“John Wesley.”[703]
Another letter deserves attention; for, though it does not contradict, yet, to some extent, it qualifies the letter to his brother, which has just been given. It also concerns the Edinburgh society, of which Lady Maxwell was a member, and animadverts on the behaviour of one of the ministers of her friend, Lady Glenorchy.
The Rev. Joseph Townsend, fellow of Clare hall, Cambridge, and rector of Pewsey, in Wiltshire, had been sent, by the Countess of Huntingdon, to Scotland, and, for a time, had preached, alternately with Wesley’s preachers, in Lady Glenorchy’s chapel, Edinburgh.[704] He had now removed to Pewsey, where Wesley addressed to him the following.
“Edinburgh, August, 1767.
“Dear Sir,—When I saw you here some years since, I could not but admire you; such was your simplicity and godly sincerity. You knew the poor little flock, though a proverb of reproach, were a living people of God. You knew their preachers were messengers of Christ; and you espoused their cause in the face of the sun. You returned to London. You conversed with Mr. Madan and others, most of whom owe the Methodists their own souls also. You came to Edinburgh again. But you did not know the Methodists, unless one or two honourable ones. You had no fellowship with them; you neither joined with them in public, nor strengthened their hands in private. You stood aloof from them, as though they would have infected you. Nay, you preached just by them, at the very hour of their preaching. You lessened their congregations; you threw many of the society into vain reasonings; you opened many mouths against them; you exceedingly grieved the spirit of the preachers, and caused their hands to hang down. Was this well done? Was it of a piece with your former conduct? Did it do any honour to the gospel? Did it do any real good? Did it cherish any Christian temper in Mr. Walker or Dr. Erskine? Was it a proof of love to me? Was it a means of increasing the knowledge or love of God in your own soul? Alas, my brother! I know you would do well; but, surely, herein you have mistaken your way.
“Do you say, ‘Nay, but I have acted right; for the Methodist people are a fallen people, and the preachers preach only dry morality. They are in grievous error, denying election, perseverance, and the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, their work is at an end, and the work of God, which is now wrought, is wrought by the awakened clergy. If I had preached in their chapels, I should thereby have abetted all their errors.’
“This is home to the point. Convince me of this, and I have done with the Methodists, and with preaching. But is it the true state of the case? Let us consider it, point by point.
“1. Are the Methodists a fallen people? Blessed be God, they are not: there never were more, there never were so many of them, either in England, Scotland, or Ireland, standing fast in loving, holy faith, as at this day.
“2. ‘But the preachers preach only dry morality.’ With what ears must they hear who think so? With the same as the honest predestinarian at Witney, who, when I had been enforcing Galatians vi. 14 (and indeed with uncommon freedom of spirit), said, ‘It was a pretty moral discourse.’ My brother, distrust yourself; you may possibly mistake. I think we likewise have the Spirit of God. I think even I, to speak as a fool, can judge a little of preaching the gospel, perhaps as well as either Mr. Madan or Romaine.
“3. ‘But they deny election and perseverance, and the righteousness of Christ.’ They are not Calvinists; but they no more deny the righteousness of Christ than they do the Godhead of Christ. Let this never be said more; it is a shameless slander. They deny only the vile abuse of that precious truth.