The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 3 (of 3)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Religion
The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 3 (of 3)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Methodism; Wesley, John, 1703-1791
5. “The Lovefeast. A poem by the author of the ‘Saints: a satire,’
etc.” 4to, 47 pages. Here the frontispiece is a sort of chapel scene,
in which Wesley, as a fox, dressed in canonicals, is having a mitre
placed upon his head by the goddess Murcia, while a parson behind waves
his wig and shouts “Hurrah,” and another hurries away with an air
of disappointment and disgust. Wesley’s Foundery is described as “a
spiritual slop shop,” where he equips his “preaching lubbers” with all
the necessary paraphernalia for playing their several parts; while the
preachers themselves are designated “the worst of scum,” “smugglers of
Scripture phrases,” “learning’s sworn foes,” “Jack Cade’s apostles,”
and “mere conduit pipes of rhapsody and cant.” The following are the
last lines of the piece, and are used concerning Wesley himself.
“_Feasts_ he may institute, raise _holy_ piles,
Degrade his _God_ to win a _monarch’s_ smiles;
Permit _corruption_ his _false heart_ to taint,
Live by _imposture_, and yet die a _saint_;
But never while this hand can hold a pen,
Shall he escape the _scorn of honest men_.
Nor North, nor Mansfield shall the _wizard_ save,
But _ridicule_ shall scourge him to the _grave_--
There let him _rot_, (so Becket did before,)
_Proud_ as a _pope_, and faithless as a wh--re.”
6. “Sketches for Tabernacle Frames.” 4to, 36 pages. In this, the
frontispiece consists of Wesley, again represented as a fox in
canonicals, with the crosier of a mock bishop behind him, and round
about a library of books, which he is supposed to sell, the shelves
being labelled “Primitive Physic,” “Political Pamphlets,” and “Prayers,
Sermons, and Hymns.” Before him kneels a mechanic, with an ass’s head,
holding, in one hand, a bottle inscribed with the words “Primitive
Physic,” and, in the other, a pamphlet called “A Calm Address,” while
the poor asinine wretch himself is having his mouth opened by Wesley,
who is about to indulge in the agreeable recreation of extracting his
teeth. At the top of the picture are two portraits, one of James II.,
indicative of Wesley being a Jacobite; and the other of Lucy Cooper,
indicating him to be something worse. The poem is dedicated to the
“Rev. Mr. Evans, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Hawes, in acknowledgment of their
services to the public.” After describing Wesley by such epithets as “a
nostrum monger,” “a preacher, pamphleteer, and quack,” than whom “few
can whistle off rank nonsense better,” the work concludes with the two
lines following:
“His odious name should stink beyond the grave,
And truth proclaim him a recorded knave.”
The reader has had more than enough of these dunghill rakings; but, in
order to be saved from the hateful task of returning to this series of
abominable poems, we add another published in the year following.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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