The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-12 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OY THE ALBION

Sir,—Several articles have appeared in recent numbers of
Liberal papers, one of which is the Albion, having a ten-
dency, and, professedly, having a design, to urge on the
Wesleyans in opposition to the Established Church. The
name of Wesley and extracts from his writings have been
given to show the consistency of the body with the principles
of their founder. Now, sir, I am one of these who think
that the Wesleyans cannot, consistently with the principles
of the Rev. John Wesley, join themselves in active opposi-
tion to the Established Church, and this opinion I ground
on the following extracts from his writings.

It has been urged, that Mr. Wesley changed his opinions
on Church Establishments and llpiscopacy through reading
a book on that subject published by Lord King. For this
reason I shall state the length of time that elapsed after read-
ing Lord King's work and the date at which Wesley wrote,
at least in those extracts with which the work has any con-
nexion.

Extract of a letter to Mr. Church, dated June, 1716

I dare not renounce connexion with the Church of Eng-
land. As a minister, I teach her doctrines, I use her offices,
I conform to her rubrics, I suffer reproach for my attach-
ment to her ; as a private member, I hear her doctrines, I
join in her offices, in prayer, in hearing, and communicating.
—Works, 1812, vol. xvi.
Letter to the Bishop of London, June 11, 1747 :
We earnestly exhort all who attend our preaching to attend
the offices of the Church. and they do pay a more regular at-
tendance than ever they did before. All who hear us attend
the services of the church, at least as much as they did
before, and for this very thing we are represented as bigots to
the church by those of most other denominations.—Works,
1812, vol. iii, p. 414-420.
Journal, 1756 :

At eleven I went to church, to the surprise of many, and
heard a lively, useful sermon. After dinner, one of our bre-
thren asked "If I was ready to go to the meeting ? " I
told him, " 1 never go to a meeting." He seemed as much
astonished as the old Scot at Newcastle, who left us " because
we were merely Church of England men." We are so.
August 28.—My brother and I closed the conference by a
solemn declaration of our purpose, never to separate from
the church, and all our brethren concurred therein.
This declaration was made two years after reading Lord
King's account of the Primitive Church.
Of the last conference he ever attended in England, he
says, Journal, July 28 :
The conference began, about a hundred preachers were
present, and never was our master more eminently present
with us. The case of separation from the church was largely
considered, and we were all unanimous against it.
In a letter to the Dublin Chronicle, June 10, 1789 :
Unless I see more reason for it than I ever yet did, I will
not leave the Church of England as by law established, while
the breath of God is within my nostrils.
'Whether Wesley ever swerved from this resolution will be
seen from Coke and Moore's Life of Wesley :
The last prayer he was heard to mutter was, "Bless the
church and king, and grant us truth and peace, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever."
I never had any design of separating from the church, I
have no such design now. Ido not believe the Methodists,
in general, design it when lam no more seen. I do, and
will do, all that is in my power to prevent such an event.
Nevertheless, in spite of all that I can do, many of them will
separate from it, (although I am apt to think not one-half,
perhaps not a third of them,) they will be so bold and inju-
dicious as to form a separate party. In flat opposition to
these, I declare, once more, that I live and die a member of
the Church of England, and that none who regard my judg-
ment or advice will ever separate from it.
JOHN `V> sLEy.
London, December 11, 1789.
—Works, 1813, vol. 15, p. 21.
This was written not quite fifteen months before Wesley
died. Lastly, Journal, August 4, 1766 :
1 , I see clearer and clearer none will keep to us unless they
keep to the Church. Whoever separates from the church
will separate from the Methodists.
It is worthy of notice, that this was wrote above twenty
years after reading Lord King's book. I furnish the fore-
going selections from Wesley's writings to show that opposi-
tion to the established church is not consistent with the
principles and practices of the Rev. John Wesley. I doubt
not but you will give them insertion. They are given in the
best spirit, and the writer hopes they will be received in the
same. Your obedient servant,
Leith, April 29, 1843. CONSISTENT.

A man named Burns, residing at Marsden,
has, within the
last 31 years, crossed Standedge, the backbone of England.
45,288 times, and in doing this has travelled 181,152 miles.
He is a messenger from one end of the Huddersfield canal
tunnel to the other. The distance over the hill is four
and through the tunnel 31 miles.