1 949 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS All rig/its reserwd /.1,Jade in Great Britain AND EARLY METHODISM

HE REV. SAMUEL WESLEY, Rector of Epworth, maintained that T'Quakerism is a compendium of all here ies', expounding his views in the Athenian Mercury, for which he was the anonymous theological correspondent, the challenge being taken up by William Penn himself- again anonymously. 1 Small wonder that the Wesley children were prejudiced against the Friends, 2 and that one of the features of John Wesley's mi ionary voyage to Georgia in 1735 was the baptizing of the four members of the Hird family of Friends on board the Simmonds, 'after frequent and careful instruction'. 3 Yet that pre­ judice was overcome, and in two later contacts with Friends before his 'evan­ Copies may be obtained on application gelical conversion' We Icy emphasized in the one case the points of doctrine to the Author, c/o the Publishers which divided them, and in the other the devoutness of spirit which made them (Price including postage 2s. rd. 11et) one. 4 This foreshadowed the rather mixed relationships which prevailed between the Methodi ts and the Friends during the remainder of Wesley's life.

A NEW BRAND OF Q.UAKERS The Methodism of the Holy Club was stigmatized by the Rev. Samuel Wesley, junior, as being almost as bad as Quakerism, 6 and when in 1739 the younger Wesley brothers and George Whitefield burst the conventional bonds of cold eighteenth-century formalism by preaching in market-place and field the unsearchable riches of Christ, a chorus of voices echoed that the Methodists were a new brand of Quakers. 6 Anything savouring of 'enthusiasm', the belief

ADBREVIA1'10NS USED IN TUE NOTES CWJ: Journal of the Rev. Charles Weslv, 2 vols. ( 1849) . JFHS: Journal of the Friends Historical Societ,y (1903- 46). JWJ: Journal of the Rtv. John Wesley, Standard ed., 8 vols. JWL: LeUers of the Rev. Jolin Westry, tandard ed., 8 vols. ]WW: Works of the Rev. John Westry, 3rd ed., 14 vols (ed. T. Jackson). Jones: Rufus M.Jones: Later Periods of Q.uakerism, '2 vols. mith: Jos ·ph mith: Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books, 2 vols. (1867) and Supplement (1893). Whitifd: Luke Tyerman: Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, 2 vols. WHS: Proceedings of tlu Wesley Historical ociety ( 1898- 1948). WV: Weslry's Veterans, 7 vols. (ed. John Telford).

1 Tyerman's Samuel Weslry, 183- 4· mith, I. 51-2. 2 As a student at Oxford John We Icy compiled a book of anecdote , including a handful about Quakers, not altogether unfriendly in tone, although one story in particular hints that they were more noteworthy for sharp wilS than for simple honesty (MS. notebook preserved at Wesley's House, pp. 57-9). In 1733 John strongly urged his cider si ter Emilia to throw over the Quaker doctor who was courting her ( teven on' Wtslry Family, 268-70). Emilia herself in 1740 criticized Methodism's emphasis on 'the Quakerly fancie of absolute perfection, &c.' (MS. leLler to John, Colman Collection 24). 3 JWJ., I. 117; cf. I.224n. "' ibid., 445, 447. 6 A. Clarke's Westry Famib>, II.195-8. 0 The Rev. Tristram Land held that Whitefield could not 'be exceeded by the warmest-headed Quaker in the kingdom', while Dr. Henry Stebbing described him as 'a Quaker already in the first and leading principle of that ect' (Wliitejd., I.286). Dr. Zachary Grey amused himself by comparing Whitefield's Journal with that of George Fox, and Horace Walpole's chaplain, the Rev. James Bate, issued a booklet intended lo bring down two birds with one stone-Q.1t11kero-Met/iodism: or, a Confutation ef tlufirst principles ef the Qj11Jkers a11d .Methodists (R. Green's Anti-lvfet/iodist Publications, nos. 110, 42). Printed i11 Great Britain by There was the ame confusion in the American colonies, where in 1 740 the followers of Whitefield were Tiu Camelot Press Ltd., London and Southampton dubbed the 'New LighlS' because of their affinities with the original exponents of the 'Inner Light' (Whitifd., II.12+). 4 HE REL TlO S EETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS A D EARLY METHODISM 5 that God could make personal contact with human being, was abomination greater or lesser degree, often coming fully over to the evangelical position to a race of baptism. Those who placed an emphasis upon the po sibility and supreme importance of an immediate their main emphasis upon the peculiarities of Quaker teaching, however, personal experience of God's saving and guiding power, a harking back to what found themselves in strong opposition to the churchmanship of the Methodists, was a favourite term with them both, 'primitive Chri tianity'. The typical and sometimes a temporary attraction on spiritual grounds was followed by a literary product was therefore in each case the diary or journal (rivalled by revulsion on points of doctrine, or because of Mcthodism•s more vigorous stress hymns as far as Methodism was concerned), and both Societies were liable to on moral discipline. At the outset of the Methodist revival the points at issue glorify death-bed scenes. 9 Doctrinally also there was some affinity, especially seem to have been mainly those of discipline and doctrine; in the later years in their teaching on Christian perfection, though the early Quakers placed less tension was usually over the evangelical as opposed to the mystical approach emphasis upon correct belief, and parted company over the question of the to life. These variable relationships cannot be squeezed into a formula, how­ Sacraments, which Wesley described as 'a great gulf fixed' between them. 10 ever, and room must always be left for exceptions. In outward conduct there were likenesses, both riend and r kthodi ts in­ u culcating the need for plainness both in speech, dress, and general behaviour. Q.UAKER CO-OPERATION Perhaps there was some excuse for the writer in the London Magadne who in 1760 challenged Wesley: 'Are you not a Quaker in disguise?'1 2 Time and time again in the early day it was a Friend who protected the The Methodists, however, were in the first flush of vital religion, while the mobbed Methodist preacher, who lent his field for services, or who gave Quakers had reached the later stages of spiritual growth, in which many were generous help toward building a 'preaching-house'. Although due in part to simply bent on preserving a fossilized faith, though others were beginning to the humanitarian sympathies which were to become so characteristic of the adventure into the realms of speculative theology, or to lose themselves in the Friends, fellow-feeling was another reason, and the bold forsaking of the thin air of mysticism. 13 Divisive tendencies were present in Methodism also, churches for field-preaching must have seemed like a revival of George Fox's .i,nd both Societies were only in the experimental stage as far as organization testimony against 'steeple houses' . was concerned. It is therefore v ry difficult to form a clear picture of the The first stages of the revival can be studied most clearly at Bristol, an complex interweavings of the situation, with :its varied strands of agreement important stronghold of both communities. Here it was that Methodist field­ and disagreement, co-operation and rivalry, propaganda and counter-propa­ preaching commenced. 14 When on 2nd April 1739 John Wesley 'consented to ganda. For a long time there was no clear-cut official policy, matters being be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation', left largely to local initiative. Speaking generally, however, Methodists were he found himself almost immediately caught up into a whirl of Quaker in­ ready to co-operate with devout Friends, to proselytize among those who had fluence. His audience at Hanham ount on the 5th included several Friends, succumbed to the mere preservation of Quak r forms and customs, and easily recognizable by their dress. On the 6th he read a History of the Qyakers­ occasionally to come under the sway of the Quaker emphasis upon the supreme probably that by William Sewcl. On the 16th he baptized a Quaker gentle­ importance of the inner life of the soul. Friends, on the other hand, if spiritually woman, Lucretia Smith, the following day receiving her with others into minded, usually welcomed the Methodi ts, and co-operated with them to a membership, she being chosen by lot the leader of a newly-formed women's 'band'. 16 On the 18th, possibly introduced by Lucretia Smith, Wesley met 7 William ~eward, ~c first Methodist martyr, wa impelled lo defend himself as he told hi clergyman Anthony Purver, 'a Quaker, one of much experience in the ways of God'. 10 br~thel" of !tis conve~s1on; 'You may call, this Quakerism, or what you please; but I know it is the faith which Chnst and His apostles preached (Copy of a Letter from Mr. William Seward, 1739; cf. Whitefd., After several private conversations with Purver Wesley joined in a full con­ 1.~51). ference with ix Friends on 5th May, being himself supported by five other 8 Each was a 'Society', each accepting under protest a derisive title by referring to themselves as 'lhe people called Quakel's', or ' the people called Melhodists'. Methodists. He reported: We prayed together, and our hearts were much • 9 ~he 1748 _Conference _instructed preachers to submit 'a circumstantial account ... of everyone who enlarged toward one another.' 17 The first anniversary of his personal experi­ dies m the triumph of faith' (WHS. Publication, 1.58). It is just po. ible that some Quaker influence ence of saving faith, 24th May 1739, was similarly spent, in the home of a was at work here, for the Quaker collections of death-bed testimonies under the general title of PielJI Promoted were widely known. ( ee mith, U.418--22 ru1d J1''HS., XXXVIII.1J)- It was in August prominent Bristol Friend, Richard Champion, where with eight or nine other 1748 that Charles Wesley_ recorded t!iat al Cork_ he 'dr~nk. tea with some well-disposed Quakers, and Friends he held 'a mild conference on justification by faith, concluded with borrowed a vol1;1m1; of the~rdy!ngsayll!gs: a tancting testunony that the life and power of God was with them at the bcgmmng; as 1t might aga1r1, were th ·y humble enough to confess lheirwant' (CW]., II.2 1). prayer' .18 On 1st June he made apparently his first contact with another 10 Joseph ~ig_htingalc's Portraftu,:, of Methodism (1807), p. 383, pointed out the similarities in Quaker and Methodist ideas about Clm t1an perfcct10n. For the Sacraments, see JWL., II.75. 14 In this Whitefield and the Wesleys had had a predecessor, William Morgan, a brother clergyman who later became a Friend. e WHS. I. 102, 124-8. 11 John Nelson was in I z4~ mi tak~n for either a Baptist or a Quaker because of his habit of reproving 16 people. ( WV., III.!18). It 1s 1nstrucnv<; to compare the Melnodi t Rules with the Qutries and Aduices of It was also on 17th April that Whitefield baptized at Gloucester another influential Bristol Friend, the Friends, and the Large Minutes with the Quake!' Discipline. Dr. John Rutty's An Essay towards a Thomas Whitehead. (Whitefd., I.199.) Co11trast between Qi,akerism a11d .I\Jethodism ( r 771) does this in some detail, using parallel columns. See 16 Purver was a man of about Wesley's own age, later to become famous as the translator of the also Jones, 1 34-9, i 41-5. 'Q~akers' Biblc'-a work which Wesley found 'fiat and dead'. See JWJ., III.197; J FHS., XXIV.31-5; Srn1th II.437-8. 12 JWL., IV.122-3. 17 JWL., I.307; cf. JWJ., II.192 (diary). 13 Quakers them5elvcs, such as amuel Neale, lame11led their 'degeneracy from the true begotten zeal'. See Jones, 2. 18 JWL., I.316-7. 6 THE RELATIO BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM 7 Bristol Quaker family, the Farleys, young Felix becoming one of his active Wesley had begun to build his famous Orphan House at ewcastle in 1743 he supporters, as well as his mo t prolific printer. 1 9 received a letter from a wealthy Friend: It was usually the same elsewhere. At Bath on 8th May I 739 a prominent Friend, Richard Marchant, offered Wesley a field for preaching, calling him FRIEND WESLEY, aside afterwards to say: 'My friend, deal freely with me. I have much money, I have had a dream coacerning thee. I thought I saw thee surrounded with a and it may be that thou ha t little. Tell me what thou wilt have.' Upon which large flock of sheep, which thou didst not know what to do with. My first thought Wesley 'accepted his love'! It was probably on Marcbant's field (where later after I awoke was, that it was thy flock at N wcaslle, and that thou hadst no house the Circus was built) that v esley had hi famou encounter with Beau ash, of worShip for them. I have enclosed a note for one hundred pounds, which may help thee to provide a house. 26 a bevy of fashionable ladies twittering after the preacher into Marchant s house. Meantime Whitefield and Charles Wesley were meeting with a similar In the same year anti-Methodist persecution at Evesham was largely staved off reception in the London area. On 14th May Whitefield 'spent the evening very by a Friend, while at ottingham the following year it was a Friend who agreeably with several Quakers'; on the 16th he arranged for a Friend to be protected Charle We ley and John Webb-the latter himself later a convert baptized, and also 'dined with some serious Quakers'; on the 19th he dined to Quakerism.27 A preacher mobbed at Dudley in 1744 was rescued by 'an with another Friend at Clapham.2 ° Charles Wesley wrote on 31st May: honest Quaker, who helped him to escape, disguised with his broad hat and A Qua~er sent me a pressing invitation to preach at Thackstead [Thaxted]. I coat'. 2 8 In 1744 also George Whitefield wrote from Plymouth: "I have been scrupled preaching in another's parish, till I had been refused the church. Many preaching a confirmation sermon .. Do you ask me where? In a Quaker's Quakers, and near seven hundred others, attended. 21 field.' 2 9

On 4th June he accompanied a young Quaker candidate for baptism to CO·OPERATlON TURNS TO RIVALRY Islington, and in August told Whitefield about Thomas Keen of Marylebone, 'an old spiritual Quaker, who is clear in justification by faith only', who Although at first greeted by the Friends as brethren, however, the Methodist preachers many cases found their welcome short-lived, the changed attitude provided both hospitality and support for the Methodists. 22 in When eventually Methodism came to penetrate farther afield the same kind being dictated by a variety of motives. Opposition came chiefly from those of thing happened. The welcome in Devon and Cornwall was marked. In Friends whose religion had become a matter of outward observance only, September r743 members of the Quaker colony which had migrated from rather than a living experience. Wesley related vividly the case of one, who Exeter to Sticklepath stopped John Wesley as he was riding through the village viewed the emotional outbursts of the Bristol converts in 1739 with abhorrence: and prevailed on him to stay with them. hortly afterwards John elson A Quaker who stood by was very angry at them, and was biting his lips and knitting gained a Quaker convert there, lodging with a Quakeress, and holding a his brows, when the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he fell down as one Methodist cottage-meeting (complete with hymns) in her home. Charles dead. We prayed over him, and he soon lifted up his head with joy and joined with Wesley also warmed to these ticklepath Friends, finding his heart 'drawn out us in thanksgiving. 3 o toward them in prayer and love'.23 It was a Cornish Friend whose rebuke to a One Bristol Quaker, whose wife had joined the Methodists, created disturb• literary opponent of Methodism provided Wesley with an anecdote which he ances at their meetings, sometimes coming primed with drink for that purpose was fond of repeating: 'What! art thou not content with laying John Wesley -though in this he can hardly be regarded as a typical Friend. 3 1 More on his back, but thou must tread his guts out too!' 2 Richard Rodda also, as a insidious trouble-makers were at work, also, though a young Quaker speaker, young Methodist in the hands of the press-gang, was rescued by a Cornish Joseph Chandler, wisely decided to see Wesley for himself before accepting Quaker. 26 their fabricated story about Wes! y's public challenge to him. 32 At Bath A similar pattern was followed in other par of the country. Soon after Richard Marchant decided upon prudential considerations that he could no 19 cf. R. Green's Wesley8ibliograpl!)'· milh, I. 584;JFHS., XX IJI.56;etc. Farley s conversion appar­ longer loan his field to the Methodists, supposedly because of the damage done, ently heighlened lhe len ion between him and his elder brother amuel, who remained a stricl Quaker, although Felix also retained close contacts with Bristol Fri nds, hi wife and daughter being members though Wesley knew that the main reason was summed up in his words: of their Society. Another Bt·istol family similarly divided was that of the Dyers, William being a 'I have already, by letting thee be there, merited the displeasure of my neigh­ sympathizer with the Methodists, amuel, a Friend, bolh of them keeping journals which ha\·e been 33 preserved. ( ee JFHS., J VIJI.56-7; WHS., XVUI.120-9.) bours.' On the other hand Anthony Purver sincerely held that Wesley's Strangely enough William Pine, the well-known Bristol Methodist who succeeded to Farley's position as Wesley's printer when Farley died, was also linked up with the Friends, being a partner of the 26 Moore's West~, I.550. 27 CWJ., I.307, 348-9. 28 ibid., I.345. versatile Dr. Joseph Fry, and associated also with the famous Quaker potter of Bristol, Richard 29 Whiufd., Il.103. 30 JWL., I.305. Champion. 31 i.e. Benjamin Rutter. ee CWJ., I. 166, 177; cf. JWJ., II.233, 246d., 292d., IIl.29. Another well-known Friend with whom Wesley conferred at Bristol year was Isaac Sharpless this s2 JWJ., II. 338-9. (JWJ., II. .242) . 33 ibid., 244. cf. Wesley's first vi it to Port Isaac in 1747 where he was to lodge with Friend Richard 20 Whitifd., I.215- 16. Sc3:0tle~ury, 'an h?ary venerable old man . When the preacher appeared with a mob at his heels, 21 CWJ., l.15c. 22 ibid., J.r5r, 158-9, 235,392; cf. Whitefd., I.556, andJWJ. Index, 'Keen'. . saymg, My name lS John "\I csley', Scantlebury replied, 'l have heard of thee', and shut the door on 23 JWJ.,II.94; WV., UI.82-3; CWJ., I.369. 24- JWL., IV.39, 190, VIIl.149. 26 WV., IV. 199. him (ibid., 111.309, V.283). 8 THE RELATIO S BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM 9 views on the use of money were too strict, he himself 'being persuaded there An Apology for the. True Christian Divinity, as tlze same is held forth and preached by was no harm in costly apparel, provided it was plain and grave'. Later he the people, in scorn, called Q.,uakers. Wesley had carefully read this Quaker mani­ excused himself from coming to the preaching services on the grounds that . festo in 1740, and certainly rated it much higher than George Fox's Journal, into which he dipped about the same period-later he thought it most charit­ he found we were not led by the Spirit; for we fixed times of preaching beforehand; whereas we ought to do nothing unless we were sensibly moved thereto by the Holy able to write Fox off as a madman. 40 Not that his estimate of Barclay's work Ghost.3 4 was very high, however, even though he used extracts as a printed antidote to the Calvinism of George Whitefield. In May 1745 Wesley wrote: John elson similarly had to face cnt1c1sm in Yorkshire because he used Finding no other way to convince some who were hugely in love with that solemn 'carnal ordinances , whereas only the Friends were supposed to hold truly trifle, my brother and I were at the pains of reading over Robert Barclay's Apology spiritual worship. When asked his opinion of George Fox and William Penn, with them. Being willing to receive the light, th ir eyes were opened. They saw his however, he managed to turn the tables, by saying: nakedness, and were ashamed. 1 I think well of them; but their graces will profit you nothing, except the same change be wrought in your heart's as was in them.a5 Wesley was not quite fair to Barclay, of course, in thus labelling this unique Quaker classic a 'solemn trifle'. He was also guilty of 'wishful thinking'. Two Methodist proselytizing continued apace. The new spiritual fire which the Methodist stalwarts in particular were involved on this occasion, William Briggs preachers brought provided something sadly missing among the Friends in and John Webb. Briggs, it is true, was eventually cured of his infatuation for many areas, especially where silent meetings were the rule. Both the Wesley Barclay, becoming a prominent Methodisl layman, and one of the first London brothers and George Whitefield were frequently called on to baptize converted stewards. By the end of the year, however, John Webb, 'thoroughly poisoned Quakers, in many cases with important spiritual after-effects. Thus in 1743, by Robert Barclay's Apology' had thrown in his lot with the Friends, and in after baptizing four children at Tytherton, in Wiltshire, Whitefield wrote: 1753 ventured into print agrunst the Methodists, whom he described as 'like sheep that are scattered about on the dry mountains of profession without a The_ ord~nance _was so solemn and awful, that Mrs. Gotley (who is a Quaker) had shepherd', accusing the Wesley brothers of having 'been of great hindrance a mmd ~mediately to partake of it. When I go to Wiltshire [again] I believe I unto the Gospel'. 42 shall baptize her and her children, with some adult persons who have tasted of Several Methodists, while not wholly won over to Quakerism like Webb redeeming love. sa and others, wavered between the two communities. In September 1744 Wesley recorded how Richard Jeffs of London sent word that At Osmotherley in 1745, a few minutes after asking Wesley, 'Dost thou think water baptism an ordinance of Christ?', an elderly Quakeress was convinced, he had now found the right way of worshipping God; and therefore he must leave and baptized then and there. 37 Often a Quaker baptism was not the immediate off prayer and the rest of our will-worship, and join himself with the Quakers. How­ re~ult of an emotional upheaval, however, but of a long mental struggle. ever, in the evening he ventur d among us once more, and God smote him to the Elizabeth Cart of London, for instance, came under the influence of White­ heart; so that he knew, and felt, and declared aloud, that he had no need of going field's preaching on Kennington Common in the very early days of the revival, elsewhere to find th power of God unto salvation. and att~nded the Foundery from its opening; she read iethodist publications, comparing them with the Bible and Barclay's Apology-and also with the Two months later Jeffs once more decided to join the Friends, after a farewell personal lives of 'friend Wesleys'; after great mental turmoil she heard a voice visit to receive the Sacrament with the Methodists-only to be once more convinced of his mistake. u saying, 'God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven thee!'· but not until 1748 was she baptized in the river at Cowley by Charles Wesle/ss All this time there had been little official action taken in the gathering The Friends also gained their converts. The influence of their silent meetings disputes, on either side. Throughout the century, in fact, there was really very little controversial literature issued by Methodists and Quakers against each is probably to be seen in a London love-feast described by Wesley in 1742.39 A good many Methodists were won over by the arguments of Robert Barclay's other. One London Friend, Richard Finch, writing under various pseudonyms, between 1739 and 1746 had issued pamphlets indirectly reflecting on Method­ 34 JWJ., 11.221, 238. 36 WV., III.95. ae Whitifd., II. 77- ism, although at first be had drawn some of the anti-Methodist fire against . 37 JWJ., III. 171. he appears to have been one of the ancestors of the Rev. Luke Tyerman. See his Wesley, I.486-7. 40 JIVJ., Il.423d.; cf. JWL. , III.252; JWW., VI.328. 38 JWJ., III. _5o8-10; C!4'J., II.13. cf. CWJ., I.192 for a letter by Charles Wesley notifying Dr. Joseph ~utler, BJShop ofBmtol, that 'Several persons, both Q,liakers and Baptists, have applied to me 41 JWJ., III.177. Wesley's tract based on Barclay was called Serious Considerations on Absolute Pre­ for bap_t:Jsm. : .. They choose ... to be baptized by immersion; and have engaged me to give your dtstination. Extracted from a late author. cf. ibid., II.407-Bd., 448, and R. Green's Wesl9 Bibliography, Lordship notice, as the Church requires.' o. 22. In the case of Quaker;bred Joseph Jones, an itinerant preacher x744-60, his baptism by John Wesley 4·2 John W:ebb's pamphlet supplies valuable details o!1 the situation. It is entitled An Appeal wrto the \~as regarded as a routine duty rather than as a spiritual landmark. See Anninian Mag(J{.ine (1789), Hones/ and Sweere-Hearted, among the People called .Methodists and Quakers. Sec especially pp. 2, 5, 59-60. XIl.291. cf. JWJ., IIl.177, 23-i. 39 JWJ., II.526. '3 JWJ., III.148, 152. 10 THE RELATIO S BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM I I himself as a 'Quakero-Mcthodist'. The 'Archbishop of the Methodists', the With this, of course, he heartily agreed, though pointing out that many of Rev. Vincent Perronet of Shoreham, entered into correspondence with Finch, them 'held fast the words, and were utterly ignorant of their meaning'. As in 1747 publishing his friendly corrections of the Quaker attitude toward the he pressed home on them the 'inward principle' of all religious life he fell into Sacraments, together with a fuller confutation of Barclay, upon whose Apology, their own idiom: of course, Finch based his position. H 'Official' opposition, however, may be Dost thou experience this principle in thyself? What saith thy heart? Does God said to date from the publication early in 1746 of the second part of Wesley's dwell therein? And doth it now echo to the voice of God? Hast thou the continual Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, although the gauntlet was not really inspiration of His Spirit, filling thy heart with His love, as with a well of water, flung down until 1748, in his Letter to a Person lately join'd with the People call'd springing up inlo everlasting life? Q,uakers. Art thou acquainted with the 'leading of His pirit', not by notion only, but by WESLEY CHALLE GES THE FRIENDS living experience? I fear very many of you talk of this, who do not so much as know what it means. . . . Perhaps, as much as you talk of them, you do not know the Wesley's Farther Appeal, Part Two, was above all a plea for moral reformation, difference betweenform and spirit . ... You was afraid of formality in public worship: doctrinal issues being ignored. It was addressed primarily to 11glicans, but and reason good. But was you afraid of it nowhere else? Did not you consider that also to Dissenters and Roman Catholics. Although Wesley agreed that the formality in common life is also an abomination to the Lord? ... At all times, and Quaker principles of conduct were praiseworthy, he maintained that they had in all places, worship Him in spirit and in truth'.~7 been largely forgotten through a narrow-minded insistence on particular details of behaviour, contemporary Friends 'mistaking the sample for the whole The Farther Appeal naturally caused some heart-searching among those bale of cloth'. Thus plain language had degenerated into the rigid (and not Friends who read it, and We ley's frankness inevitably aroused some prejudice always grammatical) use of 'thee' and 'thou', while it really implied 'an open, against him. In May 1747 one well-known Yorkshire Quaker,Joseph Milthorp, undisguised sincerity, a child-like simplicity in all we speak'.-15 So with the saw Wesley 'upon the road, reading in a book as he rid along', and quickly question of plain dress, on which he had previously crossed swords with wrote and delivered a letter of challenge on the Farther Appeal, though much of Anthony Purver. Here Wesley waxed really indignant: his energy was dissipated in criticizing Wesley's income as a Fellow of Lincoln College. 48 Wesley's undoubted sincerity, however, in at least a few cases led You retain just so much of your ancient practice, as leaves your present without to a measure ofreconciliation and reformation. At Leominster in August 1746, excuse. . . . What multitudes of you are very jealous as to the colour and form of your apparel (the least important of all the circumstances that relate to it), while for instance a Friend said to him after the service: in the most important, the expense, they are without any concern at all! They will I was much displeased with thee because of thy last Appeal; but my disple_asure is not put on a scarlet or crimson stuff, but the richest velvet, so it be black or grave. gone. I heard thee speak, and my heart clave to thee. 49 They will not touch a coloured riband; but will cover themselves with a stiff silk from head to foot. They cannot bear purple; but make no scruple at all of being Methodists continued to fall victims to Barclay, however, and to Quietism, clothed in fine linen; yea, to such a degree, that the linen of the Quakers is grown of which the Friends were the hief exponents. This negative mysticism was an almost to a proverb. Surely you cannot be ignorant, that the sinfulness of fine apparel lies chiefly in emphasis, often an over-emphasis, upon the worthlessness of any actions the e>.-pensiveness; in that it is robbing God and the poor; it is defrauding the father­ initiated by man, with it or llary, the necessity of passive waiting for the less and widow; it is wasting the food of the hungry, and withholding his raiment revelation of God within, whi h might sometimes prove the spur to spiritual from the naked to consume it on our own lusts. ,o adventure, but which was often regarded as an all-sufficient end in itself. The Methodist society at Cardiff was influenced strongly by this teaching, making From questions of language and dres Wesley turned to the main principle' Wesley's personal intervention necessary. Even Howell Harris could write in of the Friends: his diary for 26th April 1746: We are all to be 'taught of God', to be inspired and 'led by His Spirit': and then we shall 'worship Hirn', not with dead form, but 'in spirit and in truth'. u ibid., 188- g. An ·ample of the kind of thing which Wesley had in mind is found in John Bennet's M . Diary (at the kthochst Book Room) for I glh April 1 747. Bennet visited Kendal, lodging at a 44 For Finch, see Smith, l.609- 1l, and cf. Green's Anti-Methodist Publications Kos. 11 34 42 93. Quaker widow's inn, and discovering that while the good lady was quire ready to converse amicably (I~ spite of Smith, however, qreen'~ suggestion that 'T. S-y' might be Thomas 'tory, th; weil-kn'own about spirirual things, one of the leading Friends who came to confer w-ith him was of quite a different Fnend, seems worthy ofcons1derat1on.) Pcrronet's pamphlet was entitled An Ajfectumate Address to the calibre. Bennet says: 'As soon as he came in I had a suspicion of him not being a Christian indeed, for People called Q]lakers, of which Joseph mith's Bibliot/rtca Anti-Q.uakuiana lruly says: 'The Spirit of Love he called quickly for his pipe and pot. His conversation from the first to the last was aboul Baptism, and m ekness seems to pervade it.' ee especially pp. iv-vi and 27 of the pamphlet. The Lord's 'upper, wearing, Thee and Thou. He endeavoured to accuse w of these great errors, as 'la JWW., VIII.185. A later example of Wesley's complaint that the Friends too often lacked he called them, and about these were his whole discourse. I found his conversation hurtful to roy soul, sincerii_y and simplicity i seen in a letter ~f I zBo t(! Penelope Newman: 'I have not known ten Quakers because it no ways tended to the glory of God.' Bennet was particularly disgwted to find that although 10 my lif~ whos_c ex~ri:mce we!'lt o far as ~usttfication .. I never knew one who clearly experienced what it was Easter unday yet a prominent Kendal Quaker was due to give a public reading of the news­ we term sanctificallon . But, indeed, their langauge 1s o dark and equivocal that one scarce knows paper at the inn. what they do experience and what they do not.' On the other hand, Wesl;y himself on occasion ,is fillhorp M .: Letters of Joseph l\filthorp, p. 146, at Friends House, London. The reply for plentifully besprinkled his tracts with the second person singular, one of them (A Word to a Swearer) whicl1 Milthorp asked does not seem to have survived. bein~ wholly written in this idiom. Christianity', or else pointed out in what that difference lay. . One convert gained by the Quakers, Thomas Burton of London, became With the first nine propositions, dealing with basic theology, Wesley had little vocal about his new convictions, in 1747 publishing A Friendly Letter to John quarrel, except to emphasize the importance of the Scriptures and to co_rrect and Charles Wesley. Wrote for the sake of their followers, who are or mqy be dissatisfied Barclay's views of justification. In discussing the tenth, however, he pomte_d with their way of worship. By a Person that found occasion to withdraw from their Sociery, and join with the People called OJ1akers. Thi was not strictly an attack on out that ordination for the ministry as a seal of the divine call was an apostolic practice, while he also refu ed to countenance the public preaching of wo~~n. Methodism, but a mild-spoken defence of his altered views. The Wesleys, he The ordering of public worship Wesley defended at length from proposition maintained, were like Moses, being able only to bring their people to the verge eleven, pointing out that the Quaker interpretation of being 'moved by H~s 11 of the Promised Land of true spiritual religion, advising: q Spirit' was too narrow, since God spoke to man's reason as well as to his Therefore when the Lord may be pleased to set about to bring any sincere souls that t feelings, so that I are among you, more nearer to Himself, and into a more spiritual Dispensation, You are as really moved by the pirit to pray, whether it be in public or private, ... think it not strange, for you cannot hold them; but be content, as Moses was, to J when you have a conviction it is the will of God you should, as when you have the be instruments in the Lord's Hand in bringing the people just so far as the Lord may strongest impulse upon your heart. I think fit; and be willing to give them up, and r sign them over, and recommend them to the conduct and guidance of the Spiritual Joshua, the true Minister of the The charge of 'will-worship' he turned round on the Friends themselves, with Sanctuary, the Anointing, that teaches as never man taught. 51 their emphasis upon silent meetings, and also (in later editio~s) :eprimanded ,1 them for their neglect of music, if they did indeed regard the smgmg of psalms WESLEY VERSUS BARCLAY as a true part of worship. In dealing with propositio1:5 twelve and_thirteen, _on At length Wesley resolved to grasp the nettle firmly. On 10th February 1748 the Sacraments, Wesley contented himself with exposing the fallacies on which he wrote a letter to another Methodist who had joined the Friends, 52 printing Barclay based his arguments from Scripture, later editions ending with the I it soon after as a sixteen-page pamphlet with the title A Letter to a Person lately words: join'd with the People call'd Q,uakers. In answer to a letter wrote by him. It passed In what Robert Barclay teaches concerning the Scriptures, Justification, Baptism> through three editions that year, and was later reprinted in Wesley's Preservative and the Lord's Supper lies the main difference between Quakerism and Christianity_ against Unsettled Notions in Religion. One of the opening paragraph made it quite clear that he was writing not against people, but opinions: Wesley still had a few objections left for the last proposition, however, in which were enshrined the Quaker 'testimonies'. The refusal to employ recog­ I do by no means intend to deny, by any of the following reflections, that many nized titles of honour, to uncover the head, or bow, or kneel, he dismissed as Quakers (so termed) are real Christians, men who have the mind that was in Christ. 'mere superstition', adding that to insist on thou' and 'thee' was still greater With some of them I count it a blessing to converse, and cannot but esteem them very highly in love. s3 superstition: t The placing religion in such things as these is such egregious trifling, as naturally so WHS., XXV.57. It was probably about lhi period that David Taylor came under the spell of the Quakers for a tune. (Atmore's Mttlwdist Memorial, 412-3.) In William Darney's doggerel hymns tends to make all religion stink in the nostrils of infidels and heathens. there is a similar despising of'carnal wisdom', which he says (in his preface) 'corks up the soul from I receiving the Blessing of God'. \Vesley himself had also plU!led that ,va y, nearly 'making shipwreck' of his life on the rock of the mystical writ rs who were the fountain-head of Quaker Quietism, Molinas, His point ab ut plain dress being inexpensive Wesley repea_ted from th~ Farther Madame Guyon, Madame Bourignon, Fenelon, and others. cf. Jones, 32- 103, etc. Appeal. O n the matter of swearing an oath before a magistrate _he disagreed 51 Friendly Letter, pp. 4-5. This rare pamphlet does not appear in Green's Anti-Methodist Publications. with Barclay, while on the question of pacifism he was non-comrruttal. 5~ 62 Apparently Stephen Plummer of Paul ton near Bristol. The Rev. John Telford, who reprinted the utter in JWL., II.I 16--28, suggested that it was written to Thoma Whitehead, who was, however, as The Letter closed with a personal appeal which reveals Wesley's deeply we have seen, a Q,uakcr converted to Methodi m. For evidence pointing to Plummer as the recipient, practical attitude to religion: see the present writer's article in WHS., XXI. 156, and cf. Wesley's reference in the .u/ln to Paulton (p. 122). I ha e now given you {so far as my time would permit), a plain answer to a plain 63 Letter, 1st ed. ( I 748), p. 3. This passage and a few others are omitted from the revised editions of question: not troubling myself with the personal reflections which make up so great later year , when the utter was pruned of ome of its personal references in order to make it more suitable as a standard refutation of Quakerism. Unfortunately Telford has followed the later version, a part of your letter. These do not lessen my affection for you. I still mourn over which gained currency via Wesley's Works. Four additional sentences occur, however, in this later 54 Even in those days some Methodists were pacifists an~ ot~ers ~ot, _althougl~ to _th~ quesi.ion 'I~ it version: two poiming out the influence ofBehmen on Barclay, another drawing attention to the neglect 1 of singing by the Friends, and the other summing up 'the main difference between Quakerism and lawful to bear arm,?' the fir t Conference in 1744 had replied, We mchne to think 1t 1s ; the qu1;saon Christianity'. was raised again the following year also on behalf of two disputants. Uohn Bennet's MS. Mmutes, WHS. Publication, J.18, 27-8.) THE RELATIO S BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM you as one that did run ·well, that began in the Spirit, and is now in danger of ending in Mountmellick, Cashel, and on to Cork, where a friendly Quaker offered land the flesh. You have an honest heart, but a weak head: you have a zeal, but not accord­ to build on, and at Bandon, where Charles Wesley recorded that he ing to knowledge. You was zealous once for the love of God and man, for holiness of heart and holiness of life: you are now zealous, for particular forms of speaking, breakfasted with the only family of Quakers in the town. They behaved with that for a set of phrases, and opinions. Once your zeal was against ungodliness and love and zeal which we meet with in all the Friends, till their worldly-wise and envious unrighteousness, against evil tempers and evil works: now it i again t forms f brethren pervert them, and make their minds evil affected toward us. 69 prayer against singing psalms or hymns, against appointing times of praying or Mountmellick in particular, like Bristol, was a prominent stronghold of both preaching; against saying you to a single person, uncovering your head, or having too many buttons upon your coat. 0 what a fall is ther ! What poor trifles are Societies. It had formerly been the home of William Edmundson, the leader of these, that now wellnigh engross your thoughts! Come back, come back to the Irish Quakerism, to whose Journal John Wesley paid high tribute, and was now weightier matters of the law, to spiritual, rational, scriptural religion. o longer the home of several influential Friends. Of these Joseph Fry became a leading waste your time and strength in beating the air, in vain controversies and strife of Methodist, and Joshua Strangman retained friendly relations with Wesley. words: but bend your whole soul to the growing in grace and in the knowledge f Probably the most eminent, however, was James Gough, schoolmaster and our Lord Jesus Christ, to the continually advancing in that holiness, without which speaker there. 00 you cannot see the Lord. John Curtis had paid his first visit to Ireland close on the heels of the Wesleys, I am your sincere friend and servant, for Christ's sake. 56 being described in Quaker records there in March 1748 as: Some answer was to be expected. Two came almost immediately, both from John Curtis from Bristol, a young man lately convinced, he had been for some time the Bristol area, and both printed by Samuel Farley. One was a rather un­ a follower of the Methodists, but growing uneasy with their way left them, and is convincing pamphlet, almost double the length of Wesley's, by the Quaker poet now become an able Minister of the Gospel. 61 of Sutton Benger, John Fry; following Wesley's example, it was published He made a great impression, and on 24th June 1748 the ational Meeting anonymously. The other, a broadside, was by a former Methodist, John ordered the publication of his farewell message, in which he spoke of himself Curtis, who challenged the unknown author to answer six queries on true as having escaped from wandering 'on the barren Mountains of Worship which Christianity, maintaining that the Letter was a subtle attack designed to mislead Man had invented'. 62 The following year he returned to Ireland, apparently 'poor illiterate mechanicks'. 5 Curtis was soon to be the focal point of anti­ ° making a determined effort to undermine Methodist influence there. On 1st Methodist agitations in Ireland. May 1749 Wesley arrived at Mountmellick, recording in his Journal: Being informed that the Quakers in general, as well here as in Cork, Athlone, and TROUBLES IN IRELAND Edenderry, had left the preaching from the time of John Curtis's coming, I took Irish Friends had opened their hearts to John Cennick, a Methodist preacher occasion, before I preached, to mention here also [as he had done at Edenderry in turned Moravian, who went there in 1746, and also to the Wesleys, who the morning] the real stale of the case between us, but with the utmost caution and followed in 1747. Quakers were to be met in Dublin at Mr. Lunell's home, an tenderness. An hour or tw·o afterward James Gough, the speaker, with two more of open house for Methodists. There was Gharret van Hassen, for instance, who his friends, came to expostulate with me on the head. James laboured hard to per­ is probably to be identified with the 1old Dutch Quaker, who seemed to have suade me that I was misinformed, and that John Curtis had neither directly nor deep experience of the things of God' of whom Charles Wesley spoke in 1748, indirectly said one word against the Methodists. 63 .and also with John Garret, 'one of the most lovely old men I ever saw', with 69 CWJ, TI.29. oo WHS., X,XII.107-g. cf. JWJ., Index. Of Edmundson Wesley said: 'His opinions I leave; but whom John Wesley breakfasted in 1756. 67 And there was Dr. John Rutty, what a spirit was here! What faith, love, gentleness, long-suffering! Could xpistakes send such a man the famous Quaker physician, who not only attended Wesley himself, but also as this to hell? 1ot so. 1 am so far from believing this, that I scruple not to say: "Let my soul be with the soul of William Edmundson!"' (JWJ., V.137). the lay Methodist preacher , free of charge. 68 01 JFHS., X.246. Quaker hospitality and sometimes Quaker conversions greeted the preachers 62 An Epistle of Looe and Aduice, to Friends of the Kingdom of Ireland, p. ( I). This is not strictly an attack .as they fanned out west and south-west from Dublin, at Tyrell's Pass Ballyboy, on Methodism, which it does not mention by name, but on man-made worship generally. The warning against those who try to inveigle Lhem into such worship, however, is almost certainly aimed at the 65 utler, 1st ed., p. 15 (abridged in later editions). The reference to Plurruner's honest heart but Methodists. weak head is significant in view of JWJ., IV.81, where Wesley claims that his brain had actually 63 This quotation is from the fuller manuscript version as printed in the Standard Edition (JWJ., turned. 111.397). The original printed Journal, first published in 1754, contained the added phrase at the end 56 These two rare publications, which are not recorded in Green's Anti-Methodist Publications were of this passage about Curtis's innocence: 'I heartily wish it were so.' entitled_: (a)_ Some Remarks 011 a pamphlet i11tituled, 'A utter • . .'. In a Letter from a Friend in the co~11try w Fuller information is obtained from Gough's own A-lem1Jirs, where the commencement of Wesley's arwther m Bristol; (b) A utter to the Author oracles of God, I must first dated from Bristol, 1st March 1748. ' remove a stumbling-block out of the way, which is this: I understand one John Curtis from Bristol hath of late been travelling in these parts, and endeavouring to lay waste that good work which it hath 57 CWJ., II.37; JWJ., IV.157. cf. WHS., U.129, V.5-6; JFH, ., III.86. For another identification, pleased God to carry on by our hands, i;iving out that he was formerly a Methodist and acquainted see JFHS., VII.47. with me. . row he was never a Methodist lo my knowledge, and I think he could not be one in or . 68 JWJ., III.348, 396; WV., !,140-1. Other Quaker doctors also gave their services to the Method­ about Bristol without it ... I hope no man will account me an offender for speaking the truth. If ISts, notably Dr. John Fothergtll, Dr. J. C. L rtsom, and of course Dr. John Whitehead who later George Fox were here he would embrace me for it' (WHS., I.59-62). Correspondence cleared up the rejoined the Methodist fold. ' misunderstanding. Curtis had in fact been a Methodist, but had never claimed intimacy with Wesley. 16 THE RELATIO S BETWEEN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AND EARLY METHODISM According to Gough's own account, Wesley acknowledged that the interview It was remarkable the stillness which they were brought to, more _so t~n ma~y had been to his edification, and that he therefore wished he could get the like oppor­ meetings of Friends that I have been in: and in some conversation with their tunities with our friends more frequently; that he saw some things in a clearer light preacher, so called, [probably James Wheatley] he assented to the truth of the than he had done before. &4 necessity of silence in their places of worship, 72 At about the same time as the Irish difficulties, Wesley's Yorkshire lieutenant Although Wesley's heart was softened, he was still not satisfied with Curtis's the Rev. William Grimshaw of Haworth, was in correspondence with the conduct, and Gough's efforts at peace-making did not stop his writing to Curtis well-known Friend David Hall of Skipton, under whom James Gough had on 17th August 1749: been trained. Stanbury, in Haworth parish, was the centre of o~e of the God has greatly broken dmvn the partition wall in Ireland-viz. shyness and coldness 'Circulating Yearly Meetings' which had affinities with the Metho?ist Camp among Christians on account of difference in opinion. I think you did not do well Meetings of a later era. Grimshaw wrote to ~uggest that_ the r~wdyism u~or­ in building it up again, or in saying anything in public or privat\;: which naturally tunately associated with this annual even~ might be av01ded either by giving tended so to do. John, I am sorry for you. May God open your eyes and enlarge it up or by holding it more frequently. His l~tters to Hall ~ere throughout of your heart. So prays a co-operative spirit, and courteous to the pomt of emplor_mg Quaker phrase­ Your injured friend, [J. WESLEYJ.&5 ology and dating. If the Friends would make the expermtent of a monthly meeting, he said: The threatened troubles in Ireland were not so serious as they might have been, I will think it a pleasure to make the speaker and his horse welcome at my h?use ~n however. The following summer Wesley was once more welcomed at Mount­ a First-day. I am persuaded the rabble will soon cease comi°:g~ and the Meetmg will mellick, writing from Ireland a tender letter of spiritual exhortation to Joshua consist of none but serious souls. I do assure you the partition walls of party and Strangman, who had in the meantime left for England. 6 6 James Gough, also, religious denominations are long ago utterly fallen down in me. continued to hold a warm place in his affections, though Wesley felt compelled to counteract the influence of Gough's well-known biographies of the French A compromise seems to have been reached by t~e choice of a diff~r;nt date, mystics by watering them down. 07 and on 9th July 1754 Grimshaw wrote to the Fnends at Stanbury. May the Divine Spirit of God manifest Himself in the midst of you this day.'73 ARMED TRUCE It was not. all smooth co-operation, however. perpetua~ tug-of-war was In England itself Methodists and Quakers seem on the whole to have settled carried on, with proselytes as prizes. In Oct~ber 17?6, for mstance, W_esley down to live in a state of rather uneasy peace together, respecting and being recorded with a flourish in his Journal the public bapnsm of a London Fnend, while a month later Charles Wesley discovered that twelve Worcester Method­ influenced by each other's better qualities, yet always on the watch for possible converts. When in 174 7 as a young Methodist preacher Christopher Hopper ists were 'fallen off to the Quakers, seeking the living among the dead'; a~o~t the same period a Methodist class leader of Stockport was pers_uade? t~ J01Il opened his ministry in the north he was welcomed by the Friends. 68 At 4 Shaftesbury in 1748 two Friends defendedJohn Haime, imprisoned for preach­ the Friends, and to take several members of hi~ class. along with him._ I~ 58 Wesley reissued his Letter in the Preservative against Unsettled Notions in ing. 69 About 1750 Thomas Olivers was greeted at Shrewsbury by an im­ 17 prisoned Friend with the words: 'Wilt thou come next first-day, and preach to Religion-and in the same year the Friends at Edenderry 'laboured much to dissuade their people' from listening to Methodist preac~ers. 7 6 • the prisoners?' 70 Joseph Cownley (who had been under formative Quaker influence in his early years) while preaching in 1756 in the Yorkshire dales One prominent Quaker minister and author, Mrs. Abiah Darby, _wife_ of the 'near the door of an honest Quaker' was set upon by a tippling clergyman, well-known iron manufacturer of Coalbrookdale, attacked Methodism m one of its main citadels, Madeley, where saintly John Flet~her had rec~ntly beco?1e who was silenced by yet another friendly Quaker.71 Reciprocation is seen at Jorwich, where in 1753 Mary Peisley, a well-known Quaker minister from the vicar. Her diary contains several re~ere~ces d~nng_ the 1760 s to l~n~ng Ireland, was offered the hospitality of the Methodist chapel for whatever kind him books reasoning with him, and even mdulgmg m a form of spmtual of service she cared to conduct. After a meeting including nearly an hour's heckling a{ his Methodist meetings. In 1763, for instance, she recorded: silence, she remarked: A strong engagement came upon me to go to the meeting of Parson Fletcher and his

M WHS., I.59--62. 66 JWL., IIT.14-15. followers .... I had the Word to declare with power.... The Parson ~eard me 66 JWL., III.40. Cf. their later reunion, JWJ., VJ.33. See also for Strangman's pedigree, JFHS., patiently and commended what _I had said _and desired all to take n?tJ.ce of the IIl.86. advice, ... but objected to the pomts of Doctrine I had advanced ... which touched 67 Wesley published extracts from Gough's Life ef Armelle Nicholas in the Armitiian Magazine for r780, his Copyhold or Priest Craft. I had close work of it for above 3 hours. • • • Ann and probably used Gough's translation as the basis of his own Extract from the Life of Madam Guion. For Miss Bi hop's remarks about the latter biography, which she feared might 'betray the upright in was engaged in prayer. . . . The Parson k.neeled down and upon the whole he be­ heart into a state of comparative darkne s, and unresisted unbelief, under the mask of pure faith, pas5ive­ haved with respect. ness, and resignation', see Arminian Magazine (1786), IX.518 (cf. p. 569). See also Smith, I.852-5, and JWW., XIV.265-8. 72 See Some Account ef the Lives . . . OJ,r S,amtll l ,,e., al e, and M.ary Neale , ew Edition, 1858, pp. 325~. 1a l,VHS., X.2o6-10. Cf. Jones, 118-20. . 68 WV., I.127. 69 ibid., 52. 70 ibid., 223. n ibid., IV.141. 14JWJ., IV.189; CWJ., II.139; Methodist Maga.,.me (1827), L.21. 15 JWJ., rv. 26o. 18 THE REL TIO S BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIE DS AND EARLY METHODISM The Methodists at Madeley continued courteous but unconvinced.10 I entreat you to read over with much prayer that little tract A Letter to a Q,uaker. This state of armed truce, punctuated by sporadic local skirmi h wherever I fear you are on the brink of a pr cipic , and you know it not. The Enemy has put a spiritual weakness was revealed, continued well into the 177o's. This period on his angel's face, and you take him for a friend. Retire immediately! Go not near was heralded by a Bristol Quaker's sharp rebuke to Charles Wes! y for training the tents of those dead, formal men called Quakers! Keep close to your class, to your his son as a musician, 77 and a lso by the conver ion of a popular Methodist band, to your old teachers; they have the words of eternal life. preacher, John Whitehead, to the Friend, among whom he received a medical In vain. Mary Stokes did join the Friends, becoming 'one of the greatest and education under Dr. Lettsom, though in later year he rejoined the Methodist most influential of the women preachers of the eighteenth century', who fold, becoming Wesley's trusted executor and biographcr.78 Another Methodist together with Sarah Grubb formed important links with continental Friends, preacher, Ralph Mather, embraced the mystical tenets of Quakerism a little and was also one of the chief means of bringing a new strain of evangelical later, though rather to Wesley's surprise he did not immediately become a preaching into Quaker worship.s 2 Friend. It was Mather who reported in 1775 how at Loughborough Bristol continued to be a storm-centre. Other Methodists also came strongly near twenty are turned from Methodism to Quakerism. this is the case, prejudice unde1· the reviving Quaker witness there, Sally Flower succumbing like Mary may have shut up their hearts, except to those who can speak 'thee' and 'thou' and Stokes, while Mary Bishop held out, in pite of the allurements ofJohn Helton, wear a broad-brimmed hat, and who have learned their phrases. So I am afraid it a popular Methodist preacher converted to Quakerism by Barclay's Apology.u is with those at Barnstaple, as many of the Quakers have visited them. 79 Helton it was who in 1778 published the only really formidable reply to Wesley's Proselytes, however, occasionally changed their minds. At Nottingham in thirty-year-old Letter, an octavo pamphlet of sixty-six pages entitled Reasons for I 779, said Wesley: quitting the Methodist Society; being a Defence of Barclay's 'Apology'. Helton rightly pointed out that against only a few of Barclay's propositions did Wesley raise One who had left us to join the Quakers desired to be present at the love-feast; in the any serious objection, and thought that he could bring forward evidence to close of which, being able to contain himself no longer, he broke out and declared show that Wesley had changed his mind on the questions of justification, he must join us again. I went home with him; and, after spending some time in prayer, left him fu ll of love and thankfulness.so women preachers, and war.84 He was answered in a pointed twelve-page Appeal to All Men of Common Sense, written by another of Wesley s preachers, The most notable conquest of the Methodists was probably Zechariah 'John Fenwick, late Farmer'. Y ewdall of Eccleshall near Bradford, one of a numerous Quaker family, who Wesley himself seems to have been content to leave the matter where it was baptized by Wesley in 177 r, and was eventually the means of bringing stood, even though Helton's pamphlet passed through a second edition in 1779, many others of his relatives into the Methodist Society, including even his and a third in 1784. He did venture into print once more against the Friends, father, who at first listened to the preachers from outside the chapel, 'as he however, in the fourth volume of his Concise Ecclesiastical History, published in apprehended it would give offence to come in with his hat on'. Yewdall 1781, where he spoke of the early Quaker Societies as being 'composed mostly became a very successful itinerant preacher, regarded with some jealousy as of persons that seemed to be disordered in their brains'-a sentiment which he one of Wesley's favourites, doing pioneer work in Ireland and Scotland, and refused to recant, in spite of the pleading of his Quaker friends. One of the being the instrument of noteworthy revivals at Sheerness and Otley.81 very l~t letters which he wrote reaffirmed his views: Some of the conversions were strongly reciprocal in their influence. This was I am fully persuaded it is all the naked truth. What the Quakers (so called) are or particularly true in the case of Mary Stokes, who in r 772 left her position as a do now is nothing to the purpose. I am thoroughly persuaded they were exactly such trusted Methodist leader at Bristol for the attractions of Quaker mysticism. as they are described in this History. . . . But I love and esteem you and many of the Wesley's last letter to her said : present Quakers.s6 76 Friendly relationships continued to hold in this area, where there was real co-operation in later year between Friends, Methodists, and hurchmen, especially as other members of the Darby family ~ere not so militant as Abiah_. The important Methodi. t fam}Jy of Cran~e managed to be at the same Whatever his theories about past Quaker weaknesses, and present dangers, time trusted workmen of Friend Abraham Darby (bemg pioneers on his behalf in the discovery of Wesley most certainly maintained friendly contacts with individuals among puddling), and regular communicant~ at the pari h church, while eventually the Darby family them- ...e- .,.; selves pr~vided the neig~b?urhood wit~ an ~lican Ch~ch! See JFHS., X.87--92, 156, 1g6, 294,l'ln• 1"'"· them,86 and dealt courteously with some of the less balanced exponents of the etc.; Srruth, I.5 1 1- 12; Duttonary of. N'IJ:!'Ji!.!!wgraphy, artl~a~ Darby'; J. Randall's History • _. --.A of Madeley, pp. 60, 273-302, etc. ~~~~~~,t]f,c• ""'c ~ ~~ 9~r 82 JWL., V.335. Jones, 198--9, 2u, 238-42, 277--8. Cf. JWJ., VI.185. Tl 'Letters relating to the Wesley Family', Vol. IV, folio 61, at the M~~k"Room. 88 JWL., VI.278, 285,288, 297, 309, 318. Cf. Arminian Magazi,u (1786), IX.518, 569. 78 See Dictionary of National Biography, articles on Le~tsom and Whiteh_ead. Cf. Smith, H.9t5-16, M Helton's pamphlet is quite friendly in tone, and on p. 3 he states clearly: 'As I intend no reflection and I. 70, where an anonymous defence of Wesley against Toplady, entitled Ari Essay on Liberty and on a religious Society, many of whom I much esteem, I shall only observe in general on this head, Necessity, is a~cribed to Whitehead. that having about a year since met with Barclay's Apolcgy, l was fully convinced, that the principles worslup, and discipline of the people called Quakers, were more consonant to scriptul'e, reason, and 79 In a letter to Henry Brooke, printed in the notes to Christopher Walton's Notes and Materials for to my own feeling , than those of the Society to which I was united.' It is dated at the end, 'Melk­ a,1 adequate Biography of . •. William Law, pp. 595-6. sham, 3d Mo. 28, 1778'. 80 JWJ., VI.245. 86 JWL., VIU.252. 81 Armi11ian Mag~int (1795), XVIII.109ff.; Weslryan Methodist Mag~ine (1830,) LIIl.214, 641; JWL., 86 Io the very year of Helton's &asons Wesley's famous Anninian Mag~ine was ushered into che VII.359, etc. world by the Quaker press of Dr. . Jo eph Fry. 20 THE RELATIO BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIE D AND EARLY METHOD! M 2I mystic way, such as Richard Freeman of omer etshire,87 and John Bou ell of th first Methodi t Quart rly e ting wa held in October 1748, Bennet orwich.88 The key to his attitude is to be found in hiss rmons on atholic copied .into his letter bo k the four fools p pa s of the Friends' 'Yearly pirit' and 'A Caution against Bigotry', and in a lett r to a Friend whose Epistle' for 1747, appar ntly in ord r that he might guide the following Con­ boarding-school at orcester he greatly admired: fer nee as to the nature and value of Quaker practi s. 92 It is the glory of the people called thodists that they condemn none for their The lay ministry of the Friend also is paralleled in Methodism. The leaders opinions or modes of worship. They think and l t think and insist upon nothing and stewards of th Mcthodi t societi were omparable to the elders and over­ but faith working by love.u seers of the Quakers, while both ommuniti , re served by the unpaid labours of itinerant lay ministers. It must be remembered, however, that the SPIRITUAL BALANCE SHEET Friends ere much lower to organize their work than the Methodists, and The varied contacts between M thodism and Quakerism throughout over half during the eighteenth century were till fc eling their way. It was not until a century prior to Wesley' death in r791 were bound to leave their traces, 1737, for instance, that the London Yearly Meeting 'first clearly defined though it is difficult to assess the extent of this influenc . Many features to be membership . 93 Far from indebtedness in this r spect being always of the found in both Societies were due, not to direct borrowing, but simply to parallel Methodists to the Friends, ometimes it was probably th other way round. growth, especially as both started from the same fundamental principle of The Quak r office of overseer, for ample, emerged long after that of the following the leadings of Providence. ome of the e likene have been Methodi t class leader, to which it probably owed much.°"' On the other hand, mentioned above. Other similarities, in which there is either the proof or the in the employment of women both in this capacity and later as preacher likelihood of actual imitation, may now be considered. Wesley probably acted partly under Quaker influen . 96 The Friends' idea of a The organizations which gradually emerged, by process of trial and error, 'free' or unpaid ministry al o had its in.fluen eon M thodism, and was one of the bear striking resemblances. Like the Friends, th thodists had for a time foundation principl of the body which broke off toward the end of the century their Monthly eeting , though in Methodism these w re soon overshadowed under the name of 'Quaker Methodist', n w the Ind pendent Methodists. by the Quarterly Meetings. 90 These latter have a long and mixed pedigree, Probably the mo t important c ntribution of the Friends to Methodism, being probably indebted to Benjamin Ingham, to the Moravian, to the Welsh however, was in the realm of Christian conduct rather than in tho e of organ­ ssociations, and even to the old Religious ocieties, which had behind them ization, ministry, theology, or worship. fany of the Quaker 'testimonies' (as had the Friends) the influence of Behmenistic mysticism. 91 There also Wc ·ley r garded as utterly superficial, and unlike the Moravians could not seems to have been direct Quaker influence at work, mainly through John agree with them on the questions of pacifism and the taking of oath . In other Bennet, the great promoter of such gathering in ethodism. Shortly after matters he was not afraid to follow their good example, however. In his 87 In 1779 Freeman sent Wesley a lell r containing twenty th ol gical queries, to each of which Advice to the People ca/Led Methodists, with regard to Dress (first published in 1760) Wesley gave careful thought, though a hru ty man might have consign cl them to the wastepaper basket as the whims of a fanatic. A copy of Fr eman s questions and of \ esley' reply is preserved at Friends he openly avowed: House, London, and is published in WH. ., XJ I.114-8. Many years ago I observed s veral parts of Christian practice among the people s Bo II, a religious free-lance who described himself as 'a Dis iple ofJesu s Christ, and an Offspring of the Primitive Quakers', included Few \ ords to tho called 1 tbodists' in his Tnimptt of /he called Quakers. Two things I particularly remarked among them-plainness of Lord squnded upon tm i\formun,u, of which in 178g he sent We Icy a copy, with a lengthy lcLtcr of exhorta­ speech, and plainness of dress. I willingly adopted both, with some restrictions, and tion. We ·Icy repUed: 'I beli ve what you say, or write, proceeds from a real d ire to promote the glory of God by the salvation of men: Therefore I tuke in good pan all you say, and thank you for particularly plainn s of dress .... I advise you to imitate them, First, in the neatness, your letter to me. Y ur advice is good as to the sub~tanee ofit; little circumstances I do not contend ... secondly, in the plainness of their apparel. 98 for. I li.k wise approve the exhortation, in your printed Treatise, to the peoele called Methodists.' much did he approve that Wesley apparently himself prepared Bousell' 'EpISlle to the • lethodists' for pubticatfon in the Anninian Magar.int, together with their correspondence. Like many other articles The Friends' care for hildren and the poor also impressed Wesley. In 1744 he certainly prepared by \ e Icy, il appeared after his death, in lhc magazine for 1792. Cf. .Bouse!J's was ager to see their Workhouse in London, and he was familiar with that at Trumpet, p. 10, and JFHS., XL.50-3. 89 ]WW., 485, 497; JWL., II.190. Cf. JWJ., IT.59. The Quaker antiquarian Morris Birk­ Bristol, while he wa very interested in Quaker s hools su h a that of Mrs. beck, writing in 1792, was one of those whose prejudice against Wesl y was not overcome, o that he Price at or est r. 97 could write of Wesley's courteous treatm nt of Ri hard Freeman as di tated by his hatred of Lhe Quakers, a hatred caused by the fact that 'the m t respectable, truly religious, and valuable part of 92 Copy of Denael' Letter Book in the ke ping of the writ.er. The 'Yearly Epistle' was later to have his converts frequ ntly left him and join d to them', so that Wesley 'at lengtb/orbad the attendance of its folltodi l counlt:rpart in the pastoral addres of the annual Conference. . ~ • ~ their Me tings, which he at one time recommended in preference to all others besides his own, poor 93J o8 U ..,_ • _, ,.,__,~_• _) §',(J..l man, they so frequently became convinced of Friends' principles and of the Truth'. Friends House ones, p. 1 • - ~• 1'"'"'~· ~1.- _....J?,.,./~a.-.,....,,,,., ---nt/TTfl ~ - ~ M ., Portfolio 2.16. 95 ee JWL., VI.290( Well-known'~~en pta? crs 'wc'rc"""The Female Brethren' of Leeds, with arah rosby and Anne Tripp at their head,. Mary Bo anquet (who married the Rev. John Fletcher), 9 ~ 90 cf. Bennet's MS. Diary, 1743-7, for details of the Monthly Meetings in Methodism. ara.h Ryan, . arah Mallet Elizabeth Hurrell (under whom tlte missionary William Warrener was · 91 Actually the annual Methodist Conference, which can be likened to the Friends' Yearly {ecting, converted), and arah tcvern. ee Mttlwdi.Jt &corder, \, inter Nos., 1894:64, 1895:65-g. There were had itself begun in 1744 as the first of a proposed series of quarterly conferences (WHS. PuhlicaJion, scv al exampleJ ofMetltodist itinerant preachc who e wives also were preachers. Hannah Kilham, I. p. 18). Cf. for other possible influences the M . Accormt of Bmjamin Ingham (Rylands Library, Man­ one of these, cvemually became a Quaker missionary, and did a useful work as a translator ( mith, chester); D. Benham's Jamts Hutwn, pp. 29-30, 216-17, etc.; W. G. Addison's Remwul Church of tk Il.58-61, Supp. 213-4). United Brethren, pp. Bo, 100-1; M. H.Joa s's Trt11eclca Letters, pp. 257-3o6, espec. 265; Wmtefd., II.57-8; Ill JWW., l.466-8. .f. Serm n 88, 'On Ore '. e also his advice re conditions in Ireland: 'Be J. . imon's John Wts/9 and the Religiou.r Societies, p. 14; Wesl9an Methodist Mag(l.(uu (1843), LXVI. cleanly: In du I t the ~I thodi ts take pattern by the ua.kers' (JWL., V.133). 376-82; London Q)larlerly Review, January, 1949, pp. 28-37. 01 WH. ., I .:29; Jll'J., II.59; JWL., JI.190. 22 THE RELATIO S BETWEE THE SOCIETY OF FRIE DS AND EARLY METHODISM The outstanding example of the philanthropic influence of the Friends on I glad!,: embrace the present opportunity of paying a just tribute of praise to the Methodism, however, is in the case of the slave traffic. Anthony Benezct's methodical Brethren, even as burning and shining lights, and pattern of Christian most famous attack on this was in Some Historical Account of Guinea, published in "\Tigilance; and their conduct as aju t rebuke.100 Philadelphia in 1771. This book had a profound effect on Wesley, who read ew blood could help to infuse new customs: Dorothy Ripley, daughter of it as soon as it was reprinted in England the following year. Immediately he Wesley's friend and preacher William Ripley of Whitby, was brought up in became Benezet's ally in his great campaign, and a month or two later Benezet an atmosphere of family prayer and the singing of hymns, which she took over wrote to Granville Sharp: with her when she became a Quaker missionary.101 My friend J ohn Wesley promises he will consult with thee about the expediency of Methodist theology also won its way almost unnoticed into Quakerism, this some weekly publication, in the newspapers, on the origin, natur , and dreadful process becoming more marked in the last quarter of the century, the beginnings effects of the slave trade. of a profound spiritual transformation, when a large proportion of the Friends were carried over from a mystical to an evangelical basis, eventually formulated Soon, however, Wesley found a better way of lending the prestige of his own by Henry Tuke. Rufus M. Jones, in hi Later Periods of Q,uakerism, acknowledges name to the cause, by abridging Benezet's Account for his famous Thoughts on that Slavery, first published early in 1774. This was plagiarism in a good cause, and the incipient evangelical awakening was due primarily to the influence of the on receiving a copy from Wesley Benezet replied: Methodist movement, and to the corresponding evangelical revival in the Church of The Tract thou hast lately published entitled Thottglits on Slavery afforded me much England and in many onconformist groups.102 satisfaction. . . . Wherefore I immediately agreed with the printer to have it re­ published here. The formative exponents of this new spiritual outlook came from other folds Mr.Jones giving pride of place to Wesley's errant friend, Mary Stokes, of whos~ Much earlier Benezet had striven to persuade George Whitefield and the evangelical preaching he says: Countess of Huntingdon of the evils of slave-holding, and he numbered other There can be no question of the tone and emphasis of this gifted, impassioned woman, prominent Methodists among his friend, notably two preachers, Captain nor of her great influence both upon other Ministers and upon the rank and file of Thomas Webb of Bristol, and athaniel Gilbert of Antiqua.oe His large share the Society. She brought with her into the Society of her adoption a fervour and a in the 'convincement' ofJohn Wesley, however, was one of his greatest services dynamic quality in every way like that which marked the founders of Methodism. in the fight for abolition. ... She struck a new note in Quaker preaching, but she was so deeply imbued with As far as their general spiritual outlook was concerned, the Friends seem to al! that w~s best in the Quak~r spirit that her hearers hardly suspected what a change have left little mark on Methodism. Although the two Societies had much in of emphasis marked her glowing messages. She was a gentle revolutionist, transform­ common in their teaching on the inner light and the witness of the Spirit, they ing people who had no idea they were being transformed.1oa parted company at the fork leading to quietism via the mystic way. Apart from a few individuals who left the ranks of Methodism, the influence of In spite of occasional cross-currents, it may be said that during the latter Quaker mysticism does not appear to have been widespread or lasting. ot half of the eighteenth century Methodism and Quakerism were sailing parallel so the repercussions of Methodist evangelism on the Friends, however. There courses, and were often within friendly hailing distance. Each enriched the seems little doubt that Methodism was a powerful stimulus in recalling Friends other, thus greatly strengthening with the passing of the years their individual to their own first principles. The challenges of Wesley's Farther Appeal were witness to the fundamental truths of the Christian Gospel. On the one hand echoed by leading Friends. Dr. John Rutty, for instance, in his Diary, could the social witness of Methodism was reinforced and extended, while on the sigh for the spirit of the Methodists: other John Wesley's genuine 'concern' for the Friends was at last rewarded and his spiritual victory achieved, though not so much by direct attack as b; The Methodists outstrip thee quite, and consequently must advance beyond thee. a process of infiltration. I will catch a little of their fire, so help, Lord!99

100, Es.ray towards a Contrast, p. 10. _Actually this work was much more of a comparison than a contrast He could also persuade other Friends to understand and copy some of the shoWUlg by extracts from the offic1al codes of discipline how similar were Methodists and Friends' though there is a concluding seclion defending silent meetings. ' good points of Methoclism, in his Essay towards a Contrast between Q,uakerism and 101 u:JJS., VI.,4J,g4;,: JFHS., ~I. Dorolhy Ripley also was converted by the influence ofBarclay's Methodism (1771), saying: ' Apology.~ 7 .f..-t.~:tJf.,k~~ 1,--~ °tP'--4 ,._JC;;>, ~ ""7,U/;L 102 J Ones, 276. f. pp. xiii-xiv, 274:..S, /, 'lb I . , . - 7 103 es See G. S. Brookes' Friend Anthony Benu.et. On p. 85 Brookes compares Benezet.'s Account and Jones,_ p. 1~78. Th'? ne_w appro!Lch t~ theology_ can al5? h<; seen in R utty's .&say, where he praises Wesley's Tlwughts. Cf. JWJ,, V.445;.JWL., VIII.275-6; Arminian Maga~ine (1787), X.44---8. the Methodists re-pubhcauon of this ancient doctrine of fa1th lJl Chri-tJesus' (p. 7). It is interesting to noLe that the Fnends Hou e copy of Wesley's Letter to a Person lately join'd with ti~ People call'd Q_u.akers belonged formerly to Nathaniel Gilbert, being autographed by him. DD WHS., VII.54-