ance.

tempore; so that I fear I should quench the Spirit did I not go on to speak as he gives me utterWaited upon an opposing clergyman, and had a conference with him of near two hours: his grand objection was against our private societies. In answer, I shewed that that act (Charles II.) was entirely levelled against seditious schismatical meetings, contrary to the Church of England, which confines us to a form in public worship only. He replied that ours was public worship; but this I deny; for ours were societies never intended to be set up in opposition to the public worship by law established; but only in imitation of the primitive Christians, who continued daily with one accord in the temple; and yet in fellowship building up one another, and exhorting one another from house to house."

"Sunday, Feb. 4th. Had a comfortable night's rest; was warmed much by talking to an almost Christian, that came to ask me certain questions. Preached in the morning at St. George's in the East, collected £.18 for the Orphan-house; and had, I believe, 600 communicants, which highly offended the officiating curate. Poor man! I

pitied and prayed for him sincerely.

"This has been a Sabbath indeed! How has God owned me before near 12,000 people this day! How has he strengthened my body! How has he filled and satisfied my soul! Now know I, that I did receive the Holy Ghost at imposition

of

of hands; for I feel it as much as Elisha did when Elijah dropped his mantle. Nay, others. see it also; and my opposers, would they but speak, cannot but confess that God is with me of a truth. Wherefore, then, do they fight against God?"

"Reached Northampton about five in the evening, and was most courteously received by Dr. Doddridge, master of the academy there. At seven, according to appointment, I preached to about 3000 hearers, on a common near the town, from the starting post. Great power, I believe, was amongst us, and I preached with wonderful pleasure; because I thought I had then actual possession of one of the devil's strong holds."

"Friday, June 1st. Dined at Old Ford; gave a short exhortation to a few people in a field, and preached in the evening at a place called May Fair, near Hyde Park Corner. The congregation, I believe, consisted of near 80,000 people. It was by far the largest I ever preached to yet. In the time of my prayer, there was a little noise, but they kept a deep silence during my whole discourse. An high and very commodious scaffold was erected for me to stand upon; and though I was weak in myself, yet God strengthened me to speak so loud that most could hear, and so powerfully that most, I believe, could feel.” However the moralist may regret that the fessors of the Christian religion have separated

pro

into

into so many opposite paths, when one might have sufficed to lead to the object in view, the same in every division, he cannot but feel infinite satisfaction in reflecting, that Methodism has effected a great change for the better in the very lowest classes of society, since the violent enthusiasm it commenced with has subsided. And now, to conclude my sketch of the history of Religion in England, it should be observed, that the good sense of society at large, more than the influence of Government, has suppressed every attempt to introduce doctrines not founded solely upon the Scriptures. Presumption, enthusiasm, and insanity, invariably meet with the fate of the French Prophets, Swedenborg, Brothers, and Jemima Wilkinson. The following account of the Gallic impostors will serve as an illustration of all subsequent follies of a religious origin.

The French Prophets, as they were termed, roused all the latent seeds of religious superstition in London, by their arrival in 1706. Elias Marion was a native of Barré, in the Upper Cevennes, and born 1678. His parents, who were Protestants, placed him with an attorney, with whom he continued three years. At the end of which period, he returned to his relatives, and immediately coalesced with two of his brothers, previously inspired. The spirit that prompted their movements commanded Elias to fight for the Gospel; but, being defeated, the French mo

narch

narch permitted him, with others, to retire to Lousanne; when a second notice, by inspiration, sent him to London.

John Cavalier was born at Sauve, in the Cevennes, of Protestant parents; and being accidentally present at a numerous enthusiastic meeting at Barré, he became inspired by the frantic agitations of three boys, which produced a violent hiccough of nine months duration, without the gift of speech. The faculties of his tongue were at length restored in a paroxysm of extacy, and he became a Prophet.

Durand Fage was a native of Aubais in Languedoc, and bore arms in the militia employed against the Camizars. He was present at one of the extatic meetings then held in that part of France; and being told by a relation when in extacy, that the sword by his side would be drawn against the enemies of the Gospel, he received the hint kindly, and commenced Prophet.

These men are supposed to have visited England in hopes of obtaining military employment, as several regiments were then raising for an intended descent on France; but, being disappointed, they had recourse to a more profitable pursuit, one in which they were eminently successful, and were followed by crowds, who comprehended as much of their ridiculous rhapsodies as themselves who uttered them. Three associates, named John

Daude, Nicholas Facio, and Charles Portales, attended their exhibitions, for the express purpose of making notes of the sentences pronounced by the Prophets. When rapidity of utterance rendered this operation difficult, they consulted each other's memorandums; and failing in this, they had recourse to prayer, when the Spirit supplied the very words.

Amongst the dupes these impostors attracted to their scandalous meetings was Sir Richard Bulkeley, a man much deformed in person, and, it must be allowed, not less so in mind, when it is known that he so completely subscribed to the truth of the mission of the pretended Prophets as to wear his clothes threadbare and dirty, to that degree his friends reproached him for meanness, to whom he replied, "That the Spirit had declared he should be made strait, and that he would stay till the Spirit had fulfilled his promise; for to buy new ones now, would be money thrown away to no purpose, because they would not fit him when he was strait." The Prophets made other proselytes, particularly Mr. Lacy and Betty Grey, who shall be introduced from "Enthusiastic Impostors no divinely-inspired Prophets," published by Morphew, 1707.

"At a meeting at Sir Richard Bulkeley's chamber, in Great Russel-street, where were present Mr. Lacy, Mr. Allut, Mr. Facio, Mr. Marion, Mr. Cavalier, and almost the whole room full of

other