ART. III.-JOHN WESLEY ON SEPARATION FROM THE CHURCH.

The Works of the Reverend JOHN WESLEY, A. M., Sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. First American, from the latest London Edition, &c. In Seven Volumes. New York: Waugh & Mason. 1832.

In the present divided state of the Methodist Society in this country, there are many persons, including, not unlikely, not a few of the Preachers in that denomination, who will be interested in knowing what the real opinions of John Wesley were, as to the character of the great movement which he was mainly instrumental in inaugurating. The prevailing religious apathy of the age in which he lived, his own deep convictions as to the reality and power of the Life of God in the soul of man, and some peculiar views which he held as to the nature of that Life, led him, though, as he says, regarded as a "High Churchman," to institute a system of certain extraordinary and temporary means to accomplish certain extraordinary ends. But John Wesley had no idea of establishing a "New Church," or of being the founder of a religious body which would separate from the Church of England, of which he was a Minister. To this he was opposed, not on grounds of prudence or expediency, but, as he said again and again, "as a point of conscience." All the reasons, which weighed with him then, have ten-fold greater weight now, for those who call themselves his disciples, and profess to be his followers.

We have gathered out of the Works of Mr. Wesley a few extracts from his writings, which, though comparatively brief, are enough to show how radically different the opinions of John Wesley were from the popular notions of multitudes of those who now bear his name. The increasing number of those who are leaving that sect and returning to the Church of which John Wesley was a Minister, and to which, even to the last, he

never ceased declaring his love and allegiance, will, we doubt not, at no distant day be increased many fold. Important movements of this sort are even now said to be in contemplation. That these men may live and labor happily and successfully with us, they will need to understand precisely the point where Modern Methodism began to diverge from the ideal of its founder. Religion, in all its essential features, must be unchangeable by man. A Religion which reaches the heart, which commands the faith, and regulates the life; a Religion which meets all the wants of man's spiritual nature, must be that very Religion which Christ Himself established, and which He commissioned His Apostles to preach in all the world, and with whom, in the persons of their Successors, He promised to be present to the end of time.

Upon two or three points in the personal belief of John Wesley, we shall now make extracts from his writings.

In respect to the Ministry, Mr. Wesley says in his Journal:

"We believe there is and always was, in every Christian Church, an outward priesthood ordained by Jesus Christ, an outward sacrifice offered therein by men authorised to act as ambassadors for Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God."

"We believe that the threefold order of ministers is not only authorised by the Apostolic Institution, but also by the Written Word."

And of the Wesleyan Preachers, he says:

"They no more take upon themselves to be priests than to be kings. They take not upon them to administer the Sacraments, an honor peculiar to the priests of God.*

In his Letter to Mr. H., in 1756, he says:

"I do tolerate unordained persons in preaching the Gospel; whereas I do not tolerate them in administering the Sacraments."t

"As to my own judgment, I still believe the Episcopal form of Church Government to be Scriptural and Apostolical. I mean, well agreeing with the practice and writings of the Apostles."‡

In John Wesley's Letter to Rev. Francis Asbury, who, with Dr. Coke, then pretended to be a Bishop, dated London, Sept.

* Appeal to Men of Reason, Part III. Works, Vol. v., p. 159.

+ Works, Vol. VII., p. 289.

Works, Vol. VII., p. 284.

20th, 1788, only a little over two years before Wesley's death, he thus writes:

"But, in one point, my dear Brother, I am a little afraid, both the Doctor (Coke) and you differ from me. I study to be little; you study to be great. I creep; you strut along. I found a school; you a College! nay, and call it after your own names. Oh, beware! Do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and Christ be all in all.'" "One instance of this your greatness has given me great concern. How can you, how dare you suffer yourself to be called Bishop? I shudder, I start at the very thought! Men may call me a knave, or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content; but they shall never, by my consent, call me Bishop! For my sake, for God's sake, for Christ's sake, put a full end to this! Let the Presbyterians do what they please, but let the Methodists know their calling better."

To shew that Wesley, even to the day of his death, had no intention to ordain a Ministry, we quote from a Sermon published by Mr. Wesley himself, five years after his appointment of preachers for America. (Sermon 39.) He says:

"I wish all of you, who are vulgarly termed Methodists, would se-riously consider what has been said. And, particularly, you whom God: hath commissioned to call sinners to repentance. It does by no means follow from hence, that ye are commissioned to baptize, or to adminis ter the Lord's Supper. Ye never dreamed of this for ten or twenty years after ye began to preach. Ye did not then, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, seek the priesthood also.' Ye know, 'no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.'' O, contain yourselves within your own bounds!"

And, in giving his final revision to the rules of the Society,. in his last year, the last year of his life, he sends forth the following emphatic language, viz :

"Let all our preachers go to Church; let all the people go con-stantly; let them receive the Sacrament at every opportunity. Warn all against despising the prayers of the Church; against calling oursociety a Church; against calling our preachers Ministers."

The Correspondence of Dr. Coke with Bishop White, in 1791, the former proposing to Bishop White, that the Metho

* Wesley's Works, Vol. VII., p. 188.
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VOL. XIV.-NO. I.

dist preachers should be re-ordained by our Bishop; and the Correspondence of Dr. Coke with Mr. Wilberforce in 1813, proposing that himself be made Bishop in India, prove conclusively, that neither did Dr. Coke, nor the Methodist preachers in America, then pretend to have really any gift of Orders from Mr. Wesley, either in fact, or in the intention of Mr. Wesley himself. The "appointment" of Dr. Coke as Superintendent, in Mr. Wesley's private chamber, in 1784, was done, not as an Ordination, or Consecration, but to accomplish a private object of Dr. Coke himself. It cannot be pretended that it made Dr. Coke a Bishop; first, because Mr. Wesley himself was only a Presbyter; and secondly, even if Lord King's theory, on which Mr. Wesley is claimed to have acted, is taken for granted, to wit, that Bishops and Presbyters are one Order, it could not have made Dr. Coke a Bishop, for he was already an ordained Presbyter of the Church of England. Charles Wesley's explanation, taken in connection with the history of the transaction itself, is the best that can be given. Said he, "but John, as you see, is now a very old man." He was now in his eighty-second year; and Charles Wesley saw at a glance the purposes to which that appointment would be used, and at length perverted. In the Correspondence between John and Charles Wesley relative to that appointment, John Wesley said, "I no more separate from it [the Church of England] now, than I did in the year 1758." We shall examine that pretended "Ordination" presently, with more care.

On "Separation from the Church ;" in his Letter to the Reverend Mr. Walker in 1756, Mr. Wesley says:

"You advise, secondly, to keep in view also the unlawfulness of a separation from the Church of England.' To this likewise I agree. It cannot be lawful to separate from it, unless it be unlawful to continue in it. You advise, thirdly, 'fully to declare myself on this head, and to suffer no dispute concerning it.' The very same thing I wrote to my brother from Ireland; and we have declared ourselves, without reserve. Fourthly, all our preachers, as well as ourselves, purpose to continue in the Church of England."*

*Works, Vol. VII., p. 276.

In the Minutes of Conference for 1770, we find John Wesley saying:

Carefully avoid whatever has a tendency to separate men from the Church. O! use every means to prevent this. 1. Exhort all our people to keep close to the Church and the Sacrament. 2. Warn them all against nicety in hearing-a prevailing evil. 3. Warn them also against despising the prayers of the Church. 4. Against calling our Society the Church.' 5. Against calling our preachers ministers,' our houses, meeting houses;' call them plain preaching-houses, or chapels. But some may say, 'our own service is public worship.' Yes, but not such as supersedes the Church Service. If it were designed to be instead of the Church Service, it would be essentially defective, for it seldom has the four grand parts of Public Prayer, Deprecation, Petition, Intercession, and Thanksgiving. If the people put ours in the room of the Church Service, we hurt them that stay with us, and ruin them that leave us. Let this be well observed: I fear, when the Methodists leave the Church, God will leave them."

In 1787, four years before his death, and in the 84th year of his age, we find the following entry in his Journal:

"I went over to Deptford; but it seemed I was got into a den of lions. Most of the leading men of the Society were mad for separating from the Church. I endeavored to reason with them, but in vain; they had neither sense nor even good manners left. At length, after meeting the whole Society, I told them, if you are resolved, you may have your Service in Church hours; but, remember, from that time you will see my face no more.' This struck deep; and from that hour I have heard no more of separation from the Church."*

In 1789, about two years only before his death, his language is, in "Thoughts on Separation,"

"I never had any design of separating from the Church. I have no such design now. I do not believe the Methodists in general design it, when I am no more seen. I do, and will do all that is in my power to prevent such an event. Nevertheless, in spite of all I can do, many of them will separate from it: although I am apt to think not one half, perhaps not a third of them. These will be so bold and injudicious as to form a separate party, which consequently will dwindle away into a dry, dull separate party. In flat opposition to these, I

* Works, Vol. IV., p. 650.