almers' sermons will have been forgotten. Mr. Chalmers has never
been prominent enough to have been well known by many people. He
may have been an exceedingly good man, and derived, during his
life, great consolation from a belief in the damnation of infants.
Mr. Newman also compares Wesley with Thomas Paine. When Thomas
Paine was in favor of human liberty, Wesley was against it. Thomas
Paine wrote a pamphlet called "Common Sense," urging the colonies
to separate themselves from Great Britain. Wesley wrote a treatise
on the other side. He was the enemy of human liberty; and if his
advice could have been followed we would have been the colonies of
Great Britain still. We never would have had a President in need
of a private chaplain. Mr. Wesley had not a scientific mind. He
preached a sermon once on the cause and cure of earthquakes, taking
the ground that earthquakes were caused by sins, and that the only
way to stop them was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He also
laid down some excellent rules for rearing children, that is, from
a Methodist standpoint. His rules amounted to about this:
_First_. Never give them what they want.
_Second_. Never give them what you intend to give them, at the time
they want it.
_Third_. Break their wills at the earliest possible moment.
Mr. Wesley made every family an inquisition, every father and mother
inquisitors, and all the children helpless victims. One of his
homes would give an exceedingly vivid idea of hell. At the same
time, Mr. Wesley was a believer in witches and wizards, and knew
all about the Devil. At his request God performed many miracles.
On several occasions he cured his horse of lameness. On others,
dissipated Mr. Wesley's headaches. Now and then he put off rain
on account of a camp meeting, and at other times stopped the wind
blowing at the special request of Mr. Wesley. I have no doubt that
Mr. Wesley was honest in all this,--just as honest as he was
mistaken. And I also admit that he was the founder of a church
that does extremely well in new countries, and that thousands of
Methodists have been exceedingly good men. But I deny that he ever
did anything for human liberty. While Mr. Wesley was fighting the
Devil and giving his experience with witches and wizards, Thomas
Paine helped to found a free nation, helped to enrich the air with
another flag. Wesley was right on one thing, though. He was
opposed to slavery, and, I
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