Chapter V. The Wesleyan Bodies (General)

I. IT was not the original intention of John Wesley that his followers should separate from the communion of the Church of England; and even at the close of his life he expressly declared that should they do so, they must no longer consider themselves his disciples. His object rather was, in forming the original Methodist Societies, to organize guilds and meetings of devout Christians in the face of the widespread lethargy and indifference of his day. He lived and died a clergyman of the Church of England. The very word " Methodist " itself denoted only the method or scheme of private devotion and life which he exhorted his followers to pursue.

He made, however, much to the wrath of his brother Charles, one fatal step, when he laid hands upon certain of his preachers and commissioned them in God's name to exercise their ministry. That he had at first no intention of ordaining them clergy in the strict sense seems fairly evident, but the words used by him with regard to his consecration of Dr. Coke as a "superintendent" or bishop, show that he receded from his earlier position. In the same passage,1 how-

1 Southey's " Life of Wesley," p. 47«- 167 ever, he still maintains that it was to supplement rather than to supplant the Church of England in America that he so acted, and that he had no intention of founding a new denomination. The result, however, might have been foreseen, and even before his death in 1791 the breach of his followers with the Church of England had begun, and a new sect come into being.

2. No purpose would be served by tracing accurately the various fortunes and almost endless subdivisions of Methodism in general. Its members throughout the world are said to number about seven or eight millions of persons, its "adherents," all told, about thirty millions. These, however, are divided into numerous sects, which, once more, have agreed again so far as to send delegates year by year to an " ecumenical " conference in common. The more considerable bodies are named as follows: The "Wesleyan Methodists," the "Primitive Methodists," the "United Methodists," and, by a strange irony, the "Calvinistic Methodists "—a strange irony, since, if there was one doctrine de nounced by Wesley with all the eloquence at his command, it was that of " Predestination " in the Calvinistic sense. It is claimed, however, by this denomination that its origin was contemporaneous with Wesley, and united only with some of his followers at a subsequent date. The " United Methodist Church," it may be noted, was only formed in 1907, and was the result of the amalgamation of the " Methodist New Connexion," the " Bible Christians," and the " Method ist Free Churches ". The " Primitive Methodists " arose from the expulsion of a couple of ministers a century ago from the original body on a purely disciplinary matter; and the "Wesleyan Methodists," by far the most considerable group of all, is the only body that can claim a real and continuous descent from the founder himself.

3. There is not much to distinguish the disciples of Wesley from other " evangelical" Christians, except (i) in dogma, their repudiation of the Calvinistic doctrine of Predestination; (2) in discipline, their organization of the " circuit-system " for ministers; and their scheme of "class-meetings," obligatory on all "members".

A few words must, however, be said on two of these matters.

(i) The "evangelical" system of Christianity is, as has been seen in the discussion of the Free Church Catechism, tolerably orthodox on most of the fundamental doctrines of the Creed, respecting the Being of God, the Divinity of Christ (so far as that is under stood); the Atonement, the forgiveness of sins, and the work of the Holy Ghost upon the individual. Wesley, however, held, too, very forcibly, the doctrines of instantaneous "conversion" and of "justification by faith "; as well as sacramental beliefs that are surprising in their intensity and fervour. As regards Baptism, he appears extraordinarily confused, asserting in one place that it accomplishes regeneration, and in another that it does not; l but the hymns published by his brother Charles and himself upon the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper are astonishingly explicit, 1 Southey's " Life of Wesley," pp. 320-22, and footnotes.

fervent and even Catholic in their expressions.1 It would seem, however, that this sacramental faith has not survived in his followers; and, indeed, perhaps even in himself it was poetical rather than dogmatic.

As regards the Calvinistic doctrine of Predestination, Methodism is distinguished by the formal repudiation of this on the part of its founder, even though, at the present day, it must be remembered, there are very few of the Nonconformist bodies that really accept it in its original sense. It is scarcely a "popular" doctrine, and Nonconformity is above all things " popular".

The main characteristic of Wesleyanism as first in augurated, and as claimed to-day by its exponents, is its insistence upon the necessity of personal and individual religion. The movement began as a reaction against the appalling lethargy of the Establishment of those days, and did, as a matter of undoubted fact, an enormous amount to quicken spiritual life and awaken the sense of responsibility in its adherents. All Wesley's activities were consecrated to this end; and if it can be remembered that in their original inception the Methodist Societies were devotional guilds rather than sects, the essence of the Wesleyan claim will be better understood.

(2) The system of "class-meetings" then, peculiar to Methodism, is another example of this original in-

1 e.g. " Tis done; the Lord sets to His seal, The word is spoke, the grace is given, With joy unspeakable we feel The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The altar streams with Sacred Blcod And all the Temple flames with God."

tention. These bore, at first, many striking resem blances to the assemblies of Catholic Christians in very primitive days. They consisted of meetings under a " class-leader " held once a week; public confession of sin was frequently made, and reconciliations were ef fected in cases of estrangement; here, too, cases of notorious evil-doing were openly rebuked, and, if necessary, the sinner provisionally excluded from Church fellow ship. The meeting concluded with extempore prayer and a hymn or two.

This system continues to the present day with natural modifications. It could hardly be expected that the fervour and simplicity shown in the beginning could continue indefinitely; and the class-meeting of to-day seems little different from an ordinary prayer-meeting. Spiritual "experiences" are related, and thanksgivings — often no doubt slightly Pharisaic — are offered to God for grace received. It is evident, how ever, from this peculiarity that personal and individual religion was the object chiefly aimed at by John Wesley himself.

4. It is on this point then of personal religion that the priest who has to deal with inquirers from Method ism will be well advised in concentrating. It is commonly believed by Nonconformists in general that the Catholic religion is a matter of forms and ceremonies, of outward actions superstitiously believed to please God or to impetrate grace, without any internal correspondence or effort of the soul. It was, in fact, against this kind of formalism that Methodism first raised its voice in protest.

It will be well then to point out to inquirers the actual facts, to say something of the enormous wealth of Catholic teaching on the cultivation and direction of the individual soul, of the amazing degree of science devoted to this end, and, above all, of the practical system of Penance.

In Penance as frequented by devout Catholics there is indeed a " method " unsurpassed in the history of religion, without any of 'the notorious evils that are bound to accompany, in the long run, the practice of public confession of sin. Here, the soul can only approach the physician at all on the condition of its own absolute humility and sorrow for sin: there is no opportunity for Pharisaism; there is no danger of that scandal to weaker brethren which the experience of the Church herself discovered to lie in open acknowledgment before the congregation. In this in stance — as indeed in all others — the very thing taken by the new sect as its special characteristic was al ready supplied in overwhelming abundance by the one Mother of men. No class-meeting, or skilful dealing with souls by the hands of amateur guides, however holy, can even approximate in usefulness and fruitful-ness to that of the ordered Catholic regime administered by highly trained experts and directors. The " Science of Souls," in fact, has practically no existence elsewhere than in Catholicism, for in Catholicism alone is there that tradition and wealth of experience descended through the centuries, and in Catholicism alone is the training of spiritual guides and advisers insisted upon as a condition of their ministry.

So far then as a Methodist is characteristically Methodist, it is this point that should be particularly laid before him; in other matters of theology and history he may be treated as an average " evangelical " Christian.