CHAPTER XVI. THE METHODISTS. UNDER the denomination of Methodists, I place those only who are the disciples of Wesley; a distinction necessary to be mentioned, because the term is frequently applied reproachfully to those of other sects who are unusually devout. They are, in comparison with the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, not a large body; but as their present rate of increase is I believe greater than that of any other sect, the time may come when they will rank first in number, if not in importance. Some persons in America witnessing their zeal in proselyting, and their tenacity of their converts, have gone so far as to assert, that ultimately there will be only two classes in Christendom, Methodists and Unitarians; or as they are pleased otherwise to express it, those who are influenced by fanaticism, and those who are guided solely by reason. This however, must be admitted to be an extravagant supposition. Still, whether we regard the influence of the Methodists on the populace, or their prodigious increase, they deserve great attention. Their ministers both local and itinerant, actuated with the zeal of Jesuits, though not with their temporizing principles, have laboured assiduously in all places where vice and wretchedness are congregated. Wherever a society has been settled in such places, a visible reformation has been the consequence. The grosser vices have subsided; and a decent demeanour, combined with I trust true piety, has taken their place. I confess I am no admirer of their pulpit denunciations of fire and brimstone in the gulf of Hell, with malignant devils for tormentors; yet while I see good attend their labours, I infer that the ignorant are more easily roused by such terrible language, than allured by what is attractive in the love, mercy and goodness of the great Redeemer. I was at one of their meetings at a solitary house in the woods of Virginia; the only place of worship it appeared within a compass of fourteen or fifteen miles. The preacher was a young man of that repulsive look characteristic of their ministers. His text was from the Revelations; a book, which from its obscurity, seems to be a great favourite with the whole tribe of mystics from Behmen to Swedenborg and Joanna Southcote, and with most of those who believe that a spiritual signification is couched under the literal sense of every passage. His exposition, though not what I should consider strained, was not quite so clear or so full as might have been expected. The violence of his language was harsh to my ears; but as a number of negro slaves was present, the discourse might be better adapted for the auditory than one more refined. On reflecting on it afterwards, I was led to the conclusion, that some present might have been aroused from careless security, and others animated to a perseverance in the path of devotedness to religion. The Methodists are almost the only persons who have paid attention to the religious and moral instruction of the slaves. The Catholics, to be sure, who are slave-owners, have converted the negroes on their estates to their ceremonious worship; but their labours in very few instances have, I believe, extended beyond their own estates. The mass of the free coloured population, as well as of the slaves who profess religion, are Methodists; though congregations exist of several other denominations. The annual celebration of camp-meetings is kept up amongst the Methodists in various parts of the United States, though the practice is discountenanced by their brethren in England. I had a great desire to witness one of them, but had no opportunity. I heard various reports of their immoral effects on the youth of both sexes. Probably these reports have little foundation in truth, as the Methodists are generally considered to be a moral people. The success of their labours to prevent drunkenness is said to be great. If it be enquired why they have been so much more successful in proselyting the poor and ignorant, than other sects who have used endeavours for the same purpose, the reason may be found in their singular policy and the plainness of their preaching. If a poor man be admitted a member of a Methodist society, he soon finds himself of some importance; he may speedily become, or have the prospect of becoming, a class-leader; and if he have a ready utterance, he may be permitted to practise as an exhorter, and perhaps be elevated into a local preacher: That person must be ignorant indeed of human nature, who perceives not that these distinctions are more alluring than the perpetual obscurity attendant on a union with most other societies. The plain, natural style adopted by the Methodist ministers in their sermons, is so much better adapted to the understandings of the illiterate, than the polished diction and balanced periods of which the Clergy in general are so fond, that we need not wonder at the preference given to them. Let any one read one of the neat and critically exact Sermons of Blair, or of the unimpassioned, argumentative Sermons of Tillotson, or of the redundant though rich and illustrative Sermons of Chalmers, and then read one of Wesley's, where without the charms of rhetoric, conviction is carried to the heart;—and then say which of the four would be the best comprehended by a peasant or mechanic. The extemporaneous delivery of sermons, so general if not universal amongst the Methodists, has its use in preserving simplicity, and giving scope to the preacher to work upon the passions. The reading of written sermons will seldom do more than fill the mind with indistinctness, except the hearers are sufficiently educated to understand logic; unless indeed the sermons be so plain and practical that they cannot be misunderstood. In that case, the understanding may be convinced, and yet, because no warmth is infused into the heart, the impression may be as transient as the shade on a green field occasioned by a passing cloud. The idea of the Clergy who are purposely educated for the ministry, that they cannot preach extemporaneously without confusing themselves and falling into nonsense, is one of |