Of course, Wesley is Dr. Lancaster’s “modern saint”; and the poem, which is not without literary merit, professes to sketch “the state of religion previous to Wesley’s mission; his transcendent character and miraculous powers,” and his subsequent history, till he is brought into “single combat with the old serpent. Satan accepts Wesley’s challenge; leaves his dominions; and repairs to Moorfields, in Britannia.” Then follows a description of the conflict; Wesley is blown up with gunpowder; a seraph heals him; the battle is renewed; with his “massive journals,” Wesley shatters the devil’s horns, batters his skull, squashes his igneous brains, and then, seizing a falchion sent from the armoury of heaven, lops off his cloven feet, and finally pulls off his tail, and suspends it over a fane,—
... “a trophy of victorious faith,
And surest proof, that Methodism springs,
With all her tenets, from a heavenly source.”
The whole poem is full of clever, but profane, banter of this description.
Another quarto poetical publication, of forty-seven pages, and, in style and spirit, bearing so strong a resemblance to the former one as almost to affiliate itself, was entitled, “The Troublers of Israel; in which the principles of those who turn the world upside down are displayed. With a preface to the Rev. Dr. D——; to which is prefixed, a short introductory description of modern enthusiasts.
Besides the above, there was a shilling pamphlet published, with the title, “A Dialogue between the Rev. Mr. John Wesley and a member of the Church of England, concerning Predestination.” The author is a most zealous Calvinist, and attacks Wesley’s views with great violence; perhaps thinking that, though man might have reason to complain, God would commend and honour his heavy handed flagellation.
Wesley’s publications, in 1767, were the following.
1. “A Word to a Smuggler,” with this sentence printed on the title page,—“This tract is not to be sold, but given away:” 8vo, eight pages.
Smuggling was, at this period, one of England’s crying evils; and, from the first, Wesley resolutely set his face against it. “A smuggler,” said he, “is a thief of the first order, a highwayman or pickpocket of the worst sort. Let not any of those prate about reason or religion. It is an amazing instance of human folly, that every government in Europe does not drive these vermin away into lands not inhabited.”[717] “Every smuggler is a thief general, who picks the pockets both of the king and all his fellow subjects. He wrongs them all; and, above all, the honest traders, many of whom he deprives of their maintenance.”