About the Book
Excerpt from The Disputants, or the Arguments in Favour of the Newly Established Theological Institution Among the Methodists, Brought to the Test: And the Institution Itself Proved to Be Un-Wesleyan, Un-Scriptural, Un-Necessary, Impolitic, and Dangerous Pacification; 'and also in the Regulations agreed to by the preachers, in 1797, which are so many concessions made in the spirit of the original agreement. It will be perceived: 1. That a preacher is not allowed to speak on the subject there specified, so as to promote strife, which subject is the introduction Of the Lord's Supper, without subjecting himself to trial and censure. 2. That no pamphlet, or printed letter, shall be circulated in the body without the author's name, and the postage or carriage being paid, if calcu lated. To promote debate and contention. 3. That quarterly meetings, rejecting a new Rule, shall not by publications, public meetings, or otherwise, make the Rule a cause of contention. There would be very little difficulty in a travelling preacher securing here an honourable retreat, by observing, that when a regularly appointed Preacher is named, the prohibition is confined to speaking - that when the press is employed, yet if a person will only pay the carriage, and affix his name to the publication, by way of facilitating his detection, he may nevertheless publish, at the risk Of being called to an account for the contents of what he ushers into the world -that Preachers are not prohibited by name, but only Quarterly Meet ings, from issuing publications and holding public meetings; and that the subject specified in the Law, is confined to the Lord's Supper. But without taking any advantage of the letter Of the law, except in the plainest cases, there is not any thing more clear, than that the spirit of it has been infringed upon in the present instance. Messrs. Crowther, Ward, Cubit, and Vevers - though they have published their names, have violated the spirit of the law, by promot ing strife and debate, - for such has been the result of their pamphlets, under the pretence and with the design, nevertheless, of allaying the ferment occasioned by the Institution. These are supported by the missionary-committee, the institution-committee, the Book Committee, and the Editor of the Magazine, in the teeth of law, and will be brought in triumph through the Conference, whose law they have broken, under pretence of saving the Constitution, on the ground of necessity, which is affirmed by some persons to have no law. Mr. West, the anonymous author of the Touchstone, and the author of the Observations On Mr. Bromley's Letter to Mr. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
