Chapter XIII: Preface (11)

It was this, no doubt, that made the _Puritans_ of the last century such burning and shining lights. When cast out by the black _Bartholomew-act_, and driven from their respective charges to preach in barns and fields, in the highways and hedges, they in an especial manner wrote and preached as men having authority. Though dead, by their writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attends them to this very hour; and for these thirty years past I have remarked, that the more, true and vital religion hath revived either at home or abroad, the more the good old puritanical writings, or the authors of a like stamp who lived and died in communion of the church of _England_, have been called for. Among these may be justly reckoned those great luminaries, Bishop _Jewel_, _Usher_, _Andrews_, _Hall_, _Reynolds_, _Hopkins_, _Wilkins_, _Edwards_, who, notwithstanding a difference of judgment in respect to outward church-government, all agreed (as their printed works manifestly evince) in asserting and defending the grand essential truths for which the Puritans, though matters of an inferior nature were urged as a pretext, chiefly suffered, and were ejected. The impartial Doctor _Hodges_ therefore (late provost of _Oriel College_ in _Oxford_) in his elaborate treatise intitled _Elihu_, hath done himself honour in saying, that “the old Puritans and Presbyterians in general, till a division happened lately among them, deserve praise for their steady and firm adherence to the principal and fundamental doctrines of christianity.” Their works still praise them in the gates; and without pretending to a spirit of prophecy, we may venture to affirm, that they will live and flourish, when more modern performances, of a contrary cast, notwithstanding their gaudy and tinselled trappings, will languish and die in the esteem of those, whose understandings are opened to discern what comes nearest to the scripture standard.

This consideration, hath induced me to preface the present large and elegant edition of the Reverend Mr. _John Bunyan_’s works; which, with the unparalleled commentary of the good Mr. _Matthew Henry_, the pious and practical writings of the excellent Mr. _Flavel_, and the critical and judicious commentaries and tracts of the accurate Doctor _Owen_, I hear are enquired after, and bought up, more and more every day. The last forementioned worthy, though himself so great a scholar; and for some time chancellor of one of our most famous universities, as I have been credibly informed, attended on the sermons, and countenanced the ministerial labours of our Reverend author; when, by reason of his being unskilled in the learned languages, and a few differences in lesser matters (as will always be the case in this mixed state of things) he was lightly esteemed by some of less enlarged sentiments. But this, I must own, more particularly endears Mr. _Bunyan_ to my heart; he was of a catholic spirit, the want of _water adult baptism_ with this man of GOD, was no bar to outward christian communion. And I am persuaded, that if, like him, we were more deeply and experimentally baptized into the benign and gracious influences of the blessed Spirit, we should be less baptized into the waters of strife, about circumstantials and non-essentials. For being thereby rooted and grounded in the love of GOD, we should necessarily be constrained to think, and let think, bear with and forbear one another in love; and without saying “I am of _Paul_, _Apollos_, or _Cephas_,” have but one grand, laudable, disinterested strife, namely, who should live, preach and exalt the ever-loving, altogether lovely JESUS most. That these volumes may be blest to beget, promote and increase such divine fruits of real and undefiled religion in the hearts, lips and lives of readers, of all ranks and denominations, is the earnest prayer of,

Christian reader,
Thy soul’s well-wisher in our common LORD,

GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

_London, January 3, 1767._

A
LETTER
TO THE
Reverend Dr. DURELL,
VICE-CHANCELLOR of the University of OXFORD.
OCCASIONED BY
A late EXPULSION of SIX STUDENTS from EDMUND-HALL.

_Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?_
Luke xii. 57.

_Judge righteous judgment._
John vii. 24.

A
LETTER
TO THE
Reverend Dr. DURELL.

_London, April 12, 1768._

_Reverend Sir_,

YOU being a Master of _Israel_, and placed at the head of one of the most renowned seats of learning in the world, need not be informed, that the mission of the Holy Ghost is the one grand promise of the new, as the coming of JESUS CHRIST was the great promise of the Old Testament dispensation. “I will pray the Father, (says our blessed LORD to his almost disconsolate Disciples) and he shall give you another Comforter.” And again, “It is expedient for you, that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart (it being the purchase of his all-atoning blood, and designed to be the immediate fruit and proof of the reality of his resurrection, and subsequent ascension into heaven) I will send him unto you.” And that they might know, that this Comforter was not to be confined to, or monopolized by them, but was to be of standing general use, he immediately gives them intimations of the design and nature of his office; and therefore adds, “and when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

A strange, and till then unheard of, promise, this! Such as a _Confucius_, _Zoroaster_, or any other fictitious uninspired prophet or lawgiver never dreamt of. A promise, which none but one, who was GOD over all, could dare to make; a promise, which none but one, who was GOD over all, could possibly fulfil.

Agreeable to this promise, he having ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and received this gift for men, the divine Paraclete, this Holy Ghost, “on the day of Pentecost, came down from heaven like a rushing mighty wind; and there appeared cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat upon each of the Apostles.” The effects were immediate and visible; poor, illiterate fishermen, instantaneously commenced scholars, preachers, orators. And well they might; for, being filled with the Holy Ghost, as the Spirit gave them utterance, they began to speak with other tongues the wonderful things of GOD.

But what was all this divine apparatus, this divine preaching, this divine oratory intended for? The following verses inform us: the hearers of those wonderful things, the spectators of this transcendently amazing scene, “were pricked to the heart, and were made to cry out, Men and brethren, what shall we do? And the same day were added to this infant church about three thousand souls.” Here were proofs, substantial, incontestable proofs, of the reality of the resurrection and ascension, and likewise of the efficacy of the all-powerful intercession of their once crucified, but now exalted LORD; not only substantial and incontestable, but at the same time entirely suitable to the nature of his mission, who in the days of his flesh, by his doctrines and miracles declared, that his only design in coming into our world, was to save sinners.

Upon this rock, namely, “an experimental manifestation and application of his divinity to the renewed heart,” (which flesh and blood, human reason, vain philosophy, moral suasion, or any, or all barely external evidence whatsoever, cannot reveal) hath he built, doth he now build, and will continue to build his church; and therefore it is, that the gates, neither the power nor policy of hell, shall ever be able to prevail against it. By the influence of this almighty Agent, hath he promised to be with his ministers and people, even to the end of the world. And agreeable to this, hath taught us daily to pray, that his kingdom may come; which being to be begun, carried on and completed, by one continued emanation of divine influence communicated to believers in the use of all appointed means, can alone enable us to do GOD’s will on earth, with any degree of that unanimity, chearfulness, universality and perseverance, as it is done by the holy Angels above. And as this is the daily united prayer of the whole catholic church, however distressed or dispersed, and however varying as to circumstantials and non-essentials, over the whole earth; it followeth, that every addition of any individual monument of divine mercy, out of every nation, language, or tongue, must be looked upon in part, as an answer to the daily prayer of every individual believer under heaven.

Hence, no doubt, it is, that as the angels are sent forth to be ministring spirits, to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, that there is said to be “joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth.” And as there is joy in heaven, so in proportion as men rise into the nature of angels, will there be joy also upon the same account amongst good men on earth. Accordingly, the lively oracles inform us, that “when the Apostles and Brethren which were in _Judea_ heard that the _Gentiles_ also had received the word of GOD, they glorified him, saying, then hath GOD also to the _Gentiles_ granted repentance unto life.”

And conformably to this, we are told, that “when _Barnabas_ came to _Antioch_, and saw the grace of GOD, he was glad.” And why? Because he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And as the same cause will always be productive of the same effect, persons endued with the same benign and godlike disposition with this good man, will always be glad when they see or hear of any scriptural marks, or practical evidences of true and undefiled religion, wrought in, or appearing upon any subject of divine grace whatsoever. And this joy must necessarily rise, in proportion as such subjects, either by their abilities, or circumstances, and situation in life, promise more important and extensive usefulness in the world and church of GOD.

No wonder therefore, reverend Sir, that it hath gladdened the hearts of many, and afforded matter of uncommon joy and thanksgiving to the Father of mercies and GOD of all consolation, to hear, that for some time past there hath been a more than common religious concern and zeal for promoting their own and others salvation, among some of the _sons of the Prophets_. What a pleasing prospect hath hereby been opened of a future blessing to the rising generation! A blessing, which we well hoped, would be not less salutary and beneficial to the moral, than the new cruse of salt was to part of the natural world, which the Prophet _Elisha_, when complaint was made that the water was naught and the ground barren, cast into the spring of waters, with a “thus saith the LORD, there shall not be from thence, any more dearth or barren land: so the waters were healed unto this day.”

But alas! how is this general joy damped, and the pleasing prospect almost totally eclipsed, by a late melancholy scene exhibited in that very place, from whence, as from a fountain, many of their preachers frequently and expresly pray, that pure streams may for ever flow, to water the city of the living GOD? You need not be told, reverend Sir, what place I mean: it was the famous university of _Oxford_. Nor need I mention the scene exhibited; it was a tribunal, a visitatorial tribunal, erected in _Edmund-Hall_; six pious students, who promised to be the salt of the earth, and lights of the world, entire friends to the doctrines and liturgy of our church, by a citation previously fixed upon the college door, were summoned to appear before this tribunal. They did appear; and, as some were pleased to term it, were tried, convicted, and to close the scene, in the chapel of the same hall, consecrated and set apart for nobler purposes, had the sentence of expulsion publicly read and pronounced against them.

So severe a sentence, in an age when almost every kind of proper discipline is held with so lax a rein, hath naturally excited a curiosity in all that have heard of it, to inquire, of what notable crime these delinquents may have been guilty, to deserve such uncommonly rigorous treatment. But how will their curiosity be turned into indignation, when they are told, that they were thus rigorously handled for doing no evil at all, and that “no fault could be found in them, save in the law of their GOD?”

It is true indeed, one article of impeachment was, “that some of them were of trades before they entered into the university.” But what evil or crime worthy of expulsion can there be in that? To be called from any, though the meanest mechanic employ, to the study of the liberal arts, where a natural genius hath been given, was never yet looked upon as a reproach to, or diminution of, any great and public character whatsoever. _Profane history_ affords us a variety of examples of the greatest heroes, who have been fetched even from the plough, to command armies, and who performed the greatest exploits for their country’s good. And if we examine _sacred history_, we shall find, that even _David_, after he was anointed king, looked back with sweet complacence to the rock from whence he was hewn, and is not ashamed to leave it upon record, that “GOD took him away from the sheep-folds, as he was following the ewes great with young ones;” and as though he loved to repeat it, “he took him, (says he) that he might feed _Jacob_ his people, and _Israel_ his inheritance.”

But why speak I of _David_? When JESUS of _Nazareth_, _David_’s LORD, and _David_’s King, had for his reputed father a carpenter, and in all probability, as it was a common proverb among the _Jews_, that “he who did not teach his son a trade, taught him to be a thief;” he worked at the trade of a carpenter himself? For this, indeed, he was reproached and maligned; “Is not this, said they, the carpenter’s son? Nay, is not this the carpenter?” But who were those maligners? The greatest enemies to the power of godliness which the world ever saw, the Scribes and Pharisees; that “generation of vipers,” as _John the Baptist_ calls them, who upon every occasion were spitting out their venom, and shooting forth their arrows, even bitter words, against that Son of man, even that Son of GOD, who, to display his sovereignty, and confound the wisdom of the worldly wise, chose poor fishermen to be his Apostles; and whose chief of the Apostles, though bred up at the feet of _Gamaliel_, both before and after his call to the apostleship, laboured with his own hands, and worked at the trade of a tent-maker.

If from such exalted and more distant, we descend to more modern and inferior characters, we shall find, that very late, not to say our present times, furnish us with instances of some, even of our _dignitaries_, who have been called from trades that tended to help and feed the body, not only to higher employs of a spiritual nature, but even to preside over those that are entrusted with the cure of souls. And who knows but some of these young students, though originally mechanics, if they had been suffered to have pursued their studies, might have either climbed after them to some preferment in the church, or been advanced to some office in that university from which they are now expelled? One of the present reverend and worthy Proctors, we are told, was formerly a Lieutenant in the army; and as such a military employ was no impediment to his being a minister or Proctor, it may be presumed, that being formerly of trades could have been no just impediment to these young men becoming, in process of time, true gospel ministers and good soldiers of JESUS CHRIST.

Their being accustomed to prayer, whether with or without a form, I humbly apprehend, would by no means disqualify them for the private or public discharge of any part of their ministerial function. “In that day, that gospel-day, (these last days wherein we live) saith the great GOD, I will pour out a Spirit of grace and a Spirit of supplication upon the house of _David_, and upon the inhabitants of _Jerusalem_.” And the Apostle _Paul_ speaks of it as the common privilege of all believers, that “the Holy Spirit helps their infirmities, and maketh intercession for them with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Forms of prayer, certainly, have their use; and take it altogether, our _English_ liturgy is, without doubt, one of the most excellent established forms of public prayer in the world: but then, as no form, in the very nature of the thing, can possibly suit every particular case, it is to be feared that many must never pray, at least for the particular things they most stand in need of, if they are so to be tied up to their forms, that they cannot vary from them, or use free prayer at all.

The great Bishop _Wilkins_ therefore wisely wrote an excellent treatise on the benefit and importance of this kind of prayer: and could our university-youth be trained up to use proper extempore prayer, both before and after sermon; in the opinion of all good judges, it would be as commendable, as that strange custom of putting off our auditories with what is called the _bidding prayer_; in which there is not one petition for a blessing upon the following sermon, and scarce any thing mentioned, but what hath been prayed for over and over again, in the preceding common service of our church.

But supposing such liberty should be denied in public, as, blessed be GOD it is not, surely we may be allowed, at least it cannot be deemed sinful, to use free prayer in our secret, or private social exercises of devotion. If so, what sinners, what great sinners must they have been, who prayed, and that too out of necessity, in an extempore way, before any forms of prayer were or could be printed or heard of? The prayers we read of in scripture, the prayers which opened and shut heaven, the effectual, fervent, energetic prayers of those righteous and holy men of old, which availed so much with GOD, were all of an extempore nature. And I am apt to believe, if not only our students and ministers, but private christians, were born from above, and taught of GOD, as those wrestlers with GOD were, they would not want forms of prayer, though we have such a variety of them, any more than they did.

The sick, the lame, the blind, the lepers that came to our LORD for healing, wanted no book to teach them how to express their wants. Though some were only poor beggars, and others, as the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees superciliously chose to term them, “_Gentile_ dogs,” yet, conscious of their wants, and having a heart-felt sense of their distress, “out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths spake;” and the compassionate _Emmanuel_, who came to heal our sicknesses and bear our infirmities, sent them away with a “Go in peace, thy faith hath made thee whole: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”

How unlike, yea how very unlike such a blessed dismission, is the treatment these young students have lately met with at _Edmund-Hall_? who, amongst other crimes of a like nature, were _expelled for using extempore prayer_. A crime not so much as mentioned in any of our law-books; a crime, for which, in this last century at least, no one hath ever been called to the bar of any public court of judicature; and a crime, for which, it is to be hoped, no student will ever hereafter be summoned to appear and hear himself expelled, at the bar of any of the reverend Doctors of divinity, or heads of houses in the university of Oxford. But should any be so infatuated as to determine, _Jehu_-like, to drive on thus furiously; as judgment hath unhappily begun, as it were, at the very house of GOD, it is to be hoped, that as some have been expelled for _extempore praying_, we shall hear of some few others of a contrary stamp, being expelled for _extempore swearing_, which by all impartial judges must undoubtedly be acknowledged to be the greater crime of the two.

Singing, composing, or reading hymns composed by others, and doing this in company, seems to be as little criminal, as praying extempore. When the last words of _David_ are about to be recorded, he is not only stiled, “the son of _Jesse_, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the GOD of _Jacob_,” but the grand title of being “the sweet Psalmist of _Israel_,” brings up the rear. And “to teach and admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,” is as truly a scriptural command, as “thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.”

When _Elisha_ the Prophet was about to prophesy before two kings, he called for a minstrel, on which he played, to sooth his ruffled passions, and prepare his heart the better for the reception of the Holy Spirit. And were the sons of the Prophets more frequently to entertain themselves thus, I believe it would be as suitable to the ministerial character, and recommend them as much, perhaps more, to all serious christians, than their tripping up their heels, skipping and dancing at the music of a ball-room, or playing even a first fiddle at a concert. And was the _voice of spiritual melody_ more frequently heard by those who come occasionally to visit our colleges, it might be as much to the honour of the university, as the more common and too, too frequent _noise of box and dice_, at the unlawful games of hazard and back-gammon.

Popish countries, popish seminaries, think it no shame, no disgrace to be heard singing the high praises of their GOD in their convents, their houses, or even in their streets; and why protestants in general, and protestant students in particular, should be any more ashamed of, or restrained from the free exercise of such acts of devotion, either alone, or in private societies, no good reason can be given; unless it be proved to be good reasoning to assert, that “Protestants ought to be less devout than Papists.” We must confess, that Papists, though they take this liberty of singing and chanting privately and publicly themselves, yet deny this liberty of conscience to our protestant assemblies; those attending divine worship at our ambassadors chapels not excepted. But for Protestants to disuse it themselves, and at the same time lay as it were a spiritual embargo upon their fellow Protestants, nay punish and expel them for so doing, is very unaccountable.

What spirit then must those be of, _Reverend Sir_, who have lately joined in pronouncing the sentence of expulsion against six religious students, not only for having been of trades, and praying extempore, but for _reading_ and _singing hymns_ also? His Royal Highness the late Duke of _Cumberland_, was of a very different disposition, for when abroad in _Germany_, in one of our late wars, (as I was informed by a person then on guard) hearing one evening, as he was passing by, a company of soldiers singing at some little distance in a cave, he asked the centinel what noise that was; and being answered, that some devout soldiers were singing hymns; instead of citing them to appear before their officers, ordering them to the whipping post, or commanding them to be drummed out of the regiment; acting like himself, he only pleasingly replied, “Are they so? Let them go on then, and be as merry ♦as they can.” In this he acted wisely; for he knew, and found by repeated experience, as did other commanding officers, that singing, nay, and praying extempore too, in these private societies, did not hinder, but rather fitted and animated these devout soldiers to engage, and to fight their country’s battles in the field. And it may be presumed, that if these students had not been expelled for singing hymns, and praying extempore, they certainly would not have been less, but in all probability much better prepared for handling the sword of the Spirit, the word of GOD, and fighting therewith, either from the press or the pulpit, the battles of the LORD of hosts.

♦ removed duplicate word “as”

To see or hear such divine exercises treated with reproach, and spoken of with contempt by common and open blasphemers, is bad; but that any who came on purpose to be trained up for the sacred work of the ministry, should be looked on as criminal, and expelled ♦at university for being sometimes employed in them, is too sad a proof, not only that “our gold is become dim, and our fine gold changed, but that our very foundations are out of course.” What then must the righteous do?

♦ “an” replaced with “at”

What indeed, but weep and lament! And weep and lament indeed they must, especially when they hear further, that _meeting in a religious society_, giving a word of exhortation, or _expounding_ and commenting a little now and then upon some portion of scripture, are not the least of the accusations for which some of these young worthies had the sentence of expulsion pronounced against them.

It is recorded in the Old Testament, that in a degenerate age, “those that feared the LORD spake often one to another; that the LORD hearkened and heard, and that a book of remembrance was written before him for those that feared the LORD, and thought on his name: and they shall be mine in that day, saith the LORD, when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Thus it was in the Old Testament times. Nor are such meetings mentioned with less approbation in the new: for therein, in order that we may hold the profession of our faith without wavering, we are commanded to “consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling ourselves together, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as we see the day approaching.” Nay, one immediate consequence of that grand effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, we are told, was this, that “they who gladly received the word, and were baptized, continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayer.” This is a short, but withal a full and blessed account of the first truly apostolic primitive church; and we may venture to affirm, that as we are more or less partakers of a true apostolic primitive spirit, such kind of religious, fellowship-meetings, will in proportion increase or decrease among us. To talk therefore, or write, or preach against, or by private persuasion or open violence to oppose, or endeavour to suppress, and discountenance such kind of religious societies, is flying, as it were, in the very face of the scriptures of truth, and of the Holy Ghost himself.

In all charters granted by the crown, wherein authority is given to bodies corporate to enact laws, it is always with this limitation, “that no laws shall be enacted by such bodies corporate, contrary to the laws of the realm.” And as the scriptures are our grand _Codex Legum_ and _Magna Charta_, in respect to our religious principles and practices; what affront must we put upon our country in general, and the church of _England_ in particular, even by barely imagining, that any law now exists which prohibits her members from frequenting such societies as have the divine authority and superscription, so apparently stamped upon them?

The private meetings that are in any wise deemed and denounced _illegal_, are such, and such only, as are seditious, and composed of seditious persons; who associate, indeed under a pretence of religion, but in reality to plot against the state. The sooner any that can be convicted of this, are made to forsake the assembling themselves together, the better; and though composed of a threefold, three hundred fold, nay a three thousand fold cord, no matter if, like the cords wherewith the _Philistines_ bound _Sampson_, they were immediately broken. But as nothing of this nature can with the least shadow of truth be objected against the meetings and societies frequented by these students, but quite the contrary urged in their favour; if scripture and the practice of the primitive christians are to be our guides, they ought not only to be permitted, but be countenanced and encouraged by every true lover of our church and nation.

And supposing, that in any such religious society one of them should venture now and then to drop a word of exhortation, or even attempt in a small degree to open, expound, or enlarge upon some practical text of scripture, how can even this be looked upon as illegal, much less sinful, or worthy of expulsion? when, I could almost say, it is a necessary preparation for the future service of the sanctuary. To be “apt to teach,” is one indispensable qualification required by scripture in a Bishop and Presbyter. But how can this aptness or an habit of teaching be acquired, without the exercise of previous acts? Or what business is there in the world, even from the lowest mechanic, to the highest profession amongst us, (except that of divinity) wherein pupils, clerks, nay common apprentices, are not by previous exercises trained up for a complete proficiency in their respective callings and occupations?

Our all-wise Master, we know, sent his Disciples on short excursions, before he gave them the more extensive commission to go into all the world: and were our students in general, under proper limitations, to be thus exercised and employed, while they are keeping terms at the university, or among their poor neighbours in the country, when they return home in time of vacation, they would not turn out such meer novices, or make such awkward figures, as too many raw creatures do, when they make their first appearance in the pulpit. I remember, above thirty years ago, after some young students had been visiting the sick and imprisoned, and had been giving a word of exhortation in a private house, that upon meeting the ordinary and minister of the parish in their return to college, they frankly told him what they had been doing; upon which, he turned to them, and said, “GOD bless you; I wish we had more such young curates.” A milder, and therefore a more _christian sentence_ this, than that of a late expulsion for the very same supposed crimes and misdemeanors.

As for the reports of these young students being accused or condemned, for barely being acquainted with, or the occasional visitors of some of the most laborious, pains-taking, worthy parish-ministers in _England_, it is almost altogether incredible. And yet the standers-by, as well as the supposed culprits themselves, we are informed, aver this to be real matter of fact: attended with this melancholy aggravation, that they were hissed at, pushed about, and treated in a manner that the vilest criminal is not allowed to be treated, either at the _Old-Baily_, or any court of justice in the kingdom. We are likewise told, that a copy of their indictment was asked for, but denied them; and not only so, but that one, from whose polite behaviour in the worldly walk, better things might have been expected, was heard to say, as he came out of chapel, to their grand accuser, after sentence of expulsion was pronounced, that “he would have the thanks of the whole university for that day’s work.”

Pudet hæc opprobria nobis
Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.

What thanks, reverend Sir, he may meet with from the whole university, I know not; but one thing I know, that he will receive no thanks for that day’s work from the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly of the first-born, which are written in heaven, or from GOD the judge of all, in that day when JESUS, the Mediator of the new covenant shall come in his own glory, in the glory of the Father, and his holy angels, and gather in his elect from all the four corners of the world.

But, reverend Sir, may we not presume to hope, that this voluntary speaker for the whole university, whoever he be, it maketh no matter to me, was somewhat out, and mistaken in his calculation. For it seems, not above three or four doctors, if so many, were present, at least sat as judges at this extraordinary tribunal. The _worthy Provost of Queen_’s (and undoubtedly many other worthy heads of houses were and are like-minded) was for prescribing more lenient methods; and all are glad to hear, that these young students worthy principal, who must necessarily be supposed to be the best judge of their principles, practices, and qualifications, boldly stood up in their defence, asserted their innocence, confronted their accusers, and brought in books to vindicate both their principles and conduct. But how this worthy principal, as well as the pupils, were treated, is best known to those who had an active hand in all.

However, as the Holy Ghost hath left it upon record, to the honour of _Nicodemus_, that he stood up in defence of our LORD before the whole _Jewish_ sanhedrim, and was not consenting to his death; so wherever this act of expulsion is recorded (and recorded it will be, even to latest posterity) it will be mentioned to the honour of Doctor DIXON, (and for acting thus he will have the thanks of all moderate, serious, sober-minded christians in the three kingdoms) that he had no hand in, but did all he possibly could to prevent these young mens expulsion. An expulsion for articles of impeachment to which indeed the accused pleaded guilty; but for articles which (wherever hereafter they may be called to minister in holy things) will be their best testimonial; and their expulsion for holding and confessing those articles, the strongest letters of recommendation.

How these young worthies are now to be disposed of, or how they will dispose of themselves, as it was not so much as hinted that they had the least connection with me, is not my business to inquire. But surely such an expulsion as this, cannot deter them from pursuing their preparations for their ministerial calling: friends they cannot want, because “he is faithful who hath promised, that whosoever forsaketh father or mother, houses or lands, for his sake or the gospel’s, he shall have an hundred fold in this life, with persecution, and in the world to come life everlasting.” But if any act so dastardly, as to make unscriptural concessions, or be terrified by unscriptural, and therefore mere _bruta fulmina_, if they were of trades before, the sooner they return again to their trades the better: for it is to be feared, such cowards would only make a trade of the ministry if they were admitted into the church, and the fewer of such kind of tradesmen our church is troubled with, the safer she will be.

But what a mercy is it, reverend Sir, that we live under a free government, under a King whose royal grandfather repeatedly declared (and he was as good as his word through a long and glorious reign) that there should be no persecution in his time; under a King who in his first most gracious and never to be forgotten speech from the throne, gave his people the strongest assurances “that it was his fixt purpose, as the best means to draw down the divine favour on his reign, to countenance and encourage the practice of true religion and virtue, and maintain the toleration inviolable.”

That both students and common people will be in danger of being tempted by such violent proceedings, to put themselves under the act of toleration, may easily be foreseen: and it may as easily be guessed, how such treatment will necessarily discourage serious people from sending their sons to the university, at least to the university of _Oxford_; and at the same time will furnish them with a new argument for entering their youth in some of our dissenting academies, where they will be in no danger, it is presumed, of being expelled for singing hymns, speaking a little now and then in a religious society, or using extempore prayer.

Alas! alas! in what a disadvantageous point of light, must all concerned in such an extraordinary stretch of university-discipline stand, among all foreign universities whatsoever? In what point of light it will be viewed by our ecclesiastical superiors at home, a very little time will discover. Nay, it is to be feared, the discovery is made already: for by a letter dated so lately as _March 29_, it appears that a certain venerable society “on account of some circumstances that have lately happened (probably the circumstances of a late expulsion) are under a necessity of coming to a resolution, to accept of no recommendation for persons to go abroad as missionaries, but such as have had a literary education, and have been bred up with a design to dedicate themselves to the ministry.” This resolution seems to be taken, in order the better to prevent any of these cast-outs, or any other laymen, however otherwise well qualified and recommended, from applying to the society for holy orders, that they may be employed and sent abroad as missionaries. But to what a sad dilemma will many serious persons be hereby reduced? They must not, by such resolutions it seems, be allowed to be lay-preachers, and yet if sent by their friends to the university to pursue their studies, in order that they may be regularly and episcopally ordained, if they sing hymns, pray extempore, or give a word of exhortation in a religious society, though entirely made up of the members of the established church, they must be _ipso facto_ expelled for so doing. _O tempora! O mores!_ If matters proceed in this channel, of what stamp, Reverend Sir, may we not suppose, our future missionaries to the islands and continent will be? To my certain knowledge, all of them are not looked upon as very burning and shining lights already. But if what little light of true religion some may have, is to be thus damped by acts of expulsion before they leave the university, and even this little light, as far as lies in the power of man, is to be thus turned into total darkness, how great must that darkness be! Surely it must be worse than _Egyptian_ darkness; a darkness that will be most deplorably felt by all true lovers of our common salvation both at home and abroad.

You need not be apprized, Reverend Sir, that a design for the establishment of episcopacy in our islands and plantations, hath been long upon the tapis; and that it hath been, in part at least, the subject of annual sermons for several years last past. No longer ago than in the year 1766, the present Bishop of _Landaff_ insisted upon the necessity and expediency of it in the most explicit manner; nay, his Lordship carries the matter so far, as to assure us that this point, _the establishment of episcopacy_, being obtained, “the _American_ church will go out of its infant state; be able to stand upon its own legs, and without foreign help support and spread itself: and then this society will have been brought to the happy issue intended.” Whether these assertions of his Lordship, when weighed in a proper balance, will not in some degree be found wanting, is not for me to determine. But supposing the reasoning to be just, and his Lordship’s assertions true, then I fear it will follow, that a society, which since its first institution hath been looked upon as a society for propagating the Gospel, hath been all the while rather a _society for propagating Episcopacy in foreign parts_: and if so, and if it ever should appear, that our Right Reverend Archbishops and Bishops do in the least countenance and encourage the unscriptural proceedings at _Edmund-Hall_, how must it increase the prejudices of our colonists, both in the islands and on the continent, against the establishment of episcopacy! That persons of all ranks, from _Quebec_ down to the two _Floridas_, are at this time prejudiced, and more than prejudiced against it, is very notorious; but how will the very thought of the introduction of _Lords Bishops_ even make them shudder? if their Lordships should think proper to countenance the expulsion of such worthy and truly religious students, whilst those who have no religion at all perhaps, may not only meet with countenance, but approbation and applause.

Besides, if such proceedings should be continued, (which GOD forbid!) what little credit may we suppose will hereafter be given to future _university-testimonials_, that the bearers of them have behaved studiously, soberly, and piously; and how must we in time be put under a disagreeable necessity of having a new, or at least of altering some part of our present most excellent ordination-office? As it now stands, one of the questions proposed to every candidate for holy orders runs thus: “Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the holy ghost?” But if all students are to be expelled that sing hymns, pray extempore, attend upon, or expound a verse now and then, in a religious church of _England_ society, should it not rather, Reverend Sir, be worded thus, namely, “Do ye trust that ye are NOT inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you the office and administration of the church?”

You will excuse this freedom, Reverend Sir.

_Agitur de vitâ et sanguine turni._

Love to GOD, love to mankind in general, and love to that university, that _alma mater_ where I had the honour of being educated, and, what is infinitely more, where I had the happiness of receiving the witness of the Spirit of GOD in my heart, all together constrain me.

The news of these young mens expulsion hath made, and will make the ears of all who have heard, or shall hear of it, to tingle: and therefore if some do not speak, and use great plainness of speech too, the very stones would, as it were, cry out against us. In respect to myself, Reverend Sir, I hope, that in taking the freedom of troubling you with this, I do not justly incur the censure of acting as a busy-body in other mens matters. For, whatever other pretences may be made, such as disqualification in respect to learning, age, the being of trades, &c. &c. &c. (_Nugæ tricæque calendæ_) it is notorious and obvious to all intelligent persons, that the grand cause of these young mens expulsion was this, namely, that they were either real or reputed METHODISTS. An honour this indeed, unwittingly put on Methodists, whoever or whatever they be; since scarce any now-a days can pray extempore, sing hymns, go to church or meeting, and abound in other acts of devotion, but they must be immediately dubbed Methodists. I say, dubbed Methodists; for it is not a name given to them by themselves, but was imposed on them by some of their fellow students and contemporaries in the university.

I take it for granted, Reverend Sir, that you need not be apprized that I am one of these Methodists; and blessed be GOD I have had the honour of being one of them for about thirty-five years. If this is to be vile, may I be more vile! If this be my shame, upon the most mature and serious reflection I really glory in it. But then, lest any more innocent youths should hereafter suffer barely for the imputation of a nick-name, give me leave simply and honestly to inform you, Reverend Sir, and through you the whole university, what not barely a reputed, but a real Methodist is: “He is one of those whom GOD hath chosen in CHRIST out of mankind, to bring them by CHRIST to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour; wherefore they, who be endued with so excellent a benefit of GOD, are called according to GOD’s purpose by his spirit working in due season: they, through grace, obey the calling; they be justified freely; and made the sons of GOD by adoption: they are conformed to the image of his only begotten Son JESUS CHRIST; they walk religiously in good works; and at length, by GOD’s mercy, they attain everlasting felicity.” This is the true portrait of a Methodist, drawn at full length, drawn to the very life, and that too not by an ignorant modern dauber, but by those good old skilful scriptural limners, _Cranmer_, _Latimer_, _Ridley_, in the xviith article of our church; an article that deserves to be written in letters of gold; and yet, for holding of this very article in its literal grammatical sense, agreeable to his subscription at the time of matriculation, one of these young students, as we have been informed, was expelled. If our information be wrong in this or any other respect, the nation may soon be set right by an authentic publication of the whole judicial proceedings.

If you should desire, Reverend Sir, a definition of _Methodism_ itself, as well as of a Methodist, you may easily be gratified. It is no more nor less than “faith working by love. A holy method of living and dying, to the glory of GOD.” It is an universal morality, founded upon the love of GOD shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost: or, to keep to the exact terms made use of in the last collect of our excellent liturgy, it is “the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the love of GOD, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost;” which we cannot go to church or chapel on _Sundays_, holidays, or other common days, without praying, not that it may be driven from, but be with us all evermore.

If this be enthusiasm, the true Methodists confess themselves to be enthusiasts. But then, they humbly apprehend, that they cannot with any just propriety of speech be termed modern enthusiasts; for it is an enthusiasm which our blessed LORD earnestly insists upon, in that prayer which he put up when he was about to take his farewel of his disciples, and which is a pattern of that all-prevailing intercession which He is now making at the right hand of GOD, and demands that all his disciples may be possessed of; “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am; that they may be one with me, even as thou, O Father, and I are one: I in them, and they in me, that they all may be made perfect in one.” An enthusiasm, with which _Peter_ and _John_ were fired, when _Annas_ the high-priest, and _Caiaphas_, and _John_, and _Alexander_, and as many as were of the kindred of the high-priest, seeing their boldness, and perceiving that they were unlearned and ignorant men, marvelled, and took knowledge of them that they had been with JESUS. An enthusiasm, with which the proto-martyr _Stephen_ was filled, when he cried, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” An enthusiasm, which _Ignatius_ supposed by some to be one of those little children which the LORD JESUS took up in his arms, was absorbed in, when he stiles himself _a bearer of_ GOD; and for witnessing of which good confession, in order to cure him of this enthusiasm, he was ordered by _Trajan_, the _Roman_ emperor, to be thrown to the lions. An enthusiasm, for which _Cranmer_, _Ridley_, and _Latimer_, those glorious lights of the reformation, those excellent compilers of our liturgy, articles, and homilies, were burnt alive near _Baliol_ college. And, to mention but one more, too too recent an example, an enthusiasm, for being only a little tinctured with which, six students, on _March_ 11th, in the year of our LORD 1768, were publicly expelled in _Edmund-Hall_ chapel.

But think you, Reverend Sir, that this is the way to stop the progress of this enthusiasm? Or rather, may we not imagine that this very act of expulsion will be a means of furthering and promoting its progress far and near? To speak my own thoughts, I am fully persuaded, that if such unscriptural methods of stopping this enthusiasm be pursued further, it will be only like cutting off the _Lyrnean_ head; instead of one, an hundred will spring up.

Indeed, if the picture of modern enthusiasts, drawn up and presented to the public by your Right Reverend Diocesan, be a just and proper one, supposing at the same time the Methodists are thereby referred to, no matter how soon they are banished out of the university, and out of the church also: for his Lordship is pleased to tell us “that they act in direct opposition to the perverse pharisees of old; these ascribed the works of the Holy Ghost to Beelzebub; and it is no uncommon thing for these modern enthusiasts, adds his Lordship, to ascribe the works of Beelzebub to the Holy Spirit.” Surely his Lordship, by these modern enthusiasts, cannot mean those who apply for holy orders, and profess before men and angels, that “they are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon them the office and administration of the church;” when the searcher of hearts knows that they are moved only by secular views and worldly hopes of preferment. This is ascribing the works of Beelzebub to the Spirit of GOD with a witness: or, to use the words of a no less learned, though less censorious prelate; I mean the moderate Bishop _Burnet_, “it is a committing the horrid crime of _Ananias_ and _Sapphira_ over again; it is lying, not only unto man, but unto GOD.”

This is a modern kind of enthusiasm, Reverend Sir, which the true old Methodists always did, and I trust always will abjure, detest and abhor. If worldly church preferments had been their aim, some of them at least might have had worldly ladders enough let down to them to climb up by: but having received a kind of apostolical commission at their ordination, when those who profess themselves _lineal successors_ of the Apostles, said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost now committed unto you by the imposition of our hands:” they would fain keep up and maintain something of the dignity of an apostolic character; and therefore, without ever so much as designing to enter into any political cabals, or civil or church factions whatsoever, without turning to the right hand or the left, or troubling the world with so much as one single sermon or pamphlet, on the bare externals of religion; they have endeavoured to have but one thing in view, namely, to determine to think of nothing, to know nothing, and to preach of nothing but JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified; to spend and be spent for the good of souls, and to glory in nothing save in the cross of CHRIST, by whom the world is crucified unto them and they unto the world.

It is true, by thinking and acting thus, the Methodists have been, and it is presumed always will be, charged and condemned by men of corrupt minds, as thinking and acting irregularly and disorderly: but as such a charge, in the very nature of the thing, supposes a deviation from some settled standing rule, they would humbly ask, wherein the irregularity and disorderliness of this way of acting and thinking doth specifically consist? Is it irregular and disorderly to be “instant in season and out of season?” Is it irregular and disorderly to do what every Bishop at the very time of our being ordained priests positively tells us pertaineth to their office, “to seek after the children of GOD, scattered abroad in this naughty world?” Is it irregular and disorderly after we have established the truth of what we deliver in our sermons by scripture proofs, further to confirm and illustrate them by repeated and particular quotations, taken from the liturgy, articles, and homilies of our established church? Is it irregular and disorderly to fill her pews, to croud her communion tables, and to recommend a frequent and constant devout attendance upon her public offices and services? Or, supposing they should, merely by caprice or prejudice, be denied the privilege of preaching within the church, can it be justly termed irregular or disorderly, at least can it possibly be looked upon as criminal, to preach the same truths, to make use of the same kind of illustrations, to repeat the self-same recommendations without the church walls, in the fields, or any other place whatsoever?