immediately said, 'Sir, I will see you safe home. Sir, no man shall touch you. Gentlemen, stand off. Give back.

I will knock the first man down that touches him.' We walked on in great peace; my conductor every now and then stretching out his neck, (he was a very tall man,) and looking round, to see if any behaved rudely, till we came to Mr. Hyde's door. We then parted in much love. I stayed in the street near half an hour after he was gone, talking with the people, who had now forgot their anger, and went away in high good humour."

In Cornwall we have a specimen of his prompt and faithful habits of discipline.

"Wednesday 8: I preached at St. Ives, then at Sithney. On Thursday the stewards of all the societies met. I now diligently inquired, what exhorters there were in each socie ty? Whether they had gifts meet for the work? Whether their lives were eminently holy? And whether there appeared any fruit of their labour? I found upon the whole, 1. That there were no fewer than eighteen exhorters in the county: 2. That three of these had no gifts at all for the work, neither natural, nor supernatural: 3. That a fourth nad neither gifts nor grace, but was a dull, empty, selfconceited man: 4. That a fifth had considerable gifts, but had evidently made shipwreck of the grace of God. These therefore I determined immediately to set aside, and advise our societies not to hear them. 5. That J. B., A. L., and J. W., had gifts and grace, and had been much blessed in the work. Lastly, That the rest might be helpful when there was no preacher, in their own or the neighbouring societies, provided they would take no step without the advice of those who had more experience than themselves." In August he visited Ireland for the first time. dism had been introduced into Dublin by Mr. Williams, one of the preachers, whose ministry had been attended with great success, so that a considerable society had been already formed. Mr. Wesley was allowed to preach once at St. Mary's, "to as gay and senseless a congregation," he observes, "as I ever saw." This was not, however, permitted a second time; and he occupied the spacious yard of the meeting house, both in the mornings and evenings, preaching to large congregations of both poor and rich. Among his hearers he had also the ministers of various

Metho

denominations. The state of the Catholics excited his peculiar sympathy; and as he could have little access to them by preaching, he published an address specially for their use. In his journal he makes a remark on the religious neglect of this class of our fellow subjects by Protestants, which contains a reproof, the force of which has, unhappily, extended to our own times :-" Nor is it any wonder, that those who are born Papists, generally live and die such; when the Protestants can find no better ways to convert them, than penal laws and acts of parlia ment." The chief perplexities which Ireland has occasioned to the empire are to be traced to this neglect; and the dangers which have often sprung up to the state from that quarter, have been, and continue to be, its appropriate punishment. Mr. Wesley's visit, at this time, to Ireland was short; but he requested his brother to succeed him. Mr. Charles Wesley, therefore, accompanied by another preacher, Mr. Charles Perronet, one of the sons of the venerable vicar of Shoreham, arrived there in September. A persecution had broken out against the infant society in Dublin, and "the first news," says Mr. Charles Wesley, "we heard was, that the little flock stood fast in the storm of persecution, which arose as soon as my brother left them. The popish mob broke open their room, and destroyed all before them. Some of them are sent to Newgate, others bailed. What will be the event we know not, till we see whether the grand jury will find the bill." He afterward states that the grand jury threw out the bill, and thus gave up the Methodists to the fury of a licen tious mob. "God has called me to suffer affliction with

his people. I began my ministry with, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,' &c. I met the society and the Lord knit our hearts together in love stronger than death. We both wept and rejoiced for the consolation. God hath sent me, I trust, to confirm these souls, and to keep them together in the present distress." (Whitehead's Life.)

Mr. Charles Wesley spent the winter in Dublin, being daily employed in preaching, and visiting the people. In February he made an excursion into the country, where a few preachers were already labouring, and, in some places, with great success. Thus was the first active and sys. tematic agency for the conversion of the neglected people

of Ireland commenced by the Methodists; and, till of late years, it is greatly to be regretted that they were left to labour almost alone. From that time, however, not only was the spirit of religion revived in many Protestant parts of the country, and many Papists converted to the truth, but the itinerant plan, which was there adopted as in England, enabled the preachers to visit a great number of places where the Protestants were so few in numbers as not to be able to keep up regular worship, or to make head, when left to themselves, against popish influence. A barrier was thus erected against the farther encroachments of popery; and the light was kept burning in districts where it would otherwise have been entirely extinguished. The influence of the Methodist societies, would, however, have been much more extensive, had not the large emigrations which have been almost constantly setting in from Ireland to America, borne away a greater number of their members in proportion than those of any other community. Mr. Charles Wesley spent part of the year 1748 in Ireland, and preached in several of the chief towns, and especially at Cork, with great unction and success.

CHAPTER IX.

THE notices of the journeys and labours of these indefatigable ministers of Christ, given in the preceding chapter, afford but a specimen of the manner in which the foundations of the Methodist connection were carried out and firmly laid. Nor were the preachers under their direction, though labouring in more limited districts of country, scarcely less laboriously employed. At this period one of them writes from Lancashire to Mr. Wesley :-" Many doors are opened for preaching in these parts, but cannot be supplied for want of preachers. I think some one should be sent to assist me, otherwise we shall lose ground. My circuit requires me to travel one hundred and fifty miles in two weeks; during which time I preach publicly thirtyfour times, beside meeting the societies, visiting the sick, and transacting other affairs." (Whitehead's Life.)

Of the preachers some were engaged in business, and preached at their leisure in their own neighbourhoods ;

but still, zealous for the salvation of men, they often took considerable journeys. Others gave themselves up, for a time, to more extended labours, and then settled: but the third class, who had become the regular "assistants” and "helpers" of Mr. Wesley, were devoted wholly to the work of the ministry; and, after a period of probation, and a scrutiny into their character and talents at the annual conferences, were admitted, by solemn prayer, into what was called "full connection," which, as we have stated, was their ordination. No provision was, however, made at this early period for their maintenance. They took neither "purse nor scrip;" they cast themselves upon the providence of God, and the hospitality and kindness of the societies, and were by them, like the primitive preachers, "helped forward after a godly sort,"*" on their journeys, to open new places, and to instruct those for whose souls "no man cared." It might be as truly said of them as of the first propagators of Christianity, they had "no certain dwelling place." Under the severity of labour, and the wretched accommodations to which they cheerfully submitted, many a fine constitution was broken, and premature death was often induced.

The annual conferences have been mentioned; and that a correct view may be taken of the doctrines which at those meetings it was agreed should be taught in the societies, it will be necessary to go back to their commencement. At first every doctrine was fully sifted in successive "Conversations," and the great principles of a godly discipline were drawn out into special regulations, as circumstances appeared to require. After the body had acquired greater maturity, these doctrinal discussions became less frequent; a standard and a test being ultimately established in a select number of Mr. Wesley's doctrinal sermons, and in his "Notes on the New Testament." The free and pious spirit in which these inquiries were entered into was strikingly marked at the first conferences, in the commencing exhortation :-"Let us all pray for a willingness to receive light, to know of every doctrine whether it be of God." The widest principle of

The want of a provision for their wives and families, in the early periods of Methodism, caused the loss of many eminent preachers, who were obliged to settle in independent congregations.

Christian liberty was also laid down, as suited to the infant state of a society which was but just beginning to take its ground, and to assume the appearance of order.

"Q. 3. How far does each of us agree to submit to the judgment of the majority?

"A. In speculative things, each can only submit so far as his judgment shall be convinced; in every practical point, each will submit so far as he can, without wounding his conscience.

"Q. 4. Can a Christian submit any farther than this to any man, or number of men, upon earth?

"A. It is plain he cannot; either to bishop, convocation, or general council. And this is that grand principle of private judgment on which all the Reformers at home and abroad proceeded: 'Every man must judge for himself; because every man must give an account of himself to God.'" (Minutes.)

Never, it may be affirmed, was the formation of any Christian society marked by the recognition of principles more liberal, or more fully in the spirit of the New Testa

ment.

To some of the doctrinal conversations of the first conferences, it is necessary to refer, in order to mark those peculiarities of opinion which distinguish the Wesleyan Methodists. It is, however, proper to observe that the clergymen and others who thus assembled did not meet to draw up formal articles of faith. They admitted those of the Church of England; and their principal object was to ascertain how several of the doctrines relative to experimental Christianity, which they found stated in substance in those articles, and farther illustrated in the Homilies, were to be understood and explained. This light they sought from mutual discussion, in which every thing was brought to the standard of the word of inspired truth.

Their first subject was justification, which they describe with great simplicity; not loading it with epithets, as in the systematic schools, nor perplexing it by verbal criticism. It is defined to be "pardon," or "reception into God's favour;" a view which is amply supported by several explicit passages of Scripture, in which the terms, "par don," "forgiveness," and "remission of sins," are used convertibly with the term "justification." To be "received