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share in their Reverences' power . They remind the suppliants of the distinction of " order , ' * and bid them learn to obey before they essay to rule . In , their disinterested and comprehensive ardour they extend their care beyond the spiritual to temporal concerns , and ease the " lower orders , " the deacons , of much of their weighty business . In a word , they are over all and in all . They aTe supreme and omnipresent . They have an eye in .
every member ' s breast , a hand in every member ' s pocket , a rod in every member ' s house . A member cannot marry without their consent , must not eat what they forbid , must dress as they order , must think as they dictate , and speak according to their horn-book . If a Methodist complains of oppression , he is denounced as an innovator ; if he tells his tale to the public be is excommunicated as a worldling . If from local oppression he seeks
redress at the hands of the Conference , his petition is arrested by his oppressor , or should it by some rare chance escape the plenary power and hundred hands of the local functionary , it finds the oppressor turned juds ^ e , and surrounded by assessors alike concerned to maintain an usurped dominion . We have not exaggerated the picture . The following cases are our vouchers . At Leeds , a few trustees and others wished to havre an organ in the Brunswick Chapel . The " superintendent ' of the circuit , the local
" bishop , " was applied to , and he recommended the proper course , namely , application to the leaders' meeting . A large majority decided against the proposal , and according to Methodist law the question was set at rest . But the organ party were dissatisfied ; they had interest with the preachers , and acting as advised by authority , they applied to the district meeting . Here they met with a second defeat . An application was made to Conference , and Conference in contempt of these two decisions , and therefore in
opposition to its own laws , granted leave for the erection of the organ . In consequence of these infractions of the law , and this invasion of the people's rights , disorders began to prevail in the Leeds societies . Irregular meetings were held . These the people justified by the illegality of their opponents ' measures , and the only object proposed by them was to gain time for an
appeal to the Conference . Overtures made on the part of the people were rejected . Unqualified and immediate submission was required . This being impossible , the authorities are appealed to , a conclave assembles , none are allowed to vote but such as had , in writing , signified their adherence to the priestly party , and one thousand members accused of no act of
immorality , whose sole crime was their having dared to complain that Conference had broken its own laws ; one thousand members , of whom twentyeight were local preachers and thirty-five leaders , were , without the least attempt at conciliation , cut off from a connexion which was dear to them , and excluded from places of worship which they had helped to erect . Of these arbitrary proceedings several members at Liverpool thought they were bound to complain . They intimated to the superintendant their intention to introduce the subject at the Quarterly Meeting , with the view of putting
the Conference in possession of their sentiments . The superintendant demurred , but being advised that if he refused to entertain the subject , an irregular meeting might be called , he concluded by saying , " Well , then , I suppose we must endeavour to meet the case . " A copy of the address intended to be sent to Conference was submitted to him before the meeting took place . This he revised , and what he objected to was altered . Resolutions in the Bpirit of the address were moved and seconded at the Quarterly Meeting , and the superintendant refused to put the questions to the vote . He promised , however , to call a special meeting for the purpose of discuss-
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Instances of Despotism nmeng Methodists . 539
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 539, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/35/
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