John Wesley's Deceit

John Wesley does not rank as high as other , more honorable Arminians . He did a number of underhanded things . One of those nefarious items dealt with Augustus Toplady . Toplady ( who is most famous for writing "Rock of Ages") , in November of 1769 , published "The Doctrine Of Absolute Predestination Stated And Asserted : With A Preliminary Discourse On The Divine Attributes " . It was translated from the Latin of Jerome Zanchius .

Some items related to this sad matter are told in a letter A.T. wrote on March 26,1770 . I will quote some extracts from "A Letter To The Rev. John Wesley Relative To His Pretended Abridgment Of Zanchius On Predestination " .

Accordingly , in the month of March , 1770 , out sneaks a printed paper ( consisting of one sheet , folded into twelve pages ; price one penny ) entitled , "The Doctrine Of Absolute Predestination Stated And Asserted , by the Reverend Mr. AT." Wherein you pretend to give an abridgment of the pamphlet above referred to .

Unsatisfied with carefully and totally suppressing every proof alleged by Zanchius in support of his argument ; a false colouring must likewise be superinduced , by inserting a sentence or two now and then of your own foisting in . After which you close the motley piece , with an entire paragraph , forged every word of it by yourself ; and conclude all , as you began , with subjoining the initials of my name : to make the ignorant believe that the whole , with your omissions , additions and alterations , actually came from me . -- An instance of audacity and falsehood hardly to be paralleled !

Your concluding paragraph , which you have the effrontery to palm on the world as mine , runs thus : "The sum of all of this : one in twenty (suppose ) of mankind are elected ; nineteen in twenty are reprobated . The elect shall be saved , do what they will ; the reprobate shall be damned , do what they can . Reader believe this , or be damned . Witness my hand , A T ."

When I advert to the unjust and indecent manner in which you attacked the late excellent Mr. Hervey ; above all , when I consider how daringly free you have made with the Scriptures themselves , both in your commentaries , and in your alterations of the text itself ; I cease to wonder at the audacious licentiousness of your pen respecting me . I should rather wonder if you treated any opponent with equity , or canvassed any subject impartially . Rise but once to this , and I shall both wonder and rejoice . [ JW never responded or retracted his phony pamphlet . He was guilty as outlined in AT's letter -- Rip ]

I do not expect to be treated by Mr. John Wesley with the candour of a gentleman , or the meekness of a Christian ; but I wish him , for his reputation's sake , to write with the honesty of a heathen .

 

This is not a case of someone's word against the word of someone else . This is historical fact . John Wesley deliberately fabricated something adding and deleting as he went . He even had the gall to say despicable things in the name of Toplady . He passed it off in the name of Toplady . Did you not read my post carefully ?

 

Martin , I am surprised that you would ask the questions you did .

1) What was Toplady's motive for writing his letter ?!

His motive was vindication . John Wesley falsified a work and appended words in the name of Toplady which Wesley himself included to mislead the ignorant public about one of Calvinism's leading authorities at the time .

I quote from Toplady's letter again :

Zanchius , if you chose to buy him , was yours to read ; and , if you thought yourself equal to the undertaking ,[ translating from Latin to English -- Rip ] was yours to answer : but he was not yours to mangle . Remember how narrowly you escaped a prosecution some years ago , for pirating the Poems of Dr. Young .

Go now , sir , and dazzle the credulous with your mock victory over the supposed reprobation of "nineteen in twenty." Go on to chalk hideous figures on your wainscot ; and enjoy the glorious triumph of battering your knuckles in fighting them . But father no more of your hideous figures on me . Do not dress up scare-crows of your own , and then affect to run away from them as mine .

2) What was the history of the two parties ?

Well , A.Toplady was the younger and brilliant Calvinst opponent of Arminianism . John Wesley was the latter's champion . Weseley did not hesitate to falsify things to further his cause . They had a number of heated exchanges through various pamphlets . Usually Wesley steered clear of dealing with any of A.T's penetrating exegetical skills . He ran around the proverbial mulberry bush and tried to exploit some strange doctrines which he foisted on Calvinism . Wesley was a master of chicanery .

3) What is Wesley's side of the story ?

Much of that is answered in 2) . He had his lieutenants cover for his duplicity much of the time . But he personally did write "The Consequence Proved " in August of 1771 . In it he still pretends that Toplady wrote the abridgment . Now Toplady's translation of Zanchius' work was 134 pages . Wesley's work which he attributed to Toplady wa sonly 12 pages . That severely dismembered the value of what Zanchius was trying to say . But that concluding paragraph was the galling tipping-point . Toplady never said any such thing . But Wesley kept up the charade neverthless .

BTW , John Wesley's act was considered forgery at that time . Not a very Christian thing to do . But he paagiarized the works of others as well . I had mentioned his distasteful treatment of Hervey . But he lifted works by others . It was characteristic of the man .

 

What goes around , comes around ?!

What in the world are you talking about BB ?

I think you have no clue about the scene back there around the third quarter of the 18th century in England .

Wesley was invited to be part of Lady Huntington's Connection , but his doctrine was not compatible and neither was his attitude ( which was similiar to Diotrephes ) . Actually John Fletcher , an admirable Arminian , who was esteemed in the eyes of Wesley and was able to have fellowship with the H.C .

 

Be careful folks , lest in your zeal for fair-mindedness you may be violating your stated principles when countering what you believe are my evil motives . Oh the suppositions and the supposed implications from what I cited !

This is a history forum is it not ? This subject has historical interest . I think Wesley's name is far more famous than that of Toplady . Yet the latter rather than remaining in an obscure corner for too long will be brought to the light . Yes , it's true , I believe Arminianism is sub-biblical at best . But I did not recently discover this Toplady/Wesley controversy . I have known of it for more than 20 years . My "dredging" it up has no conceivable relationship with my evangelical endeavors .

This controversy is not the word of one against the word of another . When one creates out of thin air something another has never even remotely uttered and the "creator" signs the offensive piece with the other's name -- that my friends is fraud (or forgery back then ) .

I do not merely "take a Calvinist's word over that of an Arminian's" . I know that Toplady's translation (done originally when he was about 19 yet published 9 years later ) -- was not the best . But Wesley's severe abridgment was disgraceful . It contained 12 pages with three blank pages . How can that be a just representation of the original ?

But what I really object to is are the concluding words that Wesley wrote in the name of Toplady . Toplady did not write it -- Wesley did . That abridgment is included in his works ! Why would Toplady object so strenously to those words if he penned them ?! Do those words reflect well on Calvinism ? Does it portray what Calvinism is ? Are the words blasphemous or not ?

After Toplady blasted Wesley out of the water in response to Wesley's lies the latter wrote "The Consequence Proved" .

I'll quote Wesley's opening :

1. Mr. Toplady , a young , bold man , lately published a pamphlet , and extract from which was soon after printed , concluding with these words :- The sum of all is this : One in twenty , suppose , of mankind are elected : nineteen in twenty are reprobated . The elect shall be saved , do what they will . The reprobate shall be damned , do what they can .
2. A great outcry has been raised on that account , as through this was not a fair state of the case ; and it has been vehemently affirmed , that no such consequence follows from the doctrine of absolute predestination .
I calmly affirm , it is a fair state of the case ; this consequence does naturally and necessarily follow from the doctrine of absolute predestination , as here stated and defended by bold mr. Augustus Toplady .


[ Now back to Rippon ] Why would Wesley maintain that the closing part of the abridgment was a reasonable consequence of the doctrine of absolute predestination ? Why was he insistent that "this consequence does naturally and necessarily follows " ? Wesley still does not own up to the fact that he himself wrote the offensive words . If he objects to Toplady's reasoning why did he agree so smoothy with the suppositions of the conclusion of the abridgment ? Of course , he wanted to put a most horrible spin on Calvinistic doctrines so he said what he did .

 

The following are some extracts from Toplady's "More Work For Mr. John Wesley "

Observe , reader , for it is worth thy while , how suddenly Mr. Wesley's polemical weather-glass rises and falls . In his printed letter to the late reverend and amiable Mr. Hervey , he charged that incomparable man , and the Calvinistic party in general , with holding the reprobation of "nine out of ten." in March , 1770 , we were charged with holding , as above , that "nineteen in twenty are reprobated." In February of 1771 , we were charged with holding the reprobation of "forty-nine out of fifty." and now , about five months after , the glass is sunk 30 degrees lower , and , in "The Consequence Proved ," stands again at "nineteen out of twenty." Next spring , I suppose , it will rise to twenty-nine out of an hundred . A very capable gentleman this , to ascertain the number of the elect and reprobate , who reprobates his own calculations almost as often as the clock strikes !

 

Toplady : More Work For Mr. John Wesley

The person who , in private conversation , utters a designed untruth , is deservedly branded with disgrace . but the man , who sits down , and deliberately writes a known , wilful , palpable lie to the public , may , it seems , still be "a saint,' and a "precious labourer in the Lord's vineyard ! away with such "saintship;" away with such "precious labours." Again : the man , who forges my name , in order to obtain a trifling sum of money , is deemed guilty of a capital offense . But the man , who subjoins my name to blasphemous propositions of his own coining ; is to be treated as "an ancient , venerable servant of Christ , whose whole life has been devoted to the glory of god and the good of souls ! "


[ Toplady has an endnote regarding the blasphemous nature of Wesley's words ] : This epithet is not too strong . To say that any shall be saved , do what they will ; and others damned do what they can : is , in the first instance , blasphemy against the holiness of God ; and , in the second , blasphemy against his goodness .

 

Toplady : More Work For Mr. John Wesley

More extracts follow . First from part of his first endnote :

I speak not of all Arminians . Many there are , who , notwithstanding their entanglement in that net , stand entitled to the character of pious , moderate , respectable men . Of these I myself know more than a few and have the happiness to enjoy as much of their esteem , as they deservedly possess of mine .

To those who know me not , it may seem needful to declare that , much as I disapprove Mr. Wesley's distinguishing principles and the low cunning with which he circulates them , I still bear not the least ill-will to his person . As an individual , I wish him well , both here and ever ... If I anywhere , however , express myself strongly , it is owing to the necessity I was under of exposing Mr. Wesley's unmanly and dishonest methods of attack .