n53 V t'W IBRARr Jc tf - v 9 u*A* k *~ THE ENTHUSIASM OP CONSIDERED : BISHOP LAVINGTON. WITH NOTES, INTRODUCTION, AND APPENDIX BY THE REV. R. POEWHELE, VICAR OF MANACCAN AND OF ST. ANTHONY. LONDON : Printed by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. SOLD BY G. AND W. B. WIIITTAKER, SHERWOOD AND CO., AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 1820. ADVERTISEMENT. IT was about the time of a controversy with Dr. Hawker, (which had its origin in some ac- cidental remarks of the Antijacobin Reviewers) that I intended to republish Bishop Lavington's Enthusiasm of Methodism ; and but for several circumstances not worth noticing here, I should have carried my design into execution ; espe- cially as I possessed a valuable memoir of Lav- ington, which had been communicated to me by the late Chancellor Nutcombe and Arch- deacon Moore. Not long since I was reminded of the project by some friends, who were of opinion, that IV ADVERTISEMENT. the publication would " much serve the cause of the Church." ' 1 The coincidence of Warburton's and Lavington's opinions on this subject, is very remarkable. " What think you (says Warburton) of our new set of Fanatics, called the Methodists ? I have seen Whitfield's Journal, and he appears to me to be as mad as ever George Fox the Quaker was. These are very fit Missionaries, you will say, to propagate the Christian Faith among Infidels. " There is another of them, one Wesley, who came over from the same Mission. He told a friend of mine, that he had lived most deliciously the last summer in Georgia, sleeping under trees, and feeding on boiled maize sauced, with the ashes of oak-leaves ; that he will return thither, and then will cast off his English dress, and wear a dried skin like the savages, the bet- I ter to ingratiate himself with them. It would be well for Vir- tue and Religion, if this humor would lay hold generally of our overheated bigots, and send them to cool themselves in the In- dian marshes. I fancy, that Venn and Webster would make a very entertaining as well as proper figure in a couple of bear- skins, and marching in this terror of equipage, like the Pagan Priests of Hercules of old : " Jamque Sacerdotes primusque Politius ibant, Pellibus in morem cincti, flammasque ferebant." See Nichols's Illustrations of Lit. Hist. vol. II. pp. 65, 66. " I tell you what 1 think would be the best way of exposing these idle Fanatics the PRINTING PASSAGES OUT OF GEORGE Fox's JOURNAL and IGNATIUS LOYOLA and WHITFIELD'S JOURNALS in parallel columns. Their confor- mity in folly is amazing. One thing was extremely singular in Loyola ; he became, from the modestest Fanatic that ever ADVERTISEMENT. V " As an apology for the desultory style of the Introduction/' and the great inequality of the Sections, (which is often not sufficiently justi- fied by their subjects) I must further state that it consisted, as at first sketched out, of " a series of Letters, in three parts ;" that each Section was a letter, or the outline of a letter ; and that to fill up every outline as I wished, would be to extend the Introduction to a length ill pro- portioned to the body of the work. R. P. Kenwyn Vicarage, Near Truro. Dec. 12th, 1819- was, the most cold-headed Knave, by that time his society, was thoroughly established. The same natural temperament, that set his brains on a heat, worked off the ferment. The case was so uncommon, that his adversaries thought all his fanaticism pretended. But in this they were certainly mistaken. The surprising part of all, was, that his folly and knavery concurred so perfectly to promote his end. I think I have gone a good way towards explaining it in the latter end of the first volume of the Divine Legation. If I be not mistaken in Whitfield, he bids fair for acting the second part of Loyola, as he has done the first." Nichols' Illust. II. 109, 110. VII CONTENTS. Introduction. Sectarism. Section I. The restless Spirit of Man, as exhibited in its impatience of Religious Establishments Sect. II. The Separation of the Dissenters from the Church of England Sect. HI. The Character of the Dissenters of for- mer times - Sect. IV. Puritanism during Cromwell's Usurpa- tion Sect. V. Character of the first Methodists. , Me- moir of Bishop Lavington Sect. VI. The Methodists of the present day Sect. VII. Conversion. The New Birth. The Re- generate State not a State of Inno- cence Sect. VIII. Revivalism of the present day - Sect. IX. Welsh Jumpers and Irish Shouters Sect. X. The Cornish Trumpeter Sect. XI. The Blessed Effects of Methodism on , Society Sect. XII. .The Mischiefs of Sectarism. The Pu- ritans. Their successful hostilities against the Church Government Sect. XIII. The first Methodists. Their antipathy to the Church Government - Sect. XIV. Sectarists of the present day, their ran- corous abuse of Bishops Sect. XV. Invectives against Pluralities. The Men- dicant Friars Sect. XVI. Pluralities continued. The Puritans - Page IX XIX xcv cv cix cxiv cxv cxxvi cxxxii cxxxiii cxxxv cxlii Vfii CONTENTS. Page Sect. XVII. Pluralities of the present day cxlvi Sect. XVIII. Sectarists of early times, their intrusion on the Parochial Clergy - cliii Sect. XIX. The first Methodists ; their obtrusive cha- racter cliv Sect. XX. Modern Methodists, their obtrusiveness - civ Sect. XXI. Their promptness in attacking our discourses on public occasions - clvii Sect. XXII. Their general topic of abuse, that we do not preach the Gospel - clx Sect. XXIII. Unitarians and Quakers, their railing ac- cusations - - clxxxi Sect. XXIV. Sectarian insidiousness ; affectation of a conciliating spirit - - clxxxv Sect. XXV. Triumph of the Oliverian Sectarists, Dis- appointment of the Innovators - clxxxvii Sect. XXVI. Sectarists, &c. anticipating similar success at the present hour cxcvi PART II. Sect. I. Novelty of a Sect - cc Sect. II. Hypocrisy - cci Sect. III. Pretences to inspiration ccii Sect. IV. Miracles - cciv Sect. V. Official importance ccv Sect. VI. Singing, praying, exhorting, preaching, style and manner, and doctrine - ccvi Sect. VII. The Methodist Preacher, his familiarity with his flock ccxii Sect. VIII. Itinerancy - - ccxiii Sect. IX. Co-operation of Churchmen with Sectarists ; the Evangelical Clergy ccxvi Sect. X. Prophesyings, Prayer Meetings ccxvi Sect. XI. Lectureships - - ccxviii Sect. XII. The Extempore Preaching of the Evangelical Clergy - - - - ccxxi Sect. XIII. Spirit of Proselytism the Jews and Mission- ary Societies - - ccxxii CONTENTS. IX Page Sect. XIV. Visitations ... ccxxvi Sect. XV. Associations * ... ccxxvii Sect. XVI. Sunday Schools - - ccxxviii Sect. XVII. Sunday Schools, instruments of disaffec- tion * ccxxx Sect. XVIII. Mrs. H. More. The Blagdon Contro- versy * - ccxxxi Sect. XIX. Mr. Wilberforce - ccxxxii Sect. XX. Clergy and others giving way to the Methodists, who circumvent us by charitable Institutions - ccxxxii Sect. XXI. The Unitarians, Lancaster - ccxxxiii Sect. XXII. Lancaster, Anecdote of De Luc - ccxxxir Sect. XXIII. Unitarianism - - CCXXXT Sect. XXIV. Infidel Institutions, Schools of Deism - ccxxxviii Sect. XXV. The Bible Society; its motley complexion ccxxxix Sect. XXVI. Inward rancour, under the mask of be- nevolence - ibid. Sect. XXVII. The undertaking disproportionate to its avowed object ccxl Sect. XXVIII. The Puritans attempting the Universities. The present Society - ccxli Sect. XXIX. Female Agency ... ccxlii Seat. XXX. Churches. Committee Rooms - ccxliv Sect. XXXI. Sectarian! slang. Sectarian Ascendency ccxlv Sect. XXXII. Sense of the sin of Schism done away - ccxlvi Sect. XXXIII. Exultation of the Faction - ccxlvii Sect. XXXIV. " Any may give away, and all should read" - ccxlviii Sect. XXXV. Danger of reading without a guide - ccxlix Sect. XXXVI. Bible without Notes. Brown's Bible with Notes ... cc jx Sect. XXXVII. Success by means of the press - cclxii Sect. XXXVIII. Libraries for the poor - - cclxiv Sect. XXXIX. Indiffereuce and false candour in Church- men .... cclxv Method. b CONTENTS. Sect. I. Sect. II. Sect. III. Sect. IV. Sect. V. Sect. VI. Sect. VII. Sect. VIII. Sect. IX. Sect. X. Sect. XI. Sect XII. Sect. XIII. Sect. XIV. Sect XV. Sect XVI. Sect XVII. Sect. XVIII. Sect. XIX. Sect. XX. Sect. XXL Sect. XXII. XXIII. PART III, Page Firmness aud Spirit - - cclxviii The Toleration Act - - cclxx Qualification of the Methodists - cclxxiii The Clerical conduct, with respect to Dissenters in general - - cclxxv With respect to the Papists - - cclxxvi Ridicule - cclxxvii Union in the common cause - - cclxxviii Revenues of the Church of England - cclxxix Tithts - cclxxx Sale of Livings to be done away ibid. Division of large Parishes, and building Churches - - cclxxxi Dean Rurals - cclxxxiii Vexatious Laws to be rescinded ibid. Canons and Rubric, to be cleared from ambiguities, and confirmed by a new Statute - ... cclxxxiv Revision of the Canons, with respect to Chuichwardens - cclxxxv The Curate's Act ib. The Consolidation Act - - cclxxxvi The Education of the Clergy - ib. The Universities - - cclxxxvii Universities, Seeds of Sectarism sown there ... -ccbwxviii Examination for Holy Orders - ib. Ecclesiastical Dignities - - cclxxxix The Parochial Clergy, their respectabi- lity .... ecxc CONTENTS. XI Sect. XXIV. Sect. XXV. Intercourse between the dignified and the Parochial Clergy Curates to bear the burden Page ccxci ccxcii Sect. XXVI. Preferment of Curates ccxciii Sect. XXVII. Sect. XXVIII. Sect. XXIX. Easy circumstances of the Clergy Families of the Clergy - Secular Concerns ib. ccxciv ib. Sect. XXX. Sect. XXXI. County Meetings, Vestries Tithes - CCXCV ccxcvi Sect. XXXII. Recreations - ib. Sect. XXXIII. Sect. XXXIV. Religious Deportment. The Sabbath - Church Duties ccxcvii ccxcviii Sect. XXXV. Sect. XXXVI. Sect. XXXVII. Evening Lectures Itinerants not admissible into our Pulpits Church Catechism ... ib. ccc ib. Sect. XXXVIII Sect. XXXIX. .Church Catechism. Mr. Southey The Bell School ccci cccii Sect XL. The Elizabethan School cceiii Sect. XLI. Sect. XLII. Acquaintance with our Flock - Conduct in our families cccir CCCT Sect. XLIII. Sect. XLIV. Sect. XLV. The Laity, their example Sincerity of Religious Professions Anecdotes of Whitaker ib. eccvii cccviii Sect. XLVI. Decease of the good Pastor cccxi Part I. Sect. I. to XXXI. 1 Part II. Sect. I . to XLI. 55 Part III. Sect. I. to LIV. 170 Appendix I. Poetry. Sir Aaron, or the Flights of Fanaticism - 401 The Deserted Village The Belle School 435 438 The Belles turned Bible-Mongers ; or a New Plume for Vanity. A Satiric Sketch - - 439 X H CONTENTS. 4 Page Appendix II. Correspondence. The Bible Society - The Lancasterian School 485 The Catholic Question 487 The Merlin of the Catholics - ib. Methodism : its bright side Bishop Fell - 4 9* INTRODUCTION. SECTARISM : THE CAUSES OF ITS SUCCESS; AND THE MEANS OF PREVENTING ITS PROGRESS. PART I. * O mi SECTARISM: SECTION I. THE RESTLESS SPIRIT OF MAN AS EXHIBITED IN ITS IMPATIENCE OF RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. XT was not long since, I remember, that at a meeting of literary friends, the conversation turned on the pride of human nature, as showing itself in a repug- nance to constituted authorities ; and of one or two it seemed the opinion, that popular ferments, so often formidable even in the best governments, were, at certain times, as irresistible as this repugnance was natural. Method. B 11 INTRODUCTION. That the spirit of man is restless, whether indivi- dually or in society, is a fact which no one will dis- pute; and that this restless spirit frequently dis- covers itself in communities, whether large or small, must be admitted as equally true. But that it breaks out at stated periods, and of ne- cessity takes its course in defiance of all alleviating or preventive measures, I can by no means allow. There are, however, philosophers who tell us, that in human societies, as in the physical world, storms are periodical ; that they are as useful in the one as in the other ; that in such a dispensation of Providence it becomes us to acquiesce with patience, since they are alike inevitable ; and that to endeavour to direct the winds would hardly be more ridiculous, than to allay, at these revolutionary crises, the " raging of the people." It is not my purpose to argue this point with philo- sophers or sciolists. The adduction of a few facts from history, will expose, I think, the absurdity of a theory, which would reduce the microcosm of man to a mere piece of animal machinery. It is from the history of our Church, that these facts will be brought forward facts that, whilst they prove the restlessness of the mind of man, will exhibit also 'its nature (far different from the genius of the winds) capable of being checked or conciliated, or INTRODUCTION. Hi over-niled and subdued by human power, sagacity, and prudence. That the adversaries of the church have increased, and are still increasing, so extensively as to threaten its destruction, is, from one quarter, the triumphant cry from another, the complaint of sorrow, or the voice of despair. But, numerous as are the hosts that are- drawn up in array against us, I see no cause for despondency. Yet there is cause for vigilance the most circumspect, for exertions painful and persevering. There was certainly a church of an Episcopal form in Britain, before Austin came hither as the messenger from Rome. 1 About the middle, indeed, of the fourth century, three British Bishops were pre- sent at the council of Ariminum. At the Reformation, this church did but return to its original rights ; its Episcopacy was now again independent on the Pope; Presbyterianism had no existence amongst us ; and even Calvin and Beza expressed the strongest appro-' bation of such a hierarchy as ours. In his epistle to Cardinal Sadolet, Calvin denounced those who should reject it, as " nullo non anathemate dignos ;" and Beza seems to have been equally decided against the enemies of Episcopacy. " God forbid (said he) that 1 See Hooker's Eccles. Polity, B, 7. S. 1, Usher de Britt. Ecles. Primord. C. 3. iv INTRODUCTION. any man in his wits should assent to the madness of those men !" And, in another place, " Let England enjoy that singular blessing of God (the order of Bishops), which I wish may be perpetual to her." 1 Little did they then think " that they themselves should ever have followers so mad," as to attempt to overthrow a church-establishment, which, rescued from Papal usurpation and Romish superstition, they considered as resembling the government of the apostolic ages. Yet Calvin and Beza had followers " so mad," as to inveigh against Prelates and Popes in the same tone of insolence to plot, and at length to effect the ruin of our Bishops ; and to sweep away all the dignities, all the ceremonies, all the ordinances of our Church. Before the reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans betray- ed a spirit of disaffection, at first alarming. Pointing at our Romish impurities, they clamored for further *^1 *" " **"** if reformation. But Henry saw their pretended religi- ousness in its true light. It was the mask of every evil passion, of envy, of ambition, of avarice. Of Elizabeth's conduct towards the Puritans, or Presbyterian party, Sir P. Warwick has given us a very satisfactory account; on which, perhaps, I shall hereafter have occasion to remark, as worthy atten- 1 Ad Tract, de Minist. Evang. ab Hadr. Sarav. Edit. Belg. c. 1. ct c. 18. INTRODUCTION. V lion and imitation at the present day. " Wherever (said this wise statesman) the Prince is not jealous of underminers, and active to maintain the established government, there will never want spirits given to change, who will attempt it, and make religion their shelter for rebellion. And thus even vigilant Queen Elizabeth was troubled with her Gospellers, upon pre- tence of a more refined purity. These men soon drew over to themselves or party, many of the wealthy and trading citizens, generally in the corporations; and from thence crept into the neighbouring counties, and infected many of the yeomanry and gentry: and not long after broached principles which served to lessen sovereign and civil authority ; and a pulse was raised towards an aristocratical government under a kingly title; which this wise Queen was soon alarm- ed with, and opposed their ecclesiastical encroach- ments with her new erected Court of High Com- mission. And she so asserted her prerogative in the House of Commons, that in the 35th year of her reign, as she stood in need of such a resolution, so she showed it, that she kept all in due temper. And when Dissenters, who had separated from Rome, grew as dangerous to the government as the Roman- ists, how remote soever they were one from another in opinion, she involved them both under one title of Tl INTRODUCTION. Recusants r and her Commoners made little impres- sion on her sovereignty." ' The Presbyterian faction, however, was not suffi- ciently crushed. It arose with a considerable degree of vigor in the reign of James, and wore a menacing aspect ; which, with all its characteristic insidiousness, it exchanged, at one time, for a smile of complacency; and its rigid features were softened into quiet acqui- escence or assent, as if the arguments of princely theo- logy had produced a conviction of its mistaken zeal. " King James * labored under . the same difficulties as Elizabeth, but his watchfulness was not equal to her's. His conference with the learned Protestant Dissenters shewed his great learning in overthrowing their arguments, and in gaining from them some pro- mises of a better conformity ; but the practical part was wanting; and the disaffected had no apprehen- sions of danger by their free talking. So as every man discoursed, as if they had been under no restraints of authority, and the ill-willers unto the established go- vernment multiplied their numbers, and fixed their roots daily deeper." In tracing the progress of Schism under Charles I. 1 Memoires of the reigne of Kinge Charles I. Edit. 1/01. p. 2,3. 1 Ibid. p. 3, 4. INTRODUCTION. Vll and the diversified character of the Sectarists, as split into different denominations of Christians, all united against the Church, though breathing enmity against each other, Warwick shall still be our guide. After describing Bishop Laud's watchfulness over the Papists as well as the Puritans "-He was sensible," says Warwick, " how the first by additions had per- verted the purity of religion, and turned it into a poli- cy ; but, resolving not to contest Rome's truths, though he spared not her errors, both Papist and Presbyter were well contented that it might be believed that he was Popishly affected. Being conscious, also, how Presbytery had forsaken the good old ways of the primitive Church, he set himself against this as well as that: but both their weights crushed him. Whilst our episcopal and canonical men argued amongst themselves about those abstruse questions of Predestination, Free-will, Free-grace ; and some followed Calvin and others Melancthon, the sly Anti- episcopal Presbyterian, under disguise of great lowli- ness, and admitting into his society any sect that made up this cry, gained opportunities to overthrow both the canonical disputers. What followed may teach men the danger of widening differences upon unnecessary points, among those who agree in fun- damentals; especially when an enemy watches the undermining both. For whilst the Church Puritan INTRODUCTION. opposed the more canonical Churchman, the knave- Puritan overthrew both." ' In this cursory view, we have a glimpse of one feature of Sectarism, in every age invariably the same, its strong antipathy to the existing religious constitu- tion. No matter what that establishment was, it was property, it was power. Popery had its day, so had Episcopacy, so had Presbyterianism ; but they were all in turn the objects of attack. In process of time, the Separatists were divided and subdivided into dif- ferent sects, 'as hostile to each other as they had been to the Church itself. Against the Church, however, on the most distant prospect of success, they never failed to join their forces; smothering up for awhile all fraternal animo- sities. That the Dissenters (now too sensibly the objects of our notice,) whether Independents or Calvinists, Quakers or Unitarians, assimilate very much in cha- racter to those of former times, will appear on a slight inspection of their manners and their ways. 1 Sir P. Warwick's Memoires. p. 81 88. INTRODUCTION. IX SECTION II. THE SEPARATION OF THE DISSENTERS FROM THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. IT has been somewhere wittily observed, that as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so his church was persecuted by Papists on one side, and by Puritans on the other; and this, indeed, was lite- rally the fact. For, whilst the Romanist exclaimed against the Church, as stripped of all its dignity, and reduced to a poor and abject state; the Presbyterian objected to its worldly pomp, to its imposing forms and ceremonies. It was not long after we had separated from the Church of Rome, that, under pretence of our being still attached to her mummeries, a division was pro- jected among ourselves. The very simplicity of the primitive ages, to which we had actually reverted, was represented as formal and ostentatious. And that which was as truly apostolic, as the state of so- ciety would admit, was censured as Papistical. The doctrine of Tran substantiation, and other absurd doc- trines, and the worship of the host and of images, and so many abuses and corruptions were done away, X INTRODUCTION. that except with those who were given to change, there scarcely remained a pretext for reformation. But innovating spirits will always find subjects for complaint. The " Habit," " the Surplice," " the cross in Baptism," " kneeling at the Communion," " the place where the Sacrament was administered," were, it seems, stumbling-blocks and rocks of offence. And the Liturgy, even in its reformed state, was thrown aside as inconsistent with the freedom of en- lightened minds. The " idolatrous geare," in which the word of God was preached and the Sacraments administered, was such an abomination in their eyes, that, in his history of the Puritans, 1 Neale himself tells us, they, from a point of conscience, " broke off from the public churches, and assembled, as they had opportunity, in private houses ! !" Now, however, the controversy, which had been hitherto (1595) chiefly about habits and ceremonies, began to take a different direction. From discipline it was diverted to doctrine. And even in prison, the contentions of the controvertists " could not be laid asleep, notwithstanding the grievous tribulations they endured for the same cause of religion." They were so hot in their opinions and disputations," and their variance of opinions " occasioned such quarrelsome ! Hut. of the Puritans, Vol. I. p. 130. INTRODUCTION. XI disputes, that the marshal was fain to separate them from one another." ' But they had a much greater aversion to the clergy themselves, than to their doctrines. And " when God had illuminated the eyes of the King, and the times so served, that men more boldly durst express with voice such grudges, as they had long conceived in their heart, against the clergy, a the law was enact- ed against non-residence; not, however, from a principle of reforming abuses ! No! it was evidently from a principle of persecution. This appears from a speech of Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who obser- ved that " such bills were sent up from the Commons house, tending to no other thing than the destruction of the Church ; which Church being down, the glory of the whole kingdom must fall : desiring the Lords for God's sake to take example by the kingdom of Bohemia : for as it was with the people there, so now what say the Commons, but " Downe with the Church? 3 and, though the reform so loudly called for, and (we must own) so justly, had taken place, the hostility against the Church was far from being abated. . 4< Although (said Henry VIII. in a speech to his Af* 1 Neale, Vol. I. p. 577- Fox, Vol. II. p. 254. 2 Strype's Memoir, of Cranmer, p. 352. 3 Fox, Acts and Mon. Vol. n. p. 255. Jfll INTRODUCTION. parliament) the spiritual men may be in some fault that charity is not kept up among you ; yet you of the temporalitie be not clear and unspotted of malice and envy ; for you rail on Bishops, speak slander- ously of priests, and rebuke and taunt preachers both contrary to good order and Christian fraternity." 1 But more on this topic in a future section: it is the malignant spirit of Separation on which I intended to insist. And, in every reign, this schismatic fever spread more or less, till in that of Charles it showed itself in all its virulence. The non-conformists were accurately enough di- vided^by Fuller into three classes ; " Ancient non-con- formists in King Edward's days, who desired only to shake down the leaves of Episcopacy, misliking only some garments about them ; Middle non-conformists, in the end of Queen Elizabeth's and beginning of King James, who struck at the branches thereof, chancellors and officials, and other append ant limbs which they endeavoured to remove ; and Modern non-conformists, who did lay the axe to the root of the tree, to cut down the function itself as unlawful and Anti-christian."* Thus they increased, reign after reign, in vigor 1 Fox, Vol. II. p. 570. * Fuller, Book vii. p. 406. INTRODUCTION. Xlll and activity ! We cannot but recollect, with a sort of prophetic horror on our spirits, what the unfortunate Charles observed to his Commons not long before the dissolution of the government. " We are very sorry (said he) to hear in such general terms corruption in religion objected, since we are persuaded in our conscience, that no church can be found upon the earth that professeth the true religion with more purity of doctrine than the Church of England doth ; nor where the government and discipline are jointly more beautified and free from superstition, than as they are here established by law ; which, by the grace of God, we will with constancy maintain while we live, in their purity and glory, not only against all in- vasions of Popery, but also from the irreverence of those many Schismatics and Separatists wherewith of late this kingdom and this city abounds, to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and Statei" 1 At the present day, is it possible not to perceive the same spirit at work, not to detect the same bad pas- sions lurking in Puritanical disguise ? There are some, who offer no better apology for their separation from the Church, than that our ser- mons are not sufficiently evangelical: others, more bold, object to our Liturgy ; others, bolder still, to the ' Rushworth's Collect. Part iii. Vol. I. p. 1.32. XIV INTRODUCTION. lives and conversations of the Clergy. But pride, and conceit, and self-sufficiency, are their real motives: they think they have more understanding than their teachers. 1 Hence their precipitate secession : hence do they temerariously incur the sin of schism. Nor can they plead not guilty to another charge. They look with envy on those who have more* power, or 1 It is often from wounded pride they leave the Church. I know several Methodists who separated themselves from us, merely because they could not be accommodated with seats in the church sufficiently conspicuous, or distinct from the seats of the common people. z The following lines from FRANCIS QUAELES'S " Shepherds' Oracles," 1646, quarto, are much to our purpose. " Know then, my brethren, heaven is clear, And all the clouds are gone ; The righteous now shall flourish, and Good days are coming on. Come then, my brethren, and be glad, And eke rejoice with me : Lawn sleeves and rochets shall go down, And hey ! then up go we ! We'll break the windows which the whore Of Babylon hath painted ; And when the Popish saints are down, Then Barrow shall be sainted. There's neither cross nor crucifix Shall stand for men to see ; INTRODUCTION. XV more wealth, than themselves. They may affect, if they please, to despise " this world's goods." But disinterested zeal in the cause of the gospel, is a rare feature, I believe, in the character of a Metho- dist. Rome's trash and trumperies shall go down, And hey ! then up go we ! We'll down with all the 'varsities Where learning is profess'd, Because they practise and maintain The language of the beast. We'll drive the doctors out of doors, And arts, whate'er they be ! We'll cry both arts and learning down, And hey J then up go we ! If once that Anti-christian crew Be crush'd and overthrown, We'll teach the nobles how to crouch, And keep the gentry down. Good manners have an ill report, And turn to pride we see; We'll therefore cry good manners down, And hey ! then up go we ! The name of lord shall be abhorr'd, For every man's a brother; XVI INTRODUCTION. SECTION III. THE CHARACTER OF THE DISSENTERS OF FORMER TIMES. THUS revolted and gone, we shall see not only the sons and daughters of the Tabernacle, but Dissenters of every denomination, in action against us. And, however unaccountable it may appear, we shall ob- serve them pursuing their hostilities in these latter days of liberality and candor, with even more ani- No reason why, in Church or State, One man should rule another. But when the change of Government Shall set our fingers free, We'll make the wanton sisters stoop, And hey ! then up go we ! Our cobblers shall translate their souls From caves obscure and shady ; We'll make Tom T as good as my lord, And Joan as good as my lady. We'll crush and fling the marriage ring Into the Roman see ; We'll ask no bands, but e'en clap hands, And hey ! then up go we !" INTRODUCTION. XV11 mosity than they discovered in the times of intole- rance and persecution, when they met with no quarter from the Church. But, before we enter on those scenes of anarchy and ruin, let us look a little farther into the charac- ter of the Separatists, their regulations, their doctrines, and their modes of worship. It is remarkable, that the mendicant Friars resembled very much, in their manners and religious deportment, the Puritans of later days, and the Methodists of the present hour. According to Howell, " they for some time rambled uncontrolled, taking upon them to con- fess and preach wherever they came, without the consent of the bishop, and utterly despising all canons and ecclesiastical rules. Professing volun- tary poverty and contempt of riches, they wandered, like strollers, from place to place, and, under a pre- tence of piety, choused silly people out of their mo- ney." About the middle of the 13th century, they published a book intitled " the Eternal Gospel, or Gospel of the Spirit." Full of wild and blasphemous imaginations, the captivating powers of such a work may well be conceived ; especially as it predicted, that " the reign of the Spirit was to commence within six years." 1 See Howell's View of the Pontificate, p. 406. Method. b' XV111 INTRODUCTION. That this prophecy was literally fulfilled, these vagrant gentlemen would, perhaps, have gravely in- formed us, as " preaching, if not praying, by the Spirit," soon after commenced. It is said, however, that " praying by the Spirit," was first brought into use in Queen Elizabeth's days, by a Popish priest and Dominican friar, one " Faithful Commin" by name ; " who counterfeiting himself a protestant and a zealot of the highest form, set up this new spiritual way of praying, with the design, first to bring the people to a contempt, and from thence to an utter hatred and disuse of our Common Prayer; which he still reviled as only a translation of the mass ; thereby to distract men's minds, and to divide our church. And this he did with such success, that we have lived to see the effects of his labors in the utter subversion of church and state ! " ' " Such (Dr. South concludes) was this hellish negociation. And when the malicious hy- pocrite came to Rome, to give the Pope an account hereof, he received of him, besides a thousand thanks, two thousand ducats for his pains : so that now you see the original of this extempore way of praying by the Spirit ! ! !" 1 South's Sermons, ii. 110, 111. [Edit. 1?15.] INTRODUCTION. XIX SECTION IV. PURITANISM DURING CROMWELI/S USURPATION. IN proportion as it was blended with the republican character, Puritanism seems to have been distinguish- ed by a sterner severity, and by a more ostentatious hypocrisy. It was well denned as " a pretence to a greater purity in religion, and a more spiritual perfect way of worshipping Almighty God, than the national es- tablished Church affords to those in communion with it ; a pretence, so utterly false and shamefully groundless, that in comparison of the principle which makes it, hypocrisy may worthily pass for sin- cerity, and Pharisaism for the truest and most refined charity." 1 Thus Dr. South ; who proceeds to say : " Little of argument can be expected from men professing no- thing but inspiration, and the impulse of a principle discernible by none but themselves." " It was nothing but a kind of spiritual pride, which first made them ' South, iv. 411, 412,413. XX INTRODUCTION. disdain to submit to the discipline, and from thence brought them to despise and turn their backs upon the established worship of our Church ; the sober, grave, and primitive plainness of which began to be loathed by such brainsick, fanciful opiniators ; who could please themselves in nothing but novelty, and the ostentation of their extemporary, senseless ef- fusions ; fit to proceed from none, but such as have the gift of talking in their sleep, or dreaming while they are awake. And for this cause, no doubt, God in his just and severe judgment delivered them over to their own sanctified and adored nonsense, to con- found and lose themselves in an endless maze of error and seduction. So that, as soon as they had broke off from the Church, they first ran into Presby- terian classes, from thence into Independent congre- gations. From Independents they improved into Anabaptists ; from Anabaptists into Quakers ; from whence, being able to advance no further, they are in a fair way to wheel about to the other extreme Popery." In an historical play intitled " Oliver Cromwell," and written by a Mr. George Smith Green, about the middle of the last century, a roya- list thus describes the Puritans, the companions of Oliver: INTRODUCTION. XXI -" They pretend a purity of soul Surpassing that of any other mortals ; And talk as feeling of the realms above, As if those regions were their own demesnes ; Boast of new light, and grace, and revelation ; And preach, and pray, and fancy they're inspired ; Wrest holy truths to ign'rant exposition, And torture texts for mercenary ends. These they call gifts ; and say they came from Heaven To them, the elect, to weed the sinful world, To bolt the bran, and purify mankind." 1 First, for their pretences to the Spirit. " It was the way of many (says South) in the late times, to bol- ster up their crazy, doating consciences with I know not what odd confidences, founded upon inward whispers of the Spirit, stories of something which they called conversion, and marks of predestination ; all of them mere delusions, trifles, and fig-leaves, and such as would be sure to fall off and leave them nak- ed before that fiery tribunal which knows no other way of judging men, but according to their works." * In a sermon on the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, the same intelligent and learned divine examines the pretensions of this people with much acuteness, and exposes them with a wit and humor peculiarly his own. " Among all the gifts of the Spirit, 1 Act I. Scene I. a South, ii. 41. XX11 INTRODUCTION. I cannot find (says he) the gift of canting, and whining, and making faces ; that is, of speaking bad sense with worse looks ; which yet those men call the language of Canaan ! Nor can I find the gift of utter- ing every sudden, crude, undigested thought, and of being impudently bold and familiar with Almighty God in prayer. I cannot find the gift of account- ing tenderness of conscience against law, a, thing sa- cred ; but tenderness of conscience according to law, a crime to be prosecuted almost unto death. In a word, I cannot find the gifts of rebelling, plunder- ing, robbing Churches, and murdering Kings, and all this purely for conscience-sake !" He proceeds to state, that with them " all learning was utterly cried down : so that their best preachers were such as could not read, and their ablest divines such as could not write. In all their preachments, they so highly pretended to the Spirit, that they could hardly so much as spell the letter. To be blind, was with them, the qualification for a spiritual guide. To be book- learned and irreligious, were convertible terms. Those only were accounted like St. Paul, who could work with their hands, and in a literal sense, drive the nail home, and were able to make a pulpit before they preached in it." 1 1 South, iii. 430. 433. INTRODUCTION. XX111 Of other fantastic persuasions, and expressions he thus speaks: " Some you will have amusing their con- sciences with such phrases as " laying hold on Christ; getting into Christ ; rolling themselves upon Christ ; mere words and wind !" " One says ; ' I am a great lover of sermons ; they are the very delight of my righteous soul ; the main business of my life; nay, I have devoted so much time to the hearing of sermons, that, I confess, I have hardly any left to practise them.' This, no doubt, would set him right for hea- ven, were a man to be pulled up to heaven by the ears. Then comes another and tells us ; he is got far above all steeple-house dispensations ; sure to meet with such powerful teaching at the Conventicle, that he can no more doubt of his going to heaven, than that there is such a place as heaven to go to." ' Thus, the peculiar favorites of the Most High, it is no wonder that their teachers had the ability to pray and to preach extemporaneously. Their pride in praying, and the character of their prayers escaped not the observation of our witty divine. " I believe (says he) it would put Lucifer himself hard to it, to outvie the pride of one of those fellows pouring out his extempore stuff amongst his whining, factious fol- lowers, listening to his cant with the ridiculous ac- 1 South, iii. 14-9. 150. XXIV INTRODUCTION. cents of their impertinent groans." 1 " Are not all their prayers after the heathenish and Pharisaical copy? notable for length and tautology? Two whole hours but a moderate dose! And what incohe- rence and confusion, shocking expressions and insuf- ferable nonsense!" Of a blasphemous prayer, or rather expostulation with God, he tells us the follow- ing anecdote: " A noted Independent divine, when Oliver Cromwell was sick, of which sickness he died, declared that God had revealed to him, that Oliver should recover and live thirty years longer ; for that God had raised him up for a work, which could not be done in less time. But Oliver's death being pub- lished two days after, the said divine publicly in prayer, expostulated with God on the defeat of his prophecy in these words: 'Lord! thou hast lied unto us ! yea, thou hast lied unto us ! ! !' "* Of their sermons, the terrific was, of course, the prominent feature. " Whips and scorpions, fire and brimstone, wrath and vengeance, made both top and bottom, front and rear, first and last of all their discourses." 3 Yet, buffoons and mountebanks, they were fond of raising a laugh by their pleasantries, to ' South, ii. 116. 159. * South, i, 96. 3 South, iii. 4-15. INTRODUCTION. XXV relieve the tragic horrors they had conjured up around them. Not unlike the hyaena or the bear from their habits and modes of life, they approached nearer, perhaps, to the monkey in their natural tem- perament." These reflexions may seem severe, but I can hardly conceive them to be uncharitable. In the detestable characters before us, I can find an apology even for the harshness of old Howell, who exclaims : " I rather pity, than hate Turk or Infidel ; for they are of the same metal, and bear the same stamp as I do, though the inscriptions differ. If I hate any, it is those schis- matics, that puzzle the sweet peace of our Church; so that I could be content to see an Anabaptist go to hell on a Browmsfs back!"* / , SECTION V. CHARACTER OF THE FIRST METHODISTS. MEMOIR OF BISHOP LAVINGTON. IN passing from the Puritans to the Methodists, I must first observe, that the latter, who sprang up about ' The Sermons of the Puritans have a great deal of vulgar ri- baldry, and scurrilous and profane jesting, but not more of the ri- diculous than those of even South himself. See his Sketch of Cromwell I. 311, and many other passages equally ludicrous. * Howell's Familiar Letters, p. 225. [Edit. 1/13.] XXY1 INTRODUCTION. 70 years ago, were, from a difference of opinion, soon divided into two parties ; the one led by Whitefield, the other by John and Charles Wesley. The Whitefieldian Methodists were Calvinists ; the Wesleyan, Arminians. But without particularising their characteristic doctrines, we, primd facie, term those Methodists who (whether Clergymen or Laymen,) are Methodically religious; who pretend to be more righteous than others, and more than ordi- narily zealous in the work of proselytism. Whe- ther this definition of Methodism be acceptable to the fraternity or not, is to me a matter of perfect indifference. I am only afraid, that men of sense may deem it ridiculous to define at all, the religion of enthusiasts and hypocrites. 1 I really think, indeed, that it would scarcely be uncandid to resort with Daubeny 1 to the sacred text for a definition of Meth- odism ; translating the words of St. Paul, rag /,#- sia$ TOO 8iaoXou, " Methodisms of the Devil!" For the character of those self-sent Apostles and their immediate followers, for their discipline, their doctrines, and their modes of worship, my readers will have recourse to Bishop Lavington. J 1 See " Anecdotes of Methodism," passim. 2 See Daubeny's Guide to the Church. (Edit. 2.) ii. 374. 3 In the following pages. INTRODUCTION. That they acknowledged not their subjection to the Church, or were extremely disinclined to a com- munion which Wesley affected to recommend to them, is sufficiently evident from their whole deport- ment. Justly characterised by the Bishop, as " a set of pretended reformers," they betrayed, ,to the great an- noyance of all sober Christians, an enthusiastic and fanatical spirit. " To this spirit (said our Right Rev. Author 1 ) several excellent treatises, already published* have given some check : nor need I any apology, if I own a sort of impulse and impression upon me, and think myself obliged to throw in my mite towards discovering the delusion of this dangerous and pre- sumptuous sect. It is my principal design, as a cau- tion to all Protestants, to draw a comparison between the wild and pernicious enthusiasms of some of the most eminent saints in the Popish communion, and those of the Methodists in our own country. " Bishop Stillingfleet hath clearly proved, and suffi- ciently exposed the fanaticism of the Romish Church, in his discourse concerning their idolatry ; 1 In his preface to " the Enthusiasm of Methodists, &c.;" from which I have extracted a few passages, suppressing the rest, which it would be useless to reprint. XXVlii INTRODUCTION. and hath shewn to what extravagant heights it has been carried, and how peculiarly encouraged by the Popes. " It is certainly matter of just concern when men of good understanding, acquired learning, and know- ledge of Scripture, embarrass themselves and others in such chimerical but pernicious projects. One at least of the Methodist preachers must be allowed to have these qualifications for doing real service to religion ; and did not experience convince us how strangely men are lost to all reason, as to some par- ticulars, wherewith the head is touched, who yet can discourse, and write, and act rationally enough in other respects ; one would wonder such a person should quite lose himself when carried away into the extravagant freaks of Methodism. " That such freaks they are, will easily appear: and if in proving it I am sometimes guilty of a levity of expression, it is to be hoped some allowance will be made in consideration of the nature of the subject ; it being no easy matter to keep one's countenance, and be steadily serious, where others are ridiculous. As true religion, however, is the most serious thing in the world ; I cannot but sincerely lament the progress of infidelity and immorality among us ; I cannot but earnestly desire and pray for an effectual reformation of manners, and propagation of the Gospel, by all INTRODUCTION. sober and Christian methods ; but may venture to foretel, without pretending to the spirit of prophecy, that this great work will never be accomplished by an enthusiastic and fanatical hand." The publication of the first part of " the Enthu- siasm," was soon followed by a letter from George Whitefield. 1 In this letter, the writer asks, first, on the topic of field-preaching : " What do you think of Jesus Christ and his apostles ? Were they not field-preach- ers ? Was not the best sermon that was ever delivered, delivered from the Mount ? Was not another very ex- cellent one, preached from a place called Mars-Hill? And did not Peter and John preach above 1700 years ago in Solomon's Porch, and elsewhere, though the Clergy of that generation commanded them to speak no more in the name of Jesus ? These were the per- sons I had in view when I began my adventures of field-preaching. Animated by their example, when causelessly thrust out, I took the field."* To jus- tify his invectives against the Church, Mr. W. has recourse to John the Baptist, to St. Stephen, and even 1 Intitled, " Some Remarks on a pamphlet, intitled, ' The En- thusiasm of Methodists and Papists compared.' b} George White- field, late of Pembroke College, Chaplain to the Countess of Hun- tingdon." ' P. 12, 13. XXX INTRODUCTION. to our Saviour himself.' There is a seeming in- genuousness, however, in some places, where he is sorry, or affects sorrow, for the intemperance both of his words and actions. The Bishop's Preface to the second part of his " Enthusiasm," contains a reply to Whitefield's an- swer. " Here (cries our witty Diocesan) will you never leave off your inexcusable pride in comparing yourself to Christ and his Apostles ? Will you still persist in this presumptuous sin ? Will you do it again and again in this very Pamphlet, wherein you have sadly bewailed your speaking in a style too aposto- lical ? You have owned your pretences to inspiration, and speaking from the Spirit of God, to be false : and if you own their inspiration and divine mission to be true ; your comparison fails in the most essential point. You have but two ways of making your pa- rallel stand ; and you may take your choice. You must prove, either that you are inspired and com- missioned from on high, like Christ and his Apostles, or that they were such enthusiasts as yourself. Your attempt to wipe off the black art of calumny, and even to retort it upon myself, is really a master- piece. You own, your speaking against the clergy was not in the spirit of Christ, or with the like di- 1 P. 15, 16, 17. INTRODUCTION. XXXI vine authority ; and that there was too much severity in your first zeal. All therefore you would infer is this, that what some may term gall of bitterness and black art of calumny, may be nothing but an honest testimony against the corruptions of a degenerate Church. And you justify your zeal by the examples of John the Baptist and St. Stephen, who called the impenitent and hardened Jews, a generation of vi- pers, stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, always resisting the Holy Ghost ; of our Sa- viour, denouncing no less than thirteen woes against the Scribes and Pharisees ; of Isaiah and Jeremiah, condemning the wicked men of those days. Truly, Sir, you have much mended the mat- ter ; and drawn a most conclusive inference, from your confession of not speaking against the clergy with a Christ-like, or Apostolical spirit of too much severity in your zeal : and when you say ' the Methodists for some time have laid down a trade, which I am taking up.' "And how am I taking up this trade of calumny? To prove this, You gather some of my flowers on this occasion. This dangerous and presumptuous sect; strolling Predicants ; itinerant Enthusiasts; Me- thodistical Enthusiasts.' To which I answer, If this be calumny, it comes out of your own mouth ; you have confessed, or boasted, of every word and syllable XXXii INTRODUCTION. of it. You have confessed, mingling wildfire with your zeal. To groundless pretences to inspiration ; to imposing your own spirit upon the world instead of the Spirit of God, (the very essence of Enthusiasm,) you plead guilty. Presumption among some of your sect you readily grant; and you boast of wandering into several parts of the world, as a Preacher. You glory in taking the field. And now I readily agree, that these flowers (growing in your own garden) are not of a very scriptural scent." With respect to confessions and apologies his Lordship of Exeter observes : " When you make ex- .cuses for your groundless pretences to inspiration, a divine commission, &c. on account of your early days, and the height of your first popularity, when your head was giddy; you hereby confess, that you was the most popular, when you was the greatest liar; best loved and admired, when you seduced the multi- tude by imposture. And what a fine compliment is this, to the understanding of your followers and to your own integrity ! What fools have you made of them, and what a knave of yourself! When you received the Hosannas of the multitude, I really thought it an error of the press for huzzas. 1 But you 1 I have heard it rather uncharitably suggested, that this was " a INTRODUCTION. confess, that ' Hosanna was your own word' 4 wrong and unguarded, but not intended to convey a profane idea.' * Wrong and unguarded !' What a tender expression ! And how possibly could your own mind abstract from profaneness, an application to yourself of the divine honor paid to the adorable Redeemer of mankind ? The word, indeed, hath for- merly been used in acclamations to some outrageous enthusiasts. Sir James Ware, 1 particularly, relates of Anthony Nugent, a Popish priest, that he was one of James Naylor's disciples, and went before him through the streets of Bristol, crying out ' Hosanna f* Considering all your confessions and retractions of your fanatical sallies, had I the honor and happiness of being one of your sect, I should propose an ad- dress to you (with great submission) in the following manner: * We are, Sir, of the number of those, who have attended your person and doctrine; allured by white He" of the Bishop; since he could scarcely have supposed such an error of the press. But Pennant's printer once committed a more palpable mistake. "This river abounds with Elephants," instead of Eel$. Pennant's was a very wide straggling hand ; as several letters, with which I was honored by that celebrated natu- ralist, sufficiently prove. 1 Hunting of the Romish Fox, p. 229 xx, xxi. Method. c xxxiv INTRODUCTION*. your sanctified pretences, and high claims. Being persuaded first into a bad opinion of our proper pastors and churches, we followed you into the streets, the fields, and deserts. We crowded, hugged, kissed you; made you presents and entertainments, receiving you as an apostle, or angel from heaven : ,nd this, too, at the very juncture of time, when you was the most deceitful worker, and grievously seduc- ing your precious lambs. For at length we find you declaring, that your infallible instructions, and which we devoured as so many oracles, were but so many mistakes, blunders, or lies. Your being guided by impulses and impressions, and teaching us to depend upon them as certain, is now acknowledged to be a precarious and even false rule, usurping the place of God's word ; though you once assured us, it was as easy to know when the Spirit made an im- pression on the soul, as to feel and know when the wind makes an impression on the body. You taught that our assurance of salvation was clearly written upon the heart, as by a sun-beam; whereas now, alas! alas! we only presumptuously imagined that we had it. You made your boast of a divine mission ; special calls and directions from Heaven; inspira- tions, communications, conversations face to face with God; which, by your later account and con- fession, were all mere fancy and fiction, and the pro- INTRODUCTION. XXXV tluct of a fertile invention. You have climbed up, and stole the sacred fire from heaven; have even dei- fied yourself, and put your own spirit in the seat of the Holy Ghost. You confess you have scattered wild-fire among us, whereby we felt strange and un- usual burnings, and some of us have been terrified out of our senses, without any warning to keep our distance, out of the reach of this dangerous composi- tion. Seeing then you have thus shammed us off with counterfeit coin instead of true sterling, and have owned yourself a cheat and impostor, what remains, but to leave you to yourself, and return to our native fold ? A stranger will we not follow, but will flee from him; who confessedly came not in by the door, but climbed up some other way. Remem- ber, that at best you are now but a common mortal, upon a level with ordinary churchmen: stripped of your extraordinary celestial endowments and super- natural powers, you can henceforth only make a figure from your natural or acquired abilities.' " Oh ! what a fall is there I" ' In conclusion, the Bishop says: " Whatever enthu- siasms you have given up, still you tenaciously adhere ' xxv. xxviii. XXXVI INTRODUCTION. (in opinion and practice) to field-preaehing. And what candid person can expect otherwise ? To be the head of a sect, distinguished by a peculiar denomi- nation, and notable singularities ; to frisk in the air of popularity, be hugged, and followed with wishful looks, Digito monstrari, et dicier Hie est; this is too sweet a morsel to be thrown up at once; a phren- zy too delectable to be willingly cured of; a devil too bewitching to be instantaneously cast out. But as you have declared a month's mind to get some good church, if you can; it is possible your distemper may go off in time. "" In the mean while, let your enemies envy the glory you get by field-preaching: you have an unexception- able parallel from the high encomium given by a Pope to one of your predecessors. No doubt but you have every thing relating to St. Francis at your fingers' ends: and must have seen the bull of Gregory IX. in his favor. But that the public may be acquainted what a proper example and incitement justly provoke your emulation, I shall set down the Pope's own words, ' The Lord raised up St. Francis, to demolish the Philistines who were destroying his vineyard ; who hearing inwardly a voice calling him, courage- ously starts up ; like another Sampson, the spirit of fervor coming upon him, he breaks the cords that bound him, and snatching np the jaw-bone of an INTRODUCTION, XXXVli ass, that is to say, his own simple preach- ing, not adorned with the persuasive colors of hu- man wisdom, but with divine power, which chooseth weak things to confound the strong: and he who toucheth the mountains, and they smoke, enabling him, he destroyed many thousand Philistines. And from the jaw-bone itself went out a copious water, refreshing, washing, and fructifying the lapsed, the sordid, and the arid." " If your peregrinations should lead you to Rome, (whither you seem to be setting your faces,) fail not to kiss his Holiness's slipper for this honorable testimo- ny of an itinerant field-preacher."* In the Preface to the third Part, Wesley is honor- ed with his Lordship's peculiar notice. " The third Part of this comparison" (the Bishop tells Wesley) " was ready for the press above a twelve- month ago. But the publication was delayed, on account of your fifth Journal, and your letter to the author of the Enthusiasm:' hotH -<* - J " oavv ine light about me same time." J After some observations, the Bishop thus proceeds: acquaintance. Madam Bourignon, was so imprudent, as to nx me 1 Cherubin. Bullar. Vol. 1. in Gregor.IX. Constit. 2. 1 pp. xli-xliii. 3 P. i y - INTRODUCTION. ment, within her own days ; and so near, that within three years we should see the effect of it. She hath been dead about seventy years, and thereby proved herself a false prophetess. You, Sir, have been, for some years, a dealer-out of the same prophetic warn- ings : ' Behold ! the day of the Lord is come, at this very hour the Lord is rolling away our reproach.' As your reproach is not beginning to be rolled away, much less appears any full completion, haply you have obtained an inhibition, or have power to ad- journ the day of the Lord, from time to time, at your pleasure. By such artifices you may hope to escape the snare, into which a brother Methodist- teacher fell, who pronounced peremptorily, some few years ago, ' that the Day of Judgment should come that very year;' but unluckily a failure of prophecy hap- pening, he was put to shame: I mean, if he had any. You will have the story anon. " In the mean time take the following story from Aventme.- At *_, i: /_i_..* _:__ h unc i red years ago) there was a crazy woman, called I heoda, under the direction of a priest, for the sake of lucre, and depending on the credulity of the people, (igno- in an 1 Annal. lib. 4. 5. INTRODUCTION. XXXIX religious,} set up for the gift of prophesying. She pretended heavenly visions, meetings and conver- sations with the celestial beings ; and foretold, that the Day of Judgment should come that very year. Men, women, and children, frightened out of their senses, flocked about her ; brought her presents, and begged her intercession with Heaven ; followed, adored, and esteemed her inspired. But being brought before some Bishops, she discovered the whole cheat, in which she was instructed by the priest ; for which she only underwent the discipline of whipping, and was let go, to be afterwards a public laughing-stock.' " Your own followers, in your last Journal, have a share in your complaints : ' Some beginning to use their liberty as a cloak for licentiousness.' ' I readily believe it : and not only beginning, but running great lengths. ' You discovered among them such wiles of Satan, as never entered into your heart to con- ceive.' 1 And how could you expect better, after their being caught in your own wiles ? A pretty cha- racter, too, you give of some of your congregations, who have not yet known these depths. ' Preaching at Morva I observed an earnest stupid attention in P. i. * l\ 69. X\ INTRODUCTION* the hearers : not one convinced of sin : others showing huge approbation, and absolute unconcern. - J preached, in the castle at Exeter, to such a peo- ple as I have rarely seen, void both of anger, fear, and love.' ' Strange people indeed to be void of all three ! At another place your sheep a little mend ; ' At London I met the wild, staring, loving society.'* All unaccountably strange people ! but not a quar- ter so unaccountable, as when they come to be vari- ously metamorphosed by your enchanted wand. " What you throw out against the Dissenters let themselves answer. But what you have to say against my brethren of the Church should not be passed over. When a minister refused you the use of his church, because the Bishop had forbidden him, you exclaim horribly, ' By what authority am I suspended from preaching ? By bare-faced arbitrary power.' 1 But is there not a cause ? Are there not many ? Do you think them so in love with your black art, as to be fond of having themselves, and doc- trines, traduced in their own pulpits ? Of permitting their flock to be stolen, or catch the murrain? You dan hardly object to visions. And we are informed, ' that Mahomet had a vision, wherein he saw his 1 P. 107, 108. * P. r<>. l P. INTRODUCTION. *li enemies mount his pulpit, and jump about in it like monkies." The clergy have often seen such a sight, bare-faced, and with their corporeal eyes.* " For your letter to the author of Enthusiasm I am something at a loss what to say to such a medley of chicanery, sophistry, prevarication, evasion, pertness, conceitedness, scurrility, sauciness, and effrontery. Paper and time should not be wasted on such stuff. And yet I begin to feel a spice of vanity, and enter- tain no mean opinion of my pamphlets ; seeing (as Mr. Whitefield speaks in his own case) * they have served a good purpose,' by drawing out the true spirit of Mr. John Wesley. In this performance your temper appears naked and undisguised ; so as almost to persuade the world, that you are no Enthusiast ; at least that there is no Enthusiasm here. I am not so clear in that point. For Enthusiasm, however in- nocent at the first setting out, usually and naturally runneth into trick, bitterness, and ferocity ; especially where it catcheth a suitable disposition. The choler, by fermentation, will soon become adust ; will turn black and bitter, overflow and burn, and boil, and rage, and stink like pitch. Such was the Enthusiasm of Madam Bourignon, (whose expressions you seem 1 Sale's Koran, p. 232. * pp. v. viii. Xlll INTRODUCTION. fond of copying,) who once more steps in to your re- sistance. She was a woman of a choleric, peevish, and morose constitution, which heightened by En- thusiasm easily inspired her with those most excellent Christian sentiments, in her Light risen in Darkness. ' Many say, that I cannot bear contradiction And they are not to contradict me by their writings; for the Holy Spirit ought not to be controlled.' 1 ' I was surprised to hear you was offended at my using sharp language against some persons. Believe me, , I think this to be one of the greatest graces, that God has given me. I bless God who has given me anger to oppose evil ; and I will fight against it even with anger and fury; not heeding whether you, or any of you, approve of my procedure, or no. If I turn angry, and am so rude in my words ; these very things are testimonies of the Spirit of God. A soul possessed with the Spirit of God ought to have its passions more lively than any other person who is possessed with his own spirit ; who is not allowed to suffer his passions to reign.'* I would almost say, what a vixen hath set you a copy ! Crudelis mater magis, an puer improbus ille? " What now is become of ' the harmless Methodist? 1 Part Hi. Let. 1 . * Part iv. Let. 23. INTRODUCTION. xlili ThemaH who keeps his mouth as it were with a bridle ! The saint who said, Let me speak as a little child ! let my religion be plain, artless, simple ! Meekness, temperance, patience, and love, be these my highest gifts !' when are we to see the real good fruits of your new birth ? of that ' spotless perfection, that is promised to you all ?' How long are we to wait for your nostrum, the grand operation of exalting (through the furnace) the basest metals into gold ? Hitherto you may join issue with the disappointed Jews : ' We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind : we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.' Hitherto your progress is that of a crab, directly backwards. Nor can I discern any perfection but the perfection of Jesuitism. ' Oh ! what a fall is here ! ' How per- versely has your primitive saintship, your dove-like simplicity, been hatching the cockatrice eggs, and wetting the spider's web ! What a change from pure nothingnt/as into striving to be every thing ! what a dwindling into a great man ! There was a time of such Lv^ua^ tion and geif.de,^ tnat you bound yourself -^olution, never more to speak a ' worldly things." BD, notwithstand i n g this> * 2 Journ. p. 10, xliv INTRODUCTION. (they are your own words,) you have often since en- gaged therein.' ' There was a time, when (like St. Francis, who made himself wives and mistresses of snow-balls) you was in love with ' frost and snow ; when you lay you down on the floor, and slept soundly ; when you believed, you should not need to go to-bed any more, as it is called.'* At length, even a warm bed wont serve, without a comfortable bed-fellow. But, as far as I can observe, this is the way of you all. All are of the family of love. And thus ' Satan finds you are shaking his kingdom, and making mothers in Israel.' Nor are there wanting among you much worse and more pregnant proofs of venereal Enthusiasm ; the strange mixtures of de- bauchery and sanctity. " You have bragged, with the proud Pharisee, ' my ways are not like other men's ways. Give me where to stand, and I will shake the earth : } I, and my brother, are unexceptionable on all accounts : 4 c/ experiences, that the servant might be as his pr.* oter without any corruption, &c.' 5 But" All ^ al1 speak, and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thou h*~* .., , r . oe like the Most will ascend into heaven ; 1 "" L.uer, p. 13. * Last App. p. 119- ' ' Jour "' P- 4 3 Journ. p. 48. * 4 Journ. p. 81. INTRODUCTION. High. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee; saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?' 1 " But hold! * I shall rim myself out of breath again. I shall once more be charged with setting aside the New Testament, or not adverting to it, in writing my pamphlet.' Did I never read those Scripture instances, of compassing sea and land to make pro- selytes ; of straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel ; of sounding a trumpet, and then praying in the synagogues, the streets, and the market- places ; devouring widows' houses, and for a shew making long prayers ; of fasters with a sad coun- tenance ; outwardly whited sepulchres, but full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness ? Will I not admit these for parallels ? Upon recollection, I be* lieve there are such instances. And I will be so free with my friend, as to allow you to make the best of them, and bring them to account. " Nay, I doubt, I shall even run into a self-con- tradiction. For justice calls upon me to give a fresh specimen of your prowess, of your martial Enthu- siasm, by producing the challenge you sent me : which may be good proof of that heroic sanctity, necessary for a Papal canonization. * It is time, 1 Isaiah xiv. INTRODUCTION. Sir, you should leave your skulking-piace. Come out ; and let us look each other in the face.' ' You may, perhaps, brand me for a coward. But really, Sir, I am no Hercules. You know the story of his fighting with an antagonist, who had the gift of trans- forming himself into all shapes. When the hero thought he had got him safe, he slips through his fingers in the shape of water ; or blazeth out in the form of fire : then he roars, foams, and tears the ground, in the figure of a wild bull : lastly, he sets a hissing, darts his forked tongue, spits all his venom, and then glides away in the shape of a serpent. So that I may fairly make this a preliminary, "Av^wo-ov o-eauroi/, simplify yourself, and be one thing. But there is still more immediate danger. For certainly you would not have your sincerity suspected, when, mounting your triumphal chariot, you ' boast, and cry victory, in having laid such numbers flat on the ground, by dint of a few words ; by the breath of your mouth rendering them speechless, senseless ; or tor- tured with inexpressible agonies.' He must be a bold man, that will venture to look you in the face, though attended with his seconds. " It is true, you are sometimes so good as to set your friends at liberty, and restore them to pardon, 1 Letter, p. 34. INTRODUCTION. and peace ;' but such a one as I can hardly hope to merit this favor at your hands: it will be in vain to beg quarter. " But I am not now entering into a detail of these horri- ble and shocking things. They will take up a consi- derable part of the following pamphlet. And if your own accounts be true, ' of your power to throw your followers into contortions, convulsions, variety of unaccountable disorders of body and mind, into the most hellish tortures ; and then to release them again;' if this be the case, and you are not brought to hold up your hand at the bar, you are much obliged to the late act of Parliament, which repealed the laws against witchcraft. Though, if I mistake not, there is still an exception as to the white witches, the recoverers, who undo what Satan and the black witches have done. With regard to these the statute is unrepealed. "The bare relation of such miseries, which you are proud of inflicting, are sufficient to ' make even me .(as you speak) fall into seriousness.' And yet per- haps room enough will be found for you to act your mummeries and farces, and make a ridiculous figure. " One deplorable misfortune hangs upon me, which 1 know not how to shake off. ' You take your leave of me, and \vill have nothing to say to me, INTRODUCTION. unless I will set my name to my Third Part." Upon this condition, there is a prospect of admission to your good graces, and I may hope for your future corre- spondence; and (according to your behaviour towards another adversary) ' you will do me honor before the people.' Which puts me in mind of the case of one Mascarenius, who had strongly opposed the so- ciety of Jesuits. St. Xavier appeared to him one night, but with his back turned upon him. To whom Mascarenius said, ' My good saint, why dost thou not turn thy face towards me?' Xavier replied, * Be changed into another man, and then 1 will turn my face to thee.'* " If you will excuse me in making you the image of at Jesuit, because I cannot help it, I will be more open about my helpers, (which gives you some solicitude,) fairly telling you who they are. And then, I per- suade myself, you will entertain no mean opinion of them. " In the first place stand your good self and associ- ates; who have supplied me with such ample materials. I have little more honor than that of being an echo, rebounding your own words. In the second rank stand my parallels from Pagan, Heretical, and Popish 1 Letter, p. 44. a Franc. Annal, p. 306. INTRODUCTION. Enthusiasts and Impostors. Get the better of your- self and these, and I submit. " Should Satan tempt you to break your rule of silence; or choler be so predominant, as to force you upon another answer; be so wise as to follow my advice. I think you will; because it hath been your manner; and that you will listen to a friend, Qui monet ut facias quod jam facis. " As to the most material objections, or unanswer- able points, take no manner of notice of them: when the shoe pinches, pretend you do not feel. Though sometimes you may be allowed to twist, wince, wrig- gle, shift, and prevaricate; or wear a mask, and put on the cloak of sanctity. " But be especially watchful, and mark diligently, whether your opponent advanceth any thing that is not in his title-page: it being absolutely necessary that the title-page should contain every word and syllable of the subsequent book: Or if he should happen to mistake the page in his quotations, or not quote it all: Or you take it in your head to fancy, he has offended against grammar, or writes not so good English as yourself: here stick close upon htm. Catch him in one of these enormous crimes; and then you stand clear of all difficulties; your adver- Mcthod. d ] INTRODUCTION. sary is entirely confuted; and Methodism is white as snow. " Keep up the good custom of bragging of your fre- quent prayers, of your miracles, the number of your ad- herents, and your influence over them. Then it is like- ly some Perronet or other, will bestow on you ,the same compliment, with which father Doza decorated, in his sermon, the founder of the Jesuits: * In these last days God hath spoken unto us by his son Igna- tius.' Or, if you choose to govern by fear, you may recite the letter of JEneas Sylvius to Cardinal Firman: ' Brother John (Capistran) is a man of God: the people of Germany esteem him as a prophet. He could, whenever he pleaseth, by lifting up a finger, raise a great commotion. The Chief Pontiff ought to reward, and comfort those, who merit well of the Roman Church. And that such is this John, with his brethren, no body that hath any sense will deny." " Were I to examine all the writings, and whole be- haviour of the Methodists, the disquisition would carry me into an immoderate length : and I could ea- sily too have doubled my parallels. But both your friends, and mine, will think enough hath been said. Upon the whole, however, I reckon it, Sir, my .' Martyrol. Francisc. Oct. C3. INTRODUCTION. I 1 bounden duty solemnly to declare, that I believe Methodism (however innocent in its conception and birth) to have been gradually and diligently nursed up into a system of solemn imposture: that I see nothing in this dispensation thus managed, but what lies in common with the most frantic and pestilent fanaticisms, that have so often poisoned the Christian world; nothing that is not drinking up the very dregs of Popery in particular: that (notwithstanding your sly insinuations of having to do with a Middletonian and Antiscripturist) the undoubted revelation, contain- ed in the lively oracles of Holy Scripture, is my sole rule of faith and manners; and my reverence for those sacred writings is bound about my heart. For which very reason, I would (as much as in me lies) prevent their honor and authority from being expos- ed to scorn by the mockery, travestie, and burlesque of Methodism. Therefore, wherever I find a great stress laid upon some imaginary, insignificant, or un- intelligible peculiarities; the word of God turned into a conjuring book; the divine ordinances either lightly esteemed, or imputed to the devil; good works either undervalued, or trodden under foot; wild-fire dangerously tossed about, instead of that light which came down from Heaven; puffy preten- sions to extraordinary revelations, inspirations, usurp- ing the name of the Holy One; with personal confe- Hi INTRODUCTION. rences with God, face to face ; enthusiastic ranters comparing themselves with prophets, and apostles, if not with Christ himself; the most wild and extrava- gant behaviour, the phrenzies of a disturbed brain, or deluded imagination, the effects of fits, of a weak head, or diseased body, all turned into so many tests and marks of saintship; the spirit of pride and vanity possessing the leaders; a spirit of envy, rancor, broils, and implacable animosities, dashing each other in pieces; a spirit of bitterness and uncharitable- ness towards the rest of mankind; a progress through immorality, scepticism, infidelity, atheism, through spiritual desertions, despair, and madness, made the gate of perfection; an imaginary new birth to be brought to pass by means of real tortures, of some of the most exquisite pangs and sufferings that can affect human nature; I say, where these are found, and many more equally horrible, one may easily discern a wide difference between such a dis- pensation and genuine religion ; as well as the bung- ling hand that is substituting the former in the place of the other. One may easily discern what strangers such inconsistent ramblers must be to the true devo- tion, as well as comforts, of a sedate, composed piety; te a firm belief of our Maker and Redeemer, and con- stan reliance upon Providence; to a steady course of nincere, habitual, and unaffected religion ; to the che- INTRODUCTION. liii rishing of a warm love of God in the heart, and well- tempered zeal for the truths of his inspired word, and this proved by the love of our neighbour; to a gene- ral observance and attendance on the means of grace, and a well-grounded hope of glory. Go, and com- pare the chair with the wheat. " Nor are the evil tendencies of Methodism in the least diminished by being covered with the cloak of sanctity. " The case is the same in the ostentatious declara- tions of prophesying, casting out devils, the gift of healing, or other miraculous powers among you. They tend evidently to render the true gifts of the Spirit suspicious ; to bring a reproach and scandal on the prophecies, and miracles, which establish the in- spiration of the everlasting Gospel. But thus it must be. These are usual and necessary engines of hair- brained enthusiasts, and crafty impostors, for working upon the passions of weak, credulous, or distempered people. While there are any such people in the world, a deceitful worker will scarce fail of some de- gree of success. And if great mischief be not the consequence, it is owing to that Providential Being, ' who frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh divi- ners mad." XV. XXV11. llV INTRODUCTION. In his postscript, (says the Bishop,) " You may observe, that I have taken a view of Methodism on the brightest side, and in the best light: because I have taken my materials, almost wholly, from its most celebrated preachers. Were we to descend to the tenets and actions of your .under-teachers, and most obedient followers, ' What a scene would be here disclosed !' A few instances of this nature will appear in the following discourse. One more, being an affidavit, that very lately was put into my hands, I shall here subjoin. And I am credibly informed that other such doctrines and tracts may be soon collected, either proved upon oath, or otherwise well attested, sufficient to make a reasonable volume. It may be right to have a corps c/e reserve. ' The Information of Thomas Lovell, of Stoke-Da- merel in the county of Devon, Sail-maker, taken before me the 25th of May, A. D. 1747. ' This informant on his oath voluntarily saith, that he formerly attended the meetings of those persons who call themselves Methodists, being invited so to do by one of their preachers, called Crownley : and that they divide themselves into different classes, where they meet at private houses : that a husband and wife cannot be of the same class, nor father and son, nor a brother and sister. That they often pre- tend to receive the Spirit, and they that receive it (as INTRODUCTION. Iv they say) jump about the room, and ask others if they do not see the Spirit. And that he is credibly in- formed, that one Joseph Peters, of the said parish, (who is, since he followed these people, out of his senses, but before was a very reasonable person,) re- ported he was in a trance, or deep sleep, when an angel appeared to him, and told him, he should go to his mother, and bring her into the Society of Me- thodists; and, if she refused, he should kill her: and that he actually attempted to cut her throat, as he is informed. And that the reader of each meeting 1 , after they have prayed after their manner, and sung psalms, collected money from all present, for which they account to the preachers, who come at times from distant places. That at some meetings he hath known and been present, when women have been taken from the rooms where they met, and carried into bed-chambers, and thrown upon beds; where they have lain in fits, or swoons, and the preacher has cried out at the same time, let them alone, for the Spirit was entering into them. And that he hath known several of them leave their work and labor, by which they and their families were to be supported, to attend the runnagate preachers: and that in the yard 1 many of them have drawn workmen from their 1 The Dock, near Plymouth. hi INTRODUCTION. labor to preach to them, to the great hindrance of the King's works. That he hath frequently himself con- tributed to their collection, but knows not how the money is disposed of. That there are now at Dock eleven leaders of so many different classes. That he hath frequently heard Crownley, and William Drake, who is also one among them, and several others, assert, that after they have received the Spirit they cannot sin; and if they commit any sin, it is only an error in such; and let them do whatever they please after their adoption, however sinful the act is, they are sure to be saved notwithstanding. Thomas Lovell. Taken before me, the day and year above-mentioned, J. Snow.' * Mem. Joseph Peters, upon talking with a cler- gyman of the Church of England, was convinced that his vision was a diabolical delusion, if any thing. He received the Sacrament, and seemed well in his senses for some time; but still followed the Metho- dists: and upon a second vision, he again attempted killing his mother, and actually set the house on fire; and was sent away to a mad-house.' " This may, in a great measure, serve for an answer INTRODUCTION. Ivii to those who inquire, What is the religion of Method- efore he died, the religious about him conjectured that he saw something, and that the devil was now attempting to wound him. But soon after, the bless- ed Father said, it sufficeth : which made them believe the tentation was past, and the enemy vanquished.' " So much for Father Bennet. And who would not believe, were there any truth in transmigration, that his soul passed into Mr. Wesley ? INTRODUCTION. " The Life of the Lady Warner, called Sister Clare of Jesus. Lond. 1692. " Some years ago I transcribed a few passages hence, from mere curiosity, and without any thoughts of Methodism. Had I now the book, an exacter comparison might be drawn. The extract I then made was as follows : " ' She was bred a Protestant, but converted by a Jesuit to Popery. She resolved on a rigorous course of life, to break off all commerce with human crea- tures, and receive no worldly satisfaction. She receives the habit at Liege; is particularly devoted to John Baptist, St. Austin, Mary Magdalen, and St. Teresa; for whom, when a Protestant, she had a particular esteem, from reading her Life. She sees a stream of glaring light come from the blessed sacrament towards her. She tastes the sweetness of union with God. During the contagion of the plague, the abbess insures her safety, and that of all the rest; * Good sister, be not afraid: none of my religious shall take any harm from this infection.' For our blessed Lady had appeared to the abbess, with all her religi- ous under her mantle; assuring her, that she would preserve them from the plague.' (Mr. Wesley's Soci- ety safe in a like case ; 4 Journal, p. 56. 61.) " ' Hearing a sermon on, * I am black, but comely,' Method. e \X\l INTRODUCTION. the abbess told her, ' You also, Sister Clare, must black yourself:' upon which she went into the kitch- en, and blacked her face and hands all over with soot; which caused some diversion among the nuns. She had many visits from her beloved Jesus, re- ceived the gift of inspiration, and burned in the fire of divine love. However, she felt great desolation, dryness, and darkness, not to be expressed. By the purgative and illuminating way, she attains to the imitive; and by a perfect annihilation of herself, comes to a kind of deiformity. She says, God requires no- thing, but that we believe, be sorry, and be saved ; that we must be very sincere to our confessor, telling him even our passing thoughts. God seems to with- draw himself from her, with all interior comforts and feelings of his presence ; and she thinks herself totally abandoned. She begs aid of St. Bruno and St. Te- resa; but requests of Christ to take her for his spouse, or at least for his handmaid. Was confirmed in her opinion that God had forsaken her, because she was deluded in two points, which she thought God had revealed to her; that she should die of that illness; and die before her brother Clare. She was in conti- nual convulsions of doubts and fears, notwithstand- ing all the gusts and comforts her soul tasted from lier heavenly spouse; and she seemed perfectly for- saken bv him in her last sickness. But her counte- INTRODUCTION. nance after death retained an angelical sweetness, and her body filled the Church with a wonderful per- fume/ ** Transcribed from the ' Life of her sister-in-law, call- ed Sister Mary Clare.' Printed with the former. *' ' She was converted also to Popery, and the most perfect state: was so good, that she never lost her baptismal vow by any mortal sin. In her prayer, for several years, she never found any spiritual or sensi- ble gust; but continual aridity and desolation; in a profound desolation, and no ease from heaven. Once, kneeling down in her cell, she chanced to spy in a chink of the wall a little scroll of paper; which taking out and unfolding, she found these words in it, * Be at rest, and afflict yourself no more: all is well between God and you.' This filled her with joy; as undoubtedly coming from heaven, God having sent it by an angel. She makes a formal ob- lation of herself to God, in words dictated by the Holy Ghost. But still she is in darkness, as to the interior state of her soul, has no light or comfort in prayer, communion, divine offices, or any exercises of devotion; is in obscure faith ; and fears she has no faith, because no fervor; but remains as a stone, and has no feelings of God. " ' But yet she has many inspirations from God. She INTRODUCTION. always hears the very first stroke of the bell, calling her up to matins, by the help of an angel. She anni- hilates herself before her crucifix, and acknowledged o the abyss of her own nothingness. She prayeth, ' O my sweet Jesus, let me repose upon thy sacred breast, and fetch my health out of thy most blessed heart.' Even in her last moments she says, that she was totally void of all sensible consolation and devo- tion: but rejoiced to see herself in this aridity, quite parched, and dried up, and become a living holocaust to the divine fire of love, without the least drop of comfort. Her prayer was very extraordinary and in- tense, and privileged with a supernatural suspension above the reach of sense. She is in a calm, amidst the storms, which desertions, obscurities, aridities, and de- solations that surrounded her, endeavoured to raise. God's divine impressions, and operations of the spirit, were so very secret, that her condition was unknown even to herself. For while she enjoyed God, by a secret, but insensible union, she thought she did no- thing but kneel like a stock or a stone. And though God permitted her not to see what she did, and she was totally insensible of what passed between God and her soul, yet she had such a secret impulse. Though she thought God had forsaken her, at the same time she enjoyed her beloved, whom she thought she had lost: he hindering her from having any sense INTRODUCTION. 1x1% of this union, and receiving any comfort in it; as he hindered his humanity in the garden from the beatific vision, while his soul was exceedingly sorrowful. Her corpse retained a smiling countenance after her departure, and expressed her joy.' " What a lively pattern have we, in these two in* stances, of MethodisticalJesuitism! We see how easi- ly two sisters of a shallow capacity, melancholy tem- per, and enthusiastic turn, are made a prey to crafty seducers ; and that the taking a spiritual delight in reading the legends of the saints, and other Popish books, (recommended by Methodist teachers to Pro- testants,) is being half way over sea already. And what good person can, without some degree of indig- nation, see the weakness and misfortunes of human nature made a handle for seducement ? How dexte- rously doth an angel convey an assurance from Hea- ven through a chink in the wall ! As easily as a Me- thodist teacher can through a crack in the brain Who will not observe from what model our new dis- pensation is taken ? ' Through the wilderness state of doubts and fears ; a coldness, and senseless, unaf- fected heart, even at the holy communion ; horrors, dryness, desolation; through intervals of light and darkness; into impressions, feelings, inspirations, communications with God, perfection, deiformity, and union.' Hence hath been learned ' the benefit and JXX INTRODUCTION. necessity of spiritual desertion and despair; the driving people, by proper management, out of their senses, and then telling them, that in that very mo- ment the Lord Jesus enters into their souls/ If a Methodist die, ' Never did I see such a fine corpse/ says Mr. Wesley; ' our Lord comes and perfumes her grave,' says Mr. Whitefield. "Every scrap of it is rank Jesuitical Popery. " Extract from ' A Declaration of egregious Popish impostures in casting out devils, &c. By S. H.' " This S. H. was Sam. Harsnet, successively Bishop of Chichester, Norwich, and Archbishop of York; who hath there given us ' copies of the examinations and confessions of the parties themselves, pretended to be possessed and dispossessed, from the records in the High Commission Court.' Lond. 1(303. " * About twelve priests were concerned in this af- fair, all under the direction of Weston, alias Edmunds, the Jesuit. They published in 1585, or 1586, a Book of Miracles, containing many wonderful things done by virtue of exorcisms, &c. whereby they gained a great number of proselytes ; and wherein we see the fullest proof of their lying wonders, and counterfeit zeal. " ' For a particular instance, they chose the house of a trusty friend, whose house they said was haunted ; INTRODUCTION. and he having three servants that were Protestants, upon these they were to try their skill. Accordingly the wicked spirits made a horrid racket; blew out the candles, except such as were hallowed ; -turning every thing upside-down ; and making even the priests fume and sweat. "'They convinced the servants of the great power of t/he devil in that place ; and if the maid did but slip in the kitchen, it was the devil who came, and trip- ped up her heels : because she was washing a foul shirt of the priest's, which was designed to whip the devil out of the possessed. Another time, the devil slipt into Sarah Williams's leg ; but the priest claps his holy hose on the place, and makes him tumble, and bawl out, 'Pull off: pull off. Ease the poor devil of his pain.' The sacred stole is wrapped about the neck of another possessed ; which so closely begirt the devil, that he stared, fumed, and foamed, as if he had been mad. They told them strange stories of the fits of other possessed persons, what words they spake, and what sights they saw : how the blessed virgin, with a train of celestial la- dies, came down to grace the miraculous cures. Which made the wise spectators cry out, Oh ! the Catholic Faith ! oh ! senseless heretics. " ' By such means having astonished and convinced the servants, the first thing they order theni to do is, Ixxii INTRODUCTION* to renounce their heretical religion, be reconciled to the Pope, and solemnly engage never to leave Popery. And they are rebaptised, with all the ridiculous ce- remonies of puff', cross-puff, impuflf, and expuff ; with the application of salt, spittle, and oil, to their lips, nose, eyes, and ears, &c. Then they are dispossessed in this manner. The party is tied down in the holy chair,' (Mr. Wesley's possessed are commonly held by four or five strong persons,) * and drenched with holy potions of sack, oil, and rue, &c. They forced the maid to drink largely of this noisome potion ; per- suading her, that it was the devil within her that de- tested it, not her. Hereupon she grows sick, giddy, and falls into cold sweats ; then is fumigated with fathers, brimstone, and other stinks, in a chaffingdish of coals, and her face held close to it, till black as a chimney-sweeper. Hence Teachings, strugglings, dizziness, swoonings, almost loss of senses, babbling nonsense, raving fits, exclamations that all the de- vils in hell were in her. They put things, as little knives, in her mouth ; stick pins in her flesh. In general, the parties, by such management, tumble, wallow, foam, howl, roll their eyes, and gnash their teeth ; are in trances, see visions, &c. When they are thus fitted for the good purpose, the devil in them must be found, and dislodged : he is hunted from place to place, toe, foot, leg, thigh, hands, the most INTRODUCTION. nasty and secret parts ; and the holy relics must be applied there. " ' If the devil be obstinate, they must chafe, broil, burn him, and make him roar: the priest's very gloves, stockings, girdle, shirt, can search and roast the devil. But the best exorcisms are holy water, potions, hallowed candles, brimstone, &c. which will variously torment him ; especially if they add whipping. One of the patients confessed that ' she did not know how it fared with the devil ; but was sure she was all black and blue, felt grievous pain, and was almost killed.' " ' The common signs and marks of a possession were, unwillingness to sign them with the cross ; nor to bear the application of relics, nor the gospel in their casket, nor the words Ave Mary, nor Catholic Church, nor presence of the priest.' (The like signs are in Mr. Wesley's possessed, * Trembling at the name of Jesus ;' crying out, Field-preacher! field- preacher! I do not like field-preaching. This repeat- ed for two hours together, with spitting, and all the expressions of strong aversion. By prayer her pangs increase. She could not bear to hear us pray, &c. ! ) " ' At length however, by the force of their exorcisms they extorted the truth from the devils, who confessed 1 4 Journ. p. 94 6. Ixxiv INTRODUCTION. their insufficiency to withstand them. By this com- mand over devils they procured reverence to them- selves. Sometimes the devil cannot be expelled, in the name of the Trinity, by virtue of the sacrament, and the like ; but by the power of the holy priest- hood away he flies. Such is the dignity of their office.' (Thus ' one of Mr. Wesley's ' possessed owned, that church, sacrament, scripture, prayer profited no- thing i but upon Mr. Wesley's praying, he said : Now I know God loveth me : z now I know thou art a prophet of the Lord: ay, this is he, who I said was a deceiver. The devil is forced to let a wo- man, whom he possessed, 3 be quiet while Mr. Wes- ley was there. He had promised her so ; and kept his word.') " * Their way of attacking Protestants was this : their hearts bleed for sorrow, in seeing poor creatures in this vvoful plight ; they burn with bowels of commis- eration ; they will lay down their lives to do them good, and deliver them from Satan.' (A Methodist could not have spoken more religiously.) ' ' They played their artillery chiefly on young boys and girls of sixteen or seventeen ; upon persons of a melancholy temper; hypochondriac, hysteric, or 1 3 Journ. p. 8, 9. * p. 43. 3 5 Journ. p. 86. INTRODUCTION. IxXV epileptic people ; and any way distempered, in mind or body. " ' Any thing is swallowed by these. Devils in the shape of cats, with saucer-eyes, and as big as a mas- tiff, run upon their heads, or under their coats. The devil comes in the form of wind, blows out the can- dle, or blows the ashes about the room ; in the shape of a toad, of a mouse, or a drum ; in a vizard-mask, or in the habit of an English Protestant minister. " ' The devil to be expelled must go out in some vi- sible form ; and for proof of his departure, must make a hole in the window, or blow out the candle ; get out of the possessed's ear in the shape of a mouse ; his voice be heard by the cook, as he skipped over the larder ; or vanish up the chimney in the shape of smoke ; and, to show what a fright he was in, must leave an unsavoury smell. " * For better confirmation, they relate divers mira- cles, and show others. The priest's sacred hands, thumb, or finger, having been anointed with the holy oil, shines forth as a fire, or the sun. The holy sacra- ment appears so bright, that it cannot be looked upon. The priest can tell who hath been at mass by the smell. Sarah Williams is made to confess, that the devil made her drop her beads/and unwilling to adore the blessed host. She lay past all sense in a trance, utterly bereaved of all her senses at once. The priest INTRODUCTION. no sooner came near her, bat she discerns who he is by the smell. William Trafford had a devil in him, that rebounded at the dint of the priest's breath un- able to stand it. " 'The Book of Miracles, accounts of visions, exor- cisms, and numbers of converts, made a great noise ; and put persons in authority upon making inquiry. They seized some of the persons concerned, agents and patients, who upon examination, made confes- sion upon oath of all that has been said, and much more. " ' They severally witnessed that they were seduced, and engaged to act their respective parts in the impos- ture, by flattery, fear, loathsome potions, and fumiga- tions; by oaths and vows of adherence; by the bond of violated chastity : that the priests told them they would be burned for heretics, if they confessed any thing, and would go to the devil ; with promises of fa- vor, power, and money, if they proved faithful. " ' They owned, that in their exorcisms they would say any thing to please the priest ; would pretend sometimes to be in trances, and have visions of pur- gatory, of Christ, and the Virgin, &c. and thereby they would sometimes avoid their intolerable, stinking fu- migations and drinks. When they complained of tortures in their exorcisms, the priest told them it was the devil that put them to so much pain, and ill usage ; INTRODUCTION. and that what they said was not from themselves, but the devil in them. After being exorcised, they were persuaded to declare that they sometimes spoke in Greek, or Latin ; of which they never said, nor knew a word. They were so manageable, that the priest would put his finger into one of their mouths, in the most raving possession, bid ding him bite it, if he could ; but the devil acknowledged he dared not bite it, be- cause it had touched the Lord. The priests were very cautious in keeping away persons of sense, as infidels and incredulous ; and did not like curious beholders, and askers of impertinent questions; who, they said, would hinder the effect of the operation.' ' Such is the masterly manner, in which Bishop Lavington has laid open the mysteries of Methodism. And I doubt not that, after having thus accom- panied his Lordship in his triumphs over its arch apostles, my readers are anxious to be acquainted with some particulars of his life. That the following biographical notices are not more minute, I much regret: but, as they are derived from a familiar correspondence with relations and friends of the Bishop, I can vouch for their authenti- city. ' P. 355376. INTRODUCTION. The author of the Enthusiasm, GEORGELAVINGTON, Doctor of Laws, succeeded Bishop Clagget in the see of Exeter. Descended from a family, long settled in Wiltshire, he was born at the parsonage-house of Mil- denhal in that county, and baptized 18th Jan. 1683; his grandfather Constable, being then rector of that pa- rish. Joseph, father to Bishop Lavington, is supposed to have exchanged his original benefice of Broad- Hinton in Wilts, for Newton Longville, in Bucks, a living and a manor belonging to New-College in Ox- ford. Transplanted thither, and introduced to the ac- quaintance of several members of that society, he was encouraged to educate the eldest of his numerous children, GEORGE, at Wykeham'sfoundation,Winches- ter ; whence he succeeded to a fellowship of New- College, early in the reign of Queen Anne. George, while yet a school-boy, had produced a Greek trans- lation of Virgil's Eclogues, in the style and dialect of Theocritus: * and this translation is still preserved at Winchester, in MS. At the university, he was dis- tinguished by his wit and learning; and equally so by amarked attachment to the Protestant succession, at a 1 The favorite author of the writer of this Introduction; whose English version of Theocritus is now under revision and will soon be reprinted a fourth edition. It has long since been incorporated with the best translated poetry of this country. See Sharpe's Edi- tion. INTRODUCTION. period when a zeal of that complexion could promise him neither preferment nor popularity. But, if some of his contemporaries thought his ardor in a good cause excessive, still their affection and esteem for him remained undiminished by any difference of poli- tical sentiment. In that respectable body, without a single enemy, he contracted many valuable friend- ships, which terminated only with the death of the parties: and in 1717 he was presented by his college, to their rectory of Hayford-Warren, in the diocese of Oxford. Before this, his talents and principles had recommended him to the notice of many eminent per- sons in church and state. Among others, Talbot, then Bishop of Oxford, intended for him the benefice of Hook-Norton ; to which the succeeding Bishop, Potter, collated him. Earl Coningsby not only ap- pointed him his own domestic chaplain, but introdu- ced him in the same capacity to the court of George I. in whose reign he was preferred to a stall in the Ca- thedral Church of Worcester. This he always esteem- ed one of the happiest events of his life, since it laid the foundation of that close intimacy which ever after subsisted between him and the learned Dr. Francis Hare the Dean. No sooner was the Dean removed to St. Paul's, than he exerted all his influence to draw his friend to the capital after him : and, his endeavours were soon crowned with success. Dr. Lavington in 1XXX INTRODUCTION. 1 732, was appointed to be Canon Residentiary in that Church. In consequence of this station, he ob- tained successively the rectories of St. Mary (Alder- mary), and St. Michael Bassishaw, and in both parishes merited the esteem of the citizens, as a minister atten- tive to his duty, and as an instructive and awakening preacher. He would probably never have thought of any other advancement, if the death of Dr. Stilling- fleet, Dean of Worcester, in 1746, had not recalled to his memory the pleasing ideas of many years spent in that city in the prime of life. His friends, however, had higher views for him ; and, on the death of Bishop Clagget, Lord Chancellor Hard wick and the Duke of Newcastle recommended hirn to the King, to fill the vacancy in the see of Exeter, without his solicita- tion or knowledge. From this time, he resided at Ex- eter among his clergy ; faithful to his charge ; and jealous of all encroachments on the prerogatives of the Church, and much more of all " inventions," that might perplex the simplicity of the Gospel. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that the reveries of a Whitefield or a Wesley, were treated by Laving- ton with far other feelings than those of cold indiffer- ence, of silent contempt, or of affected pity. On the 13th of Sept. 1762, he died, universally lamented. His life had been devoted to God's honor and service : and with that life, his death was in perfect INTRODUCTION. accordance : for the last words pronounced by his faltering tongue, were, " ^o|a TO> &sa> !" ' The publi- cations which appeared under the Bishop's name* were mostly single sermons, all of them valuable, and some of them scarce and much enquired for ; particu- larly two discourses " On the Nature and Use of a Type," against Collins's Attack on the Prophecies, printed in 1724. " The Enthusiasm" was published anonymously in 1747, and the two or three follow- ing years ; and " The Moravians Compared and De- tected? in 1753. That almost at his latest moments, the Bishop ex- pressed his sorrow for the part he had acted with respect to the Methodists, I have more than once been told : and indeed, I have seen it asserted, in one or two controversial tracts. Nothing, however, can be wider from the truth; if his relation Chancellor NUT- COMBE, and Archdeacon MOORE, (with both of whom I have conversed on the subject viva voce, and by letter,) were at all worthy of credit. 1 He married Frances Maria, daughter of Lave of Corf-Mullion, Dorset. She had taken shelter in this kingdom from the Popish persecution in France. After a union of forty years, she survived, the Bishop little more than one year. One daughter only remain- ed to lament her parents, the wife of the late Rev. N. Nutcombe, of Nutcombe, in Devon, and Chancellor of the Cathedral at Exeter. Method. f INTRODUCTION. To the very kind attentions of my lamented friend, Archdeacon Moore, I owed the prime pleasure of that part of my life, which (from my first classical moments to the present literary hour) was far the happiest ! The point in question is adverted to very satisfactorily in the following letter from the Archdeacon a letter, accompanied with anotheArom Bishop Courtenay, to assist me, (unassisted as I was by my brethren at large,) and to stimulate exertions, which they highly ap- proved in my contest with Dr. Hawker : Nov. 2d. 1799. Dear Sir, ********** *i Of this gentleman's judgment or probity, I was led, several years ago, to entertain a suspicion, by reading his book on the Divinity of Christ. And, if you will give yourself the trouble to compare that treatise with the letters of Ben. Mordecai, on the same great argument, I am apt to think you will see reason to conclude, that Dr. H. was a snake in the grass, (which by the way I do not believe he was,) or that * The former part of the letter relates to some matters with which the Public has no concern. INTRODUCTION. he did not understand the tendency of the arguments he employed. He wishes to be thought quite ortho- dox; and he fights with the weapons of Arianism. I am not possessed of Ben. Mordecai's book. But our learned friend at Ruan-Lanyhorne, who is thoroughly furnished with the celestial panoply, may probably have suspended, in his temple of victory, some tro- phies of a more unsound temper. As Dr. H. is so forward to throw articles and homilies at our heads, it is but fair war to call his orthodoxy to the same test, f write upon memory ; and mine is too much time-worn, to be depended on. At the same time with your Letter and Dr. H.'s answer, there was put into my hands a performance by Carrington, who enters the list as second to the Doctor. This man as- serts, that Bishop Lavington, in his latter days, repented of 'his writings against the Methodists, which I KNOW TO BE WITHOUT FOUNDATION, as far as his conversation could afford assurance to the contrary. To THE VERY LAST HE ALWAYS SPOKE OF THEM AS A FRATERNITY COMPOUNDED OF HYPOCRITES AND ENTHUSIASTS^" ' 1 In Exeter Cathedral, behind the throne, is a plain white marble tablet, on the top of which is a mitre. The epitaph is as follows : To the Memory of George Lavington, LL. D. Who, having early distinguished himself By a conscientious and disinterested attachment INTRODUCTION. To the cause of Liberty, and the Reformation, Was successively advanced to Dignities In the Cathedrals of Worcester and St. Paul, And lastly, to the episcopal Chair of this Church. Endowed by nature with superior abilities, Rich in a great variety of acquired knowledge, In the study of the Holy Scriptures consummate, He never ceased to improve his talents, Nor to employ them to the noblest purposes; An instructive, animated, and convincing Preacher, A determined enemy to Idolatry and Persecution, A successful exposer of Pretence and Enthusiasm ; Happy in his services to the Church of Christ! Happier who could unite such extensive cares With a strict attention to his immediate charge! His absences from his Diocese were short and rare ; And his presence was endeared to his Clergy, By an easy access, and a graceful hospitality, A winning conversation, and condescending deportment. Unaffected sanctity dignified his instructions, And indulgent candour sweetened his government. At length having eminently discharged his duties, Of a Man, a Christian, and a Prelate, Prepared by habitual meditation, To resign life without regret, To meet death without terror, He expired with the praises of God upon his lips, In his 7f)th year, Sept. 13th, 1762. The arms : argent, a saltier gules; on a chief of the second three boars' heads, or. INTRODUCTION*. >XXXY SECTION VI. THE METHODISTS OF THE PRESENT DAY. I NOW venture to approach the threshold of modern Methodism. Methinks, I hear a voice, from within, exclaiming: " Procul, O procul este, profani!" But, after a few preliminary steps, I will enter, unterrified, and plunge into the mysteries ! According to a report from the Clergy of the Dio- cese of Lincoln, the Methodists must be viewed under a threefold classification. The first class are they, " who profess to be mem- bers of the Church of England, attending divine ser- vice and partaking of the Sacrament; but have places set apart for additional exercises of devotion, at such hours as interfere not with the Church service." The second are such as rarely, if ever, attend the Church, and utterly regardless of the Church, " have taken upon themselves to administer and receive at their meetings the holy Sacrament." The third are those, " who encourage a wandering tribe of fanatical teachers mostly taken from the dregs of the people among whom are raving En- thusiasts pretending to divine impulses of various INTRODUCTION. kinds, practising exorcisms, and many other sorts of impostures and delusions, and obtaining thereby an unlimited sway over the minds of the ignorant multi- tude." For the first class, " we do not consider them (say the reporters) as enemies to the ecclesiastical Esta- blishment, but have found them zealous auxiliaries in reforming and reclaiming many habitual sinners: and we lament, that persons so well meaning, should be reduced to the necessity of partaking in the prevari- cation common to all separatists who do not really dissent from us; since, in order to entitle their meet- ing-houses to the exemptions of the Toleration Act, they call themselves, at the time of registering such houses, Protestant Dissenters, contrary to their solemn declarations at all other times." The second class, "we believe, contains many of pure intentions arid pious dispositions ; not perhaps aware of the unlawfulness and evil consequences of their pro- ceedings, viz. a needless, and therefore inexcusable separation from the Church; a substitution of uncom- missioned and ignorant teachers for that regular mi- nistry which Christ and his apostles established ; the setting up of a rivalship to the ministers of the Church, which makes it the interest of their teachers to foment divisions between the Clergy and their parishioners; an indiscreet and unqualified propagation of Antino- INTRODUCTION. mian and Predestinarian doctrines, accompanied by an explicit avowal of those fatal results, as subversive of all morality, which the more guarded defenders of, their tenets have constantly denied to flow from them; the pretext given by such division and indiscretions to irreligious persons to traduce Christianity, and, under the favor of so many places of worship, to ab- sent themselves from all; and, lastly, the opportunity which they afford to itinerant teachers, totally un- known to them, to abuse the protection of their meet- ing for purposes highly injurious both to the Church and State." " Of the third class, so various are the absurdities, that they seem to have no point of union, except a determination to calumniate the Clergy and revile the Establishments; which design they execute with unrelenting violence and malice, at all times and in all places. Some of them have proceeded to exor- cism, and practised capricious forms and modes of it, utterly inconsistent not only with religious gravity but with morality and decency. By rashly denouncing damnation, they have driven several pf their deluded followers into extreme despair. Such is the recent instance of a man who hanged himself, under an ap- prehension that he had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost." They have frequently thundered out the perdition not only of particular persons andfami- INTRODUCTION. lies, but of whole villages; and " publicly execrated the churches, as being nothing but a heap of stones, and wished that an earthquake might overturn them!" " The ministers of the Church have vainly endeavour- ed to extricate from the grossest delusion the pitiable objects, led captive by men who arrogantly pretend to divine authority." " These impostures have been chiefly supported by those more private assemblies, the Class-meetings: and to our great grief and surprise, we have found, that the most extravagant of 'the impostors have been received, countenanced, and en- couraged by some teachers and others of the Metho- dist persuasion, of whom we had before entertained a very favorable opinion." ' To the first class, the reporters discover a partia- lity, for which it is not easy to account. I am acquainted with many who join in our liturgy, but prefer evening meetings to the Canonical hours, the Conventicle to the Church, their own Preach- er to the parochial Clergyman, and even the Rounder, whether male or female, (without a passport or a re- ference,) to their accredited and licensed Minister. There is an inconsistency in the reporters acknow- 1 See the " Report from the Clergy of the Diocese of Lincoln." 1799. INTRODUCTION. ledging, that " the most extravagant of the impostors in the third class have been encouraged by some teachers and other Methodists, of whom they had entertained, till then, a very favorable opinion ;" yet asserting in the same breath, that " of such per- sons they had no complaint to make, nor do they in any respect consider them as enemies to the Ecclesi- astical Establishment."-- Alas ! do they show their friendship to the Establishment, by promoting schism, by setting up separate places of worship in opposi- tion to the Church, and by holding " sweet converse" with that very conventicler, in whose language their own parish minister is but " a dumb dog" profess- ing (as I have heard them profess) their preference of one extempore discourse to all the written sermons in the world ? Of the internal regulations of the Methodists, an anonymous author seems to have spoken much to the purpose. " Two principles of arrangement distinguish their present system. The one is, rarely to permit the residence of a minister with the congregation for more than one year; thus preventing the minister from getting a footing with his audience, independent of the controlling Society; and thus, also, flattering and increasing the flock by the charm of novelty. It should seem, that the provisions of the 'lulcration Act are hereby violated; as the invariable expression in that XC INTRODUCTION. Act is, ' Any preacher or teacher of any congregation,' which seems to imply one permanently settled in that character." " This loco-motive ministry is, unques- tionably, dangerous to the State, inasmuch as it de- prives the State of that great source of protection against mischief, which arises from a knowledge of the individual who is commissioned to teach." " But another part of the system is fraught with still deeper mischief, and is a more flagrant outrage on the exist- ing laws. I see, in this country, a regular propagan- da societas, under the Methodist protection. And in this manner are their operations carried on : a town, which according to previous report, affords a prospect of success, and where heretofore no Methodist Socie- ty was traced, is selected for the experiment. Here a congregation is clandestinely secured, and a meet- ing established and duly registered. No appropriate minister, however, is appointed, but a missionary is sent down for the Sunday, and perhaps for one even- ing in the week. On the other days he employs his time in the circumjacent villages, as the prospect of success may offer. Here the meeting is held in such places as can be most readily obtained without licence; and a congregation, first procured by stratagem, is afterwards invited to join the meeting in the adjacent town. But invariably, as the groundwork of future success, an attempt is made to set the parishioners at INTRODUCTION. XCl variance with their established Clergyman, by under- valuing his labors, and misinterpreting his motives." 1 But Mr. Nightingale will bring us to a closer view of Methodism. With him, we are treading hallowed ground. According to this gentleman, the Metho- distic Constitution consists of six estates, fourof- which are Lords Spiritual, and only two Commons. The Prayer-leaders being the lowest, from them are chosen the Class-leaders, selected from the sisterhood as well as the brotherhood. From the Class-leaders are deri- ved the Lay or Local Preachers, who, though they pur- sue some more honest trade for a subsistence than field -preaching, are sometimes permitted to obtain a rank among the spiritual orders, provided they mani- fest sufficient zeal in the cause, and have both an out- ward and inward call to the ministerial office. But these Local Preachers, "of whom there are above 4000," (says Mr. N.) " are extremely ignorant; I know one at this time, who very lately knew not the use of a common dictionary ! Nay, there are some among them who cannot read at all!"* The fourth class consists of the Travelling Preachers: and the fifth and o ' 1 See " Hints for the Security of the Established Church. Ad- dressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury." Svo. 1806. 2 See Nightingale's " Portraiture of Methodism," XC11 INTRODUCTION. sixth, of the Superintend ants, and Members of the Conference, which is the Sanctum Sanctorum of Metho- dism. Mr/N. considers the Class-meetings, as the chief support of the Methodistical hierarchy. At Bristol, it seems, a difficulty arose in respect to the payment of debts incurred by buildings. One mem- ber proposed, " Let every one give a penny a week till all are paid." Another replied, " Many are too poor." Then said he, " Put eleven of the poorest with me, I will call on them weekly, and if they can give nothing, I will give for them as well as for myself. And each of you call on eleven of your neighbours weekly for the same purpose." Thus these weekly visitants become not only collectors of an income-tax, but also spiritual inquisitors. In this manner, a system of espionage was established. Hence the origin of the Class-meetings, which con- sist of an indefinite number of persons, who assemble in private houses at 8 o'clock in the evening once a week, both sexes indiscriminately, at which a leader always presides. This leader after singing some melt- ing song, relates his or her own experience during the preceding week joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, and conflicts with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Pious longings and prayers for the brothers and sisters of the class are next poured forth ; and " the experience' concluded with some distorted texts, such as " Thou INTRODUCTION. art black, but comely!"" Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it!" " Make haste, my beloved! and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices !" Then come hymns of groaning, " an answer from within," or " a believer groaning for fall redemption!" After a love song or two, (of which the following stanza may serve as a specimen, " O love ! I languish at thy stay ! I pine for thee with lingering smart Weary and faint thro' long delay : When wilt thou come into my heart?") the leader asks: " Well, brother (or sister), how do you find the state of your soul this evening ?"- Then commences the public exposure. And " no stranger being present (observes Mr. N.) a freer vent is given to the effusions of the mind, and the soft meltings of the soul f Every member relates " a particular experience." I shall only add, that wher- ever this abominable rite of Methodism, this iniquitous compound of blasphemy and obscenity has prevailed, (more baneful than Popish confession as it is more open,) the blush of virgin innocence has entirely dis- appeared. Of the Agapa or Love-feasts, Mr. N. says : " They are kept in most places once every quarter, on the XC1V INTRODUCTION. Sunday immediately following what the Methodists call Quarter-day. After the congregation is dismiss- ed, when a Love-feast is meant to be kept, the members return to the Conventicle, having shown their notes of admission to the door-keepers. The preacher, still in the pulpit, opens the service by singing and prayer. Then every one sits down; while the Stewards hand to all present, a little plain or spiced bread and water." " I believe the disorderly practice was laid aside of breaking bread with each other; when, in attempting to perform this rite with a favorite bro- ther or sister, the noise and trouble of scrambling over the backs of the seats, gave offence to those, who had either more modesty, or less violent and impatient prepossessions." These feasts usually occu- py above two hours; during which, numerous experi- ences are related both by men and women. " I have often (says Mr. N.) been exceedingly pained on ob- serving the resisting bashfulness, and the evident signs of inward agitation, which some of the younger part of the females have betrayed, just before they have risen to speak !" The machinery of Methodism, like that of Popery, is sufficiently complex. It must, also, have its watch- nights! Formerly, the watch-nights were held every Friday nearest the full moon. But their excesses became so enormous, and the race of Methodist INTRODUCTION. XCV preachers was by these means propagated so rapidly, that it was found necessary to limit them to once a quarter, to the eve of the Quarterly meetings. All the modest or virtuous part of the Methodists, however, have declined attending these midnight watchings, except on New Year's eve. It is the rule of watch- nights to continue their love-songs and confessions at the tabernacles, till one o'clock in the morning, and often much longer. But the more active ones withdraw themselves at the darkest hour of the night, and proceed to places better adapted to their licen- tious purposes. These persons are, generally, fathers and mothers, whose abominations, on Methodist watch-nights, are too shocking to be detailed. It has been calculated, that, on an average, every Methodist chapel in London gives occasion to, at least, three acts of adultery on the eve of every New Year's day \\\ I here drop the curtain. SECTION VII. CONVERSION THE NEW BIRTH THE REGENERATE STATE NOT A STATE OF INNOCENCE. THESE, then, are the people who tell us, that, inspir- XCV1 INTRODUCTION. ed by the Holy Ghost, they teach the word of God in all its purity; who denounce damnation with autho-- rity, and who proclaim remission of sins ! ! ! These are the people, who scoff at baptismal regene- ration, 1 and strenuously inculcate on their followers, as their characteristic tenet, the doctrine of Conver- sion! On the subject of Conversion, there appeared, some years since, in " The Christian Observer," a very excep- tionable paper; on which the late Bishop Randolph's remarks are well worth attention. " Of such Conver- sion (says Bishop R.) in Scripture itself, I read no- thing ; the term is scarcely used. We are not there told to divide our hearers, being believers in Christianity in common, into two classes of converted and unconverted. That among men baptized as Christians, and taught 1 The agonies of the Christian undergoing the process of Rege- neration (in the Methodistic sense of the word) are as the throes of a woman in childbirth : and the regenerated Christian is as a child born into the world. But how can this be? It is the woman, not the child, that undergoes the pangs of parturition. The analogy will not hold good. The change from the caterpillar to the butter- fly, much more aptly resembles a new birth. The caterpillar, we know, becomes a chrysalis. And from the chrysalis or aurelia state, it passes into a butterfly. In this transition (what I never saw noticed by the naturalist) it seems to suffer great agonies the throes of the new birth! ! INTRODUCTION. XCvii from their infancy to believe the doctrines and prac- tise the duties of Christianity, a special conversion, at some period of their life, is necessary to stamp them true Christians, is plainly a novel invention of man. Thus taken, it is a spurious substitute for repentance ; with which in Scripture we find it conjoined as one and the same: " Repent, and be converted." But " this doctrine of repentance," they say, in order to discredit it, " is taught by our ministers, as some- thing very * slight and transient.'" I hope not: such is not the doctrine of our Church. Truly taught, the laborious exercise of repentance is a proud dis- tinction between the genuine doctrine of our Church, and the experiences, the sudden conversions of these innovators ; all which, when thoroughly sifted, re- solve themselves into nothing more than enlisting into a sect. Proselytism, not doctrine, is the great object. 1 After conversion, the Methodist is perfectly se- cure. To him, in a state of salvation, is grace extend- ed ; and to that grace are no limits. For active vir- tue he substitutes holiness. And, however strange such inconsistency, we sometimes meet in those 1 Sec Randolph's Charge to the Clergy of the diocese of Bangor. 1808. Method. g XCV111 INTRODUCTION. who are even regular in their devotion to God, ob- stinacy the most invincible, presumption, uncJiaritable- itess, uncleanness, knavery, deceit and guile, and a rebel- lious and a murderous spirit. First, for their obstin- acy : " In Anglesey (we are told) a conscientious Clergyman was expostulating with his parishioners for deserting the Church, and proposed that, if they bad any reasonable objection to him, he would for the good of his flock keep a curate. ' No !' cried they : ' Go on ! But if an angel from Heaven should tell us, that the Church of England was right, and we wrong, we would not believe him!'" Amojigst many instances of their presumption, take the follow- ing : " At St. Asaph, not many years ago, one of Lady Huntingdon's preachers was taken up as a vagrant. When examined, he acknowleged himself to be a tailor from South Wales, but pleaded, that he followed the example of St. Paul. < Of St. Paul ! {cried out Bennet Williams, Esq.) It is well for you, my friend, that venerable apostle is not here, or he would have wrung oft" both your ears for your ignorance and presumption.'"* 1 See " A Short Vindication of the Established Cfcurcb, by Dr. Williams." Oxford, 1803. ? A Short Vindication, &c. &c. INTRODUCTION. In the mean time, how uncharitable are these imi- tators of St. Paul ! " I one day heard (says Mr. Chirol) a Methodist address the following words from the pulpit to his congregation : ' There are some people, who speak of the necessity of doing good works ! Damn them, I say, with their good works, whatever they are.'" 1 For uncleanness, I cannot do better than quote a paragraph from the Review of Bishop Randolph's Charge. " By their constant inculcation of faith, as something opposed to good works, these Enthusiasts remove the only sure ground of moral conduct. We have witnessed, indeed, even in the teachers, the most abandoned profligacy. Among various instances one just occurs to us, in which a Methodist teacher, in the vicinity of the metropolis, maintained a close intimacy with a person of his own sect who kept a mistress which mistress was also visited by the preacher. The man at length married ; but, after his marriage, he continued to visit his former mistress ; which, naturally enough, excited the jealousy of the wife. To silence his wife, the husband had recourse to his friend the preacher; who actually undertook to persuade the woman, that it was her duty to sub- 1 See Chirol on Female Education, p. 319. C INTRODUCTION. mit quietly to the will of her husband, and to suffer him to carry on his adulterous intercourse without a murmur : and the preacher set her the example, by receiving the mistress at his own house. If this were a solitary fact, we should not have noticed it : but it is one among a thousand. Yet are these men suffered to overrun the land ; to poison the minds, and de- bauch the bodies of the rising generation ! And all this under the plausive pretext of Toleration : a word which every blockhead has constantly in his mouth, but which few take the trouble to understand !" ' In Bishop Lavington's tract, entitled " The Moravians Compared and Detected," we are informed " that Mr. Wesley Hall preached publicly at Salisbury in de- fence of & plurality of women, under the name of wives, and afterwards printed and published his infamous justification of bigamy ;" a treatise audaciously con- demning the defenders of the matrimonial contract between one and one, as weak and wicked men ! ! It is but justice, however, to Wesley, to observe, that he despised Hall and his principles. 1 Yet we must still pursue to its consequences that 1 See A. Jacob. Rev. Vol. xxxv. pp. 195, 196. * At a late Assizes, in Cornwall, a Methodist preacher was tried for acts of uncleanness the most abominable. INTRODUCTION. ci delusive doctrine, which under the vizor of godliness would mask immorality. Hence a Methodist, who continues constant in prayer at the conventicle, is equally assiduous, per- haps, in defrauding his neighbour behind the coun- ter. I am well assured, that the inward call, the mov- ing cause which sends out so many itinerant preach- ers from all quarters, is no other than the love of " filthy lucre." I know a young man related lo a gardener of this neighbourhood who made no scruple to acknowledge, that his " motive for turning preach- er was the chance of a good matrimonial connex- ion." And Dr. Williams tells us, that a Methodist of his acquaintance, after a close examination, con- fessed, " that he had no other view in applying for a licence, but that he should enjoy more ease, and could get much more money, by preaching than by work- ing as a cobbler."' The following facts evince, I hope, rather a singular instance of depravity. A Methodist (said to have preached more than once in the Pantheon) became the husband of a woman who had been bribed by her master to swear a child to his shopman. The preacher opened a school, not 1 See " Short Vindication," &c. &c. already referred to. di INTRODUCTION. a day's journey from the Foundling-Hospital. The old master of this woman became an inmate of the preacher ; and finding his finances low, thought pro- per to manufacture a book-debt of 50/. against an aged widow and her two infirm daughters. In this nefarious fabrication, the Methodist-preaching school- master first personated an attorney, in order to inti- midate the unprotected widow, and make her ac- knowledge some debt, and afterwards became a wit- ness to prove it!" 1 To carry their tricks to the very last extremity, the srentlemen of the tabernacle have been known even ~ to mimic death. To their declamations upon death, such an imitation, if adroitly executed, must cer- tainly give a most impressive effect. The circum- stance, to which I particularly allude, is as follows : " Some years since a field-preacher made his ap- pearance in Glasgow. In the vicinity of the town, he mounted a stool, collected an audience, announc- ed a text, and poured out a voluble declamation on the uncertainty of life. And ' such is the ca- sualty of human life (said he, at the close of his ser- mon) that possibly I myself, who now speak to you 1 A. Jacob. Rev. Vol. xxxiii. p. 365. INTRODUCTION. so audibly and appear so strong and hearty, may fall down dead before I have finished my dis- course !' After he had added a few more sentences, down he fell, apparently death-struck. The audi- ence, extremely astonished, thronged around him, administered stimulants, reviewed the orator, and parted from him with strong impressions from what they had seen. Among the witnesses of this incident was a gentleman, who leaving Glasgow soon after- wards, travelled onward, and slept that night at a town about sixteen miles north of that city. On go- ing out the next morning, he found that the Glasgow- preacher was arrived in the town, and proposed to hold forth that day. Determined to hear him once more, our traveller joined the crowd that encircled the campestrian orator; when the same text was giv- en out, and the same arguments pursued ; and, to- wards the close of the sermon, ' Such is the casualty (said the preacher) of human existence, that even I, who now address you with so much power of voice, may, notwithstanding, fall down dead before I can finish my discourse !' And after a few more sen- tences, down he fell (as before) apparently death - struck ! ! The gentleman, who thus witnessed the second performance of this theatrical trick, at once proclaimed the imposture of the death-mimicking CIV INTRODUCTION. declaimer ; and the orator stole away amidst the exclamations of indignation and ridicule." ' As to their rebellious spirit " it is worthy of remark (says Cobbett) that three out of seven traitors were of that mischievous plotting sect, denominated Methodists. Mr. R. Hill has, it seems, thought proper to deny, that any of these traitors belonged to his flock, and at the same time to inform the world, that he is a regularly ordained Clergyman, and no Methodist. We cry the Rev. gentleman's merc.y: for we took him to be that very same person, who is to be heard bawling for hours at a stretch every Sun- day night, at a roundabout Meeting-house at the foot of JBlackfriars bridge. Be this as it may ; the traitors were Methodists, and had a teacher of that sect to attend them in their last hours." a And the consolation they receive seems to be in exact pro- portion to the magnitude of their crimes ! A woman who was hanged at Nottingham for the murder of her child, was wrought up by a Methodist into a rapturous assurance of being saved ! J In stating these facts, I would by no means insi- 1 A. Jacob. Rev. xiv. p. 532. 2 Cobbett's Register, Feb. 26, 1803. 3 See Dr. Croft on Overtoil's True Churchman, A. Jac. Rev. xiv. 511. INTRODUCTION. CV nuate, that the whole body of the Methodists, or even the greater part of them, are tainted with such guilt, or capable of committing such offences. From the above statement I would draw this con- clusion only, that they who pretend to superior sanc- tity, are not always the best men ; and I would suggest the Scriptural hint, that they who " think they stand, should take heed lest they fall." SECTION VIII. REVIVALISM OF THE PRESENT DAY. WE have already noticed various acts of frenzy in the Methodists ; such as evidently betrayed, in what- ever cause they might have originated, a temporary defect at least in the rational powers. I have now to describe a sort of mania, which is said to infect the Wesleyans at particular periods ; travelling from place to place, and occasioning ter- rible commotions in whole congregations. It is called " Revivalism." Baleful as was its influence ; shedding from " its horrid hair" disorder and affright, it was hailed by Wesley himself, even as the sun in its glory ! The comet has lately re-appeared amongst us. CV1 INTRODUCTION. And, strange to tell ! there are men of no contemp- tible understanding, who welcome its beams as salu- tary to the soul ! I had written thus far, when Mr. Le Grice's admi- rable Sermon on the recent Revival was put into my hands : a strange coincidence ! I have known, how- ever, similar instances of a fortuitous concurrence not of atoms, but of the products of congenial minds. Occupied as I was before by the subject, I read his Sermon with uncommon pleasure. It is at once argumentative and pathetic : and never was there a more urgent occasion for such an appeal to reason, or such an address to the heart. With no presenti- ment of this very seasonable communication, (though I was acquainted with the existence of the sermon, 1 ) I was just going to state, that " the process which is termed a Revival had been lately introduced into al- most all the towns of Cornwall, and that in Kenwyn and Gwenap more particularly, it had assumed a most decided character." That the Revival is confined to a sect ; that its visitation is periodical ; that it travels* from place to place ; that it is expected before its arrival, and that 1 It is entitled " Proofs of the Spirit, or Considerations on Revi- valism." INTRODUCTION. it arrives precisely at the time expected ; and that (though seeking the crowd and uncongenial with so- litude, it displays itself, for the most part, in conven- ticles, or the streets, or the high-ways) it has no invin- cible objection to private houses, where it breaks the quiet slumbers of infant innocence, or of old age just dropping into the grave ; such, I fear, is but too justly descriptive of this creature of fanaticism. And it is hailed, wherever it comes, by the smile of hy- pocrisy, the terrors of ignorance, or the laughter of profaneness. Its groans, indeed, its shrieks, its ago- nies, its blasphemous invocations, are sufficient to fill every bosom with serious apprehension. And not a moment are we secure from its outrages. That day of rest, the sabbath, the undisturbed serenity of which is the joy of the good Christian, and that still hour of midnight which all nature holds sacred to repose, are equally in danger from its ungo- vernable excesses. It despises time and place. For forty hours successively, hath it kept in action the howling assembly both sexes and all ages ! In the mean time, we are told, Revivalism is a sys- tem. If so, whilst we are shocked at the spectacle, we may tremble for the consequences. Long ago, I endeavoured ' to delineate the features, 1 See " Letters to Hawker," and " Anecdotes of Methodism." CVlll INTRODUCTION. to trace the progress, and to describe the effects of Revivalism. I then observed, that threatened as was the Church by such " a shape of miscreated front," our inattention to its inroads might be construed into a desertion of our trust, into disaffection, or, at least, into indifference. The same menacing form has again approached our doors. " It is high time, therefore, (says Mr. Le Grice) that I lift up the warning voice ;" and (in similar language with my own) " to be silent, would be a dereliction of duty and a desertion of office." " For eight years (he intimates) he had been rigidly careful to avoid the least appearance of controversy." And for myself (notwithstanding my " Letters" and my " Anecdotes") I have always maintained the persuasion, that there are multitudes of the sect in question so strictly de- corous, and sober, and serious in their deportment, and many, I believe, so conscientiously religious, that they well deserve the benevolent attention, and even the imitation of the Churchman. Under these circumstances, it more peculiarly be- hoves both Mr. Le Grice and myself to protest against the madness of the day; lest silence should now be mistaken for acquiescence, and forbearance resemble approbation. It has, indeed, been already asserted, that from a consciousness of the falsehood of some, and the impropriety of others, I had suppressed my INTRODUCTION. ClX " Anecdotes," But this is not a fact. They have been always open to public inspection. And I may safely assert, that under every class of anecdotes I could have added twenty times the number, as col- lected from my own observation, or as communicated by persons of unquestionable veracity. Again, then, " we lift up the warning voice !" May our brethren, from every quarter, repeat the alarm ! May the dread- ful delusion, now operating on the minds of thousands, be viewed in its proper colors ! And may the meek, the quiet, the unobtrusive disciple of Christ, be fairly contrasted with the mad fanatic, in the recesses of his family, or in the congregation of the people : and I think we need not fear the result it will be easy to anticipate the public opinion, SECTION IX. WELSH JUMPERS AND IRISH SHOUTERS. IT appears, that the term " Revivalism" was a new coin, first struck in Mr. Wesley's mint. And the effects of its late circulation amongst us, were really much more serious than I at first suspected. I was sufficiently apprised of those symptoms of enthusiasm " distracted ravings, wallowings on the CX INTRODUCTION. ground, piercing shrieks and groans, dancing and other absurd gesticulations and wild ecstasies; the claim of many deluded people to the prophetic spirit; the wild assertion of others, that the place of torment had been opened to their view, as well as the mansions of the happy; and that in each place they had seen the spirits of those long since departed hence!" But the effects very soon attendant on these enthusiastic proceedings, were violent brain fevers, premature labors and abortions, temporary derangement to a very alarming extent; and settled melancholy, and absolute and fixed insanity in many, who before were able to maintain themselves in decency and respect- ability!!! 1 Such, then, are the periodical exhibitions of cunning and of ignorance; and so portentous their effects. But these animated gentry it seems, are bisected and even trisected into different sorts of performers. Long ago, sprung up the Jumpers of Wales. And, they are jumping still! They jump without ceasing ! Rowland, in his Mona Antiqua, and Bingley, in a Tour round North Wales, have described them in lively colors. Whilst he was at Caernarvon, Bingley was induced from curiosity to attend some of the 1 See an Essay on Enthusiasm. INTRODUCTION. CXi meetings of this " curious branch of Calvinistic Me- thodists," who persuade themselves, that they ar involuntarily acted upon by some divine impulse; and " becoming intoxicated with this imagined inspiration, utter their rapture and their triumph with such wildness and incoherence, with such gesticulation and vociferation, as set all reason and decorum at defiance. This presumption seized chiefly the young and sanguine, and (like hysteric affections) spread through the crowd by sympathy. Among their preachers (illiterate and conceited or well-meaning and sensible or, too frequently, crafty and hypocri- tical) some are more distinguished by their success in exciting these stravaganzas. One of these rises gradually from a lower voice to a vehemence of tone and gesture, which often swells into bellowing. In the early part, he is accompanied by sighs and groans, but soon after, by whinings and exclamations; till, at length, one among the crowd starts and commences the jumping. Then men and women indiscriminately cry and laugh, jump and sing with the wildest extra- vagance their dress deranged their hair dishe- velled ! ! ! Many of the people have been known to continue their jumpings for three or four miles of their road home." 1 1 Bingley's Tour through North Wales, 2 Vols, 8vo. ]SOO. Ac- CXU INTRODUCTION. Of a similar description with the Welsh Jumpers, were the Irish Shouters. Mr. Hampton, the biogra- pher of Wesley, observing that agonies and convulsions are no symptoms of the Divinity, but are more pro- perly traced to ignorance and imbecillity, illustrates his remarks by a story that is in point: " It has been said, that the agitations so frequently censured, were sometimes artificial. A parallel case, which we know to be authentic, affords more than a presump- tion that they were so. In a certain district in the North of Ireland, several congregations had adopted a custom, like the Jumpers in Wales, of rocking from side to side in time of preaching, and when they grew warm, of leaping and shouting, till they might be heard to the distance of a mile. One of their preachers resolved to abolish so stupid a practice. The first or second time of his officiating in that neighbourhood, scarcely had he entered upon his discourse, when they began to shout. He immediately made a pause, and told his audience, that he had always understood the intention of the ministry to be the instruction of the hearers; that they could not possibly be instructed cording to a Letter from Denbigh, (Gent. Mag. for Sept. 1799 p. 741,) " Paine's works and other books of a like tendency have been translated into Welsh, and secretly distributed by the leaders of this sect. INTRODUCTION. by what they could not hear, and that as it was not to be supposed he could out-lung them all, he would wait till they had done. They comprehended the hint. Their vociferations ceasing, he resumed his subject." To put to silence and shame, if possible, the Irish Shouters, the Welsh Jumpers, and the Cornish Revi- valists, let me tell them, that in the Mahometan Der- vises, they may contemplate their prototype. The ecstatic dance called Semaa, exactly answers to the gesticulations already described. Imagining them- selves to be full of Divine Love, the Dervises, turn themselves round, till their heads become giddy, and they fall down on the ground. When fallen, in an ecstasy they see their prophet Mahomet addresses them; they give out to the people what the pro- phet has said ; and the people believe all they are told. 1 1 See Persian and Turkish Tales, Vol. n. p. 375. Riles's " Re- vival," (Penryn, 1814,) and the " Essay on Enthusiasm" and." its Sequel," (Redruth, 1S14,) will throw light on this subject. Method. INTRODUCTION. SECTION X. THE CORNISH TRUMPETER. THE celebrity of Joanna Southcote induces me to reserve for separate animadversion, another " Sect of Methodism:" for such hath Evans described the Southcoteans. Exeter, I conceive, had the honor of producing Joanna: and in this county has been brought to light a sister-religionist, much resembling .toanna in prophetic skill, and far surpassing her in vociferation. If I am rightly informed, this woman fancies herself one of the seven trumpeters of " The Revelation." And she imitates the sounds of the trumpet with admirable effect. She has, audiences at her com- mand. If it implied not too much regularity, where all is disorder, I should compare them to things very great and very small to the queen bee with her conglo- merated subjects, or to the sun with its revolving pla- nets! Perhaps (if it be not sporting too freely with similitudes) her people are rather as the fluttering bird, or the poor trembling mouse under the influence of the rattle-snake's fascination. That she is extremely well disposed and prudent and sober in. her general deportment, I have heard INTRODUCTION. CXV from the first authority. At the opening of her ex- hortation, indeed, and through a considerable partx>f it she is rational, calm, and collected. But in her progress energy mounts up into violence. The voice, the tone, the gesture, all show the kindling passions, till at length she is a very Sibyl ! To the blasts of the trumpet succeed prophetic warnings, and to prophetic warnings the blasts of the trumpet All are thrilled with sensations (they say) indescri- bably delightful ! All is inspiration ! all is ecstasy ! SECTION XL THE BLESSED EFFECTS OF METHODISM ON SOCIETY ! AFTER having thus noticed and described the policy and doctrines and various peculiarities of the Puritans of old, and the Methodists of the present day, let us ask, " what good they may have produced in society ?" That their continued opposition to the Church may have kept its sentinels steady at their post that their familiarity with the Holy Scriptures and their promptness in citing texts, (however inapposite or inap- propriate to the subjects of their discourses) has urged us to consult the Bible, more and more, whh a view to CXV1 INTRODUCTION. evangelical preaching ralher than historical erudition, and that their zeal, in short, has awakened in us a spirit of emulation, to enliven our piety which would otherwise have languished, and to guard us against levities which might have brought into question the soundness of our principles, and thus have rendered our precepts inefficient and vain all this has been presumed has been stated, I allow, but never proved. Such assertions are, indeed, incapable of proof. That the rant of the Sectarists had in the last age some influence on our Pulpit-oratory, I am ready to acknowledge. It damped the fervor of eloquence. Lest he should incur the censure of Enthusiasm, the preacher was too cautious in appealing to the passions. And that many of our Clergy, to avoid the imputation of preaching faith without works, insisted more fre- quently on the moral conduct than on mere points of doctrine, is equally true. But then their morality was not derived from Seneca or Epictetus ; it had always its source in the word of God. This mode of preaching, however, was of short duration. Of all the apologies for Methodism, Mr. Benson's is, I believe, the most elaborate. 1 But it is full of the grossest misrepresentations. See Benson's Apology for Methodism, passim. INTRODUCTION. What Benson states respecting Cornwall is pal- pably false. At p. 149. Mr. B. takes upon him to say, that " next in ignorance and all manner of wick- edness to the colliers at Kingswood, Newcastle, and Wednesbury, we may place the tinners of Cornwall." Here he is peculiarly unfortunate. The miners of Cornwall have been always characterised in com- parison with others, as a civilised and intelligent race. Both in their manners and in their intellect, they have a great advantage over the common peo- ple in general. "Look ' to the day-laborer; and you will find, that he has scarcely an idea unconnect- ed with his rustic employment; of which, indeed, in some counties, he is unable to give you an accurate account. Examine a pin-maker ; and he can hardly explain the process of pin-making, because perhaps he is concerned only in the fabrication of the head. Round the head then his ideas revolve ; if it be the point of the pin, they are at the point. Descend, however, into a mine in Cornwall, and question the miner on the subject of his occupation, and you will not be dissatisfied with his answers. The in- formation he will give you, whether the metallic sub- 1 See " Sketches in Verse with Prose Illustrations." 2d. Edit. p. H5. CXV111 INTRODUCTION. stance whose vein he is pursuing, the complicated construction of the engine, or the history of the mine in general be the subject, will invariably show an expansion of understanding ; whilst his readiness to communicate his knowledge, discovers civility and courtesy. This hath been the character of the Cor- nish tinners from Diodorus Siculus to Boriase. They are a distinct race of men, very widely differ- ing from the rustic laborers in their vicinity." To what this superiority is attributable, is not a question here to be discussed ; since Mr. B. must acknowledge that it has no connexion with Metho- dism, or Puritanism, or any ism or schism. As I do not, however, mean by this superiority, a civility the result of physical causes only, or merely natural ge- nius or intelligence, but (comparatively speaking) a courtesy of manners and an enlightened intellect ; it may be worth while to observe, that the behaviour of the miners has been from time to time improved, and their capacities enlarged by their various intercourse in society. Such was the report of their own histo- rian ; and such we remark at the present day. The disposition, then, and intellectual character of the miner, are partly natural and partly artificial. He- reditary as viewed in their descent from father to son, they depend, also, on adventitious circumstan- ces. These circumstances have been nearly the same INTRODUCTION. GXlX from Diodorus to Borlase. To explain or describe the mode of working the mines, and the machinery with which they are worked, their product, their strata, and their lodes, the comparative value of the ores, and the substances with which they are combined, have never failed toexercise the faculties of the miner, to sharpen his intellect, to induce reflection, and to improve his talent for conversation ; especially as he is deeply interested in the subject, and as the persons with whom he communicates, are not only the first gentlemen of their own neighbourhoods, but mer- chants brought thither by commercial engagements, or strangers stimulated by curiosity. This is the por- trait of the tinner, not at all meliorated by Metho- dism ; it was the same before the days of Wesley. That his religious knowledge is commensurate with his mineralogical, I by no means affirm. The hus- bandman, too, I fear, is better able to till his ground than to repeat his catechism. But there are church- es open both to the tinner and the farmer, and parochial ministers to instruct them in the way of salvation. From the extent and populousness, how- ever, of some of the mining parishes, it is impossible lhat our pastoral care can embrace all the flock as we could wish. And here where the Methodist has interposed, I should not so much have deprecated his CXX INTRODUCTION. labors had they been guided by sound sense and dis- cretion. But they have been invariably calculated to mislead the lower classes of society, by engrafting su- perstition upon ignorance ; by stirring up the passions, and from their continual fermentation producing in untutored minds a disrelish for the sobriety of rea- son in short, by substituting doctrines for duties, faith for morality. The population of Kenwyn and Kea amounts to more than 7000 ; for the most part mi- ners and their families. The villagers of Chacevvater are thrown to the distance of more than five miles from their parish church : and surely it would be unrea- sonable to expect their regular attendance at their parish church during the winter season. Into what hands they have fallen it would be superfluous to say. Yet who can hail the prospect of the relative duties, of the tender charities of husband and wife, of " father, son, and brother," as arising and expand- ing themselves, and florishing in the meridian of Revivalism? There are few situations in Cornwall less favorable to the exertions of the parish-priest, than Chacewater ; notwithstanding which, I am con- fident that Methodism has effected no change for the better, in the manners or the morals of its inhabitants. Little acquainted as he is with Cornwall, Mr. Ben- son goes on to state, that " there is hardly any part INTRODUCTION. CXXl of the three kingdoms where a change has been more visible and general in the manners of the people." in proof of which, says he: " Hurling, their favorite diversion, at which limbs were broken and frequent- ly lives lost, is now hardly heard of." True : hurl- ing is practised but in few parishes ; and cock- lighting is out of fashion ; and wrestling is but rare. But if we may believe Borlase, they have been on the decline for more than a hundred years ; discounte- nanced by the magistrate, perhaps, on account of the increasing population of the country, and the danger from a spirit of insubordination that has of late years made an alarming progress; that spirit which Metho- dism (Mr. B. will tell us, I suppose) has done all in its power to check and to suppress ! The disconti- nuance or infrequency of such sports, indeed, among the common people, is chiefly to be attributed to a change in the habits and manners of their superiors. In Carew's time, gentlemen used to entertain a nu- merous peasantry at their mansions and their castles, in celebration of the two great festivals, or at the parish- feast or harvest-home ; when at the same time that our halls re-echoed to the voice of festal merriment, our lawns and downs and woodlands were enlivened by the shouts of wrestling and of hurling. Hospi- tality is now banished from among us ; and so are CXX11 INTRODUCTION. its attendant sports. But \ve are not to thank th genius of a Wesley or a Whitfield, for the gloom of our halls or the quiet of our lawns. Hurling was well nigh extinct before the birth of Methodism. In the progress of Mr. Benson's apology, error seems to accumulate upon error, falsehood upon falsehood. " Thai: scandal of humanity (says he) practised on the coasts of Cornwall, the plundering of vessels that struck the rocks, and afterwards mur- dering those who escaped out of the wreck, is now quite at an end ; or the gentlemen and not the poor tinners are to be blamed." It appears to me, that Mr. B. all along identifies in his ideas, tinners with Me- thodists. He speaks, therefore, of the tinners in terms of kindness and compassion. And against the gentlemen of Cornwall (who possess more of the wisdom of this world, it should seem, than to turn Methodists) he insinuates with a malignant sneer, that they encourage rapine and connive at murder. But when was a murder committed ? Can Mr. B. bring forward a solitary instance of a murder of this description ? That a wreck still offers to the Cornish strong temptations to iniquity, some very recent out- rages too fully prove. But among those who have shown an inclination to lay violent hands on the pro- perty of the unfortunate, I more than suspect that the sons and even daughters of the tabernacle have been INTRODUCTION. CXXlll the most conspicuous. If, indeed, (as Mr. B. affects to believe) miners are synonymous with Methodists, this must necessarily have been the case. The truth is, that on the first intelligence of a wreck, or the probability , of such an incident, the neighbouring magistrates or clergymen lose not a moment in has- tening, themselves, to the spot, or dispatching thi- ther a sufficient force .for the protection and relief of the poor sufferers : that in the crowds which rush to the beach, the symptoms of humanity are much more visible than those of rapaciousness or cruelty; and that, no sooner are these symptoms observable, than exertions spirited and bold even to the risk " of life or limb," are seen instantly to correspond with them ! Not that sympathy with the unfortunate, and the manly daring which would rescue a drown- ing wretch from the wave, are any way characteris- tic of the Methodists. It is notorious, that under difficulties and dangers, the Calvinists at least affect to put more confidence in preaching and praying, than in any appropriate energies bodily or mental. In the present case, indeed, if preaching, if publish- ing have at all tended to open the eyes of those who had, heretofore, no sense of their crime in plunging the unhappy into still deeper misery ; shall no credit be given to the sermons and little treatises of pa- rochial ministers Sermons which have been inces- CXX1V INTRODUCTION. santly preached both on the north and on the south, and tracts which have been many years in circula- tion anterior to those " labors of love" so celebra- ted by Mr. Benson? Mr. Benson, however, has not finished his declamation. Our attention is invited to another fabrication, as disgraceful to his veracity or his credulity and temerity of assertion as any of the former. " More (he asserts) has been done to sup- press smuggling by preaching the Gospel in the coun- try, and enforcing the rules of the Society, than either the laws of the land or the officers of the Excise have been able to effect." It is very certain that the laws put a stop to smuggling, of almost every de- scription, about the time of Mr. Benson's publication. But smuggling has since been creeping in amongst us ; and of late, indeed, has shown its front with an unparalleled boldness, in defiance of our revenue- officers, and of our troops of horse that are called out to assist them. And what will Mr. B. say to his Methodism, so powerful in the suppression of smug- gling, more powerful it seems than a two-edged sword, when I assure him, that there are Methodists amongst us, who not only earn a livelihood by the sale of spirits, but on whom a suspicion has fallen (though it has not been absolutely proved) that they have connived at the excavation of the floors of their meeting-houses, as receptacles for smuggled liquors ? INTRODUCTION. CXXT Are these their " spiritual gifts" or " blessings?" Is this " building up a spiritual house?" Is this an indication of Mr. Benson's " faith working by love?" But we must acquiesce, I suppose, " in outward decency, &c.'' as the Spirit may operate upon Cor- nish manners, and " in outward holiness," as the Spirit may operate upon Cornish morality ; whilst for " the hidden man of the heart" we look to secret chambers or caverns of the earth. To bring Mr. Benson's views at once to a focus In his idea, the Cornish are almost all tinners. Before Wesley, these tinners were hurlers and robbers, murderers and smugglers ; the children of the devil. Since Wesley, these tinners are neither hurlers, nor robbers, nor murderers, nor smugglers, but the elect of God. Such (he insinuates) are the fruits of Methodism. Would that they were such. But about the time of Benson's Apology, Metho- dism can be conceived to have made a very slight impression on our manners or morality, when of the population of Cornwall, amounting to 200,000 per- sons, little more than 8000 were Methodists ; and when, of the miners not 8000,' the Methodists were not a fortieth part ! As enrolled. CXXV4 INTRODUCTION. SECTION XII. THE MISCHIEFS OF SECTARISM THE PURITANS THEIR SUCCESSFUL HOSTILITIES AGAIN9T THE CHURtiH GOVERNMENT. No sooner had Puritanism recognised its strength, than it began to exert its energies against the Esta- blishment. Scarcely are we sensible of its organiza- tion before we see it in action. In Methodism we have observed the very same movements.' I have marked the characteristic lineaments of both. In endeavouring to ascertain the good they may have produced to the community, I have paid due atten- tion to their advocates. Let us now enquire whether they may have been in any degree, and if so, to what extent, the fountains of evil. Of Puritanism as directing its artillery against the Church, and as reducing it to ruins, we shall con- template the hostilities and the triumphs. In Methodism we shall perceive the same mode of warfare, whether in the open field or in ambuscade : we shall notice similar attacks, and detect similar stratagems. For its ultimate success we trust the comparison will fail ! INTRODUCTION. OXXV11 In the present section, I shall just glance at the inveteracy of the Puritans against the episcopal go- vernment. Of the necessary connexion between the regal and the episcopal government, King James seems to have been fully aware. At the Hampton-Court Confer- ence, he says: " My Lords the Bishops ! I may thank you, that these men plead thus for my supremacy. They think they cannot make their party good against you, but by appealing to it. But if once you were out, and they in, I know what would become of my supremacy for no Bishop, no King." ' In 1 630, Dr. Leigh ton published a book, entitled : " An Appeal to the Parliament, or Sion's Plea against the Prelacie." The character of this book will best appear in a few extracts : " Whence (says he) are the strange consuming sicknesses and bodily inabi- lities to perform its services ; whence the pining away of our lives, but from the rotten heart of the Pre- lacie?" " Why is our peace our war, our war our shame?" " Why doth the Lord's soul so loath us, that he will not smell the smell of our services, but because we burn incense of the Prelates' making, which is an abomination." " If the Hierarchic be not 1 Fuller B. x. p. 18. CXXV111 INTRODUCTION. removed, there can be no healing of our sores." ' Suffi- ciently explicit and energetic surely ! But to his in- flamed imagination, it looked, perhaps, like the wa- vering suggestion of cowardice, the feebleness of in- decision. Determined, therefore, to prevent the pos- sibility of misconception, he proceeds, " viresque (or rather virusque) acquirit eundo." " There is no way to make good the work begun, but to beat the bottom out of the Prelacie." " Strike neither at great nor small, but at the Hierarchic !" " Physicians of the State ! up, and do your cure." " Unless you pluck up these stumps of Dagon by the very roots, their nails will grow ranker than they ever were ; and they will scratch more devilishly than they ever did." " Smite this Hazael in the fifth rib. Yea, if father or mother stand in the way, away with them, we beseech you !" " Let us sharpen some tools wherewith you may work" and " we will so shake the Prelates, that their hearts will fail them, their knees will smite one against another ; and, as the sound of yarns' horns shook the walls of Jericho, so this one piece of humiliation, being of a right bore and well plied, would shake the Prelacie all in pieces ; yea, by this means some of them happily might give 1 SionVPlea, p. 143, 144. INTRODUCTION. over their hold, and make their peace with God." To close the whole, this pious doctor prays unto the Lord, " that he will put into their Majesties' hearts to join reformation with humiliation, that so they may hate the hierarchy and their infectious liturgy with a perfect hatred." 1 The fiend of revolution, thus stirred up, received a temporary check : but in 1640, it again discovered if self with an aspect more hideous and alarming. We see Alderman Pennington (whom we recognise afterwards in the list of regicides) at the head of a numerous retinue, presenting to the house a petition against the ceremonies and discipline of the Church of England. 1 This petition was subscribed by 15,000 Londoners. And now, indeed, " no day passed wherein some petition was not presented to the Lords and Commons against the bishops as grand grievances, causing the general decay of trade, ob- structing the proceedings in parliament ; insomuch, that the very porters were able no longer to undergo the burden of episcopal tyranny." " And the armed apprentices, coming up to the parliament, cried ; * No bishops ! No bishops ! ' J These petitions, we are told, 1 Sinn's Plea, pp. 26? 342. * Collier's Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. ii. p. 79^. 3 Fuller's Ch. Hist. B. xi. p. 185. Method. i CXXX INTRODUCTION. were ' well entertained !' yet it never entered into the thoughts of this parliament to overturn the civil or ecclesiastical government !"' In 1641, it was voted, in the House of Commons, that " the government of the Church of England by Archbishops, Bishops, their Chancellors and Com- missaries, Deans, Archdeacons, and other their ec- clesiastical officers, has been found by long experi- ence to be a great impediment to the perfect reforma- tion and growth of religion, and very prejudicial to the Church-government of this kingdom." 2 On this occasion, it was well asked in the House of Lords, " which of your Lordships can say, that he shall continue a member of this House, when at one blow six and twenty (Lord Bishops) are cut off?" J The Bill passed the two houses: and the 'King signed the bill. 4 " To prune off the baronies, is the way to preserve the bishoprics," said some of the re- 1 See Neal, Vol. ii. p. 362. * See " Diurnal Occurrences." 3 See Lord Newark's Speech, Fuller, B. xi. p. ISO. f Wearied out by irapoi tunities, the King at length signified his assent, to what he foresaw was destruction to the Government. But see Fuller and Rusliworth s Collection, Part iii. Vol. i. p. 155. INTRODUCTION. CXXxi forming rout to their sovereign ! Alas ! he knew, that " to pare and clip the prelacy," would not an- swer their purpose ; nothing would satisfy the saints, but to pluck it up, root and branch. 1 It is worthy of remark, that the Presbyterian party had scarcely demolished episcopacy, before they were themselves attacked by the Independents ! " As the Presbyters had once the impudence to cry down the divine right of episcopacy, so now they are paid in their own coin !" And " Hugh Peters affirms, that Presbytery is but a bastard of the whore of Babylon," said the author of one of the Mercuries of those times. 1 One of the most enlightened ene- mies, indeed, to bishops, exclaimed : " Presbyter is but old priest writ large !" The Presbyterians took refuge in the Parliament ; and thus did they make " those uses serve again Against the new enlightened men, As fit as when at first they were Reveal'd against the Cavalier!" 3 1 See Bond's Serm. on their Monthly Fast, March 27, 1 644. * Mercur. Pragtnat. No. 25, 26. 1648. 3 Hudibras. CXXXIl INTRODUCTION. SECTION XIII. THE FIRST METHODISTS THEIR ANTIPATHY TO THE CHURCH GOVERNMENT. ACCORDING to my plan, I here allot a separate sec- tion to the first Methodists. But to enlarge on the topic before us, would be to anticipate Lavington's account of their abuse of bishops and other church- men. In his preface, indeed, to the second part of" The Enthusiasm," as addressed to Whitefield, Lavington asks, " Who has raked more into the ashes of the dead than yourself? You have treated Archbishop Tillotson in a most scurrilous manner: and you have raked into the ashes of Cranmer, Ridley, Hooper." In fact, Whitefield, Wesley, and their companions were all, more or less, impatient of control : they had an aversion to the higher powers : they had all a spirit of resistance. And the affectation of Wesley, where he pretended to go hand-in-hand with the re- gular clergy of the Church of England, served only to suggest the idea of a hypocrite, though otherwise we migni have simply suspected an enthusiast. INTRODUCTION. CXXXltt SECTION XIV. SECTARISTS OF THE PRESENT DAY THEIR RANCOROUS ABUSE OF BISHOPS. THAT at the present hour, there are hosts of Dissen- ters under which denomination we must (now, I fear) include all the tribes of Separatists, Arminians, Calvinists, Socinians, Baptists, Quakers and that there are hosts ready to attack a bishop, at every point, is too true to be dissembled. It may well be said of Conventiclers, reviling the prelacy, their " teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongues are sharp swords." And from the virulence which they emit from their pulpits, I am persuaded, that literally to hurl the weapons of war against the heads of our Church, they want not the inclination: they want only the power. Alas! how soon they may possess that power, who shall deter- mine ? We walk carelessly along; unconscious of the thickets that conceal the enemy; little thinking, that at the signal of a moment they may rise around us, a vast and formidable body little expecting to see CXXX1V INTRODUCTION. " On right and left, above, below, > Thro' copse aud heath, the lurking foe And, bristling into axe and brand The rushes and the willow-wand ; And every tuft of broom give life To.' sainted' warrior arm'd for strife As if the yawning hill to Heaven A subterranean host had given !'" What shall we say to the daring avowal of a certain Jacobin ; which, but a short time since, was tingling in our ears? " His blood boiled within him (he said) as often as the coach of the Archbishop passed under his windows !" His choler rose at the splendor of the equipage. To see that equipage laid low, would gratify the malice of many a heart that rankles from obloquy, and throbs for pre-eminence. I could recollect various instances of railing accusation against our bishops, both from the pulpit and the press. Even whilst I write, (25th Jan. 1817,) even this day this very evening, it is reported to me by an ear- witness of unquestionable credit the Bishop of Lin- coln has been abused at the E r Chapel in , in terms of the grossest scurrility. " I was in London lately," said the preacher, " where I met with a worth - 1 Lady of the Lake, Cant. v. 9. INTRODUCTION. CXXXV less book called ' A Refutation of Calvinism/ the handy-work, it seems, of the Bishop of Lincoln But 'tis all a falsehood a lie I would tell him so to his face ! Let him say what he will they are Cal- vinistic! That downy fellow to pretend to explain away the articles ! that son of the devil ! But he, and all their Right Reverences there will soon be an end of them there will soon be an end of them all !" From the bishops he descended to the inferior t clergy : and we had our full share of his abuse. If we go from the ranting Calvinist to the cold Socinian from the vulgar mechanic haranguing his motley congregation to the highly-polished preacher, whose audience are theophilanthropists or theists, the transition is doubtless abrupt the opposition of religious character strong as can be conceived: Yet antipathy to the Church-establishment is equal- ly discoverable in the one party as in the other. I might revert to the days of Price or of Priestley. But (for the present topic) I shall detain you a few minutes only by an observation or two on a recent instance of Unitarian disrespect for bishops. I allude to a most illiberal passage in the novel of the Edge- worths. And I believe the religion of the Edgeworths is Unitarianism : if not, I beg their pardon: I am sure, it is not Calvinism. In the novel of Maria Edgeworth, CXXXV1 INTRODUCTION. intitled " Patronage," which contains this obnoxious passage, we certainly find no clue to lead us to a knowledge of their religious opinions. It is her satire, however, on the prelacy, for which I here mean to reckon with Maria her indecency her insolence in holding up to ridicule the most elevated station in the Church. To quote the passage will sufficiently expose her to the censure and indignation of all, who have any notion of decorum or delicacy, or any regard for truth. " At some high festival, B. Falconer was invited to dine with the Bishop. Now Bishop Clay was a rubicund, full-blown, short-necked prelate, with the fear of an apoplexy continually before him, except when dinner was on the table. And at this time, a dinner was on the table, rich with every dainty of the season that earth, air, and sea could provide. Grace being first said by the Chaplain, the Bishop sat down, ' richly to enjoy.' But it happened in the first onset, that a morsel too large for his Lordship's capacious swallow, stuck in his throat. The Bishop grew crimson, purple, black in the face. The Chap- lain started up and untied his neck-cloth. The guests crowded round ; one offering water, another advising bread, another calling for a raw egg, another thump- ing his Lordship on the back. B. Falconer ran for the bellows, and applying the muzzle directly to the pre- late's ear, produced such a convulsion as expelled the INTRODUCTION. CXXXV11 pellet from the throat with a prodigious explosion. The Bishop recovering his breath and vital functions, sat up, restored to life and dinner. He ate again, and drank to Mr. B. Falconer's good health, with thanks for this good service to the Church, to which he prophesied the reverend young gentleman would in good time prove an honor. And that he might be in some measure the means of accomplishing his own prophecy, Bishop Clay did, before he slept, (which was immediately after dinner,) present Mr. B. Falcon- er with a living worth 400/. a year ; a living which had not fallen into the Bishop's hands above half-a day, and which, as there were six worthy clergymen in waiting for it, would necessarily have been disposed of the next morning ! ! ! " Of such a scene the grossness and vulgarity would surely bring blushes to the cheeks of every female, who owed not her education to those " effrontery" schools (as they might emphatically be termed) whence blushes have been expelled on system. Not to insist, however, on the indelicacy of the picture, let us ask Maria E. whither she would refer us for its prototype? Does its original exist in real life, or is it an imaginary portrait? If the latter, what can she presume to offer, in apology for so wanton a fabrication? What could have provoked Miss E. to amuse the world with such CXXXV111 INTRODUCTION. a caricature of a bishop we pretend not to conjecture. But th erf are few who act without a motive. If she meant to attack Christianity, the most successful method (she knew) was to insult the foremost ranks of its professors. And it might answer her purpose to excite a laugh, where serious accusation would have failed. For. as- sured as all must be, who are in the least acquainted with the episcopal bench, that there breathe not on earth a more "virtuous, or moral, or truly dignified order of men, and that not one character among our living prelates (and I may add their predecessors to any extent of time) can be brought forward to correspond with Bishop Clay, or resemble him in a single feature in the faintest degree ; convinced as we are of the ex- travagance of the fiction, of the malignity that con- ceived, and of the shamelessness that produced it ; we know enough of human nature (and so does Maria E.) to recognise the popularity and power of ri- dicule, its easy admission into all circles whether the grave or the gay, its more welcome visits when its subjects are high in the ranks of society, and the impression which it leaves on minds where neither ill-will nor envy are the predominant qualities. But, " my friend, enough !" So again would you whisper in my ear. Wherever I direct your view you tell me, " clouds and darkness rest upon it !" Doubt- INTRODUCTION. CXXXV less, the growing indifference to rank or station, and disrespect for the most venerable amongst us, are bad symptons of the religion of the times. But, whilst we are secure in our Commons- House of Par- liament, we need not fear, I think, what Calvinists, or Socinians, or Deists " can do unto us." I was sorry, indeed, on a late occasion to see the Bishops in the minority I allude to " the Curate's Act." Nor can it very much subserve the cause of Christianity, to inveigh against her ministers, or to charge our whole body with the delinquencies of a few, " of whom we are ashamed." In general, how- ever, we have a great majority in both Houses ; our firm friends the friends of our Church Government. SECTION XV. INVECTIVES AGAINST PLURALITIES THE MEN- DICANT FRIARS. THAT my outlines may be drawn with sufficient per- spicuity, and that my readers may be able to fill them up with facility from memory and observation, I have preferred a single figure to a group. I shall here confine my view to pluralities, as existing before the Reformation. We are informed that, " after the power of dispensing with pluralities was taken from CXI INTRODUCTION. the Bishops, and fixed wholly in the Pope by the La- teran Council ; no further care or decency was ob- served therein ; but within sixty years they grew so enormous, as not to be defended. This the mendi- cant Friars, who in the intermediate time arose and multiplied, made great use of, in their exclamations against the secular clergy, and by it made them odi- ous. One of this order, John Peckham, being pro- moted to the See of Canterbury, applied himself with great zeal to overthrow these pluralities. For which end, he made a Canon in the Council of Reading, in 1279, that all benefices held by one clergyman with- out a papal dispensation, should be void, except the last ; and that all Clergymen who should hereafter receive more benefices than one, without a papal dis- pensation, should be ipso facto deprived of all, and incur the sentence of excommunication. In 1281, in the Council of Lambeth, after a long invective against the sin of plurality, he admonished omnes hujusmodi pluralitatem damnabiliter occupantes, that they should, within six months, absolutely resign all their benefices except one, into the hands of their diocesan. For disobedience to this injunction, he refused to confirm John de la More, elected to the Bishopric of Win- chester, and John de Kirkby, elected to the Bishopric of Rochester ; and annulling their elections ob crimen pluralitatis, caused the one to renounce the right of INTRODUCTION. his election, and the other to be rejected in the court of Rome, to which he had appealed. The principle on which he proceeded was false ; but the enormity of pluralities was at that time so great, that it became the care of one archbishop to oppose and reform it. From the example of a score of pluralists, who all died while he sat archbishop, it may be judged, how different the case then was, from that which now ob- tains in the Church of England. " Bogo de Clare held thirteen benefices with care of souls in the pro- vince of Canterbury, beside several prebends. But all this was inconsiderable to what he held in the pro- vince of York ; in which his spiritual preferments, ac- cording to the tax of those times, amounted to the yearly value of 1 980 marks." " Guljridus Uaspel died possessed of fifteen benefices in the province of Can- terbury ; Radulphus Fremingham held nine benefices ; Malcomus de Harle five benefices ; Henricus Samson six benefices in six several dioceses ; Adam de Strat- ton died possessed of twenty- three benefices ^ Adam de Walton held seven benefices ; Petrus de Wynch held eight. Adam Pain died possessed of fourteen benefices; Hugo de la Penne held seven benefices ; IFUklmus Brumton died possessed of ten benefices ; Rogerus de It Ley held seven benefices, besides several archdeaconries and prebends ; Rogerus Barrel , held six benefices ; Willdmus de Montcjorti eight ; Cxlii INTRODUCTION. Robertus de Dray ton seven, JVillelmus de Percy eight ; Hugh de Cressingham nine ; Ricardus de Hengham fourteen, Johannes Claret fifteen ; Hugo de Cios fourteen." 1 " As the corruptions of the court of Rome grant- ing dispensations, grew daily more exorbitant, so less shame or modesty was observed by her, in giving enormous dispensations of this kind : and, just be- fore the Reformation, there florished in England, a more monstrous pluralist than was ever known before, Cardinal Wolsey, who, with the archbishopric of York, held too bishoprics, and the best abbey in Eng- land."* SECTION XVI. PLURALITIES CONTINUED THE PURITANS. " VARIOUS topics of invective (says the author of the Defence) were employed against the Secular Clergy, formerly by the Mendicant Friars, and lately by their successors in hypocrisy, the Puritans. Yet 1 See " Defence of Pluralities," pp. 143, 144. (Edit. 1692.) a Ibid. p. 146. . INTRODUCTION. they were more greedy of riches, and more sordid than any other generation of men." ' In the reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans certainly discovered the bitterest animosity to the clerical or- ders, in their censures of pluralities and non-residence. Of the Queen's conduct towards that self-righteous sect, an extract from Burnet will give us some idea. " For the party which call themselves reformers and we call Puritans ; for awhile, when they inveighed against such abuses a in the Church as pluralities, non-residence, and the like, their zeal was not con- demned, only their violence was sometimes censured. "When they refused the use of some ceremonies and rites', as superstitious, they were tolerated with much connivance and gentleness ; yea, when they called in question the superiority of bishops, and pretended to a democracy in the Church, their positions were considered, and by contrary writings debated and discussed : yet all this while it was perceived their cause was dangerous, and very popular, as because papistry was odious, therefore it was ever in their mouths that they sought to purge the Church from the religion of papistry ; a thing acceptable to the 1 P. 174. * See Burnet's History of Reform., III. 419- Cxliv INTRODUCTION. people who love ever to run from one extreme to the other. Because multitudes of rogues and poverty was an eye-sore and a dislike to every man, therefore they put into people's heads, that if discipline were planted there would be no vagabonds, no beggars, a thing very plausible ; and in like manner, they pro- mised the people many of the impossible wonders of their discipline. Besides, they opened to the peo- ple a way to government by their consistories and presbyteries, a thing, though in consequence no less prejudicial to the liberties of private men than to the sovereignty of princes, yet in first shew was popular ; nevertheless this, except it were in some few that entered into extreme contempt, was borne with, be- cause they pretended in a dutiful manner to make propositions, and to leave it to the providence of God, and the authority of the magistrate. But now of late years, when there issued from them that affirmed, the consent of the magistrate was not to be at- tended to : when under pretence of a confession, to avoid slander and imputations, they combined them- selves by classes and subscriptions ; when they de- scended into that vile and base means of defaming the ~ Church by ridiculous pasquils ; when they began to make many subjects in doubt to take oaths, which is one of the fundamental parts of justice in this land, and in all places ; when they began both to vaunt INTRODUCTION. of their strength and number of their partisans and followers, and to use. commutations that their cause would prevail through uproar and violence; when it appeared to be no more zeal, no more conscience, but mere faction and division ; and therefore the state were compelled to hold somewhat a harder hand to restrain them than before, yet was it with as great moderation, as the peace of the state could permit. Thus, her Majesty has always observed the two rules before mentioned, in dealing tenderly with conscien- ces, and yet in discovering faction from conscience, and softness from singularity." In 1641, petitions against the hierarchy, we find, were " well entertained? though " it never entered into the thoughts of the Parliament to overturn the civil or ecclesiastical government." And it appears, that on the 7th of March in this " year, they made a beginning with church-affairs." On the following day, it was moved in the House of Commons, " that a bill be drawn against such as have a plurality of liv- ings or are non-residents, and that all ministers be put out, who are scandalous in their lives or corrupt in their doctrines." ' And what was the next step ? To take away the bishops' votes in the House of Lord*, 1 See Neal, ii. 362. Method. INTRODUCTION. and to disqualify the clergy from acting in any civil capacity!!! SECTION XVII. PLURALITIES OF THE PRESENT DAY. THAT there was great room for inveighing against pluralities, in former times, no one can deny. Had it not been sufficiently attested, that twenty or thirty benefices were often held by one person, we should have thought the thing incredible. And such a pros- titution of Church patronage was justly censured^ though the blame originated in the most unworthy motives. It by no means follows, however, that the holding of two benefices is to be condemned, when we all know, that in many parts of England as well as Wales, the united profits of two benefices do not exceed the ordinary wages of a journeyman shoe- maker. To recur to the sensible writer of " the Defence." 1 '* Plurality," says he, " is not only convenient but even necessary to the Church in its present condition, by * Pp. 178182. INTRODUCTION. Cxlvii reason of the great number of benefices of little va- lue, which are found in England ; the cure of which can no way be provided for but by plurality. In this nation are some benefices not exceeding the va- lue of five pounds per annum : many hundreds not exceeding twenty pounds, and some thousands not exceeding thirty pounds. Now in almost all these the cure of souls must utterly be neglected, if it be not allowed to clergymen to hold two of them toge- ther, since one will not afford a subsistence. None of the oppugners of pluralities can deny the reason- ableness of this case : yet if those who maintain the sinfulness of them, would reason consistently, such a pluralist ought no more to be allowed, than of the two greatest livings in England. For if plurality be sinful in its own nature, and residence de jure di- vino, it would be equally unlawful to hold two be- nefices of 20 as of 200 pounds per annum. But it is too ordinary a thing for men in their heat, not to see the consequences of their own positions. "Thus plurality is in many cases necessary to pro- vide for the clergy even a subsistence, as to the ne- cessaries of life ; and in other cases is necessary to provide for them such a competency of subsistence, as is agreeable to their character and order in the world. For (as an excellent prelate of our Church hath observed) those team to have very little regard Cxlvlii INTRODUCTION. to the florishing condition of a Church, who would confine the sufficiency of a subsistence merely to the necessaries of life. There ought to be sufficient pro- vision made, to encourage ingenious persons to en- ter into the clergy, to free them from anxious cares when initiated, and purchase to them such necessa- ries, as the manner of the service they undertake doth require, and to reward such as by extraordi- nary worth and learning, shall merit more than others. All these provisions are absolutely neces- sary to the well-being of any Church ; but none of them, in the present circumstances of things, and poverty of the revenues of the Church, can be fully obtained, without the permission of plurality. " The number of benefices in England which may singly answer any of the ends above mentioned, is very smalj. Did not the hopes of obtaining some- what more than a bare competence influence pa- rents and youth, none of good condition, or fit for any employments, would be bred up to the clergy, or enter into holy orders. For here all the topics of evangelical poverty, and how a clergyman ought not to seek the things of the world, or to desire riches, v/ould persuade very little : parents would not breed up their sons to the clergy upon such con- ditions. It is certain, that the most frugal person cannct breed his son to the clergy in the university INTRODUCTION. . Cxl'lX tinder the expense of 200 pounds. If pluralities \vere taken away, it would be little less than mad- ness to imagine, that any parent will bring up his son carefully at school, and afterwards bestow 200 pounds upon his education in the university, only to purchase poverty for him. Or if any parents should be so good-natured or zealous as to do it, yet it would be impossible to persuade young men well educated, who are naturally aspiring, and led by their hopes, to enter into a clerical life, in which they can expect no more than a bare competency ; and not rather take up other professions, which will pro- duce to them infinitely more profit with less labor. It would be vain in this case to urge a young man, that in a clerical life he must be contented with a bare competence ; that the riches of this world ought to be despised, &c. He would, certainly an- swer, that if things be so, he will never enter into that state of life, which shall lay such an obligation of self-denial upon him ; for upon what principles men already initiated into the sacred office, do pro- ceed to execute their duty, and continue in it not- withstanding poverty or any other discouragement, it is undeniable, that it is the hope of advancement which persuadeth almost all to enter into orders; and it must be great want of understanding to ima- gine that it can or will be otherwise. Young men d INTRODUCTION. will never be ^brought to it, when they shall see that, othens of no better birth, parts, or education than themselves, obtain plentiful estates by taking up other professions. If pluralities, which increase the subsistence of the clergy beyond a bare competence, were abolished, it would infallibly follow, that no parents of quality would breed up their sons to the university ; that no young man of good parts and pregnant hopes would enter into the clergy; that there would remain none for the service of the Church, but of the lowest and meanest sort of the people, and of those only such, as through insuper- able dulness could not hope to make their fortunes in any other profession." I have made this long extract from a very scarce w but valuable book, the product of 1692; where, we should observe, the estimate of an academical education at 200/., should be raised, to suit the pre- sent times, to at least 800/., and the value of benefi- ces in the same proportion. 1 1 About the year 1802, the question of residence 1 In an academical education of four years, 800/. or 1006/. must be expended But alas ! the benefices (though they " should be raised") have many of them actually decreased in value since the year 1692. INTRODUCTION. cli was much agitated in parliament. And on April 7, in that year, on a motion in the House of Commons, to bring in a bill relative to the non-residence of the clergy and other affairs of the Church, Sir W. Scott delivered a most admirable speech. It was soon after published : and to this speech I must refer my readers. There is one passage, however, to which I shall immediately solicit attention. In a luminous and masterly exposition of the motives which led to the enactment of that obnoxious statute of Henry VIII. for enforcing clerical residence, &c. the speak- er observes: " What above all creates a necessity for new-moulding this statute is, the extreme depau- perated state of many of the churches and parochial clergy of this kingdom. The statute makes one uniform demand of universal residence, under one uni- form penalty : and universal residence cannot be had, without universal competency. If all the be- nefices in the kingdom were equal and competent, an equal obligation enforced by an equal penalty, might be applied to them all, universally. But the fact is, that the inequality is great, and has greatly increased since the passing of this act ; since it is certain, that if many benefices have increased in va- lue, many have been comparatively depauperated by the Reformation." The result of this enquiry was, that several acts were enacted, generally known by INTRODUCTION. the name of Sir. W. Scott's bill and Lord Harrowby's curate's bill. But, as these bills (the curate's in par- ticular) were found very exceptionable, a new bill, commonly called the Consolidated Act, was permit- ted, like Aaron's rod, to swallow up all the rest. Of this bill, clause 7. imposes penalties on bene6ced persons for non-residence without licence or exemp- tion, except they reside at some other benefice, for, from 3 to 6 months, one-third from 6 to 8 months, one-half; above 8 months, two-thirds, and for 12 months, three-fourths of the value of the benefice : and it gives the penalties, with costs of suit, wholly to the informer. But, for the various provisions on this subject, we must refer our readers to the act it- self not, however, without expressing our satisfac- tion, that the power of discipline and control is, here, most judiciously placed in the hands of the diocesan. Notwithstanding all these enactments, still are we attacked by our enemies on the subject of plura- lities. They envy us, indeed, the possession of a single living : the truth is, they would reduce us to poverty. Nor would even this satisfy their rancour. Though groveling in the dust, they would trample upon us there. INTRODUCTION. cliU . ' ' rVl SECTION XVIII. SECTARISTS OF EARLY TIMES THEIR INTRUSION ON THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY. IN tracing the progress of schism, we have seen episcopacy insulted, first by sly insinuation, and soon after openly and daringly. We have observed at each period attacks on the beneficed clergy in respect to their preferment, and notwithstanding the measures of government to obviate or remove objec- tions, the repetition of such attacks with increased virulence. We shall now see the schismatics approaching us to our very doors : we shall see them entering our parishes, and laying close siege to our churches. So early as the year 1589, the writer of a sectarian pamphlet threatens to plant young Martins ' in every ' parish for the purpose of watching the conduct and / ^ manners of the clergyman, and whenever they de-i 4** 1 This seems to allude to " Martin Mar, Prelate." One of the most seditious of those pamphlets, " which were secretly printed, speedily dispersed, generally bought, greedily read; yea, and , ; cliv INTRODUCTION. tected a fault, of publishing his delinquency. The wisdom of Elizabeth took care to guard us for '.'..<"> a while from the effects of their reports, and indeed **6 ~" - ~"~ . ; irt to check and put them down. But their intrusion into parishes was one of the chief means of subvert- ing our ecclesiastical establishment. SECTION XIX. THE FIRST METHODISTS THEIR OBTRUSIVE CHARACTER. To come down to the days of Bishop Lavington, it appears, that both Wesley and Whitefield, though they had taken the field against the parochial clergy, would rather have usurped our places in the pulpit, than have railed against us from a tub or a horse- block. The Methodists had not then learned to turn their backs contemptuously on the Church, however indecently they might have spoken of its firmly believed, especially by the common sort, to whom could be no better music tban to hear their betters upbraided." So says Ful- ler, Ch. Hist. b. ix. p. 193. See Need's Hist, of Puritans, v. i. p. 504, for a further account of a process much resembling that of our present reformers. INTRODUCTION. ministers. They were not then, indeed, so gene- rally accommodated with places of worship as at the present moment. But they were busy in the ap- propriation of houses to their religious worship ; and every conventicle was as a battery erected for the demolition of the parish Church. SECTION XX MODERN METHODISTS THEIR OBTRUSIVEJfESS. FEW, as T observed, were the meeting-houses of former days, compared with the hostile erections of various descriptions that now attract our observation, wherever we direct our eyes, from Berwick-upon- Tweed to the Land's- End ; whether we contemplate the ruinous cow-house which threatens its congrega- tion at every gust of wind with destruction, or the chapel newly-built, and lofty as the venerable edi- fice on which it frowns defiance. In a former section, the " voung Martins" were v represented as set to watch the behaviour of the clergy, that when any thing should be done amiss, it might be made public. Great is now " the com- pany of the preachers," who take the work of refor- mation into their own hands, and who in all our INTRODUCTION. country villages, consider themselves as " light shining in dark places." Of this number, there is scarcely one who does not oppose himself to the parish-priest as to an ene- my ; throwing out, incessantly, aspersions on his dull morality and unedifying doctrines, and denoun- cing damnation against Church people without cere- mony or reserve. Our sober sermons ! ! what are they, when compared with the furious harangues the fla- ming oratory of the gospel minister ! " paper pop- guns," at the best! 1 So said Rowland Hill: so said Hawker-? so say they all. Of this interfering, proselyting and hostile spirit of the Methodists, we have a strong and alarming instance in the case of certain overseers of the poor at Portsmouth, of whom the vicar complained as disaffected from the Church, and notwithstanding all his remonstrances, introducing Methodism into the poor-house! ' Unless something be done to prevent their triumph here (said a correspondent of the Anti- jacobin Review) I have no doubt that ere long every poor-house and house of industry in this kingdom will be turned into a conventicle, under the fostering Sermon before the Mission. Society. 1795. INTRODUCTION. civil and improving auspices of a Methodist, Anabaptist, Antinomian, Theophilanthropist, or a disciple of the new light, or probably under the guidance of an enemy equally insidious ; I mean a popish dispenser of pardons for sins !'" In Jane Taylor's " Essays in Rhyme," (unequal and incorrect as they are) there are some gleams of talent, but more of nncharitableness. The " bitterness" and factiousness discoverable in her contrast of the Churchman with the Itinerant, are disgraceful to the Bssayist " That which turns poor non-conformists sick Touches poetic feeling to the quick ; The Gothic edifice, the vaulted dome, The toys bequeathed us by our cousin Rome ; The painted altar, and the white-robed priest, Those gilded keepsakes from the dying beast ! z How many, (could we make the search) Who, while they hate the gospel, love the Church !" la the mean time, Mrs. Jane Taylor's Itinerant, enlisted in the noble army of Martyrs, 1 Anti-Jacob. Vol. x. p. 440. * Ibid. P. 87 elvii INTRODUCTION. " Fresh from the crowded preaching-house, must meet The keen night-vapor, and the driving sleet ; And then the low damp bed, and yet the best The homely hamlet yields its weary guest, And more than all, and worse than all to bear, Trial of cruel mockings everywhere ; That persecution which, whoever will Love Jesus Christ in truth, shall suffer still ! Such are the hardships that his sickly frame Endures, and counts it joy to suffer shame !"' We had almost mistaken this passage for irony. The delicate nerves, " the sickly frames" of coblers and tinkers ! what a burlesque ! < *fa*** -Xv *4*irtc. INTRODUCTION. tinual alarms of damnation, if they did not venture life, fortune, and all, in that which wickedly and de- vilishly those impostors called, the cause of God ! So that I myself have heard one* say. (whose quarters have since been hung about that city where he had been first deceived) that he, and many more, went to that execrable war with such a controlling horror upon their spirits, from those sermons, * that they verily believed they should have been accursed of God for ever, if they had not acted their part in that dismal tragedy."" Let us blacken him, let us blacken him what we can? said that Harrison, of the blessed King, upon the wording and drawing up of his charge against the approaching trial ; that miscreant a preaching Colonel of the Parliament army, and a chief actor in the murder of Charles I. notable, be- fore, for having killed several after quarter given them by others, and using these words in the doing it : " Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord neg- ligently r " He was by extraction a butcher's son, and in his practices more a butcher than his father." 1 Of the moral feelings and the Christian graces that distinguished the regicides, take a few specimens : " Lord ! now that the sword is drawn, let it never be sheathed, till it be glutted in the blood of the cursed Col. Axtell. a Particularly those of Brooks and Calarav. South, ii. 356. CXC INTRODUCTION. \ malignants!" 1 It is thus Paul Hobson, a notorious Independent, speaks of himself : " I was once as legal as any of you can be. I durst never a morning but pray, nor never a night before I went to bed but pray. I durst not eat a bit of bread but I gave thanks. I daily prayed and wept for my sins ; so that I had al- most wept out my eyes for sorrow for sin. But I am persuaded, when I used all these duties I had not one jot of God in me !' ;1 " The complainants (says the author of ' Plain Dealing") were wont to tell you terrible stories of Court pride, covetousness, self-interest, projects, designs ; but now, methinks, it is but mutato nomine- Only there is this difference: then these things were but in retail ; now in wholesale : then they were in one corner; now they overspread the land." 3 Yes, truly!- " The Bible, and great Babel's whore May both together bunue, For the religious lit is o'er, Now they have serv'd their turue. Only one text may 'scape their hands, Since they have ta'en such paines, . 1 Gangraena, Part iii. p. 16. 2 Ibid. p. 33. 3 Plain Dealing, or the Curse and Cause of the Evils of the Tfmes, 1652 INTRODUCTION. CXC* To lay their lords in iron bands, And bind their kings in chains/' 1 It was then that liberty, and property, and personal safety, were at the mercy of tyrants : it was then that churches were abused by every mode of profanation ; that the liturgy was trampled under foot, and that the priest was slain at the altar. The author of Mercnrkis Rusticus describes the Sectaries of Chelmsford beating down the east window of the church with poles and stones, and incensed by the remonstrances of the clergyman to such a pitch of madness, as to " discharge a carbine at the window of the room where he sat, and afterwards laying vio- lent hands on the Doctor, particularly at a funeral, when they would have put him into the same grave with the dead, had he not been rescued by some of his parishioners.'" The Doctor had a narrow escape also from being burnt to death. When the news arrived, that Episcopacy was voted down by the House of Commons, bonfires were kindled in every street ; fuel was taken from the Doctors own wood- yard ; and, heaping it up, the sacrifice, they resolved, should be the Doctor hfcnself. The Separatists, 1 Mercur. Pragmat. No. 22. 1648. * Mercur. Rust. pp. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. cxcii INTRODUCTION. therefore, entered his house, seized upon his per- son, and were ready to throw him headlong into the midst of the blazing- pile, when his friends again interposed, and saved his life ! That they rent in pieces the book of common prayer, trod some of the leaves under foot, and cast others into the ken- nel, is enumerated among the outrages which graced their savage triumph. The Mercurius Aulicus has a similar fact on record : " A party of horse marched the streets in great pomp, first four in buflfe coats, next four in surplices, with the book of common prayer in their hands ; singing in derision thereof, and tear- ing it leafe by leafe, and putting every leafe to their posteriors, with great scorn and laughter." In the Mercurius Rusticus, we are shocked with various pictures of the sacrilegious wantonness of the soldiery profaning the Cathedral churches of Can- terbury, Rochester, Chichester, Winchester, and Ex- eter, and violating the ashes of Bishops and of Kings ! And dreadful is it to reject, that all this was done at the instigation of the Saints! 1 Dr. Featly, a great champion of the Protestant 1 June 13, 1643. 2 See Mercurius Rust. pp. Il6, 133, 144, 152. Sec, also, Isaac Waltou's Life of Bishop Sanderson. INTRODUCTION. CXC111 religion, boldly preaching against the Sectarists, ex- claims : " Is it not sufficient for the conviction of your cauterised consciences, that ye wreak your spleen upon the material temples of God, by break- ing down organs, burning rails, and defacing the monuments of the dead ; but will ye go about to de- stroy the spiritual temple of the Holy Ghost? Could you not be content to tear the Book of Common Prayer in pieces, but will ye also dilacerate the living members of Christ's mystical body? Yet, vehement opposers of Popery as ye are, ye shake hands with Papists in many of your tenets and practices ; condemning with them our English Liturgy, professing recusancy, idolising your teachers !" ' From anarchy, thus let loose upon the country, let us withdraw our attention to a view which our mo- dern reformers would do well to consider ; the bitter disappointment of " all the innovators" as Sir P. War- wick styles them : for we recur with pleasure to Sir P. Warwick : " The bonfire of straw, the great blaze of Cromwell's family, is extinguished, which if he could 1 Mercur. Rust. p. 100. Method. n CXC1V INTRODUCTION. have foreseen, he would not have thought Providence so much his friend ! If, indeed, the first reformers, and all the successive factions, had foreseen how sub- ventaneous or addle their eggs would have proved, surely they never would have scorched their own country, and burnt themselves in the flames them- selves had raised. But the deceit is, even they who have most integrity, if they can justly complain of any small inconvenience, promise themselves that whatever they project shall come to pass ; not dis- cerning the ill consequence of what they have not experimented." " Had the first designers had this sobriety of thoughts, that it became wise men never to overthrow one government, till they were assured that all their own party at least would conform unto what, in lieu thereof, should be set up ; would the multitude have learnt to know how the few crafty deceive the numerous rabble ; would cautious men, who will not concern themselves in the danger till involved in the misery, timely observe and withstand the art of innovators ; the deformity of popular re- formation would have appeared formidable to all parties." " When the first opportunity is lost, the danger is seldom prevented." " If any of these thoughts had prevailed with the men of this gene- ration, they would probably have early secured their INTRODUCTION. CXCV own peace. The ignorance of one sort of men, and the indifferency of the other, make this rather to be wished than hoped for in any age. Any of these thoughts might have preserved our old King, and our old laws. But the want of them dashed us against one another, and made us spend our strength and our treasure to secure false titles and imaginary princi- ples." x " As seditious tumults then overthrew our laws, so now the seditious tumultuaries, sensible of their own intanglements, are possessed with a general passion to be restored to such settled laws, as may free them from the miseries and disorders which their first tumults had brought them into. For it hath been observed that multitudes, in commotions, as they usually overthrow through ignorance and by violence ancient governments, so, after a little experience, they find licentiousness will never have wisdom enough to plant true liberty. And then they discern their present state of liberty to be much worse than their former state, which loudly they called servi- tude." 1 I must as;ain recommend these sensible re- O * marks to the consideration of our modern reform- ers. 1 Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 395. 397. * Ibid. pp. 417, 418. CXCV1 INTRODUCTION. SECTION VII. THE METHODIST PREACHER HIS FAMILIARITY WITH HIS FLOCK. ANOTHER cause of the success of the Methodists, is their intimacy with their hearers. The Methodists certainly keep up a familiar intercourse with almost all the individuals of every family that meet at the conventicle. Hence they become acquainted with the cir- cumstances of each individual, and are enabled to assist him with temporal and spiritual advice. Hence, in a secular way, they un- questionably promote their own interests. Whilst they are furnish- ed with copious matter for an entertaining sermon, they form ma- trimonial and other connexions, so as to establish themselves com- fortably in the world, they make pecuniary collections on every emergence without the slightest difficulty they gain an ascen- dancy over the living, and an influence over the dying, whose last INTRODUCTION. CCX111 / \vills and testaments are often advantageous to these " reverend " gentlemen. In the mean time, it is not to be dissembled, that our communication with our flock is not sufficiently regular or extensive. Though there may be some objections to domiciliary visits, yet to call, now and then, at a farmhouse or a cottage, must facilitate the discharge of our ministerial duty. We often visit a poor person, in order to as- certain the nature of his wordily wants. But we do not often visit either the poor or the rich, with a view to their spiritual improve- ment. Nor do we often go voluntarily to the sick man's chamber. The Methodist, we are told, is very anxious, " after a preaching," in his enquiry whether his sermon was intelligible, and what effect it produced on the hearts of his hearers. In pursuing this enquiry he goes from one habitation to another: he makes his "col- lections" from " house to house," and bis " calling and election mire" SECTION VIII. ITINERANCY. IN contemplating the success of the Methodists, it appears to me, that the most efficient cause of all is their Itinerancy. It is the professed object of a Society in London, " to encourage ministers who are willing to extend their labors to dark villages and towns in their respective neighbourhoods." And their " funds are appli- ed to repay the expences incurred by these ministrations.'' ' There are several country associations formed for the same pur- pose. According to the Report of the Missionary Society in 1798, " a host of faithful laborers have arisen, and are going forth conti- nually in their respective neighbourhoods, preaching the Gospel to 1 Evangel. Mag. Mnreh, 1796. CCX1V INTRODUCTION. the poor, and teaching their children, who, through the neglect of others or their own carelessness, have hitherto been destitute of the means of instruction." And " many of the most vigorous steps, which have lately been pursued for spreading the Gospel at home, ORIGINATED in this Society !" * What a proud boast ! .From a Thanksgiving-Sermon before this Society, we learn, that the " Mis- sionary Spirit has imparted to a great number of congregations and country associations, a noble energy !" '< Who, that knew the state of religion in many counties in this kingdom, and knows it now, but will readily admit, that the Missionary Society has done good at home, and is calculated to do a considerable degree more ? Ministers have been induced to encourage gifted members of their churches to go into the neighbouring villages on the Lord's day, to teach such as are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death ; the people have willingly engaged in the work ; and in many places the fields are " white already to harvest." * Now, admitting that the old preacher, in a district, is even popular, and that he has con- ducted himself decorously, there is such a charm in novelty, 3 that the new Missionary who is to take his place, is sure to be anxious- ly expected, and, at his arrival, hailed with pleasure. His fame, 1 Report, May 9, 1798. * Thanksgiving-Sermon before Mission. Society, Aug. 6, 1798, by J. Griffin. 3 Reading, not long since, Hobhouse's Travels into Albania, I was -struck by a remark of his on the stationary constitution of the priesthood of Attica. That any priest should officiate out of" his own place" of worship is deemed, there, a sort " of spiritual adultery." - Would that it were so deemed in this country, and that our Evangelising Preachers were fixed by law to their " own places !" In a state of privilege above the Church, the Itinerant, with- out control, roams over all the kingdom ! Whilst the Clergyman is confined in his exertions within the limits of his own parish, he wings his flight whither- soever he pleaset : aud wherever he chooses to perch, if he sing, or hoot, or scream, it is, to vulgar ears, rich melody ! INTRODUCTION. CCXV perhaps, was carried thither long before. Celebrated for his migh- ty power over sin and satan, for his miraculous performances in the conversion of souls, he is received with open arms. But, possi- bly, the Preacher may not have conducted himself greatly to the satisfaction of the Society. Possibly he may have conducted him- self in such a way, as to incur the suspicion of dishonesty, or some immoral practice. To him this " change of preacher" is peculi- arly convenient. He sets off, before the affair which is whispered only, can be publicly announced, and in a very distant neighbour- hood re-appears all purged from sin ! I ! SECTION IX. CO-OPERATION OF CHURCHMEN WITH SECTAIUSTS THV EVANGELICAL CLERGY. FORMIDABLE asareall these combinations against the Church, we should be relieved from a great part of our apprehensions, could we justly contemplate unanimity and harmony among ourselves could we see a disposition in churchmen to support each other against all attacks of the common enemy. But, alas ! we perceive no such disposition. The Clergy, instead of uniting in a'cause so dear to all who have any regard for an establishment which they have sworn to defend and by which they live, are divided into two parties the one cano- nical the other self-named Evangelical. The Canonical are the regular Clergy, conforming themselves to the canons of the Church. The Evangelical are those who assume to themselves the exclusive merit of preaching the Gospel. This is an invidious assumption: and they are sensible of its iuvidiousness. They look upon us, therefore, as their adversaries, and treat us as such; inclining much more to the conventicle than to the Church. They area sort of link, indeed, between Churchman and Sectavists; ccxvi INTRODUCTION. educated among the former, and participating in their intereatf J but with the latter associating from choice from congenial senti- ment and feeling. They may be described, as amphibious animals, that exist both by land and by water. Their land is the Church ; which, founded upon a rock, neither " principalities nor powers," (I am still willing to hope) will be able to shake ! But they pre- fer the boisterous, fluctuating element : they are fond of fishing in troubled waters. The dividers of the Church of Corinth, of whom St. Paul com- plained, are well said to have been the prototypes of our Evangeli- cal preachers. But, " Is Christ divided T asked the Apostle. Let us, however, take comfort on the view of their Cooper, their Simeon, their Haweis, their Hawker, coming forth to battle, against whom? against a DALBENY, a THOMAS, a LAW, a MARSH, a HUNTINGFORD, and a TOMLINE,' SECTION X. P'ROPHESYINGS PRAYER-MEETINGS. ONE of the modes by which " the Gospelers" (or Evangelical Clergy) of an early age attempted to undermine the Church, was by what they called Prophesy ings. These Prophesy ings, which began in 1571, were associations of the Clergy in districts of their own appointment; in which several in succession, beginning with the youngest, treated on a portion o'f Scripture, and "some grave divine, as moderator, closed the meeting 1 See the Rev. R. Warner's admirable Letter to Bishop Ryder, " On the Admission to Holy Ordsrs of Young Men holding what are called Evangeli- al Principles." . INTRODUCTION. CCXVIl with his determination and prayer." But ere long, " some incon- veniences were seen, and more foreseen, or at least suspected by fearful men, if these prophecies might generally take place in the land. Among others, being accounted the fairs for spiritual mer- chandises, they made the weekly markets for the same holy com- modities on the Lord's day to be less respected, and ministers to be neglected in their parishes." And " the Queen was so perfectly prepossessed with prejudice against these Prophesyings, as if they foretold the rise of schism and faction, that she was implacably in- censed against Archbishop Grindall, as the principal patron and promoter thereof." In 1580, we find, they were put down by the Queen's order. 1 Another mode of attack, was by Prayer-meetings in private houses. Aware of their tendency to weaken the discipline of the Church, Archbishop Whitgift directed, " that all Preaching, Cate- chising and Praying, in any private family, where any are present besides the family, be discontinued :" and in the case of some mi- nisters of Suffolk whom he had silenced, he thus addresses the Lords of the Council in vindication of his own conduct: " They say they are no Jesuits from Rome. True. But they are in the Church of England, contentious, and by their contentions minister occasion of offence to those who are seduced by Jesuits." " They also make a schism in the Church, and draw many of her majesty's subjects to a misliking of her laws and government in causes eccle- siastical."' 1 I need scarcely observe, that one of the Canons [1. xxii.] forbids " ministers from appointing public or private fasts or pro- phecies," or " from being wittingly present at any of them, under pain of suspension." It was a refinement in policy worthy of our own times to recom- mend such select meetings to all who are zealous " in support of 1 Fuller's Ch. Hist. b. ix. p. 123. * Ibid. b. ix. p. 146. CCXVfii INTRODUCTION. the Establishment." 1 Witnessing hypocrisy like this, we wonder, not at the revival of the Jesuits. Is it to be credited, that any of our own clergy should be so far infatuated, as " to propose a grant, to all such as shall desire it, of an opportunity of holding meetings for the purpose of devotion, in addition to the Churchrservice" and this to counteract the mischiefs of schism I Prayer-assemblies are no other than preparatory schools of Me- thodism. In all our towns, where they exist, the associators have become schismatics. The separation from the Church, though slow and gradual, is not less certain. In several places in Corn- wall, prayer-meetings were held, not long since, at the houses of some of the clergy ; the more " serious," I suppose " the Gospel- ers ! " In the evening of the Sunday, " devout families" (I have heard) used to meet at the parsonage-house: and the curate's wife (better again !) would read a lecture, preparatory to prayer. SECTION XI. LECTURESHIPS. PREVIOUSLY to that fatal overthrow of Church and State, to- which I have so often adverted, it was apprehended that our ad- versaries would be able to establish themselves on a much more substantial footing than popular opinion. It was feared, that they would acquire a permanent influence, in consequence of " Lecture* being set up in towns and populous places, and those Non-conform- ists being appointed to preach thern, who, from their objection to the government of the Church, were not admissible as Incumbents.'' 1 See Pref. to a new Edit, of Woodward's Account of the Rise and Pro- gress pf the Religious Societies, published af York, 1800. INTRODUCTION. It was about the year 16*29, that certain " feoffees were invested with power to purchase Impropriations with their own and other well-disposed persons' money, and to set up and maintain a constant preaching ministry in places of greatest need, where the word was most wanting." On those feoffees Archbishop Laud soon looked with a conside- rable degree of alarm; " as who, in process of time, would prove a thorn in the sides of episcopacy, and by their purchases become the prime pastors for number and greatness of benefices. This would multiply their dependents, and give a secret growth to Non-confor- mity. Wherefore a bill was exhibited in the Exchequer against the feoffees; and the coutt condemned their proceedings as dan- gerous to the Church and State." 1 To the lectures of their erec- tion, they generally preferred the bitterest sons of schism; for instance, " Lady Bowes (afterwards Lady Darcy) devoted 1000/. a-year to preachers in the north, where there were none ; and all her preachers were silenced Non-conformists."* We should do well to attend at this moment to the following instructions of the King to his Archbishop, in consequence of those lectures being made the vehicle of sedition " that in all parishes, the afternoon sermons be turned into catechising 3 that the Lec- tuiers read Divine Service before their Lectures, in their surplice and hood that no lecturer be admitted that is not willing to take upon him a living with cure of souls." In 1634 the Archbishop reports, that the Bishop of Litchtield had suppressed a seditious lecture at Repon; also a meeting called the Running-Lecture so called because the lecturer went from 1 Fuller, b. xi. p. 143. a Neale, vol. ii. p. 149. 3 How much more beneficial would CATECHISING "be than the best Sermons in the world ! But I anticipate what I meant to say on this subject in the Third Part. CCXX INTRODUCTION. village to village, and at the end of the week gave public notice where they might find him for the next exercise. In 1635 he reports, from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, " that there was no single lecture in any corporation, but a combination of divines preached by turns." In 1636 he reports, " that in the diocese of London aud of Nor- wich, many factious and malicious sermons had been preached and many pamphlets of the same description published, aud that lec- tures were very frequent in Suffolk of a bad tendency." 1 These were Non-conformists and their works. But there are numerous lectureships at present in the choice of the people; filled by those, who conform to the laws of the Establishment, and are yet inclined to favor the dissenting interest. The people, in fact, always prefer a Gospel-preacher to the regular Clergyman. The eccen- tricities of the former are sure to recommend him to their favor; though weighed in the scales of competition against dignity of de- portment. A superficial glitter is more attractive than sound learn- ing; aud the whine of hypocrisy than unaffected piety. I may observe also, that private chapels in London and elsewhere, occasion great irregularities. Whether owned by clergymen or by laymen, these chapels are objects of mere commercial speculation. The pews are let out to the rich : we cannot say that, here, the "poor have the Gospel preached unto them."* That persons have been educated for such benefices and lecture- ships at both our Universities, at the expence of Societies formed for that purpose, there can be little doubt: and some years since, it was the cause of considerable alarm. At present, however, our vigilance is sufficiently awakened to the evil consequences of an 1 See Hist, of the Troubles of Archbishop Laud. See also, Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 80, 8J. " See " Hints for the Seenrity of the Established Church." 8vo. 1806. INTRODUCTION. < < ^\i education so anomalous: and the rewards of sound learning and rational religion will seldom be again conferred on ignorance and conceit on factiousness affecting peace, and humility speaking evil of dignities. SECTION XII. THE EXTEMPORE PREACHING OF THE EVANGELICAL CLERGY. I HAVE already remarked on the extempore prayers and preach- ing of avowed Sectarists. And extemporaneous preaching seems one of the most obvious distinctions between the Evangelical and the Canonical Clergy. To their own effusions (assisted doubtless by the Spirit I !) the Gospel ministers used (in South's days as in the present) to sacrifice the forms of prayer prescribed by the Church. " What means (says South) the Service of the Church sc imperfectly and by halves read over, and that by many who profess a conformity to the rules of the Church 1 What makes them mince and mangle that in their practice, which they could swallow whole in their subscriptions'? Why are the public prayers curtailed and left out prayers com- posed with sobriety and enjoined by authority; only to make the more room for a long, crude, impertinent, upstart harangue before the Sermon?" 1 " As for those long prayers (says the same author, in another place) so frequently used by some before their Sermons, the Constitution and Canons of our Church are not at all responsi- ble for them -having provided us better things." " And can there be any sense or propriety in beginning a new, tedious prayer < South, i. 192. CCXX11 INTRODUCTION. iu the pulpit, just after the Church has, for near an hour together, with great variety of offices, suitable to all the needs of the congre- gation, been praying for all that can possibly be fit for Christians to pray for 7" " Surely it can be neither decency nor order for our clergy to conform to the fanatics, as many in their prayers be- fore sermon now-a-days do." * In short, " our own Gospel-preachers are really greater enemies to the Church, than the most malign opposers of her; and consequently would have disobliged her infi- nitely less, had they fallen in with the schismatics and fanatics in their bitterest invectives against her. For better it is to be hissed at by a snake out of the hedge, than to be hissed at, and bitten too, by a snake in one's own bosom."* In the mean time, the regular clergy are disposed to act soberly in their public ministrations, and to read their discourses ; and are therefore vilified as unregenerate worldly-minded men. " Nothing is a surer test of a clergyman's being an unenlightened man, than his using notes in the pulpit. He is a blind leader of the blind." 3 SECTION XIII. SPIRIT OF PROSELYTISM THE JEWS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. THE confidence of success, with which the Dissenters peti- tion government upon every emergence, becomes daily and hourly more striking and alarming. 4 And this confidence arises, in a 1 South, ii. 157, 158. z Ibid. iv. 59, 60. 3 See Nightingale's Methodism. * They now boldly ask for independence on the Church (whose main doc- trines they have abjured) in the celebration of Unitarian Marriages. INTRODUCTION. CCXxiH great measure, from their treacherous familiarity with Church- men. Under the pretence of converting the Jews, for instance, how daringly do itinerant preachers, every year almost, call upon us to surrender our pulpits to their proselyting spirit ! In every consi- derable town in the kingdom they make the effort (alas ! in too many places not ineffectual) to convert our churches into booths of exhibition, or hot-beds of fanaticism ! And (such is their feeling of universal benevolence !) they rancorously abuse us as false bre- thren, if we accede not to their wishes. 1 Mr. Cunningham's CCXXVl INTRODUCTION. the Archdeacon asserts) compromised, by the use of these unworthy means, and the admission of these vulgar members and managers into a Church Society, but her future purity and stability also are endan- gered by the elevation of ignorant persons acting under such lures, to a deliberative voice in the administration of her charitable institutions. To enlist as many as they can under their own banner at home is the prime object of our " Gospelers" : and this they know cannot be done better, than by flattering the vanity or fostering the ambition of those well-bred folks who drive the awl or shoot the shuttle. SECTION XIV. VISITATIONS. SUCH is the conspiracy of the evangelizing brotherhood against those whom they ought to treat as their own flesh, that they acquiesce not in the hostile operation of prayer-meetings or of lectures. For the surer purpose of disorganization, they hold Visitations, and insti- tute reforming Societies. In some parts of the kingdom, the Calvin- istic clergy hold their periodical visitations. A correspondent of the Anti-Jacobin Review describes a visitation of this character as follows : " Not long since ' (says Eusebius) twenty of these gentry assembled in the next parish. After dining, in the evening they had prayers and a sermonification in the church. They visit only the Methodists, and admit such only to their meetings. No virtue, no piety, no orthodoxy in any clergyman who is not an avowed Methodist, has with them the smallest praise. Power they want, and the way to it is by gaining the multitude. The clergyman at whose house their autocratic synod was held, was but recently ordained a young man quite a stranger in the country who had obtained the living by purchase while vacant. 1 In 1809. See Anti-Jacob. Rev. xxxiii. p. 110. INTRODUCTION. CCXXV11 His knowledge is profound. " Hell is peopled (he says) with half- Christians" (not Whitfieldians or Wesleians assuredly). He holds private conventicles, assembled by notice, at which his wife and an inmate exhort. On Sundays he often omits certain material parts of the Service such as the Absolution ; and curtails the first lesson of a half or a third, and wholly omits the public catechizing of children." 1 How is it possible to live in harmony with characters of this de- scription ? With the conscientious Dissenter we may certainly live in peace ; but not so " with that clergyman of the Church, who repre- sents nine-tenths of his brethren as heretics and perjured knaves, and who embraces every opportunity of intruding into his brother's pul- pit, and alienating from him the affections and regard of those simple and unlearned Christians who are committed to his pastoral care, and who are unable to judge of the conformity of his doctrine with that which the Church enjoins him to teach."* SECTION XV. ASSOCIATIONS. I HAVE more than once observed, that these Gospel -preachers are a sort of link between the Church and the Conventicle. It is through their means that many who are well-wishers and friends to the Establishment have been induced to associate with Dissenters, in respect to one common object the furtherance of Christianity. It is through their means that we have been persuaded to cooperate with our avowed enemies, in projecting schools for the 1 See Th. Scott's Observations on the Signs of the Times, with some Account of a Preaching Society of Clergymen in London, &c. &c. 1799. 2 Laurence's Bampton Lectures, 1805, are an admirable illustration of those Articles of the Church of England which the Calvinists improperly consider as Calvinistical. CCXXVU1 INTRODUCTION. instruction of children in the principles of our religion, and in forming new Societies for the propagation of the Gospel. The Sunday-school, which we have joined Evangelists and Dis- senters in promoting, shall be the first subject of consideration. And I think it will appear that this school, in the hands of the sectarists, has proved a powerful engine in shaking the stability of the Church. SECTION XVI. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. I ALLOW that Sunday-schools were encouraged by a great part of the clergy and of the laity from the very best motives. It was to check that licentiousness of every description, which had been never so notorious among all ranks of people as in the last ge- neration, that the Sunday-school was instituted. The children of the rich were, of necessity, left, as heretofore, to themselves. Recourse then was had to the poor. And the children of the poor were called together, to conclude their Sunday at the school, after they had at- tended the Church services, both the morning and the evening. That the person who has drank so much of the stream of knowledge as to wish for more without having an opportunity of satisfying his thirst, is in a dangerous predicament this is a position which, though fa- miliar as a proverb in common conversation, has been dignified as a sentiment in poetry and philosophy. The great Lord Verulam was decidedly of opinion, that a slight acquaintance with speculative reli- gion had a direct tendency to infidelity. A Christian skimming over his Bible superficially, might soon become a sceptic : and it was neces- sary that he should go to some depth, in order to dispel his doubts or disentangle his perplexities. Such a research, it was judged, would be impracticable with the lower classes. Though the Sunday give them some moments of leisure, yet their powers must be inadequate to the INTRODUCTION. CCXX1X task of investigation, and their subsequent pursuits incompatible with theological studies. It was conceived also, that these schools were in danger of being perverted into seminaries that might "cause to err from the words of knowledge." This suspicion was justified by the characters and connexions of the chief patrons., who, though professed friends, were in reality enemies of the Church of England : and such an event was rendered extremely probable from the temper of the times. After a lapse of years sufficient for the trial, it has unquestion- ably appeared that a vast number of those who had been brought up at the Sunday-school were wandering from their proper callings had become fanatical teachers had deemed themselves qualified to hold disputations on religious topics were turned sceptics and infi- dels and anarchists, and were spreading a malignant influence through the great mass of the community. The dread of false instruction has been proved too clearly to be no chimerical apprehension. In the metropolis the schools are, either directly or indirectly, under the con- duct of Dissenters ; as in the cities of Gloucester and Bristol, and most of the principal places throughout the kingdom. Hence, in a great measure, that spirit of disaffection which not many years since excited terror in every well-wisher to his country, and which now in- deed, after a short, deceitful slumber, betrays itself in forms not less alarming to our fears or repugnant to our principles ! Too true is it, that a large proportion of those who had been taught to read, to write, to argue are at this instant eager in grasping at every pernicious treatise in circulation amongst us. Instructed sufficiently in the Scriptures to be enabled to understand the design of many such pub- lications, we may observe them examining their Bible with a malicious eye, rejecting its authority, and finally ripe for every evil work. It had, indeed, been " better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they had known it to turn from the holy commandment" better not to have read (or have been able to read) CCXXX INTRODUCTION. the Scripture, than after they had read it " tp wrest it to their own destruction." SECTION XVII. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, INSTRUMENTS OF DISAFFECTION. IN confirmation of my report on this topic, I shall produce some extracts from " A Country Parson's Address to his Flock." It was published in 1799. 1 After describing the mischiefs created by seditious clubs, debating Societies, and itinerant lecturers, the author thus ad- verts to the Sunday-school : " It only turned the foul stream into a different channel. The poison has still continued to be conveyed, and is spreading through a medium perhaps more dangerous, as it deceives the unwary under a specious form. Schools have been opened by members from some of those Societies, intruding themselves into dif- ferent parishes, under the plausible name of Sunday-schools, for in- structing the children gratis, and Sunday discourses for the young and old too wherein these itinerant preachers soon begin to unfold prin- ciples of a seditious tendency." Since the year 1/99, Sunday-schools have proved, more and more, the means of detaching the parishioners from their proper ministers. Even in cases where the ministers have not objected to the Sunday- schools, laymen and laywomen have so much interfered with our cle- rical duty, as to reduce the clergyman, in religious matters which he surely is appointed to conduct, upon a footing with themselves. 1 By F. Wollaston, rector of Chislehurst in Kent. 8vo. Wilkie. See in particular pp. 2630. INTRODUCTION. CCXXXl SECTION XVIII. MRS. H. MORE. THE BLAGDON CONTROVERSY. ONE of the most glaring instances of lay-interference that has oc- curred since the institution of the Sunday-school, was that of Mrs. Hannah More. That Mrs. Hannah's attachment to the Church of England is of a very questionable kind, may be inferred from the attention she has uniformly paid to unauthorized preachers' from her frequenting, in- deed, other places of worship than the established Church. In the case of Sunday-schools, the Blagdon controversy renders it sufficiently notorious that Mrs. H. More's seminaries* were never, at any time, under the direction and controul of the officiating clergy- man, except where that clergyman chanced to cooperate with her in the same views, or (in other words) was a Gospel-minister. The of- ficiating clergyman, indeed, was often as ignorant of the business of the school as any of his parishioners. Mrs. More's institutions, in fact, were every where instrumental in increasing the influence of the Methodists ; and the conventicle was erected as an accompaniment to the school. I consider the curate of Blagdon as deeply injured by Mrs. More j insomuch that his own declaration is scarcely too strong, that " her conduct to him was less venial than even female impurity." Her assumed superiority, her contemptuous silence at one time, and her cunning evasions at another, are all beyond endurance. To the laity the clergy are indebted, I most cheerfully allow, for their assistance 1 See " Daubeny's Letter to Mrs. H. More," 1799. We cannot doubt Mr. Jay's positive assertion, that Mrs. M. received the sacrament at his hand* sundry times not merely once by accident, as her sibter stated it. * On the Mcndip- Hills, &c. &c. CCXXX11 INTRODUCTION. and support but not to such persons as Mrs. More. 1 mean not to detract from the merit of her writings : but I deprecate the mischiev- ous effects of her enthusiasm. 1 SECTION XIX. MB. WILBERFORCE. THAT Mr. Wilberforce is a patron of Sunday-schools is not to be denied ; but that he prefers Methodists to Churchmen as conductors of these Schools is an assertion requiring proof. I believe him to be a wise and a good man : 1 doubt not the conscientiousness of his mo- tives. It is often to be regretted, that a too fervent zeal is the pre- dominant feature in the best of Christians ; and that Piety has not joined hand in hand with Prudence.* SECTION, XX. CLERGY AND OTHERS GIVING WAY TO THE METHODISTS, WHO CIRCUM- VENT US BY CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. I HAVE already animadverted on the heedless coalition of too many of the clergy with sectarists in the superintendance of Sunday-schools. But it behoves us to stand armed at all points against the sectarists ; particularly against those who, as the disciples of Wesley professing a regard for the Church-service, have had the art to insinuate themselves 1 See for a copious account of the Blagdon controversy, Anti-Jacob. Rev. ix. p. 277 296. 391 397. 415 419. xi. p. 416 433. xii. 97 112. 301 308. 428 444. xiv. 221514. 9 Mr. Wilberforce, it is said, has some share in the management of Mr. Thorn- ton's fund for the purchase of livings in behalf of " the Gospelers. "Mr. W., with all his sagacity, does not perceive, that he is thus encouraging the most dan- gerous species of schism. INTRODUCTION. CCXXX111 into our good opinion ; insomuch that our benevolence and even our piety may assist their measures, with a precipitation which our cooler judgement would disapprove. I recollect an institution at Cambridge, which took place a few years ago, for the purpose of relieving the di- stresses of the poor. It was set forth by Dissenters of various deno- minations. Their motive of charity perhaps was pure. They succeed- ed, however, through their " Poor-men's fund," in drawing off great numbers from the established Church, in introducing them to the con- venticle, and in fixing them there. And, indeed, how could it have been otherwise ? An act of charity is naturally accompanied with spi- ritual advice. But suppose it done in silence : they who receive bene- fits look with pleasure to their benefactors. The result is obvious. The example of Cambridge should induce caution in other places. SECTION XXI. THE UNITARIANS. LANCASTER. IN the mean time there is a sect from which we have more perhaps to fear, than even from the Calvinistic Methodists ; a sect characterized by an excellent prelate, in his " First Principles of Christianity," as a species of " Deists calling themselves Unitarians." The exertions which they are making in the spread of their heretical opinions are almost incredible. And some of their projects have succeeded, I be- lieve, far beyond their expectations. Among these, the most, perhaps, to be dreaded, because the most plausible, is that of an education so contrived as to include within its comprehensive grasp an innumera- ble congregation of children, and to adapt itself to every description of Christians ; since, with a spirit of accommodation liberal beyond all former example, the projector has pledged himself to subtract from our religion all those doctrines where opinions are at variance, and to teach Christianity in its genuine simplicity. Nothing, in short, can CCXXX1V INTRODUCTION. afford a more striking specimen of refined policy, than this popular institution. Nothing can have a fairer aspect of philanthropy in the projector, than in excluding religious peculiarities, not even to except his own. But a little reflection will shew us that, in order to effect his purpose, he must have stripped Christianity of its characteristic rites and its most essential doctrines. For, as another learned prelate has observed, " If our governors were inclined to frame a new liturgy and constitution , according to such a system, we should have a reli- gion without a Redeemer, without a Sanctifier, and without Grace j without a Sacrifice, without a Priest, without an Intercessor." Yet wonderful is it, that many thinking well-disposed and religious persons are to be found among the patrons of the plan to the secret triumph of our enemies ! To the mechanical part of Mr. Lancaster's plan 1 have certainly nothing to object : there can be no reasonable objection . I allow it all the ingenuity which his friends are willing to ascribe to it. But, whilst his philanthropy is panegyrized by some, his honest zeal by others, I cannot conceive that such terms as duplicity and cunning are inapplicable to his designs. SECTION XXII. LANCASTER. ANECDOTE OF DE LUC. NOTHING can more clearly shew the imposing aspect of the Lan- casterian -school than the patronage it at first received even from Majesty itself. But ere long the eyes of the great were opened to the truth. Among those whose interference contributed to undeceive the King, was the truly amiable De Luc. When this veteran philosopher honoured Cornwall with a visit, I had more than one conversation with him relative to Lancaster. De Luc was reader, if I recollect rightly, to Her Majesty. And he told me that, taking advantage of his situation, he had frequently INTRODUCTION. CCXXXV introduced to their Majesties the subject of Lancaster's school, and cautioned them (he hoped with good effect) against the sly insinua- tions -of a person whose speciousness had dazzled "many in high life" such was De Luc's expression : and he was fearful that the patronage of Lancaster would become " fashionable." We Concurred in thinking and saying and lamenting, that " the influence of fashion was more to be dreaded than any other influence" because it set all arguments from reason at defiance, and despised every appeal to sen- sibility. 1 SECTION XXIII. UNITARIANISM. IN marking the causes of the success of sectarism, I mentioned the flattering doctrines of the Methodist flattering, I mean, to the ima- gination and the passions. But there exist perhaps more pernicious doctrines, equally flatter- ing to the reason, or rather to the pride of reason. Such were those of Lancaster, in a certain degree ; raising human nature even the lowest orders in society to an elevation to which even the more cultivated mind has no pretensions has no right to aspire. The infirmities of man, requiring supernatural aid and inter- cession, were excluded from his system : and rewards and punish- ments, appealing to a sense of dignity not recognised by the vulgar, were held out to the pupils of Lancaster rewards and punishments bounded by earthly views ; whilst heaven and an hereafter (such as Christianity promises to our obedience) were shut out from the pro- spect. In the school of Unitarianism, however, there are professors who 1 See DC Luc's Geo. Travels, vol. iii. pp. 315, 316, 317 CCXXXV1 INTRODUCTION, have proceeded one step farther In the exaltation of man, and in their addresses to his reason, as exclusive of human failings and follies and weaknesses. The Unitarian in this process pulls up Christianity by the roots. I need not repeat that the doctrines of our Saviour's Di- vinity and Atonement are the two grand essentials of our faith. They are features prominent throughout the Scripture : they are discrimi- nating lines, that have strongly marked our religion through all the revolutions of the Church. The Arian, though disallowing the Divi- nity of Christ, yet leaves not the human nature to stand by itself. He adds another nature to the human ; believing our Saviour to be an angel-man. But the Unitarian rejects all that the Prophets have told us. With him, our Saviour was a mere man. To him, the Atone- ment is an absurdity. And to him, the Trinity is a monstrous fiction. Thus stripped of its distinguishing characteristics, what is there in Christianity that could render it a subject worthy of so particular a re- velation from Heaven of such a series of prophecies from the first ages of the world to the period of its appearance of such mighty signs and wonders as were wrought to introduce and establish it ? Natural religion had long before inculcated into man the morality of Unitarianism, if not a superior morality. The danger of departing from the written word of God may be clearly seen in the conduct of those self-sufficient reasoners those half-believing Christians. We have too frequently observed that, attempting to try the Scriptures by the test of his philosophy, the Arian rises into a Unitarian ; and to complete the triumph of reason, the Unitarian mounts up into a Deist. This is the regular gradation with the more arrogant ; whilst they whom I have termed half-believers, either too indolent or not suffi- ciently at leisure to pursue a train of argumentation, unite in the pious wish, that, for the sake of Christian harmony, our religion might be so modified as to suit all parties, and to accommodate, if possible, even Jews, Turks, Infidels, and heretics ! ! That Priestley or Price, INTRODUCTION-. CCXXXVli or Christie or Belsham, (though said to be in the first class of the Uni- tarian school,) ever adopted so refined a philosophy, I can scarcely think. Yet, whatever their religious system may be, I cannot but tremble at their political ! I cannot but tremble at the revolution- ary disseminator of seeds which have long " since taken root, and are now growing up to a glorious harvest!" " Slavish governments ! Slavish hierarchies!" (cried one of these reformers) "Ye cannot now hold the world in darkness !" " Unnatural alliance between the kingdom of Christ 1 and the kingdoms of this world !" exclaimed an- other* A third deprecates " all compromises Babylon shall fall !"* Of this school, too, the Edgeworths have attacked us with the weapons of ridicule more powerful, perhaps, than most other instru- ments of warfare. In their Novels, there are some sly strokes : but the " Practical Education" is full of deadly poison. In that large work* Religion is passed over with perfect indifference, and even contempt. , In their Preface 5 , the Edgeworths say: " With respect to what is called the Education of the heart, we have endeavoured to suggest the easiest means of inducing useful and agreeable habits, well-regu- lated sympathy, and benevolent affections." And " as to Religion and Politics we have been silent, because we have no ambition to gain partizans or to make proselytes ; and because we do not address ourselves exclusively to any sect or to any party." It is well that the Unitarians are almost confined to towns. The Methodists assail us in every direction insinuating themselves into 1 Sermon on Anniversary of Revolution. Nov. 4. 1789. * See Corrupt, of Christianity. Vol. ii. 3 See Christie's Eccles. Establishments. The " Practical Education" consists of two large quarto volumes I hare pleasure in observing that this work is neglected by the public at large, and ab- horred by all reflecting minds. * See p. 7. CCXXXVlii INTRODUCTION. villages, however remote or obscure. In the western counties, at least, Unitarianism has made no such efforts ; nor would it be likely to succeed in country places : it is too philosophical for the multitude. SECTION XXIV. INFIDEL INSTITUTIONS. SCHOOLS OF DEISM. WE have given views of education as organized by Methodists, by Quakers, and by Unitarians. In the descending scale we have almost thrown off Christianity : and the Unitarian school, I fear, may be too justly assimilated to many of the Infidel seminaries. There can be little doubt that the French Philosophists had formed a plan forgetting the direction of schools into their own hands. 1 The same system was adopted in our metropolis ; and for the use of the pupils of infidelity cheap editions of the most mischievous tracts were pro- jected ; such as " Northcote's Life of David" " The Works of Peter Annet" "The Rights and Duties of Citizenship" "A Moral Dic- tionary"^" Julian against Christianity." Profane songs also, and parodies on Scripture were prepared and circulated chiefly amongst the illiterate. And in numerous reforming societies, Christians were abused and priests calumniated in a strain of invective, to refined hearers undoubtedly repulsive. " There cannot be a more awfuller sight (said one of the club-orators) than to see a bishop rolling about in his chariot." Another exclaimed : " I am an Atheist !" and hold- ing up an infant, " Here is a young Atheist!" Another cried: " What signifies our sitting here ? Let us go and kill all the bloody priests! 4 " At this instant the same methods are pursued for the disorganizing 1 See Barruefs Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoire de Jacobinisme. See Beid's Infidel Societies, &c. 8vo. 18OO. INTRODUCTION. CCXXX1X of Society: and to seduce us from the Church, in particular, parodies on the Church-service are at sale; nor can the licensed venders of blasphemy be stopped in their course, though they "flaunt it" in the face of the magistrate. SECTION XXV. THE BIBLE SOCIETY ITS MOTLEY COMPLEXION. THAT amidst those various and portentous heresies, in which is exhibited on every occasion the most rancorous enmity against the Church, Dissenters should hold out to Churchmen an invitation to union in any point of religious import, would be a thing utterly in- credible, but for the evidence of our senses. Such, however, is the fact : and the invitation has been accepted ! And the Bible-associa- tion seems to have brought into one body, Churchmen and Evangelic- preachers, Methodists and Quakers, Unitarians and Papists, Jews and Infidels ! ! Yes ! even Infidels are embraced in the fraternizing arms of this Society. And many worthy members of our Church, re- penting of the precipitate step which they had taken, in consorting with such people, have seceded from the Society. Among those, we observed the rector of St. George's Hanover-square, nephew of th e late Bishop Porteus, and a character highly respectable and respected. Alas! there is nothing new under the sun. My readers may recol- lect a parallel coalition of Calvinists and Papists in the reign of James I. SECTION XXVI. / INWARD RANCOUR, UNDER THE MASK OF BENEVOLENCE. ONE of the professed objects of the Bible Society, was the recon- ciliation of all sects or parties. CCX1 INTRODUCTION. But if we examine their proceedings, we shall be at a loss to dis- cover any symptoms of conciliation. On the contrary (says the Bishop of Ely) " the acrimonious language which, at the meetings of their Auxiliary Societies, is commonly used towards those members of our Establishment who have not joined them, affords too plain an indi- cation of a very different temper.'" This spirit of malevolence, re- kindled at almost ever)' meeting, should induce Churchmen to decline all connexion with the Bible Society. SECTION XXVII. THE UNDERTAKING DISPROPORTIONATE TO ITS AVOWED OBJECT. THAT a Puritanic corresponding faction of former days, acted on a principle much too comprehensive for its avowed object, will be recol- lected by many of my readers. And there was certainly an exact re- semblance between this faction and the Bible Society. The partition of the kingdom into districts will be remembered : a similar division has at present taken place. We observe a vast and complicated ma- chinery : and we may well ask, for what purpose was it established ? for what end is it kept in action ? For the distribution of the Bible!!!!!! Ridiculous! That this is a mere pretence, the following extract from a Report of the Society itself, will prove : " A very in- teresting part, (it seems,) of the duty of the District Committee, will be their monthly visits among the poor, who have received their Bibles. It is of little use to possess a Bible, unless it is read. These monthly- visits are designed to encourage a perusal of the sacred volume, and to bring to light the moral benefits of the Institution. Some hours of the month will be well employed in this service. If large, it will be advisable to sub-divide the district. If the circumstances of the 1 See Bishop of Ely's Charge in 1817. INTRODUCTION. CCxli family be made the subject of tender enquiry, if a chapter of their B ible be read to them, or turned down for their own reading, and if the importance of Bible Associations be familiarly explained to them it would become a source of real personal advantage." * Here the very ground on which the Society was formed is aban-r cloned. The Scriptures, it seems, are not only to be distributed, but to be explained. And by whom explained ? By a Committee, of whom half are necessarily Dissenters, and the other half professed Church- men too often the bitterest enemies of the Church. In the mean time the Penny Societies are highly censurable as a cruel imposition upon the poor. From the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge we may procure Bibles as presents to our poorer brethren " not exacting from them (in order to purchase Bibles) a pittance of their hard-earned savings those savings which should be reserved solely for the support of their temporal necessities." 9 At Chacewater, 3 a Collector of the Poor-rate (as himself informed me) was employed for some time in raising Bible subscriptions among the poor. And many (he said) who were both hungry and naked were ready to contribute their pennies for the support of the Bible Society j whilst they inveighed bitterly against the Overseers and Jus- tices for starving them to death. He soon dropped what (he was convinced) was a nefarious business. SECTION XXVIII. THE PURITANS ATTEMPTING THE UNIVERSITIES. THE PRESENT SOCIETY. As the Puritans attempted to get a footing in the Universities, the Society in question are now exerting their utmost strength to bring 1 See die South wark Fourth Annual Report, p. 95, 1816. 2 Sec Bishop of Ely's Charge. 3 Near Truro. Method. (i CCxlii INTRODUCTION. Oxford and Cambridge within their grasp. The proposal to intro- duce into Cambridge an Auxiliary Bible Society, proved a happy cir- cumstance, as it occasioned an Address to the Senate, which opened the eyes of many who had before perceived the tendency of these as- sociations. " The professed object of the modern Bible Society (said Dr. Marsh now Bishop of LandafF) is to distribute Bibles without note or comment. ' But were it certain that the present avowed object would still be retained, we can have no guarantee, that other objects inimical to the Church will . not in time be associated with the main object. The Dissenters, however well affected in other respects, can- not to the Church, or they would not be Dissenters from it. Their interests, in respect to religion, are different from ours 5 and therefore must lead them a different way. And though we know from expe- rience, that they can combine for the purpose of opposing the Church, it would be contrary both to experience and to the common principles of human action, to expect their cooperation, if the object in view was the interest of the Church." " Churchmen should tolerate, not cn^ courage Dissenters : but Churchmen associating with Dissenters give them a new importance, both political and religious." SECTION XXIX, FEMALE AGENCY. THE Puritans owed much of their success to female agency : and the influence of the ladies is equally recognised at the present day. " The result of experience has satisfactorily proved, that the executive duties of Bible Associations are best conducted by FEMALES. Their 1 The Address was presented to the Senate in 1811. We have seen that "the avowed object" was soon abandoned. INTRODUCTION. example is powerfully interesting: and their exertions in this good cause have already been productive of a happy effect." l Thus is fe- male agency degraded into an engine of fanaticism. It is scarcely more degraded when we see it the instrument of rebellion. " Female Reforming Societies," we observe, have been just established at Black- burn, at Stockport, and at Manchester. At a late meeting of Reformers at Blackburn, "a most enchanting scene occurred" (so says their own Oracle) " The Female Committee, making their way through immense crowds, ascended the hustings ! ' Liberty or death ! ' was vociferated from every mouth : the tear of sympathy seemed to start from every eye !" " The banner was lowered, crowned by the cap of Liberty!" "This noble expression of public sentiment would have struck Castlereagh dead to the ground!" It is notorious that our Re- forming Women are, in several places, the-most abandoned of the sex. Admitting that they are not BO, surely we must see and regret, that they have deserted their proper station. And their conduct furnishes '' a painful evidence of the corruption of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. Home, with all its tender recollections, its kindly sympa- thies and fond delights, must be obliterated from the imaginations of those mischievous plotters, before they could permit it to be despoiled of the source whence they all flow; and allow the wife and mother to put off those sacred characters, for the turbulent vices of sedition and impiety. What man, for whom the evening repose of his cottage had still one charm, could wish to cross its threshold, and be told by his neglected children, or reminded by its comfortless appearance, that she, who should have been found there presiding over its simple du- ties, was engaged at the Committee-room in decorating a cap of liberty?" Alas ! a similar question would but too well suit the fana- ' "T : , 1 The Sovjthwark Report, &c. pp. 5567. CCxllV INTRODUCTION. tical Committees of the Sex, whether they collect Bible-pence, o< preside over the Bell or Lancasterian seminaries. 1 SECTION XXX. CHURCHES. COMMITTEE-ROOMS. IN the mean time, the Sectarists endeavour to bring down our- Churches to a level with the conventicle, or rather with a common liall ; and though consecrated to the sole worship of God, to convert them into debating-rooms, or mere offices of accounts ; thus lowering 1 Among the paltry penny-gatherers, are many females whom their restless- ness and insatiable curiosity recommend to notice, as the most likely persons to ensure success to the domiciliary inquisitions of the week. Of all these (so changed is the character of Quakerism) the Tabithas of almost every town stand forward the most importunate, impertinent, and prying. Going from house to house, they " lead captive silly women :" and penetrating the recesses of domestic repose, they every week raise a commotion, or excite jealousy under one roof or other ; and are with difficulty repelled from the kitchen, even where the mistress has subscribed for Bibles for her whole household so fond are they of communicating with die servants themselves not surely for the sake of instructing the servants in religion, but for the sake of extorting from them family- secrets, or for any idle or sinister purposes ; and I think I know servants who, to get Bible-money, would not scru- ple to sell their masters' goods, as opportunity might offer. In one of the Reports of the Bible Society, (1815) the question is put, at p. 282, " While our SERVANTS are eager to assist in this great cause, who will decline their proffered aid?" Two instances of the liberality of this class are then stated: the latter of them that of a labourer's boy, at the sacrifice, not merely of one meal of meat, (with which, when the Puritans sent their foraging parties through the king- dom, their rapacity was satisfied,) but of a whole week's meals of meat ! Whilst the labourer's boy, however, was satisfied with spiritual food, was the labourer sa- tbfied with the boy's spiritual energies? for in this case corporeal exertion was not to be expected. The most avaricious farmer feeds his working-servants equally with his working-cattle ; assured, that starving them, he must stop the plough. INTRODUCTION. CCxlv in the public estimation, places which we have learned to approach and to enter with reverence and awe. Amidst a motley group in Truro Church, some years ago, there were several who sat very composed with their hats on 1 forbear to say more. SECTION XXXI. SECTARISM SLANG. SECTARIAN ASCENDANCY. AT these assemblies the Sectarist affects to give the first place to the Churchman. But what at once exposes his craftiness in this man- oeuvre, is his own conscious superiority in the popular opinion. It is obvious enough, that practised in declamatory impudence from his youth up, he must stand pre-eminent over the clergy in assemblies of this description ; as these assemblies are for the most part illiterate people, who measure a man's respectability by the length and loud- ness of his harangue, whilst they judge of his religiousness by his sanc- tified demeanor. And do not Churchmen, finding themselves outnum- bered and obliged to listen to such orators, sometimes experience a sort of degradation ? Of all this the Dissenters are so sensible that they are unable, on many occasions, to suppress their satisfaction, and insult us with anticipations of the day of victory while they congratu- late each other on the prospect of a fallen Church, which we ourselves now help them in demolishing. Surely it is inconclusive reasoning to say, that because the object is a good one, no matter with whom we unite with a view to that object. In dispensing the most salutary medicines, few respectable physicians would chuse, we presume, to consult with mountebanks and merry-andrews. There are few who would not blush, if brought into such a situations-few who would not blush if they perceived the gravity of the medical character sunk into insignificance, amidst the frothiness of pretended wit, the grimaces of ignorance, and the ebullition* of vanity. CCXlvi INTRODUCTION. SECTION XXXII. SENSE OF THE SIN OF SCHISM DONE AWAY. TIIBBE can be no doubt that, if the heads of our Church, and it members, publicly associate, and act with Sectarists of every'denomi- nation, on subjects of religious concern, numbers of their weaker fol- lowers (and others who will find no apology in infirmities of any sort) may be led to view such sectarists with a more favourable eye ; and to consider it as a matter of indifference, whether they frequent the meeting-house or the parish-church. This was clearly enough perceived by Dissenters 5 and their dexte- rity in drawing Churchmen into their snare was admirable. That all descriptions of Christians might concur in the dissemination of pure Scripture, it was proposed to print the Bible without notes or com- mentary; so that nothing, in reading it, might occur to throw a bias tm the mind in favour of any particular tenet which marked the Church- man or the Sectarian; and that all, starting on an equality, might form their opinions with perfect independence, and proceed in their religious course, untrammelled by the creeds of others. In this scheme there was an imposing speciousness that semblance of candour which is always captivating which operates with a quiet but still increasing influence on dispassionate minds. The bait was caught : and Church- men and Quakers, Calvinists and Socinians, met together, apparently on the most liberal footing, and with the same sentiment of Christian benevolence resembling (as some of them predicated of themselves) the harmonious multitude who first embraced Christianity " of one heart and one soul." Gradually to remove, however, all invidious distinctions existing between Churchmen and Non -conformists between men of educa- tion and the illiterate to do away the sense of the sin of schism more INTRODUCTION. effectually than by sophistry or ridicule to give flippancy and decla- mation opportunities of overpowering sound sense, sobriety and reason these were the motives (however masked or disavowed) with those biblical innovators who first shook hands with Churchmen affecting cordiality, and assuming all the freedom of holy familiarity. Alas ! what can be more clear from Scripture, than that it is our bounden duty, not to maintain a religious intercourse with heretics and schis- matics? 1 shall we do evil, that good may come? " Dissenters (said the Bishop of Ely) must be hostile to the Church. Yet, in mere works of charity, such as respect temporal wants, we may act with them, as the principle is the same ' benevolence.' But in matters that re- late to religion, our principles are at variance so much so, that an indiscriminate union with Dissenters, for religious purposes, must be dangerous. We pray, that we may be delivered from all ' false doc- trine, heresy and schism.' We ought, surely, therefore, to take care that we do not foster and encourage the very evils which we depre- cate." 5 Is it not extraordinary that, hand-and-glove with Canons, Deans, and Bishops, Mrs. H. More should look on the sin of schism as a mere shadow ? But she is partial to Dissenters. Though professedly of the Church, she too evidently gives the preference to those who dissent from its doctrines, and ridicule its forms. SECTION XXXIII. EXULTATION OF THE FACTION. THAT the Sectarists, viewing their success in thus engaging the clergy in a combination against their own church, cannot contain their 1 See Romans xvi. 17. 2 Thess. iii. 14. Titus iii. 10. 2 See Bishop of Ely's Charge. INTRODUCTION. feelings of exultation, is evident from their public declaration in one place, that the Bible would soon open the eyes of all to the absurdity of political distinctions in religion, reducing into dust the narrow boundaries that invidiously separate sect from sect. We know that such was the prediction of the Puritans. Of the friendship of Unitarians (linked as they are with Churchmen in scattering about Bibles) their late conduct, in consequence of the re- peal of certain obnoxious statutes, affords us a fair specimen. No sooner had the Legislature repealed those statutes that expressed " the abhor- rence of this Christian nation against the impugners of the doctrine of the Trinity, and other blasphemers of God," than the Unitarian Society proceeded with more audacity than before, to direct their attacks against our orthodox faith. They met to celebrate their triumph j and instead of expressing any sense of gratitude to Govern- ment they published " a manifesto of further aggression," in which it appears, that they regard what has been already done for them, not as a mark of paternal kindness, but ' ' as an auspicious prelude to the happy day, when all penal laws and political restrictions on religious grounds shall be for ever abolished, and when an invidious and limited toleration shall give way to universal religious liberty." * Yet these very Unitarians continue with increased zeal to eulogize the Bible Society, and to flock to its associations. And who can be at a loss to determine their end and their aim ? SECTION XXXIV. " ANY MAY GIVE AWAY AND ALL SHOULD READ." " Looit to the object of our association Look to the Bible !" " What matters it who are the distributers of Bibles ? The end jus- 1 See AWro's Appendix, pp. 3339. [1814.] INTRODUCTION. tifies the means : It sanctifies the instrument, were that instrument even the Devil himself." Such is the language of our fanatics BO no- torious, that I need not specify either time or place. As to the universality of reading, it would be worse than popish priestcraft, even to hint at a little restriction ; or to suggest the pro- priety of caution, though sucklings and simpletons had the Apocalypse in full display before them. It was a complaint of Henry VIII. to his Parliament, that in every little pothouse the Bible was profaned by indiscriminate reading and licentious abuse. " Although you be permitted (said the King) to read Holy Scripture, and to have the word of God in your mother tongue, you must understand, that it is licensed you so to do, only to INFORM YOUR OWN CONSCIENCE, and to INSTRUCT YOUR CHILDREN AND FAMILY, and not to dispute and make Scripture a taunting-slock against Priests and Preachers."* A wise admonition, worthy of Royalty, and well deserving the attention of a more enlightened age ! SECTION XXXV. DANGER OF READING WITHOUT -A GUIDE. THAT there are various modes of reading the Scriptures, the almost infinite number of sects in the Christian world sufficiently testify. It was a very short time after the promulgation of the Gospel, that * FOJC, voL II. p. 570. Saunders thus declaims on the subject: "Jam in omnibus officinis et tabernis, in popinis et fornicibus de fide inibatur disputatio. Sacram scripturam garrula anus, delirus senex, sophista verbosus, universi de- nique praesumebant, lacerabant, docebant antequam discerent. [How applicable to the Rounding Methodist !] Alii philosophabantur inter mulierculas. Prac- cipue autem Apocalypsis, qua; tot habet sacramenta quot vcrba, in omnium ore rersabatur." De Oriz- et Progress, Schismat, Anglican. ccl INTRODtJCTION. heresies sprang up, disturbing the harmony of the Church, leading some into dangerous errors, and putting to the test the sincerity of others. From that moment to the present hour, have they continued and increased upon us ; changing their genius and their complexion with tke character and the colour of the times. But they have all origi- nated in the different interpretations of the word of God. And these interpretations have been, more frequently, the result of ignorance, of pride, of zeal without knowledge, of prejudice, of caprice and fancy, than of unbiassed judgement, or enlightened opinion. That each individual, however uninformed, or however ill-disposed , should be left to himself in the perusal of the Scriptures, should put his own construction on every passage, should form his creed on texts of his own selection, and according to that creed should make the public profession of his faith, and be suffered to propagate his tenets, or inculcate his dogmas on all within his reach, must have been the source of abundant error and delusion and discord. To instruct the people, therefore, in the genuine word of God, it was requisite to send forth the Ministers of Inspiration, or to appoint teachers, whose time had been devoted, from early youth, to the study of Revelation. And, from the days of the Apostles to the present, throughout all the ages of the Church, such teachers have been received as the au- thorized expositors of Scripture, and have been revered as a sacred body " a chosen priesthood" whose existence was almost as neces- sary to the cultivation of Christian knowledge, as the inspired volume itself. With respect to human knowledge, the same care has been taken in all ages. To explain the law, lawyers were found necessary j to practise physic, physicians. To instruct the peasant in the knowledge of the law, and enable him to avoid its penalties, who ever sent " the INTRODUCTION, cell Statutes at large" to his cottage ? To acquaint him with his diseases, and the application of medicines to those diseases, who ever put into his hands a treatise on anatomy or physic ? Ami, who will venture to maintain, on the ground of common sense, the more easy intelli- gibility of the Bible ? Yet I cannot but notice with regret an opinion which, once so prevalent, has been much inculcated within the last twenty years, that little or no learning is requisite for the right understanding of the Scriptures. The " unlearned" (it is maintained) may proceed to the arduous work of exposition, on a footing with him who has explored the whole extensive field of human literature. To a "well-intentioned-mind " (it is asserted and strongly insisted upon) " one text of Holy Writ will throw light on another : So that by mutual illustration and reflection, the whole Scripture will become luminous." Let us conceive a man, with just the ability to read, opening his Bible, not only for his own information, but with a view to that of others. Without a guide, without some clue to the meaning of what he reads, it is likely that he will soon become puzzled and perplexed in a maze of error. Let us suppose him, for instance, engaged in looking over the Prophecy of Isaiah ; and, at the fifty-third chapter, more particularly struck by the pathetic description of a character with which he is per- fectly unacquainted. " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him : And with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way : And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter : And, as a, sheep before its shearers ib dumb, so he opencth not hits mouth." Cclii INTRODUCTIONS This description has such admirable simplicity it addresses itself so immediately to our feelings and seems to bear so affecting a re- ference to ourselves, that we might imagine the most heedless reader pausing for a moment, and enquiring : " Of whom speaketh the Prophet this ? Of himself, or of some other man *" As in the marginal references, or running titles even of our common Bibles, the name of " Christ" will here be found, his question might be considered as answered. No further explanation, however, is given. And he cannot be supposed to have sufficient ability to apply the Prophecy in all its bearings to the Messiah. If no one be at hand, then, to assist him, he will read on ; to no good purpose un- questionably as, unconscious of his blindness, he will deem his application an acquisition of knowledge : And his ignorance will mi- nister to his vanity* t - ... jj & In the Acts of the Apostles, there is, you know, a memorable in- stance of a person thus reading the very passage before us, and thus actually bewildered in his reading. The treasurer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, was returning from Jerusalem, whither he had gone to worship. And, as he possessed the prophetic part at least of the Old Testament, his notion of the true God was, probably, more correct than that of thousands even in this Christian country. Yet, with the power of attaining such a degree of accuracy, he understood not what he read. On his return from Jerusalem, we are told, he was sitting in his chariot, and reading with an audible voice the pro- phecy of Isaiah. But he was interrupted by Philip, who ran to him, and said: " Understandest thou what thou readest?" And he said. " How can I, except some one should guide me?" And he desired Philip, that he would come up, and sit with him. The place of the Scripture which he read, was this : " He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ; and, like a lamb dumb before its shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgement was taken away : And who shall declare his generation ? For his life is taken from the INTRODUCTION. CclHl earth." And the eunuch answered Philip and said, " I pray thee, of whom speaketh the Prophet this Of himself, or of some other man ?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him " Jesus." This was not an accidental meeting. Philip was sent to Queen Candace's Treasurer, expressly by the Spirit of God. Whence it is evident, that the Scripture was then insufficient, and must always be insufficient, without some " one to guide" us to select for us the most important passages to point out the more interesting to explain to us the more abstruse. We are not, however, to presume from this incident, that we, like the Ethiopian Treasurer, intent as we may be on the word of God, shall be favoured with supernatural assistance to facilitate our studies. Yet we learn, from no less an authority than St. Peter himself, that there are " parts of Scripture hard to be understood," and that they who are " unlearned and unstable," " wrest" these parts " to their own destruction." With a view to these two positions, let us cursorily examine the Bible, as consisting of the Old and New Testament ; whilst we still picture to our imagination, the same ignorant and well-intentioned man, who possessing the ability to read his own language with a to- lerable degree of fluency, sits down with a full determination to make himself master of the Scripture j yet destitute of all help from books or oral information. How is it possible, that attempting to read even the Pentateuch, without some easy and familiar commentary, he can carry on in his mind the clue of history, so as to have a perfect apprehension of Genesis, from the Creation of the World to the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt of Exodus, from the birth of Moses to the sanctification of Aaron of the Sacrifices and Services of the Tabernacle, as set forth cd'lV INTRODUCTION. or described in Leviticus of the marshalling of the people as related in the book of Numbers or of the laws, civil, military and religious, as contained in Deuteronomy to say nothing of the prophetic pas- sages interspersed in some of these books ; of which, I am sure, the unassisted simplicity of a peasant would never be able to develope the meaning, or perceive the general import ? In those books which are commonly called the historical books of the Old Testament, from Joshua to Esther, there is, indisputably, much plain narrative. But the idiomatic modes of expression, and the vexatious Hebraisms in our translation, must often cloud the perspicuity of the language. And, as to the sentiment or sense, the local descriptions, and the various allusions to Oriental manners and customs, must here (as in other parts of the Bible) throw an obscurity over the more familiar statements, to those who have no geographical know- ledge, or any previous acquaintance with the countries of the East, and their inhabitants derivable from ancient history and modern observation. Besides, in the books which I have enumerated or re- ferred to, there are many notices of rites or usages or transactions, which would appear sometimes to countenance cruelty, and sometimes to sanction indelicacy, to a mind endued with common sense arrd comr mon sagacity, (such as nature bestows,) without improvement or culti- vation. However intelligible the historical parts of the Bible may appear at first sight, from reading, perhaps, here and there a chapter ; I have no hesitation in asserting, that to the learned, even to men of the very first erudition, they have occasioned much doubt and perplexity. The historical books cannot be well understood, unless they are read in continuation, and even then there will be some difficulty. To explain myself by particularizing, would lead me far beyond my limits. But I will instance the book of Judges, which carries INTRODUCTION. Cclv cn the history from the death of Joshua, about 250 years. Here, from the circumstance of the facts not being told in the times in which they happened, great confusion arises. And it will require some pains to get a clear insight into the succession of events during that period. If there are obstacles like these in the way of the uninformed reader, already so numerous, and so unlikely to be surmounted by the mere efforts of illiteracy, what sort of encouragement can we give him, when he approaches the Psalms when he comes to the Pro- phecies? They, whose taste hath been cultivated whose ta- lents have been improved whose minds have been enlightened by the communication of years with the best writers of ancient and modern times, have been told, that they should take with them the most learned expositors of Sacred Writ to the study of the Prophecies j and that, otherwise, they must only expect to wander " as through a wilderness," or as " one that stumbleth upon the dark mountains." An ignorant rustic, or mechanic, might as reason- ably attempt to read Isaiah or Ezekiel, in the Hebrew original, as in his own vernacular tongue to read, I mean, with " the spirit of understanding." I have given a specimen of Isaiah already, as tending more imme- diately to illustration. But on this topic I need not much insist. The advocates for the indiscriminate reading of the Bible, are eager to enquire, " What say you to the New Testament?" Most assuredly the four Gospels are, as compositions, the very models of simplicity. They should be the constant study of the high and the low, the learned and " the unlearned." On the life and on the death of our Blessed Saviour, we surely cannot meditate too fre- quently or too long. And the circumstances attending that life and that death are related by the four Evangelists in a style adapted to CC'lvi INTRODUCTION. every capacity. Yet notwithstanding all this simplicity, a mind inured to research, to reasoning, to contemplation, will discover new situa- tions and new attitudes of character, -new internal confirmations of its truth, whenever almost he looks into the Gospel-history. In the mean time there are incidents which are utterly unaccounta- ble, and precepts which must seem strange and sometimes contra- dictory to the understanding of an uneducated person. They must either be passed over without a thought ; or they will greatly bewilder him who has never been accustomed to reflection. That in the Epistles, there are " things hard to be understood" above the level unquestionably of vulgar apprehension, the sacred writer himself declares, in terms the most unequivocal and decisive. To the Epistles, indeed, of St. Paul, he more especially adverts Epistles which to understand thoroughly, we must be in a certain de- gree acquainted with the particular people to whom each of them is addressed with all the circumstances of the churches rising or re- cently established, and with the situation of the new converts to Christianity, as it related to the Jews or to the Heathen world. This, in fine, is not all. In the writings of that great Apostle of the Gen- tiles, illustration hath been mistaken for argument, and allusion for doctrine ; and his reasoning is in some places abstruse,, and must be, in others, obscure to a person not well read in the Jewish Scriptures. On the intelligibility of the Revelation of St. John I wish to be ex- cused from any remark ; though I conceive it is the favourite book of " the unlearned." Thus it appears, I judge, with respect to " the unlearned," that it is really a hazardous thing to endeavour to read the Bible " without a guide;" since, amidst such lucubrations, mistakes will accumulate upon mistakes. In spite of all this deduction, however, the [village] Methodist perr- s in telling us, in the language of his sect, that he scorns all hu- INTRODUCTION. Cl'lvii man learning ; and that, familiar as he is with the word of God, neither he nor any of the Lord's people are indebted for this intimacy to " any soul of man." The Spirit, which gave utterance to the first preachers of the Gospel, hath taught him, it seems, not only to per- use but to expound the Scriptures. If this be so, surely that Spirit would not withhold from him " the gift of tongues," Let him make the experiment. The Hebrew and the Greek are both before him. Let him try what he can do. " Alas ! though he cry aloud, there will be neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any to regard him !" He will be forced, I believe, into the same conclusion with ourselves, that, without the instrumentality of that human learning, at which he so conceitedly scoffs, nothing is to be done at all. But it is not the " unlearned" only : " the unstable," also, (as St. Peter asserts) " wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction," Not only learning, but stability, steadiness, soundness of mind, without superstition, without enthusiasm, must be brought to the study of the Bible. They who are unstable are apt to " be carried about by every wind of doctrine." They are " vain in their imagina- tions : their foolish hearts are darkened. Professing themselves wise, they become fools." In turning over the pages of Sacred Writ, they sometimes affect an extraordinary illumination from Heaven ; till at length they actually imagine themselves the prime favourites of the Most High. Hence have they immediate access, with Moses, to the mountain that burnt with fire ! Hence, with Isaiah, are they rapt into future times ; and, mistaking their idle dreams for prophetic visions, speak such things as indeed arc "not lawful for man to utter !" Hence, if from the Psalms, perhaps, they catch a devotional fervour, it is but a flash that in a moment is lost in darkness ! Hence, if to the Saviour they address their praises or their prayers, they largely mingle carnal rapture with the affectation of spiritual delight. And the soft expression of their feelings resembles the languish of libidi- Methnrl, r CclviH INTRODUCTION. nous desire. And, little heeding the Evangelists, passing over, anrf seldom reverting to the pages of the four Gospels, they fly to tht v Epistles of St. Paul -, whence they deduce the principles of their creed? and of their conduct ! With Paul they converse : From Paul they ex- hort : From Paul they preach ! hi short, they are " of Paul" I had almost said " not of Christ." That in "the Bible there are some things hard to be understood," has been abundantly proved even by our cursory and superficial ex- amination of its contents. We need not wonder, then, that the " un- learned and the unstable" should wrest " the Scriptures to their own destruction." Still we are told with the utmost degree of confidence still is it repeated with a voice to tingle in our ears, that " they who go to the perusal of the Bible with the humble desire of information, are really in want of no external aid. They are sure of being able to read to the purpose ; and of growing wise unto salvation. So far from having recourse to the ministers of God's word, they need only persevere in their pursuit, to be received as the ministers of God's word, them- selves." " It is enough to call upon the Holy Spirit: '" and the Holy Spirit will infallibly attend their summons ; since " the same Lore! Too favourable to the enthusiastic notion, that any one maybe competent to the right understanding of the Bible without learning or knowledge, Mr. Faber maintains " that the office of the Holy Ghost is to enable us to understand spiritu- ally those doctrines which are revealed" in Scripture. There is a mystical sense, then, in the Scriptures, discoverable enly by secret and particular illumination. The case of the Bereans (to which Faber appeals) is not a case in point. Hear- ing St. Paul preach the Gospel, and refer to the Old Testament for proofs that " Christ was the person of whom Moses and the Prophets did write," they dili- gently searched the Law and the Prophets, "to see if these things were so." And satisfied wkh their inquiry, they believedv They believed in consequence of this examination, to which they were directed by St. Paul's preaching not from any extraordinary influence of the Holy Spirit. See Faber on " the Ordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit." 1813. INTRODUCTION. CCllX over all, is rich unto all that call upon Him." So said St. Paul to the Romans. But he stopped not here. " How can they call upon Him (continued the Apostle) in whom they have not believed ? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard ? And how shall they hear, without a preacher ? So then faith cometh by hear- ing -, and hearing by the word of God." The Bible, it is true, is the source of all Christian knowledge. But how is this Christian knowledge to be drawn from the Bible ? Doubtless, by means of the preacher through the medium of those who, having brought preparatory learning to the study of the sacred oracles, have the ability to interpret them. We may be assured, then, that to read the Scriptures without " some one to guide us" (especially if it be done with the presump- tuous intention of instructing others) will always bring us into a situation which a considerate man would view with terror a situation hazardous to our present peace and future happiness. To say nothing of errors of conduct, and aberrations from duty, the probable effect of a puzzled understanding and a disordered fancy ; what can we con- template as resulting from such blind reading, but an unoperative knowledge, without piety, without devotion ; or the multiplication of creeds and of sects, according to every one's feelings or conception ? Let me ask then As, in the variance of so many opinions, there must be a multiplicity of errors, is the individual who reads the Scrip- tures with no guide, and interprets them according to his own judge- ment, assured that he is in the right ? His neighbour reads the Scrip- tures with equal independence, and puts on certain passages a directly opposite construction. And they, both, trust alike in the assistance of the Spirit of Truth. . But one of them must of necessity be mistaken: and error can have no assistance from the Spirit of Truth. One of them therefore 1ms undertaken u tusk, in which he has no help either from God or INTRODUCTION. from man. I cannot think the condition of such a person perfectly safe. Besides, I would ask another question He, it is said, who goes to the perusal of the Scriptures with " the humble desire" of being en- lightened, will certainly gain the light he wishes, " without men's help." But is there not more of Christian humility, in applying for information to those who from their station are confessedly our su- periors, and whom their learning may have enabled to instruct us, than in rejecting all human aid and authority : I much doubt, indeed, whether he who thus abstracts himself from others, possess any humi- lity at all. In this case he can have no ground to expect support from the Holy Spirit of God. SECTION XXXVI. BIBLE WITHOUT NOTES BROWN'S BIBLE WITH NOTES. I HAVE already pointed out a similar measure of the Dissenters of former times and our own, in encouraging the indiscriminate reading of the Bible. It is remarkable that we but imitate the Puritans in another feature of insidiousness in professing to publish Bibles without notes, as adapted to all persuasions of Christians. I shall now, however, advert to a Bible with notes no less than that popular work, " Brown's Self-interpreting Bible." It is a most malicious publication ; and it so captivates the common people, that they run into debt to procure it. " I mention it as a curious fact, (said a friend, one of the pillars of our Church,) that by some of my poorest neighbours to whom I have given Bibles within these two years, these very insidious and mischievous sheets have been taken up, even when they were starving, at the expense of from three to five pounds." But let us descend to the examination, of these sheets, or rather INTRODUCTION. extract a few of Brown's notes: The notes will speak for them- selves. Numbers iv. " Distressful is the paucity of God's faithful ser- vants. Yet, not the prudent sons of Aaron, but our Redeemer has the care of the Churches." Deut. xviii. " A worldly-minded mi- nister is a scandal to his profession a living lie ! Seducers arise in the Church notorious impostors!" 1 Sam. ii. "The Church is founded upon a rock. Jesus can turn out her wicked officers, and make room for those who will be faithful unto death." 2 Kings xiii. " Those ministers who preach for filthy lucre, shall infamously perish in their sin." 2 Chron. xxix. " Alas ! that priests who ought to be leaders are often the most unqualified and careless ! " Ezra x. " Alas ! that there are so FEW CLERGYMEN who do not endeavour by every possible shift to extenuate and excuse their own error and WICKEDNESS ! " Nehemiah vi. " A most dangerous plague are un- faithful ministers, treacherous magistrates, and villainous professors!" Nehemiah xiii. " None are more daring in wickedness than unsanc- tified clergymen." Jer. xxvi. " Profane clergymen never fail to per- secute such as are faithful for their kind warnings. More justice may- be expected from profligate civil judges, than from an abandoned clergy." Jer. xxvii. " Let us detest flattering clergymen. They hurry nations and churches into utter destruction." Jer. xxviii. " Flat- tering hints of prosperity in sin, mark their discourses." Jer. lii. " He can make an end of our most wicked oppressors ! He can introduce new kings, new laws, new conditions ! ! " Lament, ii. " What a fearful curse it is, to be given up to the delusions of unsent and hypo- critical ministers ! " Lament, iv. " Scarcely ever does the vengeance of God light upon nations and churches, without clerical wickedness having a distinguishing share in procuring it." Ezekiel xxxiv. " Alas ! miserable is the state of nations and churches, when magistrates and ministers mind only their own temporal interests ! And most dread- ful will be their condemnation !" Ezekiel xliv. "How damning to Cclxii INTRODUCTION. souls, when persons, apparently graceless, are admitted to the office of rulers in the Church of Christ ! " Hosea iv. " Profane ministers and magistrates are ordinarily ringleaders in guilt, and rejoice in any wickedness, if it but add to their gain. But they shall perish in their ignorance ! what is unlawfully gained, shall be blasted with a curse !" Hosea vi. " To what treachery, perjury, idolatry, murder will pro- fessors, especially careless clergymen, abandon themselves ! " With such tares is the Bible before us profusely sown. " An enemy hath, indeed, done this ! " Who can mistake his meaning? That the cottager does not, I can myself bear witness. He reads, and applies his reading to his own parish-priest, and looks with an evil eye on " the profane minister" "the abandoned preacher." SECTION XXXVII. SUCCESS BY MEANS OF THE PRESS. SUCH is the prostitution of the press! But it is not by blasr phemies interwoven with sacred writ, only : it is by a thousand scur-r rilities that they attack us, in print that they endeavour to work the destruction of the Establishment. To go back again to former times. So long ago as the reign of Henry VIII. " The Beggar's Petition," contrived to bring the Church into disrepute, was circulated through the nation with a most deleterious effect.' In his History of the Pu- ritans, Neal informs us, that " they had gathered such strength, and were in such reputation with the people, that they were more in num- ber than all the other parties in the kingdom put together."* And one of the means by which " they gained this strength" was seditious publication. But at that day few were able to read. The mischief, therefore, must have been confined within very narrow bounds. Alas ! 1 Fox, vol. ii. p. 283. . * Neal, p. 150. INTRODUCTION. Oclxiii at the present day, (I tremble while I reflect on the circumstance) all ;;re taught to read ! all are taught to write all are taught to reason all are taught to philosophize. To revolutionize the French, " innumerable pamphlets were every day distributed gratis to the members of the National Assembly, and to those of all the popular Societies in France. One of the members of the Jacobin Club says, he " received in the short space of eight months 402 of them." In the opinion of Le Brun, " the monarchy was destroyed in consequence of having suffered the manifestation of liberal ideas and republican principles." And " able pens (said an 7 other Jacobin) must instruct the people, how much the existence of tyrants degrades mankind." " If we chuse to avail ourselves of the present circumstances, a few pens and a little ink will be sufficient to convince Great Britain (which is good-natured enough to think itself free) that it really groans under the yoke of the most perfidious de- spotism." That most daring Reformist, the author of " Common Sense," tells us, that the demand for his pamphlet was not less than 100,000 copies. If, then, " a sjngle expression (as he boasts) boldly con- ceived and uttered, will sometimes put a whole company into their proper feelings ; and whole nations are acted upon in the same man- ner" what have we to dread from the innumerable tracts that are daily obtruded on us tracts, that, whilst they vilify the Church, its Ministers, and its Ordinances, exalt to the highest point of perfection the meetings of the Sectarists, their teachers, and their services ! pamphlets of all sizes and all prices magazines, the product of every month and newspapers, the spawn of every day ! And what shall we say to the Bible Society itself, if, notwithstand- ing their professions of acquiescence in the silent circulation of the word of God, we find them busy ia publishing their transactions, and exhibiting their knowledge and their zeal with ostentatious pomp, Cclx'lV INTRODUCTION. and even mingling with the reports of their success, invectives against those who observe their measures and see through all their motives, and who (they are conscious) cannot but pity their fanaticism or de- spise their hypocrisy t -In the mean time are emitted from the press a vast number of tracts (we have been told, at least a million yearly) under the auspices of the Missionary Society. Among those books (it has been asked) is there one which is recognised by our Church ? Instead of the Church- Catechism, we are presented with the Catechisms of Dr. Watts and the Assembly. . In short, the press opens upon us through a thousand different avenues. 1 Yet so much are printers and publishers in many parts of England in the interest of sectarists and republicans, that loyalty and ortho- doxy are frequently smothered at their birth by those evil-minded men : and I have known more than one good book no sooner adver- tised than withdrawn from the public eye. SECTION XXXVIII. LIBRARIES FOR THE POOR. NOTWITHSTANDING all these revolutionary excitements, it has lately occurred that there are numbers of people still insensible to the most powerful appeal to passion ; since they cannot afford to buy the in- flammatory publications intended for their use. Parish libraries, therefore, are projected for the benefit of the poor !!!!!!!! " Why teach them to spell, unless we furnish them with books : Let us raise ' Persons selling indecent books or prints are indictable at common law, and punishable by imprisonment and the pillory. For Hawkers without a licenx, &Ce 29 Geo. III. c. 26. INTRODUCTION. subscriptions in every parish or town, for the purchase of books use- ful and entertaining; that the day-labourer or mechanic may fill up to advantage his many vacant hours ! ! ! That such a proposal has seriously been made, almost exceeds belief. " AMUSING tracts for the day-labourer ! " " His LEISURE hours ! ! "The cloven foot is too apparent here. But let us imagine (what in practice could scarcely be) that not one book in the slightest degree exceptionable, should fall in the peasant's way. He reads, and he reads, and he acquires a taste for reading. Adieu to content ! Adieu to honest industry ! Adieu to domestic comfort ! " I am very fond of books," said a cottager one day to me. " But how can you find time to read ? " " 1 read at night !." " So late, I suspect sometimes, that you cannot rise the next morning with the lark ? " He reluctantly confessed that so it was. " Then throw away your books all but your Prayer-book and your Bible." ' SECTION XXXIX. INDIFFERENCE AND FALSE CANDOUR IN CHURCHMEN. I HAVE now specified a variety of causes, to which was once to be attributed, and to which we at this day attribute, the success of the Sectarists. Yet one remains to be noticed, not less fatal to our in- terests than any of the former I mean the indifference of the great body of the people, or that cool and cautious and calculating candour which, in times of peril and alarm, is of all things the most to be de- precated. Of the indifferent and the timid, in his time, South speaks with his 1 And I added ; " Read only select parts of the Bible," and pointed out to him (as I have to many others) the plainer and more instructive and edifying passages. clxvi INTRODUCTION. usual wit and spirit : " ' God knows my heart, (says one) 1 love the King cordially.' ' And I wish well to the Church, (says another,) but you see the state of things is altered : and we cannot do what we would do. Our will is good, and the King gracious ; and we hope he will accept of this, and dispense with the rest.' A goodly present, doubtless, as they meant it ; and such as they might freely give, and yet part with nothing ! When duty and danger stand confronting one another, and when the law of God says ' Obey and assist your King' and the faction says 'Do, if you dare!' for men, in such a case, to think to divide themselves, and to pretend that their will obeys that law ; while, besides, their will obeys and serves the faction 3 - what is this but a gross, fulsome juggling with their duty, and a kind of trimming it between God and the devil?" 1 Alluding to the moderate characters, a preacher of 1645 complains, that a party has risen up that monopolizeth piety and pretendeth to transcendent holiness; under which, many are misled, and many muzzled, as not willing to appear against (as they call themselves) "the Godly party." 2 But " the Godly party " were never more in earnest than when they abused the regular clergy with the foulest ca- lumny. Should not this have roused the well-wishers to the Church from their indifference ? It did rouse no inconsiderable number-r- when all was over ! Even in our Courts of Law, and in the Senate, South speaks of an affectation of impartiality injurious to the cause of the clergy of 3. false candour too attentive to petitions, which evidently had no other object than the overthrow of the Church. Surely our Houses of Parliament would do well to recollect the easy 1 South, vol. i. pp. 402 4O4. 2 Ifttre Eeomachin, a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor, 1645, by J. C/awford. INTRODUCTION. trusting confidence of too many in Charles's Senate, who were actually friends to the Establishment, ecclesiastical as well as civil. And if, as the best remedy for many .of the maladies around us, our legislators call on the clergyman to watch over his flock with double vigilance, does not the requisition itself imply that the clerical character is of no mean consequence ? On this principle would they not act consistently with themselves, in endeavouring to raise the clergy in the estimation of the country ; suppressing, in their public deliberations, every sen- timent or expression that might tend to the degradation of our order? 1 1 Such was a question asked in a Sermon preached before Mr. Justice Le Blanc and Mr. Baron Graham, at the Bodmin Assizes of 1801. The Judges concurred with the High Sheriff and the Grand Jury, in desiring me to print ray SECTARISM: MEANS OF PREVENTING ITS PROGRESS. PART III. SECTION I. FIRMNESS AND SPIRIT. IN stating facts which, I fear, cannot be controverted, I have endea- voured to exhibit clear views of Sectarism ; and, comparing the pre- sent with former times, have represented its success under various circumstances, and have pointed out the causes of its success. Would that in the comparison my parallels were fanciful ! That, however, sectarism may be checked in its progress that it may be *' driven back and put to shame," the history of past times will likewise inform us. And possibly the means of repelling it, conti- nually exerted, may ultimately break down its strength. With a view to a remedy for this growing evil, I shall first con- sider, what our conduct should be in respect to schismatics ; and secondly, what our conduct should be in regard to ourselves, as members of the Church of England. I was always of opinion, that an inflexible firmness a steady- adherence to our principles and resolutions, are the best requisites for meeting an adversary. From princes and parliaments, from bishops and curates, a decisiveness in thinking, and a determination INTRODUCTION. in conduct not to be moved by menaces or entreaties, together with activity and promptness, have been found most effectual ; and a va- cillating, yielding, or temporizing disposition, least favourable to all good purposes. With all revolutionists there is a progressive spirit. One point gained, encourages the reformer to aim at another : another acceded to, leads to a third ; till at length he sees himself so far advanced (further often than he originally projected) that he is able to make rapid strides in defiance of us ; and we then first feel an alarm, when the sense of danger will perhaps little avail us. It was from severe experience that Dr. South told us, " What makes a go- vernor justly despised, is a mean compliance with popular offenders. Some, indeed, account it the very spirit of policy, where men refuse to come up to a law, to make the law come down to them. And for so doing they have this infallible recompense, that they are not at all the more loved, but much the less feared, and accordingly respected." ' In noticing the manner in which Elizabeth, James, and Charles I. treated the opposers of regal authority, Warwick well ob- serves : * " Queen Elizabeth's resolvedness not to be overborne by any faction, either grown or growing up, made these humors in her time rather troublesome than dangerous. It was easier, she knew, to crop them in the bud, than pull them up by the root. But in the- more remisse government of K. James, some well-disposed as well as. some factious gentry and nobility sucked the poison into their veins. And it bred in them a contumacy unto the kingly prerogative." " The men of this age at last resolve to obtain their end, though it were by a civill warre !" At this day I am sure we owe the preservation of " liberty and law" to the vigilance and spirit of anti-jacobinism ; yet often has the moderate and well-meaning party insinuated or hinted, that anti- 1 Sermons, i. 2O9, 21O. * Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 59, 6O. 61. CclxX INTRODUCTION. jacobinism arrogates to itself an authority incompatible with both, liberty and law, and that its interference in matters civil as well as ecclesiastical has been offensive to Government. That the late con- ductor of the Anti-jacobin Review and his coadjutors have done so much good by their unremitting exertions, that they may be deemed almost the saviours of the state, I scarcely think it extravagant to assert. With the Anti-jacobin Review Buonaparte was well ac- quainted ; and sometimes when a number of this review was put into his hands, he, like Felix, trembled. My most valued friend, the late Mr. Gifford, was, in particular, accused of fanaticism and intole- rance. And it was suggested, that he sometimes affected to decide upon subjects which modesty and decorum would have left for Lord Kenyon. That Lord Ken yon thought otherwise, maybe inferred from the proposals recently published by Lord Kenyon himself, " to raise a fund among the private friends of John Gifford, Esq. and such other persons as might be disposed to testify their sense of his valuable and long-continued public services." SECTION II. THE TOLERATION ACT. I ONLY repeat " Let us stand firm !" Let us not give way to the requisitions of the Sectarist in any single instance. Two very strange remedies have been lately proposed as applicable to the disease of Sectarism : one by the Lincoln reporters, 1 " to give the Methodists a wider scope in the Toleration Act j" the other, " to extend the pri- vileges of the Dissenters to the members of the Church of England." 1 See Lincoln Report, already referred to. INTRODUCTION, This is an experiment recommended by the Edinburgh Reviewer: 1 but we differ from him toto .ccclo. We all know (and it is with pain we recognise it) that as the law now stands, any man who dissents from the Established Church may open a place of worship where he pleases. The Edinburgh Reviewer proposes, that every orthodox clergyman shall be permitted to do the same ; to wander wherever he thinks proper ; and in every parish where he chuses to halt, to pray and to preach, in spite of the resident or regular minister. A more preposterous scheme it never entered into the mind of man to devise. The " whole company of the preachers," regular and irregular, would thus be set in motion, or thrown into commotion, from the Land's-end to Berwick-upon -Tweed ! . How this can check the increase of Sectarists I cannot divine. It would be a better method to restrain them by a less liberal tole- ration. There is no doubt that the Toleration Act has been rendered an act of encouragement to Separatists of every denomination. In a " Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops," * the writer thus expresses himself on the subject of the Toleration Act : " An act vrtiich a liberal government granted, for the relief of a certain de- scription of its subjects, who could not conform to the ecclesiastical constitution of their country, was certainly not meant to be turned against itself. Could the framers. of that act have foreseen, that under the shelter of it, batteries of ignorance, enthusiasm, and se"- dition, would be raised against the Establishment of the country, in the persons of itinerant preachers, whose only qualification for the ministry is the production of a sixpence for their fee of admission at the same time that they are unable, for the most part, to write their own names, or even sometimes to read the oath that is atlmi- 1 See Edir-h. Review, vol. xi. pp. 341-342. * Published in IgQl by Cobbet and Morgan. INTRODUCTION. nistered on the occasion ; they would, it is presumed,, have taken care, in the wording of so important an instrument, that whilst in- tending to grant indulgence to conscientious Separatists, they did not weaken the security of the Establishment. As things are, this act is become the disgrace of our statute-book, and an offence to every upright magistrate. It may be called indeed an Act of Licentious- ness, rather than of toleration, and is sometimes used merely for the purpose of fraud and evasion ; as it not only supplies the country with illiterate mechanics, as tailors, shoemakers, weavers, &c. for its religious instructors, but moreover furnishes many with an exemption from the militia ballot, and other civil services." To shew the folly of this act, considered merely in a political point of view, by what logicians term the reductio ad absunhim, let the case be supposed, that every inhabitant of a parish were to take the oaths which are requi- site to secure a man from molestation in the exercise of the self- assumed office of a dissenting- preacher, and were actually to become such (WHICH THEY MIGHT IF THEY PLEASED), what would be the result ? Not only such parish would not afford a single man to the militia, to which every parish is bound by law to contribute, but there would be no person in it obliged to serve the office of churchwarden, overseer, or constable ! ! ! In 1806 a pamphlet came out, entitled " Hints" &c.' " The Pres- byterians, (says the sensible and zealous writer,) the Independents, and other Dissenters of the ancient denominations, remain as they did, obedient to, and deriving protection from, the Toleration Act. But we have witnessed in our day the rise of a vast and threatening superstition, under the general denomination of Methodists ; involv- ing, however, wide ramifications and diversities of opinion, but all united in one point hostility, inveterate hostility to the Church. 1 Hints for the Security of the Established Church. Hatcherd. INTRODUCTION. These Separatists are formed into communities, subjected to their own laws, and competent to enforce their own provisions. They sub- mit to the public existing laws, as far as they are compellable ; whilst at the same time they undermine them by their subtle and fanatical evasions. But they have systematically departed from what I con- ceive to be the intention of the Toleration Act ; I allude to their loco-motive ministry, and that regular propaganda societas which seems to be established in this country under the Methodist protec- tion." Of Toleration since the date of these letters I will not venture to speak. SECTION III. QUALIFICATION OF THB METHODIST^. 1 WOULD first subject the Methodists, who apply for preaching- licences to the sessions, (or the magistrate out of sessions,) to a cer- 'tain examination, which should have regard to station, character, and literary attainments. Bishop Randolph too clearly saw " the necessity of some qualifications and conditions, in dissenting mini- sters tolerated by the laws in order that the ministration of sacred things do not fall into the hands of the lowest and most ignorant of the people ; which, as in the days of Jeroboam, must always be prejudicial to religion." l I would then limit the preaching-licences to certain places, and to these places confine the preachers. It is no part of the plan of the clergyman to gain hearers by descending to paltry artifices : but it is the plan of the Methodist And one of these artifices is to captivate the audience by novelty. 1 See Randolph's CUarge, &c. Method. INTRODUCTION. The Methodist travels his rounds, therefore, from parish to parish, and county to county. Wherever he goes he is a new preacher, and " a fine man :" and he draws after him innumerable multitudes. In this instance he should doubtless be restrained. It can never be thought a hardship to put him on a footing with the regular mini- ster. Surely a Dissenter (for Methodists are now Dissenters) can have no right to complain of a toleration which concedes to him the same liberty in regard to his place of worship as the clergy of the Establishment themselves possess. But the Toleration Act at pre- sent gives the Sectarist a palpable advantage over the Churchman ; and as long as this advantage exists, the law that compels the re- gular clergy to residence, may be fairly excepted against, as oppres- sive in its operation. It chains down the person, motionless in a manner, to a certain spot whither the itinerant intruder may resort at pleasure, and assault him, in full assurance of victory j and then de- parting in triumph, may renew the attack elsewhere, with the same certainty of success. Unquestionably, the strict residence of all parties is a desideratum of the highest moment. I hesitate not to declare my opinion that on this point the salvation of the church depends. From the vagrancy of the Methodists many bad conse- quences result, besides that of seduction from the church, by the gratification of " itching ears." The Methodist is often the importer of sedition the vender of treason. Coming from the North per- haps, he brings various intelligence of rebel spirits, whose example too many of his hearers are eager to pursue. In the course of his harangues, he slily lays open the machinations of the evil-minded, pretending in public to disapprove what in private he recommends to imitation. To the links of disaffection he adds a link at almost every step j and in his progress from one district to another, " drags after him a lengthening chain !" Besides, the sanctified traveller is frequently a debauched man ; and strangers have no greet regard INTRODUCTION. CclxXV to character. An immoral man in a strange country may wear the mask of virtue, as long as it suits his purpose. The observation was made ages ago by Sallust; and human nature remains un- changed. The rounder is conversant with opportunities : he has studied the times and the seasons. He knows when to erect his ta- bernacle, and where ; and he has sagacity enough to perceive the moment for retreat ; to escape to a distance, and to take shelter where the report of his intrigues may never reach him. The rotundity of two female saints at - was discovered not long since : the rounder had disappeared. SECTION IV. CLERICAL CONDUCT, WITH RESPECT TO DISSENTERS lit GENERAL, IF we extend our view to the rising generation, shall we think that fancy only represents it, as divided into two grand classes of Calvinists and Deists j though in their religious character separate bodies, yet, strange to tell ! united in one common interest ?; Alas ! if we clergymen have been any way instrumental in aiding their pro- jects and furthering their sucCess> with terror indeed must we shrink from the melancholy spectacle ! To be aware, however, of those who would seduce us into error ; to consider how many are lying in wait to entangle us in our talk, misinterpreting every expression, and misconstruing every action to perceive the delicacy and the danger of our situation, thus encircled as we are by prejudice and cunning, malevolence and envy ; and at the same time to preserve on our minds a sense of our high responsi- bility, and a becoming notion of our dignity, as the ambassadors of God to a guilty world ; these are the reflections and the feelings which, amidst every difficulty and every peril, will, with the Almighty INTRODUCTION. assistance, ensure safety to ourselves and to our people. In seeing our danger, we shall be placed on our guard : in feeling our dignity, we shall be armed against fear. SECTION V. WITH RESPECT TO THE PAPISTS. REFERRING my readers to my Sermon on this subject, 1 I shall call their immediate attention to a person whose boasted liberality should seem to have inclined him to a contrary way of thinking. " No man (says Bishop Watson) will suspect me of a want of toleration in reli- gious matters. Yet, I own I have looked upon the concessions which have been made to the Catholics, both here and in Ireland, with a jealous eye. And I shall ever continue to think that Protestant go- vernment is unwise which trusts power to the Catholics ; till it shall be clearly proved that, if they had the opportunity, they would not use it to the oppression of the Protestants. The persecuting spirit of the Roman Church remains in the hearts of the generality of its members : and whilst it does remain, Popery must be watched, intimidated, re- strained.' 1 * It should never be forgotten that Popes, Bishops, and Priests, are sworn to enforce every tittle asserted by the General Councils. Now, by various General Councils, " the Pope is invested with unlimited temporal power over all sovereign princes" " all who are bound to heretics, are absolved from their obligations, however solemn" and "all who shall set about the extirpation of heretics, shall obtain a re- mission of their sins !" 5 Till the authority, then, of the General Coun- cils shall be done away, let us hear no more of Catholic Emancipation. 1 Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 457467. New edit. * Anecdotes of the Life of Watson, vol. i. p. 25S. Edit. 2. 3 See, in particular, the 3d Canon of the 4th Lateran Council. INTRODUCTION. With respect to the Bill of 1813, the Romish clergy themselves de- clared in a unanimous synod, that they could not accede to the pro- posed arrangement, without incurring the guilt of schism, and that they would rather die than submit to such a measure. And the scheme was perfectly unsatisfactory to the Protestants of Ireland. In passing this Bill the Legislature would have alarmed every true Protestant by concession ; and, by demanding securities, have inflicted martyrdom on the Irish Roman Bishops. 1 SECTION VI. RIDICULE. THERE are some evils \vhico operate in such a manner, as at length to work out their own remedy. And it should seem that fanaticism is already become, not only too fooMsh and too prurient, but too eccen- tric and too daring to be any longer endured. For measures that may be likely to palliate this calamity, the Edinburgh Critic* suggests va- rious hints. Among others, " something (he thinks) may be done by way of ridicule towards turning the popular opinion." Certainly, a great deal has been done by way of ridicule, in "THE ENTHUSIASM OF METHODISM," " THE SPIRITUAL QUIXOTE," " THE BATH GUIDE," and "THE FLIGHTS OF FANATICISM." But this is slippery ground. In laughing at religious absurdities, we must take heed to ourselves : we sometimes approach too near the confines of religion. 5 1 At the Anti-Catholic Meeting at Exeter, April 1O, 1819, Mr. Prebendary Dennis produced a. Petition to the CONVOCATION, against the Roman Catholic Claims. 2 Above referred to. 3 I consider " the Hypocrite" (Bickerstaff's, as altered from C. Cibber) as a good piece of Comic ridicule. The characters Dr. Cantwell and his underling Maw- warm are copied from real life. And many are the Sir John Lamberts, I believe, JNTRODUCT19N. SECTION VII. UNION IN THE COMMON CAUSE. SURELY, if the Protestant religion be of that value which we aftect to consider it, we should all unite in its defence.' If attacked by Sec- tarists, shall we sit down in quiet acquiescence ? No ! When out adversaries "conspire, all of them together, to come and to fight against Jerusalem," it behoves us, as " the watchmen of Israel, with one of our hands to work, and with the other hand to hold a weapon." * And, if we observe a brother go forth in the strength of the Almighty if we see him engaged with the enemies of our peace let us not remain at home (as is too generally the case) indifferent of the contest ; but let us follow him to the field, and unite with him in support of the com- who are dupes to methodistical hypocrisy. With what admirable dexterity is exposed that blasphemous cant " Of all sinners I am chief!" so often in the mouths of those who assert almost in the same breath, that " they are assured of heaven!" " I am a guilty wicked sinner (says Cantwell) full of iniquity the greatest villain that ever breathed : my life is one continued series of crimes and defilements! You do not know what I am capable of!" Yet, when called upon to say what crimes he liad committed, he exclaimed : " None, that humanity would call enormous my thoughts never stray from heavenly contemplations." As to Mawworm, who cries : " I wants to go a-preaching" who " was instigated one of the stewards of the Reforming Society," and who "convicted a man of five oaths, and bought his waistcoat out of his share of the money"- I have met with many exactly resembling him. The ridicule, in short, is just And when Sir J. Lambert declares " for the sake of the villain now unmasked, I henceforth renounce all pious folks" his distinction between hypocrisy and sincere religion is drawn with accuracy and elegance. 1 In a Letter to Kurd (dated Feb. 1749-50) Warburton exclaims: "What will this poor nation come to!" "in the condition of troops between two fires; the madness of irreligion, and the madness of fanaticism!" Sec Nichols's Liter. Hist. vol. ii. p. 178. * Nehemiah iv. 8. v. 17. INTRODUCTION. mon salvation. If a Conventicler be attacked, his whole fraternity are at once in arms. But, how often is a regular Clergyman left to fight his battles unassisted and alone ! Highly necessary is it, then, that we should join our forces in this momentous cause ; and that, to rouse the slothful from their torpor, we should " blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in the holy mountain !" SECTION VIII. REVENUES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. THIS much for Dissenters. It is high time to look exclusively to ourselves. First, then, devising improvements in the regulations of the Church- establishment ; and Secondly, in our conduct under that Establishment, we should seem to exhaust the subject. In inquiring into the value of the revenues of the Church of En- gland, we at once recollect a letter addressed to His Grace of Canter- bury, by Bishop Watson, in 1783. In this letter his Lordship assures us, that " the whole income of the Church, including Bishoprics, Deans and Chapters, Rectories, Vi- carages, Dignities and Benefices of all kinds, and even the two Uni- versities, amounts not, on the most liberal calculation, to l,oOO,OOOZ." The revenues of the episcopal and dignified clergy, and of the two Universities, were stated, a few years ago, at 392,0002. The remain- der, therefore, amounting to 1,108,OOOZ. will be the annual income of the parochial clergy. These statements Mr. Cove, after an accurate examination, believes to approach very near the truth. 1 In his " Inquiry* into the Policy of a 1 See his Essay on the Revenues of the Church of England. 1795. * Published in 1SOO. CC1XXX INTRODUCTION. Commutation of Tithes,'' this same gentleman has proved that " the tithe-holders received, for their tithes, little more than a fourth part of the real value of them." In 1801 Mr. Malham published a tract, in which he traced to its source the scandalous reduction of livings, and the robberies com- mitted on the Church by various means, especially by impropriations.' Of the Welsh clergy in particular, there is no doubt that the condi- tion is such as to require the interposition of the Legislature. In his Letters during a "Tour through South Wales," Mr. Evans tells us that " genteel poverty" is here most conspicuous in Vicars and Curates, and their families ; and points out to Government the expediency of a bet- ter provision for those who, despised themselves,* bring religion into contempt. SECTION IX TITHES. SQUIRES and gentlemen-farmers, we see, are still busy in attacking tithes. But there are many lay-impropriations. And the lay-posses- sors of the sheaf will never consent to the abolition of tithes. This is some sort of consolation on a subject deservedly regretted that sa much church-property is in the hands of laymen. SECTION X. SALE OF LIVINGS TO BE DONE AWAY. I WOULD put an end to spiritual traffick. I would prevent, at least,, all private transactions of this description, and allow no livings to be bought or sold, except by Colleges or Bishops, in behalf of their pa- tronage. 1 See Malham's Histor. View of the Causes of Non-residence, &c. &c. &c. 8 See Evans's Tour, &c. &c. INTRODUCTION* SECTION XI. DIVISION OF LARGE PARISHES, AND BUILDING CHURCHES. THERE are doubtless many overgrown benefices in the kingdom : I would break such enormous livings into several of a reasonable size, There are in London two parishes, of which the joint population exceeds 120,000 : yet, they still retain their ancient village-churches ; each of them capable of accommodating no more than 200 persons. And the population of the country is so universally increased, that, even in small parishes, our churches are not sufficiently capacious. We seldom indeed meet with a church, in any parish, large enough for the accommodation of the inhabitants : measures, therefore, have been taken, to erect additional churches or chapels. A million has been appropriated by Parliament to this object ; and very large sub scriptions have been raised for the assistance of parishes whose re- sources are not equal to the rebuilding of their ancient churches now fallen into decay. But neither the Parliamentary million, nor the funds of the Society, are adequate to these purposes. For their accomplish- ment we must look to the purses of our manerial lords ; and in the possessors of old hereditary castles we have a right to anticipate here- ditary munificence. This is not an age, it is true, for religious bene- factions. From the aversion of the Dissenters (which is unquestion- ably very natural) to the building of a new church, or even to the repairing of an old one ; and the indifference of many who profess themselves our friends, we have difficulties to struggle with, which to any but most determined spirits would appear insuperable. And I cannot but recollect with terror and with shame, Dr. Mid- dleton's abortive attempt in 1812, to erect a new church in the parish of St. Pancras. Though the population of St. Pancras amounted to 100,000 souls, and its church would not accommodate more than 300; INTRODUCTION. yet the influence of the Sectarists was such as to defeat all the ef- forts of himself and his friends in this good work. His zeal, however, has had its reward : not long after, Dr. Middleton was consecrated " Bishop of Calcutta." At a remote period, when the lords of manors resided at their man- Bion-houses, the church, or chapel, was an appendage to their magni- ficence j and vast sums of money were expended in church-architec- ture. But the religious architectural spirit soon declined. Even in the days of Charles, to spend money on a church was thought extra- vagance. And, putting the Puritans out of the question, we observe that there were few who preferred not the plain room to the orna- mented Gothic structure. " Come to an old rich professing Volpony, and tell him that there is a church to be built ; and that to bestow his money liberally on such an occasion, would be to lay it out to God's honour : it is ten to one but you shall be told how much God is for the inward spiritual worship of the heart ; and that the Almighty dwells not in temples made with hands, but accepts the prayer of his people in barns and stables, dens and caves." But " such sly sancti- fied cheats should know that God will not accept of their barn -wor- ship, or their hogsty-worship no nor yet of their parlour or their chamber-worship, where he has given them both wealth and power to build Him churches." ' For my own part, I would propose to enlarge the existing churches by additional aisles or transepts to fill up vacancies by free seats of 1 South, vol. i. pp. 4O8, 4O9 We have not many of these "sanctified cheats" at the present day. But we have many rich people, both old and young, who, scrupling not to subscribe largely towards the building of a playhouse, object even to an additional sixpenny rate for the building of a Church. We recollect " with shame and confusion of face," that one place of public amusement was rebuilt in less than twelve months, at the enormous expense of 150,OOC/. And COC,OCO'. were subscribed in three days for the purpose of erecting a new theatre. INTRODUCTION. a better construction, and to add galleries j and, where these accom- modations are insufficient, to build chapels in the most populous vil- lages, or places remote from the old parochial church. SECTION XII. DEAN RURALS. IT is of the first importance, that the office of Dean Rural (to which Cornwall and Devon are much indebted) should be revived in all the dioceses of the kingdom. The Dean-rural has it in charge to visit the churches, chapels, parsonage- and vicarage-houses within his deanery ; to see that the edifices be kept in decent repair, and the churches and chapels provided with proper furniture, uteqsils, and ornaments, and to report to the Vicar-general, or, within the Arch- deaconry of Cornwall, to the Archdeacon : But the Archdeacon is finally to report to the Vicar-general. For this purpose, the clergy of each deanery, at their annual visitations, elect one of their body, (generally by rotation) who takes an oath before the Vicar-general, or one of his Surrogates, for the due execution of his office. The ad- vantages resulting from this office are obvious ; the houses of the clergy are, in general, kept in good order : and briefs for rebuilding churches, so very frequent in other counties, are here almost without an example. SECTION XIII. VEXATIOUS LAWS TO BE RESCINDED. IN the mean time, in order to secure to the clergyman a comfortable residence in his parish, let all vexatious laws be abolished ; let the Acts of Parliament in particular, which we are required to read peri- odically under certain penalties, be withdrawn. I knew a clergyman, whom his parishioners, at variance with him en the subject of tithes, kept completely in check by the advice of their INTRODUCTION. legal advocate. Call him to an account (said the attorney) for omitting to read the Swearing Act for omitting to read other Acts which I shall not specify. " Hang these laws in terrorem over his head, and he will remit his exactions." Of an abortive effort to enforce the penalty, I have heard a laughable instance : The parishioners informed the justice summoned " What was my text :" They knew not. " The subject of my sermon r" They did not recollect. In lieu of a sermon, lie had read the Swearing Act in the pulpit. SECTION XIV. CANONS AND RUBRIC, TO BE CLEARED FROM AMBIGUITIES, AND CON- FIRMED BY A NEW STATUTE. THAT ambiguities exist in the Canon-law and in the Rubric, is very evident from the difference of opinion on several subjects, particularly that of lay-baptism. 1 After having removed all obscurities, the next step I would advise, is the confirmation of the Canons by statute-law. We know the Rubric is statute : but the Canon -law wants the statute to confirm it ; especially as it becomes weaker every day, in proportion as the authority of the Church is more and more enfeebled. 1 See an admirable " Letter addressed to Sir John Nicholl, on his decision in the Eccles. Court, against a Clergyman for refusing to bury the Child of a Dis- senter." Stockdale, 181O. It does not seem to have occurred to Sir John, that the rite, which he believes may be administered with equal effect, by a tinker, a tailor, or a coalheavor, as by a Priest or a Prelate, is a SACRAMENT; and that he might as well contend, that the fish-women at Billingsgate, the barrow-women at Covent-garden, or the ball-girls of Chasewater, might lawfully and efficaciously administer the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ! ! The Rubric, which is statute- law, is suffi- ciently express on this subject. According to the Rubric, none but Ministers (i. e. Ministers episcopally ordained) can administer the Sacrament of I'aptism. Does there exist any positive law to supersede the Rubric ? Certainly no such law exists. The Rubric, then, directs us not to bury unbaptized children, i. e. children not baptized by episcopal ministers. INTRODUCTION. It was in obedience to the 26th Canon that the good Bishop of Sodor and Man excluded Mrs. Horn, lady of Governor Horn, from the Sacrament, and suspended Archdeacon Horrobin for admitting her to the Sacrament from which she had been excluded. The Go- vernor, in concert with the Archdeacon, fined the bishop fifty pounds, which the bishop refusing to pay was committed to the prison of Castle-Rushin. There he was treated as a common prisoner, and had no attendant but the common jailer j but at the end of two months he was released upon his petition to the King and Council,, who, however, could " grant no costs." l Adhering scrupulously to the 29th Canon, we might bring our- selves under legal difficulties. According to this Canon, " no person shall be admitted godfather or godmother to any child at christening, &c. &c. before he hath received the Holy Communion." SECTION XV. REVISION OF THE CANON'S, WITH RESPECT TO CHURCHWARDENS. ACCORDING to the 21st, 26th, and 112th Canon, Churchwardens who neglect to present non-communicants and schismatics are guilty of perjury ! ! Surely, regard for the Churchwarden should urge a revision and correction of the Canon-law. SECTION XVI. THE CURATE'S ACT. THESE, then, are the means which (abstracted from all the regu- lations of late years) I had devised in my own mind for the reformation of the Church, and its better security from the inroads of Sectarism. - See Life of Bp. Wilson prefixed to his Works. CC1XXXVI INTRODUCTION. In reviewing what has actually been done, " the Curate's Act" is first obtruded on our notice ; an Act (as I have before observed) in a variety of points exceptionable. SECTION XVII. THE CONSOLIDATION-ACT. I HAD made various remarks on Lord Harrowby, and my old and revered tutor and friend Bishop Randolph, the former as the fabri- cator, and the latter as the strenuous opposer of " the Curate's bill." I shall, however, suppress them ; as by the Consolidation- Act before us, not only " the Curate's/' but Sir W. Scott's bill, and three others that passed in the present reign, besides parts of many older acts, are repealed. In this new Clergy Bill, it is for the Bishop to judge what number of acres beyond twenty (in addition to his glebe, &c.), a clergyman engaged in clerical duty may be pennitted to farm. I much approve this regulation : For the rest I must refer my readers to the bill itself, with one observation only, which is, that the present Bishop of London objects strongly to " the principle of main- taining order in the Church by the indiscriminating agency of the common informer." 1 SECTION XVIII. THE EDUCATION OF THE CLERGY. AND now comes the momentous question, of what description of men are they, to whom is to be given the care of parishes, and who are to occupy residencies so well adapted to their convenience, their comfort, and their dignity ? 1 See this most accomplished Prelate's admirable Charge, &c. &c. p. 6, in par- ticular. [1814.] INTRODUCTION, To form such characters, we must look to our seminaries of edu- cation to our schools and universities. On the subject of education, the opinions are various. In comparing private with public education, I have long since declared my sentiments : l and they are more and more confirmed by age and experience. Notwith- standing Dr. Vincent's " Defence/' I shall insist with Dean Rennelland the Bishop of Meath, that we cannot too ardently deprecate " a Pagan Education, under Christian Establishments, in a Christian country." SECTION XIX. THE UNIVERSITIES. THE universities may justly be called the bulwarks of the Church. The foundations are opulent : and there is a great emulation to be admitted members of the foundations, even among those who possess independent fortunes. But at Oxford and at Cambridge, all have the advantage of the same learned education to all are open the same lectures and libraries. In " The Parish Priest" we have the following apostrophe to Ox- ford: " O Oxford, from whose fostering care we trace The ripening virtues of the rising race, Whose pious labours rear our generous youth In the bright paths of Science and of Truth j It is from you, our blest Religion draws A vast support, to aid her glorious cause ! The pupil, train'd by you, in riper years Her friend, her guardian, and her boast appears ! 1 In my Poems (and prose illustrations of them) entitled " THE UN'SEX'D FE- MALES " and " THE FAMILY PICTURES," and in several Critiques on Sermons and Essays, ia 18O2. Some excellent remarks on this subject occur In Foster's Essays. INTRODUCTION. Whilst then his actions with your rules agree, To praise the Parish-Priest, is praising thee !" ' The panegyric is just. SECTION XX. UNIVERSITIES SEEDS OF SECTARISM SOWN THERE. THAT the seeds of Sectarism are sown even in our universities, is a notorious fact. There are colleges both at Oxford and Cambridge, that pay peculiar attention to the education of Gospel ministers. In Cambridge, Magdalen -college is reported to pour forth Evangelical students more copiously than Edmund-hall in Oxford. It is highly necessary, therefore, that the heads of the universities watch over such societies, and that they check the slightest tendency in their youth t Evangelical irregularities. SECTION XXI EXAMINATION FOR HOLY ORDERS. PREVIOUSLY to his literary examination for Holy Orders, the moral character of the candidate should be ascertained by a committee of clergymen. For putting into execution the act for building churches, committees or clerical boards have been constructed by the Bishops. In the same manner might be appointed, perhaps in every deanery, a board, consisting of three or four clergymen, to sit at stated periods ; before whom the young candidates in their neighbourhoods should be ex- pected to appear j and who, after solemn deliberation, should affix 1 See " The Parish Priest ;" a translation by the Rev. Dawson Warren from a Latin poem entitled " Sacerdos Paroicialis Rusticus." This poem may be found in Burton's Opuscula. INTRODUCTION. CclxXXlX their signatures to the testimonials of character producible to the Dio- cesan. With respect to the examinations by the Bishop or his Chaplain, I would not presume even to suggest a hint ; except, indeed, that the late Dr. Napleton (who at Brasen-nose was a severe tutor, and at Hereford a strict examiner) used to regret that, as Chaplain to the Bishop of Hereford, he had not been more rigorous. ' SECTION XXII. ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITIES. I HAVE said, that to our Universities we owe, in a great measure, the support of the Church. Nor is less credit due to the Ecclesiastical Dignities. That the Cathedral assimilates too much with the Monastery, has been often thrown out by our adversaries. But, admitting that the leading cha- racters of our old religious houses were " indolence and apathy" (which I am by no means willing to admit,) I should strenuously pro- test against the comparison ; for where, in this country, is the Cathe- dral that harbours monkish laziness, or selfishness, or insensibility ? In our dignified Clergy we see learning and enlightened taste, and polished manners, and benevolence truly Christian. And the Resi- dentiaries are, in general, of such an advanced age as requires some sort of relaxation from the clerical duties. Perhaps employing preaching substitutes, they are sometimes badly represented in their pulpits ; and I shall take leave to suggest the propriety of their preaching invariably themselves. 1 His jrublic examinations used to be objected to. Candidates for Holy Orders are, generally, examined privately. Method. t CCXC INTRODUCTION. SECTION XXIII. THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY THEIR RESPECTABILITY. NOT less respectable as a body are the Parochial Clergy. Their lives are, in general, a transcript of their doctrines. A dissolute Clergyman is everywhere despised. None, not even the irreligious or profane, will listen to any apology for our vices, and scarcely for our foibles. It is far otherwise with a Layman : his immoralities do not incur much censure, be his station what it may : they do not ex- clude him from the social circles : they are, indeed, attended with little discomfort or inconvenience. The truth is, neither the virtues nor the vices of mankind are contemplated in the abstract : they are viewed as in connection with persons and circumstances ; and the disgust which the offences of a Clergyman excite, arises from the in- frequency of the occurrence ; furnishing at once a most convincing proof, that he is seldom guilty of any enormities such as in other men are familiar to observation. For the character of the Clergy we may appeal even to a Dis- senter, whose honest testimony I cannot but oppose to the vulgar abuse of the fanatics that is pouring in so lavishly around us. " Who made these Methodists (says he) judges in Israel ? Who gave them authority to abuse, in public and private, the character of a body of men whose learning, piety, and morality, are the honour of our island ? Though myself a Dissenter, I am constrained to acknow- ledge, that the great bulk of our national learning is to be found among the clergy of the Establishment. In the practice of morality in general, what body of men in the world exceeds that of the regular clergy of these kingdoms ? I am persuaded, not any. Pray who are the great promoters of those public charities, those learned and bene- INTRODUCTION. CCXC1 volent institutions, which are at once the glory, the happiness, the bulwarks of our country ? Not the Methodists ; but the Bishops and Clergy of the Established Church." " Considered as a body, they are, doubtless, the ornaments of the religion they teach, and of the country that supports them; and still a few mistaken Methodist preachers take upon them to vilify these men as ' dumb dogs' as ' unenlightened,' ' worldly,' ( unregenerate,' ' unconverted sin- ners,' ' without hope and without God in the world !'" l SECTION XXIV. INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE DIGNIFIED AND THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY. IT has been asserted, that from their little intercourse with their superiors, the Parochial Clergy are a sort of unorganized body ; and that their being called to cooperate with their Diocesans, in the re- vision or the framing of Ecclesiastical Law in convocation, would be the only sure means of re-instating them in their original rights and privileges. I own this is too momentous a point, on which even to hazard an opinion. With respect, however, to the connexion of the inferior with the superior orders, I shall venture to suggest to the Bishops the propriety and expediency of the most friendly attention to their clergy at their triennial, and to the Archdeacons at their annual visitations. In their charges, the Bishops should surely take care not to cen- sure, in the remotest degree, the conduct of any of the clergy around them j not to hint at vices or faults or foibles or irregularities ; lest the Sectarists, pressing upon us from behind, and eager to catch all they can against us, charge our misdemeanors upon the Establish- ment j lest our own churchwardens carry back to our parishes the 1 See Nightingale's Portraiture of Methodism. CCXC11 INTRODUCTION. report of our disgrace ; and lest, once humbled, we never more recover our dignity. But it is not at the Visitation only that we should be seen to consort together, high and low, in friendly union. During his residence at his diocesan-palace, the Bishop should keep hospitality ; be always ac- cessible to his clergy ; and happy to receive them, to converse with them, and to entertain them at his table. To the country gentlemen he may occasionally give dinners; but mostly to his own brethren. This sort of intercourse existed about thirty years ago in every diocese. It is now almost out of fashion ; but I think I perceive some symptoms of its revival. There is no doubt that it would exalt the parish-priest in his own mind, and in the minds of his parishioners ; would enliven his spirits, and sustain him in his arduous duties ; give a new spring to his exertions, increase his influence, and consequently strengthen the Establishment. SECTION XXV. CURATES TO BEAR THE BURDEN. CURATES should bear the heat and burden of the day. In their young unmarried years they have uninterrupted leisure ; and that leisure must be devoted to the Church. " If it be asked withwhatcon- science the incumbent can receive the profits, it may be as well asked, with whaf conscience a landlord can receive rent from any husband- man, who bears the whole labo u r and charge of tilling the groun d ? or with what conscience either Bishop or Layman can receive the profits of an impropriation, which were originally given for the discharge of the cure of that Church? I do not insinuate that either of these cases is un- lawful; but maintain, that if it be unlawful for an incumbent to receive the profits, because the cure is discharged by another, it will be difficult to defend these and such other cases." l After some years thus 1 Defence of Pluralities, p. 163. INTRODUCTION. CCXC111 laboriously passed, the curate should have a certainty of prefer- ment. SECTION XXVI. PREFERMENT OF CURATES. ACCORDING to Dr.Balguy, the Parochial Clergy would be excluded from at least higher " pieces of preferment." Rusticated in the country, there would they be condemned to remain. " Poverty and awkwardness (says this fastidious divine), and ignorance of what is called the world, are disadvantages for which the HIGHEST ATTAIN- MENTS in LEARNING and VIRTUE can NEVER ATONE." !!!!!! To such sentiments (if maintained by our Dignitaries) we might fairly attribute the spread of disaffection. I consider the above indignity to the Parochial Clergy, an indelible blot on the character of Balguy. My opinion is, that every Curate, after the lapse of ten years, should have a claim on his Diocesan for a living 5 and that the claimants should (as in colleges) be provided for according to seniority. SECTION XXVII. EASY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CLERGY. " A BARE competence as to the necessaries of life (says the de- fender of pluralities) l will not suffice to purchase to the Clergy such advantages as are absolutely necessary to them in the service of the Church : these are authority, ability to exercise charity, and helps of learning." So says the pluralist. For my own part, I would propose that every Rector or Vicar should, according to seniority, have a claim upon his Bishop for further pie- ferment, till he possess a clear 300Z. per annum. 1 P. 182. CCXc'lV INTRODUCTION. SECTION XXVIII. FAMILIES OF THE CLERGY. THE widows and children of the Clergy are surely entitled to a maintenance from the State. The families of the Levites were thus supported under the Jewish law. The British Legislature has paid a just attention to the widows of soldiers and sailors. Instead of an- nual subscriptions, &c. let us establish one grand Clerical Fund for the whole kingdom to be raised by the contributions of all (whether Clergy or Laity) who may succeed to a property of WOOL per annum and upwards. One shilling in the pound, charged for the first year only on such proprietors, would amount to a considerable sum. SECTION XXIX. SECULAR CONCERNS. THUS much for the comfort and the dignity of the Clergy. We will now view the Parish Priest, under three aspects in regard to business, to pleasure, and to religion. Inasmuch as business respects the world at large, it is obvious that politics must have some share of our attention. But with respect to political connexions, there is one station in particular, which it is impossible to reconcile with the functions of a Clergyman. To see one of our order a member of a corporate body, is often to see him inured to every meanness, fabricating schemes of guilt, and prompted to practices of venality ! is too often to see him harassed with jealousies and fears ; enlivened at one time with hopes in which the good will not rejoice, and, at another, damped with disappointments which no man can pity ! INTRODUCTION. CCXCV SECTION XXX. COUNTY MEETINGS. VESTRIES. ON all great emergencies, such as the Catholic 1 question, it behoves the Parish Priest, I think, not to absent himself from county meetings. But, on such occasions, to call his parishioners together, to suggest to them Resolutions, and to guide them in their Addresses* to the 1 The proselyting spirit of the Papists, and its success in some parts of the kingdom, are notorious. * In calling upou our parishioners to sign such Addresses, we call upon them to give fresh testimonies of their loyalty, which renovate and invigorate their af- fection for their King. In a late Address to the Prince Regent from the parish of Kenwyn, I observed an anxiety in many, to offer such testimony. My conduct on this business was thus animadverted on, in " The West Briton," " A great number of the 8OOO inhabitants of Kenwyn and Kea are at this moment in ur- gent want of food and clothing putting drink out of the question ; which last U plentifully supplied by the neighbouring brooks. And, as ' the swinish mul- titude,' when under the pressure of distress, are extremely apt to attribute their distress to their rulers ; it is not very unlikely that, if the whole population of the two parishes had been called together, some unlucky wight, hungry and naked, instead of congratulating His Royal Highness on his escape, might have wished that the stone or the bullet (whichever it was that broke the glass of His R. High- ness's carriage, HAD BROKEN HIS R. HIGHKESS'S HEAD." ! ! ! The Editor of the other Truro print well observed : " The above paragraph speaks volumes." And " Mr. Polwhele was attacked (said the same Editor) by another anonymous scribbler in the same paper, last week, because he had written in the A. Jacobin Review ! Mr. P. certainly was, and perhaps is at present, a writer in that Re- view ; which is indebted to him for numerous articles some of great importance. For his coadjutors he had one Bishop, more than one Archdeacon, and the ve- nerable historian of Manchester. And it is for having laboured with such men, in defence of the laws and religion of his country, that Mr. P. is to be assailed through the medium of a liberal and free press !" I was sneered at, in that paper, in consequence of my having committed to Bodmin gaol, a vender of seditious pamphlets. The Penryn Magistrates lately apprehended the very same mun in a similar manner; and they received the thanks of the Judge, exprest in the strongest terms, for " having set the fast example to the county of Cornwa'l, of such an interposition in support of good government, good order, and gcod manners." CCXCV1 INTRODUCTION. Throne, would fix their wavering sentiments, and ultimately confirm them in their loyalty. SECTION XXXI. TITHES. IN regard to tithes, our situation is extremely delicate and critical. To insist on our just right, may expose us to the censure of ex- action ; and may create bitter animosities between ourselves and our parishioners. But to remit of that right, may be injurious to our fa- milies, and prejudicial to the interests of the Church. In determin- ing our line of conduct, it certainly deserves our consideration, that the best men are extremely apt to be biassed on the side of interest. On this occasion, therefore, we should have all the apostolic diffidence about us : " We trust we have a good conscience ; in all things willing to live honestly." SECTION XXXII. RECREATIONS. IN a former Section I suggested the propriety of a revision of the Canons. It is certain that some of our Ecclesistical laws cannot be consti- tutionally enforced at the present day. Since the framer of the Canons, the fashion of the times has been greatly changed. By the 75th Canon, which requires " sober conversation in Ministers," the playing at dice, cards or tables, is expressly forbidden. Yet Archbishop Cranmer himself was fond of chess : and many of our dignified Clergy are, at this moment, as fond of whist. To field-sports I should not hesitate to object, as indecorous in a clergyman. Field-sports almost inevitably lead to convivial entertain- ments of a description truly unclerical. 1 In general, however, the 1 At a masquerade at Exeter, in 1818, a very rich Rector of one of the western counties drew more attention to his talents as a scaramouch than he had ever attracted by his pulpit eloquence. INTRODUCTION CCXCVH clergy do not transgress in these points. They put a restraint upon their inclinations, and sacrifice largely to prejudice : They deny them- selves innocent recreations, lest they should offend their weaker brethren. And if in any instances, through the frailty of human nature, they shew, too much, a love of pleasure, their fault is far more excusable, than the uncharitableness of those who are extreme to mark what is done amiss. ' SECTION XXXIII. RELIGIOUS DEPORTMENT. THE SABBATH. IN the view of religion, as exercised ostensibly in a Christian country, the Sabbath first occurs to the mind the chief instrument of its preservation. And the wish naturally follows, that a more strict observance of the Sabbath were enforced by the Legislature. Many a clergyman, in his progress to his parish-church, has had occasion to lament the laxity of the laws with respect to the Lord's day. It is true, the shops in our towns and villages are, for the most part, shut ; but our mail-coaches proceed as on other days, and our inns are open to travellers of every description. Among our more serious laymen, there are some, who, objecting to conviviality on the Sunday, have no scruple to set out on a journey on the Sabbath : And I think their apology for travelling adds to the offence. That the roads on that day are in a great measure free from those obstructions which agriculture or commerce would throw in their way, at any other part of the week, is an excuse which luxury may offer, but which religion must disdain. 1 A clergyman of very correct life and manners, happening to be present when some friends of his were amusing themselves with the diversion of hunting, was accosted by a Methodist, and desired to observe the nature of the chase. " That (said the insolent hypocrite) is an exact representation of what will be your lot hereafter. As the dogs pursue and torment this poor harr, so shall the evil spirits torment and tear in pieces your soul in hell, for your wickedness in partaking of so unholy a diversion !" CCXCviii INTRODUCTION. \ SECTION XXXIV. CHURCH DUTIES. IN his performance of the Church service, it is highly incumbent on a clergyman, to read the offices with a solemnity which,, manifesting his own sense of devotion, may excite the same feelings in his audi- ence. But, in offering up his prayers at the throne of grace, has he never substituted the affectation of fine reading, for the simplicity of fervent devotion ? Hath he not sometimes altered the forms of prayer according to his own notions of propriety, instead of adhering to the letter prescribed by authority, with that diffidence which best becomes him ? Has he never shewn a thoughtlessness or uncon- cern in hastily or irreverently dispatching the service, when he ought to have proved his godly sincerity by a heartfelt earnestness in performing it? Has he never designedly spared his exertions in reading the prayers ; reserving his strength, as far as possible, for the pulpit ? In regard to the pulpit, it has been said, that we prefer Ethics to Christiainity the Portico to the Mount. But this is a very false assertion. Though we do not tell gossiping tales, ' yet we preach Gospel-truths. SECTION XXXV. EVENING-LECTURES. " ONE sermon on the Lord's day (as Bisse observes) must appear sufficient, yea abundant, if we look back to the scarcity of them in the 1 Such gossiping tales, for instance, as Rowland Hill's. That hoary itinerant (now 75) is at this moment entertaining some of my parishioners at the Pitt [an- cient amphitheatre] in Gwennap with his Otaheitan stories clapping horns upon his idols, and exhibiting gods turned devils to the admiration of a gaping mul- titude ! [Aug. 30, 1819.] INTRODUCTION. CCXC1X days of the Reformation, when the provision of a sermon was but quarterly ; and for many years after but monthly." And " a greater plenty than this (says he) turns not to our nourishment, but only creates in us a waste." " Far be it from me that I should ever straighten the ordinance of preaching! But God forbid that the en- larging of that should ever straighten the ordinances of Divine worship, or be esteemed before those ordinances !" For to what end do we come to the house of prayer ? Is it to adore God, or to admire men ? Should the present plenteous provision of preaching be ever again exalted to the neglecting and disparaging of our public wor- ship, (as it was before the Great Rebellion) it might well provoke God to take the Liturgy again from us." " It was a remarkable saying, founded on the reason of things, that A PREACHING CHURCH CANNOT STAND." I think two sermons on a Sunday, even in the most populous towns, sufficient predication. In summer, after having performed the public duties of the day, it were more acceptable to God, to remain at home with our families, or to "walk out into the fields to meditate," than to attend church again at an EVENING-LECTURE. To be continually in public, undo- mesticates the mind. Whether we appear at the church or at the conventicle, at the assembly-room or at the theatre, still we are exhibiting ourselves to the eye of every observer : and too many, con- scious of the exhibition, give way to all the light suggestions of vanity. Dr. Croft (in a very sensible " Letter on Overton's True Church- men," 1 ) thus speaks of evening sermons : " If it should induce the people to attend three times a day, the institution will dp harm : For it will engross so much of their time as to prevent FAMILY-READING j 1 Dr. Croft's Letter to the A. Jacobin Reviewer, dated Birmingham, March 22d, 1303. CCC INTRODUCTION. which is as MUCH THE DUTY of THE SABBATH as PUBLIC WORSHIP, and with the younger part much more efficacious than even the ser- mons which the most respectable preachers deliver." " To those who are much confined in the week, some little enjoyment of ex- ercise and fresh air is indispensably requisite. In some of our fashion- able places [at Truro for instance] the distribution of time is such, as to diminish the congregations of the afternoon. But why not change the hour of service accordingly ? And why may not families devote earlier hours of the Sabbath to the private exercise of their re- ligious duties ?" So said Dr. Croft: and all who. are not " given to change" win say the same. SECTION XXXVI. ITINERANTS NOT ADMISSIBLE INTO OUR PULPITS. THE spirit of proselytism has lately set on foot a most indecorous species of church-itinerancy. Like mountebanks travelling from one town to another, and publishing in newspapers and handbills the pe- riods of their approach, the Judaizing-Gospelers and other Gospelers (both Jews and Gentiles) take possession of the pulpits of the un- wary; and often destroy, by their "slang and twang," the effect of sober preaching. If applied to for our pulpits, we cannot act impror perly, in referring the petitioner to our Diocesan. SECTION XXXVII. CHURCH CATECHISM. IN the opinion of Archbishop Wake, the teaching of the Church Catechism was far more edifying than " the afternoon Sermon," or any sermon of any description. But the Church Catechism has of late years become unfashionable. INTRODUCTION. CCC1 Noticing the Sunday-Schools, the Bell-Schools, and other new In- stitutions, " our venerable Vicar" (said a valuable correspondent) " took occasion to lament the disuse of that admirable form of in- struction, the Church Catechisna ;" observed, that " about forty years ago he was attended by a numerous congregation of children, even- Sunday afternoon in summer, to whom he taught and ex- plained the Catechism, as the Canon enjoined ;" and told his pa- rishioners (with tears in his eyes), that he "had continued the practice till he sat alone till every child declined coming." We should re- collect the Canon. SECTION XXXVIII. CHURCH CATECHISM MR. SOUTHEY. THE Church Catechism and Mr. Southey look like a strange asso- ciation ! But let Mr. S. be heard :' "The lower classes (says this acute and spirited writer) must be trained in the way they should go. They must be taught to fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Mere reading and writing will not do this. They must be instructed according to the established religion : They must be fed with the milk of sound doctrine. A moral and religious education will induce habits of industry. The people will know their duty, and will find their interest and happiness in following it. Give us the great boon of PAROCHIAL EDUCATION, so connected with the Church as to form part of the Establishment, and we shall find it a bulwark to the State, as well as to the Church." * 1 Se Mr. Southey's admirable Letter to William Smith, Esq. M. P. for Nor- wich. * We have any thing in our new schools but parochial education. -The parish- churdi, the parish-priest, and all that belongs to a parish, are abandoned. In- stead of being taught to keep the Sabbath-day holy among their friends, at their Ct'Cll INTRODUCTION. SECTION XXXIX. THE BELL-SCHOOL. THB Bell-School was instituted as an instrument for the preser- vation of the national religion. But are not the children of Dissenters introduced into the school ? Are not these children, in respect to their religious profession, under the controul of their parents ? And whilst we educate such children, do we not put into their hands wea- pons, which they will eventually employ against the Church Esta- blishment ? Let me, in fact, ask, whether some of the masters of the Bell-School are not connected with Dissenters, and whether they do not go to Church with their scholars pro forma, and to the Conven- ticle con amore? I believe I could exemplify this in at least one instance. ' The truth is, the greater part of the subscribers to the Bell -School are equally well wishers to the Lancasterian School. They act on this broad principle that " all should be instructed in own parish-churches, children, collected from different parishes into one central place, lose sight of those connections which can alone ensure their own comfort and the welfare of their country. 1 A learned and pious correspondent thus writes : " The attendance of the children at their parish-church, is certainly an essential part of the great object proposed by the institution. But people in general, even literate persons, are, as you perfectly know, so unacquainted with the 4 true nature of Church-govern- ment, and the rights of our priesthood, that it matters not much to them where they attend Divine worship. The canonical ordination of the minister never enters into their thoughts. On this point, allow me to say, it is deeply to be la- mented, that the sound advice of Mr. Nelson in the Preface to his immortal work on the Fasts and Festivals (p. 11. Edit. 3.) had not been followed at the time he gave it. I am well persuaded, that it would have tended to prevent that inundation of heresy and schism which now threatens to overwhelm us. That the beneficial tendency of the National Schools may be equal to our wishes, the children, in my humble opinion, must be taught to distinguish between a lawful and unlawful ministry." T y, Oct. 7, 1818. INTRODUCTION, CCC111 reading and writing," without regard to their religion or religious es- tablishment. ' SECTION XL. THE ELIZABETHAN SCHOOL. IN support of the new seminaries, very large sums of money have been subscribed in many parts of England, I doubt not, from the most laudable motives. Yet I think it will at least admit of a question, whether such subscriptions would not have been more beneficially ap- plied in aid of the old parochial schools which have existed for ages, and others on the same plan of instruction. These are Church-of- England schools : and it has long been the practice with the day- labourer, to set apart from his weekly pay a certain portion for his children's schooling. All that is wanting is to confirm and to guard these little establishments ; into which Dissenters may have been gra- dually insinuating themselves. And the money now subscribed, if distributed among the Clergy, 2 would give every Minister influence 1 In fact, all are taught to read, and none to reflect. The old traditions of our fathers, which were once committed to memory with so much care, are remem- bered no more. To a lady, who had expressed her surprise at his ready recollection of traditional songs and histories, a Highlander observed : " Madam ! Before we had free schools, we had long memories." 9 How much more creditable this would be how much more worthy of the Christian profession, than the modes of raising or expending money, that arc adopted by the Bell and Lancasterian and Bible seminaries ! I coasider the Penny- Societies in particular, as highly disgraceful to the country. Though they possess an annual income of more than One Hundred Thousand Pounds, yet the Bible Association persist in extorting weekly pennies from the poor. And so tyrannical are they in this exaction, that in the Lancasterian Free-school in St. George's Fields (and other schools, I suppose, of the same description) every child is obliged to bring his penny to the master on the Monday morning : and it is a fact, that three of a family have been turned away from that FREE school, CCC1V INTRODUCTION. enough to be received as the visitor of the schools of his parish to introduce, if he pleased, into these schools, the mechanism of Bell or Lancaster to see that proper books were read, and the children duly instructed, and to enforce the regular attendance of the master or mistress, and scholars, at the parish-church. And the Minister might report to his Diocesan every year, the progress of his schools. This would be a simple and unostentatious process, easy and certain in its operation. SECTION XLI. ACQUAINTANCE WITH OUR FLOCK. To acquire and preserve an influence over his people, to promote their spiritual improvement, to lead them on to perfection, and to be enabled to " present them blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus,' ' the Minister should visit them at their houses ; should see that the children be baptized that they come together to repeat the Cate- chism that they offer themselves for Confirmation that they par- take of the Communion, and that they attend the Church services re- gularly and devoutly. And, when sick, he should visit them without their invitation : When dying, he should endeavour to strengthen their souls to prepare them for another world. In his visits, he will not only administer spiritual comfort to the sick, but will admonish and reprove those who do amiss : He will en- deavour to compose differences, to dissipate anxiety, to alleviate trouble, and to relieve poverty. owing to the inability of the parents to supply them with their pennies. It is natural to ask, What can be the meaning of all this what the aim or the object? I have not the slightest doubt, that the grand object is to TURITANIZE and then REVOLUTIONIZE the country ! There is a close affinity between puritanical and revolutionary zeaL INTRODUCTION. CCCV SECTION XLH. CONDUCT IN OCR FAMILIES. ON the subject of " Domestic habits" I have expressed my senti- ments so fully in a Poem entitled " THE FAMILY PICTURE, " that, referring my readers to that Poem, and its notes and illustrations, I shall say little here to enforce an attention to the duties of the Pater- familias. His first care ought surely to be, to guard the female part of his house from vanity and frivolousness, from pride and insolence to keep those at a good distance, who, unprincipled in religion, and undomesticated by habits of dissipation, have no notion of any com- fort as existing in a well-ordered family, and who deprecate retire- ment as the solitude of the grave. ' SECTION XLIII. THE I.AITY THEIR EXA.MPLK. THE Country-gentleman may effect much, even in these times, by religious exemplarity. Addison's portrait of Sir R. de Coverley at Church, attended by his 1 " If a young woman (says Gisborne) frequently absent herself from home, she is in danger of acquiring a dissipated spirit of becoming dissatisfied with the calm occupations and enjoyments of the family-fireside and even of losing her affection for her parents." " A young woman, who keeps at home and fulfils her duties as a daughter and a sister, has a better chance of settling in life It is she only can fulfill the duties of a wife and a mother." See Chirol on Female Education, 8vo. Cadell. 18O9. Girls of little judgement and quick feeling meet " congenial bosoms" every where but at home. Here they discover their selfishness in the neglect of their best friends. The following is an affecting portrait : " I grew up selfish full of thoughts and cares For my own good, but unconcern'd for theirs. I had my taste* and pleasures, but despis'd The homespun comforts that my parents priz'd ; Method. u CCCV1 INTRODUCTION. tenants and servants, was drawn from real life. And the " Old English Gentleman," ' though rare, is still in existence. If, then, the lords of manors had resolution enough to stem the tor- rent of fashion ; how efficient would be their example in breaking down the strength of heretics, perhaps their own immediate depend- ants their dependants strenuous in building conventicles, on the very ruins of the old manerial Church ! Warm friendships cherish 'd"; but I felt above The common claims of duteous filial love. I gave cold service : but the smile that cheers, The softer tone that soothes declining years These I withheld They felt it ; and the dart That wounded them, now rankles in my heart." See Essays in Rhyme, p. 60- 1 " Sir Humphrey, bowing, pac'd the crowded aisle, And to the duteous Curate glanc'd a smile : When now his short thick form from every pew The homage of an aw'd attention drew When his large eyebrows, that his eyes o'erhung, Dark on his Roman nose their shadows flung; As age with furrowing lines began to break The ruddy fullness of his healthful cheek ; Tliough candour cloath'd his open forehead high, And mild goodnature grac'd his hazel eye." ****** " And ever to his own recess, his view, Each vagrant fancy past, the Knight withdrew ; Then on pale monuments his eye repos'd, Fix'd his calm thought on bowers half-unclos'd, As high-o'ercanopied cold figures lay ; On shapes that beat the knees of stone to pray ; His glance now upwards to the banners flung, \Vhile o'er his head the heavy gauntlet hung ; Now seem'd to shiver down the steps that led To all the charnel horrors of the dead : And, as along the vault reflection ran, Mourn'd with moist eye the transient pride of man." See for " Old Engb'sh Gentlemen," Poems in five volumes, rol. iv. pp. 128, 1 W. A new edition. INTRODUCTION. CCCVU SECTION XL1V. SINCERITY OF RELIGIOUS PROFESSORS. To act from religious principle, is the only ground of steadiness and consistency. I have just been employed in reading Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works ; and I could not but feel surprise and indignation at meeting with so many distinguished characters indifferent to the cause of Christianity. Nor could I help exclaiming " If these things be so, who can wonder at the progress of schism ?" There was some, it is true, who in that posthumous publication were not ashamed to give their honest testimony to the truth. There was one, in particular, who said, addressing Gibbon : " Much as I admire your abilities, I cannot see without pity your determined hostility to the Gospel." " I hope I shall ever be attached with every power of my judgement and my affection to that glorious system of truth, which is the vital principle of happiness to my soul in time and in eternity." " You seem to me, like another Tacitus revived with all his animosity against Christianity !" Would that the declarations of Gibbon's friends in general, had been equally manly and spirited ! Would that one had not accepted " elegancy of style," as an atonement for infidel opinions that anotherha¬ talked of " professional prejudices" that a third had not apologized for his zeal and that a. fourth should have suffered a too easy urbanity to soften down the convictions of the Christian ! ' Of those with whom I have lived in habits of intimacy, whether laymen or clergymen, I consider my Roseland friends as the most lu- minous examples of rational and unaffected Christian piety. In reli- giousness, who could have rivalled WHITAKEB just spoken of 1 See Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. ii. [new edition, in five vols.] for Vincent, Warton, Cookc, and Watson, at pp. 152, 180, 227, 488, 489. eccviii INTRODUCTION. except his admirable neighbours the GBEGORS, ' twin-stars of glory? f SECTION XLV. ANECDOTES OF WH1TAKER. I MENTIONED Whitaker its one of the most eminent champions of our Faith. Of him I had the honour of writing a Memoir, which, after its ap- pearance in many of the fugitive prints of the day, at length gained a permanent place in Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes." 2 Whitaker (it ap- pears in the last Section) had been on an intimate footing with Gibbon. The obnoxious chapters in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire were the cause of their disunion. 3 And the awful character of ' Francis Grcgor, Esq. died at his seat of Trewarthenrkk, July 12, 1815. The Rev. William Gregor, his younger brother, died June 11, 1817, at the par- sonage-house of Creed. The public will long revere the memories of these virtuous and truly patriotic characters men who, in times of political commotion and of dazzling theories, calmly and steadfastly trod the plain path of common sense and practical experience ; who disdained alike courtly influence and po- pular applause ; and yielded a willing and unwearied support to the constitutional laws of their country, and her inestimable establishments in Church and State. * See Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii. pp. 101106. The " Memoir" is thus prefaced by Mr. Nichols : " The following note is given in the words of an intelligent correspondent, whose productions, as an An- tiquary, a Poet, and a Divine, have long been stamped with public approbation." 3 A letter from Gibbon to Whitaker, which now lies before me [in Gibbon's hand- writing] is as follows : " Dear Sir, Though the hurry of a thousand avoca- tions will not allow me to make you a very long epistolary visit, they shall not prevent me from making a short enquiry into the present state of your health, your business, and your intentions with regard to London for the ensuing win- ter. For my own part, about February next, I intend to oppress the Public with & quarto of about five or six hundred pages, and am only concerned that the happy choice of the subject "ill leave no excuse foi the feebleness of the execu- INTRODUCTION. Christian fidelity was never more strongly illustrated than in Gibbon's having withheld those obnoxious chapters from Whitaker's inspection whilst the work was in MS. Whitaker had been intrusted with the revision of Gibbon's papers, previously to their publication. But what was Whitaker's surprise, when, on seeing the history in print, he then for the first time encountered the insidious sneers of his lite- rary friend, in that attack upon Christianity ! Of Whitaker's manly firmness I could recite many other proofs. His refusal of a living from a Unitarian is a striking evidence. This I have noticed in the Memoir. I had forgotten, however, the circumstance of his re- buking " my Lord of Deny," in consequence of some irreligious le- vities which even W'hitaker's presence could not sufficiently check in that amphibious Bishop. The Bishop of Deny (Earl of Bristol in tion. I do not say this from any false modesty, but from a real consciousness that I am below my own ideas of historical merit. " In a few days our political campaign will open ; and we shall find ourselves engaged in carrying on the most serious business, perhaps, that this empire has ever known. A dark cloud still hangs over it. And though it may be necessary to proceed, the contest will be difficult, the event doubtful, and the consequence destruction. Your municipal glory is, however, secure : And Mancunium, in sounding the alarm, has displayed the zeal which generally, succeeds a sincere and recent conversion. With regard to your old friend Ossian, the dogmatic lan- guage of Johnson, and the acquiescence or indifference of the Scotch, particularly of Macpherson, seem to have given the bard a dangerous, if not a mortal wound. It appears at least to be the prevailing opinion, that truth and falsehood, the Highland ballads and the fancy of the translator, are blended together in such a manner, that, unless he himself should condescend to give the clue, there is no power of criticism capable of untwisting them. Bentinck-street, " I am, Dear Sir, your faithful and obedient servant, October the 16th, 1775. E. GIBBOM." Superscribed " The Reverend Mr. Whitaker, " Free. Manchester." "E. Gibbon." CCCX INTRODUCTION. England) had, some years before Whitaker 's death, the curiosity and the grace to visit him at his parsonage, at R. Lanyhorne : We are all acquainted with that Prelate's liberal sentiments. He had passed much time, indeed, in Popish countries ; where he so far lost the prejudices of the Reformation, as to think, on his return, that a Popish prostitute was a proper guardian for a young Protestant female of quality. Of such lax sentiments, and such shameful conduct, he was giving a specimen in his conversation with Whitaker ; when sud- denly the rural rector started from his chair, and struck his Lordship on the knee: " What, my Lord! (said he) a Bishop !" His Lordship of Deny trembled, and begged pardon. Amidst all this in- trepidity, resulting from a rational belief in Christianity, there was a simplicity in Whitaker, bordering (some would say) on superstitious credulity. Of three amiable daughters, he had lost one. She was gone to the invisible world : and Whitaker often talked of her, as there, in happiness. This was truly Christian. This was like Gilpin j who talked frequently with his wife, of the next world, when both were far advanced in age, as he would have spoken of the next stage that was to terminate a journey. And, indeed, I have heard Whitaker conjecture what his employment might be hereafter, and whether he might not be permitted to pursue studies congenial with his historical researches. After this we shall be less surprised at the circumstance, that one day attending on a dying woman in his village, he actually charged her with a message to his deceased daughter, in the same language almost as he would have used, had the woman been going to some distance where his daughter resided. To me, who firmly believe in the recognition of friends hereafter, (and so believed Horsley and Paley and Watson,)' the weakness 1 Horsley, Paley, and Watson ! how pre-eminent as deep reasoners and ma- thematicians !=-! therefore cite the names of Watson and Horsley and Paley, to INTRODUCTION. CCCxi of Whitaker, in this instance, appears an amiable, an enviable weak- ness ! " Gilpin" (said an intimate friend of his to me) " never doubted." I am sure Whitaker never did. And though they had, perhaps, their weaknesses, their faith was settled in consequence of a patient and persevering investigation of the truth. It was not a blind adherence to prejudices : it was the result of a rational conviction. SECTION XLVI. DECEASE OF THE GOOD PASTOU. I CLOSED my Memoir of Whitaker as follows : " His, indeed, was the resignation, the cheerfulness becoming a primitive disciple of that Jesus, in whose mercies he reposed, and to whom only he looked for acceptance. And he who would derive comfort from the prospect of death, should keep in view our venerable friend, when at that awful hour which assured us of his happiness, at peace with himself, his fellow-creatures, and his God, he sank as into quiet slumber, without a trouble or a pain, and, with a smile on his countenance, expired !" This was literally true. It was, indeed, " the death of the righteous." And every record of such a death in a Minister of our Church, will ope- rate as the best remedy against schism. Thus, then, may we strive to finish our course ! May the consolation of our consciences, and the testimony of those whose feet we have directed in the way of peace, accompany us at our departure from this our scene of trial ! And " when age or disease shall have overtaken us, and weakness and decay become visible in our countenances, may those, whose souls have been intrusted to our care, follow us with anxious eyes, and watch our foot- steps with sorrowful forebodings of the time when we shall be sepa- put to shame the idle sceptical scoffers, who attribute to poetic fancy to a " flighty religiousness," what should rather be ascribed to Christian philosophy. CCCX11 INTRODUCTION. rated from them ! And when, at the close of all earthly things, they shall attend to pay the last solemn token of regard and reverence to- wards us ; may they bear a greatful record, ' what manner of persons we have been with them at all seasons!' May the testimony of the heart appear in every countenance ; and the tear of sincerity in every eye prove their sorrow, that they shall see the face of their spiritual guide and earthly friend no more !" ' 1 The beautiful conclusion of Mr. Gregor's Sermon, preached at Truro, at the Primary Visitation of the Hon. and R. Rev. [Dr. Pelham] Lord Bishop of Exeter, in 18O5. Dr. Pelham was delighted with the Sermon ; and his expressions of pleasure and satisfaction were no less an evidence of his Lordship's enlightened taste, than of his religious sensibility. THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE METHODISTS AND PAPISTS, PART I. SECTION i. As the spirit of ENTHUSIASM is always the same, operating in much the same manner in all sects and professions of religion, and discovering itself in similar pecu- liarities of notions and behaviour ; I shall take the liberty to produce, first of all, a remarkable instance of this in the sect of the Montanists : which arose towards the latter end of the second century, before Popery had a being, or Christianity an establishment. 1 " Montanus, in his outward appearance, had all the form of godliness * and spirituality ; and got the reputation of no mean sanctity, 3 by his austerities and extraordinary way 1 " The History of Montanism" was written by the learned Dr. Lee of St. John's College, Oxford ; compiled with great diligence and exact- ness; and published with Dr. Hicks's " Enthusiasm Exorcis'd," in the year 1709. And herein a large account is given, from all the records of antiquity, of the rise, progress, dispersion, pretensions, and tenets of that overbearing sect. And I am much mistaken if our Methodists (though not yet arrived to the same height of madness) may not here sit for their picture, and be traced in all their lineaments. z P. 74. 3 P. 79. Method. A 2 The Enthusiasm of of living. Had a zeal for religion, and would needs set up for a mighty Reformer in the Church : but wanting solidity of judgment, and coolness of thought, was driven away by every impulse that seized him ; being transported with an immo- derate and irregular zeal, he was possessed with a strange spirit: many doubting whether it were a good spirit, or a bad one. Hence he sets up pretensions to prophecy and mira- cles. Some indeed saw through him, and took him for what he afterwards proved to be, a false prophet, and one agitated by a spirit of delusion: and these opposed, and reproved him, not hastily, but upon sober and mature deliberation, after trial made of his spirit, which appeared very much like the fit of a frenzy, or distempered melancholy. " Others deemed what they saw in Montanus as the true effect of the Holy Ghost : and were hereby lifted up with an extreme vanity and confidence, as if nothing could be greater and higher than this dispensation of Montanus : who being ravished with the honour of seeing himself so esteemed and listened to, used diverse artifices and stratagems to draw in others, and did some sober and sincere Christians. " He looked on the governors of the church as much de- generated, invested only with an outward character : he had more of the Spirit than all of them ; and by virtue of his pre- tended extraordinary mission would be exempted from the inspection of his rightful superiors: whose standing rules must give way to whatever was taken for a prophetic im- petus. Montanus, intoxicated with these high notions, went up arid down and drew after him several religious melan- cholists. Several of the weaker sex, excited by his high pretensions, were seized upon by the same spirit ; as Pris- cilla and Maximilla; who no sooner were touched by the power in Montanus, but immediately they left their husbands ; fancying that henceforwards they were to be espoused to none but Christ, eloping from their husbands to follow an infamous cheat. Hence they fancied themselves heavenly Pp. 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 88, 89, 92, 93. Methodists and Papists. virgins, espoused by Christ, who personally visited them, conversing with them as one friend converses with another. " Thus, led on with a false faith, and puffed up beyond measure, they fell into sundry snares, and easily mistook the imaginations of then* own hearts, or the suggestions of the old impostor, for the pure inspirations of the Divine Spirit. " The same spirit fell upon some of the men also ; highly esteemed, as extraordinarily commissioned by GotJ to raise up this pretended new dispensation : though some of them were clearly convinced of having been ah" the while under the conduct of a deceiving spirit, that had usurped the name of the Holy Ghost. " They divide into parties, under different leaders, and continue under these novel and strange influences to distract unwary minds. Different in sundry points, but all agreeing in pretences to inspiration, and a heavenly mission. " Montanus begins to set up his little assemblies: they give forth many good exhortations to holiness, rigorously pressing a reformation of discipline and manners ; their spirit imitates nearly the properties of the Divine Spirit, in pro- ducing good works, discerning the secrets of the heart, by inspiration reproving some .present for their hidden faults, with such a shew of the life and spirit of Christianity, as made it hard to think all a mere counterfeit. " These new lights set up a new church : something doubt- ful whether they first separated from the church, or were forced out. But with a strange air of confidence they, or rather those deluding spirits which spoke through them, did reproach and vilify the church, because she every where re- jected their new order of prophecy. " They are not able to bear with the deadness and the formality of the Catholics, w ho are only the natural or cri- minal men ; but themselves the spiritual : they looked on the Catholics as carnal and outside Christians, that had not the true taste of the Spirit : and the Christian priesthood was undermined by the pretenders to an extraordinary and un- limited mission. Pp. 94, 102, 103, 1QP, 110, 124, 126, 132, 142. 4 The Enthusiasm of " They were eagerly desirous of persecution ; provoking and irritating the infidels to draw it upon themselves : but this vain ostentation did often in the hour of trial most wretch- edly betray itself. " By their rigorous discipline they brought many to despair : but yet are charged by the Catholics with a morality ex- ceedingly loose and scandalous, painting the chiefs of this new order of the inspired in very black characters ; which must depend on the fairness of the accounts transmitted to us : such as making their markets with pretended revelations and conversations with God ; scraping up all they could get under the pretence of charity, and voluntary oblations; under the mask of godliness, defiled with impurities, &c. " They distinguished themselves by an affected singularity, against the most innocent recreation of mind or body, against games, sports, and plays ; dress, furniture, &c. " But all knew the pretensions of the Montanists, and that the foundation of all the extravagancies they run into, was the pretext of a Divine Spirit and Power, extraordinarily, and even visibly, acting them. And they took themselves to be perfect, having the perfection or consummation of the Spirit. " They called themselves the inspired, the pure, the saints, the elect, the apostolical : while the orthodox, who could not bear their presumption, gave them generally other sort of names, which they thought they better deserved. " I the progress of Montanism they proceeded from one degree to another, never stopping, or knowing where to stop : hence giving themselves up to the uncertain dictates and im- pulses of a strange spirit, they were insensibly led on whither they least suspected : and all manner of extravagancies were committed by them, as if they had an express command for so doing from heaven. And the strictness of the Mon- tanist discipline at first, was the means of introducing the Mahometan looseness in the end. " Their enthusiasm led the van to, and was very consistent Pp. 144, 146, 156, 206. Methodists and Papists. 5 with, atheism. And there is a shrewd suspicion that some got in among them from the very beginning, and managed the weak well-meaning people, w r ho were of no religion them- selves, but put on a mask to deceive. " After an account how Montanism afterwards was blended and interwoven with the most abominable heresies ; we come to its declension in the fifth century, and extinction in the sixth, which made way for another new pretended dispensation, that of Mahomet ; rising as out of its ashes ; and founded chiefly upon some principles of Montanism. "In the conclusion," the author says, " we have seen how a well-meant, but indiscreet zeal, was surprised by the cunning artifices of Satan ; and led on from step to step, for want of being guarded by humility ; till at length it fell into the con- trary extreme. How from an affectation of spiritual gifts the deceiver easily insinuated himself with most fair pre- tences, and led both him and his silly women captive. " They were accounted by the multitudes that were con- verted to them as the very apostles of the Lamb ; they ex- pected nothing less than that the world should be brought to own them, and that then the new Jerusalem out of heaven should come down upon earth. " Whether the enthusiastic passion be considered as a dis- ease of the mind and spirits, natural or supernatural, or mixed, or as properly preternatural ; it appears manifestly from this account, that it is now the same as it was then ; as much as a fever is now the same as it was in the days of Hippocrates. " But if any one, through pride or vain-glory, through rashness or curiosity, or the like, be really accessary to his own delusion; let liim not seek to cast the blame upon God ; but be content to take all the shame to himself. And if this should not work any good in the end to him ; but he should be totally delivered up to the devices of his own heart, and the lying inspirations of treacherous spirits ; yet it may Pp. 303, 317, 338, 342, 348, 350. 6 The Enthusiasm of be a means still of much good to others, and a warning to take heed, lest they be also overtaken with the same tempta- tion/' Tims far this learned writer ; whose entire discourse de- serves well to be perused by every person, as a proper anti- dote against the bane of enthusiasm. It cannot indeed be said, that the madness and presumption of our modem enthu- siasts come up to the Montanists, in all respects, and to so high a degree ; but still the reader may easily discern the general nature and effects of enthusiasm ; and a conformity, in most particulars, between those former fanatics and our Methodists. SECTION 2. But it is time to come to a more direct com- parison between Popish and Methodistical enthusiasts. And if the reader has some account of the most wild and extrava- gant, the most ridiculous, strolling, fanatical, frantic, deli- rious, and mischievous of all the saints in the Romish com- munion ; he must consider, that otherwise the parallel would not hold ; but come off lame and defective. They are, how- ever, some of the most favorite and magnified saints among them, and most of whom had the honor of being canonised. As for instance, the seraphic father St. Francis, founder of the Friars Minors, though at first only a well-meaning, but weak enthusiast, but afterwards turning out a mere hypocrite and impostor : St. Dominic, founder of the Preaching Friars, a man of more design, ferocity, and pride ; the contriver and manager of that blessed instrument of conversion, the Inqui- sition : St. Ignatius Loyola, that errant shatter-brained visionary fanatic, founder of the most holy order of the Jesuits, professedly instituted to extirpate the Reformation : that mirror of perfection, St. Anthony of Padua : together with variety of female saints, Catharine of Sienna, Teresa, Clara, Magdalen of Pazzi, &c. I would not be understood to accuse the Methodists di- rectly of Popery ; though I am persuaded they are doing the Papists' work for them, and agree with them in some of their Methodists and Papists. 7 principles ; designing only to show how uniformly both act upon the same plan, (as far as enthusiasm can be said to carry on any plan :) their heads filled with much the same grand projects, driven on in the same wild manner ; and wearing the same badge of peculiarities in their tenets : not perhaps from compact and design ; but a similar configura- tion and texture of brain, or the fumes of imagination pro- ducing similar effects. , SECTION 3. From a commiseration, or horror, arising from the grievous corruptions of the world, perhaps from a real motive of sincere piety, they both set out with warm pretences to a reformation. Wherein the Papists stand at least upon an equality, if they have not the advantage ; it being impossible for any Methodist to exceed the strong de- clarations of fervent love to God and man, of burning zeal for the salvation of souls, which the legends of the saints afford in abundance. The Methodist, if he pleaseth, shall apply to himself the most flaming characters on this score : though he should " burn with unquenchable zeal of love to God and man, like St. Francis ; or be inflamed, like St. Ignatius, with a zeal of promoting God's honor ; referring all his actions and purposes to God's greater glory : this being his holy ambition, the life and soul of all his action." z Nor do I believe that any enthusiast ever set out otherwise than upon a zealous pretence of this godly nature. SECTION 4. For the better advancement of their pur- poses, both commonly begin their adventures with field- preaching. In which particular, though the practice of the Methodists be notorious, it may not be amiss to produce some of their own words ; were it only for the sake of the comparison. 1 INTRODUCTION, part I. sect. 7. * Bonaventur. Vit. Franc, cap. 9. Ribadeneira, Lives of the Saints, p. 519. 8 The Enthusiasm of First for the Methodists. Mr. Whitefield says, " I never was more acceptable to my Master, than when I was standing to teach in the open fields." 1 " I always find I have most power, when 1 speak in the open air. A proof this to me, that God is pleased with this way of preaching." * " Preached at Kennington. But such a sight never were mine eyes blessed with before, fifty thousand people, near fourscore coaches, great number of horses. I find myself more and more under a necessity of going out into the fields." 3 " I desired to know what law could be produced against my preaching : in my opinion there could be none ; because there never was any such thing as field-preaching before." 4 " A fresh inroad made into Satan's territories by Mr. Wes- ley's following me in field-preaching." 5 And Mr. Seward acquaints us, how "VVhitefield " preached from a balcony, from a scaffold, from a horse-block." 6 Mr Wesley : " Had the minister of the parish preached like an angel, it had profited them nothing : for they heard him not. But when one came and said, ' Yonder is a man preaching on the top of the mountains,' they ran in droves to hear. Had it not been for field-preaching, the uncommon- ness of which is the very circumstance that recommends it, they must have run on in error." 7 For the Papists. " Peter of Verona, mirror of sanctity, of the holy order of Friars Preachers, had a divine talent in preaching ; neither churches, nor streets, nor market-places, could contain the great concourse that resorted to hear his sermons. He was the hammer and thunderbolt to break and crush heretics, and made inquisitor to punish and persecute them." 8 1 3 Journ. p. 31. a P. 69. 3 P. 92. 4 4 Journ. p. 27. s P. 5. 6 Journ. pp. 5 7. r Farther Appeal, p. 119. See INTRODUCTION, part I. sect. 7. 8 Ribaden. Lives of the Saints. Apr. 29. Methodists and Papists. 9 " St. Nicolas of Nolasco, one day as he was recollected in prayer, heard a voice from heaven, saying, ' this is not the place, in which I would have thee to be ; but that thou go forth into the field, and treat with men, to the end that I may be glorified in thee.' " x " St. Anthony of Padua was forced to preach in the open fields and largest meadows, because the people followed in such numbers, from cities, villages, and camps, that no church could contain them. They got up before day, and flocked to get places betimes. The tradesmen all shut up their shops, till his sermon was ended. And he was guarded by some strong and stout men. He was miraculously heard at two leagues' distance." * " St. Ignatius preached in the open fields, as the churches could not hold the multitudes who flocked, several miles, to hear him. Where it was observed, as a thing more than human, that though he could not raise his voice, which was weak, every word of his sermon was heard by every body above a quarter of a mile." 3 [I think Mr. Whitefield speaks somewhere of being heard plainly, at a greater distance, and by above twenty thousand people.] Upon this article I would make a cursory remark or two. How comes Mr. Whitefield to say, there was never any such thing as field-preaching before ? Was it from the mere vanity of being thought the founder of it ? Or was he ignorant of the practice several years ago, and even in our own nation ? Have not the Methodist preachers, as well as St. Anthony, been attended with a sturdy set of followers, as their guards, armed with clubs under their clothes, menacing and terrifying such as should dare to speak lightly of their apostle ? I have heard it often affirmed. So that Mr. Whitefield may well boast of preaching 4 with irresistible power, and striking all 1 Id. Dec. 6. a Id. June 13. Lib. Conformitatum. fol. 80. 3 Orlandin. Hist. Jesuit, lib. i. No. 116. * See INTRODUCTION, part I. sect. 7. 10 The Enthusiasm of opposers dumb. 1 It is plain he seems himself to be aware of this turbulent spirit, this fighting enthusiasm, when idly ' supposing his enemies should think they did God service to kiD him' he adds, * I dread nothing more than the false zeal of my friends in a suffering hour.' l Again. It is highly probable, that if any parochial minis- ter should acquaint his parish, &c. that next Sunday he would preach on yonder mountain, he would have a larger congregation than in his church. But would this do any real good ? or could he justify the irregularity ? But Mr. Wesley argues for the special advantage of field-preaching, on the very account of its irregularity ; * the uncommonness being the very circumstance that recommends it.' Something in- consistently : for he seems to forget what he had said, but a page or two before : * we are not suffered to preach in the churches ; else we should prefer them to any places what- ever.' 3 Mr. Whitefield too ' highly approves of our excellent liturgy, would ministers lend him their churches, to use it.' * They are, you see, never more acceptable to their Master than in the fields. God is pleased with this way of preach- ing, they have most power there. But, however, that is no matter : they would not mind that : churches are preferable, if they could get them. SECTION 5. After the Methodists had traduced the clergy, as long as they were permitted to do it, in their own churches and pulpits, in order to seduce their flocks, and collect a staring rabble ; they set about this pious work of defamation more heartily in the fields. Give me leave to gather some of their flowers on this occasion, which are published in their own journals, &c. " Went to St. Paul's, and received the blessed sacrament." [He might have added, and within a few hours undertook the 1 3 Journ. p. 24. a 4 Journ. p. 11. 3 Farther Appeal, p. 117. 4 4 Journ. p. 3, Methodists and Papists. 1 1 blessed office of blackening the clergy ; for] " Preached in the evening at Kerinington-Common : God gave me great power, and I never opened my mouth so freely against the letter-learned clergymen of the church of England." ' " I should not die in peace, unless I bore my testimony against them. My power and freedom of speech increased daily ; and this afternoon I was carried out much against the unchristian principles and practices of the generality of our clergy. If I want to convince Church of England Protestants, I must prove that the generality of their teachers do not preach, or live up to the truth, as it is in Jesus." 2 " Woe be unto such blind leaders of the blind. How can you escape the damnation of hell ? Wolves in sheep's cloth- ing." 3 " Numbers of such as would tell the people, that a decent, genteel, and fashionable religion, is sufficient to carry them to heaven." 4 " The Scribes and Pharisees of this generation (I mean the learned rabbis of the Church of England) will persecute the preachers and followers of our Lord." 5 " Our brother (Whitefield) expects to suffer many things, to be set at nought by the rabbis of our Church, and perhaps at last to be killed by them." 6 " The scarlet whore of Babylon is not more corrupt, either in principle, or practice, than the church of England. (A second letter against the traitor Archbishop Tillotson. 7 ) Judas sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver : the Archbishop got a better price, perhaps thirty bags of gold, or more." 8 For the abuses of the clergy from Mr. Wesley (which are not so gross, but more artful) I refer the reader to Mr. Church's Farther Remarks. Pp. 105 108. But what a wickedness is it, to throw out so much gall of bitterness against persons, whose chief power of doing any good, and promoting the common salvation, depends upon 1 See INTRODUCTION, part I. sect. 14. 20, 21, 22. Whitf. 4 Journ. p. 32. z 5 Journ. p. 32. 3 Indwelling, p. 11, 12. 4 4 Journ. p. 8. 5 Seward's Journ. p. 15. 6 P. 71. 7 P. 45. 8 P. 62. 12 The Enthusiasm of their character? And how much greater, to impute this black art of calumny to the Spirit, and power given from God? SECTION 6. But though these strolling predicants have allured some itching ears, and drawn them aside by calum- niating their proper pastors ; they have sense enough to know the itch will go o, and their trade not continue long, unless they can produce something novel, or uncommon ; what the wandering sheep have not been used to in their churches. Therefore they must find out, or rather revive, such peculiarities, as have formerly attended enthusiasms, and are most likely to captivate the vulgar. Hence their affected phrases, fantastical and unintelligible notions, whim- sical strictnesses, loud exclamations against some trifling and indifferent things ; which are matters of mere discretion ; things innocent, and perhaps sometimes useful; and only sinful when carried into excess. And great zeal is here employed. Accordingly, if diverse particulars of no great moment in themselves are here drawn together ; it is only to discover that family-likeness, even in the smallest features, which has distinguished the enthusiasts and pretended pietists of all ages ; particularly those now under comparison. It may be some trouble to run over the whole bead-roll of the saint's rosary. But it will appear to consist of ten Ave Marys to one Pater-noster : i.e. abundance of fooleries in proportion to any single point profitable. SECTION 7. The first necesary point for drawing fol- lowers is to put on a sanctified appearance ; by a demure look, precise behaviour, in discourse or silence, apparel and food ; and other marks of external piety. For which reason Mr. Wesley very wisely made, and renewed, that noble " resolution, not willingly to indulge himself in the least levity of behaviour, or in laughter, no, not for a moment. To speak no word, not tending to the glory of God : and Methodists and Papists. 13 not a tittle of worldly things." * Which may serve to show what useful members of society such persons would make ; though from hum an infirmity the resolver himself has some- times forgot his vow. But perhaps he may be provoked to a more exact conduct, when he reads, " how grievously the Seraphic Mechtildis * disciplined and tortured herself for having once spoke an idle word ; and what a heinous sin she deemed it to laugh : that not a word fell from St. Catharine of Sienna, that was not religious and holy : that the lips of Magdalen of Pazzi were never opened, but to chant the praises of God. That a certain abbot refused to assist his friend in getting his ox out of a quagmire, for fear of meddling with worldly things ; 3 and a monk would not discover a thief that stole a horse, because then he must speak of secular matters." 4 As laughter is a faculty peculiar to the human species, the resolution of a religious melancholist entirely to discard it may be reckoned a little essay towards putting away the properties of a rational creature. SECTION 8. At first the Methodists, as a show of humi- lity, made it a point not to ride, either on horseback or in a coach : though occasionally, and for conveniency sake, they have since thought proper to deviate from their rule. 5 " I could no longer, says Mr. Whitefield, walk on foot, as usual ; but was constrained to go in a coach, to avoid the Hosannas of the multitude." Very profane, unless it be a false print for huzzas. So was it one of St. Francis's rules, 6 " never to ride, but only in cases of manifest necessity, or infirmity." St. Ignatius Loyola, and his meek society of Jesuits, always walked on foot ; and could never be induced to use any sort of carriage. 7 To use chairs and chariots was a griev- ous sin, and abhorred by the society. 1 2 Journ. p. 10. * Vita Mecht. cap. 16. Bullar. Pii secund. 3 Marul. lib. 5. cap. 9. Dauroult. cap. 7. 4 Tit. 80. 4. 5 Further Dealings, p. 23. 6 Conform, fol. 114, 119. 7 Franci Annal. Jesuit. 315, 357. 14 The Enthusiasm of SECTION 9. Upon the same account fine cloaths, and rich furniture, stand absolutely condemned; though in many cases they may be proper and right, as suitable to people's rank, condition, and station. And when the cynic, Diogenes, trod disdainfully upon a fine carpet of Plato's, saying, " see how I trample upon Plato's pride : " the philosopher justly answered, "but with greater pride of thy own." Mr. Wesley gives us this as the general character of a Methodist : ' " He cannot adorn himself, on any pretence, with gold, or costly apparel." Hence he undertook that unsuccessful dispute with a Quaker, " who could not be convinced of any harm in costly apparel, or furniture, so that it were plain." a " St. Francis 3 would always wear apparel of the vilest sort ; never any thing that was sumptuous : that being an extinction of grace. A certain Jesuit had such influence on the ladies, that they threw away all their vain garments, and whatever might help to set off their beauty." 4 St. Ignatius, 5 by preaching powerfully against fine deaths^ made the women weep, tear their hair and charm- ing faces, and throw away their vain ornaments. Mag- dalen of Pazzi, when but a child, would reject all soft and delicate cloathing, and wear only what was coarse and ugly. 6 SECTION 10. But oh! (as a part, or consequence of this) how good,' and saint-like it is, to go dirty, ragged, and slovenly ? And how piously did Mr. Whitefield 7 therefore take care of the outward man ? " My apparel was mean, thought it unbecoming a penitent to have powdered hair : I wore woollen gloves, a patched gown, and dirty shoes." Thus his predecessor in saintship, * " Ignatius loved to 1 Character of a Methodist, No. 15. 2 3 Journ. p. 58. s Conform, fol. 49. 4 Franc. Annal. Jesuit, p. 317. 5 Rartol. Vita Ignat. p. MO. Life, No. 2. 7 1st Journ. sect. 2. 8 Ribaden. Vit. Igoat. Methodists and Papists. IS appear abroad with old dirty shoes, used no comb, let his hair clot, and would never pair his nails. A certain Jesuit was so holy that he had above a hundred and fifty patches upon his breeches, and proportionably on his other gar- ments. Another ' had almost three hundred patches : and his garments after his death were hung up to public view, as an incentive to imitation. And was there not a reason? For "St. Francis * found by certain experience, that the devils were frighted away by coarse rough garments ; but were animated by soft raiment to tempt the wearers. And friar Bartholomew hath laid it down as a rule, that men must have dirty bodies, if they would have pure souls." SECTION 11. Of this nature likewise is their utter conr demnation of all recreation and diversion, in every kind and degree. Mr. Whitefield 3 laments that, in his younger days, " he was not yet convinced of the absolute unlaw- fulness of playing at cards, and of reading and seeing plays." But afterwards, in his letter from New Brunswick he declares, 4 " that no recreations, considered as such, can be innocent. I now began to attack the devil in his strongest holds, and bore testimony against the detestable diversions of thisgeneration." s " Dancers please the devil in every step." 6 " Some were very strenuous in defence of what they called innocent diversions, but are contrary to the whole tenor of the Gospel : not only so many trifling amuse- ments, but things which shew that the heart is wholly ali- enated from the life of God ." 7 "I hoped we had demolished Satan's strongest hold in Philadelphia, the dancing-school, assemblies, and music-meetings, those houses of Baal." 8 And what says the Papist? " St. Dominic (who had such power of adjuration over the devil, as to compel him to answer truly to all his questions) asked him what was his opinion concerning the place of recreations ; who an r 1 Franc. Annal. Jesuit, p. 311, 394. z Conform, fol. 243. 3 1st Dealing, p. 13. 4 P. 7. 5 4 Journ. p. 30. 6 Ib. p. 77. 7 5 Journ. p. 58, 59. 8 Seward's Journ. p. 54, 16 Tfie Enthusiasm of swered, with a loud and scornful laugh, ' all this place is my own: for here they tell impertinent news, &c.'"' St, Ignatius by declaiming against cards and dice prevailed upon a whole town to throw them into the river : and there was no more play there for three years. 1 " Our love of recreations and diversions has indeed con- fessedly exceeded all bounds ; and calls loudly for some redress. But to break out wildly against every instance and degree of them, is the direct way to render our com- plaints fruitless and ridiculous. It has neither reason nor ScVipture, to support it. But moderation, reason, and Scripture are things unregarded by enthusiasts ; who must act in character. They cannot, they dare not, allow any thing that carries the name or face of recreation and chear- fulness; for fear of dispersing a little of that black bile, that gloomy humour, which is the most essential ingredient in their religion. SECTION 12. As to the seeming contempt of money, you may see, if you please, and admire Mr. Wesley's decla- matory rant ; " As to gold and silver I count it dung and dross : I trample it under my feet. I esteem it just as the mire in the streets. It must indeed pass through my hands ; but shall only pass through : it shall not rest there. None of the accursed things shall be found in my tent, when the Lord calleth me hence, &c." a But even this falls short of St. Francis. " He had such a detestation of money, that, if by chance he found any in the way, he would not permit himself, or brethren, so much as to touch it. Once the devil, to ensnare him, laid a purse in his way, seemingly full of money. But he, knowing it was a devil's trick, forbids his companion to take it up : who strongly pressing to do it for the sake of giving to the poor, St. Francis assented : s and upon opening the purse 1 Ribaden. Aug. 4. a Bartol. Vita Ignat. p. 140. 3 1st Appeal, No. 28. See INTRODUCTION, part I. sect. 7. * Conform, fol. 53. Methodists and Paplsls. 17 out starts the devil in the shape of a serpent, and suddenly disappeared, purse and all. Hence he solemnly resolved to stick to poverty as long as he lived. ' Money was to him the most execrable , of things ; he gave it a hearty curse, and fled from it as from the devil. Dung, and money, and Satan were the same thing to him. He orders a friar, who had placed in a window some money collected at the altar, to take it in his mouth, (for the rule would not permit to touch it with his fingers,) and go out and throw it upon the dung of an ass." a St. Ignatius indeed (as well as the Me- thodists) " would sometimes condescend to accept of some small pieces of money, to give to the poor. 3 But St. Phil. Nerius was such a lover of poverty, that he frequently be- sought Almighty God to bring him to that state as to stand in need of a penny, and find no body that would give him one." 4 The profession of poverty, as well as chastity, is indeed the common vow of all the monastic orders ; the institution of which is called the most perfect state of life. But either by means of papal relaxations and indulgencies, or their own carnal affections, both these vows are commonly observed alike. One constitution of the Jesuits in particular is Food, Raiment, and Bed of the vilest sort, for their greater spiri- tual proficiency. 5 SECTION. 13. Another bait to catch admirers, and very common among enthusiasts, is a restless impatience and insatiable thirst of travelling, and undertaking dangerous voyages, for the conversion of infidels ; together with a de- clared contempt of all dangers, pains, and suflerings. They must desire love, and pray for ill usage, persecution, martyr- dom, death, and hell. Accordingly our itineranj; Methodists are fond of expres- sing their zeal on this account. Mr. Whitefield says, " When 1 fol. 217. * fol. 219. 3 Bart. Vit. Ignatii, p. 63. 4 Ribaden. p. 269. 5 Const. 25. Method. B 1 8 The Enthusiasm of letters came from Messrs. Wesleys, and Ingham, their fel- low-laborer, their accounts fired my soul, made me even long to go abroad for God too: though too weak in body I felt at times such a strong attraction in my soul towards Georgia, that I thought it almost irresistible. The thoughts of it crowded continually in upon me. Upon reading this (letters from abroad for more laborers) my heart leaped within me, and as it were echoed to the call: was impa- tient to go abroad." ' Mr. Wesley sets forth pathetically, and not without some degree of insult on the regular ministers who stay at home, " their desire of going on in toil, in weariness, in pain- fulness, in cold and hunger, summer-sun, and winter-rain and wind, upon the naked head ; perils by land, perils by water; hurried away to America, a readiness to go to Abyssinia or China." And much more in the spirit of ramb-< ling sufferings, and martyrdom. But all this only shows the natural unsettled humor, the rapid motion of enthusiastic heads. And we may assure them that the zealous impatience, and real wanderings and sufferings of Popish fanatics, are by all accounts greatly superior. " Oh how many times have the nuns seen their sister of Pazzi drunk with zeal for the conversion of sinners and infidels, run about the cloisters and gardens, and other places, bemoaning herself that she was not a man to go abroad, and gain erring souls !" a The wind-mill is indeed in all their heads. And in fact it is almost incredible what miseries were endured by St. Francis, .1 in his heroic voyage to convert the sultan of Egypt ; in that of St. Anthony into Africa, to convert the Moors, and of St. Ignatius to convert the Turks : exploits much more danger- ous and terrible than a voyage to the West Indies. As to their love of disgrace, it must fairly be owned, in a great measure, to be true ; otherwise they would never have published that collection of their own fooleries and faults, 1 Farther Dealings, p. JB, 10, 11, 18, * Life, No. 50. Methodists and Papists. 19 extravagant whimsies, and presumptions, pretensions, &c. in their journals. Sometimes, indeed, we find Mr. Wesley bitterly and feeling- ly complaining " of the scoff's, both of the great vulgar and the small ; contempt and reproach of every kind ; some- times more than verbal affronts, stupid, brutal violence ; and (in a most elegant style) from " the ' scum of Cornwall, the rabble of Bilston and Darleston, the wild beasts of Walsal, and the turnkeys of Newgate."* But, at other times, the note is changed ; and " with regard to contempt, hate, calumny, persecution, &c. till he is thus despised, no man is in a state of salvation. Being despised is absolutely necessary to our doing good in the world. God forbid that you should be otherwise than generally scandalous ; I had almost said universally." 3 Mr. Whitefield " rejoices exceedingly at the thought, that they should one day be sent to prison. * Refreshed with the news, that the landlord would not let us stay under his roof; and at the sweets of opposition ; receiving a blow from a cudgel-player with the utmost love." 5 Again, he is quite in haste for persecution, calling upon the devil to bring it on. " The hour of persecution is not yet come. I really wonder it comes no faster. Satan, why sleepest thou ?" ' Mr. Seward " trusts that, for the brethren's sake, he could leap into a burning fiery furnace, without fear of the flames, which would serve as a fiery chariot to carry his soul to God." 7 The same love of contempt, abuse, and injury ; the same ardent thirst after persecution and martyrdom, possessed their competitors in propagating " true religion." " St. Francis wishes, and gives orders, that he may be disgraced by all. He was not able to rest for the burning desire of martyrdom." 8 St. Ignatius desired to be mocked and laughed at by all ; 1 See INTRODUCTION, Part i. Sect. 11. a Farther App. p. 119, 136. 3 3 Journ. p. 357. 57. 4 3 Journ. p. 45. 5 4 Journ. p. 8. 6 4 Journ. p. 21. 7 Ibid. p. 24. 8 Conform, ibl. 40. Ilibaden. p. 7SQ. CO The Enthusiasm of in the fervor of his mind would have gone about th article ? " After St. Teresa had long tried to be holy to no purpose, the Lord of hearts did it all in a moment ; and she was from that time effectually changed . 4 St. Ignatius, by a sudden light receives faith, and the com- plete perfection of divine sanctity : so that he riseth up a new man a perfect man in Christ. 5 The same saint, by a visit from the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, has all images of obscenity wiped from his heart, and from that instant finds no more any sense of lust. Another of their converts is instantly delivered from concupiscence by putting on St. Anthony's garment. St. Conrade, a Dominican, after having cruelly disciplined himself to extinguish his irregular emo- tions, by the Virgin Mary's coming, and anointing his reins, never more felt the thorn in the flesh. 6 Thom. Aquinas had a vision of angels binding his loins, and thence forward had not the least feeling of concupiscence. And I could produce seven or eight of his Holiness's saints, who were cured of the same desire by visions of angels appearing, and castrating them with proper instruments. 7 It must indeed be confessed, that most of the above men- tioned instantaneous conversions were from carnal concupis- cence. But unfortunately, no such violent measures have been taken with some of our eminent Methodists ; and their behaviour has been such, as to hinder the comparison from tallying in this particular. 1 3 Journ. p. 16. * Jb. p. 49. 3 1st App. p. 23. * Ribaden. p. 790. 5 Orland. Hist. Jesuit, lib. 1. cap. 22. Balingh. Jul. 1. Ribaden. p. 391. 6 Balingh. Nov. 1. proclaim it in the name of the Lord." Mr. Whitefield, in particular, is ever flying upon the wings of inspiration, and talking sublimely in the apostolic style. 1 " I experience fresh teachings, and communications from God's holy Spirit, from himself. I felt the power of God come upon me, and I spoke with demonstration of the l 5Journ. p. 22. Methodists and Papists. 41 Spirit. I felt the Holy Ghost come upon me at that time. 1 I fear I should quench the Spirit, did I not go on to speak as he gives me utterance." * The same extraordinary inspiration is poured out, or ra- ther the Holy Spirit descends upon their followers, societies and bands. 3 " Such as had public gifts were settled as superintendents over the rest. Heard of one, says Mr. Whitefield, that received the Holy Ghost immediately upon my preaching.* A most remarkable outpouring of the Spirit has been seen in this assembly. The power of God was in an unusual manner present at the meeting of the bands. 5 God mightily confirms the words I speak, by the Holy Ghost given unto those that hear them. 6 The power of the Lord came upon the congregation, and the Holy Ghost over- shadowed them." 7 There is something in the following quotations, which deserves particular notice. " The Holy Ghost seemed to come into the congregation like a mighty rushing wind." ' Here he speaks something dubiously. But elsewhere he is more positive and peremptory. " The Spirit at length came down like a mighty rushing wind, and carried all be- fore it. 9 In my prayer the power of God came dewn, and gave a great shock such an abiding universal shock I never knew before. In the afternoon again the shock was very great. The place was almost rent by the power and presence of God." 10 Some of these latter expressions imply, that the Holy Ghost descended on the Methodists in the same manner as upon the apostles at Pentecost ; which, without .much better proof than they have given of their inspiration, I will by no means undertake to excuse from blasphemy. Other expressions imply some strange tumultuary shaking of the fabric, or else of the preacher and hearers, like a violent 1 5 Journ. p. Ti. * 3 Journ. p. 17. 3 Letters. 4 3 Journ. page 72. 5 5 Journ. page 41. 6 Wesl. 4. Journ. p. 96. 7 Wesl. 3. Journ. p. 56. 8 6 Journ. p. 53. 9 7 Journ. p. 57. 10 Letters. 42 The Enthusiasm of hurricane : and yet perhaps after all the shock was only in the preacher's own brains. After such accounts given by the Methodists, it would be something like a miracle, if popery should not afford a pa- rallel. Accordingly, the writers of St. Ignatius's life inform us, that while the saint was at prayers, and dedicating him- self to the blessed Virgin, the whole house trembled with a sudden concussion, but most of all Ignatius's own chamber, the windows being broken and many chinks opened and that this was generally believed to proceed from the rage of the devil. 1 And in another place is related a story of the same nature, and ascribed to the same cause. Ribadeneira, in the Lives of the Saints, relates the same story of Ignatius, but without mentioning what might have been the car.se.* But in his life of St. Anthony, he tells us that the devil, threatening to fall upon this saint with great fury, at his voice all the room was shaken, the walls opened, and many devils rushed in. As to papistical pretensions, in general, to inspiration, they are without number or end. There is scarcely any part of their religious worship and doctrine ; scarcely a monastery, nunnery, order of society ; scarce a petty saintling in their communion, that was not taught, and inspired by the Holy Ghost. " St. Francis was not only inspired himself in teaching, but all the rules of his order were dictated by Heaven. 3 He was a most wonderful preacher, by virtue of the Holy Ghost. All heard the voice of Christ in the air, saying, " Francis, there is nothing of your own in your rule, but all is mine." St. Paul prophesied of it, and understood his own words as belonging to this rule of St. Francis : 4 ' Whoever walketh according to this rule, peace be on them.' " * Which passage being the very sau-e !> t " Mr. Wesley opened upon, when he consulted the oracle by lot, and beg- 1 Bart. Vit. Ignat. lib. 1. cap. . lib. 5. cap. 6. i Page 518. 1 Conform, fol. 110. *Tol. 110. 5 Ibid. fol. 1*7. Methodists and Papists. 43 ged an answer of peace,"' may perhaps afford him no small comfort; as having the same honor with St. Francis, and his rule equally established. St. Ignatius was carried on by a stronsr inspiration, and guidance of the Holy Ghost, \vhich spoke through him. And his spiritual exercises had the same sanction. Pope Paul III. indeed (says Dr. Geddes) speaks modestly of Ignatius and his co-npanions : Spiritu Sancto, ut creditur, afflati, inspired, as is believed, by the Holy Spirit. 1 But Julius III. leaves out " as is believed," and roundly pronounceth " they were inspired." And Gregory XIH.saith expressly, that Ignatius was inspired in modelling the society of the Jesuits. So that it seems there are de- grees of infallibility, some popes being more infallible than others. Bellarmin affirms, that the orders of Benedict, Romualdus, Bruno, Dominic, Francis, were from the Holy Ghost. 3 Pope Hildebrand actually saw Christ himself sitting by St. Hugo in Chapter, approving all his dictates with a nod, and suggesting the rules of the Praemonstratensians, brought from heaven by St. Austin. It were easy to produce a hwn- dred instances. But what need we more, when popes, and the church of Rome have assured us of these ? 4 SECTION 25. The claim of extraordinary assistance, and power from above, stands so much upon the same footing, and is so frequent in the Methodists' mouths, that I shall mention but a few instances. " I felt more and more of the divine assistance to-day, says Mr. Whitefield : the Lord endowed me with power from on high. In the midst of my discourse the power of the Lord Jesus came upon me. God enabled me to speak with such irresistible power, that the opposers were quite struck dumb, and confounded." 5 And afterwards he makes this insolent demand on heaven. 6 1 3 Jouru. p. 14. l Tracts, vol. 3. 3 De Horn. Pont. lib. 3. cap. 18. 4 Brr. Monast. May 5. * 5 Journ. p. 23, 30, 440. 6 3 Journ. p. 94. 1 14. 44 The Enthusiasm of Past is thy word : I here demand, And confident expect thy aid. A confidence and imperiousness sufficient; a parallel to which I do not remember among popish saints. SECTION 26. Next for special directions, missions and calls, by immediate revelation. " I assuredly felt I knew it was Jesus Christ that re- vealed himself unto my soul. 1 I know, and am assured that God sent forth his light and his truth. It was revealed to me, that nothing grieved Satan so much as the private socie- ties. Our glorious soul-brother had it revealed to him these two years, that some such as him would be sent into these parts." * More particularly as to missions and calls. " Blessed be God, says Mr. Whitefield, he shows we are teachers sent by him. For (modestly comparing themselves with Christ) no one could do these things, except God were with him. 3 I told the people God called me, and I must away. Intended to preach at Fort-Simons, but, Lord, thou calledst me elsewhere. God shewed me and my friends, that it was his will that I should return for a while to Eng- land. 4 To preach the gospel at Frederica also ; for there- fore am I sent. The Eternal Almighty I AM hath sent me." 5 See now how closely they have copied their great exam- plars. 6 " St Ignatius, and his companions, went to Rome, whither God called him to settle his new order and society. St Peter and St. Paul bring, one a staff, the other a book, to St. Dominic, saying, Begin thy journey ; go, exercise the office which God hath given thee ; preach the gospel. His friends persuading him to stay, St. Dominic, full of the Holy Ghost, answered, let no body go about to stay me. 7 God 1 Whitf. 1 Dealing, sect. 3. Wesley's 1 Journ. p. 34. a Letters. 3 Journ. p. 38. 4 2 Journ. p. 7-9. 5 1 Journ. p. 5. 6 Ribaden. p. 529. 7 Ribaden. p. 595. Methodists and Papists. 45 commands, and his orders must be obeyed. St. Francis returned from the infidels, whom he was unable to convert, warned by a divine revelation. 1 A venerable brother and St. Clare, having consulted the will of God, are agreed by the revelation of the Spirit, that the holy man should go forth to preach the gospel." Some special directions are as follows. " Trusted to God, says Mr. Whitefield, to direct me to a text; and God showed me what I should do.* The Lord gave me a text, and directed me to a method. 1 I have been directed in this manner, (reading scripture on the knee) even in the mi- nutest circumstances, as plainly as the Jews were by Urim and Thummim. 4 The directions, says Mr. Wesley, I re- ceived from God this day, touching an affair of the greatest importance." 5 Let me mention a few directions coming by way of com-r mand, and I assure you of no small importance. 6 " I am going to the house of a wealthy gentleman, says Mr. White- field, whom God has commanded to receive me. How does he everywhere command some or other to receive me ! Indeed Mr. Seward affirms, that the Lord commandeth per- sons everywhere to provide for us." 7 Mr. Wesley, not to be left unprovided for, " came to Mr. Delamotte's, where I expected a cool reception. But God had prepared the way before me I was welcomed in such a manner " 8 Nor is this case without a proper precedent. For we read, that " an honorable matron was commanded by an interior voice to reverence St. Ignatius, and provide him with a ship. And likewise a noble senator at Venice heard a voice directing him to entertain the saint hospitably at his house." * In what manner the entertainers are convinced, and whe- ther they are convinced, of this divine command, I cannot say. But I perceive it is convenient for the Itinerants to give it out that it is God's pleasure and command ; other- 1 Bonaventur. Vit. Franc, c. 9, 12. z 5 Journ. p. 46. 3 7 Journ. p. 66. * 1 Dealing, sect. 3. 5 1 Journ. p. 34. 6 Journ. p. 29,32. 7 Journ, p. 12. 8 2 Journ. p. 7. 9 Orlandin. Hist. Jesuit, lib. 1. n. 33, 35, 46 The Enthusiasm of wise they would not order what they want at a public-house, and then tell the landlord, that he will be damned if he takes any thin"; of them. This shall be proved if required, As I have mentioned internal voices, perhaps the several impulses and impressions of the Methodists may be of this nature. 1 But that instance of an old hardened sinner (given by Mr. Wesley) seems rather of the external kind. " The Saviorr of sinners has saved me. He told me so on Sunday morning. And he said, I should not die till I had heard his children preach his gospel." And that of " the Moravian, who, desiring; God to shew him whether he should leave his wife and children, immediately hears a loud voice saying, Fort, for+, fort; go on, go on." 1 We can match these instances too from popish fanatics. Brother Bustamantius was admonished by a vehement im- pulse, and interior voice, to go to Guipuscua. This voice of God was so efficacious and vehement in his ears, that in- stantly he left his house and business. 1 Gon/aga hears a clear and manifest voice from God, directing him into the society of the Jesuits. 4 A boy, about twelve years old, hears constant inward voices calling him to perfection, and the so- ciety/ God, speaking internally to the heart of St. Alexius, told him that he should not touch his spouse, but leave her : and he left his wife the very first day of marriage, by the pe- culiar warning of God. 6 One may here be allowed to ask what sort of voice that was, which directed the Methodist-preacher at Salisbury to debauch one, at least, of his congregation, to run away with her, and leave his own wife? and in general, with respect to extraordinary influences of the Spirit, and pretences to inspi- ration ; whether Mr. Wesley might not as well have been warned, as offended by his friends the Moravians/ " for talk- ing much against mixing nature with grace, against imagina- / 1 4 Jourii. p. 52. a .luurn. p. 71. 3 Orlandin. p. 394. 4 Baiingh. Aug. IS. 5 Orlandin. vol. 2. p. 177. Ribaden. p. 484. 6 Brev. Rom. July 17. 7 4 Joum. p. 108. Methodists and Papists. 47 tion, and concerning the animal spirits mimicking the power of the Holy Ghost. SECTION 27. Should the preceding gifts of inspiration, revelation, and direction fail, they have another way of knowing the divine will, which is by casting lots ; and par- ticularly by opening the Bible, where the first passage that offers itself to the eye is to be their rule. The Methodists probably learned this determination by lot of the Moravians ; who, says Mr. Wesley, " have a peculiar esteem for lots to decide points of importance 1 as the only way of setting aside their own will, and clearly knowing what is the will of God." Sometimes lots in general are spoken of, without any spe- cification of what sort, or in what manner. 4 " What we were in doubt about, after prayer, we determined by lot," says Mr. Whitefield. " I am come to know assuredly, says Mr. Wesley, that where reason fails, God will direct our paths by lot." J Reason certainly may fail them ; nor do I think they can be assured of God's direction by lot ; but may be under the same perplexity with their relation St. Ignatius ; who being on his adventures, and " coming to si jjlace where two ways met, stood doubting whether he should follow a Moor that had blashphemed the Virgin Mary, and stab him ; or else take the ether way towards Montserrat. 4 In this great per- plexity he took counsel, which the simplicity of a pious mind alone could excuse; namely, to lay the bridle loose on his mule, and let him go which way he would." 5 But opening the Bible for direction seems to be their gene- ral way. Thus Mr. Wesley under some doubt, " I desired my Master to answer for me, and opened his Book." " When tempted by Satan, " all these days I scarce lemember to have opened the Testament, but upon some great and p.ecious promise. In great perplexity, about being weak in the faith ; 1 2 Journal, p. 81. 2 Jourri. p. 5. 3 2 Journal, p. 7, 8. *0rlandin, lib. 1. mr, 16. 5 Maff. Vit. Ign. lib. 1. cap. 3. 6 2 Journ. p. 31, 35. 48 The Enthusiasm of and in trouble and doubt, concerning his own state, and whether he should wait in silence and retirement, the oracle of God is consulted twice. 1 Under great concern for those who were driven about with strange doctrines, I beseeched God to show me where this would end ;* whether he should take a journey to Bristol, and what would be the conse- quence ; desiring not to be accounted superstitious." 3 The Moravians cast lots, whether one over whom Satan had almost got the mastery, should be admitted to the Lord's table ; are directed to admit him. 4 This method of being directed by lot, hath been much in vogue in several ages, and parts of the world ; making no small share of their superstition. The heathens had various ways of doing it : as by jumbling together loose letters, or words, in an urn, and making what sense they could of such as w r ere taken out by chance ; by dipping into some book of high esteem, as Homer, or Virgil, and then apply- ing to their purpose the first passage that offered itself, &c. Reland tells us, that among the Mahometans, the Alcoran is so consulted by way of lot. 5 And the same custom crept in among the Christians, and especially in the worst ages, about the llth and 12th centuries, by dipping in the Bible, which was called the Saints' Lots. Hence, " St. Francis, af- ter betaking himself to prayer, was inspired by the oracle of God, to open the Gospel ; which being opened three times, always lighted on the passion of Christ; whereby the saint was prepared (as by a prophetic warning) to receive the five marks of Jesus, exactly answering those of his Master, by the hand of an angel." 6 So again, the same precious saint, " being resolved upon taking up the rule of evangelical perfection in conjunction with Friar Barnard, goes to prayers, and thrice opening the Gospel, was confirmed in his purpose, by luckily hitting on 1 3 Journ. p. 9, 12. * 4 Journ. p. 80. * 3 Journ. p. 28. 4 2 Journ. p. 69. 5 Rel. Mohamed. p. 120. 6 Bonavent. cap. IS. Conform, fol. 172. Methodists and Papists. 49 these three passages, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all Take nothing with you on the way: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. 1 St. Francis, you see, managed the matter so well, that he opened upon texts of Scripture much more to his purpose than any of our Methodists have done. This practice has generally been condemned by grave au- thors and councils, as superstitious and unwarrantable : and if the Methodists will pretend to justify themselves from the example of Matthias, (the only instance in the New Testa- ment, and that divinely directed) they only incur that almost constant presumption of setting themselves upon an equality with the apostles, &c. Let me here add the observation of Mr. Church, in his Farther Remarks on Mr. J. Wesley. " The reflections of your friend Mr. Whitefield, on this occasion, were worth your ob- serving. Having mentioned your drawing a lot about preach- ing on ' free grace/ and receiving the answer ' preach and print,* he adds, ' I have often questioned, as I now do, whether in so doing you did not tempt the Lord ? A due exercise of religious prudence, without a lot, would have directed you in that matter,' Afterwards he mentions your drawing ano- ther lot, about his returning to London ; which in a letter to him you afterwards supposed might have been a wrong one. This therefore he rightly calls an imaginary warrant; and well observes, that the wrong lot was justly given you, be- cause you tempted God in drawing one." A more judicious sentiment perhaps never dropped from Mr. Whitefield's pen : and yet he may be taxed with an in- consistency in thus declaring against what had been his own practice. Had these two lots turned out agreeably to his own doctrine and intentions, they might have been allowed to come from God. But as they were for ' free grace/ (not suiting with his Calvanistical notions) and for taking a jour- ney he did not like ; they are become of no authority with ' Bonavcnt. cap. 3. Conform, fol. 172. Method. V 50 The Enthusiasm of him : which puts me in mind of the conduct of Pope Ho^ norius towards St. Francis. " The saint had obtained a grant from Christ, that whoever at any time should enter his chapel, should have the benefit of plenary indulgence ; or- dering him however to go to his vicar the pope for his con- formation. Twv srepov psv eZuoxs n%Trjp, sT-pov 8" avevived, but broad awake, I heard one calling aloud, Peter! Peter Wright ! and looking up, the room was as bright as day : and I saw a man in bright clothes, who said, * Pre- pare yourself, your end is -nigh.' He recovered from the illness ; but died within a month." As to the authority which such sort of revelations carry,. Mr. Wesley says this ; " God does now give remission of sins, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost ; 3 and often in dreams and visions of God." But afterwards he speaks more dis- trustfully : " I told them they were not to judge of the Spirit by any dreams, visions, or revelations ; which were of a doubtful and disputable nature, might be from God, and might not." * This might be a caution to themselves never to be over- confident. For my own part, I will not deny that such di- rections may sometimes come from God : but am persuaded that most of our late ones are the effect of imagination or distemper ; and some of them mere counterfeits and impos- tures. Many, I know, even of popish enthusiasts, have suspected worse, and ascribed them to diabolical delusions. JBut more of this hereafter. SECTION 30. Our Methodists talk much of " the great work, which God is now beginning to work over all the earth. ' Brev. Rom. Oct. 55. M Journ. p. 15. 3 3 Journ. p. 49. *lb. p. 6C. Methodists and Papist*. 50 If you had been told, says Mr. Wesley, 1 that the jealous God would soon arise, that he would pour down his Spirit from on high, and renew the face of the earth, would you not desire to see that day 1 Behold, the day of the Lord is come: he is again, visiting and redeeming his people. At this very hour the Lord is rolling away our reproach." " Parted with full conviction, says Mr. Whitefield, that God was going to do great tilings among us. 1 Oh! that we may be any way instrumental." I am far from questioning the truth of that happy state to come, having such strong authority from the sacred writings. But it may be asked, how they know this present time to be the day of that great work ; whether from inspiration, or interpretation of prophetic scripture : and they may be re- minded, that divers warm and enthusiastic heads, as Ma- dam Bourignon, the French prophets, &c. have all set out upon this pretence, have pronounced it to be coming in their own days, and themselves to be the happy instruments ? And how have they been deceived ! SECTION 31. From all this, and from more in the sequel, it has appeared and will appear, that this new dispensation is a composition of enthusiasm, superstition and imposture. When the blood and spirits run high, inflaming the brain and imagination, it is most properly enthusiasm ; which is religion run mad when low and dejected, causing ground- less terrors, or placing the great duty of man in little ob- servances, it is superstition ; which is religion scared out of its senses when any fraudulent dealings are made use of, and any wrong projects carried on under the mask of piety, it is imposture, and may be termed religion turned hypocrite. Should any thing I can offer make some improvement of 1 1 Appeal. Sect. 98, 99. * 3 Journal, page 6. 54 The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists. a serious and sober sense of true religion among us, free from enthusiastic delusions with regard both to faith and good works, it will be sufficient satisfaction : And the be- nefit will be doubled, if by means of the comparison with popery a just detestation of that wicked communion be pre- served, especially if increased. END OF PART I. tHE ENTHUSIASM OF METHODISTS. PART IT. SECTION 1. IN the hope of doing some little service to the cause of true religion, I have ventured to publish a Se- cond Part against the Methodists : wherein I shall farther consider some of the circumstances attending their new ministration; its tendency, influence and effects: not for- getting to honor them with the company of their correspond- ing friends, the enthusiastic saints of the papacy. What first occurs to my thoughts is the boasted success of their preaching, proved by the numbers of their followers, and converts. Here they triumph beyond measure : and perhaps not without some degree of foundation. For considering how inconsiderate and injudicious, how unlearned and unstable, a large portion of mankind is, together with their various infirmities and diseases of mind and body ; it must be al- lowed that the ostentation of a sanctified look, specious address, fantastical oddities, innovations in doctrine and places of teaching, zealous professions of piety, affectation of godly and scripture phrases, and high pretensions to in- spiration, &c. will hardly fail of drawing and deceiving the multitude. Whoever is endowed with such suitable quali- fications need not fear gaining an audience, and leading 56 The Enthusiasm of numbers into "a hundred delusions. He may find persons enough not disposed, or notable, to distinguish " theillapses and inspirations of the Holy Ghost from the illusions, in- stincts and suggestions of the unclean spirit ; from natural and fanatical enthusiasm, from the swellings and vapors of a diseased spleen and heated melancholy, and from the extravagant rovings of a distempered imagination." We may too reasonably hope and believe, that some very profligate and wicked wretches have been prevailed upon by the Methodists to relinquish their evil courses, and seriously repent. But then, if we subduct from the account such of their followers as went only out of curiosity, or derision ; such as were well-disposed and pious persons (though I cannot say judicious) before ; such as have left and bad them adieu upon good and just reasons ; such as have been led into grievous perplexities, distraction, and despair ; such as were scarce in their senses when they went among them, and have quite lost their senses since ; such as have espoused confessedly dangerous and wicked tenets ; and consider the danger all the rest are in, of being betrayed into notions and evils, which they do not perhaps suspect: after these, and other deductions which might be named, the number of their converts will be considerably lessened ; and the good they do nothing like an equivalent for the mischief. But let us hear themselves. Mr. Whitefield says, " Thou- sands and ten thousands follow us : the fire is kindled ; and I know that all the devils in hell shall not be able to quench it. 1 "Well may the devil and his servants rage horribly: their kingdom is in danger. 2 I could think of nothing so much, as Joshua going from city to city, and subduing the devoted nations. 3 With what efficacy and success I have been enabled to preach, tongue cannot express." 4 Mr. Seward : " Our enemies, like the Canaanites, seem to have no spirit left in them ; but fail everywhere because cf us ; 5 ashamed, as it were, to shew their guilty heads." 1 3 Journ. p. 40. * Pag. 61. 3 Pg. 69. * Letters. ' Journ. p. 61. Methodists and Papists. 57 See with what a magnificent air Mr. Wesley boasts of " converting the drunkard, the whoremonger, the oppressor, the swearer, the sluggard, the miser ; and elsewhere, several common prostitutes. 1 No work has been wrought so swiftly, so extensively, since Constantino the Great." This is a specimen (for I might recite fifty times as much) of their success in conversions. And yet we can match them among their elder brethren. " St. Ignatius, said Gregory XV, was like Joshua, great, according to his name, for saving the elect of God ; (Ecclus. 46. 1.) he was so ardent, (for Ignatius signifies fiery) that when he sent forth his missionaries to gain souls, he usually said, Go, set on fire, and inflame every thing." * " St. Francis used to call people together with blowing a horn, (as the Methodists by advertisements) when he was to preach ; and his preaching was so wonderfully moving, that prodigious multitudes of men and women, above all number and computation, and the very harlots were converted. 3 Many inflamed with devotion, and desire of perfection, con- temning all mundane vanities, followed his footsteps; and swiftly did this success increase to the ends of the earth."* " St. Anthony had such a power over men and women, that he converted all sorts of sinners, even usurers, and common strumpets. 5 A certain Jesuit went to the Stews, and made a surprising conversion of multitudes of prostitutes." " St. Francis of Sales brought pver seventy-two thousand heretics to the Catholic faith. 6 St. Dominic so strangely astonished and set on fire the minds of his auditors, his dis- courses were -so forcible and ravishing; that he converted almost an hundred thousand souls, that were strayed and lost." 7 SECTION 2. If we duly weigh matters, how can the Me- 1 Farth. App. p. 34, 85. a Bart. Vit. Ignat. p. 320. 3 Conform, fol. 141. 54. 4 Bonavent. Leg. Franc, cap. 4. 5 Conform, fol. 80. Orlandin.Hist. Jes. Part ii. p. 39. 6 Brev. Monast. Jan. 29. 7 Ribaden. p. 519. 58 The Enthusiasm of thodist-teachers be otherwise than powerful converters'? What heart can stand out against their persuasive eloquence, their extravagantly fine flights and allusions ? Where is any thing so sublime and elevated 1 or sometimes, what so melt- ing, tender and amorous, so soft and so sweet ? You will be in a rapture by reading their own words. In the sublime, " God gives them a text, directs them to a method on the pulpit-stairs; the Lamb of God opens their mouth, and looseth their tongue ; and Sister Williams, who is near the Lord, opens her mouth to confirm it : so that all opposers are struck dumb and confounded. 1 " Jesus rides from congregation to congregation, breathing courage and strength into his Lambs, and carrying all before him. He rides in the chariot of bis gospel most triumphant- ly indeed : And the preacher sits in the chariot of his Lord's dear arms, leaning every day on his bosom, and sucking the breasts of his consolation ; while his banner of love is spread over him : the arrows of the Lord fly through the congrega- tion, and Mr. Whitefield gives them a home stroke. Hea- vily indeed do they drive, when God takes off their chariot- wheels. But when God is anointing the wheels of their souls ; it is sweet to be at full stretch for God ; to come to a saving closure with Christ ; to lay all their concerns on his shoulders ; or leap into a burning fiery furnace without fear, which would serve as a fiery chariot to carry their souls to Heaven. While they see poor sinners hanging as it were by a single hair, insensible of their danger, over the flames of hell." How r pretty is it, when " the infants, babes, and weaklings of grace require daily to be borne on the sides of Christ, and be dandled upon his knees till they come to walk conti- nually under the droppings of his blood ! They see the sw r eet Jesus shewing his lovely face ; and his favors and precious promises drop down his lily-lips like sweet-smelling myrrh. They know that his arms are round them ; for his arms are like the rainbow." 1 See INTRODUCTION, Part n. Sect. 6. Methodists and Papists. 59 What tender, sweet, and endearing appellations ! " Our glorious soul-brothers, and societies of women ; sweet, pre- cious, choice love-leasts ; poor souls under concern, sweet societies of seeking souls ; dear, precious, poor little sweet lambs; among them a gracious melting is visible. Their absent friends they hope are on the top of Pisgah, and they send them a thousand kisses : their deceased, in their silent grave, sweetly sleep in that bed perfumed by our dear Lord. The hearers (says one) were melted into tears ; my heart was full of love; theirs also w r ere much affected: they would run and stop me in the alleys, hug me in their arms, and follow me with wishful looks. They had an overweening fondness for me. Many said, Where thou goest I will go : where thou lodgest I will lodge .^Brother Whitefield preached; it was enough to melt the hardest heart ; for the smiles of a Cherubim were in his countenance." Can you then think it possible such cherubic charms, and such sublimated and perfumed eloquence can be resisted ?' Or can you blame the Methodists, if they vie with the seraphic St. Francis*? 1 " who appeared to his followers in the form of a fiery chariot, whirling up and down ; and was indeed ordained of God, like Elias, to be the chariot and charioteer of spiritual men: his soul rambling through the world, as bright as the sun, like Phaeton in his father's chariot : 3 Christ Jesus remaining in the bosom of his mind, like a handful of myrrh. 4 Inflamed both men and women with an ardent desire to follow his footsteps ; and particularly St. Clara, 5 that virgin dear to God converted to celibacy, the h'rst plant and beautiful white flower, gave a sweet odour, and shined as a star above the rest. One was so inflamed by hearing him, as to say, that none ought to mention the name of that blessed man without licking their lips for joy." c Nor need we think it at all strange, that " divine manifesta- tions come in so fast, that the lambs are scarce able to 1 Brcv. Fran. Oct. 4. a Bonavent. Leg. Fr. cap. 4. 3 Id. cap. 9. 4 Leg. i'ran. cap. 9. 5 Cap. 1. 6 Conform, fol. 18. GO The Enthusiasm of contain themselves; they flow in so fast, that their frail tabernacle is scarce able to sustain them. They know not whether they are in the body, or out of the body : know not where they are, and sink into nothing. The soul makes such sallies, as if it would go out of their body, constrain- ing them to throw themselves upon the ground. The love of God so kindles in the heart, with pains so violent, and yet so ravishing, that the body is almost torn asunder." Such are the ecstatic raptures and ravishments of the Methodists, in their own words : which we may compare with those of Philip Nerius, a canonised saint; " who was so full of heavenly illapses, and divine love, that oftentimes he threw himself upon the ground, and was forced to cry out, It is enough, my dear Lord, it is enough. Withhold a little, I am not able to endure such abun- dance of celestial sweetness. Whereupon the Lord in some measure abated the violence of his heat. But still wounded with the love of God, he incessantly languished, and his heart was so agitated with the impetuous motion of the Spirit, that it fell a beating and leaping with such violence, as must have killed him, without a miracle. ' But the Lord, miraculously enlarged his breast, broke and elevated two of his ribs, to give the heart room to play." : More corresponding circumstances occur in the life of M,. Magdalen of Pazzi ; whom Clement IX, inspired with the lights of the Holy Spirit, canonised, April 28, 1669. " The Spirit of God threw her upon the ground in an ecstasy, when her countenance was shining like that of an incarnate seraphim. Christ gave her so large a share of the myrrhposy of his passion, that frequently under an alienation of her senses she would throw herself on her back on the ground, exclaiming, O Jesus, I can endure no longer ; I cannot partake any more of thy pains. Often in jn these amorous transports she would join herself close to a crucifix, and suck a divine liquor thence, which filled her 1 Ribaden. May 6. ~ Brev. Rora. May 6. Methodists and Papists. Q \ soul with unspeakable sweetness. Her heart was so in- flamed, that she seemed to be dissolved, and about to return to her first nothing. Her private familiar entertainments, and communications with God, so fire,d her breast, that she would exclaim, O Love, I can no longer support your flames, my heart is not able to contain you : and she was obliged to fetch a basin of water, and pour it into her bosom to cool herself. Her dead body was beautiful as a precious relic of Paradise, exhaling an agreeable odour : and the bull of her canonisation begins with the incorrup- tion and sweet odour of her body ; usually termed the odour of sanctity." 1 We are told by Spinellus, 4 " that Christ himself came and performed the funeral-office for a holy virgin at her death : and that he anointed with the sacred oil St. Ly- duina when she was dying/' And it is observable, (and I could bring a hundred instances) that most of the popish saints' dead bodies always remain odorous and uncorrupted (while those of the wicked stink and rot) tho' ever so many hundred years after their burial. This miracle, I suppose in due time will be renewed on the body of the Methodist, " who in her silent grave sweetly sleeps in that bed per- fumed by our dear Lord." For how can a body be other- wise, which Christ hath perfumed and spiced with his own hands ? Let her grave be opened, I dare engage some of the believers will attest it. It is certainly a greater honor than the popish graves receive by being sprinkled with holy water and incense : and may be the effect of some prayer, like that in their office of the sick for the use of the Carmelites ; " O most merciful Lord, let her soul joyfully expire in thy most delicious embrace, and most sweet kiss !" Through this whole parallel you see all is rapture and ecstasy, divine love insupportably violent, but ravishing; all inspiration, all heavenly, all quintessence, all nothing- ' Life of M. of Pazzi, No. 26, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 74, 05. 4 Muria Dcipar. {'ag. 360. C2 The Enthusiasm of ness. And why do not the Methodists equally merit a canonisation ? Either something like this is their due, or else they must be thought to be actuated by a diabolical illusion, or innocent madmen, or infamous cheats. SECTION 3. And may not persons so highly loved, favored, and valued by God and the world, be allowed a little decent pride, and be justly vain of their own worth ? Such indeed has been the case with the Methodists ; and their great swelling words of vanity, and proud boastings, have been carried to a most immoderate and insufferable degree. First for Mr. Whitefield. His first account of God's dealings with him (besides a deep tincture of superstition, enthusiasm, and vain-glory) is such a boyish, ludicrous, filthy, nasty, and shameless relation of himself, as quite defiles paper, and is shocking to decency and modest}-. It is a perfect jakes of imcleanness. And yet he assures us, that " he was much pressed in spirit to publish it, ' the holy Spirit bringing things to his remembrance ; he had for three years prayed for strength to write it, and at last had power given, and was assisted in it." 7 What any man in his senses would be ashamed to own, is piously ascribed to the Holy Ghost. In conformity with the wild and fanatical Teresa, who having published her ow y n life, with all her faults and vanities, saith of it, 3 " I make this relation, which to my knowledge our Lord himself desired long since, but I durst not undertake it. And her other writings the Lord expressly commanded her to publish, And because our Lord told it me, I make a great scruple of either adding, or subtracting, one only syllable." His second dealings is such a thorough and fulsome strain of vain-glory and boasting, self-conceit, self-applause, and self-sufficiency, as shews spiritual pride in lull length, and 1 lutroduct. * 5. Journ. pag. 15. 3 Preface to her Life... Methodists and Papists. 33 in its true colors. The same spirit runs through all his journals, &c. And I verily believe it hath not its parallel in the world. Many have been so bloated with a conceit of their own perfections, as highly to be delighted with the inost nauseous flatterers: but such an inundation of com-r mendation from a man's own mouth, is surely unexampled. Xo man ever so bedaubed himself with his own spittle. It shews some degree of modesty and humility, when " he thinks himself not fit for orders, ' till a worthy friend tolcj Mm, that if St. Paul were at Gloucester he would ordain him ; or when God gives liim favor in the printer's sight, or in the sight of the jailor ;" and it furnisheth him too with a scripture phrase. But he has some grounds for elevation ? " when his name is first in the newspapers, though he can- not tell upon what occasion ; began to grow popular, and had honor even in his own country : * when after sermon enquiry was made who he was, and there was such crowding to hear him : when a hearty groan runs through the con- gregation, when he speaks any thing affecting ; and he qwns the pleasure of hearing the success of Ms discourse upon two little children, whom he made to cry, and go home to their prayers ; and when a little girl of thirteen comes to enquire about the state of her soul, and says she was pricked through and through with the power of the word." 3 All through his journals Mr. Whitefield ostentatiously dis- plays the applauses, acclamations, and huzzas of the people. " The tide of popularity began to run very high : I carried high sails ; thousands and ten thousands came to hear me, my sermons were everywhere called for, when I preached, one might walk upon people's heads : God suffered them (the opposers) not to move a tongue against me : trees and hedges full, all hushed when I began. God only can tell how the hearers were melted down : they would have pluck- ed out their own eyes, and have given them unto me. I was 1 1 Dealing, pag. 37. 4 2 Dealing, pag. 12, 13,21, 3 3 Jouru. p. 36, 57, 61. fi4 The Enthusiasm of crowded, admired, saluted, hands kissed, hugged, they melt, weep, hang upon me, want to salute me : receive me as an angel of God : their hearts leap for joy, bells ring, express their love to me many ways. All agreed it was never seen on this wise before. Great shouts of rejoicing at my staying." But what a sad parting is it always between him and his admirers ! " Strong cries and tears, sighs and groans ; ready to break their hearts, and his. Young and old burst into a flood of tears, like water gushing out of the stony rock. It would melt every one down to see it. Tongue cannot express the sorrow : they weep aloud and sorely, as though mourning for the death of their first-bom." What bragging of favors, entertainments, liberalities and presents, from gentlemen, and especially elect ladies, and honorable women ! " A bank bill of ten pounds, as a pre- sent to myself: this I took as a hint from Providence to go on : [very rightly judged] " and various presents as tokens of their love. ' Thus shall it be done to the man, whom God delighteth to honor." What proclamations of victory and triumph ! " They go on conquering, and to conquer, and see Satan like lightning fall from Heaven ; the devil and his servants rage horribly." Mr. Seward is witness, that as to entertainments, " they find good measure, pressed down, and running over : that hell trembles before our brother Whitefield w r herever he comes ; the kingdom of darkness totters, and is shaken ; and vice skulks its guilty head, and retires to secret corners." * Whitefield again, flushed with success ; " Come ye Phari- sees, come and see the Lord Jesus getting himself the victory. 3 Every thing falls before me : dear Brother Harris re- minded me, and God suggested to me, that now I was like Joshua, subduing the devoted nations, and dividing the land." 4 1 3 Journ. pag. 66. * Jourj). p. 12, 70, 73. 3 4 Journ. pag. 1. * 3 Juvirn pag. 69. and Letters. Methodists and Papists. 65 But all this will rather remind others of Sacheverel's triumphant progress through the land, dispensing his kisses, and collecting his presents, &c. or of a royal oculist under- taking infallibly to cure all defects of the eyes, or to make them stark blind. Whether their treatment be smooth, or rough ; all is food for their vanity. " Blessed be God, who disposed the re- verend Mr. Penrose, and others, to lend me their pulpits. ' forbid to preach in a church, which rejoiced me greatly. Lord, why dost thou thus honor me !" He has indeed the grace to feel, and be assured of, this spiritual pride, and often makes confession of it. " Hypocrisy crept into every action : 2 self-love, self-will, pride and envy, so buffeted me in their turns : Proud, hel- lish thoughts used to crowd in upon me. Out of pride put down in my diary what I gave away : find pride creeping in at the end of almost every thought, frequently enlighten- ed to see the pride and selfishness of my heart." 3 Whatever liberty the saints may have to boast such great things, and, as the, prophet speaks, to burn incense unto vanity ; or however consistent it be with the character of an enthusiast, it is perfectly inconsistent with that charity, the love of God and man, which vaunteth not itself, is not puff- ed up, doth not behave itself unseemly. In comparing the popish fanatics on this article, the paral- lel will be a little defective, because they were not such con- stant and nauseous trumpeters of their own praises ; leaving that work to their brethren and legendary writers; from whom we may pick up enpugh. " St. Bernardin was the most famous preacher in all Italy ; the hearers hung upon his lips, they are perfectly astonished, immovable, admire him as another apostle sent from God. 4 Both sexes come before day into the open 1 3 Journ. p. 32. a 1 Deal. 22. 38, 39, 40. 3 5 Journ. p. 11. 4 Offic. Ord. Min. May c3, ' Method. E 66 The Enthusiasm of places, to get a place to hear him, cry and sigh at his discourses. Brother Sylvester (a Jesuit) ran up and down everywhere hunting for souls ; all sorts of people flocked from towns and villages, offering themselves and their good things. Such strength did God give him. " St. Francis's words w ere not empty, and meriting laughter ; but perfumed with the odor of divine revelation, and turn- ing his audience into a vehement stupor and admiration. z Young and old, small and great, both sexes, crowded after this new man sent down from Heaven, this 1'resh flower of the world ; not room to hold the company, no treading on the ground. His words were a burning fire, sharp arrows drawn from the quiver of God, piercing the heart. God so exalted him with glory, and made him to be honored where- ever he came, that all came out to meet him, to receive him with the utmost reverence and devotion, not as a man, but as an angel, making him valuable presents, and begging him to stay with them. 3 And happy were they, who could hear, or see, speak to him, or touch him. Even creatures void of reason, sheep and asses, would run to hear him preach in the fields. The saint cannot help owning his pride, and particularly in giving a mantle to a woman out of vanity ; and that when the people honored him for his sanctity, and kissed his hands, he received it with great delight. 4 Their respect to him, he says, is nothing in respect of what they ought to show ; they are gainers by it, because they hereby recog- nise God, and honor him in his creature. St. Anthony's words were as flames kindling the heart, drew sobs and tears from his auditors, who were happy could they but kiss his hand, or touch his garment. 5 St. Ignatius was remarkable for his frequent relapses into his old strain of vain-glory. 6 St. Peter of Verona was re- 1 Orlandin. Lib. i. p. 269. * Brev. Francisc. Oct. 5. 3 Conform. Fol. 280, 281. Ibid. Fol. 48. 5 Ribaden. pag. 89, 90. 6 Ribaden. p. 285. Methodists and Papists. 07 verenced through all Italy like an apostle ; received every- where with public and solemn joy, with throngs who came to kiss his hand, and his habit." As to the Methodists being the chief object of the devil's hatred, because they are to destroy his kingdom, their boast- ing comes too late ; that having been effected before by their elder brethren. * For " there was a horrid commotion in hell at St. Francis's birth, because the devils knew that hell was to be destroyed by him, and his society: For which reason they aimed their spite principally against him. The devil was enraged with spite and hatred against St. Ignatius for the same reason; and they often declared in what fear and awe they stood of him ; knowing that he was to demolish their kingdom: they acknowledged that no sect in the universe was more -odious to them than the Jesuits." 2 Mr. Wesley, I confess, is not so nauseous and constant in this strain of vain-glory : he seems to lay his plot deeper, relating mostly what may redound to his honor, and then leaving his proselytes and others to judge. Sometimes, however, he cannot help breaking out into this same confi- dence of boasting. " I think verily, if the gospel be true, I am safe : for I give all my goods to feed the poor, give my body to be burned, drowned, or whatever God shall appoint, I shew my faith by my works, by staking my all upon it ; therefore are my ways not like other men's ways." 3 Again, " Are they read in philosophy ? So was I. In ancient or modern tongues? So was I also." With a long string of self-commendation . " I left London, 4 went to Bristol, surprised when I went into the room, just after my brother had ended his sermon. Some wept aloud: some clasped their hands: some shouted : the rest sang praise. Art thou come, says* another, thou blessed of the Lord?" s A strange sort of 1 Conform. Fol. 52. 2 Ribaden. p. 531. Gomez. Elog. Jesuit, pag. 486, 3 1 Journ. p. 67, 68, 69. 4 4 Journ. p. S5. 5 Pag. 96. C8 The Enthusiasm of tumultuous triumph at a religious meeting to hear the word. But such honor have all the saints. " In applying which my soul was so enlarged, that me- thought 1 could have cried out (in another sense than poor vain Archimedes 1 ) Give me where to stand, and I will shake the earth." * Were Archimedes alive, surely he would see reason to return the compliment. But, high as this boast is of his abilities, I think there remains a higher instance of his sufficiency and presumption, in speaking of himself and his brother. " The wisdom of God has for many years, in a remarkable manner, guarded against this pretence, (i. e. of not employing fit instruments) with respect to my brother and me in particular. What persons could, in the nature of things, have been (antecedently) less liable to exception, with regard to their moral character at least, than those the Allwise God hath now employed ? Indeed I cannot devise what manner of men could have been more unexceptionable on all accounts." 3 One might here well ask the question, which himself puts to the Infidels, " May you not discover, through a thou- sand disguises, pride, vanity > thirst of praise, even (who would believe it?) of knaves and fools ?" 4 Or, do you think, that if any regular clergyman should vaunt at this rate, and proclaim himself the fittest on all accounts for the highest employments, he would not soon lose his character; per- haps become the public laughter, and be hissed out of his place ? I can at present think of no comparison adequate to this of Mr. Wesley and his brother, but that of St. Francis and St. Dominic ; the story of whom we have in many authentic writers. s " When Christ had lifted up his hand, with three lances in it, ready to destroy mankind for their wickedness, the Virgin Mary 6 prevailed upon him to stop his hand, till 1 See Appendix, Part i. 2 3 Journ. p. 48. 3 Farther App. pag. 114, 115. * Farther App. pag. 71. 5 Ribaden. pag. 574. Balingh. Aug. 4. 6 Surius. Tom. iv. Aug. 5. Methodists and Papists. 69 two servants and clients of her's, St. Dominic and St. Francis, should be sent to reform the world by their labors and preaching." They are the same pair of saints, whom the Pope in a vision saw manifestly supporting the tottering Lateran on their shoulders : whereby his infallible holiness found himself immediately directed by Heaven to confirm their respective orders and rules, though averse to it before. Brev. Roman. Oct. 5. Lect. 6. and Ribaden. pag. 574. Mr. Whitefield, I observed, often owns his own pride : x and Mr. Wesley says, " by the most infallible of proofs, inward feeling; I am convinced of pride, &c." I shall take their word for it, and proceed to observe, how their followers soon catch the contagion, and are naturally and easily puffed up with a fancied superior knowledge, gifts, and graces; after being cajolled by their leaders with ample promises, expectations and assurances. The accurate author of Observations on their Conduct * justly asks, " whether those exalted strains in religion, and an imagination of being already in a state of perfection, are not apt to lead men into spiritual pride, and to a contempt of their fellow-Christians ; while they consider them as only going on in the low and imperfect way ; and into a dists- teem of their superiors, as in a much lower dispensation ?" And Mr. Law (whom they sd much admire on other ac- counts ; and wiiom I shall have occasion to quote again) in his Treatise of Regeneration, " Now who may be thought the most likely to come into this religion ? [He is speaking of the Methodists, and their doctrines.] Not he, who is deeply humble, that abhors self-justification. 3 Is there not likely to be self-seeking, self-confidence, self-trust, self-deceit? Particular impressions, sensible convictions, strong tastes, high satisfactions, if much sought for, or rested in, they minister food to a spiritual self-love, and lay the founda- tion of spiritual pride. They may fill us with self-satisfac- tion, and self-esteem, and prompt us to despise others that 1 1 Journ. pag. 64. * Pag. 10. 3 Pag. 85. 88. 94. 70 The Enthusiasm of want them, as in a poor, mean, and reprobate state. ' With much more well deserving the serious consideration of the Methodists. Of such a tendency to pride, exemplified in fact, Mr. Wesley himself gives us several instances. " I met with one, who having been lifted up with the abundance of joy which God had given her, had fallen into such blasphemies and vain imaginations, as are not common to men. In the afternoon I found another instance, nearly, I fear, of the same kind ; one, who after much of the love of God shed abroad in her heart, was become wise far above what is written. 1 I earnestly besought them all to keep clear of vain speculations. While we were in the room, Mrs. J s took the Bible to read : but on a sudden threw it away, saying, I am good enough. I will never read or pray more : I don't desire to be any better than I am. She spoke many things to the same effect; plainly showing that the spirit of pride, and of lies, had the full dominion over her." 3 I was with one, who told me, " that hitherto she had been taught of man, but now she w r as taught of God only." She added, " that God had told her, not to partake of the Lord's Supper any more, since she fed upon Christ continu- ally." 3 O who is secure from Satan's transforming himself into an angel of light ? It were to be wished, that the teachers themselves would duly weigh their own reflections ; and that all others would abstain from such a dispensation, which confessedly leads people into these horrid experiences of blasphemy and pride. The famous enthusiast Mrs. Bourignon, who assumed the character of an inspired, (with whose writings I find some of the Methodists are not acquainted ; as if they had not wild- nesses enough in their own brains ;) 4 has the acuteness to 1 4 Journ. pag. 54. * Ibid. pag. 66. 3 Ibid. pag. 80. 4 Solid Virtue, p. 110. Methodists and Papists. 7 1 observe, " that the presumption of assurances is the devil's device, deluding people by sensible consolations and sweet- ness, and bringing them into the utmost peril : that the devil fastens men to these sensibilities, and makes them thereby vain and proud. When we take pleasure in them, we turn from God. It is the devil's snare." SECTION 4. One would think their bladder of pride and vain-glory were now sufficiently swelled: but it seems it must be blown up more. One of their preachers especially, and sometimes others of them, are so presumptuous as to be fond of comparing themselves with patriarchs, prophets, and apostles ; and even with Christ himself. They cannot open the Bible, and thereby turn the Holy Scriptures into a lottery, but they are sure of a prize ; some panegyric upon themselves and proselytes ; or some special direction and instruction. They cannot read or hear les- sons, psalms, epistles and gospels, but they have sagacity enough to find something peculiarly concerning themselves. And they seem to be intent upon this very purpose ; as if the whole Bible were a sort of prophecy (designed at least by way of accommodation) of their mission, and entirely interested in the honor and advancement of their valuable persons and important whims. Former fanatical saints will supply us with sufficient parallels of this nature ; particularly the same Mrs. Bourig- non, whose sagacity found out " many things in Scripture which were fulfilled in her : she was the woman foretold in the Apocalypse, that had the church in herself, clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet. She made herself equal to, if not greater than, the apostles, who under- stood only in part. Jesus was but partly the seed of the woman ; with some hints that she and her works were com- pletely so." But for this sort of presumption I do not know a fuller comparison than the Book of Conformities between the Lives 72 The Enthusiasm of of Jesus Christ and St. Francis. It is a large folio, written by Bartholomaeus de Pisis, applying most of the magnificent predictions in the Bible to St. Francis, making him better than several of the apostles, and even superior to Christ as to miracles. The book was printed at Milan, 1510, with the licence and approbation of the general chapter of the Franciscans, as written by the favor of God, and wanting no correction. From this edition was extracted the Alcoran of the Franciscans. But it seems correction was afterwards found necessary ; and the book was re-published at Bononia, in 1590, (which is the edition I use) wherein many of its extravagant fables and blasphemies are omitted. To begin then. ' " God, says Mr. Whitefield, separated me even from my mother's womb for the work, i. e. Method- ism." As he did Isaiah, ch. xlix. 1. and Jeremiah i. 5. Christ so loved Magdalen of Pazzi, that he chose her for his spouse from her mother's womb.* " My sufferings were of an uncommon nature; Satan seemed to have desired me in particular, to sift me as wheat." Because Christ said this of St. Peter. 3 When he is ill, " fully convinced that Satan had as full a possession given over my body, as he had once over Job's." 4 When stupid, and " unable to compose any thing, 5 I found a quotation out of Ezekiel, that young prophet, thou shalt be dumb ; but when I speak unto thee, then shalt thou speak ; which made me quite easy." The same was St. Francis's case. 5 When in his surplice to be ordained, he is like Samuel standing before the Lord in a linen ephod. 7 After ordination, " I feel the Holy Ghost as much as Elisha did when Elijah dropt his mantle. 8 A double portion 1 1 Dealing, pag. 11. * Life,. 1. 3 1 Dealing, pag. 36. + Ibid. p. 37. 5 Ibid. p. 67. 6 Conform. Fol. 138. 7 1 Dealing, pag. 68. * 3 Jour. pag. 18. Methodists and Papists. 73 of his Spirit is upon me indeed." 'St. Francis was like Elisha, by possessing a double prophetic spirit. With a rabble at his heels, " he is like Joshua, conquer- ing the devoted nations, and dividing the land." With respect to the established clergy, " Though we are but few, and stand as it were alone, like Elijah ; and though, like the priests of Baal, they are many in number, yet I doubt not but the Lord will appear for us." 1 In one of his reveries, " he walks with God in the garden and sees him face to face ;" as Adam and Moses did. " Brother Sylvester, a Franciscan, talked with God as one friend doth with another, like another Moses. Mrs. Bou- rignon had communion with God, as familiar as one child with another." On reading the first lesson, " about the opposition to Aaron's priesthood, 3 God determining who was in the right, by causing his rod to blossom, when the other rods produced nothing : So let it happen, O Lord, to me, thine unworthy servant." On reading the second lesson, " where St. Paul recounted his sufferings for Christ, against the insinuations of the false apostles; blessed be God, I have, in most things there recorded, in some small degree had fellowship with the apostle ; and before I die, I doubt not but I shall sympathise with him in most other articles. 4 The people were intent upon me : their eyes bespoke the language of their hearts : each seemed to say, Thou art the man." " The lessons, you say, sir, were so very remarkable, that in reading you could not forbear blushing much;" which shows that you made the application. The clergy are the rebels against Aaron's ministry, the clergy are the false pro- phets : you are Aaron, you St. Paul : and did not you blush in writing this ? The insinuation is as modest as your prayer 1 Conform, fol. 278. 2 5 Journ. p. 31. 3 3 Journal, p. 30. 4 Ibid. 74 The Enthusiasm of is charitable, that no teacher's labors and preaching may produce any thing, except your own. You was observed to be a cherubim in preaching : and St. Francis one of the seraphims. 1 And yet this will not suffice: you must even compare yourself with Christ, and boldly apply to your own reverence what was spoken of him. Thus, " At my first setting out I grew in favor both with God and man."* At some opposition from the clergy you say, " Had another come in his own name, him they would have received." They have no mission; come when they are not called ; you are the sent of God. 3 Accordingly, " Lord thou calledst me. Lo ! I come to do thy will :* and, blessed be God, there is one coming after me ;" meaning, I suppose, Mr. Wesley. In preaching, " my heart was full of God, and I spake as one having authority." 5 Spoken of Christ, Matt. vii. 29. So also St. Ignatius spoke, tanquam potestatem kabeus, as one having authority. 6 " Had the pleasure of seeing my audience so much in- creased no less than twenty thousand present. 7 Blessed are the eyes which see the things which we see ." Words pecu- liar only for those who saw Christ in the flesh. Luke x. 23. So the disciples of St. Francis, fore-knowing his destina- tion to honor, were like Abraham, who rejoiced to see Christ's day, and were glad ; 8 and this foretold their seeing St. Francis. During his attendance on public worship ; " In the second lesson were these remarkable words, And the high priests, and the Scribes, and the chief of the people sought to de- stroy him, but they could not find what they might do to him : for all the people were attentive to hear him." 9 1 Conform, fol. 273. * 1 Deal. p. 33. 3 3 Journ. p. 29. 4 Ibid. p. 64. s 3 Journ. p. 108. 6 Ribaden. p. 549. 7 3 Journ. p. 55. 8 Conform, fol. 31. 9 5 Journ. p. SO. Methodists and Papists. . 75 In expectation of meeting his disciples : " When Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him ; for they were all waiting for him. 1 These last words were remarkably pressed upon me, when I was consulting God, whether I should return to England." In the melancholy hour of parting from his disciples : a " They weep for Mr. Whitefield as though they were mourn- ing for the death of their first-born." " At the thoughts of parting, says Mr. Seward, with so dear a companion as Brother Whitefield, I could think of nothing but Christ's parting from his disciples, and his telling them, It is expe- dient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the Com- forter will not come : but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 3 And Jesus Christ was not worse than his word. I was comforted for the absence of Brother Whitefield by this text, A little while, and ye shall see me, and again a little while, and ye shall not see me." Had any one but a saint thus applied our Lord's words, it would have looked like profane drollery. But luckily it jumps in with St. Dominic's words, at whose beck the devils trembled, when he was leaving this world : " Weep not, my dearest friends, nor let my corporeal departure trouble you : I shall be more useful to you in the place whither I am going, than I was here : and you will have me a better advocate after my death, than you could have me in this life." 4 " One day perceiving an uncommon drought, and disa- greeable clamminess hi my mouth, and using things, but in vain, to allay my thirst, it was suggested to me, that when Christ on the cross cried out, I thirst, his sufferings were near at an end. Upon which I cried out, I thirst ! I thirst ! soon after I was delivered," 5 Is not this enough to make one's ears tingle ? 1 Journ. p. 18. * 3 Juurn. p. 61. 3 Journ. p. 15. 26. * Anthonin. Florentin. See Morna-iMysteriumlniquitatis, p. 316. * 1 Dealing, j.. 48. 76 The Enthusiasm of But there is worse still. He presumes to rob our Saviour of his very office of Redeemer. " Though Satan for some weeks had been biting my heel, God was pleased to show me, that I should soon bruise his head." ' In another place, indeed, he allows his brother Methodists a share of this pre- rogative : " Though Satan is permitted to bruise our heel, yet we shall in the end bruise his head." * But in both places this robbery is committed without any allowance to Christ, or intimation of his doing it by Mr. Whitefield's means, or instrumentality of the Methodists. The Papists assign this saving office to the Virgin Mary, ipsa conteret serpentis caput, she shall bruise the serpent's head : and Madam Bourignon is vain enough to publish, that Jesus Christ was partly the seed of the woman, but that her doctrines and writings were to be so in the full accomplishment. But at length, it seems, the honor belongs to Mr. Whitefield and Company. Nor is this much unlike the blasphemous saying of the Franciscans, " that Jesus Christ saved the world before St. Francis came, but he afterwards." Whatever excuses may be made, or however Mr. White- field may disclaim any such exalted intention ; to this high degree of presumption the words, as they stand in his jour- nals, do in reality amount. And we may reasonably think, that such persons, by such expressions, either are bur- lescjuing the Scriptures, or ran mad with pride. According to a very favorable construction, " vanity of vanities : all is vanity." And seeing not another, but their own lips thus extol them, it brings to mind the character of that anti- christian power, (Rev. xiii. 5, 6,) to whom was given a mouth speaking great things, and he opened his mouth in blasphemy. Upon our charging the Methodists " with making them- selves like the apostles, Mr. Wesley calls this a silly objection, because every man ought in some respects to be like apostles, in holy tempers, exemplariness of life, labors 1 Deal. p. 46. * 3 Journ. p. 3G. Methodists and Papists. 77 for the good of souls." 1 Who doubts it? or blames any mor- tal for it 1 It is not for making the apostles an example of holiness, &c. that we fix our charge on the Methodists ; but for unholiness, in proud boastings of a like dignity and autho- rity ; for pretensions to inspiration, and other extraordinary gifts, and miraculous powers, (as will farther appear anon) and even comparing themselves with our Lord. Instead of our objection being silly, their solution of it is shuffling and prevaricating. The wind hath bound them up in her wings, and carried them away into the regions of vanity, to the bor- ders of blasphemy. SECTION 5. Another presumptuous flight usual among enthusiasts, is the affectation of prophesying, and other mira- culous gifts and operations : a supposed power of this nature not only swelling their vanity, but promoting their cause ; * as it gratifies a natural itch of peeping into futurity, and tends to induce a belief of their divine inspiration. And this also is an article in charge against Methodism. First for prophecy. Mr. Whitefield was a very early nibbler at this, arid a great dealer in omens, presages, and other divinations concerning himself and his new dispensation. Nor can we read the lives of any great men, but we find such kind of auguries, relating to their birth, exploits, and for- tunes. And although what I shall mention may seem tri- vial and ridiculous, it will however show the man, and has no doubt had a due influence on his followers. First in order is the circumstance of his being born in an inn, the Bell-Inn at Glocester, " which was of great ser- vice to me, says he, and excited my endeavors to follow the example of my dear Saviour, who was born in a manger belonging to an inn :" 3 i. e. being born in an inn makes him like Christ, who was not bom in an inn ; nor, that I or he can tell, in a manger belonging to an inn. From the circum- stance of the sign of the Bell, he might more aptly have 1 Farther Appeal, p. 106. a See Introduct. p. ii, 4. 3 1 Dealing, p. 8. 78 The Enthusiasm of prophesied, that in time he should become as sounding brass, or the bells everywhere ring for him, on making his pub- lic entrance. His omen however corresponds to that of the famous Pope Hildebrand, whose father being a carpenter, it was thence presaged, that he should be Christ's vicar, and have uni- versal dominion. And no less a man than the Pope's champion, Baronius, 1 hath assured us, that his being like his Saviour, the carpen- ter's son, and his carving out merely by chance, before he knew letters, dominabitur a mari ad mare, he shall rule from sea to sea, were certainly divine ostents. To complete the comparison too, it is possible Mr. Whitefield may have been so happy as to write this presage before he knew letters. The other circumstance, that " his mother used to say, while he was an infant, that she expected more comfort from him than any other of her children," * has variety of parallels in the Popish legends, where the mother's dreams are so often made prophecies of the son's grandeur. 3 " When St. Francis was but in a secular state, his mother, by divine influence, said, What do you think that son of mine will turn out? By grace he will be a child of God. 4 St. Dominic's mother, besides her dream of having a dog in her womb, with a burning torch in his mouth, had the good news, by revelation, that she should have a son endowed with many gifts and virtues." 5 " One morning I said to my sister, God intends some- thing for me, will provide for me some way that we cannot apprehend. How I came to say these words I know not. But God afterwards showed me they came from him. I dreamed, that I was to see God on Mount Sinai : this made a great impression upon me, and a gentleAvoman, to whom I told it said, George, this is a call from God. 6 One night an unaccountable, but very strong impression was made 1 Annal. 1073. No. 16. 2 Annal. 1073. No. 16. 3 Conform, fol.17. 4 Ribaden. p. 570, 5 Ibid. p. 18. 6 Ribaden. p. 22. Methodists and Papists. 79 upon my heart, that I should preach quickly. God has since showed whence that impression came." A notable impression truly, that one designed for a scholar should come to preach. 1 But in the second edition of his Dealings, when he recollects that he was now in print, he cunningly slips in, by way of amendment to his dream, " that I should preach and print quickly," which is prophesying of a thing after it came to pass. He has prophetic notice of a future conversation with a lord, and of his money jingling in his hand. " God was pleased to give me previous notice of it. 2 I dreamed that I was talking with his lordship, and that he gave me some gold, which seemed to sound again in my hands. Afterwards he made me a present of five guineas, which did sound again in my hands." You hereby see the man, and his superstitiously enthu- siastic head. Otherwise it would be as idle a thing to repeat, as in him to write, these frivolous omens, dreams, impres- sions, revelations, all prophetical. There is a plain intimation also of this prophetic spirit in Mr. Wesley. " For some time I had visited a soldier in prison every day. But I told him, Do not expect to see me any more, I believe Satan will separate us for a season. Accordingly, the next day I was informed, that the com- manding officer had given strict orders, that neither Mr. Wes- ley, nor any of his people, should be admitted." 3 But in the progress of their ministry they rise higher, and come to predictions of greater things, with regard to them- selves, and increase and dilatation of the family of Metho- dism. 4 Hence " the great work, which God intends, and is now beginning to work over all the earth." Hence, says Mr. Whitefield, " God will make his po\ver to be known in me. And yet I shall see greater things than these. I shall be exalted. There certainly will be a fulfilling of those 1 Ribaden. p. 13. * 1 Dealing. 3 4Journ. j>.30. 4 2 Journ. p. 19.35. 80 The Enthusiasm of things which God by his spirit hath spoken unto my soul. There are many promises to be fulfilled in me. This, I know ; what I have spoken from God will come to pass : Lo! it will!" 1 " Our glorious soul-brother had it revealed to him in spirit, these two years, that some such as he should be sent of God into these parts." ; " The Lord revealed himself to a child about seven years old in an amazing manner : in a rapture, and by the un- common earnestness the spirit gave her to wrestle for the churches, she thought that an uncommon work would be wrought on the earth. Many such instances of the outpour- ing of the spirit we have among us." Sometimes Mr. Whitefield throws out his predictions of the persecutions he is to undergo, and, according to his usual modesty, in analogy to the sufferings of Christ : " Yet a lit- tle while, and a suffering time will come. I cannot follow him now, but I shall follow him hereafter. My hour is not yet come. I find the infinite wisdom of God in sending me to England. But God will manifest his mighty arm in the salvation of Georgia." 3 Where, besides the gift of prophecy, we have a new argu- ment for the infinity of God's wisdom, which I hope all future writers on the divine attributes will remember, viz. the sending of Mr. George Whitefield from Georgia into England. Popish legends are stuffed with boasts of this sort. " St. Francis rising from sleep in great joy, and being asked the reason of such a transport, answered prophetically, * I know that I shall be a great prince.' Another time, being in prison, yet highly exulting, cries out, ' What do you think of me ? I shall yet be adored over all the earth.' 4 One day he prophe- sied, with a loud voice, of a church which should hereafter become a monastery of females, by whom God should be 1 3 Journ. p. 3. 16. 24. a Letters. 3 3 Journ. 11, 12. 15. 90. 4 Conform, fpl. 234. Mdhodists and Papists. 81 glorified. And it was fulfilled to a letter, becoming in time the monastery of St. Clara. 1 Once, being in a rapture, and the bosom of his mind dilated, he saw clearly what should happen in futurity to himself and children. " Be comforted, and rejoice in the Lord, my dearest, nor be dejected or afraid, because we are few and simple ; because it has verily been shown me from the Lord, that he will increase us into a great multitude, multiply and enlarge us." * God gave the gift of prophecy to St. Anthony ; he foretold to a certain lady, that God would give her a son that should be great in the Lord's church, a Franciscan friar, and a mar- tyr. And so it happened. 3 A holy nun declared, that while she was praying for the ^ood of the church, and reformation of manners, God fore- showed her from above, that the society of Jesuits should arise, who, as new apostles, should take pains in working conversions over all the world. 4 Numbers of young female prophetesses are easily supplied out of the Pope's budget (as St. Bridget, Catherine of Sienna, Hildegard, St. Rosa, Teresa, &c.), who all foretold wonder- ful things of themselves, and the several religious orders. The light of prophecy is indeed one of their boasted marks of the true church, of which they give a hundred instances, and challenge Protestants to produce the like. Would they but come among the Methodists, they might see their chal- lenge answered, and perhaps be induced to embrace them as brethren, or even to give them the right hand of fellowship. SECTION 6. The same may be said with regard to mira- cles, another mark of the true church, which their enthusiastic impostors, and most others, have been fond of, as one of the chief and most awful proofs of their pretensions. They know the vulgar are ever delighted, amazed, and drawn, by any 1 Conform, fol. 234. a Bonavent. Leg. Fr. c.3. 3 Ribaden. p. 393. 4 Orlandin. Hist. Jes. part ii. p. 370. Method. F 82 The Enthusiasm of thing of the marvellous, especially if heightened into the miraculous ; and thereby easily persuaded of the wonder- monger's divine mission. Here also the Methodists have been dabbling. Some instances of an extraordinary nature, procured by the merits and intercession of the Methodists, I shall reserve for another chapter ; and shall here only point out a few cases, containing the miraculous favors of Heaven towards them- selves: sufficient, however, to prove a claim of miracles among them. Thus, when " Mr. Seward fell from his horse without the least hurt, not so much as of his foot against a stone ; the reason given is, God's sending his angel to preserve him:" * which is much such a favor as Philip Nerius received, " who falling into a deep ditch, was miraculously held, partly in the air by an angel, and partly drawn forth by the hairs of his head, without any harm :"* or that of St. Columb, " who seeing a boy falling from the top of a house, commanded an angel to fly in the twinkling of an eye, and hold him up before he could touch the ground. The angel obeyed; and the boy was unhurt." 3 " Lost in a wood, God sent a guide to direct us right,"* says Mr. Whitefield. In the same manner, " God, pitying a certain holy Jesuit who had lost his way, immediately sent him a guide." s In order to receive power to preach, and preach the more effectually, Mr. Whitefield says, 6 " I had a great hoarseness, and was deserted before I went up into the pulpit, but God strengthened me, so as to be heard by all. 7 God took away my hoarseness, that I could lift up my voice like a trum- pet." 8 Mr. Wesley, in the same case, is supernaturally cured several times. " So weak that I could hardly stand, or get 1 Seward,Journ.p.86. * Ribaden. p. 860. 3 Messingh. Vit.Sanct.p.175. 4 Whitefield, 5 Jour n. p. 34. s Franc. Annal. p.361. 6 3 Journ. p. 4. 7 See Appendix, part i. 8 3 Jourii. p. 9. Methodists and Papists. 83 out of bed, at length made a shift to drag myself to Short's Gardens, read those words (though scarce intelligibly, for my voice too was almost gone) : ' Whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate.' In a moment, both my voice and strength returned. From that time I found such bodily strength. 1 My bodily strength quite failed; yet my weak- ness was suspended, While I was calling sinners to repent- ance. 2 At our love-feast, besides the pain in my back and head, and a fever, I was seized with such a cough, that I could hardJy speak. At the same time came strongly into my mind, ' These signs shall follow them that believe.' I called on Jesus aloud to increase my faith. While I was speaking iny pain vanished. The fever left me. My bodily strength returned. And for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain. Another time, seized with such a pain, that I could not speak ; I knew my remedy, and immediately kneeled down. In a moment the pain was gone. 3 I quite lost my voice : but it was immediately restored ; and I spent half an hour in exhortation and prayer without any hoarseness." 4 Some observations concerning these pretences to instan- taneous and supernatural cures, will follow hereafter. I shall here, as usually, subjoin the parallel, as to the cure of the hoarseness. " St. Bernardin, a Franciscan, finding himself unfit to preach, on account of the weakness of his voice, and a hoarseness, by imploring the assistance of God, was, not without a miracle, relieved from that impediment. 5 A reli- gious nun, devoted to St. Xavier, famed for skill in music and a fine voice, had her voice lost by a hoarseness for ten years. At last, determined to sing on St. Xavier's festival, she declares, that the saint would restore her voice. Behold a miracle ! On the morning of his festival her voice is reco- vered to its ancient sweetness, and she never sung better in her life." 6 St. Rosa, I confess, did not come off quite so 1 4 Journ. p. 79. 2 Ibid. p. 83. 3 Ibid. p. 77. 4 Ibid. p. 92. 5 Brev. Rom. May 5JO. Lect. 5. 6 Franc. Ann. Jes. p. 368. 84 Tlie Enthusiasm of well. For, " being very ill of a sore throat, Jesus Christ, her spouse, came to visit her, and invited her to play with him to divert her pain. She insisted that the winnings should be whatever the winner pleased. The cards were played, and she won the first game; and demanding instantly a relief of her sore throat ; it was so immediately. But her spouse insisting to play another game, she lost it, and the pain of her throat returned and increased." ' The same accounts we have of God's clearing up the wea- ther, for the sake of the Methodists and company. " It rained very hard.: but upon prayer that God would be pleased to withhold the rain, it was done immediately " z " Preached at Kennington : not above ten thousand peo- ple, and thirty coaches. Rained most part of the day : how- ever, God was pleased so visibly to interpose in causing the weather to clear up, and the sun to shine out just as I began, that I could not avoid taking notice of it to the people in my discourse." 3 Does he think the weather would not have cleared up, and the sun shone, if he had not preached ? But a sort of mira- cle must be made of it. And yet, it seems, the miracle is much the same, if it happens to rain. For, " preached at Kennington, and God was pleased to send rain: and as soon as the rain came, I received uncommon strength from above." 4 Mr. Wesley too says, "A violent storm of rain begun about the middle of the sermon. But so much the more was his power present to heal. Our hearts danced for joy." 5 Mr. Wesley, " travelling on foot in the night, in a heavy rain, weary, and not knowing his way, has a group of mira- cles to relieve him in each particular. O that thou wouldst stay the bottles of heaven ! Or, at least, give me light, or an honest guide, or some help in the manner thou knowest ! Presently the rain ceased; the moon broke out; and a 1 Vit. Rosse, c. 15. a Whitef. 3 Journ. p. 93. 3 Ibid. p. 94. 4 Ibid. p. 96. 5 4 Journ. p. 86. Methodists and Papists. 85 friendly man overtook me, who set me on his own horse, and walked by my side, till we came to Mr. Gambold's door." * Mr. Wesley, being reproved by Mr. Church for this enthu- siasm and presumption, says, " he would not have us look upon it as miraculous, but a signal instance of God's par- ticular providence." But notwithstanding this distinction, if this signal instance of particular providence be effected in a miraculous manner, where is the difference ? He adds, however, with a seeming submission, " Let it pass then as a trifle not worth relating." We unbelievers may deem it a trifle ; but he has a better security in the faith of his followers. By way of comparison we might produce hundreds of instances of Popish saints being quite dry in the midst of rain; or no rain falling where they are preaching, though showers all around them ; or storms turned into calms by their prayer, &c. Balinghem (in his Calendar of the Virgin Mary) gives us two instances together ; one of St. Anthony, who being on a journey, and a heavy shower falling, he puts the rosary on his head, and prays for succour to the Virgin ; and instantly, the words scarce out of his mouth, the rosary becomes a complete cover, and he gets to the city without being touched by the least drop of rain. Another, of one Brother George, who being in a violent storm of rain without a cloak, 110 sooner repeats his rosary, but he goes on to his monas- tery perfectly dry. a St. Edmund preaching in the open air, a black cloud, hanging over the company, threatened a terrible storm ; but he, making the sign of the cross, commanded the malignant -spirit of water to depart, and not to disturb his audience. Presently it rained all about, but not a drop fell upon Ihem. 3 St. Aridius, (whose name is adapted to his miracles,) and his society, often were perfectly dry in the midst of prodi- 1 4 Journ. p. 69. * Balingh. Jun. 13. J Henriquez. Fascicul. v. ii. p. 424. 86 The Enthusiasm of gious showers. 1 And St. Beuno had always the same privi- lege ; for which reason he was called Dry-coat. l You see the peculiar privileges of such conceited favorites of heaven. The common course of Providence must be altered for their sake ; and all nature be made subservient to their whimsical dispensation. " St. Teresa having obtained of the Lord, that a well of very bad water should become sweet, and be conveyed too into her monastery by a seemingly impossible current, has the same prevaricating plea with Mr. Wesley ; I reckon not this for a miracle, but to show our strong faith; for the thing happened just as I have related it." But as to these, and such-like miracles, it were to be wished that the Methodists would be clear ; and, in express words, either claim or renounce their pretensions. We should then know upon what foot the argument with them stands. But they are manifestly evasive. And though, when hard pressed, they seem to disclaim miracles, and declare them unnecessary, and the like ; yet, in the above- mentioned instances, they seem also to retain them: the stories are evidently told with that air, as if they would have them thought miraculous ; often with words plainly implying it : and they well know their eager followers, for the credit of their cause, stand ready to swallow any thing ; and are as willing to improve, as to believe, any marvellous tale. They are so well trained up, that they easily acknowledge the authority God has given their teachers from above. SECTION 7. Hitherto we have considered the conduct of the Methodists under their most plausible appearances, highest pretensions, and a flow of exultation. But they do not always go on so smoothly and swimmingly ; meeting with various rubs and obstructions, and grievous enemies and sufferings, in their way. I observed before, that whatever 1 Mabillon. Vet. Anal. tonUv. p, 95. z Flcetwood's Works, p.623. Methodists and Papists. 87 favors and promotes their cause, is from God; whatever opposition or obstruction they meet with, from the devil. I shall therefore now give some account, or rather they themselves, of their grievous conflicts and combats with Satan: who, though the enemy to all truth and goodness, and therefore their enemy, and sure to be conquered at last, yet persecutes and oppresses them in a most grievous man- ner ; by force and fraud ; in body and mind. To begin with Mr. Whitefield. St. Francis once said, "that if his brethren did but know what tribulations he endured from Satan, there is none of them who would not greatly compassionate his case." ' And Mr. Whitefield says, " God only knows how many nights I have lain groan- ing, and bidding Satan depart from me." a " I had then power over my secret and darling sin. But being some time after overtaken in liquor, Satan gained his usual advantage over me; an experimental proof to my poor soul, how that wicked one makes use of men as ma- chines, working them up to just what he pleases." 3 Which is an artful way of throwing the blame upon Satan, and making sin an involuntary thing ; when the man was led away voluntarily by his own lust and intemperance. And Satan has reason to complain of injustice done him. We have next a grievous complaint of a bodily oppres- sion from the wicked one. At Oxford " The comforts of sensible devotion were withdrawn, and a horrible dread overwhelmed my soul. One morning, rising from my bed, I felt an unusual impression and weight upon my breast : In a short time the load gradually increased, and almost weighed me down, and fully convinced me that Satan had as real a possession of my body, as once of Job's. All power of thinking was taken away, my memory quite fail- ed, my soul barren and dry. I fancied myself like a man locked up in iron armour. I felt great heavings in my body ; . ' Conform, fol. 253. * 1 Dealing, p. 38. 3 1 Dealing, p 21. 88 The Enthusiasm of prayed under the weight till tho sweat caine. How many nights did I lie groaning under the weight, bidding Satan depart from me in the name of Jesus ! " * Here again, I doubt, he has charged Satan wrongfully ; in laying his diabolical weight upon the body, while it undergoes but the usual effects of a common natural dis- temper, called the Incubus, and Night-mare. To prove this, the devil, in revenge, might perhaps tempt him to bor- row the description of his case from Chambers's Dictionary, under those two words ;* which I shall subjoin : " Incubus, Night-Mare, a disease consisting in an oppression of the breast, so very violent, that the patient cannot speak, or even breathe. The senses are not quite lost, but drowned and astonished; as is the understanding and imagination. So that the patient thinks some huge weight thrown on him, ready to strangle him : and frequently imagines some spectre, or phantom, stopping his breath." The same author ascribes " to the hypochondriac passion (spleen, or vapors) the same symptoms of a pain in the sto- mach, a constriction of the breast, difficulty of breathing ; as likewise wakefulness, inquietudes, fear, suspicions, deli- riousness ; affecting the patient more in mind than body." Nor is it to be doubted, but the greatest part of these strange feelings and sufferings, dejections of mind, and dreadful apprehensions, &c. proceed from disease, caused perhaps by a flatulency from much fasting, or the fumes of indigestion, or want of exercise, deep intention of thought, and various affections and passions ; which physicians can much better account for than myself. And we may easily conceive that the effects of such disease must of course be stronger when the indisposed body wears a melancholic and enthusiastic head; strength of imagination and distemper concurring. For a cure, Mr. Whitefield " applied to his friend, Mr. Charles Wesley, who advised him to keep upon 1 1 Dealing, p. 37, 38. * Incubus, Night-Mare. Methodists and Papists. 89 his watch, and referred to a chapter in Kempis." Had he applied to a physician, he would perhaps have prescribed, besides phlebotomy, cathartics, carminatives, and emetics. And one may the rather think so, because both naturalists and divines have assured us, that the devil often goes out of the bodies of the possessed in a vomit or a stool. Gregory of Tours says, " a most atrocious devil having possessed a certain person, by the help of oil he went out of his body by the draught, per fluxum ventris" Glor. Confess, c. ix. "We read in the Malleus Maleficarum/ that the devil sometimes rumbles about the intestines in the shape of a pill (for so I construe the words, in simililudinem pil&) until he goes out by the draught; per secessum." " Thyraeus, (de Daemoniacis, c. lii. et liv.) gives us several instances of devils being cast out by vomit and stool ; and then the learned author wisely observes, that these passages are the fittest for the egress of such unclean spirits ; and that (though devils commonly go out with a stench) in these cases they are expelled with a more than ordinary fetid smell." It is true these authorities are taken only from Popish writers, and therefore may not obtain credit from a Protestant reader ; but the patient, who hath so often follow- ed their example, might for once have taken their prescrip- tion. Hence again we may account for what follows in Mr. Whitefield. " At this time Satan used to terrify me much ; and threatened to punish me, if I discovered his wiles. I thought the devil would appear to me every stair I went up. And he so troubled me when I lay down to rest, that for some weeks I scarce slept above three hours at a time. Wanted to see sin as it was, but feared lest the sight should terrify me to death. 1 Satan so imposed upon my under- standing, that he persuaded me to shut myself up in my study, till I could do good with a single eye." 3 This, Mr. Whitefield explains elsewhere ; " Satan kept me in my closet ' Tom.iv. p. 25. z 1 Dealing, p. 38. 3 1 Dealing, p. 39. 90 The Enthusiasm of near six weeks, because 1 could not do any thing with a sin- gle intention :"* i. e. was a hypocrite. Why Satan should endeavour to cure him of his hypo- crisy I cannot conjecture. But if that infernal fiend did really use the poor man so unmercifully, or if a wrong cause be assigned for his disorders, it is certain he has shared with many saint-like persons in these calamities. As to suffocation, &c. " One night the wicked fiend did what he could to choke St. Anthony, pressing his paw upon his throat/ At Rome this malignant spirit would have choked St. Ignatius in his sleep : the holy man awaking, called upon the name of Jesus ; but he was so hoarse, and his throat so sore, that he could hardly speak for a fort- night. At another time two devils whipt him cruelly in his bed. 3 The wicked fiend would often throw himself upon St. Romualdus, as he was lying in his bed, kneaded him with his knees, and pressed so heavily upon him, as almost to smother him. He would often cry out Go thou malig- nant serpent. 4 A certain Jesuit, being in a haunted house, had scarce shut his eyes, but he felt the devil's hand taking him by the throat." 5 " The prince of darkness used to fall upon St. Patrick in his sleep, and to lay a heavy stone upon his breast, so as to deprive him of all motion and sensation ; and bring a darkness and torpor upon him for several days, till the Saint, by calling upon Elias, the prince of the prophets, was at length relieved." 6 Nor will the cruel enemy spare the tender sex. " I was, says St. Elizabeth, that spiritual virgin, so shut up by the adversary, that I could scarce speak. I felt my throat so violently compressed by his hand, that my breath was almost stopped." 7 " Mary of Agreda was never free from bodily 1 3 Journ. p. 84. a Ribaden. p. 391. 3 Ibid. p. 544. Bartol. Vit. Ignat. p. 409. 4 Ribaden. p. 180. 5 Franc. Ann. Jes. p. 328. 6 Messingh. Vit. Patric. c. 19. 7 Vit. Eliz.c.7. Methodists and Papists. 91 infirmities, and some painful distemper. The devil too had a commission to torment her ; and sometimes he would lie upon her with so heavy and insupportable a weight, that her breath was ready to go out of her body."' The con- fession of her distempers explains what the devil was. The want of sleep is a circumstance belonging to variety of distempers ; and if the devil would allow Mr. Whitefield but little, he served " one Thomas the Simple as bad, who was all day dirtying his body, in order to have a pure heart : for seeing so much piety in such a simple man, he was per- petually plaguing him with nocturnal terrors, noises, dread of thieves, &c."* And "he used St. Francis in the same manner, always disturbing his rest in the shape of mice and rats." 3 As Satan threatened Mr. Whitefield with punishment, if he ever discovered his wiles ; so he " threatened St. Francis, that unless he would desist from his pious method, he would make him crooked, and clap a hump upon his back." 4 In the romantic life of St. Bernard, " a woman grievously oppressed by an Incubus, who had applied to St. Bernard to be relieved, is terribly menaced by the devil what he would do to her, as soon as the saint was gone out of the country." 5 Teresa too, he " threatened to be revenged on, besides giving her many grievous blows." 6 Did Satan, as it were, lock up Mr. Whitefield in armour, and shut him up in his closet ? He served a religious Fran- ciscan the same trick, " not only took away his speech, but got upon his back, and heavily weighed him down; and thnist him into a hole, so narrow that he could not stir ; rill by the help of a little holy water he put the devil to flight." 7 Nor do we want instances among the most resolute popish fanatics of overpowering fears, and apprehensions of the devil's appearing to them : wherever they are, especially if in the 1 Life of M. Agred. * Manni Sel. Hist. p. 41. 7 Conform, fol. 54. + Ibid. fol. 53. 5 Lib. ii. c.6. 6 Ribaden. p. 797. 7 Conform, fol. 66. .92 The Enthusiasm of dark, whatever object they see, or think they see, be it man or beast, it is immediately their hellish enemy ; and they are plucking up their courage to fight with him, or calling upon divine help to send him packing. "Five furious devils attacked M. of Pazzi one after ano- ther ; and this horrible sight terrified, haunted, and pursued her in all places. Sometimes they throw her down stairs, bite her, and seem to devour her ; so that she had no man- ner of repose day or night. She armed herself against these furious assaults with the buckler of prayer." ' But St. Ro- mualdus, as became a man, had more courage. " The devil lay upon his feet and legs all night, that he could not easily stir himself; and he was so possessed with the thoughts of him, that a monk could not knock at his cell, but he asked the devil what he did there ; and was ready to encounter him. All the crows and ugly birds he saw in the wilderness, he fancied to be devils, and challenged them to fight with him ; and exceedingly triumphed, when, at his loud cries, they flew away." * " The devils, who had declared they hated none more than Ignatius, haunted his bed-chamber with terrible noises and spectres, to shake his constancy. He was grievously frighted ; but by degrees recollecting himself, he boldly defied them, and called them a pack of cowards, for coming in such num- bers to disturb one man's rest." 3 But notwithstanding these bodily assaults of the devil upon Mr. Whitefield, the worst is still to come ; as you will see by his following perplexed and inconsistent effusions. "Henceforward he transformed himself into an angel of light ; and worked so artfully, that I imagined the good, and not the evil, spirit suggested to me every thing that I did. His main drift was to lead me into a state of quietism, (he generally ploughed with God's heifer,) and when the Holy 1 Life, No. 3 1,32. " Stillingfl. on Idolat. p. 232. or, P. Deemian. Vit. Romual. c. 1517. 3 Bartol. Vit. Ignat. p. 72. Methodists and Papists. 93 Spirit put into my heart good thoughts or convictions, he always drove them to extremes. For instance ; having, out of pride, put down in my diary what I gave away, Satan tempted me to lay my diary quite aside/' 1 Assuredly a most malicious devil ! who would rob us of that treasury, which has furnished the world with such incomparable Dealings and Journals. But seriously, sir, did the Holy Spirit put it into your heart to set down your charities out of pride ? And did Satan tempt you to the contrary ? The very reverse of both should have been the case. " When Castaniza (the author of the Spiritual Combat) advised to talk but little, Satan said I must not talk at all. So that I, who used to be the most forward in exhorting my companions, have sat whole nights almost without speaking at all." 2 Where a sullen humor, perhaps a lowness of spirits, is imputed to Satan's attempting to lead him into quietism, I find too, that not only Mr. Whitefield, but Mr. Wesley, was advised by a spiritual casuist to observe a very high degree of silence. The latter "was often and earnestly pressed to make an experiment of this nature, and he spoke to none at all for two days, and travelling fourscore miles together." 3 The same whim has run through the mystics, and several of the religious orders, who have enjoined absolute silence, (I think, too, bound it on the conscience by vow) except at some stated times, as a point greatly tending to perfection. Hence St. Bonaventura says, " that silence in all the reli- gious is necessary in order to perfection : and that in order to observe it, you ought to do as St. Agatho did, who held a stone in his mouth for three years, till he could learn taci- turnity." 4 " And St. Alcantara carried several pebbles in his mouth for three years likewise, and for the same reason. 5 Theon observed a continual silence in his cell for thirty years. St. 1 iDeal. p. -40. z 1 Deal. p. 40. 3 4Jouru. p. 86. 4 De Perfect, c. 4. * Brev. Rom. Oct. 19. 94 The Enthusiasm of Francis observed it himself, and enjoined it upon his bre- thren. 1 The rule of silence was most religiously observed by St. Dominic; which provoked the devil to put a trick upon him. Accordingly he appears in the shape of a monk, and trans- gressing one of the orders of the saint, the saint something hastily chides him for disobedience. The devil immediately fell a laughing at St. Dominic, and upbraided him for the violation of his rule of silence." * But our pair of Methodists were not to be so caught. Neither the spiritual casuists, nor Satan, could bring them to any long state of silence, but were both mistaken in their men. For their enthusiasm is of that loquacious nature, that it must have vent ; and the black humor be discharged, either through a quill, or at the mouth ; or they would burst. "Again, adds Mr. Whitefield, when Castaniza advised to endeavour after a silent recollection, and waiting upon God ; Satan told me, I must leave off all forms, and not use my voice in prayer at all." 3 Where are we now? But a few lines before, Satan's main drift was to lead you into quietism ; and now your spiritual guide joins with him, advising the very essence of quietism. You obey; "leave off keeping your diary, using forms, scarce a voice in prayer, visiting the prisoners, &c. till better advised by Messieurs Wesley, and God was pleased to make an open show of these diabo- lical devices." 4 And it must be allowed, that the Wesleys generally dis- claim this doctrine of the Moravians. " Our old friends, Mr. Gambold and Mr. Hall, came to see my brother and me. The conversation turned wholly upon silent prayer, and quiet waiting for God ; which, they said, was the only pos- sible way to attain living, saving faith. Sirenura cantus, et Circes pocula nosti? Was there ever so pleasing a scheme 1 But where is it writ- 1 Conform, fol.274. * Tbyraeus. Loc. Infest, p. 136. 3 1 Dealing, p. 40. 4 1 Deal. p. 43, 44. Methodists and Papists. 95 ten ? Not in any of those books, which I account the oracles of God, &c/" We may easily imagine, that much silent prayer, and quiet waiting, are doctrines not likely to recommend themselves to our rambling, warm-headed, itinerant teachers. These Moravian mystics are the persons, whom (by an unaccountable inconsistency of conduct not to be reconciled) Mr. Wesley represents by vicissitudes as the best, and as the worst, of men. Who has so much fondness for them, or aversion to them ? Who so high in their commendation ; or who so eager in running them down, and disgracing them ? Who so loves, esteems, and encourages them; or who so effectually exposes and confutes them? Who so ardently desires to join them ; and yet who produceth such strong rea- sons against joining them, as Mr. J.Wesley? But to return to Mr. Whitefield. " The devil also sadly imposed upon me in the matter of my college exercises. I had no power to compose or write a word, had a violent inward check not to go down into the hall. The next week he served me so again. My tutor, as well he might, took me to be really mad. Being urged with the command in Scrip- ture, to be subject to the higher powers ; I answered, Yes ; but I had a new revelation. Lord, What is man ? " % What is man indeed ? when he must charge upon Satan his own moody perverseness, or inability to compose ; and pretend a new revelation against obedience, enjoined by the old? " After leaving off my diary, forms and voice in prayer ; and visiting the prisons, nothing remained for me to leave, but public worship, and my religious friends. Now it was suggested (by Satan, as an angel of light) that I must leave them also for Christ's sake. A sore trial, but rather than not be Christ's disciple, I resolved to renounce them. Ac- cordingly, instead of meeting my brethren as usual, I went 1 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 68. and see p. 113. z 1 Dealing, p. 41. .96 The Enthusiasm of into the fields, and prayed silently by myself. Our evening 1 meeting I neglected also ; and went not to breakfast, accord- ing to appointment. Till at length, by Mr. J. Wesley's excellent advice and management, under God, I was deli- vered from those wiles of Satan : and took up my externals again." * I shall omit many such appearances of Satan, like an angel of light, to the popish saints ; and be contented with a single instance attended with similar circumstances. "Brother Ruffin, before he arrived at his full state of sanctity and grace, was tempted of the devil no more to follow the footsteps of St. Francis, who was but a simple man, and under pretence of sending them among the hospi- tals, drew the brethren away from their prayers ; but that he should live solitarily in the desert. Thus Satan, appear- ing as an angel of light, suggesting this to Ruffin, confirmed him in his purpose. And he retired into the woods to pray; would not come to St. Francis at eating-hours as usual, would not come to supper, nay, would not come to the sacrament ; and sent word to St. Francis, that he had a better way to salvation than by following his simplicities ; and so the Lord had revealed to him. This he affirmed again and again. At length St. Francis, deeply concerned, and desirous to bring him back to the community, goes to him himself, and asks who persuaded him to this ? Ruffin answered, he had a divine revelation by an angel. I will show you, says Francis, who this angel is, that suggested it to you ; and presently, by prayer, the angel appeared in a most amazing' beauty and splendor; which made Ruffin rejoice and exult. Then Francis, by prayer again, com- manded the angel to appear visibly w T ho and what he was. And presently he was transformed into such a horrible shape, and made such a horrible stink, that Ruffin fell to the ground dead; but was raised up by St. Francis, comforted, and confirmed in righteousness." * 1 1 Dealing, p. 436. * Conform, fol. 63, 64. Methodists and Papists. 97 I would ask now, with respect to Mr. Whitefield, what otherwise than has happened could be expected from one who sets out, and begins his new dispensation, with such phrenzies, as himself has published ? Youth, a pious inten- tion, fancied oppression of Satan, and real indisposition of body, may perhaps be pleaded in his excuse ; and no doubt very justly ; had not his whole future conduct, his unchari- table characters and accusations of his brethren, his inde- cent and rude treatment of his superiors and governors, his vanity and proud boastings, his unwarrantable and high presumptions, his obtruding upon the world his own fancies for divine inspirations, carrying on all along a new revelation against the old in sacred writ, and thereby deceiving many, &c. had not all this, and more, rendered him inexcusable. Excuses are scarce allowable to such exorbitances. His companion, Mr. Sew r ard, has likewise great conflicts with Satan. ** He often turned himself into an angel of light, and made me think Brother Whitefield's zeal was not so great as my own ; which Mr. Whitefield said was impe- tuosity. Was exercised with strong inward trials, such as I never felt before. Satan darting in such horrid thoughts ; he made me entertain hard thoughts of my brother ; ex- ercised again with imvard conflicts, and could not pray for my friends. There seemed a cloud of evil spirits hovering round me, and brought my soul to the depth of hell. O ! the horrid suggestions that Satan has, day after day, followed me with! He has endeavoured to cast a cloud over all the manifestations I have had of the divine faror. Though the Lord has a thousand tim^s over told me, that he loved me with an everlasting love ; yet Satan had the impudence to tell me, in the midst of my prayers, that I was not one of God's elect, that I w r as like Judas, and should betray Christ. He is generally so busy with me in prayer, that my time is chiefly spent in keeping him off. Thus has my poor sOul been tossed as in a tempest, till brought almost to despair, Satan bad me worship him, or stocks, or stones, Method.. G 98 The Enthusiasm of or any thing but God. One remarkable temptation was, that knowing how little sleep I allowed myself he terrified me with this scripture : It is but lost labor that you rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness. Here he stopped, for it was Satan's business now to hide the latter part of the text from me." * This is the same Mr. Seward, of whom Mr. Whitefield gives such a particular account, "\\hose circumstances, both be- fore and in his conversion, much resemble those of St. Paul. It pleased God to reveal his Son unto him, and to cast him down to the earth by eight days' sickness ; in which time he scarce ever ate, or drank, or slept, and underwent great inward agonies and tortures : when God sent a poor travelling woman, that came to sell straw toys, to instruct him in the nature of our second birth." z And what better than straw toys did she sell to him ? Of what did she deli- ver him, after going through the pangs of the new birth, and what has he brought forth, but a most weak and' extrava- gantly wild Journal ? What other proof need we bring of a weak or disordered head, than his being so terrified by that remarkable temptation of Satan's alleging only a part of a scripture passage? as if the least degree of thought, or turning to the place, might not easily have supplied the de- fect, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. I could tell him, from a book of authority, of a more sagacious saint, who outwitted the devil in a like case. "The devil once told St. Bernard, that he knew certain verses in the Psalter, that whoso sayeth shall not perish; and shall know the day of his death. But the fiend refused to name them. Then, said the saint, I will say the whole Psalter daily. The fiend, considering how much more good that would do him, showed him the verses." Horae B. Vir- ginis sec. Usum Sacrum, p. 124. Paris. 1534. In reference to the other assaults of Satan upon Mr. Seward, I shall only mention one popish instance among a 1 Journ. p. 27, 28. 39, 40. a 8 Journ. p. 81. Methodists and Papists. 99 thousand ; which is that of St. Guthlac, agreeable in divers circumstances. " The enemy of mankind envying the humility of the man of God, by the force of his temptations almost drove him to the pit of despair.' One night an infi- nite multitude of devils surrounded him, filling all the air with their ugly forms, as so many black clouds ; threaten him with death, and carry him away to the very jaws of hell : till at length St. Bartholomew comes to his assist- ance, and commands them to carry him safe home." Nov. Legend, Angl. fol. 169. Nor can Mr. Wesley escape the attacks of this infernal spirit. " Soon after receiving an assurance of forgiveness, the enemy suggested, This cannot be faith : for where is thy joy ? I was much buffeted with temptations ; but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again, and again. The enemy injected a fear, If thou dost believe, why is there not a more sensible change ? I answered, (yet not I) That I know not. But is not any sort of fear, continued the tempter, a proof that thou dost not believe?" 2 You observe here a regular conversation and discourse between Satan and Mr. Wesley : that Satan spoke to Mr. Whitefield, and threatened him : had the impudence to speak to Mr. Seward, and terrify him with a passage in Scripture. And elsewhere " the devil persuades them to go no farther ; and they have great reasoning with Satan." 3 And does not this give too much encouragement to the many fabulous tales, with which the popish legends are stufted, of visible and personal appearances of devils to their saints, of their combats hand to hand, and discourses in an articulate voice, &c.? True Catholics, i.e. ignorant and credulous people, firmly believed these tales. The Methodists perhaps are not much wiser ; and may be equally ready to construe such expressions in a literal sense. 1 Mabill. Act. Sanct. vol. iii. p. 271. 2 ? Journ, p. 30, 31. 3 Letters. 100 The Enthusiasm of One more Satanical operation I shall mention in this place, because Mr. Wesley was concerned in it : he relates the case of "several breaking out into horrid fits of laugh- ter ; buffeted by Satan by such a spirit of laughter, as they could in no wise resist, though it was pain and grief unto them : one laughing, till almost strangled : some were offended, and would not believe but they could help laugh- ing, if they would : but God suffered Satan to teach them better. They were suddenly seized in the same manner, laughing almost without ceasing. Thus they continued for two days, a spectacle to all. And both himself and brother had been buffeted in the same manner, when they walked out to sing psalms in a meadow. Nor could they possibly refrain, though ready to tear themselves in pieces ; but were forced to go home, without singing another line." * Though I am not convinced that these fits of laughing are to be ascribed to Satan ; I entirely agree with Mr. Wesley, that they are involuntary and unavoidable ; and do not in the least question the facts. Physical writers tell us, that laughing fits are one species of a delirium, attending on some distempers, and particularly on the hypochondria, or spleen, (the principal ingredient of enthusiasm) called by some the organ of laughter ; whence laughing people are said to vent their spleen. I do not remember any of these laughing fits among papists. But they were very common among the French prophets in their agitations. Mr. Aubrey, in his Miscella- nies, p. 117, relates the same thing of Oliver Cromwell. " Oliver, says he, had certainly this afflatus. One that was at the battle of Dunbar, told me, that Oliver was carried on with a divine impulse : he did laugh so excessively as if he had been drunk. The same fit of laughter seized him just before the battle of Naseby." It is a question undecided, whether Oliver was more of the enthusiast or the hypocrite : i 1 3 Journ. p. 94. 4 Journ, p. 37, 38. Methodists and Papists. 101 and I presume the fits are no proof of a good cause either in the Protector or the Methodist. I took notice before how the Methodists make hell tremble, and Satan's kingdom totter : no wonder therefore if he rage horribly, and stir up all possible opposition to their pro- gress. Hence Mr. Whitefield assures us, that " the devil painted him in most horrible colours, and raised a report that he was mad ; ' that when he went to attack the devil in his strongest holds, the devil would not permit the people to give him audience ; z and that Satan endeavoured to in- terrupt his preaching, by sending a panic upon his audience in the midst of his discourse." 3 Hence too Mr. Wesley says, -that while he was preaching, " the devil knew his kingdom shook, and therefore stirred up his servants to ring bells, and make a noise. 4 The prince of the air made another attempt in defence of his tottering kingdom ; great numbers of men began to speak big, swelling words: 5 the many-headed beast began to roar again: 6 the devil's children fought valiantly for their master. 7 One large stone (many of which they threw) went just over my shoulder. But no one was hurt in any degree : 8 for thy "kingdom ruleth over all. One man took up a great stone, which he many times attempted to throw ; but that he could not do." 9 To pass over at present these intimations of a miraculous deliverance ; we find the spirits of darkness opposing them- selves to fanatical popish saints, and for the same reason. " The devils confessed, that St. Francis w r as the man in the world whom they most feared ; the man sent of God for the reformation of mankind ; for which reason they plagued him to the utmost of their power ; and that several councils had been summoned in hell, to consider how to destroy, or put a ' 3 Journ. p. 79. a 4 Journ. p. 30. 3 5 Journ. p. 31. 4 4 Journ. p. 37. s Jb. p. 67. 6 Ib. P- 60. 7 Ib. p. 82. s 4 Journ. p. 69. 9 3 JcAirn. p. 91. 102 The Enthusiasm of stop to the Franciscans. 1 The devils knowing that hell was to be destroyed by him and his society, persecuted him a thousand ways, by terrors, calumnies, personal combats with him hand to hand ; once by flinging a large piece of a rock at his head, which the saint made soft as wax, by a miracle, that it could not hurt him, &c. * Another time a noisy woman disturbed his preaching by beating a cymbal ; but St. Francis bade the devil take her ; and instantly he came and carried her away." 3 " The devils looked upon the pious Ignatius as their irre- concilable enemy, for rescuing souls out of then- hands, and made war with all his followers." 4 I could add hundreds of instances of such diabolical attempts against the religious orders among Papists, on account of their doing so much good in the world. What good they have done can be no secret to a Protestant. But it is to be hoped oar Jesuitical Methodists will fall very short of such goodly consequences. Satan cannot possibly be their enemy, if Jhey proceed in the same method. SECTION 8. Another rub in the Methodists' way, and partly owing to the same evil spiiit, is their frequent com- plaint of spiritual desertions, inward deadnesses, darknesses, dryness, barrenness, and in general a desolate and uncom- fortable state. Their fancied illumination, inspiration, pre- sences, calls, directions and assistances of God, &c. These have rendered their enthusiasm violent and fiery, made their breast like a burning furnace, with a vehement rapidity con- suming all before it. But as the furnace cannot always be kept up to such an uncommon heat, when the fuel fails, and before fresh recruits are collected, a dryness and cold- ness soon succeed : all is a sort of caput mortuum within, a dead insipid lump, when the volatile spirits are exhausted. This state of desolation they sometimes barely relate, and 1 Martyrol. Francisr. Jan. 3. * Conform, fol. 53, 54. 3 Conform, fol. 110. 4 Ribaden. p. 544. Methodists and Papists. 103 sometimes impute it to the efficiency of the good, or of the evil spirit. " Comforts, says Mr. Whitefield, were soon withdrawn, and a horrible fearfulness and dread permitted to overwhelm my soul, attended with inward darkness ; my soul barren and dry." Sometimes I perceive myself deserted ; on a sudden deserted, and struggled like one in the last agonies, without any life or power quite shut up. Satan withstood me greatly ; for on a sudden I was deserted. I thought it was the devil's doing. 2 Quite shut up: my heart and head were as dead as a stone. God being pleased to withdraw himself. For two days God has brought me low by spiritual desertions." 3 Wesley. " For three days I was sorrowful and very heavy ; could not read, meditate, sing, pray, or do any thing. 4 Continued to seek it (faith) but with strange indifference, dulness, and coldness ; and unusually frequent relapses into sin. Had no life or spirit in me. Our society met : but cold, weary, heartless and dead. 5 Nothing of brotherly love among them ; but a harsh, dry, heavy, stupid spirit ; look- ing as if one half of them was afraid of the other." e " I have found, (says Mr. Seward) during these tempta- tions, a general withdrawing of God's spirit." 7 The same state of dereliction, &c. was the common lot of their ever faithful allies. " The seraphic St. Francis was reduced to so great tribulation by Satan's temptations, and the Lord's withholding his usual consolations, that he thought he was forsaken by Christ ; and that for several months together. 8 The fiery St. Ignatius often found all the liquid pleasures of the inward man quite dried away. 9 A woman quite deserted, and the vein of her spiritual deliciousnesses dried up in her aridities, so that she could not pray, or do any thing to recover her sweetnesses, was restored by Igna- Dealing, p. 37. - 3 Journ. p. 4. 19. 24, 25. 80. 3 4 Journ. p. 23. 4 2 Journ. p. 19.29. 5 3 Journ. p. 60. 6 4 Journ. p. 34. 7 Journ. p. 40. z Conform, fol. 53. 253. 9 Bartol. p. 20. T04 The Enthusiasm of tius to her araorous'motions towards God. 1 A Jesuit under desolations and derelictions was restored by flying to the bosom of Jesus and Mary.* M. of Pazzi had a long combat with the princes of darkness ; was dry, desolate, and de- serted. 3 St. Teresa for two and twenty years had great aridities; yet never in all that time desired more comfort. 4 Mary of Agreda was under such a spiritual desertion, that God for some years did hide himself from her, withdrawing the regalo's and joys of his presence." 5 The Methodists, who complain so often of their desertions, and other occasional dejections, and gloomy apprehensions, would be very unwilling that we should take advantage of Mr. Whitefield's assertion, " Let men but love Christ, and spend their whole time in his service, and they will find no dull, melancholy hours. Want of the love of God, I take to be the chief cause of indolence and vapors." 6 Nor need we hastily recur to the immediate efficiency of a supernatural agency, celestial or infernal. The force of distemper and bodily disorder will easily account for most such dark and disconsolate thoughts. A diseased melancholy alone will suffice, to which many pious and well-meaning people are subject. Mr. Whitefield himself in effect imputes it to dis- ease : " I was deserted, and then taken very ill, in body, vomited, went to bed, quite shut up, my indisposition still continuing. After this my spirits revived, body was strength- ened, and God gave me utterance." 7 " Mary 'of Agreda, besides spiritual desertions, and direful temptations, was never free from one painful distemper or other.'' s The de- sertion in both cases is connected with the disease. But even this cause is not wanted : after the spirits have been wound up too high, and put upon extraordinary efforts, a weakness and depression of course succeed. And we may look upon enthusiasm as a kind of drunkenness, filling and 1 Bartol. p. 441. * Balingh. Aug. 13. 3 Br. Mon. May 25. 4 Ribaden. p. 799. s Life. 6 3 Journ. p. 72. 7 Ib. p. 24, 25. 8 Life. Methodists and Papists. 105 intoxicating the brain with the heated fumes of spirituous particles ; but no sooner do the inebriation and incalescence go off, but a sinking of the spirits, a coldness and dulness take place : and the lower is the depression in proportion to the preceding elevation. And yet these very desertions they can turn to account ; and create a stronger notion among their followers, that at other times, and in their high flights, they are more imme- diately inspired, and receive extraordinary supplies from heaven. For a clearer and fuller account of these occasional deser- tions, ebbings and flowings, successions of hot and cold fits, I would recommend to the reader Dr. Henry More's Dis- course of Enthusiasm, sect. 18. This tract so truly describes the nature, causes and kinds of enthusiasm, that (were not this distemper generally attended with the same symptoms) one would think it a prophecy of our fanatical Methodists. SECTION 9. Of the same nature, as an interruption to their progress, and genuine consequence of enthusiasm, may be reckoned their great inequality and unsteadiness of temper and conduct ; their ebbings and flowings of sentiments and actions ; their joys, presumptions, assurances, &c. contrasted with various torments and scruples of conscience, relapses, despairings, &c. : whereby they are lost and perplexed in endless mazes, and their castles in the air shattered to pieces. As to Mr. Whitefield, after his shameful (I mean shame- less) account of his struggles between nature and grace, and his vicissitudes of the practice of piety and sensuality ; and his preaching with more or less power, &c. I see not much of his doubting conscience. He swims so securely on the bladders of his vanity, as to be in little danger of sinking. Something, however, of this nature appears in his Fifth Journal, p. 17 19. But Mr. Wesley, a man of deeper 106 The Enthusiasm of reflection, is much more embarrassed, and tossed up and down with alternate risings and fallings. And be has often " taken occasion to describe that wilder- ness state, that state of doubts and fears, which so many go through after they have received remission of sins." ' Two horrible instances of this case he gives, " of persons who, after many years' mourning, were filled with peace and joy in believing ; but suddenly such a cloud overwhelmed them, that they could not believe their sins were forgiven at all, or that there was any such thing as forgiveness of sins, any heaven or hell," * &c. Whether they ever returned to their faith and peace we have no account. But let us see what he says of himself, and the distractions of his own mind. " My spirit revived ; so that from this day I had no more of that fearfulness and heaviness, which before almost continually weighed me down." 3 And yet he writes in the very same page, " I went to America to convert the Indians : but oh ! who shall convert me ? Who, what is he, that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief? I think verily, if the gospel be true, I am safe. I show my faith by my works. But in a storm I think, what if the gospel be not true? I have learned, that I, who went to America to con- vert others, was never converted myself. 4 If it be said, that I have faith ; I answer, so have the devils. Thrown into great perplexities. I cannot find in myself the love of God, or of Christ. Hence my deadness and wanderings in public prayer. Hence it is, that even in the holy commu- nion I have rarely any more than a cold attention. When I hear of the highest instances of God's love, my heart is still senseless and unaffected. Yea, at this moment, I feel no more love to him, than to one I had never heard of. Trou- bled at what some said, doubtful of my own state. 5 * 4 Journ. p. 30. a lb. p. 63. 3 1 Journ. p. 66. * Ib. p. 6f 70. 5 2 Journ. p. 11, 12. Methodists and Papists. 107 r " By Peter Bohler (a Moravian) clearly convinced of unbelief; ' immediately it struck into my mind, leave off preaching.- I asked Bohler, whether he thought I should leave it off, or not ? He answered, By no means. I asked, but what can I preach ? He said, Preach faith, until you have it. My soul started back : I asked P. Bohler again. " All the time I was at Savannah I was thus beating the air. I had willingly served sin: now it was unwillingly: but still I served it. I fell, and rose, and fell again. Some- times I was overcome, and in heaviness ; sometimes I over- came, and was in joy. This struggle between nature and grace continued above ten years. At length, my heart was strangely warmed, had an assurance of forgiveness. The enemy suggested, this cannot be faith, was much buffeted with temptations : but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again, and 'again, &c. I asked Mr. Telchig, the Moravian, what to do ? I have now constant peace : not one uneasy thought. And I have freedom from sin : not one unholy desire. Yet on Wednesday did I grieve the spirit of God : continued in this heaviness till the next morning. Again strongly assaulted, but after I had prayed faintly, the temptation vanished away. Had still more comfort and peace, and joy ; on which, I fear, I began to presume, was thrown into perplexity by a letter, asserting, that no doubt- ing or fear could consist with true faith. Begging of God to direct me, I opened my Testament. My weak mind could not bear to be thus sawn asunder." z Once more, " I preached, but had no life or spirit hi me ; and was much in doubt, whether God would not lay me aside, and send other laborers into his harvest. I came to the society full of this thought." 3 In another place he readily owns his frequent relapses into sin for near twice ten years, &c. 4 Such is the case of a person, who tells us, that " he care- fully considered every step he took: that he knows as- 1 2 Journ. p. 11. 16. * Ib. p. 27. 3 3 Journ. p. 60. * Ib. p. 78. 108 The Enthusiasm of suredly, that where reason fails, God will direct our path by lot, or other means ; one, who was almost perpetually dip- ping into the Bible for such direction ; and one of intimate communication with the Deity." And is it not strange, that such a one should be destitute of means to resolve his scruples? should be ever at variance with himself, and find no place to fix his foot ? But this is the nature of his disease ; and I could run the parallel through numbers of fanatical Papists ; but shall be contented with only two. And if the reader will please to recollect what was said before of the Methodists' conflicts with Satan, their spiritual desertions, their unequal temper and unsteadiness in this article ; and also take in what will be farther said of their general intanglements and inconsistency in sentiment and conduct, &c. he will find a pretty exact agreement ; and pro- bably conclude the Methodist to be as true a saint as the Papist ; and like to produce as useful a society. My first parallel shall be the glorious founder of the Jesuits, taken from his life by Father Bartolus. l " Manifold were Ignatius's experiences of perils ; but none more capital, or more troublesome, than his scruples. It so pleased God, that Satan should fill and vex his mind with infinite doubt- ings. He stood in fear of some great sin in whatever he did. The liquid joys too of his inward man were dried up ; his mind disturbed and tossed with perplexities ; rendered unfit for those divine draughts, which in its serene state it had drawn from heaven. Moreover he was then more grievously anxious, when he thought upon heavenly things. And this was his occupation by day and night, to litigate, wTangle, and be perplexed with himself; whether this, and the other were not sins, and he guilty of any. And the more he strove to extricate himself, the more was he intangled. His con- fessor forbade him to give ear to scruples ; but what was to be reckoned a scruple afforded new matter of a scrupulous 1 Bart. Vit. Ignat. p. 20. Methodists and Papists. 109 inquiry : every thing to minds thus ill-affected affording . scruple and doubt. So that he thought God was turned from him ; and, as is usual in these straits, would eternally de- stroy him. Thus did the devils wound him, as with so many arrows ; demolishing his holy rest by anxious thoughts, and depriving him of his calm and still confidence in God, and filial love. But this was their chief aim, to drive him into despair, and make him put an end to his life ; so that he was strongly led to throw himself out of the window. Then he would needs starve himself, till his confessor made him return to his usual refreshments ; and now he began to rejoice as a conqueror : but scarce were two days elapsed, when a new unforeseen tempest arose, of scruples, diffidence, sadness and despair, not more gentle than the torments of the damned. But in a little time this second tempest ceased. The heaven of his mind became calm and bright, and his alacrity was more copious than before. God gave him these experiences, the discipline of which he was to deliver to others. Certainly from these so different and opposite vicis- situdes of soul, the irriguous and dry, the anxious and secure, the sad and the cheerful ; he became so well skilled in those alternate motions, wherewith the divine goodness actuates his own, that when others were to be instructed in them, they might transfer the best example from himself." The other parallel is the seraphic virgin St. Teresa ; who was not indeed troubled with such a very scrupulous con- science as the former, but was a lady of a very dubious character, of very unequal and desultory conduct, generally wavering between the saint and the sinner ; and that accord- ing to the account of popish authors. What follows of her is transcribed from her life written by Ribadeneira. * " At six or seven years of age she took great delight in reading the lives of the saints, which inflamed her with a desire of martyrdom : at twelve, her mother dying, she chose 1 Ribaden. Oct. 15, p. 788. 110 The Enthusiasm of the Virgin Mary to be her mother. But the devil envying these happy beginnings, made her relax her holy ferv or, by reading romances, vain companions, trimming her hair, and using perfumes : but our Lord did not long permit these vanities, but ordered her into a monastery, where she began to resume her pious customs, prayed much, desired the prayers of the religious, but did not wholly desire to be one herself. Being twenty years of age, she enters into the order of the Carmelites ; but with great contradiction of her soul, grief, resentment and pain. As soon as she had taken the habit, immediately she had great and lasting joy, and the aridity of her soul went ofi'. At the end of the year she made her profession with joy and contentment, but not without difficulty, on account of rude assaults from the devil. She had not been long in religion, before she grew familiar with persons of dangerous conversation, and left off her prayer : a year after she returns to her prayer, but did riot leave off her accustomed conversation. A vision of Christ wounded, and hell opened, helped her towards leaving off her bad con- versation ; but not instantly nor entirely : but even before her full conversion, sometimes she would be careful of offend- ing God for a month, or a year. She was thus about twenty years falling, and rising again, without fully enjoying the consolations of God. She has a new fear, that her sweetness in prayer, and suspension of her soul, were illusions of the devil. And some servants of God judged it was so indeed, by reason of her imperfections ; God's favors being incom- patible with her kind of life : and it augmented their suspi- cion, that though she had been twenty years in prayer, she was never sufficiently changed. Some Jesuits however assure her all was from God. After this she was in a rapt, wholly transported out of herself, and heard a voice from the bottom of her soul, I will that thou leave the fami- liarity with men, and converse with the angels. From that time she was wholly changed in a moment, had many sublime visions and visits from Christ ; but still many suspected all Methodists and Papists. Ill was from the devil. Things were said greatly prejudicial to her good name ; and she went on, under great opposition from men and devils. Now under great aridities for twenty- two years, without desiring comfort ; then feeling high gusts and consolations, called unions; amorous, sweet, raging torments of divine love ; taken by the hand, and dandled by St. Dominic ; dies by the force of divine love, is cano- nized," &c. Thus stands the account from as true a Catholic, and 7 r-ealous Jesuit, as ever wrote. And what follows has a more authentic seal, attested by infallibility in the Roman Bre- viary, Oct. 15 ; and especially in the acts of her canoniza- tion by Grcgoiy XV. It is in the Bullarium Cherubini, vol. iii. p. 306. Rom. 1638. And though it may seem a digres- sion, it affords, altogether, a just notion of a complete popish saint, and helps on the comparison with methodistical saintship. " At the time fore-ordained by God, he raised up a new Deborah, the perpetual Virgin Teresa, the holy and elect, to be worshipped and venerated by papal apostolical autho- rity; God having poured out the abundance of his spirit upon his hand-maid. When but a child, by reading the acts of the martyrs, she burned with desire to go into Africa, and shed her blood for Christ. At twenty, she espoused herself to Christ; and for twenty-two years bore with invincible, patience the most grievous diseases and temptations, without any refreshment of supernal consolations. She was so fully convinced of the truth of the Catholic church, and all the doctrines of popery, that she often said, it was not possi- ble to have a greater certitude of any thing. By this faith, she had such a clear sight of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist, that she envied not those who had seen him on earth. She was often in ecstasies, and snatched up to the fruition of heaven upon earth. Christ wonderfully h'lled her with visions and revelations ; he came and espoused her, by a ring ; and said, Henceforth I am wholly yours, and you 112 The Enthusiasm of wholly mine. Nothing could exceed her love of God ; for she died by the intolerable fire of it. Nor could any thing exceed her love of man. She so strictly observed her vow of obedience, that as a remarkable example, when her superiors suspected her visits from Jesus to be diabolical delusions, by their command she humbly derided and contemned her heavenly Spouse, when he made her a visit: not without being rewarded for this profound obedience: and she was wont to say, that she might be deceived as to discerning a vision, or revelation ; but could not be deceived in obevins: * ' / O her superiors. She was such a lover of poverty, that she always chose the vilest habit; and if at any time she wanted necessaries, she would marvelously rejoice, exult, and give thanks. She excelled particularly in the virtue of undefiled chastity ; preserving an angelical purity, unspot- ted, from childhood to death. Such was her humility, that when filled with the fat things of divine graces, she would often cry out to God to put an end to these blessings, and not so soon to forget her sins. She most ardently thirsted after contumelies, derisions, and sufferings; it being her motto, either to suffer or die. She was so watered with the showers of celestial wisdom, that she wrote books of mystic theology; and undertook the reformation of women and men. She builds monasteries without money, or income; works numerous miracles by her merits and intercessions ; curing fevers, &c. in a moment ; dies with a crucifix in her hand ; her soul is seen flying out of her mouth, in the shape of a little white dove, and mounting up to heaven ; many nuns and religious saw her in a high degree of glory above ; as another had seen the Lord Christ sitting by her bed-side, while alive. Her dead body was surprisingly beautiful and odoriferous, by the odour of the ointments wherewith her most holy body was perfumed by our Lord ; and it remains odorous and uncorrupt to this day." So gloriously ends the struggle between carnality and enthusiasm. Methodists and Papists. 113 SECTION 10. But that the saints may not be left com- fortless under the state either of desertion, or incertitude; we are to consider what advantages and benefits are drawn from them, and their confessions of being thus tossed. I took notice before of their creating by desertions an opinion of being extraordinarily inspired, and attended by heaven, when free from them ; and now subjoin their own accounts of receiving such spiritual succours and advantages, either during their severe trials, or very soon after. For, as Mr. Seward elegantly expresseth it, " I was much humbled and oppressed by the hidings of my beloved : but lo ! the good- ness of our God : if he seems to withdraw for a moment, it is only that his return may be the sweeter." * Mr. Whitefield is often declaiming in this strain. " My body was weak, but I found a supernatural strength, again a little oppressed with drowsiness. When I am weak, then I am strong. Deserted for a little while, and much oppress- ed, especially before preaching; but comfort soon after flows in. Had a hoarseness, and was deserted before I went up into the pulpit ; but God strengthened me to speak.* Taken ill, but God strengthened me to preach to a great congregation. 3 I was very sick and weak ; 4 but such power was given me from above, that . At first getting up I was weak and dry ; but God renewed my strength. 5 " We have not had such a continued presence of God, as since I was threatened to be excommunicated. 6 I never am so much assisted, as when persons endeavour to blacken me : numbers of hearers increase by opposition. Ever since I was abused at Basingstoke I have had great communications with God. 7 The more I am contemned, the more God delights to honor me." " Again, on the other side, I observe these inward trials always follow inward communications. For these two days I have been much assisted. 8 Lest I 1 Journ. p. 43. ' 3 Journ. p. 3, 4. 3 P. 57. 4 3 Journ. p. J12. 5 5 Journ. p. 35. 6 3 Jotirn. p. 35. 55. 82. 7 4 Journ. p. 31. * 5 Journ. p. 15, 16, 17, 18. Method. H 114 The Enthusiasm of should be puffed up, and to prepare me for greater degrees of light, God has sent me a thorn in the flesh. God took off my chariot-wheels; I drove exceeding heavily; but this latter part of the week he has restored me the light of his countenance. Had a sweet sacrament and love-feast ; felt unspeakable comfort and warmth ; but at night a sense of my sins weighed me down again. Was much tempted : a mercy this from God, to prepare me for future blessings. Much strengthened and assisted ; an ample recompense for the trials of last week. Deserted; which I always look upon as a certain preparative for some approaching mercy." As to these vicissitudes of weakness and strength, &c. it is common and natural for clergymen, when out of order, to be something low at the beginning of a sermon ; but to get strength and spirits as they go on, and mend by exercise and action. I have found it so myself, and so have a hund- red others. The change and emotions in Mr. Whitefield, after being threatened and abused, may only show that his spirit was provoked, and passions raised. When the spirits have mounted by transports of joy, we know they will natu- rally sink : and whenever Providence removes any of our troubles and sorrows, we hope we are not insensible, or unthankful. But in all these cases, we leave to the Methodists the presumption of bragging of supernatural strength, and a sort of miraculous attestation to their pecu- liar mission, and favored persons ; after the model of their old associates. 1 " St. Catherine being tempted by Satan with foul images and impure dreams, our Lord afterwards showed himself to her ; to whom she most lovingly complained, Where were you, O dearest Spouse, that you did so abandon me ? She was a long time afflicted with these absurd and impure images ; and by the devil's instigation a wicked woman gave out, that St. Catherine was a fond and light woman. 1 Ribaden. p. 293. Methodists and Papists. 115 But her heavenly Spouse soon came, and brought her a vic- torious crown, and the false accuser was compelled to acquit the saint, and beg pardon for the slander, having seen a vision of her in brightness and majesty. 1 The devil still found means of troubling her anew; bat Christ always comes in to deliver and recreate her : on which account, as the Pope himself assures us, she would say, When I am weak, then am I strong." * " The devil raised terrible storms and oppositions against Ignatius ; but his institution took deeper root by these contradictions : and when he was most weary and sickly, then did he appear most courageous and strong ; and the force of God did more clearly manifest itself." 3 " Father Laynez, a Jesuit, being to preach on the immacu- late conception, was forced to mount the pulpit, though very ill of a fever ; but the Virgin Mary so assisted him, that he came down stronger than he went up." 4 " St. Francis's life was nothing else but a chain of temptations and consolations, one link black, the next \vhite." SECTION 11. Were not the task too tedious, one might trace out this inequality and unsteadiness, merely from their own writings, in respect of their whole conduct, in sentiment and practice. I shah 1 instance in some particulars, as briefly as I can. " Sometimes they desire, love, and pray for disgrace, hatred, all manner of ill usage ; complain of civil treatment and kind reception from their friends ; cannot be Christians, unless they are generaDy, and almost universally hated, &c. At other times boasting of, and thanking God for, their pre- sents, entertainments, benevolence, bank-bills, and comfort- able receptions, and uncommon affections towards them : that the number of their enemies is inconsiderable, but their friends cannot be numbered. NTot without feeling and bitter complaints of ill usage." ' Bullar. vol. i. p. 291. z Ribaden. p. 532. 3 Spinel!. Virg. Deip. p. 524. 4 Conform. 116 The Enthusiasm of Sometimes " they foresee success in preaching because they meet with so much opposition: the devil and his agents are enraged, and endeavour to obstruct them ; there- fore they hope, and know that God has work to do in this place, &c. Again at other times, they depend upon success, because they have little or no opposition : and nothing con- firms them more in their opinion, that God is working a great work upon earth, than finding persons of all denomina- tions struggling for them. God has much people in this place." One of them must take a wild-goose chace to hunt for Christ in Germany among the Moravians, and is going to the country of the Christians. Returns, and is convinced that one need not travel thither for Christianity. He repre- sents them in general in the blackest colors : " dares in no wise join with them; because their scheme is in every point refined immeasurably beyond the plain Gospel. Dark- ness, and closeness, and guile, in almost all their words and behaviour ; teaching for doctrines the commandments of men ; dealers in sophistry ; and of all men living the wisest in their generation ; by no means zealous of good works ; utterly despising and trampling upon self-denial ; zealously cautioning us against the natural love of one another ; and having in truth well-nigh destroyed brotherly love from among us; holding many detestable and pernicious opi- nions," &c. And yet, not only doth Mr. Whitefield " admire their great simplicity ; " ' but Mr. Wesley himself declares, that " in the main, they are some of the best people in the world, only wrong in a few points. 1 They love God, and love one another, and excel in sweetness of behaviour : trample under, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. His love and esteem of them increases more and more : he even marvels how he can abstain from joining them. His own disciples among the Methodists go over to 1 3'Journ. p. 79. * See APPENDIX, Part n. Methodists and Papists. 117 them in crowds. But still Methodism is the strongest bar- rier against the Moravian doctrines and principles." The Moravians justly charge him with this inconsistency of behaviour : and we may safely defy him, with all his subtle- ties and distinctions, to clear himself. How commonly do we find our Methodists full-swelled with vanity and pride, boastings, haughtiness, and arro- gance ? In a little time they feel a compunction ; the bladder is pricked, shrinks, and shrivels ; and they fall into the most lowly and abject state of vileness and nothingness. Books are published, (as The Character of a Methodist, &c.) wherein those of this sect are described as having all the virtues and graces that can adorn or exalt the Christian profession ; as the mildest and meekest, the most humble, loving, charitable, and innocent creatures upon earth : and on the contrary, read but their own accounts in their jour- nals, and you find them waspish and peevish, 1 censuring and condemning all the world except themselves ; and among themselves, jealousies, envyings, divisions, quarrels, perpetual broils, confusions, and mutual condemnations ; with various other irregularities and vices. And such is the case with the religious orders in the Romish communion: each of them is the best, fullest of saints, and most adapted to promote God's glory : all are hateful and hating one ano- ther : and all firmly united in the spirit of enthusiasm, and carrying on the fanatical fopperies and errors of popery ; to the insupportable injury of Christendom. They set out upon the footing of uncommon sanctity, and carrying the duties of religion to the highest pitch : but ne- vertheless are fond of publishing their faults, and declaring themselves the greatest of sinners ; which must beget in their believers an exalted notion of their humility : just like Mary of Pazzi ; " who, though the nuns were fully satisfied of her perfections, loved to tell her weaknesses and 1 See INTRODUCTION, Part i. Sect. 21. 113 - The Enthusiasm of faults, to show her humility:"' or St. Francis, " uho delighted in blazing abroad his faults, and calling himseli the greatest sinner in the world ; whereby his brethren stood amazed at his marvellous humility." 3 Sometimes they will vapor and hector, and their courage is so sharp-whetted, that in express words, they proclaim " an offensive war against Satan, and fear neither men nor devils : are ready to leap into a burning furnace, or den of lions ; and go to Abyssinia or China ; are so far from fearing death, that they wish for it. But the keenness of the edge is soon blunted. They are every moment afraid of meeting the devil; are full of dreadful apprehensions of designs against their lives, and that the clergy intend to murder them. In time of danger, they have so little faith as to be afraid. Let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled. In a calm stout enough; but in a storm returns a tearfulness. Oh! who will deliver me from this fear of death!" 3 One day, " their preachments are so powerful as to be irresistible, a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, a mighty wind causing a prodigious shock : they fancy they can shake the earth out of its place. God sends them to preach, and it is their bounden duty." 4 The next day, per- haps, " they preach with great reluctance, have no power, life, or spirit. They propose shaking themselves out of their places, intend to leave off, and fear that God has dropt them. Charles Wesley intended to preach no more, and actually left off; for which his enemies jeered him, as becom- ing still. But he re-assumed his office; according to his brother's prophecy, that he should rouse himself like Samp- son, and be avenged on his enemies." Agreeable to this are their alternate fits of loquacity and silence : dumb, till the ceremony is over of opening their 1 Life, .46. * Bonavent. cap. 6. 3 Wesley, 1 Journ. p. 67 4 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 67-69. Methodists and Papists. 1 19 mouths. " I was restrained by God from writing and preaching. I mentioned my case to a clergyman. He said, I was an enthusiast. At last this passage of Scripture was pressed much upon my heart, We assayed to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered us not; and I found a quotation out of Ezekiel, that young prophet, Thou shall be dumb : but when I speak unto thee, then shalt thou speak. This made me quite easy. The next morning, Speak out Paul, came with great power to my soul. Immediately God spake to me by his Spirit, and I was no longer dumb." x Thus, you see, he is quite easy, stands clear of enthu- siasm, and no doubt too of presumption, in comparing himself with prophets and apostles. "Again withheld from writing, at length restored, to write freely." * It is one comfort, that his talkative fits have been much the com- monest, and the longest. Mr. Wesley also is sometimes " utterly unwilling to speak, quite averse from speaking ; " 3 and then perplexed with the doubt, " Is it a prohibition from the good Spirit, or a temptation from nature, and the evil one ?" It is a general thing to see them carried up to heaven, by gusts and transports of divine joy : and immediately down again to the deep, almost swallowed up with darkness and sorrow. And I could bring troops of eminent Popish saints to bear them company, besides those before men- tioned. A large share of these vicissitudes of ebbings and flow- ings no doubt proceeds from the very nature of enthusiasm, which can never be at rest ; but is diverse in different per- sons, and inconstant in the same person ; subject to num- berless variations, according to the kind and degree of that disorder of body, or passion of the mind, which creates the enthusiasm, and which is so frequently caused by indiscre- tion, and increased by indulgence. The behaviour changes, 1 Whitef. 1 Deal. p. 66-69. * 5 Journ. p. 17, 18. 3 1 Journ. p. 63-4. 120 The Enthusiasm of in proportion as the humors, the melancholy, the phlegmatic, the choleric, the sanguine, are more or less predominant : and therefore the case may be thought rather to deserve compassion than blame. SECTION 12. But the Methodists must excuse me, if the same allowance is not made, where art and cunning, and sophistry, manifestly appear ; when, hard pressed by argu- ment and objections, they run themselves into inconsistency and self-contradiction, merely to serve a present turn ; and occasionally either defend, or give up, some of their favorite notions, and principal points. It is a matter of no great moment, if Mr. Wesley at one time declares for a disinterested love of God ; and in argu- ing against the Moravians declares, that " there is no one caution in all the Bible against selfish love of God." ' But it is a considerable offence to charge another wrong- fully, and contradict himself, about the doctrine of assu- rances. " I went to the Reverend Mr. Bedford, to tell him of the injury he had done both to God and his brother, by preaching and printing that very weak sermon on Assurance, which is an ignoratio elenchi (an ignorance of the point in question) from beginning to end ; seeing the assurance we preach is of quite another kind from that he writes against, We speak of an assurance of our present pardon ; not (as he does) of our final perseverance."* Mr. Wesley might have considered, that when they talk in general of assurance of pardon and salvation, the world will be apt to understand the words in their usual and obvious meaning, as extending to our eternal state; and indeed that present pardon and salvation are of small moment, if we are finally to perish. But after all, how stands the fact? Mr. Whitefield, in ex- press words, prays for " an assurance of eternal salvation, as one of the privileges of Christ's followers." 3 And I have 1 4 Journ. p. 108, 1 SJourn. p. 9- 3 SJourn. p 69. Methodists and Papists. 121 a more unexceptionable evidence, even Mr. Wesley himself; who in his sermon on free grace, allows and teaches, that " many, very many, have that witness of the Spirit, that assurance of faith, which excludes all doubt and fear con- cerning their future perseverance ; that a full assurance of faith doth not necessarily imply a full assurance of our future perseverance ; but he owns, and asserts, that assurance of the future is sometimes joined to that of present pardon ; and that some have both the one and the other. 1 One, who long continued in sin, received a full, clear sense of God's pardoning love, with power to sin no more." 3 And now what becomes of his charge against Mr. Bedford ? And is it not mere evasion to say afterwards, " this is not properly an assurance of what is future?" With what pertinacious confidence have impulses, impres- sions, feelings, transports of sensible joy, &c. been advanced into divine calls, commissions, directions, and certain rules of conduct; proofs of sins forgiven, justification and salva- tion ensured? How have they been convinced by inward feeling, the most infallible of all proofs ? And yet they have been compelled by argument to bring this down to a sort of inward consciousness, which no body denies : to tell their societies, " that they were not to judge of the spirit whereby any one spoke, by their own inward feelings; nor by dreams, visions, or revelations, supposed to be made to their souls; being all of a doubtful, disputable nature: might come from God, and might not." 9 To complain of " a spirit of enthusiasm breaking out among themselves ; many charging their own imaginations on the will of God, and that not written, but impressed on their hearts. If these impressions be received as the rale of action, instead of the written word, I know nothing so wicked and absurd but we may fall into, and that without remedy." These are Mr. Wesley's words, who likewise accuseth the Moravians " of 1 fc. IS, 14, 15. * 3 Journ. p. 42. 3 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 60, 01. 122 The Enthusiasm of substituting an uncertain, precarious, inward motion, in the place of the plain written word." ' And thus impressions, feelings, &c. are sometimes sure guides and infallible proofs: sometimes, again, not only uncertain, precarious, and enthusiastic, but unavoidably pro- ductive of the utmost wickedness and absurdity. And what must their followers do, among whom these things have been so much inculcated, who have been taught to depend upon them ? " Mr. Hammond, (another of their teachers) after he had at large pleaded for feeling the Holy Spirit, yet owned at last, that some people are filled with a great deal of joy, and experience sudden flashes of comfort, which they take to be from the Spirit of God. But how frequently do they deceive themselves? Those warm emotions of the mind often proceed from the state and disposition of the body, the temperature of the blood and animal spirits. Young converts are very apt to ascribe to the operations of the Holy Ghost what is owing to the mechanism of the body. The hasty, the careless and unguarded are in most danger of being carried away with false joys, and imaginary trans- ports." See Church's Farther Remarks, p. 128, 129. You see here how the force of truth will sometimes break out, among other eruptions of these fanatical heads ; and extort a confession of the very things, of which their adver- saries have accused them, (viz.) imposing mere imagination and distemper upon the world for the sacred dictates of the Holy Ghost. They tell you, " the hasty, the careless and unguarded, are most in danger of doing it." Who then among them can be safe ? for who, but persons of such a character, or a worse, can ever be of their sect ? SECTION 13. Among so much saying and unsaying, would you believe likewise that inspiration, and the extra- ordinary calls and guidances of the Holy Ghost, should be 1 4 Journ. p. 108-9. Methodists and Papists. 123 given up ? and the corner-stone of their spiritual pretences be removed by their own hands ? This, however, seems to be the case. We have Mr. Whitefield's confession in the following words. " As to an extraordinary call, I claim none, otherwise than the apostle's injunction, As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men." ' What he hath claimed was fully shown before : what he gives back ap- pears now. " I know too much of the devices of Satan, and the desperate wickedness and deceitfulness of my own heart, not to be sensible, that I am a man of like passions with others; and consequently may have sometimes mis- taken nature for grace, imagination for revelation, and the fire of my own temper for the pure and sacred flame of holy zeal, which cometh from God's altar." a Sufficient acknow- ledgment this, that he has sometimes been mistaken as to his high pretensions ; that he cannot be sure when he is mis- taken, and when not ; nor consequently be sure that he is not always mistaken. And what an ignorant and blind guide has he been to his followers \ But farther : In his last performance he has clearly and expressly given up the point. " Wild-fire has been mixed with my zeal; and I find I have frequently wrote and spoke too much in my own spirit, when I thought I was writing and speaking entirely by the assistance of the Spirit of God. I have likewise .too much made impressions, without the written word, my rule of acting." 3 Here you see Mr. Whitefield's direct confession of his being a deceiver; of having drawn away people by variety of untruths, and in cases of the last concern. And will they still adhere to him? or is he to be believed in any thing ? But more of this in the preface. Mr. Wesley's concessions on this head are not indeed so clear and express, but rather ambiguous and evasive, with- out confessing or denying. 4 Being charged with enthusiasm, 1 7 Journ. * Letter to Bishop of London, p. 14. 3 Remarks, p. 35. 4 Answer to Church, p. 38, 39. 124 The Enthusiasm of he says, " You are to prove (what I conceive you have not done yet) that my conduct is such, as is only to be justified by the supposition of an extraordinary divine assistance. I claim no other direction of God's, but what is common to all believers. No otherwise inspired than you are, if you love God. I never said, that what I do is to be accounted the work of God." Being charged with alleging a miracu- lous interposition of Providence in his favor, he replies, " Let it pass then as a trifle not worth relating." ' I am far from thinking that in these dubious expressions he designs to give up any of his high claims. And it is easy to see what shiftings and reserves may be ready at hand either way, as occasion shall require : what different constructions may be put upon the words, among his own society, and when engaged in controversy. But reserving miraculous gifts for their more proper place, I shall leave him to shake hands with his friend St. Ignatius ; who, after some ramblings up and down under the color of inspiration, was closely questioned by authority at Salamanca, " whe- ther he was really inspired by the Holy Ghost, or not?" Some writers say that he did then own himself not inspired. The Jesuits will not allow so much ; but that he would give no other answer than this, " We have talked enough of it." * This desultory conduct puts one in mind of the man in Martial, who would often surreptitiously intrude himself into the seats in the theatre belonging to the order of knight- hood, to which he had no right ; and was as often ferreted out by the beadle, and taught to stand among the populace. At length he cunningly gets a sort of half-seat at the end of a bench, where he boasts to the knights that he sat ; and pretends to the beadle that he stood. Subsellioque semifultus extreme, Et mate receptus altero genu, jactat Equiti sedere, Lectioque se stare. 3 ' P. 42. * See Dr. Geddes,of the Orders, &c. p. 10-2-3. 3 Lib. v. Ep. 14. Methodists and Papists. 125 SECTION 14. To the Methodistical institution belong also, either as constituent parts, or genuine consequences, scepticism and infidelity, doubts and denials of the truth of revelation, and sometimes atheism itself. This, together with their declarations of having no sense of God or reli- gion, will appear from their own narratives. " Put upon considering my own state : I cannot find in myself the love of God, or of Christ. Hence my deadness and wandering in public prayer. Hence even in the holy communion I have rarely any more than a cold attention. Hence when I hear of the highest instances of God's love, my heart is still senseless and unaffected. Yea, at this moment, I feel no more love to him than to one I had never heard of." ' Observe, reader, by the way, this is the man who charges our religion as no better than " the Turkish pilgrimages to Mecca, or the Popish worship of our Lady at Loretto. What else, adds he, can be said even of prayer (public or private) in the manner wherein you generally perform it ? As a thing of course, running round and round, in the same dull track, without either the know- ledge or the love of God ; without one heavenly temper." * But what sort of heavenly temper is his? How can he possibly, consistently with charity, call this our general per- formance? how possibly, without being omniscient, affirm that we pray without one heavenly temper ? or know any thing at all of our private devotions ? How monstrous is all this from the man, who owns that he himself even in the holy communion has rarely no more than a cold attention, in the highest instances no sense of God's love ! Let his own exclamation be the answer, " Oh ! what mockery of God is this ! " To proceed. Upon the people's ill usage (or supposed ill usage) of Mr. Wesley at Georgia, and their speaking all manner of evil falsely (as he says) against him, and tramp- ling under foot the word, after having been very attentive to 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 11. * Farther Appeal, p. 8J. 126 The Enthusiasm of it; what an emotion in him is hereby raised! " I do hereby bear witness against myself, that I could scarce refrain from giving the lie to experience, and reason, and Scripture all together. 1 When holy men have told me I had no faith, I have often doubted, whether I had or no. In a storm I think, what if the Gospel be not true ? a dream, a cunningly devised fable ? &c."* And to show that this, or worse, is no uncommon case among this species of religionists, one of the teachers among the Moravians says of himself, " sin no longer reigned over me : but .soon after I fell into grievous temp- tations. Then it came into my mind, I take all this pains to serve God. What if there be no God ? how do I know there is 1 and on this I mused more and more, until I said in my heart, There is no God. Every day for a full year, from morning to night, I groaned under this unbelief. I then said to myself, I will, and do suppose there is a God. Im- mediately I felt a strange sweetness in my soul, which lasted for six weeks. I then fell into doubts of another kind. I believed in God, but not in Christ. For above four years I found no rest, by reason of this unbelief: until one day ." 2 Soon after another Moravian owns, " seeing the great diversity of sects, I began to doubt whether any religion was true? For half a year these doubts perplexed me greatly; and I was just upon the point of casting off all religion." 4 " Mr. Seward too had such wicked suggestions, that he could not pray for his friends : tempted to worship stocks and stones ; any thing but God : sometimes to think he had some faith, at other times none." 5 And this w r as long after his conversion. Doubts something like these so horribly got possession of St. Ignatius (whose example is so often followed by our Methodists) that " they sucked up all the juice of his piety ; 6 1 1 Journ. p. 14. 2 3 Journ. p. 12. 3 2 Journ. p. 60. * Ibid. p. 65. 5 Journ. p. 32. 40. 57. 6 Orlandin. lib. i. Mo. "25. Meth odists and Papists. 127 his prayer was dry and barren ; his contemplations had no savouriness ; to speak, or hear, any thing of God, was a loathsome and odious thing." ' We read in the life of M. of Pazzi, " that she used to approach the holy table with disgusts and dissatisfactions ;" * in the life of St. Veronica, " that a holy nun died in horrible convulsions and distor- tions, because at that time the devil was urging her to deny Jesus Christ. She appeared after her death to some of the holy sisters, assuring them of this fact, adding, that she was now happy." Nor need we at all wonder at such wicked and unbeliev- ing thoughts arising in the minds of such fluctuating and inconsistent persons. It is but a genuine and usual effect of enthusiasm. Cool reason and plain Scripture are laid aside: variety of wild fancies and opinions crowd in, and distract the head ; impressions and feelings require to be listened to, and made a rule. Men, who in imagination are sent of God, and about his grand work, are in times of danger and dis- tress particularly alarmed : things not going to their mind, and Heaven seeming to fail them, presently start up doubts and distrusts of the being or providence of God, who main- tains not his own cause. So that the most impious sugges- tions will in their turn get uppermost, and remain uppermost too, and even make the stronger and more lasting lodgment, as it is the very nature of enthusiasm to be headstrong and positive. Our Methodists may reckon these assaults of infi- delity for a part of the throes of regeneration, and all to be done away by settled belief, and assurances of salvation ; but they will certainly be apt to return, according to the variation and succession of their fancies, humours, diseases, and passions. The Methodists sometimes tell us, that Satan is very busy in driving them to extremes. Bartolus says, " That the devil sent his life-guards, the affections of the black bile (i. e. melancholy enthusiasm), to impel St Igna- ' Banol. p. 22. * No. 35. 128 The Enthusiasm of tius upon measures contrary to the love of God, &c." ' Many learned writers have shown, that as enthusiastic and super- stitious persons are, in many cases, prone to atheism ; so atheism often partakes of enthusiasm and superstition ; and that, like ice and water, they beget one another. Dr. H. More's first Section against Enthusiasm shows " the great affinity and correspondency betwixt enthusiasm and atheism ; which, though they seem extremely opposite, yet in many things very nearly agree ; and are commonly entertained suc- cessively in the same breast. For that temper which dis- poses a man to listen to the magisterial dictates of an over- bearing fancy, very easily gives harbour to this mischievous guest ; and will as confidently represent to their fancy, that there is no God, as ever it was represented that there is one."* " Si non statim relevantur, saith Mersermus, dubitant an sit Deus : if they be not relieved forthwith, they question whether there be any God ; because they have not, as they think, their deserts." SECTION 15. All that oppose them, however, are like to have their deserts, if we may depend upon the denunciations of that uncharitable spirit ; the next thing I shall consider as connected with Methodism ; arid as no small objection and obstacle to their progress in other people's opinion, whatever it may be in their own. Read Mr. Wesley's Character of a Methodist. " And the love of God has purified his heart from every unkind temper and malign affection; from all revengeful passions, envy, malice and wrath. He cannot utter an unkind word of any one." 3 But read his controversial writings with his opposers, and all these fine professions are vanished, and contradicted ; and that in some of his latest performances. One of the Wesleys, 4 when his doctrine was contradicted, says, " While I in the mean time was as a deaf man that 1 Bartol. p. 22. * Burton of Melanch. 3 Sect. 10. lo. + 4 Journ. p. 75. Methodists and Papists. 129 heard not, neither answered a word." The other says, " We have behaved with all meekness and tenderness towards all men, especially with our brethren the clergy. 1 When a clergyman had vehemently accused me (of doing the con- trary) I kept my mouth as it were with a bridle, and com- mitted my cause to a higher hand." z A perfect copy of St. Francis, " who being insulted and abused, passed through them all as a deaf man." As a proof however that Mr. Wesley can speak, and in bitter words too, in the fulness of his heart, he brings himself to confession. 3 " By the most infallible of proofs, inward feeling, I am convinced of unbelief, of pride, of gross irrecollection, of levity and luxuriancy of spirit, by speak- ing words not tending to edify ; but most, by my manner of speaking of my enemies." Such confessions might be con- sidered as the effect of tender consciences, frequently apt to overcharge themselves ; if their writings did not sufficiently prove the charge. For, not to repeat their calumnies against their brethren ; nor to forestall their rancours among them- selves; nor to regard Mr. Whitefield's rant, that " all morality set up in opposition to his, shall sink, with its professors, into hell," &c. Let any one but look into the latter part of Mr. Wesley's Farther Appeal, and he will find enough of uncharitable and damnatory clauses ; dispatching all mankind to hell (as far as lies in human power) who are not Methodists. Not those in general, as they would pre- tend, who are void of a due love to God and man, who believe not in Christ, and keep not his commandments, and pro- mote not repentance and reformation : but all who submit not to their special dispensation of Methodism. " They are inspired, taught of God, sent by God, upon God's errand, to make a tender of his last oiFers, his last call to a guilty land. The apparatus of Providence in employing the two Wesley s is surprising ; they cannot devise what manner of men would 1 Farther Appeal, p. 116, 117. a Bonavent. c. ii. 3 1 Journ. p. 64. Method. I 1 30 The Enthusiasm of be more unexceptionable on all accounts. All their opposers are laboring heartily in the cause of hell. Those who would hinder people from joining them, or would bring them back, are most inexcusable; they are blasphemers, openly fight against God, fight under the devil's banner, are taking part with the devil against God. Some honorable opposers, whom they desire to be excused from naming, are worse than the scum of Cornwall, the rabble of Bilson and Darleston, the wild beasts of Walsal, and the turnkeys of Newgate. Those who have went out from them, and left them, are said to return to their vomit again, are called apostates, two- fold more the children of hell than before. Those who can even doubt of Methodism being God's work, or of their di vine mission, are inexcusably infatuated." This surely, besides high presumption, and self-sufficiency, is uncharitableness with a vengeance. But such always is the effect of infallibility : ' the Popish such, the Moravian such, and the Methodistical such. And yet, notwithstand- ing their dealing out hell-fire with such a liberal hand, I am not in the least discouraged from giving them what opposi- tion I can. Those that herd not with them may be as good as they will without it ; and such as have left them, have not done it, I know, without just reason. Mr. Wesley seems aw^are of this, when he says, that " they who were with us, but went out from us, will assert things that may cause your ears to tingle." That such things are among them, I make no doubt : and if this doth npt appear already,, it may before I have done. SECTION 16. Of the same uncharitable and presumptuous nature is their application of divine judgments, and account- ing diverse misfortunes and afflictions, which befall private persons, or the nation, as so many extraordinary punish- ments, and penal prodigies, for their opposition to themselves, 1 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 107, 108. Meth odists and Papists. 131 or their cause. They are the favorites, for whom all is done. Whether Mr. Whitefield has often taken upon him this direction of God's judgments, I do not recollect : but Mr. Wesley will fully make amends. The former indeed, hear- ing of one great opposer's being given over, and the death of another; immediately cries out, " That they are going to give an account of their hard speeches and writings against the Methodists." ' But the latter more peremptorily and plain- ly : " Mr. Molther (once his spiritual guide and confessor, but afterwards quarrelling with him) was taken ill this day. 1 'I believe it was the hand of God upon him. I was informed of an awful providence. A wretch cursing and blaspheming, and laboring with all bis might to hinder the word of God ; and threatening to do it again. But God laid his hand upon him, and on Sunday he was buried." 3 Some of his judg- ments attended with miracles I reserve for their proper place; and shall only mention a remarkable instance of God's sending judgments on the land, in proportion to the opposition made to the Methodists. This was at the time of the late wars and rebellion. " I cannot but believe, it is chiefly on this account (opposing the Methodists) that God hath now a controversy with our land. You cannot possi- bly help observing, that whenever there has been any thing like a public attempt to suppress this new sect, another, and another public trouble arose. This has been repeated so often, that it is surprising any man of sense can avoid taking notice of it. What remains but the fulfilling of that dreadful wwd?" 4 Bold and confident as he is, I cannot imagine how it was possible any one should observe what never was, i.e. any public attempt to suppress the Methodists. And it is sur- prising any man of sense can avoid taking notice of such 1 Whitef. 3 Journ. p. 31. 33. 2 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 34. 3 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 59, 00. * Farther Appeal, p. 23S, 9. 132 The Enthusiasm of rank enthusiasm, and groundless application of judgments. Suppose one should ask him, what public attempt there was, or any thing like it, to raise up or favor the Methodists, before the nation was blessed, and relieved by the battle of Culloden ? What tolerable answer could he make ? This is the way of them. All heaven must be interested and passionately con- cerned to support their wild freaks, to gratify their sour humors, and bring forth its artillery at their beck. The fly, sitting upon the chariot-wheel, cries out, What a dust do I raise? And if a fly-flapper be held up to blow it off, it must shake nations. But to return to the comparison. This uncharitable and presumptuous sin of denouncing damnation, and applying judgments, has been the general method and mark of enthu- siasts, especially the cruel ones of the Papacy. Their damning all out of the pale of their own communion is a known truth. And Bellarmin's fourteenth mark of the true church is, " The unhappy death or end of those who oppose it." 1 Where he does not forget that impudent lie concern- ing Calvin, that he died calling upon the devil, cursing and blaspheming. It were easy to produce legions of popish saints packing away their enemies to hell, and seeing visions of them there in torment ; and none of their opposers ever prospered. In the Book of Conformities we have " a list of those, upon whom the judgments of God, and malediction of Christ, fell for oppugnating St. Francis and his order, and turning apostates from it. Of four preachers, who declaimed intemperately against the society, one fell down dead in going up into the pulpit, another was killed by a fall from his mule, a third died a miserable death, and the fourth beg- ged pardon on his knees. a Two prebendaries, and some bishops, underwent God's judgments for persecuting them, whose names (says the author) I conceal, because they are lately dead." 3 " St. Francis likewise foretold the vengeance * DeNot. Eccles. c. xvii. * Fol. 131. 3 Fol. 273. Methodists and Papists. 133 that was coming upon some soldiers who disturbed his preach- ing, and upon the prebendary Gedeon, for returning to his vomit."' In the Franciscan Martyrology we have a full detail of deaths temporal and eternal, with other judgments, inflicted on the holy itinerant order of the mendicants ; par- ticularly of a bishop in England, who published several things against them, summoned a conventicle of his brethren to consult how to eradicate them, and soon after was snatch- ed away by death. And as to national judgments, it is everywhere the same : with respect to the Church of England in particular, th'e great Baronius remarks, " That she was over-run with heresies and schisms, as soon as she ceased to pay the pope his tribute of Peter-pence." 2 Desiring the reader to keep these applications of judg- ments in mind, till we come to consider miraculous judg- ments, SECTION 17, I pass to the Methodists' audacious custom of summoning their opponents to the bar of judgment ; and place it to the same account of an uncharitable presumption. " Where (shocking as it must appear to all discerning read- ers) Mr. Whitefield seems sure, that every thing will be determined in his own favor, and that judgment shall pass against all those he is pleased to condemn." (See the trial of Mr. Whitefield's Spirit, p. 19.) But, enter the man himself. " If thou thinkest, that either I have not told truth, or wrote out of a vain-glorious view, Jesus shall decide the question. At his tribunal shall we meet, and there thou shalt know what is in my heart. 3 Then shall my innocence be made clear as the light." 4 But as to those who oppose him, " I here cite them to answer it to our common master. 5 I shall rise up against you at the Great Day, and be a swift witness against you. At his dread- ful tribunal I will meet you ; and then you shall see. There, 1 P. 435, 436, 63$, z Ann. 740. 3 2 Dealing, p. 27. + 3 Journ. p. 27. 5 P. 74. 134 The Enthusiasm of there will I meet you. 1 There Jesus Christ shall determine, who are the false prophets, the wolves in sheep's clothing." 4 Mr. Wesley likewise must act his part. " I cite Alderman Beacher to answer at the judgment-seat of Christ. 3 I cite you all before the Judge of all the earth." 4 Here you have the true spirit of an Enthusiast, flushed with a modest assurance of his own salvation, and the charit- able prospect of the damnation of others. We have an instance of this kind of summons in one Walter Bruges, a Franciscan ; who being either deposed, or suspended, by Pope Clement V., wrote a formal citation of His Holiness to appear at the tribunal of Christ precisely on such a day; and on his death-bed ordered himself to be buried with this citation in his hand. And behold a miracle! The citation could by no force be pulled out of his hand. The Pope died on the day prefixed. 5 SECTION 18. And may I not be allowed to mention, as some objection to Methodism, and stumbling-block in its way, their violation and contempt of order and authority ; their usurpation of the powers, wherewith their superiors are legally invested, and setting up an independency ? They set out originally with decency and order ; asked leave for the pulpit ; had 1 it and might have kept it still, had not their reproachings of the lender, their enthusiastic and dangerous peculiarities, Sac. made it necessary to refuse it. Hence they are resolved to be revenged ; and holding forth hi unli- censed places, and without a li cense themselves, say, " they cannot die in peace, without bearing testimony against the unchristian principles and practices of those priests of Baal, the generality of our clergy." " This," says Mr. Whitefield, " puts me in mind of the children of Israel first intreating leave of Og, Sihon, &c. to go quietly through their land ; but 1 4 Journ. p. 27, 29. * Indwell, p. 11, 12. 3 4 Journ. p. 31. , 4 3 Journ. p. 75. 5 Martyr. Francisc. p. 29, 30. Methodists and Papists. 135 fighting their way through, when leave was denied. Like them, by the strength of my divine leader, I shall be more than conqueror over all the Canaanites and carnal teachers." * Greatly said, and in the true spirit of martial enthusiasm ; in conformity to the true spirit of contumacy and contradic- tion, when he declares, " the more I am bid to hold my peace, the more earnestly will I lift up my voice like a trumpet." a Ask Mr. Wesley, by what authority he preaches, he replies, " by the authority of Jesns Christ, committed to me by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Take thou authority to preach the Gospel." 3 And so far all is well. But put him in mind of the limitation in the following words, " in the congregation where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereto," away flies the Archbishop's commission, and you soon have him bursting out into an enthusiastic rant. 4 " 1 look upon all the world as my parish : this is the work which I know God has called me to." (See Conduct of the Methodists, p. 11, 12.) And what signifies a limited commission to the brave Mr. Whitefield, " when God shows him it is his duty, not to fix in any particular place ? " What signifies any subor- dination, when he can assume the dignity of a Primate ; " If a Bishop commit a fault, I will tell him of it ? " 5 Hence they commence a new and independent govern- ment ; appointing bands and societies, with superintendants, exhortors, moderators, and visitors. Hence they take upon them, I do not say to ordain, but to appoint, and give authority to persons, 6 who (in their own words) are neither bishops, priests, or deacons, to preach the word : 7 common mechanics, women, and boys, are actually employed in this ministry of public preaching, without any human qualifications.. Mr. Wesley says, that " we cannot but own, that God gave wisdom from above to these un- 1 3 Journ. p. 79. a Ibid. p. 22. 3 3 Journ. p. 52. 4 Ibid. p. 56. 5 5 Journ. p. 37. 6 Wesley, 4 Jouru. p. 75. 7 See INTRODUCTION. Part i. Sec. 6. 136 The Enthusiasm of learned and ignorant men ; so that the work of the Lord prospered in their hands." ' But it requires no extraordi- nary gift of discerning the spirits to see how easily such persons, by means of proper discipline, learning the cant of the party, a tolerably good assurance, and fluency of words, may set up for circumforaneous holders-forth ; and (what in fact is true) make no scruple of making their boast of being inspired ; thereby collecting a maintenance, and chousing the ignorant of their money. Hence, lastly, upon occasion they can pronounce the sen- tence of excommunication, and with an authority equal to the Papal : " I, John Wesley, by the consent and approba- tion of the Band-Society, in Kingswood, do declare the per- sons above-mentioned to be no longer members thereof." 1 I might here take notice of the irregular and unjustifiable behaviour of some of their followers at the Holy Communion. I speak from personal knowledge, and can produce other evidence, that sometimes, a little before the delivering of the elements, three or four together will take it in their heads to go away: that sometimes, while the sentences of the Offertory were reading, they have called out to the minister, whose duty it was to carry about the bason, (though they were at liberty to give, or not give) reproaching him for asking alms of them : that sometimes, when the minister has deli- vered the bread into their hands, instead of eating it, they would slip it into their pockets. This was often the case, unless they were well watched. Whether they tasted the wine, or no, I cannot say. These, I presume, are persons, who (after the example of their Teacher) " cannot find in themselves the love of God, or of Christ ; that rarely, even in the Holy Communion, have any more than a cold attention; or, like M.of Pazzi, come to the Lord's table with disgusts and dissatisfactions." From several of these particulars w r e should be justified in turning Mr. Wesley's own expression upon the Method- 1 Farther Appeal, pi 108. * 4 Journ. p. 73, Methodists and Papists. 137 ists: " This is to affect, not freedom, "but independency." 1 And yet, notwithstanding such misbehaviour, they bitterly complain of the clergy and universities, for opposing their proceedings ; and are surprised that every man in his senses does not, without the least hesitation, join them. Let us now see whether they have not precedents, accord ing to custom, among their old friends. Pope Gregory relates in his Dialogues, " That St. Equi- ties being reprehended for running about everywhere, and preaching without orders, or a licence, proved his licence from a vision of an angel, putting a lancet into his mouth, and saying, " Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth ; go forth and preach." z From that time he could not hold his peace. -St. Francis at first was so modest, and submis- sive to authority, that he was resolved himself, and enjoined his brethren, never to preach without leave of the diocesan, and minister of the parish. They denying him, his brethren advised him to get a faculty from the pope, for the salvation of souls. But the Saint told them, " he intended to convert the whole world ; which would be effected by their sanctity, humility, and obedience." 3 But this humble posture of mind did not last long : " For he called a chapter, and appointed preachers for every province ; and sent them out to their respective places, giving them a licence, whether clerics or laymen, whoever of them had the spirit of God, and gift of preaching. And afterwards he enlarged their commission, appointing them to preach in India, and through the whole world. For it was revealed to him from the Lord, that every corner of the earth was to hear the sound of their preaching."* At length, however, "he thought proper to apply to the Pope, who confirmed his order, and commanded little crowns to lie made for his lay-brethren, that they might freely preach the word of God. 5 It had indeed been likewise revealed to him, that the poisonous iniquity of the clergy 1 4 Journ. p. 43. 4 Lib. i. c.4. 3 Conform, fol.139,294. 4 Ibid. fol. 147. 149. 5 Bonavent. Leg. Fr. c.3. 138 The Enthusiasm of should oppose, and endeavour to trample upon, his order. Accordingly he was vilified both by seculars and prelates ; who, disregarding St. Francis's monitions, drew away his followers : but how, and why, will appear in the end." * Nor could the devil be idle, where his kingdom was at stake ; " but raised up turbulent spirits in the universities, to oppose the holy orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, and to write books against them." 1 The pious founder of the Jesuits met with the like ha- rassings ; and particularly at the university of Paris, could scarce escape a whipping in the public hall. Several bishops published edicts, forbidding either him, or his, to preach in their diocese ; and the stinking black cloud of the Sorbone burst upon them. And, as few can bear a censor of their manners, the minds of the clergy were alienated from the society, as intruding itself into their functions, and of their own will contriving to erect a seminary, ungrateful and prejudicial to the ministry, and intercepting their honors and profits. But Ignatius and company, by the special favor and direction of Heaven, were too cunning for them ; and by professing themselves entirely at the Pope's devotion, and his standard-bearers against heretics, they gained their ends ; and obtained of Gregory XIII, that golden bull, al- lowing the religious among them, who were priests, to hear confessions, and even those not in orders to preach where- ever they pleased. Attend, while the bull is speaking. " In virtue of the privilege granted to your society by Paul III, that whoever of you is fit, and deputed by the rector of the society, may publicly preach the word of God ; and those, who are priests, may hear the confessions of the faithful of both sexes ; from which time your religious, who were fit to preach, though not initiated into holy orders, have preached here, and there, and everywhere : Yet, because 1 Conform, fol. 17. 53. 175. * Ribaden, p. 472. Methodists and Papists. 139 an impertinent doubt has arose, whether the privilege of preaching comprehends those who are not ordained ; we, in order to remove this scruple, by the authority of these pre- sents, declare and decree, That every one of you, though not promoted to holy orders, both had power, and have power, in virtue of that privilege, to exercise the office of a preacher : strictly inhibiting all and singular ordinaries, and all others invested with any kind of power, not to dare to hinder or molest any one of you, upon any pretence. With a non ob- stante to all apostolical constitutions and ordinations, decreed by general or provincial councils." * You may perhaps endeavour to clear the Jesuits of usur- pation, as acting by Papal authority. The methodist-teachers will put in the same plea ; each of them being, the lawless one, a Pope to himself. Having mentioned the irregularities of some Methodists at the Communion ; I must in justice own, that the most part of them behaved very seriously and devoutly. Some indeed carrying matters to an extreme, and into a sort of ecstasy ; so as to be quite insensible of the minister's tender of the bread and wine, until spoken to, or pulled by the sleeve. Which I find to be no uncommon thing among the popish enthusiasts. And we have authentic testimony concerning St. Alcantara, that he not only was in such ardour of spirit himself, but induced others to be in a rapture and ecstasy at the sacrament. l As to the irreverence of pocketing the bread, instead of eating it ; we read in their books of Daemonology, and particularly in the Malleus Maleficarum, " it is to be remarked, that witches or sorceresses, when they communi- cate have this custom, if they can do it without being observed, to hide the body of the Lord under their tongue, instead of swallowing it; with a wicked 'purpose, and to reserve the host for wicked uses." 3 But I drop the com- parison any farther than as to the irreverent fact : and assure 1 Bullar. vol. ii. p. 361, 2. a Br. Rom. Oct. 25. 3 Tom. i. p. 125. 140 The Enthusiasm of the Methodists, that I would by no means so much as in- sinuate a suspicion of their being witches, or sorcerers ; or employing the bread to bad uses. Under this head may not improperly be considered their undutiful behaviour to the civil powers, and even flying in the face of the highest authority in the nation. One of Mr. Wesley's hearers was, it seems, pressed for a soldier : upon which Mr. Wesley breaks out into this hideous outcry; " Ye learned in the law, what becomes of Magna Charta, and of English liberty and property ? ' Are not these mere sounds, while, on any pretence, there is such a thing as a press-gang suffered in the land ?" The legislature, as the exigencies of the government have required, has, at several times, made acts for pressing men into his majesty's service. 1 But no matter for that; touch but a Methodist, and immediately liberty and property, the church and state, the nation, all may perish, rather than a soldier be pressed. He will not allow it, on any pretence. He, the same person, who had before bound himself with that repeated resolution, not to speak a tittle of worldly things, is now bawling for liberty and property. 3 SECTION 19. Pass we on to another consequence, indeed natural tendency, of Methodism, and an impediment in its course ; their mutual jealousies and envyings, their manifold divisions, fierce and rancorous quarrels, and accusations of one another of heinous crimes. I say a natural tendency ; because vanity, confidence, a hot-headed and intolerating spirit, always enter into the composition of enthusiasm, and create the above-mentioned bitter effects: besides such numbers of apostates, as they term it, from them. Observe but the early days of Methodism. The teachers are scarce fledged, but out they fly through the air of popu- 1 3 Journ. pag. 68. * See Introduction p. i. Sec. 7. 3 2 Journ. pag. 10. Methodists and Papists. 141 larity ; each pluming himself upon the number of staring admirers at his fine feathers, and high flights. Hence mutual emulation, envy, and grudging. Mr. Whitefield, " I was not without opposition from friends, who were jealous over me with a godly jealousy. For I carried high sail; thousands and ten thousands came to hear." ' Excellent godly jealousy indeed! To oppose God's special work, because Mr. Whitefield got so much glory ; to enter the list in the contest of vanity, and preach for a hat and feather. " Perceived something a little bordering on envy to my brother H ."* Mr. AVesley too " in his old room at Oxford sits musing, and reflecting, how many that came after me were preferred before me :" and then he religiously opens his Testament, by way of lot, to find the reason. 3 Nor is it long ere this lovely loving pair come to dagger's drawing. Mr. Wesley having heard much of Mr. Whitefield's unkind behaviour, says, he told me, " He and I preached two different gospels ; that he would not join me, or give me the right hand of fellowship ; but would publicly preach against me and my brother." 4 They actually write and publish against each other; " Mr. Wesley charges Whitefield with imprudence, for publishing at all, as putting weapons into their hands who loved neither of them ; with publishing a mere bur- lesque ; for making an open, and probably, an irreparable breach between them, by a treacherous wound, and bewray- ing of secrets." Hence it is well known they divided, and formed separate parties. Mr. Wesley, in his sermon on free grace, " is indispensably obliged to oppose the other, for the horrible blasphemies of his horrible doctrine." 5 " I went to my friend (that was !) Mr. Stonehouse at Islington ; but found in him all the deceiveableness of unrighteousness. 6 1 2 Dealing, p. 23. * 3 Journ. p. 6. 3 4 Journ. p. 14. 4 Ibid. p. 77, 78. 5 Tra;f. and p. 22. 6. 6 4 Journ. p. 35. 59. 1 42 The Enthusiasm of Mr. C told me plainly, he could not agree with me, because I did not preach the truth." 1 And here, for fear I should again be accused " of laying aside the New Testament, when writing my pamphlet," I shall put them in mind of the apostle's direction, Let us not be desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another. * Gal. v. 26. Prone as these gentlemen are to wrath, they will give leave, I hope, to ask a question, or two. Is this Me- thodism ? Tantsene animis ccelestibus irae ? And reign such moral feuds in heav'nly minds? What are we to think of these charges of Whitefield, and Wesley, against one another? Some persons, from a candid opinion of their veracity, might be inclined to believe them all. But I am rather disposed to inquire, are these things so ? Are they true ? Or are they not true ? If not true, they are grievous calumniators. If true, they are detestable sectarists. Whether true, or false, the allegation stands good of their envy, fierce and rancorous quarrels, and mutual, heinous accusations. All is in conformity to the conduct of the several religious orders of the Papacy ; envying, hating one another, bespat- tering one another, furiously contending which is the best ; I mean which is the worst: but unanimously agreed in fanaticism and imposture. And how stands the matter among their disciples ? Why, one party sticks to Whitefield, whose another gospel is better than Wesley's another gospel ; a second party sticks to Wesley for just as good a reason. Some are so lost to grace, that they renounce both of them, leaving Methodism totally in the lurch. Others in great numbers fall away to the Moravians ; and into dangerous and wicked tenets. In 1 P. 63. a Whitef. Remarks, p. 15. Methodists and Papists. 143 general, they are all together by the ears, embroiled and broken with unchristian quarrels and confusions. Mr. Whitefield sadly laments " the divisions that arose amongst God's people ; how many, who continued amongst them for a while, in time of temptation fall away: how those, who would have plucked out their eyes, and given them to him, become his enemies : how two young men in particular, once leaders of the religious society, are since fallen back : * and our brethren, who have fallen into errors, have left us voluntarily." a Mr. Wesley runs more in this strain : his Fourth Journal being mostly taken up in enumerating their wrath, dissentions, and apostacies. " At Oxford, but a few, who had not for- saken them; many, in whom the seed had withered away : 3 Out of twenty-five or thirty only two left, not one continued to attend daily prayers; the few once united now torn asunder, and scattered abroad. 4 At London, the poor brethren at Fetter Lane in great confusion ; 5 the plague was spread to the little society. 6 Many were induced to deny the gift of God, and affirm they never had any faith at all. Many of our sisters are shaken, grievously torn by reasonings : 7 but few come to Fetter Lane till near nine o'clock ; and then, after their names are called over, they presently depart. Our brethren here have neither wisdom enough to guide, nor pru- dence enough to let it alone. They have much confounded some of our sisters. I suppose above half of our brethren are on their side ; but they are so very confused, they do not know how to go on. Here I found every day the dreadful effects, scarce one in ten retained his first love : and most of the rest were in the utmost confusion, biting and devouring one another. 8 Many wholly unsettled, and lost in vain rea- sonings, and doubtful disputations, not likely to come to any true foundation. 9 I went to the society. But I found 1 3 Journ. p. 23. * P. 91. 3 3 Journ. p. 84, 85. 4 4 Journ. p. 91. 5 P. 34, 36, 6 P. 8. 7 P. 17, 18. * P. 21, 22. 9 P. 47. 144 The Enthusiasm of their hearts were quite estranged. A little handful of them stood in the old paths." At Bristol, and Kingswood, " I had many unpleasing accounts of the little society, breaches, jealousies, coldness. Went to preach at Kingswood: but (except a few from Bristol) I had not above two or three men, and as many women ; the same number once or twice before. Many of our brethren had no ears to hear, having disputed away both their faith and love ; l in continual dis- putes, divisions, and offences : a they break out afresh ; meetings of the bands cold and uncomfortable, endless strife and confusion, separations, back-bitings, evil-speaking, mutual charges of teaching false doctrines, supplanting, scof- fings at the two Wesleys' preaching : fifty-two leave them, and again about forty : the frighted sheep gaze and fly, as if they had no shepherd." What shall we say now? Are these the fruits of Me- thodism ? These the effects of their sweet love-feasts ? These the dear, precious, innocent lambs ? These the partakers of the new birth, of peace, and love, and joy in the Holy Ghost ? These their boasted conversions, these candidates for per- fection? Their own words bear witness against them. Sorex suo indicia peril. And we may justly remind them of their own expressions ; 3 " When the reformation began, what mountainous offences lay in the way ? Such failings in those two great men, Luther and Calvin ! (Wesley and Whitefield). Their vehement tenaciousness of their own opinions; their bitterness toward all who differed from them ; their impatience of contradiction, and utter want of forbearance even with their own brethren." This is bad enough : but it is not the worst. For consider what becomes of those that leave them; among whom so many of their deserters list ; and into what sort of discipline and principles they enter : nothing less than " into a New- Gospel." " Three of our Christian brethren driven by Satan 1 4 Journ. p. 62, 65. * P. 70, 75. 3 Farther Appeal, p. 132, 133. Methodists and Papists. 145 to deny Christ's visible church on earth. Multitudes to embrace a false unscriptural stilness, ceasing from outward works, and all means of grace ; all such ordinances as run- ning to church and sacrament, prayer public and private, reading the Scriptures : and further, to make a mere jest of going to church, sacrament, &c. a general temptation pre- vailing to leave off good works, in order to increase their faith; to cry out, No works, no law, no commandments: to throw away the Bible, and say, I will never read, or pray more: the prayers of the church are full of horrid lies. 1 I was with one, who told me, that God had told her not to partake of the Lord's Supper any more, since she fed upon Christ continually."* " At the Nottingham society, the room not half full, which used to be crowded : not one per- son who came in used any prayer at all ; but every one began either talking to his neighbour, or looking about him : when I began to pray, there was a general surprise, none once offering to kneel, but all standing in the most easy and indo- lent posture. I afterwards looked for one of our hymn books upon the desk : but both that, and the Bible, were vanished away." 3 SECTION 20. Enthusiasm being a thing by no means in- consistent with immorality, and frequently the immediate cause of it ; we may mention as another effect of Methodism, its tendency to undermine morality and good \vorks; and that some of its doctrines give encouragement to immorality and vice. 4 Whether this be any impediment to Methodism, I do not determine ; but it is evidently an impediment to true religion and virtue. It would be thrusting my sickle too much into another man's harvest, and doing what has been done better already by abler hands, to show what an ill aspect and influence 1 Wesley, 4 Journ. passim. 2 4 Journ. p. 80. 3 P. 87. 4 See IMROUICT. Part. i. j 7. Method. K 140 The Enthusiasm of some of their peculiarities and tenets have upon virtuous practice. Such as those sudden and instantaneous calls and conversions, which the Methodists are trained up to expect, and wait for in quietness ; whence they are naturally led to neglect the means of salvation, all gradual improvement, and growing in grace: the presumptuous doctrine of assurances of pardon and salvation, present and future ; a strong ima- gination and supposed feeling of which will fill the head with spiritual pride ; and induce a false and fatal security, to the neglect of future endeavours. Impulses, impressions, fancied inspiration and revelations, which being made the rule of duty, will make them as confident in wrong practice, as in right; and presumed upon, as certainly coming from heaven, will of course lead them into dangerous errors of judgment and behaviour. That summit of arrogance, a claim of un- sinning perfection, and absolute freedom from corruption, which is the privilege of our Redeemer alone, and from which I may safely affirm the Methodists are at a wide dis- tance ; whence those warm heads which in imagination have attained it, or are just laying hold of it, will arrive only to the most enthusiastic phrcnsies ; and those of a less sanguine spirit, will be tempted to give over the pursuit, become de- sperate, or turn libertines. To which may be added, that the followers, persuaded that their teachers speak from God, and are immediately sent upon his work, will find little inclination to dispute any of their doctrines, or boggle at their examples, how immoral or unscriptural soever. The mountebank's infallible pre- scriptions must be swallowed, whatever be the consequence, though they die for it. As to the question, whether we are justified and saved by faith only, or by faith and works, " Mr. "Whitefield de- clares for being justified by faith only; which was the more extraordinary, says he, because my friends at Oxford had rather inclined to the mystic divinity." 1 (Observe by the 1 1 Dealing, p. 56, and NVesl. 4 Journ. p. 41. Methodists and Papists. 147 way, though this mystic divinity was once the Methodists' doctrine ; yet, says Mr. Wesley-, " I declare in my cool judgment, and in the presence of the most High God, that I believe the mystic writers to be one great Antichrist." ' So that the Methodists, by their own confession, were at first a part of the great Antichrist.) And however Mr. Wesley may have explained St. James, as the great antidote against omitting good works, I do not find that either he, or Mr. Whitefield, have ever cited those express passages (Chap. ii. 14. 24.) " What doth it profit, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works ? Can faith save him ? Ye see then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." If they have any where cited these passages, they have only confuted themselves. For Mr. Wesley affirms, that " the condition of our justification is faith alone, and not good works :* that the most destructive of all those errors, which Rome, the mother of abominations, hath brought forth (compared to which, transubstantiation, and a hundred more, are trifles light as air) is, that we are justified by works, or (to express the thing a little more decently) by faith and works." 3 Upon which words give me leave to make a remark. Mr. Wesley hath told us, that " the Methodists (and himself among them) had wandered many years in the new path, of salvation by faith and works ; before God showed them the old way, of salvation by faith only." 4 Whence we may ob- serve, that during many years of their methodistical state, (which was the tune too of their highest glory and popula- rity,) they were seducing their disciples, according to their own confession, into the most destructive errors; errors, compared to which all the most wicked and idolatrous parts of popery are trifles light as air. 1 2 Journ. p. 26, 17. * 4 Journ. p. 17. 3 3 Journ. p. 75. 4 4 Journ. p. 41. 1-48 The Enthusiasm of Champion Whitefield boldly throws down his gauntlet, " who dares assert that we are not justified merely by an act of faith, without any regard to works past, present, or to come ?'" But, I apprehend, it requires no high degree of courage to assert it, after such authority as that of St. James. Again, concerning the nice distinction of the Methodists in doing good works, but not trusting in them, Mr. Wesley 1 mentions " a contemplative man, whose instructions he re- ceived as the words of God ; but, says he, I cannot but now observe, that he spoke so incautiously against trusting in outward works, that he discouraged me from doing them at all." And have he, or his friends, much mended the matter ? " When Mr. Whitefield had resolved to leave off forms, public worship, and other works ; Mr. Wesley advised him to resume all his externals, though not to depend on them in the least." * When the Moravian brethren say, " it is impos- sible to "use the means of grace (as church, communion, prayer, scripture, &c.) without trusting in them; and if a man doth not trust in them, why doth he do them ? Mr. Wesley only contends that it is possible to use them, without trusting in them." 3 And now, are not such disparaging ex- pressions (not to trust in them in the least, a mere possibility of using them without trusting in them) a great discourage- ment to the practice ? The plain truth is, we cannot trust in good works, nor yet in faith, as the meritorious cause of our justification and salvation: the sacrifice of Christ alone is such : but we must so far trust in both, as the necessary terms and conditions ; without which we cannot be saved. And when our church asserts our being justified or saved by faith alone, as distinguished from the works of the law, or mere moral righteousness ; it means such a faith, as worketh by love ; faith including good works, or in conjunction with them. When St. Paul likewise teacheth justification by faith only, and not by works ; it is manifest that he means 1 S Juurn. p. 2. a 1 Dealing, p. 44. 3 4 Journl p. 20, 21. 105. Methodists and Papists. 149 the works of the Mosaic law, and not the works of moral duties, or virtuous actions. " The works of the law are hir deed sometimes named only works. But the whole tenor of the epistle, (to the Romans,) and the context, always shows those works to be the works of the Mosaic law. Nay, those works are not only distinguished from the evangelical, which are called good works ; but they are expressly opposed to them, as wrong to right : as particularly, Ephes. ii. 9, 10. Not of works, (these are the works of the law,) lest any man should boast. For we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. * (These are the works of the Gospel.)" I have this from Dr. Heylin; who adds, " I have judged it necessary to take notice of an error, which has been mischievously spread, and incautiously admitted, that the works of the law and good works are the same." What is otherwise matter of controversy, seems to me either wrangling about words, or paving the way to dangerous delusions. In the mean time, it is something strange (if among Methodists and Papists any thing can be strange) that after so many and unanswerable writings of our divines against the merit of good works, we should be charged with setting too high a value upon them ; and that the Methodists, who, in agreement with Papists, talk of arriving at perfec- tion, and an unsinning state, should so undervalue and disparage them : unless they mean a perfection destitute of good works. We might produce various instances of enthusiasts among Papists, &c. such as those mendicant friars the Fratricelli, the Alumbrado's or Illuminati of Spain, who were stiff main- tainers of perfection ; in which situation they were above ordinances of church or state, above the exercise of moral \ irtues : looked on natural inclinations as indifferent things ; and so deemed unclean mixtures as no sins. It is to be hoped not many of our Methodists will be carried to these 1 Theol. Lcct. p. 181. 1 50 The Enthusiasm of lengths. But they may be put in mind of Eishop Stilling- fleet's words : " It is an easy way of salvation, if no more were required to men's happiness but a fancy and strong- opinion, which they will easily call believing. Such as make no other condition of the Gospel but believing, and will scarce allow that to be called a condition, ought to have a great care to keep their hearts sounder than their heads : for their only security will lie in this, that they are good, though they see no necessity of being so. And such of all others, I grant, have reason to acknowledge the irresistible power of divine grace, which enables them to obey the will of God against the dictates of their own judgments." * There may be reason for some such caution ; when, besides the peculiarities in the Methodists' notion of faith, they talk with such contempt of " your w r orkers, and good livers ;" while they have good hopes of persons of a professedly wicked and debauched life. They have told us, " how apt the devil is to drive men into extremes ;" they know from nature and experience that one extreme begets another ; and thence infer, that, one time or other, immoderate viciousness will rebound into their enthusiastic madness. To proceed. Without insisting, as an encouragement to sin, on Mr. Wesley's description of " the state of those who have forgiveness of sins, but not a clean heart, even a heart desperately wicked ; yet need not doubt, or fear :"* let me insert here a pretty remarkable passage of his; which, though perhaps not any obstruction to Methodism, is evidently so to religion, and a good life : " I heard a sermon, wherein it was asserted, that our repentance was not sincere, but feigned and hypocritical ; 1st, if we relapsed into sin soon after repenting: especially if, 2dly, w r e did not avoid all occasions of sin; or if, 3dly, we relapsed frequently ; and most of all, if, 4thly, our hearts were har- dened thereby." 3 One would think this no bad divinity: 1 Works, Vol. i. p. 56, 57. * 4 Journ. p. 35, 36. 3 Journ. p. 73. 78. Methodists and Papists. 151 but it seems not a word of it is true. For he adds, " O what a hyprocrite have I been (if this be so) for near twice ten years ! but I know it is not so." He is at liberty to speak for himself; but, I apprehend, has no authority to include every one, notwithstanding his positiveness. " I know every one under the law is even as I was. Every one wlien he begins to see his fallen state, and to feel the wrath of God abiding on him, relapses into the sin that most easily besets him, soon after repenting of it. Sometimes he avoids, and at many other times cannot persuade himself to avoid the occasions of it. Hence his relapses are frequent, and of consequence his heart is hardened more and more. And yet all this time he is sincerely striving against sin. Nor can he, with all his sincerity, avoid any one of these four marks of hypocrisy ; till being justified by faith/' &c. Strange account of the progress into Methodism, and its peculiar notions of faith, &c ! Strange agreement and con- sistency of sincerity with relapsing soon, relapsing frequently, not avoiding the occasions of sin, and with hardening the heart more and more : all without any danger of hypocrisy T Near twice ten years ! (and God knows many more our casuist may grant) a fair allowance for continuing in this sincere, hardened state! All necessary and unavoidable! Those gentle confessors the Jesuits, could scarce have granted salvation upon easier terms. Have no doubt or fear, ye Methodists, though for such a length of years ye have an evil and unclean heart. Remember your teacher's words, " was there ever so pleasing a scheme ?" Pleasing indeed, thus to be going into perfection, thus to be assured of salvation ! Hear again a more particular instance, with respect to the holy communion. " No previous preparation," says Mr. Wesley, " no fitness is required at the time of communicating 1 , but a sense of our state, of our utter sinfulness and helpless- 152 Tfte Enthusiasm of ness : every one who knows he is fit for hell, being just fit to come to Christ, in this and all other ways of his appoint- ment." J What a pleasing, and yet how incomparable a comment is this upon St. Paul's direction for a man to examine himself in order to receive worthily : and not to receive unworthily, which is eating and drinking damnation to himself! But hold: let us hear Mr. Wesley's reason against any preparation : " Because we come to his table, not to give him any thing, but to receive whatever he pleases to give." A most excellent illustration by this strict church- man of the words in our communion-service, " here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee !" Surely this may justly be compared with that Popish doctrine, that the efficacy of the sacrament is produced, as it were, by a charm, ex opere operate, i. e. from the mere doing of the work, without any regard to the fitness of the receiver. It perfectly accords with that of their bold champion Gregory de Valcntia, who affirms, that " con- trition (a sorrow for sin proceeding from the love of God) is not necessary towards receiving the benefit of the sacra- ments : but rather hinders it ; and that it would be absurd to require it." z And that of Morinus, " That the excellence and prerogative of the evangelical sacraments above the legal shines out principally in this, that the evangelical have delivered us from the most grievous yoke of contrition and the love of God." 3 Oh ! how good a thing is the concord of brethren ! Again, Mr. Wesley has taught us, that infirmities are no sins. An assertion something strange from one who hath so strongly affirmed, " that our whole heart is altogether cor- rupt and abominable, and consequently our whole life : 4 all 1 4 Journ. p. 46, 47. 2 Vol. iv. p. 1557. 3 De Psenit. 1. 8. c. 4. no. 26. 4 1 Journ. p. 69. Methodists and Papists. 153 our works, the most specious of them, our righteousness, our prayers, needing an atonement themselves : ' all our works and tempers evil continually ." 2 But my objection to it is, that it is a loop-hole to creep out of every moral and religious obligation. By means of this doctrine Mr. Whitefield easily got rid of his word and promise; he said, " That promise was only an effect of human weakness ; and he was now of another mind." 3 The same excuse will serve on all occasions ; especially in sins which more easily beset this sect, not very remark- able for the gift of chastity. Their famous Methodist teacher at Salisbury (whom I mentioned before), * was indeed above making this paltry excuse ; above the sneaking submission of remorse and repentance, for his adulteries. Being detect- ed, he preached publicly in defence of plurality of women, under the name of wives. And instead of taking shame to himself, hath in a shameless manner printed and publish- ed his infamous justification of bigamy : which treatise (such is his modesty) he disperseth about, to my certain knowledge, with his own hand. A treatise, not putting in any decent plea for the lawfulness of having a multiplicity of women; but audaciously condemning the defenders of the matrimonial contract between one and one, as " weak and wicked men, traitors to God, guilty of egregious folly and falsehood, of a religious madness, the most horrible delusion that the devil and his emissaries can propagate." At this rate, if this New Breviary secundum usum Sanim should get ground, the Methodist teachers may soon be as generally scandalous, as they have wished, and prayed. We shall hence conceive no very favorable opinion of their love-feasts, and nocturnal meetings : we shall be convinced what sort of men are too well acquainted with the weak side of human nature, in more senses than one : and all of 1 3 Journ. p. 10. 70. a 2 Journ. p. 23. 3 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 77. 4 See INTRODUCTION, Part i. 7. 154 The Enthusiasm of us should attend to Christ's prediction and warning con- cerning the false prophets, who (if possible) should deceive the very elect : " Wherefore, if they say unto you, Behold he is in the desert, go not forth : behold he is in the secret chambers, believe it not." ' Many authors have shown a natural connection between enthusiasm and impurity. And it is observable in fact, that a multiplicity of wives, and promiscuous use of women, has been the favorite tenet of most fanatical sects: the Nicolaitans, Gnostics, Montanists, Valentinians, &c. Some of whom have maintained it not merely as lawful, but as necessary to perfection. It was the grand allurement to embrace Mahometism: was the professed doctrine of mo- dern enthusiasts; as John of Leyden, David George, &c. who warmly taught that no man was confined to one woman ; but that procreation was a free thing, in common to all that are born again, or regenerated by the spirit of David George : * was zealously inculcated and defended in print, as well as exemplified in practice, by Mr. Lacy, so famous among the French prophets ; whose mantle has been taken up by W . H . And all of them were fond of employing the sex as their emissaries, to prepare the minds of their acquaintance for conversion. How the case stands in fact, as to the number of con- verts among the Methodists, and real reformation of life to the certain and known duties of the Gospel, is matter of difficult determination. But, from what enquiry I can make, there is no reason to think them better, for the generality, than their neighbours. Superstitious zeal for trifles, un- scriptural peculiarities, high flights in words, and boastings of perfection as promised to all, and the like ; of these there is no want. But when we consider their black art of ca- lumny, and various kinds of uncharitableness in a high degree ; their excessive pride and vanity ; their scepticisms, ' Matt. xxiv. 2326. * Dr. More Enthus. Sect. 31. Methodists and Papists. 155 doubts, and disbeliefs of God and Christ ; their disorderly practices, and contempt of authority ; their divisions, confu- sions, bitter envyings and inveterate broils among them- selves ; coolness, at least, for good works, and uncommon warmth for some very bad, &c. Of these likewise there is no want. If we take Mr. Wesley's own account, it falls very short of any considerable reformation. He owns " among them sinners of every kind; and the great stumbling-block by them that say and do not. Such I take for granted," says he, " will be among us, although we purge them out as fast as we can; persons that talk much of religion, that com- mend the preachers, perhaps are diligent in hearing them ; read all their books, and sing their hymns ; and yet no change is wrought in their hearts. Were they of old time as lions in their houses? they are the same still. Slothful, intemperate, tricking or dishonest, over-reaching or oppres- sive ? The Ethiopian hath not changed his skin. Were they (in high life) delicate, self-indulgent, fond of trifles or their own dear persons ? The leopard hath not changed her spots : others, in whom there was a real change. But it was only for a season. They are now turned back, and are twofold more the children of hell than before." I Whence we may infer, that our new reformers have made but a slow and slight progress in the real reformation of manners. We read that " the devil finding a certain Jesuit to have an intimate communication with God, en- deavoured to cool his zeal by throwing a bucket of water upon his head through the roof of the house." a But what- ever occasion some of our Methodists' ardors and peculiari- ties may have for water, the devil, I am persuaded, will not be fond of bringing his bucket; and their zeal for good works having no need of a cooler, he may save himself the 1 Farther Appeal, p. 121, 122. * Franc. Annal. p. 316. 150 TJie Enthusiasm of trouble. It is well, upon the whole, if they are not rather hinderers than promoters of morality and virtue. Their friend Madam Bourignon, who was engaged in such another project, not only coniesseth her frequent re- lapses into sin ; but the little good, or rather much harm, all her instructions had done : " I exercised myself about nine years in teaching the ignorant, without profiting any thing in the salvation of their souls. On the contrary, I had the dissatisfaction to hear some of them say, to whom I had shown the Christian doctrine and virtues, that they could now do greater evils, than they could do before ; because now they could cover their wickednesses with feigned virtues; which they could not do before they learned to talk of virtue." 1 SECTION 21. There is however reason to believe that the good work of Popery is carrying on, from some of their tenets and practices; over and above their stringing one extravagance upon another, in conformity with the Papal fanatics ; which hath been evidently shown through the whole comparison. To this purpose it might be remarked (what is manifestly true) that in their several answers and defences, a strain of Jesuitical sophistry, artifice and craft, evasion, reserve, equivocation, and prevarication, is of constant use. But to wave this ; " When a Methodist was receiving the sacra- ment, God was pleased (says Mr. Wesley) to let him see a crucified Saviour; he saw the fountain opened in his side." 1 How often (says Mr. Whitefield) at the early sacraments have we seen Jesus Christ crucified, and evident- ly set forth before us ?" 3 Upon this I asked, " Whether this did not encourage the notion of a real corporal presence in the sacrifice of the mass, and was not as good an argu- 1 Solid Virtue, p. 178, 125. * 3 Journ. p. 16, 17. 3 Further Dealing, p. 22. Met hodists and Papists. 1 5 7 ment for transubstantiation, as the several fleshy appear- ances produced by the Papists ?" To which I now add, that Mr. Whitefield mentions only particular times and places, when " the sacraments were thus exceeding awful. It was at Cripplegate, St. Anne's, and Foster-Lane, and early, when they saw Jesus Christ crucified, evidently :" ' which implieth, that they had not the favor of this evident corporal sight of Christ at other times and places ; though they must have received the sacrament frequently at many places besides. And this perfectly tallies with the Papists, who had not always a view of the corporal presence in the mass, but only at some places, as a particular favor, on special occa- sions ; as to confirm the doubtful, convert the unbelieving, &c. Thus St. Teresa says, that in a " particular monas- tery, the building whereof she had negociated with God, among other favors to herself and society, was the perceiv- ing the person of Jesus Christ in the sacrament, so as to perceive visibly his corporal presence; so generally and ordinarily, that we found the blessed sacrament never had wrought such an effect upon us in any place, as here." z We may see in Mr. Wesley's writings, that he was once a strict churchman, has gradually relaxed, put on a more Catholic spirit, tending at length to Roman Catholic. People of every communion are among his disciples ; and he somewhere rejects with indignation any design to con- vert others from any communion : and, consequently, not from Popery. On the contrary, we find no small tendency to it. For instance, by praying for the dead. In his pray- ers for every day in the week, we have these words, " Lastly, I commend to thy mercy the souls of all that are departed this life in thy true faith and fear." This doctrine, it is true, is of pretty early antiquity: (I think Tertullian, a Montanist, is the first that mentions it:) but it was not 1 Ibid. 2 Life, Vol. II. [\ 235. The Enthusiasm of made an article of faith till the new papistical creed was invented. And Mr. Wesley, (who tells us that " some fopperies of the Roman Church were in some measure countenanced by antiquity" ') should have never countenan- ced a doctrine which is the foundation of purgatory ; which has introduced idolatry ; and from praying for the dead, brought bigots to pray to them. By private confession. " It is one of the fundamental rules in their bands, that every one speak as freely, plainly, and concisely as he can, the real state of his heart, with his several temptations and deliverances; using no kind of reserve : with the faults they have committed in thought, word, and deed, and the temptations they have felt: to answer to as many searching questions as may be." : And what a scene is hereby disclosed when the most search- ing questions are asked, and answered, without reserve? Such indeed, as have made Popish confessors, the Jesuits especially, scandalous through the world, but at the same tune powerful, and getting it under their girdle by a know- ledge of all the secrets of the heart. Mr. Wesley to this will reply, " That the only Popish confession is, the confes- sion made by a single person to a priest: whereas that we practise is, the confession of several persons conjointly, not to a priest, but to each other." 4 And will Mr. Wesley abide by this, and freely answer a question, in answer to what has been affirmed in print ? " After private confes- sions taken in their classes, or bands ; are not reports made to Mr. Wesley ? Are no delinquents, male and female, brought before him separately, and confessed by him?" And again, doth not something of this nature appear by his own words elsewhere ? " Here are seven thousand per- sons (perhaps somewhat more) of whom I take care, watch- 1 Plain Account, p. 19. a 2 Journ. p. 17, 18. 3 Plain Ace. p. 17, 18. 4 Plain Ace. p. 18. Methodists and Papists. 1 59 ing over their souls, as he that must give account. In order hereto it lies upon me (so I judge) at the peril of my own salvation, to know not only their names, but their outward and inward states, their difficulties and dangers. Other- wise how can I know how to guide them aright ?" &c. ' What wicked uses have been made of this engine by popish guides, made necessary under pain of damnation, I need not say: and shall only transcribe an account from Mat- thew Paris, concerning the Franciscans, or Friars Minors, the itinerant spiritual guides of those days. " They procu- red from his Holiness the Pope the privilege of preaching, hearing confessions, and enjoining penances, in England ; to the great injury of the parochial ministers : persons worthy of this new privilege, as being raised up by the Lord, and not seeking their own, but the things of Jesus Christ. The itinerants, flushed and exalted hereby, demanded to preach and confess everywhere, without contradiction; and to be received as angels of God : they saucily and impudently proclaimed the established clergy to be blind leaders of the blind ; and say to the people, Come to us, who are able to distinguish leprosy from leprosy ; to whom arduous difficul- ties, and the secrets of God have been revealed. Hence men and women lost all due respect for their proper pastors ; and going to one of these rambling friars, whom perhaps they might never see more, confessed all to them without shame or blushing. By these means sin more copiously abounded ; and the itinerants grew excessively imperious and insolent." 2 Another tendency to Popery appears, by the notion of a single drop of Christ's blood being a sufficient atonement for the sins of the whole world. For however pious this may seem; it is absolutely false, and papistical. False, and betraying a fundamental ignorance of our redemption : because it was the sacrifice of the death of Christ that pro- 1 Farther Appeal, p. 113- ~ P. 693. Edit. 1740. 160 The Enthusiasm of cured our remission and atonement. And papistical, being broached by a Pope, and for a wicked purpose. Mr Wes- ley tells of a Methodist, who " knew, and was sure, that if he had all the sins of the world laid upon him, one drop of Christ's blood was sufficient to atone for all." l Which doc- trine comes from Pope Clement VI. in order to fill his magazine of pardons and indulgencies. We have the whole in the papal canon law. Extrav. Com. lib. V. cap. 2. Unigenitus. '* The Son of God, though a moderate drop of his blood would have sufficed for the redemption of all mankind, yet shed the whole. That therefore the remainder of his blood [all above that drop] might not be unprofitable, vain, and superfluous, it was left as a treasure to the church. Which treasure Christ did not hide in a napkin, or in a field, but committed it to St. Peter the key-keeper of hea- ven, and to his successors, Christ's Vicars on earth, to be disposed of for the remission of .sins. To which heap of treasure, the merits of the blessed mother of God, and of all the elect, from the first just man to the last, are known to make a considerable addition." You see upon what founda- tion are builded the Popish doctrine of merit, and market of indulgencies. Of a like tendency is Mr. Wesley's contemptuous treat- ment of right opinions, or orthodoxy; which imports a right and sound judgment in matters of doctrine, and belief in the gospel-institution. He expressly says, " It is a point we chiefly insist upon, that orthodoxy, or right opi- nions, is, at best, but a very slender part of religion, if any part of it at all." a The plain consequence whereof is, that teaching and believing the fundamental errors of Popery, as transubstantiation, worship of saints and images, with the whole train of their abominations and idolatries, are of very little moment, if of any. And he speaks very favor- ably of these points, by telling us, " That in comparison of 1 3 Jcurn. p. 17. "~ Plain Ace. p. 4. Methodists and Papists. 161 preaching justification by faith and works, all the errors of popery, transubstantiation, and a hundred more, are trifles light as air." ' Such a strange extenuation of the most Anti- christian sorceries, reducing them almost to a mere nothing, we find to be the effect of a tenacious contention for metho- distical fancies. Again; the Methodist doctrine of impressions and assur- ances, &c. holds equally for papal enthusiasts ; many of them, particularly the heaven-taught Teresa, having affirmed from the same force of imagination, " that they could not possibly have a greater certitude of any one thing than of the truth of the popish religion." a Their sudden and instantaneous conversions stand upon the same footing with the popish. " One Donna Catha- rina being intent on a good match, but casually casting her eyes on a crucifix, presently the Lord totally changed her : and she retired into a secret place to pray ; where the devil exercised her with notable delusions." 3 I shall mention but one more thing (except what properly belongs to my third and last part) of a Methodistical ten- dency to popery ; which is, the recommendation of popish books. Many such have of late years been printed in Eng- land, for the use of Catholics, and conversion of heretics : which (as if by compact, or sympathy with Methodism) are stuffed with aridities, desolations, and desertions ; feelings and assurances; joys, raptures, visions; communications with the deity, inspirations, miracles, &c. But I shall con- line myself to one or two, recommended by Mr. Wesley. One is, the Life of Mr. de Renty ; of which Mr. Wesley hath made and published an extract, for the benefit of his fol- lowers. I have not seen his extract ; but by perusing the life itself, I can easily discern the reasons of its high degree of favor. For Mr. de Renty (a Frenchman of quality) had a strong tincture of the enthusiastic spirit. " He hated a 1 3 Journ. p. 75. * Life. * Life of Teresa, vol. ii. p. 158. Method. L 162 The Enthusiasm of coach, and used to travel on foot. ' In his way towards per- fection, in the morning he takes holy water, goes to the Virgin's Chapel, places before him an image of the Virgin holding her Son, as the lady of the house ; kisses the earth before her ; and prays, Monstra te esse Matrem, shew that you are a mother ; devotes himself and family to her service entirely ; pays his devoirs to St. Joseph and Teresa : * Goes forth whither God directs ; prays for the dead ; leaves his breviary, and all forms ; because they would be a hindrance to his coming to God ; has great infidelities, and sees nothing but vice and sin in him :" yet declares, " I bear in me ordinarily a plenitude of the most Holy Trinity : by a love of God I enter into a heat, and into a fire, and even to my fingers' ends feel that all within me speaks for its God. Again, I have nothing sensible in me, and fall into my own nothingness." 3 He wears an iron girdle with a double rank of long prickles, a bracelet of the same, continually on his breast a crucifix, set with sharp nails entering his flesh. 4 " I should, says he, have great pleasure, if it were permitted me to go naked in my shirt through the streets of Paris, to make myself disesteemed, and taken for a fool. God sometimes giving to holy souls thoughts and desires, so raised above the common pitch of human reason, as to seem extravagant : as before in our founder St. Ignatius." 5 By prayer, he cures diseases the most desperate and extraordinary, with unlikely remedies : 6 is very diligent in converting protestants to popery : 7 in prayer is shewn from God of an employment designed for him in the Indies. A lady discoursing with him about procuring relief under great pain, and finding no comfort from him, immediately she throws herself on her knees ; 8 and after prayer, she no longer sees Mr. de Renty, but in him our blessed Saviour, ' Life of Teresa, p. 25. 2 P. 26. 3 P. 29. * P. 38. 5 P. 66. 6 P. 143. 7 P. 167. P. 172. Methodists and Papists. 163 .shining with great splendor, and saying, " Do what my servant directs thee :" which words, at that very instant, had such an effect, that her pain vanished, and she was filled with God, and converted. He could penetrate into the inward recesses of the con- science, and discover people's secrets ; x could speak words inspired at that very hour ; was inspired with great certi- tude what was God's will. God resided, spake, and acted in him. God unites his soul to himself, admits him to the communion of the blessed Virgin, saints, and angels. 2 One day, by the singular bounty of God, he had a view of his divine Majesty, of John Baptist, and Sister Margaret, clearly represented. 3 The infant Jesus reveals to Sister Margaret, that Mr. de Renty should thenceforward be guided by the spirit of his infancy, and that he was descend- ing to be his light. After the communion he sees, by an enlightening, our Saviour entire, i. e. all his mysteries from his incarnation to his state of glory. 4 " The divine good- ness (saith he) worketh in me what I am not able to ex- press. I possess even the blessed Trinity ; and find distinct- ly in myself the operations of the three divine persons. 5 I possess the holy Trinity with a plenitude of verity and clear- ness ; it is a most real sight of the trinity. 6 " I was never so lumpish, both in body and spirit, as upon the festival of the blessed sacrament: present at service, procession, mass, communion ; but like a very beast, sense- less (others too affected with the like stupefaction) till I prayed before a crucifix. Was instantly cured of a rheum by going in a procession, with men and women following Christ with lighted torches." 7 He mentions some pious souls, who receive great conso- lations, and taste ravishing delights ; 8 but the devil deceives them by these gusts. Though at other times they suffer 1 Life of Teresa, p. 198. * P. 218. 3 P. 223. 4 P. 230. 5 P. 242. 6 P. 299. 7 P. 280. s P. 19i. 164 The Enthusiasm of many tempests and inward tumults, desertions, and aridi- ties. Divine love produceth the same effects in the soul, which drunkenness does in the body ; mirth, loss of reason, and oblivion of all things. Obscurities, desertions, &c. being better than gusts of joys and consolations ; ' therefore he was dead and annihilated to all gusts of devotion, to all sensible graces and consolations, of which our love-sick souls are so greedy. 2 Very few, who are not infected with this itch. Lastly, he says, " hell itself should be my para- dise, if God devoted me thither." 3 Francis of Sales, a canonised saint, is another papist much commended by Mr. Wesley ; and " who, he doubts not, is in Abraham's bosom." Why he is the Methodist's bosom-friend may easily be seen by looking into his life, published in English about twelve years ago. " He put himself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin ; and was zealous in converting heretics : was coming over into England, to make a convert of King James I. of whom there was great hopes; but sagaciously found out it was not God's time. He was [like Mr. Whitefield] a great admirer of Castaniza's spiritual combat; and has many combats with the devil. Had his fits of joy and tranquillity ; but succeeded by darkness and sadness, a dryness, and even distrust of all truth; which he imputes to Satan, who would persuade him that God had decreed his damnation. Hence he is seized with all the terrors of hell, after being flushed w ith the hopes of enjoying God : and is cast into such a deep melancholy, that nothing in nature could raise him ; he sunk under the load, had the jaundice from head to foot, could neither eat, drink, or sleep, despair in his look, sharp pains in mind and body. But the Blessed Virgin gained his recovery : for, the same moment he ended a prayer to her, he felt the removal of the 1 Life of Teresa, p. 298. a P. 309. 3 P. 314. Methodists and Papists. 165 weight. But afterwards his blood was so heated, that he fell into a fever and dysentery. " He converted seventy-two thousand heretics. Miracu- lously cures a madman in a moment ; cures many of the tooth-acb, cholic, &c. in a moment. " Has a vision of an order, of which he was to be the foun- der : particularly admires the order and method of the Jesuits, whose holy founder omitted not the least thing that might nourish piety." Hence probably Mr. Wesley might learn " what good order there is even in a society of Jesuits." Such are the persons and lives recommended to the Metho- dists, which help to carry on my parallel; and greatly contribute to the service of Popery. Whether Mr. Wesley hath inserted any of the proper doctrines of Popery in the former of these lives, or published the latter, I am perfectly ignorant. But his followers will naturally conclude, that such a religion cannot be very bad, which nurseth up such devout saints ; which breathes such a true spirit of Metho- dism. They will entertain a favorable opinion, if not a high esteem, of a communion (the Jesuitical part of it especially) where they find the genuine character, in so many particu- lars, of their own dispensation ; so many extravagant flights and fancies, such miraculous cures by the Blessed Virgin, and other saints, such assurances, ecstasies, visions, divine communications ; together with such temptations, infidelities, despairings, hellish torments, and other pangs of the new birth. This, I think, will be the natural tendency, when the heat of the brain hath scorched up their judgment. The charge of some of the angry Moravians against Mr. Wesley and brother for. preaching Popery, is what I do not lay any stress upon. And I allow that Mr. Wesley hath disclaimed Popery several times ; particularly " its distin- guishing doctrines, as summed up in the twelve articles which the Council of Trent added to the creed." * And then 1 3 Journ. p. 76 . Farther Appeal, p. 101. 166 The Enthusiasm of he asks, " who can find the least connection between any of these and the doctrines of the Methodists 1" Some connec- tion hath been shown through this whole comparison. Nor can there be any security against all Popish errors, while pretences to special revelations, ecstasies, impressions, mira- cles, &c. are in vogue. For I can easily show, how all the distinguishing doctrines of Popery have been introduced, and received a sanction, by the same fanatical pretences. And he will be pleased to remember, that Jesuits, and other Roman emissaries, have often mingled, and been the ring- leaders, among our enthusiastic sectaries ; loudly exclaiming against the Pope, and pretending to purity and reformation. He knows we could produce divers instances. At present a single instance shall suffice. It is to be seen in other books: but I take it out of Foxes and Fire-brands, page 7. " In the year 1567, the 9th of Elizabeth, one Faithful Commin, a Dominican friar, a person generally reputed a .zealous protestant, much admired and followed by the people for his seeming piety, but more particularly for inveighing in his pulpit most bitterly against Pius V. then Pope, was accused of being an impostor, and examined before the queen and privy-council, by M. Parker, arch- bishop of Canterbury. Part of his examination is as fol- loweth. Archb. Faithful Commin, of what profession art thou ? F. Com. Of Christ's order. Archb. Were you ever ordained ? F. Com. Yes, I was ordained. Archb. By whom? F. Com. By the cardinal. (Meaning Poole.) Archb. Had you not other certificate under any of the bishops' hands, since the reformation ? F. Com. Not any. Archb. Wherefore would you dare to preach, having not Methodists and Papists. 1 67 got a licence Under some of our bishops' hands ? How shall we be assured that you are not of the Romish Church ? F. Com. There are several have heard my prayers and my sermons, and can testify that I have spoken against Rome, and her Pope, as much as any of the Clergy have, since they have fallen from her : I wonder therefore why I should be suspected. Archb. By your answer, Mr. Commin, I perceive you would have any one preach, so that he spake but against the Pope in his sermons. F. Com. Not every one, but he whose function it is, and he who hath the Spirit. Archb. What Spirit is this you mean ? F. Com. The Spirit of grace and truth. Archb. But is this Spirit that is in you either the Spirit of grace or truth, that doth not comply with the orders of the Church, lately, purged and cleansed from schism and idolatry ? F. Com. Therefore I endeavour to make it purer, as far as God permits. Archb. How do you endeavour to make the Church purer ? F. Com. I endeavour it, when I pray to God that he would open the eyes of men to see their errors : and several have joined with me when I have prayed among them : and I have both given and taken the body of Christ to those of tender consciences, who have assembled with me in the fear of the Lord. Archb. By your words then you have a congregation that follows you. F. Com. I have. Archb. Of what parish, and in what diocese ? F. Com. Neither of any certain parish, nor in any certain diocese. Archb. Where then, I pray ? 168 The Enthusiasm of F. Com. Even in the wide world, among the flock of Christ scattered over the whole earth. Queen. Your diocese is very large, Mr. Commin. (The Witnesses were then called in, and examined.) Queen. Mr. Draper, what have you to say to this Faithful Commin ? Draper. He came to my house at the Maidenhead in Maidstone, with several of his followers ; I showed him a room ; and perceiving several to come and inquire for this Mr. Commin, and by chance going up the stairs, I heard one groan and weep ; which caused me to lift up the latch : at first I was startled, but inquiring of one of his followers, what ailed the man? He replied, Do you not see we be all at prayers ? The maid, wondering where I was, came to seek me, and can testify the same. Maid. I saw this Faithful Commin, and thought he was distracted when I heard him pray. But the people said, he was a heavenly man, and that it was God's Spirit made him weep for the sins of the world. Queen. Mr. Commin, Though you have preached against the Pope, yet you have usurped over the power both of church and state. F. Com. Give me time to consider, and prepare myself? and I shaD give your Grace a further answer in a short space. He was then bound over for his appearance, for farther examination, to another day. But coming from the council, he told his followers that her Majesty and the council had acquitted him ; and that he was warned of God to go beyond the seas, to instruct the protestants there ; that he had not a farthing to support him, yet being God's cause he would undertake it out of charity, &c. This speech set them a weeping, especially the women: and 130/. was collected for him ; besides what the compassionate sex gave him, unknown to their husbands. His followers said before the council, in their opinions they had never seen so zealous Methodists and Papists. 169 and heavenly a man, as he seemed to be ; and discovered the particular sums of money, of which this religious jugler had cheated these deluded people. Commin in the mean time had escaped out of England ; got safe to Rome ; and assured the Pope, " that his spiritual and extempore prayers had so much taken with the people, whom he instructed, that the Church of England was become as odious to that sort of people, as mass was to the Church of England. Upon which the Pope gave him a reward of 2000 ducats for his good service." The reader will, no doubt, observe how faithfully this account of Faithful Corn- rain hath been copied by the expressions, sentiments, and conduct of our brethren of the order of Methodism. There follows in the same book a narrative (taken out of the registry of Rochester, in the book beginning 2. and 3. Phil. & M. and continued to 15. Eliz.) too long to recite, of one Th. Heth, a Jesuit, " who preached much against Popery, and particularly his own order ; labored to refine the protestants, to take off all smacks of Popery, and show his good-will in making the Church purer. He was dis- covered by a letter, which he dropt in the pulpit, from the fraternity of Jesuits ; and upon sending to his lodgings, upon search, his beads were found in his boots, with a licence from the fraternity, and a bull of Pius V. to preach what doctrine that society pleased, for dividing Protestants, &c." This is sufficient proof, that a Jesuit's or Enthusiast's declaiming against Popery is no test of their sincerity. And we may still have reason to suspect of Methodism, that the marks of the beast are upon it. Upon a review of the whole the reader will be apt to con- clude with myself, in the w ords of Mr. Whitefield, Oh ! what a mystery is the divine life ! END OF PART II. THE ENTHUSIASM OF METHODISTS AND PAPISTS, PART III. SECTION 1. Comparisons, it as said, are odious. Those I have drawn, have probably been so to the Methodists ; and, I am sure, troublesome to myself. But having already traced these pretended reformers through several of their enthusiastic and fanatic ways, or marked how exactly (I know not by what chance, fatality or design) they have trodden in the steps of their Popish predecessors ; I am now, however, weary, to follow them into more of their delusions, which are the natural proper- ties, tendencies and effects of their strange dispensation. Whilst teachers, each called and directed by heaven, each accused the other of infusing damnable errors, it is easy to judge how grievously the minds and consciences of the followers must have been perplexed and harassed. In their horrid doctrines, however, the teachers were so far agreed, as to drive their hearers into despair, and madness, and Bedlam. Let us try whether, in some instances, this be not the natural tendency and actual consequence. The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists. 171 SECTION 2. What could be expected from their training up their disciples to the expectation of impulses, impres- sions, feelings, experiences, &c. but that some should be elated with groundless confidences and presumption; and others sunk into the dismal and dreadful gulph of despair ? Persons of weak spirits, or a melancholy disposition (and therefore the more likely to fall into Methodism) will natur- ally be carried into despondency, look upon themselves as reprobated, and forsaken of God ; because they do not feel these effects in themselves, nor come up to the experiences of others. Accordingly Mr. Wesley tells us of " some, who utterly refused to be comforted, till they should feel their souls at rest." ' Even the high-flown Mr. Seward, " wants to make all despair, who have not the feeling of the Holy Ghost ;" 2 and yet is " himself cast down for want of experiences enjoyed by others, is tossed almost to despair." On the other hand, those of a confident and bold temper, stirred up by imagination and a heated brain, have daringly set up their own groundless and wicked impressions for the will of God. Hence Mr. Whitefield, in his penitential and recanting state, sadly bewails " his making impressions without the written word, his rule of acting." The case is much the same from the doctrine of assurance of pardon and salvation. Mr. Seward is so charitable as " to wish all persons mad, who were not assured of forgive- ness." 3 Mr. Whitefield says, " it is a dreadful mistake to deny the doctrine of assurances; and that assurance of eternal salvation is one of the privileges of Christ's fol- lowers." * And Mr. Wesley has taken care to push the doctrine home. For, besides his writings, you may depend upon the following story ; and no doubt but his practice has been the same in other places. " A sensible, honest woman told the bishop of Exeter, in presence of several witnesses, 1 3 Journ. p. 83. * Journ. p. 43, 57. 3 Journ. p. 9. 4 5 Journ. p. 17. 19. 1 72 The Enthusiasm of that Mr. J. Wesley came to her house, and questioned her, ' whether she had an assurance of her salvation ?' Her answer was, that she hoped she should be saved, but had no abso- lute assurance of it. ' Why then/ replied he, ' you are in hell ; you are damned already.' This so terrified the poor woman, who was then with child, that she was grievously afraid of miscarrying, and could not in a long time recover her right mind. For this, and the Methodists' asking her to live upon free-cost, she determined to admit no more of them into her house." So much is her own account to his lordship, on whose authority it is here published. And, had she been a person of something weaker spirits, who knows what might have been the consequence ? Perhaps, loss of her senses, or of her own and child's life. And how shall tender minds stand the shock of these violent assaults? When such a confident assurance is made a certain mark of grace, and the want of it as certain a mark of damnation ; what can the weak, the modest and humble, the melancholy, (who cannot wind themselves up to the highest pitch of self-conceit and presumption) do? They will of course fall into fears and doubts, and despera- tion, as persons in a reprobate condition ; because they have not the same experiences with others, not only of knowing and feeling, but actually seeing Christ taking away their sins. Others indeed, by the help of a conceited temper, and presumptuous imagination, will take care to work up their brain into an assurance. But are they sure they are safe, and stand upon firm ground? Mr. Whitefield [see his answer to Enthusiasm, &c. pag. 31.] " readily grants, that some of the Methodists, who really had not this assurance, have presumptuously imagined that they had it." And doth he pretend to the gift of discerning the spirits, so as to be clear which, or whether any of them, had it? These are some of " the extremes, into which the Methodists are apt Methodists and Papists. 173 to run :" Such the danger, either of rising into presumption, or sinking into despair. SECTION 3. To speak more generally. As far as I can observe, these dreadful apprehensions pushing them upon despair, are the common lot, and almost essential part of Methodism. Their auditors and proselytes are so drenched with the teacher's bitter potions, and horrid doctrines, and carrying some points of religion to an extravagant height, (I do not mean good works, of that they have sufficiently cleared themselves ; but some trifling, absurd, or groundless peculiarities ;) or such is the fatality sticking close to En- thusiasm, that they frequently sink into this terrible state. Some instances I have known myself; and have heard so much of it from others, both clergy and laity, that I make no doubt of the fact ; and themselves own enough of it for a foundation of the charge. Nor is it matter of much wonder, that persons of such unsettled minds, and rambling brains, tossed up and down between transports of joy and presumption, and the dejections of desolations and deser- tions ; persons over-run with scepticism, doubts and de- nials both of natural and revealed religion ; frequent relap- ses into these, as well as into the mire of sin, should fre- quently find themselves overwhelmed with desperation. Hence one complains, " the enemy of souls laid so many things to my charge, that sometimes I despaired of heaven." 1 Others " have nothing but devils ready to drag them to hell ; are in despair several years ; a in despair of finding mercy ; fall into the depth of despair, roar out, they are damned. One tempted to self-murder, to hang, or drown himself, &c." 3 In the account of the two Hitchens's (which the Methodists have published) one of them " thought God had left him a cast-away ;" the other, " by entertaining 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 16. 19. 42, 13, 44. 92. * 4 Journ. p. 21. 3 5 Jouin. p. 10. 28. 174 The Enthusiasm of some thoughts of marriage, the devil's snare, found his heart quite drawn from God, whereby he was quickly plunged into darkness of soul, would often tell his brother he was in hell." Nor could Mr. Seward, or Whitefield, or Wesley himself, escape this sore evil. " Doubtful of my own state ; clearly convinced of unbelief; immediately it struck into my mind, leave off preaching. ' At length had an assurance of forgiveness. Had more comfort, peace, and joy, began to presume. Again thrown into per- plexity ; much in doubt whether God would not lay me aside." z Mr. Whitefield was once so good as to take the honor upon himself of causing despair. " A woman desir- ing me to baptise her child, I, being otherwise engaged, refused. Upon this the devil assaulted her in a most violent manner, and endeavoured to persuade her, that all I told her were lies. She was cast into darkness ; went to bed, where the devil would fain have persuaded her to cut the child's throat with a pair of scissars. But Christ delivered her, and Satan immediately left her." He may have the glory, if he pleaseth ; but the disease, called Methodism, is suf- ficient. The same horrible and black effects of distempered En- thusiasm are commonly found among the most extravagant fanatics of the papacy. A long list of female sufferers might be produced : such as M. of Pazzi, " whom five furious devils attacked, tempting her to blasphemy and infidelity, to pride and presumption, to gluttony and lasci- viousness ; and then to despair, so far that once she took up a knife to kill herself; but the Virgin Mary stepped in, and prevented it." 3 I might mention too a fatal instance, not indeed of despair, but presumptuous assurance of salva- tion : " A young woman, who observed the rule of St. Francis, being assured of salvation ; 4 the devil appears to 1 Wesley, 2 Journ. p. 12. * 7 Journ. p. 68. 3 Life, Sec. 3], 33. 4 Manni Sel. Hist. p. 40. Methodists and Papists. 175 her in the shape of St. Francis, persuading her to make sure of Heaven, by instantly hanging herself, and she did so." Nor is desperation a more uncommon case among the male saints, and such as were the fairest models of Metho- dism. Francis of Sales, " after his transports of spiritual joy, was reduced to darkness and sadness, and even a dis- trust of all truth; Satan persuading him that God hath decreed his damnation ; is cast into a deep melancholy despair in his look ; but, however,' is in a moment recover- ed by a prayer to the Virgin Mary." " St Francis, in imitation of Christ, chose twelve apos- tles, one of which despaired and hanged himself; which gave the saint a fresh advantage, by making him still more like to his Saviour." ' The grand master of Popish Metho- dism, " St. Ignatius, was oppressed so with despair, that he attempted to destroy himself, and throw himself out of window. 1 But afterwards more narrowly examining his conscience, he rose into a strong tentation of vain-glory ; for it rushed into his mind, that he was perfectly just, and need not doubt in the least of his salvation." And the author observes, " that both his scrupulous despondencies, and confident vanity of assurance, were fraudulent sugges- tions of the devil. By these means, however, he obtained of God a wonderful science in curing the consciences of others." " Friar Rizerus was tempted by Satan to the brink of despair, and apprehension of being forsaken by God ; till St. Francis took him under his management, crossed him, and kissed him, carried him into perfection, and working of miracles." 3 We shall see hereafter such favors granted to our Metho- dists. 4 In the mean time, Mr. Wesley will hardly allow any instances of real despair among the Methodists ; be- 1 Conform fol. 59, CO. * Maffei Vit. Ign. cap. 7. 10. 3 Martyr. Francisc. Feb. 7. 4 Answ. to Church, p. 29,30. 176 The Enthusiasm of cause they do not make away with themselves. And he will tell us, that " what the world calls despair, is a convic- tion of sin, of God's wrath, and man's inability, in which properly consists that poverty of spirit and mourning, which are the gate of Christian perfection." ' Not so, I hope, when under these despairings they are uttering curses and blasphemies : * not so, when the despair is injected by Satan, or the effect of diabolical possession: 3 not so, in cases of a relapse; as in that blaspheming despairer, " whose horrible dread was imme- diately taken away by prayer, and she had some dawnings of hope ;" 4 but who, as Mr. Wesley elsewhere confesseth, " was soon after, if not at that very time, a common prosti- tute." 5 Nor, in general, can I allow, that what divines and the world usually call despair (often a sin, and always an unhappiness) should be taught as a duty, and the gate of perfection. 6 "I have been oppressed (says A. Bourignon) night and day with fears of being forsaken, and with de- spondency of heart." The vicissitudes of horrors and com- forts, light and darkness, are the plain effects of the Metho- dists' Enthusiasm; either caused or augmented by their teacher's chimerical and frightful doctrines ; who having subdued the reason and understanding of their people, put them in possession of the maxim, Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem. The only security of salvation is to despair of it. An hypo- chondriac or melancholy constitution (perhaps generally) leads to the disease; naturally creating fears, suspicions, and despair ; the Physician supplies doses naturally encouraging and increasing the disease : the people love to have it so, and the magnified cure is, as one says, either short-lived, or ill-founded. 1 3 Journ. p. 82-3. 2 4 Journ. p. 24. 38, 3 3 Journ. p. 92. * 5 Journ. p. 28, &c. * Answ. to Church, p. 29. 6 Light in Dark. Part 3. Letter 20. Methodists and Papists. 177 SECTION 4. It is but too notorious, that the same Enthusiasm, under the same management, hath driven num- bers of these unhappy creatures into direct madness and distraction, either of the moaping, or the raving kind ; or into the manifold symptoms of a delirium, and phrenzy. Mr. Wesley indeed ' " cannot find so much as one of the Methodists, either man, woman, or child, who has been thus driven to distraction: and their madness is conviction of sin." And all of them, doubtless, say the same. But men so charged will not be allowed as competent judges in their own case ; especially where they are supposed to be touched with the same distemper. Thus much however they must, and do, own ; that they have been looked upon as mad (on account of their wild and frantic actions) by friends and relations, by indifferent persons, by regular physicians (the most proper judges), by the world in general ; and have been sent to Bedlam, and adjudged there to be persons distracted. Nor do I see how the judicious and intelligent part of the world can form any other notion ; while the genuine signs of madness are upon the Methodists ; and the most absurd, irregular and frantic behaviour and imaginations are obtruded as the marks and proofs of true piety. Any person in his senses will certain- ly form such a conclusion even from their own narratives, related, no doubt, in the most favorable manner to them- selves. One would not indeed believe the " report raised by the devil, that Mr. Whitefield was mad;" because he is the father of lies; but we may believe himself, when he says, * " he might very well be taken to be really mad : and that his relations counted his life madness." Another was ac- counted mad by her friends for these three years ; \\ ho ac- cordingly bled, blistered her, and what not. Mr. Whitefield 1 Ansvv. to Church, p. 44. 3 Journ. p. 83. z 1 Deal. p. 42. 35. Method. M 178 The Enthusiasm of relates the case of " young Periain, whose father had sent him to Bedlam for such symptoms of madness, as fasting for near a fortnight ; praying so as to be heard four story high ; selling his cloaths, and giving them to the poor. Mr. Seward and other Methodists waited on the Committee of the Governors of Bedlam ; they plead for him, and own that young people, under their first awakenings, were usually tempted by the devil to run into some extremes. ' The Com- mittee judge Whitefield, Sew r ard, and all their followers, to be as mad as the young man, and really beside themselves. And to prove Mr. Periam to be certainly mad, they allege, that when he first came to Bedlam, he stripped himself to his shirt, and prayed." But it seems, " he did this to inure himself to hardness at once; for being brought from a warm to a cold place, without windows, and a damp cellar under him, he thought it best to season himself at first." Are not here sufficient symptoms of madness ? And doth not the reason brought for disproving the madness really prove it ? For, who but a madman would have done so ? There is a parallel instance of one of St. Francis's disci- ples, 2 " who would needs go out in a cold winter night, and pray in his shirt, though then in a fever; for the same reason of enduring hardship." And if the Franciscan, or the Methodist, escaped with their lives, it is still a stronger indication of madness. For what Dr. Mead says, is a known truth, 3 " it is common to all madmen, from strength of body, easily to bear fasting, cold, the inclemencies of the heavens, and other inconveniences, beyond what can easily be credited." And if the Methodists would look into that whole chapter, they would find, I think, every particular symptom of matjness, mentioned by that learned doctor, (though I do not think myself obliged to subscribe to his opinion, by excluding a diabolical agency in the scripture- daemoniacs) exemplified in their own dispensation. 1 3 Journ. p. 98-103. a Liber Conformit. Fol. 139. 3 Medic. Sacr. p. 69. Methodists and Papists, 179 Mr. Wesley, and Physicians, ' eminent in their profes- sion, are sometimes at variance, whether some of their Methodist patients are really mad, or not. And other instances he mentions of persons reputed mad by their relations, treated as if really so, and sent to Bedlam; only because they were infected with Methodism. a One case he allows of 3 "a woman really distracted, and as such tied down to her bed." Which, though contradic- tory to his negative assertion above, serves however to dis- play his miraculous cure. He likewise relates 4 another instance of genuine Enthusiasm. He might have said direct madness. J B of Tanfield-Leigh, who had re- ceived a sense of the love of God a few days before, came riding through the town, hollowing and shouting, and driving all the people before him, telling them, " God had told him he should be a king, and should tread his enemies under his feet." Nor need we be surprised, should some of them run mad with pride; no strange thing among them; and whereof Mr. Wesley hath given us several flagrant specimens. Was one of their prime saints, Sam. Hitchens, mad? " Who falling under strong convictions of sin, wandered about in the fields by night, seeking rest, but finding none ; and often threw himself on the earth, and beat his head against the ground, and cut himself in several places." ! And, to leave their own narratives, the Methodist woman that flung a naked knife at the minister, while reading the communion service, in a church in London, was she mad, or malicious? or perhaps groaning in her pangs, till she was delivered of her knife? This was told me by the Minister himself, who knew her to be a Methodist, 1 3 Journ. p. 83. 4 Journ. p. 28. 56. * 3 Journ. p. 90. 4 Journ. p. 53. 5 Journ. p. 53. 3 3 Journ. p. 84. 4 5 Journ. p. 79. 5 See Appendix, Part. I. 180 The Enthusiasm of Was the man mad, of whom I have the following account attested by the Minister, a dissenting teacher ? " On, or near September 27, 1746, as I was about to administer the Lord's Supper, I observed among the Communicants one Mr. Thomas Adams, a vagrant Methodist preacher; and as he was a stranger to me, and I knew little or nothing of his principles, or moral conduct, I sent my clerk to desire he would withdraw, till I could get satisfaction as to those particulars : but he refused to comply, and said, he would continue where he was. Whereupon I proceeded to ad- minister, but in the distribution of the elements carefully passed him by. He sat still during the administration, but as soon as the last word was out of my mouth, he stood up, and said, ' Dear man, what is the reason you refused to give me the signs of my Lord's body and blood ? My God will scourge you for this, or he is no true God.' The next morning he came to my house with an octavo manuscript, which he said contained the revelations he had had from Hea- ven ; and that he was come with a particular message from the Lord to me ; and then read the following passage : * Go and tell Mr. L , that I will scourge him for not letting the despised Methodists into his pulpit, and for not giving you the signs of my body and blood ;' with much more of a like import. This I attest to be fact. J L ." Shall I bring upon the stage another madman ? Take the story, which may be depended upon, as related in a letter from a Clergyman of character, Nov. 3, 1749. " I have lately seen the gentleman from whom I first heard the story ofD ry Hack r, 'of M m-Church. He confirms every word that I mentioned, and says, the story was told at a General Court held in that parish, D ry Hack r himself being present, and acknowledging the truth of the following relation, (viz.) ' That an itinerant preacher, of the sect of the Methodists, came into that country, and in his sermon assured the hearers, that the world would be at an end on Methodists and Papists. 181 such a day : to which prophecy the old man (D H ) gave full credit, let down his hedges, turned his cattle into his growing corn, and made no preparation for any tillage for the ensuing year ; as being wholly taken up in fitting himself for the day of judgment : ' the expectation of which giving the man and his wife no small anxiety, one morning an apprentice, who lived in the family, informed the man that he had had a vision in the night, which told him, that if he would submit to it, his sins should be expiated by scourg- ing ; and that he himself was deputed by the vision to inflict the discipline upon him. The old man complied, and the apprentice gave him forty stripes save one on the buttocks with a bundle of willow-rods ; and the old man acknow- ledged, that the executioner did not spare him, but applied the scourge of God heartily. The man's sins being thus expiated, the next night the apprentice had a second vision, directing the woman's sins to be expiated by fire and water. Then the great kettle was set on, and the water heated to as great degree as the old woman could bear. But whether the lustration was performed upon the same part to which the willows were applied, my friend is not certain. The woman is since dead ; but the apprentice is still alive, as well as his master ; and (what is surprising) is still as rigid a Methodist as before ; though he has suffered so much by listening to the delusions of these wretches, and has now out-lived the day of judgment by at least three years." Thus it appears what force the Methodical impostures of false prophets have in turning the brain ; and of how little avail is manifest failure of prediction, (or any other argu- ment) to recover an enthusiast to his senses. Mr. Wesley indeed will reckon the Methodists to be* " no otherwise mad, than as being convinced of sin." Can this be said in all these cases ? And is it not a strange sort of conviction, that deprives people of Iheir senses, 1 See INTROUUCTION, Part. 1. Sect. 7, 8. 2 3 Journ. p. 89. 182 The Enthusiasm of instead of bringing them to their senses ? He will agree too with his friend, ' " in making no question but Satan may exert himself on such occasions,- to disparage the work of God, as if it tended to lead people to distraction." So Madam Bourignon says concerning one disordered by read- ing her writings, " The devil endeavours to discredit them as you do, making some suspect that they might have occasioned trouble in your husband's mind." It is easily said, that Satan raiseth the false reports of despair and distraction among the Methodists ; and equally easy to say, that he really induceth those miserable affec- tions. But one thing is clear ; namely, that those diseases which cause enthusiasm, as melancholy, hysterics, hypo- chondriacs, have in themselves a certain degree of madness, and that enthusiasm and madness are but the same thing in different words : that violent and disorderly passions of the mind, or intense thought upon some particular thing, &c. naturally lead into enthusiastic madness ; and, when in ex- cess, really become so. For which, were I disposed to shew my learning, I could produce ample authorities. That evil spirits, if they are not allowed to cause these distempers of mind and body, yet make their advantage of them, and take occasion to infuse into the sufferers the most gloomy and dreadful apprehensions and terrors ; this also hath the sanction of numerous and great authors. And I leave others to consider how powerful must be the effect, when such a distempered enthusiasm is perpetually worked into the brain by a warm, assiduous, and beloved teacher. The Greeks talk of an enthusiastic distemper, called XxXxo- TUTTOJ jM.avia, a madness arising from the sound of brass: Pythagoras in particular teacheth, * that the noise of brass is the voice of a daemon. The Methodists should beware of such brazen instruments. After all, Mr. Wesley somewhere desires, that ' at least they should be allowed to 1 Ibid. p. 63. a Jamblic. p. 24. Methodists and Papists. 183 be innocent madmen :' But he should remember, that mad- men have strange tendency to be cunning; and are apt, when opportunity serves, to be mischievous. For fear of being caught again without my parallel, out of an hundred instances of mad papalins we need only men- tion the seraphic St. Francis, and the glorious Ignatius. * The former was chained down in a dark room by his parents, and deemed out of his senses by the learned and the vulgar ; loved to strip himself naked in proof of his innocence ; or appear in a fantastical and nasty dress, on purpose to be derided, and pelted with dirt by the rabble. The latter a (as all the writers of his life testify) was entirely in the same case ; and was so fond of the character and treatment of a madman, that he desired to march out into the streets, naked, and with horns upon his head, and counterfeit mad- ness, in hopes of being bespattered with dung and filth. He was often called to account by authority for heresy, fanaticism, imposture arid sedition. And both of them were reckoned, by all sober papists, as a couple of crack- brained enthusiasts; till some cunning managers finding what use might be made of their enthusiasms, they instan- taneously commence saints : the Pope, upon their oath of fidelity to him, confirms their institutions and societies; canonizeth them, and confers vast privileges on their orders. No protestant, I hope, will let these pass for innocent mad- men. And if their followers were so overdriven, like cattle, till they run mad, (as I am convinced many of our Methodists have been) the difference turns out in favor of the papist. SECTION 5. One would gladly get clear of such an unhappy and disagreeable subject. But there is no attend- ing the progress of Methodism, without taking in other shocking and horrible things belonging to the history of this 1 Conform, fol. 39, 40. a Maffei Vit. Ignat. lib. 3. c. 3. 184 The Enthusiasm of strange sect. Such are their " cryings out, screamings, shriekings, roarings, groanings, tremblings, gnashings, yel- lings, foamings, convulsions, swoonings, droppings, blas- phemies, curses, dying and despairing agonies, variety of tortures in body and mind." Give me leave to recite them in Mr. Wesley's own words, as they occur in his Journals : " a woman suddenly cried out as in the agonies of death, continued so for some tune, with all the signs of the sharpest anguish. ' One felt as it were the piercing of a sword, and could not avoid crying out even in the street. * One cried out aloud, with the utmost vehemence, even as in the agonies of death. Two others constrained to roar, seized with great pain ; another, as out of the belly of hell. 3 A young man suddenly seized with violent trembling all over, sunk down to the ground. 4 " One, and another, and another sunk to the earth. They dropt on every side as thunder-struck. 5 One so wounded with the sword of the spirit, that you would have imagined she could not live a moment. A woman broke out into strong cries, great drops of sweat ran down her face, and all her bones shook. 6 A quaker dropt down as thunder-struck, in an agony terrible to behold. Another person reeled four or five steps, and then dropt down. 7 One fallen raving mad, changed color, fell off his chair, screams terribly, beats himself against the ground, his breast heaving as in the pangs of death, roaring out, ' O ! thou devil, legion of devils, &c.' 8 Three persons almost at once sunk down as dead. 9 One, and another, and another, was struck to the earth, exceedingly trembling. Another dropt down, a little boy seized in the same manner : a young man, fixing his eyes upon him, sunk down himself as one dead, roared, beat himself against the ground ; six men could scarce hold him. Others began to cry out, insomuch that all the house (and 1 3 Journ. p. 23. * 27. 3 40. * 41. * 7 44. 8 See Appendix, Part I. 42. 6 -43. 9 46. Methodists and Papists. 185 indeed all the street for some space) was in an uproar. 1 Some sunk down to the earth ; others exceedingly trembled and quaked ; some torn with a convulsive motion in every part of their bodies, so violently, that four or five persons could not hold one of them. z A woman, greatly offended at this, dropt down in as violent an agony as the rest. Twenty- six of those thus affected came, &c. while I was speaking, one dropt down as dead, presently a second, and a third : five others sunk down, most of them in violent agonies, in the pains of hell, and snares of death : one an hour in strong pain ; one or two more for three days. Sighs and groans which could not be uttered, grievous terrors of mind, with strong trembling. 3 Three persons terribly felt the wrath of God: seven or eight constrained to roar aloud. 4 A young woman sunk down in a violent agony of body and mind, and five or six other persons ; again, eight or nine more ; a girl thus touched, and next her mother, dropt down, and lost her senses in a moment. 5 Mr. Whitefield preaching, four persons sunk down almost in the same moment ; one lay without sense or motion ; 6 a second trembled exceedingly ; the third had strong convul- sions all over his body; the fourth equally convulsed. Two more in strong pain, souls and bodies well-nigh torn asunder. 7 Another struck through as with a sword, fell trembling to the ground, in crying and pain for twelve or fourteen hours. Two seized with strong pains, four the next evening, the same number on Monday. 8 The enemy began to tear her, so that she screamed out as in the pangs of death. 9 A young woman in a deep agony, her sorrow and fear too big for utterance, sunk down to the ground. I0 Only sighs and groans shewed she was alive. Many roared, utterly refusing to be comforted. Others felt the two-edged sword; one in great torment all night; " one or two persons 1 3 Journ. p. 50. * 58. 3 61. 4 62. s 64. 6 65. 7 68. 8 73. 9 79. I0 83. " 87. 186 The Enthusiasm of tormented in an unaccountable manner, lunatic and sore vexed; another strangely torn by the devil. 1 A young woman on the bed, two or three persons holding her; 1 anguish, horror and despair, above all description, in her pale face. A thousand distortions shewed how the dogs of hell were gnawing her heart ; her shrieks not to be endured ; she screamed out, ' I am damned, damned, lost for ever, &c.' Another young woman began to roar out as loud as she had done. 3 A woman lay on the ground furiously gnashing her teeth, roaring aloud, not easy for three or four persons to hold her ; screaming, then breaking out into a horrid laughter, mixed with blasphemy and cursing. 4 Another woman burst out into a horrid laughter ; her pangs increased, so that one would have imagined, by the violence of the throes, her body must have been shattered to pieces. 5 Two more fell into a strange agony, and violent convulsions, which words cannot describe, with cries and groans too horrid to be born ; we prayed, till L y C r's agonies so increased, that she seemed in the pangs of death. A woman, who had been much tempted of the devil, sunk down as one dead, motionless, breathless, pulse hardly dis- cernible. 6 The spirit of laughter was so among us, that poor L S sometimes laughed till almost strangled ; then broke out into cursing and blaspheming ; then stamped and struggled with incredible strength, so that four or five could scarce hold her ; then cried out, O that I had no soul ! 7 Two more seized in the same manner, laughing almost without ceasing, thus continuing for two days a spectacle to all. Between two and three in the morning I was waked, 8 and immediately heard such a confused noise, as if a number of men were all putting to the sword, roaring aloud, loud and bitter cries. Others drop down in violent agonies. Several dropt to the ground, as if struck by lightning; 9 1 88. * 92. 3 93. 4 94. s 95> 6 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 23. 7 38. 8 51, 52. 9 5 Journ. p. 27. Methodists and Papists. 187 some cried out in bitterness of soul. While I was speaking, several dropt down as dead. Several constrained to. roar aloud. ' A woman roaring in a strange manner, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and her face distorted into the most terrible form." 1 This, reader, is a faithful collection of cases, from Mr. Wesley's Journals. But (as he says on another occasion) " what a scene is here disclosed ? And again (in his account of a mob) can you join heart or hands with these any longer ? With such a rabble-rout, roaring and raging, as if they were just broke loose, with their captain Apollyon, from the bottomless pit?" 3 Nor must Mr. Whitefield pass without his contribution : " who (as Mr. Wesley relates) had some objections against these outward signs, &c. but had now an opportunity of informing himself better. 4 For in his sermon four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. One lay without sense or motion : a second trembled exceedingly : a third has convulsions all over his body : the fourth equally convulsed." Whether proper persons were not prepared to convince him, I know not. 5 But he is afterwards full of the same dreadful cries, convulsions, and other bodily tor- tures, attending his sermons. 6 Mr. Brainerd, (a sort of Scotch Methodist, employed to the Indians) gives the following account : " Nor has there been any plausible objection against this work, in regard to the manner. 7 The convictions of their sin and misery have indeed produced many tears, cries, and groans : but there has been no appearance of those convulsions, bodily agonies, frightful screamings, swoonings, &c. which have been so much complained of in other places. None frightened with a fearful noise of hell and damnation; no convulsive, 1 3 Journ. p. 51, 78. a 86. 3 4 Journ. p. 92. 4 3 Journ. p. 6i>. 5 Whitef. Journ. 6. p. 24, 28, 38, 42, 44. 6 Journ. 7. p. 12, 57, 60. 7 Journ. p. 39. 41. 188 The Enthusiasm of ecstatic, or flighty appearances; no boisterous commo- tions." This, no doubt, is a fling at Mr. Wesley's accounts ; which are in truth too shocking and terrible to be written, or read, without horror and pain of mind : and one would really imagine, that Bedlam was let loose, and all the hypochondriac and hysterical, epileptic, convulsed, fevered, delirious, bewitched, and possessed persons were summoned from all quarters of the nation. But to what causes shall we ascribe these surprizing and strange appearances and effects? I am persuaded (and can with certainty speak for myself) that we know not enough of nature, and the ways and works of providence ; of the powers, extent and boundaries of natural enthusiasm ; of disorders in body or mind ; of superior spirits, good and evil ; of ecstasies, raptures, and visions ; of (supposed or real) witchcrafts, and diabolical possessions ; of magic and sorcery ; or even of counterfeits, and juggling impostures ; and the like: we are not, I say, sufficiently acquainted with these things, so as to determine precisely to what cause we should ascribe, and how account for, every particular of these strange and amazing narratives of Mr. Wesley ; which have so large a share in the progress of methodism. But this I know, and will prove, that his whole account is all of a piece with the extravagant schemes and conduct of the most fanatical enthusiasts, and wicked impostors, among the papists. The facts and circumstances are so many and extraordinary ; arising from such different causes, and producing such variety of effects ; pretendedly serving to the good end of regeneration, miracles, &c. that it will be necessary to consider more distinctly several of the cases ; which I shall mark numerically, for the sake of some remarks, and parallels, as I go along. SECTION 6. And, because a miraculous interposition is Methodists and Papists. 189 frequently to be called in, as a remedy of these sore evils ; I shall previously take some notice (in addition to what I observed before, Compar. part 2d. pag. 43. ) of the Me- thodists' pretensions to miraculous gifts, and supernatural cures obtained by their merits and intercessions. Mr. Whitefield indeed hath often and openly disclaimed all power and pretensions of working miracles among them. But Mr. Wesley, as usually in similar cases, is more mysterious and equivocal. Let us see how he mumbles this thistle. Being called upon to shew miracles in confirmation of his supposed divine mission, inspiration, &c. what is his plea ? ' " We cannot, and therefore we need not, be like the apostles, in working outward miracles. It is utterly* unreasonable and absurd to require or expect the proof of miracles. Miracles are quite needless in such a case : there may be repara \I/euSou, lying miracles, miracles wrought in support of falsehood." Being told, there is no need of sup- posing the recoveries (of the Methodists in a moment from their fits) to be miracles, he shortly replies, ' who affirms there is ?' And cannot I be acquitted from enthusiasm, till I prove by miracles that I am in a state of salvation?" 3 This, one would imagine, were giving up the claim of miracles : in conformity with his acquaintance, Madam Bourignon, on whom her followers would have fixed the gift of miracles ; which she renounceth in the same manner, as needless, &c. " I bless God for her recovery. We must never attribute such things to miracles : for the greatest part of those that are done are wrought by the devil." They who seek for miracles, will undoubtedly find them with him (the devil). But the Christian truth, and evangelical doc- trine, want no miracles. As to all now called miracles, and even approved as such, I - have no opinion of them, being for the most part performed by the devil, or at least cheat 1 Last App. p. 107. * P. 122. 4. 3 Answ. to Church, p. 44. 45. ] 90 The Enth usiasm of and delusion." (Light in darkness, Part 3d. Letter 15, and 23.) I have, however, always thought and said, that Mr. Wesley never would sincerely renounce the claim of miracles ; hut only prevaricate and equivocate. Accordingly we shall now see him begin to turn about, and double. Being charged with relating miraculous cures himself, he replieth, " I relate just what I saw ; and this is true, that some of those circumstances seem to go beyond the ordinary course of nature. But I do not peremptorily determine, whether they were supernatural, or no." 1 " I have set down the facts just as they were, passing no judgment upon them myself, and leaving every man else to judge as he pleases." 4 What judgment will follow from the partiality and credulity of his admirers, he cannot be ignorant : for, like Ignatius, " he knows the people with whom he has to do." 3 But is it true, that he passeth no judgment? Hear himself, " I look upon some of these cases (the disorders and removals of people's falling into fits) as wholly natural ; on the rest as mixed; both the disorder and the removal being partly natural, and partly not." 4 Is this his no judgment? And is he not got too half-way into the miraculous ? We shall see him getting over the other half by large strides, and lay- ing full claim to miraculous operations ; plainly and fully passing his own judgment, even where he says, " he passeth none." And though he may not use the very word, miracle, or miraculous, he speaks in terms equivalent, and of as well known signification. Many of his cures are said to be " instantaneous, and the patient relieved in body and mind in a moment ;" which is one mark of a miracle. After mentioning some Methodists who were delivered "from strong pain, as the agonies of death, out of the belly of hell;" 5 he immediately subjoins, 1 Last App. p. 123. 2 Answ. to Church, p. 44. 3 5 Journ. p. 67. 4 Answ. to Church, p. 4S. s 3 Journ. p. 40. Methodists and Papists. 191 " so many living witnesses hath God given, that his hand is still stretched out to heal, and that signs and wonders are even now wrought by his Holy Child Jesus." " When both her soul and body were healed in a moment, he (a Physician) acknowledged the finger of God.'" Thus said the Pope of St. Ignatius, after attentively looking on his hands, " this is the finger of God; I see nothing in those hands but the fingers of God." 1 What shall we say to Mr. Wesley's own cure ? " Besides the pain in my back and head, I was seized with such a cough, that I could hardly speak. At the same time came strongly into my mind, these signs shall follow them that believe. I called on Jesus aloud, and while I was speak- ing, my pain vanished away; my fever left me." 3 Thus says St. Teresa, " on a certain day giving myself to prayer, I felt so great pain in my head, that I could not pray : then the Lord said to me, ' though you could not speak to me, I was speaking to you ;' and the head-ach entirely went off." 4 These instances are sufficient; though more might be brought; he having represented almost all their cures as supernatural, and with the air of a miracle. Upon the whole, with regard to miracles, Mr. Wesley has got a wolf by the ears, which he cannot safely either hold, or let go. Popish pretensions of this nature are so numerous, that we need not be particular : there is no dipping into a legend, without opening upon a thumping miracle ; they are some of their chief marks of the true Church : nor is there any way to saintship and canonization without them. And yet modest and sensible Papists have long been ashamed of them, as done out of ostentation, avarice, and cheat: while the Methodists are taking up with their leavings, and the very refuse of their impostures. The shuffling conduct of Mr. Wesley, in giving up, or maintaining the power of miracles; his alternate sinking 1 P. 43. * Master. Jesuit, p. 23. 3 4 Journ. p. 83. 4 Vita. 8vo, p. 305. 192 The Enthusiasm of and rising (like a duck diving under water when in danger of being caught, and popping up its head again at a proper distance) puts me in mind of his pattern, the founder of the Jesuits. Ribadeneira, in his first life of Ignatius, is very sparing of his miracles, as being not (though he knew the saint very well) thoroughly satisfied of the truth of them ; * and arguing that they were unnecessary. 1 But some years afterwards, when the project was formed for his canonization, and his order to be exalted for the advancement of the papacy ; im- mediately a brood of miracles is hatched, in his second life, to the number of a hundred, and those testified upon oath. 3 I remember also, (in analogy to the occasional swellings and sinkings both of Messieurs Whitefield and Wesley, to serve a present turn) a wonderful story recorded of St, Francis Xavier, the Jesuited apostle of the Indies. 4 " In baptizing the converted Indians, he did manifestly, but gradually, swell to a gigantic size, to the astonishment of the spectators : but as soon as he had finished his office, he dwindled again into his natural proportion, sulking into himself." SECTION 7. Were we to survey Mr. Wesley in his magnified stature, and arrayed with the coruscation of miracles, we should take in the full number of his fits, and their removals; which, he says, were about two hundred : 5 - the very same number, which Bouhours says were well- attested, (though not all upon oath) of miracles performed by Ignatius. And if, since Mr. Wesley gave the above account, such cases have continued in proportion; they may have risen by this time to a thousand. As if he would not barely emulate, but exceed both St. Francis and St. Ignatius ; as much as they have been declared to exceed in 1 Bartol. Vit. Ign. Lib. v. c. i. a Myster. Jesuit, p. 37. 3 Ribadcn. p. 544. 4 Bouhours's life of Xavier, p. 623. Xavier Thaumat. pag. 79. 5 Answ. to Church, p. 43. Methodists and Papists. 1 93 miraculous operations, not only Moses, but Christ, and all his apostles. But it may suffice to produce some special cases, which will afford ample matter of observation. " A zealous opposer desired to speak with me immediately. He had all the signs of settled despair. He said he had been enslaved to sin many years : had long used all the means of grace, constantly gone to church and sacrament, read the Scripture, used much private prayer, and yet was nothing profited. I desired we might join in prayer. After a short space his countenance was no longer sad. He said, * Now I know God hath forgiven my sins : Christ hath set me free :' and according to his faith it was unto him." 1 He hath such another instance of the " conversion of one above measure enraged at this new way: he desires her to join with him in prayer ; she falls into extreme agonies, soon after knows that Christ had forgiven her ; from that hour a believer." 1 Here you see a notable fling at all the means of grace* church, sacrament, Scripture, prayer : they profited nothing. Nothing will do but the good Mr. Wesley's intercession : all the honor is reserved for this particular saint: he alone cureth, and that by a miracle, using the same expression with Christ, when he worked by a divine power. Thus " the devils that infested Ignatius's College could not be expelled by prayer, mass, holy water, exorcisms, relics; but absolutely and finally drove away by his merits. 3 Again, one John Paul was so oppressed, that he could scarce breathe, and could find no peace or comfort from prayer, sacraments, or good works : but St. Ignatius, by two words, wiped away, as it were with his hands, all his trouble and disquiet." 4 In Turselin's Lauretana Historia we read of " a woman possessed, who having tried in vain divers saints, and the most solemn rites of the church, ap- plies to the Virgin of Loretto; 5 where the devils depart with 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 8. l Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 26. 3 Ribaden. p. 545. 4 P. 547." * P. 73. Method. N 1 04 The Enthusiasm of lamentable bowlings and groans, " Mary, Mary! she has ejected us." Indeed it is very common to find some distem- pers and devils so obstinate, that they will never yield, but to aggrandise the character of some particular saint, or order. Here follows another engine to raise up Mr. Wesley's name. ' " A Quaker, displeased at the dissimulation of these creatures, (the screamers, droppers, &c.) was biting his lips, and knitting his brows, when he dropped down as thunder-struck. His agony was terrible to behold. We besought God not to lay folly to his charge ; and he soon lifted up his head, and cried aloud, ' Now I know, thou art a prophet of the Lord.'" It is very possible this may be all compact. But, how- ever that be, Mr. Wesley readily catcheth at his just title of a prophet; and more plainly elsewhere: for " a woman that was a sinner having lent him a convenient place for preaching, he declares, ' Thou poor sinner, thou hast re- ceived a prophet in the name of a prophet, and art found of him that sent him.'" 1 This ' pest of vanity sticks so close, that he cannot help showing what a great man he is still farther ; " I observe, the popish priest knew well, how much it would be for the interest of his church to have me accounted a member of it." 3 Without doubt, the pope and cardinals would be in high raptures : Hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridae. After preaching, the people were ready to tread me under foot, out of -pure love and kindness: in going to church welcomed with a loud huzza. 4 As I was preaching, a collier began shouting amain for joy ; their usual token of approbation was clapping me on the back " 5 So potent are the proofs of his divine mission. .' Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 43. * 5 Jotirn. p. 112. 3 Ibid. p. 73-4. 4 5 Journ. p. 107. 5 P 93. Methodists and Papists. 19 5 SECTION 8. But we may likewise have a sight of our \\ onder-monger, sitting in the seat of the great Searcher of hearts. For thus he maketh out his claim. " As I was expounding the 12th of the Acts, a young man, with some others, rushed in, cursing and swearing vehemently ; and so disturbed all near him, that they put him out. I observed it, and called to let him come in, that our Lord might bid his chains fall off. As soon as the sermon was over, he came and declared before us all, ' That he was a smuggler, then going on in this work, as his disguise, and the great bag he uad with him, showed.' But he said, he must never do this more; for he was now resolved to have the Lord for his God." 1 In this case it is evident, either that there was collusion and combination, which Mr. Wesley surely will not admit ; or else that he knoweth the secrets of the man's heart, that he would become a convert ; as well as the mind of Christ, who would make him such. And why should he fall short of his forefathers 1 For we read, " that a Jew, in the Jesuits' College at Rome, seemed once to be converted ; but afterwards became furious, and resolved to be gone, saying, ' he would not be a Christian.' The holy father Ignatius only called for him, and said, ' Stay with us, Isaac,' and in a moment he was quieted, and gentle as a lamb." a Our next parallel will be closer. " St. Dominic having convicted some persons of heresy, and delivered them to the secular arm ; as they were going to be burned, he spicth one among them, in whom discerning a ray of predestination, he ordereth him not to be burned, but to be delivered back to the holy office ; where he says to him, ' I know, my son, thou wilt yet be a good man, and a saint.' He was instantly illuminated, and became of the order of Fryer's preachers." 3 Nor must St. Francis be omitted, " who 1 4 Journ. p. 58. 2 Ribaden. Jul. 31. 3 Specul. Exempl. L. 30. C. 9. Peter de Natal. L. 7. C. 22. 196 The Enthusiasm of foretold the conversion of several persons, with infallible truth, to Christ, who were as yet perverse." x " Because Saint Francis followed Christ to perfection ; God, by uniting himself to him, and making him one spirit with him by transformation, revealed his own sense to him : not only making him a prophet, in seeing and knowing future things, and distant ; but more than a prophet, in respect of know- ing the secrets of men's hearts. Of which there are divers instances."* " By a certain spiritual sign he knew who would be saved, and who damned, and when. 3 A brother raider a grievous temptation fancied he should be cured by the parings of St. Francis's nails: St. Francis, knowing this at a distance, takes a pair of scissars, cuts some parings, and sends them ; and the man was instantly cured of the temptation." 4 And, as it would be the utmost partiality to deny the female saints the knowledge of such curious secrets, we find the inspired Bourignon laying in her claim : " If I perceive the most hidden thoughts of your hearts, whence can this come but from God alone ?" Light in Darkness, Part i . Letter i. M. of Pazzi " penetrated into the most hidden folds of other people's consciences." 5 " One of St. Catharine's prerogatives was, to know whether other people were in a state of grace, or not: she could read their minds, and clearly understand all that was in them. She knew wicked persons by their stinking smell." 6 That this miraculous gift was communicated to the humble followers, both Methodists and Papists, will be observed anon. In the mean time, perhaps Mr. Wesley hath received the same light with " Fryer Roger, to whom a Franciscan appeared after his death, and gave him a rule how to know whether any person were in the number of the Predestinated, by a peculiar sign secret to common mortals ; and revealed 1 Bonavent. Legend, cap. 11. a Conform, fol. 278. 3 Conform, p. 239. 4 P. 278. 5 Life, No. 44. 6 Ribaden. Apr. 30. Methodists and Papists. 197 to him the certainty of his own election : " ' or he may in- herit from St. Francis himself, " who knew who should be saved, by a sign not known to carnal men." 1 SECTION 9. But more of this, and other extraordinary gifts, will come to light, by looking into Mr. Wesley's prac- tice of exorcising devils, and relieving the possessed ; with various proofs and instances of the miraculous power of healing. " One J n H n, a man of a regular life, constantly attending the public prayers and sacrament, zealous for the church, &c. labored above measure to convince his acquaintance, that the Methodists falling into strange fits at the societies, was a delusion of the devil. We were going home, when one met us, and informed us, ' that J n H n was fallen raving mad.' 3 It seems he had been reading a sermon on salvation by faith ; and in reading the last page, he changed color, fell from his chair, began screaming terribly, and beating himself against the ground. 4 I came in, and found him on the floor ; the room full of people, whom his wife would have kept out ; but he cried out, ' No ; let them all come, let all the world see the just judgment of God.' Fixing his eyes upon me, he cried, ' Ay, this is he, who I said was a deceiver of the people. But God has overtaken me. I said it was all a delusion ; but this is no delusion.' He then cried out, ' O thou devil ! thou cursed devil ! Yea, thou legion of devils. Thou canst not stay. Christ will cast thee out. Tear me in. pieces if thou wilt, but thou canst not hurt me. He then beat himself against the ground again ; breast heaving as in the pangs of death. We betook ourselves to prayer ; his pangs ceased, and both body and soul were set at liberty." But " going away, 1 Martyrol. Francisc. Jan. 30. * Conform, fol. 92. 3 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 44. * INTRODUCTION, P. ii. S. 4. The Enthusiasm of and afterward returning to J n H n, we found his voice was lost, and his body weak as that of an infant." The last words, I observe, show a short-lived and imperfect cure. What became of him afterwards, we know not. I observe, that no regularity of life, or attendance on the most sacred ordinances, will satisfy Mr. Wesley, if we think Methodism is a delusion. So ready is he to decry all the means of grace, and good works. I observe, that upon the man's reading Mr. Wesley's sermon (for he hath printed one upon salvation by faith) the devil seizeth him ; he is struck with madness, of which the proper symptoms are expressed : this he declares to be a judicial sentence for opposing Mr. Wesley ; " This is he, who I said was a deceiver; but God hath overtaken me." Which words, if spoken by the man himself as his own ;-.ontiments, are confessedly spoken by him under a fit of distraction, and diabolical possession : if spoken by Satan, making use of the man's organs ; then Satan is the Metho- dist's friend, and bears testimony to Mr. Wesley's mission. I observe, that in order to be true Methodists, we are to run mad, and be possessed, in hope of a short and imperfect cure. By way of comparison, we read of " a miserable woman, to whom the Virgin Mary, stretching out her hand, pointed out Ignatius, and commanded her to address herself to him. But she, struck with fresh pangs, cried aloud, ' Pardon me, O blessed Ignatius ! for now I remember I have often been incredulous, opposing those who extolled your sanctity; and upbraiding ray brother for being of your order.' Ac- knowledge then, says the Virgin, that he is truly a saint, that he is your only help, and that you are to be saved by his grace." 1 Madam Bourignon writeth to a woman in these \vords: "You say, mistress, that your husband's illness 1 Bartol. Vit. Ignat L. V. C. 1. Methodists and Papists. 199 is occasioned by my writings. Is there not ground to doubt, that those who speak evil of them are possessed with the same spirit, that was in the Pharisees, who said of Jesus Christ, that he was one who seduced the people ? I esteem your husband happy for his child-birth pains; I wish many more were smitten with this disease, even though they should die for it." ' It may occasion a doubt, whether the madman, or Satan, was properly the speaker ; because Popish writers of daemo- nology tell us, " that although the possessed will speak several things from themselves, in which spirits have no share; yet most oftenly the whole discourse is the devil's." * Vnd in that case, " the devil will sometimes speak truth, or seem to depart, in order to puff up the exorcist with vain- glory." For which reason they add, " that the exorcist should by no means be a man given to vanity." 3 SECTION 10. " A young woman of nineteen, that could not write or read, held in bed by two or three persons ; anguish, horror, despair above description in her pale face. * A thousand distortions showed how the dogs of hell were gnawing her heart. She shrieks, screams out, ' I am damn'd, damn'd. Six days ago you might have helped me : but it is now past. I am the devil's now: I have given myself to him. His I am. Him I must serve. With him I must go to hell. I will be his. I will serve him. I will go with him to hell. I cannot, I will not, be saved. I must, I will, I will be damned/ She then began praying to the devil. We began, f Arm of the Lord, awake, awake !' She immediately sunk down as asleep : but as soon as we left off, broke out again with unexpressible vehemence, 1 Light in Darkness, Part 4. Letter 22. * Thyrsi Damon. P. 1. C. 17. Mall. Malef. Tom. 4. p. 17. 20. * Wesley 3 Journ. p. 923. 200 The Enthusiasm of ' Stony hearts break ! I am a warning to you. You need not be damned, though I must/ She then fixed her eyes on the corner of the cieling, and said, ' There he is. Ay, there he is. Come, good devil, come : take me away. You said you will dash my brains out. Come, do it quickly. I am yours. I will be yours. Come just now. Take me away.' We interrupted her by calling again upon God. We con- tinued in prayer till past eleven : when God, in a moment, spake peace to her soul." Here is one of the most dismal instances of madness, pos- session, and despair, that can well be conceived ; one among many that have happened among the Methodists : horribly shocking, but necessary to be transcribed ; on account of similar cases among Papists, of parallels in persons said to be possessed, or bewitched, and cured by exorcisms, &c. But before I proceed, it may be proper just to mention " the distinction between persons possessed, and such as are betwitched : The former suffer purely (as daemonologists write) from the operation of Satan himself, or his imps ' the latter indeed from Satan, but not without the interven- tion of wizards, or witches." ' And I would have it observed, that I do not make myself a party in the controversy about deemoniacs, whether their case be mere distemper, or distem- per caused by evil spirits ; nor yet whether, how often, and how far, we have proof of the power of witchcraft. Thus much, however, I say, that I am not one of those heroes, who take upon them to chase spiritual beings, good or bad, out of the world; or to deny either their existence, or influence. And yet I am well aware how many poor crea- tures have unjustly suffered under such an imputation ; how frequently distempers have been construed into possession, and witchcraft; and especially what wicked tricks and impostures Popish priests, Jesuits, &c. have played upon the world by such pretensions. ' Mall. Malef. Tom. 4. p. 12. Methodists and Papists. 201 We have several particulars in this article, which are not without their proper parallels. This poor creature calling upon the devil, * I am damned, I have given myself to him ; come, good devil, take me away,' &c. is equalled by that blaspheming wretch, pouring out cursings and execra- tions, and roaring out, 'Come, devil, come/ The devil instantly seizeth him, and dasheth him against the ground, &c. All the holy amulets of the Catholic church are pre- scribed. But nothing would do, till by prayer to the Virgin Mary, the evil spirit in a moment departed." ' Again, Mr. Wesley useth hard names, calling the devils ' dogs of hell ;' and both he and Whitefield had before called Satan ' a fool, one that did not understand his own business.' Which shows how carefully they observe "the rule pre- scribed to exorcists by approved Papists, namely, to call the devils opprobrious names, in order to expel them by taming their pride." * And it is one form of conjuration, " I conjure you, ye abominable rebels, ye Acherontic dogs, worse than common strumpets," &c. 3 And they give for a reason, " that the proud devils cannot bear contempt, but will sneak away ashamed." We may observe, that this despairing woman, distracted by her terrors, hath in imagination a sight of the devil coming to seize her : " She fixed her eyes on the corner of the cieling, saying, ' There he is. Ay, there he is,' " &c. And " another woman strangely torn by the devil, upon deliverance by prayer, cried out vehemently, ( He is gone: he is gone/ " This imaginary sight, of what none besides can see, is pretty common among the legendary saints ; who, hi their desperate and distracted fits, see him coming and going, and enter into discourse with him. . It is likewise a very usual thing with persons thought to be bewitched, to have a sight of their 1 Baling. Calendar. B. Virg. p. 182. * Mall. Malef. torn. iii. p. 29. 3 Mengi Fuga Daemon, p. 103. 202 The Enthusiasm of tormentors, either daemons or witches. Those who are unacquainted with these things, may see many instances in Mather's History of New-England ; ' where " persons tor- mented by sorcery, or witchcraft, are in the utmost agonies and convulsions, uttering the most horrid imprecations and blasphemies;" such as these in Mr. Wesley's Journals. One sees a spirit stand by her, and afterwards cries out, 1 He is gone/ Others cry out upon the daemons, * They are gone ; they are gone ;' and with an altered voice, say, * Now I am well.' So, (History of Witchcraft, vol. i. p. 50.) Mrs. Throgmorton's children cry out, ' See the witch there ; take her away ; look where she stands.' P. 123. The supposed wizard is seen ; ' Oh ! he is come ; he is come.' The contrary, joyous visions of Christ, angels, &c. will fall in our way as we go on ; as also other circumstances of witchcraft. SECTION 11. Of equally terrible nature is the next case. " A woman lay on the ground, furiously gnashing her teeth, and roaring. Not easy for three or four persons to hold her ; especially when the name of Jesus was named. We prayed; the violence of her symptoms ceased, but not a complete deliverance." In the evening, being sent for again, I was unwilling, indeed afraid, to go ; thinking it would not avail, unless some, who were strong in faith, were to wrestle with God for her. I opened my Testament on those words ; "I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth." I stood reproved, and went immediately. She began screaming before I came into the room ; then broke out into a horrid laughter, mixed with blasphemy, grievous to hear. One, who from many circumstances apprehended a preternatural agent, asking, ( How didst thou dare to enter into a Chris- tian?' was answered, ' She is not a Christian : she is mine.' 1 Particularly b. vi. c. 7. Methodists and Papists. 203 Q. * Dost thou not tremble at the name of Jesus?' No words followed; but she shrunk back, and trembled exceed- ingly. Q. ' Art thon not increasing thine own damnation?' It was faintly answered, ' Ay, Ay :' which was followed by fresh cursing and blasphemy. My brother coming in, she cried out, ' Preacher, Field- preacher ! I don't love field-preaching.' This was repeated two hours together, with spitting, and all the expressions of strong aversion. Two days after we called upon her again. Now it was that God showed he heareth the prayer. All her pangs ceased in a moment ; and she knew that the son of wicked- ness was departed from her " * Here we see a confessed diabolical possession ; Mr. Wes- ley owns his talent of ejecting Satan ; and actually doeth it, by the prayers of himself and brother. Let us consider a few of the circumstances. In the first place we should admire Mr. Wesley's excellent trap to catch fame, i. e. an appearance of profound humility. He was unwilling and afraid to venture upon expelling Satan himself, casting about for others strong in the faith. In this perplexity he dips in the Bible, by way of lottery ; (which Mr. Whitefield calls tempting God, and much greater and better men have looked apon as little short of conjuring) immediately Heaven openly attests his talent of ejecting devils. He goes and succeeds. Again, (even after the sanction of Heaven to be an exorcist, and a rebuke for drawing back) " being informed of a woman deemed mad, or possessed, and desired to come to her ; he asketh, * What good do you think I can do ? ' But being pressed, he went ; performed his office ; and left her rejoicing ;tnd praising God."* Once more: "Mr. Wesley having :ured an old man of an inveterate cough, asketh, (how mo- destly, and yet how artfully !) Does humility require me to deny a notorious fact? If not, which is vanity ? To say, I, ' Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 9395. a Wesley., 5 Journ, p. 85. 204 The Enthusiasm of by my own skill, restored this man to health ? Or to say, God did it by his own almighty power?" 1 In all these instances Mr. Wesley well knows * the persons with whom he has to do,' where the honor will centre, what veneration his own w ill conceive for the wonderful man, who is such a powerful operator, and, at the same time, of such self-denying humility. It is our business to remark, how carefully he hath copied his originals : as that of the great "Ignatius, unto whom a woman possessed with a devil being brought, from an opinion of his eminent sanctity, he answered very humbly, ' that he deserved not so much favor at the Lord's hands ; yet he would pray for the poor woman.' He did so ; and presently she was freed from her trouble."* " From the same principle of humility, and fear of assum- ing too much, many illustrious saints have with difficulty been induced to lend their operation in casting out devils. St. Laurentius Justinian being desired to expel a devil out of a woman, said, ' Ask not of me what I cannot do.' Gre- gory of Lingon gave the same answer ; St. Remigius the same, when a woman possessed applied to him ; and so did Nicetius of Lyons." 3 This they found the most effectual way. For the pride of the devils could never resist the humility of the exorcist. " The devil in full possession of a man, seeing Fryer Ruffin coming, ran away as fast as he could, and gave for a reason, * that he could not stand the poverty, humility, and prayers of such a saint.'" 4 "St. Antony once finding himself not powerful enough to expel a daemon, sendeth the possessed to Paul the Simple ; and then, 'I go, I go, (sai'th'the proud spirit); the simplicity and humility of Paul drive me away.' " 5 Another thing observable is Satan's scurrilous language, and contemptuous treatment of the Wesleys. " Preachers ! 1 Plain Account, p. 28. * Ribaden. Jul. 31. p. 544. 3 Thyrsus Daemon, part iii. c. 38. * Conform, fol. 64. 5 Thyrsus, ibid. Methodists and Papists. 205 Field-Preachers ! I don't love field-preachers, for two hours together, with spitting, and all expressions of strong aver- sion." And who but the devil, or his agents, would do so ? And yet this evidently turns out to the Wesleys' advantage ; to the increase of the malicious spirit's own damnation, and their triumph. For what better proof of their divine mission, than Satan's aversion to them ; of their superiority, than his flying the field ? This hath been of old one of the devil's tricks, and with the same success. For " they insulted even the holy Igna- tius with such opprobrious nick-names, calling him one-eyed, halter, baldpate, &c. They do not value Ignatius of a hair, and will not stir a foot for him : but with their whole troop were soon forced to fly." ' " They throw out cart-loads of blasphemies and railings against the saints; calling the most sanctified virgin Euphrasia, whore ; and Theodoras, son of a whore : they call St. Benedict, maledict : St. Syrus and St. Bernard, they diminish into little Syrulus and Bernardu- lus ; and call the latter pork-eater and cabbage-crammer ; all with the utmost contumely." * SECTION 12. We go on in the same strain. " I was sent for to Kingswood, to one of those who were so ill before. A violent rain began just as I set out, so that I was thoroughly wet in a few minutes. The woman, then three miles off, cried out, ' Yonder comes Wesley, galloping as fast as he can.' When I was come, I was quite cold and dead, fitter for sleep than prayer. She burst out into a hor- rid laughter, and said, ' No power, no power : no faith, no faith. She is mine. I have her, and will not let her go.' We begged of God to increase our faith. Meanwhile her pangs increased more and more : so that one would have imagined, by the violence of the throes, her body must have been 1 Bartol. Vit. Ign. p. 398. * Thyr. Loc. Infest, p. 121. and Daemon, p. 183. 206 The Enthusiasm of shattered to pieces. One, who was clearly convinced this was no natural disorder, said, ' I think Satan is let loose. I tear he will not stop here :' and added, ' I command thee, in the name of Jesus, to tell if thou hast commission to torment any other soul/ It was immediately answered, * I have, L y C r, and S h J s ;' two who lived at some distance, and were then in perfect health." This was on Saturday. But he goes on, " On Sunday, in the evening, I called at Mrs. J 's, in Kingswood. S h J s and L y C r were there. It was scarce a quarter of an hour before L yC r fell into a strange agony; and presently after, S h J s. The violent convulsions all over then- bodies were such as words cannot describe. Their cries and groans were too horrid to be borne. Till one of them, in a tone not to be expressed, said, * Where is your faith now ? Come, go to prayers. I will pray with you. Our Father, &c.' We took the advice, from whomsoever it came, and poured out our souls before God, till L yC r's agonies so in- creased, that she seemed in the pangs of death. But in a moment God spoke ; she knew his voice, and both body and soul were healed. We continued in prayer till near one, when S h J s's voice was also changed, and she began strongly to call upon God. In the morning we re- newed our prayers, while she was crying continually, ' I burn, I burn : I have a fire within me. I cannot bear it. Lord Jesus! help!"" I have transcribed this case at large, on account of the variety of observations and parallels that will result from it. The first extraordinary circumstance is, that when Mr. Wesley was on the road, and upon the gallop on account of the rain, the woman possessed should know and see this so exactly, at three miles' distance. And I assure him, that I do not deny the fact ; though I cannot comprehend the manner, or the cause. Nor do I doubt of the truth of some similar 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 94. Methodists and Papists. 207 cases, however unaccountable, as to bare matter of fact. Whether this will turn to Mr. Wesley's honor, I cannot say. Mr. C. Mather, (History of New-England) giving an account of dreadful sorceries and witchcrafts, has many instances " attested by persons of the utmost veracity, and unquestionably well supported, of people thus preter- naturally indisposed, who knew things done at a distance, and what persons were bewitched at distant places." * So in Glanvill's Sadducismus Triumphatus, we have evidence upon oath, " of a boy bewitched, who would describe exactly the clothes and habit of the witch at that time, though her house was at a good distance; and this the constable and others, upon repairing to the witch's house, found to be true." a " A girl taken with strange fits usually told what clothes Elizabeth Style (the supposed witch) had on at the time, which the informant and others have seen, and found true." 3 There is another case, coming nearer to that of Mr. Wes- ley seen upon the gallop, &c. to be found in the History of Witchcraft, It is in the account of the witches of Warbois, executed for bewitching the children of Mr. Throckmorton ; and tormenting them with grievous agonies, fits, &c. " The eldest daughter was in her fit, sitting at home in a parlour ; who suddenly said, ' Now uncle, and two others, whom she named, are going to Mother Samuel, (the witch). ' See,' says she, 'where Mother Samuel goes trotting in the streets before them, with her wooden tankard, and her apron tucked up before ;' naming the house where she went, and all the dis- course that passed between them. And it proved true, that she repeated exactly every word and passage between them ; though she could not possibly either hear or see any thing in that situation, and at that distance." 4 Popish authors are unanimous in ascribing this knowledge of things, remote from the natural sight, to a diabolical pos- 1 Book vi. c.7. * Relat. the 2nd. 3 Relat. the 3d. 4 Vol. i. p. 77. 208 The Enth usiasm of session. Nor need we be particular, when we have the authority of the Roman ritual, that the discovery of things at a distance is one sign of an inmate devil." ' Unless the glorious Ignatius be thought of better authority ; one of whose privileges was, " to discover things very far remote from human sight :" a or that instance "of Friar John, a Franciscan, who had a clear perception of the coming of Brother Giles, at twenty-eight miles' distance, by the odour of his sanctity." 3 The second particular remarkable is another instance of the devil's impudence, in ridiculing Mr. Wesley for his draggled condition ; and taking advantage, from his being quite cold and dead, to burst out into a horrid laugh; thereby insulting him both for want of power, and of faith. Mr. Wesley seems sensible of this defect, and begs of God to increase their faith. The wicked one again taunteth and upbraideth him, " Where is your faith now ? Come, go to prayers. I will pray with you ; ' Our Father, &c.' " This likewise is intimated to be a sneer of the devil ; for Mr. Wes- ley adds, " We took the advice, from whomsoever it came." Whoever will look into the Elogia Jesuitarum, 4 will find how these cursed spirits took all opportunities of treating the holy men with derision, scoffs, taunts, horse-laughs ; and how all turned to a good account, in raising the character of the Jesuits. Even Ignatius himself, St. Dominic, and all the mass-priests, found the same impudent and scornful treatment. 5 And we are assured, "that when the holy fathers, the Jesuits, came to relieve any daemoniacs, the devils at first would behave impudently, and insult them ; but were forced to take to their heels, as soon as the pos- sessed had purged themselves by confession, and tied some consecrated wax round their necks." 6 1 De Exorcis. Posses. * Maffse. p. 551. 3 Martyr. Francisc. Jul. 3. 4 P. 489. 5 Ribaden. in Ignat. et Dominic. 6 Franc. Annal. Jesuit, p. 162. Methodists and Papists. 209 The circumstance of the devil's calling for prayers puts me in mind of what some Papists say, namely, " that this infernal fiend will sometimes relent, and will bring himself down so as to say Pater Noster, but never to say Ave Mary." " The devil too, seeing how penitents were whitened by confession, desired a priest to confess him." ' As a third particular, we may take notice of Satan's not stopping at one Methodist, but declaring his commission to torment two more, whom he names. This secret is drawn from Satan by " one, who was clearly convinced this was no natural disorder :" which one, I presume, is Mr. Wesley's good self, by his speaking so authoritatively, " I command thee to tell." The account seems to betray some suspicion of a compact; for I do not find this question was ever asked before in any of the Methodists that were possessed : and it must be a foolish devil, who would so freely declare into what particular persons he .was to enter ; unless he were compelled irresistibly by Mr. Wesley's superior power. It is a lucky incident too, that these " two very persons, who lived at a distance," should happen at that nick of time to be in company with Mr. Wesley ; and there on a sudden fall into their diabolical fits. And it may bethought he was something defective in power, or charity, for not praying to God, or commanding Satan to torment no body besides; instead of permitting them to inflict his tortures on others. But perhaps it might more effectually advance the exorcist's honor, in multiplying cures by his intercession. But, without considering the case in this view, I shall barely relate some parallels of Satan's slipping out of one person into another, from histories of people bewitched, and Popish exorcisms. " A woman possessed by an unclean spirit was brought to the priest to be exorcised ; and the 1 Specul. Exempl. Dist. vi. c. 23. Method. O 210 The Enthusiasm of devil spoke out of her mouth, ' If I am ejected from her, I will instantly enter into another person/ naming one Othmar. But he could not, because the priest sent to Oth- mar to arm himself by penitence and confession." ' Should not Mr. Wesley have given this caution ? Again, " Another woman was brought to St. Probus to be exorcised, and the devil said, ' I am ejected hence by the word of the Lord, and the merits of his saint: but, before you get to Erfestfort, I will plague you again, and again.' Accordingly he entered into another sister, and into a third, and tormented them in a terrible manner. But they were restored to perfect sound- ness." 2 We read of such a skipping devil exorcised by St. Mala- cbias ; " for being driven out of one woman, immediately he jumps into another ; driven out of her, he flies back again into the first woman ; and so shifts often backward and for- ward, till at length he is commanded to possess neither of them, nor any other person ; the saint not bearing any longer to be thus illuded." 3 SECTION 13. The dasmoniacs among the Methodists are still carrying us on into farther speculation ; arising from the following instance. " I met," says Mr. Wesley, " with a surprising instance of the power of the devil. Mrs. J s took the Bible, and read ; but on a sudden threw it away, saying, ' I am good enough, I will never read or pray more. I used to think I was full of sin, and sinned in every thing I did. But now I know better. I never did any harm in my life,' &c. She spoke many things to the same effect; plainly shewing, that the spirit of pride and of lies had full dominion over her. And yet she was in the most violent agony, both of mind and body. Upon our beginning to H. Act. Benedict, ab Ann. 800. part ii. p. 4. z Ibid. p. 62. 3 Vita Malach. c. 8. Methodists and Papists. 211 pray, she raged beyond measure, but soon sunk down as dead. In a few minutes she revived, and joined in prayer. We left her for the present in peace." * Such are the tendency and effects of Methodistical spiri- tual pride from the doctrine of perfection. But he goes on. " All the next day she was in a violent agony ; till starting up in the evening, she said, * Now they have done. They have just done. C prayed, and Humphreys preached. (Arid indeed so they did.) And they are coming hither as fast as they can.' Quickly after they came in. She immediately cried out, * Why, what do you come for ? You can't pray ; you know you can't.' And they could not open their mouths ; so that after a short time they were constrained to leave her a.s she was. " Many came to see her on Tuesday ; to every one of whom she spoke concerning either their actual, or their heart sins ; and that so closely, that several of them went away in more haste than they came." This, it is to be remembered, hap- pened in Mr. Wesley's absence. " In the afternoon she sent to Kingswood for me. But said, ' Mr. Wesley will not come to-night. He will come in the morning. But God has begun, and he will end the work by himself. Before six in the morning I shall be well.' And about a quarter before six the next morning the peace of God came to her soul." In this account (which I thought necessary to transcribe at large) the three following points are observable ; the see- ing things done at a distance, the knowledge ,of the secrete of the heart, and utterance of prophecies, all by a woman possessed by the devil. But previously I would take notice of an odd sort of cir- cumstance, wherein this knowledge of the bjeart consisted. When some Methodists came to visit Mrs. J s, you ob- serve, she immediately cries out, ' What do you come for ? TOU can't pray : you know you can't.' This Mr, Wesley 1 \yesiey ; 4 Journ, p. 66. 212 The Enthusiasm of says was true, for " they could not open their mouths ; and were constrained to leave her as she was." But here is the difference between the principal and his inferiors. Mr. Wesley at this time was absent. But when the devil taunted Mr. Wesley himself, as wanting faith, and unable to pray; he presently shewed that he could, as in the preceding number. For a comparison, I do not remember at present more than two of this odd kind : one happened among the Fran- ciscans. " At the funeral of St. Achas, the De Profundis being set, none of the company, with their many and utmost attempts, could possibly utter the words." ' The other is the confession of a person supposed to be bewitched, (hi the History of Witchcraft) : " Agnes Nasmith frequently told the minister, that their hearts and tongues were bound up in such a manner, that they could not express what they would : upon attempting to speak, their mouths seemed to be con- tracted ; she could not express one word, even when on her knees for the girl's recovery." a The first point, that of seeing and knowing persons and things at a distance, may be passed over; as we have spoke of it before, and will fall in our way again. 3 The second is the knowledge of the secrets of the heart. And of this I have spoken too already ; at least as far as it concerned the principals, whether Methodists or Papists : and shall now consider this supernatural gift, as communi- cated to those of lower rank. There cannot be a plainer and stronger instance than this before us ; " the woman in her fits, or rather coming out of them, spoke so closely to her visitors, not only concerning their actual sins, such as they had in fact committed ; but their very heart sins, such as had only risen in their thoughts ; that thereby she puts many of them to shame, and makes them run hastily away." Were I disposed to make a trifle of this, I might say, that one natural way of knowing the hearts of each other 1 Martyr. Francisc. June 11. * Vol. ii. p. 122. 3 See No. 3. Methodists and Papists. 213 proceed from their constant custom of mutual confes- sions in the most minute circumstances and temptations, and answers to the most searching questions: whereby they come acquainted not only with the sins of the party confessing ; but of those who have made no confession ; but who have been guilty of sins in company with those who have confess- ed, &c. And so by one out of his senses, in a wild tit, all is betrayed ; and the conscious parties are shamed arid dis- graced. This happened in Mr. Wesley's absence; who, had he been there, might have prevented the scandal ; and have given the matter a better turn, by shewing it to be an artifice of Satan, in order to calumniate the society of innocent lambs. For popish dsemonologists teach, " that it is one trick of the devil, to make the possessed tell impure and criminal stories of the by-standers, on purpose to raise scandal ; and to terrify them so that they may run off, and take no more care of the patient." 1 And so it happened here. The cause of thus knowing the heart, and revealing secrets, (which some have ascribed to distemper, or other secrets of nature) the same Daemonologists impute directly to the operation of Satan; 1 as what distinguisheth daemons' agency from human ; and possession from disease. 3 Thus " a girl in a monastery, being deeply in love, but disappointed by the unfaithfulness of her lover, run mad : the devil entered into her, and discovered to her all the secrets of the man, his private discourses with his new mistress ; which made her ready to hang herself. But, however, this was imputed to melancholy for her disappointment." * Popish parallels are exceeding numerous. To mention a few. " By virtue of a wonderful light from St. Francis, his disciples saw one another's minds as clearly as their bodies ; each one's conscience being naked to another." 5 1 Mall. Malef.Tom. iv.p. 18. 7 Thyrsus Loc. Infest, p. 123. 3 Daemon, p. 44. 4 Wier. Prsestig. Daemon. 1. iii. c. 13. 5 Conform. Fol. 139. 208. 214 The Enthusiasm of t( Ph. Nerius could distinguish sinners by the smell ; could tell his penitents their particular maladies, and of his own accord detect their several vices." ' Laurent. Ananias says, " I saw with my own eyes a certain possessed woman, who was so petulant, that she could see nobody, whom she would not upbraid with their most hidden ignominious work- ings; from whence no small suspicions and defamations arose." 2 The third point observable was, the utterance of prophe- cies by our Methodists ; or their foretelling things to come. The pretensions of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley to the prophetic faculty, (when, I "take for granted, they would not be thought daemoniacs) have been related before. Here we have an instance of a woman prophesying under a possession. " Mr. Wesley will not come to night : he will come in the morning. God will end the work by himself. Before six in the morning I shall be well." 3 Whether the woman herself speaks, or the daemon through her organs, is not certain. But we are assured, " the devil is so crafty, that sometimes he permits the possessed to shew signs of devotion; and the wicked one himself will utter pious things, to persuade the exorcist that he is departed: 4 and, on oc- casion, he will go out of his own accord, before the saint comes, to avoid the disgrace of being expelled." 5 We have such another prediction: " A woman, who dropt down, struck as was supposed with death, declares and knows, she should not die, but live." And, " Anne Cole, when dying, declares, ' I know my Saviour will restore me soon.' And he did, in a few hours, to Paradise." 6 This is a truly oracular prophecy, which would be verified either by life or death. Had she survived, what a miracle ! She dieth, and it is the same. In such a case, " one Stephen Bartolus being desperately 1 Ribaden. May 26. * De Natur. Daemon, lib. iii. cap. 27. 3 Enthus. Part n. p. 36. 4 Thesaur. Exorcism, p. 640. 5 Thyr, Damon, p. 114. 6 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 58, 65. Methodists and Papists. 215 ill, St. Ignatius after going to mass declareth, ' Stephen shall not die at this time.'" On the contrary, " when a Car- tesian in a dying and despairing condition sent to that good soul Mrs. Bourignon to pray for him, promising to turn wholly to God, if he recovered ; she pronounceth (with a double prophecy) * he shall not recover, but he shall die ; for if he did recover, he would fall deeper into that perni- cious error/" 1 If we look into Popish authors, particularly concerning their exorcisms, we generally find these three faculties, (seeing distant things, knowing the heart, and foretelling future events) in one and the same person, either under a possession, or an ecstasy ; and ascribed likewise to Satan, as the efficient cause. " When you hear ignorant and illi- terate people interpret difficult points, discover the secrets and sins of others, or sing with a musical voice, foretell events, &c. this is an undoubted sign of a diabolical pre- sence. * The revelation of secrets and prophesying, evi- dently distinguish daemons from men ; because daemons may know, men cannot." 3 Above all, the authority of the Romish Ritual determineth, " that a Dasmoniac is to be distinguish- ed from one troubled with the black bile, or other distemper, by his discovering distant and occult things." 4 And yet, when they have a mind to make a saint, the proof is brought from these very extraordinary gifts. Thus Ribadeneira, in his Biblioth. Soc. Jesu, extols " Jacob Rhem, because he was often endowed with a prophetic light, declared openly things future, things at a distance, and otherwise secret, with infallible veracity. s > Jos. Anchieta knew things absent, distant, and future ; and foretold them as distinctly, as if his mind was the reflecting-glass of the divine will. 6 Mancinellus proved spirits, cast out devils, 1 Solid. Virtus. Introd. a Thesaur. Exorcism, p. 634. 3 Thyr. Loc. Infest, p. 123. + De Exorcis. s Pag. 210. 6 P, 283 216 The Enthusiasm of cured the diseased, foretold various things in futurity, and told of things at a distance." x And, I believe, there are a hundred instances of this nature in that book. And there are perhaps as many in honor of the Franciscans in the Franciscan Martyrology, and the famous book of Conformi- ties between Christ and St. Francis. But the most irrefragable testimonies are in the Roman Breviary ; where, on the festivals of divers saints, all these wonderful gifts are related : most of them too were canonised. As of St. Xavier, St. Frances of Rome, Ph. Nerius, Alcan- tara, Ignatius, Francis, Anthony, Romualdus, Catharine of Sienna, &c. Many of them foreknew particularly the time of their death. Thus, by an unaccountable infatuation, favorite saints are beatified and canonised, on the very same account, for which others are pronounced to be under a diabolical pos- session. But, after all, it is possible these wonders may, in a good measure, be accounted for from distemper, a disturbance of brain, alienation of the reason and the senses, some disorder of mind or body. For that persons afflicted with natural distempers have frequently, in an enthusiastic manner, utter- ed prophecies, and revealed secrets; and when they were cured by natural means, the gift of divination quite left them, together with the illness I could prove from autho- rities of physicians, ancient and modem. Nor is it an in- credible thing to me, as being attested by history, and known in fact to be true, that those, who have little or no use of their reason and senses, should utter predictions, and reveal secrets; as for instance, madmen, idiots, epileptics, ec- statics, &c. Nor, again, is there any room to doubt, but that wicked men and seducers have sometimes uttered things prophetically, which came to pass. And we know, that in the latter days 1 P. 291. Methodists and Papists. 217 dsemons should be the authors of many surprising things, seemingly, at least, miraculous ; God permitting Satan to work upon the affections of false prophets and evil men. * SECTION 14. We have not yet done with the Daemo- niacs. For Mr. Wesley mentions " a spirit of laughter coming upon himself, brother, and several others; which they could not possibly help, and which he imputeth to their being buffeted by Satan." ' To what I said of this before, (Enthus. Part ii. p. 73) I now add, that if it really proceeds from Satan, he worked in the same manner long before the time of the gospel: this being the same as what the ancients called the " Sardonian laughter; convulsive and involuntary, and a sort of madness : which disorder hath passed into a proverb (Sardonius risus, signifying a forced laugh) and to be cured in the same manner as convulsions." z " One of them," says Mr. Wesley, " was so torn of the evil one, that some- times she laughed, till almost strangled; then broke out into cursing and blaspheming ; then stamped, and struggled with incredible strength." The History of Witchcraft mentions such another case, where " Mr. Throgmorton's children are raging and convulsed, as if ready to be torn to pieces; then of a sudden they cannot help laughing." 3 In the A eta Ger- manica we have a chapter on involuntary laughter; with mention of divers women obnoxious to it from hysterics. 4 And Sennertus imputeth it to hysterics, convulsions, and sometimes to frenzy and alienation of mind. Give me leave to add a passage from Mr. Turner's History of remarkable Providences. (Part ii. Ch. 36.) " Platerus speaks of some, particularly an Abbot, who was forced involuntarily to laugh, and toss himself about, to the utter spending of his strength. Which puts me in mind of a story related by H. Stephens (in his World of Wonders) of a man, who being at church, 1 4 Journ. p. 37, 38. * Dr. James in Sardonius. 3 Vol. i. p. 50. 4 An. 1672. Obs. 304. 218 The En th usiasm of and seeing a woman fall down off her seat while she was sleeping, fell into so great a fit of laughter, that he continued three days and three nights without giving over/' SECTION 15. To the former sign of diabolical possession we may subjoin an unusual and unnatural voice ; singing, and that in a very melodious manner; and delivering out holy things. " One speaks in a tone not to be expressed; we continued in prayer, when another's voice was also changed. She cried out, ' give me the book, and I will sing.' ' She began giving out line by line, but with such an accent as art could never reach, Why do these cares my soul divide ? Heavily moves my damned soul. here we were obliged to interrupt her." In conformity hereto, Wierus having described the agonies and convulsions, &c. of one thought to be in an epileptic fit, addeth, " that at length the devil was found out to be the author, betraying himself by the possessed speaking with an unusual voice and words." 4 Thyraeus gives the following instance: " while St. Xorbert was preaching the word of God, and exorcising a girl that was brought before him ; the devil, deriding him, delivered out through the girl's mouth the book of Canticles from the beginning to the end ; speaking it word for word, first in the Latin, and then interpreting it in the German language." 3 Mr. Mather (in his History before cited) takes notice of the alteration of voice in some children bewitched; the devil throwing one on the floor, where she would whistle and sing ; sometimes laid for dead, wholly breathless and senseless ; sometimes yelling, kicking, and striking ; again saying, she was dying, and then paraphrasing on the thirty- first Psalm in strains that were quite amazing ; and uttering 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 95. * Praestig. p. 425. 3 Daemon, p. 65. Methodists and Papists. 219 many prophecies." ' " Some, when possessed, sing musically, and reveal what they could not naturally know ; a sometimes they are quite stupid and insensate. 3 Singing musically, prophesying, and doing other supernatural things, are signs of a Daemoniac. These sweet, tuneful, and melodious warb- lings manifestly prove a person possessed." 4 Physicians often observe these symptoms to be the effect of madness. Particularly Sennertus relates divers cases, where persons under this calamity have talked Latin, sung hymns, discoursed well, &c. none of which they could do in their senses. 5 SECTION 16. One more case of a Daemoniac I shall transcribe pretty largely, as attended with several remarkable circumstances. " At Stratibrd upon Avon, Mrs. K had been for many weeks in a way that no body could under- stand ; she had sent for a minister; but almost as soon as he came, she began roaring in such a manner (her tongue at the same time hanging out of her mouth, and her face distort- ed into the most terrible form) that he cried out, ' It is the devil, doubtless ! It is the devil.' And immediately went away. I asked, * what good do you think I can do ?' One answered, ' we cannot tell.' But Mrs. K earnestly desired you might come, saying, that she had seen you in a dream, and should know you immediately. But the devil said, ' I will tear thy throat out before he comes.' But afterwards his words were, ' If he does come, I will let thee be quiet ; and thou shalt be as if nothing ailed thee till he is gone away.' Mr. Wesley says, ' I just relate what was spoken to me, without passing any judgment upon it;' though he sneeringly reflects upon the ' unphilosophical minister ;' and adds afterwards, ' a strange sort of madness 1 Book vi. c. 7. 2 Mall. Malef. Tom. i. p. 227. 3 Tom. iv. p. 13. * Thesaur. Exorcis. p. 634. 1060. 5 De Mania, Quest. 1. 220 The Enthusiasm of this !' He then proceeds. * I walked over about noon : but when we came to the house, I desired all those that were with me to stay below. One showing me the way, I went up strait into the room. As soon as I came to the bedside, she fixed her eyes, and said, ' you are Mr. Wesley. I am very well now, I thank God. Nothing ails me now : only I am weak.' I called them up, and we began to sing : after singing a verse or two, we kneeled down to prayer. I had but just begun, (my eyes being shut) when I felt as if I had been plunged into cold water. And immediately there was such a roar, that my voice was quite drowned ; though I spoke as loud as I usually do, when I speak to three or four thou- sand people. However I prayed on. She was then reared in the bed, her whole body moving at once, just as if it were a piece of stone. Immediately after it was writhed into all kind of postures ; the same horrid yell continuing still. But we left her not till all the symptoms ceased, and she was (for the present at least) rejoicing and praising God.'" That I may not too often omit such circumstances as tend to the glory of Mr. Wesley, emulating that of his familiar, St. Ignatius ; I should take some notice how carefully he relates the woman's " dream, in which she saw Mr. Wesley, and should know him immediately." To prevent all fallacy, and shew that all was fair, " he went up into the room by himself, and she immediately cries out, ' you are Mr. Wesley.'" Not to say, how easy it was to guess it was Mr. Wesley, by the expectation of his coming, or some previous descrip- tion of him; it was proper some divine notice should be given of such a powerful man ; that he should go alone into her chamber, to prove it true ; even though contrary to his authoritative directions, " that above all things the exorcist must beware of visiting any person possessed alone, and without some company; especially a woman." 1 1 Compl. Art. Ex. Doctr. 8. Methodists and Papists. 221 The same honor had that other great man, St. Ignatius: * for " a woman in a delirious fever, and at the point of death, saw in a dream a venerable person, of the Jesuit's society, as she conjectured by a relic of his garment : the relic of St. Ignatius's garment was brought ; and she instantly crieth out, ' I am sound; I am well.' A picture of Ignatius being then shewn to her, she knew it was the same whom she had seen in her sleep. And she had him in veneration all her life. " That famous miracle-monger, John de Bridlyngton, and singular secretary of celestial mysteries, was equally honored by ' five mariners, who in a tempest at sea saw a vision of a venerable person delivering them from their distress : and afterwards going into a monastery, they saw John, and knew him to be the man that appeared to them in vision.'" 2 The devil, in terrible fright at Mr. Wesley's being sent for, threateneth cruelly ; " I will tear thy throat out before he comes." But afterwards he grows cooler and cunninger: " and then his words were, ' If he does come, I will let thee be quiet ; and thou shalt be as if nothing ailed thee, till he is gone.'" A common clergyman he had put to flight ; but despairing of serving our hero so, he recurs to his artifices ; and, per- haps to avoid the disgrace of being ejected, walks off, and owns Mr. Wesley's power. Such an account we have in the story of the devil of Mascon ; who would sometimes tell the exorcist, " while you pray, I will go and take a turn in the street." Thus the Papists tell us " Satan boasted, I will not be ejected by those little fellows, Syrulus and Bernardulus." Again; a woman's daughter being possessed, she had a vision of the person who was to cure her : what should she do ? Away she flies to the monastery, to find out the man. The prefect of the monastery comes out ; he was not the 1 Bartol. a Nov. Legend. Fol. 194. 222 The Enthusiasm of man : till at length Sabinus coming out, she instantly knew his face, and the devil left her daughter." " The devils have often confessed, that they would not be ejected but by some excellent person. When several had tried in vain to drive a daemon out of one Etheler, he declared, I will be expelled by nobody except St. Swibert, the apostle of the Saxons. Another daemon said, * I will not go out, unless the Archdeacon of Lyons will come himself, and eject me out of this vessel, of which I have possession." ' The devil's promise, however, of " letting the woman be quiet, till Mr. Wesley was gone, as if nothing ailed her ;" and her saying, when he came, " that she was very well, and nothing ailed her," are but some of the devil's sly tricks, if we may believe the Pope ; for, " among others of the wicked spirits' arts and deceptions, they sometimes hide themselves, and leave the body as it w r ere free from all mo- lestation, that the possessed may think himself quite deli- vered. But the exorcist must not cease, till he sees the signs of delivery." 2 Mr. Wesley accordingly obeys the rule, " not leaving the woman till all the symptoms ceased ; and she was, for the present, at least, rejoicing;" not finally relieved, that Satan's prediction might be verified, of " nothing ailing her till Mr. Wesley w r as gone." It is another observable circumstance, that when the wo- man " was reared in the bed, her whole body moved at once, not one joint or limb bending, just as if it were a piece of stone ; and immediately after it was writhed into all kind of postures." This seems to be that sort of distemper which is called a Catalepsis, of the convulsive kind; which Wiems describeth much after the same manner, and imputeth to a diabolical power ; and of which he brings several instances, especially 1 Thyr. Loc. Infest, p. 183, 112. 2 Ritual Rom. Exorc, Methodists and Papists. 223 among some Nuns. 1 Dr. James (in the words Catalepsis and Spasinus) says of such, " that in the convulsive pa- roxism the limbs are surprisingly agitated, and drawn into various directions ; at other times the whole body is stiff, and immoveable as a stone; the limbs fixed, but easily flexible: sometimes the disorder hath its original from melancholy, and is of the hypochondriac or hysteric kind ; sometimes ariseth from a thick, viscid, and impure blood; sometimes from the commotions and passions of the mind ; profound meditation, and workings of the imagination. And he gives instances of persons thus seized at the recital of certain words, or singing of Psalms, &c. and sometimes the distemper is complicated with a trance." * The reader may there see more of this ; with several other distempered convulsions, distortions, &c., into which the Methodists are so often falling. In this case I observe, that the operator himself catcheth the contagion, seized with part of the patient's malady. For Mr. Wesley says, " that after singing, he had but just begun praying, when he felt as if he had been plunged into cold water." Thus Wierus tells us of " a witch, Alice Kamitz, who herself was afflicted with part of the torments, which she was inflicting upon others. But was thought purposely to have undergone this evil, that she might not be thought to have bewitched the rest." 3 The same author says of one supposed to be possessed, " that the devil caused a sensation in her of a cold humor distilling from the head to the back." 4 And Sennertus (de Morbis afascino, cap. 6.) mentions one, thought bewitched, who felt such a chill all over the back, as if he had been plunged in cold water." Dr. James (under Spasmus) says, " one of the most coiir 1 De Praest. lib. iii. c. 9. lib. ii. c. 35. et lib. i. c. 11. See APPENDIX, p. i. 3 Praest. Dasmon. p. 406. 4 P. 111. 224 TJie Enthusiasm of siderable signs of the disorder is, a sense of formication, (i. e. a sensation like that of the creeping of ants, formicae, on any part) which also seizeth the Os Coccygis, and like a cold vapor ascends through the spine of the back ; and the left Hypochondrium is affected," &c. But the Popish exorcists reckon this as a certain sign of a person's being both possessed and bewitched. For " some- times when the daemons enter into human bodies, it seems as if a vessel of the coldest water ran about their backs, which spreadeth itself over the whole body, from head to foot. Some feel a very cold wind descend through the shoulders and reins : and if the exorcist would put his hand upon the head of the possessed, he feels a cold thing like ice under his hand." 1 Wierus too tells of " a girl, whom, the devil setting upon, began with inducing a sensation as of a catarrh, or a cold defluxion, distilling from head to foot." 2 Mr. Mather gives much the same account of some children bewitched in New-England, " who would complain of being in a red-hot oven ; and soon after would complain of having cold water thrown upon them." 3 " And it is a certain sign of a daemoniac, (according to Complement. Artis Exorcist.) when a fiery, or an icy vapour runs about the body." 4 SECTION 17. Here we may bring in an instance or two of strong imagination, or deception of the senses ; which Mr. Wesley ascribes to the evil spirit ; and are probably the effects of disease. (No. 9.) " I was desired to meet one who was ill of a very uncommon disorder. She said, ' for several years I have heard, wherever I am, a voice conti- nually speaking to me, cursing, swearing, and blaspheming, in the most horrid manner, and inciting me to all manner of wickedness. I have applied to physicians, and taken all sorts of medicines, but am never the better.' No, nor 1 Mall. Malef. Tom. in. p. 226, 225. a Przestig. lib. iii. c. 13. 3 Histor. Book vi. Chap. 7. * Doctr. 5. Methodists and Papists. 225 ever will, till a better physician than these bruises Satan under her feet." ' The learned Dr. Mead, speaking of " those perturbations of mind which affect melancholy persons in wonderful man- ners," says, " I have known two, who, even when alone, imagined they heard voices of persons speaking into their ears." z And Dr. James observes, that " in some depravation of the organs of the ear, or of the brain, people perceive sounds, which have no existence but in the imagination : it being a matter of indifference, whether the fibres of the nerve (the auditory) be agitated in the brain, or in the ear : that this happens in a delirium, vertigo ; and is a forerunner of bad distempers, an epilepsy," &c. 3 That this is no new kind of disorder, and the effect too of distempered bile, we learn from the happy madman of Ho- race, (who had the story from much more ancient writers,) who fancied he heard some excellent tragedians acting their parts on the stage. But, at length, was, to his great mor- tification, cured of his sweet delirium, by drinking proper doses of hellebore.* And, if it would be kindly taken, I would venture to recommend this same hellebore to my patients of the order of Methodism. Galen hath another instance of such " depraved imagina- tion ; one who fancied a company of trumpeters were in his room, and would be calling out to the servants to tuin them out of doors for making such a noise, and breaking his rest." s But the exorcistical writers reckon " among the certain signs of a possession, or witchcraft, the hearing or seeing preternaturally such strange things. And one of them cured a madman, who only thought he had the evil spirit in his right ear, by pouring a vessel of holy water into his ear, and upon his head." 6 Wesley, 5 Journ. p. 56. a Medic. Sacr. p. 72. 3 Under. Auris. Epist. a. Lib. ii. 5 Differ. Sympt. cap. 3. 6 Compl. Artis Exorc. Doct. v. M-ethod. P 226 The Enthusiasm of Wierus says, " the daemons enter into the phantasy, and insinuate words either of perturbation, or pleasure; not indeed emitting any voice by pulsation and sound, but in- jecting their words without any noise," &c. ' But the same author, in the chapter " of the depraved imagination of melancholy people, mentions a friar guilty of unnatural vices, who affirmed he saw another person, who lived at many miles distance, and complained, that every one he met always made a great noise in his ears, and sent to Wierus for advice. Some thought the fault lay in the organs of hearing; but indeed his mind was disordered." 2 He has another instance in " a poor countryman, who had vomited glass and nails, &c. for several years, as if bewitched ; of which being cured, he yet afterward always felt and heard in his belly the sound of a bag of broken glass ; and likewise the clock striking, and distinct strokes of the hammer on his heart. What people thus hear and see is owing, says he, to the black bile; which happens partly from the diet, air, sorrow, and fear ; partly from the consti- tutions of heaven, and partly in agreement with other delirious persons." 3 But afterwards he says, " who doth not see in the man's organ (fitted on account of his simplicity to the devil's illusions) the operation, trickings, and vexations of a daemon?" 4 It is a common complaint among Popish Enthusiasts, that the devil enters into all the senses, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling ; and they show how. 5 Accordingly " he was so angry with St. Frances of Rome, for the many booties she had snatched from hell, that he was always plaguing her, appearing in the shape of men and women in filthy postures, most unbeseeming gestures, and wanton actions. And he once played her a most mali- cious trick, by trailing about her room a rotten carcase of a 1 Praestig. Daemon, p. 74. a P. 229. 3 Pp. 261 and 394. 4 P. 395. 5 Thyree. Loc. Infest, p. 79. Methodists and Papists. 227 dead man, which made such an intolerable and lasting stench, that she had for ever an aversion to man." ' Riba- deneira says the same of Catharine of Sienna ; " whom the devils molested with foul and abominable imaginations, represent ng to her eyes and ears most unseemly things. And she was a long tune thus afflicted." * By comparing these stories together, we may justly ascribe the several voices, internal and external, which so many Papists and Methodists hear, as well as their supposed visions, to the force of distempered fancy ; the voices being as it were the echo, and the visions the reflection, of their own imagination. In analogy to this, [No. 10.] we find the effect of Mr. Wesley 's Discourse on Feeling : " For," says he, "it pleased God to make this discourse an occasion of discovering such wiles of Satan, as it never entered into my heart to conceive. Finding many had been offended at the sermon, I called them together, and examined them severally concerning their experiences, and other circumstances. And thus far I ap- proved of their experiences, as to their feeling the w r orking of the Spirit of God, &c. But as to what some of them said farther, concerning ' feeling the blood of Christ running upon their arms, or going down their throat, or poured like warm water on their breast, or heart ;' I plainly told them, * the utmost I could allow was, that some of these circum- stances might be from God, (though I could not affirm they were,) working in an unusual manner; but that all the rest, I must believe to be the mere empty dreams of a heated imagination." 3 However good Mr. Wesley may be at his distinctions, I believe he would find it difficult to distinguish which of these odd circumstances might be from God, and which *vere all the rest, that were the mere empty dreams of Ribaden. p. 213. * Ribadeu. p. 291. 3 Wesley, 5 Journ. pp. 69, 70. 228 The Enthusiasm of a heated imagination; and which discovered such incon- ceivable wiles of Satan. Here we see the manifest danger of running into Methodism, in which such fanatical super- stitions and diabolical delusions stand confessed. And do these evils stop here ? Hath not Mr. Wesley himself relat- ed several of a worse kind, as scepticisms, infidelity, and atheism ? And will he persuade us, that he hath discovered half of what he himself knows ? And is it not evident what delusions run through the whole of their strange dispensa- tion? SECTION 18. Let us try the point in some other cases : " I was both surprised and grieved at a genuine instance of enthusiasm. J B , of Tanfield-Leigh, who had received a sense of the love of God a few days before, came riding through the town, hallooing and shouting, and driving all the people before him, telling them, ' God hath told him he should be a king, and should tread all his enemies under his feet/" 1 He might have called it an instance of direct madness, as well as of genuine enthusiasm: but then, perhaps, an enthusiast, and a madman, might have been deemed the same thing ; and what would become of Methodism ? But to take the fact as here related ; we see a wild Methodist, but a few days after receiving a sense of God's love, coming with all the claims of royalty ; which affords fresh proof, how soon their fancied feelings and impressions are apt to puff up presumptuous minds with pride and vain-glory ; as if they were of a superior rank, and common mortals of a lower dispensation. Another discovery of the wiles of Satan among them. Thus Wierus tells us, " I knew one of this depraved imagination, who believed himself the monarch and emperor of the whole world ; and that that name belong- ed ouly to him."* Tn such a mad transport St. Francis ex- 1 Wesley, 5 Journ. p. 79. * P. 2 29. Methodists and Papists. 229 claimed, " I know that I shall be a great prince : 1 shall be adored over all the earth." ' In the Acta Germanica we have " several examples of such high claims in persons grown mad out of pride ; who imagined themselves, one a count of the empire, another king of Portugal, a third a great queen, a fourth czar of Muscovy."* These, however, were innocent mad people, in comparison of this outrageous Methodist ; and I doubt not their preten- sions to royalty stand upon as good foundation, as the Methodists' fancies, or even assurances, of celestial crowns. For, (as Plutarch observes) " A groundless and irrational joy agitates -and alienates the mind more than either sorrow or fear." 3 Nor make I any doubt but the same deception of the senses, caused by distempered Enthusiasm ever infused into the head, produced the several following presumptuous assurances, and visionary exultations : " One in a high fever cries out, ' O ! I am happy, happy, happy : all the angels rejoice, and I rejoice with them; for I am united to Jesus/ Smiling and looking up, she says, ' There is the Lamb. The enemy may come ; but he hath no part in me,' &c." 4 " Sarah Whiskin was taken ill of a fever, continually praying that God would reveal himself to her soul. In the mean time she says, ' the devil is very busy with me. But I am snatched out of the hands of the devil. Though God has not yet revealed himself to me ; yet I believe, were I to die this night, before to-morrow I should be in heaven. I have not seen the Lord yet. But I believe I shall see him, and live.' The next day she says, * I have had no sleep, but I have had the Lord with me.' Soon after, * I fear I have deceived myself. I thought the Amen was sealed in my 1 Conform, fol. 234. * An. 1672. Obs. 157. 3 Ed. Par. Vol. i. p. 1034. Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 83. 230 The Enthusiasm of heart ; but I fear it is not.' She sings, they pray, and she is delivered from her fears. Soon after we were gone she rose up, and said, ' Now it is done. I am assured my sins are forgiven. Dieth.' 1 I should have observed, that she had a vision of her relations receiving instantaneously a blessing. ' I saw my mother, and brother, and sister in my sleep, and they all received a blessing in a moment.' " As we know nothing of this woman's life and conversation, we have no reason to question her salvation : though we may question whether her assurances and visions are well-ground- ed. Two things seem plain: that the Methodists are trained up and bolstered with expectations of revelations, and of seeing God present with them ; which surely is a very pre- sumptuous and dangerous doctrine : and that her discourses are like the ramblings of a delirious fever; which Mr. Wesley acknowledged she had. As to her vision of her relations, it is much like what St. Teresa says : " Being much indisposed, I took up my rosary, and insensibly fell into a rapt; seemed to be in heaven, and there I saw both my father and mother. I doubted whether this might not be some illusion; though it did not so seem to me." 1 We have an account of " a boy, turned out of school for misbehaviour, running away from his parents, suffering hunger and cold, three days without sustenance, hearing Mr. Wesley, and reforming; tempted by the devil to hang or drown himself: but wrestling with God in prayer, he saw himself surrounded on a sudden with an inexpressible light ; seized with a painful illness, declares, * Though I am not in heaven yet, I am as sure of it as if I was ; as sure of Christ, as if I had him already.' One day his mother said, ' Jacky, you have not been with your Saviour to-night/ He replied, * yes, I have.' She asked, ' what did he say?' He answered, ' He bid me not be afraid of the devil; for he had no power to hurt me at all, but I should tread him under 1 Wesley Journ. p. 23. * Vita. 8vo. p. 284. Methodists and Papists. 231 my feet.' In this illness he died, some months above thirteen years old." 1 In this case, as in the former, I have no quarrel with the boy's piety, but the enthusiasm attending it ; in which he appears to have been well instructed. For he has assurance of his salvation, and that eternal : Christ comes to attend him, and speaks to him formally, in so many words ; and his mother draws him, as a thing expected, or agreed upon, into a declaration of this divine presence and conversation. To which add, his saying, that " he saw himself surrounded with an inexpressible light, while he wrestled with God." All which may be reckoned as mere " dreams of a heated imagination, or wiles of Satan;" (to countenance the delusion of Methodism.) Unless it can be proved, that all the pretensions of the same nature, among the most frantic and wild saints of the antichristian communion, were truly from God, and confirmations of the truth of Popish religion. I do not know, whether the inexpressible light surrounding the boy, be to be understood of a glory irradiating his own person, or emitted from it ; or whether it was a sign of the divine presence, while he was wrestling with God. But I could produce hundreds of instances, were it needful, of such fabulous Papistical tales; where not only the great saints, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, &c. but novices and nuns have been emblazoned in the same manner ; and encompassed with such extraordinary splendors, by the visits of Christ, the virgin, angels, apostles, and saints. Some of which I shall set down, after mentioning the case of Samuel and Thomas Kitchens, two brothers ; who in a little compass of time went through most of the mysteries of Methodism, and arrived at this brightness of glory. In the account, printed, and industriously published, we read that " Samuel, a smith by trade, had almost forgot every thing that was good, till the Methodist teachers came into Cornwall. During their * Wesley, 5 Jourii. p. 2f. 232 TJie Enthusiasm of prayer, he fell to the ground, and roared ; but is soon con- verted to the faith. But the devil then strove to reason him out of it : then raised a mob against the Methodists ; got a warrant to press him for a soldier ; but God suffered them not to touch him. By another snare of the devil, he is tempted to marry, \vhereby his heart is drawn away from God ; and he is plunged into utter darkness, often saying, ' he was in heJl.' He wandered about the fields by night, threw himself on the earth, beat his head against the ground ; roaring, beating, and cutting himself in several places. Is quite delivered in a moment. But still has frequent and sore con- flicts with Satan, doubts of the being of a God; but is delivered. Is head of a class, or band; where he discovered any thing amiss by a weight which he felt. Takes upon him to be a preacher, but doubting of his mission, till convinced it was the will of God. He runs into another mistake, and is to an extreme negligent of his apparel; but afterwards convinced, that a Christian ought by his outward neatness to shew the purity of his mind. His last temptation was to starve himself, by denying his body necessary support ; but is convinced of this error too ; which began and ended, while he walked in the broad light of God's countenance. A day or two afterwards, he was taken ill, and caught a malignant fever, (whereof he died), in which he cries out, ' I have not the least doubt of my salvation ; I see the gates of heaven stand open, and Jesus stands with open arms to receive me. Let me go. I must be gone !' The next day he cries out aloud, ' Open the heaven, O ! my God, and come down into my soul! Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and plunge me into God ! Carry me, ye angels,"' &c. The account is much the same w ith regard to his brother Thomas, a tinner ; " who from following revellings and hurlings became a Methodist preacher. In much trouble and heaviness, receives great comfort of the Lord ; but soon after stripped of all, and thinks God hath left him a final cast-away. But goes into his closet, and has an answer Methodists and Papists. 233 from the Lord, ' I am thy righteousness.' When in great joy, is in the greatest danger of pride and lightness ; and found great temptation to pride, when speaking to the people. Falls ill of a high fever ; in which he prays, with a voice quite altered : ' God is come to carry me home. Oh ! I see thousands, and ten thousands of angels ! Do you not see them ? O ! brother Trembath, do you not see what a glorious place I am going to ? Mary Bisvine, cannot you see Jesus Christ coming, with an innumerable company of angels, and the golden banner displayed ? They are coming to carry me to the bosom of my God. Open their eyes, O God ! that they may see them. I am whiter than snow. I am washed in the blood of my Redeemer. Why, I am all God!"' That I may not repeat what I have before remarked, con- cerning the strange vicissitudes and perturbations, scepti- cisms, despairings, madnesses, &c. attending the progress of Methodism; I shall only take notice of those delectable fren- zies, and sweet deliria, which so often accompany a fever ; of which both the brothers (neither of them much above twenty years of age) died. Both are absolutely sure of heaven; both have the company and sight of Jesus and angels ; one is plunged into God ; the other is all God. Fracostorius tells us, that " in ecstatic frenzies it is common for pious persons, or such as from the strength of distemper and imagination think themselves such, to fancy they see gods and choirs of angels." 1 " If heathens be thus delirious, and seduced by the illusions of Satan, they are in company with Diana, Herodias, or Minerva: 3 or else, Venus, Mi- nerva, and Diana, shall come and carry Hyacinthus and his sister to heaven, for dying in a state of virginity." 4 If they are Popish fanatics, we are told of " Johannes Magirus, who in a delirous fever, and near dying, was refreshed with 1 Part iii. pp. 93, 04, 95. * De Sympath. Cap. 20. 3 Wicr. de Praestig. p. 239. 4 Pausao. Laconic. Cap. 19. 234 The Enthusiasm of the sight of Christ, St. Ignatius, and other saints ; so that he declared a fever was pleasanter than health." 1 Ph. Nerius, weakened by a continual fever, as if he had embraced somebody they could not see, cries out, " O ! most dear virgin ! are you come to free me ? O ! most holy mother of God ! the most beautiful of all creatures, I will presume to embrace you." At length, returning to himself, he says to those about him, " Did you not see the most blessed mother of God, who by her presence hath driven away my sickness?" 2 Would you have the sanction of in- fallibility? " St. Nicholas, just before his death, saw angels come out to meet him. 3 St. Alcantara frequently enjoyed the presence of Christ : the Virgin, St. Francis, and other celestial spirits, entertained their fellow-citizen with familiar discourses.* St. Teresa, who for twenty-two years had fevers, and other distempers, sees angels, and Jesus Christ taking her by the hand and espousing her ; and they likewise attend her death ; when she goes up to heaven in the shape of a white dove." 5 " Brother Emanuel, being delirious by the force of his distemper, sung excellently well Psalms and Hymns ; and just before his death began most devoutly to speak to the corners of his chamber. Being asked, to whom he directed his words; he replied, to the holy angels, whom he saw waiting for the departure of his soul, that they might carry it up to heaven." 6 " A certain friar, extremely religious, was almost driven to despair towards the beginning of his conversion ; but the Abbot pawned his life for the security of his salvation, if he would but continue obediently in the order. Afterwards the friar was seized with a fever, fell into an ecstasy, had a sight of heaven, and brought back from Christ, to whom he was presented, promise of pardon Ribaden. Biblioth. Soc. Jesu. p. 255. 2 Ribaden. May 26. 3 Br. Rom. Dec. 6. 4 Oct. 26. * Oct. 15. 6 Franc. Annal. Soc. Jes, p. 402. Methodists and Papists. 235 and eternal life in his bosom; and heard from his holy mouth, that all who continued obediently in that order should certainly be saved." ' Though I have been pretty long on this article, I cannot help producing the Jesuit's mark in one instance more. " Brother EmanueJ, who usually was grievously troubled at the very shadow of the least fault, said when he was dying, that nothing troubled his conscience, he had no spot to be wiped away by confession. After his mind had been thrown out of its seat by a frenzy ; all wondered that he talked with God, in words so well adapted, and so warm with divine love, that he could not have composed any thing better, when in his senses. He requested the Virgin Mary that he might see her; and she granted his petition." One might allege hundreds of instances of Popish saints beatified by God, angels, and saints, in life and in death. Happy madmen ! Faithful teachers ! Who can thus con- vert distempers into deities ; and the groundless rants of a disordered brain into assurances of salvation ! and by such devices give a sanction to their wicked peculiarities. SECTION 19. Of affinity to these divine and angelical visits, is the extraordinary light, which surrounds some of the favored Methodists. Such was that of " a person in bright clothes appearing in the night to Peter Wright, whence the room was as bright as day."* Such that of the boy just mentioned, " who saw himself surrounded with an inexpressible light, while he was wrestling with God." Whether this was the effect of a celestial presence, or a radiation of glory from the boy ; it is either way consonant to the old heathen notions. When serpents were sent to destroy young Hercules in his bed, Jupiter watched over him, Specul. Exempl. Dist. 3. Ex. 23. * Wesley, 1 Journ. p. 15. 236 The Enthusiasm of 8' ava olxov " And see what light o'er all the chamber falls ! Though not yet morn, how visihle the walls !" * Jupiter cannot come to his mistress Alcmena, but sEdes tot. Jul. 31. 6 Ribaden. May 26. Method. Q 242 The Enthusiasm of " that he became a sharp reprehcnder of those who were delighted with visions; affirming that nothing was more pernicious than those mad mockeries of the devils, who- easily transformed themselves into angels of tight." If it be not too much a digression, I will add one more, and stronger proof of Satan's being detected and confounded by such saint-like management. This curious story is in the edition of the Book of Conformities, Milan 1510. (omitted in my edition, Bonon. 1590.) and is likewise carefully pre- served in the Speculum Exemplorum, Distinct. 7. ExempL 24^' Friar Ruffin, a disciple of St. Francis, was brought almost to despair, because the Son of God appeared to him, and told him, that he was predestinated to be damned ; and so would St. Francis, &c. But St. Francis, who was an angel of God, taught him, that he who said that was the devil, and not Christ. And when, says he, he shall eome again, and tell you, you are damned ; answer him thus, ' Open your mouth, and I will in it.' [Aperi os tutun, et ego stereorizaba in id.]. And it shall be a sign to you that it is the devil, that upon yoar saying those words he will instantly fly. Ruffin then adored the saint, was con- fessed, and returned to his cell. Where, behold ! the old enemy comes again in the form of Christ, saying much the same as before. Immediately Ruffin replies, ' Open thy mouth,* &c. The devil took this indignity so heinously that he packed off ; but raised a dreadful storm of stones and fire against poor Ruffin. Soon afterwards Christ ap- peared to him, and melted his soul w r ith divine love,, and gave him security of his eternal salvation. After this a demoniac being brought to St. Francis to be exorcised, the devil seeing Friar Ruffin with him, began to roar horribly,, and run away ; declaring, that * he could not stand against that obedient, humble, and holy brother Ruffin.'" 'But to, proceed. 1 Specul Exemp. Dist. 7. Ex. 24*. Methodists and Papists. 243 Gabr. Biel, the famous Popish canonist, owns, " that their miracles are sometimes effected by the operation of devils to deceive disorderly worshippers;" ' and particularly, " that the apparition of Christ in the Eucharist may be by the illu- sion of the devil to deceive and delude the unwary."* Alexander Hales gives the same solution : " it appears flesh, sometimes by human contrivance, sometimes by a diabolical operation." 3 And why may we not suspect the same in our visionary Methodists, who have so often at th.e Sacrament evidently seen Jesus Christ crucified before them ? (See Enthusiasm, Part II. p. 156.) " St. Teresa, who had so many rapts, visions, and allocutions with our Lord, was strongly persuaded of their being great delusions and dis- guises of Satan ; and she owns, that several religionists had been thus deceived, either from imagination, or the delusion of Satan." 4 The writer of the preface too confesseth, that " various impostors, and w r omen especially, were frequent in Spain about that time, who, ambitious of procuring the fame of sanctity, or deceived by the devil, pretended to these elevations, &c." Happy surely would both Papist and Methodist be thought, could they have the same favor with the saint mentioned by Balingham, " who obtained by prayer to the Virgin Mary, never to be deceived in revelations and visions." s This was accounted a high favor, but probably might be the worst delusion of all. And yet, whatever share the devil may claim, these ecsta- tic visionaries are the principal saints canonized in that communion. And not without reason. For these visions and ecstasies have always been the grand engines for intro- ducing their corrupt, false, and idolatrous tenets. Nor is there one of their doctrines of daemons that has not been confirmed by some heavenly visions. " And this is still Canon. Missae, Lect. 49. a Lect. 51. 3 In. 4. Sent. Q. 53. * Ilk. Vol. i, p, 33. & Prsef. 5 P. 7. . 244 The Enthusiasm of : ' . (as Dr. Geddes, who well knew, observes) one of the most subtle and prevailing sorceries of Popery. Not only Papists, but Protestants, (especially those inclined to quietism,) being all naturally disposed to believe any reports of raptures and visions, let them come from what quarter they will, do with an easy credulity swallow down the Popish doctrines, which they were invented to" give credit to." ' 3dly, I observe, that even our Methodists have owned both a vain imagination, and devilish agency among them- selves in such cases. Mr. Wesley owns, that their " visions might come from God, and might not." * And with respect to feeling, he discovered among his hearers " such wiles of Satan, as never entered into his heart to conceive." 3 Mr. Whitefield confesseth, " that Satan transformed him- self into an angel of light ; whereby he followed the sugges- tions of the evil spirit in whatever he did." 4 Divine pre- sences, his talking with God face to face, inviting Christ, who came and sat down at the head of the table, and spoke to him, &c. These are some of the reveries, which he has recanted. " He readily grants, that some of the Methodists, who had not assurance of salvation, presumptuously imagined they had it." $ Their dear Madam Bourignon speaks in the same strain of this -" artifice of Satan. They fancy themselves to be in assurance ; and are in the midst of dangers of losing their souls by presumption, and delusion of the devil." 6 The same lady (in her Light risen in Darkness) says, " The saints themselves have committed spiritual fooleries, by visions, in-speakings, ecstasies, &c. assisted by the imaginative faculty." ' Again, " we are not to judge of spiritual perfec- tion by visions, revelations, ecstasies, or raptures : for the devil himself could do all these things." 8 1 Introd. to Veronica. a 3 Journ. p. 60, 61. 3 5 Journ. p. 69, 70. 4 1 Deal. p. 40. s Letter p. 31. Solid Virt. p. 108. 7 1 Letter, Part i. p. 2. 3 Letter, Part in. p. 19. Methodists and Papists. 245 But Mr. Brainerd, a brother Methodist, (either not arrived to the summit of Methodism, or got above it,) frankly declares, " that trances and imaginary views of things are of dangerous tendency in religion ; and fears a design of Satan, by introducing visionary scenes, to bring a blemish on the work of God." l Again, " It must be owned, Satan seemed to transform himself into an angel of light, and made some vigorous attempts to introduce turbulent commo- tions and passions, instead of genuine convictions; and imaginary and fanciful notions of Christ, as appearing to the mental eye in human form, and particular postures, and divers other delusions. And I have reason to think, had these things met with encouragement, there would have been a considerable harvest of this kind of converts." 5 Therefore I observe, 4thly, that ecstasies, and of conse- quence visions, are frequently voluntary ; they may be, and have been counterfeited. And M. Casaubon hath said, and proved, " that it is possible, without the concurrence of any supernatural cause, for any one man or woman to put them- selves into a trance, or ecstasy, when they will." Treatise of Enthusiasm, Ch. 3. The whole of which deserves our perusal. St. Austin tells us of " one Restitutes, who could, whenever he was desired, quite alienate himself from his* senses, lie like a dead man, so that no breath was percept- ible in him ; and no pinching, pricking, or burning, could make him feel." 3 Bodin produceth variety of such, not only moderns, or saint-like persons ; but heathens, and atheistic visionaries, long before Christianity was in being." * For ecstasies are by no means peculiar to religion, much less the Christian. What the religion of Cardan was, " who could throw himself into an ecstasy whenever he pleased," 5 I am not certain. But that genuine Papist, Ph. Nerius, had the same 1 Brain. Journ. p. 51. * P. 108. 3 Civit. Dei. 1. 14. c. 84. 4 Daemon, lib, 2. c. 5. s Ibid. 246 The Enthusiasm of faculty ; and, by frequently using himself to ecstasies and raptures, could more easily fall into one, than another think of any common affair. And that cheat and imposture (out of wantonness or pride, &c.) may come in for a share, we read in the life of St. Aldegonde, who was almost all rap- ture, her own confession, " that visions and rapts many times are but pure imagination and fancy, especially in maids and women ; but most commonly a kind of working in the brain; with a secret, but pernicious presumption, desirous to appear, and to have something, above the com- mon." ' " Mary of Agreda's raptures, as was agreed by the lady Abbess and the nuns, (who well knew the tricks of young girls,) were such hysteric fits as young girls used to counterfeit. But her confessor, one of the Franciscan friars, (wh'o never fail to sham them upon the world for divine ecstasies,) makes a better use of them, declaring them to be supernatural ; and he treats the Abbess very severely for infidelity, nor would rest till he got her discharged." 2 And we have seen before how frequent such impostures were in Spain. How many such tricks have been played in Eng- land by Popish priests, for the restoration of Popery, may be seen in Gee's Foot out of the Snare. Particularly he mentions the case of one Thomas Newton, who pretended he had a vision of the Virgin Mary appearing to him, and saying, ' Newton, see that thou take not the oath of alle- giance.' Being asked, ' how he knew it to be the Virgin Mary ;' replied, because she appeared to him in the form of her assumption," &c. This was in the year 1621 ; and for the truth of it, the author refers to the High Commission Records. Nor in general need we doubt, but that a cunning man, having under his management persons of tender erves and weak brains, of a tractable disposition, or rather indisposi- tion of mind or body, may infuse such doses of wild doc- 1 Chap. 4. * Geddes. Vol. xir. Methodists and Papists. 247 trifles, as easily to work them up into a frenzy, and teach them whatever strange sights the Arch-Enthusiast pleaseth. And the same may be said of those dreadful fits so common among Mr. Wesley's followers, " yellings, groanings, gnash- ings, foamings, convulsions and contortions, curses and blasphemies, dying and despairing agonies," &c., which call for a farther consideration; though, indeed, shocking it is to consider them, SECTION 21. A sufficient detail hath already been given of these lamentable cases ; and I shall now take into consi- deration, The nature of the disorders, The causes, The cure, and other rare effects ; as we find them set forth in the wonderful Journals ; and in which, I think, consists the grand mystery of Methodism, As to the nature of the disorders, miserable and terrible as they are, Mr. Wesley affirms often, that they are " con- firmations of God's word, wounds by the sword of the Spirit, the power of God upon them, the finger of God," &c. ' These were, " loud cries 43 in the agonies of death ; sinking to the earth, and dropping ph every side as thunder- struck ; great drops of sweat ; all their bones shaking," &c. Particularly he says, " I had an opportunity of talking with Mr. Whitefield of those outward signs, which had so often accompanied the inward work of God." He was it seems, as to this, an unbeliever before. " But had the next day an opportunity of informing himself better. For no sooner had he begun to preach, but four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. One lay without sense or motion. A second trembled exceedingly. The two others had strong convulsions. From this time, I trust, we shall suffer God to carry on his own work, in the way that pleaseth him." * And from this time Mr. Whitefield talks much in the 1 3 Journ, p. 40, 42, 43. P. 65. 248 The Enthusiasm of same style, of " people struck down, under great agonies, with cries and groans, dropping down, as though shot with a gun, by the great power of God. For when an extraor- dinary work is carrying on, God generally manifests himself to some souls in this extraordinary manner." ' If these gentlemen mean only, that God is the efficient cause of all distempers, permits such disasters, or ordains the course of nature, whereby they happen, they have no adversary among believers. But if they mean, what they often say, that they are not natural distempers, but extraor- dinary workings of God in the soul ; it may easily be proved, that these several outward signs are real disease, mere dis- temper; if any credit may be given to philosophers and physicians, both before Christ and since, Heathens and Christians ; and where it cannot be pretended the work of Methodism was concerned. I have looked into some of the most eminent original authors, as well as compilers of phy- sical dictionaries, and find there all those disorders of body and mind, (which the Methodist teachers make use of to serve a turn, magnify their mission, and create admiration, &c.) with their respective symptoms, indications, and cir- cumstances, to be mere distemper ; and especially in those particular circumstances, which our Methodists represent as extraordinary workings of God, preternatural, or super- natural. These I shall put together, without any manner of addition or alteration. " In that convulsive, nervous disorder, called hystericSj the patients are affected with divers strange, inconsistent, and contrary symptoms ; pains of body, and terrors of mind; with variety of inordinate sallies ; breathe unequally ; feel a sort of choking in the throat like strangling ; a violent pal- pitation, that the by-standers think they can hear the heart beating against the ribs; now speechless, senseless, and motionless, seeming as if they were dead, the pulse being 1 6 Journ. p. 24. 36, 7 Journ. p. 12. Methodists and Papists. 249 scarce perceptible; then again uttering a wild noise, and rambling in their talk ; have alternate fits of joy and sorrow, laughing and crying ; are calm, weak, sad, fearful, and sus- picious ; grow stiff and immovable, and again flexible ; then falling into a fit of rage, quarrelling, and debacchation ; so strong as scarce to be held by three or four persons ; some- times in the utmost dejection, terror, and despair, presaging dismal things ; so much tormented, that they seem in a sort of purgatory." 11 In hypochondriacs, (analogous to hysterics in women,) as well as melancholy, from a malignity of blood from the black bile, we find most of the same symptoms ; pain in the stomach, windiness, swelling or distortion of the hypoohon- drium, a large pulse under their ribs ; a dry cough, head-ache, difficulty of breathing, palpitations, faintings, swoonings, deliriousness, hideous cryings out, various convulsions and distortions, and fits like the epilepsy. The sufferer affected as much in mind, as in body ; differently full of sadness, fear, suspicions; and of presumption, joy, and exultation; dejected, calm and quiet; considerate, rash, raging, and quarrelling : the animal spirits taking unusual, oblique, or transverse vagaries in the brain, thence spring new, incoherent, and absurd fancies ; from black and heavy blood, moving slug- gishly, proceed dismal horrors and despairings, feeling hell, and being damned. When the humors are well stirred up^ the blood begins to boil, and the heat rarefies and disperses the lumping mass ; then, deceived by fantastic illusions, they are apt to conceive, and really believe, great things of them- selves ; affect divinity, and discourse with gods and angels. In general, their imagination is seldom quiet ; they are almost always thinking, and always thinking erroneously : day and night chiefly intent on little things, without any thought of material points ; vastly solicitous about trifles, as if salvation depended on them : representing things to themselves more and larger than they are, as in a multiply- ing, or magnifying glass ; raising few and small offences into 250 The Enthusiasm of many and great, and confessing heinous sins, of which they were never guilty." " From the preceding distempers they are apt to fall into epilepsies : wherein a cruel convulsion seizeth the patients at once, casting them forcibly to the ground, as thunderstruck ; they lose their senses, and becoming delirious, ramble in their talk ; laugh, or weep ; pray, and speak religiously ; curse, blaspheme, talk obscenely or profanely; sometimes howl horridly, shriek, roar, grind their teeth, foam at the mouth, loll out the tongue ; tremble, and are variously con- vulsed and distorted. Sometimes they hear and see many strange things, speak unknown languages, discover secrets, prophesy ; struck sometimes with an intense cold, or feel a cold vapor running along the back," &c. And if to all this we add the amazements, and staggerings in vertigoes and swooning fits, with all the surprising gesti- culations in convulsions ; nothing will be wanting to com- plete the Methodistical symptoms. And if the reader keeps in mind what was said before, he will be apt to think, that the several extraordinary motions in this unhappy sect are easily accounted for from natural distemper. Especially, as the above authors have their accounts from Aristotle, Hip- pocrates, Galen, &c., as well as from their own practice ; and have corroborated all by variety of examples, ancient and modern, Pagan and Christian. And they generally agree there is some disorder of the brain in the case; that all is a degree, or species, of frenzy and madness, and apt to bring on the worst effects of them : a misfortune too well known, and too horrid likewise, to be enlarged upon. Popish parallels of this nature may be had in abundance : " St. Teresa blessed God, that she had very little health ; and she was afflicted with the most grievous distempers for twenty-two years together. 1 St. Catherine of Sienna strug- gled with devils, and was grievously tortured with fevers, Brer. Rom. Oct. 15. Methodists and Papists. 25 1 ?aid various cruciating diseases. 1 Mary M. ofPazzi was grievously distempered for five years together; and all looked upon her as another Job upon a dunghill.* Mary of Agreda was visited with so many painful diseases, that she scarce had an hour's rest. 3 Francis of Sales had such a deep melancholy, that nothing in nature could raise him, a jaundice from head to foot ; his blood so heated that he fell into a feyer, St. Francis was distempered much, espe- cially in the liver and spleen, and stomach, all proceeding from his corporal severities." 4 Ay, there is the case; they had all variety of distempers, to which we may well ascribe their various tumults of mind, and jactations of body ; their ecstasies, visions, revelations ; their sanctity and canoniza- tion; especially as the distempers happened where there was a naturally fanatical head. And seeing how artful the Methodists are in making dis- eases to be the workings of God's Spirit, and signs of grace and sanctity; we may conclude, that all their Holinesses, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Whitefield, and the Pope, have embraced the religion of their Pagan predecessors, who (as we read in divers authors) consecrated most kinds of distempers of the body, and affections of the mind ; erected temples and altars to fevers, paleness, madness, and death ; to laughter, lust, contumely, impudence, and calumny. Every strange dis- order, as well as epilepsy, is the sacred disease ; and, Sua cuiqiie deusfit dira cupido ; Each bold fancy grows into a god. But it must be remembered this distemper was called also morbus comitialis; because if any one fell into it during the assembly, it was a fatal omen, and they immediately broke up. Whereas the assemblies of Methodists consist of such ; the more tumblers, the more sacred is the meeting ; and they triumph in the fall of their miserable brethren. 1 Brev. Rom. Apr. 30. * Life, c.65. 3 Life, p. 6, 12. 4 Life. 252 The Enthusiasm of SECTION 22. Notwithstanding this physical account, and although it be a general maxim, that where there is a plain natural solution, we need not inquire for supernatural means ; neither Papist, nor Methodist, will own this to be their case, but will be starting objections and exceptions. Sometimes, however, they are so good as to allow real distemper, or else a mixed case ; sometimes it is no natural distemper, but proceeding either from a good or evil spirit. As to real distemper, it is the first direction in the Roman ritual, de Exorcizandis, " that the exorcist must not easily believe a possession ; but must know the marks whereby a possessed person is distinguished from those who are troubled with the black bile, or any other disease." St. Ignatius w r as aware of this truth ; when a maid thought to be possessed, and raging violently with contortions all over her body, being brought, Ignatius said, she was not possessed; and that these extraordinary motions proceeded from a natural cause ; and that if the devil had any share in it, it was only in trou- bling the imagination of the sick person. " He then made the sign of the cross upon her, and her fury presently ceased." * You see the saint lost nothing by this concession, when he had the honor of a miraculous cure. Mr. Wesley too will own a natural distemper, when he has a good reason for it. As for instance in the case of one of the French prophets : " She came in, and soon after leaned back in her chair, and seemed to have strong work- ings in her breast, with deep sighings. Her head and hands, and, by turns, every part of her body seemed also to be in a kind of convulsive motion. She spoke much (all in the person of God, and mostly in Scripture words) of the ful- filling of the prophecies, the coming of Christ now at hand, and the spreading of the Gospel over all the earth. Two or three of our company were much affected, and believed she spoke by the Spirit of God. But this was in no wise 1 Bouhour's Life of Ignatius, p. 187. Methodists and Papists. 253 clear to me. The motion might be either hysterical or artificial ; and the same words any person of a good under- standing, and well versed in Scripture, might have spoken." 1 Hath not Mr. Wesley cut up his own institution by the roots? Here is a person of a similar dispensation with Methodism, with the same bodily motions and contortions, and talking more religiously than the Methodists in their fits; teaching too Mr. Wesley's favorite doctrine; and yet she may be hysterical, or a cheat. Some of his followers thought she spoke from God. And why not, if they thought their own dispensation was from God ? But mark Mr. Wesley's good reason for his opinion. He was afraid the French prophets were drawing away his disciples. And this rea- son he hath luckily discovered. For he saith afterwards, " I called on one, who did run well, till he was hindered by some of those called French prophets. ' Woe unto the pro- phets, saith the Lord, who prophesy in my name, and I have not sent them.' " He hits himself a slap in the face, rather than bear a competitor in saintship ; and his quarrels with the Moravian leaders, and poor Mr. Whitefield, show, that stealing the hearts of his people is a capital offence, and that a rival in enthusiastic ambition is not to be endured. 3 This case puts me in mind of a story I have heard of a madman in Bedlam, who being in a lucid interval, went about the house, and gave some strangers an account of the place ; he very calmly and rationally told the reasons of each per- son's distraction ; till at length coming to one, he said, " This man run mad with pride, and pretended to be the Holy Ghost. But I am he ; 1 am the Holy Ghost." And then run on raving in a wonderful manner. Mr. Wesley confesseth another case of real distemper in Miss Gr. who had been in one of their bands. " She had lately been raving mad, in consequence of a fever, and as such was tied down to her bed. When she was suffered to 1 3 Journ. p. 24. a 3 Journ. p. GO. 3 4 Journ. p. 75. 254 The Enthusiasm of go abroad, she went to Mr. Whitefield ; but he quickly perceived she was only a lunatic, the nature of her disorder soon betraying itself." ' As the nature of the disorder had as much betrayed itself in many Methodists, how happens it that in this case fever and madness are allowed ? Why, it seems Miss Gr. had said, " that Mr. Wesley and other Me- thodists were Papists." And should not such an abusive tongue be distinguished from true Methodist lunacy ? even though it hath been necessary to send some of the latter sort to Bedlam. SECTION 23. Keep but close to your order, hold fast your cant, and Mr. Wesley will contend tooth and nail, nay, will prove, that the bodily signs of horrid fits and convul- sions cannot be natural distemper in his faithful sectaries. Take an instance or two : " Mr. AVesley intending to speak on Romans, iii. 19. could not open his mouth," l till the ligature is dissolved by his counter-charm, and making a lottery of the Scriptures, and " begging God to direct, he opens the book on He- brews x. 19. 3 Then, while he was speaking earnestly, some sunk down ; others exceedingly trembled and quaked ; some were torn with a convulsive motion, in every part of their bodies, so violently, that often four or five persons could not hold one of them. I have seen many hysterical, and many epileptical fits ; but none of them were like these in many respects." That he has seen many, among his own, I make not the least doubt. But is he sure he knows all the symptoms in such cases ? Sure am I, that in every respect physicians have proved this to be the case in common hys- terics and epileptics. Again ; " He inquires into the case of those who cried out aloud, during his preaching. All of them, (I think, not one 1 5 Journ. p. 73 4. 2 3 Journ. p. 58. See Introduction, P, i. S. 8. and Appendix, Part i. Methodists and Papists. 255 excepted) were persons in perfect health, not subject to fits of any kind, till they were thus affected. This came upon every one of them in a moment, without any previous notice. Some said, they felt as if a sword was running through them; others, that they thought a great weight lay upon them. Some said, they were quite choked, and could not breathe : others, that their hearts swelled ready to burst : and others, as if their heart, and all their inside and whole body, were tearing to pieces. These symptoms I cannot impute to any natural cause." And yet these several symp- toms have appeared before, from full authority, to be real natural distempers : not excepting the particular of " drop- ping in a moment, though they were in perfect health before." I am not obliged to believe it. But let it pass for truth. It is a common thing : and why so many fall all together, and just after one another, among his hearers, will afterwards appear. SECTION 24. Let us next proceed to the causes of these lamentable disorders, horrid convulsions, screamings, &c, where something will again fall in of the nature of them. And as far as they are natural distempers, no doubt but they are owing to the same cause in Methodists, as in other people. Here we find the faculty pretty well agreed ; and imputing the aforesaid distempers, " to stifling air in close rooms, bad diet, indigestions, crudities, and flatulencies ; to being exposed to wet, cold, or violent heats ; to long watchings and fastings ; to suppressions ; to sudden frights, wounds, and blows, giving a concussion to the brain ; to divers affections, passions, and perturbations of the mind love, jealousy, fear, shame, sorrow, anger, envy, malice, great disappointments, or great expectations ; to ambition and pride, swelling till they are ready to burst ; to deep cogitation, especially intent upon one object, &c. These operating in various kinds and degrees, according to men's different humors and constitu- tions; working strongly in enthusiastic heads, where the animal spirits and brains are most disturbed." 256 The Enthusiasm of Such talk, however, will not go far with Mr. Wesley and his associates. Their extraordinary cases can arise from no principle in nature, but must proceed from a higher cause, supernatural, or preternatural; either from a good, or evil spirit. Mr. Wesley accordingly, I hope, acts by his instruction, as found in the Roman Ritual de Exorcizandis : " In the first place, the exorcist must not easily believe any one to be possessed by the devil ; but must well know the signs, whereby one possessed is distinguished from those who labor under the black bile, or any distemper." Know the signs ? Yes, surely. And he produceth some cases, which cannot be the effect of natural distemper ; as being uncom- mon and unaccountable, what physicians cannot account for from nature, but own a superior cause. One might per- haps beg his pardon here, and by no means allow the con- sequence. For there are many occult qualities, secret powers in nature, whereof we see the operation and effects ; though we are not able to assign the manner and reason. And the Popish writers upon exorcisms allow, " that it is very difficult to determine, whether a person be possessed or not ; many of the same signs concurring in melancholy and hysterical distempers." ' But let us see his cases : " Al- though they saw signs and wonders, they would not believe. Some said, ' These were pure natural effects ; the people fainted away, only because of the heat and closeness of the rooms.' To-day, our Lord answered for himself. For while I was preaching, he began to make bare his arm, not in a close room, neither in private, but in the open air, before thousands. One and another was struck to the earth," &c. a He triumphs much against the argument from a close, stifling place. But are there not numerous natural causes besides that ? " While I was preaching in New- gate, a woman broke out into strong crie.s, and all her bones shook. A physician, who had known her many years, 1 Complem. Art. Exor. Doctr- 5. * Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 50. Methodists and Papists. 257 observing every symptom, was clearly convinced it was not fraud, nor any natural disorder : but acknowledged the fin- ger of God." ' What, Sir ! You have often declared your contempt of physicians, and those eminent in their profes- sion, as ignorant of the causes, nature, and cure of your Methodistical maladies ; and do you appeal to a Newgate physician, to bear testimony in your favor 1 Why did you not name the man ? I well remember, that in that famous imposture of Martha Brossier (of which there is a particular account by Thuanus*) she was grievously distorted and con- vulsed, and had all the symptoms of a possession, for which she was brought to Paris to be exorcised. The most cele- brated physicians being consulted, declared it was much of imposture, and something of distemper ; but nothing preter- natural. But afterwards other physicians were introduced by Father Seraphin, the exorcist, in the absence of the former; and these attested that it was no distemper, but diabolical possession; or something preternatural. The girl repeats her agitations, and Seraphin his exorcisms ; till at length the fraud was detected, as intended to raise a sedition in the state, to the everlasting confusion of such designing impostors. Mr. Wesley brings the case of Mr. Meyrick. " His pulse was gone. He had been speechless and senseless for some time. A few of us joined in prayer. Before we had done, his sense and speech returned. Now he that will account for this by natural causes, has my free leave. But I chuse to say, this is the power of God," &c. 3 A miracle- monger will, no doubt, chuse to say this. But it is no very uncommon, or extraordinary thing for a person from natural causes to lose all these senses, and recover them. Senner- tus particularly mentions epilepsies, syncopes, suppressions, as the natural causes. 4 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 43. a Histor. lib. 123. 3 5 Journ. p. 81. 4 De Vitiis Vocis. Method. R 258 The Enthusiasm of Physicians can account also for that mad night-scene, when " so many Methodists between two and three in the morning made such a confused noise, ' as if a number of men were all putting to the sword." x For the blood and bile (as Sennertus again says) grow hot by too much watching ; and thence fevers and deliriousness, and convulsions ; especially in bilious and melancholy constitutions, where the brains are most liable to be disturbed." 3 They can account too for the wild enthusiasms of " Sam. Hitchens, who wandered about the fields by night, and often threw himself on the earth ;" and of " the boy, who ran away from his parents, lurking about for several days and nights together, suffering cold and hunger, once three whole days without sustenance."* For a long continuance in any one of these hardships, much more all in conjunction, will be sufficient for producing the dismal effect. SECTION 25. But as our Methodist teachers are dis- posed to exclude nature, and call in a superior cause ; let them take their own way. I am not much inclined either to confute, or contest, what they say. Neque te teneo, neque dicta refello. I, sequere Italian). But they will give me leave to observe, to what different, and even directly opposite and contrary causes they ascribe their outward signs, grievous bodily convulsions and distor- tions; screamings, roarings, tumblings, &c. as well as various distractions of mind. These causes are no less contrary, than God and the devil ; the supremely good spirit, and the supremely evil one ; and this in the very same particulars. Wherein it behoveth me to be pretty cautious and exact ; otherwise I shall be heavily accused. And, first, I shall introduce them as making God the 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 51. a See INTRODUCTION, P. i. s. 8. 3 De Vigil. * Wesley, 5 Journ. p. 27. Methodists and Papists. 259 cause. And thus Mr. Wesley ; " We called upon God to confirm his word. Immediately one cried out aloud with the utmost vehemence, even as in the agonies of death. Soon after two other persons were seized with strong pain, and constrained to roar." ' So again, " I prayed that God would bear witness to his word. Immediately one, and another, and another sunk to the earth : they dropped on every side, as thunderstruck. One of them cried aloud. One so wounded by the sword of the spirit, that you would have imagined she could not live a moment." * " God made bare his holy arm. One, and another, and another was struck to the earth, exceed- ingly trembling at the presence of God." 3 " Seven or eight persons were constrained to roar aloud, while the sword of the spirit was dividing asunder their souls and spirits, and joints, and marrow." * A deeper work in many souls ; " many trembled exceedingly ; six, or seven (both men and women) dropped down as dead. Some cried out, others would, but their voice was lost. In the evening God was pleased to wound many more." 5 But particularly observable is what follows; " I preached at Weavers' Hall. It was a glorious time. Several dropped to the ground, as if struck by lightning. Some cried out in bitterness of soul. In this acceptable time," 6 &c. And what says brother Whitefield on the same side ? He was first let into this secret by Mr. Wesley ; when " upon his (Mr. Whitefield's) preaching, four persons sunk down close to him ; without sense or motion, in strong convul- sions, with strong cries and tears. From this time, I trust, \ve shall suffer God to carry his own work, in the way that pleaseth him." 7 After this Mr. Whitefield, finding in him- self such power, goes on triumphantly. " A young woman struck down by the power of God's word, has continued ever since, as St. Paul did, sick in body, and under great 1 3 Journ. p. 40. * Ibid. p. 42. 3 P. 60. 4 P. 62. 3 5 Journ. p. 77, 78. 6 Ibid. p. 27. 7 Wesley, 3 Jouro. p. 65 6. 260 The Enthusiasm of agonies of soul. God generally manifests himself to some souls in this extraordinary manner." ' " At my preach- ing, thousands cried out, some fainted, others cried out, as if they were in the sharpest agonies of death. Never did I see a more glorious sight." z " Some struck pale as death, others lying on the ground, others sinking by the word of God." " Mr. B 11 dropped down, as though shot with a gun ; by the power of God's word." 3 " The Lord mani- fested his glory. One was struck down by the power of the word." " The spirit of the Lord came down like a rush- ing, mighty wind ; immediately there was shrieking in every corner of the congregation ; Men's hearts failing them for fear, many falling." 4 " One struck down, his body exceeding weak, could scarce move all the night after. God was working powerfully in his soul. Twelve persons dropped down here and there." " The Holy Ghost enabled me to speak so, that one woman was thrown into strong convul- sions ; others were in great agonies." 5 Thus far then God is asserted to be the cause of these seemingly horrible fits ; the most vehement outcries, roar- ings, and strong pains ; sinkings, droppings to the ground, as struck with lightning and thunder ; exceeding tremblings, fallings down as dead, voice lost, strong convulsions, with- out sense or motion, faintings, sinking as if shot with a gun ; shriekings, terrors, and fallings. SECTION 26. But as these inconsistent ramblers cannot be long in one mind ; we are next to observe them wheeling about, unravelling their web, and ascribing the same par- ticulars to God's grand adversary, the devil. Well then! (to borrow Mr. Wesley's motto) Agedum, patica accipe contra. Mr. Whitefield having told us of " five persons in agonies 1 Whitef. 6 Journ. p. 24. 26, a P. 42. 3 1 Journ. p. 12. 32. * P. 57. 5 P. 75. Methodists and Papists. 261 so strong, as if affected with fits," 1 adds, " some such agonies, I believe, are from the devil. And he will no doubt endeavour by these to bring an evil report on the work of God." Mr. Wesley once acquainted his followers, that " these involuntary effects wrought upon their bodies might be from God ; and might not. While I was speaking, one before me dropped down as dead ; and presently a second, and a third." 2 But in other places he says, " A young man sunk down as dead ; but soon began to roar out, and beat himself against the ground, so that six men could scarce hold him. I never saw one so torn of the evil one." 3 Mr. Wesley's affectionate brother writes thus to him; " What influence sudden and sharp awakenings may have upon the body, I do not pretend to explain ; [the instance you gave of some struggling as in the agonies of death] but I make no ques- tion Satan, as far as he gets power, may exert himself on such occasions ; partly to hinder the good work in such as are touched with the arrows of conviction ; and partly to disparage the work of God, as if it tended to lead people to distraction." 4 " The enemy began to tear her, so that she screamed as in the pangs of death." 5 Another ; " the thou- sand distortions of her whole body showed, how the dogs of hell were gnawing her heart." * But now we are to have Mr. Wesley's final judgment, and settled determination, after a careful and particular examination; as related in his last Journal. " I concluded my second course of visiting ; in which I enquired particularly into the case of those, who had almost every night the last week cried out aloud, during the preaching. I found that all of them (I think, not one excepted) were persons in perfect health, and had not been subject to fits of any kind, till thus affected. That this had come upon every one of them in a moment, without any previous notice. That in that moment they dropped 1 6 Journ. p. 38. * 3 Journ. p. 61. 3 Ibid. p. 50. * Ibid. p. 63. 5 3 Journ. p. 79. 6 P. 92. 262 The Enthusiasm of down, they lost all their strength, and were seized with violent pain. This they expressed in different manners. Some said, they felt, just as if a sword was miming through them: others, that they thought a great weight lay upon them, as if it would squeeze them into the earth. Some said, they were quite choaked, so that they could not breathe : others, that their hearts swelled ready to burst ; and others, that it was as if their heart, all their inside, all their whole body, was tearing in pieces." ' These symptoms I can no more impute to any natural cause, than to the spirit of God. I make no doubt, but it was Satan tearing them, as they were coming to Christ. And hence proceeded those grievous cries, whereby he might design both to discredit the work of God, and to affright people from hearing that word. I found, that their minds had been as variously affected as their bodies. Of this some could scarce give any account at all ; which also I impute to that wise spirit, purposely stunning and confounding as many as he could, that they might not be able to bewray his devices. Others gave a clear and particular account, from the beginning to the end. The word of God pierced their souls, and convinced them of inward, as well as outward sin. They saw and felt the wrath of God abiding on them, and were afraid of his judg- ments. And here the accuser came with great power, telling them, " there was no hope, they were lost for ever. Their pains of body then seized them in a moment, and extorted those loud and bitter cries." These are the words of Messieurs Whitefield and Wesley ; wherein the reader will see how the tables are turned. Here he finds, " no doubt but these agonies, dropping down as dead, loud, grievous and bitter cries and roarings, distor- tions, violent pains, screamings as in the pangs of death ; with various distractions of the mind, proceeded from Satan ;" he caused them. And yet just before, the very 1 5 Journ. p. 91. Methodists and Papists. 263 >. same particulars and symptoms were expressly imputed to God; he caused them. The sword of the spirit dividing them asunder, is, in a moment, converted to Satan's sword running through them. The workings of God hi the soul in this extraordinary manner, and doing his own work in his own way, is instantly changed into Satan's endeavours to bring an evil report on God's work, to disparage, discredit, and hinder God's work, and fright people from it. At such a loss are they, so uncertain whose work they are doing. SECTION 27. We may here make a few remarks. And first, one may, I presume, take the liberty of asking a ques- tion or two. " Pray, Sir, what devices, what grand secrets of Satan, did those persons bewray, who were not stunned and confounded ? Or, if grand secrets were bewrayed, what a fool was this wise Spirit, and what did he gain, in stunning only some ; when so many others had full power of dis- covering his plots ?" But in this controversy with them- selves, we may observe, that Mr. Whitefield seems the stouter champion for Satan's operation ; and Mr. Wesley for God's operation. For it is not usual for these two competitors in sanctity to agree. I would not here have the latter recur to his old method of quibbling, and think of reconciling his last determination in favor of the devil, by saying he acts by God's permission, or that these effects are from God, who is the original cause of all things. (This all know, as well as himself) for he hath expressly excluded both nature and God. Perhaps before his next Journal comes out, he may alter his mind. There are, however, good reasons why much should be said on each side. It is necessary sometimes, that God should be the cause " of these tumblings, convulsions, &c. that those who are weak might not be offended." l For indeed he owns " many were greatly offended." And the notion of Satan's doing it might " tend to lead people to distraction." * Accordingly Mr. 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 58, 59. 64. 2 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 63. 264 The Enthusiasm of Whitefield assures us, that " a woman being in such a case as to be thought mad, and full of new wine, in that hour the Lord Jesus took possession of her soul." And it is equally necessary sometimes, that the devil should be the cause; to show what an enemy he is to Methodism, in thus " disparaging God's work, and design- ing to affright people from it ;" ' and especially it must be the devil's doing, that Mr. "Wesley may have the honor of ejecting him, and gain reverence for his miraculous cures. And herein, I apprehend, he has greatly the advantage of Mr. Whitefield ; after " musing in his old room at Oxford, and reflecting how many that came after him were preferred before him," he now is become superior to a principal anta- gonist. For poor Mr. Whitefield says, (after owning that the devil was the cause of the fits) " I had not prayed long in the Women's Society, but two of them fell down again into violent fits ; so that I was obliged to leave them." z Fie for shame, Mr. Whitefield! You not stand out against the devil? Indeed he has, in this case, outwitted you. You were not aware of what the Roman Ritual says, " How many arts and fallacies the devil useth to deceive the exor- cist ; and that the exorcist must not leave off, till he has seen all the signs of liberation." 3 You probably have never looked into such popish ceremonials. But Mr. Wesley must have as mean an opinion of you, as he had of the clergyman, " who being sent for by a woman possessed, she no sooner began to roar and hang out her tongue, but he cried out, ' It is the devil doubtless ! It is the devil !* and immediately went away. But Mr. Wesley came to her, and left her not till all her symptoms ceased." 4 He was better acquainted with his rule, and better observed it, and had much more work of this nature upon his hands. This leads us to our parallel. For some physicians, phi- losophers, and divines, have been of opinion, that such ' Wesley, 5 Journ. p. 91. * 6 Journ. p. 41. 3 De Exorc. 4 Wesley, 5 Joum. p. 86. Methodists and Papists. 265 uncommon and extraordinary cases proceeded from a dia- bolical operation. But my business being only with Papists, I need not enquire farther. The Roman Ritual, after " the caution against mistaking the black bile, or other distempers, for a possession," ' soon leaves the way open again, by acquainting us, that " one of the devil's arts is to induce a persuasion, that the patient only lies under a natural disorder, when he himself is at the bottom." And we have there " three signs of a diabolical possession, speaking in an unknown tongue, discovering things secret and distant, and having strength above the natural age and condition of the party ; and others of that nature, which if many of them concur, are greater signs." Their approved writers on this subject have, by way of supplement, recounted these numerous and great signs ; en- tirely agreeing with Mr. Wesley. In the Malleus Maleficamm, Tom. iii. and Tom. iv. called Complementum Artis Exorcistia:, we have the following account. 2 " There are not wanting men, who deny all dia- bolical possessions and witchcrafts, asserting them to be only natural distempers. But that these are undoubted signs of a possession, or witchcraft, or both in conjunction ; namely, ' lolling out the tongue; clamors, roarings, gnashings, foamings; a weight in the stomach, or choaking in the throat ; swoonings, especially of many at one and the same time ; bowels torn by dogs ; sudden terrors, and instantly removed; the feeling of a hot, or cold vapor; throwing themselves on the ground, and tearing themselves ; a pierc- ing like a sword ; revealing occult and remote things ; speaking mysteries, and explaining scripture; prophesying and singing musically; an aversion to the minister, prayers, relics, holy water, and all spiritual books and things. But the strongest sign is, when physicians cannot help, and medicines are of no service.'" Thus we find both popery 1 De Exorc. * De Exorc. p. 225. p. 12, 266 The Enthusiasm of and Mr. Wesley agreeing in their verdict, that Satan is guilty ; and neither nature, nor the God of nature have any concern in the case. We should observe too, these words of Mr. Wesley : " I carefully examined those, who had cried out lately in the congregation. I enquired particularly into the case. And I found their minds had been as variously affected as their bodies." ' Wonderful thing, that mind and body should, in a disorder, have a mutual influence on each other! The enquirer, however, did well in conforming to the Roman Ritual ; z "in order to know this, (whether the disorder be natural, or diabolical) after an exorcism, or two, let the exorcist interrogate the patient, what he was sensible of, or felt, in mind or in body." And what answers did he draw out? " Some could give no account at all, how, or where- fore ; only, that of a sudden they dropped down they knew not how. Others could just remember they were in fear ; but could not tell what they were in fear of. Several said, they were afraid of the devil ; and this was all they knew. But a few give a more intelligible account, of a piercing sense of their sins, and of the wrath of God, and the punishment into which they were just falling. One told me, * I was just as if I was falling from the highest place I had ever seen. I thought the devil was pushing me off, and that God had forsaken me/ Another said, * I felt the very fire of hell.' " 3 Upon his se- cond examination, " some said they felt as it were the piercing of a sword ; others thought a great weight lay upon them," &c. " Some could scarce give any account at all ; which also I impute to that wise spirit, purposely stunning and con- founding as many as he could, that they might not bewray his devices. Others gave a very clear and particular ac- count," as before. In this whole account the borders of God's power, and Satan's are so near, and the transitions from one to the other so quick, that such an acute Metaphysician alone as Mr. 1 5 Journ. p. 84. 91. * In Exorc. 3 Wesley, Ibid. Methodists and Papists. 267 Wesley could have decided so exactly. As to the particular of some being able to give little or no account ; others a very clear and particular one ; were any thing- of nature or distemper to be admitted, there would be no need of quotino- authorities for a perfect or imperfect remembrance, or none at all, of what was felt in the fit : the diversity being so well known in proportion to the kind and degree of the fit ; as in vertigos, convulsions, epilepsies, &c. as likewise an amaze- ment, like what Mr. Wesley calls stunning. But. he will chuse to act in concert with his better friends of the Papacy, who ascribe all (for substantial reasons) to Satan, and have inserted a prayer in the office of exorcisa- tion, " for one assaulted by the frauds of an unclean spirit, whom the old adversary hovers about with the horror of dread ; and striketh the human mind with a stupor, con- founds it with terror, and exagitateth with trembling fear." ' SECTION 28. Infallibility (in Rom. Hit.) assures, that " the arts and frauds of the devil to deceive and over-reach the exorcist are innumerable ;" z and hath been so good as to acquaint us with some of them. And Mr. Wesley (to apply his own expressions) is such " an apt scholar, and has so perfectly learned the exercise of his arms ;" that he is for the most part too cunning for the old sophister. " Sometimes Satan will hide himself, and cease tormenting the patient, to induce a persuasion that he is gone." 3 Mr. Wesley was well guarded against this trick. " Sometimes he throweth his prey on the ground, and causeth convulsions ; that the exorcist may cease from his conjuration." Here Mr. Whitefield was caught, but Mr. Wesley stood it out. " Sometimes he will let the patient be quiet, and say, that he feels no pain, and give no sign of any terror." This was the case of the possessed woman, who, when Mr. Wesley came to her, said, " I am very well now : nothing ails 1 Roman Ritual. a De Exorc. 3 Exorcism. 268 The Enthusiasm of me." 1 But Mr. Wesley went on with his work; and her possession appeared plainly afterwards. Sometimes, when the poor devils are tormented with exorcisms, the devils will promise and swear, that they will go out to-mor- row at such an hour, in order to gain time. This was the case in " that surprising instance of the power of the devil, when being afraid of Mr. Wesley, who was to come to- morrow, he made the woman say, ' before six in the morning I shall be well.' " z " Sometimes they lull the patient asleep, and show him visions." But Mr. Wesley seems not well aware of this deceit. Visions are of better service, than to own them from the devil. " Sometimes Satan permits the vexed person to say prayers, receive the Sacrament, sign himself with the cross, with other acts of humility and devotion. Yea, what is more, he himself will say some holy things. In which sheep's clothing he is not detected. But he cannot long persevere." Mr. Wesley has several in- stances of alternate strains of rage and blasphemy, and of devotion and submission, in cases of a possession, particu- larly when the devil says (speaking through the organs of the daemoniac) " come, go to prayers, I will pray with you." 3 We took the advice from whomsoever it came. Thus " some devils, who had grievously mauled St. Xavier, at length became calm and mild, were heard to say their matins, and got through the choir-service, by way of joke."* " Sometimes the devil is stubborn, or answering fallaciously; and then he must be peremptorily commanded, in the name of Jesus, to speak the truth, and be put to his oath." This care was taken by Mr. Wesley ; " I command thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to tell if thou hast commission to torment any other soul ? It was immediately answered, ' I have.'" " Sometimes the devil will tell truth, or seem to yield in some points to the goodness of the exorcist, in 1 Wesley, 5 Journ. p. 86. * Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 66, 67. 3 3 Journ. p. 93. * Myster. Jesuit, p. 4L Methodists and Papists. 269 order to puff him up with vain-glory." How often this hath been the case with Mr. Wesley, let his conduct testify. " Sometimes the devil, (who never wants new tricks) to hinder people from submitting to exorcisms, and that he may not be discovered, will pretend distempers, and coun- terfeit all the symptoms of a disease in the sufferer ; so as to deceive even the physicians, and he makes the physicians themselves incredulous ; a sort of men, who, if they can but think of some natural cause, will always reject any thing supernatural; alleging some frivolous reasons. These men ought to read such books as the Malleus Maleficarum, &c. And the exorcist must take care to have a physician, in such distempers, who is of the same opinion with himself." Mr. Wesley accordingly has over and over cautioned the world against being ruled by Dr. Monroe, and others of the faculty ; showing their ignorance and inability. But yet he has been wise enough to introduce his Newgate physician, who was of the same opinion with himself, to testify in his favor. N.B. Dr. Monroe, and all other physicians, are hereby ad- monished, that, instead of Hippocrates, Galen, &c. they immediately bespeak the Malleus Maleficarum, in two volumes, quarto ; as likewise Mr. Wesley's Journals. The same admonition is to extend to the College of Phy- sicians, who are ordered to examine their licenciates out of the said incomparable writings. Lastly, (though one might carry the comparisons much farther) " sometimes the devils, as another impediment, when the exorcist knows the case to be a possession, will induce a belief into the parents, rela- tions and friends of the patient, that it is only humors and natural distemper, and no diabolical possession ; that so no regard may be had to the exorcist, nor his discipline be submitted to." This artifice Mr. Wesley hath found in some of his followers. " One (for fear of such a fit) run out of the society in all haste, that she might not expose herself." 1 1 3 Journ. p. 51. 270 The Enthusiasm of " A young woman sunk down at Rose-Green in a violent agony both of body and mind, and five or six persons more; at whose cries many were greatly offended. The first that was deeply touched was L W , whose mother had been not a little displeased a day or two before, when she was told, how her daughter had exposed herself before all the congregation. The mother was the next who dropped down, and lost her senses in a moment." * The poor mother paid for her folly with a vengeance. But due care must be taken to prevent such evil surmisings, and to countermine Satan's devices. I would advertise the reader, that the passages, (imputing these grievous disorders to the devil, and cautioning against his frauds) which are not to be found in the Roman Ritual, de Exorcizandis, are every one of them in Malleus Malefi- carum. 1 But I cannot be positive, whether Mr. Wesley copied out these passages in order to make parallels, or whether he and the Papists act by mere sympathy. SECTION 29. But Methodism itself may justly be reck- oned a principal cause of these horrid sufferings, or rather, the efficacious power of their teachers. They have related " their shriekings, roarings, groanings, gnashings, yellings ; cursings and blasphemies, and despairings; tumblings, convulsions and contortions, as in the agonies of death, as out of the belly of hell ; soul and body well nigh torn asun- der ; things terrible to behold, too horrid to be borne, and what words cannot describe," &c. These are their very words. Let not the preachers be startled. They are the cause; (the best they can say is, the instrumental cause) they confess it, and make it matter of high boasting, exultation and triumph. Mr. Whitefield says, " I had not prayed long, but two of the women fell down into violent fits. 3 At my preaching 1 3 Journ. p. 64. * Tom. iii. p. 225. and especially, Tom. Hi. p. 8. 3 6 Journ. p. 41. Methodists and Papists. 271 thousands cried out, some fainted, others cried out as in the agonies of death. Never did I see a more glorious sight ! Some struck down pale as death, others sinking." 1 Mr. WTiitefield preaching, " one dropped down as shot with a gun. The Holy Ghost enabled me to speak so, that one woman was thrown into strong convulsions." 2 Nor will Mr. Wesley lag behind, but be as potent a prea- cher as Mr. Whitefield. " I expounded : a woman cried out in the sharpest agonies of spirit. I expounded, imme- diately one cried out with the utmost vehemence, as in the agonies of death : two other persons seized with pain, and constrained to roar ; another as out of the belly of hell. 3 While I was preaching, one, and another, and another sunk to the earth. They dropped on every side as thunderstruck. 4 While I was enforcing these words, several struck to the earth ; a little boy the same ; a young man sunk down, as one dead ; but soon began to roar and beat himself against the ground, that six men could scarcely hold him. 5 While I was earnestly inviting, &c. some sunk down, others exceed- ingly trembled and quaked ; some torn with a kind of con- vulsive motion, in every part of their bodies, and that so violently, that five persons could not hold one of them. Twenty-six of those, who had been thus affected," &c. 6 " While I was speaking three dropped down as dead; five others sunk, in violent agonies, in the pains of hell, &c. While I was preaching, a woman dropped down, struck as was supposed with death, the use of all her limbs quite taken from her." 7 " I preached at Weavers'-Hall. It was a glorious time. Several dropped to the ground as if struck with light- ning. Some cried out in bitterness of soul. In this accep- table time," &c. These, among many others, are their own boastings and exultations, in their own words. Nobis non licet esse tara disertis. 1 6 Journ. p. 42. 44. * 7 Journ. p. 12. 75. 3 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 23, 4 P. 42. 3 P, 50. 6 P. 58. 7 4 Journ. p. 58. 272 77ie Enthusiasm of And sorry I am, their breath is so strong ; that they cannot open their mouths, but out fly the most noisome and conta- gious vapors. It puts one in mind of a volcano, belching out fire, and making a dreadful havoc ; or rather of some spiracles, or breathing holes, in many parts of the earth, which scatter a pestilential infection upon all that come near. Such is " the famous Grotta del Cani in Italy, called the poisonous mouth ; the steams whereof are of a mephitical, or noxious quality. When a dog, or other creature, is put into it, it presently loses all motion, falls down as dead, or in a swoon, the limbs convulsed and trembling, till scarce any signs of life appear. If the animal be soon snatched out, and exposed to open air, it soon recovereth." See Chambers in Grotta del Cani, or Mead on Poisons. To know the power of witches in such cases, we may look into the History of Witchcraft ; " a man from a look only of Susanna Edwards, fell a shaking, quivering, and foam- ing, and for half an hour like a dying, or dead man ; and at last coming to his senses again, he declared, that Susanna Edwards had bewitched him." J Again, " Richard Dugdale declared, that his fits were through obsession, and in a com- bination which should never be discovered ; sometimes he would exactly tell what things were done at a distance, and even repeat the whole discourse of persons absent : some- times he would sing Psalms exactly tuneable : sometimes howl, and be in convulsions : sometimes he would lie on the floor like a dead man ; when both the doctor and apothe- cary felt his pulses, which did not beat; then they laid their faces to his mouth, to try if he breathed, but could not per- ceive it. The said R. Dugdale also declared, that his strange fits began at Westly-Hall, where an appearance of a black man grinned at him, and pressed very hard upon him, that he had an apparition all along the way, as he went to Westly-Hall, and the week after," &c.* 1 Vol. i. p. 244. a Vol. ii. p. 166. Methodists and Papists. 273 Were our Methodists once to recover their senses, they likewise would probably give an account, by whom they were bewitched, and where. The Pope's emissaries, who have written so many volumes of Satan's power of inflicting such unaccountable maladies, allow also, that the saints have the like power of causing diseases ; and even of putting in the devil, especially when in due time they intend to bring him out again. Thyrseus, de Locis Infestis proveth this ; and, among other instances, mentioneth " St. Eligius, who gave the devil power over fifty of his own flock : (the same number that were so tur- moiled in Mr. Wesley's Night-Scene.) The saint intended their good ; and therefore, being requested, he would not immediately relax their punishment, but said, ' Let them learn first whom they have chosen for their master, before they are absolved from the tyranny of the devil.'" Mr. Wesley seems not willing to forego this privilege of spread- ing such miseries among his own. Nor do I envy him the glory. Non equidem invideo, miror magis undique totis, Usque adeo turbatur agris. - In the mean time, at least till his exorcisms and cures plainly appear, (to which I shall pay due respect in their order,) I cannot but deem it the utmost cruelty to throw so many miserable creatures into the most dreadful fits and agonies, horrid beyond description; and at the same tune be himself in such a flow of exultation. Risus abest; nisi quern visi movere dolores. Then he is all joy; And pleased the work of Satan to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm. I have fallen, I know not how, into these scraps of poetry. But, that he may disentangle himself from a sort of inconsis- tency, may one seriously ask him the question, why in some of his most terrible operations, producing the most shocking effects, it must be " a glorious time, an acceptable time ;" Method. S 274 The Enthusiasm of and in other instances, equally terrible and shocking, the case is altered ? For give me leave to appeal to that noc- turnal roaring, which he represents as the similitude of a general massacre. " Forty or fifty of those who were seek- ing salvation, desired leave to spend the night together at the society room. Before ten I left them, and lay down. (He was wise enough to take care of one.) But I could have no quiet rest, being uneasy in my sleep ; as I found others were too, that were asleep in other parts of the house. Between two and three in the morning I was waked, and desired to come down stairs, I immediately heard such a confused noise, as if a number of men were all putting to the sword. It increased when I came into the room, and began to pray." Two tilings here indeed turn out to Mr. Wesley's advan- tage ; a proof of the significancy of their presaging dreams ; and a sure proof that the devil was in them. He observeth elsewhere, that another of his possessed " grew worse by prayer, and her pangs increased more and more." 1 And his old friends say, it is " a manifest discovery, when the party afflicted rageth the more at prayers, mass, holy water, &c." But still the question remains unresolved, why such an alteration in the case ? (t O, Sir ! I take knowledge of you!" You was absent, in your sleep, and was not the immediate cause ; it was not your own doing ; any farther than giving them leave thus to seek their salvation ; (and this, it seems, they must not do without your permission) or as your institution might of course inspire them with a fanatical rage. SECTION 30. This gives occasion to take a little notice of such nocturnal pranks, mysteries at dead of night, when regular and sober persons would chuse to be in their beds. * But, Noctcs atque dies patet atri Janua ditis. 1 3 Journ. p. 95. a See in APPENDIX, P. t. Sir Aaron. Methodists and Papists. - 275 It is well known, what severe laws have been made against night assemblies, under pretence of religion, by civilised nations; as things scandalous in practice, and dangerous to the state. And, as well known, how early a stop was put to the Christian love feasts, and midnight meetings ; by reason of the ambition, quarrels, arid broils, with other evils, which attended them. Mr. Wesley had better have pre- scribed a sleeping draught, or good feather bed, than have encouraged such irregular cabals ; when darkness, watch- ings, and enthusiasms concurring, would naturally draw on those ominous dreams, and mad consequences. When (as Sennertus observes) " the humours, and especially the blood and bile, are most intemperately inflamed, and cause verti- gos, dcliriousness, and numerous disorders." ' But the Methodists, being better than the primitive Chris- tians, have a peculiar blessing at the most unseasonable hours. " Our Lord, says Mr. Wesley, was gloriously pre- sent with us at the watch-night ; my voice was lost at the cries of the people.* The service ends a little after mid- night. We have often found a peculiar blessing at these seasons." 3 I hope he will not bring for proof the above- related instance of his disciples meeting between two and three in the morning ; which caused in him such frightful dreams; when there was such a confused noise, as if a number of men were putting to the sword. These horrid circumstances he hath determined to come from the devil. Whether the candles were put out doth not appear : he only says, " he heard a great noise, and that upon his coming into the room, and beginning to pray, the noise increased." Nor do any other evidences of heats and commotions, and peculiar blessings appear, but screamings and outcries. What sort of wild work they were doing to create such a hellish uproar, Cod knows. But, from his own account, we have the idea of "a cabal of witches meeting in the night- ' De Vigil, c. i. z 5 Jourii. p. S3. 3 P. 35. 276 Ttie Enthusiasm of time, adoring their Lord, who puts his mark upon them with intolerable pain ;" as represented in the History of Witch- craft. 1 And his night-work resembles much more the nocturnal revels, and infamous dark mysteries of the Pagan world, than any orderly assembly of Christians. It carries a stronger representation of the mysteries of Cotytto, the goddess of turpitude ; or of the sacred rites of Cybele, cele- brated by the raving Corybantes, which were immodest mysteries of nocturnal assemblies, hi the caves of mount Ida.* SECTION 31. Natural magic has been suspected as ano- ther cause of the mental disorders of the Methodists. 3 Pliny mentions " the herb halicacabon, which makes people deli- rious, and is drunk by the skilful in prophecy, because they would appear as mad, to confirm their superstitions." 4 This " halicacabon is, it seems, a species of night-shade, which infused in water will (without giving any taste or smell) cause some diversion, by making people ridiculously mad for a time. Nor is the datum, another species of night- shade, much different ; of which, (according to Garcias of Horto) thieves and cheats mingle the flower or seed among the food of those whom they want to defraud ; and whoever hath tasted it looseth his senses, is forced into a fit of laugh- * o ter ; and freely permits the thief to carry off what he pleaseth . See Theophrast. Bodaei, p. 1077. My friend told me also of the philtra, or love-potions, which were designed to make people in love, but had often been the cause of madness. He suspected something of this nature in Mr. Wesley's love- ieast, which raised that tumultuous cry through all the congregation, not of grief, but of overflowing joy and love:" 5 and that "watch-night meeting, when his voice was lost in the cries of the people ; besides the mad massacre-scene." 6 1 Vol. ii. p. 144. z Cyril, contr. Julian, lib. vi. 3 See Appendix, P. i. Sir Aaron. 4 Nat. Hist, lib.xxi. 105. * 5 Journ. p. 1011. * P. 33, Methodists and Papists. 277 I answered, this could not be the case, because, if my in- formation was true, they ate and drank nothing but bare bread and water on those occasions. He replied, that Mr. Wesley had professed, " I prepare, and give them physic, myself, having for six or seven and twenty years made phy- sic the diversion of my leisure hours." And what mingled cups might not a cunning man, so well acquainted with nature, prepare? What potent, inchanling drugs might not he infuse for his diversion ? Seeing there are various drugs, which will bring on distraction for any number of days, or hours ; according to the quantity. B. Porta. Mag. Natur. lib. viii. That besides, the popish priests often blessed a certain portion of bread and water, (not the sacramental,) for several good purposes, and doing wonders. But I replied, these were mysteries, into which I never intended to be initiated, and should readily comply with any request like that in Petronius ; " I stretch out my hands, and in- treat, that you would not make a jest of nocturnal religions ; nor traduce the secrets, which all the initiated themselves did not know." * Or rather, I ought to become a supplicant myself, and beg pardon, that I may escape the threat of Canidia against Horace, Inultus ut tu riseris Cotyttia? Et Esquilini Pontifex Venefici, Impune ut urbem nomine impleris meo ? Oh ! tu (poles nara) solve me dementia. 1 SECTION 32. Others again, and not a few among Mr. Wesley's own followers, have conceived those strange agi- tations to be voluntary, mere dissimulation, and counterfeit tricks; some tumbling down and howling to please their master, or to be thought apt scholars, and answer expecta- tion in the process of Methodism, especially as they have been taught by both my correspondents, how glorious a 1 P. 50. ed. 1669. z Epod. 17. 278 The Enthusiasm of thing it is to be struck down, and set a roaring. Which is a sort of composition of enthusiasm and imposture. But as far as those effects proceeded merely from dis- temper, or a supernatural agency, we must grant it could not be fiction. Mr. Wesley indeed hath confessed, that " the convulsions and agitations of the French prophetess, (a similar case,) might be hysterical or artificial ; that the spirit of pride and lies was prevalent among his own flock, and an imaginary inspiration, mere empty dreams of a heated imagination." 1 Mr. Whilefield too owns, "there is counterfeit coin among them/' % But yet due care hath been taken for the removal and prevention of such unjust suspicions in the present case. 3 For " a day of humiliation is appointed, says Mr. Wesley, to humble ourselves, and own, that God had justly withdrawn his spirit from us, for our manifold unfaithfulness ; and above all, for blasphem- ing his work among us, imputing it either to nature, to the force of imagination, and animal spirits, or even to the delu- sion of the devil. In that hour some fell prostrate to the ground." 4 But this did not work a full conviction. For soon after we find " many offended at these tumblings, roar- ings, &c. and saying they were sure they might help it if they would ; 5 it was all a cheat ; 6 or only nature, imagination, animal spirits ; 7 they were sure none cried out but hypo- crites, who pretended to be in fits/' 8 But, however, " many were convinced ;" and the refractory had personal and woe- ful experience, feeling it to their sorrow : as will appear, when we come to their judicial miracles. One instance I shall now subjoin. " J n H n, a weaver, a man of a regular life and conversation, that constantly attended prayers, &c. being informed that people fell into strange fits at the societies, he came to see and judge for himself. But he was less satisfied than before, and labored above mea- 1 3 Journ. p. 25. * P. 23. 3 5 Journ. p. 71. 4 3 Journ. p. 59. 5 Ibid. p. 59. 6 P. 64. 68. 7 4 Journ. p. 14. 18. s P. 52. Methodists and Papists. 27.Q sure to convince his acquaintance, ' it was a delusion of the devil.' But he was convinced ; for the next day, he fell off his chair, and began screaming terribly, and beating himself against the ground. Between one and two I came in, and the room being full of people, he cried out, * Let all the world see the just judgment of God.' He immediately fixed his eyes upon me, and cried, ' Ay, this is he, who I said was a deceiver of the people./ But God has overtaken me. I said it was all a delusion. But this is no delusion.' He then roared out, &c. We all betook ourselves to prayer. His pangs ceased, and both his soul and body were set at liberty." ' St. Ignatius, whose life Mr. Wesley says he hath read, will afford a parallel. " At Condom, a certain citizen, in other respects an honest man, was above measure incensed against the society, and the father of it ; so far from paying Ignatius the honors due to his saintship, that he charged Mm with dissimulation and histrionic piety : and would read the accounts of the saint, only to wrest them into hypocrisy, or pieces of false history, and thence proceed to his raille- ries and scoffs . The saint looked down upon this his enemy, as the physician doth upon a person in a frenzy, and begged mercy of God for him : and corning to him in venerable majesty, cast a most lovely look upon him. The man's eye and mind were so struck with this, that he falls from his bed, tumbles to the ground, begs pardon for the injuries he had done, makes a vow of perpetual obsequiousness to Ignatius and his society ; an obsequiousness the more sacred, as he had been so injurious." * The better to guard against this surmise of dissimulation, Mr. Wesley produceth this case. "A woman, who had been before much tempted of the devil, sunk down as one dead. One could not perceive, by any motion of her breast, that she breathed, and her pulse was very hardly discernible* 1 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 44. a Bartol. p. 444. 280 The Enthusiasm of A strange sort of dissimulation this! I wish those, who ihink so, would only stop their own breath and pulse one hour, and I will then subscribe to their opinion." ' But, I doubt, this argument will very hardly be allowed. For though he challengeth any one to try ; and his friends, the exorcists say, " it is a sure sign of a possession, when a person exerts such motions and gesticulations, as cannot be imitated by one that is well, and in his senses ;" yet physi- cians will contend, that in some natural distempers people will be thrown into such unaccountably strange and convul- sive motions, and other extraordinary symptoms, which no man in health can come up to. And why must the trial be for a whole hour ; when he doth not say, that this woman's breath and pulse were stopped so long ? Therefore, although this may not be natural distemper, yet it may. To produce a similar instance. Sennertus (de Morbis a Veneficiis, c.3.) citeth a long account from Cornel. Gemma, which will suit this, and other cases, in Mr. Wesley's journals. " An inge- nious girl of fifteen, but something inclined to melancholy, fell into fits of convulsions and swoonings ; and other symp- toms more violent than hysterics, was ready to be choaked, three or four persons, the most strong, could scarce hold her : sometimes she felt a weight, and sometimes a biting ; after many sufferings a tumour arose in her throat, and continued for a quarter of an hour, during which time she remained entirely destitute of all pulse and breath ; so that even a feather applied to her mouth would not move, and her body was stiff as a statue." And what the issue ? " The girl was cured, not by the spiritual, but bodily phy- sician, by natural remedies." But as nothing will convince philosophical men, they urge the probability of dissimulation and cheat farther ; and, in supply of parallels, assert, that among the several popish orders there are always some trained up to act a part, and 1 4 Journ. p. 22-3. Methodists and Papists. 281 prepare accomplices, who are to counterfeit diabolical fits, in order to bring on exorcisms, and carry on the trade of cheating silly people. And they can easily bring proof enough to fill whole reams ot paper. Not to mention the famous imposture of Martha, (cited before from Thuanus,) or the execrable story of Jetzer ; the boy of Bilson, or the nuns of London, (for which see Bayle in the article Grandier,) and the like ; they may refer to several such dissemblers, cheats, and counterfeits, in Wierus de Praestigiis. One story is of " a beggar, named Justus, who, to get a comfortable maintenance, would lie at the church-doors, pretending to be possessed. Wierus saw him act his part at Niemegeri ; making his belly wonderfully swell, and then sink again ; and throwing his limbs and face into unaccount- able distortions : his wife and harlot standing by him with an iron chain to bind him in his raging fits. At length the fraud was detected, the man really seized, and put in chains, where he confessed the cheat, and shewed the manner how he played his pranks." l Another story is of one " Hans Vatter, i. e. John the Fa- ther, who pretended that on St. John's day he was enchanted by Nicholas Gottel, by drinking a poisoned draught ; and that Nicholas confessed this at his trial, where he was condemned, and afterwards burned. Hereby, he said, the devil tormented him various ways, bound his body, feet and neck, with iron chains, and showed him for a spectacle to all. He added also wonderful nhantoms, apparitions and spectres. Every thing he could not relate, but said, every thing was written historically in a regular journal ; that the world might see how cruelly the devil had tortured and tore him. Nor did he pass over his custom of praying, hearing sermons, and communicating, and affirmed, that he had an impulse to preach repentance. Coming, in his course of visiting, to Noringberg, the magistrates ordered him to be 1 Lib, iii. c. 24, 25, 26. 282 The Enthusiasm of narrowly watched and guarded ; when he would sometimes press to be gone, pretend despair, with other artifices. But being detained, he at length confessed that he never was bound by the devil, but made his own chains. In short, he discovered his whole art, that his miracles were mere lies, and all a trick to get a livelihood. For \vhich ample con- fession his punishment was mitigated, and he was only exposed on a pillory for a public spectacle and derision." A third account concerneth a girl of about twenty, well habited, but with a fierce look, who was going to St. Hubert, to be freed from the yoke of Satan. She was furnished with letters testimonial, to obtain provisions on the road ; and was attended by a monk about thirty, because the devil's assaults were less terrible in his presence ; and for this rea- son she confessed, that he was her companion in bed. She was thought to be epileptic. And the monk boasted, that by three words he could make a horrible spectacle of her." (If that be the proper English of the words, Se trihus verbis posse horribile in ed spectaculum excitareJ) After a fourth account of the same nature, but greater wickedness, we have an account of one " Bartholomaea, a servant maid, who, when mass was said in the German tongue, contrary to custom, and the hymn, ' Glory be to God on high,' began, became immediately ecstatic, as if seized by the devil, and raised a grievous disturbance. But when the same was sung in Latin, she was not affected. Her mistress, a prudent matron, promised the maid to cure her, if she would come into her chamber. The maid came ; the mistress repeated the hymn in the German tongue. Instantly the fits return ; and the maid, observing a proper place to fall in, was thrown violently on the ground. The mistress presently takes up her coats, and (assisted by her daughter, who held the maid down) makes an impression upon her posteriors with several smart strokes of a rod ; which threw the maid into unfeigned, horrible contortions. For, as Hippo- crates says, 'Extreme distempers require extreme remedies.' Methodists and Papists. 283 A fter this she could hear the hymn without any commotion, except what arose in her mind by being twitted, whenever she went abroad, by some unlucky rogues, who would gather about her, and sing the said hymn in her ears. The maid, says Wierus, confessed to me, that she was perfectly cured by her mistress in this manner." So much from Wierus. My philosophical friends highly commended this method of drawing a little blood in the lower parts, by way of revulsion from the head ; adding, that it might be no bad remedy, if some more cheats of this sort (for instance, the Methodist teacher, who fixed the day for the day of judg- ment) in order to carry the revulsion still farther from the head, were laid by the heels. But I told them, persecution was a wicked thing. And yet I might observe, what the exorcists affirm, " that the devil may sometimes be drove out by scourging, a cudgel, or box on the ear ; especially when he will not yield to sacred remedies." ' But if I may speak my mind freely concerning the horrid yellings, convulsions, &c. among the Methodists, my real and sincere opinion is this : " That, though there is reason to suspect dissimulation and counterfeit in several instances ; yet, that the greatest part of their sufferings is involuntary ; they cannot help it." Some light will be given to this mat- ter in the next section. And I readily subscribe to what Mr. Wesley hath owned ; " I look upon some of these cases as wholly natural ; on the rest, as mixt ; both the disorder, and the removal, being partly natural, and partly not." 2 What he precisely meaneth by these mixtures, or in w r hat respects the disorders were not natural, I leave him to declare. But if the poor creatures must be put to the tor- ture, and have pains and agonies inflicted on them, above all description, too horrid to be borne ; I must confess, I see little difference, whether they are bedeviled, bewitched, be-Jestiited, or be-Wesleyed. 1 Thyrse. Da.-mon. p. 170. ~ Answer to Church, p. 43. 284 The Enthusiasm of SECTION 33. It were now time to bring on the cure, the removal of these dreadful calamities. But there is no pass- ing over a circumstance, the most surprising (I think) and unaccountable in the whole dispensation of Methodism. 1 I mean the violent screamings, contortions and agonies, and tumblings, of such a number of persons, all at one time, by sympathy ; or quickly after one another, by contagion. Mr. Wesley giveth this account of the state of his society : " If one member suffered, all the members suffered with it. So strange a sympathy did I never observe before. What- ever considerable temptation fell on any one, unaccountably spreaded itself to the rest ; so that exceeding few were able to escape it." z What sort of temptations he intends, I know not. But the words suit well with his accounts of their common roarings and yellings, falling to the ground heaps upon heaps, in wonderful agreement ; and the infec- tion catching others with surprising quickness and rapidity. " One, and another, and another sunk to the earth. They dropped on every side as thunderstruck. 3 Three persons almost at once sunk down as dead. Many fall to the earth exceedingly trembling. Several drop down, roar, beat themselves against the ground, &c. insomuch that all the house (and all the street for some space) was in an uproar. 4 Some sunk down, some trembled, some torn with convul- sions ; another dropt down in a violent agony : twenty-six of those, who had been thus affected. One before me dropt down as dead, and presently a second, and a third. Five others sunk down. Seven or eight persons at once. 5 No sooner had Mr. Whitefield begun, than four persons sunk down close to him. Seven or eight constrained to roar. A young woman sunk down in a violent agony, five or six others, eight or nine more ; a girl, and her mother, who 1 See Introduct. P. r. s. 8. and in Appendix, Sir Aaron. a 4 Journ. p. 37. 3 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 42. 4 Jb. p. 44. 46. 50. * Ib. p. 58, 59. Methodists and Papists. 285 lost her senses in a moment. Four persons almost in the same moment. Roarings of a number at once, as if all were putting to the sword." ' These, and many more such sudden blasts, and wide- spreading contagions, we have in one of Mr. Wesley's Jour- nals ; who must have the heart of a stone, not to feel the misery ; and the heart of a tyrant, or inquisitor, to rejoice and triumph at it. And what shall we say to these things ? or how account for them ? I take it for granted, that we are not sufficiently acquainted with the constitution of nature, and the laws of the Creator ; particularly not with the human frame ; how soul and body act upon each other; how other beings and parts of the creation may act upon either; and especially in a distem- pered state ; a disorder of mind, or body. More knowledge is necessary towards accounting for every kind and degree of infection. In general we hear much, and no doubt truly, of contagions communicated by the air; by the eye, the voice, the touch, the breath, effluvia and vapors consisting of subtle particles, and of a very penetrating nature. In distempers (besides those universally allowed to be conta- gious) epilepsies, convulsions, the chin-cough, &c. are by many brought under this class ; and, perhaps many more disorders, both of mind and body, are of the catching kind, than is commonly admitted. It hath been observed of superstition, and enthusiasm in particular, that they are very catching and infectious, running like wild-fire from breast to breast. That the affections and passions of the mind cannot only change a person's own body, but make impres- sions upon another, so as to give, or take away, divers diseases, mental and corporal ; and that a corrupted and polluted imagination is capable of corrupting and polluting the ambient air ; so that those who suck it in shall be thrown into the same malady. Thus it is affirmed in Plutarch, " I 1 3 Journ. p. 6165. 286 The Enthusiasm of pronounce it confidently, that all the passions of the soul, being well rooted, will induce evil habits, and being moved on any occasion will carry persons, even against their wills, into these natural and familiar affections." ' Nor will it be thought strange, that the contagion should have a quicker and stronger effect, when it catcheth persons of weak heads and understandings; or of weak, sickly, ten- der and delicate nerves and spirits, which are so easily affected. Nor is it strange, if this should be much more the case ; when the company are of the same cast and com- plexion of body, and turn of mind ; the same temper and distemper. The least spark falling upon persons already heated will soon rise into a flame. To make use of Dr. Hartley's sentiments ; " Enthusiasm may be defined, a mis- taken persuasion of being peculiar favorites with God. Tliis works generally in persons of strong fancies, and little judgment, especially where there is a natural disposition, and that fermented by disease. The convulsive motions are apt to return of themselves ; and seeing a person in con- vulsions is apt to occasion them in persons of nervous and irritable frames. And there is reason to believe, that some enthusiasts and impostors have been able to throw them- selves into convulsions by a voluntary power ; and particu- larty, as it seems, by introducing strong ideas, and internal feelings." This contagious communication may be illustrated by the case of persons bit by the tarantula, " a venomous, Italian spider, whose sting causes the same appearances with the hysterical affections. The disorder is sometimes counter- feited by wanton women, but is often a real malady ; the person bit being seized with a difficulty of breathing, univer- sal fainting and trembling ; and growing by degrees melan- choly, stupid, and strangely timorous. The only cure is music, which sets all the patients a dancing. At the first 1 Sympos. lib. v. q. 7. Methodists and Papists. 287 sound they begin to move their hands and feet, and soon dance with wonderful vigor. In the mean time they lose in a manner the use of all their senses, do many ridiculous and foolish tricks, talk and act obscenely and rudely ; and at the same time, cannot bear the sight of any thing black in general are phrenetic and delirious. But by a continuance of the music they are sweated and agitated into health. We may allow somewhat to the determinate force, and particu- lar modulation of the trembling percussions of the air, made by the musical chords upon the elastic fibres of the brain. This we see in the common experiment of two musical instruments, tuned both to the same pitch : the strings of the one being struck, the correspondent strings of the other will sound." This from Dr. Mead's Account of the Tarantula. See also Chambers, in Tarantula and Tarantismus. Accordingly, as one and the same maggot bites the Me- thodists, who are much of the same complexion of body, and turn of mind; the same effects are equally produced in all. They are a sort of unisons, screwed up to the same key ; one being struck, the rest answer to the given note ; and by that propagation, (or some secret sympathy,) are struck in the same manner ; and all are seized, as soon as they are worked up to the same degree of enthusiasm. Of the same contagious nature is what is called St. Vitus ? s dance; imputed by some to hysterics, convulsions, &c. This distemper raged much in Germany ; seizing most sort of people, especially the vulgar, who in great numbers be- came horridly furious, running about roaring, foaming, till their breath failed. This happened particularly when they visited St. Vitus's chapel; and might be -thought a just punishment for their loving a false and wicked religion, had not their cure followed by prayer to St. Vitus. In the dialogue of Plato, called Ion, Socrates egiegiously derideth that vain creature ; " who pretended an ability, above all mankind, to explain Homer, and inspire others with his knowledge ; for which he deserved a golden crown. 288 The Enthusiasm of Socrates observes, that the enthusiastic fury of a poet was not an art, but divine imitation ; which, like the load-stone, not only draweth iron, but communicateth the same quality through a whole chain. And thus a divine seizure shall run through a whole series of enthusiasts, as it were by sympa- thy ; one catching it from another. All speak most divinely, when they are out of their senses, and, like the Corybantes and Bacchanals, are instigated by madness, by an obsession of their peculiar deity. His words and gestures, his tone and modulation alone strike them, one after another ; to all other rites they are imrnoveable." * In Lucian, de Syria Dea, we have an account of her mysteries ; wherein " those, who carry the image of their deity, are whirled about as with a vertigo, the deity leaping from one into another. In these mysteries attend a great number of holy men, and furious fanatical women, for the sake of prayer. The priests begin the ceremony, and while they are celebrating the orgia, making horrid noises, cutting themselves, &c. the fury presently seizeth the rest, and many, who came only as spectators, are acted in the same manner." Besides these mysteries, (which may be reckoned as types and shadows of Methodism,) some common incidents in life may farther illustrate the case of a contagious propagation. Upon seeing a person yawn, others, not disposed to it before, are set a yawning. The hearing a grating sound, or seeing another eat crabbed fruit, is apt to set our own teeth on edge. How often are people frighted, (even by persons in a joke,) into distortions, convulsions, and other grievous dis- orders ? Or, perhaps, thrown into madness by some affect- ing object of the same nature? In distempers, small-pox, plague, &c. how often, and easily, will fear alone draw the infection ; or seeing another, though at a distance, with the fresh marks upon him ? Deep cogitation upon the distein- 1 Edit, Gerran. torn. i. p. 530. Methodists and Papists. 289 per bringing the distemper, and imagination hatching the very malady on which it sat brooding. How strong is ima- gination in women with child? and how common, when disappointed of what they have longed for, or upon seeing some monstrous object, to catch the impression, and com- municate to their children the same marks which were the object of their desire or aversion ? Even strong and healthy persons, by some miserable spectacle, will sometimes grow ill, and their constitution suddenly be altered by an emotion and alteration of the spirits, humours and blood. Much more then will a diseased body or mind, be thrown into a bad condition, even by a small incident ; and dismal and tragical objects must have a powerful effect, and stick close to weak spirits and melancholy tempers. "Why therefore should not vapors and effluvia from a Methodist, (supposed to be inspired, or distempered, or possessed,) work themselves into the breasts of the by-standers, and communicate similar effects ? Why should not hope, or fear, or expectation, of what they are taught to expect, added to sight and feeling, naturally cause the same marks and deformities, upon which their mind hath been so intent ? In general, why should not the contagion sweep away all before it ? Cur non stimuletur, eatque Per cognata suis exempla furoribus Ino ? I SECTION 34. As to particular instances of this conta- gious nature, I shall select a few from history. Lucian relates " a disease seizing almost all the citizens of Abdera ; a sort of fever, which had a very ridiculous effect. They were all instigated to a loud roaring, singing scraps of tragedy, and especially out of the Andromeda of Euripides, Cupid, Prince of Gods and Men, &c. The Enthusiasm continued during the heat of the summer, but left them at winter." * ' Metam. 4. 430. z Vol. ii. Pag. i. Ed. Amst. 1743^ Method. T 290 The Enthusiasm of Laurent. Ananias says, " Those infernal harpies, the devils, so defile and infect the places they haunt, that all, who come near them, shall run fanatical and mad : as it lately happened in the orphan's hospital at Rome ; where in one night more than fifty girls were possessed." 1 Some- thing like this was the eiFect of the charming Bourignon's institution. For " in an hospital of poor girls, whom she charitably governed, she discovered them all to be witches in express compact with the devil." 5 These accounts may not perhaps in all respects agree with the case of Mr. Wesley's patients. That popish fanaticism must run parallel to it, I was persuaded in my own mind, but could not be fully satisfied, till I met with some cases in Wierus de Pra^stigiis, which come up to a complete com- parison. " Wonderful and horrible was the vexation of some religious nuns at Wert, seized by the devil, who, by means of some salt brought to them by an old w oman, were grievously tormented ; some with laughing fits, some horrid- ly convulsed and contorted, or lying down as dead. These tortures continued among them in the nunnery for three years." 3 " A case not unlike was that of some virgins consecrated to the strict rules of St. Bridget; who were tormented in divers strange manners, leaping about, and screaming out horribly, their jaws contracted, &c. The cause of this tragedy was imputed to a virgin in love w ith a young man; but her parents thought it an unsuitable match. While she was in this anguish, the devil appeared to her in the shape of that young man, persuading her to be a professed nun. She complied ; and no sooner was clois- tered, but struck with a fury, she became a horrid spectacle to all, in various respects. And the evil, as by contagion, passed into many others of the nuns." Of the same nature were the monstrous convulsions of all kinds inflicted by the 1 Mall. Malef. Tom. H. Part ii. p. 63. * Solid. Virt. Introd. 3 Lib. Ui: Cap. 9, 10, 11, 12. Methodists and Papists. 291 devil upon the virgins in the nunnery of Kentorp, which seized them once a day, or oftener, continuing sometimes for several hours. Some of them on the accession of the malady, on account of the convulsions of the spiritual parts, and the tongue, could not speak. They were not equally torn ; but some more, and some less. But this was almost universal, that when any one of them was seized, the rest, though in separate apartments, hearing only the tumultuous noise of the former, were tormented in the same miserable way. In order to discover the origin, increase, and tragical issue of this calamity, and to prevent other such attempts and horrible vexations of Satan ; I shall truly relate, in few words, what upon diligent enquiry I received from Anne Lemgou's own mouth, a sensible virgin, and one in this nunnery. She was first taken with a pain in her left hypochondrium, and being deemed epileptic, was sent to the monastery of Nonhert, to drink out of St. Cornelius's scull ; whereby the nuns told about, but falsely, that she was better. Afterwards grow ing worse, together with other nuns, they went to the conjurer, who told them, they were be- witched by Alice Kamentz. The devil, taking a handle from this, began tormenting them with manifold convulsions, tumblings on the ground, depriving them of their senses, making them bite and beat one another ; so that they seemed not to be in their own power. Anna, in her fits, spoke as if another spoke through her : she understood what she said, but, after speaking, entirely forgot it. When she would pray seriously, she was so hindered by the evil one, that she could not move her tongue. But whenever she run over her beads without thought and attention, she did it with ease and pleasure ; Satan not hindering her. If a good person spoke to her, she seemed as punished by the devil. But if other women talked to her of ludicrous matters, she was wonderfully pleased. When shaw r as exorcised, she seemei to vomit an incredible quantity of blood, but felt no hurt. But this was common to all the virgins thus possessed by 292 The Enthusiasm of the devil, that, together with irregular pains, they had a. creeping sensation under the soles of their feet, as if burned with hot water. The devil was used to speak frequently, and much out of the mouths of the younger girls, when deprived of their senses, and terrify them with visions, and appearing to them in divers shapes. As to Anna herself, when her parents had taken her out of the nunnery, and she had taken a firm resolution never to return to it, but to serve God out of it in a sounder mind, the calamity was at an end." This certainly was an excellent remedy. And yet enthusiasm had such hold of her, that " whenever the mother abbess sent her but a letter, all her body was in a horror, as if she was relapsing. At length she married, and felt no more of her disorder. She added, that Alice Kamentz her- self would sometimes be, as it were, epileptic, and talk senselessly ; and the nuns concluded, she brought this evil on herself, that she might not seem to have bewitched others. Hence they imputed their torments neither to God, nor to the devil, but to Alice Kamentz." Wier relates farther, " how the contagion soon caught the neighbouring towns and villages, especially five persons, whom a certain preacher had taken into his chamber, in order to guard them against the devices of Satan." He relates too some other cases of this infectious nature, which cannot decently be transcribed. These several circumstances so exactly tally with Mr. "Wesley's patients, I think, in every particular, that they stand in need of no application. Nor is it necessary to determine precisely, who, or what, is the cause. Popery and Methodism are agreed as to matter of fact ; which is my proper business to shew. One piece of advice, however, in Dr. AVier's words, I would inculcate for avoiding conta- gious company. " If a number of people should be thus possessed in the same place, (as is usual in monasteries, particularly of virgins, whose organs are most exposed to Satan's pranks,) before all things care should be taken to Methodists and Papists. 293 separate them, and send each to their parents and relations ; and not leave them to superstitious priests and impostors, in hopes of a cure from their pretended ceremonies; or think by absurd rites to drive away the devil, who does but laugh at, and delude them. Young persons especially should never be admitted to these horrid spectacles, lest being frighted with the uncommonness and violence of the torments, they should contract the evil themselves." z On the contrary, Mr. Wesley is labouring heartily to bring as many such together as he can, especially of the younger sort ; and to see them groaning, convulsed, struck to the ground, and striking others down in heaps, by sympathy, or contagion ; and the more the better : this is his peculiar business, his trade and his joy. This article therefore I conclude in the words of M. Casaubon : " To commend this to ordinary people, and to women especially, is to persuade them to madness, and to expose them to the illusions of the devil, always ready to take such advantages. The use of this theology doth most properly belong to Jesuits, and Jesuited politicians ; who have no better way to bring their designs to pass, than by the hands of those, whom they have brought up to these mystical arts ; who, besides their common obliga- tion of blind obedience, by long, forced, wild contemplation, are become ecstatical, i. e. fitted for any desperate attempt. Let others admire witches and magicians as much as they will, I honor and admire a good physician much more, who can (as God's instrument) by his knowledge of nature, bring a man to his right wits again, when he hath lost them ; and I tremble (homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto) when I think that one madman is enough to infect a whole province." * SECTION 35. This case of sympathy and contagion may perhaps receive additional light, by considering what sort of persons are most likely to fall into enthusiasm, particularly ' Lib. iv. Cap. 89. * Enthus.'p. 281-3. 294 The Enthusiasm of that of Methodism; and consequently into these dreadful disor- ders and torments, both of body and mind. This shall be done partly in my own words, partly by their Pagan and Popish allies, and partly by their quondam favorite Mr. Law, in his treatise of regeneration; for which he has incurred Mr. Wesley's indignation. (1.) Young persons, boys and girls. These being arrived neither to ripeness of reason, nor solid constitution of body, are easily moved by hopes and fears ; are credulous, soon possessed with stories of witches, apparitions, or any thing marvellous ; soft and ductile, fitted to receive any impres- sions, to fancy visions, to receive infection; in general, from a tenderness of frame easily struck dow r n, or prepared to follow others by imitation. Hence we hear so often of " young boys and girls, and children, in the Methodists' journals, grievously distressed for their souls, crying out in faith, dropping down, &c. ' Hence their account of the Lord's revealing himself to a girl of about seven years old, in an amazing manner ; so that, wTapped up in his spirit, she sunk to nothing, prophesied ; with many such instances of the out-pouring of the Spirit."* Hence " that idle boy, J ohn Woolley, thought there was never in the world such a wicked child as himself; after he had heard Mr. Wesley, the devil set upon him with all his might, but suddenly he is surrounded with an inexpressible light ; and says, ' though I am not in heaven yet, I am as sure of it, as if I was ;' and afterwards Christ came and talked with him. He lived some months above thirteen years." 3 Hence, " several were constrained to roar aloud, and these generally not young, as in most other places ; but either middle-aged, or older." * It might here be observed from variety of histories, that witchcraft and magic have the most powerful effects upon children, who are usually the subjects of their operation and cruelty. 1 See INTRODUCTION, Part r. Sect. 7. * See Enthus. Part i. p. 103. - Wesley, 5 Journ. p. *7. * Ibid. p. 78. Methodists and Papists. 295 Plutarch mentions it as something extraordinary, " that the Thibii near Pontus, by a look, breathing, or a word, Mould fascinate not only children, but persons of full age. VV r hereas only children, of a tender and moist constitution, were usually thus affected, these effects seldom happening to solid and compact bodies." 1 Particularly as to young persons, Tertullian tells us, that the " heathen magicians, among other miraculous impostures, were wont to knock down and stun boys to make them pro- phesy." 1 [Pueros in eloquinm oraculi elidunt ;] i. e. says Rigaltius, " consternunt. For being inchanted, they fell down as epileptic ; and afterwards having lost their senses, they spoke oracularly, and uttered prophecies." Accord- ingly, Apuleius (the famous Platonist, one initiated into the great mysteries, and suspected of sorcery) was formally accused of magic, as having drawn the affections of a rich woman by inchantments, and also being used to strike down a boy flat on the pavement, and deprive him of his senses, for magical purposes. 3 And how doth he defend himself ? He owns the fact of the boy's falling before him, as in a fit : but pleads partly in defence of magic, as foreshewing the mind of the gods, by miracles and divination ; partly by denying that he made use of any wicked kind of magic ; and partly affirming, that the prostration of the boy was not from inchantment, but disease ; and nothing but mere epi- lepsy. He brings, however, instances of inchanted boys, from great authorities, who foretold things miraculously. But whether this could really be done, he will neither con- fess nor deny." Our Methodist teachers acknowledge and boast, that " their young disciples are often thrown to the ground, be- come senseless, are illuminated, prophetic, &c. and that either by the operation of Satan, or themselves." If this be 1 Sympos. Lib. v. Qu. 7. * Apoleg. Cap. 23. 3 Apul. Edit. Delphin. Paris, p. 446, 450, 473-490. 296 The Enthusiasm of true, it certainly comes near to sorcery and magic. They may be allowed whatever may be pleaded in favor of ancient magicians ; but their best plea would be to prove the case epileptic, or some similar distemper. (2.) The next persons, thus affected are women ; who, (notwithstanding some exceptions) may, without offence, be called the weaker vessels. They are not, however, my own expressions, but those of exorcists, and others of the papacy, and even female saints ; who describe " the sex as weak, vain, full of curiosity, and lovers of novelty, easily gained by a shew of piety, and especially any fraternities setting up for some austere reformation: these qualities making them fit organs of Satan's illusions, and most ex- posed to superstition and enthusiasm." 1 " Some think themselves tormented by the devil when it is only imagina- tion; and this in women more than men, because more timorous, and more susceptible of imaginary, marvellous appearances, visions and revelations; their very nature being of an easier and softer impression." 2 " Father Francis Goncius had the honor of extirpating a spreading hypocrisy among the women, who were governed by a simple, or malicious Presbyter. As the sex, in order to gain an opinion of sanctity, is obnoxious to illusions and fictions ; some pretended raptures and sights of the damned, and the blessed ; some in torments, and to be rescued only by the aforesaid Presbyter. These illusions being extinct, F. Francis wanned them all into a religious devotion towards St. Ignatius, and St. Xavier." 3 Picus of Mirandula (Lib. ix. de Pranot.) concludes, that the gift of prophesying was granted to women rather than men, because the most foolish sex. St. Teresa confesseth, that " deceivings in the monasteries are most among the women, whose nature is weak, and their self-love very subtle, and they are deceived 1 See INTRODUCT. p. ii. 32; p. iii. 50. 2 Mall. Malef. Tom. I. p. 181. 3 Franc, Annal. Jesuit, p. 274. Methodists and Papists. 297 of themselves." ' She says, " however, (for the honor of the ladies) that in these monasteries the favors of God to some are very great; astonishing the spectators by rapts, visions, ecstasies, &c. I have known some, who wanting but little of quite losing their judgments, are yet so humble, &c. and desirous of suffering their purgatory here to escape it hereafter." If we look into profane antiquity, we find enough of the Bacchanalian women, &c. The Pythian priestesses were so enthusiastically mad in delivering the oracles, and were so violently torn and convulsed, as some- times to die upon the spot. If we look into ecclesiastical heresies, we find the dance began by Sim. Magus with his inspired prostitute, Helena ; and that not only Montanus had his Priscilla and Maximilla, but almost all made use of women as the fittest organs for inspiration, prophecy, vision, and every delusion. Sulpitius Severus in his sacred history, (those, who have not the book, may consult Bayle in the article Priscillian) gives this account of Priscillian. " He was vehement, restless, eloquent, learned, ready at logic and disputations. Happy indeed, had he not corrupt- ed the best capacity by an evil application; for he had many good qualities of mind and body. He would watch long, bear hunger and thirst ; not covetous of wealth, and very temperate in the use of it. But the same man was the vainest of mortals, puffed up beyond measure on account of his worldly knowledge, and besides was supposed to have practised the magic arts from his youth. When he had broached his pernicious doctrine, by his art of persua- sion, and crafty insinuations, he enticed into his society many of nobility, arid more of the populace. Moreover, the women being fond of new things, unstable in the faith, and of a boundless curiosity, flocked to him in troops. For, by carrying a shew of humility in his face and habit, he had contracted a general reverence." He is likewise described, 1 Life Vol. II. p. 82. 85. 102. 298 The Enthusiasm of as " rash and headstrong, patient of hardships, of a doub- ling genius, crafty and beguiling, eloquent, but very mad." He was instructed and assisted by Agape, an honourable woman, in carrying on the secret mysteries ; and she was the mother of the Agapetae, or love-feasters ; whose rites became by degrees so very scandalous, that St. Jerome tells Oceanus, " you are exposed to the teeth of detractors, unless you dismiss the assemblies of the Agapetae." It may be added, that Priscillian and his followers, though in the sink of corruption, yet assumed high claims to knowledge, illumination and perfection. If we descend lower into Po- pish artifices, we see these saintesses in abundance, accord- ing in all things with Methodism ; as the whole comparison hath shewn. Particularly the diabolical infestations, and surprising contagions, (from Wierus) were all among the nuns. And the greater part of the dramatis personae in the tragi-comedy of Methodism, appear to have been ac- tresses. (3.) Persons of a fickle and inconsistent humour ; these are naturally fond of innovations, acting by starts, and sud- den flights ; and always prepared for the reception of every pretender, that sets up for new-modelling religion. (4.) Persons, though piously inclined, yet of weak judg- ments, or weak nerves ; these are not only easily captivated by fine promises and fair speeches ; but quickly raised with flashes and gusts of spiritual joys, and as quickly over- whelmed with dismal apprehensions ; carried up to heaven by every wind of doctrine, and down again to the deep ; ready softened for the stamp of impulses, impressions > feelings, visions, and most subject (as the weakest heads are soonest made giddy) to bodily agitations and convul- sions, vertigos, &c. (5.) Persons disordered with hypochondriac fumes, and melancholy vapours, and divers other peculiar distempers. These generally love a gloomy and black religion, suiting their divinity to their temper, as every thing turns sour upon Methodists and Papists. 299 a vitiated stomach ; and are more desirous to nourish, than to throw off, their disease ; and for the same reasons become natural and willing victims to the stroke, that fells them to the ground. If the brain is a little touched, and there is something of madness in the case ; this of course prepares people for any wild scheme, desperate attempt, and every sort of extravagant behaviour. (6.) Persons of lively parts, and brisk fancy, (though in a perfect state of health) for want of a solid and settled judgment, may be equally in danger. When the afflatus hath once touched them, from a nimbleness of imagination they are the sooner blown up, and by a connection of ideas impetuously carried on from one whim to another. They are better qualified than a slow capacity, to see, hear, feel, and act what is appointed for them ; as well as to express their sensations in the strongest and most glowing terms. No fervency and zeal, no fluency of language, will be want- ing for a communication of the infection. (7.) Persons of an amorous complexion are as likely as any to fall into enthusiasms ; particularly with respect to some strange transports of divine love. From a similitude, and close correspondence of this passion, considered as natural and religious, we hear, in each case, of such ' melt- ings, languishments, huggings and close embracements of the deity ; such raptures, tumults, sinkings, swoonings, despairings and distraction, and loss of senses.' Plutarch describeth a lover, as " burning, pale, trembling, seized with a vertigo. Is not this, says, he, a manifest inspired fury, a divine possession and agitation of the soul ? What so extraordinary ever happens to the Pythoness, when she toucheth the tripod ? Which of the enthusiastic Corybantes upon hearing the pipe and the timbrel, have been so carried out of themselves ?" ' And a very ingenious and good man, (for such I really think he was,) and who hath carried the 1 Vol. ii. Ed. Par. p. 763. 300 The Enthusiasm of notions of divine love to a sufficient height, though he adopts the sentiment, is yet wise enough to caution against the dan- ger. The person I mean is Mr. Norris, who says, " there is an amorous principle in man, which must necessarily have an object; and, he thinks, persons of the most amorous affections, the most likely to make spiritual lovers. In the love of God, as it is a passion, the motion of the will is attended with a sensible commotion of the spirits, and estu- ation of the blood. It is an experimental truth, that pas- sion is a great instrument of devotion. Accordingly we find that men of the most warm and pathetic tempers, and affectionate complexions, (provided they have but consider- ation enough withal not to mistake the object) prove the greatest votaries in religion." Burton too, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, often mentions hypochondriac enthusiasm as prone to venery. Mr. Westley Hall became one, it seems, of the still bre- thren, has publicly and zealously pleaded for the most in- famous carnalities. Nor doth Mr. Wesley himself seem sufficiently upon his guard, when he commendeth so highly, '*' that mother in Israel, Jane Muncy, because she withstood to the face those who were teaching for doctrines the com- mandments of men, by ordering, that the unmarried men and women should have no conversation with each other." ' There needs not any zealous contention for such promiscuous assemblies ; even though many should hereby become mothers in Israel. I shall on this head beg room for a few passages out of the great Master of nature ; because so consonant to several of the dispositions before related. Enthusiasts often term their extravagancies a spiritual drunkenness. In like manner Aristotle makes a compari- son between " the nature and effects of wine, and those of melancholy, or the black bile. 2 Each maketh men various, 1 i Journ. p. 95. * Aristotl. Problem. Sect. 30. Methodists and Papists. 301 angry, loving, quiet, fierce, silent, talkative. Wirie finding men cold and sullen, by a gradual increase of the dose ren- ders them more talkative, eloquent and confident; then quarrelsome, raging, and even mad ; at last turneth them into stupid fools, like persons epileptic, or deeply melan- choly. The same man continues not long in the same humour ; he laughs and cries, is timorous and bold ; is filled both with heat and wind ; whereby Venus is the usual com- panion of Bacchus. And for the same reason your melan- choly men are generally lascivious, as being very flatulent. The black bile is one of the coldest and hottest of things ; naturally cold, and bringing on apoplexy, stupor, de- spondency, and terrors : but once set on fire, it produceth singing, security, ecstasies and inflammations. Many from the approach of this heat to the seat of the mind, are seized with mad and enthusiastic fits ; become sibyls, bacchanals, and inspired. Nothing so various and inconstant as this black humour; now chilling men with fear and trembling; soon raising again their courage ; oppressing us with sorrow and despondency, we know not why; then making us rejoice and exult, for as little reason, &c." He then inquireth into the reasons, " why the agents in the Bacchanalian Mysteries are, for the most part, persons of such bad morals." To such constitutional disorders is the human kind subject; and if the managers of Methodism can turn these natural causes and effects into so many principles and proofs of true religion, they must be allowed some share of artifice and contrivance. (8.) Persons of bad principles will be fond of mingling with an enthusiastic sect. As, for instance, hypocrites, who laying hold of devout appearances, and high pretensions to religion, are desirous to pass upon the world for saints ; in order to deceive the more effectually. Persons of a vain and ambitious mind, who love to be somebody in a new dispensation, that makes a little noise in the world; and knowing how unable they are to make a figure elsewhere, 302 The Enthusiasm of * must needs be at the head of a separate party or sect ; or else, from mere conceitedness, will set up to be teachers, preachers, or expounders. Hence Mr. Brainerd owns, that Satan has gained an advantage, " spiritual pride ap- pearing in an ambition to be teachers of others." ' To which he afterwards addeth, that " spiritual pride and delusions naturally lay a foundation for scandalous practices." Hence so many ignorant, saucy boys and women ramble about the country, picking the pockets of silly people, as Methodist preachers. To whom, however, Mr. Wesley gives authority, because God gave them wisdom from above."* SECTION 36. We come now to the cure of these horrible sufferings. Some of Mr. Wesley's cures are plainly declared to be miraculous ; and others represented with such a mira- culous air, as cannot fail of succeeding with his followers. He says of himself, " I was suddenly seized with such a pain in my side, that I could not speak. I knew my remedy, and immediately kneeled down. In a moment the pain was gone." 3 Again: " I was seized with such a cough, that I could hardly speak. At the same time came strongly into my mind, * these signs shall follow them that believe.' I called on Jesus aloud to increase my faith, and to confirm the word of his grace. While I was speaking, rny pain vanished away. The fever left me. My bodily strength returned," 4 The credulity of some of your followers will readily swal- low it. But why will you teach them such a presumptuous lesson ; and which their own experiences, I doubt, would confute ? Suppose any should be seized in the same man- ner, with pain, loss of speech, a cough, or fever ; and should immediately kneel down, beg an increase of faith, a con- firmation of God's word ; will you answer for their perfect ' Journ. p. 103. z Enthus. 2d Part, p. 255. 3 4 Journ. p. 77. * P. 83. Methodists and Papists. 303 cure in a moment ? Or, if they should not obtain it, into what do you lead them, but into a disbelief of God's word, miracles, goodness and providence ? What must they think, but that they are castaways ; have no pardon, no faith ; and thereby fall into despair ; in which mire they are so often wallowing? However, you came off a little better than Cardan, one of your whimsical brethren ; who says, " I will relate another thing. (For my whole life abounds with such examples.) I was so ill of a pleurisy, that I despaired of life. I had read in some collections of my father, that if any one at eight in the morning, on the calends of April, would entreat the Blessed Virgin on his bended knees, for any thing lawful, he should obtain his request. I observed punctually the day and hour, and made my supplication ; and then, not instantly indeed, but on Corpus Christi day in the same year, I was wholly set free. Afterwards, re- membering this fact, I made my supplication in the gout, (for my father had produced two instances of persons thus cured of that distemper;) and it made me much better, and soon perfectly healed. But in this, I had recourse like- wise to medicines." ' Mr. Wesley again ; " This evening I received two blows. But both were as nothing; for though one man struck me on the breast with all his might, and the other on the mouth with such a force, that the blood gushed out immediately, I felt no more pain from either of the blows, than if they had touched me with a straw." 2 Here is personal proof of his doctrine of insensibility, and that " the servants of God suffer nothing." Their feeling is quick enough, when there is nothing to be felt ; but let them have a wound, or blow, given with the utmost force, their sensation is lost ; it is but the gentle touch of a straw. However, I give, at least, as much credit to the relation in the Breviary, (in mum Sarum) that " when the officers would bind St. Clement to a pillar, in order to whip him, 1 Vita Prtp. c. 37. * 5 Journ. p. 119, 304 The Enthusiasm of they found they were only binding and whipping a post ;" * God substituting a log of wood in the place of the saint's body. SECTION 37. I shall pass over many tales of this won- derful nature in Mr. Wesley's Journals, and proceed to consider the bulk and magazine of his miraculous cures, among his falling, convulsed, or otherwise tortured patients ; in which his great strength lies. And what if we should deny the facts ? I mean, so far as any thing of miracle is concerned. Grounds and reasons enough may appear, even from his own accounts. From his numerous accounts there- fore let us select a few instances of this kind. " When he (the Newgate physician) saw her body and soul healed in a moment, he acknowledged the finger of God." a " He then beat himself against the ground again ; his breast heaving, as in the pangs of death, and great drops of sweat trickling down his face. We all betook ourselves to prayer. His pangs ceased, and both his body and soul were set at liberty." 3 " In a moment God spoke peace unto the soul, first, of the first-tormented, and then of the other."* "L y C r's agonies so increased, that it seem- ed she was in the pangs of death. But in a moment God spoke, she knew his voice, and both her body and soul were healed." 5 " Some, whom God permitted Satan to possess with laughing almost without ceasing, and who thus continued, for two days, a spectacle to all, were, upon prayer made, delivered in a moment." 6 These cases, and many other such, (if Mr. Wesley pleaseth) shall be allowed at present to stand upon account as instan- taneous, miraculous cures. Let him only give me credit for a little time. To these he may add, " his twenty-six per- sons thus affected, who were in a moment filled with peace *. 1 Nov. 22. a 3 Journ. p. 43. 3 Ibid. p. 44. + Ibid. p. 99, 5 Ibid. p. 95. 6 4 Journ. p. 38. Methodists and Papists. 305 and joy :" ' Item, his divine removals of disorders, where the patient's case was " not understood, or falsely deemed madness, or natural distemper ; or their being pronounced incurable, or given over, by the physician ; and the neces- sity of a better physician." * The legends of the saints are such common-place books of these wonderful cures, that cart-loads of parallels might be produced. Mr. Wesley says, " he hath read that sur- prising book, the Life of Ignatius Loyola ; surely one of the greatest men, &c. ; " and I find there too many parallels, and similar expressions, to make any doubt of it. For, " when a boy's case was undertaken by a chirurgeon, a more skilful physician was necessary; the boy must be healed by Ignatius. 3 An epileptic woman, biting and tear- ing herself, having tried physicians in vain, by imploring the intercession of the man of God was immediately made as sound and free, as if she had never been disordered. Another receives instantaneous cure both of soul and body. Another grievously tormented, by promising to attend Ignatius's chapel, and go to confession, wonders to find herself cured entirely in an instant. One possessed by the devil was perfectly motionless and speechless ; then again, furious and roaring. Physicians ascribed this unaccount- able disorder to the black bile, but in truth many devils had seized her ; and after her vow to St. Ignatius they all fled, leaving the woman free from all complaints." Such num- bers of miraculous cures may be brought, and so highly redounding to the glory both of Ignatius and Mr. Wesley, that one miracle will probably, and unhappily, be turned upon myself. Mr. Wesley has got such a knack of taking an advantage, that I shall fairly transcribe the story, before he can make the application. Bartolus says, " A religious of a certain order, but unworthy of the religious habit, being 1 3 Journ. p. 59. * Ibid. p. 24. 66. 4 Journ. p. 28. 3 Bartol. Vit. Ign. p. 401. 409. 422. 443, 444. Method. U 306 The Enthusiasm of envious and incredulous, took upon him to write a satire against St. Ignatius. But upon looking back on what he had wrJtteii, he was surprised to find that his hand had wrote what was directly contrary to the dictates of his malicious mind ; for there was nothing but praises of Igna- tius, instead of abuses. Thinking there must have been ,some "mistake, he takes his pen in hand again, in order to rectify the error, and vent his wrath ; and again his hand could do nothing; but set down praises of the saint, instead of railleries. A third time repeating his malicious design, he was deluded in the same manner. Moreover, stupid and artgry as he was, while he was renewing his sacrilegious attempt, his pen jumped out of his hand into the middle of the room, and his hand, turned by an occult power, hit him- self a great blow on the face : so that, at length, being quite ashamed and affrighted, he changed both his style and mind towards the saint." x It is true indeed, that I have been forded, as it were, to display the coruscation of Mr. Wesley's miracles ; this moment my pen is in my hand, not yet leap- ing out of it, and ready (contrary to my intention) to make a small addition. " A pestilent disease raged at this time ; some dead, others dying. Application is made to the fathers of the society, who send the image of St. Ignatius among them. And from the time of this image being brought, all who implored the saint's healing hand, grew perfectly well, not one excepted ; not even those who were in extremes." * Now admitting only, (and who will deny it?) that Mr. Wesley is the image of St. Ignatius ; he will afford a like case. " I visited the sick. Most of them were ill of the spotted fever ; which, they informed me, had been ex- tremely mortal ; few persons recovering from it. But God had said, ' Hitherto shalt thou come.' I believe, there was not one, where we were, but recovered." ' Bat whatever miracles Mr. Wesley may bring to account ; 1 Barto], p. 445. ~ Ibid. p. 448. 3 4 Journ. p. 61. Methodists and Papists. 307 T judge, that I ought to be impartial, and make proper deductions, whatever be the event ; though, in consequence, I should be miraculised into dread and shame, for tarnishing his glory. SECTION 38. One may observe then, that a great num- ber of his cures were very imperfect, and of short con- tinuance ; and that many of his patients grow worse and die; all from his own accounts. " A woman cried out, as in the agonies of death. The minister of the parish told her husband she w r as mad. The physicians bleed, blister her, and so on ; till the last night, He, whose word was sharper than any two-edged sword, gave her a faint hope, that he would undertake her cure." ' Nor is any more said of her. " A few of us prayed for him ; and from that time (as his parents since informed us) he had more rest (although not a fall deliverance) than he had had for two years before."* No farther account of him. " Many dropped down as dead. The pains of hell came about them.- We called upon the Lord, and he gave us an answer of peace. One indeed continued an hour in strong pain, and one or two more for three days. Another continues so twelve or fourteen hours." 3 " Others were eased, though not set at liberty." " Another in a despairing lit eased, but not set at liberty." * " A woman catched hold on me, and said abruptly, ' I must speak with you, and will. I have sinned against the light, beyond forgiveness. I have been cursing you in my heart, and blaspheming God, ever since I came here. I am damned. I am in hell, &c.' I desired some, who had great confidence in God, to join in crying to him in her behalf. Immediately that horrible dread was taken away, and she began to see some dawnings of hope." 5 "Another is left, 1 SJourn. p. 24. * Ibid. p. 20. 3 Ibid. p. 61. 4 Ibid. p. 68, 69. 5 4 Journ. p. 24. 308 The Enthusiasm of for the present, in peace." ' " Edward W , ill several days, in deep despair. We cried unto God, and a little light shone upon him." z Some of these strange fits are of long continuance, and gradually removed ; in others we find frequent returns and relapses; in some vicissitudes and intervals of rage and calmness; of sudden despair, and as sudden joy: 3 some grow better by prayer, others worse : 4 some lose the use of their limbs, and many die. 5 My reason for being so particular in these cases is not to fix any blame on Mr. Wesley for not curing all his patients ; or for not doing it immediately, or at once, &c. but to have it observed, that all is perfectly consonant to the nature of fits, as of fevers, convulsions, hysterics, epilepsies, swoon- ings, and the like ; in which we need no authorities to prove, that some recover instantly, some not without longer time, and some never ; that these fits have all their natural periods, some longer, and some shorter; returns fewer, or more; remissions, intermissions, and lucid intervals; different according to people's different tempers and distempers, or the different kind or degree of the disorder; and, I may add, all easily and frequently counterfeited. Let us see Mr. Wesley restore instantaneously a withered arm, a leg that is cut off, or supply the defect of any limb ; and it may deserve our consideration. But little conviction will follow from his creation of miracles out of natural fits ; all w ill be deemed mere distemper. A power of working miracles he positively asserts ; " God setting his seal to their ministry ;" and " so many living witnesses hath God given, that his hand is still stretched out to heal, and that signs and wonders are even now wrought by his holy child Jesus." 6 Nor let him cavil (as he hath done) "that these things, seeming to go beyond the power of nature, were yet 1 4 Jcurn. p. 66. * Ibid. p. 10. 81. 3 3 Journ. p. 61. 68.93 6. 4 4 Journ. p. 64, 65. 5 5 Journ. p. 10. 77. 6 3 Journ. p. 40. Methodists and Papists. 309 not done by his own power or holiness ; but by the power of God ;" ' and that a Methodist preacher is only God's instrument in the work. For which even of the apostles ever claimed more? Nor is it any great mark of his modesty, or self-denial, that his pretensions rise no higher than those of St. Peter, or St. Paul. Greater things, I confess, are performed by Popish saints ; and I have sometimes wondered the Roman Breviary should still retain so many extravagant and fabulous miracles ; as that concerning St. Stanislaus, " whose body being cut to pieces, and his limbs scattered about the fields, were all afterwards gathered up, disposed in their proper places, and so closely and exactly joined of a sudden, that not the least traces or marks of any wound appeared." 5 But it is matter of no wonder, that the Jesuits and Franciscans should cry up the miracles of their founders, as superior to those of the prophets and apostles; or that lying wonders in general, miraculous cures and exorcisms, are the perpetual boasting of the man of sin: to bring instances would be superfluous. Let them enjoy them all, as a part of their indelible character ; and let Mr. Wesley triumph in his emulation ; and hereby draw a gaping, stupid reverence from his " wild, staring, loving societies." 3 These are his own words, in describing one of them ; as if he designed to draw to himself that com- parison. " His deadly wound was healed, and the world wandered after the beast." 4 S ECTION 39. Something more, however, may be brought, by way of deduction. One so well skilled in physic may, for the most part, make a probable conjecture, when the fit will be off, or at least abate. But should it continue longer than was expected, he is ready with a solution. If short, God doth it immediately; if long, God del ay eth relief. For 1 Fart. A pp. p. 122 t. a May 7. 3 5 Journ. p. 76. * Rev. xiii. 3. 310 The Enthusiasm of instance ; " On several evenings this week many were deeply convinced ; but none were delivered from that painful con- viction. The children came to the birth ; but there was not strength to bring forth. I fear we have grieved the spirit of the jealous God, by questioning his work : and that therefore he is withdrawn from us for a season. Two more were in strong pain, both their souls and bodies being well- nigh torn asunder. But though we cried unto God, there was no answer, neither did He as yet deliver them at all." ' The Papists have the same ready turn, when the devil is obstinate, or the fit long. " For the sins of the possessed sometimes deserve, that they should not immediately be delivered from the devils; and so by the just judgment of God, the most efficacious exorcisms are of no service. Sometimes also the sins of others, not possessed, are the reason of the Spirit's delay ; they want faith, and full hope of obtaining deliverance."* For another deduction, it is observable, that, in several cases of a settled disorder, Mr. Wesley doth not so much as attempt a cure ; and it is prudently done. Where the pa- tient hath not transient fits, his power faileth. Thus, " I was desired to meet one who was ill of a very uncommon dis- order. She said, e For several years I have heard a voice continually speaking to me, cursing, swearing, blaspheming^ &c. I have applied to physicians, and taken all sorts of medicines, but am never the better/ 'No,' replies he, 'nor ever will till a better physician than these bruises Satan under her feet.' " 3 So again, in " that instance of genuine enthusiasm, (and in truth direct madness,) when J B , of Tanfield-Leigh, came hollowing and shouting through the town, driving all people before him, and saying, God had told him he should be a king, and tread all his enemies under his feet ; ' I sent him home,' says Mr. Wes- 1 3 Jorn. p. 68. * Thyrae. Daemon, p. 173. 3 5 Journ. p. 56. Methodists and Papists. 311 ley, ' immediately, to his work, and advised him to cry day and night to God.'" ' This is all that is said, or done, in both cases. The disorders were gone too far, beyond the paroxysms of a fit ; no laurels to be gathered by undertaking fi cure of such difficult and tedious operation. In these cir- cumstances he might truly say, " What do you think I can do ? " And therefore he wisely taketh that advice to exor- cists, never to attempt any thing above their strength : to which is added, the example of St. Anthony, who, when a boy, said to be possessed, was brought to him, immediately knew it was too potent a spirit for him to eject. And Pope Gregory (Dialog, lib. i. c. 10.) showeth, " that the man is possessed with a devil himself, who dares attempt the expulsion of a devil in a case beyond his power." * We may allege too what Irenaeus says of the pretended miracles of some heretics in his days ; " They cannot drive away all devils, but only those whom themselves have put in." I will produce the whole passage, for the sake of the comparison in several particulars. " Simon, and Carpo- crates, and others who are said to work wonders, do it not by the power of God ; nor in truth ; nor doing any good ; but by magical delusions and fraud, doing more mischief than benefit to the credulous persons, whom they have seduced. For they can neither give sight to the blind, nor hearing to the deaf; nor drive away all devils, but only those whom themselves have put in ; if, however, they do even this. Much less can they raise the dead." 3 Whether those dreadful maladies among the Methodists are put in by Mr. Wesley or Satan, (for both have their claim,) I leave themselves to decide at their next conference. The expression above, of doing more hurt than good, suggesteth one more deduction. For I am persuaded your method, Mr. Wesley, hath hindered the cure of several persons ; if not occasioned their death. After your con- 1 5 Journ. p. 79. * Thyra. Daemon, p. 121, 122. 3 Lib. ii. c. 5TV 312 . The Enthusiasm of temptuous treatment of natural means, and the skilful in their profession as all physicians of no value ; (though both ordained by God to give ease, and prolong liie :) after your calling application to natural means, " sending people to the devil for cure ; to company, idle books and diversions ;" ' (which, with submission to your superior wisdom, may be of great use :) what genuine Methodist will think of consult- ing the faculty ; especially as persons disordered like those in Methodism, have from the very nature of the disease an aversion to the proper remedies ? This I take to have been the misfortune of the Kitchens, who were as genuine Methodists as can well be conceived; plunging into the vicissitudes of light and darkness, presumption and de- spair, faith and infidelity; with every peculiarity of wild enthusiasm; till their heated brains threw them into that calenture, and malignant fever, of which both of them died. And not a word is mentioned, in the account of their deaths, of physician, apothecary, or other rational remedy and assistance. This unnatural conduct may perhaps be defended from some popish examples : as of that " monk, who being very infirm, foolishly consulted the physicians. One day he saw the Virgin Mary come with a box of most precious electuary, and giving each monk a spoonful of it with her most sweet hand, as they went into the chapel. Our monk was exceed- ingly rejoiced at this. But when he passed by, she repelled him with indignation ; ' Go, make use of your medicines, you shall have none of mine, seeing you apply to physicians, without depending upon me.' The monk blushed, and immediately threw away all his medicines." * But, on the other hand, Wierus observes, " that true exor- ( Lsts used first to purge the possessed from the black bile, and other peccant humors, before they set about their con- jurations. And he gives instances of persons perfectly 1 3 Journ. p. 66. ~ Specul. Exempl. Dist. iii. ex.28. Methodists and Papists. 313 cured by physic, when no exorcisms were of any service." ' And a more genuine Papist, the author of Complementum Artis Exorcisticae, (in Doctrin. 11.) owneth, " that if the ex- orcist doth not call in a physician, he will incur great danger. I myself, saith he, having seen some exorcists, who have killed men for want of the physician's advice, to the great detriment of their consciences." 1 This may be true. And yet there might be greater dan- ger on the other hand. For as far as physic should bring a cure, or assistance, so far the reputation of the exorcist would suffer diminution. And if the patients were complete- ly cured ; there would be an end of all their extraordinary prophecies, visions, assurances, and the like, which they utter in their fits ; an end of the art hereby employed for raising a new sect, or a new saint ; an end of miraculous claims. Both Papist and Methodist must be very sensible of such unlucky consequences. Were matters brought to this pass, who should ecstatically predict the florishing state of the society ? who see their relations in Heaven ? who have Christ and angels attending them at their death ? who abound in revelations ? So that in proportion as the dis- tempered person is relieved, the Methodist is lost. And to what purpose then have they made all this noise ? In this view, one might as well advise the most effectual remedy of all ; that of never coming among the Methodists, by way of prevention ; or leaving them, by way of cure ; or turning off their leader. This happened to be the event in the case of the nuns of Kentorp, before related ; " the person who first brought those strange convulsions, and uncommon distempers among them, and spread the con- tagion, no sooner married, and apostatised from the society, but the fits immediately ceased in the nunnery, and there was no more occasion for exorcisms, or other supernatural interpositions.' 3 1 Prat&tig. lib. iv. c. 23. * Mall. Malef. torn. ult. p. 26. 3 Wier. p. 404. 314 The Enthusiasm of In cases of witchcraft too, sudden and strange cures are said to be effected by the death of the witch. The History of Witchcraft says, " Another thing worthy of notice is, that the execution of some that have lately died hath been imme- diately attended with a strange deliverance. By the cruel effects of witchcraft, and force of the devil, many poor pecple have been driven into despair, their minds being puzzled with such buzzes of atheism and blasphemy, as 'fiave made them even run distracted with terrors ; who have wonderfully recovered upon the death of the witches." ' Immediately follows a particular instance of two witches, who making the room light by their coming in, tormented a poor woman into distraction ; but upon their execution she was presently and perfectly recovered. SECTION 40. But, because I w r ould favor Mr. Wesley, as far as the nature of the case will admit ; let us for once suppose, that he hath actually performed several miraculous cures, and removed from many of his followers the most horrible disorders. But let him likewise remember, that he brought these calamities upon them himself, (unless Satan must bear a part,) and " struck them to the earth, (where they roared under agonies beyond all description,) by the strength of his preachments: and that upon careful examination he found, that all of them (not one, he thinks, excepted) were persons in perfect health, and had not been subject to fits of any kind, till thus affected." And then the 'account will stand thus : " After trailing them through a series of tortures, he set them down just where he took them up, and left them, as he found them." Which may be illustrated by a story from Plutarch, De Socratis Genie. " One Timarchus had a mind to go down into the Den of Trophonius ; after performing the previous ceremonies. Having continued there two nights and one day, he returned very cheerful, when his friends had 1 Vol. ii. p. 38. Methodists and Papists. 315 given him over for lost ; and related many wonderful things that he had seen and heard. He said, (I use his own words,) that, on his first descent into the oracular den, he fell into a horrid darkness ; then, taking refuge in prayer and vows, he lay in that condition for a long time ; not well knowing whe- ther he was awake, or in a dream. It seemed as if his head was violently smitten, with a noise attending, and the sutures of his skull seemed to open, as if his soul was making its exit. Afterwards, being brought into a purer air, he began to breathe again after a long oppression, was stretched out, and grew bigger than he was before, like a sail filled with wind. Then he heard over his head a small, but very sweet voice ; and looking up, he saw earth no more, but an infinite number of shining islands, as a soft fire, and delightfully varying their colors. But upon looking downwards, there appeared a large chasm, very terrible and deep, full of a turbulent and confused darkness ; whence were heard ten thousand roarings, and groans, and bowlings of children, and men mingled with women, and all manner of tumultuous noises. This terrified him extremely. Afterwards, a person, not seen by him before, showed him the region of Proserpina, bounded by Styx, and the road to Hell, which makes the souls that descend thither roar out for fear. Pluto immediately seizeth some, who sink for ever ; but other less defiled souls emerge again, and return to a second birth. Then the per- son bade him ' begone.' ' But,' says Timarchus, ' turning to see who it was that spoke to me, I was again seized with a violent head-ach, as if compressed by force ; and so lost my senses, that I knew nothing of what was about me. But in a little time recovering, I found myself at the entrance of Trophonius's Den, where I first lay down." ' It may be some satisfaction to the unlearned reader to have some explanation of Trophonius's Den ; which I shall do by a literal translation from Pausanias.* 1 Vol. ii. cd.Par. p. 589. * Baeotic. c. 39. Plutarch, ed. Par. vol. ii. p. 944. Philostrat. Vit Apollonii, lib. viii. c. 19. Scholia in Aristophanem. Nub. v. 508. 316 The Enthusiasm of " This Trophonius was a crafty fellow, and excessively vain-glorious ; and, though born of a common mortal, feigned himself to be the son of Apollo. He made, with the assist- ance of his brother, a subterranean cave, or den ; where he delivered oracles to such as were wise enough to consult him. The consulter, by way of initiation, must first prepare himself, by observing a course of chastity for certain days ; and by offering sacrifice to Trophonius ; the soothsayer, or priest, looking diligently into the entrails, [as the victims of Methodism must have their hearts open to Mr. Wesley, with- out any manner of reserve,] that he may thence judge of the person's fitness, and whether he may deserve to receive an answer. Thus prepared he approacheth the descent, (for so the den is called,) and lays himself down at the entrance, called the sacred mouth. Then, in a moment, he is snatched away, and hurled down, he knows not how, head and heels contracted together, into the vast subterranean cavern. Here he is so terrified with roarings, that he falls a roaring himself; or else is quite stupified, and almost senseless. Then he hath the sight of some prophesying dragons, or serpents ; whose wrath he must appease by some cakes, or biscuits, (which they must bring with them for that purpose,) that he may not be too unmerciful . He gets his answer, and becomes a prophet, partly from what he seeth, and partly from what he heareth. This is what Suidas termeth the ludicrous illu- sions of Trophonius under ground. 1 All do not continue there for the same space of time, nor come out the same way; there being divers communications, windings, and holes, to creep out. When the consulter is returned, asto- nished as he is, the priests immediately place him upon what is called the Seat of Memory, where they examine him, as to what he hath seen and heard, and then send him home, still possessed with great amazement and terror; neither knowing himself, nor others about him. [Hence Mr. Wesley may have learned his practice of a careful examination on 1 In Voce Trophon. Methodists and Papists. 317 his patients' return from their horrible fits.] But in a little time he recovers his senses, and sometimes his faculty of laughing: for very few were ever known to laugh afte- .rtrds, being dismayed either by horrors of the place, or the I i tings of the serpents. Whence arose the proverb, of a so- r and morose man, ' He hath been in Trophonius's Den.' It was necessary for all, who returned from the descent, to preserve memorials of what they had seen and heard, on a written table." [Their Journals have been punctual in this also.] And Pausanias saith, "that he doth not give this account upon hearsay, but upon personal knowledge, having himself descended to consult the oracle." Thus far my authors. When the god Trophonius was dead, (for, it seems, he starved himself, in order to claim his mansion in the skies,) " his successors in the den, and who carried on the trade, were certain demons, called Trophoniadae, who were pro- perly inhabitants of the world of the moon, but came down hither to superintend their oracles." Thus Plutarch, and likewise elsewhere, " that the Sibyl's voices were heard, and they sung out their prophecies, while they were whirled about in the orb of the moon." ' Whereby, I suppose, he would insinuate, that these oracle-mongers were a sort of lunatics. By these references I am sensible how much I have again exposed myself to the censure of not keeping to my title- page, which mentioned only Methodists and Papists, But a comparison from heathens may be as good. SECTION 41. Mr. Wesley will, without doubt, take the advantage of my supposal ; " that he hath actually performed several miraculous cures." B t this was only a supposal. And perhaps he will soon complain, (and not without reason,) that I am explaining his mirac'c > away. For if we under- stand by a miracle such an extraordinary and wonderful 1 Vol. ii. p. 566. 3 1 8 Th t Enthusiasm of Affect, as can be wrought by God alone, (whatever instru- ments he may use,) for the manifestation of his power, or confirmation of some divine message. In this strict sense, I must absolutely withdraw my supposition. But if we understand by miracle such extraordinary and wonderful effects, as created beings are permitted to cause, for instance, diabolical and magical operations; or those surprising effects which mass-priests, mountebanks, jugglers, and other impostors, can work by slight of hand, and imposition upon the senses ; or, again, some unusual and strange operations within the powers and laws of nature, though unknown to us : I foresee no inconvenience, in any of these lower senses, in allowing the supposition. Because these operations are no proof of a divine mission, but rather prove the contrary. SECTION 42. Let us enquire, therefore, what sort of peo- ple have usually deceived mankind by such means; and particularly with respect to miraculous cures. Both ancients and moderns are said to have performed wonders of this nature by natural magic, or a profound knowledge of physical remedies. Such, they tell us, is the " agntts castus, or chaste lamb ; a shrub efficacious in hys- terics, phrenzies, and bitings of serpents ; and which the women, in their celebration of the mysteries, used to carry with them to preserve their chastity/' 1 Such is the herb hypericum, called also St. John's-wort, and scare-devil ; good in madness, vapors, melancholy, or raving fits, distempers of an unaccountable nature, and coming without a manifest cause ; but particularly potent to cure persons possessed, and drive away the devil. But those, who use it, are gene- rally vagabond cheats, or agents of Satan, or sometimes real hypochondriacs. a Popish exorcists recommend it as effectual, in conjunction with their adjurations, for putting 1 Plin. lib. xiv. c. 38. Theophr. BoJaei, p. 264. * Wier. Prsestig. p. 551. Methodists and Papists. 319 Satan to flight. 1 And to remove all doubt, " Pope Alexan- der I. so engaged, and commanded the priests to use this herb of grace, for the sanctifying the people, and driving away the snares of the devil." 1 And Don Quixote, I remember, talked of some balsams of that sovereign nature, as to heal all wounds, particularly of knights errant. But as these secrets have not fallen within the compass of my studies, and I would not injure the regular physician, I have done with them. Among Pagans nothing is more common than their stories of distempers cured by their daemons. Such as that of " Esculapius, another spurious son of Apollo, creeping to Rome in the form of a serpent, and immediately relieving all from a mortal disease : 3 and that of Bacchus, who not only gives out prophecies, but hath remedies at hand for all distempers ; both which are performed by one of his inspired priests." 4 Such were the Agyrtas, or vagabond priests of Cybele, who strolled about with the marks of their goddess upon them, gathering a maintenance under pretence of gifts to Cybele ; for which they promised a high degree of health and prosperity. Such, in later times, are the begging saints in Turkey, "who (as Busbequius relateth) ramble about under various appearances and arts of sanctimony." 5 Such again the Tamuli, and others in India, who are a sort of magicians, and play the same pranks as do the Romish missionaries, or our Methodists. This account we have in the History of the Evangelical Mission, lately published by Professor Francks : " These men, (who are called enchanters, devil- drivers, and prophesiers) arrogate to themselves the power of driving away evil spirits by the help of other daemons, or tutelary deities. They work miracles, and discover secrets, by the herb gangia, which throweth them into divers vehe- 1 Compl. Exorc. p. 30, 31. z Itaym. Lullius, lib. ii. de Quintessent. Taylor Polemic, p. 33-1. 3 V.Max, lib.i. c.8. 4 Pausan. Baeotic. c., 48. 324 The, Enthusiasm of SECTION 44. Having in these relations a little deviated from the point concerning exorcisms and miraculous cures, it may be proper to supply that defect. Tertullian, speak- ing of the Pagan daemons, says, " They are evidently very beneficent in the cure of distempers ; for they first do the mischief, and then prescribe a remedy, wonderfully new, or of a contrary tendency : after which they cease to torment, and then are thought to cure," &c. ' Wierus hath a chapter or two, " Upon the devil's healing diseases only by ceasing to torment ;" * and gives for a reason of such kindness, thut " he doth it to encourage idolatry, or some wicked doctrine.' Accordingly the devil was so good as to keep his word with .one of Mr. Wesley's possessed: "If he, Mr. Wesley, comes, I w r ill let thee be quiet, and thou shalt be as if nothing ailed thee till he is gone." 3 Such encouragement doth Satan give to Methodism. Such another instance we have of the devil's kindness in Mr. Wesley's account of that miserable w r oman, who said, " she had given herself to the devil, &c. and then began praying to the devil. But, at last, in a moment God spoke peace, and stilled the enemy and avenger." 4 If this was an act of goodness in Satan, the author of the Cornpl. Art. Exorcist, hath a parallel case, which, he saith, happened to himself. " While I was exorcising a woman, named Isabella, I commanded the devil to descend into the little nail of her left foot. The devil answered, ' I will not do this unless you request it civilly.' We then contended together a long while ; he in the strength of his own pride, and I in the name of Jesus ; so that the evil one hoped to come off victorious, and added fresh tortures to the afflicted woman. At length, grievously tired, having fought for five hours, by God's inspiration 1 took up the tabernacle, in which was the Eucharist, and putting it on the woman's head, cried out several times, and 1 Apolug. cap. 22. * Praestig. lib. iv. cap. 13, 14. 3 5 Journ. p. 86. 4 3 Journ. p. 92. Methodists and Papists. 325 with a loud voice, ' Miser icordia Signore:' when, to the astonishment of all, the devil went away, and paid obe- dience." ' A rare instance of exorcistical virtue. But if Mr. Wesley chooseth to say, that Satan in this case was stilled by his prayer, rather than the good-will of the wicked spirit, I must be contented with a parallel or two from popish recoveries of contracts made with Satan. Ig- natius is a sure card on these occasions. " A young man having by formal covenant pawned his soul to the devil, he was hereby enabled to perform divers things, either truly, or apparently, miraculous. Afterwards, grievously convinced of sin, he applies to the Jesuits for deliverance, and they to the protection of their founder. The young man is advised to make an equally formal abjuration of the devil; which he did, full of horror and trembling, and ready to be choked. The abjuration is laid upon the altar of Ignatius's chapel ; soon after a sort of hissing sound is heard by all the com- pany ; and the devil came, (seen by one of the Jesuits,) brought back the contract, put it under the altar-cloth, and then vanished. Glory was given to God and St. Ignatius." 1 We read another such tale in the Life of St. Gertrude. " A certain man, upon some profitable conditions, made an express covenant with the devil to deliver himself up to him, on such a day and place. The lady-saint took what pains she could to rescue the wretched creature. But the contract was absolute, and go to the devil he must, and will. She then permits him to make good his engagement, provided he would take her with him. Accordingly he takes his horse, the saint mounted behind him, and presents himself to Satan. But no sooner did he spy St. Gertrude, but he relinquisheth his prey, and takes to his heels, utterly abashed." 3 SECTION 45. It hath been a pretty common notion, that he who can put the devil in, can likewise pull him out. An 1 Part. i. Doctr. 8. 2 Bartol. p.446. 3 Vita Gertrud. 326 The Enthusiasm of example or two of this I have given before ; and as Mr. Wesley hath sufficiently triumphed in having this power over the Methodists, it reminds me of the famous impostor Alexander, in Lucian. " He had a good capacity, but made an ill use of it ; was exceeding crafty, active, bold, and exposing himself to dangers and hardships. He took upon himself to be the successor of Apollonius Tyanaeus ; set up an oracle, uttered prophecies, engaged to free the world from diseases, pestilences, earthquakes, &c. All who gave no credit to him, those especially who exposed his impostures, he calumniated and damned, as Atheists and Christians ; and by such arts pillaged almost all the Roman empire. One of his tricks was this : he put a young serpent into a goose-egg, the cracks being artfully cemented ; and the next day out he comes, shaking his loose locks, and mounting his rostrum, proclaims the happiness of the city, who should soon receive a present God. Nearly the whole city, men, women and children, were assembled, and stood stupefied, praying and adoring. The oracle-monger, having muttered out several things concerning Apollo and Escu- lapius, broke the goose-egg, and out starts the serpent-god, to the amazement of the spectators, who loudly proclaimed their happiness. Away goes the prophet Avith the new-born Esculapius, the twice-born ; and the second time out of a goose. All the people follow him, full of enthusiasm, and mad with expectation. The serpent very soon grew into a huge dragon." 1 The History of Witchcraft (as I could easily show) affords parallels to almost all the circumstances of Methodism; particularly as to the horrible parts of it. " It appeared upon the examination of Bridget Bishop, that those be- witched by her were cruelly tormented. If she did but cast an eye on them, they were presently struck down, and in such a manner, that there could be no deceit in the matter. 1 Lucian. Alexan. Methodists and Papists. 327 But as soon as she touched them with her hand, when they lay in their swoons, they would immediately revive, and not upon the touch of any one else. Besides, upon some parti- cular actions of her body, they presently and painfully fell into the like postures. She had said too, ' that she could not. be troubled to see the afflicted thus tormented.' " ' "Again, we hear of their knocking down with a look, and then making the afflicted rise ; and their appearing some- times clothed with light." * Others, however, are of a different opinion ; and maintain, that one devil, wizard, or witch, can counteract the deeds of another, and perform cures in opposition to him. This they argue from the different powers and subordinations among wicked spirits. Horace plainly is of this sentiment, Ah, ah ! solutus ambulat veneficas Potentioris carmine. 3 Eusebius says, that "Apollonius cured distempers, and expelled daemons in this manner, one devil by the help of another." 4 Sennertus 5 bringeth some examples of persons relieved by conjurers and inchanters, when grievously tor- mented by witches. In the History of Witchcraft, " there is much talk of a white witch, as also of a white angel, who would sometimes rescue children from the witches." 6 If we get among Papists, Binsfield lays it down as a " certain rule, that a superior wizard can cure the mischiefs which an inferior one hath caused ; and that a wizard can sometimes cure distempers, which the physician either knows not, or cannot cure." 7 The author of Compl. Art. Exorcist, says, " Devils will sometimes be thus salutary, in order to gain souls to themselves, and obtain divine honor, of which they are very ambitious. * I myself,' says he, ' saw and heard a witch confess, that though she had hurt many, yet she had cured others, daemoniacs and 1 Vol.ii. p. 10. * Vol.ii. p.37. ^SEpod. v.71. In Hieroc. c.30. s De Fascin. c. 3. 6 Vol.ii. p. 42. 7 Confess. Malef. p. 577. 328 The Enthusiasm of distempered people, by inchantments ; and then did homage to Lucifer, the greater angel.'" ' Thyraeus* proves the doc- trine of devils being expelled by devils, by divers instances of magicians, who made a trade of this practice. Such were those mentioned by St. Gregory, (Dialog, lib. i. c. 10.) who undertook to free a noble lady from a devil, by magical inchantments ; and they really did free her. But in the mean time they opened a passage for a whole legion of unclean spirits to enter into her. And, by the just judg- ment of God, from that time she was agitated by as many strange motions, and broke out into' as many cryings and roarings, as she had devils within her. In general, it is a known case, that wicked men have done miracles of this nature ; and that popery may not go without its share of the black art, I shall here (to save myself the trouble of consulting the originals) transcribe a few passages from Brocklesby's Gospel Theism. " The miracles of the legend- ary lives of the saints seem to be of the same character ; not wholly fictitious, but in part realities ; but such realities that are no better than the feats of magic. Of the catalogue of popes no less than four and twenty are said to be addicted to the magic arts. 3 Fasciculus Temporum reporteth, that in the tenth century, magic, and the art of making charms, and bewitching people, was almost the only learning of the priests. In Spain they call these curers of diseases Ensal- mos ; and in that country the learning of magic was some time allowed and professed ; for in the academy of Sala- manca they taught both theurgy and goety in the public schools. 4 Magic is no stranger at Rome. A bishop, very dear to Pope Nicholas V., was bewitched into an incurable disease ; whereupon application was made to that pope to grant a dispensation to a witch, who undertook (if it might be allowed) to bewitch her to death that had bewitched the J Doctr. 2. 2 Daemon, part Hi. c. 54. 3 P. 308. 1 Gale Jamblic. p. 293. Methodists and Papists. 329 bishop. The pope granted the dispensation, and the busi- ness was done ; the witch first died, and then the bishop recovered." Now if any have caused similar effects from similar principles, they may think their method warranted by this papal dispensation. SECTION 46. But " hold," say the Methodists and Mr. Wesley, " you are running too fast. We are a sect of saints : our teacher performs these wonders by Christian methods, by a divine power in the name of Jesus, and especially by sacred hymns and prayers." Their real saintship I am not much inclined to own. But as to matter of fact, Mr. Wesley hath so often asserted miraculous healings, and casting out devils, to have been the effect of his (sometimes jointly with his followers) reli- gious offices, prayer in particular, that there is no occasion of citing express passages. Nor need I disallow his account, any farther than may be collected from the fore- going deductions. I will venture likewise to assure him, that I entertain a very high notion of a blessing attending on all religious, Christian exercises ; more especially of the prevalency of prayer, towards removing the several miseries incident to human life ; higher still of the efficacy of the fervent prayer of a righteous man, approaching his Maker with the requi- site scriptural qualifications. And yet, I should deem it an unwarrantable presumption, even in a righteous man, to expect a miracle immediately upon his petitions ; or pretend to know, that a supernatural remedy will follow, and that in a moment. As a proper qualification, I should require better principles, temper, and behaviour, than can as yet be discerned, in one who seems fond of being thought a cun- ning man ; or in the body of his disciples ; a large part whereof, I sincerely believe to be persons of as bitter and turbulent a spirit, as any at present in the nation. Uncom- 330 The Enthusiasm of mon claims, and pretended marks of saintship, are by no means wanting ; but the genuine marks of a Christian, tome at least, are invisible. Nor would they be injured by a comparison with " St. Catherine of Sienna; who, being in an ecstasy, our Lord came and imprinted upon her his five wounds ; but the marks were interior, and did not appear outwardly. This favor was granted to her great humility, which moved her to obtain of Heaven, that the marks might not be seen." ' No doubt but we should have visible proof, were the Methodists to submit to St. Clara's operation ; " whose body being opened, and her heart dissected, the representation of Christ's passion appeared as plainly as if it had been carved." * If I am not easily imposed upon by extraordinary preten- sions of this nature, some of my reasons may appear from the following examples. That it was no uncommon thing among the Jews to use curious (i. e. magical) arts, in order to remove diseases, and drive out daemons, and even by the most seemingly holy means, we have proof from Scrip- ture. Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles : " then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them that had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus," &c. 3 The same game we find carrying on in St. Austin's days : " Evil spirits are pleasing themselves with the shadow of honor, while they deceive the followers of Christ : so far, my brethren, that those who seduce by ligatures, prayers, and the tools of Satan, mingle the name of Christ with their inchantments. Because they cannot seduce by plain poison, they add a little honey to make the pernicious draught go down. Whence, to my own knowledge, even the impostor Pallentus hath been called a Christian." 4 The same father writeth, concerning miracles done by heretics : " Pontius hath done a miracle ; and Donatus hath prayed, and received 1 Ribaden. and Brev. Rom. Apr. 30. * Baling. Aug. 17. 3 Ch. xix. 13. 4 Tom.ix. edit. Plantin. p. 27. Methodists and Papists. 331 an answer from God. They are either deceived, or deceivers. But God hath cautioned me against these wonder-mongers (mirabiliarios), Matt. xxiv. 24. ' There shall arise false pro- phets, who shall show great signs and wonders,' &c. Whe- ther these marks, with which they are signed, be any thing to their advantage, is to be considered by him, who would not be terrified and deceived." ' The same writer again : " Such superstitious arts are full of pestilent curiosity and tormenting anxiety. By the devil's craft they happen differ- ently to different men, according to their own apprehensions and presumptions : for the great deceiver knows how to procure things agreeable to every man's temper, and ensnare him by his own suspicions and consent." a Thus St. Chrysostome applies to one of these dupes: " You make use of ligatures and charms, introducing some old, drunken, reeling woman into your house. And are you not ashamed, do you not blush, to run trembling and asto- nished after such practices ? The plea is, that the woman is a Christian, and utters nothing but the name of God; which very thing increaseth my aversion to you; because it is perverting the name of God to the blaspheming of God." 3 Origen against Celsus saith, " that the word Sabaoth was of common use hi inchantments ;" 4 where you have a great deal more concerning wonderful cures by sacred names. And if you look into Wulferi Theriaca Judaica, 5 you will have enough of magical miracles and cures performed, by virtue of sacred names, among the Cabbalistic Jews ; parti- cularly by the incommunicable name, Jehovah, and Shern- Hamphorasch. And, as Count Zinzendorf has it in his elegant Moravian hymns, (hymn 59.) No angel is so bold and rash, But quakes at thy Shemhamphorash. 1 Ibid. p. 50. * Enchirid. c. 23. 3 Homil. 21. ad Pop. Antioclt. * Edit. Spencer, p. 26?. J P. 5T. 332 The Enthusiasm of Hierocles attempts to defend Apollonius, as delivering prophecies, raising the dead, and working other miracles, not by inchantments, but a divine operation. " Inchanters, (whom I account the most miserable of men,) some of them by torturing spirits, some by barbarous sacrifices, or by charming verses, and unctions, boast that they can make fatality change its purpose. But Apollonius followed the decrees of fate in his predictions, and prophesied, not as a magician, but from what the gods had revealed to him." ' Our friends of the papacy boast of thousands of cures, &c. by means of prayer, in conjunction with their adjura- tions and conjurations. Thyraeus hath a long string of such performances. " One had rescued about fourteen hundred from the devil, by these means," &C.; 1 which is the same number with Mr. Wesley's patients falling into fits. This was many years ago, so that the number must be prodi- giously increased by this time. Bodinus writeth, " that one Barbara Dorea (who was burned for witchcraft) con- fessed, that she had unbewitched several whom she herself had bewitched, and cured them by applying an inchanted dove to their stomach, using this form : ' In the name of the Holy Trinity, St. Anthony, and St. Michael, may you be cured of this evil ; and let mass be said for nine days/ No true Catholic, but will highly approve of this method." 3 In the same chapter he confirms, by the authority of the writer of Malleus Malef., the story of the indulgence granted to the conjuror by Pope Nicholas V. Nor can I deem the esta- blished Roman Ritual, de Exorcizandis, any low degree of profaneness ; whereby every cheating exorcist is authorised to carry on his horrible conjurations, (I use their own word) in the name, and by the peremptory commands of the Holy Trinity, adding the commands of their fictitious saints. 1 Philost. Vit. Ap. p. 452. * Daemon, part iii. c. 46. 3 Ibid, li iii. c. 5. Methodists and Papists. 333 I am not here charging Mr. Wesley with the guilt of ma- gic. But what I have said on this article may, I think, serve for a caution against delusion; and may suffice to create a just suspicion of imposture, or at least of enthu- siasm ; when men set up with more than ordinary sanctified pretensions ; and that the undertaking of miraculous per- formances by the most sacred names, is not always to be depended on; especially where the operator himself is a person of dubious character. Nor need we be much concerned, whether his relations of his many miraculous cures, and driving out devils, be true or false. For we may safely adhere to the words of St. Austin, De Unitate Ecclesire : " The Donatists contend for truth on their side, because Pontius and Donatus did such and such wonders ; ' or they pray, and are heard ; or, this and that extraordinary thing happeneth among us ; or, that brother, or that sister of ours had such a vision, or such a dream/ Removeantur," says he, " away with those figments of lying men, or portents of deluding spirits. For, either what they say is not true ; or if some miracles are really done by heretics, we ought to be the more upon our guard. Because our Lord hath said, ' There shall arise false pro- phets, and they shall show great signs and wonders,' &c. 3 And St. Paul, ' In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy/ &c. 4 And, Multi deo irato exaudiuntur." The most specious appearances of sanctity and godliness need not stagger us ; because the man of sin was to come under a two-fold character of a hypocrite and a miracle- monger. I mentioned hymns, as having particularly an effect in the Methodists' strange disorders, whether distempers, or pos- 1 Tract, in Job. 7 and 13. * De Unit. EccJes. ed. Plant, p. 154. 3 Matth. xxiv. 24. 4 1 Tim. iv. 1. 334 The Enthusiasm of sessions. When that despairing creature was horribly ravin?:, " we began," says Mr. Wesley, " * Arm of the Lord, awake, awake ! ' She immediately sunk down as asleep. But as soon as we left off, broke out again with inexpressible vehemence." ' And, as far as I can observe, it is their usual method to set up a general loud singing in these cases ; for which there may be several reasons : for music and noise have a natural effect, both to rouse those who lie quiet, and to still those who are obstreperous. In another such case, " the company not only sinsrs, but even in prayer, I spoke as lo-'d," says Mr. Wesley, " as I usually do to three or four thousand people." If something extraor- dinary was not expected from noise, what occasion of being so very loud ? Verse and song have always been esteemed most powerful ; and thence the very word charm is but the English of carmen, a verse : Carmine dii superi placantur, carmine manes. The reasons given by authors, why the ancient oracles were delivered in verse, and not in prose, is because verse is more pompous and sonorous ; and likewise, to create a notion of inspiration from Apollo: the fittest to raise a reverential horror in the mind, or to wrap up an ambiguity/ " The persons," says Plutarch, " who have brought the greatest disgrace upon poetry, are that execrable, thievish set of circumforaneous strollers, the priests of Cybele and Iris; some of whom from their own compositions, or by lots from certain writings, deliver out oracles to servants and women, who are most taken with verse. For which reason princi- pally, poetry making herself a prostitute to cheats, conjurors, and false prophets, was driven from the tripod of truth." As to other evils, of a different nature, among the Method- ists, such as their false and presumptuous imaginations of assurance, owned by Mr. Whitefield ; and the strange " wiles of Satan, as well as mere empty dreams of a heated 1 3 Journ. * Plutarch, vol. ii. p. 407. De Pyth. Oracul. Methodists and Papists. 335 imagination;" for these no doubt but Mr. Wesley can find a cure. The Jewish Talmud says, " there is a two-fold inchantment; the greater, which draweth huge dragons; the lesser, which influenceth little reptiles." x Accordingly Mes- singham tells us, in the Lives of the Irish Saints,* that St. Magnus, by his prayers, expelled the devils out of a large number of worms, that infested his cell. Nor should we think it below Mr. Wesley's dignity, or power, to exorcise his maggots. Mr. Wesley, I own, seems to be indefatigable, and takes a great deal of pains in effecting his several cures and ex- pulsions. Popish exorcists too will sometimes grievously sweat and turmoil ; especially when they are contending with a very potent and obstinate devil. But frequently their miracles are of easier operation. A scrap of St. Ignatius's hand-writing ; a draught of water in which St. Francis hath washed his hands, or a bit of hay from the bundle which his ass hath been mumbling ; the parings of this saint's nails, or a straw from the bed of another ; a kiss of St. Thomas-a- Becket's old breeches, which the Virgin Mary came down, and helped him to mend: any of these, and a thousand others equally easy, will effectually do the feat. But which of the methods is most meritorious, may be a point of arduous discussion. SECTION 47. We are not, however, to conceive, (hat a cure of such dreadful disorders, and diabolical possessions, is the sole benefit, which the Methodists obtain by their sufferings. Divers other good effects follow. For instance, judicial punishments of the miraculous kind, for people's opposition to Methodism : (for 1 am not allowed to say so particularly, " for opposing me, John Wesley,") and in order to bring them into Methodism ; in which case the punish- ment shall be released. I know he will equivocate and 1 Sanhedr. 65. a P. 807. 336 The Enthusiasm of prevaricate, where the words judgment or miracle are not expressly mentioned. But the narration will show itself. What doth he think of J n H n, the weaver ? " He was a zealous churchman, and against all dissenters ; said the fits of the Methodists were delusions of the devil. But presently he falls raving mad, screams terribly, and beats himself against the ground : then cries aloud, ' Let them all come ; let all the world see the just judgment of God ;' then fixing his eyes upon me, ' Ay, this is he, who, I said, was a deceiver.' He then roared out, ' O ! thou cursed devil ! yea, thou legion of devils ! Thou canst not stay. Christ will cast thee out.' He then beats himself against the ground again ; his breast heaving, as in the agonies of death. "We all betook ourselves to prayer. His pangs ceased, and both body and soul were set at liberty." ' Here we have a grievous punishment; a legion of devils entering into the man for his opposition to Mr. Wesley and company; this confessed to be a just judgment: but he becomes a proselyte, and all is well. And one necessary form of exorcism is, " cunningly to get out of the devil the confession of some peculiar doctrine, or some new saint, for the edification of the by-standers. In this case tiie father of lies is always supposed to speak the truth. He is commanded too to knock his head three times against the ground, in adoration of the Trinity. If he will not yet depart, the exorcist is to pray, and speak louder." 2 Much the same end has the judgment upon the " Quaker ; who was biting his lips, and knitting his brows, at the dissi- mulation of these creatures ; but suddenly he dropped down as thunderstruck, in an agony terrible to behold. We besought God not to lay folly to his charge. And he soon lifted up his head, and cried aloud, ' Now I know thou art a prophet of the Lord.' " 3 It is but getting a fit tool for the 1 3 Journ. p. 4-1. a Taylor. Polemic, p. 334. 3 3 Journ. p. 43. Methodists and Papists. 337 work ; uiid then terrible is the judgment for opposing ; but instantly Mr. Wesley is a prophet of the Lord, and the man is set free. The instances of the daughter, and her mother, have the like issue. " The girl feeling in herself such a conviction, (i.e. sensible that one of the dreadful fits was coming upon her,) ran out of the society in all haste, that she might not expose herself. But the hand of God followed her ; so that after going a few steps, she was forced to be carried home, and there grew worse and worse, in a violent agony." ' " The first that was deeply touched was L W ; whose mother had not been a little displeased, when she was told, how her daughter had exposed herself before all the con- gregation. The mother herself was the next who dropped down, and lost her senses in a moment; but went home with her daughter full of joy." * So wicked a thing is it to be offended at the strange fits of Methodism ; and so fruit- less the attempt to fly from it. But if we remember Mr. Wesley's strong arguings, that it is Satan who strikes them down, and deprives them of their senses, we may learn how much he is the Methodist's friend, as not permitting any to run away. Thus hi popeiy, the devil frequently stands their friend, by confirming the truth of their doctrine and saintship, and tormenting such as begin to suspect them, or meditate a flight, " When a certain monk did not pay due honor and reverence to St. Oswald, a legion of these black spirits seize, him, tear him, throw him down, &c. asking him, What mad- ness possessed them to despise so great a priest." 3 One cf St. Ignatius's society beginning to fluctuate, and form a design of deserting the society, the devil met him in the shape of a man of a terrible aspect, and with a drawn sword frightened him back again to the saint ; who rebuked him, saying, Are you so wavering ? O thou of little faith, why 1 3 Journ.p.51. * Ibid. p. 61. 3 Whart. Angi.Sac. vol.ii. p. 207. Method. Y 338 The Enthusiasm of didst thou doubt ? ' " It happened to St. Anthony, that a certain novice of the order ran away, and stole his psalter. But the devil met him with a naked sword in his hand, and threatened to kill him, if he returned not back to the con- vent, and restored Friar Anthony's book. The novice, affrighted with his stern look, returned to the convent, restored the book, and begged to be admitted again into his order." 2 To the same purpose, and by the same evil spirit, were the laughing fits judiciously inflicted on some, " who said, the Methodists might help it, if they would. But God suf- fered Satan to teach them better. 3 For they were seized in the same manner as the rest, and thus continued for two days, a spectacle to all." 4 Here plainly Satan doth the work ; it is his good pleasure to teach them better, for the interest of Methodism. God barely suffers, or permits it; as he doth other evils. In one paragraph we have no less than three judgments on persons, who came to disturb the Methodist meeting- house. " One of the chief hanged himself. A second had been for some days in strong pain. A third confessed to Mr. Wesley, that he was hired, and made drunk on pur- pose ; but when he came to the door, he could not stir, nor open his mouth." The man might be almost dead drunk, without supposing a miracle or judgment. But if it must be such ; we have a pagan parallel, (for popish are innu- merable,) concerning " a temple of that purity and majesty, as immediately to cure distempers of the true votaries ; but despisers, coming thither, lose their voice, and become as it were dead." 5 The last judicial miracle I shall mention, (for there are many more,) was upon a man for beating his wife, who, it seems, was a Methodist. " I visited one whom God is 1 Myster. lesnit. p. 48. 2 Ribaclen. p. 395. Jun. 13. 3 4 Joura. p. 88. 4 Ibio.p.59. 5 Diodor. Sicul. lib. iv. p. 231. Methodists and Papists. 339 purifying in the fire, in answer to the prayers of his wife, whom he was just going to beat, (which he frequently did,) when God smote him in a moment, so that his hand dropped, and he fell down upon the ground, having no more strength than a new-born child. He has been confined to his bed ever since ; but rejoices in hope." ' In which case Mr. Wesley asks, "Have you kiHwn a parallel one in your life?" 2 Probably not. These cases are not so common among us Protestants. The Papalins deny, that God ever enableth such heretics to work a miracle. But among them judgments fall, thick as hail, upon the violators of their dear persons. Such was the protection of St. Patrick : " when a man of a gigantic stature brandished his sword to kill him for attempting to make converts in Ireland, immediately all his strength withered away, his whole body turned stiff, and he could neither move foot nor hand to strike. The man experiencing this judicial sign upon himself, was in- stantly changed into another man ; and both soul and body were set free." 3 This may be something of a parallel with Mr. Wesley's case, and of as good authority. And hence he may imagine him- self rising into an authority like what " Maimburg relates of one John, a miracle-worker, who made even Emperors to stand in awe of him, as a person who had the scourges of God in his power, to whom miracles were but play, and even nothing." 4 The man no doubt deserved such a scourge, for beating his wife, who was a Methodist. .But had ho beat her for opposing Methodism, the case is altered, quoth Plowden. The husband's right might then have been pleaded for exercising a little discipline over a disobedient wife. For Mr. Wesley's illuminated acquaintance, Mistress Bourignon, hath decided the point, in her " Light risen in Darkness." " It is great malice in her to think to oblige her 1 4journ.p.97. * Answer to Church, p. 42. 3 Messing, p. 16. * Fred. Spanhem. voMi. p. 743. 340 The Enthusiasm of husband not to adhere any longer unto my senumenis, con- cerning perfection, whereof her husband has had experience. She hath sworn to be faithful to her husband till death. One, who loves the justice, goodness and truth of God, thun- ders and lightens, when injustice, malice, or lying, are opposed to the sense that he bears within his soul; and he must show his displeasure, though it were with sharp and rude language, or quarrelling and fighting, if need re- quires." l SECTION 48. But other benefits are bestowed upon true Methodists, after they have underwent their pains and ago- nies. And certainly they deserve a very ample recompence for suffering those exquisite tortures, in which Mr. Wesley so exceedingly triumphs. For, AucJax lapeti genus Ignem fraude inalii gentibus intulit. Post ignem tetheria domo Subductum, macies ct nova febrium Terris incubuit cohors. Which bit of Latin may be explained by the story of Pan- dora's box ; which I learned, when a school-boy, from Hesiod. " After mortals had found out a way to steal fire from hea- ven, Jupiter ordered Vulcan to form a beautiful woman, who should be adorned with the gifts and graces of all the Gods, and thence called Pandora. Mercury's contribution was, impudence, subtlety, lying, wheedling, tricking, and de- ceit. And she was sent down among men, as a punishment on such as were fond of new inventions. For this purpose she brought down a box, for a present to Epimetheus, (i. e. one that is wise, when it is too late,) who fell in love with this mystical lady, and married her; (though afterwards, for some mischievous pranks, Jupiter transformed him into an ape.) But, unhappily, the lid of the box was no sooner opened by Epimetheus, but out flew a troop of all manner of dis- 1 Fart iv. letter 23. * Horat. Methodists and Papists. 341 eases and calamities. Hope only was left at the bottom of the box." ' Now supposing the Methodists' pretences to inspiration to be represented by stealing fire from heaven ; and the opening of the box by Mr. "Wesley's mouth, which, like a pestilential blast, strikes so many to the ground ; yet some surer comfort than mere hope is to be found at the bottom. This the Methodists may have proved already, (if all should happen to prove any thing but a mistake,) by their being thunderstruck into faith, conversion, and justification ; their certificates of free pardon under the seal of God; (un- less the seal was counterfeited, and of their own putting :) their assurances both of present and future salvation, (unless, as Mr. Whitefield speaks, " those, who had them not, only thought they had them :") the gifts of prophecies, seeing things at a distance, and knowing the secrets of the heart, &c. (unless there be something diabolical in this:) the receiving of grace, and the entrance of the Holy Spirit ; the very moment they are struck down, God entering into their souls ; (unless we give no credit to Mr. Whitefield, after he hath confessed that he hath imposed upon the world by so many untruths.) Supposing these magnificent benefits to stand upon a sure foundation, sufficient amends, I hope, is hereby made for their sufferings and tortures. Nor are they without precedents on their side. And accordingly Dr. Wier observes, that "the nuns, whom he attended, punished by the devil with incredible torments, declared they would not be without these calami- ties on any account, because they produced the peculiar grace and illumination of God. Another falls a singing in her agonies, because she did not in the least hesitate as to her eternal salvation."* The Alumbrados in Spain taught, " that certain ardors, or burnings, tremblings, and quakings, were a sufficient 1 Opcr. et Dies, v. 60. a Praestig. p. 596. 598. 34'Z %he Enthusiasm of token of grace ; and that those who could attain them needed nothing else. That they might see God visibly in their ecstasies, &c. ' As to Mr. Wesley's rejoicing at the sufferings of his followers, Alex, ab Alexandro tells us, " that it was the custom of divers nations to appease their Gods with human sacrifices, and the blood of their captives ; imagining that the Deity was then especially propitiated, when they butchered their fellow-creatures; and drew divination and prophecy out of the tortures of mankind." 2 Strabo gives this account of the religious Albani. " Many of them are quite enthusiasts and prophesiers. When a person is thus possessed in a high degree ; the chief priest offers him up a sacrifice to the goddess, in this manner. Being exceedingly expert in the business, he strikes the man with a spear through the side into the heart. From the body, when fallen, they gather certain signs of divination, which they publish to the people. The body is afterwards tram- pled upon by way of lustration." 3 And Tacitus says, " The druids in Britain used to consult their gods, by looking into the entrails of their captives." 4 One pretty extraordinary advantage of the Methodists' miseries, something different indeed from the former, is the benefit of losing God's grace. For besides that spiritual desertions, despairings and infidelities, are so frequent, and seem to be a necessary part in the progress of Methodism, if themselves may be credited, Mr. Whitefield assureth us, that " Mr. Tennant preached excellently well, upon the necessity and benefits of spiritual desertions." 5 The benefits of being forsaken of God is to me a very strange doctrine : and yet a much more strange one, that God is compelled, and laid under a necessity to withdraw his grace. Thus one ' Casaub. Enthus. p. 162. a Genial, dies, lib.vi. cap. 26. 3 Lib. xi. edit. Amst. p. 768. 4 Annal. lib. xiv. c. 30. 5 7 Journ. p. 61. Methodists and Papists. 343 \vild enthusiastic teacher ventures to preach, and another praiseth his saying. And in the next edition of the " Bene- fits and Necessity of Alterations in the Liturgy," according to this doctrine, a new prayer should be inserted, " that God would be pleased to withdraw his spiritual comforts and grace ;" or at least this amendment offered, " wherever in the Common Prayer the words occur, ' Take not thy Holy Spirit from us,' the word not should be left out." But it is to be hoped some better effects follow. For, it seems, through such painful lustrations and purgative fires, our Methodists arrive at perfection, visions of God and angels, ingulphments into the Deity, union with God, yea, and being God. That Mr. Wesley must mean such a per- fection as implieth absolute freedom from sin, and inward corruption, such as was in Christ, appears by his earnest dispute with the Moravians, and contending, that, in this respect, " the servant may be as his master." Hence, saith the woman in a high fever, " I am very ill, but I am very well : for I am united to Jesus, my beloved hath cleansed me from all sin : I am washed, I am cleansed. The enemy may come ; but he hath no part in me." l Hence, in the account of the two Hitchens's, after their horrors, roar- ings, infidelities, despairs, &c. " one of them sees thousands and ten thousands of angels, and Jesus Christ himself; I am sanctified, I am whiter than snow. why, I am all God." The other brother, in a malignant fever, says, " I see the gates of heaven stand open, and Jesus with open arms to receive me ; open the heavens, O my God, and come down into my soul. Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and plunge me into God," &c. Thus are they deified, like Hercules, who by putting on a poisoned garment was drove into madness, erected a funeral fire for himself, threw himself into the flames, and 1 Wesley, 4 Joum. p. 83. 344 The Enthusiasm of thence was ranked among the divinities. Of him Seneca saith, Sollicita tanti pretia natales habent, Semperque magno constitit, nasci Deum. " Alexander the Great must needs consecrate his favorite Hephestion; and erect altars to him as a God. Some flat- terers testified, that Hephestion appeared to them, cured diseases, and delivered oracles. Alexander was wonder- fully pleased, as being not only the son of a God himself, but able to make Gods." ' Such may be the boastings of a Methodist teacher. Of this nature was the doctrine of the later Platonists, some of the subtlest enemies that Christianity ever had. They taught, " that by certain purgations men may exchange humanity for divinity ; may see the spirit descending and insinuating itself ; may see a light like fire, at the coming or departure of the God. This illumination it is, which banish- eth all human motion, operation, and senses; and makes men speak in a senseless and raving manner." 2 And, in the words of Brocklesby, 3 " The soul becometh her own heno- tety, or unity ; and being thus one, like the first unity, she gaineth the sight of the first unity ; and is united therewith, conjoining as it were centre with centre ; and being one with God is God, saith Plotinus. En. 6. 1. 9. c. 8, 9, 10." If we come to the heretics in the primitive church, Irenaeus says, " They talk much of perfection ; Glory of having Christ for their master, and that they have the same souls, by circulation, with Jesus, are like him, and some- times even better." * More of these wildnesses might be produced from the ancient heretics: but I pass to the like fanatical rants 1 Lucian. Calumn. cap. 1?. * Jamblic. Myster. sect. 3. c. 6, 7, 8, 9. 3 P. 79. + Lib. ii. cap. 57. Methodists and Papists. 345 among the Papists. M. Casaubon affords such an instance in " sister Catherine of Jesus ; \vlio used to fall into fits of tremblings, casting herself on the ground, enjoying the pre- sence of God visibly. She often saw, and in some degree suffered, through frights, the pains of hell : At other times she verily thought herself in heaven* Christ even drew her soul into his, marked her with a mark, and always abode with her. Though she was indeed for the most part deprived of her understanding. And this soul of Christ drew her into an operation of the Holy Trinity, &c." St. Catherine of Sienna, (who was troubled with so many distempers and devils, but could expel them from others) received such a blessing. " For one day Christ coming to her opened her left side, and took out her heart, and carried it away. But a few days afterwards he brought his own ruddy heart, and put it into her left side, saying ' My daughter Catherine, thou hast my heart instead of thy own ;' and then he closed up her side again. And that it might be known, that this was not pure imagination, there remained ever after a scar in her side." z Revenius, Archbishop of Philippe, writeth concern- ing some nuns, (as few have his book, Bayle may be con- salted in the article Revenius) that " they take a pride in pretending to wonderful performances ; talk of nothing less than their union with God, which is only a union with their own spirit, if not with a worse. They boast of mystical transubstantiations, concentrations of heart, annihilation, marriage with the deity, spiritual intoxications', super- essential unions, the gulph of annihilation ; an absorbent Enthusiasm; oblivion of all things, inducing an abyssal identification with God, deific confrication ; spiritual impu- dence, misanthropical aspirations, the joys of darkness, and obscure night, &c. These, and the like enormous words, and this unintelligible jargon, is frequently repeated in the new school of piety, by their own chosen masters, and 1 Ilibaden. April 30. 346 The Enthusiasm of curious she-disciples, so as to be felt in their inward parts.'' Almost the whole of quietism, and mystic divinity, con- sisteth in passing through combats with devils, purgations, pains like hell, dryness of soul, privations of grace, despair and damnation, hereby they attain perfection, transforma- tion, a being swallowed up in God, personal deification, so as not to know or distinguish themselves from God himself.'' Arrived to this degree of perfection, they save themselves a deal of trouble as to the matter of good works, which the Methodists so egregiously undervalue, and every true Mora- vian so heartily condemneth. These latter, according to their own rule, may easily and certainly be in a safe way to salvation, for " the only way to be saved is to avoid good works." ' For it is the business of the latter to steal away Mr. Wesley's half-instructed disciples, and to perfect what he had begun. Hinc ilia: lacryma. " Hence," says he, " I went to H T r, a young man, who did once run well, but now says, ' he saw the devil in the corner of every church, and in the face of every one who had been there. And if you go to church and sacrament, you will be damned." 2 Into these spiritual wickednesses the Methodists have ran greedily in crowds : Xot a little, I suppose, enlightened by their admired Bourignon ; who " thus answers the question, whether the perfect and regenerated ought to use the sacra- ments, or not: ' ]\~o. For he that is truly born again possesseth all the sacraments in himself, and needs not to seek them out of himself. He is returned to the state of innocence, wherein Adam lived before his sin. The devil has invented the frequenting the sacraments.'" 3 And such a perfectionist was St. Bridget, whom (in the very words of Ribadeneira) " God commanded to go to Rome, where, by means of indulgencies, as by a shorter cut, it was more easy to get to heaven." For " the final issue is the main thing." 1 Wesley, 4 Journ. p. 68. - 5 Journ. p. 49, 50. 3 Light. Part iii. Letter 30. Methodists and Papists. 347 And the Methodists have been so well tutored, that after all their fanatical pranks, " they are as sure their sins are for- given, as they can be of the shining of the sun : they are as sure of heaven, as if they were already there." ' To Heaven they must, and will go ? And what less can be expected than taking it by violence, after such presumptuous demands upon God ; as a test of their humility ? Thus insolently humble speaks Mr. Whitefield, " I here demand thy aid." 2 What sigriifieth being a sinner ? " Christ is bound to pay the debt." 3 And Mr. Wesley's mother claims her " mansion in the skies." 4 And yet, one may be as sure, as they can be to the contrary, that " God be merciful to me a sinner," would become the very best of them, when they are leaving this world. If such proofs of salvation may be depended on, and Heaven to be thus insured ; if there be no mistake or delu- sion in the case ; and their own w ord be a sufficient security ; I see no reason why other similar accounts may not deserve to be credited. Let the Pagan magician, Apollonius, stand forth. '*' When he entered a certain temple, he heard a voice of singing in these words, Come, come up into Heaven ; come." 5 Let the Indian Tamuli be heard, ". teach- ing that the best of them pass into paradise ; but through rivers of fire, darkness, milk and water. Though sometimes they have a more expeditious way ; if any one attends once or twice to some peculiar doctrine of the priest ; or if, before his death, he thrice take hold of a cow's tail, according to a religious "rite, immediately his sins are forgiven, and he is carried up to heaven." 6 Let the faith of the Moham- medans be true; " among whom are many vagabond pre- tenders to sanctity, counterfeiting a stupidity. Which sort of men is highly valued among them, because fools and 1 5 Journ. p. 53. a 3 Journ. p. 14, 124. 3 Wesley, 3 Journ. p. 18. 4 5 Journ. 5 Philostr. Olear. p. 464. 6 Missio. Evangel, p. 67. 34S The Enthusiasm of madmen, as persons undoubtedly predestinated to salvation, are accounted saints even in this life." * " And it is thought an effectual way, if, instead of a shroud, a man can get to be buried in their prophet's shirt." a Let us applaud Don Quixote's maxim, that " all knights-errant go directly to heaven." Then what St. Findan heard out of St. Blasius's tomb is unquestionably true ; " your seat is already prepared in heaven, and your sins are forgiven." 3 Then salvation is wrapped up in a monk's cowl. It is but dying in Simon Stock's scapulary, or St. Francis's rope, and all is safe. Get but into one of their orders, or their confraternities ; and the bulls of his holiness will secure your salvation. " Make but a few visits to St. Francis's chapel : and Christ who promised him to deny nothing that he asked, hath effectually forgiven all your sins upon confession." 4 Then the most nasty, ridiculous, crack-brained, nay wicked saints, mur- derers, traitors and rebels, such as the Saints Francis, Dominic, Ignatius, Thomas-a-Becket, Hildebrand, &c. are, without doubt, in heaven, because canonised by St. Peter's vicar. I particularly mention the last, because (to show the world how much popery is mended) no longer ago than September 25, 1728, this Hildebrand (Gregory VII. one of the most wicked of mankind, and most infamous even of Popes) w r as exalted into a saint by Benedict XIII. and in a supplement to the Roman Breviary, his festival is ordered to be kept by all Christians, with a double office, on May 25. The collect is, " O God, the strength of all that trust in thee, who hast endued the blessed Gregory, thy confessor and pope, with virtue and constancy to defend the liberty of the church ; grant to us, that by his example and interces- sion, we may overcome valiantly all that opposeth us." And to point out in what particular his zeal is to be imitated, 1 Busbeq. Epist. iii. - Sale's Koran, p. 160. s Mabil. Act. Ben. An. 800. p. 381. 4 Brev. Franchise. Aug. 2. Methodists and Papists. 349 the lessons for the day tell us, " No pope, since the apo- stle's days, did, or suffered more for the church, or fought more desperately for it. Against the impious attempts of the emperor Henry (the Fourth) he stood an intrepid cham- pion, and deprived him of the communion of the faithful, and of his dominions ; and absolved all his subjects from their allegiance. While he was celebrating mass, a dove was seen flying down from heaven, and sitting with ex- panded wings on his right shoulder, as a proof that he was guided by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. At length this true saint fwent to heaven," &c. " by order of our most holy father Benedict XIII. Lord of the city, and the world, (urbis et orbis.) Signed, N. Cardinal Coscia." The whole service is reprinted in Verpoortennii Fascicule Dissertatio- nurn. Coburg. 1739. Such saints as these may however be in danger of going down stairs into heaven ; as Juvenal smartly says of the consecration of Claudius, Tremulumque caput descendere jussit Ad ccelum. Descends into the skies his trembling head. Seneca writeth, in his Apocolocyntosis, or Apotheosis of a Pumpkin,) " that this pumpkin Claudius had during his life a temple in Britannia ; and that he died in grievous torture, while he was hearing a comedy. In virtue of his consecra- tion he went indeed up to heaven ; but the celestial council, not bearing that such persons should be made gods by low mortals, instantly decreed, that he should leave heaven with- in thirty days. Accordingly he was packed away, and hurried down to the infernal regions." Both Baleus and Platina, in their lives of Boniface VIII, tell us, " that he uncanonised St. Herman of Ferrara, and ordered his bones to be dug up, and burned, after he had been venerated for a saint for twenty years." 1 Sut. vi. 621. 350 The Enthusiasm of But who will venture to apply this to the Methodists 1 Their teachers indeed have been very free and generous in the disposal of heaven. They can presently restore their followers to paradise, or send them to heaven ; nay, can place them there in what degree of glory they please, and make "Mr. Seward's sisters shine with a refulgent splendor above the rest of the heavenly host." ' They can make " our dear Lord come and perfume their graves ; can make angels come, and carry them up to heaven ; can even plunge them into the Trinity, and make them all God." And what then ? What marvel this ? Do not the Papists the same ? The pope by canonisation stocketh heaven with as many inhabitants as he will ; though they have been mad- men, rogues, and assassins. He assigneth to each what particular mansion he judgeth proper, as we find in their canon law ; and its glosses. He hath a power superior to all created beings, hath a pontificial omnipotence, and commands angels. And P. Clement VI. actually exerted this authority in his bull, in favor of pilgrims, " we peremp- torily command the angels of paradise to introduce their souls into paradise, absolutely freed from purgatory."* " And if any one of these pilgrims, upon his return home, should by the instigation of the devil commit any sin ; it is our will and pleasure, that the punishment of hell shall not in any wise be inflicted on him ; unless on account of other sins, which he shall commit afterwards." Out of mere shame the papists were very diligent in burning, or secreting this bull, and thinking they had effectually done it, began to deny that there was ever such a bull ; or at least that had the sanction of the pope's seal. But Wesselus of Groningen, Chancellor Gerson, Corn. Agrippa, &c. affirm, that copies are now to be seen, wiih the Pope's seal annexed, in the archives at Vienna, Limogis, and Poictiers. And luckily 1 Seward. Journ. p. 80. 2 Sexti Decret. lib. iii. Tit. 22. Methodists and Papists. 351 Johan. Hoornbeek found a copy of it in the public library at Utrecht, which he published with observations. 1 Why the Pope should have a reserve, as to sins to be committed afterwards, is not without reason. For indul- gences must be purchased again and again. And hence may be collected, why Mr. Wesley talks so much of the Methodists' having " assurance of pardon, and salvation for the present." It is fit they should be brought to confession, toties quoties, and make their offerings. It stands in so many words in their canon law, that " God assumed St. Peter into partnership with the Undivided Unity." 2 And, as it is con- fidently asserted, that the Pope succeeds St. Peter in all his power and privileges; how can he be denied the same honor ? " His power too of canonising others is not only unquestionable, but a point, in which he is certainly infalli- ble, and cannot be mistaken." 3 These are high claims to great things. And yet one may be tempted, with regard to such canonisers and god-makers, to join issue with Agesilaus, in Plutarch ; " The Thasians had determined to make him a god, and erect temples to his divinity ; and sending ambassadors to acquaint him with it ; he asked them whether their city could make gods of men ? They replying, that it could. Go then, saith he, make your- selves such, and then I shall believe that you can make a god of me also."* SECTION 49. But to return from this impertinent digres- sion: I proceed to consider, in the last place, the famous Methodist doctrine concerning regeneration, or the new birth. 5 Whereby they do not mean the regeneration by baptism ; but something distinct and opposite. The Scrip- 1 See at the end ofhis Bullse P. Urbani viii. 2 Sexti Decret. lib. i. tit. 6. 3 Casal. de Ritib. c. 71. 4 Ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 210. 5 See INTIIODUCTION Part i. s. 7. and an APPENDIX, Sir Aaron. 352 The Enthusiasm of tures indeed may talk of a second and spiritual birth by baptism, of the washing, or laver, of regeneration ; but what avails that, if they take upon them profanely (as Mr. White- field does in express words) to call "baptismal regeneration, the Diana of the present age?" Or, as Mr. Wesley more gently speaks, " if the washing of the Holy Ghost which was given in baptism, be sinned away ?" ' Or, what if after all our best endeavours, baptismal regeneration be ineffec- tual? For, says he, " though I have used all the means for twenty years, I am not a Christian. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I must be born again." 2 And he calls those " blind leaders of the blind, who speak of the new birth, as if it were no more than baptism." 3 Therefore, another greater and better new birth must be superadded to supply the defect. And yet one would think the former sufficient for all purposes of a Christian ; suppos- ing only that St. Paul speaks truth ; " Christ sanctified and cleansed the church with the washing of water; that lie might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." 4 But I am again forgetting myself, and title-page, which mentioned not confutation, but only comparison. To this then let us proceed. This mystical regeneration is, it seems, two-fold, ;a lesser, and a greater. " Born again in the higher sense of the word, into a thorough, inward change, by the love of God shed abroad in the heart. Born again in the lower sense is receiving remission of sins." 5 Mr. Whitefield makes conversion to be the same thing with the new birth. 6 And Count Zinzendorf says, "justification is the same as being born of God. When a man is begotten of God, his fear, and sorrow, and sense of the wrath of God, ;are the pangs of the new birth." 7 Mr. Brainerd says of 1 2 Journ. p. 24. * 3 Journ. p. 23. 3 Ibid. p. 82. * Ephes. v. 26. 5 Wesley 3 Journ. p. 24. \Vhitf. 3 Journ. p. 81. 7 Wesley 2 Journ. p. 39. JUethodiats and Papists. 353 " the Indian conjurer, one of those whom they call Pow- wows, that after his conversion, in all respects, he bears th* marks of one created anew in Christ Jesus." ' " One receives a full clear sense of pardon, with power to sin no more." * They must not, however, as yet wrap themselves up in security. For Mr. Wesley writes : " many go through the wilderness-state of doubts and fears, and strong temptations, after they have received remission of sins. After a clear assurance that God hath forgiven their sins, they are not to think themselves any thing even after this, till thoroughly renewed after the image of God." 3 Of this he himself is an experimental witness. " I continued to seek it (saving faith) with strange indifference, dulness and coldness, and unusually frequent relapses into sin, till Wednesday, May 24, 1738, and then assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine."* But immediately after this new birth, he owneth, " Satan's suggestions that he had no faith, was much buffeted with temptations, and a charge of not having a more sensible change." 5 " I answered, says Mr. Wesley, I sin not to-day ; and Jesus my Master has forbid me to take thought for the morrow." Accordingly to-mor- row, " he hath manifold temptations, but comes off more than conqueror ; has freedom from sin ; not one unholy desire." Yet, two days afterwards, says, " I grieved the Spirit of God, and God hid his face: again assaulted; had more comfort, on which I began to presume ; then thrown into perplexity, whether I had any faith at all." And long after this, " I was much in doubt, whether God would not lay me aside." 6 " Margaret H (O how fallen since then !) witnessed this good confession, that the Lamb of God had taken away her sins." At the same time the love of God so overflowed her soul, that she could not speak 1 Journ. p. 86. a 3 Journ. 3 4 Journ, p. 51. * 2 Journ. p. 29, 30. 3 Ibid. p. 39, 33. 6 3 Journ. p. 60. Method. Z 354 Tlie Enthusiasm of or move." Here observe, this woman was born again both in the lower and higher sense, and yet since grievously fallen. Again ; " A young mnn, who had once known the peace of God, but had sinned it away, had a fresh and clear manifestation of the love of God." And in general, if after the new birth, they fall (as we have seen) into such terrors, despondencies, spiritual desertions, so often sin, and rise again, &c.; I do not see but their regeneration may be often repeated, again and again, to an indefinite term, and that a man may keep a birth-day every day of his life, and every day experience the throes and pangs of child-bearing. Hereby we may be satisfied, that the invented peculiarity of their wonderful new birth, is, properly speaking, nothing but the renewing of the spirit of our minds after sin, or a being renewed again to repentance ; renewed in righteous- ness and hue holiness, after the image of him that created us, &c. In order to attain this new birth, in the lower or higher sense, they are to undergo the torments and agonies of a woman in travail. For, "it is in the spiritual, as in the natural life ; some feel more, others less, but all experience some pangs and travails, ere Christ is formed in them." ' " As my mother bore me with great pain, so did I feel great pain in my soul, in being born of God. I thought the pains of hell were upon me, and that my soul was taking leave of my body ; was in this violent agony for about four hours, then began to feel I was born of God." 1 Nothing less than feeling, as it were, the agonies of death, the pains of hell, and thinking they are in hell, will serve. " Devils are dragging them to hell, their bodies almost torn asunder : they are seized with the spirit of fear, horror, and despair : 3 < one in the pains of hell is justified, and the love of God shed abroad in her heart : another, in despair, hath 1 Whitf. z Wesley 3 Journ. p. 18. 3 Ibid. p. 19. Methodists and Papists. 355 the same : another, sinking down even as dead, hath her sins taken away:' one in a fever feels great terrors; fears lest he should drop into hell : * another overwhelmed with a horrible dread, expecting nothing but to be swallowed up in a moment." 3 In general, as Mr. Wesley speaks, " The being in Oreo, (i. e. in hell) as they phrase it, is thought an indispensable preparative for being a Christian." 4 The same accounts we have in Brainerd ; " one Indian felt that it was a gone case with him, and thought he must sink down to hell ; but is soon another man, created anew in Christ Jesus. A conjurer and murtherer, giving out that he was some great one, thinks God will send him into hell, is just dropping into it, he should be damned." 5 Hence Mr. Wesley describeth the several cryings out, roarings, yellings, convulsions, contortions, with the un- utterable agonies of mind and body, by such expressions, as " groaning for deliverance, calling to God, as out of the belly of hell ; as in their pains and pangs, &c. and if they have a sharp and long labor, then they are in strong pain for some days, as yet not delivered at all ; the children are come to the birth, but there is not strength to bring forth." The same is evidently supposed by Mr. Whitefield, in his letter to Mr. Wesley, "A woman seized with little less than the agonies of death ; five days she travailed and groaned, then in a moment was full of love and joy." 6 " Her friends have accounted her mad for these three years." " Mr. Seward undergoing great inward agonies and tortures, like those of St. Paul, a poor travelling woman who sold straw toys, as a midwife, comes and instructs him in the nature of the new birth." 7 " One having dropped down as if shot with a gun ; upon his rising, I had half an hour's conversation with him on the nature of the new birth." 8 1 3 Journ. p. 40. 42. 46. * 4 Journ. p, 76. 3 ? Journ. p. 66. * Uourn.p. 66. 5 Journ. p. 3. 82. 6 Whitf.3 Journ. p. 43. 7 Ibid. p. 81. 8 7 Journ. p. 12. 356 The Enthusiasm of This kind of regeneration we must acknowledge with Mr. Wesley, to be " something more than that of baptism :" to which I shall soon find a proper parallel throughout ; but iirst shall mention a few comparisons as to hell felt in the new birth. Plutarch says in general, that "a horrible and rigid trembling and quaking is called Ttzgroipi&v, being in hell, or acting hell." ' Bartolus says, " that Ignatius felt the throes of regeneration to be as bad as hell, and that the devils could not invent a worse torture." St. Teresa's spiritual re- generation was thus : " Our Lord placeth her in hell to see the torments prepared for her there. The entrance is like a low, narrow, dark furnace : at the end of the passage is a certain hollow place, like a press in a wall, into which she saw herself crowded extremely close. But as to the feeling part, it is a thing, that can neither be related, or understood. She felt a fire in her soul. All the most insupportable pains she had endured, though caused by the devil, are nothing of what I felt there, pressing, agonising, stifling, desperate and torturing discontent and disgust. To say it is an eradi- cation, or rending of the soul, is to say little : the soul tears itself in pieces ; by an interior fire and despair, burned and cut in piece-meal all at once." 2 And a little farther, " she is again reduced to the same state, for some particular sins." And still after this, "she looseth all the consola- tions of God ; all virtues, even faith itself, are suspended, &c. the devil bringing her to such heaviness and darkness, as cannot be expressed, much less exaggerated. The Lord tells her, it was from the devil." 3 In this comparison, (besides the general similitude with the Methodistical new birth) may be observed the resem- blance with poor Mr. Whitefield, whom the devil shut up in his closet, and locked up in iron armour : the devil's being 1 Vol. ii. p. 948. * Life, vol. i. p. 231. 3 Vol. ii. p. 31. Methodists and Papists. 357 the cause of the pangs in the new birth ; and the necessity of its being several times repeated. And farther on, Teresa says, " that the religious under her institution every month give their superior an account of their spirit ; wherein, with great fidelity, they discover all the turnings and windings of their souls to him, who hereby exactly understands and weighs their improvements." 1 Which perfectly agreeth with Mr. Wesley's preparatory ceremony of confession to himself; " I spent the remainder of this, and the following week, in examining those of the society; speaking severally to each, that I might more perfectly know the state of their souls to Godward." This is the identical man, who had the assurance solemnly to declare, " what we practise is, the confession of several per- sons conjointly, not to a priest, but to each other." a Not that bare confession, even to Mr. Wesley, will be a sufficient preparation for the new birth : penancies are to be undergone ; divers purgations and lustrations of a cruel kind are to be their portion (not the satisfaction of Christ) before their being born again ; and these as an equivalent to purgatory, and necessary for the expiation for sin. I adjourn this point for a minute, because I must not omit Madam Bourignon, whose institutions having thrown a man into a dangerous distemper, filling him with sorrow, sadness and sighing, &c. she tells his wife, " that her doctrine is a milk (though very sour) that begetteth virgins ; the man's sorrow good and wholesome, a blessing designed to purge his soul, to bring him to perfection, to unite him to God : that these wholesome pains and sighs are the throes of the spiritual birth, and that children, natural or spiritual, cannot be bora again without pain to the flesh. Wherefore, I esteem your husband happy for his child-bearing pains." 3 These signs of the new birth were much the same, when 1 Life, vol. ii. p. 65. 4 Plain Account, p. 18. 3 Light risen in Darkness, Part iv. Letter 22. 358 The Enthusiasm of Quakerism had got footing in the nation. And that Poperf set it on foot, and furnished it too with stilts, Mr. Wesley must have heard. In Turner's History of Providences, " Doctor Templar relateth the case of Robert Churchman, who was leaving the Church of England, and embracing Quakerism; his wife being farther gone, and a principle wrought in her. But the man a little hesitating, was told by a Quaker, that he should see a sign. Within a few nights there was a violent storm over his room, and a voice within him said, Sing praises, sing praises ; thou shalt see the glories of the New Jerusalem ; and a glimmering light appeared all over the room. The voice then commanded him to get out of his bed naked, to go so to some relations, and threaten them with tire and brimstone, like that on Sodom and Gomorrah, if they did not obey. He went naked, performed his message, and returned home, where he stood naked three or four hours ; the spirit within him, in an unusual manner ; sometimes forcing him to sing, some- times to bark like a dog. The spirit too bade him kill his obstinate brother and sister ; and made him utter with great readiness many places in Scripture, of which he knew nothing before. The drift was to persuade him to Quaker- ism, of which sect it named many. In about three or four hours the man came to himself, and gave a perfect account of all that had befallen him. Some nights afterwards the same trouble was renewed. His wife was tortured with extraordinary pains ; and the children complained, that their mouths were stopped as with wool. Upon Dr. Templar's continuance with him, and by prayer, he was perfectly free from all molestation ; and he, by the Doctor's advice, kept close to the public service of God, and had nothing to he ! 408 APPENDIX I. As young joy danc'd in AMORET'S sportive eye, To speak a bosom yet untouch'd by care ; Heavens ! 'twas enough to scatter every sigh, Enough to chase the demon of despair. Yet he, perhaps, with strange mysterious air, Would ponder on the black and billowy cloud, And paint, in dreadful march, chimeras there ; Or, on the dying hearth, by spleen o'erbrow'd, Detect the plumed hearse, and catch the dim cold shroud. Thus AARON dream'd from apparitions pale ; When once, as wild the woods he travers'd, broke From a hoar barn, in sooth no sound of flail Enlivening rural echo at each stroke, But other murmurs, to the simple folk, Sweet as the ringing brass to bees, I wist The voice that warn'd them, the infernal yoke To 'scape, and flee damnation, and enlist With him, the elect of Heaven, yclept a Methodist ! There as * the rounder shook his tresses lank, The crowd, in wonder, on his accents hung ; And, as the breath of inspiration, drank The dulcet words that trickled from his tongue ; * In " THE SAINT'S PROGRESS," (Canto the First) old ZACHARY (the rounder) and his harangue from a horseblock, are thus described : " High on a horseblock, in his vasty mind, That shamed the thrones of Ormuz or of Ind, Old ZACHARY stood ; and squinting, look'd around, Then fix'd his orbs of vision to the ground ; Then, from the pavement slowly rais'd his eyes, As gathering crowds with dust obscur'd the skies. " Thin was his lathlike form ; and wan his face By choler stain'd, and tortur'd by grimace ; As in the wildness of his long lank hair A living miracle 'twas his to bear- Half as the sable black ; and half, I trow, No sorry rival to a flake of snow. "Yes ! and, he said, ' his tresses prov'd him " sent" His high credentials wheresoe'er he went ! And, whether (as the muse his portrait drew) His text he cited first in order due, Or, without warning, on the spirit's wings, The adventurer rush'd into the midst of things ; Full soon he told, ' how, one extatic night By Heaven's high favour half his hair turn'd white ; 'Twas at that moment, he receiv'd the call, As flash'd like lightning, curtains, bed, and all : POETRY. When AARON, mingling with the motley throng, Was mov'd with " thoughts that melt and strains that touch" Saw sinners, sudden in the Spirit strong j Saw limping saints spring forth, and spurn the crutch ; Saw glories streaming round, for mortal eyen too much ! Whence witlings, tickled by a sight so quaint, Had nam'd him half a sinner, half a saint !" " Full oft (the preacher cried) will Mammon cross Your paths, and draw you to his filthy dross ; Ere yet secure, amid satanic traps, You brave the puny notion of relapse. The Devil (he said, to prove how great a curse Was Mammon) once way-laid him with a purse ; But deeming if he pull'd the tempting strings, That soon his fingers might encounter stings, He pass'd the snare yet, conquering all bis qualms, Turn'd back and seiz'd it for the sake of alms ; When, from the foldings which he lay so squat in, Jump'd out, and vanish'd, purse and all, old Satan !" " He told how, sudden, on the pulpit-stairs, When Satan, by a thousand earthly cares Had every trace of holy writ perplex'd, The spirit supplied him with a proper text." " He told how oft he usher'd upon earth, Man-midwife to the spirit, the new birth ! How once a maiden wriggled, as she lay, With mortal pangs, or seem'd one lump of clay ; When, as he bade the spirit o'er hell prevail, Old Nick departed thro' her great toe-nail !" " He told, how of the power of grace appriz'd When with a red hot iron cauteriz'd, He charm'd into a mild and gentle heat The hissing fire and felt the caustic sweet !" These are a few lines from the first Canto. The effects of the Rounder's preaching, are manifested in the behaviour of two descriptions of persons, who are denominated the " Still Saints," and " The Revellers." The " Still Saints" are exhibited in the second Canto; " Tlie Revellers," in the third. Of " the SHU Saints," SAGANILLA is the heroine ; who is drawn with " Lifted eyes Commercing with the secret skies Then starting, by her fears betray'd, As if some vision she survey'd Pictur'd upon the silent air" " Soon as his flock was scatter'd round The preacher o'er the awny ground, Had follow'd his accustom'd clue To pick up a stray saint or two ; 410 APPENDIX I. Whilst with an honest zeal, one sabbath mornv A portrait of the Limbs the Rector drew ; Lo, as beside himself with rage and scorn, Sir Aaron rush'd abruptly from his pew ; And mutter'd : " to the Church I bid adieu, " If scoffers with such cates the pastor feast ! " If thus he call the elect a lying crew ! " 'Tis but to carry to his mill more grist, " The tyrant stamps and chafes, yet grins, a crafty priest !'' When, viewing the deep wood askance, He spied, with quick and roguish glance, The maseCul maid ; and skulking near, Met in her eye a tremulous tear That, as it ask'd to be forgiv'n, In stillness was uprais'd to heaven. " Hail, blessed of the Lord," he said, " Sweet Jesus calls thee bence : Thro' tbee he bids me, chosen maid ! His love and life dispense. Thro' thee shall grace its fountain pour, To mock the widow's cruse : Then may contrition's tear no more O'erflow its little sluice." "The Revellers" of the third Canto are not of a temperament to admit at go quiet a conversion. " Here a fellow was jumping, and catching the branches, Then dropping, as struck by a ball, on his haunches, And grinning in horror (the Devil, in this age, So dreadfully never distorted a visage) Whilst he mutter'd, full oft : ' I am damn'd, I am lost,' And, cursing, was ready to give up the ghost. " There a woman, with shrieks of the direst despair, Tore off from her occiput, handfuls of hair; As the sweat from her face in big drops distill'd over her, And the preacher beseechM from hell-flames to recover her ; Crying out : " ZACHARIAS ! O come thy concern is To quench me ! O come, and extinguish a furnace !" " From the sword of the spirit receiving a wound, Another sunk, mute as a fish, to the ground: But soon, as it littlu avail'd to be quiet, Flounc'd about, for the sake of promoting the riot" Whilst ZACHARY and DRYWIT, to psalmody-music Who were tuning their pipes, to recover the crew sick, As they happen'd to cast a sly look on each other (So a soothsayer, Tully says, looks on bis brother) Burst out into laughing; and long, in the bustte, To Satan surrender'd each risible muscle." POETRY. 411 Thus, eloquent in ire, Sir Aaron cried j Then jump'd in sudden transport : " Oh ! I feel* " Thro' all my tingling veins the spirit glide, " And melt with sacred fire this heart of steel. " Satan ! 'tis done ! At my wit's end I reel ! " I hail dire parturition ! the new birth ! " Now, serpent ! thou hast vainly bruis'd my heel ! " Now, tho' my former self was nothing worth, " Fast mounting to the heavens I kick this clod of earth !" The Baronet, " commercing with the skies," The wondrous story of the spirit told : His youthful lady vievv'd him with surprise, And (as he condescended to unfold The cause that made him of unsinning mould) Was well nigh smother'd in a laughing-fit. His fiery orbs with f indignation roll'd : And " damn'd (said he) are they, who, satan-smit, " Scoff at the Lord's elect to point their wicked wit!" The passage alluded to, in Tully, is as follows : " Mirari se aiebat, quod non rideret acuspex, aruspieem cum vidisset." Cic. de Divin. * " That wisdom, which divests the Christian faith of its truth and the test of this truth reason ; and resolves all into internal feelings, into mystic Spiritualism, and extatic raptures, instead of giving it the manly support of moral demonstration, can never be the wisdom which is from above whose characteristic attribute is purity." Bishop Warlurtanon Grace, Chap, \\.subfin. "Every gift of the spirit, as well as faith, cometh by hearing; and that not in an instant, but by degrees. For the Gospel does not illuminate and sanctify men at once ; but by successive improvements, according to the care with which we listen to its admonitions, and the impression they make upon us. One truth received prepares the mind to receive a second ; that, a third; and so on, till we become perfect in the knowlege of the faith. Our moral advances are made in the same manner : one good resolution begets another, which again produces succeeding ones, till, through several intervening states, we arrive, or almost arrive at perfect obedience." Hurd's Sermon*, vol. II. p. 9. f One of the effects of the spirit ! The babes of grace are, on all occa- sions, impatient of opposition ; most susceptible of resentment, and furious in their revenge. The author is scarcely acquainted with one leader among the Methodists, who, if in the slightest degree injured or insulted, pursues not his measures of retaliation, with the bitterest animosity. It was the same with the Anabaptists of a former age. " To bring down the Holy Ghost (says Sir F. Bacon) instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven ; let that be left unto the Anabaptists, or other furies." " The most candid investigation of Methodism has always provoked from its professors the most perverse cavils, and outrageous reproaches. In whatever view you consider it, you are, from that moment, abhorred or despised, or pitied by the whole Society. This circumstance is surely suspi- 412 APPENDIX I. Not so, EMIRA, AMORET'S gentle friend, To heaven-struck AARON'S freaks her ear inclin'd ; 'Twas hers, a sigh to every sigh to lend, Or, if no sigh approaeh'd her, to the wind ! Melting o'er animals of every kind, To the poor Baronet so sadly craz'd, Her stores of tenderness she quick resign'd j Now look'd half credulous, and now amaz'd, Now thro' a glist'ning tear, the gem of pity, gaz'd I How sweet, when Pity o'er the virgin's cheek, Her genuine tint, her simple colouring throws, When from moist eyes her rays unbidden break, The trembling dew-drops that hnpearl the rose ! Yet, in each look, each tint, what poison glows ! To soft EMIRA, o'er and o'er again * His tale he told, and soon survey'd her throes, Her sympathetic workings ; nor in vain Hail'd the new babe of grace a babe without a stain f cious. If their system of religion be founded on truth, the greater cause they will have of rejoicing : if on error, the sooner they are convinced of their mistake, the higher must be their obligation to those who discover to- them the uncertain foundation on which their edifice is raised. But I have been repeatedly told by some of their most distinguished members, that could they be convinced that Methodism is a delusion, they would still con- tinue in it." Clapham's Sermons on Methodism. * Nothing is more frequent among religious enthusiasts than to confound carnal with spiritual love. In illustration of this idea, we shall produce a few passages from the fourth and fifth Cantos in the Saint's Progress. The fourth Canto is entitled The Flesh and the Spirit ; or the Nig lit Vision of ZACHARY. " Scarce had the orient's ruby ray Brighten'd into a golden beam, When ZACHARY on his pillow lay, Troubled by an ominous dream. 'Twas a vision of the night That his soul with terror struck, Yet mingling with his fears delight, Beneath his limbs the sacking shook. With rapid hand he drew the curtain ; And as his lamkin tipp'd his tongue, Appall'd by images uncertain, Away to SAGANILLA sprung! " O SAGANILLA sweet," he cries, " Night such as mine was never spent." Lifting the whites of both bis eyes, His brow with chilling dew besprent. POETRY. 413 To steal into the wood-walk ; or to meet By chance amidst the mazes of the grove ; The smooth illapses of the Spirit to greet, With looks of adoration fix'd above ; To breathe, reciprocally, sighs of love, Full oft was theirs ; when AMORET with a smile, Frolic and arch, her Dryad would reprove, And drop the careless joke, devoid of guile, And laugh, still light of heart, unweeting all the while ! " Oh ! I have dream'd a dream that puts " Me all into a dreadful shiver " That thrills my back, consumes my guts, " And to a coal burns up my liver. " Methought fair damsel ! you and I, " Where yonder ivied turrets frown, " Were met, beneath a glowing sky, " To soft airs curl'd my morning gown." " And (blush ye fair, whose youthful charms, < Provoke us to behave amiss), " I caught thee to my eager arms, " And printed on thy lips a kiss." " Yet soon to joy succeeds a dull fit, " Sudden I heard quick hurrying paces ; " When lo, old Satan, like a culprit, " Tore thee at once from my embraces!" Then up, as from a trance, she started, And cried, and beat her snowy breast ; " Thy dream, I'm sure, not Heaven imparted, " But Satan only could suggest.'' " Suppose (saith SAGGY) you apply " To the young devil you've just cast out ; " Your power can bid him prophesy, " And quickly clear up every doubt." Then straight his tale of flesh, the parson Rehears'd, in vivid tropes of speech : In vain to carry still the farce on, The devil sat dumb upon his breech. Old ZACMARY, waxing furious, said Such things as seldom saints of grace say ; And 'gan to heat the poker red, To singe him for his contumacy. 414 APPENDIX I. One moonlight eve (a time when fancy coins Her myriad shapes) he bent his lonely way, With odd sensations in his reins and loins, Where with his babe of grace he wont to stray : As languishing at home the fair one lay- Sweet lambkin ! of the spirit somewhat sick ! 'Twas then a voice, or said, or seem'd to say, Sharp as he felt a goad his conscience prick, " Fly, fly these haunts obscure, nor inspiration trick ! " Then (quoth the devil) by kissing her up, " Nothing besitle is understood, " Than simply that 1 strove to stir up " An effervescence in thy blood." " But though e'en the flesh provoke her, " What shall the spirit's espousals hinder ? " Say, or hissing hot, the poker " Shall burn thy body to a cinder. " No more my agonies deride all, " By thy cursed equivoke!" " O ZACHARY ! I foresee the bridal, " Or the Methodistic yoke." The Fifth Canto is entitled " TJie Holy Mountain.' " Scarce had the preacher from the ambiguous fiend Departed in much wrath, ere DRVWIT, prompt To watch his movements, met with looks demure His eye, and heard him uttering his resolve To hail sweet SAGANILLA, the espous'd Of heav'n himself the bridegroom chaste, and guide Her steps into " the Holy Mountain :" there The unction of the spirit to receive, Refrigerative essence !" ' With clasped hands She cried, " Adieu, ye lying vanities, " Adieu! this moment I renounce you all !" And then away they sped. He in his staff Like the grey pilgrim glorying ; she array'd, Not in the thin loose vest, whose rosy flow The limbs half veiling, heightens by its tint Their glowing hue j but, clad in innocent white, Chaste as the angelic robe that hermits view Amid the twilight clouds at close of day. Across the heath they travell'd; as the suri Thro' sable mists a solitary gleam Shed on its purple flowrets, and the breeze By fits shook fragrance from the chamomile. POETRY. 415 ** Why thus, a saint, in sylvan silence sneak, " Nor in the face of day the word proclaim ?* " Go, from thy carnal consort's bondage break ; " Go, leave thy brats, nor heed the worldling's blame. And lol his circling arms around her waist Seem'd like a rainbow : from his lily lips The sw-eet, the precious promises of love, Dropp'd like the myrrh ; and such a look was his, Meek and devout as the Lord's people look; Though, now and then, his quivering eye betray'd Some little symptoms of mortality." " Now up a steep ascent They hasten'd ; till at length the destin'd spot Breathless approaching, as beneath their feet A cavern echoed, to the holy place He led her, nothing loath. " Come (he cried) " Thou chosen of the Lord ! sweet are thy sighs, " As of expiring saints ! yet sweeter still " The sigUs thy heart shall heave, when thou shalt hail ' Regeneration's oil upon thy head." So saying, upon a seat o'ercanopied By a black crag, he plac'd the unweeting maid, As now with apprehensions of herself, Now of her saintly guide, now of the rite Mysterious, her heart flutter'd, and her lips Grew pale. Before her, on his pliant knees Hedropp'd, in solemn silence; slowly rais'd The lids that o'er his eyes were wont to close, And, with the deepest sanctity of look, Bade each grey ball he riveted in heaven ! ' 1 see (as waken'd from a trance, he cried) ' I see a light break forth ! Full soon the rock ' Shall tremble ! Keats with palpitation quick ' Thy virgin heart I Anon that heart shall beat ' With a saint's pulses ; and the spirit descend ' Into thy form transfus'dl Full soon the rock ' Shall tremble !" Many of the above (and much more luscious) expressions occur in the Journals of the Saints ;" such as Bishop Lavington hath quoted without re- serve, and exposed with so much humour. * Baronets turned itinerant preachers are by no means uncommon cha- racters in the present age. But the Author, in the character of SIR AARON, has no real person in view. He disclaims, indeed, in his poem, every idea of personality. 41G APPENDIX I. " What is a child, a parent * ? 'Tis a name " Which sinners but disgrace, and saints disown !" Deep from a tower the ethereal accents f came, Whilst lightning every cleft and mossy stone J O'er the majestic pile a fierce effulgence shone. Where Teign, more tranquil, round the hamlet rolls, A cobbler's cabin peeps through ashen shade. Its master, now the cobbler sly of souls, Aspir'd to mend mankind where shoes were made ! Brown was his awl with rust, his last decay'd. With Paine he cavill'd, and with Wesley glow'd, And, by a cunning rounder's cant betray'd, Ne Gosel had with Tom so deftly rode, Ne Gosel had, like him, come flying all abroad ! Attracted to this stall, the parish clerk (To whom SIR ROWLAND erst the school consign'd) Felt, at his heart, each wily doctrine work, And to the cobbler gave his opening mind. Nor he, who to the asylum had inclin'd His cares, less fervent, for the spirit itch'd ! Ah me ! from eloquence and gold combm'd, Who, who escapes, and triumphs unbewitch'd ? Whilst Plutus touch d their palms, their ears || Apollyon twitch'd. Thither hied AARON. From his awful scowl, Of gin too conscious, the caballers shrunk : So shrinks in terror Benedictine cowl, Where some intrusive eye detects a punk. But most the mazy cobbler's spirit sunk * The tender charities of " Father, Son, and Brother," are held in utter contempt by the Methodists ; they scruple not to sacrifice all the social, all the relative, duties to their visionary love of God. J- Credit enim ipsius Dominae se voce moneri. En animam et mentem, cum qua Dii nocte loquantur! J $ao,-^'a7TEi%o? sTtr^Srj. Theocritus. JEdes totae confulgebant, quasi essent aurese. Plautus. " I am apt to lay this down for a maxim in politics, that when they are busy in the exorcising or dispossessing of devils, 'tis time for our governors to look about them, there being a wane devil lying hid, than that which ap- pears upon the stage ; for 'tis dangerous, when an under party, by these and such like cheats of sanctity, endeavour to strengthen their interest by making themselves popular." Fmilis's History of Romish Treasons. \\ Alluding to Virgil's " aurem Vellit et admonuit." Apollyon, however, twitches their ears, not to check their confidence, but to excite their atten- tion. POETRY. 417 When " DRYWIT !" (said his lord, and, stuttering, ceas'd) (DRYWIT, for aye, at sunset deadly drunk, And roaring in his cabin like a beast,) " I greet thee, by Heaven's call* from sin and death releast!" Yet, with its custom'd fumes of copious gin, By AARON'S nose unheeded, steam'd the stall. Lo ! DRYWIT in his nightly shop of sin, To pence and Paine had offer' d up his awl ! Now from their station twinkling each grey ball Seem'd prompt to leap : yet, " I," SIR AAKON cried, " I too, my DRYWIT, have receiv'd the call, " And, like the trumpet's blast, shall* far and wide, " Send my terrific voice, appalling earthly pride. " Say then, my spiritual soldier ! wilt thou aid " Thy chief, accoutred for a glorious work ? " Quit, with no faultering step, thy sober shade, " And march, unscar'd, where hosts in ambush lurk, " Thirsting for blood ; where, savage as the Turk, (C Though Christians deemed, they burn with rage and lust ? " Yes ! tho' thou meet the night's insidious dirk, " The noontide arrow, in thy buckler trust, " And bid the foes to heaven He low and lick the dust." Then, by the help of hems more bold in speech : " Arch devil, thy wide dominions soon shall shake : " For, DRYWIT ! ere on earth the word we preach, " Be ours to journey to the brimstone lake. " There shall we challenge Satan, for the sake " Of souls possest, o'er whom the fiend now flaps " His sooty wings ; when quickly shall they wake " To a new life ; hereafter from mishaps " Secure, nor heed the flesh, nor into sin relapsef. * Though DRYWIT deserve no other appellation than that of a villain, it is by no means insinuated that SIR AARON put on the mask of hypocrisy. He bad, indeed, mistaken carnal for spiritual love. We may presume that he had discovered his mistake ; and we may suppose that, wishing to make amends for his error, or rather to atone for his criminal excess in consequence of it, he had now deteraiined to sacrifice every worldly comfort to his reli- gion. It is no wonder, therefore, that his fired imagination should lead him into the strangest disorders ; or that he should be unable to distinguish the workings of his own mind from the operations of the Spirit. f The Methodists, when once they become truly enlightened, are elevated in their own opinion far above the apostle St. Paul, who was not without fear, Jest, after having preached unto others, he himself should become a cast-a- way. Method. 2 418 APPENDIX I. " Where a vast rock, o'erhangs a hollow dale, " In secret talk I heard the Rounder say, " A wondrous plant enshrines its pistil pale " In densest gloom, impervious to the day, " A shrub, whose virtues would to light betray " The fiery gulph, and tame the powers of hell ! " Thither, then, DRYWIT! let us bend our way : " The spirit, by a mode no man can tell, " Shall guide us to that plant, amidst the dreary dell. End of the First Canto. SIR AARON; OR, THE FLIGHTS OF FANATICISM. CANTO THE SECOND. His coming was with lying wonders. St. Paul. His vision, a diabolical delusion. Laving ton. Festa infesta Deo, Divumque sacerrima sacra. THE full moon rising, shed a sanguine ray * : Whilst AARON hurried to the cobbler's cell : And sudden, by the spirit borne away, Both, with alacrity no tongue can tell, Setting their honest faces towards hell, Began to give their families the slip : Nathless, as if recovering from a spell, " What ! no provision, Sir, for such a trip," Said DRYWIT, " not a drop, to wet the parched lip ?' * A great part of this Canto forms the si\th Canto of " The Saint's Pro- gress," entitled " The Pilgrimage to Hell" See Advertisement. POETRY. 4l9 He, deaf and mute, to where at distance seen, A glimmering rock reliev'd the sullen waste, Swallow'd the ground, tiUroll'd a mist between, And every feature of the crag effac'd. " Homeward, (cried DRYWIT,) master, let us haste, " Nor wander here, while glooms around us close !" When AARON, full of joy, his clerk embrac'd " No ! they are devils, my friend, that interpose, " And victors shall we rise o'er all our ghostly foes," Certes, no sooner had SIR AARON said, Than, far off, a dim radiance met the view, That now appear'd an orb of vivid red, Now trembled, dying to a paly blue. And, " see," said AARON, " to the saints so true, " Already hath the spirit vouchsaf 'd its light. " What tho' still rage the dire obstructing crew ; " That splendor on the trees shall guide aright " Our steps, and straight for heaven provoke the glorious fight. The whistling of rude boughs assails his ear ; And, kindling from above, the ruddy copse, The heavenly lustre seems to shine more clear ! Away, with a triumphant air he hops, Nor, by the spirit urg'd, a moment stops, Till to a quagmire giving way, so civil, He bows, and makes obeisance with his chops ! " Zounds ! (says the cobbler,) evil follows evil : " We have, indeed, commenc'd a journey to the devil !" Scarce disengag'd from frolics with the fen, "Come, DRYWIT, never fear!" the hero cries : " DRYWIT rejoice ! I see the hollow glen " 'Tis there the treasure of the spirit lies !" When, as at once his fancy seiz'd the prize, Down went the antagonist of death and sin j Though swore the valet, with uplifted eyes, His service never more should AARON win, If he could once get home, escaping in whole skin. Deep in the glenwood, nigh a sombrous cave, He saw, and told * his transports in a bound, Its snowy leaves the leucophyllon wave, And wrench'd it, by the roots, from out the ground j * This shrub is mentioned by Plutarch as found at the celebration of the mysteries of Hecate, and endued with wonderful virtues. APPENDIX I. When, as it quiver'd with a mighty sound, The cavern to his sense expanded wide ! And many a dog-star flam'd the vault around j And at his feet there foam'd a sulph'rous tide ; And far within, in troops, dun shadows seem'd to glide. Straight where he stalk'd arose the unceasing cries Of infants, who, by too severe a doom, Ere yet they could enjoy these upper skies, Were hurried all untimely to the tomb. Lorn innocents ! no sooner from the womb Ye struggled into life, than, unappriz'd Of sin, ye sunk into the oblivious gloom ! Ah, why, when sinners grey are canoniz'd, Why weep so sore ? ye died, poor wretches, unbaptiz'd / There, too, irinumerous shapes, in sable clad, Curates and parish priests, would flit along ; There silken deans would rustle through the shade, And lawn-sleeves gleam, the cassock'd tribe among ! Ah ! what avail'd the Vicar's sober tongue, That to a blameless life the meed assign'd ? What, the pure precepts that o'eraw'd the throng, Where prelates, destin'd to adorn mankind, To courtly splendour join'd an Apostolic mind ? At AARON'S nod the yellow waves flew back, Whilst, on the fronting bank, two shapes appear'd Dire-menacing : the one, as midnight black, A form, half-billow, and half-flame, up-rear'd And shook a dreadful dart with blood besmear'd ! The other roll'd, tho' woman to the waist, As horrid yelpings from her womb were heard, A scaly tail voluminous ! aghast, Yet both in silence stood, as proud heaven's champion pass'd. First, to his sight, a choir of boys and girls Were whirl'd about in one perpetual dance, Swift as her fervid wheel the spinster whirls, While from their hollow eyes they look'd askance With loose desires, and pin'd at every glance : Nor could the votaries of religions whim One step beyond the circling line advance ; As still St. Vitus, round a cauldron's brim, Urg'd hie fantastic imps convuls'd in every limb. POETRY. 42] Next, in a chair of pearl, beneath a roof Of gold, a female methodist embrac'd A puny petit-maitre, whilst aloof The fashions of the world each other chac'd. Charm'd with the visions of caprice or taste, The Fair one from her eye new rapture glanc'd ; And, tho' in life a devotee strait-lac'd, Yet " in her heart a rake," now gaily danc'd To pleasure,, now more calm, appear'd as one entranc'd. He, in himself absorb'd, his brilliant rings Runs over, his pink-rosettes that glow On each sharp shoe ; while, tied with silken strings, His muslin trowsers, and the plumes that flow From his light cap, proclaim the child of show. And, as his fan of feathers tremble oft, A nosegay of the faintest flowers that blow, Rests on a ribbon 3 since a heart so soft, Might* rue the oppressive load, if the slim creature cough'd. Soon rattling in rude dissonance their chains, f Vertigo and pale Spleen the gaudy glare Would interrupt ; and to a windmill's vanes Fasten, unheeding their shrill screams, the pair, And drive them dizzily around in air, Till, in a livid swoon each died away ; When, now recovering, from the rich pearl chair They witness' d, as before, in bright array The fleeting fashions rise and o'er the cieling play. On a rush bed, amidst a cavern damp, A damsel lay to dreadful penance doom'd, The victim of fell Incubus and Cramp ; Who had, in life, to pleasure idly bloom'd, As in the prurient love-feast she consum'd, 'Mid sister saints, the hypocritic night ; Till weak from watchings, and at length entomb'd, She sank into the shades, a beauteous sprite, Tho' form'd for sensual bliss, debarr'd each keen delight. * This seems, we must own, a singular refinement in the annals of deli- cacy. But the complaint of the Sybarite on his couch of roses, is, perhaps, less conceivable. f See Plutarch's description of the Vertigo as seizing a lover, which he calls a sacred frenzy, a preternatural possession of the soul. Vol. ii. Ed. Par. p. 763. 422 APPENDIX I. Beside her, Cramp, as shrivell'd up he clang To clustering swallows, caught the damsel's sighs, When, on a sudden, up the pigmy sprang To a dire monster of enormous size, Then shrunk into himself in agonies. Now, as all muscle, he appear'd to strain His limbs, and look'd as if his bursting eyes Within their sockets he could scarce contain, Now hiccup'd thrice, and laugh'd, and hiccup'd thrice again. Scarce could the weary maid a moment doze, (Ah, never hers was balmy slumber sweet) Ere a cold touch benumb'd her legs, and froze The extremer parts, like winter's arrowy sleet. " One little pause of rest no more to greet " Is mine !" she cried : " no earthly cataplasm, " Alas ! could ease the torment of my feet !" While grinn'd invisible the fiend of spasm, Then sought his swallow-nook, within the noisome chasm. Meantime had Night-mare, midst a meteor's glare, Stretch'd her huge limbs, when out flew many a bat, That slept within her leathern breasts, and there Oft drew her paps, like any human brat ; Or fann'd her, on her hairy buttock squat, Spreading their skinny pinions of tann'd hue : Then ruminating as the monster sat, She gather'd from the cypress and dark yew, Mixt with the froth of toads, a deleterious dew. Eftoons in office, that infernal imp, Whose power can youth's gay visions intercept, Nor emulous, it seems, of Vulcan's limp, But apeing Mercury, on the rush-couch leap'd, As one short moment tho' with sighs she slept, And shook the cavern with a gamesome jerk ; With stealthy cunning on her belly crept, Ey'd the lorn fair one with a hideous smirk, And, half-relenting, cried, " alas ! 'tis rueful work 1" Deep-fever'd blushes ting'd her lovely face, Her mouth half-open'd to the murky night : Her bosom panting with disorder'd grace, Heav'd its blue veins, and glow'd with rosy light. Loose were her shadowy tresses : snowy-white Her right hand, backward thrown, sustain'd her head That seem'd to throb with anguish ; when the sprite Shook o'er her breast the mane of dingy red, And rais'd the poison'd hoof, and all its venom shed. POETRY, 423 While quiver'd in paralysis her limbs, With suffocative sighs opprest she lay : And lo, as in the dews of death she swims, She strives to scream with many a vain essay ,- And starts from threatening forms in chill dismay ! At length she moans, and utters a low shriek ; When, as she seems to feel a lump of clay From her breast tumbling, tremulously weak Scarce can she lift her hand to touch her hectick cheek, Insulting sore a Methodistic crone, With pallid hand as Hypochondria strok'd Her aching stomach to a bladder blown j The sufferer, with throat-globules well nigh choakt Now crawl'd a bloated toad, and crawling croak'd j Now, seiz'd with dizziness, o'er many a rood Lay floating a huge whale, and oft provok'd By fell harpooners, dash'd the fervent flood ; And in delirium seem'd to fill all space with blood *. Here Catalepsy, lost in thought intense, Her heavy temples with the poppy crown'd, Her victim would benumb in every sense, And fix his leaden eye-balls to the ground, And his stone-tongue chain up, " without a sound." There too, her sister f bade a wan wretch smite His breast, and high to catch the vapours bound, Dash in the dust his writhing limbs, and bite His livid lips in foam, and dart pernicious light J. There, whilst the Dog-star pour'd upon his head, Siriasis ! thy pestilential blaze, Struck by the beams, thy victim, as he fled, Stopp'd in mid-course, and star'd with ghastly gaze ; * The Author knew a person, who, amidst his hypochondriacal affections, fancied that his body was so large as to fill the whole chamber to which he confined himself ; said it was impossible that he could go down stairs ; and at length began to expand through the whole house, &c. &c. &c. This man's original disorder was religious melancholy, f Epilepsy. J " Suhito, vi morbi saepe coactus, Ante oculos aliquis nostros, ut fulminis ictu, Concidit, et spumas agit ; ingemit, et tremit artus ; Desipit, extentat nervos, torquatur, anhelat Inconstanter, et in jactando membra fatigat." See Wakefield's Lucret. I. 3. v. 490. 424 APPENDIX I. And, as the mist of darkness seem'd to glaze His eye-balls, strove to seize, with ardour vain, A cooling rill that curl'd through many a maze ; Then, smitten by the fiery beams again, Pursued the elusive lymph, and beat his burning brain. There Terror, mounting an infuriate horse, Towards a precipice of bare rock flew, And its mane grasping, in a bloody corse Oft bath'd its hoofs, and oft a saint o'erthrew; While from the steed's broad nostrils vapours blue Stream'd forth, and from its eyes the Siroc's glare, When laughing midst his Methodistic crew, Madness danc'd round, and started grim Despair ; And Terror's self shrank back, and rais'd his bristling hair. So dire the fiends amidst hell's concave rag'd, Who, the earth vexing by a kindred train, War, ever and anon, with mortals wag'd, But, chiefly with the votaries of the fane j Who (as descending to the dark domain A saintly ghost demure attention drew) Would, each, the mental and corporeal pain That from the body rent the soul, renew, And with appropriate pangs the suffering wretch pursue. The doughty chief, while thus to daze the sight The vision floating round and round him rose, Spied the devil seated on a mountain's height, That flaming labour'd with volcanic throes ; And beckoning to the throne his fearstruck foes, Bade them no more their tyrant's nod obey, On Methodists inflicting bitter woes, But pour their vengeance on their proper prey On infants unbaptiz'd, and priests more damn'd than they. He spoke. And Satan, a fierce lightning-fork That hiss'd within the hollow crater, seiz'd, And seem'd in act to speed its deathful work ; When AARON high his leucophyllon rais'd, And, as in air the sulphur idly blaz'd, Fix'd Satan trembling to the mountain's crest ! The vassal monsters, as in triumph, gaz'd ; St. Vitus paus'd, his rapid rounds represt, Vertigo's self stood firm, and e'en Despair had rest. POETfU. 425 " SUBDUED (says AARON, as he swell'd in size Gigantic) see, subdued the dire domain ! " And (waving straight his rod) behold," he cries, " Hell vanishes ! we tread on earth again t" " Indeed (quoth DRYWIT, in a doleful strain,) " Whether on earth or no:, I scarce can tell ! " Something, methinks, disturbs your honour's brain ! " But, d me ! by to-morrow, if you dwell " In this accursed hole, you'll find yourself in hell !" End of the Second Canto. CANTO THE THIRD. " The Methodist set the house on fire attempted to kill his mother was sent to a mad house." Lavington, from a voluntary information upon oath. STRIDING*, a chief as valorous and as vain as The dread devil-tamer Whitfield ever strode) Sis AARON, midst the village's hosannas, Enter'd in triumph his forlorn abode ; And, fierce with victory as his bosom glow'd, His shrieking AM o RET, his poor offspring pass'd : And " burn my books ;" he cried, " the foes to God j" " Come, DRYWIT, with the torch of vengeance haste, And every page of hell with hell's own sulphur blast !" * In the seventh Canto of " The SAINT'S PROGRESS," entitled " Sinles$ Perfection," are described the Preacher's triumphs on his return from the Infernal Regions, and the celebration of the secret orgie? of the Methodists : " Striding as great a hero to the fane, as The dread devil-tamer, Whitfield, ever strode; Old ZACHARY, midst the multitude's hosannas, Enter'd the Methodist's serene abode, And in air waving his triumphant wand, ' Fear not, belov'd !' he cried, ' the pangs ' That, whilom, tore the struggling flesh, 1 Announcing the new birth ! ' Harmless now are Satan's fangs ! * Crown'd with a wreath for ever fresh, ' From Hell I come ! O give me where to stand, ' And I will shake the earth !" 426 APPENDIX I. This said, he ran and dash'd (his eyes on fire) Down from the windows of the lofty dome, Volumes on volumes, for the mighty pyre The theologic mass, the historic tome, The unholy songs of Greece, or heathen Rome, Nor spar'd in sooth his own poetic lays ! " Thus, thus, to save me from the wrath to come, " I give vain glory to the common blaze ! " DRYWIT ! from heaven alone, from heaven I covet praise." The vow urritdi of Archimedes was adopted, it seems, by Whitfield, in one of his vain glorious fits. See 3d Journ. p. 48. From the description of the Secret Orgies, we shall quote a few stanzas. " Go, profaner throng, " To your haunts depart far hence ! " Linger not my lambs among; " Go wash your hands in innocence." Shut were the grating doors ; and faint In whispers died each human sound, When, as he number'd every saint, The Preacher roll'd his eyes around. In mystic silence all was hush'd, Save the clicking of the clock ; And save when flutter'd virgins blush'd, Fix'd was each visage through the flock. How pale the pauses of the night When the clock struck one And every light was gone ! Now, whilst enveloping the hallow'd room, To fancy deepens the mysterious gloom, And not a saintly soul his brother sees ; The pious pastor bids the assembly fall Down on the rigid lime-ash, one and all, And kneel, in reverence, on their naked knees. Then, slowly from his lofty seat descending, Now in the rapture of the righteous bending, And now, perhaps, at intervals erect, He feels, along the line, knee after knee, And, probing every sighing devotee With gentle hand, rejoices in the elect. After the solemn rite of genuflexion, Amidst the fervour of divine affection, The sisters with a holy kiss he greets ; Then, with a dextrous hand each heart addresses, And tells, its high pulsation as he presses, How to the spirit every bosom beats." POETRY. 427 Alas ! (his consort cried,) hath gracious Heaven, " Hath Heaven thy deeds with fav'ring eye survey'd ? O, from this roof by desperation driven, " O, whither has the lost EMIRA stray'd? " By thee, to calumny, to scorn betrayed, Say, shall as erst a hoary father greet " His child still welcome to the Tavy's shade ? i And who thy presence shall with pleasure meet, Thy poor unconscious babes now smiling at thy feet ?" These rites bear a wonderful resemblance to those practised in the Eleu- sinian Mysteries. According to Clemens Alexandrinus, Ceres was, in her wanderings, entertained by Baubo, who, finding that she could not make the Goddess drink, reductis vestibus occultas corporis partes Diva; oculis objicit. The Goddess drank at once, and burst into a fit of laughter. These are the secret mysteries which Orpheus also enjoined. The rerses are as follows : fig tnrovcrct, TTE^XXJ otvKrvgero dtf re vxvrot, 5, 8(C. We are told by Gregory Nanzianzen, that Ceres herself followed Baubo's example : ls eivatrat, OE, oota? avstru^To p,*i^ouj . See Gesner's Orpheus, Pr. 380. 381. The mysteries of Methodistical iniquity are thus further illustrated : And now, perhaps, few girls had miss'd The approbation of the Arch-methodist ; When (from dark lanthorns I presume) A long illumination chas'd the gloom ; And many a candidate for glory, Saint a'fter saint the tripod mounted; And sinless, to th' unsinning tribe, the story Of some heroic enterprize recounted. First, his sallow lanthorn jaws, A tinker open'd to entrap applause, " Here, here (he cried) as midst a parish revel, " The Spirit mov'd my tongue, ' With boldness to rebuke the devil, " Full many a brickbat rung ! " Ytt all unhurt '."Attracting every eye, Forth waddled an old ogress; And cried, to shew in grace her progress, " Lo, whilst to me the parson dar'd deny " The sacrament dispens'd to demireps " And rogues, I stabb'd him on the altar-steps I" Next DEBORAH shouted, his new spiritual spouse : " Whilst all around the rich carouse, " And groan the desolated poor, " This silver goblet shall increase our store, 428 APPENDIX I. l< Curst be their smiles (said he) shut out from life, " The children of Gehenna, doubly damn'd !" Then sprang in wild disorder from his wife, To where the pyre voluminously flam'd } " An eleemosynary gift j " Which Dives, after many a paltry shift, " On his death-bed bade me take ; " If, haply in the brimstone lake " He could escape perdition ; " Though waken'd not to due contrition, " He siretch'd his bands in agony to grasp " The goblet, at his latest gasp '." Scarce had she said, when in a cold sweat shiver'd The veriest prude of all the saintly fair ; And, on her pallid lips As feeble accents quiver'd, She bade her long black hair Her countenance eclipse ! Till, with a groan enough to shake hell, Before its father (who screw'd up his face, Demurest of the tabernacle) She laid a bouncing babe of grace ! Nor sooner was her offering Sweet compos'd, And in a holy fear the tumult clos'd, Than, the folding doors, bursting asunder, Like the dire mountain echoes of thunder, In rush'd a maniac, and with gestures wild Exclaim'd, " See, my hands I in innocence wash !' Then, as deform'd by many a gash He danc'd the victim of his ireful mood. He still wash'd his hands in the innocent blood, Anddisplay'd his murder'd child! " We close (he said) the orgies of the night, " With the last solemn rite. " In the centre set (he cries) " DEBORAH ! thy silver prize ! " Now a blue and burning flake " Of Gehenna sulphur take ! " With a glass of fiery gin " Mix it well, and toss it in ! " Next, amid the goblet throw " Relics from a saint's great toe ' E'en the identical toe-nail, Where the slipp'ry devil turn'd tail ! 'Then, with a maudlin sinner's tresses, ' (Sever 1 d after sweet caresses) ' Mingle, last this infant's blood ' Stir the charm and make it good I" POETRY. 429 rr Yet," snatching up three smouldering tomes, exclaim'd, *' Thus will I tear from Hell thy babes and thee, " If straight of worldlings * and their ways asham'd, " Ye sob, and shed the scalding tear, perdie, " And panting for the hills, the hot perdition flee." 'Tis done, and the saints never more to relapse, Into sin to relapse never more ; To the cieling jump'd up with reciprocal claps, And tumbled, one mass, on the floor. Then jumping again, as a blaze from on high Enlighten'd the sacred abodes, Wild Echo repeated the dissonant cry, " We are gods! we are gods ! we are gods !" The concluding lines allude to an exclamation of a female saint, in one of the towns of Cornwall. See Anecdotes of Methodism. How similar is the following rant, as repeated by Bishop Lavington : " The angels are come to carry me to the bosom of God ! I am whiter than snow ! I am all God ! Come, plunge me into God !" The dissonant cries of such a nocturnal meeting are but echoes to the Bacchanalian clamour. Qualis commotis excita sacris, Thyas, ubi audito stimulant Trieterica Baccho Orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithseron. There were two descriptions of secret meetings at Rome, that had excited the jealousy of the state ; one in Livy's Roman History, the other in Pliny's Epistles. They might be called Portraits of the Methodist* and the Christians ; and, in contrast, will have a striking effect. Picture of a Conventicle. " Sacrificulus est vates; non qui aperta religione sed occultorum antistes Sacrorum. Quam nox, et, niixti feminis mares, aetatis tenerae majoribus, discrimen omne pudoris extinxissent ; corruptelae primum omnis generis fieri cceptae, quum ad id quisque, quo natura pronioris libidinis esset, paratam voluptatem haberet. Nee unum genus noxffi, stupra promiscna ingenuorum feininarumque erant : sed falsi testes, falsa signa, testimoniaque et indicia ex eadem officina exibant. Occulebat vim, quod pra utulatibus, tympano- rumque et cymbalorum strepitu, nulla vox quiritaritium inter stupra et caedes exaudiri poterat." Liv. 1. xxxix. c. 8. Picture of a Christian Assembly. " Affirmabant, hanc fuisse summam vel culpse sua? vel erroris, quod essent soliti, stato die, ante lucem convenire ; carmenque Christo, quasi Deo, dicere secum invicem ; seque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent : quibus peractis, morem sibi discedendi fuisse, rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tainen, et in- nocuum." Plin. Epist. 1. x. Ep. 9. * " If Religion be so entirely different from our worldly concerns, has it therefore no connexion with them? Is it so pure as to avoid their inter course? Such tenets do not belong to rational Christianity. Religion bas the world for the theatre of its action, and is as intimately connected with it as the soul is with the body." Sermon by the Archbishop of York, in 1777. 430 APPENDIX I, 'TWAS on a sabbath morn : the merry peal Dropp'd into chimes : and down the willowy lane As lads were loitering, and with lightsome heel Each lass was tripping to the decent fane, Behold the fathers of the village train, Here, with the ruddy cheek and vigorous pace ; There, bidding the thorn-staff their limbs sustain ; And clinging to his gown, where woodbines brace His doorway's fractured arch, the Rector's bloomy race. 'Twas then SIR AARON to a horseblock ran, Nigh where the chancel-panes stream'd orient light ; And, with a mouth of thunder straight began To rend the prickt-up-ears of every wight. " Ho ! to the waters ! thither, to yon height, " To Sion-hill your breathless courses bend ! " Ho ! to the overflowing rivers ! In the might " Of Heaven, to yonder sacred mount ascend, " And drink, and drink again ! ho ! drunken without end. " Fly from that pulpit of pollution ! fly " Ye crowds ! damnation only lingers there '. " Guilt in his heart in his right hand a lye, " That priest of Mammon baits his deadly snare ! " O fly yon temple as the lion's lair, <( Where gathering darkness shrouds the sons of wrath ! " Come, wretches that now droop, with me repair *' To the green olives that no lightnings scath, "Come, seek, beside the stream, salvation's pleasant path !' Impatient, every peasant to the block (As to a wreck Cornubian rustics) flew. And, sudden, to their pastor all his flock, Panting to hear SIR AARON, bade adieu * ; Whilst cobbler. DRYWIT, to his office true, Dovetail'd his orbs of vision in the ground, And, pertly glancing o'er the vulgar crew, The flippant Clerk drew nearer with a bound, And the sick-Caterer sleek from each black eyebrow frown'd. Veniunt leve vulgus, euntque lllic credulitas, illic temerarius error, Vanaque laetitia est,consternatique timores, Seditioque repens. POETRY. 4 All, though SIR AARON ceas'd, still stretch'd their jaws, To swallow, yet again, the smart harangue. From his grey balls the cobbler gleam'd applause : Sly look'd the Caterer sleek in laud of slang. The Clerk, in gratulation, upwards sprang, *' His angel looks ! how gracious and how good !" His praises, one and all, the parish sang ; " Our Rector ! can he rain celestial food " With heav'nly manna feed poor fainting flesh and blood ?' The oil of adulation, sweet and smooth, Whilst DRYWIT bade his Honour's ears imbibe, Off AARON flew, where many a busy booth Lur'd, with their lowing kine, the lubber tribe. And, as the varlet's trump (I trow, to bribe Of silver sheen) re-echoed throxigh the Fair : Prompt for the solemn saw, the mirthful gibe, Came greedy boors and striplings debonnair, And gipsies muttering fate, and girls with wishful air. How from a scaffold's height the Apostle spoke, His arm how valiant, who on earth can say ? Certes, from many a sinner Satan broke, In many a shape, amidst the hideous fray ; While louts leap'd up, and came down lumps of clay ; While dainty damsels, uttering each a yell, Their snowy bosoms labour'd to display ; And staler maids in fits hysteric fell Arrested, ere they reach' d the rav'nous mouth of hell. The moping owlet from her ivied barn How oft the Baronet was wont to scare ; To the green hill-top, or the craggy carne, How oft he bade the unletter'd hinds repair To reckon, or relate, were idle care. There last, where Tavy shapes its sylvan way, (For westward journeying did he linger there) He climb'd a craggy carne, to preach or pray ; To weep, unspotted saint ! o'er myriads gone astray. Where oaks grotesque, with circling sweep enclose A level area, deem'd a Druid fane, A rockstone, rising in the centre, throws Its awful shadow on the grassy plane ; From the green sod while rills descending stain The Tavy's sabler stream that winds below : There, on the shelving bank, a burnish'd pane (As once I saunter'd there, escap'd from woe) Seem'd from the solar blaze to steal a fairy glow ! 432 APPENDIX I. 'Twas on that rockstone (the sweet cot in view, Whose lattice, lov'd as erst the evening- fall, Though one, alas ! whom well the preacher knew, With smiles shall light no more the lonely wall,) 'Twas there, obsequious to the spirit's call, I saw rapt AARON, as in act to fly Up to Heaven's gate, with groanings to appal The bumpkins, lift the whites of either eye, And now, with waving hands, bend forward from on high ! Hush'd was the scene : save when a sear leaf stirr'd In sighs responsive to the tinkling rill ; And not a whisper through the crowd was heard ; When, sudden, some one rushing down the hill Plung'd in the foamy waters. A keen thrill Pierc'd every heart. And, shivering through the shade, (As all in fear stood motionless and still) Of a rent scarf the paly remnant play'd, And to the startled thought some frantic Fair betray 'd. With strenuous search amidst the gulphy stream Long toil'd the breathless peasants long in vain ; When thro' the parting-water (like a gleam Of Cynthia) in the embraces of a swain, As every sinew he appear'd to strain, A pale form glimmer' d ! Ah ! the sad resource, From the drear wave her body to sustain, For earth's cold bed ! From poor EMIRA'S corse How shrank the palsied Saint with horror, with remorse ! *' AMORET!" as struggling from the fatal spot His train in terror bore that Saint away " AMORET !" (they bore him from EMIRA'S cot) 'Twas all his faultering accents could essay. Ah ! never shall a glance of reason's ray Again illume his dark and cheerless mind ! He sinks, to every wreakful fiend a prey ; His bosom shut to each affection kind j Before him pain and death, and guilt and shame behind. His AMORET ! See the feature wild and wan Ah ! where that look, to love and pleasure dear ? His offspring ! Lo, to meet their sire they ran ; Then starting back, and fill'd with sudden fear, Dar'd not his sullen aspect venture near, But to their poor distracted mother clung Their mother, too distrest to drop a tear, As o'er her heaven-husht innocents she hung, And mingled grief and dread in silence seal'd her tongue. POETRY. 433 Ah ! hapless pair ! how nipt your prime of years, As every bliss fell canker-worms devour ! Where now the cordial spirit that endears To gentle minds* the sweet domestic hour ? Where now the blushes of your purple bower, That, whilom, tinctur'd the translucent wave ? Where now poetic dreams from fancy's power ? Alas ! if golden visions Fancy gave, She conjur'd up the fiends that beckon to the grave ! * The bad effects of fanaticism in the families of the common people, are thus described in the " ENGLISH ORATOR :" " Lo, what a sudden change Portentous ; as a casual glimmering thrown Upon their mists of ignorance, stirs desire Too curious, and their prompt ambition moves To stray beyond the limits of their lot, Through darkest avenues. The common cares Of life, and each domestic duty, deem'd Too low for an enlightened spirit, sink, Scorn'd and forgone ; whilst penury disarrays The hamlet's humble garniture ; where, erst, Trim Neatness, in her decent russet, rang'd The simple stores, and spread on every cheek The ruddiness of health. Alas ! no more His children overjoy'd, spring forth to meet A sire, whose never erring footsteps cross'd The smoothworn threshold thro' the dews of eve ; Whose vigorous toil sustain'd them, and whose smile Beam'd to content. Ah ! shivering in the garb Of tatter'd want, they mourn, each lagging hour, A father lost ; and wring their little bands, And pining droop for hunger! He, meanwhile, Estrang'd to every duty his own roof Had render'd dear, pursues a light he hails Heaven's pure effulgence; though a faint false gleam Of superficial knowledge, gendering pride And brainsick folly, and fanatic zeal. Led by a lying spirit, he no more Listen:, an humble hearer, but affects To teach " the multitude with itching ears ;" While his distorted gestures (that affront The eye of day) and frenzied rant inspire The puritanic fear, or idle hope, Wing'd above earthly cares. His whining strain Boasts a familiar providence, that bids Assiduous ravens hover o'er the brook, Where vacant saints expect the unfailing food." Method. 2 K 434 APPENDIX I. Where now the progeny, whose jocund bloom Grac'd the mild sabbath morn, the sabbath eve ? Who lov'd the half-spelt lesson to resume, (I see their little hearts with joyance heave) As thy sweet Amoret, anxious to relieve The Master's care, o'erlook'd no poison'd page ? Ah pure Religion ! how thy children grieve, To mark the madness of Whitfieldian rage ! That Master bids hell yawn, to scarce unconscious age ! Where now the blessings of the village train The sick who languish, and the poor who droop ? Ah ! where the widow, cheer'd tho' rack'd with pain ? The tottering carle, whom eld had taught to stoop O'er his stout crutch ? Say, where the wonted group That ask'd for alms or med'cine ? They are gone. Come, generous youth ! recal the scattering troop Bid them again exchange the suffering moan For gratitude ! O come, suspend the dying groan ! Thou canst not. Erst, where peace and love repos'd, Sprinkling sweet incense o'er the pillow'd head, Thy " sleek" disciple dire apostate ! clos'd The gates, and with the fruits of rapine fled. Smooth hypocrite ! how oft the treachor shed With subtle tongue, the venom of an asp ! To rob the dying prompt, or strip the dead, He wrench'd a goblet from a sick-man's grasp, And caught the expiring breath, and revel I'd in the gasp ! Farewell, poor maniac ! passion's wayward child ! So early lost to joy, to reason's light ! Before him lo, the immeasurable wild ! See, in throngs rushing to his dizzy sight, How dance, how dance the demons of affright ! Hark to the hideous scream, the wailing cry ! But madness holds him here ! She checks his flight From earth ! Tho' sooth'd no more by every sigh, He must not yet escape ah, wretch ! he must not die ! Yet dies his AMORET. Wasting all the while, She cannot such a look of anguish bear. She cannot for her children force the smile, Meeting the ghastly grin, the stony stare. " Ah no ! (she cries) tho' pangs asunder tear " For you, dear innocents ! this bleeding breast " Adieu, my orphans ! ye are heaven's own care ! " Adieu ! I go, where sinners shall molest " My trembling heart no more, and where the weary rest !' POETRY. 435 A POEM. SUCH is the title of a Poem, which, in 1812, I submitted in MS. to the perusal of WALTER SCOTT : and my poetical friend highly approved, and put it into Ballantyne's hands, with directions- to print and publish it. This was accordingly done : and some copies found their way to London, and others into Cornwall. It happened, however, that two only reached the author, both of which are lost irrecoverably * ; nor does a trace of the MS. remain. Neither Ballantyne nor Longman (to whom the London copies were sent) think proper to inform me why they wish to consign to oblivion a poem which critics, perfectly unknown to its author, consider as " deserving a place by the side of Shenstone's School- mistress." In the British Critic occurs the following notice of this little essay ; attended with specimens both of the poetry and the prose. " The Deserted Village School; a poem. 8vo. 2s. Longman and Co. 1813. The ingenious author of this well- written poem, in the style and stanza of Spenser, is of opinion that the ardor of the new systems of public education as described by Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster, is carried to too great excess. He thinks that they cause eventually much injury by the desertion of what he calls the good old schools, viz. the reading and writing schools established in most parishes. He expresses his dissent, however, with much good humor : and the following is a specimen of his style and manner. * Though " a trifle light as air," the poem rises daily in importance in the author's mind, from the circumstance of bis unsuccessful enquiries with a view to its recovery. He would readily give in exchange for a copy of it, a. set of his Cornwall History in seven volumes quarto, or of his Devonshire History in three volumes folio. 2E<2 436 XLI. " But cease, my muse ! Amidst the beeclien gloom,* That gleams, half-screening the church-stile from view, I notice mourners, to a recent tomb Stealing : now slow beneath the sabler yew Advancing ; now, where glitters thro' the dew Of evening pale, that emblematic plant, Pausing. Sad group ! your pious work pursue ! So may kind heaven your humble wishes grant, Safe from the proud man's sneer the parish-tyrant's taunt !" * " In support of the new institution, very large sums of money have been subscribed in many parts of England, I doubt not from the most laud- able motives. " Yet I think it will at least admit of a question, whether such subscrip- tions would not have been more beneficially applied in aid of the old parechial schools which have existed for ages, and of others on the same plan of instruction. " These are church of England schools, and were increasing in number and importance in almost every parish. The poor at present pay a great regard to the education of their children : and it is a common practice with the day-laborer, to set apart from his weekly pay a certain portion for his child's schooling. " All that is wanting is to confirm and strengthen and guard these little establishments, into which dissenters may have been gradually insi- nuating themselves. " And the money now subscribed, if distributed among the clergy, would give every minister influence enough to be received as the visitor .of the schools of his parish to introduce, if he pleased, into these schools the mechanism of Bell or Lancaster to see that proper books were read and the children duly instructed, and to enforce the regular attendance of the master or mistress and scholars at the parish church. " And the minister might report to his diocesan, every year, the progress of his schools. This would be a simple and unostentatious process, easy and certain in its operation. *' But what is already the consequence of the Bello-mania ? In every town where it is founded, and in the neighbouring parishes, the great Bell- school has absorbed, or is absorbing, all the little Elizabethan seminaries ; the teachers of the latter (to my certain knowledge) are turned adrift ; the children now in other hands their fathers spend their school-money at the ale-house ; and the PARISH MINISTERS are reduced to mere cyphers. For amidst the parade of Patrons, Presidents, Vice-Presideuts, Visitors, Direc- tors, Governors, Treasurers, and Secretaries, the part which the clergyman is to act in the school must be very unimportant and trivial. In one or two dioceses, indeed, where the new project has been carried into execution, I have observed the bishop giving directions to the archdeacon, and the ardi- deacon to the inferior clergy ; and the inferior clergy will in course, I pre- sume, superintend the parish schools." FOJETRT. 437 XLII. " Lo, 'tis the Master's tomb ! Behold, hard by, The duteous swains ! That birch-tree had they set The lads and lasses in their sorrow sly ; And now, assiduous in their visits, wet The rising plant with tears of fond regret ! O may it shoot in vigorous growth, nor waste, Fragrant at morn or eve, its incense sweet, But, redolent of schoolboy hours o'erpast, Escape the sultry beam, the winter's icy blast." XLIII. " And whilst it shades this spot, a hoary tree, All in a distant age, when now no more Its use in flogging shall remember'd be, Some antiquary, solemn pondering o'er Its sprays, shall (as his brethren* did before) Give days and nights to many a dark research, And every leaf f shall teem with learned lore ! So may, in sooth, my venerable birch Bid sages yet unborn frequent this rural church." P. 27. * " Why the yew was so commonly planted by our forefathers in church- yards, has been a question among antiquaries of various and learned con- jecture." f " Quam sedem somnia vulgo Vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus linerent." 438 APPENDIX I. 1. Dear girls ! pretty damsels ! how easy to science That road about which there was once such a pother ! You bid to grey dames and their birches defiance j And every one scofls at her old doating mother. 2. Such order there is, too, that one out of three Is a monitor made, and with power is invested^ And to one out of ten in a higher degree A class, I suppose, of nine girls is entrusted. 3. And over the monitors, over the teachers, I observe in her desk a sage mistress presiding j And all like a posse of feminine preachers, The mistress young visiting minxes are chiding 1 . 4. O after such discipline and such decorum, So fine an example of organization. The Females will, certes ! all carry before 'em, And the men must crouch low in this new generation, 5. Nor wanting a moment our clerical aid is, To help out a council so wise and so witty ; Tho' our laws, it is true, must give way to the Ladies, And all is resign'd to a Female committee. 6. With their own lady-clerk and their own secretary, To think they can possibly err, would be treason j And their modest petition can never miscarry They ask nothing else but to act without reason. But enough tho' they seem to forget Dr. Bell- They are Ladies we ought to remember bear rule ! Nay more tho' the system suit Lancaster well We may venture to say it is still a Belle-school J 439 THE BELLES TURNED BIBLE-MONGERS ; OR, A NEW PLUME FOR VANITY. A SATIRIC SKETCH. 1817. Yes ! I have trac'd to modish schools of art The cold finesse which deadens all the heart ; The habitual boldness which a front obtrudes To shock, it seems, the nicer sense of prudes ; The indifference which nor rank nor age reveres, Prompt to quiz greybeards or to jostle peers j The horror, which to sylvan huts far hence, Banish'd thy morning-blush, sweet Innocence ! Which shudders at a transient tint, that speaks In awkward misses yet untutor'd cheeks : Midst fleeting fashions still the bosom bare*, The tragi-comic strut, the harlot stare ! Yes ! I have seen around Corruption waft Contagious essences from f Wolstoncraft j OPEN BOSOMS. * The following anecdote may afford a hint to English Ladies of the pre- sent day : " The chaste Henry VI. once witnessed a masque, intended for bis amusement. The Ladies, who assisted in this performance, were rather wantonly habited, exhibiting part of their Ireasts, and their hair loose on the necks. The King, though unmarried, immediately rose, and left the apartment, exclaiming, 'Fie, fie! forsooth, you are much to blame!" See Malcom's Manners of London (Edit. 3d) I. 148. What would Henry say to a modern English assembly ? f- In a poem entitled " The Family Picture," the formation of female philosophers on the Wolstoncraftian plan is attributed, for the most part, to the baleful influence of Boarding Schools, particularly those of country towns. "By the secondary boarding-schools (says he) the mischiefs of which I complain, are diffused through the inferior ranks of Society. The acqui- 440 APPENDIX I, Whilst, eager to display Parisian grace, The gloss of sin at every public place j sition of the polite accomplishments ought surely to be confined to females of leisure and superior station. Refined ideas and a taste for dissipated pleasures but ill accord with the trains of thinking and the modes of acting which prevail in the lower ranks of life." " I grant, our girls, imbibing moral truth From dawning childhood to the morn of youth, May with less danger by the tempter plied, Join the light throngs of Pleasure and of Pride. But why, for what, the unweeting tribe expose, Why bare their bosoms to insidious foes To girls grown women, who rejoice to spread The poisons from their own corruption bred. " There are, who Country-seminaries paint As scarce infected by the city-taint. Yet City-manners soon to scenes remote Descend, and hover o'er the distant cote. " In hamlets oft, green rails adorn'd with red, Point out the spot, where female minds are fed ; Or some pale nunnery, nigh the impending wood, Where in old time its refectory stood, Of Education, from its walls grotesque, In golden gleams exhibits the burlesque : To every gaping lout the letters stare, And broad " the Academy" for girls declare ; Whilst Teachers, new from town, each pathway cross, And in low curtsies lose the London toss j Smart Milliners, who trick'd their friends in trade, The cast-off mistress, or my lady's maid ! Thither, as humor hits, or whim provokes, The obsequious thing attracts all sorts of folks ; In foremost rank, the daughters of the 'Squire, The Vicar's, treading just six inches higher, And into rage as imitation whirls The clown's vain wife, her breed of ruddy girls." " These girls, for simple nature, court finesse, And, happy mimics ! shift from dress to dress ; Each art, the invention of caprice, assume, The modish step, the figure, and the bloom ; With the sly hazel, or with eyes of sloe Ogle the polish'd tutors of the toe ! As melting masters o'er their bosoms lean, Pencil, with fairy touch, the shadowy scene ; Sweep dulcet harps, or languish to guitars, Or steal, from soft pianos, amorous airs!" POETRY. 441 Wan dissipation scorn'd the simple bloom That seeks in tranquil shades its sacred *home ! Yet, tho' amidst the broad theatric blaze, Ye fondly court the universal gaze, Or, from the festal board, the wanton masque Your meed of meretricious beauty ask j Tho', Amazonian belles ! your palfreys snort, And toss the fiery mane and snuff the sport, Neigh to your cracking whips, curvet and bound, The horn-blast echoing to the deep-voic'd hound ; Tho' the poor pheasant beat the blood-stain'd heath, And lift unpitied her meek eyes in death ; Yet, shalt some new device, to folly dear, Still rise, to lure you from your proper sphere ? Still shall the love of show your feet betray, Weak as ye totter o'er the hallow'd way Which God's own priesthood were ordain'd to tread, Unweeting maids ! by adulation fed ! Say, if the fluttering heralds of your fame E'en to the Church your chaste approach proclaim " And shall fine fingers, that as rosebuds glow, With vulgar flippancy essay to sew ? Shall radiant eyes that all the world bewitch, Ache, in pale stupor, o'er the tedious stitch ? Yes ! And each little heart with transport heaves, As Fancy wanders o'er the mimic leaves ; As Hopes, impatient for the promis'd hour, Brush the fair blooms, and flit from flower to flower, And Fears, that all the bright embroidery skim, With transitory shade its foliage dim ; And Jealousies along the silver stray, Pant on each thread, and melt in mists away, And lo ! the work to full perfection swells ! How flutter the boy-beaux and baby-belles!" Thui accomplished, they ' Flap their pert fans, and dashing thro* the crowd Insult their cousins, titter, and talk loud j With stately step expand the parasol, Whispering soft nonsense on the sofa loll ; Thro' lids half-clos'd the shadowy lustre pour That wins the gentle homage of an hour, And dart (since diamonds still attract the beau) Divine effulgence from the fierce bandeau '." Family Picture, pp. 5864. * Sacred to the charities of Father, Son, and Brother. 442 APPENDIX I. If, at your beck, the Vanities announce The ton in every furbelow and flounce, Breathe o'er each ringlet they were wont to crisp, And in your pretty mouths mellifluous lisp, Swim, as in fairy dance, o'er all the dome, Brush your light heads, and float from plume to plume, Say, is it not enough, your brilliance draws From many a pew the murmurs of applause ? And, is it not enough, your fens ye flap, And look askance, and titter for a trap, To catch the notice of lascivious eyes, And whispering point where Love in ambush lies ? Shall mock-importance, scarce the service past Shall zeal officious to the gallery haste Shall Affectation trip along the aisles, Winning the unmeaning smirk for gracious smiles, To beg a pittance from the starving elf, Tho' he solicit alms next morn himself AH "for the treasury," from each rustic wight, From purseless rags to ask " the widow's mite ?" Scarce has the moon thrice filled her silver horn, Since on the gig of glory westward borne, Two Bible-orators their strange vagaries Expos'd to saints and sinners at St. Mary's. Promiscuous was the throng of saints and sinners, Some sly, some sad, some serious, and some grinners ; From beavers rang'd in mockery to effuse Unwonted shadows all across the pews, To tassell'd canes, and wigs that wisdom speak, And the loose plaid that wraps yon oyster-rake * ! And now the roof, to Blinksop's flippant tongue At every pause for admiration rung j And Panegyric, with a shout encor'd, Hail'd, as a second Solomon " my Lord !" But lo ! the quick transition ! lo ! the oil Of flattery, gall at once and bitter bile ! And from the curate, whose inglorious aim Was pointed to no missionary fame, * Midnight oyster- clubs, frequent in country-towns, are here alluded to. POETRY. 445 To mitred holiness disowning worth, In zealots that would proselyte the earth Was every rank abus'd, in scoffs and sneers ; And " Turks and Infidels" prick'd up their ears ! Then wonderous tales of Bible-converts flew On wings of flame from Ava to Peru ; Till, homeward, hovering in familiar guise *, They peal'd in laughter, or dissolv'd in sighs ! " His Bible rescued from the jaws of hell " A peasant all unpractis'd how to spell ! ft A genius in the Scriptures erst a dunce ! " A drunkard he was soberiz'd at once ! " All from the fumes of liquor though he shook " He saw his sentence, ere he op'd the book ! " So keen an insight into sacred things " Through her proud halls the cloyster'd Isis rings, " Did e'er the enlighten'd sons of Academe " To learning vaunt, or boast in fancy's dream ? " Say, did e'er priest produce, in all the range " Of pulpit-elocution, such a change ?" Yet was it whisper' d for all flesh is frail Though he no longer froth'd or spic'd his ale, That, now and then (perhaps her tongue was glib) He without ceremony cuff'd his rib. Sweet too how delicate the chamber-scene ! " A pretty bashful girl just turn'd fourteen " I caught (would I had caught her all alone !) " Behind the curtain of a poor sick crone. " She had her Bible (the declaimer said) " Kneeling, she had her Bible on the bed ! " Such piety but lighted up her charms ! " I clasp'd her blushing in my ardent arms !" How fine the melting tale each eager gape Evinc'd, the sob, the sigh, the boisterous clap, The lifted lid to tabernacles dear, And in the virgin's eye the ecstatic tear ! But first, pre-eminent o'er all the crowd, The gentle Cynthia curtsied, smil'd, and bow'd ; * Qu. lies, i. e. " lying wonders." 444 APPENDIX I. A baptist squeez'd, with kindred graces warm ; And with a simpering quaker, arm in arm, Commencing, in a moment, the good work, Sped where in darkness " worse than heathens" lurk (Though Christians the poor caitiffs were baptiz'd) And of her danger every soul appriz'd, And bade the sister, brother, husband, wife, Pay down their pence " their money or their life * !" Fir'd with increasing rage, from day to day, Whole streets she canvass'd that benighted lay, And still, with pleading for her pennies hoarse, Through noisome alleys bent her devious course. SUCH, " gentle Cynthia," was thy Bible-zeal ? Such thy fine fervor for the public weal ! Thy dome from Doric columns frowning high Thou parent of a numerous progeny ! Mistress of many a lacquey bred in sloth Of maids, if love allure them, nothing loath ! Thy Lord (so tells the Custos Rotulorum) No conjurer, but a Justice of the Quorum ! Yet, who could dream it ? One unlucky morn A sister frail requiring to be sworn (Sir Simon's office was lock'd up, I wist), A Bible straight was call'd for to be kiss'd, But, strange to say is simple truth a libel ? Nor parlour, kitchen, nursery, had a Bible ! By zeal impell'd, as first by cunning plann'd, Heavens ! what a vast machinery shakes the land ! All their illumin'd intellect to evince, Pretending, from the peasant to the prince, All in one mighty chain, through various links, From the grave matron to the pert schoolminx, Affecting, as its wide wheels rumbling roll, Its motions to assist, direct, control, And bid its echoes ring from pole to pole ! And say, for what such echoes stun the ball ? Tell, plain simplicity ! the sum of all ; Say, whence these declamations, tinsel speeches, These motley meetings, petticoats and breeches, * I have heard it cantingly called, " life-money :" which will purchase, I suppose, life hereafter ! ! I POETRY. 445 These ponderous volumes as of deep research, These volatile abuses of the Church, This jumble of all creeds, chaotic masses, These tongues of geese, and all those ears of asses ? Whence is it ? what doth all this noise convey ? " That twenty-thousand books were sent away ;" To China some ! and some the Lord knows where ! In sooth an honest secretary's care ! And, " whether to the world the books were given " 'Mid blasts from Erebus, or airs from Heaven, " We scarce enquire ! who undertakes the task " Of love, for conscience sake, we durst not ask : " We thank the laborer, and we deem it civil, " No matter who, or ' Cynthia,' or ' the Devil *.' " * To this purpose spoke one of the champions of the Bible Society : " No matter who his ajjent was, no matter, if the Devil himself! ! !" APPENDIX, II. CORRESPONDENCE. 1. THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 2. THE LANCASTERIAN SCHOOL. 3. THE CATHOLIC QUESTION. 4. THE MERLIN OF THE CATHOLICS. 5. METHODISM: ITS BRIGHT SIDE. 6. BISHOP FELL. I. THE BIBLE SOCIETY. .From the Royal Cornwall Gazette Letters of 1811 and 1819. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIR, You will allow me, through your excellent paper, to address a few words to the public, in apology for myself and others, who are unwilling to take any part with the Auxiliary Bible Society of Cornwall. You must be aware, that in declining to lend their assistance to that Society, there are some who have been accused of religious lukewarm ness, and others of uncharitableness. But I do not con- ceive, that either of these charges is founded. I know not an indi- vidual clergyman, to whom the diffusion of the light of the gospel is a matter of small concern. Surely, it is not to the distribution of CORRESPONDENCE. 447 Bibles that we object but to the mode of distribution. But in this objection, we have no professional antipathy no party spirit no personal animosity. For my non-attendance, however, and non-subscription, T shall state my reasons, I trust, with temper and with candor. My only wish is, to place the subject of controversy in its true light to pre- vent misapprehension to induce caution. 1. First, then, I think we have just ground for aversion from all corresponding societies. He who considers that, not many years ago, though wearing a specious aspect, they were, as soon as oppor- tunity offered, made the engines of every nefarious purpose, not only on the Continent, but on this Island, may well ask " Is there not a cause ?" Be their pretext what it may, I am assured that (on a political view) they are unconstitutional. Though employed at one time in diffusing good, they may at another, produce incalcu- lable mischief. When such channels shall have been once formed, and recognised by authority, they will be in perfect readiness for every purpose, and may be accommodated to any design ; and every species of communication may hereafter pass through them, unsus- pected in its course. 1. With respect to the British and Foreign Bible Society itself, I cannot but confess, that I think it unnecessary, because all its good ends might have been completely answered by our own orthodox insti- tution. In the "Society for the promotion of Christian Knowledge," separate funds may be formed for any new purpose a measure for which there are several precedents in the proceedings of that So- ciety. Nor do I perceive that we have been at all remiss in the translation of the Bible into foreign languages ; the grand object of the new Institution. 3. I am also of opinion, that this new association, admitting dis- senters of every denomination, conveys an implied censure on a fun- damental rule (and a very judicious rule) of the old society that the members should be of the Church of England. 4. ItAvere wiser, I conceive, to leave the dissenters to themselves. Assembling together with us (though ostensibly for the same reli- gious purpose) they will endeavour to gain the ascendency, and to sup- plant its whenever they shall find an opportunity. It is natural that they should : it were absurd to suppose the contrary. As a body, the dissenters must necessarily be hostile to the church. There are doubtless individuals among them, as amiable and respectable as in any other description of persons. But in their united capacity they must ever be regarded with distrust ; for in that character they can hardly ever cease to wish, and (as far as their means may enable them) to contrive the destruction of our venerable establishment. That our apprehension of rivalry is the mere suggestion of pusilla- nimity or mean suspiciousness, may be supposed, and has, I be- lieve, been asserted. I can produce a fact, however, much in point. 448 APPENDIX II. I state it on unquestionable authority, " that one of the first acts of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was to undertake a Welsh Bible at the time when the Society for promoting Christian know- ledge (in conjunction with the University of Oxford) were prepar- ing as large an Edition as could be wanted, under the patronage of the Welsh Bishops ; and to put it into the hands of a notorious leader of the dissenters in that country. And when put to shame on this head*, they still persisted in forwarding their Edition" an act, as it seems to me, of undue rivalship, by means which the University of Oxford could not take, in order to give an advantage to the dissenters : for, in this instance, the very distribution of the Bible, was made an instrument of influence to the sectaries. 5. In the mean time, their eagerness to gain our concurrence, clearly shows their opinion, that it is a most important point, to secure the co-operation of the Church. This will give weight to their characters, and effect to their exertions, both at home and abroad. We see the sectarists, therefore, at the present moment, affecting to range themselves under the banners of the establish- ment. And when Churchmen are appealed to, in favor of the Society, the names of those distinguished members of the Establish- ment, who have been induced to patronize it, are ostentatiously brought forward as evidences to its character. And we are warned to be cautious how we venture to think, that a Society so sup- ported, can be unfriendly to the Church. The fallacy of such a test is too obvious to need exposure. We are not to judge of the Society, by the respectable character of some few of its members, but by the nature of its constitution, by the general tenor of its proceedings, and by the known opinions of the majority of its most active agents. When all these betray symptoms of hostility to the Established Church, and when upon certain occasions, that hostility is openly avowed, we shall, I trust, not forfeit our claims to sober understanding because we cannot view the Society without apprehension, although four English Bishops out of twenty-seven, have been induced to give it the sanction of their names. 6. Recommended, however, by such high credentials (in the eyes of those who see not through the flimsy disguise) the dissenters will readily make their way into foreign countries, and, through their emissaries of various description, distribute their Bibles and their Testaments, in what form and in what manner the Calvinistic spirit, perhaps, may suggest, or Socinian pride may coldly dictate. Should the fidelity of the version be unimpeachable, some little tract, in its diminutiveness eluding common observation, will adhere to the larger substance, as a needle to the magnet. In cer- tain situations, indeed, which the eye of detection cannot reach, * The Bishop of London " himself an host." See his Letter to the Rev. P. Yorke, one of the Clergy at the Colchester meeting. CORRESPONDENCE. there will be treatises without number, " to pursue the triumph and partake the gale." At all events, I doubt not, the powers of oral eloquence will not be relinquished j and " the burning words" of fanaticism will be wafted to the ends of the earth. 7. With the fact which I just now stated before me, I cannot conceive that such fears will be slighted as visionary, or such sup- positions will be deemed uncharitable. And, for the accounts of the good done abroad, I own I look on them with much suspicion, and not the less so because the proceedings, and indeed all the meetings of the new Society are set forth in the public prints with a parade, " even to sickening," ostentatious. It is a pomp, indeed, truly dis- gusting, in comparison with the simplicity and modesty of the old Society ; the silent progress of which, I am well persuaded, is more effectual towards the support and propagation of religion, and productive of more substantial good. 8. But my great objection to this Society is, the junction of Churchmen with Dissenters, for the furtherance of a religious object. The heterogeneous mixture of all denominations of Chris- tians, must, of necessity, create an indifference to the main doc- trines which, as Churchmen, we profess to believe. We of the Church of England, know that there is " one faith, one baptism." But the persons with whom we are invited to communicate, are sedulous in propagating many faiths, and scruple not to deny all baptism. We believe, that we cannot be saved, but by the atone- ment of Jesus Christ. We believe, that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is a powerful instrument of grace. But we are solicited to join hands with those who scoff at the atonement, and despise that Sacrament. Whilst such an union must endanger our own faith, I think it has a manifest tendency to relax the faith of others. They, who see Churchmen, Calvinists, Ana-baptists, Uni- tarians, (Quakers, and all sorts of Heretics, thus united in the cir- culation of the Scriptures, may be led to think, that there are really no essential points of difference between the Church and the Meeting-house. What Churchman would not deprecate such an opinion as dangerous ? Yet it is an opinion which certain mem- bers of the Bible Society would rejoice to disseminate. " Surely it is immaterial (they say) who the distributors of the Bible may be ; in circulating the Scriptures, we could unite even with devils." A rash expression ! Shall we, then, do evil that good may come ? 9. After all, I have been told, allowing full credit to many of my objections, we can secede from the Society upon any breach of its rules, or instance of misconduct. But evils, gradually creep- ing in, will be palliated from time to time, and will not appear in their true colours, till it be difficult or too late to remedy them. Unless an act be notorious and flagrant, you will not find a reason for secession sufficiently satisfactory to yourself or others ; and not even then, with any advantage, if the Sectarists shall have gained Method. 2 F 460 APPENDIX II. the ascendency. And much indeed, I fear, that, struck by the magnitude and weight of a vast body of Dissenters which you have helped to set in motion, and never can arrest in its progress, you will discover, when too late, you have nothing indeed to de with the Society, but to sanction its proceedings, and contribute to the support of its funds. But I have trespassed too long, perhaps upon the patience of my Readers. I can only add my earnest hope that those whose desire it is to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, will not be deceived by the speciousness of professions, into a disregard of the means by which they may be circulated. In this momentous busi- ness, the conduct of our blessed Saviour, will afford you a guide to your conduct. When a little before his Ascension, he gave orders for the propagation of his Holy Religion ; he gave those orders, not to all who professed a belief in him, but to a chosen few of his dis- ciples commanding them to accompany their teaching of the word with baptism, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. I remain yours, &c. CLERICUS. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIH, The following being presented to us, as a statement of the obli- gations the county of Cornwall is under to the Society for promot- ing Christian Knowledge, and the British and Foreign Bible Society, during the last six years (the whole existence of the latter), we are induced to request the " True Churchman" to inform the public through your paper, if it be correct or not. We believe there is no doubt that the liberality of the British and Foreign Bible Society is correctly quoted, but we can scarcely persuade our- selves, that the other venerable Society, should have forgotten Cornwall for so long a period. Bibles and Testaments, gratuitously given by the British and Fo- reign Society, to individuals in Cornwall, in the last six years. Bibles. Testaments. To 35 Packets at Falmouth, 5 Bibles each 175 To the poor Miners 10O 500 Total 275 500 By the Society for promoting Christian Know- ledge, in the like period O OOO Balance in favour of the British and ForeignSooiety$75 500 CORRESPONDENCE. 451 The clearing up of this point, will have no doubt a preponde- rating influence on the minds of all those who consciously regard, Sir, Your old fashioned but faithful Friends, DEBTOR and CREDITOR. Jan. 23, 1811. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIR, Permit me to present to the consideration of your Readers a very common adage, " Charity begins at home." This salutary and truly affectionate maxim was universally received by our ancestors j and well would it have been for the world if it had never lost its influence. Its degradation, however, took place during the blessed era of the French Revolution, which gave birth to a set of men who called themselves Universal Philanthropists. These modern moralists asserted, that Charity, so far from beginning at home, ought never to be found there. They taught, that a man might violate all the tender charities of domestic life, and still be a com- plete philanthropic, if his rnind were only imbued with certain dis- tant and confused notions of humanity, which it would be difficult to specify. Now it appeal's to me, Mr. Editor, that there is a considerable degree of similarity on this point, between these gentlemen and certain countrymen of our own, who have announced their inten- tion to establish an Auxiliary Bible Society in Cornwall. The per- sons who are interesting themselves in the formation of this Society, maybe divided into the three following classes ; 1. Dissenters ; 2. Churchmen, who are already members of the Society for promot- ing Christian Knowledge ; 3. Churchmen, who are not members of that Society. To the first class 1 have nothing to say. To the 2d I shall merely observe, that, as the propriety of Churchmen's be- coming members of the Bible Society, is a point sub judice, they would do well to make themselves acquainted with the arguments on either side of the controversy, before they commit themselves. These arguments are to be found in the pamphlets published on the subject, by the Rev. Dr. Wordsworth, the Rev. Mr. Dealtry, and my Lord Teignmouth. My remarks are directed chiefly to the 3d class. It appears to me most uncharitable, that a Churchman should espouse the cause of an alien establishment, the utility of which is disputed, in preference to that venerable and universally respected Institution, which has been for more than a century, a blessed instrument in the hand of Divine Providence, for dissemi- nating the Scriptures, and maintaining the doctrines and discipline of the English church, and which has reckoned among its mem- bers, every Prelate who has, during the above period, presided 2 r 2 452 APMNDIX II. over our established Religion. What, Mr. Editor, would be thought of that Cornishman, \vho should withhold his contribution from the County Infirmary at Truro, and should propose to establish an Auxiliary Society fur promoting the views of a similar Institution at York ? Such exactly is the conduct of that Churchman, who, re- fusing to support the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, becomes a zealous stickler for the Bible Society. He neglects to practice the duties of charity at home, in order that he may be liberal abroad. To the Clergyman who is about to plunge into this inconsistency, I beg leave to submit the following considera- tions. The Bible Society will enable him to supply his parishioners with Bibles only : the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, will afford him an equal facility of distributing the Scriptures ; but this is not all, it will furnish him with that venerated compilation, second only to the Bible, the Common Prayer Book; and it will enable him to counteract the rapid progress of schism, to bring back the wanderers to his fold, or, at least, to preserve the remnant of his flock, by the dispersion of an extensive and judicious selection of Religious Tracts. This last object of the Society, is of no small importance to the Established Church, in this era of unanimity ! as by a strange perversion of language, it has been proposed to denominate the unusually schismatic period in which we live. From the important objects of this Society, it might be con- cluded, that every Churchman, who possessed the means, would immediately become a member of it. But alas ! so far is this from being the case, that within a circuit of ten miles around my resi- dence, there are not more than three members of the Society to be found, although there are in the same space many wealthy mem- bers of the Church of England. This will appear the more sur- prising, when it is considered that the Society has peculiar claims on the County of Cornwall, on account of the solicitude which it has manifested, for the religious welfare of those remote and neglected dependencies of the County, the Scilly Isles ; in which it has supported Schools, and maintained Missionaries (at Tresco and St. Agnes, for forty-five years, at an annual expence of about 250/.) I am unwilling, Mr. Editor, to occupy a large portion of your Gazette, or I should inform your Readers, that our Society is as desirous to promote Christian Knowledge in distant countries, as the Bible Society can be ; that, according to the annual report for 1S09, the expenditure for Foreign purposes, in the preceding year, amounted to 162H. 16s. ]0d. ; and that nothing but the want of adequate funds, prevents it from greatly extending its operations in Foreign parts. That these remarks may draw the attention of the Churchmen of Cornwall. to this their own excellent Society, is the earnest prayer of, Sir> Your humble servant, A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. CORRESPONDENT K. 453 To the Editor of the+Cornwall Gazette. SIR, It is to the zeal of a Correspondent in your last paper, that you nust impute the trouble I am giving you, by requesting your inser- tion of the following remarks on the proposals for establishing an Auxiliary Bible Society in this County. Your Correspondent assumes the title of a Trite Churchman, and considers himself as acting properly in that character, by persuad- ing members of the Church of England " not to lend their support" to the proposed Institution, but on the contrary to use means " to stop the progress of the pernicious influence of the Cornwall Auxi- liary Bible Society." He is at the same time fully aware that the sole object of that Society is, to supply Bibles and Testaments only, without commentaries or notes, in the trnnslation made and autho- rised by the Church of England wherever they are wanted. He appears to be equally aware, that the poor stand in need of the supply intended for them ; for he recommends that " the officiat- ing Minister in every town should institute a Society" for the same purpose. He is aware, also, that the proposed Cornish Society dif- fers in nothing from other numerous Auxiliary Bible Societies, which have already been established in various parts of the United Kingdom ; or from the British and Foreign Bible Society, from which all of them have originated. It is against that Society, that his censure is aimed ; it is to thai Society he exhorts us " not to lend our support," and it is " the pernicious influence of that Society, " the progress" of which he would have us endeavour " to stop." There is, indeed, in the beginning of your Correspondent's letter, a dark hint at something which he views as inauspicious in particular to the Cornwall Auxiliary Society He represents it as " under the superintendence of a zealous young man, whose zeal, it is to be apprehended, is not according to knowledge." This hint, Mr. Editor, is so profoundly dark, that 1 cannot guess at the indi- vidual thus characterized. I consider those Gentlemen who have had the honor of introducing the proposal for a County Auxiliary Bibls Society, as entitled to the respect and gratitude of their neighbours : but it is of no consequence whatever to the institution itself, if it be established, by whomsoever it may have been first set on foot. I have no doubt that the persons to whose superintendence it shall be committed, will be of high respectability : but the line in which it is to act, does not depend on any contingent circum- stance ; it is that which is clearly denned and limited by the plan of the British and Foreign Bible Society. To this point therefore, I return ; and in very few situations would it be necessary for the invalidation of your Correspondent '3 censures, to do more" than to discriminate the object against which 454 APPENDIX II. t they are directed. Few are the spots in the United Kingdom, few are the civilized countries in the World, where the Constitution and the exertions of the British and Foreign Bible Society are so little known, that it could be necessary to refute the assertion that its influence is pernicious ! Nothing but the remote distance of this county from the metropolis, its peninsular form, and the tardy progress of knowledge through its extent, in consequence of these circumstances, could occasion any danger of credit being given to such a charge. Nothing, I am willing to believe, but the pro-- foundest ignorance, could have led your Correspondent to advance it. I am willing to give him credit for sincerity, and even for meaning well ; but he should surely have " pulled the beam out of his own eye," before he taxed any one else with a " zeal, not accord- ing to Knowledge." Your Correspondent betrays his want of information in more in- stances than 1 shall probably be able to enumerate, without intrud- ing too much on your limits. The first that I shall notice, is, his assertion, that " the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge will be found to be fully adequate to supply the demand for the Holy Scriptures." It seems, then, that he has yet to learn the occasion on which the British and Foreign Bible Society was instituted. Nothing but the inattention of the old Society to urgent requests, which had for several years been used to obtain another edition of the Welsh Bible, gave rise to the new Institution. Had it not been needed, it would not, when formed, have been called to make the exertions which it has made, and which indeed would seem incre- dible, if they were questionable. Let your readers, Sir, reflect, that in less than six years, the British and Foreign Bible Society has issued two hundred and twenty-three thousand Bibles and Tes- taments, besides numerous editions printed by their assistance, in other parts of Europe ; and then let them judge, whether the old Society was " found fully adequate to supply the demand for the Holy Scriptures !" No, Sir, since your Correspondent has injudi- ciously provoked the investigation, let it be known, that the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has been " weighed in the ba- lance and has been found wanting;" not indeed in funds (it is rich enough) but in the application of them to an adequate supply of the Holy Scriptures. In what, then, it may be asked, consists that matchless merit, which in the judgment of your Correspondent raises the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge above all lawful competition or pardonable effort to supply its " lack of service ?" It consists, as appears from the True Churchman's own statement, in refusing to admit pious and zealous men of other religious denominations, to join with it in circulating the Holy Scriptures, which all alike believe, and alike desire to impart to others. I say pious and zealous men ; for surely such are those, who would be most likely to be desirous CORRESPONDENCE. 455 ft. of sharing in so good a work. I add, also, that they must be men of enlightened and liberal minds ; for, otherwise, they would be as little desirous of joining with Churchmen in this good wish, as the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, or as your Corre- spondent, the True Churchman himself, is of joining with them. He did not consider, that while he dreads the influence which Dis- senters may acquire by the disposal of Bibles, that Dissenters might be equally jealous of the influence which accrues to Church- men, by similar measures, towards which they cheerfully contribute their support. He fears lest Dissenters should, along with Bibles, circulate Tracts in favour of their own party : but might not Dis- senters equally fear that Churchmen would do so ? He dreads lest the union which he reprobates should tend to produce indifference in Churchmen towards their distinguishing tenets: but would it not be more likely, all things considered, to produce a similar disposi- tion in Dissenters? It is not, however, indifference, in either party, to prefer the essential doctrines of the Gospel in which they all cor- dially agree, and on which they rest their hope of salvation, to these points in which, through human imperfection, they differ in judgment. It is not indifference towards any part of religious truth, but the result of an enlightened zeal for the whole, to join heart and hand in promoting the knowledge of the Scripture*, which all believe to contain the " whole counsel of God." A more essential difference than that which your Correspondent has pointed out between the Society for promoting Christian Know- ledge, and the British and Foreign Bible Society, must nevertheless be admitted to exist. It is, that the former distributed human com- positions as well as the revealed will of God ; while the latter dis- tributes only the Sacred Scriptures. It is, then, unfair to suggest, that your Correspondent's wish to stop the " pernicious progress" of the Bible Society, appears to arise, not from his fear lest Dissenters should ^uid opportunities of circulating Tracts in favour of their party, so much as from his reluctance that Churchmen should lose such opportunities ? He is evidently afraid, that the Bibles should be circulated alone ; and had rather it should remain un- known, than be distributed without human compositions to bias the minds of its readers. But I am intruding, much farther than I intended, on your limits. I will therefore only add, that if there ever was a crisis' when unani- mity and co-operation in whatever may tend to the preservation and prosperity of our country become indispensable, this is the time. I would not attribute to the worst motives, which can be imputed to less pernicious intentions : but if your Corresj>ondent, under the assumed title of a " True Churchman," had wished to prevent the Bible from being read by our poor; if he had wished to deprive Britain of its noblest honour, that of sending the Sacred Scriptures to all nations ; if he had aimed to cast the apple of con- 456 APPENDIX II. tention, and sow the seeds of civil and religious discord among 1 us at this alarming crisis, he could not have chosen a more effectual method than that which he has adopted. Let his baleful machina- tions rouse to redoubled exertions, every one, who is with Your obliged servant, A LOVER OF CONCORD. Jan. 22, 1811. SIR, To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. From the letter of your correspondent, who signs himself " Deb- tor and Creditor," one might naturally be led to suppose, that the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge had of late been grossly negligent in promoting those important objects for which it was established. I leave it to the " True Churchman" to answer the question which is so triumphantly asked him, if indeed he thinks fit to notice it at all : but I think it. an act of justice to the respecta- ble Society, of which I am a member, to lay before your readers a summary account of the Bibles and Religious Books which have been distributed by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, in the space of six years. I have accidentally mislaid the report for 1805 : the following statement of the distribution of books during the remaining six years, from 1803 to 1809 inclusive, is extracted from the annual reports of the Society. Bibles. 803 7,809 3804 7,958 1806 8,490 J807 8,881 1SOS 8,476 ]809 8,881 CommonPrayer Books. 1803 13,515 1804 14,230 1806 16,096 1807 17,029 1808 17,86? 1809 20,117 50,495 Other Religious Books. 1803 1S ; 640 1804 19,243 1806 20,460 1807 21,480 1808 19,572 1809 20,876 Testaments fy Psalters. 1803 9,97O 1804 10,526 1806 11,466 1807 12,072 1SOS 12,930 1809 13,730 98,854 Small Religiout Tracts. 1803 98,766 1804 103,658 1806 112,440 1807 118,044 1808 120,157 1809 127,193 70,688 120,2/1 680,258 It is evident that a Society which combines the support of Mis- sions, and the distribution of the best religious publications, with the distribution of Bibles and Testaments, and which consists CORREIPONDENCE. 457 solely of members of the Established Church, cannot come into competition with the Bible Society, with respect to the number of Bibles distributed But I think that a Society which has been en- gaged for more than an hundred years, and silently, but effica- ciously promoting the best interests of mankind, does not merit the sneer of contempt. I am, Sir, Your humble servant, PRESBTTTIR. Jan. 26, 1811. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIR, In the Cornwall Gazette for Jan. 26, your correspondents, "Deb- tor and Creditor," present a comparative statement of the obligations which the county of Cornwall is under, to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and, by their account, 275 Bibles and 500 Testaments have been gratuitously given to individuals in Cornwall by the latter Society in the course of the last six years ; whilst by the former, neither Bible nor Testament has been given, but a total neglect of our religious interests is insinuated. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge was first set on foot in 1698, from which time it has promoted the dispersion of in- credible numbers of Bibles, Common Prayer, and other religious books, in different languages, both at home and abroad, to the great extension of knowledge, and the spread and the practice of our holy religion. The Society's account of 1809 is now before me. In that year, it sent to its subscribing and corresponding members, Bibles 8,881 New Testaments and Psalters . . 13,730 Common Prayer Books 20,117 Other Books 148,069 190,797 for distribution. Besides Seamen's Prayers, Admo- nitions against Swearing, &c. . 52,417 Total in the year 1809 . .243,214 distributed. Of these, possibly, Cornwall had its proportion $ that is, as 43 to 3,340 Subscribing Members. However this be, it is certain, that for nearly half a century the religious instruction of our countrymen the inhabitants of the Scilly Islands, has been under the sole care of this Society, which has lately given j.50 towards the erection of a more commodious edifice 456 APPENDIX II. for divine service on the Island of St. Agnes, with other accommo- dations. But to come nearer home. In a country parish where the writer of this article resides, 122 Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters, and many of these in Pica character for the benefit of the aged, 64 Common Prayer Books, and several hundreds of religious Books and Tracts have been received from this Society, and gratuitously given to the poor, within half the space of time specified by "Deb- tor and Creditor," who can be referred to similar offices by sub- scribing members to the Society in this county. Unfortunately, there is a standing order of this truly useful, con- sistent, and venerable Society, which may give offence to such as- sailants as Debtor and Creditor, and tiiat is, " None are to be ad- mitted Members who are not well affected to His Majesty King George and his Government ; and to the Church of England as by law esta- blished." " I take leave of your accomptants in the words of a Roman Orator : " Cjuaero, quid facturi fuissetis ? Quanquam quid facturi fueritis non dubitem, cum videam quid feceritis." Cic. pro Ligario. I am, Sir, a constant reader of your respectable paper. PHILALETHES. Jan. 30, 1811. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIR, I will thank you to lay before the public the following correction of the defective statement made in your last week's Gazette, by Messrs. Debtor and Creditor. As the methods adopted by the two Societies in question, to pro- duce the same effect, viz. the promotion and dispersion of Christian Knowledge, are not of precisely the same nature, it will be m ces- sary to reduce the quantum of exertion made by each of the So- cieties in favour of our County, to some common standard, before any comparison between them can be made. It appears, from the statement of your correspondents, that the Bible Society has in the course of six years dispersed in the county 275 Bibles and 50O Testaments. I will assume that each of the Bi- bles cost Ss. and each of the Testaments 3s. it will then follow, that the sum expended by the Bible Society for extending Christian Knowledge in Cornwall amounts in six years to ^?.185. I have before me the reports of the Society for promoting Chris- tian Knowledge, for the years 1807, 1809, and 1810. In those years the Society expended -.1061. 14s. 8d. for the purpose of dis- persing Christian Knowledge in that part of the county which was most likely to feel the want of such a blessing, viz. the Scilly Isles ; we may therefore conclude, that in the last six years the Society has CORRESPONDENCE. 459 expended on this object jg.2123. 9s. 4d. Nor is this all : there are to my certain knowledge in this county 46 members of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and it will, I believe, be rea- dily conceded, that they distribute on an average at least, one gui- neas worth each, of Bibles, Common Prayer Books, and religious Tracts : the value of those books thus dispersed will therefore amount in six years to ^.289 16s. The account then stands thus : Bible Society. 275 Bibles at 8s T ~ 500 Testaments at 3s J *' Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. . s. d. Expences incurred at the Scilly Isles 2123 9 4 Bibles, &c. dispersed in Cornwall 289 16 2413 5 4 Deduct ... . 185 Balance in favour of the Society for promoting Chris- tian Knowledge 2228 5 4 I am, Sir, yours, &c. BENJAMIN BALANCE. To the Editor of the Royal Cornwall Gazette. SIR, Permit me to make an observation or two on a letter in your kst paper, which bears the signature of " Debtor and Creditor." This person, as if conscious of error, solicits correction. Yet his state- ments are so palpably wrong, that he comes to us at least in a " questionable shape." And in opposing his Bible Society of " six years' growth" to what he calls our " venerable" institution, he seems, 1 think, to speak with a sneer, and, in contrasting the "in- fant's blooming promise" with the decrepitude of old age, to mask contempt under a smile of benevolence. Sorry should I be to charge your correspondent with wilful mis- representation : but that every corresponding member of our So- ciety has been distributing, year after year, and for many years, Bibles and Testaments, and the Book of Common Prayer, and a va- riety of Religious Tracts, within the circle of his parish or in his neighbourhood, is a fact which, I judge, must necessarily have oc- curred to Mr. " Debtor and Creditor" I am sure every subscriber may get what books he may please to order. In my own experience, at least, I have not met with the slightest difficulty in procuring 460 APPENDIX It. Bibles or any other books. And, for nearly thirty years have I my- self distributed, or been a witness to my brethren giving away the Society books to their parishioners with undeviating regularity. And is it possible, that your correspondent can be ignorant of our attention to the Scilly Isles ; where, at Tresco and St. Agnes, for no less than forty-five years, ^".25O has been annually expended in supporting schools, and in maintaining missionaries ? What, then, shall we say to the statement of Mr. Debtor and Cre- ditor ? Shall our Society be scoffed at because it is an OLD INSTI- TUTION ? Shall all its acts, because they have the sanction of the ESTABLISHMENT be counted as nothing? Yes, verily. To sanguine spirits, kindled up by projects of discoveries, there is in " OLD IN- STITUTIONS," in " ESTABLISHMENTS," a paralyzing chill a repul- siveness past all tolerance. In this age of reform, they are sounds of ominous import. They are words that " grate harsh music" in the ears of our innovating gentlemen, who can do more, it seems, in an hour than we have done, or can do, in a century. And their hour is an hour of eclat. Whilst we present our offerings to the poor and ignorant, in situations for the most part retired from ob- servation, they publish their munificence to the world ; and select- ing, for the scene of their glorying, the most populous places, sound before them their trumpets in the streets. W 7 hilst we, I trust, proceed with our labour of love, in quiet and in silence, they gather the multitude around them, and scatter their gifts pro- miscuously, as the mountebank his nostrums from the stage. Yet all this parade and bustle do they presume to vindicate, and scruple not to tell us " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works." But rather let us say, in the true spirit of charity, " Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." I remain yours, CLEKICUS. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIR, It appears that there is a rivalry between two great religious So- cieties, who shall do most good, and be most active in circulating the Holy Scriptures, that " the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified." (2 Thess. iii. 1.) All true Christians should therefore ardently desire that each Society may find it to be a " labour of love," (1 Thess. i. 3.) and that they may be uninflu- enced by political mammon, or the jarrings of contending parties for power ; as thereby they would fall under the condemnation of our Lord, who asks a question and answers it himself, in the fol- lowing words : " How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not that honour that comet h from God only." (John v. 44.) May the single eye (Matt. vi. 22, 23, 24.) to the CORRESPONDENCE. 461 glory of the Prince of Peace, direct them both in this blessed un- dertaking, for there is work enough for all, and even for more So- cieties, while there remains a nation upon the earth, who has not a translation of the Bible in their own vernacular tongue. The words of unerring truth assure us, that we cannot serve God and mammon. Let all therefore beware of double motives, as also of " a root of bitterness springing up to trouble and defile" (Heb. xii. 15.) the glorious cause : for " where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work ; the wisdom from above is pure, is peaceable, without partiality and without hypocrisy." (Jas. iii. 16, 17.) Let us, therefore, pray that these powerful Societies may be di- rected by the wisdom from above in their varied* plans In this case, we may hope, with some degree of confidence, that the fol- lowing prophecy of Malachi (i. 5.) " And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say the Lord will be magnified from the borders of Israel," is applicable to our highly-favoured country ; from whence, as " from the borders of Israel," the knowledge of divine truth shall continue to arise like the progress of the orb of light, " shining more and more unto the perfect day." (Prov. iv. 18.) Then also shall we find realized, that in the extremity of evils which surround us in this our awful day, Christ's kingdom shall be a sanctuary ; " for upon all the glory shall be a defence ; and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." (Isaiah iv. 5, 6.) Again I subscribe myself, as one desirous of being a TRUE BIBLE CHRISTIAN. Jan. 30, 1811. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette, SIR, The very excellent letter with which Clericus has favoured the public, setting forth a string of incontrovertible reasons, in apology for himself and others, for being unwilling to take any part with * Their plans are varied -the British and Foreign Bible Society embrace all mankind ; the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge is confined to certified members of the Established Church. Fide Cornwall Gazette^ Jan. 26. Suppose each denomination of Christians were to narrow their views, as the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge does. In this case there would be about forty-three Societies, or as many as there are denominations of Christians ; verifying the fable of the Belly and its Members, while the body would perish for lack of bread." " For the body i not one member but many ; and if they were all one member, where were the body." (1 Cor. 12.) 462 APPENDIX II. the Auxiliary Bible Society of Cornwall, has so fully anticipated the answer that might otherwise have been returned to your correspon- dent A Lover of Concord (and to which I would refer him), that lit- tle else now remains but to make a few passing observations on the subject, by way of comment j and, before I proceed to this, 1 can- not forbear expressing the gratification I feel in being the fast who has ventured or presumed, through the medium of your paper, to call in question the views of this Society, constituted as it now is, of dissenters of all denominations, and being instrumental in call- ing forth into action the energies of so able an advocate of our cause himself an host, whose " Ithuriel touch no falsehood can en- dure, but of force returns to its own likeness." Nor do I think, Mr. Editor, that you can perform a task more acceptable to all true supporters of our venerable Establishment, than by giving the letter of Clericus a place in your next week's paper. The first part I shall notice in Concord's letter, without adverting to the characteristic vein of supercilious contempt that runs through the whole of it, is that, wherein he considers the asserting the in- fluence of the Bible Society to be pernicious, as proceeding from the grossest ignorance, from the state of incivilization which per- vades this county, on account of its remote situation from the me- tropolis, its peninsula form, and the consequent tardy progress in knowledge ; as though the mind was thereby confined within geo- graphical limits, and the sources of information not as attainable and open to the inhabitants of this as of any other part of the king- dom " Where ignorance is bliss, 'twere folly to be wise." He then boldly asserts, " that nothing but the inattention of the old Society to the urgent requests which had for several years been used to obtain another edition of the Welsh Bible, gave rise to the new institution" Your Correspondent, Sir, has assumed the signature of a Lover of Concord, but it is, I fear, concordia discors, and I could wish also, that he would, in addition to this, subscribe him- self a Lover of Truth. For I consider a suppressed statement of facts, a. pious fraud, or any thing indeed short of the whole truth, sufficient on which to ground an impeachment of veracity. Neither is it likely that he will permit the plea of ignorance to be made for him, as he seems to wrap himself up in the fullness of his own knowledge, and to say I am not as other men are or even as this Churchman. Your correspondent will find, on referring to the fourth reason adduced by Clericus, that the old Society, in con- junction with the University at Oxford, were engaged in preparing as large an edition of Welsh Bibles as could be wanted, at the very time that the British and Foreign Bible Society undertook as their first act, to do the same ; and though admonished and put to shame on this head, as being an unnecessary work, they nevertheless per- sisted in it, and by entrusting the management to a notorious leader of the dissenters, made the very distribution of the Bible the CORRESPONDENCE. 4j63 means of extending the influence ofi sectarists. How then, it may be asked, can it be asserted with truth that the real want of Welsh Bibles, gave birth to this new Institution ? Ab uno dlsce omnes. That they will in future endeavour to gain the ascendency, and to supplant us whenever they shall find opportunity, is most clear ; and feeling the strength of their party, will make occasional disclosures of the true character of their Society. Hence we may account for the frankness with which this is allowed to be a Dissenting Society in the Dissenters' Almanack of last year ; and from hence too, we may account for their displacing from the chair, at the second ge- neral meeting of their body, a Clergyman of the Church of England, and substituting in his stead an enthusiast of their own party. It will be found, when too late, that we of the Establishment, w"ho lend it our support, have nothing to do with the Society, but to sanction its proceedings, and contribute to its funds. The in- trusting too the translation of the Scriptures into foreign languages, to their own orientalist, although it may go unaccompanied with either note or comment, is a matter that should be regarded with a jealous and suspicious eye. How easily may the translator give the text a calvinistic or any other turn of interpretation correspondent to his own tenets ? Timeo Danaos et donaferentes. In conclusion, Sir, I congratulate all true Churchmen, on the prospect which is afforded us, of seeing Committees formed through- out the Kingdom in aid of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, under the patronage of our Bishops, and it is to be hoped, that what is begun in the Cathedral Cities of each Diocese, will be followed up by sub-committees in the principal towns under their jurisdiction, composed as it must be of members of the Esta- blishment only, and that the officiating Ministers will be active in furthering the great objects in view. To this let us lend our sup- port, and be as ardent in the cause of our domestic Society as the Dissenters are in theirs. Deeply impressed with the charge to hold fast the form of sound words, I do not see how any member of the Establishment can give his sanction to any measure, however admi- rable may be its professed end, which has the remotest tendency to iniure that form; and I cannot but believe, in the sincerity of my heart, that any religious association with persons who deny the atonement of our blessed Saviour, and who despise his sacraments, (and the Bible Society is open to these) cannot but have that ten- dency in a variety of ways, which should make all steady Chris- tians avoid it, as the most dangerous and subtle enemy that ever reared its head against the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am your obedient servant, A TRUE CHURCHMAN. Jan. 30, 1811. P. S. In reply to your correspondent, Debtor and Creditor, who has made an invidious comparison of the number of Bibles distri- 464 APPENDIX II. buted by the Bible Society in this county, and by that for promoting Christian Knowledge, within the last six years. The True Church- man would refer him to the secretary of the latter, for the informa- tion he requires, and in the meanwhile acquaints him, that he has himself, within the last twelve months only, gratuitously dispersed above 40 Bibles, besides Testaments, and other orthodox publi- cations. To the Editor of the Royal Cornwall Gazette. SIR, I am willing to give my opponent, the " True Churchman," ample credit for his raillery on my assumption of more information than he appeared to possess on the subject in dispute between us. He has shewn his dexterity in sparring ; but if he expects that this " Cornish hug" will bring me to any other ground but that of solid matter of fact, he is mistaken ; and from that resting place I shall be likely to rise with renewed vigour. His wit proves no more than the allusions of his fellow combatants to " Corresponding Societies," and the " French Revolution," can prove j the unlike- ness of which to an Auxiliary Bible Society, is so much more striking than that of Macedon to Monmouth, that those countries in comparison would, indeed (as Fluellin says), appear " as like a* two peas!" These allusions, moreover, are peculiarly unlucky at this crisis; when the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge itself, is labouring to establish corresponding sub-committees in various counties of England, and even so near us as Devonshire. Proximus ardet Ucalegon ! Happily our Diocesan has not thought it proper to extend them to Cornwall so that if the new Auxiliary Bible Society can but be stung to death in its cradle, we may flat- ter ourselves with exemption from all those dreadful effects which your correspondents prognosticate, as liable to be produced by cir- culating the Bible among the poor. In every respect but one, all the assailants of the British and Foreign Bible Society on this occasion have shewn similar dexterity. They have judiciously rested their arguments on hypothetical sur- mises, possible consequences, and speculative positions, except in reference to the editions of the Welsh Bible, published by the two societies under consideration. Here your correspondents have un- warily ventured on a subject which assumes a " questionable shape," and admits of decisive investigation. Here, therefore, leaving to the good sense and acuteness of your readers (qualities of which the natives of this county have, in numerous instances, eminently de- monstrated their possession) all my opponent's insinuations and inferences, however specious, here 1 fix my stand. I will abide by the decision of your readers, whether the British and Foreign Bible Society did, or did not, " undertake an edition of the Welsh Bible, COHRB5PONDBNCE. 465 at a time when the Socifty for promoting Christian Knowledge Were preparing as large an edition as could be wanted." This point your correspondent " Clericus" says, he states on unquestionable au- thority . and this the " True Churchman" assumes as if irrefragably proved. Your other correspondent, who signs himself" a Member of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge," (a gentleman "whose charity begins and ends at home) refers us to the writings of Dr. Wordsworth, Mr. Dealtry, and Lord Teignmouth, for argu- ments on both sides of the controversy. What will your readers, Mr. Editor, conceive of the prudence of such an appeal, when, on opening Mr. Dealtry's last publication, they find him calling this very same " unquestionable" statement, " that stale, miserable, threadbare, and ten times confuted old story about Welsh Bibles ?"* I cannot conceive that any one who has read the whole contro- versy on, the subject of the Bible Society, will dispute the propriety of those epithets which Mr. Dealtry has so plentifully bestowed on this old story. Every other cavil that your correspondents have made use of against the Bible Society is equally stale, and has been as often confuted : but I shall confine myself to this argument from pretended fact ; for the refutation of which I must claim your own and your readers' patient attention, because the " True Churchman" has dared to charge me with falsehood respecting it. That charity which " hopes all things," induced me to impute his misrepresentations to pure ignorance. Let him blush, if he is not past shame, while he reads the following extracts from Mr. Deal- try's work, founded on the minutes and correspondence of the British and Foreign Society} what I include in brackets is supplied for the sake of perspicuity ; what I have omitted is for that of bre- vity. The book is before the public, so that whoever will can com- pare it with the quotations. " During the years 1792 and 1793, repeated applications [to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge] were made for a sup- ply of WELSH Bibles; but they were made in vain. At length, in 1799, an edition of 10,OOO copies was issued by that Society. Of this edition, a clergyman of Cardiganshire writes, ' It was disposed of before I was informed of it. I applied to Dr. Gaskin for some quantity of Welsh Bibles ; his answer was, that they were all gone j that there were only 10,000 printed, and that 20,000 would not answer half the demand.' (p. 6.) In June 1800, a beneficed clergyman in Montgomeryshire writes, ' I have written to my bishop, and he to the Society ; since then, I got a friend to call on Dr. Gaskin, to ask if they had any intention of publishing another edition. The * - See Vindication of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by William Dealtry, M. A. Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Bristol, &c. (Hateh- ard, 1810, price It, 6d.) p. 255. Method. * 466 APFBKDIX II. answer was, No, tee have not* The same clergyman, in July 1802, writes, ' I have repeatedly tried the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, through the medium of my friends, men of influence ; and found that no farther help is to be expected from them now ; they gave a decided answer more than twice over.' " Appendix, pp. iii. iv. " In March 1804, the BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE Society was formed ; and, by the recommendation of the late Bishop of Lon- don, Lord Teignmouth was prevailed upon to accept the office of President."* " On the 9th April, 1804, a sub-committee was appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the best means by which the Society might be supplied with the Holy Scriptures in the English, Welsh, and Irish languages. In September 1804, it was resolved, on the recommendation of this sub-committee, that 20,000 Welsh Bibles, &c. and 5000 Welsh Testaments, &c. be printed." (p. 9.) 4th Feb. 1805, " the Sub-committee, having completed their inquiries into the subjects referred to them [the corrections of errata and orthography in former editions,] delivered their report to the General Committee ; which resolved, that a copy of the said Report and Statement be communicated to the Syndics of the Cambridge press, who are finally to decide upon the merits of the copy proposed for adoption by this Committee." (p. 11.) 4th March, 1805, " Mr. Tarn reported, that he had for- warded copies of the Report on the Corrections of the Welsh Bible to [among other persons] the Syndics at Cambridge." (p. 15.) Hence it is evident, that during eleven months, from April 1804, to March 1805, the British and Foreign Bible Society had been employed in preparations for their edition of the Welsh Bible; that in September, 1804, they had decided on the number and kinds of books to be printed ; and that at or before the beginning of March, 1805, they had engaged the University press at Cambridge, to undertake the impression. That the date of the following Resolution of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, is accurate, will hardly be dis- puted, because it was officially transmitted by their Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, to the Rev. J. Owen, Secretary to the British and Foreign Bible Society, in consequence of an application from the latter. " March 12, 1805. Resolved, that a new edition of the Bible, &c. in the Welsh language, be printed for this Society, and pub- lished, consisting of 20,000 copies, &c." * Is this amiable and excellent nobleman the person stigmatised by the True Churchman, as " an enthusiast of their own party ?" Lord Teignraouth is well known to be a member of the Church of England, but not an enthu- siast of any party. CORRESPONDENCE. 467 Thus, instead of the British and Foreign Bible Society having t ' undertaken a Welsh Bible, at the time when the Society for Pro- moting Christian Knowledge were preparing as large an edition as could be wanted ; it is demonstrated, I. That the Bible Society had been employed eleven months in preparing their edition, before the Bartlett's Buildings Society resolved to undertake one. II. That the edition proposed by the latter, so far from being as large as could be wanted, was not large enough to answer half the demand ; according to the previous declaration of their own Secre- tary. That Dr. Gaskin was perfectly correct, and therefore that it is much to be regretted the Society did not act according to his testimony, will appear, by the following extract from Mr. Dealtry's Vindication, pp. 25, 26, " The whole edition voted by the Bartlett's Buildings Society, amounted only to 20,000 copies. Upwards of 40,OOO copies have already been disposed of by the Bible Society, and yet there is room. A letter, which I have recently received from North Wales, dated August 28, 1810, speaks decisively upon this point : " The Bible Society may console themselves with the real truth of doing incalculable good in our poor country. Indeed, without their supply, we must have been, ere now, in a most deplorable situation ; for not one of the Oxford Bibles (those, which the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, had resolved, in March 1805, to publish) has, as yet, reached us ; and when they arrive, we are ready for them: the whole impression will be soon swallowed up, if permitted to circulate freely." Deplorable indeed, must have been the want of Bibles, among " 35,000 persons who read and speak Welsh ;" who could not pre- vail on the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, to print any edition of the Scripture in their language for thirty-one years, from 1768 to 1799 ; and who, even then-, could obtain from them no more than 10,OOO copies !" (ib. p. 42.) \Vhat, then, ought we to think of a writer, who, in half a sen- tence, can assert two egregious falsehoods, for the sake of calum- niating the very persons, to whom alone our fellow Britons have been indebted for so indispensable and invaluable a supply ? Let us hope that, ere now, he has publicly retracted the slander, whoever he is ; for I too highly respect the Bench of Bishops, to believe, that Clericus can be correct, in ascribing such assertions to one of that venerable body. He says indeed, that the author is " himself an host ;" and the " True Churchman" (rather awkwardly) echoes back, that Clericus, likewise, is " himself an host." But really, the Mover and the Seconder of the proposition had need, each of them, to be " a Host," more formidable than any of Bonaparte's armies, if they expect such assertions to pass uncon- tradicted ! If each of them answered to the name of <( LEGION," 466 4PMHD1X U. I would stand their united assault ; having my " loins girt with truth," and wielding the " sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Mr. Dealtry, to whose work I have so often referred, inserts (p. 126) the paragraph on which Clericus has so unfortunately rested the weight of his argument. He mentions, that Mr. Daubeny, also, introduced it, as a quotation, in a recent charge to the Clergy of Salisbury. More persons than one, therefore, it seems, have burned their fingers by catching at it. On the whole, Mr. Editor, I cannot but congratulate the Cornish poor, that they have not to depend for Bibles on a Society which has paid so little attention to the exigencies of their ancient corre- latives, the Welsh. Thank God, that an Auxiliary Bible Society is now formed in this populous county ! I grieve that the papistical spirit, of withholding the Scriptures from the poor, should prevail so far as it too evidently does, among our provincial Clergy ; but I trust that many sound Protestants will be found in their number, to give that decided support to the Bible Society, which their brethren have so cheerfully accorded, almost every where else. (See Vind. p. 172.) P. S. As several of your Correspondents have laid much stress on the expence of which the Bartlett's Buildings Society support their mission to the Scilly Isles, it might be expected that 1 should say something on that subject ; but I take it for granted, that it is pretty well understood by the inhabitants of this county j and all, with whom I conversed about it, concur in opinion, that the less which is said of it will be the better. Facts are stubborn things. I hope, therefore, not to be under the necessity of troubling you again j as controversy cannot but be unpleasing. A LOVER OF CONCORD. February 4, 1811. To the Editor of the Cornwall Gazette. SIH, My conduct having been alluded to in a Letter which appeared in your Paper of the 26th inst. respecting the establishment of an Auxiliary Bible Society, and signed Clericus, 1 hope you will now insert the following reply. The writer of the letter alluded to, begins with saying, that he and his friends do not disapprove of the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in itself, but merely of the manner in which it is now proposed to do it. For this I readily give him credit, as I do not know how any Protestant can think in his conscience that Bibles ought not to be distributed. But, I shall endeavour to notice in order the several heads or classes in which his objections are arranged. COHRKSrONBKNCK. 469 1st Then, he dislikes all Corresponding Societies, because not many years ago some were formed, which, though wearingfa specious aspect, were, as soon as opportunity offered, made the engines of every nefarious purpose. I allow that this was the case of several Jacobin Clubs, about the time of the French Revolution ; but I submit that there is no greater likeness to these Institutions in our Auxiliary Bible Society than there is in the Society for distributing Bibles to the Army and Navy or in the Auxiliary Society just formed in Devonshire, in aid of that for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; both of which are understood to have the express sanction of the Primate of all England. These and all other Societies may possibly, from the great mixture of evil in all human things, do harm ; but is there any thing in the union and corre- spondence of several men for a good object which naturally leads to evil, which has in it the seeds of mischief? I trust there is not : I trust the constitution of such Societies is as harmless as their declared views are noble. <2. In answer to Clericus's statement, that the Bible Society in unnecessary, I will merely beg him to inquire into the want of Bibles throughout this country, and, as far as he can, throughout the world. I think he will find that, although the Society for promot- ing Christian Knowledge has been established more than a century, the Bible Society has dispersed many hundred thousand Bibles and Testaments ; there is a deplorable want of them still, a want too, which, from its peculiar form and various objects, the Society first mentioned, seems unlikely to supply, even in another century. 3. As to the association of Churchmen and Dissenters implying a censure on a rule of the old Society, that the members should be of the Church of England, I trust I shall be excused for returning no answer to such an objection. 4. When Clericus tells us that the Dissenters are always ready to attack the Church, I cannot help saying, that they are not likely ever to have a fairer breach to mount by than this, that we refuse to join in spreading far and wide the Church of England version of the Holy Scriptures. I think he is misinformed in stating, that the Bible Society itself began in an act of rivalry to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. I understand the plain state of the case to be this. The Bible Society took its rise, from an actual want of Welsh Bibles, which want, although repeatedly and strongly pressed on the notice of the Old Society, they had held out no hopes of supplying. This I am informed, suggested the first idea of endeavouring to grant some relief to such spiritual suffer- ings ; from this seed arose that tree whose branches soon began to spread over the world. I must not forget to mention, that the Bible Society resolved in Sept. 1804, to print an edition of the Welsh Scriptures, and the other Society passed a resolution to the same effect, in March 1805 : that the edition also made choic of by the Old Society,, was anxiously adopted by the new one. 4JO APPENDIX II. 5. As to their (i. e. the Dissenters) eagerness to gain our concur- rence, let me ask Clericus, is it right to impute to eagerness none but Lad or selfish motives ? Is there no room for honest zeal in such a cause ? Why say that because the Dissenters are eager to bring us forward as the leaders in an enterprise whose professed object is at least unexceptionable 5 why say that therefore they meditate our downfall ? 6'. If Clericus has really persuaded himself that those who are not of our Church will all labour to distribute such tracts in favor of their peculiar doctrines under cover of the distribution of Bibles, which tracts they might of course give to whom they chose without any such cover, I am sorry for it : but he will allow me to wait for proofs that this underhand dealing has been resorted to, before I believe it, or feel alarm at it. 7. Clericus dislikes the pomp of the accounts of the good done abroad : but let him recollect that the extent of the good to be done is likely to depend much on the publicity of the good already done, and then I trust he will at least excuse this sickening ostentation. 8. As to a union of various denominations of Christians, leading to indifference, with regard to Religion, a consequence undoubt- edly to be deprecated, I have no fear on this head if the union be for a specific, defined, and allowedly Christian object ; has any mem- ber of the Society yet compromised a single article of his faith, or ritual or practice ? If he has, or shall, it seems to me quite volun- tary, uncalled for, and independent of this union. There is one thing which he is likely by this means to h, Parliament Street, London; by F. FLIN DELL, in the Close, Exeter; and by T. R. GILLET, Truro. POETRY. 1. Poems, in 5 Vols. 8vo ; including the Influence of Local Attachment ; the Old English Gentleman ; the Unsex'd Females ; the Family Picture ; &c. &c. Fourth Edition. 2. Poems, in 3 pocket Volumes; inchuUfag the English Orator; the Spirit of Freshness ; and an Ode ; Ossian departing to his Fathers, &c. &c. 3. The Fair Isabel; l<2mo. 4. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus and Tyrtaeus, translated into English verse ; 8vo. Second Edition. DIVINITY. 1. Sermons, in 2 Vols. 8vo ; Third Edition. To which is added, the Church-Union Prize Essay, on the State of the Soul between Death and the Resurrection. HISTORY. 1. The History of Devonshire ; in 3 Vols. fol. with Plates. <2. The History of Cornwall ; in 7 Vols. 4to. with Plates. 3. Historical Views of Devon ; Svo. Preparing for Publication. POETRY. 1. The Pleasures of Taste, a Poem in 3 parts. 2. The Nesting-Season ; or the adventures of an Ornithologist, in 7 Books. 3. The Merchant of Smyrna ; a Dramatic piece in three Acts. To which are added, Sonnets to Eminent Living Characters. HISTORY. Memoirs of Whitaker, Wolcot, Cowper, Macaulay, Seward, H. More, and other Literary characters, illustrated by their Letters to the Author, in one Volume 4to. London, February 1S20. UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF, AND DEDICATED TO, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT, NEW EDITION OF THE DELPHIN CLASSICS; WITH THE VARIORUM NOTES. IN TITLED THE REGENT'S EDITION. EDITED AND PRINTKD BY A. J. VAl.PY, M. A. LATE FELLOW OF I'EMll. COLL. OXF. N. B. The Price to Subscribers is \l. \s. each Part, Large Paper double; and as very few copies remain on hand, the prices will hereafter be incrras-il. Persons now abroad who subscribe * \t\iin fifteen months, from the 6th ol Fe- bruary, 1819, will be considered as original Subscribers. Subscribers alv*\s remain at the Price at which they originally enter, and are at liberty, lor double that sum, to exchange the small for the large paper copy. As some Gentlemen have not yet sent their names as Subscribers, on the supposition that the work will hereafter be offered for sale at a loin r prior, Kr- V.,lr..i Uo.rc n data thai- in ni-pretif sunli depreciation, h- has purposely printed but very tew copies over the present Subscription (964 larire and small.) THE high reputation in the Learned World of the DELPHIN CLASSICS, and the prevailing: scarcity of most of them, leare little duubt that their Re- publication will be received with approbation and patronage. The avidity with which the DELPHIN CLASSICS are sought, and the impracticability of procuring complete Sets, as well as the knowledge that they contain many errors, and that the critical labors of the last century, and ihe collation of many important MSS., have considerably improved the' text, encourage the expectation that a new Edition will be favourably re- garded, especially as ho library can be considered complete without a regular Collection of the CLASSICS. , The best Text will be used, and not the Delphin. The DELPHIN Notes INTERPRETATIO, and the Furious Readings, will be placed under the Text : and the Notes in the best VARIORUM Edition will be printed at the end of each Author. The best Ind ; ces will be adopted, and carefully collated with the Text, to remove the present numerous faults in the references. The reference will be to the Book and Chapter, and not to the page, by which means the same Index will apply to all other editions. The Literuria Notitia from the Bipont Editions, continued to the present time, will be added. Thus will be incor- porated, as it were, the DELPHIN, BIPONT, and VARIORUM EDITIONS. hfinely engraved head will be given of such Authors as can be procured from authentic sources. The MAfS will be beautifully executed and the illus- trative WooD-CuTS inserted. The whole will be printed uniformly, in Octavo each Part 672 pages, without reference to the conclusion of any author, so that the Subscribers may bind and arrange them alphabetically or chronologically. The whole will make about 120 to 130 Parts and twelve will be printed in the year. To be paid for on delivery. The Work cannot be subscribed for in separate Parts or Authors, but as a whole collection. It may not be improper to observe, that a set of the Delphin sold at the Roxburghe Sale in 1812 for above 500/., and that a uniform set of the VA- RIORUM cannot be obtained at any price. To collect the editions, which are "now offered, would cost many hundred pounds ; whereas the present new Edition will cost but .12. 12$. per annum, for 10 years. The necessity of publishing such a NATIONAL WORK by subscription is obvious, as it prevents all check to its completion, without vihich it could not be undertaken. A List of Subscribers will be published with the last Part. *#* To save expence, it \s particularly requested that a reference be given to some friend in London, where the Parts may be left and the money received. Any Person travelling abroad, may have his copy kept at Mr. Valpy's. , The Au'hors to be printed are : Cicero, Liliri Orntorii. Oniticmes, Epistola ad Familiaret, Opera. PhilosopJtica *, Claudianus, Callimachus, Catullus, Tibutlus, Propertius, Eutropius, Iloratius, Juveualis ec Pcrsius, Lirius, Lucretius, Nepos, Ovidius, Phaidrus, Plautus, Plinius (Senior), S.iliustius, Statms, Suetonius. Tacitus, Terenttus, VeheiusPaterculus, Virgilius, Apuleius, Aulus Gellius, Aurelius Victor. Ausonius, Boethius, Caesar, Dictys Cretensrs, etc. Florus, Jnstinus, Manilius, Martialis, Panecyrici Veteres, Pompeius Festus, etc. Prudentius, Quiutus Curtius, Valeriu Maximum. Mr. V*lpy wishes it particularly to be understood, that no deldfi whatever can occi/r in the publication of twelve parts annually, as some observations have been made on the slow progress of Stephen's Greek Thesaurus ; on which subject it may be only necessary to s:iy, that the Subscribers alone are the gainers by tliat dcl*y. and thr Editors the losers, for it rt obvious that a more hurried production would have been of greater benefit ta the latter; but the fact is, that the unexpectedly large Subscription determined them to gire to their Subscribeis a larger quantity of materials, for which considerable sums were paid, and which could not fail greatly to -enrich the Thesaurus; for a Review of the work, by Professor Hermann, see No. XXXV. of the " Classical Journal." Had it been printed as fast- as teat postihle, what Subscriber would not justly have rondemned the Editors ? With respect to the present woik, the labor is clearly defined, and its progress ea*ily calculated. Any notice of errors will be. duly appreciated, as it is intended to give a list of Additions and Corrections at the end of the woilt, tUat so valuable a collection msy be made s accu- rate as possible. At the desire of many Subscribers it is proposed to complete the Edition of CICERO'S woiks, with the best Variorum Notes, toother with all the Indices and 1>xica, necessary for the most perfect acquaintance with the Father of Roman Eloquence. The extra volumes, however, may he taken or not at the option of the present Subscribers, as the Delphin and Vdi-:oium edition will of coursn be completed according to th original prospectus. UCSB LIBRA