Wesley and his preachers , their conquest of Britain

Front matter

Their Conquest of Britain

THE 'LIVES WORTH LIVING'

SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

Contents

CHAP. FAGE

i. some characteristics of the man i

ii. the early assistant preachers 21.-

Chapter I

WHILE passing along Bishopsgate Street on a summer day in the first year of the twentieth century, I saw with some regret that the Wesleyan Centenary Hall and Mission House had been taken down. The building was, during its not very long life of sixty years, a notable landmark, reminding everyone who looked upon it of the mighty conquests which had been made in Britain during the Great Revival of the eighteenth century.

The centenary of Methodism was worthy of being commemorated ; but on June 28, 1903, will occur the bi-centenary of the birth of John Wesley himself, a man who, during his long working life, earned the distinction of being the most successful of open-air preachers, as well as a veritable apostle of the British Isles. Such an A 1 evangelist seemed to be raised up to continue the work which Puritanism in the preceding century had left unfinished; for, in the reaction of general ungodliness and ignorance, the Gospel seemed to have become as obsolete even in the churches as it was in the homes of the people. Even old-time Christian customs had been so far forgotten that when reintroduced they were regarded as innovations. Thus open-air preaching, which had been one of the commonplaces of primitive times, came to be regarded as ' disorderly ' ; but when the clergy were indifferent, and their churches were generally unfrequented by the main part of the people, earnest open-air preachers were urgently needed. Although born to be a leader of men, it was still characteristic of Wesley that he could follow the lead of another »when any advantage was to be gained. His temperament and education both tended to bias him against open-air preaching; but the striking success which had attended Whitefield's experiment killed such prejudice as remained against this method of offering the Gospel to the common people.

In his own department Wesley might rank as

SLfS wliS of his time' although he

not so good Yttt ^X'ctarle e He" was a scholar, however an^ carles. He

critic ; but he ma7LtW be' "V™*" "^ be called a theologian £ w?" Wh? W°Uld n°W observer of everyday life- and n°.doubt a close

that in gaining a knowledge of w? Understood

b« ot human nature he must begin with himself. When past his sixtieth year he mentions some of his own characteristics as things for which he is unable to account. Thus a tune at first hearing, a poem at first reading, a picture at first seeing, did not afford pleasure, as was the case afterwards when the merits were more fully realised. This applied ' in all the objects of imagination,' but only to a certain point ; ' for when I am too much acquainted, it is no longer pleasing.' Nothing short of shrewd and constant observation enabled one imperfectly to understand ' the machine which we carry about with us.'

Wesley was pre-eminently a man of his times, the eighteenth century ; but in style as a preacher and writer he was in advance of that artificial age. While he had sufficient courage to regard ' Mr. Pope ' as a true poet, he was no more captivated by the artificial style and ' classic ' rhetoric of the time than some other good writers. ' I do not admire that florid way of writing,' he remarks, in regard to one who wrote in the conventional style. ' Good sense does not need to be so studiously adorned. I love St. John's style as well as matter.' It would have been well for themselves, and no small gain to their hearers and readers, if other contemporary divines had shown enough of common sense to borrow their style from the Authorised Version of the Bible rather than from poets who were unacquainted with nature and rhetorical essayists and historians. The condition of the country was indeed low when in the early days of the Revival the Scriptures would be spoken of as a book which contained ' a good deal of morality and good sense ' ; and when persons who supposed themselves to be educated had not enough of discernment to see that the Book was the most perfect standard of the language which time would ever give the nation. ' A noble earl ' even undertook to improve the translation ; and a prevailing opinion was that this ' would meet with universal approbation.' Hence we see that a great leader in a new reformation, like Wesley, had to correct popular follies as well as to call the people to repentance. In this, as well as in regard to many other of his characteristics, Wesley was far, indeed, in advance of his time.

Too often long sermons have come from dull

preachers. Wesley was not disposed to prolong a

discourse unless something really needed to be

said ; and in that case he would venture to hold

on for an hour or more. In this, as well as in

numberless other instances, he showed that rare

tact in adapting his methods to circumstances

which may come of rare genius. To his keen eye

cranks, or mere eccentricities, did not pass for men

of original mettle. When he once heard of the

artless confession of ' a good man * that he burned

his MSS. once in seven years because it would be

discreditable not to do better as he grew older,

Wesley was ingenuous enough to say that he had

found it otherwise. At the age of seventy-five he

was not conscious of capacity to work better than

he had done forty years previously. Through

wider reading he had more knowledge of 2ry and of natural philosophy, but there was no addition to acquirements in divinity — ' Forty years ago I knew and preached every Christian doctrine which I preach now.' Realising that he was a messenger to the multitude, he liked best to have the common people for a following. Whenever he associated with fashionable people — as, for example, when he attended a concert which had been arranged by his nephews— he felt so much out of his element that he was glad to retire. His great tact and readiness of speech enabled him to adapt the tone of his message to the needs of any place or of any class he visited.

It may be taken for granted that no evangelist, either before or since Wesley's time, ever so thoroughly traversed these three kingdoms to become so well acquainted with the characteristics of the different towns. How great was the contrast between North and South. Some will remember that in his early days, even C. H. Spurgeon did not succeed with the people of the Jar north. It was similar in the case of Wesley. I am not a preacher to the people of Edinburgh,' he once remarked ; and some time later he added 1 almost wonder at myself. I seldom speak anywhere so roughly as in Scotland.'

wNfthtr aS a Preacher nor as a worker would Wesley have presumed to pose as a model to his followers ; but at the same time there was not one of hls helpers who was competent to keep pace with him. 'My study hours' in Wesley's case were over twelve hours a day; and he mentioned the obvious fact — ' I cannot write longer in a day without hurting my eyes.' It is so far reassuring that such a worker put some restriction on his powers of endurance. At the same time he had a discerning eye to see where the shoe pinched whenever any irregularity occurred. Thus ' long and loud preaching ' meant early disablement, and all were warned against habits which wore out the strength without giving back any corresponding advantages. His prescription for 'nervous disorders'— no supper save 'a little milk or water gruel ' — might not be less effective now than it was of old. One difficult thing was to maintain the approved Methodist custom of preaching at 5 a.m., or an hour earlier on festival days ! Those who lodged at headquarters in the City Road were ^required to retire to bed at nine. There must be no excuse for late rising !

One of Wesley's lovable characteristics was that in controversy he never gave opponents cause to complain of rough language or rudeness. Those who opposed or wrote against him ranged from gross and profane men of the street to bishops and squires. At times he might have cause to complain even of some whom he would have been glad to reckon among allies. Thus the outlook at Grimsby in 1779 provoked him to say: 'Those striplings who call themselves Lady Huntingdon's .preachers have greatly hindered the work of God ' Then at Congleton, three years later : « I found the Calvinists were just breaking in and makine havoc of the flock.' What was regarded as lack of brotherly love affected him more than grosser things from the common enemy. A thoroughly diabolical case occurred at Bridlington in 1779: 'A gentleman of the town had a favourite daughter, whom he set up in a milliner's shop. Some time after she had a concern for her soul, and believed it to be her duty to enter into the Society. Upon this her good father forbade her his house ; demanding all the money he had laid out; and required her instantly to sell all her goods in order to make the payment!'

It is no less suggestive than interesting to take note of what Wesley thought about some of his more eminent contemporaries. He refers to Smollett as * this frontless man, blind and bold,' who stumbled on ' without the least shadow of truth.' Baron Swedenborg was originally a man of piety, of a strong understanding and most lively imagination ; but through his mind being affected by fever in middle age his later works were 'a madman's dreams.' Although Wesley's methods of working, his notions of things, and his literary style were so different, Dr. Johnson was regarded as a 'great man,' who in 1784 was 'sinking into the grave by a gentle decay.' He may have had some sympathy with the poet Shenstone, who, disappointed with the world and his friends in it, ' died at forty-eight, probably of a broken heart.' Pascal Paoli, who no doubt was a hero to all his fellow members of the Literary Club, was 'the modern Hannibal . . . probably the most accomplished General that is now in the world.' Blackburne, Archdeacon of Cleveland, had fathered certain liberal opinions, and it was even thought that he might accept the pastorate of a certain great Nonconformist Church in London. Although two years younger than Wesley, he was at eightyfour ' blind, deaf, and lame ' with age. What was still worse, ' he durst not ask me to preach in his church " for fear somebody should be offended." ' Howard, as a philanthropist, was thought to be ' one of the greatest men in Europe ' ; one whom the power of God alone could sustain in his hazardous employment.

Whitefield was also one of those who wore out fast; for while Wesley's powers were still undiminished, Lady Huntingdon's chaplain 'seemed to be an old, old man, being fairly worn out in his Master's service, though he has hardly seen fifty years.' Wesley was as little pleased with Jean Jacques Rousseau's work on Education as the Archbishop of Paris, who condemned it, or the French Parliament, which ordered the book to be burned, e.g. 'Sure a more conceited coxcomb never saw the sun. How amazingly full of himself. Whatever he speaks he pronounces as an oracle.' Elsewhere he reproves a Scottish divine for admiring one who was 'shallow, but a supercilious infidel two degrees below Voltaire.' But small hope was harboured of convincing such by argument; and hence 'that fine book,' Butler's Analogy, was apt to fail in its mission — ' Freethinkers, so-called are seldom close thinkers. They will not be at the pains of reading such a book as this' His reading over Dr. Erskine's work on Saving Faith naturally suggested 'how marvellously small is the difference between us.' Dr. Robertson's Charles V. was regarded as dry and verbose, and otherwise disappointing. ' It might as well be called the History of Alexander the Great.' The narratives of Captain Cook were supposed to have hardly more of truth in them than Robinson Crusoe. If Lord Herbert of Cherbury was the father of English Deism, he was also a wild knight-errant, compared with whom ' Don Quixote was a sober man.' Leibnitz was a poor writer, 'haughty, self-conceited, sour, impatient of contradiction.' Sterne's Sentimental Journey was ' not sense . . . One fool makes many.' Swift's Letters were rated at their true value — ' Was ever such trash palmed upon the world under the name of a great man ? ' Lord Chesterfield was ' a man of much wit, middling sense, and some learning ' ; but morally he was degraded, while he seemed to be an unbeliever. While he was nothing more than a minute philosopher, David Hume was 'the most insolent despiser of truth and virtue that ever appeared in the world.' Among Nonconformists in those days, Dr. Richard Price was a leading patriot ; but Wesley thought that if they were adopted, his principles would bring in a reign of anarchy. Rowland Hill lived to regret the violent language he had used in controversy. After reading a pamphlet by the future pastor of Surrey Chapel, published in 1777, Wesley said that, ' compared with him Mr. Toplady himself is a very civil, fair-spoken gentleman.'

Wesley had a better opinion of David Garrick

than others of his contemporaries. Thus when

an anecdote became current to the effect that

David had thrown a copy of Wesley's Hymns

into the sea, Wesley refused to believe such a

report, and remarked : ' He (Garrick) knew my

brother well ; and he knew him to be not only far

superior in learning, but in poetry, to Mr. Thomson

and all his theatrical writers put together. None

of them can equal him, either in strong, nervous

sense, or purity and elegance of language. The

musical compositions of his sons are not more

excellent than the poetical ones of their father.'

In political sympathies Wesley's Diary shows

him to have been a strong Royalist, who regarded

» with much favour each of the three Georges under

whom he lived, while his hereditary bias would be

in favour of the Stuarts. He believed Mary Queen

of Scots to have been an injured woman, but

judged more impartially of those who came after.

Thus James I. was 'a covetous and bloodthirsty

tyrant, who in the Gowrie conspiracy was a

murderer and a robber. He believed that the

chief offence which cost Charles i. his head was

'his persecuting the real Christians.' At the

time of George n.'s death, Wesley asked, ' When

will England have a better prince?' Some time

before the king passed away Wesley had seen

him in the House of Lords : « His brow was much

furrowed with age, and quite clouded with care.

A blanket of ermine round his shoulders, so heavy and burdensome he could scarce move under it. An huge heap of borrowed hair with a few plates of gold and glittering stars upon his head ! ' Wesley fully sympathised with the king and his ministers in that disastrous war which resulted in the loss of the American Colonies. He once heard George III. speak from the throne in the House of Lords : ' How agreeably was I surprised. He pronounced every word with exact propriety. I much doubt whether there be any other king in Europe that is so just and natural a speaker.' As compared with their head, however, the peers were a degenerate race : ' I spent two or three hours in the House of Lords. I had frequently heard that this was the most venerable assembly in Europe. But how was I disappointed ! What is a lord but a sinner born to die ? '

In the best sense Wesley was an interested sightseer, whether in London or during his travels over the British Isles ; he was a close observer of nature; he studied men and women. In his old age he visited the Museum in Spring Gardens, which contained models in wax of several eighteenth-century monarchs. He speaks of these like a shrewd reader of character. At that time Frederick the Great of Prussia had only recently died ; the explosion of the French Revolution was only a few months ahead. Of Pope Clement XIV. Wesley remarks, in his characteristic way, ' Strange that such a man should be suffered to sit two years in the Papal chair!' It was Clement who suppressed the Jesuits as a danger no longer to be

II tolerated ; and since his death in 1775 he has generally been regarded as one of the best of the popes. Wesley naturally thought that such a man was too good for his office. As many supposed, Clement died of poison ; and whether or no he fell a victim to Jesuitical intrigue, it was natural that the popular inference should be that he really did do so. Of others, Wesley says : ' Sense and majesty appear in the King of Spain; dulness and sottishness in the King of France; infernal subtlety in the late King of Prussia (as well as in the skeleton Voltaire) ; calmness and humanity in the Emperor and King of Portugal; exquisite stupidity in the Prince of Orange ; and amazing coarseness, with everything that is unamiable, in the Czarina.'

Many examples might be given of the interest

which Wesley showed in visiting ancient sites and

scenes, and of his correct realisation of their

peculiar features. He was also boldly outspoken

enough to say what he really thought even of the

greatest masters, not excepting Raphael. Thus,

while he was a great painter, the Italian artist

was but a poor designer ; so that after seeing ' the

celebrated cartoons,' Wesley remarked, 'O that

so fine a painter should be utterly devoid of

common sense.' What was meant was, that the

figures were not natural. As a home of the

Cecils, Hatfield House was a grand place, but with

the exception of the pictures the furniture was

nothing more than « just such as I should expect in

a gentleman's house of five hundred a year.'

Wesley's mastery of Latin enabled him to converse with foreign scholars whom he occasionally met. He had a keen eye for observing national manners and customs in countries through which he passed, and he has something of Boswell's charm in describing them. In 1786, at the age of eighty-three, he travelled through Holland, and refers to the mode of serving supper in a Christian household at Haerlem: ' The manner was peculiar : no tablecloth was used, but plates, with knives and forks and napkins to each person, and fifteen or sixteen small ones, on which were bread, butter, cheese, slices of hung beef, cakes, pancakes, and fruits of various kinds. To these were added music upon an excellent organ, one of the sweetest tones I ever heard.' Another word-picture concerning repasts relates to a dinner at the palace of the Bishop of Exeter in 1782: 'I could not but observe: 1. The lovely situation of the palace, covered with trees, and as rural a retreat and as retired as if it was quite in the country. 2. The plainness of the furniture, not costly or showy, but just fit for a Christian Bishop. 3. The dinner, sufficient, but not redundant ; plain and good, but not delicate. 4. The propriety of the company — five clergymen and four of the aldermen ; and, 5- The genuine unaffected courtesy of the Bishop, who I hope will be a blessing to his whole diocese.' Wesley is also quite as charmingly communicative when describing how he dined with the Bishop of Londonderry at Whitsuntide 1775: 'The Bishop invited me to dinner, and told me,

"I know you do not love our hours, and will therefore order dinner to be on table between two and three o'clock." We had a piece of boiled beef and an English pudding. This is true good breeding. The Bishop is entirely easy and unaffected in his whole behaviour, exemplary in all parts of public worship and plenteous in good works.'

Certain of Wesley's more distinguishing characteristics may be briefly mentioned. While he belonged to a family which showed some musical genius, he is found frequently disapproving of the common methods of singing. He liked oratorios ; and even thought that the performance of ' Ruth ' might 'possibly make an impression even upon rich and honourable sinners.' He believed in the » reality of apparitions and witchcraft; he gives what look like striking instances of supernatural appearances, and in connection with the other he says : ' I cannot give up to all the Deists in Great Britain the existence of witchcraft till I give up the credit of all history, sacred and profane.' Modern readers will not be surprised that on account of such another ingenuous statement in regard to astronomy he was called to account in 'a warm letter 'in the London Magazine of 176$. All strictures were as water on a duck's back, however ; they produced no impression. < I cannot help it' was his equally ingenuous reply. « Nay the more I consider the more my doubts increase So that at present I doubt whether any man on earth knows either the distance or magnitude I will not say of a fixed star, but of Saturn or Jupiter ; yea, of the sun or moon.'

On the other hand, he had that unbounded faith in the health-restoring powers of electricity which the additional experience of more than a century has not proved to have been well founded. To Wesley electricity was nothing less than 'a thousand medicines in one ' ; it was ' the most efficacious medicine in nervous disorders of any kind which has ever yet been discovered.' Still, temperance was more than anything else conducive to health. Merely to say that he was temperate in all things might conceal the fact that he was abstemious to a degree that might be called fastidious, but which no doubt had much to do with the perfect health he enjoyed right on to old age. He would seem to reprove himself even when he had kept on the safe side of self-indulgence. On leaving one household in which he was made much of, he remarks : ' I can trust myself about once a year in this warm sunshine ; but not much oftener, or I should melt away.'

At sixty years of age he had outgrown his hereditary High Church prejudices. He was harddriven, indeed, before he could be reconciled to the practice of open-air preaching ; but so completely had his views changed that he held that the holding of divine service in a building was sufficient consecration. 'This is the only consecration of any church in Great Britain which is necessary, or even lawful,' he said. ' It is true, Archbishop Laud composed a form of consecration, but it was never allowed, much less established, in England. Let this be remembered by all who talk so idly of preaching in unconsecrated places.' It may be that Wesley held similar views twenty or thirty years previously ; but when, being past middle age, he still preached eight hundred sermons a year, he cared little about the ecclesiastical character of the building in which he ministered, or whether he had a building at all. It seems to have been characteristic of Wesley that preaching twice a day, with extra duty on Sundays, had a bracing effect upon him. It was otherwise with Whitefield. The experience of both preachers varied as they grew older. Instead of churches being closed against them, there were more invitations to preach than could be accepted. The even temper of Wesley served him under all trials. We see this on all occasions. The refusal to allow of his preaching in Haworth Church was as keenly felt as his being denied the Lord's Supper in his father's parish of Epworth.

To this acute observer of human nature the great variety of persons he met with not only served to widen his own knowledge, but to show to advantage his own characteristics. Thus at Ku-ton in the Midlands, in 1780, a 'very serious congregat^n'stil contained 'one, something like a gentleman W1th his hat on even at pfayer.' Then an outdoor service is disturbed by a noisy drunkard ; but Wesley was too J^ "^ humorist notto be amused when the man's wife <se1Zed him by the collar, gave him two or three hearty boxes on the ears, and dragged him away like a calf.' His meekness and long-suffering were perhaps more apparent than at any other time when he was subjected to abuse in the street from individual opponents. On the other hand, gratitude was sometimes stimulated by more cheering adventures. On one occasion ' a whiteheaded old man,' encountered on the road in Cornwall, in 1782, asked, 'Sir, do you not know me?' 'No.' 'My father, my father, I am poor John Trembath!' He had been converted; he had prospered ; he was happier than he had ever before been in his life !

A very notable characteristic of Wesley was seen in the sympathy he felt for all repentant sinners. While this was well known and appreciated by large numbers of the more humble sort, we find that others of a higher grade valued his services and wished him to visit them. Both the judicially murdered Dr. William Dodd, and Lord George Gordon of the No Popery Riots, came in for a share of attention. The former was found to be in a most desirable frame of mind ; the nobleman was well acquainted with Scripture, while his apartment in the Tower was well-furnished with other books.

Because Dr. Johnson's sight was too defective to enable him to see a landscape, many affected people may have thought it gave them a ' classical ' air to ignore the beauties of nature. It was quite otherwise with Wesley, however ; neither in writing nor speaking did he ever yield to the false taste of B 17 the age. Then, as regards nature, in his constant

travels how captivated he often was with a more

than usually picturesque spot ; but although he

would sometimes come to a place where he would

fain have stayed if earthly enjoyment had been

his object, his best-loved retreat was Lewisham,

although there were other quiet havens where he

was equally welcome. In his later years he found

a pleasantly situated house at Hinxvvorth in

Hertfordshire, where leading off from the garden

was 'a shady walk around the neighbouring

meadows.' The prince of English itinerant

preachers was wont to take notice of such desirable

retreats, and what he said of one he really thought

of many others : ' Gladly would I repose awhile

here. But repose is not for me in this world.' For

such a retreat as that of his friend's house at

Lewisham he would contract strong affection, so

that a final farewell would be quite a pathetic

experience. Thus, in regard to the place just

mentioned we find this record: 'We took one

more walk round the garden and meadow, which

he took so much pains to improve. Upwards of

forty years this has been my place of retirement,

when I could spare two or three days from

London.'

One enviable characteristic was the ability to remain undisturbed in all kinds of experience. If he suffered loss through the death of friends or in temporal things, he recognised the fact that all things were ordered by God for the best. When false reports were afloat, at times reflecting on his moral character, he could also preserve an even temperament, because even his reputation was in God's keeping. Thus it was commonly said that Wesley received a large pension for having defended the Government policy in the American War !

Wesley was able to correct the popular notion that nightingales would not live in cages; but it would have been more satisfactory had he protested against the cruelty of confining such songsters of the open air in barred prisons. When, however, any timely protest was made against certain usages or bad customs, they were sure to be outspoken. Thus, to Wesley, kneeling was the only allowable attitude at prayer ; and after-service talk in church was a habit to be condemned. To him Methodism was the acme of Christian liberty ; but when the members prospered in the world, the dangers of wealth had more terrors to their leader than the trials of adversity. Want of faith in the medical men of the time was also characteristic of Wesley ; the failure of their modes of treatment were too apparent not to be noticed. Still it was evident that while he could correct mistakes or omissions in some directions, he was himself too credulous in others. In some so-called Medical Essays three persons were mentioned who had been cured of dropsy, and all by truly extraordinary means : ' One by drinking six quarts a day of cold water ; the second by drinking two or three gallons of new cider; the third by drinking a gallon or two of small beer, and the same quantity of butter-milk ! ' One who believed in such a story might well ask,