The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-26

ners to repentance in all places of
Gods dominion, two, by frequently
using eXtempore prayer, yet we are nor
dissenters in the only sense which our
law acknowledges, namely, persons
who believe it is sinful to attend the
service of the church"
I'm a sermon preached in 1889. he
thus declares himself Many warm men
say, you do separate from the church;
others are equally warm because thew
say l do not. l will show markedly the
thing as it is. l hold all the doctrines
of the Church of England. 1 love her
liturgy; / approve her plan of disci-
pline, and only wish it could be put in
execution. 1 do not knowingly vary
from any rule of the church, unless in
those few instances where / judge, and
as far as l judge, there is an absolute
necessity. (He instances preaching
abroad. praying extempore, organizing
his societies in classes, holding confer
ences and, in those conferences, sta
tioning the preachers). But all this
is not separating from the church. So
far from it, that, whenever 1 have OPP
portunity l attend the church services
myself and advise all our societies so
to do"
In a letter to his brother Charles.
written in 1885, he states that the
Church of England means all the be-
levers in England, except Baptists
and Dissenters, who have the word of
God and the sacraments administered
among them" He, of course, used the
word "Dissenters" in the technical and
legal sense. He referred only to those
who were so legally, and had claimed
the privileges belonging to the sects
known as Dissenters under the To1era-
ton Act. Under this broad definition.
all of his members, except Dissenters.
I-IA rA1 g. H. I(-A, l. i'll
whether they ever went to church or
not, or in any way recognized their
connection with it. We quote the fol-
lowing significant language from his
Thoughts on Separation from the
Church." written in 1888: 1.-The ques-
ton properly refers (when we speak of
separation from the church, to a total
and immediate separation. Such was
that of Mr.. Ingham's people first, and
afterwards that of Lady Huntingdon's
who all agreed to form themselves into
a separate body without delay, and to
have no more connection. with the
Church of England than with the
Church of Rome. Such a separation [
have always declared against and GER
tainly 1t will not take place, if ever it
does, while live. But a kind of sep
aration has already taken place, and
will inevitably spread, though by slow
degrees"
Continued to Spread.
1t continued to spread, and, as the
result, the people called Methodists
as completely ceased even in England
to attend the churches of the Estab-
lishment as those of the Baptist or
Presbyterian or any other separate CT
ganization, but, in Wesley's sense of
the term, British Methodism has never
separated from the Church of Eng
land. Even so formal and solemn an
instrument as his deed poll, executed
In 1854, constituting and defining the
Conference, and fixing the title to all
the property, did not make this COM
plete separation in Wesleys under
standing of the term. 1t even made
provision for elergymen of the Church
of England to be among his preach ars
and exempted such clergymen from
his law of itinerancy.
1t has been correctly stated by on
eminent authority that 1.-The key by
which we are to unlock all the seeming
Inconsistencies in Wesleys course and
resolve them into instances of real
consistency with the master principle
of his life is simply this-Wesley was,
first of all, an evangelist called of
God to preach the gospel, whether with
or without ecclesiastical direction or
consent and after that, next after, but
still at great interval, he was a
churchman." AS far back as 1744 the
minutes of the conference for that
year show an express discussion of
the probabilities of secession, and
Wesley then asserts, according to these
minutes, but we cannot, with a good
conscience, neglect the opportunity of
saving souls while we live for fear Of
consequences which may possibly or
probably happen after we are dead"
In 1885 he writes to his brother In
deed love the church as sincerely as
ever / did, and tell our societies every
Where, the Methodists will not leave
the church, at least while l live"
In his journal of Aug 26, 1889, he
makes the following record II met the
society at Red Ruth and explained at
large the rise and nature of Methodism
and still aver 1 have never read or
heard Of either in ancient or modern
history, any other church which builds
on SO broad foundation as the Meth
odlsts do which requires of it's mem
bers no conformity, either in opinions
or modes of worship, but purely the
one thing to fear God and work right
eousness. Let it be borne in mind
that he was writing in England and
of English Methodists. The case as to
American Methodism is clear beyond
reasonable doubt. After the meeting of
the conference in Baltimore which or
ganized the Methodist Episcopal
Church of America, no expression of
his against separation could possibly
have referred to this distinct church.
Loved English Church.
Lord Mansfield (who may be almost
as good an authority as some of our
modern churchmen) gave it as his opin-
ion that ordination is separation" I'm
der this opinion Zone quoted to John
Wesley by his brother Charles as con-
elusive in a letter written in 1850, just
as soon as he ordained this was ipso
facto separation, whether he so de-
signed or not DR.. Ryle, the Bishop
of Liverpool, is quoted as saying, in
an address delivered not many years
back, There are many things the peo-
pie ought to know about Wesley that
are not generally known, and among
them this, that he loved the Church
of England from the earliest days of
his life; that he never formally left
the Church of England, but that the
Church of England obliged him to go
outside"
Miss Wedgewood, a member of the
church of England, whose evidence on
this subject ought to be worth some
thing, writes, in her work on John
Wesley and the Evangelical Reaction
of the Eighteenth Century," as follows:
1t was not in their" (the Church of
EnglanD power to rush the new or
der, but the strange anomalies of the
English law had left it in their power
to force 1t to become a sect. If it was
possible that the Church of England
should sanction an itinerant order
preaching her doctrines, and with few