“It is long since anything has given me so much
pleasure as your letter. You have looked at the
| Ætat. 55. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 61 |
“When I received the first communication concerning Church Methodism from Mark Robinson (in February 1824), I thought it of sufficient importance to send a copy to the present Primate, with whom I had personal acquaintance enough to authorise me in so doing. I did not let Robinson know this, because it would have been giving myself a false appearance of consequence in his eyes,—would have been taking upon myself more than I had any right or reason to do; and might also have raised vain expectations in him. In my letters to him, then and afterwards, I could do nothing more than express hearty wishes for the success of what appeared to me a most desirable attempt.
“The answer which I received from Fulham was in these words. [See letter from the Bishop of London, Vol. V. p. 165.]
“It seemed to me at the time that the Bishop of London supposed these seceding Methodists to ask for more than they actually did, that they required nothing like a formal treaty, but merely to have their offered services accepted and countenanced. I thought also that there could be little danger in this case, from the description of clergy to which he alluded; because, such among them as hold Calvinistic doctrines (and these are the only dangerous ones), would not be likely to co-operate with Wesleyan Methodists.
“Robinson told
me that Archdeacon Wrangham favoured his
views: and he counted also, through
| 62 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 55. |
“You and I are perfectly agreed in this, that without some such assistance from without, as well as strenuous exertions within, the Church Establishment of this kingdom cannot hold its place. The Dissenting minister has his subordinate helpers everywhere, the clergyman acts alone. Would I could persuade myself that even with such assistance the overthrow of the Establishment might be averted I But no better means of strengthening it can now be devised, and no likelier ones of preparing the way for its eventual restoration; if, as I too surely fear, this generation should not pass away without seeing it as prostrate as it was in the Great Rebellion.
“You say that you would not ministerially cooperate in
any plan of this kind which was disapproved by those to whom ministerial
deference and subordination are due. This, of course, I should have expected
from you; and, indeed, if the scheme were pursued upon any other principle, it
could end
| Ætat. 55. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 63 |
“You would not concur in any plan the object of which
was to create schism in the body of the Methodists. Neither would I bestow a
thought upon any such object. But Methodism is already torn by schisms; the
specific schism which a mere politic churchman would have wished to bring
about, has been made, and in that schism the only organised Methodists are to
be found with whom we could cooperate, or who would co-operate with us. For the
Revivalists and Ranters are out of the question; and the Conference have
something to lose by such cooperation, and nothing to gain by it. The
Conference
| 64 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 55. |
“But the Church Methodists, if they are true to their
own professions, would be just such auxiliaries as are wanted. The scheme, as
relating to any single parish, should seem not to be difficult with their help;
they would bring whatever is good in the Wesleyan discipline, rejecting its
watch-nights and its confessions; they would act as catechists when parents are
unable to perform that duty in their own families; and by their meetings and
their local preachers, they would introduce and keep up devotional habits. Much
may be done in this way. But for the work of startling the sinner and making
the deaf hear, I think that in most places the aid of itinerant preachers will
be wanted; and when we come to itinerancy, we come upon the difficulties and
some of the dangers of organising, supporting, and governing such a class pf
men. Yet these are the men who can ‘create a soul under the ribs of
Death,’ these are the firemen who seem to be in their proper
element when they are breathing amid flames and smoke; whom practice has
rendered as it were fireproof, and who are thus enabled to snatch brands
| Ætat. 55. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 65 |
“In any parish where a society were once methodized, it might be possible to engraft upon their discipline a plan of looking after the sick for the purpose of administering to their bodily necessities. Women might be found to take upon themselves, if not, like the Beguines, the charge of nursing, yet of assisting in, and in some degree superintending it, avoiding, however, any perilous exposure of themselves, and thereby their own families, to infection; for by such exposure the probable evil that may be incurred exceeds the good that can possibly be done.
“There is some hope also (though fainter), that Methodism, thus regulated and kept in subordination, may be rendered useful in another way. The Cooperative societies are spreading, and must spread. I believe that their principle will act upon the whole foundation of society, with a force like that of crystalization. And every society which is formed into a little community of its own, will surely be withdrawn from the national Church, unless by some such aid as that of Methodism it can be kept or brought within the pale. But this is a wide as well as most momentous subject. And it is time that I should conclude.
