Mason, J. A. An Earnest Appeal to the People called Methodists, and to The Nation at Large. London: W. E. Andrews, (1827). First Edition. [10676]
7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, recently sewn into a new gray wrapper, "Revd. John Abbot" signed on front, small withdrawn stamp on same. 48 pages, untrimmed edges, some a bit tattered. Good. Pamphlet.
An ex Methodist preacher converts to Romanism, and tells why. Mason knows Methodism quite well, and treats with the writings of John Wesley, Richard Watson, and others. He names local preachers such as John Chettle and Alexander Kilham. He opposes the independency of the Methodist chapels in his remarks to the "Nation at Large."
This pamphlet had continuing interest as we find that it was reprinted in London in 1849.
"That the people should be sickened with the contradiction and nonsense babbled forth from the pulpits of Methodism is not to be wondered at; the wonder rather is, that sensible men will sit to hear and pay their money to support it. But the cause is, that having no definite notion of truth themselves, they receive what they like, and leave the rest; and think that what the preacher lacks in sense and truth, may be made up of raving zeal and ridiculous declamation." - p. 15.
Mason was a convert from Methodism to the Roman Catholic faith, see Gillow, A Literary and Biographical History, or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics, Vol. III. p. 196. (1887). He was the priest of the church in Stourbridge, Co. of Worcester, England. In this pamphlet he proclaims that he was born among the Methodists and partly educated by them, and became a Methodist preacher. He names the different circuits in which he preached and says that he was sometimes the first Methodist that anyone had heard in that place. He speaks of his conversion to the Roman faith, and writes and exposé of Methodist doctrine and practice, comparing it to the Catholic faith that he had embraced. As with many converts from one church to another, he is rather pointed in his criticisms, and names names.
