Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

HISTORY OF METHODISM.

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

STANDPOINT OF METHODISM IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.

Christianity is Spiritual Life-The Church an Organic Form of this Life-The Philosophical Standpoint of the History of Methodism-Process of Corruption in the Early Church-The Reformation incomplete-Condition of the English Church prior to Methodism Literary and Moral Aspects of England-Popular Degradation— Characteristics of Methodism.

[ocr errors]

HAD a studious heathen sought to ascertain the nature of the Christian religion, immediately after the completion of its canonical records, and solely from those records, he would have been surprised by its contrast with nearly all prior religious systems, in its suggestion rather than prescription of ecclesiastical arrangements, its general abstinence from ritual forms, and its total abstinence from dogmatic definitions. He would have discovered what modern Protestantism, emancipated from traditional influence, has found, that the purification of the individual man, pursued in his individual freedom, and on the responsibility of his individual conscience, is the characteristic design of Christianity-rites and creeds, as aids to faith, being left discretionary, however necessary. Christianity is spiritual life. "The words that I speak unto you," said its Founder, "they are spirit, and they are life ;" and He declared the distinctive character of the new dispensation, when at the well of Sychar He said: "Believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour cometh, and now is, when the

1John vi, 63.

B

« PreviousContinue »