Excerpt from History of Methodist Reform, Synoptical of General Methodism, 1703 to 1898, Vol. 1: With Special and Comprehensive Reference to Its Most Salient Exhibition in the History of the Methodist Protestant Church

Methodist literature without recourse to historians and mono graphists whose coloring is unfavorable to liberal views. As common property it is, therefore, appropriated for information as to the rise and progress of doctrinal Methodism and its spiritual agencies, called means of grace, touching which perfect unity has been preserved among our coreligionists the wide world over; as well as for contrast of governmental methods, equal prosperity attending diverse polities, and thus demonstrating that it was primarily due, not to any particular system, but to the doctrines and means of grace formulated by the Wesleys out of the Scrip tures and the needs of the period. As collateral to this method and an irrefragable corollary from the facts Of history, one of the fundamentals of this work is submitted as proven; to wit, that the dominant system on either shore of the Atlantic is responsible directly or indirectly for all the divisions of Metho dism, and that in consequence organic unity is an impossibility, even if it could be shown politic, until the divisive elements in the dominating systems are eliminated.

These reasons must be the author's plea for occupying the entire first volume in what is really a preparation for the History of the Methodist Protestant Church. No apology is therefore offered for the extended space given to the vindication of the two men who have been most vilified and misrepresented, - Dr. White head of the Wesleyan Methodists and James o'kelly of the Asburyan Methodists. In both cases much new information is furnished; and while no effort is made to condone their errors of temperament and judgment, earnest, and it is believed success ful, effort is made to rescue their memories from unmerited Obloquy. It will also be discovered that nowhere in current Methodist history can such a running biography of Francis Asbury be found, portraying every side of his wonderful character and meting out with an even hand the merits and demerits of an unique system, of which he was the father, in emulation Of the methods of John Wesley, the founder of it. Biographically it is believed that valuable new information is furnished, and fuller extracts made from Asbury's Journal than has been essayed by any other historiographer.

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