The Wesley offering; or, Wesley and his times

Front matter

L e.

THE

OR,

Chapter I. Paok

Influential Position of the English Nation — Revolution of 1688 — Its Influence on the Character of the Eighteenth Century — On Civil and Religious Liberty — Not promotive of pure Religion — Selfishness and Infidelity of the . principal Actors — Mystery of Iniquity — Church and State under the Reign of Constantine — Dying Lamentation of Luther — Reformation in England — Extract from Macaulay — Henry VIII. — Queen Elizabeth — State of Religion in the Morning of the Eighteenth Century — Infidel Publications — Infidel Tendencies of the Age — Heretics in the Church — Ignorance and Vlciousness of the Clergy — Immorality of the People — Testimony of Bishop Burnett — J. Wesley — Bishop Seeker — Rev. J. Murrion — Dr. Watts — Bishop Butler — Necessity of a Reformation 11

Chapter II

God's Providence — Illustrated in the History of Joseph — The Jewi-h Nation — David — Luther — Also, in raising up the Wesleys to reform the Church and save the Nation — Wesley's Ancestors — Samuel Wesley, sen. — Mrs. Susannah Wesley — Dr. Annersle\ — Remarkable Character of Mrs. Wesley — Account of her Death — Early Life of

VI CONTENTS.

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J. "Wesley — Remarkable Escape, from a Terrible Death — Mrs. "Wesley's S\stem of Domestic Education — Her special Interest in the Education of her Son John— Maternal Influence on the Character of Great Men — Alfred the Great — Milton — Cecil — Dr. D wight — Washington — John Quincy Adams — Wesley is put to School at the Age of Eleven — At Sixteen he is at Oxford — Graduates — His Literary Taste — Seriousness in View of Ordination to the Ministry — Interesting Correspondence with his Mother — Devotes himself to God — Is Ordained — Literary- Honor — Elected Fellow — Ordained Priest — Charles Wesley at College — Forms a Literary Society — John becomes a Member — The term Methodist — The Brothers differ in Character, but are united in Purpose — Their changeless Vow 37

Chapter III

Experimental Religion is Divinity in Man — Not of this World — Its earnest Devotees regarded as Enthusiasts — The Model Family of Samuel Wesley, sen. — Its Influence upon the Character of "Wesley — He distinguishes himself as a Tutor at the University — And as a Logician — His strict Religious Life — The Methodist Society at Oxford — J. Wesley is at the head of it — Its Members are Persecuted— Mr. Wesley is advised and encouraged by his Father — "Holy Club" — Death of Mr. Morgan — Poetry — Death of Samuel Wesley, sen — The Wesleys embark for Georgia as Missionaries to the Indians — Their Diligence and Faithfulness — Difficulties and Trials — John Wesley prosecuted — Returns to England after an Absence of nearly Two Years 66

Chapter IV

The Wesleys again in England — Reflections on their Mission — Acquaintance with the Moravians — Convinced they

CONTENTS. VII

PAGB

were never Converted — Visit to Oxford — Peter Bohler — His Advice — Justification by Faith — John and Charles Wesley experience this Blessing — Contrast in their Feelings— Mr. Wesley vi.-its Germany — Count Zinzendorf — Moravian Church — Returns to England — Zeal and Earnestness— Attracts great Attention — Excluded from the Churches — Preaches in the Fields — Persecution — Dialogue with the Leader of a Mob — Dialogue with the Bishop of Bristol . ■. 89

Chapter V

Decision of the Wesleys — The "Rubicon passed" — Their Zeal, and its Effects — Numerous Conversions — First Religious Society formed by Mr. Wesley — Increase of Societies — Importance of these Societies — Testimony of Dr. Clarke — Anecdote of Mr. Whitefield — Rapid Increase of the Revival — Opposition of the Clergy — Rules to be observed in Writing against the Reformation — Rules of the Societies — Enlargement of the Work — Leadings of Providence — Lay Preachers employed — Thomas Maxwell— Mrs. Wesley's Advice — Church Bigotry and Aristocracy— Wesley's Defence of Lay Preaching — Wesley's Position similar to that of Luther — Erection of Chapels — Foundry — Orphan House — Morning Preaching — Character of the Congregation at the Foundry — Of the Preaching— Of the Singing — Effects upon the Multitudes attending 116

Chapter VI

The Reformation Systematized — Circuits formed — Activity and Vigilance of Wesley — Authority and Influence over his Preachers — The first Conference — Test of a Call to the Ministry — Character of the Wesleyan Preachers- Stability and Power of the Reformation — Its Aggressive

Vlll CONTENTS.

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Character — Labors of Wesley extended to Ireland and Scotland — Persecution of the Irish Catholics — Reformation extended to America — First Society formed in John Street, New York — Philip Emory — Capt. Webb — Assistance of Men and Money from England — First American Church — Renewed Persecutions against Methodism — Slander — Calvinian and Antinomian Controversy — Its Origin — Mr. Whitefield — Systematic Attack upon the Doctrine of Free Grace — Circular of Mr. Shirley — Response of Mr. Hill, and others — Impromptu Remarks of Wesley — Public Demonstration of Calvinian Divines against Arminian Heresy — Conference of 1771 — Mr. Fletcher — Sketch of his Life — Anecdote — Becomes to Wesley what Melancthon was to Luther — His Response to the Circular — Conducts the Controversy in Oppo?ition to several distinguished Divines — Floors his Antagonists — His Remarkable Talent — His Christian Spirit — His Writings published, entitled "Checks to Antinomianism" — Read with great Avidity on both sides of the Atlantic — Reflections of Wesley — Anecdote of a Clergyman — Anecdote of Dr. Rush 143

Chapter VII

Position of Charles Wesley — Johu Wesley the Hero of the Reformation — Opposition overruled for good — Visit to Ireland — To Scotland — Is honored with the Freedom of Perth, a City of Scotland — Conference of 1773 — Wesley's Health and Activity — Preaches from two to four times each Day — Extensive Travels — Reflections on the Causes of Superannuation — Remarks of Wesley on entering his 72 Year — Progress of the Reformation to 1775 — Number of Preachers — Of Members of Society — Amount of Population— Proposition to Mr. Fletcher — Legal Incorporation of the Conference — Letter to the Conference to be read after his Death — Reflections on entering his Eighty-first Year — Organization of his American Societies into an Independent Episcopal Church — The Case stated —

CONTEXTS. IX

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His View of Diocesan Episcopacy and the Succession — Defence of Presbyterian Ordination — The Subject summed up in Seven Propositions 182

Chapter VIII

Wesley outlives his Contemporaries — Death of Mr. Whitefield — Death of Fletcher — Death of Charles Wesley- Reflections on entering his Eighty-fifth Year — His Popularity and Activity in Old Age — Symptoms of Decay — Writes his last Sermon — Reflections on entering his Eighty-eighth Year — His composure in View of Death — His Advice to the American Societies — His last Sermon — He is taken ill, and obliged to desist from Labor — His cheerful and happy Frame of Mind — A circumstantial Account of his triumphant Death — His Funeral — The Affection of the People — Inscription upon his Tomb — Impression upon the Public Mind — Extract from his Will 214

Chapter IX

Character of Wesley — Necessity of Faith in estimating it — Mistakes of Southey — Macaulay's Opinion of Southey — Portraits of Wesley : his Personal Appearance — True Greatness — Wesley a Great Man — Wesley as a Scholar — As a Writer — Characteristics of his Style — As a Poet — Poetic Talent in the Family — Specimens — As a Preacher — Wrote much, but Preached without Notes — His Manner — Character of his Preaching — As a Christian — Deep Experience — Plainness of Speech — Letter to a distinguished Baronet — Letter to one of his Preachers — His Catholicity — His Philanthropy — Liberality to the Poor — Rule for getting and giving — Rendering an Account of his Silver Plate — His Views of the Liquor Traffic — His Views of Slavery — Letter to Wilberforce — Wesley in Social Life — Opinion of Dr. Johnson — Beautiful Extract— The Lines of Cowper 239

X CONTENTS.

Chapter X. Page

Conclusion — The incidental Evils of a Reformation — Their Cause and Cure — Extract from Macaulay — How to test a Reformation — Difference between the Lutheran and Wesleyan Reformations — Charges of Enthusiasm, Ambition and Superstition considered — Extracts from Mr. Alexander Knox, Esq. — Astonishing Results of the Life and Labors of Wesley — Utilitv of the Reformation . 277

Chapter I

" And conscious truth and honesty are made To rise and fall like other wares of trade."— Moore.

" Even grave divines submit to glittering gold, The best of consciences are bought and sold."

Dr Wolcot's Peter Pindar.

"What is a church ?— Our honest sexton tells, 'Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells."-^CRABBE.

The commanding position and immense power of the British Empire, have, for three centuries, qualified it to contribute largely in shaping the political and religious features of the civilized world. Few, if any, revolutions have occurred within that period, either in church or state, in which that nation has not been in one way or another a distinguished actor ; and she now forms a centre of political and moral light and power unrivalled in grandeur and control, and from which moral illumination and effective influence are diverging in every direction, and extending to the remotest nation under heaven.

The time will doubtless come, when (if she be not recreant to her trust) America will take precedence in all these respects ; but that time is not yet. She possesses the attributes of superior greatness, but they are not yet sufficiently combined and harmonized ; they lack solidarity and concentration, and are yet too much under the power of elements antagonistic to the highest and most perfect ends of civil and religious rule.

The character of the eighteenth century was, for the most part, formed by the agency of causes having their existence, if not their origin, in the century preceding, and which extended their moulding influence to subsequent times. The revolution of 1688, which put an end to the dynasty of the Stuarts, also terminated the struggle for political ascendency in the nation between Protestantism and Popery, in favor of the former, by placing the sceptre of power in the firm grasp of William, Prince of Orange. This revolution was the last that has occurred on British ground. A conviction has seized the public mind that there is a better way to correct abuses, whether in church or state, than by a resort to arms, — that the means of effecting every improvement demanded by the wants of society may be found within the constitution itself, and without the enactments of war and blood. To this conclusion, so true in itself, and so precious to the heart of every philanthropist and Christian, the public sentiment, not merely of England, but of the civilized world, is rapidly tending.

Not only was the question of supremacy between Protestantism and Popery settled by the contests of the seventeenth century, but also certain differences between the people and the crown, touching liberty on the one hand and prerogative on the other, were so composed, that very little difficulty has arisen on these accounts since that period. The fierce struggle which had continued during four reigns between the throne and the parliament, terminated with the reign of James II., and thenceforth the executive and legislative departments of state have been so united that neither has impeded the just measures of the other — neither has felt impelled to assume the prerogatives of the other, on supposition that the public good required it. No doubt other advances will yet be made in Britain in respect to liberty and equal rights — important privileges will yet be claimed by the people and conceded, by the crown : but one point of vast importance has been gained. It is established, that a constitutional monarchy, under suitable guards and restrictions, is not incompatible with civil and religious liberty, and that the throne is never more secure than when sustained — not by the strong arm of tyranny — not by standing armies — but by the confidence and affections of a free and grateful people.

We shall commit a great mistake, however, if we suppose the contests which took place in the seventeenth century between the several religious communities, who in that age struggled for ecclesiastical and political pre-eminence, tended, or were designed even, to promote the spirit and practice of true Christianity. Some of the grosser superstitions and more palpable theoretic errors, were doubtless thrown off, but the immediate fruit was adverse, rather than otherwise, to the spirit of vital godliness and true piety. A large body of the common people were, most likely, sincere in their zeal for what they believed to be essential in doctrine and ritual ;

though, even with them, the mightier matters of the law, "judgment and the love of God," were mostly disregarded.

"With the principal actors in those scenes which revolutionized the kingdom, and in which, professedly, a pure religion was the object, selfishness was the real motive power and ruling principle. They were not governed by the dictates of conscience, or an honest desire to please God and promote his glory. Their object seemed to be, to take such advantage of the religious tendencies of the public mind as would be most likely to advance them to place and power ; and if they could gain their end and enjoy the honors and emoluments of office, they had little care whether the Author of that religion, for the purity of which they had manifested so much concern, were honored or blasphemed.

This indeed was not more true of the men of that, than of some other periods. This corruption of heart and selfishness of purpose have marked the conduct of mankind, more or less, in every age of the Church ; particularly when religion has been allied to the State, and has leaned upon the secular power for protection and propagation. It is a fruit of that depravity which in one way or another, shows itself under all circumstances, and, even in matters of religion, demands that personal and worldly interests should take precedence of the claims of Grod.

This mystery of iniquity began to work in the apostolic age, which was doubtless the purest age of the Christian Church which has yet transpired, though not the purest we are authorized, to expect. But a vast change took place in subsequent times. That unholy alliance consummated between the Church and the Homan Emperor, became the fruitful source of corruption and degeneracy. The Church and its ministry became secularized. The Emperor, just established upon his throne, flattered the clergy, to secure their influence. The clergy, now escaped from persecutions and confiscations on account of their religion, flattered the Emperor, to secure and retain his favor and patronage. By mutual flattery, they were mutually corrupted. The Church and ministry lost the spirit of their calling, and sought by temporal power and worldly policy, to effect, what, in the order of God, can only be achieved by personal piety, Christian duty, and holy living, with an humble dependence on the blessing of heaven.

Corrupt and selfish men became leaders in the Church, and gave direction to her affairs — the various grades of office in the ministry were filled by unprincipled incumbents — the doctrines and worship became modified by the vicious errors and superstitions of heathenism — the glory departed, and little else was seen than a huge mass of moral putrefaction.

This state of things continued, and waxed worse and worse for ten centuries. During this long night only here and there a ray of light streaked the moral horizon ; and these soon disappeared to leave a sense of darkness more oppressive and profound. An occasional flicker from the socket of the lamp of truth, or a spasmodic gasp for the breath, of divine life, with now and then a fitful struggle to rise to a state of comparative decency, not to say purity, constituted all the proofs given by that polluted thing called the Church, that moral life was not wholly extinct.

And that glorious revolution and reformation, effected under Grod through the instrumentality 2 of Martin Luther, did not operate an entire cure of the disease which had fastened with so much virulence upon the vitals of the Church. Luther was successful in his attacks upon celibacy, purgatory, indulgence, and some other monstrous corruptions which Romanism had engrafted upon true religion ; and multitudes were enabled to follow his example, and throw off the rubbish beneath which truth had been buried for ages : but few went farther than this. The Reformation, in that age, did little else than relieve the Church of doctrinal absurdities and abominations. With few exceptions, the religion of the heart was poorly understood, and still less practised ; and at the close of his singularly eventful and useful life, the great Reformer himself lamented the destitution of practical godliness. With all their hatred of popery and its horrible corruptions, his followers had not learned the importance of experimental and practical piety.

In England the Reformation was less complete than in Germany. It had a beginning by no means auspicious. It had no Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, or Knox, to open channels for its progress, and stamp it with an enduring character.

"England," says Macaulay, "has no such names to show : not that she wanted men of sincere piety, of deep learning, of steady and adventurous courage. Bat these were thrown into the background. Elsewhere men of this character were the principals. There they acted a secondary part. Elsewhere, worldliness was the tool of zeal. There, zeal was the tool of worldliness. A king, whose character may be best described by saying that he was despotism itself personified, unprincipled ministers, a rapacious aristocracy, a servile parliament, — such were the instruments by which England was delivered from the yoke of Rome. The work which had been begun by Henry, the murderer of his wives, was continued by Somerset, the murderer of his brother, and completed by Elizabeth, the murderer of her guest. Sprung from brutal passion, nurtured by selfish policy, the Reformation in England displayed but little of what had in other countries distinguished it — unflinching and unsparing devotion, boldness of speech, singleness of eye. These were indeed to be found ; but it was in the lower ranks of the party which opposed the authority of Rome, in

Hooper, Latimer, Rogers, and Taylor. Of those who had any important share in bringing the alteration about, the excellent Ridley was perhaps the only person who did not consider it a political job." With these facts in view, it cannot appear wonderful that the English Church should come through the Reformation hut half reformed. She broke away from the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff, but it was only to receive laws from another Pope, in the person of Henr/ the Eighth, whose standard of orthodoxy was made up of the dogmas of his own bigoted faith, tyrannically enforced by his irresponsible power, and who was quite as ready to burn heretics as " His Holiness" had ever been.

The state of things was little better under Elizabeth, who never allowed liberty of conscience during the forty years of her reign. In repudiating Rome, therefore, the English church only exchanged one form of despotism for another equally odious and detestable.

The union between the Church and State, at first so fatal to her purity, being still continued, though disconnected from the authority of Rome, prevented a successful Reformation. When such union exists, the Church will never be more pure than the government with which it is allied, and Christ continues to be crucified in the house of his professed friends. The state being the fountain of ecclesiastical power, the streams which flow from it, share its corruption. The revolutions which took place between the death of Elizabeth and the accession of William and Mary, though decidedly favorable to civil liberty, seem to have worked much less advantage to the Church ; and as the elements of both Church and State became settled under the reign of the Prince of Orange, they remained, with no material change, at the commencement of the eighteenth century.

Religion existed in the books of the Reformers, in the articles and ritual of the Church, in the heads of persecuting bigots, but with rare exceptions, the people were strangers to its influence upon the heart.

When religion is only known as embracing a catalogue of dogmas and a round of external ceremonies, it forms no sufficient security against the decay of public morals. Correct theory, democratic government, and wise and judicious ecclesiastical rules are not indifferent in their influence upon vital and practical godliness; but these, however perfect in themselves, do not produce holiness of heart, or purity of life. These fruits of Christianity are formed under a higher and more sacred influence. The doctrinal views of the English Church as put forth in the thirty-nine articles, are, in the main, correct; and her ritual and service, are by common consent acknowledged to be excellent. Yet for the most part there is a signal failure in the acquisition of evangelical piety, among those who worship under these forms and ceremonies. This was lamentably true of the age of which we are speaking.

The tendencies of the public mind in the first part of the eighteenth century are generally acknowledged to have been decidedly irreligious. The great majority of the clergy were unconverted men : and the body of the people, both in and out of the various religious communities, paid but a slight deference to the obligations of religion, or of morality. Moreover, much pains were taken at this time to spread the principles of infidelity. " The pernicious and wicked writings of Hobbes, Toland, Blount, Collins, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, Morgan, "Woolston, and Chubb, were then in full circulation : and the higher and more influential classes of society, were especially corrupted by their poison. The evil was aggravated by the appearance about the middle of the century, of the infidel speculations of Bolingbroke. By many it was regarded as a settled point that Christianity was a fable which they were justified in holding up to public reprobation and scorn." [Jackson's Centenary) The state of things both in the hierarchy, and among the dissenters, was most deplorable. There were a few most devoted and excellent Christians among both clergy and laity, who had not defiled their garments, and who literally wept and mourned over the desolations of Zion. If not literally, yet certainly in a moral and metaphorical sense, they might have adopted the language of the prophet Elijah, "Lord, they have slain thy prophets, and digged down thine altars, and I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away." They raised their warning voice against the corruptions of the times, but the tide swept onward with a fearfully increasing momentum.

It may be set down as a singular fact, that though that age was distinguished for its learned men, though the field of philosophical inquiry was explored beyond any former example, the discoveries of Newton had filled the civilized world with astonishment, and the literature of the day was enriched with some of the most perfect specimens of composition to be found in any age or country, yet, except for purposes of controversy, the talents of the learned and profound were rarely employed within the domain of the Church ; for such, the field of biblical literature seemed to have few attractions, and a gross ignorance of religious subjects generally prevailed.

To the truth of this last remark, even the clergy of the national church did not form an exception. There were a few stars of .the first magnitude — a few really talented and learned men — learned in biblical and church lore — who consecrated their talents and acquisitions, to the cause of truth and righteousness. But the great mass of the clergy were sadly deficient, and many of them ignorant of the first principles of religion. As a whole, they were more distinguished for card-playing, wine-bibbing, and foxhunting, than for anything elevated in character, or good and useful in their acquirements and influence as Ministers. That it may not appear that we have set down aught in malice, we will give the testimony of Bishop Burnet, a distinguished prelate of that day. In his " pastoral care," he holds the following language. " I am now in the seventieth year of my age ; and as I cannot speak long in the world in any sort, so I cannot hope for a more solemn occasion than this, of speaking with all due freedom to the present, and to the succeeding ages. Therefore I lay hold on it to give free vent to those sad thoughts that lie on my mind both day and night, and are the subject of many secret mournings I cannot look on without the deepest concern, when I see the imminent ruin hanging over this church, and by consequence over the whole Reformation. The outward state of things is black enough God knows ; but that which heightens my fears arises chiefly from the inward state, into which we are unhappily fallen. I will in examining this, confine myself to the clergy. Our Ember weeks are the burden and grief of my life. The much greater part of those who come to be ordained, are ignorant to a degree not to be apprehended by those who are not obliged to know it. The easiest part of knowledge is that to which they are the greatest strangers. I mean the plainest part of the Scriptures, which they say, in excuse for their ignorance, that their tutors in the Universities never mention the reading of to them : so that they can give no account, or at least a very imperfect one of the contents even of the gospels. Those who seem to have read some few books, yet seem never to have read the Scriptures. Many cannot give a tolerable account even of the catechism, how short and plain soever. They cry and think it a sad disgrace to be denied orders : though the ignorance of some is such that in a well-regulated state of things, they would appear not knowing enough to be admitted to the hoiy sacrament.

"This," continues the pious prelate, "does often tear my heart. The case is not much better in many, who having got into orders, come for institution, and cannot make it appear that they have read the Scriptures or any one good book since they were ordained ; so that tho small measure of knowledge upon which they got into holy orders, not being improved, is in a way to be quite lost : and then they think it a great hardship to be told they must know the Scriptures, and the body of divinity better before they can be trusted with the care of souls. These things pierce one's soul, and make him often cry out. 0 that I had wings like a dove: for then would T fly away and be at rest."

The same facts in relation to the general character of the clergy of that day were subsequently brought out by Mr. J. Wesley, in defending the employment of lay preachers as helpers in the work of the ministry. " It has been loudly affirmed," says he, "that most of those persons now in connection with me, who believe it their duty to call sinners to repentance, having been taken immediately from low trades; tailors, shoemakers, and the like; are a set of poor stupid, illiterate men, that scarce know their right hand from the left : yet I cannot but say, that I would sooner cut off my right hand than suffer one of them to speak a word in any of our chapels, if I had not reasonable proof that he had more knowledge in the holy Scriptures, more knowledge of himself, more knowledge of the things of (rod, than nine in ten of the clergymen I have conversed with either in the University or elsewhere." — (Sermons.) In his " earnest appeal to men of reason and religion," he holds the following language, — addressing himself to clergymen : u Ye know in your own hearts (all that are candid men: all that are not utterly blinded by prejudice) that we 4 labor to have a conscience void of offence both toward God, and toward man.' Brethren, I would to God, that in this ye were even as we. But indeed (with grief I speak it) ye are not. There are among yourselves, ungodly and unholy men : openly, undeniably such: drunkards, gluttons, returners of evil for evil, liars, swearers, profaners of the day of the Lord. Proof hereof is not wanting if ye require it. Where then is your zeal against these ? A clergyman so drunk he can scarce stand and speak, may in the presence of a thousand people (at Epworth in Lincolnshire), set upon another clergyman both with abusive epithets and open violence. And what follows? "Why, the one is still allowed to dispense the sacred signs' of the body of Christ : but the other is not allowed to receive them, because he is a field preacher ! 0 ye pillars and fathers of the Church, are these things pleasing to Him who hath made you overseers of that church which he hath ' purchased with his own blood ?'" One of the natural results of this condition of things among the clergy, was contempt of evangelical truth, and the open advocacy of heresy. Many writers labored to give such prominence to natural religion, as greatly to depreciate the necessity and importance of revealed religion, if not entirely to supersede it ; and of those who still held on to the Bible as the rule of faith, many openly denied, or covertly explained away the divinity of Christ, the personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost, and other kindred doctrines, which make up the substance of Christianity.