£789.

Memoirs of John Wesley, M. A.

when her daughter returned difhonoured, ifgraced, and repudiated, it naturally raised her indignation, and as foon as the firft paroxyfm, of rage had fubfided, the refolved on evincing her refentment, and procuring juftice for her daughter by means

of the law.

She accordingly applied to an attorney, an action was commenced, the trial came on, it was opened by her advocate with zeal and ability; but alas! there was an error in the declaration: the plaintiff was nonfuited, and to the calamities under which the unhappy widow and her child fuffered, the cofts of both parties were added. Memoirs of John Wesley, M. A. including an Hiftory of, and Obfervations on, Methodifm.

(Concluded from Page 481.)

N the breach between Mell. Whitefield
of

a number of lay preachers to propagate the
doctrines of their refpective principles. But
fuch diforderly proceedings caufed great dif-
turbances, fo that many, and fometimes very
fevere, were the riots against the itinerant
apoftles; fome of whom were preffed by juf.
tices, who had not the fear of Methodifm
before their eyes, and fent to fight for their
King and country in the fleet and army.

The pulpits of the Eftablished Church vented bitter anathemas against the new fchifmatics and their followers; and even the whining pofterity of the good old faints in Noll's days lifted up their rams horns, and fent forth terrible blafts against those Jebufites.

Books and pamphlets alfo in abundance were publifhed against Methodifm, and it must be allowed that all this oppofition tended but the more to its advancement.

Mr. John Wesley, however, delighted in the contention; the war of the pulpit and of the prefs was always his joy, and many of his adverfaries have felt the weight both of his tongue and of his arm.

One of his earliest and most confiderable antagonists was the late Dr. George Laving ton, Bishop of Exeter, whofe book entitled "The Enthufiafm of the Methodifts and Papifts compared," had a moft furprizing

run.

It was a fhrewd, lively, and learned performance; and Mr, Wesley, to whom the third part was entirely appropriated, felt the blow as though it were the fhock of an electrified jar: he replied with bitter heat and many words; but the Bishop's readers, who were innumerable, ftill continued to laugh, while Mr. Wefley's only groaned.

To enumerate all his literary engagements would be an endless and tedious task; we fhall therefore only point

517 On the publication of Mr. Hervey's Dialogues, in which, for the first time, Calvinifm appeared in an agreeable dress, our polemic attacked it in a very warm but very filly manner, heaping up a quantity of objections unfupported by any proofs. One of thefe objections was laughable enough; it was made against the lively and good-humoured manner in which the Author of the Dialogues had mentioned elegant drefs, furniture and food. Mr. Hervey, on those points, had fhewn himfelf the rational Chrif tian;- Mr. Welley fhewed himself to he the precife old Puritan. Mr. Hervey drew up a reply to Mr. Wefley, which was pubWefley, in return, fired his cannon into Mr. lifhed after the author's death; and Mr. Hervey's grave.

The late learned Bishop Warburton, in his Scripture Doctrine of Grace," ho noured Mr. John Wefley with his notice; probably,

compliment better if omitted. His Lordthip was far from being the politeft of polemical writers; and it may be thought that he handled our hero with a little too much roughness. Mr. Wesley, however, drew forth his grey goofe quill, and profanely fcattered his ink, once more, upon lawn fleeves; yea, he even dared to treat the Rt. Rev. Father in God with as little refpect as his Lordship had treated him. But the Bishop had no inclination to continue fo low a conteft; his character was certainly above it, and perhaps he did not do that any credit when he first entered the lifts.

We may rank Mr. Toplady as the next of Mr. Wefley's antagonists. tleman, in the year 1769, publifhed a tranThat genflation of the Calvinistic Zanchius upon Predeftination. The treatife was clofe, logical feared its fuccefs among his followers, he and perfuafive. As Mr. Wefley therefore juftly confidered that a confutation was neceffary not only to preferve them, but to defend his own principles. But this was that depth to manage fuch a contest upon not fo easily done; his abilities were not of the fair ground of argument ;-he therefore endeavoured to fpring a mine, and to blow the obnoxious book entirely up without risking his own literary character. This he attempted by publishing a concife abridgment of the book, carefully fupprefling every ftubborn paffage, and inferting others that were not in the original. Such an act of deceit roufed the I ranflator, and as he had logic and rhetoric at his command, the poor Abridger came off in a worle condition than if he had acted upon fair terms.

This controverfy lafted, under different fhapes. during al

518

Memoirs of John Wesley, M. A.

temper often hurried him into low expreffions and personal satire, that his tracts poffefs more merit in point of found learning, metaphyfical keennefs, folid argument, and elegant language, than any Calvinistic productions of this century.

At the time, viz. in 1780, when thofe intolerant Affociations called Proteftant were formed in order to procure a repeal of the Act paffed in favour of the English Catholics, Mr. John Wesley concurred heart in hand with thofe affemblies of faction. He publifhed a letter in the papers of the moft pernicious and perfecuting tendency, and having it printed feparately, caufed copies to be fuck up at the corner of streets, not only in the metropolis, but in Bristol, Bath, and other confiderable places. In it he particularly charged the Catholics with holding, as a chief article of their creed, that there is no faith to be kept with heretics," and fupported the charge by a filly ftory fabri. cated for the purpofe. This juftly roufed the fpirit of that refpectable body, and the Rev. Arthur O'Leary, a Francifcan Prieft at Cork, wrote a reply to Mr. Wefley's let ter, in which he not only completely vindicated his community from the above charge, but lashed the acculer with becoming feverity for his malevolence.

One fhould have imagined that the infamous riots which fucceeded thofe Affociations would have tempered Mr. Wefley's fpirit into philanthropy, but this was not the cate; he visited Lord George Gordon in the Tower; and in his 19th Journal, now before us, condemns in high terms the Bill of Indictment that was prefented against that infatuated perfonage by the Grand Jury of Middlefex.

The worthy Prieft abovementioned in his remarks on Mr Wefley's letter very wittily and threwdly obferved, that when Mr. Wefley felt the first-fruits and illapfes of the Spirit; when his zeal, too extenfive to be confined within the majestic temples of the Church of England, or the edifying meeting-houfes of the other Chriftians, prompted him to travel most parts of Europe and America to establish a religion and houfes of worship of his own, what oppofition has he not met with from the civil magiftrates? with what infults from the rabble, broken benches, dead cats, and pools of water bear witnefs! Was he then the trumpeter of perfecution? Was his pulpit changed into Hudibras's drum ecclefiaflic? Did he abet banishment and profcription on the fcore of confcience? Now that his Tabernacle is eftas had borne

his fecond letter, wherein he promises to
continue the fire which he has already kindled
in England, that people of exalted ranks in
Church and State have refufed entering into
a mean confederacy against the laws of na-
ture, and the rights of mankind. In his first
letter he difclaims perfecution on the fcore
of religion, and in the fame breath ftrikes
out a creed of his own for the Roman Ca-
Thus
tholics, and fays" that they should not be
tolerated even amongst the Turks."
the Satyr in the fable breathes hot and cold
in the fame blaff, and a lanıb of peace is
turned Inquifitor."

Unanswerable, however, as the Father's
performance was, yet Mr. Wesley aimed at
fomewhat of a vindication of himself and of
his principles: but the writer he had to deal
with, though an Irin Catholic, and a Prieft,
was more than a match for him; and Mr.
Welley came off with greater difgrace from
this conteft, than from any theological one
he had before been engaged in. His former
difputes turned moftly upon fpeculative points
which were but of little or no moment; but
this was upon the most facred of all human
rights, the rights of confcience; every one,
therefore, who had a regard for them muft
have rejoiced in the defeat of that man who
endeavoured to injure them!-We believe
this was the laft of Mr. Wefley's controver-
fies, and we hope that it has produced in him
a more charitable and candid fpirit, which,
at least, becomes his years and profeffion.
Among his difputes, however, we had almost
forgot to mention that he was warmly engag-
ed on the fide of government during our late
unhappy contest with America; but, per-
haps, it had been better if we had entirely
forgot it, fince that part of his conduct was
fhamefully inconfiftent; he having, before,
been a very warm advocate for the Colonists.

Some perfons made no fcruple of afferting that he was bribed by adininiftration to change his colours; but, whether this were fo or not, it is certain that he was fairly con. futed, and that he loft a confiderable share of his popularity.

Befides his controverfial pieces he hath also publifhed a large number of books and pamphlets on a variety of fubjects-HistoryPhilofophy-Medicine-Poetry, &c.--but his Hiftory is never read, his Philofophy is filly and injudiciously compiled, and his recipes are poifonous His poetic pieces indeed are pretty, and would be fometimes elegant, were it not for the vein of myfticifm which runs through them. All his writings have

N

O T

E.

one day at Kinfale a cloud pitched over him, the pious man imagin<£ Provi

1789.

An Efay on Money.

been charged with plagiarifm, and we have never seen the charge refuted.

Mr. Wefley is a widower, having been married in 1750; the bonds of which union were cemented by Piutus and not by Copid; the confequence of which in a little time was a mutual divorce. The lady died in 1781; and the fang froid with which he mentions her death in his Journal, is worthy of obfervation.

On Mr. Whitefield's death, in 1770, Mr. Welley preached his funeral fermon; but there were fome things in it highly difpleafing to the followers of that gentleman, the preacher having given, in his fermon, a brief recital of the differences between him and the deceased, and which the Whitefieldians thought tendered more to keep the breach open than to clole it.

Mr. Welley has travelled repeatedly over every part of Great Britain and Ireland, and is, of courie, a very entertaining and informing companion. Notwithstanding his great age he is ftill lively, preaches often, and with great fluency. He holds as power ful a fway over his numerous followers, as even his Holinefs himlelf. He has a confiderable number of lay-preachers officiating under him in every part of the kingdom; but in general they are extremely illiterate, being moftly fele&ed from the very dregs of the people, and tend rather to digrace than to adorn the cause they ferve.

That fome good has been done by their means cannot be denied; but whether it is not counterbalanced by the contempt in which thefe preachers teach their people to hold the Established Church and its Minifters, may well be queftioned.

It may be obferved, that the Puritans in the laft century began fomewhat like the Methodifts in this. The work of reformation and the converfion of the people were their pretences, and fome good was done by them; but when the people became poffef fed of the idea that they were wifer than their civil and ecclefiaftical rulers, they foon became malcontents, and the Church was the firft facrifice made to the spirit of reformation. The out-powerings of the Spirit produced a fpiritual madness; and then a zeal for the Lord of Hofts drew thoufands and ten thousands, headed by their Preach ers, to fight against Añab and to destroy the Priefts of Baal-The high places, the altars, the pictures, and the images were pulled down in the name of the Lord, and the glorious work was crowned by pouring out the blood of the Nobles, of the Pricfts, and of the King, as an offering unto the Lord.

All that is meant by thus adverting to thole times of faction and outrage is to fhew the danger which attends the Spirit of Enthufialm; if ic once rifes, it is well if it flops

519

below madness; and fhould a large number be intoxicated with the fame mad fpirit, what dreadful confequences must not the rational part of the community expect?

We hope, however, that this will never more be the cafe in England; but a confeioufnefs of truth and a remembrance of 1780 compel us to fay, that Methodifm has a greater tendency to it than any species of Enthufiafm known to us; fince it appears to be no other than the fiery Puritanifm of the laft age revived.

An Effay on Money.

HE more mankind are polished by arts,

Tfciences, good breeding, and polite nefs, the greater is their avidity for money; for to keep up and maintain a true talie and fpirit for the elegancies of life, requires, fome confiderable quantity of it in order to make any fplendid figure in life, which now is deemed tolerable.- -Our forefathers, who knew little of our prefent refinements, were not fo avaricious as we are of this prefent polite age, as they could content themfelves to carry on trade and commerce without the help of it, by bartering and exchanging commodities with each other. But now that old-fashioned cuftom is become quite obfolete and difcarded by us wife moderns, who know the nature of things as we ought! So great is the raging attachment of the prefent age for money, that without its all-powerful influence nothing in human life can be transacted.

But to pursue the thought by a due concatenation of circumflances, we may form foine idea of its potent influence, which it hath on the minds and manners of mankind. What a poor figure would royalty make, without the annual fubfcriptions of parliament, who by various ways and means, feel the pulfe of the public! Our zealous patriots, politicians, and bold commanders, would foon, very foon, be fpiritiefs and chapfallen, withot all-powerful money's falutary aid.

Our dignified clergy would foon relinquifh preaching and praying, were they de prived of its affiftance! Our gentlemen of the faculty would relax their purfuits and ftudy of phyfic, and would not hurry themfelves night and day in attending their patients, were they not in hopes of obtaining this precious drofs! Our church would not be crowded with fuch numbers of candidates for holy orders, who are diffolute, immoral, and ignorant, who pretend to teach others the duty of religion and virtue, but who, alas! cannot govern their own paffions! and who scarcely (not one in ten of thein) can read or write with any tolerable degree of propriety, without a fufficient quantity to recommend them, as a fubftitute for their