The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-11 00:00:00

APPEAL to the BRITISH PUBLIC, against
the PRIESTLY AND POLITICAL POWER of the
WEgLEYAN-METHODIST CONFERENCE.
, Very few are aware of what Wesleyan Methodism actually is. It
uls hitherto been looked upon, for the most part, as an extraorcli-
-11111 means employed by the Providence of God in the spread of
„renlhand holiness amongst the poor, the wicked, and the wretched
Our home population : and has been acknowledged accordingly,
,1 a branch of Christ's Church here upon earth, the efforts of which
irodhas been pleased signally to bless and prosper. The word Me-
ist, for about one hundred years, has been applied to all—what-
7ver their opinions as to speculative theology, or their practice as
r ecelesiastical government might be, who were not ashamed to
to the reproach of Christ, by whose love they were constrained
„.7 seek the extension of the heavenly kingdom every where, but
t;nicipally amongst their neighbours and fellow- countrymen, who
ere living around them without God and without hope.
John Wesley was the founder of this sect, every where spoken
ainst. Both by his preaChing and his living he showed himself
re witness of the truth and power of that inspiration, which enables
r e man of God to know nothing amongst men but Jesus Christ, and
• crucified. No one could ever charge him with seeking his own.
is you I seek and not yours"—was the unchallenged and
he did
spirit, in which he lived, and worked, and died. All that
" did is before the world. He knew nothing of men's opinions and
Persuasions as such. Men of all sentiments, religious and political,
~sere his brethren--and-allies—if, with him, they strove to flee from
the wrath to mine, and to lay hold on endless life—to save their
".1 souls, whilst they were instrumental in assisting others also in
Welting out their salvation with fear and trembling. This was the
Peat—the only bond of his confederated or " United Societies,"
whom he supplied with every means of grace, required by the
9nling emergencies of their novel situation, and evidently furnished
?,1:1 of the providential storehouse of the great Head of the Church.
Wunself a churchman (as to its doctrines and discipline generally),
t! applied himself to the reformation of mankind, according to
,7 light and help which God himself was pleased to afford, deter-
iried, in the mean time, to know no man after the flesh—but
the
to avail himself of the aid of all, and never to rest, until
'ne heavenly character of the church of Christ should be seen and
acknowledged, and every thing worldly and unholy be taker, for
the
out of its way. In one short sentence he has left upon record
?e full and settled judgment of his enlightened mind upon this
odarnental subject—on which also he uniformly acted throughout
the whole course of his truly apostolical career ; and, instead of
together a variety of quotations, all of them to the same
Point, we shall rehearse these memorable words—written, as if for
thLese very times—spoken as by a spirit of prophecy, to mark out the
,
m, and betoken the speedy downfall of the UsuRPATION that has
41,esequently been built upon the Scriptural foundation which he was
enosen of God to lay in this benighted land. Tsis BEAST IS A
11j1kITUALLY SECULAR POWER, OPPOSITE TO THE KINGDOM OF
; A POWER NOT MERELY SPIRITUAL OR ECCLESIASTI-
tAL, NOR MERELY SECULAR AND POLITICAL, BUT A MIXTURE
• BOTH." These oracular words of his weleave to the thoughtful
I'ieditation of the true Christian. They will bear a second and a
third perusal. We pray God to carry them forward to his inmost
heartthere to become auxiliary to the establishment of the almost
h( ,'"known, unheeded, but Heaven-sprung truth of Jesus Christ,—
ItY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD."
Since John Wesley's death, his successors of the Conference have
endeavoured to root themselves as " a spiritually secular power" in
t"e land—to rival, to outstrip, and then to cast under them, all
other modes or forms of faith whatever. They have, for near half
!century, been underworking the rights and freedoms of mankind;
il,lO same outside show of doctrine and of discipline, which their
"blinded
left them, being uniformly presented to the beguiled and
"blinded eye of their unsuspecting adherents. The last meshes of
'heir net have lately been knotted, and upwards of one million of
Zit fellow-countrymen, of their classes and congregations, in Great
Britain alone, now find themselves enclosed within the toils of an,
e,e,elesiastical economy, which asserts the divine right of an irrespon-
sible priesthood to legislate in all matters of doctrine, whilst it
Maintains the legal right orris HUNDRED self-chosen elders of that
I:'d esthood to have and to hold, to open and to shut, several thousand
„?',ses for worship, all raised by voluntary subscrivtion,for the reli-
V.?us instruction and benefit of the respective neighbourhoods, in
"icb they have been built. Besides which appalling. fact, it it
61,enly, unblushingly asserted, that, while this priesthood can deal
'the list with the souls of men and the things pertaining to God
'ne members of their numerous societies and congregations have
Iright whatever, human or divine, so much as to deliberate, much
tZa to decide upon, any of the great principles which associate
h n together as a religious or a corporate body. Certain opinions,
held indiscriminately, amongst all classes of the community, civil
ilncl religious, have been declared irreconeileable ith the con-
; l'sional existence of the parties holding hem; certwain
1 proceed-
-10, sanctioned every where else in the churches of Christ, hare
"en denounced as unmeihodistical, and have entailed the sum-
mary excommunication of all who have hitherto dared to- iden-
-1 themselves therewith. Thus, within a few short months (the
machinations of these lords over God's heritage being completed),
severalpreachers, with thousands of the members of the body
übi.6 been soletenly expelled. These -men are now unwillingly
ged to renounce all connexion with their brethren—all claim
for i
title to the temples they have assisted in rearing, in which
themselves and their children, and their neighbours, have toge-
ther worshipped the Lord God of their fathers. Since the in-
mous Act of Uniformity was proclaimed, the consequences of
Which are matters of notorious history, so frightful, so dar-
rht
thea stretch of priestly prerogative, has never been exhibited
United Kingdom. Of the real state of things in this
C.,
the country at large has but little knowledge—nor arc
our fellow-countrymen at all aware of the dangers with which they
Iq eommon with themselves, are menaced by these overt acts of an
,T• icsiastical tyranny. The concentration, the organisation, the
etecy, the ease, with which, at the nod of one man, the most
51.niplicated, yet most efficient machinery in the world is now
tOught to bear upon the people of England, as one means of
t`Teking the progress of salutary reforms ; and, under the mask of
:hlulgion at home, and missions abroad, of overtopping all other
relies, and upon their ruins causing a second grisly papacy to
it•
c• These religious and political features of Wesleyan Metho-
,7, as at present administered, are now disclosing themselves in
ety that, unhappily, leaves no room for doubt, whilst it must fill
ir mind of the generous philanthropist with serious apprehension,
bot with dismay.
To counteract this influence, and, if possible, to subvert this
Ipwer—to find out what is the freedom wherewith Christ has made
('ilieople free, and then—having attained unto the truth of God
search
Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther, may have aided us in our
a'ch after it), to hand down the clustering blessings that grow
i'tlitt of it, to our children after us : this great idea has led to the for-
t alien of the Wesleyan Methodist Association. Whether it shall
~Ilneeed or not, it is for God—for time—for the friends of truth—
k,'erYwhere to determine. On thks_one thing the members of this
t%ociation have set their hear,.and they hereby again pledge
heaven—any
never to grow weary, so long as they have any hope from
'eltven—any help from their brethresqf whatever may be their creed.
th
tefl whatever the name by which they are called. The object of
address is to call the attention of Christians, and of the public
generally, to the present position and aspects of the Wesleyan Con-
ference, on the one hand, and of its reformers on the other—to
ti;'vvarn Englishmen of all classes of the danger that threatens
(ipc municipal and national liberties, through the wily but stea-
t_t3' progressing career of this now stupendous body, more secret—
‘a-ither ramified—and more dangerous than any Orange Union that
aver plotted against our freedom—to forearm all, thus forewarned,
hat they may'be ready to meet these men at every fresh develop-
`
._"eut of their deep-laid schemes, and to bespeak the counsel and
414.. Pport of all who are willing:to take any part in reforming this
Yeat people, and so, relatively, in reforming the entire Church of
esus
1. The friendly leaning of Wesleyanism tewards the Church of Eng-
,z, id, so grandiloquently but gratuitously trumpeted forth by the
:-I,)pference of 1834, and so covertly made to bear upon the politico-
ieligious crisis of that period, together with some more recent at-
emits to conciliate the influential Dissenters, whom they had
tevionsly most cavilierly affected to despise, has happily opened
eyes of both these great parties in the State to the Jesuitical
itracter of modern Methodism,—running with the hare, but hold-
int 'with the hound,—standing aloof on the field of battle, and in
4,Peaty with each of the contending hosts, until the hour of hottest
re.it should afford an opportunity to pour down with its mercenary
legions, and occasion their mutual discomfiture. This trickery with
be one party, and treachery with the other, has disgusted them
„sth. Whig and Tory, Churchman and Dissenter, Conservative
fid Reformer, Protestant and Papist, are all alike prepared for the
tortuous, though undeviating, policy of the best organised, and
ZOilt dangerous hierarchy, at present to be found in Christendom.
e seek not, as an Association, to mingle in this strife. We are
Zen, Britons, and followers of Christ; as such, we would seek out
• truth, and, having found it, under whatever shape we care
not, we are willing to walk after it, and to abide by it. Whoever
liVike-minded with ourselves in this matter, or whoever should
ink we are in this, followers of that which is good, he is the man
t`l
na-
tional whom we look at the present crisis of our ecclesiastical and na-
,' existence, for the - kindly help he sees we need ; whilst,
the same time, we trust we shall not be backward in doing
1 that may be in our power to assist him in the furtherance
°I everything that shall be shown to be truly wise and good.
anti strong and holy. Sure we are, that they times we live in,
are not times either for sleep or for sloth. The minds of men
717rYwhere are athirst, we might almost say, agasp, for some better
ng than that they have hitherto been furnished with. We are
cie,rY,—vre are woe, when we look at the tearing, the biting, the
'alg, the worrying of one another, that has been, and still is,
" visible in some of the sections of the professing church of
ihrist. Men and brethren help--come up with us to the help of
Lord—to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
4 We call, then, most earnestly upon the free press, metropolitan
nd provincial, to afford their powerful assistance in disabusing the
nand of the public, who know little or nothing comparatively of
„e real state of this hierarchy; we invite the notice of all parties
4)J Politicians to the existence of a priestly power, that is ready, for
`ne time and to the seeming, to coalese with any, whilst it is
\llently working its way over them all, and above them all, and to
destruction of them all. We solicit the assistance, pecuniary
,„„741 every other, of the friends of truth and liberty—the wise—the
only,
good of all parties, who are bound to none, but God
fliy, to enable us to carry to successful termination a work which
'e have undertaken, not with any private aim, but for the public
; and in which we are resolved never to slacken, whatever the
7:criflee we may be called upon
wholeseronally to make, until having
iffought the subject before the British public in its courts of
aw and of equity, and of supreme legislation ; and, lastly, before
"s most awful and all-determining tribunal—the tribunal of public
,„°Pinion--it be seen what the truth is, and whether that truth shall
ttsd or
e In every principal town a Committee of the eleya Me-
`"dist Association is to be found, to whom Donations and Sub-
l'eriptions can be transmitted; thence to be conveyed to the Man-
pl)fsster and Liverpool Central Committee, or to either of the fol-
v`ing gentlemen :—.llr; Smith, Esq., Reddish House, near Stock-
Fa W. Wood, Esq., Newton-street, Manchester ; Richard
, rer, Esq., St. Ann-street, Liverpool ; or John Thurston, Esq.,
itiherine-street, Strand, London.
Liverpool, Oct. 24, 1835.