{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76882/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76882","id":"gutenberg_76882","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76882","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - British","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Methodism","Wesley, John, 1703-1791"],"text":"[Illustration: JOHN WESLEY, M.A.\n AGED 85.\n From a Painting by Romney.\n (see page 565.)\n Engraved by J. Cochran\n New York. Harper & Brothers.]\n\n\n\n\n THE\n\n LIFE AND TIMES\n\n OF THE\n\n REV. JOHN WESLEY, M.A.,\n\n Founder of the Methodists.\n\n BY THE\n\n REV. L. TYERMAN,\n\n AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE LIFE AND TIMES OF REV. S. WESLEY, M.A.,\u201d\n (_Father of the Revds. J. and C. Wesley_).\n\n WITH AN APPENDIX BY ABEL STEVENS, LL.D.,\n\n AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE HISTORY OF METHODISM.\u201d\n\n\n IN THREE VOLUMES.\n\n VOL. III.\n\n\n [Illustration: colophon]\n\n NEW YORK:\n HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,\n FRANKLIN SQUARE.\n\n 1872.\n\n\n\n\n GENERAL CONTENTS.\n\n VOL. III.\n\n\n 1768.\n\n PAGE\n\nWhitefield--Berridge--Countess of Buchan--Conversation--Original\nLetter by Fletcher--Yearly Collection--Wesley\u2019s first Visit to\nChatham--Methodist Jottings--Methodism in Congleton, etc.--\nWesley\u2019s Credulity--Christian Perfection--Skirmishes before the\nBattle--Wesley\u2019s Will--Rev. Thomas Adam--Fletcher of Madeley--\nSinging--Illness of Wesley\u2019s Wife--Preaching and Trading--How\nto revive Religion--Witness of the Spirit--Spitalfields Chapel--\nLaurence Coughlan--Methodism at Taunton, Frome, and Oxford--Chapel\nDebts--Remarks on Books--Expulsion of Oxford Students--College\nat Trevecca--Wesley\u2019s Publications--John Wilkes 1-38\n\n\n 1769.\n\nPolitical Excitement--Whitefield--Female Preaching--Wesley in\nIreland--Hugh Saunderson--Conference of 1769--Methodism in\nAmerica--Scheme to perpetuate Methodism--Anniversary of Trevecca\nCollege--\u201cShepherd of Salisbury Plain\u201d--Calvinian Controversy--\nWesley\u2019s Publications 39-57\n\n\n 1770.\n\nRemarks on Books--Christian Perfection--Whitefield\u2019s College in\nGeorgia--Riding on Horseback--Lady Glenorchy--Methodism in\nSweden--Methodism at Yeadon and Loughborough--Conference\nof 1770--Doctrinal Minutes--Calvinian Controversy--Death of\nWhitefield--Original Letters--Wesley\u2019s Publications--Toplady 58-83\n\n\n 1771.\n\nRev. Richard De Courcy--Sounds of coming Battle--Wesley and the\n_Gospel Magazine_--Letter to Lady Huntingdon--Shirley\u2019s Circular--\nOriginal Letter by Fletcher--Calvinian Controversy--Methodist\nDiscipline--Female Preaching--Wesley\u2019s Publications 84-113\n\n\n 1772.\n\nSlavery--Methodism at Poplar--Correspondence with Mr. Sparrow--\nMethodism at Leek and Nantwich--David Hume--Ministerial\nResponsibility--Medical Examination--Revivals in Everton and\nWeardale--Conference of 1772--Cornelius Winter--Ceaseless\nLabours--National Distress and its Remedies--The Christian\nCommunity--Calvinian Controversy--Wesley\u2019s Publications 114-146\n\n\n 1773.\n\nAmerican Rebellion--Wesley\u2019s proposed Successor--Methodism in\nAmerica and Antigua--Itinerancy--Chapel Debts--Wesley and his\nCarriage--Wesley\u2019s Book Property--Conference of 1773--Feast\nand Fast Days--Communion of Saints--Calvinian Controversy--\nWesley\u2019s Publications 147-162\n\n\n 1774.\n\nWesley\u2019s Health--Rev. David Simpson--Methodism at Bury--Wesley\nin Scotland--A Marvellous Escape--Ghosts and Witches--\u201cThe\nFool of Quality\u201d--Wesley and an Artist--Methodism in America\nand Newfoundland--Conference of 1774--Norwich Methodism--An\nAdventure--Calvinian Controversy--Wesley\u2019s Publications--\nSlavery 163-184\n\n\n 1775.\n\nNational Excitement--American War of Independence--Death of\nPeter Bohler--Wesley dangerously Ill in Ireland--Congratulations--\nGiving Advice--Conference of 1775--Calvinian Controversy--\nWilliam Pine--Wesley\u2019s Publications 185-211\n\n\n 1776.\n\nFletcher travelling with Wesley--Dr. Coke--Enforcing Discipline--\nMethodism in London--City Road Chapel--Plan of London Circuit\nin 1792--London Circuit Book--Methodism at Chesterfield--\nConference of 1776--Cantankerous Methodists--Methodism in\nthe Isle of Man--Quarrelling Schoolboys--Wesley\u2019s Wife--\nWesley\u2019s Publications--Wesley\u2019s Loyalty 212-235\n\n\n 1777.\n\nAmerican Rebellion--Dr. Dodd--City Road Chapel--Rev. Edward\nSmyth--Catastrophe at Colne--\u201cA Snug Circuit\u201d--\u201cAre the\nMethodists a fallen People?\u201d--John Hilton--Fletcher at the\nConference of 1777--Methodism in America--Francis Asbury--_Arminian\nMagazine_--Bishop Lowth--\u201cStrangers\u2019 Friend Society\u201d--Rowland\nHill attacks Wesley--_Gospel Magazine_--Calvinian Controversy--\nWesley\u2019s Publications 236-260\n\n\n 1778.\n\nThomas Maxfield--Infamous Publications--Death of Toplady--\nNational Alarm--Separation from the Church--Conference of\n1778--Stationing Preachers--Mission to Africa proposed--Duncan\nMcAllum--John Baxter embarks for Antigua--Opening of City\nRoad Chapel--Rev. James Creighton--Discipline--Dissenters--\nSilas Told--Proposals for _Arminian Magazine_--Errata 261-285\n\n\n 1779.\n\nNational Alarm--Prayer and Fasting--Death of Voltaire--William\nShent in trouble--Methodism at Oldham and Padiham--The Angel\nat Halifax--Methodism at Inverness--James Boswell--Methodism\nat Hinckley and Coventry--Thomas Maxfield--Jealousies--Charles\nWesley and the London Preachers--Conference of 1779--Alexander\nMcNab and Rev. Edward Smyth at Bath--Wesley\u2019s right to Rule--\nCharles Wesley and McNab--Calvinian Controversy--\u201cNaval and\nMilitary Bible Society\u201d--Wesley\u2019s Publications--Popery 286-317\n\n\n 1780.\n\nThe Protestant Association--Wesley\u2019s Letters on Popery--Rev.\nArthur O\u2019Leary--Wesley visits Lord George Gordon--Methodism\nat Delph--Wesley asks a Favour--Methodism at Pateley, Ripon,\nNewark, etc.--Conference of 1780--Separation from the Church--\nMethodism in America--Letter to Bishop Lowth--Heresy of Dr.\nWatts--Rev. Brian Bury Collins--Original Letters--Oldham Street\nChapel, Manchester--Sir Harry Trelawney--Jacob Behmen--\u201cThe\nFool of Quality\u201d--Wesley\u2019s Publications 318-344\n\n\n 1781.\n\nWesley\u2019s Nephews, Charles and Samuel--Wesley writing Sermons--\nSamuel Bardsley and Sheffield Chapel--Methodism at Manchester\nand Bolton--Molly Charlton--Methodism at Preston--Fair weather\nPreachers--Rev. William Dodwell--Sleep--Letters to Wesley\u2019s\nNiece--Wesley\u2019s Nephews--Conference of 1781--William Hey--\nDeath of Wesley\u2019s Wife--Letter to a Statesman--Wesley\u2019s\nPublications 345-368\n\n\n 1782.\n\nMethodist Tract Society--Lovefeast at Macclesfield--Sir Walter\nScott--Conference of 1782--Birstal Chapel Case--Rev. Thomas\nDavenport--Rev. Mr. Thompson--John Trembath--Adam Clarke--\u201cThe\nDairyman\u2019s Daughter\u201d--Wesley\u2019s Publications--Jacob Behmen 369-389\n\n\n 1783.\n\nPreachers forbidden to be Classleaders--Wesley ill--Trip to\nHolland--Kingswood School--William Black and Nova Scotia--A\nRejected Candidate--Methodism at Stafford--Wesley and the\nPoor--Wesley\u2019s Publications 390-407\n\n\n 1784.\n\nA Seven Months\u2019 Journey--Morning Preaching--Itinerancy--Children\nat Stockton--Methodism at Burnley--Sunday Schools--Conference\nof 1784--Deed of Declaration--Ordination of Preachers for\nAmerica--Two Clergymen become Dissenters--Ordination of\nPreachers for Scotland, etc.--Letters on Wesley\u2019s Ordinations--\nWesley a Dissenter--Methodism at Shrewsbury--Dancing--Letter\nto Hon. William Pitt--Wesley\u2019s Publications--First Race of\nMethodist Preachers 408-457\n\n\n 1785.\n\nWilliam Moore--Wesley in Ireland--Spread of Methodism--Death\nof Perronet and Fletcher--Conference of 1785--The oldest\nMethodist now living--Thomas Wride and his Colleagues at\nNorwich--Separation from the Church--Wesley\u2019s Publications--\nDress 458-470\n\n\n 1786.\n\nWesley on the Wing--Scotch Methodists a distinct Church--Methodism\nat Barnsley--Wesley at Sheffield and Wentworth House--Methodism\nat Ilkestone--Conference of 1786--Separation from the Church--\nFirst Methodist Missionary Report--Proposed Missions to\nIndia--Wesley\u2019s \u201cStudying Hours\u201d--Dr. Leifchild--Wesley\u2019s\nPublications 471-489\n\n\n 1787.\n\nSeparation from the Church--Begging for the Poor--Revival at\nBurslem--Wesley in Ireland--A Methodist Shoemaker--Howard,\nthe Philanthropist--Conference of 1787--Separation from the\nChurch--Sir Robert Peel--Sunday Schools--Singing--A Coachload\nof Methodist Preachers--Visit to the Channel Islands--Jonathan\nCrowther--Antislavery Society--Joseph Entwisle and Richard\nReece--Simeon catechizing Wesley--Licensing Chapels and\nPreachers--Separation from the Church--Wesley\u2019s Popularity--\nWesley\u2019s Publications--Dress--Diversions--Riches 490-520\n\n\n 1788.\n\nWesley on his Style--Sunday Schools--Prayer Meetings--Death of\nCharles Wesley--Consecration of Burial Grounds--Incidents at\nBristol--Chapel at Dumfries--Methodist Membership--A Northern\nFanatic--An Early Breakfast--Demoniacs--A Young Poetess--Separation\nfrom the Church--End of the World--Conference of 1788--Methodist\nPrayer Book--Preachers stripped of their Gown and Bands--Dewsbury\nChapel Case--John Atlay and William Eels--Itinerancy--Wesley\nwithout a Sermon--Wesley\u2019s Publications 521-564\n\n\n 1789.\n\nRomney\u2019s Portrait of Wesley--Anecdotes of Wesley--Commotion\nat Dublin--Separation from the Church--Rebellions--Thomas\nHanby--An Irish Dinner Party--Walter Churchey--A Session of\nMethodist \u201cElders\u201d--Conference of 1789--A Conference Sermon--\nGwennap Pit--\u201cThe lovely Family at Balham\u201d--Mount Pleasant Chapel,\nLiverpool--Methodism at Bideford--Wesley\u2019s Publications--\nWesley warning rich Methodists 565-596\n\n\n 1790.\n\nFrench Revolution--A Five Months\u2019 Journey--Rev. Joseph Easterbrook--\nA Three Months\u2019 Preaching Plan--Methodism at Stourport--Sunday\nSchools--Death of a Mocker--A Backslider Healed--Adam Clarke--A\nYorkshire Cavalcade--Separation from the Church--Wesley\u2019s\nBenefactions--Wesley\u2019s Last Will--Conference of 1790--Progress\nof Methodism--Ruffled Shirts--A Dublin Revival--Christian\nPerfection--Wesley\u2019s last Out-door Sermon--A Shoemaker and a\nSheep Stealer--Henry Crabb Robinson--Crabbe, the Poet--A Large\nCircuit--Wesley\u2019s Publications--Separation from the Church--\nRich Methodists Warned--Wesley\u2019s last Words to the Methodists 597-642\n\n\n 1791.\n\nLetters--Female Preaching--Wesley\u2019s last Letters--Wesley\u2019s last\nWeek of Public Labour--Wesley\u2019s last Letter--Wesley\u2019s last\nSong on Earth--Wesley\u2019s Death--The Funeral--Proposed Monument\nin Westminster Abbey--Wesley\u2019s Personal Appearance, Scholarship,\nKnowledge, Writings, Preaching, Companionship, Piety, and\nIndustry 643-660\n\n\n\n\n THE LIFE AND TIMES\n\n OF\n\n THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, M.A.\n\n\n\n\n 1768.\n Age 65\n\n\nDuring the year 1768, Charles Wesley, with his brother\u2019s full\nconcurrence, removed his family from Bristol to London, which\nhenceforth was his place of residence.[1] Whitefield spent the first half\nof the year in the metropolis. In July, he set out for Scotland; but,\nabout a month after, returned to London to inter his wife, who died on\nAugust 9. His health was somewhat feeble; but he continued to itinerate\nand preach to the utmost of his power. His orphan house in America, and\nLady Huntingdon\u2019s college at Trevecca, demanded his attention, and had\nit. He and Wesley were still warm hearted friends; and yet there seems\nto have been a shade of coldness come over them. Hence the following,\nwritten when the year was closing.\n\n \u201cTABERNACLE, _December 28, 1768_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND VERY DEAR SIR,--Pray have you or I committed the\n unpardonable sin, because we differ in particular cases, and act\n according to our consciences? I imagine the common salvation is not\n promoted by keeping at such a distance. Enemies rejoice. Halfway\n friends especially are pleased.\n\n \u201cYou will be glad to hear, that the time for completing the orphan\n house affair seems to be come. Do you know of a good, judicious,\n spiritual tutor? Will you, without delay, make the first present\n of your works to the library? I hope we shall have a nursery for\n true Christian ministers. I know you will say Amen. Yesterday I was\n fifty-four years old. God be merciful to me a sinner! Though you are\n older, I trust you will not get the start of me, by going to heaven,\n before, reverend and very dear sir, less than the least of all,\n\n \u201cGEORGE WHITEFIELD.\u201d[2]\n\nAnother letter, of the same kind, was addressed to Wesley, on New\nYear\u2019s day, by his old friend at Everton.\n\n \u201cEVERTON, _January 1, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--I see no reason why we should keep at a distance, whilst\n we continue servants of the same Master, and especially when Lot\u2019s\n herdsmen are so ready to lay their staves on our shoulders. Though my\n hand has been mute, my heart is kindly affected towards you. I trust\n we agree in essentials; and, therefore, should leave each other at\n rest with his circumstantials. I am weary of all disputes, and desire\n to know nothing but Jesus; to love Him, trust Him, and serve Him; to\n choose and find Him my only portion. I would have Him my meat, my\n drink, my clothing, my sun, my shield, my Lord, my God, my all. Amen.\n\n \u201cWhen I saw you in town, I gave you an invitation to Everton; and\n I now repeat it, offering you very kindly the use of my house and\n church. The Lord accompany you in all your journeys! Kind love to\n your brother. Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN BERRIDGE.\u201d[3]\n\nAt the close of the year 1767, the Earl of Buchan died triumphing in\nthe faith of Christ. He had been in the habit of hearing Whitefield,\nthe Wesleys, and others, at Bath, and had felt their ministry a\nblessing. His last words were, \u201cHappy, happy, happy!\u201d The inscription\nupon his coffin run thus: \u201cHis life was honourable, his death blessed;\nhe sought earnestly peace with God,--he found it with unspeakable\njoy, alone in the merits of Christ Jesus, witnessed by the Holy\nSpirit to his soul.\u201d[4] His countess dowager was a woman of deep\npiety, of elegant taste, and of great genius. She was the mother\nof a numerous family, and appointed Venn, Berridge, and Wesley her\ndomestic chaplains. This was done through the intervention of Lady\nHuntingdon,[5] to whom Wesley addressed the following letter.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 4, 1768_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--I am obliged to your ladyship, and to Lady Buchan,\n for such a mark of your regard as I did not at all expect. I purpose\n to return her ladyship thanks by this post.\n\n \u201cThat remark is very striking, as well as just;--If it is the Holy\n Spirit that bears witness, then all speaking against that Witness\n is one species of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And when this\n is done by those who profess to honour Him, it must in a peculiar\n manner grieve that blessed Spirit. Yet, I have been surprised to\n observe how many, who affirm salvation by faith, have lately run\n into this; running full into Mr. Sandeman\u2019s notion, that faith is\n merely an assent to the Bible; and not only undervaluing, but even\n ridiculing, the whole experience of the children of God. I rejoice,\n that your ladyship is still preserved from that spreading contagion,\n and also enabled plainly and openly to avow the plain, old, simple,\n unfashionable gospel.\n\n \u201cWishing your ladyship many happy years, I remain, my dear lady, your\n very affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[6]\n\nA few months after this, Wesley went to Scotland, where the Countess of\nBuchan resided, and there wrote, and probably preached, his remarkable\nsermon, \u201cThe Good Steward,\u201d in which, with great emphasis, he lays down\nthe doctrine, that we hold _in trust_ our souls, our bodies, our goods,\nand all our other talents; and, for the _use_ of them, must render an\naccount at the judgment seat of Christ. This was dealing faithfully\nwith his noble patroness, as well as with others; for the sermon was\nimmediately published in 12mo, 24 pages, with the title, \u201cThe Good\nSteward. A Sermon, by John Wesley, Chaplain to the Right Honourable the\nCountess Dowager of Buchan.\u201d\n\nWesley was not the man to be elated by being noticed by the rich, the\nnoble, and the great. He was thankful for their help; but far from\nbeing proud of their approbation. Many of his most trusted friends\nwere poor and mean in reference to this world\u2019s goods; but, at the\nsame time, were possessed of riches incomparably superior to all the\ngold existing. The following letter, addressed to Fletcher of Madeley,\nthough a month or two out of its chronological order, refers to these\nand to other matters.\n\n \u201cBIRMINGHAM, _March 20, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--Mr. Eastbrook told me yesterday, that you are sick of\n the conversation even of them who profess religion,--that you find\n it quite unprofitable, if not hurtful, to converse with them, three\n or four hours together, and are sometimes almost determined to shut\n yourself up, as the less evil of the two.\n\n \u201cI do not wonder at it at all, especially considering with whom you\n have chiefly conversed for some time past, namely, the hearers of\n Mr. Madan, or Mr. Bourian, perhaps I might add, of Mr. Whitefield.\n The conversing with these I have rarely found to be profitable to my\n soul. Rather it has damped my desires; it has cooled my resolutions,\n and I have commonly left them with a dry, dissipated spirit.\n\n \u201cAnd how can you expect it to be otherwise? For do we not naturally\n catch their spirit with whom we converse? And what spirit can we\n expect them to be of, considering the preaching they sit under? Some\n happy exceptions I allow; but, in general, do men gather grapes of\n thorns? Do they gather constant, universal self denial, the patience\n of hope, the labour of love, inward and outward self devotion,\n from the doctrine of absolute decrees, of irresistible grace, of\n infallible perseverance? Do they gather these fruits from antinomian\n doctrine? Or from any that borders upon it? Do they gather them from\n that _amorous way_ of praying to Christ? or that _luscious_ way of\n preaching His righteousness? I never found it so. On the contrary, I\n have found, that even the precious doctrine of salvation by faith has\n need to be guarded with the utmost care, or those who hear it will\n slight both inward and outward holiness.\n\n \u201cI will go a step farther: I seldom find it profitable for _me_ to\n converse with any who are not athirst for perfection, and who are\n not big with earnest expectation of receiving it every moment. Now\n you find none of these among those we are speaking of; but many,\n on the contrary, who are in various ways, directly and indirectly,\n opposing the whole work of God,--that work, I mean, which God is\n carrying on, throughout this kingdom, by unlearned and plain men;\n in consequence of which His influence must, in some measure, be\n withdrawn from them. Again: you have, for some time, conversed a good\n deal with the genteel Methodists. Now it matters not a straw what\n doctrine they hear,--whether they frequent the Lock or West Street.\n They are, almost all, salt which has lost its savour, if ever they\n had any. They are thoroughly conformed to the maxims, the spirit, the\n fashions, and customs of the world. Certainly then, \u2018_Nunquam ad eos\n homines ibis quin minor homo redibis_.\u2019\n\n \u201cBut were these or those of ever so excellent a spirit, you conversed\n with them too long. One had need to be an angel, not a man, to\n converse three or four hours at once, to any purpose. In the latter\n part of such conversation, we shall doubtless lose all the profit we\n had gained before.\n\n \u201cBut have you not a remedy for all this in your hands? In order to\n have truly profitable conversation, may you not select persons clear\n both of Calvinism and antinomianism? not fond of that luscious way\n of talking, but standing in awe of Him they love; who are vigorously\n working out their salvation, and are athirst for full redemption,\n and every moment expecting it, if not already enjoying it? It is\n true, these will generally be poor and mean, seldom possessed of\n either riches or learning, unless there be now and then a _rara\n avis in terris_: a Miss March, or Betty Johnson. If you converse\n with these, humbly and simply, an hour at a time, with prayer before\n and prayer after, you will not complain of the unprofitableness of\n conversation, or find any need of turning hermit.\n\n \u201cAs to the conference, at Worcester, on lay preaching, do not you\n observe almost all the lay preachers--(1) Are connected with\n me? and--(2) Are maintainers of universal redemption? _Hinc ill\u00e6\n lacrym\u00e6!_ These gentlemen do not love _me_, and do love particular\n redemption. If these laymen were connected with them, or if they were\n Calvinists, all would be well. Therefore, I should apprehend you will\n have two things to do:--1. Urge the argument, the strength of which\n I believe is in the Second Appeal, and, above all, in the Letter\n to a Clergyman. 2. Apply to the conscience, \u2018You do not love Mr.\n Wesley enough: you love your opinions too much; otherwise this debate\n would never have arisen: for it is undeniable, these quacks cure\n whom we cannot cure, they save sinners all over the nation. God is\n with them, and works by them, and has done so for near these thirty\n years. Therefore, the opposing them is neither better nor worse than\n fighting against God.\u2019\n\n \u201cI am your ever affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[7]\n\nOne more letter may be introduced, before we turn to Wesley\u2019s journal.\nAt the beginning of 1768, a third son was born to Charles Wesley, and\nit was naturally the wish of such a father, that one of his three sons\nmight become a minister of Christ,--a wish, however, that was not\nrealised. Wesley alludes to this, and to the yearly collections and\nother things, in the following to his brother, showing that Charles\neither seldom attended conference, or, if he did attend, took little\ninterest in its financial matters.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 15, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--Six or seven hundred pounds is brought to a\n conference: of which five hundred at least pays the debt.[8] Then\n extraordinary demands are answered. How much remains for law? I am\n now near \u00a3300 out of pocket, which I borrowed to pay Mr. Pardon.\n When I receive some more from Newcastle, I will send it to Bristol;\n probably very soon.\n\n \u201cIt is highly probable, one of the three will stand before the Lord.\n But, so far as I can learn, such a thing has scarce been for these\n thousand years, as a son, father, grandfather, _atavus_, _tritavus_,\n preaching the gospel, nay, and the genuine gospel, in a line. You\n know, Mr. White, sometime chairman of the Assembly of Divines, was my\n grandmother\u2019s father.\n\n \u201cLook upon our little ones at Kingswood as often as you can. A word\n from you will be a quickening to them. Oh how many talents are we\n entrusted with. We have need to gird up the loins of our mind, and\n run faster the small remainder of our race. \u2018One thing!\u2019--let us mind\n one thing only; and nothing great or small, but as it ministers to\n it! Peace be with you and yours! Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[9]\n\nWesley\u2019s first journey from London, in 1768, was on the 18th of\nFebruary, to Chatham. Methodism of some sort had existed here for\na considerable time. As early as 1751, the _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_\nrelates, that a man and his wife at Chatham, both of them being\nMethodists, had hanged themselves; and that, in order to prove the\nman a lunatic, his friends produced, to the coroner\u2019s jury, the New\nTestament, on a roll of paper, which the man had written with his\nblood.[10]\n\nWesley writes: \u201cThursday, February 18--Having been importunately\npressed thereto, I rode through a keen east wind to Chatham. About\nsix in the evening, I preached at the barracks, in what they call the\nchurch. It is a large room, in which the chaplain reads prayers, and\npreaches now and then. It was soon as hot as an oven, through the\nmultitude of people; some hundreds of whom were soldiers; and they were\n\u2018all ear,\u2019 as Mr. Boston says, scarcely allowing themselves to breathe.\nEven between five and six the next morning, the room was warm enough.\nI suppose upwards of two hundred soldiers were a part of the audience.\nMany of these are already warring a good warfare.\u201d\n\nThis was Wesley\u2019s first visit to Chatham; but not his last. From the\nbeginning, he had loved soldiers, and, to the end, it was always a\npleasure to preach to them.\n\nOn March 6, he set out on his long northern journey, which occupied the\nnext five months. A few jottings respecting it may be acceptable.\n\nAt Gloucester, a \u201cnoisy and mischievous mob\u201d had been \u201ctaken in\nhand and tamed by an honest magistrate.\u201d Cheltenham was \u201ca quiet,\ncomfortable place,\u201d despite the \u201crector and the anabaptist minister.\u201d\nAt Worcester, the difficulty was, where to preach, no room being large\nenough to contain the people, and it being too cold for them to stand\nin the open air. At length, a friend offered the use of his barn,\nwhich \u201cwas larger than many churches.\u201d \u201cNothing,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cis\nwanting here but a commodious house.\u201d Such a house was built four years\nafterwards,[11] and lasted till 1812, when good old James M\u2018Kee Byron\nand the Worcester Methodists were mad enough to build another costing\nupwards of \u00a38000, the great bulk of which was left to be paid by their\nsuccessors.[12]\n\nAt Evesham, Wesley preached in the parish church; and was announced, by\nthe vicar, to do the same at Pebworth; but \u201cthe squire of the parish\u201d\ninterposed an interdict, and therefore he preached in the open air.\n\nAt Birmingham, the tumults, of so many years\u2019 continuance, were \u201cnow\nwholly suppressed by a resolute magistrate.\u201d Here Wesley met \u201cwith a\nvenerable monument of antiquity, George Bridgins, in the one hundred\nand seventh year of his age, still able to walk to preaching, and\nretaining his senses and understanding tolerably well.\u201d\n\nOn Sunday, March 20, Wesley preached at West Bromwich, where a small\nsociety of about twenty persons had been kept together by Francis\nAsbury, a native of a neighbouring parish, but afterwards the Methodist\nbishop of the United States.\n\nFive years before, at Wolverhampton, the mob had levelled the Methodist\nmeeting-house to the ground, and four young fellows concerned in the\noutrage had been sent to prison;[13] but now, says Wesley \u201call was\nquiet: only those who could not get into the house made a little noise\nfor a time; and some hundreds attended me to my lodging; but it was\nwith no other intent than to stare.\u201d\n\nWesley pronounces Newcastle under Lyme \u201cone of the prettiest towns\nin England.\u201d Though it was extremely cold, the largeness of the\ncongregation constrained him to preach in the open air; \u201ca more\nattentive or better behaved congregation\u201d he \u201cscarce ever saw.\u201d Sixteen\nyears later, Newcastle had a society of one hundred and nine members,\nthe leaders of whom were John Glynn, William Bayley, Robert Keeling,\nand Thomas Bamfield.[14]\n\nAt Burslem, on March 25, he opened the new chapel; and, at Congleton,\nhad \u201can elegant, yet earnestly attentive congregation,\u201d the behaviour\nof the society having won the approbation of all the people in the\ntown, except \u201cthe curate, who still refused to give the sacrament to\nany who would not promise to hear the Methodist preachers no more.\u201d\n\nFor nine years past, the Methodists had been wont to meet in a room\nprovided by Dr. Troutbeck, behind his own residence; and here they had\nbeen subjected to the same sort of outrages that most towns in the\nkingdom thought it their duty to commit upon the Methodists. Drums\nwere beaten to disturb their services; dogs were let loose in their\ncongregations; and rotten eggs and filth were often hurled at them in\nplentiful profusion; but, by their godly behaviour, they had outlived\nall this, and now had a galleried chapel, capable of containing about\nfour hundred persons.\n\nWesley spent Sunday, March 27, at Macclesfield, where he preached to\n\u201cthousands upon thousands.\u201d A few years before, George Pearson and\nElizabeth Clulow had opened a preaching house, which would hold forty\npeople, and which, to prevent ejectment, they secured to themselves\nfor forty years. \u201cAh, George!\u201d said Mrs. Clulow, when they first went\ninto it, \u201cwe shall never be able to fill the place; why, it will hold\nforty folk;\u201d to which Mr. Pearson replied, \u201cI\u2019ll warrant you; hold up\nyour heart.\u201d The result was as George predicted. In a month the room\nwas crammed, and a hole was cut through the chamber floor, so that\nthe preacher might, at the same time, address those above as well as\nthose below. Soon after this, Mr. Ryles gave ground and materials for a\nchapel, on condition that Mrs. Clulow would pay the workmen their wages\nfor building it. This was done in 1764, and now, in 1768, Methodism in\nMacclesfield was fairly started.[15]\n\nFrom Macclesfield, Wesley proceeded to Stockport, Manchester, and\nNew Mills. He writes: \u201cWednesday, March 30--I rode to a little town\ncalled New Mills, and preached in their large new chapel, which has a\ncasement in every window, three inches square! That is the custom of\nthe country!\u201d This well ventilated chapel was built principally by Mr.\nand Mrs. Beard, the parents of the wife of the late T. Holy, Esq., of\nSheffield.[16]\n\nComing to Liverpool, on April 6, Wesley says: \u201cWe had a huge\ncongregation at Liverpool; but some pretty, gay, fluttering things\ndid not behave with so much good manners as the mob at Wigan. The\ncongregations in general were quite well behaved, as well as large,\nboth morning and evening; and I found the society both more numerous\nand more lively than ever it was before.\u201d\n\nOne of these \u201chuge congregations,\u201d after a sermon by Wesley, on Sunday,\nApril 10, were munificent enough to make a collection amounting to \u00a31\n4_s._ 9_d._; and the society, which was more numerous and lively than\never, aided by the general congregations, managed to contribute, in\ntheir classes and at public collections, from September 1, 1768, to\nJanuary 16, 1769, the sum of \u00a310 17_s._ 5_d._ for the support of the\nwork of God among them.[17] Such was Liverpool Methodism a hundred\nyears ago!\n\nOn April 19, Wesley arrived in Glasgow, and says: \u201cWe have few\nsocieties in Scotland like this. The greater part of the members not\nonly have found peace with God, but continue to walk in the light\nof His countenance. That wise and good man, Mr. Gillies, has been\nof great service to them, encouraging them to abide in the grace of\nGod.\u201d Three years before this, Thomas Taylor had been sent to Glasgow,\nand, after travelling several hundreds of miles to his appointment,\nhad, as his first congregation, two bakers\u2019 boys and two old women,\nwhich congregation, however, kept increasing till it reached about two\nhundred. Taylor tells us, that for want of means he never kept so many\nfast days as he did in Glasgow; and, though he ultimately obtained a\npreaching room, and formed a society, and engaged to pay a precentor\nfourpence for each service at which he led off the psalms, he found it\nso difficult to raise the money that he dismissed the psalms and the\npsalm singer all together. He left behind him, however, a society of\nseventy members.\n\nOne of these was Robert Mackie, who, for thirty years, acted as a\nfaithful classleader; and another was a poor old woman, concerning\nwhom John Pawson, in an unpublished letter, tells the following story.\nMeeting in the street the minister of the kirk she had been accustomed\nto attend, she was thus accosted: \u201cOh, Janet, where have ye been,\nwoman? I have no seen ye at the kirk for long.\u201d \u201cI go,\u201d said Janet,\n\u201camong the Methodists.\u201d \u201cAmong the Methodists!\u201d quoth the minister;\n\u201cwhy what gude get ye there, woman?\u201d \u201cGlory to God!\u201d replied Janet, \u201cI\ndo get gude; for God, for Christ\u2019s sake, has forgiven me aw my sins!\u201d\n\u201cAh, Janet,\u201d said the minister, \u201cbe not highminded, but fear; the\ndevil is a cunning adversary.\u201d \u201cI dunna care a button for the deevil,\u201d\nanswered Janet, \u201cI\u2019ve gotten him under my feet. I ken the deevil can\ndo muckle deal, but there is ane thing he canna do.\u201d \u201cWhat is that,\nJanet?\u201d \u201cHe canna shed abroad the love of God in my heart; and I am\nsure I\u2019ve got it there!\u201d \u201cWeel, weel!\u201d replied the good tempered man,\n\u201cif ye have got there, Janet, hold it fast, and never let it go!\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s information was sometimes incorrect. From what he had heard,\nhe expected to find a numerous and lively society at Perth; but,\ninstead of that, he \u201cfound not above two believers, and scarce five\nawakened persons in it.\u201d\n\nAt Aberdeen, the society was knit together in peace and love, and the\ncongregations large and deeply attentive; but, among them, were \u201cmany\nrude, stupid creatures, who knew as little of reason as of religion,\u201d\nand one of whom threw a potato at Wesley.\n\nHaving spent a month in Scotland, Wesley reached Berwick on the 18th\nof May, and proceeded to Newcastle, in the neighbourhood of which he\nemployed the next ten days.\n\nAt Sunderland, he had an interview with Elizabeth Hobson, a young\nwoman of twenty-four years of age; and took down, from her own lips,\nwhat he properly designates \u201cone of the strangest accounts that he\never read.\u201d The substance of it is to illustrate her assertion, that,\nfrom her childhood, when any of her neighbours died, she used to see\nthem, either just at the time of their decease, or a little previous.\nHe says: \u201cThe well known character of Elizabeth Hobson excludes all\nsuspicion of fraud, and the nature of the circumstances themselves\nexcludes the possibility of delusion. The reader may believe the\nnarrative if he pleases; or may disbelieve it, without any offence\nto me. Meantime, let him not be offended if I believe it, till I see\nbetter reason to the contrary.\u201d After this follow Elizabeth Hobson\u2019s\nbewildering statements.\n\nWesley has been censured and ridiculed for this credulity. Southey\nsays, \u201che invalidated his own authority by listening to the most absurd\ntales and recording them as authenticated facts.\u201d Did Wesley deserve\nthis? The reader must not forget the undeniable, though mysterious,\nsupernatural noises in the Epworth rectory. He must also bear in mind,\nthat one of the most striking features in Wesley\u2019s religious character\nwas his deep rooted, intense, powerful, and impelling conviction of\nthe dread realities of an unseen world. This great conviction took\npossession of the man; he loved it, cherished it, tried to instil it\ninto all his helpers and all his people; and, without it, he would\nnever have undertaken the Herculean labour, and endured the almost\nunparalleled opprobrium, that he did. Besides, his own justification of\nhimself is more easily sneered at than answered. He writes:--\n\n \u201cWith my latest breath, will I bear my testimony against giving up\n to infidels one great proof of the invisible world; I mean, that of\n witchcraft and apparitions, confirmed by the testimony of all ages.\n The English, in general, and, indeed, most of the men of learning\n in Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions,\n as mere old wives\u2019 fables. I am sorry for it; and I willingly take\n this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent\n compliment, which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do\n not believe it. I owe them no such service. I take knowledge, these\n are at the bottom of the outcry which has been raised, and with such\n insolence spread throughout the nation, in direct opposition not only\n to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and best of men in\n all ages and nations. They well know (whether Christians know it,\n or not) that the giving up witchcraft is, in effect, giving up the\n Bible; and they know, on the other hand, that if but one account of\n the intercourse of men with separate spirits be admitted, their whole\n castle in the air--deism, atheism, materialism--falls to the ground.\n I know no reason, therefore, why we should suffer even this weapon to\n be wrested out of our hands. Indeed, there are numerous arguments\n besides this, which abundantly confute their vain imaginations.\n But we need not be hooted out of one; neither reason nor religion\n requires this. One of the capital objections to all these accounts\n is, \u2018Did you ever see an apparition yourself?\u2019 No, nor did I ever\n see a murder; yet I believe there is such a thing. The testimony of\n unexceptionable witnesses fully convinces me both of the one and the\n other.\u201d[18]\n\nAt the same time, it is only fair to add that, though Wesley was a firm\nbeliever in witches and apparitions, he was not the fanatic which some\nhad been before him; hence, in 1769, he writes: \u201cI read Mr. Glanvill\u2019s\n\u2018Sadducismus Triumphatus;\u2019 but some of his relations I cannot receive,\nand much less his way of accounting for them. All his talk of \u2018aerial\nand astral spirits,\u2019 I take to be stark nonsense. Indeed, supposing the\nfacts true, I wonder a man of sense should attempt to account for them\nat all. For who can explain the things of the invisible world, but the\ninhabitants of it?\u201d\n\nBefore proceeding further in Wesley\u2019s history, extracts from two or\nthree of his letters, belonging to this period, may be inserted here.\n\nSeparation from the Church, and the doctrine of Christian perfection,\nwere points still far from being settled. Hence the following to his\nbrother.\n\n \u201cEDINBURGH, _May 14, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I am at my wits\u2019 end with regard to two things--the\n Church, and Christian perfection. Unless both you and I stand in the\n gap in good earnest, the Methodists will drop them both. Talking will\n not avail. We must _do_, or be borne away. Will you set shoulder to\n shoulder? If so, think deeply upon the matter, and tell me what can\n be done. \u2018_Age, vir esto! nervos intendas tuos._\u2019 Peace be with you\n and yours! Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[19]\n\nA month later, Wesley recurs to the same subject, and congratulates his\nbrother on the results of his removing to London.\n\n \u201c_June 14, 1768._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to hear, from various persons, so good\n an account of the work of God in London. You did not come thither\n without the Lord, and you find your labour is not in vain. I doubt\n not but you will see more and more fruit, while you converse chiefly\n with them that are athirst for God. I find a wonderful difference\n in myself when I am among these, and when I am among fashionable\n Methodists. On this account, the north of England suits me best,\n where so many are groaning after full redemption.\n\n \u201cBut what shall we do? I think it is high time, that you and I, at\n least, should come to a point. Shall we go on in asserting perfection\n against all the world? Or shall we quietly let it drop? We really\n must do one or the other; and, I apprehend, the sooner the better.\n What shall we jointly and explicitly maintain, and recommend to all\n our preachers, concerning the nature, the time (now or by-and-by),\n and the manner of it? instantaneous or not? I am weary of intestine\n war; of preachers quoting one of us against the other. At length, let\n us fix something for good and all, either the same as formerly, or\n different from it.--\u0395\u03c1\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03bf.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[20]\n\nDr. Erskine\u2019s attack on Wesley has been already mentioned (see Vol.\nII., p. 530). During Wesley\u2019s visit to Scotland, he sought an interview\nwith his opponent, and refers to their points of difference in the\nfollowing interesting letter to the Rev. Mr. Plendelieth, of Edinburgh.\n\n \u201c_May 23, 1768._\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--Some years ago, it was reported that I\n recommended the use of a crucifix, to a man under sentence of death.\n I traced this up to its author, Dr. Stennett, an anabaptist teacher.\n He was charged with it. He answered, \u2018Why I saw a crucifix in his\n cell (a picture of Christ on the cross), and I knew Mr. Wesley used\n to visit him, so I _supposed_ he had brought it.\u2019 This is the whole\n of the matter. Dr. Stennett himself I never saw; nor did I ever see\n such a picture in the cell; and I believe the whole tale is pure\n invention.\n\n \u201cI had, for some time, given up the thought of an interview with\n Mr. Erskine, when I fell into the company of Dr. Oswald. He said,\n \u2018Sir, you do not know Mr. Erskine. I know him perfectly well. Send\n and desire an hour\u2019s conversation with him, and I am sure he will\n understand you better.\u2019 I am glad I did send. I have done _my_ part,\n and am now entirely satisfied. I am likewise glad, that Mr. Erskine\n has spoken his mind. I will answer with all simplicity, in full\n confidence of satisfying _you_, and all impartial men.\n\n \u201cHe objects, (1) That I attack predestination as subversive of all\n religion, and yet suffer my followers, in _Scotland_, to remain in\n that opinion.\n\n \u201cMuch of this is true. I did attack predestination eight-and-twenty\n years ago; and I do not believe now any predestination which implies\n irrespective reprobation. But I do not believe, it is _necessarily\n subversive_ of all religion. I think hot disputes are much more so.\n Therefore, I never willingly dispute with any one about it; and I\n advise all my friends, not in Scotland only, but all over England\n and Ireland, to avoid all contention on the head, and let every man\n remain in his own opinion. Can any man of candour blame me for this?\n Is there anything _unfair_ or _disingenuous_ about it?\n\n \u201cHe objects, (2) That I \u2018assert the attainment of sinless perfection\n by all that are born of God.\u2019 I am sorry, that Mr. Erskine should\n affirm this again. I need give no other answer than I gave before,\n in the seventh page of the little tract I sent him two years ago.\n I do not maintain this. I do not believe it. I believe Christian\n perfection is not attained by any of the children of God, till they\n are what the apostle John terms _fathers_; and this I expressly\n declare in that sermon which Mr. Erskine so largely quotes.\n\n \u201cHe objects, (3) That I \u2018deny the imputation of Christ\u2019s active\n obedience.\u2019 Since I believed justification by faith, which I have\n done upwards of thirty years, I have constantly maintained, that we\n are pardoned and accepted wholly for the sake of what Christ hath\n both _done and suffered_ for us. Two or three years ago, Mr. Madan\u2019s\n sister showed him what she had wrote down of a sermon which I had\n preached on this subject. He entreated me to write down the whole and\n print it, saying, it would satisfy all my opponents. I was not so\n sanguine as to expect this: I understood mankind too well. However, I\n complied with his request; a few were satisfied; the rest continued\n just as they were before.\n\n \u201cAs long as Mr. Erskine continues in the mind expressed in his\n Theological Essays, there is no danger, that he and I should agree,\n any more than light and darkness. I love and reverence him; but not\n his doctrine. I dread every approach to antinomianism. I have seen\n the fruit of it, over the three kingdoms. I never said, that Mr.\n Erskine and I were agreed. I will make our disagreement as public as\n ever he pleases: only I must withal specify the particulars. If he\n _will_ fight with me, it must be on this ground; and then let him do\n what he will, and what he can.\n\n \u201cRetaining a due sense of your friendly offices, and praying for a\n blessing on all your labours, I remain, reverend and dear sir, your\n affectionate brother and servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[21]\n\nThese were mutterings before the storm,--skirmishes before the\nbattle,--a prelude to the great Calvinian controversy of 1770 and\nonwards.\n\nWe abruptly turn to another matter. Wesley was a man who believed in\nthe importance of making preparations for dying, in more respects than\none. He writes on the last day of the year 1786: \u201cFrom these words,\n\u2018Set thy house in order,\u2019 I strongly exhorted all who had not done\nit already, to settle their temporal affairs without delay. It is a\nstrange madness which still possesses many, that are in other respects\nmen of understanding, who put this off from day to day, till death\ncomes in an hour when they looked not for it.\u201d\n\nWesley acted upon his own advice. He was without money; but he had\nbooks, etc.: and to prevent quarrels after he was dead, he made more\nwills than one respecting their disposal. One executed in 1768 was, of\ncourse, different from his last, executed in 1789; and, as something\nmore than a curiosity, we subjoin a verbatim copy, made from the\noriginal in Wesley\u2019s own handwriting.\n\n \u201cIn the name of God. Amen! I, John Wesley, Clerk, revoking all other,\n appoint this to be my last Will and Testament.\n\n \u201cI bequeath to my brother Charles Wesley, (but in case of his demise\n to the School in Kingswood,) my Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French,\n and German books (except those, in any language, in the study at\n Kingswood School, which I bequeath to the said School; and those\n in my studies at Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Dublin, which I\n desire may remain there for the use of the Travelling Preachers); and\n all my gowns, cassocks, and bands. To James Morgan, I bequeath my\n watch; to my faithful Housekeeper, Ann Smith, Mrs. Lefevre\u2019s ring;\n to Mr. Peter Jaco, my bureau at London; to him, to the Rev. William\n Ley, and to each Travelling Preacher, who has them not already, a set\n of my Sermons, Appeals, Journals, the Notes on the New Testament,\n and the book on Original Sin; to the Rev. Mr. James Roquet, all my\n manuscripts; to my dear friend, Mary Bosanquet, the set of my Works;\n to my dear daughter, Jane Smith, the \u2018Christian Library,\u2019 now in my\n study at London.\n\n \u201cI bequeath all my Books, which are for sale, with the sole right of\n reprinting them, (after paying my brother\u2019s Rent Charge upon them,)\n to Mr. Melchias Teulon, Hatter, Mr. John Horton, Silkdyer, and Mr.\n John Collinson, Hatter, in Trust, the one moiety for the keeping\n the Children of Travelling Preachers at the School (to be chosen by\n the Assistants at the Yearly Conference), the other moiety for the\n continual relief of the Poor of the United Society in London. Only I\n bequeath to Christiana Simpson, at Aberdeen, the Books which shall\n remain with her, at the time of my decease.\n\n \u201cLastly, I bequeath the residue of my Books and Goods to my wife,\n Mary Wesley. And I appoint the said Melchias Teulon, John Horton, and\n John Collinson, Executors of this my last Will and Testament.\n\n \u201cWitness my hand and seal,[22] this 27th day of April, 1768,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n \u201cWitnesses:\n \u201cWILLIAM SMITH.\n \u201cTHOMAS SIMPSON.\u201d\n\nA man\u2019s will is a document in which he generally makes mention of his\nbest beloved friends. On this ground, a few notes appended to Wesley\u2019s\nwill of 1768 may be useful.\n\n1. Wesley\u2019s principal bequest, in 1768, was to Kingswood school, and to\nthe poor of the society in London. In 1789, this bequest was made to\n\u201cthe general fund of the Methodist conference, in carrying on the work\nof God by itinerant preachers.\u201d\n\n2. James Roquet was made the trustee of Wesley\u2019s manuscripts in 1768;\nbut, having died during the interim, Dr. Coke, Dr. Whitehead, and Henry\nMoore were appointed in 1789 to take his place.\n\n3. In 1768, he bequeathed all his gowns, cassocks, and bands to his\nbrother; in 1789, to the clergymen preaching in City Road chapel,\nLondon.\n\n4. In 1768, James Morgan was to have his watch; but, in 1789, James\nMorgan was dead, and Joseph Bradford got it.\n\n5. In 1768, Mrs. Martha Hall had no bequest, for her bad husband was\nthen living; in 1789, he was dead, and hence her legacy of \u00a340.\n\n6. In 1768, there was a legacy for his wife; in 1789, his wife was in\nher grave.\n\n7. Wesley makes mention of his \u201cdear daughter, Jane Smith.\u201d This lady\nwas really his wife\u2019s daughter, who was now married to Mr. William\nSmith, of Newcastle upon Tyne, one of the witnesses.\n\n8. James Roquet, to whom Wesley bequeathed his manuscripts, was the son\nof a French Protestant refugee, was educated in the Merchant Taylors\u2019\nschool in London, was converted under Whitefield\u2019s ministry, graduated\nat St. John\u2019s college, Oxford, became master in Wesley\u2019s school at\nKingswood, obtained episcopal ordination, and was now curate of St.\nWerburgh, Bristol.\n\n9. The Rev. William Ley, to whom Wesley bequeathed a set of his\npublications, was, from the year 1760 to 1763, an itinerant preacher.\nHe was then episcopally ordained, and was now the curate of Lakenheath,\nbut likely to be dismissed by the vicar, to whom his Methodistic\npreaching and procedure were offensive.[23]\n\n10. Of one of the executors of Wesley\u2019s will, John Collinson, we can\ngive no particulars.\n\n11. The second, Mr. Teulon, was born at Bromley, in 1734; and was\nsent to school at Nottingham. At fourteen, he was put apprentice to\nhis uncle, Mr. Wagner, of Pall Mall, hatter to King George II. He was\nconverted under the ministry of Romaine, joined the Methodists, and,\nin 1761, married Miss Mecham, the daughter of one of the earliest\nMethodists in London. For four years, he was Wesley\u2019s London steward,\nand was leader of a class. He was a man of some literary taste, and had\nread most of the best English authors. He died in 1806, respected and\nbeloved by all who knew him.[24]\n\n12. The third executor, John Horton, was a member of the common council\nof London, sensible, well read, serious without gloom, cheerful without\nlevity, and polite without ceremony. The unhappy differences after\nWesley\u2019s death induced him to leave the Methodists, and he went to\nreside at Bristol.[25] He retained his warm attachment, however, to\n\u201cthe _old ship_,\u201d as he was accustomed to designate Wesley\u2019s system;\nagain attended the Methodist preaching, and, only a few months before\nhis death, when his son was preparing for the university, declared to\nHenry Moore, that he would \u201crather see his son a Methodist preacher,\nthan archbishop of Canterbury.\u201d He died in peace about the year\n1802.[26]\n\nWe left Wesley at Newcastle. On the 31st of May, he set out for\nWeardale, Teesdale, and Swaledale, where he spent the next four days.\nAt Richmond, he preached in the market place, the Yorkshire militia\nforming a considerable part of his congregation,--\u201ca rude rabble rout,\nwithout sense, decency, or good manners.\u201d At Barnardcastle, the Durham\nmilitia was a perfect contrast, officers and soldiers all behaving\nwell. Wesley\u2019s visit to the \u201cdales\u201d circuit was a pleasant one. He\nwrites: \u201cI have not found so deep and lively a work in any other part\nof the kingdom as runs through the whole circuit, particularly in the\nvales that wind between these horrid mountains.\u201d\n\nReturning to Newcastle, Wesley visited South Shields, and preached to\nmore than could hear him. Here the poor Methodists were often beaten,\nrolled in the mud and in the snow, and sometimes narrowly escaped with\nlife: but, continuing faithful, God honoured them; a cockpit was turned\ninto a Methodist chapel,[27] and Methodism was firmly anchored.\n\nOn the 13th of June, Wesley left Newcastle for the south, and spent the\nnext six weeks in visiting his societies in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.\n\nThe Rev. Thomas Adam, rector of Wintringham, one of the evangelical\nclergymen of the period, has been already mentioned. Like some others,\nthis unquestionably pious man had become a determined opponent of the\nMethodists, and hence the following letter, addressed to him by Wesley.\n\n \u201cSWINFLEET, _July 19, 1768_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--One of Wintringham informed me yesterday,\n that you said no sensible and well meaning man could hear, and much\n less join, the Methodists; because they all _acted under a lie_,\n professing themselves members of the Church of England, while they\n licensed themselves as Dissenters. You are a little misinformed. The\n greater part of the Methodist preachers are not licensed at all; and\n several of them that are, are not licensed as Dissenters.\n\n \u201cWe are, in truth, so far from being enemies to the Church, rather\n bigots to it. I dare not, like Mr. Venn, leave the parish church\n where I am, to go to an Independent meeting. I dare not advise\n others to go thither, rather than to church. I advise all, over whom\n I have any influence, steadily to keep to the Church. Meantime, I\n advise them to see, that the kingdom of God is within them; that\n their hearts be full of love to God and man; and to look upon all,\n of whatever opinion, who are like minded, as their \u2018brother, and\n sister, and mother.\u2019 O sir! what art of men or devils is this,\n which makes you so studiously stand aloof from those who are thus\n minded? I cannot but say to you, as I did to Mr. Walker, \u2018The\n Methodists do not want you; but you want them.\u2019 You want the life,\n the spirit, the power, which they have; not of themselves, but by\n the free grace of God; else how could it be, that so good a man, and\n so good a preacher, should have so little fruit of his labour, his\n unwearied labour, for so many years? Have your parishioners the life\n of religion in their souls? Have they so much as the form of it?\n Are the people of Wintringham, in general, any better than those of\n Winterton, or Horton? Alas! sir, what is it that hinders your reaping\n the fruit of so much pains and so many prayers?\n\n \u201cIs it not possible this may be the very thing, your setting\n yourself against those whom God owns, by the continual conviction\n and conversion of sinners? I fear, as long as you in anywise oppose\n these, your rod will not blossom, neither will you see the desire of\n your soul, in the prosperity of the souls committed to your charge.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[28]\n\nIn his journey southwards, Wesley visited, for the second time, his\nfriend Fletcher, at Madeley,--a man, in many respects, the opposite of\nMr. Adam of Wintringham, and especially in his feelings towards the\nMethodists. So far from shunning them, or being ashamed of them, he, as\nfar as possible, identified himself with them; and, at the very last\nconference before he died, entreated Wesley to make Madeley a circuit\ntown, and to put John Fletcher down as a supernumerary preacher there.\nHe made his kitchen a Methodist chapel, in which Wesley\u2019s itinerants\nand his own curate regularly preached; while his study was the place in\nwhich were penned the ablest defences of Wesley\u2019s doctrines that were\never committed to the public press.\n\nFrom Madeley, Wesley went to Shrewsbury, where, as early as 1744,\nthere was a poor woman, who had been converted in London under the\npreaching of the Methodists, and who now obtained a living, by mending\nher neighbours\u2019 stockings. While thus employed, at their respective\nhouses, she would relate to them her religious experience, read to them\na sermon, and then engage in prayer. By this means, she had already\nformed a society of sixteen or eighteen persons; and the Rev. Job\nOrton, the well known author, a native of Shrewsbury, and at this time\nits presbyterian minister, declared that this poor stocking-mending\nMethodist was not only of \u201can excellent and serious spirit,\u201d but had\nhad more success in converting sinners than he had had by all his\npreaching.[29]\n\nLeaving Shrewsbury, Wesley rode right through Wales to Pembroke,\nwhere he \u201cread prayers, preached, and administered the sacrament to\na serious congregation at St. Daniels;\u201d and so tried to remove some\nmisunderstandings among the Methodists, that he \u201cleft the people\nfull of good desires, and in tolerable good humour with each other.\u201d\nHere Methodism had been begun seven years before, when Thomas Taylor\ntraversed mountains, forded rivers, and plunged through bogs, with an\nempty purse and an empty stomach, seeking to save sinners with a zeal\nand a spirit of self denial worthy of the noblest missionary that ever\nlived.[30]\n\nAt Neath, where the minister of the parish was just dead, the\nchurchwardens announced, that Wesley would preach in the parish church.\nHe did so, but says: \u201cI was greatly disgusted at the manner of singing.\n1. Twelve or fourteen persons kept it to themselves, and quite shut out\nthe congregation. 2. These repeated the same words, contrary to all\nsense and reason, six, or eight, or ten times over. 3. According to the\nshocking custom of modern music, different persons sung different words\nat one and the same moment; an intolerable insult on common sense, and\nutterly incompatible with any devotion.\u201d\n\nAfter more than five months of laborious travelling, Wesley came to\nBristol on Saturday the 13th of August, between eleven and twelve\no\u2019clock at night. His conference had to open two days afterwards;\nbut the first news he heard was, that his wife was dangerously ill\nin London. He had about forty-eight hours before he must meet his\npreachers, twenty-four of which were sabbatical. The distance to London\nand back again was two hundred and twenty-eight miles; the roads not\nthe best; and the mode of travelling a perfect contrast to what exists\nat present. Wesley was an aged man, of more than sixty-five; for nearly\nsix months he had been travelling and preaching incessantly, and might\nnow fairly wish for a few hours\u2019 rest. But no sooner did he hear of his\nwife\u2019s affliction, than, notwithstanding her unloving heart and life,\nhe started off to London, which, by travelling most of the sabbath day,\nhe reached at one o\u2019clock on Monday morning; when, finding that the\nfever was abated and the danger gone, he set out again within an hour,\nand, by hard driving, arrived in Bristol on Monday afternoon. Next\nmorning he opened his annual conference, and closed it the following\nFriday, exclaiming, \u201cOh! what can we do for more labourers? We can only\ncry to the Lord of the harvest.\u201d\n\nOne of the chief points discussed at the present conference was,\nwhether the itinerant preachers should be allowed to engage in trade.\nThis was a question at once delicate and difficult. In the first\nplace, many of them had wives and children, the provision for whose\nmaintenance was of the most slender kind. Secondly, the men were not\nordained, and had no clerical status whatever. So far there seemed\nto be no difficulty. But, in the third place, though not ordained,\nthe preachers were regarded by Wesley as occupying, to all practical\nintents and purposes, the same position as the regular ministers of\nthe Church of England; and, hence, he considered it as unseemly and as\nimproper for his itinerants to be engaged in trade as it would be for\nthe clergy of the Established Church. \u201cGod,\u201d says he, \u201chas called us to\nsupply their lack of service to the sheep that are without shepherds,\nand to spend and be spent therein. Every travelling preacher solemnly\nprofesses to have nothing else to do; and receives his little allowance\nfor this very end, that he may not need to do anything else,--that he\nmay not be entangled in the things of this life, but may give himself\nwholly to these things.\u201d\n\nThe result was, the few preachers who had resorted to some kind of\ntrade, for the purpose of eking out the insufficient maintenance for\ntheir families were _advised_ to give up their business as soon as\npossible, and especially _hawking drops_ (which their wives might sell\nat home), for it had \u201ca bad appearance, and did not suit the dignity of\ntheir calling.\u201d\n\nThe increase of members during the year was 430. Wesley was not\nsatisfied with this. Hence the question:\n\n \u201cIn many places the work of God seems to stand still. What can be\n done to revive and enlarge it?\u201d\n\n \u201cAnswer--1. Much good has been done by the books which have been\n published; and more would be, if they were spread more effectually.\n\n \u201c2. Let there be more field preaching; without this, the work of God\n will hardly increase in any place.\n\n \u201c3. Let the preaching at five in the morning be constantly kept\n up, wherever you can have twenty hearers. This is the glory of the\n Methodists! Whenever this is dropped, they will dwindle away into\n nothing. Rising early is equally good for soul and body. It helps\n the nerves better than a thousand medicines; and, in particular,\n preserves the sight, and prevents lowness of spirits, more than can\n be well imagined.\n\n \u201c4. As soon as there are four men or women believers in any place,\n put them into a _band_. In every place where there are bands, meet\n them constantly, and encourage them to speak without reserve.\n\n \u201c5. Be conscientiously exact in the whole Methodist discipline.\n One part of our discipline has been generally neglected, namely,\n the changing of the stewards. This has been attended with many\n ill consequences; many stewards have been ready to ride over the\n preachers head. Let every assistant, at the next quarterly meeting,\n change one steward at least, in every society, if there be therein\n any other man that can keep an account.\n\n \u201c6. Beware of _formality_ in singing, or it will creep in upon us\n unawares. Is it not creeping in already, by those complex tunes\n which it is scarce possible to sing with devotion? Such is, \u2018Praise\n the Lord, ye blessed ones!\u2019 Such the long quavering Hallelujah,\n annexed to the Morning Song tune, which I defy any man living to sing\n devoutly. The repeating the same word so often, especially while\n another repeats different words, shocks all common sense, brings in\n dead formality, and has no more of religion in it than a Lancashire\n hornpipe. Do not suffer the people to sing too slow. This naturally\n tends to formality, and is brought in by those who have very strong\n or very weak voices. Why should not the assistant see, that they be\n taught to sing in every large society?\n\n \u201c7. Let a quarterly fast be observed in all our societies.\n\n \u201c8. Which of us \u2018fasts every Friday in the year\u2019? Which of us fasts\n at all? Does not this show the present temper of our minds soft\n and unnerved? How then can we advance the work of God, though we\n may preach _loud_ and _long_ enough? Here is the root of the evil.\n Hence, the work of God droops; few are convinced, few justified, few\n of our brethren sanctified! Hence, more and more doubt if we are\n to be sanctified at all till death. That we may all speak the same\n thing, I ask once for all, \u2018Shall we defend this perfection or give\n it up\u2019? You all agree to defend it, meaning thereby, as we did from\n the beginning, salvation from all sin, by the love of God and our\n neighbour filling our heart. You are all agreed, we may be saved\n from all sin _before death_. The substance then is settled. But as\n to the circumstance, is the change instantaneous or gradual? It is\n both one and the other. But should we in preaching insist upon both\n one and the other? Certainly. But how far from entire sanctification\n are we still! The religion of the Methodists, in general, is not\n internal: at least, not deep, universal, uniform: but superficial,\n partial, uneven. And what pains do we take to make it otherwise? Do\n we visit from house to house, according to the plan laid down in\n the minutes? Only spend half the time in _this visiting_, which you\n spend in talking uselessly, and you will have time enough. Do this,\n particularly in confirming and building up believers. Then, and not\n till then, the work of the Lord will prosper in your hands. Unless,\n also, we can take care of the _rising generation_, the present\n revival of religion will be _res unius \u00e6tatis_, it will last only\n the age of a man. Spend an hour a week with the children, in every\n large town, whether you like it or not. Talk with them every time you\n see any at home. Pray in earnest for them. Diligently instruct and\n vehemently exhort all parents at their own houses. Read carefully\n the life of Mr. Brainerd. Let us be followers of him, as he was of\n Christ; in absolute self devotion, in total deadness to the world,\n and in fervent love to God and man. We want nothing but this. Then\n the world and the devil must fall under our feet. Lastly, let us keep\n to the Church. They that leave the Church leave the Methodists. The\n clergy cannot separate us from our brethren; the Dissenting ministers\n can and do. Therefore, carefully avoid whatever has a tendency to\n separate men from the Church. In particular, preaching at any hour\n which hinders them from going to it. Let every assistant look to\n this. Let all the servants in our preaching houses go to church on\n Sunday morning at least. Let every preacher likewise go always on\n Sunday morning, and, when he can, in the afternoon. God will bless\n those who go on week days too, as often as they have opportunity.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s means, then, to promote a revival of the work of God, were\na diffusion of Methodist literature, field and morning preaching,\nthe enforcement of Methodist discipline, good singing, quarterly\nfasts, the preaching of the doctrine of Christian perfection, house\nto house visitation, attention to the young, continued union with the\nEstablished Church, and, above all and more than all, more inward and\noutward religion among the preachers.\n\nBefore leaving the conference of 1768, we insert a letter, which, so\nfar as we are aware, has not before been published, except in the\n\u201cMethodist Pocket Book\u201d for 1799. It was addressed to James Morgan, one\nof Wesley\u2019s itinerant preachers, well read, and popular, but who had\nsunk into a state of nervousness, and had settled down in the city of\nDublin.\n\n \u201cST. JUST, NEAR THE LAND\u2019S END, _September 3, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JEMMY,--I have been thinking much of _you_; and why should I\n not tell you all I think, and all I fear, concerning you?\n\n \u201cI think all that you said at the conference upon the subject of the\n late debates was right. And it amounted to no more than this: \u2018the\n general rule is, they who are in the favour of God know they are so.\n But there may be some exceptions. Some may fear and love God, and yet\n not be clearly conscious of His favour; at least, they may not dare\n to affirm that their sins are forgiven.\u2019 If you put the case thus,\n I think no man in his senses will be tempted to contradict you; for\n none can doubt, but whoever loves God is in the favour of God. But is\n not this a little misstating the case? I do not conceive the question\n turned here; but you said, or was imagined to say, \u2018all penitents are\n in God\u2019s favour\u2019; or, \u2018all who mourn after God are in the favour of\n God.\u2019 And this was what many disliked; because they thought it was\n unscriptural and unsafe, as well as contrary to what _we_ had always\n taught. That this _is_ contrary to what _we_ had always taught, is\n certain; as all our hymns, as well as other writings, testify: so\n that (whether it be true or not), it is, without any question, a\n _new_ doctrine among the Methodists. We have always taught, that a\n _penitent mourned_, or was pained, on this very account, because\n he felt he was not in the favour of God, but had the wrath of God\n abiding on him. Hence we supposed the language of his heart to be,\n \u2018Lost and undone for aid I cry\u2019; and we believed he was really \u2018lost\n and undone,\u2019 till God did\n\n \u2018Peace, righteousness, and joy impart,\n And speak Himself into his heart.\u2019\n\n \u201cAnd I still apprehend this to be the scriptural doctrine, confirmed,\n not by a few detached texts, but by the whole tenor of Scripture,\n and, more particularly, of the Epistle to the Romans. But if so, the\n contrary to it must be unsafe, for that general reason, because it\n is unscriptural; to which one may add the particular reason, that it\n naturally tends to lull mourners to sleep; to make them say, \u2018Peace,\n peace\u2019 to their souls, when there is no peace.\n\n \u201cBut it may be asked, \u2018Will not this discourage mourners?\u2019 Yes, it\n will discourage them from stopping where they are; it will discourage\n them from resting, before they have the witness in themselves, before\n Christ is revealed in them. But it will _encourage_ them to seek in\n the gospel way; to ask till they receive pardon and peace. And we are\n to encourage them, not by telling them they are in the favour of God,\n though they do not know it; (such a word as this we would never utter\n in a congregation, at the peril of our souls;) but by assuring them,\n \u2018Every one that seeketh findeth, every one that asketh receiveth.\u2019\n\n \u201cI am afraid you have not been sufficiently wary in this; but\n have given occasion to them that sought occasion. But this is not\n all. I doubt you did not \u2018see God\u2019s hand in Shimei\u2019s tongue.\u2019\n \u2018Unto you it _was given_ to suffer\u2019 a little of what you extremely\n wanted,--obloquy and evil report. But you did not acknowledge either\n the gift or the Giver. You saw only T. Olivers, not God. O Jemmy, you\n do not know yourself. You cannot bear to be continually steeped in\n the esteem and praise of men. Therefore, I tremble at your stay at\n Dublin; it is the most dangerous place for _you_ under heaven! All I\n can say is, God _can_ preserve you in the fiery furnace, and I hope\n He will.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Jemmy, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nA letter has been already inserted in which Wesley congratulates his\nbrother on the reports he had received respecting the success of his\nministry in London. This was somewhat premature, for, in reality,\ninstead of there being an increase in the London circuit, there was\na decrease of seventy members; and there was a serious intention to\nabandon the chapel in Spitalfields. Hence the following letter \u201cto the\nstewards of the Foundery.\u201d\n\n \u201cPEMBROKE, _August 6, 1768_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--The thing you mention is of no small concern,\n and ought not to be determined hastily. Indeed, it would be easy\n to answer, if we considered only how to save money; but we are to\n consider also how to save souls. Now, I doubt whether we should act\n wisely in this respect were we to give up the chapel in Spitalfields.\n We have no other preaching place in or near that populous quarter\n of the town; and a quarter which, upon one account, I prefer before\n almost any other; namely, that the people in general are more simple,\n and less confused by any other preachers. I think, therefore, it\n would not be well to give up this, if we could gain a thousand pounds\n thereby. I should look upon it as selling the souls of men for money;\n which God will give us in due time without this. That many who live\n near the Foundery would be glad of it I allow, because it would\n save them trouble. But neither can I put the saving of trouble in\n competition with the saving of souls.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear brethren, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[31]\n\nPoor Spitalfields! Noble Wesley! Let the fashionable Methodists of the\npresent generation ponder such sentiments as these, and hesitate before\nthey abandon their old chapels, because surrounded by none but the\nabject and the poor, and because keeping them open involves expense and\ntrouble.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact, that almost in the very year in which\nMethodism was founded in America, it was instituted in Newfoundland.\nFor nine years, Laurence Coughlan was one of Wesley\u2019s itinerants. In\n1764, he was ordained by Erasmus, the Greek bishop, and was put away\nfrom the Methodist connexion. In 1766,[32] he was reordained by the\nBishop of London, and was sent to Newfoundland by the Society for the\nPropagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It is true, he went as a\nclergyman of the Church of England, but he took his Methodism with him,\nand established classes, in which the present Methodism of Newfoundland\nhad its origin. In a letter to Wesley, he writes:\n\n \u201cI am, and do confess myself, a Methodist. The name I love, and hope\n I ever shall. The plan which you first taught me, as to doctrine and\n discipline, I have followed. We have the sacrament once a month, and\n have about two hundred communicants. This is more than all the other\n missionaries in the land have: nor do I know of any who attend our\n sacrament, who have not the fear of God; and some are happy in His\n love. There are some also whose mouths the Lord hath opened to give a\n word of exhortation; and I hope He will raise up many more.\u201d\n\nIt would be a pleasant task to trace the steps of Mr. Coughlan in\nNewfoundland; but suffice it to remark that he returned to England, and\nshortly after, while conversing with Wesley in his study, was seized\nwith paralysis, and suddenly removed to his rest in heaven.[33]\n\nCoughlan was one of those in London, who professed to receive the\nblessing of Christian perfection; but, like many others, imbibed\nfantastic notions respecting it. Soon after the conference of 1768,\nWesley wrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cDEAR LAURENCE,--By a various train of providences you have been led\n to the very place where God intended you should be; and you have\n reason to praise Him, that He has not suffered your labour there to\n be in vain. In a short time, how little will it signify, whether we\n had lived in the Summer Islands, or beneath\n\n \u2018The rage of Arctos and eternal frost!\u2019\n\n \u201cHow soon will this dream of life be at an end! And when we are once\n landed in eternity, it will be all one, whether we spent our time on\n earth in a palace, or had not where to lay our head.\n\n \u201cYou never learned, either from my conversation, or preaching, or\n writings, that \u2018holiness consisted in a glow of joy.\u2019 I constantly\n told you quite the contrary: I told you it was the love of God and\n our neighbour; the image of God stamped on the heart; the life of\n God in the soul of man; the mind that was in Christ, enabling us to\n walk as Christ also walked. If Mr. Maxfield, or you, took it to be\n anything else, it was your own fault, not mine; and, whenever you\n waked out of that dream, you ought not to have laid the blame of it\n upon me. Perhaps you thought you had received what you had not. But\n pray do not measure all men by yourself; do not imagine you are the\n universal standard. If you deceived yourself, you should not infer\n that all others do. Many think they are justified, and are not; but\n we cannot infer, that none are justified. So neither, if many think\n they are \u2018perfected in love,\u2019 and are not, will it follow that none\n are so. Blessed be God, though we set a hundred enthusiasts aside,\n we are still \u2018encompassed with a cloud of witnesses,\u2019 who have\n testified, and do testify, in life and in death, that perfection\n which I have taught these forty years! This perfection cannot be a\n delusion, unless the Bible be a delusion too; I mean, loving God\n with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves. I pin down all\n its opposers to this definition of it. No evasion! No shifting the\n question! Where is the delusion of this? Either you received this\n love, or you did not. If you did, dare you call it a delusion? If\n you received anything else, it does not at all affect the question.\n O Laurence, if sister Coughlan and you ever did enjoy this, humble\n yourselves before God for casting it away; if you did not, God grant\n you may!\n\n \u201cYours, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[34]\n\nWesley had been incessantly travelling for nearly the last six months;\nbut no sooner were the sessions of the Bristol conference ended, than\nhe started off to Cornwall, where he spent the interval between August\n26 and September 18. On his way, he preached to a serious congregation\nat Taunton, and asks, \u201cShall we have fruit here also?\u201d Wesley might\nwell ask this. For many a long year, he had been accustomed to preach\nat Taunton, and had been received either with stupid indifference or\nactive contempt. As early as 1744, he attempted to preach in the yard\nof the Three Cups inn; but had no sooner named his text, than the mayor\ncame, in all his full blown dignity, and ordered the proclamation to be\nread, and silenced the preacher.[35] Almost a quarter of a century had\nelapsed since then; and now there was a small society, of which one of\nthe members was Thomas Dingle, who for sixty-three years was a chief\nsupporter of the Taunton society, and one of its brightest ornaments.\n\nWesley\u2019s labours in Cornwall were Herculean. Though now in the\nsixty-sixth year of his age, for eight days together he preached,\n\u201cmostly in the open air, three or four times a day,\u201d and says, \u201cI\nhardly felt any weariness, first or last.\u201d He was also not without\nadventures. At Polperro, his bedroom was filled with pilchards and\nconger eels, which made him glad to accept the offer of another. At\nPlymouth, on his return, a \u201csilly man talked without ceasing\u201d during\nthe sermon, till Wesley desired the people \u201cto open to the right and\nleft, and let him look his garrulous disturber fairly in the face,\u201d\nupon which the noisy prater \u201cpulled off his hat, and quietly went\naway.\u201d Between Charlton and Lympsham, the rivers were so swollen, that\nWesley\u2019s horse had to swim, and Wesley himself had to be taken to his\nlodgings on an \u201chonest man\u2019s shoulders.\u201d\n\nReaching Bristol on September 24, Wesley spent the next few days in\nvisiting the neighbouring towns and villages. At Frome, he found the\nliveliest society that there was in the Wiltshire circuit: a fact which\ngreatly surprised him, because the town was made up of a strange medley\n\u201cof men of all opinions,--anabaptists, quakers, presbyterians, Arians,\nantinomians, Moravians, and what not.\u201d He adds: \u201cif any hold to the\ntruth, in the midst of all these, surely the power must be of God.\u201d\n\nThe Frome Methodists, however, were not untrained recruits, but veteran\nsoldiers, who had stood the brunt of many a furious and fiery fight.\nTwenty-two years before this, Methodism had been started in their town,\nby a poor Bristol pedlar, who dealt in rags and small ware, singing to\nthe people Wesley\u2019s hymns. Since then, a vagabond barber--a tool in the\nhands of the parish priest--had dragged two Methodist women to prison.\nMrs. Seagram had been fined \u00a320 for permitting her house to be used as\na preaching place; and, not being able to pay the fine, had had all her\nstock in trade and her household goods sold by public auction, while\nshe and her two fatherless children were turned penniless out of doors.\nIn one instance, the mob rushed into the preaching room, seized the\nbenches, and made a bonfire of them. Methodism in Frome had outlived\nall this; and, despite the sectarianism of the town, it was destined\nstill to live and prosper.\n\nOn October 24, Wesley set out for London, and employed the first week\nin November in a preaching tour through the three counties of Hertford,\nBedford, and Northampton. At Hertford, a chapel had been built by Mr.\nAndrews, who afterwards, in 1777, gave to Wesley\u2019s new chapel in City\nRoad the pulpit which has been used in Methodism\u2019s cathedral from that\ntime to this.[36]\n\nThe second week in November was spent in a similar visitation of the\nsocieties in Oxfordshire. He writes: \u201cI was desired to preach at\nOxford. The room was throughly filled, and not with curious, but deeply\nserious hearers. Many of these desired, that our travelling preachers\nwould take them in their turn; with which I willingly complied.\u201d Oxford\nhad been Methodism\u2019s cradle, but the infant had long been absent.\nHenceforth, Methodism was one of Oxford\u2019s institutions; though, for\nlong, long years, it was a thing of feebleness and of small dimensions.\nThe \u201cOxfordshire\u201d circuit extended over the greater part of Berkshire,\nWiltshire, and Buckinghamshire; and, even as late as 1787, there were\nthroughout the circuit only four Methodist chapels, namely, at Oxford,\nWycombe, Wallingford, and Witney. At Aylesbury, the Methodists preached\nin the baptists\u2019 chapel; at Newbury, in an ironfounder\u2019s shop; and at\nall the other places, in private houses. The small chapel in Oxford\nwas in New-Inn-Hall Lane;[37] and the Oxford home of the two unmarried\npreachers, Joseph Entwisle and Richard Reece, was a garret in the house\nof a journeyman shoemaker, for which the society paid sixpence a week\nas rent; and which had to serve them as dining room, sitting room,\nbedroom, and study,[38] all in one.\n\nThe third week in November was occupied in meeting the London classes;\nand the fourth in a tour in Kent. The rest of the year was chiefly\nspent in town.\n\nWesley was fervent, but not fanatical; he loved earnestness in\nreligious worship, but not disorder. Hence the following letter to Mr.\nMerryweather, of Yarm.\n\n \u201cLEWISHAM, _December 10, 1768_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--The matter is short: all things in Divine worship\n must \u2018be done decently and in order.\u2019 Two must never pray at the\n same time, nor one interrupt another. Either Alice Brammah must take\n advice, or the society must be warned to keep away from her. These\n are the very things which were the beginning of poor George Bell\u2019s\n fall.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n JOHN WESLEY.\u201d[39]\n\nWe have already seen that, by an enormous effort, in the month of\nAugust, Wesley hurried from Bristol to London to visit his afflicted\nwife. On his return he wrote her as follows.\n\n \u201cMY LOVE,--I can make allowance for faintness, and weakness, and\n pain. I remember when it was my own case, at this very place, and\n when you spared no pains in nursing and waiting upon me, till\n it pleased God to make you the chief instrument in restoring my\n strength. I am glad you have the advice of a skilful physician; but\n you must not be surprised or discouraged if you do not recover your\n strength so soon as one might wish, especially at this time of the\n year. What is chiefly to be desired is, that God may sanctify all His\n dispensations to you, and that all may be the means of your being\n more entirely devoted to Him, whose favour is better than strength,\n or health, or life itself.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Molly, your ever affectionate husband,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nNo sooner was Wesley\u2019s wife convalescent, than, instead of waiting to\nwelcome him to his home in London, she, in one of her insane piques,\ntook her departure to Newcastle. The following letter to his brother\nrefers to this, and also to his preparing an edition of Young\u2019s \u201cNight\nThoughts,\u201d and to other matters.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 17, 1768_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I thank you for your reproof. There is reason in what\n you say. If there was not evil, there was the appearance of evil.\n\n \u201cMatters have not been well carried on at Liverpool; but \u2018what cannot\n be cured must be endured.\u2019\n\n \u201cWhy, you simpleton, you are cutting me out a month\u2019s work. Nay, but\n I have no leisure nor inclination to write a book. I intend only: (1)\n to leave out what I most dislike; (2) to mark what I most approve of;\n (3) to prefix a short preface. And I shall run the hazard of printing\n it at Bristol. There you yourself can read the proof sheets.\n\n \u201cYou do well with regard to my sister Emily. What farther is wanting\n I will supply. I hear nothing from our friend at Newcastle. I am now\n a mere fellow of a college again. Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[40]\n\nWesley was still troubled on account of the chapel debts. Nearly \u00a36000\nhad been contributed; but there was still a debt of \u00a37728 upon the\nchapels in the United Kingdom undefrayed.[41] This gave rise to the\nfollowing letter.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December, 1768_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Last year, Mr. H---- was much persuaded that, by\n means of the yearly subscription, our whole debt of above \u00a311,000\n would be paid within two years. Many of our brethren were more\n sanguine still. They were persuaded that, by generously exerting\n themselves, and giving a large sum at once, it would be paid in one\n year. I did not expect this; but I would not contradict, because I\n would not discourage them. The event was as I foresaw. By the noble\n effort which many of our brethren made, most of the pressing debts\n are already discharged, amounting in the whole to near \u00a37000. But\n a debt of about \u00a37000 remains upon us still. What can be done with\n regard to this? I will tell you what occurs to my mind. Many of our\n brethren chose to subscribe yearly ten, five, three, two guineas, or\n less. I doubt not but these will cheerfully pay the residue of their\n subscription, and perhaps some of them will add a little thereto,\n as they see the great occasion there is for it. A few delayed\n subscribing, because they wanted to see the event; supposing the\n design to be impracticable, and that \u2018nothing good would come out\n of it,\u2019 As it now appears that great good has come out of it, that\n many burdens are already removed, I cannot but earnestly exhort all\n these now to set their shoulders to the work. Now, at least, let them\n exert themselves, for my sake, for the gospel\u2019s sake, and for the\n sake of their still afflicted brethren, who groan under a load which\n they cannot well bear, and yet cannot remove without our assistance.\n Several generously contributed at once, in hope of paying the whole\n debt. Of them nothing more can be required, but their prayers that\n others may be as openhearted as themselves. Nevertheless, if of their\n own free goodwill they see good to add a little to their former\n benefactions--this, as well as the former, is lent unto the Lord, and\n what they lay out shall be paid them again. Ought I not to add, that\n there were some of our brethren who did not answer my expectation? I\n knew they were able to assist largely; and I flattered myself they\n were not less willing than able, as they owed me their own souls\n also, and this was the first favour of the kind which I had requested\n of them. Let me be excused from saying any more of what is past. Let\n them now drop all excuses and objections, and show they love me and\n their brethren, and the work of God, not in word only, but in deed\n and in truth. Let me have joy over you, my brethren, in particular.\n You have a measure of this world\u2019s goods, and you see your brother\n hath need. I have need of your help, inasmuch as the burdens of my\n brethren are my own. Do not pass by on the other side; but come and\n help as God has enabled you. Do all you can to lighten the labour,\n and strengthen the hands, of your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[42]\n\nWesley was a great reader, as well as a great writer; and, during the\nyear 1768, his journal is enriched with an unusual number of his\ncritical remarks. A few may be given as specimens of others.\n\n \u201cJanuary 11.--This week I spent my scraps of time in reading Mr.\n Wodrow\u2019s \u2018History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland.\u2019 It\n would transcend belief, but that the vouchers are too authentic\n to admit of any exception. O what a blessed governor was that\n goodnatured man, so called, King Charles the Second! Bloody Queen\n Mary was a lamb, a mere dove, in comparison of him!\u201d\n\n \u201cApril 29.--I read over an extremely sensible book, but one that\n surprised me much: \u2018An Inquiry into the Proofs of the Charges\n commonly advanced against Mary Queen of Scotland.\u2019 By means of\n original papers, the author has made it clear: (1) That she was\n altogether innocent of the murder of Lord Darnley, and no way privy\n to it. (2) That she married Lord Bothwell (then near seventy years\n old, herself but four-and-twenty), from the pressing instance of\n the nobility in a body, who, at the same time, assured her he\n was innocent of the king\u2019s murder. (3) That Murray, Morton, and\n Lethington, themselves contrived that murder, in order to charge it\n upon her; as well as forged those vile letters and sonnets which they\n palmed upon the world for hers. \u2018But how then can we account for the\n quite contrary story, which has been almost universally received?\u2019\n Most easily. It was penned and published in French, English, and\n Latin, (by Queen Elizabeth\u2019s order,) by George Buchanan, who was\n secretary to Lord Murray and in Queen Elizabeth\u2019s pay; so he was sure\n to throw dirt enough. Nor was she at liberty to answer for herself.\n \u2018But what then was Queen Elizabeth?\u2019 As just and merciful as Nero,\n and as good a Christian as Mahomet.\u201d\n\n \u201cMay 20.--I went on reading that fine book, Bishop Butler\u2019s\n \u2018Analogy.\u2019 But I doubt it is too hard for most of those for whom\n it is chiefly intended. Freethinkers, so called, are seldom close\n thinkers. They will not be at the pains of reading such a book as\n this. One that would profit them must dilute his sense, or they will\n neither swallow nor digest it.\u201d\n\n \u201cNovember 19.--I read Dr. Nowell\u2019s answer to Mr. Hill, concerning the\n expulsion of the students at Oxford. He has said all that could be\n said for that stretch of power; and he says quite enough, to clear\n the Church of England from the charge of predestination: a doctrine\n which he proves to be utterly inconsistent with the Common Prayer,\n the Communion Service, the Office of Baptism, the articles, the\n homilies, and the other writings of those that compiled them.\u201d\n\nThe last extract refers to a matter too nearly allied to Methodism to\nbe passed without further notice.\n\n \u201cOn the 12th of March, 1768, six students belonging to Edmund hall,\n Oxford, were expelled the university, for holding Methodistical\n tenets, and taking upon them to pray, read or expound the Scriptures,\n and sing hymns in private houses. The principal of the hall, Dr.\n Dixon, defended their doctrines from the thirty-nine articles of the\n Established Church, and spoke in the highest terms of their piety and\n the exemplariness of their lives; but sentence was pronounced against\n them. Dr. Nowell, one of the heads of houses present, observed, that\n as these six gentlemen were expelled for having too much religion, it\n would be very proper to inquire into the conduct of some who had too\n little.\u201d[43]\n\nThe expelled students were Benjamin Kay, Thomas Jones, Thomas Grove,\nErasmus Middleton, Joseph Shipman, and James Mathews. The junta\nof expellers were Drs. Durell, Randolph, Fothergill, Nowell, and\nAtterbury.[44] The charges brought against the young culprits were:\n1. That they had held or frequented illicit conventicles, where some\nof them, though not in orders, had preached and prayed extempore,\nparticularly in the house of a staymaker, a woman who herself\nofficiated and taught. 2. That some of them had been bred up to the\nlowest trades and occupations, for one had been a weaver and kept a\ntaphouse, a second had been a barber, a third a draper; and further\nall were wholly illiterate, and incapable of performing the statutable\nexercises of the university; and were maintained at the charge of\npersons suspected of enthusiasm. 3. That they were attached to the\nsect called Methodists, and held their doctrines, namely, \u201cthat faith\nwithout works is sufficient for salvation; that there is no necessity\nfor good works; that the immediate impulse of the Spirit is to be\nwaited for; that once a child of God always a child of God; and the\nlike.\u201d 4. That one of them, before his entrance into the university,\nhad preached, and, in defiance of his father\u2019s authority, had connected\nhimself with the Methodists. 5. That some of them had behaved very\nirreverently and disrespectfully to their tutor, and had industriously\nsought to cavil with and to vex him.[45]\n\nIt is right to add, that none of these young men had been connected\nwith Wesley. Mr. Jones, the barber, had, for some time resided,\nwith the Rev. John Newton, and, under his instruction, had made\nconsiderable progress in the Greek and Hebrew languages. Mr. Kay was of\na respectable family, and an excellent scholar, and had an exhibition\npaid by the Ironmongers\u2019 Company. Mr. Mathews had been instructed\nby Fletcher of Madeley. Mr. Middleton had been under the tutelage of\nthe Rev. Thomas Haweis. Of Mr. Grove and Mr. Shipman we know nothing,\nexcept that the latter, after his expulsion, was admitted to the\ncollege of the Countess of Huntingdon, at Trevecca.\n\nThis act of Oxford tyranny, as might be expected, created great\ncommotion; and numbers of tracts and pamphlets, _pro_ and _con_,\nwere published. Among others, Whitefield rushed into the battle,\nin a \u201cLetter to the Rev. Dr. Durell,\u201d 8vo, 50 pages, and defended\nthe expelled with great vigour and effect; as also did Dr. Horne,\nafterwards bishop of Norwich. Macgowan published his \u201cShaver,\u201d in\nwhich he shaved the collegiate rulers with no gentle hand, and, in the\nprocess, must have made them smart. Sir Richard Hill, a young man of\nthirty-six, who for some time past had been using his utmost endeavours\nto improve Oxford morality, issued his \u201cPietas Oxoniensis,\u201d 8vo, 85\npages, in which he belaboured the junta with unsparing severity.\nSeveral replies were written in justification of the Oxford bull; and,\nafter an immense expenditure of time, and not a little display of\nangry temper, this execrable act of the Oxford authorities was allowed\nto repose in silence. It is a fact, however, far too serious to be\nforgotten, that while Oxford university, in past days, has tolerated in\nits students the most notorious wickedness, and while, at the present\nday, it tolerates German scepticism and Romish heresy, it once, in one\nof its paroxysms of pious zeal, ignominiously expelled six young men,\nwhose only crimes were, that some of them had been ignobly bred, and\nall had sung, and prayed, and read the Scriptures in private houses.\n\nThe Countess of Huntingdon was accused of maintaining some or all of\nthese young students at the Oxford university; and perhaps there was a\nmodicum of truth in this. Be that as it may, she soon made her young\npreachers independent of Oxford help. Trevecca House, in the parish of\nTalgarth, in Wales, was an ancient structure, supposed to have been\nerected about the year 1176. This building the countess opened as a\ncollege, five months after the expulsions just mentioned,--on the 24th\nof August, 1768, the anniversary of her ladyship\u2019s birthday. Whitefield\npreached at the opening; Fletcher was made the president; and, for\na few months, Mr. Easterbrook the head master; when Joseph Benson\nwas appointed his successor. Of course, Fletcher was not expected to\nrelinquish his charge at Madeley; but he was to attend the college\nat Trevecca as often as he conveniently could; to give advice, with\nregard to the appointment of masters, and the admission or exclusion\nof students; to oversee their studies and conduct; to assist their\npiety; and to judge of their qualifications for the ministry.[46] As\nis well known, both Fletcher and Benson soon retired, because of the\ndoctrinal differences that sprang up; but Trevecca was still used as\na seminary for the training of Calvinistic ministers, till 1792, when\nthe institution was removed to Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire. Wesley from\nthe beginning was in doubt of it, though, perhaps, without reason.\nIn a letter to his brother, dated \u201cMay 19, 1768,\u201d he writes: \u201cI am\nglad Mr. Fletcher has been with you. But if the tutor fails, what\nwill become of our college at Trevecca? Did you ever see anything\nmore queer than their plan of institution? Pray who penned it, man or\nwoman? I am afraid the visitor too will fail.\u201d[47] Was there a tinge of\njealousy in this? We know not. Troubles, it is true, soon sprung up;\nbut the countess made Trevecca her principal place of residence; and\nwithin its walls were trained a noble band of earnest, laborious, and\nuseful ministers. The old building is now the residence of a Celtic\nfarmer.[48] _O tempora! O mores!_\n\nExcepting the hubbub arising out of the Oxford expulsions, there was\nnot much, in 1768, that was antagonistic to the Methodist movement.\nA small, paltry pamphlet was published, with the title, \u201cEnthusiasm\nReprehended. Three Letters to Mr. John Wesley. With Strictures on his\nCharacter, the Reception he met with at Perth, and his Conduct on that\noccasion.\u201d A 12mo volume, of 212 pages, was also issued, entitled\n\u201cSermons to Asses\u201d; and was dedicated to Whitefield, Wesley, Romaine,\nand Madan. Besides these, an eighteenpenny poem was published, entitled\n\u201cThe Hypocrite: a comedy;\u201d in which the writer tries to turn Cibber\u2019s\nsatire on disloyalty into a castigation of enthusiasm.\n\nWesley\u2019s publications also were fewer than usual, and hardly any of\nthem original. The following belong to this period.\n\n1. \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Dr. Rutherforth.\u201d This has been already\nnoticed in a previous chapter.\n\n2. \u201cA Caution to False Prophets: a Sermon on Matthew vii. 15-20.\nParticularly recommended to the people called Methodists.\u201d 12mo, 12\npages. In this sermon, Wesley discusses a point which he confesses\nhad puzzled him for many years, namely, whether it is right to hear\na minister who is either immoral, or who preaches false doctrine. He\nstill hesitates to pronounce an opinion, and recommends those who were\nin doubt to \u201cwait upon God in prayer, and then act according to the\nbest light they had.\u201d\n\n3. \u201cInstructions for Members of Religious Societies. Translated from\nthe French.\u201d Under the date of February 26, 1768, Wesley writes: \u201cI\ntranslated from the French one of the most useful tracts I ever saw,\nfor those who desire to be \u2018fervent in spirit.\u2019 How little does God\nregard men\u2019s opinions! What a multitude of wrong opinions are embraced\nby all the members of the Church of Rome! Yet how highly favoured have\nmany of them been!\u201d\n\n4. \u201cAn Extract from the Rev. Mr. Law\u2019s Later Works.\u201d Two vols., 12mo,\n251 and 204 pages. About a quarter of a century before this, Wesley\nhad published an extract from Law\u2019s \u201cChristian Perfection\u201d; an extract\nfrom his \u201cSerious Call\u201d; and an extract from his \u201cSerious Answer to\nDr. Trapp.\u201d He now published similar extracts from Law\u2019s answer to\n\u201cChristianity as old as Creation,\u201d his \u201cSpirit of Prayer,\u201d his \u201cSpirit\nof Love,\u201d his \u201cLetters,\u201d and his \u201cAddress to the Clergy.\u201d\n\n5. \u201cAn Extract of the Life of the late Rev. David Brainerd.\u201d 12mo, 274\npages. Just at the time when Methodism was extending its mission to\nAmerica and Newfoundland, Wesley issued his life of one of the most\ndevoted missionaries that ever lived: a young man who died before he\narrived at the age of thirty; but whose piety, for depth and fervour,\nhas seldom been excelled; and whose four years\u2019 mission among the\nDelaware and other Indians, from 1743 to 1747, would warm the heart and\nimprove the character of all candidates for missionary work.\n\nBesides the above, another publication belongs to the year 1768,--\u201cFree\nThoughts on the Present State of Public Affairs,\u201d 12mo, 47 pages.\nThis, strictly speaking, was Wesley\u2019s first political pamphlet. At\nthe general election of 1768, John Wilkes, at the time an outlaw, was\nreturned to parliament by the county of Middlesex; and, shortly after,\nwas arrested and committed to the King\u2019s Bench prison. For nearly a\nfortnight, crowds collected outside the prison walls, and soldiers were\nsent to protect the place. A riot followed; the soldiers fired; six of\nthe rioters were killed, and fourteen badly wounded; and the exploit\ngot the name of the \u201cMassacre of St. George\u2019s Fields.\u201d For months,\nWilkes\u2019s business occupied the attention of court and cabinet; when\nthe wretched demagogue was sentenced to pay a fine of \u00a31000, to be\nimprisoned for two-and-twenty months, and afterwards to find security\nfor good behaviour for seven years. While in prison, he was at the\nzenith of his fame; subscriptions were opened for the payment of his\ndebts; and his likenesses were so multiplied, that portraits of him\nsquinted from the signboards of half the public houses in the kingdom.\n\nIt was in the midst of such a state of things, that Wesley wrote\nthe pamphlet already mentioned. He admits that, though \u201ccobblers,\ntinkers, porters, and hackney coachmen\u201d think themselves wise enough\n\u201cto instruct both the king and his council,\u201d he himself is \u201cnot so\ndeeply learned. Politics were beyond his province; but he would use the\nprivilege of an Englishman to speak his naked thoughts.\u201d \u201cI have,\u201d he\nwrites, \u201cno bias, one way or the other. I have no interest depending.\nI want no man\u2019s favour, having no hopes, no fears, from any man.\u201d\nHe then proceeds to defend the character of the king; and maintains\nthat, as an outlaw, Wilkes was incapacitated to take a seat in the\nHouse of Commons. \u201cEncumbered with no religion, and disappointed in\nhis application for place and power, Wilkes had set up for patriot,\nvehemently inveighed against evil counsellors and grievances, and was\npaid in French _louis d\u2019or_ for his agitative services.\u201d Wesley then\nexpresses the opinion that, \u201csupposing things to take their natural\ncourse, they must go from bad to worse; the land will become a field of\nblood; and many thousands of poor Englishmen will sheathe their swords\nin each other\u2019s bowels, for the diversion of their good neighbours.\nThen, either a commonwealth will ensue, or else a second Cromwell. One\nmust be; but it cannot be determined which,--King Wilkes, or King Mob.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] C. Wesley\u2019s Life, vol. ii., p. 242.\n\n [2] _Methodist Magazine_, 1783, p. 684.\n\n [3] _Methodist Magazine_, 1857, p. 616.\n\n [4] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. i., p.\n 17.\n\n [5] Ibid. vol. ii., p. 427.\n\n [6] _Methodist Magazine_, 1857, p. 693.\n\n [7] Manuscript letter.\n\n [8] The meaning of this is, that, at least, \u00a3500 of what\n the Methodists have always technically designated \u201cThe\n Yearly Collection,\u201d was, at this period, employed in\n paying chapel debts. Except that for Kingswood school,\n this was the only connexional collection that Wesley\n had; and he strongly insisted that _every_ Methodist\n should render it support. In an _unpublished_ letter,\n addressed to Matthew Lowes, and dated March 11, 1762,\n Wesley writes: \u201cIn the enclosed papers, (which you\n may read in every society, just before you meet the\n classes,) you will see the design of the general yearly\n collection, to which _every_ Methodist in England is to\n contribute something. If there is any who cannot give a\n halfpenny a year, another will give it for him.\u201d\n\n [9] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 126.\n\n [10] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, 1751, p. 179.\n\n [11] Myles\u2019s History.\n\n [12] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 122; and 1829, p. 585.\n\n [13] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, 1763, p. 463.\n\n [14] Burslem old circuit book.\n\n [15] Manuscript.\n\n [16] _Methodist Magazine_, 1812, p. 534; and 1843, p. 89.\n\n [17] Liverpool old society book.\n\n [18] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiv., p. 276.\n\n [19] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 126.\n\n [20] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 126. All this confusion\n arose chiefly out of the half insane ravings of Bell\n and his friends in 1762. In a long, unpublished\n letter, dated September 29, 1764, Wesley writes: \u201cI\n never staggered at all at the reveries of George\n Bell. I saw instantly, at the beginning and from the\n beginning, what was right and what was wrong; but I\n saw withal, \u2018I have many things to speak, but you\n cannot bear them now.\u2019 Hence, many imagined I was\n _imposed_ upon; and applauded themselves in their\n greater perspicacity; as they do at this day. \u2018But if\n you knew it,\u2019 says his friend to Gregory Lopez, \u2018why\n did you not tell me?\u2019 I answer with him, \u2018I do not\n speak all I know, but what I judge needful.\u2019 Still,\n I am persuaded, there is no state under heaven from\n which it is not possible to fall.\u201d\n\n [21] _Methodist Magazine_, 1783, p. 681.\n\n [22] Wesley\u2019s seal is a dove, having in its mouth an olive\n branch, and surrounded with the words \u201cNuncia Pacis.\u201d\n\n [23] _Methodist Magazine_, 1805, p. 277.\n\n [24] Ibid. 1808, p. 297.\n\n [25] _Theological Magazine_, 1802, p. 39.\n\n [26] _Methodist Magazine_, 1803, p. 215.\n\n [27] _Methodist Magazine_, 1813, p. 441.\n\n [28] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iii., p. 320.\n\n [29] _Methodist Magazine_, 1815, p. 459.\n\n [30] Taylor\u2019s \u201cRedeeming Grace.\u201d\n\n [31] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 359.\n\n [32] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 491.\n\n [33] Atmore\u2019s \u201cMemorial\u201d; and _Methodist Magazine_, 1851,\n p. 869.\n\n [34] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iii., p. 324.\n\n [35] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, 1744, p. 51.\n\n [36] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 454.\n\n [37] _Wesleyan Times_, June 19, 1849.\n\n [38] Entwisle\u2019s Memoir, p. 31.\n\n [39] _Methodist Magazine_, 1826, p. 464.\n\n [40] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 127.\n\n [41] Minutes of Conference.\n\n [42] A manuscript circular, signed by Wesley himself.\n\n [43] _London Magazine_, 1768, p. 125.\n\n [44] Philip\u2019s Life of Whitefield, p. 492.\n\n [45] _London Magazine_, 1768, p. 214.\n\n [46] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 281.\n\n [47] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 126.\n\n [48] \u201cLife and Times of Howel Harris,\u201d p. 246.\n\n\n\n\n 1769.\n Age 66\n\n\nTerrible was the political excitement at the commencement of 1769. It\nwas now, that the first of the celebrated letters of \u201cJunius\u201d appeared\nin the columns of the _Public Advertiser_. These withering invectives\nbecame, to a great extent, the political textbook of the nation. For\nyears past, Ireland also had been turbulent, split into factions,\nand overrun by hordes of Levellers and Whiteboys, Oakboys and Hearts\nof Steel, all bound together by secret oaths, and a detestation of\npaying tithes. The kingdom was full of wicked wits and scoffers; and\njokes, repartees, _bonmots_, and sarcasms, none of them distinguished\nfor their loyalty, began to spice a large number of the newspapers,\nperiodicals, and pamphlets of the period. Never was Methodism more\ngreatly needed than now.\n\nWhitefield\u2019s work in England was nearly ended. He and Wesley were still\nunited in bonds of ardent friendship. The latter writes: \u201cJanuary 9,\n1769--I spent a comfortable and profitable hour with Mr. Whitefield,\nin calling to mind the former times, and the manner wherein God\nprepared us for a work which it had not then entered into our hearts to\nconceive.\u201d On the day following, Wesley preached in the house of the\nCountess of Huntingdon, in Portland Row, and Whitefield administered\nthe sacrament.[49] And seven weeks later, Wesley wrote again: \u201cFebruary\n27--I had one more agreeable conversation with my old friend and\nfellow labourer, George Whitefield. His soul appeared to be vigorous\nstill, but his body was sinking apace; and, unless God interposes with\nHis mighty hand, he must soon finish his labours.\u201d For six months\nmore, Whitefield rambled over England, preaching three or four times\nevery week, and exclaiming, as though his youthful zest was unabated,\n\u201cField preaching, field preaching for ever.\u201d[50] At the beginning\nof September, he embarked for Georgia, and addressed to Wesley the\nfollowing farewell letter.\n\n \u201cTHE DOWNS, ON BOARD THE _Friendship_, Captain Ball,\n _September 12, 1769_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND VERY DEAR SIR,--What hath God wrought _for_ us, _in_\n us, _by_ us! I sailed out of these Downs almost thirty-three years\n ago! Oh the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of Thy love,\n O God! Surely it passeth knowledge. Help, help, O heavenly Father,\n to adore what we cannot fully comprehend! I am glad to hear, that\n you had such a pentecost season at the college; one would hope, that\n these are earnests of good things to come, and that our Lord will not\n yet remove His candlestick from among us. Duty is ours. Future things\n belong to Him, who always did, and always will order all things well.\n\n \u2018Leave to His sovereign sway,\n To choose and to command;\n So shall we wondering own His way,\n How wise, how strong His hand.\u2019\n\n \u201cMutual Christian love will not permit you, and those in connection\n with you, to forget a willing pilgrim, going now across the Atlantic\n for the thirteenth time. At present, I am kept from staggering;\n being fully persuaded, that the voyage will be for the Redeemer\u2019s\n glory, and the welfare of precious and immortal souls. Oh to be kept\n from flagging in the latter stages of our road! _Ipse, Deo volente,\n sequar, etsi non passibus \u00e6quis._ Cordial love and respect await\n your brother, and all that are so kind as to inquire after, and be\n concerned for,\n\n \u201cReverend and very dear sir,\n \u201cLess than the least of all,\n\n \u201cGEORGE WHITEFIELD.\u201d[51]\n\nThus the old friends parted, not to meet again, till they met in\nheaven. Twelve months afterwards, the great orator was dead.\n\nWesley spent the month of January in meeting the London classes, and\nin a visit to Sheerness and Chatham. In February, he made a tour to\nNorfolk; and, on the 6th of March, set out for Ireland, and arrived in\nDublin on the 22nd. Here we pause, to insert two of his letters to two\nof his female correspondents. The first was addressed to Lady Maxwell,\nand refers to a subject of some interest, though one on which opinions\nwill differ.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _March 3, 1769_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--I have heard my mother say, \u2018I have frequently been\n as fully assured, that my father\u2019s spirit was with me, as if I\n had seen him with my eyes.\u2019 But she did not explain herself any\n further. I have myself many times found, on a sudden, so lively an\n apprehension of a deceased friend, that I have sometimes turned\n about to look; at the same time, I have felt an uncommon affection\n for them. But I never had anything of this kind with regard to any\n but those that died in faith. In dreams, I have had exceeding lively\n conversations with them; and I doubt not but they were then very near.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear lady, your ever affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[52]\n\nThe next was addressed to Sarah Crosby, the female preacher.\n\n \u201cCHESTER, _March 18, 1769_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--The westerly winds detain me here. When I am in\n Ireland, you have only to direct to Dublin, and the letter will find\n me.\n\n \u201cI advise you, as I did Grace Walton formerly--1. Pray in private or\n public as much as you can. 2. Even in public, you may properly enough\n intermix short exhortations with prayer; but keep as far from what\n is called preaching as you can; therefore, never take a text; never\n speak in a continued discourse, without some break, above four or\n five minutes. Tell the people, \u2018We shall have another prayermeeting\n at such a time and place.\u2019 If Hannah Harrison had followed these few\n directions, she might have been as useful now as ever.\n\n \u201cAs soon as you have time, write more particularly and\n circumstantially; and let sister Bosanquet do the same. There is now\n no hindrance in the way; nothing to hinder you speaking as freely as\n you please to, dear Sally, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[53]\n\nTrouble awaited Wesley in Dublin. James Morgan and Thomas Olivers had\nquarrelled,[54] and the society had suffered loss. Besides this, says\nWesley, \u201cI was summoned, by a poor creature who fed my horse three\nor four times while I was on board. For this service he demanded ten\nshillings. I gave him half-a-crown. When I informed the court of this,\nhe was sharply reproved. Let all beware of these land sharks on our sea\ncoasts!\u201d\n\nOn the 3rd of April, Wesley left Dublin for the provinces. At Armagh,\nfor the first time in his life, he preached in a stable. At Kinnard,\nhe met an old acquaintance, Archdeacon C----e, and, at his request,\nopened a new church, which had just been built. At Londonderry, he had,\nwhat he calls, \u201ca brilliant congregation,\u201d but says: \u201cSuch a sight\ngives me no great pleasure; as I have very little hope of doing them\ngood: only \u2018with God all things are possible.\u2019 In no other place in\nIreland has more pains been taken by the most able of our preachers.\nAnd to how little purpose! Bands they have none: four-and-forty persons\nin society! The greater part of these heartless and cold. The audience\nin general dead as stones.\u201d At Manorhamilton, \u201call behaved well,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cbut one young gentlewoman, who laughed almost incessantly.\nShe knew there was nothing to laugh at; but she thought she laughed\nprettily.\u201d At Cork, the society had been gradually decreasing for seven\nyears, until now the number of members was reduced from 400 to 190. At\nPortarlington, the society once had a hundred and thirty members; now\nit had only twenty-four.\n\nFourteen weeks were spent in traversing all parts of Ireland. In\nsome places, there was declension and great discouragement; in many,\nWesley\u2019s ministry was accompanied with amazing power; in none, did he\nmeet with brutal persecution. Occasionally a giddy girl would laugh,\nor an empty headed man would sneer; but the days of sticks and stones\nwere over. Wesley returned to Dublin on the 15th of July; met his Irish\npreachers in conference; and then, on July 24, embarked for England;\nhaving to open his English conference at Leeds on August 1. Before\nreviewing its proceedings, some further extracts must be given from his\ncorrespondence.\n\nThe first letter is remarkable. We have scarcely met with another\nlike it. The fastidious may object to some of its expressions; but\nit must be remembered that, though Wesley always employed plainness\nof speech, he rarely employed coarseness. Besides, desperate cases\nrequire desperate remedies. In this instance, ordinary language, in\nall likelihood, would have been useless. The Irish Methodists were far\nfrom faultless; and Hugh Saunderson, to whom the letter was addressed,\nand who had just commenced his itinerancy in the Armagh circuit, was\nfar from being a model of perfection. More than once had Wesley to\nremonstrate with him for his irregularities; and, in 1777, had to expel\nhim. On one occasion, in 1774, Wesley himself was actually arrested on\naccount of Saunderson\u2019s peccant conduct. The charge was, that the man\nhad robbed his wife \u201cof \u00a3100 in money, and upwards of \u00a330 in goods; and\nhad, beside that, terrified her into madness; so that, through want of\nher help, and the loss of business,\u201d the prosecutor, George Sutherland,\n\u201cwas damaged \u00a3500.\u201d It was farther alleged, that Saunderson was one\nof Wesley\u2019s preachers, and that the two, to evade Mrs. Saunderson\u2019s\npursuit, were preparing to fly the country. On such a pretext Wesley\nwas actually arrested, and taken to the Edinburgh Tolbooth, where he\nhad to wait till his friends gave bail for his appearance. This was\ndone; the case was tried; and Mr. Sutherland, the prosecutor, was\nfined \u00a31000. Of Saunderson\u2019s guilt we know nothing; but, three years\nafterwards, Wesley expelled him from his connexion; and the man first\nset up at Edinburgh, and then divided the society at Exeter, where he\n\u201cpitched his standard and declared open war.\u201d[55] Such was the culprit\nto whom Wesley sent the letter following.\n\n \u201c_April 24, 1769._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I shall now tell you the things which have been more\n or less upon my mind, ever since I have been in the north of Ireland.\n If you forget them, you will be a sufferer, and so will the people;\n if you observe them, it will be for the good of both.\n\n \u201c1. To begin with little things. If you regard your health, touch no\n supper, but a little milk or water gruel. This will entirely, by the\n blessing of God, secure you from nervous disorders; especially, if\n you rise early every morning, whether you preach or no.\n\n \u201c2. Be steadily serious. There is no country upon earth where this is\n more necessary than Ireland; as you generally are encompassed with\n those who, with a little encouragement, would laugh or trifle from\n morning to night.\n\n \u201c3. In every town, visit all you can from house to house. I say\n all you can; for there will be some whom you cannot visit; and if\n you examine, instruct, reprove, exhort, as need requires, you will\n have no time hanging on your hands. It is by this means, that the\n societies are increased wherever T. R. goes; he is preaching from\n morning to night, warning every one, that he may present every one\n perfect in Christ Jesus.\n\n \u201c4. But on this, and every other occasion, avoid all familiarity with\n women. This is a deadly poison, both to _them_ and _you_. You cannot\n be too wary in this respect. Therefore begin from this hour.\n\n \u201c5. The chief matter of your conversation, as well as your preaching,\n should doubtless be the weightier matters of the law. Yet, there\n are several comparatively little things, which you should earnestly\n inculcate from time to time; for \u2018he that despiseth small things\n shall fall by little and little.\u2019 Such are--\n\n \u201c(1) Be active, be diligent; avoid all laziness, sloth, indolence.\n Fly from every degree, every appearance of it; else you will never be\n more than half a Christian.\n\n \u201c(2) Be cleanly. In this let the Methodists take pattern by the\n Quakers. Avoid all nastiness, dirt, slovenliness, both in your\n person, clothes, house, all about you. Do not stink above ground.\n This is a bad fruit of laziness. Use all diligence to be clean.\n\n \u201c(3) Whatever clothes you wear let them be whole: no rents, no\n tatters, no rags. These are a scandal to either man or woman; being\n another fruit of vile laziness. Mend your clothes, or I shall never\n expect you to mend your lives. Let none ever see a ragged Methodist.\n\n \u201c(4) Clean yourselves of lice. These are a proof both of uncleanness\n and laziness. Take pains in this. Do not cut off your hair, but clean\n it, and keep it clean.\n\n \u201c(5) Cure yourselves and your family of the itch. A spoonful of\n brimstone will cure you. To let this run from year to year, proves\n both sloth and uncleanness. Away with it at once. Let not the north\n be any longer a proverb of reproach to all the nation.\n\n \u201c(6) Use no tobacco unless prescribed by a physician. It is an\n uncleanly and unwholesome self indulgence; and the more customary it\n is, the more resolutely should you break off from every degree of\n that vile custom.\n\n \u201c(7) Use no snuff unless prescribed by a physician. I suppose no\n other nation in Europe is in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty,\n dirty custom, as the Irish are; but let the Christians be in this\n bondage no longer. Assert your liberty, and that all at once; nothing\n will be done by degrees. But just now you may break loose, through\n Christ strengthening you.\n\n \u201c(8) Touch no dram. It is liquid fire. It is a sure, though slow\n poison. It saps the very springs of life. In Ireland, above all\n countries in the world, I would sacredly abstain from this, because\n the evil is so general. To this, and snuff, and smoky cabins, I\n impute the blindness which is so exceeding common throughout the\n nation.\n\n \u201cI might have inserted under the second article, what I particularly\n desire, wherever you have preaching, namely, that there may be a\n little house. Let this be got without delay. Wherever it is not, let\n none expect to see me.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[56]\n\nNo apology is needed for the publication of this letter; for Wesley\nhimself published it in his _Arminian Magazine_. Its picture of the\nIrish and of the Irish Methodists is far from being fragrant and\npleasant; but it was doubtless true, and shows that Wesley was a great\nreformer in more respects than one. All the Irish Methodists, however,\nmust not be included in the company above alluded to. The exceptions\nwere not few, but many, and some of them distinguished. One of these\nwas Mrs. Elizabeth Bennis, the first Methodist in Limerick, in 1749,\na lady of respectability and intelligence, long the correspondent of\nWesley, and who continued one of his devoted followers till her death\nin 1802.[57] The following letter was addressed to her during Wesley\u2019s\npresent visit to the sister island, and refers to an unfounded opinion\nwhich Wesley had now renounced.\n\n \u201cCORK, _May 30, 1769_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SISTER,--Some years since, I was inclined to think that none,\n who had once enjoyed and then lost the pure love of God, must ever\n look to enjoy it again till they were just stepping into eternity.\n But experience has taught us better things. We have, at present,\n numerous instances of those who have cast away that unspeakable\n blessing, and now enjoy it in a larger measure than ever. And should\n not this be your case? Because you are unworthy? So were they.\n Because you have been an unfaithful steward? So had they been also;\n yet, God healed them freely; and so He will you, only do not reason\n against Him. Forget yourself. Worthy is the Lamb: you shall not die,\n but live, live all the life of heaven on earth. You need nothing, in\n order to this, but faith; and who gives this? He that standeth at the\n door.\n\n \u201cLet there never more be any reserve between you and your truly\n affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[58]\n\nWesley arrived in Leeds on Saturday, July 29, and on Sunday, the 30th,\npreached, for the Rev. Henry Crook, in Hunslet church, morning and\nafternoon. Mr. Crook was an old friend of the two Wesleys. As early\nas 1756, Charles Wesley preached in his church at Hunslet, and speaks\nof hundreds of communicants, most of whom had been awakened under Mr.\nCrook\u2019s faithful ministry.[59]\n\nThe conference, at Leeds, opened on the 1st of August, and \u201ca more\nloving one,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cwe never had.\u201d The _Intelligencer_\nnewspaper, of August 8, tells the public, that, \u201cfor a week past,\nWesley had held a kind of visitation, but what they call a conference,\nwith several hundreds of his preachers, from most parts of Great\nBritain and Ireland, where he settled their several routes for the\nsucceeding year.\u201d It further states, that \u201ca large sum of money\u201d was\ncollected for the purpose of \u201csending missionaries to America.\u201d[60]\n\nThis was the \u201ctall talk\u201d of a newspaper. \u201cWesley\u2019s itinerant preachers\u201d\nthroughout the entire kingdom were only one hundred and eleven in\nnumber; and the \u201clarge sum\u201d collected for sending missionaries to\nAmerica was \u00a370, of which \u00a350 was to be appropriated to the payment of\nthe debt on the chapel in New York.\n\nAbove two days of the time of the conference were spent in the\narrangement of temporal matters,--a thing which annoyed Wesley, who\ntherefore directed that, in future, as much of such business as\npossible should be done by the secretaries before the conference met.\n\nThe two topics of most interest were Methodist missions, and the\nperpetuation of the Methodist system after Wesley\u2019s death.\n\nIt is a fact worth remembering, that already, for years past, Methodism\nhad been planted in the West Indian islands, by means of Nathaniel\nGilbert and his co-workers. Laurence Coughlan had recently taken it\nto Newfoundland; and a few soldiers had established it at Gibraltar,\nwhere there were thirty-two members, fifteen of whom were rejoicing\nin the consciousness of personal pardon.[61] They had preaching every\nnight and every morning, their preachers being \u201cBrother Morton,\u201d Henry\nInce, of the 2nd Regiment, and Henry Hall, of the Royal Scots; six\nclassmeetings were held every week, and the work was prospering.[62]\nLord Cornwallis, the commanding officer, issued a garrison order on\nJune 9, 1769, as follows:--\u201cWhereas divers soldiers and inhabitants\nassemble themselves every evening to prayer, it is the governor\u2019s\npositive order, that no person whatever presume to molest them, nor\ngo into their meeting to behave indecently there.\u201d[63] Wesley\nwas acquainted with this; but not a word is found in the conference\nminutes concerning it. The truth is, while Methodism was now really\nplanted in the West Indies, Newfoundland, Gibraltar, and America, none\nneeded help except America, and, hence, none else are mentioned.\n\nWesley, his brother, Ingham, and Whitefield had all been in America;\nand Whitefield was about to go again. The work was begun in Georgia by\nthe Wesleys. At the same time, occurred the revival in New England,\nunder Mr. Edwards and others. Whitefield came, and not only preached\nin both, but likewise all the way between, a distance of many hundred\nmiles. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were converted by his ministry;\nbut, for want of organisation and discipline, the greater part of them\nhad backslidden.[64] Such was the state of things in 1769.\n\nFour years before this, a small number of Methodist emigrants from\nIreland had landed in New York, one of them being Philip Embury. In\n1766, another Methodist family followed, of the name of Heck. Mrs.\nBarbara Heck was distressed to find that her predecessors had greatly\ndeclined in godliness. At her request, Philip Embury began to preach;\njust at that juncture, Captain Webb, the barrackmaster at Albany,\njoined him; a chapel was built; a society formed; and help was asked\nfrom England.[65] Hence the thirteenth question at the conference\nof 1769: \u201cWe have a pressing call from our brethren at New York,\nwho have built a preaching house, to come over and help them. Who\nis willing to go?\u201d Answer: \u201cRichard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor.\u201d\n_Q._ \u201cWhat can we do further in token of our brotherly love?\u201d _A._\n\u201cLet us now make a collection among ourselves. This was immediately\ndone; and, out of it, \u00a350 were allotted towards the payment of their\ndebt, and about \u00a320 given to our brethren for their passage.\u201d\n\nIt is doubtful, however, whether this was, as is generally supposed,\nthe first collection which the Methodists made on behalf of their\nAmerican mission. Six months before this, Wesley had permitted Robert\nCosterdine, who was then the assistant in the Sheffield circuit, to\n\u201c_read publicly, on any Sunday_\u201d he liked, the letter which had been\nreceived from New York, and to \u201creceive what the hearers were willing\nto give.\u201d[66] It is more than possible, that this was done; but, be\nthat as it may, Boardman and Pilmoor set sail, and, after a nine weeks\u2019\npassage, entered upon their work: Pilmoor at Philadelphia, and Boardman\nat New York. At Philadelphia, they found Captain Webb and a society\nof about a hundred members, to whom, and to thousands more, Pilmoor\ncommenced preaching from the grand stand erected on the racecourse. At\nNew York, Boardman says, the chapel would contain about 1700 hearers;\nand that about a third part of the congregations got in, and the other\ntwo thirds were glad to hear without.[67]\n\nSpace forbids further details, except to add that, two years\nafterwards, the number of Methodists in America was reported in the\nminutes of conference as 316; and that even a thing so innocent as\nsending preachers to America was too important for the wicked to pass\nwithout a sneer. Hence, in a squib, the public were informed, that the\nfollowing promotions in the Church were about to be declared: \u201cRev. G.\nWhitefield, Archbishop of Boston; Rev. W. Romaine, Bishop of New York;\nRev. J. Wesley, Bishop of Pennsylvania; Rev. M. Madan, Bishop of the\nCarolinas; Rev. W. Shirley, Bishop of Virginia; and Rev. C. Wesley,\nBishop of Nova Scotia.\u201d It was added, that as his majesty would soon\nhave the livings of these gentlemen at his disposal, he intended to\nprovide for Dr. Dodd, and other court celebrities,[68] anxious to fill\nimportant places.\n\nThe other important matter brought before the conference of 1769 was\nthe perpetuation of Methodism after Wesley\u2019s death; and, on Friday,\nAugust 4, Wesley read the following paper.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--1. It has long been my desire, that all those\n _ministers_ of our Church, who believe and preach salvation by faith,\n might cordially agree between themselves, and not hinder but help one\n another. After occasionally pressing this, in private conversation,\n wherever I had opportunity, I wrote down my thoughts upon the head,\n and sent them to each in a letter. Out of fifty or sixty, to whom I\n wrote, only three vouchsafed me an answer. So I give this up. I can\n do no more. They are a rope of sand, and such they will continue.\n\n \u201c2. But it is otherwise with the _travelling preachers_ in our\n connexion. You are at present one body. You act in concert with each\n other, and by united counsels. And now is the time to consider what\n can be done, in order to continue this union. Indeed, as long as I\n live, there will be no great difficulty. I am, under God, a centre\n of union to all our travelling, as well as local preachers. They all\n know me and my communication. They all love me for my works\u2019 sake;\n and, therefore, were it only out of regard to me, they will continue\n connected with each other. But by what means may this connection be\n preserved, when God removes me from you?\n\n \u201c3. I take it for granted, it cannot be preserved, by any means,\n between those who have not a single eye. Those who aim at anything\n but the glory of God, and the salvation of men; who desire or seek\n any earthly thing, whether honour, profit, or ease, will not, cannot\n continue in the connexion; it will not answer their design. Some of\n them, perhaps a fourth of the whole number, will procure preferment\n in the Church. Others will turn Independents, and get separate\n congregations, like John Edwards and Charles Skelton. Lay your\n accounts with this, and be not surprised if some, you do not suspect,\n be of this number.\n\n \u201c4. But what method can be taken, to preserve a firm union between\n those who choose to remain together? Perhaps you might take some\n such steps as these. On notice of my death, let all the preachers,\n in England and Ireland, repair to London within six weeks. Let them\n seek God by solemn fasting and prayer. Let them draw up articles of\n agreement, to be signed by those who choose to act in concert. Let\n those be dismissed, who do not choose it, in the most friendly manner\n possible. Let them choose by votes a _committee_ of three, five,\n or seven, each of whom is to be _moderator_ in his turn. Let the\n committee do what I do now; propose preachers to be tried, admitted,\n or excluded; fix the place of each preacher for the ensuing year, and\n the time of next conference.\n\n \u201c5. Can anything be done now, in order to lay a foundation for this\n future union? Would it not be well, for any that are willing, to\n sign some articles of agreement before God calls me hence? Suppose\n something like these:--\n\n \u201c\u2018We, whose names are underwritten, being thoroughly convinced of\n the necessity of a close union between those whom God is pleased to\n use as instruments in this glorious work, in order to preserve this\n union between ourselves, are resolved, God being our helper: (1) _To\n devote ourselves entirely to God_; denying ourselves, taking up our\n cross daily, steadily aiming at one thing, to save our own souls, and\n them that hear us. (2) To preach the _old Methodist doctrines_, and\n no other, contained in the minutes of the conferences. (3) To observe\n and enforce the whole _Methodist discipline_, laid down in the said\n minutes.\u2019\u201d\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s propounded scheme. The preachers wisely requested\nWesley to extract the most material part of the minutes, and to send\na copy to each itinerant, to be seriously considered,--a request with\nwhich Wesley complied during the following year, by the publication of\na pamphlet of sixty pages, entitled, \u201cMinutes of several Conversations\nbetween the Rev. Messrs. John and Charles Wesley and others.\u201d\n\nThis concluded the business of the conference; and \u201cat the conclusion,\u201d\nsays Wesley, \u201call the preachers were melted down, while they were\nsinging those lines for me,--\n\n \u2018Thou, who so long hast saved me here,\n A little longer save;\n Till freed from sin, and freed from fear,\n I sink into a grave:\n Till glad I lay my body down,\n Thy servant\u2019s steps attend;\n And O! my life of mercies crown\n With a triumphant end.\u2019\u201d[69]\n\nThis was a beautiful finish to one of the most important conferences\nWesley ever held. The next day, he again started on his itinerancy of\nmercy, and hastened to join in the anniversary services of the Countess\nof Huntingdon\u2019s college at Trevecca. These services really extended\nfrom August 18 to August 24, though Wesley himself was there only on\nthe two concluding days. The gathering was a glorious one. Fletcher,\nthe president, was there, with his seraphic soul lighting up an almost\nunearthly face; Daniel Rowlands also, the rector of Llangeitto and\nchaplain to the Duke of Leinster; Howel Harris, one of the bravest\nveterans in the group; the Rev. Walter Shirley, from Ireland, and\nothers; making eight clergymen altogether; to whom must be added the\nCountess of Huntingdon, the Countess of Buchan, Lady Anne Erskine,\nand several of their relatives and friends. There were a number of\nWelsh exhorters; and, of course, the students; and likewise an immense\nconcourse of communicants and spectators. For seven days, there was\npreaching twice a day; the sacrament was repeatedly administered; a\nlovefeast was held; baskets of bread and meat were distributed in\nthe courtyard among the country people; and the whole season was\nwhat Whitefield called a pentecost.[70] Wesley preached twice, gave\nan exhortation, and administered the Lord\u2019s supper to the countess\u2019s\nfamily, and so ended his service in connection with what he designates\n\u201cthe anniversary of her ladyship\u2019s _school_.\u201d This was his first and\nlast visit.\n\nAt this time, Joseph Benson, now in the twenty-first year of his age,\nwas classical master of Wesley\u2019s school at Kingswood, and had, with\nWesley\u2019s sanction, entered himself at St. Edmund\u2019s hall, Oxford, where\nhe regularly kept his terms. But now an effort was made to obtain his\nservices as head master at Trevecca. Wesley, for more reasons than one,\nwas loth to lose him. Hence the letters following.\n\n \u201cCORK, _May 27, 1769_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--You have now--what you never had before--a clear\n providential call to Oxford. If you keep a single eye, and have\n courage and steadiness, you may be an instrument of much good. But\n you will tread on slippery ground; and the serious persons you\n mention may do you more hurt than many others. When I was at Oxford,\n I never was afraid of any but the almost Christians. If you give way\n to them and their prudence a hair\u2019s breadth, you will be removed from\n the hope of the gospel. If you are not moved, if you tread in the\n same steps which my brother and I did, you may be the means, under\n God, of raising another set of real Bible Christians. How long the\n world will suffer them is in God\u2019s hand.\n\n \u201cWith regard to Kingswood school, I have one string more; if that\n breaks, I shall let it drop. I have borne the burden one-and-twenty\n years; I have done what I could; now, let some one else do more.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Joseph, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[71]\n\nAgain.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 26, 1769_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--Every man of sense, who reads the rules of the\n school, may easily conclude that a school so conducted by men of\n piety and understanding will exceed any other school or academy\n in Great Britain or Ireland. In this sentiment, you can never be\n altered. And if it was not so conducted since you were there, why was\n it not? You had power enough. You have all the power which I have.\n You may do what you please.\n\n \u201c\u2018_Dirue et \u00e6difica; muta quadrata rotundis_;\u2019 and I will second you\n to the uttermost.\n\n \u201cTrevecca is much more to ---- than Kingswood is to me. _I_ mixes\n with everything. It is _my_ college, _my_ masters, _my_ students. I\n do not speak so of this school. It is not mine, but the Lord\u2019s. I\n look for no more honour than money from it.\n\n \u201cI am glad you defer your journey; and am, dear Joseph, your\n affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[72]\n\nWesley was evidently sore about Benson leaving him; but, a few weeks\nafterwards, the exchange was made; and then, after nine months of\nfaithful service at Trevecca, the young head master was unceremoniously\ndismissed, because of his defending the doctrines of his friend Wesley.\n\nFrom Trevecca, Wesley made his way to Bristol, which he reached on\nAugust 26; and, from there, set off to Cornwall, where he employed\na week in visiting as many of his societies as he could in so short\na period. On getting back to Bristol, he inquired into the state of\nKingswood school, and writes: \u201cThe grievance now is the number of\nchildren. Instead of thirty, as I desired, we have near fifty; whereby\nour masters are burdened. And it is scarce possible to keep them in so\nexact order as we might do a smaller number. However, this still comes\nnearer a Christian school than any I know in the kingdom.\u201d\n\nThe next month was spent in the neighbourhood of Bristol, and was not\nwithout adventures. At Bradford, he was surrounded by a noisy rabble;\n\u201cand one,\u201d says he, \u201ccalled a gentleman, had filled his pocket with\nrotten eggs; but a young man smashed them all at once; and, in an\ninstant, he was perfume all over, though it was not so sweet as balsam.\u201d\n\nAt Salisbury, the scene of so many of his sister Patty\u2019s sorrows,\nWesley writes: \u201cI was as in a new world. The congregation was alive,\nand much more the society. How pleasing would it be, to be always with\nsuch! But this is not our calling.\u201d Wesley had seen dark days here; but\nnow the sun was shining. After the desolation caused by Westley Hall\u2019s\ndisgraceful conduct, the few remaining Methodists took possession of\na shop in Greencroft Street, and then, in 1759, built themselves a\nchapel.[73] Barbara Hunt was one of their chief members,--a brave young\nwoman, now thirty-three years old, but who lived long enough to be a\nMethodist threescore years and three, and died exclaiming, \u201cO how glad\nshould I be to clap my glad wings and tower away!\u201d[74] Another was\nDavid Saunders, the hero of Mrs. Hannah More\u2019s \u201cShepherd of Salisbury\nPlain.\u201d \u201cHis coat,\u201d says the fair authoress, perhaps mixing a little\nfiction with fact,--\u201chis coat had been, in a long course of years, so\noften patched with different sorts of cloth, that it was now become\nhard to say which had been the original colour; his stockings were\ncovered with darns of different coloured worsted, but had not a hole\nin them; his shirt, though nearly as coarse as the sails of a ship,\nwas as white as the drifted snow; his open honest countenance bore\nstrong marks of health and cheerfulness.\u201d His good wife was cleanly,\nthrifty, and a hard worker; and a happier man than the \u201cshepherd of\nSalisbury plain\u201d did not exist. David Saunders was a shepherd in more\nrespects than one. While he tended his sheep, he also, as a faithful\nclassleader, watched over the souls committed to his care. He died in\npeace, in 1796, at the age of eighty.[75]\n\nWesley got back to London on October 14, but two days afterwards\nset out for Oxfordshire, and spent the week in preaching at Henley,\nWallingford, Oxford, Witney, Broadmarston, and Wycombe. The last week\nin October he employed at Towcester, Northampton, Weedon, Bedford, and\nother intervening towns, preaching, during his five days\u2019 tour, not\nfewer than seventeen times in widely distant places.\n\nAt the beginning of November he went to Norfolk; at the end, he visited\nhis old friend Perronet, at Shoreham, and preached twice in his\nparish church. Even here, in the vicar\u2019s kitchen, there was Methodist\npreaching every Friday night, and also a Methodist society, embracing\nMr. Kingswood, Mr. Sharp, old Mrs. Lightfoot and her servant maid,\npoor dame Cacket, and bold, masculine minded Miss D. Perronet at the\nhead of them.[76]\n\nExcept short tours to Kent and Sussex, the remainder of the year was\nemployed in London, where he received letters from Boardman and Pilmoor\nin America, and which he read to the London society. He was importuned\nto visit America himself; and, though such a visit was utterly\nimpracticable, yet he was far from hasty in declining it. Hence the\nfollowing, addressed to his friend, the Rev. Walter Sellon.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 30, 1769_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It is not yet determined whether I should go to\n America or not. I have been importuned some time; but _nil sat firmi\n video_. I must have a clear call before I am at liberty to leave\n Europe.\n\n \u201cYou should heat your milk, but never let it boil; boiling robs it of\n the most nutritious particles. Do not make too much haste in dealing\n with Elisha Coles; I am afraid the treatise will be too short. And\n pray add a word to that lively coxcomb, Mr. Toplady, not only with\n regard to Zanchius, but his slander on the Church of England. You\n would do well to give a reading to both his tracts. He does certainly\n believe himself to be the greatest genius in England. Pray take care,\n or _natis sit pro suis virtutibus_.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[77]\n\nMr. Toplady\u2019s two tracts, referred to in this epistle, were his (1)\n\u201cChurch of England Vindicated from the Charge of Arminianism, in a\nLetter to the Rev. Dr. Nowell; occasioned by some passages in that\ngentleman\u2019s answer to the Author of \u2018Pietas Oxoniensis,\u2019\u201d 8vo, 136\npages: and (2) \u201cThe Doctrine of Absolute Predestination Stated and\nAsserted. Translated, in great measure, from the Latin of Jerom\nZanchius, with some Account of his Life prefixed,\u201d 8vo, 134 pages. Both\nthese pamphlets were published in 1769.\n\nAll this, and a great deal more, really arose out of the expulsion of\nthe Oxford students in 1768. Sir Richard Hill, in defending them, had\nwarmly defended the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination. Dr. Nowell,\nin his Answer, had clearly shown, that this was not the doctrine of\nthe Church of England; and now impetuous Augustus Toplady hastened to\nthe rescue, and administered two allopathic doses of Calvinism\u2019s most\ndrastic tincture, to cure the Church of Arminian disease and fever.\nToplady\u2019s style is trenchant; his doctrines are as near an approach\nto the doctrine of fate, as held by Plato, Seneca, and other heathen\nwriters, as it is possible to conceive. A more impious piece, in the\ngarb of piety, was never published than his Zanchius; while his \u201cChurch\nof England Vindicated\u201d is rank with the most dogmatic and violent\nabuse of Dr. Nowell and the Arminian clergy. It would be easy, but not\npleasant, to give extracts; and we can hardly recommend the reader\nto peruse the pamphlets for himself. Augustus Toplady, a stripling\ntwenty-nine years of age, is a pope infallible; and all who hold\nopinions different to his are reprobate knaves, or fools.\n\nWesley was sick of controversial writing; and, besides, he had no time\nfor it. Walter Sellon had leisure at his command, and had already this\nyear published his able treatise, entitled, \u201cThe Doctrine of General\nRedemption considered,\u201d 12mo, 178 pages. He was also now engaged in\nrefuting a book hardly less horrible than the Zanchius of Augustus\nToplady, namely, \u201cA Practical Discourse of God\u2019s Sovereignty,\u201d 12mo,\n347 pages, by Elisha Coles, a clerk to the East India Company, who died\nin 1688. Sellon\u2019s book was soon issued, with the title, \u201cA Defence of\nGod\u2019s Sovereignty, against the impious and horrible Aspersions cast\nupon it by Elisha Coles, in his practical treatise on that subject.\u201d\nIn his preface, he tells his readers, he \u201cdid intend to have exposed\nthe errors and blasphemy\u201d of Toplady\u2019s Zanchius, but when he \u201cfound it\nwould enlarge his work too much, and especially when he understood that\nToplady had vilely slandered the Church of England,\u201d he chose \u201cto make\nit the subject of another book, which the reader might expect unless it\nshould be done by some abler hand.\u201d[78]\n\nControversial war was now begun in earnest, and a severer battle was\nnever fought. Sir Richard Hill, Augustus Toplady, and Walter Sellon\nwere fairly in the lists, and others soon after followed.\n\nIn the midst of all this, Wesley was savagely attacked in two letters,\npublished in the _Gospel Magazine_ for 1769, entitled, \u201cObservations\non Mr. J. Wesley\u2019s view of \u2018The Scripture Doctrines of Predestination,\nElection, and Reprobation.\u2019\u201d He is accused of \u201cinexcusable vanity\u201d;\nof \u201cimpertinent quibbling\u201d; of \u201cjesuitical sophistry\u201d; of holding\n\u201ca scheme unscriptural and dangerous, absurd and impious\u201d; and of\n\u201cfinespun reasoning worse than nothing.\u201d The author complacently tells\nhis readers, in conclusion, that, though he had felt himself \u201cvery\nresentful,\u201d yet being \u201ccalled to imitate the lovely pattern of the\nlowly Jesus, he had answered Wesley not with asperity, but with the\nmeekness of wisdom.\u201d\n\nAttacks upon Wesley were made from other quarters. It was a busy\nyear with young Toplady; for, besides the books already noticed, he\npublished a sixpenny pamphlet, with the title, \u201cMany made Righteous\nby the Obedience of One. Two Sermons on Romans v. 19, preached at\nBideford, in 1743, by the late Rev. James Hervey, with a Preface by\nAugustus Toplady.\u201d Some one else issued another, entitled, \u201cThe Jesuit\nDetected,\u201d in which the zealous advocate of Mr. Hervey arrays Wesley\nin the garb of the Babylonian woman, and then abuses him for looking\nso like her. Booth Brathwaite, unknown to fame, published another\nsixpennyworth, called \u201cMethodism a Popish Idol; or, the Danger and\nHarmony of Enthusiasm and Separation.\u201d Poor Booth, a bigot to church\nestablishments, raves against sectaries with abundant zeal, little\nknowledge, and less charity. And to all these must be added, \u201cThe\nPretences of Enthusiasts, considered and confuted: A Sermon preached\nbefore the university of Oxford, at St. Mary\u2019s, on Sunday, June 26,\n1768. By William Hawkins, M.A., Prebendary of Wells, late Poetry\nProfessor, and Fellow of Pembroke College, in Oxford. Published by\ndesire.\u201d 8vo, 27 pages.\n\nWesley\u2019s own publications in 1769 were not many.\n\n1. \u201cAn Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley\u2019s Journal, from October 20,\n1762, to May 25, 1765.\u201d 12mo, 124 pages.\n\n2. \u201cAn Extract from the Journal of Elizabeth Harper.\u201d 12mo, 47 pages.\n\n3. \u201cAn Extract of Letters on Religious Subjects, by Mrs. Lefevre.\u201d\n12mo, 106 pages.\n\n4. \u201cThe Witness of the Spirit. A Sermon on Romans viii. 16.\u201d Dublin:\n12mo, 16 pages. This important sermon was written at Newry, in 1767.\nWesley declares that his sentiments on the witness of the Spirit were\nthe same as they had been from the beginning. \u201cThe testimony of the\nSpirit,\u201d says he, \u201cis an inward impression on the soul of believers,\nwhereby the Spirit of God directly testifies to their spirit, that they\nare the children of God.\u201d Having established his doctrine, and answered\nthe objections to it, he concludes with two pungent inferences: \u201c1.\nLet none ever presume to rest in any supposed testimony of the Spirit,\nwhich is separate from the fruit of it. 2. Let none rest in any\nsupposed fruit of the Spirit without the witness.\u201d\n\n5. \u201cAdvices with respect to Health. Extracted from a late Author.\u201d\n12mo, 218 pages. The late author was Dr. Tissot; the book itself shows\nWesley\u2019s intense anxiety to be of use to the bodies as well as souls\nof his fellow creatures. He strongly commends Tissot\u2019s descriptions of\ndiseases, the fewness and cheapness of his medicines, and his regimen;\nbut protests against his fondness for bleeding, and for glysters;\nagainst his ointment for the itch, and his vehement recommendation of\nPeruvian bark.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [49] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. ii.,\n p. 126.\n\n [50] Whitefield\u2019s Works, vol. iii., p. 387.\n\n [51] _Methodist Magazine_, 1783, p. 273.\n\n [52] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 321.\n\n [53] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 331.\n\n [54] Taylor\u2019s \u201cRedeeming Grace,\u201d p. 49; and Wesley\u2019s Works,\n vol. iii., p. 350.\n\n [55] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iv., pp. 16, 173, 222.\n\n [56] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 165.\n\n [57] _Irish Evangelist_, May, 1862.\n\n [58] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 362.\n\n [59] C. Wesley\u2019s Journal, vol. ii., p. 117.\n\n [60] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 380.\n\n [61] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 112.\n\n [62] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 387.\n\n [63] Rule\u2019s \u201cMemoir of a Mission to Gibraltar,\u201d p. 5.\n\n [64] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. vii., p. 392.\n\n [65] About the same time, Thomas Bell, at Charlestown,\n wrote as follows: \u201cMr. Wesley says, the first message\n of the preachers is to the lost sheep of England. And\n are there none in America? They have strayed from\n England into the wild woods here, and they are running\n wild after this world. They are drinking their wine\n in bowls, and are jumping and dancing, and serving\n the devil, in the groves and under the green trees.\n And are not these lost sheep? And will none of the\n preachers come here? Where is Mr. Brownfield? Where\n is John Pawson? Where is Nicholas Manners? Are they\n living, and will they not come?\u201d--(\u201cThe Centenary of\n Methodism,\u201d published by the Primitive Methodists in\n Ireland, in 1839, p. 189.)\n\n [66] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 578.\n\n [67] Ibid. 1783, p. 276; and 1784, p. 163.\n\n [68] _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, May 26, 1769.\n\n [69] _Methodist Magazine_, 1799, p. 253.\n\n [70] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. ii.,\n p. 99.\n\n [71] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 383.\n\n [72] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 384.\n\n [73] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 52.\n\n [74] Ibid. 1815, p. 46.\n\n [75] \u201cMethodism in Frome,\u201d by Tuck, p. 42.\n\n [76] Miss Perronet\u2019s manuscript letters; and _Methodist\n Magazine_, 1811, p. 234.\n\n [77] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 42; and manuscript\n letter.\n\n [78] Sellon\u2019s book was not published till 1770, and seems\n to have been revised by Wesley, who also approved of\n his dealing with Toplady in a separate pamphlet. Hence\n the following, addressed to Sellon.\n\n \u201cLEWISHAM, _February 21, 1770_.\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Do not make too much haste. Give\n everything the last touch. It will be enough, if\n the papers meet me at Manchester, before the end of\n March. I believe it will be the best way to bestow\n a distinct pamphlet on that exquisite coxcomb.\n Surely wisdom will die with him! I believe we can\n easily get his other tract, which it would be well\n to sift to the very foundation, in order to stop\n the mouth of that vain boaster. I am, etc., JOHN\n WESLEY.\u201d--(Manuscript letter.)\n\n\n\n\n 1770.\n Age 67\n\n\nWesley began the year 1770 with a covenant service in London, at which\neighteen hundred Methodists were present,--a sight worth seeing.\n\nIn his leisure moments, he employed himself in reading; and, as\nusual, makes racy remarks on men and books. Having finished Dr.\nBurnet\u2019s \u201cTheory of the Earth,\u201d he writes: \u201cHe is doubtless one of\nthe firstrate writers, both as to sense and style; his language is\nremarkably clear, unaffected, nervous, and elegant; and none can deny,\nthat his theory is ingenious, and consistent with itself.\u201d He read\nRousseau upon education, and says: \u201cBut how was I disappointed! Sure\na more consummate coxcomb never saw the sun! How amazingly full of\nhimself! Whatever he speaks, he pronounces as an oracle. But many of\nhis oracles are as palpably false as that \u2018young children never love\nold people.\u2019 But I object to his temper more than to his judgment:\nhe is a mere misanthrope, a cynic all over. So indeed is his brother\ninfidel, Voltaire; and well-nigh as great a coxcomb. But he hides both\nhis doggedness and vanity a little better; whereas, here it stares us\nin the face continually. As to his book, it is whimsical to the last\ndegree; grounded neither upon reason nor experience. The advices, which\nare good, are trite and common, only disguised under new expressions;\nand those which are new, which are really his own, are lighter than\nvanity itself. Such discoveries I always expect from those who are too\nwise to believe their Bibles.\u201d\n\nBaron Emanuel Swedenborg, after rendering great service to science, and\nthereby winning the esteem of Charles XII., and receiving the honour of\nbeing enrolled among the members of the academies of Upsal, Stockholm,\nand Petersburgh, came to London in 1743, attended the Moravian chapel\nin Fetter Lane, went mad,[79] and began to write and publish the\nvisionary books, containing the creed of the Swedenborgians. Wesley\nwrites: \u201cI sat down to read and seriously consider some of the writings\nof Baron Swedenborg. I began with huge prejudice in his favour, knowing\nhim to be a pious man, one of a strong understanding, of much learning,\nand one who thoroughly believed himself. But I could not hold out long.\nAny one of his visions puts his real character out of doubt. He is\none of the most ingenious, lively, entertaining madmen, that ever set\npen to paper. But his waking dreams are so wild, so far remote both\nfrom Scripture and common sense, that one might as easily swallow the\nstories of \u2018Tom Thumb,\u2019 or \u2018Jack the Giant Killer.\u2019\u201d The baron died two\nyears after this, and was buried in the Swedish church in Wellclose\nSquare, London.\n\nIn the month of February, Wesley, for the last time, took part in a\nreligious service, and administered the sacrament, in the mansion\nof the Countess of Huntingdon, in Portland Row. Thomas Maxfield was\npresent, and though a few years before he had been one of the strongest\nsticklers in favour of the wild doctrines propounded by George Bell\nand other sanctified ones in London, he now, in Wesley\u2019s own presence,\nspoke strongly against his doctrine of Christian perfection.[80] This\nmight be gratifying to her ladyship and her Calvinistic friends; but\nit would have been in better taste for Maxfield, at least, to have\nmaintained, on such a subject, a respectful silence. No doubt, foolish\nideas had been circulated; but Wesley can hardly be held accountable\nfor these. His own doctrines on the subject were based upon Scripture,\nand these he was ready to defend, and resolved to propagate. It is\ntrue, that his anticipations respecting the great work, which was\nprofessedly wrought in London and elsewhere, had not been realised.\nEven Miss Bosanquet had lost the blessing of Christian perfection;[81]\nand Wesley, in a letter dated March 15, 1770, confesses that, of those\nwho professed to obtain it, hardly one in thirty retained it. \u201cMany\nhundreds in London,\u201d says he, \u201cwere made partakers of it, within\nsixteen or eighteen months; but I doubt whether twenty of them are now\nas holy and as happy as they were.\u201d[82] This was a humiliating fact,\nand gave to Wesley\u2019s opponents a great advantage; but, in itself, it\nwas no disproof of Wesley\u2019s doctrine; and can scarcely be considered a\nsatisfactory excuse for Thomas Maxfield, of all men living, attacking\nhis friend in the house of his Calvinistic foes.\n\nWesley\u2019s friend Whitefield was in America, preaching with as much zest\nas ever; and, just at this juncture, Wesley addressed what proved to\nbe his last letter to his old and always faithful coadjutor; but the\nletter contains not a single syllable respecting the slight which had\nbeen cast upon him by a man whom gratitude ought to have taught better\nmanners.\n\n \u201cLEWISHAM, _February 21, 1770_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Keen informed me some time since of your\n safe arrival in Carolina; of which, indeed, I could not doubt for\n a moment, notwithstanding the idle report of your being cast away,\n which was so current in London. I trust our Lord has more work for\n you to do in Europe, as well as in America. And who knows but before\n your return, to England, I may pay another visit to the new world? I\n have been strongly solicited by several of our friends in New York\n and Philadelphia. They urge many reasons, some of which appear to\n be of considerable weight; and my age is no objection at all; for\n I bless God my health is not barely as good, but abundantly better\n in several respects, than when I was five-and-twenty. But there are\n so many reasons on the other side, that, as yet, I can determine\n nothing; so I must wait for further light. Here I am: let the Lord\n do with me as seemeth Him good. For the present, I must beg of you\n to supply my lack of service, by encouraging our preachers, as you\n judge best (who are as yet comparatively young and inexperienced);\n by giving them such advices as you think proper; and, above all, by\n exhorting them, not only to love one another, but, if it be possible,\n as much as lies in them, to live peaceably with all men.\n\n \u201cSome time ago, since you went hence, I heard a circumstance, which\n gave me a good deal of concern; namely, that the college or academy\n in Georgia had swallowed up the orphan house. Shall I give my\n judgment without being asked? Methinks, friendship requires I should.\n Are there not then two points which come in view? a point of mercy,\n and a point of justice? With respect to the former, may it not be\n inquired, Can anything on earth be a greater charity than to bring\n up orphans? What is a college or an academy compared to this? unless\n you could have such a college as perhaps is not upon earth. I know\n the value of learning, and am more in danger of prizing it too much\n than too little; but, still, I cannot place the giving it to five\n hundred students on a level with saving the bodies, if not the souls\n too, of five hundred orphans. But let us pass from the point of mercy\n to that of justice. You had land given, and collected money, for an\n orphan house. Are you at liberty to apply this to any other purpose?\n at least, while there are any orphans in Georgia left? I just touch\n upon this, though it is an important point, and leave it to your own\n consideration, whether part of it, at least, might not properly be\n applied to carry on the original design? In speaking thus freely, on\n so tender a subject, I have given you a fresh proof of the sincerity\n with which I am your ever affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[83]\n\nThe college business above mentioned was simply this. Six years before,\nWhitefield had informed the council of Georgia, that he had already\nexpended \u00a312,000 upon his Orphan House; that he was now anxious to\nattach to it a college, to which the respectable inhabitants of\nGeorgia, Virginia, and the West Indies might send their sons to be\neducated; that, in order to accomplish his purpose, he was prepared\nto lay out a considerable sum of money \u201c_in purchasing a large number\nof negroes_\u201d for the cultivation of the lands, and for the \u201cfuture\nsupport of a president, professors, and tutors;\u201d and that he now asked\nthe council to grant him, in trust, for the purposes aforesaid, two\nthousand acres of land, on the north fork of Turtle River. The council\nyielded his request at once, and with the greatest pleasure. Whitefield\nthen memorialised the king to grant a charter for the founding of the\ncollege, stating that, if this were done, he was \u201cready to give up his\npresent trust, and make a free gift of all lands, negroes, goods, and\nchattels, which he now possessed in Georgia, for the support of the\nproposed institution, to be called by the name of Bethesda college,\nin Georgia.\u201d A long official correspondence followed. The government\nwere not unwilling to grant a charter, but they insisted that the\npresident of the college should be a minister of the Church of England,\nand that there should be a daily use of the Church liturgy. These\nwere conditions which Whitefield respectfully declined; and hence the\ncharter asked for was refused. The result was, Whitefield added to\nhis Georgian orphan house a public academy, by the erection of two\nadditional wings, one hundred and fifty feet each in length; and, a\nmonth before Wesley wrote his letter, opened the new building, by\npreaching before his excellency the governor, and before the Georgian\ncouncil and assembly, from, \u201cThe hands of Zerubbabel have laid the\nfoundations of this house, His hands shall also finish it; and thou\nshalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you; for who hath\ndespised the day of small things?\u201d Thus Whitefield left behind him, in\nAmerica, a complex orphanage and college, for the support of which he\nhad obtained grants of land to the extent of 3800 acres, and had bought\nseventy-five male and female negroes for the purpose of cultivating his\nextensive farm, and making it productive.[84]\n\nWe have already seen that Wesley was not only urged, but was more\nthan willing, to visit his newly instituted societies in America.\nPilmoor was working hard at New York, and Boardman at Philadelphia;\na number of negroes had been converted; the work was growing; and\nthe young evangelists--Boardman of seven, and Pilmoor of five years\u2019\nstanding--wished for advice and help.[85] Wesley had nearly arrived at\nthe age of threescore years and ten; but, if his way had opened, he\nwould have bounded off across the Atlantic with as little anxiety as\nhe was accustomed to trot to the hospitable Perronet home at Shoreham.\nThe obstacles however were insurmountable. There was no one, during\nhis absence, to take his place as superintendent general of the\nsocieties in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; and to this must\nbe added the strong objections of the people to let him go. \u201cIf I go\nto America,\u201d said he, \u201cI must do a thing which I hate as bad as I hate\nthe devil.\u201d \u201cWhat is that?\u201d asked his friend. \u201cI must keep a _secret_,\u201d\nhe answered; meaning, that he must conceal his purpose, otherwise his\nsocieties would interfere, and effectually prevent his going.[86]\n\nOn the 5th of March, Wesley set out on his journey to the north, which\noccupied the next five months. Coming to Newbury, he writes: \u201cI had\nbeen much importuned to preach here. But where? The Dissenters would\nnot permit me to preach in their meetinghouse. Some were then desirous\nto hire the old playhouse; but the good mayor would not suffer it to be\nso profaned! So I made use of a workshop,--a large, commodious place.\nBut it would, by no means, contain the congregation. All that could\nhear behaved well.\u201d\n\nFrom Newbury, Wesley proceeded to Bristol, Gloucester, Birmingham, and\nWednesbury. He then made his way, through Staffordshire and Cheshire,\nto Manchester, where he arrived at the end of March, and made the\nfollowing characteristic entry in his journal: \u201cIn this journey, as\nwell as in many others, I observed a mistake that almost universally\nprevails. Near thirty years ago, I was thinking, \u2018How is it that\nno horse ever stumbles while I am reading?\u2019 (History, poetry, and\nphilosophy, I commonly read on horseback, having other employment at\nother times.) No account can possibly be given but this: because, then\nI throw the reins on his neck. I then set myself to observe; and I\naver, that, in riding above a hundred thousand miles, I scarce ever\nremember any horse (except two that would fall head over heels any\nway), to fall, or make a considerable stumble, while I rode with a\nslack rein. To fancy, therefore, that a tight rein prevents stumbling\nis a capital blunder. I have repeated the trial more frequently than\nmost men in the kingdom can do. A slack rein will prevent stumbling if\nanything will. But in some horses nothing can.\u201d\n\nFrom Manchester, Wesley proceeded to Liverpool, Whitehaven, and\nCarlisle, preaching there, and at intermediate places. He writes: \u201cAt\nCarlisle, it was the day of small things; the society consisting but\nof fifteen members.\u201d Methodism had been founded in this border city\nby Robert Bell, an exciseman; and its place of worship was a shed for\nsheltering carts. At almost every meeting the mob attended; stones and\nbrickbats were often thrown, and the Methodists hissed at and otherwise\nabused.[87]\n\nLeaving Carlisle, Wesley made his way to Edinburgh, which he reached\non April 20, and says: \u201cI endeavoured to confirm those whom many had\nstrove to turn out of the way. What pity is it, that the children of\nGod should so zealously do the devil\u2019s work! How is it, that they\nare still ignorant of Satan\u2019s devices? Lord, what is man?\u201d \u201cThe\ncongregations were nearly as usual; but the society which, when I was\nhere before, consisted of above one hundred and sixty members, was\nnow shrunk to about fifty. Such is the fruit of a single preacher\u2019s\nstaying a whole year in one place, together with the labours of good\nMr. Townshend!\u201d\n\nIt was at this time that Wesley had his first interview with Lady\nGlenorchy.[88] She writes: \u201cThe Rev. Dr. Webster[89] and Mr. Wesley met\nat my house, and agreed on all doctrines on which they spoke, except\nthose of God\u2019s decrees, predestination, and the saints\u2019 perseverance.\nI must, according to the light I now have, agree with Dr. Webster.\nNevertheless, I hope Mr. Wesley is a child of God. He has been an\ninstrument of saving souls; as such, I honour him, and will countenance\nhis preachers. I have heard him preach thrice; and should have been\nbetter pleased had he preached more of Christ, and less of himself.\u201d[90]\n\nLady Glenorchy had recently opened St. Mary\u2019s chapel, in which service\nwas performed by presbyterians, episcopalians, and Methodists; but her\nladyship now wished to have a schoolmaster and a minister of her own;\nand, notwithstanding her disparaging remarks on Wesley, she employed\nhim to obtain them for her. A few weeks later she wrote to him as\nfollows.\n\n \u201cEDINBURGH, _May 29, 1770_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND SIR,--When I consider how much you have to do, and how\n very precious your time is, I feel unwilling to give you the trouble\n of reading a letter from me; yet I know not how to delay returning\n you my best thanks for the pains you have taken to procure me a\n Christian innkeeper and schoolmaster. And, though you have not as\n yet been successful, I hope you may find some before you reach\n London, who are willing to leave their native country and friends\n for the sake of promoting the interest of Christ\u2019s kingdom. If Mr.\n Eggleston\u2019s objections relate only to temporal things, perhaps it\n may be in my power to remove them. I am exceedingly obliged to you,\n dear and honoured sir, for your good advice; it is agreeable to that\n small glimmering of light the Lord has been pleased to give me for\n five years past. Let me entreat you to remember me at the throne\n of grace. I am, reverend sir, with esteem and respect, your obliged\n servant,\n\n \u201cWILLIELMA GLENORCHY.\u201d[91]\n\nWithin a week after this, Wesley obtained her ladyship a schoolmaster;\nand, at the beginning of the year following, sent her a minister, the\nRev. Richard De Courcy, who had been a Methodist in Ireland,[92] had\nbeen educated at Trinity college, Dublin, had obtained deacon\u2019s orders,\nand had officiated as curate to Walter Shirley.[93] Lady Glenorchy\nwrites: \u201cMr. De Courcy is quite the person Mr. Wesley represented\nhim,--of a sweet disposition, and wishes only to preach Christ to poor\nsinners wherever he finds an open door.\u201d[94] This was in February,\n1771, and yet, within six months afterwards, on June 28, her ladyship\nwrites again: \u201cBefore I left Edinburgh, I dismissed Mr. Wesley\u2019s\npreachers from my chapel; first, because they deny the doctrines\nof imputed righteousness, election, and the saints\u2019 perseverance;\nsecondly, because I found none of our gospel ministers would preach in\nthe chapel, if they continued to have the use of the pulpit; thirdly,\nbecause I found my own soul had been hurt by hearing them, and I judged\nthat others might be hurt by them also.\u201d[95]\n\nThus, after Wesley had served her ladyship to the utmost of his power,\nhe and his preachers were ignominiously expelled from the sacred\nprecincts of St. Mary\u2019s, and her chapel was left in the sole possession\nof Mr. De Courcy and his Calvinistic friends. It is right to add that,\nnotwithstanding her Calvinism, Lady Glenorchy maintained, to the end\nof life, a warm friendship with her Methodist friend, Lady Maxwell,\nwhom, at her death, she appointed her sole executrix, and the principal\nmanager of her chapels, both in England and across the border.[96]\n\nTo return to Wesley. From Edinburgh, he went to Perth, Dunkeld, and\nInverness, at which last mentioned place Benjamin and William Chappel\nhad been three months waiting for a vessel to return to London, and\nhad employed the time in meeting the people every night to sing and\npray together. Benjamin Chappel, who thus begun Methodism in Inverness,\nwas a wheelwright, and, in after years, had the honour of being the\nfirst Methodist in Prince Edward\u2019s Island.[97]\n\nAt Aberdeen, as at Inverness and Nairn, Wesley preached in the kirk.\nAt Arbroath, the society, though of but nine months\u2019 standing, was the\nlargest in Scotland, with the exception of that at Aberdeen. At Dunbar\nhe preached in the new chapel, \u201cthe cheerfulest in the kingdom\u201d; and,\non May 21, reached Newcastle on Tyne; but here we pause to insert a\nletter of considerable interest.\n\nWithin the last two years, Wesley had met at Bristol with a clergyman,\nwho was one of the king of Sweden\u2019s chaplains, but who had recently\nspent several years in Pennsylvania. This gentleman, Dr. Wrangel, had\nstrongly requested that Wesley would send preachers to America, nearly\ntwelve months before Boardman and Pilmoor were appointed; and, further,\nto show his friendly feeling towards Methodism he had preached in the\nBristol chapel to a crowd of Methodists, and \u201cgave,\u201d says Wesley,\n\u201cgeneral satisfaction by the simplicity and life which accompanied his\nsound doctrine.\u201d Dr. Wrangel had now returned to Sweden, and wrote the\nfollowing to Wesley.\n\n \u201cSTOCKHOLM, _May 5, 1770_.\n\n \u201cDEAR AND MUCH BELOVED BROTHER IN CHRIST JESUS,--I hope my heart\n will ever be impressed with the warmest gratitude for the comfort I\n enjoyed in your society. Though absent in body, I have often been\n amongst you. When I left England, I arrived first at Gothenburg, and\n lodged at the right reverend bishop, Dr. Lamberg\u2019s, who was fellow\n chaplain with me at court. I found him to be a great friend of yours.\n He had heard you preach while on his travels in England. I sent him\n your books, and he was well pleased with what he read, and desired me\n to remember him to you.\n\n \u201cI have now been upwards of a year in Stockholm, and have officiated\n as chaplain to the king, and at the same time preached in most of\n the churches here, and I must say, with uncommon success. Whenever\n I have preached the churches have been crowded. The king, on his\n deathbed, made me a privy councillor. When I spoke to him of the way\n of salvation, he received the word with gladness, and departed in\n the Lord, to the great edification and comfort of the whole family.\n His queen also, who is of English descent, is eminent in piety. This,\n I hope, will be attended with good consequences in favour of religion.\n\n \u201cLast parliament session several clergymen, and amongst them four\n bishops, agreed to my proposals concerning a society for propagating\n practical religion. We intend, as soon as the plan is rightly fixed,\n to enter into correspondence with several parts of the world; and we\n expect the honour of your correspondence also.\n\n \u201cProvidence is about to settle me in a station of great importance.\n I am about to be named the almoner of his majesty. This office is of\n importance to religion in general. Finally, my dear brother, let me\n be included in all your prayers, and let me hear from you. I am, with\n the greatest sincerity of affection, dear and reverend brother, your\n most humble and affectionate brother and servant,\n\n \u201cC. M. WRANGEL.\u201d[98]\n\nFurther correspondence followed, from which we learn that Dr. Wrangel\nhimself, like Wesley, had been an open air preacher; but was now, not\nonly the king of Sweden\u2019s almoner, but \u201cpresident of the consistory at\ncourt, and chaplain to all the royal orders.\u201d He writes to Wesley in\n1771: \u201cPray, dear sir, desire your society to intercede for me. I send\nyou enclosed the letter of admission to our society. The rules, not yet\nbeing printed in English, we send in German. I sincerely thank you for\nthe kind present of your sermons and books. I presented a copy of your\nsermon to the society, which was very acceptable. The society will have\nthe life of Mr. Whitefield inserted in their Pastoral Collections, or\naccount of the work of God abroad. I beg of you, sir, to remember me\nkindly to all your friends, not forgetting dear Kingswood. I have been\ngreatly blessed in my labour amongst the great, and shall soon give a\nparticular account of it.\u201d[99]\n\nThus, as England had its Wesleys, America its Whitefield, and Wales its\nHowel Harris, Sweden also had its great reformer,--Dr. Wrangel, once a\nfield preacher, but now a founder of a _quasi_ missionary society, and,\nas a faithful minister of Christ, bearing his testimony before kings\nand princes. Through Dr. Wrangel\u2019s friendship with Wesley, Methodism\nhad already, fifty-six years before its appointment of the Rev. Joseph\nRayner Stephens to Stockholm, indirectly extended its influences to the\nSwedish capital, and had begun that wondrous work, which, fostered by\nthe Rev. Dr. Scott, has issued in some of the most remarkable results\nrecorded in mission history.\n\nWesley left Newcastle for London on the 11th of June, and, on his\njourney, preached for the most part thrice a day. At Whitby, one of\nhis itinerants, of six years\u2019 standing, \u201chad set up for himself;\nhis reasons for leaving the Methodists being--(1) that they went to\nchurch; (2) that they held perfection.\u201d It is a remarkable fact,\nthat sixty-five of the Whitby Methodists professed to be entirely\nsanctified. From Whitby, Wesley proceeded along the east coast to\nRobinhood\u2019s Bay, Scarborough, Bridlington, and Hull.\n\nFrom Hull, he made his way to Beverley, York, Tadcaster, Pateley,\nOtley, Yeadon, Heptonstall, Colne, Haworth, and Keighley. The Keighley,\nor Haworth, circuit, at this period, extended from Otley to Whitehaven,\na distance of one hundred and twenty miles.[100] Yeadon has just been\nmentioned. Here James Rhodes began to hold Methodist prayer-meetings as\nearly as 1747; and here his brother Joseph preached the first Methodist\nsermon in Yeadon, in the house of Judith Jackson. Here Thomas Mitchell,\none of Wesley\u2019s bravest itinerants, was trained; and here William\nDarney, while preaching, was attacked by a mob, led on by Reynolds,\ncurate of Guiseley, had eggs thrown at his face, was dragged out of\ndoors, and then stamped upon. Here Jonathan Maskew, by the same godless\ngang, had his clothes torn off his back, and, in a state of nakedness,\nwas trailed over the rough stone pavement, till he was a mass of\nbruises. The bush burned, but it was not consumed. In 1766, the first\nchapel was erected; and now, in 1770, it had to be enlarged.\n\nAt the beginning of July, Wesley spent about a week at Leeds, and in\nthe surrounding towns and villages. He visited the orphanage of Miss\nBosanquet, who had removed to Cross Hall, Morley. Her friend Sarah\nCrosby, in a letter dated July 13, 1770, remarks: \u201cMr. Wesley left\nLeeds yesterday. I never heard him preach better, if so well. In every\nsermon he set forth \u2018Christian perfection\u2019 in the most beautiful\nlight. Mr. Rankin, who travels with him, is a blessed man, and seems to\nfear no one\u2019s face. I believe there has not been such a time at Leeds\nfor many years.\u201d[101]\n\nFrom Leeds, Wesley proceeded to Doncaster, Epworth, Horncastle, Louth,\nand other places; and then, turning round, came back to Doncaster,\nand, from there, went to Rotherham, Sheffield, Derby, and Nottingham,\npreaching, not only there, but in many of the intervening villages\nand towns. He writes: \u201cI preached at Bingham, and really admired the\nexquisite stupidity of the people. They gaped and stared, while I was\nspeaking of death and judgment, as if they had never heard of such\nthings before. And they were not helped by two surly, ill mannered\nclergymen, who seemed to be just as wise as themselves.\u201d\n\nIn Loughborough market place, he preached to a congregation of some\nthousands, all of them still as night. This was his first sermon\nhere; but, four years previous to this, some of his preachers had\nvisited the town, and, among others, converted by their ministry, was\nThomas Cook, who in humility, penitence, and self denial, was, even\namong the first Methodists, almost without an equal. For three months\ntogether, he would live on barley bread and water, often fasting,\nfrom even nourishment like that, for whole days together, and praying\nthe whole night through. He invariably wore clothing of the coarsest\nmaterial, and when urged to use an overcoat answered: \u201cWhen you can\nassure me, that there is not a poor man destitute of _one_ coat, I may\nthen perhaps wear _two_.\u201d For ten years, he prayed for all with whom\nhe happened to converse; and as he lived, so he died,--humble, holy,\nloving, and devout,--saying in answer to a question, and with his\ncharacteristic self abasement, \u201cOh no! no funeral sermon for _me_!\u201d[102]\n\nOn Thursday, August 2, after a five months\u2019 absence, Wesley got back to\nLondon; and, on August 7, met his conference; in reference to which,\nthe following unpublished letter, addressed to Mr. Merryweather, at\nYarm, is not without interest.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I have the credit of stationing the preachers;\n but many of them go where they _will_ go, for all me. For instance,\n I have marked down James Oddie and John Nelson for Yarm circuit the\n ensuing year; yet, I am not certain that either of them will come.\n They can give twenty reasons for going elsewhere. Mr. Murlin says, he\n must be in London. \u2019Tis certain he has a mind to be there; therefore,\n so it must be; for you know a man of fortune is master of his own\n motions.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe difficulties of conference, in stationing preachers, are not novel.\n\nThere were now fifty Methodist circuits, one of which was America!\nThere were a hundred and twenty itinerant preachers, and 29,406 members\nof society. Nearly \u00a32,000 had been subscribed, during the year, towards\ndefraying the chapel debts; and yet, in consequence of new erections,\nthe aggregate debt was about the same. His chapels were becoming\nWesley\u2019s greatest burdens.[103] It was resolved, that, during the\ncoming year, no new chapel should be built, nor any old one altered,\nunless the entire expenditure were raised; and a proposal was made to\nvest all the chapels in a general trust, consisting of persons chosen\nfrom among the Methodists throughout the kingdom. This would have been\na disastrous mistake. Fortunately it was not adopted.\n\nKingswood school, as usual, was a trouble. It had been opened\ntwo-and-twenty years, and had had, during that period, eight classical\nmasters, five of whom had obtained episcopal ordination, and now a\nsixth, Joseph Benson, had not only entered himself a graduate at\nOxford, but had exchanged Kingswood for Trevecca. No wonder that\nWesley, at the conference of 1770, asked, \u201cHow can we secure our\nmasters?\u201d The answer was, \u201cAsk each, before he is received, Do you\ndesign to stay here? have you any thoughts of being ordained? have\nyou any design to preach?\u201d It is a fact worth noting, that, during\nthe remainder of Wesley\u2019s lifetime, there was only one more classical\nmaster who became an ordained clergyman, and that was Mr. Benson\u2019s\nimmediate successor, Isaac Twicross.[104]\n\nWesley found, that some of his preachers were still engaged in trade;\nand, hence, it was now agreed, that those who would not relinquish\ntrading in cloth, hardware, pills, drops, and balsams, should be\nexcluded from the brotherhood; but that, if any of them, like Thomas\nHanby, John Oliver, and James Oddie, had a share in ships, there would\nbe no objection to that.[105]\n\nThe conference of 1770, however, will always be memorable chiefly, if\nnot entirely, for its doctrinal minutes. From the first, Whitefield,\nHowel Harris, and their friends, had been Calvinists; and so were many\nof the evangelical clergy, patronised by the Countess of Huntingdon,\nas Romaine, Newton, Venn, Berridge, Shirley, and others. At an early\nperiod of their history, the two Wesleys agreed, with the Methodist\nCalvinistic leaders, to avoid preaching on Calvinistic topics to the\nutmost extent possible. Charles Wesley afterwards endorsed the document\nwith the words \u201cVain Agreement.\u201d So indeed it was: in fact it could\nhardly be otherwise. Wesley, more than once, tried to meet his friends\nat a sort of halfway house; but the attempt was dangerous, it exposed\nWesley to suspicion, and it issued in a failure. We have already seen\nthat, in 1743, Wesley, for the purpose of terminating their disputes,\nmade concessions to Whitefield, respecting unconditional election,\nirresistible grace, and final perseverance, which it was impossible to\ndefend. Accordingly, at the conference held a few months afterwards,\nhe honestly confessed, that he had \u201cunawares leaned too much towards\nCalvinism;\u201d[106] and proceeded to propound doctrines, which, in\nsubstance, were the same as those he now embodied in the theses of\n1770. Twenty-six years had elapsed since then; but there was a striking\nresemblance between the two periods; and, substantially, the same\ncause for outspokenness. To say nothing more concerning Whitefield\u2019s\ndoctrines, it is important to bear in mind, that, in 1744, Moravianism,\nor rather Zinzendorfism, had turned the doctrine of justification by\nfaith only into an antinomian channel; and now, in 1770, the same\nthing was practically being done by not a few who, at all events, were\n_called_ Methodists. Mr. Fletcher\u2019s description of the antinomianism\nof the period is a frightful picture; and though not so applicable to\nthe followers of Wesley as to those of the Countess of Huntingdon\u2019s\nconnexion, yet the former were not so free from the antinomian poison\nas they should have been. Hence the publication of Wesley\u2019s theological\ntheses; substantially the same as he had enunciated in 1744; but not\nso guardedly expressed. As they led to the longest and bitterest\ncontroversy in Wesley\u2019s history, we subjoin them in their entirety.\n\n \u201cWe said, in 1744, \u2018We have leaned too much toward Calvinism.\u2019\n Wherein?\n\n \u201c1. With regard to _man\u2019s faithfulness_. Our Lord himself taught us\n to use the expression; and we ought never to be ashamed of it. We\n ought steadily to assert, on His authority, that, if a man is not\n \u2018faithful in the unrighteous mammon,\u2019 God will not give _him the true\n riches_.\n\n \u201c2. With regard to _working for life_. This also our Lord has\n expressly commanded us: \u2018Labour,\u2019 \u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03b1\u03b6\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5, literally \u2018Work\u2019 \u2018for\n the meat that endureth to everlasting life.\u2019 And, in fact, every\n believer, till he comes to glory, works for as well as _from_ life.\n\n \u201c3. We have received it as a maxim, that \u2018a man is to do nothing in\n order to justification,\u2019 Nothing can be more false. Whoever desires\n to find favour with God should \u2018cease from evil, and learn to do\n well,\u2019 Whoever repents should do \u2018works meet for repentance,\u2019 And if\n this is not _in order_ to find favour, what does he do them for?\n\n \u201cReview the whole affair: 1. Who of us is _now_ accepted of God? He\n that now believes in Christ with a loving and obedient heart.\n\n \u201c2. But who among those that never heard of Christ? He that feareth\n God and worketh righteousness, according to the light he has.\n\n \u201c3. Is this the same with \u2018he that is sincere\u2019? Nearly, if not quite.\n\n \u201c4. Is not this \u2018salvation by works\u2019? Not by the _merit_ of works,\n but by works as a _condition_.\n\n \u201c5. What have we been disputing about for these thirty years? I am\n afraid, _about words_.\n\n \u201c6. As to _merit_ itself, of which we have been so dreadfully\n afraid; we are rewarded \u2018according to our works,\u2019 yea, \u2018because of\n our works.\u2019 How does this differ from, _for the sake of our works_?\n And how differs this from _secundum merita operum_? as our works\n _deserve_? Can you split this hair? I doubt I cannot.\n\n \u201c7. The grand objection to one of the preceding propositions is drawn\n from matter of fact. God does in fact justify those, who, by their\n own confession, neither feared God nor wrought righteousness. Is\n this an exception to the general rule? It is a doubt, God makes any\n exception at all. But how are we sure, that the person in question\n never did fear God and work righteousness? His own saying so is not\n proof; for we know, how all that are convinced of sin undervalue\n themselves in every respect.\n\n \u201c8. Does not talking of a justified or a sanctified _state_ tend to\n mislead men? almost naturally leading them to trust in what was done\n in one moment? Whereas we are every hour and every moment pleasing or\n displeasing to God, \u2018according to our works\u2019;--according to the whole\n of our inward tempers, and our outward behaviour.\u201d\n\nWhat was the result of these loosely worded propositions? The answer to\nthis will extend over several years; but suffice it to say at present\nthat the publication gave huge offence to the whole host of Calvinistic\nMethodists; and Lady Huntingdon declared, that whoever did not wholly\ndisavow the theses should quit her college. Mr. Benson, her classical\nmaster, so far from disavowing, defended them, and hence sprung up a\ncorrespondence between Wesley and himself, from which the following are\nextracts.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _October 5, 1770_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--I am glad you had the courage to speak your mind on\n so critical an occasion. At all hazards, do so still; only with all\n possible tenderness and respect. She is much devoted to God, and has\n a thousand valuable and amiable qualities. There is no great fear\n that I should be prejudiced against one whom I have intimately known\n for these thirty years. And I know what is in man; therefore, I make\n large allowance for human weaknesses. But what you say is exactly\n the state of the case. They are \u2018jealous of their authority.\u2019 Truly,\n there is no cause: _Longe mea discrepat illi et vox et ratio_. I\n fear and shun, not desire, authority of any kind. Only when God\n lays that burden upon me, I bear it, for His and the people\u2019s sake.\n \u2018Child,\u2019 said my father to me when I was young, \u2018you think to carry\n everything by dint of argument; but you will find, by-and-by, how\n very little is ever done in the world by clear reason.\u2019 Very little\n indeed! Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name\n of reason. It is our part, by religion and reason, to counteract them\n all we can. It is yours, in particular, to do all that in you lies to\n soften the prejudices of those that are round about you, and to calm\n the passions from which they spring. Blessed are the peacemakers!\n Whatever I say, it will be all one. They will find fault, because\n I say it. There is implicit envy at my power (so called), and a\n jealousy rising therefrom. Hence prejudice in a thousand forms;\n hence objections springing up like mushrooms. And while these causes\n remain, they will spring up, whatever I can do or say. However, keep\n thyself pure; and then there need be no strangeness between you and,\n dear Joseph, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[107]\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 30, 1770_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--For several years, I have been convinced that I had\n not done my duty with regard to that valuable woman; that I had not\n told her what, I was thoroughly assured, no one else would dare to\n do, and what I knew she would bear from no other person, but possibly\n might bear from me. But, being unwilling to give her pain, I put it\n off from time to time. At length, I did not dare to delay any longer,\n lest death should call one of us hence. So I, at once, delivered\n my own soul, by telling her all that was in my heart. It was my\n business, my proper business, so to do; as none else either could or\n would do it. Neither did I at all take too much upon me: I know the\n office of a Christian minister. If she is not profited, it is her\n own fault, not mine: I have done my duty, and I do not know there is\n one charge in that letter which was either unjust, unimportant, or\n aggravated; any more than that against the doggerel hymns, which are\n equally an insult upon poetry and common sense.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Joseph, your affectionate brother,\n\n JOHN WESLEY.\u201d[108]\n\nThe above refers to a letter which Wesley had addressed to Lady\nHuntingdon; but which has never yet been published. Evidently it\nwas faithful, and also unpalatable. It seems to have strengthened\nprejudices against him, instead of removing them. His position also\nwas not improved by anti-Calvinian publications over which he had no\ncontrol. Mr. William Mason, who had been one of Wesley\u2019s classleaders,\nbut had left him, and was now a magistrate of the county of Surrey,\nand resided at Rotherhithe Wall,[109] issued his \u201cAxe laid to the Root\nof Antinomian Licentiousness; extracted from the works of Mr. Flavel.\u201d\n1770: 8vo, 36 pages. Another writer, signing himself \u201cAcademicus,\u201d\ngave to the public a small octavo volume of 124 pages, entitled \u201cThe\nChurch of England Vindicated from the Rigid Notions of Calvinism\u201d; in\nwhich Sir Richard Hill is severely, perhaps abusively, flagellated for\nhis virulent attack on Dr. Adams of Shrewsbury, and the Rev. William\nRomaine is charged with preaching a sermon which \u201cshocked every serious\nand rational Christian that heard it.\u201d All these incidents had to do\nwith the lamentable anger and bitterness of the memorable Calvinian\ncontroversy which will soon demand attention.\n\nThe sessions of the conference of 1770 being ended, Wesley set out for\nCornwall, where he spent the next three weeks. Returning to Bristol, he\nand his brother, at the beginning of October, agreed, at the request\nof the society, to administer to them the Lord\u2019s supper every other\nSunday; which arrangement, of course, rendered it necessary, that an\nordained clergyman should reside at Bristol, or in its neighbourhood.\n\nThe rest of the year was occupied with his usual journeys to\nOxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk,\nand Kent. Poor Whitefield was dead; and Wesley, if the way was opened,\nwas quite ready to take his place, by including America within the\nbounds of his vast Methodist circuit. Hence the following to Mrs.\nMarston, of Worcester.\n\n \u201c_December 14, 1770._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--If I live till spring, and should have a clear,\n pressing call, I am as ready to embark for America, as for Ireland.\n All places are alike to me: I am attached to none in particular.\n Wherever the work of our Lord is to be carried on, _that_ is my place\n for _to-day_. And we live only for to-day: it is not our part to take\n thought for to-morrow.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Molly, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[110]\n\nOn Saturday, September 29, while on his way to Boston, in New England,\nWhitefield, at the importunity of the people, preached at Exeter, in\nthe open air, a sermon nearly two hours long. At six o\u2019clock next\nmorning he was dead. A friend, addressing him just before he commenced\nhis last sermon, said, \u201cSir, you are more fit to go to bed than to\npreach.\u201d \u201cTrue,\u201d replied the dying evangelist; and then turning aside,\nhe clasped his hands, and, looking up, said: \u201cLord Jesus, I am weary\n_in_ Thy work, but not _of_ Thy work.\u201d Whitefield was buried, where he\ndied, at Newburyport. Every mark of respect was shown to his remains.\nAll the bells in the town tolled, and the ships in the harbour fired\nmourning guns, and hung their flags half-mast high. In Georgia, all the\nblack cloth in the stores was bought up, and the church was hung with\nmourning; the governor and council met at the statehouse in habiliments\nof sorrow, and went in procession to hear a funeral sermon.\n\nWhitefield intended to be interred in Tottenham Court chapel, and had\ntold the congregation, that he should like the Wesley brothers to be\ninterred beside him. \u201cWe will,\u201d said he, \u201call lie together. You refuse\nthem entrance here while living: they can do you no harm when they are\ndead.\u201d[111] Whitefield\u2019s wish was not realised; but, at length, Wesley\nwas admitted to Whitefield\u2019s pulpit.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Joss announced in Tottenham Court chapel on November 11,\nthat, on the sabbath following, Wesley would preach a sermon there\non Whitefield\u2019s death, as it had long ago been agreed between the\ntwo, that whichever survived the other should preach the deceased\u2019s\nfuneral discourse.[112] An immense multitude assembled. \u201cIt was,\u201d says\nWesley, \u201can awful season; all were as still as night.\u201d On the same\nday, he preached again in Whitefield\u2019s tabernacle in Moorfields.\nThe hour appointed was half-past five; but the place was filled at\nthree, and Wesley began at four. His text was the same at both places:\n\u201cLet me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like\nhis!\u201d Whitefield\u2019s characteristics were described as consisting of\n\u201cunparalleled zeal, indefatigable activity, tender heartedness to\nthe afflicted, and charitableness toward the poor, the most generous\nfriendship, nice and unblemished modesty, frankness and openness of\nconversation, unflinching courage, and steadiness in whatever he\nundertook for his Master\u2019s sake.\u201d Wesley then sketched the doctrines\nWhitefield preached, and concluded thus.\n\n \u201cThese are the fundamental doctrines which he everywhere insisted\n on; and may they not be summed up in two words,--the new birth, and\n justification by faith? These let us insist upon with all boldness,\n at all times, and in all places. Keep close to these good, old,\n unfashionable doctrines, how many soever contradict and blaspheme.\n Go on, my brethren, in the name of the Lord, and in the power of His\n might. Let brother no more lift up sword against brother; rather put\n ye on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies, humbleness of mind,\n brotherly kindness, gentleness, longsuffering, forbearing one another\n in love. Let the time past suffice for strife, envy, contention;\n for biting and devouring one another. O God, with Thee no word is\n impossible! O that Thou wouldest cause the mantle of Thy prophet,\n whom Thou hast taken up, now to fall on us that remain! Take away\n from us all anger and wrath, and bitterness; all clamour and evil\n speaking! Let Thy Spirit so rest upon us, that from this hour we may\n be kind to each other, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as\n God for Christ\u2019s sake hath forgiven us!\u201d\n\nWell did such sentiments harmonise with the spirit and the life of\nWesley\u2019s old and faithful friend; and mournful is the fact, that they\nwere so soon utterly ignored by the party of which Whitefield had\nbeen the chief. No sooner was Wesley\u2019s sermon preached and published,\nthan it was attacked, because he had omitted to mention the election\nand final perseverance of the saints. His doctrines of \u201cthe new birth\nand justification by faith\u201d were a defective, precarious scheme, and\nabortive as to saving purposes; because, according to his tenets, a\nman may be justified by faith, and be born again, and yet never enjoy\neternal life, unless he does more for himself, to make his salvation\neffectual, than has been done for him by the blood and righteousness of\nChrist.[113]\n\nWhitefield bequeathed his orphan house estate in Georgia, with all\nits \u201cbuildings, lands, and negroes,\u201d \u201cto that elect lady, that mother\nin Israel, that mirror of true and undefiled religion, the Right\nHonourable Selina, Countess Dowager of Huntingdon.\u201d His two chapels\nin London, with his books and furniture in the Tabernacle house, were\nleft to his \u201cworthy, trusty, tried friends, Messrs. Daniel West and\nRobert Keen.\u201d Within the last three years, he had become possessed, by\nlegacies, of about \u00a31700, including \u00a3700 accruing to him at his wife\u2019s\ndecease; and this amount he bequeathed to a whole host of friends,\nthe largest share falling to the Countess of Huntingdon; while, in an\naddendum to his will, he says: \u201cI also leave a mourning ring to my\nhonoured and dear friends and disinterested fellow labourers, the Rev.\nMessrs. John and Charles Wesley, in token of my indissoluble union with\nthem, in heart and Christian affection, notwithstanding our differences\nin judgment about some particular points of doctrine. Grace be with all\nthem, of whatever denomination, that love our Lord Jesus, our common\nLord, in sincerity.\u201d[114]\n\nThus died one of the greatest Christian orators that ever lived,--a\nman who, though often heavily afflicted, preached, in four-and-thirty\nyears, upwards of eighteen thousand sermons,[115] many of them in the\nopen air, and often to enormous crowds, and in the teeth of brutal\npersecution.[116]\n\nSpace forbids enlargement; but, perhaps, two unpublished letters,\nbelonging to this period, may be welcome. The first was addressed to\nMatthew Lowes, and the second to Miss Foard, who afterwards became Mrs.\nThornton, of 86, Blackman Street, Southwark.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 13, 1770_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Health you shall have, if health be best; if not,\n sickness will be a greater blessing. I am glad you have Dr. Wilson\n near. A more skilful man, I suppose, is not in England. If you\n should continue weak, (as I did from November to March,) good is the\n will of the Lord. You are not a superannuated preacher: but you are a\n supernumerary. I believe one of your boys is rejoicing in the love of\n God.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Lowes, dear Matthew, your affectionate\n brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201c_December 29, 1770._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--When we had an opportunity of spending a day or two\n together, you convinced me that you fear and love God, and desire\n to enjoy all His promises. And I found you less prejudiced, than I\n expected, against the doctrine of Christian perfection. I only want\n you to experience this: to be \u2018all faith, all gentleness, all love.\u2019\n Labour to be wise, and yet simple! To steer between the extremes\n of neglecting to cultivate your understanding, which is right; and\n _leaning_ to it, which is fatally wrong. And be free and open with,\n my dear Nancy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nLittle more, in reference to 1770, remains to be related. To a great\nextent, mob violence was ended; but Wesley was still the target at\nwhich literary malice shot its shafts. The aid of the Muses was again\ninvoked, and some unknown poetaster issued an octavo pamphlet of 39\npages, entitled, \u201cThe Perfections of God,--a standing Rule to try all\nDoctrines and Experience. A Poem humbly offered to the consideration of\nMr. John Wesley and his followers.\u201d This was evidently the production\nof one of his Calvinistic friends. Hence the following--\n\n \u201cShall Wesley sow his hurtful tares,\n And scatter round a thousand snares,\n Telling how God from wrath may turn,\n And love the soul He thought to burn,\n And how again His mind may move,\n To hate, where He has vowed to love,\n How all mankind He fain would save,\n Yet longs for what He cannot have,\n Industrious thus to sound abroad\n A disappointed, changing God?\u201d\n\nAgain, in reference to the \u201cHymn on God\u2019s Everlasting Love,\u201d we have\nthe following choice _morceau_.\n\n \u201cBlush Wesley, blush, be filled with shame,\n Doom thy vile poem to the flame;\n What tongue thy horrid crime can tell?\n Put saints to sing the song of hell!\n Haste hence to Rome, thy proper place;\n Why should we share in thy disgrace?\n We need no greater proof to see,\n Thy blasphemies with hers agree.\u201d\n\nIn addition to the above, there was published a sermon of 32 pages,\n8vo, entitled \u201cMethodistical Deceit: a Sermon preached in the parish\nchurch of St. Matthew, Bethnal Green, by Haddon Smith, curate of the\nsaid church.\u201d\n\nIt is right to say that Mr. Smith\u2019s discourse is levelled against the\nCalvinistic Methodists, of whom, however, he unfortunately speaks\nas though they were all the Methodists that existed. Remembering\nthe recent origin of the Methodist movement, and the unparalleled\nopposition it had been its lot to encounter, it is somewhat amusing\nto find the Bethnal Green curate describing the Methodists as \u201cthe\n_overbearing_ sect\u201d; perhaps it was a _lapsus lingu\u00e6_; or perhaps the\nRev. Mr. Smith began to see, that crushing the system with the iron\nheel of persecution only diffused its fragrance wider; and that, after\nall, Methodism, instead of dying, was every year more vigorous than\never. Mr. Smith was severely handled in a pamphlet of 40 pages, with\nthe title, \u201cLetters to the Rev. Mr. Haddon Smith, occasioned by his\n_Curious_ Sermon entitled Methodistical Deceit; by Philalethes.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s own publications, in 1770, were as follows.\n\n1. \u201cAn Extract from Dr. Young\u2019s Night Thoughts, on Life, Death, and\nImmortality.\u201d 12mo, 241 pages. Wesley professed to have left out all\nthe lines in Young, which he \u201capprehended to be either childish, or\nflat, or turgid, or obscure\u201d; and appended brief explanations of the\nwords and phrases, which he thought would be scarcely understood by\nunlearned readers.\n\n2. \u201cMinutes of several Conversations between the Rev. Messrs. John and\nCharles Wesley and others.\u201d 8vo, 60 pages. This was a new and enlarged\nedition of the minutes published in 1763, embracing minutes of all the\nconferences held from that period to the year 1770.\n\n3. \u201cA Sermon on the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield.\u201d 8vo, 32\npages.\n\n4. \u201cFree Thoughts on the Present State of Public Affairs.\u201d 8vo, 47\npages. This was published in the midst of the terrible national\nconfusion, produced by the dissolute and unprincipled anarchist,--the\ninfamous John Wilkes. The pamphlet has been already noticed in a\nprevious chapter.[117]\n\n5. It was Wesley\u2019s purpose to leave Augustus Toplady in the hands\nof Walter Sellon. He did this, in one respect, but not in another.\nFor instance, he published a small 12mo tract of eight pages, with\nthe title, \u201cWhat is an Arminian?\u201d He writes: \u201cTo say, \u2018this man is\nan Arminian,\u2019 has the same effect on many hearers as to say, \u2018this\nis a mad dog.\u2019 It puts them into a fright at once; they run away\nfrom him with all speed and diligence; and will hardly stop, unless\nit be to throw a stone at the dreadful and mischievous animal.\u201d He\nthen proceeds to show, that the differences between an Arminian and\na Calvinist may all be reduced to a single sentence,--the Calvinist\nbelieves that God has eternally and absolutely decreed to save such\nand such persons, and no others; that these cannot resist the saving\ngrace that He imparts; and that they cannot finally fall from that\ngrace, which they are not able to resist. An Arminian holds doctrines\njust the opposite of these. Wesley concludes his tract by advising both\nArminian and Calvinist preachers never to use, either in public or\nprivate, the word \u201cCalvinist,\u201d or \u201cArminian,\u201d as a term of reproach,\nseeing this was neither better nor worse than calling names,--a\npractice as inconsistent with good sense and good manners as it is with\nChristianity itself.\n\n6. Besides this, Wesley issued another tract, entitled, \u201cThe Doctrine\nof Absolute Predestination Stated and Asserted. By the Rev. Mr. A.----\nT----.\u201d 12mo, 12 pages. This was a faithful abridgment of Toplady\u2019s\ntranslation of Zanchius, without note or comment, except a short\nadvertisement at the beginning, and a paragraph at the end, both of\nwhich we give verbatim.\n\n \u201cAdvertisement.--It is granted, that the ensuing tract is, in good\n measure, a translation. Nevertheless, considering the unparalleled\n modesty and self diffidence of the young translator, and the\n tenderness wherewith he treats his opponents, it may well pass for\n an original.\u201d\n\nThis was stinging; especially when compared with the concluding\nparagraph--\n\n \u201cThe sum of all is this: One in twenty (suppose) of mankind are\n elected; nineteen in twenty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved,\n do what they will; the reprobate shall be damned, do what they can.\n Reader, believe this, or be damned. Witness my hand.\n\n \u201cA---- T----.\u201d\n\nThis was the whole of Wesley\u2019s offending. His tract, we again affirm,\nwas an honest, faithful abridgment of Toplady\u2019s pretended translation;\nbut the truth is, by divesting the work of Toplady of its cloudy\nverbiage, the Calvinistic theory was presented in a form enough to\nhorrify every man of reason and religion. What was the result? Wesley\u2019s\nAbridgment was issued in the month of March, 1770. Poor Toplady seems\nto have become insane with anger; and, before the same month expired,\nhad completed his answer, which was published forthwith, under the\ntitle of \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley: relative to his\npretended Abridgment of Zanchius on Predestination.\u201d 8vo, 30 pages.\nThe most charitable excuse for this angry writer is, that he had, in a\nparoxysm of mortified vanity, lost his balance, and was now _non compos\nmentis_. Wesley had honestly abridged his work; and had written the two\nbrief paragraphs already quoted. That was all: and, for this, the irate\nyoung man of thirty, who in former years had written to Wesley in terms\nof the most filial respect, now tells him that, \u201cfor more than thirty\nyears past he has been endeavouring to palm on his credulous followers\nhis pernicious doctrines, with all the sophistry of a jesuit, and the\ndictatorial authority of a pope.\u201d Wesley is charged with acting \u201cthe\nignoble part of a lurking, sly assassin.\u201d He is exhorted to \u201crenounce\nthe low, serpentine cunning, which puts him on falsifying what he finds\nhimself unable to refute; to dismiss those dirty subterfuges (the last\nresources of mean, malicious impotence), which degrade the man of\nparts into a lying sophister, and sink a divine into the level of an\noyster woman.\u201d Wesley is told, \u201cthat it once depended on the toss of a\nshilling whether he should be a Calvinist or an Arminian. Tails fell\nuppermost, and he resolved to be an universalist.\u201d The elect Toplady\ncontinues: \u201cpossessed of more than serpentine elability, _you_ cast\n_your_ slough, not once a year, but, almost, once an hour. Hence, your\ninnumerable _inconsistencies_, and flagrant _self contradictions_;\nthe _jarring_ of your principles, and the _incoherence_ of your\nreligious system. Somewhat like the necromantic soup in the tragedy of\n\u2018Macbeth,\u2019 your doctrines may be stirred into a chaotic jumble, but\nwitchcraft itself would strive in vain to bring them into coalition.\u201d\nThe gentlemanly polemic then informs Wesley, that he shall not hold\nhimself obliged to again enter the lists with him, if he \u201cdescends to\nhis customary recourse of false quotations, despicable invective, and\nunsupported dogmatisms. An opponent,\u201d continues this model of polite\nbehaviour, \u201can opponent, who thinks to add weight to his arguments by\nscurrility and abuse, resembles the insane person who rolled himself in\nthe mud, in order to make himself fine. I would no more enter into a\nformal controversy with such a scribbler, than I would contend, for the\nwall, with a chimney sweeper.\u201d\n\nIs it surprising that, after this, Calvinism was discussed at the\nconference of 1770; and that, just before it commenced its sittings,\nWesley wrote the following unpublished letter to his friend, Mr.\nMerryweather, at Yarm?\n\n \u201cYORK, _June 24, 1770_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Augustus Toplady I know well; but I do not\n fight with chimney sweepers. He is too dirty a writer for me to\n meddle with; I should only foul my fingers. I read his title page,\n and troubled myself no farther. I leave him to Mr. Sellon. He cannot\n be in better hands.\n\n \u201cAs long as you are seeking and expecting to love God with all your\n heart, so long your soul will live.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [79] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 46.\n\n [80] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. i.,\n p. 387.\n\n [81] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 375.\n\n [82] Ibid. p. 350.\n\n [83] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 148.\n\n [84] Whitefield\u2019s Works, vol. iii.\n\n [85] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 224.\n\n [86] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 345.\n\n [87] Thomas Dixon\u2019s manuscript journal.\n\n [88] \u201cLife of Lady Glenorchy,\u201d p. 155.\n\n [89] One of the ministers of the Tolbooth church,--a man of\n great abilities and of polished manners, but an avowed\n Calvinist of the highest order.--(Lady Glenorchy\u2019s\n Life, p. 132.)\n\n [90] \u201cLife of Lady Glenorchy,\u201d p. 156.\n\n [91] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 279.\n\n [92] \u201cLife of Lady Glenorchy,\u201d pp. 163, 226.\n\n [93] \u201cLife and Times of Lady Huntingdon,\u201d vol. i., p. 157.\n\n [94] Lady Glenorchy\u2019s Life, p. 223.\n\n [95] Ibid. p. 239.\n\n [96] _Methodist Magazine_, 1816, p. 730.\n\n [97] _Methodist Magazine_, 1851, p. 837.\n\n [98] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 330.\n\n [99] Ibid. 1784, p. 614.\n\n [100] _Methodist Magazine_, 1814, p. 166.\n\n [101] Manuscript.\n\n [102] _Methodist Magazine_, 1807, p. 242.\n\n [103] The following hitherto unpublished letter was\n addressed to Matthew Lowes, and refers both to\n circuit, and connexional chapel, debts.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _March 2, 1770_.\n \u201cDEAR MATTHEW,--The way you propose for clearing\n the circuit is, I think, the very best which can be\n devised. Only let your fellow labourers second _you\n heartily_, and the thing will be done.\n\n \u201cFour or five circuits exerted themselves nobly.\n Had all the rest done the same our burden would\n have been quite removed. Well, _we_ will fight till\n we die.\n \u201cI am, etc., J. WESLEY.\u201d\n\n [104] Myles\u2019s History.\n\n [105] This had become a matter of grave importance. Matthew\n Lowes, one of Wesley\u2019s most useful itinerants,\n states, in his unpublished Autobiography, that though\n the trading of the preachers, in cloth, groceries,\n hardware, etc., was of considerable benefit to\n themselves and their families, it was strongly\n objected to by the people: (1) because it interfered\n with the businesses of Methodists in the places\n which the preachers visited; and (2) because it was\n deemed inconsistent for a minister of the word of\n God to be engaged in any kind of trade whatever.\n Lowes\u2019 trading was chiefly confined to the sale of\n a valuable balsam, of which he himself was the sole\n maker and vendor; and which, while of great use to\n the afflicted, and a source of income to the poor\n itinerant, did not in the least interfere with the\n business of others; but even Lowes was obliged to\n give up the itinerancy, when, for the sake of the\n suffering, and, for the benefit of his numerous\n family, he refused to give up his balsam. In 1771,\n he was compelled to retire from the itinerant work,\n partly for the reason just mentioned, and partly on\n the ground of health, and, for about a quarter of\n a century afterwards, acted as a local preacher at\n Newcastle on Tyne, and supported himself, his wife,\n and his children, chiefly by the sale of his useful\n medicine. Three months after his retirement, Wesley\n wrote to him the following, now for the first time\n published.\n\n \u201cNORWICH, _November 10, 1771_.\n \u201cDEAR MATTHEW,--You should do all you can;\n otherwise want of exercise will not lessen, but\n increase your disorder. Certainly there is no\n objection to your making balsam, while you are not\n considered as a travelling preacher. I am, with\n love to sister Lowes, your affectionate brother,\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\n\n [106] Minutes, 1744.\n\n [107] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 385.\n\n [108] Ibid. p. 387.\n\n [109] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. i.,\n p. 364.\n\n [110] _Methodist Magazine_, 1826, p. 752.\n\n [111] J. Pawson\u2019s manuscripts.\n\n [112] _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, Nov. 16, 1770.\n\n [113] _Gospel Magazine_, 1771, p. 39.\n\n [114] _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, 1771, pp. 127, 139.\n\n [115] _Gospel Magazine_, 1776, p. 443.\n\n [116] Poor Whitefield was pelted even after he was dead.\n In the _Annual Register_, for 1770, it is wickedly\n stated, that his last visit to America was owing \u201cto\n an attachment to a woman, by whom he had a child\n while his wife was living;\u201d and it is added, that\n \u201cthis child was the first infant ever entered into\n his orphan house in Georgia\u201d!\n\n [117] Wesley\u2019s \u201cFree Thoughts\u201d were sharply criticised by\n an able writer, in 1771, in an octavo pamphlet of 58\n pages, with the title of \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Mr.\n John Wesley; in answer to his late pamphlet, entitled\n \u2018Free Thoughts on the Present State of Public\n Affairs.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\n 1771.\n Age 68\n\nThe year 1771 was one of unceasing conflict. The first two months,\nas usual, were spent in London, during which Wesley\u2019s wife, in one\nof her insane piques, and without assigning the slightest reason,\nunceremoniously left his house in London, and started for her own\nin Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. It was on this occasion that Wesley\nwrote the words so often quoted: \u201c_Non eam reliqui; non dimisi; non\nrevocabo_.\u201d\n\nOn the 3rd of March, Wesley set out for Ireland, where he laboured for\nthe next few months.\n\nAffairs in Scotland were a source of increasing anxiety. Hence the\nfollowing letter to Lady Maxwell, in reference to Alexander McNab, one\nof his itinerants, and the Rev. Richard De Courcy, who was about to\nbecome minister in Lady Glenorchy\u2019s chapel, Edinburgh.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 24, 1771_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--Although Mr. McNab is quite clear as to justification\n by faith, and is, in general, a sound and good preacher, yet, I\n fear, he is not clear of blame in this. He is too warm and impatient\n of contradiction, otherwise he must be lost to all common sense,\n to preach against final perseverance in Scotland. From the first\n hour that I entered the kingdom, it was a sacred rule with me\n never to preach on any controverted point,--at least, _not in a\n controversial way_. Any one may see that this is only to put a sword\n into our enemies\u2019 hands. It is the direct way to increase all their\n prejudices, and to make all our labours fruitless.\n\n \u201cYou will shortly have a trial of another kind. Mr. De Courcy\n purposes to set out for Edinburgh in a few days. He was from a\n child a member of our societies in the south of Ireland. There he\n received remission of sins, and was, for some time, groaning for full\n redemption. But when he came to Dublin the Philistines were upon\n him, and soon prevailed over him. Quickly, he was convinced that\n \u2018there is no perfection,\u2019 and that \u2018all things depend on _absolute\n and unchangeable decrees_.\u2019 At first, he was exceedingly warm upon\n these heads; now, he is far more calm. His natural temper, I think,\n is good; he is open, friendly, and generous. He has also a good\n understanding, and is not unacquainted with learning, though not\n deeply versed therein. He has no disagreeable person, a pleasing\n address, and is a lively as well as sensible preacher. Now, when you\n add to this that he is quite new, and very young, you may judge how\n he will be admired and caressed. How will a raw, inexperienced youth\n be able to encounter this? If there be not the greatest of miracles\n to preserve him, will it not turn his brain? And may he not then do\n far more hurt than either Mr. W---- or Mr. T---- did? Will he not\n prevent your friend from going on to perfection? Nay, may he not\n shake you also? At present, indeed, he is in an exceedingly loving\n spirit. But will that continue long? There will be danger on the one\n hand if it does; there will be danger on the other if it does not.\n\n \u201cIt does not appear, that any great change has been wrought in our\n neighbours by Mr. Whitefield\u2019s death. He had fixed the prejudice\n so deep, that even he himself was not able to remove it; yet, our\n congregations have increased exceedingly, and the work of God\n increases on every side. I am glad you use more exercise. It is good\n for both body and soul. As soon as Mr. De Courcy is come, I shall\n be glad to hear how the prospect opens. You will then need a larger\n share of the wisdom from above; and I trust you will write with all\n openness to, my dear lady, your ever affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[118]\n\nIt was Wesley who obtained Mr. De Courcy\u2019s services for Lady Glenorchy.\nHe knew the man, and thought highly of him, but also saw his danger;\nand hence the warning to Lady Maxwell. It would be a pleasant task to\nsketch the subsequent career of this devoted Irishman; but, at present,\nwe must confine ourselves to Edinburgh. De Courcy set out for the\nnorthern metropolis, as Wesley had said he would; and, immediately on\nhis arrival at Newcastle, addressed to Wesley the following.\n\n \u201c_February 9, 1771._\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--Yesterday evening, after a very tedious\n journey, the Lord brought me safe to Newcastle. When I reflect on the\n fatigue and dangers which attend travelling, I should be astonished\n above measure that you have so indefatigably persevered in all the\n labours of an itinerant life for so many years, were I not well\n assured that you have been supernaturally assisted in body and mind\n for that extensive work to which God has eminently chosen you.\n\n \u201cI write this in Mr. McNab\u2019s chamber, with whom, and Mr. Hanby,\n I find great fellowship of spirit. I have accepted your kind\n invitation, and purpose taking up my abode with them till Monday,\n when I set out for Edinburgh. I would stay longer with your dear\n people here, but that I find Lady Glenorchy is particularly anxious\n for my speedy arrival in Edinburgh. As my situation there will\n expose me to diversified trials, do dear sir, pray that I may be kept\n\n \u2018Humble, teachable, and mild,\n Patient as a little child,\u2019\n\n \u201cI remain, reverend and dear sir, your most affectionate, but\n unworthy brother,\n \u201cRICHARD DE COURCY.\u201d[119]\n\nA few days after De Courcy\u2019s arrival, Wesley wrote a second time to\nLady Maxwell, as follows.\n\n \u201c_February 26, 1771._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--I cannot but think the chief reason of the little\n good done by our preachers in Edinburgh is the opposition which has\n been made by the ministers of Edinburgh, as well as by the false\n brethren from England. These steeled the hearts of the people against\n all the good impressions which might otherwise have been made; so\n that the same preachers, by whom God has constantly wrought, not only\n in various parts of England, but likewise in the northern parts of\n Scotland, were in Edinburgh only not useless. They felt a damp upon\n their spirits; they had not their usual liberty of speech; and the\n word they spoke seemed to rebound upon them, and not to sink into the\n hearts of the hearers. At my first coming, I usually find something\n of this myself; but the second or third time of preaching, it is gone.\n\n \u201cI think it will not be easy for any one to show us, either, that\n Christ did not die for all, or, that He is not willing as well as\n able to cleanse from all sin, even in the present world. If your\n steady adherence to these great truths be termed bigotry, yet you\n have no need to be ashamed. You are reproached for Christ\u2019s sake, and\n the spirit of glory and of Christ shall rest upon you. Perhaps our\n Lord may use you to soften some of the harsh spirits, and to preserve\n Lady Glenorchy, or Mr. De Courcy, from being hurt by them.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear lady, your very affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[120]\n\nFrom these letters, it is painfully apparent that the Calvinistic\ncontroversy was not confined to England. Edinburgh rang with discordant\nnotes; and, in five months after Mr. De Courcy\u2019s coming, Lady Glenorchy\ndismissed Wesley\u2019s preachers from her chapel, assigning, as her reason,\nthat they were not Calvinists.[121]\n\nSouth of the Tweed there were sounds of the coming battle; hence the\nfollowing extract from a letter to Miss Bishop.\n\n \u201c_February 16, 1771._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--... Legality, with most that use that term, really\n means tenderness of conscience. There is no propriety in the word, if\n one would take it for seeking justification by works. Considering,\n therefore, how hard it is to fix the meaning of that odd term, and\n how dreadfully it has been abused, I think it highly advisable for\n all the Methodists to lay it quite aside.\n\n \u201cIf Mr. Shirley could find any other doctrine, which he thought was\n peculiarly mine, he would be as angry at it as he is at Christian\n perfection. But it is all well: we are to go forward, whoever goes\n back or turns aside. Perhaps we may see a new accomplishment of\n Solomon\u2019s words, \u2018He that reproveth a man shall afterward find more\n favour than he who flattereth with his tongue.\u2019 But, be that as it\n may, I have done my duty: I could no otherwise have delivered my own\n soul; and no offence at all would have been given thereby, had not\n pride stifled both religion and generosity. But my letter[122] is\n now out of date: it is mentioned no more; there is a more plausible\n occasion found, namely, those eight terrible propositions which\n conclude the minutes of our conference. At the instance of some who\n were sadly frightened thereby, I have revised them over and over; I\n have considered them in every point of view; and truly, the more I\n consider them, the more I like them. The more fully I am convinced,\n not only that they are true,--agreeable both to Scripture and sound\n experience,--but, that they contain truths of the deepest importance,\n and such as ought to be continually inculcated by those who would be\n pure from the blood of all men.\n\n \u201cYour affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[123]\n\nBenson had been dismissed from Trevecca, in the month of January, for\ndefending Wesley\u2019s minutes; and now Fletcher, the president of the\ncollege, informed the Countess of Huntingdon, that, if all Arminians\nwere to be expelled, he must be expelled. This was a serious matter.\nFletcher, at Trevecca, had been, according to Benson, \u201calmost an angel\nin human flesh.\u201d \u201cPrayer, praise, love, and zeal were the element\nin which he lived. His one employment was to call, entreat, and\nurge others to ascend with him to the glorious Source of being and\nblessedness. He had leisure comparatively for nothing else. Languages,\narts, sciences, grammar, rhetoric, logic, even divinity itself, were\nall laid aside, when he appeared in the schoolroom among the students.\nHis full heart would not suffer him to be silent; and the students\nwere readier to hearken to him than to attend to Sallust, Virgil, or\nCicero. Soon, they were all in tears; and then he would say, \u2018As many\nof you as are athirst for the fulness of the Spirit, follow me into my\nroom.\u2019\u201d Away they trooped after him, and would continue praying, one\nafter another, for hours together, till they could bear to kneel no\nlonger; Fletcher, in the midst, so filled with the love of God, that,\nmore than once, he cried, \u201cO my God, withhold Thy hand, or the vessel\nwill burst!\u201d[124] Such a man in such a place was invaluable; but he was\nnot the man to truckle in the presence of arbitrary power. Hence the\nfollowing to Wesley.\n\n \u201cMADELEY, _February 20, 1771_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I fear we are going, or are already gone,\n from our plan of catholicism at the college. Mr. Benson\u2019s affair\n has made me tell my mind to our Deborah, about bigotry, partiality,\n prejudice, and everything that seemed to me contrary to the Christian\n spirit in some late transactions. The answer was, that if one half\n of the things objected to by me was true, there would be room for\n the cruelty of my charges; but facts and words have been grossly\n misrepresented. Therefore, my mouth is shut so far.\n\n \u201cThis, however, I have insisted, and do insist, upon, if every\n Arminian must quit the college, I am discharged for one; for I cannot\n give up the possibility of the salvation of all any more than I can\n give up the truth and love of God.\n\n \u201cSecondly, I will be no party man, nor give up my connections with\n any that fear God, much less with Mr. Wesley, who shall be always\n welcome to my pulpit, and I make no doubt will welcome me to his.\n\n \u201cThirdly, nobody shall prevent my following after an entire\n devotedness of heart to God, by baiting my Christian hopes and\n privileges under the name of perfection.\n\n \u201cTo this, I have received no particular answer; but, as I set out for\n the college to-day, I may get one _viva voce_.\n\n \u201cThough no letter writer, I am and shall always remain, reverend and\n dear sir, your ready though unprofitable servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN FLETCHER.\u201d[125]\n\nThe result of Fletcher\u2019s visit to the college is given in the subjoined\nextracts from letters sent to Benson.\n\n \u201c_March 22, 1771._\n\n \u201cOn my arrival at the college, I found all very quiet, I fear,\n through the enemy\u2019s keeping his goods in peace. While I preached, I\n found myself as much shackled as ever I was in my life; and, after\n private prayer, I concluded I was not in my place. The same day I\n resigned my office to my lady, and on Wednesday to the students and\n the Lord. Last Friday I left them all in peace, the servant, but no\n more the president, of the college.\u201d[126]\n\n \u201cMr. Shirley has sent my lady a copy of part of the minutes of\n the last conference, namely, of the year 1770. They were called\n _horrible_ and _abominable_. My lady told me, _she must turn against\n them; and that whoever did not fully disavow them must quit the\n college_. She accordingly ordered the master and all the students to\n write their sentiments upon them without reserve. I did so; explained\n them according to Mr. Wesley\u2019s sentiments; and approved the doctrine,\n though not cautiously worded. I concluded by observing, that, as\n after such a step on my part, and such a declaration on my lady\u2019s,\n I could no longer, as an honest man, stay in the college, I took my\n leave of it; wishing my lady might find a minister to preside over it\n less insufficient than\n\n \u201cJOHN FLETCHER.\u201d[127]\n\nSo much respecting Trevecca. Returning to Wesley, we find him defending\nhimself in the following long letter, published in _Lloyd\u2019s Evening\nPost_ for March 1, 1771.\n\n \u201c_February 26, 1771._\n\n \u201cSIR,--The editor of a monthly publication, pompously called _The\n Gospel Magazine_, has violently fallen upon one and another, who\n did not knowingly give him any provocation. And whereas, in other\n magazines, the accused has liberty to answer for himself, it is not\n so here. This gentleman will publish only the charge; but not the\n defence. What can a person, thus injuriously treated, do? To publish\n pamphlets, on every head, would not answer the end, for the answer\n would not come into near so many hands as the objection. Is there\n then a better way than to appeal to candid men, in one of the public\n papers, by which means the antidote will operate both as widely and\n as speedily as the poison? This method, therefore, I take at last,\n after delaying as long as I could with innocence.\n\n \u201cIn that magazine for last month, there is a warm attack upon my\n sermon on the death of Mr. Whitefield. The first charge is against\n the text, \u2018Let me die the death of the righteous.\u2019 \u2018How improper,\u2019\n says Mr. R.,[128] \u2018to apply the words of a mad prophet to so holy a\n man as Mr. Whitefield.\u2019\n\n \u201cImproper! See how doctors differ! I conceive nothing can possibly be\n more proper. If Mr. R. did indeed tell his congregation, some of whom\n disliked his attacking my poor text before, \u2018Let who will be vexed,\n I do not care; I will not justify Balaam while I live\u2019; yet, others\n imagine nothing would be more suitable than for Balaam junior to use\n the words of his forefather; especially, as he did not apply them to\n Mr. Whitefield, but to himself. Surely a poor reprobate may, without\n offence, _wish_ to die like one of the elect! And I dare say, every\n one understood me to mean this, the moment he heard the text. If not,\n the very hymn I sung showed to whom I applied the words--\n\n \u2018Oh that, without a lingering groan,\n I might the welcome word receive!\n My body with my charge lay down,\n And cease at once to work and live!\u2019\n\n \u201cBut the main attack is on the sermon itself; in which I am charged\n with asserting a gross falsehood, in the face of God and the\n congregation, and that knowing it to be such, namely, that \u2018the grand\n fundamental doctrines which Mr. Whitefield everywhere preached, were\n those of the new birth and justification by faith.\u2019 No, says Mr. R.,\n not at all: the grand fundamental doctrines, which he everywhere\n preached, were the everlasting covenant between the Father and the\n Son, and absolute predestination flowing therefrom.\n\n \u201cI join issue on this head. Whether the doctrines of the eternal\n covenant, and of absolute predestination, are the grand fundamental\n doctrines of Christianity, or not, I affirm again--(1) that Mr.\n Whitefield did not everywhere preach these; (2) that he did\n everywhere preach the new birth, and justification by faith.\n\n \u201c1. He did not everywhere preach the eternal covenant, and absolute\n predestination. In all the times I myself heard him preach, I never\n heard him utter a sentence either on one or the other. Yea, all the\n times he preached in West Street chapel, and in our other chapels\n throughout England, he did not preach these doctrines at all, no, not\n in a single paragraph; which, by the bye, is a demonstration that he\n did not think them the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.\n\n \u201c2. Both in West Street chapel, and all our other chapels throughout\n England, he did preach the necessity of the new birth, and\n justification by faith, as clearly as he has done in his two volumes\n of printed sermons. Therefore, all that I have asserted is true, and\n provable by ten thousand witnesses.\n\n \u201cNay, says Mr. R., \u2018Mr. Whitefield everywhere insisted on other\n fundamental doctrines, from the foundation of which the new birth\n and justification by faith take their rise, and with which they\n are inseparably connected. These are the everlasting covenant,\n which was entered into by the Holy Trinity, and God the Father\u2019s\n everlasting, unchangeable election of sinners\u2019 (in virtue of which\n a fiftieth part of mankind shall be saved, do what they will; and\n the other forty-nine parts shall be damned, do what they can).\n \u2018These doctrines are not of a less essential nature than either\n regeneration or justification. No, by no means; they are to the full\n equally essential to the glory of God. Yea, there is an inseparable\n connection between them. This is _a most essential, a most\n fundamental point_.\u2019 (_Magazine_, p. 41.)\n\n \u201cIf so, then every one who does not hold it must perish\n everlastingly. If, as you here assert, he cannot be justified, then\n he cannot be saved. If, as you say, he cannot be born again, _he\n cannot see the kingdom of God_.\n\n \u201cAfter asserting this, can Mr. R. ever take the name of _catholic\n love_ into his mouth? Is not this the very opposite to it? the height\n and depth of _bigotry_? Does this spirit do honour to his opinion?\n Can we conceive anything more horrid? Is it not enough to make a\n person of humanity shudder? Yea, to make his blood run cold?\n\n \u201cI do not here enter into the merits of the cause. I need not. It is\n done to my hands. The whole doctrine of predestination is thoroughly\n discussed in those three tracts lately printed: \u2018An Answer to the\n Eleven Letters commonly ascribed to Mr. Hervey\u2019; \u2018Arguments against\n General Redemption Considered\u2019; and \u2018An Answer to Elisha Coles.\u2019 Till\n these are seriously and solidly refuted, I have no more to say on\n that head. But I must aver, that the excluding all from salvation who\n do not believe the horrible decree is a most shocking insult on all\n mankind, on common sense, and common humanity.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nOf course, this was too pungent to pass without notice. Accordingly,\nin the _Gospel Magazine_ for the month following, there appeared an\nincisive review of Sellon\u2019s Answer to Elisha Coles, which is described\nas \u201ca mite of reprobate silver, cast into the _Foundery_, and coming\nout thence, with the impress of that pride, self righteousness, and\nself sufficiency, natural to men in their fallen, unrenewed state.\u201d\nSellon is accused of \u201ctrifling effrontery,\u201d and is said \u201cto have\nsunk far below the gentleman, and to have lost all appearance of the\nChristian\u201d; and is further designated \u201cthe Cardinal Bellarmine of the\nday; the obsequious servant and faithful labourer to his holiness.\u201d\n\nIn a subsequent number of the same periodical, published in the month\nof May, Wesley\u2019s minutes are attacked; the writer, \u201cA Real Protestant,\u201d\nindignantly asking, \u201cAre not these the very doctrines of popery, yea,\nof popery unmasked? Is it not awful that 29,406 souls, who are in Mr.\nWesley\u2019s societies, should be so dreadfully seduced from the protestant\ndoctrines, and deluded into a belief of the doctrines of the mother of\nharlots, the whore of Babylon, the Church of Rome?\u201d\n\nThus the bitter controversy proceeded. Comment would be easy; but\nwe prefer to let the chief actors speak; and, not to interrupt this\npainful scene, proceed to give other letters bearing upon the subject,\nso that the reader may have before him as full a view of the spirit and\nbehaviour of both parties as it is possible to furnish.\n\nWhile on his way to Ireland, Wesley wrote the following to Fletcher.\n\n \u201cI always did, for between these thirty and forty years, clearly\n assert the total fall of man, and his utter inability to do any\n good of himself; the absolute necessity of the grace and Spirit\n of God to raise even a good thought or desire in our hearts; the\n Lord\u2019s rewarding no work, and accepting of none, but so far as they\n proceed from His preventing, convincing, and converting grace through\n the Beloved; the blood and righteousness of Christ being the sole\n meritorious cause of our salvation. Who is there in England, that\n has asserted these things more strongly and steadily than I have\n done?\u201d[129]\n\nThe next letter, addressed to Lady Huntingdon, was occasioned by one\nwhich her ladyship had sent to Wesley\u2019s brother on the subject of his\nminutes,[130] and was dated \u201cBath, June 8, 1771.\u201d The countess brands\nthe minutes as \u201cpopery unmasked\u201d; and declares that \u201call ought to be\ndeemed papists who do not disown them.\u201d She thus concludes: \u201cas you\nhave no part in this matter, I find it difficult to blame your brother\nto you; while as an honest man I must pity you, as you must suffer\nequal disgrace, and universal distrust, from the supposed union with\nhim.\u201d Charles Wesley endorsed this unworthy letter with the words:\n\u201cLady Huntingdon\u2019s last; unanswered by John Wesley\u2019s brother.\u201d[131]\n\nCharles Wesley doubtless communicated the contents to his brother, who\nwas now in Ireland; in fact, her ladyship requested him to do this: and\nhence the following.\n\n \u201c_June 19, 1771._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--Many years since, I saw that \u2018without holiness no\n man shall see the Lord.\u2019 I began following after it, and inciting\n all with whom I had any intercourse to do the same. Ten years after,\n God gave me a clearer view than I had before of the way how to\n attain this, namely, by faith in the Son of God; and, immediately,\n I declared to all, \u2018We are saved from sin, we are made holy, by\n faith.\u2019 This I testified in private, in public, in print; and God\n confirmed it by a thousand witnesses. I have continued to declare\n this, for above thirty years; and God has continued to confirm the\n word of His grace. But, during this time, well-nigh all the religious\n world have set themselves in array against me, and, among the rest,\n many of my own children, following the example of one of my eldest\n sons, Mr. Whitefield. Their general cry has been, \u2018He is unsound in\n the faith; he preaches another gospel!\u2019 I answer, Whether it be the\n same which they preach or not, it is the same which I have preached\n for above thirty years. This may easily appear from what I have\n published during that whole term. I instance only in three sermons;\n that on \u2018Salvation by Faith,\u2019 printed in the year 1738; that on \u2018The\n Lord our Righteousness,\u2019 printed a few years since; and that on Mr.\n Whitefield\u2019s funeral, printed only some months ago.\n\n \u201cBut it is said, \u2018Oh but you printed ten lines in August last, which\n contradict all your other writings.\u2019 Be not so sure of this. It is\n probable, at least, that I understand my own meaning as well as\n you do; and that meaning I have yet again declared in the sermon\n last referred to. By that, interpret those ten lines, and you will\n understand them better; although I should think that any one might\n see, even without this help, that the lines in question do not refer\n to the condition of obtaining, but of continuing in the favour of\n God. But whether the sentiment contained in these lines be right or\n wrong, and whether it be well or ill expressed, the gospel which I\n now preach God does still confirm by new witnesses in every place;\n perhaps never so much in this kingdom as within these last three\n months. Now, I argue from glaring, undeniable fact: God cannot bear\n witness to a lie; the gospel, therefore, which He confirms must be\n true in substance. There may be opinions maintained at the same\n time which are not exactly true; and who can be secure from these?\n Perhaps, I thought myself so once. When I was much younger than I am\n now, I thought myself almost infallible; but, I bless God, I know\n myself better now.\n\n \u201cTo be short. Such as I am, I love you well. You have one of the\n first places in my esteem and affection; and you once had some regard\n for me. But it cannot continue if it depends upon my seeing with\n your eyes, or on my being in no mistake. What if I was in as many as\n Mr. Law himself? If you were, I should love you still, provided your\n heart was still right with God. My dear friend, you seem not to have\n well learned yet the meaning of those words, which I desire to have\n continually written upon my heart, \u2018Whosoever doth the will of My\n Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and\n mother.\u2019\n\n \u201cI am, my dear lady, your affectionate\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[132]\n\nContemporaneously with the above letter, the Rev. Walter Shirley and\nLady Huntingdon sent the following circular to Wesley, as well as to a\nlarge number of their Calvinian friends.\n\n \u201cSIR,--Whereas Mr. Wesley\u2019s conference is to be held at Bristol, on\n Tuesday, the 6th of August next, it is proposed, by Lady Huntingdon,\n and many other Christian friends, (real protestants,) to have a\n meeting at Bristol at the same time, of such principal persons, both\n clergy and laity, who disapprove of the underwritten minutes[133];\n and as the same are thought injurious to the very _fundamental_[134]\n principles of Christianity, it is further proposed, that they go in\n a body to the said conference, and insist upon a formal recantation\n of the said minutes; and, in case of a refusal, that they sign and\n publish their protest against them. Your presence, sir, on this\n occasion is particularly requested; but, if it should not suit your\n convenience to be there, it is desired that you will transmit your\n sentiments on the subject to such person as you think proper to\n produce them. It is submitted to you, whether it would not be right,\n in the opposition to be made to such a _dreadful heresy_,[134] to\n recommend it to as many of your Christian friends, as well of the\n Dissenters as of the Established Church, as you can prevail on to be\n there, the cause being of so public a nature.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your obedient servant,\n\n \u201cWALTER SHIRLEY.\n\n \u201cP.S.--Your answer is desired, directed to the Countess of\n Huntingdon; or the Rev. Mr. Shirley; or John Lloyd, Esq., in Bath;\n or Mr. James Ireland, merchant, Bristol; or to Thomas Powis, Esq.,\n at Berwick, near Shrewsbury; or to Richard Hill, Esq., at Hawkstone,\n near Whitchurch, Shropshire. Lodgings will be provided. Inquire at\n Mr. Ireland\u2019s, Bristol.\u201d\n\nA fine confederacy of elected saints, armed with self invested papal\npower to _insist_ upon the recantation of poor Wesley and his heretical\npreachers!\n\nThe modest and self diffident countess and her executive chaplain\napologise for this high handed interference on the ground that they\n\u201cwere warmly interested in the revival of _spiritual_ religion and\nthe doctrines of the _Reformation_;\u201d that they \u201capprehended that the\ndoctrines contained in the minutes had the most fatal tendency; and,\nin the strongest and most explicit terms, maintained _salvation by\nworks_\u201d; and that Wesley was not an ordinary personage, but stood \u201cat\nthe head of near thirty thousand people,--a veteran in the cause of the\ngospel,--one of the chiefs in the late reformation.\u201d[135]\n\nOne would have thought that, at least, the last mentioned reason would\nhave led them to adopt a less offensive and more respectful method\nof correcting his \u201cdreadful heresy,\u201d than that of marching upon him\nand his conference _en masse_; and imperiously _insisting_ upon his\nrecantation. Surely, it would not have been too great a condescension\nfor them and their friends, first of all, to have respectfully\nsolicited of such \u201ca veteran and chief\u201d an explanation of what he\nmeant; and, if they still found him to be in error, to ask for an\nopportunity to reason the matter with him and to set him right. But,\nno; this was far too troublesome for the elect of God, who, of course,\nwere right, and all others wrong; and, hence, the only action, which\nwould not impinge upon their sacred dignity, was to march, in solemn\nphalanx, to the assembly of Wesley and his poor itinerants, and there\n\u201c_insist upon a formal recantation_\u201d; and then, in case the heretics\nshould refuse to yield, and because the valiant defenders of the truth\nwere without power to imprison, to banish, or to burn, it was piously\nproposed that, for want of something more effectual, they should\ncontent themselves with a _public protest_ against the pestilential\nminutes.\n\nOne of Shirley\u2019s circulars was handed to Fletcher, the ex-president\nof Trevecca, who wrote to Wesley the following letter, hitherto\nunpublished.\n\n \u201cMADELEY, _June 24, 1771_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--When I left Wales, where I had stood in the gap for\n peace, I thought my poor endeavours were not altogether vain. Lady\n Huntingdon said she would write civilly to you, and desire you to\n explain yourself about your minutes. I suppose you have not heard\n from her, for she wrote me word since that she believed she must not\n meddle in the affair. At least, that is what I made of her letter.\n Upon receiving yours from Chester, I cut off that part of it where\n you expressed your belief of what is eminently called by us the\n doctrine of free grace; and sent it to the college, with a desire it\n might be sent to Lady Huntingdon. She has returned it to me, with a\n letter, in which she expresses the greatest disapprobation of it.\n The purport of her letter is, to charge you with tergiversation, and\n me with being the dupe of your impositions. She has also wrote in\n stronger terms to her college.\n\n \u201cThings, I hoped, would have remained there; but how am I surprised\n and grieved to see zeal borrowing the horn of discord, and sounding\n an alarm throughout the religious world against you. Mr. Hutton\n called upon me last night, and showed me a printed circular, which\n I suppose is, or will be, sent to the serious clergy and laity\n throughout the land. I have received none, as I have lost, I suppose,\n my reputation of being a \u2018_real protestant_,\u2019 by what I wrote upon\n your minutes in Wales.\n\n \u201cThis is an exact copy of the printed letter.\n\n [Here follows Shirley\u2019s circular as above.]\n\n \u201cI think it my duty, dear sir, to give you the earliest intelligence\n of this bold onset, and to assure you that upon the evangelical\n principles, mentioned in your last letter to me, I, for one, shall be\n glad to stand by you and your doctrine to the last, hoping that you\n will gladly remove stumbling blocks out of the way of the weak, and\n alter such expressions as may create prejudice in the hearts of those\n who are inclined to admit it.\n\n \u201cI write to Mr. Shirley to expostulate with him, and to request\n him to call in his circular letter. He is the last man that should\n attack you. His sermons contain propositions much more heretical and\n anti-Calvinistical than your minutes. If my letters have not the\n desired effect, I shall probably, if you approve of them and correct\n them, make them public for your justification.\n\n \u201cI find Mr. Ireland is to write to make you _tamely recant_ without\n measuring swords, or breaking a pike with our _real protestants_. I\n wrote to him also.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your unworthy servant in the gospel,\n\n \u201cJOHN FLETCHER.\n \u201cTo the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, at his Preaching\n House in Dublin, Ireland.\u201d\n\nThere was chivalry in this,--the real, genuine chivalry of a noble mind\nand generous heart. The Swiss mountaineer was not the man to see a\nfriend _bullied_ without rushing to his rescue.\n\nWesley was not without sympathy. A few days later, his faithful\nfriend, Vincent Perronet, the vicar of Shoreham, who was also of Swiss\nextraction, wrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cSHOREHAM, _July 9, 1771_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I am truly concerned, that so laborious a\n servant of Christ should be attacked in so violent a manner. Insulted\n by some, without the least decency, or regard to common decorum; and\n threatened by others with a synodical sentence.\n\n \u201cHad I been honoured with an invitation from a great personage, for\n whom I have a very high esteem, I should have told her ladyship,\n that I have no greater veneration for synods than the most excellent\n Bishop Nazianzen had formerly, whose great learning and Christian\n virtues could not screen him from the usual violence of those\n assemblies, and who therefore desired to see no more of them.\n\n \u201cHowever, with regard to the _merit_ of good works, I should frankly\n have declared my abhorrence of the very sound of the word; since I\n could not conceive how an unprofitable servant could merit anything\n from a holy God. But then, on the other hand, I should have added,\n that whoever should speak contemptuously of the diligent exercise\n of good works, as if they derogated from the honour of Christ, I\n should tell such a divine, that, whether he found his divinity either\n in Luther, or Calvin, or the Synod of Dort, it was no divinity of\n the gospel of Christ; since Christ came to purify unto Himself a\n peculiar people, zealous of good works. And as the Holy Spirit has\n assured us, over and over, that \u2018we shall be judged according to our\n works,\u2019 it is, therefore, no wonder that St. Paul should pray that\n his converts might be \u2018established in every good word and work.\u2019\n Besides, I might have observed that the zealot who decries good works\n was acting a most ridiculous part with regard to faith; for if his\n faith did not bring forth good works, his faith was good for nothing.\n\n \u201cHowever, though such good works were the fruits of faith, and\n consequently the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, and, for that reason,\n must be acceptable to God, yet, I must have added, so far as they\n were our works, so far they wanted the blood of Christ to wash\n away their defilements, and to atone for their deficiencies; and,\n therefore, even our best works can have no merit in them.\n\n \u201cI should, then, have remonstrated to that worthy lady to the\n following purpose,--that if one, who had laboured in the vineyard, I\n believed, full as much as any person since the days of the apostles,\n was not thought worthy of the mantle of love, for any mistake he\n might have made, yet surely he had a right to expect, that notice\n would have been given him to explain his meaning, before his judge\n pronounced sentence. This is a privilege granted to every supposed\n criminal in our courts of law, and where this is denied that court is\n no better than a court of inquisition.\n\n \u201cBut now, my dear brother, what effect such a letter might have had,\n I pretend not to say. It would, at the least, have testified to that\n friendship, which I have constantly had for you these twenty-five\n years. May God direct us both, and may our worst enemies be all\n brought to Him! You have my leave to make what use you please of this\n long letter.\n\n \u201cI am, my very dear brother, yours most affectionately,\n\n \u201cVINCENT PERRONET.\u201d[136]\n\nJust at this juncture, Wesley drew up and printed, at Dublin,\nunder date \u201cJuly 10, 1771,\u201d a clear and logical exposition of the\ndoctrines set forth in the minutes, which he doubtless circulated\namong his preachers and friends. At the top of the first page of one\nof the copies, he requested Miss Bishop, of Bath, not to \u201cshow it\nbefore conference,\u201d adding, \u201cif the Calvinists do not, or will not\nunderstand me, I understand myself; and I do not contradict anything\nI have written these thirty years. Poor Mr. Shirley\u2019s triumph will be\nshort.\u201d[137]\n\nWesley\u2019s views were the same as Perronet\u2019s. What were Charles Wesley\u2019s,\nand what part was taken by him in this momentous controversy? The\nbiographer of the Countess of Huntingdon would have his readers to\nbelieve, that Charles disapproved of his brother\u2019s letter to her\nladyship; that he would reprove him for it; and, that he preferred\npeace above all things.[138] It might be so; we have no means of\ngainsaying it. It is doubtful whether he attended the conference in\nBristol; in fact, almost certain that he did not. Hence the following,\naddressed to him only three days before the commencement of its\nsittings.\n\n \u201cKINGSWOOD, _August 3, 1771_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I will not throw away Thomas Rankin on the people\n of London. He shall go where they know the value of him.\n\n \u201cWe cannot put out what we never put in. I do not use the word\n \u2018merit.\u2019 I never did, neither do I now, contend for the use\n of it. But I ask you, or any other, a plain question: and do\n not cry, Murder; but give me an answer. What is the difference\n between \u2018_mereri_,\u2019 and \u2018to deserve\u2019? or between \u2018deserving,\u2019 and\n \u2018_meritum_\u2019? I say still, I cannot tell. Can you? Can Mr. Shirley,\n or any man living? In asking this question, I neither plead for\n merit, nor against it. I have nothing to do with it. I have declared\n a thousand times, there is no goodness in man till he is justified;\n no merit, either before or after; that is, taking the word in its\n proper sense: for in a loose sense \u2018meritorious\u2019 means no more than\n \u2018rewardable.\u2019\n\n \u201cAs to reprobation, seeing they have drawn the sword, I throw away\n the scabbard. I send you a specimen. Let fifteen hundred of them be\n printed as soon as you please.[139]\n\n \u201cNothing was ever yet expended out of the yearly collection, without\n being immediately set down by the secretary. I never took a shilling\n from that fund yet.\n\n \u201cWhat you advise with regard to our behaviour toward our opposers\n exactly agrees with my sentiments. I am full of business, as you may\n suppose. So adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[140]\n\nOn the evening before Wesley\u2019s conference assembled, two letters were\nput into his hand, one written by Lady Huntingdon, the other by the\nRev. Walter Shirley. The purport of her ladyship\u2019s letter was, that,\nhaving learned that the proposed method of visiting his conference\nappeared to him and to his friends \u201cas an arbitrary way of proceeding,\nshe and her allies wished to inform him, that they intended no personal\ndisrespect, but a degree of zeal against the principles established in\nthe minutes, which were repugnant to the whole plan of man\u2019s salvation\nunder the new covenant of grace, and also to the clear meaning of the\nEstablished Church, as well as to all other protestant churches, to\nwhose foundations the highest honour and respect are due.\u201d[141]\n\nShirley\u2019s letter apologises for that part of his circular which seemed\nto assume, that he and his friends had a \u201ccivil right to go in a\nbody to Wesley\u2019s conference, and insist on a formal recantation of\nthe minutes.\u201d All he meant was, to send Wesley a \u201crespectful message\nimporting their design, and requesting him to appoint a day and hour\nfor the conference to receive them.\u201d The reason why he had inserted\n\u201cthe offensive expression, \u2018insist upon a formal recantation,\u2019\u201d (for\nwhich he now apologised,) was, because \u201cit was supposed by some, that,\ninstead of giving satisfaction on the points in question, such a forced\nconstruction would be put on the meaning of the minutes, as might\nelude the intended opposition, and yet leave the doctrines therein\ncontained entire and unrepealed.\u201d Shirley concludes by stating, that\nthe doctrines of the minutes appear to him \u201cevidently subversive of the\n_fundamentals_ of Christianity.\u201d[142]\n\nRemembering that Wesley was not under the slightest obligation to\neither the Countess of Huntingdon, Mr. Shirley, or any of their\nCalvinistic friends, he might, without any want of courtesy,\nhave treated with contempt a letter casting upon him the slur of\ntrickishness, and have declined to see its author; but, instead of\nthat, he appointed Thursday, August 8, for the momentous interview.\nAccordingly, on that day, Shirley, and two other ministers of the\nCountess of Huntingdon\u2019s chapels, together with Messrs. Lloyd, Ireland,\nand Winter, and two students (!) from Trevecca college, went to\nWesley\u2019s conference. Shirley\u2019s circular, summoning a synod, had been\nsent to all his sympathisers, clerical and laical, throughout the\nthree kingdoms; and the result was a grand convocation of less than\nhalf a score, and even these included two laics belonging to Bath and\nBristol, and at least two young men, still merely preparing for the\nministry. The thing was a ridiculous failure; but not even on that\naccount did Wesley refuse to see the self elected deputies. First of\nall, Wesley engaged in prayer. Then Shirley desired to know if the\nletters of himself and Lady Huntingdon had been read to the conference.\nBeing answered in the negative, he asked leave to read them, which was\ngranted. A lengthened conversation followed; and then Shirley produced\na written declaration which he wished the conference to sign. Wesley\nread it, and made some alterations, which Shirley says were \u201cnot very\nmaterial,\u201d and then he and fifty-three of his preachers appended to it\ntheir signatures.[143] The declaration thus signed was as follows:--\n\n \u201cWhereas the doctrinal points in the Minutes of a Conference, held in\n London, August 7, 1770, have been understood to favour Justification\n by Works: now the Rev. John Wesley, and others assembled in\n Conference, do declare, that we had no such meaning; and that we\n abhor the doctrine of Justification by Works as a most perilous and\n abominable doctrine; and as the said Minutes are not sufficiently\n guarded in the way they are expressed, we hereby solemnly declare,\n in the sight of God, that we have no trust or confidence but in the\n alone merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for Justification\n or Salvation either in life, death or the day of judgment; and\n though no one is a real Christian believer, (and consequently\n cannot be saved) who doth not good works, where there is time and\n opportunity, yet our works have no part in meriting or purchasing our\n salvation[144] from first to last, either in whole or in part.\u201d\n\nAfter the declaration had been agreed to, Shirley was requested \u201cto\nmake some public acknowledgment, that he had mistaken the meaning of\nthe minutes.\u201d Shirley hesitated, but at last consented, and wrote a\ncertificate to that effect.\n\nIn the meantime, Wesley had received from Fletcher the manuscript copy\nof his \u201cVindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s Last Minutes: occasioned\nby a circular, printed letter, inviting principal persons, both clergy\nand laity, as well of the Dissenters as of the Established Church, who\ndisapprove of those Minutes, to oppose them in a body, as a dreadful\nheresy: in Five Letters to the Hon. and Rev. Author of the circular\nletter.\u201d\n\nWesley at once gave the manuscript to William Pine to print and\npublish. Shirley, hearing of this, waited upon Wesley the day after\nhe and his friends had been to conference, and requested that the\nmanuscript should not be printed, urging as their reason, that Fletcher\nhimself wished for this, \u201cif matters should end peaceably.\u201d Wesley,\nhowever, persisted, and the work was published without delay, in a 12mo\npamphlet of 98 pages. Whilst the manuscript was being printed, Wesley\ntook the opportunity to reply to the letter of Lady Huntingdon, which\nhad been put into his hands the night before his conference commenced.\nNine days had elapsed since then, and now Wesley, on August 14,\naddresses her ladyship in the following unflinching terms, his letter\nalso showing that the publication of Fletcher\u2019s \u201cVindication\u201d was no\nafter thought, but was proceeding even while the conference was sitting.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--The principles established in the minutes I apprehend\n to be no way contrary to that great truth, justification by faith,\n or that consistent plan of doctrine, which was once delivered to the\n saints. I believe whoever calmly considers Mr. Fletcher\u2019s Letters\n will be convinced of this. I fear, therefore, that \u2018zeal against\n those principles\u2019 is no less than zeal against the truth, and against\n the _honour_ of our Lord. The preservation of _His_ honour appears so\n sacred to me, and has done for above these forty years, that I have\n counted, and do count, all things loss in comparison of it. But till\n Mr. Fletcher\u2019s Letters are answered, I must think everything spoken\n against these _minutes_ is totally destructive of _His honour_, and\n a palpable affront to Him; both as our Prophet and Priest, but more\n especially as the King of His people. Those Letters, therefore,\n which could not be suppressed without betraying the honour of our\n Lord, largely prove that the _minutes_ lay no other foundation than\n that which is laid in Scripture, and which I have been laying, and\n teaching others to lay, for between thirty and forty years. Indeed,\n it would be amazing that God should at this day prosper my labours\n as much if not more than ever, by convincing as well as converting\n sinners, if I was establishing another foundation, repugnant to the\n whole plan of man\u2019s \u2018salvation under the covenant of grace, as well\n as the clear meaning of our _Established_ Church, and all other\n _protestant_ churches.\u2019 This is a charge indeed! But I plead not\n guilty: and till it is proved upon me, I must subscribe myself, my\n dear lady, your ladyship\u2019s affectionate but much injured servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[145]\n\nWesley had told his brother, that as \u201cthey had drawn the sword,\u201d he\nhimself should \u201cthrow away the scabbard,\u201d and now this was done.\nShirley found the tables turned, and, instead of attacking others, had\nto defend himself; and hence, in September, he issued his \u201cNarrative\nof the Principal Circumstances relative to the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s late\nConference, held in Bristol, August 6, 1771.\u201d 8vo, 24 pages.\n\nSpace prohibits any lengthened outline of Fletcher\u2019s \u201cVindication.\u201d\nHe gives (1) a general view of Wesley\u2019s doctrine; (2) an account of\nthe commendable design of his minutes; (3) a vindication of their\npropositions. It is in this production, that he furnishes his fearful\ndescription of the antinomianism which was then so prevalent, and which\nreally rendered some utterance on the subject of good works a solemn\nnecessity. He also makes extracts from Shirley\u2019s published sermons,\nteaching the very doctrines which Wesley\u2019s minutes teach; to which\nquotations Shirley\u2019s reply was, that \u201cthey were wrote many years ago\nwhen he had more zeal than light,\u201d and that he had \u201cfrequently wished\nthat they were burnt.\u201d[146]\n\nFletcher concludes thus:--\n\n \u201cO sir, have we not fightings enough without, to employ all our time\n and strength? Must we also declare war and promote fightings within?\n Must we catch at every opportunity to stab one another? What can be\n more cutting to an old minister of Christ than to be traduced as a\n dreadful heretic, in printed letters sent to the best men of the\n land, through all England and Scotland, and signed by a person of\n your rank and piety? While he is gone to a neighbouring kingdom,\n to preach Jesus Christ, to have his friends prejudiced, his foes\n elevated, and the fruit of his extensive ministry at the point of\n being blasted? Of the two greatest and most useful ministers I ever\n knew, one is no more. The other, after amazing labours, flies still,\n with unwearied diligence, through the three kingdoms, calling sinners\n to repentance. Though oppressed with the weight of near seventy\n years, and the cares of near thirty thousand souls, he shames still,\n by his unabated zeal and immense labours, all the young ministers in\n England, perhaps in Christendom. He has generally blown the gospel\n trumpet, and rode twenty miles, before most of the professors, who\n despise his labours, have left their downy pillows. As he begins the\n day, the week, the year, so he concludes them, still intent upon\n extensive services for the glory of the Redeemer, and the good of\n souls. And shall we lightly lift up our pens, our tongues, our hands\n against him? No; let them rather forget their cunning. If we _will_\n quarrel, can we find nobody to fall out with, but the minister upon\n whom God puts the greatest honour?\u201d\n\nShirley\u2019s \u201cNarrative\u201d was published in September, in which he\ngives great prominence to one of Fletcher\u2019s letters requesting his\n\u201cVindication\u201d to be suppressed. He furnishes an extract from one\naddressed to Mr. Ireland, dated August 15, to the following effect: \u201cI\nfeel for poor dear Mr. Shirley, whom I have, (considering the present\ncircumstances,) treated too severely in my vindication of the minutes.\nMy dear sir, what must be done? I am ready to defray, by selling to my\nlast shirt, the expense of the printing of my Vindication, and suppress\nit.\u201d\n\nThis was characteristic of Fletcher\u2019s large heartedness; but the\nextract from his letter was a garbled one, and rendered it necessary\nthat he should again enter the field of battle, and defend himself\nas well as others. This was done at once, and, before the year was\nended, another production of his facile pen was published, namely, \u201cA\nSecond Check to Antinomianism: occasioned by a late narrative, in three\nletters, to the Hon. and Rev. Author. By the Vindicator of the Rev. Mr.\nWesley\u2019s Minutes.\u201d 12mo, 109 pages.\n\nHe tells Shirley, that, though it was perfectly true that he had\nwritten to Mr. Ireland, requesting his letters to be suppressed,\nhe had also stated to the same gentleman, that \u201cthe minutes _must_\nbe vindicated,--that Mr. Wesley owed this to the Church, to the\n\u2018real protestants,\u2019 to all his societies, and to his own aspersed\ncharacter.\u201d He states: \u201cI was going to preach when I had the news of\nyour happy accommodation, and was no sooner out of church, than I\nwrote to beg my Vindication might not appear in the dress in which I\nhad put it. I did not then, nor do I yet, repent having written upon\nthe minutes; but, as matters are now, I am very sorry I did not write\nin a general manner, without taking notice of the circular letter,\nand mentioning your dear name.\u201d[147] He adds, that when he gave the\nmanuscript to Wesley, he begged him to correct it, and to expunge\nwhatever might be \u201cunkind or too sharp.\u201d Wesley had assured him, that\n\u201che _had_ expunged every tart expression\u201d; and, if so, (for Fletcher\nhad not yet seen it in a printed form,) he was \u201c_reconciled_ to its\npublication.\u201d Fletcher further adds, that he had just received a\nletter (September 11, 1771) from Bristol, stating that when Thomas\nOlivers, who was now acting as Wesley\u2019s editor, heard of Fletcher\u2019s\nwish to suppress his \u201cVindication,\u201d he had already announced to the\nBristol congregation, that the work was in the press, and would soon be\nready. \u201cBesides,\u201d continues Fletcher, in reference to Thomas Olivers\nbeing the only preacher who refused to sign the declaration at the\nconference,--\u201cBesides, Mr. Olivers would have pleaded, with smartness,\nthat he never approved of a patched up peace,--that he bore his\ntestimony against it at the time it was made,--had a personal right to\nproduce _my_ arguments, since both parties refused to hear _his_ at the\nconference.\u201d\n\nThese facts are of great consequence, inasmuch as Shirley magnifies\nWesley\u2019s publication of Fletcher\u2019s Vindication into a heinous fault;\nand others after him have endeavoured to brand Wesley\u2019s character, not\nonly for perpetuating the war, but for publishing Fletcher\u2019s manuscript\ncontrary to Fletcher\u2019s wish. This is utterly unjust. The war was begun,\nnot by Wesley, but by the Calvinists; and surely the attacked was not\npresumptuous, or wanton, in endeavouring to defend himself. It is\ntrue, that, in doing that, he uses the sword of his friend Fletcher;\nbut what of that? The sword was given him to use, on July 27, when on\nhis return from Ireland; and, though Fletcher subsequently hesitated\nas to the propriety of the step he had taken, it was not until the\nsword was brandished, by Fletcher\u2019s manuscript being committed to the\npress and actually announced for sale. Besides, Fletcher\u2019s hesitancy\nhad reference, not to the thing done, but to the manner of its being\ndone. A vindication he considered to be imperatively required: but\nhe was afraid that his own was too personal. Shirley was aggrieved,\nbecause he pretends to have thought that the signing of the declaration\nwould have ended the matter; but Shirley conveniently forgets: (1)\nthat he himself had blackened Wesley\u2019s character throughout the three\nkingdoms; (2) that Wesley and his preachers had conceded nothing\nto their adversaries, except that the minutes of 1770 were \u201cnot\nsufficiently guarded in the way in which they are expressed\u201d; (3) that,\nas Fletcher abundantly demonstrates, there was a terrible necessity\nfor an enforcement of the doctrine of the minutes at this momentous\nperiod, both the pulpits and pews of churches being infected with the\ndeadly antinomianism of the late Dr. Crisp; and (4) that, after all,\nthe doctrine of the minutes was only one part of the controversy which\nthe Calvinists had raised, and that there were other attacks on Wesley,\nmade by men like Augustus Toplady, and the editor of the _Gospel\nMagazine_, which it was impossible, and, in fact, would have been\ncriminally disastrous, to have passed without rebuke.\n\nThat Fletcher did not regret the publishing of his Vindication is\nevident from the alacrity he showed in the preparation and publishing\nof his \u201cSecond Check;\u201d the chief object of which was to establish \u201cthe\ndoctrine of justification by works in the day of judgment\u201d; and to\nreprove Walter Shirley for insinuating, in his \u201cNarrative,\u201d that this\nwas a doctrine which Wesley and his fifty-three itinerant preachers had\ngiven up.\n\nShirley retired from the field of battle; but others took up the\ngauntlet. The _Gospel Magazine_, faithful to its character, was\nas furious as ever. In its August number, it published a review\nof the \u201cChurch of England vindicated from the Charge of Absolute\nPredestination,\u201d declaring that Wesley was its author\u2019s \u201cdictator and\nemployer.\u201d The work is pronounced \u201ca composition of low scurrility\nand illiberal abuse.\u201d The writer is charged with having \u201chorribly\nblasphemed, and daringly given the lie to the God of truth, by\nasserting that any justified soul may at last perish in hell.\u201d\n\u201cArminianism is a hodgepodge of human systems, made up of grace and\nworks, so blended together as to destroy the true meaning of both.\u201d\n\nIn the same number was published Cleon\u2019s poem on \u201cWesley\u2019s apostasy\nfrom the genuine faith of the gospel, an awful proof that evil men and\nseducers wax worse and worse.\u201d One verse must serve as a specimen.\nAfter describing the doctrine of Wesley\u2019s minutes, Cleon writes:\n\n \u201cIn vain for worse may Wesley search the globe,\n A viper hatched beneath the harlot\u2019s robe;\n Rome, in her glory, has no greater boast,\n Than Wesley aims--to all conviction lost.\u201d\n\nIn the September number, \u201cSimplex, from the neighbourhood of the\nFoundery,\u201d expresses his astonishment, that Shirley and his friends\nshould have been satisfied with the declaration, signed at conference,\ninasmuch as \u201cit denies not one tittle clearly asserted in the minutes.\u201d\nWesley is credited with possessing \u201cthe unfathomable policy of a\ndubious divine.\u201d He is a \u201cfox,\u201d who \u201chas had sagacity enough to elude\nhis hunters;\u201d and \u201cevidently shows that he never meant to recant what\nhe had declared in the minutes, when he signed the declaration.\u201d\n\nIn a subsequent number, \u201cSimplex\u201d reappears, and tells his readers that\nhe is \u201csorry to see the name of a Christian minister prefixed to such\nfoul and futile productions as those of Mr. Sellon. Mr. Fletcher\u2019s pen\nis more cleanly, but every whit as unfair. He is like a madman flinging\nabroad firebrands, arrows, and death, amongst those who differ from\nhim. Master Thomas Olivers has shocked common decency in his letter\nto Mr. Toplady. And Mr. Wesley must be more explicit than he has been\naccustomed to be, before he can give a satisfactory answer to Simplex\u2019s\nquerulous epistle.\u201d These are moderate specimens of the tone and\nlanguage of the _Gospel Magazine_.\n\nAnother brace of antagonists must be mentioned, Richard and Rowland\nHill, the sons of Sir Rowland Hill, the former born in 1732, and the\nlatter in 1745. Richard had been educated at Westminster, and had spent\nfour or five years at Magdalen college, Oxford. Rowland had been sent\nto Eton, and then to Cambridge university. Both the brothers had turned\npreachers, though, as yet, neither of them had been ordained. They were\nyoung, proud, and irascible; and, with greater zeal than prudence,\nentered into the Calvinian conflict.\n\nRichard Hill published[148] a sixpenny pamphlet, 8vo, of 31 pages,\nentitled \u201cA Conversation between Richard Hill, Esq., the Rev. Mr.\nMadan, and Father Walsh, superior of a convent of English Benedictine\nmonks at Paris, held at the said convent, July 13, 1771, relative\nto some doctrinal Minutes, advanced by the Rev. Mr. John Wesley and\nothers, at a conference in London, August 7, 1770. To which are added\nsome Remarks by the Editor; as also Mr. Wesley\u2019s own Declaration\nconcerning his Minutes, versified by another Hand.\u201d A prodigiously\nlong title of a supremely silly tract, whose object is to show that\nWesley\u2019s doctrine was a great deal worse than popery; in fact, that\n\u201cpopery is about midway between protestantism and Mr. J. Wesley.\u201d We\ncontent ourselves with Sir Richard\u2019s poetical version of Wesley\u2019s\ndeclaration:\n\n \u201cWhereas, the religion and fate of three nations\n Depend on the importance of our conversations;\n And as some objections are thrown in our way,\n Our words have been construed to mean what they say;\n Be\u2019t known from henceforth, to each friend and each brother,\n Whene\u2019er we _say_ one thing, we _mean_ quite _another_.\u201d\n\nSir Richard was not content with this. He issued a penny 12mo tract of\n12 pages, with the title, \u201cAn Answer to some capital Errors contained\nin the Minutes,\u201d etc., which finishes by reproducing the doggerel\ncalumny just given, as though it were far too precious to be entombed\nin the more costly pamphlet with which he had enriched the Christian\nchurch.\n\nHis third publication,--by far the best,--was an octavo pamphlet of 40\npages, entitled, \u201cFive Letters to the Reverend Mr. Fletcher, relative\nto his Vindication of the Minutes of the Reverend Mr. John Wesley.\u201d\nApart from its theology, of which we say nothing, this was worthy of a\nscholar, a Christian, and a gentleman. The spirit of the piece is most\nloving, and the style unexceptionable.\n\nThe publications, on the other side, in addition to those of Fletcher,\nwere three in number.\n\nFirst, Wesley\u2019s tract of 12 pages, entitled, \u201cThe Consequence Proved\u201d;\nwithout either the author\u2019s or the printer\u2019s name. Its object is to\nsubstantiate his former assertion, that the gist of Toplady\u2019s Zanchius\nis to teach that \u201cone in twenty (suppose) of mankind are elected, and\nnineteen in twenty are reprobate: that the elect shall be saved, do\nwhat they will; and the reprobate shall be damned, do what they can.\u201d\nWesley says: \u201cI have not leisure to consider the matter at large. I\ncan only make a few strictures, and leave the young man (Toplady)\nto be farther corrected by one that is full his match, Mr. Thomas\nOlivers.\u201d[149]\n\nTo be handed over to Thomas Olivers was one of the bitterest pills that\nToplady had to swallow. Olivers was a man of great intellectual power;\nbut he had the misfortune to commence life as a Welsh mechanic of not\nthe highest order. He was left an orphan when only four years old, and\nhad now attained the age of forty-six. His publication, 12mo, 60 pages,\nwas entitled, \u201cA Letter to the Reverend Mr. Toplady, occasioned by his\nlate Letter to the Reverend Mr. Wesley.\u201d In invective and tart rebuke,\nToplady met a match in the intrepid and fiery Welshman who, on behalf\nof Wesley, undertook to fight the furious predestinarian with the not\ntoo respectable weapons of his own choosing. It certainly is difficult\nto decide which is the more proficient in the use of strong language.\nIt was a fisticuff encounter between a pugilistic pair, whose thumping\nblows may be considered of equal force.\n\nThe third publication, alluded to above, was \u201cThe Church of England\nVindicated from the Charge of Predestination, as it is stated and\nasserted by the Translator of Jerome Zanchius, in his Letter to the\nRev. Dr. Nowell; together with some Animadversions on his Translation\nof Zanchius, his Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, and his Sermon\non 1 Timothy i. 10.\u201d 12mo, 129 pages. The author was the redoubtable\nWalter Sellon, who, for outspokenness, was only second to Toplady and\nOlivers themselves. At the same time, however, Sellon\u2019s book evinces\ngreat ability and research, and thoroughly demolishes the unfounded\ntheories of an opponent, whose pen was guided by bigotry rather than by\nChristian discretion. The castigation was severe, but it was merited.\nThe lash of a scorpion whip is far from pleasant; but the man who uses\nit has no reason to complain of another using it in self defence.\nToplady had a right to wince and writhe; but, under the circumstances,\nhe had no right to foam, as, in succeeding chapters, we shall find he\ndid.\n\nHere, for the present, we shall leave this embittered conflict, and\ntrace the steps of the illustrious man whose high position seemed to\nengender the envy which led to the attack upon him; but who, excepting\na short skirmish now and then, pursued his high and holy mission with\nas much serenity as if the conflict had not existed.\n\nHe landed in Ireland on March 24, and re-embarked for England on July\n22nd following.\n\nAt Dublin, the society had been jangling for years, and, as a\nconsequence, had suffered loss. Though not expressly stated, it is\nclear that the cause of their quarreling was a dispute respecting the\nauthority of the preachers and of the leaders respectively. Wesley, as\nthe fountain of Methodistic law, now laid it down that classleaders\nhad no authority to restrain the assistant, if they thought he acted\nimproperly; but might mildly speak to him, and then refer the matter\nto Wesley to be decided. They had no \u201cauthority to hinder a person\nfrom preaching, or to displace a particular leader, or to expel a\nparticular member, or to regulate the temporal and spiritual affairs\nof the society, or to make any public collection, or to receive the\nyearly subscription.\u201d All this was the work of the assistant, with\none exception, namely, that the temporal affairs of the society\nwere regulated by the society steward. The power of a classleader\nsimply consisted in authority to meet his class, to receive their\ncontributions, and to visit his sick members; and the power of all\nclassleaders united was \u201cauthority to show their classpapers to the\nassistant, and to deliver the money they had received to the stewards,\nand to bring in the names of the sick.\u201d\n\nRightly or wrongly, such was Methodist discipline in 1771. \u201cIn the\nMethodist discipline,\u201d writes Wesley, \u201cthe wheels regularly stand\nthus: the assistant, the preachers, the stewards, the leaders, the\npeople. But here the leaders, who are the lowest wheel but one, were\nquite got out of their place. They were got at the top of all, above\nthe stewards, the preachers, yea, and above the assistant himself. To\nthis chiefly, I impute the gradual decay of the work of God in Dublin.\u201d\n\u201cNothing,\u201d says he, at Londonderry, where two years before he had\norganised a band of singers, which through the preacher\u2019s neglect was\nnow dispersed, \u201cNothing will stand in the Methodist plan unless the\npreacher has his heart and his hand in it. Every preacher, therefore,\nshould consider it is not his business to mind this or that thing only,\nbut everything.\u201d\n\nMore than three months of Wesley\u2019s time were spent, not in Dublin, but\nin itinerating the Irish provinces. In many instances, he was gladdened\nwith the prosperity of the work of God; in others, as Dublin, Athlone,\nTullamore, Waterford, Cork, and Augher, the aspect of things was far\nfrom promising.\n\nWhile on this lengthened journey, Wesley made the following entry in\nhis journal: \u201c1771. June 28--This day I entered the sixty-ninth year of\nmy age. I am still a wonder to myself. My voice and strength are the\nsame as at nine-and-twenty. This also hath God wrought.\u201d\n\nWesley remained in Ireland until he was obliged to leave in order to\nmeet his conference at Bristol. Much space has been already occupied\nwith an account of its important proceedings; but it may be added that,\nnotwithstanding the Calvinian disturbances, there was reported an\nincrease of 1934 members. Among others, Joseph Benson was received on\ntrial as an itinerant preacher; and Francis Asbury and Richard Wright\nwere sent as a reinforcement to America. Nearly \u00a31700 were contributed\nto extinguish the chapel debts; and, to accomplish the thing at once,\nit was recommended that, upon an average, every Methodist, in the\nthree kingdoms, should give, for one year, a penny a week. \u201cIf this is\ndone,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cit will both pay our whole debt, and supply all\ncontingencies.\u201d\n\nNo sooner was the conference over than Wesley set out for Wales, where\nhe laboured nearly the next three weeks. One of the Sundays was spent\nin Pembroke, where he preached in two of the churches. He writes: \u201cMany\nof the congregation were gay, genteel people; so I spake on the first\nelements of the gospel. But I was still out of their depth. Oh how hard\nit is to be shallow enough for a polite audience!\u201d\n\nReturning to Bristol on August 31, he employed the next month in\nvisiting the societies surrounding that city. Twelve months before, he\nhad rejoiced over an apparently great religious revival in Kingswood\nschool; but now, says he, \u201cit is gone! It is lost! It is vanished away!\nThere is scarce any trace of it remaining! Then we must begin again;\nand, in due time, we shall reap if we faint not.\u201d\n\nJust at this period, Dr. William Cadogan\u2019s book on the gout and all\nchronic diseases was attracting great attention. Dr. Johnson called\nit \u201ca good book in general, but a foolish one in particulars.\u201d Wesley\nread the book, and agrees with Cadogan, that \u201cvery few of the chronic\ndistempers are properly hereditary; and that most of them spring either\nfrom indolence, or intemperance, or irregular passions. But,\u201d he adds,\nand here he comes in conflict with modern teetotallers, \u201cbut why should\nDr. Cadogan condemn wine _toto genere_, which is one of the noblest\ncordials in nature? Yet stranger, why should he condemn bread? Great\nwhims belong to great men!\u201d\n\nAfter an absence of seven months, Wesley got back to London on\nSaturday, October 5; and, on the Monday following, set out on his usual\ntour through the counties of Bedford and Northampton. This occupied a\nweek, as did a similar visit to the societies in Oxfordshire. For many\nyears, Wesley was accustomed to spend the last two or three months in\neach year in weekly journeys from London as a pastoral centre. The\nBedfordshire and Northamptonshire journey was one; the Oxfordshire\nanother; Chatham and Sheerness a third; Staplehurst, Rye, Winchelsea,\nand other places a fourth; and Norfolk a fifth, which generally\noccupied a longer time.\n\nWesley concludes the year with this entry: \u201cDecember 30--At my\nbrother\u2019s request, I sat again for my picture. This melancholy\nemployment always reminds me of that natural reflection,--\n\n \u2018Behold, what frailty we in man may see!\n His shadow is less given to change than he.\u2019\u201d\n\nLittle more remains to be related respecting the year 1771, except the\npoints following.\n\nIt is a curious fact, that, in the year when Fletcher began to render\nWesley important service by the publication of his \u201cChecks,\u201d Fletcher\u2019s\nfuture wife, Miss Bosanquet, applied to Wesley for advice on the\nsubject of female preaching. Our space prevents the possibility of\ndiscussing such a topic at the length which it deserves; but Wesley\u2019s\nletter, hitherto unpublished, will be acceptable, as showing that,\nhowever much importance he was disposed to attach to church order, he\nwas not the man to make all things bend to it.\n\n \u201cLONDONDERRY, _June 13, 1771_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--I think the strength of the cause rests there,--on\n your having an _extraordinary_ call. So, I am persuaded, has every\n one of our lay preachers; otherwise, I could not countenance his\n preaching at all. It is plain to me, that the whole work of God\n termed Methodism is an extraordinary dispensation of His providence.\n Therefore, I do not wonder if several things occur therein, which do\n not fall under the ordinary rules of discipline. St. Paul\u2019s ordinary\n rule was, \u2018I permit not a woman to speak in the congregation.\u2019 Yet,\n in extraordinary cases, he made a few exceptions; at Corinth in\n particular.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear sister, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[150]\n\nIn 1771, Wesley began a revision and republication of all the works\nwhich he had published during the last five-and-thirty years, with the\nexception of his Notes on the Old and New Testament, his \u201cChristian\nLibrary,\u201d his \u201cNatural Philosophy,\u201d and his books for Kingswood school.\nIt was during this year that he issued a careful reprint of the four\nvolumes of sermons published in 1746, 48, 50, and 60, with the addition\nof ten sermons, most of which had been published separately.\n\nBesides these, he published five 12mo volumes of his collected works,\nembracing the sermons just mentioned; and making together about 1800\nprinted pages, in which he not only corrected the errors of the press,\nbut his own mistakes, and did, what has not been done in any subsequent\nedition of his works,--placed an asterisk before the passages and\nparagraphs which he judged were most worthy of the reader\u2019s notice.\n\nHe likewise published the fourteenth \u201cExtract\u201d from his journal,\nextending from May 27, 1765, to May 5, 1768. 12mo, 128 pages.[151]\n\nHis only other publications were his \u201cConsequence Proved,\u201d and his\n\u201cDefence\u201d of his minutes, already mentioned; and finally, \u201cA Letter\nto the Reverend Mr. Fleury,\u201d of Waterford, in Ireland. Mr. Fleury was\na young parson, who, both in 1769, and now again in 1771, had taken\nthe opportunity of Wesley\u2019s visits to Waterford to preach against him.\nWesley writes: \u201c1771, May 28--At eleven, and again in the afternoon,\nI went to the cathedral, where a young gentleman most valiantly\nencountered the \u2018grievous wolves,\u2019 as he termed the Methodists. I\nnever heard a man strike more wide of the mark. However, the shallow\ndiscourse did good; for it sent abundance of people, rich and poor,\nto hear and judge for themselves.\u201d The \u201cyoung gentleman\u2019s\u201d two\nsermons, which were published, were made up of the stale objections\nand invectives that had been used, by his superiors and seniors, times\nwithout number. Wesley\u2019s letter is a characteristic reply to them.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [118] Lady Maxwell\u2019s Life, p. 72.\n\n [119] _Methodist Magazine_, 1784, p. 388.\n\n [120] Lady Maxwell\u2019s Life, p. 22.\n\n [121] Ibid.\n\n [122] Doubtless his letter to Lady Huntingdon.\n\n [123] _Methodist Magazine_, 1805, p. 279.\n\n [124] Wesley\u2019s Life of Fletcher.\n\n [125] Manuscript letter.\n\n [126] Benson\u2019s Life, by Treffry.\n\n [127] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xi., p. 285.\n\n [128] Probably Mr. Romaine.\n\n [129] Fletcher\u2019s Vindication, 1st Edit., p. 21.\n\n [130] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. ii.,\n p. 240.\n\n [131] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 256.\n\n [132] _Methodist Magazine_, 1797, p. 563.\n\n [133] The minutes of the conference of 1770.\n\n [134] The _italic_ words are emphasized in the original.\n\n [135] Shirley\u2019s \u201cNarrative,\u201d p. 5.\n\n [136] _Methodist Magazine_, 1797, p. 253.\n\n [137] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 394.\n\n [138] \u201cLife and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,\u201d vol. ii.,\n p. 237.\n\n [139] This was probably \u201cThe Consequence Proved,\u201d to be\n noticed shortly.\n\n [140] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 127.\n\n [141] Shirley\u2019s \u201cNarrative,\u201d p. 8.\n\n [142] Ibid. p. 10.\n\n [143] Charles Wesley\u2019s name is not in the list: a further\n proof that, strangely enough, he was not at this most\n important conference.\n\n [144] This is the word in Shirley\u2019s \u201cNarrative\u201d; but in\n the _Gospel Magazine_ for August, 1771, the word\n \u201cjustification\u201d is used instead; and there can be\n little doubt, that this was the reading of the\n original declaration. The difference at first seems\n slight, but, in reality, it is of great importance,\n as the readers of Fletcher\u2019s \u201cChecks\u201d will easily\n perceive.\n\n [145] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 349.\n\n [146] Shirley\u2019s \u201cNarrative.\u201d\n\n [147] \u201cSecond Check,\u201d 1st Edit., p. 40.\n\n [148] See Sir Richard Hill\u2019s Life, p. 191.\n\n [149] There was also published, at this period, a smartly\n written rebuke of Toplady, and a defence of Wesley,\n entitled, \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Mr. Augustus Toplady,\n written in great part by himself, relative to part of\n his printed Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley.\u201d 8vo,\n 21 pages.\n\n [150] Manuscript letter.\n\n [151] As a curiosity, and as tending to show that, in this\n season of excitement, all men were not Wesley\u2019s\n enemies, we give an extract from a review of this\n section of Wesley\u2019s Journal, published in _Lloyd\u2019s\n Evening Post_, for January 20, 1772:--\u201cIn this\n interval, between May 27, 1765, and May 5, 1768,\n this zealous and truly laborious missionary of the\n Methodists, who seems to consider the three kingdoms\n as his parochial cure, twice traverses the greater\n part of Ireland and Scotland, from Londonderry\n to Cork, from Aberdeen to Dumfries, visiting and\n confirming the churches, besides making a progress,\n chiefly on horseback (in many places more than\n once), through great part of Wales, and almost\n all the counties in England, from Newcastle to\n Southampton, from Dover to Penzance. Those who expect\n to find in this Journal only the peculiar tenets of\n Methodism will be agreeably disappointed, as they\n are intermixed with such occasional reflections on\n men and manners, on polite literature, and even on\n polite places, as prove that the writer is endued\n with a taste well cultivated both by reading and\n observation; and above all with such a benevolence\n and sweetness of temper, such an enlarged, liberal,\n and truly protestant way of thinking towards those\n who differ from him, as clearly show that _his\n heart_, at least, is right, and justly entitle him to\n that candour and forbearance, which, for the honour\n of our common religion, we are glad to find he now\n generally receives.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n 1772.\n Age 69\n\n\nWesley\u2019s first journey from London, in 1772, was on the 16th of\nJanuary, when he came to Luton, and preached in the parish church. The\nfriendly clergyman, who gave him this permission, was the Rev. Mr.\nCopleston, whose son afterwards became a Methodist local preacher, and\nwas driven from Luton by the iron hand of persecution, and then, after\npreaching for a while at St. Albans, introduced Methodism into Leighton\nBuzzard, where he died, in 1835, at the age of seventy, having been an\nearnest Methodist more than fifty years.[152]\n\nIn a visit to Dorking, Wesley read Sterne\u2019s \u201cSentimental Journey,\u201d\nand writes, \u201c_Sentimental!_ What is that? It is not English; he might\nas well say _continental_. It is not sense. It conveys no determinate\nidea; yet one fool makes many, and this nonsensical word (who would\nbelieve it?) is become a fashionable one! However, the book agrees full\nwell with the title; for one is as queer as the other. For oddity,\nuncouthness, and unlikeness to all the world beside, I suppose the\nwriter is without a rival.\u201d This was a bold criticism on Laurence\nSterne, and his recently published book, which was now immensely\npopular. On his return from Dorking, on February 12, Wesley writes:\n\u201cI read a very different book, published by an honest quaker, on that\nexecrable sum of all villanies, commonly called the slave trade. I read\nof nothing like it in the heathen world, whether ancient or modern;\nand it infinitely exceeds, in every instance of barbarity, whatever\nChristian slaves suffer in Mahommedan countries.\u201d\n\nThis is a remarkable utterance. It was in this very year that Granville\nSharpe, the first of the English antislavery advocates, began to take\nup the subject; and it was not until fifteen years after this, that the\n\u201cSociety for the Suppression of the Slave Trade\u201d was founded, of which,\nbesides Sharpe, two of the chief members were Thomas Clarkson, a young\ngraduate of Cambridge, and William Wilberforce, who was then M.P. for\nthe county of York. The book which Wesley read was probably written\nby Anthony Benezet, a French protestant, who, after being educated in\nEngland, became a quaker in Philadelphia; and, in 1762, published the\nwork which first attracted the attention of this country[153] to the\ninhuman traffic, which Wesley so justly designates \u201cthat execrable\nsum of all villanies.\u201d Let it be noted that, besides all his other\nhonours, John Wesley, the poor, persecuted Methodist, was one of the\nfirst advocates on behalf of the enthralled African that England had,\nand that, sixty years before slavery was abolished in the dominions of\nGreat Britain, he denounced the thing in the strongest terms it was\npossible to employ.\n\nBefore we accompany Wesley on his long northern tour, three other\nfacts, belonging to this period, may be briefly mentioned.\n\nTen years ago, Thomas Maxfield had dishonourably forsaken his old\nfriend, and had set up a rival church in the neighbourhood of\nMoorfields. For some reason, he now seemed to desire a reunion. Wesley\nwas not the man to repel an overture even from one whose behaviour had\nbeen ungrateful and treacherous. He met Maxfield; but writes: \u201cHe only\n_seemed_ to desire a reunion; for when we explained upon the head, I\nfound he meant just nothing.\u201d\n\nWesley was now close upon the age of threescore years and ten. His life\nhad been a scene of unparalleled activity; and, though still possessed\nof amazing vigour, he had not the energy he had been wont to have.\nHis friends in London saw this; and hence the following entry in his\njournal. \u201c1772. Feb. 21.--I met several of my friends, who had begun a\nsubscription to prevent my riding on horseback, which I cannot do quite\nso well, since a hurt which I got some months ago. If they continue it,\nwell; if not, I shall have strength according to my need.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s last act before leaving London was to open a new chapel\nat Poplar. He writes: \u201c1772. Feb. 28--I opened the new preaching\nhouse in Poplar: one might say, consecrated it; for the English law\n(notwithstanding the vulgar error) does not require, nay, does not\nallow, any other consecration of churches than by performing public\nservice therein.\u201d\n\nUp to this period, the preaching at Poplar had been in private\ndwellings, and in the workhouse, the mistress of which was a Methodist.\nNow a wooden building was erected in High Street, which was long\ncalled, out of derision, \u201cthe pantile shop.\u201d One of the first members\nwas Benjamin King, who previous to this attended Gravel Lane chapel,\nWapping, one of the oldest Methodist meeting-houses in London, but\nwhich was long since demolished for the making of the London Docks.\nFor many a year, Methodism at Poplar had a struggle for existence,\nand often was Wesley importuned to give up the preaching there; but\nhis constant answer was, \u201cDoes the old woman\u201d (Mrs. Clippendale)\n\u201cwho sits in the corner of the long pew, still attend?\u201d \u201cO yes,\u201d was\nthe reply; \u201cshe never misses.\u201d \u201cThen for her sake keep going,\u201d was\nWesley\u2019s rejoinder. The venerable woman, who was thus the means of\nperpetuating Methodist preaching at Poplar, was a native of Swalwell,\nnear Newcastle, and, at twelve years of age, received her first society\nticket, in 1745, from the hands of Wesley. Four years later, she\ncame to London, and continued a faithful Methodist for above seventy\nyears.[154]\n\nStrangely enough, it was now currently reported that Wesley was about\nto leave England for America. The following refers to this.\n\n \u201cNEW YORK, _April 1, 1772_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND SIR,--By a letter from Mr. Lloyd, of London, we are\n informed that you incline to visit America. Mr. Whitefield\u2019s\n preaching was of unspeakable use to many; but he preached mostly in\n the seaport towns, and the most populous parts of the provinces,\n where the gospel was known, though not preached in power. In the back\n parts, which are now grown populous, the inhabitants are still in\n a state of deplorable ignorance. If some zealous and able teachers\n would engage heartily in the work of their conversion, how soon\n might rivers spring forth in the desert, and these owls and dragons\n of the wilderness give honour to God. No doubt, many in England and\n elsewhere, who abound in wealth, would contribute towards erecting\n schools to teach the children, and also towards the support of\n preachers, if such an undertaking was properly set on foot. But who\n is qualified for this work? I know none except yourself.\n\n \u201cBut, dear sir, what concerns me more than all is the unhappy\n condition of our negroes, who are kept in worse than Egyptian\n bondage. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and all the\n superfluities we possess, are the produce of their labours; and what\n do they receive in return? Nothing equivalent; on the contrary, we\n keep from them the key of knowledge; so that their bodies and souls\n perish together in our service! If, therefore, you are not too\n advanced in years, I say to you, in the name of God, come over and\n help us; in doing which you will greatly oblige many thousands, and,\n among the rest, your friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJONATHAN BRYAN.\u201d[155]\n\nDid Wesley seriously think of this? We are not sure; but the following\ncharacteristic letter to Walter Sellon will be read with interest.\n\n \u201c_February 1, 1772._\n\n \u201cDEAR WALTER,--You do not understand your information right. Observe,\n \u2018I am going to America to turn bishop.\u2019 You are to understand it _in\n sensu composito_. I am not to be a bishop till I am in America. While\n I am in Europe, therefore, you have nothing to fear. But as soon as\n ever you hear of my being landed in Philadelphia, it will be time for\n your apprehensions to revive. It is true, some of our preachers would\n not have me stay, so long; but I keep my old rule, _Festina lente_.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Walter, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[156]\n\nPrevious to his leaving London, Wesley commenced a long correspondence,\nwhich extended over the next two years, with Samuel Sparrow, Esq.,\na gentleman in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, who had published a\nvolume, entitled \u201cFamily Prayers and Moral Essays,\u201d a copy of which\nwas presented to Wesley by the author. The writer has before him the\ncorrespondence that ensued; and perhaps the following extracts, from\nsome of Wesley\u2019s letters, will be acceptable.\n\n \u201cTo the questions which you propose I answer: (1) I think that if\n a hundred, or a hundred thousand, sincere, honest, humble, modest,\n self diffident men were, with attention and care, to read the New\n Testament, uninfluenced by any but the Holy Spirit, nine in ten of\n them, at least, if not every one, would discover that the Son of God\n was \u2018adorable,\u2019 and one God with the Father; and would be immediately\n led to \u2018honour Him even as they honoured the Father.\u2019\n\n \u201c(2) Give a fair, impartial reading to that account of mankind in\n their present state, which is contained in the book on original sin.\n It is no play of imagination, but plain, clear fact. We see it with\n our eyes, and hear it with our ears daily. Heathens, Turks, Jews,\n Christians of every nation, are such men as are there described. Such\n are the tempers, such the manners, of lords, gentlemen, clergymen\n in England, as well as of tradesmen and the low vulgar. No man in\n his senses can deny it: and none can account for it, but upon the\n supposition of original sin.\n\n \u201cOn Scripture and common sense I build all my principles; and just so\n far as it agrees with these, I regard human authority.\n\n \u201cThere is too \u2018just ground for charging the preachers both at\n Blackfriars church, the chapel at the Lock,[157] and the Tabernacle,\n with grievous want of charity; for most of them flatly maintain, \u2018all\n who do not believe as they believe, are in a state of damnation;\u2019\n all who do not believe the absolute decree of election, which\n necessarily infers absolute reprobation. My brother and I set out on\n two principles: (1) None go to heaven without holiness of heart and\n life; (2) Whoever follows after this, whatever his opinions be, is my\n brother; and we have not swerved a hair\u2019s breadth from either the one\n or the other to this day.\u201d\n\nOn the 1st of March Wesley set out on his northern visitation, and did\nnot return to London until seven months afterwards. It was now that\nhe preached his first sermon in the town of Leek, where Thomas Hanby,\neighteen years before, had formed a society at the peril of his life.\n\u201cKill him, kill him,\u201d bawled the mob, as they pelted him with showers\nof stones; but the young evangelist, then only in the twenty-first year\nof his age, mercifully escaped; and the rabble, headed by a lawyer, had\nto content themselves with merely burning him in effigy.[158]\n\nWesley writes: \u201cMarch 27, 1772.--While I was dining at Leek, some\ngentlemen of the town sent to desire I would give them a sermon. As it\nseemed to be a providential call, I did not think it right to refuse. A\nlarge congregation quickly ran together, and were deeply attentive.\u201d\n\nA society had recently been gathered at Nantwich, of which Mr. Salmon,\nan eccentric Christian gentleman, and some of his sisters, were\nmembers; and hence Nantwich was now added to the places which Wesley\nhad to visit. This was probably the Mr. Salmon who was to have gone\nwith the Wesleys to Georgia, but who was forcibly detained in his\nCheshire home by his father and mother, who were distracted at the\nthought of their son leaving them. Joseph Whittingham Salmon had a\ngood heart, but muddy head. Soon after this, he began to preach,[159]\nand, at the death of his wife, in 1785, published a long rigmarole\nfuneral sermon, 8vo, 39 pages, which he preached in Barker Street\nchapel, Nantwich, and which is strongly spiced with the mystical\ndelusion into which he had fallen. It is scarcely too much to say, that\nthe weak mind of this well meaning man henceforth lost its balance, and\nthat mystic pride and _cacoethes scribendi_ were the chief features\nthat distinguished the close of a lengthened but lustreless life. His\nwife, however, and several of the Misses Salmon were intelligent and\nearnest Methodists, and were among the earliest friends of Hester Ann\nRoe, afterwards Mrs. Rogers.[160]\n\nThere was another gentleman of note, near Nantwich, Sir Thomas\nBroughton, of Doddington Hall, who had a chapel in his park, and who,\nthough not a Methodist, himself read or preached to the congregation\nthe whole of Wesley\u2019s sermons from first to last.[161] Salmon tells\nus, that this \u201creverend baronet,\u201d as he calls him, at the death of his\nlady, called together his eleven children and his thirty servants, at\neleven o\u2019clock at night, and then, as they stood round the corpse, amid\nmidnight silence and the dim radiance of lighted tapers, engaged in\nprayer, previous to the interment, the whole forming a scene not easily\nforgotten.\n\nThese were Methodism\u2019s auxiliaries in the town of Nantwich; but, for\nlong years, it had to struggle with adversity, its members worshipping\nin an old hired baptist chapel until the year 1808, when, chiefly\nthrough the help of Mr. Withinshaw, a new chapel was erected, and\nNantwich was made a circuit town.[162]\n\nOn the 5th of April, Wesley reached Bolton and Manchester. In reference\nto the former town he writes: \u201cHow wonderfully has God wrought in\nthis place! John Bennet, some years ago, reduced this society from\nsevenscore to twelve; and they are now risen to a hundred and seventy.\u201d\nAt Manchester, Wesley \u201cdrank tea at Am. O.;\u201d probably Adam Oldham\u2019s,\nand remarks: \u201cBut how was I shocked! The children that used to cling\nabout me, and drink in every word, had been at a boarding school. There\nthey had unlearned all religion, and even seriousness; and had learned\npride, vanity, affectation, and whatever could guard them against the\nknowledge and love of God. Methodist parents, who would send your girls\nheadlong to hell, send them to a fashionable boarding school!\u201d\n\nProceeding by way of Whitehaven and Carlisle, Wesley came to Glasgow\non April 18, and, a week later, arrived at Perth, where he was the\nprovost\u2019s guest, and received an honour which fell to him only once\nagain in his long lifetime. He shall tell his own story.\n\n \u201c1772. April 28, Tuesday. We walked through the Duke of Athol\u2019s\n gardens, in which was one thing I never saw before,--a summerhouse in\n the middle of a greenhouse, by means of which one might, in the depth\n of winter, enjoy the warmth of May, and sit surrounded with greens\n and flowers on every side.\n\n \u201cIn the evening I preached once more at Perth, to a large and serious\n congregation. Afterwards they did me an honour I never thought\n of,--presented me with the freedom of the city. The diploma ran\n thus:--\n\n \u201c\u2018_Magistratuum illustris ordo et honorandus senatorum c\u00e6tus inclyt\u00e6\n civitatis Perthensis, in debiti amoris et affectuum tesseram erga\n Johannem Wesley, immunitatibus pr\u00e6fat\u00e6 civitatis, societatis etiam\n et fraternitatis \u00e6diliti\u00e6 privilegiis donarunt. Aprilis die 28, anno\n Sal. 1772._\u2019\n\n \u201cI question whether any diploma from the city of London be more\n pompous, or expressed in better Latin.\u201d\n\nEight days afterwards, the magistrates of Arbroath conferred on Wesley\na similar mark of their respect.\n\nWhile in this part of Scotland, Wesley read two Scotch authors, upon\nwhom his criticisms are too racy to be omitted. He writes:\n\n \u201cIn my way to Perth, I read over the first volume of Dr. Robertson\u2019s\n \u2018History of Charles the Fifth.\u2019 I know not when I have been so\n disappointed. It might as well be called the History of Alexander\n the Great. Here is a quarto volume of eight or ten shillings\u2019 price,\n containing dry verbose dissertations on feudal government, the\n substance of all which might be comprised in half a sheet of paper!\n But \u2018Charles the Fifth!\u2019 Where is Charles the Fifth?\n\n \u2018Leave off thy reflections, and give us thy tale!\u2019\u201d\n\n \u201cMay 5. I read over, in my journey to Arbroath, Dr. Beattie\u2019s\n ingenious \u2018Inquiry after Truth.\u2019 He is a writer quite equal to his\n subject, and far above the match of all the minute philosophers,\n David Hume in particular, the most insolent despiser of truth and\n virtue that ever appeared in the world. And, yet, it seems some\n complain of this doctor\u2019s using him with too great severity! I cannot\n understand how that can be, unless he treated him with rudeness\n (which he does not), since he is an avowed enemy to God and man, and\n to all that is sacred and valuable on earth.\u201d\n\nOn the 9th of May, Wesley reached Edinburgh, where his state of health\nwas made the subject of an important medical examination. It has\nbeen already stated that, before he left London, his friends there,\nperceiving signs of age and debility, had contributed to provide him\na carriage in which to pursue his extensive and laborious journeys.\nSince then, in less than ten weeks, he had travelled, in his chaise\nand on horseback, from London to Bristol, and thence to Birmingham,\nNottingham, Macclesfield, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Whitehaven,\nCarlisle, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, preaching there, and at\na great number of intervening towns and villages, sometimes as many\nas four sermons in a day. He had had to encounter winter storms, to\nwade mid-leg deep in snow, and to travel roads so execrably bad, that\nsometimes he was literally bogged. Not unfrequently he preached in the\nmidst of piercing winds in the open air; and yet, there is not a single\nentry in his journal indicative of failing health. Never, in his life,\nwas he more intent upon the prosecution of his great work than now.\nWriting to his brother from Congleton, and again from Perth, he says:\n\n \u201cI find almost all our preachers, in every circuit, have done with\n Christian perfection. They say, they believe it; but they never\n preach it, or not once in a quarter. What is to be done? Shall we\n let it drop, or make a point of it? Oh what a thing it is to have\n _curam animarum_! You and I are called to this; to save souls from\n death; to watch over them as those that must give account! If our\n office implied no more than preaching a few times in a week, I could\n play with it; so might you. But how small a part of our duty (yours\n as well as mine) is this! God says to you, as well as me, \u2018Do all\n thou canst, be it more or less, to save the souls for whom My Son has\n died.\u2019 Let this voice be ever sounding in our ears; then shall we\n give up our account with joy. _Eia age, rumpe moras!_ I am ashamed of\n my indolence and inactivity. Your business, as well as mine, is to\n save souls. When we took priests\u2019 orders we undertook to make it our\n one business. I think every day lost, which is not (mainly at least)\n employed in this thing. _Sum totus in illo._\n\n \u201cI am glad you are to be at Bristol soon. To whom shall I leave my\n letters and papers? I am quite at a loss. I think Mr. Fletcher is the\n best that occurs now. Adieu!\u201d[163]\n\nWesley was too busy to think of being ill. He was not alarmed; but his\nfriends were. Hence, the following addressed to Charles Wesley.\n\n \u201cSHOREHAM, _April 18, 1772_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I doubt not, but we both join in constant\n petitions, at the throne of grace, for the life and health of our\n dear absent friend, thy brother. By all accounts, his valuable health\n is in a precarious state; and unless God provides (as I doubt not but\n He will), for His people, they will have abundant reason to mourn.\n May God give thee a double portion of His Spirit, that thou mayest\n stand in the gap, and prevent the flock being led by any who have not\n true gospel light in the head, and great integrity in the heart! My\n love to thy dear brother; the same attends thee and my dear sister,\n and all thy family. The Divine blessing be with all of us!\n\n \u201cThine, most affectionately,\n\n \u201cVINCENT PERRONET.\u201d[164]\n\nProbably it was the request of his friends, rather than his own\nanxiety, which induced Wesley, at Edinburgh, to submit to a medical\nexamination.\n\nAt this period, Dr. James Hamilton was a young man of about\ntwo-and-thirty, and was practising medicine in his native town of\nDunbar, where he also had joined the Methodists. Afterwards he removed\nto Leeds, and then to London, where he was elected physician to the\nLondon Dispensary, and rose to eminence in the medical profession. He\ndied in Finsbury Square, April 21, 1827, at the age of eighty-seven,\nhaving been a Methodist upwards of sixty years, and nearly as long a\nhighly acceptable and useful local preacher.\n\nDr. Alexander Monro was a few years older. Such was his ability, that,\nat the age of twenty-two, he was appointed professor of anatomy and\nsurgery to the University of Edinburgh; and is said, by the excellence\nof his lectures, to have materially assisted in raising it to the\nhighest celebrity as a school of medicine.\n\nDr. James Gregory was now a young man in his twentieth year; but, two\nyears later, was appointed professor of the theory of physic, and rose\nto such eminence in his profession as to draw pupils from all parts of\nthe world.\n\nThese were the three physicians who attended Wesley. He writes: \u201cMay\n18--Dr. Hamilton brought with him Dr. Monro and Dr. Gregory. They\nsatisfied me what my disorder was; and told me there was but one method\nof cure. Perhaps but one natural one; but I think God has more than one\nmethod of healing either the soul or the body.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s disease was hydrocele.[165] A few months later, he writes: \u201cI\nam almost a disabled soldier. I am forbid to ride, and am obliged to\ntravel mostly in a carriage.\u201d[166]\n\nThat Wesley\u2019s health was seriously affected there cannot be doubt.\n_Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, for June 15, remarks: \u201cBy accounts from\nScotland, we learn that the Rev. Mr. Wesley has had a dangerous fit\nof illness, in which he was attended by three of the most eminent of\nthe faculty there, who gave him over; but some younger gentlemen in\npractice have been luckily assistant to him, and they have now hopes\nthat he may continue his ministry many years longer.\u201d\n\nWesley doubtless was amused with this. During his ten days\u2019 stay in\nEdinburgh, he preached at least about half-a-dozen times; and, on the\nvery day when the medical men met, he opened a new chapel at Leith, and\ntwo days later started for Newcastle, preaching on his way at Dunbar,\nAlnwick, and Morpeth.\n\nReaching Newcastle on May 25, he spent the remainder of the week in the\ntown and neighbourhood, preaching, on the Sunday, three times out of\ndoors, to immense and attentive congregations.\n\nThe first four days in the month of June were occupied with what he\ncalls \u201ca little tour through the dales\u201d; and, in this brief period,\nbesides travelling scores of miles over \u201cthe horrid mountains,\u201d and\nexamining societies, he preached at least eight sermons. He writes:\n\u201cfrom the top of an enormous mountain we had a view of Weardale. It is\na lovely prospect. The green, gently rising meadows and fields, on both\nsides of the little river, clear as crystal, were sprinkled over with\ninnumerable little houses; three in four of which, if not nine in ten,\nare sprung up since the Methodists came hither. Since that time, the\nbeasts are turned into men, and the wilderness into a fruitful field.\u201d\n\nSix months before this, Weardale had been blessed with a remarkable\nreligious revival, the penitent prayer-meetings often continuing\ntill ten or eleven o\u2019clock at night, and sometimes till four in the\nmorning. On one occasion, four young men, seeking pardon, remained\non their knees for five hours together. Among others who found mercy\nwas an old woman, who, twenty-three years before, was the first in\nWeardale to receive the Methodists into her house. Sometimes as many as\nhalf-a-dozen \u201clay on the ground together, roaring for the disquietude\nof their hearts.\u201d Chiefly through the instrumentality of Jane Salkeld,\na schoolmistress, thirty children were converted, including Ph\u0153be\nFeatherstone, Hannah Watson, and others whom Wesley mentions.\n\nNot only does Wesley give, at great length, the details of this\nrevival; but he compares it with that at Everton thirteen years before.\nHis remarks are worth quoting.\n\n \u201cIt resembled the work at Everton in many respects, but not in all.\n\n \u201cIt resembled that work--(1) In its unexpected beginning; no such\n work had ever been seen before either at Everton or in Weardale. (2)\n In the swiftness of its progress, I mean in the persons affected;\n many of whom were in one day, or even two or three hours, both\n convinced of sin (without any previous awakening), and converted\n to God. (3) In the number of persons both convinced and converted,\n which was greater in a few months than it had been in Weardale from\n the first preaching there, or in Everton for a century. (4) In the\n outward symptoms which have attended it: in both, the sudden and\n violent emotions of mind affected the whole bodily frame; insomuch\n that many trembled exceedingly, many fell to the ground, many were\n violently convulsed, and many seemed to be in the agonies of death.\n (5) In most of the instruments whom God employed: these were plain,\n artless men, simple of heart, but without any remarkable gifts;\n men who, almost literally, knew \u2018nothing save Jesus Christ and Him\n crucified.\u2019\n\n \u201cIn these respects, the work of God in Weardale nearly resembled\n that at Everton; but, in other respects, they were widely different.\n For--(1) That was the first work of God, of the kind, which had ever\n been in those parts in the memory of man; this was only a revival of\n a work, which had continued for many years. Now these circumstances\n are common at the dawn of a work, but afterwards very uncommon. I do\n not remember to have seen the like anywhere in the three kingdoms,\n unless at the beginning of a work. (2) Although the former work was\n swift, the latter was far swifter. In general, persons were both\n awakened and justified in a far shorter time. (3) A far greater\n number were converted to God in Weardale than about Everton, although\n the number of hearers about Everton was abundantly greater than in\n Weardale. (4) Although the outward symptoms were the same, yet in\n Weardale there were none of the dreams, visions, and revelations\n which abounded at Everton; and which, though at first they\n undoubtedly were from God, yet were afterwards fatally counterfeited\n by the devil. (5) There was a great difference in the instruments\n whom God employed. Not one of those in or near Everton had any\n experience in the guiding of souls. None of them were more than\n \u2018babes in Christ,\u2019 if any of them so much. Whereas, in Weardale, not\n only the three preachers were, I believe, renewed in love, but most\n of the leaders were deeply experienced in the work of God. Hence, (6)\n we may easily account for the grand difference, namely, that the one\n work was so shallow, and the other so deep. Many children here have\n had far deeper experience, and more constant fellowship with God,\n than the oldest man or woman at Everton which I have seen or heard\n of.\u201d\n\nSuch were Wesley\u2019s moralisings on the Weardale revival, in 1772, in\nwhich less than a hundred people were converted, and concerning which\nhe says: \u201cupon the whole, we may affirm, such a work of God as this has\nnot been seen before in the three kingdoms.\u201d If this was so, who will\nsay that the former times were better than these? How many thousands of\naged Methodists can easily call to mind far more remarkable revivals of\nthe work of God than even that in Weardale! And, further, how was it\nthat, at Wesley\u2019s visit two years after, the results of this revival\nwere almost reduced to nothing, except that, in consequence of the\nbackslidings, \u201cthe preachers were discouraged; and jealousies, heart\nburnings, and evil surmisings, were multiplied more and more\u201d?\n\nWesley returned from Weardale to Newcastle on the 5th of June, and\nhere, and in the immediate neighbourhood, he spent the next ten days.\nIn the Newcastle society, there were fewer members than he had found\ntwo years before. \u201cThis,\u201d says he, \u201cI can impute to nothing but the\nwant of visiting from house to house; without which the people will\nhardly increase, either in number or grace.\u201d This was a sharp thrust\nat some of the most distinguished preachers of the day, namely, Peter\nJaco, Joseph Cownley, Thomas Hanby, Matthew Lowes, Thomas Tennant,\nWilliam Thompson, and Thomas Simpson, all of them appointed to\nNewcastle at this period.\n\nOn June 15, Wesley left Newcastle, and spent the next week in preaching\nat Durham, Stockton, Yarm, Thirsk, Osmotherley, Hutton Rudby,\nStokesley, Castleton, Whitby, Robinhood\u2019s Bay, and Scarborough. This\nwas pretty well, for a man afflicted as Wesley was, and at the age of\nseventy.\n\nEighteen months before this, his termagant wife had abruptly left\nhim, and gone to her house at Newcastle. Now that his health was so\nendangered, she was returning with him, whether to his comfort or\notherwise we are not informed; but, at all events, she had in Wesley\u2019s\nchaise the undeserved luxury of a summer\u2019s ride through the most\nbeautiful scenes of Yorkshire.[167]\n\nFrom Scarborough he proceeded to Bridlington, Driffield, Beverley,\nHull, York, Tadcaster, Pateley Bridge, Otley, Heptonstall, Keighley,\nHaworth, Bingley, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Morley, Birstal,\nDoncaster, Sheffield, Epworth, Brigg, Horncastle, Louth, Grimsby,\nPontefract, Horbury, Wakefield, and other places, preaching at all of\nthem, until, on August 2, he got to Leeds, for the purpose of holding\nhis annual conference. This was enormous labour for any man, and\nespecially for an old man, suffering from a severe and painful malady.\nTo all this must be added, cottage accommodation, hard beds, and often\nhard living; and, though brutal persecution had considerably abated,\nWesley was not entirely exempt from this; for, at Halifax, on July\n8, a ruffian struck him most violently on the face, when, with tears\nstarting from his eyes, the venerable saint acted upon the precept of\nhis Master: \u201cWhosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him\nthe other also\u201d; a display of heroic meekness which cowed the brutal\ncoward, and made him slink away into the ignoble crowd.[168] Yet, in\nthe midst of all this, there is not a single syllable, in his journal,\nconcerning either persecution, hardship, debility, or disease.\n\nHe writes: \u201cOn Tuesday, August 4, our conference began. Generally,\nduring the time of conference, as I was talking from morning to night,\nI had used to desire one of our brethren to preach in the morning; but,\nhaving many things to say, I resolved, with God\u2019s help, to preach\nmornings as well as evenings. And I found no difference at all; I was\nno more tired than with my usual labour; that is, no more than if I had\nbeen sitting still in my study from morning to night.\u201d\n\nOne of Wesley\u2019s sermons, preached to an immense congregation, in a\nfield behind the chapel, was from Isaiah lxvi. 8, 9: \u201cWho hath heard\nsuch a thing?\u201d etc.; in which he dwelt upon the great work which God\nhad wrought among the Methodists, discoursing on its rapidity, depth,\nextensiveness, and its growing character. \u201cIt was,\u201d says good old\nThomas Rutherford, \u201cmarrow and fatness to my soul.\u201d[169]\n\nWesley, in needful cases, was a brave defender of his preachers. The\nfollowing, addressed to Mr. Alexander Clark, of Dublin, and written at\nthis period, will be read with interest.\n\n \u201cSHEFFIELD, _August 10, 1772_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Now the hurry of conference is over, I get a\n little time to write. When I chose you to be steward in Dublin, you\n both loved and esteemed your preachers; but I find you have now drunk\n in the whole spirit of Pat. Geoghegan. O beware! You are exceedingly\n deceived. By this time, I should be some judge of man; and if I am,\n all England and Ireland cannot afford such a body of men, number for\n number, for sense and true experience, both of men and things, as\n the body of Methodist preachers. Our leaders in London, Bristol, and\n Dublin are by no means weak men. I would not be ashamed to compare\n them with a like number of tradesmen in every part of the three\n kingdoms. But I assure you, they are no more than children compared\n to the preachers in conference, as you would be thoroughly convinced,\n could you but have the opportunity of spending one day among them.\n Mr. Jaco will make a fair trial whether he can supply Dublin alone;\n if he cannot, he shall have another to help, for he must not kill\n himself to save charges. But I dare not stint him to \u00a320 a year. He\n will waste nothing; but he must want nothing. You will make his stay\n among you, in every respect, as comfortable as you can.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[170]\n\nNo sooner was the conference ended, than Wesley again started on his\nitinerancy of mercy. On his way to Burslem, his chaise broke down; but,\nnotwithstanding his disease, rather than disappoint the people, he\nmounted a horse and rode two-and-twenty miles, arriving just in time\nfor preaching.\n\nOn reaching Trevecca, on August 14, he met his old friend, Howel\nHarris, who, while almost all others of his class had imbibed the\nmost bitter feelings, still remained faithful. \u201cI have borne,\u201d said\nthe honest Welshman, \u201cwith these pert, ignorant young men, vulgarly\ncalled students, till I cannot, in conscience, bear any longer. They\npreach barefaced reprobation, and so broad antinomianism, that I\nhave been constrained to oppose them to the face, even in the public\ncongregation.\u201d This was no great compliment to the students of the\nCountess of Huntingdon, especially as coming from a Calvinist. Wesley,\nalmost as an apology, adds to this: \u201cIt is no wonder that they should\npreach thus. What better can be expected from raw lads, of little\nunderstanding, little learning, and no experience?\u201d\n\nIt is pleasing to add, that Howel Harris was not the only one of\nWhitefield\u2019s friends who still stood true to Wesley, though differing\nfrom his views. Hence the following, addressed to him by Cornelius\nWinter.\n\n \u201cBRECON, _August 10, 1772_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--Do you ask what I have been about? I answer,\n preaching Christ wherever a door has been opened to me. Sometimes I\n have cast a handful of seed on your ground; and should it ever come\n to a harvest you are welcome to it: it will become Jesus\u2019s property\n at last. What melancholy consequences from late productions! They\n forbid me to be any longer an idle hearer or a careless reader. I\n have been obliged, from conscience, to make a stand against dear Mr.\n Fletcher\u2019s groundless arguments and most bitter invectives.[171] Many\n things, he has said, are a proper antidote applied wrong, and to\n improper objects, and thereby become poison, whereas they might have\n been a healing medicine. But I must say no more on this subject; I am\n writing to one who will give it little attention.\n\n \u201cDr. Owen\u2019s \u2018Death of Death\u2019 has been my favourite study of late;\n and, in consequence of embracing the doctrine therein contained, I\n must agree to disagree with Mr. Fletcher\u2019s thoughts, and dear Mr.\n Wesley\u2019s _friendly pen_. Excuse my frank acknowledgments, and give\n me leave to differ and love. God bless you to your latest period,\n and make your last days your best! So prays, reverend and dear sir,\n yours most respectfully and affectionately, in our dear Lord Jesus,\n\n \u201cCORNELIUS WINTER.\u201d[172]\n\nFrom Trevecca, Wesley proceeded to Bristol, and here, and in the\nneighbourhood, he employed the next seven weeks. In Bristol itself,\nhe \u201cvisited the whole society from house to house, taking them from\nwest to east.\u201d He not unfrequently preached in the open air, and\nstrikingly remarks: \u201cto this day field preaching is a cross to me; but\nI know my commission, and see no other way of preaching the gospel to\nevery creature.\u201d The children at Kingswood, and at Miss Owen\u2019s school\nat Publow, were almost all converted. He writes: \u201cI suppose such a\nvisitation of children has not been known in England these hundred\nyears!\u201d[173] \u201cPublow is now what Leytonstone was once. Here is a family\nindeed. Such mistresses, and such a company of children, as I believe\nall England cannot parallel!\u201d\n\nLeaving Bristol on October 5, and preaching on his way at Shaftesbury,\nSalisbury, Winchester, and Portsmouth, he came to London on October\n10. He had been seven months from home, if indeed he had a home! and\nyet, after spending only one day in London, he again set out on his\nusual preaching tour in the counties of Bedford and Northampton.\nReturning to London, where he spent another day, he started on his\nvisitation in Oxfordshire. Returning again to London, and again\nspending a single day, he went off, on October 26, to Norfolk, where he\nemployed a fortnight. Except making a journey into Kent, and another to\nHertfordshire, the remainder of the year was passed in the metropolis.\n\nHere he again began expounding, chiefly in the mornings, \u201cthat\ncompendium of all the Holy Scriptures, the first epistle of St. John.\u201d\nNow, for the first time in his life, he saw the chapel at Snowsfields\nfull. He opened a new chapel at Dorking, and another in the parish of\nBromley. He visited the sick Methodists in London, and \u201cwas surprised\nthat they were so few.\u201d And on December 31 he wrote: \u201cBeing greatly\nembarrassed by the necessities of the poor, we spread all our wants\nbefore God in solemn prayer; believing that He would sooner \u2018make\nwindows in heaven\u2019 than suffer His truth to fail.\u201d\n\nThis reference to the poor requires further notice. The long continued\nwar, a succession of inferior harvests, and other unfavourable events,\nhad raised the price of provisions to such an extent, that the distress\nof the nation had become alarming. In the month of November, the\ncourt of common council of London agreed to petition parliament to\nopen the ports of the kingdom for the free importation of all kinds\nof grain; and one of the members proposed that, in order to prevent\nthe unnecessary consumption of flour, the making of starch should be\nprohibited. Long letters on the starved condition of the country were\npublished in the newspapers and magazines. Some of them entered into\nelaborate calculations, showing that, in London only, during the six\nwinter months, twenty thousand sheep and two thousand oxen were used\nin making soup for taverns, and the tables of the great. When the king\nopened parliament, on November 26, he referred in his speech to the\ndearness of corn, and recommended \u201cmy lords and gentlemen\u201d to consider\na scheme \u201cfor alleviating the distresses of the poor.\u201d This was done,\nand bills were passed, which substantially permitted the importation of\nforeign grown grain duty free.\n\nIn the midst of all this, Wesley was far from being an indifferent\nspectator; and, among the many letters which appeared in the\nperiodicals of the day, one written by himself was not the least\nimportant. This letter, published, either by himself or others, in\n_Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, for December 21, and in the _Leeds Mercury_ for\nDecember 29, and in other newspapers and magazines, is altogether too\ncurious and characteristic to be omitted or abridged. It is as follows.\n\n \u201c_To the Editor of \u2018Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post._\u2019\n\n \u201cSIR,--Many excellent things have been lately published concerning\n the _present scarcity of provisions_. And many causes have been\n assigned for it; but is not something wanting in most of those\n publications? One writer assigns one cause, another one or two more,\n and strongly insists upon them. But who has assigned all the causes\n that manifestly concur to produce this melancholy effect? at the same\n time pointing out, how each particular cause affects the price of\n each particular sort of provision?\n\n \u201cI would willingly offer to candid and benevolent men a few hints on\n this important subject, proposing a few questions, and adding to each\n what seems to be the plain and direct answer.\n\n \u201cI. 1. I ask first, Why are thousands of people starving, perishing\n for want, in every part of England? The fact I know: I have seen\n it with my eyes, in every corner of the land. I have known those\n who could only afford to eat a little coarse food every other\n day. I have known one picking up stinking sprats from a dunghill,\n and carrying them home for herself and her children. I have known\n another gathering the bones which the dogs had left in the streets,\n and making broth of them, to prolong a wretched life. Such is the\n case, at this day, of multitudes of people, in a land flowing, as it\n were, with milk and honey; abounding with all the necessaries, the\n conveniences, the superfluities of life!\n\n \u201cNow why is this? Why have all these nothing to eat? Because they\n have nothing to do. They have no meat, because they have no work.\n\n \u201c2. But why have they no work? Why are so many thousand people in\n London, in Bristol, in Norwich, in every county from one end of\n England to the other, utterly destitute of employment?\n\n \u201cBecause the persons who used to employ them cannot afford to do it\n any longer. Many, who employed fifty men, now scarce employ ten.\n Those, who employed twenty, now employ one, or none at all. They\n cannot, as they have no vent for their goods; food now bearing so\n high a price, that the generality of people are hardly able to buy\n anything else.\n\n \u201c3. But to descend from generals to particulars. Why is breadcorn\n so dear? Because such immense quantities of it are continually\n consumed by _distilling_. Indeed, an eminent distiller, near London,\n hearing this, warmly replied: \u2018Nay, my partner and I generally distil\n _but a thousand quarters_ of corn a week.\u2019 Perhaps so. Suppose\n five-and-twenty distillers, in and near the town, consume each only\n the same quantity. Here are five-and-twenty thousand quarters a\n week, that is, above twelve hundred and fifty thousand quarters a\n year, consumed in and about London! Add the distillers throughout\n England, and have we not reason to believe that half of the wheat\n produced in the kingdom is every year consumed, not by so harmless\n a way as throwing it into the sea; but by converting it into deadly\n poison--poison that naturally destroys, not only the strength and\n life, but also the morals of our countrymen!\n\n \u201c\u2018Well, but this brings in a large revenue to the king.\u2019 Is this an\n equivalent for the lives of his subjects? Would his majesty sell a\n hundred thousand of his subjects yearly to Algiers for four hundred\n thousand pounds? Surely no. Will he then sell them for that sum,\n to be butchered by their own countrymen?--\u2018But otherwise the swine\n for the navy cannot be fed.\u2019 Not unless they are fed with human\n flesh? not unless they are fatted with human blood? O tell it not in\n Constantinople, that the English raise the royal revenue by selling\n the blood and flesh of their countrymen!\n\n \u201c4. But why are oats so dear? Because there are four times the\n horses kept (to speak within compass), for coaches and chaises in\n particular, than were some years ago. Unless, therefore, four times\n the oats grew now as grew then, they cannot be at the same price. If\n only twice as much is produced, (which perhaps is near the truth,)\n the price will naturally be double to what it was.\n\n \u201cAs the dearness of grain of one kind will always raise the price of\n another, so whatever causes the dearness of wheat and oats must raise\n the price of barley too. To account therefore for the dearness of\n this, we need only remember what has been observed above, although\n some particular causes may concur in producing the same effect.\n\n \u201c5. Why are beef and mutton so dear? Because most of the considerable\n farmers, particularly in the northern counties, who used to breed\n large numbers of sheep or horned cattle, and frequently both, no\n longer trouble themselves with either sheep, or cows, or oxen; as\n they can turn their land to far better account, by breeding horses\n alone. Such is the demand, not only for coach and chaise horses,\n which are bought and destroyed in incredible numbers; but much\n more for bred horses, which are yearly exported by hundreds, yea\n thousands, to France.\n\n \u201c6. But why are pork, poultry, and eggs so dear? Because of the\n monopolising of farms, as mischievous a monopoly as was ever yet\n introduced into these kingdoms. The land which was formerly divided\n among ten or twenty little farmers, and enabled them comfortably to\n provide for their families, is now generally engrossed by one great\n farmer. One man farms an estate of a thousand a year, which formerly\n maintained ten or twenty. Every one of these little farmers kept a\n few swine, with some quantity of poultry; and, having little money,\n was glad to send his bacon, or pork, or fowls and eggs, to market\n continually. Hence, the markets were plentifully served, and plenty\n created cheapness; but, at present, the great, the gentlemen farmers,\n are above attending to these little things. They breed no poultry\n or swine, unless for their own use; consequently they send none to\n market. Hence, it is not strange, if two or three of these living\n near a market town occasion such a scarcity of these things, by\n preventing the former supply, that the price of them will be double\n or treble to what it was before. Hence, (to instance in a small\n article,) in the same town where, within my memory, eggs were sold\n eight or ten a penny, they are now sold six or eight a groat.\n\n Another cause why beef, mutton, pork, and all kind of victuals are so\n dear, is _luxury_. What can stand against this? Will it not waste and\n destroy all that nature and art can produce? If a person of quality\n will boil down three dozen of neat\u2019s tongues, to make two or three\n quarts of soup (and so proportionably in other things), what wonder\n if provisions fail? Only look into the kitchens of the great, the\n nobility, and gentry, almost without exception (considering withal\n that the toe of the peasant treads upon the heel of the courtier),\n and when you have observed the amazing waste which is made there, you\n will no longer wonder at the scarcity, and consequently dearness, of\n the things which they use so much art to destroy.\n\n \u201c7. But why is land so dear? Because, on all these accounts,\n gentlemen cannot live as they have been accustomed to do, without\n increasing their income, which most of them cannot do but by raising\n their rents. The farmer, paying a higher rent for his land, must have\n a higher price for the produce of it. This again tends to raise the\n price of land. And so the wheel runs round.\n\n \u201c8. But why is it, that not only provisions and land, but well-nigh\n everything else is so dear? Because of the enormous taxes which are\n laid on almost everything that can be named. Not only abundant taxes\n are raised from earth, and fire, and water; but, in England, the\n ingenious statesmen have found a way to tax the very light! Only\n one element remains, and surely some man of honour will, ere long,\n contrive to tax this also. For how long shall the saucy air blow in\n the face of a gentleman, nay, a lord, without paying for it?\n\n \u201c9. But why are the taxes so high? Because of the national debt.\n They must be, while this continues. I have heard that the national\n expense, in the time of peace, was, sixty years ago, three millions\n a year. Now the bare interest of the public debt amounts to above\n four millions. To raise which, with the other expenses of government,\n those taxes are absolutely necessary.\n\n \u201cII. Here is the evil. But where is the remedy? Perhaps it exceeds\n all the wisdom of man to tell. But it may not be amiss to offer a few\n hints, even on this delicate subject.\n\n \u201c1. What remedy is there for this sore evil? Many thousand poor\n people are starving. Find them work, and you will find them meat.\n They will then earn and eat their own bread.\n\n \u201c2. But how shall their masters give them work, without ruining\n themselves? Procure vent for it, and it will not hurt their masters\n to give them as much work as they can do; and this will be done by\n sinking the price of provisions; for then people will have money to\n buy other things too.\n\n \u201c3. But how can the price of _wheat_ be reduced? By prohibiting for\n ever that bane of health, that destroyer of strength, of life; and\n of virtue, _distilling_. Perhaps this alone will answer the whole\n design. If anything more be needful, may not all starch be made of\n rice, and the importation of this, as well as of wheat, be encouraged?\n\n \u201c4. How can the price of _oats_ be reduced? By reducing the number\n of horses. And may not this be effectually done--(1) by laying a tax\n of ten pounds on every horse exported to France; (2) by laying an\n additional tax on gentlemen\u2019s carriages. Not so much for every wheel,\n (barefaced, shameless partiality!) but ten pounds yearly for every\n horse. And these two taxes alone would nearly supply as much as is\n now given for leave to poison his majesty\u2019s liege subjects.\n\n \u201c5. How can the price of _beef_ and _mutton_ be reduced? By\n increasing the breed of sheep and horned cattle. And this would be\n increased sevenfold, if the price of horses was reduced; which it\n surely would be half in half, by the method above mentioned.\n\n \u201c6. How can the price of _pork_ and _poultry_ be reduced? First, by\n letting no farms of above a hundred pounds a year. Secondly, by\n repressing luxury, either by example, by laws, or both.\n\n \u201c7. How may the price of _land_ be reduced? By all the methods above\n named, all which tend to lessen the expense of housekeeping; but\n especially the last, restraining luxury, which is the grand source of\n poverty.\n\n \u201c8. How may the _taxes_ be reduced? By discharging half the national\n debt, and so saving at least two millions a year.\n\n \u201cHow this can be done the wisdom of the great council of the land can\n best determine.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your humble servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n \u201cDOVER, _December 9, 1772_.\u201d\n\nThis was not the only thing that Wesley and the Methodists did, to\ncontribute to the happiness of the starving poor. It was now that\nthere was organised a band of pious Methodists, who made it their duty\nand their pleasure to visit the inmates of London workhouses, and, by\nprayer, and reading, and exhortation, to lead them to Him who is alone\nthe great Comforter. That organisation has uninterruptedly existed down\nto the present time; and though, for the last twenty years, it has\nceased to be a purely Methodist society, its chief workers bear the\nMethodistic name.[174] From the ninety-fifth annual report of what is\nnow called \u201cThe Christian Community,\u201d we learn that this society was\n\u201cestablished under the patronage of the Rev. John Wesley, in 1772;\u201d and\nthat its agents, all labouring gratuitously, are regularly visiting\nthe workhouses of Shoreditch, St. Luke\u2019s, Clerkenwell, St. George\u2019s in\nthe East, and Bethnal Green, in eighty-eight halls and wards of which\nthey hold religious services every week; and that, besides this, they\nhave three services weekly in Cambridge Heath female refuge; visit\nbetween twenty and thirty low lodging houses, in Spitalfields, every\nSunday night; and, during the year, hold about 463 services in the\nopen air, deliver nearly 1400 addresses,[175] and distribute almost a\nquarter of a million of religious tracts. Not fewer than 124 visitors\nand exhorters are employed, nearly the whole of whom have appointments\nevery week.\n\nInto such a society has been developed the small band of godly\nMethodists, sent forth by Wesley, in 1772, to visit London paupers and\nLondon vagabonds. Its work is little known, and its agents scarcely\nrecognised; but here, in the very heart of London, are 124 home\nmissionaries, toiling to convert the lowest of the low to the faith of\nChrist, receiving not a farthing for their services, and carrying on\ntheir extensive machinery of tract distribution, tent preaching, and a\ncirculating library, at the small expense of about \u00a3200 a year. Success\nto this unpretending and almost unknown society. May the God of heaven\nprosper it, in its great work, more and more! \u201cIt is a shame,\u201d wrote\nWesley to Joseph Benson, on December 11, 1772, \u201cIt is a shame for any\nMethodist preacher to confine himself to one place. We are debtors to\nall the world. We are called to warn every one, to exhort every one, if\nby any means we may save some. I love prayer-meetings, and wish they\nwere set up in every corner of the town.\u201d[176]\n\nSuch is a bird\u2019s eye view of the work done, in 1772, by an old man,\nacutely suffering from the disease already mentioned. Writing to his\nbrother in November, and again in December, Wesley says:\n\n \u201cI have just made my tour through Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire,\n Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex; but Kent, Sussex, and\n Hertfordshire still remain to be visited; only the visitation of the\n London classes, a fortnight\u2019s work, must come between.\n\n \u201cIf we only join faith and works in all our preaching, we shall not\n fail of a blessing. But of all preaching, what is usually called\n gospel preaching is the most useless, if not the most mischievous:\n a dull, yea, or lively harangue on the sufferings of Christ, or\n salvation by faith, without strongly inculcating holiness. I see,\n more and more, that this naturally tends to drive holiness out of the\n world.\u201d\n\n \u201cI have scarce had a day yet\u201d (December 15) \u201cin London, except\n Sundays, and the time of visiting the classes. Dr. Ford has never\n come near me. I am afraid, _evasit_, _erupit_. I have wrote to Mr.\n Fletcher to-day. As Mr. Hill is to fall upon me next, Mr. Fletcher\n will have a little time to breathe; and probably a little more while\n Mr. Hill is digesting my reply; for whom I think we shall, between\n us, find work for some time.\n\n \u201cYou will not set shoulder to shoulder, or you could say something\n about the Church. Two are better than one. If we live till August,\n stand by me, and we will put the matter home.\n\n \u201cI often cry out, _Vit\u00e6 me redde priori_! Let me be again an Oxford\n Methodist. I am often in doubt whether it would not be best for me to\n resume all my Oxford rules, great and small. I did then walk closely\n with God, and redeem the time. But what have I been doing these\n thirty years? My love to all. Adieu!--JOHN WESLEY.\u201d[177]\n\nThe concluding sentences of these extracts sound strangely. Did\nafflicted Wesley, amid the London fog of a dark December day, really\nthink, that the last thirty years had been comparatively wasted, and\nthat he was more pious when almost a cloistered monk within the walls\nof Oxford, than he was now, a veteran evangelist, flying through the\nthree kingdoms, and preaching the gospel of God his Saviour? His\nmedical adviser came not near him; Sir Richard Hill was wantonly\nassailing him; his brother, except as a localised pastor in London and\nin Bristol, was of no use to him; his wife,--bah! Is it surprising,\nthat even Wesley had seasons of depression; and that, like others, he\nwas sometimes \u201cin heaviness through manifold temptations\u201d?\n\nBut it is time to turn to the Calvinian controversy, which we left\nraging in 1771. Wesley rarely mentions it, either in his journal or in\nhis letters, and yet it continued with undiminished fury.\n\nFletcher, of Madeley, again entered the field of battle, by publishing\n\u201cA Third Check to Antinomianism,\u201d in a letter to Sir Richard Hill,\n12mo, 114 pages. This was not only a defence of Wesley, but a\ntriumphant answer to the \u201cFive Letters\u201d of the baronet, and is written\nin a style exceedingly beautiful and Christian. Before the year was\nout, it reached a second edition.\n\nFletcher\u2019s other publication, in 1772, was \u201cLogica Genevensis; or, a\nFourth Check to Antinomianism: in which St. James\u2019s pure religion is\ndefended against the charges, and established upon the concessions,\nof Mr. Richard and Mr. Rowland Hill. In a Series of Letters to those\nGentlemen.\u201d 12mo, 237 pages.[178]\n\nIt is no part of our present plan to give even the briefest analysis\nof these masterly productions. Suffice it to say, that, for sound\nscriptural argument, able exposition, lively imagination, elegance of\nstyle, polished irony, and Christian temper, they have no superiors.\nThe two brothers, notwithstanding their goodness, their learning, their\ngenius, and their pluck, were but pigmies in the grasp of a Goliath.\n\nRowland Hill, a young man of twenty-seven, had experienced the\nmortification of being refused ordination by not fewer than six\nbishops, and was a roving evangelist, preaching with great success in\nWhitefield\u2019s London Tabernacle, in Bristol, Bath, and all over the west\nof England. At the commencement of the controversy, Berridge wrote to\nhim thus: \u201cThe late contest at Bristol seems to turn upon this hinge,\nwhether it shall be _Pope John_ or _Pope Joan_. My dear friend, keep\nout of all controversy, and wage no war but with the devil.\u201d[179]\nUnfortunately for himself, the young preacher did not follow the\ncounsel of the vicar of Everton, but, in 1772, issued an octavo\npamphlet of 71 pages, entitled \u201cFriendly Remarks occasioned by the\nSpirit and Doctrines contained in the Rev. Mr. Fletcher\u2019s Vindication,\nand more particularly in his Second Check to Antinomianism, to which is\nadded a Postscript, occasioned by his Third Check.\u201d The production is\nwhat might be expected from YOUNG Rowland Hill. Fletcher is accused of\nusing \u201ctartness of style,\u201d \u201cbanter,\u201d \u201ccontempt,\u201d \u201cnumberless sneers,\ntaunts, and sarcasms;\u201d \u201cinfernal terms of darkness,\u201d \u201cbravado,\u201d\n\u201cslander,\u201d \u201chigh flown metaphors,\u201d \u201cfrothy declamation,\u201d \u201codious\nappellations,\u201d \u201cglaring inconsistencies,\u201d \u201cpalpable mistakes.\u201d He says,\n\u201cWesley has been a proverb for his contradictions for above thirty\nyears.\u201d The \u201cHymns on God\u2019s Everlasting Love,\u201d \u201cformerly sent forth\nfrom the Foundery,\u201d are stigmatised as \u201ccertain godly lampoons of\nfamous memory.\u201d This was pretty strong to come from a stripling not yet\nordained.\n\nHis brother also was not a laggard. Without loss of time, he published\nan octavo volume of 151 pages, with the following gigantic title:\n\u201cA Review of all the Doctrines taught by the Rev. Mr. John Wesley;\ncontaining a full and particular Answer to a Book entitled \u2018A Second\nCheck to Antinomianism.\u2019 In six Letters to the Author of that Book;\nwherein the Doctrines of a twofold Justification, Free Will, Man\u2019s\nMerit, Sinless Perfection, Finished Salvation, and Real Antinomianism\nare particularly discussed, and the Puritan Divines vindicated from\nthe Charges brought against them of holding Mr. Wesley\u2019s Doctrines. To\nwhich is added, a Farrago of Hot and Cold Medicines. By the Rev. Mr.\nJohn Wesley, Author of the \u2018Preservative against Unsettled Notions in\nReligion.\u2019 Extracted from his own Publications.\u201d\n\nRichard Hill\u2019s scurrility is quite equal to his brother\u2019s. He writes:\n\u201cO my dear sir, I never could have supposed that sneer, banter, and\nsarcasm, yea, notorious falsehoods, calumny, and gross perversions,\nwould have appeared under the sanction of your venerable name.\u201d He\ntells Fletcher that he \u201cdips his pen in gall,\u201d and \u201cmaintains his cause\nby artful insinuations.\u201d \u201cIn your first letter,\u201d says he, \u201cI really\ncannot find many lines together free from gross misrepresentations and\nperversions, and hardly one single paragraph exempt from cutting sneers\nand low sarcasms.\u201d \u201cYour pages,\u201d he adds, \u201care as totally void of solid\nScripture argument as they are replete with calumny, gross perversions\nand equivocations.\u201d Wesley is treated with the same bitterness as\nFletcher. \u201cHis opinions\u201d are said to be \u201ca mixture of Pelagianism,\nsemi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, popery, mysticism, and quakerism.\u201d Such\nquotations might be multiplied _ad nauseam_; but the reader has had\nenough. Suffice it to add, that, before the year 1772 was ended, the\npublic was blessed with \u201ca second, corrected and enlarged edition\u201d of\nthis loving effusion of the Salopian baronet.\n\nBesides all this, Sir Richard published, in 1772, another octavo\npamphlet of 16 pages, with the title, \u201cSome Remarks on a Pamphlet\nentitled A Third Check to Antinomianism,\u201d a production brief, but, like\nthe rest, far too rancorous. Scurrility is almost a sure sign of feeble\narguments and a defenceless cause.\n\nThe two Hills were not Wesley\u2019s only antagonists. Toplady issued his\n\u201cMore Work for Mr. John Wesley; or, a Vindication of the Decrees\nand Providence of God from the Defamations of a late printed paper,\nentitled \u2018The Consequence Proved.\u2019\u201d 8vo, 104 pages: 1772.[180]\n\nIn his advertisement, Toplady tells his readers, that he bears not the\nleast ill will to Wesley; and that his manuscript had lain by him for\nseveral weeks, \u201cmerely with a view of striking out, from time to time,\nwhatever might savour of undue asperity and intemperate warmth.\u201d The\nfollowing extracts will show how far Toplady succeeded in his pious and\nloving wish.\n\n\u201cMr. Wesley has as much of the _insidious_ in his composition,\nas he has of the _acid_; and it would be difficult to say which\npredominates.\u201d \u201cHe is for adding the lion to the fox. He wishes not\nonly to wheedle, but to _thunder_ the Church out of her Calvinism. He\nis, like Mahommed, for propagating his religion by the sword. Peals of\nanathemas are issued, and torrents of the lowest calumny are thrown\nout, against all who abide by the thirty-nine articles. Pope John\u2019s\nauthority may have some weight with such men as Messrs. Walter Sellon,\nHaddon Smith, and Thomas Olivers; but not an inch beyond the purlieus\nof ignorance, prejudice, and superstition will his dictatorship\nextend.\u201d \u201cHis mode of phraseology is as pregnant with craft as his\nconduct is destitute of honour. He first _hatches_ blasphemy, and then\n_fathers_ it on others.\u201d \u201cHis forehead must be _petrified_, and quite\nimpervious to a blush.\u201d \u201cHe sits down, and deliberately _writes_ a\nknown, wilful, palpable lie to the public.\u201d \u201cHe is a pitiful nibbler\nat the file he cannot bite.\u201d \u201cThomas Olivers, a _journeyman shoemaker_,\nretained by Mr. Wesley as a lay preacher at the rate of \u00a310 per annum,\nis his bully in chief. _In chief_, did I say? I had forgot the Rev. Mr.\nWalter Sellon; prunella claims precedency of leather; _Thomas_ is only\n_second_ in commission. Mr. Wesley skulks for shelter under a cobbler\u2019s\napron.\u201d \u201cHas Tom, the shoemaker, more _learning_, or more _integrity_,\nthan John the priest?\u201d \u201cWithout the least heat or emotion, I plainly\nsay, Mr. Wesley _lies_.\u201d[181]\n\nThe following is part of Mr. Toplady\u2019s concluding paragraph.\n\n \u201cOne word to Mr. Wesley himself, and I have done. Time, sir, has\n already whitened your locks; and the hour must shortly come, which\n will transmit you to the tribunal of that God, on whose sovereignty a\n great part of your life has been one continued assault. At that bar\n _I_ too must hold up _my_ hand. Omniscience only can tell, _which_\n of us shall first appear before the Judge of all. I shortly _may_,\n you shortly _must_. The part you have been permitted to act in the\n religious world will, sooner or later, sit heavy on your mind. Depend\n upon it, a period will arrive when the Father\u2019s _electing_ mercy and\n the Messiah\u2019s adorable _righteousness_, will appear in _your_ eyes,\n even in yours, to be the only safe anchorage for a dying sinner. I\n mean, unless you are actually given over to final obduration; which,\n I trust, you are not; and to which, I most ardently beseech God, you\n never may.\u201d\n\nPoor young Augustus Toplady, now thirty-one years of age, after doing\nhis utmost to purge his pamphlet from offensive expressions, thus, by\nthe electing grace of God, speaks of a man approaching seventy. Little\ndid he think, that within seven years he himself would stand before\nthat bar with which he threatened Wesley; and that the hoary headed\nman, who he thought might be \u201cgiven over to final obduration,\u201d would be\nhis survivor nearly thirteen years.\n\nBesides all this public annoyance, Wesley and Fletcher had sent to\nthem anonymous letters of the vilest description. Two may suffice as\nspecimens. Both have Birmingham post mark, and both were addressed to\nFletcher. Both are in the same handwriting; the orthography of one is\ncorrect, but of the other _purposely_ otherwise. In the first are ink\nsketches of Wesley and Fletcher in two pulpits, and pelting each other\nwith Bibles. In the other, Wesley is represented as being hanged, and\nFletcher is shooting him after he is dead. Take an extract from the\nfirst, which, though bad enough, is not the worst that it contains.\n\n \u201cI HAVE sent you a short poem upon parson Wesley.\n\n \u2018There wos a man, Hold Wesley by name,\n I rother think yo\u2019ll bee thee same,\n From every porsun he gets tuppence a week--\n I wish hee was hear, and I\u2019d give him a kick.\n He open\u2019d a meeting Inn this town,\n And all the benchees dyd fall doun,\n I was in the meeting at the same tyme,\n But O I cannot find a rheime.\n You preach\u2019d a Charrity sermun wonce,\n And sat in the pulpit like old Punch.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhat had Wesley done to deserve all this? Literally nothing, except\npublishing the brief and imperfect minutes of a conversation he had\nwith his itinerant preachers in 1770, on the subject of Calvinism; and,\nfurther, three small tracts, one an abridgment of Toplady\u2019s Zanchius;\nanother an answer to the question, \u201cWhat is an Arminian?\u201d and the\nthird, \u201cThe Consequence Proved.\u201d This was absolutely the sum total of\nhis offence so far as the public was concerned. The minutes fill little\nmore than an octavo page, and contain not the slightest reflection upon\nany one under heaven. The description of an Arminian occupies only\neight pages 12mo, and merely states, in the most temperate terms, the\ndifference between the Arminian and Calvinistic creeds. From first to\nlast, the name of no living man is mentioned, except the name of Wesley\nhimself. The abridgment of Toplady\u2019s Zanchius fills only twelve pages\n12mo, and is honestly and fairly made. The only thing in it, that can,\nwith any degree of fairness, be considered personal, is the summing up\nof the principles of Zanchius, which occupy half-a-dozen lines, and to\nwhich Wesley appended the words, characteristic enough of the young\npredestinarian whose translation he was abridging, \u201cReader, believe\nthis, or be damned. Witness my hand, A---- T----.\u201d Then, in reference\nto the third tract, \u201cThe Consequence Proved,\u201d the printed matter fills\njust eight pages 12mo, and there is absolutely nothing in it but what\nis fair argument, except that Wesley calls Toplady \u201ca young, bold man,\u201d\nand says he will leave him \u201cto be farther corrected by one that is\nfull his match, Mr. Thomas Olivers.\u201d This is all, literally all; the\nfirst and last; the substance and the details of Wesley\u2019s offending.\nThe two Hills, one of them not yet forty, and the other not yet thirty\nyears of age, are never mentioned, or in the least alluded to, in any\nof Wesley\u2019s publications just named. And yet, because an old man, who,\nfor more than thirty years, had been incessantly traversing the three\nkingdoms to preach the gospel of God his Saviour, happens to express,\nin the most temperate language, an opinion contrary to the Calvinian\ncreed, he becomes the butt of the disgraceful abuse, specimens of\nwhich have been given in the previous pages. For many a long year,\nWesley was lampooned in newspapers and magazines, and in tracts and\npamphlets written by two different classes of literary men--Samuel\nFoote, the comedian, the representative of one, and George Lavington,\nthe merryandrew bishop, the representative of the other: but now these\nwere silent; and, in their stead, we have another set of opponents,\nfar more angry than the former ones, animated by a spirit quite as\nbitter, and using opprobrious epithets almost more offensive; men\nbelieving themselves to be among God\u2019s elect, called, and converted;\nloud religious professors, and adepts in the art of railing; profound\nadmirers of the dead Whitefield, but perfect haters of Whitefield\u2019s\nsurviving friend, Wesley. In turn, Wesley had encountered mobs and men\nof letters, drunken parsons, furious papists, honest infidels, and\nothers; but, of all his enemies, his last were his bitterest and worst,\nCalvinistic Christians!!\n\nSome will blame the writer for furnishing modern readers with specimens\nof the foul mouthed language used, respecting Wesley, by some of the\nmost flaming professors of Christ\u2019s religion a hundred years ago. His\nanswer is, the task is far from pleasant; but without a knowledge of\nWesley\u2019s unmerited and unparalleled persecutions, who can have a just\nconception of Wesley\u2019s character? The result of such exposures, it\nis true, is not only to enhance the fame of Wesley, but to blot the\nhistory of his opponents. This no one regrets more deeply than the\npresent writer; but he cannot help it. Besides, it is a fact, which\ncannot be denied, that there are some sins which, even though repented\nof, and pardoned, are, in the present world, always punished. A man\nrails, and God forgives him; but even forgiveness cannot prevent his\nrailing injuring his character. Injured fame, in such a case, is a\npenalty unavoidable, reasonable, and right.\n\nWe have furnished specimens of the foolish and disgraceful ravings of\nRichard and Rowland Hill. What was Wesley\u2019s reply? There is a quiet\nirony in one of the entries in his journal, which is worth quoting:\n\u201c1772. July. 11--I was presented with Mr. Hill\u2019s Review, a curiosity\nin its kind. But it has nothing to do either with good nature or good\nmanners; for he is writing to an Arminian. I almost wonder at his\npassionate desire to measure swords with me. This is the third time\nhe has fallen upon me without fear or wit. _Tandem extorquebis ut\nvapules._\u201d\n\nAccordingly, Wesley prepared and published \u201cSome Remarks on Mr. Hill\u2019s\n\u2018Review of all the Doctrines taught by Mr. John Wesley.\u2019\u201d This is the\ntartest of Wesley\u2019s publications, and not without reason. He writes:\n\n \u201cMr. Fletcher imagined that his opponents would have received his\n words in the same spirit wherein they were spoken; but they turn them\n all into poison. He not only loses his sweet words, but they are\n turned into bitterness, are interpreted as mere sneer and sarcasm! A\n good lesson for me! I had designed to have transcribed Mr. Fletcher\u2019s\n character of Mr. Hill,[182] and to have added a little thereto, in\n hope of softening his spirit; but I see it is in vain; as well might\n one hope to soften\n\n \u2018Inexorable Pluto, king of shades!\u2019\n\n \u201cSince he is capable of putting such a construction, even upon Mr.\n Fletcher\u2019s gentleness and mildness, what will he not ascribe to me? I\n have done, therefore, with humbling myself to these men,--to Mr. Hill\n and his associates; I have humbled myself to them for these thirty\n years, but will do it no more. I have done with attempting to soften\n their spirits; it is all lost labour. Upon men of an ingenuous temper\n I have been able to fix an obligation. Bishop Gibson, Dr. Church, and\n even Dr. Taylor, were obliged to me for not pushing my advantage. But\n it is not so with these; whatever mercy you show, you are to expect\n no mercy from them. \u2018Mercy,\u2019 did I say? Alas! I expect no justice; no\n more than I have found already. As they have wrested and distorted my\n words from the beginning, so I expect they will do to the end. Mr.\n Hill\u2019s performance is a specimen. Such mercy, such justice, I am to\n expect! For forty or fifty years, I have been a little acquainted\n with controversial writers; some of the Romish persuasion, some of\n our own Church, some Dissenters of various denominations; and I have\n found many among them as angry as he; but one so bitter I have not\n found. As a writer, his name is Wormwood.\u201d\n\nThis was unsheathing the sword, and casting away the scabbard.\n\nWesley proceeds, in most trenchant style, to defend himself against\nHill\u2019s grand objection, self inconsistency. Our space renders it\nimpossible to give an outline of Wesley\u2019s answers to the charges,\nso recklessly brought against him. The following is a part of his\nconclusion:\n\n \u201cI now look back on a train of incidents that have occurred for many\n months last past, and adore a wise and gracious Providence, ordering\n all things well! When the circular letter was first dispersed\n throughout Great Britain and Ireland, I did not conceive the immense\n good which God was about to bring out of that evil. But no sooner did\n Mr. Fletcher\u2019s first Letters appear than the scene began to open; and\n the design of Providence opened more and more, when Mr. Shirley\u2019s\n Narrative, and Mr. Hill\u2019s Letters, constrained him to write his\n Second and Third Checks to Antinomianism. It was then indisputably\n clear, that neither my brother nor I had borne a sufficient testimony\n to the truth. For many years, from a well meant, but ill judged,\n tenderness, we had suffered the reprobation preachers (vulgarly\n called \u2018gospel preachers\u2019) to spread their poison, almost without\n opposition. But, at length, they have awakened us out of sleep: Mr.\n Hill has answered for all his brethren, roundly declaring, that \u2018any\n agreement with election doubters is a covenant with death.\u2019 It is\n well: we are now forewarned and forearmed. We look for neither peace\n nor truce with any who do not openly and expressly renounce this\n diabolical sentiment. But since God is on our side, we will not fear\n what man can do unto us. We never before saw our way clear, to do any\n more than act on the defensive. But since the circular letter has\n sounded the alarm, has called forth all their hosts to war; and since\n Mr. Hill has answered the call, drawing the sword, and throwing away\n the scabbard; what remains, but to own the hand of God, and make a\n virtue of necessity? I will no more desire any Arminian, so called,\n to remain only on the defensive. Rather chase the fiend, reprobation,\n to his own hell, and every doctrine connected with it. Let none pity\n or spare one limb of either speculative or practical antinomianism,\n or of any doctrine that naturally tends thereto; only remembering\n that, however we are treated by men, who have a dispensation from\n the vulgar rules of justice and mercy, we are not to fight them at\n their own weapons, to return railing for railing. Those who plead the\n cause of the God of love are to imitate Him they serve; and, however\n provoked, to use no other weapons than those of truth and love, of\n Scripture and reason.\u201d\n\nThus did Wesley accept the challenge; and it is not hazarding too much\nto make the assertion, that Fletcher\u2019s almost inimitable polemical\nproductions, and Wesley\u2019s own sermons, together with his _Arminian\nMagazine_, started six years afterwards, did what Wesley wished, namely\ndrove the fiendish doctrine of reprobation to its \u201cown hell,\u201d and gave\na blow to the Calvinian theory, which has been felt from that time to\nthis.\n\nWesley\u2019s other publications, in 1772, were the following.\n\n1. A revised and enlarged edition of the minutes of his conferences.\n\n2. The issue of eleven volumes of his revised and collected works,\nmaking a little more than 3900 printed 12mo pages.\n\n3. Two political tracts: one entitled, \u201cThoughts upon Liberty\u201d; the\nother, \u201cThoughts concerning the Origin of Power.\u201d The disturbed state\nof the nation, at this period, has been already sketched. Junius and\nJohn Wilkes were the arch agitators of the day, and well-nigh drove\nthe nation into rebellion. Hampson states that, when the Letters of\nJunius appeared, Wesley offered his services to the government, and\nproposed to answer them, saying, \u201cI will show the difference between\nrhetoric and logic.\u201d[183] We have no means of either substantiating\nor contradicting this; but Wesley\u2019s \u201cThoughts upon Liberty\u201d fully\nshow that Wilkes, the demagogue, was no favourite of his, and that\nKing George had no truer or more loyal subject than the leader of the\nMethodists.\n\nIn his second tract, Wesley combats the theory, that the people of a\nnation are the \u201corigin of power.\u201d He shows that, if this were true,\nevery man, woman, and child ought to possess the electoral franchise,\nand to be allowed to take a part in constituting parliaments and\ngovernmental cabinets. He taunts, with withering sarcasm, the advocates\nof such a theory, on the ground, that they themselves resist the\nfacts their theory implies, because they allowed none to vote except\nfreeholders of forty shillings yearly value, and not even them unless\nthey had arrived at the age of twenty one. \u201cWorse and worse,\u201d he\nwrites: \u201cafter depriving half the human species of their natural rights\nfor want of a beard; after depriving myriads more for want of a stiff\nbeard, for not having lived one-and-twenty years; you rob others of\ntheir birthright for want of money! Yet not altogether on this account\neither; for here is an Englishman who has money enough to buy the\nestates of fifty freeholders, and yet he must not be numbered among the\npeople because he has not two or three acres of land.\u201d\n\nHaving shown the absurdities which, as he thinks, the theory involves,\nhe then concludes: \u201cCommon sense brings us back to the grand truth,\n\u2018There is no power but of God.\u2019\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s tract is little known; but the radical politicians of the\npresent age would be none the worse for studying the principles to\nwhich it summarily adverts.[184]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [152] _Methodist Magazine_, 1835, p. 804.\n\n [153] \u201cEncyclop\u00e6dia Britannica,\u201d article \u201cSlavery.\u201d\n\n [154] Manuscript; and _Methodist Magazine_, 1835, p. 494.\n\n [155] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 167.\n\n [156] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 43.\n\n [157] Messrs. Romaine and Madan.\n\n [158] _Methodist Magazine_, 1780, p. 546.\n\n [159] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 217.\n\n [160] Mrs. Rogers\u2019 manuscript journal.\n\n [161] Manuscript.\n\n [162] _Methodist Magazine_, 1842, p. 728.\n\n [163] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 129.\n\n [164] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 169.\n\n [165] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iii., p. 449.\n\n [166] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 369.\n\n [167] \u201cMemoir of Mrs. Mortimer,\u201d p. 37; and Wesley\u2019s Works,\n vol. iii., p. 449.\n\n [168] \u201cMethodism in Halifax,\u201d p. 121.\n\n [169] _Methodist Magazine_, 1808, p. 482.\n\n [170] _Irish Evangelist_, April, 1864.\n\n [171] Wesley justly appends a note to this: \u201cLet the\n unbiased reader judge, whether Mr. Fletcher has made\n use of groundless arguments or bitter invectives.\u201d\n\n [172] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 336.\n\n [173] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 357.\n\n [174] Mr. George Mackie has the credit of founding this\n society. He died in 1821, after being a member\n of the Methodist society more than fifty years,\n and a zealous and respected local preacher for\n forty.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1821, p. 939.) The\n rules of the Christian Community, published in\n 1811, required, that, \u201cin order to admission, every\n candidate must have been a member of the late Rev.\n John Wesley\u2019s society twelve months; a man of strict\n piety and irreproachable character; and having a gift\n for prayer and exhortation.\u201d\n\n [175] The number of services held, indoors and out, during\n the year 1867, was 6558, and the number of addresses\n given 7524.\n\n [176] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. vii., p. 390.\n\n [177] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., pp. 130, 131.\n\n [178] Toplady writes, November 27, 1772: \u201cI am informed,\n that inveterate troubler in Israel, Mr. John Wesley,\n has lately published a fourth squib against Mr. Hill.\n What a mercy it is, that the enemies of the gospel,\n amidst all their plenitude of malice, have little\n skill and less power! Mr. Wesley, considered as a\n reasoner, is one of the most contemptible writers\n that ever set pen to paper!\u201d (Toplady\u2019s Posthumous\n Works, 8vo, 1780, p. 330.)\n\n [179] Rowland Hill\u2019s Life, p. 428.\n\n [180] Besides the above, there were also published, at this\n period, the two following pamphlets, by Jonathan\n Warne, of Southwark: \u201cArminianism, the Back Door to\n Popery:\u201d price one shilling. And \u201cThe Downfall of\n Arminianism; or Arminians tried and cast, before the\n Right Honourable the Lord Chief Justice Truth, for\n holding and propagating false opinions concerning the\n five following points, viz.: (1) Absolute election;\n (2) Particular redemption; (3) The efficacy of God\u2019s\n grace in conversion; (4) The impotency of man\u2019s will\n in conversion; (5) The final perseverance of the\n regenerate.\u201d 8vo, 145 pages.\n\n [181] The _italic_ words are emphasized in the original.\n\n [182] Sir Richard Hill did not obtain his title till the\n death of his father, in 1783.\n\n [183] Life of Wesley, vol. iii., p. 160.\n\n [184] To understand some of the allusions, in these two\n political tracts, it is necessary to remember that,\n in 1772, a petition was presented to parliament,\n signed by about 250 of the clergy, and a considerable\n number of the members of the professions of civil law\n and physic, praying to be relieved from the necessity\n of subscribing to the thirty-nine articles of the\n Established Church; and that a bill was passed, in\n the House of Commons, annulling that part of the Act\n of Toleration which authorised the infliction of\n heavy penalties upon the ministers, schoolmasters,\n and private tutors of Dissenters, unless they\n subscribed to all the _doctrinal_ parts of the\n thirty-nine articles. The bill passed the Commons\n triumphantly; the Lords, by a _large majority_,\n rejected it!\n\n\n\n\n 1773.\n Age 70\n\nThe year 1773 will always be memorable in English annals. It was now\nthat the embryo rebellion in the American colonies broke out into overt\nacts. Insults were offered to the British flag; a British ship of war\nwas boarded and burnt; and the cargoes of tea, which Lord North had\nallowed to be exported from England, duty free, were seized by rioters\nand sham Indians, and were discharged into the ocean with the utmost\njubilation. Endless debates took place in the English parliament; and\nfearful fights were fought on the coasts, and in the wilds and prairies\nof America. George Washington was made commander in chief; and \u201cThe\nCongress of the Thirteen United Colonies\u201d was organised. For long\nyears, the one great absorbing care of the British parliament was the\nwar in the western world.\n\nWesley\u2019s health was still seriously affected; and, hence, he spent his\nleisure hours, in the beginning of 1773, in examining his letters and\nother manuscripts, so as to determine what he should leave behind him.\nHe writes: \u201cI made an end of revising my letters; and could not but\nmake one remark,--that, for above these forty years, of all the friends\nwho were once the most closely united, and afterwards separated from\nme, every one had separated himself! He left me, not I him. And from\nboth mine and their own letters, the steps whereby they did this are\nclear and undeniable.\u201d\n\nWe have already seen, that Wesley thought of making Fletcher of\nMadeley his literary executor; but he now did more than this. Hence\nthe following letter, sent to Fletcher in January 1773, and written at\nShoreham, doubtless at the venerable Perronet\u2019s, with whom Wesley had\ngone to take counsel.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--What an amazing work has God wrought in these kingdoms,\n in less than forty years! And it not only continues, but increases,\n throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay, it has lately spread\n into New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. But\n the wise men of the world say, \u2018When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this\n is at an end!\u2019 And so surely it will, unless, before God calls him\n hence, one is found to stand in his place. For \u039f\u03c5\u03ba \u03b1\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03bf\u03bd\n \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1. \u0395\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9. I see, more and more, unless there\n be one \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2, the work can never be carried on. The body\n of the preachers are not united; nor will any part of them submit to\n the rest; so that, either there must be one to preside over all, or\n the work will indeed come to an end.\n\n \u201cBut who is sufficient for these things? qualified to preside both\n over the preachers and people? He must be a man of faith and love,\n and one that has a single eye to the advancement of the kingdom of\n God. He must have a clear understanding; a knowledge of men and\n things, particularly of the Methodist doctrine and discipline; a\n ready utterance; diligence and activity, with a tolerable share\n of health. There must be added to these, favour with the people,\n with the Methodists in general. For unless God turn their eyes and\n their hearts toward him, he will be quite incapable of the work.\n He must, likewise, have some degree of learning; because there are\n many adversaries, learned as well as unlearned, whose mouths must be\n stopped. But this cannot be done, unless he be able to meet them on\n their own ground.\n\n \u201cBut has God provided one so qualified? Who is he? _Thou art the\n man!_ God has given you a measure of loving faith; and a single eye\n to His glory. He has given you some knowledge of men and things;\n particularly of the whole plan of Methodism. You are blessed with\n some health, activity, and diligence; together with a degree of\n learning. And to all these He has lately added, by a way none could\n have foreseen, favour both with the preachers and the whole people.\n Come out, then, in the name of God! Come to the help of the Lord\n against the mighty! Come while I am alive and capable of labour!\n Come, while I am able, God assisting, to build you up in faith,\n to ripen your gifts, and to introduce you to the people! _Nil\n tanti._ What possible employment can you have, which is of so great\n importance?\n\n \u201cBut you will naturally say, \u2018I am not equal to the task; I have\n neither grace nor gifts for such an employment.\u2019 You say true; it is\n certain you have not. And who has? But do you not know _Him_ who is\n able to give them? Perhaps not at once, but rather day by day; as\n each is, so shall your strength be.\n\n \u201c\u2018But this implies,\u2019 you may say, \u2018a thousand crosses, such as I feel\n I am not able to bear.\u2019 You are not able to bear them _now_; and they\n are not _now_ come. Whenever they do come, will _He_ not send them\n in due number, weight and measure? And will they not all be for your\n profit, that you may be a partaker of His holiness?\n\n \u201cWithout conferring, therefore, with flesh and blood, come and\n strengthen the hands, comfort the heart, and share the labour of your\n affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[185]\n\nThis was a momentous proposal. Why was it not made to Wesley\u2019s brother?\nWe cannot tell; but the following is Fletcher\u2019s answer.\n\n \u201cMADELEY, _February 6, 1773_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I hope the Lord, who has so wonderfully\n stood by you hitherto, will preserve you to see many of your sheep,\n and me among the rest, enter into rest. Should Providence call you\n _first_, I shall do my best, by the Lord\u2019s assistance, to help\n _your brother_ to gather the wreck, and keep together those who are\n not absolutely bent upon throwing away the Methodist doctrine or\n discipline. Every little help will then be necessary; and, I hope, I\n shall not be backward to throw in my mite.\n\n \u201cIn the meantime, you stand sometimes in need of an assistant to\n serve tables, and occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly\n appointed me to that office many years ago; and, though it no\n less evidently called me here, yet I have not been without doubt,\n especially for some years past, whether it would not be expedient\n that I should resume my place as your deacon; not with any view of\n presiding over the Methodists after you, (God knows!) but to save\n you a little in your old age, and be in the way of receiving, and\n perhaps of doing, more good. I have sometimes considered how shameful\n it was that no clergyman should join you, to keep in the Church the\n work which the Lord had enabled you to carry on therein; and, as\n the little estate I have in my native country is sufficient for my\n maintenance, I have thought I would, one day or other, offer you and\n the Methodists my _free_ services.\n\n \u201cWhile my love of retirement, and my dread of appearing upon a\n higher stage than that I stand upon here, made me linger, I was\n providentially called to do something in Lady Huntingdon\u2019s plan; but,\n being shut out there, it appears to me, I am again called to my first\n work.\n\n \u201cNevertheless, I would not leave this place, without a _fuller_\n persuasion that the time is quite come. Not that God uses me much\n _now_ among my parishioners, but because I have not sufficiently\n cleared my conscience from the blood of all men, especially with\n regard to ferreting out the poor, and expostulating with the rich,\n who make it their business to fly from me. In the meantime, it shall\n be my employment to beg the Lord to give me light, and make me\n willing to go anywhere or nowhere, to be anything or nothing.\n\n \u201cI have laid my pen aside for some time; nevertheless, I resumed it\n last week, at your brother\u2019s request, to go on with my treatise on\n Christian perfection. I have made some alterations in the sheets you\n have seen, and hope to have a few more ready for your correction,\n against the time you come this way. How deep is the subject! What\n need have I of the Spirit, to search the deep things of God! Help me\n by your prayers, till you can help me by word of mouth.\n\n \u201cI am, reverend and dear sir, your willing, though unprofitable,\n servant in the gospel,\n\n \u201cJOHN FLETCHER.\u201d[186]\n\nAt the beginning of July, Wesley had an interview with Fletcher at\nMadeley, and, on reaching London, sent him the following hitherto\nunpublished letter.\n\n \u201cLEWISHAM, _July 21, 1773_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--It was a great satisfaction to me, that I had the\n opportunity, which I so long desired, of spending a little time\n with you. And I really think it would answer many gracious designs\n of Providence were we to spend a little more time together. It\n might be of great advantage both to ourselves and the people, who\n may otherwise soon be as sheep without a shepherd. You say indeed,\n \u2018whenever it pleases God to call me away, you will do all you can to\n help them.\u2019 But will it not then be too late? You may then expect\n grievous wolves to break in on every side; and many to arise from\n among themselves, speaking perverse things. Both the one and the\n other stand in awe of me, and do not care to encounter me; so that\n I am able, whether they will or no, to deliver the flock into your\n hands. But no one else is. And it seems, this is the very time when\n it may be done with the least difficulty. Just now the minds of the\n people in general are, on account of the Checks, greatly prejudiced\n in your favour. Should we not discern the providential time? Should\n we stay till the impression is worn away? Just now, we have an\n opportunity of breaking the ice, of making a little trial. Mr.\n Richardson is desirous of making an exchange with you, and spending\n two or three weeks at Madeley. This might be done either now, or in\n October, when I hope to return from Bristol. And till something of\n this kind is done, you will not have that \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03b3\u03b7 for the people\n which alone can make your labour light in spending and being spent\n for them. Methinks \u2019tis pity we should lose any time; for what a\n vapour is life!\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n JOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nSo the matter ended, though Wesley was far from satisfied. He writes:\n\u201cI can never believe it was the will of God, that such a burning and\nshining light should be hid under a bushel. No; instead of being\nconfined to a country village, it ought to have shone in every corner\nof our land. He was full as much called to sound an alarm through all\nthe nation as Mr. Whitefield himself; nay, abundantly more so; seeing\nhe was far better qualified for that important work. He had a far more\nstriking person; equal good breeding; an equally winning address;\ntogether with a richer flow of fancy; a stronger understanding; a far\ngreater treasure of learning, both in languages, philosophy, philology,\nand divinity; and, above all, a more deep and constant communion with\nthe Father, and with the Son Jesus Christ.\u201d[187]\n\nNo wonder that Wesley was anxious for a suitable successor to take his\nplace. The work of which, in the hand of God, he was the principal\nsupporter, had not only spread throughout the three kingdoms, but\nwas rapidly extending beyond the Atlantic. Already he had four of\nhis itinerants in America; and, aged and feeble in health though\nhe was, he still entertained the thought of visiting that distant\ncontinent.[188] Among others, the Rev. Mr. Jarratt wrote him, from\nVirginia, telling him that they had ninety-five parishes in the colony,\nall, excepting one, supplied with clergymen, but that ninety-three out\nof the ninety-four ministers appeared to be without \u201cthe power and\nspirit of vital religion.\u201d He thanks him for sending his preachers to\nAmerica, two of whom, Messrs. Pilmoor and Williams, were now labouring\nin Virginia; but asks, \u201cWhat can two or three preachers do in such an\nextended country as this? Cannot you do something more for us? Cannot\nyou send us a minister of the Church of England, to be stationed in\nthe vacant parish? I wish you could see how matters are among us. This\nwould serve instead of a thousand arguments, to induce you to exert\nyourself in this affair.\u201d[189]\n\nEven this was not all. During the year, Francis Gilbert wrote to him\nfrom Antigua, telling him that \u201calmost the whole island seemed to\nbe stirred up to seek the Lord.\u201d There were large congregations and\nconstant preaching in his brother\u2019s house; and they had, at St. John\u2019s,\na society of twenty whites and forty blacks. \u201cHere,\u201d says Mr. Gilbert,\n\u201cis work enough for three preachers; as almost the entire island seems\nripe for the gospel; yet, I cannot desire you to send them yet, seeing\nthe people are not at present able to bear the expenses; for the fire,\nthe hurricane, and the severe droughts have, I suppose, ruined two\nthirds of the inhabitants.\u201d[190]\n\nAffairs in Scotland were scarcely to Wesley\u2019s mind. Writing to John\nBredin, at Aberdeen, he says:\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Observe and enforce all our rules exactly as\n if you were in England, or Ireland. By foolish complaisance our\n preachers, in Scotland, have often done harm. Be all a Methodist; and\n strongly insist on _full salvation_ to be received _now_ by simple\n _faith_.\n\n \u201cI am yours affectionately,\n\n JOHN WESLEY.\u201d[191]\n\nJoseph Benson had been urged to go to America; but Wesley deemed it\ndesirable to send him across the Tweed to put things right in the\nnorthern part of the kingdom. \u201cGod,\u201d says he, \u201chas made practical\ndivinity necessary, and the devil controversial. Sometimes we must\nwrite and preach controversially; but the less the better. I think we\nhave few, if any, of our travelling preachers, that love controversy;\nbut there will always be men whose mouth it is necessary to stop;\nantinomians and Calvinists in particular. By our long silence, we have\ndone much hurt, both to them and the cause of God. The more you preach\nabroad, the better; keep to the plain, old Methodist doctrine, laid\ndown in the minutes of the conference. At Trevecca, you were a little\nwarped from this; but it was a right hand error. You will be buried\nin Scotland, if you sell your mare and sit still. Keep her, and ride\ncontinually. Sit not still, at the peril of your soul and body! Billy\nThompson never satisfied me on this head, not in the least degree. I\nsay still, we will have travelling preachers in Scotland, or none. Our\npreachers shall either travel there, as in England, or else stay in\nEngland.\u201d[192]\n\nSuch were some of the difficulties which this veteran evangelist had to\nmeet. No wonder that he wished for help.\n\nChapel debts, also, still pressed heavily upon him. Hence the following\nto Mr. Hopper.\n\n \u201c_February 6, 1773._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I agreed last year, though contrary to my\n judgment, that we would have no more weekly subscriptions. I\n purposed, likewise, in my own mind, to concern myself with the debt\n no more. But, upon reflection, it seemed to me, there was one way\n still, namely, not to apply to the poor at all, (though I would not\n reject any that offered,) but to take the burden on myself, and try\n my personal interest with the rich. I began at London, where about\n \u00a3500 are subscribed. Afterwards, I wrote to many in the country.\n Liverpool circuit has subscribed about \u00a3100; Bradford circuit \u00a3130.\n It must be now or never. I do not know that I shall concern myself\n with this matter any more. Till now we never had a rational prospect\n of clearing the whole debt in one year. Now it may be done. It\n certainly will, if our brethren, in other circuits, do as these above\n mentioned have done. What I desire of you is to second the letters\n I have wrote, encouraging each man of property in your circuit to\n exert himself; at least, to send me an answer: this, you know, is\n but common civility. Now do what you can; and show that you, my old\n friend, are not the last and least in love towards your affectionate\n friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[193]\n\nIt is now time to trace Wesley\u2019s wanderings in 1773.\n\nOn Sunday evening, March 7, he set out from London to Ireland, taking,\nfor the first time, his carriage with him, which, however, he was\ndeprived of the opportunity of using. He writes: \u201cMarch 30--I was a\nlittle surprised to find the commissioners of the customs would not\npermit my chaise to be landed, because, they said, the captain of a\npacket boat had no right to bring over goods. Poor pretence! However, I\nwas more obliged to them than I then knew; for had it come on shore, it\nwould have been utterly spoiled.\u201d\n\nThe result was, that Wesley had to hire a chaise instead of riding in\nhis own; a vehicle which at Ballibac ferry went overboard, and, with\ndifficulty, was recovered; and which, on another occasion, it took five\nhours to drag less than a dozen miles; which, in a third instance, was\ndisabled by the breaking of the hinder axletree; and which, more than\nonce, was in danger of being dashed to pieces by furious mobs.\n\nEverywhere his congregations were large. In many instances, he had\nwhole troops of soldiers to hear him; and nowhere did he meet with any\nserious disturbance, except at Waterford, where the papists created a\nriot, in which heavy blows were given; and at Enniskillen, where a mob\nagain and again fell upon the unfortunate carriage, cut it with stones\nin several places, smashed its windows, and well-nigh covered it with\nsludge.\n\nThree months were spent in itinerating the sister kingdom. Scores\nof towns and villages, between Dublin and Galway, Belfast and Cork,\nwere favoured with his ministry; and diversified were the incidents\nwith which he met. At Eyrecourt, the crowd gave him a loud huzza as\nhe passed into the market place to preach. At Clare, for want of\nother accommodation, he was glad to accept a bed in the soldiers\u2019\nbarracks. At Castlebar, on finding the \u201cCharter school a picture of\nslothfulness, nastiness, and desolation; and all the children, not\nonly dirty, but with their stockings hanging about their heels, and\nin a most disreputable plight, he reported the facts to the trustees\nat Dublin, with the hope of effecting a reformation.\u201d At Limerick,\nWilliam Myles, a youth in the seventeenth year of his age, was one of\nWesley\u2019s hearers, began to meet in class, and, five years afterwards,\nbecame an itinerant preacher.[194] At Armagh, he wrote his invaluable\nsermon \u201cOn Predestination,\u201d preached it at Londonderry, and, at the\nrequest of several of the clergy, published it.[195] At Armagh, also,\nhe heard what he had not heard for fifty years,--an anthem in a church.\nAt Lisburn, all his spare time was taken up by poor patients, who came\nto him for physic. He writes: \u201cWhat has fashion to do with physic? Why,\nin Ireland almost as much as with headdress. Blisters, for anything or\nnothing, were all the fashion when I was in Ireland last. Now the grand\nfashionable medicine, for twenty diseases, is mercury sublimate! Why is\nit not a halter, or a pistol? They would cure a little more speedily.\u201d\n\nOn the 5th of July, Wesley started for England, having to hold his\nannual conference in London. He says: \u201cAbout eleven we crossed Dublin\nbar, and were at Hoylake the next afternoon. This was the first night\nI ever lay awake in my life, though I was at ease in body and mind. I\nbelieve few can say this: in seventy years I never lost one night\u2019s\nsleep.\u201d\n\nWesley reached the metropolis on the 17th of July; and, on the 21st,\nmade the following entry in his journal: \u201cWe had our quarterly meeting\nat London; at which I was surprised to find, that our income does not\nyet meet our expense. We were again near \u00a3200 bad. My private account I\nfind still worse. I have laboured as much as many writers; and all my\nlabour has gained me, in seventy years, a debt of five or six hundred\npounds.\u201d\n\nThere is some obscurity in this, as will appear from the following\ncorrespondence.\n\n\n \u201cTo Messrs. THOMAS BALL and ALEXANDER MATHER.\n\n \u201cLEWISHAM, _February 27, 1772_.[196]\n\n \u201cTHE thing which I desire you to do is this, to see that an exact\n account be kept of all the books in Great Britain and Ireland,\n printed and sold on my account. You comprehend how many particulars\n are contained under this general. To do this accurately will require\n much thought. But you will bear that burden for God\u2019s sake, and for\n the sake of your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n\n (Reply.)\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I beg to lay before you Mr. Mather\u2019s\n account, sent me by letter of the 18th past, of the gross value of\n your books, taken in February and March, 1773; viz.:--\n\n \u00a3 _s._ _d._\n \u201cIn London, etc. 3754 4 0\n Bristol 4253 4 8\n Country 2716 1 8\n Cash 183 2 1\n Debts 23 2 1\n --------------\n 10929 15 4\n Stock in February, 1772 8833 0 7\n --------------\n \u00a32096 14 9\n --------------\n\n \u201cSupposed to be owing in March last to printers, binders, etc., \u00a3500.\n\n \u201cI am, reverend sir, your most obedient and dutiful servant,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS BALL.\n\n \u201cExamined 21st September, 1773:--THOMAS MARRIOTT,\n RICHARD KEMP.\u201d[197]\n\nAccording to the above statement, Wesley was in debt to printers and\nbinders to the amount of \u00a3500; but, at the same time, he was possessed\nof books whose gross value was nearly \u00a311,000. How to reconcile the\ndiscrepancy we hardly know. The facts are furnished as we find them.\nOne thing is certain, there was something wrong. Some have supposed\nthat Wesley\u2019s wife had, by means of false keys, obtained access to the\nbook steward\u2019s cash, and helped herself;[198] but of that there is no\nconclusive proof; and it is certainly neither generous nor just to\nassert the thing without proving it. All that we know further is, that\npoor Samuel Franks, the book steward, a man of great uprightness and\nearnest piety,[199] but naturally of a sensitive disposition, within\na fortnight, fell into a fit of insanity, and hanged himself.[200]\nWithout mentioning this, Wesley writes: \u201cOctober 6--The rest of the\nweek I made what inquiry I could into the state of my accounts. Some\nconfusion had arisen from the sudden death of my bookkeeper; but it was\nless than might have been expected.\u201d\n\nHere we must leave the matter. On the supposition that Wesley\nconsidered his stock of books not his own, but merely held in trust\nfor the general good, it was quite correct, that, as the result of his\nliterary labours, he was in debt to the amount, as he himself says, \u201cof\nfive or six hundred pounds.\u201d In one respect, he was the possessor of a\nlarge amount of property; in another, he was actually in debt.\n\nWesley\u2019s conference began in London on August 3. He writes: \u201cAugust\n3--Our conference began. I preached mornings as well as evenings; and\nit was all one. I found myself just as strong as if I had preached but\nonce a day.\u201d Good old simple hearted Samuel Bardsley, then an itinerant\nof five years\u2019 standing, writes, in a manuscript letter now before us:\n\u201cI never was at a more comfortable conference. We had a deal of love\namong us. Dear Mr. Wesley laboured hard. I had the pleasure of hearing\nhim preach twelve times. He said, he had not preached so much at a\nconference these twenty years, and never was more assisted.\u201d\n\nIt was now that Joseph Bradford was received on trial; and that Thomas\nOlivers was appointed to be Wesley\u2019s travelling companion; honest\nBradford taking the place of Olivers a year afterwards, and retaining\nit for the next eight years. Wesley\u2019s effort to extinguish the chapel\ndebts had resulted in a subscription amounting to \u00a32237. Forty-seven\npreachers were present, and, \u201cin order to lay a foundation for future\nunion,\u201d signed the following agreement.\n\n \u201cWE whose names are underwritten, being thoroughly convinced of the\n necessity of a close union between those whom God is pleased to use\n as instruments in this glorious work, in order to preserve this union\n between ourselves, are resolved, God being our helper,--\n\n \u201cI. To devote ourselves entirely to God: denying ourselves, taking up\n our cross daily, steadily aiming at one thing, to save our own souls,\n and them that hear us.\n\n \u201cII. To preach the old Methodist doctrines, and no other, contained\n in the minutes of the conferences.\n\n \u201cIII. To observe and enforce the whole Methodist discipline, laid\n down in the said minutes.\u201d\n\nWesley had failed in obtaining the consent of Fletcher to be his\nsuccessor; and, hence, the drawing up and signing of this conferential\ncompact.\n\nOn the first Sunday night, after the conference concluded, Wesley set\nout, by coach, on his accustomed tour to Cornwall, which occupied the\nnext three weeks.\n\nIn returning, he spent a month at Bristol, and among the societies\nround about. On October 6, he started in his chaise, at two o\u2019clock\nin the morning, and, in the evening, arrived in London; thus, in one\nwinter\u2019s day, driving in his own conveyance a distance of one hundred\nand fourteen miles. The rest of October, except the Sundays, was spent\nin what he calls his \u201clittle tours,\u201d through the five counties of\nBedford, Northampton, Oxford, Buckingham, and Kent.\n\nTen days, in November, were spent in Norfolk; then he met the London\nclasses; and afterwards went off to Sussex, and then to Kent. The last\nentry in his year\u2019s itinerary is: \u201cLondon: December 25, and on the\nfollowing days, we had many happy opportunities of celebrating the\nsolemn feast days, according to the design of their institution. We\nconcluded the year with a fast day, closed with a solemn watchnight.\u201d\nThus, in observing feast and fast days, ended the year 1773. One of\nthese, of course, was Christmas day, another St. Stephen\u2019s, a third\nSt. John\u2019s, and a fourth the Innocents\u2019 day. To some it may seem\nstrange, that Wesley, the Methodist, should observe such festivals as\nthese; but, in such matters, Wesley was still the Churchman. Besides,\nthroughout life, it was one of his most sacred delights to think, not\nonly of the living, but likewise of the dead. On the 12th of June, in\nthis very year of 1773, he wrote a letter, an extract from which is\nworth preserving.\n\n \u201cIt has, in all ages, been allowed, that the communion of saints\n extends to those in paradise, as well as those on earth, as they are\n all one body, united under one Head; and\n\n \u2018Can death\u2019s interposing tide\n Spirits one in Christ divide?\u2019\n\n \u201cBut it is difficult to say, either what kind, or what degree of\n union, may be between them. It is not improbable, their fellowship\n with us is far more sensible than ours with them. Suppose any of\n them are present, they are hid from our eyes, but we are not hid\n from their sight. They, no doubt, clearly discern all our words and\n actions, if not all our thoughts too. For it is hard to think these\n walls of flesh and blood can intercept the view of an angelic being.\n But we have, in general, only a faint and indistinct perception of\n their presence, unless in some peculiar instances, where it may\n answer some gracious ends of Divine Providence. Then it may please\n God to permit, that they should be perceptible, either by some of our\n outward senses, or by an internal sense, for which human language has\n not a name. But I suppose this is not a common blessing. I have known\n but few instances of it. To keep up constant and close communion with\n God is the most likely mean to obtain this also.\u201d[201]\n\nUp to the present, nothing has been said concerning the progress, in\n1773, of the Calvinian controversy. Fletcher\u2019s pen was not idle, but\nthe only works he published were: first, \u201cAn Appeal to Matter of Fact\nand Common Sense; or, a Rational Demonstration of Man\u2019s Corrupt and\nLost Estate,\u201d 12mo, 296 pages; and, secondly, \u201cA Dreadful Phenomenon\nDescribed and Improved, being a Particular Account of the Earthquake at\nMadeley, on May 27, 1773:\u201d 12mo, 104 pages. Neither of these, however,\nhad any immediate bearing on the matters in dispute.\n\nOn the other side, good old Berridge, of Everton, brought out his\n\u201cChristian World Unmasked\u201d; which, if full of faults, is, at all\nevents, free from dulness; a book, like its author, often odd,\nsometimes coarse, but always pious; full of genius, and full of\ngoodness; seasoned with Calvinism\u2019s highest flavour, but entirely free\nfrom the personal scurrility so characteristic of others.\n\nToplady sent nothing to the press; but his private letters were as\nfull of bitterness as ever. \u201cI am told,\u201d he writes, \u201cthat Mr. Fletcher\nhas it in contemplation to make an attack on me. He is welcome. I am\nready for him. Tenderness has no effect on Mr. Wesley and his pretended\n_family of love_. For my own part, I shall never attempt to hew such\nmillstones with a feather. They must be served as nettles; press them\nclose, and they cannot sting. Cobbler _Tom_ laments publicly, from his\npreaching tub (misnamed a pulpit), that such an antinomian as myself\nshould have such crowded auditories, while the preachers of the _pure\ngospel_ (by which he means _free will_, _merit_, and _perfection_)\nare so thinly attended. The envy, malice, and fury of Wesley\u2019s party\nare inconceivable. But, as violently as they hate _me_, I dare not,\nI cannot hate _them_ in return. I have not so learned Christ. Your\nidea of Mr. John Wesley and his associates exactly tallies with mine.\nAbstracted from all warmth, and from all prejudice, I believe him to\nbe the most rancorous hater of the gospel system that ever appeared in\nEngland. I except not Pelagius himself. The latter had some remains of\nmodesty, and preserved some appearances of decency; but the former has\noutlived all pretentions to both.\u201d[202]\n\nCould this impulsive reviler be actually sincere, when he said he durst\nnot, and could not, hate Wesley and his party?\n\nToplady, so far as printing was concerned, was silent; but Richard Hill\nbegun the year as vigorously as ever, by publishing his \u201cFinishing\nStroke; containing some Strictures on the Rev. Mr. Fletcher\u2019s pamphlet,\nentitled, \u2018Logica Genevensis, or a Fourth Check to Antinomianism:\u2019\u201d\n8vo, 57 pages. This characteristic piece is dated January 2, 1773.\nThe author confesses, that he had formed a resolution to be silent;\nbut \u201cLogica Genevensis\u201d was too provoking to be passed in silence.\nThis, however, was to be the real \u201cfinishing stroke.\u201d Sir Richard\nwrites: \u201cthe unfair quotations you have made, and the shocking\nmisrepresentations and calumnies you have been guilty of, will, for the\nfuture, prevent me from looking into any of your books, if you should\nwrite a thousand volumes. So here the controversy must end; at least,\nit shall end for me.\u201d\n\nPoor Sir Richard! Such was his resolve; and yet, almost before the\nprinter\u2019s ink was dry, his godly impetuosity sent forth another\noctavo pamphlet, of the same size as the former one, entitled \u201cLogica\nWesleiensis; or the Farrago Double Distilled. With an heroic Poem\nin Praise of Mr. John Wesley:\u201d 63 pages. Hill, as usual, is angry\nand vindictive. He tells his readers, that he had never seen Wesley\n\u201cabove four or five times in his life; once in the pulpit at West\nStreet chapel; once at a friend\u2019s house; and once or twice at his own\nlodgings in Vine Street.\u201d He writes: \u201cI find it just as easy to catch\nan eel by the tail, as to lay hold of Mr. Wesley for one single moment.\nOh, what quirks, quibbles, and evasions does this gentleman descend to,\nin order to shift off his own inconsistencies!\u201d As a specimen of the\nwriter\u2019s \u201cheroic poem,\u201d we give the following.\n\n \u201cA choice _Preservative_ I have,\n The like was never known;\n With potions, juleps, drops, and pukes,\n Peculiarly my own.\n\n Help _Cobbler_ Tom, and thou Swiss friend,\n To lay John Calvin\u2019s ghost;\n For what with _cynics_, _bigots_, _bears_,\n I fear the day is lost.\n\n We three shall incantations raise,\n With _thunderings_, lightnings, hail;\n And if the hobgoblin won\u2019t avaunt,\n I\u2019ll bring my comet\u2019s tail.\u201d\n\nSir Richard was not content with this. During the year, he published\nanother octavo pamphlet, of 30 pages, with the wordy title, \u201cThree\nLetters written by Richard Hill, Esq., to the Rev. J. Fletcher, vicar\nof Madeley, setting forth Mr. Hill\u2019s Reasons for declining any further\nControversy relative to Mr. Wesley\u2019s Principles.\u201d\n\nHe states, that he has heard that Fletcher \u201cwishes to have done with\ncontroversy;\u201d and upon the strength of this, he has written to his\nLondon bookseller to stop the sale of his own publications. He begs\npardon for \u201cwhatever may have savoured too much of his own spirit\u201d;\nand says, restraint should be put upon several of Wesley\u2019s preachers,\n\u201cparticularly upon one Perronet, of whose superlatively abusive and\ninsolent little piece Charles Wesley had testified his abhorrence from\nthe pulpit.\u201d He wishes Wesley to be made acquainted with the action he\nhas taken, and says: \u201cIf I stop the sale of my books, I hope that of\nthe Four Checks will be stopped also.\u201d He adds, that his mother\u2019s death\nhad recently taken place; and then, at the end of his pamphlet, gives\n\u201ca proposed title\u201d to Fletcher\u2019s works, and also \u201cA Creed for Arminians\nand Perfectionists\u201d; the latter signed by \u201cJ. F., J. W., and W. S.\u201d\n\nSuch is the substance of the three letters, which, in the first\ninstance, were sent to Fletcher privately, and were not intended for\npublication. By some means, however, the fact of the letters having\nbeen written became bruited abroad, and certain hasty logicians deduced\nthe unauthorised inference, that Sir Richard had recanted his Calvinian\ndoctrines. This was too bitter a pill to be swallowed; and, hence,\nthe writer, who was weary of the war, gave his private letters to the\npublic, and attached to them a preface which had better not been penned.\n\nFor instance, he speaks of Thomas Olivers as \u201ca journeyman cordwainer,\nwho had written a pamphlet against him, which, though in itself\n_black of the grain_, was afterwards _lacquered up_, _new soled_,\nand _heel tapped_ by his master, before it was exposed to sale.\u201d He\nadds: \u201cI shall not take the least notice of him, or read a line of his\ncomposition, any more than, if I was travelling, I would stop to lash,\nor even order my footman to lash, every impertinent little quadruped in\na village, that should come out and bark at me; but would willingly let\nthe contemptible animal have the satisfaction of thinking he had driven\nme out of sight.\u201d\n\nHe then proceeds to accuse Fletcher of \u201cmisrepresenting facts,\u201d\nand of using \u201cartifices, false glosses, pious frauds, declamation,\nchicanery, and evasion, to throw dust into the eyes of his readers;\u201d\nand concludes, by saying, that though he cannot read any more of the\nproductions of Fletcher\u2019s pen, and, therefore, cannot write replies\nto them, yet, notwithstanding all in his letters to the contrary, he\nshall still keep on sale his \u201cParis Conversation\u201d; his \u201cFive Letters\u201d;\nhis \u201cReview of Wesley\u2019s Doctrines\u201d; his \u201cLogica Wesleiensis\u201d; and his\n\u201cFinishing Stroke.\u201d\n\nSuch was the position of Sir Richard Hill in 1773. He wished for peace.\nWhy? Because he was vanquished.\n\nWhat action did Wesley take? On the 1st of April was published, \u201cSome\nRemarks on Mr. Hill\u2019s Farrago Double Distilled. By John Wesley.\u201d[203]\n12mo, 44 pages.\n\nWesley\u2019s \u201cRemarks\u201d are characterised by his wonted keenness, courtesy,\nwit, and brevity. In conclusion, he writes:\n\n \u201cI beg leave, in my turn, to give you a few advices. 1. Be calm. Do\n not venture into the field again till you are master of your temper.\n 2. Be good natured. Passion is not commendable; but ill nature still\n less. 3. Be courteous. Show good manners, as well as good nature, to\n your opponent, of whatever kind. 4. Be merciful. When you have gained\n an advantage over your opponent, do not press it to the uttermost.\n Remember the honest quaker\u2019s advice to his friend a few years ago:\n \u2018Art thou not content to lay John Wesley upon his back, but thou\n wilt tread his guts out?\u2019 5. In writing, do not consider yourself as\n a man of fortune, or take any liberty with others on that account.\n Men of sense simply consider what is written; not whether the writer\n be a lord or a cobbler. 6. Lastly, Remember, \u2018for every idle word\n men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment.\u2019\n Remember, \u2018by thy words shalt thou be justified; or by thy words\n shalt thou be condemned.\u2019\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s other publications, in 1773, were nine 12mo volumes of his\ncollected works, making together 3439 pages. In these were included\nfive small works, now first published: namely,--1. \u201cAn Extract of Two\nDiscourses on the Conflagration and Renovation of the World: written by\nJames Knight, D.D., late Vicar of St. Sepulchre, London;\u201d in which, by\nthe way, a theory is propounded antagonistic to the millenarian theory,\nwhich Wesley countenanced some years before. 2. \u201cAn Extract from a\nTreatise concerning Religious Affections: by the late Rev. Jonathan\nEdwards.\u201d 3. \u201cA Short Account of John Dillon.\u201d 4. \u201cInstructions for\nMembers of Religious Societies.\u201d 5. \u201cChristian Reflections. Translated\nfrom the French.\u201d These \u201cReflections\u201d are three hundred and thirty-six\nin number. We give one as a specimen of the rest. \u201cThe three greatest\npunishments which God can inflict on sinners, in this world, are: 1. To\nlet loose their own desires upon them. 2. To let them succeed in all\nthey wish for. And, 3. To suffer them to continue many years in the\nquiet enjoyment thereof.\u201d\n\nBesides the above, Wesley also published \u201cA Short Roman History.\u201d 12mo,\n155 pages.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [185] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 355.\n\n [186] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 259.\n\n [187] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xi., p. 288.\n\n [188] Asbury\u2019s Journal, vol. i., p. 72.\n\n [189] _Methodist Magazine_, 1786, p. 397.\n\n [190] _Methodist Magazine_, 1786, p. 567.\n\n [191] _Wesleyan Times_, May 13, 1861.\n\n [192] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., pp. 391, 392.\n\n [193] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol xii., p. 291.\n\n [194] _Methodist Magazine_, 1831, p. 290.\n\n [195] Ibid. 1782, pp. 505, 565.\n\n [196] Query: ought not this to be 1773?\n\n [197] _Methodist Magazine_, 1842, p. 1013.\n\n [198] Manuscript.\n\n [199] _Methodist Magazine_, 1842, p. 1012.\n\n [200] Manuscript.\n\n [201] _Methodist Magazine_, 1805, p. 520.\n\n [202] Toplady\u2019s Posthumous Works, 1780, pp. 343-346.\n\n [203] _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, April 2, 1773.\n\n\n\n\n 1774.\n Age 71\n\nReferences have been made to the state of Wesley\u2019s health. His labours\nhad been undiminished, and yet many of his friends had been anxious and\nalarmed. John Pawson, in an unpublished letter, dated Bristol, October\n14, 1773, remarks: \u201cMr. Wesley has been with us for some time. He\nseems to be declining very fast; and I think there is great reason to\nfear that he will not be with us long.\u201d There was sufficient cause for\nsolicitude. Wesley\u2019s pain, during the last three years, must have been\nacute; and it is perfectly marvellous how he managed, without a murmur,\nand without abatement, to do the whole of his accustomed work. At the\nbeginning of 1774, the matter reached its crisis. He writes:\n\n \u201cJanuary 4--Three or four years ago, a stumbling horse threw me\n forward on the pommel of the saddle. I felt a good deal of pain; but\n it soon went off, and I thought of it no more. Some months after, I\n observed _testiculum alterum altero duplo majorem esse_. I consulted\n a physician; he told me it was a common case, and did not imply any\n disease at all. In May twelvemonth, it was grown near as large as\n a hen\u2019s egg. Being then at Edinburgh, Dr. Hamilton insisted on my\n having the advice of Drs. Gregory and Munro. They immediately saw\n it was a hydrocele, and advised me, as soon as I came to London,\n to aim at a radical cure, which they judged might be effected in\n about sixteen days. When I came to London, I consulted Mr. Wathen.\n He advised me--(1) Not to think of a radical cure, which could not\n be hoped for, without my lying in one posture fifteen or sixteen\n days; and he did not know whether this might not give a wound to my\n constitution, which I should never recover. (2) To do nothing while I\n continued easy. And this advice I was determined to take. Last month,\n the swelling was often painful. So on this day Mr. Wathen performed\n the operation, and drew off something more than half a pint of a\n thin, yellow, transparent water. With this came out, to his no small\n surprise, a pearl of the size of a small shot; which he supposed\n might be one cause of the disorder, by occasioning a conflux of\n humours to the part.\u201d\n\nSuch is Wesley\u2019s own simple statement. The disease was unquestionably\na serious one; and, yet, it is a surprising fact, that, only a week\nafter the surgical operation, he was again in harness, and as actively\nemployed as ever. Hence the following: \u201cTuesday, January 11--I began,\nat the east end of the town, to visit the society from house to house.\nI know no branch of the pastoral office which is of greater importance\nthan this. But it is so grievous to flesh and blood, that I can prevail\non few, even of our preachers, to undertake it.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s zeal for the extension of his Saviour\u2019s kingdom would hardly\nlet him rest when rest was requisite. His long life was an unbroken\nscene of gigantic action. He worked as though nothing could be done\nwithout his working; and yet no man more practically acknowledged, that\nall his work, without God\u2019s blessing, would amount to nothing. Hence,\nnot only his own ceaseless prayers for the help and co-operation of\nhis great Master, but also his appointment of fast days to be observed\nby the thousands of his followers. Many of these are mentioned in his\njournals, but many were observed without being mentioned. One of these\noccurred at the time of which we are now writing. \u201cYesterday,\u201d says\nSamuel Bardsley, on January 25, 1774, \u201cyesterday I got a letter from\nMr. Wesley, informing me that the 28th instant is to be observed as\na day of fasting and prayer for the prosperity of the gospel.\u201d[204]\nNumbers of such days were appointed. No wonder Wesley prospered.\n\nThe first two months of 1774 were chiefly spent in London; and, on\nMarch 6, Wesley set out on his northern visitation, which, as usual,\noccupied his time till the conference was held in August. This journey\nhas been so often traversed, that we shall no longer follow Wesley step\nby step; but merely advert to its chief incidents.\n\nAt Wolverhampton he was met by his friend Fletcher, of Madeley, and\nsays: \u201cMarch 22--At five in the morning I explained that important\ntruth, that God trieth us every moment, weighs all our thoughts, words,\nand actions, and is pleased or displeased with us, according to our\nworks. I see more and more clearly, that there is a great gulf fixed\nbetween us and all those, who, by denying this, sap the very foundation\nboth of inward and outward holiness.\u201d\n\nWhen he had travelled as far as Congleton, he received intelligence\nwhich compelled him to retrace his steps, and go back to Bristol.\nThe entry in the journal of this old man of more than seventy is a\ncuriosity. \u201cWednesday, March 30--I went on to Congleton, where I\nreceived letters, informing me that my presence was necessary at\nBristol. So, about one, I took chaise, and reached Bristol about half\nan hour after one the next day. Having done my business in about\ntwo hours, on Friday in the afternoon I reached Congleton again,\nabout a hundred and forty miles from Bristol, no more tired (blessed\nbe God!) than when I left it.\u201d This is marvellous. Here we have a\nseptuagenarian, in feeble health, travelling, not by railway, nor\nyet by coach, but in his own private chaise, in a wintry month, and\non roads not macadamised, a distance of two hundred and eighty miles\nin about eight-and-forty hours, and then quietly sitting down and,\nwithout bombast, but with profound gratitude, recording the fact in\nthe language above given. Can biography furnish a parallel to this? We\ndoubt it.\n\nOn Easter day, April 3, Wesley writes: \u201cI went on to Macclesfield, and\ncame just in time (so is the scene changed here) to walk to the old\nchurch, with the mayor and the two ministers.\u201d\n\nHere we pause, to notice a man, who afterwards, not only distinguished\nhimself by his pen and ministerial labours, but became one of Wesley\u2019s\nsincerest and warmest friends.\n\nOne of the \u201ctwo ministers,\u201d referred to in this extract, was David\nSimpson, now a young man of twenty-eight. Born at Ingleby Arncliffe,\nin Yorkshire, and educated at Northallerton, and at Scorton, he, in\n1766, entered St. John\u2019s college, Cambridge, where he became acquainted\nwith Rowland Hill, and a select society of devout collegians, and\nwas converted. On leaving college, he was ordained, and accepted the\ncuracy of Ramsden in Essex. He then removed to Buckingham, where, by\nhis extempore preaching of justification by faith, and the nature\nand necessity of the new birth, he provoked alike the hostility of\nthe surrounding clergy and the sneers of unconverted laics. About\nthe year 1772, he accepted the invitation of Charles Roe, Esq., to\nhis residence at Macclesfield, and soon became curate of what Wesley\ncalls \u201cthe old church,\u201d but which, at that period, was the only church\nthat Macclesfield possessed. Here he married Miss Waldy, of Yarm, a\nyoung lady of distinguished excellence and piety, who died within six\nmonths after Wesley\u2019s visit, leaving to her young husband the care\nof an infant daughter. Mr. Simpson\u2019s faithful ministry was as much\ndisliked at Macclesfield as it had been at Buckingham. Complaints of\nhis Methodism were made to his diocesan, and twice he was suspended\nfor preaching doctrines, to which, as a clergyman of the Church of\nEngland, he had solemnly subscribed. Expelled from the pulpit of the\nchurch, he began to preach in the adjacent towns and villages. Just at\nthis juncture, the prime curacy of the church became vacant, and, the\nnomination being an appendage to the office of the mayor for the time\nbeing, Mr. Gould made him the offer, and had the pleasure of seeing it\naccepted. To prevent Simpson\u2019s induction, a petition, with seventeen\narticles of accusation, was transmitted to the bishop of Chester, all\nof which might be reduced to one, namely, that he was a Methodist.\nIn reply, he says, in a letter to his lordship: \u201cThis is true. My\nmethod is to preach the great truths of the gospel, in as plain, and\nearnest, and affectionate a manner as I am able. Some, hereby, have\nbecome seriously concerned about their salvation. The change is soon\ndiscovered; they meet with one or another, who invite them to attend\nthe meetings of the Methodists, by which their number\u201d (the Methodists)\n\u201cis increased to a considerable degree. This is the truth. I own the\nfact. I confess myself unequal to the difficulty. What would your\nlordship advise?\u201d Such was the conflict. Before it came to an issue,\nMr. Roe, at his own expense, erected a church, of which Mr. Simpson\nbecame incumbent in 1775, relinquishing, at the same time, the curacy\nwhich had been a bone of contention. Here he continued to exercise his\nsuccessful ministry until 1799, when he peacefully expired.\n\nAmong many others, who were benefited by Simpson\u2019s preaching, was a\nyoung female, eighteen years of age, who, on the very day of Wesley\u2019s\nvisit, above recorded, found peace with God, at Simpson\u2019s sacramental\nservice, and afterwards became the Hester Ann Rogers, whose journals\nand letters have been read by myriads.\n\nOn leaving Macclesfield, Wesley proceeded to Manchester and other\nplaces. At Bury, Methodism had been cradled in a storm. On some\noccasions, the people were besmeared with the most offensive filth; and\non others were disturbed in their devotions by a huntsman blowing the\nhunter\u2019s horn. Again and again the vicar frustrated their attempts to\nerect a chapel; but, at length, land at Pitts o\u2019 th\u2019 Moor was bought;\nthe poor Methodists dug the clay and burnt the bricks; some worked by\nday, and others watched by night; and now, in 1774, the building was\ncompleted, and, on the 15th of April, Wesley preached in it.\n\nLeaving Lancashire for Yorkshire, Wesley had, for him, the unusual\nhonour of preaching on April 17 and 18, in three different churches, at\nHalifax, Huddersfield, and Heptonstall; and, on the Sunday following,\nhe occupied the same position in the church at Haworth. A few days\nlater, we find him in Scotland, preaching \u201cto a people, the greatest\npart of whom,\u201d says he, \u201chear much, know everything, and feel nothing.\u201d\nHere, he tells us, he heard sermons, which unfortunately are too common\nat the present day,--sermons full of truth, \u201cbut no more likely to\nawaken souls than an Italian opera;\u201d and, hence, he himself began to\nthunder about death, and judgment, and eternity. At Glasgow, Methodist\nmatters were not at all to his satisfaction. \u201cHow is it,\u201d he asks,\n\u201cthat there is no increase in the society here? It is exceeding easy\nto answer. One preacher stays here two or three months at a time,\npreaching on Sunday mornings, and three or four evenings in a week. Can\na Methodist preacher preserve either bodily health, or spiritual life,\nwith this exercise? And if he is but half alive, what will the people\nbe?\u201d\n\nAt Greenock, he found the same fault; and, at Edinburgh, writes: \u201cHere,\nlikewise, the morning preaching had been given up; consequently the\npeople were few, dead, and cold. Things must be remedied, or we must\nquit the ground.\u201d\n\nWesley attended a Scotch funeral, with which he was disgusted. \u201cO what\na difference,\u201d says he, \u201cis there between the English and Scotch method\nof burial! The English does honour to human nature; and even to the\npoor remains, that were once the temple of the Holy Ghost! But when I\nsee in Scotland a coffin put into the earth, and covered up without\na word, it reminds me of what was spoken of Jehoiakim, \u2018He shall be\nburied with the burial of an ass!\u2019\u201d\n\nAt Perth, he says, the generality of the people were so wise, that\nthey needed no more knowledge, and so good, that they needed no more\nreligion; and, hence, he gave them three thundering sermons, two of\nthem on hell and the day of judgment.\n\nWesley\u2019s great difficulty in Scotland was the objection to itinerancy.\n\u201cI have written,\u201d says he, in a letter dated October 16, 1774, \u201cto Dr.\nHamilton, that Edinburgh and Dunbar must be supplied by one preacher.\nWhile I live, itinerant preachers shall be itinerants: I mean, if they\nchoose to remain in connection with me. The society at Greenock are\nentirely at their own disposal: they may either have a preacher between\nthem and Glasgow, or none at all. But more than one between them they\ncannot have. I have too much regard both for the bodies and souls of\nour preachers, to let them be confined to one place any more. I have\nweighed the matter, and will serve the Scots as we do the English, or\nleave them.\u201d[205]\n\nThe above was addressed to Joseph Benson, at this time stationed in\nScotland, and who has left a memento of Wesley\u2019s visit which is worth\nquoting. \u201cI was,\u201d says he, \u201cconstantly with him for a week. I had an\nopportunity of examining narrowly his spirit and conduct; and, I assure\nyou, I am more than ever persuaded, he is a _none such_. I know not\nhis fellow, first, for abilities, natural and acquired; and, secondly,\nfor his incomparable diligence in the application of those abilities\nto the best of employments. His lively fancy, tenacious memory, clear\nunderstanding, ready elocution, manly courage, indefatigable industry,\nreally amaze me. I admire, but wish in vain to imitate, his diligent\nimprovement of every moment of time; his wonderful exactness even in\nlittle things; the order and regularity wherewith he does and treats\neverything he takes in hand; together with his quick dispatch of\nbusiness, and calm, cheerful serenity of soul. I ought not to omit to\nmention, what is very manifest to all who know him, his resolution,\nwhich no shocks of opposition can shake; his patience, which no length\nof trials can weary; his zeal for the glory of God and the good of man,\nwhich no waters of persecution or tribulation have yet been able to\nquench. Happy man! Long hast thou borne the burden and heat of the day,\namidst the insults of foes, and the base treachery of seeming friends;\nbut thou shalt rest from thy labours, and thy works shall follow\nthee!\u201d[206]\n\nOn the 10th of June, Wesley reached Newcastle, and, on the day after,\nset out for Wolsingham and the dales. Returning to Newcastle, he and\nhis wife\u2019s daughter, and two grandchildren, had a marvellous escape\nfrom danger and death, in which Wesley believed that angels, both good\nand bad, took part. The narrative cannot be given in fewer or better\nwords than in his own. We merely premise, that Horsley is a village\na few miles west of Newcastle; and that Mr. Smith had married Mrs.\nWesley\u2019s daughter. Wesley writes:\n\n \u201cMonday, June 20--About nine, I set out for Horsley, with Mr. Hopper\n and Mr. Smith. I took Mrs. Smith, and her two little girls, in the\n chaise with me. About two miles from the town, just on the brow of\n the hill, on a sudden both the horses set out, without any visible\n cause, and flew down the hill, like an arrow. In a minute, John fell\n off the coach box. The horses then went on full speed, sometimes to\n the edge of the ditch on the right, sometimes on the left. A cart\n came up against them; they avoided it as exactly as if the man had\n been on the box. A narrow bridge was at the foot of the hill. They\n went directly over the middle of it. They ran up the next hill with\n the same speed; many persons meeting us, but getting out of the\n way. Near the top of the hill was a gate, which led into a farmer\u2019s\n yard. It stood open. They turned short, and run through it, without\n touching the gate on one side, or the post on the other. I thought,\n \u2018The gate which is on the other side of the yard, and is shut, will\n stop them\u2019; but they rushed through it, as if it had been a cobweb,\n and galloped on through the cornfield. The little girls cried out,\n \u2018Grandpapa, save us!\u2019 I told them, \u2018Nothing will hurt you: do not be\n afraid\u2019; feeling no more fear or care than if I had been sitting in\n my study. The horses ran on, till they came to the edge of a steep\n precipice. Just then Mr. Smith, who could not overtake us before,\n galloped in between. They stopped in a moment. Had they gone on ever\n so little, he and we must have gone down together!\u201d\n\nThis was one of the narrowest escapes from death that Wesley ever had;\nand his remarks upon it are worth adding.\n\n \u201cI am persuaded, that both evil and good angels had a large share\n in this transaction: how large we do not know now; but we shall\n know hereafter. I think some of the most remarkable circumstances\n were: (1) Both the horses, which were tame and quiet as could be,\n starting out in a moment, just at the top of the hill, and running\n down full speed. (2) The coachman\u2019s being thrown on his head with\n such violence, and yet not hurt at all. (3) The chaise running\n again and again to the edge of each ditch, and yet not into it.\n (4) The avoiding the cart. (5) The keeping just the middle of the\n bridge. (6) The turning short through the first gate, in a manner\n that no coachman in England could have turned them, when in full\n gallop. (7) The going through the second gate as if it had been but\n smoke, without slackening their pace at all. This would have been\n impossible, had not the end of the chariot pole struck exactly on the\n centre of the gate; whence the whole, by the sudden impetuous shock,\n was broke into small pieces. Lastly, that Mr. Smith struck in just\n then: in a minute more we had been down the precipice. \u2018Let those\n give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed, and delivered from the hand\n of the enemy!\u2019\u201d\n\nNewcastle was one of Wesley\u2019s favourite haunts. However cruelly his\nwife treated him, her daughter and her son in law, Mr. and Mrs.\nSmith, always seem to have shown him kindness; and, hence, he always\nappeared to quit Newcastle with reluctance. He writes: \u201cJune 27--I\ntook my leave of this lovely place and people.\u201d The next day was his\nbirthday, which he celebrated as follows: \u201cThis being the first day of\nmy seventy-second year, I was considering, How is this, that I find\njust the same strength as I did thirty years ago? that my sight is\nconsiderably better now, and my nerves firmer, than they were then?\nthat I have none of the infirmities of old age, and have lost several\nI had in my youth? The grand cause is, the good pleasure of God, who\ndoeth whatsoever pleaseth Him. The chief means are: (1) My constantly\nrising at four, for about fifty years. (2) My generally preaching at\nfive in the morning; one of the most healthy exercises in the world.\n(3) My never travelling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five\nhundred miles a year.\u201d\n\nSome will smile at this; but those who think, will hardly doubt, that\nthe three things mentioned, so far from injuring health and shortening\nlife, were among the likeliest of all likely things to be the means of\npreserving the one, and extending the other.\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to follow Wesley, in his wanderings through\nDurham, through the three ridings of the county of York, and through\nLincolnshire; and then right away through Madeley, Worcester, and\nCheltenham, to Bristol, where he arrived on August 6. The reader can\neasily find all this in his journal; we here prefer to give a few\nextracts from his letters.\n\nReference has just been made to Wesley\u2019s vigour. We incline to think\nthat, on his birthday, in the bright month of June, he was sometimes\nmore jubilant than facts warranted. At all events, the following\nextract from a letter to his brother, written within two months before\nhis birthday came, is scarcely in harmony with what was written then.\n\n \u201cWHITEHAVEN, _May 6, 1774_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--Duty is all I consider. Trouble and reproach I value\n not. And I am by no means clear, that I can, with a good conscience,\n throw away what I think the providence of God has put into my hands.\n Were it not for the chancery suit, I should not hesitate a moment.\n\n \u201cMy complaint increases by slow degrees, much the same as before. It\n seems, I am likely to need a surgeon every nine or ten weeks. Mr.\n Hey, of Leeds, vehemently advises me, never to attempt what they call\n a radical cure.\n\n \u201cI never said a word of \u2018publishing it after my death.\u2019[207] I\n judged it my duty to publish it now; and I have as good a right to\n believe one way as any man has to believe another. I was glad of\n an opportunity of declaring myself on the head. I beg Hugh Bold to\n let me think as well as himself; and to believe my judgment will go\n as far as his. I have no doubt of the substance, both of Glanvil\u2019s\n and Cotton Mather\u2019s narratives.[208] Therefore, in this point, you\n that are otherwise minded, bear with me. _Veniam petimusque damusque\n vicissim._ Remember, I am, upon full consideration, and seventy\n years\u2019 experience, just as obstinate in my opinion as you in yours.\n Do not you think, the disturbances in my father\u2019s house were a Cock\n Lane story? Peace be with you and yours!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[209]\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s reply to his brother\u2019s remonstrance against the\npublication of his opinions on witchcraft and apparitions. The next\nletter, addressed to a lady in Ireland, refers to two important\nmatters,--the Calvinian controversy, and Wesley\u2019s method of dealing\nwith contumacious Methodists.\n\n \u201cLEEDS, _May 2, 1774_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--Until Mr. Hill and his associates puzzled the\n cause, it was as plain as plain could be. The Methodists always\n held, and have declared a thousand times, the death of Christ is the\n meritorious cause of our salvation; that is, of pardon, holiness, and\n glory: loving, obedient faith is the condition of glory. This Mr.\n Fletcher has so illustrated and confirmed, as, I think, scarcely any\n one has done before since the apostles.\n\n \u201cWhen Mr. W. wrote me a vehement letter concerning the abuse he had\n received from the young men in Limerick, and his determination to put\n them all out of society, if they did not acknowledge their fault, I\n much wondered what could be the matter, and only wrote him word, \u2018I\n never put any out of our society for anything they say of me.\u2019\n\n \u201cYour ever affectionate\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[210]\n\nThe ensuing letters have relation to a book, an abridgment of which\nWesley afterwards published, and concerning which some of his admirers\nhave felt puzzled, and others pained. This is not the place for a\ndisquisition on novels and novel reading; but it is a curious fact,\nthat Wesley, the earnest and untiring evangelist, found time, not only\nto read a novel, but to print it.\n\nHenry Brooke, Esq., an Irish barrister, was the son of an Irish\nrector; and, besides a number of plays and poems, in four volumes,\n8vo, was the author of two novels, \u201cThe Fool of Quality,\u201d and \u201cJuliet\nGrenville.\u201d[211] His nephew, Henry, was a devoted Methodist, a friend\nof Fletcher, and one of Wesley\u2019s correspondents. \u201cThe Fool of Quality\u201d\nwas first published, in five vols., in 1766, and was thus criticised\nin the _Monthly Review_ of that period. \u201cA performance enriched by\ngenius, enlivened by fancy, bewildered with enthusiasm, and overrun\nwith the visionary jargon of fanaticism. We wish the author would\ngive us an abridgment, cleared from the sanctimonious rubbish by\nwhich its beauties are so much obscured. In its present state, it\nwill be a favourite only with Behmenites, Herrnhutters, Methodists,\nHutchinsonians, and some of the Roman Catholics.\u201d\n\nThis was the book which Wesley read, and concerning which he wrote to\nHenry Brooke, the author\u2019s nephew.\n\n \u201cHULL, _July 8, 1774_.\n\n \u201cDEAR HARRY,--When I read over, in Ireland, \u2018The Fool of Quality,\u2019 I\n could not but observe the design of it, to promote the religion of\n the heart, and that it was well calculated to answer that design;\n the same thing I observed, a week or two ago, concerning \u2018Juliet\n Grenville.\u2019 Yet, there seemed to me to be a few passages, both in\n the one and the other, which might be altered for the better; I do\n not mean, so much with regard to the sentiments, which are generally\n very just, as with regard to the structure of the story, which seemed\n here and there to be not quite clear. I had, at first, a thought of\n writing to Mr. Brooke himself, but I did not know whether I might\n take the liberty. Few authors will thank you, for imagining you are\n able to correct their works. But, if he could bear it, and thinks\n it would be of any use, I would give another reading to both these\n works, and send him my thoughts without reserve, just as they occur.\n I am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[212]\n\nThe answer to this was as follows.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _August 6, 1774_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND SIR,--My uncle\u2019s health is greatly impaired.[213] A kind of\n vertigo continues not only to enfeeble his limbs, but to interrupt\n his study and writing. However, I trust, as his outward man decays,\n his inward man is renewed daily.\n\n \u201cHe is deeply sensible of your very kind offer, and most cordially\n embraces it. He has desired me to express the warmth of his gratitude\n in the strongest terms, and says he most cheerfully yields the\n volumes you mention, to your superior judgment, to prune, erase, and\n alter as you please. He only wishes, they could have had your eye\n before they appeared in public. But it is not yet too late. A second\n edition will appear with great advantage, when they have undergone\n so kind a revisal. But he is apprehensive, your time is so precious,\n that it may be too great an intrusion upon it, unless made a work of\n leisure and opportunity. Yet, as you have proffered it, he will not\n give up the privilege; but hopes leisure may be found for so friendly\n and generous a work.\n\n \u201cI am, reverend sir, your most affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cH. BROOKE.\u201d[214]\n\nPerhaps there have been published as many portraits of Wesley as of any\nman that ever lived. The year 1774 was, in this respect, remarkable.\nAt its commencement, Wesley writes: \u201cI was desired by Mrs. Wright, of\nNew York, to let her take my effigy in waxwork. She has that of Mr.\nWhitefield and many others; but none of them, I think, comes up to a\nwell drawn picture.\u201d Query, what has become of this waxwork effigy?\nBesides the waxwork figure, there were others. From the manuscript\nletters of Samuel Bardsley, we learn that, already, the potters of\nStaffordshire had printed his likeness on their crockery; and Mr. Voyes\nof Corbridge had had it engraved on the seals he sold.\n\nThese are little facts; but they indicate Wesley\u2019s growing popularity.\nThe people ask for the portraits of public men only. A man must be\nnotorious before the masses wish to see him. Thus it was in the case of\nWesley. For five-and-thirty years, he had been before the public. No\nman had been more bitterly persecuted by his enemies; and no man was\nmore ardently beloved by his friends. His fame had spread throughout\nthe three kingdoms; and all sorts of artists began to use him for their\nown advantage.\n\nWesley was not fond of sitting for his portrait, though this was often\ndone. On one occasion, while dining with a friend, in the neighbourhood\nof Blackfriars, an eminent artist offered him ten guineas as a bribe,\nto induce him to allow a cast of his face to be taken. \u201cNo,\u201d said\nWesley, \u201ckeep your money, and urge me no further.\u201d \u201cSir,\u201d said the\nartist, \u201cI will not detain you more than three minutes.\u201d Wesley\nconsented; the cast was taken; and so also was the money: but no sooner\nwas Wesley out of doors, than he saw an agitated crowd, surrounding an\nauctioneer, who was about to sell, not only the furniture of a poor\ndebtor, but the bed upon which he was actually dying. In an instant,\nWesley rushed into the throng, seized the arm of the auctioneer, and\ncried, \u201cWhat\u2019s the debt?\u201d \u201cTen guineas,\u201d was the answer. \u201cTake it,\u201d\nsaid Wesley, \u201cand let the poor man have his furniture again;\u201d and,\nthen turning to John Broadbent, who was with him, he quietly observed,\n\u201cBrother Broadbent, I see why God sent me these ten guineas.\u201d[215]\n\nMethodism in America has been mentioned. The work there was now greatly\ngrowing. Twelve months before, Wesley had sent out one of his favourite\npreachers, Thomas Rankin, to act as a sort of generalissimo. Perhaps a\nwiser selection might have been made. At all events, Rankin\u2019s honest\nhearted brusqueness sometimes gave offence. Boardman and Pilmoor, and\nAsbury, were all predecessors in point of time; but they and four other\nitinerants had now to recognise Rankin as their chief. In age and\nministerial standing, they were nearly equal; but Rankin, by Wesley\u2019s\nfavour, had the preeminence. Asbury winced, but was too good a man to\nraise rebellion. He writes: \u201c1774, May 25--Our conference began at\nPhiladelphia. The overbearing spirit of a certain person had excited\nmy fears. My judgment was stubbornly opposed for a while, and, at\nlast, submitted to. But it is my duty to bear all things with a meek\nand patient spirit. Our conference was attended with great power, and\nall acquiesced in the future stations of the preachers. If I were not\ndeeply conscious of the truth and goodness of the cause in which I am\nengaged, I should, by no means, stay here. Lord, what a world is this!\nyea, what a religious world!\u201d[216]\n\nWithin two years, the entire band were scattered by the colonial\nrebellion, and apostolic Asbury was the only one remaining. Meanwhile,\nRankin sent to Wesley an account of the first Methodist conference in\nAmerica, and Wesley replied to him as follows.\n\n \u201cEPWORTH, _July 21, 1774_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--In yours of May the 30th, you give me an agreeable\n account of your little conference in Philadelphia. I think G.\n Shadford and you desire no novelties, but love good old Methodist\n discipline and doctrine. I have been lately thinking a good deal on\n one point, wherein, perhaps, we have all been wanting. We have not\n made it a rule, as soon as ever persons were justified, to remind\n them of going on to perfection. Whereas, this is the very time\n preferable to all others. They have then the simplicity of little\n children; and they are fervent in spirit, ready to cut off the right\n hand, or to pluck out the right eye. But, if we once suffer this\n fervour to subside, we shall find it hard enough to bring them again\n to this point.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[217]\n\nBefore passing from America, it is worth recording, that it was in\nthe year 1774 that Methodism was introduced into another part of\nNewfoundland. In the month of March in that year, John Hoskins, a\nLondon Methodist, and his son, a lad of about sixteen years of age,\nembarked at Poole in Dorsetshire, and landed in Newfoundland five weeks\nafterwards. The intention of Hoskins was to work there till he had\nobtained money enough to take him to New England, where he wished to\nbegin a school. He landed at Trinity penniless, and utterly unknown,\nand found himself in a \u201crocky, desolate country,\u201d and surrounded\nby a \u201cfew, low, mean huts, built of wood.\u201d He entered one to make\ninquiries as to how he might obtain subsistence; the good woman of\nthe hut gave him some seal and bread to eat; and the minister of the\nplace advised him to open a school at Old Perlican, where about fifty\nfamilies resided. Away he went, a distance of one-and-twenty miles; the\npeople received him gladly; and his school was opened. Here there was\nliterally no religious worship whatever; but the schoolmaster began\nto read the Church prayers, and Wesley\u2019s sermons; the people standing\nat a distance and looking at him as if he had been a monster. He then\nproceeded to give extempore exhortations; a few began to be serious;\nsome helped him to sing; sixteen became penitent, and were formed into\na class; and two or three soon found peace with God. Just at this\njuncture, Mr. Arthur Thomy, an Irish merchant, visited the place on\nbusiness, and preached twice or thrice, confirming what Hoskins had\nsaid, and the society increased to forty members, and the _believers_\nto eight.\n\nThus was Methodism begun at Old Perlican. It soon spread. Island Cove\nhad a society of thirty, and was the first to build a chapel. At\nHarbourgrace and Carbonear, where Mr. Coughlan had laboured, Calvinism\nand antinomianism were rampant, and Methodism had dwindled to almost\nnothing. The movement at Old Perlican was a new beginning; and Hoskins,\nthe schoolmaster, and Thomy, the Irish merchant, were the chief actors.\nThomy often travelled as far as fifty miles to preach; and sometimes\nmet with brutal treatment. The Irish were his bitterest enemies, and,\non one occasion, came with their shillalahs to kill him. Hoskins, also,\nhad his share of persecution. Once he was daubed all over with tar, and\nwas further threatened to be stuck with feathers. The work, however,\nprospered; and, in 1785, _Newfoundland_ became one of the _circuits_ in\nWesley\u2019s minutes.\n\nThe conference, at Bristol, was opened on August 9. Wesley writes:\n\u201cThe conference, which begun and ended in love, fully employed me on\nTuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and we observed Friday, 12th, as a\nday of fasting and prayer for the success of the gospel.\u201d\n\nThomas Taylor, who was present, says: \u201cAugust 9--Most of the day was\ntaken up in temporal matters, which is dry business. August 10--This\nmorning our characters were examined, and that closely. The afternoon\nwas chiefly spent in taking in new preachers. In the evening, Mr.\nWesley gave us but an indifferent sermon. August 11--We spent this day\npretty profitably in considering some things of importance; especially\nhow to prevent levity, idleness, and evil speaking. At night, Mr.\nWesley gave us a profitable discourse on brotherly love.\u201d[218]\n\nMiss March, in an unpublished letter, dated August 23, 1774, observes:\n\n \u201cOur conference is now ended. I promised myself a jubilee, a\n time of holy rejoicing, but found it rather a season of hurry\n and dissipation. Mr. Wesley opened the conference with a plan of\n great and necessary business. His preaching was chiefly to the\n preachers,--of the searching, reproving kind. The preachers said\n there was much concord amongst them, and one observed, Mr. Wesley\n seemed to do all the business himself. Friday was the best time, and\n the evening sermon, from Matthew vii. 24, was the prettiest and most\n simple discourse I ever heard on that text. Mr. Wesley left us on\n Monday for Wales. When he first came he looked worn down with care\n and sorrow; but he left us well and lively.\u201d\n\nIt was at this conference that Samuel Bradburn and James Rogers were\nadmitted on trial; and that Joseph Pilmoor, for some reason, deserted\nThomas Rankin in America, and desisted from travelling.\n\nNo sooner was the conference over, than Wesley again set out on his\nevangelistic travels. The next twelve days were spent in Wales. He\nreturned to Bristol for the Sunday services on August 28; and, on\nthe day following, started off to Cornwall. He came back to Bristol\non September 9, and employed the next month in the city and its\nneighbourhood. Being the time of a parliamentary election, he met the\nBristol society, and advised those of them who had votes:--\u201c1. To vote,\nwithout fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. 2. To\nspeak no evil of the person they voted against. 3. To take care their\nspirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.\u201d\n\nWesley came to London on October 15, and spent the remainder of the\nyear in his usual winter journeys.\n\nNorwich was again a trouble. He writes: \u201cNever was a poor society so\nneglected as this has been for the year past. The morning preaching was\nat an end; the bands suffered all to fall in pieces; and no care at all\ntaken of the classes, so that, whether they met or not, it was all one;\ngoing to church and sacrament were forgotten; and the people rambled\nhither and thither as they listed. I met the society, and told them\nplain, I was resolved to have a regular society or none. I then read\nthe rules, and desired every one to consider whether he was willing to\nwalk by these rules or no. Those, in particular, of meeting their class\nevery week, unless hindered by distance or sickness; and being constant\nat church and sacrament. I desired those who were so minded to meet me\nthe next night, and the rest to stay away. The next night we had far\nthe greater part. I spoke to every leader, concerning every one under\nhis care, and put out every person whom they could not recommend to me.\nAfter this was done, out of 204 members, 174 remained. And these points\nshall be carried, if only fifty remain in society.\u201d\n\nOn his return to London, he visited Ely and St. Ives, and met with\nan adventure which was strange, even in his experience. Approaching\nEly, Mr. Dancer met him with a chaise. For a mile and a half, the road\nwas inundated. \u201cHow must foot people come to Ely?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy,\u201d\nreplied simple Mr. Dancer, \u201cthey must wade.\u201d The farther he went, the\nmore difficult and dangerous was the way. Between Ely and St. Ives,\nsnow fell in great abundance, and, at considerable peril, Wesley\u2019s\nborrowed chaise was piloted by Mr. Tubbs, who trudged along, at the\nhorse\u2019s head, and, up to his knees in mud and water, naively said, \u201cWe\nfen men don\u2019t mind a little dirt.\u201d For four miles, Wesley was dragged\nthrough this \u201cslough of despond,\u201d when further progress, for the\nvehicle, became impossible. He tried to proceed on horseback; but this\nalso was soon impracticable, the whole district being one wide waste of\nwater. \u201cHere, therefore,\u201d says he, \u201cI procured a boat, full twice as\nlarge as a kneading trough. I was at one end, and a boy at the other,\nwho paddled me safe to Erith; where Miss L---- waited for me with\nanother chaise, which brought me safe to St. Ives.\u201d\n\nWesley concluded the year\u2019s itinerary thus: \u201cDecember 25--During the\ntwelve festival days, we had the Lord\u2019s supper daily; a little emblem\nof the primitive church.\u201d\n\nWas this a lingering remnant of Wesley\u2019s high churchism? What would be\nsaid of the Methodists of the present day, were they to imitate the\nexample of their founder?\n\nThe Calvinian controversy still proceeded. The _Gospel Magazine_ told\nits readers, that Arminianism \u201cis a system founded in ignorance,\nsupported by pride, and will end in delusion.\u201d The Hon. and Rev. W. B.\nCadogan, a young man of twenty-three, and, though not yet ordained,\nalready presented to the living of St. Giles, Reading, burned Wesley\u2019s\nworks in his kitchen, saying \u201che was determined to form his opinions\nfrom the Bible alone.\u201d[219] The two Hills were silent, with the\nexception of Mr. Richard\u2019s \u201cLash at Enthusiasm, in a Dialogue founded\nupon real Facts.\u201d The principal Calvinistic work, published at this\nperiod, was Toplady\u2019s \u201cHistoric Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of\nthe Church of England,\u201d in two volumes, 8vo, with an Introduction,\nmost lamentably virulent. The subject is repulsive; but, rightly to\nunderstand Wesley\u2019s provocations and patience, it is necessary to give\nextracts from this scandalous production of a conceited but clever\nman, who acted as though the Almighty had elected him to revile his\nneighbours, without either sense or reason.\n\n\u201cMr. John Wesley and Mr. Walter Sellon are a pair of insignificant\nadversaries, who have arraigned, tried, and condemned the Church of\nEngland. In general, they are so excessively scurrilous and abusive,\nthat contending with them resembles fighting with chimney sweepers,\nor bathing in a mud pool.\u201d \u201cMr. Walter Sellon is Mr. John Wesley\u2019s\nretainer general and whitewasher in ordinary. Arminianism is their\nmutual Dulcinea del Toboso. High mounted on Pine\u2019s Rosinante, forth\nsallies Mr. John from Wine Street, Bristol, brandishing his reed,\nand vowing vengeance against all, who will not fall down and worship\nthe Dutch image which he has set up. With an almost equal plenitude\nof zeal and prowess, forth trots Mr. Walter from Ave Maria Lane, low\nmounted on Cabe\u2019s halting dapple. The knight and the squire having met\nat the rendezvous appointed, the former prances foremost, and, with as\nmuch haste as his limping steed will permit, doth trusty Walter amble\nafter his master.\u201d Sellon is Wesley\u2019s \u201cunderstrapper\u201d; the \u201cjunto\nare Parthians aiming their arrows at the sun; and wolves exhausting\ntheir strength by howling at the moon.\u201d Sellon \u201cdips his pen in the\ncommon sewer\u201d; and Wesley \u201cscatters firebrands.\u201d \u201cThe world has long\nseen, that unmixed politeness can no more soften Mr. Wesley\u2019s rugged\nrudeness, than the melody of David\u2019s harp could lay the north wind.\u201d\nSellon was \u201ca small body of Pelagian divinity, bound in calf, neither\ngilt nor lettered\u201d; \u201cthe meanest, and most rancorous Arminian priest\nthat ever disgraced a surplice.\u201d \u201cWe would advise his Arminian holiness\nof Rome to cashier the image of St. Austin from serving any longer as\na support to his easy chair; and to procure an effigy of Mr. Walter\nSellon, to serve--not, indeed, upon due recollection, as a stay to his\nholiness\u2019s throne--nor even as a prop to his footstool; but as a leg\nto a certain convenience (a _sella perforata_, though not the _sella\nporphyretica_), whereon, I presume, his holiness deigns, occasionally,\nto sit.\u201d Wesley\u2019s Notes on the New Testament are \u201ca wretched bundle of\nplagiarisms\u201d; and he himself \u201cdrives a larger traffic in blunders and\nblasphemies than any other blunder merchant this island has produced.\u201d\n\nSuch are a few of the mild and merciful oracular utterances of the\nelect Augustus Toplady; who says he blamed himself \u201cfor handling\nWesley too gently, and for only giving him the whip when he deserved a\nscorpion.\u201d\n\nFletcher, during 1774, published:--(1) \u201cThe Fictitious and the Genuine\nCreed; being \u2018A Creed for Arminians,\u2019 composed by Richard Hill, Esq.;\nto which is opposed a Creed for those who believe that Christ tasted\ndeath for every man.\u201d 12mo, 52 pages. (2) \u201cLogica Genevensis continued;\nor, the first part of the Fifth Check to Antinomianism, containing\nan Answer to \u2018The Finishing Stroke\u2019 of Richard Hill, Esq.; in which\nsome remarks upon Mr. Fulsome\u2019s Antinomian Creed, published by the\nRev. Mr. Berridge, are occasionally introduced.\u201d 12mo, 48 pages. (3)\n\u201cLogica Genevensis continued; or, the second part of the Fifth Check\nto Antinomianism, containing a Defence of \u2018Jack o\u2019 Lanthorn,\u2019 and \u2018The\nPaper Kite,\u2019 _i. e._ sincere obedience; and of the \u2018Cobweb,\u2019 _i. e._\nthe evangelical law of liberty; and of the \u2018Valiant Sergeant, J. F.,\u2019\n_i. e._ the conditionality of perseverance, attacked by the Rev. Mr.\nBerridge, in his book called \u2018The Christian World Unmasked.\u2019\u201d 12mo,\n44 pages. (4) \u201cThe First Part of an Equal Check to Pharisaism and\nAntinomianism.\u201d 12mo, 264 pages. (5) \u201cZelotes and Honestus reconciled;\nor, an Equal Check to Pharisaism and Antinomianism continued: being the\nfirst part of the Scripture Scales to weigh the Gold of Gospel Truth.\nWith a Preface containing some Strictures upon the Three Letters of\nRichard Hill, Esq., which have been lately published.\u201d 12mo, 175 pages.\n\nThe whole of these publications, extending to nearly 600 pages, are\nfull of the greatest truths, and, like all Fletcher\u2019s writings, are\nentirely free from personal abuse, and are worthy of a gentleman, a\nscholar, and a Christian.\n\nWe can hardly say as much of another work, published in 1774: \u201cA\nScourge to Calumny, in two parts, inscribed to Richard Hill, Esq. Part\nthe First, demonstrating the Absurdity of that Gentleman\u2019s Farrago.\nPart the Second, containing a full Answer to all that is material in\nhis Farrago Double Distilled. By Thomas Olivers.\u201d 12mo, 168 pages.\nRichard Hill deserved all he got; but Fletcher would have hesitated\nbefore charging him, as is done by Olivers, \u201c_with wilful untruth_.\u201d\nAt the same time, it is impossible not to have a feeling of admiration\nfor the sturdy Welshman, when he says to the wealthy squire, who had\nrudely called him _Tom the cobbler_: \u201cPermit me to tell you, sir, that\n_my name_ is as sacred to _me_, as _yours is to you_. If _you_ were\nthe greatest peer of the realm, and _I_ the poorest peasant, the laws\nof God and of my country would authorise me to call you to an account,\nfor every insult offered to my character, either as a fellow creature,\nor as an Englishman. You have no more authority, either from reason or\nreligion, to call me _Tom_, than I have to call you _Dick_.\u201d\n\nHaving hurled a lance in his own defence, he then proceeds to defend\nWesley, telling Mr. Hill, that the man he had maligned was one who had\npublished a hundred volumes, who travelled yearly about five thousand\nmiles, preached yearly about a thousand sermons, visited as many sick\nbeds as he preached sermons, and wrote twice as many letters; and who,\nthough now between seventy and eighty years of age, \u201cabsolutely refused\nto abate, in the smallest degree, these mighty labours; but might be\nseen, at this very time, with his silver locks about his ears, and with\na meagre, worn out, skeleton body, _smiling_ at storms and tempests,\nat such labours and fatigues, at such difficulties and dangers, as, I\nbelieve,\u201d says Olivers, \u201cwould be absolutely intolerable to _you_, sir,\nin conjunction with any four of _your most flaming_ ministers.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s own publications, in 1774, were not many.\n\nFirst of all, there was the fifteenth number of his Journal, already\nmentioned: 12mo, 112 pages. Then there was \u201cAn Extract from Dr.\nCadogan\u2019s Dissertations on the Gout, and all Chronic Diseases,\u201d already\nreferred to on page 111. 12mo, 49 pages. This was a bold stroke. Dr.\nCadogan\u2019s work had not been more than ten years published; it had\nbeen extremely popular, and had run through several editions; the\ndoctor himself was now at the zenith of his fame, and did not die\nfor three-and-twenty years afterwards; and, yet, Wesley takes upon\nhimself, not to publish the work itself, but an extract from it, and to\nwrite a preface to it, in which he objects to the doctor\u2019s wholesale\ncondemnation of \u201csmoked and salted meats, of pickles, of wine, and\nof flesh, thoroughly roasted or boiled.\u201d Wesley says: \u201cI recommend\nthe book as the most masterly piece upon the subject, which has yet\nappeared in the English language.\u201d\n\nAnother of Wesley\u2019s publications was \u201cThoughts upon Necessity,\u201d 12mo,\n33 pages. This was one of his most thoughtful and able tracts. Its\npurport may be gathered from a sentence in his preface,--\u201cI cannot\nbelieve the noblest creature in the visible world to be only a fine\npiece of clockwork.\u201d\n\nTo the above must be added his \u201cThoughts on Slavery,\u201d 8vo, 53 pages.\nIt ought never to be forgotten, that John Wesley was one of the very\nfirst of England\u2019s philanthropists to denounce the infamous evil of\nslavery. Statues, and other honours, declarative of a nation\u2019s homage,\nhave been justly awarded to Wilberforce; but Wesley\u2019s record is on\nhigh; and the day has yet to come when the influence of his advanced\nviews will be duly and gratefully recognised. Even some of Wesley\u2019s\nfriends were strangely blinded to a system that he boldly denounced\nas the \u201cexecrable sum of all villanies\u201d; and Whitefield himself, only\nfour years before, had died the possessor of a large number of human\nbeings, who, in his will, were classed among his goods and chattels,\nand whom he unceremoniously bequeathed to \u201cthat elect lady, the Right\nHonourable Selina, Countess Dowager of Huntingdon.\u201d Wesley\u2019s pamphlet\nwas no sooner issued than it brought upon him vindictive opposition, in\na two shilling book, entitled \u201cA Supplement to Mr. Wesley\u2019s \u2018Thoughts\nupon Slavery\u2019\u201d; in which the writer does his utmost to make the\nleader of the Methodists ridiculous. Wesley had counted the cost, and\nexpected this. In America it was otherwise. There, at Philadelphia,\nMr. Anthony Benezet republished Wesley\u2019s tract at his own expense, and\nsent to him a friendly salutation, by William Dillwyn, \u201cmy old pupil,\u201d\nsays Benezet, \u201ca valuable, religiously minded person, who is going a\nvoyage to your country\u201d;[220] and who, thirteen years afterwards, in\n1787, became one of the founders of the Society for the Suppression of\nSlavery.\n\nWesley still continued the publication of his collected works; and, in\n1774, seven additional volumes were issued, making the entire number\nthirty-two. The last seven, with the exception of three small tracts,\nconsisted exclusively of his journals, coming down to September 1, 1770.\n\nPerhaps there ought to be added another publication, which, though\nnot printed by Wesley, was his production: \u201cA Sermon preached at\nthe opening of the new Meeting-house at Wakefield, on the 28th of\nApril, 1774, by the Rev. John Wesley: taken down in shorthand, at\nthe time of delivery, by Mr. Williamson, a teacher of that art, and\npublished at the request of many of the hearers. Leeds: 1774. Sold\nby all Booksellers, price threepence.\u201d 8vo, 12 pages. The text is 1\nCorinthians i. 23, 24. The sermon, perhaps properly, has never been\npublished in any edition of Wesley\u2019s works. Though it contains nothing\nremarkable, it would enrich the _Methodist Magazine_, and would be\ngratefully welcomed by thousands of readers, who, without a reissue,\nwill never see it.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [204] Manuscript letter.\n\n [205] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 395.\n\n [206] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 386.\n\n [207] The following probably refers to the ghost stories,\n in Wesley\u2019s Journal, under date May 25, 1768. The\n fifteenth number of his journal, containing these\n accounts, was published in this same year, 1774.\n\n [208] Glanvil, the author of \u201cSome Considerations touching\n the being of Witches and Witchcraft\u201d; and Mather, the\n author of \u201cThe Wonders of the Invisible World, or the\n Trials of Witches.\u201d\n\n [209] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 131.\n\n [210] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 373.\n\n [211] Mr. Brooke was three years the junior of Wesley, and,\n about the time when Methodism had its birth, was the\n honoured friend of many of the most distinguished\n personages in London society. Swift prophesied\n wonders of him; Pope received him with open arms;\n Pitt paid him marked attention; and the Prince of\n Wales presented him with valuable tokens of his\n friendship. The publication however of his tragedy,\n \u201cGustavus Vasa,\u201d offended the government, and he\n retired to Ireland, and devoted his fine genius\n wholly to the muses. He was a man of rare ability,\n and an earnest Christian.\n\n [212] Life of Mr. Henry Brooke, p. 90.\n\n [213] He died in 1783, three years after Wesley published\n his revised and abridged edition in two vols., 12mo.\n\n [214] _Methodist Magazine_, 1787, p. 160.\n\n [215] _Christian Miscellany_, 1846, p. 93.\n\n [216] Asbury\u2019s Journal, vol. i., p. 112.\n\n [217] Palmer\u2019s \u201cFour Years in the Old World,\u201d p. 260.\n\n [218] Taylor\u2019s manuscript journal.\n\n [219] Memoirs of Cadogan, p. 37.\n\n [220] _Methodist Magazine_, 1787, p. 44.\n\n\n\n\n 1775.\n Age 72\n\n\nAccording to his custom, Wesley spent the first two months of 1775 in\nLondon, and in short preaching excursions to Northamptonshire and other\nplaces.\n\nThe nation, at this period, was in a state of the highest excitement.\nOn February 9, the two houses of parliament presented an address to\nKing George III., stating that the British colonists in America had\nrisen in rebellion, and begging his majesty to \u201ctake the most effectual\nmeasures to enforce obedience to the laws and authority of the supreme\nlegislature.\u201d His majesty\u2019s reply was affirmative; and parliament was\nrequested to increase both the naval and military forces.\n\nWesley was not the man to be silent in great emergencies. He writes:\n\u201cSunday, January 29--Finding many were dejected by the threatening\nposture of public affairs, I strongly enforced our Lord\u2019s words, \u2018Why\nare ye fearful, O ye of little faith?\u2019\u201d Three weeks later, he preached\nat the Foundery, what the _Westminster Journal_ described as, \u201can awful\nsermon, on the horrid effects of a civil war\u201d; observing \u201cthat, of all\nscourges from God, war was the most to be deprecated, because it often\nswept away all traces of religion, and even of humanity.\u201d The text was\nDaniel iv. 27: \u201cLet my counsel be acceptable to thee, and break off thy\nsins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the\npoor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.\u201d\n\nBoth England and America were terribly excited; but space prevents our\nentering into details. Suffice it to say, that the alleged grievance of\nthe American colonists was their being taxed, without their consent, by\nthe English parliament. Dr. Johnson was known to be a great hater as\nwell as a great genius. \u201cSir,\u201d said he, concerning the miscellaneous\nand mongrel colonists across the Atlantic, \u201cSir, they are a race of\nconvicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short\nof hanging.\u201d No wonder that the English government, already at their\nwits\u2019 end, applied to Johnson to assist them with his powerful pen. He\ndid so, by the publication, in 1775, of his famous pamphlet, entitled,\n\u201cTaxation no Tyranny; an Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the\nAmerican Congress.\u201d[221] No sooner was it issued, than, with or without\nleave, Wesley abridged it, and, without the least reference to its\norigin, published it as his own, in a quarto sheet of four pages, with\nthe title, \u201cA Calm Address to our American Colonies. By the Rev. Mr.\nJohn Wesley, M.A. Price one penny.\u201d\n\nThis was an injudicious and unwarrantable act, except on the\nsupposition that there was some secret understanding between him and\nJohnson; and even then the thing had too much the aspect of plagiarism\nto be wise. Johnson greatly reverenced Patty Hall, Wesley\u2019s unfortunate\nsister, and always treated her as one of his confidential friends. For\nWesley himself he also entertained great respect, and was only vexed\nthat he was not able to secure more of his company. \u201cJohn Wesley\u2019s\nconversation,\u201d said he, \u201cis good, but he is never at leisure. He is\nalways obliged to go at a certain hour. This is very disagreeable to a\nman who loves to fold his legs and have out his talk, as I do.\u201d[222]\nThere was unquestionably a friendship between the two; and it is\npossible that Wesley had Johnson\u2019s consent to his publication of the\nabridgment of Johnson\u2019s pamphlet. In a letter to Wesley, dated February\n6, 1776, Johnson wrote: \u201cI have thanks to return for the addition\nof your important suffrage to my argument on the American question.\nTo have gained such a mind as yours may justly confirm me in my own\nopinion. What effect my paper has had upon the public I know not; but I\nhave no reason to be discouraged. The lecturer was surely in the right\nwho, though he saw his audience slinking away, refused to quit the\nchair while Plato stayed.\u201d[223] This certainly gives some countenance\nto the supposition we have ventured to suggest. Still, there can be\nno doubt that Wesley fairly exposed himself to acrimonious attack by\npublishing the _brochure_ as his own.\n\nWesley was now one of the most conspicuous men in England; and,\nperhaps, no ecclesiastical personage of the realm swayed a wider\ninfluence over the masses, on questions involving religious interests.\nHence, the publication of his \u201cCalm Address\u201d produced an unparalleled\nsensation; and this was the greater, because it was known that, up to\nthis period, Wesley had sympathised with the colonists rather than\notherwise. Indeed, he had declared five years before, in his \u201cFree\nThoughts on Public Affairs\u201d: \u201cI do not defend the measures which have\nbeen taken with regard to America; I doubt whether any man can defend\nthem, either on the foot of law, equity, or prudence.\u201d Of course,\nWesley had a perfect right to change his opinions, which he says he\ndid on reading Johnson\u2019s \u201cTaxation no Tyranny\u201d; but when a public man\nlike Wesley does that, he can hardly escape criticism of an unfriendly\nnature. The world dislikes changelings, and hesitates to trust\nthem. Wesley, in the teeth of former sentiments, now made Johnson\u2019s\nsentiments his own, contending not only that the English parliament had\npower to tax the American colonies, but also that it was a reasonable\nthing for the colonists to reimburse the mother country for some part\nof the large expense that had been incurred in defending the colonial\nrights, and that the whole of the present agitation was promoted by\na few men in England, who were determined enemies to monarchy, and\nwho wished to establish a republican form of government, which, of\nall others, was the most despotic. The result was, Wesley was at once\npounced upon as a plagiarist and a renegade of the worst description.\nCountless pamphlets were published, only a few of which can be noticed\nhere.\n\nOne of his principal antagonists was the Rev. Caleb Evans, then a\nbaptist minister at Broadmead, Bristol, and in the thirty-seventh\nyear of his age,--a man of good sense, a diligent student, a faithful\npastor, and extensively useful; but a rampant advocate of what was\ncalled liberty, and, therefore, a well wisher to the republican\nrebellion across the Atlantic.\n\nEvans\u2019s first publication was \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley,\noccasioned by his \u2018Calm Address\u2019\u201d: 12mo, 24 pages. He taunts Wesley\nwith having so suddenly changed his opinions; with having, at the late\nelection, advised the Bristol Methodists to vote for the \u201c_American\ncandidate_\u201d; and with having, at no remote period, recommended a book\nentitled, \u201cAn Argument in Defence of the exclusive right claimed by the\nColonies to tax themselves.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s reply to this was the republication of his \u201cCalm Address,\u201d\nwith a preface prefixed, in which he acknowledges that the \u201cAddress\u201d\nwas an extract \u201cof the chief arguments from \u2018Taxation no Tyranny,\u2019\u201d\nwith \u201can application\u201d of his own \u201cto those whom it most concerned.\u201d In\na page and a half he answers Evans\u2019s objections, and says that all \u201cthe\narguments in his tract may be contained in a nutshell.\u201d\n\nAnother attack on Wesley, which, before the year was out, reached a\nsecond edition, was \u201cA Cool Reply to a Calm Address, lately published\nby Mr. John Wesley. By T. S.\u201d 12mo, 33 pages. What this production\nlacked in argument it made up in scurrilous innuendo. Wesley is told\nthat his \u201creligious principles are a species of popery,\u201d and that he is\nin quest of \u201ca mitre\u201d; though he \u201cought to sit in sackcloth and pour\ndust upon his head.\u201d\n\nEvans also, before the expiration of 1775, issued a new edition of\nhis letter, 12mo, 32 pages, in the preface to which he waxes angry,\nin exposing what he calls \u201cthe shameful versatility and disingenuity\nof this artful man;\u201d and does his utmost to fasten upon Wesley a\ndeliberate falsehood, because Wesley had denied that he had ever seen\nthe book which Evans had accused him of recommending, though both\nWilliam Pine, his own printer, and the Rev. James Roquet, his friend,\nwere both prepared to attest on oath that he had recommended the book\nto them.\n\nHere then was a direct personal issue between them. Thomas Olivers, in\nhis \u201cFull Defence of the Rev. John Wesley,\u201d 12mo, 24 pages, published\nin 1776, gives the explanation. Wesley\u2019s denial was not owing to\nuntruthfulness, but forgetfulness. \u201cMr. Wesley,\u201d says Olivers, \u201cis now\nan old man, and yet has such a variety and multiplicity of business\nas few men could manage, even in the prime of life. There are few\nweeks in which he does not travel two or three hundred miles; preach\nand exhort in public between twenty and thirty times, and often more;\nanswer thirty or forty letters; speak with as many persons in private,\nconcerning things of deep importance; and prepare, either in whole\nor in part, something for the press. Add to all this, that often, in\nthat short space of time, a variety of tracts on different subjects\npass through his hands, particularly as he travels, and that if any\ntract does not immediately relate to his office as a divine, though he\nmay give it a cursory reading, yet he does not think it necessary to\ncharge his memory with its contents: I say, when all these things are\nconsidered, no one will think it strange that his memory should often\nfail.\u201d\n\nThis was a reasonable explanation of an awkward discrepancy; but\nWesley, who was incapable of falsehood, hardly needed the defence of\nhis ingenious friend Olivers. He had already written the following to\nMr. Roquet himself.\n\n \u201c_November 12, 1775._\n\n \u201cDEAR JAMES,--I will now simply tell you the thing as it is. As I\n was returning from the Leeds conference, one gave me the tract which\n you refer to, part of which I read on my journey. The spirit of it\n I observed to be admirably good; and I _then_ thought the arguments\n conclusive. In consequence of which, I suppose, (though I do not\n remember it,) I recommended it both to you and others; but I had so\n entirely forgotten it, that even when it was brought to me the other\n day, I could not recollect that I had seen it.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[224]\n\nBesides the pamphlets already mentioned, there were published, in 1775:\n\u201cA Second Answer to Mr. John Wesley. By W. D.\u201d 12mo, 22 pages. Also,\n\u201cA Wolf in Sheep\u2019s Cloathing; or an Old Jesuit Unmasked. Containing an\naccount of the wonderful apparition of Father Petre\u2019s Ghost, in the\nform of the Rev. John Wesley. By Patrick Bull, Esq.\u201d 12mo, 24 pages: a\nvile production in which Wesley is branded as \u201ca chaplain in ordinary\nto the Furies, or minister extraordinary to Bellona, goddess of war;\u201d\nand is said to have \u201csolicited to be made bishop of Quebec;\u201d but\nwho, for \u201cthe jacobitical doctrines contained in his \u2018Calm Address,\u2019\ndeserves to be presented, not with _lawn sleeves_, but with a _hempen\nneckcloth_; and, instead of a mitre, ought to have his head adorned\nwith a white nightcap drawn over his eyes.\u201d\n\nToplady was not likely to allow such an opportunity to pass without\nembracing it to vent his venom. Hence the publication of his 12mo\ntract of 24 pages, entitled, \u201cAn Old Fox Tarr\u2019d and Feather\u2019d\u201d; with\na fox\u2019s head, in canonicals, for a frontispiece. The opening sentence\nis characteristic of the whole effusion. \u201cWhereunto shall I liken Mr.\nJohn Wesley? and with what shall I compare him? I will liken him unto\n_a low and puny tadpole in divinity_, which proudly seeks to disembowel\n_a high and mighty whale in politics_.\u201d He then proceeds to say,\nthat, \u201cboth as to matter and expression Wesley\u2019s \u2018Calm Address\u2019 is a\nbundle of Lilliputian shafts, picked and _stolen_ out of Dr. Johnson\u2019s\npincushion. If Mr. Wesley had the least spark of shame remaining, the\nsimple detection of such enormous literary theft would be more terrible\nto his feelings than an English _pumping_ or an American _tarring and\nfeathering_.\u201d\n\nAnother pamphlet, issued in the same year, was \u201cA Constitutional Answer\nto the Rev. Mr. John Wesley\u2019s \u2018Calm Address to the American Colonies\u2019\u201d:\n12mo, 23 pages. The last sentence is as follows: \u201cAs I have formerly\nseen you, with pleasure, in the character of a _Christian minister_,\ndoing some good in the moral world; so it is with regret I now see\nyou in the character of a _court sycophant_, doing much more mischief\nin the political world; injuring, perhaps irreparably injuring, your\n_country_.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericus,\u201d also, in the _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_,[225] had his fling\nagainst the poor Methodist. One sentence from his polished quiver must\nsuffice, as a specimen of others: \u201cAnd now, Mr. Wesley, I take my leave\nof you. You have forgot the precept of your Master, that God and mammon\ncannot be served together. You have one eye upon a pension, and the\nother upon heaven,--one hand stretched out to the king, and the other\nraised up to God. I pray that the first may reward you, and the last\nforgive you!\u201d\n\nThese extracts might be multiplied almost _ad infinitum_. We only add,\nthat Fletcher, as well as Olivers, came to the defence of Wesley.\nThe former published his \u201cVindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s \u2018Calm\nAddress\u2019: in some Letters to Mr. Caleb Evans.\u201d 12mo, 70 pages. This\nevoked from Evans an unworthy acrimonious \u201cReply,\u201d 12mo, 103 pages, in\nwhich the angry baptist not only rakes up the whole story respecting\nWesley, Roquet, and Pine, but finishes by telling the loving and\naccomplished Fletcher, that he is \u201cthe most verbose, and most unmeaning\nand unfair disputant, that ever took up the polemical gauntlet.\u201d\n\nHampson and Whitehead censure Wesley for turning a politician. This\nis a point upon which opinions will differ. Certain it is, however,\nthat the political part which Wesley took made him as many enemies\nas his caveat against Calvinism had done. Within three weeks, forty\nthousand copies of his \u201cCalm Address\u201d were printed and put into\ncirculation; and excited so much anger among the English friends of\nthe revolted colonists, that they would willingly have burnt both him\nand his Address together. To accuse him of mercenary motives was an\nunfounded, base, malignant fabrication. It is true, that the government\nwere so pleased with his little tract that copies were ordered to be\ndistributed at the doors of all the metropolitan churches; and it is\nsaid that one of the highest officers of state waited upon him, asking\nwhether government could in any way be of service to either himself\nor his people. Wesley replied that he \u201clooked for no favours, and\nonly desired the continuance of civil and religious privileges.\u201d The\nnobleman pressed the question, but again received the same answer.\nIn retiring, he observed: \u201cIn all probability, sir, you have some\ncharities which are dear to you; by accepting \u00a350 from the privy purse,\nto appropriate as you may deem proper, you will give great pleasure to\nthose for whom I act.\u201d This was accepted; but \u201cMr. Wesley,\u201d says Dr.\nClarke, who related the story, \u201cexpressed himself to me as sorry that\nhe had not requested to be made a royal missionary, and to have the\nprivilege of preaching in every church.[226]\u201d\n\nThis might be true; but, in conclusion, we must add to it Wesley\u2019s own\naccount, as published at the time, in _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--I have been seriously asked,--From what motive did you publish\n your \u2018Calm Address to the American Colonies\u2019?\n\n \u201cI seriously answer, Not to get money. Had that been my motive, I\n should have swelled it into a shilling pamphlet, and have entered it\n at Stationers\u2019 Hall.\n\n \u201cNot to get preferment for myself, or my brother\u2019s children. I am a\n little too old to gape after it myself; and if my brother or I sought\n it for them, we have only to show them to the world.\n\n \u201cNot to please any man living, high or low. I know mankind too well.\n I know they that love you for political service, love you less than\n their dinner; and they that hate you, hate you worse than the devil.\n\n \u201cLeast of all, did I write with a view to inflame any; just the\n contrary. I contributed my mite toward putting out the flame which\n rages all over the land. This I have more opportunity of observing\n than any other man in England. I see with pain to what a height this\n already rises, in every part of the nation. And I see many pouring\n oil into the flame, by crying out, \u2018How unjustly, how cruelly, the\n king is using the poor Americans; who are only contending for their\n liberty, and for their legal privileges!\u2019\n\n \u201cNow there is no possible way to put out this flame, or hinder its\n rising higher and higher, but to show that the Americans are not\n used either cruelly or unjustly; that they are not injured at all,\n seeing they are not contending for liberty,--this they had even in\n its full extent, both civil and religious; neither for any legal\n privileges, for they enjoy all that their charters grant. But what\n they contend for is the illegal privilege of being exempt from\n parliamentary taxation,--a privilege this which no charter ever gave\n to any American colony yet; which no charter can give, unless it\n be confirmed both by king, lords, and commons; which, in fact, our\n colonies never had; which they never claimed till the present reign;\n and probably they would not have claimed it now, had they not been\n incited thereto by letters from England.\n\n \u201cThis being the real state of the question, without any colouring or\n aggravation, what impartial man can either blame the king, or commend\n the Americans?\n\n \u201cWith this view, to quench the fire, by laying the blame where it was\n due, the \u2018Calm Address\u2019 was written.\n\n \u201cAs to reviewers, newswriters, _London Magazines_, and all that kind\n of gentlemen, they behave just as I expected they would. And let them\n lick up Mr. Toplady\u2019s spittle still; a champion worthy of their cause.\n\n \u201cSir, I am your humble servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThus things proceeded. England was flooded with political pamphlets;\nthe houses of parliament echoed with the sonorous periods of senatorial\noratory; and the hill sides and river banks of America rang with sharp\nand dissonant peals of musketry. Blood had been shed at Lexington; and,\nat the bungling battle at Bunker Hill, the English had lost 1050 men,\nin killed and wounded. In the month of November, Wesley says: \u201cI was\ndesired to preach, in Bethnal Green church, a charity sermon for the\nwidows and orphans of the soldiers that were killed in America. Knowing\nhow many would seek occasion of offence, I wrote down my sermon.\u201d\nThe discourse was immediately published, with the title, \u201cA Sermon\npreached at St. Matthew\u2019s, Bethnal Green, on Sunday, November 12,\n1775. By John Wesley, M.A. For the benefit of the widows and orphans\nof the soldiers who lately fell near Boston, in New England.\u201d 8vo, 33\npages. Wesley speaks of the terrible distress from which the nation was\nsuffering. Thousands were totally unemployed. He had seen not a few\nof them \u201cstanding in the streets, with pale looks, hollow eyes, and\nmeagre limbs.\u201d He says, he had \u201cknown families, who, a few years ago,\nlived in an easy, genteel manner,\u201d driven to the necessity of repairing\nto the fields \u201cto pick up the turnips which the cattle had left: and\nwhich they boiled, if they could get a few sticks for that purpose,\nor otherwise ate them raw.\u201d Thousands had \u201cscreamed for liberty till\nthey were utterly distracted, and their intellects quite confounded.\u201d\n\u201cIn every town, men, who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper,\nwere now mad with party zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet\nneighbours, ready to tear out one another\u2019s throats, and to plunge\ntheir swords into each other\u2019s bowels.\u201d He then proceeds to descant,\nin withering terms, on the sins of the nation,--money getting, lying,\ngluttony, idleness, and profanity. The sermon altogether, considering\nthe time and circumstances of its delivery, was one of the boldest\nhe ever preached; and, of course, added to the rage that his \u201cCalm\nAddress\u201d had kindled. The _Gospel Magazine_, in reviewing it, remarks:\n\u201cSo many barrels of _tar_ have of late been lavished on Mr. Wesley,\nand so many bags of _feathers_ have been shaken over him, on account\nof his new political apostasy, that it might seem unmerciful in us,\nshould we add to the _anointings_ and to the _powderings_, which he has\nalready so plentifully, though not undeservedly, received. We shall\ntherefore, from a principle of compassion, touch his sermon with the\ntenderer hand, and let the sermoniser himself very lightly off, the\nenormity of his demerits considered.\u201d And then the tender reviewer, in\nhis unmerited compassion, proceeds to describe \u201cthe sermon as being\nas dry as an old piece of leather that has been tanned five thousand\ntimes over\u201d; and the preacher as \u201ca tip-top _perfectionist_ in the\nart of lying.\u201d All this revives a recollection of \u201cThe Old Fox tarred\nand feathered,\u201d--and of its polite author, the Rev. Augustus Toplady,\nwho had just now become the courteous editor of the misnamed _Gospel\nMagazine_.\n\nAt the conference of 1774, Wesley had 2204 members of society in\nAmerica, and seven itinerant preachers, Messrs. Rankin, Asbury,\nShadford, Williams, King, Dempster, and Rodda; and to direct these, in\nthe midst of a great rebellion, required more than ordinary wisdom.\nA few extracts from his letters to Thomas Rankin will not be without\ninterest.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _March 1, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--As soon as possible, you must come to a full and clear\n explanation, both with brother Asbury, and with Jemmy Dempster. But I\n advise brother Asbury to return to England the first opportunity.\n\n \u201cThere is now a probability that God will hear prayer, and turn the\n counsels of Ahithophel into foolishness. It is not unlikely that\n peace will be reestablished between England and the colonies. But,\n certainly, the present doubtful situation of affairs may be improved\n to the benefit of many. They may be strongly incited now \u2018to break\n off their sins by repentance, if it may be a lengthening of their\n tranquillity,\u2019\n\n \u201cI add a line to all the preachers:--\n\n \u201c_My Dear Brethren_,--You were never in your lives in so critical\n a situation as you are at this time. It is your part to be\n peacemakers; to be loving and tender to all; but to addict\n yourselves to no party. In spite of all solicitations, of rough or\n smooth words, say not one word against one or the other side. Keep\n yourselves pure: do all you can to help and soften all; but beware\n how you adopt another\u2019s jar. See that you act in full union with\n each other; this is of the utmost consequence. Not only let there\n be no bitterness or anger, but no shyness or coldness, between you.\n Mark all those who would set one of you against the other. Some\n such will never be wanting. But give them no countenance; rather\n ferret them out, and drag them into open day. The conduct of T.\n Rankin has been suitable to the Methodist plan. I hope all of you\n tread in his steps. Let your eye be single. Be in peace with each\n other, and the God of peace will be with you.\u201d\n\nUnder the same date, Charles Wesley wrote to Rankin as follows.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--As to public affairs, I wish you to be like-minded\n with me. I am of neither side, and yet of both; on the side of New\n England, and of Old. Private Christians are excused, exempted,\n privileged, to take no part in civil troubles. We love all, and pray\n for all, with a sincere and impartial love. Faults there may be on\n both sides; but such as neither you nor I can remedy: therefore, let\n us, and all our children, give ourselves unto prayer, and so stand\n still and see the salvation of God.\u201d\n\nThe war was not the only thing that gave Wesley trouble. Thomas\nRankin and Francis Asbury were not able to agree; and Miss Gilbert\nhad actually written to Asbury, stating that Mr. Gilbert was about\nto leave Antigua; and wishing him to come, and to take charge of\nthe three hundred Methodists in that island. Asbury was inclined to\naccept of this invitation; but was deterred by his want of ordination,\nand therefore, as he thought, want of authority to administer the\nsacraments of the Christian church. Wesley wished him to return to\nEngland. What a disaster, if he had![227] These facts will cast light\non the following letters.\n\n \u201cPORTARLINGTON, _April 21, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--Brother Asbury has sent me a few lines, and I thank him\n for them. But I do not advise him to go to Antigua. Let him come home\n without delay. If one or two stout, healthy young men would willingly\n offer themselves to that service, I should have no objection; but\n none should go, unless he was fully persuaded in his own mind. I\n am afraid, you will soon find a day of trial: the clouds are black\n both over England and America. It is well if this summer passes\n over without some showers of blood. And if the storm once begins in\n America, it will soon spread to Great Britain.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cBALLINROBE, _May 19, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I doubt not but brother Asbury and you will part\n friends; I hope I shall see him at the conference. He is quite an\n upright man. I apprehend he will go through his work more cheerfully\n when he is a little distance from me.\n\n \u201cWe must speak the plain truth, wherever we are, whether men will\n hear, or whether they will forbear. And among our societies we must\n enforce our rules, with all mildness and steadiness.\n\n \u201cNever was there a time, when it was more necessary for all that\n fear God, both in England and in America, to wrestle with God in\n mighty prayer. In all the other judgments of God, the inhabitants of\n the earth learn righteousness; but wherever war breaks out, God is\n forgotten, if He be not set at open defiance. What a glorious work\n of God was at Cambuslang and Kilsyth, from 1740 to 1744! But the war\n that followed tore it all up by the roots, and left scarce any trace\n of it behind; insomuch that, when I diligently inquired a few years\n after, I could not find one that retained the life of God!\u201d\n\n \u201cCLARMAIN, _June 13, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I am afraid our correspondence, for the time to come,\n will be more uncertain than ever, since the sword is drawn; and it\n is well if they have not, on both sides, thrown away the scabbard.\n What will the end of these things be, either in Europe or America?\n It seems, huge confusion and distress, such as neither we nor our\n fathers had known![228] But it is enough, if all issues in glory\n to God, and peace and goodwill among men. Never had America such a\n call to repentance; for, unless general reformation prevent general\n destruction, what a scene will soon be opened! Ruin and desolation\n must soon overspread the land; and fair houses be turned into ruinous\n heaps. But what are those strange phenomena which you speak of? Send\n me an account of just so much as you can depend on. Should you not\n appoint in America, as we do in England and Ireland, one or more\n general days of fasting and prayer?\u201d\n\n \u201cNEAR LEEDS, _July 28, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I rejoice to hear that the work of our Lord still\n prospers in your hands. If the temple is built even in troublous\n times, it is not by the power of man. I rejoice too over honest\n Francis Asbury, and hope he will no more enter into temptation. I\n know no reason why you should not print the names of the American\n preachers. You may print an edition of the \u2018Christian Pattern,\u2019 and\n apply the profits of it to the payment of the debt. The societies\n should pay the passage of the preachers. But you must not imagine,\n that any more of them will come to America till these troubles are at\n an end.\n\n \u201cCertainly, this is the point which we should insist upon, in season\n and out of season. The universal corruption of all orders and degrees\n of men loudly calls for the vengeance of God; and, inasmuch as all\n other nations are equally corrupt, it seems God will punish us by\n one another. What can prevent this, but a universal, or, at least, a\n general repentance?\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _August 13, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I am not sorry that brother Asbury stays with you\n another year. In that time, it will be seen what God will do with\n North America; and you will easily judge whether our preachers are\n called to remain any longer therein. If they are, God will make their\n way plain, and give them favour even with the men that delight in\n war. The clouds do indeed gather more and more; and it seems a heavy\n storm will follow; certainly it will, unless the prayers of the\n faithful obtain a longer reprieve.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 20, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I am glad you are going into North Carolina; and why\n not into South Carolina too? I apprehend, those provinces would bear\n much fruit, as most parts of them are fresh, unbroken ground. And as\n the people are further removed from the din of war, they may be more\n susceptible of the gospel of peace.\n\n \u201cA paper was sent to me lately, occasioned by the troubles in\n America; but it would not do good. It is abundantly too tart; and\n nothing of that kind will be of service now. All parties are already\n too much sharpened against each other; we must pour water, not oil,\n into the flame. I had written a little tract[229] upon the subject\n before I knew the American ports were shut up. I think there is not\n one sharp word therein; I did not design there should. However, many\n are excessively angry; and would willingly burn me and it together.\n Indeed it is provoking; I suppose above forty thousand of them have\n been printed in three weeks, and still the demand for them is as\n great as ever.\n\n \u201cI am entirely of your mind. I am persuaded, love and tender measures\n will do far more than violence. And if I should have an interview\n with a great man, which seems to be not unlikely, I will tell him so,\n without any circumlocution.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[230]\n\nThe \u201cgreat man\u201d referred to was probably Lord North, the prime minister\nof the English cabinet, to whom, and to the Earl of Dartmouth, Wesley\nhad, four months before, addressed most important letters, in which\nhe strongly endeavoured to convince the government of the exceedingly\ncritical condition of public matters. No man in the kingdom had\nsuffered more from the violation of English law than Wesley had; and\nyet now, in England\u2019s extremity, no man evinced a more loyal spirit\nthan was evinced by him. Indeed, his loyalty became, in the eyes of his\nenemies, a crime, and brought him, not reward, but ruffianly reproach.\nAn extract from the letters to the two ministers of state may fitly,\nfor the present, close these American reminiscences.\n\n \u201cARMAGH, _June 15, 1775_.\n\n \u201cMY LORD,--Whether my writing do any good or no, it need do no harm;\n for it rests with your lordship whether any eye but your own shall\n see it.\n\n \u201cI do not enter upon the question, whether the Americans are in\n the right or in the wrong. Here all my prejudices are against\n the Americans; for I am a high churchman,[231] the son of a high\n churchman, bred up, from my childhood, in the highest notions of\n passive obedience and non-resistance; and yet, in spite of all my\n long rooted prejudices, I cannot avoid thinking, if I think at all,\n that an oppressed people asked for nothing more than their legal\n rights, and that in the most modest and inoffensive manner that the\n nature of the thing would allow.[232] But waiving all considerations\n of right and wrong, I ask, is it common sense to use force towards\n the Americans? These men will not be frightened; and it seems, they\n will not be conquered so easily as was at first imagined. They will\n probably dispute every inch of ground; and, if they die, die sword\n in hand. Indeed, some of our valiant officers say, \u2018Two thousand\n men will clear America of these rebels.\u2019 No, nor twenty thousand,\n be they rebels or not, nor perhaps treble that number. They are as\n strong men as you; they are as valiant as you, if not abundantly\n more valiant, for they are one and all enthusiasts,--enthusiasts for\n liberty. They are calm, deliberate enthusiasts; and we know how this\n principle \u2018breathes into softer souls stern love of war, and thirst\n of vengeance, and contempt of death.\u2019 We know men, animated with this\n spirit, will leap into a fire, or rush into a cannon\u2019s mouth.\n\n \u201c\u2018But they have no experience in war.\u2019 And how much more have our\n troops? Very few of them ever saw a battle. \u2018But they have no\n discipline.\u2019 That is an entire mistake. Already they have near as\n much as our army, and they will learn more of it every day; so that,\n in a short time, if the fatal occasion continue, they will understand\n it as well as their assailants.[233] \u2018But they are divided amongst\n themselves.\u2019 No, my lord, they are terribly united; not in the\n province of New England only, but down as low as the Jerseys and\n Pennsylvania. The bulk of the people are so united, that to speak a\n word in favour of the present English measures would almost endanger\n a man\u2019s life. Those who informed me of this are no sycophants; they\n say nothing to curry favour; they have nothing to gain or lose by me.\n But they speak with sorrow of heart what they have seen with their\n own eyes, and heard with their own ears.\n\n \u201cThese men think, one and all, be it right or wrong, that they are\n contending _pro aris et focis_; for their wives, children, and\n liberty. What an advantage have they herein over many that fight\n only for pay! none of whom care a straw for the cause wherein they\n are engaged; most of whom strongly disapprove of it. Have they not\n another considerable advantage? Is there occasion to recruit troops?\n Their supplies are at hand, and all round about them. Ours are three\n thousand miles off. Are we then able to conquer the Americans,\n suppose they are left to themselves, suppose all our neighbours\n should stand stock still, and leave us and them to fight it out? But\n we are not sure of this. Nor are we sure that all our neighbours will\n stand stock still. I doubt they have not promised it; and, if they\n had, could we rely upon those promises? \u2018Yet, it is not probable\n they will send ships or men to America.\u2019 Is there not a shorter way?\n Do they not know where England and Ireland lie? And have they not\n troops, as well as ships, in readiness? All Europe is well apprised\n of this; only the English know nothing of the matter! What if they\n find means to land but two thousand men? Where are the troops in\n England or Ireland to oppose them? Why, cutting the throats of their\n brethren in America! Poor England, in the meantime!\n\n \u201c\u2018But we have our militia--our valiant, disciplined militia. These\n will effectually oppose them.\u2019 Give me leave, my lord, to relate a\n little circumstance, of which I was informed by a clergyman who knew\n the fact. In 1716, a large body of militia were marching towards\n Preston against the rebels. In a wood, which they were passing by, a\n boy happened to discharge his fowling piece. The soldiers gave up all\n for lost, and, by common consent, threw down their arms, and ran for\n life. So much dependence is to be placed on our valorous militia.\n\n \u201cBut, my lord, this is not all. We have thousands of enemies, perhaps\n more dangerous than French or Spaniards. As I travel four or five\n thousand miles every year, I have an opportunity of conversing\n freely with more persons of every denomination than any one else in\n the three kingdoms. I cannot but know the general disposition of\n the people,--English, Scots, and Irish; and I know a large majority\n of them are exasperated almost to madness. Exactly so they were\n throughout England and Scotland about the year 1640, and, in a great\n measure, by the same means; by inflammatory papers, which were\n spread, as they are now, with the utmost diligence, in every corner\n of the land. Hereby the bulk of the population were effectually cured\n of all love and reverence for the king. So that, first despising,\n then hating him, they were just ripe for open rebellion. And, I\n assure your lordship, so they are now. They want nothing but a leader.\n\n \u201cTwo circumstances more are deserving to be considered: the one, that\n there was, at that time, a decay of general trade almost throughout\n the kingdom; the other, there was a common dearness of provisions.\n The case is the same, in both respects, at this day. So that, even\n now, there are multitudes of people that, having nothing to do, and\n nothing to eat, are ready for the first bidder; and that, without\n inquiring into the merits of the case, would flock to any that would\n give them bread.\n\n \u201cUpon the whole, I am really sometimes afraid that this evil is\n from the Lord. When I consider the astonishing luxury of the rich,\n and the shocking impiety of rich and poor, I doubt whether general\n dissoluteness of manners does not demand a general visitation.\n Perhaps the decree is already gone forth from the Governor of the\n world. Perhaps even now:\n\n \u2018As he that buys, surveys a ground,\n So the destroying angel measures it around.\n Calm he surveys the perishing nation;\n Ruin behind him stalks, and empty desolation.\u2019\n\n \u201cBut we Englishmen are too wise to acknowledge that God has anything\n to do in the world! Otherwise should we not seek Him by fasting and\n prayer, before He lets the lifted thunder drop? O my lord, if your\n lordship can do anything, let it not be wanting! For God\u2019s sake, for\n the sake of the king, of the nation, of your lovely family, remember\n Rehoboam! Remember Philip the Second! Remember King Charles the First!\n\n \u201cI am, with true regard, my lord, your lordship\u2019s obedient servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[234]\n\nWhatever may be thought of the principle advocated in Wesley\u2019s \u201cCalm\nAddress to the American Colonies,\u201d namely, that taxation without\nrepresentation is no tyranny, there can be no doubt that his letters\nto the premier and to the colonial secretary are full of warnings and\nforesight which were terribly fulfilled; and, for fidelity, fulness,\nterseness, in short, for _multum in parvo_, were perhaps without a\nparallel in the correspondence of these ministers of state.\n\nMuch space has been occupied with these American affairs. If an apology\nwere needed, the reader might be courteously reminded (1) that John\nWesley\u2019s \u201cCalm Address\u201d threw, not Methodism only, but the nation,\ninto a fever of excitement, and, directly and indirectly, gave birth\nto scores of pamphlets on the same subject; (2) that the American\nrebellion is one of the greatest events in English history; and (3)\nthat, in consequence of the great majority of the clergy of the English\nChurch fleeing from the colonies, when the colonies most needed them,\nMethodism, under the sagacious management of the apostolic Asbury, took\nthe place which had hitherto been occupied by Anglican episcopacy;\nand, henceforth, literally became the predominant religion of what is\nlikely to be the greatest and most prosperous country in the world.\n\nWe must now return to Wesley in a more private capacity.\n\nThe reader has long lost sight of Peter Bohler. In 1739, after the\nconversion of the two Wesleys, Bohler went to Georgia, and his life,\nsince then, had been spent in unwearied Christian work, partly in\nAmerica and partly in Europe. His labours now were nearly ended;\nand, on April 27, 1775, he peacefully expired, in London, at the age\nof sixty-three. For years past, correspondence seems to have ceased\nbetween Wesley and his early Moravian friend. Within three months of\nBohler\u2019s death, it was renewed. Wesley wrote to him on the 5th of\nFebruary, and Bohler, in a beautifully Christian letter, responded. A\nfew days later, Wesley wrote again, as follows.\n\n \u201c_February 18, 1775._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--When I say, \u2018I hope I shall never be constrained\n to speak otherwise of them\u2019 (the Moravians), I do not mean, that I\n have any expectation this will ever happen. Probably it never will.\n I never did speak but when I believed it was my duty so to do. And,\n if they would calmly consider what I have spoken from March 10,\n 1736, and were open to conviction, they might be such Christians as\n are hardly in the world besides. I have not lost sight of you yet.\n Indeed, I cannot, if you are \u2018a city set upon a hill.\u2019\n\n \u201cPerhaps no one living is a greater lover of peace, or has laboured\n more for it, than I; particularly, among the children of God.[235]\n I set out, near fifty years ago, with this principle, \u2018Whosoever\n doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother,\n and sister, and mother.\u2019 But there is no one living that has been\n more abused for his pains, even to this day. But it is all well. By\n the grace of God, I shall go on, following peace with all men, and\n loving your Brethren beyond any body of men upon earth, except the\n Methodists.\n\n \u201cWishing you every gospel blessing, I remain your very affectionate\n brother,\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[236]\n\nThus ended Wesley\u2019s intercourse with Bohler, till it was renewed in\nheaven.\n\nEleven days after the above was written, Wesley left London for\nIreland, proceeding, as usual, by way of Bristol and the midland\ncounties. Nothing remarkable occurred in his journey to Liverpool.\nOf course, he was preaching continually, and, winter though it was,\nsometimes out of doors. While doing so, at Newcastle under Lyne, \u201ca\nbuffoon,\u201d he says, \u201claboured to interrupt him; but, as he was bawling,\nwith his mouth wide open, some arch boys gave him such a mouthful of\ndirt as quite satisfied him.\u201d\n\nAt Dublin, at the request of \u201cthe good old dean,\u201d he assisted in\nadministering the Lord\u2019s supper in St. Patrick\u2019s. At Maryborough,\nhe complied with the wish of the clergyman, and preached in the\nparish church. The Methodist chapel at Waterford he describes as \u201ca\nfoul, horrid, miserable hole.\u201d For the first time, he preached at\nClones, using, as his church, an old Danish fort. Here Methodism had\nbeen introduced about the year 1768. The papists were furious, and\nmagistrates refused to interfere; but, just when the place was about to\nbe given up, a military pensioner, an old presbyterian, took his stand\nin the centre of the market, and, shouldering his musket, declared that\nhe would shoot the first man that attempted to disturb the preacher.\nThe rioters were frightened; and the rough old soldier mounted guard\nevery sabbath afternoon, until opposition ceased.[237]\n\nAt Londonderry, Wesley accepted the bishop\u2019s invitation to dinner;\nthe prelate remarking, \u201cI know you do not love our hours, and will\ntherefore order dinner to be on the table between two and three\no\u2019clock.\u201d \u201cWe had,\u201d says Wesley, \u201ca piece of boiled beef, and an\nEnglish pudding. This is true good breeding.\u201d\n\nAt Castle Caulfield, writes Wesley, with the utmost _sang froid_, \u201cthe\nrain came plentifully, through the thatch, into my lodging room; but I\nfound no present inconvenience, and was not careful for the morrow.\u201d\n\nSix days afterwards, Wesley was seized with illness, which nearly\nproved fatal; but for three days more, though in a burning fever, he\ncontinued travelling and preaching almost as usual. He had now reached\nthe town of Lurgan, where, four years previously, a society had been\nformed, one of the first members being Isaac Bullock, an old soldier,\nwho had been at the capture of several islands in the West Indies,\nand was one of sixty, called \u201cthe forlorn hope,\u201d who, in 1762, first\nentered the breach at the storming of Havannah, only six of the sixty\nescaping with their lives. The house of this sturdy veteran was the\npreaching place of the Lurgan Methodists.[238] Here Wesley was obliged\nto succumb to fever. He sent for a physician, who told him he must\nrest. Wesley replied, he could not, as he \u201chad appointed to preach\nat several places, and must preach as long as he could speak.\u201d The\ndoctor gave him medicine, and off he went to Tanderagee, and then to\na gentleman\u2019s seat, three miles beyond Lisburn, where nature sank,\nand the conquered evangelist was compelled to take his bed. Strength,\nmemory, and mind entirely failed. For three days, he lay more dead than\nalive. His tongue was black and swollen. He was violently convulsed.\nFor some time his pulse was not discernible. Hope was almost gone;\nwhen Joseph Bradford, his travelling companion, came with a cup, and\nsaid, \u201cSir, you must take this.\u201d Wesley writes: \u201cI thought, \u2018I will,\nif I can swallow, to please him; for it will do me neither harm nor\ngood.\u2019 Immediately it set me a vomiting; my heart began to beat, and my\npulse to play again; and, from that hour, the extremity of the symptoms\nabated.\u201d Six days afterwards, to the astonishment of his friends, and,\nas he says, \u201ctrusting in God,\u201d he set out for Dublin, where, within a\nweek, he was preaching as usual.\n\nThis was a memorable epoch, even in Wesley\u2019s eventful life. The house\nin which he lay so dangerously ill was the hospitable dwelling of Mr.\nGayer, of Derryaghey,[239] a devoted Methodist of great respectability,\nwho had built a chapel in the village, and, for the accommodation\nof the preachers, a room, which went by the name of \u201cthe prophet\u2019s\nchamber.\u201d His daughter, afterwards Mrs. Wolfenden, was now a converted\ngirl, sixteen years of age, and, with her mother, was Wesley\u2019s nurse.\nGreat anxiety was felt for Wesley\u2019s life, and, while a few select\nfriends were praying that, as in the case of Hezekiah, God would add\nto his days fifteen years, Mrs. Gayer suddenly rose from her knees, and\ncried, \u201cThe prayer is granted!\u201d Marvellously enough, Wesley\u2019s recovery\nimmediately commenced, and he survived, from June 1775 to March 1791, a\nperiod of just fifteen years, and a few months over.\n\nBut even this was not all the wonder. Alexander Mather, at the time,\nwas at Sheerness, in Kent, where he read, in the newspapers, that\nWesley was actually dead. Mather says, he was not able to give credence\nto this; and, before he went to preach, he opened his Bible on the\nwords, \u201cBehold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years\u201d (Isa. xxxviii.\n5); and away he went to the chapel, and began to pray that the promise,\nmade to Hezekiah, might be fulfilled in the case of Wesley.[240] These\nare striking facts. We give them as we find them. The sceptic will\nsneer; but the Christian will exercise an unfaltering faith in the\nglorious text, which, in the history of the church, has been confirmed\nin instances without number: \u201cThe effectual fervent prayer of a\nrighteous man availeth much.\u201d\n\nThe news of Wesley\u2019s dangerous illness created the utmost consternation\namong his friends. The following is a letter, hitherto unpublished,\naddressed by Charles Wesley to Joseph Bradford, Wesley\u2019s faithful\ncompanion.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _June 29, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--Be of good cheer. The Lord liveth, and all live to\n Him. Your last is just arrived, and has cut off all hope of my\n brother\u2019s recovery. If he could hold out till now, that is, ten\n days longer, he might recover; but I dare not allow myself to hope\n it, till I hear from you again. The people here, and in London, and\n every place, are swallowed up in sorrow. But sorrow and death will\n soon be swallowed up in life everlasting. You will be careful of my\n brother\u2019s papers, etc., till you see his executors. God shall reward\n your fidelity and love. I seem scarce separated from him whom I shall\n so very soon overtake. We were united in our lives, and in our death\n not divided. Brethren, pray a very little longer for your loving\n servant--CHARLES WESLEY.\n\n \u201c_Thursday Evening._\n\n \u201cYours of the 20th, I have this moment received. It only confirms\n my fears. My brother, soon after you wrote, in all probability,\n entered into the joy of his Lord. Yet write again, and send me the\n particulars. I have not, and never more shall have, strength for such\n a journey. The Lord prepare us for a speedy removal to our heavenly\n country!\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe tidings of Wesley\u2019s recovery produced corresponding joy. His old\nfriend and former itinerant, now the Rev. Dr. John Jones, of Harwich,\nwrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cHARWICH, _July 29, 1775_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I cannot express what I felt when I was\n informed that you were both senseless and speechless. It was like\n life from the dead when I heard you were out of danger and able to\n sit up. It gave me some hope, that God has not yet given up these\n sinful nations, and that He will strive with us a little longer. Time\n was when you would have taken my advice, at least, in some things.\n Let me entreat, let me beseech you, to preach less frequently,\n and that only at the principal places. You must be satisfied with\n directing others, and doing less yourself. You yourself do not know\n of how great importance your life is. Far be it from me to desire you\n not to travel; I only beg you not to go beyond your strength.\n\n \u201cJOHN JONES.\u201d[241]\n\nAnother friend, in London, wrote the following.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _July 8, 1775_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND SIR,--God, who comforteth those who are cast down, hath\n comforted us by graciously restoring you to us again. The prayer of\n faith has saved the sick. The voice of joy and gladness is now found\n in the dwellings of the righteous; where eight days past there were\n mourning, lamentation, and woe. Every social repast was embittered,\n and we literally mingled our drink with our tears. Could you, from\n the bed of sickness, have cast your eyes on the congregation, the\n first sabbath in the month, and beheld distress in every face, keen\n anguish in every heart, your generous soul would have been willing\n to have tarried awhile, absent from your Lord, to return to comfort\n those mourners in Sion. The tidings of your recovery was received\n with melting gratitude and joyous tears. O sir, what a week of\n suspense and anguish! You will not surely blame us, that our prayers\n helped to detain you in the vale below. Forgive your weeping friends\n if they have brought you back from the skies: surely, in the end, you\n will be amply recompensed! O yes! being longer employed in the work\n of faith, and labour of love, your crown will be the brighter.\u201d[242]\n\nThese are specimens of the loving congratulations of Wesley\u2019s\nfriends.[243] His illness was sharp, though short. The only lasting\neffect was, it stripped him, at all events for months afterwards, of\nhis beautiful head of hair.[244]\n\nHaving spent three weeks in Dublin, and regained his strength, he, on\nJuly 23, embarked for England, having in the morning of that day again\nassisted in administering the Lord\u2019s supper in St. Patrick\u2019s cathedral.\nLanding at Parkgate, he proceeded to Leeds to meet his conference,\npreaching, as he travelled, with as much zest as ever; except that he\nspent a day or two at Miss Bosanquet\u2019s, making conference preparations.\nNotwithstanding the warnings and entreaties of his friends, his labours\nwere unabated. Referring to his illness and recovery, he wrote, in\n1781: \u201cFrom this time\u201d (1775) \u201cI have, by the grace of God, gone on in\nthe same track, travelling between four and five thousand miles a year,\nand, once in two years, going through Great Britain and Ireland; which,\nby the blessing of God, I am as well able to do now as I was twenty or\nthirty years ago. About a hundred and thirty of my fellow labourers\nare continually employed in the same thing. We all aim at one point,\nnot at profit, any more than at ease, or pleasure, or the praise of\nmen; but to spread true religion through London, Dublin, Edinburgh,\nand, as we are able, through the three kingdoms. This is our point. We\nleave every man to enjoy his own opinion, and to use his own mode of\nworship, desiring only, that the love of God and his neighbour be the\nruling principle in his heart, and show itself in his life by a uniform\npractice of justice, mercy, and truth. And, accordingly, we give the\nright hand of fellowship to every lover of God and man, whatever his\nopinion or mode of worship be, of which he is to give an account to God\nonly.\u201d[245]\n\nDr. Jones\u2019s advice to Wesley was lost labour. Wesley\u2019s life was a\nperpetual motion. Work seemed to be essential to its continuance.\nThere are but few who can sincerely sing the lines, which he, from his\ninmost heart, sang so often:\n\n \u201cOh that, without a lingering groan,\n I may the welcome word receive,\n My body with my charge lay down,\n And cease _at once to work and live_!\u201d\n\nWesley, however, could give advice, though it was not always that he\ntook it. The following extract from a letter to his brother, written\nat this period, contains an example of this, besides referring to his\npublishing affairs and the movements of his miserable wife.\n\n \u201cLONDONDERRY, _June 2, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I thought it strange, that poor Samuel Franks should\n leave me \u00a3900 in debt. But it is stranger still, that John Atlay\n should have paid \u00a31600 out of nine; and that I am \u00a3160 in debt\n notwithstanding!\n\n \u201cMr. Walthen\u2019s method of radical cure I shall hardly try.[246] I am\n very easy, and that is enough.\n\n \u201cHas my friend taken a house at Bristol? Is Noah with her? What are\n they doing?\n\n \u201cPreach as much as you can, and no more than you can. You never will\n be much stronger till you add change of air to exercise; riding\n two or three hundred miles point blank forward. Now you have an\n opportunity. Meet me at Leeds with honest John Murlin. When you are\n tired you may change places with him. You would return a stout,\n healthy man.\n\n \u201cPeace be with you and yours! Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[247]\n\nAnother instance of advice giving is too racy to be omitted. The letter\nwas addressed to John King, one of his preachers in America.\n\n \u201cNEAR LEEDS, _July 28, 1775_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Always take advice or reproof as a favour: it is\n the surest mark of love.\n\n \u201cI advised you once, and you took it as an affront; nevertheless I\n will do it once more.\n\n \u201cScream no more, at the peril of your soul. God now warns you by me,\n whom He has set over you. Speak as earnestly as you can; but do not\n scream. Speak with all your heart; but with a moderate voice. It was\n said of our Lord, \u2018He shall not _cry_\u2019: the word properly means, He\n shall not _scream_. Herein, be a follower of me, as I am of Christ.\n I often speak loud, often vehemently; but I never scream; I never\n strain myself. I dare not: I know it would be a sin against God and\n my own soul. Perhaps one reason why that good man, Thomas Walsh, yea,\n and John Manners too, were in such grievous darkness before they\n died, was, because they shortened their own lives.\n\n \u201cO John, pray for an advisable and teachable temper! By nature you\n are very far from it: you are stubborn and headstrong. Your last\n letter was written in a very wrong spirit. If you cannot take advice\n from others, surely you might take it from your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[248]\n\nThe above characteristic letter was written at Miss Bosanquet\u2019s,\nCross Hall, Morley, where Wesley had arranged to have if possible, a\nfew days\u2019 retirement, before he met his conference, at Leeds. In a\nletter to that lady, dated May 29, 1775, and therefore previous to his\nillness, he writes: \u201cThe last day of June, I hope to be in Dublin, and\nthe end of July in England. If I have a ready passage, probably I may\nhave an opportunity of hiding myself a day or two with you; but I do\nnot desire any of the preachers to come to me till I send for them. If\nthey do, I shall run away; I will not be in a crowd.\u201d[249]\n\nOne or two days\u2019 retirement was not much for an old man to wish; but\nit was more than he could get. The preachers would not be prevented\nseeing him; and who can blame them? If the magnet attracts the needle,\nthe magnet has no right to censure the needle for yielding to its own\nattractive influence. An extract from an unpublished letter, written,\nat this period, by simple hearted, loving Samuel Bardsley, will\nillustrate what we mean. \u201cI never was at a better conference. The Lord\nwas with us of a truth. Had you seen us, and our dear, aged father and\nfriend in the midst of us, and beheld the freedom and harmony there\nwere among us, you would have blessed God on our behalf. We seemed to\nbe determined to live and preach the gospel more than ever. On the\nThursday before the conference began, Mr. Oliver and I had the pleasure\nof drinking tea and supping with dear Mr. Wesley, at Miss Bosanquet\u2019s,\nwhere we stopped all night. We were there when he arrived from Ireland,\nand I need not tell you with what joy and thankfulness we received the\nman of God, and especially as he appeared with his usual cheerfulness,\nand as well as we had seen him for some years. I had the pleasure of\nbeing with him alone, and desired him not to send me far from home. If\nhe had proposed Worcester to me, I would have gone; but, as he did not,\nI thought it best to leave it to him where to send me; so he fixed me\nin this circuit (Haworth), which I shall love, if I have health, and\nlive near to God.\u201d\n\nThe conference at Leeds opened on August 1, and concluded, its sittings\ntwo days afterwards. It was the largest that had assembled for many\nyears, and was unexampled for its free discussion.[250] Wesley writes:\n\u201cHaving received several letters, intimating that many of the preachers\nwere utterly unqualified for the work, having neither grace nor gifts\nsufficient for it, I determined to examine the weighty charge with all\npossible exactness. In order to this, I read those letters to all the\nconference; and begged, that every one would freely propose and enforce\nwhatever objection he had to any one. The objections proposed were\nconsidered at large; in two or three difficult cases, committees were\nappointed for that purpose. In consequence of this, we were all fully\nconvinced, that the charge advanced was without foundation; that God\nhas really sent those labourers into His vineyard, and has qualified\nthem for the work; and we were all more closely united together than we\nhad been for many years.\u201d\n\nThe very day after the conference concluded, Wesley again set out on\nhis blessed wanderings, and preached at Bradford and Great Horton. He\nthen took coach to London; spent five days there; and then went off to\nWales, Bristol, and Cornwall; and got back to London on October 6. The\nremainder of the year was spent, partly in the metropolis, and partly\nin his usual tours through Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire,\nBuckinghamshire, Norfolk, Kent, and Surrey.\n\nThe nation was too much excited, in 1775, to take much interest in\nthe Calvinian controversy; which, however, still proceeded. Fletcher\npublished \u201cThe Second Part of the Scripture Scales\u201d: 12mo, 237 pages.\nAlso, \u201cThe Last Check 1775 to Antinomianism. A Polemical Essay on\nthe Twin Doctrines of Christian Imperfection and a Death Purgatory.\u201d\n12mo, 327 pages. Toplady, likewise, issued \u201cThe Scheme of Christian and\nPhilosophical Necessity Asserted; in opposition to Mr. John Wesley\u2019s\nTract on that Subject.\u201d\n\nAs usual, Toplady excelled in abusiveness. He tells his readers, that\nthe chief ingredients in Wesley\u2019s tract are \u201can equal portion of gross\nheathenism, Pelagianism, Mahometism, popery, Manicheanism, ranterism,\nand antinomianism, culled, dried, and pulverized, _secundum artem_;\nand, above all, mingled with as much palpable atheism as could be\npossibly scraped together.\u201d Wesley is taunted as a \u201cpoor gentleman, who\nis necessarily an universal meddler; and, as necessarily, an universal\nmiscarrier.\u201d \u201cHe paddles in metaphysics, knows a little, presumes a\ngreat deal, and so jumps to conclusions.\u201d His \u201cThoughts on Necessity\u201d\nare \u201cas crude and dark as chaos.\u201d\n\nThis scurrility was a thing to which Wesley had been long accustomed.\nIt was cast upon him by writers of all descriptions. In this same\nyear, 1775, an octavo pamphlet of 35 pages was published, with the\ntitle, \u201cA Letter to a Friend on the Subject of Methodism;\u201d in which\nthe anonymous writer, among a multitude of other calumnies, declares\nthat the tendency of Wesley\u2019s system is \u201cto fill parishes with whores,\nrogues, and bastards\u201d; and defines Methodist preaching as \u201ca ridiculous\neffusion, delivered with an enthusiastic air, a distorted countenance,\na whining, snivelling accent, and a soporific, nasal twang.\u201d Wesley had\ntoo much of a gentleman\u2019s self respect to even notice vulgarities like\nthese; and yet they were far from being pleasant, and tend to show that\nMethodism struggled into its mighty manhood amid the incessant peltings\nof every kind of pitiless persecution. The storm, during Wesley\u2019s\nlifetime, from one quarter or another, was perpetual; but, powerless to\ndestroy, it simply made the roots of the tree strike deeper.\n\nTwo of Wesley\u2019s publications, in 1775, have been already noticed. The\nothers were:\n\n1. \u201cA Sermon on 1 John v. 7.\u201d Dublin: 12mo, 31 pages.\n\n2. \u201cThe Important Question. A Sermon, preached in Taunton, on September\n12, 1775. Published at the Request of many of the Hearers, for the\nBenefit of a Public Charity.\u201d 12mo, 33 pages. This sermon was delivered\nin the presbyterian chapel, and was made the means of converting Mrs.\nStone, in whose house Dr. Coke, shortly after, met Wesley\u2019s preachers,\nto confer with them about his religious scruples; and where he preached\nhis first sermon outside the precincts of a parish church.[251]\n\n3. \u201cA Concise History of England, from the earliest times to the death\nof George II.\u201d 12mo, 4 vols. Price, to subscribers, half a guinea.\nWesley says, his \u201cvolumes contain the substance of the English history,\nextracted chiefly from Dr. Goldsmith, Rapin, and Smollett; only with\nvarious corrections and additions.\u201d Wesley made a profit of \u00a3200 by\nthis publication; but gave it all away the week he got it.[252]\n\nFor many years, William Pine of Bristol had been Wesley\u2019s chief printer\nand publisher, and had recently brought out a revised edition of\nWesley\u2019s collected works, in thirty-two 12mo volumes. Henceforth, the\nconnection ceased. Pine became a red hot partisan of the rebellious\ncolonists. Wesley disliked this, and wrote as follows to his brother\nCharles.\n\n \u201cLEEDS, _July 31, 1775_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I must not delay answering your important question,\n \u2018What can be done with William Pine?\u2019 If he still, after my earnest\n warning, \u2018every week publishes barefaced treason,\u2019 I beg you would\n once more warn him, in my name and in your own; and if he slights or\n forgets this warning, then give him his choice, either to leave us\n quietly, or to be publicly disowned. At such a time as this, when our\n foreign enemies are hovering over us, and our own nation is all in a\n ferment, it is particularly improper to say one word which tends to\n inflame the minds of the people.\u201d[253]\n\nThus Wesley\u2019s loyalty to King George severed his connection with\nWilliam Pine, the weekly publisher of the once popular _Felix Farley\u2019s\nJournal_. Mr. Pine died in 1803.[254]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [221] Boswell\u2019s Life of Johnson.\n\n [222] Ibid.\n\n [223] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, 1797, p. 455.\n\n [224] Olivers\u2019 \u201cDefence,\u201d p. 19.\n\n [225] Vol. for 1775, p. 561.\n\n [226] Everett\u2019s Life of Dr. A. Clarke.\n\n [227] Asbury\u2019s Journal.\n\n [228] Words fearfully realised, first in America, next in\n France, and then throughout all Europe.\n\n [229] His \u201cCalm Address.\u201d\n\n [230] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., pp. 302-308.\n\n [231] Did Wesley mean this? That is, did he use it in any\n sense except that which immediately follows?\n\n [232] This may seem to clash with the tenor of Wesley\u2019s\n \u201cCalm Address\u201d; but the reader must recollect, that\n it was not until after the date of this letter that\n the \u201cCalm Address\u201d was written; and that Wesley\u2019s\n change of opinions did not occur until after the\n Leeds conference of 1775. Wesley\u2019s foresight,\n throughout the whole of this fearful war, was most\n remarkable.\n\n [233] It is a remarkable fact, that this letter was written\n within forty-eight hours before the disgraceful and\n disastrous battle at Bunker Hill, where Wesley\u2019s\n warnings to the premier and colonial secretary of\n England were too amply verified. With his itinerants\n in America, Wesley knew quite as much of American\n affairs as Lord North, and perhaps a little more.\n\n [234] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 726; and\n _Macmillan\u2019s Magazine_ for December, 1870.\n\n [235] These were not empty words, though Wesley was almost\n perpetually in war. In an unpublished letter, to\n Matthew Lowes, dated March 6, 1759, he writes: \u201cWhat\n would one not do, except sin, that brotherly love may\n continue!\u201d\n\n [236] _Methodist Magazine_, 1854, p. 691.\n\n [237] Life of Henry Moore.\n\n [238] _Methodist Magazine_, 1827, p. 800.\n\n [239] Ibid. 1834, p. 413.\n\n [240] York society book.\n\n [241] _Methodist Magazine_, 1787, p. 444.\n\n [242] Ibid. 1787, p. 552.\n\n [243] A curious 12mo tract, of four pages, was published,\n with the following title: \u201cSome Verses, occasioned\n by the severe Illness, much feared Dissolution,\n and almost miraculous Restoration, of the Rev. Mr.\n John Wesley, at Lisburne, in Ireland, July 2, 1775.\n London: printed for W. Kent, No. 116, High Holborn:\n 1775.\u201d These verses were directed to be _sung_ \u201cto\n the tune of \u2018Oliver\u2019s.\u2019\u201d\n\n [244] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 469.\n\n [245] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 359.\n\n [246] The cure of his hydrocele.\n\n [247] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 132.\n\n [248] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 309.\n\n [249] Ibid. p. 378.\n\n [250] Manuscript letter by Thomas Hanby.\n\n [251] _Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 568.\n\n [252] Ibid. 1845, p. 1168.\n\n [253] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 133.\n\n [254] J. Pawson\u2019s manuscript letter.\n\n\n\n\n 1776.\n Age 73\n\nWesley\u2019s first act, in 1776, was to join with eighteen hundred London\nMethodists in renewing his covenant with God. His next was to go to\nBristol, partly to bury his brother-in-law, poor Westley Hall; and\npartly to restrain some of the Bristol Methodists, who were in danger\nof turning republicans.\n\nThe health of Fletcher of Madeley being seriously affected by a violent\ncough, accompanied by spitting of blood, Wesley believed nothing was so\nlikely to restore his health as a long journey. \u201cI therefore,\u201d says he,\n\u201cproposed his taking a journey of some months with me, through various\nparts of England and Scotland; telling him, \u2018when you are tired, or\nlike it best, you may come into my carriage; but remember that riding\non horseback is the best of all exercises for you, so far as your\nstrength will permit.\u2019\u201d[255]\n\nWesley proposed not only this, but more than this, as is evident from\nFletcher\u2019s answer, hitherto unpublished.\n\n \u201cMADELEY, _January 9, 1776_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I received last night the favour of\n yours from Bristol. My grand desire is to be just what the Lord\n would have me be. I could, if you wanted a travelling\n assistant, accompany you, as my little strength would admit, in\n some of your excursions; but your recommending me to the\n societies, as one who might succeed you, (should the Lord call\n you hence before me,) is a step to which I could by no means\n consent. It would make me take my horse and gallop away.\n Besides, such a step would, at this juncture, be, I think,\n peculiarly improper, and would cast upon my vindication of your\n minutes such an odium as the Calvinists have endeavoured to\n cast upon your \u2018Address.\u2019 It would make people suspect, that\n what I have done for truth and conscience sake, I have done\n with a view of being, what Mr. Toplady calls, \u2018the bishop of\n Moorfields.\u2019 We ought to give as little hold to the evil\n surmising and rash judgments of our opponents as may be. If,\n nevertheless, Providence throws in your way a clergyman willing\n to assist us, it would be well to fall in with that\n circumstance.\n\n \u201cI sent to you in London, by the last post, a manuscript\n entitled, \u2018A Second Check to Civil Antinomianism,\u2019 being an\n extract from the \u2018Homily against Rebellion,\u2019 which I think\n might be spread at this time to shame Mr. Roquet, and to calm\n the people\u2019s mind. Whether it is worth publishing you will see.\n I suppose it will make a threepenny tract.\n\n \u201cWhat has made me glut our friends with my books is not my love\n to such publications; but a desire to make an end of the\n controversy. It is possible, however, that my design has\n miscarried, and that I have disgusted, rather than convinced,\n the people. I agree with you, sir, that now is the time to\n pray,--both for ourselves and our king,--for the Church of\n England and that part of it which is called the Methodists. I\n cast my mite of supplication into the general treasure. The\n Lord guide, support, and strengthen you more and more unto the\n end!\n\n \u201cI am, reverend and dear sir, your affectionate son and servant\n in the gospel,\n\n \u201cJOHN FLETCHER.\u201d[256]\n\nFletcher had overtaxed nature. His day of activity was comparatively\nover. True, he lived nine years longer; but, for two years, he lived\nin retirement with his friends, Mr. Greenwood at Newington, and\nMr. Ireland of Bristol, with the exception of the time he spent in\ntravelling with Wesley in quest of health; and upwards of three years\nmore were spent in Switzerland; when, returning to England, he was\nmarried, on November 12, 1781, to Miss Bosanquet, and died on August\n14, 1785.\n\nWesley writes: \u201cHe looked upon my proposal as a call from Providence,\nand willingly accepted it. He set out, (as I am accustomed to do,)\nearly in the spring of 1776, and travelled, by moderate journeys,\nsuited to his strength, which gradually increased, eleven or twelve\nhundred miles. When we returned to London, in the latter end of the\nyear, he was considerably better. And, I verily believe, if he had\ntravelled with me, partly in the chaise and partly on horseback, only\na few months longer, he would quite have recovered his health. But\nthis those about him would not permit; so, being detained in London by\nhis kind, but injudicious, friends, while I pursued my journeys, his\nspitting of blood, with all the other symptoms, returned, and rapidly\nincreased, till the physician pronounced him to be far advanced in\npulmonary consumption.\u201d[257]\n\nNo doubt, Wesley wished to have Fletcher as his coadjutor and\nsuccessor; but Providence determined otherwise. Fletcher had a great\nwork to do, and did it; but it was not ordained that Fletcher should\ntake Wesley\u2019s place.\n\nIt is a remarkable coincidence, that, in the very year when the health\nof Fletcher failed, Wesley formed an acquaintance with Thomas Coke.\nBorn and educated at Brecon, Coke was now twenty-nine years of age. He\nhad taken his degrees at Oxford, had received episcopal ordination,\nand, at present, was curate at South Petherton. Mr. Brown, a clergyman\nnear Taunton, lent him the sermons and journals of Wesley, and the\n\u201cChecks\u201d of Fletcher. In the month of August, 1776, Wesley was Mr.\nBrown\u2019s guest at Kingston, and Coke went to see him. Wesley writes:\n\u201c1776, August 13--I preached at Taunton, and afterwards went with Mr.\nBrown to Kingston. Here I found a clergyman, Dr. Coke, late a gentleman\ncommoner of Jesus college, Oxford, who came twenty miles on purpose\nto meet me. I had much conversation with him; and a union then began,\nwhich, I trust, shall never end.\u201d The doctor expressed his doubts\nrespecting the propriety of confining himself to one congregation.\nWesley clasped his hands, and, in a manner peculiarly his own, said:\n\u201cBrother, go out, go out, and preach the gospel to all the world!\u201d[258]\nCoke rode back to Petherton pensive, and yet consoled. The tone of his\nministry was now more decided than ever. The parish was remodelled,\nso to speak, into a circuit. On Sundays, after the second lesson, he\nwould read a paper of his appointments for the ensuing week, with the\nplace and time of service. His innovations, in preaching in cottages\nand barns, took a sort of Methodistic form, by being systematically\narranged. The disgust of his opponents in the parish became intense;\nand, to prevent his having the opportunity of preaching a farewell\nsermon, his rector, without any previous notice, at the close of a\npublic service, and in the presence of a listening congregation,\nabruptly announced that Coke was now dismissed. The die was cast. Coke\nattended Wesley\u2019s conference in Bristol, and, on August 19, 1777,\nWesley writes: \u201cI went to Taunton with Dr. Coke, who, being dismissed\nfrom his curacy, has bid adieu to his honourable name, and determined\nto cast in his lot with us.\u201d Henceforth, Thomas Coke was a Methodist\nitinerant preacher, and became the great organiser of Methodist\nmissions in other lands.\n\nWhen Wesley enacted rules, he meant them to be observed. Laxity in\nthe enforcement of discipline was to him a thing intolerable. He was\na thorough disciplinarian himself, and insisted that his preachers\nshould copy his example. Good as were the first Methodists, they were\nnot perfect. Then, as now, some were defective in their attendance at\nthe weekly class. In certain instances, as we have already seen, some\nwere guilty of the crime of smuggling. Others, in moderation, were\naddicted to taking drams, and others opium; and it often happened that\nthe oldest societies were the worst offenders. In 1776, both London\nand Newcastle were thus tainted; and Wesley was determined, with a\nstrong hand, to purge them. Hence the following extracts from letters,\naddressed, at this period, to Joseph Benson, stationed at Newcastle.\n\n \u201cWe must threaten no longer, but perform. In November last, I\n told the London society, \u2018Our rule is, to meet a class once a\n week; not once in two or three. I now give you warning: I will\n give tickets to none in February, but those that have done\n this.\u2019 I have stood to my word. Go you and do likewise,\n wherever you visit the classes. Begin, if need be, at\n Newcastle, and go on at Sunderland. Promises to meet are now\n out of date. Those, that have not met seven times in the\n quarter, exclude. Read their names in the society; and inform\n them all, you will the next quarter exclude all that have not\n met twelve times; that is, unless they were hindered by\n distance, sickness, or by some unavoidable business. And I\n pray, without fear or favour, remove the leaders, whether of\n classes or bands, who do not watch over the souls committed to\n their care \u2018as those that must give account.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhat would become of Methodist societies if these imperative directions\nof Methodism\u2019s founder were enforced now?\n\nBenson had expelled a smuggler, and Wesley wrote:\n\n \u201cYou did right in excluding from our society so notorious an\n offender. You have now a providential call to stand in the gap\n between the living and the dead. Fear nothing. Begin in the\n name of God, and go through with it. If only six will promise\n you to sin no more, leave only six in society. But my belief\n is, a hundred and fifty are now clear of blame; and, if you are\n steady, a hundred more will amend. You must, at all events,\n tear up this evil by the roots. The \u2018Word to a Smuggler\u2019 should\n be read and dispersed. And secure your fellow labourers, that\n you may all speak one thing. Go on, for God is with you! Not\n only the assistant, but every preacher, is concerned to see all\n our rules observed. I desire brother Rhodes will give no\n tickets, either to those who have not constantly met their\n classes, or to any that do not solemnly promise to deal in\n stolen goods no more. He and you together may put a stop to\n this crying sin. If any leader oppose, you see your remedy; put\n another in his place. Nay, if he does not join heart and hand;\n for \u2018he that gathereth not with you scattereth.\u2019 The \u2018Word to a\n Smuggler\u2019 is plain and home, and has done much good in Kent.\n Taking opium is full as bad as taking drams. It equally hurts\n the understanding, and is, if possible, more pernicious to the\n health, than even rum or brandy. None should touch it, if they\n have the least regard either for their souls or bodies.\u201d[259]\n\nThe year 1776 was a period of great national distress; and, yet, it\nwas now that Wesley started his scheme for the erection of Methodism\u2019s\ncathedral, the chapel in City Road. Who will write a history of\nLondon Methodism? or, which would be more popular, who will give the\nMethodists a monograph of the memories of Wesley\u2019s \u201cnew chapel\u201d in\nCity Road? Much might be said of the episcopal chapel in West Street,\nSeven Dials, of which Wesley obtained a lease, and which he opened on\nthe 29th of May, 1743, as a Methodist meeting-house, and which was\nso occupied until 1798, when it was superseded by the purchase of\nanother episcopal chapel, which then stood on part of the site of the\npresent Methodist chapel in Great Queen Street.[260] Then there was the\nvenerable chapel in Spitalfields, erected by the French protestants,\nand used by Wesley long before that in City Road was built, but which,\n_horresco referens!_ has given place to the brewery of Truman, Hanbury\n& Co.; and there is likewise its successor, also originally a French\nprotestant church, and still used for Methodist services, a chapel\nwhich has recently had dark days of adversity, but which is rich in\nreligious memories, and has witnessed many a marvellous revival of the\nwork of God. There is Chelsea, whose first Methodist meeting place\nwas an upper room in the house of an elderly woman, Mrs. Day, who\nresided in Royal Hospital Row; and its next, one of the dancing rooms\nin the celebrated Ranelagh Gardens, for which a rent was paid of ten\nguineas per annum; and in which Wesley preached only about two months\nprevious to his death, taking as his text words which his long life\nhad illustrated: \u201cThe king\u2019s business requires haste.\u201d[261] There is\nLambeth, where, in 1772, good old John Edwards opened his house for\npreaching; and then converted an adjoining building into a decent\nchapel; a man of vigorous mind, retentive memory, and fluent speech;\nfor almost forty years an effective local preacher, and who, while on a\npreaching expedition, died at Irchester, in the county of Northampton,\nin 1803.[262] In London East, there was the old chapel in Gravel Lane,\nwhich, in 1811, was required for the London Docks; and its successor\nin Back Road, required by the Black wall railway company.[263] There\nwas the schoolroom near Mill Pond Bridge, Rotherhithe, succeeded by the\npurchased chapel in Albion Street.[264] There was Hoxton chapel, which\noriginally belonged to the Dissenters; and there were the venerable\nmeeting-houses at Wapping, Snowsfields, Peckham, and other places. All\nthese have a history well worth writing, to say nothing of the parent\nof them all, the old pantile Foundery, Methodism\u2019s honoured cradle; and\nof which the Methodists retained possession, at least as late as the\nyear 1785, when they received for it, in the shape of rent, \u00a314 per\nyear.[265]\n\nThen how rich the mine of London Methodist biography! Confining\nourselves to Wesley\u2019s days, there is--Mary Cheesebrook, originally\na kept mistress, converted in West Street chapel, never absent from\nthe Foundery preaching, though, to be in time, she often had to run\nthe distance, and who, every Saturday, after paying her little debts,\ngave away all the money she had left, leaving the morrow to take\nthought for the things of itself:--Mrs. Witham, a mother in Israel,\nan eminent pattern of calm boldness for the truth, of simplicity\nand godly sincerity, of unwearied constancy in attending all the\nordinances of God, of zeal for God and for all good works, and of\nself denial in every kind:--Elizabeth Langdon, whose trials were\nsevere, and her death tranquil:--Hannah Lee, a model of industry,\nmeekness, and patience:--Mary Naylor, distinguished for her Christian\ncourage, and plainness of speech and of apparel:--Thomas Salmon, a\ngood and useful man:--Joseph Norbury, a faithful witness of Jesus\nChrist:--William Hurd, a son of affliction, whose end was peace:--John\nMatthews, who, for some months before his death, was wont to say, \u201cI\nhave no more doubt of being in heaven, than if I was there already\u201d;\nand of whom Wesley writes: \u201cA man of so faultless a behaviour I have\nhardly ever been acquainted with. During twenty years, I do not\nremember his doing or saying anything which I would wish to have been\nunsaid or undone\u201d:--Ann Wheeler, who, twenty-five years before her\ndeath, while attending preaching in Moorfields, was struck in the\nforehead with a stone, the mark of which her unborn daughter bore to\nher dying day:--Rebecca Mills, always firm and unmoved, resting on\nthe Rock of ages, and in life and death uniformly praising the God\nof her salvation:--Elizabeth Duchesne, for near forty years zealous\nof good works, and who shortened her days by labouring for the poor\nbeyond her strength:--William Osgood, a good man, who began life\nin poverty, but increased more and more till he was worth several\nthousand pounds:--Michael Hayes, who lived above a hundred and four\nyears, mostly in vigorous health, and as he lived, so died, praising\nGod:--Mrs. Kiteley, a perfect pattern of true womanhood, a good wife,\na good parent, a good mistress, who, after many years of active\nbenevolence, redeemed a poor friendless youth from prison, took the\njail distemper, and died:--Heller Tanner, diligent, patient, loving\nto every man, and zealous of good works:--Bilhah Aspernell, who, for\nsix-and-thirty years, without intermission, walked in the light of\nGod\u2019s countenance, was always in pain, yet always rejoicing, and going\nabout doing good; who on Sunday evening met her class as usual, and\nthe next day sent for her old fellow traveller, Sarah Clay, and said\nto her, \u201cSally, I am going.\u201d \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d She cheerfully\nanswered, \u201cTo my Jesus, to be sure!\u201d and spoke no more:--Thomas Vokins,\na man of a sorrowful spirit, who always hung down his head like a\nbulrush, but who died triumphing over pain and death, and rejoicing\nwith joy full of glory:--Mr. Bespham, many years master of a man of\nwar, whose faith was full of mercy and good fruits:--George Parsons,\na flame of fire wherever he went, losing no occasion of speaking or\nworking for God; so zealously, so humbly, so unreservedly devoted\nto God, that few like him were left behind him:--Eleanor Lee, who\nlived in the enjoyment of perfect love for sixteen years, and of whom\nWesley testified, \u201cI never saw her do any action, little or great,\nnor heard her speak any word, which I could reprove\u201d:--Ann Thwayte,\na woman of faith and prayer, for whom Wesley preached a funeral\nsermon:--Merchant West, a pattern of diligence in all things, spiritual\nand temporal:--Charles Greenwood, a melancholy man, full of doubts\nand fears, but who, two days before he died, was made so unspeakably\nhappy that he exclaimed, \u201cGod has revealed to me things which it is\nimpossible for man to utter\u201d:--George Hufflet, for many years a burning\nand shining light:--Ann Sharland, whose cancer in her breast caused\nher continual pain, but who triumphed gloriously through Christ;--and\nRobert Windsor, prudent, serious, diligent, full of mercy and good\nfruits.\n\nAll these died during Wesley\u2019s lifetime. The temptation to add to them\nis great. We should like to tell of William Palmer, Wesley\u2019s first\nclassleader in London; and of his son, who was blind from infancy, was\none of the first to form the Community, or body of workhouse visitors,\noften made preaching excursions into different parts of the country,\nwith Wesley\u2019s sanction, and died in 1822, after being sixty-two years\na Methodist.[266] Old Thomas Gibbs of Lambeth, also, deserves a place\nin Methodism\u2019s gallery,--a patriarch, who lived to the age of one\nhundred and four years, eighty-three of which he had been a member of\nWesley\u2019s society; and who, at his death, in 1827, was probably the\noldest Methodist in the world.[267] There is Isaac Andrews, one of\nthe original subscribers to City Road chapel, a man of unimpeachable\nChristian character, a Methodist of sixty years\u2019 standing, who died\nat the age of eighty-two, in 1832.[268] There is Mrs. Maddan, whose\nmother, Mrs. Varin, was the eighth person whom Wesley received into\nchurch fellowship, when forming his infant society in Fetter Lane.\nThere are Mrs. Mortimer and Mrs. Bruce, of whom the Rev. Richard Watson\nused to say, \u201cthey were the two finest specimens of primitive Methodism\nthat he knew;\u201d the latter being the daughter of parents who were among\nthe eighteen persons who first joined Wesley in Christian fellowship,\nin 1739.[269] We cannot find room for more.\n\nFor five-and-thirty years, Wesley and his friends had worshipped\nin \u201cthe old Foundery.\u201d Here hundreds, perhaps thousands, had been\nconverted; but, as the building was only held on lease, they were now\nin danger of losing it. On October 19, 1775, Wesley, writing to his\nbrother, says: \u201con Friday I hope to be in London, and to talk with the\ncommittee about building a new Foundery.\u201d[270] A few months later, he\nwrote again: \u201c1776, March 1--As we cannot depend on having the Foundery\nlong, we met to consult about building a new chapel. Our petition to\nthe city for a piece of ground lies before their committee; but when we\nshall get any further, I know not: so I determined to begin my circuit\nas usual; but promised to return whenever I should receive notice that\nour petition was granted.\u201d Exactly five months after this, Wesley\nstarted the first subscription, and, at three meetings, raised upwards\nof \u00a31000. In November following, building plans were agreed upon; in\nApril 1777, Wesley laid the foundation stone; and on Sunday, November\n1, 1778, he opened his new sanctuary, by preaching, in the morning, on\npart of Solomon\u2019s prayer at the dedication of the temple; and in the\nafternoon, on the hundred, forty and four thousand standing with the\nLamb on mount Zion. He writes: \u201cIt is perfectly neat, but not fine; and\ncontains far more people than the Foundery: I believe, together with\nthe morning chapel, as many as the Tabernacle.\u201d\n\nThe chapel in City Road will always stand as a thanksgiving monument,\nraised, not by the London Methodists merely, but by Methodists\nthroughout the three kingdoms. No sooner was it resolved to build, than\nWesley issued the following circular, an original copy of which now\nlies before us.\n\n \u201c_October 18, 1776._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--The society at _London_ have given\n assistance to their brethren in various parts of England. They\n have done this for upwards of thirty years: they have done it\n cheerfully and liberally. The first year of the subscription\n for the _general debt_, they subscribed above _nine hundred\n pounds_; the next, above _three hundred_; and not much less\n every one of the ensuing years.\n\n \u201cThey now stand in need of assistance themselves. They are\n under a necessity of building; as the _Foundery_, with all the\n adjoining houses, is shortly to be pulled down. And the city of\n London has granted ground to build on; but on condition of\n covering it, and with large houses in front, which, together\n with the new chapel, will, at a very moderate computation, cost\n upwards of _six thousand pounds_. I must, therefore, beg the\n assistance of all our brethren. _Now_ help the _parent_\n society, which has helped others, for so many years, so\n willingly and so largely. _Now_ help _me_, who account this as\n a kindness done to myself; perhaps, the last of this sort which\n I shall ask of you. Subscribe what you conveniently can, to be\n paid either now, or at Christmas, or at Ladyday next.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n\n \u23a7 JOHN DUPLEX,\n \u23aa CHARLES GREENWOOD,\n \u23aa RICHARD KEMP,\n \u201cThe Trustees are \u23a8 SAMUEL CHANCELLOR,\n \u23aa CHARLES WHEELER,\n \u23aa WILLIAM COWLAND,\n \u23a9 JOHN FOLGHAM.\u201d\n\nWe are afraid to enter into details, respecting the New Chapel, in City\nRoad. John Pawson, who was appointed to the office of assistant in the\nLondon circuit, within two years after the chapel was opened, tells us,\nin an unpublished manuscript, that the plan proposed was to build an\nelegant chapel, such as even the lord mayor might attend, without any\ndiminishing of his official dignity; and that it should be _wholly_\nsupplied by ordained clergymen of the Established Church on Sundays,\nwhen the liturgy should be constantly read at both morning and evening\nservice; and this, for a considerable time after the chapel was opened,\nwas regularly done. No layman, so called,--that is, no itinerant\npreacher not episcopally ordained, was allowed to officiate within\nits walls, except on week days. Charles Wesley, Thomas Coke, and\nJohn Richardson were City Road\u2019s only sabbatic priests: Pawson, Jaco,\nRankin, Tennent, Olivers, and others, though better preachers than\nany of the trio, were not admitted; because their heads had not been\ntouched by a bishop\u2019s fingers. Pawson says, that Richardson and Coke\ndisapproved of this arrangement; but Charles Wesley persisted, until\nthe congregations so fell off, and the society was thrown into such\nconfusion, that the trustees of the chapel met, and waited on Charles\nWesley with a request, that he would not preach so often at City\nRoad, but would go sometimes to West Street on Sundays, and allow the\nitinerants to take his place on the hitherto forbidden ground. Charles\nreluctantly submitted; but wrote to his brother, casting all the blame\nupon the poor, tabooed itinerants, and stating that it was wholly owing\nto their deep rooted prejudices against the clergy of the Established\nChurch, that these events had happened.\n\nFor many years, the men sat on one side the chapel, and the women on\nthe other; and, besides this, there was another usage, which would not\nbe popular at the present day: all the pews and seats were open. Large\nnumbers paid for seats; but no one was allowed to call a seat, or a\npew, his own. In 1788, the trustees endeavoured to make an alteration\nin both the respects just mentioned; \u201cthus overthrowing,\u201d says\nWesley, \u201cat one blow, the discipline which I have been establishing\nfor fifty years!\u201d He continues, however: \u201cwe had another meeting of\nthe committee; who, after a calm and loving consultation, judged it\nbest--(1) that the men and women should sit separate still; and (2)\nthat none should claim any pew as his own, either in the new chapel, or\nin West Street.\u201d\n\nThe days of the old Foundery have long been ended; the \u201cNew Chapel\u201d\nin City Road still stands, and we trust will ever stand, by far the\nmost sacred and attractive edifice in the Methodistic world. Not\nfor a hundred pretentious gothic structures would Methodists of the\nolden type give up this. Though its ceiling may be somewhat low, yet,\ntaken as a whole, its architecture, for neatness, and commodiousness,\nand solidity, has been but rarely equalled, by the more pretentious\nMethodist buildings of the present day. We are weary of gothic\ngaudiness, sacrificing the interests of the church of God to the pride\nof showy architects, and the medi\u00e6val whims of Methodists in danger of\nrelapsing into medi\u00e6val darkness. Let the present race of Methodists\nhave wisdom and modesty enough to build their chapels according to the\nplan adopted by a man, in all respects, their superior--Methodism\u2019s\nfounder. Hail to old City Road! When we think of the ministers who have\noccupied its pulpit, of the families who have filled its pews, of the\ndead resting in graves round about its walls, and of the interesting\nevents which make up its story,--we feel that of all the Methodist\nmeeting-houses in existence, gothic or otherwise, marble or mudden,\nthere is not one to equal this.\n\nFor many a long year, the chapel in City Road was the head of London\nMethodism; and, though there are now more than twenty heads, all owe\na respectful obeisance to this. Its circuit plan, from June 17 to\nSeptember 23, 1792, eighteen inches broad and fifteen deep, is simply\nheaded, \u201cA Plan for the Preachers in London;\u201d the word Methodist, or\nMethodism, not being printed in any part of it. The preaching places,\nand hours of preaching, are as follows:--New Chapel, 9 a.m. and 5\np.m.; West Street, 9, 3 and 7; Spitalfields, 10 and 3; Wapping, 10\nand 5; Snowsfields, 10 and 5; Lambeth, 6; Westminster, 5; Peckham, 3;\nRotherhithe, 10 and 5; Deptford, 7, 10, and 5; Chelsea, 6; Brentford,\n10, 2, and 6; Dorking, 11, 2, and 5; Raynham, 10 and 5; Purfleet, 9 and\n5; Woolwich, 2 and 6; Wandsworth, 6; Mitcham, 2 and 6; Croydon, 2 and\n6; Bromley, 3; Barnet, 2 and 5; Poplar, 11 and 5; Bow, 5; Stratford,\n11 and 5; Barking, 5; Leyton, 5; Grosvenor Market, 6; Ratcliff Cross,\n2; Christ Church, 5; Clerkenwell, 6; Kentish Town, 6; and Seven Dials\nwithout an hour. Such was London circuit at the time when Wesley died.\n\nInteresting citations might be made from the old City Road society\nbook, extending from August 23, 1784, to July 9, 1800. We learn, that\nsacramental collections were, upon an average, a little more than \u00a33\neach; and monthly collections, for \u201cthe furtherance of the gospel,\u201d\nabout \u00a36 10_s._ The sacrament was administered once a week; and what is\nnow known among the Methodists as a _quarterly_ collection was then\nmade once a month as just referred to. The entire circuit income, for\n1786, was \u00a3862 16_s._ 5_d._, which included sacramental collections\nand payments for graves, all of which were then appropriated to\ncircuit purposes. Strangely enough, there is no entry of class moneys\ntill 1788, from which time such entries were regularly made. Had the\npractice of collecting pence weekly in the classes been superseded by\ncollections made at the weekly sacraments? This is not improbable; for,\nfrom the time when class moneys are entered as a part of the circuit\nincome, the entries of sacramental collections, and collections for\nthe furtherance of the gospel, cease. For the year 1787, including all\nsources of income, the average contribution per member per year was in\nthis great London circuit 3_s._ 10\u00bd_d._, or less than a shilling per\nmember per quarter. How far was this from the requirement of Wesley\u2019s\nrules? Who will say that the former days were better than these?\nBesides, all that was contributed was not current coin; for in the same\nyear there is a charge deducted of not less than \u00a310 14_s._ 9\u00bd_d._\nfor bad money given at collections.\n\nMany are the curious items in the list of circuit payments and\nallowances. The yearly salary paid to Wesley was \u00a330; to his brother\n\u00a360; to Creighton, \u00a361; to Dickenson, \u00a350; to Coke, \u00a330; while the\nquarterage to the itinerants, and to their wives respectively, was \u00a33\neach. With a few more extracts we conclude this lengthened notice of\nLondon Methodism, during the last seven years of Wesley\u2019s life. \u201c1784:\nNovember 7, a new pail, half a crown; December 6, chain for dog, two\nshillings. 1785: January 4, shaving the preachers, \u00a32 10_s._ 6_d._;\nFebruary 18, \u201cnews pappers,\u201d 13_s._; May 18, lamplighter, four weeks,\n6_s._; August 8, Mr. Tennant, to pay his debts, and to send him to\nLeeds, \u00a39 9_s._; August 13, letters, four weeks, \u00a32 15_s._ 8\u00bd_d._\nAugust 19, for shaving the preachers at conference, \u00a37 5_s._ 3_d._\n1787: February 2, two trees for front of dwelling house, 3_s._ 6_d._;\nDecember 17, for curtain over the altar, \u00a35 1_s._ 9_d._ 1789: March 28,\npaid expenses of a hogshead of cider, from Guernsey, a present to Mr.\nWesley, \u00a31 9_s._; July 7, paid the man servant a quarter\u2019s wages, \u00a31\n1_s._; December 29, paid Mr. Moore for cold bath, \u00a31 1_s._ 1790: July\n1, the hairdresser\u2019s bill, \u00a31 1_s._, for one quarter. 1791: February\n22, paid the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s salary (the last he received) \u00a315; April\n20, paid for Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s horses standing at livery after his\ndecease, \u00a31 11_s._ 9_d._; December 3, paid Mr. Judd\u2019s bill for hanging\nthe New Chapel with black superfine cloth, \u00a341 16_s._\u201d[271]\n\nThese may seem little things to introduce into a work like this; but\nlittle things often indicate greater, and, sometimes, it is only by\nknowing minute matters that men can form a correct opinion of a great\ngeneral system.\n\nAfter this long, but we hope not uninteresting digression, we must\nreturn to Wesley in 1776.\n\nOn Sunday evening, March 3, he set out from London to Bristol, and\nthence to his societies in the north. The tour was not completed until\nthe 19th of July following, when he got back to London. Its incidents\nwere much the same as previous ones, except that he was permitted\nto preach in a larger number of churches than usual,--namely, at\nPebworth, Chowbent, Heptonstall, Bingley, Haworth, Colne, and at Banff\nin Scotland,[272] a proof that clerical prejudice was subsiding, and\nthat the poor branded outcast was beginning to be regarded with a\nmore favourable eye. The churches that he occupied in Yorkshire were\ncrowded. Thomas Taylor, at that time in the Haworth circuit, writes,\nin his unpublished diary: \u201cSaturday, April 27--Mr. Wesley preached at\nBradford, at 5 a.m. At 10\u00bd, to the surprise of many, he preached\nin Bingley church, from Acts xxiv. 25. I never saw him weep while\npreaching before now. He spoke awfully, and the congregation heard\nattentively. The next day (Sunday) I heard him at Keighley in the\nmorning, and then at Haworth church. Afterwards, the sacrament was\nadministered, but in too great a hurry. Several hundreds communicated\nin less than an hour. We then dined, in haste and confusion, and drove\noff to Colne. I rode fast, and got thither before Mr. Wesley. The\nstreet was filled with people waiting to welcome him; but, when about\ntwo miles from Colne, his chaise broke down, which somewhat delayed\nhis coming. He mounted a horse, however, and so arrived in safety. The\ncrowd was so great that it was with difficulty we got into the church.\nThe sexton led us to the reading desk, and thereby I got a seat. Mr.\nWesley\u2019s text was Revelation xx. 12. At the beginning he was rather\nflat; but, at the end, he spake many awful things.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s journey to the north was always one continued panorama of\ntoil and travel, preaching and praying, conferring with his preachers\nand visiting the sick. Hardly one in a thousand could have borne the\nburden of its labours without bending; and yet Wesley, an old man, was\nalways, in the midst of gigantic toils, blithe and happy; and never\nwent northwards without making his large circuit larger. Besides other\nplaces, he now, for the first, time, preached at Chesterfield. Three\nyears before, Jeremiah Cocker had gone from Sheffield, and stood on\na table, in the midst of the market place, and begun to preach. A\nman, hired for the purpose, pulled him down. Jerry again mounted his\nrostrum, and was again pulled down. A third time he ascended, and\na third time his assailant brought him to the ground. The old Adam\nnow began to stir in the athletic preacher, and, seizing the man, he\ngave him a shake hardly gentle. \u201cThat is not the spirit of Christ,\u201d\nshouted the mob, which, all at once, had become pious. \u201cI acknowledge\nit,\u201d said Jerry; and again he jumped upon his table, and finished his\ndiscourse.[273]\n\nWesley opened the conference of 1776, in London, on August 6, and\nconcluded it three days afterwards. He writes: \u201cIn several conferences\nwe have had great love and unity; but in this there was, over and\nabove, such a general seriousness and solemnity of spirit as we\nscarcely ever had before.\u201d \u201cEverything,\u201d says Thomas Taylor, \u201cwas\nconducted in great order. A very strict scrutiny was made into every\none\u2019s character; and I am glad so few were found culpable.\u201d[274]\n\nThe truth is, objections to the preachers had become so rife, that\nWesley felt it to be his duty to interfere. He writes: \u201cIt is objected,\nthat some of our preachers are utterly unqualified for the work, and\nthat others do it negligently, as if they imagined they had nothing\nto do but to preach once or twice a day. In order to silence this\nobjection for ever, which has been repeated ten times over, the\npreachers were examined at large, especially those concerning whom\nthere was the least doubt. The result was, that one was excluded\nfor inefficiency, and two for misbehaviour. And we were thoroughly\nsatisfied, that all the rest had both grace and gifts for the work\nwherein they are engaged. I hope, therefore, we shall hear of this\nobjection no more.\u201d\n\nEven in 1776, as now, there were crabbed, cantankerous Methodists, to\nwhom discipline was a blessing. Those in Ireland refused to contribute\nto the yearly collection, saying, it \u201cwas nothing to _them_; they\nwould only bear their own expenses.\u201d This was worse than foolish; it\nwas disloyal and unjust. In their own fashion, they were willing to\nfeed and clothe the preachers sent to them; but they expected some\none else to pay their expenses for travelling, and for the sickness\nof themselves and their families; or, perhaps, these Irish Methodists\nhad dreamt that itinerants travelled without expense, and, so far as\nsickness was concerned and the need of medicine, were entirely exempted\nfrom the dire effects of Adam\u2019s curse. Wesley says, with honest\nindignation: \u201cThese are properly _their_ expenses; nor will we pay any\npart of them for the time to come, unless their yearly contribution\nenable us so to do.\u201d If the Irish stopped supplies on one side of the\nchannel, Wesley could stop supplies on the other side as well. This\nprobably was a dilemma which the simple Hibernians had not studied.\n\nThere was another unpleasantness at the conference of 1776. Circuit\nstewards complained, that some of the preachers\u2019 wives were sluts,\nand spoiled their houses; and the preachers, on the other hand,\ncomplained that their houses were hardly homes, for the people, without\nceremony, crowded into them as into coffee houses. Wesley dealt with\nboth complaints in his own laconic way; directing that no \u201cknown slut\u201d\nshould have a house to spoil; and that no person, either on Sundays or\nweek days, should go into the preacher\u2019s house except to ask a question.\n\nThe conference pronounced the opinion, that Calvinism had been the\ngrand hindrance of the work of God; and, hence, to stop its progress,\nall the preachers were requested--(1) To read, with carefulness,\nthe tracts published by Wesley, Fletcher, and Sellon. (2) To preach\nuniversal redemption frequently, explicitly, and lovingly. (3) Not\nto imitate the Calvinist preachers in screaming, allegorising, and\nboasting; but to visit as diligently as they did, to answer all\ntheir objections, to advise the Methodists not to hear them, to pray\nconstantly and earnestly that God would stop the plague.\n\nWas it wise to publish this? We doubt it; and so did Toplady, for he\nimmediately, without note or comment, republished it in his _Gospel\nMagazine_, with the heading \u201cAuthentic Extract of what passed at a\ncertain Confabulation, held at London, August 6, 1776.\u201d\n\nThe Isle of Man now began to attract attention. John Crook was the\nson of a Lancashire physician, who squandered his own and his wife\u2019s\nfortunes, and then died a miserable and untimely death at sea. John\nwas put apprentice to learn a laborious trade, and then enlisted to\nbe a soldier; when he was sent to Limerick, where, at the age of\ntwenty-eight, he was converted, in the Methodist chapel, in the year\n1770. Having purchased his discharge from the army, he returned to\nLiverpool, where he became a classleader, and a local preacher. At the\nbeginning of 1775, he went, uncommissioned except by God Himself, to\nthe Isle of Man, and began to preach, and had the lieutenant governor,\nand his lady, and all the family, and the chief people in Castletown,\nto hear him. Numbers had been converted; and persecution had begun to\nrage. On July 16, 1776, the following episcopal bull was issued.\n\n \u201c_To the several Rectors, Vicars, Chaplains, Curates, within\n the Isle and Diocese of Man._\n\n \u201cREVEREND BRETHREN,--Whereas, we have been informed, that\n several unordained, unauthorised, and unqualified persons from\n other countries have presumed, for some time past, to preach\n and teach publicly, and hold and maintain conventicles, and\n have caused several weak persons to combine themselves together\n in a new society, and have private meetings, assemblies, and\n congregations, contrary to the doctrine, government, rites and\n ceremonies of the Established Church, and the civil and\n ecclesiastical laws of this island--\n\n \u201cWe do, therefore, for the prevention of schism, and the\n establishment of uniformity of religious worship, which so long\n hitherto has subsisted among us, hereby desire and require each\n and every one of you, to be vigilant and use your utmost\n endeavours to dissuade your respective flocks from following,\n or being led and misguided by, such incompetent teachers, and\n to exhort, incite, and invite them devoutly to read the holy\n Scripture, to attend reverently the blessed sacraments of their\n parish church, and the ghostly advice of their own ministers,\n by which they will be better and more comfortably instructed in\n the meaning of grace and salvation, than by the crude and\n pragmatical and inconsistent, if not profane and blasphemous,\n extempore effusions of these pretenders to the true religion;\n and, if afterwards they regard not the truth, but obstinately\n persist in error, then to know and find out the names of such\n persons, within your respective parishes and chapelries, as\n attend the public instructions of the said disorderly and\n unqualified teachers, or frequent the said conventicles,\n meetings, assemblies, and congregations; and if, upon due\n inquiry and certain information, you discover, or, consistently\n with your own knowledge, know any licensed schoolmaster,\n mistress, parish clerk, or any other person, who holds any\n office or employment by licence from us or our predecessors,\n that you signify and make known to us in writing the names,\n within one month after the receipt hereof, as also unto our\n reverend vicars general or any one of them, of the persons who\n attend the instructions of the said teachers, or frequent the\n said conventicles.\n\n \u201cAnd we, likewise, further desire and require each and every\n one of you, in case any of the above mentioned unordained,\n unauthorised, and unqualified teachers shall, at any time\n hereafter, offer to partake of the holy communion in any of\n your respective churches or chapels, that you repel him or them\n so offering, and the minister so repelling them or any of them\n to give an account of the same unto us within fourteen days, at\n the farthest, as is directed in the rubric in that behalf.\n\n \u201cGiven at Peeltown, July 16, 1776.\n\n \u201cR. SODOR AND MAN.\n\n \u201cP.S.--Let these be forwarded, in the usual manner, and the time\n of receiving and forwarding be noted by each of you. You will\n also take a copy thereof, and publish it, in English and Manx,\n at the usual time, in your respective churches and chapels the\n Sunday next after the receipt thereof.\u201d[275]\n\nSuch was the _fulmen brutum_ discharged at the poor Methodists from the\nepiscopal battery of the Isle of Man. Twelve days later, John Crook\nwrote as follows to a friend at Liverpool.\n\n \u201cCASTLETOWN, ISLE OF MAN, _July 28, 1776_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am now in hot war. The devil has stirred\n up the Rev. Mr. Moor, of Douglas, and made a firebrand of him,\n to set all the island on fire. This gentleman has set his\n schoolboys to work, to write chosen texts of Scripture against\n _false prophets, dreamers of dreams, running and not being\n sent_, etc. He has also picked up a ballad, written, I fancy,\n by the late Dr. Bowden, and has dispersed manuscript copies of\n it, and of the texts, among the populace, and put them into a\n most violent flame. The effect on us, as a society, is, we are\n hooted at, slutched, and stoned, whenever we go to worship God.\n Mr. Moor\u2019s scholars, in particular, and the rabble of the town\n in general, gather round our place of meeting, and first sing\n the blasphemous ballad, and then proceed to throw dirt and\n stones at the windows and door. As for myself, when I come out\n they plentifully salute me with channel dirt, with which they\n have often plastered me pretty well. When the scholars meet me\n at mid day, they curse me most horribly, and throw at me chips,\n hard pieces of mortar, potatoes, stones, or whatever comes to\n hand. But if this were all, we might do well enough; but this\n _brand_ has communicated the infectious blaze to the bishop,\n who has issued a bull, dated, not Rome, but Peeltown, which was\n published in the churches last sabbath. I have petitioned the\n governor for liberty of conscience, but he and the bishop are\n so unanimous, that, he says, he will not interfere in the case,\n but wishes me to write a memorial setting forth my suit. I am\n not willing to do this, but have given Mr. Wesley an account of\n the matter, and hope he will direct me how to act.\n\n \u201cI am, your willing servant in the gospel,\n\n \u201cJOHN CROOK.\u201d[276]\n\nWesley replied to Mr. Crook as follows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _August 10, 1776_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--By all means, stay in the island till the\n storm be ended: in your patience possess your soul. Beware of\n despising your opponents! Beware of anger and resentment!\n Return not evil for evil, or railing for railing. I advise you\n to keep, with a few serious people, a day of fasting and\n prayer. God has the hearts of all men in His hands. Neither Dr.\n Moor, nor the bishop himself, is out of His reach. Be fervent\n in prayer, that God would arise and maintain His own cause.\n Assuredly, He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you\n are able to bear. Violent methods of redress are not to be\n used, till all other methods fail. I know pretty well the mind\n of Lord Mansfield, and of one that is greater than he; but, if\n I appealed to them, it would bring much expense and\n inconvenience on Dr. Moor and others. I would not willingly do\n this; I love my neighbour as myself. Possibly, they may think\n better, and allow that liberty of conscience which belongs to\n every partaker of human nature, and more especially to every\n one of his majesty\u2019s subjects in his British dominions. To live\n peaceably with all men is the earnest desire of your\n affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[277]\n\nThree years after this, the Isle of Man was a flourishing Methodist\ncircuit, with 1051 members of society.\n\nNo sooner was the conference in London ended, than Wesley set out, on\nSunday afternoon, August 11, for Cornwall. On his return, he spent, as\nusual, about a month at Bristol and in its vicinity. He began what, he\nsays, he had long intended, visiting the Bristol society from house\nto house, setting apart at least two hours a day for that purpose. He\npreached in the church at Midsomer Norton, the rector making one of his\ncongregation. Here an incident occurred which was characteristic of the\nman, and is worth relating. Wesley was entertained at the house of Mr.\nBush, a local preacher, who kept a boarding school. While there, two of\nthe boys quarrelled, and cuffed and kicked each other most vigorously.\nMrs. Bush brought the pugilists to Wesley. He talked to them, and\nrepeated the lines:\n\n \u201cBirds in their little nests agree,\n And \u2019tis a shameful sight,\n When children of one family\n Fall out, and chide, and fight.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must be reconciled,\u201d said he; \u201cgo and shake hands with each\nother.\u201d They did so. \u201cNow,\u201d he continued, \u201cput your arms round each\nother\u2019s neck, and kiss each other.\u201d This was also done. \u201cNow,\u201d said he,\n\u201ccome to me\u201d; and, taking two pieces of bread and butter, he folded\nthem together, and desired each to take a part. \u201cNow,\u201d he added,\n\u201cyou have broken bread together.\u201d He then put his hands upon their\nheads, and blessed them. The two tigers were turned into loving lambs;\nthey never forgot the old man\u2019s blessing; and one of them became a\nmagistrate in Berks, and related the occurrence with intense interest\nin after days.[278]\n\nHaving returned to London, Wesley set out, on November 13, accompanied\nby his invalid friend, Fletcher, to Norwich. He says: \u201cI took coach\nat twelve, slept till six, and then spent the time very agreeably\nin conversation, singing, and reading. I read Mr. Bolt\u2019s account of\nthe affairs in the East Indies. What a scene is here opened! What\nconsummate villains, what devils incarnate, were the managers there!\nWhat utter strangers to justice, mercy, and truth; to every sentiment\nof humanity! I believe no heathen history contains a parallel. I\nremember none in all the annals of antiquity; not even the divine Cato,\nor the virtuous Brutus, plundered the provinces committed to their\ncharge with such merciless cruelty as the English have plundered the\ndesolated provinces of Hindostan.\u201d\n\nThe two friends returned to London on November 21; and, a few days\nlater, Wesley started on his accustomed visitation to Bedfordshire,\netc.; and, on the way, read the poetical works of Gray, whom he pencils\nas \u201csharp, sensible, and ingenious; but proud, morose, envious,\npassionate, and resentful.\u201d\n\nAfter this, he made a tour through Kent; and then writes: \u201cDecember\n31--We concluded the year with solemn praise to God, for continuing His\ngreat work in our land. It has never been intermitted one year, or one\nmonth, since the year 1738; in which my brother and I began to preach\nthat strange doctrine of salvation by faith.\u201d\n\nThe Calvinistic controversy was now in its last agonies; but, on the\npart of the elect, was as acrimonious as ever. Some one published a\ntwopenny pamphlet, entitled, \u201cA necessary Alarm and most earnest Caveto\nagainst Tabernacle Principles and Tabernacle Connections; containing\nthe substance of an extraordinary Harangue and Exhortation, delivered\nat Penzance, in August, 1774; on an extraordinary occasion. By J.\nW., Master of very extraordinary Arts.\u201d In this infamous burlesque,\nWesley is treated with as much ridicule as the anonymous author could\ncommand; and Toplady, in reviewing it, in his _Gospel Magazine_, of\ncourse commends it, as \u201ca delicate satire on Wesley,\u201d and hopes that\n\u201cthe cream of tartar, so ably administered by the anonymous physician,\nwill prove a sweetener of the patient\u2019s crudities, and conduce to carry\noff some portion of his self sufficiency.\u201d Wesley, however, had been\nso \u201cseverely peppered and salted of late years,\u201d that the considerate\neditor of the _Gospel Magazine_ benevolently intimates that he shall,\non that account, refrain from adding to the pepper and salt seasonings,\nwhich \u201cmust often have made Wesley smart and wince like an eel\ndispossessed of its skin.\u201d[279]\n\nThis was bad enough; but there were other things even worse.\nWesley\u2019s wife, (originally a not too respectable servant girl,)\nstole a number of Wesley\u2019s letters, and interpolated words, and\nmisinterpreted spiritual expressions, so as to make the letters bear\na bad construction. She read them to an elect party of Calvinists,\nand agreed to send them to the _Morning Post_ for publication. Two\nmasked assassins, who assumed the not inappropriate names of _Scorpion_\nand _Snapdragon_, furiously assailed him, in the London newspaper,\nprofessing to ground their charges against him upon his own private\npapers, which the woman, who was legally his wife, had put into their\nhands. A more infamous episode does not occur in Wesley\u2019s history. The\ncharges were cruel insinuations, founded upon interpolated letters,\nstolen by a faithless woman, who, in order to defame a husband of\nwhom she was utterly unworthy, not only committed theft but forgery,\nand then put herself into the hands of a set of holy Calvinists, who\nemployed her perfidy and meanness in injuring the man whom, at the\naltar of the Most High God, she had sworn to love, honour, and obey.\nThis is strong language; but the writer, knowing more than he chooses\nto make public, uses it with deliberate design. Charles Wesley, finding\nthe use that was being made of his brother\u2019s papers, was in the\nutmost consternation, and went off in haste, wishing him to postpone\na journey, and to stay in town to defend himself against his enemies.\nWesley was as calm as his loving and faithful brother was excited. \u201cI\nshall never forget,\u201d said Miss Wesley, \u201cthe manner in which my father\naccosted my mother on his return home. \u2018My brother,\u2019 said he, \u2018is\nindeed an extraordinary man. I placed before him the importance of\nthe character of a minister; and the evil consequences which might\nresult from his indifference to it; and urged him, by every relative\nand public motive, to answer for himself, and stop the publication.\nHis reply was, \u2018_Brother, when I devoted to God my ease, my time, my\nlife, did I except my reputation? No, Tell Sally I will take her to\nCanterbury to-morrow._\u2019\u201d[280]\n\nOn the Arminian side of the controversy, the chief, if not the only,\npublication issued in 1776, was Fletcher\u2019s masterly \u201cAnswer to the Rev.\nMr. Toplady\u2019s \u2018Vindication of the Decrees,\u2019 etc.\u201d 12mo, 128 pages.\nNever was a bravo shaved with so sharp a razor, and by so adept a hand.\n\nExcept \u201cAn Extract of the Life of Madame Guion,\u201d 12mo, 230 pages,\nWesley\u2019s only publications, in 1776, were the two political tracts\nfollowing. 1. \u201cSome Observations on Liberty, occasioned by a late\nTract\u201d: 12mo, 36 pages. And, 2. \u201cA Seasonable Address to the more\nSerious Part of the Inhabitants of Great Britain, respecting the\nUnhappy Contest between us and our American Brethren; with an\noccasional Word interspersed to those of a different complexion\u201d: 12mo,\n18 pages.\n\nThe former was an answer to Dr. Price, a Unitarian minister far more\nfamed for politics than for preaching, who had recently published\nhis \u201cObservations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of\nGovernment, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.\u201d This\nwas considered the ablest work, in exposition of the injurious policy\npursued by England toward America, that had yet been issued. Within\nless than two years, eight editions were printed; and, in testimony of\ntheir approbation of it, the common council of London presented to the\nauthor the freedom of the city in a golden box. Thus, in fighting with\nDr. Price, Wesley was far from fighting with a shadow.\n\nBoth of Wesley\u2019s tracts display, not only his wonted ability, but his\nprofound loyalty to the government of King George, his benevolence of\nheart, and his intense interest in the fratricidal war which was then\nraging. A more loyal subject than Wesley, England never had; perhaps,\nindeed, his loving loyalty sometimes made him somewhat blind to the\nfaultiness of ruling powers. No man was more obedient to law; and no\nman more cheerfully paid his taxes. The last mentioned might not amount\nto much; but they were never tendered with a niggard\u2019s hand. Some\nimagined that he, the bishop of 40,000 Methodists, was sure to have an\nenormous income, and a silver chest well stocked with plate; and that,\ntherefore, his assessments ought to be higher than they were. So, for\ninstance, thought the commissioners of his majesty\u2019s excise, in 1776.\nHence the following circular:\n\n \u201cREVEREND SIR,--As the commissioners cannot doubt but you have\n plate for which you have hitherto neglected to make entry, they\n have directed me to inform you, that they expect you forthwith\n to make due entry of all your plate, such entry to bear date\n from the commencement of the plate duty, or from such time as\n you have owned, used, had, or kept any quantity of silver\n plate, chargeable by the act of parliament; as, in default\n hereof, the board will be obliged to signify your refusal to\n their lordships. An immediate answer is desired.\u201d\n\nThink of John Wesley, always on the wing, having a hoard of silver\nplate to adorn his sumptuous table when feasting his Epicurean\ncoadjutors and his dinner loving friends. The idea was almost too silly\nto be ridiculous. Wesley seems to have thought it so; and his answer\n(with which we close the present year) was as follows.\n\n \u201cSIR,--I have _two_ silver teaspoons at _London_, and _two_ at\n _Bristol_. This is all the plate which I have at present; and I\n shall not buy any more, while so many round me want bread.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your most humble servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [255] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xi., p. 290.\n\n [256] Manuscript letter.\n\n [257] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xi., p. 290.\n\n [258] _Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 568.\n\n [259] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., pp. 395-397.\n\n [260] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 522.\n\n [261] _Methodist Magazine_, 1830, p. 310.\n\n [262] Ibid. 1803, p. 289.\n\n [263] Ibid. 1847, p. 102.\n\n [264] Ibid. 1816, p. 446.\n\n [265] City Road society book.\n\n [266] _Methodist Magazine_, 1823, p. 202.\n\n [267] Ibid. 1827, p. 430.\n\n [268] _Methodist Magazine_, 1832, p. 466.\n\n [269] Ibid. 1837, p. 399.\n\n [270] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 134.\n\n [271] It is a disgraceful fact that Charles Wesley was\n buried, not at the expense of the London circuit, but\n by private subscription. Nineteen London Methodists\n subscribed \u00a310 13_s._ 6_d._, and William Marriott\n made up the deficiency of \u00a33 3_s._ The pages in the\n old society book, on which this account is written,\n were wafered together by four large wafers, doubtless\n for the purpose of hiding the shame of the old\n Methodists of 1788.\n\n [272] The following was written to Robert Dall, one of\n Wesley\u2019s itinerants.\n\n \u201cBANFF, _January 1, 1777_.\n\n \u201cDEAR FATHER IN THE LORD,--The society has been\n stationary ever since you left us. We are often\n neglected. Lately we had only one visit in eight\n weeks. Mr. Wesley was here on the 20th of May last,\n and preached on the Parade from 2 Corinthians viii.\n 9. He supped at Lord Banff\u2019s, and next night at\n Admiral Gordon\u2019s lady\u2019s house, with a great number\n of great ones; and, at their request, he preached\n in the English chapel to an elegant and crowded\n congregation. We are, etc., WILLIAM AND ISABEL\n MCPHERSON.\u201d (Manuscript letter.)\n\n\n [273] Manuscript.\n\n [274] Taylor\u2019s manuscript journals.\n\n [275] John Crook\u2019s original copy.\n\n [276] Manuscript letter.\n\n [277] _Methodist Magazine_, 1808, p. 103.\n\n [278] _Methodist Magazine_, 1842, p. 136.\n\n [279] _Gospel Magazine_, 1776, p. 475.\n\n [280] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 283.\n\n\n\n\n 1777.\n Age 74\n\n\nWesley was always full of work. He began the year 1777 with a course of\nlectures on the book of Ecclesiastes, and says: \u201cI never before had so\nclear a sight either of the meaning or the beauties of it; neither did\nI imagine, that the several parts of it were, in so exquisite a manner,\nconnected together; all tending to prove that grand truth, that there\nis no happiness out of God.\u201d\n\nHe also spent an hour every morning with his London preachers, Messrs.\nJaco, Hindmarsh, Murlin, Pilmoor, Atlay, Bradford, and Olivers, in\ninstructing them as he used to instruct his Oxford pupils, and in\npromoting their piety.\n\nHe likewise begun visiting the society, many of whom he found in the\ndeepest poverty, and writes: \u201cO why do not all the rich that fear God\nconstantly visit the poor? Can they spend part of their spare time\nbetter? Certainly not: so they will find in that day, when \u2018every man\nshall receive his own reward according to his own labour.\u2019\u201d\n\nTo his surprise, he once more preached in a London church--Allhallows;\nand says: \u201cI found great liberty of spirit; and the congregation seemed\nto be much affected. How is this? Do I yet please men? Is the offence\nof the cross ceased? It seems, after being scandalous near fifty years,\nI am at length growing into an honourable man.\u201d\n\nAt the beginning of the month of February, he hurried off to Bristol,\nto quiet some of the society, who were in danger of becoming\ndisaffected towards government; and preached from, \u201cPut them in mind\nto be subject to principalities and powers.\u201d Finding that there had\nbeen repeated attempts to fire the city, he preached again, taking as\nhis text, \u201cIs there any evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done\nit?\u201d He also wrote and published, \u201cA Calm Address to the Inhabitants\nof England\u201d: 12mo, 23 pages. He states, that a year and a half ago,\nfrom fifty to a hundred thousand copies of his \u201cCalm Address to the\nAmerican Colonies\u201d had been dispersed, and the effect had exceeded\nhis most sanguine hopes. This encouraged him now to address \u201cthe\ninhabitants of _Old England_.\u201d He then gives an account of the rise and\nprogress of the American rebellion, tracing it back as far as the year\n1737. He proceeds to state that, after bawling for liberty, no liberty\nwas left in the confederate provinces of America; the liberty of the\npress, religious liberty, and civil liberty were nonentities. The lords\nof the congress were as absolute as the emperor of Morocco; whereas, in\nEngland, the fullest liberty was enjoyed, \u201cboth as to religion, life,\nbody, and goods.\u201d He tells the Methodists that, though many, who go\nunder that name, hate the king and all his ministers, only less than\nthey hate an Arminian, he would no more continue in fellowship with\nthose that were connected with him, if they did this, than he would\ncontinue in fellowship \u201cwith whoremongers, or sabbath breakers, or\nthieves, or drunkards, or common swearers.\u201d\n\nThe whole tract is written in his most pungent style; and, whatever\nmay be thought of the wisdom of Wesley\u2019s politics, all must admire his\ndevoted loyalty. Of course, like his \u201cCalm Address to the American\nColonies,\u201d it stirred a nest of hornets. Almost immediately, there was\npublished, in the _Gospel Magazine_, a poem reviling him in unmeasured\nterms. He is represented as \u201cspitting venom, spite, and rage\u201d; \u201cFather\nJohnny\u201d is accused of telling \u201cbarefaced lies,\u201d and is thus admonished\nin the last two lines:\n\n \u201cO think of this, thou grey haired sinner,\n Ere Satan pick thy bones for dinner.\u201d\n\nWesley returned to London on February 8, and, a week later, fulfilled\na painful duty. For more than twenty years, Dr. Dodd had been one of\nthe most popular preachers in the metropolis. When at the zenith of his\nfame, he, in 1774, sent an anonymous letter to Lady Apsley, offering\n\u00a33000 if she would prevail with her husband, the lord chancellor, to\nappoint him to the valuable rectory of St. George\u2019s, Hanover Square,\nwhich was then vacant. The writer was detected, and, as a consequence,\nwas struck out of the list of royal chaplains, was assailed with bitter\ninvectives by the press, and was severely ridiculed by Foote, in a\nfarce, entitled \u201cThe Cozeners.\u201d Withdrawing from England, where he\nhad now become an object of contempt, he, for a time, found an asylum\nat Geneva, with his former pupil, Lord Chesterfield. On his return to\nthis country, he became editor of a newspaper, and then a bankrupt. In\n1776, he visited France, and, with little regard to decency, appeared\nin a phaeton at the races on the plains of Sablons, dressed in all the\nfoppery of the country in which he then resided. Strange to say, he\nwas still popular, as a preacher, at the Magdalen, in London, where\nhe delivered his last discourse on February 2, 1777, from the ominous\ntext: \u201cAnd among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall\nthe sole of thy foot have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a\ntrembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and thy life\nshall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and\nshalt have none assurance of thy life.\u201d\n\nOnly two days afterwards, he forged the name of Lord Chesterfield to\na bond for \u00a34200, on the security of which he obtained a considerable\nloan. Detection speedily ensued; and, before the month was ended, he\nwas arrested, tried at the Old Bailey, and was convicted. The crime\nwas forgery; the penalty was death. For four months, the unhappy\nculprit was kept in prison. His friends were indefatigable, in their\nendeavours, to obtain a commutation of his punishment. Even the city\nof London, in its corporate capacity, earnestly solicited that his\nsentence might not be carried into effect. Dr. Johnson, with his\nweighty pen, tried to arouse popular feeling in his favour, alleging\nthat petitions for clemency had been signed by above thirty thousand\npeople, and that justice might reasonably be satisfied with his\nimprisonment, infamy, exile, penury, and ruin. All was of no avail; and\non June 26 the great preacher died a felon\u2019s death by the hands of the\ncommon hangman.\n\nIn the days of his prosperity, Dodd had been in the ranks of Wesley\u2019s\nenemies; and, more than once, had reviled him, his people, and his\ncreed; and, yet, strange to tell, no sooner was he incarcerated for his\ncrime, than he sent for Wesley to visit him. The latter writes: \u201c1777,\nFebruary 15--At the third message, I took up my cross, and went to see\nDr. Dodd, in the Compter. I was greatly surprised. He seemed, though\ndeeply affected, yet thoroughly resigned to the will of God. Mrs. Dodd,\nlikewise, behaved with the utmost propriety. I doubt not, God will\nbring good out of this evil.\u201d \u201cFebruary 18--I visited him again, and\nfound him still in a desirable state of mind; calmly giving himself up\nto whatsoever God should determine concerning him.\u201d\n\nBoth Wesley and his brother had always evinced an almost unequalled\ninterest in the welfare of imprisoned convicts; but, remembering past\ntreatment from this popular, but now incarcerated, preacher, and also\nremembering the terrible scandal which he had brought upon Christ\u2019s\nreligion, no wonder that Wesley felt it a _cross_ to visit him. Wesley,\nhowever, was not the man to shun a duty because it happened to be\npainful; and there can be no doubt that, if his itinerant engagements\nhad not taken him away from London, the gloom of the convict\u2019s cell\nwould often have been relieved, during the next four months, by\nWesley\u2019s presence.\n\nWesley had never even seen Dr. Dodd, either in public or in private,\nuntil he saw him in Wood Street compter, a few days before his removal\nto Newgate to take his trial. \u201cSir,\u201d said the prisoner, \u201cI have long\ndesired to see you; but I little thought, that our first interview\nwould be in such a place as this.\u201d \u201cWe conversed,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cabout\nan hour; he spoke of nothing but his soul, and appeared to regard\nnothing in comparison of it.\u201d At the second interview, Wesley spent\nhalf an hour with the poor wretched man. \u201cSir,\u201d said he, \u201cdo not you\nfind it difficult to preserve your recollection, amidst all these\nlawyers and witnesses?\u201d Dodd answered: \u201cIt is difficult; but I have one\nsure hold: \u2018Lord, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.\u2019\u201d The third visit\nwas after his sentence had been passed. Wesley writes: \u201cHe conversed\nabout an hour; but had not one word about any but spiritual things. I\nfound his mind still quiet and composed; sorrowing, but not without\nhope.\u201d Two days before the execution, Wesley went again. \u201cSir,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cI think you do not ask enough, or expect enough, from God your\nSaviour. The _present_ blessing, you may expect from Him, is to be\nfilled with all joy, as well as peace in believing.\u201d \u201cO sir,\u201d replied\nthe doctor, \u201cit is not for such a sinner as I am to expect any joy in\nthis world. The utmost I can desire is peace; and, through the mercy of\nGod, that I have.\u201d Wesley adds: \u201cWe then spent a little time in prayer,\nand I solemnly commended him to God. He was exactly in such a temper\nas I wished. He never, at any time, expressed the least murmuring or\nresentment at any one; but entirely and calmly gave himself up to the\nwill of God. Such a prisoner I scarce ever saw before; much less, such\na condemned malefactor.\u201d\n\nThis was Wesley\u2019s last interview. Two days later, the once famous Dr.\nDodd was hanged, Wesley expressing the firm belief, that angels took\nhim from the gallows to the paradise of God.[281]\n\nPerhaps more space has been devoted to Dr. Dodd than some may think\nfitting; but, remembering the positions occupied respectively by\nDodd and Wesley,--the one the most popular and fashionable preacher\nthat London had, and the other an outcast clergyman, who, for\neight-and-thirty years, had been reviled in every form that malice\nand ingenuity could devise,--it was no slight fact, that, as soon as\nDodd was face to face with death, the man he sent for was, not one of\nhis old associates, lay or clerical, but the man who had been, and\nstill was, the butt of national persecution, and whom he himself in\nthe days of his prosperity had treated disrespectfully. Dr. Dodd, when\nhe most needed them, had more faith in Wesley\u2019s counsels and Wesley\u2019s\nprayers than he had in the counsels and prayers of those whom he had\nbeen accustomed to call his friends. His confidence was not misplaced.\nWesley did his best; Wesley\u2019s brother poured forth the feelings of his\nheart in \u201cA Prayer for Dr. Dodd under Condemnation\u201d; and Miss Bosanquet\nwrote to the poor prisoner not a few of her Christian letters. The\nresult was, Dodd, on the very day of Wesley\u2019s final visit, thus\naddressed his lady correspondent: \u201cMy dear Friend,--On Friday morning I\nam to be made immortal! I die with a heart truly contrite, and broken\nunder a sense of its great and manifold offences, but comforted and\nsustained by a firm faith in the pardoning love of Jesus Christ.\u201d[282]\n\nOn the 10th of March, Wesley left London on a seventeen days\u2019 preaching\ntour to Bristol and back again. This was the year for his pastoral\nvisitation in the north; but, he writes, \u201cI cannot be long absent\u201d from\nLondon, \u201cwhile the new chapel is building.\u201d In fact, Wesley became so\ninterested in his great building scheme, that he was tempted to turn\narchitect himself. \u201cIt seems,\u201d says he in a letter to Miss Ball, of\nWycombe, dated March 13, 1777, \u201cit seems, the time is come, that you\nare to have a more commodious preaching house at High Wycombe. I will\ngive you a plan of the building myself; and employ whom you please to\nbuild.\u201d[283] After all, the Methodists at Wycombe might have had a\nworse architect than Wesley.\n\nTen days were spent in London, and, it being Easter time, Wesley\nwrites: \u201cDuring the octave, I administered the Lord\u2019s supper every\nmorning, after the example of the primitive church.\u201d On Sunday, April\n6, he set out on his northern journey, making collections, as he went,\nfor his London chapel. When he had got only as far as Lancashire, he\nwas obliged to return to London to lay the foundation stone on April\n21. A week later, he took coach for Newcastle upon Tyne. Here he spent\nfour days, and then again turned his face southward; and, preaching all\nthe way, reached the metropolis on the 17th of May.\n\nHaving met the building committee, which was his chief business in\nLondon, and having, with his brother, visited Dr. Dodd, he, a third\ntime, started north on Sunday, May 25. He now hurried on to Whitehaven,\nand paid his first visit to the Isle of Man, where he spent the first\nthree days in the month of June, and says: \u201cA more loving, simple\nhearted people than this I never saw; and no wonder; for they have but\nsix papists, and no Dissenters, in the island.\u201d\n\nHere he met with the Rev. E. and Mrs. Smyth, the former a clergyman\nfrom Ireland, and the latter a young wife of twenty-two. Mr. Smyth\nhad been ejected from his curacy for preaching the doctrines of the\nMethodists, and especially for daring to reprove \u201cthe great man of\nthe parish\u201d for living the life of an adulterer. Expelled from the\nEstablished Church, he began to preach wherever he had a chance, and\nbecame more extensively useful than ever. Though the nephew of an\narchbishop, his home was a thatched cabin, and his trials not a few.\nHearing that Wesley was about to visit the Isle of Man, Mr. Smyth and\nhis wife came to meet him. Wesley received them with his customary\nkindness, and, during their stay, met with a misadventure, which is\nworth relating. He writes: \u201cI set out for Douglas in the one-horse\nchaise, Mrs. Smyth riding with me. In about an hour, in spite of all I\ncould do, the headstrong horse ran the wheel against a large stone: the\nchaise overset in a moment; but we fell so gently on the smooth grass,\nthat neither of us was hurt at all.\u201d\n\nSuch is Wesley\u2019s account; Mrs. Smyth\u2019s reflects on Wesley\u2019s\ncharioteering capabilities. \u201cHe told me,\u201d she writes, \u201cwhen we got into\nthe carriage, that he could drive a chaise forty years ago; but, poor\ndear man! his hand seemed out of practice, as I thought we should be\noverturned several times. At last, one of the wheels being mounted on\none side of a ditch, we were both pitched out on a green plain, as the\nLord in mercy ordered it; for had we been overset in some parts of the\nroad, it is more than probable we should have been killed on the spot. I\nfound no bad effects from the fall at the time; but the next morning I\nwas scarce able to stir, and felt so sore and bruised that I thought it\nlikely I should lay my bones in the churchyard at Douglas.\u201d[284]\n\nWe shall meet with Mr. and Mrs. Smyth again; suffice it to add, that,\nimmediately after preaching at Douglas, Wesley set sail for England;\nand, a few days after, his newly acquired friends went back to Ireland,\nwhile he himself went on his way to London. In his progress, he, for\nthe first time, preached at Settle, where Methodism had recently been\nintroduced by John Read, a poor clogger, and where one of the first\nmembers was Edward Slater, who became Wesley\u2019s coachman.[285]\n\nWesley proceeded to Otley, where Miss Ritchie, apparently, was dying;\nto Bradford, where William Brammah, one of Wesley\u2019s weakest preachers,\nhad been amazingly useful; to Birstal and Huddersfield, where thousands\nupon thousands assembled to hear him; and to Colne, where, as soon as\nhe entered the pulpit, the left hand gallery of the chapel fell, with\nnearly two hundred persons in it.\n\nWilliam Sagar, a young man not then in business for himself, had\nbeen the principal promoter of this erection, and had made himself\nresponsible for the payment of the cost. When the walls were half\nway up, the workmen became clamorous for their wages; and Mr. Sagar\nunfortunately was without funds; but, two or three days afterwards,\na gentleman, unsolicited, offered to lend him the money needed. One\ntrouble was got over, but another was yet to come. When the ill fated\nchapel was ready for the roof, a gale of wind blew down the western\ngable, and shook the entire edifice to its foundations. And now,\nto crown the whole, through the malevolence of a carpenter who had\npurposely cut the timbers too short, down fell the left hand gallery;\nand, though no lives were lost, yet not a few of the people had their\nlimbs broken, and were otherwise severely injured.[286]\n\nIt was at this period that Colne was made the head of what Thomas\nTaylor called \u201ca snug circuit\u201d; though the circuit embraced the entire\nregion constituting the Todmorden, Bacup, Haslingden, Blackburn,\nBurnley, Preston, Garstang, Lancaster, Clitheroe, and Padiham circuits\nof the present day. Taylor was the assistant of the circuit before it\nwas made so _snug_, and was Wesley\u2019s companion at the time of the Colne\ncatastrophe. In his voluminous unpublished diary, he tells us, that at\nOtley, Wesley not only preached, but made a collection for his London\nchapel; at Bingley, he preached in the parish church; at Keighley,\nafter preaching, Wesley stood on one side of the path and Taylor on the\nother, and, with their hats in their hands, collected upwards of \u00a37 for\nthe new chapel in City Road; at Colne, Taylor was with Wesley in the\npulpit when the gallery fell. He writes: \u201cOh, what a scene ensued. The\ndismal shrieks of those whose limbs were broken, or who were otherwise\ninjured, and the cries of the women for their children, were terrible.\nHappily no lives were lost, and much less damage done than might have\nbeen expected. As soon as the confusion was abated, Mr. Wesley preached\nout of doors; but the catastrophe prevented many from hearing.\u201d[287]\n\nWesley proceeded to Derby, where, strangely enough, another accident\noccurred, which might have been as serious as that at Colne. An hour\nbefore the congregation assembled in the chapel, part of the roof fell\nin; the people, however, rushed to hear, despite the doubtful state of\nthe flimsy edifice; and, among others permanently benefited by Wesley\u2019s\nministry, was Catherine Spencer, who, for sixty-four years, adorned her\nreligious profession by \u201ca meek and quiet spirit,\u201d and who died at the\nage of eighty-six, in 1843.[288]\n\nWesley got back to London on June 21, and, a week later, wrote: \u201cJune\n28--I have now completed my seventy-fourth year, and, by the peculiar\nfavour of God, I find my health and strength, and all my faculties of\nbody and mind, just the same as they were at four-and-twenty.\u201d\n\nA man, on his birthday, frequently reviews the past, sifts the present,\nand reflects upon the future. At this period Wesley wrote as follows to\nhis legal friend, Walter Churchey, of Brecon, the birthplace of Thomas\nCoke.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--At present, I am very safe; for I am a good\n many pounds, if not scores of pounds, worse than nothing. In my\n will, I bequeath no money but what may happen to be in my\n pocket when I die.\n\n \u201cDr. Coke promises fair, and gives us reason to hope, that he\n will, bring forth, not only blossoms, but fruit. He has\n hitherto behaved exceeding well, and seems to be aware of his\n grand enemy--applause. He will likewise be in danger from\n offence. If you are acquainted with him, a friendly letter\n might be of use, and would be taken kindly. He now stands on\n slippery ground, and is in need of every help.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[289]\n\nHaving spent nine days in London, Wesley set out, on June 30, on\na preaching tour which occupied the whole of the ensuing month.\nProceeding by way of Buckingham, he visited Oxford, Witney, Stroud,\nGloucester, Tewkesbury, Worcester, Malvern; and then passed through\nWales to Bristol, which he reached on July 28.\n\nHere, on August 5, he opened his annual conference, and writes:\n\n \u201cAs the report had been spread far and wide, I now particularly\n inquired of every assistant, \u2018Have you reason to believe, from\n your own observation, that the Methodists are a fallen people?\n Is there a decay or an increase in the work of God where you\n have been? Are the societies in general more dead, or more\n alive to God, than they were some years ago?\u2019 The almost\n universal answer was: \u2018If we must know them by their fruits,\n there is no decay in the work of God among the people in\n general. The societies are not dead to God: they are as much\n alive as they have been for many years. And we look on this\n report as a mere device of Satan, to make our hands hang down.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018But how can this question be decided?\u2019 You can judge no\n further than you see. You cannot judge of one part by another;\n and none but myself has an opportunity of seeing the Methodists\n throughout the three kingdoms.\n\n \u201cBut to come to a short issue. In most places, the Methodists\n are still a poor, despised people, labouring under reproach,\n and many inconveniences; therefore, wherever the power of God\n is not, they decrease. By this then, you may form a sure\n judgment. Do the Methodists in general decrease in number? Then\n they decrease in grace; they are a fallen, or, at least, a\n falling people. But they do not decrease in number; they\n continually increase; therefore, they are not a fallen people.\u201d\n\nThese are weighty words. They show Wesley\u2019s deep anxiety to maintain\nthe genuine character of the work in which he was engaged; and the test\nwhich he instituted was, unquestionably, under existing circumstances,\nlogical and conclusive.\n\nThe principal propagator of the report, that the Methodists were a\nfallen people, was John Hilton, who, for thirteen years, had been an\nitinerant preacher. Dr. Stevens calls him \u201can honest but weak headed\nman.\u201d This is scarcely correct. Leaving his honesty an open question,\nJohn Hilton, judged by his publications, was far from being \u201cweak\nheaded.\u201d Wesley says: \u201cHe told us he must withdraw from our connexion.\nSome would have reasoned with him, but it was lost labour; so we let\nhim go in peace.\u201d Hilton was no sooner gone, than he turned author,\nand, in 1778, besides an octavo pamphlet of 32 pages, entitled, \u201cThe\nDeplorable State of Man,\u201d he issued \u201cReasons for Quitting the Methodist\nSociety; being a Defence of Barclay\u2019s Apology;\u201d 8vo, 66 pages. Dated,\n\u201cMelksham, 3rd month, 28th day, 1778.\u201d He tells his readers, that, \u201ca\nyear ago, Barclay\u2019s Apology converted him to the principles of the\nquakers;\u201d and a broadbrimmed quaker John Hilton henceforwards was. Both\nhis pamphlets are written in a plain, good, nervous style, and show,\nthat, in point of education and mental power, he was much superior\nto the mass of Wesley\u2019s itinerants.[290] Hilton was not without\ntalent; but like most who think themselves more religious than their\nneighbours, he was sour and censorious. \u201cWhat I have lamented in him,\nfor some years,\u201d wrote Wesley, in a letter, dated October 22, 1777, \u201cis\nan aptness to condemn and despise his brethren. There is no failing\nmore infectious than this; and it is much if you did not catch a little\nof it from him; otherwise you would hardly say, \u2018the body of Methodists\nare degenerated.\u2019 You cannot possibly judge whether they are or not.\nPerhaps you converse with one or two hundred of them. Now allowing two\nthirds of these to be degenerated, can you infer the same concerning\nthirty or forty thousand? Yet this I will allow, two thirds of those\nwho are grown rich are greatly degenerated. They do not, will not,\nsave all they can, in order to give all they can; and, without doing\nthis, they _cannot grow in grace_, nay, they constantly grieve the Holy\nSpirit of God.\u201d[291]\n\nThomas Taylor was at the conference of 1777, and tells us that, on the\nconference Sunday, the morning service, in the Broadmead chapel, lasted\nfrom half-past nine till nearly one o\u2019clock; that, at five in the\nafternoon, Wesley preached to a large and serious crowd out of doors,\nand afterwards, in a full society meeting, \u201cexpatiated upon the rules,\nand said many useful things.\u201d He preached again in the evening of the\nfirst day of conference, but not longer than twenty minutes. On August\n7, Taylor writes: \u201cthat great and good man Mr. Fletcher came into\nconference. My eyes flowed with tears at the sight of him. He spoke to\nus in a very respectful manner, and took a solemn farewell. Dear, good\nman! I never saw so many tears shed in all my life.\u201d[292]\n\nFletcher had sought health at Stoke Newington; but was now the guest of\nMr. Ireland, of Bristol. Benson, his fellow sufferer in the Trevecca\ntroubles, writes: \u201cWe have had an edifying conference. Mr. Fletcher\u2019s\nvisits have been attended with a blessing. His appearance, his\nexhortations, and his prayers, broke most of our hearts, and filled us\nwith shame and self abasement for our little improvement.\u201d[293]\n\nThis was a memorable scene. Fletcher, emaciated, feeble, and ghostlike,\nentered the conference leaning on the arm of his host, Mr. Ireland. In\nan instant, the whole assembly stood up, and Wesley advanced to meet\nhis almost seraphic friend. The apparently dying man began to address\nthe brave itinerants, and, before he had uttered a dozen sentences,\none and all were bathed in tears. Wesley, fearing that Fletcher was\nspeaking too much, abruptly knelt at his side and began to pray. Down\nfell the whole of Wesley\u2019s preachers, and joined in the devotion of\ntheir great leader. The burden of Wesley\u2019s supplication was, that his\nfriend might be spared to labour a little longer; and this petition\nwas urged with such fervency and faith, that, at last, Wesley closed\nby exclaiming with a confidence and an emphasis which seemed to thrill\nevery heart: \u201cHe shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the\nLord.\u201d[294]\n\nThe event verified Wesley\u2019s words; for though the pilgrim was already\nwalking on the margin of the river of death, and had heaven\u2019s own\nsunshine shining on him, it was not until eight years after that he\npassed the gates of the celestial city.\n\nAt the conference of 1776, it was reported, that there were 3148\nMethodists in America; in the minutes of 1777, America is not\nmentioned. Still, American Methodism was not dead. \u201cI have just\nreceived two letters from New York,\u201d writes Wesley on January 11,\n1777. \u201cThey inform me, that all the Methodists there are firm for the\ngovernment, and, on that account, persecuted by the rebels, only not to\nthe death; that the preachers are still threatened, but not stopped;\nand, that the work of God increases much in Maryland and Virginia.\u201d[295]\n\nThe war was raging with terrific violence; and some of the preachers,\nas Mr. Rodda, were not so wise, politically speaking, as seemed\ndesirable: but, despite all this, Methodism actually spread and\nprospered. Thomas Rankin, George Shadford, and others thought of\nfleeing from the field of conflict; and it was only by Asbury\u2019s\nsolicitation, that they were induced to stay awhile longer. The\nbaptists too became a hindrance. \u201cLike ghosts,\u201d says Asbury, \u201cthey\nhaunt us from place to place.\u201d Wesley\u2019s political tracts also were a\nserious stumbling block.[296] A Methodist backslider enlisted three\nhundred men for the British army, was arrested, and hanged as a rebel\nagainst the government of his country.[297] Even peaceful, prudent, and\nloyal Francis Asbury was fined \u00a35 for preaching at Nathan Perrig\u2019s;\nand, in October 1777, Rankin and Rodda returned to England, and\nShadford soon after, leaving poor, persecuted, but faithful Asbury the\nonly one of Wesley\u2019s itinerants that now remained at the post of duty,\nand preaching peace to the people by Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd here let us pause to say, that a grander specimen of a Christian\napostle than Francis Asbury the world has never had. Much as we\nrevere the memory of Wesley, we regard Asbury with an almost equal\nveneration. Among the self denying, laborious, Christian ministers of\nthe past eighteen hundred years, we believe, that Francis Asbury has\nno superiors, and but few that can be considered equals. And yet, how\nlittle does the church catholic, indeed, how little does the Methodist\nsection of it, know concerning this great and grand, because good, old\nman!\n\nThe son of peasant parents, Asbury began to preach in Staffordshire,\nwhile yet a boy seventeen years of age; and, in 1771, came to Bristol\nto embark for America, without a single penny in his pocket. His first\ntext in America was in perfect harmony with the forty-five years he\nspent in wandering through its woods and prairies: \u201cI determined not\nto know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.\u201d As\nearly as 1776, he made it a rule, besides travelling and preaching,\nto read a hundred pages daily, and to spend three hours out of every\ntwenty-four in private prayer. Cabins of the most miserable description\nwere, in thousands of instances, his happy homes; and often, when\nhis horse cast a shoe in the wide wilderness, in the absence of a\nblacksmith\u2019s shop, this grand old bishop of the American Methodists\nwould make a piece of a bull\u2019s hide, bound about his horse\u2019s foot,\nserve in the place of iron. His daily rides were often from thirty to\nfifty miles, over mountains and swamps, through bridgeless rivers and\npathless woods, his horse frequently weary and lame, and he himself\nwet, cold, and hungry. For forty-five years, when steamboats, stage\ncoaches, railways, and almost roads, were utterly unknown, Asbury\nmade a tour of the American states, travelling never less than five\nthousand, and often more than six thousand, miles a year, and this\ngenerally on horseback; climbing mountains; creeping down declivities;\nwinding along valleys, whose only inhabitants were birds, wild beasts,\nand Indians; crossing extended prairies without a companion and without\na guide; fording foaming rivers; and wading through the most dangerous\nswamps, where one false step might have engulfed him in a boggy grave.\nUsually, he preached at least once every week day, and thrice every\nSunday; delivering, during his ministry in America, more than twenty\nthousand sermons. His custom was to pray with every family on whom\nhe called in his wide journeyings; and if, as sometimes happened, he\nspent more days than one in some hospitable dwelling, he was wont to\nhave household prayer as often as there were household meals, and to\nallow no visitor to come or go, without asking, on his knees, that\nGod would bless him. Besides an unknown number of camp meetings and\nquarterly meetings, this venerable man attended and presided over\nseven conferences, widely separate, every year; and, during the\nsame space of time, wrote to his preachers and his friends, upon an\naverage, about a thousand letters. For this enormous service, his\nepiscopal salary was sixty-four dollars yearly and his travelling\nexpenses. Early educational advantages he had none. Most of his life\nwas spent on horseback, in extemporised pulpits, or in log cabins\ncrowded with talking men and noisy women, bawling children, and barking\ndogs,--cabins which he was obliged to make his offices and studies,\nand where, with benumbed fingers, frozen ink, impracticable pens, and\nrumpled paper, he had to write his sermons, his journals, and his\nletters. Not unfrequently did he, like others, suffer from the malaria\nof a new, uncultivated country; and had headaches, toothaches, chills,\nfevers, and sore throats, for his travelling companions. And yet,\ndespite all this, Francis Asbury was by no means an unlettered man. He\nbecame proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; read the Scriptures in\nthe tongues in which they were originally written; was acquainted with\nseveral branches of polite literature; kept abreast with the history\nof his times; and, although not an orator, was a dignified, eloquent,\nand impressive preacher. Thin, tall, and remarkably clean and neat,--in\na plain drab frock coat, waistcoat, and breeches, a neat stock, and\na broad brimmed, low crowned hat,--this first and greatest Methodist\nAmerican bishop rode on horseback till he could ride no longer; and\nthen might be seen often hopping on crutches, and helped in and out\nof his light spring wagon as he still pursued his wide episcopal\nwanderings. Thus lived Francis Asbury, until, in 1816, at the age of\nthreescore years and ten, he died, and was followed to his grave in\nBaltimore by about twenty-five thousand of his friends. Before his\ndeath, he solemnly enjoined that no life of him should be published;\nand that injunction, to the present, has been substantially observed;\nbut, if the reader wishes to see his monument, we invite him to step\nwithin the living walls of the present Methodist Episcopal Church of\nAmerica, and there, while surveying the grand edifice of spiritual\norder and beauty, we ask him, as the inquirer in St. Paul\u2019s cathedral\nis asked, to \u201cLook around!\u201d\n\nThis was the only one of Wesley\u2019s English itinerants left in America\nin 1777; but, though forsaken by his English colleagues, he was not\nalone. At this very time, there were fifteen widely spread circuits;\nthirty-four itinerant preachers, who had been raised up by Providence\non the spot; and not fewer than 6968 full and accredited members of\nsociety. In other words, though it was only eight years since Wesley\u2019s\nconference had sent out Boardman and Pilmoor, there were already more\nthan one sixth as many Methodists in America as there were, at the\nend of thirty-eight years, throughout the whole of England, Ireland,\nScotland, and Wales.[298]\n\nTo return to Wesley. After the Bristol conference, he spent a week in\nLondon, during which he drew up proposals for the _Arminian Magazine_,\nand met the committee appointed to superintend the building of the new\nchapel, which was now ready for the roof.\n\nHe then, on August 18, hurried off to Cornwall; and then to Ireland,\nwhere, at Dublin, John Hampson and Samuel Bradburn had expelled\nthirty-four members of society, who were so dissatisfied with this\nact of imprudent zeal, that Wesley was obliged to go and give the\ncontending parties a two days\u2019 hearing. On Saturday, October 18, he got\nback to London.\n\nThe week after, he spent in Oxfordshire. At High Wycombe he meant to\npreach, \u201cbut good Mr. James had procured a drummer to beat his drum at\nthe window of the chapel,\u201d and thus, instead of preaching, Wesley could\nonly pray and sing by turns, during the time allotted for the service.\n\nThe next week was occupied in a preaching tour in Northamptonshire; and\nthe fortnight afterwards in meeting the classes in and around London.\n\nOn November 17, he went on a flying visit to Norfolk; and, on the 23rd,\npreached in Lewisham church for the benefit of the Humane Society,\nwhich had been established only three years before, by Dr. Cogan and\nDr. Hawes. Here, of course, he was the welcome guest of his old friend,\nMr. Blackwell; and, during his visit, he dined with the celebrated\nDr. Lowth, bishop of London, whose brother had married into Mr.\nBlackwell\u2019s family. \u201cHis whole behaviour,\u201d writes Wesley, \u201cwas worthy\nof a Christian bishop; easy, affable, and courteous; and, yet, all his\nconversation spoke the dignity which was suitable to his character.\u201d\nThere is one incident, however, which Wesley, in his modesty, has not\nrelated. On proceeding to dinner, the bishop refused to sit above\nWesley at the table, saying with considerable emotion, \u201cMr. Wesley, may\nI be found at your feet in another world!\u201d Wesley objected to take the\nseat of precedence, when the learned prelate obviated the difficulty,\nby requesting, as a favour, that Wesley would sit above him, because\nhis hearing was defective, and he desired not to lose a sentence of\nWesley\u2019s conversation.[299]\n\nThe remaining five weeks of the year 1777 were spent, partly in the\nthree counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Hertford; partly at Bath,\nwhere he laid the foundation stone of a new chapel; and partly in\nLondon, where he parted with Fletcher on his way to Switzerland. He\nsays: \u201cWe concluded the old year, and began the new, with prayer and\nthanksgiving. Four or five of the local preachers assisted me. I was\nagreeably surprised; their manner of praying being so artless and\nunlaboured, and yet rational and scriptural, both as to sense and\nexpression.\u201d\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s watchnight service at the expiration of 1777;\nno preaching, no exhortatory platitudes, but simply prayer and\nthanksgiving, offered by himself and a selection of his London local\npreachers. Wesley\u2019s successors have not improved on this.\n\nIt was during this memorable year, that a society was instituted, which\nwas ultimately superseded by benevolent societies that yet exist.\nSix friends in London met, at each other\u2019s house in rotation, every\nSunday afternoon, for the purpose of singing and prayer only. They\nwere soon entreated to visit the surrounding sick, and, finding many\nof them in deep poverty, began to relieve their wants. To do this,\nthey found it desirable to provide a fund, by contributing themselves,\nand asking contributions of their friends; and shortly a society was\nformed, sometimes called \u201cThe Willow Walk Society, near Moorfields\u201d;\nbut more generally and properly, \u201cThe united Society for Visiting\nand Relieving the Sick.\u201d A few years later, the \u201cStrangers\u2019 Friend\nSociety\u201d was started. John Gardner, a retired soldier, in his London\nvisits, met a man in a miserable garret, dying of fistula. He lay on\nthe floor, covered only with a sack, without shirt, cap, or sheet. The\nold soldier felt, as every one must feel, that to visit such cases,\nwithout relieving them, was not worthy of a Christian; and, returning\nhome, he got fifteen of his Methodist friends to join in a penny a\nweek subscription for such a purpose. His classleader, jealous of his\nclass-pence moneys, instead of helping, opposed the scheme. Gardner,\nwith a soldier\u2019s pluck, was not to be silenced by a subordinate, but\nwrote at once to Wesley.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--A few of us are subscribing a penny a\n week each, which is to be carried on the sabbath by one of\n ourselves, who read and pray with the afflicted, who, according\n to the rules enclosed, must be poor strangers, having no\n parish, or friend at hand to help them. Our benevolent plan is\n opposed by my classleader; therefore, we are constrained to\n seek your approbation before we proceed. We are very poor, and\n our whole stock is not yet twenty shillings: will thank you,\n therefore, for any assistance you may please to afford your\n very humble servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN GARDNER.\u201d\n\nWesley was the last man to stifle a project like this; and, hence, his\nanswer \u201cto Mr. John Gardner, No. 14, in Long Lane, Smithfield,\u201d was as\nfollows.\n\n \u201cHIGHBURY PLACE, _December 21, 1785_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I like the design and rules of your society,\n and hope you will do good to many. I will subscribe threepence\n a week, and will give a guinea in advance, if any one will call\n on me on Saturday morning.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe scheme was now fairly launched; \u201cStrangers\u2019 Friend societies\u201d\nsprung up in Bristol and other places; Wesley drew up their rules in\n1790; and wrote thus in his journal: \u201cSunday, March 14--In the\nmorning, I met the strangers\u2019 society, instituted wholly for the\nrelief, not of our society, but for poor, sick, friendless strangers.\nI do not know, that I ever heard or read of such an institution till\nwithin a few years ago. So this also is one of the fruits of\nMethodism.\u201d[300]\n\nSuch then was the origin of the present \u201cStrangers\u2019 Friend Society,\u201d\nwhich, until lately, was patronised by royalty, and which employed, in\n1868, three hundred and fifty-two voluntary, unpaid agents in its work\nof Christian benevolence; these good Samaritans, during the same year,\npaying 32,460 visits, relieving 6577 cases of distress, and, besides\nblankets, flannels, and cast off garments, distributing \u00a31926 14_s._ in\nameliorating the miseries of \u201cthe destitute sick poor, without\ndistinction of sect or country, at their own habitations.\u201d\n\nConsidering Wesley\u2019s wide wanderings, his daily preaching, his\nsupervision of societies, and his multifarious correspondence, to say\nnothing of his publication of tracts and books, the reader wonders how\nan old man managed to keep the thousand wheels of his vast machinery\nin motion; and, yet, in the midst of what to others would have been an\nunceasing and worrying bustle, he was almost as tranquil as a hermit.\nThe following extract from a letter, dated December 10, 1777, is racy\nand unique.\n\n \u201cYou do not understand my manner of life. Though I am always in\n haste, I am never in a hurry; because I never undertake any\n more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of\n spirit. It is true, I travel four or five thousand miles in a\n year; but I generally travel alone in my carriage, and,\n consequently, am as retired ten hours in a day as if I was in a\n wilderness. On other days, I never spend less than three hours,\n frequently ten or twelve in the day, alone. So there are few\n persons in the kingdom who spend so many hours secluded from\n all company. Yet I find time to visit the sick and the poor;\n and I must do it, if I believe the Bible, if I believe these\n are the marks whereby the Shepherd of Israel will know and\n judge His sheep at the great day. Therefore, when there are\n time and opportunity for it, who can doubt, but this is a\n matter of absolute duty? When I was at Oxford, and lived almost\n like a hermit, I saw not how any busy man could be saved. I\n scarce thought it possible for a man to retain the Christian\n spirit, amidst the noise and bustle of the world. God taught me\n better by my own experience. I had ten times more business in\n America (that is, at intervals) than ever I had in my life; but\n it was no hindrance to silence of spirit.\u201d[301]\n\nWesley\u2019s incessant labours were not the only thing likely to perturb\na human spirit. As usual, he was still the subject of acrimonious\npersecution. In his sermon at the laying of the foundation stone of\nthe chapel in City Road, he gave a history of the rise and progress\nof Methodism, in which he stated, that Whitefield, by conversing with\nDissenters, contracted strong prejudices against the Church, and that\nthis led him to separate himself from Wesley and his brother. He also\nnoticed the secession of Ingham from the Church; and the setting up\nof the college at Trevecca, which was really a school for training\nDissenting ministers. His object, in all this, was to show that, though\nlarge numbers of reputed Methodists had left the Church, he and his\nsocieties still remained faithful, and were not deserving of the taunt\nof having formed a distinct party. \u201cWe do not,\u201d says he, \u201cwe will not,\nform any separate sect, but, from principle, remain, what we always\nhave been, true members of the Church of England.\u201d\n\nWhether Wesley was strictly correct in this will admit of doubt;\nbut, unquestionably, he believed it to be the truth; and, as might\nbe expected, it aroused the anger of his quondam friends. Rowland\nHill worked himself into a rage, and published, in 1777, an octavo\npamphlet of 40 pages, with the title, \u201cImposture Detected, and the\nDead Vindicated; in a Letter to a Friend: containing some gentle\nStrictures on the false and libellous Harangue, lately delivered\nby Mr. John Wesley, upon his laying the first stone of his new\nDissenting meeting-house, near the City Road.\u201d Wesley\u2019s sermon is\ndesignated \u201ca wretched harangue, from which the blessed name of Jesus\nis almost totally excluded.\u201d Mr. Hill remarks: \u201cby only erasing about\nhalf-a-dozen lines from the whole, I might defy the shrewdest of his\nreaders to discover whether the _lying apostle_ of the Foundery be\na Jew, a papist, a pagan, or a Turk.\u201d He speaks of \u201cthe late ever\nmemorable Mr. Whitefield being scratched out of his grave, by the claws\nof a designing wolf,\u201d meaning, of course, Wesley. He brands Wesley as\n\u201ca libeller,\u201d \u201ca dealer in stolen wares,\u201d and \u201cas being as unprincipled\nas a rook, and as silly as a jackdaw, first pilfering his neighbour\u2019s\nplumage, and then going proudly forth, displaying his borrowed tail\nto the eyes of a laughing world.\u201d Hill continues: \u201cpersons that are\ntoad eaters to Mr. John Wesley stand in need of very wide throats, and\nthat which he wishes them to swallow is enough to choke an elephant.\u201d\n\u201cHe is for ever going about, raising Dissenting congregations, and\nbuilding Dissenting meeting-houses the kingdom over.\u201d \u201cVenom distils\nfrom his graceless pen.\u201d \u201cMr. Whitefield is blackened by the venomous\nquill of this grey headed enemy to all righteousness.\u201d \u201cWesley is a\ncrafty slanderer, an unfeeling reviler, a liar of the most gigantic\nmagnitude, a Solomon in a cassock, a wretch, a disappointed Orlando\nFurioso, a miscreant apostate, whose perfection consists in his perfect\nhatred of all goodness and good men.\u201d \u201cYou cannot love the Church,\u201d\ncontinues this meek and elegant evangelist, \u201cunless you go to Wesley\u2019s\nmeeting-house; nor be a friend to the established bishops, priests, and\ndeacons, unless you admire Wesley\u2019s ragged legion of preaching barbers,\ncobblers, tinkers, scavengers, draymen, and chimney sweepers.\u201d\n\nHas the reader had enough from the \u201cgentle strictures\u201d of this young\ndivine, not yet thirty-two years of age? Let him turn to the _Gospel\nMagazine_. In reviewing Wesley\u2019s sermon at City Road, the _Gospel_\neditor describes Wesley\u2019s Methodism as a \u201cjumble of heresies, truly\nand properly called Wesleyism\u201d; and nothing \u201cuttered by Satan himself\ncan be more _impudent_ and more glaringly untrue\u201d than when Wesley\ncalls it \u201cthe old religion of the Bible, of the primitive church,\nand of the Church of England.\u201d For him to say, that Lady Huntingdon\n\u201clabours to form independent congregations, is as gross a falsehood\nas was ever coined at the Foundery itself. Mr. Wesley\u2019s apostasy from\nthe Church is a chief reason why her ladyship has justly discarded\nhim; and her disavowal of him, of his Dissenting principles, and of\nhis sectarian conduct, is the true reason, why he has the insolence\nto spit his venom against one of the most respectable characters that\never existed.\u201d \u201cWith a baseness hardly to be paralleled, Mr. Wesley\nrakes into the ashes of a man, whose name will descend with lustre to\nthe latest posterity; while that of the Foundery wolf will moulder\nwith his pilfered writings, or only be remembered with contempt and\nexecration. O Wesley, Wesley, hide thy diminutive head! nor let the\nmost pestilent _Dissenter_ in the kingdom arraign the spotless memory\nof a _Churchman_, whose fervour and steadiness of attachment to his\necclesiastical mother have scarcely been equalled in the present\nage, and never exceeded in any. The truth is, Mr. Whitefield was _too\nmuch_ a Churchman for Mr. Wesley\u2019s fanaticism to digest. O ye deluded\nfollowers of this horrid man, God open your eyes, and pluck your feet\nout of the net! lest ye sink into the threefold ditch of antichristian\nerror, of foul antinomianism, and of eternal misery at last.\u201d[302]\n\nThis was tolerably strong; but it was not enough. The same periodical,\nin its review of Rowland Hill\u2019s polite pamphlet, begins thus: \u201cHob in\nthe well again; or pope John once more in the suds! Seldom has literary\npunishment been administered with greater keenness and spirit, than\nin this pamphlet; and, surely, never was a punishment administered on\na juster occasion, nor to a more deserving delinquent. When you take\nOld Nick by the nose, it must be with a pair of red hot tongs.\u201d The\nred hot reviewer reiterates the slander, that Charles Wesley offered\nthe Greek bishop, Erasmus, forty guineas, upon condition that he would\ngive his brother episcopal ordination; and continues: \u201cMr. Wesley\u2019s\nvile ingratitude to the name and memory of Mr. Whitefield deserves the\nabhorrence and execration of all good men.\u201d Wesley is \u201can unfeeling and\nunprincipled slanderer, a vile traducer,\u201d and, in fact, guilty of \u201can\nextreme of malignity and baseness, for which language has no name.\u201d[303]\n\nSuch scurrility as this, heaped upon an old man, seventy-four years\nof age, who had spent his long life in unparalleled labours to honour\nGod, and to benefit his fellow men, is almost incredible. But even\nthis was not the worst that the immaculate _Gospel Magazine_ provided\nfor its readers. In the same number, from which the above abuse is\nextracted, there is a long poem, entitled, \u201cThe Serpent and the Fox;\nor, an interview between old Nick and old John\u201d; which strongly reminds\nus of a series of most infamous rhymed effusions which will have to be\nnoticed in the ensuing year, and in which Wesley is always represented\nas a fox. The poem now published was not only foul, but, in the highest\ndegree, profane. It would be a crime to reproduce it. Suffice it to\nsay, that, as if to aggravate its infernal features, it immediately\nfollows a really beautiful hymn of six stanzas \u201cTo God the Holy Ghost.\u201d\nAs a contrast, and to furnish a specimen of the medley often found in\nthis Calvinistic periodical, we furnish the reader with the last verse\nof the thoroughly good hymn, and the first verse of the thoroughly bad\npoem. Addressing the Divine Spirit, John Stocker writes:\n\n \u201cThou my dross and sin consume;\n Let Thy inward kingdom come;\n All my prayer and praise suggest;\n Dwell and reign within my breast.\u201d\n\nWe shrink from the task of so closely annexing to such a stanza, the\nfirst, and by far the least objectionable, lines of the ribald poem of\n\u201cThe Serpent and the Fox\u201d; but historical fidelity compels us.\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a Fox who resideth hard by,\n The most perfect, and holy, and sly,\n That e\u2019er turned a coat, or could pilfer and lie;\n As this reverend Reynard, one day,\n Sat thinking what game next to play,\n Old Nick came a seasonable visit to pay.\u201d\n\nThen follows a conversation, in which Wesley proposes to burn the\nCalvinists in Smithfield, as Bonner once burnt the protestants, and the\ndevil promises, that, while Wesley shall be exalted \u201cwith state\u201d to\nheaven\u2019s \u201cthird storey,\u201d all the Whitefields and Hills shall be \u201cturned\nback from the gate.\u201d\n\n_Quantum sufficit!_ of Rowland Hill, both in prose and verse. What\nhad Wesley to say to all this? In his journal he writes: \u201c1777, June\n26--I read the truly wonderful performance of Mr. Rowland Hill. I stood\namazed! Compared to him, Mr. Toplady himself is a very civil, fair\nspoken gentleman! June 27--I wrote an answer to it; \u2018not rendering\nrailing for railing\u2019 (I have not so learned Christ); but \u2018speaking the\ntruth in love.\u2019\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s reply was a penny tract of 12 pages, 12mo, with the title, \u201cAn\nAnswer to Mr. Rowland Hill\u2019s Tract, entitled, \u2018Imposture Detected.\u2019\u201d He\nbegins as follows: \u201cIn the tract just published by Mr. Rowland Hill,\nthere are several _assertions_ which are _not true_. And the whole\npamphlet is wrote in an _unchristian_ and _ungentlemanly manner_. I\nshall first set down the _assertions_ in order, and then proceed to\nthe _manner_.\u201d This is the strongest language Wesley uses. Indeed, he\nwrites as though Hill\u2019s pamphlet amused him rather than otherwise. Some\nof his friends, however, were not so lenient. Thomas Olivers rushed to\nthe rescue, with his characteristic fire, and unmercifully put into\nthe hands of the public a sixpenny \u201cRod for the Reviler\u201d; and Matthew\nGoodenough, a mechanic, of Bishopsgate Street, published \u201cA Letter to\nMr. Rowland Hill,\u201d 12mo, 21 pages, in which he tells \u201cthe reviler\u201d that\nhe had used a vindictive style of which a chimney sweep might properly\nbe ashamed; and, from his malign spirit and rude manner of attacking\nMr. Wesley, he might be mistaken for the chief of Billingsgate. Hill,\nas a preacher, is taunted with ranting, and roaring, and squealing, and\nbawling, and twisting, and twirling himself about like a merryandrew;\nand is told that, though \u201ca Pelagian Methodist stinks,\u201d it was a\ncomfort that the name of Rowland Hill was \u201can odoriferous perfume, a\ncharming nosegay, diffusing its fragrance wherever it appears, and\nsweetly and effectually extinguishing the f\u0153tid exhalations of Pelagian\nordure!\u201d\n\nNot only in the Welsh cobbler, but in the Bishopsgate mechanic, Rowland\nmet with an Oliver; but, like a beaten bull dog, was not satisfied.\nHe at once issued another octavo pamphlet of 45 pages, entitled, \u201cA\nFull Answer to the Rev. J. Wesley\u2019s Remarks,\u201d etc., in which he humbly\napologises for using too strong language in his former pamphlet; and\nyet, with a strange inconsistency, commits the same fault in this.\nWesley is again accused of \u201cpompous falsehood,\u201d \u201cbarefaced untruth,\u201d\n\u201cungodly craft,\u201d \u201cof calumniating the living, and traducing the\ndead.\u201d \u201cFor full thirty years, Wesley had been travelling towards\n_Trent_, and was now got to his journey\u2019s end\u201d; while Fletcher--poor\nFletcher, apparently dying of consumption--had \u201cpublished, at the end\nof his third volume, a most horrible manifesto, in language almost\nblasphemous, and had forged my brother\u2019s name\u201d (Sir Richard Hill), \u201cand\nmine, at the conclusion of it.\u201d\n\nBut here we must leave this doughty warrior, to whom the very name\nof Wesley was what a scarlet cloak is to an infuriated bull. Some\nwill object to the reviving of these disgraceful reminiscences. Our\nreiterated answer is, that, without them, it is impossible for the\nreader rightly to estimate the character of Wesley. If they reflect\ndishonour on Rowland Hill, we cannot help it. Rowland Hill was a public\nman, and, like all other public men, he must be content to pay a public\npenalty for his public crimes. Unfortunately, this is not the last we\nshall hear of him.\n\nBesides those already mentioned, Wesley published, in 1777--\n\n1. The sermon he preached, on April 21, at the laying of the foundation\nstone of City Road chapel. 12mo, 47 pages.\n\n2. An Extract from his Journal, from September 2, 1770, to September\n12, 1773. 12mo, 119 pages.\n\n3. \u201cA Short Account of the Death of Elizabeth Hindmarsh,\u201d a native of\nAlnwick, \u201cwho died September 6, 1777, in the twenty-first year of her\nage.\u201d 12mo, 12 pages.\n\n4. \u201cThoughts upon God\u2019s Sovereignty.\u201d 12mo, 11 pages.\n\n5. \u201cA Sermon, preached November 23, 1777, in Lewisham Church, before\nthe Humane Society.\u201d 12mo, 24 pages.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [281] _Methodist Magazine_, 1783, p. 358.\n\n [282] Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 311.\n\n [283] Memoir of Ball, p. 137.\n\n [284] Life of Mrs. Smyth, p. 33.\n\n [285] Bardsley\u2019s manuscript letters.\n\n [286] Manuscript memoir of Mr. Sagar.\n\n [287] Taylor\u2019s manuscript diary.\n\n [288] _Methodist Magazine_, 1844, p. 70.\n\n [289] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 406.\n\n [290] Mr. Moore says: \u201cthis good man was possessed of\n eminent ministerial gifts, but he fell into the\n mystic delusion. He then became high minded and\n censorious; and Mr. Charles Wesley, in his hours\n of depression, used too much to listen to him. The\n quakers were jealous of him, and kept him silent a\n long time, to his great mortification. But it was the\n very thing he needed, it was good medicine to heal\n his sickness. In one of his last conversations with\n me, he said: \u2018I would not have thy people to think of\n changing; they may be disappointed,\u2019 He was then in a\n sweet and humble spirit, very different from that in\n which he left us.\u201d (Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii.,\n pp. 273, 274.)\n\n [291] _Methodist Magazine_, 1807, p. 328.\n\n [292] Taylor\u2019s manuscript diary.\n\n [293] Treffry\u2019s Life of Benson.\n\n [294] \u201cAnecdotes of the Wesleys,\u201d p. 272.\n\n [295] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 398.\n\n [296] Asbury\u2019s Journal, vol. i., p. 177.\n\n [297] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 440.\n\n [298] Minutes of Methodist Conferences in America, 1795.\n\n [299] Jackson\u2019s \u201cCentenary of Methodism,\u201d p. 201.\n\n [300] See _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 661.\n\n [301] _Methodist Magazine_, 1799, p. 564.\n\n [302] _Gospel Magazine_, 1777, p. 182.\n\n [303] Ibid. p. 337.\n\n\n\n\n 1778.\n Age 75\n\n\nNever in his life was Wesley the subject of a more infamous press\npersecution than in 1778.\n\nFirst of all, there was a pamphlet published, in which Thomas Maxfield\nwas pitiably preeminent. This mendacious publication asserted that,\nwhen Whitefield went to America, in 1741, he handed over to the two\nWesleys thirty thousand people, whose hearts the Wesleys so turned\nagainst him, that, when he returned to England, not three hundred\nwould come to hear him. It further alleged, that \u201cvile contentions\u201d\nfollowed, in which the Wesleys \u201craked the filthiest ashes, to find some\nblack story against their fellow preachers;\u201d and that what had been\npublished, on both sides, by the friends of Whitefield and Wesley,\nwithin the last six years, was a disgrace to all concerned.\n\nWesley replied to this, in \u201cA Letter to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Maxfield,\noccasioned by a late Publication\u201d: 8vo, 11 pages. He states, with\nperfect truth, that, at the time referred to, there were not five\nthousand Methodists in the world; that his own societies contained\nnot more than fourteen or fifteen hundred members, and Whitefield\u2019s\nnot so many. He declares that, so far from receiving thirty thousand\npeople from Whitefield in solemn trust, the latter never delivered\nup to him one thousand, nor one hundred. He admits, that division\nfollowed; but affirms that Whitefield himself occasioned it. Whitefield\nfirst published a treatise against him by name; but he made no reply\nto it. Wesley asserts that Whitefield constantly preached against\nhim and his brother, both in Moorfields, and in other public places.\nEven in the very Foundery, while Charles Wesley sat beside him, he\npreached the absolute decrees, in the most peremptory and offensive\nmanner; but, instead of returning railing for railing, they always and\neverywhere spoke of him in respectful terms. And then, with respect\nto the publications of the last six years, Wesley states that, though\nthe two Hills, and Toplady, had poured upon him, in great abundance,\nbitterness and wrath, yea, low, base, and virulent invective, he\nhimself had published only three tracts during the entire controversy,\nand in none of them had he spoken one bitter, passionate, or\ndisrespectful word. \u201cWhere,\u201d he asks, \u201chave I, in one single sentence,\nreturned them railing for railing? I have not so learned Christ. I dare\nnot rail, either at them or you. I return not cursing but blessing.\nThat the God of love may bless them and you, is the prayer of your\ninjured, yet still affectionate brother, JOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s letter was worthy of himself. True, his statements, respecting\nhis old friend Whitefield, are scarcely to Whitefield\u2019s honour; but it\nmust be borne in mind, that they are not opinions, but facts; and facts\nnot volunteered, but extorted by the falsehoods of Maxfield and those\nwith whom Maxfield now associated.\n\nWesley replied to Maxfield; but the publications which must be next\nnoticed were properly treated with the silent contempt they merited.\nWe reluctantly advert to these vile productions; and yet, for the\nreason already repeatedly assigned, we must. Our notices shall be\nbrief: first, for want of space; and secondly, because we can hardly\nmake quotations without fouling our pages. The publications were seven\nin number, all, except one, printed by a man of the name of Bew, in\nPaternoster Row, on the best of paper, and in the best of type.\n\n1. \u201cThe Gospel Shop. A comedy in five acts: with a new prologue and\nepilogue, intended for public representation, but suppressed at\nthe particular desire of some eminent divines. By R. Hill, Esq.,\nof Cambridge.\u201d 8vo, 88 pages. The chief _dramatis person\u00e6_ are Dr.\nScapegoat, Parson Prolix, Mr. Rackett, and Simon Sycophant; and an idea\nof the whole of this infamous production may be obtained from two lines\ntaken from the motto on the title page.\n\n \u201cBeware! these dire illusions! strange to tell,\n A gospel shop\u2019s the very spawn of hell!\u201d\n\n2. \u201cThe Saints: a satire.\u201d 4to, 30 pages; with a frontispiece made up\nof two scrolls, labelled respectively, \u201cInspiration,\u201d and \u201cElection,\u201d\na bottle inscribed with the word \u201cGin,\u201d and a satyr\u2019s head inscribed\n\u201cPerfection.\u201d A Methodist is described as a mixture of ignorance and\nfolly, piety and hypocrisy. The whole tribe are \u201cdownright scoundrels,\u201d\n\u201creligious mountebanks,\u201d \u201cwretches who make a trade of religion,\u201d and\n\u201cshow an uncommon concern for the next world, only to raise their\nfortunes with greater security in this.\u201d Two lines must suffice as a\nspecimen, and, for the sake of decency, two of the words must be given\nin a skeletonised form. Of Wesley it is said, he\n\n \u201cMakes piety a b----d to aid his work,\n Outlies Sam Johnson, and o--twh----s a Turk.\u201d[304]\n\n3. \u201cPerfection; a poetical epistle, calmly addressed to the greatest\nhypocrite in England.\u201d 4to, price two shillings. Of course, Wesley\nwas the hypocrite; and the work is ornamented with an emblematical\nfrontispiece in accordance with its foul and calumnious falsehoods.\n\n4. \u201cThe Temple of Imposture. A poem by the author of \u2018The Saints,\u2019\n\u2018Perfection,\u2019 etc.\u201d 4to, 35 pages. This, like all the others, has a\ncharacteristic frontispiece, in which Wesley is represented as a huge\nserpent, labelled \u201cThe subtlest beast of the field.\u201d The serpent forms\na circle, inside of which, among other things, there are four books\nrespectively inscribed, \u201cKoran,\u201d \u201cBedlam\u2019s Hymns,\u201d \u201cDruid Hymns,\u201d and\n\u201cIgnat. Loyola Monita Secreta\u201d; also a gridiron, called \u201cMahommed\u2019s\nGridiron\u201d; a sword, inscribed \u201cA Calm Address\u201d; a bottle, with a\nburning candle in its neck, and labelled \u201cGin\u201d; and two scrolls,\none with the words \u201cOld Light at Mecca,\u201d and the other, \u201cNew Light\nin Moorfields.\u201d The professed object of the work is to show, that,\nin tyranny, lust, avarice, persecution, and imposture, Wesley is\na successor of Mahommed; and, in a bad sense, an improved edition\nof Ignatius Loyola. Wesley is accused of long seeking to be made a\nbishop. \u201cOf all impostors since the flood,\u201d he is denounced as the\nvery worst; while his preachers are \u201cmechanic missionaries,--bawling,\ncrafty, illiterate wretches, sent out by their priestly masters, to sow\nseeds of false doctrine and fanaticism, which spring up, throughout\nthe country, in plentiful crops of idleness, beggary, madness, and\nsometimes suicide.\u201d\n\n5. \u201cThe Lovefeast. A poem by the author of the \u2018Saints: a satire,\u2019\netc.\u201d 4to, 47 pages. Here the frontispiece is a sort of chapel scene,\nin which Wesley, as a fox, dressed in canonicals, is having a mitre\nplaced upon his head by the goddess Murcia, while a parson behind waves\nhis wig and shouts \u201cHurrah,\u201d and another hurries away with an air\nof disappointment and disgust. Wesley\u2019s Foundery is described as \u201ca\nspiritual slop shop,\u201d where he equips his \u201cpreaching lubbers\u201d with all\nthe necessary paraphernalia for playing their several parts; while the\npreachers themselves are designated \u201cthe worst of scum,\u201d \u201csmugglers of\nScripture phrases,\u201d \u201clearning\u2019s sworn foes,\u201d \u201cJack Cade\u2019s apostles,\u201d\nand \u201cmere conduit pipes of rhapsody and cant.\u201d The following are the\nlast lines of the piece, and are used concerning Wesley himself.\n\n \u201c_Feasts_ he may institute, raise _holy_ piles,\n Degrade his _God_ to win a _monarch\u2019s_ smiles;\n Permit _corruption_ his _false heart_ to taint,\n Live by _imposture_, and yet die a _saint_;\n But never while this hand can hold a pen,\n Shall he escape the _scorn of honest men_.\n Nor North, nor Mansfield shall the _wizard_ save,\n But _ridicule_ shall scourge him to the _grave_--\n There let him _rot_, (so Becket did before,)\n _Proud_ as a _pope_, and faithless as a wh--re.\u201d\n\n6. \u201cSketches for Tabernacle Frames.\u201d 4to, 36 pages. In this, the\nfrontispiece consists of Wesley, again represented as a fox in\ncanonicals, with the crosier of a mock bishop behind him, and round\nabout a library of books, which he is supposed to sell, the shelves\nbeing labelled \u201cPrimitive Physic,\u201d \u201cPolitical Pamphlets,\u201d and \u201cPrayers,\nSermons, and Hymns.\u201d Before him kneels a mechanic, with an ass\u2019s head,\nholding, in one hand, a bottle inscribed with the words \u201cPrimitive\nPhysic,\u201d and, in the other, a pamphlet called \u201cA Calm Address,\u201d while\nthe poor asinine wretch himself is having his mouth opened by Wesley,\nwho is about to indulge in the agreeable recreation of extracting his\nteeth. At the top of the picture are two portraits, one of James II.,\nindicative of Wesley being a Jacobite; and the other of Lucy Cooper,\nindicating him to be something worse. The poem is dedicated to the\n\u201cRev. Mr. Evans, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Hawes, in acknowledgment of their\nservices to the public.\u201d After describing Wesley by such epithets as \u201ca\nnostrum monger,\u201d \u201ca preacher, pamphleteer, and quack,\u201d than whom \u201cfew\ncan whistle off rank nonsense better,\u201d the work concludes with the two\nlines following:\n\n \u201cHis odious name should stink beyond the grave,\n And truth proclaim him a recorded knave.\u201d\n\nThe reader has had more than enough of these dunghill rakings; but, in\norder to be saved from the hateful task of returning to this series of\nabominable poems, we add another published in the year following.\n\n7. \u201cFanatical Conversion, or Methodism Displayed. Illustrated and\nverified from J. Wesley\u2019s fanatical journals.\u201d 1779: 4to, 55 pages. In\ntwo different copies we find two different frontispieces. One is an\nass, on its hind legs, preaching. The other is much more elaborate,\nand is too obscene to be fully described. Leaving out the parts\nreferred to, Wesley, as a clerical fox, is represented as preaching\nin a barn, his right hand in the coat pocket of a man called \u201cOld\nCloaths,\u201d and his left taking a penny from a boy, a tapster, who has\njust been broaching a hogshead of \u201cCulvert\u2019s Gin.\u201d One man approaches\nthe preacher, with a cudgel, crying, \u201cGive me my money!\u201d Another, in\nthe form of a donkey, is making a most hideous noise, and is called\n\u201cBrother Bray.\u201d A third is vomiting a black monster, and represented\nas saying, \u201cHe\u2019s gone, he\u2019s gone!\u201d A fourth is standing on his head,\nand shouting, \u201cSure I am in heaven.\u201d Two others are hurling a squib\nat Wesley\u2019s head, and flourishing a scroll, \u201cFor the benefit of Trick\nupon Trick, or Methodism Displayed.\u201d At Wesley\u2019s feet is the favourite\nbottle, labelled \u201cPrimitive Physic\u201d; and in the centre is, what may be\ntaken as the artist\u2019s name, \u201cRowland Hill, 1778.\u201d The following four\nlines, selected almost hap-hazard, are a very moderate specimen of all\nthe rest. Of course, they are spoken concerning Wesley.\n\n \u201cReynard, you\u2019re right! Heaven loves such pious frauds;\n Hence, half your saints _unmasked_ are who--s and b--ds:\n Nay, _mock apostles_ are but little less\n Than devils lurking in _fanatic_ dress.\u201d\n\nWe gladly leave these disgusting publications. Like dishonoured\nchildren, they are without an acknowledged father. Who was their\ninfamous author? We neither know, nor care to know; but there are\nthree facts concerning them which must be noticed. First, in almost\nthe whole of them there is a most virulent attack on Wesley\u2019s \u201cCalm\nAddress to the American Colonies.\u201d Secondly, though irreligious to a\nsupreme degree, they are levelled, not against religion in general,\nbut against that particular form of it espoused by Wesley. Thirdly,\nthroughout, the Calvinists are either passed _sub silentio_, or with\nwords of commendation; and, in footnotes and other places, Rowland\nHill is evidently in the writer\u2019s good graces. We have read hundreds\nof tracts and pamphlets published against Wesley; but nothing which,\nfor profanity, pollution, and violent abuse, equals these. They display\ntalent; but talent prostituted to the most infernal purposes. In style,\nthey resemble,--shall we say it? the style of one of Wesley\u2019s most\ncalumnious Calvinian opposers; but we charitably, though feebly, hope,\nthat no man professing, much less teaching, the Christian religion, had\nto do with their production.\n\nWhat had Wesley done to merit all this? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He\nwas an old man whose life had been spent in one great act of Christian\nbeneficence. These wretched poems, issued in the best style of the art\nof printing, by J. Bew, of Paternoster Row, were the foul sputterings\nof a muse, not naturally ignoble, but envious of Wesley\u2019s majestic\ngoodness, and animated with a feeling almost as malignant as the heart\nof Apollyon. So far from answering them, Wesley never even condescended\nto mention them, in any journal or letter yet made public.\n\nBefore we trace Wesley\u2019s wanderings in 1778, there are two or three\nother facts which must be noticed. On Tuesday, August 11, 1778, in the\nthirty-eighth year of his age, occurred the death of the Rev. Augustus\nToplady. In more respects than one, this was a memorable event to\nWesley and his friends. In the death of Toplady, Wesley lost one of his\nbitterest opponents; and Calvinism lost its ablest champion.\n\nSoon after, the report was circulated, that Wesley had stated, to some\nof his friends, that Toplady died in despair and uttering blasphemy.\nSir Richard Hill rushed into print, by sending an anonymous letter\nto the _General Advertiser_, requesting Wesley either to deny the\naccusation, or to produce his authority, otherwise his character would\nsuffer, \u201cfor having vented a most gross, malicious falsehood.\u201d Not\ncontent with this, he published a pamphlet, in the form of a \u201cLetter\nto the Rev. Mr. John Wesley,\u201d in which, as usual, he made use of the\nmost intemperate language, telling Wesley that, unless he cleared\nhimself from the charge alleged against him, he would be branded \u201cas\nthe raiser and fabricator of a most nefarious report,\u201d and would be\nguilty of a sin little less \u201cthan the unpardonable sin against the Holy\nGhost.\u201d The whole of this mare\u2019s nest was simply this: Mr. Gawkrodger,\nof Bridlington, _told_ Sir Richard Hill, that Mr. Thomas Robinson\n_told_ him, that Wesley _told_ him, that Toplady \u201cdied in black despair\nand blasphemy.\u201d If Sir Richard Hill had _courteously_ asked for an\nexplanation, Wesley, like a gentleman and a Christian, would have given\none; but, having demanded it in the most offensive terms, telling him\nthat he had been \u201cvilifying the ashes and traducing the memory\u201d of\nToplady; and that \u201chis grand design in all his publications, whether\nsermons, journals, appeals, preservatives, or Arminian magazines,\nwas that of trumpeting forth his own praises\u201d; and that he was \u201ca\nman of cunning and subtlety, and artifices, and foul aspersions, and\nquibbles, and evasions,\u201d[305]--we say, that Sir Richard Hill having\nused such terms as these, in the very letters in which he requested the\nexplanation, deserved, not an answer, but, the silent contempt with\nwhich Wesley wisely treated him.\n\nIn 1778, England was in great excitement. Panic was general; and the\ncountry was thought to be on the brink of ruin. It was this state\nof things which led Wesley to publish the two political pamphlets\nfollowing:\n\nFirst, \u201cA Serious Address to the People of England, with regard to\nthe state of the nation:\u201d 12mo, 28 pages; the object of which was to\nshow, that England, notwithstanding the war, was in prosperity. Its\ncattle and vegetable productions were undiminished. Its inhabitants\nhad increased a million within the last twenty years; and, during\nthe same period, hundreds of thousands of acres of unprofitable land\nhad been put under tillage. England might have lost eight hundred of\nits ships since the beginning of the war; but it had also taken more\nthan it had lost. The trade with Ireland had prodigiously increased;\nand, _comparatively speaking_, the national debt was not so great as\nin 1759. \u201cFriends and countrymen!\u201d writes Wesley, \u201clet none deceive\nyou with vain words! Let none, by subtle reasonings, or by artful,\nelaborate harangues, persuade you out of your senses. Let no sweet\ntongued orator, by his smooth periods, steal away your understanding;\nno thundering talker fill you with vain fears, of evils that have no\nbeing. You are encompassed with liberty, peace, and plenty. Know the\npublic, as well as private, blessings which you enjoy; and be thankful\nto God and man.\u201d\n\nThe second, and shorter tract, was published, with the title, \u201cA\nCompassionate Address to the Inhabitants of Ireland\u201d: 12mo, 12 pages.\nWesley laughs to scorn the report, that General Washington had an\narmy of 65,000 men; and says, that \u201cthe French will as soon swallow\nup the sea,\u201d as swallow up old England; that the Spanish have not yet\nforgotten Havannah; and that the Portuguese were \u201cnot such arrant\nfools\u201d as to join in a confederacy with England\u2019s enemies.\n\nThese were odd topics for Wesley to take up; but the war excitement\nwas now at its highest point. Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and\nEdinburgh raised regiments at their own expense. The Whig opposition\nconsidered this to be highly reprehensible, and accused Lord North and\nthe other members of the government with employing soldiers without\nconsent of parliament, and of entertaining designs dangerous to the\nliberties of the country. Fox moved, in the House of Commons, that no\nmore troops should be sent out of the kingdom; alleging that a war\nwith France and Spain was imminent; and that the navy was inefficient,\nand the militia contemptible. Burke, in a speech of three hours and a\nhalf duration,--said to be the greatest triumph of eloquence within\nthe memory of man,--endeavoured to weaken the hands of government,\nby dwelling on the ferocities and horrors committed by their savage\nauxiliaries in America, the red Indians. Lord George Gordon, who was\nnot yet quite so mad as he became a year or two later, expressed\nhis earnest wish, that Lord North \u201cwould call off his butchers from\nAmerica, retire with all the rest of his majesty\u2019s evil advisers, and\nturn from his wickedness and live.\u201d John Wilkes, the ex-lord mayor of\nLondon, who had not yet attained to the post of city chamberlain, but\nwho was engaged in constant man\u0153uvres to escape out of the purgatory\nof duns, or to draw more money from the purses of private friends, was\nas lavish with his sarcasms, ribaldry, and drollery as ever, and told\nthe minister, that nothing but a cessation of hostilities would save\nGeneral Howe from the fate of Burgoyne. France was exerting itself\nto the utmost, to induce, not only Spain, but also Austria, Prussia,\nRussia, and the other despotisms, to become the allies and protectors\nof the young and free republic. The king and his ministers were\ninvolved in the greatest difficulties; and John Wesley, like a loyal\nman, at the head of forty thousand Methodists, felt it to be a duty to\nassist them as he best could, not only in private and in the pulpit,\nbut also with his pen.\n\nHaving spent the first two months of 1778 in London and its vicinity,\nWesley started, at the commencement of March, for Ireland, where he\nemployed his time and energies till towards the end of July following;\nbut there was nothing in the tour so _unusually_ remarkable as to\ndemand attention. The days of mob persecution were over; and everywhere\nWesley was received with respect, and, in many places, with affection.\nAt Tullamore, where he preached in the riding-house, the commanding\nofficer ordered all the soldiers to be present, and attended himself,\nwith the rest of the officers. At Cork, two companies of volunteers\nwere present in the chapel, while Wesley preached; the side gallery\nbeing filled with the men in scarlet, and the front with the men in\nblue. In one instance, this old evangelist actually, we had almost said\ncruelly, drove a pair of horses sixty-eight miles in a single day. In\nanother instance, coming to a slough near Sligo, a sturdy Irishman took\nWesley over on his shoulders; and others took his chaise. At Dublin,\nhis little conference of twenty preachers debated the duty of leaving\nthe Established Church; \u201cbut, after a full discussion of the point,\u201d\nsays Wesley, \u201cwe all remained firm in our judgment,--that it is not our\nduty to leave the Church, wherein God has blessed us, and does bless us\nstill.\u201d\n\nThis discussion was brought about principally by the Rev. Edward Smyth,\nalready mentioned as a clergyman who had been expelled from his curacy\nfor his fidelity to the truth. At present, he was in connection with\nthe Methodists; and was now eager to persuade Wesley and his preachers\nto separate from the Church; but without effect. Myles, in his\nChronological History, says, that the minute adopted was the following:\n\n \u201cIs it not our duty to separate from the Church, considering\n the wickedness both of the clergy and the people? Answer. We\n conceive not. 1. Because both the priests and the people were\n full as wicked in the Jewish church, and yet God never\n commanded the holy Israelites to separate from them. 2. Neither\n did our Lord command His disciples to separate from them; He\n rather commanded the contrary. 3. Hence, it is clear, _that_\n could not be the meaning of St. Paul\u2019s words, \u2018Come out from\n among them, and be ye separate.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis was an important action. Twenty years before, Wesley had wavered\nin his attachment to the Church; now and henceforth, in language at\nleast, he was more decided. This is a question which will repeatedly\npresent itself in succeeding years.\n\nOn July 19, Wesley left Dublin to attend his English conference in\nLeeds, preaching on his way at Liverpool, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale,\nHalifax, Bradford, and Birstal, at which last mentioned place his\ncongregation was supposed to number twelve or fourteen thousand persons.\n\nWesley\u2019s notice of the Leeds conference is brief. He writes:\n\n \u201c1778. Tuesday, August 4.--Our conference began: so large a\n number of preachers never met at a conference before. I\n preached morning and evening, till Thursday night; then my\n voice began to fail; so I desired two of our preachers to\n supply my place the next day. On Saturday the conference\n ended.\u201d\n\nMr. Benson writes:\n\n \u201cOur conference is just ended, the best I was ever at. Mr.\n Wesley has been in a sweet spirit, has preached some excellent\n sermons, has had extraordinary congregations, and has dealt\n closely and plainly with the preachers, setting two aside for\n misdemeanours.\u201d[306]\n\nThomas Taylor, in his manuscript diary, remarks:\n\n \u201cAugust 5.--To-day, we permitted all sorts to come into the\n conference, so that we had a large company. The forenoon was\n occupied in speaking upon preaching houses. In the afternoon,\n the sending of missionaries to Africa was considered. The call\n seems doubtful. Afterwards, the committee met, and we were an\n hour and a half in speaking what might have been done in five\n minutes. We are vastly tedious, and have many long speeches to\n little purpose.\u201d\n\n \u201cAugust 6.--This day has been employed chiefly in stationing\n the preachers.\n\n \u201cAugust 7.--We were engaged in conference till after one\n o\u2019clock; and then the sacrament began, at which, I think, two\n thousand were present.\u201d\n\nThree things are noticeable here. 1. Others, beside itinerant\npreachers, were admitted to Wesley\u2019s conference in 1778. 2. Long and\ntedious conferential speeches are not a novelty; but were inflicted\nupon impatient and unwilling listeners in former days as they are\nsometimes inflicted now. 3. The conference had an immense sacrament\nsuch as Methodist conferences and Methodist congregations now never\nwitness.\n\nStationing preachers was then a difficulty as it is at present, one of\nthe four days being chiefly occupied with this. Some modern Methodists\nseem to think, that Wesley, in this, acted as he pleased; but that\nis hardly true. The people then, to say nothing about the preachers,\nliked to have a voice in their appointments; and then, as now, not\nunfrequently made worse selections than others would have made for\nthem. In the spring of the present year, Wesley significantly wrote,\nwhile at Bristol: \u201cMarch 9--On this and the following days I visited\nthe society, and found a good increase. This year, I myself (_which\nI have seldom done_) chose the preachers for Bristol; and these were\n_plain_ men, and likely to do more good than had been done in one year,\nfor these twenty years.\u201d\n\nIt is a curious fact, that, as this was the first conference in whose\nminutes the name of Thomas Coke appeared, so also it was a conference\nremarkable for its discussion of the great question of Christian\nmissions, to which Coke, soon after, devoted his unwearied life. The\nmission to Africa has been mentioned. Mr. Benson writes:\n\n \u201cThe proposal was made in consequence of two young princes from\n Calabar, in Guinea, who desired that missionaries might be sent\n to instruct them in the English language, and the great\n principles of Christianity. These young princes had been\n cruelly torn away from their own country, and sold as slaves in\n America, where they remained upwards of seven years. An English\n master of a ship, to whom they told their story, pitied them,\n and advised them to run away from their master, which they did,\n and were brought by him to England. Their case was examined,\n and brought before Lord Mansfield; and they were set at\n liberty. They made some stay at Bristol, and were instructed by\n some of our people, but especially by Miss Johnson. After they\n had returned to their own country, at their request, two\n persons, who were Germans, but members of our society at\n Bristol, were sent out to Guinea; but they both died either\n before, or soon after, they landed on that coast. The young\n princes sent over petitions for others to go. Two good young\n men offered themselves for the difficult and dangerous service.\n But, after the matter was seriously considered, it was\n concluded that the time had not arrived for sending\n missionaries to Africa.\u201d[307]\n\nOne of the strangers, who were present at the conference of 1778, was\nThomas Thompson, Esq., afterwards member of parliament for the town\nof Hull, and who, at the first missionary meeting, held at Leeds,\nstated that the discussion respecting this African mission lasted\nseveral hours, and was marked by deep piety, sound sense, and powerful\neloquence. Mr. Thompson continued: \u201cThe deepest impression, however,\nseemed to be made, on the minds of all persons present, by the short\nspeech of a young man, who appeared to be far gone in a consumption,\nbut who promptly offered himself as a missionary, and, in unaffected\nlanguage, declared his readiness to go to Africa, or to any other part\nof the world, to which it might please God and his brethren to send\nhim.\u201d[308]\n\nWho was this young man? Though not absolutely certain, we believe it\nwas Duncan McAllum. At all events, the following information, hitherto\nunpublished, will be acceptable. The two African princes escaped from\nslavery, about the year 1775, after the breaking out of the American\nrebellion. One of them was baptized at Bristol; and the other was\nseriously disposed. The two Germans, who went out, were brothers of\nthe name of Syndrum, and were treated by the uncle of the princes with\nall possible attention. When the intelligence of their death arrived\nin England, Dr. Coke addressed a circular to all the young itinerant\npreachers in the connexion, asking for volunteers for this African\nmission, and stating that they would be supported by a legacy of \u00a3500,\nleft, for that purpose, by Miss Johnson, of Bristol.[309] Duncan\nMcAllum was now in the third year of his itinerancy, and was stationed\nat Dundee. With a brave heart, he offered his services, even before the\nconference; but, without assigning reasons, Wesley declined accepting\nthem. Hence the following hitherto unpublished letter.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _July 14, 1778_.\n\n \u201cDEAR DUNCAN,--I would have you change once in two months, and\n will help you as to the expenses. Dwell in the land, and be\n doing good, and surely thou shalt be fed. You have nothing to\n do at present in Africa. Convert the heathen in Scotland.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Duncan, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nSo the matter ended. Help for Africa was deferred; but it is a blessed\nfact that Africans were being saved. The successful efforts of Mr.\nGilbert in Antigua have been already noticed; and it is a remarkable\ncoincidence, that, in this very year, when Coke first found a place\nin the conference minutes, and when, for the first time, missions to\nthe heathen were discussed at the conference sittings, John Baxter,\na Methodist shipwright at Chatham, felt himself constrained to leave\nhis friends, and to embark for Antigua, principally, as he himself\nexpresses it, that he \u201cmight have an opportunity of speaking for God.\u201d\nHe landed on April 2, and, a fortnight after, wrote to Wesley, telling\nhim that the work, begun by the late Mr. Gilbert, still remained. He\nsays: \u201cThe black people have been kept together by two black women, who\nhave continued praying and meeting with those who attended every night.\nI preached to about thirty on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, to\nthe same number; and, in the afternoon, to about four or five hundred.\nThe old standers desire I would let you know that you have had many\nchildren in Antigua whom you never saw. I hope, sir, we shall have an\ninterest in your prayers. Dear sir, give me your advice. Provisions\nare very scarce; but I have all things richly to enjoy; as I have four\nshillings a day, besides the king\u2019s provisions. I am going to have a\nhouse built for me, with as much ground as is needful. I think God has\nsent me here for good to the poor souls, who are glad to hear, but\nunable to maintain, a preacher.\u201d[310]\n\nLittle more remains to be said respecting the conference of 1778,\nexcept that it was resolved \u201cto receive no more married preachers,\nbecause,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cwe cannot keep them\u201d;[311] and, further, that\ntwo most characteristic minutes were adopted in reference to preachers\nwho were nervous. It was asked:\n\n \u201cWhy do so many of our preachers fall into nervous disorders?\n\n \u201cAnswer. Because they do not sufficiently observe Dr. Cadogan\u2019s\n rules--to avoid indolence and intemperance.\n\n \u201cThey do indeed use exercise; but many of them do not use\n enough,--not near so much as they did before they were\n preachers. And sometimes they sit still a whole day. This can\n never consist with health.\n\n \u201cThey are not intemperate in the vulgar sense; they are neither\n drunkards nor gluttons; but they take more food than nature\n requires, particularly in the evening.\n\n \u201cWhat advice would you give to those that are _nervous_?\n\n \u201cAnswer. Advice is made for them that will take it; but who are\n they? one in ten, or twenty?\n\n \u201cThen I advise: (1) Touch no dram, tea, tobacco, or snuff; (2)\n eat very light, if any, supper; (3) breakfast on nettle or\n orange peel tea; (4) lie down before ten, rise before six; (5)\n every day use as much exercise as you can bear; or (6) murder\n yourself by inches.\u201d\n\nWesley acted upon his own advice. Whatever might be said of others, he\nwas not the man to be made nervous for want of exercise. Many Methodist\npreachers claim and enjoy a holiday after conference. With Wesley it\nwas otherwise. The conference of 1778 closed on Saturday, August 8;\nthe next day, Wesley preached to a congregation of some thousands\nin the market place at Dewsbury. He then hurried off to London; and\nthence to Cornwall, where he preached, in Gwennap amphitheatre, it was\nbelieved, to four-and-twenty thousand people. During this lengthened\njourney, he made the following curious entry in his journal.\n\n \u201cSeptember 1--I went to Tiverton. I was musing here on what I\n heard a good man say long since: \u2018Once in seven years I burn\n all my sermons; for it is a shame if I cannot write better\n sermons now than I could seven years ago.\u2019 Whatever others can\n do, I really cannot. I cannot write a better sermon on the Good\n Steward, than I did seven years ago; I cannot write a better on\n the Great Assize, than I did twenty years ago; I cannot write a\n better on the Use of Money, than I did near thirty years ago;\n nay, I know not that I can write a better on the Circumcision\n of the Heart, than I did five-and-forty years ago. Perhaps,\n indeed, I may have read five or six hundred books more than I\n had then, and may know a little more history, or natural\n philosophy, than I did; but I am not sensible that this has\n made any essential addition to my knowledge in divinity. Forty\n years ago, I knew and preached every Christian doctrine which I\n preach now.\u201d\n\nLet the reader ponder this entry for a threefold purpose. (1) To form\nan estimate of the extent of Wesley\u2019s reading. (2) To ascertain which\nsermons Wesley thought his best. (3) To find an answer to the charge\nthat Wesley changed his doctrines.\n\nWesley, on his return from Cornwall, arrived on September 4 in Bristol,\nin the neighbourhood of which he spent the ensuing month.\n\nThe remainder of the year was occupied in London, and in his usual\ntours through the counties of Buckingham, Oxford, Bedford, Northampton,\nHertford, and Kent; and it may be mentioned, as an evidence that the\nChurch of England began at last to appreciate its ejected minister,\nthat, during this interval, he preached, by request, to crowded\ncongregations, in not fewer than four of the London churches.\n\nIt was at this time, also, that he opened, as already noticed, the new\nchapel in City Road. On the day of opening, he wrote as follows to Mrs.\nPenelope Cousins.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 1, 1778_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--It is just as it should be. I have formerly\n said \u2018I wonder how Mr. Whitefield can go on! For he has honour,\n and comparatively, no dishonour. And this is test for human\n frailty too severe.\u2019 Now I have not that insupportable burden.\n I have honour enough in all reason; but it is properly balanced\n with dishonour. I have good report, and (what is absolutely\n necessary) evil report too. To-day I am to open our new chapel.\n Hence also will arise both honour and dishonour. Yet a little\n while, and all these things, that seem considerable now, will\n pass away like a dream.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear Penny, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[312]\n\nThe opening of City Road chapel rendered it necessary, that Wesley\nshould have clerical coadjutors; and he now received a letter from one\nwho, in after years, rendered faithful and valuable service. The Rev.\nJames Creighton was born in Ireland, in 1739; and, for fourteen years,\nhad been an ordained clergyman; but it was only within the last two\nyears that he had found peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ,\nand that principally by reading the works of Wesley. He now began to\npreach in a barn, about four miles from his parish church; and, then,\nwhen the barn was no longer available, in a chapel which was erected\nfor him, and in which he officiated for some time, though the windows\nwere unglazed, and the mudden floor was such that his feet often sunk\ntwo inches deep during the performance of service. His parish was\nsixteen miles in length, and most of it mountainous and boggy; but he\nfrequently walked, as well as rode, through all parts of it, in all\nkinds of weather.[313] While here, he wrote the following to Wesley.\n\n \u201cBELTERBELT, _October 26, 1778_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SIR,--I stand much in need of a judicious friend. I am\n quite alone; there are none of the Methodists near me; nor are\n there any yet thoroughly awakened within my cure. The fault, I\n must own, is mine. I have not been zealous enough; yet, this\n has not proceeded from the fear of man; but I wished not to act\n precipitately, and to raise the prejudices of the clergy as\n little as possible. I meant well; but I see I have acted wrong.\n Had I been persecuted, I should have been much bolder; but the\n people are so civil to me, that it has, in a great measure,\n proved my ruin. I have had such a sense of my ignorance and\n inability, that I have been frequently tempted to think, I\n ought to refrain entirely from preaching. But, again, I thought\n I might, perhaps, be of some use here, where the people are\n ready to listen to me, yet are not willing to hear a Methodist.\n Could I once open a door here for the Methodist preachers, I\n should willingly go to any part of the globe that God should\n call me to. Were I near you, I should be too happy to fill the\n place of your assistant. Though we must lament the want of\n discipline in our Church, and though I admire the economy of\n the Methodists, yet I entirely agree with you, that they ought\n not to leave the Church. So long as they mingle with the\n members of it, they may be the means of converting them; but,\n if they separate, they will thereby stop the ears and eyes of\n thousands. These were my sentiments long before I heard that\n they were yours. I never was bigoted to opinions, and hope I\n never shall.\n\n \u201cI remain, dear sir, your very humble servant, and affectionate\n brother,\n\n \u201cJAMES CREIGHTON.\u201d[314]\n\nThe discipline of the Church of England was a thing over which Wesley\nand his friends had no control. With the discipline of the Methodists\nit was otherwise. Hence, the following characteristic letter, hitherto\nunpublished, addressed to one of his itinerants, at Brecon, Mr. William\nChurch, an ancestor of the Rev. Henry L. Church, who possesses the\noriginal.\n\n \u201cWALLINGFORD, _October 13, 1778_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BILLY,--The soul and the body make a man; the Spirit and\n discipline make a Christian. Let John Watson and you agree\n together, and be exact in this wherever you go. Insist upon the\n observance of all the society rules, by all the members of\n society; and on the observance of all (even the least) of the\n band rules, by all that meet in band. I give, for instance, no\n band tickets to any woman, who wears either ruffles or a high\n crowned cap. If any will not lay aside these, rather than lose\n that blessed means of improvement, she is not worthy of it.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nAnother unpublished letter, of the same kind, addressed to Samuel\nBradburn, will be welcome.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 17, 1778_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I think you judge exactly right. You are called\n to obey _me_, as a son in the gospel. But who can prove, that\n you are so called to obey any other person? What I require\n (according to the twelfth rule of a helper) of John Hampson and\n you, is, that each of you, in his turn, spend four weeks, and\n no more, first at Cork, and then at Bandon. When, therefore,\n you have been at Bandon, I desire you to return straight to\n Cork. And, if John Hampson will not then go to Bandon, I will\n order one that will. Pray show this letter to Mr. Mackrie, whom\n I beg to assist you in this matter. Pass smoothly over the\n perverseness of those you have to do with, and go straight\n forward. It is abundantly sufficient, that you have the\n testimony of a good conscience towards God.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nReference is made, in Mr. Creighton\u2019s letter, to the subject of the\nMethodists leaving the Established Church; and it has been already\nseen, that this was a matter earnestly debated, at the Dublin\nconference, during the present year. The following letter, sent to Miss\nBishop, is of great importance, and, though long, must have insertion.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 18, 1778_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--The original Methodists were all of the\n Church of England; and the more awakened they were, the more\n zealously they adhered to it, in every point, both of doctrine\n and discipline. Hence, we inserted in the very first rules of\n our society, \u2018they that leave the Church leave us.\u2019 And this we\n did, not as a point of prudence, but a point of conscience. We\n believed it unlawful to separate from the Church, unless sinful\n terms of communion were imposed. Just as did Mr. Philip Henry,\n and most of those holy men that were contemporary with him.\n\n \u201c\u2018But the ministers of it do not preach the gospel.\u2019 Neither do\n some of the independent or anabaptist ministers. Calvinism is\n not the gospel: nay, it is further from it, than most of the\n sermons I hear at the church. These are very frequently\n unevangelical, but they are not anti-evangelical. Few of the\n Methodists are now in danger of imbibing error from the Church\n ministers; but they are in great danger of imbibing the grand\n error, Calvinism, from some of the Dissenting ministers.\n Perhaps thousands have done it already; most of whom have drawn\n back to perdition. I see more instances of this than any one\n else can do; and, on this ground also, exhort all who would\n keep to the Methodists, and from Calvinism, to go to the\n church, and not to the meeting.\n\n \u201cBut to speak freely: I myself find more life in the Church\n prayers, than in any formal extemporary prayers of Dissenters.\n Nay, I find more profit in sermons on either good tempers, or\n good works, than in what are vulgarly called gospel sermons.\n The term has now become a mere cant word: I wish none of our\n society would use it. It has no determinate meaning. Let but a\n pert, self sufficient animal, that has neither sense nor grace,\n bawl out something about Christ, or His blood, or justification\n by faith, and his hearers cry out, \u2018What a fine gospel sermon!\u2019\n Surely the Methodists have not so learned Christ! We know no\n gospel without salvation from sin. There is a Romish error\n which many protestants swallow unawares. It is an avowed\n doctrine of the Romish church, that the \u2018pure intention of the\n minister is essential to the validity of the sacraments.\u2019 If\n so, we ought not to attend the ministrations of an unholy man.\n But in flat opposition to this, our Church teaches, in the\n twenty-eighth article, that \u2018the unworthiness of the minister\n does not hinder the validity of the sacraments.\u2019 Although,\n therefore, there are many disagreeable circumstances, yet, I\n advise all our friends to keep to the Church. God has surely\n raised us up for the Church chiefly, that a little leaven may\n leaven the whole lump. I wish you would seriously consider that\n little tract, \u2018Reasons against a Separation from the Church of\n England.\u2019 These reasons were never yet answered; I believe,\n they never will.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear sister, yours very affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[315]\n\nWhatever may be thought of the validity of Wesley\u2019s reasons, there can\nbe no question, that, in theory at least, he was still firmly attached\nto the Established Church. His enemies, not without reason, stigmatised\nhim as a Dissenter; he persisted, that he himself and the Methodists\nwere not Dissenters. Who is possessed of competent authority to decide\nthe doubt?\n\nBefore passing to Wesley\u2019s publications, there is another matter which\ndeserves attention. One of the questions proposed at the conference of\n1778 was,--\u201cIs it not advisable for us to visit all the jails we can?\u201d\nThe answer was,--\u201cBy all means. There cannot be a greater charity.\u201d\nFrom the first, this was a duty to which Wesley and his brother had\ndevoted themselves to the utmost of their power; and so also had many\nof their preachers and followers, especially Silas Told, a man who\nrichly deserves a passing notice.\n\nMr. Told was the son of a physician at Bristol, where he was born in\n1711. At the age of fourteen, he was bound apprentice as a sailor; and,\nfor eleven years, lived a life of adventurous romance. In 1740, Charles\nCasper Greaves, a young bricklayer, introduced him to the Methodists.\nIn 1744, Silas, at Wesley\u2019s request, became the master of the Foundery\nschool, and received a salary of \u00a326 a year. At the same time, he began\nto visit the London prisons, and to preach to debtors and malefactors.\nThere was not a prison in the metropolis, nor scarcely a workhouse\nwithin twelve miles round it, where Silas Told was not a frequent and\nwelcome visitor. The scenes he witnessed were horrible; but for these\nthe reader must turn to Told\u2019s autobiography. Suffice it to add, that\nSilas Told was preeminently, in London, the prison philanthropist, the\nreal, though unrecognised chaplain of all its wretched prisoners.\nFor more than thirty years, no man was better known, or more welcome\nin the jails of the metropolis, than he. All sorts of criminals,\npapists and protestants, clung to him in their anguish, for counsel\nand consolation. Notwithstanding opposition at the first, he persisted\nin his enterprise, till even turnkeys, sheriffs, and hangmen, as well\nas prisoners, were wont to weep while listening to his exhortations\nand his prayers. Silas Told continued his great good work, till he\ntottered under the weight of nearly threescore years and ten, when\nhe peacefully expired in December 1778. It was befitting that Wesley\nhimself should inter such at Methodist. He writes: \u201c1778, Sunday,\nDecember 30--I buried what was mortal of honest Silas Told. For many\nyears, he attended the malefactors in Newgate, without fee or reward;\nand I suppose no man for this hundred years has been so successful in\nthat melancholy office. God had given him peculiar talents for it; and\nhe had amazing success therein. The greatest part of those whom he\nattended died in peace, and many of them in the triumph of faith.\u201d\n\nSeveral of Wesley\u2019s publications in 1778 have been already mentioned;\nonly two still require notice.\n\nThe first was \u201cSome Account of the late Work of God in North America,\nin a Sermon on Ezekiel i. 16.\u201d 12mo, 23 pages. It was almost a misnomer\nto designate this a sermon; but it was vastly popular, and, before the\nyear was out, reached a second edition. It is really a brief historical\nstatement of American affairs from 1736 to 1778. Wesley begins with\nthe colonisation of Georgia, passes on to the wonderful revival of\nreligion in New England, and speaks of the amazingly successful labours\nof Whitefield, but affirms that, for want of forming his converts into\nsocieties, the far greater part of them became backsliders. He then\ntraces the war to its origin, and concludes by foretelling, not the\n_independency_ of the rebellious colonists, which he says would be \u201ca\nheavy curse,\u201d but a restoration of civil and Christian liberty. It is\ndangerous to turn prophet: in one respect, Wesley\u2019s vaticination was\nsoon falsified.\n\nOn August 14, 1777, Wesley wrote: \u201cI drew up proposals for the\n_Arminian Magazine_.\u201d We are not aware that these \u201cProposals\u201d have\never been reissued, just as Wesley published them; and, as an original\ncopy now lies before us, we insert the document _verbatim_.\n\n \u201c_Proposals for printing, by Subscription, the_ ARMINIAN\n MAGAZINE; _consisting of Extracts, and Original Treatises\n on Universal Redemption._\n\n \u201cCONDITIONS.\n\n \u201c1. A number, containing 80 pages, in octavo, printed on fine\n paper, and with a new type, will be delivered monthly to each\n subscriber, at the price of one shilling.\n\n \u201c2. It will be so printed, as to bind up in volumes, twelve\n numbers in a volume.\n\n \u201c3. This work will contain no news, no politics, no personal\n invectives, nothing offensive either to religion, decency,\n good nature, or good manners.\n\n \u201c4. The first number will be delivered on January 1, 1778, and\n continued the first day of every month.\n\n \u201c5. Subscriptions are taken in at the Foundery, London; the\n New Room, Bristol; and by the booksellers in town and country.\n\n \u201c_To the Reader._\n\n \u201c1. Amidst the multitude of magazines which now swarm in the\n world, there was one, a few years ago, termed _The Christian\n Magazine_, which was of great use to mankind, and did honour\n to the publishers. But it was soon discontinued, to the regret\n of many serious and sensible persons. In the room of it,\n started up a miscreated phantom, called _The Spiritual\n Magazine_; and, not long after, its twin sister, oddly called\n _The Gospel Magazine_. Both of these are intended to show,\n that God is not _loving to every man_, that _His mercy is_ not\n _over all His works_; and, consequently, that Christ _did_ not\n _die for all_, but for one in ten, for the elect only.\n\n \u201c2. This comfortable doctrine, the sum of which, proposed in\n plain English, is, God before the foundation of the world\n absolutely and irrevocably decreed, that \u2018some men shall be\n saved, do what they will, and the rest be damned, do what they\n can,\u2019 has, by these tracts, been spread throughout the land,\n with the utmost diligence. And these champions of it have,\n from the beginning, proceeded in a manner worthy of their\n cause. They have paid no more regard to good nature, decency,\n or good manners, than to reason or truth. All these they set\n utterly at defiance. Without any deviation from their plan,\n they have defended their dear decrees, with arguments worthy\n of Bedlam, and with language worthy of Billingsgate.\n\n \u201c3. In the _Arminian Magazine_ a very different opinion will\n be defended, in a very different manner. We maintain, that God\n _willeth all men to be saved_, by _speaking the truth in\n love_; by arguments and illustrations drawn, partly from\n Scripture, partly from reason; proposed in as inoffensive a\n manner as the nature of the thing will permit. Not that we\n expect those on the other side of the question will use _us_\n as we use _them_. Yet, we hope, nothing will move us to return\n evil for evil; or, however provoked, to render railing for\n railing.\n\n \u201c4. Our design is, to publish some of the most remarkable\n tracts on the universal love of God, and His willingness to\n save _all men_ from _all sin_, which have been wrote in this\n and the last century. Some of these are now grown very scarce;\n some have not appeared in _English_ before. To these will be\n added original pieces, wrote either directly upon this\n subject, or on those which are equally opposed by the patrons\n of _particular redemption_. We are not yet determined, whether\n to insert any poetry or not; but we faithfully promise not to\n insert any _doggrel_. If any verses are inserted, they shall\n be such as will not shock either the understanding or the\n taste of the serious reader.\n\n \u201c5. We know nothing more proper to introduce a work of this\n kind than a sketch of the life and death of _Arminius_; a\n person, with whom those, who mention his name with the utmost\n indignity, are commonly quite unacquainted, of whom they know\n no more than of _Hermes Trismegistus_.\u201d\n\nThis, though lengthy, is too scarce and too curious a document\nto withhold from the Methodist community; moreover, it was the\ncommencement of a magazine, now, we believe, the oldest religious\nperiodical in the world; a magazine which has flourished, without\ninterruption, for ninety successive years; and has been read by myriads\nin all quarters of the globe.\n\nIt has been said, that Mr. Walter Churchey, of Brecon, was the first\nto suggest to Wesley the publication of this periodical;[316] Wesley\nhimself says, that he had been desired to publish a magazine for near\nforty years before he complied with the request.[317] Of course, Wesley\nis the best authority; still there can be no doubt, that Mr. Churchey\nwas one of his advisers. The following letter furnishes evidence of\nthis.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 18, 1777_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--We agree, that no politics shall have a\n place in the _Arminian Magazine_. But poetry will; only my\n brother and I are the judges what pieces shall be admitted. It\n may be, some will think us too nice in our choice; but that we\n cannot help. As to a review of religious books, it might be\n well; but I have two objections. (1) I scruple my own\n sufficiency for the work. (2) I would not, at any price, be\n bound to read over all the present religious productions of\n the press.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[318]\n\nThe first number of the magazine appeared on the 1st of January, 1778;\non the cover of which Wesley said:\n\n \u201cI am content this magazine should stand or fall by its own\n intrinsic value. If it is a compound of falsehood, ribaldry,\n and nonsense, let it sink into oblivion. If it contains only\n the words of truth and soberness, then let it meet with a\n favourable reception. It will easily be observed, that it\n contains fewer articles than any other magazine. This is not by\n accident, but design. I have frequently been disgusted by the\n many bits and scraps of various kinds, which make up a great\n part of most publications of this nature. Before one has well\n entered upon any subject, it is at an end, and referred to the\n next number; a mere trick to decoy the reader to buy another\n and another number. On the contrary, I shall endeavour to begin\n and conclude as many things as possible in each number: and,\n with regard to taking the numbers that follow, let every reader\n use his own discretion.\u201d\n\nSpace forbids any lengthened outline of the contents of the first\nvolume. There are lives of Arminius, Luther, Bernard Gilpin, Bishop\nBedell, Peter Jaco, and John Atlay. There are half-a-dozen articles\non the Calvinian controversy, some of them, (rather in contradiction\nof Wesley\u2019s announcement,) running through several numbers. There are\nfifty-nine letters; and nearly the same number of poetic pieces. There\nare three portraits, one of Wesley himself, one of Peter Jaco, and the\nthird of John Atlay. At the end of the copy now before us, is a four\npaged letter, dated Londonderry, June 5, 1778, answering objections\nagainst the five numbers already issued. One objection was, there was\nnot enough for money. The reply was: \u201cI write for those who judge of\nbooks, not by the quantity, but by the quality of them. I spare both\nmy reader\u2019s time and my own, by couching my sense in as few words as\nI can. Those who prefer the dealers in many words may find them on\nevery side.\u201d A second objection was, that there was not variety enough.\nWesley answered: \u201cHere is all the variety I promised. I promised the\nbulk of the magazine should treat of universal redemption. Do you blame\nme for not rambling from my subject? It is not my manner, I do not aim\nat it.\u201d A third objection was, \u201cthere is not variety in the historical\npart.\u201d \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d says Wesley. \u201cWould you have me insert bits\nand scraps of history; or give, in each number, part of the life of\none man, and part of that of another? I never proposed this: I think it\nfar better to select a few of the best lives I know, and to go entirely\nthrough one before I enter upon another.\u201d Another objection was: \u201cyou\nhave no pictures or other decorations or embellishments which other\nmagazines have.\u201d Wesley answers: \u201cIt is true. But I will tell you what\nI have: such paper as no magazine in England was ever printed upon\nbefore. Consider! this one single article costs more than all their\nfine embellishments put together.\u201d\n\nIn concluding this notice of the first volume of the _Arminian\nMagazine_, the following letter will be welcome. It was addressed to\nThomas Taylor, and is here copied from the original.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 15, 1778_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--As to preaching, you ought not to preach against\n that unscriptural, blasphemous, mischievous doctrine\n constantly; no, nor very frequently. But you ought, now and\n then, to bear a full, strong, express testimony against it;\n otherwise you are a sinner against God, and the people, and\n your own soul. I have done this too seldom: scarce once in\n fifty sermons. I ought to do it once in fifteen or so.\n\n \u201cAs to writing or publishing, the deadly poison has, for many\n years, been spread through England, chiefly by means of those\n pestilent declamations, _The Gospel_, and _The Spiritual_\n Magazine. Whatever is designed for an antidote to this poison\n must be spread in the same manner. Thousands have been thereby\n poisoned already, and are now twice dead. To guard those who\n are not poisoned yet, (not to get money,) I fight them at\n their own weapons. I oppose magazine to magazine, though of a\n totally different kind. But, it seems, you know nothing at all\n of the matter. You do not appear to have read the\n Proposals.[319] This magazine not only contains no railing,\n but (properly speaking) no controversy. It proves one point:\n \u2018God willeth all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge\n of the truth.\u2019 It goes straight forward, taking notice of no\n opponents, but invariably pursuing the one point. And this is\n the only way to preserve the Methodists, and to make the\n Calvinists quiet. Meantime, both the letters and the lives,\n which will make a considerable part of every number, contain\n the marrow of experimental and practical religion; so that\n nothing of the kind has appeared before. Therefore, a magazine\n of this kind is a new thing in the land; and those, who\n formerly spoke against the magazine, may, with a good grace,\n recommend this as being quite another thing, and published on\n other motives. I do not desire any Calvinist to read it. I\n publish it not to convince, but to preserve. I know, by long\n experience, they will never bend, but when the war is carried\n into their own quarters. This I will do, as long as God spares\n my life; and, in love, and in meekness of wisdom. This is the\n way, and the only way, to establish lasting peace.\n\n \u201cBut is it not odd that a Methodist, a preacher, an assistant,\n should be the only one who sees my brother, and me, and the\n bulk of the preachers, and the body of the people, to be\n wrong? Tommy, distrust yourself. Do not lean too much to your\n own understanding. It is possible they may be right, and you\n wrong. You do not at all understand this affair. We are well\n rid of those turbulent men. With love to Nancy,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWe only add, that, nearly to the end of Wesley\u2019s life, Thomas Olivers\nwas a sort of sub-editor, and corrector of the press; but corrected\nso incorrectly, that, in August, 1789, Wesley writes: \u201cI chose a new\nperson to prepare the _Arminian Magazine_; being obliged, however\nunwillingly, to drop Mr. Olivers, for only these two reasons: 1. The\nerrata are unsufferable; I have borne them for these twelve years, but\ncan bear them no longer. 2. Several pieces are inserted without my\nknowledge, both in prose and verse. I must try whether these things\ncannot be amended for the short residue of my life.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [304] The words in the original are given in full.\n\n [305] See memoirs of Toplady, prefixed to his works, 1857\n edit.\n\n [306] _Christian Miscellany_, 1849, p. 84.\n\n [307] Memoirs of Benson, by Macdonald, p. 75.\n\n [308] _Methodist Magazine_, 1814, p. 508.\n\n [309] Manuscript.\n\n [310] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 383.\n\n [311] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 296.\n\n [312] _Christian Miscellany_, 1850, p. 54.\n\n [313] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785.\n\n [314] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 608.\n\n [315] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 33.\n\n [316] _Methodist Magazine_, 1823, p. 134.\n\n [317] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iv., p. 107.\n\n [318] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 407.\n\n [319] Taylor was opposed to the magazine. In his\n unpublished diary, he writes: \u201c1777. December 14--I\n wrote a long letter to Mr. Wesley concerning the\n _Arminian Magazine_, which I am persuaded will do\n hurt, and no good.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n 1779.\n Age 76\n\nThe year 1779 was one of national alarm. The remarkable trials of\nAdmiral Keppel and Sir Hugh Palliser occasioned fierce debates in\nparliament. Lord North and his colleagues were accused of being\nintermeddling, shortsighted, and incapable. American agents were\nbusy with Irish malcontents; and armed associations, not the most\nloyal, were formed in Dublin and throughout the country. The Spanish\nambassador quitted London, after delivering to the secretary of state\na hostile manifesto. The ministry proposed, that the militia should\nbe doubled. Press warrants were issued in all directions, and press\ngangs actively employed in increasing the navy. France was jubilant.\nEngland rang with reports of invasion, and of new Spanish armadas,\nmore terrible than that sent against Queen Elizabeth. Gibraltar was\nthreatened; and so was Jersey. Paul Jones, at the head of a squadron\nmanned by French and Americans, and desperadoes from various other\ncountries, menaced the whole of the eastern coast of England, from\nFlamborough Head to the Frith of the Tay. Lord North\u2019s parliamentary\nmajorities were dwindling. George III. had no decisive victories\nto report. It was asserted that the American war had already added\nsixty-three millions to the national debt; and Charles Fox declared\nthat treachery, and not ignorance, must have prevailed in the national\ncouncils to reduce the country to its present miserable condition.\nEngland throughout was in a panic.\n\nIn this emergency, as in all others, Wesley was among the foremost to\nevince his loyalty. On February 8, he wrote: \u201cFinding many serious\npersons were much discouraged by prophets of evil, confidently\nforetelling very heavy calamities which were coming upon our nation,\nI endeavoured to lift up their hands, by opening and applying Psalm\nxliii. 5, 6.\u201d Two days later was the national fast, when he preached\non Abraham interceding for the city of Sodom. To quiet the panic\nat Newcastle, he took for his text, \u201cThe Lord sitteth above the\nwaterfloods; the Lord reigneth a king for ever.\u201d In a letter to\nBradburn, he says:\n\n \u201cIt is the judgment of many, that, since the time of the\n Invincible Armada, Great Britain and Ireland were never in such\n danger from foreign enemies as they are at this day. Humanly\n speaking, we are not able to contend with them, either by sea\n or land. They are watching over us as a leopard over his prey,\n just ready to spring upon us. They are mighty and rage\n horribly; but the Lord that dwelleth on high is mightier; and\n now is the time, at this awful crisis, for the inhabitants of\n the land to learn righteousness. I make no doubt, but you\n improve the important opportunity, and lift up your voice like\n a trumpet. Who knoweth but God may be entreated of _us_, as He\n was for Nineveh? Our brethren, in various parts of England,\n have set apart an hour in a week for prayer (namely, from eight\n till nine on Sunday evening), in behalf of our king and\n country. Should not the same be done in Ireland too?\n particularly at Cork and Bandon? Those who have not opportunity\n of meeting, at the time, may pray part of the hour in private.\n Meantime, there is a text for _you_: \u2018I will not destroy it for\n _ten\u2019s_ sake.\u2019\u201d[320]\n\nBesides this weekly prayer-meeting by the English Methodists, a\nMethodist fast was observed in connection with the annual conference.\nThomas Taylor writes: \u201cJuly 30--This day was observed as a fast on\naccount of public affairs. We met in the morning at five; and, after\nthe sermon, we continued in prayer till nine o\u2019clock. At one, we\nmet again, and received the sacrament. In the evening, we kept a\nwatchnight, and I gave an exhortation. But the people do not stay at\nwatchnights in London, as they do in the country.\u201d[321]\n\nA few days later, we find Wesley holding a noonday prayer-meeting,\nat Haverfordwest, to intercede for the king and country. At Bristol,\nhe preached on David\u2019s prayer, \u201cLord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel\ninto foolishness\u201d; and, in October, wrote again to Samuel Bradburn as\nfollows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 10, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--The alarm has been general in England as well as\n Ireland; particularly in the maritime parts. But it has done\n abundantly more good than harm to the work of God. The children\n of God have been greatly stirred up, and have been more instant\n in prayer. And many men of the world have been greatly\n awakened, and continue so to this day. Most of those who have\n the fullest intercourse with God believe our enemies will never\n be permitted to land in England. And, indeed, God has already\n given abundant proof of His hearing prayer: first, in their not\n landing at Plymouth, where they stayed gaping and staring for\n eight-and-forty hours, while they might with all ease have\n destroyed both the dock and the town; secondly, in the\n malignant fever which has broken out in their fleet, and\n already destroyed several thousands of men.\u201d[322]\n\nInfidelity will sneer at this; but religion, recognising a ruling\nProvidence, will reverentially bow its head. The crisis was terrible.\nSixty-eight French and Spanish ships of the line, and many frigates and\nsmaller vessels, all commanded by D\u2019Orvilliers, appeared off Plymouth.\nThe British fleet did not exceed thirty-eight sail of the line, and\nwas absent at sea, under the command of Admiral Hardy. Where was the\ndifficulty of seizing Plymouth? Wesley writes: \u201cThey might have entered\nit with perfect ease. The wind was fair; there was no fleet to oppose\nthem; there was scarce any garrison, and the few men that were there\nhad no wadding at all, and but two rounds of powder; and only two of\nthe cannon were mounted.\u201d And yet the combined fleet, nearly twice the\nsize of Hardy\u2019s, contented itself with a pompous parade in front of\nthe unprotected town. No wonder that Wesley, with grateful exultation,\npreached from texts like the one he took at Newcastle: \u201cThe Lord\nsitteth above the waterfloods; the Lord reigneth a king for ever.\u201d\n\nBefore we track Wesley\u2019s wanderings in 1779, there is another matter\nwhich deserves mention. On the 30th of May, 1778, Voltaire died in\nParis, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His death was what the\ndeath of an arch infidel might be expected to be. The subjoined\nanecdote respecting it has long been widely published, but, perhaps,\nnever so nearly traced to its source as now. Wesley had been informed\nthat one of the chaplains of George III. was about to publish\nVoltaire\u2019s pernicious works in a collected form; and, in a fit of godly\nindignation, he wrote the following unpublished letter.\n\n \u201c_January 4, 1779._\n\n \u201cSIR,--In September last, a gentleman, near Bristol, showed me\n a letter, which he had received from the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, at\n Paris. I desired him to give a transcript of one part of it,\n which he immediately did. It was as follows:\n\n \u201c\u2018Mr. Voltaire sent for Monsieur Tronclils, first physician to\n the Duke of Orleans, (one of his converts to infidelity,) and\n said to him, \u201cSir, I desire you will save my life. I will give\n you half my fortune, if you will lengthen out my days only six\n months. If not, I shall go to the devil, and carry you with\n me.\u201d\u2019\n\n \u201cThis is the man to whom a crowned head pays such a violent\n compliment! Nay, this is the man whose works are now publishing\n by a divine of our own Church; yea, a chaplain to his majesty.\n Pity but the king should know it. If the publisher of that poor\n wretch\u2019s works writes a panegyric upon him or them, I shall\n think it my duty to show the real value of those writings.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your humble servant,\n\n J. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nNo man was a more determined opponent of evil than Wesley was; and,\nat the same time, no man was a more faithful friend. The following\nis illustrative of this. The Methodists know something, and might\nbe told a great deal more, respecting William Shent, the Methodist\nbarber of the town of Leeds. Poor William was now in not undeserved\nembarrassment; his friends forsook him; but not so Wesley. Hence the\nfollowing, hitherto unpublished, letter to the Methodist society in\nKeighley.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 11, 1779_.\n\n \u201cI HAVE a few questions, which I desire may be proposed to the\n society at Keighley.\n\n \u201cWho was the occasion of the Methodist preachers first setting\n foot in Leeds? William Shent.\n\n \u201cWho received John Nelson into his house at his first coming\n thither? William Shent.\n\n \u201cWho was it that invited me, and received me when I came?\n William Shent.\n\n \u201cWho was it that stood by me while I preached in the street\n with stones flying on every side? William Shent.\n\n \u201cWho was it that bore the storm of persecution for the whole\n town, and stemmed it at the peril of his life? William Shent.\n\n \u201cWhose word did God bless for many years in an eminent manner?\n William Shent\u2019s.\n\n \u201cBy whom were many children now in paradise begotten in the\n Lord, and many now alive? William Shent.\n\n \u201cWho is he that is ready now to be broken up, and turned into\n the street? William Shent.\n\n \u201cAnd does nobody care for this? William Shent fell into sin,\n and was publicly expelled the society; but must he be also\n starved? Must he with his grey hairs and all his children be\n without a place to lay his head? Can you suffer this? Oh, tell\n it not in Gath! Where is gratitude? Where is compassion? Where\n is Christianity? Where is humanity? Where is concern for the\n cause of God? Who is a wise man among you? Who is concerned for\n the gospel? Who has put on bowels of mercy? Let him arise and\n exert himself in this matter. You here all arise as one man,\n and roll away the reproach. Let us set him on his feet once\n more. It may save both him and his family. But what we do, let\n it be done quickly.\n\n \u201cI am, dear brethren, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nIt is hardly necessary to track the steps of Wesley throughout the\nwhole of a journey which occupied the next five months. He opened the\nnew chapel at Bath, of which more must be said shortly. On Friday,\nMarch 19, he preached in Bengeworth church at noon; and, at six, in the\nchurch at Pebworth. At West Bromwich, during a terrific storm of wind\nand hail, he addressed a congregation in the open air. At Madeley, he\npreached in the new chapel, built by his friend Fletcher, in Madeley\nWood. He opened a new chapel at Davyhulme, Manchester. He also paid his\nfirst visit to Oldham, where he says: \u201cI had such a congregation as I\nhave not seen since I was in the Cornish amphitheatre. And all, beside\na few giddy children, were seriously attentive.\u201d\n\nThis was a great improvement in the manners of the Oldham people. When\nMatthew Mayer commenced preaching here in 1763, he asked a man to allow\nhim to stand before his door. \u201cNo,\u201d replied the Lancashire savage; and\nthen he swore that, if Mayer attempted to gather a congregation there,\nhe would cleave his skull. Having removed to the door of Jonathan\nMabbot\u2019s, in George Street, Mayer mounted a stool; but he had no sooner\nsung and prayed, than the mob, led on by churchwardens and constables,\nsurrounded him. \u201cBy what authority do you come hither?\u201d asked the\nOldham functionaries. \u201cBy what authority do you ask me?\u201d replied Mr.\nMayer. \u201cPull him down, pull him down!\u201d cried the mob; and then one of\nthe constables upset the preacher\u2019s stool; and the zealous guardians\nof the Church shouted, \u201cWe want none of your preaching here.\u201d On the\nSunday following, while Mayer was preaching, the mob amused themselves\nby thrusting pins into the legs and arms of serious hearers; and, on\nthe Sunday after that, a brute was hired for threepence halfpenny\nto strip himself stark naked, and rush into the midst of Mayer\u2019s\ncongregation. On another occasion, John Murlin was dragged from his\nhorseblock pulpit, and was thrown into a dungeon; and, on another,\nJames Hall was honoured with the presence not only of the constables,\nchurchwardens, and Oldham mob, but also of a huntsman and his hounds.\nThe churchwardens raved; the constables brandished their official\nstaves; the mob bawled; the dogs barked; and the huntsman blew his horn\nwith such vehemence that Mr. Hall found it impossible to preach, but,\nfor an hour and a half, continued to sing and pray.[323]\n\nLeaving Oldham, Wesley proceeded to Northwich and other places in\nCheshire; then to Warrington, Liverpool, Bolton, Rochdale, Bacup, and\nPadiham. He writes: \u201cApril 13--At one o\u2019clock, I preached in the shell\nof the house at Padiham, where there is at length a prospect of peace,\nafter abundance of disturbance, caused by one who neither fears God nor\nreverences man.\u201d\n\nThe chapel referred to, in this extract, was erected in the midst\nof the most determined opposition. What was built during the day\nwas frequently demolished during the night; and it became necessary\nto appoint nocturnal watchers to guard the premises. At length, the\nbuilding was completed, and had, in the front wall, a stone with a sun\ndial, serving for a clock, and round about it an inscription, which, to\nfuture generations, was a memento of bygone troubles: \u201cThey thrust sore\nat me that I might fall; but the Lord hath helped me, and taken part\nagainst them that hated me.\u201d\n\nFrom Padiham, Wesley went to Todmorden, Heptonstall, Ewood, and\nHalifax. He writes: \u201cApril 15--I went to Halifax, where a little thing\nhad lately occasioned great disturbance. An angel blowing a trumpet\nwas placed on the sounding board over the pulpit. Many were vehemently\nagainst this; others as vehemently for it: but a total end was soon put\nto the contest, for the angel vanished away.\u201d\n\n\u201cBehold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!\u201d Several of the\nHalifax Methodists, thinking that the sounding board would be improved\nby some sort of ornament, opened a subscription for that purpose, and,\na fortnight before Wesley\u2019s visit, procured the celestial trumpeter\nwhich Wesley mentions. John Murlin, one of the preachers, determined\nnot to preach under the angel\u2019s expanded wings. Discussion sprung up,\nin the midst of which Wesley came. The leaders were summoned; a hot\ndiscussion followed; and the votes, for and against the angel, were\nequal. Just at this juncture, John Hatton, of Lightcliffe, entered,\nand gave a vote for the angel\u2019s removal. Immediately, the carved image\nwas taken down; John Murlin hewed it in pieces; and, before midnight,\nit was burnt in the chapel yard. Great was the consternation of these\nsimple Methodists, when, at the five o\u2019clock preaching, next morning,\nthey found their pet angel had vanished. Quarrelling ensued; and\nseveral influential members, in angelic indignation, left the society\nwhich had destroyed the angelic ornament, and, in some instances,\nremained to the end of life unconnected with any church whatever.[324]\n\nProceeding to Haworth, Wesley preached, in the morning, in the church;\nbut, in the afternoon, \u201cthousands upon thousands being gathered\ntogether,\u201d he was obliged to take his stand in the churchyard. The next\nday,--Monday, April 19,--he preached in the church at Bingley; and then\nwent to Otley. \u201cOn April 24,\u201d Thomas Taylor writes, \u201cI met Mr. Wesley\nat Cross Hall, and found the old apostle as hearty and lively as ever.\nThe conversation at table was such as became our religious profession.\nThere were present two pious clergymen, two of my brethren, and several\nserious women. On Sunday, April 25, I went with Mr. Wesley to Birstal\nchurch, after which he preached to, I think, the largest congregation I\nhave ever seen in any place.\u201d[325]\n\nAt Huddersfield, Wesley found a great revival of the work of God,\nsometimes \u201csixteen, eighteen, yea, twenty,\u201d being converted in a day.\nAt Leeds, Dr. Kershaw, the vicar, desired him to assist at the\nsacrament. Ten clergymen were present, and seven or eight hundred\ncommunicants. At Darlington, he found some of the liveliest Methodists\nin the north of England. He preached in the market place, and all\nbehaved well, except a party of the Queen\u2019s Dragoons. At Barnard\nCastle, the Durham militia were assembled,--the handsomest body of\nsoldiers he had ever seen, except in Ireland; and all, officers and\nsoldiers, came to hear him, and were a pattern to the whole\ncongregation.\n\nHe now made his way to Newcastle, and thence to Scotland, where he\ntravelled as far north as Inverness. He writes: \u201cJune 8--I reached\nInverness, but found a new face of things there. Good Mr. Mackenzie\nhad been, for some years, removed to Abraham\u2019s bosom. Mr. Fraser, his\ncolleague, a pious man, of the old stamp, was likewise gone to rest.\nThe three present ministers are of another kind; so that I have no\nmore place in the kirk; and the wind and rain would not permit me to\npreach on the green. However, our house was large, though gloomy\nenough. Being now informed, (which I did not suspect before,) that the\ntown was uncommonly given to drunkenness, I used the utmost plainness\nof speech; and I believe not without effect. I then spent some time\nwith the society, increased from twelve to between fifty and\nsixty;[326] many of these knew in whom they had believed; so that all\nthe pains which have been taken to stop the work of God here have\nhitherto been in vain.\u201d\n\nA month later, Wesley wrote the following hitherto unpublished letter\nto Mr. McAllum.\n\n \u201cEPWORTH, _July 10, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR DUNCAN,--This is the circumstance which puzzles the case:\n who can preach in Erse but you? Cannot you then think of any\n preacher, whom you love, and who is a zealous, active man?\n Inverness should by all means be a circuit by itself, including\n as many towns as you please, north and south. I wish you would\n think of it, and send me the plan to London.\n\n \u201cDid not sister Anderson receive my letter? I wonder she did\n not answer. Joseph Moore utterly denies he ever offered her\n marriage. I desired her to tell me the very words he spoke or\n wrote.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Duncan, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n \u201cTo Mr. Duncan McAllum,\n at Mr. John Watson\u2019s, slater, Inverness.\u201d\n\nWesley spent nearly a month in his evangelistic tour through Scotland.\nEverywhere he was received with great respect and affection; and he\nspeaks of many \u201ctimes of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.\u201d He\nwas introduced to several persons of distinction, and, among others, to\ngossiping James Boswell, who writes: \u201cThough I differed from Mr. John\nWesley in some points, I admired his various talents, and loved his\npious zeal. At my request, therefore, Dr. Johnson gave me a letter of\nintroduction to him.\n\n \u201cTo the Rev. Mr. John Wesley.\n\n \u201c_May 3, 1779._\n\n \u201cSIR,--Mr. Boswell, a gentleman, who has been long known to me,\n is desirous of being known to you, and has asked this\n recommendation, which I give him with great willingness,\n because I think it very much to be wished that worthy and\n religious men should be acquainted with each other.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your most humble servant,\n\n \u201cSAM. JOHNSON.\u201d\n\nBoswell adds, that he presented the letter to Wesley at Edinburgh, \u201cand\nwas very politely received.\u201d[327]\n\nWesley, in returning, reached Newcastle on June 22, and would fain\nhave rested in a place to which he was tenderly attached. He writes:\n\u201cWednesday, June 23--I rested here. Lovely place, and lovely company!\nBut I believe there is another world; therefore I must \u2018arise and\ngo hence.\u2019\u201d Accordingly, next morning, he set out for Stockton upon\nTees, and preached all the way along the east coast of England till\nhe came to Great Grimsby. \u201cHere,\u201d he says, \u201cI found a little trial.\nIn this, and many other parts of the kingdom, those striplings, who\ncall themselves Lady Huntingdon\u2019s preachers, have greatly hindered the\nwork of God. They have neither sense, courage, nor grace, to go and\nbeat up the devil\u2019s quarters, in any place where Christ has not been\nnamed; but, wherever we have entered as by storm, and gathered a few\nsouls, often at the peril of our lives, they creep in, and, by doubtful\ndisputations, set every one\u2019s sword against his brother. One of these\nhas just crept into Grimsby, and is striving to divide the poor little\nflock; but I hope his labour will be in vain, and they will still hold\nthe unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\u201d\n\nHaving visited the societies in Lincolnshire, Wesley proceeded to\nDoncaster and Sheffield, and thence, by way of Derby, Nottingham,\nLeicester, Hinckley, and Coventry, to London, which he reached on July\n23.\n\nWesley had not preached at Hinckley since the year 1744. What led him\nto visit the town now? We learn, from the unpublished autobiography of\nThomas Dixon, who, at this time, was stationed in the Leicestershire\ncircuit, that, just before the conference of 1779, he attempted to\nintroduce Methodism into Hinckley, and not without success. According\nto custom, he took his stand in the street, and began to sing. The\nnight was wet, and his congregation was not only small, but seemed so\napprehensive of the Methodist apparition, that, while they listened\nto him, they also kept at a safe distance from him. He preached again\nnext morning to a congregation somewhat larger, and then set out for\nTamworth. This was his first and his last visit; but a class was formed\njust after,[328] which, in 1780, contributed nearly a pound per quarter\nfor the support of the work of God;[329] and, from that time to this,\nMethodism has had a place in Hinckley.\n\nThen as it respects Coventry, this was the first sermon Wesley\ndelivered here. He says: \u201cJuly 21--When I came to Coventry, I found\nnotice had been given for my preaching in the park; but the heavy rain\nprevented. I sent to the mayor, desiring the use of the town hall. He\nrefused; but, the same day, gave the use of it to a dancing master.\nI then went to the women\u2019s market. Many soon gathered together, and\nlistened with all seriousness. I preached there again the next morning,\nand again in the evening.\u201d\n\nAs already stated, from Coventry Wesley went to London. The entry in\nhis journal recording the journey is worthy of quotation. \u201cI took coach\nfor London. I was nobly attended: behind the coach were ten convicted\nfelons, loudly blaspheming, and rattling their chains; by my side sat a\nman with a loaded blunderbuss, and another upon the coach.\u201d\n\nBefore proceeding to notice the conference, of 1779, two other matters\ndemand attention.\n\nThomas Maxfield seceded from Wesley in 1763; took away with him about\ntwo hundred members of Wesley\u2019s society; and became the minister of a\nseparate and independent congregation.[330] For some reason, he now\nwished to return to Wesley\u2019s connexion; but to this Wesley and his\nbrother objected. Hence the following letters, by Charles Wesley, the\nfirst addressed to Vincent Perronet, the second to Wesley himself.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _April 20, 1779_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--My brother and I agreed not to receive\n Mr. Maxfield again, as a fellow labourer, till he acknowledged\n his fault. Ought we not to wait for some word, of his being\n sensible of his ingratitude? Ought we to trust him, and the\n people to his care, without it? I have not the least spark of\n resentment towards Mr. Maxfield; but to deliver up our charge\n to him, unconvinced, is to betray them.\n\n \u201cMy brother\u2019s interest with the bishop is great, (I believe,)\n but my son Samuel\u2019s is greater. Sam and the bishop are, _Ego et\n rex meus_.\n\n \u201cYour very affectionate and ever obliged servant,\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[331]\n\n \u201cLONDON, _April 23, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I still love Thomas Maxfield. I see some\n advantages to us, as well as to him, from his return to us,\n _provided_ he is first convinced. Receive him _unconvinced_,\n and you will have to put him away again, when perhaps it will\n scarce be in your power. One more trial, if you please, we will\n make upon him, in a conference between us three. Possibly we\n may gain our brother.\n\n \u201cI shall be happy to hear you have saved poor William Shent.\n Hopper and others will, I know, draw in their horns while you\n are talking with them, and be perhaps convinced for a short\n time. Give them back their first love, and their first poverty,\n and they will not even wish to reign without us. Peter Jaco,\n John Atlay, and John Pawson, might, I hope, be set right by a\n friendly conference with us. They then would strengthen their\n brethren, or recover them.\n\n \u201cYour defect of mistrust needs my excess to guard it. You\n cannot be taken by storm, but may by surprise. We seem designed\n for each other. If we could and would be more together, it\n might be better for both. That I shall go first, I cannot\n doubt. The extraordinary strength, continued to you, is a\n promise of your longer continuance. My strength and my work are\n very near their end.\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[332]\n\nThe above letter refers to another matter besides that of the return\nof Thomas Maxfield. Charles Wesley was still jealous of the preachers\naspiring after power, and especially of Christopher Hopper and his\nfriends. He seems to have thought, that John Atlay, who was now the\nbook steward in London, and John Pawson, who was the London assistant,\nand Peter Jaco, who was a London supernumerary, \u201cmight be set right by\na friendly conference\u201d; but of the other London preachers, including\nThomas Rankin and Thomas Coke, he was in doubt. He properly enough\ngives himself credit for an excess of caution; but, perhaps wrongly,\nthinks his brother had not enough of it.\n\nThis was another important crisis in the history of the two Wesleys. It\nwas only a few months before, that City Road chapel had been opened.\nCharles Wesley, Thomas Coke, John Richardson, and John Abraham, were\nits officiating clergymen; but John Pawson, Thomas Rankin, Thomas\nTennant, and Peter Jaco, were itinerant preachers, appointed by the\nconference of 1778, to the London circuit, of which the chapel in\nCity Road was now a part. What was the result? Jealousies sprung up,\nindirectly referred to in the above letter, but mentioned in greater\ndetail in another letter to be presently inserted. Before, however,\nthat letter is introduced, perhaps the following extracts from John\nPawson\u2019s unpublished manuscript memoir of Dr. Whitehead will be\nacceptable, and will cast light on Wesley\u2019s difficulties. Mr. Pawson\nwrites:\n\n \u201cI was perhaps as well acquainted with the two brothers as any\n man now living. That Mr. Charles Wesley was of a very\n suspicious temper is certainly true; and that Mr. John Wesley\n had far more charity, in judging of persons in general, (except\n the rich and great,) than his brother had, is equally true. But\n that he was so apt to be taken in with appearances is not true.\n He was well able to form a judgment of particular persons, and\n was as seldom mistaken as his brother. I once heard him\n pleasantly say: \u2018My brother suspects everybody, and he is\n continually imposed upon; but I suspect nobody, and I am never\n imposed upon.\u2019 It is well known that Mr. Charles Wesley was\n much prejudiced in favour of the clergy, through the whole\n course of his life, and that it was nothing but hard necessity\n that obliged him, in any degree, to continue the lay preachers.\n He must have been blind indeed not to have seen, that God had\n given to many of them, at least, very considerable ministerial\n gifts, and that He attended their labours with great success;\n but I am well persuaded, that, could he have found a sufficient\n number of clergymen to have carried on the work of God, he\n would soon have disowned all the lay preachers. He was glad of\n their assistance when he did not choose to preach himself; and,\n accordingly, on a Sunday evening, he would always have a lay\n preacher appointed as well as himself, lest a shower of rain,\n or an agreeable visit, should prevent his attending. At a\n conference held in Bristol many years ago, about a dozen\n clergymen attended for the purpose of convincing us, that we\n ought not to preach in any parish that was favoured with a\n gospel minister. Mr. Charles Wesley took part with them, and\n said, \u2018If I was stationed in any particular parish, you should\n not preach there.\u2019 Mr. John Hampson replied, \u2018I would preach\n there, and never ask your leave; and I should think I had as\n good a right for doing so, as you had,\u2019 Mr. Charles answered in\n great anger, \u2018You are a grievous wolf: you will tear the flock\n when my brother and myself are dead, unless God give you\n repentance.\u2019 Mr. Charles was inclined to find out and magnify\n any supposed fault in the lay preachers; but his brother\n treated them with respect, and exercised a fatherly care over\n them. I am persuaded that, from the creation of the world,\n there never existed a body of men who looked up to any single\n person with a more profound degree of reverence than the\n preachers did to Mr. Wesley; and I am bold to say, that never\n did any man, no, not St. Paul himself, possess so high a degree\n of power over so large a body of men as was possessed by him.\n He used his power, however, for the edification of the people,\n and abused it as little perhaps as any one man ever did. When\n any difficulty occurred in governing the preachers, it soon\n vanished. The oldest, the very best, and those of them that had\n the greatest influence, were ever ready to unite with him, and\n to assist him to the utmost of their power. The truth is, if\n the preachers were in any danger at all, it was of calling Mr.\n Wesley \u2018Rabbi,\u2019 and implicitly obeying him in whatsoever he\n thought proper to command.\n\n \u201cDr. Whitehead informs his readers, that a party existed among\n the preachers, who wished for a total separation from the\n Established Church, and for the Methodists to be formed into an\n independent body; and represents Dr. Coke as being at the head\n of that party. I am well assured, that this is incorrect. The\n preachers only wished, that the people, who had grown weary of\n seeking the living among the dead, and of asking bread of those\n who they well knew had only a stone to give them, might be\n indulged with the lively ordinances of God; and some of the\n people thought it very unjust, not to say cruel, that their\n ministers did not grant them the privilege of worshipping God\n at those particular times of the Lord\u2019s day, when both body and\n mind were best prepared for so doing. It is true, that a party\n existed, both among the preachers and people, who were inclined\n to believe, that those whom God had called to preach might\n lawfully administer the sacraments; as they were not able to\n perceive that it required a greater degree of wisdom and piety\n to qualify a person to baptize a child than to preach the word\n of God. They likewise had scruples whether it was right to wish\n those ministers God speed, by attending their ministry, whom,\n they felt convinced, God had never sent. But, at the same time,\n the preachers knew, that there never was among themselves a\n sufficient number of acceptable men to supply all the Methodist\n congregations; and that, if there had been, and if an entire\n separation from the Church had taken place, the Methodists were\n too poor to support such a multitude of ministers. Common\n prudence, therefore, prevented them from wishing for that which\n they knew could not be accomplished.\u201d\n\nThese are important statements, coming from a man of Mr. Pawson\u2019s\nministerial standing, and who was one of Wesley\u2019s itinerant preachers\nduring the last twenty-nine years of Wesley\u2019s life. They could be\neasily extended; but, perhaps, enough has been said, to show that the\nfeeling, between Charles Wesley and the preachers, was not of the most\nfriendly kind; and this will prepare the reader for the following\nletter, which Charles, at this period, addressed to his brother.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _June 16, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--Mr. B. has been lately with the committee, and\n was there informed, that our preachers (the three\n principal[333]) have written to the country preachers heavy\n complaints of their ill usage by the clergy here; not, I should\n suppose, by quiet John Richardson,--not by passive Dr. Coke,\n for he, they say, is gone to Bristol, that he may not be a\n witness of their cruel persecution. The persecuting clergy,\n therefore, are neither more nor less than your own brother\n Charles, and the whole ground of their complaint against me is,\n \u2018my serving the chapel on Sunday afternoon, as well as in the\n morning.\u2019\n\n \u201cBut this is no new grievance; for I constantly preached Sunday\n morning and afternoon at Bristol. If they could exclude me\n here, they would not long permit me there.\n\n \u201cMy reasons for preaching at the new chapel twice every Sunday\n are: 1. Because, after you, I have the best right. 2. Because I\n have so short a time to preach anywhere. 3. Because I am fully\n persuaded I can do more good there than in any other place.\n They, I know, are of a different judgment, and make no secret\n of it, declaring everywhere, \u2018that the work is stopping; the\n society scattering; and the congregation at the new chapel\n dwindled away and quite dead.\u2019\n\n \u201cI thank God, the chapel is well filled. Last Sunday I preached\n twice, never with greater, and seldom with equal, effect. After\n sermon, Mr. Rankin followed me to the vestry to assure me, \u2018he\n had never spoken disrespectfully of us, and that he was a great\n friend to the Church.\u2019 At the same time, a gentlewoman came,\n filled with faith and love by the word just spoken. I turned\n aside to let Mr. Rankin examine her. She said that, a month\n ago, she was brought up out of the pit of despair, under my\n word. He repeated his inquiries, and she her answers, to his\n satisfaction shall I say, or dissatisfaction? I would hope the\n former. You will inquire when here (only not of the preachers),\n and judge for yourself whether my persevering ministry at the\n chapel has done good or hurt.\n\n \u201cI think the preachers wrong, and in the greatest danger\n through pride; but I have, and will have, no quarrel with them.\n Mr. Kemp proposed to carry me to meet you on the last day\u2019s\n journey, or I should not have thought of it. I do not want to\n have the first word. Let them have the first and last. I do not\n want to interfere in that government of yours, or to appear at\n all at the congress. A word of yours might turn the scale, and\n send me directly to Bristol.\n\n \u201cIt is just come into my mind, \u2018The lay preachers affect to\n believe I act as a clergyman in opposition to them.\u2019 To me, it\n seems that I act as I do, in goodwill to them, as well as to\n the people. If there was no man above them, what would become\n of them? How would they tear one another in pieces! Convince\n them, if you can, that they want a clergyman over them, to keep\n them and the flock together. Convince them, that it is\n impossible I should stand in their way long, for I cannot\n (should I live to the winter) serve the new chapel Sundays and\n holydays in all weathers. Persuade each of them to be the\n least, not the greatest; and then all will be right again. You\n have no alternative but to conquer that spirit, or to be\n conquered by it. Can you think, I envy you your pre-eminence?\n If God continues my strength, I shall take the best care of the\n chapel till you return. Then I shall deliver up my charge to\n you, and you alone.\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[334]\n\nThis peevish epistle, published in Wesley\u2019s own _Arminian Magazine_,\nwill not add to the fair fame of Methodism\u2019s great hymnist. It was an\nunworthy production of a pen which wrote hundreds, in fact, thousands,\nof sweet songs of praise. John Pawson--good, but gossiping,--and Thomas\nRankin--honest to the heart\u2019s inmost core, but somewhat obstinate and\noverbearing,--were far from perfect; but was it just in Charles Wesley\nto write to his brother respecting them in the querulous tone in which\nhe did? Charles Wesley says, the City Road chapel was well filled;\nPawson says, in the manuscript memoir of Dr. Whitehead, that \u201cthe\ncongregation fell off exceedingly; and that the society was brought\ninto great disorder.\u201d Charles Wesley was a scholar, and, as a sacred\npoet, was without a peer; but we incline to think, that John Pawson\nand Thomas Rankin were more popular and powerful preachers than either\nhe or any other of his City Road clerical colleagues; and it is not\nsurprising, that the people wished to hear them on Sundays as well as\nweek days; and that the itinerants themselves,--one of whom was the\nappointed superintendent of the London circuit, and the other of whom\nhad been Wesley\u2019s chosen superintendent of the whole of the Methodist\nsocieties in America,--should think they had quite as much right as\nCharles Wesley, Thomas Coke, John Richardson, or John Abraham, to\npreach to Sunday congregations in City Road. The truth is, though, in\nyears past, Charles Wesley\u2019s ministry had been exceedingly attractive\nand powerful, it was now, what shall we say? John Pawson writes: \u201cWhen\nhe was favoured with freedom of mind, which was but seldom, then his\npreaching was truly profitable; but, in general, it was exceedingly\ndry and lifeless.\u201d His sons Charles and Samuel,--the former twenty-one\nyears of age, and the latter thirteen,--were, by their musical genius,\ncreating a sensation in the highest circles of London society; and,\nfor several years, conducted in their father\u2019s house a series of\ndomestic subscription concerts, of twelve nights\u2019 continuance, in\neach season. Their father thoroughly approved of this. \u201cI am clear,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cwithout a doubt, that my sons\u2019 concert is after the will\nand order of Providence.\u201d Wesley appends to this a note: \u201cI am clear\nof another mind.\u201d[335] Without staying to settle the dispute, there\ncan be no doubt that, by these concerts, Charles Wesley was brought\ninto the society of a large number of the rich and great. The simple\nminded London Methodists were staggered at one of their great leaders\nhaving such musical performances in his house, and at his mingling with\npersons, who, though highly genteel, were not religious. Many began\nto regard him with suspicion; his preaching popularity was waning;\nPawson says, \u201che was like Samson shorn of his strength\u201d; his health\nalso was failing; like most men of high poetic genius, he was subject\nto melancholy moods: put all these things together, and the petulancy\nand suspicion of Charles Wesley\u2019s letter to his brother will not excite\nsurprise.\n\nThis then was the state of things awaiting the venerable Wesley, on his\nreturn to London, after a laborious preaching tour of five months\u2019\nduration. By an almost superhuman effort, he had built and opened his\nnew chapel in City Road; but things, instead of being more prosperous\nthan ever, were in a state of disastrous commotion. In this, the first\nyear after the chapel was opened, there was a decrease of one hundred\nand twenty-three members in the London circuit, though that circuit\nhad now an unprecedented staff of ordained clergymen, and four of the\nbest itinerants in Wesley\u2019s connexion. Ordinary men would have been\ndiscouraged and at their wits\u2019 end; but not so the man who was born,\nnot to be conquered by difficulties, but to conquer them.\n\nWesley\u2019s conference of 1779 was commenced on August 3; and it was now\nascertained, that nineteen other circuits besides London had a decrease\nof members. Wesley asked, How can we account for this? The reasons\nassigned were:--1. Partly the neglect of outdoor preaching, and of\ntrying new places. 2. Partly prejudice against the king, and speaking\nevil of dignities. 3. But chiefly the increase of worldly mindedness,\nand conformity to the world. It was also resolved, that no one speaking\nevil of those in authority, or prophesying evil to the nation, should\nbe a Methodist preacher. Itinerants were reproved for hastening home\nto their wives after preaching; and were told, they ought never to do\nthis till they had met the society. To revive the work in Scotland, the\npreachers were directed to preach in the open air as much as possible;\nto try every town and village; and to visit every member of society at\nhome.\n\nAs soon as the conference was ended, Wesley set out, with his brother\nand his family, for Wales, where he spent a fortnight in preaching to\nlarge and deeply affected congregations.\n\nHe then proceeded to the west of England. At Exeter, he writes: \u201cI\npreached in a convenient room, lately a school; I suppose formerly a\nchapel. It is both neat and solemn, and is believed to contain four or\nfive hundred people.\u201d\n\nThis was the meeting-house concerning which Wesley wrote to Samuel\nWells, the assistant of the Tiverton circuit, as follows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 28, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--According to the act of toleration--1. You are\n _required_ to _certify_ to the registrar of the bishop\u2019s court,\n or the justices, the place of your meeting for Divine worship.\n This is all you have to do. You ask nothing at all of the\n bishop or justices.\n\n \u201c2. The registrar, or clerk of the court, is _required_ to\n register the same, and to give a certificate thereof to such\n persons as shall _demand_ the same; for which there shall be no\n greater fee or reward taken than sixpence.\n\n \u201cI advise you to go once more to the sessions, and say,\n \u2018Gentlemen, we have had advice from London; we desire nothing\n at all of _you_; but we _demand_ of your clerk to register this\n place, and to give us a certificate thereof; or to answer the\n refusal at his peril.\u2019\n\n \u201cAnswer no questions to the justices, or lawyers, but with a\n bow, and with repeating the words, \u2018Our business is only with\n your clerk; we _demand_ of him what the act requires him to\n do.\u2019\n\n \u201cIf you judge proper, you may show this to any of the justices.\n What I have written, I am ready to defend.\n\n \u201cYou have led the justices into the mistake, by your _manner_\n of addressing them. Beware of this for the time to come. You\n have nothing to ask of _them_.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[336]\n\nOn September 4, Wesley returned to Bristol, where he spent a month in\nvisiting the surrounding societies. He then made his way to London,\npreaching at Devizes, Winchester, and Portsmouth. On leaving London, he\nslept, for the last time, in the old Foundery. He now, for the first\ntime slept in the house, in which he afterwards died, in City Road.\n\nOn October 11, he began his preaching tour to Northamptonshire; a week\nlater to Sussex; and a week later still to Norfolk. He then commenced\nhis annual examination of the London society, and writes: \u201cI did not\nfind such an increase as I expected. Nay, there was a considerable\ndecrease, plainly owing to a senseless jealousy that had crept in\nbetween our preachers.\u201d\n\nThis doubtless refers to the quarrel already mentioned. Unfortunately,\nthe strife was now extended to Bath. The assistant appointed at the\nlate conference to the Bristol circuit (of which Bath was part), was\nAlexander M\u2018Nab, a native of Perthshire, in North Britain, and now in\nthe thirty-fourth year of his age. For thirteen years, he had been an\nitinerant preacher, and had laboured, with considerable success, in\nthe three kingdoms.[337] Wesley, writing to Lady Maxwell in 1771, said:\n\u201cMr. M\u2018Nab is a sound and good preacher; but too warm, and impatient\nof contradiction.\u201d[338] Thomas Rutherford, one of his colleagues,\nwrites: \u201cI was particularly attached to him. He was a most amiable,\nsensible man, and an excellent preacher. He had the most copious flow\nof natural, simple oratory, of any man I ever heard. There was an ease,\nbeauty, sweetness, and harmony in his style and language, that was at\nonce both striking and pleasing. The Rev. Dr. Webster once said, \u2018I\nhave heard Mr. Walker, Mr. Fordyce, Dr. Blair, etc.; but Mr. M\u2018Nab is\na greater orator than any of them.\u2019\u201d[339] At the conference of 1777,\nM\u2018Nab was appointed to Edinburgh; but found the chapel in such a\nruinous condition, that he spent \u00a3500 in repairing it. For this amount\nhe was personally responsible; and, in order to extricate himself,\nwas requested, by the following conference, to visit the English\nsocieties for the purpose of asking assistance.[340] While on this\nbegging excursion, he wrote a letter to Robert Dall, which is inserted\nhere to show the spirit of the man, and that he wished for peace,\nnotwithstanding that he was soon involved in war.\n\n \u201cBRADFORD, _April 24, 1779_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I hope persons and things are better at\n Glasgow then when you went there. I was grieved to hear of the\n disunion of the preachers, and that it had hurt the people; but\n trust God sent you to Glasgow as a cure for their wounds. In\n every place, I find the prosperity of the work, under God,\n depends, in a great measure, upon the piety, zeal, and prudence\n of the preachers. Persons of that character God will honour, to\n build up His church; and I need not tell you, we have need of\n faith in doing and suffering the Divine will; for, without\n that, we have not the necessary qualification to render us\n either holy, happy, or useful. In my present employ, I find\n both pleasure and pain; but, hitherto, God has been with me,\n and I believe will never leave me. Wishing you every blessing,\n I am your truly affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cALEX. M\u2018NAB.\u201d[341]\n\nSuch was one of the chief actors in the scene at Bath. Another was\nthe Rev. Edward Smyth, who has been already mentioned, and who had\nbrought his wife to Bath for the benefit of her health. Wesley writes:\n\u201cGod having greatly blessed the labours of Mr. Smyth in the north of\nIreland, I desired him to preach every Sunday evening in our chapel,\nwhile he remained in Bath. But, as soon as I was gone, Mr. M\u2018Nab\nvehemently opposed this; affirming it was the common cause of all the\nlay preachers; that they were appointed by the conference, not by me;\nand would not suffer the clergy to ride over their heads, Mr. Smyth in\nparticular, of whom he said all manner of evil. Others warmly defended\nhim. Hence the society was torn in pieces, and thrown into the utmost\nconfusion.\u201d\n\nSuch was the dispute. What was the result? On November 22, Wesley\nand his brother set out from London to settle the disturbance. The\nBath society was assembled. Wesley says: \u201cI read to them a paper,\nwhich I wrote, near twenty years ago, on a like occasion. Herein I\nobserved, that \u2018the rules of our preachers were fixed by me, before any\nconference existed,\u2019 particularly the twelfth: \u2018Above all, you are to\npreach when and where I appoint.\u2019 By obstinately opposing which rule,\nMr. M\u2018Nab has made all this uproar. In the morning, at a meeting of\nthe preachers, I informed Mr. M\u2018Nab, that, as he did not agree to our\nfundamental rule, I could not receive him as one of our preachers, till\nhe was of another mind. Wednesday, November 24, I read the same paper\nto the society at Bristol, as I found the flame had spread thither\nalso. A few at Bath separated from us on this account; but the rest\nwere thoroughly satisfied.\u201d\n\nSuch is the entry in Wesley\u2019s journal; but eight months after this, he\nwrites: \u201cMr. M\u2018Nab quarrelling with Mr. Smyth threw wildfire among the\npeople at Bath, and occasioned anger, jealousies, judging each other,\nbackbiting, and tale bearing without end; and, in spite of all the\npains which have been taken, the wound is not healed to this day.\u201d\n\nWesley throws all the blame upon M\u2018Nab; but it may fairly be doubted\nwhether this was just. There can be no question concerning Wesley\u2019s\nabstract right to appoint to his chapels whom he pleased; but the\nmanner in which the right was exercised is not an improper subject\nfor doubt and discussion. Wesley pleads what he did twenty years\nbefore; but, even allowing that his action then was right, it remains\nto be proved, that the same action, under altered circumstances,\nwas prudent now. During that interval, the number of Methodists and\nMethodist preachers had more than doubled. Besides, now that the number\nof itinerant preachers was more than a hundred and sixty; and that\nmany of them were men of great genius and talent, as well as piety;\nand that all had a right to take part in the deliberations of the\nannual conference, which really made the appointments for the ensuing\nyear, Wesley\u2019s claim to have the sole and exclusive power, asserted\nin the document read to the Bath society, is a claim which can hardly\nbe admitted.[342] There is a forgetfulness of existing facts, and\ntherefore a fallaciousness, in the following letter, written on this\nsubject a few weeks after the Bath disturbances occurred.\n\n \u201c_January, 1780._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You seem not to have well considered the Rules of\n a Helper, or the rise of Methodism. It pleased God, by me, to\n awaken, first my brother, and then a few others; who severally\n desired of me, as a favour, that I would direct them in all things.\n After my return from Georgia, many were both awakened and converted\n to God. One, and another, and another of these desired to join with\n me as sons in the gospel, to be directed by me. I drew up a few\n plain rules (observe there was no conference in being!), and\n permitted them to join me on these conditions. Whoever, therefore,\n violates these conditions, particularly that of being directed by me\n in the work, does, _ipso facto_, disjoin himself from me. This\n brother M\u2018Nab has done (but he cannot see that he has done amiss):\n and he would have it a common cause; that is, he would have all the\n preachers do the same. He thinks \u2018they have a right so to do.\u2019 So\n they have. They have a right to disjoin themselves from me whenever\n they please. But they cannot, in the nature of the thing, join with\n me any longer than they are directed by me. And what, if fifty of\n the preachers disjoined themselves! What should I lose thereby? Only\n a great deal of labour and care, which I do not seek; but endure,\n because no one else either can or will.\n\n \u201cYou seem likewise to have quite a wrong idea of a conference. For\n above six years after my return to England, there was no such thing.\n I then desired some of my preachers to meet me, in order to advise,\n not control, me. And you may observe, they had no power at all, but\n what I exercised through them. I chose to exercise the power which\n God had given me in this manner, both to avoid ostentation, and\n gently to habituate the people to obey them when I should be taken\n from their head. But as long as I remain with them, the fundamental\n rule of Methodism remains inviolate. As long as any preacher joins\n with me, he is to be directed by me in his work. Do not you see\n then, that brother M\u2018Nab, whatever his intentions might be, acted as\n wrong as wrong could be? and that the representing of this as the\n common cause of the preachers was the way to common destruction, the\n way to turn their heads, and to set them in arms? It was a blow at\n the very root of Methodism. I could not, therefore, do less than I\n did; it was the very least that could be done, for fear that evil\n should spread.\n\n \u201cI do not willingly speak of these things at all; but I do it now\n out of necessity; because I perceive the mind of you, and some\n others, is a little hurt by not seeing them in a true light.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[343]\n\nThis was Wesley\u2019s defence of the boldest act of discipline he had ever\nexercised; but we still doubt its wisdom and sufficiency. All he says\nabout the preachers placing themselves under his direction, and about\nthe first conferences, is strictly true; but Methodist matters now\nwere widely different from what they were when Methodist conferences\nwere first begun. With all due deference to Wesley, Methodism now was\nnot wholly the work of Wesley, nor was it entirely dependent on him.\nAt this very time, there was, among the preachers, a ministerial\nphalanx, who had a right to be something more than mere _advisers_,--\nservants in the gospel, sometimes taken into the counsels of their\nchief, but wholly at his disposal. There were Olivers, Pawson, Rankin,\nMurlin, Story, Whatcoat, Valton, Benson, Hanby, Manners, Taylor,\nMather, Hopper, Vasey, Thompson, Pilmoor, Rhodes, Bradburn, Boardman,\nthe two Hampsons, Barber, Rutherford, Moore, Myles, and others, whose\nnames will always be memorable in Methodistic history. Considering the\ntalents, the preaching power, the untiring labours, and the marvellous\nsuccess of these distinguished men, was it wise, and was it fair, for\nWesley to insist upon his retention of the absolute authority that\nhe justly exercised when Methodism was first commenced? Remembering\nthe paltry pittance they received for their important and unceasing\ntoil, was it just, that, in a great religious movement, now spread\nthroughout the three kingdoms, and to which they themselves had greatly\ncontributed, they should be employed as mere _workmen_, without the\nleast right to take a part in the arrangement of their respective\nspheres of labour, and without a particle of authority, except what\nwas implied in their advices, in the general legislation of a body now\nnumbering more than forty thousand people? Was it surprising, that\nWesley\u2019s expulsion of M\u2018Nab, for claiming a pulpit to which he had\nbeen appointed at the conference, but into which Wesley desired to\nintroduce an expelled Irish clergyman, should create dissatisfaction\nand incipient rebellion?\n\nThere can be no doubt, that this was one of the most dangerous ordeals\nthrough which Methodism passed in the lifetime of its founder. It was\nhardly a fair statement of the case, when Wesley said, that all that\nhe would lose, by fifty of his preachers leaving him, would be \u201ca\ngreat deal of labour and care.\u201d If such an event had happened,\nMethodism would have been split into fragments, and, as a system,\nwould have ceased to exist; and Wesley, seeing the demolition of such\na work, would have been a sorrowful man for the remainder of his life.\nThe crisis, in 1779, was most momentous. It was really the first time\nthat Wesley\u2019s supreme and absolute power was professedly and openly\nresisted. The whole question hinges on the point, were the\nappointments to chapels and to circuits made by Wesley and his\nconference of preachers _conjointly_? or were they made by Wesley\nhimself _alone_? Wesley argues, that the power of appointment rested\nsolely with himself. We can only answer, that this was an unreasonable\nand dangerous power to wield. Under the circumstances, Wesley could\nnot claim it, without ignoring the reasonable claims of a large body\nof the most remarkable men that England has ever had; and he could not\nexercise it without serious danger to himself and to his system.\n\nAlexander M\u2018Nab, though comparatively young, was not an ordinary man.\nTestimonies concerning his character, eloquence, and preaching power,\nhave been already given. Mr. Smyth was doubtless both sensible and\npious; but we greatly question whether he was as popular and powerful\na preacher as the North Briton. No charge of unsound doctrine, or of\nimmorality, or of incompetency, or of inattention to discipline, was\nmade against M\u2018Nab. He was faithfully and successfully doing the work\nto which he had been appointed. He was popular with the people. But\nbecause he refused, at Wesley\u2019s bidding, to allow an Irish stranger,\nnot at all his superior, but, probably, his inferior in pulpit\nability, to take his place, Wesley, at once, by his own _ipse dixit_,\nexpelled him from his connexion of preachers. However painful to do\nit, we are bound to maintain that this was an injustice. The act might\nbe technically right; but it was an almost popish assumption of\nautocratic authority, and a most perilous--it might have been\ndisastrous--exercise of disciplinary power. It is true that no\nabsolute rebellion followed,--a fact showing the simple minded piety\nof the Methodist preachers and people, and the marvellous influence of\nWesley over them, and their almost unparalleled respect for his\ncharacter and labours; but there were great commotions and serious\nmisgivings; and, if concessions had not been made, there might have\nbeen open resistance, and a consequent wreck of Methodist success and\nhope.\n\nHere, however, another question occurs. Was Wesley to be solely or\nprincipally blamed for this imprudent exercise of power? We have no\nwish to shield him from censure, when censure is merited; but if\nothers were to blame as well as he, or if others were even more\nblamable than he, it is only fair to his memory and name, that the\nfacts should be published.\n\nCharles Wesley\u2019s quarrel with the London preachers has been already\nmentioned. It occurred a few months only previous to the affair at\nBath. There is no denying it, that Charles was violently opposed to\nlay preachers, and was unreasonably jealous of their intriguing to\nobtain co-ordinate power with his brother, and of their intention to\nuse such power in effecting a separation of Methodism from the\nEstablished Church. On Good Friday, 1779, he wrote to his brother:\n\u201cThe preachers do not love the Church of England. When we are gone, a\nseparation is inevitable. Do you not wish to keep as many good people\nin the Church as you can? Something might be done now to save the\nremainder, if you had resolution, and would stand by me as firmly as I\nwill by you. Consider what you are bound to do as a clergyman; and\nwhat you do, do quickly.\u201d[344]\n\nIt was in such a frame of mind, that Charles Wesley heard of M\u2018Nab\u2019s\nresisting the authority of his brother at Bath. Mr. Pawson, who says\nhe was perfectly acquainted with the affair, tells us, in his\nmanuscript memoir of Dr. Whitehead, that Charles Wesley \u201ctook fire at\nonce, and highly resented Mr. M\u2018Nab\u2019s behaviour. He prevailed upon his\nbrother, after much strife and contention, to exclude Mr. M\u2018Nab from\nthe connexion; and, upon this condition, he promised to attend him to\nBath. Accordingly the two brothers, accompanied by Dr. Coke and the\nRev. Mr. Collins, went to Bath with all possible secrecy, and the\nsentence was pronounced upon poor Mr. M\u2018Nab agreeably to Mr. Charles\nWesley\u2019s wish. By this means, the Bath society was divided. Many of\nthe people loved Mr. M\u2018Nab, and thought it wrong that he should be\ncondemned unheard. The society at Bristol also was thrown into great\nconfusion; and, had it not been for the exertions of Dr. Coke, would\nhave been divided like that at Bath. On the Sunday evening after Mr.\nWesley\u2019s return to London, he brought the matter before the London\nsociety, and certainly degraded the preachers, and laid them low even\nin the dust at his feet. When he was gone from London, Mr. Charles,\nafter the sacrament at the new chapel, prayed for his brother in the\nfollowing words: \u2018Lord, preserve him from his rebellious sons. Though\nthey curse him, do Thou bless him. Though they wish his death, do Thou\nprolong his life. Lord, stand between the living and the dead, and let\nnot the curse of pride destroy them.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis was strange language to use, in prayer, and after a solemn\nsacrament; but it was not dissimilar to the language of a \u201cHymn for\nthe Rev. John Wesley,\u201d which Charles composed, and which was \u201csung by\nthe society in Bristol, on Sunday, December 5, 1779,\u201d only a fortnight\nafter M\u2018Nab\u2019s expulsion.\n\n \u201cJesus, Thy hated servant own,\n And send the glorious Spirit down,\n In answer to our prayers;\n While others curse, and wish him dead,\n Do Thou Thy choicest blessings shed,\n And crown his hoary hairs.\u201d--etc., etc.[345]\n\nPawson was the superintendent of the London circuit, and felt it his\nduty to write to Charles Wesley, and remonstrate with him for using\nsuch language, at such a time, and in such a place. An interview\nfollowed; and Pawson adds: \u201cWe came to an explanation, and he was in\nhigh good humour; but I have reason to believe, he never forgave me.\nHe made his brother believe, that Mr. M\u2018Nab was only the tool of a\nviolent party among the preachers, among whom there was a very\npowerful combination against his authority; and that, at the next\nconference, they would show themselves.\u201d Pawson adds: \u201cThere was not a\nsingle grain of truth in this. Not one preacher in the whole connexion\nwas concerned in the business, save those who were stationed in the\nBristol circuit. It is true, that the preachers in general thought\nthat Mr. M\u2018Nab was cruelly used; and so they do to this day.\u201d\n\nNot to return to the subject, it may be added, that Dr. Whitehead\nstates that, as the conference of 1780 drew near, Wesley \u201cwas\nevidently intimidated,\u201d and wrote to his brother requesting him to\nattend the conference. Charles answered as follows:\n\n \u201cMy reasons against accepting your invitation to the conference\n are: (1) I can do no good; (2) I can prevent no evil; (3) I am\n afraid of being a partaker of other men\u2019s sins, or of\n countenancing them by my presence; (4) I am afraid of myself;\n you know I cannot command my temper, and you have not courage\n to stand by me. I cannot trust _your resolution_; unless you\n act with a vigour that is not in you, _conclamatum est_, our\n affairs are past hope.\n\n \u201cI am not sure, they will not prevail upon you to ordain them.\n You claim the _power_, and only say, \u2018It is not probable you\n shall ever exercise it.\u2019 Probability on one side implies\n probability on the other; and I want better security. So I am\n to stand by, and see the ruin of our cause! You know how far\n you may depend on me; let me know how far I may depend on you,\n and on our preachers. In the Bath affair, you acted with vigour\n for the first time; but you could not hold out. Unmindful of\n your power and your infirmity, you yielded to the rebel,\n instead of his yielding to you. You should not have employed\n him again till he had owned his fault. This quite overturned my\n confidence in you, which I should never have told you, had I\n not been compelled. If you think my advice can be of any use to\n you, I will attend you to Bristol, and be always within\n call.\u201d[346]\n\nPoor Wesley! Wishful to repair a wrong, he had become reconciled to\nMr. M\u2018Nab, principally by the mediation of Mr. Pawson and the\npreachers in London;[347] but, by this, he had offended his brother,\nby whom he had been goaded to the rash act at Bath.\n\nAt the conference of 1780, M\u2018Nab was restored to his place among his\nbrethren, and was appointed to Sheffield. Charles Wesley was present,\nand, of course, was exceedingly dissatisfied. About a fortnight after,\nhe wrote the following letter to his brother.\n\n \u201cI did not hope, by my presence at the conference, to do any\n good, or prevent any evil. So I told you in London. Yet I\n accepted your invitation, only because you desired it. And as I\n came merely to please you, I resolved not to contradict your\n _will_ in anything. Your _will_, I perceived, was to receive\n Mr. M\u2018Nab, unhumbled, unconvinced, into your confidence, and\n into your bosom. He came uninvited, and openly accused your\n curate for obeying your orders: you suffered it; and did not\n give Mr. M\u2018Nab the gentlest reproof for disobeying them, and\n drawing others into his rebellion; and endeavouring to engage\n all the preachers in it; making an actual separation at Bath,\n and still keeping up his separate society. My judgment was,\n never to receive Mr. M\u2018Nab as a preacher _till he acknowledged\n his fault_. But I submitted and attended in silence. It was\n much easier for me to say nothing, than to speak neither more\n nor less than you would approve. I was sometimes strongly\n tempted to speak; but, if I had opened my mouth, I should have\n spoiled all. Your design, I believed, was to keep all quiet. I\n allow you your merit. \u2018_Tu maximus ille, es unus qui nobis_\n CEDENDO _restituis rem_.\u2019 By a very few words, I could have\n provoked your preachers to lay aside the mask; but that was the\n very thing you guarded against; and, I suppose, the reason for\n which you desired my presence was that I might be some sort of\n check to the independents. Still, I think it better for the\n people, that they (the preachers) should show themselves before\n your death than after it. You think otherwise; and I submit.\n \u2018_Satis, jam satis spectata in te amicitia est mea_;\u2019 and I am\n perfectly satisfied with my own insignificancy. I have but one\n thing to do. The Lord make me ready for it!\u201d[348]\n\nThis was an angry letter of a baffled man. It was grumbling in private\nwhat ought to have been said in public, or not to have been said at\nall. The insinuation respecting the preachers was unfounded and\nunworthy. The desire that M\u2018Nab should acknowledge his fault was\nunjust, for M\u2018Nab was really the aggrieved party. Charles Wesley would\nhave driven the preachers into rebellion; his brother, as ready to\nrepair an injury as he was anxious to avoid committing one, restored\nunanimity and confidence. \u201cThere was nothing at the conference,\u201d\nwrites John Pawson, \u201cbut peace, harmony, and love.\u201d\n\nWe only add, that Mr. M\u2018Nab\u2019s subsequent appointments were honourable\nboth to Wesley and himself. In 1780, he was sent to Sheffield; in 1781\nto Manchester; and in 1782 to Newcastle. He then retired, \u201cand resided\nfor several years at Sheffield, where he was the pastor of a small\ncongregation, who highly esteemed him; and there he finished his\ncourse about the year 1797.\u201d[349]\n\nMr. Smyth went back to Ireland; but, in 1782, became one of Wesley\u2019s\nLondon curates, with a salary of sixty guineas yearly.[350] In 1786,\nhe was appointed minister of Bethesda chapel, Dublin;[351] where he\nrent the Methodist society, and took with him above a hundred persons,\namongst whom were the richer members of the Dublin Methodists.[352] He\nthen removed to Manchester, where he officiated as curate of St.\nClement\u2019s and St. Luke\u2019s churches. He was the author of several\npublications, the chief of which were:--\u201cThe Fall and Recovery of Man.\nA Poem.\u201d 1777: 12mo, 71 pages. \u201cJames Poulson further Detected.\u201d 1778:\n12mo, 58 pages. \u201cTwelve Sermons on the most important Subjects.\u201d 1778:\n12mo, 254 pages. \u201cSt. Paul against Calvin.\u201d 1809: 12mo, 115 pages. And\n\u201cA Confutation of Calvinism.\u201d 1810: 12mo, 391 pages.\n\nMuch space has been occupied with the disturbances at Bath; but,\nconsidering the importance of the point at issue, the facts connected\nwith it were too important to be omitted.\n\nThe year 1779, like most previous ones, was a year of trouble. Besides\nthe anxiety and vexation arising out of Mr. M\u2018Nab\u2019s affair, Wesley was\nstill annoyed with virulent attacks from his Calvinist opponents. His\nold friend, John Macgowan, published \u201cThe Foundry Budget Opened; or,\nthe Arcanum of Wesleyanism Disclosed.\u201d The animus of Macgowan\u2019s\npamphlet may be inferred from his motto on the title page:\n\n \u201cA man so various, that he seemed to be\n Not one, but all mankind\u2019s epitome;\n Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;\n Was everything by starts, but nothing long.\u201d\n\nHe tells his readers, that \u201cfor craft and cunning sophistry, he will\nmatch the Rev. Mr. John Wesley against any man that ever stained paper\nwith pollution\u201d; and throughout speaks of him in the most contemptuous\nterms.\n\nOf course, this was too savoury a production to pass unnoticed by the\n_Gospel Magazine_. Wesley is accused, in the review of it, with using\n\u201cabsurd, unscriptural jargon and contradictions\u201d; and with \u201crobbing\nFather, Son, and Spirit, of their glory as a covenant God; and\nexalting the sinful, proud nature of fallen man; and militating\nagainst the whole tenor of Scripture, and of reformed Christianity, as\nprofessed by all protestant churches.\u201d\n\nAnother hostile publication was \u201cMethodism and Popery dissected and\ncompared; and the Doctrines of both proved to be derived from a Papal\nOrigin.\u201d Besides attacking Whitefield, Rowland Hill, and others, the\nanonymous author of this scurrilous pamphlet learnedly remarks, that\n\u201cit would be less difficult to paint Proteus, in all his fabled\nshapes, under one distinct figure, than to describe Wesley\u201d; whom he\nis pleased to honour with epithets like the following: \u201ca living\nmonument of apostolic frenzy\u201d; \u201cJesuit\u201d; \u201crank Catholic;\u201d \u201cactor\u201d; and\n\u201canabaptist.\u201d\n\nThis was far from being pleasant; but Wesley was used to it; and his\ncharacter was too well established to need defence from such\nslanderous attacks. It may be doubted whether he took the trouble to\nread a tithe of the malignant diatribes launched against him.\n\nWhile on the subject of books, it is due to Methodism to notice an\ninteresting fact not generally known. The first Bible society, founded\nin Great Britain, and perhaps in the world, was established in 1779,\nand was the work of Methodists. George Cussons and John Davies, after\nleaving the leaders\u2019 meeting in West Street chapel, entered into\nconversation, and, when near Soho Square, formed a resolution to\nendeavour to raise a fund for supplying soldiers with pocket Bibles.\nThey and a dozen of their friends united themselves into a society for\npromoting this object. Their meetings were held once a month in the\nhouse of Mr. Dobson, of Oxford Street. John Thornton, Esq., of\nClapham, became a generous subscriber. The first parcel of Bibles was\nsent from the vestry of Wesley\u2019s West Street chapel; and the first\nsermon on behalf of the society was preached in the same chapel, by\nthe Rev. Mr. Collins, from the appropriate words, \u201cAnd the Philistines\nwere afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said,\nWoe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.\u201d[353]\nThus arose \u201cThe Naval and Military Bible Society,\u201d--twenty-five years\nbefore the formation of \u201cThe British and Foreign Bible Society\u201d in\n1804,--a society still in active operation, and we believe the oldest\nassociation for the circulation of the word of God, that now exists.\n\nWesley still employed the press, as well as pulpit, in defending and\nspreading truth. John Atlay was his book steward, of whose\nconscientiousness he had a high opinion. Hence the following\nunpublished letter, sent to Bradburn.\n\n \u201cEDINBURGH, _June 19, 1779_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I suppose John Atlay has paid the money. He is\n cautious to an extreme. I _hear_ what angry men say or write;\n but I do not often regard it. Lemonade will cure any disorder\n of the bowels, (whether it be with or without purging,) in a\n day or two. You do well to spread the prayer-meetings up and\n down. They seldom are in vain. Honest Andrew Dunlop[354] writes\n me word that the book money is stolen. Pray desire him to take\n care that the knave does not steal his teeth.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley published, in 1779, the seventeenth extract from his journal,\nextending from September 13, 1773, to January 2, 1776; 12mo, 82 pages.\n\nPopery was beginning to be troublesome; for parliament, in the\nprevious year, had passed a bill removing from the English and Irish\npapists the penalties and disabilities imposed upon them by the famous\nact, \u201cfor the further preventing the growth of popery,\u201d enacted in\n1699. Wesley had been called a papist times without number; but now,\nin a time of danger, he proved himself one of popery\u2019s most trenchant\nopponents. His pamphlet, now issued, with the title, \u201cPopery Calmly\nConsidered,\u201d 12mo, 25 pages, was one of the most timely and valuable\nproductions of his pen. Scores of such pamphlets have been given to\nthe public; but not one superior to Wesley\u2019s. He writes: \u201cIn the\nfollowing tract, I propose, first, to lay down and examine the chief\ndoctrines of the Church of Rome: secondly, to show the natural\ntendency of a few of those doctrines; and that with all the plainness\nand all the calmness I can.\u201d \u201cMr. J. Russell,\u201d observes Charles\nWesley, in a letter dated April 23, 1779, \u201ctells me, some of the\nbitterest Calvinists are reconciled to you for the tract on popery. It\nshould be spread immediately through the three kingdoms.\u201d[355] We\nshall meet with popery again; but, meantime, we wish the Methodist\nbook committee and conference would do, at present, what Charles\nWesley wished to be done ninety years ago. However urgent the case was\nin 1779, the necessity now is ninety times greater than it was then;\nand John Wesley\u2019s successors will be recreant to his protestant\nprinciples unless they do their duty as he did his.\n\nIt only remains, before concluding the present chapter, to notice\nWesley\u2019s _Arminian Magazine_. This, like the volume for 1778, was, to\na large extent, controversial, Wesley believing that \u201cthere never was\nmore need, in the memory of man, of opposing the _Horrible Decree_,\nthan at this day; for thousands, in every part of England, were still\nhalting between two opinions, and were exceedingly perplexed on this\naccount.\u201d Among other pieces, intended to refute the Calvinian theory,\nhe republished his own \u201cPredestination Calmly Considered,\u201d which he\nfirst printed in 1752. There are interesting lives of Bishop Bedell,\nArchbishop Usher, and Dr. Donne, the last mentioned by Wesley\u2019s own\npen, though never included in his collected works. There are short\naccounts of ten of his itinerant preachers, accompanied by their\nrespective portraits, many of which he pronounces \u201creally striking.\u201d\nThere are ninety-three letters, most of which, says he, \u201care closely\npractical and experimental.\u201d There are about seventy poetical pieces,\none of which, \u201cHenry and Emma, a Dialogue,\u201d fills more than fourteen\npages; a sort of love story, to which objections were not unreasonably\nraised. Wesley acknowledged that it was \u201cnot strictly religious\u201d; but\nmaintains that there was \u201cnothing in it contrary to religion, nothing\nthat can offend the chastest ears\u201d; that it was \u201cone of the finest\npoems in the English tongue, both for sentiment and language\u201d; and\nthat those who could \u201cread it without tears must have a stupid and\nunfeeling heart.\u201d All this might be true; but, with all due deference\nto Wesley, there can hardly be two opinions, that it was out of its\nproper place when inserted in the _Arminian Magazine_.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [320] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 117.\n\n [321] Manuscript diary.\n\n [322] Manuscript letter.\n\n [323] Manuscripts.\n\n [324] \u201cHistory of Methodism in Halifax.\u201d\n\n [325] Manuscript diary.\n\n [326] How is it that there are not more Methodists in\n Inverness now than there were ninety years ago, in\n the days of good old Duncan McAllum?\n\n [327] Boswell\u2019s Life of Johnson.\n\n [328] _Methodist Magazine_, 1823, p. 777.\n\n [329] Ibid. 1856, p. 234.\n\n [330] Atmore\u2019s \u201cMethodist Memorial.\u201d\n\n [331] _Methodist Magazine_, 1826, p. 244.\n\n [332] Ibid. 1789, p. 388.\n\n [333] These were Pawson, Rankin, and Jaco. The committee\n consisted of gentlemen appointed to manage the\n business of City Road chapel.--(Pawson\u2019s manuscript.)\n\n [334] _Methodist Magazine_, 1789, p. 441.\n\n [335] _Methodist Magazine_, 1789, p. 387.\n\n [336] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 456.\n\n [337] _Methodist Magazine_, 1779, p. 240.\n\n [338] Lady Maxwell\u2019s Life, p. 70.\n\n [339] Rutherford\u2019s Life, p. 94.\n\n [340] Atmore\u2019s \u201cMethodist Memorial.\u201d\n\n [341] Manuscript letter.\n\n [342] Thomas Taylor, in his manuscript diary, remarks:\n \u201c1780, January 14--I learned, that Mr. M\u2018Nab is\n excluded the connexion; but I cannot learn, that\n he has merited such treatment. A man who has been\n a credit to our cause, whose moral character is\n unblamable, and whose abilities are considerable, is\n expelled for his integrity and uprightness. Being\n very uneasy on account of the expulsion, I wrote Mr.\n Wesley respecting it.\u201d\n\n [343] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 132.\n\n [344] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 372.\n\n [345] _Christian Miscellany_, 1849, p. 57; and \u201cWesley\n Poetry,\u201d vol. viii., p. 415.\n\n [346] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 379.\n\n [347] Pawson\u2019s manuscript.\n\n [348] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 380.\n\n [349] Atmore\u2019s \u201cMethodist Memorial.\u201d\n\n [350] Manuscript.\n\n [351] \u201cLife and Times of Lady Huntingdon,\u201d vol. ii., p. 202.\n\n [352] Life of John Valton, p. 100.\n\n [353] _Methodist Magazine_, 1823, p. 737.\n\n [354] The assistant of the Limerick circuit.\n\n [355] _Methodist Magazine_, 1789, p. 387.\n\n\n\n\n 1780.\n Age 77\n\n\nThe year 1780 will always be marked in English history. The nation was\nsteeped in guilt and misery. War was raging on almost every side.\nTrade was paralysed; and taxes intolerable. Popery had been\nestablished in Canada; and, by the repealing of the statutes of the\n11th and 12th of King William III., had received great encouragement\nin England. The Protestant Association sprung into existence; and the\nGordon riots followed. The details of these events are full of\nprofound interest and instruction; but our limited space prevents\nenlargement. Suffice it to say, that, in this serious crisis, Wesley\ntook an active interest. He writes: \u201c1780. January 18--Receiving more\nand more accounts of the increase of popery, I believed it my duty to\nwrite a letter concerning it, which was afterwards inserted in the\npublic papers. Many were grievously offended; but I cannot help it; I\nmust follow my own conscience.\u201d\n\nThe following was Wesley\u2019s unanswerable, though obnoxious letter.\n\n \u201cA Letter to the Printer of the _Public Advertiser_, occasioned\n by the late Act, passed in favour of Popery.\n\n \u201cCITY ROAD, _January 21, 1780_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--Some time ago, a pamphlet was sent me, entitled \u2018An\n Appeal from the Protestant Association to the People of Great\n Britain.\u2019 A day or two since, a kind of answer to this was put\n into my hands, which pronounces \u2018its style contemptible, its\n reasoning futile, and its object malicious.\u2019 On the contrary, I\n think the style of it is clear, easy, and natural; the\n reasoning, in general, strong and conclusive; the object, or\n design, kind and benevolent. And in pursuance of the same kind\n and benevolent design, namely, to preserve our happy\n constitution, I shall endeavour to confirm the substance of\n that tract by a few plain arguments.\n\n \u201cWith persecution I have nothing to do. I persecute no man for\n his religious principles. Let there be as \u2018boundless a freedom\n in religion,\u2019 as any man can conceive. But this does not touch\n the point; I will set religion, true or false, utterly out of\n the question. Suppose the Bible, if you please, to be a fable,\n and the Koran to be the word of God. I consider not, whether\n the Romish religion be true or false; I build nothing on one or\n the other supposition. Therefore, away with all your\n commonplace declamation about intolerance and persecution in\n religion! Suppose every word of Pope Pius\u2019s creed to be true;\n suppose the council of Trent to have been infallible: yet, I\n insist upon it, that no government, not Roman Catholic, ought\n to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion.\n\n \u201cI prove this by a plain argument; let him answer it that can.\n That no Roman Catholic does or can give security for his\n allegiance or peaceable behaviour, I prove thus. It is a Roman\n Catholic maxim, established, not by private men, but by a\n public council, that \u2018no faith is to be kept with heretics.\u2019\n This has been openly avowed by the council of Constance; but it\n never was openly disclaimed. Whether private persons avow or\n disavow it, it is a fixed maxim of the Church of Rome. But as\n long as it is so, it is plain that the members of that church\n can give no reasonable security, to any government, of their\n allegiance or peaceable behaviour. Therefore, they ought not to\n be tolerated by any government, protestant, Mahommedan, or\n pagan.\n\n \u201cYou may say, \u2018Nay, but they will take an _oath_ of\n allegiance.\u2019 True, five hundred oaths; but the maxim, \u2018no faith\n is to be kept with heretics,\u2019 sweeps them all away as a\n spider\u2019s web. So that still, no governors that are not Roman\n Catholics can have any security of their allegiance.\n\n \u201cAgain, those who acknowledge the _spiritual power_ of the pope\n can give no security of their allegiance to any government; but\n all Roman Catholics acknowledge this; therefore, they can give\n no security for their allegiance.\n\n \u201cThe power of granting _pardons_ for all sins, past, present,\n and to come, is, and has been, for many centuries, one branch\n of his _spiritual power_.\n\n \u201cBut those who acknowledge him to have this spiritual power can\n give no security for their allegiance; since they believe the\n pope can pardon rebellions, high treasons, and all other sins\n whatsoever.\n\n \u201cThe power of _dispensing_ with any promise, oath, or vow, is\n another branch of the _spiritual power_ of the pope. And all\n who acknowledge his spiritual power must acknowledge this. But\n whoever acknowledges the _dispensing power_ of the pope can\n give no security for his allegiance to any government. Oaths\n and promises are none; they are light as air; a dispensation\n makes them all null and void.\n\n \u201cNay, not only the pope, but even a _priest_ has _power_ to\n pardon sins! This is an essential doctrine of the Church of\n Rome. But they that acknowledge this cannot possibly give any\n security for their allegiance to any government. Oaths are no\n security at all; for the priest can pardon both perjury and\n high treason.\n\n \u201cSetting then religion aside, it is plain that, upon principles\n of reason, no government ought to tolerate men, who cannot give\n any security to that government for their allegiance and\n peaceable behaviour. But this no Romanist can do, not only\n while he holds that \u2018no faith is to be kept with heretics,\u2019 but\n so long as he acknowledges either priestly absolution or the\n _spiritual power_ of the pope.\n\n \u201c\u2018But the late act,\u2019 you say, \u2018does not either _tolerate_ or\n _encourage_ Roman Catholics.\u2019 I appeal to matter of fact. Do\n not the Romanists themselves understand it as a toleration? You\n know they do. And does it not already (let alone what it _may_\n do by-and-by) _encourage_ them to preach openly, to build\n chapels (at Bath and elsewhere), to raise seminaries, and to\n make numerous converts day by day, to their intolerant,\n persecuting principles? I can point out, if need be, several of\n the persons. And they are increasing daily.\n\n \u201cBut \u2018nothing dangerous to English liberty is to be apprehended\n from them.\u2019 I am not certain of that. Some time since, a Romish\n priest came to one I knew; and, after talking with her largely,\n broke out, \u2018You are no heretic! You have the experience of a\n real Christian!\u2019 \u2018And would you,\u2019 she asked, \u2018burn me alive?\u2019\n He said, \u2018God forbid! unless it were for the good of the\n church!\u2019\n\n \u201cNow what security could she have had for her life, if it had\n depended on that man? The _good of the church_ would have burst\n all the ties of truth, justice, and mercy. Especially when\n seconded by the absolution of a priest, or, if need were, a\n papal pardon.\n\n \u201cIf any please to answer this, and to set his name, I shall\n probably reply; but the productions of anonymous writers I do\n not promise to take any notice of.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your humble servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s arguments are irrefutable; and terrible is England\u2019s danger,\nat the present day, because such arguments, instead of being answered,\nhave been dexterously, but disastrously, ignored by England\u2019s\nstatesmen. Wesley\u2019s letter will probably be treated, by many, as they\nwould treat an old almanack, out of date; but, on February 17, 1780,\nit evoked the unanimous thanks of the Protestant Association; and, in\nthe same month, was published in the pages of Wesley\u2019s bitterest\nantagonist,--the _Gospel Magazine_,--with an editorial note, that it\nhad \u201cbeen almost universally approved of,\u201d and that it was a\n\u201cproduction of real merit.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s letter was too damaging to the disloyalty and preposterous\nassumptions of popery, to pass unnoticed. His chief antagonist was the\nRev. Arthur O\u2019Leary, the son of peasant parents, and now a popish\npriest, in the fiftieth year of his age.\n\nO\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks on Wesley\u2019s letter made an octavo pamphlet of 101\npages. The friar tells the Methodist, that the temperature of\nIreland\u2019s climate and the quality of its soil had cleansed the veins\nof its papists \u201cfrom the _sour_ and _acid_ blood of the Scythians and\nSaxons.\u201d He writes:\n\n \u201cWe are tender hearted, we are good natured, we have feelings.\n We shed tears on the urns of the dead; deplore the loss of\n hecatombs of victims slaughtered on the gloomy altars of\n religious bigotry; cry in seeing the ruins of cities over which\n fanaticism has displayed the funeral torch; and sincerely pity\n the blind zeal of our Scotch and English neighbours, whose\n constant character is to pity none, for erecting the banners of\n persecution, at a time when the inquisition is abolished in\n Spain and Milan, and the protestant gentry are caressed at\n Rome, and live unmolested in the luxuriant plains of France and\n Italy. We are too wise to quarrel about religion. The Roman\n Catholics sing their psalms in Latin, with a few inflections of\n the voice. Our protestant neighbours sing the same psalms in\n English, on a larger scale of musical notes. We never quarrel\n with our honest and worthy neighbours, the quakers, for not\n singing at all; nor shall we ever quarrel with Mr. Wesley for\n _raising his voice to heaven_, and warbling forth his canticles\n on whatever tune he pleases. We like _social harmony_; and, in\n _civil_ music, hate _discordance_. Thus, when we go to the\n shambles, we never inquire into the butcher\u2019s religion, but\n into the quality of his meat. We care not whether the ox was\n fed in the pope\u2019s territories, or on the mountains of Scotland;\n provided the joint be good; for, though there be many\n _heresies_ in old books, we discover neither _heresy_ nor\n _superstition_ in beef and claret. We divide them cheerfully\n with one another; and, though of different religions, we sit\n over the bowl with as much cordiality as if we were at a\n _lovefeast_.\u201d\n\nO\u2019Leary\u2019s quaint jocularity and rounded periods are amusing; but they\nfurnish not the slightest answer to Wesley\u2019s allegations. On March 23,\nWesley replied to O\u2019Leary, in a letter addressed to the editors of the\n_Freeman\u2019s Journal_, and from which the following is extracted.\n\n \u201cMr. O\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks are no more an answer to my letter, than\n to the Bull _Unigenitus_. His manner of writing is easy and\n pleasant; but might it not as well be more serious? The subject\n we are treating of is not a light one; it moves me to tears,\n rather than to laughter. I plead for the safety of my country;\n yea, for the children that are yet unborn. I would not have the\n Roman Catholics persecuted at all. I would only have them\n hindered from doing hurt: I would not put it in their power to\n cut the throats of their quiet neighbours.\u201d[356]\n\nO\u2019Leary published a \u201cRejoinder to Mr. Wesley\u2019s Reply,\u201d in which he was\nless jocular, but not more logical. Of Wesley\u2019s three reasons why it\nis not safe to tolerate papists, two were left untouched, and one was\nplayed with and evaded. Such a controversialist scarcely deserved an\nanswer; and, yet, Wesley supplemented his second letter by a third,\ndated Chester, March 31, 1780. After recapitulating his three reasons,\nWesley writes:\n\n \u201cNine parts in ten of Mr. O\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks are quite wide of\n the mark. Not that they are wide of _his_ mark, which is to\n introduce a plausible panegyric upon the Roman Catholics, mixed\n with keen invectives against the protestants, whether true or\n false it matters not. All this is admirably well calculated to\n inspire the reader with aversion to these heretics, and to\n bring them back to the holy, harmless, much injured Church of\n Rome! Close arguing he does not attempt; but he vapours, and\n skips to and fro, and rambles to all points of the compass, in\n a very lively and entertaining manner.\u201d\n\nWesley thus concludes his long letter:\n\n \u201cWhat security for my life can any man give me, till he utterly\n renounces the council of Constance? What security can any\n Romanist give a protestant, till this doctrine is publicly\n abjured? If Mr. O\u2019Leary has anything more to plead for this\n council, I shall follow him step by step. But let him keep his\n word, and \u2018give a serious answer to a serious charge.\u2019\n \u2018Drollery may come in when we are talking of roasting fowls\u2019;\n but not when we talk of \u2018roasting men.\u2019\n\n \u201cWould I then wish the Roman Catholics to be persecuted? I\n never said or hinted any such thing. I abhor the thought: it is\n foreign to all I have preached and wrote for these fifty years.\n But I would wish the Romanists in _England_ (I had no others in\n view) to be treated still with the same lenity that they have\n been these sixty years; to be allowed both civil and religious\n liberty, but not permitted to undermine ours. I wish them to\n stand just as they did before the late act was passed: not to\n be persecuted or hurt themselves; but gently restrained from\n hurting their neighbours.\n\n \u201cI am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[357]\n\nHere the controversy ended.[358] O\u2019Leary was baffled; and, to this\nday, the arguments in Wesley\u2019s letter of January 21, 1780, remain\nunanswered. Seven years afterwards; when at Cork, Wesley wrote: \u201cA\ngentleman invited me to breakfast, with my old antagonist, Father\nO\u2019Leary. I was not at all displeased at being disappointed. He is not\nthe stiff, queer man that I expected; but of an easy, genteel\ncarriage, and seems not to be wanting either in sense or learning.\u201d\n\nIt was during this controversy, and while Wesley was in the north of\nIreland, that the fearful riots occurred, which are so unfortunately\nassociated with the name of Lord George Gordon, and which were the\ncause of that nobleman\u2019s incarceration (rightly or wrongly) in the\nTower of London. Here Wesley, after repeated invitations, visited him,\nand writes: \u201c1780, December 19--I spent an hour with Lord George\nGordon, at his apartment in the Tower. Our conversation turned upon\npopery and religion. He seemed to be well acquainted with the Bible;\nand had abundance of other books, enough to furnish a study. I was\nagreeably surprised to find he did not complain of any person or\nthing; and cannot but hope his confinement will take a right turn, and\nprove a lasting blessing to him.\u201d\n\nWe return to more congenial matters. Wesley spent the first two months\nof 1780 in London and its vicinity. On February 28, he started on his\njourney to the north. Among other places, he now, for the first time,\npreached at Delph. He writes: \u201cApril 7--I went to Delph, a little\nvillage upon the mountains, where a remarkable work of God is just\nbroke out. I was just set down, when the minister sent me word, I was\nwelcome to preach in his church. On hearing this, many people walked\nthither immediately, near a mile from the town; but, in ten minutes,\nhe sent me word his mind was changed. We knew not then what to do,\ntill the trustees of the independent meeting offered us the use of\ntheir house. It was quickly filled, and truly God bore witness to His\nword.\u201d\n\nThe minister of the parish church was the Rev. Mr. Heginbotham, who\nhad engaged Mr. Stones as his curate. Mr. Stones was a sportsman, fond\nof his dog and gun. On one occasion, a rough Yorkshireman told him, it\nwould be better if he minded his study more and his gun less. The\ncurate took the hint; his dogs and his guns were given up; he became a\nthorough Christian; his ministry was greatly blessed; an extensive\nreligious awakening followed; meetings for prayer were convened in\nprivate houses; and not a few were scripturally converted. Opposition\nsoon ensued, on the ground that the poor, by spending so much time in\nprayer, would neglect their work, and become chargeable to the parish.\nThe curate was dismissed; the young converts applied to Joseph Benson,\nthen at Manchester, for help; Methodist preaching was commenced; a\nroom in Millgate hired; and a flourishing society was formed.[359] The\ncase was named to Wesley; and, a fortnight before his visit, he signed\nthe following legal looking document, which to a Methodist antiquarian\nwill be welcome.\n\n \u201c_Whereas_ for about twelve months last past, the people called\n Methodists have preached in a room at Delph, in Saddleworth, in\n the county of York,--the travelling preachers coming there\n regularly every fortnight from Manchester, besides local\n preachers occasionally on Sundays. And _Whereas_ the last\n summer such crowds attended, that the room could not contain\n them, the society also increasing very fast, and a great\n likelihood of much good being done in the place,--It is,\n therefore, thought necessary that a preaching house be erected\n at Delph aforesaid, twelve yards long and eight wide. The\n expense of such a building, according to the plan laid down,\n will be vastly more than the society will be able to raise\n amongst themselves. They have, therefore, requested our consent\n to go amongst our societies, to ask the charitable\n contributions of such of our friends as would willingly\n encourage such an undertaking. This is, therefore, to certify\n that we approve of the measure, and recommend the same to our\n Christian friends everywhere, hoping they will readily and\n cheerfully contribute to the same.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.[360]\n \u201cMANCHESTER, _March 25, 1780_.\u201d\n\nThis formalised certificate smacks of the office of Joseph Mellor, the\nMethodist attorney of the town of Delph; and Wesley must have been\nhard pressed for time when, instead of writing a statement of the case\nhimself, he put his hand to such legal magniloquence. Suffice it to\nadd, the chapel was built, with not more than \u00a3100 of debt resting\nupon the premises.[361]\n\nIt was during this northern tour, that Wesley, for the first time, was\ndenied the use of the church at Haworth. He writes: \u201cSunday, April\n23--Mr. Richardson being unwilling that I should preach any more in\nHaworth church, Providence opened another; I preached in Bingley\nchurch, both morning and afternoon. This is considerably larger than\nthe other.\u201d\n\nIt was either on this, or some future occasion, when Wesley was\npreaching in Bingley church, that a rich man in the congregation, who\nseemed to think that his wealth was a licence to practise bad manners,\nsneered at the preacher and at his sentiments. Wesley paused, and\nfixing his keen eye on the Dives sitting in the seat of the scornful,\nsaid: \u201cI heed your sneers no more than I heed the fluttering of a\nbutterfly; but I know what good breeding is as well as any gentleman\nin the land.\u201d\n\nIt was now that Wesley preached his first sermon in Blackburn. He\nwrites: \u201cApril 27--I preached in Todmorden church with great\nenlargement of heart. In the afternoon we went on to Blackburn. It\nseemed the whole town was moved; and the question was where to put the\ncongregation. We could not stand abroad because of the sun; so as many\nas could squeezed into the preaching house. All the chief men of the\ntown were there.\u201d Mr. Banning was Wesley\u2019s host at Blackburn; and, on\none occasion, took his venerable guest to see a neighbouring chapel\nwhich was in the course of being built. \u201cMr. Banning,\u201d said Wesley, \u201cI\nhave a favour to ask. Let there be no pews in the body of this chapel,\nexcept one for the leading singers. Be sure to make accommodation for\nthe poor. _They_ are God\u2019s building _materials_ in the erecting of His\nchurch. The rich make good _scaffolding_, but bad _materials_.\u201d[362]\nWeighty words! One of Methodism\u2019s evil omens, at the present day, is a\ndisregard of the advice which Wesley gave, namely, that, in building\nchapels, the Methodists should never fail to provide ample\naccommodation for the poor.\n\nIt was a sign of Wesley\u2019s growing popularity, that, though, forty\nyears before, he had been indignantly expelled from the pulpits of the\nEstablished Church, he was now invited, in all parts of the country,\nby rectors, vicars, curates, and others, to favour them with his\nservices. At Pateley Bridge, in 1752, Thomas Lee, the old itinerant,\nand his Methodist companions, were subjected to treatment the most\nbarbarous; and, on applying to the Dean of Ripon for protection, were\nmet with a churchman\u2019s scorn rather than a magistrate\u2019s just dealing.\nNow it was otherwise. Wesley writes: \u201c1780, May 1--At Pateley Bridge,\nthe vicar offered me the use of his church. Though it was more than\ntwice as large as our preaching house, it was not near large enough to\ncontain the congregation. How vast is the increase of the work of God!\nparticularly in the most rugged and uncultivated places. How does He\n\u2018send the springs\u2019 of grace also \u2018into the valleys, that run among the\nhills!\u2019\u201d\n\nLeaving Pateley, Wesley, for the first time, visited Ripon. He writes:\n\u201cMay 2--We came to Ripon, and observed a remarkable turn of\nprovidence: the great hindrance of the work of God in this place has\nsuddenly disappeared; and the poor people, being delivered from their\nfear, gladly flock together, and hear His word. The new preaching\nhouse was quickly more than filled.\u201d\n\nFour years previous to this, Thomas Dixon was one of the Ripon\npreachers, and, in his unpublished autobiography, wrote: \u201cUpon our\ngoing to Ripon, we preached in a small room up a flight of stairs, and\neven this we were to leave at Martinmas. But, just at this time, Mr.\nT. Dowson, who had suffered much for the gospel\u2019s sake, bought the\npremises where an old barn and stable stood. He immediately pulled\ndown the barn, and built a decent chapel and a dwelling house upon the\nsite, and, with such expedition, that we were able to get into the\nshell of the new chapel by the time we had to leave the upstairs room.\nBy this means, God gave the poor persecuted Methodists, in Ripon, a\ndegree of rest they had never known before, and the work, from that\ntime, gradually grew.\u201d\n\nOn leaving Ripon, Wesley proceeded \u201cthrough a delightful country to\nthe immense ruins of Garvaix Abbey,\u201d and thence across the \u201chorrid,\ndreary, enormous mountains\u201d to Penrith, another place where he now,\nfor the first time, preached. He writes: \u201cMay 5--In the evening, a\nlarge room, designed for an assembly, was procured for me at Penrith;\nbut several of the poor people were struck with panic, for fear the\nroom should fall. Finding there was no remedy, I went down into the\ncourt below, and preached in great peace to a multitude of well\nbehaved people.\u201d\n\nOn May 11, Wesley reached Newcastle, and thence proceeded to Scotland.\nOn his return southwards, we find him preaching at Durham, Darlington,\nNorthallerton, Boroughbridge, and York. Making his way through\nLincolnshire, he came to Newark, where, twenty years before, the mob\nhad burnt the Methodist pulpit in the market place; and had not only\npelted the preacher, Thomas Lee, with all sorts of missiles, and\ndragged him to the river Trent, where they ducked and dabbled him\nwithout mercy, but, to complete the whole, a painter came with his pot\nand brush, and bedaubed him most ludicrously. Wesley writes: \u201c1780,\nJune 12--Our friends at Newark were divided as to the place where I\nshould preach. At length, they found a convenient place, covered on\nthree sides, and on the fourth open to the street. It contained two or\nthree thousand people well, who appeared to hear as for life. Only one\nbig man, exceeding drunk, was very noisy and turbulent, till his wife\n(_fortissima Tyndaridarum!_) seized him by the collar, gave him two or\nthree hearty boxes on the ear, and dragged him away like a calf. But,\nat length, he got out of her hands, crept in among the people, and\nstood as quiet as a lamb.\u201d\n\nOn June 13, Wesley wrote: \u201cI accepted of an invitation from a\ngentleman at Lincoln, in which I had not set my foot for upwards of\nfifty years. At six in the evening, I preached in the castle yard to a\nlarge and attentive congregation. They were all as quiet as if I had\nbeen at Bristol. Will God have a people here also?\u201d For seven years\nafter this, there was not a Methodist in Lincoln.\n\nAfter an interval of many years, Wesley preached again at Boston,\nwhere, in 1757, Alexander Mather, the first Methodist preacher there,\nhad his face plastered with mire taken from the kennels of the\nstreets, and his head laid open with a stone.\n\nWesley spent his birthday in Sheffield, and wrote: \u201cJune 28--I can\nhardly think I am entered this day into the seventy-eighth year of my\nage. By the blessing of God, I am just the same as when I entered the\ntwenty-eighth. This hath God wrought, chiefly by my constant exercise,\nmy rising early, and preaching morning and evening.\u201d\n\nThe next day, he preached his first and last sermon at Worksop. He\nsays: \u201cI was desired to preach at Worksop; but when I came, they had\nnot fixed on any place. At length, they chose a lamentable one, full\nof dirt and dust, but without the least shelter from the scorching\nsun. This few could bear; so we had only a small company of as stupid\npeople as I ever saw.\u201d\n\nAfter this, Wesley made his way to London, where he spent a week; and,\nthen, he and his brother set out for Bristol, for the purpose of\nholding his annual conference. He writes: \u201cAugust 1--Our conference\nbegan. We have been always, hitherto, straitened for time. It was now\nresolved, \u2018For the future, we will allow nine or ten days for each\nconference; that everything, relative to the carrying on of the work\nof God, may be maturely considered.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe conference, in this instance, lasted from August 1 to August 9,\ninclusive. Its main business was a revision of the minutes of\nconferences already held. Several alterations were made, some of the\nchief being the following. It was no longer to be a rule, that\nMethodists were to endeavour to preach most where Wesley and his\nbrother clergymen were allowed to preach in parish churches.\nClassmeetings were to be made more lively and profitable, by removing\nimproper leaders; and care was to be taken, that those appointed were\nnot only men of sound judgment, but truly pious. If a preacher could\nsecure twenty hearers at five o\u2019clock in the morning, he was to\npreach; if not so many, he was to sing and pray. \u201cObserve,\u201d says\nWesley to his preachers, \u201cit is not your business to preach so many\ntimes, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many\nsouls as you can, to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to\nrepentance, and, with all your power, to build them up in that\nholiness without which they cannot see the Lord. And remember! a\nMethodist preacher is to mind every point, great and small, in the\nMethodist discipline! Therefore, you will need all the sense you have,\nand to have all your wits about you.\u201d It was agreed, that the neglect\nof fasting was sufficient to account for their feebleness and\nfaintness of spirit. They were continually grieving the Holy Spirit of\nGod, by the habitual neglect of a plain duty. \u201cLet you and I,\u201d says\nWesley, \u201cevery Friday (beginning on the next), avow this duty\nthroughout the nation, by touching no tea, coffee, or chocolate, in\nthe morning, but, (if we want it,) half-a-pint of milk or water gruel.\nLet us dine on potatoes, and, (if we need it,) eat three or four\nounces of flesh in the evening. At other times, let us eat no flesh\nsuppers. These exceedingly tend to breed nervous disorders.\u201d The rule\nwas rescinded, that no preacher ought to print anything without\nWesley\u2019s approbation. The preachers were to join as one man in putting\nan end to the indecency of the people talking in the preaching houses,\nbefore and after service. Complaints having been made, that sluts had\nspoiled preachers\u2019 houses, Wesley writes: \u201cLet none, that has spoiled\none, ever live in another. But what a shame is this! A preacher\u2019s wife\nshould be a pattern of cleanliness, in her person, clothes, and\nhabitation. Let nothing slatternly be seen about her; no rags, no\ndirt, no litter. And she should be a pattern of industry; always at\nwork, either for herself, her husband, or the poor. I am not willing\nthat any should live in the Orphan House at Newcastle, or any\npreaching house, who does not conform to this rule.\u201d Complaints were\nalso made, that people crowded into the preachers\u2019 houses as into\ncoffee shops, without invitation; and it was ruled, that no person\nshould, in future, come into a preacher\u2019s house, unless he wanted to\nask a question.\n\nSome of these may appear to be minute matters; but they are not\nwithout interest as indicative of the defects of Methodists in the\ndays of Wesley.\n\nThere is reason to believe, though the fact is not recorded in the\nminutes, that the Church question was again discussed at the\nconference of 1780. Hence the following letter, written to Miss\nBosanquet.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _August 5, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--I snatch time from the conference to write\n two or three lines. I am glad you have begun a prayer-meeting\n at Hunslet, and doubt not it will be productive of much good.\n Hitherto, we have had a blessed conference. The case of the\n Church we shall fully consider by-and-by; and, I believe, we\n shall agree that none who leave the Church shall remain with\n us.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear sister, yours most affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[363]\n\nCharles Wesley was present, and was far from satisfied. He purposed to\nattend no more of these annual synods, and wrote as follows:\n\n \u201cWhy should I longer, Lord, contend,\n My last important moments spend\n In buffeting the air?\n In warning those who will not see,\n But rest in blind security,\n And rush into the snare?\n\n Prophet of ills, why should I live,\n Or, by my sad forebodings, grieve\n Whom I can serve no more?\n I only can their loss bewail,\n Till life\u2019s exhausted sorrows fail,\n And the last pang is o\u2019er.\u201d[364]\n\nPoor Charles, alarmed lest the Methodists should leave the Church,\nretired from the conference to weep and die; John to rejoice and work.\n\nConference statistics have not been given annually; but the following\nfigures will show the progress made during the decade of years ending\nat the conference of 1780.\n\n +----------+-----------+------------+----------+-------------+\n | | Circuits. | Itinerant | Members. | Kingswood |\n | | | Preachers. | | Collection. |\n | +-----------+------------+----------+-------------+\n | 1770 | 50 | 123 | 29,406 | \u00a3218 4 5 |\n | 1780 | 64 | 171 | 43,830 | \u00a3402 1 9 |\n | +-----------+------------+----------+-------------+\n | Increase | 14 | 48 | 14,424 | \u00a3183 17 4 |\n +----------+-----------+------------+----------+-------------+\n\nTo these numbers, however, must be added the Methodists in the West\nIndies, and also 20 circuits, 42 itinerant preachers, and 8504 members\nof society in America.[365]\n\nThe American conference met at Baltimore on April 24, and agreed to\ncontinue in close communion with the Church, and to permit \u201cthe\nfriendly clergy\u201d to preach and administer the sacraments in Methodist\nchapels. Hitherto, neither Asbury, nor any other of the preachers in\nAmerica, had administered these Christian ordinances to the Methodist\npeople; and, as the number of members was now rapidly increasing, this\nwas becoming a momentous question. The want in England had been met,\nto some extent, by Wesley and his brother and their clerical\nassistants; but, in America, the Methodists had no ordained clergyman\nto render service like this. Besides, there the Methodists were very\ndifferently situated from what Methodists were in England. In this\ncountry, wherever there was a Methodist society there was a parish\nchurch, at which, if they chose, Methodists might attend on\nsacramental occasions. In America it was otherwise. Clergymen were\nfew; and parish churches far distant from each other; and, in many\ninstances, where Methodist societies had been formed, no church\nexisted. The case was becoming serious. Were these thousands of\nAmerican Methodists to be left without sacraments? Or were unordained\nMethodist preachers to administer sacraments? Or was an effort to be\nmade, to send a clergyman of the Church of England to supply this lack\nof sacred service? Or was Wesley himself to assume episcopal\nfunctions, and, by ordination, turn his preachers into priests? These\nwere serious difficulties to be surmounted. To deprive eight thousand\nconverted people of the most sacred ordinances of the church, would\nhave been a sin against the church\u2019s Head. To allow unordained\npreachers to administer baptism and the Lord\u2019s supper was a thing for\nwhich Wesley himself was not prepared; though who can question, that a\nman like Francis Asbury, whom God had so signally honoured, had as\nmuch right to do this as the most renowned priest or prelate in\nexistence? An alternative remained, namely, either to send the\nAmerican Methodists an ordained clergyman of the Church of England; or\nthat Wesley should take upon himself the office of ordainer, and thus\nqualify his own itinerants for what was conceived to be a higher\nfunction than that of preaching the infinitely great and everlasting\ntruths of Christ\u2019s glorious gospel.\n\nWas Wesley prepared for such a step as this? Fortunately, this is a\npoint on which we are not left to speculate. In a letter to his\nbrother, dated June 8, 1780, he writes: \u201cRead Bishop Stillingfleet\u2019s\n\u2018Irenicon,\u2019 or any impartial history of the ancient church, and I\nbelieve you will think as I do. I verily believe, I have as good a\nright to ordain, as to administer the Lord\u2019s supper. But I see\nabundance of reasons why I should not use that right, unless I was\nturned out of the Church. At present, we are just in our place.\u201d[366]\n\nAs yet, Wesley, for \u201cabundance of reasons,\u201d hesitated to ordain his\npreachers; and, hence, the only remaining expedient was to endeavour\nto secure an ordained clergyman of the Church of England; and this he\nattempted. The following letter was addressed to Dr. Lowth, bishop of\nLondon, two months after the date of his letter to his brother\nCharles. The reader will perceive, that it was written the day after\nthe close of the Bristol conference. It ought to be premised that,\nprevious to this, Wesley had applied to the bishop for a clerical\nhelper, and had met with a refusal.\n\n \u201c_August 10, 1780._\n\n \u201cMY LORD,--Some time since, I received your lordship\u2019s favour,\n for which I return your lordship my sincere thanks. These\n persons did not apply to the Society,\u201d [for Propagating\n Christian Knowledge in Foreign Parts,] \u201cbecause they had\n nothing to ask of them. They wanted no salary for their\n minister: they were themselves able and willing to maintain\n him. They, therefore, applied, by me, to your lordship, as\n members of the Church of England, and desirous so to continue,\n begging the favour of your lordship, after your lordship had\n examined him, to ordain a pious man who might officiate as\n their minister.\n\n \u201cBut your lordship observes, \u2018There are three ministers in that\n country already.\u2019 True, my lord: but what are three, to watch\n over all the souls in that extensive country? Will your\n lordship permit me to speak freely? I dare not do otherwise. I\n am on the verge of the grave, and know not the hour when I\n shall drop into it. Suppose there were threescore of those\n missionaries in the country, could I in conscience recommend\n these souls to their care? Do they take any care of their own\n souls? If they do, (I speak it with concern,) I fear they are\n almost the only missionaries in America that do. My lord, I do\n not speak rashly: I have been in America; and so have several\n with whom I have lately conversed. And both I and they know,\n what manner of men the greater part of these are. They are men\n who have neither the power of religion, nor the form; men that\n lay no claim to piety, nor even decency.\n\n \u201cGive me leave, my lord, to speak more freely still: perhaps it\n is the last time I shall trouble your lordship. I know your\n lordship\u2019s abilities and extensive learning: I believe, what is\n far more, that your lordship fears God. I have heard, that your\n lordship is unfashionably diligent in examining the candidates\n for holy orders; yea, that your lordship is generally at the\n pains of examining them _yourself_. Examining them! in what\n respects? Why whether they understand a little _Latin_ and\n _Greek_; and can answer a few trite questions in the science of\n divinity! Alas, how little does this avail! Does your lordship\n examine, whether they serve _Christ_ or _Belial_? Whether they\n love God or the world? Whether they ever had any serious\n thoughts about heaven or hell? Whether they have any real\n desire to save their own souls, or the souls of others? If not,\n what have they to do with holy orders? and what will become of\n the souls committed to their care?\n\n \u201cMy lord, I do by no means despise learning: I know the value\n of it too well. But what is this, particularly in a Christian\n minister, compared to piety? What is it in a man that has no\n religion? \u2018As a jewel in a swine\u2019s snout.\u2019\n\n \u201cSome time since, I recommended to your lordship a plain man,\n whom I had known above twenty years, as a person of deep,\n genuine piety, and of unblamable conversation. But he neither\n understood Greek nor Latin; and he affirmed, in so many words,\n that \u2018he believed it was his duty to preach, whether he was\n ordained or no.\u2019 I believe so too. What became of him since, I\n know not. But I suppose he received _presbyterian_ ordination;\n and I cannot blame him if he did. He might think any ordination\n better than none.\n\n \u201cI do not know, that Mr. Hoskins had any favour to ask of the\n Society. He asked the favour of your lordship to ordain him,\n that he might minister to a little flock in America. But your\n lordship did not see good to ordain _him_: but your lordship\n did see good to ordain, and send to America, other persons, who\n knew something of Greek and Latin; but knew no more of saving\n souls, than of catching whales.\n\n \u201cIn this respect, also, I mourn for poor America; for the sheep\n scattered up and down therein. Part of them have no shepherds\n at all, particularly in the northern colonies; and the case of\n the rest is little better, for their own shepherds pity them\n not. They cannot, for they have no pity on themselves, they\n take no thought or care about their own souls.\n\n \u201cWishing your lordship every blessing from the great Shepherd\n and Bishop of our souls, I remain, my lord, your lordship\u2019s\n dutiful son and servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[367]\n\nDid his lordship ever receive, from any other \u201cdutiful son and\nservant,\u201d a letter like this? We doubt it. Wesley was foiled in his\nattempt to obtain _episcopal_ ordination for an American Methodist\npreacher: no wonder, that, soon after, he administered ordination\nhimself.\n\nBefore proceeding with Wesley\u2019s history, the insertion of a selection\nof his letters, belonging to this period, may be acceptable.\n\nIt is a terrible thing to write a dangerous book. When Joseph Benson\nwas a young man, he read Dr. Watts\u2019s \u201cGlory of Christ as God-man,\u201d and\nbecame a convert to his doctrine of the pre-existence of our Lord\u2019s\n_human soul_. Speaking his mind too freely upon this unscriptural\ndogma, Benson was suspected to be an Arian, and was represented as\nsuch, by Dr. Coke, all over the kingdom.[368] At the conference of\n1780, Coke accused him of holding the Arian heresy; the matter was\nsifted; Benson was acquitted; and Coke offered to ask his pardon.\nStill, Benson, for years afterwards, held Dr. Watts\u2019s dangerous\nspeculation; and it was not until he undertook the revision of\nFletcher\u2019s manuscripts, that he laid aside the expression,\n\u201c_pre-existent soul of Christ_;\u201d \u201can expression,\u201d says he, \u201cwhich\nneither reason, nor Scripture, nor antiquity, will warrant our\nusing.\u201d[369]\n\nDr. Watts\u2019s pernicious book, and also the Gordon riots, (at this time\nraging,) are referred to in the following extract from a letter to\nCharles Wesley.\n\n \u201c_June 8, 1780._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I would not read over Dr. Watts\u2019s tract for a\n hundred pounds. You may read it, and welcome. I will not, dare\n not, move those subtle, metaphysical controversies. Arianism is\n not in question; it is Eutychianism or Nestorianism. But what\n are they? What neither I nor any one else understands. But they\n are what tore the eastern and western churches asunder.\n\n \u201cIt is well I accepted none of Lord George\u2019s invitations. If\n the government suffers this tamely, I know not what they will\n not suffer.\n\n \u201cMr. Collins is not under my direction; nor am I at all\n accountable for any steps he takes. He is not in connection\n with the Methodists. He only helps us now and then. I will\n suffer no disputing at the conference.\n\n \u201cUndoubtedly many of the patriots seriously intend to overturn\n the government; but the hook is in their nose.\n\n \u201cPeace be with you all!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[370]\n\nThe Mr. Collins, mentioned in the above extract, was Brian Bury\nCollins, of the university of Cambridge, who, without ever receiving a\nregular appointment, continued to assist Wesley, in various parts of\nthe kingdom, until Wesley\u2019s death in 1791. A number of his manuscript\nletters, all written in 1779 and 1780, now lie before us, from which\nwe learn, that he regarded himself as having \u201can unlimited preaching\ncommission\u201d; and that one of his great objects was to unite Wesley\u2019s\nand Whitefield\u2019s followers. \u201cI could freely die,\u201d says he, \u201cto see the\nTabernacles and Foundery reconciled.\u201d He began the year 1779 in the\nnorth of England, where he sometimes preached five or six times a day.\nHe then removed to London, Bristol, and the west, where his health\nfailed. In May, 1780, he was among his relatives at Linwood, and\nwrote: \u201cI am not yet recovered from my late illness, though I am much\nbetter than I have been. My relations here receive me with more\ncordiality than I expected. I find the Divine presence in the churches\nwhere I preach; but what the Lord designs to do with me I cannot tell.\nLately, I have thought of spending a few weeks at Cambridge. I have\nalso had fresh desires of being in full orders.\u201d In pursuance of this,\nMr. Collins went to St. John\u2019s college, Cambridge, where, in July\n1780, he took his master of arts degree. By advice of the two Wesleys,\nhe sought ordination; and the dowager Lady Townsend gave him a\nrecommendatory letter to the Bishop of Chester, requesting that the\nrite might be administered in private; but the bishop, having heard of\nhis irregular preaching, hesitated until he had time to confer with\nhis brother bishops. Ordination was ultimately obtained; Collins\nmarried, and, for a time, was assistant to David Simpson, at\nMacclesfield; after this, he again became a rover, and preached in\nWesley\u2019s and Lady Huntingdon\u2019s chapels, and wherever else he had a\nchance. He writes: \u201cI wish to do good unto all. I do not love one and\ndislike another. I can unite with all who are united to Jesus. I care\nnot for names in the least.\u201d[371]\n\nThese glimpses of a man whom Wesley, to the end of life, repeatedly\nmentions in his journals, will not be unwelcome. Of his subsequent\ncareer we know nothing; except that its close was not as bright as its\nbeginning. A son of his lies interred in the burial ground of the new\nchapel in City Road.[372]\n\nOne of the legislative acts of the conference of 1780 was to enforce\nthe old rule, that, in Methodist meeting-houses, the men and women\nshould sit apart. In galleries, where they had always sat together,\nthey might do so still; but in all new erected galleries, and in the\nseats below, the old rule was to be rigidly observed. \u201cIf,\u201d said\nWesley, \u201cI come into any new house, and see the men and women\ntogether, I will immediately go out. I hereby give public notice of\nthis. Pray let it be observed.\u201d[373]\n\nThis sounds strangely at the present day; but, for some reason, it was\nwith Wesley a matter of importance. Hence also the following\nunpublished letter to the leaders at Sheffield.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _September 4, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--Let the persons, who purpose to subvert the\n Methodist plan, by mixing men and women together in your\n chapel, consider the consequence of so doing. First, I will\n never set foot in it more. Secondly, I will forbid any\n collection to be made for it in any of our societies.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear brethren, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nTwo more letters, now for the first time given to the public, will be\nwelcome. They were addressed to Samuel Bradburn, who had been three\nyears in Ireland, and was now to remove to Keighley.\n\n \u201cNEAR BRISTOL, _September 16, 1780_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I wanted to have Betsy\u201d [Mrs. Bradburn] \u201ca little\n nearer me. And I wanted her to be acquainted with her twin\n soul, Miss Ritchie, the fellow to whom I scarce know in\n England. But I do not like your crossing the sea till your\n children are a little stronger. If there was stormy weather, it\n might endanger their lives. Therefore, it is better you should\n stay in Ireland a little longer. Athlone circuit will suit you\n well; and John Bredin may be at Keighley in _your place_.\n\n \u201cNow read over the minutes concerning the office of an\n assistant, and exert yourself as to every branch of it. I fear\n the late assistant neglected many articles; dispersing the\n books in particular.\n\n \u201cMy love to Betsy. Let her love Molly Pennington for my sake.\n\n \u201cI am, etc., J. WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 28, 1780_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I am glad you are safe landed at Keighley. You\n will find there\n\n \u2018... a port of ease\n From the rough rage of stormy seas.\u2019\n\n \u201cThere are many amiable and gracious souls in Cork; but there\n are few in the whole kingdom of Ireland to be named, (either\n for depth of sense or grace,) with many, very many persons in\n Yorkshire, particularly the west riding. Go to Betsy Ritchie,\n at Otley, and then point me out such a young woman as she in\n Ireland.\n\n \u201cI think lemonade would cure any child of the flux.\n\n \u201cNow be exact in every branch of discipline; and you will soon\n find what a people you are among.\n\n \u201cI am, with tender love to Betsy, dear Sammy, your affectionate\n friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe following letter, kindly supplied by the Rev. Thomas W. Smith, and\nnow for the first time published, was addressed \u201cTo Mr. Valton, at the\npreaching house, in Manchester.\u201d Oldham Street chapel was now in\ncourse of erection, and was opened by Wesley seven months afterwards.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _October 1, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I expected the state of Manchester circuit\n to be just such as you have found it. But the power of the Lord\n is able to heal them. I fear S. Mayers was left unemployed,\n because she loved perfection. If you find a few more of the\n same spirit, I believe you will find them employment. The\n accommodations everywhere will mend, if the preachers lovingly\n exert themselves. I am glad you take some pains for the new\n chapel. Our brother Brocklehurst will do anything that is\n reasonable.\n\n \u201cIn one thing only, you and I do not agree; but, perhaps, we\n shall when we have prayed over it: I mean, the giving me an\n extract of your life. I cannot see the weight of your reasons\n against it. \u2018Some are superficial.\u2019 What then? All are not;\n brother Mather\u2019s and Haime\u2019s in particular. Add one to these; a\n more weighty one, if you can. You know what to omit, and what\n to insert. I really think you owe it (in spite of shame and\n natural timidity) to God and me and your brethren. Pray for\n light in this matter.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next, though short, is not devoid of interest. For the first time,\nit was published in the _Watchman_ newspaper, as recently as October\n12, 1870; and was written on the same day as the foregoing one.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _October 1, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Joseph Bradford has been at the gate of\n death; but is now so far recovered, that he thinks to set out\n to-morrow morning, with me and his wife, for London.\n\n \u201cMr. Brackenbury likewise seems to be better, with regard to\n his bodily health; but he is married! And I shall not be much\n disappointed if he soon takes leave of the Methodists.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe following, which has not before been published, is kindly\nfurnished by Charles Reed, Esq., M.P.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 3, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Disorderly walkers are better excluded than\n retained; and I am well satisfied you will exclude no others. I\n am glad you have made a beginning at Trowbridge. If it be\n possible, say not one offensive word. But you must declare the\n plain, genuine gospel; and, sooner or later, God will give you\n His blessing.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nAnother, equally characteristic, was sent to Zechariah Yewdall,\nstationed in \u201cGlamorganshire\u201d circuit, which extended (from Llanelly\nin Wales to Calvert in Gloucestershire) above a hundred miles, and was\ntraversed regularly every month. Mr. Yewdall was now in the second\nyear of his itinerancy, and, at Monmouth, had met with brutal\ntreatment.[374] The letter also refers to the principle involved in\nMr. M\u2018Nab\u2019s affair.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 3, 1780_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You mistake one thing. It is I, not the\n conference, (according to the twelfth rule,) that station the\n preachers; but I do it at the time of the conference, that I\n may have the advice of my brethren. But I have no thought of\n removing you from the Glamorganshire circuit; you are just in\n your right place. But you say, \u2018Many of the people are asleep.\u2019\n They are; and you are sent to awaken them out of sleep. \u2018But\n they are dead.\u2019 True; and you are sent to raise the dead. Good\n will be done at Monmouth[375] and Neath in particular. Where no\n good can be done, I would leave the old, and try new places.\n But you have need to be all alive yourselves, if you would\n impart life to others. And this cannot be without much self\n denial.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Zachary, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[376]\n\nAfter the conference at Bristol was concluded, Wesley set out for\nCornwall. Some time before this, Sir Harry Trelawney, a student of\nChrist Church, Oxford, had become a zealous revivalist, and had begun\nto preach at West Looe, where, in 1777, he became the pastor of a\ncongregation of his own raising, and which worshipped in a\nmeetinghouse fitted up at his own expense. The novelty of the\nproceeding, and the rank of the preacher, created great excitement.\nSir Harry, the descendant of one of the seven bishops who were\ncommitted to the Tower in the reign of James II., was made the hero of\na witty book, written by a clergyman of the Church of England, and\nentitled, \u201cThe Spiritual Quixote; or the History of Geoffry Wildgoose,\nEsq.\u201d 3 vols., 12mo: 1773. The preaching baronet vindicated his\nnonconformity in \u201cA Letter addressed to the Rev. Thomas Alcock, Vicar\nof Runcorn.\u201d For a time, the Rev. John Clayton was his assistant, but,\nin 1778, removed to the Weigh House congregation, in London. Soon\nafter, Sir Harry returned to Oxford; procured ordination in the\nnational establishment; was made a country rector in the west of\nEngland; whilst his chapel at West Looe was ignominiously changed into\na house for converting barley into malt. He died in 1834.\n\nIt was about the time of Wesley\u2019s visit to Cornwall, that he wrote the\nsubjoined letter. Sir Harry had been a Calvinist, and had been\npatronised by the Countess of Huntingdon\u2019s connexion; but, having\nrenounced his Calvinian tenets, he was now regarded with disfavour.\nSome communication had passed between him and Wesley on the subject;\nWesley knew his danger; and wrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cFor a long time, I have had a desire to see you, but could not\n find an opportunity. Indeed, I had reason to believe my company\n would not be agreeable; as you were intimate with those who\n think they do God service by painting me in the most frightful\n colours. It gives me much satisfaction to find, that you have\n escaped out of the hands of those warm men. It is not at all\n surprising, that they should speak a little unkindly of you too\n in their turn. It gave me no small satisfaction to learn from\n your own lips the falsehood of their allegation. I believed it\n false before, but could not affirm it so positively as I can do\n now.\n\n \u201cIndeed, it would not have been without precedent, if from one\n extreme you had run into another. This was the case with that\n great man, Dr. Taylor. For some years, he was an earnest\n Calvinist; but, afterwards, judging he could not go far enough\n from that melancholy system, he ran, not only into Arianism,\n but into the very dregs of Socinianism.\n\n \u201cYou have need to be thankful on another account likewise; that\n is, that your prejudices against the Church of England are\n removing. Having had an opportunity of seeing several of the\n churches abroad, and having deeply considered the several sorts\n of Dissenters at home, I am fully convinced, that our own\n Church, with all her blemishes, is nearer the scriptural plan\n than any other in Europe.\n\n \u201cI sincerely wish you may retain your former zeal for God;\n only, that it may be a zeal according to knowledge. But there\n certainly will be a danger of your sinking into a careless,\n lukewarm state, without any zeal or spirit at all. As you were\n surfeited with an irrational, unscriptural religion, you may\n easily slide into no religion at all; or into a dead form, that\n will never make you happy either in this world, or in that\n which is to come.\n\n \u201cWishing every spiritual blessing, both to Lady Trelawney and\n you,\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[377]\n\nWesley, at the end of August, returned to Bristol, and here he spent\nthe month of September. He then set out for London, which he reached\non October 7. A week later he made a tour to Tunbridge Wells, and\nother towns in Kent. After this, we find him, as usual, visiting the\nsocieties in Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Bedfordshire. The last\nmonth of the year was chiefly employed in London. He read to the\nsociety, and explained, the Large Minutes of conference, recently\npublished; and wrote: \u201cI desire to do all things openly and above\nboard. I would have all the world, and especially all of our society,\nsee not only the steps we take, but the reasons why we take them.\u201d He\nvisited Lord George Gordon in the Tower. He went with some of his\nfriends to the British Museum. He wrote his well known sermon on \u201cThis\nis the true God and eternal life,\u201d fully establishing the doctrine\nwhich Joseph Benson, at the conference, had been accused of\ndenying--the Divinity of Christ.[378] He likewise wrote his \u201cThoughts\nupon Jacob Behmen,\u201d allowing the Teuton to be a good man, but charging\nhim with propounding \u201ca crude, indigested philosophy, supported\nneither by Scripture, nor reason, nor anything but his own _ipse\ndixit_;\u201d and with using \u201clanguage that was never used since the world\nbegan, queerness itself, mere dog Latin.\u201d \u201cNone,\u201d says Wesley, \u201ccan\nunderstand it without much pains, perhaps not without reading him\nthrice over. I would not read him thrice over on any consideration.\n(1) Because it would be enough to crack any man\u2019s brain to brood so\nlong over such unintelligible nonsense; and (2) because such a waste\nof time might provoke God to give me up to a strong delusion to\nbelieve a lie.\u201d[379]\n\nWesley concludes the year with the following entry in his journal.\n\u201cSunday, December 31--We renewed our covenant with God. We had the\nlargest company that I ever remember; perhaps two hundred more than we\nhad last year. And we had the greatest blessing. Several received\neither a sense of the pardoning love of God, or power to love Him with\nall their heart.\u201d\n\nHappy, happy old man! \u201cI do not remember,\u201d said he, only nine days\nbefore the year 1780 was ended, \u201cI do not remember to have felt\nlowness of spirits for one quarter of an hour since I was born.\u201d[380]\n\nIt only remains to notice Wesley\u2019s publications in 1780; and this\nshall be done as briefly as possible. His letters on popery, his\nrevised minutes of the conferences, and his Thoughts upon Behmen, have\nbeen already mentioned. Besides these, there were--\n\n1. \u201cDirections for Renewing our Covenant with God.\u201d 12mo, 23 pages.\n\n2. \u201cReflections on the Rise and Progress of the American Rebellion.\u201d\n12mo, 96 pages.\n\n3. \u201cThe History of Henry, Earl Moreland.\u201d Abridged. 2 vols., 12mo.\n\nIt has been already stated, that this was a novel, written by Mr.\nBrooke, and originally published, in five vols., in 1766, with the\ntitle, \u201cThe Fool of Quality.\u201d Dr. Adam Clarke once stated, that Mr.\nBrooke\u2019s nephew declared to him, that, \u201cwith the exception of a few\ntouches of colouring, everything in the book was founded in fact--even\nthe very incidents were facts.\u201d[381] This might be so; but still the\ncolouring made the work a fiction; and that an old evangelist, like\nWesley, bordering on fourscore years of age, should revise, abridge,\npublish, and circulate a novel, has always been a perplexity to a\ncertain section of Wesley\u2019s admirers. John Easton, one of his\nitinerants, belonged to these. After John had very freely condemned\nthe conduct of his great leader, Wesley proposed to him the following\ninterrogations in reference to three of the personages in this\nremarkable book.\n\n _Wesley._--\u201cDid you read Vindex, John?\u201d\n\n _Easton._--\u201cYes, sir.\u201d\n\n _W._--\u201cDid you _laugh_, John?\u201d\n\n _E._--\u201cNo, sir.\u201d\n\n _W._--\u201cDid you read Damon and Pythias, John?\u201d\n\n _E._--\u201cYes, sir.\u201d\n\n _W._--\u201cDid you _cry_, John?\u201d\n\n _E._--\u201cNo, sir.\u201d\n\n _W._, lifting up his eyes, and clasping his hands, exclaimed:\n \u201cO earth--earth--earth!\u201d[382]\n\nWhatever may be thought and said on the general subject of novels and\nnovel reading, all must admit, that \u201cHenry, Earl Moreland,\u201d is one of\nthe most unexceptionable ever published. Wesley writes:\n\n \u201cI recommend it as the most excellent in its kind, that I have\n seen, either in the English or any other language. The lowest\n excellence therein is the style, which is not only pure in the\n highest degree, not only clear and proper, every word being\n used in its true genuine meaning, but frequently beautiful and\n elegant, and, where there is room for it, truly sublime. But\n what is of far greater value is the admirable sense, which is\n conveyed herein: as it sets forth in full view most of the\n important truths, which are revealed in the oracles of God. And\n these are not only well illustrated, but also proved in an\n easy, natural manner: so that the thinking reader is taught,\n without any trouble, the most essential doctrines of religion.\n\n \u201cBut the greatest excellence of all in this treatise is, that\n it continually strikes at the heart. It perpetually aims at\n inspiring and increasing every right affection. And it does\n this, not by dry, dull, tedious precepts, but by the liveliest\n examples that can be conceived: by setting before your eyes one\n of the most beautiful pictures, that was ever drawn in the\n world. The strokes of this are so delicately fine, the touches\n so easy, natural, and affecting, that I know not who can survey\n it with tearless eyes, unless he has a heart of stone. I\n recommend it, therefore, to all those who are already, or\n desire to be, lovers of God and man.\u201d\n\nThe whole of this is strictly accurate; and if this is not enough to\njustify Wesley in the eyes of faultfinders, like _earthy_ John Easton,\nthe task of doing so must be abandoned as a hopeless one. Besides, it\nmay be added, that, if Wesley sinned, his successors copied his\nexample; for, twenty-two years after Wesley\u2019s death, the conference\nbook-room published a fourth edition of the novel which Wesley first\npublished in 1780.\n\n4. \u201cA Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called\nMethodists.\u201d 12mo, 520 pages.\n\nUp to this period, the hymns and the books used in Methodist\ncongregations had been endlessly varying; now Wesley issued a book\nwhich, with slight alterations, has been used from that time to this;\nand prefixed the preface which has been read by millions; and from\nwhich, therefore, we must content ourselves with quoting only the\nconcluding hint, which is far more needed now than even when first\npublished.\n\n \u201cMany gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without\n naming us) the honour to reprint many of our hymns. Now they\n are perfectly welcome so to do, provided they print them just\n as they are. But I desire they would not attempt to mend them;\n for they really are not able. None of them is able to mend\n either the sense or the verse. Therefore, I must beg of them\n one of these two favours: either to let them stand just as they\n are, to take them for better for worse; or to add the true\n reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page; that we\n may no longer be accountable either for the nonsense or for the\n doggerel of other men.\u201d\n\n5. Wesley\u2019s only other publication, in 1780, was his _Arminian\nMagazine_, 8vo, 683 pages.[383] The work contains Goodwin\u2019s Paraphrase\non Romans ix.; an extract from Bird\u2019s \u201cFate and Destiny, inconsistent\nwith Christianity;\u201d lives of Armelle Nicolas and Gregory Lopes; short\naccounts of Thomas Lee, Alexander Mather, John Haime, Thomas Mitchell,\nThomas Taylor, Thomas Hanson, Thomas Hanby, and John Mason. There are\nabout fifty valuable letters; and about seventy poetic pieces. Also\nWesley\u2019s \u201cThought on Necessity,\u201d and \u201cThoughts upon Taste.\u201d\n\nTo enlarge concerning these is superfluous. The volume was quite equal\nto the former ones; though Wesley confesses, that the portraits were\nnot yet such as he desired; and declares, that he will have better, or\nnone at all.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [356] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 295.\n\n [357] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 352.\n\n [358] As a specimen of popish jesuitry, it may be added,\n that O\u2019Leary\u2019s Remarks upon Wesley\u2019s Letter were\n first printed in six successive numbers of the\n _Freeman\u2019s Journal_; but were afterwards reprinted\n in London with the following title, \u201cMr. O\u2019Leary\u2019s\n Remarks on the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s Letter in Defence\n of the Protestant Associations in England, to which\n are prefixed Mr. Wesley\u2019s Letters.\u201d This was a popish\n deception, intended, no doubt, to cast upon Wesley\n the odium incurred by the Protestant Association\n during the Gordon riots. The truth is: (1) Wesley\n had not written more than a few lines in defence of\n the appeal of that Association. (2) His two replies\n to O\u2019Leary, published in the _Freeman\u2019s Journal_,\n were suppressed in O\u2019Leary\u2019s pamphlet. (3) A spurious\n letter was inserted, and palmed on the public as\n genuine, which Wesley declared was not his, and\n one which he had never seen before O\u2019Leary printed\n it.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 295.)\n\n [359] _Methodist Magazine_, 1853, p. 785.\n\n [360] Manuscript.\n\n [361] _Methodist Magazine_, 1853, p. 786.\n\n [362] Banning\u2019s Memoirs (private circulation).\n\n [363] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 379.\n\n [364] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 327.\n\n [365] Minutes of Methodist Conferences in America.\n\n [366] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 137.\n\n [367] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 392.\n\n [368] Dr. Coke, a young man of thirty-three, displayed, at\n this period, a fussy officiousness, which scarcely\n redounded to his honour. He wrote to Bradburn, to\n the effect, that he suspected that he also was an\n Arian; though it was only four years before, that\n Thomas Taylor, at the London conference, had blamed\n Bradburn for \u201cpreaching _too much_ on the Divinity of\n Christ, and for being _too warm against the Arians_.\u201d\n (\u201cMemoirs of Bradburn,\u201d p. 225.) In an unpublished\n letter, addressed to Bradburn, and dated October,\n 1779, Wesley asks: \u201cIs there any truth in the report\n that John Hampson has converted you to Arianism?\u201d\n\n [369] Benson\u2019s Life, by Macdonald, p. 108.\n\n [370] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 137.\n\n [371] Manuscript letters.\n\n [372] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 117.\n\n [373] Minutes, 1780.\n\n [374] _Methodist Magazine_, 1795, p. 268.\n\n [375] Wesley\u2019s words were verified. At Monmouth Mr. Yewdall\n was mobbed by a bellowing rabble; but the society\n increased one third.\n\n [376] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 10.\n\n [377] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 395.\n\n [378] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 189.\n\n [379] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. ix., p. 491.\n\n [380] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 185.\n\n [381] Everett\u2019s Life of Clarke.\n\n [382] Ibid.\n\n [383] I am not quite sure of this. In 1780, a 12mo tract\n of 12 pages was published with the following\n title:--\u201cJesus, altogether Lovely: or, a Letter to\n some of the Single Women of the Methodist Society.\n London: Printed by R. Hawes; and sold at the New\n Chapel, in the City Road; and at the Rev. Mr.\n Wesley\u2019s Preaching Houses, in town and country.\n 1780.\u201d The letter is dated, \u201cHoxton, March 10, 1763.\u201d\n It enforces chastity, poverty, and obedience; and is\n written in a style strongly resembling Wesley\u2019s.\n\n\n\n\n 1781.\n Age 78\n\n\nWesley purposed to visit Ireland in 1781, but was prevented doing so;\nand, hence, the months he was accustomed to spend in that island were\nspent in an irregular itinerancy through England and Wales. He now\nentered on the seventy-ninth year of his age; and, to obtain something\nlike a correct idea of his amazing energy and toil, it may be useful\nto trace his footsteps more minutely than we have been wont to do\nduring the last few years.\n\nHe writes: \u201cJanuary 1, 1781--We began, as usual, the service at four\u201d\n(in the morning) \u201cpraising Him who, maugre all our enemies, had\nbrought us safe to the beginning of another year.\u201d\n\nAt this period, his nephews, Charles and Samuel Wesley, were\nattracting great attention by their musical performances. They had won\nthe friendship of the great musical composers, Dr. Boyce, Dr. Nares,\nand Dr. Burney. Lords Le Despencer, Barrington, Aylesford, Dudley, and\nothers, were enraptured with them. The Earl of Mornington, for some\nyears, breakfasted weekly with them. Dr. Howard, the distinguished\norganist, declared concerning Samuel, that he seemed to have \u201cdropped\ndown from heaven.\u201d Charles was introduced to George III., with whom he\nbecame a great favourite. The result of this unparalleled popularity\nwas the institution, in Wesley\u2019s brother\u2019s house, of the series of\nselect concerts, already referred to, which were continued for several\nyears, the regular subscribers varying in number from thirty to fifty,\nthough eighty persons were often present; including not a few of the\nEnglish nobility, besides the Bishop of London, and the Danish and\nSaxon ambassadors. On January 25, Wesley was there, and wrote: \u201cI\nspent an agreeable hour at a concert of my nephews. But I was a little\nout of my element among lords and ladies. I love plain music and plain\ncompany best.\u201d\n\nIt was during this brief sojourn in London, in the beginning of 1781,\nthat Wesley wrote his stinging sermon on \u201cLittle children, keep\nyourselves from idols\u201d;[384] and his able discourse on, \u201cFor this\npurpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works\nof the devil.\u201d In the former he terribly belabours the man of\nbusiness, who retires from the activities of town to the laziness of\ncountry life, where his only employment is altering, enlarging,\nrebuilding, or decorating the old mansion house he has purchased, and\nimproving the stables, outhouses, and grounds, without ever thinking\nof the God of heaven any more than he thinks of the king of France. In\nthe latter sermon, he strikes a heavy blow at the heresy of Dr. Watts,\nwhich Benson, at the conference of 1780, had been accused of\nembracing. He writes:\n\n \u201cI cannot at all believe the ingenious dream of Dr. Watts,\n concerning the glorious humanity of Christ, which he supposes\n to have existed before the world began, and to have been endued\n with, I know not what, astonishing powers. Nay, I look upon\n this to be an exceeding dangerous, yea, mischievous hypothesis;\n as it quite excludes the force of very many Scriptures, which\n have been hitherto thought to prove the Godhead of the Son.\n And, I am afraid, it was the grand means of turning that great\n man aside from the faith once delivered to the saints; that is,\n if he was turned aside, if that beautiful soliloquy be genuine,\n which is printed among his posthumous works, wherein he so\n earnestly beseeches the Son of God not to be displeased,\n because he cannot believe Him to be coequal and coeternal with\n the Father.\u201d\n\nBoth these sermons enriched the _Arminian Magazine_ for 1781. In fact,\nit is to the establishment of that periodical, that we are indebted\nfor many of the most elaborated sermons that Wesley ever published.\nBesides the two above mentioned, Wesley, during the year 1781, wrote\nat least three others. His sermon on \u201cZeal\u201d is a remarkable\nproduction, and was not inappropriate to the circumstances of a period\nwhen so much excitement existed concerning popery. He says:\n\n \u201cFervour for _opinion_ is not Christian zeal. How innumerable\n are the mischiefs which this species of false zeal has\n occasioned in the Christian world! How many of the excellent of\n the earth have been cut off, by zealots, for the senseless\n opinion of transubstantiation! Fervour for _indifferent things_\n is not Christian zeal. How warmly did Bishop Ridley, and Bishop\n Hooper, and other great men of that age, dispute about the\n _sacerdotal vestments_! How eager was the contention, for\n almost a hundred years, for and against wearing a surplice! Oh,\n shame to man! I would as soon have disputed about a straw, or a\n barleycorn!\u201d[385]\n\nAnother of his homilies, written in 1781,[386] was his able discourse\non the province of reason in matters of religion; and another was his\nunique sermon on \u201cThe Brute Creation,\u201d in which he unhesitatingly\npropounds the doctrine, not only that the brute creation will live\nagain, but likewise, that, when restored, they will possess a far\nhigher state of being than they possess at present; in fact, that they\nwill then be made what beasts, birds, insects, and fishes were when\nfirst created.[387] This may seem a wild theory for an octogenarian to\nadvance; but it deserves more attention, on that account, than if it\nhad been an imaginative rocket let off by a stripling in his teens.\n\nWhile on the subject of sermons, it may be added, that it was now\nWesley published, in his _Arminian Magazine_, his remarkable discourse\non the \u201cDanger of Riches,\u201d--the first of a series on that subject,\nwhich he continued to issue to the end of life, and in which wealthy\nMethodists and others are lashed with terrific power. \u201cI do not\nremember,\u201d says he, \u201cthat in threescore years I have heard one sermon\npreached on this subject. And what author, within the same term, has\ndeclared it from the press? I do not know one. I have seen two or\nthree who just touch upon it; but none that treat of it professedly. I\nhave myself frequently touched upon it in preaching, and twice in what\nI have published to the world: once in explaining our Lord\u2019s sermon on\nthe mount, and once in the discourse on the mammon of unrighteousness.\nBut I have never yet either published or preached any sermon expressly\nupon the subject. It is high time I should; that I should at length\nspeak as strongly and explicitly as I can, in order to leave a full\nand clear testimony behind me, whenever it pleases God to call me\nhence.\u201d\n\nOne extract from this striking sermon must suffice.\n\n \u201cO ye Methodists, hear the word of the Lord! I have a message\n from God to all men; but to _you_ above all. For above forty\n years, I have been a servant to you and to your fathers. And I\n have not been as a reed shaken by the wind; I have not varied\n in my testimony. I have testified to you the very same thing,\n from the first day even until now. But _who hath believed our\n report_? I fear not many rich. I fear there is need to apply to\n some of _you_ those terrible words of the apostle: \u2018Go to now,\n ye rich men! Weep and howl for the miseries which shall come\n upon you. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of\n them shall witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it\n were fire.\u2019 Certainly it will, unless you both save all you\n can, and give all you can. But who of you hath considered this,\n since you first heard the will of the Lord concerning it? Who\n is now determined to consider and practise it? By the grace of\n God, begin to-day!\n\n \u201cO ye _lovers of money_, hear the word of the Lord! Suppose ye,\n that money, though multiplied as the sand of the sea, can give\n you happiness? Then you are _given up to a strong delusion, to\n believe a lie_--a palpable lie, confuted daily by a thousand\n experiments. Open your eyes. Look all around you! Are the\n richest men the happiest? Have those the largest share of\n content, who have the largest possessions? Is not the very\n reverse true? Is it not a common observation, that the richest\n of men are, in general, the most discontented, the most\n miserable? Had not the far greater part of them more content,\n when they had less money? Look into your own breasts. If you\n are increased in goods, are you proportionably increased in\n happiness? You have more substance; but have you more content?\n You know the contrary. You know that, in seeking happiness from\n riches, you are only striving to drink out of empty cups. And\n let them be painted and gilded ever so finely, they are empty\n still.\u201d\n\nBefore we recur to Wesley\u2019s journal, an unpublished letter may be\nacceptable.\n\nThe preachers now labouring in the Sheffield circuit were James\nRogers, Alexander M\u2018Nab, and Samuel Bardsley. Mr. Rogers writes: \u201cOne\nof my fellow labourers did not lovingly draw in the same yoke, and\nsoon after left the connexion. The uneasiness occasioned in the\nsociety by his disaffection, for some months, threatened us with\ndisagreeable consequences; and our enemies expected a considerable\ndivision among us; but \u2018He that sitteth above the waterfloods\u2019 found\nmeans to prevent it. So that instead of losing in our number, we\nfound, at the end of the year, an increase of ninety-seven members.\u201d\n\nOf course, this refers to Alexander M\u2018Nab, who had rebelled against\nWesley\u2019s authority in 1779. Samuel Bardsley was a man of peace, and,\nmoreover, one of the most laborious preachers Wesley had. Besides his\npulpit labours, he had rendered great service to the Sheffield\nsociety, by a preaching excursion, undertaken for the purpose of\nobtaining subscriptions for their chapel. His collecting book is\nbefore us, with a list of the collections he made, and the donations\nhe obtained, in a tour extending from Sheffield to York, thence to\nHull, and thence, along the east coast, to Newcastle on Tyne.\nAltogether, he gathered the sum of \u00a389 15_s._ 11_d._; and, in doing\nthis, made thirty-one public collections, amounting, in the aggregate,\nto \u00a330 15_s._ 6\u00be_d._, and begged the balance of \u00a359 0_s._\n4\u00bc_d._, of considerably more than three hundred different\nsubscribers, including in this number the inhabitants of not fewer\nthan forty-four towns and villages, whose munificent donations are\nlumped together. When Bardsley had completed his tour, Wesley wrote\nhim as follows.\n\n \u201cNEAR LONDON, _February 10, 1781_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I did not doubt but you would agree with the\n people of Sheffield. They are a loving and affectionate people.\n I am glad you were so successful in your labour of love for\n them. That assistance was very seasonable.\n\n \u201cThat misunderstanding, which was troublesome for a season, may\n now be buried for ever. I am perfectly well satisfied, both of\n the honesty and affection, both of brother Woodcroft and\n brother Birks. So Satan\u2019s devices are brought to nought.\n\n \u201cI doubt not but James Rogers and you recommend our books in\n every place, and the magazines in particular, which will be a\n testimony for me, when I am no more seen.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[388]\n\nOn the 12th of February, Wesley set out on a week\u2019s excursion to\nNorfolk and back again to London, preaching at least ten sermons on\nthe way;[389] and, in wintry weather, travelling more than two hundred\nmiles.\n\nHaving spent a few more days in London, he then started, on Sunday,\nMarch 4, (as he thought,) for Ireland, but spent a fortnight in the\nvicinity of Bath and Bristol. Leaving Bristol on March 19, eleven days\nwere occupied in reaching Manchester, during which he preached more\nthan twenty sermons, some of them in the open air.\n\nOn March 30, he opened the chapel in Oldham Street, Manchester. He\nwrites: \u201cFriday, March 30--I opened the new chapel at Manchester,\nabout the size of that in London. The whole congregation behaved with\nthe utmost seriousness. I trust much good will be done in this place.\nSunday, April 1--I began reading prayers at ten o\u2019clock. Our country\nfriends flocked in from all sides. At the communion was such a sight\nas I am persuaded was never seen in Manchester before: eleven or\ntwelve hundred communicants at once; and all of them fearing God.\u201d\n\nThus began the history of a building, which, next to the chapel in\nCity Road, is the most interesting Methodist edifice in existence.\nFirst of all, the Manchester Methodists had been located in a\nmiserable room on or near the present site of Bateman\u2019s Buildings.\nRemoving thence, in 1750, they worshipped for thirty years in their\nfirst chapel, which, up to a recent period, was a warehouse in Birchin\nLane.[390] Among the first members, in that old chapel, were: Mary\nBromley, for seventy years a Methodist, who died happy in God, at the\nage of eighty-nine, in 1826:--Mrs. Leech, an upright follower of\nChrist, who expired in the full assurance of a blessed immortality in\n1770:--John Morris, whose autobiography, in the _Arminian Magazine_\nfor 1795, will be found to be full of more than romantic\ninterest:--Mr. Fildes, who, in the same year in which Raikes began his\nwork at Gloucester, opened a Sunday-school in a Manchester cellar, a\nsecond in a garret, and a third in the first room in Manchester built\nexpressly for Sunday-school purposes, a room erected at Mr. Fildes\u2019\nown expense, behind his own dwelling house, in the neighbourhood of\nLondon Road:[391]--Adam Oldham, a feltmaker, one of the first trustees\nof Birchin Lane chapel,[392] who lived in a house on the site which\nthe Albion Hotel now occupies, for many years a useful Methodist,[393]\nbut afterwards a rich backslider, to whom Oldham Street owes its\nname:--Richard Barlow, who, for sixty-five years, rose at half-past\nfour in summer, and at five in winter:--Mr. Brierley, a member of\nPeter Kenworthy\u2019s class, the leading singer in Oldham Street chapel,\nand afterwards a magistrate:--John Moseley, a poor hatter in Millgate,\nthe grandfather of Sir Oswald Moseley, from whom Moseley Street\nderived its name:--and Mrs. Bennett, a relative of John Moseley\u2019s, and\nthe first female classleader in Manchester.[394] We wish we had space\nfor details respecting these old Manchester Methodist worthies, who\ndeserve far more honourable record than they have yet received.\n\nFrom Manchester, Wesley went to Bolton, where he writes: \u201cThe society\nhere are true, original Methodists. They are not conformed to the\nworld, either in its maxims, its spirit, or its fashions; but are\nsimple followers of the Lamb; consequently they increase both in grace\nand number.\u201d\n\nThis was a high compliment to pay to George Escrick and his friends.\nTheir old chapel in New Acres had been converted into cottages; and,\nin 1776, they had built another in Ridgway Gates, though not without a\nunited and great effort. The Rev. Mr. Fowles, a clergyman, had the\nmanagement of a sandbed from which they had to obtain their sand; and\nhearing of their intentions, he announced, that, after the expiration\nof five days, the sand would be charged half-a-crown a load. This, to\nthe poor Methodists, was a serious matter; but George Escrick was a\nman of too much energy to be easily defeated. Accordingly, he, at\nonce, requested all the Methodists, young and old, strong and feeble,\nactive and otherwise, to repair with him to the sandpit, and to dig\nand convey away all the sand they needed. To a man, they obeyed\nGeorge\u2019s injunction, and, in a single day, got as much as their\nintended chapel was likely to require. Michael Fenwick was then their\npreacher, and kept running over the half-a-mile distance, between the\nsite of the new chapel and the clerical sandbed, encouraging the\npeople in their task, and, at one time, wanting to sing the hymn\nbeginning with \u201cBefore Jehovah\u2019s awful throne\u201d; but blunt George\nEscrick, the weaver, imperatively stopped his spiritual superior,\ntelling him to take a spade in his hand, for there was a time for all\nthings, and this was a time to dig.\n\nIn this old Ridgway Gates chapel, William Grime used to conduct a band\nmeeting every Sunday morning at four o\u2019clock; and, beneath it, Parson\nGreenwood, one of the circuit preachers, whose only home was two\nneighbouring attics, used to keep his victuals.[395] The head of the\ncircuit was Liverpool, and the following were the munificent sums\ncontributed quarterly, by the several societies, in 1776, when the\nchapel was completed. Liverpool, \u00a35 8_s._ 9_d._; Bolton, \u00a37 14_s._\n7_d._; Preston, 11_s._; Wigan, \u00a31 10_s._; Meols, 11_s._; Top of Coal\nPits, 17_s._; Edgeworth, 10_s._ 6_d._; Moulden Water, 7_s._;\nShackerley, 10_s._; Aspul Moor, 7_s._; Chowbent, 10_s._ 6_d._;\nWarrington, \u00a31 1_s._; Northwich, \u00a31 1_s._; Budworth, 12_s._ 3_d._;\nLittle Leigh, \u00a31 9_s._ 6_d._; and Lamberhead Green, 7_s._ 6_d._ Such\nwas Liverpool circuit in 1776; and, out of these Methodist\ncontributions, three Methodist preachers and their families had to be\nsupported. No wonder that the cupboard, beneath the pulpit of the old\nchapel, was big enough to serve Parson Greenwood for a pantry.\n\nFrom Bolton, Wesley went to Wigan, and preached a funeral sermon for\nBetty Brown, one of the first members of Wigan society, \u201cbeloved of\nGod, the delight of His children, a dread to wicked men, and a torment\nto devils.\u201d\n\nLeaving Wigan, Wesley proceeded to Chester, and thence to Alpraham,\nwhere he did for \u201cgood old sister Cawley, a mother in Israel, and a\npattern of all good works,\u201d what he had done for Betty Brown. Arriving\nat Warrington, he says: \u201cI put a stop to a bad custom, which was\ncreeping in here: a few men, who had fine voices, sang a psalm which\nno one knew, in a tune fit for an opera, wherein three, four, or five\npersons sung different words at the same time! What an insult upon\ncommon sense! What a burlesque upon public worship! No custom can\nexcuse such a mixture of profaneness and absurdity.\u201d\n\nDesiring to reach Ireland as soon as possible, Wesley embarked at\nLiverpool, on the 12th of April; but, on getting out to sea, was\novertaken with a storm; and, in an hour, was so affected as he had not\nbeen for forty years before. For two days, he was unable to swallow\nanything solid larger than a pea, and was bruised and sore from head\nto foot, and ill able to turn himself in bed. The sea grew rougher;\nthe horses of Wesley and his companions became turbulent; and the\nhatches were closed. Water, three feet in depth, was in the hold; the\nship refused to obey the helm, and was furiously driving on lee shore.\nWesley says: \u201cI called our brethren, Floyd, Snowden, and Bradford, to\nprayers; and we found free access to the throne of grace. Soon after,\nwe got, I know not how, into Holyhead harbour, after being\nsufficiently buffeted by the winds and waves for two days and two\nnights. The more I considered, the more I was convinced, it was not\nthe will of God I should go to Ireland at this time. So we went into\nthe stage coach without delay, and the next evening came to Chester.\u201d\n\nBaffled in his purpose to visit Ireland, Wesley set out on a preaching\ntour to Whitchurch, Shrewsbury, Brecon, Broseley, Worcester,\nBrecknock, Carmarthen, Pembroke, Haverfordwest, Tracoon, Newport,\nNarberth, Llanelly, Swansea, Neath, Bridgend, Cowbridge, Cardiff, and\nMonmouth. On the 16th of May, he got back to Worcester, having\ncompleted the circuit in a month, and preached about thirty times.\n\nHe now proceeded to Kidderminster, Salop, Whitchurch, Nantwich,\nNorthwich, and, on May 18, arrived in Manchester, having preached each\nnight and morning.\n\nAt Manchester, he writes: \u201cI preached a funeral sermon for Mary\nCharlton, an Israelite indeed. From the hour that she first knew the\npardoning love of God, she never lost sight of it for a moment. Eleven\nyears ago, she believed that God had cleansed her from all sin; and\nshe showed, that she had not believed in vain, by her holy and\nunblamable conversation.\u201d\n\nMolly Charlton was the sweetheart of good old Samuel Bardsley, the\nonly one he ever had. They wished to marry; but the difficulty of\nproviding for married preachers was so great, that Wesley and Pawson\ninterfered, and the nuptial engagement was broken off. In four quarto\nmanuscript volumes, containing Bardsley\u2019s diary, and in Pawson\u2019s\nletter concerning this business, and likewise the letter of poor\ndisappointed Molly (all in the writer\u2019s possession), there are some\nracy facts, and traits of personal character, which may be given to\nthe public at some future time.\n\nLeaving Manchester on May 21, Wesley made his way to Warrington,\nChowbent, Bolton, Kabb, Blackburn, and Preston.\n\nIn reference to the last mentioned place, he writes: \u201cMay 24--I went\non to Preston, where the old prejudice seems to be quite forgotten.\nThe little society has fitted up a large and convenient room, where I\npreached to a candid audience. Every one seemed to be considerably\naffected.\u201d\n\nWho was the founder of this little society? Twelve years previous to\nWesley\u2019s visit, John Wood, one of the first Methodists at Padiham,\nattended Preston sessions, to obtain a licence to preach. Having\ngranted it, one of the magistrates, a clergyman, seeing a number of\nrude and noisy people outside the sessions house, said to John,\nperhaps with more sarcasm than sincerity: \u201cThere, go and reform that\ncrowd!\u201d John bowed, thanked his worship for his licence, left the\ncourt, entered the crowd in full authority, and preached in\npeace.[396] Six years after this, in 1775, Samuel Bradburn formed the\nfirst Methodist class in Preston;[397] and now, in 1781, Martha\nThompson, Roger Crane, William Bramwell, of immortal memory, and a few\nothers, had hired an old calendering house, in Lord Street, for a\nplace of meeting, and had fairly begun a work in proud Preston, which,\ndespite the popery of the place, has grown into one of the most\nprosperous societies in the kingdom.\n\nWesley next proceeded to the Isle of Man, where he spent eight days,\n\u201cvisited the island round, east, south, north, and west\u201d; preached, at\nleast, a dozen times; and, in a population of thirty thousand, found\nabove two thousand Methodists, with a score of \u201cstout, well looking\u201d\nlocal preachers, not surpassed in England. \u201cI was thoroughly\nconvinced,\u201d says he, \u201cthat we have no such circuit as this, either in\nEngland, Scotland, or Ireland. It is shut up from the world; and,\nhaving little trade, is visited by scarce any strangers. Here are no\npapists, no Dissenters of any kind, no Calvinists, no disputers. Here\nis no opposition, either from the governor, from the bishop, or from\nthe bulk of the clergy. One or two of them did oppose for a time; but\nthey seem now to understand better. So that we have now rather too\nlittle than too much reproach. The natives are a plain, artless,\nsimple people; unpolished, that is, unpolluted; few of them are rich\nor genteel; the far greater part, moderately poor. The local preachers\nare men of faith and love, knit together in one mind and one judgment.\nThey speak either Manx or English, and follow a regular plan, which\nthe assistant gives them monthly.\u201d\n\nOn leaving the Isle of Man, Wesley proceeded to Newcastle, preaching,\non the way, at Cockermouth, Ballantyne, and Carlisle.\n\nCan it be that this flying evangelist was an old man of nearly eighty?\nNo wonder that he sometimes sang--\n\n \u201cOh that without one lingering groan\n I may the welcome word receive,\n My body with my charge lay down,\n And cease at once to work and live!\u201d\n\nWithout work, Wesley could not live. The following unpublished letter,\nwritten at this period, is strongly characteristic of the man. It was\naddressed to Samuel Bradburn, at Keighley.\n\n \u201c_June 16, 1781._\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--We have no supernumerary preachers, except John\n Furz, who is so from old age. If John Oliver lives till the\n conference, and desires it, I suppose he may be upon the same\n footing. The more exercise he uses, winter or summer, the more\n health he will have. I can face the north wind at seventy-seven\n better than I could at seven-and-twenty. But if you _moan over\n him_, you will kill him outright. A word in your ear. I am but\n half pleased with Christopher Hopper\u2019s proceedings.[398] I do\n not admire _fair weather preachers_. You must stop local\n preachers who are loaded with debt. There are few healthier\n places in England than Keighley. Neither Dublin nor Cork is to\n compare with it. But have a care! or you will kill Betsy! Do\n not constrain God to take her away!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley spent eight days at Newcastle, and in its vicinity, and\npreached, at least, ten or a dozen times. He then visited his\nsocieties between there and York. At Thirsk, in a letter to his\nbrother, Wesley wrote:\n\n \u201cTHIRSK, _June 27, 1781_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--This is the last day of my seventy-eighth year;\n and (such is the power of God) I feel as if it were my\n twenty-eighth. Next Saturday, I expect to be at Epworth; the\n second, at Boston; the third, at Sheffield. I take the\n opportunity of a broken year, to visit those parts of\n Lincolnshire, which I have not seen before, but once, these\n twenty years.\n\n \u201cFrom several, I have lately heard, that God has blessed your\n preaching. See your calling! \u2018Cease at once to work and live!\u2019\n Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[399]\n\nTwo days after this, Wesley arrived at Epworth, and wrote: \u201cI have now\npreached thrice a day for seven days following; but it is just the\nsame as if it had been but one.\u201d Twelve days were spent in\nLincolnshire, during which he preached more than a score of sermons.\nAmong other places, Grantham was favoured with his ministry. He\nwrites: \u201cJuly 9--I preached at Grantham, in the open air, for no house\nwould contain the congregation; and none made the least disturbance.\u201d\n\nAt the village of Welby, the Rev. W. Dodwell was minister; and, in his\nchurch, Wesley preached twice on the day before he preached at\nGrantham. Mr. Dodwell was the pastor of Welby parish for nearly half a\ncentury, and died in 1824, when he presented, by deed of gift, \u00a310,000\nto the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and an equal sum to the British\nand Foreign Bible Society.[400] He was present at Wesley\u2019s conference\nof preachers in 1782.[401]\n\nAfter visiting many other societies in Lincolnshire during the next\nten days, Wesley, on July 23, \u201cpassed into Yorkshire,\u201d and preached at\nYeadon, Bradford, Halifax, Greetland, Huddersfield, Longwood House,\nMirfield, Daw Green, Birstal, Tadcaster, York, Malton, Scarborough,\nBeverley, Hull, and Pocklington; and, at the beginning of August,\narrived in Leeds, for the purpose of holding his annual conference;\nbut, before giving an account of its proceedings, two letters to two\nladies, both written on the same day, will be acceptable. The first\nwas to his niece, Miss Sarah Wesley, then a young lady about\ntwenty--afterwards a personal friend of a large and distinguished\nliterary circle, including Mrs. Hannah More, Miss Porter, Miss Aikin,\nMiss Edgeworth, Mrs. Barbauld, and others,--and who died in 1828, at\nthe age of sixty-eight, some of her last words being, \u201cI have peace,\nbut not joy.\u201d[402]\n\n \u201cNEAR LEEDS, _July 17, 1781_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SALLY,--Without an _endeavour_ to please God, and to\n give up our own will, we never shall attain His favour. But\n till we have attained it, till we have the Spirit of adoption,\n we cannot actually give up our own wills to Him. Shall I tell\n you freely what I judge to be the grand hindrance to your\n attaining it? Yea, to your attaining more health both of body\n and mind than you have ever had, or, at least, for a long\n season? I believe it is, what very few people are aware of,\n intemperance in sleep. All are intemperate in sleep, who sleep\n more than nature requires; and how much it does require is\n easily known. There is, indeed, no universal rule,--none that\n will suit all constitutions. But, after all the observations\n and experience I have been able to make for upwards of fifty\n years, I am fully persuaded that men, in general, need between\n six and seven hours\u2019 sleep in twenty-four; and women, in\n general, a little more,--namely between seven and eight.\n\n \u201cBut what ill consequences are there in lying longer in\n bed,--suppose nine hours in four-and-twenty?\n\n \u201c1. It hurts the body. Whether you sleep or no, (and, indeed,\n it commonly prevents sound sleep,) it, as it were, soddens and\n parboils the flesh, and sows the seeds of numerous disorders;\n of all nervous diseases in particular, as weakness, faintness,\n lowness of spirits, nervous headaches, and consequent weakness\n of sight.\n\n \u201c2. It hurts the mind; it weakens the understanding; it blunts\n the imagination; it weakens the memory; it dulls all the nobler\n affections. It takes off the edge of the soul, impairs its\n vigour and firmness, and infuses a wrong softness, quite\n inconsistent with the character of a good soldier of Jesus\n Christ. It grieves the Holy Spirit of God, and prevents, or, at\n least, lessens, those blessed influences which tend to make\n you, not almost, but altogether, a Christian.\n\n \u201cI advise you, therefore, from this day forward, not trusting\n in yourself, but in Him that raiseth the dead, to take exactly\n so much sleep as nature requires. If you need between seven and\n eight hours, then, in the name of God, begin this very night,\n in spite of all temptation to the contrary. Lie down at ten\n o\u2019clock, and rise between five and six, whether you sleep or\n no. If your head aches in the day, bear it. In a week you will\n sleep sound. If you can take this advice, you may receive more\n from,\n\n \u201cMy dear Sally, yours most affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[403]\n\nThe other letter was addressed to Miss Bishop, who became a Methodist\nabout the year 1767, and who, from that time, had been one of Wesley\u2019s\ncorrespondents. Many of his most spiritual letters were written to\nthis Christian lady, who, though poor, was a gentlewoman. For some\nyears, she had kept a school in Bath or its neighbourhood; but, in\n1777, had been seized with spitting of blood, and had been thrown upon\nthe kindness of her friends in Bristol.[404] Recently, however, she\nhad commenced another school at Keynsham, which, said Wesley, \u201cis\nworthy to be called a Christian school;\u201d[405] though, it would seem,\nsome of the Bristol people wished to make it more fashionable than\nWesley liked.\n\n \u201cNEAR LEEDS, _July 17, 1781_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--If I live to meet the society in Bristol\n again, I shall kill or cure the fault of those unwise and\n unkind parents, who make their children finer than themselves.\n I shall make their ears tingle. As to you, I advise you, first,\n to be a Bible Christian yourself, inwardly and outwardly. Be\n not a hair\u2019s breadth more conformable to the fashions of the\n world than you were when I saw you last. Then, train up your\n children in the selfsame way. Say to them, with all mildness\n and firmness, \u2018Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.\u2019\n Whoever is pleased or displeased, keep to this; to _Christian,\n primitive simplicity_. Perhaps you will at first lose some\n scholars thereby; but regard it not: God will provide you more.\n And be assured, nothing shall be wanting that is in the power\n of,\n\n \u201cMy dear sister, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[406]\n\nTwo or three other letters may be given here. The first is copied from\nthe original now before us, and, we believe, has not before been\npublished.\n\n \u201cNEAR LEEDS, _July 25, 1781_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--As long as you give yourself up to God\n without reserve, you may be assured He will give you His\n blessing. Indeed, you have already received a thousand\n blessings; but the greatest of all is yet behind,--Christ in a\n sinless heart, reigning the Lord of every motion there. It is\n good for you to hold fast what you have attained, and to be\n continually aspiring after this. And you will never find more\n life in your own soul than while you are earnestly exhorting\n others to go on to perfection. Many will blame you for doing\n it; but regard not that. Go on, through honour and dishonour.\n _This one thing I do_, is your motto; I will save my own soul\n and them that hear me.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley had told his niece, that, if she took his advice with respect\nto sleep, she might hear from him again. It seems, the advice was\nadopted; hence the following letter, written seven weeks after the\nformer one.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _September 4, 1781_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SALLY,--It is certain the Author of our nature\n designed that we should not destroy, but regulate, our desire\n for knowledge. What course you may take in order to this, I\n will now briefly point out.\n\n \u201c1. You want to know God, in order to enjoy Him in time and\n eternity.\n\n \u201c2. All you want to know of Him is contained in one book, the\n Bible. And all that you learn is to be referred to this, either\n directly or remotely.\n\n \u201c3. Would it not be well, then, to spend, at least, an hour a\n day in reading and meditating on the Bible? reading, every\n morning and evening, a portion of the Old and New Testament,\n with the Explanatory Notes?\n\n \u201c4. Might you not read two or three hours in the morning, and\n one or two in the afternoon? When you are tired of severer\n studies, you may relax your mind by history or poetry.\n\n \u201c5. The first thing you should understand a little of is\n grammar. You may read first Kingswood English Grammar, and then\n Bishop Lowth\u2019s Introduction.\n\n \u201c6. You should acquire, if you have not already, some knowledge\n of arithmetic. Dilworth\u2019s Arithmetic would suffice.\n\n \u201c7. For geography, I think you need only read over Randal\u2019s or\n Guthrie\u2019s Geographical Grammar.\n\n \u201c8. Watts\u2019 Logic is not a very good one; but I believe you\n cannot find a better.\n\n \u201c9. In natural philosophy, you have all that you need to know\n in the \u2018Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation.\u2019 But you may\n add the Glasgow abridgment of Mr. Hutchinson\u2019s works.\n\n \u201c10. With any, or all, of the foregoing studies, you may\n intermix that of history. You may begin with Rollin\u2019s Ancient\n History; and afterwards read, in order, the Concise History of\n the Church, Burnet\u2019s History of the Reformation, the Concise\n History of England, Clarendon\u2019s History of the Rebellion,\n Neal\u2019s History of the Puritans, his History of New England, and\n Robertson\u2019s History of America.\n\n \u201c11. In metaphysics, you may read Locke\u2019s Essay on the Human\n Understanding, and Malebranche\u2019s Search after Truth.\n\n \u201c12. For poetry, you may read Spenser\u2019s Fairy Queen, and select\n parts of Shakspeare, Fairfax, or Hoole; Godfrey of Bouillon,\n Paradise Lost, the Night Thoughts, and Young\u2019s Moral and Sacred\n Poems.\n\n \u201c13. You may begin and end with divinity; in which I will only\n add, to the books mentioned before, Bishop Pearson on the\n Creed, and the Christian Library. By this course of study, you\n may gain all the knowledge which any reasonable Christian\n needs. But remember, before all, in all, and above all, your\n great point is, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ\n whom He hath sent.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear Sally, your affectionate uncle,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[407]\n\nThough Miss Wesley was now in her twenty-first year, and had yet to\nbegin Kingswood English Grammar, still, assuming that henceforward she\nacted upon the advice of her venerable uncle, it is not surprising,\nthat she ultimately became the well informed woman which her father\u2019s\nbiographer says she was. Her brother Charles was three years older\nthan herself; her brother Samuel six years younger. The brothers were\nmusical prodigies; their uncle took a deep interest in their welfare;\nand wrote to Charles, on August 4, and September 8, 1781, as follows.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR CHARLES,--There is a debt of love, which I should have\n paid before now; but I must not delay it any longer. I have\n long observed you with a curious eye; not as a musician, but as\n an immortal spirit, that is come forth from God the Father of\n spirits, and is returning to Him in a few moments. But have you\n well considered this? Methinks, if you had, it would be ever\n uppermost in your thoughts. For what trifles, in comparison of\n this, are all the shining baubles in the world! God has\n favoured you with many advantages. You have health, strength,\n and a thousand outward blessings. And why should you not have\n all inward blessings, which God hath purchased for those that\n love Him? You are good humoured, mild, and harmless; but,\n unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God!\n You are now, as it were, on the crisis of your fate; just\n launching into life, and ready to fix your choice, whether you\n will have God or the world for your happiness. You cannot avoid\n being very frequently among elegant men and women, that are\n without God in the world; but, as your _business_, rather than\n your _choice_, calls you into the fire, I trust that you will\n not be burnt; seeing He, whom you desire to serve, is able to\n deliver you, even out of the burning fiery furnace.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Charles, your very affectionate uncle,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[408]\n\nCharles Wesley, junior, who had been already introduced to the court\nof George III., lived to become the organist of George IV., and the\nmusical preceptor of the long lamented Princess Charlotte. He never\nmarried; but resided, first with his widowed mother, and then with his\nsister Sarah,--was a man of deep devotional feeling, an attendant at\nMethodist chapels, a lover of Methodist preachers, and died, in 1834,\nhumming Handel\u2019s music, and was buried in the same grave as his father\nand mother in Marylebone churchyard. Poor Samuel was seduced into the\npopish church before he arrived at the age of twenty; and, thereby,\nbrought the grey hairs of his father with sorrow to the grave. He\ncomposed a high mass for the use of the chapel of Pope Pius VI., and\nreceived that pontiff\u2019s thanks.[409] Like many others, he found it an\neasy step from popery to infidelity, and wrote: \u201cIn this life, my only\nconsolation is in the belief of fatalism, which, although a gloomy\nasylum, is as bright as I can bear, till convinced of that truth which\na launch into the great gulf only can demonstrate.\u201d He survived his\nbrother Charles and his sister Sarah; in his last days became a\npenitent; died in 1837; and was buried in the sepulchre of his\nparents.[410]\n\nThe conference of 1781 was a memorable gathering. It was preceded, on\nSunday, August 5, by a service in the parish church, at Leeds, such as\nwas probably never witnessed within its walls, either before or since.\nWesley preached; eighteen clergymen, inclusive of himself, Coke, and\nFletcher, were present; and, at the Lord\u2019s supper, there were about\neleven hundred communicants, the ordinance being administered by\nWesley and ten other ministers.[411]\n\nConnexional affairs created anxiety. Thomas Taylor, in his manuscript\ndiary, remarks: \u201cI feel much concern respecting several things; but\nhow to have them remedied I cannot tell. Many things are exceedingly\nwrong; but whom to trust to attempt amendment I know not. I sometimes\nthink, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.\u201d\n\nWesley writes: \u201cAugust 6--I desired Mr. Fletcher, Dr. Coke, and four\nmore of our brethren, to meet every evening, that we might consult\ntogether on any difficulty that occurred. On August 7, our conference\nbegan, at which were present about seventy preachers, whom I had\nseverally invited to come and assist me with their advice, in carrying\non the great work of God.\u201d\n\nThe burden of so many preachers being present was found to be greater\nthan the Leeds society could conveniently bear; and it was agreed that\nevery preacher should pay the expenses of his horse keep during the\nconference sittings. There were more preachers\u2019 wives in the connexion\nthan there were houses to lodge them, or money to find them\nmaintenance; and it was resolved, that no more married preachers\nshould be admitted, except in cases of necessity.[412] Some of the\npreachers had printed, both in verse and prose, without Wesley\u2019s\nconsent or correction. Among others, James Kershaw had recently issued\na quarto sized book, of 134 pages, entitled, \u201cThe Methodist; attempted\nin Plain Metre.\u201d It was thought, that these productions had brought a\nreproach upon the Methodists, and had hindered the spreading of more\nprofitable books; and it was determined that, in future, no preacher\nshould print anything till it had been corrected by Wesley, and that\nthe profits thereof should go into the common stock. Wesley\u2019s Notes on\nthe Old Testament had now been published sixteen years, and yet the\nedition had not been sold. To get rid of the remaining copies, it was\ndirected that they should be sold at half price.\n\nA number of Methodists at Baildon, in Yorkshire, had written to\nWesley, stating that, in accordance with his instructions, they\nattended the services of their parish church; but their minister\npreached what they considered to be \u201cdangerously false doctrine,\u201d\ninasmuch as he publicly declared, that men \u201cmust not hope to be\nperfected in love, on this side eternity\u201d; and this had made them\ndoubt whether they ought to hear him. Wesley laid their letter before\nthe conference, and, as the difficulty applied to many others besides\nthe Methodists at Baildon, he invited a friendly and free discussion.\nIt was unanimously agreed: (1) That it was highly expedient, that all\nthe Methodists, who had been bred therein, should attend the service\nof the church as often as possible. But that, (2) If the minister\nbegan either to preach the absolute decrees, or to rail at, and\nridicule Christian perfection, they should quietly go out of the\nchurch; yet attend it again the next opportunity.\u201d Wesley adds: \u201cI\nhave, since that time, revolved this matter over and over in my mind;\nand the more I consider it, the more I am convinced, this was the best\nanswer that could be given. Only, I must earnestly caution our friends\nnot to be critical; not to make a man an offender for a word; no, nor\nfor a few sentences, which any who believe the decrees may drop\nwithout design.\u201d[413] \u201cIt is a delicate and important point, on which\nI cannot lay down any general rule. All I can say, at present, is, if\nit does not hurt you, hear them; if it does, refrain. Be determined by\nyour own conscience.\u201d[414]\n\nBut this was not all that occurred, on the Church question, at the\nconference of 1781. One of the principal Methodists, in Leeds, was\nWilliam Hey, now in the forty-fifth year of his age, a medical man of\ngreat repute, an intimate friend and correspondent of Dr. Priestley,\nand who had been a Methodist for seven-and-twenty years. Mr. Hey\nintimated to Wesley his desire to address the conference, and to offer\nsome suggestions and advice; declaring, at the same time, that, if his\nproposals were rejected, he could no longer remain a member of the\nMethodist society. By Wesley\u2019s permission he began to read a paper, to\nthe effect, that Dissenting ideas had been, for many years, gradually\ngrowing among the Methodists. In proof of this, he held that the\nMethodists preached in places already supplied with pious ministers;\nthat meetings in some instances were held in church hours; that the\nintervals of church service were so filled up with public and private\nassemblies, that there was no time for suitable refreshment, nor\nopportunity for instructing families; that many of the largest\nsocieties rarely went to church, and some never carried their children\nthere; and that church ministers, who formed societies for private\ninstruction, were looked upon with an envious eye. Such were the\ncomplaints which Mr. Hey intended to lay before the conference; but,\nas he proceeded, the marks of disapprobation were such that Wesley\ninterposed, and said: \u201cAs there is much other business before us,\nbrother Hey must defer reading the remainder of his paper to another\ntime.\u201d\n\nBrother Hey forthwith left the society; a few months later he was\nelected alderman; and, more than once, filled the office of chief\nmagistrate in the town of Leeds. Of his ability and piety there can be\nno question; but Wesley was not prepared to allow him to be the\ndictator of the Methodists.[415]\n\nNo sooner was the conference over than the venerable Wesley again set\nout on his gospel wanderings. He preached at Sheffield, and then,\ntaking coach with Dr. Coke, travelled day and night till he arrived in\nLondon. Two days were spent in the metropolis, and then off he set, on\nSunday night, August 19, by coach to Cornwall. We need not follow him.\nSuffice it to say, that, in eight days, he preached in Cornwall, at\nleast, thirteen sermons, five of them in the open air, and one in\nGwennap Pit, to a congregation computed at more than twenty thousand\npeople.\n\nOn September 6, he got back to Bristol, in the neighbourhood of which,\naccording to his custom, he spent a month. While here, he wrote the\nfollowing characteristic letter to Mr. Elijah Bush, a young\nschoolmaster at Midsomer Norton, who wished to marry a lady to whom\nhis father and mother objected.\n\n \u201cCOLEFORD, _September 11, 1781_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I was much concerned yesterday, when I heard\n you were likely to marry a woman against the consent of your\n parents. I have never, in an observation of fifty years, known\n such a marriage attended with a blessing. I know not how it\n should be, since it is flatly contrary to the fifth\n commandment. I told my own mother, pressing me to marry, \u2018I\n dare not allow you a positive voice herein; I dare not marry a\n person because you bid me. But I must allow you a negative\n voice: I will marry no person if you forbid. I know it would be\n a sin against God.\u2019 Take care what you do. Mr. S. is not a\n proper judge: he hopes to separate you from the Methodists; and\n I expect, if you take this step, that will be the end.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[416]\n\nMr. Bush acted upon Wesley\u2019s advice; became the leader of the Midsomer\nNorton society, and a local preacher; and died a faithful Methodist in\n1845.[417]\n\nThere are other unhappy marriages besides those contrary to the fifth\ncommandment. Wesley\u2019s was one. For thirty years, he paid a fearful\npenalty for his rash act in 1751; but now his matrimonial misery\nended. Leaving Bristol on October 7, and preaching on his way at\nDevizes, Sarum, Winchester, and in the Isle of Wight, he arrived in\nLondon on October 12, and, under the same date, wrote in his journal:\n\u201cI was informed my wife died on Monday.\u201d (October 8.) \u201cThis evening\nshe was buried, though I was not informed of it till a day or two\nafter.\u201d\n\nMourning for such a wife would have been hypocrisy. Three days after,\non October 15, the widower set out to visit his societies in\nOxfordshire. On a similar errand, he went off to Norfolk. On November\n5, he began meeting the London classes, and says: \u201cI found a\nconsiderable increase in the society. This I impute chiefly to a small\ncompany of young persons, who have kept a prayer-meeting at five every\nmorning.\u201d He then set out on his tours through Northamptonshire,\nHuntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, and Kent, and concluded the\nyear in London.\n\nThe war still raged; English disasters were multiplied; the ministry\nwas tottering, and soon after fell; with which fall the conflict in\nAmerica concluded. It was at this period, that a rumour gained\ncredence, that the administration intended to propose the embodying of\nthe militia, and their being exercised on Sundays. Wesley was an\nardent friend of the ministry of Lord North; and, of course, a staunch\ndefender of the sanctity of the sabbath. Accordingly, towards the\nclose of 1781, he addressed the following letter to a nobleman, then\nhigh in office.\n\n \u201cMY LORD,--If I wrong your lordship, I am sorry for it; but I\n really believe your lordship fears God: and I hope your\n lordship has no unfavourable opinion of the Christian\n revelation. This encourages me to trouble your lordship with a\n few lines, which otherwise I should not take upon me to do.\n\n \u201cAbove thirty years ago, a motion was made in parliament for\n raising and embodying the militia, and for exercising them, to\n save time, on Sunday. When the motion was like to pass, an old\n gentleman stood up and said: \u2018Mr. Speaker, I have one objection\n to this: I believe an old book, called the Bible,\u2019 The members\n looked at one another, and the motion was dropped.\n\n \u201cMust not all others, who believe the Bible, have the very same\n objection? And from what I have seen, I cannot but think, these\n are still three fourths of the nation. Now, setting religion\n out of the question, is it expedient to give such a shock to so\n many millions of people at once? And certainly it would shock\n them extremely; it would wound them in a very tender part. For\n would not they, would not all England, would not all Europe,\n consider this as a virtual repeal of the Bible? And would not\n all serious persons say, \u2018We have little religion in the land\n now; but, by this step, we shall have less still. For wherever\n this pretty show is to be seen, the people will flock together;\n and will lounge away so much time before and after it, that the\n churches will be emptier than they are at present!\u2019\n\n \u201cMy lord, I am concerned for this on a double account. First,\n because I have personal obligations to your lordship, and would\n fain, even for this reason, recommend your lordship to the love\n and esteem of all over whom I have any influence. Secondly,\n because I now reverence your lordship for your office sake, and\n believe it to be my bounden duty to do all, that is in my\n little power, to advance your lordship\u2019s influence and\n reputation.\n\n \u201cWill your lordship permit me to add a word in my old fashioned\n way? I pray Him, that has all power in heaven and earth, to\n prosper all your endeavours for the public good; and am, my\n lord, your lordship\u2019s willing servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[418]\n\nFor some reason, no such bill was introduced into parliament. A few\nmonths later, Lord North and his colleagues tendered to the king their\nresignation, and peace negotiations were commenced.\n\nBefore concluding the present year, it only remains to notice Wesley\u2019s\npublications in 1781.\n\n1. \u201cAn Extract of a Letter to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount\nH----e, on his Naval Conduct in the American War.\u201d 12mo, 27 pages.\n\n2. \u201cA Concise Ecclesiastical History, from the Birth of Christ to the\nBeginning of the present Century. In four volumes.\u201d 12mo. The\nproposals for printing this work by subscription are now before us;\nfrom which it appears, that the price of the four volumes, to\nsubscribers, was ten shillings, and that booksellers, subscribing for\nsix copies, should have a seventh gratis. The book, in fact, is\nWesley\u2019s abridgment of Mosheim, to which is added, \u201cA Short History of\nthe People called Methodists,\u201d filling 112 printed pages, and dated\n\u201cLondon, November 16, 1781.\u201d\n\n3. The _Arminian Magazine_. 8vo, 688 pages. In his preface, Wesley\nsays: \u201cI dare not fill up any publication of mine with bits and\nscraps, to humour any one living. It is true, I am not fond of verbose\nwriters, neither of very long treatises. I conceive, the size of a\nbook is not always the measure of the writer\u2019s understanding. Nay, I\nbelieve, if angels were to write books, we should have very few\nfolios. But, neither am I fond of tracts, that begin and end before\nthey have cleared up anything.\u201d\n\nBesides six original sermons, the principal article, in the magazine\nof 1781 is Wesley\u2019s own translation of Castellio\u2019s Dialogues on\nPredestination. There is a long and interesting account of Kingswood\nschool. Wesley writes:--\u201cI love the very sight of Oxford; but my\nprejudice in its favour is considerably abated: I do not admire it as\nI once did; and, whether I did or not, I am now constrained to make a\nvirtue of necessity.\u201d He then refers to the expulsion, and exclusion\nof students, because of their being Methodists; and continues: \u201cI am\nmuch obliged to Dr. Nowell and others, for not holding me longer in\nsuspense, but dealing so frankly and openly. And, blessed be God! I\ncan do all the business, which I have in hand, without them. Honour or\npreferment I do not want, any more than a feather in my cap; and I\ntrust, most of those who are educated at our school are, and will be,\nof the same mind. As to the knowledge of the tongues, and of arts and\nsciences, with whatever is termed academical learning, if those who\nhave a tolerable capacity for them do not advance more at Kingswood in\nthree years, than the generality of students at Oxford and Cambridge\ndo in seven, I will bear the blame for ever.\u201d He then meets the\nobjection, that young men could not have at Kingswood the advantages\nthey would have at the university, from professors, tutors, public\nexercises, and company. He maintains, that it would be no loss to the\nuniversities if all their professorships were abolished. Some of the\ntutors, he admits, were worthy of all honour, but many were utterly\nunqualified for the work they had undertaken. As to the public\nexercises, he himself had never \u201cfound them any other than useless\ninterruptions of useful studies.\u201d As to company, he writes: \u201cIt is\nmost true, that the moment a young man sets his foot either in Oxford\nor Cambridge, he is surrounded with company of all kinds, except that\nwhich will do him good; with loungers and triflers of every sort; with\nmen who no more concern themselves with learning than with religion.\nCompany, therefore, is usually so far from being an advantage to those\nwho enter at either university, that it is the grand nuisance, as well\nas disgrace, of both; the pit that swallows unwary youths by\nthousands. I bless God! we have no such _choice of company at\nKingswood_; nor ever will, till my head is laid. There is no trifler,\nno lounger, no drone there; much less any drunkard, sabbath breaker,\nor common swearer. Whoever accounts this a disadvantage may find a\nremedy at any college in Oxford or Cambridge.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [384] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 303.\n\n [385] _Methodist Magazine_, 1781, p. 522.\n\n [386] Ibid. p. 636.\n\n [387] Ibid. 1782, p. 69.\n\n [388] Original manuscript letter.\n\n [389] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 8.\n\n [390] _Methodist Magazine_, 1851, p. 556.\n\n [391] Ibid, 1860, p. 379.\n\n [392] Manuscript.\n\n [393] _Methodist Magazine_, 1782, p. 331.\n\n [394] Manuscript.\n\n [395] Manuscript.\n\n [396] Manuscript.\n\n [397] Bradburn\u2019s Memoirs, p. 47.\n\n [398] Then at Colne, in the thirty-fourth year of his\n itinerancy.\n\n [399] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 138.\n\n [400] \u201cHistory of Methodism in Grantham.\u201d\n\n [401] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 475.\n\n [402] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley; and _Methodist\n Magazine_, 1828, p. 719.\n\n [403] _Methodist Magazine_, 1844, p. 288.\n\n [404] Manuscript letter by Miss March.\n\n [405] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. iv., p. 207.\n\n [406] _Methodist Magazine_, 1807, p. 471; and Wesley\u2019s\n Works, vol. xiii., p. 36.\n\n [407] _Methodist Magazine_, 1846, p. 452.\n\n [408] Ibid. 1844, p. 562.\n\n [409] Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 316.\n\n [410] _Wesley Banner_, 1851.\n\n [411] _Methodist Magazine_, 1829, p. 528.\n\n [412] The following letter was written to Duncan Wright,\n assistant in Yarm circuit, a few months later.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 24, 1781_.\n\n \u201cDEAR DUNCAN,--Surely you and I may speak freely\n to each other; for we love one another. If George\n Holder goes out, either you must keep his mother,\n or she must go to the workhouse. You must not give\n an exhortation to the bands, but encourage them\n to speak. I would be much obliged to you if you\n would (1) accept the key of the book room, and\n immediately take the books into your own care; (2)\n clip the wings of the local preachers, stewards,\n and leaders, changing them as need requires; (3)\n fix bands where they are wanting; (4) if James\n Bogie is willing to remain single, let him travel;\n (5) do not receive the blind man hastily, let him\n be thoroughly tried first; (6) be of good courage,\n and conquer everything. I am, dear Duncan, etc.,\n JOHN WESLEY.\u201d--(_Watchman_, Jan. 8, 1868.)\n\n [413] _Methodist Magazine_, 1782, p. 153.\n\n [414] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 232.\n\n [415] Life of Hey.\n\n [416] _Methodist Magazine_, 1848, p. 1055.\n\n [417] Ibid.\n\n [418] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 400.\n\n\n\n\n 1782.\n Age 79\n\n\nAs usual, Wesley spent the first two months of the new year in London.\nThe most notable occurrence, during this period, was the institution\nof a tract society,--the first that was ever formed. The Religious\nTract Society was originated in 1799; Wesley\u2019s, seventeen years\nprevious to this. We have before us an original document printed in\n1783, entitled, \u201cA Plan of the Society, instituted in January, 1782,\nto distribute Religious Tracts among the Poor.\u201d The rules are three.\n\u201c1. Every member must subscribe half-a-guinea, a guinea, or more,\nannually. 2. A proportionable quota of tracts shall be delivered\nyearly to each subscriber, according to his subscription, and, as\nnearly as possible, at prime cost, and carriage paid. 3. Every\nsubscriber shall have a right to choose his own tracts, if he please;\notherwise, he will receive a proportionable variety of the whole.\u201d\nAfter this follows a list of thirty tracts already printed, all of\nthem either written or published by Wesley. Then there is subjoined\nthe following: \u201cAn Extract of the Original Proposals.\u201d\n\n \u201cI cannot but earnestly recommend this to all those who desire\n to see true scriptural Christianity spread throughout these\n nations. Men wholly unawakened will not take pains to read the\n Bible. They have no relish for it. But a small tract may engage\n their attention for half-an-hour; and may, by the blessing of\n God, prepare them for going forward.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n \u201cLONDON, _January 25, 1782_.\u201d\n\nThough Wesley\u2019s tract society does not now exist, in the form in which\nit was instituted in 1782, it is a fact worth noting, that, in 1867,\nWesley\u2019s book room, in City Road, sold not fewer than one million five\nhundred and seventy thousand tracts, all printed and published by\nitself;[419] and that the number of its distinct and separate tract\npublications, in 1871, is not less than 1250.\n\nWe have said, the Methodist Tract Society was the first that was ever\nformed. It is true that, in 1699, \u201cThe Society for Promoting Christian\nKnowledge\u201d was founded; and, in 1750, \u201cThe Society for Promoting\nReligious Knowledge among the Poor\u201d; but, strictly speaking, neither\nof these was a tract society. In this respect, as in others, Wesley\nwas a pioneer. As early as 1745, he speaks of \u201cgiving away some\nthousands of little tracts among the common people\u201d; and long before\n1782, had written, and published, besides a large number of separate\nand short sermons, at least scores of penny publications. And yet Mr.\nJones, the corresponding secretary of the Religious Tract Society, in\nhis jubilee volume of 700 pages, while professing to trace the origin\nof tract distribution, entirely omits the name of Wesley, who saw the\nvalue and the power of a tract more than fifty years before the\nReligious Tract Society had a name. Was this intentional? We trust\nnot.\n\nOn Sunday, the 3rd of March, Wesley took coach for Bristol, where he\nspent the next fortnight. He then started off on his long northern\njourney. On his way, he called at Madeley, where \u201cboth Mr. and Mrs.\nFletcher complained, that, after all the pains they had taken, they\ncould not prevail on the people to join in society, no, nor even to\nmeet in class.\u201d What the vicar and his new wife (Miss Bosanquet)\nfailed to do, Wesley accomplished. He preached two rousing sermons;\nand \u201cthen desired those, who were willing to join together for\nChristian fellowship, to call upon him and Mr. Fletcher after service.\nNinety-four persons did so: about as many men as women.\u201d Wesley adds:\n\u201cWe explained to them the nature of a Christian society, and they\nwillingly joined therein.\u201d\n\nWesley then proceeded to Congleton, where \u201cthe Calvinists were\nstriving to make havoc of the flock\u201d; and to Macclesfield, where he\nspent Good Friday and Easter Sunday. On the former day, he preached\ntwice, in the Rev. David Simpson\u2019s church; and, with his assistance,\nadministered the sacrament to about thirteen hundred persons; on the\nlatter day, he also preached twice in the same edifice; again\nadministered to eight hundred communicants; and, in the evening,\npreached in the Methodist chapel, and held a lovefeast at which\nsixteen or eighteen persons professed to live in the enjoyment of the\nblessing of perfect love. \u201cAbout forty,\u201d says Hester Ann Rogers, in\nthe unpublished portion of her diary, \u201cmade a noble confession.\u201d Among\nthese were herself, George Bradock, Joseph Roe, John Booby, T.\nRidgway, Joseph Norberry, Billy Sharpley, S. Bradshaw, and John\nGoostry; the last of whom Wesley ordered to stand on the form, that\nthe people might hear him. \u201cMr. Wesley,\u201d continues Mrs. Rogers, \u201ckept\nthe lovefeast two hours, a thing which I never knew him do before; but\nhis soul was filled with thankfulness, for so many witnesses of\nredeeming love and full salvation.\u201d\n\nIt would be tedious to mention all the places Wesley visited. Suffice\nit to say, that, at Ashton under Lyne, he preached in the new chapel,\nwhich had the following inscription over the door: \u201cCan any good come\nout of Nazareth? Come and see!\u201d At Oldham, \u201ca whole troop of boys and\ngirls would not be contented till he shook each by the hand.\u201d At St.\nHelen\u2019s, he preached in the house of Joseph Harris, who had removed\nfrom Kingswood, \u201cto take care of the copper works.\u201d At Wigan, he \u201csaw\nan uncommon sight,--the preaching house filled, yea, crowded.\u201d At\nEpworth, there had been a marvellous revival. At Thorne, fifty had\nfound peace with God within two months. At Edinburgh, he was the guest\nof Lady Maxwell, and visited her school of forty poor children, many\nof whom were without shoes; but not a girl, in rags, was without her\nruffles. At Kelso, he fell, head foremost, down the stairs of Dr.\nDouglas\u2019s house, but mercifully escaped without serious injury.[420]\nAt York, he entered into his eightieth year, and wrote: \u201cBlessed be\nGod! my time is not labour and sorrow. I find no more pain or bodily\ninfirmities than at five-and-twenty. This I still impute--(1) To the\npower of God, fitting me for what He calls me to. (2) To my still\ntravelling four or five thousand miles a year. (3) To my sleeping,\nnight or day, whenever I want it. (4) To my rising at a set hour. (5)\nTo my constant preaching, particularly in the morning.\u201d\n\nWesley reached London, after an absence of more than four months, on\nJuly 20. Here he held his conference. He writes: \u201cFriday, August 2, we\nobserved as a day of fasting and prayer for a blessing on the ensuing\nconference; and I believe God clothed His word with power in an\nuncommon manner throughout the week; so that, were it only on this\naccount, the preachers who came from all parts found their labour was\nnot in vain.\u201d\n\nAmong other questions debated at this conference, was the sabbath.\nMethodists, in some instances, visited barbers\u2019 shops on Sundays; and,\nin others, practised military exercises, as volunteers, or were\nspectators of such exercises. This led the conference to enact, that\nno members of society should have their hair dressed on Sundays; and\nthat, as far as possible, those barbers should be patronised who\nobserved the sabbath\u2019s sanctity. It was further determined, that any\nMethodist, who practised military exercises on the sabbath, as a\nvolunteer, should be expelled; and that any one who, after proper\nadmonition, continued a spectator of such sabbath drills should\nundergo the same penalty. Though not absolutely forbidden, preachers\nwere recommended not to powder their hair, nor to wear artificial\ncurls. The weekly and quarterly contributions having been shamefully\nneglected in many of the societies, the assistants and leaders were to\nremind the people of the original rule, that \u201cevery member contributes\none penny weekly, (unless he is in extreme poverty,) and one shilling\nquarterly.\u201d Wesley adds: \u201c_Money lovers_ are the pest of every\nChristian society. They have been the main cause of destroying every\nrevival of religion. They will destroy _us_, if we do not put them\naway. A man not worth a shilling enters our society. Yet he freely\ngives a penny a week. Five years after, he is worth scores of pounds;\nhe gives a penny a week still. I must think this man covetous, unless\nhe assures me he bestows his charity some other way. For every one is\ncovetous, whose beneficence does not increase in the same proportion\nas his substance.\u201d\n\nThe most troublesome subject of discussion was the case of the Birstal\nchapel. It was asked, \u201cWhat can be done with regard to the preaching\nhouse at Birstal?\u201d Answer. \u201cIf the trustees still refuse to settle it\non the Methodist plan: 1. Let a plain statement of the case be drawn\nup. 2. Let a collection be made throughout all England, in order to\npurchase ground, and to build another preaching house as near the\npresent as may be.\u201d\n\nThis was an important matter, on account of its involving one of\nMethodism\u2019s fundamental principles, namely, that the conference\n_alone_ shall have the power of appointing preachers to preach in\nMethodist chapels. This was the first time that the question was\nfairly raised. It was seen, that the issue, either way, would be most\nmomentous. It affected not Birstal merely, but the whole Methodist\nconnexion; and not the present only, but the future. Great excitement\nwas created. The controversy, among other great results, led to the\ndrawing up and enrolment of Methodism\u2019s Magna Charta, Wesley\u2019s deed of\ndeclaration, in 1784. Altogether, this was one of the most important\nevents in Wesley\u2019s history; and, hence, a detailed account of it will\nnot be inappropriate.\n\nThe original chapel at Birstal was erected, under the auspices of John\nNelson, about the year 1751. By the deed of settlement, the right of\noccupying the pulpit was given, first, to the two Wesleys in\nsuccession, and then to Grimshaw of Haworth; but, after the decease of\nthese three ministers, the trustees were to elect their own preachers\nmonthly; and all such preachers, so long as they continued in this\noffice, were to preach in the chapel twice every Sunday, every\nChristmas day, New Year\u2019s day, and Good Friday, and also every\nThursday night, as had been, up to 1751, \u201cusual and customary to be\ndone.\u201d\n\nSuch was the substance of the obnoxious clause; which hitherto,\nhowever, had created no difficulty.\n\nIn 1782, it was found necessary, either to enlarge the old chapel, or\nto build a new one in its place. Contributions were given for this\npurpose; but were not sufficient. It was ascertained, that the sum of\n\u00a3350 additional would be required, and that eight of the intended\ntrustees would have to advance the money. To give them security, a\ndeed of transfer was prepared, in which John and Charles Wesley, for\nthe considerations therein mentioned, sold to certain specified\ntrustees the old premises, with the following agreements in reference\nto the enlarged, or the new chapel, which was to be provided to meet\nthe growing necessities of the Birstal Methodists. 1. The trustees\nadvancing the \u00a3350 were to have, as their security, \u201cthe rents and\nprofits to arise from the hearers\u2019 pews and seats.\u201d 2. The new or\nenlarged chapel was to be occupied, during their lifetime, by John and\nCharles Wesley, or by those whom they might from time to time appoint.\n3. After their death, the appointment of preachers, to preach in the\nsaid chapel, was to be made by the trustees, and by \u201csuch members of\nthe Methodist society as had been classleaders for three years, within\nthe circumjacent villages of Birstal, Great Gomersal, Little Gomersal,\nBirkenshaw, Adwalton, Drighlington, Batley, Carlinghow, and\nHeckmondwike; or by the major part of such trustees and classleaders.\u201d\nProvided always, that the said preachers preach no other doctrine than\nis contained in Mr. Wesley\u2019s Notes upon the Old and New Testament;\nthat they preach in the said chapel twice every Sunday, and at least\none evening every week; and that they hold the said premises and\nexercise the function of a preacher only during the goodwill and\npleasure of the major part of the aforesaid trustees and classleaders.\nAfter this, followed a number of provisoes in reference to pew rents,\netc. (1) The rents were to be applied in keeping the premises in\nrepair. (2) In paying interest upon the debt of \u00a3350, at 5 per cent.\nper annum. (3) In maintaining the preacher for the time being, for\nwhich purpose, however, not more than \u00a310 a year should be\nappropriated, until after the whole of the \u00a3350 had been repaid; when,\nafter deducting for repairs and lasting improvements, the whole of the\nclear rents and profits arising from the pews and seats should be\ngiven \u201cfor and towards the maintenance and support of the preachers or\npastors for the time being of the said society at Birstal.\u201d It was\nfurther provided, that the appointment and removal of chapel stewards\nshould be vested in the preachers, trustees, and classleaders\naforesaid, or the major part of them, notice of their meetings for\nsuch purpose, however, having to be publicly read to the congregation\non three successive Sunday evenings immediately preceding. Certain\nrooms also in a dwelling house, on the premises, were to be at the use\nof the stewards and leaders, for the purpose of transacting business\nand meeting classes.\n\nThe above is an abstract of all the important points in the new trust\ndeed of 1782. That deed had attached to it the following signatures.\n\n John Aspinall,\n Joseph Bennett,\n James Blackburn,\n John Tempest,\n Jonathan Brearley,\n Benjamin Mallinson,\n Anthony Williamson,\n Nathaniel Harrison,\n John White,\n Joseph Nelson,\n William Booth,\n John Wesley,\n Joseph Charlesworth,\n Charles Gunson,\n John Armitage,\n Joseph Lee,\n Thomas Crowther,\n William Tempest,\n Isaac Smith,\n William Chadwick.\n\nWesley\u2019s signature was witnessed by Thomas Briscoe and Alexander\nMather. The deed was dated May 14, 1782, and was enrolled on the 11th\nof October following. It may be added, that, of the above signers,\nAspinall, Bennett, Blackburn, Tempest, Brierley, Williamson, Harrison,\nWhite, Nelson, and Booth were old trustees; Mallinson, Charlesworth,\nGunson, Armitage, Lee, Crowther, W. Tempest, Smith, and Chadwick were\nthe new trustees.\n\nThe deed of 1782 was widely different from that of 1751, and, as the\nvice chancellor ruled in 1854, so far as it purported to vary the\ntrusts of the latter deed, it was void and of no effect;[421] but it\nstill contained the obnoxious clause, giving power to other parties\nthan Wesley\u2019s conference, to appoint the preachers. Wesley says, in a\nletter to his brother, dated May 28, 1782:\n\n \u201cThe trustees brought to me the deed, at Daw Green, which they\n read over, and desired me to sign. We disputed upon it about an\n hour. I then gave them a positive answer, that I would not sign\n it; and, leaving them abruptly, went up into my room. At night,\n a little before I went to bed, they came again, got round and\n worried me down. But, I think, they cannot worry you. May you\n not very properly write to Mr. Valton? \u2018If the trustees will\n settle the Birstal house on the Methodist plan, I will sign\n their deed with all my heart; but, if they build a house for a\n presbyterian meeting-house, I will not, dare not, have anything\n to do with it.\u2019\u201d[422]\n\nWesley committed a mistake; but, be it borne in mind, that he was now\nan old man of nearly eighty, and that Alexander Mather, and Thomas\nBriscoe, the superintendents of the Leeds and Birstal circuits, were\nparticipators in his folly.\n\nIn an unpublished letter to Samuel Bradburn, then stationed at\nBradford, Wesley wrote:\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 9, 1782_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--I abhor the thought of giving to twenty men the\n power to place or displace the preacher in their congregations.\n How would he then dare to speak an unpleasing truth? And, if he\n did, what would become of him? This must never be the case,\n while I live, among the Methodists. And Birstal is a leading\n case, the first of an avowed violation of our plan. Therefore,\n the point must be carried for the Methodist preachers now or\n never; and I alone can carry it, which I will, God being my\n helper. You are not a match for the silver tongue, nor brother\n Hopper. But do not, to please any of your new friends forsake\n\n \u201cYour true old friend,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nCharles Wesley acted upon his brother\u2019s advice. He entered into\ncorrespondence with the Birstal reformers. In answer to their\nobjection, that \u201cthe present trustees _could not_ legally transfer any\nof their power _to the conference_,\u201d he asks: \u201cThen how can they\ntransfer any of their power to the leaders?\u201d He continues:\n\n \u201cYou add,--\u2018As long as the conference appoints preachers with\n candid impartiality, we doubt not their appointments will be\n acquiesced in by the trustees and classleaders.\u2019 But, according\n to this deed, the conference has no more business than the\n parliament to appoint preachers at all. To touch on one more\n point. From the beginning of Methodism till now, the assistants\n appointed the stewards in all societies; but this deed gives\n the trustees and leaders this power; which they think is\n \u2018_necessary_ to ensure the repayment of the \u00a3350 to be advanced\n for the building.\u2019 _Necessary!_ Not at all. How many thousand\n pounds, advanced for buildings, have been paid within these\n forty years, though all the stewards in England, Scotland, and\n Ireland, have been hitherto appointed by my brother or the\n assistants! You conclude your letter with a very just\n observation: \u2018the civil and religious rights of mankind have\n seldom been promoted by the assemblies of ecclesiastics of any\n denomination; and they never will be, unless they are composed\n of men devoted to God, and dead to all the allurements of ease,\n and avarice, and ambition.\u2019 This is undoubtedly true; and this,\n we humbly hope, is the real character of most (at least) of\n those persons that meet in our assemblies. We hope, likewise,\n that \u2018their consultations will always be moderated by some wise\n and truly religious man\u2019; otherwise, that God will sweep away\n the very name of Methodist from the earth. Upon the whole, I\n cannot, I dare not sign that deed. I can have nothing to do\n with it. If the house should, nevertheless, be built, and\n settled upon that plan, I apprehend the consequence would be\n this: 1. No Methodist preacher would ever preach in it. If any\n did, the whole body would disclaim him. 2. My brother would\n immediately set a subscription on foot for buying ground and\n building another house. The trustees then might do what they\n pleased with theirs.\u201d[423]\n\nThis letter was written a week before the conference of 1782 was\nopened; and was a reply to one written by James Carr, the trustees\u2019\nattorney, who, soon afterwards, addressed the following unpublished\nletter to Mr. Charlesworth.\n\n \u201cMY GOOD FRIEND,--Having an insuperable aversion to _recite_ my\n own simple performances, I here enclose a correct copy of my\n letter to Mr. Charles Wesley.\n\n \u201cI know, that you and the other framers of the present trust\n deed, were actuated by the _purest_, most _equitable_, and\n _disinterested_ motives; and, therefore, in my address to Mr.\n Wesley, I held myself bound, by every tie of justice, to\n explain and enforce the _grounds_ and _reasons_ of your\n conduct, with all the energy in my power. I hope, I have no\n immodest opinion of my poor abilities, when I assert, that the\n _reasons_, by me alleged, for modifying the deed, in the manner\n described, cannot be fairly answered or refuted, by Mr. Mather,\n or Mr. C. Wesley. Ingenuity may perplex, wit may ridicule,\n sophistry may misinterpret, or prejudice may dislike a deed\n framed contrary to _received systems_ or _opinions_. But when\n it is calmly considered, that the poor, beneficent founders of\n the preaching house had an undoubted right to settle it in what\n manner they thought meet; that it would be _impious_, as well\n as _illegal_, to abrogate their constitution; that you could\n only modify and improve it in a way consistent with their\n manifest intention; that the honour of religion required you to\n make a legal and effectual provision for payment of a just\n debt;--when these things, I say, are calmly considered, candour\n must admit, every preacher of righteousness must acknowledge,\n that the present trust deed is modelled with that rectitude and\n propriety, which become Christian men.\n\n \u201cAs nothing can discourage me when I am engaged in a righteous\n cause, I mean to write again to Mr. Charles Wesley; and,\n therefore, if I have omitted, in my former address, any topics\n or arguments which occur to you or friends, I wish you would\n specify them in _writing_; though I shall certainly now speak\n to him more in a _professional_ style than in a religious one.\n\n \u201cYours most sincerely,\n\n \u201cJAMES CARR.\u201d\n\nIn the mean time, the new chapel was built, and Dr. Coke took up the\nmatter. The following also is a letter now for the first time\npublished. It was addressed to Mr. Charlesworth.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _October 18, 1782_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--There is but one argument, which you have used, which\n appears to me to have any force in it against the many\n uncontrovertible arguments, which I have urged on the other\n side. It is this: is it not unjust, that the persons who have\n advanced money on the building, which has been lately erected,\n should lose that money, when they advanced it upon the word of\n Mr. Wesley, and would not have advanced it on any other ground?\n In answer to this, I observe, that, as I am in this business\n the servant of the conference, and have invested in me a\n discretionary power to act as I see occasion, I will,\n therefore, remove this objection as far as justice, equity, and\n my trust, will admit me to go. For this purpose, I promise and\n engage, that the interest of the money, which has been lent on\n the lately erected building, shall be regularly paid, either\n out of the profits of that building, or out of the profits of\n the building which is to be erected, or out of the profits of\n both of them together, so long as the two Messrs. Wesley live;\n and, after their decease, as long as the lately erected\n building is at the disposal of the Methodist conference, and no\n longer. Provided, that either of the chapels, or both of them\n together, produce an income sufficient to pay the aforesaid\n interest, after paying for the necessary repairs, and the \u00a310\n paid to the support of the preachers, be deducted. Provided,\n also, that the debt _itself_ which has been already incurred,\n remain upon the lately erected edifice, and upon that alone,--I\n promise and engage, that the aforesaid interest shall be paid\n to the creditors annually in preference to every other payment,\n except the said necessary repairs, and \u00a310 towards the support\n of the preachers.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your humble servant in the gospel,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS COKE.\u201d\n\nShortly after, Dr. Coke published a 12mo tract of 12 pages, entitled,\n\u201cAn Address to the inhabitants of Birstal, and the adjacent villages.\u201d\nHe relates how the attorney of the trustees obtained Wesley\u2019s\nsignature to the deed. He states, that Charles Wesley had not signed,\nand, he believed, never would. The \u201c_amazing deed_\u201d had been discussed\nat the late conference, and had created just alarm; and he (Dr. Coke)\nhad been delegated to carry into execution the minute that was passed;\nbut, upon application to the trustees, he had \u201cfound the greatest part\nof them determined to hold fast their unlimited and most dangerous\npower.\u201d He answers the objection, \u201cWould it not be equally dangerous\nto invest this power in the conference?\u201d by saying, \u201cNo: for the plan\nof settlement, adopted by the conference, ties them down to the\nprinciples of religion at present held by the Methodists.\u201d He relates,\nthat he had proposed to the trustees to submit the matter to the\narbitration of the attorney general, or some other eminent counsellor;\nand had engaged that, if the opinion thus obtained was the same as\nthat of the trustees and Mr. Carr, \u201cBirstal preaching house should be\nconsidered an exempt case, and the trustees should be suffered quietly\nto retain all the power which they had at present\u201d; with the\nunderstanding, on the other hand, that, if the legal opinion of the\narbitrator was, \u201cthat the surviving trustees, with the consent of the\noriginal proprietor, and all the parties concerned, could resettle the\nhouse on the Methodist plan, they would resettle it accordingly.\u201d He\nhad also added, at another meeting, that, in such a case, he would\ngive a bond of five or six hundred pounds, that the trustees, who had\nadvanced the \u00a3350, should not only have their interest, but their\n_principal_ paid them, in instalments of \u00a350 per annum; and, further,\nthat he would engage, that all subscribers to the recently erected\nbuilding, \u201cwho signified their desire of having their money returned,\nshould have it returned to them within two years.\u201d The trustees,\nhowever, \u201cobstinately refused to comply with this.\u201d\n\nCoke continues:\n\n \u201cAfterwards, another plan of reconciliation was proposed, by\n one of themselves, to which we all consented, namely, that all\n the trustees should bind themselves by a deed, that if they, or\n the major part of them, should agree, after the demise of the\n Messrs. Wesley, to choose an independent teacher, they should\n be obliged to signify, this their intention, by three years\u2019\n notice to the conference, or to the moderator of the conference\n for the time being; with a provision, that, if the preachers\n were ever to desist from meeting in regular conference, as they\n did at present, or to deviate from the grand Methodist plan on\n which they at present act, then the full power should\n immediately devolve upon the trustees, and they might, without\n any previous notice whatever, choose an independent teacher.\u201d\n\nSuch was the unanimous agreement. A rough draft of the intended deed\nwas made, and (_horresco referens!_) was brought, by the attorney of\nthe trustees, to Dr. Coke on the _Sunday_ following. On reading it,\nCoke found a few words inserted, which upset the whole. It read: \u201cIf\nthe said trustees and leaders, or the major part of them, shall at any\ntime, _in their judgment, think_ that the said conference deviates\nfrom the grand Methodist plan, then,\u201d etc., \u201cthus constituting\nthemselves judges in their own cause.\u201d Dr. Coke objected to this; and\nthey seemed willing to give it up; but \u201cdesired that another meeting\nmight be held on the following Sunday! at which all the leaders might\nbe present, that their consent might also be procured.\u201d The conference\nrepresentative agreed to this; Sunday came; and the trustees and\nleaders \u201cwould not move a single step.\u201d\n\nSuch had been the negotiations, and such was the state of affairs,\nwhen Dr. Coke published his pamphlet in November, 1782. He makes an\nappeal \u201cto the congregation, and to the society,\u201d and concludes with\nthe following prayer: \u201cO Thou Lover of concord and Prince of peace,\nkeep these little ones under Thy fostering wing. Preserve them from\nthe silken tongued sycophant, the sly deceiver, who seeks his own, and\nnot the things of Jesus Christ. Hide them for a little moment in the\nchambers of Thy love, till this and every indignation be overpast.\nKeep them close to the bleeding side of Jesus, and close to the\naffectionate hearts of their faithful pastors for ever.\u201d\n\nWhat more was done? Two months after this, on January 3, 1783, Wesley\nissued a folio circular, entitled, \u201cThe Case of the Birstal\nHouse.\u201d[424] This all can read for themselves in Wesley\u2019s collected\nworks (vol. xiii., p. 260). Suffice it to say, that the reasons\nassigned by Wesley, why neither the Birstal, nor any other Methodist\nchapel, should be settled according to the Birstal deed, were: (1) It\nwould put an end to itinerant preaching, for when the trustees got a\npreacher whom they liked, they would keep him. (2) It would put a\nbridle in the preacher\u2019s mouth; for how would he dare to speak the\nfull and the whole truth, when he was liable to lose his bread? (3)\n\u201cThe power of the trustees was greater than that of any nobleman; yea,\nor of the king himself. Where he is patron, he can _put in_ a\npreacher, but he cannot _put him out_.\u201d He concludes: \u201cNo Methodist\ntrustees, if I can help it, shall, after my death, any more than while\nI live, have the power of _placing_ and _displacing_ the preachers.\u201d\n\nSo the thing went on. A case was submitted to Mr. John Maddocks,\nbarrister, for his opinion, as to the possibility of legally making\nsuch an alteration in trust deeds, as was desired in the Birstal case.\nHis opinion, dated \u201cLincoln\u2019s Inn, July 24, 1783,\u201d is before us, and\nis to the effect, that such an alteration might be made. On the 5th of\nSeptember following, Wesley met the nineteen trustees, and offered to\nallow the same clause to be inserted in a new deed as was inserted in\nthe deed of the chapel in City Road, namely, \u201cIn case the doctrine or\npractice of any preacher should, in the opinion of the major part of\nthe trustees, be not conformable to Mr. Wesley\u2019s Sermons and Notes on\nthe New Testament, on representing this, another preacher shall be\nsent within three months.\u201d Five of the trustees were willing to accept\nof this; the rest refused.\n\nIn an unpublished letter, written by Dr. Coke, and addressed to Mr.\nBenson, only ten days after this interview, there are some other\nparticulars given. Wesley first told the trustees, he wished their\nchapel to be settled according to the Methodist plan contained in the\nminutes of conference. He then offered to allow the clause to be\ninserted which has just been mentioned; adding, \u201cthis was never\nallowed to any trustees before, and never shall again while I live.\u201d\nHe further offered to relieve the trustees of their \u00a3350 debt,\npromising to give \u00a3100 himself, and saying, \u201cThis I do, because I love\nyou, and for old acquaintance sake.\u201d And he further promised to make\nthem a present of the piece of ground which Dr. Coke had purchased for\nthe site of another chapel. The names of the five consenting trustees\nwere, Nathaniel Harrison, Anthony Williamson, John Aspinall, Joseph\nBennett, and James Blackburn.[425]\n\nThe dissentient trustees took time to think. On September 25, 1783,\nChristopher Hopper wrote to one of them, Mr. Charlesworth, in a\nsomewhat ambiguous style, as follows.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR JOSEPH,--It gives me pleasure to hear that you\n were so well satisfied with Mr. Wesley\u2019s temper and conduct;\n and I am glad to hear you behaved so well. Solemn conference!\n Great expectations! Grand overture! But alas! no decision!\n Mortifying indeed! I still wish we never had given you any\n trouble, but patiently waited the event. But, if you are\n determined to stand your ground after this meeting, I cannot\n tell what the consequence will be. Great grace be on you all!\n\n \u201cC. HOPPER.\u201d[426]\n\nReflection often brings wisdom. On the 13th of January, 1784, Mr.\nCharlesworth wrote to Wesley, saying, that his offer would now be\naccepted. He says, with a Yorkshire keenness, which smacks of\navarice--\n\n \u201cWe cannot but acknowledge your goodness in promising the land,\n and the money towards paying our debt, which will be two very\n convenient articles at this place, as we are in great want of\n both.\n\n \u201cI am, reverend and dear sir, for and on behalf of the\n trustees,\n\n \u201cYours very affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOSEPH CHARLESWORTH.\u201d[427]\n\nThe result was, a new deed was made, giving the conference power to\nappoint preachers; and this serious hubbub, _pro tem._, subsided. We\nshall soon have to recur to the same subject; and this apparently long\nand tedious digression may serve as an introduction to what will have\nto be said hereafter. The controversy was the first battle fought for\nrestricting, or rather for setting aside, an ecclesiastical power,\nwhich has grown to be the greatest exercised by any church throughout\nthe whole of the Christian world; and perhaps, on this ground, the\nwriter will be pardoned for trespassing on the reader\u2019s patience; and\nespecially as many of the incidents are now for the first time\npublished.[428]\n\nWe return to Wesley. Of course, the dispute at Birstal led to much\nunpleasantness; but Wesley was firm in maintaining discipline. Hence\nthe following, addressed to Mr. Valton, then one of the Birstal\npreachers.\n\n \u201c_June 18, 1782._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I cannot allow J---- S---- to be any longer\n a leader; and, if he will lead the class, whether I will or no,\n I require you to put him out of our society. If twenty of his\n class will leave the society too, they must. The first loss is\n the best. Better forty members should be lost, than our\n discipline be lost. _They are no Methodists, that will bear no\n restraints._ Explain this at large to the society.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[429]\n\nWesley\u2019s clerical friends were now regularly and constantly\nincreasing. He had, to some extent, outlived their _brotherly_\npersecution. They began to appreciate his motives and his services;\nand, so far from hooting and hissing him, began to greet him, to court\nhis company, and to ask his counsel. Among others of this description\nmay be mentioned the Rev. Thomas Davenport, who was now in his\nsixtieth year, but had only recently found peace with God, and that\nprincipally through Wesley\u2019s help.[430] Wesley wrote to him as\nfollows.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _August 14, 1782_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--It would have given me a good deal of satisfaction\n to have had a little conversation with you. But I do not stay\n long in one place. I have no resting place on earth:\n\n \u2018A poor wayfaring man,\n I dwell in tents below,\n Or gladly wander to and fro,\n Till I my Canaan gain.\u2019\n\n \u201cYou would have been very welcome at our conference. Mr. Pugh\n and Mr. Dodwell[431] were present at it; and, I believe, are\n more determined than ever to spend their whole strength in\n saving their own souls, and them that hear them.\n\n \u201cI believe, that one of our preachers, who are stationed in the\n Leicester circuit, will call upon you at Alexton; and I make no\n doubt but some of the seed which you have been long sowing will\n then grow up. No one should wish or pray for persecution. On\n the contrary, we are to avoid it, to the uttermost of our\n power. \u2018When they persecute you in one city, flee unto\n another.\u2019 Yet, when it does come, notwithstanding all our care\n to avoid it, God will extract good out of evil.\n\n \u201cTo-morrow I am to set out for Cornwall. In about three weeks,\n I expect to be here again. In the beginning of October, I\n generally move towards London; in the neighbourhood of which I\n usually spend the winter.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[432]\n\nThe day after this letter was written, Wesley set out westwards. On\nreaching Exeter, where his old antagonist, Bishop Lavington, once\nresided, he met with a most friendly welcome; and, by invitation,\ndined on the Sunday, with the bishop, in his palace, five other\nclergymen and four of the aldermen of Exeter being present besides\nhimself. Arriving at Plymouth, Wesley preached in the Square, and,\nwhile doing so, a regiment of soldiers, with military music, marched\ninto it. No sooner, however, did the commanding officer perceive the\npreacher, than he stopped the music, and drew up his men to listen.\n\u201cThey were all still as night;\u201d says Wesley, \u201cnor did any of them\nstir, till I had pronounced the blessing.\u201d\n\nIn Cornwall, he found an old clerical friend at the point of death,\nthe Rev. Mr. Thompson, rector of St. Gennis. It was now thirty-seven\nyears since Wesley first preached in Mr. Thompson\u2019s church, and,\nthroughout the whole of that period, they had been faithful friends.\nThe dying rector wished once more to see his old acquaintance. Wesley,\nborrowing the best horse he could find, and riding as fast as he was\nable, says: \u201cI found Mr. Thompson just alive, but quite sensible. He\nhad many doubts concerning his final state, and rather feared, than\ndesired, to die; so that my whole business was to comfort him, and to\nincrease and confirm his confidence in God. He desired me to\nadminister the Lord\u2019s supper, which I willingly did; and I left him\nmuch happier than I found him, calmly waiting till his change should\ncome.\u201d\n\nWhile riding to see his friend, Mr. Thompson, Wesley was accosted by\nan old acquaintance of another sort. He writes: \u201cOn the way, I met\nwith a white headed old man, who caught me by the hand, and said,\n\u2018Sir, do you not know me?\u2019 I answered, \u2018No.\u2019 He said, \u2018My father, my\nfather! I am poor John Trembath.\u2019 I desired him to speak to me in the\nevening at Launceston; which he did. He was, for some time, reduced to\nextreme poverty, so as to hedge and ditch for bread; but, in his\ndistress, he cried unto God, who sent him an answer of peace. He,\nlikewise, enabled him to cure a gentleman that was desperately ill,\nand afterwards several others; so that he grew into reputation, and\ngained a competent livelihood. \u2018And now,\u2019 said he, \u2018I want for\nnothing: I am happier than ever I was in my life.\u2019\u201d\n\nWho was John Trembath? One of Wesley\u2019s first itinerants, who commenced\nhis ministry in 1743, and, for several years, laboured with diligence\nunder Wesley\u2019s direction,[433]--a man of great eloquence and\nzeal,[434]--a burning and shining light, and a workman who, at one\ntime, according to Wesley, had no need to be ashamed,[435]--a preacher\nnot deep, and yet so popular as to be almost idolised by the\npeople;[436] but who, alas! for the last twenty years, had sunk into\nan extreme of sin, and shame, and misery. Naturally vain, the\napplauses of the people spoiled him. He became bouncing, and boastful,\nand not always truthful. He married, gave up reading, turned to\nfarming, and kept company with men who had just wit enough to \u201ctalk of\nbullocks,\u201d and to \u201csmoke, drink, and flatter him.\u201d He became a\nsportsman, and was suspected of smuggling.[437] His career was almost\na romance. But now, to use Wesley\u2019s language, \u201cJohn Trembath was alive\nagain.\u201d[438] A month after the strange interview above related,\nTrembath wrote to Wesley: \u201cThough God has forgiven me, yet I cannot\nforgive myself for the precious time I have wasted, the years I have\nlost, and the glorious harvest I have neglected.\u201d[439] Poor Trembath\ndied of paralysis, at Cork, about the year 1793.[440]\n\nSuch were the old friends whom Wesley met in Cornwall. Getting back to\nBristol, on September 6, he found a new one, young, but warm hearted,\nhonest, and faithful. Adam Clarke, just emerging out of his teens, had\narrived from Ireland. He had travelled from Birmingham to Bristol upon\na penny loaf and a halfpennyworth of apples; and had just three\nhalfpence left when he got to Kingswood school. He met with a\nreception from Simpson, the head master, as frigid as cold heartedness\ncould make it. Simpson\u2019s stupid, imperious wife made bad things worse,\nby suspecting that the young Irishman might be afflicted with the\nitch, and by making him rub himself from head to foot with Jackson\u2019s\nointment. This \u201cinfernal unguent,\u201d as Adam calls it, made him smell\nworse than a polecat. His only sustenance was bread and milk; and not\nenough of that. For more than three weeks, no one performed any kind\nact for him. As for Mrs. Simpson, he feared her as he feared the\ndevil. At length, Wesley arrived from Cornwall; Clarke was introduced;\nWesley laid his hands upon his head, and spent a few minutes in\nbeseeching God to bless him; and then gave him his commission to\nproceed to Wiltshire as a Methodist preacher. Fifty years after this,\nAdam Clarke died in London,--an old itinerant preacher, without a spot\non the fair escutcheon of his character,--one of the most extensively\nlearned scholars of the age,--a voluminous author,--the friend of\nphilosophers and princes,--and a man intensely beloved by nearly all\nwho knew him.\n\nWesley left Bristol for London on October 7, and, on his way, preached\nat Newport in the Isle of Wight. He writes: \u201cThis place seems now ripe\nfor the gospel, opposition is at an end.\u201d\n\nAt, Newport the first Methodist preaching place was a room in Node\nHill; and the opposition, referred to by Wesley, consisted of the\nbeating of drums, tin kettles, and bells; the throwing of rotten eggs,\nsticks, and stones; sparrows let loose in the room for the purpose of\nputting out the lights; and covering the chimney top and fastening the\ndoor, in order to stifle the imprisoned worshippers. It was at\nNewport, that Robert Wallbridge heard Wesley preach; was converted;\nbecame a Methodist; and a Methodist local preacher. Elizabeth\nWallbridge, his sister, was now a light haired, ruddy faced, and merry\nhearted girl, of twelve years old. Of scholastic learning she had but\na slender share; and had to earn her bread as a household servant. She\nhad a high flow of spirits, vanity, and ready wit, and was\ninordinately fond of dress. Elizabeth was converted under the ministry\nof James Crabb, a Methodist preacher, became a Methodist herself, and\ncontinued such to the end of life. Her father joined the church\npresided over by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, who published an account of\nhim, in a well written tract, a short time before he set sail on his\nmission to the South Sea islands. Elizabeth\u2019s brother Robert, for more\nthan forty years, was a Methodist local preacher, and died at Newport\nin 1837. Elizabeth herself died, at the age of thirty-one, in the year\n1801; the Rev. Legh Richmond visited her in her last moments; and\nafterwards wrote her life, with the title of \u201cThe Dairyman\u2019s\nDaughter,\u201d omitting to state, however, that his heroine was a\nMethodist. Millions of copies of that publication have been\ncirculated; it has been translated into, at least, thirty languages;\nand, thirty years ago, it had been the means of the conversion of\nthree hundred and fifty persons.[441]\n\nWesley reached London on October 11. Here, and in eight or nine of the\nsouthern counties of England, he spent, according to his custom, the\nremainder of the year.\n\nHis publications, in 1782, were few in number.\n\n1. An Extract from his Journal, from January 1, 1776, to August 5,\n1779. 12mo, 112 pages.\n\n2. \u201cAlleine\u2019s Alarm to the Unconverted.\u201d 12mo, 107 pages.\n\n3. \u201cAn Estimate of the Manners of the present Times.\u201d 12mo, 23 pages.\n\nThis was an exceedingly characteristic piece. With terrible severity,\nhe lashes the vices of the age; the slothfulness of people of fashion;\nthe increase of luxury, both in meat, drink, dress, and furniture; and\nlewdness of every kind. He writes: \u201cA total ignorance of God is almost\nuniversal among us. The exceptions are exceeding few, whether among\nthe learned or unlearned. High and low, cobblers, tinkers, hackney\ncoachmen, men and maid servants, soldiers, sailors, tradesmen of all\nranks, lawyers, physicians, gentlemen, lords, are as ignorant of the\nCreator of the world as Mahommedans or pagans.\u201d\n\n4. The _Arminian Magazine_. 8vo, 680 pages. Here we have an engraving\nof the new chapel in City Road, with portraits of George Story, etc.\nAbout forty pages are filled with a continuation of Wesley\u2019s\ntranslation of the Dialogues of Castellio on Election and Free Will.\nThere are long extracts from Wesley\u2019s \u201cSurvey of the Wisdom of God in\nCreation\u201d; and from Dr. Watts\u2019s Treatise on the Passions. Remarks upon\nLocke\u2019s Essay on the Human Understanding make a part of every number.\nMemoirs and happy deaths are more numerous than ever. There are sixty\nletters, and as many poems. There are six original sermons by Wesley\nhimself. One, on \u201cRedeeming the Time,\u201d is a vigorous enforcement of\nthe principles propounded in his letter to his niece in 1781.[442]\nAnother is a remarkable homily on \u201cDust thou art, and unto dust shalt\nthou return\u201d; and another, equally striking, is on God\u2019s six days\u2019\nwork. Then there is his magnificent sermon on, \u201cNot as the\ntransgression, so is the free gift.\u201d And, lastly, there is his\nterrific discourse on the Punishments of Hell. If the _Arminian\nMagazine_ had done nothing more than give birth to sermons like these,\nit would have rendered incalculable service to the cause of Christ.\n\nIn addition to the above, the magazine contains several original\narticles, by Wesley\u2019s pen, of great interest and importance. In one,\non Persecuting Papists, he says: \u201cI set out in early life with an\nutter abhorrence of persecution in every form, and a full conviction,\nthat every man has a right to worship God, according to his own\nconscience. I would not hurt a hair of the head of Romanists.\nMeantime, I would not put it into their power to hurt me, or any other\npersons whom they believe to be heretics. I would neither kill, nor be\nkilled. I wish them well; but I dare not trust them.\u201d In another\narticle there is an onslaught on the \u201cDivinity and Philosophy of the\nhighly illuminated Jacob Behmen\u201d; concluding thus: \u201cMay we not\npronounce, with the utmost certainty, of one who thus distorts,\nmangles, and murders the word of God, That the light which is in him\nis darkness; that he is _illuminated_ from beneath, rather than from\nabove; and that he ought to be styled _Demonosopher_, rather than\n_Theosopher_?\u201d\n\nThis was savage; and Wesley\u2019s old friend, Mr. Harry Brooke, of Dublin,\nwrote him a letter of earnest remonstrance; to which Wesley replied as\nfollows.\n\n \u201c_April 21, 1783._\n\n \u201cDEAR HARRY,--Your letter gave me pleasure and pain. It gave me\n pleasure, because it was written in a mild and loving spirit;\n but it gave me pain, because I found I had pained you, whom I\n so tenderly love and esteem. But I shall do it no more. I\n sincerely thank you for your kind reproof. It is a precious\n balm, and will, I trust, in the hands of the Great Physician,\n be the means of healing my sickness. I am so sensible of your\n real friendship herein, that I cannot write without tears. The\n words you mention were too strong. They will no more fall from\n my mouth.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Harry, affectionately yours,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[443]\n\nThis may serve as an _erratum_, belonging to the _Arminian Magazine_\nof 1782.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [419] _Methodist Recorder_, Aug. 16, 1867.\n\n [420] It was doubtless at this time that he had a youthful\n hearer, who afterwards became the renowned Sir Walter\n Scott. In a letter to Southey, dated Abbotsford,\n April 4, 1819, Scott writes: \u201cWhen I was about twelve\n years old, I heard Wesley preach more than once,\n standing on a chair, in Kelso churchyard. He was a\n most venerable figure, but his sermons were vastly\n too colloquial for the taste of Saunders. He told\n many excellent stories. One I remember, which he\n said had happened to him at Edinburgh. \u2018A drunken\n dragoon,\u2019 said Wesley, \u2018was commencing an assertion\n in military fashion, G----d eternally d----n me,\n just as I was passing. I touched the poor man on the\n shoulder, and when he turned round fiercely, said\n calmly, You mean, _God bless you_.\u2019 In the mode of\n telling the story, he failed not to make us sensible\n how much this patriarchal appearance, and mild yet\n bold rebuke, overawed the soldier, who touched his\n hat, thanked him, and, I think, came to chapel that\n evening.\u201d--(\u201cMemoirs of Sir Walter Scott,\u201d by J. G.\n Lockhart, Esq.)\n\n [421] _Methodist Magazine_, 1854, p. 184.\n\n [422] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 138.\n\n [423] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 140.\n\n [424] The copy before us is addressed \u201cTo Mr. Thompson, at\n the Methodist chapel, Hull,\u201d and is signed by Wesley\n in his own handwriting.\n\n [425] Coke\u2019s manuscript letter.\n\n [426] Manuscript letter.\n\n [427] Ibid.\n\n [428] For the manuscripts that have been used, I am\n indebted to the kindness of Mr. Clapham, of Birstal.\n\n [429] _Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 307.\n\n [430] Ibid. 1790, pp. 106, 163.\n\n [431] Both clergymen.\n\n [432] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 475.\n\n [433] Myles\u2019s History.\n\n [434] _Methodist Magazine_, 1826, p. 794.\n\n [435] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 309.\n\n [436] _Methodist Magazine_, 1782, p. 468.\n\n [437] Ibid. 1798, p. 492; and 1780, p. 448.\n\n [438] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 13.\n\n [439] _Methodist Magazine_, 1790, p. 557.\n\n [440] Everett\u2019s \u201cMethodism in Sheffield.\u201d\n\n [441] Dyson\u2019s \u201cHistory of Methodism in the Isle of Wight.\u201d\n\n [442] In 1783, this sermon was reprinted, in a separate\n form, without Wesley\u2019s knowledge, by a gentleman of\n Cambridge, in 12mo.\n\n [443] Walton\u2019s \u201cMemorial of W. Law,\u201d p. 91; and Brooke\u2019s\n Life, p. 194.\n\n\n\n\n 1783.\n Age 80\n\n\nOne of the first entries in Wesley\u2019s journal, in 1783, is the\nfollowing. \u201cFriday, January 10--I paid one more visit to Mr. Perronet,\nnow in his ninetieth year. I do not know so venerable a man. His\nunderstanding is little, if at all, impaired; and his heart seems to\nbe all love. A little longer, I hope, he will remain here, to be a\nblessing to all that see and hear him.\u201d This is beautiful, after an\nunbroken friendship of about forty years.\n\nAnother entry, equally deserving of being noted, was as follows:\n\u201cSunday, January 19--I preached in St. Thomas\u2019s church in the\nafternoon, and at St. Swithin\u2019s in the evening. The tide is now\nturned; so that I have more invitations to preach in churches than I\ncan accept of.\u201d What a contrast between 1783 and 1739!\n\nWesley was an unendowed clergyman; but was not unsupported. The funds,\nraised for his purposes, were large; but his own appropriation from\nthem, not equal to the poor parson\u2019s, who was \u201cpassing rich on \u00a340 a\nyear.\u201d In reference to the London annual audit, he writes: \u201cFriday,\nFebruary 21--At our yearly meeting for that purpose, we examined our\nyearly accounts, and found the money received, (just answering the\nexpense,) was upwards of \u00a33000 a year. But that is nothing to me: what\nI receive of it, yearly, is neither more nor less than \u00a330.\u201d\n\nWesley was an old man; but he was still an outdoor preacher: for\nfive-and-forty years he had been branded as a schismatic and a\nDissenter; but he was still an ardent Churchman. Hence the following,\naddressed to Joseph Taylor, one of his itinerant preachers.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 16, 1783_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--I am glad to hear so good an account of\n Marazion. You must endeavour to hire a larger room at Truro. We\n shall not build any more in haste. I often preach abroad, in\n winter as well as summer.\n\n \u201cIn my journals, in the magazine, in every possible way, I have\n advised the Methodists to keep to the Church. They that do this\n most prosper best in their souls; I have observed it long. If\n ever the Methodists in general were to leave the Church, I must\n leave them.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Joseph, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[444]\n\nAn extract from another letter may be inserted here, showing that,\nrightly or wrongly, the Methodist preachers of the present day have\ndeparted from one of the principles of their founder. Ministerial\nclasses are now almost general. Hear what Wesley had to say, on this\nsubject, to John Cricket, then stationed, with Henry Moore, at\nLondonderry.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 10, 1783_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You must immediately resume the form at\n least of a Methodist society. I positively forbid you, or any\n preacher, to be a leader; rather put the most insignificant\n person in each class to be the leader of it. And try if you\n cannot persuade three men, if no more, and three women, to meet\n in band.\n\n \u201cHope to the end! You shall see better days! The plainer you\n speak, the more good you will do. Derry will bear plain\n dealing. I am just as well as I was forty years ago.\n\n \u201cI am, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[445]\n\nThe hale old man soon found himself in a different plight. On March 2,\nhe set off for Bristol, in the neighbourhood of which he spent the\nnext twelve days, preaching and meeting classes. He then became\nseriously unwell; but, for two days longer, continued preaching, when\nhe was obliged to take his bed. He had a deep tearing cough; was weak\nand heavy, and in a fever. He had fixed the next morning for\ncommencing his journey to Ireland, and had sent notice to Stroud, and\nvarious other places, of the days wherein he purposed to visit them.\nFortunately, the Rev. Brian Collins was at hand, and undertook to\nsupply his appointments as far as Worcester. Accordingly, Mr. Collins,\nin the morning of March 17, set out to preach at Stroud; but Wesley,\nfinding himself better, in the afternoon, imprudently set out after\nhim, and actually gave a short exhortation to the Stroud society. For\nthe next three days, he was dangerously ill. The whole nervous system\nwas violently agitated. His cough was most distressing. He was seized\nwith cramp. He was bereft of strength, \u201cscarce able to move, and much\nless to think.\u201d Before leaving Bristol, he wrote the following\nunpublished letter to Miss Hester Ann Roe, afterwards Mrs. Rogers.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 16, 1783_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR HETTY,--It has frequently been on my mind of late,\n that my pilgrimage is nearly at an end; and one of our sisters\n here told us this morning a particular dream which she had two\n months ago. She dreamt, that the time of conference was come,\n and that she was in a church expecting me to enter; when she\n saw a coffin brought in, followed by Dr. Coke and Mr. Fletcher,\n and then by all our preachers walking two and two. A fortnight\n ago, she dreamt the same dream again. Such a burying I have\n ordered in my will, absolutely forbidding either hearse or\n coach.\n\n \u201cI intended to have written a good deal more. For a few days, I\n have had just such a fever as I had in Ireland a few years ago.\n But all is well. I am in no pain; but the wheel of life seems\n scarcely able to move. Yet, I made a shift to preach this\n morning to a crowded audience, and hope to say something to\n them this afternoon. I love that word, \u2018And Ishmael died in the\n presence of all his brethren.\u2019\n\n \u201cI am, in life or death, my dear sister, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[446]\n\nWhat was the result? The news of Wesley\u2019s being dangerously ill flew\nfar and wide. A number of the preachers met together to pray for a\nfurther prolongation of his life; and, from that time, he rapidly\nrecovered.[447] For three days he lay at Stroud, in great danger. On\nthe morning of the fourth day, he wrote: \u201cA violent fit of the cramp\ncarried the fever quite away; and, perceiving this, I took chaise\nwithout delay, and reached Worcester in the afternoon. Here I overtook\nMr. Collins, who had supplied all my appointments, with a remarkable\nblessing to the people; and, the next morning, I gave a short\nexhortation, and then went on to Birmingham.\u201d At Birmingham, he was\nelectrified, and \u201cventured to preach three quarters of an hour.\u201d He\nthen made his way to Hinckley, where, for three days, he preached\nmorning and evening, \u201cto a serious and well behaved people.\u201d He then\nvisited other societies on his way to Holyhead, and reached Dublin on\nApril 13.\n\nFor three weeks, he was the guest of Mr. Henry Brooke, and was\nemployed in healing serious divisions in the Dublin society.[448] Four\ndays were spent in holding a conference with his Irish preachers, at\nwhich, he says, \u201call was peace and love.\u201d \u201cI wish,\u201d he writes, \u201call\nour English preachers were of the same spirit with the Irish, among\nwhom is no jarring string. I never saw such simplicity and\nteachableness run through a body of preachers before.\u201d[449] This was a\nhigh compliment paid to Thomas Rutherford, Andrew Blair, Zechariah\nYewdall, Richard Boardman, Thomas Barber, Henry Moore, John Cricket,\nJohn Crook, and their twenty-six colleagues in Christian enterprise\nand labour.\n\nWesley embarked for England on the 8th of May, and, after preaching at\nWarrington, Liverpool, Wigan, Bolton, and other places, reached\nManchester nine days afterwards. Here he had an enormous sacramental\nservice, at which thirteen or fourteen hundred communicants were\npresent: \u201csuch a sight,\u201d says he, \u201cas, I believe, was never seen in\nManchester before.\u201d \u201cI believe,\u201d he adds, \u201cthere is no place but\nLondon where we have so many souls so deeply devoted to God.\u201d\n\nLeaving Manchester, he proceeded to Macclesfield, where a week never\npassed \u201cin which some were not justified, and some renewed in love.\u201d\nHe preached, for the first time, at Buxton, where John Knowles and his\nwife were almost the only Methodists, and frequently rode on horseback\nto Stockport, a distance of sixteen miles, to hear the Methodist\npreachers.[450] Here he married a couple of his friends, and preached\nin the parish church. He arrived in London on May 31.\n\nOn June 11, accompanied by Messrs. Brackenbury, Broadbent, and\nWhitfield, he set out for Holland. For more than forty years, Wesley\nhad been incessantly at work forming Methodist societies. Up to the\npresent, he had never indulged in the luxury of a ministerial holiday;\nand we are not sure, that his trip to Holland should be regarded in\nsuch a light as that. Still, there was a difference between this\njourney and others. In other instances, his object was to institute\nMethodist societies, or to strengthen those already formed; in this\ninstance, that was no part of the object at which he aimed. He went,\nsays Mr. Moore, \u201cpartly for relaxation, and partly to indulge and\nenlarge his catholic spirit, by forming an acquaintance with the truly\npious in foreign nations.\u201d The fact is, one of his own local\npreachers, whom he highly esteemed, Mr. William Ferguson, had removed\nto Holland, and, by his earnest piety, had attracted the attention of\nthe public generally, including many of the principal inhabitants and\npersons in authority. He spoke much of Wesley and of the Methodists,\nand distributed Wesley\u2019s sermons among his friends. The result was a\ngeneral wish to see the veteran evangelist, and to hear him for\nthemselves. One difficulty, however, was in the way. Wesley was\nacquainted, to a greater or less extent, with the Hebrew, Greek, and\nLatin, the English, French, German, and Spanish languages; but he knew\nnought of Dutch. This objection was surmounted by Mr. Ferguson\u2019s son,\nJonathan, offering to act as his interpreter.[451] Accordingly, off\nWesley went, accompanied by the three preachers above mentioned.\n\nHis visit was eminently pleasant. Ministers of religion welcomed him;\nand persons of high rank showed him honour. At Rotterdam, he preached\ntwice, in the episcopal church, to large congregations, and says:\n\u201cWere it only for this, I am glad I came to Holland.\u201d At the Hague, in\nthe house of a lady of the first quality, he met a dozen ladies and\ntwo military gentlemen, expounded the first three verses of the\nthirteenth of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and prayed,\nCaptain M---- interpreting sentence by sentence. Wesley writes: \u201cI\nbelieve, this hour was well employed.\u201d He held a sort of service in\nthe passenger boat between Haarlem and Amsterdam. That is, he and his\nfriends began to sing a hymn; the people listened; Wesley talked;\nFerguson interpreted; \u201cand all our hearts,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cwere\nstrangely knit together, so that, when we came to Amsterdam, they\ndismissed us with abundance of blessings.\u201d\n\nAt Utrecht, Wesley wrote: \u201cJune 28--I have this day lived fourscore\nyears; and, by the mercy of God, my eyes are not waxed dim, and what\nlittle strength of body or mind I had thirty years since, just the\nsame I have now. God grant I may never live to be useless! rather may I\n\n \u2018My body with my charge lay down,\n And cease at once to work and live!\u2019\u201d\n\nOn the same day, he made a short excursion. Hence, the following\nextract from the diary of the Moravian congregation at Zeyst:\n\n \u201c1783, June 28.--We kept the children\u2019s prayer day. The Rev.\n John Wesley, the well known Methodist minister, arrived here in\n the afternoon, with several other ministers. After visiting his\n old friend, Brother Anton, he paid a hurried visit to the\n brethren\u2019s house, and sisters\u2019 house; and then attended a\n children\u2019s lovefeast, at three o\u2019clock; on which occasion, as\n it happened to be his eightieth birthday, the children sang a\n few benedictory verses for him; the congregation closing the\n service by singing \u2018The grace of our Lord be with us all!\u2019 At\n 4.30 p.m. he and his companions returned to Utrecht, where he\n had preached the day before.\u201d\n\nWesley spent altogether seventeen days in Holland, and was delighted\nwith his visit. He writes: \u201cI can by no means regret either the\ntrouble or expense, which attended this little journey. It opened me a\nway into, as it were, a new world; where the land, the buildings, the\npeople, the customs, were all such as I had never seen before. But as\nthose with whom I conversed were of the same spirit with my friends in\nEngland, I was as much at home in Utrecht and Amsterdam, as in Bristol\nand London.\u201d \u201cThere is a blessed work at the Hague, and many other of\nthe principal cities; and, in their simplicity of spirit, and\nplainness of dress, the believers vie with the old English Methodists.\nIn affection, they are not inferior to any. It was with the utmost\ndifficulty we could break from them.\u201d[452] \u201cTwo of our sisters, when\nwe left the Hague, came twelve miles with us on the way; and one of\nour brethren, of Amsterdam, came to take leave of us to Utrecht, above\nthirty miles. I believe, if my life be prolonged, I shall pay them a\nvisit at least every other year. Had I had a little more time, I would\nhave visited our brethren in Friesland, and Westphalia likewise; for a\nglorious work of God is lately broken out in both these provinces.\u201d[453]\n\nWesley got back to London on July 4. Ten days later, he set off to his\nconference at Bristol. \u201cI expect,\u201d says he, \u201ca good deal of difficulty\nat this conference, and shall stand in need of the prayers of you and\nyour friends.\u201d[454] His apprehension was realised; hence the following\nentry in his journal: \u201cJuly 29--Our conference began, at which we\nconsidered two important points: first, the case of Birstal house;\nand, secondly, the state of Kingswood school. With regard to the\nformer, our brethren earnestly desired, that I would go to Birstal\nmyself, believing this would be the most effectual way of bringing the\ntrustees to reason. With regard to the latter, we all agreed, that\neither the school should cease, or the rules of it be particularly\nobserved: particularly, that the children should never play, and that\na master should be always present with them.\u201d\n\nWe need not recur to the first of these points, except to add, that\nthe Birstal chapel case, no doubt, led to the adoption of the\nfollowing resolutions:\n\n \u201c_Question 21._ What houses are to be built this year?\n\n \u201c_Answer._ None that are not already begun.\n\n \u201c_Q. 22._ Has not the needless multiplying of preaching houses\n been a great evil?\n\n \u201c_A._ So it appears.\n\n \u201c_Q. 23._ How may this be prevented?\n\n \u201c_A._ By permitting none for the future to beg for any house,\n except in the circuit where it stands.\n\n \u201c_Q. 24._ What can be done to get all our preaching houses\n settled on the conference plan?\n\n \u201c_A._ Let Dr. Coke visit the societies throughout England, as\n far as is necessary for the accomplishment of this end; and let\n the respective assistants give him all the support in their\n power.\u201d\n\nSuch was the commission given to Dr. Coke, a weary and worrying one.\n\nKingswood school, however, was as great a bore as Birstal chapel. It\nhad now existed for five-and-thirty years; it had been to Wesley a\nsource of almost ceaseless trouble, and was now in a worse state than\never. Nevertheless, it was a far famed institution; and, besides the\nsons of itinerant preachers, it had, at this very time, _parlour\nboarders_ from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the West Indies. None of\nthe scholars however, were remarkable for piety or learning; and the\n_young gentlemen_, just mentioned, had spoiled the discipline of the\nschool. Thomas Simpson, M.A., was head master; Mrs. Simpson\nhousekeeper; Cornelius Bayley was English teacher, with a salary of\n\u00a312 per annum and his board; Vincent de Boudry was occasional French\nteacher; and C. R. Bond a sort of half boarder, and assistant to\nBayley.[455]\n\n \u201cMy design in building the house at Kingswood,\u201d says Wesley,\n \u201cwas to have therein a Christian family; every member whereof,\n (children excepted,) should be alive to God, and a pattern of\n all holiness. Here it was that I proposed to educate a few\n children, according to the accuracy of the Christian model. And\n almost as soon as we began, God gave us a token for good, four\n of the children receiving a clear sense of pardon. But, at\n present, the school does not, in any wise, answer the design of\n its institution, either with regard to religion or learning.\n The children are not religious: they have not the power, and\n hardly the form of religion. Neither do they improve in\n learning better than at other schools; no, nor yet so well.\n Insomuch, that some of our friends have been obliged to remove\n their children to other schools. And no wonder that they\n improve so little either in religion or learning; for the rules\n of the school are not observed at all. All in the house ought\n to rise, take their three meals, and go to bed at a fixed hour.\n But they do not. The children ought never to be alone, but\n always in the presence of a master. This is totally neglected;\n in consequence of which, they run up and down the wood, and\n mix, yea, fight with the colliers\u2019 children. They ought never\n to play: but they do, every day; yea, in the school. Three\n maids are sufficient; now there are four; and but one, at most,\n truly pious.\n\n \u201cHow may these evils be remedied, and the school reduced to its\n original plan? It must be mended or ended: for no school is\n better than the present school. Can any be a master, that does\n not rise at five, observe _all_ the rules, and see that others\n observe them? There should be three masters, and an usher,\n chiefly to be with the children out of school. The head master\n should have nothing to do with temporal things.\u201d[456]\n\nThis was a dark picture; doubtless the result of bad management. Easy,\ngood tempered Mr. Simpson was a scholar; his wife, the real governor,\nwas an ogress. A woman that rubbed Adam Clarke with the \u201cinfernal\nunguent\u201d to cure him of an imaginary itch; thrust him into a solitary\nroom, with a wretched old bedstead, and left him there without book or\nfire; and from whom Adam, when he heard her voice, was disposed to run\nin the utmost fright, was not the woman to manage Kingswood school.\n\u201cShe was probably very clever,\u201d says Clarke; \u201call stood in awe of her;\nfor my own part, I feared her more than I feared Satan himself. The\nschool was the worst I had ever seen, though the teachers were men of\nadequate learning. It was perfectly _disorganised_; and, in several\nrespects, each did what was right in his own eyes. There was no\nefficient plan pursued; they mocked at religion; and trampled under\nfoot all the laws. The little children of the preachers suffered great\nindignities; and, it is to be feared, their treatment there gave many\nof them a rooted enmity against religion for life. The parlour\nboarders had every kind of respect paid to them, and the others were\nshamefully neglected. Scarcely any care was taken either of their\nbodies or souls.\u201d\n\nPoor Kingswood! Could all this be strictly accurate? Probably it was;\nfor the following, given as a fact, prepares the mind for almost\nanything in the form of stupidity, and ignorant confusion. \u201cAt the\ntable,\u201d writes Adam Clarke, \u201cevery person when he drank was obliged to\nrun the following gauntlet. He must drink the health of Mr. Simpson,\nMrs. Simpson, Miss Simpson, Mr. Bayley, Mr. De Boudry, all the foreign\ngentlemen, then all the parlour boarders, down one side of the long\ntable, and up the other, one by one, and all the _visitors_ who might\nhappen to be there: after which it was lawful for him to drink his\nglass of beer.\u201d[457]\n\nWesley was quite right. No school at all was better than such a school\nas this. It was high time to mend it or end it. In his magazine, for\nthe very month in which the conference of 1783 was held, Wesley\npublished an article, by his own pen, entitled, \u201cA Thought on the\nManner of Educating Children,\u201d in which he strongly maintains, that\nall education ought to be religious; but adds, probably with the state\nof Kingswood in his eye,--\u201cEven religious masters may still be\nmistaken with regard to the manner of instilling religion into\nchildren. They may not have the spirit of government, to which some\neven good men are utter strangers. They may habitually lean to this or\nthat extreme, of remissness or of severity. And if they either give\nchildren too much of their own will, or needlessly and churlishly\nrestrain them; if they either use no punishment at all, or more than\nis necessary, the leaning either to one extreme or the other may\nfrustrate all their endeavours. In the latter case, it will not be\nstrange, if religion stink in the nostrils of those that were so\neducated. They will naturally look on it as an austere, melancholy\nthing; and, if they think it necessary to salvation, they will esteem\nit a necessary evil, and so put it off as long as possible.\u201d\n\nWesley was not the man to hesitate in changing his officials when\nchange was necessary. Mr. Simpson was dismissed; Thomas McGeary, A.M.,\na young man of twenty-two, took his place.[458] Cornelius Bayley had\npreviously made up his mind to leave, in order to enter the ministry\nof the Established Church;[459] and Thomas Welch, an assistant in a\nschool at Coventry, applied to be appointed his successor. Wesley\nwrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _August 15, 1783_.\n\n \u201cDEAR THOMAS,--You seem to be the man I want. As to salary, you\n will have \u00a330 a year; board, etc., will be thirty more. But do\n not come _for money_. (1) Do not come at all, unless purely to\n raise a Christian school. (2) Anybody behaving ill, I will turn\n away immediately. (3) I expect you to be in the school eight\n hours a day. (4) In all things, I expect you should be\n circumspect. But you will judge better by considering the\n printed rules. The sooner you come the better.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[460]\n\nMr. Welch was a young man of twenty-three. Two years before, he had\nbecome a Methodist. The Coventry society, then extremely feeble, was\nloath to lose him; and some of its members succeeded in persuading him\nto remain where he was. He wrote to Wesley to this effect; and Wesley\nanswered: \u201cYou use me very ill. I have turned away three masters on\nyour account. The person, who gives you this advice, is wanting either\nin common sense or common honesty.\u201d[461] Mr. Welch became a valuable\nlocal preacher, and lived and died a Methodist. Thomas Jones took the\nplace that he declined, and, for three years, retained it, when he was\nordained a clergyman of the Church of England.\n\nThis was Wesley\u2019s last complaint of Kingswood. Twelve months\nafterwards, the school and family were visited with a gracious\noutpouring of God\u2019s good Spirit. In 1786, he says: \u201cI found the school\nin excellent order.\u201d \u201cIt is now one of the pleasantest spots in\nEngland. I found all things just according to my desire; the rules\nbeing well observed, and the whole behaviour of the children showing,\nthat they were now managed with the wisdom that cometh from above.\u201d In\n1787, he expressed himself to the same effect, as, in fact, he did to\nthe end of life. The last entry in his journal, in reference to this\nmemorable place,--a child, always with him a pet, though often\ntroublesome,--was this: \u201c1789, September 11--I went over to Kingswood:\nsweet recess! where everything is now just as I wish. But\n\n \u2018Man was not born in shades to lie!\u2019\n\nLet us work now; we shall rest by-and-by. I spent some time with the\nchildren; all of whom behaved well: several are much awakened, and a\nfew rejoicing in the favour of God.\u201d\n\nWe must now bid a final adieu to dear old Kingswood school, the sacred\nscene of so many Methodistic memories, and turn to other matters\nconnected with the conference of 1783.\n\nThe number of members was reported to be 45,955; but all these were\nMethodists within the limits of the United Kingdom. No account was\ntaken of the 13,740 Methodists in America. No mention was made of\nAntigua, where nearly 2000 persons had joined John Baxter\u2019s society;\nand where, in this very year, the first Methodist chapel in the torrid\nzone was completed.[462]\n\nNova Scotia also is not noticed; though it had been the scene of a\nmost blessed work, and William Black had written to Wesley, urgently\nasking him to send them preachers. The following were Wesley\u2019s\nanswers.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 26, 1783_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I did indeed very strongly expostulate with\n the Bishop of London, concerning his refusing to ordain a pious\n man, without learning, while he ordained others that, to my\n knowledge, had no piety, and but a moderate share of learning.\n\n \u201cOur next conference will begin in July; and I have great\n hopes, we shall then be able to send you assistance. One of our\n preachers informs me, he is willing to go to any part of Africa\n or America. He does not regard danger or toil; nor, indeed,\n does he count his life dear unto himself, so that he may\n testify the gospel of the grace of God, and win sinners to\n Christ. But I cannot advise any person to go alone. Our Lord\n sent His disciples two and two. And I do not despair of finding\n another young man, as much devoted to God as he.\n\n \u201cOf Calvinism, mysticism, and antinomianism, have a care; for\n they are the bane of true religion; and one or other of them\n has been the grand hindrance of the work of God, wherever it\n has broke out.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear brother, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[463]\n\nThe second letter to William Black was as follows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _July 13, 1783_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It is a rule with me, to answer all the\n letters which I receive. If, therefore, you have not received\n an answer to every letter which you have written, it must be,\n either that your letter or my answer has been intercepted.\n\n \u201cI do not wonder at all, that, after that great and\n extraordinary work of God, there should be a remarkable decay.\n So we have found it in almost all places. A swift increase is\n generally followed by a decrease equally swift. All we can do\n to prevent it, is continually to exhort all who have tasted\n that the Lord is gracious, to remember our Lord\u2019s words, \u2018Watch\n and pray that ye enter not into temptation.\u2019\n\n \u201cThe school at Kingswood is exceeding full; nevertheless there\n shall be room for you. And it is very probable, if you should\n live to return to Halifax, you may carry one or more preachers\n with you. I hope you will live as brethren, and have a free and\n open intercourse with each other.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear brother, affectionately yours,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[464]\n\nSuch was the wish of William Black; and such was Wesley\u2019s intention;\nbut it was not until 1785, that Nova Scotia appeared in the minutes of\nconference as a Methodist circuit. \u201cThe harvest truly was great; but\nthe labourers were few.\u201d And yet all that offered were not accepted.\n\nAt the conference of 1783, there was present a young Welshman, of\nmiddle stature, thin and delicate, with a somewhat elongated face, an\neye of genius, and a capacious forehead, who offered himself as an\nitinerant preacher, but whom Wesley and his brethren, from the\ndelicacy of his health and the feebleness of his voice, thought not\nequal to the arduous labours of the itinerant office. He had been\nconverted under the preaching of Samuel Bardsley, and, soon after his\noffer was declined by Wesley, was ordained by Bishop Horsley, and\nbecame vicar of Llanbister. The vicarage had a parlour, with a slab\nstone floor, an open chimney, and a hearth on which burnt a fire of\nwood and turf. It had a kitchen, and two upper rooms of the same\nhumble character. For many a long year this was the home of the Rev.\nDavid Lloyd, \u201ca philosopher, a poet, and a divine,\u201d says Dr. Dixon,\n\u201cwho seemed to enjoy, with unmixed contentment, the inheritance given\nhim by Providence.\u201d For fifty years, his wife was a Methodist, and his\nparsonage a Methodist preachers\u2019 home. Besides poetical works of\nconsiderable merit, the good vicar became the author of a large octavo\nvolume of very valuable essays, entitled \u201cHor\u00e6 Theologic\u00e6.\u201d[465] Mr.\nLloyd was a perfect enthusiast on the missionary question, and gave a\nsubscription of \u00a310 a year to the Methodist and Church missionary\nsocieties respectively; presented each with a donation of \u00a3500; and\nleft the residue of his property, after other demands had been\nsatisfied, to be equally divided between these two institutions. He\nalso built a Methodist chapel on his estate, and secured it to the\nconnexion by deed. Thus, as a diligent clergyman of the Church of\nEngland, and the friend and host of Methodist preachers, lived and\ndied the good vicar of Llanbister,--a candidate rejected by the\nconference of 1783.[466]\n\nIn the midst of this conference, Wesley was again seized with an\nalarming illness. Dr. Drummond attended him twice a day. His friends\nthought, that his end was come; and he himself apprehended that the\ncramp would probably reach his stomach, and occasion sudden death. \u201cI\nhave been reflecting on my past life\u201d, said he to his faithful nurse,\nJoseph Bradford; \u201cI have been wandering up and down between fifty and\nsixty years, endeavouring, in my poor way, to do a little good to my\nfellow creatures; and, now, it is probable that there are but a few\nsteps between me and death; and what have I to trust to for salvation?\nI can see nothing which I have done or suffered, that will bear\nlooking at. I have no other plea than this:\n\n \u2018I the chief of sinners am,\n But Jesus died for me.\u2019\u201d[467]\n\nFor eighteen days, Wesley hung between life and death, when, finding\nhimself somewhat better, and \u201cbeing,\u201d as he says, \u201cunwilling to be\nidle,\u201d he spent an hour with the Bristol penitents. The day following,\nhe preached twice, and, the day after that, on Monday, August 25, set\nout again on his much loved gospel ramblings. Death itself, to Wesley,\nwas more desirable than life without work.\n\nPreaching on his way at Gloucester, Worcester, and Birmingham, he\ncame, on August 29, to Stafford, where he writes: \u201cI preached, for the\nfirst time, to a large and deeply attentive congregation. It is now\nthe day of small things here; but the grain of mustard seed may grow\nup into a great tree.\u201d\n\nFour years before this, Dr. Coke was passing through Stafford, and,\nwhile dining at the inn, sent the bellman round to announce to the\ninhabitants that he would preach in the market place. Jeremiah\nBrettell, his companion, took a table from the hostelry; the doctor\nmounted; the people came; all listened with deep attention; and some\nexpressed a wish for the visit to be repeated. Soon after, a little\nsociety was formed,[468] which, in 1784, consisted of sixteen members,\nHenry Robinson being leader.[469]\n\nFrom Stafford, Wesley made his way to Macclesfield, where he preached\ntwice in the Rev. David Simpson\u2019s church, and had a sacramental\nservice, at which seven hundred communicants were present.\n\nHe was now proceeding to Birstal, to effect the settlement with the\nBirstal chapel trustees, as already related. The journey occupied\nsixteen days; the distance was five or six hundred miles; according to\nhis wont, he preached all the way there and back; and yet, the old\nman, who a month before had been on the very verge of death, returned\nto Bristol on the 13th of September, almost as vigorous as ever.\n\nAn unpublished letter, belonging to this period, may be welcome here.\nIt was addressed to John Atlay, his book steward.\n\n \u201cLEEDS, _September 3, 1783_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--The schoolmasters for Kingswood are fixed,\n and expected there every day. Mr. Simpson\u2019s sister is the\n housekeeper, who is come hither in her way to Bristol. Let no\n man or woman go to West Street chapel without my appointment.\n It is a matter of deep concern. The building or not building,\n at Birstal, does not depend upon me, but the trustees. J.\n Fenwick is to correct the press chiefly, in the absence of Dr.\n Coke, and to transcribe tracts for me. And he may receive his\n little salary, at least, till I return to London.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Atlay, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley remained in the neighbourhood of Bristol till October 6, and\nemployed the interval, not only in preaching, but in begging money to\nrelieve the distresses of the destitute, and in visiting the poor\nrecipients at their own houses. \u201cI was surprised,\u201d says he, \u201cto find\nno murmuring spirits among them, but many that were truly happy in\nGod; and all of them appeared to be exceeding thankful for the scanty\nrelief which they received.\u201d\n\nNo wonder, that such a man was popular; and no wonder, that his\npresence was a loadstone drawing the poor around him. Sometimes,\nhowever, their absence would have been more welcome than their\ncompany. A month after this, Wesley was at Norwich, and, when leaving,\nhad a whole host of poverty stricken people about his carriage. His\npurse was low, containing only what was necessary to take him back to\nLondon; and the clamour of the mendicant crowd, for once, disturbed\nhis temper. Somewhat sharply he said: \u201cI have nothing for you. Do you\nsuppose I can support the poor in every place?\u201d At the moment, he was\nentering his carriage; his foot slipped; and he fell upon the ground.\nFeeling as though God Himself had rebuked him for his hasty words, he\nturned to Joseph Bradford, and, with subdued emphasis, remarked: \u201cIt\nis all right, Joseph; it is all right; it is only what I deserved; for\nif I had no _other_ good to give, I ought, at least, to have given\nthem good words.\u201d[470]\n\nThe concluding months of the year were employed, as usual, partly in\nLondon, and partly in the surrounding counties.\n\nConsidering Wesley\u2019s advanced age, his labours are without parallel.\nHere we have,--not a man of Herculean frame, big, brawny, and heavy,\nfed on the daintiest diet, and stimulated with the costliest\nwines,--but a man small in stature, his weight eight stones and ten\npounds (exactly the same as it was fourteen years before), his age\neighty, without indulgences, feeding, for eight months in every year,\nchiefly at the tables of the poor, sleeping on all sorts of beds and\nin all sorts of rooms, without a wife, without a child, really without\na home; and yet a man always cheerful, always happy, always hard at\nwork, flying with all the sprightliness of youth throughout the three\nkingdoms, preaching twice every day, indoors and out of doors, in\nchurches, chapels, cottages, and sheds, and everywhere superintending\nthe complex and growing interests of the numerous societies which had\nsprung into buoyant being through the labours of himself and his godly\nhelpers. The man was a marvel, such as the world sees only now and\nthen. Once show him the path of duty, and with a dauntless step he\ntrod it. Nothing frightened him; nothing could allure from the post\nassigned to him by Providence. However arduous the work, and however\ngreat the privations and the dangers, if his Master bid him go, he\nwent, trusting in his Master\u2019s power for defence and help. \u201cMy brother\nCharles,\u201d he once remarked, \u201camid the difficulties of our early\nministry, used to say: \u2018If the Lord would give me wings, I would fly.\u2019\nI used to answer, \u2018If the Lord bid me fly, I would trust Him for the\nwings.\u2019\u201d[471]\n\nOne of the last acts of this youthful octogenarian, in 1783, was to\npay a pastoral visit to another of the most remarkable men of that\nperiod,--Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was now suffering his last illness,\nand died twelve months afterwards.\n\nWesley\u2019s publications, in 1783, were the following.\n\n1. \u201cThe Spirit of Prayer.\u201d 24 pages, 12mo.\n\n2. \u201cBaxter\u2019s Call to the Unconverted.\u201d 76 pages, 12mo.\n\n3. \u201cThe Important Question. A Sermon. By John Wesley.\u201d 23 pages, 12mo.\n\nBesides these, Wesley also published many new editions of former\ntracts, for the use of his recently instituted tract society, most of\nthese reissues having upon the title page, \u201cThis tract is not to be\nsold, but given away.\u201d\n\nHis principal publication, however, was his _Arminian Magazine_, and\nthis was as vigorously conducted as before. Again, we have\nhalf-a-dozen original sermons, by Wesley himself, all of them\nremarkable, and among the most able that he ever published. These\ninclude his two discourses on good and fallen angels; in which he\npropounds the doctrine, that good angels minister to our happiness, by\nassisting us in our searches after truth, by preserving us in danger,\nby dreams, etc.: and that all evil angels are united under one common\nhead; and are often the authors of accidents, diseases, fires, storms,\nand earthquakes. Then there is his elaborate sermon on \u201cThe Mystery of\nIniquity,\u201d in which he expresses the opinion, that the \u201cgreatest blow\nthat genuine Christianity ever received was when Constantine the Great\ncalled himself a Christian, and poured in a flood of riches, honours,\nand power upon the Christians, more especially upon the clergy.\u201d Next\nwe have his curious homily on the Spread of Christianity, where he\nhazards the conjecture that truth will be transmitted from this nation\nto that, until at last it reaches the South Sea islands. And, finally,\nthere are his characteristic sermons on Family Religion, and on\nTraining Children. As usual, every number of the magazine has an\narticle on the Calvinian controversy. Biographical accounts are still\nnumerous. Extracts from his own Natural Philosophy, and from Locke\u2019s\nEssay on the Human Understanding, form a part of each of the twelve\nnumbers; as do also Benson\u2019s letters in reply to Madan\u2019s treatise on\npolygamy; likewise extracts from Dr. Hilldrop\u2019s able \u201cThoughts on the\nBrute Creation,\u201d professedly to prove a theory which Wesley liked, the\nultimate restoration of the brute creation; and a series of profoundly\nthoughtful articles on \u201cThe True Original of the Soul.\u201d Nine numbers\nhave extracts from Baxter\u2019s \u201cCertainty of the World of Spirits, fully\nevinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts.\u201d\nThere are forty-five letters; forty-one poems; and a number of\nportraits, including those of John Hampson and William Thom, both of\nwhom left the Methodist connexion. There are also long continued\nextracts from Bryant\u2019s Analysis of Ancient Mythology, which Wesley\npronounces to be \u201cone of the most remarkable books, in its kind, which\nhas been published for centuries.\u201d And, finally, there are Wesley\u2019s\n\u201cThoughts on the Writings of Baron Swedenborg.\u201d The baron, a little\nbefore he died, presented Wesley with his last and largest theological\nwork, the \u201cTrue Christian Religion\u201d; but he failed to make a convert\nof him. Wesley believed him to be insane, and traced his insanity to a\nfever, which he had in London, when \u201che ran into the street stark\nnaked, proclaimed himself the Messiah, and rolled himself in the\nmire.\u201d He was a \u201cfine genius,--majestic though in ruins.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [444] _The Wesleyan_, Sept. 9, 1846.\n\n [445] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiv., p. 343.\n\n [446] Manuscript letter.\n\n [447] Mrs. Rogers\u2019 Life, p. 473.\n\n [448] Life of Brooke, p. 100.\n\n [449] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 141.\n\n [450] _Methodist Magazine_, 1851, p. 313.\n\n [451] The Fergusons, father and son, were notable persons.\n Mr. Ferguson, sen., was a well known local preacher\n for upwards of sixty years; Jonathan, his son, was\n a friend, and sometimes the travelling companion,\n of John Howard the philanthropist. He was a hearty\n Methodist, a happy Christian, and, at the age of\n eighty, died a triumphant death, at Islington, in\n 1844.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 292.)\n\n [452] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 358.\n\n [453] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 60.\n\n [454] Ibid. p. 60.\n\n [455] Simpson was a man of learning and piety, but too\n easy for his situation. On leaving Kingswood, he\n wished to become an itinerant preacher, but set up a\n school at Keynsham, where his son ultimately was made\n vicar. Bayley was a good Hebrew scholar, became a\n doctor of divinity, had a church, St. James\u2019s, built\n for him in Manchester, and was highly respected for\n his piety, usefulness, and high church principles.\n De Boudry began a school on Kingsdown, Bristol, and\n long bore the character of a pious, steady, honest\n man. Bond was affectionate, but not talented, and\n aspired to become a clergyman. Such is the testimony\n of Adam Clarke; and it is only fair to give it as\n a counterpoise to the discreditable state of the\n Kingswood school committed to their care.\n\n [456] Minutes of Conference, 1783.\n\n [457] \u201cLife of Adam Clarke,\u201d in three vols., 1833, vol. i.,\n pp. 153-168.\n\n [458] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 1.\n\n [459] Manuscript letter.\n\n [460] _Methodist Magazine_, 1817, p. 324.\n\n [461] _Methodist Magazine_, 1817, p. 324.\n\n [462] Coke\u2019s Life, by Drew, p. 167.\n\n [463] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 99.\n\n [464] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 109.\n\n [465] _Methodist Magazine_, 1816, p. 832.\n\n [466] _Methodist Magazine_, 1863, sixpenny edition, p. 1.\n\n [467] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 389.\n\n [468] _Methodist Magazine_, 1830, p. 657.\n\n [469] The names were: Henry Robinson, Mary Robinson,\n Charles Machin, John Smith, Ann Stockdale, William\n Holding, Sarah Holding, John Rowland, Sarah Jervis,\n Thomas Smith, Elizabeth Smith, John Ward, Ann\n Ward, John Kelsall, Thomas Elley, and William\n Freepound.--(Burslem old circuit book.)\n\n [470] Everett\u2019s Life of Clarke.\n\n [471] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 390.\n\n\n\n\n 1784.\n Age 81\n\n\nDr. Whitehead calls the year 1784 \u201cthe grand _climacteric_ year of\nMethodism, because of the changes which now took place in the form of\nits _original_ constitution. Not,\u201d says he, \u201cthat these changes\ndestroyed at once the _original_ constitution of Methodism; but the\nseeds of its corruption and final dissolution were this year solemnly\nplanted, and have since been carefully watered and nursed by a\npowerful party among the preachers.\u201d[472] The doctor was an able man;\nbut he can scarcely be called a prophet. Of course, he refers to\nWesley\u2019s deed of declaration, and Wesley\u2019s ordination of bishops for\nAmerica; both of which must have due attention, before we conclude the\npresent year.\n\nWesley himself, according to his own correspondence, seemed to grow\nyounger as he grew older. In a letter to \u201cthe Rev. Walter Sellon, at\nLedsham, near Ferrybridge, Yorkshire,\u201d and dated, \u201cLondon, January 10,\n1784,\u201d he writes:\n\n \u201cOn the 28th of last June, I finished my eightieth year. When I\n was young, I had weak eyes, trembling hands, and abundance of\n infirmities. But, by the blessing of God, I have outlived them\n all. I have no infirmities now, but what I judge to be\n inseparable from flesh and blood. This hath God wrought. I am\n afraid you want the grand medicine which I use,--exercise and\n change of air.\u201d[473]\n\nOn the same day, he wrote another letter, now also, like the former,\nfor the first time published. Methodism had recently been introduced,\nby a company of soldiers, into the Channel islands; and Mr. Robert\nCarr Brackenbury, with his servant, Alexander Kilham, had gone to\npromote its interests. The letter was addressed, \u201cRobert Carr\nBrackenbury, Esq., in St. Heliers, Isle of Jersey.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 10, 1784_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--While those poor sheep were scattered abroad,\n without any shepherd, and without any connection with each\n other, it is no wonder that they were cold and dead. I am glad\n you have gathered a few of them together, and, surely, if\n prayer be made concerning it, God will provide you with a\n convenient place to meet in. Perhaps an application to the\n gentlemen, who have hired the ballroom, might not be without\n success.\n\n \u201c\u2019Tis pity but you had the \u2018Earnest Appeal\u2019 to present to the\n governor, as well as the minister. I trust both you and our\n newly connected brethren will overcome evil with good. We can\n easily print the rules here, and send them down with some other\n books. \u2019Tis good that every one should know our whole plan. We\n do not want any man to go on blindfold. Peace be with your\n spirit!\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate friend,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe first two months of 1784 were chiefly spent in London, with the\nexception of a flying visit to Colchester, and another to Nottingham;\nWesley\u2019s errand to the last mentioned place being to \u201cpreach a charity\nsermon for the general hospital.\u201d He had a grand covenant service in\nCity Road chapel, attended by upwards of eighteen hundred people. He\ntook counsel with the London preachers, as to the desirability of the\nMethodists sending missionaries to India. He read \u201cOrlando Furioso,\u201d\nand says, \u201cAriosto had, doubtless, an uncommon genius, and subsequent\npoets have been greatly indebted to him; yet, it is hard to say, which\nwas the most out of his senses, the hero or the poet. He has not the\nleast regard even to probability; his marvellous transcends all\nconception. Who, that is not himself out of his senses, would compare\nAriosto with Tasso?\u201d\n\nOn the 1st of March, the venerable Wesley,--as agile as a boy, above\nfourscore years of age, and yet reading the Italian poet with all the\nzest of a youth still at school,--set out on a seven months\u2019 journey,\nfirst to Bristol, then to Scotland, then to Leeds, then through Wales\nto the west of England, and then to London, which he reached on\nOctober 9. With a hasty step, we must try to follow him.\n\nWesley, as opportunity permitted, \u201cintermeddled with all wisdom,\u201d and,\nto the end of life, showed, that a man is never too old to learn. At\nBradford, in Wiltshire, he says: \u201cI was convinced of two vulgar\nerrors; the one, that nightingales will not live in cages; the other,\nthat they only sing a month or two in the year. Samuel Rayner has now\nthree nightingales in cages; and they sing almost all day long, from\nNovember to August.\u201d\n\nAt Stroud, he wrote: \u201cHere, to my surprise, I found the morning\npreaching was given up, as also in the neighbouring places. If this be\nthe case while I am alive, what must it be when I am gone? Give up\nthis, and Methodism too will degenerate into a mere sect, only\ndistinguished by some opinions and modes of worship.\u201d\n\nWesley considered, that preaching at five o\u2019clock in the morning was\nthe healthiest exercise in the world; and probably he was not far from\nbeing right. But besides this, these early matutinal services had now,\nfor five-and-forty years, been one of the things which made the\nMethodists \u201ca _peculiar_ people,\u201d as well as \u201czealous of good works.\u201d\nNo other church or community, in England, had a service like this. It\nwas a religious ordinance which Wesley dearly loved. In thousands of\ninstances, he and his friends had proved the words, \u201cThose that seek\nMe _early_ shall find Me.\u201d No wonder then, that he evinced alarm when\nhe found the Methodists giving up the morning services. Three weeks\nafter he was at backslidden Stroud, he came to Chester, and expressed\nhimself in the strongest terms on this subject. He writes:\n\n \u201cI was surprised, when I came to Chester, to find that there\n also morning preaching was quite left off, for this worthy\n reason: \u2018Because the people will not come, or, at least, not in\n the winter.\u2019 If so, the Methodists are a fallen people. Here is\n proof. They have \u2018lost their first love\u2019; and they never will\n or can recover it, till they \u2018do the first works.\u2019 As soon as I\n set foot in Georgia, I began preaching at five in the morning;\n and every communicant, that is, every serious person in the\n town, constantly attended throughout the year; I mean, came\n every morning, winter and summer, unless in the case of\n sickness. They did so till I left the province. In the year\n 1738, when God began His great work in England, I began\n preaching at the same hour, winter and summer, and never wanted\n a congregation. If they will not attend now, they have lost\n their zeal; and then, it cannot be denied, they are a fallen\n people. And, in the meantime, we are labouring to secure the\n preaching houses to the next generation! In the name of God,\n let us, if possible, secure the present generation from drawing\n back to perdition! Let all the preachers, that are still alive\n to God, join together as one man, fast and pray, lift up their\n voice as a trumpet, be instant, in season, out of season, to\n convince them that are fallen; and exhort them instantly to\n \u2018repent, and do the first works\u2019: this in particular,--rising\n in the morning, without which neither their souls nor bodies\n can long remain in health.\u201d\n\nPerhaps this was looking at the thing too seriously. That early\nmorning service is highly profitable cannot reasonably be called in\nquestion; but, that it should begin at the hour of five may fairly be\ndisputed. Early risers are persons to be envied; they breathe the\npurest air, listen to the sweetest songs, and have promptings to\nworship God that the sluggard never feels.\n\nAt Tewkesbury, Wesley had to correct the \u201cimpropriety of standing at\nprayer, and sitting while singing praise.\u201d At Worcester, he \u201cpreached,\nto a crowded audience, in St. Andrew\u2019s church.\u201d At Madeley, he\npreached twice in the parish church, revised the vicar\u2019s letters to\nDr. Priestley, and declared, that there was hardly another man in\nEngland, so fit to encounter the great Socinian philosopher as his\nfriend from the mountains of Switzerland. At Stafford, he preached, to\n\u201ca small company, in a deplorable hole, formerly a stable.\u201d At Lane\nEnd, near Newcastle under Lyne, in the face of one of the most\npiercing winds of the month of March, he preached, by moonlight, in\nthe open air, the congregation being four times larger than the chapel\ncould contain. At Burslem, also, for the same reason, he was obliged\nto abandon the chapel for the field. At Manchester, on Easter Sunday,\nhe had \u201cnear a thousand communicants\u201d; Thomas Taylor says, twelve\nhundred.[474]\n\nThus he employed himself all the way to Whitehaven, where he \u201chad all\nthe church ministers\u201d to hear him, \u201cand most of the gentry in the\ntown\u201d; and, to his evident surprise, \u201cthey all behaved with as much\ndecency as if they had been colliers.\u201d At Edinburgh, he writes: \u201cI am\namazed at this people. Use the most cutting words, and apply them in\nthe most pointed manner, still they _hear_, but _feel_ no more than\nthe seats they sit upon.\u201d Throughout Scotland, morning preaching and\nprayer-meetings had almost vanished. \u201cAt Aberdeen,\u201d he writes, \u201cI\ntalked largely with the preachers, and showed them the hurt it did\nboth to them and the people, for any one preacher to stay six or eight\nweeks together in one place. Neither can he find matter for preaching\nevery morning and evening, nor will the people come to hear him.\nHence, he grows cold by lying in bed, and so do the people. Whereas,\nif he never stays more than a fortnight together in one place, he may\nfind matter enough, and the people will gladly hear him. The preachers\nimmediately drew up such a plan for this circuit, which they\ndetermined to pursue.\u201d\n\nFrom Aberdeen, Wesley went, by invitation, to Lady Banff\u2019s at Old\nMeldrum, where he preached twice; and thence to Keith, where he had a\ncongregation to his heart\u2019s content, all the people poor, and \u201cnot a\nsilk coat among them.\u201d At Forres, he was the guest of Sir Lodowick\nGrant. In making his way to Inverness, by the mistake of his coachman,\nhe had to trudge, through heavy rain, twelve miles and a half on foot,\nbut says, he \u201cwas no more tired\u201d than when he first set out. At Elgin,\nhe preached in the church, and significantly remarks: \u201cI do not\ndespair of good being done even here, provided the preachers be \u2018sons\nof thunder.\u2019\u201d At Newburgh, he found \u201cthe liveliest society in the\nkingdom.\u201d At Melval House, \u201cthe grand and beautiful seat of Lord\nLeven,\u201d he was hospitably entertained by the countess and her family,\nand, at their desire, preached from, \u201cIt is appointed unto men once to\ndie.\u201d Here, also, he wrote his \u201cThoughts on Nervous Disorders.\u201d His\nnext halting place was at Lady Maxwell\u2019s, \u201cwho appeared to be clearly\nsaved from sin, although exceedingly depressed by the tottering\ntenement of clay.\u201d\n\nAfter thus visiting most of the important towns in Scotland, Wesley\nreached Newcastle, where, on Whitsunday, he preached thrice to large\ncongregations. A week later, he again set out, on his unwearied\nmission; and, at Stockton, \u201cfound an uncommon work of God among the\nchildren,\u201d upwards of sixty of whom, from the age of \u201csix to fourteen,\nwere under serious impressions, and earnestly desirous to save their\nsouls.\u201d He writes: \u201cAs soon as I came down from the desk, I was\nenclosed by a body of children; all of whom sunk down upon their\nknees: so I kneeled down myself, and began praying for them.\u201d\nBeautiful picture this, well worth painting! No wonder that he adds:\n\u201cabundance of people ran back into the house. The fire kindled, and\nran from heart to heart, till few, if any, were unaffected. Is not\nthis a new thing in the earth? God begins His work in children. Thus\nit has been also in Cornwall, Manchester, and Epworth. Thus the flame\nspreads to those of riper years; till at length they all know Him, and\npraise Him from the least unto the greatest.\u201d\n\nHaving visited the \u201cdales,\u201d Darlington, Northallerton, Thirsk,\nOsmotherley, and other places, he made his way to Whitby, where he\nwrote: \u201cThe society here may be a pattern to all in England. They\ndespise all ornaments but good works, together with a meek and quiet\nspirit. I did not see a ruffle, no, nor a fashionable cap among them;\nthough many of them are in easy circumstances. About forty had a clear\nwitness of being saved from inbred sin; and seemed to walk in the full\nlight of God\u2019s countenance.\u201d\n\nAt Scarborough, Wesley attended church, and was regaled with one of\nthe bitterest sermons he ever heard. \u201cSo,\u201d says he, \u201call I have done,\nto persuade the people to attend the church, is overturned at once!\nAnd all who preach thus will drive the Methodists from the church, in\nspite of all that I can do.\u201d Two years after this, in a letter to his\nbrother, he wrote: \u201cThe last time I was at Scarborough, I earnestly\nexhorted our people to go to church; and I went myself. But the\nwretched minister preached such a sermon, that I could not in\nconscience advise them to hear him any more.\u201d[475]\n\nFrom Scarborough, Wesley proceeded along the east coast to Hull;\nthence to Pocklington and York; and thence to Epworth, where he spent\nhis birthday, and preached in the market place of the town, whose\nchurch, for nine-and-thirty years, had been blessed with the able and\nfaithful ministry of his honoured father. He writes: \u201cJune 28--To-day\nI entered on my eighty-second year, and found myself just as strong to\nlabour, and as fit for any exercise of body or mind, as I was forty\nyears ago. I do not impute this to second causes, but to the sovereign\nLord of all. It is He who bids the sun of life stand still, so long as\nit pleaseth Him. I am as strong at eighty-one, as I was at twenty-one;\nbut abundantly more healthy, being a stranger to the headache,\ntoothache, and other bodily disorders which attended me in my youth.\nWe can only say, \u2018The Lord reigneth!\u2019 While we live, let us live to\nHim!\u201d\n\nHaving spent a week in visiting the Lincolnshire societies, Wesley\nproceeded to various towns in the west riding of Yorkshire; and\nthence, for the first time, to Burnley. He writes: \u201cBurnley had been\ntried for many years, but without effect. Now, high and low, rich and\npoor, flocked together from all quarters; and all were eager to hear,\nexcept one man, who was the town crier. He began to bawl amain, till\nhis wife ran to him, and literally stopped his noise; she seized him\nwith one hand, and clapped the other upon his mouth, so that he could\nnot get out one word. God then began a work, which, I am persuaded,\nwill not soon come to an end.\u201d Wesley\u2019s words were verified.\n\nThomas Dixon, who was appointed to the Colne circuit in 1784, remarks,\nin his unpublished diary: \u201cThe work of God at Burnley was very young;\nbut many, during this year, were converted. The great men of the place\nwere angry, and agreed to banish the Methodist preachers from the\ntown. The proprietor of the preaching house sent us notice to quit the\npremises; and the rest of the gentlemen pledged themselves not to let\nus have another. But about a month before the expiration of the\nnotice, the Lord converted a man, who had a house of his own, which he\nopened to the preachers; and now we had a better preaching place than\nwe had before. Soon after a chapel was erected.\u201d One of the first\nmembers was John Eagin, who, for fifty years, maintained an unspotted\ncharacter; and died, in 1836, saying, \u201cI am happy.\u201d[476]\n\nLeaving Burnley, Wesley went to Otley, where, marvellous to relate! he\nhad a two days\u2019 rest. He then, on July 18, preached twice in Bingley\nchurch, a great part of his congregation being obliged to stand\noutside. He writes: \u201cBefore service, I stepped into the Sunday-school,\nwhich contains two hundred and forty children, taught every Sunday by\nseveral masters, and superintended by the curate. So many children, in\none parish, are restrained from open sin, and taught a little good\nmanners, at least, as well as to read the Bible. I find these schools\nspringing up wherever I go. Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein,\nthan men are aware of. Who knows but some of these schools may become\nnurseries for Christians?\u201d\n\nThis is Wesley\u2019s first notice of Sunday-schools. Though such schools\nhad long existed in a few isolated cases, it was not until now that\nthey attracted public attention. Miss Ball\u2019s Methodist Sunday-school\nat High Wycombe has been already mentioned; and it has also been\nstated, that Miss Cooke, a Methodist young lady (afterwards the wife\nof Samuel Bradburn), was the first to suggest to Robert Raikes the\nidea of instituting a Sunday-school at Gloucester. Raikes commenced\nthat school about the year 1783. At all events, his account of it was\ndated Gloucester, June 5, 1784, and was published in the January\nnumber of Wesley\u2019s _Arminian Magazine_, for 1785, with the title, \u201cAn\nAccount of the Sunday Charity Schools, lately begun in various parts\nof England.\u201d Wesley was one of the first to catch and patronise the\nSunday-school idea. At Bingley, he visited the school before preaching\nin the church, and gave to Sunday-schools one of their happiest\ndesignations, \u201cnurseries for Christians.\u201d Similar institutions had\nbeen begun in Leeds, where Wesley was about to hold his conference.\nThe town was already divided into seven divisions; and had twenty-six\nschools, containing above two thousand scholars, taught by forty-five\nmasters. Each school commenced at one o\u2019clock in the afternoon, the\nchildren being taught reading, writing, and religion. At three, they\nwere taken to their respective churches; then conducted back to\nschool, where a portion of some useful book was read, a psalm sung,\nand the whole concluded with a form of prayer, composed and printed\nfor that purpose. Boys and girls were kept separate. There were four\n\u201cinquisitors,\u201d persons whose office it was to spend Sunday afternoon\nin visiting the twenty-six schools, to ascertain who were absent, and\nthen in seeking the absentees at their homes or in the public streets.\nThe masters were mostly pious men, and were paid from one to two\nshillings a Sunday for their services, according to their respective\nqualifications. Each had a written list of his scholars\u2019 names, which\nhe was required to call over, every Sunday, at half-past one, and\nhalf-past five. Five clergymen visited the schools, and gave\naddresses; and the expenses of the first year, ending in July 1784,\nwere about \u00a3234.\n\nSuch were the Sunday-schools at Leeds when Wesley, for the first time,\nvisited one in the neighbouring town of Bingley. Manchester also had\ntaken up Raikes\u2019 Methodist idea; and, on the 1st of August, 1784,\nWesley\u2019s old friend, the Rev. Cornelius Bayley, D.D., who for ten\nyears had been one of the masters of Kingswood school, but was now an\nordained clergyman in this important city, published an \u201cAddress to\nthe Public on Sunday-Schools,\u201d in which he gave an account of the\nschools at Leeds, and urged the men of Manchester to copy so excellent\nan example. Bayley\u2019s address produced a powerful effect; the\nmagistrates patronised his scheme; and the result was, that Cornelius\nBayley, D.D., the quondam Methodist, and master of Wesley\u2019s Kingswood\nschool, became one of the chief, though not only, instruments of\nestablishing Sunday-schools in Manchester and its neighbourhood.[477]\n\nAfter visiting some of the intermediate towns and villages, Wesley\narrived at Leeds, for the purpose of holding his annual conference. He\nwrites:\n\n \u201cJuly 25, Sunday--I preached to several thousands at Birstal,\n and to, at least, as many at Leeds. July 27, Tuesday--Our\n conference began; at which four of our brethren, after long\n debate (in which Mr. Fletcher took much pains) acknowledged\n their fault, and all that was past was forgotten. July 29,\n Thursday--Being the public thanksgiving day, as there was not\n room for us in the old church, I read prayers, as well as\n preached, at our room. Having five clergymen to assist me, we\n administered the Lord\u2019s supper, as was supposed, to sixteen or\n seventeen hundred persons. August 1, Sunday--We were fifteen\n clergymen at the old church. August 3, Tuesday--Our conference\n concluded in much love, to the great disappointment of all.\u201d\n\nSuch are Wesley\u2019s brief notices of this momentous conference. Some\nadditional incidents must be added. The war of American independence\nwas now ended, and the day of public thanksgiving had reference to\nthat event. In the morning, at five, Thomas Hanby preached from, \u201cMy\ngrace is sufficient for thee.\u201d Wesley\u2019s text, previous to the almost\nunparalleled sacramental service, was 1 Corinthians xiii. 1-4. The\nfive clergymen who assisted him were Messrs. Coke, Fletcher, Dillon,\nBayley, and Simpson. In the afternoon, the business of the conference\nwas resumed; and, at night, Wesley preached again, taking as his text,\n\u201cThis is the first and great commandment.\u201d Altogether, Wesley preached\nnot fewer than eight times during this important session, besides\nregulating the ticklish and difficult business that had to be\ntransacted.[478]\n\nThe \u201clong debate,\u201d which Wesley mentions, had reference to the deed of\ndeclaration, which must now have the best attention that space permits\nus to give it.\n\nAt an early period of his history, Wesley published a model deed for\nthe settlement of chapels, to the effect, that the trustees, for the\ntime being, should permit Wesley himself and such other persons as he\nmight, from time to time, appoint, to have the free use of such\npremises, to preach therein God\u2019s holy word. In case of his death, the\nsame right was secured to his brother; and providing that his\nbrother\u2019s decease occurred before that of William Grimshaw, the same\nprerogatives were to belong to the last mentioned. After the death of\nthe three clergymen, the chapels were to be held, in trust, for the\nsole use of such persons as might be appointed at the yearly\nconference of the people called Methodists, provided, that the said\npersons preached no other doctrines than those contained in Wesley\u2019s\nNotes on the New Testament, and in his four volumes of sermons.[479]\n\nThus the matter stood in 1784. According to Myles\u2019 Chronological\nHistory, there were, at this time, in the United Kingdom, three\nhundred and fifty-nine Methodist chapels; and it may be fairly\npresumed, that most of these were settled substantially according to\nthe provisions of the deed above mentioned.\n\nHere it may be asked, what necessity was there for a further deed? The\nanswer is, that, as yet, there was no legal definition of what was\nmeant by the term \u201c_conference_ of the people called Methodists.\u201d To\nsupply this defect, Wesley, on the 28th of February, 1784, executed\nhis famous deed of declaration, which, a few days afterwards, was\nenrolled in the high court of chancery. To use the language of the\ndeed itself, its object was \u201cto explain the words, \u2018yearly conference\nof the people called Methodists,\u2019 and to declare what persons are\nmembers of the said conference, and how the succession and identity\nthereof is to be continued.\u201d\n\nThe document proceeds to state, that the said conference had always\nconsisted of Methodist preachers whom Wesley had annually invited to\nmeet him for the following purposes: namely, to advise with him for\nthe promotion of the gospel of Christ; to appoint the said preachers,\nand other preachers and exhorters in connection with him, to the use\nand enjoyment of chapels conveyed upon trust as aforesaid; to expel\nunworthy preachers; and to admit others on probation.\n\nThe deed then gives the names and addresses of one hundred preachers,\nwho are now declared to be the members of the said conference; and\nproceeds to state (1) That they and their successors, for the time\nbeing for ever, shall assemble once a year. (2) That the act of the\nmajority shall be the act of the whole. (3) That their first business,\nwhen they assemble, shall be to fill up vacancies. (4) That no act of\nthe conference assembled shall be valid unless forty of its members\nare present. (5) That the duration of the yearly conference shall not\nbe less than five days, nor more than three weeks. (6) That,\nimmediately after filling up vacancies, they shall choose a president\nand secretary of their assembly out of themselves. (7) That any member\nof the conference, absenting himself from the yearly assembly thereof\nfor two years successively, without the consent or dispensation of the\nconference, and who is not present on the first day of the third\nyearly assembly thereof, shall forthwith cease to be a member, as\nthough he were naturally dead. (8) That the conference shall and may\nexpel any member thereof, or any person admitted into connection\ntherewith, for any cause which to the conference may seem fit or\nnecessary. (9) That they may admit into connection with them any\nperson, of whom they approve, to be preachers of God\u2019s holy word,\nunder the care and direction of the conference. (10) That no person\nshall be elected a member of the conference, who has not been admitted\ninto connection with the conference, as a preacher, for twelve months.\n(11) That the conference shall not appoint any person to the use of a\nchapel or chapels, who is not either a member of the conference, or\nadmitted into connection with the same, or upon trial; and that no\nperson shall be appointed for more than three years successively,\nexcept ordained ministers of the Church of England. (12) That the\nconference may appoint the place of holding the yearly assembly\nthereof, at any other town, or city, than London, Bristol, or Leeds.\n(13) That the conference may, when it shall seem expedient, send any\nof its members as delegates to Ireland, or other parts out of the\nkingdom of Great Britain, to act on its behalf, and with all the\npowers of the conference itself. (14) That all resolutions and acts\nwhatsoever of the conference shall be written in the journals of the\nconference, and be signed by the president and secretary thereof for\nthe time being. (15) That whenever the conference shall be reduced\nunder the number of forty members, and continue so reduced for three\nyears successively; or whenever the members thereof shall decline or\nneglect to meet together annually during the space of three years, the\nconference of the people called Methodists shall be extinguished, and\nall its powers, privileges, and advantages shall cease. (16) That\nnothing in this deed shall extinguish or lessen the life estate of the\nsaid John Wesley and Charles Wesley, or either of them, in any of the\nchapels in which they now have, or may have, any estate or interest,\npower or authority whatsoever.\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s deed of declaration,--a deed recognised in the trust\ndeeds of all the chapels that Methodism builds; and, hence, a deed\ninvesting a hundred Methodist preachers with the unexampled power of\ndetermining, irrespective of trustees, societies, and congregations,\nwho shall be the officiating ministers in the thousands of chapels\noccupied by Methodist societies at home and abroad, throughout the\nUnited Kingdom and throughout the world. We repeat, this is an\nunexampled power; and the ministers, invested with it, ought to feel,\nthat they have a corresponding responsibility to God and to His\nchurch. High is the honour; the responsibility is fearful. If\nMethodism should ever fail in its duty, or fall to pieces, they, above\nall men else, must bear the blame.\n\nWe purposely refrain from raising the vexed question about the kind of\nchurch government, involved in this great settlement; and proceed to\nnotice the history of the deed of declaration, up to the time of its\nbeing signed on February 28, 1784.\n\nMr. Pawson, in his manuscript memoir of Dr. Whitehead, states that,\nfrom the year 1750, all Methodist chapels were settled according to\nthe provisions of the model deed that has been already mentioned; but\nseveral of the \u201cwisest and best preachers\u201d were not satisfied, and,\nfrom time to time, brought up the matter at the yearly conferences,\nand earnestly urged Wesley to do something more to preserve the\nchapels for the purpose which the original builders intended. Wesley\nreplied, that the trust deed in itself was quite sufficient; that it\nhad been drawn up by three of the most eminent counsellors in London;\nand that, even supposing there might be some defect in it, no one\nwould be so mad as to go to law with an entire body of people like the\nMethodists. Such reasoning failed to satisfy the preachers, especially\nMessrs. Hampson and Oddie, both of whom, says Pawson, \u201cwere men of\nremarkably deep understanding and sound judgment.\u201d At length, Wesley\nbegan to yield to the pressure that was brought upon him; and various\nschemes were propounded to accomplish the purpose upon which men like\nHampson and Oddie had set their hearts. One was to consolidate all the\nchapels in the connexion into a general trust, the trustees to be\nchosen out of all the large societies throughout the three kingdoms.\nAnother was to have all the chapel deeds brought to London, and\ndeposited in a strong box, to be provided for the purpose; and, in\nexecution of this project, many were actually sent, and some were\nthereby lost. All this occurred previous to Dr. Coke\u2019s uniting himself\nwith Wesley; and, from Pawson\u2019s testimony, we now turn to that of\nCoke.\n\nIn his \u201cAddress to the Methodist Society in Great Britain and Ireland,\non the Settlement of Preaching Houses,\u201d Coke relates that, at the\nconference of 1782, the preachers seemed to be universally alarmed at\nthe danger arising from the want of a legal definition of what was\nmeant by the term, \u201cthe conference of the people called Methodists\u201d;\nand unanimously wished some method to be taken to remove a danger\nwhich appeared to them to be pregnant with evils of the first\nmagnitude. In consequence of this, Coke took the opinion of Mr.\nMaddox, one of the first counsel of the day, and ascertained, that the\nlaw would not recognise the conference, without some further\ndefinition; and, consequently, that there was nothing to preserve the\nMethodist connexion from being shivered into a thousand fragments\nafter Wesley\u2019s death. To prevent this, Mr. Maddox advised, that Wesley\nshould execute a deed, specifying the persons by name who composed the\nconference, together with the mode of succession for its perpetuity.\nDr. Coke read Mr. Maddox\u2019s opinion to the conference of 1783; and the\nwhole conference expressed their wish that such a deed should be drawn\nup and executed. Coke immediately set to work, and, with the\nassistance of Mr. Clulow, a solicitor, and Mr. Maddox, the barrister,\na draft of the deed was carefully prepared, and submitted to Wesley\nfor his approval. Coke\u2019s opinion was, that every preacher, in full\nconnexion, should have his name inserted; and that admission into full\nconnexion should, in the future, be looked upon as admission into\nmembership with the conference. Wesley demurred to this, and\ndetermined to limit the number of members to one hundred, and, without\nany advice from Coke, made his own selections. In this form, the deed\nwas executed; and Coke sent copies of it to all the assistants of\ncircuits throughout the United Kingdom.[480]\n\nWe believe that this is, substantially, all that can be said\nrespecting the origin of what has been termed Methodism\u2019s Magna\nCharta.\n\nWhat was the result? There were, at the conference of 1783, one\nhundred and ninety-two preachers appointed to sixty-nine circuits,\nthroughout the three kingdoms. We have no hesitancy in saying, that we\nthink it would have been wise to have inserted the names of the whole\nof these in the deed of declaration, with the exception of twenty-two,\nwho were still on trial, and not admitted into full connexion. All\nseemed to have an equal right to this; and, thereby, all would have\nbeen satisfied. Instead of this, Wesley proceeded to the invidious\ntask of selecting a hundred, and rejecting ninety-two. It was a\nperilous experiment; and the peril was augmented by the mode in which\nthe experiment was made. For instance, sixteen were elected who had\ntravelled less than four years; whereas among the rejected were the\nfollowing.\n\n Thomas Lee travelled 36 years.\n John Atlay \u201d 21 \u201d\n Joseph Thompson \u201d 25 \u201d\n John Poole \u201d 25 \u201d\n William Ashman \u201d 19 \u201d\n Jonathan Hern \u201d 15 \u201d\n William Eels \u201d 12 \u201d\n Thomas Mitchell \u201d 36 \u201d\n Joseph Pilmoor \u201d 19 \u201d\n\nBesides, where was the fairness of choosing and refusing the following\npreachers, who, at the time, were colleagues in the same circuit?\n\n _Names of _Years _Names of Rejected._ _Years\n Chosen._ standing._ standing._\n Joshua Keighley 3 William Horner 13\n Joseph Cole 3 Simon Day 17\n Jonathan Cousins 3 Robert Empringham 21\n William Green 3 John Hampson, sen. 31\n Joseph Taylor 6 John Wittam 16\n William Hoskins 1 John Watson 12\n William Myles 6 \u23a7 John Hampson, jun. 6\n \u23a9 George Snowden 14\n William Simpson 4 Thomas Johnson 31\n James Wray 2 Thomas Wride 15\n Henry Foster 3 George Mowat 13\n\nWesley doubtless had a right to make any selection that he liked; but\nthose who were not selected had an equal right to grumble; and we are\nnot surprised that, sooner or later, not fewer than nearly thirty of\nthe rejected withdrew from the connexion altogether.\n\nJohn Pawson writes:\n\n \u201cMr. Wesley, designedly or otherwise, left out the names of\n several of the old and respectable preachers; and these good\n men were exceedingly grieved and not without reason. Many of\n the trustees also were alarmed, thinking that we wished to make\n the chapels our own property; but nothing of the kind was ever\n contemplated. The one design of the deed, to my certain\n knowledge, was to prevent any preacher, who might be inclined\n to settle, from taking possession of any of our chapels. The\n preachers, whose names were inserted in the deed, so far from\n being desirous to be distinguished above their brethren, very\n cheerfully complied with Mr. Wesley\u2019s desire, and gave up every\n privilege granted to them in the deed, except that of electing\n their own president and secretary, which appears to me to be a\n matter of little consequence.\u201d[481]\n\nThere can be no question, that the deed of declaration occasioned\ngreat excitement. John Hampson, jun., says:\n\n \u201cEvery itinerant had always considered himself as a member of\n conference; and, hence, when the ninety-one, who were to be\n excluded, saw the deed, it was with astonishment and\n indignation. The injustice of the thing stared them in the\n face; and they found that, in consenting to such a deed, they\n had consented, that all the affairs of the connexion should be\n lodged in the hundred mentioned in the declaration; that they\n should be the lords and rulers of the rest; and should have it\n in their power to turn any other preacher out of the\n conference, and tell him he had no business there. The\n exclusion itself was both an iniquitous and a mortifying\n measure. But the partiality of it rendered it still more\n oppressive. Some of the oldest and ablest preachers, in the\n connexion, were excluded. Many of the selected members were not\n only deficient in abilities, but some of them, at the time of\n their insertion in the deed, were only upon trial; while the\n chief qualifications of others were ignorance, fanaticism, and\n ductility. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder if the\n persons excluded thought themselves aggrieved. They were really\n so, and they made no scruple to declare their sentiments. They\n sent circular letters, inviting all the preachers to canvass\n the business at the ensuing conference; and a large number\n assembled. Many of them were as averse to the deed, as those\n who had so decidedly opposed it, and had repeatedly execrated\n the measure, both by letter and in conversation; but they had\n not the courage to avow their sentiments in conference. Mr.\n Wesley made a speech, and invited all who were of his mind to\n stand up. They all rose to a man. The five were found guilty,\n and it was unanimously determined, that they should either make\n concessions or be dismissed. Urged by the entreaties of Mr.\n Fletcher, and anxious for the restoration of peace, the\n preachers in the opposition apologised to Mr. Wesley, for\n printing the circular letter, without having first appealed to\n conference.\u201d[482]\n\nSuch, in substance, and omitting acrid comments, is the account given\nby John Hampson, jun.; and there can be little doubt that, in the\nmain, it is quite correct. The printed circular he mentions was issued\nby his father, and was entitled, \u201cAn Appeal to the Reverend John and\nCharles Wesley; to all the preachers who act in connection with them;\nand to every member of their respective societies in England,\nScotland, Ireland, and America.\u201d[483] Another circular was drawn up by\nJames Oddie, in the form of a petition to Wesley and the legalised\nconference, to the effect, that the preachers, whose names had been\ninserted in the deed, would sign an agreement that, at the death of\nWesley, they would refrain from taking any advantage of their\nposition, but would invite the excluded to their first conference, and\nwould treat them, in all respects, as equals. This was first suggested\nby Robert Oastler, of Thirsk; and was widely circulated, and received\nwith favour;[484] and, perhaps, it was this that evoked the following\nletter, which was written on April 7, 1785, and entrusted to Joseph\nBradford, to deliver to the conference, at their first meeting after\nthe writer\u2019s death.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--Some of our travelling preachers have\n expressed a fear, that, after my decease, you would exclude\n them, either from preaching in connection with you, or from\n some other privileges which they now enjoy. I know no other way\n to prevent any such inconvenience, than to leave these my last\n words with you.\n\n \u201cI beseech you, by the mercies of God, that you never avail\n yourselves of the deed of declaration, to assume any\n superiority over your brethren; but let all things go on, among\n those itinerants who choose to remain together, exactly in the\n same manner as when I was with you, so far as circumstances\n will permit.\n\n \u201cIn particular, I beseech you, if you ever loved me, and if you\n now love God and your brethren, to have no respect of persons\n in stationing the preachers, in choosing children for Kingswood\n school, in disposing of the yearly contribution and the\n preachers\u2019 fund, or any other of the public money; but do all\n things with a single eye, as I have done from the beginning. Go\n on thus, doing all things without prejudice or partiality, and\n God will be with you even to the end.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[485]\n\nThis was a serious crisis in the history of Methodism. Fortunately, it\npassed over without any other immediate consequences than the\nretirement of the five principal opponents to the deed of declaration,\nnamely, the two Hampsons, Joseph Pilmoor, William Eels, and John\nAtlay. Considerable excitement, however, existed; and, in the spring\nof 1785, Wesley found it desirable to write his \u201cThoughts upon some\nlate Occurrences.\u201d He gives the history of the origin of his\nconferences; and states that the term conference meant not so much\nconversation, as the persons that conferred, that it had become\nnecessary to define the term, and that, at the conference of 1783, he\nhad been requested to fix the determinate meaning of the word. He\naccordingly took counsel\u2019s opinion how to act, and was advised to\nexecute a deed of declaration. At first, he thought of naming only ten\nor twelve; but, on second thoughts, he believed there would be more\nsafety in a greater number of counsellors, and, therefore, named a\nhundred; as many as, he judged, could meet without too great expense,\nand without leaving any circuit without preachers while the conference\nassembled. He adds:\n\n \u201cIn naming these preachers, as I had no adviser, so I had no\n respect of persons; but I simply set down those that, according\n to the best of my judgment, were most proper. But I am not\n infallible. I might mistake, and think better of some than they\n deserved. However, I did my best; if I did wrong, it was not\n the error of my will, but of my judgment.\n\n \u201cThis was the rise, and this the nature, of that famous deed of\n declaration,--that vile, wicked deed, concerning which you have\n heard such an outcry! And now, can any one tell me how to mend\n it, or how it could have been made better? \u2018O yes. You might\n have inserted two hundred, as well as one hundred, preachers.\u2019\n No; for then the expense of meeting would have been double, and\n all the circuits would have been without preachers. \u2018But you\n might have named other preachers instead of these.\u2019 True, if I\n had thought as well of them as they did of themselves. But I\n did not: therefore, I could do no otherwise than I did, without\n sinning against God and my own conscience.\n\n \u201c\u2018But what need was there for any deed at all?\u2019 There was the\n utmost need of it; without some authentic deed fixing the\n meaning of the term, the moment I died, the conference had been\n nothing. Therefore, any of the proprietors of the land on which\n our preaching houses were built might have seized them for\n their own use; and there would have been none to hinder them;\n for the conference would have been nobody, a mere empty name.\n\n \u201cYou see then, in all the pains I have taken about this\n absolutely necessary deed, I have been labouring, not for\n myself (I have no interest therein), but for the whole body of\n Methodists; in order to fix them upon such a foundation as is\n likely to stand as long as the sun and moon endure. That is, if\n they continue to walk by faith, and to show forth their faith\n by their works; otherwise, I pray God to root out the memorial\n of them from the earth.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.[486]\n \u201cPLYMOUTH DOCK, _March 3, 1785_.\u201d\n\nWe have done. All the facts, within our knowledge, have been given.\nThe reader must form his own opinion. Comment would be easy; but we\npurposely refrain; only adding, that, by Wesley\u2019s famous deed of\ndeclaration, the Methodist conference became a legally incorporated\ninstitution; and that, without this, the Methodist itinerancy must\nhave ceased, and Methodism itself have been broken up into\ncongregational churches.\n\nWe must now advert to another matter, which, if not of equal, was of\ngreat importance, namely, the episcopal organisation of the Methodist\nsocieties in America. This has been the subject of bewildering\ncontroversy for more than eighty years. Wesley and Coke have been\nbitterly assailed, and as warmly defended. We will narrate the facts\nas simply and briefly as we can.\n\nDuring the American war, which was now ended, the American Methodists\nhad multiplied with marvellous rapidity. In 1774, they numbered 2073;\nin 1784, they were 14,988; showing an increase of 12,915. They had 46\ncircuits, and 83 itinerant, besides some hundreds of local,\npreachers.[487] All these, so far as the sacraments were concerned,\nwere as sheep without shepherds. Some of the clergymen of the Church\nof England had taken military commissions in the army; others were\ndestitute of both piety and sense; and nearly all opposed and\npersecuted the Methodists to the utmost of their power. Bishop White\ntestified, that \u201cthe Church of England was becoming more and more\nunpopular,--with some, because it was not considered as promoting\npiety,--and with others, because they thought the provision for it a\nuseless burden on the community.\u201d At the termination of the\nrevolutionary struggle, says Dr. Hawks, himself a clergyman, \u201ca large\nnumber of the churches in Virginia were destroyed or irreparably\ninjured; twenty-three of her ninety-five parishes were extinct or\nforsaken; and of the remaining seventy-two, thirty-four were destitute\nof ministerial services; while of her ninety-eight clergymen, only\ntwenty-eight remained.\u201d The Rev. Mr. Jarratt, another clergyman of the\nChurch of England, stated, that \u201cmost of the clergy preached what was\nlittle better than deism,\u201d and were bitter revilers and persecutors of\nthose who preached the truth.[488]\n\nUnder these circumstances, the Methodists demanded of their preachers\nthe administration of the sacraments. Many of the societies had been\nmonths, some of them years, without these sacred ordinances. Five\nyears before this, in 1779, the preachers in the south proceeded to\nordain themselves by the hands of three of their senior members,\nunwilling that their people should longer be denied the Lord\u2019s supper,\nand their children and probationary members the rite of baptism.\nAsbury was greatly annoyed at this, and, a year afterwards, with\ndifficulty succeeded in persuading them to suspend the administration\nof the sacraments till further advice could be received from\nWesley.[489] Asbury wrote to Wesley, telling him of the greatness of\nthe work, and of the division that had taken place in Virginia, on\naccount of the people\u2019s uneasiness respecting the sacraments.\nThousands of their children were unbaptized, and the members of the\nsocieties, in general, had not partaken of the Lord\u2019s supper for many\nyears.[490] \u201cDear sir,\u201d says he, on March 20, 1784, \u201cwe are greatly in\nneed of help. A minister, and such preachers as you can fully\nrecommend, will be very acceptable. Without your recommendation, we\nshall receive none. But nothing is so pleasing to me, sir, as the\nthought of seeing you here; which is the ardent desire of thousands\nmore in America.\u201d[491]\n\nWesley\u2019s going was impossible. He had tried (as we have already seen)\nto induce Bishop Lowth to ordain a minister, and had failed. What else\nremained? He thought of Dr. Coke, who replied as follows.\n\n \u201cNEAR DUBLIN, _April 17, 1784_.\n\n \u201cHONOURED AND VERY DEAR SIR,--I intended to trouble you no more\n about my going to America; but your observations incline me to\n address you again on the subject.\n\n \u201cIf some one, in whom you could place the fullest confidence,\n and whom you think likely to have sufficient influence and\n prudence and delicacy of conduct for the purpose, were to go\n over and return, you would then have a source of sufficient\n information to determine on any points or propositions. I may\n be destitute of the last mentioned essential qualification (to\n the former I lay claim without reserve); otherwise my taking\n such a voyage might be expedient.\n\n \u201cBy this means, you might have fuller information concerning\n the state of the country and the societies than epistolary\n correspondence can give you; and there might be a cement of\n union, remaining after your death, between the societies and\n preachers of the two countries. If the awful event of your\n decease should happen before my removal to the world of\n spirits, it is almost certain, that I should have business\n enough, of indispensable importance, on my hands in these\n kingdoms.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your most dutiful and most affectionate son,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS COKE.\u201d[492]\n\nThis is a curiously expressed letter; but if it means anything, it\nmeans, that if Wesley would be good enough to think and say, that Coke\nhad \u201csufficient influence, and prudence, and delicacy of conduct,\u201d he\nwas willing to become Wesley\u2019s envoy to the American Methodists.\n\nHere the matter rested, until the assembling of the conference at\nLeeds. Mr. Pawson, in his manuscript memoir of Dr. Whitehead, relates,\nthat ordination was first proposed by Wesley himself in his select\ncommittee of consultation. Pawson was a member, and was present. He\nwrites: \u201cThe preachers were astonished when this was mentioned, and,\nto a man, opposed it. But I plainly saw that it would be done, as Mr.\nWesley\u2019s mind appeared to be quite made up.\u201d\n\nCoke, Whatcoat, and Vasey were appointed to America; and, six days\nafter the conference concluded, Coke wrote to Wesley as follows.\n\n \u201c_August 9, 1784._\n\n \u201cHONOURED AND DEAR SIR,--The more maturely I consider the\n subject, the more expedient it appears to me, that the power of\n ordaining others should be received by me from you, by the\n imposition of your hands; and that you should lay hands on\n brother Whatcoat and brother Vasey, for the following reasons:\n (1) It seems to me the most scriptural way, and most agreeable\n to the practice of the primitive churches. (2) I may want all\n the influence, in America, which you can throw into my scale.\n Mr. Brackenbury informed me at Leeds, that he saw a letter from\n Mr. Asbury, in which he observed that he would not receive any\n person, deputed by you, with any part of the superintendency of\n the work invested in him; or words which evidently implied so\n much. I do not find the least degree of prejudice in my mind\n against Mr. Asbury; on the contrary, I find a very great love\n and esteem; and am determined not to stir a finger without his\n consent, unless necessity obliges me; but rather to be at his\n feet in all things. But, as the journey is long, and you cannot\n spare me often, it is well to provide against all events; and I\n am satisfied that an authority, formally received from you,\n will be fully admitted; and that my exercising the office of\n ordination, without that formal authority, may be disputed, and\n perhaps, on other accounts, opposed. I think you have tried me\n too often to doubt, whether I will, in any degree, use the\n power you are pleased to invest me with, farther than I believe\n absolutely necessary for the prosperity of the work.\n\n \u201cIn respect of my brethren Whatcoat and Vasey, it is very\n uncertain whether any of the clergy, mentioned by brother\n Rankin, except Mr. Jarratt, will stir a step with me in the\n work; and it is by no means certain, that even he will choose\n to join me in ordaining; and propriety and universal practice\n make it expedient, that I should have two presbyters with me in\n this work. In short, it appears to me, that everything should\n be prepared, and everything proper be done, that can possibly\n be done, on this side the water. You can do all this in Mr.\n C----n\u2019s house, in your chamber; and afterwards, (according to\n Mr. Fletcher\u2019s advice,) give us letters testimonial of the\n different offices with which you have been pleased to invest\n us. For the purpose of laying hands on brothers Whatcoat and\n Vasey, I can bring Mr. Creighton down with me, by which you\n will have two presbyters with you.\n\n \u201cIn respect to brother Rankin\u2019s argument, that you will escape\n a great deal of odium by omitting this, it is nothing. Either\n it will be known, or not known. If not known, then no odium\n will arise; but if known, you will be obliged to acknowledge,\n that I acted under your direction, or suffer me to sink under\n the weight of my enemies, with perhaps your brother at the head\n of them. I shall entreat you to ponder these things.\n\n \u201cYour most dutiful, THOMAS COKE.\u201d[493]\n\nWould it not seem from this, that Wesley had no idea of ordaining any\none himself; but, that he intended Coke, who, as a presbyter of the\nsame church, had coequal power, to go out to America for that purpose?\nThere can be no question, that there is force in Dr. Whitehead\u2019s\ncritique, that \u201cDr. Coke had the same right to ordain Mr. Wesley, that\nMr. Wesley had to ordain Dr. Coke.\u201d Wesley, we think, never intended\ndoing this; but, at Coke\u2019s request, he acquiesced.\n\nOf his power to ordain others, Wesley had no doubt. Nearly forty years\nbefore this, he had been convinced, by Lord King\u2019s Account of the\nPrimitive Church, \u201cthat bishops and presbyters are of one order.\u201d In\n1756, he wrote: \u201cI still believe the episcopal form of church\ngovernment, to agree with the practice and writings of the apostles;\nbut, that it is prescribed in Scripture, I do not believe. This\nopinion, which I once zealously espoused, I have been heartily ashamed\nof, ever since I read Bishop Stillingfleet\u2019s \u2018Irenicon.\u2019 I think he\nhas unanswerably proved, that neither Christ nor His apostles\nprescribe any particular form of church government; and that the plea\nof Divine right, for diocesan episcopacy, was never heard of in the\nprimitive church.\u201d[494] Again, in 1761, in a letter to a friend, he\nrepeated, that Stillingfleet had fully convinced him, that to believe\nthat none but episcopal ordination was valid \u201cwas an entire\nmistake.\u201d[495] And again, in 1780, he shocked the high church bigotry\nof his brother, by declaring, \u201cI verily believe I have as good a right\nto ordain, as to administer the Lord\u2019s supper.\u201d[496]\n\nHis right to ordain, then, was no new assumption of Wesley, adopted in\nhis old age, or in his imbecility, as some of his critics have\nalleged. It was a firm conviction of forty years\u2019 standing.\n\nBesides, there was another fact, which might have some influence with\nhim, but which none of his biographers have noticed. The Methodists,\nunder the care of the Countess of Huntingdon, stood in the same\nrelation to the Church of England that the Methodists under Wesley\ndid. They _varied_, not _dissented_, from the Church. Recently,\nhowever, there had been a formal and avowed secession. Many of Lady\nHuntingdon\u2019s chapels were supplied by ordained clergymen, and, among\nothers, a large building in Spafields, previously known as the\nPantheon. This edifice stood in the parish of Clerkenwell, of which\nthe Rev. William Sellon was minister. Mr. Sellon claimed the right of\nappointing ministers and clerks to the Spafields chapel; also the\nright of himself to officiate within its walls as often as he liked.\nHe further demanded the sum of \u00a340 a year, in consideration of his\npermitting two of the Countess\u2019s preachers to occupy the said chapel;\nalso all the sacramental collections; and four collections yearly, for\nthe benefit of the children of the charity school of Clerkenwell\nparish; and, finally, that, for the due performance of these demands,\nthe proprietors should sign a bond for \u00a31000.\n\nOf course, the proprietors refused to comply with such demands. Mr.\nSellon then instituted a suit in the consistorial court of the Bishop\nof London, and cited the Revs. Messrs. Jones and Taylor, the\nofficiating clergymen, and both of them ordained, to answer for their\nirregularity in preaching in a place not episcopally consecrated, and\nfor carrying on Divine worship there, contrary to the wish of the\nminister of the parish. Verdicts were obtained against them. The\nquestion was then removed to the ecclesiastical courts; and was again\ndecided against the ministers of the countess, and in favour of Mr.\nSellon, who obtained the name of Sanballat.\n\nThis was a momentous matter. Hitherto, Romaine, Venn, and others had\npreached for the countess; but now, as ordained clergymen, in danger\nof prosecution, they had to withdraw their services; and some of the\nmost important chapels were left without supplies. The crisis was\nserious. The countess took counsel with her friends; and, at length,\nit was determined, that Messrs. Wills and Taylor should formally\nsecede from the Church of England, and should take upon themselves to\nordain others: both of them had received episcopal ordination\nthemselves, both were scholars and able preachers, and Mr. Wills had\nmarried Miss Wheeler, the countess\u2019s niece. Accordingly, these two\nministers issued an address to the archbishops and bishops of the\nChurch of England, stating that, because they could not, as clergymen\nof the Established Church, continue preaching to their present\ncongregations, without \u201cknowingly and wilfully opposing the Church\u2019s\nlaws,\u201d they had resolved to secede peaceably, and to put themselves\nunder the protection of the Toleration Act.\n\nHere then was a formal Methodist secession from the Established\nChurch. But more than this: on March 9, 1783, these two seceding\nclergymen began to do what Wesley did eighteen months afterwards,--they\nheld their first ordination. This was in Spafields chapel. The service\ncommenced at 9 a.m., and lasted about seven hours. The names of the\nsix young men, then set apart to the Christian ministry, were Thomas\nJones, Samuel Beaufoy, Thomas Cannon, John Johnson, William Green,\nand Joel Abraham Knight. During the service, Mr. Wills addressed the\ncongregation, and assigned his reasons for believing that he had the\nright to ordain, namely, that presbyters and bishops were the same\norder, and that, as he and Mr. Taylor had been ordained presbyters,\nthey had really been ordained bishops, and had as much right to ordain\nothers as any bishop in the land.[497]\n\nWesley was acquainted with all this, though he never mentions it. For\naught he knew, an action might be commenced against himself and the\nother clergymen preaching in City Road, West Street, and elsewhere,\nsimilar to that which had been successfully prosecuted against the\nCountess of Huntingdon\u2019s preachers at Spafields. It was time to look\nabout. He held exactly the same views respecting presbyters and\nbishops that had been publicly avowed by Messrs. Wills and Taylor; and\nnow, in September 1784, reduced them to practice by proceeding to\nBristol, and there ordaining Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey.\n\nPassing by the ordinations of Whatcoat and Vasey, which involve no\ndifficulty except Wesley\u2019s churchmanship, the ordination of Coke is a\nperplexing puzzle. Coke had been already ordained a deacon and a\npriest of the Church of England; and, hence, his ministerial status\nwas the same as Wesley\u2019s. What further ordination was needed? Wesley\nintended none; but Coke wished it.\n\nWesley was the founder and father of the Methodists. There were 15,000\nin America whom he had never seen. In no sense were these members of\nthe Church of England; for, at the termination of the war, no state\nchurch was recognised. What were they? Not presbyterians, not\nDissenters, not quakers, not anything, except simple Methodists. They\nwere without sacraments. They wished to have them. As Christians, they\nhad a right to them. But who was to administer? Common sense would\nhave said, the men by whose preaching they had been converted; but\nhere priestly prejudice stepped in, and forbad men, whom God had\ncalled to preach, to administer the sacraments, until episcopal or\npresbyterian hands had been put upon them. Things were brought into a\ndead lock. The question was, are the Methodist preachers in America to\nadminister the sacraments without ordination? Or shall Wesley or some\none else go from England to give them ordination? Wesley, a man of\naction, decided to send Coke, and Coke consented; but, before\nstarting, he wished to have an additional ordination himself. What was\nthat ordination to be? The only one possible was this. Wesley was the\nvenerable father of the 15,000 Methodists in America. He was not able\nto visit them himself; but sends them Dr. Coke. The doctor pretends,\nthat it is more than possible, that some of the American preachers and\nsocieties will refuse to acknowledge his authority. To remove this\nobjection, Wesley, at Bristol, in a private room, holds a religious\nservice, puts his hands upon the head of Coke, and, (to use his own\nwords,) sets him apart as a _superintendent_ of the work in America,\nand gives him a written testimonial to that effect. This was all that\nWesley did, and all that Wesley meant; but we greatly doubt whether it\nwas all that the departing envoy wished.\n\nWith the highest respect for Dr. Coke, and his general excellences, it\nis no detraction to assert, that he was dangerously ambitious, and\nthat the height of his ambition was a desire to be a bishop. Some\nyears after this, Coke, unknown to Wesley and Asbury, addressed a\nconfidential letter to Dr. White, bishop of the protestant episcopal\nchurch of Pennsylvania, which, if it meant anything, meant that he\nwould like the Methodists of America to be reunited to the English\nChurch, on condition that he himself was ordained to be their bishop.\nIn 1794, he secretly summoned a meeting, at Lichfield, of the most\ninfluential of the English preachers, and passed a resolution, that\nthe conference should appoint an order of bishops, to ordain deacons\nand elders, he himself, of course, expecting to be a member of the\nprelatical brotherhood. And again, it is a well known fact, that,\nwithin twelve months of his lamented death, he wrote to the Earl of\nLiverpool, stating that he was willing to return most fully into the\nbosom of the Established Church, on condition, that his royal highness\nthe Prince Regent, and the government, would appoint him their bishop\nin India. These are unpleasant facts; which we would rather have\nconsigned to oblivion, had they not been necessary to vindicate Wesley\nfrom the huge inconsistency of ordaining a coequal presbyter to be a\nbishop. Wesley meant the ceremony to be a mere formality likely to\nrecommend his delegate to the favour of the Methodists in America:\nCoke, in his ambition, wished, and intended it to be considered as, an\nordination to a bishopric. This will be clear as we proceed farther.\nThe following are the \u201cletters testimonial,\u201d which Coke asked to have.\n\n \u201cTo all to whom these presents shall come, John Wesley, late\n Fellow of Lincoln College in Oxford, Presbyter of the Church of\n England, sendeth greeting.\n\n \u201cWhereas many of the people in the southern provinces of North\n America, who desire to continue under my care, and still adhere\n to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, are\n greatly distressed for want of ministers to administer the\n sacraments of baptism and the Lord\u2019s supper, according to the\n usage of the same Church; and whereas there does not appear to\n be any other way of supplying them with ministers:\n\n \u201cKnow all men, that I, John Wesley, think myself to be\n providentially called, at this time, to set apart some persons\n for the work of the ministry in America. And, therefore, under\n the protection of almighty God, and with a single eye to His\n glory, I have this day set apart as a superintendent, by the\n imposition of my hands, and prayer, (being assisted by other\n ordained ministers,[498]) Thomas Coke, doctor of civil law, a\n presbyter of the Church of England, and a man whom I judge to\n be well qualified for that great work. And I do hereby\n recommend him to all whom it may concern, as a fit person to\n preside over the flock of Christ. In testimony whereof, I have\n hereunto set my hand and seal, this second day of September, in\n the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and\n eighty-four.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[499]\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _September 10, 1784_.\n\n \u201c_To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and our Brethren in North America._\n\n \u201cBY a very uncommon train of providences, many of the provinces\n of North America are totally disjoined from the mother country,\n and erected into independent states. The English government has\n no authority over them, either civil or ecclesiastical, any\n more than over the states of Holland. A civil authority is\n exercised over them, partly by the congress, partly by the\n provincial assemblies. But no one either exercises or claims\n any ecclesiastical authority at all. In this peculiar\n situation, some thousands of the inhabitants of these states\n desire my advice, and, in compliance with their desire, I have\n drawn up a little sketch.\n\n \u201cLord King\u2019s account of the primitive church convinced me, many\n years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and\n consequently have the same right to ordain. For many years, I\n have been importuned, from time to time, to exercise this\n right, by ordaining part of our travelling preachers. But I\n have still refused; not only for peace sake, but because I was\n determined, as little as possible, to violate the established\n order of the national church to which I belonged.\n\n \u201cBut the case is widely different between England and North\n America. Here there are bishops, who have a legal jurisdiction;\n in America there are none, neither any parish minister; so\n that, for some hundreds of miles together, there is none either\n to baptize, or to administer the Lord\u2019s supper. Here,\n therefore, my scruples are at an end; and I conceive myself at\n full liberty, as I violate no order, and invade no man\u2019s\n rights, by appointing and sending labourers into the harvest.\n\n \u201cI have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis Asbury\n to be joint superintendents over our brethren in North America;\n as also Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, to act as elders\n among them, by baptizing and administering the Lord\u2019s supper.\n And I have prepared a liturgy, little differing from that of\n the Church of England, (I think the best constituted national\n church in the world,) which I advise all the travelling\n preachers to use on the Lord\u2019s day, in all the congregations,\n reading the litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying\n extempore on all other days. I also advise the elders to\n administer the supper of the Lord, on every Lord\u2019s day.\n\n \u201cIf any one will point out a more rational and scriptural way\n of feeding and guiding these poor sheep in the wilderness, I\n will gladly embrace it. At present, I cannot see any better\n method than that I have taken.\n\n \u201cIt has, indeed, been proposed to desire the English bishops to\n ordain part of our preachers for America. But to this I object:\n (1) I desired the Bishop of London to ordain one, but could not\n prevail. (2) If they consented, we know the slowness of their\n proceedings; but the matter admits of no delay. (3) If they\n would ordain them now, they would expect to govern them; and\n how grievously would this entangle us! (4) As our American\n brethren are now totally disentangled, both from the state and\n the English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again, either\n with the one or the other. They are now at full liberty, simply\n to follow the Scriptures and the primitive church. And we judge\n it best, that they should stand fast in that liberty, wherewith\n God has so strangely set them free.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[500]\n\n\u201cThese are the steps,\u201d says Wesley in another place, \u201cwhich, not of\nchoice, but necessity, I have slowly and deliberately taken. If any\none is pleased to call this _separating from the Church_, he may. But\nthe law of England does not call it so; nor can any one properly be\nsaid so to do, unless, out of conscience, he refuses to join in the\nservice, and partake of the sacraments administered therein.\u201d[501]\n\nEight days after the date of the above letter, Coke, Whatcoat, and\nVasey set sail for America, where they arrived on November 3. A\nconference of nearly sixty preachers met in Baltimore on December 24.\nThree days later, Coke ordained Asbury; and the two then ordained a\nnumber of elders and deacons. Coke preached a sermon, which was\npublished, with the title, \u201cThe Substance of a Sermon preached at\nBaltimore, in the State of Maryland, before the General Conference of\nthe Methodist Episcopal Church, on the 27th of December, 1784, at the\nOrdination of the Rev. Francis Asbury to the office of Superintendent.\nBy Thomas Coke, LL.D., Superintendent of the said Church. Published at\nthe desire of the Conference.\u201d 12mo, 22 pages.\n\nThe title is worth observing. Coke and Asbury are _superintendents_;\nthe Methodist church is _episcopal_,--a church governed by _bishops_.\nThe sermon begins with an onslaught on the Church of England in\nAmerica. \u201cThe churches had, in general, been filled with the parasites\nand bottle companions of the rich and great. The humble and\nimportunate entreaties, of the oppressed flocks, were contemned and\ndespised. The drunkard, the fornicator, and the extortioner, triumphed\nover bleeding Zion, because they were faithful abettors of the ruling\npowers. But these intolerable fetters were now struck off; and the\nantichristian union, which before subsisted between church and state,\nwas broken asunder.\u201d Coke then proceeds to answer the question, \u201cWhat\nright have you to exercise the episcopal office?\u201d \u201cTo me,\u201d says he,\n\u201cthe most manifest and clear. God has been pleased, by Mr. Wesley, to\nraise up, in America and Europe, a numerous society, well known by the\nname of Methodists. The whole body have invariably esteemed _this man_\nas their chief pastor, under Christ; and we are fully persuaded, he\nhas a right to ordain. Besides, we have every qualification for an\nepiscopal church, which that of Alexandria possessed for two hundred\nyears; our bishops, or superintendents (as we rather call them),\nhaving been elected by the suffrages of the whole body of our\nministers through the continent, assembled in general conference.\u201d\n\nThis is scarcely conclusive reasoning, but it shows that, from the\nvery first, Coke assumed, what Wesley never gave him, the title of a\nbishop. Five years later, in May, 1789, Coke and Asbury presented an\naddress to Washington, the president of the United States, beginning\nwith the words, \u201cWe, the _bishops_ of the Methodist _Episcopal_\nChurch\u201d;[502] and at the conference of the same year the first\nquestion asked was: \u201cWho are the persons that exercise the episcopal\noffice in the Methodist church in Europe and America? Answer. John\nWesley, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury, by regular order and\nsuccession.\u201d[503]\n\nThis grandiloquent parade of office must not be ascribed to Wesley. He\nnever sanctioned it; he positively condemned it. Besides, even\nallowing that Coke and Asbury had a right to designate themselves\nbishops of the Methodist churches in America, what was their authority\nfor pronouncing Wesley the bishop of the Methodist church in Europe?\nThey had none. It was an unwarrantable liberty taken with the name of\na venerable man, who had censured the use of such an appellation, and\nwhose humility and modesty Coke would have been none the worse for\ncopying. As it was, Wesley was held up to ridicule, and made to\nsuffer, on account of the episcopal ambition of his friends.\n\nWe have no fault to find with the American Methodists being called the\nMethodist Episcopal Church. They have the fullest right to such a\ndesignation if they choose to use it; but it was a name which Wesley\nnever used; and to censure him for ordaining bishops is to censure him\nfor what he never did. He ordained a _superintendent_; but he never\nthought to call him _bishop_. Hence the following to Asbury.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _September 20, 1788_.\n\n \u201c... There is indeed a wide difference between the relation\n wherein you stand to the Americans, and the relation wherein I\n stand to all the Methodists. You are the elder brother of the\n American Methodists; I am, under God, the father of the whole\n family. Therefore, I naturally care for you all in a manner no\n other person can do. Therefore, I, in a measure, provide for\n you all; for the supplies which Dr. Coke provides for you, he\n could not provide, were it not for me,--were it not that I not\n only permit him to collect, but also support him in so doing.\n\n \u201cBut in one point, my dear brother, I am a little afraid, both\n the doctor and you differ from me. I study to be little; you\n study to be great. I creep; you strut along. I found a school;\n you a college! nay, and call it after your own names![504] O,\n beware; do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and\n \u2018Christ be all in all!\u2019\n\n \u201cOne instance of this, of your greatness, has given me great\n concern. How can you, how dare you, suffer yourself to be\n called bishop? I shudder, I start at the very thought! Men may\n call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am\n content; but they shall never, by my consent, call me bishop!\n For my sake, for God\u2019s sake, for Christ\u2019s sake, put a full end\n to this! Let the presbyterians do what they please, but let the\n Methodists know their calling better.\n\n \u201cThus, my dear Franky, I have told you all that is in my heart.\n And let this, when I am no more seen, bear witness how\n sincerely I am your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[505]\n\nCoke, in his letter, dated August 9, 1784, mentions the \u201codium\u201d which\nWesley was likely to incur by the ordinations which he himself was\nsoliciting; and, with a want of chivalry not to be commended, requests\nWesley to acknowledge that the deed was all his own, otherwise Coke\nwould \u201csink under the weight of his enemies, with Charles Wesley at\nthe head of them.\u201d The apprehension was not unfounded. Charles Wesley\nknew nothing of the ordinations in Bristol till they were over; but,\nof course, it was impossible to keep them secret; and great was the\nexcitement which the revelation created. One of the preachers wrote:\n\n \u201cOrdination among Methodists! Amazing indeed! Surely it never\n began in the midst of a multitude of counsellors; and, I\n greatly fear, the Son of Man was not secretary of state, or not\n present, when the business was brought on and carried. Who is\n the father of this _monster_, so long dreaded by the father of\n his people, and by most of his sons? Whoever he be, time will\n prove him to be a felon to Methodism, and discover his\n assassinating knife sticking fast in the vitals of its body.\n Years to come will speak in groans the opprobrious anniversary\n of our religious madness for gowns and bands.\u201d\n\nAnother wrote: \u201cI wish they had been asleep when they began this\nbusiness of ordination: it is neither _episcopal_ nor _presbyterian_;\nbut a mere hodge-podge of inconsistencies.\u201d[506]\n\nOn April 28, 1785, Charles Wesley addressed a long letter to Dr.\nChandler, an episcopal clergyman, who was about to embark for America,\nfrom which the following is an extract.\n\n \u201cI never lost my dread of separation, or ceased to guard our\n societies against it. I frequently told them: \u2018I am your\n servant as long as you remain in the Church of England; but no\n longer. Should you forsake her, you would renounce me.\u2019\n\n \u201cSome of the lay preachers very early discovered an inclination\n to separate, which induced my brother to print his \u2018Reasons\n against Separation.\u2019 As often as it appeared, we beat down the\n schismatical spirit. If any one did leave the Church, at the\n same time he left our society. For near fifty years, we kept\n the sheep in the fold; and, having filled the number of our\n days, only waited to depart in peace.\n\n \u201cAfter our having continued friends for above _seventy_ years,\n and fellow labourers for above _fifty_, can anything but death\n part us? I can scarcely yet believe it, that, in his\n eighty-second year, my brother, my old, intimate friend and\n companion, should have assumed the episcopal character,\n ordained elders, consecrated a bishop, and sent him to ordain\n our lay preachers in America! I was then in Bristol, at his\n elbow; yet he never gave me the least hint of his intention.\n How was he surprised into so rash an action? He certainly\n persuaded himself that it was right.\n\n \u201cLord Mansfield told me last year, that ordination was\n separation. This my brother does not and will not see; or that\n he has renounced the principles and practice of his whole life;\n that he has acted contrary to all his declarations,\n protestations, and writings; robbed his friends of their\n boasting; and left an indelible blot on his name, as long as it\n shall be remembered!\n\n \u201cThus our partnership here is dissolved, but not our\n friendship. I have taken him for better for worse, till death\n do us part; or, rather, reunite us in love inseparable. I have\n lived on earth a little too long, who have lived to see this\n evil day. But I shall very soon be taken from it, in stedfast\n faith, that the Lord will maintain His own cause, and carry on\n His own work, and fulfil His promise to His church, \u2018Lo, I am\n with you always, even to the end!\u2019\n\n \u201cWhat will become of these poor sheep in the wilderness, the\n American Methodists? How have they been betrayed into a\n separation from the Church of England, which their preachers\n and they no more intended than the Methodists here! Had they\n had patience a little longer, they would have seen a real\n bishop in America, consecrated by three Scotch bishops, who\n have their consecration from the English bishops, and are\n acknowledged by them as the same with themselves. There is,\n therefore, not the least difference betwixt the members of\n Bishop Seabury\u2019s[507] church, and the members of the Church of\n England. He told me he looked upon the Methodists in America as\n sound members of the Church, and was ready to ordain any of\n their preachers whom he should find duly qualified. His\n ordination would be indeed genuine, valid, and episcopal. But\n what are your poor Methodists now? Only a new sect of\n presbyterians. And, after my brother\u2019s death, which is now so\n near, what will be their end? They will lose all their\n influence and importance; they will turn aside to vain\n janglings; they will settle again upon their lees; and, like\n other sects of Dissenters, come to nothing.\u201d[508]\n\nCharles Wesley hints, that his brother was \u201c_surprised_ into the rash\nact\u201d of ordaining. Perhaps he was; but did he afterwards regret it? In\nanswering this question, we must use materials which properly belong\nto succeeding years.[509]\n\nIt is a fact, which cannot be denied, that, while Wesley himself was,\nto some extent, welcomed in Scotland, by the ministers of the kirk,\nthe Methodists, in many instances, were substantially in the same\nposition as the Methodists in America. There were, indeed, clergymen\nof the English Church in Scotland; but several of them absolutely\nrefused to admit the Methodists to the sacraments, except on the\ncondition that they would renounce all future connection with the\nMethodist ministry and discipline.[510] There was, therefore, the same\nnecessity to ordain for the one country as for the other. Accordingly,\nWesley, in his journal, writes: \u201c1785: August 1--Having, with a few\nselect friends, weighed the matter thoroughly, I yielded to their\njudgment, and set apart three of our well tried preachers, John\nPawson, Thomas Hanby, and Joseph Taylor, to minister in Scotland.\u201d A\nyear afterwards, at the conference of 1786, he ordained Joshua\nKeighley and Charles Atmore, for Scotland; William Warrener, for\nAntigua; and William Hammet, for Newfoundland. A year later, five\nothers were ordained; in 1788, when Wesley was in Scotland, John\nBarber and Joseph Cownley received ordination at his hands; and, at\nthe ensuing conference, seven others, including Alexander Mather, who\nwas ordained to the office, not only of deacon and elder, but of\n_superintendent_. On Ash Wednesday in 1789, Wesley ordained Henry\nMoore and Thomas Rankin; and this, we believe, completes the list of\nthose upon whom Wesley laid his hands. All these ordinations were in\nprivate; and many of them at four o\u2019clock in the morning. Some of the\nfavoured ones were intended for Scotland; some for foreign missions;\nand a few, as Mather, Moore, and Rankin, were employed in England. In\nmost instances, probably in all, they were ordained deacons on one\nday; and, on the day following, received the ordination of elders,\nWesley giving to each letters testimonial.[511] Wesley justified his\nordinations for Scotland thus.\n\n \u201cAfter Dr. Coke\u2019s return from America, many of our friends\n begged I would consider the case of Scotland, where we had been\n labouring for many years, and had seen so little fruit of our\n labours. Multitudes, indeed, have set out well, but they were\n soon turned out of the way; chiefly by their ministers either\n disputing against the truth, or refusing to admit them to the\n Lord\u2019s supper, yea, or to baptize their children, unless they\n would promise to have no fellowship with the Methodists. Many,\n who did so, soon lost all they had gained, and became more the\n children of hell than before. To prevent this, I, at length,\n consented to take the same step with regard to Scotland, which\n I had done with regard to America. But this is not a separation\n from the Church at all. Not from the Church of Scotland, for we\n were never connected therewith, any further than we are now:\n nor from the Church of England; for this is not concerned in\n the steps which are taken in Scotland. Whatever then is done in\n America, or Scotland, is no separation from the Church of\n England. I have no thought of this; I have many objections\n against it. It is a totally different case. \u2018But for all this,\n is it not possible there may be such a separation after you are\n dead?\u2019 Undoubtedly it is. But what I said at our first\n conference above forty years ago, I say still: \u2018I dare not omit\n doing what good I can while I live, for fear of evils that may\n follow when I am dead.\u2019\u201d[512]\n\nThere is some force in this, so far as it regards Scotland. The Scotch\nMethodists never professed themselves to be members of the Church of\nEngland; in fact, they regarded that church almost with as much\nabhorrence as they cherished towards the Church of Rome. Hence the\nfollowing extract from one of Pawson\u2019s unpublished letters, dated\n\u201cEdinburgh, October 8, 1785.\u201d\n\n \u201cDr. Coke intends to be with us on Sunday, the 23rd instant,\n when we are to have the sacrament again; but Mr. Wesley is\n against us having it in the Scotch form, and I am well\n satisfied our new plan will answer no end at all in Scotland,\n but will prove a hindrance to the work of God. The people\n generally hate the very name of Prayer-Book, and everything\n belonging to it, as they have always been taught to believe it\n a limb of antichrist, and very little better than the popish\n mass-book. Popery, prelacy, and all such things, they hold in\n the greatest detestation. They would soon tell us: \u2018I dunna ken\n what you mean by these unca inventions. We belong to the gude\n old kirk of Scotland, and will not join with the whore of\n Babylon at all.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn reference to the English ordinations, Mr. Pawson writes:\n\n \u201cMr. Wesley knew the state of the societies in England required\n such measures to be taken, or many of the people would leave\n the connexion; and had the preachers, after his death, only\n acted upon his plan, and quietly granted the people, who\n desired the sacraments, that privilege, no division would have\n taken place.[513] He foresaw, that the Methodists would soon\n become a distinct body. He was deeply prejudiced against\n presbyterian, and as much in favour of episcopal, government.\n In order, therefore, to preserve all that is valuable in the\n Church of England among the Methodists, he ordained Mr. Mather\n and Dr. Coke, bishops. These he undoubtedly designed should\n ordain others. Mr. Mather told us so at the Manchester\n conference, in 1791.[514] I believe, Mr. Wesley\u2019s first thought\n of ordaining arose out of the bishop of London refusing to\n ordain a preacher for America; but that he originally intended\n to ordain preachers for England is what I never could believe;\n and, with respect to Scotland, he often declared to me, and in\n the congregation at Edinburgh, that he was over persuaded to\n it. And, a few months before his death, he was so annoyed with\n Dr. Coke\u2019s conduct, in persuading the people to depart from the\n original plan, that he threatened, in a letter, to have no more\n to do with him, unless he desisted from such a course of\n procedure.\u201d[515]\n\nWe give this as we find it; and now turn to a deeply interesting\ncorrespondence between Wesley and his brother. Within a fortnight\nafter the ordination of Pawson, Hanby, and Taylor, at the conference\nof 1785, and in which Wesley, Coke, and Creighton took part,[516]\nCharles Wesley wrote to his brother as follows.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _August 14, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I have been reading over again your \u2018Reasons\n against a Separation,\u2019 printed in 1758, and your Works; and\n entreat you, in the name of God, and for Christ\u2019s sake, to read\n them again yourself, with previous prayer, and stop, and\n proceed no farther, till you receive an answer to your inquiry,\n \u2018Lord, what wouldst _Thou_ have me to do?\u2019\n\n \u201cEvery word of your eleven pages deserves the deepest\n consideration; not to mention my testimony and hymns. Only the\n seventh I could wish you to read,--a prophecy which I pray God\n may never come to pass.\n\n \u201cNear thirty years, since then, you have stood against the\n importunate solicitations of your preachers, who have scarcely\n at last prevailed. I was your natural ally, and faithful\n friend; and, while you continued faithful to yourself, we two\n could chase a thousand.\n\n \u201cBut when once you began ordaining in America, I knew, and you\n knew, that your preachers here would never rest till you\n ordained them. You told me, they would separate by-and-by. The\n doctor tells us the same. His Methodist episcopal church in\n Baltimore was intended to beget a Methodist episcopal church\n here. You know he comes, armed with your authority, to make us\n all Dissenters. One of your sons assured me, that not a\n preacher in London would refuse orders from the doctor.\n\n \u201cAlas! what trouble are you preparing for yourself, as well as\n for me, and for your oldest, truest, and best friends! Before\n you have quite broken down the bridge, stop, and consider! If\n your sons have no regard for you, have some regard for\n yourself. Go to your grave in peace; at least, suffer me to go\n first, before this ruin is under your hand. So much, I think,\n you owe to my father, to my brother, and to me, as to stay till\n I am taken from the evil. I am on the brink of the grave. Do\n not push me in, or embitter my last moments. Let us not leave\n an indelible blot on our memory; but let us leave behind us the\n name and character of honest men.\n\n \u201cThis letter is a debt to our parents, and to our brother, as\n well as to you, and to\n\n \u201cYour faithful friend,\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[517]\n\nFive days afterwards, Wesley replied as follows. The line of poetry\nwas his brother\u2019s.\n\n \u201cPLYMOUTH, _August 19, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I will tell you my thoughts with all\n simplicity, and wait for better information. If you agree with\n me, well; if not, we can, as Mr. Whitefield used to say, agree\n to disagree.\n\n \u201cFor these forty years, I have been in doubt concerning that\n question, What obedience is due to\n\n \u2018Heathenish priests and mitred infidels\u2019?\n\n \u201cI have, from time to time, proposed my doubts to the most\n pious and sensible clergymen I knew. But they gave me no\n satisfaction. Rather, they seemed to be puzzled as well as me.\n\n \u201cObedience I always paid to the bishops, in obedience to the\n laws of the land. But I cannot see, that I am under any\n obligation to obey them further than those laws require.\n\n \u201cIt is in obedience to these laws, that I have never exercised\n in England the power which, I believe, God has given me. I\n firmly believe, I am a scriptural \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2, as much as any man\n in England, or in Europe; for the uninterrupted succession I\n know to be a fable, which no man ever did or can prove. But this\n does in no wise interfere with my remaining in the Church of\n England, from which I have no more desire to separate than I had\n fifty years ago. I still attend all the ordinances of the Church,\n at all opportunities; and I constantly and earnestly advise all\n that are connected with me so to do. When Mr. Smyth pressed us\n to separate from the Church, he meant, \u2018Go to church no more.\u2019\n And this was what I meant twenty-seven years ago, when I persuaded\n our brethren not to separate from the Church.\n\n \u201cBut here another question occurs: \u2018What is the Church of\n England?\u2019 It is not all the people of England. Papists and\n Dissenters are no part thereof. It is not all the people of\n England, except papists and Dissenters. Then we should have a\n glorious church indeed! No; according to our twentieth article,\n a particular church is \u2018a congregation of faithful people among\n whom the word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly\n administered.\u2019 Here is a true logical definition, containing\n both the essence and the properties of a church. What then,\n according to this definition, is the Church of England? Does it\n mean all the believers in England (except the papists and\n Dissenters) who have the word of God and the sacraments duly\n administered among them? I fear, this does not come up to your\n idea of the Church of England. Well, what more do you include\n in the phrase? \u2018Why, all the believers that adhere to the\n doctrine and discipline established by the convocation under\n Queen Elizabeth.\u2019 Nay, that discipline is well-nigh vanished\n away; and the doctrine both you and I adhere to.\n\n \u201cAll these \u2018Reasons against a Separation from the Church,\u2019 in\n this sense, I subscribe to still. What then are you frighted\n at? I no more separate from it now than I did in 1758. I submit\n still (though sometimes with a doubting conscience) to \u2018mitred\n infidels,\u2019 I do, indeed, vary from them in some points of\n doctrine, and in some points of discipline (by preaching\n abroad, for instance, by praying extempore, and by forming\n societies); but not a hair\u2019s breadth farther than I believe to\n be meet, right, and my bounden duty. I walk still by the same\n rule I have done for between forty and fifty years. I do\n nothing rashly. It is not likely I should. The high day of my\n blood is over. If you will go on hand in hand with me, do. But\n do not hinder me, if you will not help. Perhaps if you had kept\n close to me, I might have done better. However, with or without\n help, I creep on; and as I have been hitherto, so I trust I\n shall always be,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[518]\n\nTo this letter Charles Wesley returned the following reply.\n\n \u201cMARYLEBONE, _September 8, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I will tell you my thoughts with the same\n simplicity. There is no danger of our quarrelling; for the\n second blow makes the quarrel; and you are the last man upon\n earth whom I would wish to quarrel with.\n\n \u201cThat juvenile line of mine,\n\n \u2018Heathenish priests, and mitred infidels,\u2019\n\n I disown, renounce, and with shame recant. I never knew of more\n than one \u2018mitred infidel,\u2019 and for him I took Mr. Law\u2019s word.\n\n \u201cI do not understand what obedience to the bishops you dread.\n They have let us alone, and left us to act just as we pleased,\n for these fifty years. At present, some of them are quite\n friendly toward us, particularly toward you. The churches are\n all open to you; and never could there be less pretence for a\n separation.\n\n \u201cThat you are a scriptural \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2, or overseer, I do not\n dispute. And so is every minister who has the cure of souls.\n Neither need we dispute whether the uninterrupted succession\n be fabulous, as you believe; or real, as I believe; or whether\n Lord King be right or wrong.\n\n \u201cYour definition of the Church of England is the same in prose\n with mine in verse. By the way, read over my \u2018Epistle,\u2019 to\n oblige me, and tell me you have read it, and likewise your own\n \u2018Reasons.\u2019\n\n \u201cYou write, \u2018all these reasons against a separation from the\n Church, I subscribe to still. What then are you frighted at? I\n no more separate from it than I did in the year 1758; I submit\n still to its bishops; I do indeed vary from them in some points\n of discipline; (by preaching abroad, for instance, praying\n extempore, and by forming societies\u2019); (might you not add, and\n by ordaining?). \u2018I still walk by the same rule I have done for\n between forty and fifty years; I do nothing rashly.\u2019\n\n \u201cIf I could prove your actual separation, I would not; neither\n wish to see it proved by any other. But do you not allow, that\n the doctor has separated? Do you not know and approve of his\n avowed design and resolution to get all the Methodists of the\n three kingdoms into a distinct, compact body? Have you seen his\n ordination sermon? Is the high day of his blood over? Does he\n do nothing rashly? Have you not made yourself the author of all\n his actions? I need not remind you, _qui facit per alium facit\n per se_.\n\n \u201cI must not leave unanswered your surprising question, \u2018What\n then are you frighted at?\u2019 At the doctor\u2019s rashness, and your\n supporting him in his ambitious pursuits; at an approaching\n schism, as causeless and unprovoked as the American rebellion;\n at your own eternal disgrace, and all those frightful evils\n which your \u2018Reasons\u2019 describe.\n\n \u201c\u2018If you will go on hand in hand with me, do.\u2019 I do go, or\n rather creep on, in the old way in which we set out together,\n and trust to continue in it, till I finish my course.\n\n \u201c\u2018Perhaps if you had kept close to me, I might have done\n better.\u2019 When you took that fatal step at Bristol, I kept as\n close to you as close could be; for I was all the time at your\n elbow. You might certainly have done better, if you had taken\n me into your counsel.\n\n \u201cI thank you for your intention to remain my friend; herein my\n heart is as your heart; whom God hath joined let not man put\n asunder. We have taken each other for better for worse, till\n death do us--part? No; but unite eternally. Therefore, in the\n love which never faileth, I am your affectionate friend and\n brother,\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[519]\n\nFive days later, Wesley replied.\n\n \u201c_September 13, 1785._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I see no use of you and me disputing together;\n for neither of us is likely to convince the other. You say, I\n separate from the Church; I say, I do not. Then let it stand.\n\n \u201cYour verse is a sad truth. I see fifty times more of England\n than you do; and I find few exceptions to it.\n\n \u201cI believe Dr. Coke is as free from ambition as from\n covetousness. He has done nothing rashly, that I know; but he\n has spoken rashly, which he retracted the moment I spoke to him\n of it. To publish, as his present thoughts, what he had before\n retracted, was not fair play. He is now such a right hand to me\n as Thomas Walsh was. If you will not or cannot help me\n yourself, do not hinder those that can and will. I must and\n will save as many souls as I can while I live, without being\n careful about what may _possibly be_ when I die.\n\n \u201cI pray do not confound the intellects of the people in London.\n You may thereby a little weaken my hands, but you will greatly\n weaken your own.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[520]\n\nWesley failed to grapple with his brother\u2019s question; or rather he\ndeclined. Charles\u2019s point evidently was the same as Lord\nMansfield\u2019s,--\u201cordination was separation.\u201d No doubt this was strictly\naccurate. Wesley was too keen sighted not to see it; but he was too\nmuch a churchman to acknowledge it. He felt himself unable to reply to\nhis brother\u2019s argument; and, therefore, really did not attempt to\nreply at all.\n\nTwo brief letters more, and then we quit the subject of ordination.\nSix days after the date of the above, Charles Wesley replied as\nfollows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _September 19, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I did not say, you separate from the Church;\n but I did say, \u2018If I could prove it, I would not.\u2019\n\n \u201cThat \u2018sad truth\u2019 is not a new truth; you saw it when you\n expressed in your \u2018Reasons\u2019 such tenderness of love for the\n unconverted clergy.\n\n \u201cOf your second Thomas Walsh we had better talk than write.\n\n \u201cHow \u2018confound their intellects\u2019? how \u2018weaken your hands\u2019? I\n know nothing which I do to prevent the _possible_ separation,\n but pray. God forbid I should sin against Him by ceasing to\n pray for the Church of England, and for you, while my breath\n remains in me!\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[521]\n\nAgain:\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _July 27, 1786_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I cannot rest, living or dying, unless I deal\n as faithfully with you as I am persuaded you would deal with\n me, if you were in my place, and I in yours.\n\n \u201cI believe you have been too hasty in ordaining. I believe God\n left you to yourself in that matter, as He left Hezekiah, to\n show you the secret pride which was in your heart. I believe\n Lord Mansfield\u2019s decisive words to me, \u2018ordination is\n separation.\u2019\n\n \u201cThus I have discharged my duty to God and His church, and\n approved myself your faithful friend and affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cCHARLES WESLEY.\u201d[522]\n\nThis is a long, and, we fear, a wearisome account of what,\nabstractedly considered, was a trivial thing. John Wesley\u2019s preachers,\nbeing called of God, were as much ministers of Christ, and as much\nentitled to administer the sacraments of the church, without the\nimposition of his hands as with it. We raise no objection to the\nformality; we think it right, and, because of its solemnity, likely to\nbe useful; but to contend that the thing itself is necessary, would be\nto condemn all the grand old Methodist preachers, who flourished from\nthe year 1795, when their administration of sacraments was authorised\nby the Methodist conference, to the year 1836, when, for the first\ntime, ordination by imposition of hands was solemnly enacted, and\ndeclared to be a \u201cstanding rule and usage in future years.\u201d\n\nThis, however, is not the point in question. The right or wrong, of\nordaining, is left to others to discuss. There can be no doubt that,\nas a minister of Christ, Wesley had as much right to ordain as any\nbishop, priest, or presbytery in existence; but he had no right to\nthis as a clergyman of the Church of England; and, by acting as he\ndid, he became, what he was unwilling to acknowledge, a Dissenter, a\nseparatist from that church. Such was the opinion of Lord Mansfield;\nand such was the argument of Wesley\u2019s brother. Wesley refused to\nacknowledge this; but, feeling the impossibility of the thing, he\ndeclined to attempt refuting it. With great inconsistency, he still\npersisted in calling himself a member of the Church of England;[523]\nand, as will be seen, to the day of his death, told the Methodists\nthat if they left the Church they would leave him. All things\nconsidered, this was not surprising; but it was absurd. Great\nallowance must be made for Wesley; but to reconcile Wesley\u2019s practice\nand profession, in this matter, during the last seven years of his\neventful life, is simply impossible.\n\nMuch space has been occupied with these recitals; but, remembering\nthat no event, in Wesley\u2019s history, has occasioned more controversy\nthan his act of ordaining preachers, it became a duty to give all the\nfacts concerning it within our knowledge.\n\nWe now return to the conference of 1784. As soon as its sessions\nended, Wesley again set out on his evangelistic ramblings; and, two\ndays afterwards, came to Shrewsbury, and preached a funeral sermon \u201cin\nmemory of good John Appleton.\u201d John was a currier, and became a\nMethodist under circumstances somewhat peculiar, and which are worth\nrelating.\n\nWhile at Bristol, he happened to go into a church, where the minister\npreached a violent sermon, which he had already delivered in two other\nchurches, against \u201cthe upstart Methodists.\u201d Shortly after, he had to\npreach again in the church of St. Nicholas, but, while announcing his\ntext, was suddenly seized with a rattling in his throat, fell backward\nagainst the pulpit door, rolled down the steps, was carried home, and\ndied. Mr. Appleton was present, and was so greatly shocked with this\nevent, that, when he returned to Shrewsbury, he took a house, in which\nhe fitted up a room for religious service, and began to preach\nhimself. In 1781, at his own expense, he built the Methodists a\nchapel, which Wesley opened. A more devoted Christian it would be\ndifficult to find than good John Appleton. His labour, as a working\ncurrier, was hard; but, for many years, besides preaching every\nSunday, he preached twice a week on the week days, and had full and\nattentive congregations. He died in the full triumph of faith on the\n1st of May, 1784.[524]\n\nFrom Shrewsbury, Wesley made his way, through Wales, to Bristol, which\nhe reached on August 29, and where, a few days afterwards, he ordained\nCoke, Whatcoat, and Vasey. The next month was spent in incessant\npreaching in the surrounding neighbourhood.\n\nHere we pause to insert two of his remarkable letters: the first to\nMiss Bishop, the mistress of a boarding school; the second to the\nRight Hon. William Pitt, now in the twenty-fifth year of his age, and\nprime minister of England.\n\n \u201cHAVERFORDWEST, _August 18, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--It seems God Himself has already decided the\n question concerning dancing. He has shown His approbation of\n your conduct, by sending these children to you again. If\n dancing be not evil in itself, yet, it leads young women to\n numberless evils. And the hazard of these, on the one side,\n seems far to overbalance the little inconveniences, on the\n other. Therefore, thus much may certainly be said, you have\n chosen the more excellent way.\n\n \u201cI would recommend very few novels to young persons, for fear\n they should be desirous of more. Mr. Brooke wrote one more,\n beside the \u2018Earl of Moreland,\u2019 \u2018The History of the Human\n Heart.\u2019 I think, it is well worth reading, though it is not\n equal to his former production. The want of novels may be more\n than supplied by well chosen history: such as \u2018The Concise\n History of England,\u2019 \u2018The Concise History of the Church,\u2019\n Rollin\u2019s Ancient History, Hooke\u2019s Roman History (the only\n impartial one extant), and a few more. For the elder and more\n sensible children, Malebranche\u2019s \u2018Search after Truth\u2019 is an\n excellent French book. Perhaps, you might add Locke\u2019s \u2018Essay on\n the Human Understanding,\u2019 with the remarks upon it in the\n _Arminian Magazine_. I had forgotten that beautiful book, \u2018The\n Travels of Cyrus,\u2019 whether in French or English.\n\n \u201cI always am your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[525]\n\nThe letter to Pitt was one such as prime ministers seldom get.\n\n \u201cBATH, _September 6, 1784_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--Your former goodness, shown to Mr. Ellison,[526]\n emboldens me to take the liberty of recommending to your notice\n an old friend, Lieutenant Webb.[527]\n\n \u201cOn my mentioning formerly some of his services to Lord North,\n his lordship was pleased to order him \u00a3100 a year. But as it\n has since been reduced, it is hardly a maintenance for himself\n and his family. If you would be so good as to remember him in\n this, or any other way, I should esteem it a particular favour.\n\n \u201cWill you excuse me, sir, for going out of my province by\n hinting a few things, which have been long upon my mind? If\n those hints do not deserve any further notice, they may be\n forgiven and forgotten.\n\n \u201cNew taxes must undoubtedly be imposed; but may not more money\n be produced by the old ones? For instance:\n\n \u201c1. When the land tax is four shillings in the pound, I know\n some towns which pay regularly seven or five pence. Nay, I know\n one town where they pay one penny in the pound. Is there no\n help for this?\n\n \u201c2. As to the window tax: I know a gentleman who has near a\n hundred windows in his house, and he told me he paid for\n _twenty_.\n\n \u201c3. The same gentleman told me: \u2018We have above one hundred men\n servants in this town, but not above _ten_ are paid for.\u2019\n\n \u201c4. I firmly believe, that, in Cornwall alone, the king is\n defrauded of half a million yearly in customs. What does this\n amount to in all Great Britain? Surely not so little as five\n millions.\n\n \u201c5. Servants of distillers inform me, that their masters do not\n pay for a fortieth part of what they distil. And this duty last\n year, (if I am rightly informed,) amounted only to \u00a320,000. But\n have not the spirits distilled this year cost 20,000 lives of\n his majesty\u2019s liege subjects? Is not then the blood of these\n men vilely bartered for \u00a320,000? not to say anything of the\n enormous wickedness, which has been occasioned thereby; and not\n to suppose that these poor wretches have any souls! But, (to\n consider money alone,) is the king a gainer, or an immense\n loser? To say nothing of many millions of quarters of corn\n destroyed, which, if exported, would have added more than\n \u00a320,000 to the revenue, be it considered, \u2018Dead men pay no\n taxes,\u2019 So that, by the death of 20,000 persons yearly, (and\n this computation is far under the mark,) the revenue loses far\n more than it gains.\n\n \u201cBut I may urge another consideration to you. You are a man.\n You have not lost human feelings. You do not love to drink\n human blood. You are a son of Lord Chatham. Nay, if I mistake\n not, you are a Christian. Dare you then sustain a sinking\n nation? Is the God whom you serve able to deliver from ten\n thousand enemies? I believe He is. Nay, and you believe it. O,\n may you fear nothing but displeasing Him!\n\n \u201cMay I add a word on another head? How would your benevolent\n heart rejoice, if a stop could be put to that scandal of the\n English nation, suicide!\n\n \u201cThe present laws against it avail nothing; for every such\n _murderer_ is brought in _non compos_. If he was a poor man,\n the jurors forswear themselves from pity. If he was rich, they\n hope to be well paid for it. So no ignominy pursues either the\n living or the dead, and self murder increases daily. But what\n help?\n\n \u201cI conceive this horrid crime might be totally prevented, and\n that without doing the least hurt to either the living or the\n dead. Do you not remember, sir, how the rage for self murder\n among the Spartan matrons was stopped at once? Would it not\n have the same effect in England, if an act of parliament were\n passed, repealing all other acts and appointing that every self\n murderer should be hanged in chains?\n\n \u201cSuppose your influence could prevent suicide by this means,\n you would do more service to your country than any prime\n minister has done these hundred years. Your name would be\n precious to all true Englishmen as long as England continued a\n nation. And, what is infinitely more, a greater Monarch than\n King George would say to you, \u2018Well done, good and faithful\n servant.\u2019 I earnestly commit you to His care, and am, sir, your\n willing servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[528]\n\nMethodism was established not only in America, but also in Nova Scotia\nand Newfoundland, though neither of these countries found a place in\nthe conference minutes till 1785. William Black, now a young man of\ntwenty-four, had begun to pray and preach, and had witnessed the\nconversion of hundreds. Societies had been formed; and quarterly\nmeetings held; and, for three years, Black had devoted himself wholly\nto the work of the ministry, without being formally recognised as one\nof Wesley\u2019s itinerant preachers. He had encountered no ordinary\ndifficulties in the prosecution of his work. The Rev. Henry Alline, a\nCalvinist preacher, had divided his societies, by sowing the seeds of\nantinomian error; and Methodist meetings had been illegally disturbed,\nand broken up, by English soldiers: but, in the midst of all, young\nBlack courageously persevered. He applied to Wesley for assistance;\nand he himself expressed a wish to come to Kingswood school to fit\nhimself more fully for the Christian ministry. During the year 1784,\nWesley addressed to him the two following letters.\n\n \u201cINVERNESS, _May 11, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you have given a little assistance\n to our brethren at Halifax, and along the coast. There is no\n charity under heaven to be compared to this,--the bringing\n light to the poor heathens, that are called Christians, but,\n nevertheless, still sit in darkness and the shadow of death. I\n am in great hopes, that some of the emigrants, from New York,\n are really alive to God. And, if so, they will every way be a\n valuable acquisition to the province where their lot is now\n cast.\n\n \u201cThere is no part of Calvinism or antinomianism which is not\n fully answered in some part of our writings; particularly in\n the \u2018Preservative against Unsettled Notions in Religion.\u2019 I\n have no more to do with answering books. It will be sufficient\n if you recommend, to Mr. Alline\u2019s friends, some of the tracts\n that are already written. As to himself, I fear he is wiser in\n his own eyes than seven men that can render a reason.\n\n \u201cThe work of God goes on with a steady pace in various parts of\n England. But, still, the love of many will wax cold, while many\n others are continually added to supply their place. In the west\n of England, in Lancashire, and in Yorkshire, God still mightily\n makes bare His arm. He convinces many, justifies many, and many\n are perfected in love.\n\n \u201cMy great advice to those who are united together, is, Let\n brotherly love continue! See that ye fall not out by the way!\n Hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace! Bear ye one\n another\u2019s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ!\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[529]\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 15, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--A letter of yours, some time ago, gave me\n hopes of meeting you in England; as you seemed desirous of\n spending some time here, to improve yourself in learning. But,\n as you have now entered into a different state, I do not expect\n we shall meet in this world. But you have a large field of\n action where you are, without wandering into Europe. Your\n present parish is wide enough, namely, Nova Scotia and\n Newfoundland. I do not advise you to go any farther. In the\n United States, there are abundance of preacher. They can spare\n four preachers to you, better than you can spare one to them.\n If I am rightly informed, they have already sent you one or\n two; and they may afford you one or two more, if it please God\n to give a prosperous voyage to Dr. Coke and his fellow\n labourers. Does there not want a closer and more direct\n connection between you of the north, and the societies under\n Francis Asbury? Is it not more advisable, that you should have\n a constant correspondence with each other, and act by united\n counsels? Perhaps it is for want of this, that so many have\n drawn back. I want a more particular account of the societies\n in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. I am not at all glad of Mr.\n Scurr\u2019s intention to remove from Nova Scotia to the south. That\n is going from a place, where he is much wanted, to a place\n where he is not wanted. I think, if he got \u00a310,000 thereby, it\n would be but a poor bargain; that is, upon the supposition,\n which you and I make, that _souls_ are of more value than\n _gold_. Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[530]\n\nWesley returned to London on October 9, and, nine days afterwards, set\nout on his usual visit to the societies in Oxfordshire. He then went\noff to Norfolk; and spent the rest of the year in London, and the\nsurrounding counties. He had a long interview with Pascal Paoli, the\ngreat Corsican general. He visited convicts, under sentence of death,\nin Newgate, preached the condemned criminals\u2019 sermon, forty-seven of\nthese unhappy creatures being present, all in chains, and most of them\nin tears. Burglars broke into his house, in City Road. He met with\nSimeon, who had been with Fletcher at Madeley, and, for fifty-three\nyears afterwards, was rector of Trinity church, Cambridge. Jottings\nlike these might be multiplied; Wesley\u2019s life was full of them. We\nconclude with an unpublished letter to Henry Moore, who was now at\nDublin.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 4, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you spoke freely to Mr. Collins.\n He is a good man, but not very adviseable. If he should declare\n open war in England, he will do little or no harm. Mr. Smyth\n will not be fond of him, if he preaches at Plunkett\n Street.[531] There will not soon be a coalition between\n Arminianism and Calvinism. This we found even in Holland.\n\n \u201cIf James Rogers and you keep to the Church still, a few, I\n doubt not, will follow your example. We made just allowance\n enough for leaving the Church at the last conference.\n\n \u201cI am, with kind love to Nancy, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nBesides \u201cThe Sunday Service of the Methodists in America,\u201d and a tract\nor two, Wesley published nothing, in 1784, except his _Arminian\nMagazine_. This was as racy and rich as ever. \u201cThe Calvinist Cabinet\nUnlocked\u201d was continued from the previous volume, and run through the\nwhole of this. Like its predecessors, it contained six original\nsermons by Wesley himself. In that on Dissipation, he expresses the\nstartling opinion: \u201cThere is not, on the face of the earth, another\nnation so perfectly dissipated and ungodly as England; not only so\ntotally without God in the world, but so openly setting Him at\ndefiance. There never was an _age_, that we read of in history, since\nJulius C\u00e6sar, since Noah, since Adam, wherein dissipation and\nungodliness did so generally prevail, both among high and low, rich\nand poor.\u201d In the sermon on Patience, he gives an interesting account\nof the way in which he was led to embrace the doctrine of Christian\nperfection; and observes that, in 1762, there were 652 members of the\nLondon society, who professed to have attained to this state of grace.\nThat on the text, \u201cWe know in part,\u201d is a marvellous production, such\nas none but a man like Wesley could have written. In the sermon on the\n\u201cWisdom and Knowledge of God,\u201d as displayed in the history of the\nchurch, after giving one of his most interesting accounts of the rise\nof Methodism, he does not hide the fact, that many of the Methodist\npreachers and people had not been faithful. Speaking of the first\npreachers, he says, they \u201cwere young, poor, ignorant men, without\nexperience, learning, or art; but simple of heart, devoted to God,\nfull of faith and zeal, seeking no honour, no profit, no pleasure, no\nease, but merely to save souls; fearing neither want, pain,\npersecution, nor whatever man could do unto them: yea, not counting\ntheir lives dear unto them, so they might finish their course with\njoy.\u201d But in process of time, \u201cseveral of the preachers increased in\nother knowledge; but not proportionably in the knowledge of God. They\ngrew less simple, less alive to God, and less devoted to Him. They\nwere less zealous for God, and consequently less active, less diligent\nin His service. Some of them begun to desire the praise of men, and\nnot the praise of God only; some, to be weary of a wandering life, and\nto seek ease and quietness. Some began to fear the faces of men; to be\nashamed of their calling; to be unwilling to deny themselves, to take\nup their cross daily, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus\nChrist. Wherever these preachers laboured, there was not much fruit of\ntheir labours. Their word was not, as formerly, clothed with power; it\ncarried with it no demonstration of the Spirit!\u201d Weighty words these!\nespecially as coming from an old man of more than eighty, one of the\nkeenest observers of facts, himself the founder of Methodism, now\nnearly at the close of his remarkable career. And equally pungent are\nhis remarks respecting the people. Referring to the causes of\nMethodist backslidings, he writes: \u201cBut of all the temptations, none\nso struck at the whole work of God, as the deceitfulness of riches; a\nthousand melancholy proofs of which I have seen, within these last\nfifty years. I have not known threescore rich persons, perhaps not\nhalf the number, during threescore years, who, as far as I can judge,\nwere not less holy than they would have been, had they been poor. By\nriches, I mean not thousands of pounds; but any more than will procure\nthe conveniences of life.\u201d \u201cHaving gained and saved all you can, give\nall you can: else your money will eat your flesh as fire, and will\nsink you to the nethermost hell! O beware of laying up treasures upon\nearth! Is it not treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath? Lord! I\nhave warned them: but if they will not be warned, what can I do more?\nI can only give them up unto their own hearts\u2019 lusts, and let them\nfollow their own imaginations! By not taking this warning, it is\ncertain many of the Methodists are already fallen. Many are falling at\nthis very time. And there is great reason to apprehend, that many more\nwill fall, most of whom will rise no more!\u201d If Wesley found it\nnecessary to say this in 1784, what would he have said in 1871?\n\nIn the sermons, on Obedience to Parents, and Companionship with the\nWicked, the reader will find most valuable advices, such as none but a\nlong experienced casuist like Wesley has wisdom and confidence enough\nto give.\n\nFurther description of the _Magazine_, for 1784, is scarcely needed.\nThe letters and the poetry are quite equal to those in the former\nvolumes; the biographies are rich in Christian experience; the\nanecdotes quaint and instructive. Extracts from his \u201cNatural\nPhilosophy\u201d are given in every number, and also from Bryant\u2019s Ancient\nMythology. Benson\u2019s Letters on Polygamy run through the whole. The\nsupernatural disturbances at Epworth parsonage are related; and, as if\nin anticipation of his own death, Wesley tells his readers, that, not\n\u201cto lessen the honour of the house of God, or infect it with\nunwholesome vapours, he has left orders to bury his remains, not in\nthe new chapel in City Road, but in the burying ground adjoining it;\u201d\nand then, to show that \u201cepitaphs ought to be prepared by persons who\nhave some knowledge of grammatical and typographical accuracy; and not\nbe left to illiterate relations, parish clerks, or stonemasons, to the\ngreat scandal of the nation in general, and of religion in\nparticular,\u201d he gives the following, taken from a tombstone in\nArbroath churchyard.\n\n\u201cHere lyis Alexand Peter, _present_ Town Treasurer of Arbroth, who\ndied ---- day January 1630.\n\n \u201cSuch a Treasurer was not since, nor yet before,\n For common works, calsais, brigs, and schoir--\n Of all others he did excel;\n He deviced our skoel, and he hung our bell.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [472] Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 404.\n\n [473] Manuscript letter.\n\n [474] Manuscript diary.\n\n [475] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 144.\n\n [476] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 397.\n\n [477] On Sunday, September 18, 1870, the London Road\n Methodist Sunday-school, Manchester, removed from\n their somewhat dingy premises to a new and more\n commodious building, erected in Grosvenor Street\n East, and adjoining the Wesleyan chapel there. A\n card commemorative of the event was presented to\n each person joining in the day\u2019s proceedings, with\n the following inscription: \u201cLondon Road Wesleyan\n Sunday School, founded in 1785, by John Lancaster,\n and first conducted by him in a cellar at the corner\n of Travis Street. It was soon after removed to a\n room in Worsley Street, built specially for its\n accommodation, and there carried on until November\n 10, 1811, when it took possession of the then new\n schools, situated behind Borough Buildings, and there\n continued until this day, when it was again removed\n to the recently erected building adjoining the\n Grosvenor Street chapel, in commemoration of which\n event this card is presented to ----. Manchester,\n September 18, 1870.\u201d\n\n [478] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, pp. 12, 13.\n\n [479] Minutes of Conference, vol. i., p. 41.\n\n [480] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, p. 37.\n\n [481] Manuscript memoir of Whitehead.\n\n [482] Hampson\u2019s Life of Wesley.\n\n [483] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., p. 523.\n\n [484] Manuscript.\n\n [485] Myles\u2019 History, p. 201.\n\n [486] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 269.\n\n [487] American minutes.\n\n [488] Bangs\u2019 \u201cOriginal Church of Christ,\u201d p. 114.\n\n [489] Stevens\u2019 History of Methodism, vol. ii., p. 212.\n\n [490] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 326.\n\n [491] _Methodist Magazine_, 1786, p. 682.\n\n [492] Manuscript letter.\n\n [493] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 417.\n\n [494] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 200.\n\n [495] Ibid. p. 223.\n\n [496] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 137.\n\n [497] \u201cLife and Times of Lady Huntingdon;\u201d and \u201cAuthentic\n Narrative of Primary Ordination in Spafields Chapel,\n 1784.\u201d\n\n [498] The Rev. James Creighton was present; but Charles\n Wesley was not, though he was in Bristol at the\n time.--(Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p.\n 389.)\n\n [499] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, p. 66.\n\n [500] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 602.\n\n [501] Ibid. 1786, p. 677.\n\n [502] Coke\u2019s Life, by Etheridge.\n\n [503] American minutes.\n\n [504] Cokesbury college, twice burned down.\n\n [505] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 70.\n\n [506] Whitehead\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 419.\n\n [507] Dr. Samuel Seabury was a missionary of the Society\n for the Propagation of the Gospel. After the\n ratification of the treaty of peace, the American\n episcopal church felt it necessary, not to remain\n dependent on the good offices of a prelate residing\n in England, but to have bishops of its own.\n Accordingly, the clergy in Connecticut assembled in\n a voluntary convention, and elected Seabury. The\n election was easily accomplished; the _consecration_\n was more difficult. Seabury came to England, asking\n of the archbishops of the English Church a boon\n which, for a hundred and fifty years, had been asked\n in vain, namely, that episcopalians in America might\n have ordained bishops of their own. At the time, the\n see of Canterbury was vacant; and the archbishop of\n York was unable to take measures for the consecration\n of an American citizen, without the authority of\n parliament. A long delay was unavoidable, and, under\n the circumstances, Seabury proceeded to Scotland,\n where he applied for consecration to the bishops of\n the Scottish episcopal church. His application was\n granted, and he was solemnly ordained at Aberdeen,\n on November 14, 1784, by the bishops of Aberdeen,\n Ross, and Moray.--(Caswall\u2019s American Church, p.\n 124.) This will explain the meaning of C. Wesley\u2019s\n letter; but is it surprising that, amid all these\n changes, difficulties, and confusions, Wesley took\n upon himself to ordain deacons and presbyters for the\n abandoned Methodists of America?\n\n [508] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 392.\n\n [509] The Rev. James Creighton, in his reply to Bradburn\u2019s\n pamphlet in 1793, affirms that Wesley repented, with\n tears, that he had ordained any of his preachers. He\n states, that he expressed his sorrow for this at the\n conference of 1789, and occasionally afterwards till\n his death. Creighton adds: \u201cAbout six weeks before he\n died, he said, \u2018The preachers are now too powerful\n for me.\u2019\u201d This must pass for as much as it is worth;\n James Creighton was a clergyman.\n\n [510] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 382.\n\n [511] Manuscripts; also _Methodist Magazine_, 1867, p. 622.\n\n [512] _Methodist Magazine_, 1786, p. 678.\n\n [513] Manuscript memoir of Whitehead.\n\n [514] Manuscript letter.\n\n [515] Manuscript letter.\n\n [516] Pawson\u2019s manuscript.\n\n [517] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 394.\n\n [518] _Methodist Magazine_, 1786, p. 50.\n\n [519] C. Wesley\u2019s Life, vol. ii., p. 398.\n\n [520] Ibid.\n\n [521] C. Wesley\u2019s Life, vol. ii, p. 398.\n\n [522] _Methodist Magazine_, 1867, p. 625.\n\n [523] Let us suppose John Hampson, not only to have formed\n societies, different from the Methodist societies,\n but also to have ordained local preachers to\n administer to them the sacraments; and let us suppose\n further, that, despite this, John Hampson still\n persisted in calling himself a Methodist: and we\n have a case analogous to that of Wesley. Under such\n circumstances, would Wesley have admitted Hampson\u2019s\n claim to continued membership among the Methodists?\n We trow not; and yet this is exactly the sort of\n claim which he himself makes in reference to the\n Church of England.\n\n [524] _Methodist Magazine_, 1790, p. 636.\n\n [525] _Methodist Magazine_, 1807, p. 472; and Wesley\u2019s\n Works, vol. xiii., p. 36.\n\n [526] Wesley\u2019s nephew, an excise officer (Clarke\u2019s \u201cWesley\n Family,\u201d vol. ii., p. 273).\n\n [527] Commonly called Captain Webb.\n\n [528] _Methodist Magazine_, 1850, p. 161.\n\n [529] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 112.\n\n [530] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 126.\n\n [531] The Rev. Edward Smyth was about to become minister of\n Bethesda chapel, Dublin. The Rev. Brian Collins seems\n to have been in Dublin at the same time.\n\n\n\n\n 1785.\n Age 82\n\n\nWesley began the year 1785, by spending five days in walking through\nLondon, often ankle deep in sludge and melting snow, to beg \u00a3200,\nwhich he employed in purchasing clothing for the poor. He visited the\ndestitute in their own houses, \u201cto see with his own eyes what their\nwants were, and how they might be effectually relieved.\u201d Besides\npreaching in his own chapels, he preached in Spitalfields, St.\nEthelburga\u2019s, and Stepney churches. As usual, he met the London\nclasses, from which he received, as ticket money, \u00a348 7_s._, out of\nwhich he was paid his quarter\u2019s salary, \u00a315.[532] His activity was\nunabated and marvellous.\n\nHe wrote as follows, to Mr. Stretton, in Newfoundland.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 25, 1785_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--If that deadly enemy of true religion,\n popery, is breaking in upon you, there is indeed no time to be\n lost; for it is far easier to prevent the plague than to stop\n it. Last autumn Dr. Coke sailed from England, and is now\n visiting the flock in the midland provinces of America, and\n setting them on the New Testament plan, to which they all\n willingly and joyfully conform. I trust, they will no more want\n such pastors, as are after God\u2019s own heart. After he has gone\n through these parts, he intends to see the brethren in Nova\n Scotia, probably attended with one or two able preachers, who\n will be willing to abide there. A day or two ago, I wrote and\n desired him to call upon our brethren also in Newfoundland, and\n leave a preacher there likewise. About food and raiment we take\n no thought; our heavenly Father knoweth that we need these\n things, and He will provide; only let us be faithful and\n diligent in feeding His flock. Your preacher will be ordained.\n You shall want no assistance that is in the power of your\n affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[533]\n\nAt the previous conference, Wesley had appointed William Moore to\nPlymouth. Moore was an itinerant of ten years\u2019 standing, and was\ndissatisfied with Wesley\u2019s deed of declaration; and, instead of\nserving Wesley, as he had done formerly, he dissevered the connection.\nHe hired a room, drew away about forty of the Plymouth Methodists, and\nformed a society of his own. He issued \u201cAn Appeal to the Inhabitants\nof the Town of Saltash,\u201d 8vo, 8 pages; telling the people, that he\npreached none other doctrines than those contained in the articles,\nhomilies, and prayers of the Church of England; that he coveted no\nman\u2019s silver, gold, or apparel; and that he was actuated only by a\nsincere desire to serve them. Moore was evidently a man of education,\ncourage, and Christian zeal; and might have occupied a superior\nposition among his brethren. But Wesley\u2019s seeming partiality, in the\nconstitution of his conference, led to Moore\u2019s secession; and here, at\nPlymouth, he had become a somewhat formidable rival. Wesley was\nsummoned, and, in a most bitter frost, off he went, on February 28, to\nput wrong things right. Here he spent six days, and left the society\n\u201cconfirmed in the truth more than ever.\u201d\n\nLeaving Plymouth, Wesley came to Bristol, where he employed a\nfortnight in visiting and preaching to neighbouring societies.\n\nOn March 21, he started off to Ireland, preaching all the way to\nLiverpool, and, notwithstanding frost and snow, and bitter cold,\nfrequently in the open air. He arrived at Dublin on April 11, and\nfound \u201ctwo such preachers,\u201d James Rogers and Andrew Blair, \u201cwith two\nsuch wives as he knew not where to find again.\u201d\n\nHaving spent a week in Dublin, he set out for the provinces. He often\npreached in churches, and not unfrequently in the open air.\nEverywhere, with one or two exceptions, the people welcomed him;\ncongregations were large, and societies, in general, were lively. Two\nmonths were occupied in this employment. His labours were almost\nincredible. All over Ireland he went, preaching every day, and often\ntwice or thrice a day, not only in Methodist meeting-houses, but in\nchurches, presbyterian chapels, in factories, in bowling greens, in\nassembly rooms, in courthouses, in barns, in \u201csloping meadows,\u201d in\n\u201cshady orchards,\u201d in groves and avenues, in linen halls, in\nchurchyards and streets, everywhere, where he had a chance. We know,\nwith certainty, that, minute as are the details of Wesley\u2019s journals,\nhe, by no means, mentions every sermon that he delivered, and every\nsociety that he visited; and yet, in this two months\u2019 Irish provincial\ntour, he records the names of not fewer than between fifty and sixty\ntowns, in which he preached, collectively, about fourscore discourses.\n\nAt Prosperous, he found a town built within the last five years, by\nCaptain Brooke, who employed two thousand people in the manufacturing\nof cotton; a Methodist society of fifty members had been formed; and\nWesley preached to two crowded congregations. On his way to Cork, he\nwas met by about thirty horsemen, who escorted him to the city, where\nhe met a society of about four hundred members, considerably more than\nthere are at the present time. At Kinsale, \u201call behaved well, but a\nfew officers.\u201d He adds: \u201cthe poor in Ireland, in general, are well\nbehaved; all the ill breeding is among well dressed people.\u201d At\nLimerick, he assisted at a service, in the cathedral, which lasted\nfrom eleven o\u2019clock till three. At Killchrist, he was the guest of\nColonel Pearse; but says, \u201cthe house being full of genteel company, I\nwas out of my element; there being no room to talk upon the only\nsubject which deserves the attention of a rational creature.\u201d At\nBallinrobe, he visited the charter school, the children of which were\nragged and dirty. \u201cThe schoolroom was not much bigger than a small\ncloset:\u201d three beds had to serve for fifteen boys, and five for\nnineteen girls; and five farthings a day were allowed the master for\nthe sustenance of each of the hunger bitten pupils. Wesley was so\ndisgusted with the thing, that he reported the case to the\ncommissioners for charter schools in Dublin.\n\nOn June 18, he got back to Dublin, where he spent his birthday, on the\n28th, and wrote: \u201cBy the good providence of God, I finished the\neighty-second year of my age. Is anything too hard for God? It is now\neleven years since I have felt any such thing as weariness: many times\nI speak till my voice fails, and I can speak no longer; frequently I\nwalk till my strength fails, and I can walk no farther; yet, even\nthen, I feel no sensation of weariness, but am perfectly easy from\nhead to foot. I dare not impute this to natural causes; it is the will\nof God.\u201d\n\nHaving held the Irish conference he set sail for England, on July 10,\nleaving, says he, \u201cthe work of God increasing in every part of the\nkingdom, more than it has done for many years.\u201d \u201cHere is a set of\nexcellent young preachers; nine in ten of them are much devoted to\nGod. I think, number for number, they exceed their fellow labourers in\nEngland.\u201d[534]\n\nThe following letter refers to the same subject, and is too\ninteresting to be omitted. It was addressed to Miss Ritchie.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _June 26, 1785_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BETSY,--Our Lord has indeed poured out abundance of\n blessings, almost in every part of this kingdom. I have now\n gone through every province, and visited all the chief\n societies, and I have found far the greater part of them\n increasing both in number and strength. Many are convinced of\n sin; many justified; and not a few perfected in love. One means\n of which is, that several of our young preachers, of whom we\n made little account, appear to be, contrary to all expectation,\n men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; and they are pushing\n out, to the right hand and the left; and, wherever they go, God\n prospers their labours. I know not whether Thomas Walsh will\n not revive in two, if not three, of them.\n\n \u201cMany years, ago I was saying: \u2018I cannot imagine how Mr.\n Whitefield can keep his soul alive, as he is not now going\n through honour and dishonour, evil report and good report;\n having nothing but honour and good report attending him\n wherever he goes.\u2019 It is now my own case; I am just in the\n condition now that he was then in. I am become, I know not how,\n an honourable man. The scandal of the cross is ceased; and all\n the kingdom, rich and poor, papists and protestants, behave\n with courtesy, nay, and seeming good will! It seems as if I had\n well-nigh finished my course, and our Lord was giving me an\n honourable discharge.\n\n \u201cPeace be with your spirit! Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[535]\n\nA letter, from Wesley to Mr. Stretton, has been already given,\nannouncing that preachers were about to be sent to Nova Scotia and\nNewfoundland. This was already done; and Freeborn Garretson and James\nCromwell were labouring, in the former country, with great success.\nWesley, while in Ireland, wrote to Garretson as follows.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _June 16, 1785_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad brother Cromwell and you have\n undertaken that \u2018labour of love\u2019 of visiting Nova Scotia; and\n doubt not but you act in full concert with the little handful,\n who were almost alone till you came. It will be the wisest way\n to make all those who desire to join together, thoroughly\n acquainted with the whole Methodist plan; and to accustom them,\n from the very beginning, to the accurate observance of all our\n rules. Let none of them rest in being half Christians. Whatever\n they do, let them do it with their might; and it will be well,\n as soon as any of them find peace with God, to exhort them to\n \u2018go on to perfection.\u2019 The more explicitly and strongly you\n press all believers to aspire after full sanctification, as\n attainable now by simple faith, the more the whole work of God\n will prosper.\n\n \u201cI do not expect any great matters from the bishop. I doubt his\n eye is not single; and if it be not, he will do little good to\n you, or any one else. It may be a comfort to you, that you have\n no need of him. You want nothing which he can give.\n\n \u201cYou do not know the state of the English Methodists; they do\n not roll in money, like many of the American Methodists. It is\n with the utmost difficulty, that we can raise five or six\n hundred pounds a year to supply our contingent expenses; so\n that it is entirely impracticable to raise \u00a3500 among them to\n build houses in America. It is true, they might do much; but it\n is a sad observation, they that have most money have usually\n least grace.\n\n \u201cThe peace of God be with all your spirits! I am your\n affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[536]\n\nThus was Methodism spreading. We find it firmly planted throughout the\nwhole of the United Kingdom. Its members in America were counted by\nthousands. It had its societies in the West Indies. It had taken root\nin Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. And, besides all this, it was\nbeginning to exert indirectly a benign influence on other lands,\nwhere, since then, religion has been extensively revived. The\nMethodist mission to Sweden, begun by Joseph Rayner Stephens, in 1826,\nwas facilitated by Methodist feeling, imbibed from Wesley, in 1785.\nHence the following letter, from an aged clergyman of the established\nchurch of Sweden, written in 1827, and addressed to Mr. Stephens.\n\n \u201cIt affected my heart to see, in the newspapers of Stockholm,\n that an adherent to the famous and venerable Mr. J. Wesley had\n established a chapel, for Divine service, in our metropolis.\n Mr. Wesley was an old acquaintance of mine when I resided in\n England in the years 1784-86. He was more; he was my dear\n friend, and with him I agreed in his Christian principles and\n opinions. I was exceedingly pleased with him, and with his\n religion of love, joy, and peace. I very often waited on him at\n his house; and I was several times in company with him in the\n circle of his friends, where I went to prayer with them. I\n learned of him, to be a father to the people that might be\n entrusted to me. I shall never forget the amiable Mr. Wesley.\n He was so good as to give me a remembrance of him, by a present\n of one of his writings, called \u2018An Appeal,\u2019 etc., in which he\n wrote these lines, \u2018_Domino N. S. S. dono dedit Johannes\n Wesley, circ. Kal. Augusti, 1785_.\u2019 He gave me also several\n other of his Christian pamphlets. I am far advanced in age;\n towards seventy-six years old: but, if the almighty God grant\n me life and health, perhaps I may make a tour to Stockholm next\n summer, when I have done with my catechumens; and then I shall\n certainly wait upon you, and make one of your auditory.[537]\n\nWhile Wesley was forming new friendships, old ones were being severed\nby death. It was in 1785, that he thus lost two of the most valuable\nand valued friends that he ever had,--Vincent Perronet, and John\nFletcher, the vicars of Shoreham and Madeley. The former was in the\nninety-second year of his age, and died, while Wesley was in Ireland,\non the 9th of May. Charles Wesley buried him, and preached his funeral\nsermon. For the last twenty years, he had enjoyed such a degree of\nfellowship with God as rarely falls to the lot of man in the present\nworld. He lived chiefly in his library; but, when he mingled with his\nfriends, was always cheerful. His favourite study was the fulfilment\nof prophecy, and the second coming and visible reign of Christ on\nearth.[538]\n\nWhile Perronet was the oldest, Fletcher was the most valuable friend\nthat Wesley had. No man had rendered, to Methodism and its founder,\nthe service that the vicar of Madeley had. Compared with the vicar of\nShoreham, he was young; but his life was fraught with incalculable\nblessings to the church of Christ. Only four years before his death,\nhe had married Miss Bosanquet, who, for thirty years, revered his\nmemory, and remained his widow, till the two were reunited in a better\nworld than this. As we have already seen, he was present at Wesley\u2019s\nlast conference, in Leeds; and it was chiefly by his almost angelic\ninterposition and services, that the results of that conference were\nnot much more disastrous than they were. His wife was with him, and\nwrites: \u201cO how deeply was he affected concerning the welfare of his\nbrethren! When any little disputes arose among them, his inmost soul\ngroaned beneath the burden; and, by two or three in the morning, I was\nsure to hear him breathing out prayer for the peace and prosperity of\nZion. When I observed to him, I was afraid it would hurt his health,\nand wished him to sleep more, he would answer, \u2018O Polly, the cause of\nGod lies near my heart!\u2019\u201d[539]\n\nTwelve months afterwards, this seraphic man expired, some of his last\nwords being: \u201cO Polly, my dear Polly, _God is love_! Shout! shout\naloud! I want a gust of praise to go to the ends of the earth!\u201d He\ndied August 14, 1785, having, on the previous sabbath, read prayers,\npreached, and administered the Lord\u2019s supper, in his parish church.\nWesley, at the time, was in the west of England, and unable either to\nsee him, or to attend his funeral; but, as soon as possible, he\npublished a sermon in memory of him, taking the same text as his\nbrother Charles had taken at the death of Perronet: \u201cMark the perfect\nman, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.\u201d Wesley\nwrites:\n\n \u201cI was intimately acquainted with him for above thirty years; I\n conversed with him morning, noon, and night, without the least\n reserve, during a journey of many hundred miles; and, in all\n that time, I never heard him speak one improper word, nor saw\n him do an improper action. Many exemplary men have I known,\n holy in heart and life, within fourscore years; but one equal\n to him I have not known, one so inwardly and outwardly devoted\n to God. So unblamable a character, in every respect, I have not\n found either in Europe or America; and I scarce expect to find\n such another on this side of eternity.\u201d\n\nWesley arrived in London, from Ireland, on July 14; and, on the\nfollowing Sunday, preached, morning and evening, on the education of\nchildren. The next morning, at five o\u2019clock, he met the children of\nthe congregation at City Road, the morning chapel being full of\njuveniles, and many standing in the larger chapel. The service was\nunique. When, either before or since, was there such a congregation at\nsuch an hour?\n\nWesley writes: \u201cJuly 26, Tuesday--Our conference began; at which about\nseventy preachers were present, whom I had invited by name. One\nconsequence of this was, that we had no contention or altercation at\nall; but everything proposed was calmly considered, and determined as\nwe judged would be most for the glory of God.\u201d The deed of declaration\nwas again discussed; and seventy preachers present signed documents,\nthat they approved of it. Eight preachers left the connexion,\nincluding William Moore and the two Hampsons. Nova Scotia,\nNewfoundland, and Antigua, for the first time, appeared in the list of\ncircuits. It was declared, that it was improper to sell books, to\nemploy hairdressers, or to talk of worldly things, on Sundays; and\nthat it was entirely wrong to send Methodist children to dancing\nschools, and for dancing masters to be admitted into Methodist\nboarding schools.\n\nThe conference was closed on August 3, and, five days afterwards,\nWesley set out for Cornwall;[540] and on September 3 got back to\nBristol, where he wrote: \u201cSunday, September 4--Finding a report had\nbeen spread abroad, that I was going to leave the Church, to satisfy\nthose that were grieved concerning it, I openly declared in the\nevening, that I had no more thought of separating from the Church than\nI had forty years ago.\u201d\n\nHere, and in the neighbourhood, he spent a month. On October 3, he\nreturned to London; and, the next day, set out for Hertfordshire. A\nweek later, he was off to Oxfordshire; and the week after that, to\nNorfolk. He writes: \u201cOctober 22--I returned to Norwich; and, in the\nevening, spoke home to an uncommonly large congregation; telling them,\n\u2018Of all the people I have seen in the kingdom, for between forty and\nfifty years, you have been the most fickle, and yet the most\nstubborn.\u2019 However, our labour has not been lost, for many have died\nin peace; and God is able to say to the residue of these dry bones,\n\u2018Live!\u2019\u201d\n\nQuerulous and quarrelsome Thomas Wride was, at this time, the\nassistant in Norwich circuit, and, from a large mass of his\nmanuscripts in the author\u2019s possession, the following facts are\ngleaned. A monument to the memory of Mr. Turner had been erected in\nthe chapel, on which were chiselled certain \u201cdoggrel verses,\u201d with\nwhich Wride was greatly dissatisfied. He had told the society, on\nSeptember 4, what they might expect from him, in reference to meeting\nin class, showing tickets, etc.; and says \u201cthe terror of his\ncountenance had awed them, and several had owned that they were afraid\nof him.\u201d He had received a quantity of sermons for sale, and, among\nothers, Dr. Coke\u2019s sermon, preached in Baltimore, at the ordination of\nAsbury; which, he says, he is reluctant to put into circulation. He\nwrites: \u201cIt amounts to a formal separation from the Church of England,\nand, in the end, will tear up Methodism by the roots. Whatever may be\nsaid of America, I cannot think it right, for us here, to declare\nourselves independent of the Church of England, while we enjoy the\nprivileges we have always done. I dread the consequence; for, if we\nare independents, hardly any will come to us, but such as choose to\nchange their religion; whereas, those to whom the Methodists have been\nmainly useful had no religion to change.\u201d Wride was also dissatisfied\nwith his colleagues; for J. McKersey would sing a hymn between the\nfirst prayer and the sermon; and James McByron would permit the\ncongregations to sing anthems. McKersey also refused to preach at five\nin the mornings; for though, as he said, he could rise soon enough, he\nwas not able to preach till he had had his breakfast; and, in\nconsequence, Wride had advised him to take his breakfast to bed with\nhim. Wride acknowledges, that the Methodists at Norwich had not been\nused to morning preaching. The rich would not attend; and, as the poor\ndid not begin to work till eight o\u2019clock, and could not afford to burn\na fire, they were reluctant to rise so early. Hence, when he himself\nhad preached, his congregation consisted only of his wife and two\nothers. Mr. McKersey, further, had neglected the select band; and had\ndeclared he would \u201crather go twelve miles than meet the children.\u201d\nWride multiplies complaints against the leading singers, and against\nthe leaders, Messrs. Booty, Best, James and George Hay, Kilburn,\nSenior, Flegg, and Johnson; and declares that a preacher, sent to\nNorwich circuit, ought to combine in himself the qualities of \u201cthe\nlion, the lamb, the dove, the serpent, and the ox.\u201d\n\nPoor Wride! The contention continued, and, early in 1786, Wesley had\nto remove him to another post of duty; but, before doing so, he\naddressed to him the following letters, which have not before been\npublished.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 8, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--James Byron is an amiable young man; at present\n full of faith and love. If possible, guard him from those that\n will be inclined to love him too well. Then he will be as\n useful a fellow labourer as you can desire. And set him a\n pattern in all things.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 17, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--Deal plainly, and yet tenderly with James Byron,\n and he will be a very useful labourer. But none can be a\n Methodist preacher, unless he is both able and willing to\n preach in the morning; which is the most healthy exercise in\n the world. I desire, that none of our preachers would sing\n oftener than twice at one service. We need nothing to fill up\n our hour.\n\n \u201cIn every place, where there is a sufficient number of\n believers, do all you can to prevail upon them to meet in band.\n Be mild; be serious; and you will conquer all things.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 14, 1785_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--Have patience with the young men, and they will\n mend upon your hands. But remember! soft and fair goes far. For\n twenty years and upwards, we had good morning congregations at\n Norwich; but they might begin at six till Ladyday. I desire\n brother Byron to try what he can do: better days will come.\n\n \u201cI pray, let the doggrel hymn be no more sung in our chapel. If\n they do not soon come to their senses at Norwich, I will remove\n you to Colchester. Be mild! Be serious!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nTommy Wride was not the only preacher that gave Wesley trouble. For\ntwelve years, Michael Moorhouse had been one of his itinerants, and\nhad had his share of persecution. In 1778, while preaching in the\nmarketplace at Melton Mowbray, he was pulled down by a ruthless mob,\nand, with three other peaceable men, dragged to the Black Hole, where\nmeans were used to impress him for the army.[541] Moorhouse now was\ndiscontented, and, in 1785, published a broadsheet of sixteen columns,\nin small type, entitled \u201cAn Appeal to Honest Men,\u201d and full of petty\ngrievances, particularly with regard to the influence of John Crook\nand Wesley, and respecting his own appointments to inferior circuits.\nAt the conference of 1786, he left the work; and then embodied the\nwailings of his Appeal in an octavo volume of 128 pages, with the\ntitle, \u201cDefence of Mr. Michael Moorhouse, written by himself.\u201d He\nbitterly complains of Wesley for suffering some of the wives of his\npreachers to dine on potatoes and buttermilk, while others were\npampered with good cheer; and for allowing their husbands to wear\ngreat coats, and to use umbrellas on a rainy day. The _Monthly\nReview_, in noticing poor Moorhouse\u2019s notable production, quietly\nremarks: \u201cThe labourer is certainly worthy of his hire, but, in\nadjusting the hire to the labourer, a good deal must depend on the\nworkman\u2019s skill; and, if we are to judge of Master Michael Moorhouse\u2019s\npreaching abilities, from his illiterate and silly performance, we do\nnot see how his master could have afforded him higher wages: perhaps\nhe might fare better, if he were to return to his lawful occupation.\u201d\n\nThese were among the petty annoyances of Wesley\u2019s busy life. He had,\nin all conscience, enough to do without these; but, in his position,\nsuch vexations were inevitable.\n\nReturning from Norfolk, Wesley spent the rest of the year in London,\nand in preaching tours through Northamptonshire and Kent.\n\nBefore proceeding to notice his publications, it is right to say that,\nat this time, an important pamphlet of twelve pages was issued with\nthe following title: \u201cFree Thoughts concerning a Separation of the\nPeople called Methodists from the Church of England, addressed to the\nPreachers in the Methodist Connexion, by a Layman of the Methodist\nsociety.\u201d The pamphlet may be taken as an echo of the opinions then\nprevalent, and a brief account of it may be useful.\n\nThe writer states, that the arguments, used in favour of separation,\nare, not that the government, service, and doctrine of the Church are\nunscriptural, but, that the clergy are not converted men; that\nMethodism loses many of its members through the sacraments not being\nadministered; that the Church of England is a fallen church; that the\ntime is fully come when the Methodists ought to be an independent\nbody; that the good effects of separation are already seen in the\ncontinent of America; and that separation will probably take place at\nMr. Wesley\u2019s death.\n\nHaving endeavoured to refute these arguments, the author proceeds to\ngive his reasons against separation: namely (1) many of the Methodists\nare zealous for the Church of England, and would be offended; (2)\nseparation implies ordination, which would be a bone of contention, an\napple of discord, among the preachers, as to who should be ordainers;\n(3) these \u201cgownsmen or ordainers would have the government of the body\nmore and more devolved upon them, and, instead of being itinerants,\nwould become resident in one place, the itinerant plan thereby\nbecoming gradually weakened, or continued only by _raw lads_ on\ntrial.\u201d\n\nThe arguments, _pro_ and _con_, are given as we find them; and merely\nto show the grounds taken by the opposing parties in 1785.\n\nExcepting Fletcher\u2019s funeral sermon, 8vo, 32 pages, Wesley\u2019s\npublications were only four in number.\n\n1. \u201cA Pocket Hymn Book for the use of Christians of all Denominations.\u201d\n24mo, 208 pages.\n\n2. \u201cAn Extract from the Rev. Mr. John Wesley\u2019s Journal, from August 9,\n1779, to August 20, 1782.\u201d 12mo, 92 pages.\n\n3. \u201cA Call to the Unconverted. By R. Baxter.\u201d 12mo, 76 pages.\n\n4. The _Arminian Magazine_. 8vo, 668 pages.\n\nThe _Arminian Magazine_ contains extracts from Dr. Whitby\u2019s Discourses\non the Five Points, and from Maundrell\u2019s Journey from Aleppo to\nJerusalem. There are biographical accounts of William McCormick,\nMartha Rogers, Nancy Bissaker, James Creighton, Ann Roylands, John\nPritchard, and many others. There are more than thirty letters, and as\nmany poetic pieces. There is Wesley\u2019s sermon on his favourite text, 1\nCorinthians xiii. 1-3. Also his sermon on perfection, in which his\nmost matured views, on this momentous subject, are stated with his\nwonted lucidity. The sermon on Hebrews xiii. 17 is remarkable. The\npoint he endeavours to establish is, that, \u201cIt is the _duty_ of every\nprivate Christian to obey his spiritual pastor, by either doing or\nleaving undone anything of an indifferent nature; anything that is in\nno way determined in the word of God.\u201d In applying the principle to\nhimself and the Methodists, he asks: \u201cDo you take my advice with\nregard to dress? I published that advice above thirty years ago; I\nhave repeated it a thousand times since. I have advised you to lay\naside all needless ornaments: to avoid all needless expense: to be\npatterns of plainness to all that are round about you. Have you taken\nthis advice? Are you all exemplarily plain in your apparel? as plain\nas quakers or Moravians? If not, you declare hereby to all the world,\nthat you will not obey them that are over you in the Lord.\u201d Wesley\u2019s\ndoctrine may be disputed; but the practical use to which he puts it\ndeserves attention. There are three more of his original sermons--on\nJohn i. 47; Philippians ii. 12, 13; and Revelation xxi. 5--which are\nwell worth reading.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [532] City Road society book.\n\n [533] _Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 307.\n\n [534] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 143.\n\n [535] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 61.\n\n [536] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 66.\n\n [537] _Methodist Magazine_, 1828, p. 46.\n\n [538] Ibid. 1799, p. 161.\n\n [539] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xi., p. 334\n\n [540] Among other places, Wesley preached at St. Austell,\n where his host had a little girl, twelve years\n of age, who had recently been admitted into the\n Methodist society by Adam Clarke. That little girl\n is now Mrs. Shaw, aged ninety-eight, and well\n remembers Wesley taking her, more than once, in\n his carriage for a drive, and showing her other\n marks of affectionate attention. Mrs. Shaw--happy,\n intelligent, and full of faith,--is a mother in\n Israel, and probably the oldest Methodist now living.\n The writer has in his possession, in Mrs. Shaw\u2019s\n own handwriting, a beautiful hymn of five stanzas,\n composed by her, in the month of May, 1869.\n\n [541] Thomas Dixon\u2019s manuscript autobiography.\n\n\n\n\n 1786.\n Age 83\n\n\nWesley spent the first two months of 1786 in London. He went to the\nHouse of Lords at the opening of parliament, and heard King George\nIII. read the royal speech. He writes: \u201cHow agreeably was I surprised.\nHe pronounced every word with exact propriety. I much doubt whether\nthere be any other king in Europe, that is so just and natural a\nspeaker.\u201d\n\nWesley had a remarkable season at City Road. While preaching, the\npower of God came down; the preacher broke out in prayer; and the\ncongregation burst into a loud and general cry.\n\nOf his own religious feelings he wrote:\n\n \u201cFebruary 24, 1786.--I do not remember to have heard or read\n anything like my own experience. Almost ever since I can\n remember, I have been led on in a peculiar way. I go on in an\n even line, being very little raised at one time, of depressed\n at another. Count Zinzendorf observes, there are three\n different ways wherein it pleases God to lead His people. Some\n are guided, almost in every instance, by apposite texts of\n Scripture. Others see a clear and plain reason for everything\n they are to do. And, yet, others are led not so much by\n Scripture and reason as by particular impressions. I am very\n rarely led by impressions, but generally by reason and by\n Scripture. I see abundantly more than I feel. I want to feel\n more love and zeal for God.\u201d[542]\n\nOn February 26, Wesley set out, in a snowstorm, on a journey which\noccupied more than the next four months. His first halt was at\nNewbury, where he had \u201ca large and serious congregation;\u201d but where,\nhe says, he passed such a night as he had not passed for forty years,\nhis lodging room being as cold as the outward air. He writes: \u201cI could\nnot sleep at all till three in the morning. I rose at four, and set\nout at five.\u201d\n\nThe next fortnight was spent at Bristol and in its vicinity. On\nSunday, March 5, he went through an amount of labour which would have\nappalled most men half his age. \u201cI read prayers,\u201d says he, \u201cand\npreached, and administered the sacrament to about five hundred\ncommunicants. At three, I preached in Temple church; at five in the\nNew Room.\u201d\n\nEight days later, he started off to Scotland, when the roads were\nblocked up with snow, and the weather intensely cold. More than a week\nwas spent at Birmingham: during which he had another sacramental\nservice, as large as that at Bristol; and preached at Madeley a\nfuneral sermon for the sainted Fletcher, taking as his text Revelation\nxiv. 1-7.[543] At Lane End, after it was dark, and in a piercingly\ncold wind, he says: \u201cI was constrained to preach abroad; and none of\nus seemed to regard the weather, for God warmed our hearts.\u201d At\nBurslem, in the same inclement season, the congregation was such, that\nthe venerable preacher was obliged again to take his stand in the open\nair. After preaching at Congleton, Macclesfield, and other places, he\ncame to Chapel-en-le-Frith, where a large number had been converted,\nbut who needed discipline. He writes: \u201cFrequently three or four, yea,\nten or twelve, pray aloud all together. Some of them, perhaps many,\nscream all together as loud as they possibly can. Some use improper,\nyea, indecent, expressions in prayer. Several drop down as dead, and\nare as stiff as a corpse; but, in a while, they start up, and cry,\n\u2018Glory! Glory!\u2019 perhaps twenty times together. Just so do the French\nprophets, and very lately the jumpers, in Wales, bring the real work\ninto contempt. Yet, whenever we reprove them, it should be in the most\nmild and gentle manner possible.\u201d\n\nAt Bolton, he had, in his congregation, five hundred and fifty\nchildren, all scholars in the Methodist Sunday-school; and it was\neither now, or soon after, that he preached to them a sermon, from\nPsalm xxxiv. 11, in which he engaged to use no word of more than two\nsyllables, and literally fulfilled his pledge.[544]\n\nHis congregations throughout Lancashire, and the west riding of\nYorkshire, were enormous, often compelling him to preach out of doors.\nHis popularity was greater than ever. Churches were offered for his\nuse; and accepted, at Haworth, Bingley, Heptonstall, Todmorden,\nHorsforth, and York. Persecution had ceased; and everywhere the\nChristian veteran was greeted with the welcomes of admiring and loving\ncrowds.\n\nLeaving York on the 8th of May, Wesley, for the first time, visited\nthe town of Easingwold, where was a class of seventeen members, the\nleader of which was John Barber;[545] and where a chapel had been\nbuilt, costing \u00a3140, only half of which was paid.[546] To open this\nwas the object of Wesley\u2019s visit.\n\nHe then proceeded to Scotland, where the Methodists were now really a\ndistinct and separated church; for not only had Hanby, Pawson, and\nothers been ordained, and invested with gown and bands, but sacraments\nwere administered; and, while society tickets admitted to society\nmeetings and the lovefeasts, circular metal tokens seemed to become\nthe badge of church membership, having on one side the letters \u201cM.\nC.,\u201d and on the other the words, \u201cDo this in remembrance of Me.\u201d The\ntokens admitted the owners to the table of the Lord.\n\nOn the 1st of June, Wesley laid the foundation stone of a new chapel\nat Alnwick; and, on the following Sunday, preached three times out of\ndoors, to vast congregations, at Gateshead and Newcastle.\n\nOn the 5th of June, he set out southwards. Pursuing his usual route,\nhe came to Hull, a fortnight afterwards, and, at the vicar\u2019s\ninvitation, preached twice to immense crowds \u201cin one of the largest\nparish churches in England.\u201d The next day, he rode seventy-six miles,\nand preached at Malton, Pocklington, and Swinfleet. \u201cSufficient,\u201d says\nhe, \u201cfor this day was the labour thereof; but still I was no more\ntired than when I rose in the morning.\u201d Can such a fact as this be\nparalleled? The day after, he preached at Crowle, and Epworth; and the\nnext day after that, at Scotter, Brigg, and Grimsby. At Louth, for the\nfirst time, he saw the people \u201caffected.\u201d At Gainsborough, his old\nfriend, Sir Nevil Hickman, was dead; but he made the yard of his house\nhis preaching place. On Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25, he\npreached at New Inn, Newark, Retford, Misterton, Overthorpe, and\nEpworth, six times, at six different towns, in two days, the preacher\nhimself eighty-three years of age!\n\nHe writes: \u201c1786, June 30--I turned aside to Barnsley, formerly famous\nfor all manner of wickedness. They were then ready to tear any\nMethodist preacher to pieces. Now not a dog wagged his tongue. I\npreached near the market place to a large congregation; and, I\nbelieve, the word sunk into many hearts; they seemed to drink in every\nword. Surely God will have a people in this place.\u201d\n\nWesley might well speak of the brutal wickedness of Barnsley. Three\nyears before, a man resolved to murder Henry Longden, ran up to him\nwhile preaching, aimed a blow which would probably have been fatal,\nbut Longden leaped aside, and providentially escaped.[547] On another\noccasion, Jeremiah Cocker, while preaching in the market place, was\npulled down, dragged through the streets, and pelted with rotten eggs,\none of which had a dead gosling in it. Cocker applied to the vicar of\nSheffield for protection; the rioters were committed for trial at the\nRotherham sessions; but were acquitted, on the ground that, though the\npreacher was licensed to preach, the spot he chose was not licensed as\na preaching place! Here John Barber, a few months before Wesley\u2019s\nvisit, was saluted with a shower of stones, was seriously hurt, and\nwas rescued by a friendly quaker, who lived in \u201cBarnsley Folly.\u201d At\nanother time, a mob, of some hundreds, assembled with cows\u2019 horns,\ndrums, and other noisy instruments, and most effectually prevented the\npreacher being heard. Mr. Raynor, a currier, having lent his house for\npreaching, the Barnsley roughs made a bonfire at the door, compelled\nthe congregation to seek egress by some other way, and pelted them\nmost mercilessly with filth of the foulest kind. Such are specimens of\nthe treatment received by the poor Methodists in Barnsley, between the\nyears 1780 and 1786. The society was small, not numbering a dozen\nmembers; and they had no preaching room, except Raynor\u2019s house, till\nabout 1792, when Alexander Mather secured a small chamber over a\nweaver\u2019s shop in Church Street.[548]\n\nFrom Barnsley, Wesley went to Sheffield, where he selected as his\ntext, \u201cIt is high time to awake out of sleep\u201d; and an anonymous hearer\nsent him a letter, saying, that he could remember nothing that he\nsaid, except that \u201crising early was good for the nerves!\u201d Here he\nspent several days, held the quarterly meeting and a lovefeast,\nadministered the sacrament to six or seven hundred persons, visited\nWentworth House, baptized Joseph Benson\u2019s infant daughter,[549] and\nwas Mr. Holy\u2019s guest. After preaching, crowds were wont to follow him\nto his hospitable lodging; the streets were lined, and the windows of\nthe houses thronged with eager but respectful gazers, Wesley all the\nwhile emptying his pockets in scattering gifts among the poor. A vast\nconcourse of people assembled on the green, at the front of Mr. Holy\u2019s\nhouse; Wesley walked into the midst of them, knelt down, and asked God\nto bless them. The place became a Bochim; the crowd wept and literally\nwailed at the thought of losing him; he prayed again; and then darted\ninto Mr. Holy\u2019s dwelling, and hid himself.[550] What a contrast to the\nreception given to his brother in 1743!\n\nHis visit to Wentworth House has been mentioned. It is a curious fact,\nbut attentive readers of Wesley\u2019s journal will easily perceive, that,\nas Wesley grew older, he took far more interest in visiting scenes of\nbeauty and historic buildings than he did in the earlier parts of his\nillustrious career. How to account for this, we know not; but so it\nwas.\n\nTradition says, that Wesley was accompanied by Mr. Birks, of Thorpe,\nand that, when they were leaving, Mr. Birks asked Mr. Hall, the\nsteward, if it would be agreeable for Mr. Wesley to pray with the\nfamily before he left. Permission was courteously given; the household\nwere summoned; and Wentworth House was none the worse for the prayer\nwhich the arch Methodist offered beneath its roof.\n\nFrom Sheffield, Wesley proceeded, by way of Belper and Derby, to\nIlkestone. This was his first and last visit to the last mentioned\ntown, and the circumstances connected with it are worth relating. For\nmany years, the only Methodist in Ilkestone had been a poor old woman.\nThe preachers preached, but, apparently, without effect. At length,\nthe old woman died, and John Crook resolved to preach a funeral\nsermon. A large congregation assembled at the front of a public house.\nMr. Crook stood upon a stone used by travellers for mounting horses.\nThe sermon was worthy of the Methodist apostle of the Isle of Man;\nand, at its close, the preacher received a message from the vicar of\nthe parish, requesting him to wait upon him next morning. John went,\nand was received with kindness. \u201cSir,\u201d said the clergyman, \u201cI heard\nyou preach last night with pleasure; in what college were you\neducated?\u201d \u201cI never attended college,\u201d was the answer. \u201cSir,\u201d rejoined\nthe vicar, \u201cI have heard many of the heads of our universities preach,\nbut I never heard a defence of our establishment equal to yours. You\nare welcome to my pulpit next Sunday.\u201d Crook replied, that he was not\nordained; and proposed that, instead of preaching _within_ the church,\nhe should preach at the church\u2019s door. The proposal was accepted; the\nvicar published from the pulpit the intended service; the itinerant\nselected as his text, \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be\nsaved; he that believeth not shall be damned;\u201d under that sermon, the\npriest was deeply convinced of sin, and next Sunday told his\ncongregation, that he was an earnest seeker of salvation; he learnt\nthat Crook was one of Wesley\u2019s preachers, and sent to Wesley an\ninvitation;[551] and here, on Thursday July 6, we find him. He writes:\n\u201cThough the church is large, it was sufficiently crowded. The vicar\nread prayers with great earnestness and propriety; I preached; and the\npeople seemed all ear. Surely good will be done in this place; though\nit is strongly opposed both by the Calvinists and Socinians.\u201d\n\nGood was done. Among Wesley\u2019s hearers was a joiner, Richard Birch.\nWesley\u2019s discourse reached his heart. He was converted; and, finding\nthat there was in the town a class of four Methodists, he became the\nfifth; and, before the year expired, he and his friends built a\nchapel.\n\nWesley arrived in London, after an absence of nearly twenty weeks, on\nJuly 13. Four days were spent in town, and then he started off again\nto Bristol, for the purpose of holding his annual conference. He\nwrites:\n\n \u201cJuly 25, Tuesday--Our conference began: about eighty preachers\n attended. We met every day at six and nine in the morning, and\n at two in the afternoon. On Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning,\n the characters of the preachers were considered. On Thursday,\n in the afternoon, we permitted any of the society to be\n present; and weighed what was said about separating from the\n Church; but we all determined to continue therein, without one\n dissenting voice; and I doubt not but this determination will\n stand, at least, till I am removed into a better world. The\n conference concluded on Tuesday morning, August 1. Great had\n been the expectations of many, that we should have had warm\n debates; but, by the mercy of God, we had none at all;\n everything was transacted with great calmness; and we parted,\n as we met, in peace and love.\u201d\n\nSeparation from the Church was again the great question of the day.\nFrom the above extract, taken from his journal, it is evident, that\nWesley was more than apprehensive that such a separation would occur\nsubsequent to his decease; but it is equally evident, that he was glad\nto have it postponed till then. In an unpublished letter to Thomas\nTaylor, dated February 21, 1786, he writes: \u201cThe wise bishop Gibson\nonce said, \u2018Why cannot these gentlemen leave the Church? Then they\ncould do no more harm.\u2019 Read \u2018no more good,\u2019 and it would have been a\ntruth. I believe, if we had then left the Church, we should not have\ndone a tenth of the good which we have done. But I do not insist upon\nthis head. I go calmly and quietly on my way, doing what I conceive to\nbe the will of God. I do not, will not, concern myself with what will\nbe done when I am dead. I take no thought about that. If I did, I\nshould probably shut myself up at Kingswood or Newcastle, and leave\nyou all to yourselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cI love the Church,\u201d said Wesley to his brother, in letters written\nduring the spring of 1786, \u201cas sincerely as ever I did; and I tell our\nsocieties everywhere, \u2018The Methodists will not leave the Church, at\nleast while I live.\u2019\u201d \u201cEight or ten preachers, it is probable (but I\nhave not met with one yet), will say something about leaving the\nChurch, before the conference. It is not improbable many will be\ndriven out of it where there are Calvinist ministers.\u201d\n\nSuch were Wesley\u2019s wishes, and such were his apprehensions. Wesley\nexpected eight or ten of his preachers to bring the business before\nconference. This was done by Dr. Coke, who had returned from his\n_episcopal_ tour in the United States. Mr. Pawson writes:\n\n \u201cDr. Coke thought, that our public services in the large towns\n ought to be held in church hours, and was freely speaking in\n the conference upon that subject, and urging its necessity from\n the fact that nearly all the converted clergymen in the kingdom\n were Calvinists. Upon hearing this, Mr. Charles Wesley, with a\n very loud voice, and in great anger, cried out, \u2018No,\u2019 which was\n the only word he uttered during the whole of the conference\n sittings. Mr. Mather, however, got up and confirmed what Dr.\n Coke had said, which we all knew to be a truth.\u201d[552]\n\nThis debate seems to have issued in the adoption of a document, which\nWesley drew up three days before the conference met.\n\n \u201cIn what cases do we allow of service in church hours? I\n answer:\n\n \u201c1. When the minister is a notoriously wicked man.\n\n \u201c2. When he preaches Arian, or any equally pernicious doctrine.\n\n \u201c3. When there are not churches in the town sufficient to\n contain half the people.\n\n \u201c4. Where there is no church at all within two or three miles.\n\n \u201cWe advise every one, who preaches in the church hours, to read\n the psalms and lessons, with part of the church prayers;\n because, we apprehend, this will endear the church service to\n our brethren, who probably would be prejudiced against it, if\n they heard none but extemporary prayer.\u201d\n\nConsidering the character of not a few of the ministers of the Church\nof England in 1786; remembering the number of pulpits from which were\npreached Arianism, and especially Calvinism, both of which the\nMethodists considered \u201c_pernicious doctrines_\u201d; and, further, bearing\nin mind, the scanty provision made by the Established Church for the\ngreat populations, these concessions, in reference to having Methodist\nservices in church hours, were really much more extensive than, at\nfirst sight, appears.\n\nThis was the last conference at which Charles Wesley was present. At\nits conclusion, he preached from his favourite text, \u201cI will bring the\nthird part through the fire;\u201d and told the congregation, that, after\nthe death of himself and his brother, there would be a split among the\nMethodists, and not more than a third part of the preachers and of the\npeople would remain faithful to the Established Church. Upon these,\nhowever, God would pour out His Spirit more abundantly than ever, and\nHis work would prosper in their hands. \u201cThis,\u201d said he, \u201cwas the case\nwith the Moravians when Count Zinzendorf died. So it was when Mr.\nWhitefield was removed; and thus it will be with the Methodists.\u201d[553]\n\nBefore the conference was concluded, Charles Wesley wrote as follows\nto the Rev. Mr. Latrobe, Moravian minister in London:\n\n \u201cMy brother, and I, and the preachers were unanimous for\n continuing in the old ship. The preachers of a Dissenting\n spirit will probably, after our death, set up for themselves,\n and draw away disciples after them. An old baptist minister,\n forty years ago, told me, he looked on the Methodists as a\n seminary for the Dissenters. My desire and design, from the\n beginning to this day, is, to leave them in the lap of their\n mother. The bishops might, if they pleased, save the largest\n and soundest part of them back into the Church; perhaps to\n leaven the whole lump, as Archbishop Potter said to me. _But I\n fear, betwixt you and me, their lordships care for none of\n these things._ The great evil, which I have dreaded for near\n fifty years, is a schism.\u201d[554]\n\nOther matters were debated at the conference of 1786. The old rules\nrespecting the windows, doors, and pews of chapels were to be strictly\nobserved and kept; and no assistant was to allow collections for a new\nchapel, \u201ctill every step had been taken to secure it, on the\nconference plan, by a trust deed, a bond, or sufficient articles of\nagreement.\u201d And Wesley concluded by giving the following advices to\nthe preachers. (1) To re-establish morning preaching, in all large\ntowns, at least; and to exert themselves in restoring the bands, and\nthe select societies. (2) Always to conclude the service in about an\nhour. (3) Never to scream. (4) Never to lean upon, or beat the Bible.\n(5) Wherever they preached, to meet the society. (6) Not to go home at\nnights, except in cases of the utmost necessity. (7) Never to preach\nfuneral sermons, but for eminently holy persons, to preach none for\nhire, and to beware of panegyric, particularly in London. (8) To hold\nmore lovefeasts. (9) To introduce no new tunes; to see that none sing\ntoo slow, and that the women sing their parts; and to exhort all to\nsing, and all to stand at singing, as well as to kneel at prayers.\n(10) To let none repeat the last line, unless the preacher does. And,\n(11) To inform the leaders, that every assistant is to change both the\nstewards and the leaders when he sees good; and that no leader has\npower to put any person either into or out of the society.\n\nNova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Antigua were now Methodist circuits,\nand had, unitedly, nine itinerant preachers, and 2179 members of\nsociety. These were Methodist missions, though not designated such.\nAnd here let it be remarked, that the Methodist Missionary Society was\nreally founded in 1784. Where is the proof of this?\n\nThe following is an exact copy of a printed document, kindly lent by\nthe Rev. G. Mather, and addressed, by Dr. Coke, to \u201cThe Rev. Mr.\nFletcher, at Madeley, near Shiffnal, Cheshire.\u201d\n\n \u201cA Plan of the Society for the Establishment of Missions among\n the Heathen.\n\n \u201c1. Every person who subscribes two guineas yearly, or more, is\n to be admitted a member of the society.\n\n \u201c2. A general meeting of the subscribers shall be held annually\n on the last Tuesday in January.\n\n \u201c3. The first general meeting shall be held on the last Tuesday\n in January 1784, at No. 11, in West Street, near the Seven\n Dials, London, at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon.\n\n \u201c4. At every general meeting, a committee of seven, or more,\n shall be chosen, by the majority of the subscribers, to\n transact the business of the society for the ensuing year.\n\n \u201c5. The general meeting shall receive and examine the accounts\n of the committee, for the preceding year, of all sums paid to\n the use of the society, of the purposes to which the whole or\n any part thereof shall have been applied, and also the report\n of all they have done, and the advices they have received.\n\n \u201c6. The committee, or the majority of them, shall have power:\n First, to call in the sums subscribed, or any part thereof, and\n to receive all collections, legacies, or other voluntary\n contributions. Secondly, to agree with any they shall approve,\n who may offer to go abroad, either as missionaries, or in any\n civil employment. Thirdly, to procure the best instruction that\n can be obtained for such persons, in the language of the\n country for which they are intended, before they go abroad.\n Fourthly, to provide for their expenses, in going and\n continuing abroad, and for their return home, after such time,\n and under such circumstances, as may be thought most expedient.\n Fifthly, to print the Scriptures, or so much thereof as the\n funds of the society may admit, for the use of any heathen\n country. And, sixthly, to do every other act which to them may\n appear necessary, so far as the common stock of the society\n will allow, for carrying the design of the society into\n execution.\n\n \u201c7. The committee shall keep an account of the subscribers\u2019\n names, and all sums received for the use of the society,\n together with such extracts of the entries of their\n proceedings, and advices, as may show those who are concerned\n all that has been done both at home and abroad; which statement\n shall be signed by at least three of the committee.\n\n \u201c8. The committee, for the new year, shall send a copy of the\n report for the past year, to all the members of the society,\n who were not present at the preceding general meeting, and\n (free of postage) to every clergyman, minister, or other\n person, from whom any collection, legacy, or other benefaction\n shall have been received within the time concerning which the\n report is made.\n\n \u201c9. The committee, if they see it necessary, shall have power\n to choose a secretary.\n\n \u201c10. The committee shall, at no time, have any claim on the\n members of the society, for any sum which may exceed the common\n stock of the society.\n\n \u201cN.B. Those who subscribe before the first general meeting, and\n to whom it may not be convenient to attend, are desired to\n favour the general meeting, by letter according to the above\n direction, with any important remarks which may occur to them\n on the business, that the subscribers present may be assisted,\n as far as possible, in settling the rules of the society to the\n satisfaction of all concerned.\n\n \u201cWe have been already favoured with the names of the following\n subscribers, viz.\n\n \u00a3 _s._ _d._\n Dr. Coke 2 2 0\n Rev. Mr. Simpson, Macclesfield 2 2 0\n Rev. Mr. Bickerstaff, of Leicester 2 2 0\n Mr. Rose, of Dorking 2 2 0\n Mr. Horton, of London 2 2 0\n Mr. Ryley, \u201e \u201e 2 2 0\n Mr. Riddsdale, \u201e \u201e 2 2 0\n Mr. Jay, \u201e \u201e 2 2 0\n Mr. Dewey, \u201e \u201e 2 2 0\n Mr. Mandell, of Bath 2 2 0\n Mr. Jaques, of Wallingford 2 2 0\n Mr. Butting, of High Wycombe 2 2 0\n Mr. John Clark, of Newport,\n in the Isle of Wight 2 2 0\n Miss Eliza Johnson, of Bristol 2 2 0\n Mr. Barton, of Isle of Wight 2 2 0\n Mr. Henry Brooke, of Dublin 2 2 0\n Master and Miss Blashford, of Dublin 4 4 0\n Mrs. Kirkover, of Dublin 2 2 0\n Mr. Smith, Russia merchant, of London 5 5 0\n Mr. D\u2019Olier, of Dublin 2 2 0\n Mrs. Smyth, \u201e \u201e 2 2 0\n The Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley 2 2 0\n Miss Salmon 2 2 0\n Mr. Houlton, of London,\n an occasional subscriber 10 10 0\n Mrs. King, of Dublin 2 2 0\n -------------\n \u00a366 3 0\n -------------\n\n \u201c_To all the real lovers of mankind._\n\n \u201cThe present institution is so agreeable to the finest feelings\n of piety and benevolence, that little need be added for its\n recommendation. The candid of every denomination, (even those\n who are entirely unconnected with the Methodists, and are\n determined to be so,) will acknowledge the amazing change which\n our preaching has wrought upon the ignorant and uncivilised, at\n least, throughout these nations; and they will admit, that the\n spirit of a missionary must be of the most zealous, most\n devoted, and self denying kind; nor is anything more required\n to constitute a missionary for the heathen nations, than good\n sense, integrity, great piety, and amazing zeal. Men,\n possessing all these qualifications in a high degree, we have\n among us; and we doubt not but some of these will accept of the\n arduous undertaking, not counting their lives dear, if they may\n but promote the kingdom of Christ, and the present and eternal\n welfare of their fellow creatures; and we trust nothing shall\n be wanting, as far as time, strength, and abilities will admit,\n to give the fullest and highest satisfaction to the promoters\n of the plan, on the part of your devoted servants,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS COKE,\n \u201cTHOMAS PARKER.\n\n \u201cThose who are willing to promote the institution are desired\n to send their names, places of abode, and sums subscribed, to\n the Rev. Dr. Coke, in London, or Thomas Parker, Esq., barrister\n at law, in York.\u201d\n\nSuch was the first Methodist _missionary_ report ever published. On\nthe third page of the folio sheet, from which the above is taken, is\nthe following in manuscript.\n\n \u201cNEAR PLYMOUTH, _January 6, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR SIR,--Lest Mr. Parker should neglect to send you\n one of our plans for the establishment of foreign missions, I\n take the liberty of doing it. Ten subscribers more, of two\n guineas per annum, have favoured me with their names. If _you_\n can get a few subscribers more, we shall be obliged to you.\n\n \u201cWe have now a very wonderful outpouring of the Spirit in the\n west of Cornwall. I have been obliged to make a winter campaign\n of it, and preach here and there out of doors.\n\n \u201cI beg my affectionate respects to Mrs. Fletcher, and entreat\n you to pray for your most affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS COKE.\u201d\n\nA few months after the above report was sent to Fletcher, Coke set\nsail to America, and returned only in time to attend the English\nconference of 1785. Henceforward, Christian missions absorbed his time\nand energies.\n\nIt is a well known fact, that Warren Hastings was the first governor\ngeneral of India; and that, in 1786, his celebrated trial was\ncommenced, and was protracted for nearly eight years, during which one\nhundred and forty days were spent in its prosecution. Space forbids\nfurther remarks concerning this great event; but the excitement\ncreated in England by the affairs of India had, doubtless, something\nto do with the following correspondence between Dr. Coke and a\ngentleman in that country. Coke had written to him as early as 1784,\nrespecting the establishment of missions in India, and now his\ncorrespondent replied. He sympathises with Coke\u2019s proposal, but\nforesees the arduous character of the undertaking. He writes: \u201cThe\nleading features in the character of the Mahommedans are pride and\ncruelty, treachery and love of power; and those of the Hindoos, abject\nservility, cunning, lying, dishonesty, and excessive love of money.\u201d\n\u201cHumanly speaking, the probabilities of converting either the Hindoos\nor Mahommedans appear to be very small.\u201d Reasons are assigned for\nthis, showing the writer to be a well informed and accomplished man.\nHe proceeds to say: \u201cThe difficulties are great; greater it may be, in\nsome respects, than were those of the first preachers among the freer\nand more polished people of the Roman empire. Nevertheless, the same\nDivine power that then made a few obscure, and, for the most part,\nunlearned men, triumph over the united resistance of the spiritual,\nsecular, and carnal powers of this world, remains unchanged.\u201d\n\nCoke answered this long and able letter, on January 25, 1786, and\nsaid:\n\n \u201cAt present, our openings in America, and the pressing\n invitations we have lately received from Nova Scotia, the West\n Indies, and the States, call for all the help we can possibly\n afford our brethren in that quarter of the world. The high\n esteem which the government has for Mr. Wesley, I am well\n persuaded, would procure for us the assistance which you think\n to be necessary; but Mr. Wesley himself seems to have a doubt\n whether that would be the most excellent way. In Great Britain,\n Ireland, and America, we have gone on what appears, at first\n sight at least, to be a more evangelical plan. Our missionaries\n have not at all concerned themselves with applications to the\n civil power. They have been exact in their submission to all\n its laws, and laid themselves out in the most extensive manner\n for God. It appears very expedient, that our missionaries\n should visit the settlements of the Danish missionaries in\n India, and take every step they can to improve themselves in\n the language of the people. Mr. Wesley is of opinion that not\n less than half-a-dozen should be at first sent on such a\n mission; and, as soon as the present extraordinary calls from\n America are answered, I trust we shall be able to turn our\n thoughts to Bengal.\u201d[555]\n\nFor want of means, India had to be abandoned; but, in the month of\nMarch, Coke issued \u201cAn Address to the Pious and Benevolent, proposing\nan annual subscription for the support of Missionaries in the\nHighlands and adjacent Islands of Scotland, the isles of Jersey,\nGuernsey, and Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the provinces of Nova\nScotia and Quebec;\u201d to which was prefixed the following letter by\nWesley.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 12, 1786_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--I greatly approve of your proposal, for raising a\n subscription, in order to send missionaries to the highlands of\n Scotland, the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, the Leeward\n Islands, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. It is not easy\n to conceive the extreme want there is, in all these places, of\n men that will not count their lives dear unto themselves, so\n they may testify the gospel of the grace of God.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[556]\n\nCoke commenced his Address as follows.\n\n \u201c_Dearly beloved in the Lord_,--Some time past, I took the\n liberty of addressing you, in behalf of a mission intended to\n be established in the British dominions in Asia; and many of\n you very generously entered into that important plan. We have\n not, indeed, lost sight of it at present; on the contrary, we\n have lately received a letter of encouragement from a principal\n gentleman in the province of Bengal. But the providence of God\n has lately opened to us so many doors nearer home, that Mr.\n Wesley thinks it imprudent to hazard, at present, the lives of\n any of our preachers, by sending them to so great a distance,\n and amidst so many uncertainties and difficulties; when so\n large a field of action is afforded us in countries to which we\n have so much easier admittance, and where the success, through\n the blessing of God, is more or less certain.\u201d\n\nHe then explains the openings in the places already mentioned. The\naddress is dated March 13, 1786.[557]\n\nIn this way, Methodist missions were fairly started; and, on September\n24, 1786, Coke set sail, with Messrs. Hammet, Warrener, and Clarke;\nWarrener being intended for Antigua; and Clarke and Hammet for\nNewfoundland.[558]\n\nMessrs. Garretson and Black were already labouring in Nova Scotia,\nand, to them, Wesley addressed the following letters.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _September 30, 1786_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I trust, before this comes to hand, you and\n Dr. Coke will have met. I can exceedingly ill spare him from\n England, as I have no clergyman capable of supplying his lack\n of service; but I was convinced he was more wanted in America\n than in Europe. I was far off from London when he set sail.\n Most of those in England, who have riches, love money, even the\n Methodists; at least, those who are called so. The poor are the\n Christians. I am quite out of conceit with almost all those who\n have this world\u2019s goods. Let us take care to lay up treasure in\n heaven.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[559]\n\n \u201c_November 30, 1786._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You have good reason to be thankful to God\n that He lets you see the fruit of your labours. Whenever any\n are awakened, you do well to join them together immediately.\n But I do not advise you to go on too fast. It is not expedient\n to break up more ground than you can keep; to preach at any\n more places than you, or your brethren, can constantly attend.\n To preach once in a place, and no more, very seldom does any\n good; it only alarms the devil and his children, and makes them\n more upon their guard against a first assault.\n\n \u201cWherever there is any church service, I do not approve of any\n appointment the same hour; because I love the Church of\n England, and would assist, not oppose, it all I can. How do the\n inhabitants of Shelburne, Halifax, and other parts of the\n province, go on as to temporal things? Have they trade? Have\n they sufficiency of food, and the other necessaries of life?\n And do they increase or decrease in numbers? It seems there is\n a scarcity of some things,--of good ink, for yours is so pale\n that many of your words are not legible.\n\n \u201cAs I take it for granted, that you have had several\n conversations with Dr. Coke, I doubt not you proposed all your\n difficulties to him, and received full satisfaction concerning\n them. Probably, we shall send a little help for your building,\n if we live till conference. Observe the rules for building laid\n down in the minutes. I am afraid of another American\n revolution....\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[560]\n\nBoth the above were addressed to Garretson; the following was sent to\nBlack.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 26, 1786_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It is indeed a matter of joy, that our Lord\n is still carrying on His work throughout Great Britain and\n Ireland. In the time of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, there were\n several gracious showers in New England; but there were large\n intermissions between one and another: whereas, with us there\n has been no intermission at all for seven-and-forty years, but\n the work of God has been continually increasing.\n\n \u201cThe same thing, I am in hopes, you will now see in America\n likewise. See that you expect it, and that you seek it in His\n appointed ways, namely, with fasting and unintermitted prayer.\n And take care that you be not at all discouraged, though you\n should not always have an immediate answer. You know\n\n \u2018His manner and His times are best.\u2019\n\n Therefore pray always! Pray, and faint not. I commend you all\n to our Great Shepherd; and am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[561]\n\nWesley\u2019s correspondence is so vast, that selection is difficult; but\ntwo or three other letters, written in 1786, may be given here. The\nfirst was sent to Mr. Lawrence Frost, of Liverpool, with a request\nthat it might be handed to the mayor, and has not been previously\npublished. One of Wesley\u2019s preachers had been interrupted while\npreaching to a large multitude, near the old Fishstones, and Wesley\nwrote to the chief magistrate as follows.\n\n \u201c_To the Mayor of Liverpool._\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _July 29, 1786_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--Some preachers, in connection with me, have thought it\n their duty to call sinners to repentance even in the open air.\n If they have violated any law thereby, let them suffer the\n penalty of that law. But, if not, whoever molests them on that\n account will be called to answer it in his majesty\u2019s court of\n King\u2019s Bench. I have had a suit already in that court, with a\n magistrate (Heap), and, if I am forced to it, am ready to\n commence another.\n\n \u201cI am, sir, your obedient servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe letter was effectual. Ever afterwards, the constables were civil,\nand wisely let the Methodists alone.\n\nWilliam Simpson was one of Wesley\u2019s itinerants, and, at this time, was\nassistant in the Thirsk circuit, where he had to contend with troubles\nsomewhat different to those at Liverpool, but for which Wesley\nprescribed as sharp a remedy. In the month of November, he wrote him\nas follows.\n\n \u201cThe Sunday preaching may continue at Jervas for the present. I\n suppose the society at Jervas is as large as that at\n Northallerton; and this is a point which is much to be\n considered.\n\n \u201cYou must needs expel out of the society at Knaresborough those\n that _will_ be contentious. When you have to do with those\n stubborn spirits, it is absolutely necessary, either to mend\n them or end them: and ten persons of a quiet temper are better\n than thirty contentious ones. Undoubtedly some of the eloquent\n men will be sending me heavy complaints. It is well, therefore,\n that you spoke first.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[562]\n\nWe must now return to Wesley\u2019s journal. A week after the conclusion of\nthe Bristol conference, he set sail for Holland, accompanied by\nMessrs. Broadbent and Brackenbury. There he mingled with many\nChristian friends; gave many Scripture expositions in private houses;\nsaw many scenes of beauty; and employed all his leisure hours in\nwriting. On September 5, he returned to London, where he spent two\ndays in preaching and answering letters; and then set off to Bristol,\nwhere he continued till September 26, when he got back to London, and\nnaively wrote: \u201cI now applied myself in earnest to the writing of Mr.\nFletcher\u2019s life, having procured the best materials I could. To this I\ndedicated all the time I could spare, till November, from five in the\nmorning till eight at night. These are my studying hours; I cannot\nwrite longer in a day without hurting my eyes.\u201d We should think not!\nFifteen hours a day of unintermitting labour in the case of a man\neighty-three years of age! \u201cOnce or twice,\u201d he wrote on December 12,\n\u201cOnce or twice, I have been a little out of order this autumn; but it\nwas only for a day or two at a time. In general, my health has been\nbetter for these last ten years, than it ever was for ten years\ntogether since I was born. Ever since that good fever, which I had in\nthe north of Ireland, I have had, as it were, a new constitution. All\nmy pains and aches have forsaken me, and I am a stranger even to\nweariness of any kind. This is the Lord\u2019s doing, and it may well be\nmarvellous in all our eyes.\u201d[563]\n\nAt the beginning of October, he went on a preaching excursion to\nChatham and Sheerness. Then he set off to Norfolk; and, on his way\nback to town, preached Mrs. Shewell\u2019s funeral sermon at Barnet. At\nthis period, the father of the late Rev. Dr. Leifchild was the chief\nMethodist in Barnet, and the doctor himself a little boy. \u201cUpon\narriving,\u201d wrote this distinguished minister, \u201che drove to my father\u2019s\nhouse; and, when the door of his carriage was opened, he came out\narrayed in his canonicals. Childlike, I ran to lay hold of him, but my\nfather pulled me back; upon which, extending his hand, he said:\n\u2018Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of\nsuch is the kingdom of heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe next five weeks were spent in London, partly in preaching, partly\nin meeting classes, and partly in writing Fletcher\u2019s Life. The only\nholiday he took was a trip to Hampton Court, which he pronounced\n\u201cthe finest palace the king of England had\u201d; but even this was\nscarcely a holiday, for he preached at Wandsworth on his way back to\ntown. He had a brush with the Deptford Methodists, who urgently\nrequested to be allowed to have service in the Methodist chapel at the\nsame time as there was service in the church. \u201cIt is easy to see,\u201d he\nwrites, \u201cthat this would be a formal separation from the Church. We\nfixed both our morning and evening service, all over England, at such\nhours as not to interfere with the Church; with this very\ndesign,--that those of the Church, if they chose it, might attend both\nthe one and the other. But to fix it at the same hour is obliging them\nto separate either from the Church or us; and this I judge to be, not\nonly inexpedient, but totally unlawful for me to do.\u201d This style of\nreasoning can only be harmonized with the enactments of the previous\nconference, on the supposition that the Church minister at Deptford\nwas not such as Wesley then described.\n\nWesley concluded the year by preaching from, \u201cSet thy house in order,\u201d\nand, among other things, strongly exhorted the people to make their\nwills.\n\nExcept the Life of Fletcher, 12mo, 227 pages, Wesley seems to have\npublished nothing, in 1786, but his _Arminian Magazine_, 8vo, 688\npages.\n\nThe volume bears the same character as previous ones. There are again\nsix original sermons by Wesley: the Church; Divine Providence; Schism;\nFriendship with the World; Visiting the Sick; and the Eternity of God.\nThe sermon on the Church was a sermon for the times; and, remembering\nthe agitation among the Methodists on the subject of separation, an\nextract here will not be out of place.\n\n \u201cThe catholic, or universal, church is all the persons in the\n universe, whom God hath so called out of the world, as to be\n one body, united by one Spirit, having one faith, one hope, one\n baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and\n through all, and in them all. That part of this great body, of\n the universal church, which inhabits any one kingdom or nation,\n we may properly term a _national_ church, as the Church of\n France, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland. A\n smaller part, of the universal church, are the Christians that\n inhabit any city or town, as the church of Ephesus. Two or\n three Christian brethren united together are a church in the\n narrowest sense. Such was the church in the house of Philemon,\n and that in the house of Nymphas. A particular church may,\n therefore, consist of any number of members, whether two or\n three, or two or three millions. But still, whether they be\n larger or smaller, the same idea is to be preserved. They are\n one body, and have one Spirit, one Lord, one hope, one faith,\n one baptism, one God and Father of all.\u201d\n\nOne more extract, from the _Magazine_ for 1786, must suffice.\nAddressing those afflicted with lowness of spirits, Wesley writes:\n\n \u201c1. Sacredly abstain from all spirituous liquors. Touch them\n not, on any pretence whatever. To others they may sometimes be\n of use; but to nervous persons they are deadly poison.\n\n \u201c2. If you drink any, drink but little tea, and none at all\n without eating, or without sugar and cream.\n\n \u201c3. Every day of your life, take, at least, an hour\u2019s exercise,\n between breakfast and dinner.\n\n \u201c4. Take no more food than nature requires. Dine upon one\n thing, except pudding or pie. Eat no flesh at supper; but\n something light and easy of digestion.\n\n \u201c5. Sleep early, and rise early. Unless you are ill, never lie\n in bed much above seven hours. Then you will never lie awake;\n your flesh will be firm, and your spirits lively.\n\n \u201c6. Above all, beware of anger! beware of worldly sorrow!\n beware of the fear that hath torment! beware of foolish and\n hurtful desires! beware of inordinate affection!\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [542] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 62.\n\n [543] Mrs. Mortimer\u2019s Life.\n\n [544] Banning\u2019s Memoirs.\n\n [545] Manuscript.\n\n [546] Manuscript letter by Mather.\n\n [547] Longden\u2019s Life.\n\n [548] Manuscripts.\n\n [549] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 166.\n\n [550] Manuscript.\n\n [551] Memoirs of Rev. H. Taft, M.D., p. 6.\n\n [552] Unpublished manuscript.\n\n [553] Pawson\u2019s manuscripts.\n\n [554] Life of C. Wesley, by Jackson, vol ii., p. 402.\n\n [555] _Methodist Magazine_, 1792, p. 333.\n\n [556] Ibid. 1840, p. 574.\n\n [557] Ibid. p. 577.\n\n [558] Coke\u2019s Life.\n\n [559] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 67.\n\n [560] Ibid.\n\n [561] Memoirs of Black, p. 158.\n\n [562] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., pp. 86, 87.\n\n [563] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 92.\n\n\n\n\n 1787.\n Age 84\n\nWesley writes:\n\n \u201c1787. Monday, January 1--We began the service at four in the\n morning, to an unusually large congregation. We had another\n comfortable opportunity at the new chapel at the usual hour,\n and a third in the evening at West Street.\u201d\n\n \u201cJanuary 2--I went to Deptford; but it seemed, I was got into a\n den of lions. Most of the leading men of the society were mad\n for separating from the Church. I endeavoured to reason with\n them, but in vain: they had neither sense nor even good manners\n left. At length, after meeting the whole society, I told them:\n \u2018If you are resolved, you may have your service in church\n hours; but, remember, from that time, you will see my face no\n more.\u2019 This struck deep; and, from that hour, I have heard no\n more of separating from the Church.\u201d\n\nConsidering the steps that Wesley had already taken, this is somewhat\namusing; as are also the two following letters, written soon after,\nthe first to William Percival,[564] and the second to Samuel Bardsley.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 17, 1787_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BILLY,--You cannot be too watchful against evil speaking,\n or too zealous for the poor Church of England. I commend sister\n Percival for having her child baptized there, and for returning\n public thanks. By all means, go to church as often as you can,\n and exhort all the Methodists so to do. They that are enemies\n to the Church are enemies to _me_. I am a friend to it, and\n ever was. By our reading prayers, we prevent our people\n contracting an hatred for forms of prayer; which would\n naturally be the case, if we always prayed extempore.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[565]\n\n \u201cBIRMINGHAM, _March 25, 1787_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--Brother Jackson should advise brother\n Ridall,[566] not to please the devil by preaching himself to\n death. I still think, when the Methodists leave the Church of\n England, God will leave them. Every year more and more of the\n clergy are convinced of the truth, and grow well affected\n towards us. It would be contrary to all common sense, as well\n as to good conscience, to make a separation now.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[567]\n\nBefore proceeding with Wesley\u2019s history, we insert another letter\nbelonging to this period. It is now for the first time published, and\nrefers to John Hutchinson, the founder of Hutchinsonianism.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 4, 1787_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--I think Mr. Hutchinson was a man of strong\n understanding, but greatly obscured by uncommon pride and\n sourness of temper. He was the twin soul of Dr. Bentley. Many\n of his remarks I exceedingly approve of. That upon the sin of\n Uzzah is highly probable. His writings to me are far more\n agreeable than those of Dr. Harmer;[568] an exceeding pretty\n writer, who seems to propose Dr. Blair for his pattern. Both\n the one and the other are quite too elegant for me. Give me\n plain, strong Dr. Horne. Your letters (as well as your\n conversation) are always agreeable to, my dear sister,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley was always ready for all kinds of useful work,--reading,\nwriting, preaching, praying, and begging for the poor. Towards the\nclose of his career, especially, he seems to have commenced almost\nevery year by an effort to relieve the miseries of his destitute\nfellow creatures. Accordingly, at the opening of 1787, five days were\nspent in traversing the streets of London to obtain subscriptions for\nthis purpose. About two hundred members of his own London society were\nin great distress; and he hoped to provide for them and for others, at\nleast, food and clothing. He writes: \u201cI was much disappointed. Six or\nseven, indeed, of our brethren, gave \u00a310 apiece. If forty or fifty had\ndone this, I could have carried my design into execution. However,\nmuch good was done with \u00a3200, and many sorrowful hearts made glad.\u201d\n\nSeven years previous to this, Wesley had preached his first sermon at\nNewark upon Trent. He was now invited to open a new chapel there; and\ntook coach, for that purpose, on February 9, travelled all night, and\narrived next day. On Sunday morning, February 11, at nine o\u2019clock, he\npreached in the \u201clightsome, cheerful building\u201d; and again at half-past\nfive in the afternoon; when the mayor and several aldermen of the town\nwere present.\n\nThis was a kind of service which now frequently fell to Wesley\u2019s lot.\nOn Sunday, February 25, after preaching twice in London, he took the\nmail coach, and, by travelling all night, arrived at Exeter in about\nfour-and-twenty hours. He then hurried off to Plymouth, and opened a\nnew chapel there. On Sunday morning, March 4, he conducted a service,\nwhich lasted from half-past nine to nearly one o\u2019clock; and, in the\nevening, the throng was such, that, in order to reach the pulpit, he\nwas literally lifted over the people\u2019s heads. At five o\u2019clock next\nmorning, the chapel was again crowded; and, at six, he departed by\ncoach, \u201cleaving,\u201d says he, \u201csuch a flame behind us as was never\nkindled here before.\u201d\n\nNotwithstanding the heavy services of the previous day, he travelled\nall the way to Exeter in a continuous rain, and again preached \u201cto as\nmany as could possibly squeeze\u201d into the chapel; and says, \u201cI know\nnot, that I ever saw such an impression made on the people of Exeter\nbefore.\u201d\n\nAfter this, he proceeded to Bristol, where \u201cthe work of God had much\nincreased, especially among the young men,\u201d but where, out of sixteen\nhundred members, only five, or ten, or, at the most, a dozen hearers\nformed the five o\u2019clock morning congregations. Wesley says, he\nstrongly warned them of their indolence; and, during his stay, the\ncongregations were increased to three hundred; but even this was\nsmall, considering the prestige of the place, and the fame of the\nunequalled minister.\n\nWesley now was suffering considerable anxiety respecting Dr. Coke,\nwho, with his three missionaries, had set sail, five months before,\nfor Newfoundland, but who, unknown to Wesley, had been drifted to the\nWest Indies. Hence the following, addressed to William Black.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 20, 1787_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--After various unfortunate hindrances and\n delays, Dr. Coke embarked on board a small brig, in the middle\n of October, and was, by furious winds, twice beat back into the\n harbour. They set sail a third time, with a crazy, shattered\n vessel, on the 18th of October. We have not heard anything\n either from him or of him since. I hope you have heard of him\n in America.\n\n \u201cYou have great reason to be thankful to God for the progress\n of His work in Nova Scotia. This is far from being the case in\n Newfoundland, where poor John McGeary appears to be utterly\n discouraged; not only through want of success, but through want\n of the conveniences, yea, necessaries of life. Truly, if I\n could have supposed, that those who made me fair promises would\n have suffered a preacher to want bread, I should have sent him\n into other parts, where he would have wanted nothing.\n\n \u201cI hear very different accounts of the state of your provinces.\n Is there plenty or scarcity in Nova Scotia, and New England?\n How does it fare with Halifax and Shelburne, in particular? Do\n the buildings and people increase or decrease? Public accounts\n I cannot at all depend upon; but upon _your_ word I can depend.\n Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[569]\n\nOn March 19, Wesley left Bristol for Ireland, preaching on the way at\nStroud, Cirencester, Gloucester, and numerous other places. At\nBirmingham, he administered the sacrament to seven or eight hundred\ncommunicants. At Wolverhampton, he opened a new chapel. At Burslem, he\nheld one of the most remarkable lovefeasts he had ever witnessed; for\nhere there had been \u201csuch an outpouring of the Spirit as had not been\nin any other part of the kingdom; particularly in the meetings for\nprayer. Fifteen or twenty had been justified in a day; some of them\nthe most notorious, abandoned sinners, in all the country.\u201d He\n\u201cappointed to preach at five in the morning of March 30, but, soon\nafter four, he was saluted by a concert of music, both vocal and\ninstrumental, making the air ring, with a hymn to the tune of Judas\nMaccabeus. It was,\u201d says he, \u201ca good prelude; so I began almost half\nan hour before five; yet the house was crowded both above and below.\u201d\n\nHe writes: \u201cSaturday, March 31--I went on to Macclesfield, and found a\npeople still alive to God, in spite of swiftly increasing riches. If\nthey continue so, it will be the only instance I have known, in above\nhalf a century. I warned them in the strongest terms I could, and\nbelieve some of them had ears to hear.\u201d\n\nHe arrived in Dublin on Good Friday, April 6. On Easter Sunday he\npreached in Bethesda chapel, of which his friend, the Rev. Edward\nSmyth, was chaplain. He writes: \u201cMr. Smyth read prayers, and gave out\nthe hymns, which were sung by fifteen or twenty fine singers; the rest\nof the congregation listening with much attention, and as much\ndevotion, as they would have done to an opera. But is this Christian\nworship? Or ought it ever to be suffered in a Christian church? It was\nthought we had between seven and eight hundred communicants.\u201d\n\nAt this period, the Dublin society, with the exception of that in\nLondon, was the largest in the world, containing upwards of eleven\nhundred members, being more than there were in the whole of the five\nDublin _circuits_ in 1870!\n\nHaving spent ten days in Dublin, he set out for the provinces. It\nwould be, substantially, a reiteration of former narratives, to follow\nhim in his wanderings. He met with no persecution; but, on the\ncontrary, with the warmest welcomes. Almost everywhere the work of God\nwas prospering; and the people vied with each other to show him\nkindness. He writes: \u201cMay 29--The old murderer is restrained from\nhurting me; but it seems he has power over my horses. One of them I\nwas obliged to leave in Dublin, and afterwards another, having bought\ntwo to supply their places; the third soon got an ugly swelling in his\nshoulders, so that we doubted whether we could go on; and a boy at\nClones, riding, I suppose galloping, the fourth over stones, the horse\nfell and nearly lamed himself.\u201d Perhaps Wesley blamed the devil when\nhe ought to have blamed his own long journeys.\n\nIt was in one of these Irish tours that, preaching at a certain place\nin the afternoon, and being expected, in the evening, at a town\nseveral miles distant, he desired his chaise to be ready at the close\nof the service, so that he might start at once. As he left the chapel,\nthe people, as usual, crowded about him, to shake hands with him;\namong others, a Methodist shoemaker pressed forward, and put into his\nhand a brown paper parcel, saying with manifest emotion: \u201cSir, this\nmay be of use to you in your journey.\u201d Wesley thanked him, put the\nparcel into his pocket, and away he went. After travelling some\ndistance, his curiosity prompted him to examine the nature of\nCrispin\u2019s present, which he found to be an awl and a strong waxed\nthread. The road was rugged and lonely; and after a sudden jerk, the\nhorses stopped. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d asked Wesley. \u201cMatter enough!\u201d\nreplied the coachman; \u201cone of the traces is broken, and we can\u2019t go\non.\u201d Wesley bethought him of his awl and thread; they were at once\nproduced; the trace was mended; and so, by the poor shoemaker\u2019s gift,\nthe congregation was saved from being disappointed of their preacher,\nand Wesley from a tiresome detention in a houseless neighbourhood.[570]\n\nWesley got back to Dublin on the 21st of June, having preached\nconsiderably more than a hundred times during his ten weeks\u2019 tour. A\nweek later, on his birthday, June 28, he wrote: \u201cI had the pleasure of\na conversation with Mr. Howard, I think one of the greatest men in\nEurope. Nothing, but the mighty power of God, can enable him to go\nthrough his difficult and dangerous employments.\u201d\n\nThe great philanthropist was as much pleased with Wesley, as Wesley\nwas with him. \u201cI was encouraged by him,\u201d said he to Alexander Knox,\nEsq., \u201cto go on vigorously with my own designs. I saw in him how much\na single man might achieve by zeal and perseverance; and I thought,\nwhy may not I do as much in my way, as Mr. Wesley has done in his, if\nI am only as assiduous and persevering? and I determined I would\npursue my work with more alacrity than ever.\u201d[571]\n\nHoward, in early life, had heard Wesley preach, in Bedfordshire, and\nwas deeply impressed with his discourse. In 1789, he called at\nWesley\u2019s house, in London, to present him with his latest publication,\n\u201cAn Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe,\u201d in quarto; but\nWesley was not at home. \u201cPresent,\u201d said he, \u201cmy respects and love to\nMr. Wesley; tell him, I had hoped to have seen him once more: perhaps,\nwe may meet again in this world, but, if not, we shall meet I trust in\na better.\u201d[572] And away he went on his mission of mercy to Russia,\nwhere he fell an honoured victim to his benevolence, on January 20,\n1790.\n\nHaving held his Irish conference, Wesley preached his farewell sermon,\nin Dublin, on the 11th of July; and arriving in England on the 12th,\nhe proceeded to Manchester, in the neighbourhood of which he continued\nuntil August 6. Here he held his English conference, though, in his\njournal, he never mentions it. The preachers were specially invited;\nbut, on what principle the invitations were given, it is difficult to\nstate. Thomas Taylor was assistant at Leeds, within fifty miles of\nManchester, and moreover was one of the hundred mentioned in Wesley\u2019s\ndeed of declaration; but he was also in favour of the Methodists\nhaving the sacraments from the hands of their own preachers; in other\nwords, he was in favour of separation from the Established Church;\nand, perhaps, this was one of the reasons why he was not invited to\nthe conference at Manchester. At all events, he writes:\n\n \u201cMr. Wesley has sent his special summons to each preacher whom\n he wishes to attend conference, and has expressly forbidden any\n one else to go. I am unbidden, and think I am ill used. After\n labouring, with some degree of success, for more than\n twenty-four years, and without a crime having ever been alleged\n against, me, I am debarred of a privilege granted to others who\n were converted under me, and whom I took into society. This is\n a flagrant injustice. Besides, I am a member of the legal\n conference. I\u2019ll venture to go, let consequences be what they\n may. If I am thrown overboard, I will swim as well as I can,\n believing the Lord will take me up.\u201d\n\nMr. Taylor\u2019s complaint was not without reason. He went; but says, he\nhad little satisfaction, for much of the time was spent in trying to\nsupersede the hymn-book published by Robert Spence.[573]\n\nThe original edition of the minutes of the Manchester conference is\nnow before us, 12mo, 20 pages; but there is not a single syllable on\nwhat was the great question of the day, separation from the Church.\nAnd yet this was a question again and again introduced. Two years\nbefore, Wesley had ordained Pawson for Scotland, and, ever since, had\naddressed him as \u201creverend,\u201d Pawson wearing gown and bands, and\nadministering the sacraments to the Scottish Methodists. Now that\nPawson was brought back to England, he had to doff his canonicals, and\nhad his letters from Wesley inscribed with \u201cMr.,\u201d instead of \u201cRev.\u201d He\nloudly remonstrated; but got no redress; and at length, like a good\nChristian, more anxious to save souls than to wear sacerdotal robes,\nsubmitted to obey orders which were strangely inconsistent with\nWesley\u2019s ordaining acts, and went on his way rejoicing. Pawson writes\nas follows, to his bosom friend, Charles Atmore.\n\n \u201cTHORNER, _August 8, 1787_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Our conference ended on last Saturday.\n There were many preachers, and abundance of people, I think\n more than I ever saw at any conference before. Almost the whole\n time was taken up with temporal affairs. Mr. Wesley was in\n great haste, as he and Dr. Coke were going to Guernsey and\n Jersey. There has been a general revival of the work of God.\n Mr. Wesley seems more determined to abide in the Church than\n ever. He talked about it again and again, in the public\n conference, in the society, etc.; and in such a hot, fiery\n spirit, as I did not like to see. He talked of fighting with a\n flail, and of putting all out of society who do not go to\n church. _We_ are to be just what we were before we came to\n Scotland,--no sacraments, no gowns, no nothing at all of any\n kind whatsoever. With much entreaty, I got him to ordain Mr.\n McAllum and Suter. Two more were ordained, one for the West\n Indies, and one for Nova Scotia.\n\n \u201cCharles Wesley, the Sunday before the conference opened,\n spoke, to the society in London, to this effect: \u2018I told you,\n forty years ago, that, from among yourselves, grievous wolves\n would arise, who would rend and tear the flock. You now see my\n words fulfilled. These self created bishops, and self made\n priests, are the very men. But I charge you all, in the\n presence of God, never receive the sacrament from any of\n them.\u2019[574] So you see, he has discharged the people from\n receiving the sacrament of his own brother; for who but he is\n the _self created bishop_? O cursed prejudice! O furious\n bigotry! How does the fire from hell burn in that poor\n miserable man\u2019s breast!\n\n \u201cPerhaps, if I live till next conference, I may petition to\n return to Scotland, as there seems to be no prospect of doing\n anything, but just in the old way, while Mr. Wesley lives.\n Solomon says, there is no new thing under the sun; but here we\n see something, which, I believe, was never seen in the\n Christian church before,--that men, approved of God and their\n brethren, and that for many years, should be regularly\n ordained, and act in the capacity of ministers, and yet should\n be deposed from that office by one single man, and that without\n any crime committed, great or small, real or pretended. Even\n the pope himself never acted such a part as this. What an\n astonishing degree of power does our aged father and friend\n exercise! However, I am satisfied, and have nothing but love in\n my heart toward the good old man. But really it will not bear\n the light at all. Most affectionately yours,\n\n \u201cJOHN PAWSON.\u201d[575]\n\nThis was pretty strong to come from a man like Pawson; but it\nfurnishes a glimpse of the proceedings of the conference of 1787,\nconcerning which so little has been written, and shows the awkward\nposition into which Wesley had put himself by his ordinations of men\nfrom whom he now withdrew the authority that he had previously given.\n\nNever, however, had Methodism been so prosperous as now. The increase\nof members, in the United Kingdom, during the present year, was nearly\nfour thousand; and in America, 6849. Letters, dated August, 1787,\ncontain most marvellous intelligence. It was computed that, in\nBrunswick county, Virginia, not fewer than seven thousand persons were\nunder deep conviction of their sin and danger; and as many as fifty in\na day were savingly converted. At a recent quarterly meeting, six\nthousand were assembled, and hundreds were crying for mercy, including\nsome of the principal inhabitants of the land, and not a few who had\nbeen persecutors.[576]\n\nThe Manchester conference concluded on Saturday, August 4, and, on the\nfollowing day, besides meeting the select society, Wesley preached\ntwice, and, with the assistance of his brother clergymen, administered\nthe sacrament to twelve or thirteen hundred communicants. There are\ntwo other incidents, in connection with this conference, too\ninteresting to be omitted.\n\nAt this period, the grandfather of the present Sir Robert Peel was\nthirty-seven years of age, and one of the most successful men in\nLancashire. The leisure of his youthful days had been spent in reading\nand study, and, before he attained to his majority, a great portion of\nhis time had been devoted to the improvement of machinery. At the age\nof twenty-three, he embarked in the cotton trade, and, by his industry\nand perseverance, had already become a man of wealth, though his\nriches fell immensely short of the two millions which, it is said, he\nleft behind him at his death in 1830. Wesley writes: \u201c1787, July 27--I\nwas invited to breakfast at Bury, by Mr. Peel, a calico printer; who,\na few years ago, began with \u00a3500, and is now supposed to have gained\n\u00a350,000. Oh, what a miracle if he lose not his soul!\u201d The invitation\nwas accepted, and, long after this, when the calico printer had become\na baronet, and had entered parliament, Wesley\u2019s visit was one of the\npleasing reminiscences of his remarkable career. To the end of life,\nhe cherished a warm affection for the Methodists. \u201cMy lads,\u201d said he,\nwhen some of his Methodist workmen applied to him for the site of\nTamworth chapel,[577] \u201cMy lads, do not build your chapel too large,\nfor people like to go to a little chapel well filled better than to a\nlarger one comparatively empty. I often go to your chapels in\nManchester, Liverpool, and London, and have no wish to find myself\nalone in a large pew, and pointed at as Sir Robert Peel. I have left\nmost of my works in Lancashire under the management of Methodists, and\nthey serve me excellently well. When I resided there, I asked Mr.\nWesley, at one of his conferences, to come and breakfast with me; and\nhe agreed, on condition that he might bring some of his children with\nhim. Of course, I consented, and he came accompanied by six-and-thirty\nof his itinerant preachers.\u201d This was a curious episode in the history\nboth of Wesley and the founder of the distinguished family that bears\nhis name.\n\nNo man in the nation took a greater interest in the institution of\nSunday-schools than Wesley. \u201cI am glad,\u201d said he, to Richard Rodda, in\na letter dated January 17, 1787, \u201cI am glad you have taken in hand\nthat blessed work of setting up Sunday-schools in Chester. It seems,\nthese will be one great means of reviving religion throughout the\nnation. I wonder Satan has not sent out some able champion against\nthem.\u201d[578]\n\nIt was three years since Raikes had first called attention to the\nimportance of Sunday-schools in the _Gloucester Journal_; and already\nthese \u201cnurseries for Christians\u201d had begun to dot and to adorn the\ncountry. That at Chester altogether originated with the Chester\nMethodists, though the rules were submitted to the bishop of the\ndiocese, and had his entire approval. It contained nearly seven\nhundred children, who were taken to church once every Sunday. \u201cWe had\nno intention,\u201d said Richard Rodda, \u201cas some persons represented, to\nmake disciples to Methodism, but to train them up in the nurture and\nadmonition of the Lord, that they might become useful members of civil\nand religious society.\u201d[579]\n\nSome idea may be formed of the popularity of this new institution of\nthe Christian church, from the fact that, in 1785, a Sunday-school\nsociety was formed, which, within two years, was the means of\nestablishing more than two hundred schools; and that it was\ncalculated, in 1787, that the number of children then taught in\nSunday-schools exceeded two hundred thousand.[580]\n\nAs already stated, more than once, there were a few which existed long\nbefore Raikes\u2019 school at Gloucester,--as, for instance, Miss Hannah\nBall\u2019s, at Wycombe, founded in 1769. There was also another at Little\nLever, the birthplace of Oliver Heywood, four miles from Bolton, in\nLancashire. Here James Hey resided, a poor man who obtained a living\nby winding bobbins for weavers. About the year 1775, James got the use\nof a room in a cottage, to which, twice every Sunday, he summoned the\nboys and girls of the neighbourhood, to teach them reading, his\nsubstitute for a bell being an old brass mortar and pestle. Mr. Adam\nCrompton, the paper manufacturer, sent him a supply of books; three\nbranch establishments were formed; subscriptions were given; and a\nshilling per Sunday paid to each teacher for his Sunday services.[581]\n\nIn June 1785, a Methodist school was started in the old Ridgway Gates\nchapel, Bolton, chiefly through the instrumentality of George Eskrick,\nwho was its principal manager as long as he lived. One of the scholars\npresent, the first Sunday, was Peter Haslam, eleven years of age,\nafterwards a most devout and useful itinerant preacher,[582]--the\nfirst fruits of others who, in the same institution, received their\nfirst trainings for the Christian ministry. In the course of a few\nyears, the number of scholars, attending the Bolton Sunday-school, was\n2,000; and the _average_ number, for the first thirty years of its\nexistence, was 1800.[583] Children came to it, several miles, from all\nthe country round about. Reading and writing were taught. Each class\nwas spoken to separately every Sunday on religious subjects. The\nmasters were devoted to their work, and all gave their services\ngratuitously. The change in the manners and morals of the children was\nmarvellous; and about a hundred of them sang like seraphs.[584] No\nwonder, that such a school attracted the attention of Wesley. Hence,\non the very day when he and six-and-thirty of his itinerants\nbreakfasted with the father of the Peels, he wrote:\n\n \u201cFrom Mr. Peel\u2019s we went to Bolton. Here are eight hundred poor\n children, taught in our Sunday-schools, by about eighty\n masters, who receive no pay but what they are to receive from\n their Great Master. About a hundred of them, part boys and part\n girls, are taught to sing; and they sang so true, that, all\n singing together, there seemed to be but one voice. The house\n was throughly filled, while I explained and applied the first\n commandment. What is all morality or religion without this? A\n mere castle in the air. In the evening, many of the children\n still hovering round the house, I desired forty or fifty to\n come in and sing, \u2018Vital spark of heavenly flame.\u2019 Although\n some of them were silent, not being able to sing for tears, yet\n the harmony was such as I believe could not be equalled in the\n king\u2019s chapel.\u201d\n\nThis was not bounce, nor was it the random garrulity of an aged man.\nNine months afterwards, Wesley came again, and wrote:\n\n \u201cThis I must avow, there is not such another set of singers in\n any of the Methodist congregations in the three kingdoms as\n there is at Bolton. There cannot be; for we have near a hundred\n such trebles,--boys and girls, selected out of our\n Sunday-schools, and accurately taught--as are not to be found\n together in any chapel, cathedral, or music room within the\n four seas. Besides, the spirit with which they all sing, and\n the beauty of many of them, so suits the melody, that I defy\n any to exceed it; except the singing of angels in our Father\u2019s\n house.\u201d\n\nGood singing is a good thing, and, like most other good things, is far\nfrom being common. Had this been the only result of Bolton\nSunday-school, the school would have existed to good purpose. But hear\nWesley\u2019s description, written \u201cSunday, April 20, 1788,\u201d and let\nMethodist Sunday-school teachers now conscientiously and diligently\nendeavour to make their establishments resemble that at Bolton then.\n\n \u201cAt eight, and at one, the house was throughly filled. About\n three, I met between 900 and a thousand of the children\n belonging to our Sunday-schools. I never saw such a sight\n before. They were all exactly clean, as well as plain, in their\n apparel. All were serious and well behaved. Many, both boys and\n girls, had as beautiful faces as, I believe, England or Europe\n can afford. When they all sung together, and none of them out\n of tune, the melody was beyond that of any theatre; and, what\n is the best of all, many of them truly fear God, and some\n rejoice in His salvation. These are a pattern to all the town.\n Their usual diversion is to visit the poor that are sick,\n (sometimes six, or eight, or ten together,) to exhort, comfort,\n and pray with them. Frequently ten or more of them get together\n to sing and pray by themselves; sometimes thirty or forty; and\n are so earnestly engaged, alternately singing, praying, and\n crying, that they know not how to part.\u201d\n\nWe have already stated that, the day after Wesley closed his\nconference at Manchester, he preached twice, and, assisted by others,\nadministered the Lord\u2019s supper to twelve or thirteen hundred persons.\nThe next day, August 6, he secured the whole of the coach, that ran\nbetween Manchester and Birmingham, for himself and his friends. Six\npacked themselves within, and eight arranged themselves without, and\noff they all set at midnight; but even the presence of fourteen\nMethodist preachers was not an insurance against accident. No doubt,\nmany a hymn was sung as they whisked away through beautiful Cheshire\nscenery, the stars shining approvingly, and the fields all round\nwrapped in solemn silence; but, a little before three in the morning,\nwhen approaching Congleton, the coach broke down beneath its unwonted\nburden, and had to be abandoned for another. In about an hour, number\ntwo was crippled like number one; while one of the horses was so\nknocked up as to be scarcely able to go at all. This Methodist\nmonopoly of the Birmingham stage coach issued, not in a moonlight\npleasure trip, but in a series of disasters which men so pious and so\ngood had not expected. The distance was not great; but nineteen hours\nwere spent in getting over it. The party arrived at Birmingham at 7\np.m.; Wesley found a congregation waiting; he stepped out of the coach\ninto the chapel, and began preaching without delay. \u201cAnd such,\u201d says\nhe, \u201cwas the goodness of God, that I found no more weariness when I\nhad done than if I had rested all the day.\u201d\n\nThis was marvellous, in the case of an old man, above eighty; but,\nnotwithstanding this, he was off again, before five o\u2019clock next\nmorning; travelled nearly eleven hours; and, at night, preached in the\nnew chapel at Gloucester. But even this was not all. The morning\nafter, he set out again at two o\u2019clock, travelled till half-past four\nin the afternoon, and preached at Salisbury in the evening. Next\nmorning at four, he took chaise to Southampton, where, on August 9 and\n10, he preached thrice.\n\nHere the Methodists worshipped in an auction room; and then in a loft,\nused by a bricklayer in stowing away his scaffolding, and which\nacquired imperishable fame as the spiritual birthplace of Elizabeth\nWallbridge, the \u201cDairyman\u2019s Daughter.\u201d[585]\n\nWesley, accompanied by Dr. Coke and Joseph Bradford, was now on his\nway to the Channel islands; where Methodism had been introduced as\nearly as the year 1783, by certain Methodist soldiers, who wrote to\nEngland for a preacher. Robert Carr Brackenbury, a gentleman of\nfortune, rented a house in the town of St. Heliers, Jersey; and he and\nhis attendant, Alexander Kilham, preached throughout the island, amid\nviolent persecution, but with great success.[586] At the conference of\n1786, Adam Clarke was sent; and now there were, in the three islands\nof Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney, Methodist societies containing\nthree hundred members.\n\nOn Saturday, August 11, Wesley and his friends started from\nSouthampton for Guernsey, but, before the day was ended, had to put\ninto Yarmouth harbour, in the Isle of Wight, where they were detained\ntill Monday, but improved their detention by preaching four times in\nthe market house. On Monday the storm had abated, and they again set\nout; but, in the afternoon, were glad to seek shelter at Swanage,\nwhere Wesley found a small society, and preached in the presbyterian\nchapel. Again they went on board, and hoped to reach Guernsey on\nTuesday afternoon; but the storm obliged them to steer for the isle of\nAlderney, in the bay of which they narrowly escaped being dashed to\npieces. Having slept in a five bedded room, and preached upon the\nbeach, they again set sail for Guernsey, where they at last arrived,\nand were warmly welcomed by Mr. De Jersey. Here five days were spent,\nduring which Wesley preached seven sermons, and dined at the\ngovernor\u2019s.\n\nOn Monday, August 20, they landed in Jersey, where they were detained\nby storms and hurricanes till the 28th. During the eight days, Wesley\npreached a dozen sermons, Mr. Brackenbury acting as his interpreter.\n\nOn the 28th, he returned to Guernsey, where, by stress of weather, he\nwas obliged to stay till September 6, but still employed himself as\nactively as ever. He then sailed for Penzance, in Cornwall, and\narrived in safety.\n\nWesley\u2019s labours in the Channel islands were greatly blessed; but his\nvoyages were adventurous, and, more than once, extremely dangerous.\nThey were also rich in religious incidents. On one occasion, two of\nthe sailors, who were aloft, swore most dreadfully; and, greatly to\nthe surprise of his companions, Wesley seemed not to notice them. At\nlength, the sailors still swearing, Wesley looked up to them, and\nsaid: \u201cSwear louder, and then perhaps God Almighty will hear you.\u201d The\nironical reproof stopped the blasphemy.[587]\n\nAnother incident is worth relating. Wesley writes in his journal:\n\u201cSeptember 6--We went on board with a fair, moderate wind; but we had\njust entered the ship when the wind died away. We cried to God for\nhelp; and it presently sprung up, exactly fair, and did not cease till\nit brought us into Penzance bay.\u201d This is all; but Adam Clarke, who\nwas present, gives further details. Wesley was reading in the cabin;\nbut, hearing the noise and bustle occasioned by putting about the\nvessel, to stand on her different tacks, he looked out of the cabin\ndoor, and asked what was matter. Being told, he quietly remarked,\n\u201cThen let us go to prayer.\u201d Coke, Bradford, and Clarke having prayed,\nWesley began: \u201cAlmighty and everlasting God, Thou hast sway\neverywhere, and all things serve the purposes of Thy will: Thou\nholdest the winds in Thy hands, and sittest upon the waterfloods, and\nreignest a King for ever: command these winds and these waves that\nthey obey _Thee_; and take us speedily and safely to the haven whither\nwe would be!\u201d The power of his petition was felt by all: he rose from\nhis knees, made no remark, and resumed his reading. Clarke went on\ndeck, and, to his surprise, found the vessel standing her right\ncourse, with a steady breeze, which brought them safe to\nCornwall.[588]\n\nWesley was more than satisfied with his trip to these lovely islands.\n\u201cHere,\u201d says he, \u201cis an open door: high and low, rich and poor,\nreceive the word gladly; so that I could not regret being detained by\ncontrary winds several days longer than we intended.\u201d[589]\n\nWesley\u2019s landing in Cornwall was unexpected, but not unwelcome. He\nwrites: \u201cWe appeared to our friends here as men risen from the dead.\nGreat was their rejoicing over us; and great was the power of God in\nthe midst of the congregation.\u201d On Saturday, September 8, he preached\ntwice, out of doors, to large congregations; and, the day following,\nthrice, besides meeting a society in a chapel \u201cexactly round, and\ncomposed wholly of brazen slags, which,\u201d says Wesley, \u201cI suppose will\nlast as long as the earth.\u201d\n\nOn September 14, he got to Bristol, where he spent the next three\nweeks. First of all, \u201cwith the assistance of two of his friends, he\nhad to answer _abundance of letters_,\u201d the accumulation of the last\nfive weeks. Then, he had to visit the \u201ccountry societies\u201d round about,\nand, among others, that at Castle Carey, where the mob had thrown the\nfirst preacher, that visited the place, into a horse pond. On October\n8, he returned to London, where he employed the next few days \u201cin\nanswering letters, and preparing matter for the magazine.\u201d One or two\nof the letters, belonging to this period, may be inserted here.\n\nThe first was addressed to William Black, in Nova Scotia, who was\nconsiderably troubled with a recent importation from Scotland, in the\nform of a presbyterian minister, who was more a Socinian than a\nCalvinist.\n\n \u201cNEAR BATH, _September 26, 1787_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You have great reason to praise God for the\n great things that He hath done, and to expect still greater\n things than these. Your grand difficulty, now, will be to guard\n your flock against that accomplished seducer. When you\n mentioned a person came from Scotland, I took it for granted\n that he was a Calvinist. But I find it is not so well; for I\n take a Socinian to be far worse than even a predestinarian.\n Nevertheless, I advise you and all our preachers, never oppose\n him openly. Doing thus would only give the unawakened world an\n advantage against you all. I advise you farther, never speak\n severely, much less contemptuously, of him in any mixed\n company. You must use no weapons in opposing him, but only\n those of truth and love. Your wisdom is: (1) Strongly to\n inculcate the doctrines which he denies; but without taking any\n notice of him, or seeming to know that any one does deny them.\n (2) To advise all our brethren (but not in public) never to\n hear him, at the peril of their souls. And (3) narrowly to\n inquire whether any one is staggered, and to set such an one\n right as soon as possible. Thus, by the blessing of God, even\n those that are lame will not be turned out of the way. Peace be\n with your spirit!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[590]\n\nThe next has not before been published. Jonathan Crowther and Duncan\nMcAllum had been appointed to succeed Edward Burbeck and Joshua\nKeighley, in Scotland. On arriving, they found the former \u201cdying of\nfever in a _lousy_ bed\u201d; and the latter already dead and buried. Their\njourney had been adventurous and dangerous; their circuit (Inverness)\nwas large; and their allowances next to nothing; for Crowther received\nonly fifty shillings for the whole year\u2019s labour; and forty of these\nhe spent in removing to Dunbar. He wrote to Wesley: \u201cNo man is fit for\nInverness circuit, unless his flesh be brass, his bones iron, and his\nheart harder than a stoic\u2019s.\u201d After giving an account of the death of\nBurbeck and Keighley, he adds: \u201cI too shall probably be sacrificed in\nthis miserable corner; and, if I were doing good, I should be content\n(if I had them) to sacrifice seven lives every year; but to live in\nmisery, and to die in banishment, for next to nothing, is afflicting\nindeed.\u201d[591]\n\nPoor Crowther was downhearted, and no wonder. Wesley\u2019s reply was\ncharacteristic.\n\n \u201cNEAR BATH, _September 25, 1787_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JONATHAN,--The sum of the matter is, you want money; and\n money you shall have, if I can beg, borrow, or anything but\n steal. I say, therefore, \u2018Dwell in the land, and be doing good,\n and, verily, thou shalt be fed.\u2019 I should be sorry for the\n death of Mr. Burbeck, but that I know God does all things well;\n and, if His work prospers in your hands, this will make your\n labours light. Our preachers now find, in the north of\n Scotland, what they formerly found all over England; yet they\n went on; and when I had only blackberries to eat in Cornwall,\n still God gave me strength sufficient for my work. I am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cP.S.--To Mr. Atlay:\n\n Pay to Jonathan Crowther, or his order, Five Guineas.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[592]\n\nThe next two letters refer to a case of discipline in the Channel\nislands, in which Wesley displayed greater liberality than some of his\nitinerants. The first was written to Robert Carr Brackenbury, the\nsecond to Adam Clarke.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 20, 1787_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--Mr. ---- is undoubtedly a good young man; and has a\n tolerably good understanding. But he thinks it better than it\n is; and, in consequence, is apt to put himself in your or my\n place. For these fifty years, if any one said, \u2018If you do not\n put such an one out of society, I will go out of it\u2019; I have\n said, \u2018Pray go; I, not you, are to judge who shall stay.\u2019 I,\n therefore, greatly approve of your purpose, to give Mr. W---- a\n full hearing in the presence of all the preachers. I have often\n repented of judging too severely; but very seldom of being too\n merciful. As the point is undoubtedly of very great importance,\n it deserved serious consideration; and I am glad you took the\n pains to consider it, and discussed it so admirably well,\n according to Scripture and sound reason.\n\n \u201cI ever am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[593]\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 8, 1787_.\n\n \u201c... Brother de Queteville and you do not mind what I say. I do\n not wonder at him, (he does not know me,) but I do at you. His\n natural temper is stern; yours is not. Therefore, I expect you\n to regard me, whether he does or no. We have no such custom\n among our societies, nor ever had, as for a man to acknowledge\n his fault before a whole society. There shall be no such custom\n while I live. If he acknowledge it before the preachers it is\n enough.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[594]\n\nIn the month of May of the present year, there was instituted, in\nLondon, a society for the suppression of the slave trade, of which the\nchief members were Granville Sharp, William Dillwyn, Thomas Clarkson,\nand William Wilberforce. In this, as in other great beneficent\nmovements, Wesley was one of the pioneers. Thirteen years previously,\nhe had published his \u201cThoughts upon Slavery\u201d; and, at the commencement\nof the present year, had inserted a long letter, on the same subject,\nin his _Arminian Magazine_. The formation of an antislavery society\nwas to him a joy; and he, at once, wrote to the committee, expressing\nhis satisfaction. He desired to warn them, that they must expect great\ndifficulties and great opposition; for those interested in the system\nof slavery were a powerful body, and would employ hireling writers,\nwho would have neither justice nor mercy. As for himself, he would do\nall he could to promote the object of their institution. He would\nreprint a new and large edition of his \u201cThoughts on Slavery,\u201d and\ncirculate it among his friends in England and Ireland, to whom he\nwould add a few words in favour of their design. He then concluded in\nthese words: \u201cI commend you to Him, who is able to carry you through\nall opposition, and support you under all discouragements.\u201d\n\nOn the 30th of October, 1787, he sent a second letter, which was read\nto the society, and in which he said, that he had now read the\npublications which the committee had sent him, and that he took, if\npossible, a still deeper interest in their cause. He exhorted them to\nmore than ordinary diligence and perseverance; to be prepared for\nopposition; to be cautious about the manner of procuring information\nand evidence, that no stain might fall upon their character; and to\ntake care that the question should be argued as well upon the\nconsideration of interest as of humanity and justice, the former of\nwhich he feared would have more weight than the latter.[595]\n\nWesley fulfilled his promise to render help. Hence the following to\nMr. Thomas Funnell, Lewes, Sussex.\n\n \u201c_November 24, 1787._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Whatever assistance I can give those\n generous men, who join to oppose that execrable trade, I\n certainly shall give. I have printed a large edition of the\n \u2018Thoughts on Slavery,\u2019 and dispersed them to every part of\n England. But there will be vehement opposition made, both by\n slave merchants and slave holders; and they are mighty men: but\n our comfort is, He that dwelleth on high is mightier.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[596]\n\nThus began a struggle, which lasted six-and-forty years, and\nterminated in the Emancipation Act, which took effect on August 1,\n1834. Wesley died four years after the fight commenced; Wilberforce\njust as the victory was being won, for he expired while the\nresolutions, preparatory to the bill, were being passed in the House\nof Commons.\n\nThe last three months of the year 1787 were spent in London, and in\nthe usual journeys through the surrounding counties. On October 15, he\nbegan what he calls his \u201clittle tour through Oxfordshire,\u201d and\npreached twice a day, besides travelling. At this time, Joseph\nEntwisle and Richard Reece were in the \u201cOxfordshire\u201d circuit. The\nformer, a young man of twenty, while riding with Wesley, had the\nmisfortune to have a horse whose pace was swifter than its steps were\nsure. The nag fell with suddenness, the young preacher made a\nsummersault over the head of the prostrate animal, and alighted on his\nfeet unhurt. \u201cWell done!\u201d cried Wesley, delighted with the agility of\nhis youthful friend, and, no doubt, remembering many of his own\nmarvellous escapes,--\u201cWell done, Joseph! I could not have done better\nthan that myself.\u201d[597]\n\nRichard Reece also used to relate an anecdote respecting Wesley\u2019s\nvisit to this, his first circuit, in 1787. Wesley was accompanied by\nThomas Rankin, and the two came to Oxford, where Wesley had to preach\nin the chapel in New Inn Hall Lane. The front gallery was filled with\ngownsmen, who, whatever other accomplishments they had acquired, still\nlacked the politeness of gentlemen, for, as soon as Wesley began to\nread his text, the beardless boys, in gowns and college caps, began to\ncheer. Up jumped Rankin, his Scotch blood boiling, and, with\nstentorian voice, cried: \u201cIn the name of God, gentlemen, what can ye\nmean, to interrupt and insult a servant of the Lord, about to preach\nsalvation?\u201d Wesley, more used to such behaviour than his impetuous\nfriend, calmly said, \u201cSit down, Tommy, sit down\u201d; and then quietly\nproceeded with his discourse.[598]\n\nIn his excursion through Kent, Wesley preached both morning and\nevening, every day. In Hertfordshire, he met Simeon from Cambridge.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said young Simeon, \u201cSir, I understand you are called an\nArminian; now I am sometimes called a Calvinist, and therefore, I\nsuppose, we are to draw daggers. But, before I begin to combat, with\nyour permission, I will ask you a few questions, not from impertinent\ncuriosity, but for real instruction. Pray sir, do you feel yourself a\ndepraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of\nturning to God, if God had not put it into your heart?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the veteran, \u201cI do indeed.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by\nanything that you can do; and look for salvation solely through the\nblood and righteousness of Christ?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, solely through Christ.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, sir, supposing you were _first_ saved by Christ, are you not\nsomehow or other to save yourself afterwards, by your good works?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; I must be saved by Christ, from first to last.\u201d\n\n\u201cAllowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are\nyou not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, then? are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God,\nas much as an infant in its mother\u2019s arms?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, altogether.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God, to preserve you\nunto His heavenly kingdom?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I have no hope but in Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, sir, with your leave, I will put up my dagger again: for this\nis all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification, my final\nperseverance. It is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it;\nand, therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and\nphrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially\nunite in those things wherein we agree.\u201d[599]\n\nSuch was the catechetical examination instituted by a young parson of\ntwenty-eight, and submitted to by an old man of eighty-four.\n\nIn November, Wesley took another step, which virtually involved a\nseparation from the Church of England. Seventeen years before, in\nwarning his preachers against such a separation, he had not only\ndirected them and the people to attend the services and sacraments of\nthe Church, but to guard against calling preachers \u201cministers,\u201d and\ntheir places of worship \u201cmeeting-houses.\u201d \u201cDo not,\u201d said he, \u201clicense\nthem as such: the proper form of a petition to the judge or justice\nis, \u2018A. B. desires to have his house in C-- licensed for public\nworship.\u2019\u201d He continued: \u201cDo not license yourself till you are\nconstrained; and then not as a Dissenter, but a Methodist. It is time\nenough when you are prosecuted, to take the oaths. And by so doing you\nare licensed.\u201d[600]\n\nHitherto, Wesley had been opposed to licensing, except in cases of\nnecessity, simply on the ground that this savoured of separation from\nthe Established Church. Now he writes:\n\n \u201c1787, November 3--I had a long conversation with Mr. Clulow,\u201d\n [his legal adviser,] \u201con that execrable act called the\n Conventicle Act. After consulting the Act of Toleration, with\n that of the fourteenth of Queen Anne, we were both clearly\n convinced, that it was the safest way to license _all_ our\n chapels, and _all_ our travelling preachers, not as Dissenters,\n but simply \u2018preachers of the gospel\u2019; and that no justice, or\n bench of justices, has any authority to refuse licensing either\n the house or the preachers.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cexecrable Conventicle Act\u201d was levelled against Dissenters from\nthe Church of England; the Act of Toleration was passed for the relief\nof such Dissenters; and Wesley, by availing himself of the provisions\nof that act, _ipso facto_, conceded the point that the Methodists were\nDissenters.\n\nHe still, however, persisted in asserting that the Methodists were\nmembers of the Church of England; and this involved both him and them\nin further difficulties. In some instances, the magistrates remarked:\n\u201cYou profess yourselves to be members of the Church of England;\ntherefore, your licences are worthless; nor can you, as members of the\nChurch, receive any benefit from the Act of Toleration.\u201d This was a\nsubtle distinction; and Wesley saw that the Methodists must either\nprofess themselves Dissenters, or be subjected to an indefinite amount\nof trouble. He was unwilling to alter their relation to the\nEstablished Church; and yet he wished them to be saved from this\nembarrassment. Hence the following, addressed to a member of\nparliament.[601]\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--Last month, a few poor people met together in\n Somersetshire, to pray, and to praise God, in a friend\u2019s house;\n there was no preaching at all. Two neighbouring justices fined\n the man of the house \u00a320. I suppose, he was not worth twenty\n shillings. Upon this, his household goods were distrained, and\n sold to pay the fine. He appealed to the quarter sessions; but\n all the justices averred, \u2018The Methodists could have no relief\n from the Act of Toleration, because they went to church; and\n that, so long as they did so, the Conventicle Act should be\n executed upon them.\u2019\n\n \u201cLast Sunday, when one of our preachers was beginning to speak\n to a quiet congregation, a neighbouring justice sent a\n constable to seize him, though he was licensed; and would not\n release him till he had paid \u00a320, telling him his licence was\n good for nothing, \u2018because he was a Churchman.\u2019\n\n \u201cNow, sir, what can the Methodists do? They are liable to be\n ruined by the Conventicle Act, and they have no relief from the\n Act of Toleration! If this is not oppression, what is? Where\n then is English liberty? the liberty of Christians, yea, of\n every rational creature? who, as such, has a right to worship\n God according to his own conscience. But, waiving the question\n of right and wrong, what prudence is there in oppressing such a\n body of loyal subjects? If these good magistrates could drive\n them, not only out of Somersetshire, but out of England, who\n would be gainers thereby? Not his majesty, whom we honour and\n love; not his ministers, whom we love and serve for his sake.\n Do they wish to throw away so many thousand friends, who are\n now bound to them by stronger ties than that of interest? If\n you will speak a word to Mr. Pitt on that head, you will oblige\n yours, etc.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nAbout the same time, Wesley wrote as follows to a bishop.[602]\n\n \u201cMY LORD,--I am a dying man, having already one foot in the\n grave. Humanly speaking, I cannot long creep upon the earth,\n being now nearer ninety than eighty years of age. But I cannot\n die in peace, before I have discharged this office of Christian\n love to your lordship. I write without ceremony, as neither\n hoping nor fearing anything from your lordship, or any man\n living. And I ask, in the name and presence of Him, to whom\n both you and I are shortly to give an account, why do you\n trouble those that are quiet in the land; those that fear God\n and work righteousness? Does your lordship know what the\n Methodists are? That many thousands of them are zealous members\n of the Church of England; and strongly attached, not only to\n his majesty, but to his present ministry? Why should your\n lordship, setting religion out of the question, throw away such\n a body of respectable friends? Is it for their religious\n sentiments? Alas, my lord, is this a time to persecute any man\n for conscience sake? I beseech you, my lord, do as you would be\n done to. You are a man of sense; you are a man of learning;\n nay, I verily believe, (what is of infinitely more value,) you\n are a man of piety. Then think, and let think. I pray God to\n bless you with the choicest of His blessings.\n\n \u201cI am, my lord, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[603]\n\nIs it surprising, that the Methodists wished to separate from the\nChurch of England, and that Wesley was led, in fact driven, to take\nthe dissenting steps he did? And yet, to the very last, we find him\nstill adhering to the church of his early choice. Already the\nMethodists had begun to have service in church hours; but this was far\nfrom having his warm approval. Only two days after his consultation\nwith Mr. Clulow, he went to Dorking, where he wrote:\n\n \u201cThe congregation was, as usual, large and serious. But there\n is no increase in the society. So that we have profited nothing\n by having our service in the church hours, which some imagined\n would have done wonders. I do not know that it has done more\n good anywhere in England; in Scotland I believe it has.\u201d\n\nIf possible, Wesley was more popular than ever. He writes:\n\n \u201cNovember 4--The congregation at the new chapel\u201d [City Road]\n \u201cwas far larger than usual; and the number of communicants was\n so great, that I was obliged _to consecrate thrice_.\u201d \u201cNovember\n 9--A friend offering to bear my expenses, I set out to\n Nottingham, where I preached a charity sermon for the\n infirmary, which was the design of my coming. This is not a\n county infirmary, but is open to all England; yea, to all the\n world; and everything about it is so neat, so convenient, and\n so well ordered, that I have seen none like it in the three\n kingdoms.\u201d[604] \u201cNovember 25--I preached two charity sermons at\n West Street, in behalf of our poor children.\u201d \u201cDecember\n 16--After preaching at Spitalfields, I hastened to St. John\u2019s,\n Clerkenwell, and preached a charity sermon for the Finsbury\n dispensary; as I would gladly countenance every institution of\n the kind.\u201d\n\nAll this was extra work; for Wesley\u2019s chief employment, at the end of\nevery year, was preaching to the London Methodists, and meeting the\nLondon classes. Strange to say, the latter was to Wesley an irksome\ntask. Hence he writes:\n\n \u201c1787, November 19--I began the _unpleasing work_ of visiting\n the classes. I still continue to do this in London and Bristol,\n as well as in Cork and Dublin. With the other societies, their\n respective assistants supply my lack of service.\u201d\n\nThere were also other things, far from pleasant, requiring his\nattention. A Laodicean spirit had crept in among the London\nMethodists, and, in strong terms, he had to warn them of their sin and\ndanger. They were also \u00a3300 in debt, and he found it necessary to\ndevise means to make the income equal to the expenditure. His\npreachers also, and his household, vexed him. He writes:\n\n \u201c1787. Sunday, December 9--I went down at half-hour past five,\n but found no preacher in the chapel, though we had three or\n four in the house; so I preached myself. Afterwards, inquiring\n why none of my family attended the morning preaching, they said\n it was because they sat up too late. I resolved to put a stop\n to this; and, therefore, ordered, that (1) every one under my\n roof should go to bed at nine; that (2) every one might attend\n the morning preaching; and so they have done ever since.\u201d\n\nAmid all this labour and annoyance, it is amusing to find this\nvenerable man, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, visiting what then\nanswered to the Madame Tussaud\u2019s exhibition of 1871, and evincing a\ncuriosity and a keenness of observation not often equalled by the\nvisitors of the present time. Hence the following.\n\n \u201cDecember 10--I was desired to see the celebrated waxwork at\n the museum in Spring Gardens. It exhibits most of the crowned\n heads in Europe, and shows their characters in their\n countenance. Sense and majesty appear in the king of Spain;\n dulness and sottishness in the king of France; infernal\n subtlety in the late king of Prussia; (as well as in the\n skeleton Voltaire;) calmness and humanity in the emperor, and\n king of Portugal; exquisite stupidity in the prince of Orange;\n and amazing coarseness, with everything that is unamiable, in\n czarina.\n\nWith the exception of contributing to the _Arminian Magazine_,\nWesley\u2019s literary life was ended. He revised former publications, as,\nfor instance, his Notes on the New Testament; and he occasionally\npublished an extract from some other author; but all the _original_\nproductions of his mind and pen were now published in the magazine.\nDuring this present year, he committed to the press a new pocket\nhymn-book, 24mo, 240 pages; but the work was _compiled_, not\n_written_, and was intended as a substitute for the volume issued in\n1785. He also published \u201cConjectures concerning the Nature of Future\nHappiness. Translated from the French of Monsieur Bonnet, of Geneva:\u201d\n12mo, 12 pages,--a remarkable tract, little known, but full of\nthought.[605] The following is Wesley\u2019s address \u201cTo the Reader.\u201d\n\u201cDublin, April 7, 1787. I am happy in communicating to men of sense in\nthis kingdom, and at a very low price, one of the most sensible tracts\nI ever read.--JOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe magazine, as usual, contains six original sermons by Wesley,\nseveral of them among the most able and interesting that he ever\nwrote. That on Temptation is marked by great discrimination and\nbeauty. The one on Dress fearlessly denounces what was then, and still\nis, a fearfully prevailing evil. Having laid down the principles, that\n\u201cslovenliness is no part of religion\u201d; and that \u201cthere may undoubtedly\nbe a moderate difference of apparel, between persons of different\nstations\u201d; he proceeds to show, that the natural effects of \u201cadorning\nourselves with gold, or pearls, or costly array,\u201d are pride, vanity,\nanger, and lust; and concludes with one of his most withering\naddresses to the Methodists then living, and which the Methodists of\nthe present day would do well to ponder.\n\n \u201cHave not many of you grown finer as fast as you have grown\n richer? As you increased in substance, have you not increased\n in dress? Witness the profusion of ribbons, gauze, or linen\n about your heads! What have you profited then by bearing the\n reproach of Christ? by being called Methodists? Are you not as\n fashionably dressed as others of your rank that are no\n Methodists? Do you ask, \u2018But may we not as well buy fashionable\n things as unfashionable?\u2019 I answer, Not if they give you a\n bold, immodest look, as those huge hats, bonnets, headdresses\n do. And not, if they cost more. \u2018But I can _afford_ it.\u2019 Oh,\n lay aside for ever that idle nonsensical word! No Christian can\n _afford_ to waste any part of the substance which God has\n entrusted him with. How can it be, that, after so many\n warnings, you persist in the same folly? Is it not hence? There\n are among you some that neither profit themselves by all they\n hear, nor are willing that others should; and these, if any of\n you are almost persuaded to dress as Christians, reason, and\n rally, and laugh you out of it. O ye pretty triflers, I entreat\n you not to do the devil\u2019s work any longer. Whatever ye do\n yourselves, do not harden the hearts of others. And you, that\n are of a better mind, avoid these tempters with all possible\n care. You answer, universal custom is against me. Not only the\n profane, but the religious world, run violently the other way.\n Look into, I do not say the theatres, but the churches, nay,\n and the meetings of every denomination (except a few old\n fashioned quakers, or the people called Moravians); look into\n the congregations, in London or elsewhere, of those that are\n styled gospel ministers; look into Northampton chapel, yea,\n into the Tabernacle, or the chapel in Tottenham Court Road;\n nay, look into the chapel in West Street, or that in the City\n Road; look at the very people that sit under the pulpit, or by\n the side of it,--and are not _those that can afford it_ (I can\n hardly refrain from doing them the honour of naming their\n names) as richly, as fashionably adorned, as those of the same\n rank in other places? This is a melancholy truth. I am ashamed\n of it; but I know not how to help it. I call heaven and earth\n to witness this day, that it is not my fault. The trumpet has\n not _given an uncertain sound_, for near fifty years last past.\n O God! Thou knowest I have borne a clear and faithful\n testimony. In print, in preaching, in meeting the society, I\n have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. I am,\n therefore, clear of the blood of those that will not hear. It\n lies upon their own heads. And, yet, I warn you once more, in\n the name, and in the presence of God, that the number of those\n that rebel against God is no excuse for their rebellion. He\n hath expressly told us, _Thou shalt not follow the multitude to\n do evil_. I conjure you, all who have any regard for me, show\n me, before I go hence, that I have not laboured, even in this\n respect, in vain, for near half a century. Let me see, before I\n die, a Methodist congregation full as plainly dressed as a\n quaker congregation. Only be more consistent with yourselves.\n Let your dress be _cheap_ as well as plain; otherwise, you do\n but trifle with God and me, and your own souls. I pray, let\n there be no costly silks among you, how grave soever they may\n be. Let there be no _quaker linen_, proverbially so called, for\n their exquisite fineness; no Brussels lace; no elephantine hats\n or bonnets, those scandals of female modesty. Be all of a\n piece, dressed, from head to foot, as persons _professing\n godliness_; professing to do everything small and great, with\n the single view of pleasing God.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s sermon on the Lord\u2019s Supper was written in 1732, and has been\nalready noticed. To the sentiments then avowed, he still adhered.\n\nThat on the More Excellent Way is characteristic of himself; and\nre-enforces his views on early rising, on the manner of transacting\nbusiness, on food, conversation, amusements, and money. One or two\nextracts may be given.\n\n \u201cDiversions are of various kinds. Some are almost peculiar to\n men, as the sports of the field,--hunting, shooting, fishing.\n Others are indifferently used by persons of both sexes,--as\n races, masquerades, plays, assemblies, balls, cards, dancing\n and music; to which may be added, the reading of plays, novels,\n romances, newspapers, and fashionable poetry. Some diversions,\n which were formerly in great request, are now fallen into\n disrepute. The nobility and gentry, (in England at least,) seem\n totally to disregard the once fashionable diversion of hawking;\n and the vulgar themselves are no longer diverted by men hacking\n and hewing each other in pieces at broad sword. The noble game\n of quarter staff, likewise, is now exercised by very few. Yea,\n cudgelling has lost its humour, even in Wales itself. Bear\n baiting is now very seldom seen, and bull baiting not very\n often. And it seems cock fighting would totally cease in\n England, were it not for two or three right honourable patrons.\n It is not needful to say anything more of these foul \u2018remains\n of Gothic barbarity,\u2019 than that they are a reproach, not only\n to all religion, but even to human nature. One would not pass\n so severe a censure on the sports of the field. Let those, who\n have nothing better to do, still run foxes and hares out of\n breath. Neither need much be said about horse races, till some\n man of sense will undertake to defend them. It seems a great\n deal more may be said in defence of seeing a serious tragedy. I\n could not do it with a clear conscience, at least, not in an\n English theatre, the sink of all profaneness and debauchery;\n but possibly others can. I cannot say quite so much for balls,\n or assemblies; which are more reputable than masquerades, but\n must be allowed, by all impartial persons, to have exactly the\n same tendency. So undoubtedly have all public dancings. Of\n playing at cards, I say the same as seeing of plays. I could\n not do it with a clear conscience. But I am not obliged to pass\n any sentence on those that are otherwise minded. I leave them\n to their own Master; to Him let them stand or fall.\n\n \u201cBut supposing these, as well as the reading of plays, novels,\n newspapers, and the like, to be quite _innocent diversions_,\n yet are there not more excellent ways of diverting themselves,\n for those that love or fear God? Would men of fortune divert\n themselves in the open air? They may do it, by cultivating and\n improving their lands, by planting their grounds, by laying\n out, carrying on, and perfecting their gardens and orchards. At\n other times, they may visit and converse with the most serious\n and sensible of their neighbours; or they may visit the sick,\n the poor, the widows, and fatherless in their afflictions. Do\n they desire to divert themselves in the house? They may read\n useful history, pious and elegant poetry, or several branches\n of natural philosophy. If you have time, you may divert\n yourselves by music, and perhaps by philosophical experiments.\n But, above all, when you have once learned the use of prayer,\n you will find, that this will fill every space of life, be\n interfused with all your employments, and, wherever you are,\n whatever you do, embrace you on every side. Then you will be\n able to say boldly:\n\n \u2018With me no melancholy void,\n No moment lingers unemployed,\n Or unimproved below;\n My weariness of life is gone,\n Who live to serve my God alone,\n And only Jesus know.\u2019\u201d\n\nOn the subject of money, Wesley\u2019s \u201cMore Excellent Way,\u201d to the worldly\nminded, is equally startling, but one which he himself, for fifty\nyears, invariably adopted.\n\n \u201cIf you have a family, seriously consider, before God, how much\n each member of it wants, in order to have what is needful for\n life and godliness. And, in general, do not allow them less,\n nor much more than you allow yourself. This being done, fix\n your purpose, to gain no more. I charge you, in the name of\n God, do not increase your substance! As it comes daily or\n yearly, so let it go: otherwise you _lay up treasures upon\n earth_; and this our Lord as flatly forbids, as murder and\n adultery. By doing it, therefore, you would _treasure up to\n yourselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of\n the righteous judgment of God_. But suppose it were not\n forbidden, how can you, on principles of reason, spend your\n money in a way, which God may _possibly forgive_, instead of\n spending it in a manner which He will _certainly reward_? You\n will have no reward in heaven, for what you _lay up_: you will,\n for what you _lay out_. Every pound you put into the earthly\n bank is sunk; it brings no interest above. But every pound you\n give to the poor is put into the bank of heaven; and it will\n bring glorious interest; yea, and such as will be accumulating\n to all eternity.\u201d\n\nThis was plain speaking; but who will undertake to gainsay it?\n\nThe sermon on Christian Courtesy is full of the wisdom of an aged, and\nwidely experienced, saint; while that on Former Times Better than\nThese is equally remarkable, and well worth reading.\n\nThe _Arminian Magazine_ for 1787 is enriched, as usual, with letters,\npoetry, biography, apparition anecdotes, and choice extracts from\nother writers; but, besides these, there are a few other productions\nfrom Wesley\u2019s pen, as his able article \u201cOn Allegorical Writings in\ngeneral, and especially the Parables of our Lord\u201d; and his weighty\n\u201cThoughts upon Methodism.\u201d We can only afford space for an extract\nfrom the latter. He writes:\n\n \u201cI am not afraid, that the people called Methodists should ever\n cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid,\n lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of\n religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the\n case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and\n discipline with which they first set out.\u201d\n\nAfter describing the rise of Methodism, he proceeds:\n\n \u201cFrom this short sketch of Methodism, any man of understanding\n may easily discern, that it is only plain, scriptural religion,\n guarded by a few prudential regulations. The essence of it is\n holiness of heart and life; the circumstantials all point to\n this. And as long as they are joined together in the people\n called Methodists, no weapon formed against them shall prosper.\n But, if even the circumstantial parts are despised, the\n essential will soon be lost. And if ever the essential parts\n should evaporate, what remains will be dung and dross.\n\n \u201cIt nearly concerns us to see how the case stands with us at\n present. I fear, wherever riches have increased (exceeding few\n are the exceptions) the essence of religion, the mind that was\n in Christ, has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore, I\n do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any\n revival of true religion to continue long. For religion must\n necessarily produce both industry and frugality; and these\n cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will\n pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches.\n\n \u201cHow then is it possible that Methodism, that is, the religion\n of the heart, though it flourishes now as a green bay tree,\n should continue in this state? For the Methodists in every\n place grow diligent and frugal; consequently, they increase in\n goods. Hence, they proportionably increase in pride, in the\n desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of\n life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is\n swiftly vanishing away.\n\n \u201cIs there no way to prevent this? this continual declension of\n pure religion? We ought not to forbid people to be diligent and\n frugal; we _must_ exhort all Christians, to gain all they can,\n and to save all they can: that is, in effect, to grow rich!\n What way then, I ask again, can we take, that our money may not\n sink us to the nethermost hell? There is one way, and there is\n no other under heaven. If those who _gain all they can_, and\n _save all they can_, will likewise _give all they can_, then\n the more they gain, the more they will grow in grace, and the\n more treasure they will lay up in heaven.\u201d\n\nWesley knew not how to flatter. However painful to himself or to\nothers, when he deemed it needful, he never tried to conceal his\nthoughts. The above was not likely to win him the applause of\nprosperous and rich Methodists; but that to him was a matter of\nindifference. His great anxiety was to perpetuate _Methodism_,--not\nmerely _Methodists_.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [564] Percival was one of the itinerant preachers at\n Newcastle on Tyne.\n\n [565] _Methodist Magazine_, 1834, p. 674.\n\n [566] Bardsley\u2019s colleagues in Colne circuit.\n\n [567] Manuscript letter in British Museum.\n\n [568] Dr. Harmer had recently published vols. iii. and\n iv. of his \u201cObservations on various Passages of\n Scripture.\u201d\n\n [569] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 185.\n\n [570] Memoirs of Burgess.\n\n [571] Life of Henry Moore, p. 271.\n\n [572] Ibid. p. 272.\n\n [573] Manuscript journal.\n\n [574] In his \u201cShort Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy\n Scriptures,\u201d published in 1762, Charles Wesley wrote,\n concerning the poor itinerants:\n\n \u201cRaised from the people\u2019s lowest lees,\n Guard, Lord, Thy preaching witnesses,\n Nor let their pride the honour claim\n Of sealing covenants in Thy name:\n Rather than suffer them to dare\n Usurp the priestly character,\n Save from the arrogant offence,\n And snatch them uncorrupted hence.\u201d\n\n (Hymn on Numbers xvi. 10.) \u201cWesley Poetry,\u201d vol. ix.,\n p. 79.\n\n [575] Manuscript letter.\n\n [576] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 486. It is only fair\n to add that all was not sunshine in America. At\n the conference of 1784, the American preachers had\n recorded a declaration that, \u201cduring the life of\n Mr. Wesley they were ready to obey his commands in\n matters belonging to church government\u201d; but, in\n 1787, and thenceforward, this declaration was omitted\n from their printed minutes. Why? Because Wesley,\n without consulting them, had changed the time and\n place of holding their conference, and had appointed\n Richard Whatcoat to be co-superintendent with Francis\n Asbury.--(Etheridge\u2019s Life of Coke, p. 173.) Dr. Coke\n was present, and, in a letter printed four years\n afterwards, pronounced this an \u201cexcommunication\u201d\n of Wesley, and declared that, in his opinion, it\n hastened Wesley\u2019s death; for, \u201cfrom the time he was\n informed of it, he began to hang down his head, and\n to think he had lived long enough.\u201d--(\u201cImpartial\n Statement of the known Inconsistencies of Rev. Dr.\n Coke.\u201d By William Hammet: 1792.) We gravely doubt the\n correctness of Dr. Coke\u2019s opinion.\n\n [577] _Wesley Banner_, 1850, p. 114.\n\n [578] _Methodist Magazine_, 1846, p. 562.\n\n [579] Ibid.\n\n [580] Ibid. p. 563.\n\n [581] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 286. The Rev.\n David Simpson, also, is said to have commenced\n Sunday-schools, in Macclesfield, as early as the year\n 1778.--(_Evangelical Magazine_, 1842, p. 84.)\n\n [582] _Methodist Magazine_, 1805, p. 1.\n\n [583] Manuscript letter.\n\n [584] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 490.\n\n [585] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism.\n\n [586] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke.\n\n [587] Reynolds\u2019s \u201cAnecdotes of Wesley,\u201d p. 25.\n\n [588] Life of Clarke, vol. i., p. 259.\n\n [589] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 80.\n\n [590] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 200.\n\n [591] Crowther\u2019s manuscript autobiography.\n\n [592] Ibid.\n\n [593] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 6.\n\n [594] _Wesleyan Times_, Sept. 28, 1868.\n\n [595] Clarkson\u2019s \u201cAbolition of the Slave Trade,\u201d vol. i.,\n p. 447.\n\n [596] _Methodist Magazine_, 1827, p. 391.\n\n [597] Entwisle\u2019s Memoir, p. 36.\n\n [598] _Wesleyan Times_, June 19, 1849.\n\n [599] \u201cWesley the Worthy,\u201d by Dr. Dobbin, p. 91.\n\n [600] Large Minutes, 1770.\n\n [601] Henry Moore says this letter was written in the\n autumn of 1790; and that, when the lawyer, at the\n head of the persecution, boasted that he would drive\n Methodism out of Somersetshire, Wesley quietly\n remarked, \u201cYes, when he can drive God out of\n it.\u201d--(Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 383.)\n\n [602] This letter is without date. Henry Moore says it was\n written about 1790. (Wesley\u2019s Life, vol. ii., p. 383.)\n\n [603] Atmore\u2019s \u201cHistory of Persecution,\u201d p. 420.\n\n [604] The infirmary was built in 1781, on land partly\n given by the Duke of Newcastle, and partly by the\n corporation. During the first thirty years of its\n existence, it afforded assistance to 33,926 persons.\n\n [605] Its republication would enrich the pages of the\n _Methodist Magazine_ of the present day. One\n conjecture is, that, after the resurrection,\n \u201cour eyes may unite in themselves the qualities\n of microscopes and telescopes, and accommodate\n themselves exactly to all distances.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n 1788.\n Age 85\n\n\nWesley had published, in the ten volumes of his _Arminian Magazine_\nalready issued, forty-two original sermons by himself; and he now\nascertained, that a clergyman, in the west of England, intended to\nreprint them in a separate form. Wesley had been frequently solicited\nto do this himself; but had as often answered, \u201cI leave this for my\nexecutors.\u201d Now, to prevent piracy, he determined to be his own\nrepublisher; and issued these invaluable discourses, with a few\nothers, in four volumes, 12mo; to which he prefixed a preface, from\nwhich the following characteristic extract is taken.\n\n \u201cIs there need to apologise to sensible persons for the\n plainness of my style? A gentleman, whom I much love and\n respect, lately informed me, with much tenderness and courtesy,\n that men of candour made great allowance for the decay of my\n faculties; and did not expect me to write now, either with\n regard to sentiment or language, as I did thirty or forty years\n ago. Perhaps they are decayed; though I am not conscious of it.\n But is not this a fit occasion to explain myself concerning the\n style which I use from choice, not necessity? I _could_ even\n now write as floridly and rhetorically as even the admired Dr.\n B----; but I dare not; because I seek the honour that cometh\n from God only. What is the praise of man to _me_, that have one\n foot in the grave, and am stepping into the land whence I shall\n not return? Therefore, I dare no more write in a _fine style_\n than wear a fine coat. But were it otherwise, had I time to\n spare, I should still write just as I do. I should purposely\n decline, what many admire, a highly ornamental style. I cannot\n admire French oratory; I despise it from my heart. Let those\n that please be in raptures at the pretty, elegant sentences of\n Massillon or Bourdaloue; but give me the plain nervous style of\n Dr. South, Dr. Bates, or Mr. John Howe; and, for elegance, show\n me any French writer who exceeds Dean Young, or Mr. Seed. Let\n who will admire the French frippery, I am still for plain sound\n English.\n\n \u201cI think a preacher or writer of sermons has lost his way, when\n he imitates any of the French orators; even the most famous of\n them; even Massillon or Bourdaloue. Only let his language be\n plain, proper, and clear; and it is enough. God Himself has\n told us how to speak, both as to the matter and manner: \u2018If any\n man speak\u2019 in the name of God, \u2018let him speak as the oracles of\n God\u2019; and if he would imitate any part of these above the rest,\n let it be the First Epistle of St. John. This is the style, the\n most excellent style, for every gospel preacher. And let him\n aim at no more ornament than he finds in that sentence, which\n is the sum of the whole gospel, \u2018We love Him, because He first\n loved us.\u2019\u201d\n\n\nWesley\u2019s journal for the first two months of 1788 is lost; but\nexisting letters show, that the time was spent in London. The\nfollowing have not hitherto been published; and, though brief, refer\nto two subjects of the highest interest,--Sunday-schools and cottage\nprayer-meetings. The first was addressed to Duncan Wright, who was now\nat Bolton; the second to William Simpson, at Stockton upon Tees.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 9, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR DUNCAN,--You send me a comfortable account of the work of\n God in your circuit. I cannot doubt but a blessing redounds to\n you all for the sake of the poor children. I verily think,\n these Sunday-schools are one of the noblest specimens of\n charity, which have been set on foot in England since the time\n of William the Conqueror.\n\n \u201cIf Michael Fenwick has a mind to go to Dumfries and assist\n Robert Dall, you may give him three guineas, which he must\n husband well. He may write to me from thence.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Duncan, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 18, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BILLY,--You did exceeding well to enlarge the number of\n prayer-meetings, and to fix them in serious courts. I do not\n know that any means of grace whatever has been more owned of\n God than this.\n\n \u201cIt is not now, but at the time of conference, that children\n are received into Kingswood school.\n\n \u201cI am glad sister Moor has not forgotten me. I hope sister\n Middleton also thinks of me sometimes. You are welcome to the\n four volumes of sermons.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nCharles Wesley was now dying. Long, loving, and faithful had been the\nfriendship between the two brothers. Their opinions had often\ndiffered; but their affection had never failed. Their most serious\ndifference had been on the subject of separation from the Church of\nEngland, ordinations, and the administration of the sacraments; but,\neven on these matters, Charles, while writing strongly, never wrote\nunbrotherly. His last letter, in our possession, on these disputed\ntopics, is as follows.\n\n \u201c_April 9, 1787._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I served West Street chapel on Friday and\n Sunday. Next Saturday, I propose to sleep in your bed. Stand to\n your own proposal: \u2018Let us agree to differ.\u2019 I leave America\n and Scotland to your latest thoughts and recognitions; only\n observing now, that you are exactly right. Keep your authority\n while you live; and, after your death, _detur digniori_, or\n rather, _dignioribus_. You cannot settle the succession: you\n cannot divine how God will settle it. Have the people of ----\n given you leave to die, E. A. P. J.?[606]\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n \u201cC. WESLEY.\u201d[607]\n\nIt would almost seem from this, that Charles was disposed to abandon\nhis objections to the ordinations for America and Scotland; but, be\nthat as it may, we have here some of his last thoughts respecting the\nMethodists. He evidently believed that, after his brother\u2019s death,\nthey would exist as a separated people, and he wished them to be\ngoverned by those of themselves who were worthiest.\n\nWesley loved his brother, and on February 18, 1788, addressed to him\nthe following laconic note.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--You must go out every day, or die. Do not die\n to save charges. You certainly need not want anything as long\n as I live.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[608]\n\nTen days after this, Wesley left London, for his long northern\njourney, saying: \u201cIf I see it again, well; if not, I pray God to raise\nup others, that will be more faithful and more successful in His work!\nI find, by an increase of years, (1) Less activity; I walk slower,\nparticularly up hill: (2) My memory is not so quick: (3) I cannot read\nso well by candlelight. But, I bless God, that all my other powers of\nbody and mind remain just what they were.\u201d\n\nA month later, Wesley\u2019s brother had entered into rest. They had\nparted, not to meet again till they met in heaven. Wesley, however,\nthought that his brother might recover. Hence the following, written\non March 2.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--Many inquire after you, and express much\n affection, and desire of seeing you. In good time! You are\n first suffering the will of God. Afterwards, He has a little\n more for you to do: that is, provided you now take up your\n cross, (for that it frequently must be,) and go out, at least,\n an hour in a day. I would not blame you, if it were two or\n three. Never mind expense. I can make that up. You shall not\n die to save charges. Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[609]\n\nThree days later he wrote again.\n\n \u201c_March 5, 1788._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I hope you keep to your rule, of going out\n every day, although it may sometimes be a cross. Keep to this\n but one month, and I am persuaded you will be as well as you\n were at this time twelve-month. Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[610]\n\nHere, with one exception, epistolary correspondence between the two\nbrothers ceased. Charles was too feeble to continue it, and his\ndaughter became his substitute. In reply to one of her letters, Wesley\nwrote as follows.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 7, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SALLY,--When my appetite was entirely gone, so that\n all I could take at dinner was a roasted turnip, it was\n restored in a few days, by riding out daily, after taking ten\n drops of elixir of vitriol in a glass of water. It is highly\n probable, this would have the same effect in my brother\u2019s case.\n But, in the mean time, I wish he would see Dr. Whitehead. I am\n persuaded there is not such another physician in England;\n although, to confound human wisdom, he does not know how to\n cure his own wife.\n\n \u201cHe must lie in bed as little as possible in the daytime;\n otherwise it will hinder his sleeping at night.\n\n \u201cNow, Sally, tell your brothers from me, that their tenderly\n respectful behaviour to their father, (even to asking his\n pardon, if in anything they have offended him,) will be the\n best cordial for him under heaven. I know not but they may save\n his life thereby. To know nothing will be wanting, on your\n part, gives great satisfaction to, my dear Sally,\n\n \u201cYours very affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[611]\n\nTo Samuel Bradburn, now stationed in London, Wesley addressed the\nfollowing hitherto unpublished letter.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 13, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--With regard to my brother, I advise you: (1)\n Whether he will or no, (at least, if not done already,) carry\n Dr. Whitehead to him. (2) If he cannot go out, and yet must\n have exercise or die, persuade him to use ---- twice or thrice\n a day, and procure one for him. (3) I earnestly advise him to\n be electrified; not shocked, but only filled with electric\n fire. (4) Inquire if he has made his will, though I think it\n scarcely possible he should have delayed it.\n\n \u201cThe tunes, which brother Rhodes left with you, should be\n immediately printed in the cheap form. Kind love to Sophy.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nFour days later, Wesley wrote his last letter to his brother.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 17, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--I am just setting out on my northern journey,\n but must snatch time to write two or three lines. I stand and\n admire the wise and gracious dispensations of Divine\n providence! Never was there before so loud a call to all that\n are under your roof. If they have not hitherto sufficiently\n regarded either you, or the God of their fathers, what is more\n calculated to convince them, than to see you so long hovering\n upon the borders of the grave? And, I verily believe, if they\n receive the admonition, God will raise you up again. I know you\n have the sentence of death in yourself: so had I more than\n twelve years ago. I know nature is utterly exhausted: but is\n not nature subject to His word? I do not depend upon\n physicians, but upon Him that raiseth the dead. Only let your\n whole family stir themselves up, and be instant in prayer; then\n I have only to say to each, \u2018If thou canst believe, thou shalt\n see the glory of God!\u2019 Be strong in the Lord, and in the power\n of His might. Adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[612]\n\nAnother letter must be inserted, written three days after the above,\nto his niece, Miss Wesley.\n\n \u201cWORCESTER, _March 20, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SALLY,--Mr. Whitefield had, for a considerable time,\n thrown up all the food he took. I advised him to slit a large\n onion across the grain, and bind it warm on the pit of his\n stomach. He vomited no more. Pray apply this to my brother\u2019s\n stomach, the next time he eats.\n\n \u201cOne in Yorkshire, who was dying for want of food, as she threw\n up all she took, was saved by the following means: Boil crusts\n of white bread to the consistence of a jelly; add a few drops\n of lemon juice, and a little loaf sugar; take a spoonful once\n or twice an hour. By all means, let him try this.\n\n \u201cIf neither of these avail, (which I think will not be the\n case,) remember the lady at Paris, who lived several weeks\n without swallowing a grain, by applying thin slices of beef to\n the stomach.\n\n \u201cBut, above all, let prayer be made continually; and, probably,\n he will be stronger after this illness than he has been these\n ten years. Is anything too hard for God? On Sunday I am to be\n at Birmingham; on Sunday sennight, at Madeley. My dear Sally,\n adieu!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[613]\n\nNine days after this, on March 29, Charles Wesley died. It is a\ncurious incident, that Wesley, at the time, was preaching in\nShropshire, and (as was afterwards ascertained) he and his\ncongregation, at the very moment of his brother\u2019s exit, were singing:\n\n \u201cCome let us join our friends above,\n That have obtained the prize,\n And, on the eagle wings of love,\n To joys celestial rise:\n Let all the saints terrestrial sing,\n With those to glory gone;\n For all the servants of our King,\n In earth and heaven, are one.\n\n One family we dwell in Him,\n One church, above, beneath,\n Though now divided by the stream,\n The narrow stream, of death:\n One army of the living God,\n To His command we bow;\n Part of His host have crossed the flood,\n And part are crossing _now_.\u201d[614]\n\nSamuel Bradburn, the assistant in the City Road circuit, immediately\ndispatched a letter to Wesley, informing him of his brother\u2019s death;\nbut, in consequence of its being misdirected, it failed to reach him\ntill April 4, the day before the burial. Wesley was at Macclesfield,\nand to get to London in time for the funeral was impossible. Hence the\nfollowing letter to the bereaved widow.\n\n \u201cMACCLESFIELD, _April 4, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SISTER,--Half an hour ago, I received a letter from Mr.\n Bradburn, informing me of my brother\u2019s death. For eleven or\n twelve days before, I had not one line concerning him. The last\n I had was from Charles, which I delayed to answer, expecting\n every day to receive some further information. We have only now\n to learn that great lesson, \u2018The Lord gave, and the Lord hath\n taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!\u2019 If it had been\n necessary, in order to serve either him or you, I should not\n have thought much of coming up to London. Indeed, to serve you,\n or your dear family, in anything that is in my power, will\n always be a pleasure to, dear sister, your affectionate friend\n and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[615]\n\nWesley had no disposition to tell the deep sorrows of his heart; but\nthat he severely felt the departure of his brother, there can be no\nquestion. A fortnight afterwards, when at Bolton, he attempted to give\nout, as his second hymn, the one beginning with the words, \u201cCome, O\nThou Traveller unknown\u201d; but when he came to the lines,--\n\n \u201cMy company before is gone,\n And I am left alone with Thee,\u201d--\n\nthe bereaved old man sunk beneath emotion which was uncontrollable,\nburst into a flood of tears, sat down in the pulpit, and hid his face\nwith his hands. The crowded congregation well knew the cause of his\nspeechless excitement; singing ceased; and the chapel became a Bochim.\nAt length, Wesley recovered himself, rose again, and went through a\nservice which was never forgotten by those who were present at\nit.[616]\n\nWesley intended to write his brother\u2019s life, and began to collect\nmaterials for it; but his other engagements were too numerous to admit\nof the fulfilment of his purpose. The following is the obituary\npublished in the conference minutes.\n\n \u201cMr. CHARLES WESLEY, who, after spending fourscore years with\n much sorrow and pain, quietly retired into Abraham\u2019s bosom. He\n had no disease; but, after a gradual decay of some months,\n\n \u2018The weary wheels of life stood still at last.\u2019\n\n His least praise was his talent for poetry; although Dr. Watts\n did not scruple to say, that that single poem, \u2018Wrestling\n Jacob,\u2019 was worth all the verses he himself had written.\u201d\n\nThis is not the place, nor indeed have we room for it, to write a\ncritique on the life and character of this remarkable man. It would be\neasy to give the opinions of those who knew him,--Whitehead, Moore,\nCoke, Bradburn, Clarke, and Pawson,--some in favour, and others to the\ncontrary. Suffice it to say, that, had he done nothing more than\nfurnish the Methodists, and the church of Christ generally, with his\nincomparable hymns, in which so many millions have devoutly worshipped\nthe God of heaven, he would have rendered service to the cause of\ntruth and piety which no language can adequately describe. His \u201chymns,\nand psalms, and spiritual songs,\u201d for a hundred and thirty years, have\nbeen the metrical liturgy of the people called Methodists, and to them\ncountless multitudes have been indebted for not a few of their richest\nblessings.\n\nTrue to his high church principles, Charles Wesley, instead of\nselecting the burial ground of his brother\u2019s chapel in City Road,\ndesired to be interred in the consecrated churchyard of St.\nMarylebone. This, to Wesley, was a painful disappointment. \u201cIt is a\npity,\u201d said he, in a letter to the Rev. Peard Dickenson, \u201cbut the\nremains of my brother had been deposited with mine. Certainly that\nground is holy as any in England; and it contains a large quantity of\n\u2018bonny dead.\u2019\u201d[617] So deeply did he feel this, that, seven weeks\nafter his brother\u2019s funeral, he wrote an article, at Dumfries, on the\nconsecration of churches and burial grounds, which he published in his\nmagazine; and in which, after showing, that there is no law of\nEngland, or of the English Church, enjoining such a practice, he\nremarks:\n\n \u201cNeither is it enjoined by the law of God. Where do we find one\n word, in the New Testament, enjoining any such thing? Neither\n do I remember any precedent of it in the purest ages of the\n church. It seems to have entered, and gradually spread itself,\n with the other innovations and superstitions of the Church of\n Rome. For this reason, I never wished that any bishop should\n consecrate any chapel or burial ground of mine. Indeed, I\n should not dare to suffer it; as I am clearly persuaded the\n thing is wrong in itself, being not authorised either by any\n law of God, or by any law of the land. In consequence of which,\n I conceive, that either the clerk or the sexton may as well\n consecrate the church, or the churchyard, as the bishop. With\n regard to the latter, I know not who could answer that plain\n question: You say, \u2018This is _consecrated ground_, so many feet\n _broad_, and so many _long_\u2019; but pray how _deep_ is it? \u2018Deep!\n what does that signify?\u2019 Oh, a great deal! for if my grave be\n dug too _deep_, I may happen to get out of the _consecrated\n ground_! And who can tell, what unhappy consequences may follow\n from this! I take the whole of this practice to be a mere relic\n of Romish superstition. And I wonder, that any sensible\n protestant should think it right to countenance it; much more\n that any reasonable man should plead for the necessity of it!\n Surely it is high time now, that we should be guided, not by\n custom, but by Scripture and reason.\u201d[618]\n\nThis was a heavy blow at his brother\u2019s prejudice. Wesley himself\nresolved to be buried in the ground connected with the chapel in the\nCity Road, and he wished his brother to be buried with him. To this\nCharles objected, because the ground had not been _consecrated by a\nbishop_! The objection was foolish; and the burial, in another place,\noccasioned considerable gossip. John Pawson, in a letter dated April\n28, 1788, remarks: \u201cCharles Wesley would not be buried at the new\nchapel, because it was not consecrated; nor by any of our ministers,\nbut by one of his own choosing. He sent for the parson of the parish\nwhere he lived, and said: \u2018Sir, whatever the world may have thought of\nme, I have lived, and I die, in the communion of the Church of\nEngland, and I will be buried in the yard of my parish church.\u2019\u201d[619]\nWesley well knew that remarks like these were current; and he owed it\nto his people to publish his thoughts on a subject, which, however\ninsignificant in itself, was not unlikely to be a gossiping gangrene\nin his societies.\n\nWesley\u2019s affection for his brother was evinced in the continued\nkindness exercised towards his brother\u2019s family. According to his own\naccount book, he gave to them, in this the year of their bereavement,\nat least, two hundred guineas. He also assured his brother\u2019s widow\nthat, as long as he lived, he would help her to the utmost of his\npower. The two following letters may fitly draw the curtain on Charles\nWesley\u2019s death and burial.\n\n \u201c_July 25, 1788._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--You know well what a regard I had for Miss\n Gwynne, before she was Mrs. Wesley. And it has not ceased from\n that time till now. I am persuaded it never will. Therefore, I\n will speak without reserve just what comes into my mind. I have\n sometimes thought you are a little like me. My wife used to\n tell me, \u2018My dear, you are too generous. You don\u2019t know the\n value of money.\u2019 I could not wholly deny the charge. Possibly,\n you may sometimes lean to the same extreme. I know you are of a\n generous spirit. You have an open heart, and an open hand. But\n may it not sometimes be too open, more so than your\n circumstances will allow? Is it not an instance of Christian,\n as well as worldly, prudence, to cut our coat according to our\n cloth? If your circumstances are a little narrower, should you\n not contract your expenses too? I need but just give you this\n hint, which I doubt not you will take kindly from, my dear\n Sally,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[620]\n\n \u201c_December 21, 1788._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--It is undoubtedly true, that some silly\n people, (whether in the society or not I cannot tell,) have\n frequently talked in that manner, both of my brother and me.\n They have said, that we were well paid for our labours. And,\n indeed, so we were, but not by man. Yet, this is no more than\n we were to expect, especially from busybodies in other men\u2019s\n matters. And it is no more possible to restrain their tongues,\n than it is to bind up the wind. But it is sufficient for us,\n that our own conscience condemned us not; and that our record\n is with the Most High.\n\n \u201cWhat has concerned me more than this idle slander is a trial\n of another kind. I supposed, when John Atlay left me, that he\n had left me one or two hundred pounds beforehand. On the\n contrary, I am one or two hundred pounds behindhand, and shall\n not recover myself till after Christmas. Some of the first\n moneys I receive, I shall set apart for you; and in everything\n that is in my power, you may depend upon the willing assistance\n of,\n\n \u201cDear Sally, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[621]\n\nWe must now return to Wesley\u2019s journal. On the last day in February,\nhe left London, for Bath and Bristol. The mayor of Bristol invited him\nto preach in the civic church, which invitation he accepted. His\nworship and most of the aldermen were present; and Wesley, fearing no\nman\u2019s frown, and courting no man\u2019s favour, took for his text the\nfearful narrative of the rich man and Lazarus; and then dined, with\nthe rich men, at the rich man\u2019s table, in the mansion house. The most\nremarkable incident, however, occurred in his own chapel on Thursday\nevening, the 6th of March. At that time, one of the great questions of\nthe day was the subject of slavery; and Wesley had announced his\nintention to preach on it. The chapel, in consequence, was densely\ncrowded, with both rich and poor. Wesley selected as his text, \u201cGod\nshall enlarge Japheth: and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem: and\nCanaan shall be his servant.\u201d The rest we give in the words of Wesley\nhimself. He writes:\n\n \u201cAbout the middle of the discourse, while there was on every\n side attention still as night, a vehement noise arose, none\n could tell why, and shot like lightning through the\n congregation. The terror and confusion were inexpressible. You\n might have imagined it was a city taken by storm. The people\n rushed upon each other with the utmost violence; the benches\n were broken in pieces; and nine tenths of the congregation\n appeared to be struck with the same panic. In about six\n minutes, the storm ceased, almost as suddenly as it rose; and,\n all being calm, I went on without the least interruption. It\n was the strangest incident of the kind I ever remember; and, I\n believe, none can account for it, without supposing some\n pr\u00e6ternatural influence. Satan fought, lest his kingdom should\n be delivered up. We set the next day apart as a day of fasting\n and prayer, that God would remember those poor outcasts of\n men,\u201d [the slaves,] \u201cand make a way for them to escape, and\n break their chains asunder.\u201d\n\nThe sceptic will sneer at Wesley\u2019s solution; but, before he does so,\nhe ought himself to supply a better. Opinions respecting this\nmysterious commotion will be different; but all parties will unite in\nadmiring Wesley\u2019s sympathy with the suffering slave. Wesley was the\nfirst Englishman who appointed a fast day to pray that slavery might\ncease.\n\nOn the 17th of March, Wesley set out on his journey to the north.\nEverywhere he had enormous congregations; and frequently was obliged,\nin wintry weather, to preach in the open air. Mrs. Fletcher, at\nMadeley, wrote: \u201cI could not but discern a great change in him. His\nsoul seems far more sunk into God, and such an unction attends his\nword, that each sermon was indeed spirit and life.\u201d[622]\n\nExactly eight weeks were occupied in reaching the Scottish border;\nand, during this interval, Wesley preached more than eighty sermons,\nin fifty-seven different towns and villages. In seven instances, all\nin Yorkshire, he preached in churches. The crowds were greater than\never; and, almost in every place he visited, he found the work of God\nprogressing.\n\nOn the 13th of May, Wesley visited Dumfries, where he had stationed\nRobert Dall, at the conference of 1787. Dumfries was without a chapel,\nand without a society; but Mr. Dall had just the sort of energy which\nsuch a place required; and Wesley knew it. The following letters to\nhis home missionary have not before been published.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _December 1, 1787_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ROBERT,--You have reason to praise God, who has prospered\n you, and given you to see the fruit of your labours. Our all\n dispensing God has called us to preach the plain gospel. I am\n glad your hands are strengthened in corresponding with the\n brethren. I will desire any to change with you when you see it\n best, and, if I live till spring, please God, I will visit you\n at Dumfries.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Dall, your affectionate friend and\n brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 11, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ROBERT,--I allow you to build at Dumfries, providing any\n one will lend a hundred guineas on interest\n\n \u201cI hope to see you, God willing, in May,\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nRobert Dall was one of Wesley\u2019s favourites, and so was his Christian\nwife, to whom, said Wesley, in another unpublished letter now before\nus, \u201cGod has given both sense and grace.\u201d This godly couple set all\ntheir energies to work; and, by begging of their friends in all parts\nof the United Kingdom, succeeded, in three months, in building the\nunique chapel which Wesley describes below. The effort was regarded as\ngigantic; and Wesley\u2019s visit was a sort of triumphant top stone to the\nwhole affair. \u201cSuch,\u201d writes Mrs. Gordon Playdell to Mr. Dall, \u201csuch\nwas the general prejudice against Mr. Wesley, that I really feared his\ncoming would end your hopeful prosperity; but God has disappointed all\nmy fears, and outdone all my hopes. The popularity, which met him\nhere, was marvellous. The turn in his favour was such as none but God\ncould have brought about. You have been all along respected, and the\nesteem for you grows more and more. Your pious, unwearied attentions\nto the poor criminals have increased the general regard for you, and\nyour sermons in the jail been much approved.\u201d[623] \u201cMr. Wesley,\u201d wrote\nCharles Atmore, \u201cwas much pleased with Dumfries and you. He has given\nyou a place in his journal, and what you have done at Dumfries will be\na memorial of you to all generations.\u201d\n\nWe could quote a large number of other letters relative to the same\nsubject; but the above is a sufficient preface to the following racy\nextract from Wesley\u2019s journal.\n\n \u201cMay 13--To-day, we went through lovely roads to Dumfries.\n Robert Dall soon found me out. He has behaved exceeding well,\n and done much good here: but he is a bold man; he has begun\n building a preaching house, larger than any in Scotland, except\n those in Glasgow and Edinburgh! In the evening, I preached\n abroad in a convenient street, on one side of the town. Rich\n and poor attended from every quarter, of whatever denomination;\n and every one seemed to hear for life. Surely the Scots are the\n best hearers in Europe! At five, next morning, I was importuned\n to preach in the preaching house; but such an one I never saw\n before. It had no windows at all: so that, although the sun\n shone bright, we could see nothing without candles.\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s next halting place was Glasgow. It had been widely reported,\nby some of the Scottish ministers, that he was about to publish a new\nedition of the Bible, and to leave out part of the Epistle to the\nRomans, St. John\u2019s Apocalypse, and other portions of the inspired\nwritings;[624] but, notwithstanding this, says Charles Atmore, in the\nletter before quoted, \u201che was far better received in Glasgow than\never.\u201d\n\nHere he spent three days; preached six sermons; gave an account\nconcerning the rise and progress of Methodism; and ordained John\nBarber.[625]\n\nSpeaking of the Glasgow chapel, Wesley writes: \u201cIt will contain about\nas many as the chapel at Bath. But oh the difference! It has the\npulpit on one side; and has exactly the look of a presbyterian\nmeeting-house. It is the very sister of our house at Brentford.\nPerhaps an omen of what will be when I am gone.\u201d\n\nIn his address on Methodism, which was delivered to the congregation,\nhe remarked:\n\n \u201cThere is no other religious society under heaven, which\n requires nothing of men in order to their admission into it,\n but a desire to save their souls. Look all around you, you\n cannot be admitted into the church, or society of the\n presbyterians, anabaptists, quakers, or any others, unless you\n hold the same opinions with them, and adhere to the same mode\n of worship. The Methodists alone do not insist on your holding\n this or that opinion; but they think and let think. Neither do\n they impose any particular mode of worship; but you may\n continue to worship in your former manner, be it what it may.\n Now, I do not know any other religious society, either ancient\n or modern, wherein such liberty of conscience is now allowed,\n or has been allowed, since the age of the apostles. Here is our\n glorying; and a glorying peculiar to us. What society shares it\n with us?\u201d\n\nFrom Glasgow, Wesley went to Edinburgh, where he wrote: \u201cI still find\na frankness and openness in the people of Edinburgh, which I find in\nfew other parts of the kingdom. I spent two days among them with much\nsatisfaction; and I was not at all disappointed, in finding no such\nincrease, either in the congregation or the society, as many expected\nfrom their leaving the kirk.\u201d\n\nWesley here recognises the Edinburgh Methodists as a _separated_\npeople, in other words, a _church_; but adroitly intimates, that the\nresult was not equal to what many of his friends had ventured to\nexpect. How stands the case? In 1766, when the numbers were first\ngiven, Edinburgh circuit had 165 members of society, who, in the next\nfour years, dwindled to 62. Then the circuit rallied, and, in four\nyears more, the numbers rose to 287. In the next quadrennial period,\nwe find them reduced to 161. In 1785, when the ordinations for\nScotland took place, Edinburgh had 134 Methodists; now, in 1788, it\nhad 330; which, however, at Wesley\u2019s death in 1791, were reduced to\n205. These are curious statistics; and help to cast light on Wesley\u2019s\nmeaning.\n\nOn May 25, Wesley reached Newcastle, which, for the next fortnight,\nwas the centre of his labours. Two incidents, in connection with this\nvisit, are worth recording.\n\nThree years before, John Hampson, jun., greatly offended, had\nrelinquished the itinerancy, and was now a clergyman at Sunderland.\nStrangely enough, Hampson invited Wesley to occupy his pulpit, and\nWesley willingly accepted the invitation. The church was crowded both\nmorning and afternoon.\n\nThe other incident occurred at Stanhope, famed \u201cfor nothing but a very\nuncommon degree of wickedness.\u201d The preaching place was an upper room,\nand the congregation large. Presently, the main beam, that supported\nthe room, gave way, and a frightful hubbub followed. \u201cOne man,\u201d says\nWesley, \u201cleaped out of the window; the rest quietly went out; and\nnothing was hurt except a poor dog beneath the window. I then preached\nin the open air, to twice or thrice as many as the room would have\ncontained, who were all attention.\u201d This, which might have been a\nserious catastrophe, happened at five o\u2019clock on a summer\u2019s morning.\n\nOn the 9th of June, Wesley left Newcastle for the south. Reaching\nDarlington, he writes:\n\n \u201cMargaret Barlow came to me; and I asked her abundance of\n questions. I was soon convinced, that she was not only sincere,\n but deep in grace; and, therefore, incapable of deceit. I was\n convinced likewise, that she had frequent intercourse with a\n spirit that appeared to her in the form of an angel. I know not\n how to judge of the rest. Her account was:--\u2018For above a year,\n I have seen this angel, whose face is exceeding beautiful: her\n raiment white as snow, and glistering like silver; her voice\n unspeakably soft and musical. She tells me many things before\n they come to pass. She foretold I should be ill at such a time,\n in such a manner, and well at such an hour; and it was so\n exactly. She has said, such a person shall die at such a time;\n and he did so. Above two months ago, she told me your brother\n was dead; (I did not know you had a brother;) and that he was\n in heaven. And some time since, she told me, you will die in\n less than a year. But what she has most earnestly and\n frequently told me, is, that God will, in a short time, be\n avenged on obstinate sinners, and will destroy them with fire\n from heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nWesley adds:\n\n \u201cWhether this will be so or no, I cannot tell; but when we were\n alone there was a wonderful power in her words; and, as the\n Indian said to David Brainerd, \u2018They did good to my heart.\u2019 It\n is above a year since this girl was visited in this manner,\n being then between fourteen and fifteen years old. But she was\n then quite a womanish girl, and of unblamable behaviour.\n Suppose that which appeared to her was really an angel; yet\n from the face, the voice, and the apparel, she might easily\n mistake him for a female; and this mistake is of little\n consequence. Much good has already resulted from this odd\n event; and is likely to ensue; provided those who believe, and\n those who disbelieve, her report, have but patience with each\n other.\u201d\n\nMarvellous! Who was Margaret Barlow? The answer involves an episode in\nMethodistic history.\n\nIn the conference minutes for 1778, John Blades is reported as one of\nWesley\u2019s itinerant preachers on trial; but, beyond this, he is never\nmentioned. Blades was a native of Northumberland, a weakminded\nfanatic, totally unfit for the itinerant work. Perhaps, for this\nreason, he was not appointed to a circuit. For some years, however, he\nacted, in the capacity of a local preacher, in the north of England.\nHe then began to preach consummate nonsense respecting the privileges\nof believers, and, with such success that, when he left the Methodists\nin 1784, he was enabled to form separate societies in a large number\nof places in the county of Durham, and in the north of Yorkshire.\nAmong his followers, who were called _Bladonians_,[626] was Ralph\nHodgson, a miller at West Auckland, in whose house Margaret Barlow was\na servant. We have before us a long unpublished letter, written by\nthis dusty enthusiast, only a fortnight before Wesley\u2019s interview with\nhis servant girl at Darlington. It is addressed to \u201cMr. Richard Steel,\nTanner, Wolsingham. With all possible speed\u201d: and is dated, May 27,\n1788. Hodgson tells his friend Steel that an angel from the Lord had\nappeared to him, and stated that the \u201cwicked were about to be\ndestroyed from off the face of the earth.\u201d He also urges Steel to join\nwith him in making this angelic revelation as widely known as\npossible.\n\nIt is a curious fact that Hodgson waited upon Wesley at Newcastle, for\nthe purpose of converting him to his opinions; and that he accompanied\nhis clairvoyant servant, Margaret Barlow, to meet Wesley at the house\nof Thomas Pickering, at Darlington. He also wrote a long letter, dated\n\u201cWest Auckland, October 26, 1788,\u201d to the Rev. Mr. Agutter, St. Mary\nMagdalen college, Oxford, in which he informed that gentleman that\nMargaret Barlow had been his servant about two years; that she had\nattended the services of the Methodists; that an angel had appeared to\nher in the form of a female, and with a lustre brighter than the light\nof a thousand candles; that the angel had come to her in the daytime\nas well as night; and had made known to her the state of many who were\ndead, as well as many who were still alive; but that the principal\nmatter, which the angel had revealed, was the exact day when the\nwicked would be destroyed. Margaret also had been much disturbed by\nthe appearance of two evil spirits, both clad in black, and wearing\nhorns; but the recital of her visions had produced effects great and\nblessed.\n\nWhat was the result of all this religious raving? Margaret, at length,\nannounced the exact day when the destruction of the wicked was to be\naccomplished. Intense excitement followed. Some sold their clothing\nand property, and distributed the proceeds among the poor; and others\nexulted at the thought of the possessions of the wicked being\ndistributed among themselves. The day came, numbers having sat up all\nnight to watch its dawning. Portentous signs appeared. The heavens\ngathered blackness, lightnings flashed, and thunders roared. At\nBarnardcastle it was the day of the weekly market. The people were\nfrantic, some with hope, and some with fear. Cries were heard, \u201cIt is\ncoming! It is coming!\u201d The business of the market was suspended; and\nconsternation was general. At length, the clouds were scattered, the\nheavens brightened, the day passed over, and all things continued as\nthey were. The bubble burst; Blades, Hodgson, his wife, and Margaret\nBarlow were discredited, and fled across the Atlantic; where most, if\nnot all of them, joined the shakers, whose principles and morals, to\nsay the least, were capable of great improvement.\n\nThe reader will excuse this lengthened digression concerning a mad\nmiller and his servant maid. We have purposely omitted the numerous\nstories, of a similar description, which Wesley has inserted in his\njournal and magazine; but one instance seemed necessary, to illustrate\nwhat was unquestionably a feature in Wesley\u2019s character,--excessive\ncredulity in receiving doubtful proofs of the existence and nearness\nof an unseen world of spirits. We are not inclined to say hard things\nconcerning this. It was a weakness, but not a sin. Besides, though\nsome of the stories, referred to, were ridiculously foolish, it would\nbe rashness to deny that some of the others were strictly and\nstartlingly true. And further, we honestly declare that, in an age\nlike this, when the general tendency is to scepticism rather than to\ncredulity, we should hail, as no bad omen, the appearance of a\ndisposition, like that of Wesley, to cherish, not denounce, any and\nevery evidence of another and future state of being.\n\nOn leaving Darlington, Wesley proceeded to Whitby, where he was\nadvertised to open a new chapel; but, as often happens now, when the\nday arrived, the building was far from being ready. For want of\nstairs, the people had to be admitted to the gallery through one of\nthe back windows near the pulpit; and, for want of a gallery front, a\nnumber of stalwart Yorkshiremen squatted themselves all round the\ngallery ledge, their backs protecting the people behind them, and\ntheir feet dangling over the heads of those below.[627] Wesley writes:\n\n \u201cJune 13, Friday.--At eight, I preached to a lovely\n congregation at Stokesley; and, at eleven, in Guisborough, to\n one far larger. In the evening, I preached at Whitby, in the\n new house, thoroughly filled above and below. The unfinished\n galleries, having as yet no fronts, were frightful to look\n upon. It is the most curious house we have in England. You go\n up to it by about forty steps; and have then before you a lofty\n front, I judge, near fifty feet high, and fifty-four feet\n broad.\u201d\n\nWesley spent the next two days in Whitby, preaching twice on Saturday,\nand thrice on Sunday, and finishing up with a Yorkshire lovefeast.\n\nFrom the \u201c_plain people at Whitby_,\u201d Wesley went to the Scarborough\n_elegants_; and thence to Bridlington, Malton, Beverley, and Hull. In\nthe last mentioned town, Joseph Benson and the Methodists had recently\nerected George Yard chapel, an edifice of which Benson was immensely\nproud, and whose account of its opening services, six months before,\ndrew from Wesley the following laconic letter.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--I greatly rejoice in the erection of your new\n preaching house; and in the tokens of the Divine presence with\n which you and the people were favoured at the opening; but if\n it be at all equal to the new chapel in London, I will engage\n to eat it.\n\n \u201cI am, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[628]\n\nWesley\u2019s new chapel in City Road was his _beau ideal_, and great was\nhis jealousy of all pretentious competitors; but still he was obliged\nto acknowledge, that even George Yard chapel, Hull, was \u201cwell built,\nand elegantly finished; handsome, but not gaudy.\u201d\n\nDuring his stay in Hull, he preached twice in the high church, by the\ninvitation of the vicar, Mr. Clark; and thrice in Benson\u2019s pet chapel.\n\nNotwithstanding his three heavy services on the previous day, Wesley,\nan old man, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, set out on June 23,\nand not only travelled all the way from Hull to York, but, preached\nfour sermons in four different towns and villages.\n\nAt York a happy reconciliation was brought about. Wesley had been\ngreatly annoyed with Robert Spence for publishing the \u201cYork Hymn\nBook\u201d; and Robert had been so grieved by Wesley\u2019s strictures as to be\nstrongly tempted to leave the Methodists. Wesley and the grand old\nMethodist at York, however, were not the men to harbour malice; and,\nby appointment, the offending bookseller breakfasted with Wesley, _at\nthree o\u2019clock_ in the morning, and all past differences were consigned\nto the shades of charitable oblivion.[629]\n\nA three o\u2019clock breakfast! And yet, this, with Wesley, was not at all\nunusual. His energy, diligence, and punctuality were marvellous.\nAddressing his coachman, at this early breakfast in the city of York,\nhe said, \u201cHave the carriage at the door at four. I do not mean a\nquarter or five minutes past, but four.\u201d The man knew what his master\nmeant; and, as the minster clock struck four, Wesley had shaken hands\nwith Robert Spence, and was entering his chaise.[630] Railways, since\nthen, have helped to make some men punctual; but Wesley was perfect in\nthis human excellence long before railway engines began to whistle.\n\nWesley made his way to Epworth, where he spent his birthday. He\nwrites:\n\n \u201cJune 28.--I this day enter on my eighty-fifth year[631]: and\n what cause have I to praise God, as for a thousand spiritual\n blessings, so, for bodily blessings also! How little have I\n suffered yet by \u2018the rush of numerous years!\u2019 It is true, I am\n not so agile as I was in times past. I do not run or walk so\n fast as I did; my sight is a little decayed; my left eye is\n grown dim, and hardly serves me to read; I have daily some pain\n in the ball of my right eye, as also in my right temple,\n (occasioned by a blow received some months since,) and in my\n right shoulder and arm, which I impute partly to a sprain, and\n partly to the rheumatism. I find, likewise, some decay in my\n memory, with regard to names and things lately past; but not at\n all with regard to what I have read or heard twenty, forty, or\n sixty years ago; neither do I find any decay in my hearing,\n smell, taste, or appetite; (though I want but a third part of\n the food I did once;) nor do I feel any such thing as\n weariness, either in travelling or preaching; and I am not\n conscious of any decay in writing sermons; which I do as\n readily, and I believe, as correctly, as ever.\n\n \u201cTo what cause can I impute this, that I am as I am? First,\n doubtless, to the power of God, fitting me for the work to\n which I am called, as long as He pleases to continue me\n therein; and, next, subordinately to this, to the prayers of\n His children.\n\n \u201cMay we not impute it, as inferior means, (1) To my constant\n exercise and change of air? (2) To my never having lost a\n night\u2019s sleep, sick or well, at land or at sea, since I was\n born? (3) To my having sleep at command; so that, whenever I\n feel myself almost worn out, I call it, and it comes, day or\n night? (4) To my having constantly, for above sixty years,\n risen at four in the morning? (5) To my constant preaching at\n five in the morning, for above fifty years? (6) To my having\n had so little pain in my life; and so little sorrow, or anxious\n care?\n\n \u201cEven now, though I find pain daily in my eye, or temple, or\n arm; yet it is never violent, and seldom lasts many minutes at\n a time. Whether or not this is sent to give me warning, that I\n am shortly to quit this tabernacle, I do not know; but be it\n one way or the other, I have only to say,\n\n \u2018My remnant of days\n I spend to His praise,\n Who died the whole world to redeem:\n Be they many or few,\n My days are His due,\n And they all are devoted to Him.\u2019\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s two texts on this memorable birthday were appropriate. Here,\neighty-five years before, he had been born, in the Epworth parsonage;\nand now, in the morning, he preached from, \u201cSo teach us to number our\ndays, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom\u201d; and, in the evening,\nfrom, \u201cBeware, therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of\nin the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I\nwork a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe,\nthough a man declare it unto you.\u201d\n\nThis may be a fitting place to insert a selection from Wesley\u2019s\nletters, written in the previous six months.\n\nThe first was addressed to William Black, one of his missionaries in\nNova Scotia. Black had related to Wesley the cases of certain\ndemoniacs, and particularly one which he himself had seen. When Black\napproached, it was with the utmost difficulty that four men could hold\nthe poor wretch, and prevent him doing the missionary serious injury.\nBlack immediately fell upon his knees, and began to pray. In an\ninstant, the frenzy of the man subsided; and the lips, that a few\nmoments before had uttered blasphemy, began to syllable the praises of\nthe great Redeemer. Wesley\u2019s letter is as follows.\n\n \u201cGLOUCESTER, _March 19, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad to find you are still going on in\n the glorious work to which you are called. We have need to make\n haste therein; to use all diligence. For the work is great; the\n day is short; and lonely is the night wherein no man can work.\n\n \u201cIt is well that Satan is constrained to show himself so\n plainly in the case of those poor demoniacs. Thereby, he\n weakens his own kingdom, and excites us to assault him more\n zealously. In the beginning of the work in England and Ireland,\n we had many cases of the kind. But he now chooses to assault us\n by subtlety more than by strength.\n\n \u201cI wish you would do all you possibly can to keep our brethren\n in peace with each other. Your pains will not be lost on poor\n John McGeary. There is much good in him. Indeed, he is\n naturally of a bold, forward temper; but I hope his zeal is now\n according to knowledge.\n\n \u201cPraying that you may increase with all the increase of God, I\n am your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[632]\n\nThe next is brief, but interesting. Agnes Collinson was now a\nremarkable child, twelve years old. Six years afterwards, she became\nthe wife of Mr. Joseph Bulmer; and lived to be the authoress of\n\u201cMessiah\u2019s Kingdom,\u201d in twelve books, 486 pages, and of the beautiful\nhymn, which is so often sung at the laying of the foundation stones of\nMethodist chapels, \u201cThou who hast in Zion laid,\u201d etc.\n\nMrs. Bulmer was born a poet, and, at the death of Charles Wesley,\nwrote an elegy, which was sent to the surviving brother, and evoked\nthe following characteristic letter.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR MAIDEN,--Beware of pride; beware of flattery; suffer\n none to commend you to your face; remember, one good temper is\n of more value, in the sight of God, than a thousand good\n verses. All you want is to have the mind that was in Christ,\n and to walk as Christ walked.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[633]\n\nThe following is now for the first time published. William Simpson, to\nwhom it was addressed, was assistant in the Yarm circuit.\n\n \u201cNEAR COLNE, _April 26, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR BILLY,--You did well to expel those who marry ungodly\n persons,--a real evil, which we never can tolerate. You should\n speak to every believer singly concerning meeting in band.\n There were always some in Yarm circuit, though not many. No\n circuit ever did, or ever will flourish, unless there are bands\n in the large societies. It is a good sign, that so many of our\n preachers are willing to contribute to those necessary\n expenses. They used to be much straitened in their bowels,\n whenever money was wanted. You have now good encouragement to\n remain another year in the circuit. But you know two preachers\n do not remain in the same circuit more than one year.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nDr. Coke was an innovator. Finding that many of the Dublin Methodists\nwere in the habit of attending Dissenting chapels on the sabbath, he,\nin order to prevent this, directed that, on three Sundays out of four,\nthere should be service in Whitefriar Street chapel in church hours;\nand that, on the fourth, the Methodists should be recommended to\nattend St. Patrick\u2019s church, and receive the sacrament.[634] Henry\nMoore was the assistant in the Dublin circuit; was nearly as old a man\nas Coke; and, as a preacher, his superior. Coke\u2019s assumption to act as\nWesley\u2019s vicar gave great offence, and the new arrangement had to be\nabandoned.[635] The following letters refer to this Dublin fracas, and\nare not without interest, as evincing Wesley\u2019s persistent adherence to\nthe Established Church. The first three were addressed to Moore; the\nfourth to Coke.\n\n \u201cLEEDS, _May 6, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR HENRY,--The doctor is too warm. He ought to have had more\n regard to so respectable a body of men as applied to him. I am\n a Church of England man; and, as I said fifty years ago, so I\n say still, in the Church I will live and die, unless I am\n thrust out. We must have no more service at Whitefriars in the\n church hours. Leave all contention before it be meddled with.\n Follow after peace.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[636]\n\n \u201cWHITEHAVEN, _May 11, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR HENRY,--Still, the more I reflect, the more I am\n convinced, that the Methodists ought not to leave the Church. I\n judge, that to lose a thousand, yea, ten thousand, of our\n people, would be a less evil than this. \u2018But many had much\n comfort in this.\u2019 So they would in any _new thing_. I believe\n Satan himself would give them comfort herein; for he knows what\n the end would be. Our glory has hitherto been not to be a\n separate body:\n\n \u2018Hoc Ithacus velit.\u2019\n\n \u201cBut whatever Mr. Smyth does, I am for the old way. I advise\n you to abide in it, till you find another _new event_,\n although, indeed, you may expect it every day; namely, the\n removal of your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[637]\n\n \u201cGLASGOW, _May 12, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR HENRY,--I allow two points: 1. That, while Dr. Coke is in\n Dublin, he may have service at eleven o\u2019clock as before. 2.\n That, on condition that our brethren will attend St. Patrick\u2019s\n one Sunday in four, you may read prayers the other three in the\n room. When Dr. Coke returns from Dublin, he should immediately\n send me word who is proper to succeed you there. I shall be\n glad, if I can, to have Nancy and you at Bristol next year. It\n is not unlikely, I may finish my course there; and, if so, I\n should love to have her to close my eyes. My brother said, I\n should follow him within the year. But, be that as it may, by\n God\u2019s help, I will live to-day.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[638]\n\n \u201cGLASGOW, _May 16, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--I came hither this morning. There is a fair opening\n at Dumfries, and a prospect of much good. I like your proposal\n concerning Joseph Cownley,[639] and will talk with him about it\n if I live to see Newcastle.\n\n \u201cAs I said before, so I say still, I cannot, I dare not, leave\n the Church, for the reasons we all agreed to thirty years ago\n in the conference at Leeds. Thus far only I could go. On\n condition, that our people would receive the Lord\u2019s supper once\n a month either at St. Patrick\u2019s, or their own parish church\n (the reasonableness of which should be strongly and largely\n explained),--on this condition, I would allow Henry Moore to\n read the morning service at Whitefriars on the other Sundays.\n\n \u201cI wonder at the imprudence of Mr. Edward Smyth, to say nothing\n of his unkindness. You did well in changing the stewards at\n Waterford.\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, yours most affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[640]\n\nThe following, hitherto unpublished, letter was addressed to Thomas\nTaylor, then stationed at Manchester, and refers to a gigantic evil\nwhich still exists.\n\n \u201cNEAR NEWCASTLE, _June 7, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I have no time to spend on controversy about the\n Church, unless I had leisure to write a folio.\n\n \u201cIt is no wonder, that every one should be ruined who concerns\n himself with that execrable bill trade. In London, I expel\n every one out of our society who has anything to do with it.\n Whoever endorses a bill, (that is, promises to pay,) for more\n than he is worth, is either a fool or a knave.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWhen Wesley was at Bradford, in the month of May, he preached in the\nparish church, and, in the course of his sermon, quoted the opinion of\nBengelius, that the millennial reign of Christ would begin in the year\n1836. Some one present circulated this as the opinion of Wesley\nhimself; and, as the opinion of such a man was regarded of high\nimportance, the rumoured prophecy ran throughout the kingdom, and more\nthan one of Wesley\u2019s friends wrote to ask if what was said was true.\nThe following is Wesley\u2019s reply to Christopher Hopper.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I said nothing, less or more, in Bradford\n church, concerning the end of the world, neither concerning my\n own opinion, but what follows:--That Bengelius had given it as\n his opinion, not that the world would then end, but, that the\n millennial reign of Christ would begin in the year 1836. I have\n no opinion at all upon the head; I can determine nothing about\n it. These calculations are far above, out of my sight. I have\n only one thing to do,--to save my soul, and those that hear me.\n\n \u201cI am, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[641]\n\nWe left Wesley celebrating his eighty-sixth birthday, in his\nbirthplace, Epworth. Here he preached four or five sermons, held a\nlovefeast, and attended sacred service in his father\u2019s church. He\nwrites:\n\n \u201cMr. Gibson read the prayers with seriousness, and preached a\n plain, useful sermon; but I was sorry to see scarce twenty\n communicants, half of whom came on my account. I was informed,\n likewise, that scarce fifty persons used to attend the Sunday\n service. What can be done to remedy this sore evil? I fain\n would prevent the members here from leaving the Church; but I\n cannot do it. As Mr. Gibson is not a pious man, but rather an\n enemy to piety, who frequently preaches against the truth, and\n those that hold and love it, I cannot, with all my influence,\n persuade them either to hear him, or to attend the sacrament\n administered by him. If I cannot carry this point even while I\n live, who then can do it when I die? And the case of Epworth is\n the case of every church, where the minister neither loves nor\n preaches the gospel; the Methodists will not attend his\n administrations. What then is to be done?\u201d\n\nThis is amusing. Here we find Wesley acknowledging, that, in the very\nplace where his father had been rector for nearly forty years, the\nMethodists had, _ipso facto_, separated from the Church, and that he,\nwith all his influence, had not sufficient power to hinder it.\n\nDuring the next fortnight, Wesley preached, on an average, twice a\nday, until his arrival in London, on July 15. The following letters\nbelong to this period. The first was addressed to Mr. John Mann, one\nof his missionaries in Nova Scotia.\n\n \u201c_June 30, 1788._\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am greatly concerned for the prosperity of\n the work of God in Nova Scotia. It seems some way to lie nearer\n my heart than even that in the United States; many of our\n brethren there are, we may hope, strong in the Lord, and in the\n power of His might; but I look upon those in the northern\n provinces to be younger, and tender children, and consequently\n to stand in need of our utmost care. I hope all of you, that\n watch over them, are exactly of one mind, and of one judgment;\n that you take care always to speak the same things, and to\n watch over one another in love.\n\n \u201cMr. Wray is a workman that need not be ashamed. I am glad to\n hear of his safe arrival. Although he has not much\n learning,[642] he has, what is far better, uprightness of\n heart, and devotedness to God. I doubt not but he and you will\n be one, and go on your way hand in hand. Whatever opposers you\n meet with, Calvinists, papists, antinomians, or any other, have\n a particular care, that they do not take up too much either of\n your thoughts or time. You have better work; keep to your one\n point, Christ dying for us, and living in us; so will you\n fulfil the joy of,\n\n \u201cMy dear brethren, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[643]\n\nThe following was addressed to Samuel Bradburn, and, up to the\npresent, has not been published.\n\n \u201cEPWORTH, _July 6, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--To-morrow evening, I hope to be at Doncaster; on\n Wednesday, at Sheffield; and to-morrow sennight, at London,\n bringing my daughter with me. That evening I should not object\n to preaching at West Street. On Tuesday morning, I would\n breakfast in Chesterfield Street, if my sister will be ready at\n eight o\u2019clock. Then I must hide myself till Sunday; when I will\n preach at one or the other chapel for Kingswood. Peace be with\n you and yours!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next, addressed to Mr. Jasper Winscomb, is also now for the first\ntime printed.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _July 16, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JASPER,--If all our society at Portsmouth, or elsewhere,\n separate from the Church, I cannot help it. But, I will not.\n Therefore, I can in no wise consent to the having service in\n church hours. _You_ used to love the Church; then keep to it,\n and exhort all our people to do the same. If it be true, that\n brother Hayter is used to talk against the other preachers, as\n well as against Thomas Warwick, brother Hayter and I shall not\n agree. Of dividing circuits we may speak at the conference.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Jasper, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe following also has not before been published. It was addressed to\n\u201cMr. Churchey, attorney at law, near the Hay, Brecon\u201d; and refers to\ncertain poetical productions which Mr. Churchey wished to print.\n\n \u201cNEAR LONDON, _July 22, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am glad you spoke to Mr. Cowper.[644] What\n pity it is that such talents as his should be employed in so\n useless a manner!\n\n \u201cMr. Bradburn delivered your papers to me a few days ago; but\n this is so busy a time, that I had not leisure to go through\n them till to-day. _In the Translation of the Art of Printing,\n there are many very good lines_; but there are some that want a\n good deal of filing; and many that are obscure. The sense is so\n much clouded, that it is not easy to be understood. For many\n years, I have not had any booksellers but Mr. Atlay and my\n assistants. _Some of the shorter copies are good sense and good\n poetry._\n\n \u201cMy dear brother has left a translation of the Book of Psalms,\n and verses enough to make, at least, six volumes in duodecimo.\n I could but ill spare him, now I am myself so far declined into\n the vale of years. But it is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth\n Him good. Our time is now short. Let my dear sister Churchey,\n and you, and I make the best of it.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nA week after the above letter was written, Wesley opened his\nconference, which continued its sittings till August 6. Besides\npresiding, he preached every evening, and on the conference Sunday\ntwice. The last day was kept as a solemn fast,--prayer-meetings being\nheld at five, nine, and one, and the day concluded with a watchnight.\nNo wonder, that the old Methodist preachers returned from conferences,\nto their respective circuits, like flames of fire. Wesley writes:\n\n \u201cOne of the most important points considered at this conference\n was that of leaving the Church. The sum of a long conversation\n was: (1) that, in a course of fifty years, we had neither\n premeditatedly nor willingly varied from it in one article\n either of doctrine or discipline; (2) that we were not yet\n conscious of varying from it in any point of doctrine; (3) that\n we have, in a course of years, out of necessity, not of choice,\n slowly and warily varied in some points of discipline, by\n preaching in the fields, by extemporary prayer, by employing\n lay preachers, by forming and regulating societies, and by\n holding yearly conferences. But we did none of these things\n till we were convinced we could no longer omit them, but at the\n peril of our souls.\u201d\n\nThis was correct so far as it went; but Wesley ought to have added,\nthe ordaining of preachers, the licensing of chapels; and, further,\nthat in this selfsame year he had published a 12mo volume of 430\npages, entitled, \u201cThe Sunday Service of the Methodists; with other\nOccasional Services\u201d; in reality, an altered edition of the\nPrayer-Book of the Church of England, attached to which was a\n\u201cCollection of Psalms and Hymns for the Lord\u2019s Day,\u201d composed by\nhimself and his brother. Wesley, in his preface, says:\n\n \u201cLittle alteration is made in the following edition of it, [The\n Prayer-Book,] except in the following instances:\n\n \u201c1. Most of the holy days (so called) are omitted, as, at\n present, answering no valuable end.\n\n \u201c2. The service of the Lord\u2019s day, the length of which has\n often been complained of, is considerably shortened.\n\n \u201c3. Some sentences, in the offices of baptism, and for the\n burial of the dead, are omitted. And,\n\n \u201c4. Many psalms left out, and many parts of the others, as\n being highly improper for the mouths of a Christian\n congregation.\u201d\n\nThroughout his book, Wesley uses the word \u201cminister,\u201d instead of the\nobjectionable word \u201cpriest.\u201d The half popish canticle in the morning\nprayer, \u201cBenedicite, omnia opera,\u201d is left out. In the communion\nservice, the word \u201celder\u201d is used instead of \u201cpriest\u201d; and, in the\npublic baptism of infants, Wesley dispenses with signing the child\nwith the sign of the cross, and leaves out the sentence, in the\nthanksgiving, that \u201cit hath pleased God to regenerate this infant with\nHis Holy Spirit.\u201d The \u201corder of confirmation\u201d is omitted, and no\nreference is made to godfathers and godmothers. The \u201corder for the\nvisitation of the sick\u201d is totally expunged, and of course the popish\nabsolution, \u201cby His (Christ\u2019s) authority committed to me, I absolve\nthee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and\nof the Holy Ghost. Amen.\u201d In lieu of the three forms for ordaining\ndeacons, priests, and bishops, Wesley gives three for \u201cordaining\n_superintendents_, _elders_, and _deacons_.\u201d Wesley takes equal\nliberty with the articles of religion. Some are entirely omitted;\nothers are abridged, or variously altered.\n\nWe find no fault with all this. Upon the whole, we regard Wesley\u2019s\nexpurgations as emendations.[645] His prayer-book is purged from\npopish and Calvinian errors; and, in that respect, is superior to the\nprayer-book of the Church of England. This, however, is not the point\nin question; but rather, whether, after Wesley had done all this, he\ncould be fairly and honestly considered a member and minister of the\nEstablished Church. The Rev. G. Nott, in his Bampton lecture,\ndelivered eleven years after Wesley\u2019s death, elaborately argued this\nmatter, and returned a negative reply; and, we confess, it seems\nimpossible to refute his general conclusion, namely, that both \u201cWesley\nand Whitefield are to be regarded as separatists from the Church of\nEngland.\u201d[646] To the day of his death, Wesley protested against this;\nbut his warmest friends must admit that, though both were undeniably\nsincere, yet, in this respect, profession and practice were at\nvariance.\n\nThree years before this, he had ordained Joseph Taylor, who, ever\nsince, had preached in gown and bands, and administered the sacraments\nin Scotland. Joseph was now appointed to Nottingham circuit; and, of\ncourse, as an ordained minister, dreamed that he was the same in\nEngland as he had been in Scotland. But not so. Wesley, who, three\nyears before, had _frocked_ his itinerant for the people across the\nTweed, now _unfrocked_ him for the people bordering on the Trent.\nHence the following.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 16, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JOSEPH,--I take knowledge of your spirit, and believe it\n is your desire to do all things right. Our friends in Newark\n should not have forgotten, that we have determined over and\n over \u2018not to leave the Church.\u2019 Before they had given you that\n foolish advice, they should have consulted me. I desire you\n would not wear the surplice, nor administer the Lord\u2019s supper,\n any more.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Joseph, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[647]\n\nSuch was the frequent clashing between practice and profession. The\nprayer-book, above mentioned, had been put into the hands of the\nMethodists; and yet, because of its alterations and abridgments, it\nwas of no use in services conducted in the Church of England. For what\nthen was it intended? The following extract, from the minutes of\nconference in 1788, supplies an answer.\n\n \u201c_Q. 21._ What further directions may be given concerning the\n prayers of the Church of England?\n\n \u201c_A._ The assistants shall have a discretionary power to read\n the Prayer-Book in the preaching houses on Sunday mornings,\n where they think it expedient, if the generality of the society\n acquiesce with it; on condition that Divine service never be\n performed in the church hours on the Sundays when the sacrament\n is administered in the parish church where the preaching house\n is situated; and that the people be strenuously exhorted to\n attend the sacrament in the parish church on those Sundays.\u201d\n\nThis may be vaguely worded; but there can be no mistake about its\nmeaning. By Wesley\u2019s authority, and that of his conference, assistants\neverywhere were permitted to do what Dr. Coke had authorised to be\ndone in Dublin, namely, that, on certain conditions, there should be\nDivine service in Methodist chapels in the same hours as Divine\nservice was performed in the parish churches adjoining them. If this\nwas not separation, what was it?\n\nThere were two other points discussed at the conference of 1788, of\ngreat importance. Many of the preachers were shamefully left without\nadequate support, and were actually obliged, either to starve from\nhunger, or to go from house to house to obtain their meals. Wesley was\nannoyed, perhaps indignant; and, to remedy this glaring evil, the\nassistants were directed to enforce, that every member, who could\nafford it, should contribute, in the classmeetings, a penny per week,\nand a shilling per quarter, at the quarterly visitation, for the\nmaintenance of the preachers appointed to watch over them. And, in\naddition, Wesley issued the following address.\n\n \u201c_To our Societies in England and Ireland._\n\n \u201cFIFTY years ago, and for several years following, all our\n preachers were single men, when, in process of time, a few of\n them married. Those with whom they laboured maintained both\n them and their wives, there being then no settled allowance\n either for the one or the other. But above thirty years ago, it\n was found most convenient to fix a stated allowance for\n both,[648] and this was found by the circuits where they were\n stationed; till one year some of the circuits complained of\n poverty. Dr. Coke and I supplied what was wanting. The next\n year, the number of wives increasing, three or four of them\n were supplied out of the contingent fund. This was a bad\n precedent, for more and more wives were thrown upon this fund,\n till it was likely to be swallowed up thereby.[649] We could\n think of no way to prevent this, but to consider the state of\n our societies in England and Ireland, and to beg the members of\n each circuit to give us that assistance which they can easily\n do without hurting their families.\n\n \u201cWithin these fifty years, the substance of the Methodists is\n increased in proportion to their numbers. Therefore, if you are\n not straitened in your own bowels, this will be no grievance,\n but you will cheerfully give food and raiment to those who give\n up all their time, and strength, and labour to your service.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _August 2, 1788_.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nNo wonder that, in his later years, Wesley so often wrote and spoke of\nthe corrupting influence of the riches of rich Methodists!\n\nThe other affair, which demanded the attention of Wesley\u2019s conference,\nin 1788, was equally unpleasant. Six years before, as we have already\nseen, the trustees, at Birstal, claimed the power of appointing\npreachers to their chapel. This was followed by the deed of\ndeclaration in 1784. At the very time this deed was being signed, the\nsame subject was revived at Dewsbury, a town contiguous to Birstal.\n\nHere it had been proposed to build a new chapel. Mr. Valton, the\nassistant, refused to move in the matter, unless it was agreed that\nthe chapel should be settled according to the conference plan. Mr.\nHeald and some others wished to obtain from Wesley certain\nconcessions, and wrote to John Atlay, the book steward, to secure\nthem. Atlay replied as follows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 23, 1784_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SIR,--I have, this morning, been with Mr. Wesley, and\n have laid your letter before him.[650] He is not only willing,\n but _desires_, it be inserted in your deed, that, if ever the\n conference, or the preacher appointed by conference, refuse or\n neglect to provide a preacher for your chapel for three or four\n Sundays, then the trustees shall have it in their own power to\n call one whom they please, and the power of nomination shall be\n theirs in future.\n\n \u201cIf any preacher, appointed to serve your chapel, should be\n proved guilty of immorality, the trustees shall have a power to\n reject him; and, if the conference does not send another to\n fill up his place, you shall have a power to call one to do it.\n\n \u201cJOHN ATLAY.\u201d\n\nOn the receipt of this letter, Valton solicited subscriptions, and\npreached at the laying of the foundation stone.[651]\n\nFive days after the date of the above letter, the deed of declaration\nwas executed; and, among other names omitted, in the constitution of\nthe legal conference, were those of John Atlay and William Eels, the\nfirst of whom had been a preacher one-and-twenty years, and the second\ntwelve. This, by no means, increased Atlay\u2019s loyalty. In an\nunpublished letter, dated September 17, 1785, he writes: \u201cMr. Hampson\nis well provided for. I have begun to do a little business for myself\nas coal merchant; and have reason to think it will do well for me. I\nhave not left the book room, nor do I intend it _at present_. I have\nmy trials; but the disagreeable things I have met with, in our\nconnexion, have really raised my heart to God.\u201d\n\nIn another, bearing date, April 18, 1786, he says: \u201cYou smile at my\ncommencing coal merchant. There was a time when I could have trusted\nto my good old friend\u201d (Wesley) \u201cfor everything that I wanted, or was\nlikely to want; but late occurrences have given me a check; and, I\nreally think, the thing is right in the sight of the Lord.\u201d He then\nproceeds to state that he had lately been attending the ministry of\nMr. Latrobe, the Moravian minister, and that he increasingly admired\nhim every time he heard him.\n\nThese extracts may help to throw some light on Atlay\u2019s subsequent\nconduct.\n\nMeanwhile, Dewsbury chapel was completed, and a draft of the trust\ndeed was sent, by Parson Greenwood, to Manchester conference, in 1787,\nfor perusal. This was handed officially to Alexander Mather, who\nstrongly objected to its provisions; and complained that the trustees\nhad not inserted a clause, to the effect, \u201cthat no preacher should be\nsent away till he was tried, and found guilty, before his peers, or\nthe neighbouring assistant preachers.\u201d The trustees refused to yield,\nthus, in reality, making themselves, as Dr. Coke put it, \u201caccusers,\njury, judges, and executioners.\u201d[652] Wesley had appointed Parson\nGreenwood and William Percival to the Dewsbury circuit; but, on\nOctober 23, he instructed them to abandon the chapel and to leave the\ntrustees to provide for themselves to their hearts\u2019 content.\n\nMr. Mather, at the time, was in the Sheffield circuit, and obtained\nWesley\u2019s consent to become mediator between the contending parties.\nAccordingly he went, and proposed to the trustees that they should\nhave power: (1) To mortgage the premises for the debt unpaid. (2) To\nlet the seats at any price they liked. (3) To appoint their own\nstewards, and dispose of their own income. He further proposed, that\nno assistant should expel a trustee from the society but by the\nconsent of the majority of his co-trustees. All this was palatable;\nbut what followed was otherwise. Mather, of course, had no objection\nto a preacher being dismissed for immorality, as was proposed in\nAtlay\u2019s letter; but he wished to institute a court in which the\naccused might have a fair and impartial trial; and, hence, requested\nthat a clause might be inserted in the trust deed, providing that\nthree of the nearest assistants should be judges; that, if they found\nthe charges proved, they should join with the trustees in requesting\nWesley, or the president of the conference for the time being, to\nremove the guilty preacher, and to send another in his place; that, if\nthis was not done within a specified time, the trustees should do it\nthemselves; and that, if the conference next ensuing did not send\nanother preacher, then the election of preachers was to remain with\nthe trustees, and the power of conference, to appoint preachers to\nDewsbury chapel, to be forfeited for ever. This the trustees\nstubbornly rejected; and the further consideration of the matter was\npostponed till February 5, 1788. At this second interview, it was\nproposed by Mr. Mather, that an appeal should be made to the\nsubscribers to decide whether the clauses he had named should be\ninserted in the deed; and that their decision should be final. This\nalso was refused; and now, when all further negotiation seemed\nimpossible, Mather, by Wesley\u2019s request, informed the seatholders,\n\u201cthat they were not to pay any more rent till the matter was settled\nbetween him and the trustees.\u201d\n\nThus the affair was left till the conference of 1788; when a committee\nmet on the subject. John Atlay was present, and remarked, that if he\nwere to go down to Dewsbury he would soon settle matters with the\ntrustees. Mather objected to Atlay\u2019s suggestion, and said: \u201cMr. Atlay,\nit is reported, that you have promised the trustees, that, if Mr.\nWesley withdraws the preachers from Dewsbury, you will yourself go and\nserve them. I ask you then, before God and these brethren, have you\nmade _any_ such promise, or have you not?\u201d Atlay reluctantly\nacknowledged, that he had; and, further, that he had also advised the\nMethodists at Malton not to settle their chapel on the conference\nplan. Next morning Wesley wrote as follows.\n\n \u201c_To the Trustees of Dewsbury._\n\n \u201cLONDON, _July 30, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--The question between us is, \u2018By whom shall\n the preachers sent, from time to time, to Dewsbury be judged?\u2019\n You say, \u2018By the trustees.\u2019 I say, \u2018By their peers--the\n preachers met in conference.\u2019 You say, \u2018Give up this, and we\n will receive them.\u2019 I say, \u2018I cannot, I dare not, give up\n this.\u2019 Therefore, if you will not receive them on these terms,\n you renounce connection with your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nAs the trustees still held out, the conference decided that another\ndeputation, consisting of Mather, Pawson, Thompson, Greenwood, and\nPercival, should meet at Dewsbury on August 14. The deputies asked,\n\u201cHave you executed a trust deed?\u201d The trustees answered, \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cCan\nwe see it?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cWill you add to it a clause such as Mr. Wesley\nwishes?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d Such, in substance, were the proceedings of the\nmeeting. The result was, as before stated, the preachers, who had been\nappointed at Dewsbury, were at once removed; the chapel was abandoned;\nand the preachers in the Birstal circuit once more commenced Methodism\nat Dewsbury, by preaching in the open streets.[653]\n\nFive days after the date of the Dewsbury meeting, John Atlay, who, as\nwe have seen, had joined to Wesley\u2019s book stewardship the business of\na coal merchant, and had also been toying with the Dewsbury trustees,\nwrote as follows to Wesley.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _August 19, 1788_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I was in hopes matters at Dewsbury\n would have been made up; but, by a letter yesterday, I am\n informed that their preachers are removed from them, and their\n place declared vacant; in consequence of which, the trustees\n have most solemnly called me to come amongst them. They plead\n my promise; and I cannot go back from it. With me a promise is\n sacred, though it should be ever so much to my hurt; and, as to\n temporals, it must hurt me much. But I regard not that, if\n there is a prospect that I shall be much more useful there than\n I ever have been, or can be, in London. But it gives me more\n pain than I can express, when I tell you that, in order to go\n there, I must quit the book room. The longest that I can stay\n in it will be till the 25th of September; and, by that time,\n you will be able to get one for my place. I think the fittest\n man in the world for it is Joseph Bradford. If he should be\n appointed, he may come directly, and stay with us till we go;\n and, by that time, I could teach him more than he can learn in\n three months without me; but these things I leave to your\n superior judgment.\n\n \u201cI have only now to request a few things of you. Do not be\n angry with me for leaving you, after having spent fifteen of\n the best years of my life in serving you, with more care, fear,\n labour, and pain, than all the years of my life have produced.\n Do not blame me for going to a people you have left; they are\n the Lord\u2019s redeemed ones, and some of them living members of\n His body. Do not disown me, nor forbid my preaching in any of\n your places; but give me leave, where and when it is agreeable\n to the preachers, to preach in your houses. But if this request\n cannot be complied with, then drop me silently; and let me be\n of too little consequence to say anything about me from the\n pulpit or press. I beg you will write by return of post; and do\n not write unkindly to your faithful servant and friend,\n\n \u201cJOHN ATLAY.\u201d[654]\n\nWas this the whine of a mercenary man? or was it the genuine effusion\nof a loving and honest heart? The reader must answer for himself;\nremembering, however, that the Dewsbury chapel had been built, not by\nthe money of the trustees, but by the subscriptions of the Methodists;\nthat three years previous to this, Atlay had entertained the thought\nof ultimately leaving Wesley\u2019s stewardship, and, with an eye to that,\nhad begun the business of selling coals; and, further, that, since\nthen, he had unquestionably encouraged the Dewsbury trustees in their\nrebellion, by promising to become their preacher, when Wesley withdrew\nhis. What was Wesley\u2019s answer to his double dealing friend?\n\n \u201cPEMBROKE, _August 23, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--If you are persuaded, that such a promise\n (which is the whole and sole cause of the breach at Dewsbury)\n is binding, you must follow your persuasion. You will have\n blame enough from other persons; my hand shall not be upon you.\n If I can do you good, I will; but shall certainly do you no\n harm. George Whitfield is the person I choose to succeed you. I\n wish you would teach him as much as you can without delay.\n\n \u201cI am, with kind love to sister Atlay, your affectionate\n brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThus did Wesley dispose of his book steward\u2019s mischievous promise; his\npert nomination of Joseph Bradford as his successor; and his\nwhimpering prayer that Wesley would not punish him for his naughty\ntricks.\n\nIt is hardly necessary to insert the whole of the correspondence.\nSuffice it to say, that Wesley requested Atlay, before he left, to\nemploy \u201cone or two proper persons to take an inventory of all the\nbooks in the shop and under the chapel,\u201d so that George Whitfield\nmight know what was put into his care. Atlay\u2019s reply to this was the\nfollowing.\n\n\n \u201cLONDON, _September 20, 1788_.\n\n \u201cREVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--We have almost this moment finished\n our job of taking the stock; and, as near as we can tell, your\n stock is this day worth \u00a313,751 18_s._ 5_d._, according to the\n prices fixed in the catalogue. However, you may be sure it is\n not less than that. Most of these are saleable things. You will\n be sure to find sale for them, if you live; and, if not, they\n will be of equal value to those to whom you leave them.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN ATLAY.\u201d\n\nAtlay went to Dewsbury on September 24, and took possession of the\nchapel built with the money of Methodists. We have before us a number\nof Mr. Pawson\u2019s letters, written at this period, and in reference to\nthe Dewsbury unpleasantness. Pawson went, and preached to the\ndiscontented Methodists; and spent two days in endeavouring to put\nthem right; but without effect. Mr. Mather was \u201chighly offended\u201d on\naccount of this; and Mr. Atlay wrote to Pawson \u201ca thundering letter.\u201d\nUnder date of September 16, 1788, Pawson says:\n\n \u201cYou see the blessedness of striving to make peace. The\n assistants of the neighbouring circuits are to preach in the\n streets at Dewsbury, in their turns. This is pain and grief to\n me. To preach in opposition, Methodists against Methodists, is\n painful beyond expression. I believe all might have been\n prevented by loving, prudent preachers. We have had a few\n unworthy men among us, who have been a great burden to us and\n to the people; but we do not lay them aside. Therefore, the\n people will oblige us to do it, by making deeds like that at\n Dewsbury. Some of our preachers do not live near to God, and do\n not endeavour, by reading and prayer, to render themselves\n acceptable to the people. But now it seems as though the people\n would make them look about them a little.\u201d\n\nFrom other unpublished letters, we learn that Atlay and Eels[655] had\nlarge congregations; that they had taken with them the whole of the\nDewsbury society, except a good man and his wife, of the name of\nDrake; and that one of the trustees soon became a bankrupt, and was\nsaid to have squandered a considerable amount of Atlay\u2019s money.\nDifficulties speedily ensued; hence the following, extracted from a\nletter dated\n\n \u201cBIRSTAL, _December 18, 1789_.\n\n \u201c... Mr. Atlay and Mr. Eels cannot supply the places they have\n at present. They want another preacher, but cannot get one.\n They have tried to get Mr. Holmes, who left us last conference,\n but he is engaged to Sheerness, as the society there is\n divided. Besides, I understand, they are all for the Church,\n and utterly against separation, ordination, etc. The devil can\n no longer set the men of the world against us; but he is trying\n a much more effectual way, setting the people and preachers one\n against another.\n\n \u201cJOHN PAWSON.\u201d[656]\n\nThus did Mr. Atlay really set up an _imperium in imperio_. He called\nhimself a Methodist; and yet was setting Methodism\u2019s founder at\ndefiance. Not content with taking possession of the Dewsbury circuit,\nhe went to Shields, and there, and in Newcastle, and other places,\nfounded separate societies. At length, he and his friend Eels\nquarrelled. Hence the following.\n\n \u201cBIRSTAL, _May 17, 1791_.\n\n \u201c... Mr. Atlay and Mr. Eels have differed and parted. Mr. Atlay\n is gone to London, and whether he will return to Dewsbury is\n quite uncertain. I believe very few desire or expect it. He has\n treated Mr. Eels in a very unkind and unbrotherly manner ever\n since he came to Dewsbury, and Mr. Eels was determined to bear\n it no longer. The trustees had a meeting, and determined that\n Mr. Eels should stay; and be, in every respect, equal to Mr.\n Atlay. They are greatly displeased with Mr. Atlay\u2019s conduct, as\n well as with his doctrines. He has got deep into Mr.\n Manners\u2019[657] opinions, and says that he has believed them\n these twenty years. Mr. Eels is very friendly, and I believe\n most sincerely wishes a reconciliation, and I hope will\n endeavour to bring it about.\n\n \u201cJOHN PAWSON.\u201d[658]\n\nWilliam Eels died within two years after this. In the meantime, the\nDewsbury trustees began to entertain \u201cshocking opinions\u201d of their\nfriend Atlay; and in September, 1792, sent for Pawson to effect a\nreunion.[659]\n\nWe need not pursue the subject farther. Here we have the rise, the\nprogress, and collapse of the Atlayite rebellion. We could give a\nnumber of Atlay\u2019s letters, showing that, in 1789, he coquetted with\nAlexander McNab, and tried to secure the co-operation of James Oddie.\nBut the traitorous book steward has already occupied more space than\nhis worth deserves. We only add, that, to all his other faults, he\nadded that of circulating the most infamous reports reflecting on\nWesley\u2019s moral character;[660] which extorted from Wesley the\nfollowing characteristic \u201cWord to whom it may Concern,\u201d inserted in\nhis _Magazine_ for 1790, just after the appearance of Atlay\u2019s pamphlet\non the subject.\n\n \u201cIN August, 1788, Mr. Atlay wrote me word, \u2018I must look out for\n another servant, for he would go to Dewsbury on September 25.\u2019\n So far was I from \u2018bidding him go,\u2019 that I knew nothing of it\n till that hour. But I then told him, \u2018Go and serve them\u2019:\n seeing I found he would serve me no longer.\n\n \u201cHe sent me word that I had in London \u00a313,751 18_s._ 5_d._,\n stock in books. Desiring to know exactly, I employed two\n booksellers to take an account of my stock. The account they\n brought in, October 31, 1788, was:\n\n \u2018Value of stock, errors excepted, \u00a34827 10_s._ 3\u00bd_d._\n\n \u2018John Parsons,\n Thomas Scollick.\u2019\n\n \u201cWhy did John Atlay so wonderfully overrate my stock? Certainly\n to do me honour in the eyes of the world.\n\n \u201cI never approved of his going to Dewsbury; but I submitted to\n what I could not help.\n\n \u201cWith respect to Dewsbury House, there never was any dispute\n about the _property of preaching houses_, that was an artful\n misrepresentation; but merely the _appointing of preachers_ in\n them.\n\n \u201cIf John Atlay has a mind to throw any more dirt upon me, I do\n not know I shall take any pains to wipe it off. I have but a\n few days to live; and I wish to spend those in peace.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _Feb. 25, 1790_. \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThese are long, perhaps tedious, statements; but they are not without\ninterest, as helping to illustrate the life and character of Wesley.\nHis career was a long continued scene of trouble. Mobs assailed him\nfirst; then parsons and pamphleteers; then his friends, the\nCalvinists; and, last of all, his vexations were chiefly those\noccasioned by some of his own faithless followers.\n\nNot to return to Dewsbury, it may be added here, that, at the\nconference of 1789, the preachers subscribed \u00a3206 towards the erection\nof a new chapel; and Wesley issued two circulars, stating the case to\nthe Methodists in general, and asking their assistance. After\nmentioning that the former chapel had been built by the contributions\nof the people, (the trustees themselves not giving a quarter of what\nit cost,) he continues:\n\n \u201cObserve, here is no dispute about the right of houses at all.\n I have no right to any preaching house in England. What I claim\n is, a right of stationing the preachers. This these trustees\n have robbed me of in the present instance. Therefore, only one\n of these two ways can be taken; either to sue for this house,\n or to build another: we prefer the latter, being the most\n friendly way.\n\n \u201cI beg, therefore, my brethren, for the love of God; for the\n love of me, your old and well-nigh worn out servant; for the\n love of ancient Methodism, which, if itinerancy is interrupted,\n will speedily come to nothing; for the love of justice, mercy,\n and truth, which are all so grievously violated by the\n detention of this house; that you will set your shoulders to\n the necessary work. Be not straitened in your own bowels. We\n have never had such a cause before. Let not then unkind,\n unjust, fraudulent men, have cause to rejoice in their bad\n labour. This is a common cause. Exert yourselves to the utmost.\n I have subscribed \u00a350. So has Dr. Coke. The preachers have done\n all they could. O let them that have much give plenteously!\n Perhaps, this is the last labour of love I may have occasion to\n recommend to you; let it then stand as one more monument of\n your real gratitude to, my dear brethren, your old,\n affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[661]\n\nWe now return to the conference of 1788. These were not the only\nthings to try Wesley\u2019s patience. An effort was made to set aside the\nitinerant plan in Scotland,--a plan to which, as already shown, Wesley\nattached the utmost importance. This evoked the following letter to\nLady Maxwell.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _August 8, 1788_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR LADY,--It is certain, many persons, both in Scotland\n and England, would be well pleased to have the same preachers\n always. But we cannot forsake the plan of acting, which we have\n followed from the beginning. For fifty years, God has been\n pleased to bless the itinerant plan; the last year most of all;\n it must not be altered, till I am removed; and, I hope, it will\n remain till our Lord comes to reign upon earth.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[662]\n\nTo the same effect was another, written three months later, and\naddressed to Jasper Winscomb.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 8, 1788_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JASPER,--William Cashman advised you like a heathen. Mr.\n Valton _deserves_ pay, as well as you do. But he does not want\n it, and, therefore, scorns to take it, knowing the poverty of\n the land.\n\n \u201cI am glad to hear so good an account of the Isle of Wight. The\n work of God will flourish, there, if it be steadily pursued.\n\n \u201cNo preacher ought to stay either at Portsmouth, or Sarum, or\n any other place, a whole week together. That is not the\n Methodist plan at all. It is a novel abuse.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Jasper, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[663]\n\nOn the 10th of August, Wesley set out for Wales and the west of\nEngland; generally preaching twice a day, and on the Sundays thrice,\nand everywhere to crowded congregations.\n\nOn the 28th of September, he returned to London, and, two days after,\nwent off to Norfolk. The remainder of the year was employed, as usual,\nin the metropolis and the surrounding counties.\n\nThese were not pleasure trips; but made in wintry weather, in frost\nand snow; the veteran of eighty-five preaching almost daily, both\nnight and morning, and attending to a thousand things which demanded\nhis attention.[664] He writes.\n\n \u201cDecember 10, and the following days, I corrected my brother\u2019s\n posthumous poems; being short psalms, and hymns on the four\n gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. They make five volumes\n in quarto, containing eighteen or nineteen hundred pages. Many\n of them are little, if any, inferior to his former poems,\n having the same justness and strength of thought, with the same\n beauty of expression; yea, the same keenness of wit on proper\n occasions, as bright and piercing as ever. Some are bad; some\n mean; some most excellently good. They give the true sense of\n Scripture, always in good English, generally in good verse;\n many of them are equal to most, if not to any, he ever wrote;\n but some still savour of that poisonous mysticism, with which\n we were both not a little tainted before we went to America.\n This gave a gloomy cast, first to his mind, and then to many of\n his verses; this made him frequently describe religion as a\n melancholy thing; this so often sounded in his ears, \u2018To the\n desert!\u2019 and strongly persuaded in favour of solitude.\u201d\n\nWhat had Wesley to say respecting himself? He writes.\n\n \u201cAbout this time\u201d [December 15] \u201cI was reflecting on the gentle\n steps whereby age steals upon us. Take only one instance. Four\n years ago, my sight was as good as it was at five-and-twenty. I\n then began to observe, that I did not see things quite so clear\n with my left eye as with my right; all objects appeared a\n little browner to that eye. I began next to find a little\n difficulty in reading a small print by candlelight. A year\n after, I found it in reading such a print by daylight. In the\n winter of 1786, I could not well read our four shilling\n hymn-book, unless with a large candle; the next year, I could\n not read letters, if wrote with a small or bad hand. Last\n winter, a pearl appeared on my left eye, the sight of which\n grew exceeding dim. The right eye seems unaltered; only I am a\n great deal nearer sighted than ever I was. Thus are \u2018those that\n look out at the windows darkened\u2019; one of the marks of old age.\n But, I bless God, \u2018the grasshopper is\u2019 not \u2018a burden.\u2019 I am\n still capable of travelling, and my memory is much the same as\n it ever was; and so, I think, is my understanding.\u201d\n\nThus did Wesley take stock of himself.\n\nOn Christmas day, he preached at four o\u2019clock in the morning, in City\nRoad, again at eleven, and in West Street in the evening. On the last\nSunday in the year, he had an exceedingly large congregation in\nAllhallows church, Lombard Street; and, concerning this, there is an\nanecdote worth relating. The sermon was for the benefit of forty-eight\npoor children belonging to St. Ethelburga society. \u201cSir,\u201d said Wesley\nto his attendant while putting on his gown, \u201cit is above fifty years\nsince I first preached in this church; I remember it from a particular\ncircumstance. I came without a sermon; and, going up the pulpit\nstairs, I hesitated, and returned into the vestry, under much mental\nconfusion and agitation. A woman, who stood by, noticed my concern,\nand said, \u2018Pray, sir, what is the matter?\u2019 I replied, \u2018I have not\nbrought a sermon with me.\u2019 Putting her hand on my shoulder, she said,\n\u2018Is that all? Cannot you trust God for a sermon?\u2019 This question had\nsuch an effect upon me, that I ascended the pulpit, preached\nextempore, with great freedom to myself, and acceptance to the people;\nand have never since taken a written sermon into the pulpit.\u201d[665] \u201cA\nword spoken in due season, how good is it!\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s publications, in 1788, have all been noticed, except his\n_Magazine_; and, concerning this, it is not needful to say much. There\nare, as usual, six new sermons from the venerable editor\u2019s own pen:\nnamely, On Reproving Sin; The Signs of the Times; Man; The Ministry of\nWicked Ministers; Conscience; and Faith.\n\nWesley concludes the first of these thus:\n\n \u201cI have now only a few words to add unto you, my brethren, who\n are vulgarly called Methodists. I never heard or read of any\n considerable revival of religion, which was not attended with a\n spirit of reproving. I believe, it cannot be otherwise; for\n what is faith unless it worketh by love? Thus it was in every\n part of England, when the present revival of religion began\n about fifty years ago. All the subjects of that revival,--all\n the Methodists, in every place, were reprovers of outward sin.\n And, indeed, so are all that, being justified by faith, have\n peace with God through Jesus Christ. Such they are at first;\n and if they use that precious gift, it will never be taken\n away. Come, brethren! In the name of God, let us begin again!\n Rich or poor, let us all arise as one man! And, in any wise,\n let every man rebuke his neighbour, and not suffer sin upon\n him!\u201d\n\nWesley\u2019s sermon, on attending the ministry of unconverted ministers,\nwould never have been written, had he not been pressed by the\nobjections of Methodists, and yet determined to prevent their leaving\nthe Established Church. Its arguments are specious, not sound. It\nmight puzzle the simple minded Methodists; but it would not convince\nthem they were wrong. It was a feeble attempt to get converted people\nto sit under an unconverted ministry. We conclude with one extract.\n\n \u201cIt has been loudly affirmed, that most of those persons now in\n connection with _me_, who believe it their duty to call sinners\n to repentance, having been taken immediately from low trades,\n tailors, shoemakers, and the like, are a set of poor, stupid,\n illiterate men, that scarce know their right hand from their\n left; yet, I cannot but say, that I would sooner cut off my\n right hand, than suffer one of them to speak a word in any of\n our chapels, if I had not reasonable proof, that he had more\n knowledge in the holy Scriptures, more knowledge of himself,\n more knowledge of God and of the things of God, than nine in\n ten of the clergymen I have conversed with, either at the\n universities, or elsewhere. Undoubtedly, there are many\n clergymen in these kingdoms, that are not only free from\n outward sin, but men of eminent learning, and, what is\n infinitely more, deeply acquainted with God. But, still, I am\n constrained to confess, that the far greater part of those\n ministers I have conversed with, for above half a century, have\n not been holy men,--not devoted to God,--not deeply acquainted\n either with God or themselves.\u201d\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s reluctant confession; and yet, to prevent what he\ncalled a separation from the Established Church, he elaborately\npersuades the Methodists, that they ought to receive the sacraments\nfrom these men; instead of requiring them at the hands of the\nconverted artisans, who had preached so successfully, and who,\naccording to Wesley\u2019s own confession, were, even in point of\n_scriptural knowledge_, the superiors of the unconverted gentlemen,\ntrained in colleges, and made priests or deacons--not by Christ,--but\nby bishops!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [606] Four letters, standing for _Ecclesi\u00e6 Anglican\u00e6\n Presbyter Johannes_: \u201cJohn, presbyter of the Church\n of England.\u201d Wesley, in early life, sometimes used\n this signature in writing to his brother.\n\n [607] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 359.\n\n [608] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 437.\n\n [609] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 438.\n\n [610] Ibid. p. 438.\n\n [611] Ibid. p. 439.\n\n [612] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 440.\n\n [613] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 441.\n\n [614] \u201cThe Allens of Shiney Row,\u201d p. 59.\n\n [615] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 442.\n\n [616] _Methodist Recorder_, Dec. 5, 1861.\n\n [617] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 445.\n\n [618] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 543.\n\n [619] Manuscript letter.\n\n [620] Jackson\u2019s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 449.\n\n [621] Ibid.\n\n [622] Mrs. Fletcher\u2019s Life, p. 251.\n\n [623] Manuscript letter.\n\n [624] J. Pawson\u2019s manuscript letter.\n\n [625] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 111.\n\n [626] _Methodist Magazine_, 1797, p. 553.\n\n [627] Memoir of Mrs. Knaggs.\n\n [628] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 492.\n\n [629] Memoirs of Spence, p. 26.\n\n [630] Ibid.\n\n [631] It ought to have been _eighty-sixth_.\n\n [632] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 219.\n\n [633] Bulmer\u2019s Memoir, p. 4.\n\n [634] Smith\u2019s \u201cMethodism in Ireland.\u201d\n\n [635] Ibid.\n\n [636] Manuscript letters in Mission House.\n\n [637] Ibid.\n\n [638] Ibid.\n\n [639] A proposal to ordain him. See _Methodist Magazine_,\n 1845, p. 112.\n\n [640] Manuscript letters in Mission House.\n\n [641] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 298.\n\n [642] James Wray was a member of Wesley\u2019s legalised\n conference. After travelling six years in English\n circuits, he now went, as an ordained missionary\n superintendent to Nova Scotia. It is a curious fact\n that the Nova Scotians objected to him, not only on\n the ground of his want of learning, but because he\n was _an Englishman_! On hearing of this, Wesley, in\n an unpublished letter, wrote: \u201cO American gratitude!\n Lord, I appeal to Thee!\u201d\n\n [643] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiv., p. 343.\n\n [644] Cowper had recently published \u201cThe Task,\u201d and was\n now employed in his translation of Homer. In another\n letter, Wesley says: \u201cI think Mr. Cowper has done as\n much as is possible to be done with his lamentable\n story. I can only wish he had a better subject.\u201d\n\n [645] Except in the case of the psalms, where about thirty\n are discarded, and about sixty mutilated. The\n propriety of this may be fairly doubted.\n\n [646] See Nott\u2019s Bampton Lecture, 1802.\n\n [647] _The Wesleyan_, Nov. 4, 1846.\n\n [648] As a curious specimen of the way in which things were\n managed in the early days of Methodism, the following\n extracts are given from \u201cThe Dales\u201d circuit book,\n whose accounts extend from 1765 to 1791.\n\n _s._ _d._\n \u201c1765. Dec. 7. Thomas Rankin. Two meals, and\n horse one night 1 0\n 1766. March 29. John Ellis. Six meals, and\n horse three nights, shirt washed, and\n pennyworth of paper 2 10\n \u201d Sept. 28. Jeremiah Robertshaw. Twelve\n meals, and horse four nights, and\n shirt washing 5 3\u201d\n\n The reader can calculate how many meals a day were\n allowed to these godly men, and how much per meal.\n Besides these allowances for _board_, each preacher\n was entitled to receive, as _quarterage_, for himself\n \u00a33; and, for his wife, if he had one, \u00a32 10_s._\n\n [649] The contingent fund, raised by the yearly collection\n in the classes, was originally intended to defray\n law expenses, and to pay, or reduce, chapel debts.\n In this year, 1788, the income of the fund was \u00a31203\n 7_s._ 1_d._, out of which was paid for law expenses,\n \u00a337 4_s._ 2_d._; for chapels, \u00a3106 15_s._ 0_d._;\n and for the deficiencies of the preachers and their\n families, \u00a3433 18_s._ 1_d._ It was high time for\n Wesley to take action; though his effort to correct\n the evil was without effect.\n\n [650] In a 12mo pamphlet, published in 1788, and entitled,\n \u201cA Reply to what the Rev. Dr. Coke is pleased to\n call \u2018The State of the Dewsbury House,\u2019 being a\n Vindication of the Conduct of the Trustees of that\n House,\u201d--it is stated, that the questions proposed\n to Wesley by Mr. Heald were: (1) \u201cIf the conference\n should neglect to supply the house with preachers,\n would it be understood to remain the property of the\n conference, or would the trustees have a power to\n provide for themselves? (2) If any preacher, sent\n them, should be found guilty of immorality, would\n the trustees have a power of rejecting him?\u201d It\n further states, that the trustees had, in Wesley\u2019s\n own handwriting, a paragraph to the effect that\n \u201cthe _assistants and leaders_ were to be the proper\n judges\u201d of a preacher charged with immorality.\n This certainly clashes with Wesley\u2019s letter, given\n hereafter, and dated July 30, 1788.\n\n [651] \u201cThe State of Dewsbury House.\u201d By Dr. Coke.\n\n [652] By the kindness of Mr. Robinson, of Dewsbury, we have\n before us a copy of the original trust deed, from\n which we learn that, if, after a vacancy, Wesley or\n the conference refused or neglected, for the space\n of forty days, to appoint a preacher; or if the\n preacher appointed should \u201cnot conduct or conform\n himself to the satisfaction of the trustees or, the\n major part of them, it should be lawful for the said\n trustees, or such major part, not only to displace\n such preacher, (after giving him one month\u2019s previous\n notice thereof in writing,) but also to appoint such\n other preacher as they should deem more proper, and\n better qualified to benefit the society.\u201d The deed is\n dated January 31, 1788, and the names and occupations\n of the trustees are as follows.\n\n John Heald, maltster.\n John Robinson, weaver.\n Joseph Gill, clothier.\n John Beaumont, cordwainer.\n John Lancaster, currier.\n John Howgate, sen., clothier.\n John Howgate, jun., clothier.\n Bartholmew Archer, clothier.\n William Walker, clothier.\n John Thorns, clothier.\n Isaac Wilman, clothier.\n Abraham Thomas, clothier.\n Timothy Parker, clothier.\n John Hirst, clothier.\n Joseph Bennett, farmer.\n Thomas Bromley, clothier.\n Benjamin Whitaker, farmer.\n\n [653] Mather\u2019s \u201cState of Dewsbury House.\u201d\n\n [654] \u201cLetters by Rev. J. Wesley and Mr. John Atlay.\u201d 1790.\n\n [655] By some strange oversight, William Eels, at\n the conference of 1788, was left without an\n appointment; and, at the time of Atlay\u2019s arrival\n there, was actually at Dewsbury, endeavouring to\n make peace. Hearing of this, and mistaking Eels\u2019\n motive, Mr. Mather impetuously took steps to\n prevent his preaching in other Methodist pulpits.\n \u201cThis was the only cause of his uniting with John\n Atlay.\u201d--(Pawson\u2019s manuscripts.)\n\n [656] Unpublished letter.\n\n [657] Nicholas Manners was one of Wesley\u2019s itinerant\n preachers from 1759 to 1784. He was an able man. His\n heresy, in substance, was, that, in consequence of\n the work and death of Christ, all men are born in the\n same state as that in which Adam stood previous to\n his fall.\n\n [658] Unpublished letter.\n\n [659] Pawson\u2019s manuscript letters.\n\n [660] We have, in manuscript, his most malignant slander,\n but prefer withholding it. No wonder John Atlay\n wrote, in a letter to Mr. Merryweather, of Yarm, in\n 1785, \u201cYou know I never mount high in profession of\n grace.\u201d\n\n [661] _Methodist Magazine_, 1790, p. 103.\n\n [662] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 328.\n\n [663] _Methodist Magazine_, 1859, p. 247.\n\n [664] Among other places, he preached at Sevenoaks, and\n is said to have used these words: \u201cWhen a sinner is\n awakened, the baptists begin to trouble him about\n outward forms, and modes of worship, and that of\n baptism. They had better cut his throat,\u201d etc.\n Whether the exact words were used we have no means\n of knowing; but a warm controversy sprung out of the\n affair. Mr. William Kingsford issued \u201cA Vindication\n of the Baptists from the Criminality of a Charge\n exhibited against them by the Rev. Mr. Wesley.\u201d\n This was answered by T. C., supposed by Kingsford\n to be the Rev. Mr. Coleman. (Query Thomas Coke?)\n And this was replied to by Kingsford in a shilling\n pamphlet, bearing the title, \u201cThree Letters to the\n Rev. Mr. Wesley, containing remarks on a Piece lately\n published, with his approbation, and Three Challenges\n to all the Methodists in the Kingdom.\u201d The whole\n thing was \u201cmuch ado about nothing.\u201d\n\n [665] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 105.\n\n\n\n\n 1789.\n Age 86\n\n\nWesley wrote:\n\n \u201cJanuary 1, 1789--If this is to be the last year of my life,\n according to some of those prophecies, I hope it will be the\n best. I am not careful about it, but heartily receive the\n advice of the angel in Milton,--\n\n \u2018How well is thine; how long, permit to Heaven.\u2019\n\n \u201cJanuary 5--I once more sat for my picture. Mr. Romney is a\n painter indeed. He struck off an exact likeness at once; and\n did more in an hour than Sir Joshua did in ten.[666]\n\n \u201cJanuary 9--I left no money to anyone in my will, because I had\n none. But now, considering that, whenever I am removed, money\n will soon arise by sale of books, I added a few legacies by a\n codicil, to be paid as soon as may be. But I would fain do a\n little good while I live; for who can tell what will come after\n him?\u201d\n\n \u201cJanuary 11--I again warned the congregation, as strongly as I\n could, against conformity to the world. But who will take the\n warning? If hardly one in ten, yet is my record with the Most\n High.\u201d\n\n \u201cJanuary 20--I retired in order to finish my year\u2019s accounts.\n If possible, I must be a better economist; for, instead of\n having anything beforehand, I am now considerably in debt; but\n this I do not like. I would fain settle even my accounts before\n I die.\u201d\n\nIt was at this period that the following unpublished letter was\nwritten. Duncan McAllum had been ordained by Wesley in 1787, and the\nreader will observe that, instead of addressing him as he addressed\nhis preachers in general, he gives him the title of \u201creverend.\u201d\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 20, 1789_.\n\n \u201cDEAR DUNCAN,--By all means choose trustees without delay; and\n let them be such as belong to the circuit; only such as you can\n depend upon, both for judgment and honesty. I think it is by\n prayer that you must alter the purpose of the Earl of\n Findlater. I am not at all surprised at the behaviour of John\n Atlay. In a year or two, he will find whether he has changed\n for the better. He was the first occasion of the division at\n Dewsbury, by sending word to the trustees, that, if the\n conference would not supply them with preachers, he would come\n himself, and settle among them.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister McAllum, your affectionate friend\n and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n\n \u201cTo the Rev. Mr. McAllum, Inverness.\u201d\n\nFour days later, he wrote as follows to Freeborn Garretson, in\nAmerica.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 24, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It signifies but little where we are, so we\n are but fully employed for our good Master. Whether you went,\n therefore, to the east, it is all one, so you were labouring to\n promote His work. You are following the order of His\n providence, wherever it appeared, as a holy man expressed it,\n in a kind of holy disordered order. But there is one\n expression, that occurs twice or thrice in yours, which gives\n me some concern: you speak of finding freedom to do this or\n that. This is a word much liable to be abused. If I have plain\n Scripture, or plain reason, for doing a thing,--well. These are\n my rules, and my only rules. I regard not whether I had freedom\n or no. This is an unscriptural expression, and a very\n fallacious rule. I wish to be in every point, great and small,\n a scriptural, rational Christian.\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[667]\n\nAt the end of January, Wesley went to open new chapels at Rye and\nWinchelsea. Returning to London, the month of February was spent in\npreaching, in writing, in meeting classes and the local preachers, and\nin ordaining Henry Moore and Thomas Rankin, the last of his preachers\nupon whom he laid his hands.[668]\n\nThe following anecdotes, related in the Life of Moore, belong to the\npresent year, and are strikingly characteristic of Wesley and his\nfriends.\n\nOne of the leading men, in the London circuit, (though not a member,)\nhad been in the habit of receiving the sacrament from the hands of\nWesley and his brother clergymen, but had fallen into sin. Henry Moore\nwaited upon him for an explanation of his conduct, and, not being\nsatisfied, told him he should be obliged to refuse him a note of\nadmission to the Lord\u2019s supper. The gentleman was annoyed, and went to\none of Wesley\u2019s clergy, whom he persuaded to apply to Wesley on his\nbehalf. Entering the vestry while Wesley was writing the note, Moore\nwith his honest sternness accosted him: \u201cSir, do you mean to give a\nnote of admission to Mr. ----?\u201d \u201cYes, Henry,\u201d replied Wesley, \u201cI have\nreason to believe the report of his conduct is a mistake.\u201d \u201cI have\nfully examined it,\u201d answered Moore, \u201cand I find it no mistake; and, if\nyou give him a note, I shall not take the sacrament myself.\u201d Wesley,\nin reply, observed, \u201cI would take the sacrament if the devil himself\nwere there.\u201d \u201cSo would I,\u201d said Moore, \u201cbut not if you gave him a note\nof admission.\u201d The Irishman came off with flying colours; for Wesley\nput the note into the fire, and left the erring one to think and to\nrepent.\n\nMrs. Hall was Wesley\u2019s only surviving sister, and was an inmate of his\nhouse, but not a Methodist. One day, the two called on Henry Moore.\n\u201cBrother,\u201d said Mrs. Hall, \u201cI should like to attend the religious\nmeetings of your people. Have I your leave?\u201d \u201cO yes,\u201d said he, \u201cyou\nmay go to them.\u201d \u201cThen,\u201d rejoined this friend of the great Dr.\nJohnson, \u201chaving your permission, I shall not ask that of any one\nelse.\u201d \u201cYes, you must;\u201d replied her brother, remembering that Moore\nwas circuit assistant, \u201cwhen I am not here, you must ask leave of\nHenry Moore.\u201d\n\nIn these days, it was customary for the itinerant and local preachers\nto take breakfast together, on Sunday mornings, at City Road. On one\noccasion, when Wesley was present, a young man rose and found fault\nwith one of his seniors. The Scotch blood of Thomas Rankin was roused,\nand he sharply rebuked the juvenile for his impertinence; but, in\nturn, was as sharply rebuked himself. Wesley instantly replied: \u201cI\nwill thank the youngest man among you to tell me of any fault you see\nin me; in doing so, I shall consider him as my best friend.\u201d This was\nquite enough to silence Rankin.\n\n\u201cHenry Moore,\u201d said Wesley, \u201cyou are a witness that what John Atlay\nsaid, when he left us, is untrue. He said, \u2018Mr. Wesley could never\nbear a man who contradicted him.\u2019 Now no man in England has\ncontradicted me as much as you have done; and yet, Henry, I love you\nstill. You are right.\u201d\n\nHundreds of such anecdotes might be given: these must serve as\nspecimens.\n\nOn Sunday, the 1st of March, after preaching to two crowded\ncongregations, in City Road, Wesley and three of his preachers took\ncoach for Bath; and \u201cspent,\u201d says he, \u201ca comfortable night, partly in\nsound sleep, and partly in singing praise to God.\u201d Such, after a hard\nday, at seven o\u2019clock in a winter\u2019s night, was the start of an old man\nof eighty-six, on a five months\u2019 preaching tour!\n\nAt Bath and Bristol, he spent a fortnight, in preaching and meeting\nclasses, and then set out for Ireland. On the way, he preached at\nStroud, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury. At Birmingham, he opened a new\nchapel, and remarks: \u201cSaturday, March 21--I had a day of rest, only\npreaching morning and evening.\u201d The passage from Holyhead, instead of\noccupying four hours, as at present, occupied thirty-six, and, during\nit, the venerable voyager was a serious sufferer. \u201cI do not remember,\u201d\nhe writes, \u201cthat I was ever so sick at sea before; but this was little\nto the cramp which held most of the night with little intermission.\u201d\nHe arrived at Dublin quay at eight on Sunday morning, and,\nnotwithstanding the illness from which he had suffered, went direct to\nDublin chapel, and \u201cpreached on the sickness and recovery of King\nHezekiah and King George,\u201d and afterwards administered the sacrament\nto about five hundred people.\n\nAt this sacramental service, he employed his assistant, William Myles,\nin giving the cup to the communicants; an act which occasioned huge\noffence, for William Myles was not ordained. In the week following, a\nlong paragraph appeared in the _Dublin Evening Post_, setting forth,\nthat \u201cthe _Church was in danger!_ and calling upon the archbishop to\nuse his authority; for a Mr. William Myles, a layman, had assisted Mr.\nWesley in administering the Lord\u2019s supper; the greatest innovation\nthat had been witnessed for the last fifty years!\u201d \u201cThis brought on,\u201d\nsays Mr. Myles, \u201ca newspaper controversy, which continued for three\nmonths. My name was bandied about to some purpose; but I endeavoured\nin patience to possess my soul. At the expiration of the three months,\nthe subscribers desired the printer to put no more Methodist nonsense\ninto his paper; and he had the good sense to listen to the requisition\nof his customers, which happily terminated this exquisitely silly\ncontroversy.\u201d[669]\n\nOn Wesley\u2019s arrival at Dublin, he had, to use his own expression,\n\u201cletter upon letter,\u201d concerning the alteration in the Sunday service,\nwhich had been introduced by Dr. Coke; and, hence, he addressed the\nfollowing.\n\n \u201c_To certain Persons in Dublin._\n\n \u201cWHITEFRIAR STREET, DUBLIN, _March 31, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BRETHREN,--I much approve of the manner and spirit\n wherein you write concerning these tender points. I explained\n myself upon them, in some measure, on Sunday: I will do it more\n fully now.\n\n \u201cAt present, I have nothing to do with Dr. Coke: but I answer\n for myself. I do not separate from the Church, nor have any\n intention so to do. Neither do they, that meet on Sunday noon,\n separate from the Church, any more than they did before: nay,\n less; for they attend the church and sacrament oftener now than\n they did two years ago.\n\n \u201c\u2018But this occasions much strife.\u2019 True; but they make the\n strife who do not attend the service. Let them quietly either\n come or stay away, and there will be no strife at all.\n\n \u201c\u2018But those that attend say, those that do not are fallen from\n grace.\u2019 No, they do not give them a bad word; but they surely\n will fall from grace, if they do not let them alone who follow\n their own consciences.\n\n \u201cBut you \u2018fear this will make way for a total separation from\n the Church.\u2019 You have no ground for this fear. There can be no\n such separation while I live. Leave to God what may come after.\n\n \u201cBut, to speak plainly, do not you separate from the Church?\n Yea, much more than those you blame? Pray, how often have you\n been at church since Christmas? Twelve times in twelve weeks?\n And how long have you been so fond of the Church? Are you fond\n of it at all? Do not you go oftener to a Dissenting meeting\n than either to St. Patrick\u2019s, or your parish church?\n\n \u201cMy dear brethren, you and I have but a short time to stay\n together. \u2018My race of glory is run, and race of shame; and I\n shall shortly be with those that rest.\u2019 Therefore, as one that\n loves you well, and has loved you long, I advise you, in the\n presence and in the fear of God: (1) Either quietly attend the\n Sunday service, or quietly refrain from it; then there will be\n no strife at all. Now you make the strife of which you\n complain. (2) Make not this a pretence for being weary of well\n doing. Do not, for so poor a reason, withdraw your subscription\n from the school or the preachers. What a miserable revenge\n would this be! Never let it be said, that my friend A----\n K----, that brother D----, or B----, were capable of this. From\n this hour, let this idle strife be buried in eternal oblivion.\n Talk not of it any more. If it be possible, think not of it any\n more. Rather think, \u2018the Judge standeth at the door;\u2019 let us\n prepare to meet our God!\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[670]\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s attempt to defend the Dublin Methodist service in\nchurch hours; or rather, such was his attack on those who were opposed\nto it. No doubt his accusations were founded upon facts; but this was\nhardly an answer to the argument of objectors, that having service in\nchurch hours was, _ipso facto_, separation from the Church. He tells\nus, that one consequence of Dr. Coke\u2019s new arrangement was, that three\ntimes more Methodists now went to St. Patrick\u2019s, on the first Sunday\nin every month, than had done for ten or twenty years before; and\nthat, on the first Sunday of April, when he went himself, many of them\nwent with him; the number of communicants being about five hundred,\nor, in other words, more communicants, on that single Sunday, than St.\nPatrick\u2019s used to have the whole year round, before the Methodists\nwere known in Ireland. The arrangement, says Wesley, that the\nMethodists in Dublin should have service in church hours, \u201con\ncondition that they would attend St. Patrick\u2019s every first Sunday in\nthe month, was made, not to prepare for, but to prevent, a separation\nfrom the Church.\u201d There can be no question, that this was Wesley\u2019s\nwish; but it may be doubted whether it was Dr. Coke\u2019s intention.\n\nDuring this Dublin fracas, Wesley sent, at least, one letter to the\npublic papers. The following is an extract.\n\n \u201c_To the Printer of the \u2018Dublin Chronicle.\u2019_\n\n \u201cLONDONDERRY, _June 2, 1789_.\n\n \u201cSIR,--As soon as I was gone from Dublin, the _Observer_ came\n forth, only with his face covered. Afterwards, he came out,\n under another name, and made a silly defence for me, that he\n might have the honour of answering it. His words are smoother\n than oil, and flow (who can doubt it?) from mere love both to\n me and the people.\n\n \u201cBut what does this smooth, candid writer endeavour to prove,\n with all the softness and good humour imaginable? Only this\n point, (to explain it in plain English,) that I am a double\n tongued knave, an old crafty hypocrite, who have used religion\n merely for a cloak, and have worn a mask for these fifty years,\n saying one thing and meaning another. A bold charge this, only\n it happens that matter of fact contradicts it from beginning to\n end.\u201d\n\nWesley then proceeds to give an outline of his history from his youth\nto the time when he took the French churches in West Street, Seven\nDials, and in Spitalfields, and he and his brother began to preach in\nthem in church hours; and states that the two archbishops of\nCanterbury, Potter and Secker, and the two bishops of London, Gibson\nand Lowth, never blamed them for this, or thought or called it\nseparation from the Church; only, on one occasion, Archbishop Potter\nsaid: \u201cThese gentlemen are irregular; but they have done good, and I\npray God to bless them.\u201d Wesley continues:\n\n \u201cIt may be observed that, all this time, if my brother or I\n were ill, I desired one of our other preachers, though not\n ordained, to preach in either of the chapels, after reading\n part of the Church prayers. This both my brother and I judged\n would endear the Church prayers to them, whereas, if they were\n used wholly to extemporary prayer, they would naturally\n contract a kind of contempt, if not aversion, to forms of\n prayer; so careful were we, from the beginning, to prevent\n their leaving the Church.\n\n \u201cWhen the Rev. Mr. Edward Smyth came to live in Dublin, he\n earnestly advised me to leave the Church; meaning thereby, (as\n all sensible men do,) to renounce all connection with it, to\n attend the services of it no more, and to advise all our\n societies to take the same steps. I judged this to be a matter\n of great importance, and would, therefore, do nothing hastily;\n but referred it to the body of preachers, then met in\n conference. We had several meetings, in which he proposed all\n his reasons for it at large. They were severally considered,\n and answered, and we all determined not to leave the Church.\n\n \u201cA year ago, Dr. Coke began officiating at our chapel in\n Dublin. This was no more than had been done in London for\n between forty and fifty years. Some persons immediately began\n to cry out, \u2018This is leaving the Church, which Mr. Wesley has\n continually declared he would never do.\u2019 And I declare so\n still. But I appeal to all the world, I appeal to common sense,\n I appeal to the _Observer_ himself, could I mean hereby, \u2018I\n will not have service in church hours\u2019? No; but I denied, and\n do deny still, that this is leaving the Church, either in the\n sense of Bishop Gibson, or of Mr. Smyth at the Dublin\n conference. Yet, by this outcry, many well meaning people were\n frighted well-nigh out of their senses.\n\n \u201c\u2018But see the consequence of having Sunday service here! See\n the confusion this occasioned!\u2019 Some time since, while a\n popular preacher was preaching at Leeds, one cried out, \u2018Fire!\n Fire!\u2019 The people took fright, some leaped over the gallery,\n and several legs and arms were broken. But upon whom were these\n consequences to be charged? Not on the preacher, but on him\n that made the outcry. Apply this to the present case. I have\n kindled no more fire in Dublin than I did in London. It is the\n _Observer_ and a few other mischief makers, who fright the\n people out of their senses; and they must answer to God for the\n consequence.\n\n \u201cThis is my answer to them that trouble me, and will not let my\n grey hairs go down to the grave in peace. I am not a man of\n duplicity; I am not an old hypocrite, a double tongued knave.\n More than forty years, I have frequented Ireland. I have wished\n to do some good here. I now tell a plain tale, that \u2018the good\n that is in me may not be evil spoken of.\u2019 I have no temporal\n end to serve. I seek not the honour that cometh of men. It is\n not for pleasure, that, at this time of life, I travel three or\n four thousand miles a year. It is not for gain.\n\n \u2018No foot of land do I possess,\n No cottage in this wilderness;\n A poor wayfaring man,\n I lodge awhile in tents below,\n Or gladly wander to and fro,\n Till I my Canaan gain.\u2019\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n\n \u201cP.S. At the desire of a friend, I add a few words in answer to\n one or two other objections.\n\n \u201cFirst. When I said, \u2018I believe I am a scriptural bishop,\u2019 I\n spoke on Lord King\u2019s supposition, that bishops and presbyters\n are essentially one order.\n\n \u201cSecondly. I did desire Mr. Myles to assist me in delivering\n the cup. Now, be this right or wrong, how does it prove the\n point now in question, that I leave the Church? I ask (2) What\n law of the Church forbids this? And (3) What law of the\n primitive church? Did not the priest in the primitive church\n send both the bread and wine to the sick by whom he pleased,\n though not ordained at all?\n\n \u201cThirdly. The _Observer_ affirms, \u2018To say you will not leave\n the church, meaning thereby all true believers in England, is\n trifling.\u2019 Certainly; but I do not mean so when I say, \u2018I will\n not leave the Church.\u2019 I mean, unless I see more reason for it\n than I ever yet saw, I will not leave the Church of England as\n by law established, while the breath of God is in my\n nostrils.\u201d[671]\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s manifesto in 1789; in reality, a defence of a thing\nhe had often condemned,--Methodist service in church hours.\n\nWhile Wesley was thus attacked in the public press, he met with the\ngreatest respect and attention from several persons of distinguished\nrank in Dublin and its environs; the Earl of Moira among the number.\n\u201cThey seemed,\u201d says Mr. Myles, \u201cto think it a blessing to have him\nbeneath their roof.\u201d[672] Many of them flocked to hear him, on Good\nFriday, when he preached, morning and evening, in the elegant chapel\nof his old clerical dissenting friend, the Rev. Edward Smyth. Neither\ngrand people, however, nor grand chapels, were at all prized by\nWesley, except as they furnished opportunities of Christian\nusefulness. \u201cAt both times on Good Friday,\u201d says he, \u201cwe had a\nbrilliant congregation, among whom were honourable and right\nhonourable persons; but I felt they were all given into my hands; for\nGod was in the midst. What a mercy it is, what a marvellous\ncondescension in God, to provide such places as Bethesda, and Lady\nHuntingdon\u2019s chapels, for these delicate hearers, who could not bear\nsound doctrine if it were not set off with these _pretty trifles_!\u201d\n\nDublin was not the only place which, at this time, gave Wesley\ntrouble. The Dewsbury circuit was entirely wrested by his traitorous\nbook steward; and now, the same rebellion against giving Wesley, and\n(after his death) Wesley\u2019s conference, the sole power to appoint\npreachers, was showing itself at Shields. Hence the following,\naddressed to the three itinerant preachers stationed in the Newcastle\ncircuit.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _April 11, 1789_.\n\n \u201cI _require_ you three, Peter Mill, Joseph Thompson, and John\n Stamp, without consulting or regarding any person whatever, to\n require a positive answer of Edward Coats, within three weeks\n after the receipt of this, \u2018Will you, or will you not, settle\n the house at Milburn Place, North Shields, on the Methodist\n plan?\u2019 If he will not do it within another week, I farther\n require that none of you preach in that house, unless you will\n renounce all connection with your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n\n \u201cI am at a point. I will be trifled with no longer.\u201d[673]\n\nWas this more hasty than wise? John Pawson seemed to think so. The\nfollowing is taken from one of his unpublished letters, to Charles\nAtmore, dated \u201cLeeds, May 9, 1789.\u201d\n\n \u201cWhat a pity it is that Mr. Wesley will pursue these violent\n measures! If he goes thus, there will be divisions upon\n divisions among us. Mr. Hanby informs me, that, at North and\n South Shields, and at Alnwick, they refuse to settle their\n houses upon the conference plan; and, at Newcastle, they have\n been talking of building a chapel for the Rev. Mr. Collins, and\n of inviting some of the best preachers to settle among them,\n and make a circuit by themselves. I suppose Mr. Sagar would\n tell you, they had strange commotions among them when he was\n there.\u201d\n\nBut even this was not all. In 1785, Wesley ordained John Pawson and\nThomas Hanby for Scotland; where, for two years, they had administered\nthe sacraments, and had preached in gown and bands. In 1787, as\nalready stated, he brought them back to England, commanded them to\ndoff their canonicals, and, being in England, to discontinue their\nsacramental services. This, to Pawson, was exceedingly annoying; but\nhe hardly had the pluck of Hanby in resisting it. Hanby and Joseph\nTaylor, (who had also been ordained, and was in the same dubious\nposition,) were now stationed in the Nottingham circuit; and many of\nthe Methodists, aware of their ordination, naturally wished them to\nadminister to them the Christian ordinances; but this Wesley\nimperiously prohibited. Taylor yielded; Hanby persisted. The following\nextracts, from two of his unprinted letters, will be read with\ninterest. The first was addressed to James Oddie; the second to\nRichard Rodda.\n\n \u201cGRANTHAM, _May 21, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I have been in deep waters on account\n of my administering the Lord\u2019s supper, which I think it my duty\n to do, especially to those who, for conscience sake, cannot go\n to church. Mr. Wesley ordered me to desist. I told him, if I\n did, I should sin, because I was persuaded it was my duty. Then\n he instructed the London clergy and preachers to take me in\n hand. I have received their letter, and have replied, that I\n must still do as I have done; and that, if Mr. Wesley has given\n me up into their hands, they must act according to their own\n judgment; for what I was now doing was from a Divine conviction\n of my duty. Thus the matter rests. For some time, I have\n expected another preacher to take my place; but, as he has not\n come, perhaps, they will refer the matter to conference. Mr.\n Wesley has ordered Joseph Taylor, (who opposes me all he can,)\n to remove the leaders who have promoted the sacraments; if he\n does so, I expect there will be a division.\n\n \u201cSee, my brother, my situation. I am much afraid of myself,\n lest I should defile my conscience by yielding to the\n importunity of the preachers. I am of all others the most\n improper person to make a stand in defence of Christ\u2019s precious\n and most neglected ordinance. However, hitherto, through\n infinite mercy, I have been firm and immovable; and our\n solemnities are much owned of God; and I have much employment\n in the sacred service. I meet with great opposition from the\n high church bigots; but yet there are many, who will stand by\n me, let the consequence be what it will.\n\n \u201cLet me hear from you soon; and advise your very affectionate\n friend and brother,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS HANBY.\u201d\n\n \u201cPLUMTREE, _June 4, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR FRIEND,--O yes! my sin is not to be forgiven unless I\n repent, which I cannot do. That is too late, because I cannot\n seek it with tears. Mr. Wesley has declared, that he will\n exclude the preachers who administer the Lord\u2019s supper in\n England. For some time, I have expected to be unshipped; but\n whether hands are scarce, or I am to be permitted to finish my\n voyage, which will be the last week in July, I cannot tell.\n\n \u201cI came under no such obligations to Mr. Wesley, not to\n administer in England. If this prohibition had been laid upon\n me, I hope I should have refused his offer of _nothing_. I am\n in the fire, but, like the salamander, I live there. I am up to\n the chin in deep waters; but not drowned. Mr. Mather sent me a\n threatening bull; Mr. Wesley a second; and, to complete the\n work, the clergy in London, Mr. Rankin and Mr. Moore, joined\n their artillery. The last in command is my colleague, Joseph\n Taylor, who opposes me with the utmost warmth. You will readily\n conclude, \u2018Poor Hanby will be overpowered by numbers.\u2019 True;\n but I still keep the field, for all that, and mean to die\n there. I am single handed, for my brethren, who promised to\n support me, have deserted to the strongest party, not an\n unusual case. I grant, that those who are called to preach have\n an equal right to administer; but do not talk of \u2018depreciating\n ordination.\u2019 Mr. Wesley did that, seven years ago, when he\n published in the newspapers those who had presumed to be\n ordained by the Greek bishop. I expect, he will depreciate me,\n though he himself ordained me, and commanded me to administer\n the ordinances in the church of God.\n\n \u201cWhen the great opposition against the sacraments was formed,\n Mr. Taylor had administered once; and I had promised to do so\n in two other places; and when my engagements were fulfilled, I\n proposed to desist from proceeding further, (as he had done,)\n for I saw there was no withstanding so formidable a body.\n However, I was brought into deep distress of mind, by the\n earnest request of the people, who had not communicated for\n years, and who would not communicate with drinking, whoring,\n swearing, and fighting parsons. The Lord let me see that His\n ordinance was become obsolete, and that it was an unreasonable\n stretch of power, in any human creature, to say, \u2018If you will\n not communicate with these wicked men, you shall not\n communicate at all.\u2019 This appeared to me as an abrogation of\n Christ\u2019s commanded ordinance, for which no one, either man or\n angel, had authority. I saw it was my duty to stand forth in\n defence of this ordinance, and to suffer for it; for suffer I\n am sure to do. Mr. Wesley, for many years, has treated me\n contemptuously, putting me beneath the weakest and most\n suspicious characters, (viz. Briscoe and Fenwick,) and,\n therefore, I expect no favour in that quarter.\n\n \u201cI begin to look out for some poor cottage, to which I may\n retire, and wait the opening of Providence. \u2018_Vox populi vox\n Dei_,\u2019 is my motto; and, whatever others may say or think of\n me, I have no other motive but the principle of Divine love. I\n can promise my sect neither riches nor honour, by my opposition\n to the conference; but quite the reverse. To be expelled the\n connexion, after thirty-five years of uninterrupted labour, is,\n to me, a very painful thought; but I see I must suffer it; and\n shall only take away with me this motto, \u2018Driven from Methodism\n for defending the injured, and nearly abrogated and obsolete,\n ordinance of Christ.\u2019 Farewell, Mr. Wesley! Farewell, Mr.\n Rodda! Farewell, conference!\n\n \u201cI have written Mr. Wesley my reasons for acting in opposition\n to his will, and my reasons why I must still act as I do; but\n he has given me no answer. Well, I am nothing. I only want to\n be the servant of God; and I see I must be His servant in His\n own way. If we may judge of the propriety of our action, by His\n sacred presence, I can assure you the tokens of that presence\n are wonderfully manifested in our assemblies.\n\n \u201cMany of the people in this circuit intend to apply again for\n the ordinance; and, perhaps, their petition will be treated\n with the same contempt as their last was at Manchester.\n\n \u201cI am your very affectionate, and much obliged friend and\n brother,\n\n \u201cTHOMAS HANBY.\u201d\n\nThis was a painful state of things; Dewsbury, Shields, Nottingham, and\nDublin, in rebellion; and now Thomas Hanby, ordained by Wesley, and\none of his best preachers, in danger of expulsion, for doing what he\ndeemed to be his duty. Fortunately, this unbending minister was saved;\nand became the elected president of the fourth conference that was\nheld after Wesley\u2019s death. On Christmas day, in 1796, he preached\nthrice in Nottingham, and met four or five classes for the renewal of\ntheir quarterly tickets. This was his last labour of love. Four days\nafterwards, he died, saying: \u201cI am departing; but I have fought a good\nfight.\u201d[674]\n\nWesley left Dublin, on his preaching tour through the Irish provinces,\non the 13th of April, and returned on the 19th of June. In this nine\nweeks\u2019 journey he preached about a hundred sermons, in more than sixty\ndifferent towns and villages, at least a dozen times in the open air,\nhalf-a-dozen times in churches, and once in a place which, he says,\nwas \u201clarge, but not elegant--a cow house.\u201d\n\nDuring a part of the time, he was seriously unwell, being attacked\nwith a complaint which was new to him, diabetes. He wrote to London\nfor the advice of Dr. Whitehead, and, though the disease abated under\nthe doctor\u2019s treatment, he suffered from it, more or less, to the time\nof his decease.[675]\n\n\u201cI was delighted,\u201d says Mr. Alexander Knox, \u201cto find his cheerfulness\nin no respect abated. It was too obvious that his bodily frame was\nsinking; but his spirit was as alert as ever; and he was little less\nthe life of the company he happened to be in, than he had been\nthree-and-twenty years before, when I first knew him. Such unclouded\nsunshine of the breast, in the deepest winter of age, and on the felt\nverge of eternity, bespoke a mind whose recollections were as\nunsullied as its present sensations were serene.\u201d\n\nIn illustration of Mr. Knox\u2019s testimony, an anecdote may be added. At\nthis time, Mr. (afterwards the Rev.) Joseph Burgess was quartermaster\nof a regiment of soldiers in Sligo barracks, and had the honour of\nentertaining Wesley as his guest. A large party of friends were\nassembled to meet the venerable visitor at dinner; and, while the meal\nwas in progress, he suddenly laid down his knife and fork, clasped his\nhands, and lifted up his eyes, as in the attitude of praise and\nprayer. In an instant, feasting was suspended, and all the guests were\nsilent. Wesley then gave out, and sang with great animation,\n\n \u201cAnd can we forget,\n In tasting our meat,\n The angelical food which ere long we shall eat;\n When enrolled with the blest,\n In glory we rest,\n And for ever sit down at the heavenly feast?\u201d\n\nThe happy old man, so near to the gates of heaven, then quietly\nresumed his knife and fork; and all felt that this beautiful\nspontaneous episode, in the midst of an Irish dinner, had done them\ngood.[676]\n\nWesley spent three weeks more in Dublin and its vicinity. He visited\nthe classes, which contained above a thousand members, after he had\nexcluded about a hundred. He also held his Irish conference, at which,\nof the sixty preachers then employed in the sister island, between\nforty and fifty were present. He writes:\n\n\n \u201cI found such a body of men as I hardly believed could have\n been found together in Ireland; men of so sound experience, so\n deep piety, and so strong understanding. I am convinced, they\n are no way inferior to the English conference, except it be in\n number. I never saw such a number of preachers before, so\n unanimous in all points, particularly as to leaving the Church,\n which none of them had the least thought of. It is no wonder,\n that there has been this year so large an increase of the\n society.\u201d\n\nOn the conference Sunday, Wesley and his preachers, and a large number\nof the Dublin Methodists, attended the service in St. Patrick\u2019s. \u201cThe\ndean,\u201d says he, \u201cpreached a serious, useful sermon; and we had such a\ncompany of communicants as, I suppose, had scarce been seen there\ntogether, for above a hundred years.\u201d\n\nOn his birthday he wrote:\n\n \u201cJune 28.--This day I enter on my eighty-sixth year.[677] I now\n find, I grow old: (1) My sight is decayed; so that I cannot\n read a small print, unless in a strong light. (2) My strength\n is decayed; so that I walk much slower than I did some years\n since. (3) My memory of names, whether of persons or places, is\n decayed; till I stop a little to recollect them. What I should\n be afraid of, is, if I took thought for the morrow, that my\n body should weigh down my mind; and create either stubbornness,\n by the decrease of my understanding, or peevishness, by the\n increase of bodily infirmities: but Thou shalt answer for me, O\n Lord my God.\u201d\n\nAt length, on July 12, Wesley bid adieu to the shores of Ireland, for\never. It was a touching scene. Multitudes followed him to the ship.\nBefore he went on board, he read a hymn; and the crowd, as far as\nemotion would let them, joined the sainted patriarch in singing. He\nthen dropped upon his knees, and asked God to bless them, their\nfamilies, the Church, and Ireland. Shaking of hands followed; many\nwept most profusely; and not a few fell on the old man\u2019s neck and\nkissed him. He stepped on deck; the vessel moved; and then, with his\nhands still lifted up in prayer, the winds of heaven wafted him from\nan island which he dearly loved; and the warm hearted Irish Methodists\n\u201csaw his face no more.\u201d[678]\n\nBefore proceeding with Wesley\u2019s history, another selection from his\nletters may be welcome. The first was addressed to a man who deserves\na passing notice.\n\nWalter Churchey was an enthusiastic Welshman; a lawyer with a large\nfamily and a slender purse; a good, earnest, conceited old Methodist,\nwho, unfortunately for his wife and children, had more delight in\nwriting poetry than he had employment in preparing briefs. He was one\nof Wesley\u2019s correspondents as early as 1771;[679] exchanged letters\nwith Wesley\u2019s brother Charles; was an acquaintance of the saintly\nFletcher; and an intimate friend of Joseph Benson and Dr. Coke. He\nclaimed the honour, which belonged to others, of having first\nsuggested to Wesley the publishing of his _Arminian Magazine_;[680]\nand, in a manuscript letter before us, states that he it was who\noriginated the scheme for reducing what he calls \u201cthe national debt\u201d\nof Methodism in the year 1800. He was a good man, though perhaps\nflighty, very diligent but very poor, a warm admirer of Methodist\ndoctrine, but withal a millenarian, who wrote, in the letter just\nmentioned: \u201cI have lost my friend, Wesley; but I shall see him again,\nperhaps _soon_, even upon _earth_, where the _sufferers_ for Christ\nare to rise to reign in His spiritual kingdom on earth a thousand\nyears. I grow daily a greater _Brotherite_.\u201d[681]\n\nIn 1786, Churchey wished to enrich the world with his poetical\nproductions; and, among others, consulted Wesley and the poet Cowper.\nThe latter, in reply, remarked: \u201cI find your versification smooth,\nyour language correct and forcible, and especially in your translation\nof the Art of Printing. But you ask me, would I advise you to publish?\nI would advise every man to publish, whose subjects are well chosen,\nwhose sentiments are just, and who can afford to be a loser, if that\nshould happen, by his publication.\u201d[682]\n\nThus encouraged, the sanguine Welshman set to work; Wesley helped him\nin obtaining subscribers; the poems were published; the reviewers were\nrevilers; and poor Churchey was poorer than ever.\n\nThe following letters, among others, were addressed to this worthy,\nbut needy man. The first and second have not before been published.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 11, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--On Monday, March 2, I hope to be in Bath or\n Bristol, and then we may talk about the number of copies. I\n have been much more concerned than you, for these sixty years,\n in printing books, both with and without subscription; and I\n still think, with all our skill and industry, we shall be hard\n set to procure three hundred subscribers. Perhaps three hundred\n may _promise_; but we must never imagine that _all_ who promise\n will perform. But of this we may talk more, when we meet at\n Bristol.\n\n \u201cI suppose every one that loves King George loves Mr. Pitt.\n Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\n \u201cCLONES, _May 25, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I am afraid of delay. I doubt, I shall not\n be able to be as good as our word, although, in the last\n proposals, I have protracted the time of delivery till the 1st\n of August. As you are not a stripling, I wonder you have not\n yet learnt the difference between _promise_ and _performance_.\n I allow, at least, five-and-twenty per cent; and, from this\n conviction, I say to each of my subscribers (what, indeed,\n _you_ cannot say so decently to _yours_), \u2018Sir, down with your\n money.\u2019\n\n \u201cI know Dr. Ogilvie well. He is a lovely man and an excellent\n poet. I commend you for inoculating the children. I believe the\n hand of God is in our present work: therefore, it must prosper.\n Indeed, I love sister Churchey, and am your affectionate friend\n and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe following, besides referring to Churchey\u2019s poems, is possessed of\ninterest as containing an allusion to the prayer-book published in\n1788; and also Wesley\u2019s final testimony concerning the great\nphilanthropist, John Howard, who died seven months afterwards.\n\n \u201cDUBLIN, _June 20, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Michael ---- is an original. He tells lies\n innumerable, many of them plausible enough. But many talk full\n as plausibly as he; and they that can believe him, may.\n\n \u201cI do not doubt, but some part of your verse, as well as prose,\n will reach the hearts of some of the rich.\n\n \u201cDr. Coke made two or three little alterations in the\n prayer-book without my knowledge. I took particular care\n throughout, to alter nothing merely for altering\u2019s sake. In\n religion, I am for as few innovations as possible; I love the\n old wine best. And if it were only on this account, I prefer\n \u2018_which_\u2019 before \u2018_who_ art in heaven.\u2019\n\n \u201cMr. Howard is really an extraordinary man. God has raised him\n up to be a blessing to many nations. I do not doubt, but there\n has been something more than natural in his preservation\n hitherto, and should not wonder if the providence of God should\n hereafter be still more conspicuous in his favour.\n\n \u201cAbout three weeks hence, I expect to embark for England. Peace\n be with you and yours!\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[683]\n\nWhile in Ireland, Wesley was troubled with the affairs of Scotland.\nTwo years before this, John Pawson, eager to exercise his newly\nacquired episcopal or presbyterian power,--whichever the reader has a\nmind to call it,--began, in Glasgow, a species of Methodism, which was\nnot Wesley\u2019s, but his own. He ordained seven elders, who were to meet\nweekly, and to have the supervision of the temporal and spiritual\naffairs of the Glasgow Methodists. In a book, Pawson wrote the rules,\nwhich were to regulate their conduct. Among others, one regulation\nwas, that no person should be admitted into the society, or be\nexpelled from it, but by a majority of these ordained elders; for,\nthough the itinerant preacher might preside at their meetings, he was\nnot allowed to vote. No doubt, honest but simple Pawson expected good\nand great results. The elders, however, like Pawson, had no notion of\nbeing invested with ecclesiastical office without using it; and,\nhence, all sorts of paltry cases were got up, apparently for the\npurpose of enabling the newly fledged elders to show their skill in\nsettling them. One must suffice, as a specimen. Thomas Tassey, the\nmost vigilant and active of the official seven, alleged that Peggy\n---- had become a lodger with Peggy ----, and had committed theft; and\nthat, as the time for the administration of the sacrament was\napproaching, the charge against Peggy ---- ought to be judicially\nexamined. Accordingly, a sessions was appointed. The elders, the\naccuser, the accused, and the witnesses were present. Beside these,\nthere were also the two circuit preachers, Jonathan Crowther and\nJoseph Cownley, whom Crowther justly designates \u201ctwo poor ciphers,\u201d\nseeing, though they might preside, they had no power to vote. The\ncharge was, that when Peggy ---- went to lodge with Peggy ----, the\nlatter Peggy bought half an ounce of tea, and a farthing\u2019s worth of\noil; that these household provisions did not last so long as usual;\nand that the probability was, that the property of Peggy ---- had, to\nsome extent, been feloniously appropriated by her lodger, Peggy ----.\nThe affair was so serious, and withal so solemnly conducted, that it\nbecame needful to adjourn. At the second sessions, Crowther (who,\nthough not allowed to vote, had a right to examine witnesses), asked\nthe Peggy whose property was in question, how often she had made\nherself tea out of the half ounce, part of which had been stolen.\nPeggy dolorously answered, \u201cOnly seven times.\u201d She was then examined\nrespecting her farthing\u2019s worth of oil; and it was ascertained, that,\nthough it had not lasted as long as usual, she had been using a _new_\nfeather in applying it; and it was thought that the _new_ feather\nmight have absorbed the quantity which Peggy, the lodger, was accused\nof stealing.\n\nSo the matter ended. Jonathan Crowther was disgusted, and told\nPawson\u2019s ordained elders, that their discipline resembled the wisdom\nof Solomon, for it took cognisance of everything, from the hyssop on\nthe wall to the cedars of mount Lebanon. The system had been\ninstituted by Pawson, one of Wesley\u2019s confidential friends, and a\npreacher of seventeen years\u2019 standing. Crowther was young and\ninexperienced, only in the fifth year of his itinerant life; but he\nwas gifted with common sense, and saw that, if this ordained machinery\nwas continued, Methodism must be ruined. Wesley had been in Scotland\ntwelve months before; but, strangely enough, appears to have been kept\nin ignorance of the new court at Glasgow. At all events, Jonathan\nCrowther now wrote to him; and received the following decisive answer.\n\n \u201cCORK, _May 10, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--\u2018Sessions\u2019! \u2018elders\u2019! We Methodists have no\n such custom, neither any of the churches of God that are under\n our care. I require _you_, Jonathan Crowther, immediately to\n dissolve that session (so called) at Glasgow. Discharge them\n from meeting any more. And if they will leave the society, let\n them leave it. We acknowledge only preachers, stewards, and\n leaders among us, over which the assistant in each circuit\n presides. You ought to have kept to the Methodist plan from the\n beginning. Who had my authority to vary from it? If the people\n of Glasgow, or any other place, are weary of us, we will leave\n them to themselves. But we are willing to be still their\n servants, for Christ\u2019s sake, according to our own discipline,\n but no other.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[684]\n\nBefore accompanying Wesley on his way back to England, we insert\nanother letter, which is abridged in Wesley\u2019s collected works. Adam\nClarke was in the isle of Jersey; but Wesley wished him to remove to\nDublin, on account of the disturbed state of the society in that city.\nHis old friend, the Rev. Edward Smyth, was now one of his bitter\nenemies. Hence the following.\n\n \u201cNEAR DUBLIN, _June 25, 1789_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--You send me good news with regard to the islands.\n Who can hurt us, if God is on our side? Trials may come, but\n they are all good. I have not been so tried for many years.\n Every week and almost every day, I am bespattered in the public\n papers, either by Mr. Smyth, or by Mr. Mann, his curate.\n Smooth, but bitter as wormwood, are their words; and five or\n six of our richest members have left the society, because (they\n say) \u2018I have left the Church.\u2019 Many are in tears on account of\n it; and many are terribly frightened, and crying out, \u2018Oh! what\n will the end be?\u2019 What will it be? Why, \u2018Glory to God in the\n highest, peace on earth, and goodwill among men.\u2019\n\n \u201cBut, meantime, what is to be done? What will be the most\n effectual means to stem this furious torrent? I have just\n visited the classes, and find still in the society upwards of a\n thousand members; and, among these, many as deep Christians as\n any I have met with in Europe. But who is able to watch over\n them, that they may not be moved from their steadfastness? I\n know none more proper than Adam Clarke and his wife. Indeed, it\n may seem hard for them to go into a strange land again. Well,\n you may come to me at Leeds, at the latter end of next month;\n and if you can show me any that are more proper, I will send\n them in your stead.[685] That God may be glorified, is all that\n is desired by, dear Adam,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[686]\n\nIt has been already stated, that Wesley embarked for England on July\n12. William Myles was with him, and says: \u201cWe had a pleasant passage;\nMr. Wesley preached, and we sang hymns most of the way.\u201d[687] The\npassage lasted about six-and-thirty hours.\n\nAfter holding services at Chester and Northwich, Wesley made his way\nto Manchester, where he and Coke administered the sacrament to about\ntwelve hundred communicants. At Dewsbury, where John Atlay had taken\nboth the Methodists and their chapel, Wesley preached out of doors, in\na drenching rain. He then proceeded to Leeds for the purpose of\nholding his annual conference; and, on the day before it began its\nsessions, preached from what would be a good conference text at the\npresent time: \u201cO Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,\navoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science\nfalsely so called.\u201d\n\nAs usual, Wesley, besides conducting the business of the conference,\npreached every day during its sittings; and his texts throughout were\nequally well timed, namely: \u201cTrain up a child in the way he should go;\nand when he is old he will not depart from it.\u201d \u201cWe through the Spirit\nwait for the hope of righteousness by faith.\u201d \u201cWoe unto the world\nbecause of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe\nto that man by whom the offence cometh.\u201d \u201cTo the weak became I as\nweak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men,\nthat I might by all means save some.\u201d \u201cWell, Master, Thou hast said\nthe truth; for there is one God; and there is none other but He.\u201d \u201cI\nhave a message from God unto thee.\u201d \u201cIf any man speak, let him speak\nas the oracles of God.\u201d[688] Here was a word in season for every one.\nRare was the treat to attend a conference like this. On the conference\nSunday, Wesley seems to have devolved the preaching upon others; but\nthe day was not an idle one. He writes: \u201cwith the assistance of three\nother clergymen, I administered the sacrament to fifteen or sixteen\nhundred persons.\u201d When and where are such sacramental services held at\npresent?\n\nWhat may be called the _conference sermon_ was preached by a local\npreacher, perhaps the only instance of the kind in Methodism\u2019s\nhistory. James Hamilton, M.D., was the preacher; his text, \u201cTrust ye\nnot in lying words, saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the\nLord, the temple of the Lord, are these.\u201d His sermon was printed, and\nwas sold \u201cat the Rev. Mr. Wesley\u2019s preaching houses in town and\ncountry,\u201d with the following title: \u201cA Sermon preached at Leeds, July\n29, 1789, before the Methodist Preachers, assembled in Conference, and\na large body of the people in connection with them; and now published\nat the request of many of the Hearers.\u201d\n\nThis also was a sermon for the times, and evidently had Wesley\u2019s\napprobation. Its gist may be gathered from a few brief extracts.\n\nAfter dwelling on the functions of the priests and scribes of the\nJewish church, the preacher said:\n\n \u201cBut as all external religion is of no use, any farther than as\n it advances the spiritual kingdom of Christ in the soul; and as\n the Jews too often lost sight of this, resting in their types\n and ceremonies, God called a race of men, named prophets, who\n had nothing to do with the priesthood; men full of the Holy\n Ghost; and sent them to declare that all external religion is\n nothing worth, when it fails to produce purity of heart. The\n prophets were, (with two or three exceptions,) what we call\n laymen,--taken from the common occupations in Jud\u00e6a, chiefly\n farmers and shepherds,--holy men, men of strong faith, their\n hearts overflowing with zeal for the honour of God,--men of\n invincible courage, practising the strictest temperance, and\n clothed in the plainest manner.\u201d\n\nDr. Hamilton then proceeded to argue, that Methodist preachers bore\nsome analogy to these special messengers of God in ancient times; and\nafter an affectionate allusion to the two Wesleys, and to Whitefield,\ncontinued:\n\n \u201cAnd here mark the Divine wisdom. Although their brother\n priests in the Church thrust them from them, and although their\n names were cast out as evil above the names of all men, they\n ever retained a strong and affectionate attachment to the men\n who had thus abused them, and to the Church of which they were\n members; and this has been, in the overruling hand of God, the\n great means of carrying on that glorious spiritual work which\n we now behold. Had it not been for this attachment, the\n Methodists would have, long ere this, become a distinct body,\n separate from the Church and all others; and, I fear, in\n consequence thereof, would have sunk into the dead formality of\n the numerous sects, with which the world is harassed and\n divided.\u201d\n\nThen proceeding to address the assembled conference, the preacher\nadded:\n\n \u201cWill ye bear with me, ye spiritual messengers of the Lord,\n while I presume to say a few words to _you_? See with what a\n holy calling ye are called; for what a glorious and important\n end God has raised you up! Even to set spiritual religion\n before the eyes of all men; to cry to men of all opinions,\n sects, and parties, \u2018Trust not unto lying words, saying, The\n temple of the Lord are these\u2019; to bring them, from resting in\n external duties, to the possession of internal holiness; from\n an opinion in the head, to the love of God in the heart. Let\n then the dead bury their dead! Let the formalist and the\n pharisee, the church bigot and the sectary, contend for ways of\n thinking, gestures in worship, and modes of church government;\n but may ye never forget, that ye are sent for a nobler end;\n that your commission is the same as Paul\u2019s, not to baptize, but\n to preach the gospel. Although I am neither a prophet, nor the\n son of a prophet; yet forgive me when I express my fears, that,\n if ever the Methodists leave their several churches; if ever ye\n set up as a separate people by external distinctions and\n creeds; if ye substitute a silken gown and sash for rough\n garments and a leathern girdle, and call one another, Rabbi!\n Rabbi! then the glory will depart from you, and God will raise\n up another people. He will call other lay preachers, no matter\n by what name; and He will send them to call _you_ from opinions\n and forms, and to sound in _your_ ears, \u2018Trust not unto lying\n words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,\n the temple of the Lord are these.\u2019\u201d\n\nHamilton\u2019s sermon, to say the least, was ingenious; and referring as\nit does to the great topic of the day, separation from the Church,\nthese extracts will not be regarded as out of place.\n\nWesley says, there were about a hundred preachers present at the\nconference; Atmore says, about a hundred and thirty;[689] be that as\nit may, one hundred and fifteen of them signed a declaration, that\nthey entirely approved of Methodist chapels being settled on the\nconference plan; and, among these, were several who, soon after,\ndistinguished themselves as Methodist reformers, namely, William Thom,\nHenry Taylor, and Alexander Kilham.\n\nThe principal subjects discussed are thus referred to in Wesley\u2019s\njournal.\n\n \u201cJuly 28--The case of separation from the Church was largely\n considered, and we were all unanimous against it. August 1--We\n considered the case of Dewsbury house, which the self elected\n trustees have robbed us of. The point they contended for was\n this,--that they should have a right of rejecting any preachers\n they disapproved of. But this, we say, would destroy\n itinerancy. So they chose John Atlay for a preacher, who\n adopted William Eels for his curate. Nothing remained but to\n build another preaching house, towards which we subscribed \u00a3206\n on the spot.\u201d\n\nBesides these, some other points were decided; namely, that the\npreachers should read the rules of the society in every society once a\nquarter; that no person should be admitted to lovefeasts without a\nsociety ticket, or a note from the assistant; that every watchnight\nshould be continued till midnight; that the collections at lovefeasts\nshould be most conscientiously given to the poor; that preachers\nshould not go out to supper, and should be home before nine at night;\nthat preachers\u2019 children should dress exactly according to the band\nrules; that only one preacher should come in future to the conference\nfrom Scotland, except those that were to be admitted into full\nconnexion; and that no books should be published without Wesley\u2019s\nsanction, and that those approved by him should be printed at his\npress in London, and be sold by his book steward.\n\nWe give these legislative enactments as we find them. The last bore\nhardly on strong minded writers, like Thomas Taylor and Joseph Benson.\n\nThe day after the conference concluded, Wesley set out for London, and\nthence, for the last time, to Cornwall. His first day\u2019s journey was\nseventy miles, and his second eighty, and to this amount of labour was\nadded preaching. One day in London was devoted to business; on the\nnext, which was Sunday, the patriarchal preacher delivered two sermons\nin the chapel in City Road, set out at seven o\u2019clock, p.m., travelled\nall night, and reached Bristol about noon on Monday. Without delay, he\nhurried on to Plymouth, preaching at Taunton, Collumpton, and Exeter.\nAt Plymouth there had been, what he calls, a \u201csenseless quarrel\u201d; but\nhe administered the sacrament to six hundred people, and preached to\nan enormous congregation out of doors.\n\nArriving at St. Austell, he says: \u201cI knew not where to preach, the\nstreet being so dirty, and the preaching house so small. At length, we\ndetermined to squeeze as many as we could into the preaching house;\nand truly God was there.\u201d At Truro, the street, leading to the chapel,\nbeing blocked up with starving tinners demanding an increase to their\nwages, and a troop of soldiers who were keeping peace, Wesley was\nobliged to preach \u201cunder the coinage hall.\u201d Forty years had elapsed\nsince he was last at Falmouth, and then he was \u201ctaken prisoner by an\nimmense mob, gaping and roaring like lions; now high and low lined the\nstreet, from one end of the town to the other, out of stark love and\nkindness\u201d; and he preached to the largest congregation he had ever\nseen in Cornwall, except in or near Redruth. The same sort of scenes\nawaited him at Helstone, St. Just, Newlyn, and Penzance. In Gwennap\npit his congregation was calculated at five-and-twenty thousand. This\nremarkable spot was first used by Wesley, as a place for preaching, in\n1762, on account of the wind being so boisterous as to prevent him\noccupying his usual stand in the town itself. \u201cAt a small distance,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cwas a hollow capable of containing many thousand people. I\nstood on one side of this amphitheatre, toward the top, with the\npeople beneath, and on all sides.\u201d Many since then had been the\nmarvellous scenes he had witnessed in this \u201cthe finest natural\namphitheatre in the kingdom.\u201d There can be little doubt, that the\nestimated numbers were sometimes greater than the real; but still, it\nwas here, on this Cornish common, that Wesley had the largest\ncongregations to whom he ever preached. The place is now one of the\n\u201csights\u201d of Cornwall. Here an annual service has been held ever since\nWesley\u2019s death; and now, on every Whitmonday, thousands wend their\nway, in every style of conveyance, from the donkey cart of the poor\npeasant to the dashing carriage of the wealthy squire, and assembling\nwithin the area and around the banks of this consecrated hollow, join\nin one vast act of worship, offered to the God of heaven. Here we have\nMethodism\u2019s yearly pilgrimage, made by hosts of Cornish Methodists,\nnot to honour man, but to commemorate the mercies of their fathers\u2019\nGod, and to ask His help and blessing on behalf of themselves and\ntheir posterity.\n\nEleven days were spent in Cornwall, during which Wesley preached, at\nleast, seventeen times, nine of which were in the open air. \u201cThere\nis,\u201d says he, \u201ca fair prospect in Cornwall, from Launceston to the\nLand\u2019s End.\u201d\n\nOn his way back, we find him preaching at Tavistock, Plymouth, Exeter,\nTiverton, Halberton, Taunton, Castle Carey, Ditcheat, and Shepton\nMallet, eleven sermons, in seven days, besides the travelling from\nCornwall to Bristol. No wonder that the venerable traveller sometimes\nstarted at three o\u2019clock in the morning!\n\nBristol was the centre of Wesley\u2019s labours from September 5 to October\n5. On one of the Sundays, he preached twice in his own chapel, and\nonce in Temple church; but writes: \u201cIt was full as much as I could do.\nI doubt I must not hereafter attempt to preach more than twice a day.\u201d\n\nOn October 5, he started from Bristol at four o\u2019clock in the morning,\nfor London. Arriving in town, he wrote:\n\n \u201cI am now as well, by the good providence of God, as I am\n likely to be while I live. My sight is so decayed, that I\n cannot well read by candlelight; but I can write as well as\n ever; and my strength is much lessened, so that I cannot easily\n preach above twice a day. But, I bless God, my memory is not\n much decayed; and my understanding is as clear as it has been\n these fifty years.\u201d\n\nHaving spent five days in London, he set out for Norfolk. The\nremainder of the year was employed, as usual, partly in London, and\npartly in his long accustomed preaching tours to the surrounding\ncounties. On the last Sunday in the year, he occupied the pulpit of\nSt. Luke\u2019s, his parish church. \u201cThe tables are turned,\u201d says he; \u201cI\nhave now more invitations to preach in churches than I can accept of.\u201d\n\nOne of his London retreats was, what he calls, \u201cthe lovely family at\nBalham.\u201d This was, doubtless, the family of George Wolff, Esq., one of\nhis executors,--a merchant, and also consul general to the court of\nDenmark,--a gentleman of unassuming manners, deeply pious, and one of\nthe most liberal of the metropolitan Methodists,--for many years the\nconfidential friend of Wesley, and who died at Balham, in 1828, at the\nage of ninety-two.[690]\n\nBefore concluding the year, we insert a further selection from\nWesley\u2019s letters.\n\nThe first was to his nephew, Samuel Wesley, the musical genius, now\ntwenty-three years of age, and is strikingly characteristic of the\nvenerable writer.\n\n \u201cNEAR BRISTOL, _September 16, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SAMMY,--It gives me pleasure to hear, that you have so\n much resolution, that you go to bed at ten, and rise at four\n o\u2019clock. Let not the increase of cold affright you from your\n purposes. Bear your cross, and it will bear you. I advise you\n carefully to read over Kempis, the Life of Gregory Lopez, and\n that of Mons. de Renty. They are all among my brother\u2019s books.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate uncle and friend,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[691]\n\nThe next beautifully illustrates the benevolence of Wesley, and the\nfaithfulness of his friendship. Mr. Salmon, at the time referred to,\nwas not a member of the Methodist society, but only an occasional\nhearer; and, yet, the instance of his liberality, which Wesley\nmentions, was not the only one which does honour to his character. In\n1762, Wesley opened a new chapel at Shepton Mallet, with a mudden\nfloor; and, in this state, it was occupied for years, when Mr. Salmon\ngave the stewards \u00a340 to improve the floor, and to supply back rails\nto the benches.[692] Richard Rodda, to whom the following was\naddressed, now filled the office of assistant at Manchester.\n\n \u201cWALLINGFORD, _October 24, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You are a man whom I can trust: whatever you\n do, you will do it with your might. Some years since, we wanted\n a preaching place near Coleford, in Somersetshire. A\n neighbouring gentleman, Mr. Salmon, gave us ground to build on,\n and timber for the house, and desired me to use his house as my\n own. He is now by wicked men reduced to want.\n\n \u201cI am informed, a master for a poorhouse is wanted at\n Manchester. Pray inquire, and, if it be so, leave no means\n untried to procure the place for him. Apply, in my name, to B.\n Barlow, D. Yates, T. Phillips, Dr. Easton, Mr. Brocklehurst,\n Stonehouse, and all that have a regard for me. Make all the\n interest you can. Leave no stone unturned. \u2018Join hands with God\n to make a good man live.\u2019 I hope you will send me word in\n London, that you have exerted yourself, and are not without a\n prospect of success.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Richard, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[693]\n\nThe following letter is now, for the first time, published. The\nLiverpool Methodists were about to build their Mount Pleasant chapel.\nAn expenditure of \u00a31100 startled Wesley. What would he have said to\nthe expenditure of as many thousands? And yet Liverpool Methodism does\nthe one now with as much nonchalance as it did the other then. The\nletter was addressed to Mr. Lawrence Frost.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 23, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You are bold people! Two hundred pounds,\n purchase money, besides nine hundred pounds! But I do not use\n to damp any good design. Go on in the name of God. It is true,\n your deed is clumsy enough. I am surprised, that no Methodist\n will take my advice. I have more _experience_, in these things,\n than any attorney in the land. And have I not the Methodist\n interest as much at heart? Oh, why will you alter the beautiful\n deed we have already? why will you employ any attorney at all?\n Only to seek a knot in a bulrush; only to puzzle the cause.\n Well, comfort yourself. You will not long be troubled with\n\n \u201cYour affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next, which was written to William Black, in Nova Scotia, is\ninteresting as containing a reference to Wesley\u2019s labours, and his\nprofessed adherence to the Church.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 21, 1789_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Your letter has given me great satisfaction.\n My fears are vanished away. I am persuaded, brother Wray,\n Stretton, and you, will go on hand in hand, and that each of\n you will take an equal share in the common labour. I do so\n myself. I labour now just as I did twenty or forty years ago.\n By all means, proceed by common consent, and think not of\n _separating_ from the Church of England. I am more and more\n confirmed in the judgment which our whole conference passed on\n that head, in the year 1758.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[694]\n\nThirty-two years before, Wesley preached his first and last sermon in\nBideford. For long it had been a barren soil, but, in 1788, was made a\ncircuit town; and now simple minded, sanctified Samuel Bardsley was\nlabouring with great success. \u201cI am glad,\u201d says Wesley to this godly\nman, \u201cto hear so good an account of the work of God at Bideford. It\nhad held out long, and seemed to bid defiance to the gospel.\u201d[695]\nBardsley was all alone; and Michael Fenwick, fond of meddling, wrote\nto him: \u201cDear Sammy,--Write a pressing letter every post, until Mr.\nWesley sends you another preacher. It is cruel to let you be all alone\nin that great wide circuit; and I will tell Mr. Wesley so. I am glad,\nthat Col. Buck is the reigning mayor with you. Pray, when you see him,\ngive my Christian respects to him, and tell him, I am glad he is\nraised to be the first magistrate in Bideford.\u201d Fenwick was without an\nappointment, and was resident at Hexham. Wesley took him at his word,\nand sent him to Bideford. Poor Michael seems to have been a stormy\npetrel. No sooner was he come, than there was serious trouble. Hence\nthe following.\n\n \u201c_December 25, 1789._\n\n \u201cMOST ESTEEMED FRIEND,--Yesterday, I waited upon the lord\n lieutenant for this county, Lord Fortescue, and we spent an\n hour together in a close, pointed conversation, respecting the\n hot persecution at Bideford. His lordship told me, he will go\n over and inquire into matters, for he thinks our lives are in\n danger, seeing that the mayor of Bideford and the other\n justices have thrown open the flood gates to the mob, to do\n with us as they please. I recommended to his lordship the 23rd\n of Matthew, (only changing the word Jerusalem into that of\n Bideford,) in which our blessed Lord describes the men. His\n lordship is greatly alarmed at our present situation; but, the\n next week, he will be with his majesty, and will let him know\n of our treatment; and they must take the consequences. My dear\n brother, never fear: only believe; and we shall see great\n things in due time. I shall conquer, or die in the field.\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate friend,\n\n \u201cMICHAEL FENWICK.\u201d[696]\n\nThe above not only furnishes a glimpse of Methodist affairs at\nBideford, but casts light on the following letters, which Wesley sent\nto Bardsley.\n\n \u201cNORTHAMPTON, _November 25, 1789_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--Yours of the 21st instant was sent to me hither.\n You have done exceeding well to take the upper room. If need\n be, we will help you out. Let us have no law, if it be possible\n to avoid it: that is the last and worst remedy. Try every other\n remedy first. It is a good providence, that the mayor of\n Bideford is a friendly man. Prayer will avail much in all\n cases. Encourage our poor people to be instant in prayer. Take\n care of poor Michael; and do not forget,\n\n \u201cDear Sammy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[697]\n\n \u201cNEWCASTLE UNDER LYNE, _March 29, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SAMMY,--Take particular care, that neither Michael\n Fenwick, nor any other, give any just offence; and especially,\n that they offend not God; then He will make your enemies to be\n at peace with you.\n\n \u201cIf I remember well, I did write to the mayor of Bideford; and\n I expect, that makes him more quiet. By meekness, gentleness,\n and patience, with faith and prayer, you will prevail at\n Torrington also. You have only to go on calmly and steadily,\n and God will arise and maintain His own cause. Only let us\n labour to have a conscience void of offence toward God, and\n toward man.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Sammy, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[698]\n\nAll must admire this advice. During this year of storm and tempest,\nthe Bideford Methodists increased from eighty-three to one hundred and\nforty.\n\nWe insert one more letter. In the Isle of Man there were 2569\nMethodists, within five hundred of the number there are at present.\nThen there was one circuit; now there are four: then there were three\nitinerant preachers; now there are ten. George Holder was assistant;\nand to him Wesley addressed the following.\n\n \u201cNEAR LONDON, _November 29, 1789_.\n\n \u201cDEAR GEORGE,--You did well to remember the case of Dewsbury\n house, and to send what you could to Mr. Mather.\n\n \u201cI exceedingly disapprove of publishing anything in the Manx\n language. On the contrary, we should do everything in our power\n to abolish it from the earth, and persuade every member of our\n society to learn and talk English. This would be much hindered\n by providing them with hymns in their own language. Therefore,\n gently and quietly let the proposal drop.\n\n \u201cI hope you and your fellow labourers are of one heart. Peace\n be with your spirits!\n\n \u201cI am, dear George, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[699]\n\nWesley would take no step to gratify the linguistic folly of the Manx\nMethodists; but he was still actively employed in supplying books to\nhis English readers. His publications, in 1789, were:\n\n1. \u201cThe Life of Mr. Silas Told.\u201d 18mo, 113 pages.\n\n2. \u201cA Short Account of the Life and Death of Jane Newland, of Dublin.\u201d\n12mo, 12 pages.\n\n3. \u201cAn Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley\u2019s Journal, from September\n4, 1782, to June 28, 1786.\u201d 12mo, 134 pages.\n\n4. \u201cMinutes of Several Conversations between the Rev. Mr. Wesley and\nothers. From the year 1744, to the year 1789.\u201d 12mo, 51 pages.\n\n5. His chief publication, of course, was his _Arminian Magazine_, 8vo,\n679 pages.\n\nAs usual, it contains six of his own sermons. Those on Man, Faith, and\nthe Omnipresence of God, are among the ablest he ever wrote. That on\nthe Rich Man and Lazarus is a powerful exposition of the text, which\nWesley believed to be, not merely a parable, but a history. The sermon\non Riches is boldly faithful, and must have made the rich Methodists\nof that period wince and tremble; as, indeed, it ought to make such\nMethodists wince and tremble at the present day. The following,\naddressed to rich men, are the concluding paragraphs.\n\n \u201cO how pitiable is your condition! And who is able to help you?\n You need more plain dealing than any men in the world; and you\n meet with less. For how few dare to speak as plain to _you_, as\n they would to one of your servants? No man living that either\n hopes to gain anything by your favour, or fears to lose\n anything by your displeasure. Oh that God would give me\n acceptable words, and cause them to sink deep into your hearts!\n Many of you have known me long, well-nigh from your infancy!\n You have frequently helped me, when I stood in need. May I not\n say, you loved me? But now the time of our parting is at hand;\n my feet are just stumbling upon the dark mountains. I would\n leave one word with you, before I go hence; and you may\n remember it when I am no more seen.\n\n \u201cO let your heart be whole with God! Seek your happiness in\n Him, and Him alone. Beware, that you cleave not to the dust!\n This earth is not your place. See that you use this world as\n not abusing it; _use_ the world, and _enjoy_ God. Sit as loose\n to all things here below, as if you were a poor beggar. Be a\n good steward of the manifold gifts of God; that, when you are\n called to give an account of your stewardship, He may say,\n \u2018Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy\n of thy Lord.\u2019\u201d\n\nNothing can be plainer than that, for several of the last years of his\nlife, Wesley regarded the growing riches of the Methodists as one of\ntheir greatest dangers. His magazines, to say nothing of his letters\nand his journals, are full of this. Hence, his eighteen lengthy\nextracts on the Surest Way of Thriving, running through the whole of\nthe magazine of 1788, and part of that for 1789. Hence, the solemn\nwarning, contained in his brief article on \u201cThe Origin of Image\nWorship among Christians\u201d; an article meriting the serious thought of\nthose wealthy Methodists, who are adorning (?) their chapels with\npainted windows and emblematic pulpits. Citations might be multiplied,\nall tending to show that, rightly or wrongly, Wesley regarded the\ngrowth of riches among Christians, not as a good to be desired, but as\na necessary evil, and a serious danger.\n\nThe only sermon, which remains unnoticed, is that on God\u2019s\nVineyard,--a sermon on the doctrine, spiritual helps, discipline, and\noutward protection of Methodism. He tells us that, notwithstanding the\nassistance they received from Peter Bohler, he and the other Oxford\nMethodists \u201cwere never clearly convinced, that we are justified by\nfaith alone, till they carefully consulted the homilies of the Church\nof England, and compared them with the sacred writings, particularly\nSt. Paul\u2019s epistle to the Romans.\u201d He propounds the principle, which\nDr. James Hamilton enlarged upon in his conference sermon, already\nmentioned, that for the Methodists to have become a separate sect,\nlike the Moravians, \u201cwould have been a direct contradiction to the\nwhole design of God in raising them up, to spread scriptural religion\nthroughout the land, among people of every denomination, leaving every\none to hold his own opinions, and to follow his own mode of worship.\u201d\nHaving shown the great advantages that the Methodists had enjoyed, his\nearly hopes concerning them, and how these hopes had hardly been\nrealised, he concludes with the following address to the rich members\nof the society.\n\n \u201cO ye that have riches in possession, once more hear the word\n of the Lord! Ye that are rich in this world, that have food to\n eat, and raiment to put on, and something over! Are you clear\n of the curse? of loving the world? Are you sensible of your\n danger? Do you feel, \u2018How hardly will they that have riches\n enter into the kingdom of heaven\u2019? Do you continue unburnt in\n the midst of fire? Are you untouched with the love of the\n world? Are you clear from the desire of the flesh, the desire\n of the eye, and the pride of life? Do you _put a knife to your\n throat_ when you sit down to meat, lest your _table_ should be\n a _snare to you_? Is not your belly your god? Is not eating and\n drinking, or any other pleasure of sense, the greatest pleasure\n you enjoy? Do not you seek happiness in dress, furniture,\n pictures, gardens; or anything else that pleases the eye? Do\n not you grow soft and delicate? unable to bear cold, heat, the\n wind or the rain, as you did when you were poor? Are you not\n increasing in goods, laying up treasures on earth; instead of\n restoring to God, in the poor, not so much or so much, but all\n that you can spare! Surely \u2018it is easier for a camel to go\n through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the\n kingdom of heaven!\u2019\u201d\n\nThere are other contributions by Wesley, in the _Magazine_ for 1789,\nwhich ought to have attention. There is an exquisitely drawn up\narticle on \u201cThe Nature of Inspiration, clearly explained and enforced,\nas applicable to the Old and New Testament\u201d; and also his piece \u201cOn\nthe Manners of the Times\u201d; neither of which has been included in\nWesley\u2019s collected works. And there are also his \u201cThoughts on\nSeparation from the Church,\u201d and his \u201cThoughts upon a late\nPhenomenon;\u201d both of them really on the same subject. After showing\nhow revivals of religion have generally ended in the formation of\nseparate sects, and thereby rarely lasted, according to Luther\u2019s\n_dictum_, \u201clonger than a generation, that is, thirty years,\u201d Wesley\nremarks:\n\n \u201cThe Methodists have been solicited again and again, to\n separate from the Established Church, and to form themselves\n into a distinct body, independent of all other religious\n societies. Thirty years ago, this was seriously considered\n among them, at a general conference. All the arguments, urged\n on one side and the other, were considered at large; and it was\n determined, without one dissenting voice, that they \u2018ought not\n to separate from the Church.\u2019\n\n \u201cThis is a new thing in the world; this is the peculiar glory\n of the people called Methodists. In spite of all manner of\n temptations, they will not separate from the Church. What many\n so earnestly covet, they abhor; they will not be a distinct\n body. Now what instance have we of this before, either in\n ancient or modern history, of a body of people, in such\n circumstances, who will not be a distinct party, but choose to\n remain in connection with their own church, that they may be\n more effectually the servants of all? This, I say again, is an\n utterly new phenomenon! I never saw, heard, or read of anything\n like it. The Methodists will not separate from the Church,\n although continually reproached for doing it; although it would\n free them from abundance of inconveniences, and make their path\n much smoother and easier; and although many of their friends\n earnestly advise, and their enemies provoke them to it,--the\n clergy in particular; most of whom, far from thanking them for\n continuing in the Church, use all the means in their power,\n fair and unfair, to drive them out of it.\u201d\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [666] The photographic portrait, in the present volume, is\n taken from Romney\u2019s painting, by the kind permission\n of its possessor, the Rev. G. Stringer Rowe.\n\n [667] Life of Garretson.\n\n [668] _Methodist Magazine_, 1867, p. 623.\n\n [669] _Methodist Magazine_, 1797, p. 313.\n\n [670] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 253.\n\n [671] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 254.\n\n [672] _Methodist Magazine_, 1831, p. 298.\n\n [673] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 117.\n\n [674] Atmore\u2019s \u201cMethodist Memorial.\u201d\n\n [675] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 379.\n\n [676] _Methodist Magazine_, 1840, p. 543.\n\n [677] It ought to have been eighty-seventh.\n\n [678] \u201cAnecdotes of the Wesleys,\u201d p. 312.\n\n [679] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 404.\n\n [680] _Methodist Magazine_, 1823, p. 134.\n\n [681] A reference to Richard Brothers, the prophecy\n expounder of that period.\n\n [682] Cowper\u2019s Works, Bohn\u2019s edit., vol. iii., p. 370.\n\n [683] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 409.\n\n [684] Crowther\u2019s manuscript autobiography.\n\n [685] Thomas Rutherford was sent in this emergency.\n\n [686] _Wesleyan Times_, June 11, 1866.\n\n [687] _Methodist Magazine_, 1797, p. 313.\n\n [688] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 115.\n\n [689] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 115.\n\n [690] _Methodist Magazine_, 1828, p. 286.\n\n [691] _Wesley Banner_, 1851, p. 405.\n\n [692] _Methodist Magazine_, 1827, p. 285.\n\n [693] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 478.\n\n [694] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 251.\n\n [695] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 472.\n\n [696] Manuscript letter.\n\n [697] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 675.\n\n [698] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xii., p. 473.\n\n [699] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 108.\n\n\n\n\n 1790.\n Age 87\n\n\nWesley\u2019s career is drawing to a close. He himself was on the\n\u201cDelectable mountains,\u201d basking in the sheen of the celestial city;\nbut all around him, or rather beneath him, was darkness and confusion.\nThe riots of 1789 were about to culminate in the indescribable horrors\nof the French revolution. Burke wrote against this terrible upheaving;\nDr. Price applauded it. English newspapers, all at once, became\nGallican and republican; and overflowed with abuse of the old\nconstitution,--abuse of the Church,--abuse of the aristocracy,--abuse\nof almost everything except the French insurrection, and the men who\nmade it. Thomas Paine and his friends were in the highest feather; and\ninfidel and revolutionary pamphlets were published with prodigal\nprofusion. Even Fox, in parliament, declared that the French army, by\nrefusing to obey the court and to act against the people, had set a\nglorious example to all the armies of Europe; to which Burke, who had\nhitherto been Fox\u2019s friend, replied, that the revolutionists were \u201can\nirrational, unprincipled, proscribing, confiscating, plundering,\nferocious, bloody, tyrannical democracy.\u201d It was amid such excitement,\nthat Wesley spent his last days on earth.\n\nHe began the year in London, and wrote in his journal:\n\n \u201c1790, January 1.--I am now an old man, decayed from head to\n foot: my eyes are dim; my right hand shakes much; my mouth is\n hot and dry every morning; I have a lingering fever almost\n every day; my motion is weak and slow. However, blessed be God,\n I do not slack my labour; I can preach and write still.\u201d\n\nHenry Moore observes:\n\n \u201cBeing in the house with him when he wrote thus, I was greatly\n surprised. I knew it must be as he said; but I could not\n imagine his weakness was so great. He still rose at his usual\n hour, four o\u2019clock, and went through the many duties of the\n day, not indeed with the same apparent vigour, but without\n complaint, and with a degree of resolution that was\n astonishing.\u201d[700]\n\nOn Saturday, January 2, he preached at Snowsfields. The next day,\nSunday, he held the covenant service in the City Road chapel, at which\nnearly two thousand persons were present. A few days were then devoted\nto writing letters, two of which we give. The first has not before\nbeen published. It was addressed to Daniel Jackson, then appointed to\nthe Stockport circuit.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 2, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It is no wonder many of the societies should\n be in a poor condition, considering what poor care has lately\n been taken of them. They will soon find the difference.\n\n \u201cThe books that are damaged you may give away as you judge\n proper.\n\n \u201cNone ought to have made a collection for any place before the\n house at Dewsbury was built. However, do what you can, and you\n do enough.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Jackson,\n \u201cYour affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next was written to John Mason, the assistant in the St. Austell\ncircuit.\n\n \u201cNEAR LONDON, _January 13, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--As long as I live, the people shall have no\n share in choosing either stewards or leaders among the\n Methodists. We have not, and never had, any such custom. We are\n no republicans, and never intend to be. It would be better for\n those, that are so minded, to go quietly away. I have been\n uniform, both in doctrine and discipline, for above these fifty\n years; and it is a little too late for me to turn into a new\n path, now I am old and grey headed. Neither good old brother\n Porna (God bless him!) expects it from me, nor brother Wood,\n nor brother Flamank.\n\n \u201cIf you and I shall be called hence this year, we may bless God\n that we have not lived in vain. Come, let us have a few more\n strokes at Satan\u2019s kingdom, and then we shall depart in peace!\n\n \u201cI am, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[701]\n\nOn Sunday, January 17, Wesley buried Mrs. Dornford, a good woman; and\npreached her funeral sermon. In the afternoon, he preached to a large\ncongregation, in the church of Great St. Helen\u2019s.\n\nOn Monday, January 25, he went to Dorking, \u201cand laboured to awaken a\nharmless, honest, drowsy people, who, for many years, seemed to stand\nstock still, neither increasing nor decreasing.\u201d\n\nOn January 29, Wesley writes: \u201cWe held our general quarterly meeting,\nwhereby it appeared, that the society received and expended about\n\u00a33000 a year; but our expense still exceeds our income.\u201d\n\nThe next eight days were employed in meeting the London classes,\ncontaining about 2500 members.\n\nDuring the month of February, we find him preaching a funeral sermon\nfor Robert Windsor; and sermons to children--beautiful sights--at West\nStreet, and at City Road. He retired to his friend Mr. Wolff\u2019s, at\nBalham, \u201cto finish his sermons, and to put all his little things in\norder.\u201d He \u201csubmitted to importunity, and once more sat for his\npicture.\u201d He \u201cdined at Mr. Baker\u2019s, one of the sheriffs of London; a\nplain man, who still lived in an inn yard!\u201d\n\nOn Sunday, February 28, which, for five months, was his last day in\nLondon, he preached to enormous congregations, at City Road, West\nStreet, and Brentford; and then started off on his long journey to the\nnorth. Before we follow him, two short letters may be welcome; the\nfirst to Adam Clarke at Bristol, the second to Miss Bisson in the\nChannel islands.\n\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 11, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--On Monday, March 1, I hope to set out hence; and\n to preach that evening, and on Tuesday, at half-past six\n o\u2019clock, at Bath. On Thursday, if he desires it, I will dine at\n Mr. Durbin\u2019s; and, on Monday following, begin as usual to meet\n the classes. I am not at all sorry that James Gore is removed\n from this evil world. You and I shall follow him in due time;\n as soon as our work is done. Many of our friends have been\n lately gathered into the garner, as ripe shocks of wheat. Peace\n be with both your spirits! I am, dear Adam, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[702]\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 13, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--I love to see your name at the bottom of a\n letter, especially when it brings me the good news, that your\n spirit is still rejoicing in God your Saviour. My sight is so\n far decayed, that I cannot well read a small print by\n candlelight; but I can write almost as well as ever I could;\n and it does me no harm, but rather good, to preach once or\n twice a day. A few days since, I had a letter from one of our\n sisters in Scotland, whose experience agrees much with yours;\n only she goes farther; she speaks of being \u2018taken up into\n heaven, surrounded with the blessed Trinity, and let into God\n the Father.\u2019 I commend you to His care; and am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nWesley spent a fortnight at Bath, Bristol, and Kingswood; preached\ndaily; visited the sick; and met the Bristol classes. On one of the\nSundays, at least, he preached thrice; having on the night previous\noccupied the pulpit of his friend, the Rev. Joseph Easterbrook, in\nTemple church. He writes: \u201cMr. Easterbrook has lately been very ill;\nbut God has again lifted up his head to be a father to the poor a\nlittle longer.\u201d[703]\n\nThis indefatigable clergyman was the son of the Bristol bellman; was\neducated at Kingswood school; became assistant master at Trevecca\ncollege; obtained ordination; was presented to Temple church by the\nBristol corporation; and succeeded James Roquet as chaplain of Newgate\nprison.[704] Fletcher, in writing to the Countess of Huntingdon\nconcerning him, says, when he first entered Trevecca, he began to live\nupon water and potatoes; and yet, besides attending to his scholastic\nduties, he preached every evening in the week, and occasionally as\nmany as four times on Sundays. Atmore states that, in Bristol, it was\nEasterbrook\u2019s invariable rule to send those, who were awakened under\nhis ministry, to meet in class among the Methodists. His work was now\nnearly ended. When Wesley came again to Bristol, in September, he\nwrote: \u201cMr. Easterbrook is ill of a disorder which no physician\nunderstands, and which it seems God alone can cure. He is a pattern to\nall Bristol, and indeed to all in England; having, besides his other\nincessant labours, which were never intermitted, preached in every\nhouse in his parish!\u201d Within four months after this, Easterbrook was\ndead, and Henry Moore preached for him a funeral sermon, which was\nprinted. He died on the 21st of January, 1791, in the fortieth year of\nhis age, some of his last words being \u201cGod does all things well. I\nhave no fear of death or of judgment.\u201d[705]\n\nWhile at Bristol, Wesley addressed the following characteristic\nletter, not before published, to Jasper Winscomb, one of his preachers\nin the Isle of Wight. What would Wesley have said concerning the\ncircuit divisions of the present day?\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _March 13, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR JASPER,--The story of Thomas Whitwood is very remarkable,\n and the story is well told, and God has done much honour to him\n by the happy effects which have been consequent on his death. I\n am in no haste at all concerning building, without having paid\n some more of our debts. I am likewise in no haste to multiply\n preachers, or to divide circuits. Most of our circuits are too\n small rather than too large. I wish we had no circuit with\n fewer than three preachers on it, or less than four hundred\n miles\u2019 riding in four weeks. Certainly, no circuit shall be\n divided before conference. If we do not take care we shall all\n degenerate into milksops. \u2018Soldiers of Christ, arise!\u2019\n\n \u201cI am, dear Jasper, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nOn leaving London, the following circular, bearing Wesley\u2019s signature,\nwas issued, indicating to his friends the places he meant to visit, in\nhis journey to the north. It furnishes a bird\u2019s eye view of the\nHerculean labours of an old man nearly eighty-seven years of age, and\nalso helps to fill up a gap in Wesley\u2019s journal. It must be\nremembered, that the means of transit in 1790 were not what they are\nat present; and that, at every place mentioned, Wesley preached at\nleast once, and often several times more than that. It will also be\nseen, that from three to four days were employed in some of the\nprincipal societies, where he arranged to spend his Sundays.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _March 1, 1790_.\n\n \u201cAs many persons desire to know where I am from this time till\n the conference, I here set down my route, which, if God permit,\n I shall keep till that time.\n\n _March._\n\n Monday, 15, Stroud; 16, Gloucester; 17, Worcester; 18,\n Stourport; 19, Birmingham.\n\n Monday, 22, Wednesbury; 23, Dudley and Wolverhampton;\n 24, Madeley; 25, Salop; 26, Madeley; 27, Newcastle under\n Lyne; 28, Lane End and Burslem.\n\n Monday, 29, Congleton; 30, Macclesfield.\n\n _April._\n\n Thursday, 1, Stockport; 2, Manchester.\n\n Monday, 5, Nantwich and Liverpool; 7, Warrington and\n Chester; 9, Wigan; 10, Bolton.\n\n Monday, 12, Blackburn; 13, Colne; 17, Keighley; 18,\n Haworth and Halifax.\n\n Tuesday, 20, Huddersfield; 21, Dewsbury; 24, Wakefield;\n 25, Birstal and Leeds.\n\n Tuesday, 27, Bradford; 29, Otley.\n\n _May._\n\n Saturday, 1, Parkgate; 2, York; 4, Pocklington; 6,Newcastle.\n\n Monday, 10, Alnwick; 12, Dunbar; 13, Edinburgh.\n\n Tuesday, 18, Dundee; 19, Arbroath; 20, Aberdeen.\n\n \u201cN.B. I have not yet finally settled the rest of my plan. I\n probably shall, if I come to York. Many persons are continually\n teasing me to visit more places. Now let them judge whether\n I have not work enough.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nTo this circular, two postscripts were added, by some other hand,\nnamely:\n\n \u201cThose persons, who have occasion to write to Mr. Wesley, are\n requested to direct their letters according to this plan, and\n not to London.\u201d\n\n \u201cOur friends here earnestly desire that Mr. Wesley may be\n remembered in prayer, especially at the next quarterly fast,\n that his strength may be continued, and, if it please God,\n increased also.\u201d\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s plan of travel and of labour for the next ten weeks;\nbut even this was a mere outline; and it will be found, as we follow\nhim, that he preached at many places besides the above mentioned.\n\nAt Stroud, on March 15, hundreds were unable to get into the chapel.\nOn the day following, he preached to two other crowds, at Painswick,\nand at Gloucester, March 17, the chapel at Tewkesbury was not large\nenough to hold the noonday congregation; and at Worcester, in the\nevening, he \u201cfound much comfort among a well established people.\u201d\n\nTwenty years before this, Stourport did not exist; now there were a\ncouple of streets, at least, and also a prosperous trade. In 1780,\nJohn Cowell came with his family from Wolverhampton; and, soon after,\nThomas Hanby preached the first Methodist sermon, in an upper room, at\nMr. Morris\u2019s.[706] A chapel was soon erected, towards which Mr. Cowell\nwas a large contributor. The chapel was to be occupied by both\nCalvinist and Arminian preachers. The Arminians were speedily ejected;\nand, rather than appeal to law, Mr. Cowell, at his own expense, built\nanother and a larger chapel, which Wesley opened in 1788. He now\nvisited them again; had a crowded congregation; was pleased with their\nattention; but writes: \u201cThe moment I ceased speaking, fourscore or one\nhundred begun talking all at once. I do not remember to have been\npresent at such a scene before. This must be amended; otherwise, if I\nshould live, I will see Stourport no more.\u201d\n\nMarch 19, at eleven a.m., Wesley preached at Quinton; and, at night,\nto a densely packed congregation at Birmingham. Next day, Saturday,\nthe same scene was repeated; and, on Sunday, when he opened a new\nmeeting-house, and preached twice, hundreds of people were unable to\nget in. Joseph Benson, at this time stationed in Birmingham, met\nWesley at Stourport, and writes: \u201cI found him much stronger and better\nthan I expected. Still his sight is so defective, that he is much at a\nloss in giving out hymns, in reading his text, and in referring to any\nportion of Scripture. In conversation, he seemed much as usual, lively\nand entertaining.\u201d[707]\n\nOn Monday, March 22, at Wednesbury, as many as could _squeezed_ into\nthe chapel, and the rest were fain to be listeners outside. The next\nday, he opened a new meeting-house, \u201cone of the neatest in England,\u201d\nat Dudley; and, at night, preached at Wolverhampton. Three days were\nspent at Madeley and Salop; one sermon was written; and four were\npreached. Week day though it was, Madeley church was crowded; and so\nalso was the meeting place at Salop; but concerning the Salopians,\nWesley writes: \u201cI was much ashamed for them. The moment I had done\nspeaking, I suppose fifty of them were talking all at once; and no\nwonder they had neither sense nor good manners, for they were\ngentlefolks!\u201d\n\nThe halt at Madeley gave him the opportunity, not only to write his\nsermon on the wedding garment, but to write letters to his friends. To\nAdam Clarke he expresses the opinion, that \u201canimal magnetism is\ndiabolical from the beginning to the end;\u201d he also advises him to\nconsult Dr. Whitehead about his health, and requests him to follow all\nthe doctor\u2019s directions, \u201cexcept the leaving off preaching\u201d; naively\nadding, \u201cI think, if I had taken this advice many years since, I\nshould not have been a living man.\u201d[708]\n\nCharles Atmore had recently commenced a Sunday-school, in the Orphan\nHouse, at Newcastle, consisting of seventy teachers and more than a\nthousand children.[709] And Michael Longridge, one of Wesley\u2019s best\nlocal preachers, in the north of England, had published a 12mo\npamphlet of 13 pages, entitled, \u201cSunday-schools Recommended as a\nReligious Institution: with a Plan for their Extension at a small\nExpense.\u201d All this had Wesley\u2019s cordial approval; and, hence, the\nfollowing letter to Atmore, which, besides a reference to the\nSunday-schools, also contains an addition to Wesley\u2019s _preaching\nplan_.\n\n \u201cMADELEY, _March 24, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR CHARLES,--I am glad you have set up Sunday-schools in\n Newcastle. It is one of the noblest institutions which has been\n seen in Europe for some centuries, and will increase more and\n more, provided the teachers and inspectors do their duties.\n Nothing can prevent the increase of this blessed work, but the\n neglect of the instruments. Therefore, be sure to watch over\n these with all care, that they may not grow weary in well\n doing.\n\n \u201cI shall be at Darlington, if God permit, on Tuesday and\n Wednesday, May 4th and 5th; on Thursday, at Durham to preach at\n twelve o\u2019clock at noon; and at Newcastle between four and five\n in the afternoon. Grace be with you and yours!\n\n \u201cI am, dear Charles, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[710]\n\nTo return. According to announcement, Wesley, on Saturday, March 27,\npreached at Newcastle under Lyne; and, on the day following, twice, to\nlarge crowds, in the open air, at Lane End, and at Burslem. At nine\no\u2019clock on Monday morning, he opened Tunstall new chapel, \u201cthe most\nelegant he had seen since he left Bath\u201d; and, at night, preached at\nCongleton, the clergyman of the parish, \u201cthe mayor, and all the heads\nof the town,\u201d forming a part of his congregation. He quietly remarks:\n\u201cThat I might not overshoot them, I preached on, \u2018So teach us to\nnumber our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.\u2019\u201d\n\nTwo days were spent at Macclesfield, and two crowded audiences were\naddressed. Here, also, one of his horses died. On April 1, he had a\nlarge congregation at Stockport. The next day, Good Friday, he\npreached at Oldham and Manchester; and, at the latter place, again on\nSaturday.\n\nOn Easter Sunday, at Manchester, he preached twice, and held a\nsacramental service at which there were about sixteen hundred\ncommunicants!\n\nNext day, he preached thrice, at Altrincham, Northwich, and Chester;\nand, in each place, had crowded congregations. At Warrington, \u201cthe\nchapel was well filled with serious hearers\u201d; and, at Liverpool,\nmultitudes were not able to get in. At Wigan, the chapel \u201cwas more\nthan filled\u201d; and \u201cin the lovely house at Bolton\u201d he preached to, what\nhe calls, \u201cone of the loveliest congregations in England.\u201d This was on\nApril 10; and, from this date to May 24, there is a chasm in Wesley\u2019s\njournal, which we shall endeavour to fill up; first of all, however,\ngiving an unpublished letter, addressed to Thomas Taylor, who, with\nWilliam Simpson, was stationed at Hull.\n\n \u201cMANCHESTER, _April 4, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--I did not approve of Dr. Coke\u2019s making\n collections either in yours or any other circuit. I told him\n so, and am not well pleased with his doing it. It was very ill\n done. It is exceeding probable, that sea bathing will be of use\n to brother Simpson, especially if he be temperate in all\n things.\n\n \u201cI do not know what you mean concerning talking \u2018about the\n Church.\u2019 I advise all our brethren, that have been brought up\n in the Church, to continue there; and there I leave the matter.\n The Methodists are to spread life among all denominations;\n which they will do, till they form a separate sect.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nAccording to Wesley\u2019s plan, the week, intervening between April 10 and\n17, was to be spent in visiting Blackburn, Colne, Keighley, Haworth,\nand Halifax. But, besides these places, he also preached at Preston,\nfrom Revelation xxii. 17; and was the guest of Mrs. Emmett of\nWalton,[711] where he wrote the following letter to the celebrated Ann\nCutler, commonly called \u201cpraying Nanny.\u201d\n\n \u201cWALTON, _April 15, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--There is something in the dealings of God\n with your soul, which is out of the common way. But I have\n known several whom He has been pleased to lead in exactly the\n same way, and particularly in manifesting to them distinctly\n the three Persons of the ever blessed Trinity. You may tell all\n your experience to me any time; but will need to be cautious in\n speaking to others, for they would not understand what you say.\n Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might. Pray\n for the whole spirit of humility; and I wish that you would\n write and speak without reserve to, dear Nanny,\n\n \u201cYours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[712]\n\nWesley spent April 21 at Halifax;[713] and, in connection with his\nvisit here, preached at Bradshaw, where, on his tottering up the\npulpit stairs, the whole congregation burst into a flood of tears.\nMore than once, his memory failed him, and Joseph Bradford and William\nThompson had to act the part of remembrancers. The visit was memorable\nin more respects than one. While the congregation was waiting for the\nvenerable preacher, and a crowd was assembled at the door, a woman of\nthe name of Wilson mockingly exclaimed, \u201cThey are waiting for their\nGod\u201d; no sooner was the sentence uttered than she fell senseless to\nthe ground, and, the day following, she expired.[714]\n\nThe next few days, according to Wesley\u2019s plan, were employed at\nHuddersfield, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Birstal, Leeds, Bradford, and\nOtley. On the 3rd of May, he came to York. Thomas Taylor, in his\nunpublished diary, remarks: \u201cMay 3--I went to York, and was amazed to\nmeet such a number of travelling preachers, fifteen or sixteen of\nthem. Mr. Wesley preached a useful sermon; and, after preaching, we\nhad a meeting respecting one of our number who was accused of\ndrunkenness.\u201d\n\nOn the 5th of May, Wesley was met at Darlington by his son in law, Mr.\nWilliam Smith, and by Charles Atmore, from Newcastle. Atmore writes:\n\u201cWe heard him preach in the evening, from \u2018He is before all things,\nand by Him all things consist.\u2019 He appears very feeble; and no wonder,\nhe being nearly eighty-seven years of age. His sight has failed so\nmuch, that he cannot see to give out the hymn; yet his voice is\nstrong, and his spirits remarkably lively. Surely this great and good\nman is the prodigy of the present age.\u201d\n\nOld as he was, Wesley set out next morning, at half-past three\no\u2019clock, for Newcastle, where he preached, in the evening, from Isaiah\nlvii. 1, 2. The following night (Friday) he preached again his\nremarkable sermon to the children of the Sunday-school, taking as his\ntext Psalm xxxiv. 11; the sermon being literally composed and\ndelivered in words of not more than two syllables.[715] On Saturday,\nMay 8, we find him at North Shields, preaching, says Atmore, \u201can\nexcellent sermon, from \u2018What things were gain to me, these I counted\nloss for Christ.\u2019\u201d Next day, Sunday, May 9, he addressed a crowd of\nseveral thousands, on Byker Hill, from Matthew vii. 24; and, in the\nevening, at the Orphan House, took his old favourite text, \u201cBy grace\nare ye saved, through faith.\u201d \u201cThe house,\u201d writes Atmore, \u201cwas much\ncrowded, and many hundreds returned, not being able to obtain an\nentrance.\u201d Atmore continues:\n\n \u201cHe was highly honoured in his ministry; particularly to one\n who had been in a state of great despair for many years. As\n soon as he arrived at the Orphan House, Mr. Wesley inquired\n after this individual, and I accompanied him in visiting him.\n As soon as he entered the room, where the poor man was, he went\n up to him, and said, \u2018Brother Reed, I have a word from God unto\n thee; Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.\u2019 He then knelt down to\n pray; and such a season I have seldom experienced. Hope\n instantly sprang up, and despair gave place; and, although Reed\n had not been out of his habitation, nor even from his wretched\n bed, for several years, he went that evening to hear Mr. Wesley\n preach; and God graciously confirmed the testimony of His\n servant in restoring him to \u2018the light of His\n countenance.\u2019\u201d[716]\n\nOn Monday, May 10, Wesley proceeded on his journey to Scotland. Of his\nlabours during the next fortnight, we have no record; but, on May 25,\nwe find him preaching to a crowded audience at Aberdeen; then at\nBrechin, Glasgow, and Dumfries. The last mentioned town was now a part\nof the Glasgow circuit, and had, as its resident preacher, Mr.\nYewdall, who writes: \u201cIn the latter end of May, Mr. Wesley visited us.\nHe came from Glasgow that day, (about seventy miles,) but his strength\nwas almost exhausted, and, when he attempted to preach, very few could\nhear him. His sight was likewise much decayed, so that he could\nneither read the hymn or text. The wheels of life were ready to stand\nstill; but his conversation was agreeably edifying, being mixed with\nthe wisdom and gravity of a parent, and the artless simplicity of a\nchild.\u201d[717]\n\nFrom Dumfries, Wesley proceeded, on June 2, to Carlisle, where the\nchapel would not near contain his congregation. Thence he went to\nHexham, where he \u201cfound a loving people, much alive to God, and\nconsequently increasing daily.\u201d\n\nOn Friday, June 4, he once again, and, for the last time, reached\nNewcastle. He writes:\n\n \u201cIn this and Kingswood house, were I to do my own will, I\n should choose to spend the short remainder of my days. But it\n cannot be; this is not my rest. This and the next evening, we\n had a numerous congregation; and the people seemed much alive.\n Sunday, June 6, I was invited to preach in Lemsley church, on\n the side of Gateshead Fell; but, some hours after, the minister\n changed his mind. So I preached in our own preaching house,\n which contained the greater part of the congregation; among\n whom were Sir Henry Liddell and his lady, with a great number\n of his servants. The chapel was hot as a stove; but neither\n high nor low seemed to regard it: for God was there! The Orphan\n House was equally crowded in the evening; but the rain would\n not suffer me to preach abroad. Monday, June 7, I transcribed\n the stations of the preachers. Tuesday, June 8, I wrote a form\n for settling the preaching houses, without any superfluous\n words, which shall be used for the time to come, verbatim, for\n all the houses to which I contribute anything. I will no more\n encourage that villainous tautology of lawyers, which is the\n scandal of our nation. In the evening, I preached to the\n children of our Sunday-school; six or seven hundred of whom\n were present. Observe, none of our masters or mistresses teach\n for pay; they seek a reward that man cannot give.\u201d\n\nTwo days after this, Wesley left Newcastle, where he had spent so many\nhappy hours, for ever. Before we follow him, three more of his letters\nmay be acceptable; the first to Henry Moore, the second to the wife of\nAdam Clarke, the third to Miss Bisson.\n\n \u201cDUMFRIES, _June 1, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR HENRY,--So I am upon the borders of England once\n again. My sight is much as it was, but I doubt I shall not\n recover my strength, till I use that noble medicine, preaching\n in the morning. But where can we put poor Adam Clarke? He must\n not preach himself to death. What circuit is he equal to? Where\n can he have rest as well as labour? The best place I can think\n of, at present, is Leeds.\n\n \u201cThe dying words of the Prince of Orange are much upon my mind\n this morning: \u2018Lord have mercy upon the people!\u2019 I never saw so\n much likelihood of doing good in Scotland as there is now, if\n all our preachers here would be Methodists indeed! Tell dear\n Nancy to love me as well as she can.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear Henry, etc.,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d[718]\n\n \u201cDUMFRIES, _June 1, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--The great question is, What can be done for\n Adam Clarke? Now, will you save his life? Look round; consider\n if there be any circuit where he can have much rest, and little\n work; or shall he and you spend September in my rooms at\n Kingswood, on condition that he shall preach but twice a week,\n and ride to the Hotwells every day? I think he must do this, or\n die; and I do not want him (neither do you) to run away from us\n in haste. You need not be told, that this will be attended with\n some expense; if it be, we can make it easy. I am apt to think\n this will be the best way. In the meantime, let him do as much\n as he can, and no more.\n\n \u201cIt is probable, I shall stay with you a little longer, as my\n strength does not much decline. I travelled yesterday nearly\n eighty miles, and preached in the evening without any pain. The\n Lord does what pleases Him. Peace be with all your spirits!\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[719]\n\n \u201cNEWCASTLE, _June 6, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--To hear from you is always a pleasure to me;\n though it is a pleasure mixed with concern when I hear of your\n weakness or sickness; only I know the Lord loveth whom He\n chasteneth. But of what kind is your illness? Perhaps I might\n be enabled to tell you how to remove it; and if you can recover\n your health, you ought; for health is a great blessing.\n\n \u201cIn August last, my strength failed almost at once; and my\n sight, in a great measure, went from me. But all is well; I can\n still write almost as easily as ever; and I can read in a clear\n light; and, I think, if I could not read or write at all, I\n could still say something for God. When you have more strength,\n tell me more of the work of God, whether in yourself or those\n round about you. And ought you not to let me know if you are in\n any temporal distress? For everything that concerns you,\n concerns, my dear Jenny, yours most affectionately,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[720]\n\nOn leaving Newcastle, on the 10th of June, Wesley proceeded, over\nrough roads and high hills, a distance of at least thirty miles, to\nWeardale, where he preached both at noon and night. On the 11th, he\npreached twice in the open air, at Stanhope and at Durham, the crowds\nbeing so immense that the chapels were utterly unable to contain them.\nThe 12th and 13th he spent at Sunderland, where he preached thrice:\nonce in the Methodist chapel; a second time in Monkwearmouth church,\nfor the benefit of the Sunday-school; and a third, to many thousands\nof people, out of doors.\n\nDuring the ensuing week, we find him preaching at Hartlepool,\nStockton, Yarm, Potto, Hutton Rudby, Stokesley, and Whitby. At the\nlast mentioned town, he spent Sunday, June 20, preached twice,\nattended church, and wrote in his journal: \u201cIt was very providential,\nthat part of the adjoining mountain fell down, and demolished our old\nmeeting-house, with many houses besides; by which means we have one of\nthe most beautiful chapels in Great Britain, finely situated on the\nsteep side of the mountain. In all England, I have not seen a more\naffectionate people than those at Whitby.\u201d\n\nThis was high praise of these Yorkshire fishermen; but it was not\nunmerited. Warm hearts often beat under rough exteriors. Besides, the\nMethodist society at Whitby was now well-nigh a model. Most of the two\nhundred and fifty members met in _band_. Their itinerant preachers\npreached to them three mornings every week; and, on the other\nmornings, they were either supplied with local preachers, or held\nprayer-meetings. At noon, every Friday, they had their intercession\nmeeting; and, after the toils of the week were ended, they met\ntogether every Saturday night, to ask God to fit their minds and\nhearts for the services of Sunday.[721]\n\nOn June 21, Wesley preached at Pickering and Malton; and, on the\nfollowing days, at Scarborough, Bridlington, Beverley, and Hull. At\nHull, he spent Sunday, June 27, and also his birthday. He writes:\n\n \u201cFriday, June 25--About noon I preached at Beverley, to a\n serious, well behaved congregation; and, in the evening, to one\n equally serious, and far more numerous, at Hull. Saturday, 26,\n was a day of satisfaction. I preached at seven in the morning,\n and at six in the evening, to as many as our house would\n contain; the ground being too wet for the congregation to stand\n abroad.\u201d\n\nThis is a simple entry, and gives no idea of the commotion created by\nWesley\u2019s visit. Thomas Taylor, who was now the assistant in the Hull\ncircuit, writes in his diary: \u201cI and many friends from Hull met Mr.\nWesley at Beverley. We dined at an inn. He preached, and we hastened\nto Hull. Many people attending this evening.\u201d Taylor is as laconic as\nWesley; but, from another source, we learn, that the \u201cmany friends\nfrom Hull\u201d were a regular cavalcade of forty persons, some in chaises,\nand the rest on horses. All these dined with Wesley at his inn at\nBeverley; spirits were lively, and conversation brisk; but, in the\nmidst of it, and while all present were utterly oblivious of the\nflight of time, Wesley pulled out his watch, started on his feet, bid\nhis friends good day, stepped into his carriage, and was gone before\nthey had time to remonstrate, or to wish him to wait for the cavalcade\nto attend him. Horses were saddled, and carriages got ready with as\nmuch celerity as possible; but the old man was on his way, and it was\nwith the utmost difficulty that \u201cthe horsemen and the chariots\u201d\novertook the illustrious visitor in sufficient time to do him honour\nin the sight of their fellow citizens.[722]\n\nOn his birthday, he wrote:\n\n \u201cMonday, June 28.--This day, I enter into my eighty-eighth\n year. For above eighty-six years, I found none of the\n infirmities of old age; my eyes did not wax dim, neither was my\n natural strength abated; but, last August, I found almost a\n sudden change. My eyes were so dim, that no glasses would help\n me. My strength likewise now quite forsook me; and probably\n will not return in this world. But I feel no pain from head to\n foot; only it seems nature is exhausted; and, humanly speaking,\n will sink more and more, till \u2018the weary springs of life stand\n still at last.\u2019\u201d\n\nThus did the venerable man calmly contemplate the inevitable closing\nof his remarkable career. No weary child of innocence ever went to its\nwelcome couch with greater serenity than Wesley went down the steps\nleading to his sepulchre.\n\nHere we pause again, to insert another selection of his letters. The\nfirst was addressed to William Black, in Nova Scotia.\n\n \u201cSUNDERLAND, _June 14, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You did well to send me an account of your\n little societies. Here is a good beginning, though it is, as\n yet, in many places, a day of small things; and although it\n does not please God to carry on His work so rapidly with you as\n in the United States. But one soul is worth all the merchandise\n in the world; and, whoever gets money, do you win souls.\n\n \u201cNever was there, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, so\n great a thirst for the pure word of God as there is at this\n day. The same we find in the little islands of Man, Wight,\n Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney in the Western Ocean. In the\n Isle of Man alone (thirty miles long) the societies contain\n about four-and-twenty hundred members. I have just now finished\n my route through Scotland, where I never had such congregations\n before. So it pleases God to give me a little more to do,\n before He calls me hence.\n\n \u201cWhat has become of brother Scurr, Dodson, and our other\n Yorkshire friends? Some of them doubtless are gone into a\n farther country; but some I suppose remain. I doubt you do not\n keep up a constant intercourse with each other. Love as\n brethren!\n\n \u201cI am, dear William, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[723]\n\nThe following, kindly lent by Charles Reed, Esq., M.P., has not before\nbeen published. It was addressed to William Thom, the assistant\nappointed to Sarum circuit.\n\n \u201cMALTON, _June 21, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--I concur in the judgment of my brother, that\n the using of the form of prayer will tend to unite our people\n to the Church, rather than to separate them from it; especially\n if you earnestly insist on their going to church every fourth\n Sunday.\n\n \u201cI am very indifferent concerning the preaching house, and\n shall not concern myself about it any more. I have lost \u00a310 by\n it already, although to no purpose. If anything more is done\n concerning it, it must be done by the people at Sarum\n themselves.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Thom, dear Billy, your affectionate\n friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next was addressed to a bishop, whose name is not given.\n\n \u201cHULL, _June 26, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY LORD,--It may seem strange, that one, who is not acquainted\n with your lordship, should trouble you with a letter. But I am\n constrained to do it; I believe it is my duty both to God and\n your lordship. And I must speak plain; having nothing to hope\n or fear in this world, which I am on the point of leaving.\n\n \u201cThe Methodists, in general, my lord, are members of the Church\n of England. They hold all her doctrines, attend her service,\n and partake of her sacraments. They do not willingly do harm to\n any one, but do what good they can to all. To encourage each\n other herein, they frequently spend an hour together in prayer\n and mutual exhortation. Permit me then to ask, \u2018_Cui bono?_ for\n what reasonable end, would your lordship drive these people out\n of the Church?\u2019 Are they not as quiet, as inoffensive, nay, as\n pious, as any of their neighbours? except perhaps here and\n there a hairbrained man, who knows not what he is about. Do you\n ask, \u2018Who drives them out of the Church?\u2019 Your lordship does;\n and that in the most cruel manner; yea, and the most\n disingenuous manner. They desire a licence to worship God after\n their own conscience. Your lordship refuses it; and then\n punishes them for not having a licence! So your lordship leaves\n them only this alternative, \u2018Leave the Church or starve.\u2019 And\n is it a Christian, yea, a protestant bishop, that so persecutes\n his own flock? I say _persecutes_; for it is persecution, to\n all intents and purposes. You do not burn them, indeed, but you\n starve them; and how small is the difference! And your lordship\n does this, under colour of a vile, execrable law, not a whit\n better than that _de h\u00e6retico comburendo_! So persecution,\n which is banished out of France, is again countenanced in\n England!\n\n \u201cO my lord, for God\u2019s sake, for Christ\u2019s sake, for pity\u2019s sake,\n suffer the poor people to enjoy their religious, as well as\n civil liberty! I am on the brink of eternity! Perhaps so is\n your lordship too! How soon may you also be called, to give an\n account of your stewardship, to the great Shepherd and Bishop\n of our souls! May He enable both you and me to do it with joy!\n So prays, my lord, your lordship\u2019s dutiful son and servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[724]\n\nThe following letter is without date, but is too characteristic to be\nomitted.\n\n \u201cYou give five reasons why the Rev. Mr. P---- will come no more\n among us. 1. Because we despise the ministers of the Church of\n England. This I flatly deny: I am answering letters, this very\n post, which bitterly blame me for just the contrary. 2. Because\n so much backbiting and evil speaking is suffered amongst our\n people. It is not suffered; all possible means are used, both\n to prevent and remove it. 3. Because I, who have written so\n much against hoarding up money, have put out \u00a3700 to interest.\n I never put sixpence out to interest since I was born; nor had\n I ever \u00a3100 together, my own, since I came into the world. 4.\n Because our lay preachers have told many stories of my brother\n and me. If they did, I am sorry for them; when I hear the\n particulars, I can answer, and, perhaps, make those ashamed who\n believed them. 5. Because we did not help a friend in distress.\n We did help him as far as we were able. \u2018But we might have made\n his case known to Mr. G., Lady H., etc.\u2019 So we did, more than\n once; but we could not pull money from them, whether they would\n or no. Therefore, these reasons are of no weight. You conclude\n with praying, that God would remove pride and malice from\n amongst us. Of pride, I have too much; of malice, I have none;\n however, the prayer is good, and I thank you for it.\u201d[725]\n\nThe next was addressed to Adam Clarke, then at Bristol.\n\n \u201c_June 28, 1790._\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--I often wonder at the people of Bristol. They are\n so honest, yet so dull, \u2019tis scarce possible to strike any fire\n into them. Only with God all things are possible. Many years\n ago, I put the society at Bath into a way wherein, if they had\n persevered, they would now have owed nothing. They were at\n Plymouth but thirty in number, and their debt was \u00a31400. I\n advised them, let every member subscribe monthly what he can;\n and a hundred at the Dock promised to do the same. \u2018I,\u2019 said\n one, \u2018will give a crown a month\u2019; \u2018I,\u2019 said another,\n \u2018half-a-crown.\u2019 Many subscribed a shilling, sixpence, or\n threepence a month. And now the debt is paid. I began such a\n subscription in Bath; as I have done in many places with\n success. But they left it off in two or three weeks. Why?\n Because I gave four guineas to prevent one, that was arrested,\n from going to jail! Good reason, was it not? \u2018Why,\u2019 said one\n and another, \u2018might he not have given it to _me_?\u2019\n\n \u201cOn Monday four weeks, I shall probably set out for Bristol.\n Peace be with your spirits.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[726]\n\nWhile on money matters, let an explanation be given. Wesley asserts,\nin one of the foregoing letters, that he never had, at one time, since\nhe was born, \u00a3100 that was his own. No doubt, excepting an occasional\nlegacy, this was strictly true; and yet, towards the close of life, a\nyear never passed without his giving hundreds of pounds away in\ncharity. Wesley not only kept a journal of his labours, but account\nbooks of his income and expenditure. The last of these has, at the end\nof it, the following entry, in Wesley\u2019s own handwriting, but in\npenmanship which it is extremely difficult to decipher:\n\n \u201cN.B. For upwards of eighty-six years,[727] I have kept my\n accounts exactly. I will not attempt it any longer, being\n satisfied with the continual conviction, that I save all I can,\n and give all I can, that is, all I have.\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY,\n \u201c_July 16, 1790._\u201d\n\nWhat was Wesley\u2019s income? He had \u00a330 a year from the London\ncircuit;[728] and, in the country, the Methodists occasionally, but\nnot often, paid his hostelry bill, and other similar expenses incurred\nin travelling. But this was not all. Wesley was the proprietor of a\nlarge publishing and book concern, from which he derived considerable\nprofits; but be the profits what they might, they were at once\ndistributed in the work of God, and in acts of charity. In as brief a\nform as possible, we give, from the book above mentioned, a few items\nbelonging to the last nine years of Wesley\u2019s life.\n\nIn 1782, Wesley received \u00a3361 19_s._ Of this, he spent \u00a35 19_s._ for\nclothes. The balance, \u00a3356, he, with his own hands, gave away; and,\nduring the same year, John Atlay, his book steward, by his directions,\ngave a further sum of \u00a3237 13_s._; making \u00a3593 13_s._ for the year.\n\nIn 1783, he, and his steward by his orders, gave \u00a3832 1_s._ 6_d._ In\n1784, \u00a3534 17_s._ 6_d._ In 1785, \u00a3851 12_s._ In 1786, \u00a3738 5_s._ In\n1787, including his travelling expenses, \u00a3961 4_s._ In 1788, the last\nyear Atlay acted for him, the two united gave in charity \u00a3738 4_s._\n\nAt the end of his accounts for 1789, he writes:\n\n \u201cI have given this year by myself \u00a3206 0 0\n By George Whitfield[729] 560 0 0\n Travelling 60 0 0\n \u201cBut I can be accurate no[730] ... \u2018Not as _I_ will, but as Thou\n wilt.\u2019\u201d\n\nNo one can dispute that the profits of Wesley\u2019s book establishment\nwere as much his own property as the profits of any of the great\npublishing houses in Paternoster Row; but, of these profits, he\nliterally spent none upon himself, except for an occasional suit of\nclothes. All were most scrupulously given, as fast as they were\nrealised, and sometimes faster, to the support and extension of the\ngreat work to which his long life was cheerfully devoted, and to the\nrelief of the distresses of his fellow creatures as far as he had the\npower. Dr. Whitehead says, it was supposed that, in the course of\nfifty years, Wesley gave away between twenty and thirty thousand\npounds. Henry Moore writes: \u201cMr. Wesley\u2019s accounts lie before me, and\nhis expenses are noted with the greatest exactness. Every penny is\nrecorded; and, I am persuaded, the supposed \u00a330,000 might be increased\nseveral thousands more.\u201d[731]\n\nWesley made a will, in which he bequeathed his book business, and his\nbooks then on sale, (subject to a rent charge of \u00a385 a year to the\nwidow and children of his brother,) to the Methodist conference, in\ntrust \u201cfor carrying on the work of God, by itinerant preachers\u201d; his\nfurniture, books, and whatever else belonged to him at Kingswood, to\nCoke, Mather, and Moore, \u201cin trust, to be still employed in teaching\nand maintaining the children of poor travelling preachers\u201d; all the\nbooks which belonged to him in his studies at London and other places,\nto Coke, Whitehead, and Moore, \u201cin trust, for the use of the preachers\nwho shall labour there from time to time\u201d; all his manuscripts to the\nsame Coke, Whitehead, and Moore, \u201cto be burned, or published, as they\nsaw good\u201d; his gowns, cassocks, sashes, and bands in City Road chapel,\n\u201cfor the use of the clergymen attending there\u201d; his \u201cpelisse to the\nRev. Mr. Creighton\u201d; all the rest of his \u201cwearing apparel to four of\nthe travelling preachers that wanted it most\u201d; his watch to Joseph\nBradford; his gold seal to Elizabeth Ritchie; his chaise and horses to\nJames Ward and Charles Wheeler, \u201cin trust, to be sold, and the money\nto be divided, one half to Hannah Abbott, and the other to the members\nof the select society\u201d; and copies of the eight volumes of his sermons\nto \u201ceach travelling preacher who should remain in the connexion six\nmonths after his decease.\u201d\n\nAll this was property, but not money. Hitherto, not a _coin_ has been\nbequeathed; but still there are six clauses in Wesley\u2019s will, which\nmay be designated _monetary_. We give them in substance, though the\nfirst two seem to contradict each other. (1) All the coins, and\nwhatever else was found in the drawer of his bureau at London, to his\ngranddaughters, Mary and Jane Smith. (2) Whatever money remained in\nhis bureau and pockets, to Thomas Briscoe, William Collins, John\nEaston, and Isaac Brown. (3) Out of the first money arising from the\nsale of books, \u00a340 to his sister Martha, \u00a340 to Mr. Creighton, and \u00a360\nto the Rev. Mr. Heath. (4) The annuity of \u00a35, left by Roger Shiel to\nKingswood school, to be paid to Henry Brooke, Arthur Keene, and\nWilliam Whitestone. (5) A pound each to the six poor men who should\ncarry his body to the grave. (6) Any personal estate, undisposed of,\nto be given to his two nieces, E. Ellison, S. Collet, equally.\n\nThe reader has here the substance of Wesley\u2019s will. Where were his\nhoardings, his money put out to interest, his landed, household, and\nchapel property? He had none. He died, as he had lived, without a\npurse. He had been his own executor as far as possible; and now had\nnothing to bequeath, except what, in his lifetime, could not easily be\nturned into current coin.\n\nWe return to his itinerary. Leaving Hull, Wesley proceeded to\nLincolnshire. On June 29, the crowd at Owston was such that he had to\npreach in the open air. At Lincoln, his text was, \u201cOne thing is\nneedful.\u201d \u201cIs this the great Mr. Wesley?\u201d exclaimed a lady when\nretiring: \u201cwhy, the poorest person in the chapel might understand\nhim.\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d replied a gentleman; \u201cin this he displays his greatness,\nthat while the most ignorant can understand him, the most learned are\nedified, and can take no offence.\u201d[732] On Friday, July 2, he preached\ntwice, once out of doors at Newton, and a second time in the chapel at\nGainsborough. On Saturday, he preached at Epworth, and met the\nsociety. On Sunday, July 4, he attended his father\u2019s church, where the\ncongregation was five times, and the attendance at sacrament ten\ntimes, larger than usual. Besides this, he preached at Misterton, to a\ngreat multitude, \u201cunder a spreading tree\u201d; and, in Epworth market\nplace, to \u201csuch a congregation as was never seen at Epworth before.\u201d\n\nHere occurs an eight weeks\u2019 hiatus in Wesley\u2019s journal. The space\nbetween July 4 and August 27 we shall fill up in the best way we can.\n\nAt Doncaster, where he had a crowded congregation, a burly butcher,\nnoted for his popery, his wickedness, and his pugilistic feats, was\nconverted, became a Methodist, and, to his dying day, continued a\npeaceful, humble, loving Christian.[733] This was probably on July 5,\nas, on the day following, he was at Rotherham.[734] There can be no\nquestion, that Sheffield also would be visited; and, most likely,\nDerby and Nottingham; also perhaps Castle Donington, Leicester,\nCoventry, and other places. At all events, the Castle Donington old\nstewards\u2019 book contains this item: \u201c1790. Paid for Mr. Wesley\u2019s\ncarriage through the circuit, \u00a31 6_s._\u201d[735]\n\nWe cannot trace him farther; but, three weeks after he was at\nDoncaster and Rotherham, he opened his conference at Bristol,--the\nlast that he attended. Charles Atmore writes: \u201cMr. Wesley appeared\nvery feeble; his eyesight had failed so much that he could not see to\ngive out the hymns; yet his voice was strong, his spirit remarkably\nlively, and the powers of his mind, and his love towards his fellow\ncreatures, were as bright and as ardent as ever.\u201d[736]\n\nThe only legislation at this conference was concerning preachers and\npreaching houses.\n\nIn reference to the latter, it was determined: (1) That, in future,\nall chapels should be built on the same plan as those in Bath and in\nCity Road. (2) No chapel should be undertaken without the consent of a\nmajority of the connexional building committee. (3) Not a stone was to\nbe laid, till the chapel was settled after the Methodist form,\nverbatim; nor until two thirds of the estimated expense were\nsubscribed; and no collections were to be made for any chapel except\nin the circuit where it was to be erected.\n\nThen in reference to preachers: (1) None, in future, were to attend\nconference, except those whose travelling expenses were paid by the\ncircuits in which they respectively laboured. Those in Scotland and\nWales were to be the only exceptions. (2) The assistants were to tell\nthe people, that every circuit must bear its own burden, and that\nthose circuits which \u201cdid not provide for their preachers and their\nchildren, (except Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,) should have no more\npreachers sent to them, for the time to come, than they would provide\nfor.\u201d (3) No assistant was to take into society any one put out by his\npredecessor, without consulting him. (4) Preachers were never to\nhasten home to their families, after evening preaching, till they had\nmet the society. (5) No preacher was to leave conference before the\nconclusion of it, without consent publicly obtained. (6) No preacher\nwas to preach three times the same day to the same congregation; or\noftener than twice on a week day, or thrice on Sundays.\n\nIn reference to the last of these regulations, Adam Clarke relates\nthat Wesley was outwitted. In a private meeting with some of his\nprincipal and senior preachers, Wesley proposed that no preacher\nshould preach thrice on the same day. Messrs. Mather, Pawson,\nThompson, and others objected. Wesley replied: \u201cIt must be given up;\nwe shall lose our preachers by such excessive labour.\u201d They answered:\n\u201cWe have all done so; and you, even at a very advanced age, have\ncontinued to do so.\u201d \u201cWhat I have done,\u201d said he, \u201cis out of the\nquestion: my life and strength have been under an especial providence;\nbesides, I know better than they how to preach without injuring\nmyself; and no man can preach thrice a day without killing himself\nsooner or later; and the custom shall not be continued.\u201d The objectors\npressed the point no further, finding that he was determined; but\ndeceived him after all, by altering the minute thus, when it was sent\nto press: \u201cNo preacher shall preach three times the same day, _to the\nsame congregation_.\u201d\n\nThis was not ingenuous. Wesley was right; and Methodism has paid an\nincalculable penalty by disregarding his almost dying wish. Clarke\njustly remarks:\n\n \u201cHe who preaches the gospel, as he ought, must do it with his\n whole strength of body and soul; and he who undertakes a labour\n of this kind thrice every Lord\u2019s day will infallibly shorten\n his life by it. He who, instead of _preaching_, _talks_ to the\n people,--merely _speaks_ about good things, or _tells_ a\n religious story,--will never injure himself by such an\n employment: but such a person does not _labour_ in the word and\n doctrine; he tells his tale; and, as he preaches, so his\n congregation believes; and sinners are left as he found them.\u201d\n [737]\n\nDuring the last decade of years in Wesley\u2019s life, Methodism had made\namazing progress. In 1780, there were 64 circuits in the United\nKingdom; now there were 115. Then there were 171 itinerant preachers\nemployed; now there were 294. Then there were 43,380 members of\nsociety; now there were 71,568. Then there were no missionary\nstations; now 19 missionaries were appointed to Antigua, Barbadoes,\nSt. Vincent\u2019s, St. Christopher\u2019s, Nevis, Tortola, Jamaica, Nova\nScotia, and Newfoundland, which had an aggregate membership of 5350\npersons,--800 in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and 4550 in the West\nIndies. In 1780, there were in America twenty circuits, 42 itinerant\npreachers, and 8504 members of society. In 1790, there were 114\ncircuits, 228 itinerant preachers, and 57,631 members of society.\n\nThese statistics, put into another form, will stand thus.\n\n ------------+-------------+------------+-------------\n | Methodist | Methodist | Methodist\n | Circuits | Itinerant | Members.\n | throughout | Preachers. |\n | the world. | |\n ------------+-------------+------------+-------------\n =1790= | 240 | 541 | 134,549\n =1780= | 84 | 213 | 52,334\n ------------+-------------+------------+-------------\n INCREASE | \u23ab 156 | 328 | 82,215\n in 10 years | \u23ad | |\n ------------+-------------+------------+-------------\n\nMarvellous had been the success of Methodism up to the year 1780; and,\nyet, the results during the last ten years of Wesley\u2019s life were much\nmore than double the united results of the forty years preceding!\n\nBefore leaving the conference of 1790, we insert an unpublished\nletter, addressed by Miss Ritchie to the wife of one of Wesley\u2019s\nclerical assistants, the Rev. Peard Dickenson.\n\n \u201c_August 3, 1790._\n\n \u201c... I felt much for our Zion previous to the conference. Our\n dear and honoured father\u2019s state of health was alarming; but\n prayer was heard, and he is much better, and things have such\n an appearance as revives my hope that we shall still go on in\n the good old way.\n\n \u201cMr. Wesley has very openly and fully declared his sentiments\n respecting the impropriety of a separation from the Church; and\n the preachers, in general, have agreed to abide by the old\n plan. I sincerely pity Dr. Coke; but I really believe good will\n be brought out of evil.\n\n \u201cThe preachers have had a most searching conference, and the\n Lord has been very present. The preachers\u2019 dress has been\n largely debated, and what is verging towards worldly conformity\n is to be laid aside. We all lament dress as a growing evil\n among the Methodists; and, if the preachers are not patterns in\n this respect, how can they exhort the people? One morning, at\n breakfast, among a very few select friends, Mr. Wesley said he\n had some things to complain of, which he had better mention\n before half-a-dozen persons than before a hundred. Among other\n things, he spoke with disapprobation of the ruffles on Mr.\n Dickenson\u2019s shirts. I endeavoured to soften matters, saying,\n that you desired to take them off, and that, if this was not\n already done, it was because you had been prevented; on which I\n was requested to mention to you the conversation which had\n taken place. My dear sister, let me beg of you then, never to\n let Mr. Dickenson wear a ruffled shirt again. You both love our\n dear father too well to grieve him. Yours in Jesus,\n\n \u201cELIZABETH RITCHIE.\u201d\n\nAs soon as the Bristol conference was ended, the veteran evangelist\nagain set out on his glorious mission, and spent the next three weeks\nin Wales. At Brecon, he preached in the town hall; and in Watton\nchapel, on the state of the church at Ephesus, and our Lord\u2019s\nlamentation over Jerusalem.[738] At Haverfordwest, he wrote as\nfollows, to Thomas Roberts, then a young preacher, of four years\u2019\nstanding, whom he had just appointed to the Bristol circuit.\n\n \u201cHAVERFORDWEST, _August 13, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--Now I shall make a trial of you, whether I can\n confide in you or no. Since I came hither, I have been much\n concerned. This is the most important circuit in all Wales; but\n it has been vilely neglected by the assistant, whom, therefore,\n I can trust no more. I can trust you, even in so critical a\n case. I desire, therefore, that, whoever opposes, you will set\n out immediately, and come hither as soon as ever you can. I\n wish you could meet me at Cardiff, or Cowbridge. You will see,\n by the printed plan, when I shall be at either of those places.\n If you have not notice enough to do this, meet me to-morrow\n sennight at the New Passage, unless you can get a passage by\n the weekly boat to Swansea. If it be possible, do not fail. It\n may be, this may be the beginning of a lasting friendship\n between you and, dear Tommy, yours, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[739]\n\nAt Pembroke, Wesley wrote the following to Mr. William Mears, a useful\nlocal preacher, at Rochester.\n\n \u201cPEMBROKE, _August 16, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--It is my desire that all things be done to\n the satisfaction of all parties. If, therefore, it be more\n convenient, let brother Pritchard\u2019s[740] family be at\n Canterbury, and sister Boone[741] lodge in Chatham house.\n\n \u201cWhy do you not again set on foot a weekly subscription in\n order to lessen your debt? Have neither the preachers nor the\n people any spirit in them? Who begins? I will give half-a-crown\n a week for a year, if all of you will make it up twenty\n shillings.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Billy, your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[742]\n\nIn a letter to his niece, Miss Sarah Wesley, dated \u201cNear Cowbridge,\nAugust 18, 1790,\u201d he writes: \u201cI always reprove profane sailors, or,\nwhat is worse, profane gentlemen; and many of them will receive it\ncivilly, if not thankfully. They all know, captains as well as common\nmen, that swearing is not necessary. And, even now, we have captains\nof several men-of-war who do not swear at all; and never were men\nbetter obeyed.\u201d[743]\n\nThus was Wesley always about his heavenly Father\u2019s work. On August 27,\nhe returned to Bristol, in the neighbourhood of which he was busily\nemployed till September 27.\n\nIn the morning of Sunday, August 29, he read prayers, preached, and\nadministered the Lord\u2019s supper, a service in which, without\nassistance, he was occupied for three full hours; and, yet, in the\nafternoon, he preached again, out of doors. The next day, we find him\npreaching twice, at Castle Carey, and Ditcheat.\n\nOn Tuesday 31, he was visited by a _lusus natur\u00e6_, William Kingston,\nborn without arms, who, in Wesley\u2019s presence, took his teacup between\nhis toes, and the toast with his other foot; and afterwards, by\nanother feat, showed himself to be a man of no mean penmanship. On the\nsame day, Wesley had \u201ca lovely congregation at Shepton Mallet,\u201d and a\ncrowded one at Pensford.\n\nDuring the remainder of the week, he preached at Bristol, and\ncorrected and abridged the Life of Mrs. Scudamore.\n\nOn Saturday, September 4, he went to Bath and preached; and on Sunday,\nthe 5th, writes: \u201cAt ten we had a numerous congregation, and more\ncommunicants than ever I saw here before. This day, I cut off that\nvile custom, I know not when or how it began, of preaching three times\na day by the same preacher to the same congregation; enough to weary\nout both the bodies and minds of the speaker, as well as his hearers.\u201d\nOn Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in the ensuing week, he preached\nonce daily, and on Friday twice.\n\nOn Sunday, September 12, he employed himself in Bristol, and, during\nthe week following, met the classes, containing 944 members, and\nlikewise preached at Thornbury, and at Kingswood.\n\nIn labour like this the whole month was spent.\n\nAt the preceding conference, Wesley had appointed Adam Clarke to the\nDublin circuit, and, on September 5, Adam wrote him a long letter,\ntelling him that Thomas Rutherford had been laid aside by rheumatic\nfever, and that the results of a religious revival had been destroyed\nby the extravagant irregularities of those who conducted the\nprayer-meetings during Mr. Rutherford\u2019s illness. These meetings had\nbeen, and still were, kept up till ten or eleven o\u2019clock on Sunday\nnights, and sometimes till twelve and one; and it was no uncommon\nthing for a person, in the midst of them, to give an exhortation of\nhalf or three quarters of an hour\u2019s continuance. Clarke wished to\ncorrect these irregularities, and wrote to Wesley for advice,[744] who\nreplied to him as follows.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _September 9, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDear Adam,--Did not the terrible weather that you had at sea\n make you forget your fatigue by land? Come, set one against the\n other, and you have no great reason to complain of your\n journey.\n\n \u201cYou will have need of all the courage and prudence God has\n given you. Indeed, you will want constant supplies of both.\n Very gently, and very steadily, you should proceed between the\n rocks on either hand. In the great revival at London, my first\n difficulty was, to bring into temper those who opposed the\n work; and my next, to check and regulate the extravagances of\n those that promoted it. And this was far the hardest part of\n the work; for many of them would bear no check at all. But I\n followed one rule, though with all calmness: \u2018You must either\n bend or break.\u2019 Meantime, while you act exactly right, expect\n to be blamed by both sides. I will give you a few directions.\n (1) See that no prayer-meeting continue later than nine at\n night, particularly on Sunday: let the house be emptied before\n the clock strikes nine. (2) Let there be no exhortation at any\n prayer-meeting. (3) Beware of jealousy, or judging one another.\n (4) Never think a man is an enemy to the work, because he\n reproves irregularities. Peace be with you and yours!\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[745]\n\nClarke acted upon Wesley\u2019s good advice, and wrote him the results.\nWesley answered.\n\n \u201cBEDFORD, _October 28, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--I am glad my letter had so good an effect. I\n dearly love our precious society in Dublin, and cannot but be\n keenly sensible of anything that gives them disturbance. I am\n glad our leaders have adopted that excellent method of\n regularly changing their classes. Wherever this has been done,\n it has been a means of quickening both the leaders and the\n people. I wish this custom could be more extensively\n introduced.\n\n \u201cYou did well to prevent all irregular and turbulent\n prayer-meetings, and, at all hazards, to keep the meetings of\n the society private.\n\n \u201cPoor Mr. Smyth is now used just as he used _me_. He must\n either bend or break. Although you cannot solicit any of\n Bethesda to join with us, yet neither can you refuse them when\n they offer their hand.\n\n \u201cYou do well to offer all possible courtesy to Mr. William\n Smyth and his family.\n\n \u201cAs long as the society in Dublin continues upward of a\n thousand, you will have no reason to complain.\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[746]\n\nBefore returning to Wesley\u2019s journal, another letter may be welcome.\nIt was addressed to Mr. Robert C. Brackenbury. Wesley\u2019s reference to\nhimself is touching; and his remarks on the doctrine of Christian\nperfection ought to be remembered.\n\n \u201cBRISTOL, _September 15, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--I am glad to find you are in better bodily health,\n and not weary and faint in your mind. My body seems nearly to\n have done its work, and to be almost worn out. Last month, my\n strength was nearly gone, and I could have sat almost still\n from morning to night. But, blessed be God, I crept about a\n little, and made shift to preach once a day. On Monday, I\n ventured a little further; and, after I had preached three\n times (once in the open air), I found my strength so restored,\n that I could have preached again without inconvenience.\n\n \u201cI am glad brother D---- has more light with regard to full\n sanctification. This doctrine is the grand _depositum_ which\n God has lodged with the people called Methodists; and, for the\n sake of propagating this chiefly, He appeared to have raised\n them up.\n\n \u201cI congratulate you upon sitting loose to all below; stedfast\n in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Moderate\n riding on horseback, chiefly in the south of England, would\n improve your health. If you choose to accompany me, in any of\n my little journeys on this side Christmas, whenever you were\n tired you might go into my carriage. I am not so ready a writer\n as I was once; but, I bless God, I can scrawl a little,--enough\n to assure you that,\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[747]\n\nOn Monday, September 27, Wesley set out from Bristol to London, and\npreached at Devizes and Salisbury. On Wednesday we find him preaching\nat Winchester and Portsmouth; and on Thursday and Friday at Newport,\nin the Isle of Wight.\n\nOn Saturday, October 2, he left Portsmouth, at two o\u2019clock in the\nmorning; and, at Cobham, twenty miles from London, was met by James\nand Hester Ann Rogers, and six other friends, in carriages, to welcome\nhim.[748] Mr. Rogers writes: \u201cHe arrived in good health and spirits.\nWe all dined at Cobham, and, about six in the evening, reached London,\nwhere we praised the Lord with joyful hearts.\u201d[749]\n\nThe next day, Sunday, October 3, he preached twice in the City Road\nchapel, and held a lovefeast. Rogers says:\n\n \u201cMany souls were greatly comforted. Indeed, his preaching,\n during the whole winter, was attended with uncommon unction;\n and he frequently spoke, both in his sermons and exhortations,\n as if each time were to be his last; and often desired the\n people to receive what he advanced as his dying charge. His\n conversation also, in his family, seemed to indicate a\n presentiment of death. He frequently spoke of the state of\n separate spirits, and their particular employments; and, for\n the last three months of his life, there were scarcely three\n evenings passed together, but he gave out and sung, in the\n family, the hymn beginning with the line, \u2018Shrinking from the\n cold hand of death.\u2019\u201d[750]\n\nAfter spending two short days in London, Wesley set off, on October 5,\nto Rye, a distance of upwards of sixty miles, and preached to a large\nand serious congregation. The day after, for the last time, he\npreached in the open air. This was at Winchelsea, beneath an ash tree,\nin the churchyard,--a tree long protected by the vicar of the parish,\nand known for miles round, by the name of \u201cWesley\u2019s Tree,\u201d though\noften mutilated by pilgrim Methodists, who chopped and lopped it for\nwood to make it into Methodist snuff boxes, and other _un Wesleyan_\nmementoes of Wesley\u2019s last outdoor preaching service. On one occasion,\na local preacher was detected in the act of bearing away a bough in\npious triumph, was apprehended for the theft, had to beg for mercy,\nwas solemnly reprimanded, and was threatened with transportation, in\ncase of repeating the offence. Wesley\u2019s text, at Winchelsea, was a\npart of Christ\u2019s first outdoor sermon, \u201cThe kingdom of God is at hand;\nrepent ye, and believe the gospel;\u201d and he writes: \u201cIt seemed as if\nall that heard were, for the present, almost persuaded to be\nChristians.\u201d Robert Miller was with him at the time, and says: \u201cThe\nword was attended with mighty power, and the tears of the people\nflowed in torrents.\u201d[751] On the evening of the same day, he preached\nagain at Rye.\n\nReturning to London, for the services on Sunday, October 10, Wesley\nstarted on the day following for Norfolk. At Colchester, things were\ndisheartening, but he says he had, \u201con Monday and Tuesday evenings,\nwonderful congregations of rich and poor, clergy and laity.\u201d One of\nhis hearers was a shoemaker, a young man of twenty-four, who was then\nconvinced of sin, became a useful local preacher, and often returned\nfrom his appointments besmeared, from head to foot, with the filthy\nmissiles of persecuting mobs. William Candler, the preaching\nshoemaker, took a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of soldiers,\nand was not unrewarded; for, one morning, to his great surprise, he\nreceived a government commission to make military shoes, and an\nextraordinary despatch, from the Colchester commanding officer, that\nall the shoemakers in the regiments stationed at Harwich, Ipswich, and\nColchester, should assist him in executing the martial order. For near\nfifty years, William Candler rendered important service to the cause\nof Christ, and then, in 1838, died, kissing his family, and whispering\nto each, \u201cGood bye; God bless you!\u201d[752]\n\nIn years past, Colchester had been one of Wesley\u2019s favourite places;\nbut now, he says, \u201cthe society was lessened, and cold enough;\npreaching was discontinued, and the spirit of Methodism quite gone,\nfrom the preachers and the people.\u201d All this was the result of the\nclerical interference of the Rev. Mr. S----, of St. Peter\u2019s, who had\nadopted the theory, that, wherever there was a gospel ministry in the\nChurch, Methodist preaching ought to cease, and Methodist societies be\nhanded over to the care of the gospel clergyman. To accomplish this at\nColchester, no pains were spared, and even gifts and bribes were used.\nWesley was annoyed, and, in the course of his sermon, said: \u201cI\nunderstand there is a sheep stealer in Colchester, who takes both\nsheep and lambs from his neighbour\u2019s fold at will. Now, I charge that\nman to desist; or to meet me, and answer for his deeds, at the bar of\nGod, in the day of judgment.\u201d The reverend gentleman was present; and\nhis subsequent conduct showed that he was not a forgetful hearer.[753]\n\nWesley had, in his congregation, at Colchester, another remarkable\nhearer, Henry Crabb Robinson, who writes:\n\n \u201cIt was, I believe, in October 1790, that I heard John Wesley\n in the great round meeting-house at Colchester. He stood in a\n wide pulpit, and on each side of him stood a minister, and the\n two held him up, having their hands under his armpits. His\n feeble voice was barely audible; but his reverend countenance,\n especially his long white locks, formed a picture never to be\n forgotten. There was a vast crowd of lovers and admirers. It\n was for the most part a pantomime, but the pantomime went to\n the heart. Of the kind, I never saw anything comparable to it\n in after life.\u201d\n\nConsidering the long picturesque life which Mr. Robinson lived\nsubsequent to this, the last sentence is remarkable. In a letter dated\nOctober 18, 1790, this young auditor, then fifteen years of age,\nremarks:\n\n \u201cI felt great satisfaction last week in hearing that veteran in\n the service of God, the Rev. John Wesley. At another time, and\n not knowing the man, I should almost have ridiculed his figure.\n Far from it now. I looked upon him with a respect bordering\n upon enthusiasm. After the people had sung one verse of a hymn,\n he arose and said: \u2018It gives me a great pleasure to find that\n you have not lost your singing; neither men nor women. You have\n not forgotten a single note. And I hope, by the assistance of\n God, which enables you to sing well, you may do all other\n things well.\u2019 A universal \u2018Amen\u2019 followed. At the end of every\n head or division of his discourse, he finished by a kind of\n prayer, a momentary wish as it were, not consisting of more\n than three or four words, which was always followed by a\n universal buzz. His discourse was short. The text I could not\n hear. After the last prayer, he rose up and addressed the\n people on liberality of sentiment, and spoke much against\n refusing to join with any congregation on account of difference\n in opinion.\u201d[754]\n\nOn Wednesday, October 13, Wesley went from Colchester to Norwich, and\nwrites: \u201cI preached; but the house would in nowise contain the\ncongregation. How wonderfully is the tide turned! I am become an\nhonourable man at Norwich. God has, at length, made our enemies to be\nat peace with us; and scarce any but antinomians open their mouths\nagainst us.\u201d\n\nThe next day, he preached at Yarmouth, to a congregation \u201cfar too\nlarge to get into the chapel.\u201d And the day following at Lowestoft.\nHere again, he had another distinguished hearer, the poet Crabbe; and\nrepeated the well known lines from Anacreon, with an application of\nhis own.\n\n \u201cOft am I by woman told,\n Poor Anacreon! thou grow\u2019st old;\n See, thine hairs are falling all:\n Poor Anacreon! how they fall!\n Whether I grow old or no,\n By these signs, I do not know;\n But this I need not to be told,\n \u2019Tis time to _live_, if I grow old.\u201d\n\nCrabbe was greatly struck with the reverend appearance of the aged\npreacher, with his cheerful air, and the beautiful cadence he gave to\nthe lines he quoted; and, after the service, was introduced to him,\nand was received with benevolent politeness.[755]\n\nOn Saturday, October 16, Wesley preached at Loddon and at Norwich;\nand, next day, twice again in the latter city, besides administering\nthe sacrament at seven o\u2019clock in the morning, to about one hundred\nand fifty persons. He writes: \u201cI take knowledge, that the last year\u2019s\npreachers were in earnest. Afterwards, we went to our own parish\nchurch; although there was no sermon there, nor at any of the\nthirty-six churches in the town, save the cathedral and St. Peter\u2019s.\u201d\nWho will say that Methodist preaching was not needed in this\n_non-preaching_ diocesan city?\n\nOn Monday, October 18, Wesley preached at Swaffham, and at Lynn. At\nthe latter place, he preached again on Tuesday, administered the\nsacrament,[756] made a collection for the Sunday-schools, and had\npresent to hear him all the clergymen of the town, except one, whose\nlameness prevented his attending. On Wednesday, the 20th, he occupied\nthe church at Diss, one of the largest in the county. \u201cI suppose,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cit has not been so filled these hundred years.\u201d His text\nwas, \u201cSeek ye the Lord while He may be found\u201d; and the results of the\nsermon were remarkable and lasting.[757]\n\nOn the evening of the same day, and also on the day following, he\npreached at Bury St. Edmunds; and on Friday, October 22, returned to\nLondon.\n\nThe last entry, in Wesley\u2019s published journal, is dated two days\nlater. \u201cSunday, October 24--I explained, to a numerous congregation,\nin Spitalfields church, \u2018the whole armour of God,\u2019 St. Paul\u2019s,\nShadwell, was still more crowded in the afternoon, while I enforced\nthat important truth, \u2018one thing is needful\u2019; and I hope many, even\nthen, resolved to choose the better part.\u201d\n\nThere can be little doubt, that the rest of the year was occupied with\nwhat Wesley often called his \u201c_little journeys_,\u201d into Bedfordshire,\nNorthamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, etc. The reader will catch\nglimpses of him in the following letters.\n\nThe first was addressed to his niece, Miss Sarah Wesley, at Mrs.\nWhitcomb\u2019s, in Margate. The reference to his relatives is significant\nand painful.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 5, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SALLY,--I am glad you are situated so comfortably. Mrs.\n Whitcomb does really fear God; and, I hope, before you leave\n her house, will know what it is to love Him. Providence has not\n sent you to spend a little time in Margate merely on your own\n account. Before you leave it, she, with several others, shall\n have reason to praise God that you came. See that you lose no\n time. A word spoken in season how good is it! Warn every one,\n and exhort every one, if by any means you may save some. \u2018In\n the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy\n hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper.\u2019 Say not, \u2018I\n can do nothing, I am slow of speech.\u2019 True; but who made the\n tongue? You have seen sister Boon, a loving, simple hearted\n woman. Be a follower of her, as she is of Christ. Why should\n you not meet in her class? I think you will not be ashamed. Is\n it not a good opportunity of coming a little nearer to them\n that love you well? Let me have the comfort of one relation, at\n least, that will be an assistant to me in the blessed work of\n God.\n\n \u201cI must visit other places before I come into Kent, as well as\n visit the classes in London; so that I cannot be at Margate\n till the latter end of next month. If you stay there till then,\n you will see me.\n\n \u201cI am, my dear Sally, your affectionate uncle,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[758]\n\nThe next was written the day after his return to town from Norfolk,\nand was addressed to James Macdonald, then stationed at Newry, in\nIreland. It will be seen, that the Methodist sin of neglecting fasting\nis not of recent growth.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 23, 1790_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You have great reason to praise God for His\n late glorious work at and near Newry; and I make no doubt, but\n it will continue, yea, and increase, if the subjects of it\n continue to walk humbly and closely with God. Exhort all our\n brethren steadily to wait upon God in the appointed means of\n fasting and prayer; the former of which has been almost\n universally neglected by the Methodists, both in England and\n Ireland. But it is a true remark of Kempis: \u2018The more thou\n deniest thyself, the more thou wilt grow in grace.\u2019\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[759]\n\nSomething has been already said respecting the division of circuits.\nThe Dales circuit in 1790 had forty-three preaching places, including\nBarnardcastle, Bishop Auckland, Appleby, Alstone, Allendale,\nWolsingham, Hexham, Penrith, and Kendal,--now all of them circuit\ntowns themselves. The nearest neighbouring circuit, eastwards, was\nYarm; westwards, Whitehaven; northwards, Newcastle; and southwards,\nThirsk. This will give the reader an idea of the enormous region\nembraced in the Dales circuit at the time to which we are now\nadverting. Within the same border, there are now not fewer than at\nleast twenty circuit towns, most of them the centre of a large cluster\nof smaller towns and villages.[760] The Dales circuit, in 1790, had\nthree itinerant preachers, and 980 members of society, who contributed\nfor the maintenance of their preaching triumvirate, during the quarter\nin which Wesley died, the sum of \u00a329 8_s._ 6_d._, sevenpence per\nmember per quarter, and affording \u00a39 16_s._ 2_d._ for the support of\neach preacher, his wife, and family, and the general maintenance of\nMethodist machinery throughout the circuit.[761] George Holder was the\nassistant, and Jonathan Hern and John Wittam were his colleagues. The\nfeed was poor, the pay pauperish, the journeys long, the roads bad,\nthe region mountainous, and the work heavy. There was a wish to divide\nthe circuit; but the following was Wesley\u2019s reply to Holder.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _October 30, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR GEORGE,--The assistant in every circuit (not the leaders)\n is to determine how each preacher is to travel. If Jonathan\n Hern will not, or cannot, take his turn with his fellow\n labourers, I must send another that will. I do not like\n dividing circuits. Could not three or more of the northern\n places be added to the Sunderland or Newcastle circuits, in\n order to lessen yours, and bring it into a six weeks\u2019 circuit?\n Pray send me the manner of your travelling through your\n circuit. I think, I shall order it better.\n\n \u201cI am, with love to sister Holder, dear George, yours, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[762]\n\nA small circuit then was one of the things which Wesley thought\ninimical to the interests of Methodism. Was Wesley right? Unless\nMethodist preachers can become thoroughly pastoral in their habits,--a\nthing which triennial changes render extremely difficult,--would it\nnot be better for circuits to be of such a size as to make daily\npreaching a healthy duty, instead of being so circumscribed that one\nor two sermons, between sabbaths, is all that their necessities\nrequire? This is a serious problem, which we must leave to be solved\nby others.\n\nAnother hindrance, as Wesley thought, to Methodist progress, was the\nneglect of reading. Hence the following extract from an unpublished\nletter, dated November 8, 1790.\n\n \u201cIf you and your wife strengthen each other\u2019s hands in God,\n then you will surely receive a blessing from Him. But it is not\n abundance of money, or any creature, that can make us happy\n without Him.\n\n \u201cIt cannot be that the people should grow in grace, unless they\n give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a\n knowing people. A people who talk much will know little. Press\n this upon them with your might; and you will soon see the fruit\n of your labours.\u201d\n\nAn extract from another letter may be given here. The letter was\naddressed to Alexander Mather.\n\n \u201cNo, Aleck, no! The danger of ruin to Methodism does not lie\n here. It springs from quite a different quarter. Our preachers,\n many of them, are fallen. They are not spiritual. They are not\n alive to God. They are soft, enervated, fearful of shame, toil,\n hardship. They have not the spirit which God gave to Thomas Lee\n at Pateley Bridge, or to you at Boston. Give me one hundred\n preachers, who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but\n God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or\n laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell, and set up the\n kingdom of heaven upon earth.\u201d[763]\n\nAs we have often shown, Wesley regarded the preaching of the doctrine\nof Christian perfection as of the utmost importance. The following\nletter to Adam Clarke is to the same effect.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _November 26, 1790_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--To retain the grace of God, is much more than to\n gain it; hardly one in three does this. And this should be\n strongly and explicitly urged on all who have tasted of perfect\n love. If we can prove that any of our local preachers or\n leaders, either directly or indirectly, speak against it, let\n him be a local preacher or leader no longer. I doubt whether he\n should continue in society. Because he, that could speak thus\n in our congregations, cannot be an honest man. I wish sister\n Clarke to do what she can, but no more than she can. Betsy\n Ritchie, Miss Johnson, and Mary Clarke are women after my own\n heart. Last week I had an excellent letter from Mrs. Pawson, (a\n glorious witness of full salvation,) showing how impossible it\n is to retain pure love without growing therein. I am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[764]\n\nSuch letters might be greatly multiplied. We only add another. He was\nnow an old man, and extremely feeble; and Mr. Ireland, having heard\nthat claret wine had been recommended to him by his medical adviser,\nsent him a small case as a present. The wine was seized by the custom\nhouse authorities, to whom Wesley addressed the following laconic\nletter.\n\n \u201cCITY ROAD, _November 14, 1790_.\n\n \u201cGENTLEMEN,--Two or three days ago, Mr. Ireland sent me, as a\n present, two dozen of French claret, which I am ordered to\n drink, during my present weakness. At the White Swan it was\n seized. Beg it may be restored to,\n\n \u201cYour obedient servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\n\n \u201cWhatever duty comes due, I will see duly paid.\u201d\n\nThe letter seems to have been returned to the dying man; and, across\nit, a government official curtly wrote: \u201cNo. M. W.\u201d[765]\n\nWesley\u2019s only publication, in 1790, besides the thirteenth volume of\nhis _Magazine_, was his translation of \u201cThe New Testament, with an\nAnalysis of the several Books and Chapters.\u201d 16mo, 424 pages. In his\npreface, he remarks:\n\n \u201cIn this edition, the translation is brought as near as\n possible to the original; yet the alterations are few and\n seemingly small; but they may be of considerable importance.\n Though the old division of chapters is retained, for the more\n easy finding of any text, yet the whole is likewise divided,\n according to the sense, into distinct sections; a little\n circumstance which makes many passages more intelligible to the\n reader. The analysis of every book and epistle is prefixed to\n it. And this view of the general scope of each will give light\n to all the particulars.\u201d\n\nIt ought to be remarked, that this is, by no means, a verbatim reprint\nof Wesley\u2019s translation, published with his Notes in 1755. The book is\nextremely scarce; but the variations are too numerous and minute to be\npointed out in a work like this.\n\nAs it respects the _Magazine_, there can be no doubt, that all the\narticles composing it may be considered to be in harmony with Wesley\u2019s\nown sentiments; but, as usual, in this review, we only notice the\narticles which Wesley himself contributed; and that, principally, for\nthe purpose of obtaining knowledge of his latest opinions and\nfeelings. We pass over his \u201cThoughts on Memory\u201d; his critique on\nCaptain Wilson\u2019s \u201cAccount of the Pelew Islands\u201d; and his \u201cThoughts on\nSuicide\u201d; and direct attention to his last, his dying manifesto, on\nseparation from the Established Church. The article is dated,\n\u201cDecember 11, 1789,\u201d and is in the April number of the _Magazine_ for\n1790.\n\nHe states that, next to the primitive church, he had, from childhood,\nesteemed the Church of England as the most scriptural, national church\nin the world; and had, therefore, not only assented to all the\ndoctrines, but observed all the rubric in the liturgy; and that with\nall possible exactness, even at the peril of his life. He proceeds to\ngive the history of the rise of Methodism, and of his own\n_irregularities_; and thus concludes:\n\n \u201cI never had any design of separating from the Church. I have\n no such design now. I do not believe, the Methodists in general\n design it, when I am no more seen. I do, and will do, all that\n is in my power to prevent such an event. Nevertheless, in spite\n of all that I can do, many of them will separate from it\n (although, I am apt to think, not one half, perhaps not one\n third of them). These will be so bold and injudicious as to\n form a separate party, which, consequently, will dwindle away\n into a dry, dull, separate party. In flat opposition to these,\n I declare once more, that I live and die a member of the Church\n of England; and that none, who regard my judgment or advice,\n will ever separate from it.\u201d\n\nTo the same effect is his sermon on \u201cNo man taketh this honour unto\nhimself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron,\u201d--a sermon which\nhe wrote at Cork, in May 1789, and published in his magazine, twelve\nmonths afterwards. He correctly maintains that, in ancient times, the\noffices of priest and preacher were entirely distinct. Priests were\nnot preachers; and preachers, or prophets, were not priests. He argues\nthat, in the New Testament, the office of an evangelist is not the\nsame as that of a pastor. Pastors presided over the flock, and\nadministered the sacraments; evangelists helped them, and preached the\nword. He asserts that the same distinction is recognised in the\nEnglish, presbyterian, and Roman churches; and then, coming to\nMethodism, tells his readers that Methodist itinerant preachers are\nevangelists, not pastors; and that their work is wholly and solely to\npreach, not to administer sacraments. His address to them is worth\nquoting.\n\n \u201cGod has commissioned you to call sinners to repentance; but it\n does by no means follow from hence, that ye are commissioned to\n baptize, or to administer the Lord\u2019s supper. Ye never dreamt of\n this, for ten or twenty years after ye began to preach. Ye did\n not then, like _Korah Dathan_, and _Abiram_, _seek the\n priesthood also_. Ye knew, \u2018No man taketh this honour to\n himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.\u2019 O contain\n yourselves within your own bounds. Be content with preaching\n the gospel. Do the work of evangelists. I earnestly advise you,\n abide in your place; keep your own station. Ye were fifty years\n ago,--those of you that were then Methodist\n preachers,--_extraordinary messengers_ of God, not going in\n your own will, but _thrust out_, not to supersede, but to\n _provoke to jealousy_ the _ordinary messengers_. In God\u2019s name,\n stop there! Both, by your preaching and example, provoke them\n to love and good works. Ye are a new phenomenon in the earth; a\n body of people, who, being of no sect or party, are friends to\n all parties, and endeavour to forward all, in the knowledge and\n love of God and man. Ye yourselves were, at first, called in\n the Church of England; and though ye have and will have a\n thousand temptations to leave it, regard them not. Be Church of\n _England_ men still. Do not cast away the peculiar glory which\n God hath put upon you, and frustrate the design of Providence,\n the very end for which God raised you up.\u201d\n\nIn reply to the charge that he himself had already separated from the\nChurch, Wesley allows, that he deviated from the rules of the Church\nin \u201cpreaching abroad,\u201d in \u201cpraying extempore,\u201d in forming societies,\nand in employing lay preachers; but he adds:\n\n \u201cAll this is not separating from the Church. So far from it,\n that, whenever I have opportunity, I attend the Church service\n myself, and advise all our societies so to do. Nevertheless,\n the generality even of religious people naturally think, \u2018I am\n inconsistent.\u2019 And they cannot but think so, unless they\n observe my two principles. The one, that I dare not separate\n from the Church, that I believe it would be a sin so to do; the\n other, that I believe it would be a sin not to _vary_ from it\n in the points above mentioned. I say, put these two principles\n together, first, I will not _separate_ from the Church; yet,\n secondly, in cases of necessity, I will _vary_ from it; and\n inconsistency vanishes away. I have been true to my profession\n from 1730 to this day.\u201d\n\nHere we leave the matter. This is the last time we shall quote Wesley\non separation from the Church. We care not either to vindicate or to\ncondemn his thoughts and course of conduct. In a few lines, Wesley\nhere says all that can be said in favour of the anomalous position in\nwhich he stood: he did not _separate_, but he _varied_ from the Church\nof England. It will be difficult for either sophistry or sound\nargument to make either more or less than this of the vexed\nquestion,--the difference between Wesley\u2019s profession and his practice\nin reference to his continued adherence to, or separation from, the\nEstablished Church. He lived and died a hearty, but inconsistent\nChurchman.\n\nThere is another point which must be mentioned. The reader has already\nseen Wesley\u2019s intense anxiety in reference to rich Methodists. In the\nlast fourteen sermons that he wrote, during the last two years of his\neventful life, and which were, for the first time, published in the\nmagazines for 1790, 1791, and 1792, he again and again, in the\nstrongest and most affecting language, reverts to this momentous\nmatter. Exception may be taken to his opinions; but they are worthy of\nbeing quoted. They are the last sentiments of an old man, with\nunparalleled experience; and, throughout a long life, were by himself\nreduced to practice. The following are extracts.\n\nIn the remarkable sermon, on Jeremiah viii. 22, written in Dublin,\nJuly 2, 1789, in which he tries to answer the question, \u201cWhy has\nChristianity done so little good in the world?\u201d he writes:\n\n \u201cWho regards those solemn words, _Lay not up for yourselves\n treasures upon earth_? Of the three rules, which are laid down\n on this head, in the sermon on _The Mammon of Unrighteousness_,\n you may find many that observe the first rule, namely, _Gain\n all you can_. You may find a few that observe the second, _Save\n all you can_. But how many have you found, that observe the\n third rule, _Give all you can_? Have you reason to believe,\n that five hundred of these are to be found among fifty thousand\n _Methodists_? And, yet, nothing can be more plain, than that\n all who observe the two first rules, without the third, will be\n twofold more the children of hell than ever they were before.\n\n \u201cO that God would enable me once more, before I go hence and am\n no more seen, to lift up my voice like a trumpet to those who\n _gain_ and _save_ all they can, but do not _give_ all they can!\n Ye are the men, some of the chief men, who continually grieve\n the Holy Spirit of God, and, in a great measure, stop His\n gracious influence from descending on our assemblies. Many of\n your brethren, beloved of God, have not food to eat; they have\n not raiment to put on; they have not a place where to lay their\n head. And why are they thus distressed? Because _you_\n impiously, unjustly, and cruelly detain from them what your\n Master and theirs lodges in _your_ hands, on purpose to supply\n _their_ wants. In the name of God, what are you doing? Do you\n neither fear God, nor regard man? Why do you not deal your\n bread to the hungry? And cover the naked with a garment? Have\n you laid out, in your own costly apparel, what would have\n answered both these intentions? Did God command you so to do?\n Does He commend you for so doing? Did He entrust you with\n _His_,--not _your_,--goods for this end? And does He now say,\n \u2018Servant of God, well done\u2019? You well know He does not. This\n idle expense has no approbation, either from God or your own\n conscience. But, you say, \u2018You can _afford_ it!\u2019 O be ashamed\n to take such miserable nonsense into your mouths. Never more\n utter such stupid cant, such palpable absurdity! Can any\n steward _afford_ to be an arrant knave? to waste his lord\u2019s\n goods? Can any servant _afford_ to lay out his master\u2019s money,\n any otherwise than his master appoints him? So far from it,\n that whoever does this ought to be excluded from a Christian\n society.\n\n \u201cI am distressed. I know not what to do. I see what I might\n have done once. I might have said peremptorily and expressly,\n \u2018Here I am: I and my Bible. I will not, I dare not, vary from\n this book, either in great things or small. I have no power to\n dispense with one jot or tittle of what is contained therein. I\n am determined to be a Bible Christian, not almost but\n altogether. Who will meet me on this ground? Join me on this,\n or not at all.\u2019 With regard to dress in particular, I might\n have been as firm, (and I now see it would have been far\n better,) as either the people called quakers, or the Moravian\n brethren. I might have said, \u2018This is _our_ manner of dress,\n which we know is both scriptural and rational. If you join with\n us, you are to dress as we do: but you need not join us unless\n you please.\u2019 But alas! the time is now past. And what I can do\n now, I cannot tell. The Methodists grow more and more self\n indulgent, because they _grow rich_. Although many of them are\n still deplorably poor (_Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in\n the streets of Askelon!_), yet many others, in the space of\n twenty, thirty, or forty years, are twenty, thirty, yea, a\n hundred times richer than they were when they first entered the\n society. And it is an observation which admits of few\n exceptions, that nine in ten of these decreased in grace, in\n the same proportion as they increased in wealth. Indeed,\n according to the natural tendency of riches, we cannot expect\n it to be otherwise.\n\n \u201cBut how astonishing a thing is this! Does it not seem (and yet\n this cannot be!) that true scriptural Christianity has a\n tendency, in process of time, to undermine and destroy itself?\n For, wherever it spreads, it must cause diligence and\n frugality, which, in the natural course of things, beget\n riches. And riches naturally beget pride, love of the world,\n and every temper that is destructive to Christianity. Now, if\n there be no way to prevent this, Christianity is inconsistent\n with itself, and, of consequence, cannot stand, cannot long\n continue among any people; since, wherever it generally\n prevails, it saps its own foundation.\n\n \u201cBut, allowing that diligence and frugality must produce\n riches, is there no means to hinder riches destroying the\n religion of those that possess them? I can see only one\n possible way; find out another who can. Do you gain all you\n can, and save all you can? Then you must, in the nature of\n things, grow rich. Then if you have any desire to escape the\n damnation of hell, _give_ all you can; otherwise I can have no\n more hope of your salvation, than for that of Judas Iscariot.\n\n \u201cI call God to record upon my soul, that I advise no more than\n I practise. I do, blessed be God, gain, and save, and give all\n I can. And so, I trust in God, I shall do, while the breath of\n God is in my nostrils. But what then? I count all things but\n loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus, my Lord!\n Still\n\n \u2018I give up every plea beside,\n Lord, I am damned! but Thou hast died!\u2019\u201d[766]\n\nTo the same effect is Wesley\u2019s searching and terrible sermon, on the\nRich Fool, written at Balham, February 19, 1790; and another written\nat Bristol, September 21, 1790, on the text, \u201cIf riches increase, set\nnot thine heart upon them.\u201d In the latter sermon, he writes:\n\n \u201cBy whatsoever means thy riches increase, whether with or\n without labour; whether by trade, legacies, or any other way,\n unless thy charities increase in the same proportion,--unless\n thou givest a full tenth of thy substance, of thy fixed and\n occasional income, thou dost undoubtedly set thy heart upon thy\n gold, and it will _eat thy flesh as fire_.\n\n \u201cBut O! who can convince a rich man, that he sets his heart\n upon riches? For considerably above half a century, I have\n spoken on this head, with all the plainness that was in my\n power. But with how little effect? I doubt whether I have, in\n all that time, convinced fifty misers of covetousness.\n\n \u201cI have a message from God unto thee, O rich man, whether thou\n wilt hear, or whether thou wilt forbear. Riches have increased\n with thee; at the peril of thy soul, _set not thine heart upon\n them_. Be thankful to Him that gave thee such a talent, so much\n power of doing good. Yet dare not to rejoice over them, but\n with fear and trembling.\n\n \u201cLet us descend to particulars; and see that each of you deal\n faithfully with his own soul. If any of you have now twice,\n thrice, or four times as much substance as when you first saw\n my face, faithfully examine yourselves, and see if you do not\n set your hearts, if not directly on riches themselves, yet, on\n some of the things that are purchaseable thereby, which comes\n to the same thing. Do you not _eat_ more plentifully or more\n delicately than you did ten or twenty years ago? Do not you use\n more _drink_, or drink of a more _costly_ kind, than you did\n then? Do you sleep on as hard a bed as you did once, suppose\n your health will bear it? Do you _fast_ as often now you are\n rich, as you did when you were poor? Ought you not in all\n reason to do this, rather more often than more seldom? I am\n afraid, your own heart condemns you. You are not clear in this\n matter.\n\n \u201cDo not some of you seek no small part of happiness in that\n trifle of trifles, dress? Do not you bestow more money, or,\n which is the same, more time and pains upon it, than you did\n once? I doubt this is not done to please God. Then it pleases\n the devil. If you laid aside your needless ornaments, some\n years since, ruffles, necklaces, spider caps, ugly, unbecoming\n bonnets, costly linen, expensive laces, have you not, in\n defiance of religion and reason, taken to them again?\n\n \u201cAfter having served you between sixty and seventy years, with\n dim eyes, shaking hands, and tottering feet, I give you one\n more advice before I sink into the dust. Mark those words of\n St. Paul, _Those that desire_, or endeavour, _to be rich_, that\n moment, _fall into temptation_; yea, a deep gulf of temptation,\n out of which nothing less than Almighty power can deliver them.\n Permit me to come a little closer still: perhaps I may not\n trouble you any more on this head. I am pained for you that are\n _rich in this world_. Do you give all you can? You who receive\n \u00a3500 a year, and spend only \u00a3200, do you give \u00a3300 back to God?\n If not, you certainly rob God of that \u00a3300. \u2018Nay, may I not do\n what I will with _my own_?\u2019 Here lies the ground of your\n mistake. It is not your _own_. It cannot be, unless you are\n Lord of heaven and earth. \u2018However, I must provide for my\n children.\u2019 Certainly. But how? By making them rich? When you\n will probably make them heathens, as some of you have done\n already. Leave them enough to live on, not in idleness and\n luxury, but by honest industry. And if you have not children,\n upon what scriptural or rational principle can you leave a\n groat behind you, more than will bury you? I pray consider:\n What are you the better for what you leave behind you? What\n does it signify, whether you leave behind you ten thousand\n pounds, or ten thousand shoes and boots? Oh, leave nothing\n behind you! Send all you have before you into a better world!\n Lend it, lend it all unto the Lord, and it shall be paid you\n again! Is there any danger that _His_ truth should fail? It is\n fixed as the pillars of heaven. Haste, haste, my brethren,\n haste! lest you be called away, before you have settled what\n you have, on this security!\u201d[767]\n\nTo say the least, this was plain speaking, such as is seldom heard at\npresent; the following, in the sermon on Matthew vi. 22, 23, written\nat Bristol, September 25, 1789, is terrific.\n\n \u201cHow great is the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give\n him no better title, be he rich or poor), who will sell his own\n child to the devil! who will barter her own eternal happiness,\n for any quantity of gold or silver! What a monster would any\n man be accounted, who devoured the flesh of his own offspring!\n And is he not as great a monster, who, by his own act and deed,\n gives her to be devoured by that roaring lion? As he certainly\n does (so far as is in his power), who marries her to an ungodly\n man. \u2018But he is rich; he has \u00a310,000!\u2019 What if it were\n \u00a3100,000? The more the worse; the less probability will she\n have of escaping the damnation of hell. With what face wilt\n thou look upon her, when she tells thee in the realms below,\n \u2018Thou hast plunged me into this place of torment! Hadst thou\n given me to a good man, however poor, I might now have been in\n Abraham\u2019s bosom!\u2019\n\n \u201cAre any of you, that are called Methodists, seeking to marry\n your children well (as the cant phrase is), that is, to sell\n them to some purchaser, that has much money, but little or no\n religion? Have _ye_ profited no more by all ye have heard? Man,\n woman, think what you are about. Dare _you_ also sell your\n child to the devil? You undoubtedly do this (as far as in you\n lies), when you marry a son or a daughter to a child of the\n devil, though it be one that wallows in gold and silver. O take\n warning in time! Beware of the gilded bait! Death and hell are\n hid beneath. Prefer grace before gold and precious stones;\n glory in heaven, to riches on earth! If you do not, you are\n worse than the very Canaanites. They only made their children\n _pass through the fire_ to Moloch. You make yours _pass into\n the fire_ that never shall be quenched, and _to stay in it for\n ever_. O how great is the darkness that causes you, after you\n have done this, _to wipe your mouth and say, you have done no\n evil_!\n\n \u201cUpwards of fifty years, I have ministered unto you. I have\n been your servant for Christ\u2019s sake. During this time, I have\n given you many solemn warnings on this head. I now give you one\n more, perhaps the last. Dare any of you, in choosing your\n calling or situation, eye the things on earth, rather than the\n things above? In choosing a profession or a companion of life\n for your child, do you look at earth or heaven? And can you\n deliberately prefer, either for yourself or your offspring, a\n child of the devil with money, to a child of God without it?\n Repent, repent of your vile earthly mindedness! Renounce the\n title of Christians; or prefer, both in your own case and the\n case of your children, grace to money, and heaven to earth. For\n the time to come, at least, _let your eye be single_, that your\n _whole body may be full of light_!\u201d\n\nThese were Wesley\u2019s last words to the Methodists. The extracts are\nlong; but, in this money making, mammon worshipping, intensely worldly\nage, they may be useful.\n\nThe other sermons, published in the last year of Wesley\u2019s life, and in\nthe year subsequent to his death, are well worthy of the reader\u2019s\nnotice. That on \u201cKnowing Christ after the flesh\u201d is perhaps the only\none, in the English language, on such a subject. That on the text,\n\u201cThere is one God,\u201d is characteristically thoughtful, keen, logical,\nand evangelical. That on \u201cWalking by Faith,\u201d terse, vigorous, earnest,\npractical, and terribly faithful. That on \u201cThe Wedding Garment,\u201d an\nexcellent exposition of an often ill used text. That on \u201cThe\nDeceitfulness of the Human Heart\u201d is one which none but a man like\nWesley could have preached. That on \u201cAtheism,\u201d ingenious, searching,\nand powerful. That on \u201cThe Treasure in Earthen Vessels,\u201d simple and\nbeautiful. While that on \u201cLife like a Dream\u201d was being printed on the\nvery day when Wesley\u2019s corpse lay in the chapel in City Road; and that\non \u201cFaith, the evidence of things not seen,\u201d was the last he ever\nwrote, and was finished only six weeks previous to his death.\n\nBoth the last mentioned deserve quoting. They are the profoundly\ninteresting musings of an old man, conscious that he must soon enter\nthe spiritual and unseen world. Imagining a disembodied soul before\nhim, he thus soliloquises.\n\n \u201cNow that your eyes are open, see how inexpressibly different\n are all the things that are now around you! What a difference\n do you perceive in yourself! Where is your body? Your house of\n clay? Where are your limbs? your hands, your feet, your head?\n There they lie; cold, insensible! What a change is in the\n immortal spirit! You see everything around you: but how? Not\n with eyes of flesh and blood! You hear; but not by a stream of\n undulating air, striking on an extended membrane. You feel; but\n in how wonderful a manner! You have no nerves to convey the\n ethereal fire to the common sensory; rather are you not now all\n eye, all ear, all feeling, all perception?\u201d\n\nAgain, in his last, the sermon on faith:\n\n \u201cHow will this material universe appear to a disembodied\n spirit? Who can tell whether any of these objects, that now\n surround us, will appear the same as they do now? What\n astonishing scenes will then discover themselves to our newly\n opening senses! Probably fields of ether, not only tenfold, but\n ten thousand fold, \u2018the length of this terrene.\u2019 And with what\n variety of furniture, animate and inanimate! How many orders of\n beings, not discovered by organs of flesh and blood! Perhaps\n \u2018thrones, dominions, principalities, and, powers!\u2019 And shall we\n not then, as far as angels\u2019 ken, survey the bounds of creation,\n and see every place where the Almighty\n\n \u2018Stopped His rapid wheels, and said,\n This be thy just circumference, O world!\u2019\n\n Yea, shall we not be able to move, quick as thought, through\n the wide realms of uncreated night? Above all, the moment we\n step into eternity, shall we not feel ourselves swallowed up of\n Him, who is in this and every place, who filleth heaven and\n earth? It is only the veil of flesh and blood which now hinders\n us from perceiving, that the great Creator cannot but fill the\n whole immensity of space; He is every moment above us, beneath\n us, and on every side. Indeed, in this dark abode, this land of\n shadows, this region of sin and death, the thick cloud, which\n is interposed between, conceals Him from our sight. But then\n the veil will disappear, and He will appear in unclouded\n majesty, God over all, blessed for ever!\u201d\n\nThe blessed old man already had glimpses of the shining ones, and of\nthe gates of that celestial city, into which, six weeks after these\nwords were written, he triumphantly entered.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [700] Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 380.\n\n [701] _Methodist Magazine_, 1830, p. 251.\n\n [702] Dunn\u2019s Life of Clarke, p. 72.\n\n [703] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 105.\n\n [704] Pawson\u2019s manuscripts.\n\n [705] Moore\u2019s sermon.\n\n [706] _Methodist Magazine_, 1832, p. 594.\n\n [707] Benson\u2019s Life, by Macdonald, p. 209.\n\n [708] Dunn\u2019s Life of Clarke, pp. 72, 73.\n\n [709] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 119.\n\n [710] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 113.\n\n [711] \u201cMethodism in Preston,\u201d p. 44.\n\n [712] Cutler\u2019s Life, p. 5.\n\n [713] _Methodist Magazine_, 1792, p. 66.\n\n [714] \u201cMethodism in Halifax,\u201d p. 181.\n\n [715] See page 472 of this volume.\n\n [716] _Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 121.\n\n [717] _Methodist Magazine_, 1795, p. 423.\n\n [718] Moore\u2019s Life, p. 89.\n\n [719] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 94.\n\n [720] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 105.\n\n [721] Kilham\u2019s Life, by Blackwell, p. 114.\n\n [722] _Methodist Magazine_, 1836, p. 494.\n\n [723] Black\u2019s Memoirs, p. 265.\n\n [724] Moore\u2019s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 384.\n\n [725] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 139.\n\n [726] Dunn\u2019s Life of Clarke, p. 73.\n\n [727] Ought it not to be sixty-eight.\n\n [728] An error occurred in the first edition of this\n volume, on page 224. It was there stated, that Wesley\n received \u00a360 a year; it ought to have been \u00a330.\n According to the old circuit book, at City Road, it\n was the custom to pay him \u00a315 in the first quarter of\n each year, and \u00a315 in the last.\n\n [729] Now his steward.\n\n [730] The sentence is unfinished.\n\n [731] Samuel Bradburn remarks: \u201cI know that, from the\n conference of 1780 to the conference of 1781, he gave\n away, in _private charities_, above \u00a31400. He told me\n himself, in 1787, that he never gave away, out of his\n own pocket, less than \u00a31000 a year.\u201d Bradburn adds:\n \u201cHe never relieved poor people in the street, but he\n either took off, or removed, his hat to them, when\n they thanked him.\u201d\n\n [732] _Methodist Magazine_, 1825, p. 25.\n\n [733] Ibid. 1828, p. 741; and _Christian Miscellany_, 1847,\n p. 173.\n\n [734] _Methodist Magazine_, 1792, p. 288.\n\n [735] Ibid. 1856, p. 234.\n\n [736] Ibid. 1845, p. 123.\n\n [737] Clarke\u2019s Life, vol. i., p. 277.\n\n [738] _Methodist Magazine_, 1847, p. 211.\n\n [739] _Methodist Magazine_, 1837, p. 11.\n\n [740] The assistant in Chatham circuit.\n\n [741] The wife of Charles Boone, the assistant in\n Canterbury circuit.\n\n [742] _Local Preachers\u2019 Magazine_, 1851, p. 75.\n\n [743] _Methodist Magazine_, 1847, p. 656.\n\n [744] _Wesleyan Times_, June 11, 1866.\n\n [745] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 98.\n\n [746] _Wesleyan Times_, June 11, 1866.\n\n [747] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 8.\n\n [748] This was done with the approbation of the London\n stewards, who paid \u00a31 19_s._ for the carriages and\n expenses. (City Road society book.)\n\n [749] Life of James Rogers, p. 44.\n\n [750] Life of James Rogers, p. 44.\n\n [751] _Youth\u2019s Instructor_, 1833, p. 330.\n\n [752] _Methodist Magazine_, 1841, p. 1.\n\n [753] Ibid.\n\n [754] \u201cDiary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence of Henry\n Crabb Robinson,\u201d vol. i., p. 20.\n\n [755] Crabbe\u2019s Life.\n\n [756] _Methodist Magazine_, 1856, p. 203.\n\n [757] Reynolds\u2019 \u201cAnecdotes of Wesley,\u201d p. 39.\n\n [758] _Methodist Magazine_, 1846, p. 1189.\n\n [759] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 113.\n\n [760] Merely in the circuits above mentioned (a fraction\n of the Dales circuit) there are, at present, 7819\n members. (See Minutes of Conference, 1870.)\n\n [761] Circuit manuscript books.\n\n [762] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 109.\n\n [763] Sigston\u2019s Life of Bramwell.\n\n [764] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 99.\n\n [765] Manuscript letter, kindly lent by Charles Reed, Esq.,\n M.P.\n\n [766] _Methodist Magazine_, 1790, pp. 348, 400, etc.\n\n [767] _Methodist Magazine_, 1792, p. 341, etc.\n\n\n\n\n 1791.\n Age 88\n\n\nOnly two months of Wesley\u2019s eventful life are left unnarrated. The\nfollowing letters, belonging to this period, will be read with\ninterest.\n\nThe first was addressed to Adam Clarke, who, in Dublin, had buried his\neldest daughter, and was himself dangerously afflicted with rheumatic\naffection in the head.[768]\n\n \u201c_January 3, 1791._\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--You startle me when you talk of grieving so much\n for the death of an infant. This is certainly a proof of\n inordinate affection; and, if you love them _thus_, all your\n children will die. How did Mr. De Renty behave when he supposed\n his wife to be dying? There is a pattern for a Christian.\n\n \u201cBut you forget to send me anything about magnetism. John\n Bredin is a weak brother: let him not complain. He behaved ill\n both at Jersey and Guernsey; but let him behave well now, and\n that will be forgotten. I wish my dear sister Clarke and you\n many happy years; and am, dear Adam, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[769]\n\nThe next has not before been published. It was written to Thomas\nTaylor, then in the Hull circuit. Dr. King was made archbishop of\nDublin in 1702, and died in 1729. He was author of \u201c_De Origine\nMali_,\u201d written to prove, that the existence of natural and moral evil\nis not incompatible with the power and goodness of the Deity, and may\nbe accounted for without the supposition of an evil principle.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 6, 1791_.\n\n \u201cDEAR TOMMY,--With regard to the powerful workings of the\n Spirit, I think those words of our Lord are chiefly to be\n understood: \u2018The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou\n hearest the sound thereof,\u2019 (thou art sure of the fact,) \u2018but\n canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth.\u2019\n\n \u201cMake your yearly subscription when you see best, only take\n care it does not interfere with any other subscription.\n\n \u201cThe tract of Archbishop King has been particularly admired by\n many persons of excellent sense. I do not admire it so much as\n they do; but I like it well. Yet, I have corrected a far better\n tract on the same subject, perhaps, the last I shall have to\n publish.[770]\n\n \u201cIndeed, I hope I shall not live to be useless. I wish you and\n yours many happy years, and am, dear Tommy, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe next letter, addressed to Miss Bolton of Witney, contains an\nimportant reference to Wesley\u2019s state of health.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 12, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR NANCY,--I thank you for your welcome present, and\n rejoice to hear that your health is better. What is it, which\n is good for us, that our Lord will not give, if we can but\n trust Him?\n\n \u201cThese four last days, I have had better health than I had for\n several months before. Only my sight continues much as it was.\n But good is the will of the Lord.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Nancy, affectionately yours,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d[771]\n\nThe following was addressed to the wife of Adam Clarke, and refers to\nher husband\u2019s serious affliction, as well as to the loss of their\ndaughter.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 18, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--Before this time, I hope God has heard\n prayer, and given brother Clarke a little more ease. I should\n suspect a dropsy in the brain, which, though formerly judged\n incurable, has lately been cured.\n\n \u201cBoth brother Clarke and you have large proofs that whom the\n Lord loveth He chasteneth. He knoweth the way whence you go;\n when you have been tried, you shall come forth as gold.\n\n \u201cI wonder at the folly of Mr. V. Surely, he is a very weak man.\n But I shall judge better when I have seen his performances.\n Peace be multiplied again!\n\n \u201cI am, my dear sister, ever yours,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[772]\n\nJohn Booth was now assistant in Keighley circuit, and to him was\naddressed the following.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 29, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--You give me a very agreeable account of the\n progress of the work of God in your circuit. As to the poor,\n self conceited enthusiasts in Keighley, it seems best that you\n should never name them in public; but, when occasion offers,\n strike at the root of their errors, by clearly proving the\n truth which they deny. And whenever you meet with any of them\n in private, then speak and spare not. Whenever you have\n opportunity of speaking to believers, urge them to go on to\n perfection. Spare no pains; and God, even our own God, still\n give you His blessing!\n\n \u201cI am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[773]\n\nMiss Cambridge was an Irish Methodist, twenty-nine years of age, and\nhad established meetings in various parts of the town of Bandon, at\nwhich she prayed and occasionally exhorted. She had also held similar\nmeetings at Kinsale, Youghal, and other places. Many of the\nMethodists, and some of the Methodist preachers, pronounced her public\naddresses to be entirely irregular, and what ought not to be tolerated\nin the Christian church. She wrote to Wesley for advice; and received\nthe following reply,--Wesley\u2019s last utterance on female preaching.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _January 31, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SISTER,--I received your letter an hour ago. I thank\n you for writing so largely and so freely; do so always to me as\n your friend, as one that loves you well. Mr. Barber has the\n glory of God at heart; and so have his fellow labourers. Give\n them all honour, and obey them in all things as far as\n conscience permits. But it will not permit you to be silent\n when God commands you to speak; yet, I would have you give as\n little offence as possible; and, therefore, I would advise you\n not to speak at any place where a preacher is speaking at the\n same time, lest you should draw away his hearers. Also, avoid\n the first appearance of pride or magnifying yourself. If you\n want books, or anything, let me know; I have your happiness\n much at heart. During the little time I have to stay on earth,\n pray for,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[774]\n\nEzekiel Cooper was the son of an officer in the army of the American\nrevolution, and was now twenty-eight years of age, and a Methodist\npreacher at Annapolis. He was a man of great mental vigour and\nversatility, almost unequalled in debate, and was called, by the\nAmerican Methodists, _Lycurgus_, in reference to his profound wisdom.\nHe was a diligent student, and a close observer of men and things,\nlived a long life of celibacy, was frugal to a fault, left behind him\nan estate of about fifty thousand dollars, and died in 1847, the\noldest Methodist preacher in the world. When he entered the ministry\nin 1783, the American Methodists numbered eighty-three preachers, and\nfifteen thousand members; when he died, their ministry numbered five\nthousand, and their membership above a million.[775] To him Wesley\nwrote the last letter which he posted to America.\n\n \u201cNEAR LONDON, _February 1, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Those that desire to write, or to say\n anything, to me, have no time to lose, for time has shaken me\n by the hand, and death is not far behind. But I have reason to\n be thankful for the time that is past. I felt few of the\n infirmities of old age, for fourscore and six years. It was not\n till a year and a half ago, that my strength and my sight\n failed. And still I am enabled to scrawl a little, and to\n creep, though I cannot run. Probably I should not be able to do\n so much, did not many of you assist me by your prayers.\n\n \u201cI have given a distinct account of the work of God, which has\n been wrought in Britain and Ireland, for more than half a\n century. We want some of you to give us a connected relation,\n of what our Lord has been doing in America, since the time that\n Richard Boardman accepted the invitation, and left his country\n to serve you. See that you never give place to one thought of\n separating from your brethren in Europe. Lose no opportunity of\n declaring to all men, that the Methodists are one people in all\n the world, and that it is their full determination so to\n continue,--\n\n \u2018Though mountains rise, and oceans roll,\n To sever us in vain.\u2019\n\n \u201cTo the care of our common Lord I commit you, and am your\n affectionate friend and brother,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[776]\n\nSuch was Wesley\u2019s dying legacy to the transatlantic Methodists.\n\nThe next is brief, but full of interest. For many years Wesley had\nbeen accustomed to leave London, on, or about, the 1st of March, for\nwhat he was accustomed to call his long journey, to the north, or to\nIreland. Though so aged and feeble, he fully intended to do the same\nagain; and Henry Moore relates, that, in reference to this, he\nactually sent his chaise and his horses before him to Bristol, and\ntook places for himself and his friends in the Bath coach; but, almost\non the very day when he purposed to begin afresh his \u201clong journey\u201d on\nearth, the venerable pilgrim left earth for heaven.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 6, 1791_.\n\n \u201cDEAR SIR,--On Wednesday, March 17, I purpose, if God permit,\n to come from Gloucester to Worcester; and, on Thursday, the\n 18th, to Stourport. If our friends at Worcester are displeased,\n we cannot help it. Wishing you and yours all happiness,\n\n \u201cI am, dear sir, your affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe letter was addressed to Mr. York, of Stourport; but was not sent.\nAt the bottom of it is the last line that Wesley ever wrote.\n\n \u201cFebruary 28--This morning I found this in my bureau.\u201d[777]\n\nIn a letter, given on page 622, Mr. Thomas Roberts was directed, in an\nemergency, to leave Bristol for Haverfordwest circuit. He went, and\nhad to encounter difficulties. Wesley now wrote to him as follows.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 8, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,--Who was it that opposed your reducing the\n preachers, in the circuit, to two? and on what pretence? We\n must needs reduce all our expenses everywhere as far as\n possible. You must never leave off till you carry this point,\n and constitute bands in each large society. When the lecture\n begins at Carmarthen, it will then be time enough to prevent\n any ill effects of it. I am glad to hear your journey home has\n not been in vain. My best wishes attend my friends at Traison\n and Langwair.\n\n \u201cI am, dear Tommy, yours, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d\n\nThe original, from which this is copied, was written by an amanuensis,\nbut is signed in Wesley\u2019s own tremulous handwriting.\n\nWe have already seen that Adam Clarke had been dangerously ill in\nDublin. In fact, it was reported in England that he was dead; and\nWilliam Stevens actually preached his funeral sermon in the isle of\nJersey. He was now slowly recovering, had entered himself a medical\nstudent in Trinity college, Dublin, and had founded a \u201cStrangers\u2019\nFriend Society,\u201d like those already instituted in London, and in\nBristol.[778] To him Wesley now addressed the following.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 9, 1791_.\n\n \u201cDEAR ADAM,--You have great reason to bless God for giving you\n strength according to your day. He has indeed supported you in\n an uncommon manner under these complicated afflictions. You may\n well say, \u2018I will put my trust in Thee as long as I live.\u2019 I\n will desire Dr. Whitehead thoroughly to consider your case, and\n to give us his thoughts upon it. I am not afraid of your doing\n too little, but too much. I am in continual danger of this. Do\n little at a time, that you may do the more. My love to sisters\n Cookman and Boyle, but it is a doubt with me whether I shall\n cross the seas any more.\n\n \u201cWhat preacher was it who first omitted meeting the select\n society? I wonder it did not destroy the work!\n\n \u201cYou have done right in setting up the strangers\u2019 society: it\n is an excellent institution.\n\n \u201cI am quite at a loss concerning Mr. Maddan; I know not what to\n think of him. Send me your best thoughts concerning him.\n\n \u201cLet not the excluded preachers by any means creep in again. In\n any wise, write, and send me your thoughts on _animal\n magnetism_. I set my face against that device of Satan. Two of\n our preachers here are in danger of that satanical delusion;\n but, if they persist to defend it, I must drop them. I know its\n principles full well.\n\n \u201cWith much love to your wife, I am, etc.,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d[779]\n\nWesley was quite ready to \u201ccross seas,\u201d as he had already done so\noften, in his Master\u2019s service; but he might well doubt his ability.\nExactly three weeks after writing thus to Adam Clarke, he crossed the\ndark river of death.\n\nFor sixty-five years, Wesley had been an earnest, laborious, self\ndenying, and unceasing preacher of \u201cthe glorious gospel of the blessed\nGod\u201d; and, notwithstanding his extreme age and feebleness, he\ncontinued in his beloved employ until within seven days of his\ndecease. The following was his last week of public labour.\n\nOn Thursday, February 17, he preached at Lambeth, then a thriving\nsuburban village, from the text, \u201cLabour not for the meat which\nperisheth; but for that which endureth to everlasting life.\u201d Returning\nhome, he seemed to be unwell, and said he had taken cold.\n\nFriday the 18th, he read and wrote as usual, dined at Mr. Urling\u2019s,\nand preached at Chelsea, in the evening, from the words, \u201cThe king\u2019s\nbusiness requireth haste.\u201d Once or twice he was obliged to stop, and\nto tell the people that his cold so affected his voice as to prevent\nhis speaking without these necessary pauses. He had, as usual,\narranged to meet the classes for the renewal of their tickets; but was\npersuaded to leave this part of his work to his companions, James\nRogers, and Joseph Bradford.\n\nSaturday, the 19th, was principally employed in reading and writing.\nThe following was addressed to Mrs. Susanna Knapp, of Worcester, and\nshows his unquenchable Christian ardour.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 19, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SUKY,--As the state of my health is exceeding\n wavering, and waxes worse, I cannot yet lay down any plans for\n my future journeys. Indeed, I propose, if God permit, to set\n out for Bristol on the 28th instant; but how much further I\n shall be able to go, I cannot yet determine. If I am pretty\n well, I hope to be at Worcester about the 22nd of March. To\n find you and yours in health of body and mind will be a great\n pleasure to,\n\n \u201cMy dear Suky, yours affectionately,\n\n \u201cJ. WESLEY.\u201d [780]\n\nOn the same day, Wesley went out to dinner, at Mrs. Griffith\u2019s,\nIslington, and, while there, desired a friend to read to him the\nfourth and three following chapters of the book of Job, containing the\nspeech of Eliphaz, and the answer of Job, and strikingly appropriate\nto the case of a dying man. After dinner, he purposed to meet the\npenitents at City Road, but was prevailed on to allow Mr. Brackenbury\nto take his place.\n\nNext morning (Sunday) he rose, at his usual hour, but was utterly\nunfit for the sabbath services. At seven o\u2019clock, he was obliged to\nlie down again; and slept for above three hours. In the afternoon, he\nhad again to go to bed; had another sleep; and then, after two of his\nown sermons had been read to him, came downstairs to supper.\n\nOn Monday, the 21st, he seemed better, and, despite persuasion, would\nfulfil an engagement he had made to dine at Twickenham. His niece,\nMiss Sarah Wesley, and Miss Ritchie, went with him. On the way he\ncalled upon Lady Mary Fitzgerald, and conversed and prayed most\nsweetly.\n\nTuesday, the 22nd, he proceeded with his usual work; dined at Mr.\nHorton\u2019s, Islington; and preached in City Road chapel, from, \u201cWe\nthrough the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.\u201d After\nthis, he met the leaders.\n\nWednesday, February 23, he arose at four a.m., as he also did the day\nfollowing, and, accompanied by Mr. Rogers, set out to Leatherhead,\neighteen miles from London, to visit a magistrate, in whose dining\nroom he preached, from \u201cSeek ye the Lord while He may be found; call\nupon Him while He is near.\u201d This was Wesley\u2019s last sermon.\n\nThursday, February 24, he spent with his old friend, Mr. Wolff, at\nBalham, where he was cheerful, and seemed nearly as well as\nusual.[781]\n\nDuring the day, he wrote his last letter, which was addressed to\nWilberforce, who had brought before parliament the question, which\nWesley was one of the first to advocate, the abolition of slavery.\n\n \u201cLONDON, _February 24, 1791_.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR SIR,--Unless the Divine Power has raised you up to be\n as Athanasius, _contra mundum_, I see not how you can go\n through your glorious enterprise, in opposing that execrable\n villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of\n human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing,\n you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils; but,\n _if God be for you, who can be against you_? Are all of them\n together stronger than God? O! \u2018_be not weary in well doing_.\u2019\n Go on, in the name of God, and in the power of His might, till\n even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall\n vanish away before it.\n\n \u201cReading this morning a tract, wrote by a poor African, I was\n particularly struck by that circumstance,--that a man who has a\n black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have\n no redress; it being a _law_, in our colonies, that the _oath_\n of a black, against a white, goes for nothing. What villainy is\n this!\n\n \u201cThat He who has guided you, from your youth up, may continue\n to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of,\n dear sir,\n\n \u201cYour affectionate servant,\n\n \u201cJOHN WESLEY.\u201d [782]\n\nFriday, February 25, Mr. Wolff having brought him home, to City Road,\nWesley went upstairs, and requested that, for half an hour, he should\nbe left alone. When the time expired, faithful Joseph Bradford found\nhim so unwell, that he sent for Dr. Whitehead. \u201cDoctor,\u201d said the\ndying patriarch, \u201cthey are more afraid than hurt.\u201d\n\nSaturday, February 26, was principally passed in drowsiness and sleep.\n\nSunday morning, February 27, he seemed better, got up, sat in his\nchair, looked cheerful, and repeated, from one of his brother\u2019s\nhymns,--\n\n \u201cTill glad I lay this body down,\n Thy servant, Lord, attend!\n And oh! my life of mercy crown\n With a triumphant end!\u201d\n\nAnd then, soon after, with marked emphasis, he said, \u201cOur friend\nLazarus sleepeth.\u201d His niece, Miss Wesley, and Miss Ritchie prayed\nwith him. \u201cWhen at Bristol,\u201d said he, alluding to his illness there in\n1753, \u201cmy words were,\n\n \u2018I the chief of sinners am,\n But Jesus died for me!\u2019\u201d\n\nMiss Ritchie asked, \u201cIs that your language now?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he.\n\u201cChrist is all! He is all!\u201d He then dozed, and sometimes wandered;\nbut, in his wanderings, was always preaching or meeting classes.\n\nOn Monday, February 28, his weakness increased. Dr. Whitehead wished\nfor further assistance. Wesley replied: \u201cDr. Whitehead knows my\nconstitution better than any one. I am quite satisfied, and will have\nno one else.\u201d[783] Most of the day was spent in sleep. He seldom\nspoke; but, once, in a wakeful interval, was heard saying, in a low,\ndistinct voice, \u201cThere is no way into the holiest, but by the blood of\nJesus.\u201d Then referring to the text, \u201cYe know the grace of our Lord\nJesus Christ, that, though He was rich,\u201d etc., he remarked, with\nsolemn emphasis, \u201cThat is the foundation, the only foundation, there\nis no other.\u201d It was now evident to all, that he was beginning to\nsleep his last sleep. His friends were intensely anxious and alarmed.\nPoor, broken hearted, Joseph Bradford despatched notes to the\npreachers, asking their prayers, in the following terms.\n\n \u201c_February 27, 1791._\n\n \u201cDEAR BROTHER,--Mr. Wesley is very ill: pray! pray! pray!\n\n \u201cI am your affectionate brother,\n\n \u201cJOSEPH BRADFORD.\u201d[784]\n\nAll was unavailing. Wesley\u2019s work was ended. On Tuesday, March 1,\nafter a restless night, being asked if he suffered pain, he answered,\n\u201cNo,\u201d and began singing,--\n\n \u201cAll glory to God in the sky,\n And peace upon earth be restored!\n O Jesus, exalted on high,\n Appear our omnipotent Lord.\n Who, meanly in Bethlehem born,\n Didst stoop to redeem a lost race,\n Once more to Thy people return,\n And reign in Thy kingdom of grace.\n\n Oh, wouldst Thou again be made known,\n Again in the Spirit descend;\n And set up in each of Thy own\n A kingdom that never shall end!\n Thou only art able to bless,\n And make the glad nations obey,\n And bid the dire enmity cease,\n And bow the whole world to Thy sway.\u201d\n\nHere, while breathing faith and universal benevolence, his strength\nfailed. \u201cI want to write,\u201d said he. A pen was put into his hand, and\npaper was placed before him. His hand had forgot its cunning. \u201cI\ncannot,\u201d said the dying man. \u201cLet me write for you,\u201d remarked Miss\nRitchie: \u201ctell me what you wish to say.\u201d \u201cNothing,\u201d he replied, \u201cbut\nthat God is with us.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will get up,\u201d said he; and, while his friends were arranging his\nclothes, the happy old man again began singing,--\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll praise my Maker while I\u2019ve breath;\n And, when my voice is lost in death,\n Praise shall employ my nobler powers:\n My days of praise shall ne\u2019er be past,\n While life, and thought, and being last,\n Or immortality endures.\n\n Happy the man whose hopes rely\n On Israel\u2019s God; He made the sky,\n And earth, and seas, with all their train;\n His truth for ever stands secure,\n He saves the\u2019 oppressed, He feeds the poor,\n And none shall find His promise vain.\u201d\n\nOnce more seated in his chair, he, in a weak voice, said: \u201cLord, Thou\ngivest strength to those that can speak, and to those that cannot.\nSpeak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let them know that Thou loosest\ntongues.\u201d And again he began to sing, what proved to be his last song\non earth:\n\n \u201cTo Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,\n Who sweetly all agree.\u201d\n\nBut here his voice failed, and, after gasping for breath, he said:\n\u201cNow we have done. Let us all go.\u201d\n\nFull of happiness, but utterly exhausted, he was put to bed, where,\nafter a short but quiet sleep, he opened his eyes, and, addressing the\nweeping watchers who stood around him, said, \u201cPray, and praise!\u201d and,\nof course, they at once complied. Then he asked Joseph Bradford about\nthe key and contents of his bureau, remarking, \u201cI would have all\nthings ready for my executors. Let me be buried in nothing but what is\nwoollen, and let my corpse be carried in my coffin into the chapel.\u201d\nAnd then, as if no other earthly matters required his attention, he\nagain called out, \u201cPray and praise!\u201d Down fell his friends upon their\nknees, and fervent were the dying patriarch\u2019s responses, especially to\nJohn Broadbent\u2019s prayer, that God would still bless the system of\ndoctrine and discipline, which Wesley had been the means of\nestablishing. On rising, from prayer, each watcher drew near to the\nbed of the expiring saint, and, with affectionate solicitude, awaited\nthe coming of the shining ones to conduct him home. With the utmost\nplacidity, he saluted each one present, shook hands, and said,\n\u201cFarewell! farewell!\u201d\n\nConflict there was none. The scene was the peaceful setting of a\nglorious sun, undisturbed by the slightest soughing wind, undimmed by\nthe smallest intervening cloud.\n\nHe tried to speak; but his friends found it difficult to make out what\nhe meant, except that he wished his sermon on \u201cThe Love of God to\nFallen Man,\u201d founded on the text, \u201cNot as the offence, so also is the\nfree gift,\u201d to be \u201cscattered abroad, and given to everybody.\u201d[785]\nSeeing that those around him were at a loss to understand what he\ntried to say, the grand old Christian gladiator paused; and,\nsummoning, for a final effort, all the little strength he had\nremaining, he exclaimed, in a tone well-nigh supernatural, \u201cThe best\nof all is, God is with us!\u201d And then, after another pause, and while\nlifting his arm in grateful triumph, he emphatically reiterated, \u201cThe\nbest of all is, God is with us!\u201d\n\nNature was once more exhausted. Some one wetted his parched lips. \u201cIt\nwill not do,\u201d said he; \u201cwe must take the consequence. Never mind the\npoor carcase.\u201d\n\nJames Rogers and Thomas Rankin were standing by his bed; but his sight\nwas so nearly gone, that he was unable to recognise their features.\n\u201cWho are these?\u201d he asked. \u201cSir,\u201d said Mr. Rogers, \u201cwe are come to\nrejoice with you; you are going to receive your crown.\u201d \u201cIt is the\nLord\u2019s doing,\u201d replied Wesley, \u201cand it is marvellous in our eyes.\u201d\n\nBeing told that his brother\u2019s widow had come to see him, he thanked\nher, affectionately endeavoured to kiss her, and remarked, \u201cHe giveth\nHis servants rest.\u201d She wet his lips; on which he repeated his\nconstant thanksgiving after meals: \u201cWe thank Thee, O Lord, for these\nand all Thy mercies. Bless the Church and king, and grant us truth and\npeace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever!\u201d Then,\npausing a little, he cried, \u201cThe clouds drop fatness.\u201d After another\npause, \u201cThe Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!\nPray and praise!\u201d And again his friends fell upon their knees.\n\nDuring the night, he scores of times repeated the words, \u201cI\u2019ll praise.\nI\u2019ll praise!\u201d but could say nothing more. Next morning, Wednesday,\nMarch 2, Joseph Bradford prayed with him. It was a few minutes before\nten o\u2019clock. Around the bed there knelt his niece, Miss Sarah Wesley;\none of his executors, Mr. Horton; his medical attendant, Dr.\nWhitehead; his book steward, George Whitfield; the present occupants\nof his house, James and Hester Ann Rogers, and their little boy; and\nhis friends and visitors, Robert Carr Brackenbury, and Elizabeth\nRitchie,--eleven persons altogether. Bradford, so long Wesley\u2019s\nfaithful friend and travelling companion, was the mouthpiece of the\nother ten. \u201cFarewell!\u201d cried Wesley,--the last word he uttered; and\nthen, as Joseph Bradford was saying, \u201cLift up your heads, O ye gates;\nand be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and this heir of glory shall\ncome in!\u201d Wesley gathered up his feet in the presence of his brethren;\nand, without a groan and without a sigh, was gone. He died about ten\no\u2019clock a.m., on Wednesday, March 2, 1791.[786]\n\nWhat followed? \u201cChildren!\u201d said John Wesley\u2019s mother, \u201cas soon as I am\ndead, sing a song of praise!\u201d As soon as Wesley himself died, his\nfriends, standing about his corpse, sang:\n\n \u201cWaiting to receive thy spirit,\n Lo! the Saviour stands above;\n Shows the purchase of His merit,\n Reaches out the crown of love.\u201d\n\nAnd then they knelt down, and prayed, that the mantle of the ascended\nElijah might rest upon his followers.[787]\n\nWesley\u2019s remains were interred, behind the chapel in City Road, on the\n9th of March. Such was the excitement created by his death, that,\nwithin twelve hours only before the funeral took place, it was\ndetermined, in order to prevent the assembling of an inconvenient\ncrowd, that the funereal solemnities should be performed at the early\nhour of five a.m. The notice to his friends was short; but hundreds\nattended; and to each one was given a biscuit, in an envelope,\nengraven with a beautifully executed portrait of the departed, dressed\nin canonicals, surmounted by a halo and a crown.\n\nMuch remains unsaid; but our space is gone. Whilst the present pages\nare passing through the press, we learn, that \u201ca most eligible site,\nin Westminster Abbey, has been courteously offered,\u201d by the dean of\nthat noble edifice, for the erection of a \u201cpublic monument\u201d to Wesley\nand his brother Charles; and that arrangements are being made to\nsecure the services of \u201ca first class sculptor,\u201d at the cost of about\n\u00a3800. Thus the wheel turns round. One hundred and thirty years ago,\nWesley was shut out of every church in England; now marble medallion\nprofiles of himself and his brother, accompanied with suitable\ninscriptions, are deemed deserving of a niche in England\u2019s grandest\ncathedral. The man who, a century since, was the best abused man in\nthe British isles, is now hardly ever mentioned but with affectionate\nrespect. In the literature of the age; in its lectures and debates; in\nchapels and in churches; in synods, congresses, and all sorts of\nconferences; by the highest lords and the most illustrious commoners,\nthe once persecuted Methodist is now extolled; and the judgment of\nSouthey, in a letter to Wilberforce, is tacitly confirmed: \u201cI consider\nWesley as the most influential mind of the last century,--the man who\nwill have produced the greatest effects, centuries, or perhaps\nmillenniums hence, if the present race of men should continue so\nlong.\u201d\n\nIn person, Wesley was rather below the middle size, but beautifully\nproportioned, without an atom of superfluous flesh, yet muscular and\nstrong; with a forehead clear and smooth, a bright, penetrating eye,\nand a lovely face, which retained the freshness of its complexion to\nthe latest period of his life.\n\nIn _general_ scholarship and knowledge, he had few superiors; whilst\nsuch was his acquaintance with the New Testament, that, when at a loss\nto repeat a text in the words of the authorised translation, he was\nnever at a loss to quote it in the original Greek.\n\nAs an author, the chief characteristics of his style are brevity,\nperspicuity, and strength. He abhorred verboseness, and constantly\nendeavoured to say everything in the fewest words possible. \u201cI never\nthink,\u201d said he, \u201cof my style at all, but just set down the words that\ncome first. Only when I transcribe anything for the press, then I\nthink it my duty to see that every phrase be _clear_, _pure_,\n_proper_, and _easy_. Conciseness, which is now as it were natural to\nme, brings _quantum sufficit_ of strength.\u201d Not for want of genius,\nbut for want of time, and for want of disposition to make it\notherwise, his style is one of naked and self dependent strength,\nunaccompanied with gaudy colouring, and equally undiluted with the\npretentious puerilities of weak and little minds. It is impossible to\nabridge his writings without omitting thoughts as well as words. Who\ncan abridge Euclid\u2019s Elements without maiming them? And who can take\nfrom the works of Wesley without reducing their specific gravity?\n\nIn the pulpit, Wesley\u2019s attitude was graceful and easy; his action\ncalm, natural, pleasing, and expressive; and his voice, not loud, but\nclear and manly. Whitefield was the greater orator; Wesley the better\ndivine. Wesley\u2019s preaching was without Whitefield\u2019s Demosthenic\neloquence; but it had the accuracy of a scholar, the authority of an\nambassador, the unction of a saint, the power of God. It was always\nsearching; but not often terrible and severe, except when addressed to\ncongregations rich, respectable, and polite. \u201cSir,\u201d said a friend to\nhim, after he had preached to a genteel audience from the words, \u201cYe\nserpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of\nhell?\u201d \u201cSir,\u201d said Wesley\u2019s offended hearer, \u201csuch a sermon would have\nbeen suitable in Billingsgate; but it was highly improper here\u201d; to\nwhom Wesley quietly, but significantly, remarked: \u201cIf I had been in\nBillingsgate, my text should have been, \u2018Behold the Lamb of God, which\ntaketh away the sin of the world.\u2019\u201d The poor need to be told the\nterribleness of their danger, and the rich more; but, unfortunately,\nthe poor hear most of this, and the rich least. Wesley was a faithful\nminister to both.\n\nIn social life, Wesley was a Christian gentleman, and, with perfect\nease, accommodated himself to both the high and low, the rich and\npoor. Placid, benevolent, and full of anecdote, wit, and wisdom, his\nconversation was not often equalled; and was generally concluded with\ntwo or three verses of a hymn, applicable to what had just been\nspoken. Though never trifling, he was always cheerful; sometimes\nsaying, \u201cI dare no more _fret_ than _curse_ or _swear_.\u201d His\nsprightliness among his friends never left him; but was as conspicuous\nat eighty-seven as at seventeen. He was at home in mansions, and\nequally in cottages; courteous to all, and especially to the young,\noften remarking, \u201cI reverence the young, because they may be useful\nafter I am dead.\u201d\n\nOf his piety nothing need be said. \u201cHis modesty,\u201d writes Bradburn,\n\u201cprevented him saying much concerning his own religious feelings. In\npublic, he hardly ever spoke of the state of his own soul; but, in\n1781, he told me that his experience might almost at any time be\nexpressed in the following lines:\n\n \u2018O Thou, who camest from above,\n The pure celestial fire to\u2019 impart,\n Kindle a flame of sacred love\n On the mean altar of my heart!\n\n There let it for Thy glory burn,\n With inextinguishable blaze,\n And trembling to its source return,\n In humble love and fervent praise!\u2019\u201d\n\nHis industry is almost without a parallel. In many things, he was\ngentle and easy to be entreated; but, in his earnestness in redeeming\ntime, he was decisive and inexorable. While kept waiting for his\ncarriage, on one occasion, he passionately exclaimed, \u201cI have lost ten\nminutes for ever!\u201d \u201cYou have no need to be in a hurry!\u201d said a friend:\n\u201cHurry,\u201d he replied, \u201cI have no time to be in a hurry.\u201d It has been\ncalculated, that, during the fifty years of his itinerant ministry, he\ntravelled a quarter of a million of miles, and preached more than\nforty thousand sermons. In these volumes, we have seen him rising with\nthe lark, travelling with the sun, preaching throughout the three\nkingdoms, and always acting in harmony with his own well known\nutterance, \u201cThe world is my parish!\u201d Looking at his travelling, the\nmarvel is how he found time to write; and, looking at his books, the\nmarvel is how he found time to preach. His hands were always full; but\nhis action was never fluttered. He was always moving, and yet, in the\nmidst of his ceaseless toils, betraying no more bustle than a planet\nin its course. His mission was too great to allow time for trifles.\n\nWas Wesley without faults? Not so; no man but \u201c_the Man Christ Jesus_\u201d\never was. Wesley, for instance, was naturally irritable; but even that\nwas better than being apathetic. \u201cTommy,\u201d said Wesley once, \u201ctouch\nthat!\u201d pointing to a dock. The itinerant did so. \u201cDo you feel\nanything?\u201d asked Wesley. \u201cNo,\u201d replied his friend. \u201cTouch that!\u201d\ncontinued Wesley, pointing to a nettle. His companion obeyed, and, in\nconsequence, was stung. \u201cNow, Tommy,\u201d remarked Wesley, \u201csome men are\nlike docks; say what you will to them, they are stupid and insensible.\nOthers are like nettles; touch them, and they resent it. Tommy, you\nare a nettle; and, for my part, I would rather have to do with a\nnettle than a dock.\u201d\n\nNumberless instances of Wesley\u2019s wit and repartee might easily be\ngiven. \u201cStop that man from speaking!\u201d exclaimed Charles Wesley at one\nof the early conferences, when a preacher rose up, and, full of the\nlove of Christ and irrepressible emotion, began to relate his\nreligious experience. \u201cStop that man from speaking!\u201d said Charles;\n\u201clet us attend to business!\u201d but still the good man proceeded. \u201cUnless\nhe stops, I\u2019ll leave the conference,\u201d continued Charles. Wesley\nhimself, revelling in the itinerant\u2019s religious recital, effectually\ncooled the warmth of his brother\u2019s temper by quietly remarking, \u201cReach\nhim his hat!\u201d\n\nOn another occasion, when about to dine with a rich Methodist, one of\nhis preachers, who was present, with more piety than politeness, cried\nout: \u201cO sir, what a sumptuous dinner! Things are very different to\nwhat they were formerly! There is now but little self denial amongst\nthe Methodists!\u201d Wesley pointed to the abundantly furnished table, and\nthen silenced the preacher\u2019s untimely eloquence by saying, \u201cMy\nbrother, there is a fine opportunity for self denial now.\u201d\n\nThus was Wesley always \u201cinstant in season, and out of season.\u201d Always\nand everywhere he was ready to turn passing incidents to practical\naccount. \u201cPray, sir, let us go,\u201d said one of his friends, whilst two\nwomen, near Billingsgate market, were quarrelling most furiously, and\nusing language far more forceful than pious: \u201cPray, sir, let us go; I\ncannot stand it.\u201d \u201cStay, Sammy,\u201d replied Wesley, as he looked at the\nviragoes, who were evidently _inspired_, though not from heaven.\n\u201cStay, Sammy,\u201d answered the man who had eyes for everything; \u201cstay,\nand learn how to preach!\u201d\n\nWe must close. Taking him altogether, Wesley is a man _sui generis_.\nHe stands alone: he has had no successor; no one like him went before;\nno contemporary was a coequal. There was a wholeness about the man,\nsuch as is rarely seen. His physique, his genius, his wit, his\npenetration, his judgment, his memory, his beneficence, his religion,\nhis diligence, his conversation, his courteousness, his manners, and\nhis dress,--made him as perfect as we ever expect man to be on this\nside heaven. \u201cA greater poet may rise than Homer or Milton,\u201d writes\nDr. Dobbin, \u201ca greater theologian than Calvin, a greater philosopher\nthan Bacon, a greater dramatist than any of ancient or modern fame;\nbut a more distinguished revivalist of the churches than John Wesley,\nnever.\u201d \u201cHe was a man,\u201d says Lord Macaulay, \u201cwhose eloquence and\nlogical acuteness might have rendered him eminent in literature; whose\ngenius for government was not inferior to that of Richelieu; and who\ndevoted all his powers, in defiance of obloquy and derision, to what\nhe sincerely considered the highest good of his species.\u201d\n\nBut, in the case of a man like Wesley, panegyric is out of place. He\nis one of the very few, whose memory can afford to do without it. His\nwell won and world wide fame requires no inscription on his monumental\nmarble,--whether in England or in America, in Westminster or in\nWashington,--more elaborate than this:\n\n\n JOHN WESLEY,\n Born, A.D. 1703.\n Died, A.D. 1791.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [768] Clarke\u2019s Life, vol. i., pp. 278, 283.\n\n [769] _Wesley Banner_, 1852, p. 275; and _Wesleyan Times_,\n June 1, 1866\n\n [770] This was probably \u201cAn Essay on the Liberty of Moral\n Agents,\u201d published consecutively in the first five\n numbers of the _Arminian Magazine_ for 1791, and\n concerning which Wesley writes: \u201cI do not remember to\n have ever seen a more strong and beautiful treatise\n on moral liberty than the following; which I,\n therefore, earnestly recommend to the consideration\n of all those who desire \u2018to vindicate the ways of God\n with man.\u2019\u201d\n\n [771] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 157.\n\n [772] Dunn\u2019s Life of Clarke, p. 80.\n\n [773] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 146.\n\n [774] Memoir of Miss A. Cambridge, p. 39.\n\n [775] Sprague\u2019s \u201cAnnals of the American Methodist Pulpit.\u201d\n\n [776] _Methodist Magazine_, 1804, p. 46.\n\n [777] Wesley\u2019s Works, vol. xiii., p. 147.\n\n [778] Everett\u2019s Life of Clarke.\n\n [779] _Wesleyan Times_, June 1, 1866.\n\n [780] Manuscript letter, kindly lent by Mr. Dimbleby of\n Malvern.\n\n [781] Life of James Rogers.\n\n [782] Wilberforce\u2019s Life, vol. i., p. 297; and Moore\u2019s Life\n of Wesley, vol. ii., P. 437.\n\n [783] Jacob Jones, Esq., however, seems to have been called\n in. He was then a young man, and had just joined\n the Methodists. He died, in Finsbury Square, in\n 1830.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1830, p. 511.)\n\n [784] Smith\u2019s \u201cHistory of Methodism,\u201d vol. i., p. 608.\n\n [785] In compliance with his wish, ten thousand copies were\n printed, and gratuitously distributed. (Rogers\u2019 Life.)\n\n [786] James Rogers\u2019 Life.\n\n [787] \u201cAuthentic Narrative,\u201d 1791.\n\n\n\n\n APPENDIX.\n\n\n [As some American Methodists have expressed dissatisfaction with Mr.\n Tyerman\u2019s views (vol. iii., p. 426 _et seq._) of Wesley\u2019s ordination\n of Coke and organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the\n following exhaustive review of the question is cited from Dr. Abel\n Stevens\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. ii., p. 209 _et seq._]\n\nIt is another of the great providential facts of Wesley\u2019s history that\nthe same year which gave a constitutional security to Methodism in\nGreat Britain was signalized by its episcopal organization in America,\na measure which, by its consequences, may well be ranked among the\nmost important events of Wesley\u2019s important life. Here again did he\nfollow, with simple wisdom, the guidance of that divine Providence,\nthe recognition of which in the affairs of men, and especially in the\naffairs of the Church, was the crowning maxim of his philosophy and\nthe crowning fact of his policy. He had been providentially preparing\nfor this new and momentous exigency by that gradual development of\nhis personal opinions which we have already traced. Bigoted even,\nas a High-Churchman, at the beginning of his career, we have seen\nhim, year after year, attaining more liberal views of ecclesiastical\npolicy. Nearly forty years before his ordinations for America, he\nhad, after reading Lord King\u2019s \u201cPrimitive Church,\u201d renounced the\nopinion that a distinction of order, rather than of office, existed\nbetween bishops and presbyters.[788] Fifteen years later he denied the\nnecessity, though not the expediency, of episcopal ordination. Bishop\nStillingfleet had convinced him that it was \u201can entire mistake that\nnone but episcopal ordination was valid.\u201d[789] Henceforth he held that\npresbyters and bishops, identical in order, differing only in office,\nhad essentially the same right of ordination. It was not possible\nfor a man like Wesley, keen, quick, fearless, and candid, to remain\nlong in any ecclesiastical prejudice now that he was on this track of\nprogressive opinions. He soon broke away from all other regard for\nquestions of Church government than that of Scriptural expediency;\nand as early as 1756, when in his maturest intellectual vigor, he\ndeclares: \u201cAs to my own judgment, I still believe \u2018the episcopal form\nof Church government to be Scriptural and apostolical\u2019--I mean, well\nagreeing with the practice and writings of the apostles; but that it is\nprescribed in Scripture I do not believe. This opinion, which I once\nzealously espoused, I have been heartily ashamed of ever since I read\nBishop Stillingfleet\u2019s \u2018Irenicon.\u2019 I think he has unanswerably proved\nthat \u2018neither Christ nor his apostles prescribe any particular form\nof Church government, and that the plea of divine right for diocesan\nepiscopacy was never heard of in the primitive Church.\u2019\u201d[790]\n\nIt was, then, by no new assumption in his old age--in his imbecility,\nas some of his critics allege, that he now met the necessities\nof American Methodism by ordaining men to provide for them. His\nkeenest-eyed associates could as yet detect no declension of his\nfaculties; and if they could, still his course in this case was in\naccordance with the reasonings of his best days, and he but repeats\nhis long-established opinions when he now asserts, \u201cI firmly believe\nI am a Scriptural _episcopos_ as much as any man in England, for the\nuninterrupted succession I know to be a fable, which no man ever did or\ncan prove.\u201d[791]\n\nMethodism had spread rapidly in America, notwithstanding the war of\nthe Revolution. It now comprised eighty-three traveling preachers,\nbesides some hundreds of local preachers, and about fifteen thousand\nmembers and many thousands of hearers, and its ecclesiastical plans\nwere extending a network of powerful agencies over the country.\nThe Revolution had not only dissolved the civil, but also the\necclesiastical relations of the colonies to England. Many of the\nEnglish clergy, on whom the Methodist societies had depended for\nthe sacraments, had fled from the land, or had entered political or\nmilitary life, and the Episcopal Church had been generally disabled.\nIn Virginia, the centre of its colonial strength, it had rapidly\ndeclined, morally as well as numerically. At the Declaration of\nIndependence it included not more than one third of the population of\nthat province.[792] At the beginning of the war the sixty-one counties\nof Virginia contained ninety-five parishes, one hundred and sixty-four\nchurches, and ninety-one clergymen. At the conclusion of the contest\nmany of her churches were in ruins, nearly a fourth of her parishes\n\u201cextinct or forsaken,\u201d and thirty-four of the remaining seventy-two\nwere without pastoral supplies; twenty-eight only of her ninety-one\nclergymen remained, and these, with an addition, soon after the war,\nof eight from other parts of the country, ministered in but thirty-six\nparishes.[793] In the year in which Wesley ordained an American\nMethodist bishop, \u201cmemorials\u201d to the Virginia Legislature for the\nincorporation of the \u201cProtestant Episcopal Church in Virginia,\u201d and\nfor other advantages to religion, were met by counter petitions that\n\u201cno step might be taken in aid of religion, but that it might be left\nto its own superior and successful influence.\u201d[794] The memorials were\npostponed till the next session, and then rejected; but a bill for the\n\u201cincorporation of all religious societies which may apply for the same\u201d\nwas adopted. In other parts of the country the English Church never had\nbeen numerically strong, and its existence was now precarious, except\nin two or three large cities.\n\nUnder these circumstances the Methodists demanded of their preachers\nthe administration of the sacraments. Many of the societies had\nbeen months, some of them years, without them. The demand was not\nonly urgent, it was logically valid, but by the majority of the\npreachers it was not deemed expedient. The prudent delay which Wesley,\nnotwithstanding his liberal ecclesiastical principles, had practiced in\nEngland, afforded a lesson which their good sense could not disregard.\nThey exhorted their people, therefore, to wait patiently till he could\nbe consulted. Thomas Rankin, one of Wesley\u2019s missionaries, presiding at\nthe Conference of Deer Creek, Maryland, 1777, induced them to delay one\nyear. At the next session the subject was again prudently postponed,\nas no English preacher was present, Rankin having returned to England,\nand Asbury being absent and sick. In 1779 the question occasioned a\nvirtual schism, the preachers of the South being resolute for the\nadministration of the sacraments, those of the North still pleading for\npatient delay. The latter met in Conference at Judge White\u2019s residence,\nthe retreat of Asbury, in Delaware; the former at Brockenback Church,\nFluvanna County, Virginia, where they made their own appointments, and\nproceeded to ordain themselves by the hands of three of their senior\nmembers, unwilling that their people should longer be denied their\nright to the Lord\u2019s Supper, and their children and probationary members\nthe rite of baptism. At the session of 1780 Asbury was authorized to\nvisit the Southern preachers, and, if possible, conciliate them. He met\nthem in Conference; they appeared determined not to recede, but at last\nconsented to suspend the administration of the sacraments till further\nadvice could be received from Wesley. The breach was thus happily\nrepaired, but must evidently soon again be opened if redress should not\nbe obtained.[795]\n\nWhat could Wesley do under these circumstances? What but exercise the\nright of ordination which he had for years theoretically claimed, but\npractically and prudently declined? He had importuned the authorities\nof the English Church in behalf of the Americans. In this very year\nhe had written two letters to Lowth, Bishop of London, imploring\nordination for a single preacher, who might appease the urgency of the\nAmerican brethren by traveling among them as a presbyter, and by giving\nthem the sacraments; but the request was denied, Lowth replying that\n\u201cthere are three ministers in that country already.\u201d \u201cWhat are these,\u201d\nrejoined Wesley, \u201cto watch over all that extensive country? I mourn\nfor poor America, for the sheep scattered up and down therein--part\nof them have no shepherds at all, and the case of the rest is little\nbetter, for their shepherds pity them not.\u201d[796] If there was any\nimprudence on the part of Wesley in this emergency, it was certainly\nin his long-continued patience, for he delayed yet nearly four years.\nWhen he yielded, it was only after the triumph of the American arms and\nthe acknowledged independence of the colonies; and not then till urged\nto it by his most revered counselors. Fletcher, of Madeley, was one of\nthese. That good man\u2019s interest for American Methodism should endear\nhis memory to the American Church. He had thoughts at one time of going\nto the New World and of giving himself to its struggling societies, but\nhis feeble health forbade him.\n\nFletcher was present with Wesley and Coke at the Leeds Conference of\n1784, and there, with his assistance,[797] the question was brought to\nan issue. Wesley had previously consulted with Coke respecting it. He\nrepresented to Coke that as the Revolution had separated the United\nStates from the mother country, and the Episcopal Establishment was\nutterly abolished in the States, it became his duty, as providentially\nat the head of the Methodist societies, to obey their demand and\nfurnish for them the means of grace. He referred to the example of\nthe Alexandrian Church, which, at the death of its bishops, provided\ntheir successors through ordination by its presbyters--a historical\nfact exemplified during two hundred years. Recognized as their founder\nby the American Methodists, required by them to provide for their new\nnecessities, and unable to induce the English prelates to do so, he\nproposed to appoint Coke, that he might go to the American societies\nas their superintendent or bishop, ordain their preachers, and thus\nafford them the sacraments with the least possible irregularity. Coke\nhesitated, but in two months wrote to Wesley accepting the office.[798]\nAccordingly, accompanied by Rev. James Creighton, a presbyter of\nthe Church of England, Coke met him at Bristol, and on the second\nof September, 1784, was ordained _superintendent or bishop of the\nMethodist societies in America_, an act of as high propriety and\ndignity as it was of urgent necessity. Richard Whatcoat and Thomas\nVasey were at the same time ordained presbyters; and on the third of\nNovember, attended by his two presbyters (the number necessary to\nassist a bishop in ordination, according to the usages of the English\nChurch), Coke arrived in the Republic, and proceeded to ordain Francis\nAsbury, first as a deacon, then as a presbyter, and finally as a\nbishop, and to settle the organization of American Methodism, one of\nthe most important ecclesiastical events (whether for good or evil)\nof the eighteenth century, or indeed since the Reformation, as its\nhistorical consequences attest.\n\nThe Colonial English Church being dissolved by the Revolution, its\ndwindled fragments were yet floating, as had been the Methodist\nsocieties, on the stormy tide of events. Methodism preceded it in\nreorganization. The Methodist bishops were the first Protestant\nbishops, and Methodism was the first Protestant Episcopal Church of\nthe New World;[799] and as Wesley had given it the Anglican Articles\nof Religion (omitting the seventeenth, on Predestination), and the\nLiturgy, wisely abridged, it became, both by its precedent organization\nand its subsequent numerical importance, the real successor to the\nAnglican Church in America.\n\nOf course this extraordinary but necessary measure met with opposition\nfrom Charles Wesley. He still retained his High-Church opinions;\nhe denounced the ordinations as schism; with his usual haste he\npredicted that Coke would return from \u201chis Methodist Episcopal Church\nin Baltimore\u201d to \u201cmake us all Dissenters here.\u201d The poet was no\nlegislator; he became pathetic in his remonstrances to his brother;\n\u201calas!\u201d he wrote, \u201cwhat trouble are you preparing for yourself, as well\nas for me, and for your oldest, truest, best friends! Before you have\nquite broken down the bridge, stop and consider! If your sons have no\nregard for you, have some for yourself. Go to your grave in peace; at\nleast suffer me to go first, before this ruin is under your hand.\u201d\nHe did soon after go to his grave in peace, except the alarms of his\nimaginary fears, and the only evidence of the predicted \u201cruin\u201d is seen\nto-day in the prevalent and permanent success of Methodism in both\nhemispheres.\n\nThe next year after the ordination of Coke, Wesley records in\nhis Journal: \u201cI was now considering how strangely the grain of\nmustard-seed, planted about fifty years ago, had grown up. It spread\nthrough all Great Britain and Ireland, the Isle of Wight, and the Isle\nof Man; then to America, through the whole continent, into Canada, the\nLeeward Islands, and Newfoundland. And the societies in all these parts\nwalk by one rule, knowing religion is holy tempers, and striving to\nworship God, not in form only, but likewise in spirit and in truth.\u201d\nHis policy becomes more and more liberal as he now finds it necessary\nto fortify his cause before his approaching death. The following\nyear (1786) he ordained six or seven more preachers, sending some to\nScotland, and others to the West Indies,[800] but he ordained none as\nyet for England, where he and his clerical friends could partially\nsupply the sacraments. Three years later he ordained Mather, Rankin,\nand Moore.[801] About a score of lay preachers received ordination\nfrom his hands, and for no other purpose but that they might administer\nthe sacraments in cases of necessity.\n\nThus did providential events give shape and security to Methodism, as\nits aged leader approached his end.\n\nNo act of Wesley\u2019s public life has been more misrepresented, if\nnot misunderstood, than his ordination of Coke, and the consequent\nepiscopal organization of his American societies. Churchmen, so called,\nhave especially insisted that he did not design to confer upon Coke\nthe character of a bishop; that Coke\u2019s new office was designed to be\na species of supervisory appointment, vague and contingent--something\nwidely different from episcopacy, however difficult to define; and\nthat, therefore, the distinct existence of American Methodism, as an\nepiscopal Church, is a fact contrary to the intention of Wesley.\n\nNo extant forensic argument, founded upon documentary evidence, is\nstronger than would be a right collocation of the evidence which\nsustains the claim of American Methodism respecting this question. All\nMethodist authorities, British as well as American, support that claim;\nits proofs have been more or less cited again and again, but they have\nnot usually been drawn out in detail. Presented in their right series,\nthey become absolutely decisive, and must conclude the controversy with\nall candid minds. It is appropriate, at this point of our narrative, to\nreview the argument. In stating the facts which compose it, in their\nsuccessive relations one to another, some repetition will be necessary;\nbut the highest logic--mathematical demonstration itself--is that in\nwhich not only the postulates, but the successive proofs most often\nrecur to strengthen the advancing demonstration.\n\nIt has been seen that, as before the American Revolution the two\ncountries were under one government, the two Methodist bodies were\nalso. Wesley\u2019s \u201cMinutes\u201d were the discipline of the American as well as\nthe British Methodists; and Asbury represented his person in America,\nvested with much greater powers than have since belonged to the\nAmerican Methodist bishops. Thus was the American Church governed for\nyears by the paternal direction of Wesley. It has been further shown\nthat, as none of the American preachers were ordained, the societies\nwere dependent for the sacraments upon the clergy of the English Church\nin the colonies; that at the Revolution most of these left the country,\nand the Methodists were thereby deprived of those means of grace; that\nmany societies insisted upon having them without ordination; that a\ngeneral strife ensued, and a large portion of the Southern societies\nrevolted; that a compromise was effected until they could apply to\nWesley for powers to ordain and to administer the sacraments; and\nthat, in meeting their demand, he ordained and sent over Dr. Coke,\nwith episcopal powers, under the name of superintendent, to ordain\nFrancis Asbury a \u201cjoint superintendent,\u201d and to ordain the preachers\nto the offices of deacons and elders. He sent also a printed liturgy,\nor \u201cSunday Service,\u201d containing, besides the usual prayers, forms for\n\u201cordaining superintendents, elders, and deacons,\u201d the \u201cArticles of\nReligion,\u201d and \u201cA Collection of Psalms and Hymns.\u201d Coke also bore from\nhim a circular letter to the societies, stating reasons for the new\nmeasures, the chief one being the demand of the American societies.\nWhen Coke arrived, the preachers assembled in Baltimore to receive him\nand the new arrangements borne by him from Wesley. The adoption of the\nprovisions thus made by Wesley, at the request of \u201csome thousands of\nthe inhabitants of these states,\u201d is what is called the \u201corganization\u201d\nof the Methodist Episcopal Church. The \u201cMinutes,\u201d which had before\nbeen the law of the Church, were continued, with such additions as\nwere required by these new arrangements. There was no revolution of\nthe Church polity, and no new powers were imparted to Asbury, except\nauthority to ordain. Every thing proceeded as before, except that the\nAmerican societies no longer depended upon the Church of England for\nthe sacraments, but received them from their own preachers. Thus, then,\nit appears that the so-called \u201corganization\u201d of the Methodist Episcopal\nChurch at Baltimore was simply and substantially the adoption of the\nsystem appointed by Wesley. In respect to the very term \u201cepiscopal\u201d\nitself, the Conference of Baltimore said, in their \u201cMinutes\u201d of the\nso-called organization, that, \u201cfollowing the counsel of Mr. John\nWesley, _who recommended the episcopal mode_ of Church government,\nwe thought it best to become an episcopal Church.\u201d[802] The Minutes\ncontaining this declaration were, six months afterward, in the hands of\nWesley, and were published in England without a word of disapprobation\nfrom him; and when Coke was attacked in an English pamphlet for his\nproceedings at Baltimore, he publicly defended himself by declaring\nthat he had \u201cdone nothing without the direction of Mr. Wesley.\u201d This he\ndid in a publication, under the eye of Wesley.[803]\n\nIt should be frankly admitted, however, that Wesley, while he\nestablished the American episcopacy, did not approve the use of the\ntitle of \u201cbishop,\u201d because of the adventitious dignities associated\nwith it. But let it be borne in mind that the American societies\nhad been in existence nearly four years under the express title\nof an \u201cEpiscopal Church,\u201d with the uninterrupted approbation of\nWesley, before the name bishop was personally applied to their\nsuperintendents.[804] Not till this term was so applied did he demur.\nHe then wrote a letter to Bishop Asbury objecting strongly to his being\n\u201ccalled a bishop.\u201d And it is on this letter, more than any thing else,\nthat the opponents of Methodism have founded their allegation that\nWesley did not design to establish the American Methodist episcopacy,\nbut that Coke and the Baltimore Conference exceeded his intentions in\nassuming it. Quotations from this letter have been incessantly given\nin a form adapted only to produce a false effect, for the letter can\nbe rightly comprehended only by the aid of the historical facts of the\ncase.\n\nDid Wesley, then, design, by his ordination of Coke, to confer on\nhim the office of a bishop, and to constitute the American Methodist\nsocieties an episcopal Church? Three things are to be assumed as\npreliminary to this inquiry:\n\n1. That Wesley was a decided Episcopalian. What man was ever more\nattached to the national episcopacy of England? We have already cited\nproofs that he believed the \u201cepiscopal form of Church government to\nbe Scriptural and apostolical,\u201d that is, \u201cwell agreeing with the\npractice and writings of the apostles,\u201d though that it is prescribed in\nScripture he did not believe.\n\n2. That Wesley, while he believed in episcopacy, belonged to that\nclass of Episcopalians who contend that episcopacy is not a distinct\n\u201corder\u201d (in the usual technical or ecclesiastical sense of the term),\nbut a distinct office in the ministry; that bishops and presbyters,\nor elders, are of the same order, and have essentially the same\nprerogatives; but that, for convenience, some of this order may be\nraised to the episcopal office, and some of the functions originally\npertaining to the whole order, as ordination, for example, may be\nconfined to them; the presbyter thus elevated being but _primus inter\npares_--the first among equals--a presiding officer.[805]\n\n3. That the words _episcopos_ (Greek), _superintendent_ (Latin), and\nbishop (English)[806] have the same meaning, namely, an overseer.\n\nWith these preliminaries, we recur to the questions, Did Wesley appoint\nCoke to the episcopal office? Did he establish the American Methodist\nepiscopacy? Let us look at the evidence.\n\n1. Wesley mentions, in Coke\u2019s certificate of ordination, as a reason\nfor ordaining him, that the Methodists in America desired \u201cstill to\nadhere to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.\u201d[807]\nThat Church in America was dissolved by the Revolution; he therefore\nappointed Coke, with an episcopal form of government, a ritual, and\narticles of religion, to meet the exigency. If Coke was appointed\nmerely to some such indefinite and contingent supervisory office\nas \u201cChurch\u201d writers allege, if he possessed not the authoritative\nfunctions of episcopacy, wherein did his appointment answer the purpose\nmentioned by Wesley--\u201cthe discipline of the Church of England?\u201d Wherein\nconsists the main feature of the discipline of the English Church?\nIn its episcopal superintendence. Wherein does American Methodism\nresemble it? Certainly not in class-meetings, itinerancy, and other\ncharacteristic peculiarities, but in its episcopal regimen. Wesley\u2019s\nlanguage is without sense if this is not its meaning.\n\n2. Why did Wesley attach so much importance to the appointment if it\nwas of the secondary character alleged? He says in his circular letter\nrespecting Coke\u2019s ordination, \u201cFor many years I have been importuned,\nfrom time to time, to exercise this right by _ordaining_ part of our\ntraveling preachers; but I have still refused, not only for peace\u2019\nsake, but because I was determined as little as possible to violate\nthe established order of the national Church to which I belonged. But\nthe case is widely different between England and America. Here there\nare bishops who have a legal jurisdiction. In America there are none,\nneither any parish ministers, so that for some hundred miles together\nthere are none either to baptize or administer the sacrament. Here,\ntherefore, my scruples are at an end!\u201d\n\nScruples! What could have been his \u201cscruples\u201d about sending Coke on\nsuch a secondary errand as the opponents of the Methodist episcopacy\nassert? He had already sent Asbury and others to America, and to Asbury\nhe had actually assigned such a special yet secondary office, but\nunaccompanied with the ordination and authority of episcopacy. This he\nhad done years before, without any scruple whatever; but during all\nthis time he had been scrupling about this new and solemn measure,\ntill the Revolution relieved him by abolishing the jurisdiction of the\nEnglish bishops in the colonies. There is certainly sheer absurdity in\nall this if Wesley merely gave to Coke and Asbury a sort of indefinite\nthough special commission in the American Church, not including in it\nthe distinctive functions of episcopacy. We can conceive of nothing in\nthe nature of such a commission to excite such scruples--a commission\nwhich had long since been given to Asbury.\n\nAgain: When Wesley proposed to Coke his ordination to this new office,\nsome six or seven months before it was conferred, Coke \u201cwas startled\nat a measure so unprecedented in modern days,\u201d and doubted Wesley\u2019s\nauthority to ordain him, as Wesley himself was not a bishop.[808]\nWesley recommended him to read Lord King\u2019s Primitive Church, and gave\nhim time to reflect. Coke passed two months in Scotland, and, on\nsatisfying his doubts, wrote to Wesley accepting the appointment, and\nwas afterward ordained, with solemn forms and the imposition of hands,\nby Wesley, assisted by presbyters of the Church of England. What could\nhave possibly been the pertinency of all these former scruples of\nWesley, this surprise, and doubt, and delay of Coke, this reference to\necclesiastical antiquity, and to a book which demonstrates the right of\npresbyters to ordain bishops in given cases, and these solemn forms, if\nthey related merely to the alleged species of appointment, especially\nas this very species of commission had already existed for some years\nin the person of Asbury?\n\n3. It is evident, beyond all question, that Wesley did not consider\nthis solemn act in the subordinate sense of an appointment, but as\nan \u201cordination,\u201d using the word in its strictest ecclesiastical\napplication. In his circular letter he says, \u201cFor many years I have\nbeen importuned ... to exercise this right by _ordaining_ a part of\nour traveling preachers; but I have still refused ... because I was\ndetermined as little as possible to violate the established order of\nthe national Church.... Here my scruples are at an end.\u201d Here the\nword ordaining is expressly used; and if the new appointment was not\na regular \u201cordination,\u201d but a species of nondescript commission,\nsolemnized by the mere forms of ordination, how could it be an\ninterference with the \u201cestablished order of the national Church?\u201d\nHow, especially, could it be such an interference, in any important\nsense different from that which Wesley had already, for years, been\nexercising without \u201cscruple,\u201d in sending to America his unordained\npreachers? It was clearly an ordination, in the ecclesiastical sense\nof the term; but there have been only three ordinations claimed in the\nChristian world, namely, to the offices of, 1. Deacons; 2. Elders or\npresbyters; and, 3. Bishops. If, then, Coke was ordained by Wesley,\nand was not ordained a bishop, it becomes at once a pertinent but\nunanswerable question, To what was he ordained? He had been a presbyter\nfor years. To what, then, did Wesley ordain him, if not to the next\nrecognized office?\n\nLet it be remembered that Whatcoat and Vasey were ordained elders\nfor America at the time of Coke\u2019s ordination, but by a distinct act.\nIf Coke did not receive a higher ordination (that is, episcopal, for\nthis is the only higher one), why was he ordained separately from\nthem, though on the same occasion? And why did Wesley, in his circular\nletter, declare to the American Methodists that, while Whatcoat and\nVasey were \u201cto act as elders among them,\u201d Coke and Asbury were \u201cto be\njoint superintendents over them?\u201d\n\n4. Wesley, in his circular letter, appeals to Lord King\u2019s Sketch of\nthe Primitive Church to show that he, as a presbyter, had a right,\nunder his peculiar circumstances, to perform these ordinations. Lord\nKing establishes the second of the above preliminary statements, and\nthe right of presbyters to ordain. And Wesley cites particularly his\nreference to the Alexandrian Church, where, on the decease of a bishop,\nthe presbyters ordained his successor.\n\nWhy now this reference to Lord King and the Alexandrian Church--proving\nthat presbyters could ordain--in justification of Wesley\u2019s proceedings,\nif he did not ordain? And if he did ordain Coke, it may again be\nasked, as Coke was already a presbyter, To what was he thus ordained,\nif it was not to the only remaining office--the episcopacy? And still\nmore pointedly may it be asked, What propriety was there in Wesley\u2019s\njustifying himself by referring to the ordination of bishops by the\npresbyters of Alexandria if he himself had not ordained a bishop?\n\n5. Wesley prepared at this time a Prayer-Book for the American\nChurch--an abridgment of the English Liturgy--to be used under the new\narrangement. It contains the forms for the ordination of, 1. Deacons;\n2. Elders; 3. Superintendents; and directs expressly that all preachers\nelected to the office of deacon, elder, or superintendent shall be\npresented to the superintendent \u201cto be ordained.\u201d Let it be remarked\nthen, 1. That here the very word ordain is used. 2. We have here the\nthree distinct offices of the ministry stated in order, according\nto the understanding of Wesley, and of all Episcopalians throughout\nthe world. 3. That not only is the name of bishop changed to that\nof superintendent, but the name of presbyter, or priest, to that of\nelder--the new names being in both cases synonymous with the old ones.\nIf the change of the former name implies a difference in the office\nalso, why does not the change in the latter imply the same? 4. These\nforms of ordination were taken from the forms in the English Liturgy\nfor the ordination of deacons, presbyters, and bishops, the names of\nthe latter two being changed to synonymous terms, namely, elders and\nsuperintendents. The opponents of the Methodist episcopacy readily\ngrant that elder means presbyter, yet, as soon as superintendents are\nmentioned as bishops, they protest. 5. These forms show that Wesley\nnot only created the Methodist episcopacy, but designed it to continue\nafter Coke and Asbury\u2019s decease; they were printed for permanent use.\n\n6. By reading Coke\u2019s letter to Wesley, consenting to and directing\nabout his proposed ordination, it will be seen that Whatcoat and Vasey\nwere ordained presbyters at Coke\u2019s request, because \u201cpropriety and\nuniversal practice,\u201d he says, \u201cmake it expedient that I should have\ntwo presbyters with me in this work.\u201d[809] That is, Coke requests, and\nWesley grants, that two presbyters shall be ordained to accompany Coke\nin his new office, because \u201cpropriety and universal practice\u201d require\nthat two presbyters assist a bishop in ordaining; and yet Coke was\nnot appointed to the office of a bishop! Coke in this letter, let it\nbe repeated, requests that these two men should be made \u201cpresbyters;\u201d\nWesley complies; and yet, in the forms of the Prayer-Book, or\nDiscipline, they are called \u201celders.\u201d The name only was changed,\ntherefore, not the thing; why, then, is not the inference just, that\nthe other change in these forms, that of bishop to superintendent, is\nonly in the name, not in the thing? The rule certainly ought to \u201cwork\nboth ways.\u201d\n\n7. Charles Wesley was a rigid High-Churchman, and opposed to all\nordinations by his brother. The latter knew his views so well that he\nwould not expose the present measure to interruption by acquainting him\nwith it till it was consummated. Though Charles Wesley was a presbyter\nof the Church of England, and in the town at the time, yet other\npresbyters were summoned to meet the demand of \u201cpropriety and universal\npractice\u201d on such occasions, while he was carefully avoided. Now why\nthis remarkable precaution against the High-Church prejudices of his\nbrother respecting ordinations if he did not in these proceedings\nordain? If it be replied that Charles was not only opposed to his\nbrother\u2019s ordaining a bishop, but equally to his ordaining to the other\noffices of the ministry, and, therefore, the ordinations might have\nbeen confined to the latter, and yet such precautions be proper, it\nmay then be asked again, How can we suppose Coke to be now ordained\nto these lower offices when he had already received them, and had\nexercised them for years?\n\n8. As soon as Charles Wesley learned these proceedings he was\nprofoundly afflicted. His correspondence with his brother[810] shows\nthat he understood them in the manner that the American Methodists do,\nand Wesley never corrected this interpretation. He defends himself,\nbut never denies the facts. Charles Wesley speaks of Coke\u2019s \u201cMethodist\nEpiscopal Church in Baltimore,\u201d alluding to the name assumed by the\nAmerican Church at its organization in that city. Wesley, in his reply,\nutters not a word in denial or disapproval of this title, but simply\nvindicates the necessity of his course in respect to the American\nMethodists. Charles Wesley, in response, speaks of the doctor\u2019s\n\u201cambition\u201d and \u201crashness.\u201d Wesley, though he knew the Church had been\norganized at Baltimore with the title of \u201cEpiscopal,\u201d and had used\nthe very word \u201cbishop,\u201d but not as a personal title, says, \u201cI believe\nDr. Coke as free from ambition as covetousness. He has done nothing\nrashly that I know.\u201d Charles Wesley, in his letter to Dr. Chandler,\na clergyman about to sail for America, speaks of his brother having\n\u201cassumed the episcopal character, ordained elders, _consecrated a\nbishop_, and sent him to ordain our lay preachers in America,\u201d showing\nthus what the office really was, though the name was changed. Evidently\nit was only the appellation of bishop, applied to the superintendents\nin person, that Wesley disapproved.\n\n9. The Conference at which the Church was organized terminated\nJanuary 1, 1785. The Minutes were published by Coke, with the title\n\u201cGeneral Minutes of the Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church\nin America.\u201d The Minutes, as has been stated, expressly say that the\nAmerican societies were formed into an Episcopal Church, and this,\ntoo, at the \u201crecommendation\u201d of Wesley. By July, Coke was with Wesley\nat the British Conference. By the 26th of the preceding June, his own\nJournal, containing this phrase, was inspected by Wesley. Coke also\ntook to England the American Minutes, and they were printed on a press\nwhich Wesley used, and under his own eye. The Baltimore proceedings\nwere therefore known to Wesley, but we hear of no remonstrance from\nhim. They soon became known, by the Minutes, to the public; and when\nCoke was attacked publicly for what he had done, he replied, as we\nhave seen, through the press, that \u201che had done nothing but under\nthe direction of Mr. Wesley.\u201d Wesley never denied it. How are all\nthese facts explicable on the supposition that Coke and Asbury had\nambitiously broken over Wesley\u2019s restrictions?\n\n10. One of Charles Wesley\u2019s greatest fears was, as we have noticed,\nthat the English preachers would be ordained by Coke. He had prevailed\nupon his brother to refuse them ordination for years. He now writes,\nwith deep concern, that \u201cnot a preacher in London would refuse orders\nfrom the doctor.\u201d \u201cHe comes armed with your authority to make us all\nDissenters.\u201d Now, why all this sudden disposition of the English\npreachers to receive \u201corders from the doctor,\u201d if it was not understood\nthat he had received episcopal powers, and they despaired of ever\ngetting ordination from the national bishops? If it is replied, they\nbelieved, with Wesley, that, under necessary circumstances, presbyters\ncould ordain, and therefore desired it from Coke, not in view of\nhis new appointment, but because he was a presbyter of the Church\nof England, then it may be properly asked, why did they not seek it\nbefore? for Coke had been a presbyter among them for years. Why start\nup with such a demand all at once as soon as they learned of the new\nposition of Coke? And how could Charles Wesley say in this case, \u201cHe\ncomes armed with your authority?\u201d for his authority as a presbyter\nhe obtained from a bishop of the English Church years before he knew\nWesley.\n\n11. The term bishop was not personally applied in the Discipline\nto the American superintendents till about three years after the\n\u201corganization\u201d of the Church, and Wesley\u2019s objurgatory letter to Asbury\nwas not written till four years after it. During all this interval,\nhowever, the American societies were called an \u201cEpiscopal Church.\u201d\nSix months after adopting the name, its Minutes were, as stated,\ninspected by Wesley, and published under his auspices; they were called\nthe \u201cMinutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America;\u201d and they\nexpressly declare that, \u201cfollowing the counsel of Mr. John Wesley, who\nrecommended the episcopal mode of Church government, we thought it best\nto become an Episcopal Church;\u201d yet, as has been shown, during this\nlong interim Wesley never uttered a syllable against this assumption!\nWhen his brother writes him, accusing Coke of rashness, he replies that\n\u201cthe doctor has done nothing rashly;\u201d and when Coke is accused through\nthe press, he declares, under Wesley\u2019s eye, and without contradiction,\nthat \u201che had done nothing without the direction of Mr. Wesley.\u201d What,\nnow, do all these incidents imply? What but that Wesley did approve the\nAmerican episcopacy--that it was established by his direction? Yet four\nyears after, when the appellation of bishop had been applied personally\nto the American _episcopoi_, this letter of Wesley was written.\nWhat further does this imply? What but that it was not the thing he\ncondemned, but the name? The thing had existed for years uncondemned,\nnay, defended by him; the very name \u201cEpiscopal,\u201d so far as it applied\nto the Church collectively, he did not condemn; the title \u201cbishop,\u201d as\na definition or synonym of \u201csuperintendent\u201d in the Minutes, he did not\ncondemn; but the personal title of bishop he disapproved, because of\nits objectionable associations. Is it possible to escape this inference?\n\nThus we see that, whatever view we take of the subject, we are\ncompelled to one conclusion: that Wesley did create and establish the\nAmerican Methodist episcopate. The man who gainsays such evidence must\nbe given up as incorrigible. There can be no reasoning with him.\n\nAnd now, what is the sum of this evidence? It has already been\npresented with sufficient detail, but let us retrace the successive\nand decisive steps of the argument. Here we have Wesley proposing to\nestablish \u201cthe discipline of the Church of England\u201d among the American\nMethodists, and to do so he ordains for them bishops, and gives them\nan episcopal regimen; yet, according to their antagonists, he never\ndesigned them to be a distinct Church, but only a \u201csociety\u201d in the\nProtestant Episcopal Church! Wesley and Coke have \u201cscruples,\u201d delays,\nreferences to antiquity, imposition of hands, and other solemn forms,\nconforming to the \u201cuniversal practice\u201d of episcopal ordination, and\nyet all concerning some nondescript kind of appointment, analogous to\nthat which is conferred upon a missionary in charge over his brethren\nin a foreign station! Wesley speaks of it as \u201cordaining,\u201d and of his\nrefusing to use the right before the Revolution because it would have\ninterfered with the \u201cestablished order of the national Church;\u201d and\nyet a mere secondary commission of Coke, such a one as had existed in\nthe person of Asbury for years, is the momentous interference with the\nestablished order of the national Church--though there was nothing in\nthat order with which it could interfere, the national Church never\nhaving had any such appointments! Wesley solemnly \u201cordains\u201d Coke; and\nyet it is not to the episcopal office, though he had been ordained to\nall the other offices to which ordination is appropriate years before!\nWesley ordains two other men to the office of elders, and at the same\ntime separately and formally ordains Coke, who had already borne this\noffice; but still Coke\u2019s new office is not the only remaining one that\ncould be conferred upon him! Wesley refers to the ordination of bishops\nby the presbyters of Alexandria in justification of his ordination of\nCoke, and yet he does not ordain Coke a bishop! Wesley prepares for\nthe American Church a Prayer-Book, abridged from that of the Church\nof England, prescribing the English forms for the three offices\nof deacons, presbyters, and bishops; the two former are admitted\nunquestionably to be what they are in England, and yet the latter is\nexplained into something new and anomalous, answering to nothing ever\nheard of in the Church of England or in any other episcopal Church! In\nthese forms the old names of two of the offices are changed to new but\nsynonymous appellations--that of presbyter or priest to elder, that of\nbishop to superintendent; in the former case, the change of the name\nis not for a moment supposed to imply a change of the thing, and yet,\nin the other case, the change of the name invalidates entirely the\nthing, without a particle more evidence for it in one case than in the\nother! Charles Wesley, being a High-Churchman, is kept unaware of his\nbrother\u2019s proceedings till they are accomplished, though he is in the\ntown at the time of the ordination; and yet it is no ordination, but\na species of appointment against which he could have had no episcopal\nprejudice whatever! When he learns the facts he is overwhelmed with\nsurprise, and in his correspondence exclaims against his \u201cbrother\u2019s\nconsecration of a bishop,\u201d and \u201cDr. Coke\u2019s Methodist Episcopal\nChurch\u201d at Baltimore; and Wesley, in his replies, never denies these\ntitles, but simply vindicates his ordinations, and says that Coke had\n\u201cdone nothing rashly;\u201d yet there was no bishop, no episcopal office\nappointed, no distinct episcopal Church established, but Coke had\nfabricated the whole! When the preachers in England, trained, from\nchildhood, under episcopacy, hear of Coke\u2019s new office, they are, to\nthe great alarm of Charles Wesley, suddenly seized with a desire to be\nordained by Coke, though they fully know that he is no bishop, but the\nsame presbyter that he had been among them for years! In six months\nafter the organization of the American Church, Coke publishes its\nMinutes, with the title \u201cMethodist Episcopal Church in America,\u201d in\nLondon, under the eye of Wesley, and in these Minutes it is declared\nthat Wesley \u201crecommended the episcopal mode of Church government;\u201d but\nno remonstrance is heard from Wesley! When Coke is condemned through\nthe press for his proceedings, he publicly replies that he had done\n\u201cnothing without the direction of Mr. Wesley;\u201d no rebuke follows\nfrom Wesley, but Coke goes on as usual, active in his Conferences,\nand maintained in his new position; and yet his American proceedings\nwere an ambitious plot, contrary to the will of Wesley! The American\nMethodists had borne the title \u201cEpiscopal Church,\u201d with Wesley\u2019s full\napproval, for four years, when, on the use of the personal title of\nbishop, Wesley writes his letter to Asbury; and yet it is not the mere\npersonal title he condemns, but the office which for four years he had\nleft uncondemned, nay, had vindicated!\n\nAnd now, looking again at this series of arguments, will not the\nAmerican Methodists be acquitted of presumption when they assume\nthat they may here make a triumphant stand, surrounded by evidence\naltogether impregnable? The mighty ecclesiastical system under which\nit has pleased God to give them and their families spiritual shelter\nand fellowship with his saints, and whose efficiency has surprised\nthe Christian world, is not, as their opponents would represent, an\nimposition of their preachers, and contrary to the wishes of Wesley,\nbut was legitimately received from his hands as the providential\nfounder of Methodism.\n\nIf Wesley\u2019s strong repugnance to the mere name of bishop had been\nexpressed before its adoption by the American Church, it would probably\nnot have been adopted. Still, the American Church was now a separate\norganization, and was at perfect liberty to dissent from Wesley on a\nmatter of mere expediency. The Church thought it had good reasons to\nuse the name. The American Methodists were mostly of English origin.\nThe people of their country among whom Methodism was most successful\nwere either from England or of immediate English descent, and had been\neducated to consider episcopacy a wholesome and apostolical government\nof the Church. The Church approved and had the office, why not, then,\nhave the name? especially as, without the name, the office itself would\nbe liable to lose, in the eyes of the people, its peculiar character,\nand thereby fail in that appeal to their long-established opinions\nwhich Methodism had a right, both from principle and expediency,\nto make? The English Establishment having been dissolved in this\ncountry, and the Protestant Episcopalians not being yet organized on\nan independent basis, and the episcopal organization of the Methodists\nhaving preceded that of the Protestant Episcopalians, the Methodist\nChurch had a clear right to present itself to the American public as\ncompetent to aid in supplying the place of the abolished Establishment,\nhaving the same essential principles without its peculiar defects.\n\nAnd may not the circumstance of the assumption of an episcopal\ncharacter, nominally as well as really, by the American Methodists, be\nconsidered providential? Episcopacy, both in America and England, has\nreached an excess of presumption and arrogance. The moderate party,\nonce declared by Bishop White, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to\ninclude a large majority of American Episcopalians,[811] has nearly\ndisappeared. Was it not providential, under these circumstances, that a\nbody of Christians should appear, exceeding every other in success, and\nnominally and practically bearing an episcopal character, without any\nof its presumptuous pretensions? Amid the uncharitable assumptions of\nprelatical Episcopalians, the Methodist Episcopal Church stands forth\na monument of the laborious and simple episcopacy of the early ages,\nits success, as well as its humility, contrasting it signally with its\nmore pretentious but feebler sister. It has thus practically vindicated\nepiscopacy as an expedient form of ecclesiastical government, and\nassuredly it needs vindication in these days.\n\nSuch, then, is the evidence which should, with all men of\nself-respectful candor, conclude decisively the question of Wesley\u2019s\ndesign and agency in the organization of American Methodism.\n\nDriven from this ground, objectors retreat to an equally untenable\none by alleging that the episcopal organization of the societies in\nAmerica is to be attributed to the influence of ambitious counselors\nover Wesley in the imbecility of his old age. It has already been shown\nthat he as yet betrayed no such imbecility; but it has still more\nconclusively been demonstrated that the ecclesiastical opinions which\nsanction this great act were adopted in the prime of his manhood. They\nwere the well-considered and fully demonstrated convictions of two\nscore years, before he yielded to the unavoidable necessity of giving\nthem practical effect. Few facts in the history of Methodism are more\ninteresting and instructive than the gradual development of Wesley\u2019s\nown mind and character under his extraordinary and accumulating\nresponsibilities; it has therefore been studiously traced throughout\nthe preceding pages. No reader who has followed our narrative will\naccept this last objection to the American Methodist episcopacy, and\nno possible ground of argument remains for its opponents but the\nprelatical charge against its legitimacy, founded in the traditional\nand exploded ecclesiasticism of obsolete ages. Methodists are content,\nwith Wesley, to pronounce the apostolic succession \u201ca fable which no\nman ever did, or ever can prove,\u201d and believe that, in this age, they\nneed not anxiously challenge any advantage which their opponents can\nclaim from a pretension so incompatible alike with the letter and the\ncharity of the Gospel, as well as with the Christian enlightenment of\nmodern times.[812]\n\n[Attempts have been made to impugn Coke, as having overweeningly led\nWesley into this important measure.[813] The charge, however, were\nit valid, could not affect the validity of the measure itself as\ngenuinely Wesleyan, and as giving to American Methodism an Episcopal\norganization. After the preceding review, no one can doubt that the\nwhole proceeding was in accordance with Wesley\u2019s own views of Church\ngovernment. He was, as we have seen, a decided Episcopalian, and he\ndesigned to give the American Methodist, as he says, \u201cthe discipline\nof the Church of England;\u201d that is to say, an Episcopal regimen. His\nappeal to Lord King\u2019s proof, that the presbyters of Alexandria ordained\nbishops, could otherwise have no relevancy. His use of this proof with\nCoke, while the latter hesitated, shows what was his original design,\nand it is impossible to conceive what merely Presbyterian system,\nwithout a \u201csuperintendency\u201d or episcopate, could at this time fit into\nthe itinerant ministerial scheme of the American Church, where Rankin\nand Asbury had hitherto been superintendents, though without ordination\nor the power to ordain.\n\nWhether Coke influenced Wesley or not does not, then, let it be\nrepeated, affect the main question. Whether Wesley was influenced or\nnot, he did construct and solemnly appoint the Episcopal system of\nthe American Methodists, such as it was adopted by the Conference of\n1784; he did provide for its perpetuation by abridging, printing, and\nsending over with Coke the English Liturgy, containing its forms of\nordination for the threefold ministerial functions recognized in the\nAnglican Church, and all these acts were in strict accordance with his\nlong-avowed ideas of Church government.\n\nCoke\u2019s character alone, then, is concerned in this charge. That\ncharacter, however, is dear to all Methodists, and important, not\nto the validity, but to the historical character of the American\nepiscopate. He is to stand forever as its first representative. I have\nelsewhere sketched his remarkable life and character.[814] Though he\nhad essential greatness, he had, doubtless, characteristic weaknesses\nalso. There have been few great men without them. The faults of such\nmen become the more noticeable, either by contrast with or by partaking\nof their greatness; and the vanity of ordinary human nature is eagerly\ndisposed, in self-gratulation, to criticise, as peculiar defects\nof superior minds, infirmities which are common to all. Practical\nenergy was his chief intellectual trait, and, if it was sometimes\neffervescent, it was never evanescent. He had a leading agency in the\ngreatest facts of Methodism, and it was impossible that the series of\nmomentous deeds which mark his career could have been the result of\nmere accident or fortune. They must have been legitimate to the man.\nNeither Whitefield nor Wesley exceeded him in ministerial travels. It\nis probable that no Methodist of his day, it is doubtful whether any\nProtestant of his day, contributed more from his own property for the\nspread of the Gospel. His biographer says that he expended the whole\nof his patrimonial estate, which was large, on his missions and their\nchapels. He was married twice; both his wives were like-minded with\nhimself, and both had considerable fortunes, which were used like\nhis own. In 1794 was published an account of his missionary receipts\nand disbursements for the preceding year, from which it appeared\nthat there were due him nearly eleven thousand dollars; but he gave\nthe whole sum to the cause. Flying, during nearly forty years, over\nEngland, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; crossing the Atlantic eighteen\ntimes; traversing the United States and the West Indies; the first who\nsuggested the organization of English Methodism by Wesley\u2019s Deed of\nDeclaration; the organizer, under Wesley, of American Methodism; one of\nthe first, if not the very first, of Protestant bishops in the Western\nhemisphere; the founder of the Methodist missions in the West Indies,\nin Africa, and in Asia, as well as in Ireland, Wales, and England;\nthe official and almost sole director of the missionary operations of\nthe denomination during his long public life, and the founder of the\nfirst Tract Society in the world, he must be recognized as one of the\nchief representative men of modern religious history, if not, indeed,\nas Asbury pronounced him, \u201cthe greatest man of the last century as a\nminister of Christ.\u201d\n\nAsbury, who hesitated not thus to place him above Wesley \u201cas a\nminister of Christ,\u201d knew him well, and especially knew him in those\ntransactions for which he has been most blamed. A settled and wealthy\nclergyman of the Establishment, bearing the highest literary title\nwhich its universities could give, a man of high family and high\nprospects, he forsook, under the influence of deepened religious\nfeelings, all his apparent advantages, to become a wandering evangelist\nin Wesley\u2019s despised but heroic band of itinerants. He became, as\nWesley called him, \u201cthe right hand\u201d of the great founder. His spirit\nflamed with evangelic zeal. He expressed truly his own character in the\nexclamation, recorded on the high seas, when passing for the first time\nto America, \u201cI want the wings of an eagle and the voice of a trumpet,\nthat I may proclaim the Gospel through the East and the West, the North\nand the South.\u201d He seemed almost ubiquitous in the United States,\nsuperintending its ministry, and in the United Kingdom, administering\nthe affairs of the Wesleyan Church, founding and conducting its\nIrish, its Welsh, its \u201cDomestic,\u201d and its Foreign Missions, virtually\nembodying in his own person the whole missionary enterprise of English\nMethodism. When an old man of nearly seventy years he conceived the\nproject of introducing Methodism into Asia. He presented himself before\nthe British Conference, and, against great opposition, entreated, with\ntears, to be sent as a missionary to India, offering to defray the\nexpenses of himself and seven chosen colleagues. The Conference could\nnot resist his appeal, and at length, on the 30th of December, 1813,\nhe departed with his little band, consisting of nine persons besides\nhimself. He died on the voyage, and was buried in the Indian Ocean;\nbut, though the great leader was no more, his spirit remained, and the\nsuccessful East Indian Missions of Methodism are the sublime results.\nHistory should respect the reputation of such a man.\n\nThe charge of his leading Wesley into the measures for the organization\nof the American Church is made in spite of the express testimony of\nDrew, his intimate friend and biographer, who says that \u201cWesley, in\nhis study, \u2018City Road,\u2019 first divulged his purpose to Coke,\u201d and that,\narguing with him there on the ordination of bishops by presbyters in\nthe Alexandrian Church, he concluded by proposing \u201cthat, being himself\na presbyter, Coke should accept ordination from his hands, and proceed\nto the continent of America to superintend the societies in the United\nStates.\u201d[815]\n\nA letter from Coke to Wesley, proposing that a messenger should be\nsent to America to inspect the field and report to Wesley, has been\ncited as proof of Coke\u2019s overweening wish for such an appointment.[816]\nThe hostile critic seems not to be aware that this letter was written\n_after_ Wesley\u2019s proposition to send Coke as superintendent. The\nconversation in Wesley\u2019s London study was in February, 1784. Coke\u2019s\nletter, proposing a preliminary inspection and report of the wants\nof the American societies, was not written till the middle of April\n[\u201cNear Dublin, April 17, 1784\u201d]. It was actually sent while he was yet\nconsidering Wesley\u2019s proposition. It showed his hesitancy rather than\nhis eagerness for the new office.\n\nThus far, then, no solicitation, no selfish management, is apparent\nin the course of Coke. If, contrary to Drew\u2019s express statement, the\nparticular act of Coke\u2019s ordination by Wesley was by the request of\nCoke himself, it does not materially affect the question of either\nthe American Church system or Coke\u2019s character. Wesley undoubtedly\ndesigned, as we have seen, that the former should be a system of\nsuperintendency, of practical episcopacy \u201cconformed to the discipline\nof the Church of England,\u201d as he expressly says--such as, in fact, it\nhad hitherto been, except that its superintendents had not yet the\nfunction of ordination, which was now to be supplied. If he had not\nat first designed to ordain Coke (according to his reasoning about\nthe Alexandrian example), it was doubtless because he had assumed\nthat Coke, being already a presbyter, could, in accordance with that\nexample, ordain Asbury a superintendent, and complete the organization\nof the American Church. Now Wesley had, as we have seen, for years\nbelieved in the essential parity of presbyters and bishops, and their\nequal right to ordain. Coke\u2019s request (if any there were) for more\nformal authorization by Wesley himself was perfectly correspondent\nwith Wesley\u2019s theory and design, and, this being the fact, it was\nindisputably expedient, as Wesley himself saw. The agitations and\ndebates among the American Methodists rendered it necessary that he\nshould bear with him the highest possible sanction of Wesley, who\nwas recognized as founder and superintendent of the whole Methodist\ncause. Coke\u2019s liability to disaffected criticism at home, especially\nfrom Charles Wesley (whose opinions were well known), gave him a right\nto claim, as he did in his letter to Wesley, that the latter should\n\u201cbe obliged to acknowledge that I acted under your direction\u201d--a\nphrase which would have been inadmissible had not Wesley\u2019s designs\ncorresponded fully with his own. This objection to Coke, then, is not\nrelevant. His course was logical; it was prudent; it was necessary; and\nits historical results have proved its supreme wisdom.\n\nAlmost every other disputed act of Coke\u2019s life has been adduced to\nconfirm the unfounded objection to his course in this great measure.\nIt has been alleged that he wrote to Bishop White, of Philadelphia,\nthat \u201che would like the Methodists of America to be reunited to the\nEnglish [American Protestant Episcopal] Church on condition that he\nhimself were ordained to be their bishop.\u201d[817] Coke was already a\nbishop, and Asbury another, in America; their denomination was already\nmore extended than the Protestant Episcopal Church, and it had an\nimmeasurably better prospect in the new republic. Coke\u2019s impulsive\nzeal and catholicity led him to think, what many Churchmen, if not\nMethodists, have since thought, that a union of the two bodies would\nbe a blessing to common Christianity. If he was imprudent, he was\nnevertheless charitable in his desire. It did more credit to his heart\nthan discredit to his head. He did not propose it, as alleged, in order\nto be \u201cordained their bishop.\u201d He included his Episcopal colleague,\nAsbury, and all his ministerial brethren. The union was to be made\n\u201con terms which in no wise compromised the honor or rights of the\nMethodist Episcopal Church.\u201d[818] \u201cI never did apply,\u201d says Coke, \u201cto\nthe General Convention, or any other Convention, for reconsecration. I\nnever intended that either Bishop Asbury or myself should give up our\nepiscopal office if the junction were to take place.\u201d\n\nIt has been alleged against him, as an \u201cunpleasant fact,\u201d and as\nillustrating his course in the present case with Wesley, that he\nsolicited the \u201cPrince Regent and the government to appoint him their\nbishop in India,\u201d and this \u201cwithin twelve months of his lamented\ndeath.\u201d[819] This aspersion is founded in incidents connected with\nthat last heroic mission to India above noticed, for which, in his old\nage, he sublimely sacrificed his property, his episcopal functions in\nAmerica, and his life, but founded the whole East India Methodist work.\nThe British domination there had, to his eyes, opened a door for the\nGospel to all Asia. For some years he had been planning and working\nfor a mission to the Hindoos; the East India Company\u2019s government\n\u201chad steadily opposed\u201d their evangelization; Coke knew that he could\nnot accomplish his grand designs without authority from the home\ngovernment in an episcopal appointment; for this reason he sought\nthat appointment. He was still a priest of the national Church, and\nthe Wesleyans were all yet considered as members of that Church. He\nproved the purity of his purpose when his application failed, for\nthen, as we have seen, he stood, an aged and broken man, before the\nBritish Conference, and extorted, by his entreaties, his tears, and the\npledge of his own property, its consent to let him go, with a corps of\nMethodist evangelists, and attempt the great work in the only way that\nremained for him.[820]\n\nAgain, it is alleged that \u201cin 1794 he secretly summoned a meeting of\nthe most influential of the English preachers, and passed a resolution\nthat the Conference should appoint an order of bishops to ordain\ndeacons and elders, he himself, of course, expecting to be a member\nof the prelatical brotherhood.\u201d[821] The real facts of this case, as\nin the others, need but to be correctly stated to fully vindicate\nCoke. Wesley had been dead some three years; the Wesleyans were in\nthe greatest anxiety and distraction respecting their permanent\norganization during these years; the very existence of the body\nseemed periled; ministerial disputes and popular agitation prevailed,\nending at last in the Kilham schism; the people were clamoring for\nthe sacraments--the preachers were not empowered, by ordination, to\nadminister them. \u201cAt present we really have no government,\u201d wrote\nPawson, the president of the Conference, toward the latter part of\n1793. \u201cIt will by no means answer our ends to dispute one with another\nas to which is the most scriptural form of Church government. We should\nconsider our present circumstances, and endeavor to agree upon some\nmethod by which our people may have the ordinances of God, and, at the\nsame time, be preserved from division. I care not a rush whether it\nbe Episcopal or Presbyterian; I believe neither of them to be purely\nscriptural. But our preachers and people in general are prejudiced\nagainst the latter; consequently, if the former will answer our end, we\nought to embrace it. Indeed, I believe it will suit our present plan\nfar better than the other. The design of Mr. Wesley will weigh much\nwith many, which now evidently appears to have been this: He foresaw\nthat the Methodists would, after his death, soon become a distinct\npeople; he was deeply prejudiced against a Presbyterian, and was as\nmuch in favor of an Episcopal form of government. In order, therefore,\nto preserve all that was valuable in the Church of England among the\nMethodists, he ordained Mr. Mather and Dr. Coke bishops. These he\nundoubtedly designed should ordain others. Mr. Mather told us so at\nthe Manchester Conference, but we did not then understand him. I see\nno way of coming to any good settlement but on the plan I mentioned\nbefore. I sincerely wish that Dr. Coke and Mr. Mather may be allowed\nto be what they are, bishops. We must have ordination among us at any\nrate.\u201d[822] It was in these circumstances that Coke met some of the\nmost venerable and devoted preachers at Litchfield. He \u201caddressed them\non the agitated state of the Connection, and the perils which menaced\nit; he referred to the success of Methodism in the New World under its\nEpiscopal organization, and the relief which Wesley\u2019s establishment\nof this form of government there had given to a similar controversy.\nHe offered ordination to the brethren who were present. His motive\nwas disinterested, for he already possessed the Episcopal office and\ndignity, conferred by an authority which they all venerated above\nthat of any archbishop of the realm. Most of the meeting approved his\nproposition, but Moore, who had been ordained by Wesley, very wisely\nsuggested that they should confine their proceedings to the discussion\nof its practicability, and defer its decision to the next Conference.\nHe, however, pronounced the measure a scriptural and suitable\nexpedient for the government of any Christian Church. Mather concurred\nwith Moore. They adjourned after adopting a series of resolutions\nwhich were to be submitted with all their signatures to the Annual\nConference.\u201d[823] It is certainly remarkable that a sinister motive\ncould be imputed to Coke in these circumstances--to him who had already\na diocese co-extensive with the United States of America.\n\nAn impartial revision, then, of all the facts directly or indirectly\ninvolved in this discussion, results, first, in a vindication of the\nEpiscopal government, adopted at Baltimore in 1784, as the genuine work\nof Wesley himself, accordant with his previously declared opinions on\nthe subject; and, secondly, of Coke\u2019s conduct respecting it, as also\nin the other above facts alleged against him. Wesley was just when,\nafter the whole measure had transpired, he declared Coke to \u201chave\ndone nothing rashly,\u201d and that he was \u201cas free from ambition as from\ncovetousness.\u201d]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [788] History of Methodism, vol. i., book iii., chap. v.\n The persistent misrepresentations of him on this\n point are astonishing. The Rev. Edwin Sidney (Life of\n Walker, of Truro, p. 260) says that \u201cwhen he wanted\n ordained preachers for America, he, of a sudden,\n _in his old age_, found out, by reading Lord King\u2019s\n Account of the Primitive Church, that bishops and\n presbyters are of the same order.\u201d This inexcusable\n violation of historical truth is common in the\n writings of Churchmen against Methodism.\n\n [789] A Letter to a Friend, Works, vol. vii., p. 301.\n\n [790] Letter to Rev. Mr. Clark, Works, vol. vii., p. 284.\n\n [791] \u201cOn the Church,\u201d Works, vol. vii., p. 312.\n\n [792] Burk\u2019s History of Virginia, vol. ii., p. 180. Hawks\n (Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the\n United States of America, vol. i., chap. ix.) doubts\n Burk\u2019s estimate. Dr. Hawks\u2019s volume needs important\n emendations, especially in respect to Methodism.\n\n [793] Hawks\u2019s \u201cContributions,\u201d vol. i., chap. x.\n\n [794] Journals of the Virginia Assembly, 1784.\n\n [795] Bangs\u2019s Hist. M. E. Church, vol. i., pp. 135-7.\n\n [796] Works, vol. vii., p. 231.\n\n [797] Coke\u2019s Letter to Wesley, Smith\u2019s History of Wesleyan\n Methodism, vol. i., book ii., chap. 6.\n\n [798] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, chap. 5.\n\n [799] Unless the Moravians are to be considered an\n exception.\n\n [800] Jackson\u2019s Charles Wesley, chap. 26.\n\n [801] \u201cTo administer the sacraments of baptism and the\n Lord\u2019s Supper according to the usages of the Church\n of England,\u201d says the certificate of ordination (see\n it in Life of Henry Moore, p. 134, Am. ed.); and yet\n a living Churchman (Dr. Pusey\u2019s Letter to the Bishop\n of Oxford, p. 151) says that \u201cWesley reluctantly took\n the step of ordaining at all;\u201d and that \u201cto the last\n _he refused, in the strongest terms, his consent\n that those thus ordained should take upon them to\n administer the sacraments_. He felt that it exceeded\n his powers, and so inhibited it, however it might\n diminish the numbers of the society he had formed.\u201d\n The biographers of Wilberforce (vol. i., p. 248) also\n say: \u201cNor were any of his preachers _suffered during\n his lifetime to attempt to administer the sacraments\n of his Church_.\u201d It is high time that such fictions\n should cease among English Churchmen. It seems that\n they have yet to learn how thorough and noble a\n heretic Wesley really was.\n\n [802] Minutes of 1785, in Minutes of the Annual Conference\n of the M. E. Church, vol. i., p. 22. New York, 1840.\n\n [803] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, chap. 6. His assailant is\n supposed to have been Charles Wesley. Etheredge\u2019s\n Coke, book ii., chap. 7.\n\n [804] It had been used, however, all this time, in the\n Minutes, as explanatory of the word \u201csuperintendent.\u201d\n The Minutes say that, \u201cfollowing the counsel of\n Mr. John Wesley, who recommended the episcopal\n mode of Church government, we thought it best to\n become an episcopal Church, making the episcopal\n office elective, and the elected superintendent,\n or _bishop_, amenable to the body of ministers and\n preachers.\u201d Minutes, vol. i., p. 22. New York, 1840.\n It was not in the bishops\u2019 address to Washington in\n 1789 that the title was first _personally_ assumed.\n The Discipline of 1787 so used it. Emory\u2019s History\n of the Discipline, p. 82. But, as we have just\n seen, the title was inserted in the Minutes of the\n Organization of the Church (1784, 1785) as synonymous\n with \u201csuperintendent.\u201d Minutes 1785, vol. i., p. 22.\n Wesley\u2019s letter of reproof to Asbury was written\n before the bishops\u2019 address to Washington.\n\n [805] See his circular letter to the American Societies,\n Drew\u2019s Coke, chap. 5.\n\n [806] Bishop (Saxon, bischop) is a corruption of the\n Latinized Greek word episcopus. Its analogy to the\n second and third syllables of the latter is obvious.\n\n [807] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, chap. 5.\n\n [808] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, chap. 5.\n\n [809] Smith\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. i., book ii.,\n chap, vi., p. 541.\n\n [810] Jackson\u2019s Charles Wesley, chap. 26.\n\n [811] Case of the Prot. Epis. Church in the United States,\n etc., p. 25.\n\n [812] Wesley was in good company among Churchmen in his\n denunciation of the \u201cfable\u201d of the succession.\n Chillingworth said, \u201cI am fully persuaded there\n hath been no such succession.\u201d Bishop Stillingfleet\n declares that \u201cthis succession is as muddy as the\n Tiber itself.\u201d Bishop Hoadley asserts, \u201cIt hath not\n pleased God, in his providence, to keep up any proof\n of the least probability, or moral possibility, of\n a regular uninterrupted succession; but there is a\n great appearance, and, humanly speaking, a certainty\n to the contrary, that the succession hath often been\n interrupted.\u201d Archbishop Whately says \u201cthere is not a\n minister in all Christendom who is able to trace up,\n with approach to certainty, his spiritual pedigree.\u201d\n\n [813] Tyerman\u2019s Wesley, vol. iii. An. 1784.\n\n [814] History of Methodism, vol. iii., _passim_. History of\n the M. E. Church, vol. ii., p. 151; vol. iv., p. 503.\n\n [815] Drew\u2019s Life of Coke, p. 62. Etheridge (Life of\n Coke, p. 101) says: \u201cA writer in the Quarterly\n Review affirms that it was Coke who first requested\n Wesley to make him a bishop, and send him as such\n to America. The opposite is the truth: the request\n came from Wesley, and took Coke by surprise. He had\n not even given the clerical question involved in\n the project any serious consideration; and he first\n required of Wesley some time for investigation,\n before he could express with confidence an opinion\n upon it at all. He now applied himself to those\n Biblical and patristic studies which bear upon the\n subject, and after the lapse of two months, spent\n partly in Scotland, communicated to Wesley that the\n conclusions at which he had arrived enabled him,\n without any hesitation, to concur with himself as to\n the abstract lawfulness of the measure which had been\n propounded.\u201d\n\n [816] Tyerman\u2019s Wesley, vol. iii., p. 428.\n\n [817] Tyerman, vol. iii., p. 344.\n\n [818] History of M. E. Church, vol. iii., p. 41. Also vol.\n iv., p. 443.\n\n [819] Tyerman, vol. iii., p. 434.\n\n [820] See Etheridge\u2019s Coke, p. 368. Etheridge gives all the\n facts of the case, and fully vindicates Coke from the\n charge of unchristian ambition.\n\n [821] Tyerman, vol. iii., p. 434.\n\n [822] Smith, History of Methodism, etc., vol. ii., p. 4, 3.\n Stevens\u2019s History of Methodism, vol. iii., p. 51.\n\n [823] History of Methodism, vol. iii., p. 52.\n\n\n\n\n INDEX.\n\n\n Aberdeen, ii. 404, 470, 568; iii. 10, 411.\n\n \u201cAct of Toleration,\u201d ii. 385.\n\n Adam, Rev. Thomas, ii. 209, 251; iii. 18.\n\n Adams, Rev. Mr., i. 485.\n\n Adams, Thomas, i. 536.\n\n \u201cAdvice to a Young Clergyman,\u201d i. 106.\n\n Affleck, Andrew, ii. 471.\n\n African Methodist Episcopal Church, i. 9.\n\n African Mission proposed, iii. 272.\n\n Agutter, Rev. Mr., iii. 536.\n\n Alemouth, ii. 140.\n\n Alliance, Quadruple, ii. 557.\n\n Alnwick, ii. 166, 276, 328; ii. 473, 573.\n\n Alpraham, iii. 352.\n\n Ambition, i. 20.\n\n American Colonies, i. 114.\n\n American Indians, i. 115, 124, 130.\n\n American Methodism, i. 8, 9; iii. 47, 60, 62, 75, 116, 151, 175, 194,\n 248, 331, 426, 498, 646.\n\n American Rebellion, iii. 147, 185, 237.\n\n American Wesleyan Methodists, i. 9.\n\n Amsterdam, i. 197; iii. 394, 395.\n\n Andrews, Mr., iii. 28.\n\n Andrews, Rev. John, i. 428; ii. 493.\n\n Animal Magnetism, iii. 603, 648.\n\n Annesley, Dr. Samuel, i. 285.\n\n Antigua, iii. 151, 195, 273.\n\n Antinomianism, i. 477, 481, 519; ii. 400; iii. 14.\n\n Antislavery Society, iii. 508.\n\n Apparitions, i. 22, 23; iii. 11, 40, 41.\n\n Appleton, John, iii. 449.\n\n Arbroath, iii. 66, 120, 457.\n\n Armagh, ii. 601; iii. 41, 154.\n\n _Arminian Magazine_, iii. 251, 280, 316, 344, 346, 367, 388, 406,\n 455, 469, 488, 508, 515, 563, 594, 634.\n\n Asbury, Francis, ii. 610; iii. 7, 110, 175, 195, 248, 429, 435, 438.\n\n Ashbourne, ii. 195.\n\n Ashburton, ii. 585.\n\n Ashby de la Zouch, ii. 501.\n\n Ashton under Lyne, iii. 371.\n\n Assistants, duties of, i. 445, 499.\n\n Athlone, ii. 4, 35, 37, 78, 601.\n\n Atlay, John, iii. 207, 297, 315, 404, 552-558, 565, 567.\n\n Atmore, Charles, iii. 441, 533, 604, 607, 618.\n\n Atterbury, Bishop, i. 42, 60.\n\n Aughrim, ii. 4, 78.\n\n Aylesbury, iii. 29.\n\n\n Backhouse, Rev. William, ii. 489.\n\n Baddiley, Rev. William, ii. 195, 205, 211.\n\n Bagshaw, Matthew, ii. 560.\n\n Baildon, iii. 362.\n\n Bailey, Rev. Mr., ii. 90.\n\n Balham, iii. 589, 599, 650.\n\n Ball, Hannah, ii. 534; iii. 241.\n\n Ball, Roger, ii. 77.\n\n Ballinrobe, iii. 460.\n\n Bandon, ii. 36, 81, 304, 354; iii. 645.\n\n Bandroom Methodists, i. 5.\n\n Bands, Methodist, i. 445, 463; ii. 475, 516; iii. 22, 542.\n\n Banff, Lady, iii. 412.\n\n Baptism, i. 229; ii. 135, 264.\n\n Barber, John, iii. 441, 474, 533, 645.\n\n Barclay\u2019s Apology, i. 489.\n\n Bardsley, Samuel, ii. 540; iii. 156, 164, 208, 348, 353, 402, 591,\n 592.\n\n Barlow, Margaret, iii. 535.\n\n Barnardcastle, ii. 141, 434, 472, 535, 569; iii. 18, 293, 537.\n\n Barnes, John, ii. 552.\n\n Barnet, iii. 488.\n\n Barnsley, iii. 474.\n\n Bate, Rev. James, i. 249.\n\n Bateman, Rev. Richard T., i. 548.\n\n Bath, ii. 557, 587; iii. 252, 290, 305, 614, 623.\n\n _Bath Journal_, ii. 41.\n\n Baxter, John, iii. 273.\n\n Bayley, Dr. Cornelius, ii. 261; iii. 397, 416.\n\n Beard, Thomas, i. 441.\n\n Beau Nash, i. 237.\n\n Bedford, ii. 160, 274, 300, 340, 358.\n\n Bedford, Rev. Arthur, i. 209, 364.\n\n Behmen, Jacob, ii. 265; iii. 341, 388.\n\n Belfast, ii. 240, 445, 600.\n\n Bell, George, ii. 433, 441, 444, 450, 460, 462, 507, 556; iii. 13,\n 29, 59.\n\n Benefactions, Wesley\u2019s, iii. 615.\n\n Benezet, Anthony, iii. 115.\n\n Bennet, John, i. 472; ii. 42, 57, 129; iii. 119.\n\n Bennett, Rev. Mr., i. 458.\n\n Bennis, Elizabeth, iii. 45.\n\n Benson, Joseph, ii. 474; iii. 35, 51, 70, 73, 110, 152, 168, 215,\n 247, 270, 272, 324, 334, 341, 538, 603.\n\n Beresford, Miss, ii. 195.\n\n Berridge, Rev. John, ii. 309, 324, 331-333, 356, 370, 397, 444, 459,\n 463, 491; iii. 2, 158.\n\n Berwick, ii. 328.\n\n Bethnal Green, iii. 193.\n\n Beverley, ii. 330, 502; iii. 611.\n\n Bible Christians, i. 6.\n\n Bible, Study of, i. 532.\n\n Bideford, iii. 591.\n\n Bigg, Thomas, ii. 53.\n\n Bingham, iii. 69.\n\n Bingley, ii. 275, 411, 573; iii. 225, 243, 325, 414.\n\n Birmingham, i. 488; ii. 115, 163, 195, 348, 399, 500; iii. 7, 392,\n 472, 493, 503, 568, 603.\n\n Birr, ii. 4.\n\n Birstal, i. 369, 383, 440; ii. 121, 139, 331, 412; iii. 270, 373, 404.\n\n Bishop of Bristol, i. 246.\n\n Bishop, Letter to a, iii. 513, 613.\n\n Bishop, Miss, ii. 559; iii. 86, 97, 278, 357, 450.\n\n Bishops, Interview with, i. 230.\n\n Bisson, Miss, iii. 599, 609.\n\n Black, William, iii. 401, 452, 484, 492, 506, 541, 591, 612.\n\n Blackburn, iii. 325.\n\n Blackheath, i. 359.\n\n Blackwell, Ebenezer, i. 555, 558, 559; ii. 5, 26, 83, 107, 142, 169,\n 174, 185, 196, 219, 236, 275, 304, 326, 352, 414, 506; iii. 251.\n\n Blackwell, Richard, ii. 587.\n\n Blades, John, iii. 536.\n\n Blair, Andrew, iii. 459.\n\n Blarney, ii. 37.\n\n Blendon, i. 173, 178.\n\n Boarding Schools, iii. 120.\n\n Boardman, Richard, iii. 47, 54.\n\n Bogie, James, iii. 362.\n\n Bohler, Peter, i. 177, 179, 181, 186, 197, 532; ii. 156-158; iii.\n 201, 595.\n\n Bolton, i. 547; ii. 18, 57, 116; iii. 191, 351, 472, 501, 527.\n\n Bolton, Edward, ii. 498.\n\n Bolton, Miss, ii. 498; iii. 644.\n\n Bolzius, Martin, i. 151.\n\n Book Stewards\u2019 Circular, ii. 179.\n\n Books recommended by Dr. Doddridge, i. 517.\n\n Books recommended by Wesley, iii. 359, 450.\n\n Booth, Alice, i. 546.\n\n Booth, John, iii. 645.\n\n Boothbank, i. 546.\n\n Borlase, Dr., i. 453, 470.\n\n Bosanquet, Miss, ii. 286, 289, 517, 588; iii. 68, 111, 206, 208, 213,\n 240, 329.\n\n Boston, ii. 327, 413; iii. 327.\n\n Boswell, James, iii. 294.\n\n Bourke, Richard, ii. 603.\n\n Bourne, Hugh, ii. 609.\n\n Bowden, Dr. Samuel, ii. 190.\n\n Bowman, Rev. William, i. 328.\n\n Brackenbury, Robert C., iii. 338, 393, 408, 429, 487, 504, 507, 625,\n 649, 655.\n\n Bradburn, Samuel, iii. 177, 251, 287, 315, 334, 336, 355, 376, 525,\n 526, 546, 616.\n\n Bradford (Yorkshire), ii. 12, 331, 569.\n\n Bradford (Wilts), iii. 52, 409.\n\n Bradford, Joseph, iii. 16, 156, 203, 204, 338, 403, 557, 606, 649,\n 651, 652, 655.\n\n Brainerd, David, iii. 36.\n\n Brammah, Alice, iii. 29.\n\n Brammah, William, iii. 243.\n\n Bramwell, William, iii. 354.\n\n Brandon, John, ii. 170, 281.\n\n Breage, ii. 218.\n\n Brecon, i. 457.\n\n Bredin, John, iii. 151, 643.\n\n Brettell, Jeremiah, iii. 403.\n\n Bribery, i. 554; ii. 515.\n\n Briggs, William, ii. 176-179.\n\n Briscoe, Thomas, iii. 375.\n\n Bristol, i. 234, 296, 390, 391, 425, 461; ii. 1, 25, 75, 85, 86, 171,\n 190, 235, 255, 290, 339, 362, 425, 481, 512, 514, 546, 587;\n iii. 28, 52, 75, 110, 129, 157, 165, 178, 236, 349, 364, 370,\n 391, 396, 404, 492, 530, 568, 589, 600, 622.\n\n _Bristol Weekly Intelligencer_, ii. 85.\n\n Broadbent, John, iii. 393, 487.\n\n Brooke, Henry, iii. 172, 342, 392.\n\n Broughton, Rev. J., i. 68, 83, 102, 108, 132, 178.\n\n Broughton, Sir Thomas, iii. 119.\n\n Brute Creation, iii. 347.\n\n Bryan, Jonathan, iii. 117.\n\n Bryant, Thomas, ii. 487.\n\n Buchan, Earl, iii. 2.\n\n Bull, Patrick, iii. 189.\n\n Bulmer, Agnes, iii. 541.\n\n Bumby, John H., ii. 277.\n\n Bunting, Dr., i. 340.\n\n Bunyan\u2019s Pilgrim\u2019s Progress, i. 434.\n\n Burbeck, Edward, iii. 507.\n\n Burgess, Joseph, iii. 577.\n\n Burnet, Bishop, i. 64.\n\n Burnley, iii. 414.\n\n Burslem, ii. 349; iii. 8, 127, 472, 493.\n\n Burton, Dr. John, i. 108, 136.\n\n Burton on Trent, ii. 560.\n\n Bury, iii. 166.\n\n Bush, Elijah, iii. 231, 364.\n\n Butterworth, Joseph, i. 545.\n\n Butterworth, Rev. John, i. 545.\n\n Butts, Thomas, ii. 142, 176-179.\n\n Buxton, iii. 393.\n\n Byrom, Dr., i. 135, 210, 243, 484.\n\n Byron, James Mac, iii. 7, 466.\n\n\n Cadogan, Dr., iii. 110, 182.\n\n Cadogan, Rev. W. B., iii. 179.\n\n Calling of Methodist Preachers, iii. 635.\n\n \u201cCalm Address,\u201d Publication of, iii. 186-192.\n\n Calvinism, i. 39; ii. 191-193; iii. 278.\n\n Calvinist Concessions, i. 349.\n\n Calvinist Controversy, iii. 71, 81, 86, 97, 136, 158, 179, 209, 228,\n 232, 259.\n\n Calvinistic Methodists, i. 402, 511.\n\n Camborne, i. 453.\n\n Cambridge, Miss, iii. 645.\n\n Candler, William, iii. 627.\n\n Canterbury, ii. 69, 230, 309, 339, 425, 511.\n\n Cardiff, i. 560.\n\n Carlisle, iii. 63.\n\n Carrickfergus, ii. 240, 350, 445.\n\n Castle Carey, iii. 506.\n\n Castlebar, iii. 153.\n\n Catechism, ii. 64.\n\n Catechumen Classes, ii. 362.\n\n Catholic Spirit, ii. 374.\n\n Causton, Thomas, i. 143, 152, 162.\n\n Cavignac, General, ii. 350.\n\n Cayley, Cornelius, ii. 317.\n\n Celibacy, i. 432; ii. 6, 551.\n\n Cennick, John, i. 225, 263, 274, 277, 295, 331, 343, 344, 360, 402,\n 419, 556, 559; ii. 23, 101.\n\n Chandler, Samuel, ii. 493.\n\n Channel Islands, iii. 503-505.\n\n Chapel Affairs, i. 11, 270, 519; ii. 291, 539, 584, 610; iii. 30, 70,\n 152, 216, 325, 511, 533, 614, 619, 622.\n\n Chapel-en-le-Frith, iii. 472.\n\n Chapman, Mrs., i. 138.\n\n Chapman, Rev. Jacob, ii. 482.\n\n Chapman, William, i. 133.\n\n Charlton, Mary, iii. 353.\n\n Charter House School, i. 19.\n\n Chatham, iii. 6.\n\n Cheltenham, ii. 559; iii. 7.\n\n Chester, i. 547; ii. 142, 448, 565; iii. 410, 500.\n\n Chesterfield, iii. 226.\n\n Chester-le-Street, ii. 277, 329, 538.\n\n Cheyne, Dr., i. 27.\n\n Children\u2019s Meetings, i. 446; iii. 23.\n\n Chinley, i. 459.\n\n Chipping, ii. 116.\n\n Christian, Almost a, i. 175.\n\n Christian, David, i. 200.\n\n \u201cChristian Library,\u201d ii. 26, 65.\n\n Church Government, i. 499; ii. 257.\n\n Church, Rev. Thomas, i. 455, 478, 530.\n\n Church, Stephen, ii. 376.\n\n Church, William, iii. 277.\n\n Churchey, Walter, iii. 244, 282, 547, 579.\n\n Circuits, Division of, iii. 601, 632.\n\n City Road Chapel, iii. 220, 241, 243, 251, 255, 275, 297.\n\n Clanmain, ii. 445.\n\n Clark, Rev. James, ii. 244, 373.\n\n Clarke, Adam, ii. 119, 227; iii. 342, 386, 397, 504, 507, 583, 599,\n 609, 614, 619, 623, 643, 644, 648.\n\n Clarkson, Thomas, iii. 115.\n\n Class Meetings, i. 379, 380; ii. 516; iii. 215, 328, 550.\n\n Classes, Methodist, i. 353, 377; iii. 391.\n\n Classical Learning, i. 117.\n\n Classleaders, i. 446; iii. 109.\n\n Clayton, Rev. John, i. 68, 83, 93, 94; ii. 138.\n\n Clements, William, i. 494.\n\n Clergy, Advice to Young, ii. 63.\n\n Clerical Costume, ii. 338.\n\n Clippendale, Mrs., iii. 116.\n\n Clive, Sir Edward, ii. 300.\n\n Clones, iii. 202.\n\n Clonmel, ii. 237.\n\n Clowes, William, ii. 609.\n\n Clulow, Elizabeth, iii. 8.\n\n Coates, Alexander, ii. 413.\n\n Cobham, Mr., ii. 351.\n\n Cockburn, Dr., ii. 278.\n\n Cocker, Jeremiah, ii. 502; iii. 226, 474.\n\n Coke, Dr. Thomas, iii. 16, 214, 222, 244, 271, 297, 299, 310, 334,\n 361, 378, 396, 403, 421, 428-432, 478, 480-485, 492, 542, 552,\n 562, 570, 580, 605.\n\n Colbeck, Thomas, ii. 14.\n\n Colchester, ii. 313, 324, 327, 334, 342; iii. 627.\n\n Coleford, i. 487; ii. 236; iii. 590.\n\n College, Methodist, proposed, ii. 360.\n\n Colley, Rev. Benjamin, ii. 413, 614.\n\n Collins, Rev. Brian, iii. 310, 315, 335, 391, 454, 573.\n\n Colne, ii. 15; iii. 226, 243.\n\n Cologne, i. 197.\n\n Communion of Saints, iii. 157.\n\n Community, The Christian, iii. 134.\n\n Companions, Trifling, i. 54.\n\n Conferences, Methodist, i. 441, 497, 527, 551; ii. 5, 60, 104, 120,\n 144, 166, 187, 240, 278, 305, 333, 354, 415, 448, 474, 479,\n 511, 538, 584, 608; iii. 21, 45, 70, 110, 126, 156, 177, 209,\n 226, 245, 270, 302, 328, 361, 372, 396, 465, 477, 496, 547,\n 584, 598, 618.\n\n Congleton, ii. 349; iii. 8, 165, 604.\n\n Coningsby, ii. 11, 327.\n\n Connexion, Lady Huntingdon\u2019s, i. 5; iii. 430-432.\n\n Consecration of Churches, etc., ii. 512; iii. 528.\n\n Conversation, iii. 3.\n\n Conversion, Instantaneous, i. 178.\n\n Convicts, i. 175; ii. 27.\n\n Conyers, Rev. Dr., ii. 335, 473, 502.\n\n Coolylough, ii. 354.\n\n Cooper, Jane, ii. 450, 494.\n\n Cooper, Ezekiel, iii. 645.\n\n Cooper, Miss, i. 382.\n\n Cordeux, Rev. Mr., ii. 571.\n\n Cork, ii. 36, 80, 147, 237, 304; iii. 42, 269, 460.\n\n Cornwall, i. 415, 555; ii. 362.\n\n Costerdine, Robert, iii. 48.\n\n Coughlan, Lawrence, ii. 313; iii. 25, 177.\n\n Courcy, Rev. Richard de, ii. 471; iii. 65, 84.\n\n Coventry, iii. 295, 399.\n\n Coward, William, ii. 276.\n\n Cownley, Joseph, ii. 53, 83, 117, 129, 200, 206, 230, 253, 381, 387;\n iii. 441, 543, 581.\n\n Crabbe, the Poet, iii. 629.\n\n _Craftsman_, i. 475.\n\n Credulity, iii. 537.\n\n Creighton, Rev. James, iii. 276, 429, 434, 441.\n\n Cricket, John, iii. 391.\n\n Crook, John, iii. 228, 476.\n\n Crosby, Sarah, ii. 286, 289, 398, 436, 565; iii. 41, 68.\n\n Crowther, Jonathan, iii. 507, 581.\n\n Cudworth, William, i. 482; ii. 400, 527.\n\n Cussons, George, i. 11; ii. 410; iii. 315.\n\n Cutler, Ann, iii. 606.\n\n\n \u201cDairyman\u2019s Daughter,\u201d The, iii. 387, 503.\n\n Dales Circuit, iii. 631.\n\n Dall, Robert, iii. 225, 304, 532.\n\n Darlington, ii. 407; iii. 293, 535, 606.\n\n Darney, William, i. 545; ii. 128; iii. 68.\n\n Dartmouth, Lord, ii. 509, 511; iii. 197.\n\n Davenport, Rev. Thomas, iii. 383.\n\n Deal, i. 173.\n\n Deaths, Happy, i. 294, 355, 395; iii. 218, 219.\n\n Deed of Declaration, iii. 408, 417, 465.\n\n Delamotte, Charles, i. 117, 118, 134, 135, 140, 146, 164.\n\n Delamotte, William, i. 299.\n\n Delany, Dr., i. 80.\n\n Deleznot, Rev. Mr., i. 353.\n\n Delph, iii. 323.\n\n Demoniacs, i. 401, 531; iii. 541.\n\n Depravity, National, i. 62.\n\n Deptford, iii. 488, 490.\n\n Derby, ii. 398, 501; iii. 244.\n\n Devizes, i. 538.\n\n Dewsbury, iii. 275, 565.\n\n Dewsbury Chapel Case, iii. 551.\n\n Dickenson, Rev. Peard, iii. 621.\n\n Dillon, John, ii. 603.\n\n Dingle, Thomas, iii. 27.\n\n Dispensary opened, i. 11, 525.\n\n Diss, iii. 629.\n\n Diversions, iii. 517.\n\n Dixon, Rev. Mr., i. 160.\n\n Dixon, Thomas, iii. 295, 326, 414.\n\n Dobbin, Dr., quoted, iii. 660.\n\n Dobinson, Mr., ii. 501.\n\n Dodd, Dr., ii. 231, 526, 597; iii. 237-240.\n\n Doddridge, Dr., i. 251, 300, 383, 490, 515, 516.\n\n Dodwell, Rev. William, iii. 356, 383.\n\n Dogmatism, ii. 542.\n\n Doncaster, i. 493; ii. 502; iii. 618.\n\n Dover, ii. 339, 363, 548.\n\n Downes, John, i. 402, 418, 441, 518; ii. 26, 134, 226, 450, 461.\n\n Downes, Rev. John, ii. 342.\n\n Dram Drinking, ii. 390, 540; iii. 44.\n\n Dress, i. 139; ii. 390; iii. 413, 470, 517, 621.\n\n \u201cDrummer Jack,\u201d ii. 19.\n\n Drunkenness, i. 503.\n\n Dublin, i. 556; ii. 3, 35, 77, 82, 143, 236, 272, 301, 350, 445, 447,\n 537; iii. 41, 109, 202, 206, 251, 269, 313, 392, 459, 493, 542,\n 568, 623.\n\n _Dublin Chronicle_, iii. 570.\n\n _Dublin Evening Post_, iii. 568.\n\n Dudley, ii. 115, 500.\n\n Dumfries, ii. 164; iii. 532, 608.\n\n Dunbar, ii. 276, 471; iii. 66.\n\n Dundee, ii. 567.\n\n Dunlop, Andrew, iii. 315.\n\n Dunstan, Edward, i. 543.\n\n Durham, i. 458; ii. 277, 407, 588; iii. 610.\n\n\n Earthquakes, ii. 71, 212.\n\n Easingwold, iii. 473.\n\n Easterbrook, Rev. Joseph, iii. 35, 600.\n\n Easton, John, iii. 342.\n\n Edinberry, ii. 35, 302.\n\n Edinburgh, ii. 118, 470, 503, 568; iii. 63, 121, 371, 411, 534.\n\n Education of Children, iii. 399.\n\n Education of the Wesleys, i. 17.\n\n Edwards, John, i. 537; ii. 241.\n\n Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, i. 218, 500.\n\n Eels, William, iii. 558.\n\n Egginton, Rev. Mr., i. 407, 414.\n\n Election, i. 311, 334, 349; ii. 144, 145, 536.\n\n Electricity, ii. 161.\n\n Elizabeth, Queen, iii. 32.\n\n Ellison, Richard, ii. 139.\n\n Elmoor, Micah, i. 541.\n\n Elocution, ii. 60.\n\n Ely, iii. 178.\n\n Embury, Philip, ii. 146, 239, 607; iii. 47.\n\n England needed Methodism, i. 173.\n\n England, State of, i. 16, 42, 60; ii. 393; iii. 185, 286, 318.\n\n Enniskillen, iii. 153.\n\n Entwisle, Joseph, iii. 29, 509.\n\n Episcopacy, ii. 244, 257.\n\n Epitaphs, iii. 457.\n\n Epworth, i. 91, 387, 405, 458, 488, 493, 540; ii. 8, 120, 278, 300,\n 327, 413, 473; iii. 371, 413, 539, 545, 618.\n\n Epworth, Fire at, i. 17.\n\n Epworth Rectory, i. 95.\n\n Erasmus, Bishop, ii. 486.\n\n Erskine, Rev. Ralph, i. 264.\n\n Escrick, George, iii. 351.\n\n Eustick, Mr., i. 507.\n\n Evans, Caleb, iii. 187, 188.\n\n Evans, John, i. 494.\n\n Evans, Rev. Theophilus, ii. 229.\n\n Everton, ii. 311, 331, 341, 397, 444.\n\n Evesham, ii. 163, 399, 560; iii. 47.\n\n Exeter, i. 419, 473, 554; ii. 448; iii. 302, 384, 492.\n\n\n Faith, i. 52, 167, 177, 182, 186, 238, 552; ii. 216.\n\n Falmouth, i. 471; ii. 279; iii. 587.\n\n Family Religion, i. 466.\n\n Fanaticism, i. 188, 395; ii. 434, 454, 460.\n\n Fasting, i. 81; iii. 157, 164, 179, 287, 631.\n\n Faversham, i. 173; ii. 548.\n\n Female Preaching, ii. 398; iii. 41, 111, 645.\n\n Fenwick, John, ii. 612.\n\n Fenwick, Michael, ii. 219, 278; iii. 351, 391, 522.\n\n Ferguson, William, iii. 394.\n\n Ferrars, Earl, ii. 364.\n\n Fetter Lane Society, i. 301, 308.\n\n Field Preaching, i. 227, 233, 235, 446; ii. 329, 339; iii. 588, 626.\n\n Final Perseverance, i. 313; ii. 135, 536.\n\n Fitzgerald, Lady Mary, iii. 650.\n\n Fleetwood, William, i. 364.\n\n Fletcher, Rev. John, ii. 220, 262, 299, 308, 437, 464, 556, 563; iii.\n 3, 19, 34, 87, 92, 95, 100, 136, 140, 147, 158, 181, 190, 209,\n 212, 232, 234, 247, 290, 361, 370, 416, 429, 463, 472, 480, 487.\n\n Fleury, Claude, ii. 64.\n\n Fleury, Rev. Mr., iii. 113.\n\n _Fogg\u2019s Weekly Journal_, i. 85, 86.\n\n \u201cFool of Quality,\u201d iii. 342.\n\n Foote, Samuel, ii. 366, 591.\n\n Fothergill, Dr., ii. 161, 174, 189.\n\n Foundery, Old, i. 271, 551; ii. 498; iii. 220, 303.\n\n Fox, John, ii. 421.\n\n Francke\u2019s Orphanage, i. 199.\n\n Francks, Samuel, ii. 345; iii. 155, 207.\n\n Franklin, Benjamin, ii. 161.\n\n Frederica, i. 124, 131, 134.\n\n \u201cFree Grace,\u201d Sermon, i. 317, 320, 323.\n\n Free, Rev. Dr., ii. 321.\n\n Freedom of Speech, i. 497.\n\n French Invasion, threatened, i. 438; ii. 323.\n\n French Language, ii. 260.\n\n French Prisoners, ii. 339.\n\n French Revolution, iii. 597.\n\n Frome, i. 473; ii. 190; iii. 28.\n\n Fulneck, i. 544.\n\n Funeral, Irish, ii. 79.\n\n Furley, Rev. Samuel, ii. 186, 450.\n\n\n Gainsborough, ii. 330, 331, 413, 502.\n\n Gallatin, Colonel, ii. 117, 189.\n\n Gambold, Rev. John, i. 68, 70, 108, 179, 281, 337, 339, 361; iii. 222.\n\n Garden, Rev. Mr., i. 139, 326.\n\n Gardiner, Lady, ii. 470.\n\n Gardner, John, ii. 253.\n\n Garretson, Freeborn, iii. 461, 484, 566.\n\n Gateshead, ii. 328.\n\n Gawksham, ii. 275.\n\n Gayer, Mr., iii. 203.\n\n _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, i. 357.\n\n Georgia, i. 109-117, 120, 122.\n\n Georgian Mission, i. 169.\n\n German Methodists, i. 9.\n\n Ghosts, i. 22.\n\n Gib, Rev. Adam, i. 374.\n\n Gibraltar, iii. 46.\n\n Gibson, Bishop, i. 207, 217, 244, 454, 548.\n\n Gifted Itinerants, ii. 84.\n\n Gilbert, Francis, ii. 298, 535; iii. 151.\n\n Gilbert, Miss Mary, ii. 535.\n\n Gilbert, Nathaniel, ii. 297, 535; iii. 273.\n\n Gilbert, Nicholas, ii. 382.\n\n Gill, Rev. Dr., ii. 148, 191.\n\n Gillies, Rev. John, ii. 164, 165, 276, 328; iii. 9.\n\n Girl, Starving, i. 71.\n\n Giving, ii. 516.\n\n Glasbrook, James, ii. 353, 587.\n\n Glasgow, ii. 164, 276, 328, 568; iii. 9, 533.\n\n Glass, John, ii. 293.\n\n Glenorchy, Lady, ii. 471, 604; iii. 64.\n\n Gloucester, iii. 6, 503.\n\n Godfathers, ii. 148.\n\n Goldney, Edward, ii. 375.\n\n Goodday, Rev. Thomas, ii. 334, 335, 606.\n\n Goodenough, Matthew, iii. 259.\n\n Gordon, Lord George, iii. 323, 341.\n\n Gordon Riots, iii. 318.\n\n _Gospel Magazine_, iii. 89, 105, 179, 233, 237, 256, 314.\n\n Gospel Preaching, iii. 135.\n\n Grant, Sir Archibald, ii. 404.\n\n Grant, Sir Lodowick, iii. 412.\n\n Grantham, iii. 356.\n\n Grantham, Rev. Thomas, i. 366.\n\n Granville, Mary, i. 74.\n\n Graves, Rev. C. G., i. 339, 382, 391, 406, 414.\n\n Green, Rev. Dr., ii. 370.\n\n Green, Rev. Thomas, ii. 217.\n\n Greenwood, Parson, iii. 352, 553-555.\n\n Greenwood, Paul, ii. 381.\n\n Gregory, Dr., iii. 122.\n\n Grey, Rev. Zachary, i. 325, 476.\n\n Griffith, Rev. Thomas, ii. 229.\n\n Grimsby, i. 406, 488; ii. 11, 278, 327, 502; iii. 294.\n\n Grimshaw, Rev. William, i. 536, 544; ii. 13, 17, 165, 166, 204, 211,\n 245, 275, 327, 363, 384, 387, 412, 415, 423, 478, 573; iii. 373.\n\n Grou, Monsieur, ii. 11.\n\n Guier, Philip, ii. 144, 146.\n\n Guisborough, ii. 409.\n\n Guiseley, ii. 330.\n\n Gwennap, i. 524, 540; ii. 289; iii. 275, 364, 588.\n\n\n Haime, John, i. 494; ii. 164, 190.\n\n Hales, Rev. Dr., i. 265.\n\n Halifax, i. 544; ii. 12, 573; iii. 126, 291, 606.\n\n Hall, Westley, i. 68, 99, 117, 132, 285, 337, 496, 561; ii. 87; iii.\n 212.\n\n Hall, Mrs., iii. 567.\n\n Halyburton, Thomas, i. 287.\n\n Hamilton, Dr. James, iii. 122, 163, 584.\n\n Hammet, William, iii. 441.\n\n Hampson, John, ii. 102, 189, 226, 381, 398, 511, 579; iii. 251, 277,\n 298, 334, 420, 423, 424, 449, 534, 552.\n\n Hampton, i. 426.\n\n Hanby, Thomas, ii. 470, 560; iii. 71, 85, 118, 417, 441, 574, 602.\n\n Harman, John, ii. 373, 498.\n\n Harris, Howel, i. 220, 275, 277, 299, 307, 315, 321, 342, 349, 375,\n 402, 535; ii. 68, 154, 236, 479, 555, 608; iii. 128.\n\n Harrison, Hannah, ii. 421; iii. 41.\n\n Harrison, Nathaniel, i. 384.\n\n Hart, Joseph, i. 364.\n\n Hartlepool, ii. 277, 330.\n\n Hartley, Rev. Thomas, ii. 518.\n\n Haverfordwest, ii. 595.\n\n Haweis, Rev. Dr., ii. 463, 499; iii. 34.\n\n Hawes, Dr., i. 564.\n\n Hawnby, ii. 277.\n\n Haworth, ii. 12, 33, 69, 155, 275, 330, 363, 412, 573; iii. 292, 325.\n\n Hayes, ii. 70.\n\n Hayes, Eleanor, i. 165.\n\n Hayfield, ii. 195.\n\n Healey, John, i. 440; ii. 2.\n\n Hebrew Points, ii. 260.\n\n Heck, Barbara, ii. 239, 607; iii. 47.\n\n Helme, John, ii. 455.\n\n Helmsley, ii. 335, 473, 502.\n\n Helstone, ii. 218, 585.\n\n Heptonstall, ii. 18, 141.\n\n Heresy, ii. 244.\n\n Herrnhuth, i. 199, 202-207.\n\n Hertford, iii. 28.\n\n Hervey, Rev. James, i. 68, 132, 133; ii. 194, 227, 261, 293, 315,\n 526, 535; iii. 56.\n\n Hervey, T., i. 252.\n\n Hewgill, William, ii. 277.\n\n Hexham, i. 507.\n\n Hey, William, iii. 363.\n\n Hicks, Rev. Mr., ii. 310.\n\n High Churchism, i. 95, 147, 152, 160, 496.\n\n Hill, Rev. Rowland, iii. 106, 137, 255, 258, 266.\n\n Hill, Sir Richard, iii. 32, 34, 54, 75, 106, 136, 159, 179, 266.\n\n Hilton, John, iii. 245.\n\n Hinckley, iii. 295, 392.\n\n Hitchcock, Rev. Dr., ii. 428.\n\n Hitchins, Thomas, i. 524.\n\n Hoblin, Rev. Mr., i. 417.\n\n Hobson, Elizabeth, iii. 10.\n\n Hodges, Rev. John, i. 442.\n\n Hodgson, Ralph, iii. 536.\n\n Holder, George, iii. 362, 593, 631.\n\n Holland, i. 196; iii. 393, 487.\n\n \u201cHonest Munchin,\u201d i. 413.\n\n Hooker, Mr., i. 326.\n\n Hopkey, Miss, i. 146-149, 169.\n\n Hopper, Christopher, i. 543, 545; ii. 52, 75, 118, 254, 381, 383,\n 404, 407, 462, 612; iii. 152, 169, 297, 355, 382.\n\n Horncastle, ii. 327, 413, 566.\n\n Horne, Bishop, ii. 457; iii. 34.\n\n Horne, Melville, i. 11.\n\n Horton, John, iii. 17, 650, 655.\n\n Hoskins, John, iii. 176.\n\n Hosmer, John, ii. 408.\n\n Hospital, Methodist, proposed, ii. 360.\n\n How, John, ii. 290.\n\n Howard, John, iii. 495, 581.\n\n Huddersfield, ii. 274, 414, 541; iii. 292.\n\n Hull, ii. 139, 330, 410; iii. 473, 538, 611.\n\n Humane Society, Royal, iii. 251.\n\n Hume, David, iii, 121.\n\n Humphreys, Dr., i. 141.\n\n Humphreys, Joseph, i. 346, 402.\n\n Hunt, John, ii. 606.\n\n Huntingdon, Lady, i. 339, 341, 369, 381; ii. 20, 68, 245, 326, 337,\n 364, 448, 462, 508, 556, 604; iii. 2, 34, 59, 73, 88, 92, 431.\n\n Hurd, Dr., ii. 493.\n\n Husk, General, i. 492.\n\n Hutchins, Mr., i. 179.\n\n Hutchinson, John, ii. 260; iii. 491.\n\n Hutton, James, i. 108, 132, 181, 182, 236, 298, 300, 307, 342, 420,\n 477; ii. 158, 159, 220, 222.\n\n Hutton, Mrs., i. 189.\n\n Hutton, Rev. Mr., i. 189.\n\n Hutton Rudby, ii. 409, 570.\n\n Hymn Book, Methodist, ii. 181; iii. 343.\n\n Hymn Singing in Scotland, ii. 164.\n\n Hymn Writing, i. 397.\n\n \u201cHymns and Sacred Poems,\u201d i. 290.\n\n\n I\u2018Anson, Mr., ii. 358.\n\n Ilkestone, iii. 475.\n\n Imputed Righteousness, ii. 458, 469, 551; iii. 14.\n\n Infidelity and Popery, i. 140.\n\n Infidelity at Oxford, i. 65.\n\n Ingham, Benjamin, i. 68, 108, 117, 118, 122, 126, 127, 135, 137, 196,\n 198, 250, 277, 299, 306, 328, 338; ii. 116, 164, 166, 534; iii.\n 255.\n\n Innys, Rev. Mr., i. 538.\n\n Inverness, iii. 65, 293, 507.\n\n Ireland, i. 556.\n\n Irish Methodists, iii. 42, 227.\n\n Irish Primitive Methodists, i. 6.\n\n Isle of Man, iii. 228, 241, 354, 593.\n\n Isle of Wight, i. 121, 171; ii. 304; iii. 386.\n\n Itinerancy, iii. 167, 168, 561.\n\n Itinerant Preachers Advised, ii. 163, 199.\n\n Itinerant Preachers in 1744, i. 459.\n\n\n Jackson, Daniel, iii. 598.\n\n Jackson, Thomas, ii. 114.\n\n Jaco, Peter, i. 555; iii. 297.\n\n Jane, John, ii. 75.\n\n Janitor, Grateful, i. 24.\n\n Jarratt, Rev. Mr., iii. 151.\n\n Jenkins, Herbert, i. 537.\n\n Jephson, Rev. Alexander, ii. 369.\n\n Johnson, Dr. Samuel, i. 51, 61; iii. 185, 238, 294, 406.\n\n Johnson, John, ii. 359, 383.\n\n Johnson, Miss, iii. 272.\n\n Johnson, Thomas, ii. 416.\n\n Jones, Jacob, iii. 651.\n\n Jones, Rev. Griffith, i. 221.\n\n Jones, Rev. John, ii. 11, 202, 203, 358, 486, 507; iii. 205.\n\n Jones, Rev. Thomas, ii. 324.\n\n Jumpers, Welsh, ii. 480.\n\n Justification, i. 52, 306, 443, 497.\n\n\n Keighley, i. 544; ii. 330; iii. 243, 289.\n\n Keighley, Joshua, iii. 441, 507.\n\n Keith, Jeannie, i. 542; ii. 52, 166.\n\n Kelso, ii. 276; iii. 371.\n\n Kempis, Thomas \u00e0, i. 33-36, 106; iii. 631.\n\n Kendal, ii. 164, 505, 535.\n\n Kennicott, Dr., i. 448.\n\n Kennington Common, i. 228.\n\n Kershaw, James, ii. 531, 535; iii. 362.\n\n Kilham, Alexander, iii. 408, 504.\n\n Kinchin, Charles, i. 67, 225.\n\n King, Archbishop, iii. 643.\n\n King, John, iii. 207.\n\n King, Lord, i. 508.\n\n Kingsford, William, iii. 562.\n\n Kingswood, i. 227, 268, 519; ii. 34, 75, 86, 89, 290, 425; iii. 110.\n\n Kingswood School, i. 269; ii. 7, 121, 171, 241, 287, 297, 454, 559;\n iii. 51, 70, 129, 367, 396-400.\n\n Kinnard, iii. 41.\n\n Kinsale, ii. 147, 354; iii. 460.\n\n Kirkby, Rev. John, ii. 70.\n\n Kirkham, Robert, i. 49.\n\n Knaresborough, ii. 411.\n\n Knight, Titus, ii. 573.\n\n Knox, Alexander, ii. 536, 577.\n\n Koker, Dr., i. 196; ii. 57.\n\n\n Lackington, James, i. 550.\n\n Lacy, David, ii. 275.\n\n Lambeth, iii. 217, 649.\n\n Lancaster, John, iii. 416.\n\n Lancaster, Rev. Nathaniel, ii. 616.\n\n Land, Rev. Tristam, i. 242.\n\n Landau Church, i. 458.\n\n Lane End, iii. 411, 472.\n\n Laneast, i. 458.\n\n Langhorne, Dr., ii. 213, 455.\n\n Langston, Mr., ii. 375.\n\n Languages, ii. 135.\n\n Larwood, Samuel, ii. 187.\n\n Latrobe, Benjamin, i. 556.\n\n Laughing, i. 293.\n\n Launceston, ii. 190, 218, 361.\n\n Lavington, Bishop, ii. 23, 91, 134, 150.\n\n Law, William, i. 50, 83, 99, 132, 185-187, 284, 330, 399; ii. 63,\n 265, 269; iii. 36.\n\n Lay Preaching, i. 201, 276; ii. 246.\n\n Learning, Wesley on, i. 367; ii. 64, 491.\n\n Leatherhead, iii. 650.\n\n Lee, Thomas, ii. 572; iii. 326, 327.\n\n Leeds, i. 490, 495, 513; ii. 2, 33, 120, 139, 166, 316, 399, 448,\n 584; iii. 45, 68, 126, 206, 270, 292, 356, 415.\n\n Leek, iii. 118.\n\n Lefevre, Mrs., ii. 109.\n\n Leicester, ii. 170, 281.\n\n Leifchild, Rev. Dr., iii. 488.\n\n Leighton Buzzard, iii. 114.\n\n Leith, iii. 123.\n\n Leland, Dr. Thomas, ii. 493.\n\n Lending Society, i. 550.\n\n Leominster, i. 524.\n\n Letters for first time published, i. 26, 27, 29, 37, 94, 131, 132,\n 136, 137, 224, 233, 306, 312; ii. 112, 167, 201, 253, 281, 360,\n 416, 503, 508, 563, 564, 612; iii. 3, 5, 31, 54, 55, 69, 70,\n 72, 78, 83, 88, 95, 150, 177, 204, 212, 225, 230, 273, 277,\n 284, 288, 289, 293, 304, 315, 324, 336, 337, 349, 355, 358,\n 376, 377, 378, 382, 392, 404, 408, 428, 442, 454, 467, 477,\n 482, 486, 491, 497, 507, 522, 525, 532, 542-544, 546, 565, 580,\n 590, 592, 598, 601, 605, 621, 632, 633, 643, 649.\n\n Leven, Lord, iii. 412.\n\n Lewen, Miss, ii. 588.\n\n Ley, William, ii. 353; iii. 17.\n\n Leytonstone, ii. 287.\n\n Libraries, i. 499.\n\n Licensing Chapels, iii. 511.\n\n Lichfield, Bishop of, i. 61.\n\n Limerick, ii. 36, 37, 78, 354, 448; iii. 460.\n\n Lincoln, iii. 327, 617.\n\n Lisbon, Earthquake at, ii. 223.\n\n Lisburn, ii. 240, 445; iii. 154.\n\n Liskeard, ii. 290.\n\n List of Itinerants, ii. 126.\n\n Liverpool, ii. 196, 274, 301, 328, 448, 566, 600; iii. 9, 486, 590.\n\n Lloyd, Rev. David, iii. 402.\n\n Lloyd, Rev. Richard, ii. 79.\n\n _Lloyd\u2019s Evening Post_, ii. 348, 388, 428.\n\n Logic, ii. 90.\n\n _London Chronicle_, ii. 460.\n\n London Circuit Plan in 1792, iii. 223.\n\n _London Daily Post_, ii. 58.\n\n _London Evening Post_, i. 473.\n\n London in 1739, i. 213.\n\n _London Magazine_, ii. 292, 427.\n\n London Methodist Chapels, ii. 89; iii. 216.\n\n London Methodist Day School, i. 550.\n\n London Methodist Society, i. 420, 461, 489.\n\n Londonderry, ii. 536; iii. 42, 202.\n\n Longden, Henry, iii. 474.\n\n Longridge, Michael, iii. 604.\n\n Lots, Casting, i. 147, 232, 323, 531.\n\n Loughborough, iii. 69.\n\n Lovefeast at Fetter Lane, i. 229.\n\n Lovefeasts, Methodist, ii. 341, 539.\n\n Lowes, Matthew, iii. 6, 70, 71, 78.\n\n Lowestoft, ii. 512; iii. 628.\n\n Lowth, Bishop, ii. 596; iii. 251, 332.\n\n Loyalty, Methodist, i. 439, 440, 491; iii. 235, 236, 286.\n\n Lunell, Mr., i. 557; ii. 5.\n\n Lurgan, ii. 303, 445; iii. 202.\n\n Lutheran Reformation, i. 2.\n\n Luton, iii. 114.\n\n Lynn, iii. 629.\n\n\n McAllum, Duncan, iii. 272, 293, 497, 507, 565.\n\n Macaulay, Lord, iii. 660.\n\n Macclesfield, ii. 448; iii. 8, 165, 370, 393, 404, 493, 501, 605.\n\n M\u2018Donald, James, iii. 630.\n\n M\u2018Geary, John, iii. 493.\n\n M\u2018Geary, Thomas, iii. 399.\n\n M\u2018Gowan, John, ii. 407; iii. 34, 314.\n\n Machiavel, Nicholas, i. 134.\n\n M\u2018Kersey, J., iii. 466.\n\n Mackford, Mr., ii. 14.\n\n Mackie, George, iii. 134.\n\n M\u2018Nab, Alexander, iii. 84, 85, 303, 348, 559.\n\n Madan, Rev. Martin, ii. 283, 448, 499, 556.\n\n Maddox, Mr., iii. 421.\n\n Madeley, ii. 299; iii. 290, 370, 411, 472, 603.\n\n Maldon, ii. 300.\n\n Malton, ii. 570.\n\n Manchester, i. 92, 174, 545; ii. 138, 164, 327, 399, 448, 478, 540;\n iii. 119, 313, 337, 350, 353, 393, 411, 416, 496, 605.\n\n Mann, John, iii. 544.\n\n Manners, John, ii. 415, 570.\n\n Manners, Nicholas, ii. 306; iii. 559.\n\n Manning, Rev. Charles, i. 551; ii. 70, 101.\n\n March, Miss, iii. 177.\n\n Marienbourn, i. 197.\n\n Marriage with deceased wife\u2019s sister, ii. 259.\n\n Marriages, Improper, iii. 364, 640.\n\n Marriott, Thomas, i. 465.\n\n Marvellous Escape, iii. 169.\n\n Mary, Queen of Scotland, iii. 32.\n\n Maskew, Jonathan, ii. 411; iii. 68.\n\n Mason, John, ii. 170; iii. 598.\n\n Mason, William, iii. 75.\n\n Massiot, James, ii. 304.\n\n Mathematics, ii. 389.\n\n Mather, Alexander, ii. 184, 488; iii. 155, 204, 327, 375, 441, 478,\n 553, 558, 575.\n\n Maud, Rev. J., i. 474.\n\n Maxfield, Thomas, i. 274, 302, 369, 454, 470; ii. 381, 432, 436, 440,\n 450, 454, 462, 464, 474, 482, 486, 507, 556; iii. 26, 59, 115,\n 261, 296.\n\n Maxwell, Lady, ii. 471, 503, 603; iii. 40, 65, 84, 86, 561.\n\n Mayer, Matthew, ii. 328, 473; iii 290.\n\n Mayor, First Methodist, ii. 274.\n\n Mayor of Grampound, ii. 290.\n\n Means of Grace, i. 304.\n\n Mears, William, iii. 622.\n\n Meek, Jenny, i. 487.\n\n Meggot, Samuel, ii. 472.\n\n Mellar Barn, ii. 142.\n\n Meriton, Rev. John, i. 442, 458, 539; ii. 3.\n\n Merryweather, George, ii. 408, 415, 565, 612; iii. 69, 83.\n\n Methodism, Growth of, ii. 538.\n\n Methodism\u2019s first Lay Preacher, i. 274.\n\n Methodist Episcopal Church, i. 8.\n\n Methodist Manifestoes, i. 484; ii. 533.\n\n Methodist, Name of, i. 67, 331.\n\n Methodist New Connexion, i. 5.\n\n Methodist Newspapers, i. 11.\n\n Methodism, Perpetuation of, iii. 49.\n\n Methodist Protestant Church, i. 9.\n\n Methodist Statistics, i. 7, 9; ii. 608, 609; iii. 330, 620.\n\n Methodists not perfect, ii. 540, 580.\n\n Middleton, Dr. Conyers, ii. 34, 61.\n\n Middleton, John, ii. 409.\n\n Midsomer Norton, iii. 231.\n\n Mill, Peter, iii. 573.\n\n Millard, Henry, i. 453.\n\n Millenarianism, ii. 220, 521; iii. 544.\n\n Miller, Robert, ii. 483; iii. 626.\n\n Milner, Rev. J., ii. 116, 141, 164, 166, 330.\n\n Milton, John, ii. 495.\n\n Ministerial Responsibility, iii. 121.\n\n Ministers, Unconverted, iii. 564.\n\n Minulla, ii. 304.\n\n Miracles, i. 531; ii. 87.\n\n Missionary Collection, First Methodist, ii. 606.\n\n Missionary Report, First Methodist, iii. 480.\n\n Missionaries, Wesley on, i. 135, 142; ii. 606.\n\n Missions, Methodist, iii. 46; iii. 272-274, 480-484.\n\n Missions to India proposed, iii. 483.\n\n Mitchell, Thomas, ii. 44, 381; iii. 68.\n\n \u201cMitre,\u201d The, ii. 241, 254.\n\n Molther, Philip H., i. 297, 301, 302.\n\n Monmouth, iii. 339.\n\n Monro, Dr., iii. 122.\n\n Montanists, ii. 87.\n\n Moon, Elizabeth, ii. 409.\n\n Moore, Henry, i. 147, 350; ii. 101, 115; iii. 16, 224, 246, 441, 543,\n 566, 575, 598, 609, 616, 647.\n\n Moore, William, iii. 458.\n\n Moorfields, i. 214.\n\n Moorhouse, Michael, iii. 467.\n\n Moravian Missions, i. 300.\n\n Moravianism, i. 205, 206, 210, 281; ii. 155, 467; iii. 72.\n\n Moravians, i. 121, 126, 195, 279, 310, 337, 477, 478, 535; ii. 58, 95.\n\n Morgan, James, ii. 358; iii. 16, 23, 41.\n\n Morgan, R., i. 131.\n\n Morgan, William, i. 67, 84.\n\n Morley, ii. 331.\n\n Morley, Dr., i. 58.\n\n Morning Preaching, iii. 22, 167, 410.\n\n Morpeth, ii. 329.\n\n Morris, James, ii. 315.\n\n Moss, Richard, i. 471, 482; ii. 11.\n\n Murgatroyd, John, i. 385.\n\n Murlin, John, ii. 381; iii. 292.\n\n Murray, Grace, i. 541, 543; ii. 12, 45-56.\n\n Music, ii. 500.\n\n Musselburgh, ii. 118, 276.\n\n Myles, William, iii. 154, 568, 572, 583.\n\n Mystics, The, i. 133; ii. 519.\n\n\n Nantwich, ii. 163; iii. 118.\n\n National Alarm, iii. 267, 286.\n\n National Churches, i. 509.\n\n National Commotion, ii. 234; iii. 39.\n\n National Distress and its Remedies, iii. 130.\n\n Naval and Military Bible Society, iii. 315.\n\n Neath, i. 525; iii. 20.\n\n Nelson, John, i. 369, 381, 383, 418, 420, 441, 458, 507, 544; ii. 53,\n 169, 383, 573; iii. 70, 373.\n\n Nervousness, iii. 274, 489.\n\n New Birth, i. 230.\n\n New Mills, iii. 9.\n\n New York, ii. 607; iii. 47.\n\n Newark, iii. 327, 491, 549.\n\n Newbury, iii. 29, 62, 471.\n\n Newcastle on Tyne, i. 385, 392, 403-405, 425, 431, 461, 483, 487,\n 490, 494, 513, 541; ii. 12, 33, 49, 56, 112, 117, 120, 140,\n 166, 212, 328, 406, 418, 470, 503, 537, 567, 569, 595, 603,\n 606; iii. 7, 17, 66, 123, 169, 202, 215, 241, 294, 355, 412,\n 573, 604, 607, 608.\n\n Newfoundland, iii. 25, 176, 458.\n\n Newgate Prison, ii. 396.\n\n Newlyn, i. 555; ii. 25.\n\n Newman, Miss, ii. 560.\n\n Newry, ii. 445, 600.\n\n Newspaper, First Methodist, i. 346.\n\n Newton, Rev. John, ii. 295, 314, 349, 363; iii. 33.\n\n Nitschmann, David, i. 117, 119, 146.\n\n Nitschmann, Hannah, ii. 157.\n\n Norris, Dr. John, i. 367.\n\n North, Lord, iii. 197.\n\n Northallerton, i. 486, 487.\n\n Northampton, ii. 587.\n\n Northtawton, ii. 544.\n\n Northwich, i. 547.\n\n Norton, Mr., ii. 256.\n\n Norwich, ii. 123, 189, 218, 273, 290, 309, 313, 317, 325, 333, 342,\n 348, 381, 397, 444, 482, 512, 534, 615; iii. 178, 405, 465, 629.\n\n Norwood, ii. 290.\n\n \u201cNotes on New Testament,\u201d ii. 184, 226.\n\n \u201cNotes on Old Testament,\u201d ii. 552.\n\n Nottingham, i. 339, 440, 507, 518; ii. 514, 560; iii. 409, 514.\n\n Nova Scotia, iii. 401, 497, 545.\n\n Novels, iii. 172, 450.\n\n Nowell, Dr., iii. 32, 54, 108.\n\n\n Oastler, Robert, iii. 424.\n\n Oddie, James, iii. 70, 71, 420, 559, 574.\n\n Oglethorpe, General, i. 110, 117, 118, 122, 129, 136, 146.\n\n Okeley, Francis, ii. 301.\n\n Oldham, iii. 290, 371.\n\n Oldham, Adam, iii. 119.\n\n O\u2019Leary, Arthur, iii. 320.\n\n Oliphant, Lawrence, ii. 190.\n\n Oliver, John, iii. 71.\n\n Olivers, Thomas, ii. 489, 588; iii. 41, 104, 106-108, 140, 156, 158,\n 166, 181, 188, 259, 285.\n\n Oratorios, ii. 499.\n\n Ordination, i. 510.\n\n Ordination of Methodist Preachers, ii. 202, 487; iii. 311, 331, 427.\n\n Ordination Vows, i. 100.\n\n Original Sin, i. 443; ii. 294.\n\n Orphan House, Newcastle, i. 393, 519, 543.\n\n Orphanage, Methodist, ii. 517.\n\n Orton, Rev. Job, iii. 19.\n\n Osborn, Thomas, ii. 359.\n\n Osmotherley, i. 485, 487, 490, 541, 544; ii. 12, 107, 140, 212, 277,\n 409.\n\n Otley, ii. 330, 410, 416.\n\n Oulton, John, ii. 370.\n\n Owen, Miss, iii. 129.\n\n Oxford, i. 174, 179, 182, 224; iii. 29, 32.\n\n Oxford Methodists, 66-74, 83-88, 90, 92, 106, 182, 361.\n\n\n Padiham, ii. 275; iii. 291.\n\n Palatines, ii. 146, 238, 354.\n\n Paoli, General, iii. 454.\n\n Papists, i. 485; ii. 384; iii. 318-323.\n\n Parkhurst, Dr., ii. 180.\n\n Pastoral Visitation, i. 420, 446; ii. 313, 580; iii. 23, 125, 164.\n\n Pateley, ii. 572; iii. 326.\n\n Pawson, John, ii. 112, 443, 511, 547; iii. 163, 221, 297, 300,\n 310-312, 420, 423, 428, 441, 442, 496, 529, 557, 573, 582.\n\n Payne, John, ii. 493.\n\n Pearse, Colonel, iii. 460.\n\n Pearson, George, iii. 8.\n\n Pebworth, iii. 7.\n\n Peel, Sir Robert, iii. 499.\n\n Pembroke, iii. 20, 110.\n\n Penitents, i. 445.\n\n Penn, Rev. James, ii. 456.\n\n Pennington, William, ii. 532.\n\n Penrith, iii. 327.\n\n Pensford, i. 236.\n\n Perfection, Christian, i. 88, 288, 313, 316, 334, 339, 349, 365, 444,\n 461, 498, 535, 553; ii. 215, 232, 306, 346, 399, 413, 416, 431,\n 439, 442, 447, 449-453, 461, 465, 482, 494, 507, 535, 546, 550,\n 562, 593, 596; iii. 12, 14, 22, 26, 59, 121, 462, 625, 633.\n\n Periam, Joseph, i. 247.\n\n Perronet, Charles, i. 559; ii. 2, 34, 84, 109, 189, 200, 201, 206,\n 381, 548.\n\n Perronet, Edward, ii. 57, 84, 101, 104, 200, 230, 241, 254, 419.\n\n Perronet, Rev. Vincent, i. 512, 525; ii. 6, 8, 54, 62, 92, 104, 107,\n 108, 129, 130, 149, 179, 230, 298, 467, 549; iii. 53, 96, 122,\n 296, 390, 463.\n\n Persecution, i. 236, 238, 296, 331, 356, 396, 425, 453, 470, 547; ii.\n 2, 37, 272, 291, 353.\n\n Persecutors, Death of, ii. 278.\n\n Perth, iii. 10, 120, 168.\n\n Peters, Sarah, ii. 27, 28.\n\n Philanthropy, i. 294, 332, 352; ii. 348, 467; iii. 458, 491.\n\n Philips, Sir John, i. 132.\n\n Pickering, ii. 570.\n\n Pickles, Joseph, ii. 411.\n\n Piercy, George, ii. 607.\n\n Piers, Rev. Henry, i. 375, 427.\n\n Pilkington, Mrs., ii. 77.\n\n Pilmoor, Joseph, iii. 47, 54, 178.\n\n Pine, William, iii. 188, 211.\n\n Piracy, i. 465.\n\n Pitt, Right Hon. William, iii. 450.\n\n Placey, ii. 276.\n\n Plagiarism, i. 366.\n\n Plainness, ii. 183.\n\n Playdell, Mrs., iii. 532.\n\n Plendelieth, Rev. Mr., iii. 13.\n\n Plummer, Stephen, ii. 171.\n\n Plymouth, i. 554; ii. 190, 361, 585; iii. 28, 384, 459, 492, 587.\n\n Pocklington, ii. 140, 278.\n\n Poor House, Methodist, i. 549.\n\n Popery, iii. 315, 318, 388.\n\n Poplar, iii. 115.\n\n Port Isaac, i. 555; ii. 361.\n\n Portadown, ii. 600.\n\n Portarlington, ii. 37, 78, 82, 302, 353, 447; iii. 42.\n\n Portsmouth, ii. 170.\n\n Potter, Archbishop, i. 43; ii. 16; iii. 571.\n\n Potter, Rev. Mr., ii. 317.\n\n Potto, ii. 409.\n\n Power, Autocratic, ii. 577; iii. 305, 309.\n\n Prayer Answered, i. 232; iii. 204.\n\n Prayer Book, Methodist, iii. 548.\n\n Prayer Meetings, iii. 135, 522, 623.\n\n Preachers\u2019 Allowances, iii. 550.\n\n Preachers, how to mend, ii. 582.\n\n Preachers, First Methodist, iii. 455.\n\n Preaching, Extempore, iii. 563.\n\n Preaching, Gospel, ii. 130.\n\n Preaching the Law, ii. 84.\n\n Preaching, Lay, i. 369; ii. 245.\n\n Preaching, Methodist, i. 515.\n\n Predestination, i. 40, 318, 319, 366; ii. 148; iii. 14, 54.\n\n Preston, iii. 354.\n\n Preston Pans, ii. 567.\n\n Pretender, The, i. 42, 489.\n\n Price, Dr., iii. 234.\n\n Primitive Methodists, i. 6; ii. 609.\n\n Prince Edward\u2019s Island, iii. 66.\n\n Pritchard, John, ii. 547.\n\n Protestant Association, iii. 318.\n\n Publications, Anti-Methodist, i. 325, 364, 426, 454, 474, 513; ii.\n 180, 217, 229, 270, 291, 367, 427, 455, 489, 525, 537, 550,\n 590, 616; iii. 35, 56, 79, 255, 261, 314.\n\n Publications, Wesley\u2019s, i. 90, 105, 210, 288, 333, 365, 397, 430,\n 463, 500, 529, 562; ii. 29, 60, 89, 135, 142, 147, 181, 191,\n 220, 264, 293, 317, 345, 389, 429, 457, 494, 532, 550, 593,\n 617; iii. 36, 57, 80, 112, 145, 161, 182, 210, 234, 260, 267,\n 280, 315, 342, 366, 387, 406, 455, 469, 488, 515, 593, 633.\n\n Publow, iii. 129.\n\n Punctuality, iii. 539.\n\n\n Quakerism, i. 489; ii. 30; iii. 245, 246.\n\n Quarterly Meetings, ii. 42.\n\n Quarterly Visitation, i. 380; iii. 514.\n\n Questions to Candidates, ii. 583.\n\n Quick, Catherine, i. 416.\n\n Quincy, Rev. Samuel, i. 114, 126, 127.\n\n\n Rankin, Thomas, ii. 507, 532, 545; iii. 69, 97, 194, 248, 297, 299,\n 300, 429, 441, 510, 566, 567, 575, 654.\n\n Reading (Berks.), ii. 218.\n\n Reading recommended, ii. 515; iii. 359, 632.\n\n Redemption, Universal, i. 535.\n\n Reece, Richard, iii. 29, 509.\n\n Reeves, Jonathan, i. 453, 454, 473.\n\n Religion, how to Revive, iii. 22.\n\n Religious Cheerfulness, i. 138.\n\n Religious Reformations Compared, i. 533.\n\n Religious Revivals, i. 218, 220, 222, 223, 467; iii. 124.\n\n Religious Societies, i. 254.\n\n Relly, James, i. 536; ii. 240, 400.\n\n Relly, John, i. 537.\n\n Renty, Monsieur de, i. 366.\n\n Repentance, i. 52, 497; iii. 24.\n\n Reprobation, i. 317; ii. 144, 145.\n\n Reproving Sin, iii. 622.\n\n Reynolds, John, ii. 484.\n\n Richardson, Rev. John, ii. 507, 573; iii. 222, 299.\n\n Rich Methodists Warned, iii. 456, 516, 519, 563, 594, 636.\n\n Riches, Danger of, iii. 347.\n\n Richmond (Yorkshire), iii. 18.\n\n Ridley, Mr., i. 491, 494.\n\n Rimius, Henry, ii. 156.\n\n Riots in Staffordshire, i. 407.\n\n Ripon, ii. 569; iii. 326.\n\n Ritchie, Miss, ii. 411; iii. 243, 337, 461, 621, 650, 651.\n\n Ritualism, i. 168.\n\n Robe, Rev. James, i. 222.\n\n Roberts, Thomas, iii. 621, 647.\n\n Robertson, Dr., iii. 120.\n\n Robin Hood\u2019s Bay, ii. 277, 330, 409.\n\n Robinson, Archbishop, i. 277.\n\n Robinson, Henry Crabb, iii. 628.\n\n Rochdale, ii. 57.\n\n Rochester, iii. 622.\n\n Rodda, Richard, iii. 248, 500, 574, 590.\n\n Rogers, Hester Anne, iii. 166, 371, 392, 650.\n\n Rogers, James, iii. 178, 348, 459, 625, 649, 650, 654.\n\n Rolvenden, ii. 359.\n\n Romaine, Rev. William, ii. 219, 277, 412, 448, 459, 463, 534, 556;\n iii. 75.\n\n Romley, Rev. Mr., i. 405, 458, 488, 493; ii. 11.\n\n Roquet, Rev. James, ii. 11, 546; iii. 16, 188.\n\n Rotherham, ii. 69, 278, 331, 412, 502.\n\n Roughlee, ii. 14.\n\n Rousseau, iii. 58.\n\n Rowell, Jacob, ii. 144, 381, 565.\n\n Rules of Methodist Societies, i. 430.\n\n Rutherford, Thomas, iii. 304, 623.\n\n Rutherforth, Rev. Dr., ii. 490; iii. 36.\n\n Ryan, Sarah, ii. 109, 285, 297, 517, 562.\n\n Rye, iii. 566.\n\n Ryles, Mr., iii 8.\n\n\n Sabbath Desecration, i. 501; iii. 366, 372.\n\n Sacraments, i. 81, 353, 501; ii. 263; iii. 574-576.\n\n Sagar, William, iii. 243.\n\n Salisbury, ii. 87, 218; iii. 52, 503.\n\n Salmon, Mr., i. 117; iii. 118.\n\n Saltzburghers, i. 112.\n\n Salvation by Faith, i. 183, 238.\n\n Sandeman, Robert, ii. 293, 534; iii. 3.\n\n Sandemanianism, ii. 293, 550.\n\n Saunderson, Hugh, iii. 42.\n\n Savannah, i. 123, 126, 128, 161, 163.\n\n Scarborough, ii. 330, 410, 509; iii. 413.\n\n Schism, ii. 244.\n\n Schisms, i. 325, 344.\n\n Scilly Islands, i. 419.\n\n Scotch Funerals, iii. 167.\n\n Scotch National Assembly, ii. 567.\n\n Scotland, Methodism in, ii. 119.\n\n _Scots Magazine_, i. 239, 357.\n\n Scott, Captain, ii. 587.\n\n Scott, Francis, ii. 12.\n\n Scott, Sir Walter, iii. 371.\n\n Seabury, Dr. Samuel, iii. 440.\n\n Secker, Archbishop, i. 500.\n\n Selby, ii. 327.\n\n Select Societies, i. 445.\n\n Sellon, Rev. Walter, ii. 8, 11, 201, 281, 359, 531; iii. 54, 55, 81,\n 87, 91, 108, 117, 140, 180, 408, 431.\n\n Separation from Church of England, ii. 198, 200, 241, 279, 317, 380,\n 402, 416, 444, 477, 526, 575; iii. 12, 18, 23, 270, 278, 330,\n 363, 391, 413, 431, 436, 449, 465, 468, 477, 488, 490, 496,\n 511, 523, 534, 542, 545, 547, 569, 613, 634.\n\n Sermons before University, i. 362, 448.\n\n Settle, iii. 242.\n\n Sevenoaks, i. 376, 525; iii. 562.\n\n Seward, William, i. 342.\n\n Shackerley, ii. 18.\n\n Shadford, George, iii. 175, 248.\n\n Shaftesbury, ii. 86, 87, 218, 585.\n\n Sharpe, Granville, iii. 114.\n\n Shaw, Mrs., iii. 465.\n\n Sheerness, ii. 615.\n\n Sheffield, i. 390, 425, 488; ii. 139, 278, 328, 331, 501, 561; iii.\n 48, 328, 336, 348, 474.\n\n Shent, William, ii. 118, 595; iii. 289, 296.\n\n Shepherd, Mr., i. 416, 418.\n\n \u201cShepherd of Salisbury Plain,\u201d iii. 53.\n\n Shepton Mallet, i. 524; ii. 1, 2, 86; iii. 590.\n\n Sherlock, Bishop, ii. 72.\n\n Shields, i. 404; ii. 329; iii. 18, 573.\n\n Shirley, Lady Frances, ii. 32, 194.\n\n Shirley, Rev. Walter, ii. 337, 364, 380; iii. 65, 93.\n\n Shoreham, i. 507, 525; iii. 53.\n\n Short Prayers, ii. 577.\n\n Shrewsbury, iii. 19, 449.\n\n Silvester, Rev, Tipping, i. 209.\n\n Simeon, Rev. Charles, iii. 454, 510.\n\n Simpson, Rev. David, iii. 165, 336, 370, 404, 501.\n\n Simpson, Rev. Mr., i. 302, 303, 338, 476.\n\n Simpson, Thomas, iii. 397.\n\n Simpson, William, iii. 486, 522, 542.\n\n Singing, i. 398; ii. 429; iii. 20, 22, 352, 502.\n\n Skelton, Charles, ii. 36, 129, 134, 187, 241.\n\n Skerret, Rev. Dr., i. 239.\n\n Skircoat Green, i. 513.\n\n Slanders, i. 357.\n\n Slavery, ii. 132; iii. 114, 183, 650.\n\n Sleep, i. 72; iii. 357, 359.\n\n Sligo, ii. 354, 445; iii. 269.\n\n Slocomb, John, i. 440.\n\n Smalbroke, Bishop, i. 504.\n\n Smith, Christopher, ii. 408.\n\n Smith, John, ii. 350.\n\n Smith, Rev. Haddon, iii. 80.\n\n Smith, Rev. Thomas, iii. 337.\n\n Smith, William, ii. 112; iii. 16, 169, 607.\n\n Smyth, Agnes, iii. 241.\n\n Smyth, Aquila, i. 326.\n\n Smyth, Rev. Edward, iii. 241, 304, 313, 454, 494, 571, 572, 583, 624.\n\n Smuggling, ii. 277, 449, 515, 617; iii. 215.\n\n Snowsfields Chapel, i. 421.\n\n Snuff taking, ii. 540.\n\n Societies, Methodist, i. 278, 444.\n\n Society for Reformation of Manners, ii. 468.\n\n Society Meetings, i. 446.\n\n Socinianism, ii. 295.\n\n Soldiers, i. 432; ii. 231, 237.\n\n South Leigh, ii. 498.\n\n South Sea Bubble, i. 43.\n\n Southall, Mr., ii. 500.\n\n Southampton, iii. 503.\n\n Southey, Robert, i. 265; iii. 656.\n\n Spangenberg, Rev. Mr., i. 125, 420.\n\n Sparrow, Samuel, iii. 117.\n\n Spence, Robert, iii. 496, 539.\n\n Spencer, William, ii. 11.\n\n Spitalfields, ii. 534; iii. 25.\n\n St. Agnes, i. 554; ii. 289, 361.\n\n St. Austell, ii. 290; iii. 465, 587.\n\n St. Helens, iii. 371.\n\n St. Ives, i. 416, 453, 454, 554; ii. 87, 171, 218, 361, 587, 610.\n\n St. Just, i. 489, 524; ii. 25, 87, 218, 289, 361.\n\n Stafford, iii. 403, 411.\n\n Stamp, John, iii. 573.\n\n Stanhope, iii. 535.\n\n Staniforth, Samson, ii. 487.\n\n Stanton Harcourt, i. 174, 179.\n\n Stationing Preachers, iii. 271, 339, 373, 418.\n\n Stebbing, Rev. Dr., i. 240, 475.\n\n Stennett, Dr., iii. 13.\n\n Stephens, Joseph Rayner, iii. 462.\n\n Stephens, William, i. 162, 164.\n\n Sterne, Lawrence, ii. 369, 590; iii. 114.\n\n Stevens, William, iii. 648.\n\n Stewards, London, i. 422, 549.\n\n Stockport, iii. 327.\n\n Stockton, ii. 12, 120, 277, 330, 407; iii. 412.\n\n Stokesley, ii. 330.\n\n Stonehouse, Rev. Mr., i. 179, 305, 514.\n\n Stourport, iii. 602, 647.\n\n Strangers\u2019 Friend Society, i. 11; iii. 252.\n\n Stroud, ii. 500, 535; iii. 391, 410.\n\n Sunday Schools, i. 10; ii. 534; iii. 414, 500, 522, 604.\n\n Sunderland, i. 404; ii. 140, 277, 329, 618; iii. 48, 328, 336, 348,\n 474.\n\n Suter, Alexander, iii. 497.\n\n Swaddlers, i. 559.\n\n Swearing, i. 502.\n\n Sweden, Methodism in, iii. 66, 462.\n\n Swedenborg, iii. 59, 407.\n\n Swindells, Robert, ii. 2, 3, 29, 122, 129.\n\n Syke House, i. 458.\n\n\n Tadcaster, ii. 327, 330.\n\n Taunton, i. 419; ii. 133; iii. 27, 211, 214.\n\n Taxes, ii. 390; iii. 451.\n\n Taylor, David, i. 10, 382, 383, 390, 426; ii. 42.\n\n Taylor, Dr., ii. 18, 291, 294.\n\n Taylor, Rev. Mr., iii. 431.\n\n Taylor, Isaac, i. 266.\n\n Taylor, Jeremy, i. 35, 36.\n\n Taylor, Joseph, iii. 391, 441, 549, 574.\n\n Taylor, Thomas, iii. 9, 20, 177, 225, 227, 243, 246, 271, 284, 287,\n 292, 306, 334, 361, 496, 544, 606, 611, 643.\n\n Tea Drinking, i. 521.\n\n Teetotalism, i. 117; iii. 111.\n\n Tennant, Thomas, iii. 224.\n\n Terryhugan, ii. 303.\n\n Teulon, Mr., iii. 17.\n\n Tewkesbury, iii. 411.\n\n Theatres, ii. 514.\n\n Theological Institution, i. 543.\n\n Thirsk, i. 544; ii. 567, 595; iii. 424.\n\n Thom, William, iii. 612.\n\n Thompson, Joseph, ii. 568; iii. 573.\n\n Thompson, Rev. Mr., i. 458; iii. 384.\n\n Thompson, Thomas, iii. 272.\n\n Thompson, William, iii. 152, 606.\n\n Thornton, Mrs., iii. 78.\n\n Thorold, Sir John, i. 132, 478.\n\n Thurot, Commodore, ii. 350.\n\n Ticket, Unique Society, ii. 188.\n\n Tipton, i. 406.\n\n Tissot, Dr., ii. 345; iii. 57.\n\n Tiverton, ii. 86, 87, 133; iii. 275.\n\n Todmorden, ii. 141.\n\n Told, Silas, i. 273; ii. 387; iii. 279.\n\n Toltschig, John, i. 196.\n\n Tomo Chichi, i. 114, 126.\n\n Tompson, Richard, ii. 214.\n\n Toplady, Rev. Augustus, ii. 315, 487; iii. 54, 81, 139, 158, 179,\n 190, 210, 228, 232, 258, 266.\n\n Tottie, Rev. Dr., ii. 591.\n\n Towcester, ii. 348.\n\n Townsend, Rev. Joseph, ii. 604.\n\n Tract Distribution, i. 496.\n\n Tract Society, Methodist, i. 11; iii. 369.\n\n Tracts, Publication of, i. 505.\n\n Trapp, Rev. Dr., i. 241, 329; ii. 63.\n\n Tratham, David, ii. 129.\n\n Trelawney, Sir Harry, iii. 339.\n\n Trembath, John, i. 493, 558; iii. 385.\n\n Trevecca, ii. 236.\n\n Trevecca College, iii. 34, 50, 88, 128, 255.\n\n Tripp, Ann, ii. 289.\n\n Troutbeck, Dr., ii. 8.\n\n Trowbridge, ii. 190; iii. 338.\n\n Truro, ii. 449, 585; iii. 587.\n\n Tucker, Rev. Dr., i. 244, 399.\n\n Tullamore, ii. 4, 78, 303; iii. 269.\n\n Tunstall, iii. 604.\n\n Tyerman, Elizabeth, i. 486.\n\n Tyerman, Rev. Daniel, iii. 387.\n\n Tyrell\u2019s Pass, ii. 2, 78, 353.\n\n\n Ulverstone, ii. 69.\n\n Union, i. 321; ii. 542.\n\n Union, Clerical, proposed, ii. 508.\n\n Union of Methodists, i. 511.\n\n United Methodist Free Churches, i. 6.\n\n Unthank, John, ii. 407.\n\n Uxbridge, ii. 71.\n\n\n Valton, John, iii. 337, 383, 552.\n\n Vasey, Thomas, iii. 428.\n\n Vegetarianism, i. 117, 525.\n\n Venn, Rev. Henry, i. 11; ii. 186, 252, 337, 412, 414, 448, 459, 541;\n iii. 18.\n\n Visitors, Methodist, i. 353, 422.\n\n Voltaire, iii. 58, 288.\n\n Voltaire and Wesley contrasted, i. 44.\n\n Vowler, Rev. Mr., ii. 279.\n\n\n Wakefield, i. 440; ii. 12, 139; iii. 184.\n\n Waldron, Isaac, ii. 387.\n\n Walker, Rev. Samuel, ii. 207, 211, 244, 250, 279, 317, 414, 585.\n\n Walpole, Horace, ii. 32, 72, 558.\n\n Walpole, Sir Robert, i. 103, 136.\n\n Walsal, i. 407; ii. 501.\n\n Walsh, Thomas, i. 462; ii. 146, 147, 200, 202, 206, 239, 261, 273,\n 304, 534, 597.\n\n Wandsworth, ii. 25, 297.\n\n Wanley, Dean, ii. 570.\n\n Warburton, Bishop, i. 208; ii. 450, 454, 492, 519.\n\n Ward, Elizabeth, ii. 407.\n\n Ward, Valentine, ii. 471.\n\n Warminster, ii. 1, 308.\n\n Warne, Jonathan, iii. 139.\n\n Warrener, William, iii. 441.\n\n Warrington, ii. 565; iii. 352.\n\n Watchnight, First, i. 333.\n\n Watchnight Service, iii. 252.\n\n Waterford, ii. 147; iii. 153, 202.\n\n Waterland, Rev. Daniel, i. 330.\n\n Watson, Richard, i. 265; ii. 102.\n\n Watteville, Baron, i. 196.\n\n Watts, Dr., iii. 334, 346.\n\n Weardale, ii. 406, 503, 569; iii. 123, 610.\n\n Webb, Captain, ii. 546, 607; iii. 47, 451.\n\n Webster, Rev. Dr., iii. 64, 304.\n\n Webster, Eleazer, i. 543.\n\n Wednesbury, i. 406, 495; ii. 115, 348, 399, 501, 600; iii. 603.\n\n _Weekly Miscellany_, i. 250, 326, 358.\n\n Welch, Thomas, iii. 399.\n\n Wells, Samuel, iii. 302.\n\n Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, i. 4.\n\n Wentworth, General, i. 493.\n\n Wentworth House, iii. 475.\n\n Wesley, Charles, jun., iii. 345, 360.\n\n Wesley, Mrs. Charles, ii. 35; iii. 654.\n\n Wesley, Rev. Charles, i. 67, 117, 126-128, 131, 137, 178, 179, 181,\n 188, 210, 226, 229, 232, 253, 260, 264, 279, 295, 299, 302,\n 303, 310, 317, 324, 331, 336, 341, 343, 349, 404, 406, 407,\n 412, 416, 425, 437, 439, 440, 448, 458, 470, 487, 506, 538,\n 559; ii. 2, 6, 32-34, 40, 52, 73, 95, 101, 103, 107, 113, 118,\n 122, 127, 130, 137, 138, 143, 147, 172, 175, 189, 201, 206,\n 230, 244-253, 271, 307, 319, 357, 358, 361, 365, 381, 387, 388,\n 396, 416, 431, 441, 448, 453, 459, 462, 487, 497, 506, 507,\n 511, 556, 562, 574, 595, 596, 602; iii. 1, 5, 12, 92, 97, 100,\n 135, 171, 194, 204, 207, 222, 225, 233, 246, 257, 261, 296,\n 309, 312, 316, 330, 355, 376, 434, 439, 443, 478, 497, 522,\n 529, 562, 659.\n\n Wesley Family, The, i. 16.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Brother Samuel, i. 24, 29, 46, 133, 188-194, 252, 264, 286,\n 287.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Father, i. 16, 30, 39, 41, 45, 98, 102, 103.\n\n Wesley\u2019s First Convert, i. 49.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Journals Commenced, i. 35.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Marriage and Wife, ii. 101, 111-115; iii. 20, 30, 84, 126,\n 207, 233, 365.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Mother, i. 23, 26, 27, 29, 32, 34, 37-39, 127, 132, 285,\n 369, 390.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Nephew Samuel, iii. 345, 361.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Niece Sarah, iii. 356, 524, 622, 630, 650, 651, 655.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Poetry, i. 47.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Sister Emily, i. 33, 94, 424; ii. 406.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Sister Keziah, i. 99, 161.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Sister Martha (Mrs. Hall), ii. 406, 589; iii. 16, 567.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Sister Mehetabel (Mrs. Wright), ii. 74, 406.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Will, in 1768, iii. 15.\n\n Wesley\u2019s Will, in 1789, iii. 616.\n\n Wesleyan Methodism, i. 3.\n\n Wesleyan Reform Union, i. 7.\n\n West, Hon. James, ii. 234.\n\n West Bromwich, i. 406; iii. 7, 290.\n\n West Street Chapel, i. 421.\n\n Westall, Thomas, i. 440, 453.\n\n _Westminster Journal_, i. 473; ii. 397.\n\n Whatcoat, Richard, i. 442; iii. 428.\n\n Wheatley, Benjamin, i. 543.\n\n Wheatley, James, ii. 121, 189, 309, 313, 325.\n\n Wheatley, Rev. Charles, i. 240.\n\n Whiston, Rev. Thomas, i. 325.\n\n Whitaker, John, ii. 410.\n\n Whitby, ii. 409; iii. 68, 413, 538, 610.\n\n Whitchurch, ii. 339.\n\n White, Rev. George, ii. 15.\n\n Whitefield, Rev. George, i. 68, 104, 108, 132, 141, 171, 179, 221,\n 226, 232, 233, 243, 247, 250, 252, 254, 269, 277, 311-316, 321,\n 322, 327, 336, 342, 344, 346-349, 372, 402, 414, 426, 437, 455,\n 470, 477, 506, 535; ii. 19, 22, 24, 32, 33, 42, 53, 68, 95,\n 118, 132, 137, 147, 150, 154, 156, 167, 175, 185, 209, 219,\n 223, 228, 234, 272, 297, 366, 371, 373, 396, 415, 416, 426,\n 431, 448, 459, 463, 470, 493, 497, 537, 548, 556, 562, 595,\n 608, 614; iii. 1, 34, 39, 60, 71, 76, 78, 85, 89, 255, 261.\n\n Whitehaven, ii. 117, 504; iii. 411.\n\n Whitehead, Dr., ii. 103, 474; iii. 16, 298, 616, 650, 651.\n\n Whitelamb, Rev. John, i. 68, 389.\n\n Whitfield, George, iii. 393, 557, 650.\n\n Whitford, John, ii. 57, 187.\n\n Wickedness, Abounding, i. 215, 503, 532; ii. 72.\n\n Wickham, ii. 141.\n\n Wigan, ii. 566; iii. 352, 371.\n\n Wilberforce, William, iii. 115, 509, 650.\n\n Wilder, Rev. John, i. 239.\n\n Wilkes, John, iii. 37, 81, 145.\n\n Wilkinson, Benjamin, ii. 411.\n\n Williams, Rev. Joseph, i. 252, 536.\n\n Williams, Robert, i. 429.\n\n Williams, Thomas, i. 557; ii. 536.\n\n Williams, William, ii. 481.\n\n Williamson, William, i. 146, 149, 163.\n\n Wills, Rev. Mr., iii. 431.\n\n Winchelsea, iii. 566, 626.\n\n Windsor, i. 174.\n\n Windsor, Robert, ii. 189.\n\n Winscomb, Jasper, iii. 546, 561, 601.\n\n Winter, Cornelius, ii. 616; iii. 128.\n\n Witchcraft, iii. 11, 171.\n\n Witness of the Spirit, i. 190-195, 201, 207, 285, 552; ii. 168, 216,\n 491; iii. 24, 57.\n\n Witney, ii. 498.\n\n Wogan, William, i. 138.\n\n Wolfenden, Mrs., iii. 203.\n\n Wolff, George, iii. 589, 599, 650.\n\n Wolverhampton, ii. 399; iii. 7, 164, 493.\n\n Wood, John, iii. 354.\n\n Wood, Samuel, ii. 144.\n\n Wooler, ii. 276.\n\n Worcester, ii. 127; iii. 7, 647, 649.\n\n Worksop, iii. 328.\n\n Worship, Methodist, ii. 282, 576.\n\n Wrangel, Dr., iii. 66.\n\n Wray, James, iii. 546.\n\n Wrestlingworth, ii. 311.\n\n Wride, Thomas, iii. 466.\n\n Wright, Duncan, ii. 569; iii. 362, 522.\n\n Wroote, i. 57.\n\n Wycombe, ii. 534; iii. 241, 251.\n\n\n Yarm, ii. 12, 277, 408, 569; iii. 83.\n\n Yarmouth, ii. 555, 615.\n\n Yeadon, iii. 68.\n\n Yearly Collection, iii. 5, 551.\n\n Yewdall, Zechariah, ii. 471; iii. 338, 608.\n\n York, ii. 120, 140, 214, 278, 327, 410, 500, 571; iii. 539, 606.\n\n Yorkshire Methodism, ii. 608.\n\n\n Zeal, Christian, iii. 346.\n\n Zinzendorf, Count, i. 181, 196-198, 206, 298, 300, 339, 477; ii. 58,\n 88, 97, 116, 220.\n\n\n\n VALUABLE RELIGIOUS WORKS\n\n PUBLISHED BY\n\n HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.\n\n\n \u261e HARPER & BROTHERS _will send either of the following\n works by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the\n United States, on receipt of the price_.\n\n\n Barnes\u2019s Notes on the New Testament.\n New Edition. Revised, with Maps and Illustrations. Now ready:\n _Gospels_, 2 vols.; _Acts_, 1 vol.; _Romans_, 1 vol.; _First\n Corinthians_, 1 vol.; _Second Corinthians_ and _Galatians_, 1\n vol. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50 per vol.\n\n Barnes\u2019s Evidences of Christianity.\n Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth\n Century. By ALBERT BARNES. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n Robertson\u2019s Life and Works.\n Harper\u2019s Complete Edition of the Life and Works of the Rev.\n F. W. ROBERTSON, Incumbent of Brighton. In Two Volumes. $1 50\n each.\n ROBERTSON\u2019S LIFE, LETTERS, LECTURES ON CORINTHIANS, AND\n ADDRESSES. Complete in One Volume. With Portrait on\n Steel. Large 12mo, 840 pages, Cloth, $1 50; Half\n Calf, $3 25.\n ROBERTSON\u2019S SERMONS. Complete in One Volume. With Portrait\n on Steel. Large 12mo, 838 pages, Cloth, $1 50; Half\n Calf, $3 25.\n\n Beecher\u2019s Morning and Evening Exercises.\n Morning and Evening Devotional Exercises: selected from the\n Published and Unpublished Writings of the Rev. HENRY WARD\n BEECHER. Edited by LYMAN ABBOTT. With Portrait on Steel.\n Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n Beecher\u2019s Sermons.\n Sermons by HENRY WARD BEECHER, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.\n Selected from Published and Unpublished Discourses, and\n Revised by their Author. In Two Volumes. With Steel Portrait\n by Halpin. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n Light at Evening Time.\n A Book of Support and Comfort for the Aged. Edited by JOHN\n STANFORD HOLME, D.D. Printed from large type on toned paper,\n 4to, Cloth, Beveled Edges, $2 50.\n\n Cocker\u2019s Christianity and Greek Philosophy.\n Christianity and Greek Philosophy; or, the Relation between\n Spontaneous and Reflective Thought in Greece and the\n Positive Teaching of Christ and his Apostles. By B. F.\n COCKER, D.D., Professor of Moral and Mental Philosophy in\n Michigan University. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 75.\n\n Macgregor\u2019s Rob Roy on the Jordan.\n The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Nile, Red Sea, and Gennesareth,\n &c. A Canoe Cruise in Palestine and Egypt, and the Waters of\n Damascus. By J. MACGREGOR, M.A. With Maps and Illustrations.\n Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 50.\n\n Krummacher\u2019s David.\n David, the King of Israel: a Portrait drawn from Bible\n History and the Book of Psalms. By FREDERICK WILLIAM\n KRUMMACHER, D.D., Author of \u201cElijah the Tishbite,\u201d &c.\n Translated under the express sanction of the Author by the\n Rev. M. G. EASTON, M.A. With a Letter from Dr. Krummacher\n to his American Readers, and a Portrait. 12mo, Cloth,\n $1 75.\n\n The Student\u2019s Old Testament History.\n The Old Testament History. From the Creation to the Return of\n the Jews from Captivity. Edited by WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D. With\n Maps and Woodcuts. Large 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n The Student\u2019s New Testament History.\n The New Testament History. With an Introduction, connecting\n the History of the Old and New Testaments. Edited by WILLIAM\n SMITH, LL.D. With Maps and Woodcuts. Large 12mo, Cloth, $2\n 00.\n\n M\u2018Whorter\u2019s Hand-Book of the New Testament.\n A Popular Hand-Book of the New Testament. By GEORGE CUMMING\n M\u2018WHORTER. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00.\n\n M\u2018Clintock and Strong\u2019s Cyclop\u00e6dia.\n Cyclop\u00e6dia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical\n Literature. By the late Rev. JOHN M\u2018CLINTOCK, D.D., and JAMES\n STRONG, S.T.D. With numerous Maps and Illustrations. Vols.\n I.-IV., comprising the Letters A to J, are now ready. Price\n per vol., in Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $6 00; Half Morocco, $8 00.\n\n The Land and the Book.\n Or, Biblical Illustrations drawn from the Manners and\n Customs, the Scenes and the Scenery of the Holy Land. By W.\n M. THOMSON, D.D., Twenty-five Years a Missionary of the\n A.B.C.F.M. in Syria and Palestine. With two elaborate Maps of\n Palestine, an accurate Plan of Jerusalem, and Several Hundred\n Engravings, representing the Scenery, Topography, and\n Productions of the Holy Land, and the Costumes, Manners, and\n Habits of the People. Two elegant Large 12mo Volumes, Cloth,\n $5 00; Sheep, $6 00; Half Calf, $8 50.\n\n Southey\u2019s Wesley.\n Life of John Wesley, and the Rise and Progress of Methodism.\n By ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D. With Notes by the late SAMUEL T.\n COLERIDGE, and Remarks on the Life and Character of John\n Wesley by the late ALEXANDER KNOX. Edited by the Rev. CHARLES\n C. SOUTHEY, M.A. Second American Edition, with Notes, &c., by\n the Rev. DANIEL CURRY, D.D. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2 50.\n\n Taylor\u2019s Wesley and Methodism.\n By ISAAC TAYLOR. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.\n\n\n \u261e _For a full list of_ HARPER & BROTHERS\u2019 _Publications, including\n many works of great interest on Religious, Historical, and\n Social topics, as well as the most important books of\n Travel and Adventure, see_ HARPER\u2019S CATALOGUE,\n _which will be sent by mail on receipt\n of Six Cents in postage stamps_.\n\n\n\n VALUABLE STANDARD WORKS\n\n FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBRARIES,\n\n PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.\n\n\n \u261e _For a full List of Books suitable for Libraries, see_\n HARPER & BROTHERS\u2019 TRADE-LIST _and_ CATALOGUE, _which\n may be had gratuitously on application to the\n Publishers personally, or by letter enclosing Five\n Cents_.\n\n \u261e HARPER & BROTHERS _will send any of the following works by\n mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States,\n on receipt of the price_.\n\n\n MOTLEY\u2019S DUTCH REPUBLIC. The Rise of the Dutch Republic. By\n JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, LL.D., D.C.L. With a Portrait of William\n of Orange. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 50.\n\n MOTLEY\u2019S UNITED NETHERLANDS. History of the United Netherlands:\n from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years\u2019\n Truce--1609. With a full View of the English-Dutch Struggle\n against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the\n Spanish Armada. By JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, LL.D., D.C.L.\n Portraits. 4 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $14 00.\n\n NAPOLEON\u2019S LIFE OF C\u00c6SAR. The History of Julius C\u00e6sar. By His\n Imperial Majesty NAPOLEON III. Two Volumes ready. Library\n Edition, 8vo, Cloth, $3 50 per vol.\n\n _Maps to Vols. I. and II. sold separately. Price\n $1 50 each_, NET.\n\n HAYDN\u2019S DICTIONARY OF DATES, relating to all Ages and Nations.\n For Universal Reference. Edited by BENJAMIN VINCENT,\n Assistant Secretary and Keeper of the Library of the Royal\n Institution of Great Britain; and Revised for the Use of\n American Readers. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $6 00.\n\n MACGREGOR\u2019S ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN. The Rob Roy on the Jordan,\n Nile, Red Sea, and Gennesareth, &c. A Canoe Cruise in\n Palestine and Egypt, and the Waters of Damascus. By J.\n MACGREGOR, M.A. With Maps and Illustrations. Crown 8vo,\n Cloth, $2 50.\n\n WALLACE\u2019S MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. The Malay Archipelago: the Land of\n the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of\n Travel, 1854-1862. With Studies of Man and Nature. By ALFRED\n RUSSEL WALLACE. With Ten Maps and Fifty-one Elegant\n Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n WHYMPER\u2019S ALASKA. Travel and Adventure in the Territory of\n Alaska, formerly Russian America--now Ceded to the United\n States--and in various other parts of the North Pacific. By\n FREDERICK WHYMPER. With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo,\n Cloth, $2 50.\n\n ORTON\u2019S ANDES AND THE AMAZON. The Andes and the Amazon; or,\n Across the Continent of South America. By JAMES ORTON, M.A.,\n Professor of Natural History in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie,\n N. Y., and Corresponding Member of the Academy of Natural\n Sciences, Philadelphia. With a New Map of Equatorial America\n and numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n WINCHELL\u2019S SKETCHES OF CREATION. Sketches of Creation: a\n Popular View of some of the Grand Conclusions of the Sciences\n in reference to the History of Matter and of Life. Together\n with a Statement of the Intimations of Science respecting the\n Primordial Condition and the Ultimate Destiny of the Earth\n and the Solar System. By ALEXANDER WINCHELL, LL.D., Professor\n of Geology, Zoology, and Botany in the University of\n Michigan, and Director of the State Geological Survey. With\n Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n WHITE\u2019S MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. The Massacre of St.\n Bartholomew: Preceded by a History of the Religious Wars in\n the Reign of Charles IX. By HENRY WHITE, M.A. With\n Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n LOSSING\u2019S FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION. Pictorial Field-Book of\n the Revolution; or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the\n History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War\n for Independence. By Benson J. Lossing. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth,\n $14 00; Sheep, $15 00; Half Calf, $18 00; Full Turkey Morocco,\n $22 00.\n\n LOSSING\u2019S FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF 1812. Pictorial Field-Book\n of the War of 1812; or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of\n the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of\n the Last War for American Independence. By BENSON J. LOSSING.\n With several hundred Engravings on Wood, by Lossing and\n Barritt, chiefly from Original Sketches by the Author. 1088\n pages, 8vo, Cloth, $7 00; Sheep, $8 50; Half Calf, $10 00.\n\n ALFORD\u2019S GREEK TESTAMENT. The Greek Testament: with a\n critically revised Text; a Digest of Various Readings;\n Marginal References to Verbal and Idiomatic Usage;\n Prolegomena; and a Critical and Exegetical Commentary. For\n the Use of Theological Students and Ministers. By HENRY\n ALFORD, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. Vol. I., containing the\n Four Gospels. 944 pages, 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; Sheep, $6 50.\n\n ABBOTT\u2019S FREDERICK THE GREAT. The History of Frederick the\n Second, called Frederick the Great. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.\n Elegantly Illustrated. 8vo,\n Cloth, $5 00.\n\n ABBOTT\u2019S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. The French\n Revolution of 1789, as viewed in the Light of Republican\n Institutions. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. With 100 Engravings. 8vo,\n Cloth, $5 00.\n\n ABBOTT\u2019S NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. The History of Napoleon Bonaparte.\n By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. With Maps, Woodcuts, and Portraits on\n Steel. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 00.\n\n ABBOTT\u2019S NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA; or, Interesting Anecdotes and\n Remarkable Conversations of the Emperor during the Five and a\n Half Years of his Captivity. Collected from the Memorials of\n Las Casas, O\u2019Meara, Montholon, Antommarchi, and others. By\n JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. With Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n ADDISON\u2019S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Joseph Addison,\n embracing the whole of the \u201cSpectator.\u201d Complete in 3 vols.,\n 8vo, Cloth, $6 00.\n\n ALCOCK\u2019S JAPAN. The Capital of the Tycoon: a Narrative of a\n Three Years\u2019 Residence in Japan. By Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK,\n K.C.B., Her Majesty\u2019s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister\n Plenipotentiary in Japan. With Maps and Engravings. 2 vols.,\n 12mo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n ALISON\u2019S HISTORY OF EUROPE. FIRST SERIES: From the Commencement\n of the French Revolution, in 1789, to the Restoration of the\n Bourbons, in 1815. [In addition to the Notes on Chapter\n LXXVI., which correct the errors of the original work\n concerning the United States, a copious Analytical Index has\n been appended to this American edition.] SECOND SERIES: From\n the Fall of Napoleon, in 1815, to the Accession of Louis\n Napoleon, in 1852. 8 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $16 00.\n\n BALDWIN\u2019S PRE-HISTORIC NATIONS. Pre-Historic Nations; or,\n Inquiries concerning some of the Great Peoples and\n Civilizations of Antiquity, and their Probable Relation to a\n still Older Civilization of the Ethiopians or Cushites of\n Arabia. By JOHN D. BALDWIN, Member of the American Oriental\n Society. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n BARTH\u2019S NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. Travels and Discoveries in\n North and Central Africa: being a Journal of an Expedition\n undertaken under the Auspices of H. B. M.\u2019s Government, in\n the Years 1849-1855. By HENRY BARTH, Ph.D., D.C.L.\n Illustrated. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $12 00.\n\n HENRY WARD BEECHER\u2019S SERMONS. Sermons by HENRY WARD BEECHER,\n Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. Selected from Published and\n Unpublished Discourses, and Revised by their Author. With\n Steel Portrait. Complete in 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n LYMAN BEECHER\u2019S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, &c. Autobiography,\n Correspondence, &c., of Lyman Beecher, D.D. Edited by his\n Son, CHARLES BEECHER. With Three Steel Portraits, and\n Engravings on Wood. In 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n BOSWELL\u2019S JOHNSON. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Including\n a Journey to the Hebrides. By JAMES BOSWELL, Esq. A New\n Edition, with numerous Additions and Notes. By JOHN WILSON\n CROKER, LL.D., F.R.S. Portrait of Boswell. 2 vols., 8vo,\n Cloth, $4 00. DRAPER\u2019S CIVIL WAR. History of the American\n Civil War. By JOHN W. DRAPER, M.D., LL.D., Professor of\n Chemistry and Physiology in the University of New York. In\n Three Vols. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50 per vol.\n\n DRAPER\u2019S INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE. A History of the\n Intellectual Development of Europe. By JOHN W. DRAPER, M.D.,\n LL.D., Professor of Chemistry and Physiology in the\n University of New York. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n DRAPER\u2019S AMERICAN CIVIL POLICY. Thoughts on the Future Civil\n Policy of America. By JOHN W. DRAPER, M.D., LL.D., Professor\n of Chemistry and Physiology in the University of New York.\n Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 50.\n\n DU CHAILLU\u2019S AFRICA. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial\n Africa: with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the\n People, and of the Chase of the Gorilla, the Crocodile,\n Leopard, Elephant, Hippopotamus, and other Animals. By PAUL\n B. DU CHAILLU. Numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n BELLOWS\u2019S OLD WORLD. The Old World in its New Face: Impressions\n of Europe in 1867-1868. By HENRY W. BELLOWS. 2 vols., 12mo,\n Cloth, $3 50.\n\n BRODHEAD\u2019S HISTORY OF NEW YORK. History of the State of New\n York. By JOHN ROMEYN BRODHEAD. 1609-1691. 2 vols. 8vo, Cloth,\n $3 00 per vol.\n\n BROUGHAM\u2019S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Life and Times of HENRY, LORD\n BROUGHAM. Written by Himself. In Three Volumes. 12mo, Cloth,\n $2 00 per vol.\n\n BULWER\u2019S PROSE WORKS. Miscellaneous Prose Works of Edward\n Bulwer, Lord Lytton. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n BULWER\u2019S HORACE. The Odes and Epodes of Horace. A Metrical\n Translation into English. With Introduction and Commentaries.\n By LORD LYTTON. With Latin Text from the Editions of Orelli,\n Macleane, and Yonge. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n BULWER\u2019S KING ARTHUR. A Poem. By EARL LYTTON. New Edition.\n 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n BURNS\u2019S LIFE AND WORKS. The Life and Works of Robert Burns.\n Edited by ROBERT CHAMBERS. 4 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $6 00.\n\n REINDEER, DOGS, AND SNOW-SHOES. A Journal of Siberian Travel\n and Explorations made in the Years 1865-\u201967. By RICHARD J.\n BUSH, late of the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition.\n Illustrated. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 00.\n\n CARLYLE\u2019S FREDERICK THE GREAT. History of Friedrich II., called\n Frederick the Great. By THOMAS CARLYLE. Portraits, Maps,\n Plans, &c. 6 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $12 00.\n\n CARLYLE\u2019S FRENCH REVOLUTION. History of the French Revolution.\n Newly Revised by the Author, with Index, &c. 2 vols., 12mo,\n Cloth, $3 50.\n\n CARLYLE\u2019S OLIVER CROMWELL. Letters and Speeches of Oliver\n Cromwell. With Elucidations and Connecting Narrative. 2\n vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n CHALMERS\u2019S POSTHUMOUS WORKS. The Posthumous Works of Dr.\n Chalmers. Edited by his Son-in-Law, Rev. WILLIAM HANNA, LL.D.\n Complete in 9 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $13 50.\n\n COLERIDGE\u2019S COMPLETE WORKS. The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor\n Coleridge. With an Introductory Essay upon his Philosophical\n and Theological Opinions. Edited by Professor SHEDD. Complete\n in Seven Vols. With a fine Portrait. Small 8vo, Cloth, $10\n 50.\n\n CURTIS\u2019S HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION. History of the Origin,\n Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United\n States. By GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $6 00.\n\n DOOLITTLE\u2019S CHINA. Social Life of the Chinese: with some\n Account of their Religious, Governmental, Educational, and\n Business Customs and Opinions. With special but not exclusive\n Reference to Fuhchau. By Rev. JUSTUS DOOLITTLE, Fourteen\n Years Member of the Fuhchau Mission of the American Board.\n Illustrated with more than 150 characteristic Engravings on\n Wood. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n GIBBON\u2019S ROME. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman\n Empire. By EDWARD GIBBON. With Notes by Rev. H. H. MILMAN and\n M. GUIZOT. A new cheap Edition. To which is added a complete\n Index of the whole Work, and a Portrait of the Author. 6\n vols., 12mo, Cloth, $9 00.\n\n HARPER\u2019S NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY. Literal Translations.\n The following Volumes are now ready. Portraits. 12mo, Cloth,\n $1 50 each.\n C\u00c6SAR.--VIRGIL.--SALLUST.--HORACE.--CICERO\u2019S ORATIONS.--\n CICERO\u2019S OFFICES, &C.--CICERO ON ORATORY AND ORATORS.--\n TACITUS (2 vols.).--TERENCE.--SOPHOCLES.--JUVENAL.--\n XENOPHON.--HOMER\u2019S ILIAD.--HOMER\u2019S ODYSSEY.--HERODOTUS.--\n DEMOSTHENES.--THUCYDIDES.--\u00c6SCHYLUS.--EURIPIDES\n (2 vols.).--LIVY (2 vols.).\n\n DAVIS\u2019S CARTHAGE. Carthage and her Remains: being an Account of\n the Excavations and Researches on the Site of the Ph\u0153nician\n Metropolis in Africa and other adjacent Places. Conducted\n under the Auspices of Her Majesty\u2019s Government. By Dr. DAVIS,\n F.R.G.S. Profusely Illustrated with Maps, Woodcuts,\n Chromo-Lithographs, &c. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00.\n\n EDGEWORTH\u2019S (MISS) NOVELS. With Engravings. 10 vols., 12mo,\n Cloth, $15 00.\n\n GROTE\u2019S HISTORY OF GREECE. 12 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $18 00.\n\n HELPS\u2019S SPANISH CONQUEST. The Spanish Conquest in America, and\n its Relation to the History of Slavery and to the Government\n of Colonies. By ARTHUR HELPS. 4 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $6 00.\n\n HALE\u2019S (MRS.) WOMAN\u2019S RECORD. Woman\u2019s Record; or, Biographical\n Sketches of all Distinguished Women, from the Creation to the\n Present Time. Arranged in Four Eras, with Selections from\n Female Writers of each Era. By Mrs. SARAH JOSEPHA HALE.\n Illustrated with more than 200 Portraits. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n HALL\u2019S ARCTIC RESEARCHES. Arctic Researches and Life among the\n Esquimaux: being the Narrative of an Expedition in Search of\n Sir John Franklin, in the Years 1860, 1861, and 1862. By\n CHARLES FRANCIS HALL. With Maps and 100 Illustrations. The\n Illustrations are from Original Drawings by Charles Parsons,\n Henry L. Stephens, Solomon Eytinge, W. S. L. Jewett, and\n Granville Perkins, after Sketches by Captain Hall. 8vo,\n Cloth, $5 00.\n\n HALLAM\u2019S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Accession\n of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. 8vo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n HALLAM\u2019S LITERATURE. Introduction to the Literature of Europe\n during the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries.\n By HENRY HALLAM. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00.\n\n HALLAM\u2019S MIDDLE AGES. State of Europe during the Middle Ages.\n By HENRY HALLAM. 8vo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n HILDRETH\u2019S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. FIRST SERIES: From the\n First Settlement of the Country to the Adoption of the\n Federal Constitution. SECOND SERIES: From the Adoption of the\n Federal Constitution to the End of the Sixteenth Congress. 6\n vols., 8vo, Cloth, $18 00.\n\n HUME\u2019S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. History of England, from the\n Invasion of Julius C\u00e6sar to the Abdication of James II.,\n 1688. By DAVID HUME. A new Edition, with the Author\u2019s last\n Corrections and Improvements. To which is Prefixed a short\n Account of his Life, written by Himself. With a Portrait of\n the Author. 6 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $9 00.\n\n JAY\u2019S WORKS. Complete Works of Rev. William Jay: comprising his\n Sermons, Family Discourses, Morning and Evening Exercises for\n every Day in the Year, Family Prayers, &c. Author\u2019s enlarged\n Edition, revised. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $6 00.\n\n JEFFERSON\u2019S DOMESTIC LIFE. The Domestic Life of Thomas\n Jefferson: compiled from Family Letters and Reminiscences by\n his Great-Granddaughter, SARAH N. RANDOLPH. With\n Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Illuminated Cloth, Beveled Edges,\n $2 50.\n\n JOHNSON\u2019S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.\n With an Essay on his Life and Genius, by ARTHUR MURPHY, Esq.\n Portrait of Johnson. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00.\n\n KINGLAKE\u2019S CRIMEAN WAR. The Invasion of the Crimea, and an\n Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan. By\n ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE. With Maps and Plans. Two Vols.\n ready. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00 per vol.\n\n KINGSLEY\u2019S WEST INDIES. At Last: A Christmas in the West\n Indies. By CHARLES KINGSLEY. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.\n\n KRUMMACHER\u2019S DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. David, the King of\n Israel: a Portrait drawn from Bible History and the Book of\n Psalms. By FREDERICK WILLIAM KRUMMACHER, D.D., Author of\n \u201cElijah the Tishbite,\u201d &c. Translated under the express\n Sanction of the Author by the Rev. M. G. EASTON, M.A. With a\n Letter from Dr. Krummacher to his American Readers, and a\n Portrait. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n LAMB\u2019S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Charles Lamb. Comprising\n his Letters, Poems, Essays of Elia, Essays upon Shakspeare,\n Hogarth, &c., and a Sketch of his Life, with the Final\n Memorials, by T. NOON TALFOURD. Portrait. 2 vols., 12mo,\n Cloth, $3 00.\n\n LIVINGSTONE\u2019S SOUTH AFRICA. Missionary Travels and Researches\n in South Africa; including a Sketch of Sixteen Years\u2019\n Residence in the Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the\n Cape of Good Hope to Loando on the West Coast; thence across\n the Continent, down the River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean.\n By DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L. With Portrait, Maps by\n Arrowsmith, and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $4 50.\n\n LIVINGSTONES\u2019 ZAMBESI. Narrative of an Expedition to the\n Zambesi and its Tributaries, and of the Discovery of the\n Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858-1864. By DAVID and CHARLES\n LIVINGSTONE. With Map and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n M\u2018CLINTOCK & STRONG\u2019S CYCLOP\u00c6DIA. Cyclop\u00e6dia of Biblical,\n Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Prepared by the\n Rev. JOHN M\u2018CLINTOCK, D.D., and JAMES STRONG, S.T.D. _3 vols.\n now ready._ Royal 8vo. Price per vol., Cloth, $5 00; Sheep,\n $6 00; Half Morocco, $8 00.\n\n MARCY\u2019S ARMY LIFE ON THE BORDER. Thirty Years of Army Life on\n the Border. Comprising Descriptions of the Indian Nomads of\n the Plains; Explorations of New Territory; a Trip across the\n Rocky Mountains in the Winter; Descriptions of the Habits of\n Different Animals found in the West, and the Methods of\n Hunting them; with Incidents in the Life of Different\n Frontier Men, &c., &c. By Brevet Brigadier-General R. B.\n MARCY, U.S.A., Author of \u201cThe Prairie Traveller.\u201d With\n numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, Beveled Edges, $3 00.\n\n MACAULAY\u2019S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The History of England from the\n Accession of James II. By THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. With an\n Original Portrait of the Author. 5 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 00;\n 12mo, Cloth, $7 50.\n\n MOSHEIM\u2019S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Ancient and Modern; in which\n the Rise, Progress, and Variation of Church Power are\n considered in their Connection with the State of Learning and\n Philosophy, and the Political History of Europe during that\n Period. Translated, with Notes, &c., by A. MACLAINE, D.D. A\n new Edition, continued to 1826, by C. COOTE, LL.D. 2 vols.,\n 8vo, Cloth, $4 00.\n\n NEVIUS\u2019S CHINA. China and the Chinese: a General Description of\n the Country and its Inhabitants; its Civilization and Form of\n Government; its Religious and Social Institutions; its\n Intercourse with other Nations; and its Present Condition and\n Prospects. By the Rev. JOHN L. NEVIUS, Ten Years a Missionary\n in China. With a Map and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n OLIN\u2019S (DR.) LIFE AND LETTERS. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00.\n\n OLIN\u2019S (DR.) TRAVELS. Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petr\u00e6a, and the\n Holy Land. Engravings. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $3 00.\n\n OLIN\u2019S (DR.) WORKS. The Works of Stephen Olin, D.D., late\n President of the Wesleyan University. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth,\n $3 00.\n\n OLIPHANT\u2019S CHINA AND JAPAN. Narrative of the Earl of Elgin\u2019s\n Mission to China and Japan, in the Years 1857, \u201958, \u201959. By\n LAURENCE OLIPHANT, Private Secretary to Lord Elgin.\n Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n OLIPHANT\u2019S (MRS.) LIFE OF EDWARD IRVING. The Life of Edward\n Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London.\n Illustrated by his Journals and Correspondence. By Mrs.\n OLIPHANT. Portrait. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50.\n\n RAWLINSON\u2019S MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY. A Manual of Ancient\n History, from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western\n Empire. Comprising the History of Chald\u00e6a, Assyria, Media,\n Babylonia, Lydia, Ph\u0153nicia, Syria, Jud\u00e6a, Egypt, Carthage,\n Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Parthia, and Rome. By GEORGE\n RAWLINSON, M.A., Camden Professor of Ancient History in the\n University of Oxford. 12mo, Cloth, $2 50.\n\n RECLUS\u2019S THE EARTH. The Earth: a Descriptive History of the\n Phenomena and Life of the Globe. By ELIS\u00c9E RECLUS. Translated\n by the late B. B. Woodward, and Edited by Henry Woodward.\n With 234 Maps and Illustrations, and 23 Page Maps printed\n in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.\n\n POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The Poets of the Nineteenth\n Century. Selected and Edited by the Rev. ROBERT ARIS\n WILLMOTT. With English and American Additions, arranged by\n EVERT A. DUYCKINCK, Editor of \u201cCyclop\u00e6dia of American\n Literature.\u201d Comprising Selections from the Greatest Authors\n of the Age. Superbly Illustrated with 132 Engravings from\n Designs by the most Eminent Artists. In elegant small 4to\n form, printed on Superfine Tinted Paper, richly bound in\n extra Cloth, Beveled, Gilt Edges, $6 00; Half Calf, $6 00;\n Full Turkey Morocco, $10 00.\n\n SHAKSPEARE. The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, with the\n Corrections and Illustrations of Dr. JOHNSON, G. STEEVENS,\n and others. Revised by ISAAC REED. Engravings. 6 vols., Royal\n 12mo, Cloth, $9 00.\n\n SMILES\u2019S LIFE OF THE STEPHENSONS. The Life of George\n Stephenson, and of his Son, Robert Stephenson; comprising,\n also, a History of the Invention and Introduction of the\n Railway Locomotive. By SAMUEL SMILES, Author of \u201cSelf-Help,\u201d\n &c. With Steel Portraits and numerous Illustrations. 8vo,\n Cloth, $3 00.\n\n SMILES\u2019S HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS. The Huguenots: their\n Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland.\n By SAMUEL SMILES. With an Appendix relating to the Huguenots\n in America. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $1 75.\n\n SPEKE\u2019S AFRICA. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the\n Nile. By Captain JOHN HANNING SPEKE, Captain H. M. Indian\n Army, Fellow and Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical\n Society, Hon. Corresponding Member and Gold Medalist of the\n French Geographical Society, &c. With Maps and Portraits and\n numerous Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by Captain\n GRANT. 8vo, Cloth, uniform with Livingstone, Barth, Burton,\n &c., $4 00.\n\n STRICKLAND\u2019S (MISS) QUEENS OF SCOTLAND. Lives of the Queens of\n Scotland and English Princesses connected with the Regal\n Succession of Great Britain. By AGNES STRICKLAND. 8 vols.,\n 12mo, Cloth, $12 00.\n\n THE STUDENT\u2019S SERIES.\n France. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Gibbon. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Greece. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Hume. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Rome. By Liddell. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Old Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n New Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Strickland\u2019s Queens of England. Abridged. Engravings. 12mo,\n Cloth, $2 00.\n Ancient History of the East. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Hallam\u2019s Middle Ages. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n Lyell\u2019s Elements of Geology. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.\n\n TENNYSON\u2019S COMPLETE POEMS. The Complete Poems of Alfred\n Tennyson, Poet Laureate. With numerous Illustrations by\n Eminent Artists, and Three Characteristic Portraits. 8vo,\n Paper, 75 cents; Cloth, $1 25.\n\n THOMSON\u2019S LAND AND THE BOOK. The Land and the Book; or,\n Biblical Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs,\n the Scenes and the Scenery of the Holy Land. By W. M.\n THOMSON, D.D., Twenty-five Years a Missionary of the\n A.B.C.F.M. in Syria and Palestine. With two elaborate Maps of\n Palestine, an accurate Plan of Jerusalem, and several hundred\n Engravings, representing the Scenery, Topography, and\n Productions of the Holy Land, and the Costumes, Manners, and\n Habits of the People. 2 large 12mo vols., Cloth, $5 00.\n\n TYERMAN\u2019S WESLEY. The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley,\n M.A., Founder of the Methodists. By the Rev. LUKE TYERMAN,\n Author of \u201cThe Life of Rev. Samuel Wesley.\u201d Portraits. 3\n vols., Crown 8vo.\n\n V\u00c1MB\u00c9RY\u2019S CENTRAL ASIA. Travels in Central Asia. Being the\n Account of a Journey from Teheran across the Turkoman Desert,\n on the Eastern Shore of the Caspian, to Khiva, Bokhara, and\n Samarcand, performed in the Year 1863. By ARMINIUS V\u00c1MB\u00c9RY,\n Member of the Hungarian Academy of Pesth, by whom he was sent\n on this Scientific Mission. With Map and Woodcuts. 8vo,\n Cloth, $4 50.\n\n WOOD\u2019S HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. Homes Without Hands: being a\n Description of the Habitations of Animals, classed according\n to their Principle of Construction. By J. G. WOOD, M.A.,\n F.L.S. With about 140 Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, Beveled\n Edges, $4 50.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note:\n\nWords and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like\nthis_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end\nof each chapter. There is no anchor for Footnote [703]. It was added\nwhere it may belong. There are two anchors to Footnote [134]. Sidenotes\ndisplaying Wesley\u2019s age were changed to follow the chapter title.\nObsolete and alternative spellings were not changed. Nine misspelled\nwords were corrected.","title":"The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 3 (of 3)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":294584}