The Peculiarities of Methodist DoctrineAn Address delivered in the open Session of the Irish Wesleyan-Methodist Conference, June 19th , 1873

This talk, published as a 22-page booklet, came at a crucial juncture in Pope’s development: when he was publishing his translation and commentary on Winer’s Comparative View, and was pondering very broadly how Methodism fit within the overall Christian world. The speech overlaps considerably in content with the later essay on “Methodist Doctrine” (1881), but true to the title’s mention of “peculiarities” (or differentia, as he calls them in the talk), he is at greater pains to state how Methodism differs from other systems here than he would be in the later work. This 1873 essay address is in many ways clearer and sharper, though the later 1881 essay is more comprehensive and balanced. This 1873 speech, delivered to Irish Wesleyan-Methodists, includes some very wise guidance on how to conduct controversy without becoming cramped and sectarian.

(Thank you to Vic Reasoner for sharing this copy with us!)

There is a long, unsigned review of the book published in The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine (Nov 1873), pages 978-987.