Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity, and Worship of the Primitive Church: That Flourished Within the First Three Hundred Years After Christ; Faithfully Collected Out of the Fathers and Extant Writings of Those Ages The volume now presented to the public in a new dress has been considered by many of the most learned divines not only as a rare exhibition of patient and impartial investigation, but, in its leading facts, a true representation of the government and usages of the primitive church. But it is rendered especially interesting to the Methodists as the instrument of breaking down the high church prejudices of Mr. John Wesley, and so of preparing the way for the distinct organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. In his Journal for January 20, 1746, Mr. Wesley says, "I set out for Bristol. On the road I read over Lord King's account of the primitive church. In spite of the vehement prejudice of my education, I was ready to believe that his was a fair and impartial draught; but if so, it would follow that bishops and presbyters are (essentially) of one order; and that, originally, every Christian congregation was a church independent on all others." Thirty-eight years after the above was written, in his letter "to Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and the brethren in North America," dated Bristol, September 10, 1784, Mr. Wesley says, "Lord King's account of the primitive church convinced me, many years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain. For many years I have been importuned from time to time to exercise this right, by ordaining part of our travelling preachers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.