“John Wesley.”[460]
This was an eventful year. Charles Wesley was ill, and out of town. Wesley was most of the time employed in visiting country societies. London was left in the hands of inexperienced and enthusiastic guides; and a great work of God was injured by the fanaticism of well meaning but weak minded people. But more of this anon.
The year began with an attack, in the London Magazine, on the Methodist doctrine of assurance, the writer taking upon himself to say, that “the Methodists insist, that they themselves are sure of salvation; but that all others are outcasts from God’s favour, and in a damnable state.”[461] In other articles, in the same periodical, Wesley was branded as “an enemy to religion, and a deceiver of the people;” “an enthusiast, a very great enthusiast;” with no more “knowledge of and esteem for the holy Scriptures than a Mahommedan.”[462] It is affirmed, that one of Wesley’s preachers, “who instructed the good people of England, at or near Rye, in Sussex, was known to be a popish priest, by a gentleman, who was no stranger to his person and functions in foreign parts.” The writer continues: “the Methodists may with as much reason be considered good sons of the Church, as an unruly boy that runs away from his parents may be deemed a dutiful, obedient child. I can consider them only as spies, deserters, and incendiaries. Was I to form a judgment of Christ’s disciples by your followers, very just would be the sarcasm of Zosimus on Christianity, ‘That it was only a sanctuary for villains,’”[463] In fact, “Methodism was a spurious mixture of enthusiasm and blasphemy, popery and quakerism.”[464]
Wesley replied to this anonymous scribbler, in a characteristic letter, dated “February 17, 1761,” and addressed “to Mr. G. R., alias R. A., alias M. K., alias R. W.” He writes: “As you are stout, be merciful; or I shall never be able to stand it. Four attacks in one month! and pushed so home! Well, I must defend myself as I can.” And defend himself he did, most trenchantly.[465]
Another writer described the Methodists as “a race of men, which seemed to bear a near resemblance to the new species of rats. They were amphibious creatures, between the church and the conventicle, as those animals are between land and water. They made settlements in every part of the country, and devoured the fruits of the earth; they drew the simple folk from that necessary business, which God and nature designed them for, to the great loss, if not total ruin, of their families; and they filled men’s heads with doubts and fears, and emptied their pockets of their money.”[466]
Further attacks were made in Lloyd’s Evening Post, and in other periodicals, but of a more moderate and courteous character; with the exception of an infamous article in St. James’s Chronicle, in which Whitefield is ridiculed, in a long, lying piece, entitled “Similes, Metaphors, and Familiar Allusions made use of by Dr. Squintum.” There was likewise published a scandalous pamphlet of thirty-two pages, bearing the title of “A Journal of the Travels of Nathaniel Snip, a Methodist Teacher of the Word; containing an account of the marvellous adventures which befel him on his way from the town of Kingston upon Hull to the city of York.” Another production was an octavo pamphlet, of forty-three pages, entitled, “An Address to the Right Honourable ——; with several Letters to the D—— of —— from the L——. In vindication of her conduct on being charged with Methodism.” In this high sounding piece of preposterous pretentiousness, Methodist preachers are described as men who “think their assurance to be the gift, and their nonsense to be the dictates, of the Holy Ghost.” They are like some of the “designing men” mentioned by Tillotson, who “recommend themselves to the ignorant, by talking against reason, just as nurses endear themselves to children by noise and nonsense.”
The most respectable onslaught, in 1761, was in two sermons, preached before the university of Oxford, at St. Mary’s, on Act Sunday, July 12, by Dr. Hitchcock, fellow of St. John’s college, and one of the preachers at his majesty’s chapel at Whitehall; and on July 19, by the Rev. John Allen, M.A., vice principal of St. Mary Magdalene hall.” Dr. Hitchcock’s sermon was entitled, “The mutual Connection between Faith, Virtue, and Knowledge,” and was published at the request of the vice chancellor, and the heads of houses; Mr. Allen’s bore the title of “No Acceptance with God by Faith only,” and was published at the request of the vice chancellor alone. There can be little doubt, that this was a concerted movement, and was intended to be an unanswerable refutation of Wesley’s heresies. Of course, such men were not likely to employ the coarse abuse which newspapers and magazines were wont to cast upon the Methodists; but even here, in St. Mary’s, before the university of Oxford, where Methodism had its rise, and after it had existed and triumphed for more than twenty years, Dr. Hitchcock coolly told the vice chancellor, the heads of houses, and his illustrious congregation, that the Methodists were men of “no knowledge”; that they were building “up a church upon enthusiasm, rhapsody, and nonsense”; and Mr. Allen “willingly undertook” to refute “the leading tenet of modern enthusiasm by proving the following proposition, That faith, in its highest degree, when alone, or distinct from other virtues, is so far from saving or justifying any person, that it doth not necessarily produce good works.”
Wesley himself was too busy, in 1761, to write and publish much. His productions were the following.
1. “A Plain Account of Genuine Christianity.” 12mo, 12 pages. This was simply a reprint of the conclusion of Wesley’s letter to Dr. Middleton, published in 1749. Wesley’s description of a Christian, and of Christian faith, in this little tract, deserves the reader’s best attention.
2. “An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Journal, from February 16, 1755, to June 16, 1758.” 12mo, 146 pages.