SIR THOMAS MORE. Could the difficulty which you have noticed, of providing fit ministers for poor and lonely places, be thus removed? MONTESINOS. That object can be effected no otherwise than by raising the income of the poorest benefice till it is sufficient to render the incumbent respectable, as to worldly circumstances, in the eyes of his parishioners. SIR THOMAS MORE. Is it likely that such a description of Methodists could be raised; and, if raised, is it probable that they could be kept together, and restrained from extravagances such as those into which you have truly observed both Whitefield and the Wesleys fell? MONTESINOS. There are at this time men willing to make the attempt, and qualified for what they would undertake. They propose, not to take upon themselves any of the ministerial functions, not to consider their body as an independent sect, nor their preachers as independent ministers; but to act simply as a religious society, united in dutiful obedience to the Establishment, professing its tenets, and endeavouring to promote, by precept and example, the knowledge and practice of true Christian piety. To secure the continuance of that union with the National Church, which is the principle of their association, they agree to insert a provision in the title deeds of every Chapel, that if the sacrament should ever be administered there, or the Chapel opened for worship in canonical hours, when there is service in the parish Church, the Chapel should thereby be escheated, and become the property of the Crown. Thus, they say, they should act in conformity with the principles which Wesley professed first and last; thus should they obey the counsels which Wesley gave in the last year of his life, when, repeating his declaration, that he lived and died a member of the Church of England, he added, "that none, who regarded his judgement or advice, would ever separate from it; and thus, should they fulfil his prediction, that whenever his followers should divide into Dissenting-Methodists and Church-Methodists, the latter would carry on his primitive design with more success than ever; the former," he said," would dwindle into a dry, dull, separate sect." There is, therefore, good reason to suppose that a body of Church-Methodists might be raised, and that, if raised, they might be kept together. Whether it would be possible to guard effectually against those extravagances, into which weak minds and strong feelings are easily hurried, is a question to be more doubtfully answered. Love-feasts, which give occasion for scandal, and watch-nights, which afford opportunity for what is scandalous, would, the first probably, the last certainly, be disused; and so must the abominable practice of mutual examination and confession in the band-meetings. SIR THOMAS MORE. What do they ask from the National Church, in furtherance of their design? MONTESINOS. Countenance from its dignitaries; and to have their services accepted by the parochial clergy, as they are offered, in good will. SIR THOMAS MORE. Will they obtain this? MONTESINOS. There are many obstacles, and of a kind which are not easily removed; strong prejudices in some, amounting to a settled dislike; timidity in others, who would be willing to see the attempt made, and glad that it should succeed, but who shrink from the responsibility of affording it any direct encouragement. Many will be of opinion that nothing, with the name and semblance of Methodism, can be propagated, without leading to some such follies and excesses as have generally accompanied it. Many, again, may apprehend, that more formalism than faith would be produced, a pharisaic* demeanour, and an uncharitable spirit, rather than a Christian temper. And many, who have not these fears, may be withheld from giving any approbation to such an attempt, by their persuasion that our Church has provided all that is necessary for the instruction, the exercise, and the consolation of its members; and therefore they are contented, according to the old monk's rule, sinere res vadere sicut evadunt. SIR THOMAS MORE. There may, indeed, seem reason for apprehending that the new wheat which the husbandmen, whom you are for admitting into the field, would sow, would be in the proportion of a few grains to a handful of tares; at any rate, the field would stand in need of constant and careful weeding! But they who suppose that the ecclesiastical Establishment, in its present state, is competent to the duties expected from it, must have overlooked the great increase of 66 "For ought I see," says South, though the Mosaical part of Judaism be abolished among Christians, the Pharisaical part of it never will."-Vol. i. p. 65. |