THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST MAGAZINE, FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1848. VOL. VI. OF THE THIRD SERIES. VOL. XXIX. FROM THE BEGINNING. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY THOMAS HOLLIDAY, CONFERENCE OFFICES, SUTTON-STREET, COMMERCIAL-ROAD, ST. GEORGE'S-IN-THE-EAST. PREFACE. LONG has the Editor of this Magazine thought that fault-finding is a defect of religious periodicals. Not that he thinks public faults ought not to be publicly reproved, that the salvation of the delinquents and general good may be achieved; but there is a wide disproportion between some of the published faults and the harsh way in which they are treated. Indeed, he has often thought that some men delight in imagining the existence of faults in public persons and bodies, or in magnifying those which are venial, and then reproving them in a circle a hundred-fold wider than that in which they were previously known (as if they were almost unpardonable), and in a manner quite at variance with the golden rule: "Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets." However, conscious that he may judge erroneously in these respects, he desires that his views may not be applied so much to the conduct of others, as to their bearing on his own individual procedure. The rule just quoted he has endeavoured to observe in the pages of this volume; and if in any instance there has been a failure, it must be attributed to his forgetfulness, to his misinterpretation of the rule, or to any cause, rather than to peevishness, hypercriticism, or a love to disturb muddy water when public health requires it to be kept still. Against evils which materially threaten the well-being of man he has written, and will write, should God spare his life but in quarrels about non-essentials, he does not recollect having taken any part, nor does he intend to take any. To strictures on POPERY, the greatest curse of man, he has given cordial publicity; but he thinks the spirit and language of those strictures, the chief of which are from the pen of Mr. William Garner, betray good-will to man and a discreet use of the press in seeking to promote it. The papal beast needs always watching; for his horns, like the claws of a cat, can be darted forth to rend, or concealed under down, to suit circumstances. His bad propen sities need only be known to be shunned; and these are to be ascertained by studying his nature, and tracing his habits for ages. In this respect good service has been rendered by Mr. Garner; and we shall now and then revive the subject miscellaneously, lest the enemy should insidiously ensnare any of our unsuspecting readers. |