LETTERS ON METHODISM BY AN EX-METHODIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 234, 26 October 1877, Page 9

LETTERS ON METHODISM BY AN EX-METHODIST.

3 "^ 6o *^ l6^ 6^ olllß * g entlem an became a convert to the Catholic Church. Mr. Mason was his name. He published a series i of^letters explaining the reasons which induced him to leave the Methodist body or connerion. These letters are written in a spirit of moderation and Christian charity, though with an occasional warmth. Among other things, he says, Methodism as a religion springing from private judgment, and founded on a human base is uJSw^i? "I 8 ? a U d salutai 7 system ' " rhaveno ill will against X2?flS£n ? ' Z™ 7 ? itS P reachers a ssuch, and abstracted fiom the evils I see resulting from their organised system, and its 3£S*? °M th - B i° Ci^ T 1 SpMtual toteretff of the myriaSengaged riS M^"t S^ * hh V Vay ' is lather a Btron S wo « l fOT the oo C e ca . sion. Methodists, he admits, are a great body of people, and now Ks2f P°i^ c ? infl « c " cc to the English nation byno meZ to be despised. AUuding to the evil fruits of Methodism and the violent dissentions among the Methodists themselves, caused by the vicious working of their system, he says, « That those evils do exist is evident fiom the thousands of dissentients who now lift tip their voice in every part of the country in loud complaints, appeals, and rcmonSTXftUCCS • He goes into the origin of Methodism. "There are," he says, "several histories of Methodism before the public, and no doubt many have read those histories ; but few, I fear, have considered the subject 111 an impartial mind." The Catholic regards the subject with contempt ; Protestants generally with indifference ; and the Methodists themselves, with a partiality which loses sight of the fundamental defects of their system. He continues, " The Catholic however, ought not to be ignorant of the moral state of the English people when Wesley arose. The Catholic faith lost; the Church abolished ; her clergy imprisoned, put to death, or exiled The people turned over to a sort of political parsons, who could spare no time from their wordly pursuits and pleasures to attend to the spiritual interests of their flocks. Divisions in the schools ; indifference m the pulpit ; total neglect of their own or of the morals of the people ; a famine of the Word of Life and of the means of salvation was generally expe rienced. At this time John Wesley arose " He invited the clergy of the <• establishment" to co-operate with him in supplying the spiritual wants of the people ; but they were idle • and would not hear him, and ultimately expelled him from their society. While John Wesley remained in the Government Church he found a few young men of like mind with himself. They, however, were the lesser orbs— Wesley the great luminary, and it was reserved for him to establish a great people. He went out to the highways and hedges, as well as to the towns and villages preaching what he considered "the Gospel/ The doctrines he held we£ by no means settled. He had not as yet determined or founded a sect, much less had he formed a plan of Church government. At first he started with horror, from the idea of "lay preachers." Ultimately he came to consider himself a minister of God, both ordinary and extraordinary tE2&K£&£ om God t0 call a pco * lc " out of darkness 5 Methodism arose in the English nation something like Christianity in the midst of Paganism. « Upon my word,' continues Mr. Wood, " upon my word I do not wonder at all at its rapid progress *^ ™y ]™ owl edge of these times, and of the circumstances under which Methodism appeared. The veneration in which Wesley's name is held, the chai-m it holds on the minds of men, fully demonstrate the truth of my remarks. It is true, when weighed in just balances he is found wanting , but, then, Methodists have not those just balances, and, therefore, they hold Methodism to be divine." Under the circumstances in which the people of England were placed, when Wesley appeared, Mr. Mason maintains that they acted religiously and prudently in following him as their spiritual guide, and arc not deserving of contumely or contempt on that accoimt. Does Methodism teach that a Divme authority is necessary for the exercise of the office of a Wesleyan minister 1 Mr. Mason says it does so teach Mr. Wesley believed in "Apostolic succession through the Bishop of Home, though rather slippy in his creed on that and other points. JUr. \\ esley was a special man ; his preachers and people believed in him as such. He neither would nor could do wrong. Hence he was necessarily an absolute despot, infallible like the Popes, and more arbitrary than they or their councils. While he formed plans to increase and strengthen and enrich his body, he took care to have Gonfeience sole heir to his authority and inspiration, to his laws and iorensic tact, flexible cunning aud inflexible stubborness " Methodists maintain that whoever possesses their religion will & V iM?L\ S tV ?%X th r T ral , COmUlct But Mr - Mas ™ *Z™ that it is not only Methodism, but the possession of Catholic truth to ?Sno tftf ° d W ° rkS ° f Me I tbo(lists «« due. Protestants have Catnolic tiuth— some more and some less— though in a mutilated lorm. JNone of them of course possess it in its intc<nity Ihc conversion of respectable Methodists to the Catholic faith is no ycry rare thing in our day. We need not wonder at this seeing that so many of them possess a Catholic spirit, in greater or less S^fZ ll la/ 1 a /, CrVCn ItZealin1 tZealin - th 1 C Cause of chrie - Mr- Mason, the wntci of the letters above noticed, is a fine specimen of the Methodist class. He knew his religion as a Methodist thoroughly, and saw its fundamental defects, which he found the Catholic religion only could Bupi ? & J1?J 1 ?- must have been a good M cthodi.st, and was no doubt a good Catholic after he embraced the Catholic faith. Whether he be be dead or not, now, I cannot tell. I should think he must for he speaks of having been taken by his father while a boy, a mere child to hear both Wesley and Whitficld preach. Mr. Mason explains the reason which keeps, Wcsleyans so avoll together. The chief bond of union, or a very strong one at least, is of a pecuniary kind. As to the evils of their system, another Wesleyan, a Mr. Gordon, shall briefly explain them. He was not at the time he wrote a convert to <• Popery '" like Mr. Mason, and never, so far as I know, became one, but he was smarting under the lash of the " Conference." He writes '• I em-

braced the profession of a Wesleyan preacher in preference to any other ministry, because I thought them spiritual men, seeking only the glory of God and the salvation of souls ; but I found them arbitrary, tyrannical, political men — seeking their own gain fiom their quarter and trampling on the liberties of their fellow-men." Mr. Mason quotes this from memory, and says he may not be verbally correct But Mr. Gordon used words to that effect in a public speech at Liverpool. Though Mr. Gordon was not a convert to Popery, he was a Methodist " dissentient." Mr. Mason says, " I too should have been m the ranks of the dissentients partly urged by a conviction of the monstrosities of the conference to abandon the cause, and partly held back by a respect and even reverence for the excellencies of Methodism as a system of religion. For I will not deny that, for a human system, there are many excellencies in it." But the light of Catholic Truth dawned upon him, and he entered the Catholic Church accordingly. Other Weeleyans would follow Mr. Mason's example, if they possessed Ins manly and independent spirit and sincere love of truth. We know that the Methodist body, like all the sects which sprung out of the miscalled Reformation have broken up into subdivisions under different names— such as Free Methodists, Primitive Methodists, &c, &c. The same with the English Church and Scotch Kirkall these sects contain within themselves the elemeuts of "disruption " and, of course, ultimate destruction. In the course of ages they will pass away, like the great Arian heresy, and leave nothing behind bur. their name in the page of history ; while the Catholic Church— the Church of Truth founded on the rock of ages— will flourish, to use Dr. Wallis's language, "bathed in perpetual youth and vigour." Though the Church be now daily gaining converts from the Protestant sects, taking the veiy cream off them in fact, she is apparently losing few of her own grown up children, — either among her priests or her laity. Those few who do abandon her are obviously actuated by love of pleasure or money, and a desire to f ami on the world, and not by a love of God or truth. There is usually " a woman in the case," a Catharine Boren or an Anne Bullen, to tempt some frail Catholic from his spiritual allegiance to the Church ; or, like Thomas Cromwell, they covet wealth and the smiles and favours of the powerful. Now, however, such cases are rare. When they do occur, the Protestant press and preachers make the most of them. Mr. Mason says nothing about the hypocrisy and " deadly lust " of Methodists, which the late Vicar of Morwcn&tow so strongly denounced in them. But Mr. Gordon, we see, speaks strongly against their self-seeking and tyranny. Now, considering their number", and the great influence they exercised over so large a portion of respectable and well-to-do Englishmen, we can hardly wonder that the late Vicar of Monvenstow, who knew them so well from long experience should describe them as the " throttling cord " of modern England', harsh though his verdict may seem. Mr. Gordon, as a Wesleyan minister, must have known them even better than the English Vicar and he to a certain extent confirms the Vicar's opinion— saying that! under the pretence of glorifying God, aud seeking the salvation of man, they are engaged in selfish, worldly, and political schemes. Do the missionary records of this very colony not confirm this too 1 I greatly mistake if they do not. I think you have in your possession published records that such is the fact ; and that other Protestant missionaries, besides Methodists, are not far from similar faults, or have not been in the past. It would be a pity to conclude this paper, long though it be, without relating how Mr. Wesley came to admit the " lay-preacher" into his system. We learn that at first he shrank from such an idea. He became reconciled to it in this way ;— While in the country, on his missionary labours, a young man, Thomas Maxwell, one of his " converts,"' begins to hold forth and " expound the word " to the faithful. Wesley is informed of this by his mother. He is seemingly highly offended, but the good old lady pleads for Thomas, tells Wesley that her son is as much called to be a "preacher" of the Gospel as he himself. This silences Wesley. He appoints Thomas to preach before him. From this time he uses "lay preachers." They arc spread all over the country. Circuits and districts are formed, and the Gospel of John Wesley " runs and is magnified" to this day, as we see. Laic °