METHODISM AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 465 



sects are helpers inasmuch as they all contribute to the advancement of 

 the common cause of Christianity. But the Methodists intend it to be 

 understood, that they are helpful to the Church in the sense of assisting- 

 in the promotion of her special objects ; which is the thing we deny, 

 affirming, at the same time, that the Methodists have never done, nor 

 do they at present, any service for the Church which is not done by 

 other denominations. This is indeed putting the case in a manner too 

 favourable for the Methodists, who ought to be distinguished from other 

 dissenters, not as being more favourable to the Church, but as having in 

 fact taken more members from her, and transferred them to their own 

 ranks, than all the rest of the dissenting sects put together. The 

 dissenters generally pretend no particular friendship for the Church 

 from which they avow themselves as differing. Here there is con- 

 sistency, and however contrary may be our own opinions to some 

 of theirs, yet we admire honesty whereever it is found. But the 

 Methodists have taken another course, and by smiling, and fawning, 

 and professing friendship, they have crept into the confidence of the 

 church, and, without doing a single act to serve her proper interests, so 

 distinguished from their own they have wrung from her bosom some 

 of her choicest members, and have thereby been strengthening them- 

 selves at her cost for nearly a century. Yet they say they are her friends, 

 and shallow-minded persons believe it, notwithstanding the contrary evi- 

 dence afforded by all experience. We have paid considerable attention 

 to the history of Methodism ; and although, as we have already observed, 

 we esteem the Methodists for the good which they have unquestionably 

 been the means of promotiong, we resist the conclusion that their pro- 

 fessions of regard for the church, if not made for the very purpose, have 

 been the cause, not of serving her, but of serving themselves of her. 

 They may not, it is true, have been so politic as the effects of their pro- 

 cedure would seem to indicate ; but, apart from Christian charity, and 

 judging only by what has actually taken place, we should be led to con- 

 sider the motive of the Methodists for professing friendship for the 

 church to be one of unmixed selfishness, and intended to work their own 

 profit, by enabling them to live upon the credit of the church, partake of 

 her influence, and in numberless cases to supplant her in the affections 

 of the people. 



We have just referred to the history of Methodism, and we will now 

 advert to it again, for the purpose of citing a few facts, to which we 

 solicit the attention of the Bishop of Exeter and other churchmen, who 

 either have, or act as if they had, imbibed a notion that the Methodists 

 are a sort of Churchmen, and may be counted for such in case of danger. 

 Credulous men ! how little are they acquainted with the course which 

 Methodism has been taking from its commencement. The following 

 sketch ought not and yet from the manner in which some of our dig- 

 nitaries speak, we believe it will be, new to them : 



When Mr. Wesley, whom we revere as a great and useful man, first 

 set out to preach wherever he could, in chambers, fields, or market- 

 places, we have no doubt his intention was to serve the Church. As a 

 proof of this, he did all he could to bring men to the Church. He had 

 no separate preaching in church hours, that men in hearing him might be 

 forced to be absent from the service of the establishment. Now, this 



