Wesley Corpus

21. “He says he will no more continue in fellowship with Calvinists than with thieves, drunkards, or common swearers.” No; I say I will have no fellowship with those who rail at their governors, (be they Calvinists or Arminians,) who speak all manner of evil of them in private, if not in public too. “Such is the character he gives of the Calvinistic Method ists.” (Page 31.) I do not; no more than of the Arminians. But I know there have been such among them: If they are wiser now, I am glad. In the mean time let him wear the cap whom it fits, be it Mr. Wilkes or Mr. Hill himself. 22. “This apostate miscreant” (civil!) “invites the King and his ministers to fall upon”--whom ? those who “rail at their governors, who speak all manner of evil of them, in private, if not in public too.” I am glad they cry out, though before they are hurt; and I hope they will cease to speak evil of dignities, before those who bear not the sword in vain fall upon them, not for their opinion, but their evil practices. 23. “He says, Calvinists and all Dissenters are rebels.” (Page 32.) I never said or thought so. “But a few years ago, he himself thought the Americans were in the right.” I did; for then I thought that they sought nothing but legal liberty: But as soon as I was convinced they sought independency, I knew they were in the wrong. Mr. Evans's low and scurrilous tracts have been confuted over and over. 24. “He trumpets himself forth as the greatest man that has ever lived since Constantine the Great.” (Page 37.) This too is in italics; it might have been in capitals; but it is an utter falsehood. Mr. Hill might as well have said, “He trum pets himself forth as the King of Great Britain.” The passage to which I suppose he alludes, and the only one he can allude to, is this: “When has true religion, since the time of Constantine the Great, made so large a progress within so small a space?” (Sermons, Vol. VII., p. 425.) Is this “trumpeting myself forth as the greatest man that has ever lived since” then 7 25.