“Your ever affectionate brother and servant,
“John Wesley.”[424]
This is a manly and Christian letter. He longed for union and for help, not for his own sake so much as for the sake of others. For twenty years, he had done his work without the cooperation of his brethren, the clergy; and he could do so still; but, like his great Master, he prayed for unity among Christians, that there might be faith among sinners.
The Church question was still unsettled. Four days after writing the above, Wesley addressed, to another correspondent, an unusually long letter, from which we select the following.
“April 10, 1761.
“Dear Sir,—Some years since, two or three clergymen of the Church of England, who were above measure zealous for all her rules and orders, were convinced, that religion is not an external thing, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; and, that this righteousness, peace, and joy are given only to those who are justified by faith. As soon as they were convinced of these great truths, they preached them; and multitudes flocked to hear. For these reasons, and no others, real or pretended (for as yet they were strictly regular), they were forbid to preach in the churches. Not daring to be silent, they preached elsewhere, in a school, by a river side, or upon a mountain. And more and more sinners forsook their sins, and were filled with peace and joy in believing.”
Wesley adds, that “huge offence was taken at their gathering congregations in so irregular a manner”; and proceeds to answer the objections that were raised. He affirms: “If a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me, no church has power to enjoin me silence. If there be a law, that a minister of Christ, who is not suffered to preach the gospel in the church, should not preach it elsewhere; or a law that forbids Christian people to hear the gospel of Christ out of their parish church, when they cannot hear it therein, I judge that law to be absolutely sinful, and that it would be sinful to obey it.” He maintains, that the “fundamental principles” of the Methodist clergymen are “the fundamental principles of the Established Church; and so is their practice too, save in a few points, wherein they are constrained to deviate, or to destroy their own souls, and let thousands of their brethren perish for lack of knowledge.” He declares that, though “they gather congregations everywhere, and exercise their ministerial office therein, this is not contrary to any restraint which was laid upon them at their ordination; for they were not ordained to serve any particular parish; and it was remarkable, that Lincoln college” (of which he was a fellow) “was founded ‘ad propagandam Christianam fidem, et extirpandas hœreses.’” He admits, that he and his friends “maintain that, in some circumstances, it is lawful for men to preach, who are not episcopally ordained; especially, where thousands are rushing into destruction, and those who are ordained and appointed to watch over them neither care for, nor know how to help them.” He allows that, “hereby they contradict the twenty-third article, to which they had subscribed”; but he adds, “we subscribed it in the simplicity of our hearts, when we firmly believed none but episcopal ordination valid; and Bishop Stillingfleet has since fully convinced us, that this was an entire mistake.” He continues: “In every point of an indifferent nature, we obey the bishops, for conscience sake; but we think episcopal authority cannot reverse what is fixed by Divine authority.” In conclusion, he says, though they (the Methodist clergymen) are irregular, “that is not their choice. They must either preach irregularly or not at all.” Besides, he reminds these sticklers for church order, that “if none ought to speak or hear the truth of God, unless in a regular manner,” Martin Luther could not have preached as he did, and there could have been no reformation from popery.[425]
On April 27, Wesley entered Scotland, where Christopher Hopper was his travelling companion. He visited Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen. At the last mentioned place, by the consent of the principal and regent, he preached in the college hall, and in the college close, and added forty to the small society, which now numbered ninety members. The principal, and the divinity professor, and Sir Archibald Grant, and others, invited him to their houses, and showed him great attention. Three years afterwards, Christopher Hopper was appointed to Aberdeen, and a chapel was erected.[426]
The Scots’ Magazine, for 1763, page 421, inserts a long letter, dated “Aberdeen, June 2, 1763,” proposing to give “an account of the rise and progress of Methodism” in that city. The writer was unfriendly towards Wesley, but his statements will be read with interest.
He says, four or five persons, belonging to Aberdeen, being in England, went to hear Wesley and some of his brethren preach. On returning home, they formed a society, which met every morning at five o’clock, when they sung a hymn, read a portion of Scripture and Wesley’s commentary, then sung a second time, and concluded with a prayer. Soon a considerable number of people joined themselves to this infant congregation. They then applied to Wesley, who sent two of his preachers to visit them. These itinerants, for a few weeks, preached twice a day, at the castle hill, at 5 a.m. and at 6 p.m. The society so increased, that no room, in an ordinary dwelling house, could hold them; and hence, after the preachers had left them, they hired “a waste house,” in which they continued to assemble twice every day. While they had no preacher, three of their principal men acted as public speakers; one singing a hymn and praying, the second reading the Scriptures and a commentary thereon, and the third singing another hymn and offering the concluding prayer. Thus were the services of the Methodists, in Aberdeen, conducted until Wesley’s visit in 1761. He remained nearly a week, preaching twice daily, at five in the morning, in the common school of the Marischal college, and at seven in the evening, in the college close.