The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Methodism; Wesley, John, 1703-1791
“VII. With regard to your manner of conversation. Are not you of a
close, dark, reserved temper and behaviour? Is not the spirit of
secrecy the spirit of your community? Do not you, in many cases, use
cunning, guile, dissimulation? Was not Mr. Gambold guilty of a calm,
deliberate lie, in publicly affirming, you had not so much as seen
those hymns, some of which you had not only seen but composed?
“VIII. With regard to moral honesty. Have you not distressed, if not
totally ruined, numerous families?
“IX. With regard to your manner of answering for yourselves. Have
you ordered the Brethren to give no answer to any accusation, but
the general one, ‘It’s all a lie’? Do you still deem those who blame
your hymns worthy of having their tongues plucked out, or their hands
chopped off?”
The above are fair specimens of all the Queries proposed by the writer
of this curious pamphlet.[244] The conclusion is as follows.
“But I have done. I have proposed the Queries which you desired, and
have endeavoured therein to come to the point. Permit me now to remind
your lordship of the assurance given to the public, ‘As soon as these
Queries are finished, the Moravians, who expect them with earnest
longing, will lose no time in answering them.’ If your lordship
is inwardly and deeply convinced, that the bulk of the preceding
objections are just, and if you are determined to amend whatsoever is
capable of amendment, then silence may be a sufficient answer. I am,
my lord, your lordship’s real well wisher, and humble servant.”
What gave birth to this publication? Was Wesley justified in writing
it? The following facts will help to answer these questions.
The reader has already seen that the eccentricities of the Moravian
brotherhood had occasioned a large amount of public scandal. This,
unfortunately, increased, rather than diminished; and, hence, on the
last day of the year 1754, James Hutton published an advertisement in
the _London Daily Advertiser_, calling for “Queries” to be proposed in
reference to the charges publicly circulated against the Brethren; and
indicating that answers to the Queries would be furnished.[245]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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