The Sun.
London, England, 1821-01-18 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

'OBSERVATIONS ON METHODISM.
MR. EDITOR—The following observations on
Methodism I send for insertion in the columns of
THE SUN, being induced so to do, by its avowed
principles and determination to support the
Church and King ;—your publication- likewise
is rapidly and extensively circulating in this
part of the country, relinquished only by a class
of men, who have chosen 'to style it " The
BVhdp's sale," solely from a motive of ridicule
rand contempt they entertain for our ecclesiasti-
cal state. It is said in raillery by the wits of
this town, that there is the face of a Bishop in

" Fur. Su
-N," meaning, I understand, that they
imagine its religious sentiments are dictated and
penned by the hand of some Reverend Prelate.
Whether it is or not neither they nor I can tell ;
but. it must be allowed that the venerable Bench
ought not to be supine, and think that private
individuals will fight their battles ;• neither their
friends, nor their preaching once a week, can

—stem the flood of:infidellty that threatens to aver-
--whelm this happy country—they must,adopt
other means than publishing heavy tracts and
volumes ; they must by incessant exhortation

av,-aken mankind to a sense of their real state,

prevent in plain but energetic language the means
of salvation in the world to come, and the ne-
cesity of duty and obedience to God and their

Country towards that end : I submit that a pub-
lication like The SUN, would be a powerful and
effectual means for 'their purpose. But my de-
sire now is to call the attention of your readers

to a' work entitled " SOUTII EY'S Life Of WESLEY,"

and the critique upon it in the Quarterly Reviqw

for the Month of December last. The critique
has been written_ by one evidently unacquainted
with the genuine doctrines of Metliiidism, ; and

who has relied on Mr. Sonthey's account entirely
for his ktiowledge of Wesley's prinCiples and
character ; indeed, the Iteiiew is very tender
with Mr. Southey,- and 'if it dare not praise.his
AirOfk it. has -avoided 'passing any censure upon
it. The comments upon the work almost agree
with he .F.entiments of the work itself : the excep-

tionable pussages are passed of erg or some of them
taken for fact and truth without examination, and
_ _

the IA hole of it bears a feature thftt betrays, I think,
the hand of a Poet Laureat himself. Be that as
it may, I conceive that not only Mr. Southey is
ignorant of, or else chuses to pervert, the real

doctrine of Methodism, (if ever he has changed

'his earlier notions of dliiistianity), hut that the
generality of the Church of England conformists
misundorstand them, and that many of the Me-

thodist Ministers exceed the doctrine Wesley in-
tended to inculcate. Had not Southey's name
gained so much celebrity by his poetical works,
this work might not have been pregnant with so
mt.:h danger ; but now many will read these
volumes unwarily, relying on so eminent a man

as art indisputal;le authority; and thereby not
only imbibe his prejudices against, and false
views of, Methodism, but of Christianity itself;

and the ignorant and profane will resort to it as
a tool wherewith to mine the foundation of the
Church of England, if the insidious attacks made
in this work are not exposed. Ido not intend to
write a defence of Methodism ; it is not re-

quired ; but an exposition of the erroneous dm
racter and doctrine attributed to that sect in Mr
Southey's work. The Quarterly Review, folloW.
ing Mr. Southey's notions, speaking of. the Me'
thodists, says, " in all the countries whither they
have penetrated, they form a distinct people, an
imperiani in imperio—wboAhough- (the Wesleyan
Methodists at least) avowedly Members of- the
Episcopal Church -of England, and differing in
few particulars from-the faith of the majority of
their-fellow-citizens, have yet their own semina-
ries, their own hierarchy, their own regulations,
their own manners, their own literature, "their
own rapidly increasing population, who regard
-themselves as the peculiar people of God,' and
the•remainder of their countrymen as, if not
altogether worldly and profane, at most wily
• half Believers." Now, we - must' understand
whether this pas Sage is applied solely to the'sect
of Methodiits, or to those also who entertain 'the
same doctrines as themselves, yet unconnected
with their Society. Because herein; is a great
distinction : for if he means the former, he is er-
roneous, since the principle he would then ad-
•judge to them is purely Calvinistic, which never
was, nor is it now, Wesleyan doctrine. On this
• point I will enlarge by and bye, and shew that
-the true Wesleyan doctrines are the very same
as those recognised-by the Articles of the English
Clizerch.• We . are told that there exist many
objections to the doctrines the. Methodists parti-
cularly. teach, and the discipline they impose on
their,followers ; and that even if the objections
"were few, yet it is of serious evil tendency to
• unsettle the minds of mankind from " the reli-
gion of their ancestors and of the state, and from
those forms of worship which early associations,
have rendered venerab!e." • I should like to
know upon what data this observation is made—
it is very ambiguous ;—for, I cannot tell how the.
doctrines of Methodism can .effect an injury to
the Established -Church, when they are -diffusing
principles and doctrines founded on the thirty-
nine Articles'of that Church ; but I allow that
onr present -Ecclesiastical, Establishment is the
best qualified of .01 others for the purpose of
public devotion : yet for religious instruction, it
is not at present adapted ; neverfhless, neither
its removal nor that of its ministers is desired,
hut the improvement of both. Even the Review,
after havinc, deprecated • the desertion of the
Church, and afterwards recurring to the progress
of Methodism, proceeds thus:—
" It must be observed, that if by the success of Nietho-
dism, the number of those who are avowedly separated from
the Chnrch is increased, a great proportion of ?heir con-
verts were previously, in fact, of nu church, and no religion ;
that no stnall number have been drawn from sects whose
principles were, more hostile to the Established Church than
those'o.f the Nlethodists,; Thai irtbe Chapels of the Metho-
dists are nuMerous, they are,, on the other hand, mostly
small ; .that as their principal harvest has been reaped, if not
from the indolence of the Clergy, yet, from the inspfEcient
supply of Church room, so many of thdm' return to the wor-
ship of their forefathers wherever they meet .with
_afrce

church or a poptilar pastor i" and that their numbers are
" about two or three hundred thoustinds out of sixteen" mil-

,oris of persons.

" But the moral effects that Methodists have produced, and
are producing, among tliriitians, must nOt be estiniatedyy
their numbers More. The ferment excited by their preach-
ing,, has stimulated the Clergy to greater seriousness and ac_
tivity in the dischN:•ge of their functions, it has set the laity
on thinking for themselves; it has, as an incidental conse-
quence of the rivalry of hostile sects, forwarded the educa-
tion and religious instruction of the lower classes; it has
opposed, among those- classes, a mighty and countervailing-
principle to the poisonous flood of modern philosophy; from
the same cause, Religion is More in the minds and mouths of
men than formerly: and amid all the vices which a lung war
and a luxurious Capital, and a renewed intercourse with fo-

reign nations, have produced in the two extremes of society,
the majority are, on the whole, less ashamed of, and more

attentive to the outward appearances of piety, than Ilvey seem
to•have been during the preceding century. Nor can it be
doubted, from the crowded state of our ancient places of
worship, and from the avidity With which eve)), hddilienal
opportunity is seized which free Cliniches and evening lec-
tures afford, that the Church has gleaned in this spiritual

harvest a great, if not a proportionate, addition of intelli-
gent and zealous members, and that if the appetite for reli-
gion, however excited, can he gratified in national esta-
blishments, a great proportion of the world will, in prefer-
ence, att'end them.'.'

Now what does this statement yield ;—has Me-

thodism been beneficial or not ; has it or has it
not brought the abandoned nearer to the Esta-
blished Church ; has it not been doing that duty

which the Ministers of the Church have left un-
done ; has it not exhibited to the State the de-
fects in its ecclesiastical policy, and not only
pointed them out, but endeavoured to supply
them ?—These results being granted, are the
Methodists any longer to be held- up as, objects
of detestation ?—The rise and progress of irre-
ligion has been encouraged by• the neglect and
bad example of many of the Established Church
on the one part, and the inconsistencies of dis-
senters on the part.—But now:for the bad
consequences Mr. Southey teaches incidental to
Methodism'—they consist in occasioning breaches
of christianity, of national as well as ecelesiaStical
union, religion becomes a party question, as be-
tween man and man only—not the Creator, has

been the pretence for justifying all species of
malignity ; in neighbourhoods Rud families, dis-
sention has been sown : " needless scruples. and
ill judged austerities of• manner and deportment
have darkened bosoms, which before `were guile=
less, innocent, and gag as birds in a thicker—that
all these effects afforded argument for the impious

against religion, and " the worst evil of all is,
religious discussion has become so universal, as
to be a thing rather to be talked about, than car-
ried into effect—in fact, nothing more than a
godly gossip."—Such is the faithful portraiture
of Methodism, and such are the evils generated
by it. Now in these statements how contradictory
are the results—if Methodism has excited a

valry which has promoted the education and
religious instruction of the lower classes; has sup-
Plied an antidote for the bane of modern philo-
sophy; has introduced religion into the minds and
converse of mankind more than formerly-; if amid

all the vices into which The trzo extremes of Society
have been allured, on the whole piety has been
respected more than in the last age it-it isindis-
putable that the Church has been a successful
GLEANER in this spiritual harvest ; and if an
appetite for religion has been excited by the
diffusion of Methodism, what rational and un-
prejudiced being. can say, that the assertion of the
evil seed sown with the-good seed justifiable
or warranted in truth ? The evils complained of
are not the effects of the spirit of genuine chris-

ianity, but of licentious and evil dispositions.—
shall not now trespass further on the time o•

your readers, but leave them to judge of the
statement of the effects-of Methodism, hereby
now exposed. Should you receive this communi-
cation, in my next I shall make some observa-
tions upon the doctrines of Wesleyan Methodists,
afterwards on the discipline imposed upon them,
and submit, since in these times, we have the
full and free exercise of any religion, whether
the Church of England ought not gradually to

introduce a discipline of its own,- so that no one
can be oppressed by it, and many improved—
that obedience to that discipline should be vo-
luntary on the part of the subject—that with
this discipline the true doctrines of Christianity
should be taught; and that this object might be
carried into effect, an Association might be form-
ed, entitled the Christian Association, having its
rules and principles sanctioned by the highest
dignitaries of the Church. On this latter sub-
ject I shall discourse in a future communication.
Should the subject be thought adapted to your
Paper, I will address you on Saturdays, until 'I
have concluded an exposition of a work, but too
ably and artfully written, to mislead mankind in
general.

FIDEL DEFENSOR.
I shall likewise submit to your readers) a plan
and rules for such an Association.
Stockton, Jan.

• ARRESTS IN DLIBI,IN,-Sunday bet Ween
the hours of eight and nine o'clock, Major Stan,
upon previous information, proceeded with a
strong party of Police to a public-house in Wine-
tavern-street ; having entered the house, he found
there a number of persons assembled, apparently w
of the class of orking tradesmen : they appear-
ed to be in close consultation, with papers on the
table, the character or subject of which, whether
political or otherwise, we have not .been able to
ascertain. The appearances were such, however,
as that Major Sirr
.conceived himself fully war-
ranted in taking into custody the whole party,
nineteen in number. After a private investiga-
tion at the Head Police .Office, they were sent off
to diffe:rent prisons, some to Newgate, some to-
.Kilmaiuhani, and the remainder to the Richmond
Bridewell.

In several towns, in different parts of the coun-
try, meetings of the inhabitants have been called
for the purp6se of deciding whether they will
consent to the churchwardens and overseers pro-
viding volunteers for the militia to complete their
quotas, instead of proceeding to the ballot, and
submit it to a general rate, to reimburse the ex-
-
pences.