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them;—it is indeed a curious contrast , fciid shews how little we are to depend on the statement of a partisan ^ who is ever prone to extol his own sect at the expense of every other , denomination in the religious world . ** In the year i ? $ 8 IVfr . Wesley taking a review of the nature of the work in
which he had been so long engaged thus speaks of it . — - There is no other religious soriety under heaven . which require * nothing ^ f then in order to their Admission into it but a desire to sdfce their souls ! Look all around you , —you cannot be admitted inta the church or
so-Ciety of the Presbyterians * Baptists , tgjuakersy or any other , unless you hold the same opinions with them , and adhere to the same mode cf wor&Bip . The Methodists alone do not insist on your holding this or that opinion , but they think and Ui think . Neither do they impose a particular mode of Worship , but you
may continue to worship in your former manner , be it what it may ! Now I do not know any other religious society , tithev ancient or modern , wherein such liberty of conscience is now allowed , or has been allowed since the age of the
apostles 1 Here is our glorying , and a glorying peculiar to us ! What society shares it with us ? '—Were this representation in all its parts ( says Mr . 1 ST . ) exactly true and just , the Methodist would indeed be the church of God— -the
glory of every other church—the Lamb ' s wife adorned as a bride for the bridegroom . We should never hear of expulsions for supposed heresies ; there would be no longer proud looks and disdainful carriage manifested towards those who differ in opinion from their brethren . At ! anger , and strife , and
bitterness would be done away ,- —persecution would hide its horrid visage , —bigqtry would be forgotten and uncharitableness be 6 wallowed up of Christian Ibve and philosophical forbearance . But is this the case among Methodists , more than any other , sect ? I know it is not . I knpw that to call in question any of
their doctrines , or to dispute the validity pf any part * bf their discipline , la a sure ground of excommuriicfetion . Nay , the very last Conference , < ( r 8 o 6 ) they cxpcl-Ic 4 pne of the travelling preachers for holding some opinions concerning justification by faith and the ' witoess f t ^« spirit - which the Conference thought
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were anti-methodistical , but which tnc expelled preacher has sines attempted to proVe are strictly agreeable to the doctrines taught by Wesley and Fletcher . Whatever the society of Methodists may require of candidates on their admission , it is certain that , leaving once entered , it is expected they will not vary one' jot and - tittle , from the true Methfcdi . stical
creed . Hlse , why is it that the trustdeeds of their chapels have a clause in them requiring all the preachers to preach only such doctrines as are laid down in Wesley ' s Sermons and Fletcher ' s Checks ? Nay , Madam , if any private member should broach any other faith
than their ' s , expulsion from the society would infallibly be ^ the consequence ! What confidence then are we to place in the boasting professions of liberality contaitied in the ^ extrac ^ I have just made ? Truly it may be said of it that * alt is false and hollow \ '
" Mr . Wesley did not , Lam persuaded , design to deceive when he made those declarations concerning his connexion * but he forgot himself in the warmth of his admiration , and spoke of Methodis t * rather as he wished , it to he , than as it
really was . I have thought it necessary to let you know ttiis that you may not be misled by false appearances and partial representatiotis ; and let nbt the Methodists deem me their enemy because I have told the truth . **
As Mr . N . always substan- * tiates his charges , it will be proper to remark that in the Preface he has chastised the Hitheralityr of Mr . Benson towards Mr . Evans , respecting his cc Sketch of the
Denominations , of the Christian world . '' And in the body bf the work , a statement is given which shews that the , tfnitarians &a . ve been honoured with the abuse of this holy fraternity . Speaking of the damnatory sentences with which their pulpit-harangues abound , Mr . N . allujjjng to Dr .
Thomas Coke , observes , " This little man , with the most barefaced effrontery , a $ d in direct opposition to all truth , commAtt sense " , decencf , religion , and eren the express rj | les o £ his 9 * wn society , embrace * every Mppor «' tunity to uiakg ih pulpit ^ v $ JucJ * of
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i O < 2 lleview . —Nightingale & Portraiture of Methodism *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1808, page 102, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2389/page/46/
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