Note 295 — 1756. (continued 2)

This was not true. Wesley writes: “I was under no necessity, though I doubt not but Mr. Law heard I was, and very seriously believed it. I very rarely mention his books in public; nor are they in the way of one in a hundred of those whom he terms my people. I had therefore no temptation, any more than power, to forbid the use of them to the Methodists in general. Whosoever informed Mr. Law of this, wanted either sense or honesty.” (Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 18.) Still perhaps Law had some reason to complain. When Wesley paid his last visit to Dr. Byrom, in 1761, the doctor accused him of having expelled six men from the Methodist society, “for reading Jacob Behmen and Mr. Law.” Wesley’s reply was, that they were expelled, “not for reading the books, which was as indifferent as the colour of their hair; but, if they would thrust their hair into other people’s eyes, and trouble them with their notions, that was his reason.” Byrom adds: “Wesley put the matter very magisterially, upon his own authority; so that I used the expression of Pope John to him, and Your Holiness.” (Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 1104.)