Wesley catechizes Zinzendorf. 221 unacceptable. The Queries are arranged under ten divisions, 1755 and the writer hopes the count will give "speedy, plain, positive, Age 52 categorical answers." He also states, that, in these Queries, he has "summed up, as briefly as possible, the most material parts of the charges against the Moravians." Viewed in such a light, the pamphlet is of great importance The following are specimens. "I. With regard to yourself and your community. 1. Do you permit the Brethren to style you 'The angel of the church of Philadelphia'? 2. Do not they almost implicitly believe your assertions, and obey your directions? 3. Do not you think yourself, as a teacher, equal to any of the apostles? 4. Do not you believe your doctrinal writings are of equal authority with the Bible? 5. Do not you judge your church to be the only true church under heaven; and the members of it the only true Christians on earth? 6. Are the Brethren the 144,000 mentioned in the Revelation? 7. Is it honest to term yourselves the Moravian church, when you know you are not the Moravian church? 8. Do you yourself expect to be judged at the last day? 9. Do you believe a thousand souls of the wicked will be saved in that day at your intercession? "II. With respect to your doctrines concerning the Trinity. Have you spoken these words, or anything to the same effect, 'Praying to God the Father is not a whit better than praying to a wooden or stone God? The preachers of God the Father are Satan's professors? The Father and the Holy Ghost minister to Christ in all things? The Holy Ghost is the wife of God, the mother of Christ, and of the church ?' "III. With regard to the Son of God. Do you affirm, that He sometimes gave answers to people that are not fit to be examined according to logic; and, that He had nothing extraordinary in His turn of mind or gifts? "IV. With regard to the apostles and Scriptures. Do you affirm, that the apostles, except St. Paul and John, did not know so much of the blood theology as the Brethren? Were these your words, 'I have ever, and still do protest, that the first Christians cannot properly be called a church, being no more than a troop of legalists'? Did you affirm, that there are more than six hundred blunders in the four gospels? Have you left out the whole epistle of St. James in your edition of the New Testament? Are there any persons among you who boast that they never read the Bible in their lives? Have you used it as a term of reproach, to have 'heads full of Biblish lumber'? Did any of the Brethren say, 'The Bible is dung, fit only to be spit upon '? "V. With regard to the moral law of God. Are these your own words, 'There is but one duty, which is that of believing'? Our method is to preach no commandment but that of believing'? Is it true that, at some of the merry meetings of the Brethren, there was an uproar as if a madhouse had broken loose? that the Brethren threw one another on the floor, 1755 Age 52 and struggled, with many gross indecencies? Is it true, that your son vindicated all this? And that you yourself said, it was blasphemy to censure it? "VI. With regard to idolatry and superstition. Have you not hymns directed to angels, and the Virgin Mary? Has not a large image of our Saviour been placed in the midst of the Brethren met together? Has not incense been burnt for you? "VII. With regard to your manner of conversation. Are not you of a close, dark, reserved temper and behaviour? Is not the spirit of secrecy the spirit of your community? Do not you, in many cases, use cunning, guile, dissimulation? Was not Mr. Gambold guilty of a calm, deliberate lie, in publicly affirming, you had not so much as seen those hymns, some of which you had not only seen but composed? "VIII. With regard to moral honesty. Have you not distressed, if not totally ruined, numerous families? "IX. With regard to your manner of answering for yourselves. Have you ordered the Brethren to give no answer to any accusation, but the general one, 'It's all a lie'? Do you still deem those who blame your hymns worthy of having their tongues plucked out, or their hands chopped off?" The above are fair specimens of all the Queries proposed by the writer of this curious pamphlet.1 The conclusion is as follows. "But I have done. I have proposed the Queries which you desired, and have endeavoured therein to come to the point. Permit me now to remind your lordship of the assurance given to the public, 'As soon as these Queries are finished, the Moravians, who expect them with earnest longing, will lose no time in answering them.' If your lordship is inwardly and deeply convinced, that the bulk of the preceding objections are just, and if you are determined to amend whatsoever is capable of amendment, then silence may be a sufficient answer. I am, my lord, your lordship's real well wisher, and humble servant.” What gave birth to this publication? Was Wesley justified in writing it? The following facts will help to answer these questions. The reader has already seen that the eccentricities of the Moravian brotherhood had occasioned a large amount of public scandal. This, unfortunately, increased, rather than diminished; and, hence, on the last day of the year 1754, James Hutton published an advertisement in the London Daily Advertiser, 1 Except one class of Queries, here omitted, because referring to matters obscene and blasphemous. It may be added that, in this same year, 1755, Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, published a furious pamphlet, of 180 pages, entitled, "The Moravians Compared and Detected." calling for "Queries" to be proposed in reference to the charges publicly circulated against the Brethren; and indicating that answers to the Queries would be furnished.1 What was the result? Seven days after the appearance of Hutton's advertisement, Wesley's Queries were published; 2 but we can hardly say that they were answered. It is true, that an octavo volume was issued soon after; but the jejuneness, irrelevance, and confusion of the answers to the Queries may be guessed from the cumbrous title of the book, which was as follows: "An Exposition, or True State of the Matters objected to in England to the people known by the name of Unitas Fratrum: in which facts are related as they are; the true readings and sense of books, said to be his, (which have been laid to his charge sometimes without sufficient proof that they were so, and been moreover perverted and curtailed) are restored; principles are laid down as they ought, fairly; the practice, as it has been, is at present, and is intended for the future, is owned. By the Ordinary of the Brethren. The notes and additions by the editor,"-that is, by Count Zinzendorf and James Hutton. Passing to other publications. It was in 1755, that Wesley completed his "Christian Library," by the issue of ten additional 12mo volumes, containing more than 3000 printed pages. One of these was in the form of an index to the whole of the fifty volumes published; the others consisted of extracts from the writings of Reynolds, South, Flavel, Annesley, Nelson, Beveridge, Howe, and other distinguished authors. Another of Wesley's publications, in 1755, arose out of one of the most fearful events of modern times. On November 1, occurred the great earthquake at Lisbon, a city containing 36,000 houses, 350,000 inhabitants, a cathedral, forty parish churches, as many monasteries, and a royal palace. In six minutes, the greatest part of the city was destroyed, and not less than 60,000 persons met with an untimely death. The same earthquake was severely felt in almost the whole of Europe. In 1754, Whitefield visited Lisbon, on his way to America, and spent nearly a month in that ill fated city. Early in 1755 Age 52 1755 Age 52 occurrence. 1755, he published a 12mo pamphlet of 29 pages, giving an account of what he witnessed, little thinking that the scene of so much sin would soon become the graveyard of tens of thousands of its inhabitants. He found crucifixes, and images of the Virgin, and of other real or reputed saints, in almost every street, lamps hanging before them, and the people rendering them obeisance as they passed. Processions of priests and friars, with lighted wax tapers, were almost of daily One of these was led by three popish dignitaries in scarlet clothes, followed by two little boys with wings fixed on their shoulders to make them resemble angels. Then came several images of St. Francis; then an image of our Saviour, with long black hair, and dressed in a purple gown; and then the virgin mother, to whom St. Francis rendered homage. After this, followed a mitred cardinal gaudily attired; a gorgeous friar under a splendid canopy; and then a long train of fat Franciscans. Another procession consisted of nearly two hundred penitents, all clothed in white, their faces veiled, their feet bare, and chains fastened to their ankles; some having on their backs great stones; others carrying in their hands dead men's bones and skulls; some bearing upon their shoulders a heavy cross; and most lashing themselves with cords, or beating themselves with iron rods. In one of the churches, Whitefield found a solid silver altar of several yards circumference, and about twelve steps high. In another, he met with a golden altar, of nearly the same dimensions, its base studded with precious stones, each step lit up with large lighted silver candlesticks, and the top adorned with silver images of angels. In a large church, belonging to the convent of St. De Beato, he mingled with many thousands in witnessing what was meant to be a representation of the crucifixion of the Son of God. Upon a high scaffold were three fullsized figures of the blessed Saviour and of the crucified malefactors. At a little distance, was the holy Virgin, in long ruffles and widow's weeds, her face veiled with purple silk, and her head encircled with a crown of glory. At the foot of the Saviour's cross, lay, in a mournful posture, a living man, dressed in woman's clothes, personating Mary Magdalene; while near at hand was a younger man, arrayed in a bob-wig and a green silk vesture, representing the apostle John. On each side, stood two sentinels in buff, with formidable caps and beards; and, directly in front, a personation of the Roman centurion, with a large target in his hand. From behind the purple hangings came twenty purple-vested boys, all wearing golden caps, and adorned with wings, and each one bearing a lighted taper in his hand. Opposite to the stage, a black friar, mounted in a pulpit, preached a sort of fifteen minutes' sermon. Then came four long-bearded men, two of them carrying a ladder, and the other two, as the representatives of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathæa, bearing large gilt dishes filled with spices. Amid great ceremony, the body of the Saviour was taken down; Mary Magdalene wrapped the feet in her widespread handkerchief; the beloved disciple clasped the corpse to his loving heart; shrouded in linen, it was carried round the churchyard in grand procession; and then, followed by the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and St. John, and by a whole troop of friars, bearing wax tapers in their hands, was conducted to an open sepulchre, and buried. Thus ended the Good Friday's superstitious tragedy in the far famed Lisbon. A year and a half afterwards, Lisbon was a heap of ruins. Under the date of November 26, Wesley says: "Being much importuned thereto, I wrote 'Serious Thoughts on the Earthquake at Lisbon;' directed, not as I designed at first, to the small vulgar, but the great; to the learned, rich, and honourable heathens, commonly called Christians." This was published in an octavo pamphlet of 34 pages; and, within a month, passed through two editions. Perhaps none of Wesley's publications contain so much fiery eloquence as this. The reader must peruse it for himself. Another of Wesley's publications, in 1755, though small, was important-"Catholic Spirit. A Sermon on 2 Kings x. 15." 12mo, 31 pages. It contains the principles of an evangelical alliance, namely, belief in the Holy Trinity in Unity, love to God and man, and the practice of good works. Wherever he found a man answering to this description, he was ready to recognise a Christian and a brother. He would not urge him to entertain his opinions, or to embrace his modes of worship. The presbyterian, the independent, the baptist, and even the quaker, had as much right to their opinions and preferences as he had to his. All he asked was VOL. II. Q 1755 Age 52 |