ousand--yea, ten thousand--of our people would be a less evil than
this. "But many had much comfort in this." So they would in any _new
thing_. I believe Satan himself would give them comfort therein, for he
knows what the end must be. Our glory has hitherto been not to be a
separate body. "_Hoc Ithacus velit_."' And finally, within two years of
his death, in his striking sermon on the ministerial office, 'In God's
name stop!... Ye are a new phenomenon on the earth--a body of people
who, being of no sect or party, are friends to all parties, and
endeavour to forward all in heart-religion, in the knowledge and love of
God and man. Ye yourselves were at first called in the Church of
England; and though ye have and will have a thousand temptations to
leave it, and set up for yourselves, regard them not; be Church of
England men still; do not cast away the peculiar glory which God hath
put upon you and frustrate the design of Providence, the very end for
which God raised you up.'

But some years before John Wesley uttered these memorable words had he
not himself done the very thing which he deprecated? Consciously and
intentionally, No! a thousand times no; but virtually and as a matter of
fact we must reluctantly answer, Yes. Lord Mansfield's famous dictum,
'Ordination is separation,' is unanswerable. When, in 1784, John Wesley
ordained Coke and Ashbury to be 'superintendents,' and Whatcoat and
Vasey to be 'elders,' in America, he to all intents and purposes crossed
the Rubicon. His brother Charles regarded the act in that light and
bitterly regretted it. How a logical mind like John Wesley's could
regard it in any other it is difficult to conceive. But that he had in
all sincerity persuaded himself that there was no inconsistency in it
with his strong Churchmanship there can be no manner of doubt.

The true explanation of John Wesley's conduct in this matter may perhaps
be found in the intensely practical character of his mind. His work in
America seemed likely to come to a deadlock for want of ordained
ministers. Thus we come back to the old motive. Everything must be
sacrificed for the sake of his work. Some may think this was doing evil
that good might come; but no such notion ever entered into John Wesley's
head; his rectitude of purpose, if not the clearness of his judgment, is
as conspicuous in this as in the other acts of his life.

It should also be remembered (for it serves to explain this, as well as
many othe