466 METHODISM AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 



conduct was friendly, and denoted his affection for the Church. He had 

 no such primary object as to establish a new sect; but, as he proceeded, 

 he became involved with others, who wanted his church principles, and 

 in course of time the thing which he was so much averse to viz. the 

 creation of a dissenting denomination, was effected. It is particularly 

 worthy of remark how gradually and cautiously methodism proceeded, 

 under the guidance of its wary and politic preachers, in its complete 

 secession from the establishment : at first, they had no worship during 

 the hours appropriated for church service, for the purpose, as was said, 

 of giving their members the opportunity of attending at the establishment 

 as well as upon their preaching very good : but mark what followed, 

 and then say if they did not in this instance make a virtue of necessity, 

 and pretended not to wish to oppose the church in regard to preaching, 

 merely because they knew that to preach out of church hours was the 

 way to get congregations of church people, who would not otherwise 

 have attended them, if by so doing they had been compelled to be absent 

 from the Church. The effect, at least, if not the identical object of this 

 arrangement was therefore to get Churchmen to hear the Methodists, 

 and not to accommodate the Church ; this is proved by the fact that, 

 when at length the Methodist preachers had so far got hold of the peo- 

 ple as to be strong enough to set up for themselves, then church hours 

 were disregarded, and they fixed their times for worship as best suited 

 their convenience, leaving the church to get filled as it might, or the clergy 

 to address themselves to empty pews, for what they cared : this was the 

 first step in their departure from the Church, and was as far as they dare 

 go at once. The sacrament, baptism, and the burial of the dead they did 

 not then meddle with, but left them entirely to the established clergy, 

 as proofs, they said, how much they loved the church, and that they 

 had not separated from her communion, and become dissenters. This 

 served their purpose at the time, which was all they desired. It is true 

 some individuals in the Establishment could not comprehend how those 

 could be Churchmen who set up rival preaching at the same hour that 

 the Church had service ; but, as still they said they belonged to the 

 Church, and came to the sacrament, which was the legal test of membership, 

 they were partially believed, and the alarm was not great on the subject. 

 Well : but, first having succeeded in establishing independent worship, 

 they subsequently began to administer the sacrament, to baptise, to bury 

 their own dead, and to be in every respect a separated people from the 

 Church; now, where is the difference bet ween this and becoming dissenters. 

 Still they said, when referred to on these points, " We do not oppose the 

 Church," and nobody contradicting them, their professions were putonre- 

 cord. In the mean time they went on to do the best they could for themselves, 

 and the more completely to accomplish their object, they have done all 

 in their power to counterfeit, as it were, every attractive or venerable 

 feature of the Church, and to allure, by every possible means, persons to 

 give them the preference ; or to entrap them into a withdrawal from the 

 Church by persuading them that in becoming Methodists they still 

 belonged to the establishment. With this view, they have exerted all 

 their might to obtain splendid places of worship organs have been in- 

 troduced, with other musical instruments, to be the more tempting ; 

 and even the Church service, too, is read in many places. Now, what is 



