesley referred to the prediction 
 of Ingham when he was urging upon his people tlu; 
 necessity of continued loyalty to the church, and said 
 " What was the event 1 The sanu; as Mr. Ingham 
 foretold : they rapidly dwindled to nothing." 
 
 Mr. Wesley unhesitatingly condemned the action 
 of his colleagues, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Cudworth, Mr. 
 Maxfield and the school of Trevecka, who left him and 
 the Church of England, and finally endured the fate 
 •of Mr. Ingham's prediction. After forty years' experi- 
 •ence, Mr. A¥esley said in his sern^on on the occasion 
 of laying the corner stone of City-road Chapel, " This 
 is the peculiar glory of Methodists : however conven- 
 ient it might be, they will not on any account or 
 pretence whatever, form a distinct sect or party. Let 
 no one rob you of this glorying, I trust no one will as 
 long as I live." He on that occasion affirmed his belief 
 that the Church of England came nearer the Scriptural 
 and primitive type than any other national church on 
 ^arth. Again he says "from principle we will remain 
 
THE METHODISTS ANI. THE CHURCH OP ENGLAND. 7 
 
 wliat we always liave been, true members of the 
 Church of England." He says of those who left, 
 ^' they conversed niucli with dissenters and contracted 
 stronp; prejudices against the Church and then totally 
 separated from us." He always maintained that he 
 was not accountable for those who left. He lurtaer 
 says " Tlie Methodists weighed the matter at first and 
 upon mature deliberation determined to continue in 
 the Church. They have not wanted temptations 
 of every kind to alter their resolution, they have heard 
 abundance said on the subject, perhaps all that could 
 be said, they have read the writings of the most emin- 
 ent pleaders of separation, they have spent several days 
 in a general conference upon this very subject of sepa- 
 rating from the established Church, but still they could 
 see no svilTicient cause to depart from their first resolu- 
 tion, so that their hxed purpose is to continue in the 
 Church." 
 
 This good man died in 1791. His last prayer a fevv' 
 minutes before he died, was this, *' We thank Thee, O 
 Lord, for these and all thy mercies ; bless the Church 
 and King ; and grant us truth and peace through Jesus 
 Christ, our Lord, for ever and ever " ; and then, after 
 saying repeatedly, " The best of all is God is with us," 
 he said " Farewell " and died. The significance of 
 those words " God is with us " can only be undeiocood 
 in connection with the prediction of Mr. Ingham, " If 
 you leave the Church, God will leave you." The 
 impression which that prediction had made upon Mr. 
 Wesley's mind is see.i all through his life and in his 
 death. It did not refer so much to the nominal sepa- 
 ration from the Established Church as to the effect 
 that separation would have upon the form and method 
 which would unquestionably be introduced as a conse- 
 quence of leaving the Church. Raising the anchor 
 permits the ship to sail and when out at the mercy of 
 
8 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the winds, without an experienced commander, there is 
 <langer. Leaving the well-known chartered course for 
 nev/ and apparently clearer waters may for many trips 
 prove successful, and from the confidence gained by 
 such success, lead to further changes which eventually 
 ])rove that the old principles and practice of a tried 
 course have been so imperceptibly departed from, that 
 danger is ahead ; the signal may be given, but too late, 
 and the vessel becon es a wreck. Leaving the Church, 
 the Chur h which, from all his studies, labors, successes 
 and experience, he maintained was the primitive and 
 Apostolic Church, ordained of God ; to leave this 
 Church was to leave the primitive form, the Aposto- 
 lically ordained, God-honoring and soul-saving means 
 which for the centuries had been an anchor in times of 
 danger, or a beacon light by which safety was secured, 
 and the traducers of the Gospel set at naught. With 
 a full conviction of all the facts, with the experience 
 before him of so many who had left the Church and 
 come to naught on the shoals of indifference, rocks of 
 skepticism and sand-bars of independence, he adhered 
 with an unflinching hold to the form of sourd words, 
 the form of rule, method, doctrine and practice which 
 was the glory, safety, strength and perpetuity of the 
 Established Church, and in his last hours could say as 
 one of the uppermost things on his luind " The best of 
 all is God is with us." 
 
 When Methodism was established in the United 
 States, the same precaution was maintained to preserve 
 the anchor of safety. At the Conference of the socie- 
 ties held in Baltimore, in 1780, there is found this 
 (juestion in the minutes : 
 
 ^ '' Shall we continue in close connection with the 
 Church and press our people to a closer connecHon 
 with her?" Answer, "Yes." Li the same minutes 
 there is this question " Will this Conference grant the 
 
THE METHODISTS AiND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 9 
 
 privilege to all the friendly Clergy of the Church of 
 j^^ngland, at the request or desire of the people, to 
 preach or administer the ordinances in our preaching- 
 houses or chapels ? " Answer, "Yes." Both in Eng- 
 land and in America Mr. Wesley maintained during 
 his life that the Methodist Societies \v3re not a church. 
 The language he invariably held was "I am of no sect 
 but the Church of England." Some two years after 
 Mr. Wesley's death, a Conference was held at Leeds 
 and an address to the members of the societies through- 
 out England was published, in which the following is 
 found : " Our venerable father, who is gone to his 
 great reward, lived and died a member and friend of 
 the Church of England," also this, " We entreat our 
 societies at large to continue, as usual, in connection 
 with the Church of England ; and we shall, with great 
 cheerfulness and contentment, labor with them accord- 
 ing to that simple original plan of Methodism, esta- 
 blished and left us by our venerable friend." 
 
 From the quotations above given it is clearly recog- 
 nized that Wesley began his labors and continued 
 them throughout his lengthened evangelical life, with 
 the hope and desire of reviving religion within the 
 J^lstablishment ; that he prosecuted his work, gathered 
 the fruits of his ministry into societies, employed lay 
 preachers, bulk chapels and even introduced a financial 
 organization, all within the pale of the Church as a 
 iireat leaven of righteousness to leaven the Avhole 
 Establishment. 
 
 It is for the unprejudiced thinking-man to judge 
 whether Wesley was right or not in his enlightened 
 godly judgment of the Scripturally organized form of 
 the Church of England, and of his carefully studied 
 ])ractice of not holding meetings so as to interfere with 
 tiie Church's regular services and urging his followers 
 to receive the Sacraments at the Parisii Churches. In 
 
10 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 a recent issue of the Pall Mall Gazette, a " Wesleyan 
 Minister" states distinctly " that only within memory 
 his connexion has ceased to recognize the National 
 Church, as entitled to allegience and has assumed to 
 itself the rights and privileges of a distinct ecclesias- 
 tical a. thority." 
 
 Mr. Wesley seemed to consider the words of Ingham 
 as a mighty fnndameiital truth, " If you leave the 
 Church, God will leave you " for in a letter he wrote 
 to his brother, quite late in i fe, are these words. " One 
 thing only occurs to me now which might prevent in a 
 great measure the mischiefs which will probably ensue 
 after our death, and that is, much greater care and 
 deliberation in admitting preachers. Let us pray God 
 to show us if this has not been the cause toliy so mant/ 
 of our preachers have lamentably miscarried. Ought 
 any new preacher to be received before we know that 
 he is grounded in the doctrines we teach, particidarbj 
 in the Communion of the Church of E?if/land, and 
 should we not be well assured that he is no enemy to 
 the Church." 
 
 To sum up Mr. AVesley's position. He charged the 
 Methodists not to leave the Church, even though they 
 thought their minister's life or doctrine were bad. He 
 loved the Church Service and preferred it to all others ; 
 observed the Feasts and Fasts, Attended church even 
 when he expected an unedifying sermon, and read the 
 Church Service before preacldng. Required the Soci- 
 ety to attend Church constantly and to receive the 
 Holy Communion there, and urged them tO do so even 
 if they did not esteem their minister. Spoke from his 
 own experience and that of another's of the great 
 blessings obtained in going to church, and describetl 
 the loss which lie said some })ersons had sustained by 
 not doing so. Would not let the Methodists hold 
 their meetings in church hours as he considered that 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 11 
 
 " this would be a formal separation from the Church ;" 
 showed how experience proved that the adoption of 
 this course would not benefit the Society ; enforced 
 his rule on this point as strictly as he could. Knew 
 the sin of dissent ; on principle refused to go to Dis- 
 senting meetings, or allow the Methodists to go to 
 them. Lost some members of his Society by his strict 
 rules with regard to the Church Service. Disowned 
 those who separated from the Church as having been 
 influenced by Dissenters, and having no connection 
 with him, and implied that for the most part they had 
 not been regular members of the Society. Complained 
 that these " Seceders and mongrel Methodists " did 
 not help, but rather impeded his work. Traced the 
 failure of Methodism in some places to disloyalty to 
 the Church, and its success in other places to the 
 adherence of the members to it. Declared that if his 
 preachere administered the sacraments, they would by 
 that act recant their connection with Methodism, and 
 commit the sin of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Took 
 steps to prevent separation from the Church. Keported 
 the decisions of eight Conferences in favor of continu- 
 ing in tlie Church, and with regard to each of them 
 said and implied that the decision wan unanimous. 
 
 O'SXO^I^^IA')^ 
 
12 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 When the traveller is weary with fatigue and satiated 
 with the magniticence of the interior splendors of 
 Westminster Abbey it is a relief to stroll out into 
 .St. James Park and along the Serpentine, passing 
 liuckingham Palace, through Green Park, Hyde Park, 
 tlirough gateways and archways of pleasing variety of 
 change in scene at every step and then sit down to 
 pause, rest and reflect in some shady bower, where 
 nature and art combine to give pleasure to the mind ; 
 but the constant whirl and bustle of the passing 
 thousands often deprive one of the luxuries of a quiet 
 leflective moment as the fashionable world diverts 
 attention whether one wills or not. People are affected 
 by a change of scene and circumstances in more ways 
 than can be accounted for, and so, after the good Mr. 
 Wesley was laid to rest in the grounds of City Road 
 Chapel, the Methodists went abroad to their labors, 
 but soon found themselves carried away with thirsting 
 desires for the removal of every restriction to their 
 religious progress. They had the same vital religious 
 zeal, but no one thoroughly versed in the disputed 
 j'oint of Church discipline or ecclesiastical law. They 
 felt the stirring of a power witliin to carry them on, 
 and they wished to attain all the prerogatives necessary 
 to accomplish their object. Mr. AVesley had not 
 organized any particular system of Church government 
 which was designed to be outside the pale of the 
 Church of England ; his chief organization was into 
 Societies for evangelization purposes and to lead the 
 jjeople to experience inward godliness and the practice 
 of outward holiness and he acted as founder, father and 
 ruling head of the whole body. It is urged that when 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 13 
 
 he appointed the Legal Hundred and gave them th; 
 power of appointing preachers to the Methodist chapels, 
 he gave the Ministers permanent and supreme autlior- 
 ity. This is readily admitted, but tK t authority was 
 limited to the exercise of the doctrines, rules and 
 regulations which he liad prepared and bequeathed to 
 them as Societies within the Church of England. To 
 build chapels, appoint preachers, and carry on according 
 to his plan, the work of evangelizing within the Cl.urch, 
 without leaving the Church and forming a new sect, 
 Avhich he had a 1 through his long life earnestly labored 
 to prevent. Hi.^^ was a Connexion, not a Church. If 
 it had been the intention of Wesley to form a Church, 
 he had strong and numerous inducements to do so. It 
 was never his design, and he had a design which was 
 well matured, distinctive and regular. Throughout the 
 whole history of jSIetliodism under the authority of 
 AVesley there were evidences of the guiding and sus- 
 taining hand of God. This was apparent all through 
 and some times remarkably distinct. His design was 
 to have Methodism continue as a connexion. The first 
 Conference after his death this question was put : " Is 
 it necessary to enter into any engagements in respect 
 to our future plan of economy 1 " The answer was : 
 *' We engage to follow strictly the plan which Mr. 
 Wesley left us at his death." The word "economy " 
 meaning the management, regulation and government 
 of the Societies ; for at the same Conference this ques- 
 tion was also asked : " What regulations are necessary 
 for the preservation of our whole economy as Mr. Wes- 
 ley left it?" and the answer was given at length in 
 keeping with the old plan. One of the peculiarities of 
 Mr. Wesley's plan was tlie adoption of the use of a 
 " ticket " of membership. Had he formed a Church, 
 he would not have required the use of any ticket or 
 token of membership of that description. These tickets 
 
14 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 were very diverse not. only in their form but also in 
 their style. Some were plain while others were remark- 
 able specimens of art for that period and are very 
 interesting and beautiful. The artistic pictures used 
 on the tickets were finally abandoned and a simple, 
 uniform, plain ticket adopted and supplied to all the 
 Societies. It seems like a strange anomaly for Metho- 
 dists in the latter quarter of the nineteenth century 
 still to hold the ticket system when they are recognized 
 as possessing all the civil and legal rights of a Church. 
 The use of the tickets, however, is gradually fallmg 
 into disfavor and another of the pecuHarities of the old 
 plan will likely soon be abandoned. Mr. Wesley fore- 
 saw that changes would take place after his death in 
 the economy of the Societies ; and, at the first Confer- 
 ence after his death, there were some preachers whose 
 grasping for power was so intense that they could not 
 conceal their desire to break loose from the restraints 
 which their great founder had thrown into the Metho- 
 dist polity. The laity of this time also felt that they 
 were not in possession of the privileges to which a 
 member of a mature and complete Church had an un- 
 doubted right to ; and some of them were ready to join 
 the preachers whose desire was to gain more power and 
 become a church, so that at the next Conference, in 
 the following year, the agitation, having been kept 
 constantly moving by printed circulars and other means, 
 soon bore fruit. The " Old Plan " to keep the Socie- 
 ties in union with the Church was denounced by the 
 agitators, and chief stress was laid on the question of 
 administering the sacraments. At the third Confer- 
 ence after Mr. Wesley's death the President went so 
 far as to say : " At present we have really no govern- 
 ment." This led to grave discussions; and later on 
 the same President said : " I care not a rush whether 
 our form of government be Episcopal or Presbyterian, 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 15 
 
 1 believe neither of them to be purely Scriptural ; but 
 our preachers and people in general are prejudiced 
 against the latter ; if the former will answer our end 
 we ought to embrace it." There were many clergymen 
 of the Church of England in the Societies who had 
 authority to administer the sacraments, and where 
 these were not present the people were to take the 
 Sacrament in the Established Church which was Mr 
 Wesley's plan. The agitation grew stronger and 
 stronger. Printed circulars were distributed by differ- 
 ent parties to advocate the claims of each. Then con- 
 ciliatory measures were introduced. The " Old Plan " 
 was departed from in certain cases in order to main- 
 tain the union and concord of the Societies. The 
 Lord's Supper was not to be administered where the 
 union and concord of the Society could be maintained 
 without it. Preaching in Church, hours was prohibited 
 except in very special cases. In this way the anchor 
 was gradually lifted and the Methodists found them- 
 selves afloat and drifting about at the mercy of the 
 winds of theorists inexperienced in Church government, 
 anxiously desiring to form a Church ; so much so that 
 '(iven their President said he did not care a rush which 
 form was adopted, which expression, to say, the least 
 was not as dignified as some might expect from a 
 person in his position. One step after another was 
 taken which led the Methodists away from the Church 
 of England, regardless of the prediction which Wesley 
 never lost sight of : " If you leave the Church God 
 will leave you." 
 
 When the Conference of 1795 assembled, measures 
 were proposed for the adj'istment of existing differ- 
 ences. The Societies were so divided in sentiment, 
 the debates so earnest and varied, the party lines so 
 distinctly drawn, and the contentions so violent, that 
 a day was appointed for fasting and prayer for guidance 
 
16 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 after which a comniittee of nine was chosen by ballot 
 to draw up a plan of pacification, as it was called. 
 This was the first real separation from the Church of 
 England that the Methodist Societies supportei by 
 ecclesiastical resolutions regularly adopted, and yet to 
 look at the " Plan of Pacification," is enough to 
 convince any one that it was scrupulously designed 
 to conform as much as pos.'tible to the Established 
 Church, for there are these clauses in the "Plan ;" "We 
 agree that the Lord's vSupper be administered among us 
 on Sunday evenings only ; except where a majority of 
 stewards and leaders desire I'v in Church hours, or 
 where it has already been administered in those hours. 
 Nevertheless it shall never be administered on those 
 Sundays on which it is administered in the parochial 
 Churches." 
 
 "The Lord's Supper shall always be administered in 
 England according to the form of the Established 
 Church." 
 
 " Wherever Divino Service is performed in England 
 on the Lord's day in Church-liours, the officiating 
 preacher shall read the service of the Established 
 Church, our venerable father's abridgement, or, at least, 
 the lessons appointed by the Calendar." 
 
 It is clearly seen, then, that the Methodists did not 
 intend to leave the rubrics of the Churcli nor its 
 doctrines ; but this first authorized step of separation 
 only lifted the anchor which when once raised per- 
 mitted the vessel to drift away upon the open sea of 
 difficulty to run its chance of securing a safe harbor 
 somewhere, or being wrecked in its latitudinarian. 
 course, which course contains more unseen rocks than 
 inexperienced commanders are generally aware of. 
 
 To sum up Mr. Wesley's position from the real 
 facts of history. In 1777, in laying the foundation 
 of City Road Chapel, Mr. Wesley said in his sermon ; 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 17 
 
 *^ The Methodists know their calUiig. They weighed 
 the matter at first, and, upon mature deliberation, de- 
 termined to contiime in the church. Since that time 
 they have not wanted temptations of every kind to 
 alter their resolution. They have heard abundance 
 said upon the subject, perhaps all tliat could be said. 
 They have read the writings of the most eminent 
 pleaders for separation, both in the last and the present 
 century. They have spent several days in a general 
 conference upon this very question, ' Is it expedient 
 to separate from the Established Church V But still 
 they could see no sufficient cause to depart from their 
 first resolution." Then further on in the same sermon 
 he said : " That M^e do not, will not form any separate 
 sect, but continue from principle to remain what we 
 always have been, true members of the Church of 
 England." He had been then a Methodist for nearly 
 forty years. Then to come down to two years after 
 his death. The Conference assembled at Leeds sent 
 out an address to the Methodist Societies throughout 
 England, whic)' commenced as follows : " Dear bre- 
 thren, — We feei it our duty to send you this address, 
 lest the insinuations of any who are enemies to our 
 prosperity and unity should grieve your minds and in- 
 jure the work of God. Our venerable father who is 
 gone to his great reward, lived and died a member and 
 friend of the Church of England." Then further on 
 in that same address a^i these words : " But we en- 
 treat our societies at large to continue as usual in 
 connection with the Church of England, and we shtill, 
 with great cheerfulness and contentment, labor among 
 them according to that simple original plan of 
 Methodism established and left us by our venerable 
 friend." The "History of Wesleyan Methodism," 
 written by George Smith, L.LD., F.A.S., London, 
 1858, volume 2, page 8, says : " AYesley, as his con- 
 
18 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 duct proved, was conscientiously attached to tlH>- 
 Church ot" England, and to the end of his days 
 regarded himself as one of her most devoted sons. Ah 
 such, he availed himself of his position to induce his 
 preachers and people to follow his example." The 
 ahove history was a text book 25 years ago for can- 
 didates to the Methodist ministry. These are some d 
 the real facts of history, and Wesley's own word-^, 
 which prove beyond dispute that he never left tliti^ 
 Church. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The departure from the solid foundation of th(v 
 Church as described in the foregoing chapter soon gav(^ 
 rise to questions relating to the removal of all restraints. 
 The agitators had gained even more than they expected, 
 and were satisfied to receive the " Plan of Pacificption" 
 as a first instalment of what they wanted. In the 
 course of two years later there were steps taken to 
 revise the rules drawn r-j and ft by Mr. Wesley. 
 This was considered by some necessary and essential 
 to the existence of Methodism ; and it resulted in 
 several prominent preachers leaving the main body 
 and forming the New Connexion Methodists. Th"«v 
 new regulations adopted by the Conference of 1797, 
 sacrifices were made respecting authority, in order U> 
 satisfy some \vho were uneasy and grasping for power 
 but not only so, but provision was made for other 
 changes and the greater part of the executive govern- 
 ment was put into the hands of the preachers, under 
 
THE METHODISTS AiND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 1 9" 
 
 certain conditions which only opened the dooi- to wide 
 difFerenees of o))inion in regard to what j^roperly 
 constitutes a Scriptural Church, with ecclesiastical 
 status equal to that occupied by any other denomina- 
 tion. The changes thus made in the Methodist 
 economy after Mr. Wesley's death, although intended 
 to confer a great boon upon the Societies by giving 
 them additional privileges, actually resulted in the 
 creation of a multitude of sects opposed to each other 
 in some instances as bitterly as if they were pagans 
 instead of Christians. The Methodists did not at this 
 time nor until many years after assume the title of 
 the Methodist Church, though their positio:i might 
 have fairly entitled them to that distinction as much' 
 then as now. As the years rolled by, the Methodist 
 Societies became known as the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Church, the New Connexion Methodist Church, the 
 Primitive Methodist Church, the Bible Christian 
 Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United 
 States, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada and 
 numerous other Churches ; but the increase of members 
 which was becoming marvelously large during the last 
 f<!W years of Mr. Wesley's life, under his authority 
 and in connection with the Church of England, did 
 not keep up the ratio which it then assumed, except it 
 may be in the United States where the Methodist 
 ( yhurch was established by Dr. Coke and Bishop Asbury, 
 and continued more in conformity with the Established 
 Church of England, especially in its Episcopal form. 
 There were those who predicted that, with the death of 
 its founder, Methodism would crumble into ruins and 
 disappear. Many good men shared to some extent in 
 these apprehensions ; but Methodism has not disap- 
 peared, thougli it has not progressed in the same ratio 
 that it did before assuming the position of an inde- 
 pendent Church nor as rapidly as the Salvation Army 
 
20 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 which has not assumed the position of becoming 
 distinctively a Church. 
 
 The fact is, Methodism for many years after its 
 founder's death was under an influence wliich took a 
 generation or two to destroy. It had an inner structure 
 based on the soHd foundation of teachings and prin- 
 ciples gatliered for ages from the Church of Enghind ; 
 and all the preachers, whether they studied in the 
 College or at liome, in the schools or in the saddle, had 
 to study Wesley's writings, Pearson's, Butler's, Home's, 
 Whateiey's, Watson's, Clarke's and otherwi-iters, many 
 of whom were prominent Church men, and all in 
 harmony with the Church. The influence of these 
 men stamped the solid principles of an ecclesiastical 
 system which built up the inner structure in the lives 
 of the greatest scholars Methodism possessed. As the 
 course of study gradually changed it left more room 
 for jarring interests, divisions of opinion and conflicting 
 ])lans and x)urposes. The changes succeed each other 
 in quick succession until the Church of England is 
 looked upon as unwortliy of consideration, and the 
 Prayer Book which Wesley held so sacred, and tlie 
 form of Divine Service which he so re. erently main- 
 tained, are entirely ignored by tens of thousands of 
 Methodists, It is worth while here to notice some of 
 the changes that have gradually taken place in 
 Methodism. In a Discipline publisned in Canada in 
 1836, about fifty years ago, there is in the temporal 
 economy this rule laid down. Question — " Is any- 
 thing advisable in regard to building 1 " Answer — 
 " Let our Churches be built plain and decent, and with 
 free seats, but not more expensive than is absolutely 
 unavoidai3le ; otherwise the necessity of raising money 
 will make rich men necessary to us. But if so we 
 must be dependent on them, yea, and governed by 
 them. And then farewell to Methodist discipline, if 
 
THE METHOUlSTftJ AND THE CHURCH OK ENGLAND. 21 
 
 not doctrine too." In another Discipline published in 
 Canada in 1874 th*- section regarding the same ques- 
 tion is answered as follows : " Let our Churches be 
 built plain and decent, and not more expensive than 
 is absolutely necessary." It is now proverbial among 
 the Methodist people to complain of Church debts 
 which are even harassing the rich men who have 
 become a necessity to them. The spiritual life of the 
 Methodists has in many instances been sorely tried by 
 the departure from that wise temporal economy laid 
 down by Wesley in regard to Church building. Bo- 
 sides, it is a serious question with many whether it is 
 not a wilful waste of money used tor worldly aggi'au- 
 dizement which might be employed in Missionary 
 purposes where it is so much required. 
 
 Although the Discipline retains part of the form of 
 the Church of England for administering the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, there are very few of the 
 Methodist ministers who follow it, but repeat over 
 extempore prayers and words far different from those 
 laid down in the book. It is even customary for some 
 to omit the words " Tlie Body of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, which was given for tliee^ preserve thy soul and 
 lody unto everlasting life, Take and eat, etc.," and the 
 proper words for presenting the cup, and use a verse 
 of a hymn or text of Scripture which may at the time 
 come into the mind. In this way there is a painful 
 absence of method and form which gives rise to the 
 impression tliat there is no form, but everyone is left 
 to adopt his own plan. Others will repeat over the 
 proper form on beginning the administration of the 
 Sacrament, and then omit the remainder of it, and use 
 other words. 
 
 There has been considerable change made also in 
 the care of the children, as seen by the Discipline of 
 1536 and that of 1874. In the former, it was a rule 
 
"22 TKE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 tliat where there were ten children whose parents 
 would allow it, they would be met once a week and 
 instructed by the preachers, who should also talk to 
 them at home and to their parents, form them inio 
 -classes and appoint leaders to instruct them in the 
 preacher's absence. The latter specifies the children 
 •uf the congregation, whom he shall instruct ; but the 
 following rules which the old Disoiplhie contains an^ 
 very materially changed. " Explain and impress (th(i 
 ■catechism) upon their heaHs." 
 
 " Talk with them every time you see any of them 
 at home." " Meet them an hour once a week." Such 
 ^vere the old rules definitely laid down. Mr. Wesley 
 looked after the children personally and every preacher 
 under him had to do the same according to his rules. 
 It is now a common thing for Methodist children to 
 join any Church they incline towards ; and many of 
 them, and ministers' children too, are going back to th(i 
 Church of England, or joining other religious bodies. 
 There are changes also in the mode of stationing the 
 .ministers. Formerly this was practically done l)y a 
 Stationing Committee at the Conference ; and every 
 .preacher was obliged to go where he was sent whethci' 
 lo the City Church or the back woods Circuit. The 
 •Stations are nominally made still in the same way ; 
 Imt practically the Stations are made months before- 
 hand in reply to " calls " by certain congregations to 
 certain preachers ; and this gives rise to considerabh^ 
 •disapproval. The itinerancy being maintained and 
 the limit of three years fixed by which a minister is to 
 remain in the Church, there is a continual uneasiness 
 •on the part of both preacher and people in many 
 instances, regarding their next appointment. Sonic 
 ministers, conscientiously adhere to the old rule of 
 allowing the Stationing Committee to send them where 
 they believe Providence designed them to go ; oth(;rs, 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 23 
 
 who notice Lliat their brethren who look out sharply 
 for themselves generally obtain the best places, are 
 beginning to lose confidence not in tlie old rule but in 
 the departure from it, which makes it a necessity for 
 everyone to look out for himself. What other changes 
 will soon have to be introduced in this coiinection is 
 hard to determine. One recently adopted is the change 
 of the Apostle's Creed, " He descended into hell," 
 being left out. Change after change has been 
 made, similar to those seen in our civil provincial and 
 national governments, and every change necessitates 
 others and leads many people to conclude the Church 
 to be no better than a humaii institution founded upon 
 laws made by human beings instead of answering to 
 the definition. " The visible chui'ch of Christ is .. 
 •congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word 
 of God is preached, and the sacraments duly adminis- 
 tered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those 
 things that of necessity are requisite to the same." 
 The Church of God in tlie dark ages grew less and less 
 lusrtrous, useful and appreciative, owing to constant 
 <jhanges that were introduced, and consequently the 
 light nearly went out until the dawn of Reformation 
 commenced, when an established Church was set 
 upon the old foundation, which ever since has con- 
 tinued to grow brighter and holier. 
 
 Ji^^prt 
 
24 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The changes already referred to have brought about 
 what Mr. Wesley so strongly ruled against, as " softness 
 and needless self-indulgence," and which so grieved 
 one of the old school Methodist ministers (the Rev. 
 
 Dr. M -), that he used the following language in 
 
 Toronto, recently, at a meeting for the examination of 
 candidates ior the Ministry, " Here, in Ontario, there 
 are so many ministers that they are treading upon 
 each other's toes. What, in God's name," he asked, 
 " are they doing ? Engineering socials, apron concerts, 
 and nursing babies that weighed from ninety to two 
 hundred poimds. There was something fearfully 
 wrong. Instead of contenting themselves with com- 
 fortable circuits and pulling the wires for bigger 
 salaries'^ they should go forth into the mission fields ; 
 for, in Ontario, five or six ministers were doing 'the 
 work which should be done by one with the assistance 
 of the laity." It is well known that, in Wesley's 
 time, and for half a century later, the Methodist cause 
 was largely promoted by the aid of what he styled 
 local preachers and exhorters, or, in Church of Eng- 
 land language, lay readers. Some of these were, no 
 doubt, very useful, and generally acceptable to the 
 congregations, but of late years it is a very rare case 
 when a local preach^^^ takes an appointment to preach, 
 especially in larger churches. As we have seen, the 
 old rule of not building expensive churches and not 
 renting pews has become obsolete. The manner of 
 preaching has also changed. Cliurches dedicated to 
 solemn religious services are used in many places for 
 social gatherings, some of which are theatrical in their 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 25 
 
 nature, for tea-meetings, lectures and trifling gather- 
 ings, which create in the minds of the young people a 
 lack of reverence for sacred and divine things, and 
 which tend to unsettle the mind, and to engender a 
 looseness and do-as-you-please sort of life. In Toronto, 
 the large Metropolitan Church was thrown open on a 
 Sunday evening for a lecture at 25 cents per head, and 
 was filled to overflov/ing, when rounds of cheers and 
 applause were indulged in by the people in that 
 Methodist sanctuary. Dancing and card-playing 
 were diversions by no means tolerated among Metho- 
 dists even a quarter of a century ago ; but now 
 there are a good many members who fail to see 
 that these diversions are injurious to their spiritual 
 life. There are arguments introduced in favor of a 
 suspension of the rule, or of its present bearings, 
 which so many violate, and as this agitation has begun 
 it will, no doubt, lead to some change, while Wesley's 
 simple rule was "The taking such diversions as cannot 
 be used in the name of the Lord Jesus." This rule, 
 which most people would consider sufiiciently explicit, 
 is added to by a change in the discipline of 1874, and 
 the following explanation given "which should be 
 understood to prohibit our people froui giving any 
 countenance to card-playing or dancing." This ex- 
 planation is now questioned in public print, and the 
 legislative authoritv of the Church is asked to decide 
 the matter. It appears that under the original rule 
 there was but little countenance given to these diver- 
 sions ; but when the rule from the above explanation 
 was made prohibitive of the diversions which it 
 specifies, they began to grow in favor with the mem- 
 bers whose practices were annoying to those who kept 
 the old rule for conscience sake. Another change in 
 Methodism is practically, if not constitutionally, 
 effected, that is, the duty of each memb'^r to attend 
 
26 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 class-meeting. The di.ecipline strictly insists on regular 
 attendance ; and those who wilfully and repeatedly 
 absent themselves are to be excluded from the Society, 
 now the Church. Yet there is such laxity in practice, 
 that persons are continuous members of the Methodist 
 Church who never meet in class. This change in 
 practice causes many to consider the rule optional, and 
 the attendance at class simply one of choice. So much 
 is this becoming the case, that adherence to the rule 
 is now chiefly urged on the ;:?round of the great spiritual 
 advantages to be derived from it. 
 
 The custom of fasting, especially on Good Friday 
 and each Friday before quarterly meeting, was one 
 very generally practised by the early Methodists, and 
 strongly urged by all the preachers ; but now it is 
 seldom there is heard any announcement that such 
 and such a day is one of fasting and prayer. It was, 
 and is still, a disciplinary injunction for the preachers 
 to fast and use abstinence every week as much as their 
 strength will permit, and yet very few of them do it. 
 Another serious change in administration that is slowly 
 gaining ground, is that reports may be in circulation, 
 and be even well-founded against a member or preacher 
 in regard to the violation of doctrine, discipline, or 
 moral rectitude, and no action be taken against the 
 <lelinquent until a formal charge containing specifica- 
 tions is presented, and a demand made for his trial. 
 This practice crept into the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of the United States at one time, but was 
 <ihecked by the good Bishop Hedding, in 1866, when 
 he declared that, "As the minister was held responsible 
 for the state and chak'>^cter of the church, he should 
 institute an inquiry respecting the truth of the reports 
 circulated against anyone, and if he found reason to 
 believe there was just cause of complaint, he was 
 bound to proceed to examine and try the case, as the 
 
THE METHOI)IST« AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 27 
 
 discipline directs, witliout waiting for a formal accusa- 
 tion." The change in the discipline regarding the 
 t^pirit and truth of singing is very marked. Wesley 
 l»ad sixteen excellent rules by which the singing was 
 authoritatively regulated ; but the new rules are reduced 
 to ten ; and, to indicate how much the Methodists 
 liave departed from their founder's views, the new 
 rules close with this latitudinarian sanction : " The 
 singing and all parts of public worship are under the 
 ^iontrol and direction of the Superintendent of the 
 Circuit." Since the adoption of this new rule various 
 new tune-books, hymns, and any form of worship 
 which the preacher may choose to introduce can be 
 practised with authority ; and, as the Superintendent 
 •of the Circuit is only permitted to remain three years 
 in the circuit, his successor may with equal authority 
 4idopt other books and tunes, and forms of worship, 
 and so keep the people continuously changing, and put 
 them to unnecessary expense and trouble, which is 
 •often the case. Owing to that new rule, many 
 ])reacliers omit the use of the Lord's Prayer, and prayer 
 also for the Queen ; and in many instances, prayer is 
 omitted altogether at the close of the service, and the 
 ])eople dismissed simply by pronouncing the benedic- 
 tion. The form of the benediction has also changed. 
 The words "all parts of public worship" in the 
 new rule give preachers a license to preach almost 
 jinything tiiat conies into their heads ; and, conse- 
 <|uently, some of them go very far in the line of 
 *' cant" expressions, triflng anecdotes, and irreverent 
 gcistures, snapping the fingers, etc., but, when ex- 
 ])ostulated witli on the subject, can point to their 
 iiuthority in the new rule. Not only is this tlie case in 
 preaching, but in the solemn prayers, there is a marked 
 <:ontrast between the prayers of the early Methodist 
 j)reachers and those now generally used. Formerly, 
 
28 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 owing to SO many liaving been familiar with the 
 Collects and carefully worded and Scripturally- 
 composed prayers of the Prayer Book, although they 
 used extempore prayers, their prayers were composed 
 chiefly of the language of the prayers and collects of 
 the Church of England ; but, now, scarcely a vestige 
 of the language contained in the Prayer l]ook can be 
 found in the modern prayers of Methodists. To show 
 how far some have gone, the following is an illustra- 
 tion of the new kind of prayers and service brought 
 about by the constant alteration, amendments, and 
 change in the forms of religious worship. Mr. 
 Wesley condemned long fon'lliwj prayers, but here is 
 a quotation from the report of a service held by a 
 prominent Methodist minister in Toronto, whose 
 prayers are proverbially long and peculiar : — 
 
 "In the long prayer he prayed for every department 
 of the Church in all its relations, from the occupant of 
 the pulpit down, and the sexton was not forgotten. 
 He prayed that all may get away from the idea that 
 the sexton is nobody, a small man, somebody the 
 Church looks down upon. He prayed also for the 
 ushers, because they had much to bear from cross- 
 grained pewholders who did not want anybody to enter 
 their pews. They had also to bear with black looks, 
 unkind words and ])ainful humiliation." 
 
 When prayer and other parts of a religious service 
 are left to the cii prices of uneducated men, even 
 though sincere and godly men, there is danger of 
 irreverence in language and voice, and such prayers 
 must do more harm than good, and it would be a 
 thousand times better to adhere to a form of prayer 
 in good sacred style tha7i extempore prayers such -^^ 
 the above and many others still more ridiculous. 
 
 This decay of old faiths, unrest and uneasiness to 
 produce change, is bringing Methodism into a transi- 
 
THE MEI'HODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 29 
 
 tion state which is liable to turn materialistic. There 
 are republican tendencies marked by a restless and 
 inquisitive activity, no one man caring to bind himself 
 down to any particular creed or form, but to have full 
 liberty to do what is for the best, according to his own 
 individualism, in the Christian Church. When the 
 rules of a church, or any other organization, are so 
 made as to give full liberty to one individual to control 
 as he chooses in his congregation, and there are 
 thousands of these, there must be a vast diversity of 
 practice. Its itinerant system is one of change that 
 has its advantages ; but the question arises : Does 
 the system not lead to a disposition for incessant 
 change in other things as well as stations 1 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Although the doctrines of Methodism have undergone 
 no constitutional change, the change in discipline and 
 rules by which " all parts of public worship are under 
 the control of the Superintendant of the Circuit," 
 allows him a wide latitude in the pulpit, as preaching is 
 certainly a part of public worship, and so many of the 
 doctrines are singularly handled. Another result of 
 change is, that, whereas in the early days of Methodism 
 constant acquisitions were made to the Society from 
 the rank and file of the Church of England and the 
 various denominations of religious bodies, as well as 
 from the world of ungodly pt Dple, and chiefly from the 
 later source, the acquisitions now come chiefly from 
 
30 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the families of Methodists thems(3lves. This is \\\v. 
 ^'reat harvest field of Methodists at the present day, 
 and it is an ominous fact that every year there are 
 Methodist Ministers, members of the families of 
 Methodist Ministers and members from among the 
 laity are joining the Church of England, while formerly 
 it was the reverse. Many of these are the most 
 educated, intelligent and pious who have found upon 
 examination, that the doctrines, discipline and worshi{> 
 of the Church of England are nearer the old Wesleyaii 
 system, than that in practice by the Methodists of the 
 present day. They also realize a pure Gospel style of 
 preaching, and the doctrines of repentance, conversion, 
 fa?th and sanctification are proclaimed and insisted 
 upon as necessary to salvation. The Scriptural method 
 of treating these subjects, and the solennily reverent 
 manner of conducting the service, command attention 
 and respect, which stirs up the heart towards God, and 
 desires for a better and more useful life. 
 
 In the early history of the settlement of the United 
 States and Canada, the first settlers were no sooner 
 located in their new homes than tlie Methodist 
 ])reachers were in the field looking after the spiritual 
 interests of the pioneers. It is dilte.rent to-day, 
 especially in parts of the Dominion of Canada where 
 the early settlers had only Methodist preachers, 
 clerical and lay, to feed them with spiritual food ; now 
 they are supplied by other denominations, as the 
 Methodists have left them. In looking over thi^ 
 census returns of the North-West Territories, as 
 published in 1885, and considering that part of the 
 Dominion a great Mission field not only among th(; 
 Indians but the white people who have settled there, 
 the number of Methodist Churches is only eleven 
 and total membership 6,910, while the Church of Eng- 
 land has nineteen Churches a membership of 9,976 and 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 31 
 
 the Presbyterians have eighteen Churches and a mem- 
 bership of 7,712. In taking a look at the Mission 
 field in the East, the parish of Heart's Content in New 
 Foundland shows by the census of 1885, the following 
 membership of the 
 
 Church of Englarrl. Wesleyans. 
 
 Silly Cove 446 299 
 
 Turk's Cove 17 
 
 Vitter^sCove. ) 458 gl 
 
 ISew Perlican. J 
 
 Heart's Content 1,000 90 
 
 Heart's Desire 27 
 
 Heart's Delight 365 21 
 
 Island Cove 66 
 
 Brook Cove 5 
 
 Shoal Harbor 75 36 
 
 Total 2,458 467 
 
 While the Methodists are using every effort to gain 
 the Cities, the Church of England of to-day is doing 
 the same work that was started by John Wesley a 
 century and a half ago. The great success of the 
 Church of England to-day is proof that it contains all 
 the machinery for evangelistic work that the world 
 needs, and it contains only the same machinery that it 
 did many centuries ago. It has, and always had the 
 means of lay workers and this was a part that Wesley 
 put in motion with a whirl and a hum, that was felt 
 throughout the whole world. While properly managed 
 and controlled by the authority of the Church, this 
 part of the machinery turned out an astonishing 
 amount of good. This part is now being neglected by 
 the Methodists, but made hum and whirl by the Church 
 of England. John Wesley started also with renewed 
 speed the long rested clergy. His preachers like him- 
 self realized the need of work — and work, work, work, 
 was the order of the day for all Methodist preachers. 
 At 5 o'clock in the morning there was a service and so 
 on during the day, every day, as well as Sunday. 
 
32 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 J'astoral visiting, teaching the children, and every kind 
 of work was attended to except engineering socials, 
 donations, garden parties, apron parties and such like 
 diversions. The Church of England to-day are running 
 their machinery at full speed. We know some of the 
 clergy to preach three times on Sunday and drive thirty 
 to forty miles. They visit from house to house, hold 
 prayer meetings, teach the children, talk to the 
 drunken to reform them, hold temperance meetings, 
 fast and hold special services for the spiritual growth 
 of the people, and preach conversion and all the 
 fundamental doctrines as faithfully as any God-sent 
 Ministers in the world. This is all indicative of the 
 fact that Methodists might have remained in the 
 Church of England, and carried on the special work 
 which providence called them to do. What responsi- 
 bility they have for the 200 religious sects now in Eng- 
 land is difficult to determine ; but it is evident to any 
 student of Church history that upon the severance of the 
 tie that bound Methodism to the Church there sprang 
 up, and have continued to spring up, sect after sect^ 
 each having some special claim to superiority over 
 others. 
 
 The changes that have crept into Methodism grew 
 very slowdy at first, and in some instances laid hold of 
 the people almost unconsciously. After the anchor 
 was lifted, they tried hard to "'keep as near the old 
 course as possible but gradually drifted farther and 
 farther from, the established buoys that marked the 
 channel, and from the beacon lights along the shore, 
 until they drifted far out on the unknown sef There 
 were many enquiries " whither are we drifting," which 
 only served to create new channels, and so one course 
 after another was adopted on the unknown sea of 
 difficulty. To witness a congregation nowadays, as 
 soon as the benediction is pronounced, or even before 
 
THE MKTIIODIHTS AND TflE CHURCH OV KNGLANI), 33 
 
 it is tiiiished, bustling al)Out and leaving pews, with- 
 out a moments solemn pause after religious service 
 indicates the irreverence whicli many cannot see with- 
 out some degree of surprivse and pain. Then commences 
 a. general criticism of tlie sermon, prayers, singing, or 
 other parts of the service under the sole control of the 
 preacher, owing to the changes which all cannot agree 
 to, and about wliich they, consequently, give expression 
 to tlieir views as soon as opportunity is afforded. Tl is 
 criticism and fault-hnding, which are now so largely 
 indulged in by almost every congregation to some degree, 
 are having a l)aneful eftect upon the minds of young 
 people who are not accustomed to any set form of 
 religions service under the establishment of what they 
 imderstand to be an Apostolic .and divine order and 
 controlled by the authority of an unchanging system. 
 This practice tends to greatly decrease that loving 
 confidence of the meml)ers and the respect of all true 
 Christians below what formerly existed when, withont 
 the prestige of wealth, fine Churches, or great learning, 
 but with simple Scriptural force under the old plan, 
 tlie preachers went forth like one crying in the wilder- 
 ness, called sinners to repentance, and by such a course 
 and a holy life, caused the word of God mightily to 
 prevail ; and when one Minister was changed for 
 another, the ])eople knew exactly, or very nearly so, 
 that they had to walk by Ihe same rule and mind the 
 same thing. The present system tends to unsettle the 
 public religious mind on matters that oughl to be 
 established so as to give no food to skepticism or 
 infidelity, which are building up a gigantic structure 
 from recruits dissenting from various religious organiza- 
 tions all over these lands. The Annual Conferences 
 come round ; and, althorgh they do not make laws for 
 t!io Church, they offer suggestions and recommend to 
 the General Conferences wldch are held every four years, 
 
34 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 besides appointing delegates to places in the greater 
 legislative body, to state what changes, readjustments 
 or modifications are deemed necessary in the laws ^ 
 and so changes are provided for and constantly expected. 
 While it is admitted that no constitutional change in 
 doctrine or discipline is intended to affect the great 
 fundamental principles of Christianity ; yet it is too 
 evident that the changes that have taken place do affei^t 
 them ; and there is scarcely any one principle that is now 
 absolutely settled in practice owing to the wide scope 
 given to superintendents of circuits to control as they 
 think proper all parts of public worship. It is but 
 reasonable to expect the Church that comes nearest to 
 our unchanging God to change the least in its system. 
 Christ taught "that there should be one fold and 
 one shepherd." In His prayer to the Father, Christ 
 used this sacred and solemn petition in which there is 
 no vain repetition : "That tliey all may be one; as Thou, 
 Father, art in Me, and I in Thee." The unity shouLl 
 resemble the unity of the Godhead; for Christ's prayer 
 indicates not an internal unity of will in independent 
 existences, but an internal and external unitv of sub- 
 stance and will in existences whose functions and 
 modes of operation are different. It was written iu 
 the Epistles during this period, " Let there be no 
 divisions among you ; but speak ye all the same thing 
 and be ye perfectly joined together in the same judg- 
 ment." Oneness of believers is the connection of all 
 believers in one and the same organization. " There 
 is one body, even as ye are called in one hope of your 
 calling." Now are they many members, but one body ? 
 " Let there be no divisions in the body." The rhe- 
 torical figures describing the Church require an external 
 unity: (1,) a vine; (2,) a light; (3,) an olive tree; 
 (4,)a city; (5,) a temple; (6,) the body of Christ; (7,) 
 a kingdom. Division would destroy any one of these 
 
THE :MKT1I0I)18T8 AND THE (JHURCH OF ENGLAND. 3.> 
 
 illustrations and therefore any division is injurious and 
 unscriptural. There is no otlier alternative. There 
 must be an external unity among the followers of 
 Christ — if they would but fill their high calling. This 
 is the declared verdict of Apostolic history and writ- 
 ings. Many may well ask in this fourth quarter of the 
 nineteenth century, " Where is the true fold and the 
 one body 1 " 
 
 The various denominations each claim to be a visible 
 Church — a true fold and one body, while the Church 
 of England claims to be the only visible Apostolic 
 Church and the others all seceders from her. In 
 their Synods, Conferences and Conventions they send 
 friendly geeetings to each other, but out on the 
 Mission field or in the more thickly populated centres 
 the ministers of one body speak disrespectfully of 
 their neighbor, and individualism crops up to such an 
 extent that anything but brotherly love is manifested 
 among them. They do not feel towards each other as 
 members of one family. It is evident these things 
 ought not so to be. One has a right to respect the^ 
 other, and they all have a right to respect the mother 
 who gave them birth. When she makes overtures of 
 union, as v/as the case in the Chicago Convention in 
 1886, her proposals are criticized and ignored in the 
 spirit of true secular hostility by many from whom 
 better things should be expected. In the early days 
 of Methodism in the United States, Dr. Coke at one 
 time nearly arranged a union with the Church of 
 England, but so soon as his plans became thoroughly 
 known to the Methodist Conference they were severely 
 handled, and so the division was continued, and has 
 since been -perpetuated. The time will come, in God's 
 providence and in His own good time, when they 
 shall be united, and in the meanwhile let us all live 
 together as brethren. 
 
^36 THE METIiOD18Th AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLANIX 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 'llie wiitci' uiico visited Epwortli, tlie birth-place of 
 the Wesleys. There stood the old Parish Clnirch, 
 venemble with age, being over 800 years old. Its 
 aisles were paved with the tombs of the pious dead. 
 There seemed a solemn awe resting upon every thing. 
 There stood the old oaken pulpit, the old stone font 
 where from generation to generation the solemn sacra- 
 ment of Christian baptism had been administered. There 
 was an old oaken chair which had been in use for 316 
 years. There was another chair which bore the name 
 of Lady Wesley's Chair in which the Wesley family 
 had been nursed, and there was the old oaken chest in 
 which the Rev. Samuel AVesley kept the register of 
 births and marriages for 39 years. Just outside the 
 •<loor was the tomb of the memorable rector, on which 
 Weslev preached to the people when the Church was 
 closed against him. There were two decayed spots on 
 the tomb stone, caused, no doubt, by the action of 
 the weather ; but the stow was that these holes 
 ■were made by the lieels of Wesley's boots in his 
 -earnest gestures, while preacliing on his father's tomb 
 for six successive days. The inscription on the tomb 
 Avas " Flere lieth all that was mortal of Samuel Wesley, 
 A. M. He was rector of Epworth 39 years, and 
 departed this life 25th April, 1735, aged 72 years." 
 Here was an occasion for reflection on the stability of 
 the Church which, not only at Epworth, but through- 
 'Out the length and breadth of England, had stood as a 
 beacon light to the nation and the world. A church 
 vdiose prayer book had not undergone a revision for 
 fcome hundred year^ before tlic inscription was put 
 upon that tombstone, nor from tliat time to the present. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 37 
 
 In looking round Epwortli, thai old town of historic 
 memory to Metliodism, there was no Wesleyan Chapel^ 
 and upon enquiry, I found that there were over fifty 
 towns in England, some of which contained a popula- 
 tion of 50,000 people, where no AVesleyan Methodist 
 Chapel could he found. In the reflection the ques- 
 tion arose, " Is Metliodism the same to-day that it wa& 
 in the days of its founder, when their numbers in- 
 creased so rapidly and their influence seemed to per- 
 vade each nook and corner of the land ? " Upon 
 visiting London and City Road Chapel where Johni 
 Wesley gathered the people from all parts of the great 
 metropolis and officiated in the ministerial robes, used 
 the forms of pr«ayer and liturgy of the Church of 
 England for so many years, and when I had noticed a 
 .scattered congregation of well dressed and poorly^ 
 dressed people, men with no collars, some with necktie- 
 askew, and some with no necktie at all, while here and 
 there were well dressed men and woman apparently 
 belonging to the better (j;lasses, the question arose^ 
 again, " Is Methodism going to stand like the old: 
 Establishment or dwindle to a wreck after all its great 
 achievements in the world?" Here the mind was- 
 carried back a hundred years to the time when Wesley 
 preached his first sermon at City Road Cliapel, on- 
 laying the foundation stone, and these words added 
 interest to the reflection : " The Methodists at Oxford 
 were all one body and as it were all one soul ; zealous- 
 for the religion of the Bible, of the primitive Church, 
 and consequently of the Church of England." In this 
 quotation from Wesley's sermon, it is evident that 
 great and good man, (whose experience had been vast,, 
 his study extensive, his publications over one hundred^ 
 some of which contained from 500 to 700 pages,), 
 believed the Ch\u'cL of England was the primitive- 
 Cliurch and her religion was the religion of the Bible. 
 
38 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 111 that same sermon he warned his people not to 
 
 separate from the Church. He referred them to some 
 
 Avho had left and said " after this they did scarce any 
 
 good except to their own little body." He referred to 
 
 them as having' left him, in the following lanpfuage : 
 
 •*' They are branches broken off from the tree; if they 
 
 break from the Chnrcli also we are not accountable for 
 
 it." *' We do not, will not form any separate sect but 
 
 from principle remain what we always have been, true 
 
 members of the Churcli of England." The force of 
 
 these words, spoken after forty years experience in a 
 
 special work within the pale of the Church, it must be 
 
 admitted, teach that Wesley intended ) is people should 
 
 hold to their moorings, and not drift away from the 
 
 •Church. It is a well-known fact that all who have 
 
 left the old Established Churcli and formed new sects, 
 
 •either came to naught or sub-divided into separate 
 
 sects, holding diFerent views and frequently becoming 
 
 antagonistic to each other and to the great parent from 
 
 whom they severed their allegience. In many instances 
 
 the antagonism has grown so strong against the great 
 
 parent Church that they are blinded Ijy prejudice and 
 
 suspicion to such a degree, that they will not look into 
 
 the peculiarities of the Church or even consider with 
 
 •calm intelligence the Scriptural doctrines and practice 
 
 which she unfolds and inculcates, as much now or 
 
 ■even more strongly than in former years, as has already 
 
 been shown in these pages. 
 
 Continuing the reflection which was started in City 
 Road Chapel and other places, the question arose, 
 ^'Are not the objections which Methodists raise in 
 regard to the Church of England rather trifling, when 
 compared with sound reason and the practices of the 
 •early Church both in Jewish and Apostolic times?" 
 
 One objection is raised against the use of Ministerial 
 <}arments. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 39 
 
 This objection is frequently made and sometimes 
 turned into ridicule while the practice is still kept up 
 in the old City Road Chapel in London, and wearing 
 the gown is kept up in one Methodist Church in 
 Montreal. The practice of using Clerical robes is 
 founded upon the custom that has prevailed from the 
 ■earliest periods ; over the whole world and in different 
 ages a difference of costume has marked the difference 
 of office. The judges of our Superior Courts wear a 
 black gown while upon the bench, and the lawyers do 
 the same while pleading at the bar. Our army and 
 navy adhere to a professional dress. The public soci- 
 eties and orders are designated by scarfs, badges or 
 regalia which members wear to indicate their standing 
 and office. All this is considered reasonable and pro- 
 per; and is it not equally reasonable and equally 
 proper that the Minister of God should be clothed in 
 a manner appropriate to his office, while he is engaged 
 in its solemn duties 1 When objection is made to the 
 Church of England on this ground, the objector, to be 
 •consistent, must raise his voice against all military 
 uniform, society-badges and regaUa and also object to 
 the legal profession wearing any garments to distir.- 
 guish them from other men. 
 
 But there is higher authority for this custom tlian 
 the above. The Church of England does not base its 
 practice solely upon what is reasonable but goes to the 
 Scripture for its sanction. In some instances, the 
 Almighty has been pleased to regulate the minute 
 details of earthly worship, and in tliis case has given 
 directions aljout the garments which His ministers 
 should wear. The ordinary priests under the Jewish 
 dispensation, when performing service, were to wear a 
 white linen cphod. If, tlierefore, there was anything 
 improper or ridiculous in the Minister of God wearing 
 these garments, would the Lord have given it his sane 
 
40 THE METHODISTS AND THE CllUKCll OF ENOLAND. 
 
 tion 1 Clearly not. Again, if God commanded and 
 prescribed these garments in one age of the Church, 
 and if the reasons for their use were not peculiar to 
 that dispensation, is it not natural and reasonable to 
 infer that they are highly proper now ? There is ample 
 evidence that for at least fifteen hundred years past 
 the surplice has been the dress of the minister in the 
 performance of public worship ; and the iiistory of the 
 Primitive Church in this respect is proved by the 
 most learned commentator that Methodism ever owned, 
 the highly esteemed Rev. Dr. Adam ('lark, who says 
 on Exodus 28.2, " The irMte surplice in the service of 
 the Church is almost the only thing that remains of 
 those ancient and hecomimj mstmentu wliich (lod com- 
 manded to be made for (jlory and heauty. Clothing 
 emblematical of office is of n)ore consequence than ii?^ 
 generally imagined. Were the great officers of the 
 Crown and tlie great officers of justice to clothe them- 
 selves like common people when they appear in their 
 public capacity, both their persons and their decisio7i.s 
 would be soon held in little estimation." Dr. Chalmers 
 also, that great light of the Presbyterian Church for 
 ha^f a century past, says, regarding Exodus, 28 1.14, 
 " There is here a distinct sanction given to the asso- 
 ciation of outward splendor with the office of the 
 ministry — if not such as to make it imperative or 
 indispensable, at least to condemn the intolerance of 
 those who stand opposed to it. In the antipathy to 
 priestly garments and in the controversies which have 
 been raised about them, I can take no part." 8uch are 
 the testimonies of these great men, recorded in the 
 calm moments of their communing with God. Is not 
 the Church of England right, therefore, in adhering to 
 this old custom of using clerical garments ? Does not 
 the objection to the Churcli on this ground seen* 
 exceedingly trifling ? It is a significant fact, as d/ 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 41 
 
 general rule, that people who object to certain things 
 in the Church, do so from a very meagre knowledge of 
 the reason of the things. When they become acquainted 
 with the ground work, the very elementary studies of 
 the great edifice become more interesting, and it is an 
 indisputable fact that the more persons know of the 
 Church of England, of her worship, doctrines and 
 discipline, the more they love her, aud those who know 
 her best love her most. Casual worshippers, who are 
 unacquainted with the worsliip practised in the Church 
 do not feel at home at first. They rather feel uncom- 
 fortable at not being able to join in the Service while 
 those acquainted with it and are sincere in their 
 devotions drink deep of the living waters and enjoy 
 the bread of life, going away refreshed and strength- 
 ened like Peter on the mount, and saying " it is good 
 to be here." Let these same casual worshippers continue 
 to go and strive to worship in the right spirit ; and 
 they will soon express themselves in a similar manner. 
 
 <^\^^W^V^ 
 
42 THE MKTHODISTS AXD THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER. VII. 
 
 In the centre of a great city may be seen an immense 
 Park, containing nearly one thousand acres of lawn, 
 shady walks, garden and wood, lake and brook, with 
 grand avenues for lordly carriages, playgrounds for 
 children, whispering places of retirement amid foun- 
 tains, flowers and every charm of rural grandeur and 
 artistic beauty. This picturesque spot was once a 
 wilderness marsh with rough hills and tangled wood- 
 lands ; but the art of engineering skill and landscape 
 gardening has turned it into an earthly paradise. 
 There are numerous ways of seeing the park. One 
 €an go on foot and follow the gently curved paths, 
 pass over pretty vine-covered bridges, stop to view the 
 statues and various objects of interest, drink at the 
 fountains, rest on the rustic seats, and see the driving 
 and display of fine horses and gorgeous apparel, and 
 take a boat and cross to the other side of a beautiful lake 
 with its edges covered with variegated flowers, mosses 
 and ferns. He can lunch in the casino, lounge on the 
 terrace and again ramble through shady paths, along 
 winding lanes, past bold rocks, through deep thickets, 
 woods and scattered grass, as the paths are both small 
 and great and run in every conceivable direction, and 
 cross each other in such a delightfully confusing way 
 that there seems no end of interest in following them 
 to see where they really go. Another way to see the 
 park is on horseback and a good gallop can be enjoyed 
 without fear as the bridle roads avoid the greater part 
 of the carriage drives and go under or over the foot 
 paths. ]kit by taking a carriage and driving through 
 the charming pleasure grounds many more enchanting 
 scenes are presented to view. We see the great play- 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE C£IUUCH OF ENGLAND. 43 
 
 •grounds wlicre thousands of boys and young cliildren 
 nroam on the wild field and play ball and other games, 
 they drink at the fountains or rest under the shady 
 trees. We view the great common where flocks of 
 sheep and herds of cows are seen, with here and tliere 
 a lake of silvery water glittering through the trees, 
 until, imperceptibly turning into the heart of the park 
 ;again, other statues of earth's honored men are seen ; 
 and the interest is sustained as mile after mile is 
 passed. 
 
 To see the great park with all its mysteries, beauties 
 and endless grandeur, the fifteen miles of carriage roads 
 will only serve a part. The eight miles of bridle roads 
 reach other charming scenes while the twenty-five 
 miles of footpaths reach other and diflferent spots of 
 interest, grandeur and beauty. There are other parks 
 iin tlie city but none like this one. There are many 
 •other cities possessing parks of great beauty and 
 magnificence, but none exactly like this. Each city 
 •may think its parks the best. Thousands and tens of 
 thousands of her citizens think they are the best, and 
 •only come to a different conclusion when they have 
 travelled abroad to see those that are greater and more 
 •elaborate. 
 
 The reference to a park is always pleasing to many 
 aninds, and here affords an illustration, to show that 
 •each Church considers itself the best, and thousands 
 and tens of thousands of her members think there is 
 jione so good and Scripturally founded. It is well to 
 travel abroad from our own little landscape or greater 
 •city limits to look at the sights beyond. It is well to 
 go to the Bible and search for truth. In looking at 
 the Church of England, there is n deep meaning in 
 many of her practices which can only be seen from 
 •certain points of view. There are her forms of worship 
 ttn which some see no excellency, but rather condemn 
 
44 THE METHODJHTS AND THK CllUilCU OF KNGl.AND. 
 
 as tedious aii<l wearisome. Others contend that 
 liturgies necessarily produce lifelessness and forniality 
 in worship. To take a narrow path tliat leads direct 
 to the fountain-head of all truth, there are seen clearly 
 forms of public worship. Moses and the children of 
 Israel thanked God for tlieir deliverance from Egypt 
 in the words of a preirioudt/ wriWm form ; and this, 
 too, was done n'aponsm'ly^ as the Psalter in the Church 
 service. 
 
 The High Priest is seen blessii.^ the people in a set 
 form of words exproHshj dictated by tha Deity. Moses 
 prayed by a form, at the setting forward of the ark^ 
 and at its setting down again. In the Book of Deuter- 
 onomy there are various forms which were to be used: 
 by the people on various public occasions. Many of 
 liavid's Psalms were written expressely for the service 
 of the sanctuary. At the dedication of the Temple, 
 Solomon, instead of trusting to the impulse of the 
 moment, used a form which was evidently precomposeil 
 for the occasion. \n traversing the entire Old Testa- 
 ment by whatever road is chosen there are to be seen- 
 frequent commands and constant examples in favor of 
 forms of worship. If we tarry in the temple or 
 synagogue, there the liturgical or set form is used. In 
 all God's messages l)y the moutli of his prophets tliere 
 is no disapprobation of a form of worship. If it had 
 been wrong, surely it would have been condemned and 
 a better way pointed out. In continuing tlie search 
 and journeying onward down through the New Testa- 
 ment times, we see no disapproval of set forms of 
 worship. The Saviour entered the temple and drove 
 out the money-changers but did not denounce the forms 
 of worship ; but Sabbath after Sabbath, lie and hi» 
 disciples attended and joined in the Jewish ritual. 
 He never required his followers to abandon it : year.« 
 after his ascension, as St. lAiko tells us, they " were 
 
THE MKTHOUIHTS AND THK ClIUHCU OF KNGLAND. 45 
 
 continually in the tenii)Ie praising and ))lessing God." 
 Could anything that Christ might have said given a 
 stronger sanction to foruts of prayer than his constant 
 attendance upon them 1 lUit tlien, to go farther on, 
 there is to he seen .something explicit on this subject. 
 When the disciples came to Jesus and asked to he 
 taught how to pray, he gave tliem a set form, saying : 
 ^' After this manner pray ye." .lourneying onward 
 <lown through the apostolic history we see, as a learned 
 divine says " that the whole primitive Church eon- 
 tftantly used it in all her holy otlices out of conscious- 
 ness, and in regard to Christ's comnuind." The 
 objector, therefore, to forms of prayer and worship 
 should view the facts as seen in tlie Bible ; first, that 
 forms were prescribed by God to his people on several 
 occasions under the old dispensation ; second, there 
 were forms sanctioned by the practice of our Saviour 
 and his disciples ; and, third, that there was a form 
 given and mminandcd by our Lord himself. The 
 Churcli of England claims that she should not be 
 blamed for worshipping as Christ worshipped ; for in 
 doing so she is following in his steps. Methodists 
 should consider that their foundei' followed the same 
 practice, and ordered his preachers to follow it ; and in 
 no instance did he depreciate the forms of the Church 
 •of England or condemn them. There are many 
 Methodists who think Wesley recommended extem- 
 pore prayer. In his sermon on " the more excellent 
 way" he says, referring to private devotio7is, " The 
 generality of Christians as soon as they rise, use some 
 kind of prayer, and probably use the same form they 
 learned when they were eight or ten years of age. 
 Now I do not condemn those who proceed thus (though 
 some do) as mocking God ; though they have used the 
 same form without any variation for twenty or thirty 
 years together ; but surely there is a more excellent 
 
46 THE METIiODlHTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 way of ordering,' our private ilevotioiis. " Whoiii 
 Wesley gives directions abont extempore prayer being 
 used in public worship, he says, " do not usually pray 
 extempore above eight or ten minutes." A member 
 of another Church says " we condemn the Establish- 
 ment for its prescribed round of lessons and prayers 
 and for its monotonous uniformity, its iteration and 
 reiteration of the Lord's Prayer, the doxology,^etc. ;: 
 but in fact our conduct of public worship is a^ 
 wearisome, as ijisipid, nndiversified and vmch more 
 autocratic, than theirs, and is drirnntj our young people 
 increasingly into the Church, of England- or alienating 
 them from, the sanctuary altogether. I appeal to 
 parents having grown up sons and daughters if this is 
 not so." Another nonconformist says " I frequently 
 take my children to a Church where the Prayer Book 
 of the Church of England is used to prevent their 
 falling into habits of irreverent listlessness in a place- 
 of worship; Robert Hall, the distinguished and pious 
 Baptist Minister, speaking of extempore prayer, says 
 " God forbid that we should ever imagine this is the 
 only mode of prayer acceptable to God. We cannot 
 doubt that multitudes of devout persons have used 
 forms of devotion with eminent advantage." The 
 Rev. Albert Barnes, an eminent Presbyterian Minister,, 
 formerly in Philadelphia, says " We have never 
 doubted that many of the purest flames of devotion 
 that rise from the earth ascend from the altars of the 
 Church of England." 
 
 The objection to the use of forms of prayer in 
 public worship is very trifling as seen from the various 
 points of view we have already taken. We have seen 
 them in the Old and New Testament. We have seen 
 them in the early Christian Churches for 1,400 
 years before the Reformation, and ever since in the 
 Church of England, which has given to the world some 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 47 
 
 of the greatest spiritual workers and revivalists that 
 have been known. Saints, Martyrs and the early 
 Christians, God, the Bible and the Church, all are 
 Jigainst the objections to forms of prayer ; and now we 
 come to look further to see if we can find a liturgy 
 anywhere in exploring this great pleasure ground of 
 Christian truth. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Every congregation worships after some form. It 
 cannot do otherwise. The people unite with and 
 follow after the minister, and receive the words as he 
 dictates them ; the prayer he makes is for the time 
 the form by which they worship. They cannot tell 
 whether he invents it at the moment or repeats it from 
 manuscript. By attending regularly upon the services 
 of any minister, you will find that his prayers fall 
 gradually into a form and become substantially the 
 same from Sunday to Sunday, so that after listening 
 to him for some time, you can tell when he is about 
 the middle, and when he is near the end of his prayer. 
 If then, every congregation necessarily worships after 
 a form, the question comes up as to tchich is best, a 
 premeditated and carefully prepared form, which has 
 been composed by the most pious and educated men 
 and used for ages by our fathers and forefathers in 
 their sacred devotions, or an extempore form coming 
 from the mind, and, may be, the heart, of one person, 
 who may not be so wise, judicious and pious as the 
 
48 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 imitcd wisidom and pioty of those who composcid tlio 
 prayers and lituixY ^^ ^^^^ J^oly Church. If every 
 minister were liighly gifted and fluent, if every 
 minister's heart were glowing with devotion each time 
 he appeared l)efore God in prayer, and if every 
 minister were educated, wise and prudent in the use of 
 language, and used prayers that were free from lectures 
 or compliments to the people, and repeated in a solemn 
 manner and humble voice, there would be some reason 
 for dispensing with set forms. The Methodists, of all 
 men, should not object to forms c rship, for they 
 pray in a stereotyped form more tuan any others. 
 There are manv of them using the same words and 
 form in their prayers for years with scarcely any varia- 
 tion of voice or words ; and, in many instances, they 
 are wearisome, lifeless, and seem never to be answered. 
 The great founder of Methodism said : "I believe 
 there is no liturgy in the world, either in ancient or 
 modern language, which breathes more of solid, scrip- 
 tural rational piety than the Common Prayer of the 
 Church of England, and Dr. Adam Clark, the most 
 learned of Wesley's followers, said : " The Liturgy is 
 almost universally esteemed by the devout and pious 
 of every denomination, and is th'i (jreatest effort of the 
 Reformation next to the translation of the Scriptures 
 into the English language. As a form of devotion, 
 it has no equal in any part of the Universal Church of 
 God. Next to the JJihle, it is a book of my under- 
 standing, and of my hearth Another testimony comes 
 from Dr. Gumming, of London, a most distinguished 
 Presbyterian minister, who said, in pleading for forms 
 in his own Church : " There is a mediocrity among 
 clergy, as among laity. Nothing can be more painful 
 than to hear harangues instead of prayers, and preach- 
 ing instead of simple petitions." The Edinburgh 
 Review, some time ago, referring to the rapid strides of 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 49 
 
 the Church of England in Scotland, and the number 
 of Presbyterians who were joining it, says : " The 
 source of the extensive alienation which has taken 
 place is to be found in the superior attractions of a 
 more ritual worship ; for certainly there is no more 
 just exception against the worsliip of Scottish Presby- 
 terians, than its effect in placing the most devotional 
 part of divine service entirely at the mercy of the in- 
 dividual minister who conducts it." 
 
 In taking every available means of viewing this 
 subject, there are to be seen the most distinguished, 
 scholarly divines of various denominations agreeing 
 with the great Church herself that the forms of wor- 
 ship are reasonable. Scriptural and eminently conducive 
 to the highest spiritual life. To journey onward for 
 more light, we see one shining brilliantly through the 
 hymns and psalms, those great devotional forms of 
 praise and prayer. When the first line is given out, 
 there are several persons in the congregation who 
 know beforehand every word they are to sing, and 
 most of them have books open before tliem. Now, 
 every one who joins in singing tliese verses which 
 express the desires of his heart to the Lord, prays, if 
 he uses verses, with which he was acquainted before ; 
 he prays by a fonn ; he does the very thing which he 
 objects to, the only difference is his prayer is in poetry. 
 Unless it can be proven that the same petition is 
 proper in poetry and improper in prose, the practice in 
 one case will justify it in the other. There is no 
 question raised here but that there are excellent 
 Christians who worship God in both ways by forms 
 and extempore ; but the question is, should the 
 Church of England be condemned for the Liturgy and 
 forms of prayer when they have been so eminently 
 successful, when they are sanctioned by so many 
 authorities, the Saviour Himself and the Church all 
 
50 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 thi'ongh the centuries 1 That they do not tend to 
 lifelessness or coldness nmy.be seen clearly. Wesley 
 hecame most ardently devotional from using them. 
 The Moravians, to whom Wesley owed much of his 
 great zeal, and who w-ere, perhaps, the most devoted of 
 all Christians, with their missionaries scattered abroad 
 from the snows of Greenland to the burning sands of 
 the Tropics, Avorshipped after a form. The great 
 reformers, Luther and Calvin, both composed forms 
 of prayer for the churches which they founded. In 
 Cermany, Sweden, Denmark, at Geneva, and among 
 the Protestants in France, liturgies are now to be seen. 
 P>axter, the great and pious, prepared a liturgy for 
 ])opular use. Dr. Paley says : "The enumeration of 
 liuman wants and suiferings in the Litany is almost 
 complete A Christian petitioner can have few things 
 to ask of God, or to deprecate, which he will not find 
 there expressed, and for the most part with inimitable 
 tenderness and simplicity." When the Methodists 
 were established in the United States, Wesley, their 
 father, prepared a liturgy for them. John Knox, the 
 Scottish Reformer, prepared a liturgy which was used for 
 several years in the Church of Scotlf nd, and which many 
 of them wish to be used yet. The Wesleyan Methodists 
 in England use the Church of England service. The 
 Frencli Huguenots in some places in the United States, 
 though having a Presbyterian minister, use a liturgy. 
 A Presbyterian Church, built lately in New York, has 
 introduced a liturgy. The General Assembly in Scot- 
 land, a few years ago, appointed a committee to pre- 
 pare a ]3ook of Devotion. The Dutch Reformed 
 Church, a highly respectable body of Christians in the 
 United States, have a liturgy. The fact is, this whole 
 subject is occupying the minds of many of the most 
 thoughtful and influential Christians of the present 
 day, and one of the ablest of their number says : 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 51 
 
 " Though no prudent man would expose himself or his 
 cause to the torrent of abuse which the sudden proposal 
 of the subject would bring upon liim, yet numbers 
 believe that the judicious use of a form of prayer is 
 not only consistent with the purest teaching of Christian 
 doctrine, hut with the universal usage of the Reformed 
 Churches in their purest days." The excellency of 
 the Liturgy of the Church of England has already 
 been established, but tlie following striking quotation 
 from a dissenting quarter will make an appropriate 
 close to this chapter. " It is a striking testimony to 
 the intrinsic excellence of the Liturgy of the Church 
 of England and to the fidelity and purity with which 
 it expresses the genuine spirit of Christianity, that 
 though descended from such remote antiquity, it has 
 lost none of its original freshness. It is as serviceable 
 for the present generation, as thoroughly adapted to 
 the utterances of our profoundest, as also of our most 
 delicate and varied feelings, as if it had been composed 
 in our own day. Nay, it is more so. What English 
 prose will venture to challenge a comparison with the 
 majesty and melody of the Collects 1 Shakespere and 
 Milton may have equalled them by the happiest efTort 
 of their genius ; we know of no prose writing that 
 could bear such a trial. The cause of this superiority 
 is plain. The Liturgy is the choicest selection of 
 what has proved to be the best during a long lapse of 
 time. Its Litany and its Collects are the fruit of the 
 most sublime piety, and the noblest gifts of language, 
 tested by long substantial trial. No single generation 
 could have created or could replace the Liturgy. It is 
 the accumulation of the treasures with which the 
 most diversified experience, the most fervid devotion, 
 and the most exalted genius, have enriched the worship 
 of prayer and praise during 1500 years. Who, then, 
 can over-estimate its influence in perpetuating the sacred 
 
52 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 fire of Christian love and faith among a whole people, 
 or exaggerate its power in conserving the pure and 
 apostolic type of Christian worship T 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Tower of London and the Rock of Gibraltar 
 are considered the greatest fortresses in the world 
 The one stands in the mightiness of its strength, and 
 has had a place in history of such great importance 
 that for eight centuries since it first frowned upon the 
 waters of the Thames it has never sustained an attack 
 from a foreign enemy ; but it has frequently felt the 
 shock of violent internal convulsions from the strite 
 and fierce passions which have characterized th(j 
 various agitations of England's own sons. The interna 
 conflicts have been varied, but the ancient pile still 
 stands proudly in its place, amidst the surrounding 
 mass of modern structure. The dark shadows ot the 
 past that enshroud the gloomy fabric only serve to 
 throw into stronger relief the justice and liberty, the 
 intelligence and refinement, which illuminate our day. 
 No one who has an interest in the annals of his 
 country can approach with indifference this royal 
 castle of his forefathers. It is still the chief fortress 
 of the nation, and the great depository of the national 
 arms and accoutrements, so that every man can be 
 supplied with a weapon of defense. The White Tower 
 erected in 1080, is 116 by 96 feet and 92 feet high 
 while the external walls are 15 feet thick. What 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 53 
 
 have been the changes 1 Si"..eh as liave made it 
 mightier, more magniticent and formidable. The Rock 
 of Gibraltar stands an impregnable fortress, unchanged 
 during the centuries, the ages and cycles. Do not 
 these fortresses draw us near the idea of an unchanging 
 and an unchangeable God who is the same yesterday, 
 to-day and forever 1 Is not God's Church likened to a 
 rock ? Christ is the Rock, the chief corner stone ; and 
 the " Church is a congregation of faithful men, in 
 which the pure word of God is preached, and the 
 sacrflments duly administered, according to Christ's 
 ordinance." There should be prescribed methods of 
 doing this, otherwise there will be confusion. The 
 sacraments may be duly administered, but unless there 
 is a form to go by, there is danger of their not being 
 duly administered. The most reasonable, the most 
 intelligent method, and that by which the greatest safe- 
 guards are thrown about the Church is to avoid 
 changes au'-l t<j perpetuate tlie itlea of the rock and 
 fortress. 
 
 But it is argued by the opponents of the Church of 
 England that the form engenders indifference to 
 revivals, to the cause of missions and a deficiency in 
 vital piety. Are these arguments sound 1 Let us see. 
 The P-^ayer Book standard of devotion is incompatible 
 with any other life than the imitatio:i of Christ, and 
 can there be any higher standard or any loftier practical 
 life 1 Every Prayer, Collect, Psalm or Lesson, and 
 every part of the Liturgy leads to a devotional frame 
 of mind, deals with substantial Scriptural truths, and 
 is a terror to evil doers. The Prayers, the Offices, the 
 Articles, and the Hymns teacli the necessity of the 
 renewirig of the heart by the Spirit of God, so that if 
 the necessity of a change of heart is not taught in the 
 Prayer Book, it is not taught in the Uible. A " change 
 of heart" lUKpiestionably means "repentance towards 
 
54- THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." That is the 
 way Paul tauglit it and no one can read the qualifi- 
 cations the Church of Enf,dand prescribes to candidates 
 for Baptism and to tliose who woukl partake of the 
 Holy Communion without admitting that they are such 
 as the Apostles required, exj)ressed in Scriptural 
 language. The Church ought not to be blamed for 
 not using a peculiar phrase, which is of recent origin, 
 and not found in the Bible, provided she holds, teaches 
 and requires the thing itself. It is also argued against 
 the Church that she is unfriendly to Revivals. As is 
 generally understood, a " revival " means an increaso.d 
 interest in reliciion, manifested hy the more holy walk 
 of its professors, and hy a greater numher of conversio7iii 
 to God than usual. If this be the meaning, then the 
 charge is unfounded, for this is the very work the 
 Church of England is laboring to accomplish through- 
 out all its vast agencies. There is however some 
 difference in the means adopted for bringing about 
 these results, compared with measures considered 
 proper by others. The Church believes in proper 
 methods for exciting and deepening religious feeling 
 and interest ; and there are many Christians of all 
 denominations who think as the Church of England 
 does. 
 
 The Methodists, who deserve so much praii>( for 
 their zeal and labor and who, more than any others, 
 have engaged in these religious excitements, are 
 beginning to have misgivings as to the policy and 
 propriety of them. The following from the New York 
 Christian Advocate and Journal, the ablest paper of 
 the denomination, clearly shows this. " It cannot be 
 denied that the system of recruiting our Church by 
 revivals lias been seriously abused, and that the faitli 
 of our preachers and people in the bencHts of such 
 religious excitements has l>een very much shaken. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHUFiCH OF ENGLAND. 55 
 
 The plan of forcing a periodical excitement by the aid 
 of professional agitators or revivalists, has been fraught 
 with consequences most disastrous to the Church. 
 Machine-made converts were found to have a very 
 ephemeral life, and the successful labors of the reviver 
 to fill the classes of probationers, were generally 
 followed by the more laborious and very ungrateful 
 efforts of the regular preachers to rid them of careless 
 and irreligious members. Camp-meetings, too, from a 
 variety of causes, have become very unproductive, and 
 many of our most thoughtful preachers and members 
 have found it necessary to discourage attendance upon 
 them." The above is strong language, uttered with 
 pathos, and would be considered uncharitable, if used 
 by an opponent of Methodism. It goes to shov/ that 
 tlie Church of England, in disapproving of certain 
 measures, introduced in modern times, does not stand 
 alone, and is not opposed to revivals of religion, but on 
 tlie contrary uses every Scriptural did legitimate means 
 for saving souls. Are the denominations who have 
 for the longest period resorted to such means of creating 
 revivals proving successful ? The great Methodist 
 organs in England, the Times and Recorder, tell us 
 that the Wesleyans were about 700 members weaker 
 in 1885 than i\\ 1884, and that out of new members 
 who joined, 26,780 resigned. Their Theological 
 Colleges are half empty. In one district, 35 villages, 
 where Methodism once flourished the body has ceased 
 to exist ; in other districts, 19 village services have 
 been given up, in another 24 have been stopped, so 
 that the vast rural population is now almost wholly 
 l.>ft to the spiritual care of the Church of England. 
 That is what the Times says. The Recorder says 
 frankly " we ourselves, after very close consideration, 
 are prepared to admit the Church of England, in the 
 number of its more or less attached adherents, exceeds 
 
56 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the sum total of all other denominations, the Roman 
 Catholics included. It is evident, also, in respect of 
 wealth, influence and general resources, it exceeds much 
 more largely the other denominations combined ; and 
 further, that, were it not for its own intestine divisions,. 
 it would have the advantage against all who are 
 separated from it of united mass and organization 
 against divided interests, diverging tendencies and 
 mutually independent organizations. We ar'^. neither 
 able nor disposed to deny, furthermore, that during 
 the last 20 years its growth and advance have been 
 very wonderful — greater, on an average, in respect of 
 practical aggressiveness and voluntary organic develop- 
 ment, than the growth and advance of nonconformity 
 as a whole." There is no doubt this result has been 
 achieved by the revival work in the Church of England 
 which has been carried on so successfully for several 
 years past, and in keeping to a great extent with the 
 old method used by John Wesley in his day, and which 
 was carried on witliin the pale of the Churcli, which is 
 so broad, so high and so low that none need seek other 
 spheres for usefulness in the Master's vineyard. The 
 following from the Bishop of Leitchfield's monthly- 
 address indicates the manner in which the revivals are 
 (tarried on in the old established fortress, the Church of 
 England : 
 
 " Our little l)and of lay evangelists, headed by their 
 devoted chief, are winning many souls for Christ, as 
 they proclaim, in tlie highways as well as in our mission 
 rooms, the freeness and the fulness of the Gospel of 
 Christ. And, as the fruit of their labors, we are 
 gathering together in many parts a few of our artizans 
 and working men whose hearts have been kindled by 
 the love of Christ ; who, in their own neighborhoods^ 
 and without forsaking their worldly calling, will give 
 us local help as district evangelists. We are now 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 57 
 
 making special arrangements for the careful training of 
 these men in Scriptiuil knowledge and in the doctrines 
 of the Church. They will be a great strsngth to us, 
 working from their own homes among their own kins- 
 folk, acquaintance and neighbors." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 In singing that noble hymn, " From Greenland's 
 Icy Mountains, from India's Coral Strand," the mis- 
 sionary spirit is at once awakened ; and who composed 
 it but a Bishop of the Church of England, who died 
 in a distant mission field ? The Church has to-day 
 many faithful missionaries, men and women on the 
 coast of Africa, in the deadliest climate on the globe. 
 Dr. Baird, of the Presbyterian Church, forty years ago, 
 in his work entitled " Keligion in America," said " the 
 contributions of the Episcopal Church in the United 
 States for Foreign Missions, in proportion to the num- 
 ber of her communicants, were, as compared to other 
 Churches, setting aside decimals, as follows : Com- 
 pared with the Presbyterian Church, as one dollar and 
 twenty cents to one dollar ; as compared with the 
 Methodists, as ten dollars to one ; compared with all 
 others together, as one dollar to two." It must not be 
 forgotten, too, that the oldest Protestant Missionary 
 Society in the world has its origin among Church of 
 England people, and that this Church's particular mis- 
 sion is to carry the Gospel to every creature throughout 
 the world. Where did John Wesley get his missionary 
 
58 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 spirit when he went f ut to Georgia but in the Chiircli 
 of England. In all Christendom there is no religious 
 body surpassing the Church of England in missionary 
 zeal. Within fifty years the seven Colonial r>ishops of 
 tlie Anglican Church have increased to seventy-seven, 
 many of them with over one hundred clergymen. In 
 every clime the Church is planted — in New Zealand 
 alone there are five Bishops with large corps of native 
 clergy under them. There are the Home Missions, 
 Foreign Missions, Missions to the Jews and to the 
 heathen, and so the work goes on. There are 400 
 converted Jews clergymen in the Church of England 
 to-day, three of whom have been raised to the 
 rank of Bishop. It is urged again that the 
 Church is dithcient in vital piety. Church people 
 are styled fashionable, aristocratic and fond of 
 worldly conformity. As to deficiency in vital piety, 
 let the same Dr. Baird answer, whose testimony is 
 valuable, as he was of another denomination ; he says : 
 *' It (the E. Church) possesses a degree of life and 
 energy throughout all its extent, and an amount of vital 
 piety in its ministers and members, such as it never 
 had in its colonial days. It is blessed with precious 
 revivals and flourishes like a tree planted by tlie rivers 
 of waters. The friend of a learned and able ministry, 
 to form which she has founded collejjes and theolofjical 
 institutions. She sees among her clergy, not a few 
 men of the highest distinction for talents, learning, 
 •eloquence, as well as piety and zeal." The charge that 
 great liberty is given to her members, and that they 
 are worldly and excessively fond of pleasure, is so 
 sweepingly made, that weak-minded persons, or those 
 blinded by ignorance, have been greatly influenced 
 against the Church in consequence ; while others, 
 wishing to belong to some church which would give 
 them a license to worldly conformity, have expressed a 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHUUCII OF ENGLAND. 59 
 
 (lesire to join it in order to have the hititudo they 
 desired for eonforniing with the world. But they soon 
 discover their mistake ui)on being informed that an 
 expressed condition of clrarchinansJiip that each one, 
 in tlie presence of witnesses, lias formally and solemnly 
 to agree to, is that he " renounce the devil and all his 
 works, the vain pomp and glory of the world with all 
 the covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires 
 of the flesh."' The same renunciation is made at 
 Confirmation. The pastorals frequently warn the people 
 against those " worldly pleasures which may tend to 
 withdraw tlie affection from spiritual things,'" and 
 e.specially, designated gaming amusements involving 
 cruelty to the brute creation and theatrical entertain- 
 ments. Suppose then that there are worldly persons 
 iw the Church, is it not clear that they are violating 
 the express conditons of their membership? that they 
 act in direct opposition to the authority and teachings 
 of the Church 1 Ihit their inconsistencies can no more 
 be urged as an argument against the Church of Eng- 
 land, than the faults of professors generally can bo 
 laid at the door of Christianity itself. There is nothing, 
 how^ever, to prevent piety from flourishing in the 
 Church. Her worship favors its groAvtli and the 
 growth is manifest ; not so much Ijy salient starts as 
 a steadily fixed purpose to live according to the teach- 
 ings and principles laid down by Christ and his 
 Apostles. A distinguished Wesleyan Minister says 
 in a letter })ublished in a Boston paper, " There is 
 more tri"' religion in the Church of England than 
 anywhere else in the country. This Church is the 
 only Protestant body which is making progress in 
 Evangelical labors and prosperous advances." This 
 was said of the Church of England where experience, 
 intelligence and advanced education are so prominent, 
 and where also vital piety abounds. The objector 
 
(>0 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 should remeiiiboi' that it was the Church of England 
 which translated the Bible he reads, that the great 
 commentator Scott was one of her sons, that Dr. Adam 
 Clark, whose commentary is so much prized by Metho- 
 dists, and deservedly so, was brought up in the bosom 
 of the Church and at the age of seventy still considered 
 himself a thoi'ough meml)er of it. Take a list of 
 devotional books, and where can there be found more 
 .soul-stirring publications than those from the pens of 
 the Bishops and Clergymen of the Church of England 1 
 The soul-stirring influences of these books of devotion 
 are of a safe character, leading to the solid foundation 
 of Christ's teachings, examples, principles and practice 
 and up to the great fatherhead of God. Her women 
 also, such as Hannah More, Charlotte Elizabeth and 
 others, prove that tJie Church produces fruits of the 
 most vital character and lasting as eternity. The 
 following from the Bishop of Ripon is a sample of the 
 Church's system of teaching the way to promote vital 
 piety :— 
 
 " We are like the flowers, and trees, and grass of 
 the valley ; as the Apostle said : ' All flesh is grass, 
 and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the 
 held.' We are like the flowers and the trees, too, that 
 cannot grov/ without the fresh, pure water of God : 
 without it the world grew parched ; sin dried up men's 
 best powers, and they could not grow beautiful in good 
 works and pure lives, but grew useless or withered 
 altogether away, and they could only cry out for want 
 of some power to make tlioir hearts fresh and tender 
 again ; and at last from the heights of God the power 
 and the help came, bright and sparkling as the river of 
 life ; Jesus Christ came, to give to those that were 
 athirst fountains of living water. But, then, like a 
 stream on tlie side of the precipice, He seemed to melt 
 away ; He died, and the people who thought He was 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 61 
 
 coming to lielp thorn were sad, for tliey thought that 
 they had lost Him ; but just as the spray and mist 
 Iiad gathered into stream again, so Christ was not 
 really lost, but rose again to life, and became the 
 strength of His people, saying : ' I am He that was 
 dead and am alive again, and behold I am alive for 
 evermore.' And whenever we are unhappy and feel 
 that wo cannot live fruitful and briglit lives, but are 
 only cross, and selfish, and surly, and unkind, remem- 
 ber that there is a bright stream of love — that can 
 make your heart soft and tender. If you ask Him He 
 will be glad to make you glad, and through you to 
 make all others glad. 
 
 " When you he. of others who want help, don't 
 put away the thought of them : listen to their cry. 
 The little stream at tlie ])recipice hears the cry of the 
 fainting flowers, and rushes to help them ; it is nothing 
 to it that it has to be broken to pieces and shivered, as 
 it trembles down the precipice ; it is only eager to 
 help. Christ heard the cry of the sore and thirsty 
 world, and leaped to help them ; it was nothing to 
 Him that He had to face the cross and have all His 
 life broken and His work scattered in death. He was 
 only eager to help others, and make them happy. So 
 we must list' i and give help when we can. The voice 
 of sorrow, the voice of pity, the voice of conscience, 
 the voice of love, the voice of truth, may always be 
 heard by those who listen for them. Never mind 
 those who say : "You will lose by listening to such 
 sounds." Never mind if it sometimes seems to you 
 that it is no use trying, and that your strength is 
 scattered to no purpose, like the broken and scattered 
 stream on the face of the mountain. Go on ; spend 
 yourself for others ; you will grow stronger, others will 
 be made happier, the world will look brighter, and, 
 best of all, you will be only doing just what Jesus 
 
62 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Christ, your Miuster and mine, wished you to do. Yoii 
 will be giving your life for others ; you will not be 
 lost, even though you die. Jesus Christ, who died 
 and rose again, has the keys of death and the grave^ 
 and will bring you to the soft, quiet land where the 
 true meaning of life will be seen, and all loving deeds 
 live in God's remembrance, where the flowers never 
 fade and the trees never wither, and where the river of 
 the water of life flows and makes glad the city of God.'" 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Methodists and many others appear to have a 
 holy horror of the Church of England from the idea 
 they have some way got hold of that it is little differ- 
 ent from the Roman Catholic Church. This impres- 
 sion is fostered by many who, to say the least, ouglit 
 to know better. It is a significant fact that the 
 Apostles' Creed is so seldom heard or the Confession 
 of Faith so seldom recited by the various denominations^ 
 though catechisms contain them, that when occasion- 
 ally they are heard, some people stagger at the words 
 '* Holy Catholic Church" in the Creed, and are im- 
 pressed with the idea that they mean Romanism. Yet 
 the word Catholic Church means the universal Church, 
 all of Christ's people, wherever they may be dispersed 
 throughout the world. The term Catholic was first 
 applied to the Christian Church to distinguish it from 
 the Jewish; the latter being confined to a single 
 
THE JIETHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 63 
 
 nation, the former being open to all who shonld seek 
 admission into it. The whole weight of the objection 
 to the Church of England on this ground lies in a 
 misapprehension of the meaning of the term. But, it 
 is said, again, that crosses are used on her churches, 
 which shows sympathy with the Ronuui Church. 
 This practice is by no means universal, but suppose it 
 were, where would the harm be 1 It is a touching 
 emblem of the faith which the Church professes, and 
 certainly affords a far more appropriate finish to the 
 steeple of a church than the arrow, the iish, or some 
 other representation that is now used. As people 
 become less prejudiced, they are beginning to ac- 
 knowledge the propriety of this emblem which may 
 now be seen on churches belonging to Baptists, Pres- 
 byterians, and even Methodists. (One Methodist 
 church in Cobourg has six.) Are they tending towards 
 Romanism because of this ? Most certainly not ; then 
 why should anyone say the Church of England is 1 
 
 But it is said that the priestly garments are relics 
 of Popery. Let those who say so look at the portraits 
 of Wesley, or Dr. Adam Clark, as they appeared in 
 the pulpit, and say if there was any Popery about 
 them because they wore a becoming ministerial robe ? 
 There are many ministers in various denominations who 
 officiate in gowns. 
 
 But the Prayers are Romish, for they are taken from 
 the Missal (the Romish Prayer Book), it is asserted. 
 Such is not the fact. The originals of the Service of 
 the Church of England can be traced back for fourteen 
 hundred years, and were used centuries before Popery 
 had an existence. 
 
 But the Roman Catholics have robes and forms of 
 prayer, it is argued. Well, does this make them 
 wrong ? Should the Church of England throw them 
 aside for no better reason than that the Church of 
 
64 THE METHOl ISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Rome adopts them "? Then the doctrine of the Trinity 
 must be discarded, also the rite of baptiism which she 
 retains. The question for each one to determine for 
 himself is, whether an observance is Scriptural or not, 
 and if it is sanctioned by the usage of the Ancient 
 Church .? If so, it is right and proper. 
 
 It is argued, again, that many of the Church of Eng- 
 land clersfx^men have sfone over to the Church of Rome. 
 Some liave done so, and in a large majority of cases, 
 they are individuals who have been educated in and 
 trained by some of the dissenting denominations, and 
 whose faith had become shaken in the practices and 
 discipline of the special sect to which they belonged ; 
 then went into the Church of England, and being in 
 most cases men of unstable mind, caused in some 
 instances by lax training, and liable to go to extremes, 
 passed on to the other extreme from which they had 
 started. But it cannot be reasonably said that the 
 Church is responsible for the vagaries of such men. 
 The denomination in which they were trained is more 
 responsible. There are, of course, some who have been 
 trained up in the Church, itself, who have gone over 
 to the Church of Rome ; but the whole Chur 'h can 
 not be said to have the same tendency as a few indi- 
 viduals. TJxis is a kind of logic which, like a two- 
 edged sword, cuts both ways. Look over the list of 
 clergymen of the Church of England in Canada and 
 in the United States ; and in the latter country there 
 are over 300 who have been Baptists, Presbyterians, 
 and Methodists ; and there are scores in Canada who 
 have done the same. Does this prove that the ten- 
 dency of these religious bodies is towards the Church 
 of England ? In the case of the ^lethodists it would 
 seem so, because it is their natural home, their paternal 
 abode ; but, doubtless, the other bodies would deny 
 the assertion as strongly as the charge could possibly 
 be made. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 65 
 
 Christianity must not be held responsible for the 
 treason of Judas, the falsehood of Ananias and 
 Sapphira, or other crimes which its professed followers 
 may have committed. 
 
 But is there anything in the teaching of the Church 
 of England which would tend to Romanism? The 
 Prayer Book is the standard of doctrine and worship, 
 and there is to be found the work of the English 
 Reformers who protested against the tenets of Rome. 
 It was compiled by men, some of whom were burnt to 
 the stake in the reign of Queen Mary for their un- 
 flinching opposition to the Roman Church. Cranmer 
 and Ridley were among the principal persons who 
 compiled the Liturgy ; and their fate is well known. 
 Would these Reformers have incorporated in the 
 Prayer Book the err^i.: which they opposed, iven unto 
 death, and which, for refusing to admit, they perished 
 in the flames *? No. It was the Churcii of England 
 that fought the great battle of the R'.formation, in 
 which so many hundreds of her noblest sons scaled 
 their testimony with their blood. The Prayer liook, 
 then, being compiled by martyrs and leaders in the 
 Reformation, it was morally impossible that it could be 
 other than thoroughly Protestant. In the thirty-ninf 
 articles fifteen of them bear distinctly against the errors 
 of Rome. There is no other denomination of 
 Christians that has borne such decided, unequivocal 
 testimony against every error of Romanism as tli(? 
 Church of England. In fact, the Church of England 
 has furnished the ablest champions of Protestantism, 
 and dealt the heaviest blows upon the Church of Rome, 
 that can be found in the world. These are men like 
 Barrow, Chillingwortli, Hooker, Taylor, Jewell, and 
 others of her scholars, who have thrown the weight of 
 their experience, erudition and piety against the errors 
 of Rome. From the fact of their education, expe- 
 
.66 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ■ lience, and training, many of the foremost in tlio 
 battle have not stooped to low abnse as an argument, 
 or ribaldry as one of the favorite weapons, but strong 
 persuasive reason, clothed in respectful language, full 
 of truth, justice and mercy. The following extract 
 from a letter written by John Wesley, in 1749, to a 
 Roman Catholic, breathes a true Christian spirit, 
 which might well be imitated by all : — 
 
 " Now, can nothing be done, even allowing us on 
 both sides to retain our own opinion, for the softening 
 our hearts towards each other, the giving a check to 
 the flood of unkindness, and restoring at least some 
 small degree of love among the neighbors and country- 
 men 1 Are you not fully convinced that malice, hatred, 
 revenge, bitterness, whether in us or in you, or in our 
 hearts or in yours, are an abomination to the Lord? 
 He our opinions right, or be they wrong, these tempers 
 are undeniably wrong. They are '^he broad road that 
 leads to destruction, to the nethermost hell. 
 
 " I do not suppose all the bitterness is on your side. 
 I think there is too much on our side also ; so much 
 that I fear many Protestants (so-called) will be angry 
 at me too, for writing to you in this manner , and will 
 say, ' It is showing you too much favor ; you deserve 
 no such treatment at our hands.' 
 
 " But I think you do. I think you deserve the 
 tenderest regard I can show, were it only because the 
 same God hath raised you and me from the dust of the 
 earth, and has made us more capable of loviag and 
 enjoying him to eternity ; were it only becaust the 
 Son of God has bought you and me with his own 
 blood. How much more, if you are a person fearing 
 God (as withaut question many of you are), and study- 
 ing to have a conscience void of oifense towards Cod 
 and towards man ? 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 67 
 
 '* I shall therefore endeavor, as mildly and inoffen- 
 sively as 1 can, to remove in some measure the ground 
 of your unkindness, by plainly declaring what our 
 belief and what our practice is." 
 
 Mr. Wesley then proceeds to describe the Protestant 
 faith in the form of an expository statement of the 
 Nicene Creed. Then he enlarges upon the fact that a' 
 true Protestant loves God with all his heart, and his 
 neighbor as himself ; and formally winds up by de- 
 scribing the practical side of a true Protest.ant's life in 
 terms of the Sermon on the Mount. 
 
 "This," he concludes, "and this alone is the old 
 religion. This is true primitive Christianity. 0, when 
 shall it spread over all the earth ! When shall it be 
 found both in us and you ! Without waiting for others, 
 let each of us, by the grace of God, amend one. 
 
 " Are we not thus far agreed 1 Let us thank God 
 for this and receive it as a fresh token of his love. But 
 if God still loveth us, we ought also to love one 
 another. We ought, without this endless jangling 
 about opinions, to provoke one another to love and to 
 good works. Let the points wherein we differ stand 
 aside ; here are enough wherein we agree, enough to 
 be the ground of every Christian temper and every 
 Christian action. 
 
 " brethren, let us not fall out by the way ! I hope 
 to see you in heaven. And if I practise the religion 
 above described, you dare not say I shall go to hell. 
 You cannot think so. None can persuade you to it. 
 Your own conscience tells you the contrary. Then if 
 we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we 
 may love alike. Herein we cannot possibly do amiss. 
 For of one point none can doubt a moment — * God is 
 love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, 
 and God in him.'" 
 
68 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER Xil. 
 
 THE CHURCH FESTIVALS. 
 
 God appointed several festivals among the Jews so 
 as to perpetnate the memory of great events. The 
 Srbbath commemorated the creation of the world; the 
 Passover, the departure out of Egypt ; the Pentecost, 
 the laws given at Sinai. These festivals kept them m 
 mind of God and under the influence of religion. They 
 seciu'cd to them certain times of rest and rejoicings, 
 rendered them more familiar with the law, for in their 
 religious assemblies the law of God was read and 
 explained. In the Christian Church, no festival 
 appears to have been expressly instituted by Christ or 
 his Apostles. Yet as we commemorate tlie passion of 
 Christ as often as we celebrate his Supper, he seems by 
 this to have instituted a perpetual feast. Christians 
 have always celebrated the memory of his resurrection. 
 The Angels from heaven celebrated it with a joyful 
 hymn. The festivals of the Church of England, or 
 set days for certain commemorative services, though 
 not enacted by any express command from the Saviour 
 or his Apostles, they are not forbidden. There are two 
 ways, and only two ways, by which the will of God 
 can be collected from his word; either by some explicit 
 injunction upon all, or by incidental circumstances 
 and, as there is nothing to the contrary, the Church 
 festivals, which are partly as follows, may )>e considered 
 not as human creations or enactments but Scriptural 
 and of the greatest benefit to all. The first is 
 
 THE SABBATH. 
 
 The Church of England holds to the sabbatical 
 institution and observes the Lord's day as wholly 
 devoted to religion, exclusive of worldly business and 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 69 
 
 pleasure, and those who do not so observe the sabbath 
 are unworthy tlie name they bear and the Church to 
 which they belong. In her Book of Common Prayer, 
 the Calendar fixers the morning and evening lessons 
 from the Bible for every sabbath, so that from one end 
 of the year to the other the people know or can find 
 out, the exact lessons that are to be read in Church, 
 and if through sickness or other causes, they are 
 prevented from attending the house of God, they can 
 engage in the same service at home. The Psalms also 
 are arranged in a like manner, so that as the years roll 
 by the entire devotional parts of the Bible and Psalms 
 are kept in use and prominently fastened upon the 
 minds of the people, as well as the threatenings and 
 denunciations of God's law. Another festival which 
 the church perpetuates is 
 
 THE ADVENT, 
 
 which appropriately commemorates the coming of our 
 Saviour into the world. The Calendar provides that 
 the four Sundays preceding Christmas are to be 
 observed as a season of devotion with reference to the 
 coming of Christ in the flesh and his second coming to 
 judge the world. What can be more in keeping with 
 the spirit of Christianity than to observe such a season? 
 The lessons, hymns, collects and sermons all tend to 
 keep before the minds of the people the great event of 
 Christ's coming in the flesh, and of the fact that he will 
 come again to judge the world. This season is one 
 that all Christians may enjoy and heartily commemo- 
 i-ate. The next is 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY, 
 
 which has been observed by all Christians as one of 
 special joy and gladness. The birth of Christ was the 
 greatest blessing ever bestowed on mankind, and was 
 heralded by the Angelic songsters on the plains of 
 
70 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Bethlehem. Every man who has any feeling of his 
 own lost state withont a Rodeeiiier must rejoice and 
 be glad in it. This is a festival, however, that has no 
 direct authority in Scripture, but is one that is appro- 
 priate. It serves the purpose of keeping in mind the 
 nativity of our Lord, who was appointed heir of all 
 things, by whom also the worlds weve made. This 
 festival has such a hold upon the nations of the world 
 to-day, that infidelity and all the powers of darkness 
 combined cannot extinguish "the brightness of his 
 glory." " Christ is the true light that lighteneth every 
 man that cometh into the world." Another of the pre- 
 <;ious seasons set apart by the Church of England is 
 
 THE EPIPHANY; 
 
 ■ov the commemoration of Christ's manifestation to the 
 (Jentiles. There are six Sundays in this season, and the 
 lessons are all apropriate for leading the mind specially 
 to the Saviour as he appeared to the magicians or 
 ]ihilosoi>hers of ilie Ep.st\vho came to adore him witli 
 presents. As the meaning of the word is "to appear," 
 it enables the Church to keep in mind the appearance 
 of the Star to the w^ise n.ien and the ai)i)earance of 
 Christ into the world. The various Sundays in 
 Epiphany are devoted to special appearances, such as : 
 his fir«t, when a l)abe in Bethlehem ; his appearance to 
 the doctors in the temple, when he jistonished them 
 with his understanding, being only twelve years old ; 
 his appearence at the marriage in Cana of Galilee ; 
 besides his appearance to the multitude, healing the 
 :sick, cleansing the lepers, stilling the storm at sea when 
 lie appeared on the waiters. This season or festival is 
 full of pure Crospel teaching, which greatly heli)s to 
 anchor the Christian down to devotional steadfastness 
 and faith, so that there is no room left for doubts 
 concerning the Saviour's appearance in tlu^ world and 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 71 
 
 the great mission he came to fulfil by drawing all men 
 ^into him, as the centre of perfection, the fountain of 
 happiness, the Star of hope, ever sinning, cv^er blessing, 
 and perpetually the same. 
 
 ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT. 
 
 Under the old dispensation, the feast of tents or taber- 
 nacles, during which all Israel were obliged to attend the 
 temple and to dwell eight days under tents of branches, 
 was to commemorate the forty years, when their fathers 
 dwelt in tents while travelling in the wilderness, and 
 so the season of Lent is to remind all Christians of the 
 forty days fasting of Christ in the wilderness. This 
 ^^eason is specially designed to perpetuate the memory 
 of sacrifices, self denial, abstinence and prayer, which 
 every Christian finds necessary if he wants to walk in 
 the footsteps of his Master. Protestants, as followers 
 after truth and righteousness, cannot do better than 
 observe such a season as this in the way it is cele- 
 brated by the Church of England It serves as an 
 anchor to hold every Christiaa sure and steadfast to 
 the tiiith as it is in Jesus and to his example. It 
 4iifords tlie opportunity of a special means of grace. 
 Every day's abstinence from something that is desired 
 and indulged in at other times helps to keep constantly 
 in mind the necessity of the Saviour's injunction. "If 
 any man will come after me, let him deny himself and 
 take up his cross daily and follow me." In the Church 
 of England in many places daily services are being held 
 during the whole season of Lent, which often lead to 
 revivals of religion which are deep rooted, and the 
 <!onvertsdrilled in the great Scriptural truths concerning 
 the teachings, principles and practices of Christ, the 
 knowledge of which is as essential to an intelligent 
 Christian life and a consistent Christian deportment 
 as anything can be. It is the practice, though not 
 
72 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 boasted of, that in every family circle of true Church- 
 men, there is during this solemn season the daily 
 abstinence from something that ^vill remind each one 
 continually of the sacrifice of Christ. One will abstain 
 from something most fond of as an article of diet, 
 another from some desired amusement, another 
 from something in dress, while another is determined 
 to break off some habit which has not been pleasing 
 or profitable. It is a common thing, in the inner circle 
 of some warm friends, among young people, to 
 converse together on the approach of Lent, to see 
 what they individually had better do in the way of 
 sacrifices during the lenten season. What can be 
 more appropria^ ; 'i In this way,, some things that are 
 abstained from are found to be conducive to health 
 and happiness, and the abstinence is continued through- 
 out the whole year, and it may be for life. 
 
 The season of Lent closes with the solemn fast on 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY, 
 
 when Christ's suffering and death on the cross are 
 commemorated by special services. The passion lessons, 
 prayers, hymns and collects are all appropriate for the 
 occasion, and the day is kept holy. Then soon follow;^ 
 
 EASTER SUNDAY, 
 
 when the glad anthems peal forth " Christ is risen from 
 
 the dead ; and become the first fruits of them that 
 
 slept." Alleluia ! Alleluia ! 
 
 " Easter triumph, Easter joy, 
 Sin alone can this destroy ; 
 * From sin's jwwer do thou set free 
 
 Souls new-born, O Lord, in thee. 
 Hymns of glory and of praise, 
 Risen Lord, to thee we raise ; 
 Holy Father, praise to thee 
 With the spiri* r be." 
 
 Tliere are several other seasons regularly observed 
 
 by the Church, all of which teach the hearts of men 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 73 
 
 the blessed truths of the Gospel in a commemorative 
 way that cannot be forgotten, and when after Easter 
 comes Whitsunday, the mind is led to the doctrine of 
 the Holy Spirit, the light of wisdom, the witness 
 which is to bear witness with our spirits that we are 
 the ciiildren of God. Then follows, soon after, 
 
 TRINITY SUNDAY, 
 
 which leads the mind to tiie triune God, in all his 
 works, and for twenty-five Sundays after Trinity, or 
 nearly half the year, the whole scheme of salvation, 
 through God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 Ghost, is so taught in the lessons, prayers and sermons, 
 that there is no room left for doubt or uncertainty 
 upon the great fundamental truths of Christianity. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A state of suspense or uncertainty is one of anxiety 
 and pain. When tlie doubt has relation to religion, it 
 unsettles the mind, destroys peace, hope and faith, the 
 three great links which connect the Christian to 
 happiness. Every Christian should be able to give a 
 reason for the hope that is within him. He should be 
 a truth-seeker, and at all times ready to receive the 
 truth from whatever source it comes and to whatever 
 place it may lead ; but it must be borne in mind that 
 the highest attainments in human knowledge are never 
 unalterably right. There is one source of knowledge 
 only that is wholly accurate, and that is through Him 
 
74 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. There is but one 
 unchangeable, almighty and omnipresent Being in the 
 universe, and that is God. lie is truth. He is holiness, 
 He is spiritual beauty, He is justice. He is love. He 
 is above the heavens. Man by searching cannot 
 fathom Him. He is Light above all light that man 
 can approach unto. Hence he is infinite. If he could 
 be fathomed, he would be finite, and hence no God. It 
 is in Christ and in him only that we see the brightness 
 ot the Father's glory and the express image of his 
 person. He came to reveal the Father. He and the 
 Father are one. The Father is incomprehensible, the 
 Son is incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost, proceed- 
 ing from the Father and the Son, is incomprehensible. 
 There is a Trinity and Unity and yet Ijut one God 
 uncreated, eternal, almighty and incomprehensible, as 
 there are not three Gods but one God and three Persons 
 in that one Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal. This is 
 the Christian's God, and to doubt of His existence 
 because of His incomprehensibleness, is ruinous to 
 man's salvation. The most scientific men in the world 
 cannot fathom many of the mysteries of physical law 
 or mental action. God alone is crowned with infinite 
 sovereignty over creation, which He controls by fixed 
 laws, many of which the finite mind can grasp, but 
 ■others which only the infinite knows. If then there 
 are around us and within us such complex movements 
 and vast mysteries that we cannot comprehend, is it 
 reasonable to expect that we should be able to under- 
 stand the infinite uncreated Being who brought us into 
 ■(existence 1 The Church of God on earth has a mission 
 to fulfil, which is to establish the people in the faith 
 of the Gospel. Preaching the Gospel to every creature 
 is the great commission received from Christ the Head 
 of the Church. It is the Church's highest glory to 
 teach and preach the Gospel. The nearer to fixed 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 75 
 
 tSci'iptuml forms of language and worsliip and the fixed. 
 Scriptural truths, the more eminently successful will 
 the Church be in the establishment of the people in 
 sound doctrine, and consequently the less room will be 
 left for doubt and uncertainty. The Church that is 
 least changeable comes nearest the Divine character, 
 \vhich is unchangeable, provided that it is fixed solidly 
 <in the foundation of Christ and his Apostles. The 
 multiplication of religious sects has done more to 
 unsettle the minds of thinking Christians than any- 
 thing else. A religious denomination that has a creed 
 and yet seldom or ever repeats it, soon loses sight of it 
 and drifts away from the truth into some of the field.s 
 of modern scientific research, where God is ignored and 
 Nature alone becomes the luminous heritage full of 
 intellectual beauty and ^»romise. The Freethinkers of 
 this day glory in the unstable character of the teachings 
 and principles of some modern divines, who from the; 
 authority given them by the Church to which they 
 Ijclong have " full control and discretion over all parts 
 of religious worship " instead of being under the 
 authority of some prescribed form and restraint. It is 
 the business of Freethinkers to create doubt in tlu^ 
 minds of Christians, hence they advocate changes, 
 ignore creeds, laugh at fixed principles, stability, 
 authority, and power, except it come from the subtle 
 and daring investigation of nature, which sways to and 
 fro on the troubled waters of doubt and uncertainly. 
 Their glory is unsettling the minds of people on 
 (questions of theology to get them drifting out into the 
 broad expanse of seeking truth everywhere without 
 ])rayer to guide them, simply to rely upon their own 
 intellect, the light of science and the works of nature. 
 Now there are no men in the world who l)elieve more 
 in the grandeur of truth than those who constitute the 
 Christian Church. Truth is our empire. It is the 
 
76 THE METHOU1ST8 AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 crown that encircles (wery Christian's brow. It spreads 
 out an array of splendid facts before us and tells us of 
 (lod. It discloses the power from which we and all 
 nature sprung-. It tells us that God can, will and does 
 care for us ; that He is our Father ; that he is loving, 
 just, i)itiful. That we are more to him tlian flowers or 
 atoms. What can Freethinkers tell us that science 
 has discovered for them concerning the character of 
 God ? Nothing. Indeed l)y our method of investiga- 
 tion, they say. He is nothing — non-existent. Science 
 can never discover an iidorable Deity. Science is 
 proving every day the validity of the liible — it rarmot 
 Hnd out God. Freethinkers do not like the Church, 
 except so far as it may be seen to drift away from the 
 truths of the lUble. Wherever a ^linister of the 
 (.Tospel is heard of that preaches some strange; doctrine 
 which unsettles the people's minds on the old orthodox 
 teachings of the Cliurch, his utterances are scattered 
 broadcast among their club.s and published in their 
 papers as evidence of the Church's departin-e from the 
 Bible and its adoption of the new light. It is time 
 the Christian Churches should anchor down to some 
 more stable form of worship, and to unite upon some 
 prescribed system of universal discipline that would 
 preserve the pure Gospel truths from being handled 
 according to the whims and fancies of men who are 
 left to their own " discretion " in the way they shall 
 conduct public worship. That great and godly man, 
 Spurgeon, has said, " English dissent is honeycombed 
 with infidelity." If this is true of Englisli dissent, it 
 is true of dissent generally and it is a well known fact 
 that many free-thought clubs and proniinent champions 
 of infidelity are maintained by persons who had been 
 at one time directly or nominally connected with some 
 of the religious denominations outside the Established 
 Church. Dissent is honeycombed with infidelity 
 
THE METH0DI8TS AND THE CHURCH OF EXGI-ANl). t t 
 
 because it is so much given to cliange. lutidelity is 
 a system of change. It is a materialism that deifies 
 matter through a process of change, asserts that it 
 always existed, is connected with mind, and that even 
 the iiicorporal part of man is matter. It believes that 
 changes have been constantly going on and are still 
 f>oing on in this world of matter, and that they have 
 already resulted in evolving man from the lower 
 animals, and will continue revolutionizing this material 
 animal until angels are })roduced whose far off 
 ancestors were monkeys. These highest intelligencies 
 and all the most beautiful forms are all tlie result of 
 change and not the work of an original and uncreated 
 Deity. The more a Christian Church is given to 
 change the nearer it approaches infidelity, whose alpha 
 and omega is change. If anything in this world 
 requires to be solidly fixed on an unchanging basis it 
 is the Church. If tlie world sees no greater stability 
 in the Church than it does in liunum organizations, 
 then the world has reason to doubt of the superiority 
 of the Church over human institutions. The Church 
 is a high and holy structure. It is represented as a 
 city on a hill that cannot be hid ; as a light on a candle- 
 stick to give light to all in th(^ room. Its foundation 
 is one that is deep-laid upon a rock. The winds may 
 blow and the floods come, but they cannot move it, 
 because it is on the rock of eternal truth. Do men 
 wish to see this rock % They asked Christ in his day 
 to show them the Father. His answer was " He 
 that have seen me hath seen the Father also." So 
 those who see the Church established on the rock 
 shedding forth its radiant light of inflexible truth, 
 spiritual character, yearning pity and love for man, 
 have seen the rock on which it stands. The Church 
 rests on the Eternal Godhead. God's mind is sovereign 
 and supreme law in the Church and not the whims 
 
78 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OP ENGLAND. 
 
 and fancies of man. God is good. The Church should 
 be good and reflect the moral and spiritual character of 
 Christ who gave imperishable permanency to right, to 
 goodness, and to truth. Matter has no moral charactei', 
 Tliere is no moral radiance in all the beauty and 
 grandeur of the star-lit heavens or ihs sea, A star can 
 speak of mind but not of morals. A person alone can 
 be moral ; morality is not an attribute of things but of 
 persons, so there is a difference between religion and 
 morality, the latter being simply conformity to a law 
 of right, while the other is essentially a relation toward 
 a Person. Infidelity cannot even produce morality, 
 because it deals with matter which is never spoken of 
 as moral or immoral. Keligion consists in the practical 
 recognition of a constraining bond between the inward 
 life of man and an unseen Person. It is when man 
 has caught sight of the Oae Perfect Being, and in the 
 effort to escape from the weakness and degradation of 
 his own earthly life, " lifts up his soul " in *aith to 
 the unseen, all powerful and all beautiful Giver of 
 Eternal Life, that he discovers the true iileal of life and 
 realizes it. Religion is the constant spring and 
 guarantee of mora' '^y, and not morality the essence 
 of religion. Practical religion is the greatest barrier 
 to infidelity, and it is based on faith. Strong faith in 
 God disperses the clouds of doubt and fear. It sheds 
 a light that realizes the great wants of our time. It 
 settles men's minds from the disturbing i*:fluences of 
 false tlocirine. It prevents us being borne on hither 
 and thither amid the currents of opposing thought, like 
 a ship without a rudder or compass, and pilots us safely 
 into the haven of rest and peace. 
 
 Faith in God makes the pijacher go forth and 
 proclaim, it may be in trumpet tones, God's message 
 to the world, calling men to repentance and inviting 
 them to Christ that they may ba saved. This faith 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 79 
 
 teaches the preacher that liis sermons are not merely 
 intellectual exercises and the pulpit a mere lecturer's 
 desk, but that tliey are a Divine ordinance and deal 
 with functions laid down in the Bible. The preacher 
 who is actuated by faith goes about like his Lord and 
 Master doing good. His work is in his parish, looking 
 after his people, as well as in the sanctuary, conducting 
 the public services. In this way he can talk to the 
 unwary face to face, meet the errors they may have 
 incurred, guide them safely through difficulties, trials 
 and temptations that beset them in this work-a-day 
 world. How different is this to the worldly conformed 
 system that so many professed Christians seek for 
 every day. Where are the old paths 1 They are in 
 the teachings and principles of Christ and his Apostles, 
 and require no amendments to perfect them to man's 
 necessities. They need no change. Every change 
 leads to a variety of opinions about religion that causes 
 other changi^.s desirable. The great changes reqr'~^d 
 in these times is to seek the old paths and walk *herb ■» 
 then there will be peace and progress, kno.^ ., j,e a 
 culture, character and religion walking hair' • . hand ; 
 but to be as unstable as water, none will excei. 
 
 ^Q*5^ 
 
80 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THEIR POSSIBijE UNION. 
 
 Protestant union is a dream in which many able 
 men are just now indulging. Uniformity of belief is 
 advocated as a means most conducive to the growth 
 and development of Christianity, while some glory in 
 variety which breeds schism and multiplies sects. They 
 go so far as to speak of variety in Christian beliefs as 
 tending to life and activity, while it is death alone that 
 knows no change. T\m is all very well from a scien- 
 tific point of view, if the growth, expansion and decay 
 of religion is taken on the same basis as the growth, 
 expansion and decay of material things. But it is not. 
 The idea we have of Jeliovah is " I am the Lord, I 
 change not.'' He is the only being who is without 
 variableness or shadow of turning. Then his everlast- 
 ing purj.'ose is seen in the stability of the laws which 
 regulate the material universe, it should teach a lesson 
 of uniformity in Christian belief, so far as the essential 
 attributes of His nature are concerned, the endless 
 variety displayed in his sublime works, whose exist- 
 ence depend t>n the unalterable laws of order, grandeur 
 and beneficence, we should be taught that upon 
 uniformity and stability depend variety and expansion. 
 There is in the Christian religion, more variety than 
 can be found in all the multiplied systems combined 
 that are outside the Christian Church. There is tlu^ 
 grandest and most variegated scenery that can be wit- 
 nessed anywhere. There is a variety to arouse atten- 
 tion, gratify the desire for novelty and fix the attentioi 
 with untiring interest. But all this variety depends 
 u])on a fixed, unchanging, everlasting and omnipotent 
 
 I 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 81 
 
 ■God. So the Church of Christ does not consist of 
 variety except as it conforms to the teachings and 
 principles of Christ. Ail othor variety leads to the 
 increase aud development of denominational systems 
 and sects. The fundamental principles of the Church 
 should be fixed upon an unchanging basis. This basis 
 can be so broad that men may not be required to 
 believe in every view — non-essential to the uniformity 
 and stability of the basis itself. They may differ as 
 widely as the poles in non-essentials so long as they 
 unite upon the essential doctrines of the Christian 
 religion as authorized by the Church to which they 
 avow allegiance. If there is to be uniformity in belief, 
 then the Unitarians may teach that Christ is not God 
 as well as man. The Quakers may teacli that there is 
 no need of the Holy Communion or Baptism, for they 
 ignore the Sacraments, the Calvanists can teach that 
 Christ is not the Saviour of the world, but of a certain 
 few ; the Plymouth Brethren may teach that there is 
 no need of repentance or amendment of life, for all a 
 sinner has to do is to believe that he is already saved ; 
 the Romanists can teach that the soul goes to purga- 
 tory for refinement, while others can teach that there 
 is no Judgment Seat of Christ, for Christians are not 
 judged at all. This list of multiplied views might be 
 continued until not a single truth of the Christian 
 religion could be found but some one of the 200 
 religious sects would deny one or tlie other until there 
 would be no visible Church of Christ left upon the 
 earth if uniformity in belief is left an open question. 
 The new-fangled religion that would seem to suit the 
 world to-day and conform to infidelity is one that 
 would leave us no Christ to worship nor Holy Ghost 
 to make us good ; nor a Cross to trust in, no Sacrament 
 to help us with power from on high ; nor a Divinely 
 appointed Church to dwell in, nor Christ-sent ministers 
 
82 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 to guide and teach, nor a Creed to set our faith by. If 
 once we begin to throw away principles — not because 
 we think them untrue, but because all are not agreed 
 upon them — we cannot stop at any line of our own 
 choosing. In common fairness we are bound to go on 
 till we have done away with everything that distin- 
 guishes the Church based on the solid foundation of 
 Christ and his Apostles, and yield to the various 
 whims and fancies of the new patented religion that 
 knows no end of change that may be invented and 
 knows nothing of that " Faith once delivered to the 
 Saints." 
 
 It cannot be denied, but is gladly admitted, that 
 great good has been done by many of the denomina- 
 tions who have separated themselves from the unity 
 of the Established Church, and the Methodists, espe- 
 cially, have had evident signs that God has blessed 
 their work in spite of their schism, but that does not 
 detract from the belief that there is but one true and 
 only Apostolic Church that is known by its mainten- 
 ance of the Apostolic doctrine and discii)line based 
 upon the teachings and principles of the New Testa- 
 ment. The Church of England is not a creation of 
 Parliame-t, for, as is claimed, it existed long before 
 any Parliament was heard of in the country. It did 
 not begin at the Reformation, and was not an offshoot 
 of the Church of Rome, but was an organized Church 
 with Archbishops and Bishops at least three hundred 
 years before Augustine went to England, in the Sixth 
 Century. At the time of the Reformation, it merelv 
 purged itself of the errors and superstiMons which had 
 been introduced from Rome. This old Apostolic, God- 
 honored Christian Church, which has as its temporal 
 Governor the Sovereign of England, and as its 
 spiritual Governor the Eord Jesus Christ, instead of 
 the Pope of Rome as its temporal and spiritual 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OP ENGLAND. 83^ 
 
 governor, is the Church which the Methodists after 
 the death of Wesley, their founder, separated from. At 
 first, and for many long years, the Methodists carried 
 on their work, which God blessed in a most marvel- 
 lous manner, within the pale of the Church of England- 
 There are, at the present day, large numbers to be found 
 who desire to return to the Church of England. In all 
 countries where the parent body and Methodists are 
 found yide by side in the field of evangelization, there 
 is a greal) waste of money in keeping up division while 
 the division itself is used against Christianity by its 
 opponents. The question of union has been introduced 
 again and again, but with no great success. Several 
 prominent ministers and laymen have taken an inde- 
 pendent stand and gone back to the old fold. They 
 have adopted the reality of union and find the worship, 
 the ordinances, the sacraments, and the devotion more 
 reverent and superior than they had expected. This 
 leads them to see the great difference that exists 
 between an admirable liturgy and no prescribed form, 
 but where '* all parts of public worship are under the 
 sole control and discretion of the preacher." The 
 greatest difficulty in the way of an organic union of 
 Methodists with the Church of England seems to be 
 in the way of ordination of the clergy by the hands 
 of the Bishop. This prevents many able ministers of 
 the body from a union with the parent body, while 
 others have conceded to its demands and stepped into 
 ihe reality of Union. The Church considers itself 
 unable to surrender this inheritance. In any amalga- 
 mation with other Christian bodies, this is held as a 
 fundamental principle, which if diverted from would 
 only lead to other changes, which the Scriptures 
 and all the Church's historic continuity binds them not 
 to depart from. The Methodists should not object to 
 the appointment or authority of bishops, for their most 
 
84 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 learned writer, Dr. Adam Clark, says in his notes on 
 I. Tim., 3rd chap. : ''Episcopacy in the Church of God 
 is of Divine appointment, and should be maintained 
 and respected. Under God there should be supreme 
 governors in the Church as well as in the State. The 
 State has its monarch, the Church has its hishojy. One 
 should govern according to the latvs of the lancl^ the 
 other, according to the Word of GocV The Episco- 
 pacy and the ordination of ministers by the hands of 
 a bishop, in the forms prescribed in the Prayer Book, 
 -are not likely to be deviated from, when they are hold 
 as Scriptural and Apostolic. If otherwise held, there 
 would be no harm in a departure from them, but when 
 held so sacredly, they must be maintained. There are 
 large numbers who, believing in the efficacy of faith 
 ;and prayer, lift up their hearts to God for light in 
 reference to their duty in this matter of joining the 
 Holy Catholic Church, that expression signifying the 
 Church of England, the universal Church of God, and 
 where a study of the Church's literature, the Bible and 
 Prayer Book, are combined with faith and prayer, 
 there is little doubt but they will be led by the Holy 
 ■Spirit, to say, " This people shall be my people, and 
 rtheir God my God." 
 
 The only hope of union betvt'cen the Methodists and 
 the Church of England is by means of individuals re- 
 turning to the Church from a solemn conviction of duty. 
 Outward circumstances may conspire through God's 
 Providence to lead many to join the Church of Eng- 
 land, and to the enjoyment of all her blessed services, 
 but, should such circumstances not come about, each 
 person slioidd study and " ask for the old paths, where 
 is the good way ; walk therein, and ye shall find rest 
 for your souls." Erom fin experience of thirty years 
 official connection with the Methodists, and, knowing 
 hov far they have drifted from the simple, original 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 85 
 
 plan laid down by their founder, I am convinced from 
 what I know by personal experience of the Church of 
 England, and by a study of its ethical character and 
 scriptural doctrine, discipline and worship, tnat it con- 
 tains more genuine Wesleyanism than the Methodists 
 of to-day. There is more missionary spirit, more self- 
 sacrifice, more cheap printing, more hard labor, more 
 simplicity of dress, more Wesleyan nomenclature in 
 Christian worship and experience, and more Christian 
 liberality in the Church of England, than among 
 the Methodists of to-day. A prominent Methodist 
 missionary, the Rev. Dr. Eby, says: "We appear to 
 have come to the end of our tether; our homo efforts 
 are starved, progress impossible, and over our foreign 
 work, unless we move soon and move largely, we may 
 as well tack up the ticket, ' for sale ; they began to- 
 build but were not able to finish.' " The same writer 
 says, " the only solution is in a radical reconstruction 
 of the very soul of the whole undertaking — a conver- 
 sion of the native power that will bring in a new 
 missionary spirit." What does all this mean but a 
 complete departure from the simple, original plan of 
 Wesley, which plan was lying dormant in the Church, 
 of England for ages ! The conclusion of the whole 
 matter is this : that the Church of England is more 
 Wesleyan than the present generation of Methodists.. 
 In consequence of this I find among prominent mem- 
 bers of other denominations, men like the two whose 
 opinions are given in the next chapter, share with me- 
 in this appreciation of the Church of England. 
 
86 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 In the Presidential Address as Chairman of the 
 •Congregational Union of Enghmd and Wales, tlie 
 Rev. Edward White gave utterance to the following 
 remarkable testimony to the historical and national 
 value of the Church of England : — 
 
 "It shall neve^' be said that we have read English 
 Church history with blind partisanship or are insensible 
 either to the sentimental or solid attractions of the 
 system from which we stand aloof. 
 
 " The Church of England, we know full well, has 
 reigned over tlie mind of the British people not only 
 in the prestige of a venerable antiquity, but has drawn 
 men's hearts to herself by an outward apparel of 
 matchless beauty, wliile she carries in her right hand 
 stability, and in her left hand riches and honour. 
 Strong in her appeal to the intellect and affections of 
 the English nation, she is yet stronger in her sway over 
 the senses of the multitude, and in her hold upon the 
 poetic inipressionableness of the most poetic people 
 under heaven. 
 
 " Great and noble buidings are everywhere formida- 
 ble powers, and the sacred edifices of the Church exert 
 an almost irresistible attraction to the imagination of 
 their frequenters. These ancient cathedral towers 
 rising in the midst of so many fertile counties, and 
 consecrating from the centre so many an encircling 
 panorama of forest and fruitful field and campaign 
 territory — these ministers, and abbeys, and college 
 chantries — these village temples, whether, as sometimes, 
 new-built in all the magnificence of fretted stone and 
 gilded pinnnacles and storied glass, or, as more often, 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 87 
 
 grey with the hoar of ages and uplifting to Heaven 
 spires that have withstood the tempests of centuries — 
 are powers of subtlest mastery over all minds that are 
 susceptible of tender impressions and noble dreams of 
 beauty and mystery. 
 
 " And not the eye alone feels the resistless enchant- 
 ment. 
 
 " In the ear of a people naturally musical, swells 
 from north to south of England a gale of divinest 
 harmony from the 10,000 organs of cathedral choirs, 
 college foundations, and parish churches, accompany- 
 ing the voices of white-robed choristers, or the chosen 
 singers of the congregation towards which stir all hearts, 
 as they ofttimes recall the adorations and re-echo the 
 prayers of ancient Christendom. 
 
 " Through all these churches rises the voice of the 
 same Liturgy consecrated by many of the sweetest and 
 noblest associations of the past, enshrining the essen- 
 tial truths of Christianitv in the matchless laufruaoje of 
 the Tudors, enfolding all humanity in the breadth of its 
 catholic intercessions, and lifting up the soul to God 
 by its simple and antique sublimity. Who can wonder 
 that this Liturgy soon won the hearts of former 
 generations, and still—- when uttered in natural tones — 
 holds the hearts of the modern age ; wliether it soars 
 to Heaven with outstretched wings of choral music from 
 Canterbury or York, or from before the Confessor's 
 shrine in Westminster Abbey, or in mid-ocean from 
 around the capstan pulpit, covered by the red Union 
 Jack of Old Engliind, while the voices of the winds 
 and the waters murmur in soul-subduing accompani- 
 ment. 
 
 " But I go farther. For the masses of the English 
 people are attached to their Church — whatever may be 
 the taste of some modern clergy — from an intelligent 
 appreciation of its largely Scriptural Protestanism. 
 
88 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 They know little of genuine Popery who, in the heat 
 of polemical injustice, charge its original constitution 
 with semi-Rom anisni. Whatever faults may be charge- 
 able upon the older Oxford reaction, let it be 
 remembered that the ancient Church of England 
 translated, distributed, and caused to be daily read in 
 Churches, the sacred Scriptures, the fountains of 
 pure Christianity ; and under whatever lesser inconsis- 
 tency in the application of the principle, has neverthe- 
 less written in golden letters over the portals of her 
 sanctuaries that " Holy Scripture containeth all things 
 necessary to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not read 
 therein, or may be proved thereby, is not to be required 
 of any man that it should be believed as an article of 
 faith or thought necessary to salvation." She had 
 abolished the profane offering of religious homage to 
 creatures instead of the Creator, and the idolatrous 
 practice of rendering honour to images and pictures of 
 saints departed. She has taken away, at least in 
 intention, the doctrine of transub'='tantiation, and the 
 sacrifice of the Mass ; she has set aside the false doctrine 
 on mediation, and plainly taught the truth of the Deity, 
 the atonement, and the intercession of Christ. She hae 
 put away auricular confessions, penances, indulgences,, 
 and the correlated delusions of purgatory and interces- 
 sion for the dead — and if these delusions are now upheld 
 by some it is in defiance of her plainest instructions. 
 She has in her rubrics discouraged excessive pomp in 
 ritual, and taught her clergy, as married men, to 
 identify themselves in every parish with the daily life 
 of the people. She honours no relics, worships no 
 angels, saints, or martyrs, arrogates no infallibility, and 
 openly declares, in the preface to her Prayer Book, that 
 her system admits of further and progressive refor- 
 mation. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 89 
 
 " This is not semi-Romanism. It is Protnstantism — 
 and the English people know it, and intend .0 preserve 
 it. It is a religious system which, with all its faults, 
 has, in conjunction with the labours of our persecuted 
 predecessors, conferred signal benefits upon this nation, 
 raising the intellect of England to a majestic strength 
 unknown in any other country of the European 
 Continent." 
 
 The following is from the able pen of the Rev. 
 II. M. Fields, D.I)., and shows what a Presbyterian 
 says on the ChurcJi of England :— - 
 
 " I am not an English man, nor an Episcopalian, 
 yet no loyal son of the Church of England could look 
 up to it with more tender reverence than I. I honor 
 it for all that it has been in the past, for all that it is 
 at this hour. The oldest of the Protestant cliurches 
 in England, it has tlie dignity of history to make it 
 venerable. And not only is it one of the oldest 
 churches in the world, but o71p of the 2Jurest, which 
 could not be struck from existence without a shock 
 from all Christendom. Its faith is the faith of Re- 
 formation, the faith of the early ages of Christianity. 
 Whatever " corruptions " may have gathered upon it, 
 like moss upon the old cathedral walls, yet in the 
 Apostles' Creed and other symbols of faith it has the 
 primitive belief with beautiful simplicity, divested of 
 all " philosophy ' and held it not only with singular 
 purity, but with steadfastness from generation unto- 
 generation. 
 
 " What a power is in a creed and a service which 
 thus links us with the past ! As we listen to the Te 
 Deum or the Litany we are carried back not only to 
 t!ie Middle Ages, but to the days of persecution, when 
 " the noble army of martyrs " was not a name ; when 
 the Church worshipped in crypts and catacombs. Per- 
 haps we of other communions do not consider enough 
 
'90 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the influence of a church which has a Jong history^ 
 and ivhose very service seems to unite the living and the 
 dead — the worship on earth with the worship in 
 heaven. For my part I am very sensitive to those 
 influences, and never do I hear a choir " chanting the 
 liturgies of remote generations " that it does not bring 
 me nearer to the first worsliippers and to Him whom 
 they worshipped. 
 
 " jfSior can I overlook, among the influences of the 
 Church of Englciuu, that even of its arcihitecture, in 
 which its history, as well as its worship, is enshrined. 
 Its cathedrals are filled witli monuments and tombs 
 which recall great names and sacred memories. Is it 
 mere imagination, that when I enter one of those old 
 piles and sit in a quiet alcove the place is filled to my 
 ear with airy tongues, voices of the dead that come 
 from the tablets around and from the tombs beneath ; 
 that whisper along the aisles, and float away in the 
 arches above, bearing the soul to heaven — spirits with 
 which my own poor heart, as I sit and J^ray, seem in 
 peaceful and blessed communion. Is it an idle fancy, 
 tliat soaring above us tlicre is a multitude of the 
 heavenly host singing now, as once over the plains of 
 Bethlehem, " Glory to God in the highest, peace on 
 earth, good will tow nls men*?" Here is the soul 
 bowed down in the : resence of its maker. It feels 
 " lowly as a worm." What thoughts of death arise 
 amid so many memorials of the dead ! What sober 
 views of tlie true end of a life so sweetly paysing 
 away ! How many thoughts are inspired by the 
 meditations of this holy place ! How many prayers, 
 uttered in silence, are wafted to the Hearer of Prayer ! 
 How many oftences are forgiven here in the presence 
 ■of " The Great Forgiver of the World ! " How many 
 go forth from this ancient ])ortal resolved, with God's 
 help, to live better lives ! It is idle to deny that the 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 91 
 
 place itself is favorable to meditation and to prayer. 
 It makes a solemn stillness in the midst of a great 
 city, as if it \vere in the solitude of a mountain oi a 
 desert. The pillared arches are like the arches of a 
 sacred grove. Let those who will cast away such aids 
 to devotion, and say they can worship God anywhere, 
 in any place. I am not so insensible to these sur- 
 roundings, but find in them imich to lift up my heart 
 and to help my poor prayers. With these internal 
 elements of power, and with its age and history, and 
 the influence of custom and tradition, the Church of 
 England has held the nation for hundreds of years to 
 •an outward respect for Christianity, even if not always 
 to a living faitli. While Germany has fallen away to 
 rationalism and indifference, and France to mocking 
 and scornful infidelity, in England Christianity is a 
 national institution, as fast anchored as the Island 
 itself. Tlie Glmrch of EiKjland is the sironqest bulwark 
 against the infidelity of the Continent. It is associated 
 in the national mind with all that is sacred and 
 venerable in tbe ]xist. In the creed and its worship 
 it presents the Christian religion in a way to command 
 the respect of the educated ; it is rooted in the 
 universities, and thus associated with science and 
 learning. As it is the National Church it has the 
 support of all the rank of the kingdom, and arrays on 
 its side the strongest social influences. Thus it sets 
 even fashion on the side of religion. This may not be 
 the most dignified influence to control the faith of a 
 country, but it is one that has great power, and it is 
 certainly better to have it on the side of religion than 
 against it. We must take the world as it is, and men 
 as they are. They are led by example, and especially 
 by the ey.amples of the great — of those whose rank 
 makes them foremost in the public eye, and gives 
 them a natural influence over their countrymen. 
 
92 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 "Such is the position of the Church of England, 
 whose history is as i^art of that reahn, and wh:ch 
 stands to-day buttressed by rank and learning, and 
 social position, and a thousand associations which have- 
 clustered around it in the course of centuries to make 
 it sacred and venerable and dear to the nation's heart. 
 If all this were levelled with the ground, in vain 
 would all the efforts of Dissenters, however earnest 
 and eloquent— if they could nnistcr a hundred Spur- 
 creons— amz'Z to restore the national respect for re- 
 
 o 
 
 lufion. 
 
 ■ ' " Looking at all these possibilities, I am by no 
 means so certain, as some appear to be, that the over- 
 throw of the Establishment would be a gain to 
 Christianity in Europe." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 
 
 In the Gyneocracy of the Church of England such 
 women as Rebekali, Rachael, Naomi and Ruth, Han- 
 nah, Abigail, Phoeby, Dorcas and Mary have their 
 proper sphere. They are not given any pharisaic 
 titles, no sounding names, but are held up as illustra- 
 tions of large classes of noble women found in the 
 world, who are making great sacrifices for tbe glory of 
 God and the salvation of souls. Mary has her proper 
 sphere ; not deified, but held in honorable remembrance 
 so as never to be forgotten, not worshipped but revered. 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 93 
 
 A woman with whom the Angel Gabriel held converse 
 and pronounced blessed among women, should not be 
 spoken of lightly, neither should she be worshipped 
 nor made the intercessor between God and man, as 
 " there is but one intercessor between God and man, 
 the man Christ Jesus." ^Neither is woman raised to 
 the position of deacon or priest in the Church of God. 
 The Church of England holds the primitive doctrir.e 
 of St. Paul on this ground, and so did John Wesley, 
 who did not agree with the Quakers who set aside the 
 Apostolic rule. Wesley said " we allow the rule itself 
 but admit some exceptions to it," and he only knew 
 of two o'ceptions to the rule in his societies in forty 
 years, those of jNliss Ijosan'.iiet and Mrs. Crosby, and 
 in these cases he was exceedingly careful. Mrs. 
 Fletcher, wife of Rev. John Fletcher, Vicar of 
 Madely, and consequently a churchwoman, preached 
 by times in public, showing that a few exceptions \vere 
 admitted. Woman has her sphere of usefulness 
 without taking up the position of public speaker 
 except in some extraordinary cases, AVoman's place is 
 not in the pul])it, on political hustings or on the stage. 
 She can wield her pen like the sainted Hannah More, 
 who in the latter part of the last century, while so 
 many recommended a secession from the Establish- 
 ment, pursued a different course by reriiaining in it, 
 like Wesley, Wilberforce and a host of others, but 
 used their influence to extend genuine piety and save 
 immortal souls. Hannah More's " Strictures on the 
 Modern System of Female Education and in view of 
 the Principles and Conduct prevalent among Women 
 of Rank and Fortune " should be read even to-day, 
 as it was a century ago, and much good would result, 
 in sho^ying the frivolities and dissipations of the age as 
 dangerous to moral rectitude. The life of Hannah 
 More was formerly circulated extensively among 
 
94 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Methodist families and the result was most beneficiaL 
 Woman's influence at home and among her children 
 under the teachings of the Church may be illustrated 
 by the life of the mother of the Wesleys. The follow- 
 ing is part of a letter dated Epworth, July 1732, 
 adressed to her son : " According to your desire, I 
 have collected the principal rules I have observed in 
 educating my family. The children were always put 
 into a regular method of living, in such things as they 
 were capable of, from their birth ; as in dressing and 
 undressing, changing tlieir linen, etc. The first quarter 
 commonly passes in sleep. After that they were, if 
 possible, laid into their cradle awake, and rocked to 
 sleep ; and so they were kept rocking till it was time 
 for them to awake. This was done to bring them to 
 a regular course of sleeping, which at first was three 
 hours in the morning and three in the afternoon, after- 
 wards, two hours, till they needed none at all. When 
 turned a year old (and some before) they were taught 
 to fear the rod, and to cry softly, by which means they 
 sscaped abundance of correction which tliey might 
 otherwise have had ; and that most odious noise of the 
 crying of children was rarely heard in the house, and 
 the family usually lived in as much quietness as if 
 there had not been a child among them. As soon as 
 they had grown pretty strong they were confined to 
 three meals a day. At dinner, their little table and 
 chairs were set by ours, where they could be over- 
 looked ; but not to call for anything. If they wanted 
 anything they used to whisper to the maid that 
 attended to them, who came and spoke to me ; and as 
 soon as they could handle a knife and fork, they were 
 set to our table. They were not suffered to choose 
 their meat, but always made to eat such things as 
 were provided for the family. Mornings they always 
 had spoonmeat ; sometimes at nights ; but whatever 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 95 
 
 they had, tliey were never permitted at those meals ta 
 eat of more than one thing and of that sparingly 
 enough. Drinking or eating between meals was never 
 allowed, unless in cases of sickness, which seldom 
 happened. Nor were they suffered to go into the 
 kitchen to ask anything of the servants, when tliey 
 were at meat ; if it was known they did so, they were 
 certainly beaten and the servants severely reprimanded. 
 At six, as soon as family prayer was over, they had 
 their supper ; at seven, the maid washed them, and 
 beginning i\t the youngest, she undressed and got them 
 all to bed by eight ; at which time she left them in 
 their several rooms awake, for there was no such thing 
 allowed of in our house, as sitting by a child till it fell 
 asleep. They were so constantly used to eat and 
 drink what was given them, that when any of them 
 were ill, there was no difficulty in making them take 
 the most unpleasant medicine, for they durst not re- 
 fuse it, though some of them would presently throw it 
 up. This I mention to show that a person may be 
 taught to take anything, though it be never so much 
 against the stomach. In order to form the minds of 
 children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their 
 will and bring them to an obedient temper. To inform 
 the understanding is work of time ; and must with 
 children proceed by slow degrees, as they are able to 
 learn it; but the subjecting of the will is a thing that 
 must be done at once and the sooner the better ; for 
 by neglecting timely correction they will contract a 
 stubbornness and obostinacy which are hardly ever 
 after conquered, and never without using such severity 
 which would be as painful to me as to the child. In 
 the esteem of the world, they pass for kind and in- 
 dulgent, whom I call cruel parents, who permit their 
 children to get habits which they knov/ must after- 
 wards be broken. Nay, some are so stupidly fond, as 
 
96 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 in sport, to teach their children to do things which in 
 a while after they have severely beaten them for 
 doing. When a child is corrected it must be conquered, 
 and this will be no hard matter to do, if it be not 
 grown headstrong by too much indulgence. And 
 when the child is totally subdued, and it is brought to 
 revere and stand in awe of the parents, then a great 
 many childish follies and inadvertencies may be passed 
 by. Some should be overlooked and taken no notice 
 of, and others mildly reproved ; but no wilful trans- 
 gression ought ever to be forgiven children without 
 chastisement less or more, as the nature and circum- 
 stances of the offence may require. I insist on 
 conquering the will of children betimes, because this 
 is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious 
 education, without which both precept and example 
 will be ineffectual. But when this is thoroughly done, 
 then a child is capable of being governed by the 
 reason and piety of its parents, till its own under- 
 standing comes to maturity, and the principles of 
 religion have taken root in tlie mind. 
 
 Our children were taught as soon as they could 
 speak, the Lord's Prayer, which they were made to 
 say at rising and at bed time constantly ; to which, as 
 they grew bigger, was added a short prayer for their 
 parents, and some Collects, a short Catechisn, and 
 some portions of Scripture, as their memories could 
 bear. They were very early made to distinguish the 
 Sabbath from other days, before they could well speak 
 or go. They were soon taught to be still ut iamily 
 prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after, which 
 they used to do by signs, before they could kneel or 
 speak. They were quickly made to understand they 
 might have nothing they cried for, and instructed to 
 speak handsomely for what they wanted. Taking God's 
 name in vain, cursing and swearing, profaneness, ob- 
 
The Methodists and the church of England. 97 
 
 scenity, rude, ill-bred names were never heard among 
 them ; nor were they ever permitted to call each other 
 by their proper names without the addition of brother 
 or sister. For some years we went on very well. 
 Never were children in better order. ^N'ever were 
 children better disposed to piety, or in more subjection 
 to their parents, till that fatal dispersion of them after 
 the fire, into several families. They soon learned to 
 neglect a strict observance of the Sabbath ; and got 
 knowledge of several songs and bad things, which 
 before they had no notion of. That civil behaviour, 
 which made them admired when they were at home, 
 by all who saw them, was in a great manner lost, and 
 a clov/nish accent and many rude ways were learnt, 
 Avhich Avere not reformed without much difficulty. 
 When tlie house was re-built, and the children all 
 brought home, we entered on a strict reform." Then 
 follow several by-laws which were carried out in the 
 management of her children. It is no wonder the 
 Wesley family had rare excellencies. A Methodist 
 father once said to me. " I should not like to bring up 
 my children in the Church of England." His idea 
 was that Mrs. Wesley was a Methodist and there were 
 few Avomen like her. On another occasion, a gentle- 
 man who had been a prominent Methodist official, 
 but now a Church of England man and known as the 
 
 Hon. Mr. , said to me, <' I should not like to bring 
 
 up my children in the Methodist Church." The chil- 
 dren of both these men are walking uprightly, for they 
 both believe in the teaching and principles set forth by 
 Mrs. Wesley. The old Cliurch of England teaching 
 was what made all that is good, great and grand about 
 Methodism as sanctified by the spirit of God. Mrs. 
 Wesley followed her sons to the university with her 
 prayers and counsels. They proposed to her their 
 doubts and consulted her in all their difficulties. 
 
98 THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 That could not have been a very dangerous university 
 either that fostered such piety as the Wesleys dis- 
 played while there. If modern universities would 
 turn out such men now-a-days as these, the world 
 would be the better of tbem, but they want young 
 men with mothers like the Wesleys'. Such mothers 
 do more good, a thousand times, than flaming revival- 
 ist agents who are paid large money to periodically 
 arouse the sensibilities and awaken the feelings of 
 persons who, when awakened, have not the founhition 
 of a well educated home training to anchor them to 
 the truth by faith and sound doctrine. The early 
 Methodist mothers, who were trained in the doctrines 
 and ritual of the Church of England and brought up 
 their children on principles such as Mrs. Wesley sets 
 forth, exerted an influence that has taken generations 
 to drift away from. What is needed to-day is a 
 Union. The Church of England is necessary to in- 
 culcate a religion that is neither speculative nor 
 sentimental but based on the Arm foundation of 
 Scriptural truth, having its seat in the understanding 
 as well as in the heart, so that its reality may be 
 evinced by appropriate fruits. Methodism is necessary 
 to awaken those, who thus trained, may be content, 
 without a sensible realization of faith and a living 
 consciousness that they are saved. It was commonly 
 said of Wesley in Ireland that he was a " Methodist and 
 a member of the Church of England." Methodism 
 requires to be joined with the Church and under its 
 doctrine and discipline, like the " Dairyman's Daugh- 
 ter," converted by one of Wesley's missionaries, but 
 trained m the church, and whose life was written by the 
 Rev. Leigh Richmond, a godly clergyman of the Church 
 of England, and of which '^:,000,000 copies is said to 
 have been sold up to the noon-day of this century and 
 thousands converted by means of them. If the two were 
 
THE METHODISTS AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 99 
 
 combined in one great brotherhood, as formerly, with- 
 out the prejudice that many in the Church had to 
 Wesley and without the antipathy that the Methodists 
 now have to the Church, what great and glorious 
 achievements *7iight be expected ! We might expect 
 a nation to be born in a day. This Union will come 
 in God's good time. Let all Christians use the follow- 
 ing prajer whi(!h so often heads the editorial columns 
 in most of the Church of England papers of the day. 
 
 PKAYER FOR UNION. 
 
 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our 
 only Saviour, the Prince of Peace, give us grace 
 seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in 
 by our unhappy divisions. Take awc>y all hatred and 
 prejudice and whatever 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 hencef^trth 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 thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Amen. 
 
 THE END