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for church power and ppmp increased , the spirit of serious piety declined and decayed among those that bore the name of Christians . " This result and its natural consequence , decline of members and resources , would even now have been observable to a greater extent than it is , had it not been for the disinterested labours of the local preachers and of the lay instrumentality generally , which nevertheless the " pastors ' underrate , not to say contemn .
We have spoken of change in the Methodist body . In one particular the symptoms of change are very marked . Few need to be told that Wesley was a field preacher , that Methodism advanced considerably among the people by field preaching . Yet no sooner had the system lodged itself in splendid houses , decked in purple and fine linen , and led its advocates to fare sumptuously every day , than it forgot the poor beggar without ; nay , more , forbade those who desired to go into the highways and compel them to come
in . The minutes of Conference bear testimony too ample to this change , and give evidence too ample in support of a charge of grievous inconsistency . Field preaching was justified by Wesley on the ground of an alleged exigency . It was in his time the way of God's own indication , for thousands were perishing for lack of knowledge . Now it cannot be pretended that with an increasing population and increasing crime the exigency has been or is less . Why then have the Conference excommunicated members again
and again for carrying the gospel to those who felt no prompting to come to seek it , forgetful alike of the early history of Methodism and the early history of the gospel ? The system of itinerancy is also on the decline . At first a Methodist preacher remained at most but a few months in a place . This time was then extended to one year . Afterwards , with a view to the accommodation of certain influential preachers , permission was given by that " most perfect aristocracy on earth , " the Conference , to the few who
have influence in congregations , to petition for the continuance of an acceptable orator for a second year . But now the rules of the oligarchy manage things still more to their own advantage . A circuit may contain live preachers and consist of one large town . B ., the secretary , or perchance the president of the Conference , wishes to remain in this large town , where he is well " accommodated" as to cl provision and labour . " In consequence he changes his place upon " the plan" without changing his locality in space ,
and remaining snugly lodged in the same abode , circulates , as a preacher , year after year , round a circuit limited by the circumference of one town . And this to him , and to all beside who are of " the powers that be , " is itinerancy , these are " travelling preachers . " Could Wesley himself rise from his grave and appear before the chief men in the chief stations of Methodism , Wesley , who , for fifty years , travelled , preaching and writing incessantly , about four thousand five hundred miles every year , and see them making speedy
progress to rival the incumbents of the church in their incumbency , how would he feel the ardour rekindle in his bosom in which he flogged , when he first began his public ministry , the lazy and sleeping servants of the establishment ! These several tokens of change and decay would , we are free to confess , occasion to us much regret , were it not that the spirit of Methodism is a spirit of despotism . The work of evangelists we should rejoice to see the to
Conference carry on in triumph from one extremity of the kingdom ^ the other . It is a work that is greatly needed , and for what they have done therein we thank them ; but when we think of the slavish principles and despotic rule of the Methodist hierarchy , we rejoice that change and decay are visible in their institutions ; and in anticipation of the events of another century , we take up the " proverb" uttered of old in exultation over the
Untitled Article
Methodism Changing and Declining . 543
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 543, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/39/
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