Note 1116 — PART IV. From the Reformation to the present time. (continued 7)

Of the origin and progress of Methodism in the kingdom, see a brief account at page 934 of this work.—It is a remarkable instance of deep policy in the history of methodism, that the sect, when young and weak, placed itself under the wing of the established church, and bitterly inveighed against all who separated from it; but when it acquired strength, so as to feel itself able to go alone, it threw off the mask, and scrupled not to avow and prove itself, to all intents and purposes, a dissenting sect.