sentences:  One of his earliest publications was "An Apology for Methodists" written in 1797 and in 1831 the "Leeds Mercury" published a letter from a Methodist dignitary to the superintendent of the Leeds circuit which advised Methodists not to vote for Sadler because he had been insufficiently active in the anti-slavery cause "to say nothing of the ambition which has made him court the High Church and despise us".A correspondent in the "Leeds Intelligencer" confirmed that Benjamin Sadler (now an Anglican Alderman and J.P.) had once been a Methodist circuit-steward and Michael had regularly gone to chapel with him, but denied that Michael had ever been a Methodist.Religious affiliation was not merely a matter of private conscience (or social status) but also had political implications