“‘And is this thy voice, my son David?’ Is this thy tender, loving, grateful spirit? No, ‘the hand of Joab is in all this!’ I acknowledge the hand, the heart, of William Cudworth. I perceive it was not an empty boast, which he uttered to Mr. Pearse at Bury, before my friend went to paradise,—‘Mr. Hervey has given me full power to put out and put in what I please.’ But he too is gone hence; and he knows now whether I am an honest man or no. It cannot be long, even in the course of nature, before I shall follow them. I could wish till then to be at peace with all men; but the will of the Lord be done! Peace or war, ease or pain, life or death, is good, so I may but finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
This was dated November 16, 1764; and well would it have been if the matter had ended here; but, after this, Dr. Erskine rushed to the rescue; and, to enlighten the darkness of the Scotch Methodists, republished Hervey’s letters, with a venomous preface of his own. Then, good old James Kershaw, one of Wesley’s itinerants, a man of no mean mind, printed, also at Edinburgh, “An Earnest Appeal to the Public, in an honest, amicable, and affectionate Reply” to Erskine’s preface. Erskine again took up the cudgel, and published a “Defence” of his preface,—a defence in which Wesley was more violently attacked than ever. And then, to consummate the whole, in 1767, Walter Sellon let off his anger in a shilling pamphlet, entitled “An Answer to ‘Aspasio Vindicated, in Eleven Letters’: said to be wrote by the late Rev. Mr. James Hervey.” To say nothing about the answer itself, which however might have been more polite without being less powerful, Sellon’s preface is a perfect tempest of wrathful indignation. Who can justify the following furious effusion respecting Hervey? “Mr. Hervey was deeply sunk into antinomianism; and had he lived much longer would, in all probability, have done much mischief. Managed by W. Cudworth, that weak man drew his pen, dipped in antinomian venom, and wrote with the utmost bitterness against his friend, to whom he lay under various and great obligations.”[607] Or the following, in reference to Hervey’s brother, and the surreptitious edition of the letters? “That edition was planned in the bottomless pit, inspired by the prince thereof, and published by a knave. And you think it your duty to patronise all the railing, scurrility, antinomianism, blasphemy, lies, and lewdness, contained in that book, and to make your brother’s name stink to the latest posterity! A worthy brother, truly!”
Mr. Sellon meant to serve Wesley; but he mistook the right way of doing it. The above is slang slander, not sober statement. Mr. Sellon was a good man, and possessed of considerable mental power; but it would have fulfilled his purpose better, if, before writing his preface to the “Answer to Aspasio Vindicated,” he had gone back to Kingswood school, and taken lessons in Christian courtesy.
The results of this wretched fracas were: 1. In Scotland, Wesley’s doctrines were stigmatized and rejected as foul and dangerous heresies; and the progress of Wesley’s Methodism was effectually retarded for the next twenty years. And, 2. In England, the squabble culminated in the memorable Calvinian controversy, which ostensibly sprung out of the conference minutes of 1770, but which really originated in the facts above recited. Fortunately, Wesley then had Fletcher, instead of Sellon, for his champion; and, unfortunately for the Calvinistic party, the only man at all competent to enter the lists with John Fletcher was James Hervey, who, twelve years before, had been removed to that better world where controversial strife does not exist.
Wesley had great faith in the power of books; and made it one of the duties of his itinerants to promote the sale of his own publications. Hence the following, addressed to Thomas Rankin.
“Bristol, September 21, 1764.
“Dear Tommy,—I sometimes wonder, that all our preachers are not convinced of this: that it is of unspeakable use to spread our practical tracts in every society. Billy Pennington, in one year, sold more of these in Cornwall, than had been sold for seven years before. So may you, if you take the same method. Carry one sort of books with you the first time you go the round; another sort the second time; and so on. Preach on the subject at each place; and after preaching, encourage the congregation to buy and read the tract. Peace be with your spirit!
“I am your affectionate friend and brother,
“John Wesley.”[608]
Hence again the following, in reference to the work already mentioned.