SPIRIT OF MR. RICHARD HILL. 195 Mr. Hill considered it to be his duty to reply to the writings of Mr. Fletcher; but he combated the opinions of his friend and adviser in his opening day of religious knowledge, with unspeakable reluctance. It is not my intention to bring forward in this history, those portions of the controversy between the Wesleyans and the opposite party which ought to be consigned to perpetual oblivion; but I mean to vindicate the subject. of my memoir from the unjust accusations of rancour and bitterness which have been heaped upon him by adversaries, who, I suspect, never examined his writings, and certainly did not understand his spirit. His productions manifest equal temper and research. "God alone," he wrote to Mr. Fletcher, "knows the sorrow of heart with which I address you; and how much the fear of casting stumbling blocks before some who are really sincere, and the apprehensions of giving malicious joy to others, who desire no greater satisfaction than to see the children of the Prince of Peace divided among themselves, had well nigh prevailed upon me to pour out my soul in silence, instead of publicly taking up the pen against you. But when I perceived the solicitude with which Mr. Wesley's preachers recommended your letters to Mr. Shirley in their respective congregations, and above all, how many of God's people had been perplexed and distressed by reading them; I say, when I perceived this to be the case, and had prayed to the Giver of all wisdom for direction, I could not but esteem it my indispensable duty to send out a few observations on your book, especially as no other person that I know of, had made any reply to the doctrinal part of it from the time of its publication." In this spirit, notwithstanding all that has been asserted to the contrary, did Mr. Hill put on his armour; and the way 196 WESLEY AND HIS OPPONENTS. in which he concluded his part of the contest will shew that it pervaded his mind to the end. Unquestionably in the contest itself, many things escaped him which he afterwards regretted and frankly acknowledged to be wrong; which was the truest proof that he could have given of his real design, and of the Christian integrity of his heart. His brother Rowland also, as well as Toplady and Berridge, were not justifiable in many expressions they hastily gave way to, nor in some of the names of their various productions, such as "An Old Fox Tarred and Feathered"-"The Serpent and the Fox"-"Pope John," &c. ; yet Mr. Richard Hill's "Farago Double-Distilled," though a title scarcely defensible in so serious a discussion, had some force in it; for never was there such a medley of conflicting statements as its pages exposed. The worst heat of the fray was between Wesley and Toplady. They were both wrong. Two specimens of their mode of proceeding will suffice, as proofs of my assertion, and warnings to contending Christians. Wesley thus analysed an old Latin treatise on predestination revised and published by Toplady. "The sum of all this is :-One in twenty (suppose) of mankind are elected; nineteen in twenty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved, do what they will; the reprobate shall be damned, do what they can. Reader! believe this or be damned. Witness my hand. A. T." Toplady was justly indignant at such a conclusion as this, the furthest possible from his notions, and accused Wesley as a forger, and told him he ought to be transported. Wesley made no reply, but set on Thomas Olivers, the Welchman, to oppose his antagonist, which raised the anger of Toplady to the highest pitch, and made him call on the chief to fight his own battles, and not leave them to his low preachers. "Let his VIOLENCE OF TOPLADY. 197 coblers keep to their stalls; let his tinkers mend his brazen vessels; let his barbers confine themselves to their blocks and basons; let his blacksmiths blow more suitable coals than those of nice controversy: every man in his own order.” He had recourse even to the most doggrel verse, and made Wesley thus speak of Olivers : "I've Thomas Olivers, the cobler, No stall in England holds a nobler, My barber, champion, and shoe-mender." These are mournful examples of this singular contest between men whom every one allows to have been zealous and efficient revivalists, in days of extreme darkness and irreligion. The stain rests on the memory of each; Olivers was a shoemaker, and having only half-learned his business, he was called "The Cobler." It is pleasant, however, to remember, that Toplady had a subsequent interview with him, and that they exchanged expressions of good will. 198 INTERVIEW BETWEEN MR. HILL AND WESLEY. and when we look upon it in sorrow and pity, we should in these times of divided opinion, pray earnestly for that purifying love which can alone preserve us from an equal blot upon our Christian character and conduct. I shall pursue the traces of this blameable feeling no further; and rejoice in vindication of Mr. Richard Hill, to have it in my power to exhibit him as desiring to retire from the contest in a humble and forgiving manner. With regard to any harsh words which he had used respecting Wesley, he wrote to Mr. Fletcher, "I desire to crave forgiveness for all such, and to take shame to myself for whatsoever has appeared to savour too strongly of my own spirit; for, however I may disapprove of Mr. Wesley's doctrines, I still find it very hard to give up the favourable opinion I was wont to entertain of him." Soon after, feeling that perpetual strife was both injurious to his own mind and to the cause of religion, he made every effort to suppress the sale of his various polemical pamphlets. Upon this Wesley wrote him "a short and civil letter, in which he avowed his intention to cease from controversial authorship," and expressed a hope "that all would be peace for the time to come, and that they should think and let think, bear and forbear with one another." Mr. Hill says, "this letter I took kindly of Mr. Wesley, and therefore, as I went soon afterwards to London, I embraced the opportunity of going one evening in company with the Rev. Mr. Pentycross, to West-street Chapel; and after service Mr. Pentycross introduced me to Mr. Wesley, when I thanked him for his letter, assured him of my intention to drop the controversy, and added, that I hoped there would be no more said upon the subject from any quarter. Mr. Wesley took me by the hand, assured me of his loving, pacific disposition, and we parted very good friends." LETTER TO MR. FLETCHER. 199 Such a meeting was creditable to both these zealous men, and it is much to be deplored that anything afterwards happened to rekindle their differences. There were, even then, not wanting mischievous people, whose element seems the storm in all times, who misrepresented this interview, and magnified Mr. Hill's anxiety for peace into a recantation of his principles, and an acknowledgment of altered views respecting the obnoxious Minutes he had so earnestly impugned. This induced Mr. Hill to allow his pamphlets to remain still on sale; namely, the one containing the Paris Conversation in a Convent; also his five letters to Mr. Fletcher; his Review of Mr. Wesley's Doctrines; his Logica Wesleiensis, or The Farrago Double-Distilled and The Finishing Stroke. The real spirit in which he proposed to withdraw from the controversy, will appear in three letters he wrote to Mr. Fletcher, before this last determination, in consequence of the false rumours respecting the recantation of his opinions. To the Rev. Mr. Fletcher. REV. AND DEAR SIR, Hawkstone, July 31, 1773. I am credibly informed that you wish to have done with controversy, and that you are resolved to publish nothing more on the subject of the late disputes. Upon the strength of this information, as well as to maintain my own desire of promoting peace, I shall write to my bookseller in London, to sell no more of any of my pamphlets which relate to the minutes; and for whatever may have savored too much of my own spirit, either in my answers to you, or to Mr. Wesley, I sincerely crave the forgiveness of you both, and should |