XIV.
1804.

The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Twelfth Edition. New York: Printed by T. Kirk, No. 48, Maiden-Lane, For the Methodist Society, and Sold by E. Cooper, and J. Wilson, at the Book Room. 1804.

It is unnecessary to give detailed descriptions of these later and not very rare editions. The Doctrinal Tracts and Sections, as noticed above, are continued in this and the following edition, and also in that of 1808, in which the language "present existing and established standards of doctrine" first appeared. There are 216 pages, with four added for Contents.

XV. 1805.

The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Thirteenth Edition. New York, Published by Ezekiel Cooper & John Wilson, For the Methodist Connection. W. C. Robinson, Printer. 1805.

This edition, though freshly set up and printed, appears to be an exact reproduction, page for page, of the preceding, and, though numbered as a separate edition, has little or no ground for being so regarded.

XVI.
1808.

The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Fourteenth Edition. New-York: Published by John Wilson and Daniel Hitt, For the Methodist Connection. J. C. Totten, Printer. 1808. This Discipline contains the "Constitution" of the Delegated General Conference, and thus ends the primitive series. Its character and contents are sufficiently well known. It contains 211 pages, with an additional four for the Contents.

All of the preceding Disciplines measure 534 by 3 inches: from 1812, until a quite recent date, the book was much smaller.

NOTE. The editions numbered on their title-pages continue as follows: Fifteenth, 1812; Sixteenth, 1813; Seventeenth, 1814; Eighteenth, 1816; Nineteenth, 1817; Twentieth, 1820; Twenty-first, 1821; Twenty-second, 1824; Twenty-third, 1825; after which, so far as I know, the numbering of the editions on the title-pages ceases.

APPENDIX II.

FLETCHER'S SUGGESTIONS TO WESLEY FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF METHODISM.

IN

"Shall

N immediate connection with Book I., Chapter II., Wesley's Powers Descend to the Conference or to a Designated Successor?" should be considered the following letter sent by Bishop Galloway to the Christian Advocate (Nashville), and published in the issue of that journal for February 24, 1898. From Bishop Galloway's introductory remarks it may be gathered that Methodism is indebted to the Rev. Charles H. Kelly, Book Steward in London, for the recovery of this valuable letter, which for more than a century had been covered up in the rubbish of the Book Room in City Road. Dr. James H. Rigg, who is perhaps the first authority among the Wesleyan Methodists on the primitive and present polity of Methodism, has written in the Methodist Recorder two articles expository of the significance of this letter. Dr. Rigg very pertinently says that "the letter gives a clew not before in our hands, and lights up points imperfectly understood." It certainly does. While in point of time the letter belongs with the correspondence between Wesley and Fletcher, which is reproduced in the chapter of this volume mentioned above, in point of its matter the letter belongs with Book III., Chapter XI., on "The Christmas Conference and Wesley's Final Settlement of Episcopal Methodism"; for, so far as I know, it is the earliest suggestion of the principles on which Wesley acted in the ordinations for America and the abridgment of the Thirty-nine Articles, and the only written record of the genesis of that all-important determination in Wesley's mind. Dr. Rigg, as further quoted by Bishop Galloway, adds, "It is impossible not to recognize here the same

idea which became dominant in American Methodism, and which some of Wesley's closest and most trusted friends maintained, after his death, that he desired to see realized in its general principle in the arrangements which should be made for English Methodism after his decease." The evidence of Wesley's design that English Methodism should be permanently organized on the American model accumulates (see above, page 143), but cannot be summarized here. The authenticity of the letter, in Fletcher's own handwriting, is unquestioned. It is given below:

THURSDAY AFTERNOON, August 1, 1775.

Revd and dear Sir: This is the day your conference with the Methodist preachers begins. As I pray'd early in the morning that God would give you all the spirit of wisdom and love to consult about the spread of the power of godliness, the motion made by Mr. Benson in the letter I sent you came into my mind; and I saw it in a much more favorable light than I had done before: The wish of my soul was that you might be directed to see, and weigh things in a proper manner. About the middle of the day, as I met with you in spirit, the matter occurred to me again in so strong a manner that I think it my duty to put my thoughts upon paper; and send them to you.

You love the Church of England, and yet you are not blind to her freckles, nor insensible of her shackles. Your life is precarious; you have lately been shaken over the grave; you are spared, it may be, to take yet some important step, which may influence generations yet unborn. What, sir, if you used your liberty as an Englishman, a Christian, a divine, and an extraordinary messenger of God? What, if with bold modesty, you took a farther step toward the reformation of the Church of England? The admirers of the Confessional, and the gentlemen who have petitioned the Parliament from the feathers' tavern, cry aloud that our Church stands in need of being reformed; but do not they want to corrupt her in some things, while they talk of reforming her in others? Now, sir, God has given you that light, that influence, and that intrepidity which many of those gentlemen have not. You can reform, as far as your influence goes, without perverting; and, indeed, you have done it already. But have you done it professedly enough? Have you ever explicitly borne your testimony against all the defects of our Church? Might you not do this without departing from your professed attachment to her? Nay, might you not, by this means, do her the greatest of services? If the mother who gave you suck were yet alive, could you not reverence her, without reverencing her little whims and sinful peculiarities (if she had any?) If Alexander's good sense had not been clouded by his pride, would he have thought that his courtiers honored him when they awkwardly carried their head upon one shoulder as he did, that they might look like him? I love the Church of England, I

hope, as much as you do. But I do not love her so as to take her blemishes for ornaments. You know, sir, that she is almost totally deficient in discipline, and she publicly owns it herself every Ash Wednesday. What are her spiritual courts in general, but a catch-penny? As for her doctrine, although it is pure upon the whole, you know that some specks of Pelagian, Calvinian, and Popish dirt cleave to her articles, homilies, liturgy, and rubrics. These specks could with care be taken off, and doing it in the circle of your influence might, sooner or later, provoke our superiors to godly jealousy and a complete reformation. In order to this it is proposed:

(1.) That the growing body of the Methodists in Great Britain, Ireland, and America be formed into a general society-a daughter Church of our holy mother.

(2.) That this society shall recede from the Church of England in nothing but in some palpable defects, about doctrine, discipline, and unevangelical hierarchy.

(3.) That this society shall be the Methodist Church of England, ready to defend the as yet unmethodized Church against all the unjust attacks of the dissenters willing to submit to her in all things that are not unscriptural— approving of her ordination-partaking of her sacraments, and attending her service at every convenient opportunity.

(4.) That a pamphlet be published containing the 39 Articles of the Church of England rectified according to the purity of the gospel, together with some needful alterations in the liturgy and homilies-such as the expunging the damnatory clause of the Athanasian creed, etc.

(5.) That Messrs. Wesley, the preachers, and the most substantial Methodists in London, in the name of the societies scattered through the kingdom, would draw up a petition and present it to the Archbishop of Canterbury informing his Grace, and through him the bench of the Bishops, of this design; proposing the reformed articles of religion, asking the protection of the Church of England, begging that this step might not be considered as a schism, but only as an attempt to avail ourselves of the liberty of Englishmen, and Protestants, to serve God according to the purity of the gospel, the strictness of primitive discipline, and the original design of the Church of England, which was to reform, so far as time and circumstances would allow, whatever needed reformation.

(6.) That this petition contain a request to the Bishops to ordain the Methodist preachers which can pass their examination according to what is indispensably required in the canons of the Church. That instead of the ordinary testimonials the Bishops would allow of testimonials signed by Messrs. Wesley and some more clergymen, who would make it their business to inquire into the morals and principles of the candidates for orders. And that instead of a title, their lordships would accept of a bond signed by twelve stewards of the Methodist societies, certifying that the candidate for holy orders shall have a proper maintenance. That if his Grace, etc., does not condescend to grant this request, Messrs. Wesley will be obliged to take an irregular (not unevangelical) step, and to ordain upon a Church of Englandindependent plan such lay preachers as appear to them qualified for holy orders.

(7.) That the preachers so ordained be the assistants in their respective circuits. That the helpers who are thought worthy, be ordained deacons, and that doubtful candidates be kept upon trial, as they now are.

(8.) That the Methodist preachers in Conference assembled shall have the liberty to suspend and degrade any Methodist preacher, ordained or unordained, who shall act the part of a Balaam or a Demas.

(9.) That when Messrs. W. are dead, the power of Methodist ordination be lodged in three or five of the most steady Methodist ministers under the title of Moderators, who shall overlook the flocks, and the other preachers as Mr. Wesley does now.

(10.) That the most spiritual part of the common prayer shall be extracted and published with the 39 rectified articles, and the minutes of the Conferences (or the Methodist canons) which (together with such regulations as may be made at the time of this establishment) shall be, next to the Bible, the vade mecum of the Methodist preachers.

(11.) That the important office of confirmation be performed with the ut most solemnity by Mr. Wesley or by the Moderators, and that none shall be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper but such as have been con firmed or are ready to be confirmed.

(12.) That the grand plan upon which the Methodist preachers shall go, shall be to preach the doctrine of grace against the Socinians-the doctrine of justice against the Calvinists-and the doctrine of holiness against all the world: And that of consequence 3 such questions as these be put to the candidates for orders at the time of ordination

I. Wilt thou maintain with all thy might the scripture doctrines of grace, especially the doctrine of a sinner's free justification merely by a living faith in the blood and merits of Christ?

II. Wilt thou maintain with all thy might the scripture doctrines of justice, especially the doctrine of a Believer's remunerative justification by the good works which ought to spring from justifying faith?

III. Wilt thou preach up Christian perfection, or the fulfilling of the law of Christ, against all the antinomians of the age; and wilt thou ardently press after it thyself, never resting till thou art perfect in humble love?

Perhaps to keep the work in the Church it might be proper to add: IV. Wilt thou consider thyself as a son of the Church of England, receding from her as little as possible; never railing against her clergy, and being ready to submit to her ordination, if any of the bishops will confer it upon thee?

(13.) And lastly, that Kingswood school be entirely appropriated (1) to the reception and improvement of the candidates for Methodist orders; (2) to the education of the children of the preachers; and (3) to the keeping of the worn-out Methodist preachers, whose employment shall be to preserve the spirit of faith and primitive Christianity in the place; by which means alone the curse of a little unsanctified learning may be kept out.

TUESDAY EVENING.

P. S. The preceding pages contain my views of Brother Benson's proposal. I wrote it immediately after dinner and was going to send it to you,