FOOTNOTES:
[1] The epithet Methodist is taken in its popular acceptation, as employed by the antievangelical part of society.
[2] Covey was one of the bravest of the brave, and as wicked as he was brave. Mr. Pratt, in the second volume of his Gleanings, gives us the following account of him:—
As the two fleets were coming into action, the noble admiral, to save the lives of his men, ordered them to lie flat on the deck, till, being nearer the enemy, their firing might do the more execution. The Dutch ships at this time were pouring their broadsides into the Venerable as she passed down part of the Dutch fleet, in order to break their line. This stout-hearted and wicked Covey, heaped in rapid succession the most dreadful imprecations on the eyes, and limbs, and souls of what he called his cowardly shipmates, for lying down to avoid the balls of the Dutch. He refused to obey the order, till, fearing the authority of an officer not far from him, he in part complied, by leaning over a cask which stood near, till the word of command was given to fire. At the moment of rising, a bar-shot carried away one of his legs, and the greater part of the other; but so instantaneous was the stroke, though he was sensible of something like a jar in his limbs, he knew not that he had lost a leg till his stump came to the deck, and he fell. He was sent home to Haslar hospital, with many others; and soon after he left it, he went on a Sabbath evening to Orange Street Chapel, Portsea, where he heard the Rev. Mr. Griffin preach from Mark v. 15. "He listened," says his biographer, "with attention and surprise, wondering how the minister should know him among so many hundred people; or who could have told him his character and state of mind. This astonishment was still more increased when he found him describe, as he thought, the whole of his life, and even his secret sins. Some weeks after this," says Mr. Griffin, "he called and related to me the whole of his history and experience. He was surprised to find that I had never received any information about him at the time the sermon was preached which so exactly met his case. Something more than twelve months after this time he was received a member of our church, having given satisfactory evidences of being a genuine and consistent Christian. A few weeks since, hearing he was ill, I went to visit him. When I entered his room, he said, 'Come in, thou man of God! I have been longing to see you, and to tell you the happy state of my mind. I believe I shall soon die; but death now has no terrors in it. The sting of death is sin; but, thanks be to God, he has given me the victory through Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven! O! what has Jesus done for me, one of the vilest sinners of the human race.' A little before he died, when he thought himself within a few hours of dissolution, he said, 'I have often thought it was a hard thing to die, but now I find it a very easy thing to die. The presence of Christ makes it easy. The joy I feel from a sense of the love of God to sinners, from the thought of being with the Saviour, of being free from a sinful heart, and of enjoying the presence of God for ever, is more than I can express! O! how different my thoughts of God, and of myself, and of another world, from what they were when I lost my precious limbs on board the Venerable! It was a precious loss to me! If I had not lost my legs, I should perhaps have lost my soul.' With elevated and clasped hands, and with eyes glistening with earnestness, through the tears which flowed down his face, he said, 'O, my dear minister! I pray you, when I am dead, to preach a funeral sermon for a poor sailor; and tell others, especially sailors, who are as ignorant and wicked as I was, that poor blaspheming Covey found mercy with God, through faith in the blood of Christ! Tell them, that since I have found mercy, none that seek it need to despair. You know better than I do what to say to them. But, O! be in earnest with them; and may the Lord grant that my wicked neighbours and fellow-sailors may find mercy as well as Covey!' He said much more; but the last words he uttered were, 'Hallelujah! hallelujah!'"
[3] See p. 106.
[4] See note, p. 58.
[5] A poor, half-witted man, named Joseph, whose employment was to go on errands and carry parcels, passing through London streets one day, heard psalm-singing in the house of God; he went into it; it was Dr. Calamy's church, St. Mary's, Aldermanbury. The preacher read his text from 1 Tim. i. 15—"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." From this he preached, in the clearest manner, the ancient and apostolic gospel, and Joseph, in rags, gazing with astonishment, never took his eyes from the preacher, but drank in with eagerness all he said, and trudging homeward, he was heard thus muttering to himself, "Joseph never heard this before! Christ Jesus, the God who made all things, came into the world to save sinners like Joseph; and this is true, and it is a 'faithful saying!'" Not long after this Joseph was seized with a fever, and was dangerously ill. As he tossed upon his bed, his constant language was, "Joseph is the chief of sinners, but Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and Joseph loves him for this." His neighbours who came to see him wondered on hearing him always dwell on this, and only this.
One man, finding out where he heard this sermon, went and asked Dr. Calamy to come and visit him. He came, but Joseph was now very weak, and had not spoken for some time, and though told of the doctor's arrival, he took no notice of him; but when the doctor began to speak to him, as soon as he heard the sound of his voice he instantly sprang upon his elbows, and seizing him by his hands, exclaimed, as loud as he could with his now feeble and trembling voice, "O Sir! you are the friend of the Lord Jesus, whom I heard speak so well of him. Joseph is the chief of sinners, but it is a faithful saying, that Jesus Christ, the God who made all things, came into the world to save sinners, and why not Joseph? O, pray to that Jesus for me; pray that he may save me; tell him that Joseph thinks that he loves him for coming into the world to save such sinners as Joseph." The doctor prayed; when he concluded, Joseph thanked him most kindly; but his exertions in talking had been too much for him, so that he shortly afterwards expired.
[6] See p. 129.
[7] See page 43.
[8] See page 105.
[9] Burke.
[10] "Will it be asked what females are expected to do? We leave the decision of their conduct to the impulses of their hearts, and the dictates of their judgment. Let but their affections be consecrated to the cause, and their understanding will be sufficiently fruitful in expedients to promote it. Their husbands will be gently prevailed upon to lay apart some of their substance to serve religion. Their children will be nurtured in a missionary spirit, and learn to associate with all their pleasures the records of missionary privations and triumphs. They will solicit the repetition of the often-told tale, and glow with a martyr's zeal for the salvation of the souls of men. Listen to the eloquent appeal of a masterly preacher on this subject:—'Christian matrons! from whose endeared and endearing lips we first heard of the wondrous Babe of Bethlehem, and were taught to bend our knee to Jesus—ye who first taught these eagles how to soar, will ye now check their flight in the midst of heaven? "I am weary," said the ambitious Cornelia, "of being called Scipio's daughter; do something, my sons, to style me the mother of the Gracchi." And what more laudable ambition can inspire you, than a desire to be the mothers of the missionaries, confessors, and martyrs of Jesus? Generations unborn shall call you blessed. The churches of Asia and Africa, when they make grateful mention of their founders, will say, "Blessed be the wombs which bare them, and the breasts which they have sucked!" Ye wives also of the clergy, let it not be said that while ye love the mild virtues of the man, ye are incapable of alliance with the grandeur of the minister. The wives of Christian soldiers should learn to rejoice at the sound of the battle. Rouse, then, the slumbering courage of your soldiers to the field; and think no place so safe, so honoured, as the camp of Jesus. Tell the missionary story to your little ones, until their young hearts burn, and in the spirit of those innocents who shouted hosannah to their lowly King, they cry, "Shall not we also be the missionaries of Jesus Christ?"' Such an appeal to Christian females cannot be made in vain. They are not the triflers who balance a feather against a soul. They will learn to retrench superfluities, in order to exercise the grace of Christian charity. They will emulate those Jewish women who 'worked with their hands for the hangings of the tabernacle,' and brought 'bracelets, and ear-rings, and jewels of gold,' for the service of the sanctuary. They will consecrate their ornaments to the perishing heathen; and render personal and domestic economy a fountain of spiritual blessings to unenlightened nations, and to distant ages. They will resign the gems of the East to save a soul from death, and bind round their brow a coronet of stars, which shall shine for ever and ever!"
[11] See page 6.
[12] Some of the Tractarians speak in more guarded, yet in more ambiguous terms, on the regenerating power of baptism; but the majority of them entertain the belief which is expressed by the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, in the following quotation from one of the last sermons he preached at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, see page 193:—"Here is a great mystery; that by water in holy baptism is given a regenerating and life-creating grace—that by water we go down into the font foul and leprous; by grace we rise pure, spotless, and sound—that by water we go down into the font dead in trespasses and sins; by grace we rise up from the font alive in Christ."
[13] Dr. Mant.
[14] The reader is referred to two tracts on Regeneration and Conversion, published by Dr. Mant, and circulated by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.
[15] The author once knew a lady who was celebrated, in the town in which she lived, no less for her benevolence, than she was for her utter dislike to those persons who had embraced evangelical sentiments. She generally used to term them, by way of reproach, Methodists, enthusiasts, or fanatics. For many years she was in the habit of visiting the poor and the infirm, sympathizing with them when in trouble, giving them money to purchase the necessaries and comforts of life; and she originated several public institutions, which still remain as the memorial of her practical goodness. Often has she sat beside the lingering sufferer, wiping away the cold sweats of death, and administering, with her own hands, the last portion of food or of medicine which nature consented to receive. This lady, when conversing with a friend, whose prejudices against the fanatics of the day (as the disciples of the Redeemer are styled) ran as high as her own, said, "I don't know how to account for it, but I find these people know more about religion than we do, and appear more happy in their dying moments than any others I ever meet with." Happy would it have been for her if some friend had been present to explain the cause of it; but no—living under the sombrous gloom of a pharisaical faith, which admits not of the clear light of the truth, she lived in ignorance of the nature of faith in Christ, and in ignorance she died.
[16] See page 78.
[17] See page 228.
[18] "They that have any just sense of the importance of religion," says a judicious writer, "find that they need all the helps that God has appointed. Suppose the Sabbath were abolished for a few weeks—in what state, think you, would some of you find your minds? Why, you would feel as if you had scarcely any knowledge or power of religion at all." But there is no charm in the sanctity of the day to keep up the power of vital religion in the heart of a Christian, nor in the holy place where he may spend "the consecrated hours"—this honour having been put on a faithful ministry, which exhibits the truth in its purity and force. What a loss does a Christian habitually sustain who deprives himself of such a ministry, and worships where angels never stoop to celebrate the conversion of one sinner to God! Instead of hearing that glorious gospel which enlivens and strengthens the mind, which purifies and ennobles it, and which brings the remote and unseen realities of eternity to moderate the impetuosity and cool the ardour with which the fleeting shadows of time are pursued, the heart is often disquieted, if not with "harsh and dissonant sounds," yet with antichristian and dissonant sentiments, and the day of rest becomes one of perplexity and mortification—Providence having determined, that they who observe lying vanities shall feel that they have forsaken their own mercies (Jonah ii. 8).
[19] See page 321.
[20] See page 348.
[21] See page 344.
[22] Reference is here made to Archdeacon Hare, the Rev. Fred. Maurice, chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, the Rev. Mr. Trench, professor of divinity in King's College, London, and the Rev. Mr. Kingsley, rector of Eversley.
[23] Miss Rawlins, of London.
[24] Rev. Mr. Logan, a priest at Oscott College, near Birmingham.
[25] See page 320.
[26] The writer of this article, in the year 1843, met a physician in Bath, and in the same year he met a solicitor in Banbury, who for many years ranked as members of the Church of England; but on examining the baptismal service in conjunction with this part of the Catechism, they felt such a strong repugnance against having their children baptized according to the prescribed formula, that they both preferred becoming Dissenters, rather than give their sanction to what they conscientiously believed to be a sinful, because antiscriptural ceremony, more fit for a Papal than a Protestant church.
[27] "After the intelligent reader has carefully examined the following references—Acts viii. 5-15; xix. 1-6—then let him look at a Puseyite confirmation, and I think the contrast cannot fail to strike his attention.
"We have seen what took place in the days of the apostles, let us next see what takes place at a Puseyite confirmation. The unconscious infants of a nation are baptized; by such baptism they are professedly regenerated; they are made children of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven. At this ordinance there are godfathers and godmothers undertaking solemn responsibilities; these parties are required to be present to witness the confirmation, and are taught to regard it as a loosening of them from their sacred bonds.
"Now, we ask the Episcopal expositors to tell us where we are to look for godfathers or godmothers at the baptisms mentioned in the Acts? Where is the doctrine of the regeneration of baptized infants in the Acts? Where is the doctrine of a Divine life begun in baptism and perfected in confirmation? What are the proofs of such regeneration as a qualification for confirmation? The only qualification prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer for confirmation by the bishop, is ability to repeat the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Catechism. Of repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ there is not a word. Here, then, we have a generation of young persons on whom Episcopal hands are laid, and who are taught to believe that, in consequence of this act, they have received an influx of spiritual grace, implanting new, and invigorating old spiritual principles, and raising them at once to the stature of Christian manhood. Was there ever such delusion! How long will men of sense in the Established Church endure it!"—Dr. Campbell.
[28] The writer of this paper once heard a young man say, when reeling out of a public-house, "Well, as I have the old score wiped away to-day by the bishop himself, I can afford to run up another short one."
[29] See vol. i. p. 92.
[30] See vol. i. p. 104.
[31] Missionary Enterprises in South Sea Islands. By Rev. John Williams.
[32] See Dr. Hook's Sermons on Church and Establishments.
[33] The Life of the Rev. John Williams. By the Rev. E. Prout. Snow, London.
[34] If we suppose, with some of the Tractarians, that he was now ordained to the apostolic office, then we have a series of irregularities: he labours for years before he receives ordination, and when he does receive it, it is not from the hands of apostles, but some very inferior officials connected with the church at Antioch.
[35] April, 1843.
[36] Whately on the Kingdom of Christ, p. 180.
[37] "There is not a minister in all Christendom" (says Archbishop Whately, and he is an authority on this question), "who is able to trace up with any approach to certainty, his own spiritual pedigree. The sacramental virtue dependent on the imposition of hands, with a due observance of apostolical usages, by a bishop himself duly consecrated, after having been in like manner baptized into the church and ordained deacon and priest—this sacramental virtue, if a single link in the chain be faulty, must be utterly nullified ever after in respect to all the links hanging on that one. For, if a bishop has not been duly consecrated, or had not been previously rightly ordained, his ordinations are null, and so are the ministrations of those ordained by him, and their ordinations of others, and so on without end. The poisonous taint of informality, if it once creep in undetected, will spread the infection of nullity to an indefinite and irremediable extent.
"And who can undertake to pronounce that, during that long period usually designated as the dark ages, no such taint was ever introduced? Irregularities could not have been wholly excluded without a perpetual miracle; and that no such miraculous interference existed we have even historical proof. Amidst the numerous corruptions of doctrine and of practice, and gross superstitions that crept in during those ages, we find recorded descriptions not only of the profound ignorance and profligacy of life of many of the clergy, but also of the grossest irregularities in respect of discipline and form. We read of bishops consecrated when mere children—of men officiating who barely knew their letters—of prelates expelled and others put in their places by violence—of illiterate and profligate laymen, and habitual drunkards, admitted to holy orders; and, in short, of the prevalence of every kind of disorder, and reckless disregard of the decency which the apostle enjoins. It is inconceivable that any one, even moderately acquainted with history, can feel a certainty, or any approach to certainty, that, amidst all this confusion and corruption, every requisite form was, in every instance, strictly adhered to by men, many of them openly profane and secular, unrestrained by public opinion through the gross ignorance of the population among which they lived; and that no one not duly consecrated or ordained was admitted to sacred offices."
The inference which the Archbishop* draws from these historic statements is this: 'The ultimate consequence must be that any one who sincerely believes that his claim to the benefits of the gospel-covenant depends on his own minister's claim to the supposed sacramental virtue of true ordination, and this again on perfect apostolical succession as described, must be involved, in proportion as he reads, and inquires, and reflects, and reasons on the subject, in the most distressing doubt and perplexity."
* See Essays on the Kingdom of Christ, pp. 176-9.
[38] It is a somewhat ominous sign that neither Dr. Hook nor any of his brethren has been pleased to do this very easy thing, though they have often been challenged to do it, as essential to their priestly identity and the validity of their ministrations.