MYLES’S HISTORY 
killed for the preacher, they shall make 
the daughter of the house kneel, aid in- 
sult her by praying for that unconverted 
and hardened sinner. More frequently 
|the woman takes their bait ; no sooner 
then is her husband gone from home, 
than the dear helper is apprised, that he 
“may come and solace her in private with 
\comfortable prayer. Pestilent insects! 
ithus it is that they canker the fair flower 
jof domestic peace ; whatever they touch 
they fly-blow, and leave it to ferment and 
| fester. 
An unbeliever, it must be remem- 
bered, signifies, in the methodist nomen- 
lature, every person who is not a me- 
thodist. We shall copy a part of the 
minutes of the third conference, show- 
ing how they are to be dealt with, in 
er to conversion, 
 Q. Can an unbeliever (whatever he be in 
ther respects) challenge any thing of God’s 
ustice?-—A. Absolutely nothing but hell ; 
and this is a point which we cannot too 
ich insist on. 
 Q. Do we empty men of their own right- 
OUsness, as we did at first? do we suflici- 
ntly labour, when they begin to be con- 
yinced of sin, to take away all they lean 
pon? should we not then endeavour, with 
our might, to overturn their false founda- 
ions?—A. This was at first one of our 
fincipal points, and it ought to be so still ; 
or tili ail other foundations are overturned, 
ey cannot build upon Christ. 
«Q. Did we not then purposely throw 
em into convictions? into strong sorrow 
ind fear? nay, did we not strive to make them 
neonsolable? refusing to be comforted.— 
A. Wedid, and so we should do still, for 
he stronger the conviction, the speedier is 
ie deliverance ; and none so soon receive 
he peace of God, as those who steadily re- 
use all other comfort. 
« Q. Let us consider a particular case :— 
Was you, Jonaihun Reeves, before vou re- 
Peeived the peace of God, convinced, that 
y iiistxnding all you did, or could do, 
‘OU Was ina state of damnation i—J.R. I 
yas convinced of it, as fully as that 1 am 
Ow alive. 
Are you sure that conviction was 
God?—J. R. I can haye no doubt but 
was. 
* Q. What do you mean by a state of 
amnation?—J. R. A state, wherein if a 
nan dies, he perisheth for ever.” 
B® It would be needless to detail their 
node of practice upon this plan; every 
erson who has once entered their 
heeting-houses, must know how their 
€ermons are seasoned with brimstone, 
ind glowing with hell fire. So fright- 
CF THE METHODISTS. 211 
ful are the effects of such a conduct, 
that Spenser has assigned it to his De- 
spair as the last and powerfullest temp- 
tation that even that fiend could de- 
vise. 
«« When the miscreaunt 
«« Perceived him to waver, weak and fraile, 
«« (Whiles trembling horror did his consci- 
“ ence daunt, 
«* And hellish anguish did his soul assaile,) 
“*To drive him to despair, and quite to 
 quaile, 
“«« He shew'd him, painted in a table plaine, 
«© The damned ghosts that do in torments 
** waile, 
** And thousand feends that doe them end-« 
‘ less paine 
*‘ With fire and brimstone, which for ever 
** shall remaine.” 
What therefore was to be expected 
from such a system, has actually result. 
ed. The increase of madness, in Eng- 
land, has been proportioned to the in- 
crease of methodism. This is not light- 
ly hazarded, nor ignorantly affirmed. 
Positively and knowingly we assert, that 
the increase of madness, melancholy 
madness, religious madness, the worst 
form of the worst calamity which flesh 
is heir to, has been proportioned to, and 
occasioned by the growth of methodism. 
In Moorfields itinerant preaching be- 
gan, and in Moorfields is its consume 
mation; there the first seed was sown, 
and there the fruit may be seen,—Bed- 
lam is the granary. 
Such are the effects of their denunci- 
ations of damnation, and of that tremen- 
dous blasphemy, their yearly covenant 
with Almighty God! ‘Thus it is, that 
they foster and force the seeds of insa- 
nity wherever they exist: minds pre- 
disposed to madness, being prone to- 
methodism, as the dropsical sufferer 
craves for the draught which aggra- 
vates his disease. Upon those of a haps 
pier temperament, who escape its physi- 
cal effects, it acts as a moral poison. 
Even in the first freshness, in the heat 
and vigour of their sanctification, they 
become liars and systematic hypocrites ; 
they call themselves the vilest of sinners, 
and believe themselves the elect of God; 
they profess the utmost humility and 
self abasement, the deepest conviction 
of their own unworthiness and wretch- 
edness ; and they groan and lift up their 
eyes in contemptuous compassion for- 
their kinsman and, their neighbour, the 
master of the family, and the parish 
priest, their brothez, and perhaps their 
P2 
