History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

1 Tyerman's "Life,'' Vol. III. p. 145
2 Ibid. p.177
3 "Life of Wesley," Vol. III. p.187
ENDNOTES
4 The London Methodist Recorder of Jan. 6, 1898, organ of the Wesleyan Methodists, publishes a
letter of Rev. John Fletcher to John Wesley under date of Aug. 1, 1775, or the same day of this Leeds
Conference. The letter was found recently among some old papers of the Book Room. It outlines a
plan for a closer union of the Societies with the Church of England with great particularity. The
problem with those who have magnified the importance of this discovery is why Wesley preserved
it, and yet makes no reference to it in any connection. The simple reason appears to be that the
suggestions made were not new to Wesley. Those who will take the pains to compare this letter with
facts already stated in this History as to Wesley's tentation [sic] in 1764 to enlist the clergy of the
Established Church in his work, and its almost utter failure, and his embodiment of a Plan submitted
to the Conference of 1669, and for years after up to this Leeds Conference of 1775, who find that
nearly all the points made in this letter of Fletcher's are set forth in Wesley's plan. It came too late
for Wesley. The only thing it shows is Fletcher's stanch adherence to the National Church, and his
determination not to concur in any scheme of "ordination" for any of Wesley's helpers until this last
resort to secure it from the National Church on the Plan suggested in this letter should be tried and
proved abortive. Wesley did not make the effort. and it cannot be shown that Fletcher was ever a
party to the subsequent ordinations of 1784, and later. He proposed to Fletcher to be his personal
"successor," but he never entertained it.
5 Since the foregoing was written, in an interview with my friend, Rev. Dr. John Lanahan of
Baltimore, who was at the time assistant Book Agent in New York, he assured me that there was
nothing personal in their failure to republish Tyerman — they were surpassed by the Harpers.
Evidently, however, there must have been strong prejudice against the work among Methodists, or
the Appendix to it would not have been printed as a salvo.
6 "Life of Coke," American edition, 1817, p.22.
7 Ibid. p.370.
8 Wesley's "Journal," Vol. II. p.459.
9 Asbury's "Journal," edition 1852, Vol. I. pp. 369, 370.
10 Full text of this letter in Whitehead and Tyerman.
11 Tyerman's "Life," Vol. III., for the facts of this paragraph.