1846 ANTI-METHODIST. John Wesley's Direct Witness of the Spirit Refuted - Fanaticism Rejected.

Very scarce little work by Hunstville, Alabama Presbyterian divine, and editor of the Calvinistic Magazine, Frederick A. Ross. 

He was a controversialist through and through. He responded to Uncle Tom's Cabin with a subtle book entitled, Slavery Ordained of God, which Abraham Lincoln refers to in his debates with Stephen A Douglass as representative of how much twisting one can do to make God support something we materially benefit from. 

He was similarly "not moderate" in his views of Calvinism as opposed to Methodism and Arminianism. He argued that the Methodist Church was despotic and authoritarian, comparing it to a "great iron wheel" that would crush American liberty. He went on to charge that most Methodists during the American Revolution were Loyalists, and claim that Joh Wesley believed ghosts and witches and that Methodists themselves tended to fanaticism. 

The present work on the "direct witness" of the Spirit of adoption was used to bolster his claim that Methodists cared little for truth or for doctrine, but were deranged by pretended spiritual experiences. 

Rare in any state, this copy handsomely bound, and neatly inscribed by the author. 

Ross, Frederick A. The Doctrine of the Direct Witness of the Spirit as Taught by the Rev. John Wesley Shown to be Unscriptural, False, Fanatical, and Mischievous Tendency. Philadelphia. Published for the Author, by Perkins & Purves. 1846. 108pp.

A good + copy, bound in leather with some moderate rubbing at extremities; generally solid, with some minor to moderate foxing scattered throughout.