Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]

486

. 516

[ocr errors]

THE

EDINBURGH REVIEW,

JULY, 1881.

No. CCCXV.

ART. I.-1. Digest of the Minutes, Institutions, Doctrines, and Ordinances of the Methodist New Connexion. By Rev. WM. BAGGALY. 2nd edition. London: 1879.

2. The General Minutes of the Primitive Methodist Connexion. Consolidated by Order of the Fifty-first Conference, 1870. London.

3. The Foundation Deed of the United Methodist Free Churches, Minutes of the Annual Assembly of the Representatives of United Methodist Free Churches. London: 1880. 4. The History of Methodism. By ABEL STEVENS, LL.D. 3 vols. New York: 1865.

5. The History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. By ABEL STEVENS, LL.D. 2 vols. New York: 1866.

BETWEEN the Church and Orthodox Dissent lies Method

ism, a body of Christians allied with both, but separated by differences stronger than the affinities which connect it with either of the cognate forms of religious organisations. Methodism is mindful of its obligations, yet jealous of its independence; it has therefore adopted the tautological watchword, The friends of all, the enemies of none.' We propose to lay before our readers, in some detail, the organisation, belief, and results of Methodism, as a distinct domain of the religious life of Englishmen. The attempt to indicate the influence of sporadic Methodism would lead us too far afield, and we therefore purpose to confine our attention to Methodism as it has crystallised into distinct communities. It will further be necessary to restrict our observations in a great degree to the parent stem, and simply indicate, in passing, the salient points of difference between the Wesleyan and other branches

VOL. CLIV. NO. CCCXV.

B

of Methodism. With the exception of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, all the different Methodist societies hold the same doctrines, which they expound with substantial agreement. Their disputes, many of which have been intensely bitter, have arisen solely on questions of government, and in this they range from the episcopal form in America to a most democratic system in the United Methodist Free Churches; while between the extremes are the Wesleyans, whose polity is a heterogeneous compound of Presbyterianism and of original devices for the government of religious corporations.

[ocr errors]

6

The line of demarcation between Dissent and Methodism has been well defined from the beginning. Methodism sprang from a sense of personal guilt before God; Dissent arose from the conviction that Episcopacy was wrong. The quarrel of the former was with irreligion, of the latter with prelacy. Dissent discussed theories of Church government as though the salvation of the world depended upon the adoption of some particular scheme. Methodists declared that their prime purpose was to reform the nation, more particularly the Church, and to spread Scriptural holiness over the land." Dissenters,' said Wesley, begin everywhere with showing their hearers how fallen the Church and ministers are; we begin every where with showing our hearers how fallen they are themselves.' Dissent magnified the congregation and made it honourable; Methodism originated the United 'Societies' which were to have close connexion with one another, and always to act in unison. Dissent boldly separated from the Church; the Methodist leaders declared that they 'obeyed the bishops in all things indifferent, and observed the canons as far as they could with a safe conscience.' Their separation was gradual; it continued through many years, it was accompanied with fond regrets, and it has tinged, though with gradually fading tints, the intercourse of the Church and Methodism.

[ocr errors]

At

The

Methodism arose in the darkest days of the Reformed Church of England and in the most dismal of English Dissent. the head of the movement were Whitefield and Wesley. former broke through all trammels and brought the tidings of the Christian faith to the Kingswood miners and similar men by means of field preaching. His passionate oratory took their hearts by storm, and when he found himself unequal to the demands created by his own success he called John Wesley to his aid. At first sight this seemed an unhappy choice. Wesley was a scholar and a gentleman, logical and

« PreviousContinue »