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content with the present state of things is widely spreading . Hundreds have seceded , to the diminution of the influence of Conference ; and thousands are prepared to change the aspect of affairs , or to leave Egyptian bondage . We wish all such God-speed , No cause is dearer than the defence of the rights of man—none more holy than the liberty wherewith Christ has made all his followers free . Let those who are justly discontented be true to this sacred
cause . Let them be strong and quit themselves like men . Jn bondage they may be sure true religion cannot flourish . To be pious , men must first be free ; freedom and piety are twin sisters ; they are born of the same parent , nursed of the same sincere milk of the word , and they pine and die if permanently separated . Their language to each other is that of Ruth , to her mother-in-law—*• whither thou goest I will go , and where thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people , and thy God i » y God ; where thou
diest I will die , and there will I be buried ; the Lord do so to me , and more also , if aught but death part thee and me . " On account of this indissoluble union we esteem liberty before all other things , and on the same account we have a lasting controversy with the rulers of the Methodists , We forgive them every thing—all their extravagancies ; but their wounds on liberty we cannot forgive . These , together with the weapons by which mainly they have inflicted them , namely , pious frauds and holy horror , are our perfect
abomination . We quarrel with do man for his creed ; we can tolerate fanaticism ; but the tyrant , whether on a large or small scale , in whatever sect , however disguised , shall meet with no quarter from us . Let the virtuous indignation that is now kindling in the Methodist community rise to a loud and yet a louder note . Those who feel it have but to resolve to be free
and who or what can withstand them ? Let them expand their viewsthere is need ; let them emerge from their former darkness , not partially , but to the full and perfect day ; let them grow and speedily into the full proportions of men in Christ , and myriads after them will rise tip and call them blessed . The day is auspicious to their exertions . The power of the Conference is on the wane . The rate of increase in their servants is
annually growing less » The flow of wealth into their coffers is subsiding to a gentle and shallow stream . In the very symbols of their greatness are seen elements of their decay . They won their way to extended dominion by unpretending and unadorned simplicity . They are losing their hold on the people's minds and their means of swaying the people ' s affections by the pomp and splendour and dignity which they affect in their forms and places of worship . They are challenging a contrast with the Establishment which
will prove their bane , and they are subduing their original fervour , and veiliDg with gaudy coverings their original plainness , by which they are hastening on their own dissolution . As preachers , anxious to lead men from sin to God , they were irresistible in their appeals to the people ; but as " pastors , " as " a distinct order , ' * as " possessing inherent rights , " as governing jure divino—with the much-affected prefix of reverence , or the more aspiring appellation " bishop or superintendant , " as a body of men caballing for the fattest stalls , * and seeking the flock for the fleece , as " men of learning , " and Jovers of splendour and power more than of God , they will find labour enough to hold the ground they have gained , and would do well if they wish to avoid disappointment , to renounce all hope of largely extending their empire . " I read church history , " says Calamy , " and could not help observing with many others that have gone before rne , that as the fondness
* Myles' History ., p . 240 .
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542 Methodism Changing and Declining . '
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 542, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/38/
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