against which it would behove every public instructor to direct his lessons; but when to its own inherent errors and evils is added its devotion to the Establishment, the indignation of the righteous against it is necessarily in proportion to the aggravation. Had Methodism been faithful to the truth of God-by this time, through a proper use of its pulpits, its platforms, and its periodical literature, it might have contributed incalculably to the liberation of our country from that greatest of social evils, a State Church. With the aid they ought to have afforded, Dissenters would ere this have been in a condition, by peaceful and constitutional measures, to have forced on, if not a separation from the State, at least a thorough and beneficial reformation of all her more mischievous and monstrous abuses. They have neglected their duty till the time assigned for its performance is probably past, and now they must take the consequence. They may keep from the field, but they can neither stay the conflict nor prevent the victory awaiting truth. This is now becoming the great question of the times; the benevolence, the intelligence, the justice, the wisdom, the religion of the age, are each on its own grounds taking the field against Church Establishments-especially that of England-as the common enemy of the world's peace and the prosperity of true religion. Throughout the empire a spirit is rising which will clothe itself in varied forms, and put forth its strength through varied channels, but all direct to one end-the restoration of the Church of Christ to its original purity, simplicity, liberty, and independence. Nothing can prevent such a consummation: woe to all those who make the endeavour! Though hand join in hand, they shall not prosper, but perish in the all-devouring conflagration. But, brethren, leaving the future, this subject is deeply personal to yourselves, and involves the most solemn present duties. In the face of the world, therefore, I have now to ask, Are the views of the Conference, as set forth in their own published Resolution, and expounded by the Rev. James Beckwith, your views? Do you avow them as your own deliberate opinions? If so, then allow me again to ask, Are these opinions the result of full and fair inquiry? From the devout and careful study of the sacred Scriptures, have you been led to the conclusion, that the Church of England, as by law established, is a church of God, a copy of the apostolic pattern, and conducive to the Divine glory? Are you willing that Methodism should be considered a part-although at present an unendowed part-of the Church of England? You should well consider this matter. Wise men see both craft and danger in this profession, on the part of your Conference, as furnishing a fatal facility for the future incorporation of Methodism with the Established Church. Your safety consists in the avowal, the proclamation, if such is the fact, of your distinct existence, your entire separation from and opposition to an Antichristian Establishment. If such is the feeling, as we are assured, of the immense majority of your Leaders, Local Preachers, and intelligent members, why suffer a deception to be practised on the British public? Why not declare the great truth? Why sail under false colours? Is it for a knot of Preachers, the Oligarchical portion of the Conference, to dictate the views of a great community on the greatest subject that can occupy the human mind; or to substitute their own views as those of that community, and, as such, publish them to mankind? Is this to be suffered? Are you so sunk in the scale of Christian manhood as to submit to such indignities? In the resolution of Conference there is a reference made to the "credit" of the Connexion. "Credit" with whom? With the church, or with the world? With God, or with man? In this great question, which is to rule,-policy or principle, truth or falsehood? Are you willing to have it believed that the "credit" of Methodism rests upon its connection with the church of the British Queen rather than with the church of the living God? Are you prepared to stake the "credit" of Methodism on its connection with a system which exhibits the wreck of Christianity? Is not such a course less allied to honour than to infamy? Brethren, the time is come when you must deal with this matter fairly, and let mankind know where the truth really lies. The eyes of intelligent and reflecting men are now intently fixed upon you. Your position, in relation to the church general, and to our common country, has at length become so serious as to render it imperative to demand of you the decision of this question: Are you Churchmen, or are you not? Tell us plainly! In making this fraternal remonstrance we avail ourselves of the vigorous pen of a faithful, but friendly, writer, who has already addressed you, and whose weighty words deserved from and you rulers your the most solemn consideration; but they were unheeded. Once more they are here set before you, in the hope that now a better reception awaits them :- We dare not med "What is a Wesleyan Methodist? In what light does he wish others to regard him-and what is the standard by which he measures himself? These are questions he is bound to answer, and to answer in such words as, though they may be gainsaid, cannot be misunderstood. Between God and his own soul, we believe, no one is disposed to interfere. dle in these holy things. There is but One, whose eye can search, and whose doom will reach all alike, without respect of persons. HE knows the hearts, and therefore awards according to the deeds of men. But the Wesley an is our neighbour-our fellow-townsman-one of the same land, the land of all our fathers, with ourselves. On this ground he must meet us, for we have a word or two to say to him. And, first of all, we should be obliged if he would inform us what the Conference is, of which we have latterly heard so much-the Conference of the people called Methodists? We have been given to understand that it is made up of the priests of the sect-not of the whole of them, but of a part, in what proportion or under what regulation we could never learn; that these again, when assembled, are only hearers, lookers-on, and voters by courtesy, and under control-and that the pulse, the purse, the power, of the mighty body, of which our Wesleyan friend is a member, is lodged in the mysterious, the uncontrolled, and uncontrolable HUNDRED, who are the well-head of all the weal or woe accruing to general society, through the agency and in the name of Wesleyan Methodism. Is it so? Are we right or wrong in the idea we have formed of the constitution and prerogatives of this mystical Hundred ? If we are misinformed, will some Wesleyan have the goodness to correct us, for it is a point of some consequence both to him and to us. If the Hundred be what we are told it is, then, shiffle, shaffle, shuffle, as they please, we denounce it as an anti-legal and anti-constitutional union, that cannot co-exist with the acknowledged liberties of the British empire. These men come together, do they—and sit with closed doors, guarded by familiars of their own, and there discusswhat?-the difference between penance and penitence, consubstantiation and transubstantiation ? No-but the subject of the position of our universal Church of England in its political relations; and determine, what ?-that no preacher shall wear pantaloons or a lapelle coat? No-but that if any preacher, in the exercise of his birthright, as a member of the commonwealth and of the church, shall advocate the separation of that church from the state, he shall be forthwith arraigned, suspended, and expelled, because such a sentiment as this is at variance with Methodism and with Christianity. "Are these things so? Do these Hundred inquisitors come together to legislate upon the political rights of Englishmen, whereby not less than a million of our fellow-countrymen receive a direct and abiding influence-without the knowledge of the Government-and without any check from public opinion? It cannot be, -and yet here lie their Minutes of Conference *** printed by authority. Wesleyan Methodist! how is this? Confess it, or explain it, or deny it. Do set us right, we pray thee, for there must be something wrong somewhere. So monstrous an invasion of God Almighty's province and authority cannot surely exist under the name of the Conference of the people called Methodists. "Are "We inquire, secondly, of our Wesleyan friend, how far he considers himself bound by the decrees of this conclave ? When we find the mark of the beast on the forehead of these published Minutes, and when he calls himself a member of the Society whose Conference this is-where are we to draw the line between the knavery of the priest, and the stolidity of the people; the cunning craftiness of right reverend fathers in God, and the stereotyped credulity of their little children? We have been at no small pains to come at the truth on this head, but hitherto with very little success. these the Minutes of the Conference of the people called Methodists ?" said we the other day to a friend of ours. "Yes," was the reply. "Are you one amongst that people, by right of acknowledged and continued membership?" "I am." "Then these are your Minutes, expressing the sentiments and opinions of your body; containing the letter of its laws, and the outline of its institutions ?" "Of course." Very well, then, of course you are ready to abide by and defend the Minute which denounces the separation of Church from State as anti-Wesleyan and anti-scriptural; which, consequently, condemns myself and others of your fellowcountrymen, members of that church, who, in the exercise of our right as British subjects, are seeking to dissever this unnatural connection ?" "No," said he: "I cannot defend that for I think with you, and so do thousands of our members-I believe the majority of them." "How, then," we replied, "is it called one of the Minutes of the Conference of the people called Methodists-these preachers are your representatives, are they not?" "No." "Do you not choose them, send them up, and acknowledge them as the organs of your opinions?" "No; they meet in their own right, independent and irrespective of us altogether." "Then do you mean to say, you have no means of making · known your views on such a question as this-and that nevertheless your clergy in conclave can publish sentiments the very reverse of those you entertain, by authority, as the recorded and unanimous sentiments of the Conference of the PEOPLE called Methodists-is it so?" "I believe it is," said our friend; "but I do not wish to have anything to do with the Minutes-I seldom read them, and don't consider myself responsible for what they contain." "But are you bound by them-does your Wesleyan character and ecclesiastical existence depend upon the laws therein promulgated; and are you, as my neighbour, obliged to stand committed by the decrees they may contain ?" "I cannot deny it to be as you say," said he; "and yet I am hardly willing to confess myself driven into the difficulty you are thrusting me into." "Now this is the very point we want to discuss with our Wesleyan friends still of the Conference party. Yea or nay, the one or the other, and then let us have it in black and white We Secrecy and shuffling will not avail another hour. The eyes of the country are turned upon the proceedings of this awful Hundred. were not aware till now that such a power as this was systematically and steadily in operation, undermining, not the outworks, but the first bulwark and best fastness-the very Acropolis of our national liberty and independence. Set our minds at rest on this head, and we will leave our Wesleyan friends. We will trouble them no more. But until a satisfactory answer is returned, they may expect to hear from us again and again. One thing, in conclusion, we can assure them of -that they must either be prepared to set themselves reputably right with their fellowcitizens, or make up their minds to be handed over, not to the INDIGNATION, BUT TO THE IGNOMINIOUS CONTEMPT OF MANKIND." Men and brethren, what say you to this appeal? Does it not as truly as fully depict your depressed and degraded condition? In the Resolution of the Conference, to which we have so frequently referred, it is stated that Church and State discussions are incompatible with the "tranquillity" of the Connexion. Mark this! Although most studiously concealed, this is the chief element in the policy of Conference with respect to this great question. They know full well they have nothing to fear, but everything to hope, from your coming into close and frequent contact with the vassal members of the Church of England. Not so with the Nonconformists! Contact there is full of peril, and therefore as much as possible to be avoided. Once let Scripture light on the nature of Christ's kingdom get into your community, and assuredly there will, for a season, be an end of " tranquillity" to your priestly corporation. No two things on earth, of the same class, are more unlike each other than the constitution of Methodism 66 as it is" and the constitution of the Apostolic Churches. The constitutions of the American Republic and the Russian empire are not more unlike each other. Hence the Divan strains every nerve to keep out the light! The Oligarchy, assuming the Scriptural character of Conference Methodism, but seldom venturing on the proof, teaches you to sing its praises from morn to even and even to morn; and, while you celebrate its glory, to toil for its diffusion. Of the constitution of a Christian church, and the true nature of Christ's kingdom, the bulk of the people know nothing, for they hear nothing, they read nothing; and the result of this, concerning your masses, is vagueness of conception, looseness of principle, and hurtful indifference to the subject of ecclesiastical polity, as compared with Nonconformist communities; and hence their blind veneration for the Church of England, notwithstanding its errors, evils, and abominations. Through the preposterous and degrading policy of making your Preachers everywhere your Booksellers, your choice is mainly confined to Methodistic literature, which forms a most insignificant section of the vast encyclopædia of British Theology. But the mischief of this arrangement is observable chiefly in relation to works on civil and religious liberty and on ecclesiastical government. Wherever the influence of the Oligarchy extends, both at home and abroad, the circulation of publications of a liberal and reforming spirit, especially periodicals, is rigorously discountenanced. The course of the Oligarchy, then, clearly determines yours. Wisdom dictates that the rule of reverse should guide all your steps. Is their stronghold darkness? Light is yours! Hasten to the light! Dwell in the light! By the light of God's Spirit seek the truth in his Word; for there ye will find, and, when found, it will make you free! Your friend and servant, It will be observed, from this Table, that while there is but little neutrality in the London Press, there is a prodigious preponderance of the organs of liberal opinion. Among those ranged as Conservative are papers of all shades of opinion, from the moderate to the ultra; and the same holds with respect to the Liberal. Of those, of all sorts, that now occupy the field, the history is instructive, as an element in the history and statistics of literature. There were established From 1770 to 1780, Two. numerically, are quite insignificant; intellectually, they are contemptible; compared with the Liberals, they are but as hundreds to thousands. The preponderance with respect to civil liberty is such as to remove all solicitude from the mind of the mere patriot citizen; but it is much otherwise with regard to religion, morals, and philanthropy. Withdrawing from the Conservative list the religious Journals adverse to true religious freedom, equality, and justice, very little remains; and if we expunge from the roll of Liberals, first, all who, while advo cates of general freedom, are hostile to true religion, and secondly, all who, while friendly to religion, are the enemies of Nonconformity, we shall reduce it to very small dimensions. There is no concealing the fact, that the great principles of Nonconformity are either not understood or most grossly misrepresented by the bulk of the Liberal Press, and, with the honourable exception of the Morning Advertiser, by the whole of the Daily Press. The state of matters in this re spect is most lamentable; it is time it were known and pondered. Heretofore the great Nonconformist community has been left in ignorance upon the subject. They have entertained no adequate idea of their real condition. Their own Journals have not, in this respect, done their duty. Public apathy among Dissenters is a disease which is not to be cured by despondent drivelling, anile whining, and imbecile twaddle. Neither is it by timid nibbling and treacherous reserve, but by bold investigation and honest exhibition of the real truth, that ignorance can be cleared away, and right views imparted to the public. It is time for the Nonconformists of England fully to learn and solemnly to consider their real condition with respect to this great question. They must open their eyes, or be undone! There is more than one sort of Antinomianism to be denounced, dreaded, and eschewed. They have too long been the victims of a generally unsuspected, but an all-pervading, and, as to public spirit, an all-destroying heresy, in relation to their own principles. They have adopted, avowed, and praised them, but too generally left them to defend, diffuse, and uphold themselves as they best could. Late years, however, have witnessed great improvements; but much, very much, still remains to be done. London is the heart of the empire, and in London the Dissenting Press must be lifted up to an eminence from which all eyes shall see and all ears 4d. 3d. 3d. . 5d. Cornwall Weekly Times Plymouth Herald Salisbury and Win. Journal Scarborough Gazette. Scarborough Herald Tenby Chronicle Torquay and Tox Directory Thus it appears that the number of neutral journals is small, and widely scattered; but the neutrality, in many of these cases, is more seeming than real. In journals there is an air which speaks, and there is force and meaning in the preference which appears in the character of the selections which make up a paper. Journalist neutrality, generally, means a nod, a wink, a word in secret for the Church, and a prudent public silence concerning the Dissenters. Liverpool Mail Liverpool Standard Lynn Advertiser Macclesfield Courier Maidstone Gazette Maidstone Journal Northampton Herald Plymouth Times Hampshire Guardian Pool and Dorsetshire Herald Preston Pilot Gloucestershire Chronicle 5d. 1833 1847 West Kent Guardian. 6d. 1834 1843 1833 1824 1836 41d. 1832 Hereford Journal 1843 1888 1842 Ipswich Journal 1711 1839 1820 1720 1845 1835 1808 1846 1843 Liverpool Courier 1846 |