Part II (part 2 of 2)

Part II (part 2 of 2)

Wesley’s troubles, however, were not ended. His enemies ran along the shore to receive him at his landing. Wesley there confronted them, and, speaking to their leader, said, “I wish you a good night;” to which the wretch replied, “I wish you were in hell,” and then turned away with his companions. Wesley mounted his horse, and hurried forward to Tolcarn, where he had to preach the same evening. On the way, five well dressed horsemen were awaiting him, with a special warrant, from the Helstone magistrates, for his arrest. He rode into the midst of them, and announced who he was. A friendly clergyman, Mr. Collins, of Redruth, accidentally came by, and told the gentlemen that he had known Wesley at the Oxford university. Conversation followed, and Wesley was allowed to proceed upon his journey; one of those who had come out for his arrest telling him, that the reason of all this annoyance was, that all the gentlemen round about affirmed, that, for a long time, he had been in France and Spain; was now sent to England by the Pretender, and was raising societies to join him at his coming.

In the midst of all this, Wesley courageously rode to and fro, preaching from, “Love your enemies;” “Watch and pray;” and, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” At Tolcarn, while he was preaching, the mob assembled, and suddenly pushed him from the high wall on which he was standing. At Trevonan, just after he had begun his sermon, the constable and others came, and read the proclamation against riots. At Stithians, the churchwardens seized one of his hearers, and pressed him for a soldier.

Whilst these outrages were being perpetrated in Cornwall, Richard Moss was arrested at Epworth for preaching; but was delivered through the interference of Mr. Maw, in whose house he prayed and sang hymns till midnight; and then left for Robert Taylor’s, at Burnham, where he and the Epworth Methodists continued praying and praising God, till about four o’clock in the morning. At Betley, near Nantwich, a gentleman threatened to hire a mob to pull down the Methodist meeting-house, and to send all the Methodists for soldiers. At Bristol, a Methodist backslider declared he would “make affidavit that he had seen Wesley administer extreme unction to a woman, and give her a wafer, and say that was her passport to heaven.”[555] At Woodley, in Cheshire, John Bennet and three other Methodists were pressed for soldiers, most of the press gang being Dissenters. The reverend Mr. Henry Wickham, one of the magistrates for the west riding of Yorkshire, issued a warrant to the constable of Keighley, “to convey the body of Jonathan Reeves to his majesty’s gaol and castle of York;” the only crime of which Jonathan was guilty being that of calling sinners to repentance; though the reverend magistrate chose to describe him as “a spy among us, and a dangerous man to the person and government of his majesty King George.”[556] In Exeter, says The London Evening Post, for May 16, 1745, the Methodists had a meeting-house behind the Guildhall; and, on May 6, the mob gathered at the door, and pelted those who entered with potatoes, mud, and dung. On coming out, the congregation were all beaten, without exception; many were trampled under foot; many fled without their hats and wigs; and some without coats, or with half of them torn to tatters. Some of the women were lamed, and others stripped naked, and rolled most indecently in the kennel, their faces being besmeared with lampblack, flour, and dirt. This disgraceful mob consisted of some thousands of cowardly blackguards, and the disturbance was continued till midnight. The same newspaper, in its number issued on May 25, relates, with a sneer, that a Methodist vagrant had been apprehended at Frome; that he was a person of “very ill fame,” and was committed to prison; but another of the same sect, “a Scotchman, a travelling apostle,” had succeeded him, and was meeting with surprising success. He had already wrought several miracles, one of which was making a deaf old woman hear angels playing on celestial harps in the upper regions; and another was that of converting his own oatmeal into cake, and transforming his water into wine. He also cured distempers of the body as well as of the mind; though he often killed the one with his drugs, to save the other with his doctrine. The Westminster Journal for June 8, 1745, narrates that a noted Methodist preacher, named Tolly, had been pressed for a soldier in Staffordshire, and had appeared before the magistrates, attended by many of his “deluded followers of both sexes, who pretended he was a learned and holy man; and yet, it appeared that he was only a journeyman joiner, and had done great mischief among the colliers.” The poor luckless joiner was, therefore, coupled to a sturdy tinker, and sent off to Stafford jail. He had already been pressed once before, and the Methodists had subscribed £40 to obtain his freedom, and were intending to repeat the kindness; but the impeccable editor of the Westminster Journal hopes that the magistrates will be proof against golden bribes; for “such wretches” as Tolly “are incendiaries in a nation,” and greatly to be dreaded.

These were the chief acts of violence committed against the Methodists in 1745. As already stated, the press was still employed, though it was not so bitter as it had been previously. Newspapers and magazines found that news about the Pretender’s invasion was more taking with the public than elaborated diatribes against Wesley and his friends. During the year, however, there was published, by a clergyman unknown to fame, an octavo pamphlet of eighty pages, with the title:—“An Apology for the Clergy, in a Letter to a Gentleman of Fortune and great Reading, lately turned Methodist and Hermit; wherein is shown the weakness of those Objections, which Separatists in general pretend first induced them to leave the Established Church, and to look out for better guides somewhere else. By J. Maud, M.A., vicar of St. Neots, in the county of Huntingdon.” Mr. Maud alleges, that there is a powerful confederacy against the Church,—“a mixed multitude of Socinians, Presbyterians, Independents, Quakers, Anabaptists, Antinomians, Meer Moralists, Jesuits, Free Thinkers, and Methodists, and an infinite tribe of nameless sects, all hallooed on by the vicar of Jesus Christ and his creatures, to tear Christians to pieces, and to make sport for infidels and atheists.” The pamphlet is a spirited defence of the clergy, whom the “Methodist and Hermit” had libelled, and an attempt to show, that it was no trivial matter to be a faultless minister of Christ in an age when it was considered “a rude affront to any polite audience to tell men of their faults, or so much as to mention these harsh and dreadful sounding words, hell, damnation, devil, without a canting paraphrase, or a formal apology.”

A second pamphlet, published in 1745, was, “The Question, Whether it be right to turn Methodist, considered in a Dialogue between two members of the Church of England.” 8vo, 79 pages. The Methodists are branded as “unskilful teachers, doing great mischief to the peace of the Church, and to the souls of poor, ignorant people; by raising vain janglings about regeneration; by resolving all religion into instantaneous faith, and faith itself into impulses and mere animal sensations; by setting aside all necessity for repentance; and by casting off all works, as unnecessary to salvation.” The pamphlet is ably written; but is extremely false.

Another attack on Methodism was one published in the Craftsman, of June 22, and copied in the London Magazine and other periodicals of the period. It was, in fact, an onslaught upon the government of the day, entitled “Ministerial Methodism, or Methodists in Politics;” but, in castigating ministers of state, it grossly calumniates ministers of Christ. The Methodists are an “unaccountable strange sect, whose religion is founded on madness and folly.” They “hold, that there is no justification by good works, but by faith and grace only; and hereby banish that Divine part of our constitution, reason; and cut off the most essential recommendation to heaven, virtue.” By this “depraved doctrine” of “weak and, perhaps, designing teachers, misguided souls are dangerously led astray.” The “men are far gone in their mad principles of religion, suspend the hand of industry, become inactive, and leave all to Providence, without exercising either their heads or hands.”

The article, though neatly written, was supremely silly: Wesley, at the urgent request of his friends, answered it;[557] but the thing was far more contemptible than some other attacks which had been allowed; properly enough, to pass unnoticed.

Another anti-Methodist publication, issued in 1745, was entitled, “An Earnest and Affectionate Address to the People called Methodists.” 12mo, 47 pages. This was published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and was distributed gratuitously.[558] Its author, an old antagonist, was the Rev. Dr. Stebbing.[559] Two editions were exhausted in 1745, and a third sent out in 1746. It allows the Methodists to be honest and well meaning; but they are “greatly imposed upon,” and “ignorantly serve the designs of enthusiasm, and give credit to the most extravagant and groundless pretences.” The writer proceeds, with considerable ability, to examine the Methodist doctrines of regeneration, justification by faith alone, and the operations of the Holy Spirit; and concludes by saying that, though the Methodist teachers at first were only distinguished by “a peculiar strictness and regularity, and a decent observance of the rules of the Church, it was not long that they kept within these bounds. Being admired and followed, they became vain and conceited, and proceeded to open censures and contempt of their brethren. They grew loud and furious in their accusations and railings. They made most presumptuous pretences to Divine communications and directions;” and, when “their errors were pointed out, by some of the highest and most considerable of the clergy, with all possible meekness and temper, their answers were saucy and petulant. Fresh bitterness arose; more arrogant boasting; and more uncharitable revilings. They seized a pulpit or two without leave; and, in defiance of the law, exercised their ministry in fields and commons, and other unlicensed places. They set aside and altered the liturgy at their pleasure, and made use of extempore effusions of their own in the public worship of God.”

Such were some of the allegations brought against Wesley and his friends at the instance of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Another pamphlet, published in the same year, was “A Serious Address to Lay-Methodists to beware of the false pretences of their Teachers. With an Appendix containing an account of the fatal and bloody effects of enthusiasm, in the case of the family of the Dutartres in South Carolina, which was attended with the murder of two persons, and the execution of four for those murders. By a Sincere Protestant.” 8vo, 29 pages.

This was a frothy composition, asserting that “the Methodist preachers are wandering lights, gadding about with canting assurances, and leading people into bogs of delusion.” Its author was Dr. Zachary Grey, already mentioned (page 325) as the author of “The Quakers and Methodists compared.”[560]

Besides all these attacks, Wesley had to endure much Moravian annoyance. At the commencement of the year, desiring to see once more his old friend Gambold, he called at James Hutton’s, and there met Mr. Simpson, “extremely gay, easy, and unconcerned;” “a new creature indeed! but not in the gospel sense.” Mr. Simpson, unhappily, was a specimen of others. The Moravians meant well; but they held and preached the grand old doctrine of salvation by faith only, so unguardedly that, as a matter of course, the rank weed of antinomianism sprung out of the soil of Christian truth. Antinomianism, according to Wesley, was now a torrent; not only in London but out of it. At Bristol, Wesley writes, “the Antinomians had taken true pains to seduce those who were showing their faith by their works; but they reaped little fruit of their bad labour; for, upon the most diligent inquiry, I could not find that seven persons out of seven hundred had been turned out of the old Bible way.” Whitefield, writing from America, remarks: “Antinomianism, I find, begins to show its head, and stalk abroad. May the glorious Redeemer cause it to hide its head again; and prevent His children’s spirits being embittered against each other.”[561] In August, James Hutton, by order of Zinzendorf, published, in the Daily Advertiser, an advertisement, declaring that the Moravians had no connection with the two Wesleys; and subjoining one of the count’s prophecies, that Wesley and his brother would “soon run their heads against the wall.” To this Wesley simply said: “We will not, if we can help it.” Dissensions also had sprung up among the Unitas Fratrum themselves. Richard Viney had denounced Zinzendorf’s “more than papal domination;” and large numbers of the Yorkshire Moravians had sympathised with him. Zinzendorf was furious, and, in February 1744, wrote from Germany as follows:—

“I hereby declare, that I will have nothing more to do with those English Brethren, who have been mixed up in Viney’s rebellion. I disapprove of the absolution that is given to such Corah spirits. I laugh at the English national self righteousness in matters relating to our salvation. I desire to be erased from the list of English labourers, and not to be named among them, until all accomplices in the late revolt make an acknowledgment in writing of their having been deceived by Satan.

“The well-known little fool and poor sinner,

“LUDWIG.”[562]

This was pitiful tomfoolery; the raging of a lilliputian and disappointed pope.

During the year, a 12mo pamphlet, of forty-one pages, was published, with the title, “Extracts of Letters relating to Methodists and Moravians. By a Layman;” in which the Moravians are censured—1. For laying aside the use of their intellectual faculties in religious matters. 2. For refusing to take oaths before a magistrate. 3. For declining to take up arms in defence of their country, at the command of the civil power. And, 4. For their praying to and praising so constantly the Son of God, and so very seldom the Father. This was supposed to be written by Sir John Thorold; but as it makes no attack upon Wesley and his immediate followers it need not be farther noticed.

Another, and more important publication, was the following:—“Remarks on the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s last Journal, wherein he gives an account of the tenets and proceedings of the Moravians, especially those in England, and of the divisions and perplexities of the Methodists: showing, by the concessions of Mr. Wesley himself, the many errors relating to faith and practice, which have already arisen among these deluded people; and, in a particular manner, explaining the very fatal tendency of denying good works to be conditions of our justification. In a letter to that gentleman. By Thomas Church, A.M., vicar of Battersea, and prebendary of St. Paul’s.” 8vo, 76 pages.

The pamphlet is calmly and ably written, and thus concludes: “The consequences of Methodism, which have hitherto appeared, are bad enough to induce you to leave it. It has introduced many disorders—Enthusiasm, Antinomianism, Calvinism, a neglect and contempt of God’s ordinances and almost all other duties, a great increase of our sects and divisions, and, in fine, presumption and despair in greater abundance than they were known before.”

The letter is dated, November 3, 1744, and has the following postscript:—“If you think proper to return any answer, I hope you will attentively consider the points objected to you, and not put me off with such a slight, superficial, declamatory thing as Mr. Whitefield, without any regard to his own character or the importance of the subject, published last year under the title of an answer to my letter to him; in which he did not vouchsafe to consider any one argument I had urged against him, and which no serious man could think deserved any notice.”

The “Remarks” deserved an answer. Wesley acknowledged, in after years, that Church “wrote as a gentleman.”[563] “Mr. Church,” said he, in 1777, “was another kind of opponent than Mr. Rowland Hill; a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian; and as such he both spoke and wrote.”[564]

Accordingly, first of all, Mr. Webb published a letter in vindication of Wesley’s Journal, in reply to Mr. Church;[565] and then Wesley himself issued a 12mo pamphlet of forty-six pages, entitled, “An Answer to the Rev. Mr. Church’s Remarks on the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s last Journal.”

Wesley thus begins:—“Reverend sir,—My first desire and prayer to God is, that I may live peaceably with all men: my next, that if I must dispute at all, it may be with a man of understanding. Thus far, I rejoice on the present occasion. I rejoice also, that I have confidence of your sincerity, of your real desire to promote the glory of God, by peace and goodwill among men. I am likewise thankful to God for your calm manner of writing (a few paragraphs excepted); and yet more for this,—that such an opponent should, by writing in such a manner, give me an opportunity of explaining myself on those very heads whereon I wanted an occasion so to do.”

He then proceeds to say, that he wholly disapproved of the doctrines, “that there are no degrees in faith; that, in order to attain faith, we must abstain from all the ordinances of God; that a believer does not grow in holiness; and that he is not obliged to keep the commandments of God;” but, at the same time, he remarks, that he had already cleared the Moravian church from the charge of holding the first of these doctrines; that, with respect to the ordinances of God, their practice was better than their principle; and that he never knew a Moravian, except Molther, who affirmed that a believer does not grow in holiness. “Still,” he adds, “I am afraid their whole church is tainted with quietism, universal salvation, and antinomian opinions.” “As a church, they exalted themselves above measure, and despised others. He had scarce heard one Moravian brother own his church to be wrong in anything. Many of them he had heard speak of it, as if it were infallible; and some of them had set it up as the judge of all the earth, of all persons as well as doctrines. Some had said, there was no true church but theirs, and that there were no true Christians out of it. These were exceeding great mistakes; yet in as great mistakes holy men had both lived and died;—Thomas à Kempis, for instance, and Francis Sales.” He condemns them for “despising and decrying self denial; for their extending Christian liberty beyond all warrant of holy writ; for their want of zeal for good works; and, above all, for their using guile;” but he wishes not to condemn all for the sake of some, and expresses the belief that, next to some thousands in the Church of England, that is mainly the Methodists, the Moravians, with whom he had formed acquaintance, were, upon the whole, the best Christians in the world. They had much evil among them, but more good. They were the most self inconsistent people now existing; and yet he could not help but speak of them with tender affection, were it only for the benefits he had received from them; and, if the stumbling blocks above mentioned were put away, he should desire union with them above all things under heaven.

After this, Wesley gives his latest thoughts upon justification by faith alone, as published in his “Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion,” which will be noticed hereafter.

In reply to Church’s assertion, that Wesley was guilty of enthusiasm to the highest degree, Wesley remarks, that he is no more like Church’s picture of an enthusiast than he is like a centaur. He made the word of God the rule of all his actions, and no more followed any secret impulse instead thereof, than he followed Mahommed or Confucius. He rested not on ecstasies at all, for he never felt them; but judged of his spiritual estate by the improvement of his heart and the tenour of his life conjointly. He desired neither his dreams nor his waking thoughts to be at all regarded, unless just so far as they agreed with the oracles of God.

Before leaving the Moravians, reference must be made to another pamphlet, issued in 1745. “A Short View of the Difference between the Moravian Brethren lately in England and the Rev. Mr. John and Charles Wesley. Extracted chiefly from a late Journal. London: printed by W. Strahan. Sold at the Foundery, etc. 1745.” 12mo, 24 pages. The pamphlet is dated, May 20, 1745, and is signed by both the Wesleys. Appended are six hymns bearing on the subject. The differences are contained in ten propositions; but having been referred to so frequently in the preceding pages, it is scarcely necessary to repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that the publication of these “Differences” was probably owing to the publication of Church’s remarks on Wesley’s Journal; and, that it was one, if not the main, reason of Zinzendorf and Hutton publishing, in the Daily Advertiser, that the Moravians had now no connection with the Wesleys. Wesley, in his pamphlet, uses language more than ordinarily strong. He pronounces several of the Moravian dogmas “utterly false.” He declares, that Zinzendorf’s definition of faith, namely, the historical knowledge that Christ has been a man and suffered death for us, “is a proposition directly subversive of the whole of the Christian revelation;” and that his doctrine, that “a believer is not holy in himself, but in Christ only,” is “a palpable self contradiction, and senseless jargon.” Zinzendorf’s temper was touchy, and it is not surprising, that he resented Wesley’s plain speaking, and commanded Hutton to publish the advertisement just mentioned.

The controversy still continued; and, during 1745, two other tracts were published by Wesley. (1) “A Dialogue between an Antinomian and his friend.” 12mo, 12 pages. (2) “A Second Dialogue between an Antinomian and his friend.” 12mo, 12 pages.

In both these tracts, the monstrousness of the Moravian and other errors is mercilessly exposed and censured. “All that is really uncommon in your doctrine,” says Wesley to his antinomian friend, “is a heap of broad absurdities, in most of which you grossly contradict yourselves, as well as Scripture and common sense. In the meantime, you boast and vapour, as if ye were the men, and wisdom should die with you. I pray God to humble you, and prove you, and show you what is in your heart!”

This was partly written in answer to a Dialogue that had been published by William Cudworth, who was, for some years, a follower of Whitefield, and then became minister of an Independent congregation, in Margaret Street, London, and died in 1763.[566] The biographer of the Countess of Huntingdon states, that Cudworth “died in the comforts of the doctrines of grace, leaving behind him a character for eminent holiness and integrity.”[567] Wesley’s description of the man is widely different; but, if Wesley ever felt the least bitterness towards any of his opponents, it was towards Cudworth. He describes him as an Antinomian; an absolute, avowed enemy to the law of God, which he never preached, or professed to preach, but termed all legalists who did. With him, preaching the law was an abomination. He would preach Christ, as he called it, but without one word either of holiness or good works.[568]

Mr. Cudworth will again cross our path. Suffice it to say here, that, between him and Wesley, no love was lost. Affection for him was at zero; and he abhorred Wesley “as much as he did the pope, and ten times more than he did the devil.”[569]

As already stated, Wesley made, during 1745, two journeys to Newcastle and the north of England.

The first of these was commenced on the 18th of February, and lasted to the 11th of May. Richard Moss was his companion, and not a few were the adventures with which they met. Locomotion was rendered extremely difficult in consequence of snow. In some places, a thaw, succeeded by a frost, had made the ground like glass; and often they were obliged to walk, it being impossible to ride, their horses frequently falling, even while they were leading them. At Gateshead Fell, the whole country appeared a great pathless waste of white; and, but for an honest man who became their guide, they knew not how to reach Newcastle. Wesley writes:—“Many a rough journey have I had before, but one like this I never had; between wind, and hail, and rain, and ice, and snow, and driving sleet, and piercing cold: but it is past; these days will return no more, and are therefore as though they had never been.” This rough journey of two hundred and eighty miles was performed on horseback, in six days, at the rate of nearly fifty miles a day.

The besetting sin of the Newcastle Methodists was the being offended with each other; and Wesley’s first work was to reconcile wrangling neighbours. On the second Sunday after his arrival, a brutal bully, who had been accustomed to abuse the Orphan House family, and to throw stones at them, assaulted Wesley in Pilgrim Street, and cursed and pushed him. The next day the following characteristic note was sent:—

“ROBERT YOUNG,—I expect to see you between this and Friday, and to hear from you, that you are sensible of your fault; otherwise, in pity to your soul, I shall be obliged to inform the magistrates of your assaulting me yesterday in the street.

“I am, your real friend, “JOHN WESLEY.”

Robert Young immediately came, and meekly begged pardon, and promised to amend his ways.

On the 11th of March, Wesley wrote a long letter to a friend, giving an account of the way in which the Methodist societies had sprung into existence, and then stating succinctly the present position of himself and his coadjutors. They were willing to make any concession, which their conscience would permit, in order to heal the breach between the clergy and themselves; but they could not desist from preaching the doctrine of inward and present salvation, as attainable by faith alone; nor could they promise not to preach in private houses, or in the open air; for, as things were now circumstanced, this would amount to a promise not to preach at all. They could not, with a safe conscience, dissolve their societies, for they apprehended that many souls would be lost thereby; neither could they advise the members one by one, their number rendering this impossible. They could not suffer those who walked disorderly still to mingle with the rest, because evil communications corrupt good manners; nor could they discharge the leaders, because it was through the leaders that disorderly walkers were detected. While they were resolved to behave with reverence towards the bishops of the Church, and with tenderness both to the character and persons of the inferior clergy, they desired not to be admitted to their pulpits, if they believed them to be preachers of false doctrine, or had the least scruple of conscience concerning this; but, at the same time, they desired that those clergymen who believed their doctrines to be true, and had no scruple at all in the matter, should not be either publicly or privately discouraged from inviting them to preach in their churches. If any one thought them heretics or schismatics, and deemed it his duty to preach or print against them, be it so; they had not the least objection; but, before doing so, they desired that he would calmly consider both sides of the question, and not condemn them unheard. If they were guilty of either Popery, sedition, or immorality, they desired no favour; but they also desired, that senseless tales concerning them should not be credited without proof. They desired not any preferment, favour, or recommendation, from authorities either in Church or state; but they asked—1. That, if anything material were laid to their charge, they might be permitted to answer for themselves. 2. That the clergy and magistrates would hinder their dependants from stirring up the rabble against them. And, 3. That they would effectually suppress, and thoroughly discountenance, all riots and popular insurrections, which evidently strike at the foundation of all government, whether of Church or state.

Such was Wesley’s position in 1745. Though the document was not published in his Journal for eight years afterwards, it was, in fact, a manifesto defining his relations to Church and state, and the course of action he felt it his duty to pursue; and, viewed in such a light, it is of great importance.

During his stay at Newcastle, Wesley received and entertained a strange visitor in his Orphan House. This was none other than a popish priest. Twelve months before, a royal proclamation had been published, ordering the laws against papists to be enforced, and commanding all such religionists to depart from the cities of London and Westminster; and likewise forbidding them to leave their country homes, in any direction, for more than five miles’ distance. This proclamation was occasioned by the preparations that were being made by the young Pretender to invade Great Britain. Papists, and especially papistical priests, were regarded, by the general public, with suspicion and abhorrence. This was natural. Their disloyalty to the house of Hanover was a well known fact; and their intrigues, in favour of the Stuart family, were now culminating in the approaching invasion on behalf of the eldest son of James II. Under such circumstances, it was a bold, we think an imprudent, act for Wesley to make a priest of the Church of Rome his guest. Still the visit led to results which, to the writer at least, are interesting.

The priest’s name was Adams, or Watson Adams. His home was at Osmotherley (the author’s native place), a village of about a thousand inhabitants, sixty miles south of Newcastle. The place had been famous as a papistical settlement, and was still resorted to by not a few adherents of that religion. The writer’s grandmother, for a long series of years, walked, every Sunday morning, over a bleak, roadless moor, full of bogs and pitfalls, a distance of at least twelve miles there and back, for the purpose of attending, in Osmotherley chapel, the reading of a few Latin prayers, not a word of which had she scholarship enough to understand. Here had been an important convent of Franciscan friars, the chapel of which was still standing. In the immediate neighbourhood were the ruins of another popish edifice, known by the name of “the Lady’s chapel”; and, within a mile, were the beautiful and extensive remains of Mount Grace, a Carthusian priory, founded in 1396.

Wesley’s account of the priest’s visit is as follows:—

“March 28.—A gentleman called at our house, and said, that he lived at Osmotherley, in Yorkshire; and had heard so many strange accounts of the Methodists, that he could not rest till he came to inquire for himself. I told him he was welcome to stay as long as he pleased, if he could live on our Lenten fare. He made no difficulty of this, and willingly stayed till the Monday sennight following; when he returned home, fully satisfied with his journey.”

The odd acquaintance thus begun was perpetuated. A week after this (on Easter Monday), Wesley began the day by preaching, at half-past four o’clock, to a large congregation, including “many of the rich and honourable.” He then set out for London, and, at eight o’clock, preached in the open air, to “a large and quiet congregation,” at Chester-le-street. Starting again, he reached Northallerton in the evening, and made the inn his preaching place. The priest, Adams, and some of his neighbours, including Elizabeth Tyerman, a Quakeress, formed part of his congregation. The priest wished Wesley to come and preach in his house at Osmotherley. The invitation was at once accepted; Wesley mounted; and, travelling up hill and down hill, seven miles more, reached the village a little before ten at night; having ridden during the day, over execrable roads, a distance of at least sixty miles, and preached thrice. Of course, at this season of the year, it had long been dark; and, in a village so sequestered, most of the inhabitants had retired to rest; but the priest and his friends went round the place, and, arousing the people, succeeded, in about an hour, in collecting a congregation in the chapel which formerly belonged to the Franciscan friars. Wesley preached to them, and, after midnight, went to bed, feeling, as he expressed it, “no weariness at all.” At five in the morning, he preached again, on Romans iii. 22, a sermon, in a popish chapel, on the great anti-popish doctrine of justification by faith alone, part of the congregation having sat up all night for fear they should not awake in sufficient time to hear him. Many of them either were or had been papists, and one who was present was the Quakeress already mentioned. After the sermon, this unbaptized woman, abruptly addressing Wesley, asked, “Dost thou think water baptism an ordinance of Christ?” Wesley replied, “What saith Peter? ‘Who can forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost even as we?’” Wesley adds: “I spoke but little more, before she cried out, ‘’Tis right! ’tis right! I will be baptized.’ And so she was, the same hour.“[570]

On reaching Leeds, a week afterwards, Wesley wrote, as follows, to his brother Charles.

“LEEDS, April 23, 1745.

“DEAR BROTHER,—It was time for me to give them the ground at Newcastle, and to fly for my life. I grew more and more honourable every day: the rich and great flocking to us together, so that many times the room would not hold them. Iniquity, for the present, hath stopped her mouth; and it is almost fashionable to speak well of us. In all appearance, if I had stayed a month longer, the mayor and aldermen would have been with us.”

He then proceeds to give an account of his journey to Northallerton, where he found “a noble people, who received the word with all readiness of mind”; and of his setting out for Osmotherley, where he says: “I preached in a large chapel which belonged, a few years since, to a convent of Franciscan friars. I found I was got into the very centre of all the papists in the north of England. ‘Commessatorem haud satis commodum.’ This also hath God wrought.”[571]

Thus began Methodism in Osmotherley, Wesley preaching the first sermon, in a popish chapel, at eleven o’clock at night, having been brought to the place by a popish priest and a Quaker woman. A society was formed soon after, the original class papers and society book of which, for 1750, and onwards, are still in existence. Four years afterwards, a chapel was erected, which still stands, and which, up to the year 1865, for the long period of one hundred and eleven years, was uninterruptedly occupied as a Methodist place of worship, being, with one exception (Coleford, in Somersetshire), the oldest Methodist chapel in the world, continuously used as such. In it, the writer was converted, and painfully he regrets that, in the present mania for new chapels, the society, without the least necessity, were barbarous enough to quit it for a more modern structure, not a whit more adapted to their church necessities, and, of course, destitute of the unequalled memories belonging to the ugly, but venerable pile, now, we fear, left to rats and ruin.

Osmotherley, nestled beneath moorland mountains, was one of Wesley’s favourite haunts. Though seven miles from the direct road between London and Newcastle, and a place difficult to reach, he paid at least sixteen visits to the place to which he was so strangely introduced. Nor did he forget or neglect his old friend, the popish priest. His house, on some occasions, was Wesley’s home. When he visited him, in 1776, he found him “just quivering over the grave”; and, at his visit a year later, he writes:—“I found my old friend was just dead, after living a recluse life near fifty years. From one that attended him, I learned that the sting of death was gone, and he calmly delivered up his soul to God.”

Leaving a place, for lingering too long at which the writer craves forbearance, we must follow Wesley in his evangelistic wanderings. He made his way to Sykehouse, to Epworth, and to Grimsby, at which last mentioned town he preached to a “stupidly rude and noisy congregation, encouraged thereto by a drunken alehouse keeper.” At Epworth, he preached at the market cross, having most of the adults in the town to hear him. He went to his father’s church, and there heard his old acquaintance, John Romley, preach a sermon which, “from beginning to end, was a railing accusation.” He returned to Leeds, Armley, Birstal, and Bradford.

Leaving the west riding, he made a tour in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire, and then came round to Sheffield, where he preached on the floor of the Methodist meeting-house, “which the good Protestant mob had just pulled down,” to the largest and one of the quietest Sheffield congregations he had ever seen. He then made his way to Nottingham, Wednesbury, and Birmingham, at the last of which places “stones and dirt were flying from every side, almost without intermission, for near an hour.” On Saturday, May 11, he got to London, from which he had been absent about twelve weeks. Here he found things in an unsatisfactory state. There were more than two thousand members, above two thirds of whom were women.[572] “The sower of tares had not been idle. Many were shaken; and some, who once seemed pillars, were moved from their steadfastness.” Numbers were “hugely in love” with what Wesley calls, “that solemn trifle, Robert Barclay’s Apology.” This he and his brother read over with them. “Their eyes were opened; they saw Barclay’s nakedness, and were ashamed.”

Having employed a month in London, Wesley set out for Cornwall, where he spent the next five weeks. The persecutions he encountered have been related at the commencement of the present chapter. Suffice it to remark here, that, during this Cornish tour, he did what he was rarely permitted to do elsewhere; he preached in not fewer than four churches, with the consent, or at the request, of their respective ministers. An odd event also happened to him at St. Just, where, as he himself was about to begin to preach, a kind of gentlewoman took his place, and “scolded, screamed, spit, and stamped, wrung her hands and distorted her face,” most violently. She had been bred a papist, and had been rejoiced to hear that Wesley was one; but, being now undeceived and disappointed, her anger was quite equal to what her joy had been. Like a true philosopher, Wesley let the vociferous lady have all the talking to herself, and “took no notice of her at all, good or bad.” Wesley returned to London on August 16.

Terrible was the national excitement which now existed. A few weeks before, Charles Edward Stuart had embarked from Brittany, with about fifty of his Scotch and Irish adherents, and had set up his standard in Scotland, emblazoned with the motto, “Tandem triumphans.” On the 4th of September, he proclaimed his father in the town of Perth; within a fortnight, he entered Edinburgh; and, a few days afterwards, fought the royal troops at Preston Pans, and was victorious. Under the pretentious title of “regent of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland,” he marched his increasing forces to Carlisle, Lancaster, Manchester, and Derby; and was then driven back to Scotland, where, on April 16, 1746, was fought the decisive battle of Culloden. These brief remarks will help to illustrate Wesley’s Journal.

Five days after the proclamation of the Pretender, namely, on September 9, Wesley set out from London to Newcastle. On his way he called upon Doddridge, the great Dissenter, and addressed his students. His purpose was to go round by Epworth; but, “hearing of more and more commotions in the north,” he hastened to Newcastle. At Leeds, the mob pelted him and his society with dirt and stones, and were “ready to knock out all their brains for joy that the Duke of Tuscany was emperor.” At Osmotherley, he took occasion to visit the Carthusian priory, already mentioned; and, after describing the walls, cells, and gardens, expressed a sentiment which, however just, was at that time far from being popular:—“Who knows but some of the poor superstitious monks, who once served God here according to the light they had, may meet us, by-and-by, in that house of God, ‘not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens’?” On September 18, he reached Newcastle, in, what he calls, an “acceptable time.”

News had just arrived that the Pretender had entered Edinburgh. The inhabitants were in the utmost consternation. Wesley at once commenced preaching, selecting as his text, “Who can tell, if God will return, and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?” The Newcastle Courant, for September 14 to September 21, is before us, containing an account of an association of his majesty’s Protestant subjects in Ireland, pledging their faith and honour, that they will, at the hazard of their lives and fortunes, oppose the abominable and unnatural rebellion now carried on in favour of the popish Pretender. There is also an address to the king by seven hundred and thirty of the merchants of London, and from the lord provost, magistrates, and council of Edinburgh, to the same effect.

The following loyal, if not finished, lines are published:—

“Rouse, Britons, rouse, before it be too late, Join heart and hand, or slavery is your fate; Remember how your fathers bravely stood, And neither spared their treasure, nor their blood, Preserved your liberties, and Church, and state; Your sons cry out, Remember eighty-eight.”

The day after Wesley’s arrival, Mr. Ridley, the mayor, summoned all the householders of Newcastle to meet him at the town hall, and to sign an agreement, to the effect that they would hazard their goods and lives, in defending the town against the common enemy. He ordered the townsmen to be under arms, and to mount guard in turns. Pilgrim Street gate, just outside of which was Wesley’s Orphan House, was walled up; and Wesley and his society spent the day in fasting and in prayer. The agreement submitted by the mayor, and which was signed by eight hundred and thirteen inhabitants of the town, was, that they “do voluntarily oblige themselves to appear in person, or to provide daily, or when required, an able man to act in concert with his majesty’s forces in the town, for the defence thereof, against all his majesty’s enemies.”[573] As Wesley did not accompany the householders to meet the mayor, he wrote to him the following letter:—

“To the Worshipful the Mayor of Newcastle.

“SIR,—My not waiting upon you at the town hall was not owing to any want of respect. I reverence you for your office’ sake; and much more for your zeal in the execution of it. I would to God, every magistrate in the land would copy after such an example! Much less was it owing to any disaffection to his majesty King George. But I knew not how far it might be either necessary or proper for me to appear on such an occasion. I have no fortune at Newcastle: I have only the bread I eat, and the use of a little room for a few weeks in the year.

“All I can do for his majesty, whom I honour and love,—I think not less than I did my own father,—is this: I cry unto God, day by day, in public and in private, to put all his enemies to confusion: and I exhort all that hear me to do the same; and, in their several stations, to exert themselves as loyal subjects; who, so long as they fear God, cannot but honour the king.

“Permit me, sir, to add a few words more, out of the fulness of my heart. I am persuaded you fear God, and have a deep sense that His kingdom ruleth over all. Unto whom then (I may ask you), should we flee for succour, but unto Him whom, by our sins, we have justly displeased? O, sir, is it not possible to give any check to these overflowings of ungodliness? to the open, flagrant wickedness, the drunkenness and profaneness, which so abound, even in our streets? I just take leave to suggest this. May the God whom you serve direct you in this, and all things! This is the daily prayer of, sir,

“Your obedient servant, for Christ’s sake, “JOHN WESLEY.”

This was written on September 21, on which day arrived the news of General Cope’s disastrous defeat at Preston Pans. Newcastle was seized with panic. Many of the opulent of the inhabitants fled with the utmost precipitation, taking their most valuable effects with them. Wesley writes:—

“September 22.—The walls are mounted with cannon, and all things prepared for sustaining an assault. Our poor neighbours, on either hand, are busy in removing their goods. And most of the best houses in our street are left without either furniture or inhabitants. Those within the walls are almost equally busy in carrying away their money and their goods; and more and more of the gentry every hour ride southward as fast as they can. At eight, I preached at Gateshead, in a broad part of the street, near the popish chapel, on the wisdom of God in governing the world.”

Meanwhile, part of the Northumberland militia entered the town, namely, about four hundred horse, and above two hundred foot,[574] all well armed, and headed by the county gentlemen. Still the alarms continued, and the storm seemed nearer every day. “Many,” says Wesley, “wondered we would still stay without the walls; others told us, we must remove quickly; for if the cannon began to play from the top of the gates, they would beat all the house about our ears. This made me look how the cannon on the gates were planted; and I could not but adore the providence of God, for it was obvious—(1) they were all planted in such a manner, that no shot could touch our house; (2) the cannon on Newgate so secured us on one side, and those upon Pilgrim Street gate on the other, that none could come near our house, either way, without being torn in pieces.”

Amid the most terrible alarms, Wesley continued preaching in Newcastle, and visiting the country societies round about. On October 8 he wrote the following characteristic letter to General Husk:—

“A surly man came to me this evening, as he said, from you. He would not deign to come upstairs to me, nor so much as into the house; but stood in the yard till I came, and then obliged me to go with him into the street, where he said, ‘You must pull down the battlements of your house, or to-morrow the general will pull them down for you.’

“Sir, to me this is nothing. But I humbly conceive it would not be proper for this man, whoever he is, to behave in such a manner to any other of his majesty’s subjects, at so critical a time as this.

“I am ready, if it may be for his majesty’s service, to pull not only the battlements, but the house down; or to give up any part of it, or the whole, into your excellency’s hands.”

Besides the troops already mentioned, the town had been reinforced by the entrance of six hundred Dutch soldiers, belonging to the regiment of General de la Rocque; and gentlemen volunteers had become expert in military exercise, especially the company with red and pink cockades. All persons residing outside the walls were ordered to take their ladders to the town’s yard, and their firearms to the mayor; and no person was to fire a gun at night under pain of imprisonment. Two hundred cannon were planted on the town walls; and the water gates on the quay side were all built up with gun holes in them.[575]

Wesley, supposing the danger was over for the present, started off, on October 9, on a short tour to Epworth, leaving John Trembath to supply his place. At Ferrybridge he was conducted to General Wentworth, who read all the letters he had about him. At Doncaster, where he slept, or rather wished to sleep, he was surrounded by drunken, cursing, swearing soldiers. At Epworth, he had, for once, the satisfaction of hearing Mr. Romley preach “an earnest, affectionate sermon”; while he himself strongly exhorted the society to “fear God, and honour the king.” He then returned to Newcastle, by way of Sheffield, Birstal, Leeds, and Osmotherley, arriving on October 22, after an absence of thirteen days.

Within a week, the right honourable Fieldmarshal Wade, and Prince Maurice of Nassau, arrived with about nine thousand Dutch and English soldiers, which, when added to General St. George’s dragoons, General Sinclair’s Royal Scots, and other troops, made about fifteen thousand men, all encamped upon Newcastle moor.[576] With such an influx, no wonder that wickedness abounded. Wesley was horrified, and on October 26 sent to Mr. Ridley, the mayor, the following letter:—

“SIR,—The fear of God, the love of my country, and the regard I have for his majesty King George, constrain me to write a few plain words to one who is no stranger to these principles of action.

“My soul has been pained day by day, even in walking the streets of Newcastle, at the senseless, shameless wickedness, the ignorant profaneness, of the poor men to whom our lives are entrusted. The continual cursing and swearing, the wanton blasphemy of the soldiers in general, must needs be a torture to the sober ear, whether of a Christian or an honest infidel. Can any that either fear God, or love their neighbour, hear this without concern? especially if they consider the interest of our country, as well as of these unhappy men themselves. For can it be expected, that God should be on their side who are daily affronting Him to His face? And if God be not on their side, how little will either their number, or courage, or strength avail?

“Is there no man that careth for these souls? Doubtless there are some who ought so to do. But many of these, if I am rightly informed, receive large pay, and do just nothing.

“I would to God it were in my power, in any degree, to supply their lack of service. I am ready to do what in me lies, to call these poor sinners to repentance, once or twice a day (while I remain in these parts), at any hour, or at any place. And I desire no pay at all for doing this; unless what my Lord shall give at His appearing.

“If it be objected (from our heathenish poet), ‘this conscience will make cowards of us all,’ I answer, let us judge by matter of fact. Let either friends or enemies speak. Did those who feared God behave as cowards at Fontenoy? Did John Haime, the dragoon, betray any cowardice, before or after his horse sunk under him? Or did William Clements, when he received the first ball in his left, and the second in his right arm? Or John Evans, when the cannon ball took off both his legs? Did he not call all about him, as long as he could speak, to praise and fear God, and honour the king? as one who feared nothing, but lest his last breath should be spent in vain.

“If it were objected, that I should only fill their heads with peculiar whims and notions; that might easily be known. Only let the officers hear with their own ears; and they may judge whether I do not preach the plain principles of manly, rational religion.

“Having myself no knowledge of the general, I took the liberty to make this offer to you. I have no interest herein; but I should rejoice to serve, as I am able, my king and country. If it be judged, that this will be of no real service, let the proposal die, and be forgotten. But I beg you, sir, to believe, that I have the same glorious cause, for which you have shown so becoming a zeal, earnestly at heart; and that therefore, I am, with warm respect, sir,—

Your most obedient servant, “JOHN WESLEY.”

The mayor sent a message, to the effect that he would communicate the proposal to the general. We are not told whether the general gave his consent or not; but, five days afterwards, we find Wesley, in the midst of this huge encampment, preaching from, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!” “None,” says he, “attempted to make the least disturbance, from the beginning to the end. Yet I could not reach their hearts. The words of a scholar did not affect them, like those of a dragoon or a grenadier.”

In such circumstances, Wesley honestly acknowledges, that a layman, like John Haime, the brave dragoon, would have been more effective than himself. This, however, did not discourage him. The day following, he preached to the troops again. On this occasion, a lieutenant endeavoured to raise disturbance; but, when Wesley had finished, tried to make amends, by telling the soldiers that all that had been said was very good.

The next day, Saturday, November 2, his text was, “The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise might be given to them that believe;” and he now began to see some fruit of his labour. On the Sunday, the camp was again his cathedral. Abundance of people flocked together, horse and foot, rich and poor, to whom he declared, “There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” He had long laid aside the German tongue, but, seeing a number of Germans standing disconsolate at the skirts of the congregation, he also addressed them, the poor troopers drinking in every word.

This terminated his labours in the camp on Newcastle moor. The next day he set out for London, and spoiled the Guy Fawkes holiday in Leeds, by informing the magistrates that he had met several expresses, sent to countermand the march of the army into Scotland; and that the rebels had passed the Tweed, and were marching southward. The hurry in the streets was quashed; bonfires were abandoned; and guns, squibs, and crackers were no longer the playthings of the uproarious crowd. Wesley proceeded on his journey, finding watchmen standing, with great solemnity, at the end of almost every village through which he passed. On entering Wednesbury, after it was dark, he was bogged in a quagmire; the people came with candles; and, getting out, and leaving them to disengage his horse, he hastened to Francis Ward’s, and, bedaubed with mire, at once commenced preaching. On the 13th of November he arrived safe in London, where he spent the rest of the year, in preaching, and finishing his “Farther Appeal.” He gave away some thousands of tracts among the common people; and his example was immediately copied by others. The lord mayor ordered a large quantity of papers, dissuading from cursing and swearing, to be printed, and distributed to the trainbands; and on December 18, “An Earnest Exhortation to Repentance” was given at all the church doors in London, to every person who came out, and a copy left at the house of every householder who happened to be absent. “I doubt not,” says Wesley, “but God gave a blessing therewith.”

Wesley’s old friend and brother-in-law, Westley Hall, was already a waverer; and, at the end of 1745, wrote a long letter, urging the two Wesleys to renounce the Church of England. Wesley’s reply is too long for insertion here; but it contains, besides other facts, some startling high church principles, which are well worth noting. He writes:—

“We believe it would not be right for us to administer either baptism or the Lord’s supper, unless we had a commission so to do from those bishops whom we apprehend to be in a succession from the apostles.”

“We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian church (whether dependent on the bishop of Rome or not), an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein, by men authorised to act as ambassadors of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

“We believe that the threefold order of ministers is not only authorised by its apostolical institution, but also by the written word.”

We must take Wesley as we find him; but is it not surprising to see him still tenaciously clinging, even in phraseology, to the doctrine of apostolical succession, and the offering of an outward sacrifice in the church, by an outward priesthood? He proceeds:—

“We allow, that many of the laws, customs, and practices of the ecclesiastical courts are really indefensible; but we no more look upon these filthy abuses, which adhere to our Church, as part of the building, than we look upon any filth which may adhere to the walls of Westminster Abbey as a part of that structure.”

“We will obey all the laws of that Church (such as we allow the rubrics to be, but not the customs of the ecclesiastical courts), so far as we can with a safe conscience; and, with the same restriction, we will obey the bishops, as executors of those laws; but their bare will, distinct from those laws, we do not profess to obey at all.”

“Field preaching is contrary to no law which we profess to obey; nor are we clear, that the allowing lay preachers is contrary to any such law. But if it is, this is one of the exempt cases; one wherein we cannot obey with a safe conscience.”

We have here a key to much in Wesley’s remarkable career. His doctrine of apostolical succession was a figment. His language concerning Church of England priests still offering an outward sacrifice savoured of the popish doctrine which all true Protestants reject, though, as will shortly be shown, the view he held was different from what his words express. His belief in the “threefold order of ministers” was changed a few weeks afterwards. Field preaching and the employment of lay preachers had much to do with making Methodism; and, without a continuance of these, Methodism will not maintain its power and its position.

Wesley’s conference, in 1745, commenced at Bristol, on the 1st of August, and was continued for five days following. Besides the two Wesleys, there was but one clergyman, Mr. Hodges, present. There were six itinerants: Thomas Richards, Samuel Larwood, Thomas Meyrick, Richard Moss, John Slocomb, and Herbert Jenkins; and also one gentleman, who was not a preacher at all, Marmaduke Gwynne, afterwards the father-in-law of Wesley’s brother Charles.

At the opening of the conference a principle was adopted, which ought to be practised in all similar assemblies, namely, that every one might speak freely whatever was in his heart, and that no one should be checked, either by word or look, even though what he was saying was entirely wrong.[577] In an assembly of equals, met for purposes of deliberation and counsel, free speech like this is indispensable to satisfactory results.

During the first day of conference, the doctrine of justification was reviewed; and it was agreed, that, while faith in Christ is the sole condition of justification, repentance, that is, conviction of sin, must go before faith, and (supposing there be opportunity for them) fruits, or works meet for repentance, also.

On the second day, the Conference discussed the doctrines of assurance, of works done before justification, and of obedience. It was agreed neither to discourage nor encourage dreams, though it was admitted, that, by such means, saving faith is often given. On the subject of sanctification, it was laid down, that inward sanctification begins in the moment we are justified; that, from that time, the believer gradually dies to sin, and grows in grace; and that the seed of all sin remains in him, till he is sanctified throughout, in spirit, soul, and body. This entire sanctification is not ordinarily given till a little before death; but we ought to expect it sooner; for, though the generality of believers are not sanctified till near death, and though few of those to whom St. Paul wrote his epistles were so at the time he wrote, and though he himself was not sanctified at the time of writing his former epistles, this does not prove that we may not be sanctified to-day. It was further agreed, that sanctification should scarcely be preached at all to those who were not pressing forward; and when it was, it should always be by way of promise,—by drawing, rather than by driving. And, further, it was determined, that the general means which God has ordained for our receiving His sanctifying grace are keeping all His commandments, denying ourselves, and taking up our cross daily; and, that the particular are prayer, searching the Scriptures, communicating, and fasting.

The Methodist reader will find something here hardly in harmony with the decisions of the previous Conference, and with Wesley’s subsequent teaching. Twenty years after this, in answer to the question, “What shall we do, that this work of God may be wrought in us?” Wesley said:—

“In this, as in all other instances, ‘by grace we are saved through faith,’ Sanctification too is ‘not of works, lest any man should boast,’ ‘It is the gift of God,’ and is to be received by plain, simple faith. Suppose you are now labouring to abstain from all appearance of evil, zealous of good works, and walking diligently and carefully in all the ordinances of God; there is then only one point remaining: the voice of God to your soul is, ‘Believe, and be saved,’ First, believe that God has promised to save you from all sin, and to fill you with all holiness. Secondly, believe that He is able thus to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him. Thirdly, believe that He is willing as well as able. Fourthly, believe that He is not only able, but willing to do it now! Not when you come to die, not at any distant time, not to-morrow, but to-day. He will then enable you to believe, it is done, according to His word; and then ‘patience shall have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’”[578]

At the third day’s session, the Conference debated points of church government. The question was asked, “Is episcopal, presbyterian, or independent church government most agreeable to reason?” The answer given was, that each is a development of the other. A preacher preaches, and forms an independent congregation; he then forms another and another in the immediate vicinity of the first; this obliges him to appoint deacons, who look on the first pastor as their common father; and as these congregations increase, and as their deacons grow in years and grace, they need other subordinate deacons, or helpers; in respect of whom they are called presbyters, or elders; as their father in the Lord may be called the bishop, or overseer of them all. To say the least, this solution is ingenious.

With reference to Wesley’s assistants, fourteen in number, it was resolved, that they had nothing to do but to save souls; and that, in prosecuting this, they should, besides preaching every morning and every night, spend from six o’clock till twelve every day in reading, writing, and prayer; from twelve to five in visiting; and from five to six in private communion with God.

It was also determined what books should constitute the libraries for Wesley’s own use, at London, Bristol, and Newcastle,—namely, eleven on divinity; four on physic; two on natural philosophy; one (Whiston) on astronomy; one (the Universal) on history; two (Spenser and Milton) in poetry; sixteen in Latin; twelve in Greek; and one (Buxtorf’s Bible) in Hebrew.

While Wesley was thus conferring with his lay itinerants, he was, unconsciously, corresponding with a man, who soon became the highest dignitary in the Established Church.

Thomas Secker was six years the senior of Wesley. His father was a Dissenter, and he himself was designed for the Dissenting ministry. Scruples of conscience prevented this, and young Secker resolved to qualify himself for the practice of physic. At Leyden, he took the degree of M.D.; but, on returning to England, in 1721, he entered himself a gentleman commoner at Exeter College, Oxford; and, in the year following, was ordained a deacon of the Church of England. In 1724, he became rector of the valuable living of Houghton-le-spring; and, in 1725, married Bishop Benson’s sister. In 1733, he obtained the rectory of St. James’s; and, the year after, was raised to the see of Bristol. In 1737, he was translated to the diocese of Oxford; and, in 1758, was advanced to the primacy.

In the month of May, 1745, this distinguished man commenced a long, temperate, and able correspondence with Wesley, under the alias of John Smith. The correspondence was continued for nearly three years, and was first published by Mr. Moore, in his Life of Wesley, in 1825. Space forbids even an epitome of these able letters. They are full of interest, intelligence, and piety; and do honour to the head and heart of both the archbishop and the clerical itinerant.

The only thing which remains, before leaving the year 1745, is to notice Wesley’s publications. His answer to Church; his Dialogues on Antinomianism; and his Short View of the Difference between the Moravians and himself, have been already mentioned. The rest were partly original, and partly abridgments from the works of others.

1. “Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion in New England. By Jonathan Edwards. Abridged by John Wesley.” 12mo, 124 pages. This deeply interesting work was first published at Boston, in America, in a volume of more than two hundred pages, and has been referred to already in a previous chapter of the present book.

2. “An Extract of Mr. Richard Baxter’s Aphorisms on Justification.” 12mo, 36 pages. The pamphlet is divided into forty-five propositions, and, like all Baxter’s works, is full of Scripture truth, and well worth reading.

3. “Hymns on the Lord’s Supper; by John and Charles Wesley. With a preface concerning the Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. Extracted from Dr. Brevint. By John Wesley.” 12mo, 166 pages. The hymns are a hundred and sixty-six in number, and are distinguished by great variety of thought and language. Several of the best are published in the Methodist Hymn-book. An extract from Brevint, which, by publishing, Wesley made his own, will help to explain his meaning in the objectionable phraseology he employed in his letter to Westley Hall.

“The Lord’s supper was chiefly ordained for a sacrament:—1. To represent the sufferings of Christ which are past, whereof it is a memorial. 2. To convey the first fruits of these sufferings, in present graces, whereof it is a means. 3. To assure us of glory to come, whereof it is an infallible pledge.”

“The sacrifice, which by a real oblation was not to be offered more than once, is, by a devout and thankful commemoration, to be offered up every day. The sacrifice in itself can never be repeated. Nevertheless, this sacrament, by our remembrance, becomes a kind of sacrifice, whereby we present before God the Father that precious oblation of His Son once offered. To men, the holy communion is a sacred table, where God’s minister is ordered to represent, from God his Master, the passion of His dear Son, as still fresh, and still powerful for their eternal salvation. And to God, it is an altar, whereon men mystically present to Him the same sacrifice, as still bleeding and sueing for mercy.”

The remainder of Wesley’s publications, in 1745, were original: namely:—

1. “An Earnest Persuasive to keep the Sabbath holy.” Four pages, 12mo. This was afterwards reprinted as “A Word to a Sabbath-breaker.”

Sabbath breaking, in the days of Wesley, was one of the crying sins of England. “How many are they,” he wrote, “in every city, as well as in this, who profane the sabbath with a high hand! How many in this, that openly defy God and the king, that break the laws, both Divine and human, by working at their trade, delivering their goods, receiving their pay, or following their ordinary business, in one branch or another, and ‘wiping their mouths and saying, I do no evil!’ How many buy and sell on the day of the Lord, even in the open streets of this city? How many open, or (with some modesty) half open their shops? even when they have not the pretence of perishable goods; without any pretence at all: money is their god, and gain their godliness. What also are all these droves in the skirts of the town, that well-nigh cover the face of the earth? till they drop one after another into the numerous receptacles prepared for them in every corner. They drink in iniquity like water. A whole army joins together, and, with one consent, in the face of the sun, runs upon the thick bosses of God’s buckler.”[579]

This, written in 1745, is too true a picture of the state of things at the present day. Wesley regarded national depravity as turning chiefly on the two hinges of sabbath profanation, and the neglect of the education of children. Till some way was found of stopping these great inlets of wickedness, he had no hope of a general reformation. “The religious observance of the sabbath,” he writes, “is the best preservative of virtue and religion, and the neglect and profanation of it is the greatest inlet to vice and wickedness.”[580] Holding such views, no wonder that he published the pointed, pithy tract to which we are now adverting.

2. “Swear not at all, saith the Lord God of Heaven and Earth.” Four pages, 12mo. This also was reprinted as “A Word to a Swearer.” Like all Wesley’s tracts, it is a model well worthy of imitation. Profane swearing was another of the senseless, stupid, shameless sins of the period in which Wesley lived. In another of his publications, issued in 1745, he asks: “In what city or town, in what market or exchange, in what street or place of public resort, is not the name of God taken in vain, day by day? From the noble to the peasant, who fails to call upon God in this, if in no other way? Whither can you turn, where can you go, without hearing some praying to God for damnation, either on his neighbour or himself? cursing those, without either fear or remorse, whom Christ hath bought to inherit a blessing!”[581]

3. “A Word in Season; or, Advice to an Englishman.” Twelve pages, 12mo. This was published at the beginning of the rebellion, and shows what would be the dreadful results if the Pretender should become king of England by conquest. Popery would be established, and property would be confiscated. “Who can doubt,” he asks, “but one who should conquer England, by the assistance of France, would copy after the French rules of government?” He continues:—

“How dreadful then is the condition wherein we stand! On the very brink of utter destruction! But why are we thus? I am afraid the answer is too plain, to every considerate man. Because of our sins; because we have well-nigh filled up the measure of our iniquities. For what wickedness is there under heaven, which is not found among us at this day? Not to insist on sabbath breaking, thefts, cheating, fraud, extortion, violence, oppression, lying, robberies, sodomies and murders, which with a thousand unnamed villainies are common to us and our neighbour Christians of Holland, France, and Germany,—what a plentiful harvest we have of wickedness almost peculiar to ourselves! For who can vie with us in the direction of courts of justice? In the management of public charities? Or in the accomplished, barefaced wickedness, which so abounds in our prisons, and fleets, and armies? Who in Europe can compare with the sloth, laziness, luxury, and effeminacy of the English gentry? Or with the drunkenness, and stupid, senseless cursing and swearing, which are daily seen and heard in our streets? Add to all these that open and professed Deism and rejection of the gospel,—that public, avowed apostasy from the Christian faith, which reigns among the rich and great, and hath spread from them to all ranks and orders of men, and made us a people fitted for the destroyer of the gentiles.”

This, under the circumstances then existing, was bold writing; but Wesley was a bold man, and never shunned what he conceived to be his duty because it was difficult and dangerous.

4. “A Word to a Drunkard.” Four pages, 12mo. The following are the opening sentences:—

“Are you a man? God made you a man; but you make yourself a beast. Wherein does a man differ from a beast? Is it not chiefly in reason and understanding? But you throw away what reason you have. You strip yourself of your understanding. You do all you can to make yourself a mere beast; not a fool, not a madman only; but a swine, a poor filthy swine. Go and wallow with them in the mire! Go, drink on, till thy nakedness be uncovered, and shameful spewing be on thy glory! O how honourable is a beast of God’s making, compared to one who makes himself a beast! But that is not all. You make yourself a devil. You stir up all the devilish tempers that are in you, and gain others which perhaps were not in you. You cause the fire of anger, or malice, or lust to burn seven times hotter than before.”

5. It was also about this period, that Wesley wrote and published his small tract (12mo, four pages), entitled, “A Word to an Unhappy Woman.”

6. “Advice to the People called Methodists.” Twelve pages, 12mo. The advices are five in number:—1. To consider, with deep and frequent attention, the peculiar circumstances in which they stood; for their name, their principles, and their strictness of life were new. They were newly united together,—a poor, low, and insignificant people,—most even of their teachers being quite unlearned men. 2. Not to imagine that they could avoid giving offence. 3. To consider deeply with themselves, is the God whom we serve able to deliver us? 4. To be true to their principles. 5. Not to talk much of what they suffered.

7. Wesley’s last and most important publication was, “A Farther Appeal to men of Reason and Religion.” 12mo, 106 pages.

First of all, he gives a summary of the doctrines he teaches. He then proceeds to meet the objection, that justification by faith alone is not a scriptural doctrine, nor the doctrine of the Church of England. He next replies to the accusations of the Bishop of London, in his pamphlet, entitled, “Observations upon the Conduct and Behaviour of the Methodists,” which had been sent to every clergyman in the London diocese. Whitefield had already published an answer to this episcopal production, in two letters, addressed “to the right reverend the Bishop of London, and the other right reverend the bishops concerned in the publication thereof;” and now Wesley undertakes the same formidable task,—David against Goliath,—an outcast priest against a whole bench of bishops. Wesley dissects the prelate’s pamphlet, and, with a master’s brevity, refutes it bit by bit. He then replies to a similar production, which has been already noticed, “The Notions of the Methodists Disproved;” and after that proceeds to answer the “charge,” lately published by the Lord Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Dr. Smalbroke, a man of some ability, but not over skilled in logic, who, in one of his best productions, “A Vindication of our Saviour’s Miracles,” showed his weakness by calculating the precise number of devils in the herd of Gadarenish swine. Wesley writes:—

“I conceive, not only, that your lordship has proved nothing hitherto; but that, strictly speaking, you have not attempted to prove anything, having taken for granted whatever came in your way. What is become of your demonstration? Leave it to the carmen and porters, its just proprietors; to the zealous apple-women, that cry after me in the street, ‘This is he that rails at the Whole Dutyful of man.’ But let every one that pretends to learning or reason be ashamed to mention it any more. O my lord, whom have you represented as rank, dreaming enthusiasts? as either deluded or designing men? Not only Bishop Pearson, a man hitherto accounted both sound in heart, and of good understanding; but likewise Archbishop Cranmer, Bishop Ridley, Bishop Latimer, Bishop Hooper; and all the venerable compilers of our liturgy and homilies: all the members of both the houses of convocation, by whom they were revised and approved: yea, King Edward, and all his lords and commons together, by whose authority they were established! And, with these modern enthusiasts, Origen, Chrysostom, and Athanasius are comprehended in the same censure.”

Wesley’s object in this important treatise may be gathered from its concluding paragraph:—

“I have now answered most of the current objections, particularly such as have appeared of weight to religious or reasonable men. I have endeavoured to show, first, that the doctrines I teach are no other than the great truths of the gospel. Secondly, that though I teach them not as I would, but as I can, yet it is in a manner not contrary to law. And thirdly, that the effects of thus preaching the gospel have not been such as was weakly or wickedly reported,—these reports being mere artifices of the devil, to hinder the work of God.”

Up to the present, most of Wesley’s publications were small and cheap; but they had an immense circulation, and not only paid expenses, but left a profit. In a sermon, written in the year 1780, he naively remarks: “Two-and-forty years ago, having a desire to furnish poor people with cheaper, shorter, and plainer books, than any I had seen, I wrote many small tracts, generally a penny apiece; and afterwards several larger. Some of these had such a sale as I never thought of; and, by this means, I unawares became rich. But I never desired or endeavoured after it. And now that it is come upon me unawares, I lay up no treasures upon earth; I lay up nothing at all. I cannot help leaving my books behind me whenever God calls me hence; but, in every other respect, my own hands will be my executors.”[582]

1746.

[Sidenote: 1746 Age 43]

Whitefield and his wife spent the whole of the year 1746 in America. “I love,” said he, “to range in the American woods, and sometimes think I shall never return to England any more.”[583] Writing to Wesley, in October, he remarks:—

“The regard I have always had for you and your brother, is still as great as ever; and I trust we shall give this and future ages an example of true Christian love abiding, notwithstanding difference in judgment. Why our Lord has permitted us to differ as to some points of doctrine, will be discovered at the last day. I have had the pleasure of reading the continuance of your Appeal; and pray, that God would prosper every labour of your pen and lip. I find that antinomianism has been springing up in many places. I bless God, you have made a stand against it. If you ask, how it is with me, I answer, happy in Jesus, the Lord my righteousness. If you ask, what I am doing,—ranging and hunting in the American woods after poor sinners. If you ask, with what success,—my labours were never more acceptable; and the door, for fifteen hundred miles together, is quite open for preaching the everlasting gospel. In Maryland and Virginia, people fly to hear the word like doves to the windows. Congregations are large, and the work is going on, just as it began and went on in England. Notwithstanding the declining state of Georgia, the orphan house is in a better situation than ever; and, in a year or two, I trust it will support itself. Several of the great and rich favour the Redeemer’s cause, and many of my professed enemies are made to be at peace with me. O reverend and dear, and very dear sir, be pleased to continue to pray for me, your most affectionate, though unworthy, younger brother and servant in Jesus Christ,

“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”[584]

Charles Wesley spent more than four months in London and its vicinity; about six in Bristol, in Cornwall, and in the west of England; and the last weeks of the year in a tour to Yorkshire and Newcastle. Like a flaming seraph, his soul glowed with sacred love and music; and no toil, danger, or persecution was too great to be encountered for his Saviour. In Cornwall, it was rumoured, that he had brought the Pretender with him; and the famous Mr. Eustick came with a warrant to apprehend him: but, as usual, at the last moment, Eustick’s courage failed him. At Shoreham, as soon as he commenced the service, the wild rabble “began roaring, stamping, blaspheming, ringing the bells, and turning the church into a bear garden.” At Hexham, while preaching in a cockpit, Squire Roberts did his utmost to raise a mob; and two butlers, in the employ of two magistrates, brought their cocks, and set them fighting. In the midst of all, Charles was jubilant, and expressed the gratitude of his heart in the following thanksgiving:—

“All thanks be to God, Who scatters abroad, Throughout every place, By the least of His servants, His savour of grace: Who the victory gave, The praise let Him have, For the work He hath done; All honour and glory to Jesus alone!”[585]

Equal zeal and heroism characterized Wesley’s helpers. At Nottingham, the mob surrounded the meeting-house, and threatened to pull it down. John Nelson was seized by the constable for creating the riot, and was taken to an alderman, the crowd following him with curses and huzzas. The alderman asked his name, and said: “I wonder you cannot stay at home; you see the mob won’t suffer you to preach in Nottingham.” John replied, that he was not aware that Nottingham was governed by a mob, most towns being governed by the magistrates; and then proceeded “to set life and death before him.” “Don’t preach here,” said the alderman; while the constable began to be uneasy, and asked how he was to dispose of his prisoner. “Take him to your house,” quoth the alderman. The constable desired to be excused; and, at length, was directed to conduct Nelson back to the place from which he had brought him, and to be careful he was not injured. “So,” says honest John, “he brought me to our brethren again; and left us to give thanks to God for all His mercies.”

Wesley began the year 1746 by preaching in London at four o’clock in the morning, a thing not often done by his successors.

On January 20, he set out for Bristol, and on the road read a book which greatly moulded his future character and course. Lord King was the son of a grocer at Exeter, and the nephew of the celebrated Locke, who left him half his library. At the age of twenty-two, in 1691, he published, “An Inquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity, and Worship of the Primitive Church, that flourished three hundred years after Christ; faithfully collected out of the extant writings of those ages.” King was a rigid Dissenter; and the chief object of his learned work was to prepare the way for that comprehension of the Dissenters within the pale of the Established Church, which the Revolution of 1688 was supposed likely to accomplish. After this, he rose to be Lord High Chancellor of England, and died in 1734, leaving behind him a character of great virtue and humanity, and of steady attachment to civil and religious liberty.

The above book by Lord King was Wesley’s companion on his way to Bristol; and, after reading it, he wrote: “In spite of the vehement prejudice of my education, I was ready to believe that this 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 of all others.”

Thus, notwithstanding his strong affection for the Church of England, we find Wesley, almost at the commencement of his Methodist career, entertaining doubts respecting its ecclesiastical polity. The recorded decisions of the Conference of 1745 plainly show, that he regarded his preachers as deacons, and presbyters, and thought himself a scriptural bishop. Lord King’s researches served to confirm these sentiments. In the minutes of the conference held a year after this (1747), we find the following questions and answers:—

“Q. Does a church in the New Testament always mean a single congregation?

“A. We believe it does. We do not recollect any instance to the contrary.

“Q. What instance or ground is there then in the New Testament for a national church?

“A. We know none at all. We apprehend it to be a merely political institution.

“Q. Are the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons plainly described in the New Testament?

“A. We think they are; and believe they generally obtained in the churches of the apostolic age.

“Q. But are you assured, that God designed the same plan should obtain in all churches, throughout all ages?

“A. We are not assured of this; because we do not know that it is asserted in Holy Writ.

“Q. If this plan were essential to a Christian church, what must become of all the foreign reformed churches?

“A. It would follow, that they are no parts of the church of Christ! A consequence full of shocking absurdity.

“Q. In what age was the Divine right of episcopacy first asserted in England?

“A. About the middle of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Till then all the bishops and clergy in England continually allowed, and joined in, the ministrations of those who were not episcopally ordained.

“Q. Must there not be numberless accidental varieties in the government of various churches?

“A. There must, in the nature of things. For, as God variously dispenses His gifts of nature, providence, and grace, both the offices themselves and the officers in each ought to be varied from time to time.

“Q. Why is it, that there is no determinate plan of church government appointed in Scripture?

“A. Without doubt, because the wisdom of God had a regard to this necessary variety.

“Q. Was there any thought of uniformity in the government of all churches, until the time of Constantine?

“A. It is certain there was not; and would not have been then, had men consulted the word of God only.”[586]

This is an important extract. Wesley loved the Church of England; but who will say, that the views of Wesley were now identical with those of the high church bigots of either past or present days! Their views had been his; but he now renounced them. Lord King, the Dissenter, had converted him. His principles, respecting ecclesiastical polity, were changed. After this, we have no more nonsense concerning apostolical succession. Indeed, in reference to this, Wesley wrote (in 1761): “I never could see it proved; and I am persuaded I never shall.”[587] It is not too much to say, that, from the time of reading the book of Lord King, Wesley’s principles of ecclesiastical polity were substantially the same as those of Dissenters. He still preferred the Church of England, not because he thought it the only church, but because, upon the whole, he thought it the best. In the above extract, we have the principles deliberately adopted, which laid the groundwork of his future proceedings. As a presbyter, in other words a bishop, he employed preachers, and set them apart to the sacred office. It is true, that it was not until nearly forty years after this, that he began to use the imposition of hands; but that was a mere circumstance, not the essence of ministerial ordination. Mr. Watson properly observes: “It has been generally supposed, that Mr. Wesley did not consider his appointment of preachers as an ordination to the ministry; but only as an irregular employment of laymen in the spiritual office of merely expounding the Scriptures in a case of moral necessity. This is not correct. They were not appointed to expound or preach merely, but were solemnly set apart to the pastoral office; nor were they regarded by him as laymen, except when in common parlance they were distinguished from the clergy of the Church.”[588] His usual mode of setting apart or ordaining to the ministry consisted of a most rigid examination of the ministerial candidate on the three points—Has he grace? Has he gifts? Has he fruit? preceded by fasting and prayer; and followed by official and authoritative appointment to ministerial work. For the present, the form of laying on of hands was not employed; but it was thought of, and was discussed. Hence the following extract from the minutes of the conference held in 1746:—

“Q. Why do we not use more form and solemnity in receiving a new labourer?

“A. We purposely decline it—(1) Because, there is something of stateliness in it. (2) Because, we would not make haste. We desire barely to follow Providence, as it gradually opens.”

It is granted that, for Wesley, after this, to fight so tenaciously for the Church of England was inconsistent, but we take him as we find him. Facts are facts; and we shall not attempt to blink them. Having founded churches, or societies as he persisted in calling them, he proceeded to provide and to ordain,—yes, to ordain for them ministers. He was a clergyman of the episcopal Church of England, with the views of a Dissenter, and, acting accordingly, there was, of course, in his future proceedings, much that was incongruous and perplexing.

Wesley left London for Bristol, on January 20. Two days afterwards, he attended, in the latter city, a conference of the Calvinistic Methodists, at which there were present Howel Harris and eleven of his preachers, and Wesley and four of his. Wesley seems to have been president; at all events, his name stands first. The following are the minutes:—

“After prayer it was inquired:—(1) How we may remove any hindrances of brotherly love which have occurred. (2) How we may prevent any arising hereafter. It was feared that, in consequence of Mr. Wesley’s preaching in Neath, there would be a separation in the society. He answered, ‘I do not design to erect a society at Neath, or any town in Wales, where there is a society already, but to do all that in me lieth to prevent any such separation.’

“We all agreed that, if we occasionally preached among each other’s people, we should endeavour to strengthen and not to weaken each other’s hands, and prevent any separation in the several societies; and that a brother from Wesley’s society should go with Harris to Plymouth and the west, to heal the breach there made, and to insist on a spirit of love and its fruits among the people. Agreed, that we should, on each side, be careful to defend each other’s characters.”[589]

This is beautiful, and sets an example worthy of being emulated by the Methodist Conferences of the present day. It was but five or six years since the Methodist schism had happened; and yet, under the magnanimous management of Wesley and Howel Harris, here we find the two parties met, not to fight, but to love each other. Differences are kept up and perpetuated, not by greatness and goodness, but by despicable ignorance and selfish meanness. Why should Ephraim envy Judah, and Judah vex Ephraim? The two are brothers; and, as brethren, it would be a goodly and pleasant sight to see them dwelling together in unity.

Wesley spent a month in Bristol and the neighbourhood; during which period his brother Charles opened a chapel at Wapping;[590] and Wesley himself received the following cautionary letter from a new clerical acquaintance, and, ever afterwards, most confidential and trustworthy friend. Vincent Perronet was now vicar of Shoreham, in the county of Kent. A year and a half before, Wesley and Perronet had been brought together by their mutual friend, the Rev. Henry Piers. Wesley writes: “I hope to have cause of blessing God for ever for the acquaintance begun this day.” The hope was realised. Wesley had no more faithful friend than Vincent Perronet, who now wrote as follows:—

“February 7, 1746.

“MY DEAR FRIEND,—I make no apology for this trouble, because I know that you will think it needs none. God hath raised you up to propagate His spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men; therefore, be careful how you frustrate this great design of God. But will you not do this, if you injure your health? Or can you labour in the vineyard of Christ, when your strength is gone? Deny yourself, my dear friend, so far as is consistent with your constant labour; but be cautious lest your self denials should rob God or His children of what you have undertaken for the service of both. Remember, that, if you weaken your body by over mortifications, you render yourself so far incapable of promoting the honour of the former, and the happiness of the latter; and yet I know that each of these is dearer to you than life itself. Let the Holy Spirit’s advice, out of the mouth of a mortified apostle, to the abstemious Timothy, be constantly before you.

“I am, with great sincerity, my dear brother in Christ, your most affectionate

VINCENT PERRONET.”[591]

At this period, advice like this, in Wesley’s case, was not unneeded.

On February 17, when days were short and weather far from favourable, he set out, on horseback, from Bristol to Newcastle, a distance of between three and four hundred miles. The journey occupied ten weary days. Brooks were swollen, and, in some places, the roads were impassable, obliging the itinerant to go round about through fields. At Aldridge Heath, in Staffordshire, the rain turned into snow, which the northerly wind drove against him, and by which he was soon crusted over from head to foot. At Leeds, the mob followed him, and pelted him with whatever came to hand. Several of the missiles struck him, some on the face, but none seriously hurt him. At Skircoat Green, he preached to a congregation of Quakers; and at Keighley, found the snow so deep, that he was obliged to abandon his intention of travelling through the dales. He arrived at Newcastle on February 26.

Here he found general sickness. Two thousand of the soldiers, belonging to the encampment on the town moor, were already dead, and the fever was still sweeping others away in troops. In Newcastle and its neighbourhood, he spent the next eighteen days, preaching, on one occasion, at Placey, out of doors, in the midst of a “vehement storm,” which, however, the preacher and his “congregation regarded not.”

While he was here, a letter was published in the London Magazine, addressed “to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, in relation to some false facts affirmed by him in his Farther Appeal.” A passage was quoted in reference to the clergy putting no difference between the holy and profane at the sacramental table; and it was declared, that the quotation “contains almost as many falsehoods as it does lines.” Wesley is further accused of “gross misrepresentations and uncharitable reflections”; of being “base, unjust, and senseless”; of “crowding a heap of untruths into a little room”; of being animated by “a blind and rash zeal, and glad to catch at every pretence of making God the patron and favourer of his cause.”

A production so bitterly scurrilous scarcely deserved an answer; but, as Wesley was slightly in error, he, like an honest man, frankly confessed it. The following is his reply, published in the same periodical.

“June 18, 1746.

“SIR,—I delayed answering your letter of March 18, till I could be fully informed of the facts in question.

“I said in the Farther Appeal, page 48, ‘Who dares repel one of the greatest men in his parish from the Lord’s table, even though he openly deny the Lord that bought him? Mr. Stonehouse did this once; but what was the event? The gentleman brought an action against him. And who was able and willing to espouse his cause? He alone who took it into His own hands; and, before the day when it should have been tried here, caused the plaintiff to answer at a higher bar.’

“You (1) blame me for supposing that gentleman to be one who openly denied the Lord that bought him; I mean, openly denied the supreme Godhead of Christ. If he did not, I retract the charge.

“You say (2) that gentleman brought no action, nor commenced any suit against Mr. Stonehouse. Upon stricter inquiry, I find he did not; it was another gentleman, Mr. C—p—r.

“You (3) observe, it was not the death of the plaintiff which stopped the action; but before it proceeded to a trial, Mr. Stonehouse thought fit to request it as a favour, that the action might be stopped, promising not to do the like any more. Mr. Stonehouse himself gives a different account; but whether his or yours be the more just, is not material, since the substance of what you observe is true, namely, ‘That it was not the plaintiff’s death which stopped the action.’

“You add, ‘I would willingly hope, that you did not deliberately design to impose upon the world.’ I did not; and do, therefore, acknowledge the truth in as public a manner as I am able, being willing, as far as in me lies, to make amends for whatever injury I have done.

“I am, sir, yours, “JOHN WESLEY.”

In the same month of March, another letter, of a different complexion, was published in the Gentleman’s Magazine. The writer begins by showing, that the years 48 and 88, in the last two centuries, at least, if not longer, had been noted for great changes and revolutions. Thus, in 1548, the Reformation was first completely established in England; and, in 1588, the famous pretended invincible Spanish Armada made its futile attempt to destroy the Protestantism of Great Britain. In 1648, King Charles was condemned to death, and the gravest changes followed; and, in 1688, occurred the flight of the last of the Stuart kings, and the English Revolution.

The writer then proceeds to ask, whether there is not something remarkable “in the revival of the Moravians very nearly about the same time with the rise of the Methodists in England; and of a sect of the same kind in Scotland, by the field preaching of Erskine and others; and of exactly the same in Wales by the preaching of Howel Harris; and of something of the same nature in France, where the principal preacher concerned had been executed by the royal will and pleasure. Is there not,” the writer continues, “something very surprising in all these peoples’ rising about the same time, and preaching, all of them, the same doctrines, and yet all of them, and all their several intentions of so doing, being previously unknown to each other?”

The above coincidence was more than curious, and the author of the letter suggests, that such facts and others, which he mentions, may be “the dawning of some important religious change, or, at least, of something very extraordinary, which the sacred womb of providence is big with.”

At the same time as the above, Wesley was engaged in an important correspondence of another kind. Dr. Doddridge was exactly a year older than his illustrious Methodist contemporary, was the pastor of a Dissenting congregation at Northampton, and the principal of an academy for the education of candidates for the Dissenting ministry. Up to the present, Wesley had chiefly lived within the state-church enclosure; but now, having become a convert to the principles of Lord King, he overstepped the enchanted circle, and thought it no disgrace to commune and mingle with Dissenters. Methodist preachers were multiplying. Few of them had had the advantages of education and of reading. Their knowledge, generally speaking, was confined to the first principles of religion. These were the only subjects on which they either did, or were able to converse. Of necessity, their preaching was solely on the fundamental points of experimental and practical religion; and hence, their unequalled success in awakening and converting sinners. Preachers of education and diversified knowledge would, perhaps, not have excluded these; but they would, to a large extent, have regaled their hearers with other truths, which, though of great interest, were insignificant in point of importance when compared with the few great and grand cardinal doctrines which formed the staple of all the sermons of Wesley’s first itinerants. The effect of this unadorned preaching of the greatest of all verities was surprising. Under these untutored discourses, people found themselves emerging out of thick darkness into light, which St. Peter aptly describes as “marvellous.” These were glorious results, and almost make one wish, that among the cultivated and captivating preachers of the present day, who can discourse most eloquently upon any subject, from Eve’s figleaves up to Aaron’s wardrobe, or from the architecture of Noah’s ark down to the whale that swallowed Jonah, there were a sprinkling of men whose preaching powers, like those of Wesley’s first helpers, were confined to an incessant utterance, in burning though somewhat boorish words, of the glorious old truths now-a-days too much neglected,—Repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the fruits of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. If sinners are to be converted, these are the doctrines which must be preached. Other doctrines and truths may be interesting, useful, and instructive; these are absolutely saving and essential.

Wesley was devoutly thankful for his uneducated but soul saving preachers. Still, he saw that, as the Methodists increased in knowledge, the preachers must keep pace with them. Without this, though they might still be as successful as ever in converting ignorant and rude sinners, they would be in danger of being neglected and even despised by those who, in consequence of conversion, had been greatly raised, in both an intellectual and social sense, above their neighbours. In short, Wesley felt convinced that his preachers must not only preach but read; and being persuaded, as a sort of clerical Dissenter, that good things might be found even in Dissenting Nazareths, he wrote to the most distinguished of all Dissenters then existing, to make inquiry. Six months before, he had called on Doddridge and had addressed his students; now, at Newcastle, in March, 1746, he addressed to him a letter, the nature of which may be gathered from Doddridge’s answer.

“March 15, 1746.

“I am grieved and ashamed, that any hurry, public or private, should have prevented my answering your obliging letter from Newcastle; especially as it has a face of disrespect, where I ought to express the very reverse, if I would do justice either to you, or my own heart. But you have been used to forgive greater injuries. I have unwillingly a guardianship affair on hand, on account of which, I must beg your patience for a little longer, as to the list of books you desire me to send you. I presume the list you desire is chiefly theological. Perhaps my desire of making it too particular has hindered me from setting about it. But, if God permit, you shall be sure to have it in a few weeks.

“Let me know how you do, what your success is, and what your apprehensions are. I fear we must have some hot flame to melt us. Remember in your prayers,

“Reverend and dear sir, “Your affectionate brother and servant, “P. DODDRIDGE.”[592]

Three months later, Doddridge’s promise was fulfilled, in a long letter, almost a little pamphlet, dated Northampton, June 18, 1746. He writes—

“REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,—I set myself down, as well as I can, to discharge my promise, and fulfil your request, in giving my thoughts on that little collection of books, which you seem desirous to make for some of your young preachers.”

Then follow his recommendations, which we give in brief:—

Logic—Carmichael, and Dr. Watts.

Metaphysics—De Urce, Dr. Watts, and Le Clerc.

Ethics—Puffendorf, and Hutcheson.

Jewish Antiquities—Lewis, Reland, Calmet, and Prideaux.

Civil History—Puffendorf, Turselme, and Lampe.

Natural Philosophy—Rowning, Ray, Cotton Mather, and Derham.

Astronomy—Watts, Jennings, and Wells.

Natural and Revealed Religion—Carmichael, Synge, Clarke, Gibson, Doddridge, Jefferies, Bullock, Conybeare, Leland, and Chandler.

He next proceeds to the chief subject, practical divinity, which he thinks “ought to employ the greatest part of the care of every preacher,” and adds:—

“I will not presume, sir, to mention to you the divines of the Established Church; but as I may reasonably conclude, that the Puritans and the divines of the separation are less known to you, you will pardon me, if I mention a few of them, and of the chief pieces.”

Then he gives the names of Bolton, Hall, Reynolds, Sibbes, Ward, Jackson, Owen, Goodwin, Baxter, Bates, Flavel, Taylor, and Howe. He continues:—

“In recommending the writings of the Dissenters of the present age, I would be more sparing; yet permit me to mention Evans, Wright, Watts, Henry, Boyce, Bennett, Jennings, and Grosvenor. And here, dear sir, I thought to have concluded my letter; but it occurs to my mind, that I have said nothing of commentators. I have recommended to my pupils Beza, Erasmus, Castellio, Heinsius, Patrick, Lowth, Locke, Pierce, Benson, Ainsworth, Hammond, Grotius, Brennius, Wells, Calvin, Poole, Le Clerc, and Cradock. I might mention several considerable writers, that illustrate Scripture, though not direct commentators, such as Witsius, Saurin, Mede, Hallet, Edwards, Le Crene, Wolsius, Raphelius, Vitringa, Boss, Elsner, and Lardner. But as the critical study of Scripture is not so much intended in your plan, perhaps you will think, I have gone a little out of the way in mentioning so many upon this head.

“I am afraid I have by this time thoroughly wearied you. It only remains, that I most cordially recommend you and your labours to the continued presence and blessing of God, and subscribe myself, reverend and dear sir, your most affectionate brother, and faithful humble servant,

“P. DODDRIDGE.”[593]

We return to Wesley. Accompanied by two of his preachers, John Downes, and William Shepherd, he started from Newcastle for the south, on the 17th of March. When they had ridden between forty and fifty miles, Downes was so ill that he was unable to proceed farther; and Wesley’s horse was so lame, that it could scarcely walk. Wesley writes:—“By riding thus seven miles, I was thoroughly tired, and my head ached more than it had done for months. I then thought, ‘cannot God heal either man or beast, by any means, or without any?’ Immediately, my weariness and headache ceased, and my horse’s lameness in the same instant. Nor did he halt any more either that day or the next. I here aver a naked fact; let every man account for it as he sees good.”

Coming to Nottingham, he says: “I had long doubted what it was which hindered the work of God here. But, upon inquiry, the case was plain. So many of the society were either triflers or disorderly walkers, that the blessing of God could not rest upon them; so I made short work, cutting off all such at a stroke, and leaving only a little handful, who, as far as can be judged, were really in earnest to save their souls.”

At Wednesbury and Birmingham, the antinomian teachers had laboured hard to corrupt the Methodists. One came to Wesley at Birmingham, and the following colloquy ensued:—

Wesley. “Do you believe you have nothing to do with the law of God?”

Antinomian. “I have not: I am not under the law; I live by faith.”

W. “Have you, as living by faith, a right to everything in the world?”

A. “I have: all is mine, since Christ is mine.”

W. “May you then take anything you will anywhere—suppose out of a shop, without the consent or knowledge of the owner?”

A. “I may, if I want it; for it is mine: only I will not give offence.”

W. “Have you also a right to all the women in the world?”

A. “Yes, if they consent.”

W. “And is not that a sin?”

A. “Yes, to him that thinks it is a sin; but not to those whose hearts are free.”

Horrible! No wonder, that Wesley wrote tracts against antinomian teachers; and no wonder he adds, “Surely these are the firstborn children of Satan!”

Wesley reached Bristol on March 27; and, eleven days afterwards, laid “the first stone of the new house at Kingswood;” preaching, on the occasion, from the words, “For brass I will bring gold,” etc. (Isaiah lx. 17–22.)

He then hurried up to London, where in company with his friend, the Rev. H. Piers, he visited a man who called himself a prophet. Wesley says: “We were with him about an hour. But I could not at all think, that he was sent of God: 1. Because he appeared to be full of himself, vain, heady, and opinionated. 2. Because he spoke with extreme bitterness, both of the king, and of all the bishops, and all the clergy. 3. Because he aimed at talking Latin, but could not.”

Having spent three weeks in London, Wesley, on the 4th of May, again set out for Bristol; but on the 17th was back to London. Here his first business was to settle the chapels in Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle, upon seven trustees, reserving only to himself and his brother, as he says, the liberty of preaching and lodging there. This, however, was scarcely correct, so far at least as Newcastle was concerned, and as the following synopsis of the trust deed will show. The seven trustees, for the Orphan House there, were Henry Jackson, weaver, and William Mackford, corndealer, both of Newcastle; John Nelson, mason, of Birstal; John Haughton, weaver, of Chinley End; Thomas Richards, late of Trinity College, Oxford; Jonathan Reeves, baker, late of Bristol; and Henry Thornton, gentleman, of Grays Inn, London. The trusts were:—1. That Wesley and his brother should have the free use of the premises, and likewise any person or persons whom they might nominate or appoint during their lifetime. 2. That, after the death of the two Wesleys, the trustees should monthly or oftener nominate and appoint one or more fit person or persons to preach in the said house, in the same manner, as near as may be, as God’s holy word was preached at present. 3. That a school should be taught on the said premises, consisting of forty poor children, to be selected by Wesley and his brother during their respective lives, and, after their death, by the trustees. 4. That when, by any cause, the trustees were reduced to three, they should fill up the vacancies, and make the number seven. 5. That, during their lifetime, the two Wesleys should have the sole appointment and removal of the masters and mistresses of the school. 6. That every preacher or minister, appointed to the Orphan House, should, as long as the appointment lasted, preach in the said house every morning and every evening, as had been usual and customary to be done.[594]

Southey has fallen into an error as to the settlement of chapels. He writes:—“Whenever a chapel was built, care was taken, that the property should be vested, not in trustees, but in Mr. Wesley and the Conference.” This is incorrect. From the first, the property of Methodist chapels was always vested in trustees. It is true, that Wesley reserved to himself the right of preaching in such chapels, and of appointing others to preach therein; but, as Mr. Watson observes, neither he nor the Conference had any more “property in the best secured chapels, than in the poet laureate’s butt of sack.” Wesley was glad to divest himself of such property, and to put it into the hands of others. A year afterwards, he writes: 1747, March 19—“I considered, ‘what would I do now, if I was sure I had but two days to live?’ All outward things are settled to my wish; the houses at Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle are safe; the deeds, whereby they are conveyed to the trustees, took place on the 5th instant; my will is made; what have I more to do, but to commend my soul to my merciful and faithful Creator?”

Having made arrangements in London for the settlement of his chapels, Wesley turned his attention to another subject, upon which opinions will differ. The number of members in the London society, on the 12th of April, 1746, was 1939, and the amount of their quarterly contributions £113 9_s._,[595] upon an average, fourteen pence per member. Considering the high price of money, and that nearly the whole of the London Methodists were extremely poor, the amount subscribed was highly creditable. Wesley, however, needed more than this, not for himself but others, and propounded a somewhat novel plan for raising it.

Tea was a costly luxury. It was first imported into England about the year 1660, when an act of parliament was passed, imposing a duty of eightpence on every gallon of the infusion sold in coffee houses. In 1664, the East India Company bought two pounds two ounces as a royal present to his majesty King Charles II. It continued to be sold in London for sixty shillings per pound till the year 1707; and, though considerably cheaper in 1746, it was still a dear indulgence. Wesley also believed its use to be injurious.

He tells us that, when he first went to Oxford, with an exceeding good constitution, and being otherwise in health, he was somewhat surprised at certain symptoms of a paralytic disorder. His hand shook, especially after breakfast; but he soon observed that, if for two or three days he intermitted drinking tea, the shaking ceased. Upon inquiry, he found tea had the same effect on others, and particularly on persons whose nerves were weak. This led him to lessen the quantity he took, and to drink it weaker; but still, for above six and twenty years, he was more or less subject to the same disorder.

In July, 1746, he began to observe, that abundance of the people of London were similarly affected, some of them having their nerves unstrung, and their bodily strength decayed. He asked them if they were hard drinkers; they replied, “No, indeed, we drink scarce anything but a little tea, morning and night.” He says:

“I immediately remembered my own case, and easily gathered, from many concurring circumstances, that it was the same case with them. I considered, ‘what an advantage would it be to these poor enfeebled people, if they would leave off what so manifestly impairs their health, and thereby hurts their business also! If they used English herbs instead of tea, they might, hereby, not only lessen their pain, but in some degree their poverty. How much might be saved in so numerous a body as the Methodists, even in this single article of expense! And how greatly is all that can possibly be saved, in every article, wanted daily by those who have not even food convenient for them! Some of the Methodists had not food to sustain nature; some were destitute of necessary clothing; and some had not where to lay their heads. The little weekly contributions were barely sufficient to relieve the sick.’ I reflected ‘what might be done, if ten thousand, or one thousand, or only five hundred, would save all they could in this single instance, and put their savings into the poor-box weekly, to feed the hungry, and to clothe the naked!’ I thought further: ‘many tell me to my face, I can persuade this people to anything. I will make a fair trial. If I can persuade any number, many who are now weak or sick will be restored to health and strength; many will pay those debts which others, perhaps equally poor, can but ill afford to lose; many will be less straitened in their own families; many, by helping their neighbour, will lay up for themselves treasures in heaven.’ Immediately it struck me, ‘but example must go before precept; therefore, I must not plead an exemption for myself, from a daily practice of twenty-seven years: I must begin.’ I did so; the three first days my head ached, more or less, all day long, and I was half asleep from morning to night. The third day, my memory failed, almost entirely. In the evening, I sought my remedy in prayer; and next morning my headache was gone, and my memory as strong as ever. And I have found no inconvenience, but a sensible benefit, in several respects, from that day to this. My paralytic complaints are all gone; my hand is as steady now (1748) as it was at fifteen; and so considerable a difference do I find in my expense, that, in only those four families at London, Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle, I save upwards of fifty pounds a year.”

Having set the example, Wesley recommended the same abstinence to a few of his preachers; and, a week later, to about a hundred of his people whom he believed to be strong in faith; all of whom, with two or three exceptions, resolved, by the grace of God, to make the trial without delay. In a short time, he proposed it to the whole society. Objections rose in abundance. Some said, “Tea is not unwholesome at all.” To these, he replied that many eminent physicians had declared it was; and that, if frequently used by those of weak nerves, it is no other than a slow poison. Others said, “Tea is not unwholesome to me: why then should I leave it off?” Wesley answered, “To give an example to those to whom it is undeniably prejudicial, and to have the more wherewith to feed the hungry and to clothe the naked.” Others said, “It helps my health; nothing else will agree with me.” To such, Wesley’s caustic reply was, “I suppose your body is much of the same kind with that of your great grandmother; and do you think nothing else agreed with her, or with any of her progenitors? What poor, puling, sickly things, must all the English then have been, till within these hundred years! Besides, if, in fact, nothing else will agree with you,—if tea has already weakened your stomach, and impaired your digestion to such a degree, it has hurt you more than you are aware. You have need to abhor it as deadly poison, and to renounce it from this very hour.”[596]

What was the result of Wesley’s attempt to form a tea-total society? We can hardly tell; except that he himself abstained from tea for the next twelve years, until Dr. Fothergill ordered him to resume its use.[597] Charles Wesley began to abstain, but how long his abstinence lasted we are not informed. About a hundred of the London Methodists followed the example of their leader; and, besides these, a large number of others began to be temperate, and to use less than they had previously.[598]

This was, to say the least, an amusing episode in Wesley’s laborious life. All must give him credit for the best and most benevolent intentions; and it is right to add, that, ten days after his proposal was submitted to the London society, he had collected among his friends thirty pounds for “a lending stock,” and that this was soon made up to fifty, by means of which, before the year was ended, above two hundred and fifty destitute persons had received acceptable relief.

On July 20, Wesley set out for Bristol, where he spent the next fortnight. While here he paid a visit to Oakhill, near Shepton Mallet, where “the good curate” hired a drunken mob to make disturbance. As soon as Wesley began preaching, the “drunken champions” began “screaming out a psalm”; but Wesley says, “our singing quickly swallowed up theirs. Soon after, their orator named a text, and preached a sermon; his attendants meantime being busy in throwing stones and dirt” at Wesley’s congregation.

On August 10, Wesley went to Wales. He preached in Builth churchyard to nearly all the inhabitants that the town contained. At Maesmennys, Lanzufried, and Wenvo, he preached in the parish churches; and at Cardiff in the castle yard. At Neath, he found twelve young men whom, he says, he almost envied. They lived together in one house, and gave away whatever they earned above the necessaries of life. Most of them were predestinarians, but so little bigoted to their opinions, that they would not suffer a predestinarian to preach among them, unless he would avoid controversy. Here Wesley preached in the open street, a gentleman and a drunken fiddler doing their best to interrupt his service; but, none joining them, they were soon ashamed, and the gentleman slunk away on one side, and the fiddler on the other. At Margam, he had to have a Welsh interpreter; and at Leominster (to which he went during his tour), he began preaching on a tombstone, on the south side of the parish church, but was not allowed to finish. The mob “roared on every side”; the bells were set a ringing; and then the organ began to play amain. Wesley’s voice was drowned, and hence he thought it advisable to remove to the corn market, where he had a “quiet time,” and “showed what that sect is, which is ‘everywhere spoken against.’”

Returning to Bristol, he started, on September 1, for Cornwall. At St. Just, he found the liveliest society in the county, and yet a few of the members he was “obliged to reprove for negligence in meeting, which,” says he, “is always the forerunner of greater evils.” At Sithney, he preached by moonlight; and, at Gwennap, to an “immense multitude,” a funeral sermon for Thomas Hitchins, from, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Having spent a fortnight among the Cornish Methodists, he set out, on the 16th of September, for London, his brother meeting him at Uxbridge, and becoming his escort to the capital.[599]

After a week in London, he paid a visit to his friend Perronet, preaching, on the way, at Sevenoaks, “to a large, wild company,” one of whom cursed him bitterly. At Shoreham, he preached twice in Perronet’s church; but says, “the congregation seemed to understand just nothing of the matter.” The rest of the year was spent in the metropolis.

It has been already stated, that Wesley, for conscience sake, was now an abstainer from tea. Before the year expired, he went a step further. He writes: December 29—“I resumed my vegetable diet (which I had now discontinued for several years), and found it of use both to my soul and body; but, after two years, a violent flux, which seized me in Ireland, obliged me to return to the use of animal food.”

Whatever may be thought about the wisdom of a man, of such active habits, adopting such an abstemious, anchorite sort of diet, there can be no question about the fact, that his motives were of the highest and purest kind. He gave up tea, that he might benefit the poor; and, contemporaneously with his resumption of a vegetable diet, he commenced an institution, which, to say the least, was not then so popular and so common as it is at present. He writes: “I mentioned my design of giving physic to the poor. In three weeks about three hundred came.” Such is the entry in his Journal.

He had already provided a fund for relieving the necessities of the poor by furnishing them with food and clothing; but something more was requisite. Many of them were sick; their sufferings stirred his sympathy; and yet he knew not how to help them. “At length,” he says, “I thought of a kind of desperate expedient: ‘I will prepare and give them physic myself.’ For six or seven and twenty years, I had made anatomy and physic the diversion of my leisure hours; though I never properly studied them, unless for a few months when I was going to America, where I imagined I might be of some service to those who had no regular physician among them. I applied to it again. I took into my assistance an apothecary, and an experienced surgeon; resolving, at the same time, not to go out of my depth, but to leave all difficult and complicated cases to such physicians as the patients should choose. I gave notice of this to the society; and, in five months, medicines were occasionally given to above five hundred persons. Several of these I never saw before; for I did not regard whether they were of the society or not. In that time, seventy-one of these, regularly taking their medicines, and following the regimen prescribed (which three in four would not do), were entirely cured of distempers long thought to be incurable. The whole expense of medicines, during this time, was nearly forty pounds.”[600]

This was a bold step, and exposed Wesley to animadversion. He was not a legally qualified medical practitioner, and there were not wanting those who were ready to brand him as a quack. His defence was, that the poor were neglected; that physicians were often useless; and that his own gratuitous treatment was successful. In a letter, published in the Bath Journal, in 1749, he writes: “I do not know that any one patient yet has died under my hands. If any person does, let him declare it, with the time and circumstances.”[601] And, in another letter addressed to Archbishop Secker, in 1747, four months after his dispensary was opened, he remarks:—

“For more than twenty years, I have had numberless proofs, that regular physicians do exceeding little good. From a deep conviction of this, I have believed it my duty, within these four months last past, to prescribe such medicines to six or seven hundred of the poor as I knew were proper for their several disorders. Within six weeks, nine in ten of them, who had taken these medicines, were remarkably altered for the better; and many were cured of disorders under which they had laboured for ten, twenty, forty years. Now, ought I to have let one of these poor wretches perish, because I was not a regular physician? to have said, ‘I know what will cure you; but I am not of the college; you must send for Dr. Mead’? Before Dr. Mead had come in his chariot, the man might have been in his coffin. And when the doctor was come, where was his fee? What! he cannot live upon nothing! So, instead of an orderly cure, the patient dies; and God requires his blood at my hands.”[602]

It was difficult to answer this, and Wesley was not the man to be browbeaten from the path of duty by envious and angry members of the healing profession. Indeed, his success was such, that, within two months after opening his dispensary at the Foundery in London, he instituted a second in Bristol, and writing to his friend and patron, Mr. Ebenezer Blackwell, says, “Our number of patients increases in Bristol daily. We have now upwards of two hundred. Many have already desired to return thanks, having found a considerable change for the better already. But we are at a great loss for medicines; several of those we should choose being not to be had at any price in Bristol.”[603]

There are only two other matters, belonging to the year 1746, which require attention; namely, Wesley’s conference, and Wesley’s publications.

The conference commenced in Bristol on the 12th of May, and lasted four days.[604] Four clergymen were present—the two Wesleys, and Messrs. Hodges and Taylor. Besides these, there were four itinerants, Messrs. Reeves, Maxfield, Westall, and Willis; and also Thomas Glascot, of whom we know nothing. As at former conferences, so at this, doctrines were reviewed, and carefully guarded against error and abuse; and, after this, points of discipline were discussed and settled. It was agreed, that “the properest persons to be present,” at the annual conferences, were—1. The preachers. 2. The most earnest and most sensible of the bandleaders living in the town where the conference was held. 3. Any pious and judicious stranger who might be visiting the place. It was thought, that it might be useful to read one or more of Wesley’s tracts at each conference, were it only to correct errors, or to explain obscurities. Wesley’s helpers were defined to be “extraordinary messengers, designed of God to provoke the others to jealousy.” It was resolved, that those who believed themselves to be called of God to preach should be strictly examined on the three points, Have they grace, gifts, and fruit? and that those in whom these three marks undeniably concurred should be allowed to have such a call. It was thought that, at present, they were not preaching the atonement so much as they did at first; and that the sermons which were attended with the greatest blessing, were—“1. Such as were most close, convincing, particular. 2. Such as had most of Christ, the Priest, the Atonement. 3. Such as urged the heinousness of men’s living in contempt or ignorance of Him.” It was determined, that a sufficient call of Providence to a new place was an invitation from some worthy person, and a probability of doing more good by going thither, than by staying longer where they were. New members were to be admitted into the bands and societies only once a quarter, their names having been previously read at meetings of the existing members; and, at the same time, had to be read the names of those excluded from the society. Directions were given to guard against formality in public singing. Efforts were to be employed to induce the people to attend the church; and, as an example to the Bristol Methodists, it was agreed, that the Bristol preachers should go to St. James’s church every Wednesday and Friday. The country was divided into seven circuits, namely—1. London, including Brentford, Egham, Windsor, Wycombe, and the three counties of Surrey, Kent, and Essex. 2. Bristol, including the isle of Portland, and the counties of Somerset, Wilts, Oxford, and Gloucester. 3. Cornwall. 4. Evesham, embracing Shrewsbury, Leominster, Hereford, and all the places from Stroud to Wednesbury. 5. Yorkshire, to which was to be attached the six counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, and Lincolnshire. 6. Newcastle. 7. Wales. The present assistants were Reeves, Bennet, Haughton, Nelson, Wheatley, Trembath, Westall, Richards, Downes, Meyrick, Maxfield, and Walker. And to these, perhaps, would be added, Jones, Larwood, and Cownley. Copies of the minutes of the conferences were to be given only to those who were or might have been present; but they were to be read to the stewards and leaders of bands, the Sunday and Thursday following each conference.

Such is a synopsis of the proceedings of the conference of 1746.

Notwithstanding Wesley’s almost incessant travelling and preaching, he still found time to write. Two of his publications, in 1746, were partly his own, but principally his brother’s.

First: “Hymns for those that seek, and those that have, Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ.” 12mo, 68 pages. Twenty-eight of these hymns are inserted in the Wesleyan Hymn-Book, and are among the finest that the book contains. One of them, evidently written by Wesley himself, begins with the line, “How happy is the pilgrim’s lot;” and though two or three of the verses are not suitable for a mixed congregation to sing, the whole is strikingly descriptive of Wesley’s own condition and experience. He had no wife, and no children, and had just transferred his chapels to trustees, and, hence, could sing what many in Methodist congregations cannot.

“I have no babes to hold me here; But children more securely dear For mine I humbly claim; Better than daughters or than sons, Temples Divine of living stones, Inscribed with Jesu’s name.

No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in this wilderness A poor, wayfaring man, I lodge awhile in tents below; Or gladly wander to and fro, Till I my Canaan gain.

I have no sharer of my heart, To rob my Saviour of a part, And desecrate the whole; Only betrothed to Christ am I, And wait His coming from the sky, To wed my happy soul.

Nothing on earth I call my own, A stranger, to the world unknown, I all their goods despise; I trample on their whole delight, And seek a country out of sight, A country in the skies.”

Second. The other joint publication was, “Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father.” By John and Charles Wesley. 12mo, 36 pages. These were thirty-two in number, and were specially intended for use at Whitsuntide. Several of the best of them are in the Methodist Hymn-Book.[605]

Wesley’s other publications were the following:—

1. “A Word of Advice to Saints and Sinners.” 12mo, 12 pages.

2. “Lessons for Children. Part I.” 12mo, 76 pages; with a vignette on the title-page of an angel on clouds, with a scroll in one hand, and a trumpet in the other. The lessons are fifty-four in number, and are almost entirely taken from the five books of Moses. Prefixed is an address “to all parents and schoolmasters,” in which Wesley says:—

“I have endeavoured in the following lessons to select the plainest and most useful portions of Scripture; such as children may the most easily understand, and such as it most concerns them to know. These are set down in the same order, and generally in the same words, wherein they are delivered by the Spirit of God. Where an expression is less easy to be understood, I have subjoined a word or two by way of explication. I cannot but earnestly entreat you, to take good heed, how you teach these deep things of God. Beware of that common, but accursed way, of making children parrots, instead of Christians. Regard not how much, but to how good purpose they read. Turn each sentence every way, propose it in every light, and question them continually on every point.”

3. In the month of March, the Rev. Thomas Church, vicar of Battersea, published another two shilling pamphlet, entitled, “Some further Remarks on Mr. Wesley’s last Journal;”[606] and, in July,[607] Wesley issued, “The Principles of a Methodist farther explained; occasioned by the Reverend Mr. Church’s second letter to Mr. Wesley; in a second letter to that gentleman.” 12mo, 79 pages. First of all, Wesley takes up the case of the Moravians; and then explains his views of justification, and of the faith and repentance preceding it. Next he vindicates himself against the charge of violating the discipline of the Church of England, and of his being an enthusiast. He declares his belief, that, in points of importance, when the reasons brought on each side appear to be of equal weight, it is right to decide the question by casting lots; that there are still such persons as demoniacs, and will be such as long as Satan is the god of this world; and that there is nothing either in the Old Testament or the New which teaches, that “miracles were to be confined within the limits of the apostolic or the Cyprianic age, or, that God hath in any way precluded Himself from working miracles, in any kind or degree, in any age to the end of time.” The pamphlet must be read to be appreciated. It is multum in parvo.

In November, Wesley, for the first time, published a volume of sermons, price, in sheets, half-a-crown.[608] The title was, “Sermons on Several Occasions;” and the book is the first of the four volumes of sermons, which, with the Notes on the New Testament, were afterwards constituted the perpetual standard of Methodist theology. These are so widely and so well known that further description is unneeded. The preface, however, deserves notice. It states that the sermons contain the substance of what Wesley had been preaching during the last eight years; and, that there was no point of doctrine, on which he had been accustomed to speak in public, which was not here, incidentally, if not professedly, laid before the reader. Wesley adds:—

“Nothing here appears in an elaborate, elegant, or oratorical dress. If it had been my desire or design to write thus, my leisure would not permit. But, in truth, I, at present, designed nothing less; for I now write, as I generally speak, ad populum. I design plain truth for plain people; therefore, of set purpose, I abstain from all nice and philosophical speculations; from all perplexed and intricate reasonings; and, as far as possible, from even the show of learning, unless in sometimes citing the original Scripture. I have thought, I am a creature of a day. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God. I want to know one thing,—the way to heaven. God Himself has condescended to teach me the way. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it; here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri. Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: only God is here. In His presence, I read His book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights, and ask Him to let me know His will. I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture. I meditate thereon with all the attention and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God; and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach.”

This is very beautiful. Wesley was no copyist. He owed his theology to no class of theologians, either ancient or modern,—Moravian or otherwise. Peter Bohler and others might suggest truths like the grand old doctrine of salvation by faith only; but before adopting them Wesley went to the only pure fount of theology existing, and deduced his creed, not from Bohler’s notions, but from the book of God. His belief was thus founded upon a rock, and he felt it so. He declares, that his mind is open to conviction; but, at the same time, he was conscious that he had, not only human, but Divine authority for what he taught. Let all divinity students copy his example.

Wesley’s last publication, in 1746, was Parts II. and III. of his “Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion.” 12mo, 139 pages. In some respects, this was one of the severest works that Wesley ever committed to the press. With terrible power, he depicts the wickedness of the nation,—forgetfulness of God and neglect of His holy ordinances, swearing, perjury, sabbath breaking, drunkenness, lasciviousness, speaking evil of dignities, and robbery. Attorneys are lashed as being, in some instances, less honest than pickpockets; and the way in which they whipped money out of their clients’ purses is so described, that an unjust lawyer by whom Wesley himself had been victimised sent him back half the amount he had extorted from him. The guardians of public charities are charged with sacrilege. Lying was one of the fashions of the day; and language was swollen with compliment. Pride was rampant; and even cobblers, in London, thought themselves wiser than secretaries of state, and coffee house disputers abler divines than archbishops. Prisons were schools of vice, out of which prisoners emerged fitted for any kind or degree of villainy, perfectly brutal and devilish, thoroughly furnished for every evil word and work. In the army, profanity was fearful. In the navy, almost every man-of-war was a floating hell. The clergy were not free from the taint of lewdness and drunkenness, from covetousness and idleness, from neglecting the poor and flattering the rich. Presbyterians, in many instances, kept a conscience void of offence, but they had among them drunkards, gluttons, dishonest dealers, and extortioners. Baptists were far from being faultless. Quakers affected great sanctity and simplicity, and yet many of their women wore gold upon their very feet, and their men might be seen with glittering canes and snuff-boxes, even in their solemn assemblies; their female members were too strict to lay out a shilling in a necklace, but not too strict to lay out fourscore guineas in a repeating watch; in one kind of apron or handkerchief they durst not expend twenty shillings, but in another sort would, expend twenty pounds; they declined to touch a coloured ribbon, but would cover themselves from head to foot in costly silk. Papists, Jews, and infidels are castigated with equal severity; and with them the second part of the Appeal concludes.

The third Part commences with an account of the present revival of religion, and of the brutal persecutions with which it had been assailed. Then objections are answered. Wesley states, that he has seven thousand persons in his societies, whose souls he could not neglect without endangering his own salvation. He shows the difference between other reformations of the church, and that with which he and his contemporaries were identified, and concludes thus:—

“The difference is wide between our case and the case of any of those above mentioned. They avowedly separated from the church; we utterly disavow any such design. They severely, and almost continually, inveighed against the doctrines and discipline of the church they left; we approve both the doctrines and discipline of our church, and inveigh only against ungodliness and unrighteousness. They spent great part of their time and strength in contending about externals and circumstantials; we agree with you in both; so that having no room to spend any time in such contentions, we have one desire of spending and being spent, in promoting plain, practical religion.”

It is impossible, in a brief summary like this, to give an adequate idea of these “Appeals,” the best defence of Methodism extant. They are among the most elaborate of Wesley’s productions; giving a melancholy view of the low state of religion and of public morals, when he and his brother Methodists entered upon their extraordinary career of ministerial labour; and containing a triumphant vindication of their doctrines and proceedings. They all are pervaded with a spirit of great seriousness, and display a mind deeply affected by the sins and follies of mankind.

1747.

[Sidenote: 1747 Age 44]

For a moment, let us look at Whitefield, who spent the year 1747 in America. Wesley had written him on the subject of union; to which he replied on the 11th of September, as follows:—

“DEAR AND REVEREND SIR,—Not long ago I received your kind letter, dated in February last. My heart is really for an outward, as well as an inward union. Nothing shall be wanting on my part to bring it about; but I cannot see how it can possibly be effected, till we all think and speak the same things. I rejoice to hear that you and your brother are more moderate with respect to sinless perfection. Time and experience, I believe, will convince you that, attaining such a state in this life, is not the doctrine of the everlasting gospel. As for universal redemption, if we omit on each side the talking for or against reprobation, which we may fairly do, and agree, as we already do, in giving an universal offer to all poor sinners that will come and taste of the water of life, I think we may manage very well. But it is difficult to determine such matters at a distance. Some time next year, I hope to see you face to face. I hope ere long to be delivered from my outward embarrassments. I long to owe no man anything but love. This is a debt, reverend sir, I shall never be able to discharge to you, or your brother. Jesus will pay you all. For His sake, I love and honour you very much, and rejoice as much in your success as in my own. I cannot agree with you in some principles, but that need not hinder love. What have you done with the Moravian Brethren? Their affairs are in confusion here. I think their foundation is too narrow for their superstructure. I believe, in their plan, there are many plants that our heavenly Father hath not planted. The Lord bless what is right, and rectify what is wrong in them, in us, and in all. O for heaven! where we shall mistake, judge, and grieve one another no more. Continue to pray for us, and assure yourself, that you are always remembered by, reverend and very dear sir, your most affectionate, though unworthy younger brother and willing servant for Christ’s sake,

“GEORGE WHITEFIELD.”[609]

So much for Whitefield. What about his English coadjutors? Howel Harris writes:—

“Wales is like the garden of the Lord; many are awakened, and fresh doors are opened. All the ministers and exhorters go on heartily, and the presence and power of the Lord are still more manifest. Hasten thy winged motion, oh glorious day! when I shall see Paul and Barnabas, Luther and Calvin, and all the saints, joining in one song, and not so much as remembering that they ever differed. I have lately, at their own request, discoursed three or four times before several gentlemen, ladies of fashion, some magistrates, counsellors, attorneys, and doctors in divinity, and they behaved well. I have been all round South Wales, travelling often twenty, and sometimes thirty miles a day, and preaching twice, besides settling and conferring with the societies everywhere. I am about to begin a round through North Wales, where I expect to be sent home, or at least imprisoned. For ten days, my life will be in continual danger.”

Joseph Williams, of Kidderminster, relates, that he had recently been on a preaching tour in Wales, and in Yorkshire. At Haworth, he had taken a bed at the house of Grimshaw, with whom he held sweet fellowship, from six o’clock at night till two o’clock next morning. Grimshaw’s church was always crowded, and hundreds were not able to get in at all. People flocked to hear him from all the neighbouring towns, and as many as a hundred strangers were accustomed, on a Sunday, to dine at the village inn. The surrounding clergy were caballing to get him suspended; and, if they succeeded, he was resolved to become at once an itinerant preacher. The landlord, at Colne, told Williams that Grimshaw had preached in that town “damnation beyond all sense and reason,” his sermon lasting two long hours; and that, “every week, and almost every day, he preached in barns and private houses, and was a great encourager of conventicles.”

Thomas Adams says, he had been preaching in a barn at Gosport, and that in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth the good work was prospering. In Wilts, he had seen religion reviving. In Gloucestershire, his labours had been blessed, and the meetings of the societies had been a pentecost. When at Bristol there had been “a brave shaking among the dry bones.”

James Relly (who afterwards founded a sect called “Rellyan Universalists,”) observes, that at Bristol he had examined the whole society once a week, but the place had been “a furnace” to him. At Bath, he had “particular freedom.” In Gloucestershire, he had been preaching every day, and thrice on Sundays; and had found the people “honest, simple, and hungering after the bread of life.” At Wednesbury, he found his heart enlarged every time he preached. At Birmingham, he had formed a society of twenty members, and had left them with great regret. At Bromsgrove, he had preached in an Independent chapel, to a congregation of “simple, loving souls.” At Tewkesbury, a furious mob assaulted him, swore, cursed, laughed, pricked the congregation with pins, threw handfuls of snuff among them, and brickbats and dirt; and broke the windows of the house; but, in the midst of all, he continued preaching for an hour.

John Relly was witnessing “many inroads made in Satan’s kingdom,” and he seldom preached without seeing conversions.

Herbert Jenkins had been preaching in Scotland, and conversing with the clergy, many of whom he pronounces to be “good men, and very powerful preachers.” In Edinburgh, he had found nearly twenty societies, including one composed of soldiers, who had fought at the battle of Culloden. In the park, he had had a congregation of many thousands. “At Glasgow,” says the Scots Magazine, “he was complimented with the freedom of the city, and was entertained by the magistrates and by the presbytery. He made no public collections as Whitefield did, and his behaviour altogether was inoffensive and becoming.”

John Edwards had made a tour through the midland counties, where “King Jesus was getting Himself the victory.” He writes:—“Oh what times and seasons we have had; souls fired with the love of God, and following the word from place to place, horse and foot, like men engaged in a war, determined to take the city by force of arms.” At Haverfordwest and in Wales, multitudes flocked to hear him.

Certain members of the Tabernacle society, in London, relate that the place was generally full; and a gentleman at Plymouth writes, that “the work goes on very comfortably there.”[610]

These hints will suggest to the reader an idea of the work that was being done by the preachers who propagated Whitefield’s doctrines. All the letters, filling more than a hundred pages of the “Christian History,” breathe the most ardent piety, and are full of gratitude, hope, and exultation.

Charles Wesley spent the first two months of 1747 in a journey from Newcastle to Bristol. The next six months he made London and Bristol the centre of his operations. The last four months of the year were employed in Ireland.

Wesley himself was travelling almost incessantly, and we must now try to follow him.

On January 11 he left London for Bristol. Reaching Devizes, he found the town in the greatest uproar. Swelling words, oaths, curses, and threatenings were abundant. Mr. Innys, the curate, who knew of Wesley’s coming, had spent the day in visiting from house to house, to stir up the people against him. He had also published an advertisement, in the most public places in the town, of “An obnubilative, pantomime entertainment, to be exhibited at Mr. Clark’s,” in whose house Wesley had to preach. For the present, however, the high purpose of the zealous curate was not realised. At the appointed hour, Wesley commenced preaching. The well instigated mob were listeners, but they were all dumb dogs, and attention sat on every face.

Sixteen days afterwards, Wesley returned to this clerical preserve, where he again found, that great efforts had been used to raise a rabble, but, he writes, “it was lost labour; all that could be mustered were a few straggling soldiers, and forty or fifty boys.”

Wesley told his brother, “there was no such thing as raising a mob at Devizes”; but Charles soon found it to be otherwise. Coming within a month after, on February 24, a crowd awaited him, headed by “the chief gentleman of the town,” while Mr. Innys, the energetic curate, stood with them in the street, jumping for very joy. The reverend persecutor had been more successful in organising ruffians to do his dirty work, in the case of Charles, than he had been in the case of Wesley himself. He had declared in the pulpit, as well as from house to house, that he had heard Charles preach blasphemy before the university, and tell his congregation, “If you don’t receive the Holy Ghost while I breathe upon you, you will all be damned.” He had secured the services of two of the chief men in the borough, Messrs. Sutton and Willy, both of them Dissenters. The poor parson was so supremely happy, that he began to dance. The church bells were rung backwards. Mrs. Philip’s house was ransacked; the windows were smashed, and the shutters of the shop torn down; the door was blocked up with a wagon; and lights were kindled to prevent the preacher’s escaping. The mob then proceeded to the inn, and seized the horses of Charles Wesley and his friend Meriton, and, some hours afterwards, the poor animals were found in a pond, up to the neck in water. A water engine was played into the house where Charles was staying; the rooms were flooded; and the goods were spoiled. The leader of the small society was thrown into a pool, and, almost miraculously, escaped an untimely death. The son of the mayor had been converted, and, instead of running away to sea, had joined the society. His father was a coward, and had left the town, when he ought to have remained in it; but his mother sent her maid, begging Charles Wesley to disguise himself in a woman’s clothes, and endeavour to escape. At length, the constable came, beseeching him to leave the town; and poor Mr. Sutton and Mr. Willy began to fear the mob, which they and their clerical friend Innys had been the means of raising, was becoming more violent than might be safe. In the midst of this, Charles Wesley and Mr. Meriton took the opportunity to get away; and, after escaping a most murderous attack from a couple of bulldogs, not less savage than the bloodthirsty villains which hounded them on, the two martyr like ministers began singing the hymn commencing, “Worship, and thanks, and blessing;” and thus, in a tone of triumph, made their way to Bath and Bristol.[611]

Strangely enough, Wesley was accustomed to choose the worst season of the year for his most trying journey. Why? We cannot tell. Having finished his visitation of the London classes, he set out, on the 16th of February, for Newcastle. A north wind blew so hard and keen, that, when he and his companions got to Hatfield, they could scarcely use either their hands or feet. In making their way to Baldock, they encountered a storm of snow and hail, which drove so vehemently in their faces, that sight was useless, and breathing almost impossible. Next day, they had the greatest difficulty in keeping their horses on their feet. The wind rose higher and higher, till it threatened to overturn both man and beast. A storm of rain and hail drove through their coats, great and small, boots, and everything; and, freezing as it fell, their eyebrows were hung with icicles. On Stamford Heath, the snow was lying in mountain drifts, which sometimes well-nigh swallowed up both horses and riders; but, about sunset, they came, cold and weary, to Brigg-Casterton. On the 18th, they were told, so much snow had fallen in the night, that travelling was impracticable. Wesley replied, “At least, we can walk twenty miles a day, with our horses in our hands”; and off he set. The north-east wind was piercing; the main road was impassable; Wesley was distracted with the toothache; but, at five in the afternoon, they arrived at Newark. Next day, they came to Epworth, where they rested the three days following; with the exception, that, on Sunday Wesley preached twice in the humble meeting-house, and once, after the evening prayers, at Epworth cross, to most of the adult population of the town.

The next three days were spent in an excursion to Grimsby and back again to Epworth. Charles Wesley had been at the former town seven weeks before, when the meeting-house was invaded by a mob of wild creatures, almost naked, who ran about the place, attacking all they met. Several caught at the preacher to drag him down, and one struck at him. At length, they fell to fighting and beating each other, till, in a few minutes, they literally drove themselves out of the very room from which they meant to drive the poor Methodists; and one of the ringleaders, armed with a great club, swore he would conduct the minister to his lodgings, and forthwith led him through the drunken rioters to brother Blow’s.[612]

On this occasion, when Wesley himself came, “a young gentleman and his companions” drowned Wesley’s voice, till a poor woman took up the cause, and, by keenly and wittily reciting a few passages of the young spark’s life, turned the laugh of his companions upon him, and obliged him to skulk away discomfited. Next day, he came to ask Wesley’s pardon, and thus, for some years, Methodist persecution at Grimsby ceased. At Tetney, Wesley found the most remarkable society in England, with Micah Elmoor for its leader. The members were all poor, and yet each gave from eightpence to two shillings weekly,—certainly a large amount, considering the rate of agricultural wages and the worth of money. The members of the London society were not averaging more than about a penny per week. Wesley was surprised at the difference, and asked, “How is this?” To which Micah Elmoor replied, “All of us, who are single persons, have agreed together, to give both ourselves and all we have to God; and, by this means, we are able, from time to time, to entertain all the strangers that come to Tetney; who often have no food to eat, nor any friend to give them lodging.”

On February 26, Wesley left Epworth, and proceeded northwards, preaching, on his way, at Sykehouse, Acomb, Thirsk, and Osmotherley. At the last mentioned place, where he had already found a friend in the popish priest, the clergyman of the parish allowed him to preach twice in the parish church. “The bitterest gainsayers,” says Wesley, “seemed now to be melted into love. All were convinced we are no papists. How wisely does God order all things in their season!”

On the 2nd of March, he reached Newcastle. At this period, Grace Murray had charge of the Orphan House family. More than once, she had been an inmate; but she and sister Jackson, like rival queens in the same establishment, were unable to agree, and, at least twice, Wesley had had the unenviable task of reconciling two gossiping women, whose religion made them proud and garrulous, rather than of “a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” Grace’s first husband was drowned in 1742, upon which she removed from London to Newcastle, where she was appointed leader of several classes. Within six months of her husband’s death, she became the sweetheart of John Brydon, and it was commonly supposed they were about to marry, but, in the long run, Grace declined the honour of John’s alliance. At the end of 1745, she was made Orphan House keeper, and retained the office at the time of Wesley’s visit, in 1747.[613] Unfortunately, we shall have to recur to sister Murray at a subsequent period.

Another inmate was Jeannie Keith, belonging to a respectable family of the Keiths in Scotland. Being persecuted on account of her religious principles, she fled to England, and took shelter in Wesley’s Orphan House, where she went by the cognomen of “Holy Mary.” She was afterwards married to James Bowmaker, a master builder at Alnwick, who erected the first Methodist chapel in that town, and was the grandfather of the Rev. James Everett. She had two children, and died about the year 1752. It has generally been supposed, that Jeannie Keith fell from grace, this opinion being founded upon an expression in one of Wesley’s letters, written a year or two previous to her death;[614] but the inference is hardly legitimate, and the thing itself is incorrect. The writer is possessed of authentic manuscripts, showing, that though Jeannie returned to the presbyterian religion, she continued faithful to her great Master to the very last. A year only before her death, she was diligently distributing the works of John and Charles Wesley among her friends and relatives, including Lord and Lady Saltoun; and the greatest crime that I can find alleged against her, is that of rejoining the church of her childhood. An extract from one of Jeannie’s letters to Wesley, in 1747, may be useful.

“I bless God, that ever He brought me into this house. It is like a little heaven to me. There is not only such love, but such freedom among us, as I could not have believed would have been so soon. I have never seen a thing, that I thought amiss in any of the family, neither do they seem to think anything wrong in me. I am as much entangled with the great ones of the world as ever; and if they are not with me, I am with them. I have great reasonings, whether to shake off all acquaintance with them or not. I am surprised how they bear the plainness of speech that I use; for with tears do I tell them the danger that their souls are in. Oh! forget not your weak child,

“JEANNIE KEITH.”[615]

In another letter, dated November 1, 1748, and addressed to Wesley, she writes:—

“I think we never had a more blessed time in this house, since it was a house. I know of nothing amiss betwixt sister Murray and me; but we cannot be as one soul; for, you know, she must have a little pre-eminence. I am exceeding willing that she should; and so we live in great peace, and, I believe, in love. I am still unwilling to take anything from anybody. I work out of choice, having never yet learned how long a woman can be idle and innocent. I do not murmur because I have not worldly goods, or a little skin-deep beauty; but I am happy, because, as long as God lives, I shall enjoy Him; so long as there is a heaven, I shall possess it. If this thought cannot make me happy, without anything else, I deserve to be miserable.

“Your affectionate and loving child, “JEANNIE KEITH.”[616]

How many more refugee sisters there were in the Orphan House, we are not informed; but we learn from the manuscript already quoted, that, about this period, Christopher Hopper, Benjamin Wheatley, Edward Dunstan, and Eleazer Webster, all of them either already or about to become itinerants, were, more or less, Orphan House residents; and it is probable, that these were some of the young men referred to in the extracts following. The Orphan House was, at once, a place of worship, a school for orphans, a refuge for the injured and oppressed, the northern home of Wesley, and the “theological institution” of his preachers. Wesley writes:—

“March 2.—I rode to Newcastle. I found all in the house of the same spirit; pouring out their souls to God many times in a day together, and breathing nothing but love and brotherly kindness.”

“March 4.—This week I read over, with some young men, a compendium of rhetoric, and a system of ethics. I see not, why a man of tolerable understanding may not learn in six months more of solid philosophy than is commonly learned at Oxford in four (perhaps seven) years.”

The old Orphan House was thus the first institution in which young Methodist preachers received instructions for the efficient discharge of their ministerial duties. Here Wesley himself studied. During this very visit, he read “The Exhortations of Ephraem Syrus,” whose picture of a broken and contrite heart had never been excelled since the days of David,—and “The History of the Puritans;” after which he wrote:—“I stand in amaze: first, at the execrable spirit of persecution which drove those venerable men out of the Church, and with which Queen Elizabeth’s clergy were as deeply tinctured as ever Queen Mary’s were; secondly, at the weakness of those holy confessors, many of whom spent so much of their time and strength in disputing about surplices and hoods, or kneeling at the Lord’s supper.”

It is a curious fact, that, though only little more than four years had elapsed since the society at Newcastle was founded by Charles Wesley, it was now reduced from above eight hundred members to four hundred. Wesley, however, considered, according to the old proverb, that “the half was more than the whole”; but if this were true, the whole must have been a motley mass.

Having spent seven weeks at Newcastle and in the neighbourhood, Wesley set out, on Easter Monday, April 20, for London. In the evening, he reached Osmotherley, where, after having ridden, at least, sixty miles, and preached twice, he mounted a tombstone, and concluded the day by a sermon from “The Lord is risen indeed.” Here John Nelson met him, having just escaped from the hands of his murderous persecutors in the vicinity of York.

Proceeding to Thirsk, Wesley found the town full of holiday folks, drinking, cursing, swearing, and cockfighting. Making his way to Leeds and other towns in the west riding of Yorkshire, he visited the Moravian settlement at Fulneck, which was now approaching completion. “It stands,” says he, “on the side of a hill, commanding all the vale beneath, and the opposite hill. The front is exceeding grand, though plain, being faced with fine, smooth, white stone. The Germans suppose it will cost about three thousand pounds; it is well if it be not nearer ten. But that is no concern to the English Brethren; for they are told, and believe, that all the money will come from beyond the sea.” We shall find, in a subsequent chapter, that Wesley’s doubts respecting the “ways and means” were not unfounded.

At Keighley, Wesley ascertained that the small society of ten had increased tenfold. He visited Grimshaw, and preached in Haworth church. At Halifax, he addressed “a civil, senseless congregation,” and baptized a Quaker. Meeting with William Darney, who, besides converting Grimshaw, had been the means of forming a number of societies among the mountains of Lancashire and Yorkshire, Wesley, at his request, set out to visit those infant churches, at Roughlee, Widdap, Stonesey Gate, and other places. While preaching one morning at five o’clock, near New Church, in Rossendale, one of his hearers was a young man, then in his twentieth year, who afterwards rose to a high position,—John Butterworth, for more than fifty years the pastor of a Baptist church, the author of a valuable concordance to the Holy Scriptures, and the father of the late Joseph Butterworth, Esq., who was long a distinguished Methodist in the metropolis, and a member of the House of Commons.

From Rossendale, Wesley proceeded to Manchester, where, on the 7th of May, he preached at Salford cross. Within the last few months, a few young men had formed themselves into a society, had rented a room, and written a letter desiring the Wesleys to own them as brethren. The “room” was a small apartment in a house built upon a rock on the bank of the Irwell, on the north side of Blackfriars Bridge, at the bottom of a large yard, known by the name of the “Rose and Crown yard,” and which was filled with wood built, thatched cottages. The house, containing the “preaching room” was three storeys high. The ground floor was a joiner’s shop; the rooms in the middle story were the residence of a newly married couple; the garret was the “room,” and was itself also the home of a poor woman, who there plied her spinning wheel, while her husband, in the same apartment, flung the shuttle. Christopher Hopper, at one of the Manchester conferences, referred to this little meeting-house, and said: “In 1749, I preached in an old garret, that overhung the river, in the neighbourhood of the old bridge. The coals were in one corner of the room, the looms in another, and I was in danger of breaking my neck in getting up to it. The congregation consisted of not more than from twenty to thirty persons.”[617] Such was the cradle of Manchester Methodism, in 1747. Wesley says, “their house would not contain a tenth part of the people,”—and hence he went to Salford cross.

While at Manchester, Wesley made his first visit to Boothbank. Here resided John and Alice Crosse. Alice had been a rude, uncultivated creature, but had a dash of the heroine in her constitution. “John Crosse,” said she, “wilt thou go to heaven with me? If not, I am determined not to go to hell with thee.” Her decision was firm and final, and honest John soon joined her in her journey to the better land. They now gladly received the servants of God into their dwelling, a pulpit was fixed in their largest room, a society was formed, and Alice was made leader. Her endeavours to be useful were indefatigable. Common beggars were intercepted, warned of their sin and danger, prayed with, and then relieved. Gentlemen, who came a-hunting, were run after, and told, in the plainest terms, the consequences of their sinful doings. On her husband being made a constable, (she having far more courage than himself) he would send her to the constables’ meetings, to defend the despised and persecuted Methodists. When disappointed of a preacher, Alice herself would occupy the pulpit, and, with faithful energy, declare the truth as it is in Jesus. Though marked with rusticity, she was, in decision and majesty, a Deborah.[618] “She was,” says John Pawson, “one of the most zealous, active, spiritually minded women I ever knew.” She died in 1774, aged sixty-five. Her house, for generations, was the happy home of Methodist itinerants. Up to a few years ago, a bootjack, made by John Nelson, at one of his visits, was carefully preserved by her descendants living in the same farm dwelling; and on the panes of glass in the window of what was known as “the prophet’s chamber,” were not a few inscriptions written by the brave hearted evangelists, who there found a warm welcome. Boothbank was the loving centre where the first Methodists of Lancashire and Cheshire used to meet, for friendly counsel, and the old farmhouse was licensed for preaching before any Methodist chapel was built in Manchester. Five years after this first visit by Wesley, the first Cheshire quarterly meeting was held in the humble dwelling of John and Alice Crosse, when Chester sent, by Jonathan Pritchard, the sum of twelve shillings; Bolton, by George Eskrick, eight shillings and twopence; Manchester, by Richard Barlow, two pounds three shillings and fivepence; while Boothbank itself contributed the not insignificant sum of ten shillings and elevenpence.[619] Wesley’s description of the Boothbank congregation, at his first visit, is brief but beautiful,—“a quiet and loving people.”

Leaving Boothbank, he proceeded to Mr. Anderton’s, near Northwich. Here he preached, prayed, and talked for more than two hours, his rustic congregation being intermixed with “several of the gay and rich.” Many long years elapsed, however, before Methodist preaching was established in the town itself, and here, as elsewhere, Methodism met with brutal persecution. On one occasion, the preacher was pulled down the street by the hair of his head.[620] On another, John Morris narrowly escaped being thrown over the bridge into the river.[621] The mob, encouraged by two young gents of the names of Barrow and Jeffreys, rejoiced not only in throwing stones, mud, and rotten eggs, but in dragging the Methodist itinerants into a quagmire, which divided the townships of Northwich and Witton. One of the first Methodists here was Isaac Barnes, a seedsman, who was often rolled in the foul river, and in other respects made to suffer; but his sister once used a device by which the biters were bitten. While the mob were shouting, swearing, and throwing stones at the front of her brother’s house, she quietly heated the poker, and then, letting it cool till its redness was removed, she rushed into the street, and pretended to strike the assembled scamps. One seized the poker, but instantly let it go. Others, in quick succession, did the same; and, in a little while, the amazon was victorious; by their own act, in seizing the heated poker, most of the assailants were in burning agony; and the valorous mob were surprised and scattered. Moses Dale was another of the first Northwich Methodists,—a poor and plain, but earnest and honest man,—a class-leader and local preacher, who was once carried round the town on a butcher’s block, and then set down in the market place, where the crowd with cow horns blew into his ears till he was almost deafened. Moses was a man of small ability, but a son of thunder. Once a year, he made a preaching tour through Derbyshire and Shropshire, and, on one occasion, preached in the vicarage at Madeley, with his hands on Fletcher’s shoulders. “Moses,” said some young swells in a chemist’s shop, “is it true that you know your sins forgiven?” “I am forbidden to tell you,” quietly replied Moses. “Who forbids you, Moses?” “Jesus Christ,” said Moses; “look at Matthew vii. 6.” “Surely, Moses, you don’t compare us to swine?” “No,” quoth Moses, “but the Bible does, and I have no occasion.” Poor Moses died in 1788.

From Northwich, Wesley went to Congleton, and Macclesfield, and Sheffield, and Leeds; and then, turning round, he hurried, by way of Nottingham and Birmingham, to London, which he reached on the 21st of May.

For the last eight years, Wesley had been shut out of the London churches; but now, to one of them, he was again admitted. The Rev. Richard Thomas Bateman, a man of high birth and great natural endowments, was rector of St. Bartholomew’s the Great, in Smithfield, and also held a living in Wales, where he had been converted under the powerful ministry of the Rev. Howel Davies.[622] Being converted himself, he, at once, with great fervour, began to pray and preach for the conversion of others.

As soon as Wesley got back to London, Mr. Bateman offered him his pulpit, and the offer was accepted. The church was crowded to excess. The churchwardens complained to Bishop Gibson, saying, “My lord, Mr. Bateman, our rector, invites Mr. Wesley very frequently to preach in his church.” The bishop replied, “What would you have me do? I have no right to hinder him. Mr. Wesley is a clergyman, regularly ordained, and under no ecclesiastical censure;”[623] and so the matter ended.

From the first, the financial affairs of the London society had been entrusted to stewards. Hitherto, they had been sixteen in number, but Wesley now reduced them to seven, to whom he gave a series of instructions how to regulate their behaviour. They were to hold meetings every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Every meeting was to begin and end with prayer. Once a month, their accounts were to be transcribed into the ledger. Each, in turn, was to be chairman for a month. Nothing was to be done without the consent of the minister. They were to be deeply serious. Only one was to speak at once, and he only just loud enough to make himself heard. They were to avoid all clamour and contention. If they could not relieve the poor who came, they were not to grieve them. They were to give them soft words, if nothing else; and to make them glad to come, even though they had to go away empty. A steward breaking any of these rules, after being thrice admonished by the chairman, was to be deposed from office.

It may be asked whence the stewards obtained their funds. The answer is, that, for more than forty years, all the money collected in the London classes was put into the hands of these officials, and was distributed in relieving the necessities of the poor. Not a shilling seems to have been spent upon the preachers’ salaries.[624]

Visiting the sick, and the opening of the dispensary, have been already noticed. But, besides these, there were connected with the old Foundery other expensive and valuable institutions. Two small houses were taken and fitted up for the reception of needy and deserving widows, for the support of whom the collections at the sacraments and the contributions of the bands were given. In 1748, Wesley writes: “In this (commonly called the poor-house) we have now nine widows, one blind woman, two poor children, and two upper servants, a maid and a man. I might add, four or five preachers; for I myself, as well as the other preachers who are in town, diet with the poor, on the same food, and at the same table; and we rejoice herein, as a comfortable earnest of our eating bread together in our Father’s kingdom.”[625]

Then there was a school with two masters, and about sixty children, a few of whom paid for their tuition, but the greater part, being extremely poor, were taught and even clothed gratuitously. The rules were characteristic, but some of them exceedingly absurd. No child was to be admitted under the age of six. All the children were to be present every morning at the five o’clock preaching. The school hours were from six to twelve, and from one to five. No holidays were granted. No child was to speak in school, but to the masters; and any child who was absent two days in one week, without leave, was to be excluded. The education consisted of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Two stewards were appointed to receive subscriptions and to pay expenses; and also to pray with and exhort the children twice a week; and to meet the parents every Wednesday morning, and give them counsels how to train their children when at home.[626]

Then there was a lending society. Observing that people often needed small sums of money, but knew not where to borrow them, Wesley went from one end of London to the other, and, in a few days, begged £50. This was lodged in the hands of stewards, who attended every Tuesday morning for the purpose of lending to those who wanted any small amount, not exceeding twenty shillings, on condition that the loan should be repaid within three months. Wesley writes: “It is almost incredible, but, with this inconsiderable sum, two hundred and fifty have been assisted within the year 1747. Will not God put it into the heart of some lover of mankind to increase this little stock? If this is not lending unto the Lord, what is?”[627]

The stock was increased. At the commencement of 1748, Wesley made a public collection for the same object, and by this and by other means the capital was raised, in 1767, to £120,[628] after which the maximum loan was altered from one pound to five.[629] Hundreds of the honest poor were greatly assisted by this benevolent device; and, among others, the well known Lackington, who about the year 1774 was penniless, but who, by the help of Wesley’s fund, began a book business, which grew to such immense dimensions, that, eighteen years afterwards, its annual sales were more than a hundred thousand volumes, from which Lackington, the quondam cobbler, realised the noble income of £5000 a year.

Such were the benevolent institutions connected with the Foundery in 1747. Wesley was often accused of making himself rich. In reply to this, in 1748, he sarcastically remarks:—“Some have supposed my revenue was no greater than that of the Bishop of London. Others have computed, that I receive £800 a year from Yorkshire only. If so, it cannot be so little as £10,000 a year which I receive out of all England! Accordingly, the rector of Redruth extends the calculation pretty considerably. ‘Let me see,’ said he; ‘two millions of Methodists, and each of these paying twopence a week.’ If so, I must have £860,000, with some odd shillings and pence, a year! A tolerable competence! But be it more or less, it is nothing at all to me. All that is contributed or collected, in every place, is both received and expended by others; nor have I so much as the ‘beholding thereof with my eyes.’ And so it will be, till I turn Turk or pagan. For I look upon all this revenue, be it what it may, as sacred to God and the poor; out of which, if I want anything, I am relieved, even as another poor man. So were originally all ecclesiastical revenues, as every man of learning knows; and the bishops and priests used them only as such. If any use them otherwise now, God help them!”[630]

The conference of 1747 began on the 15th of June, and ended on the 20th. This was the largest yet held. Six clergymen were present, namely, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Manning, Richard Thomas Bateman, Henry Piers, and Vincent Perronet; also Howel Harris; and nine preachers, John Jones, Thomas Maxfield, Jonathan Reeves, John Nelson, John Bennet, John Downes, Robert Swindells, John Maddern, and Thomas Crouch, the last mentioned being a local preacher only.[631]

Two doctrines were discussed at the conference of 1747; first, whether a Divine assurance of the forgiveness of sins is an essential part of justifying faith; and secondly, whether entire sanctification is attainable in the present life. It was inquired, “Is justifying faith a Divine assurance that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me?” Answer: “We believe it is.”[632] This was unguarded language, and John Wesley soon felt it so. A month later, he seems to have examined the subject more closely, and wrote to his brother Charles as follows:—

“Yesterday I was thinking on a desideratum among us, a genesis problematica on justifying faith. A skeleton of it, I have roughly set down.

“Is justifying faith a sense of pardon? Negatur.

“By justifying faith, I mean, that faith, which whosoever hath not is under the wrath and curse of God. By a sense of pardon, I mean, a distinct, explicit assurance, that my sins are forgiven.

“I allow (1) That there is such an explicit assurance. (2) That it is the common privilege of real Christians. (3) That it is the proper Christian faith, which purifies the heart, and overcomes the world.

“But I cannot allow, that justifying faith is such an assurance, or necessarily connected therewith.

“Because, if justifying faith necessarily implies such an explicit assurance of pardon, then every one who has it not, and every one so long as he has it not, is under the wrath and curse of God. But this is a supposition contrary to Scripture and to experience (Isa. l. 10, and Acts x. 34).

“Again, the assertion, that justifying faith is a sense of pardon, is contrary to reason; it is flatly absurd. For how can a sense of our having received pardon be the condition of our receiving it?

“If you object, ‘We know fifteen hundred persons who have this assurance.’ Perhaps so, but this does not prove that they were not justified till they received it. 2. ‘We have been exceedingly blessed in preaching this doctrine.’ We have been blessed in preaching the great truths of the gospel; although we tacked to them, in the simplicity of our hearts, a proposition which was not true. 3. ‘But does not our Church give this account of justifying faith?’ I am sure she does of saving or Christian faith; I think she does of justifying faith too. But to the law and testimony. All men may err: but the word of the Lord shall stand for ever.”[633]

This seems to clash with Wesley’s previously expressed sentiments, and, in 1809, there was a somewhat bitter controversy on the subject between the Rev. Melville Horne and the Rev. Edward Hare and others. Suffice it to say here, that the definition of faith in the Church of England’s homily on salvation, which Wesley had been wont to quote, was rather a definition of the habitual faith of a justified man, than of the act by which a sinner is first justified and saved.[634] Wesley held this corrected view to the end of life.

As it respects the second question raised at the conference of 1747, it was allowed—(1) That many of those who have died in the faith were not made “perfect in love” till a little before death; (2) that the term “sanctified” is continually applied by St. Paul to all that are justified, but that, by this term alone, he rarely, if ever, means saved from all sin, and consequently, it is improper to use it in such a sense without adding the word “wholly” or “entirely”; and (3) that the inspired writers very rarely speak either of, or to those who are wholly sanctified, and that therefore it behoves us, in public at least, rarely to speak, in full and explicit terms, concerning entire sanctification. Having conceded such points (which may sound strangely in the ears of some at the present day), the Conference proceeds to show most conclusively, from numerous texts of Scripture, that believers ought to expect to be saved from all sin, previous to death; but exhorts such as have attained to this state of grace not to speak of it to those who know not God, nor indeed to any without some particular reason, without some particular good in view, and even then to have an especial care to avoid all appearance of boasting, and to speak more loudly and convincingly by their lives, than they can do by their tongues.

The remainder of the conference sittings were principally occupied in determining miscellaneous matters. The right of private judgment was enforced. All agreed to read, before the next conference, all the tracts which had been published by Wesley, and to mark every passage which they considered to be wrong or dubious. It was ruled, that the Methodists were not schismatics, any more than they were rebels or murderers. It was agreed that they had been too limited in their field preaching; and that they had paid “respect to persons,” by devoting more of their time to the rich than to the poor, by not speaking to them so plain as to the others, and by admitting them into the society and bands, though they had never received remission of sins, nor met in any band at all. Precautions were to be employed in keeping from the Lord’s table unworthy communicants, first, by exercising more care in admitting members into the society, and secondly, by giving notes to none but those who applied for them on the days appointed in each quarter. Wesley’s “assistants” were now twenty-two in number. The names of thirty-eight local preachers are given, including a number, who, to some extent, were already labouring as itinerants.

Who can fail to admire the simple, honest earnestness of these early conclaves of godly Methodists?—men, without preconceived ideas, desiring above all things to ascertain what is truth, and to adopt the most useful plans in spreading it? “In our first conference,” say they, “it was agreed to examine every point from the foundation. Have we not been somewhat fearful in doing this? What were we afraid of? Of overturning our first principles? Whoever was afraid of this, it was a vain fear. For if they are true, they will bear the strictest examination. If they are false, the sooner they are overturned the better. Let us all pray for a willingness to receive light; an invariable desire to know of every doctrine, whether it be of God.” Men animated by such a principle were sure to have happy meetings, and were not likely to go far astray.

On the Sunday after the conference ended, Wesley set out for Cornwall. It was the eve of a parliamentary election, and, at Exeter, while his clothes were being dried, he wrote “A Word to a Freeholder;” and, at St. Ives, so successfully warned the Methodists against bribery, that, though sorely tempted, “not one of them would even eat or drink at the expense of the candidate for whom they voted.” At Plymouth, a lieutenant with his retinue of soldiers, drummers, and a mob, came to make disturbance. At St. Agnes, the rabble threw dirt and clods; and Mr. Shepherd’s horse, taking fright, leaped over a man who was stooping down, the poor fellow screaming most lustily, but escaping unhurt. Here another man, learning that Wesley was about to preach, said, “If he does, I’ll stone him,” and forthwith began to fill his pockets with the needful missiles. He reached the spot. Wesley took his text, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” The man’s courage failed him, stone after stone stealthily dropped from his well filled pockets, and he went away with the impression that the preacher was something wonderful.[635] At Sithney, Wesley met the stewards of all the Cornish societies, and found that there were eighteen exhorters in the county; that three of these had no gifts at all for the work, neither natural nor supernatural; that a fourth had neither gifts nor grace, but was a dull, empty, self conceited man; and that a fifth had considerable gifts, but had evidently made shipwreck of the grace of God. These, therefore, he set aside, and advised the societies not to hear them. The remaining thirteen were to preach when there was no preacher in their own or the neighbouring societies, provided that they would take no step without the advice of those who had more experience than themselves. At Newlyn, where Peter Jaco had been recently converted,[636] some poor wretches of Penzance began cursing and swearing, and thrust Wesley down the bank on which he was preaching. At Port Isaac, the mob hallooed and shouted, but none except the captain lifted up his hand to strike. At Camelford, a large train attended him, but only one stone struck him. At Terdinny, the parson affirmed publicly in his church, that Wesley’s errand was to obtain a hundred pounds, which must be raised directly. These were the unpleasantnesses of his journey; but, upon the whole, his visit was happy and successful; and, almost in every place, he found the good work prospering, as the following letter to his friend Ebenezer Blackwell shows:—

“ST. IVES, July 10, 1747.

“DEAR SIR,—A great and effectual door is opened now, almost in every corner of this country. There is such a change within these two years as has hardly been seen in any other part of England. Wherever we went, we used to carry our lives in our hands; and now there is not a dog to wag his tongue. Several ministers are clearly convinced of the truth; few are bitter; most seem to stand neuter. Some of the gentlemen (so called) are almost the only opposers now; drinking, revelling, cursing, swearing gentlemen, who neither will enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer any others, if they can hinder it. The most violent Jacobites among these are continually crying out that we are bringing the Pretender; and some of these worthy men bear his majesty’s commission, as justices of the peace.

“I am, dear sir, “Your affectionate servant, “JOHN WESLEY.”[637]

Wesley got back to Bristol on August 1, and, three days afterwards, set out for Ireland.

Poor Ireland! Even then, Ireland was England’s greatest difficulty. A hundred years had elapsed since the bloody rebellion of 1641; and more than half a century had passed since King William’s victory at the battle of the Boyne. Irish parliaments, during the reign of Anne, and the first and second Georges, had riveted and extended the penal laws against papists. Ireland was in a state of torpid tranquillity—a slumbering volcano, stirred only by apprehensions of internal commotion, or by the agitation of partisan quarrels between the rival factions of court and country. The massacre of 1641, and the sanguinary persecution in the reign of the bigoted James II., were still fresh in the recollection of Protestants, and heightened their animosity to the utmost; while, on the other hand, discomfitures and disasters, penal laws and legalized oppression, rendered the hatred of the papists virulent beyond example. Irritating and maddening circumstances fomented, on both sides, the most rancorous malignity: protestantism was triumphant, and an imperious papacy in a degrading bondage.

In England, Moravianism was the pioneer of Methodism; and so it was in Ireland. In 1745, an English soldier in Dublin formed a small society of pious people, and began to preach to them. Just at this juncture, Benjamin La Trobe, a young student in connection with the Baptists, having finished his studies at the university of Glasgow, came to Dublin, and became the leader of the little band, gathered together by the soldier’s exertions, thirty of whom already belonged to different religious churches. In the same year, John Cennick withdrew himself from Whitefield’s connexion, and transferred all the societies that he had been the means of forming, to the care of the Moravians, while he himself became a Moravian minister. At the request of the society, organised by the soldier, and now presided over by Benjamin La Trobe, John Cennick came to Dublin in June, 1746, and began to preach in a chapel in Skinner’s Alley, which the society had hired from the Baptists. The place was soon crowded with hearers, and the society increased to about five hundred members.

Soon after this, Cennick had to attend a Moravian synod in Germany. During his absence, Thomas Williams, one of Wesley’s itinerants, came to Dublin. Williams was a man of attractive appearance, pleasing manners, and good address. Holmes, in his “History of the United Brethren,” says that Williams prevailed on several members of the society to leave the Moravians and join the Methodists, and we have no authority to deny the statement. It may be true, or it may be otherwise. Certain it is, that, by some means, Williams formed a separate society, and in a few weeks wrote to Wesley,[638] who determined to visit Ireland without delay. The results of this were vastly important. Forty-two times Wesley crossed the Irish Channel, and spent, in his different visits, at least half-a-dozen years of his laborious life in the emerald isle. Ireland yielded him some of the most eminent of his coadjutors—Thomas Walsh, Adam Clarke, Henry Moore, and others; and Irishmen were ordained by Providence to found Methodism, or to aid in founding it, in the North American British provinces, in the West Indies, in Africa, in India, and in Australia.

Wesley landed in Dublin Bay on Sunday morning, August 9. His host was Mr. Lunell, a banker,[639] who afterwards gave £400 towards the erection of the Methodist chapel in Whitefriar Street.[640]

On the day of his landing, Wesley preached, in St. Mary’s church, to “as gay and senseless a congregation as he ever saw.” Next morning he met Thomas Williams’s society at five; and at six preached in the large room, which was not large enough to contain the congregation. He then went to Mr. R——, the curate of St. Mary’s, who “professed abundance of goodwill,” and commended Wesley’s sermon; but “expressed the most rooted prejudice against lay preachers, or preaching out of a church; and said, ‘the Archbishop of Dublin was resolved to suffer no such irregularities in his diocese.’”

The day after, Wesley waited on the archbishop; spent above two hours in conversation with his grace; and answered abundance of objections.

Meanwhile, Wesley and John Trembath (who was with him) continued preaching in a chapel, originally designed for a Lutheran church, which would accommodate about four hundred people. This was in Marlborough Street,[641] and was crowded with poor and rich, and ministers of every denomination. Wesley devoted every morning to an explanation of the rules of the Methodist societies, and preached twice a day to many more than the meeting-house would hold. Four days after his arrival, he wrote as follows, to his friend Mr. Ebenezer Blackwell:—

“I have found a home in this strange land. I am at Mr. Lunell’s just as at the Foundery; only, that I have not such attendance here; for I meet the people at another part of the town. For natural sweetness of temper, for courtesy and hospitality, I have never seen any people like the Irish. Indeed, all I converse with are only English transplanted into another soil; and they are much mended by the removal, having left all their roughness and surliness behind them. They receive the word of God with all gladness and readiness of mind. The danger is, that it should not take deep root, that it should be as seed falling on stony ground.

Mr. Lunell and his family desire their best respects to Mrs. Blackwell and you. His daughter can rejoice in God her Saviour. They propose to spend the winter in England.”[642]

Saturday, August 15, Wesley arranged to see, at Mr. Lunell’s, all who wished to speak with him. He writes: “I found scarce any Irish among them. At least ninety-nine in a hundred of the native Irish remain in the religion of their forefathers. The Protestants, whether in Dublin or elsewhere, are almost all transplanted lately from England. Nor is it any wonder, that those who are born papists generally live and die such, when the protestants can find no better ways to convert them than penal laws and acts of parliament.”

He ascertained, by personal examination, that the Dublin society, formed by Williams, consisted of about two hundred and eighty members, “many of whom appeared to be strong in faith.” Mr. La Trobe, the Moravian preacher, took alarm; read to his congregation the “Short View of the Difference between the Moravians,” etc.; and gave utterance to “bitter words”; but this did service to the Methodists rather than otherwise.

After spending exactly a fortnight in Dublin, Wesley returned to England, and was succeeded by his brother Charles, who arrived on September 9, with Charles Perronet as his companion.

During the fortnight which had elapsed since Wesley left, a mob had broken into the Marlborough Street chapel, and destroyed all before them; goods of a considerable value had been stolen; the pulpit and benches had been burnt openly in the street, and several of the Methodists beaten with shillalahs. Charles found that a new nickname had been given to the poor Methodists. John Cennick, in his zeal against popish idolatry, had said, “I curse and blaspheme all the gods in heaven, but the Babe that lay in Mary’s lap, the Babe that lay in swaddling clouts”; and, because of that, the populace called him “swaddling John,” and the Methodists “Swaddlers.” The Methodists were now without a meeting-house, and Charles Wesley, at the peril of his life, regularly preached on Oxmanton Green; but, within a month, he bought a house near Dolphin’s Barn, the whole ground floor of which was a weaver’s workshop.[643] He writes on October 10, to Mr. Blackwell:—“At my first coming here, we were so persecuted, that no one in Dublin would venture to let us a house or a room; but now their hearts are turned, and we have the offer of several convenient places.”[644] And, in another letter, to his brother, dated October 9, he remarks, that he must either buy the house near Dolphin’s Barn, or get some other lodgings, or take his flight. “Here I can stay no longer. A family of squalling children, a landlady just ready to lie in, a maid who has no time to do the least thing for us, are some of our inconveniences. Our two rooms for four people allow no opportunity for four people. Charles Perronet and I groan for elbow room in our press-bed; our diet is answerable to our lodgings; we have no one to mend our clothes and stockings, and no money to buy more.”[645] Under such circumstances, the weaver’s shop was turned into a preaching house, and the rooms above it used as the Dublin home of the two Wesleys and their itinerants. Charles Wesley opened the “New House” on October 25, “by preaching to a great multitude within and without”; and, though he preached not fewer than five times during the day, and also attended a three hours’ service at St. Patrick’s, he “was as fresh” at night as he was when he commenced his labour in the morning. The Dublin society contributed upwards of £70 towards the expenses; Charles Wesley remained more than six months as their devoted minister; and Methodism in Ireland was fairly started.[646] Wesley also gave the Irish Methodists a hymn-book of 336 pages, entitled “Hymns and Sacred Poems. Dublin: printed in the year 1747.” The hymns were 246 in number, and embodied much of the Methodist history of the past eight years; but, with this brief notice, we must leave them.

On his return to England, at the end of August, Wesley made his way from Holyhead to Bristol, preaching in streets, in churchyards, on tombstones, in meadows, in castle yards, and wherever he had a chance. At Cardiff, he found the society filled with vain janglings, by J. Prosser, “an honest, well meaning man; but no more qualified, either by nature or grace, to expound Scripture, than to read lectures in logic or algebra.”

Hurrying up to London, which he reached on September 11, he recommenced his ministry in Moorfields, and declares, that, excepting that at West Street, he knew no congregation in London so serious as this. He made brief visits to Shoreham, Newington, and Lewisham, where he employed himself in writing. He examined the London classes, “and every person severally, touching that bane of religion, evil speaking.” He witnessed some happy deaths; among others that of Mrs. Witham, “an eminent pattern of calm boldness for the truth; of simplicity and godly sincerity; of zeal for God, and for all good works; and of self denial in every kind.” He advised his preachers, and wrote to one of them as follows:—“In public preaching, speak not one word against opinions of any kind. We are not to fight against notions, but sins. Least of all should I advise you once to open your lips against predestination. It would do more mischief than you are aware of. Keep to our one point, present inward salvation by faith, by the Divine evidence of sins forgiven.”[647]

Having spent eleven weeks in London and its vicinity, he set out, on November 30, for Bristol, calling at Salisbury on his way. Five weeks before, Westley Hall, the base husband of his sister Martha, had infamously deserted his wife and family. The following is an extract from a letter published in the Gentleman’s Magazine.[648] Some parts of the letter are so grossly filthy that it would be a pollution to insert them.

“SALISBURY, October 30, 1747.

“There have been, for some years past, a considerable number of Methodists in this city, who were at first collected, and have since continued under the guidance of Mr. Hall, as their minister. This man, by an uncommon appearance of sanctity, joined with indefatigable labour in field and house preaching, drew multitudes of the meaner sort, both of Dissenters and the Established Church, to attend him. And, though he has continually advanced the grossest absurdities, both in his preaching and writings, yet he has so bewitched his followers, that his words had greater weight with them than the words of Christ and His apostles.

“Many sober and judicious persons have often expressed their fears, that the nocturnal meetings held at his house were scenes of debauchery; for, now and then, a bastard child was brought into the world by some of his female devotees.... Last Wednesday, he took formal leave of his corrupted flock, and had the impudence to justify his infamous conduct from the case of Elkanah (1 Sam. i. 1, 2), which he largely expounded. On Friday morning he set out for London, having first stripped his wife (a virtuous woman by whom he has had several children) of all her childbed linen, and whatever he could readily convert into money, leaving her in the deepest distress. The fire of jealousy has broken out in many families, where wives or daughters were his followers.”

Wesley reached the desolate home of his poor sister on December 1, and wrote:—

“From the concurring accounts of many witnesses, who spoke no more than they personally knew, I now learned as much as is hitherto brought to light concerning the fall of poor Mr. Hall. Twelve years ago, he was, without question, filled with faith and the love of God. He was a pattern of humility, meekness, seriousness, and above all, of self denial; so that in all England I knew not his fellow. It were easy to point out the several steps, whereby he fell from his steadfastness; even till he fell into a course of adultery, yea, and avowed it in the face of the sun!”

Wesley spent two days with his unhappy sister, and then says: “I took my leave of this uncomfortable place, and set out for Bristol.” Two months later, he returned to Salisbury to see the poor miserable wretch; but he was refused admittance, and his sister also was shut out of doors.

Nothing now remains, except to notice Wesley’s publications during 1747. The Dublin hymn-book has been mentioned. The others were the following:—

1. “A Word to a Protestant.” 12mo, 16 pages.

2. “A Word to a Freeholder.” 12mo, four pages. This, as already stated, was written at Exeter, while halting on a journey, and on the eve of a parliamentary election.

3. “A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London; occasioned by his lordship’s late charge to his clergy.” 12mo, 32 pages. Wesley replies to the bishop’s accusations, and concludes thus:—

“Our one aim is, to proselyte sinners to repentance. If this be not done, we will stand condemned; not as well meaning fools, but as devils incarnate; but if it be, then, my lord, neither you nor any man beside, can oppose and fortify people against us, without being found even to fight against God. There are, in and near Moorfields, ten thousand poor souls, for whom Christ died, rushing headlong into hell. Is Dr. Bulkeley, the parochial minister, both willing and able to stop them? If so, let it be done, and I have no place in these parts. I go, and call other sinners to repentance. But if, after all that he has done, and all he can do, they are still in the broad way to destruction, let me see if God will put a word even in my mouth. My lord, the time is short. I am past the noon of life. Your lordship is old and full of days, having passed the usual age of man.[649] It cannot therefore be long before we shall both stand naked before God. Will you then rejoice in your success in opposing our doctrine? The Lord God grant it may not be said in that hour, ‘These have perished in their iniquity; but their blood I require at thy hands.’—I am, your lordship’s dutiful son and servant,

“JOHN WESLEY.”

Appended to the letter is a magnificent hymn, of nine twelve lined stanzas, expressive of a calm and firm determination still to persevere, at all hazards, in preaching the gospel of his great Master.[650]

4. “Lessons for Children.” Part II., 12mo, 108 pages. The lessons are fifty-four in number, and consist of Scripture selections, from the time of the Israelites passing over Jordan to the reign of Hezekiah.

5. “Primitive Physic; or an easy and natural Method of curing most Diseases.” 12mo, 119 pages. The publication of this remarkable book arose out of the great success of Wesley’s dispensary, opened in 1746. At the time of his death, it had reached its twenty-third edition.[651] It has often been ridiculed; but perhaps unwisely. The Rev. Samuel Romilly Hall remarks:—“A medical gentleman of Leeds, reputed as eminently intelligent and skilful in his profession, has declared to me, that the unfriendly criticisms, so freely given on Wesley’s ‘Primitive Physic,’ are altogether unwarrantable. He affirms, that, judged of in comparison with other non-professional works of the same class, and of the same date, the ‘Primitive Physic’ is incomparably superior to anything that he knows.”[652]

Besides, those who laugh at Wesley’s “Primitive Physic” ought to remember:—(1) At no remote period from Wesley’s day, it was not unusual for Christian ministers to practise medicine. (2) Wesley says, “For six and twenty years, I had made anatomy and physic the diversion of my leisure hours.” (3) Wesley was not a quack. “I took,” says he, “into my assistance an apothecary, and an experienced surgeon.”

It is a remarkable incident, that the medical profession, so generally impatient of medical empirics, allowed Wesley’s work to circulate for nearly thirty years before any of their honourable fraternity deigned to notice or denounce it. In 1776, an octavo pamphlet of 83 pages was published with the following title:—“An Examination of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Primitive Physic; showing that a great number of the prescriptions therein contained are founded on ignorance of the medical art, and of the power and operations of medicine; and, that it is a publication calculated to do essential injury to the health of those persons who may place confidence in it. By W. Hawes, M.D.” Of the medical merits of this production we have no ability to judge. In many instances, it is in the highest degree ironical; though its author affirms, he was totally unknown to Wesley, and had no personal animosity against him. Dr. Hawes was unquestionably a man of great eminence in his profession; but he is chiefly known as the founder of the Humane Society, thirty of whose managers and directors attended his funeral in 1808.

Before closing the present chapter of Wesley’s history, it must be added, that, about the same time that his “Primitive Physic” was given to the public, he also issued a small pamphlet, at the price of twopence, entitled “Receipts for the Use of the Poor”; but as these were extracted from the former publication no further notice is needed.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These statistics have been compiled by the author, who has carefully examined the plans of all the English circuits for the year 1864.

[2] Horace Mann’s “Census.”

[3] Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 335.

[4] Stevens’ “Centenary of American Methodism.”

[5] To prevent confusion, the reader is reminded that in 1751 the old English calendar was set aside, and that introduced by Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, substituted in its place. This was done by act of Parliament for the purpose of harmonizing the computation of time in England with that of the rest of Europe. In consequence of this alteration, the anniversary of Wesley’s birth, since 1752, has been, not the 17th, but the 28th of June.

[6] See Crowther’s “Portraiture of Methodism.”

[7] Clarke’s “Wesley Family,” vol. ii., p. 321.

[8] Benson’s “Apology,” p. 1.

[9] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 92.

[10] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 116.

[11] The following is a memorandum in Wesley’s own handwriting:—“Joan. Westley ad nominat. ducis de Bucks admiss. in fundat. Carthus. 28 Jan. 1713–14.—— ad Univ. 24 June, 1720.”

[12] A Letter to the Rev. T. Coke, LL.D., and Mr. H. Moore, by “An Old Member of Society.”

[13] Andrew Tooke was only usher of the school during Wesley’s residence. The master was Dr. Thomas Walker. Tooke succeeded to the mastership at Walker’s death, in 1728. (See Carlisle’s “Concise Description of the Endowed Schools in England.”)

[14] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 92.

[15] Letters published by Priestley.

[16] Original letters in Wesleyan Times, 1866.

[17] Manuscript letter.

[18] Methodist Magazine, 1784, p. 606.

[19] See “Life and Times of Rev. S. Wesley,” p. 251.

[20] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 117.

[21] A story is told by the Rev. John Reynolds, in his “Anecdotes of Wesley,” p. 8, to the effect that Wesley was deeply moved while at Oxford, by an odd interview which he had with the porter of his college. This man late one evening went to the young collegian’s room, and said he wished to talk with him. After a little pleasantry, Wesley told him to go home and get another coat. The porter replied, “This is the only coat I have in the world, and I thank God for it.” Wesley said, “Go home, and get your supper.” The man responded, “I have had nothing to-day but a drink of water, and I thank God for that.” Wesley remarked, “It is late, and you will be locked out, and then what will you have to thank God for?” “I will thank Him,” replied the porter, “that I have the dry stones to lie upon.” “John,” said Wesley, “you thank God when you have nothing to wear, nothing to eat, and no bed to lie upon. What else do you thank Him for?” “I thank Him,” returned the poor fellow, “that He has given me life and being; and a heart to love Him, and a desire to serve Him.” Reynolds says this was related by Wesley himself, and that the interview made a lasting impression on Wesley’s mind, and convinced him there was something in religion to which he was as yet a stranger.

[22] Wesleyan Times, Jan. 29, 1866.

[23] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 382.

[24] Wesley’s Works, vol i., p. 341.

[25] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol i., p. 118.

[26] “Life and Times of S. Wesley,” p. 390.

[27] Only a part of this letter has been heretofore published.

[28] Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 359.

[29] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 93.

[30] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 8.

[31] Ibid. vol. vi., p. 425.

[32] A mistake for 1725.

[33] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii. p. 202, and vol. xi., p. 351.

[34] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 351.

[35] See “Life and Times of S. Wesley,” p. 394.

[36] See letter dated July 18, 1725, in Wesleyan Times of April 23, 1866.

[37] Mrs. Wesley here seems to use the word “repentance” in the sense of regeneration.

[38] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 129.

[39] “Life and Times of S. Wesley,” p. 395.

[40] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 176.

[41] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 420.

[42] Methodist Magazine, 1797, p. 425.

[43] Lincoln College consisted of a rector, twelve fellows, two chaplains, etc. The students numbered about fifty. The Bishop of Lincoln was visitor. The room occupied by Wesley is still designated “Wesley’s room,” and a vine creeping round its window is called “Wesley’s vine.”

[44] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 136.

[45] Dr. Morley was rector of Lincoln College. He was elected July 18th, 1719, and died at his rectory of Scotton, near Gainsborough, June 12th, 1731. He used great influence in procuring Wesley his fellowship.

[46] “Life and Times of S. Wesley,” p. 399.

[47] Letters published by Priestley, p. 2.

[48] Ibid. p. 8.

[49] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 403.

[50] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 141.

[51] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 407.

[52] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 9.

[53] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 334.

[54] See Wesleyan Times, Feb. 26, 1866.

[55] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 93.

[56] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 284.

[57] It is a remarkable fact that Law’s “Serious Call” produced a similar effect on Dr. Johnson. “When at Oxford,” says Johnson, “I took it up expecting to find it a dull book, and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an over-match for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of religious inquiry.”

[58] Ibid., vol. xi., p. 352.

[59] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 108.

[60] Ibid. vol. x., p. 387, and vol. xiii., p. 387.

[61] Wesley’s Works, vol. vi., p. 447.

[62] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 10.

[63] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 505.

[64] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 450.

[65] Ibid. vol. iii., p. 340.

[66] “Poems, by S. Wesley.”

[67] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 413.

[68] North British Review, 1847.

[69] Rawlinson’s Continuation of Wood’s “Athenæ Oxoniensis.”

[70] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 402.

[71] Ibid. vol. ix., p. 124.

[72] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 334.

[73] For want of space, the writer, with great reluctance, has been compelled to omit a long biographical chapter respecting these first Oxford Methodists. If life be spared, however, the details, in an expanded form, may be published hereafter. Such a book would serve as a companion volume to the present publication.

[74] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 402.

[75] Methodist Magazine, 1832, p. 793.

[76] The notes of their proceedings, in Wesley’s handwriting, still exist, in a small 18mo volume, possessed by the family of the late Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke. (See Catalogue of Dr. Clarke’s MSS., p. 93.)

[77] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 118, etc.

[78] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 20.

[79] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 34.

[80] Ibid. vol. vii., p. 65.

[81] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 352.

[82] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 82.

[83] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 498.

[84] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 288; also, Methodist Magazine, 1781, p. 319.

[85] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 193.

[86] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., pp. 334, 487.

[87] Benson’s “Apology,” p. 25.

[88] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 169.

[89] Original letter in Wesleyan Times, May 12, 1866.

[90] See “Autobiography of Mrs. Delany.”

[91] Ibid. vol. i., p. 40.

[92] See original letter, Wesleyan Times, May 28, 1866.

[93] “Autobiography of Mrs. Delany,” vol. i., p. 269.

[94] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 134, etc.

[95] “Autobiography of Mrs. Delany,” vol. i., p. 343.

[96] Ibid. p. 410.

[97] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley, vol. i., p. 11.

[98] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., pp. 6, 11.

[99] Methodist Magazine, 1850, p. 1064.

[100] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 94.

[101] Methodist Magazine, 1787, p. 229, etc.

[102] Ibid. 1844, p. 818.

[103] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 12.

[104] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 288.

[105] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., pp. 190, 191.

[106] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 194.

[107] The text was Romans ii. 29; and the title of the sermon, “The Circumcision of the Heart.”

[108] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., 202.

[109] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 190.

[110] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 607.

[111] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 204.

[112] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 7.

[113] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 14.

[114] See original letter in Wesleyan Times, Oct. 1, 1866.

[115] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 288; and Brown’s “Memoirs of Hervey,” p. 2.

[116] Wesleyan Times, April 8, 1861.

[117] Methodist Magazine, 1848, p. 892.

[118] “Life and Times of S. Wesley,” p. 441.

[119] Priestley’s Letters, p. 44.

[120] Ibid. p. 48.

[121] Priestley’s Letters, p. 21.

[122] Priestley’s Letters, p. 17.

[123] Wesleyan Times, Jan. 14, 1866.

[124] Priestley’s Letters, p. 16.

[125] Benson’s “Apology,” pp. 30–32.

[126] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 208.

[127] Priestley’s Letters, p. 18.

[128] Priestley’s Letters, p. 20.

[129] Ibid. p. 43.

[130] Ibid. p. 45.

[131] Ibid. p. 47.

[132] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 23.

[133] Whitefield’s Life, 1756, p. 25.

[134] The writer is perfectly aware that Wesley states (Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 386) that he continued in his purpose to live and die at Oxford till Dr. Burton pressed him to go to Georgia. This is a fair objection; but the reader will do well to remember that the above statement was made by Wesley in the year 1785; and that it is only reasonable to suppose that Wesley, at the moment, forgot his correspondence with Broughton fifty years previous.

[135] Wesley’s Works, vol xiii., p. 288.

[136] Whitefield’s Life, 1756.

[137] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 446.

[138] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 439.

[139] “Memoirs of Hutton.” This is not the place to pursue James Hutton’s history. Suffice it to say, that he became one of the principal Moravians in England; and that it was by his exertions mainly that the Moravian missions in North America were taken under government protection. He was often contemptuously spoken of as “the deaf old Moravian”: but he was a scholar and a gentleman; had intercourse with persons of the highest rank; and was a frequent and almost familiar visitor of George III. and his Queen Charlotte. For many years, his difficulty of hearing was such that he could converse only by the use of an ear trumpet; but his face was always lit up with intellect, and his life was spent in doing good. He died in 1795.

[140] Wesley Banner, 1852, p. 351.

[141] Evening Post, Oct. 14, 1735.

[142] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1733, p. 384.

[143] “Account of the Sufferings of the Persecuted Protestants in the Archbishoprick of Saltzburg.” London: 1733.

[144] Wright’s Memoir of Oglethorpe, p. 77.

[145] Methodist Magazine, 1844, p. 920.

[146] “Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia.” London: 1733.

[147] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 35.

[148] Priestley’s Letters, p. 56.

[149] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 16, and vol. viii., p. 471.

[150] Ingham manuscripts.

[151] Manuscripts.

[152] Francis Moore, who sailed in the Simmonds, became keeper of the stores in Georgia, and in 1744 published an account of his voyage; and relates, as its principal incidents, that a boy fell overboard, but was rescued by a rope; in the Downs, a servant was set on shore because he had the itch; the passengers had prayers twice a day; Wesley and his friends expounded the Scriptures and catechized the children, and ate at Oglethorpe’s table; the Germans sung psalms, and served God in their own way; and the only person punished during the voyage was a boy for stealing turnips.

[153] Ingham’s Journal.

[154] Ibid.

[155] Ingham’s Journal.

[156] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 256.

[157] Ibid. p. 259.

[158] Ingham’s Journal.

[159] The Old Whig, June 17, 1736.

[160] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1736.

[161] “New Voyage to Georgia,” 2nd edit., 1737.

[162] “A Voyage to Georgia,” by F. Moore. London: 1744.

[163] Ingham’s Journal.

[164] James Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 22.

[165] Methodist Magazine, 1797, p. 371.

[166] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 289.

[167] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 15.

[168] Ingham’s Journal.

[169] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 293

[170] Ingham’s Journal.

[171] Rev. C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 5.

[172] Thomas and Beata Hawkins sailed to Georgia in the same ship as Wesley (Clarke’s “Wesley Family,” vol. ii., p. 177). Hawkins was a surgeon. His wife was a virago, who well-nigh murdered two constables at Frederica, by breaking a brace of bottles on their heads (Methodist Magazine, abridg. edit., 1862, p. 500).

[173] Wesley’s Works vol. xii., p. 39.

[174] Original letter in Wesleyan Times, Jan. 30, 1865.

[175] Methodist Magazine, 1848, p. 1102.

[176] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 160.

[177] Manuscript letter.

[178] Priestley’s Letters, p. 63.

[179] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 731.

[180] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1737, p. 575.

[181] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 39.

[182] Methodist Magazine, 1842, p. 657.

[183] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 44.

[184] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 455.

[185] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 24.

[186] Methodist Magazine, 1808, p. 490.

[187] Ibid. 1798, p. 358.

[188] Ibid. 1855, p. 426.

[189] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 324.

[190] Methodist Magazine, 1844, p. 922.

[191] These facts concerning Causton are taken from “A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia,” published in 1741, by a number of colonists living on the spot, and all of whom were unfriendly to Wesley.

[192] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 23.

[193] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol ii., p. 15.

[194] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol i., p. 312.

[195] “The Progress of Methodism in Bristol.” 1743.

[196] “A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia.” 1741.

[197] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 23.

[198] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[199] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 118.

[200] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 30.

[201] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[202] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 154.

[203] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 24; and Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[204] Ibid.

[205] Moore’s life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 326.

[206] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[207] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 327.

[208] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[209] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[210] Ibid.

[211] “The Progress of Methodism in Bristol.” 1743.

[212] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[213] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[214] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[215] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[216] Ibid.

[217] Ibid.

[218] “A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia. By W. Stephens, Esq.” 8vo: 2 vols.

[219] Ibid.

[220] “Journal of Proceedings in Georgia.” 8vo: 2 vols.

[221] It is a remarkable fact that, though Savannah is the chief city in the state of Georgia, Methodism hardly has an existence in it. Wesley left it in 1737; and three years after, Whitefield founded his Savannah Orphan House, which has long since crumbled into ruins. Nothing more was done until 1790, when Hope Hull was sent to Savannah and preached a few times in a chairmaker’s shop, but met with more mob violence than spiritual success. Ten years later, John Garvin tried to collect a society; but the attempt was a failure. The South Carolina Conference, held in 1806, appointed Samuel Dunwody, and he succeeded in forming the first Methodist society in Savannah since the breaking up of that formed by Wesley seventy years previously. Dunwody’s society consisted of twelve members, five of them white and seven coloured. After hard toiling a chapel was erected in Savannah in 1812, and was opened by Bishop Asbury; but, to the present day, the opposition to Methodism is most decided, and the Methodist society and congregation are extremely poor and meagre. (See Dr. Dixon’s “Methodism in America,” p. 282.)

[222] It is right to add that Mr. Stephens, the trustees’ secretary, who, upon the whole, evinces a friendly spirit towards Wesley, gives a somewhat scurvy character of Wesley’s companions. One of them, Coates, a constable, had been one of the principal fomenters of mischief, a busy fellow, going from house to house with idle stories to fill people’s heads with jealousies, and distinguishing himself by a most inveterate opposition to all the rules of government. He was greatly in debt, and had never improved one foot of land since his arrival in the province. Gough, a tithingman, was an idle fellow, pert and impudent in his behaviour, always kicking against the civil power, and making it his business to inflame sedition. He also was in debt; and left behind him a wife and child, who scarce grieved at his departure, for he used to beat them more than feed them. Campbell, a barber, was an insignificant loose fellow, fit for any leader that would make a tool of him, and whose only motive for going off was to escape his creditors.

There can be little doubt that this is true; but it by no means follows that these vagabonds were Wesley’s friends. They seem to have been fugitives as well as he. Misfortune makes a man acquainted with strange bedfellows; still, leaving in such company was an ugly fact, and was used to Wesley’s disadvantage. Mr. Stephens writes: “As I was always ready and willing, in conversation or otherwise, to make allowance for Mr. Wesley’s failings in policy, and was careful not to run hastily into a belief of all I heard against him, I was now asked, in a sneering way, what my sentiments were of him? ‘Noscitur ex sociis’ was the common byword; and all I had to say was that he must stand or fall by himself, when his cause came before the trustees.”

[223] See Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 76; and Errata to vol. xxvi. of his collected works, published in 1774.

[224] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 190.

[225] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[226] Whitefield’s Journal.

[227] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 347.

[228] Whitefield’s journal and letters.

[229] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1738.

[230] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 18.

[231] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 18.

[232] See original letter, Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 1089.

[233] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 22.

[234] Ibid. vol vii., p. 189.

[235] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 95.

[236] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., pp. 86, 96.

[237] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 86; and C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 85.

[238] Priestley’s Letters, p. 65.

[239] Methodist Magazine, 1821, p. 439.

[240] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 95.

[241] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 27.

[242] Methodist Magazine, 1854, p. 687.

[243] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1738, p. 608.

[244] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 344.

[245] Methodist Magazine, 1797, p. 149.

[246] From a “Memorial of William Law, by Christopher Walton,” printed for private circulation in 1854.

[247] C. Wesley’s Journal; and Priestley’s Letters.

[248] Priestley’s Letters.

[249] This letter was written after Wesley’s visit to Germany, which will be noticed shortly.

[250] Priestley’s Letters, p. 83.

[251] Priestley’s Letters, p. 88.

[252] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 108.

[253] Ibid. p. 109.

[254] Ibid. p. 111.

[255] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 112.

[256] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 107.

[257] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 106.

[258] Holmes’s History.

[259] Priestley’s Letters, p. 82.

[260] Hutton’s Memoirs.

[261] Holmes’s History, etc.

[262] Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 1028.

[263] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 51.

[264] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 50.

[265] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 365.

[266] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 133.

[267] Warburton’s Life, p. 523.

[268] Rules of Band Societies, 4th edit., 1744.

[269] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 794.

[270] See Wesleyan Times, Dec. 2, 1861.

[271] Since writing the above, we have met with one of Wesley’s letters in Rawlinson’s Continuation of Wood’s “Athenæ Oxoniensis,” in which he states that he published “A Collection of Psalms and Hymns,” in 1736. Is this date an error?

[272] The Weekly Miscellany for February 10, 1739, and in subsequent numbers, states that there was considerable chicanery practised in securing Whitefield the pulpit of St. Margaret’s. It was pretended that a friendly society desired him to preach for the benefit of their funds; but the treasurer of the society, and four of its six trustees, signed and published a document contradicting this assertion. Of the two remaining, one was from home at the time, and the other was a Mr. Bennett, who assisted the crowd in pushing Whitefield into the pulpit. There can be little doubt that Whitefield was deceived by Bennett, and that it was a mistake for him to preach at St. Margaret’s when he did. In the same weekly journal, it is asserted that Charles Wesley had been guilty of the same illegal act, by taking possession of the pulpit at Bloomsbury. His friends asked the pulpit for him; the request was refused; and yet he came into the preacher’s pew; sat next the door; and, as soon as prayers were over, went into the pulpit and preached, to the great surprise of the clergyman, who intended to preach himself. We have no means of either confirming or refuting this.

[273] His congregation, including horses and coaches, covered three acres (Gentleman’s Magazine, 1739).

[274] Whitefield’s Journal.

[275] Ibid.

[276] Whitefield’s Journal.

[277] Ibid.

[278] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[279] This is worth noting. Wesley, in his History of England, vol. iv., p. 188, tells us that “a severe frost began at Christmas, and continued till the latter end of February. The Thames was covered with such a crust of ice that a multitude of people dwelled upon it in tents, and a great number of booths were erected for the entertainment of the populace. The navigation was entirely stopped; the fruits of the earth were destroyed; many persons were chilled to death; the price of all sorts of provisions rose almost to a dearth; and even water was sold in the streets of London.”

[280] Whitefield’s Journal.

[281] Whitefield’s Journal.

[282] Whitefield’s Journal.

[283] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 240.

[284] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 109.

[285] Taylor’s “Wesley and Methodism.”

[286] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 42.

[287] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 292.

[288] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 472.

[289] In the same year, Trapp preached another sermon, On Religious Zeal, before the Oxford university, and the judges presiding at the Oxford assizes. This, at their request, he published, octavo, thirty-two pages. One extract may suffice. Speaking of the Methodists, he describes them as “our modern enthusiasts, pretending to be the only true believers; and by whom the Established Church and clergy had been outraged with unparalleled virulence and malice, insolence and contempt.”

[290] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 908.

[291] See “Life of Whitefield. By an Impartial Hand.” 1739.

[292] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 470.

[293] Doddridge’s Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 381.

[294] Priestley’s Letters, p. 99.

[295] Methodist Magazine, 1815, p. 457.

[296] Ibid. 1828, p. 382.

[297] See a full account of them in “The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A.”

[298] See Priestley’s Letters, p. 102.

[299] Methodist Magazine, 1849, p. 165.

[300] Whitefield’s Journal.

[301] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 179.

[302] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 314–316.

[303] Priestley’s Letters, p. 107.

[304] “Life and Diary of Rev. Ralph Erskine,” p. 293.

[305] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 184.

[306] Ibid.

[307] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 127.

[308] “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 358.

[309] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 236.

[310] Weekly Miscellany, Nov. 11, 1738.

[311] Whitefield’s Journal.

[312] Ibid.

[313] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 237.

[314] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 150.

[315] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 125.

[316] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 37.

[317] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 245. Wesley evidently thought, that all are, or ought to be, equal in the house of God. His arrangements for the Foundery congregation were carried out in the whole of his London chapels until four years before his death, when, greatly to his annoyance, the lay authorities at City Road set aside his policy.

[318] Watchman, 1838, p. 401.

[319] Jobson’s “Chapel and School Architecture,” p. 48.

[320] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 536.

[321] Life of Silas Told, p. 74.

[322] Methodist Magazine, 1787, p. 101.

[323] Cennick’s Autobiography.

[324] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 264.

[325] Myles’s History, p. 15.

[326] The writer is aware that Wesley says, “Joseph Humphreys was the first lay preacher that assisted me in England, in the year 1738.” (Wesley’s Works, vol. iv., p. 473.) But this was before Wesley went to Bristol, and, doubtless, in connection with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane.

[327] Methodist Magazine, 1822, p. 783.

[328] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 259.

[329] Ibid. vol. vii., p. 404.

[330] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 76.

[331] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 126.

[332] Whitefield’s Journal.

[333] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 189.

[334] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 213.

[335] Ibid. p. 219.

[336] This is true. Hence the following, taken from a sermon published by Annesley in 1661:—“There are believers of several growths in the church of God: fathers, young men, children, and babes; and as, in most families, there are more babes and children than grown men, so in the church of God there are more weak, doubting Christians, than strong ones, grown up to a full assurance. A babe may be born and yet not know it; so a man may be born again, and not be sure of it. Sometimes they think they have grounds of hope, that they shall be saved; sometimes they think they have grounds of fears, that they shall be condemned. Not knowing which might be most weighty, like a pair of balances, they are in equipoise.”

[337] Clarke’s “Wesley Family,” vol. ii., p. 119.

[338] Priestley’s Letters, p. 108.

[339] Priestley’s Letters, p. 96.

[340] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 355.

[341] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 331.

[342] Robert Ramsey did not long escape the hand of justice. About the Christmas of the year following, he was arrested for another crime, tried and condemned to die; and on January 14, 1741, with eleven other malefactors, was executed at Tyburn. While lying under sentence of death in Newgate prison, he requested Wesley to visit him; and twice his old master went, but was refused admittance. (London Magazine, 1742, p. 47; and Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 331.)

[343] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 251.

[344] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 242.

[345] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 264.

[346] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 50.

[347] Original letter, published in Wesleyan Times.

[348] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 48.

[349] Hutton’s Memoirs.

[350] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 222.

[351] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 221. Hymn 92, in the Methodist Hymn-book, is an abridgment of it.

[352] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 222.

[353] See Hutton’s Memoirs.

[354] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley.

[355] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[356] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 26.

[357] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 401.

[358] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 167.

[359] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 224.

[360] Benson’s “Apology,” p. 134.

[361] See Wesley’s Works, vol. x., p. 257; orig. edition.

[362] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 156.

[363] Ibid. vol. i., p. 182.

[364] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 185.

[365] Ibid. vol. i., p. 189.

[366] Weekly History, No. 13: 1741.

[367] Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv., p. 54.

[368] Ibid. vol. i., p. 205.

[369] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 212.

[370] See “Wesley Poetry,” vol. i., p. 310.

[371] “Life and Times of Howel Harris.”

[372] Weekly History, No. 13: 1741.

[373] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 219.

[374] Ibid. vol. i., p. 225.

[375] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 263.

[376] Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv., p. 72.

[377] Methodist Magazine, 1807, p. 6.

[378] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 335.

[379] Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii., p. 541.

[380] Weekly History, No. 33: Nov. 21, 1741.

[381] Myles’s History, p. 58.

[382] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 246.

[383] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiv., p. 306; and vol. xi., p. 366.

[384] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1741, p. 608.

[385] Philip’s Life of Whitefield, p. 275.

[386] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 102.

[387] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 481.

[388] Ibid. p. 489.

[389] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 27.

[390] Life of Dr. Bunting, vol. i., p. 395.

[391] Doddridge’s Correspondence, vol. iv., p. 56.

[392] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 490.

[393] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 257.

[394] Benson’s “Apology,” p. 137.

[395] Weekly Miscellany, March 14, 1741

[396] Cennick says: “When we were separated, we were in number twelve men and twelve women.” (“Life of Cennick,” p. 27.)

[397] Wesley’s Works, vol. iv., p. 473.

[398] Weekly History, No. 11.

[399] Weekly History, No. 4.

[400] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 267.

[401] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 102.

[402] Ibid. p. 147.

[403] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 257.

[404] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 261.

[405] Ibid. p. 271.

[406] Ibid. p. 331.

[407] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 401.

[408] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 331.

[409] “Anecdotes of Wesley, by Rev. J. Reynolds.” Leeds: 1828.

[410] Ibid. p. 13.

[411] Taylor’s “Wesley and Methodism,” p. 44.

[412] Thirty more were expelled at a later period of the year.

[413] Wesley’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv., p. 178.

[414] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 53.

[415] Ibid. vol. xiii., pp. 242, 293.

[416] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 247.

[417] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[418] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 85.

[419] Scots Magazine, 1741, p. 380.

[420] Weekly History, No. 14.

[421] Weekly History, No. 15.

[422] Ibid. No. 24.

[423] Hutton’s Memoirs.

[424] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 431.

[425] “Friendly Remarks,” published in 1772.

[426] His sermon before the university has been mentioned already.

[427] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 359.

[428] It was hardly honest of Wesley to publish this without a word of acknowledgment as to its author and origin. We have compared it with “A Dialogue between the Baptist and Presbyterian; wherein the Presbyterians are punished, by their own pens, for their cruel and self-devouring doctrines, making God the ordainer of all the sins of men and devils, and reprobating the greatest part of mankind without any help of salvation. By Thomas Grantham, Messenger of the Baptized Churches in Lincolnshire. London: 1691.” 4to, pages 18; and have no hesitancy in saying, that Wesley’s Dialogue, abridged and altered, is taken from that of Grantham.

[429] See “Life and Times of Rev. S. Wesley,” p. 136.

[430] See lives of Wesley, by Whitehead and Moore.

[431] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 102.

[432] Standard newspaper, May 22, 1869.

[433] Whitefield’s Works, vol. i., p. 386.

[434] Ibid. vol. i., p. 438.

[435] Ibid. vol. i., p. 449.

[436] Act of the Associate Presbytery, 1744.

[437] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 152.

[438] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley.

[439] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 103.

[440] London Magazine, 1742, p. 468.

[441] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 292.

[442] Ibid. vol. i., p. 335.

[443] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 243.

[444] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 342.

[445] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 148.

[446] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 149. This was not altogether novel. Nearly a hundred years previously, under the auspices of Nicholas Pavillon, the Bishop of Alet, in the south of France, there had sprung up “The Society of Regents,” one of whose meetings was for exhortation and free spiritual conversation, and in which each person, who was so inclined, related her experience, or asked advice. See “Life of Nicholas Pavillon”: 1869.

[447] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 246.

[448] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 247.

[449] “Principles and Career of Wesley,” by Dr. Dobbin.

[450] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 294.

[451] Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 332; and “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon.”

[452] Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 490.

[453] Ibid. 1798, p. 642.

[454] Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 1073.

[455] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 103.

[456] A day or two afterwards Miss Cooper peacefully changed earth for heaven.

[457] “The Country Parson’s Advice to his Parishioners,” is an octavo volume of 215 pages, and was first published in 1680. It consists of two parts:—(1) An exhortation to a religious and virtuous life. (2) General directions for such a life. The book, as a whole, is well written, and useful; but the last chapter is exceedingly objectionable. It unmistakably teaches apostolical succession, confession, priestly absolution, and other favourite dogmas of the high church party of the present day.

[458] Doddridge’s Correspondence, vol. iv., p. 86.

[459] Methodist Magazine, 1801, p. 531.

[460] Methodist Magazine, 1808, p. 138.

[461] Bourne’s and Brand’s histories of Newcastle.

[462] Manuscripts.

[463] Methodist Magazine, 1848, p. 91.

[464] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 84.

[465] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 184.

[466] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 185.

[467] Ibid. 1846, p. 362.

[468] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley, vol. i., p. 319.

[469] John Nelson’s Journal.

[470] Brand’s History of Newcastle, vol. ii., p. 424; and Wesleyan Times, 1856, p. 597.

[471] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 294.

[472] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 551.

[473] Christian Miscellany, 1858, pp. 97, 164.

[474] Manuscripts.

[475] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 295.

[476] Early in the year 1742, an eightpenny pamphlet was published, which Wesley never noticed. Its title was, “A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, in vindication of the Doctrines of absolute, unconditional Election, particular Redemption, special Vocation, and final Perseverance. Occasioned chiefly by some things in his Dialogue between a Presbyterian and his Friend; and in his Hymns on God’s Everlasting Love.”

[477] Weekly History, No. 78: Oct. 2, 1742.

[478] Since the above was written, we have met with one of Wesley’s letters, in Rawlinson’s Continuation of Wood’s “Athenæ Oxoniensis,” in which he states that he published, “An Abridgment of Mr. Norris’s Christian Prudence, and Reflections on the Conduct of our Understanding,” in 1734.

[479] Methodist Magazine, 1866, p. 324.

[480] Ibid.

[481] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 306.

[482] Mr. Tucker was vicar of All Saints, Bristol. This pamphlet (octavo, fifty-one pages) was written at the request of the Archbishop of Armagh, and was entitled, “A Brief History of the Principles of Methodism.”

[483] Wesley also published “Hymns and Poems” in 1742; but as his poetical publications were chiefly written by his brother, they will be only occasionally noticed hereafter. For full information the reader is referred to the “Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley,” in twelve volumes, octavo, published at the Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, City Road, London.

[484] Southey’s Life of Wesley.

[485] Life and Times of Howel Harris, p. 96, etc.

[486] “Papers on the Rise and Progress of Methodism at Wednesbury.” London: 1744.

[487] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 295.

[488] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 75.

[489] Papers on Rise, etc., of Methodism at Wednesbury, 1744.

[490] Papers on Rise, etc., of Methodism at Wednesbury, 1744.

[491] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 164.

[492] Papers on Rise, etc., of Methodism at Wednesbury, 1744.

[493] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 162, etc.

[494] Papers on Rise, etc., of Methodism at Wednesbury, 1744.

[495] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 339.

[496] See Methodist Recorder, Oct. 5, 1866.

[497] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 340.

[498] Ibid. p. 340.

[499] Methodist Recorder, Oct. 12, 1866.

[500] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 204.

[501] Ibid. vol. i., p. 426.

[502] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 173.

[503] Methodist Magazine, 1820, p. 538.

[504] Ibid. 1823, p. 204.

[505] Nelson’s Journal.

[506] See the substance of this paper, under the year 1741, pp. 349, 350.

[507] Life of C. Wesley, vol. i., p. 350.

[508] Weekly History, June 19, 1742.

[509] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 28.

[510] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 117.

[511] Watson’s Life of Wesley, p. 110.

[512] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 254.

[513] Clarke’s “Wesley Family,” vol. ii., p. 267.

[514] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[515] Whitefield’s Works, vol. ii., pp. 33, 35.

[516] “Progress of Methodism in Bristol.” 1743.

[517] Wesley’s Works, vol. x., p. 417.

[518] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 324.

[519] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 31.

[520] Ibid. vol. viii., pp. 293, 304.

[521] Everett’s Life of Clarke.

[522] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 80.

[523] It is a mistake to say, as is done in the edition of Wesley’s collected works, and in some of the Methodist periodicals, that the “Earnest Appeal” was written and published in 1744.

[524] London Magazine, 1744.

[525] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 354.

[526] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 406.

[527] Smith’s “History of Methodism,” vol. i., p. 227.

[528] Life of Whatcoat, by Fry.

[529] Atmore’s “Methodist Memorial,” p. 411.

[530] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 302.

[531] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 367.

[532] Minutes (edit. 1862), vol. i.

[533] Minutes (edit. 1862), vol. i.

[534] Minutes, published in 1763, 12mo, pp. 30.

[535] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 380.

[536] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 443.

[537] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 299.

[538] Methodist Magazine, 1866, p. 44.

[539] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1744, p. 568.

[540] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 404.

[541] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i.

[542] Whitefield’s Works, vol. iv., p. 125.

[543] London Magazine, 1744, p. 260.

[544] London Magazine, 1724, p. 624.

[545] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1744, p. 504.

[546] Nelson’s Journal.

[547] Manuscripts.

[548] See Myles’s History.

[549] Wesley’s Works, vol. vi., p. 464.

[550] Methodist Magazine, 1848, p. 976.

[551] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 72.

[552] Ibid. vol. iii., p. 257.

[553] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 233.

[554] Methodist Magazine, 1820, p. 540.

[555] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 396.

[556] C. Wesley’s Life, vol. i., pp. 415, 430.

[557] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 492.

[558] London Magazine, 1745, p. 297.

[559] Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii., p. 228.

[560] Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii., p. 541.

[561] Whitefield’s Works, vol. ii., p. 79.

[562] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 143.

[563] Wesley’s Works, vol. ix., p. 62.

[564] Ibid. vol. x., p. 433.

[565] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 184.

[566] Cudworth published two replies to Wesley; one in 1745, entitled, “A Dialogue between a Preacher of inherent righteousness and a Preacher of God’s righteousness: being an answer to a late Dialogue between an Antinomian and his friend.” 12mo, 12 pages. Another, in 1746, with the title, “Truth defended and cleared from mistakes and misrepresentations.” 12mo, 52 pages. In both of these productions, Cudworth shows great ability, and though his opinions, as there expressed, are far from orthodox, yet, unless other facts can be alleged against him, he hardly deserves the hard things which Wesley said of him.

[567] “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 338.

[568] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 335.

[569] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 245.

[570] An old Methodist, Jenny Meek, who knew Wesley well, told the writer that the baptism of this energetic sister took place, not in the popish chapel, but in an adjoining house. Many an hour, when a child, did I sit listening, with rapt attention, to old Jenny’s Methodist traditions, and to this I trace, in a great degree, my passion for old Methodist matters.—L. T.

[571] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 104.

[572] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[573] Brand’s History of Newcastle, vol. ii., p. 525.

[574] Brand’s History.

[575] Brand’s History.

[576] Ibid.

[577] Minutes (edit. 1862), vol. i.

[578] Wesley’s Works, vol. vi., p. 466.

[579] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 155.

[580] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 320.

[581] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 145.

[582] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 9.

[583] Whitefield’s Works, vol. ii., p. 83.

[584] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 418.

[585] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[586] Minutes (edit. 1862), vol. i., p. 36.

[587] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 42.

[588] Watson’s Works, vol. v., p. 148.

[589] “Life and Times of Howel Harris,” p. 113.

[590] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 409.

[591] Methodist Magazine, 1797, p. 252.

[592] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 206.

[593] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 419.

[594] Stamp’s “Orphan House.”

[595] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[596] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 483.

[597] Ibid. vol. x., p. 379.

[598] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 489.

[599] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[600] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 254.

[601] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 495.

[602] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 83.

[603] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 155.

[604] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 414.

[605] Other hymns were published in 1746: as, “Hymns for our Lord’s Resurrection;” “Hymns for Ascension Day;” “Hymns to the Trinity;” “Graces before and after Meat;” “Hymns for the Watch-night;” “Hymns for the Public Thanksgiving Day;” “Funeral Hymns;” and “Hymns on the Great Festivals;” but it is impossible to determine how many of these were written by Wesley himself, and how many by his brother.

[606] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1746, p. 223.

[607] Ibid. p. 388.

[608] London Magazine, 1746, p. 594.

[609] Whitefield’s Works, vol. ii., p. 128.

[610] The above extracts are all taken from a 12mo volume, published at the time, and consisting of a collection of letters, entitled “The Christian History.”

[611] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[612] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[613] Manuscript in British Museum.

[614] See Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 181.

[615] Methodist Magazine. 1778, p. 474.

[616] Collection of Letters: Dublin, 1784.

[617] Everett’s “Methodism in Manchester,” p. 58.

[618] Everett’s “Methodism in Manchester.”

[619] Methodist Magazine, 1843, pp. 26, 379.

[620] Ibid. 1830, p. 857.

[621] Ibid. 1795, p. 76.

[622] “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 62.

[623] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 138.

[624] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 108.

[625] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 256.

[626] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 257.

[627] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 257.

[628] Ibid. vol. iii., p. 258.

[629] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 257.

[630] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 258.

[631] Minutes (edit. 1862), p. 38.

[632] Minutes (edit. 1862), p. 15.

[633] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 235.

[634] Watson’s Life of Wesley, p. 163.

[635] Manuscript.

[636] Methodist Magazine, 1850, p. 33.

[637] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 157.

[638] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 308.

[639] Irish Evangelist, Dec. 1, 1866.

[640] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 406.

[641] Irish Evangelist, Dec. 1, 1866.

[642] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 157.

[643] Smith’s “Methodism in Ireland,” p. 12.

[644] Methodist Magazine, 1848, p. 516.

[645] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[646] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[647] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 239.

[648] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1747, p. 531.

[649] Bishop Gibson died the year after this was written.

[650] Hymns 439 and 440, in the Wesleyan Hymn-Book, are a part of it.

[651] The writer has a copy of the thirteenth edition, published in 1768, with a large number of emendations and new prescriptions, in Wesley’s own handwriting,—evidently the copy which he himself revised for a new edition.

[652] Hall’s Lecture on Wesley’s Death-bed.

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