Eternal blasphemies and oaths abound,
And bribes among thy senators are found.”
Woodward tells us that, in the music halls, it was not unusual for persons of both sexes to dance together in shameless nakedness; and that, within a brief period, there had been above twenty murders committed in these licentious concert rooms.
Samuel Wesley’s description of the morals of the city and of the nation is appalling. In the sermon which he preached before the Society for the Reformation of Manners, in 1698, he writes:—“Our infamous theatres seem to have done more mischief to the faith and morals of the nation than Hobbes himself. With as much reason may we exclaim against our plays and interludes as did the old zealous fathers against the pagan spectacles, and as justly rank these, as they did the others, among those pomps and vanities which our baptism obliges us to renounce and to abhor. What communion hath the temple of God with idols?—with those abominable mysteries of iniquity, which outdo the old Fescenina of the heathen, the lewd orgies of Bacchus, and the impious feasts of Isis and Priapus? I know not how any person can profitably, or indeed decently, present themselves here before God’s holy oracle, who frequent those schools of vice, and mysteries of profaneness and lewdness, to unlearn there what they are taught here out of God’s Holy Word. It is true the stage pretends to reform manners; but let them tell us how many converts to virtue and religion they have made during the last thirty or forty years. We can give numerous and sad instances to the contrary. A brave and virtuous nation has been too generally depraved and corrupted, and nothing has more highly conduced to this than these insufferable and abominable representations at theatres. If oaths; if blasphemy; if perpetual profanation of the glorious name of God and of our blessed Redeemer; if making a scoff and a laugh of His Holy Word and institutions; if filthiness and foolish talking, and profane or immodest jesting; if representing, excusing, and recommending the vices of mankind; if teaching the people to think virtue ridiculous, and religion fit for none but old people, fools, and lunatics; if contempt of superiors; if false notions of honour; if lewdness, and pride, and revenge, and even murder;—if these are the lessons which are daily taught in the public play-houses, to the disgrace of our age, corruption of our morals, and scandal of our nation, then we may fairly ask, Are these fit places for the education of our youth, and the diversion of those of riper years? or, indeed, are they fit places to be tolerated under a Christian government?”[[126]]
Mr Wesley continues:—“Alas! what reason has every one, who has any real concern for God and for his country, to cry out with the father of old, ‘To what dregs of time are we reserved!’ Men may almost print or speak what blasphemies they please with impunity, and even with triumph. Too many of the subordinate magistrates will not act, nor the people generally assist them in the punishment of evil-doers. It is reckoned a part of good breeding, or at least an argument of wit and spirit, to ridicule all that is sacred, and to profane the glorious and fearful name of God; and it is regarded as the rudest and the most clownish thing in the world to reprove, to detect, and punish such offenders, though by the most legal, prudent, and advisable methods.”
The Society for the Reformation of Manners was of great service, but it was not perfect. Defoe, in his “Poor Man’s Plea,” alleges that the laws against vicious practices were cobweb laws, which caught small flies, but which the great ones broke through. The Lord Mayor whipt about the poor beggars and a few bad women, and sent them to the House of Correction; and some alehouse-keepers and vintners were fined for drawing drink on Sundays; but the man, with a gold ring and gay clothes, might reel through the open streets, and no one noticed it. The lewdness, profaneness, and immorality of the gentry, which was the main cause of the general debauchery of the kingdom, were not at all touched by the laws as now executed.
These are distressing pictures; and it is not surprising that the converted people, joined together in the religious societies instituted about 1677, should set themselves the task of suppressing such impieties, and thus give birth, about the year 1691, to the Society for the Reformation of Manners. To some extent, the two Societies were one, and yet they were distinct and separate. The religious societies were instituted principally to promote religion among themselves; the Reformation Society to suppress public vice in others. The religious societies were altogether composed of members of the Church of England; the Reformation Society was composed of members of the Church of England, and of other churches as well.[[127]]
After the Society for the Reformation of Manners had existed about forty years, most of its original members were dead, and it became defunct, and, from about 1730 to 1757, no such society existed. At that time, and perhaps as the result of the Methodist societies being instituted in 1739, the old Society for Reformation of Manners was revived. The approbation of the Lord Mayor of London and of the Court of Aldermen was obtained; and thousands of books of instruction were printed, and were sent to constables and parish officers to remind them of their duty. In the beginning of 1758, the laws against immorality were again enforced, and the streets and fields swept of their notorious offenders. In five years, about ten thousand persons were brought to justice, principally for gambling, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, lewdness, and selling obscene prints.[[128]] Who will deny that John Wesley had much to do with the revival of this society, as his father, Samuel Wesley, had to do with its early institution.[[129]] The society, at the first, arose out of the religious societies then existing; and we are strongly of opinion that the revival of the society, after it had become defunct, arose out of the Methodist societies of 1739, and which bore an almost exact resemblance to the religious societies of 1677. At all events, we find John Wesley thoroughly identifying himself with the revived Reformation Society of 1757. In 1763, he preached before the Society in West Street Chapel, Seven Dials, taking, as already stated, the very text that his father took sixty-five years before.[[130]] In 1764, he proposed to the London Leaders Meeting that they should have a congregational collection to assist to liquidate the heavy debt of the Society for the Reformation of Manners, though, at the very time, his own society debt in London was about £900.[[131]] And, in 1766, he dined with W. Welsh, the father of the revived Society, and most feelingly laments that it has a second time ceased to exist. The immediate cause of this, was an action instituted against the society, in the King’s Bench, which issued in a verdict with £300 damages. This verdict was obtained by the false swearing of a wretch whom the society afterwards convicted of wilful perjury. Still the death-blow to the Society was struck, and John Wesley writes: “They could never recover the expense of that suit. Lord, how long shall the ungodly triumph?”[[132]]
Such, then, was the origin, the object, and the history of the society before which Samuel Wesley preached, in St James’s Church, Westminster, in 1698. He was still a young man, and the circumstance of him being selected to preach, shows the high estimation in which he was already held. The sermon is long, able, and earnest. “Daring and open wickedness,” he writes, “is high treason against the Majesty of heaven; and are not all His liege subjects under the deepest obligations to oppose it? Who has courage, and constancy, and bravery, equal to so glorious an undertaking? Blessed be God! we have now the encouragement of superiors. The sword of justice no longer lies rusting and idle, but is drawn and furbished for the battle, and glitters against the enemies of God and of our country. Shall a wretched mortal, a worm of the same dust with ourselves, presume to affront my Father, my Patron, my Friend, my Benefactor, my Saviour, and shall I want courage, or honesty to oppose him, to detect him, and to bring him to that shame and punishment he so highly merits? Whom are we afraid of, that we forget the Lord our Maker? Let all the potsherds of the earth fall down together, and humble themselves before the King, the Lord of hosts, and let Him alone be exalted, whose glory is above the heavens, and who shakes the earth at His displeasure. Let us often read the lives of martyrs. Here were Christians indeed,—who trampled the world, subdued the flesh, and conquered the devil, following the great Captain of their salvation, as He himself led the way, with crimson banners, and garments rolled in blood; and shall we pretend to follow them, as they did Him, and yet be afraid of a few hard words or frowns from mistaken or evil men? Oh pity! pity! poor sinners, and pray to God to pity them, who want the sense and grace to pity themselves; but show your pity to them, not by a cruel fondness, but by a kind and wholesome severity. Why should we suffer them to tumble over a fatal precipice, for fear of disturbing or disobliging them, by pulling them back with some haste and violence? Go on, then, in the name of God. Remember the eyes of God, men, and angels, are upon you. Be sober, be vigilant. Forbid none from casting out devils, because he follows not with you. Be careful and humble, and all earth and hell can never hurt you. Be willing, be thankful to be accounted the filth and offscouring of the world; the disturbers of the public peace, by those who themselves notoriously break it. Think much of heaven—forget not death. Be constant at sacraments, and in prayer, public, domestic, and private. Neglect not to sing the high praises of God. Remember the poor, especially God’s poor. Pity the afflicted, especially our dear brethren who now ‘suffer for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.’ Oh the peace, the joy, the triumph, the exultation of mind which a good man possesses, when he reflects on any sufferings he undergoes for the cause of God, and for the cause of despised religion and virtue! He bids the world do its worst, for he has a reserve beyond it,—and knows who will receive him into everlasting habitations, and say unto him ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’”
We have thus attempted to give an outline of the history of the Society for the Reformation of Manners; and extracts from Samuel Wesley’s sermon, preached before it in 1698; but, before the chapter closes, a few words must be added in reference to the religious societies out of which the other society arose.