With mingled sensations of indignation and sorrow have we brought this "Appeal" before our readers. Indignation, on beholding two or three obscure individuals of the Diss circuit, consummately ignorant of the principles of the Wesleyan constitution, arrogating to themselves the task of mending rules which our venerable founder enjoined them rather to keep, and becoming the wilful instruments of decoying from their spiritual enjoyments a few-and we are thankful, but a few-misguided persons: we also feel sorrow, that even a few were induced, by the fair speeches and deceitful words of designing men, to manifest dissatisfaction and distrust with the Conference, whose good faith and integrity in the estimation of the connexion is triumphant-a want of attachment toward those who were over them in the Lord, and a reckless determination to root up the vine and the fig tree, under which their fathers have pleasantly and profitably sat. With the venerable established church, we pray"That it may please Thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived. That it may please Thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and SLANDERERS, and to turn their hearts.'

Correspondence.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ILLUMINATOR.

On marking the progress of the schism which has recently occurred in the Methodist connexion, I have been led to reflect a little on its rise, its progress, its present state, and the probable results. A few remarks on each of those subjects may be of some importance; and these I wish to state in as clear, calm, and dispassionate a manner as possible.

Although the apparent commencement of it was like the bursting forth of a volcano, immediately after the publication of Dr. Warren's pamphlet, and his consequent and merited suspension by the Manchester District Meeting, yet I am of opinion, that the fire had long been burning underneath, and that if the Dr.'s affair had not occurred, some other event, equally casual, would have led to a similar explosion. I need only refer to a few facts in proof of the above statement. In the town of Liverpool, some of the very men who are at the head of the Association faction, for about three years, conducted and published a monthly Circular, in which all the slander and vituperation which could be collected against a few of the preachers individually, and the Conference generally, were monthly circulated through the nation. Those persons had for several years been endeavouring, not only to prejudice the Liverpool people against the Conference, but to spread similar principles far and wide.

In Manchester there had also been a factious spirit among a few of the leaders; and though, many years ago, several of them left the connexion, at the time of Mr. Broadhurst's division, there were others who continued in the body, and were constant sources of trouble to the preachers and to the sound part of the society, both in the leaders' and in the quarterly meetings.

At the time when the cholera was so prevalent and also so fatal in the Collieries of Staffordshire, the Lord began a very gracious work in Dudley, and there was a pleasing prospect of great and lasting good; but, alas! the leading people of the society plunged into the gulf of radical politics, the progress of the work of God was arrested, and many of the members were prepared to introduce their political revolutionary zeal into the church of God.

For a number of years the Whitehaven society has been in an unsettled state; and such was the reforming mania of many of the leaders at Todmorden that, at a quarterly meeting about a year ago, after settling the business of their own circuit, they proceeded to adjust the affairs of church and state at large. The more carefully Í examine into the previous state of those societies which are now disturbed, the more clearly does it appear, that a spirit of restless discontent and disaffection has prevailed among them for some years prior to the present agitation.

When the Association was formed in Manchester and Liverpool, its members declared to the world that they wanted nothing NEW; while at the same time they were publishing, that, as Methodism is now constituted, no honest and upright man could re

main in connexion with it. In a short period their scheme began to develope itself. It was demanded that the preachers should vote by ballot! Then, that persons should be admitted into the Conference by tickets! Then was broached the grand remedy for all Methodistical evil, that one hundred lay delegates should be sent annually from one hundred of the principal towns of the kingdom; and that each delegate shall be the man of the people; or, to use the Association's phrase, the "people's man." Very shortly, they altered their scheme of members being admitted by ticket, and declared that the Conference shall be opened to the Methodist public, who must be admitted as spectators! And, then, they determined to have a new "Plan of Pacification!" Another projected alteration is, that whatever resolution any person may choose to propose, whether in a leaders' or quarterly meeting, the chairman shall be obliged to put it to the vote, or he must vacate the chair! Another proposition is, that certain preachers shall be brought to undergo punishment, or to use their own expression-made an example of," so as to deter any other preacher from ever following their steps! Another of their projects is, that the theological institution shall be suppressed! And the last of their statements to which I shall refer is, "that as a minister may preach sound theological sermons, yea, even preach like an angel, it is not impossible that all the while he may be as full of ambition and of pride as the devil!" And for fear that any of their readers should take it hypothetically, as a thing within the reach of possibility, but not probable, they add, "this is matter of fact!" They most devoutly wish to guard the Methodists against being prejudiced in favour of the preachers, as this is the effect of ignorance, or a consequence of mental infirmity!

Such, then, are some of the present avowed projects of the Association; what farther measures may be resolved upon by them before the Conference, may assemble, time alone can develope. But taking our stand according to the present position of affairs, it becomes a serious enquiry as to what will be the duty of the Conference, and whether the present schism or separation is likely to be healed.

The inquiry becomes the more important at the present time, because of the delusion practised on our people by the active members of the Association. The people are very gravely informed that, though they receive the Association tickets—which, in Liverpool, are signed by the leading characters of the Association-they are still true members of the Methodist society; that they have no reason to doubt but that the Conference will grant their requests; for, according to their own statements, they are so perfectly reasonable, and so small in magnitude, that it would be utterly wrong for the Conference to deny them!! And thus many are led into the snare, who imagine that they are only making a proper stand for their rights, and that in a few months all will be very comfortably and amicably settled.

I shall not now enter upon the subject of the late reckless attempt by that body, with Dr. Warren as their tool, to endeavour by an appeal to Chancery, and by one sweeping measure to prove what the Association have frequently asserted that we have no laws which are binding. More than three months ago, one of the Liverpool associates* declared that an appeal would be made to the Lord Chancellor; and if the Lord Chancellor had ejected Mr. Newton, and replaced Dr. Warren, then, as a matter of course, Mr. Jackson must have reinstated Mr. Barnes and Mr. Rowland; Mr. Marsden must have replaced Mr. Joyce and Mr. Beynon, aud all the adherents of each party, on the North and South of Liverpool. In Manchester, it would not have been left to Mr. Newton to replace Messrs. Wood, Hull, Mayor, and Co.; but, with the Doctor at their head, all must have resumed their old places and offices. However, I leave that subject, and proceed to inquire what will be the probable plan of the ensuing Conference; or, at least, what appears at present to be the result of the schism, as it respects the Conference.

It may be inquired, can the Conference at all enter into any treaty with the ringleaders of the Association ? To answer that question, it is proper to inquire into the nature of their present position. They have their separate places of worship; they have their own classes, prayer-meetings, band-meetings, and lovefeasts; they have their quarterly meetings, they receive and pay their monies, and they have. their own tickets. They affirm that they are still members of the Methodist society, though they have now no connexion with it. However, as they have published to the world "that they are singularly fitted for great actions, and pass through difficulties which to others appear insurmountable," I readily suppose that they can very easily reconcile

* Our respected correspondent alludes to the valiant chairman of the Liverpool Association, who in his gunpowder zeal in the cause of Methodist reform, very devoutly challenged W. G. Scarth, Esq., of Leeds, to fight a duel!-ED.

those seeming contradictions. To accomplish their designs further, they have announced to the world, that so far as their influence extends, they will stop all the supplies to the chief funds of the Methodist connexion. They profess to have an object to accomplish, and until it shall be effected, the trustees may sink under embarrassments, and starve in a debtors' jail; the preachers may be withdrawn from the poor circuits; the aged preachers and the widows may sink in destitution and poverty; and the heathen may perish, for want of the gospel of the Son of God!

Can the Conference enter into negociation with men who avow such principles ? What preachers could meet them? Men who declare that at any time hereafter, when they shall have any favourite measure to accomplish, they believe it will be perfectly right to carry their designs by force! Can any dependance be placed in them, as to their future unity with the body, or love to the cause of God? I must confess that I see no possible ground for entering into negociations with men who hold and act upon those principles. But were it even possible for the preachers to surmount the difficulty, and treat with the faction, many thousands of our truly "honest and upright" people would decline holding communion with them. There appears to me much to be undone by the members of the Association, before they can expect to enter into any kind of intercourse or treaty with the members of the Conference.

There is little probability of their publishing to the world a frank disclaimer of those principles; if they do, and afterwards wish the Conference to accede to some of their requests, are there not others of those proposed alterations which would be attended with permanent evil? They require that all our leaders' meetings and all our quarterly meetings shall be open for the discussion of all subjects connected with Methodism, and that the chairman shall be bound to put to the vote any motion which may be proposed by any person present. No matter whether the subject belongs to the conduct of preachers in Scotland or Cornwall, it is to be discussed in any meeting in the kingdom, and in the absence of all the parties concerned; that meeting is to pass its judgment, under the pretence of free discussion! Will that plan tend to promote peace, harmony, and love? Would not our meetings soon become arenas for debate and strife; and instead of the leaders returning home in due time to their families, with hearts burning with love and with renewed zeal for God, these assemblies would be protracted to a late hour, and frequently closed with discord, until the peaceable and quiet part of the leaders, would merely lay down their class-money and withdraw, or absent themselves altogether from them, except once in the quarter. If such a proposition had been laid before Mr. Wesley, I leave those who have read his writings to judge

of what nature would have been his conduct!

Another of their demands is, that the preachers shall vote by ballot in the Conference. In the opinion of most wise and truly serious persons, the less of voting there is in the affairs of the church of God the better. It may be necessary (I do not say that it is the best way), to continue to appoint the President and Secretary by ballot; but certainly there is more Christian uprightness and honourable integrity in the Methodist Conference, than that any preacher should be afraid of, or ashamed to avow the vote he gives.

We find another grand part of their scheme is, that one hundred representatives or delegates shall be sent from one hundred of the principal towns; and they are to form a part of the Conference; and, to use their own term, the representative is to be the "people's man." They also state, that any person desiring to go in that capacity, is a proof that he is a proper person! Are all who desire to be members of parliament suitable persons for that station? Persons who think soberly, would question whether the man who is most eager for office is the most suitable! But, waiving that question, the plain fact is, that Mr. Wesley, foreseeing the danger and evil which would attend lay delegation, cautiously and firmly guarded against it. According to the Deed drawn up by Mr. Wesley, and enrolled in Chancery, the Conference can only be composed of regular travelling preachers; and to violate that Deed would be the dissolution of Methodism.

I write the more plainly on these subjects, because the leaders of the Association have been very assiduously telling the people that what they request is very little, being only a few very necessary improvements, and that Conference must grant their requests, and then all will be one again. NO! never while Methodism continues, can the Conference grant what they ask.

If the inquiry is, what will Conference concede, and how far will they meet the Association, I reply, at once, that it is not in my power to state what will be done by the Conference; but I can say what I think the Conference ought to do; and that is, firmly to maintain the present constitution of Methodism. The Methodist body is

a Christian society, united together for the purpose of saving their own souls, and endeavouring to be a blessing to the world at large. They are not a political body, and I hope never will be. Their rules need not to be multiplied; and whilst they preserve and maintain those which they already have, the bond of love will unite them together. While that bond remains, they are a part of the church of the God of love; destroy that union, and though for a short time they might continue an ecclesiastical body, they would gradually dissolve, and the memorial of them would perish. If the ensuing Conference-unterrified by threats, and undismayed by the boasted numbers who may for a time withdraw-calmly maintain that ground and that discipline which has for so many years had the sanction of the God of heaven, they will continue to prosper. Peace will again dwell within our societies, the smile and approbation of the Lord will be upon them, and they will be the honoured instruments of spreading scriptural holiness through a great part of the world.

FRAGMENTS. No. 1.

A LOVER OF METHODISM.

The Association have proved in the doctrines they have propagated, their total unfitness to guide the vessel (of Methodism) to its desired haven. They can gravely tell the world, that nearly a thousand ministers of Christ, though dependant on voluntary supplies, trample on the consciences and understandings of their brethren; they can cut off the supplies from the widows and orphan children of deceased ministers; they can dash the cup of sympathetic aid from the lips of the hoary-headed preacher, worn out in the service of the sanctuary, they can set members at variance with each other; and last, not least, they can train the young to speak evil of the rulers of God's people. Ought such an Association to exist, and to be composed of men who hold communion with the Wesleyan body? Most assuredly not. This truth is as clear as unclouded solar light, that the Association will obliterate Methodism; or Methodism MUST annihilate the Association. The question is not whether we shall have any new or any old Methodism; but whether we shall have any Methodism at all! To all intents and purposes it is to us, articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiæ. The Association has been generated by suspicion, reared by slander, and, in too many instances, will expire in apostacy.

On the whole structure of Wesleyan Methodism, the Almighty has stamped a most signal peculiarity. Its origin, progress, and work are peculiar. It stands equally remote from high Churchism, and low Dissent; it cannot hold any connexional alliance with ultra Toryism, or ultra Liberalism; statesmen and philosophers are alike puzzled with it; it never had an incorporated political character; and it never can have; until, by lay-delegation, a lay oligarchy and ministerial oligarchy shall have changed its original intrinsic character. It stands isolated before the world; the principle of exclusion which shuts out lay power from the Conference re-acts upon themselves; and prevents their collusion with, or their access to, the people. In Methodism we have a vast and mighty incorporation, sustained and uncorrupted by political power. It can grapple with a difficulty that would overwhelm and crush any local or independent church, however respectable or influential. No local, factious majority can ride rough shod over a healthy, yet oppressed minority. The Conference, as a body, are dependent on public opinion, yet are independent of any individual or factious dictation. A broad and deep stream of libertinism is now pervading the land; and the Almighty appears to have raised Wesleyan Methodism as a breakwater in the confluence of the opposing interests and excitements of the land. The Connexion fears no democratic rage, and courts no aristocratic smile; the friend of all, the enemy of none. It can enforce obedience, without coercing its subsistence; its opinions and acts will, every year, increase in their consequence and influence. God has evidently designed Wesleyan Methodism to grapple with and surmount the evils of popular domocracy. The foaming steed may bite the bridle, but the rider shall tame his mettlesome fury. In this painful, yet salutary work will the Connexion, at stated periods or intervals, be called to labour: but the final reward shall be quietness and assurance for ever.-C. WElch.

A sensible and candid minister amongst a body of seceders in Scotland, was lately asked how it happened that his community were incessantly bearing testimony against the sins of other churches, whilst they seldom or never alluded to the sins of their own. He replied, "I acknowledge the fact, and I lament it. It arises from the unfortunate position which, as seceders, we occupy. To blame others seems necessary in order to

defend ourselves." Unfortunate position indeed! Were these "Fragments" intended for some other communities which must be nameless, I would charge them to take heed to the position which they occupy, and to look more to their own affairs, and less to the affairs of others; but they are written for the Wesleyan Methodists, who are not and never were seceders, in the sense above alluded to, from any portion of the church of God. Seceders, as Mr. Wesley states it, began by crying out against others-we began by crying out against ourselves. Such may find it necessary to condemn others in order to justify themselves. No such necessity is laid upon us. We e can afford to live in peace and unity with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and by God's blessing we intend doing so. We covet not the produce of other men's gardens; our field is the world. But, if the wily thief, or the impudent open day robber is seen trespassing within our inclosures, he may find to his cost, that the same catholic principles which constrain us to peace, when it comports with purity, will constrain us also to visit such liberal conduct with summary and severe punishment.-J. M'LEAN.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ERRATUM.-In some copies of this number, on page 143, twenty lines from the bottom, for *sustained," read "unsustained."

The

We are obliged to "J. W." for his information respecting the Warrington Association meeting; which, as far as it regards the prospects of the faction, was a complete failure. Our cold-blooded editor of the Lantern talks very composedly of eight hundred persons, who attended, and of a handsome collection, but forgets to inform his readers that the amount of it was less than twenty shillings! Wesleyan Missionary Anniversary, which was held there the day following, was nobly attended; and the collections exceeded those of the preceding Anniversary by upwards of £13!! But the great Birmingham meeting! We return the compliment, and say, "we thank thee Jew for teaching us that word." It was, indeed, a GREAT MEETING-for which we owe much to the spirited and sound members of our peaceful and prosperous societies in that large town. The infatuated Doctor Warren with his clique of érratic orators visited Birmingham to scatter firebrands, arrows, and death among our societies; they met, however, with a reception which we do not doubt made their "blood run cold!" and resolutions were passed, highly condemnatory of the wicked principles of the Association, and of the conduct of the Doctor, by overwhelming majorities! The conduct of the preachers who were present, and the righthearted Methodists who were drawn thither by the invitation of these intruding agitators, has our hearty approbation and our most cordial thanks. The part which a certain Baptist minister performed in this affair, needs only to be known to be execrated! We may venture to predict that Birmingham and Warrington, with Leeds and Bolton, will not again be annoyed by such visitants.

We have received from a correspondent a brief notice of an eloquent sermon preached in a Wesleyan chapel, in Manchester, lately, by the Rev. R. W. Hamilton, from the words, "Let him that stole, steal no more. We sincerely hope it will be published, as nothing can be more seasonable during the nefarious proceedings of the Association. It is notorious, that the Leeds-street, Liverpool, branch of that august body, after having expelled the superintendent from the chair, proceeded to pass a resolution directing the steward of the society not to pay its just debts, but to retain the money in his own pocket, and to remove the account-book from the chapel vestry to the Pilot committee-room. All this was accordingly done. It is true, restitution was in part made, by the refunding of £18 8s. 4d., immediately after the appearance of our first Illuminator; the society-book, however, is still held back. Such tricks may be common among men who conceive themselves to be "singularly fitted for great actions; yet, as they are always discreditable and occasionally hazardous, we hold it to be good advice, "Let him that stole, steal no more." The observations, also, which the Rev. gentleman made on the "integrity," "justice," and "liberality," required by the gospel, cannot fail to shed a salutary light on that novel system of religion and morals practised by the dear Doctor's friends in Liverpool. (1.) A company of spouters are travelling through the land, to demonstrate, of course beyond all possible doubt, that the Methodist preachers are a set of unprincipled men, who have forfeited the confidence of their societies and country! (2.) These orators continue punctually to attend the religious ministrations of these bad men, and are frequently so pharisaically devout as to attract general attention; and (3) they have unanimously agreed not to contribute one farthing towards the support of the preachers whom they constantly hear, but to take the benefit of their labours, and defraud them of their hire. So that, by their own shewing, this new kind of religion consists, first, in being led to Paradise by men whom they declare to be in the way of transgression; and, secondly, in outdoing their unprincipled guides in cunning and knavery, by cheating them out of their wages.

Communications have been received from "J. W." "M."-" Sigma," ""A Lover of Methodism," and "O." We have again to request the kind indulgence of several of our correspondents, as we are obliged to insert or delay from circumstances over which we have little control.

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