to the Methodist: for they contain the whole history of that
singular polity which, weak and despised in its beginning, is
now, after the lapse of a century, so strong, so flourishing, and
so formidable. The hymns to which he gave his imprimatur are a
most important part of the public worship of his followers. Now,
suppose that the copyright of these works should belong to some
person who holds the memory of Wesley and the doctrines and
discipline of the Methodists in abhorrence. There are many such
persons. The Ecclesiastical Courts are at this very time sitting
on the case of a clergyman of the Established Church who refused
Christian burial to a child baptized by a Methodist preacher. I
took up the other day a work which is considered as among the
most respectable organs of a large and growing party in the
Church of England, and there I saw John Wesley designated as a
forsworn priest. Suppose that the works of Wesley were
suppressed. Why, Sir, such a grievance would be enough to shake
the foundations of Government. Let gentlemen who are attached to
the Church reflect for a moment what their feelings would be if
the Book of Common Prayer were not to be reprinted for thirty or
forty years, if the price of a Book of Common Prayer were run up
to five or ten guineas. And then let them determine whether they
will pass a law under which it is possible, under which it is
probable, that so intolerable a wrong may be done to some sect
consisting perhaps of half a million of persons.

I am so sensible, Sir, of the kindness with which the House has
listened to me, that I will not detain you longer. I will only
say this, that if the measure before us should pass, and should
produce one-tenth part of the evil which it is calculated to
produce, and which I fully expect it to produce, there will soon