Arminian Magazine, For JULY 1796. REASONS FOR METHODISM. Dear Sir, TH LETTER III. HE Subftance of what I offered to your confideration in my fecond Letter, may be briefly fummed up in the following words. Mankind come into the world in a depraved and fallen condition; as long as they continue in their natural ftate, they are at enmity with God, and would have for ever remained the fubjects of his wrath and punishment, had not Jefus Chrift given himself up as a facrifice for the fins of the world, and by his death and mediation reconciled God to man. In order to make this atonement effectual to our Salvation, it is requifite that we repent and believe; that is, that we forfake fin, and have faith in the mercy of God through Chrift. This we are unable to do without the grace and affiftance of the Divine Spirit; and after all we have done or can do, we are ftill unprofitable servants, ând can only hope for pardon and acceptance through the merits of a Redeemer. You will now perhaps be ready to fay with many others, that all this may be very right, and as far as you know conformable to the obvious fenfe of Scripture, but you fee no reafon affigned from any thing I have yet advanced, why I fhould have joined the Methodist Connection. You will tell me (what I very well knew before) that these doctrines are all of them inculcated in the Articles of our Church, in the Homilies, and in the Form of Prayer used in Divine Service. You will add moreover, that our Minifters generally enforce them from the Pulpit, and that the ftile and language of their difcourfes are calculated to imprefs them on the minds of their hearers. "Why therefore fhould you leave the Church and unite yourfelf with a particular feet, whofe principles of Religion are fimilar to thofe in which you have been educated, and which you at prefent profeffedly adopt ? " This then is the question in point. I fhall endeavour to anfwer it fully and unequivocally; and I have no doubt but that the candid part of mankind, though they may not embrace my opinions, will at least give me credit for the fincerity of my intentions. With With refpect to my leaving the Church, the charge is entirely groundless; for fo far am I from deferting it, that if my life be Ipared, I fhall be more punctual in my attendance there than I have been for many years paft. And my reafon for this is, that I admire that spirit of piety and devotion which runs through the greatest part of the Service, I accord heartily with the doctrines of the Church, and I think it expedient for each individual, if he can do it with a fafe confcience, to contribute his fupport to the religious establishment of that country in which he is born and educated, and under the government of which he lives free and happy. But my reafons for enrolling myfelf as a member of the Methodift Society, are of a far different nature, and operate so powerfully on my mind, as not to leave me the smallest room to doubt of the neceffity of the ftep I have taken. And that I have not made an affertion of this kind without fome foundation, will, I hope, appear from the fequel of this letter. In order to be as concife and methodical as poffible, I fhall divide my fubje&t into the following diftinct Sections: I fhall confider Firft. The inflitutions or difcipline of the Methodists. Secondly. The mode of performing divine fervice amongst them. Thirdly. The general character of their Preachers. Fourthly. The influence of Methodism on human happiness and conduct. Fifthly. I fhall conclude with a plain and fimple narrative of my own experience in religious matters. SECT. I. Of the Inftitutions or Difcipline of the METHODISTS. There is too much reafon to fear, that many who have been brought to a sense of their ftate by nature, and experienced the pardoning love of GOD, have nevertheless in process of time forgotten their CREATOR, and plunged afresh into the vices and fashionable levities of the world. I cannot contemplate fuch a character as this without horror, and I tremble for the fate of that man who imagines that when he is once juftified from the guilt of his paft fins, he is no longer liable to err. Such an opinion generally takes its rife from a too confident reliance upon our own ability. And this causes us to overlook the neceffity of prayer. It renders us lefs watchful, flow to examine ourselves, and introduces a neglect of those pious and devotional exercises which are indifpenfibly requifite to keep up the fpirit of vital religion amongst us. Hence it is, that we are infenfibly drawn off from God; we forget the manifeftations of his love, and prefuming upon our own fufficiency, we gradually relapse into our former apathy and corruption. We should do well to bear in mind, that a life of religion is a progreffive It is not fufficient that we receive a fenfe of GOD's pardon, one. and and experience the power of GOD unto falvation; we muft grow in grace; as we have been wafhed, fo we must be fanctified, 1 Cor. vi. 11. We must walk with God, Gal. vi. 16. Out of the good treasure of our heart, we must bring forth good things; Matt. xii. 35. We must mortify the deeds of the body, Rom. viii. 13. It is required of us to caft off the works of darkness, and to put on the armour of Chrift, xiii. 12: To live no longer to ourselves but to the Lord, xiv. 8. And to walk worthy of our vocation wherewith we are called, Eph. iv. 1. In short, faith the Apostle, "we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jefus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For this is the will of God, even your fanctification. For God hath not called us unto uncleannefs, but unto holiness," 1 Theff. iv. 1, 7. 3,7 have before obferved, that a state of grace is only to be maintained and kept alive, by the perfevering ufe of those means which are in general inftrumental in procuring it for us at firft, viz. a conftant and earnest communion with God in prayer. And this is one of the leading arguments in favour of Methodism. There is perhaps no fect or body of Chriftians who have advantages in this refpect equal to the Methodifts. Their inftitutions afford them not only very ample opportunities of affociating together for the purpose of religious worship, but their difcipline is fo ftrict as to require them to attend on all fuch occafions, except when prevented by fickness or very material business: fides the ordinary fervice performed at the Preaching Houfe on the Sabbath, and occafional preaching in the course of the week, they have their Claffes, Band-Meetings, Love-Feafts, and WatchNights. Be Mr. Bradburn, in a fermon written in defence of Methodism, has treated this part of our subject in fo plain and accurate a manner, that I fhall be excused if I infert his own words. 1. "All who are in connection with us, meet in what we call' a Clafs That is, from twelve to about twenty members, having a perfon of more experience than the others (who is termed the Leader) to watch over them, meet together once a week, at the time and place most convenient to them. The Leader gives out a few verses of a hymn, which they all join in finging. He then makes a fhort prayer; after which he converses with each member about Chriftian experience, giving fuitable advice to all; and again they fing and pray, concluding all in about an hour. And are not these meetings agreeable both to the Old Testament and the New? In the dark state of the Jewish Church, when both People and Priests were in general (as is too much the cafe now) careless and even wicked; "" Then, (faith the Prophet Malachi,) they that feared the Lord, fpake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that 2 U 2 thought thought upon his name." And to meetings of this kind, we con ceive the Apostle Paul alludes, where he advifes the Coloffians thus: "Let the word of Chrift dwell in you richly in all wif dom; teaching and admonishing one another in pfalms and hymns, and fpiritual fongs, finging with grace in your hearts to the Lord." And where this company is thought too large to speak their minds freely, many meet alfo once a week in smaller companies called Bands, confifting of four or five perfons, men with men, and women with women. Nothing can be more fimple than thefe meetings. And we think the Apostle James's words are best understood, by fuppofing fomething of this kind, "Confels your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed." But let it be well obferved, there is nothing in thefe affemblies like the confeffion of fin to a prieft, in order to obtain abfolution from him; but the fpeaking freely of their ftate of mind to one another, that they may know how to rejoice with those that rejoice, and to weep with those that weep, which they could not do without fome acquaintance with each others condition. 2. "In large places the minifter meets the Society all together, on Sunday evenings after public fervice, and gives general or particular directions, according to the account he has received through the preceding week; he then alfo mentions any business that is to be done, refpecting either the fpiritual or temporal concerns of the Society; relates any remarkable accounts he may have heard of the profperity of the work of God in other places, and concludes with prayer. Thefe meetings, when judicioufly managed are of admirable use. The people are frequently much refreshed therein, and their union greatly ftrengthened.. 3. "To prevent our being impofed upon by bad people, the fuperintendent minifter, or another by his direction, meets every Clafs feparately, once a quarter, and fpeaks perfonally to each member. Thofe that have walked agreeable to the gofpel the past quarter receive tickets with a portion of Scripture printed on them, alfo the Month and Year, and a letter of the Alphabet, which being the fame in all places, an impoftor can generally be detected. And we conceive that fomething of this nature was ufed in the primitive Church, efpecially when any of them went to ftrange places. ("Thefe Tefferæ, as the ancients called them, being of juft the fame force with the commendatory letters mentioned by the Apoftle.) Thefe are likewife of use in other refpects. By fhewing thefe to the perfons appointed to regulate the Society, whenever it meets apart, it is easily known who are members. Thefe alfo furnish us with an eafy method of removing any diforderly member. He has no new ticket at the quarterly vifitation, and hereby it is known, that he is no longer of our community." 4. "There are two other kinds of meetings which we observe, and which were both of ancient usage. Thefe are Love-Feasts Vide Plin. Ep. ad Traj. Lib. X. Ep. 97. Lard. Teft. Heath. ii. 9. p. 40. and and Watch-Nights. The former is alluded to by St. Jude, ver. 12. where fpeaking of the evil doers who affociated with the Chriftians, he fays, "these are spots in your Feafts of Love." "And of these it is generally fuppofed Peter fpeaks, 2 Epist. ii. 13. At thefe, which are kept in large Societies once a quarter, each person takes a bit of plain cake and a little water. We fing a few hymns, two or three of the minifters pray, and if any perfon has any thing particular to fay concerning Chriftian experience, none are hindered, if they be fhort, as the whole fhould conclude in about an hour and an half. But thefe have no relation at all to the Lord's Supper. The elements of the Lord's Supper are bread and wine, (which we receive exactly agreeable to the form in the Common Prayer Book) whereas at the Love-Feafts we use only cake and water. The defign being fimply to teftify our christian love to each other. "The Watch-Nights were anciently the vigil kept on the evenings preceding the grand feftivals. Our custom is, about four times a year in the large places, to meet between eight and nine at night; and after one of the Minifters has preached, feverat others pray and exhort, giving out at intervals fuitable hymns, which the congregation join in finging, concluding at 12 o'clock. Exceeding great are the bleffings we find on thefe occafions. They are times of great folemnity, and often tend, to animate qur devotions, and fir up our minds to a more earnest concern for our eternal welfare. 5. "For the management of all temporal affairs, there are ner fons of known piety, as well as having fkill in accounts, chofen, to whom the care of these things is committed. These Stewards, or (as they were called in the primitive Church) Deacons, receive what money has been collected by the Leaders in their Claffes, either for the poor, or for the expences of carrying on the work. They keep exact accounts of all they receive and difburfe, which accounts are audited once a quarter, when there is a meeting of the Minifters of the Circuit with the Stewards from every place, at which meeting every thing relating to temporal concerns is publicly fettled.* The Stewards being changed every two years, prevents jealoufies and evil-furmifings, and gives every proper person in the Society an opportunity of ferving in his turn. Nothing can be more reasonable than this. If being a Steward be an honour, why should not all who are capable, share it ? If it be a crofs, why fhould not all take it up? 6. "The last thing I fhall mention which relates to our Difcipline, is the conftant change of the Preachers. We read in the Acts of the Apoftles, and in many of the Epiftles, that the first Preachers went from place to place as the providence of God N. B. The other office among us, namely, that of the Trustees, is a legal concern. As Truftees of the Chapel, they have no authority at all to interfere either with the fpiritual or temporal concerns of the people. The first belongs to the Preachers and Leaders; The fecond to the Preachers and Stewards. opened |