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THE LIBRARY 

of 

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 
Toronto 



THE PATHFINDER 
LIBRARY OF BIOGRAPHY 



JOHN WESLEY 

THE MAN AND HIS MISSION 




JOHN WESLEY 



JOHN WESLEY 

THE MAN AND HIS MISSION 



BY 

G. HOLDEN PIKE 



LONDON 

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 
4 BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.4 



All rights reserved 






Made in Great Britain 

PRINTED BY MORRISON AND CIBB LTD. 
LONDON AND EDINBURGH 



CONTENTS 

CHAM p PACK 

I. BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS ... ... ... ... 7 

II. SCHOOL-DAYS AT TIIK UNIVERSITY AND ORDINATION 18 

III. THE HOLY CLUB ... ... ... 28 

IV. WESLEY IN AMERICA THE TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH 39 
V. BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL ... ... 47 

VI. SOME OF WESLEY S HELPERS ... ... ... 58 

VII. WORK AND PROGRESS. Moiss AND OUTRAGKS THE 

YOUNG PRETENDER ... ... ... ... 77 

VIII. WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS ... ... ... 94 

IX. WORK AND PROGRESS A SERIOUS ILLNESS ... 105 

X. OUR CHIEF TOWNS AS WESLEY FOUND THEM ... 118 

XI. SOME OF WESLEY S CHIEF HELPERS ... ... 136 

XII. SOME NEW FRIENDS ENCOURAGING OUTLOOK ... 145 

XIII. REMARKABLE PERSONS NOTED IN WESLEY S JOURNAL 156 

XIV. WESLEY S LATER DAYS ... ... ... ... 164 

INDEX ... ... ... ... ... ... 185 



JOHN WESLEY 

CHAPTER I 
BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS 

THE character and life of John Wesley have 
been variously represented according to the 
prejudice or sympathy of individuals. The 
evangelist was misunderstood by those who did not 
understand his message. Things which Scripture 
declares can only be spiritually discerned, are natu 
rally mere enthusiasm to the unenlightened. 
There was nothing surprising in Southey s character 
istic assertion, that the Revival was not wanted in 
Scotland, and that in that country there was no 
place for it. Before the great awakening in the early 
years of the reign of George II., Scotland was as 
much in need of spiritual religion as any other part of 
these islands. The manner in which the cause of 
Christ throughout the world has benefited by the 
life and testimony of Wesley should teach us that 
he is not to be regarded as the mere founder of 
Methodism. Understood in its broad and proper 
sense, that term embraces all who were brought 
into the evangelical fold, while they belonged to 
various denominations. 



8 JOHN WESLEY 

At the date of John Wesley s birth, June 17, 
1703, good Queen Anne had not long commenced 
her reign ; and religious disputes at home, and terrible 
wars abroad, were unfavourable to the arts of peace. 
Then, in November, occurred that greatest of all 
English recorded hurricanes, still known to historians 
as the Great Storm. While little John Wesley lay 
safely in his cot, more than a dozen men-of-war were 
lost, fifteen hundred seamen perished, damage to the 
amount of a million sterling was done in London ; 
and while trees were uprooted, and houses unroofed 
all about the country, Bishop Kidder and his wife, of 
Bath and Wells, were killed in their palace. 

John Wesley was one of nineteen children, only 
ten of whom lived to be educated ; and when he was 
born his parents had lived in the parsonage of 
Epworth, Lincolnshire, for about seven years. 
Samuel Wesley, the father, is supposed to have been 
a favourite with Queen Mary and Archbishop Tillot- 
son, both of whom died in 1694. Had the queen s 
life been prolonged, the rector of Epworth might 
have enjoyed some preferment in the Church ; but, 
as it was, he lived in the Lincolnshire parsonage 
during thirty-nine years, until his death in 1735. 
In days when party spirit in religious matters, as well 
as in politics, ran high, the rector found some enemies, 
and probably at times he may himself have given 
occasion of offence. 

John Wesley came of a good stock ; for both on 
his father s and mother s side we find that his 
ancestors had a name for learning and piety. Bar 
tholomew Wesley, his great-grandfather, was a 



BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS 9 

university man, who for some time held the vicarage 
of Allington, Dorset He was one of the two 
thousand ministers who left the Church on St. 
Bartholomew s Day, 1662. After his ejectment from 
the parish, he practised as a physician. John Wesley, 
the son of Bartholomew, and grandfather of our 
subject, was a student at Oxford at the time that 
Dr. John Owen was Vice-Chancellor. He was after 
wards stationed at Whitechurch, but suffered some 
persecution after the Restoration. He left two sons, 
Samuel and Matthew, and while the first entered 
the Established Church, the other became a very 
successful physician. 

As was afterwards the case with his sons, John 
and Charles, Samuel Wesley was a man of mettle, an 
untiring worker, who was content to work hard and 
to suffer privation while he sought to conquer difficul 
ties. According to Henry Moore, About the age of 
sixteen he walked to Oxford, and entered himself 
of Exeter College. He had now only two pounds 
sixteen shillings ; and no prospect of future supplies, 
but from his own exertions. By assisting the younger 
students, and by instructing any who choose to 
employ him, he supported himself till he took his 
bachelor s degree, without any preferment or assis 
tance from his friends, except five shillings. 

While thus energetic as regarded his own affairs, 
Samuel Wesley was bold to speak a word in season, 
and not without effect. His son John told an anec 
dote about his father to Henry Moore, which is cha 
racteristic and encouraging. Samuel Wesley, while 
taking refreshment in a London coffee-house, noticed 



io JOHN WESLEY 

that at another table there was a military officer, who 
used profane language in a shocking manner. Call 
ing for a glass of water, he said to the waiter, Carry 
it to that gentleman in the red coat, and desire him 
to wash his mouth after his oaths. The officer at 
once rose in a passion, and might have committed 
some rash act had he not been restrained by com 
panions, who reminded him that he had himself been 
the first to give offence, and that it did not show good 
manners to swear before a clergyman. Some years 
later, in St. James s Park, that same officer met the 
man who had corrected him, and confessed with 
gratitude, that from the day of his adventure in the 
coffee-house, he had not used profane language, and 
he was full of gratitude to his benefactor. 

Samuel Wesley married Susannah, daughter of 
Dr. Samuel Annesley, who in middle-life held the 
rectory of Cripplegate, where he had among his con 
gregation the parents of Daniel Defoe, the future 
author of Robinson Crusoe being a child two years 
of age when the rector was ejected from his living in 
1662. Susannah, the mother of John Wesley, has 
justly been considered a model woman, and certainly 
she was shrewd, observant, and pious to a degree 
not seldom equalled. In reckoning up what she 
called the signal mercies which had fallen to her lot, 
she says, Born in a Christian country : early initiated 
and instructed in the first principles of the Christian 
religion : good examples in parents and several of the 
family : good books and ingenious conversation : 
preserved from ill accidents, once from a violent 
death : married to a religious orthodox man : from 



BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS n 

htm first drawn off from the Socinian heresy, and 
afterwards confirmed and strengthened by Bishop 
Bull. 

During their residence at Epworth, the family 
were in very straitened circumstances, and the accom 
plished mother was the sole teacher of her daughters, 
and even of the boys until they were pretty far 
advanced. In a letter to her son John, Mrs. Wesley 
thus explained her methods 

None of them were taught to read till five years 
old, except Kezzy, in whose case I was overruled ; 
and she was more years in learning than any of the 
rest had been months. The way of teaching was this : 
the day before a child began to learn, the house was 
set in order, every one s work appointed them, and a 
charge given that none should come into the room 
from nine till twelve, or from two till five, which were 
our school hours. One day was allowed the child 
wherein to learn its letters ; and each of them did in 
that time know all its letters, great and small, except 
Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before 
they knew them perfectly, for which I then thought 
them very dull ; but the reason I thought them so 
was, because the rest learned them so readily, and 
your brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever 
taught, learnt the alphabet in a few hours. He was 
five years old on the loth of February ; the next day 
he began to learn, and as soon as he knew the letters 
began at the first chapter of Genesis. He was taught 
to spell the first verse, then to read it over and over 
till he could read it off-hand without any hesitation ; 
and so on to the second, etc., till he took two verses 



iz JOHN WESLEY 

for a lesson, which he quickly did. Easter fell low 
that year, and by Whitsuntide he could read a 
chapter very well ; for he read continually, and had 
such a prodigious memory, that I cannot remember 
ever to have told him the same word twice. 

As it was with Samuel so was it with John, for 
the same method was observed with all of the 
children. When they knew their letters, they began 
to spell and to read, but they were required to read 
one line or verse perfectly before they passed on to a 
second. A proportion of six hours out of the twenty- 
four was not considered too much to be devoted to 
school ; and the singing of a psalm commenced and 
ended the work of each day. Discipline was always 
well maintained ; and from their earliest years the 
little ones were taught that to cry for a thing was 
the sure way not to get it. Only three meals a day 
were allowed, and there was never any eating and 
drinking between meals. Eight o clock was bed 
time; and though the rectory at Epworth was subject 
to noises at night, which were believed by the family 
to be supernatural, no servant was allowed to sit by 
a bed till a child fell asleep. Amid such surround 
ings, which he ever thought on with gladness till his 
last days, John Wesley appeared to be a lad thought 
ful and studious beyond his age. When offered any 
thing such as a child would like, he would hesitate, 
and reply with cautious reserve, as though he were 
afraid of committing himself too far. He so early 
showed gifts in argument that his father once said, 
I think our Jack would not attend to the most press 
ing necessities of nature unless he could give a reason 



BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS 13 

for it. The great events of his childhood were his 
having the small-pox, which his mother said he bore 
bravely, like a man, and indeed like a Christian ; 
and the destruction of the Epworth Rectory by fire, 
when through a special Providence, as it seemed, the 
inmates escaped a terrible death. 

The fire at the rectory occurred in 1709, or just 
before John Wesley was six years old. The only 
charitable way of looking at such a catastrophe is to 
suppose that it happened by pure accident ; but it 
seems to be a question whether the house was not set on 
fire, while the family were in their beds, by vindictive 
parishioners. According to Henry Moore, who knew 
him well, that was the opinion of John Wesley him 
self, and he gave an anecdote showing how strained 
was the relationship between the rector and his people 
at certain times : Many of his father s parishioners 
gave him much trouble about the tithes. At one 
time they would pay only in kind. Going into a 
field, upon one of those occasions, Mr. Wesley found 
a farmer very deliberately at work with a pair of 
shears, cutting off the ears of corn and putting them 
into a bag which he had brought with him for that 
purpose. Mr. Wesley did not say anything to him, but 
took him by the arm and walked with him into the 
town. When they got into the market-place, Mr. 
Wesley seized the bag, and, turning it inside out 
before all the people, told them what the farmer had 
been doing. He then left him with his pilfered spoils, 
to the judgment of his neighbours, and walked quietly 
home. 

Whether the fire was accidental or the diabolical 



i 4 JOHN WESLEY 

work of criminal parishioners, it happened just before 
midnight on Wednesday, February 9. According to 
the graphic description of Mrs. Wesley herself, it was 
discovered by some sparks falling from the roof upon 
a bed, where one of the children (Hetty) lay, and 
burning her feet. She immediately ran to our chamber 
and called us ; but I believe no one heard her ; for 
Mr. Wesley was alarmed by a cry of FIRE in the 
street, upon which he rose, little imagining that his 
own house was on fire ; but on opening his door, he 
found it was full of smoke, and that the roof was 
already burnt through. He immediately came to my 
room (as I was very ill, he lay in a separate room 
from me), and bid me and my two eldest daughters 
rise quickly and shift for our lives, the house being all 
on fire. Then he ran and burst open the nursery- 
door, and called to the maid to bring out the children. 
The two little ones lay in the bed with her ; the three 
others in another bed. She snatched up the youngest, 
and bid the rest follow, which they did, except Jacky. 
Thus, before he was six years old John Wesley was 
providentially saved from death by fire. When Mr. 
and Mrs. Wesley reached the ground floor the flames 
roared around them, the roof was about to fall in, 
and they thought they were lost. At last they got out 
without injury ; but John, the second son of the family, 
was not with them, and some one thought that they 
heard him cry for help. In after years John himself 
retained very vivid memories of what really happened. 
4 Seeing the room was very light, I called to the maid 
to take me up, he said. But none answering, I put 
my head out of the curtains, and saw streaks of fire 



BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS 15 

on the top of the room. I got up and ran to the 
door, but could get no further, all the floor beyond it 
being in a blaze. I then climbed upon a chest which 
stood near the window : one in the yard saw me, 
and proposed running to fetch a ladder. Another 
answered, "There will not be time; but I have 
thought of another expedient. Here I will fix my 
self against the wall ; lift a light man and set him on 
my shoulders." They did it, and he took me out of 
the window. Just then the roof fell : but it fell in 
ward, or we had all been crushed at once. 

Notwithstanding the loss of his house and goods, 
that was probably one of the happiest moments in 
Samuel Wesley s life ; for when he saw that his son 
was rescued, he cried, Come, neighbours, let us kneel 
down, let us give thanks to God ! He has given me 
all my eight children : let the house go, I am rich 
enough, John Wesley himself ever remembered that 
deliverance with gratitude, and on several occasions 
publicly referred to it 

As regards scholarship, Mrs. Wesley was probably 
not inferior to her husband, and she was moved by an 
earnest desire to advance the Kingdom of God. For 
the greater part of her life she was accustomed to 
devote an hour in the morning and another hour in 
the evening to her private devotions. After his pre 
servation from the fire, she looked upon her son John 
with more than ordinary interest and tenderness, 
praying for him with even greater earnestness, as 
though she realized that the Lord had some special 
work for him to do in the world. 

At that time the morals of the common people 



i6 JOHN WESLEY 

of Epworth were at a very low ebb ; and according 
to some authorities, certain of the profligate people 
had twice attempted to set the rectory on fire before 
they actually succeeded the third time. Mrs. Wesley 
felt great solicitude for the perishing people ; but there 
were of course many of a better sort who valued their 
religious privileges and longed for the best things. 

As the neighbouring parish of Wroote was held 
by Samuel Wesley with that of Epworth, there was 
service in the latter place on Sunday morning only. 
At times the rector would be away from home for a 
considerable time ; he would attend the sittings of 
Convocation at Westminster ; and on one occasion he 
is even said to have absented himself from home for 
some months through differing from his wife on 
political matters, Mr. Wesley being in sympathy with 
King William, his wife leaning more towards the 
Stuarts. In seeking to benefit the parishioners, 
however, Mrs. Wesley left politics out of the reckon 
ing ; but a Sunday evening meeting, which she began 
in 1712, while her husband was in London, created 
some uneasiness in the mind of the latter, and he 
wrote a letter of gentle admonition, for fear what was 
done by a wcman on behalf of the Church might be 
considered out of order, as a curate of the parish led 
him to think might actually be the case. The en 
thusiasm of Mrs. Wesley had been fired by the then 
much talked about example of certain Danish 
missionaries, and in a letter to her husband she 
explained how the meeting had originated and how 
it had grown. 

I thought it my duty to spend some part of the 



BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS 17 

day in reading to, and instructing my family ; 
especially in your absence, when having no afternoon 
service, we have so much leisure for such exercises ; 
and such time I esteemed spent in a way more 
acceptable to God than if I had retired to my own 
private devotions. This was the beginning of my 
present practice ; other people s coming in and join 
ing with us was purely accidental. Our lad told his 
parents ; they first desired to be admitted ; then 
others who heard of it begged leave also ; so our 
company increased to about thirty, and seldom 
exceeded forty last winter. 

The curate and some others objected, and biassed 
the rector s mind ; but when he saw the attendance 
at church increased, a better feeling promoted through 
out the parish, and young persons who hitherto had 
wasted their Sunday hours in the streets attracted 
to hear a good sermon read, he saw that Mrs. Wesley 
was doing right 



CHAPTER II 

SCHOOLDAYS AT THE UNIVERSITY 
AND ORDINATION 

BEFORE he was eleven years of age, or in 1714, 
the year of the death of Queen Anne and 
of the accession of George I., John Wesley 
was placed at the Charterhouse School, through the 
influence of the Duke of Buckingham, the head 
master, an eminent scholar in his day, being Dr. 
Walker. During the five years that John was at this 
school he laid the basis of a superior education, and 
the high privilege accorded him was never under 
valued. Some hardships had to be borne ; but it 
seems to be possible, or even probable, that these 
may have been exaggerated. He enjoyed excellent 
health and made admirable progress, which, apart 
from a miracle, could hardly have been the case had 
the maintenance of his bodily vigour depended on his 
running three times round the grounds every morning, 
and getting a small portion of dry bread each day for 
his ordinary diet According to Henry Moore, Dis 
cipline was so exceedingly relaxed, that the boys of 
the higher forms were suffered to eat up, not only 
their own portions of animal food, but those also 
which were allotted to the lesser boys. It is hard 

18 



SCHOOL-DAYS AND ORDINATION 19 

to believe, that throughout all his after-life Wesley 
would have regarded the Charterhouse with so much 
interest and affection if his experience had been liter 
ally as here depicted. At all events, his brother 
Samuel, who was nearly eleven years older than John, 
sent to Epworth encouraging accounts of the 
Charterhouse scholar s general progress. When the 
rector was hesitating about what he should do with 
his youngest son, Samuel wrote to his father : My 
brother Jack, I can faithfully assure you, gives you 
no manner of discouragement from breeding your 
third son a scholar. Then, on another occasion he 
wrote, Jack is with me, and a brave boy, learning 
Hebrew as fast as he can. 

The earlier part of the time that John Wesley 
was at the Charterhouse, was characterized by great 
political agitation, and by the rising for the Pretender, 
James Edward Stuart, who claimed the English 
Crown as James III. The annals of the time show 
that the crisis was a very dangerous one ; and though 
he may not have been old enough to have been a 
politician, our young Charterhouse scholar would be 
aware that his mother secretly sympathized with the 
Jacobites, who were seeking to restore the Stuarts ; 
and he would naturally hear of the violent scenes 
which took place in London and in the provinces. 
In various directions the riots and outrages showed 
that the House of Hanover, which had just come 
into the most splendid inheritance, had many enemies. 
Fierce cries against the foreign king resounded 
through the London streets, and the late William III. 
was burnt in effigy at Smithfield. Nonconformist 



20 JOHN WESLEY 

chapels were destroyed by the mob, which in many 
instances was encouraged by magistrates and country 
gentlemen ; and if Louis XIV., the French king, had 
not died just at that crisis, war would probably have 
once more broken out between England and France. 
But, though this passing storm may have made 
itself heard at the Charterhouse, Wesley s studies 
were not interrupted, and he turned his oppor 
tunities to good account According to Moore, 
Wesley s natural temper in his youth was gay and 
sprightly, with a turn for wit and humour. He was 
likewise fired by some ambition a desire to be 
somebody, and to do something not an unwhole 
some sign in a boy, if wisely directed. Though he 
always harboured an affection for the place, Wesley, 
in after-years, regretted part of his conduct at the 
Charterhouse ; that is to say, when outward restraint 
was removed he became negligent of outward 
duties, while he did things which he knew to be 
wrong, though they were not scandalous in the eyes 
of the world. Religious duty was not suspended, 
but he became more formal. I still read the Scrip 
tures and said my prayers morning and evening, 
he says. And what I now hoped to be saved by 
was, (i) Not being so bad as other people; (2) 
Having still a kindness ; and (3) Reading the Bible, 
going to church, and saying my prayers. During 
his school-days, John often walked to the West-end of 
the town to visit his brother Samuel, who was chief 
usher at Westminster School, and for some time 
Samuel had his youngest brother Charles under his 
tuition. 



SCHOOL-DAYS AND ORDINATION 21 

At the age of seventeen, or in 1720, a year noted 
in history as being that of the great commercial 
crash, otherwise the bursting of the South Sea 
Bubble, Wesley was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, 
his health at the time not being very robust, a chief 
trouble being bleeding at the nose. He tells his 
mother that, on one occasion, while out in the country, 
he was well-nigh choked by the haemorrhage, and 
could get no relief till he hurriedly took off his 
clothes and dived into a river. During his early days 
at Oxford, Wesley is depicted as the very sensible 
and acute collegian a young fellow of the finest 
classical taste, of the most liberal and manly senti 
ments. Moore adds that, His perfect knowledge of 
the classics gave a smooth polish to his wit, and an 
air of superior elegance to all his compositions. Like 
others of his class he amused himself by composing 
brilliant trifles ; but as the income of forty pounds a 
year, which he had as a Charterhouse scholar, was too 
straitened for his needs, he was unable to keep out of 
debt, or to avoid borrowing. In his estimable mother 
the poor student always had a friend to sympathize 
with him, however. Be not discouraged ; do your 
duty ; keep close to your studies, and hope for better 
days, she wrote at a time when needing encourage 
ment herself. Small-pox was very prevalent and fatal 
at Ep worth in the summer of 1724, and as Mrs. 
Wesley was the only one in the household who had 
not had the disease, there was naturally some anxiety. 
Then the daily round of Oxford life was varied by 
news of Samuel Wesley having broken his leg at 
Westminster, and John had to write a word of 



22 JOHN WESLEY 

condolence. You have more reason to thank God 
that you did not break both, than to repine because 
you have broke one leg, he said. You have un 
doubtedly heard of the Dutch seaman, who having 
broke one of his legs by a fall from the mainmast, 
instead of condoling himself, thanked God that he 
had not broke his neck. 

Wesley s letters to his mother during his student 
life at Oxford are alive with interest, they afford 
glimpses into the life of the University city, and refer 
to passing events. Thus, he mention s Jack Sheppard s 
wonderful escape from Newgate ; then shows that 
he had been reading Dr. Cheyne s once famous Book 
of Health and Long Life, in which the chief pre 
scriptions were temperance and exercise ; and next 
refers to an unlucky cut across my thumb which 
almost jointed it. Here is something about the 
advantages and disadvantages of Oxford life written 
in the fall of 1724, and first published in the Wesley an 
Times in 1866 : 

We are now most of us very healthy at Oxford, 
which may be in some measure owing to the frosty 
weather we have had lately. Fruit is so very cheap 
that apples may be had almost for fetching ; and 
other things are both plentiful and good. We have, 
indeed, something bad as well as good, for a great 
many rogues are about the town, insomuch that it is 
exceedingly unsafe to be out late at night. A gentle 
man of my acquaintance, standing at the door of a 
coffee-house about seven in the evening, had no sooner 
turned about, but his cap and wig were snatched off 
his head, and though he followed the thief at a great 



SCHOOL-DAYS AND ORDINATION 23 

distance, he was unable to recover them. I am pretty 
safe from such gentlemen, for unless they carried me 
away, carcass and all, they would have but a poor 
purchase. 

Wigs of the best make were then as costly as gold 
watches are now, and thus constantly tempted light- 
fingered thieves, though penalty for the crime on 
conviction would have been death. As regarded Dr. 
Cheyne, Wesley in the main adopted his system of 
temperance in eating and drinking, and to such a 
method of living he ascribed his health and long 
life. 

It was a most providential circumstance that such 
a man as Wesley, destined for a great and far-reach 
ing life work, should find the means for the superior 
education he enjoyed while his father was burdened 
with what were to him heavy debts. When he was 
only twenty-two, or in 1725, his parents favoured his 
taking holy orders, and he accordingly gave great 
attention to divinity, more particularly to the works 
of Thomas a Kempis, Jeremy Taylor, and William 
Law, the latter for a time tending to confirm him in 
the legalism to which at the outset he was somewhat 
prone. Whether or not Wesley had an eye to the 
Church when he went to Oxford is unknown ; but up 
to the age of twenty-two he had a pleasant, careless 
life, though now saw that if he was going to preach 
the Gospel he must do so with some sort of serious 
ness. Outside of his own family he never until now 
had a religious friend, but one now met with had the 
effect of turning the current of his life. Wesley 
sketched out quite a new and strict programme. I 



2 4 JOHN WESLEY 

began to alter the whole form of my conversation, and 
to set out in earnest upon a new life, he says ; I 
set apart an hour or two a day for religious retire 
ment. I communicated every week. I watched 
against all sin, whether in word or deed. I began to 
aim at, and to pray for, inward holiness. So that 
now, doing so much, and living so good a life, I 
doubted not that I was a good Christian. 

While Wesley was aiming at such pharisaic 
attainments, and while his parents were doing their 
best to settle points in divinity, his sister Emilia, 
writing from Wroote, advised him : Never engage 
your affections before your worldly affairs are in such 
a posture that you may marry soon. In adding 
that the contrary practice has proved very pernicious 
in our family, Emilia may have referred to her father s 
affairs, which were commonly in confusion through 
debts being contracted which could hardly ever be 
paid, so that if John needed to ask help of his father, 
the favour might as well be asked at one time as 
another. I know you are a young man encompassed 
with difficulties, and have passed through many diffi 
culties already, and probably must through many 
more before you are easy in the world, added Emilia ; 
but, believe me, if ever you come to suffer the torment 
of a hopeless love, all other afflictions will seem small 
in comparison of this. The picture of the state of 
the family affairs at home then given shows that old 
Samuel Wesley was not remarkable for his thrift. 

I know not when we had so good a year, both at 
Wroote and at Epworth, as this year, writes Emilia ; 
but instead of saving anything to clothe my sister 



SCHOOL-DAYS AND ORDINATION 25 

or myself, we are just where we were. A noble crop 
has almost all gone, besides Epworth living, to pay 
some part of those infinite debts my father has run 
into, which are so many, that were he to save $o a 
year, he would not be clear in the world this seven 
years. One thing I warn you of: let not my giving 
you this account be any hindrance to your affairs. 
If you want assistance in any case, my father is as 
able to give it now as any time these last ten years ; 
nor shall we ever be the poorer for it 

While such was the condition of things at home, 
prosperity seemed to smile upon these young Wesleys. 
Samuel, the eldest, was doing well at Westminster ; 
for John to go to Christ Church, Oxford, with a 
Charterhouse scholarship, eventually to be elected a 
Fellow of Lincoln College, looked like the opening 
of a brilliant career ; and Charles had his school-bills 
paid by an unseen patron in Ireland, who offered to 
make him his heir. 

In after years John Wesley spoke of his brother s 
declining to go to Ireland as a fair escape, and from 
his standpoint such it really was. As Southey 
remarks, however : The fact is more remarkable 
than he was aware of ; for the person who inherited 
the property intended for Charles Wesley, and who 
took the name of Wesley or Wellesley in consequence, 
was the first Earl of Mornington, grandfather of the 
late Marquis Wellesley and the great Duke of 
Wellington. Had Charles made a different choice, 
there might have been no Methodists, the British 
Empire in India might still have been menaced from 
Seringapatam, and the undisputed tyrant of Europe 



26 JOHN WESLEY 

might . . . have insulted and endangered us on our 
own shores. 

In 1725, at the age of twenty-two, John Wesley 
was ordained deacon by Potter, Bishop of Oxford, 
who, as the son of a Yorkshire tradesman, was a 
scholar who looked with favour on the early Metho 
dists. The bishop s advice was that a Christian 
teacher should not spend time in contending for or 
against things of a disputable nature, but in testifying 
against notorious vice, and in promoting real essential 
holiness. After John Wesley commenced preaching 
he pursued his studies with extraordinary diligence, 
allotting certain days in the week to separate subjects ; 
but soon he had to confess that life was too short to 
allow of one arriving at universal knowledge, and to 
argue with his mother that there were some things 
which it was hardly worth while taking the trouble 
to learn. His election to a Fellowship at Lincoln 
College in March, 1726, and the removal of Charles 
to Christ Church, were steps forward for both of them ; 
but the letters which came from their father showed 
how desperate were the family affairs. The ill-health 
of both the father and mother at Epworth, in addition 
to the burden of debt which oppressed them, made 
the outlook gloomy indeed. 

Meanwhile, Wesley might have accepted the 
mastership of an endowed school in Yorkshire, but 
he was gradually developing into the hard-working 
clergyman. It was remarkable that, at the early age 
of twenty-three, he should have been elected Greek 
lecturer and moderator of the classes of his college. 
The summer of 1726 was passed at Epworth and 



SCHOOL-DAYS AND ORDINATION 27 

Wroote, where he assisted his father in parish work. 
Wroote was a small place surrounded by Lincolnshire 
bogs, and having ague as one of its endemic ailments, 
while, according to Mehetabel Wesley, the rustics 
who came to church had heads as impervious as 
stones. Wesley did some good work there, however, 
and found no cause to murmur. He returned to 
Oxford at the latter end of September ; but in the 
summer of 1727 he removed to his father s parishes, 
where for two years or more he served as curate, or 
until November, 1729. Some weeks were spent at 
Oxford in 1728, where, on September 22, Dr. Potter 
ordained Wesley priest. He was now a fully equipped 
clergyman, who gave great attentcn i ,to his duties, 
worked hard at his general studies,avr ided unprofit 
able companions, and strove hard to live a strictly 
religious life. More light was wanted before this 
brilliant young scholar could become the great 
preacher of the Evangelical Revival, however. In 
reference to this time, Wesley himself said in after- 
years, I preached much, but saw no fruit of my 
labour. Indeed, it could not be that I should ; for 
I neither laid the foundation of repentance nor of 
believing the Gospel, taking it for granted that all 
to whom I preached were believers, and that many 
of them needed no repentance. In accordance with 
the rules of his college, when Wesley had taken his 
M.A. decree, his time in general was more at his own 
disposal 



CHAPTER III 
THE HOLY CLUB 

SO far the three brothers of the Wesley family 
had lived to encourage one another in that 
zealous profession of religion which seeks to 
excel in gooc u w<rks, and to advance by human merit 
to that state of ?race and acceptance with God which 
can alone come from the merits of Christ. John 
Wesley himself appears at times to have suspected 
that something was wrong, as he did not enjoy the 
assurance and peace for which he craved ; but without 
knowing it, he was on his way towards the light. 

When Wesley returned to Oxford in 1729, he 
found that his brother Charles had become the 
founder of a small society, the members of which 
aimed at living a strictly religious life, while they 
sought to do all the good which lay in their power. 
They met for pious conversation, reading, and prayer, 
took the communion every Sunday, and visited the 
poor, as well as criminals in the gaol, while a large 
proportion of what they had was given in charity. 
Their abstemious living and rigorous fasting tended 
to weaken their constitutions. 

Mistaken as these young men might be in some 
28 



THE HOLY CLUB 29 

of their views and practices, the fact that a small 
company in such a town as Oxford should not only 
separate themselves from the world, and make a bold 
stand against the unbelief and licentiousness of the 
times, was at once striking and reassuring. One 
writer mentions that just about the time that Wesley 
was setting out in the world, Voltaire was expelled 
from France on account of his opinions opinions 
as dangerous to the state as they were opposed to 
the peace and prosperity of the individual. It was 
certainly remarkable that while the infidel Frenchman 
was venturing the prophecy that in a short time 
Christianity would pass away, a coterie of so-called 
enthusiasts at Oxford should have included the three 
great men who were soon to become the leading 
evangelists of the Revival. 

Without doubt the good providence of God was 
working to bring good out of evil ; but at the same 
time the age seemed to be retrogressive, and to have 
more evil omens than rays of promise. The eighteenth 
century generally has been pictured as the golden 
age, or the time when people could live in more quiet 
a id comfort than has been possible either before or 
since. But though there may have been less com 
petition and a smaller population to provide for, the 
early part of the reign of George II. was a period of 
moral deadness and of spiritual darkness. Such 
aged persons as remembered the golden promises 
of Puritanism, and even of the Revolution, must 
have felt their hearts sink in despair. Many a pulpit 
whence had gone forth pure Gospel teaching now 
gave forth cold morality or heartless rationalism. 



30 JOHN WESLEY 

Evangelical preachers were, indeed, few and far 
between, although, of course, such were to be found 
if one only knew where to find them. Though some 
who were before their time were founding charity 
schools, education was hardly considered to be a 
thing which concerned the common people. The 
universities were resorted to by the young and the 
dissipated, and many worldly-wise parents even 
desired to see their children conform to the reign 
ing order of things, and to avoid being righteous 
overmuch. 

To understand how singular was the phenomenon 
which The Holy Club presented to ordinary persons 
of the world in the reign of George II., we must 
understand something of the more general character 
istics of the times as the Wesleys and their associates 
knew them. Defoe, Swift, Young, Gay, Pope, Addison, 
Steele, and Thomson were some of the favourite 
authors. As Henry Moore says, The great body 
of the clergy neither knew nor cared about systems 
of any kind, and in a vast number of instances they 
were immoral often grossly so. The populace in 
the large towns were ignorant and profligate ; the 
inhabitants of villages added to ignorance and profli 
gacy brutish and barbarous manners. A more striking 
instance of the rapid decay of religious light and 
influence in a country scarcely occurs than in ours 
from the Restoration till the rise of Methodism. It 
affected not only the Church, but the Dissenting 
sects in no ordinary degree. A more recent writer 
characterizes the time from the opening of the reign 
of Anne to that of George II. as a dewless night 



THE HOLY CLUB 31 

succeeded by a sunless dawn. There was no fresh 
ness in the past, and no promise in the future. The 
Puritans were buried, and the Methodists were not 
born. . . . The reign of buffoonery was past, but the 
reign of faith and earnestness had not commenced. 
As regarded Sunday, the Bishop of Lichfield declared 
from the pulpit that it had become the devil s market- 
day. 

Heavy drinking caused an incredible number of 
diseases and deaths. The vices of the upper classes 
were in keeping with the degradation of those beneath 
them ; for among the lower classes ignorance, dis 
honesty, and superstition prevailed to a degree one 
can have little idea of. The people in general were 
allowed to go their own way, and one can hardly 
wonder that it was a downward one. 

Some time before Wesley s return to Oxford the 
Vice-Chancellor issued an edict against wicked and 
blasphemous notions contrary to the truth of the 
Christian religion, when it was shown that it was 
necessary to guard young persons against these 
wicked advocates for pretended human reason against 
Divine revelation. There were some who had so 
little faith in the religion which gave them a livelihood, 
however, that they disapproved of such a notice being 
issued, among these being the Dean of Christchurch, 
where Charles Wesley was now employed as tutor. 
In other words, it is supposed that the dean was 
more inclined towards unbelief than he was towards 
the Gospel, so that it was not a little remarkable 
that under such conditions the younger son of the 
rector of Epworth should have been the first to gather 



32 JOHN WESLEY 

around him those Oxford Methodists who made up 
The Holy Club. When John Wesley himself gave 
up his Epworth curacy to return to Oxford in 
November, 1729, he did so at the earnest call of Dr 
Morley, who was then Rector of Lincoln College, a 
man to whom old Samuel Wesley felt that nothing 
was to be denied, on account of the service Morley 
had rendered in getting John elected to the Fellow 
ship. John s chief business was now the work of a 
tutor, but he was at once attracted by the meetings 
of the serious young men of which his brother was 
the originator, but of which the elder brother now 
became the acknowledged leader. John s learning 
and natural abilities gave a character to the move 
ment it may not have previously possessed ; but, as 
Southey remarks, No talents, and, it may be added 
no virtues, can protect the possessor from the ridicule 
of fools and profligates. One acute young collegian 
remembered that in ancient Roman times there were 
physicians who held that nearly all human ailments 
could be cured by a specific method of diet and 
exercise, so that Charles Wesley and his coterie 
were called Methodists. The name seemed to be 
new, but in point of fact it had been used in England 
during the Puritan period. When the old people at 
Epworth heard of what was going on they were well 
pleased, for nothing could have been more in accord 
ance with their wishes. I hear my son John has 
the honour of being styled the father of the Holy 
Club/ said the old rector ; if it be so, I am sure I 
must be the grandfather of it ; and I need not say 
that I had rather any of my sons should be so 



THE HOLY CLUB 33 

dignified and distinguished than to have the title 
of His Holiness. A London newspaper gave out 
that there was a society at Oxford, Sons of 
Sorrow, who, to carry out the principles of Christi 
anity, had abandoned themselves to absurd and 
perpetual melancholy. The members of The Holy 
Club were also compared to the Jewish Essenes 
and to the Continental Pietists. At the same time 
they were grossly libelled by being represented as 
hypocrites who made religion a cloak for indulging 
in vice. 

Some who were members of The Holy Club 
lived to fill foremost positions in the Christian world ; 
but we catch passing glimpses of others who are less 
known and who recede to be lost sight of for ever. 
The first of the brotherhood to pass into the unseen 
state was W. Morgan, who at first was regarded as a 
victim of austerities prescribed by Wesley ; but his 
disease was as little understood as the nature of his 
religion. Then there was his brother Charles, who 
was afterwards attracted. Robert Kirkham, one of 
the early friends of the Wesleys, came to see that the 
best things did not consist in good living and an easy 
life ; and finding that there was no half-way-house for 
the accommodation of religious loiterers he entirely 
separated himself from the world to live as an ascetic. 
His sister Elizabeth at one time attracted the notice 
of Wesley, until it seemed probable that she might 
become his wife. John Clayton was more severely 
formal, or he showed a more pharisaic spirit. In 
after years he seems to have become more self- 
righteous or sacerdotal, and would never soil his 

C 



34 JOHN WESLEY 

ecclesiastical linen by associating in work with those 
who proclaimed the Gospel to the poor in barns and 
cottages, on commons and village-greens. As a 
Jacobite, he took part in the Young Pretender s 
attempt to regain the British Crown for James III., 
in 1745. Benjamin Ingham was a man of another 
mould, and one who ultimately seceded to the 
Moravians, and this partially separated him from 
early associates. John Gambold also went over to 
the Moravians, but, after many extravagances, he died 
in faith and hope, in 1771. These men were self- 
denying if they were self-righteous. If heaven could 
be purchased, we should necessarily have to be self- 
denying ; and it would certainly be worth some toil 
and suffering, as well as fasting on Wednesdays and 
Fridays, if Paradise could be attained by such means. 
It is even possible that people who thus go about the 
business of saving themselves with the steady deter 
mination of heroism, may feel contentment akin to 
those who give a large price for a good thing. The 
prayers and exhortations of these Oxford Methodists 
were heard in prisons, hospitals, and cottages ; but 
while debtors, felons, and poor peasants may have 
been taught to read the Bible, they needed to learn 
themselves the grand Scripture truth that the just 
shall live by faith. They had set up an ideal standard 
of righteousness to attain to which they would have 
given anything ; but all their prayers, fastings, and 
bodily rigours did not bring them the peace they 
craved. We must not, however, cast stones at men 
who were honest and earnest according to their light, 
but who through misreading Scripture failed to teach 



THE HOLY CLUB 35 

the Gospel in its fulness. They are praiseworthy 
because, in a licentious age, they witnessed for the 
need of religion and testified against the sins of the 
times. 

But there were others who attended The Holy 
Club who were destined to exercise a very far-reach 
ing influence. One of these was James Hervey, the 
future author of the Meditations among the Tombs, 
and other works which attained wide popularity. At 
Oxford he ranked among the chief of those who 
worked to save themselves ; but at length he read 
Scripture to see that salvation is by faith alone. It 
is easy for us to object to the shallowness of his 
matter and the tinsel character of his style ; but his 
literary faults are probably somewhat exaggerated. 
At all events, he was appreciated by those for 
whom he wrote, and he taught the Gospel in its 
fulness. 

A still greater figure is that of George Whitefield, 
son of a widow who kept an inn at Gloucester. Born 
in 1714, he became a servitor at Pembroke College, 
Oxford, in 1732, and soon attracted the notice of 
Charles Wesley, through whom Whitefield was 
enabled to join the Society, now about fifteen in 
number, which assembled six evenings in the week 
for about three hours, at first for more general im 
provement, but at last religion became almost the sole 
business to receive attention. The object was to 
recover the image of God in each individual soul. The 
scheme of conduct drawn up shows that they had the 
spirit of earnestness and self-sacrifice, but that their 
views were sacramentarian rather than evangelical ; 



3 6 JOHN WESLEY 

and in after years Wesley frankly confessed that at 
this time he was in a state of spiritual ignorance. 

If possible, Whitefield excelled his comrades in the 
severity of his daily habits. I began to leave off 
eating fruits and such-like, and gave the money I 
usually spent in that way to the poor/ he says. 
Afterwards I always chose the worst sort of food, 
though my place furnished me with variety. I fasted 
twice a week. My apparel was mean. I thought it 
unbecoming a penitent to have his hair powdered. 
I wore woollen gloves, a patched gown, and dirty 
shoes, therefore looked upon myself as very humble. 

The result was that Whitefield s constitution be 
came so weakened that he could scarcely get upstairs, 
and a physician had to prescribe for him. He was on 
the way to something better, however ; for he arrived 
at clear, Scriptural views of the Gospel at or about 
Whitsuntide, 1735, or something like three years 
before the brothers Wesley reached a similar condition 
of light and freedom. For years before he reached 
that state the elder of the two brothers realized that 
everything was not quite as it should be, but he still 
went forward, doing his best according to his light. 

The old Rector of Epworth was apparently better 
pleased with the The Holy Club than some of its 
promoters were with themselves. The old man, who 
died in 1735, did not live to see the opening of that 
great evangelical crusade we call the Revival ; but 
he was as proud as a father could be of his two sons 
who were the life and soul of the movement, so that 
his sentiments were of a somewhat sacramentarian 
order. Mr. Tyerman goes so far as to say of this 



THE HOLY CLUB 37 

Oxford movement, when its leader was thirty years 
of age : Wesley seriously contemplated the forma 
tion of a society, who should strictly observe saint 
days, holidays, and Saturdays, besides other ritualistic 
practices, down to superstitious admixture of sacra 
mental wine with water. It would even appear that 
confession was also recommended ; for Emilia Wesley 
wrote to her brother to say, All such desires in you, 
or any other ecclesiastic, seems to me like Church 
tyranny, and assuming to yourselves a dominion over 
your fellow-creatures which was never designed you 
by God. 

From time to time Wesley made excursions into 
various parts of the country, now visiting his parents 
at Epworth, or calling at Manchester to see his 
friend Clayton, who had carried to that town the 
principles of the Oxford Methodists. The fatigue 
of these journeys of the itinerant preacher, his low 
diet and frequent fastings, brought on the spitting of 
blood from which he had formerly suffered, but, by 
amending his practice, he recovered. It was also 
about this time that the practice of reading while 
travelling on horseback was commenced, to be con 
tinued for nearly forty years, or until he was obliged 
to take to a carriage on account of the infirmities 
of age. 

Meanwhile, the dying Rector of Epworth desired 
that his son John should succeed him in that living. 
Personally, John had no desire to be tied to the 
Lincolnshire parish, but, to meet his father s wishes, 
he might probably have accepted the living if 
such as Walpole, the Prime Minister, Bolingbroke, 



3 8 JOHN WESLEY 

and Gibson, Bishop of London, who between 
them seem to have had the next presentation 
under their control, had not eyed him with too 
little favour to allow of their doing Wesley a good 
turn. 



CHAPTER IV 

WESLEY IN AMERICA THE TRUE 
CHRISTIAN FAITH 

THE visit of Wesley to the great Trans-atlantic 
colony of Georgia in 1735 looks like a new 
era in his life. His father died in April, not 
having survived to see the printing of his work on 
Job, which had occupied much of the time of five 
and twenty years. The manuscript was burned when 
the Epworth rabble set the Rectory on fire, but he 
repaired the loss, in order that his fame might rest on 
this one great work, which now, however, is utterly 
neglected. 

While The Holy Club was carrying on its work 
and discipline at Oxford, James Edward Oglethorpe, 
son of a Surrey gentleman, and member of the 
House of Commons, obtained a parliamentary com 
mittee to inquire into the condition of prisons and 
prisoners in England, the result being that numbers 
of small debtors were released. It was on behalf of 
such that Oglethorpe organized a private company, 
which founded the Colony of Georgia on the Atlantic 
seaboard of North America. Named after George II., 
the king granted a charter in June, 1732, Oglethorpe, 

39 



40 JOHN WESLEY 

Dr. Burton, of Corpus Christ! College, Oxford, and 
others, having the territory handed over to them in 
trust for the poor. The enterprise was regarded 
with so much interest in England that the Bank of 
England and the House of Commons each voted 
10,000, so that when the founder went out with 
the first batch of 120 emigrants, the prospect was 
promising. The town of Savannah was founded, a 
friendly agreement with the Indians was entered 
into, presents were made to them ; and before long 
the English settlers were joined by a number of per 
secuted Protestants from Saltzburg in Germany, who 
were directed to the American haven by the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 
After a few months, Oglethorpe returned to England, 
bringing with him some native Indians, the sight of 
whom brightened the interest of the king and his 
people in the colony, the population of which was 
soon increased by a number of Scots from the 
Highlands, and by successive companies of Moravians. 
When Wesley was asked by Ogiethorpe and Dr. 
Burton to remove to that far-away land, he hesitated, 
but, encouraged, by his mother, sister, and others, he 
decided to go, though he was himself still in need of 
fuller Gospel light. My chief motive is the hope of 
saving my own soul, he wrote. I hope to learn 
the true sense of the Gospel of Christ by preaching 
it to the heathen. His brother Charles also deter 
mined to go as secretary to Oglethorpe, but went out 
as a fully ordained clergyman. The brothers left 
London in October, having for companions on the 
ship one or two old Oxford friends and a number of 



WESLEY IN AMERICA 41 

Moravians. The rigorous and laborious life com 
menced at the University was continued on the sea. 
The Christian zeal, even, accommodating temper of 
the Moravians, and their general freedom from fear 
in all kinds of weather and in other dangers, made 
a deep impression on Wesley s mind. 

On landing, Wesley settled at Savannah and his 
brother Charles at Frederica ; but space will not 
allow of details of their adventures being given at 
length. The persecution to which Charles was 
subjected, led to his returning to England after a 
few months. Mr. Quincy, the first chaplain, having 
also left, Wesley considered the whole colony to be 
his parish. He reckoned there were about seven 
hundred settlers, but his chief desire was to preach to 
the Indians. One of his parishioners at Frederica 
said that he did not know what to make of Wesley s 
religion, and that no one in the town paid any 
attention to what he said. Meanwhile, Wesley was 
able to read and expound to German settlers in their 
own tongue, and he set about learning Spanish, in 
order to be able to converse with the Jews. 

It was in Georgia that Wesley fell in love with 
Sophia Hopkey, an elegant and sprightly young girl 
who had put herself under him as an instructor, and 
who had attended him night and day in sickness. 
The appearances were that they would marry, but 
the affair took another turn, and Sophia married a 
man named Williamson, a poor creature indeed when 
compared with Wesley. God commanded me to 
pull out my right eye, and by His grace I deter 
mined to do so, he wrote, in reference to this 



4* JOHN WESLEY 

marriage ; but being slack in the execution, on 
Saturday, March 12, God being very merciful to me, 
my friend performed what I could not. No doubt 
all was wisely ordered ; for Sophia was probably 
not what her lover supposed. As an old man, nearly 
fifty years later, the great preacher of the Methodist 
Revival wrote : I remember when I read these 
words in the church at Savannah, " Son of man, 
behold I take from thee the desire of thine eyes with 
a stroke," I was pierced through as with a sword, and 
could not utter a word more. But our comfort is, 
that He who made the heart can heal the heart. 

It is vain to ask what results would have followed 
had Wesley married Sophia Hopkey. He would 
probably have remained in Georgia, and thus have 
missed taking a leading part in the Revival in 
England. If Wesley had remained in America, no 
one can tell what would have been his influence on 
the Indians, and on society in general on that conti 
nent. As it was, the ecclesiastical discipline to which 
he subjected Mrs. Williamson after her marriage 
resulted in his having to leave the country. He was 
not in his proper sphere ; he was, as it were, driven 
back to England to undertake his life work. 

When he left Georgia in December, 1737, Wesley 
was no doubt in a saved state, but he wanted more 
light before he could be an effective evangelical 
teacher. He was not at ease ; something seemed to 
be wanting. I went to America to convert the Indians, 
but oh, who shall convert me? he asked himself on 
the homeward journey ; and he was soon to have an 
answer to that momentous question. 



WESLEY IN AMERICA 43 

During Wesley s absence from England, Whitefield 
had attained to that fulness of religious freedom 
which was necessary to his becoming the great field- 
preacher of the Revival. It was reported that at one 
of his first services he had driven fifteen persons 
mad ; but Bishop Benson, to whom a complaint was 
made, hoped that the madness was of a kind which 
would continue. The effect produced by his dis 
courses at Bristol and in London was too amazing 
for description, but accounts of him and his work 
began to appear in the newspapers. When Wesley 
arrived in England at the end of January, 1738, 
Whitefield was leaving for a four months visit to 
Georgia. 

A few weeks after his return to England, both 
Wesley and his brother Charles attained to that state 
of full gospel liberty which Whitefield had already for 
some time enjoyed, and which never left them till they 
laid down the arms of their warfare. The chief 
human instrument in bringing about this change was 
Peter Boehler, a Moravian, who gave John and Charles 
Wesley that sound Scriptural teaching which was 
destined to bear abundant fruit in after days. 
Boehler s references to the subject, in a letter written 
at the time, vividly portray the brothers in their 
transition state : 

The elder, John, is a good-natured man ; he knew 
he did not properly believe on the Saviour, and was 
willing to be taught. His brother ... is at present 
very much distressed in his mind, but does not know 
how he shall begin to be acquainted with the Saviour- 
Our mode of believing in the Saviour is so easy to 



44 JOHN WESLEY 

Englishmen, that they cannot reconcile themselves to 
it ; if it were a little more artful, they would much 
sooner find their way into it. Of faith in Jesus they 
have no other idea than the generality of people have 
They justify themselves ; and therefore they always 
take it for granted that they believe already, and try 
to prove their faith by their works, and thus so plague 
and torment themselves that they are at heart very 
miserable. 

The brothers ever after considered this to be the 
date of their conversion, and at once began to give a 
clear and unmistakable testimony. John Wesley s 
famous sermon at St. Mary s, Oxford, on By grace 
are ye saved, through faith, was quite an event of the 
times ; and it was also a triumphant note which he 
continued to strike during the fifty-three years which 
followed. 

It is singular that when he came into the light of 
evangelical truth, Wesley should have taken his great 
friend, William Law, to task for having failed to teach 
him in what the Scriptural doctrine really consisted. 
For two years, more especially, I have been preaching 
after the model of your two practical treatises, he 
said ; and all that heard have allowed that the law is 
great, wonderful, and holy. But no sooner did they 
attempt to fulfil it, but they found that it is too 
high for man, and that by doing " the works of the 
law shall no flesh living be justified." 

What Wesley further confessed to the man whom 
he had regarded as a veritable apostle, may also be 
quoted for the sake of those who may be making 
similar mistakes : 



WESLEY IN AMERICA 45 

Under this heavy yoke I might have groaned 
till death, had not a holy man, to whom God lately 
directed me, upon my complaining thereof, answered 
at once, " Believe, and thou shalt be saved. Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ with all thy heart, and 
nothing shall be impossible to thee. This faith, indeed, 
as well as the salvation it brings, is the free gift of 
God. But seek, and thou shalt find. Strip thyselt 
naked of thy own works, and thy own righteousness, 
and fly to Him, For whosoever cometh unto Him, 
He will in nowise cast out." 

The change which had come over John and Charles 
Wesley that is to say, their conversion, as they would 
have emphatically called it not only greatly aston 
ished their friends, it was incomprehensible to many 
of them. 

I heartily pray God to stop the progress of this 
lunacy, wrote their brother Samuel, who was then 
master of Tiverton School. Samuel also wrote to 
Charles, and then he asked John for an explanation 
of his unintelligible assertion that he had just become 
a Christian. By a Christian, I mean one who so 
believes in Christ as that sin hath no more dominion 
over him ; and in this obvious sense of the word, I was 
not a Christian till the 24th of May last past, was the 
reply. Till then sin had dominion over me, although 
I fought with it continually ; but from that time to 
this, it hath not. Such is the free grace of God in 
Christ. If you ask me by what means I am made 
free ? I answer, by faith in Christ ; by such a sort or 
degree of faith as I had not till that day. 

Whatever friends or relatives might think or say, 



46 JOHN WESLEY 

this was decisive, though we may bear in mind that 
Wesley had not yet attained to that state of full 
spiritual health which he afterwards enjoyed. Some 
sacramentarian prejudices were still retained, while 
some other notions, borrowed from the Moravians, 
whom he now visited at Herrnhuth, seem to have 
been more enthusiastic than Scriptural. 



CHAPTER V 

BEGINNING OF THE GREAT 
REVIVAL 

A THOUGH he had not yet laid aside every weight 
which hampered him, Wesley now entered 
upon what was destined to be the great work 
of his life with the ardour of one who felt that he was 
endowed with a new nature. The Revival, in which 
he and Whitefield were to become the chief actors, 
had practically already opened with the awakening 
preaching of the latter before he embarked for 
Georgia ; but Wesley now took up the work where 
the great pioneer evangelist had, for the time, laid it 
down. After he had given his testimony at Oxford, 
Wesley preached when and where he had opportunity, 
showing preference for parish churches, as was 
naturally to be expected. The doctrines of repent 
ance, and of justification by faith alone, were so 
distasteful to many, however, that having heard them 
once they did not want to hear them again. Wesley 
thus found that in every direction churches were closed 
against him ; but now, obstacles thrown in his way 
had the effect of stimulating him to greater earnest 
ness. If the way was not opened in one direction, he 

47 



48 JOHN WESLEY 

sought it in another. When their conduct was called 
in question, John and Charles Wesley called upon the 
Bishop of London to vindicate their teaching, and 
were well received. They were not mere preachers, 
however ; for every opportunity of benefiting indi 
viduals was eagerly seized. The prisoners in Newgate, 
including malefactors condemned to the gallows, 
received spiritual attention with striking results. 

We are not to suppose that the Wesleys and 
Whitefield originated the Revival ; for that the great 
movement was of divine origin seems to be plainly 
proved by the fact that its more striking phenomena 
were not confined to one country nor to one continent. 
The awakening occurred at a number of centres, 
widely separated, at or about the same time, and just 
when vice and unbelief had become so rampant as to 
endanger the peace and well-being of the State. The 
population of the metropolis was less than three- 
quarters of a million ; but while it was given over 
to pleasure, fashion, and extravagance, London was 
also morally and spiritually so far dead that the 
lowest depth of degradation seemed to have been 
reached. The higher classes encouraged the lower 
to grovel in vicious courses until religion seemed to 
be universally neglected, while drunkenness and licen 
tiousness were too common to attract notice. Then, 
as it were, the Spirit of God breathed upon the dark 
wastes and the valley of dry bones, and immediately 
light and life began to appear. The awakening in 
Germany was as full of promise as a second Reforma 
tion. In New England, Jonathan Edwards, born in 
the same year as Wesley, was reviving the evangelical 



BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL 49 
doctrines with the most striking and far-reaching 
effects. In the Principality, Howel Harris was a 
means of reviving religion in seven counties ; he 
formed a number of societies, and in face of persistent 
persecution earned the right to be called the Apostle 
of Wales. In Scotland, in and about Kilsyth and 
Cambuslang, similar results were achieved by James 
Robe s earnest preaching, a great outpouring of God s 
Holy Spirit being very manifest. 

Such was the general outlook when great things 
were about to be achieved in England. Whitefield had 
already done much, and Wesley was being led by a 
way that he knew not to follow in that great evange 
list s steps. After his return from Georgia, Whitefield 
took to his loved employment of preaching. In the 
early part of 1739 he preached a number of sermons 
in and about London, and then set off to the west ; 
and it was through being warned by the Chancellor 
of Bristol that he must not preach in the diocese 
without a licence that an open-air service was con 
ducted at Kingswood for the benefit of the colliers. 
This field-preaching was such a startling innovation 
at that time that Whitefield was one of the select few 
who would have ventured upon it, but having com 
menced, there was nothing to do but to go boldly 
forward, especially when the success of the practice 
was of a kind which no one could have expected. 
There were two hundred working people at the first 
service ; there were two thousand at the second ; 
four thousand at the third ; and ten thousand at 
the fourth. Similar crowds were attracted at Bath, 
Cardiff, and other places. Wesley wrote to Whitefield 

D 



5 o JOHN WESLEY 

from Oxford, and the evangelist replied by urging 
his friend to proceed to Bristol at once to carry on 
the great work. Though his brother and some others 
were hardly willing for him to go, Wesley responded 
to the call, reaching Bristol on the last day of March. 
Two days later Whitefield went on his way, and in 
the afternoon of that very day, on a little eminence 
outside of Bristol,Wesley followed his friend s example 
by preaching in the open air from the prophet s 
striking words, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
etc. (Isa. Ixi. i, 2). Such was Wesley s love of order 
that he says of this time, I could scarce reconcile 
myself at first to this strange way of preaching in 
the fields. The very next letter he received from 
Whitefield opened in a way which must have been 
reassuring, however : Yesterday I began to play the 
madman in Gloucestershire by preaching on a table 
in Thornbury-street. In the main the remainder of 
1739 was spent in and about Bristol, and though 
during that time he gave some five hundred sermons, 
those he preached in churches could be counted on 
the fingers. The work did not go forward without 
violent opposition or persecution, however, the rabble 
being encouraged by those above them. Not only 
all manner of evil was spoken ot us, both in public 
and private, but the breasts of the people were stirred 
up almost in all places to knock these mad dogs on 
the head at once, says Wesley, who adds that, when 
complaint was made of their savage, brutal conduct, 
no magistrate would do us justice. 

It is to this period that the adventure with Beau 
Nash properly belongs, an adventurer who ranked as 



BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL 51 

King of Bath/ and whose biography was written by 
Oliver Goldsmith. The Bath, as the picturesque 
western city was then called, was the chief resort of 
the aristocracy and of fashionable grandees, and by 
universal consent Nash was recognized as Master of 
the Ceremonies. The son of a Welsh manufacturer 
his wild character in youth brought about his expul 
sion from the University of Oxford ; but when encoun 
tered by Wesley he had reigned as King of Bath 
without a rival for more than a third of a century. 
By going about in a coach drawn by six horses with 
outriders and heralds, Nash assumed the state of a 
local monarch, and not liking Wesley s visit in the 
capacity of an evangelist, the head of the gambling 
and dancing fraternity resolved to appear on the 
ground, and if possible to stop the service. On this 
becoming known the congregation was larger than it 
would otherwise have been, including some of the 
fashionable visitors. 

When he came up to the spot where the evangelist 
had taken his stand, Nash, seated in his imperial- 
looking chariot, asked Wesley how he dared to act as 
he was then doing. The preacher showed that he 
was a fully ordained clergyman of the Established 
Church. But this is a conventicle, and contrary to 
Act of Parliament, objected the Beau. No, conven 
ticles are seditious meetings, but here is no sedition ; 
therefore it is not contrary to Act of Parliament, 
was the preacher s reply. I say it is, said Nash, 
who went on to show that such services frightened 
people out of their wits. Sir, did you ever hear me 
preach ? asked Wesley, who on having an answer in 



52 JOHN WESLEY 

the negative, asked again, How, then, can you judge 
of what you never heard ? I judge by common 
report, said the Beau. Common report is not 
enough, Wesley added, who, when the intruder 
admitted that his name was Nash, quickly retorted, 
Sir, I dare not judge of you by common report. At 
last the King of Bath, seeing that he was getting 
the worst of it, went off, and Wesley never encoun 
tered him again. 

Meanwhile, the work went forward in a wonderful 
way, and not only were large numbers converted, the 
Word was frequently attended by what were called 
outward signs. Thus, on July 7, 1739, Wesley 
wrote, I had an opportunity to talk with Mr. White- 
field of those outward signs which had so often 
accompanied the inward work of God. I found his 
objections were chiefly grounded on gross misrepre 
sentations of matters of fact. But the next day he 
had an opportunity of informing himself better ; for 
(in the application of his sermon to invite all sinners 
to believe in Christ) four persons sank down close 
to him, almost in the same moment. One of them 
lay without either sense or motion. A second 
trembled exceedingly. The third had strong con 
vulsions all over his body, but made no noise, unless 
by groans. The fourth, equally convulsed, called 
upon God with strong cries and tears. From this 
time, I trust, we shall all suffer God to carry on His 
own work in the way that pleaseth Him. 

These mysterious occurrences belong for the most 
part to the early days of the Revival, and Bristol, 
during Wesley s months of labour there in the year 



BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL 53 

1739, was tne place where they were chiefly observed. 
The preachers way of looking at the matter was 
consistent with common sense, while the way in 
which such writers as Isaac Taylor and Southey 
attempt to account for them is beside the mark- 
altogether. The subject is a solemn and mysterious 
one, but want of space will preclude the striking 
details being given. 

Thus, through the grace of God, Wesley was 
master of the situation, though his uncommon fer 
vour or earnestness was put down to enthusiasm. 
The mysterious phenomena just referred to were also 
urged against him by interested objectors ; but 
happy in his work, Wesley was full of earnestness. 
A change also came over Mrs. Wesley similar to 
that which had taken place in his own heart, so that 
the great evangelist had the joy of having his mother 
on his side, agreeing with all that he did. Wesley s 
elder brother, Samuel, now in the closing days of his 
life, expressed exceeding concern and grief at the 
turn things had taken. Is it not enough that I am 
bereft of both my brothers, but must my mother 
lollow too ? he wrote. They are already forbid all 
the pulpits in London ; and to preach in that diocese 
is actual schism, he added. In all likelihood it will 
come to the same all over England, if the bishops 
have courage enough. They leave off the liturgy 
in the fields ; though Mr. Whitefield expresses his 
admiration for it, he never once read it to his tatter 
demalions on a common. In less than a month after 
giving these mistaken views, Samuel Wesley passed 
away in full assurance of his own interest in Christ. 



54 JOHN WESLEY 

Meanwhile, the evangelical movement developed 
in a way which was no less striking than encourag 
ing, and which could not have been foreseen. Charles 
Wesley, who at first was disposed to be more con 
servative than others, was himself soon found in the 
open air, preaching to vast congregations on Ken 
nington Common or at Moorfields. But though the 
crowds attracted were such as no building would 
accommodate, the need of buildings naturally became 
pressing. Whitefield s school at Kingswood and the 
meeting-place at Horsefair, Bristol, were first erected, 
and quite unexpectedly Wesley found himself re 
sponsible for the cost, and this led to his vesting 
with trustees his own chapels during his lifetime. 

The Evangelical Revival soon became a great 
movement in itself, and, disowned by the main body 
of the clergy, and separated from his former friends, 
the Moravians, whose meeting was in Fetter Lane, 
Wesley and his followers realized the need of having 
suitable headquarters in London. Accordingly, soon 
after his return from Bristol in November, 1739, he 
writes, I preached at eight to five or six thousand, 
on the spirit of bondage and the spirit of adoption ; 
and at five in the evening to seven or eight thousand 
in the place which had been the King s Foundery for 
cannon. In consequence of a disastrous accident 
which occurred early in the reign of George I., this 
rambling old place the precursor of the present 
Wesley s Chapel had been an untenanted ruin for 
about twenty years. The accommodation included 
the large meeting-room, apartments for Wesley and 
others, in which his mother died, a school, and a 



BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL 55 

book-room, coachhouse, stable, yard, and a pleasant 
walled garden. The cost of the entire establishment 
was only about .800. The regular Sunday services 
attracted great crowds, as did the meeting at five 
o clock a.m. ; the class meetings were held there, and 
a school was established, of whom the well-known 
Silas Told became the first teacher. Told left some 
valuable reminiscences of life in those times, and 
among these is a reference to a five o clock in the 
morning service at the Foundery in June, 1740: 
When we entered the place, I was tempted to gaze 
about me, and, finding it a ruinous place, I began to 
think it answered the report given of it. ... Exactly 
at five a whisper was conveyed through the congre 
gation, " Here he comes." I was filled with curiosity 
to see his person, which, when I beheld, I much 
despised. . . . His text was, " I write unto you, little 
children, because your sins are forgiven you." . . . 
Under this sermon God sealed the truth to my heart. 
In the early part of 1740 the ruinous old place was 
restored, and there John and Charles Wesley and 
others preached the Gospel during forty years. The 
early custom was for men and women to sit apart. 
Then, as Wesley says, None were suffered to call 
any place their own ; but the first comers sat down 
first. They had no pews ; and all the benches for 
rich and poor were of the same construction. The 
building, with its pantile roof and pulpit of rough 
boards, was uncouth both within and without ; but 
the effect of its services extended to the ends of the 
country. Thus early we find Howel Harris coming 
up from Wales to visit the Foundery, and there 



56 JOHN WESLEY 

kneeling in prayer with Wesley and John Cennick, 
the first lay-preacher of Methodism. 

The work at Bristol went forward, the new room 
being a centre of attraction, although converted 
colliers and others became subjects of persecution. 
During the terribly severe winter of 1739-40, when 
hundreds were thrown out of work by the frost, 
Wesley set an example by making collections to feed 
the hungry. There was a riot at Kingswood on 
account of the high price of bread, but that was 
allayed by Charles Wesley selecting a number of 
converts, all singing as they marched to the new room 
to hold a prayer-meeting. Some time later the meet 
ing-house was surrounded by a howling vindictive mob 
which had been set against Wesley by false reports. 

At the same time much anxiety was felt on 
account of the work consequent on the disputes with, 
and separation from, the Moravians, who seem to have 
considered themselves the chief agents of the Revival. 
Wesley had been one of the original members of the 
society at Fetter Lane, founded May i, 1738 ; he had 
for some time attended their meetings, and had 
shown great interest in the society. The disputes 
concerning doctrines to be believed now ran high, 
however, and Wesley took a bold stand by preaching 
against the prevailing errors, such as Weak faith is 
no faith/ and , that there is only one commandment 
in the New Testament, namely "To believe/" etc. 
These discourses were followed by others on Christian 
faith and practice, exposing the manifest errors 
to which the Moravians had yielded. The com 
motion increased, but the separation was complete. 



BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL 57 

Other disputes followed, including those relating to 
doctrines which led to the separation between Wesley 
and Whitefield, so that the year becomes like a line 
of division, parting those who had hitherto worked 
together in unison. 

In 1740, the first watch-night meeting was held. 
The man who first proposed that such a meeting 
should be held was one James Rogers, a collier of 
Kingswood. He was converted under the ministry 
of Charles Wesley, and he had enjoyed some local 
renown as a violinist, but when the change occurred 
he forthwith placed his violin on the fire, and told his 
wife that he was going to be a Methodist. Tyerman 
says that this was one of the most eventful years in 
Wesley s life There was a full and final separation 
from the Moravians ; there was the separate organiza 
tion of the Methodist Society at Moorfields ; and 
there was the controversy with Whitefield. 



CHAPTER VI 
SOME OF WESLEY S HELPERS 

SILAS TOLD was one of the oldest of Wesley s 
helpers, and he is said to have been a man 
of good understanding, although not much 
indebted to education. A native of Bristol, and 
born in 1711, Told himself tells us that his family 
was well-to-do in the world, but that they practically 
lost their property through a dishonest housekeeper, 
who gained possession of deeds and papers to destroy 
them when she found that she was unable to turn 
them to her own account. Told s father was a 
physician at Bristol, who might have done well ; but 
being a great schemer, or, as we should now say, 
speculator, he came to grief, and died at sea on a 
vessel on which he had served as surgeon. Being 
but slenderly provided for, and having several 
brothers and sisters, Silas was admitted to Colston s 
school, where he was well treated. While living near 
Kingswood, near Bristol, he made a companion of a 
sister named Dulcybella, and he gives this character 
istic anecdote of their early adventures : 

Once, when we were very young, we wandered 
58 



SILAS TOLD 59 

into Kingswood, and lost ourselves in the woods, and 
were in the utmost consternation lest we should be 
devoured by the wild beasts ; but quickly the kind 
providence of God permitted a large dog to come 
behind us ; although no house was within a mile, yet 
the dog drove us clear out of the wood to a place we 
knew, and never barked at us ! And when we now 
looked round to behold the dog, he was not to be 
seen. Being heedless, we wandered again into the 
woods, and were a second time bewildered, and in 
greater perplexity than before, when, on a sudden, 
looking around, we beheld the same dog making 
towards us, and he came directly upon us ; and we, 
being much terrified, ran from him, until we got a 
second time into our knowledge ; nor did he leave 
us till we were driven by him where we could 
not run into any more labyrinths. I then turned 
about to look for the dog, but saw no more of him, 
although we were upon an open common. Surely 
this was the Lord s doing, and it is marvellous in 
our eyes. 

At the age of fourteen, Silas was apprenticed to 
the sea, and went through a good deal of suffering. 
He particularly mentions a destructive hurricane, 
followed by a plague of sickness, which afflicted 
Jamaica ; and the young sailor himself was in a 
condition very similar to that of Job when he lay 
down to die, as he thought, on a dunghill at Kingston. 
He gives a number of striking particulars of adven 
tures on sea and land during his sailor life, especially 
of his once being wrecked on an inhabited island 
without a shred of clothing to cover him. At the 



60 JOHN WESLEY 

age of twenty-five he gave up the sea, married, and 
settled in London. 

He now wished to lead a regular life ; but through 
observing that people who went to church differed 
in no good sense from those who stayed away, he 
concluded that religion was a mere farce. He then 
got the appointment of schoolmaster at Staplefort 
Tawney, Essex, the stipend being 14 a year, with 
whatever he could make extra from day-scholars. 
I soon raised a considerable school, and sent to 
London for my wife and all my goods, he says. 
The founder of this charity, Lady Luther, befriended 
him in other ways, for he adds : The lady invited me 
three days in the week, with the curate of the parish, 
to dine with her ; and every other day, if I thought 
proper, to accompany the servants at their dinner 
in Knaves Hall, as they termed it. He was charmed 
with the advantages of his new situation as contrasted 
with the hardships of the sea. His chief companion 
was the curate of the church a too common repre 
sentative character of curates in those days before 
the coming on of the Great Revival. 

The curate of the parish frequently called upon 
me, decoyed me to his lodgings, about three miles 
from the school, to join him in smoking and drinking. 
He also pressed me to sing him a sea-song ; and I 
was generally detained so very late at night that 
I could scarcely find my way home. Once, as the 
curate and myself were going from Lady Luther s 
over the fields to my school, I took the liberty to 
quote some passages of Scripture, relating to our 
immoral proceedings. My guide laughed heartily, 



SILAS TOLD 61 

and said, " Told, are you so great a blockhead as to 
believe the Scripture ? It is nothing but a pack of 
poor stuff." This surprised me much, and from that 
time I separated myself from his company ; and God, 
in His providence, disunited me from those dead 
Christians. 

He left the school through some disagreement 
about gathering wood for fuel, and returned to 
London and worked as a clerk, chiefly to a bricklayer 
in the city. It was while in this situation that he 
first came in direct contact with one of the early 
Methodists. 

A young man, who was a bricklayer, came and 
asked me if I could help him to business. I answered 
him roughly, which he received with great meekness. 
This struck me with surprise. I then called him back, 
and desired him to wait on a certain master-brick 
layer the next evening, who, I believed, could find 
him employment. He went accordingly, and the 
gentleman admitted him into his service. This 
young man was a happy instrument of leading me 
out of darkness into God s marvellous light. 

Silas Told did not at this time like the Methodists, 
and he sometimes cursed and swore at his young 
friend just mentioned for being one ; but he was 
prevailed upon to attend one of Wesley s services at 
the Foundery, and though his wife was at first much 
opposed to him, he became a changed character. 

We learn from Silas Told s narrative that as a 
married man he once had no more than ten shillings 
a week to live upon. He married in 1/37, but seven 
years later he was left a widower with one daughter. 



62 JOHN WESLEY 

His circumstances then improved, and he procured 
a situation at Wapping, where his services were 
greatly valued, so that, as he tells us, when it was 
proposed by Mr. Wesley that he should accept the 
post of schoolmaster at the Foundery, there was grief 
on both sides, for he had not been more than a few 
months at Wapping. 

The day after, I was established at the Foundery 
School, and in the space of a few weeks collected 
three score boys and six girls, he says ; but the 
society, being poor, could not grant me more than ten 
shillings per week. This, however, was sufficient for 
me, as they boarded and clothed my daughter. 
Having the children under my care from five in the 
morning till five in the evening, both winter and 
summer, sparing no pains, with the assistance of an 
usher and four monitors, I brought near forty of them 
into writing and arithmetic. I continued in the 
school seven years and three months, and discharged 
two hundred and seventy-five boys, most of whom 
were fit for any trade. 

It would now be thought to be a hard discipline 
for boys and girls to have to be at a five o clock in the 
morning service, but these hardy youngsters seemed 
to thrive in school, and prosper afterwards. It was 
after hearing Wesley preach at one of these services, 
some references being made to prison visitation, that 
a new scene opened in Silas Told s life. 

He resolved that he would visit the prisoners in 
Newgate, and it happened that there were then ten 
malefactors in the prison under sentence of death, and 
Lancaster, the chief of these, who with seven others 



SILAS TOLD 63 

was executed seven days after, became a wonderful 
example of converting grace. Thus, at the time of 
his execution, he exhorted the populace to forsake 
their sins, pressed them to come to the throne of 
grace immediately, assuring them that they would 
find God gracious and merciful to forgive them, as He 
had forgiven him. 

Told remarks : This was the first time of my 
visiting the malefactors at Newgate, and of my at 
tending them to the place of execution ; and it was 
not without much shame, because I perceived the 
greater part of the populace considered me as one of 
the sufferers. We learn how the surgeons mob 
hung about the gallows at Tyburn to seize the bodies, 
if possible, for dissection ! Lancaster s body was so 
seized ; but a party of sailors followed to Paddington, 
and having gained possession of it, carried it through 
Islington to Shoreditch, until, too weary to go further, 
they laid the body on a doorstep, and went their way. 
Without themselves being aware of the fact, they 
laid the corpse on the threshold of the house of Lan 
caster s mother ! 

Told preached to the felons and debtors in New 
gate until there was a society of thirty-six members, 
while he also visited about all the towns in the present 
twelve miles radius. For a time, while thus working 
for others, he was under a cloud himself, until one 
day he seemed to see a kind of heavenly vision, and 
the trouble was lifted from his mind. 

The work in Newgate could only be carried on in 
face of much opposition from the officials, and also 
from the prisoners themselves. The Ordinary 



64 JOHN WESLEY 

constantly, on Sunday morning, stationed himself a few 
doors from Newgate, for the space of two hours and 
more, to obstruct my entrance, he says, forbidding 
all the turnkeys to give me admittance ; yet the God 
of all compassion frequently made an entrance for 
me, so that I had an opportunity of preaching every 
Sunday morning on the debtors side, to the number 
of forty prisoners, who behaved with much serious 
ness and attention. 

Newgate was then a dreadful centre of infection, 
the so-called gaol-fever being typhus of a most deadly 
kind ; but Silas Told was above all fear. During the 
space of time between the several executions, he says, 
1 1 frequently preached and exhorted among the felons 
and debtors in Newgate, and constantly visited the 
sick in all parts of the prison ; which I have reason 
to believe was blessed, in a great measure, to many 
of their souls ; as numbers were prepared to receive 
the glad tidings of salvation when under sentence of 
death. 

The atrocities or judicial murders that were com 
mitted in the name of justice were a disgrace to the 
nation. The hanging of Dr. Dodd, though his crime 
hurt nobody and caused nobody any loss or hardship, 
was yet legal, and happened about two years before 
Told died ; but the condemnation to death of four 
gentlemen of high position for a mere drunken freak 
after a dinner at Chelmsford, showed how crimes could 
still be committed in the name of law. Three out of 
the four were actually hanged, and the fourth, named 
Morgan, was respited through the earnest importunity 
with the king of the young woman of high social station 



JOHN NELSON 65 

to whom he was engaged to be married. Many other 
characters Told met with in Newgate were more or less 
remarkable, either personally or in connection with 
the circumstances of their crimes, real or imaginary. 
One man, who was hanged for cheating his creditors, 
had 5000 in bank notes in his possession in New 
gate ! A more atrocious case of hanging an innocent 
woman was that of Mary Edmonson, charged with the 
murder of her aunt, but who was clearly quite innocent 
of the crime. Equally shocking was the case of a 
man named Anderson, who, driven to desperation by 
hunger, and having a wife and family to whom he 
was tenderly attached, asked two women in Hoxton- 
fields for money, and they, after giving him sixpence 
between them, accused him of robbery, and he was 
hanged. Told and his wife afterwards befriended 
this man s widow. He also attended many others 
whose cases were more or less striking, including the 
notorious Mrs. Brownrigg, in 1767, who murdered her 
apprentice girl. All of Told s labours at Newgate 
and elsewhere showed what an indefatigable Christian 
worker an early Methodist could become. He died 
in 1779, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

The Journal of the Yorkshire stonemason, John 
Nelson, does not contain so many curiosities of the 
times as that of Silas Told ; but in Nelson we see a 
man of great physical strength, who out of working 
hours preached the Gospel with a devotion not to be 
surpassed. 

In early life he had strange thoughts and frightful 
dreams, and though he wished to be right he could 





66 JOHN WESLEY 

not see things as the Bible showed them. Alter 
hearing Whitefield preach in Moorfields, he said to 
himself, If things be so, I am no more a Christian 
than the devil. He was more taken with Wesley 
than Whitefield, however, but passed through a time 
of trial and sifting before he found rest and peace. 

Nelson was no doubt a man with a good deal of 
the animal in him, one who before his conversion went 
to lengths in gross sins which invariably leave a 
sting behind. His devotion to the cause when he 
became a travelling preacher was very striking, and 
his adventures would form the groundwork of a very 
good romance. His adventures were frequently of 
a perilous kind. He would at one time have to con 
front a drunken mob led by a clergyman ; at times 
he would be benighted in the wilder parts of York 
shire and Lincolnshire, finding it difficult to get a 
lodging, and once he was followed for a long distance 
by a mad dog. He was also opposed by Noncon 
formists as well as the Church ; but he went straight 
forward, hewing stone in the daytime and preaching 
every night. 

It was through the clergyman at Adwalton that 
he was pressed for a soldier and went through much 
ill-usage, all because he preached what his persecutors 
called a new religion. He was ever cheered by 
his wife s strong faith, and by the sympathy of his 
own people. When in charge of the military officers 
he declared he would never fight, and reproved them 
for using bad language. He was at length discharged 
by order of Lord Stair, through the influence of 
friends in London, on July 29, 1744. Wesley was 



CHRISTOPHER HOPPER 67 

so well satisfied with Nelson s bearing under trial 
that he sent him word, God had work for you to do 
which you knew not of, and thus His counsel was to 
be fulfilled. 

Great apprehension was felt when the Young 
Pretender landed in 1745 with a view of gaining the 
crown for his father, both father and son being as 
worthless as their predecessors of the preceding 
century who actually reigned. When the danger 
had passed, Nelson reports : At almost every place 
where I came to preach mobs were raised, as if they 
determined to kill me and all God s children, in a 
kind of thanksgiving, because the rebels were con 
quered. He lived to see the cause triumphant, 
however, and during the twenty years ending with 
1770 he laboured as a regular preacher in the northern 
and western counties. He died at the age of sixty- 
seven, in 1774, and his wife, who was two years older, 
survived him only a few weeks. 

The son of a farmer, Christopher Hopper was 
a native of Ryton, Durham, and was born on Christ 
mas Day, 1722. He was soon left fatherless ; but he 
had the advantage of some Christian teaching in his 
youth, as it was then that the great preachers of 
the Revival set out on their great enterprise. Some 
of his reminiscences at this time afford us a glimpse 
of what the evangelical preaching was, and also ol 
the way in which it was received by the people 
at large. 

In May, 1742, we heard a strange story about 
a Church clergyman, that had been at Newcastle- 



68 JOHN WESLEY 

upon-Tyne, and had preached in Sandgate to many 
thousands, who had heard him with astonishment. 
This new thing made a huge noise. The populace 
entertained various conjectures about him ; but few, 
if any, could tell the motive on which he came, or 
the end he had in view. He made a short blaze, 
soon disappeared, and left us in a great consternation 

Some time after, his brother Charles came, and 
preached at Tanfield Cross. I ran with the multitude 
to hear this strange preacher : when I saw a man in a 
clergyman s habit, preaching at a public cross to a 
large auditory, some gaping, some laughing, and 
some weeping, I wondered what this could mean. 
When he had concluded, some said, " He is a good 
man, and is sent to reform our land ; " others said, 
" Nay, he is come to pervert and deceive us, and we 
ought to stone him out of our coasts." I said, " If he 
is a good man, good will be done, and it is plain we 
want a reformation ; but if he is an impostor, he can 
only leave us as he found us, that is, without hope 
and without God in the world." I cannot tell what 
induced me to go so far ; but I found I was in danger 
of being called a Methodist, and was glad to dismiss 
the conversation with a smile and a piece of drollery. 

Though he wished to reform and lead what he 
called a good life, Hopper thought it would be more 
prudent to oppose the new way as the evangelical 
teaching of the New Testment was called, so utterly 
dead to comprehend the Scripture, had even the 
ordinary Christian teachers become. A soliloquy of 
Hopper s sufficiently explained the ordinary way, 
which even many serious persons accepted as being 



CHRISTOPHER HOPPER 69 

alone consistent with common sense. I will read my 
Bible, say my prayers, go to my parish church, reform 
my life, and be good and pious, without the scandal 
of the Cross. 

The great change soon came, however, and 
Hopper became one of Wesley s first local preachers. 
In the year 1744, I taught a school at Barlow in the 
parish of Ryton, he tells us. My time was employed 
six days in teaching the children under my care the 
branches of learning I proposed, and the first 
principles of Christianity. I spent every Sabbath 
and all my vacant hours in preaching, reading, pray 
ing, visiting the sick, and conversing with all that 
Providence put in my way. God was with me, and 
blessed my weak labours. Sinners were converted, 
believers multiplied, and my soul rejoiced in God my 
Saviour. 

There were three persons to whom the convert s 
work was objectionable Satan, the Rector of Ryton, 
and his curate, and these headed an opposition 
which gave first hard words, and then hard blows. 
He was summoned into the spiritual court at Durham 
for teaching a school without a licence, and for other 
irregularities. That trouble soon blew over, however, 
such actions always being risky, because George II. 
had once declared that he would not have any such 
persecution in his kingdom. A favourite plan then 
was to press the preachers for service in the army. 
They came at last to think that there was no law 
for them in England ; but that was a mistake. The 
grievance lay not in law, but in law-breaking parsons 
and magistrates who encouraged the mobs, and who 



70 JOHN WESLEY 

in some instances, when they found themselves in the 
court of King s Bench, paid dear for their treason to 
their office and the Gospel. While preaching around 
Newcastle and elsewhere, Hopper was at times in 
great danger ; sometimes being wounded with the 
missiles of the mob. So ardent was he in the work 
that he gave up his school in order the more un 
trammelled to carry on his work of a preacher, thus 
risking his chances of livelihood. At times he would 
rise above earthly cares ; at other times he was much 
depressed at the prospect of increasing poverty and 
hardship. I well remember, he says, once on the 
top of a cold mountain in a violent storm of snow, 
when the congealed flakes covered me with a white 
mantle, Satan assaulted me, and pushed me hard to 
return to my school, or some other business to procure 
bread. I staggered through unbelief, and almost 
yielded to the tempter. But as the attack was 
sudden, so the battle was soon over. The Lord 
sent these words to my heart like lightning, " When 
I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked 
ye anything ? and they said, Nothing." I answered 
with a loud voice, " Nothing, Lord ! Nothing, Lord ! " 
All my doubts and fears vanished in a moment ; and 
I went on my way rejoicing. 

In 1750 he visited Wales and Ireland in company 
with Wesley, who had now become so accustomed to 
little accidents on the road that he appears to have 
thought little of them. On this occasion his mare 
went down more than once, and threw him over her 
head ; but without any hurt to man or beast. A 
greater trial was the profane company on the vessel 



CHRISTOPHER HOPPER 7* 

between Holyhead and Ireland. Thus, one Griffith, 
a clumsy, hard-faced man, saluted us with a volley of 
ribaldry, obscenity, and blasphemy ; but God stopped 
his mouth, and he was confounded. Their adventures 
in Ireland also revealed the kind of men who were 
doing the work. Once Hopper and some others landed 
from a fishing-boat twenty miles from Cork a wild 
shore offering no signs of a lodging until in quite an 
extraordinary manner a farmer of the district invited 
them to his house. 

His wife died of a fever in 1755, and soon after 
a fever brought Hopper himself to the brink of the 
grave ; but he recovered. In 1759 he married a 
second time, when he found himself in a pleasant 
situation, with all things to make life easy and 
comfortable. Now occurred a fair opportunity to 
step into the world. But the preacher was not suffered 
to do that ; for he had work in hand which would 
bring far more gain in the end than all the shops in 
Newcastle. 

The record of Hopper s adventures in preach 
ing would have read like a romance. The preachers, 
including Wesley himself, were stout believers in the 
retributions of Providence overtaking their persecutors. 
Hopper tells of something that happened at Durham 
in the spring or early summer of 1761, while he was 
preaching in a field to a large congregation. A 
gentleman, so called, employed a base man to strip 
himself naked, swim through the river to disturb the 
hearers ; but a good woman soon hissed him off the 
stage, so he was glad to return by the way he came, 
with much disgrace. Mr. John Greenwood informed 



72 JOHN WESLEY 

me afterwards that the very gentleman who en 
couraged the poor wretch above mentioned was some 
time after found drowned in the same river. One of 
the last things which mistaken Churchmen were 
able to do at Manchester was to bring out the fire- 
engine ; but all such opposition soon ended in failure. 

Hopper was born on Christmas Day, 1722, but 
aUer the alteration in the style he was wont to keep 
his birthday on January 5. While he was preaching 
a funeral sermon for John Wesley, in March, 1791, a 
false alarm, similar to that which led to the disastrous 
panic in the Surrey Music Hall during Spurgeon s 
first service there, led to a great panic. "The gallery 
is coming down ! " This dreadful cry struck the 
whole congregation with a panic ; all was in con 
fusion. The people came downstairs one over 
another. Some came over the gallery, others through 
the windows. 

Eleven years after his great leader, almost to a 
day, on March 5, 1802, this itinerant preacher also 
entered into rest. 

Thomas Mitchell was another of the band, who 
was born in 1726, and in his earlier days he was 
greatly indebted to the preaching of Grimshaw. 
When Mitchell thought to volunteer as a preacher, 
he called upon the vicar, when the latter said, If you 
are sent of God to preach the Gospel, all hell will be 
up in arms against you. Prepare for the battle, and 
stand fast in the good ways of God. Indeed, you 
must not expect to gain much of this world s goods 
by preaching the Gospel. What you get must come 



THOMAS MITCHELL 73 

through the devil s teeth ; and he will hold it as fast 
as he can. I count every covetous man to be one of 
the devil s teeth. And he will let nothing go, for 
God and His cause, but what is forced from him. 

There was no exaggeration in Grimshaw s way of 
stating the matter. Some of the worst of the riots 
which occurred in those days against the preachers 
were instigated by the squires, and were often led on 
by a clergyman or his curate. Thus, the curate of 
Guiseley once headed a mob, when, after being 
pelted with eggs, he was pulled down. When 
another preacher came, he was treated in a similar 
way, his clothes being torn off, so that lying on his 
naked back he could be dragged along the sharp 
gravel. It was my turn to go next, says Mitchell. 
No sooner was I at the town than the mob came, 
like so many roaring lions. My friends advised me 
not to preach that night ; and undertook to carry me 
out of the town. But the mob followed me in a 
great rage, and stoned me for near two miles, so that 
it was several weeks before I got well of the bruises 
I then received. His adventures were of the most 
varied kind. In one place I met with a mob of 
women, who put me into a pond of water, which took 
me nearly over my head, he says ; but by the bless 
ing of God I got out safe, and walked about three 
miles in my wet clothes ; but I catched no cold. 1 
All this time he found encouragement in the example 
and advice of good Mr. Grimshaw. 

In some instances, the defenders of the preachers 
showed that they were not to be trifled with, and law 
breakers learned that discretion was the better part 



74 JOHN WESLEY 

of valour. Hence, says Mitchell, As I was preach 
ing in a certain village in the Fen, the mob came 
into the house, and broke through the congregation, 
in order to pull me down ; but the good woman of 
the house took me into the parlour, and stood in the 
door with a great kitchen poker in her hand, and told 
the mob, the first man who came near the door, she 
would knock him down. 

The frequent extreme poverty of the travelling 
preachers was not their least striking characteristic. 
Thus, at Berwick-on-Tweed, he encountered a poor 
woman carrying a child on her way into Scotland. 
1 The woman of the house asked her to come in, and 
gave her some tea She seemed to be very poor, and 
wanted help. But as I had only ninepence, and had 
thirty miles to ride the next day, I thought I could 
not spare her anything ; but after she had got the 
child again on her back, and was setting off, my 
heart pitied her, so I gave her sixpence out of my 
little stock, and had threepence left. But I trusted 
in God s providence, and knew that He would provide 
for me. After preaching the next morning, a poor 
soldier put two shillings into my hand. So God 
rewarded me fourfold. 

He sometimes accompanied Wesley on the road, 
and he was the first Methodist preacher to conduct a 
service at Rye, in Sussex. He was also the first to 
teach the preacher-hunters in those parts the true spirit 
of English law. After being badly used, he served 
several of the ringleaders with writs, which so struck 
terror into their hearts, that they gladly paid all 
charges. I found a thankful heart, he says, for a 



PETER JACO 75 

good king, good laws, and liberty of conscience. 
Mitchell was not a man of any exceptional abilities, 
nor had he enjoyed any great educational advantages, 
but he was much respected as a man of courage and 
faith in the common cause. At the London Con 
ference, the question as to who had died was asked 
year after year, and in 1785 the names included, 
Thomas Mitchell, an old soldier of Jesus Christ. 

Peter Jaco, born in Cornwall in 1729, and ap 
pointed to the Manchester Circuit in 1754, died in 
1781, at the age of fifty-two. He had been the 
subject of serious impressions from his youth, and in 
time became one of the most enthusiastic of evange 
lists, who in the van of the Revival encountered 
hardship and danger for the work s sake. In refer 
ence to hardships and struggles, he says : In some 
places the work was to begin ; and in most places, 
being in its infancy, we had hardly the necessaries of 
life ; so that after preaching three or four times a day, 
and riding thirty or forty miles, I have often been 
thankful for a little clean straw, with a canvas sheet 
to lie on. Very frequently we had also violent 
oppositions. At Warrington, I was struck so violently 
with a brick on the breast, that the blood gushed out 
through my mouth, nose, and ears. At Grampound 
I was pressed for a soldier, kept under a strong guard 
for several days, without meat or drink, but what I 
was obliged to procure at a large expense ; and 
threatened to have my feet tied under the horse s belly 
while I was carried eight miles before the commis 
sioners ; and though I was honourably acquitted by 



76 JOHN WESLEY 

them, yet it cost me a pretty large sum of money, as 
well as much trouble. 
Thus having 

* Steadfast in all the storms of life remained, 
And in the good old ship the haven gained, 

his remains lie among those of others of Wesley s 
preachers at Wesley s Chapel. 

The most extended memoir of any of those who 
are ranked among Wesley s preachers is that of 
Thomas Walsh, who had not reached thirty years of 
age when he died in 1/58. A native of Ireland, he 
preached to the natives in their own tongue, while he 
was also an excellent Hebrew and Greek scholar- 
He was a very earnest student of Scripture, and 
believed that young men who might life to be old 
would see some of the things foretold by the prophet 
Daniel. As a convert from Romanism, in which he 
had been reared, he spoke with great authority and 
power, as he went through the land almost like a 
flaming seraph. 



CHAPTER VII 

WORK AND PROGRESS, MOBS AND 
OUTRAGES THE YOUNG PRE 
TENDER 

AT this early stage of the Revival it must have 
been evident to its most sanguine friends 
that the great movement would have its 
martyrs. The honour of being the proto-martyr is 
accorded to William Seward, who had accompanied 
Whitefield to Georgia, and who in 1741 was travelling 
with Howel Harris through Glamorganshire. At 
different places the preachers were pelted, and at Hay 
Seward received a blow on the head which caused his 
death. Rough and dangerous adventure was becoming 
a very commonplace thing, however. Thus, after 
preaching five times in and about Bristol and Bath on 
July II, Charles Wesley says, Satan took it ill to be 
attacked in his headquarters that Sodom of our 
land Bath. He raged horribly in his children. 
They went out and came back again, and mocked, 
and at last roared, as if each man s name had been 
legion. More trying even than such opposition were 
the differences respecting doctrine between such as 
Whitefield, Cennick, and others, and the Wesleys, 

77 



78 JOHN WESLEY 

while the falling away and expulsion of some of the 
first members of the Society at Bristol showed how 
the gold might become dim. It was the separation 
of the evangelists into two distinct bodies that led 
to the erection of the Tabernacle at Moorfields for 
Whitefield s congregation. We are not to look upon 
the leaders in the Revival as opponents, however. 
Wesley and Whitefield henceforth were divided, and 
yet united, says Tyerman. Each pursued his own 
different course; but their hearts were one. Their 
creeds were different, but not their aims. 

When Wesley and his brother stood more alone, 
the converts they were gathering around them 
became more completely organized. In Bristol the 
converts appear to have met in companies in different 
parts of the town for common edification, and that 
led to the establishment of classes and class-leaders. 
Then London followed in the wake of Bristol ; for at 
the opening of 1742, Wesley had a following in 
London of some eleven hundred members. Thus, it 
was impossible for him to give them proper pastoral 
oversight, and assistance was indispensable. Then 
in proportion as the converts increased, other teachers 
and preachers were needed, and suitable men to take 
up the work seemed to be raised up at the right time. 
Hence we meet with Cennick and Humphreys, who 
afterwards became more disposed to follow Whitefield ; 
Maxfield and Nelson, Westall and Richards, and 
others. When Maxfield, by his rare powers and 
unequalled ardour, gathered crowds around him, and 
numbered many converts, Wesley was at first disposed 
to stop the practice as irregular ; but his mother 



WORK AND PROGRESS 79 

warned him that Maxwell was as surely called of God 
to the work as he was himself. Wesley yielded to 
the force of this reasoning, and came round to see that 
the preaching of such was no more irregular than his 
own services in the open air. It was about the same 
time that he defended his out-door services in a way 
that opponents must have found it difficult to answer. 
4 Are there not churches enough to preach in ? No, 
my friend, there are not, not for us to preach in. You 
forget, we are not suffered to preach there, else we 
should prefer them to any place whatever. Well, 
there are ministers enough without you ! Ministers 
enough, ! and churches enough for what? To reclaim 
all the sinners in the four seas ? If there were, they 
would all be reclaimed. But they are not reclaimed. 
Therefore it is evident there are not churches enough. 
And one plain reason why, notwithstanding all these 
churches, they are no nearer being reclaimed, is 
this : they never come into a church, perhaps not 
once in a twelvemonth, perhaps not for many years 
together. 

The time had now come for Wesley to open up 
new fields of labour by extending his itinerancy. 
John Nelson, as a London convert, had returned 
to his native village of Birstall, and while attracted to 
that place, Wesley also decided that he would meet 
the wishes of Lady Huntingdon, who wished him to 
visit Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

At Birstall Nelson had many converts, and on 
reaching the place, on May 26, Wesley spoke to them. 
He preached at Birstall Hill, and on Dewsbury Moor, 
and some of the converts of these services were ever 



8o JOHN WESLEY 

after content to bear obloquy and persecution for the 
Gospel s sake. Some account of Nelson s own ad 
ventures has already been given. Southey says, he 
had as high a spirit, and as brave a heart, as ever 
Englishman was blessed with ; but while he found 
many friends to rejoice in his abundant success as an 
evangelist, the extreme need of plain teaching was 
seen in the fact that people regarded the Gospel as 
a novelty. The common talk in some circles was 
about the so-called new faith ; and plain-spoken 
men, such as Wesley, and those he enlisted in the 
service, were wanted to show that what was supposed 
to be new was really the old truths, which had 
become obscured or hidden the ancient faith of the 
apostles and the primitive Church. All this was so 
strange that it seemed to be like a new revelation, 
and large numbers were sufficiently interested to 
come forward with some eagerness to have the 
matter explained often by a preacher at his cottage 
door when work for the day was done. 

Leaving Birstall, Wesley went on to Newcastle, 
where his message seemed to have the effect of 
producing a general awakening. He and his travelling 
companion, John Taylor, lodged at an inn, and when 
the two walked through the town in the daylight 01 
the May evening they were shocked at the abounding 
wretchedness of the streets as seen in the general 
drunkenness and extreme profanity of old and young. 
They arrived on a Friday, and at 7 a.m. they took 
their stand by a pump in Sandgate, the poorest part 
of the town. Three or four people came to see what 
was the matter, who soon increased to four or five 



WORK AND PROGRESS 81 

hundred, says Wesley, who, after singing Psalm c., 
preached from Isaiah liii., He was wounded for our 
transgression. The crowd increased to between one 
and two thousand before the sermon was ended. As 
the people still stood gaping and staring in that 
condition of surprise which still asks for explanations, 
Wesley said, If you wish to know who I am, my 
name is John Wesley, adding that at five in the 
evening he hoped to preach there again. 

In Moorfields and on Kennington Common 
Wesley had been able to muster a congregation of 
from ten to twenty thousand hearers ; but his aston 
ishment exceeded that of the people in the morning 
when he now set eyes on the largest congregation he 
had ever beheld. I knew it was not possible for the 
one-half to hear, although my voice was then strong 
and clear, he says ; and I stood so as to have them 
all in view, as they were ranged on the side of the 
hill. The text enlarged on was Hos. xiv. 4 : I will 
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely. The 
impression made was of that striking kind which 
promised to be lasting. The poor people were 
ready to trample me under foot, out of pure love and 
kindness, he says. And when at length he got back 
to his lodgings by a road different from that he 
came, several persons had arrived there before him 
whose desire was that their visitor should remain in 
Newcastle at least for a few days. The request could 
not be complied with on account of other engage 
ments. Wesley travelled back to Birstall, holding 
services at Boroughbridge and Knaresborough on the 
way, some days following being given to Birstall and 

F 



82 JOHN WESLEY 

its neighbourhood. After such a pleasant beginning 
at Newcastle, Wesley contracted a liking for the town, 
which grew with time. It was there that he erected 
an orphanage and one of his largest chapels. 

Wesley then proceeded to his native Epworth, 
which he had not seen for many years. I went to 
an inn, in the middle of the town, not knowing 
whether there were any left in it now who would not 
be ashamed of my acquaintance. He was encouraged 
by meeting with some he knew, however. He offered 
to preach or read prayers in the church ; but Romley, 
the curate, refused to allow such an enthusiast to 
assist. The people crowded into the church, expect 
ing to hear the son of their late rector, and though 
they were disappointed, they found compensation 
when John Taylor stood in the churchyard and gave 
out that Mr. Wesley would preach there at six o clock. 
Accordingly at six I came, and found such a con 
gregation as, I believe, Epworth never saw before. I 
stood near the east end of the church, upon my 
father s tombstone, and cried, " The kingdom of heaven 
is not meat and drink : but righteousness and peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost Day after day until the 
following Sunday the great evangelist was heard 
speaking from that same tombstone, and, referring to 
Saturday, June 12, he says, While I was speaking 
several dropped down as dead ; and among the rest 
such a cry was heard of sinners groaning for "the 
righteousness of faith " as almost drowned my voice. 
The conversions were many, one being that of a gentle 
man who was remarkable for not pretending to be 
of any religion at all, and who had not been in a 



WORK AND PROGRESS 83 

place of worship for over thirty years. Sir, are you 
a sinner ? called out Wesley, addressing him. Sinner 
enough ! was the reply. Wesley s belief was that he 
had been enabled to do more good by preaching on 
three days in Epworth churchyard than during thre; 
years in his father s pulpit in the church. He also 
preached in the surrounding parishes ; and it is in 
connection with one of these that Wesley tells the 
anecdote of a whole waggon-load of converts being 
taken before a magistrate. What had they done? 
They pretended to be better than other people, and 
prayed from morning till night. Another gave 
witness : They have converted my wife. Till she 
went among them she had such a tongue, and now 
she is as quiet as a lamb. The magistrate approved 
of that conquest. Take them back take them 
back/ he said, and let them convert all the scolds 
in the town. 

One of Wesley s auditors at Epworth was hfs 
brother-in-law John Whitelamb, the clergyman at 
Wroote, who for a lengthened period had lost his 
faith in Christianity. He had a great admiration 
for his distinguished relative, however, and wrote to 
him, and Wesley preached in his church. Early in 
the following year, his mother having passed away 
in the interval, Wesley again visited Epworth, and 
it was then that the curate refused to administer 
the sacrament to him because he was not fit to 
receive it ; but Wesley only thought such an adven 
ture could not have befallen him in a more fitting 
place than the parish where, according to the strictest 
sect of our religion, I had so long lived a Pharisee. 



84 JOHN WESLEY 

What struck him with remarkable force was the con 
trast between the full Gospel which he now preached; 
and the cold legality of his former teaching. Nearly 
forty years his father had laboured there without any 
great result, but now the harvest came. 

The three chief centres of Wesley s labours were 
now London, Newcastle, and Bristol, many smaller 
societies existing in many other counties ; but as he 
had developed into an untiring itinerant, a large 
number of other towns enjoyed the benefit of his 
preaching as well as Cornwall. At Newcastle alone 
there were some eight hundred converts in addition 
to others in neighbouring places, and a chapel was 
built for their accommodation at a cost of 700. The 
Sunday school of a thousand children, afterwards 
gathered, was one of the first in England, and there 
a society existed for promoting the diffusion of the 
Scriptures before the British and Foreign Bible 
Society was thought of. Many hard-handed sons 
of toil who attended the evening service would sleep 
on the benches until Wesley appeared again in the 
pulpit at five o clock in the morning ! 

For a man who put up such a house on his own 
responsibility, and had only a few shillings in hand 
for the contract, a chapel at 700 was a bold enter 
prise, though encouragement came in many remark 
able ways. Friend Wesley, I had a dream concerning 
thee, wrote one of the Society of Friends. I thought 
I saw thee surrounded with a large flock of sheep, 
which thou didst not know what to do with. My 
first thought after I awoke was, that it was thy flock 
at Newcastle, and that thou hadst no house of worship 



WORK AND PROGRESS 85 

for them. I have enclosed a note for one hundred 
pounds, which may help thee to provide a house." 
The supplies afterwards received from time to time 
allowed of fatherless children being taken in, so that 
it came to be called the Orphan House. 

The opposition or persecution to which the 
societies founded by Wesley were subjected now 
became very general, but it was more violent in some 
parts of the country than in others. In Bristol the 
magistrates checked the doings of rioters at the out 
set ; but in London the anti-Methodist mobs had 
some license for a time, and besides subjecting the 
preachers and their followers to disgraceful outrage, 
even attempted to unroof the Foundery, though 
when the authorities showed themselves to be firm 
and determined, the evil was stopped. Sir John 
Gauson, chairman of the Middlesex Justices, who was 
supposed to have received his instructions from the 
king, told Wesley that on application justice should 
be done. Hence the rabble who supposed that there 
was no law for the Methodist preachers found out 
that they were mistaken. Unhappily, those who were 
supposed to be the guardians of order, the magistrates 
themselves, and even the clergy, encouraged disorder 
in many provincial towns ; and in some instances 
Wesley may have had to regret that the indiscretions 
of his own preachers may have helped to turn the tide 
against them. 

The year 1743 was remarkable for dreadful riots 
in Staffordshire, in which, at one time, Wesley himself 
seemed to be in imminent peril. In the early part of 
the year he preached twice in Wednesbury Town 



86 JOHN WESLEY 

Hall as well as in the open air, his brother Charles 
having visited the town some weeks previously. 
Wednesbury was then famous for barbarous sports, 
such as cock-fighting and bull-baiting, in which the 
half-savage miners and others delighted. There was 
one advantage, however ; such people when once 
attracted were too hardy to be frightened away from 
the outdoor services by any kind of weather which 
the preacher himself was content to brave. Wind, 
sleet, or snow did not hinder Wesley from taking his 
stand if there was a congregation to address, and on 
one occasion at Newcastle we find him giving his mes 
sage in a freezing wind until he was encased in ice. 

The success at Wednesbury was so great, that 
when Charles Wesley visited the town in May he 
found that the converts numbered three hundred. 
Egginton, the vicar, appeared to be much pleased ; 
but when Wesley left, the indiscreet conduct of one 
of his preachers and others embittered the minds of 
many until they set their faces against the Revival. 
, Mr. Egginton, the minister of Wednesbury, with 
several neighbouring justices of the peace, stirred up 
the basest of the people ; on which such outrages 
followed as were a scandal to the Christian name, 
says Moore. Riotous mobs were summoned together 
by the sound of a horn ; men, women, and children 
were abused in the most shocking manner, being 
beaten, stoned, covered with mud. . . . Their houses 
were broken open by any that pleased, and their 
goods spoiled or carried away, some of the owners 
standing by, but not daring to oppose, as it would 
have been at the peril of their lives. 



WORK AND PROGRESS 87 

Wesley s adventures at Wednesbury on October 
20, show the violence of the outbreak. He preached 
at noon to a large congregation in the town ; but 
when writing in a friend s house in the afternoon, a 
roaring mob came up, which dispersed, however, after 
one or two of the ringleaders had been spoken to 
peaceably. A little later the mob returned in greater 
force, and crying for the preacher to be brought out ; 
but on being brought into Wesley s presence the 
ringleaders were pacified, as were also a large pro 
portion of the rioters when they were spoken to, their 
cry being, The gentleman is an honest gentleman, 
and we will spill our blood in his defence. When 
asked what they wanted, the answer was, to go with 
us to the justice, the wish being that all should go 
at once. 

The night came before we had walked a mile, 
together with heavy rain, says Wesley. However, 
on we went to Bentley Hall, two miles from Wednes 
bury. One or two ran before, to tell Mr. Lane they 
had brought Mr. Wesley before his worship. Mr. 
Lane replied, " What have I to do with Mr. Wesley ? 
Go and carry him back again." By this time the 
main body came up, and began knocking at the door. 
A servant told them Mr. Lane was in bed. His son 
followed and asked what was the matter. One 
replied, "Why, an t please you, they sing psalms all 
day ; nay, and make folks rise at five in the morning. 
And what would your worship advise us to do?" 
"To go home," said Mr. Lane, " and be quiet." 

Instead of taking this advice it was decided to go 
on to the house of another justice at Walsall ; but 



88 JOHN WESLEY 

when that gentleman was reached at seven o clock 
he was found to be in bed, and it was resolved to go 
back. We had not gone a hundred yards when the 
mob of Walsall came, pouring in like a flood, and 
bore down all before them, says Wesley. The 
Darlaston mob made what defence they could ; but 
they were weary, as well as out-numbered. So that 
in a short time, many being knocked down, the rest 
ran away, and left me in their hands. 

Taking Wesley with them the roaring mob came 
to the town, and when he attempted to enter a large 
house which had its door open, he was dragged back. 
He would next have entered a shop, but was not 
suffered to do so through fear that the house would 
be pulled down. Wesley stood in the doorway, and 
amid vindictive cries of Kill him ! Down with 
him ! and so on, attempted to speak, and did so 
until his voice failed. Then his voice came back and 
he prayed aloud ; and just then the bully and prize 
fighter with some others who had headed the mob 
suddenly turned, took Wesley in charge and declared 
that no one should harm him. A poor woman of 
Darlaston had been of the same mind, but after 
knocking down several men on her own account, the 
opposing force appeared to be too strong for her. 
Wesley got back to Wednesbury a few minutes before 
ten o clock, having, as he says, lost only one flap of 
my waistcoat, and a little skin from one of my hands. 
I never saw such a chain of providences before/ he 
adds ; so many convincing proofs that the hand of 
God is on every person and thing, overruling as it 
seemeth Him good. It is to be noted that his 



WORK AND PROGRESS 89 

presence of mind was perfect throughout. He 
thought at one time that he might be thrown into 
the river; but even then his concern was more for 
the papers in his pocket than for himself, as he could 
readily have swam to the other side. When on the 
following morning he rode through the town on the 
way to Nottingham, all he met expressed such a 
cordial affection, that I could scarce believe what I 
saw and heard. 

The troubles at Wednesbury were not quite over ; 
for after Whitefield had preached at Christmas in the 
town some weeks later, many outrages were com 
mitted, magistrates refusing to interfere, though pro 
fessing to be the representatives of peace and of 
order. 

Semi-savages as the inhabitants of what is now 
known as the Black Country might be, a large pro 
portion of the inhabitants of Cornwall had reached 
a still lower depth of degradation. Like the miners 
of the north, they were addicted to brutal sports, 
while miscreants called Wreckers would rob ships in 
distress, sometimes murder the crew, and not hesi 
tating to allure vessels to their doom by deceptive 
lights. Such will human nature become when given 
over to ignorance, drunkenness, and licentiousness. 
The clergyman at St. Ives encouraged the persecu 
tion, and plainly gave out that Wesley and his 
preachers ought to be driven away by blows and 
not by arguments. The people of the baser sort 
responded to the call of such leaders, and some of the 
scenes which occurred were as disgraceful as those at 
Wednesbury. There were parts of Cornwall which 



90 JOHN WESLEY 

were enveloped in almost pagan night. An anecdote 
is told of one village in Helston district, which con 
tained only one copy of the Scriptures, and that was 
kept at the public house as a curiosity. On one 
occasion, during an alarming storm, several super 
stitious persons hastened to the inn and begged the 
barman to read a prayer. Willing to oblige his 
friends, the man took down Robin Crusoe (sic) with 
out at first detecting the difference, while one book 
was as satisfactory as another to those who could not 
read at all. The people dispersed with satisfaction 
when the storm abated. 

When such were the beginnings, the mighty 
reformation which took place in Cornwall was all 
the more wonderful. The Wesleys, their heroic 
helper John Nelson, and others, were content to work 
hard as well as to fare hard, both in diet and lodging, 
for the sake of this far-off county. For a fortnight, 
Wesley and Nelson slept on a floor without proper 
bedding ; their table at meal times was equally bare. 
The preachers were content not only to endure such 
things, but to turn them into pleasantry. On rising 
of a morning, Wesley would urge his friend to be of 
good cheer because the hard boards had not worn 
the skin off both of his sides. Brother Nelson, we 
ought to be thankful that there are plenty of black 
berries, he remarked on another occasion, while he 
reined in his horse in order to gather a supply ; for 
this is the best country I ever saw for getting an 
appetite, but the worst for getting food. 

It was about this time that the country became 
greatly excited about the expedition of the Young 



WORK AND PROGRESS 91 

Pretender on account of his father, James Edward 
Stuart, who was aspiring to become James III. As 
the Wesleys and their followers had been repre 
sented as being Romanists in disguise, they ex 
perienced some passing trouble. It was reported 
that John had been seen in company with the Pre 
tender in France, and that Charles, in praying for 
the Lord s banished ones, had made sympathetic 
reference to the hero of the Jacobites. Each of the 
brothers had to answer this charge. 

It was on August 24, 1744, that Wesley preached 
for the last time before the University of Oxford a 
sermon that gave some offence on account of its out 
spoken plainness. This was published in common 
with many other larger or smaller works from time to 
time. A large part of his reading was got through on 
horseback, and at his lodging places every minute 
seems to have been utilized, not only in writing pieces 
of his own, but in abridging the works of others for 
popular use. Among the Directions for the Bands 
were the prohibition of ardent spirits, tobacco, pawn 
ing, the wearing of needless ornaments. Publications 
against him and the work in which he was engagi d 
continued to appear, and were best answered by the 
endeavours thus made to teach the Gospel to the 
people. The assistant preachers were now a recog 
nized body, and a power in the country men who 
were ready to endure and to suffer for the cause they 
had espoused. We have to bear in mind that in 
those days travelling was a very different matter 
from what it is to-day. Thus, in regard to his north 
ward journey commenced on February 18, 1745, 



92 JOHN WESLEY 

Wesley says that of all the rough journeys he had 
undertaken that was the roughest, between wind, 
and hail, and rain, and ice, and snow, and driving 
sleet. His preachers caught the enthusiasm which 
animated their leader, and thus bore hardship with 
out complaint. 

It was during his visit to the north in 1745, that 
Wesley first preached at the beautifully situated 
village of Osmotherley, near Northallerton and the 
Hambleton Hills. A Carthusian priory had been 
founded near there in the fourteenth century ; and 
Wesley s first sermon in the village was given in the 
Roman Catholic chapel at eleven o clock at night, 
the priest, Watson Adams, and a Quakeress named 
Tyerman, being his conductors to the place, and it 
was the priest and his friends who aroused the people 
at their houses to make up a congregation. Though 
he had preached thrice during the day, and had 
travelled over sixty miles of bad roads, Wesley had 
another service at five o clock on the next morning, 
many of the people refusing to go to bed through 
fear of over-sleeping, and thus not being present. 
The Roman Catholic chapel still remains in the 
place, but there is one also for the Wesleyan Metho 
dists. Wesley often visited Osmotherley after that 
adventure ; the romantic beauty of the place pleased 
him, he would even lodge at the priest s house. 
Watson Adams died in 1777, having maintained till 
the last his strange friendship for one whose teach 
ing contradicted his own. 

During the terrible commotion and excitement of 
the year 1745, when the Young Pretender made the 



WORK AND PROGRESS 93 

last attempt to regain the English Crown for the 
Stuarts, Wesley did good service, undismayed by 
the threatening enemy. We find him preaching at 
Birmingham amid showers of missiles ; the chapel 
at Leeds was destroyed by the mob who professed 
zeal for Protestantism ; but at Newcastle, where 
he spent some of the weeks of autumn, the public 
alarm was still more apparent. The town was 
strongly fortified ; it was full of soldiers, and the 
profanity and licentiousness of these was a matter of 
deep grief to the preacher. Most of the houses 
in our street are left without either furniture or 
inhabitants, he wrote on September 22. Those 
within the walls are almost equally busy in carrying 
away their money and their goods, and more and 
more of the gentry every hour ride southward as fast 
as they can. Wesley s open-air services in the great 
military camp on the moor must have been long 
remembered by many an old soldier in after years. 
There were German troops there, and being unable 
to understand English, these were suddenly surprised 
by hearing the preacher address them in their own 
familiar tongue. 

While all this was in progress, Wesley s pen seems 
to have been ever busy preparing material for the 
press, and drunkards, swearers, and unhappy women 
had suitable tracts printed for them. It was also at 
this time that, under the name of John Smith, 
Archbishop Seeker had some correspondence with 
Wesley. 



CHAPTER VIII 
WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 

ALTHOUGH he as thoroughly disliked war as 
any Christian man could do, Wesley so 
greatly admired the bravery, which not 
seldom became heroism, of the Methodist soldiers in 
the Continental wars, that he frequently mentions 
them in his Journal. 

John Haime was born in I/IO, at Shaftesbury, 
where his father was a gardener. His early experience 
was similar to that of Bunyan, as told in Grace 
Abounding. The discipline he passed through was 
long and trying, but at length he enlisted for a soldier, 
though he had a wife and children dependent upon 
him. At length he found the peace for which he 
craved, and in due time became a preacher among his 
comrades in the army. He would write to Wesley 
asking for advice, or giving accounts of the progress of 
the Gospel among the soldiers. But by all means 
miss no opportunity, wrote Wesley, in one of his 
letters in reply. Speak and spare not ; declare 
what God has done for your soul ; regard not worldly 
prudence ; be not ashamed of Christ, or of His Word, 
or of His servants ; speak the truth even in the midst 

94 



WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 95 

of a crooked generation ; and all things shall work 
together for good, until the work of God is perfect in 
your soul. 

At Dettingen, Haime was under fire for seven 
hours, and referring to the field after the battle, he 
says, Such a scene of human misery did I never 
behold. He lost his way in the heavy rain which 
followed, but, hearing the drum, at last rejoined his 
regiment But I could not find the tent which I 
belonged to, he adds, nor persuade them to take me in 
at any other. So, being very wet, and much fatigued, 
I wrapped myself in my cloak, and lay down and fell 
asleep. And though it still rained upon me, and the 
water ran under me, I had as sweet a night s rest as 
ever I had in my life. 

Under Haime, and others like minded, Methodism 
so prospered in the English army in active service on 
the Continent, that the society had three hundred 
members and seven preachers. While others might 
be most excited over the operations against the 
French, Wesley himself was chiefly interested in this 
holy war, which spread even to the Hanoverian army. 
At Fontenoy, May n, 1745, Haime says, I stood 
the hottest fire of the enemy for about seven hours ; 
but I told my comrades, " The French have no ball 
made that will kill me this day." The conduct of the 
Methodists generally was not a little extraordinary, 
and reference is made to the matter in his Journal by 
Wesley. Indeed, this day God was pleased to prove 
our little flock, and to show them His mighty power, 1 
says Haime. They showed such courage and bold 
ness in the fight as made the officers as well as 



96 JOHN WESLEY 

soldiers annoyed. When wounded, some cried out, 
" I am going to my Beloved," others, " Come, Lord 
Jesus, come quickly." And many that were not 
wounded earnestly desired to be dissolved and to be 
with Christ. When W. Clements had his arm broken 
by a musket ball, they would have carried him out of 
the battle ; but he said, " No, I have an arm left to 
hold my sword ; I will not go yet." When a second 
shot broke his other arm, he said, " I am as happy 
as I can be out of Paradise." John Evans, having 
both his legs taken off by a cannon ball, was laid 
across a cannon to die ; where as long as he could 
speak he was praising God with joyful lips. 

This infection of Methodism, as they regarded it, 
was an offence to certain chaplains and officers, so that 
many complaints were carried to the Duke of Cumber 
land, who asked several questions, and at last spoke 
to Haime himself, the result being that an order was 
given for him to preach anywhere, and that no one 
should molest him. 

When Haime was discharged from service and 
returned to England he preached at Shaftesbury, his 
native town, and gathered a society there. He was 
lodged for a time in Dorchester Gaol ; but when a 
gentleman commissioned him to employ a lawyer, 
volunteering to pay all costs, the persecutors soon 
altered their tone, well knowing that their action was 
utterly opposed to English law. He became a 
travelling preacher, and was sometimes Wesley s 
travelling companion. 

When in Ireland in 1785, Wesley heard a strange 
account of a soldier who saved a poor widow from 



WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 9 7 

robbery by shooting dead the miscreant who would 
have taken her money. The affair happened at 
Prosperous, near Dublin. 

The woman in question owed 14 for rent, but 
was able only to pay an instalment of ;/, which 
her landlord would not accept, notwithstanding many 
entreaties. In the evening she returned home with 
the gold in her pocket, which had been got together 
with so much difficulty ; and when within a mile or 
two of home a poor and fatigued soldier was taken 
up. On arriving at the house the man pleaded so 
hard for a night s lodging, that at length the widow 
arranged for herself and the girl to sleep together, 
while the soldier occupie d the spare room. During the 
night, two men with disguised faces broke into the 
house ; and being awakened, the widow charged 
the soldier with bringing his comrades to rob her. 
She was mistaken, however ; for the man rose, seized 
his gun, and when the would-be robbers ran off 
he fired after them, and killed one on the spot, 
who turned out to be the landlord who, a few 
hours before, had refused to receive the instalment 
of 7. 

Among Wesley s soldier friends should be in 
cluded Duncan Wright 1736-1791 whose services 
were much valued. He was a native of Perthshire, 
and was connected with several good families. His 
education was somewhat neglected, and at the age 
of eighteen he enlisted for a soldier the tenth 
regiment of foot. None of my friends knew what 
was become of me, till I wrote my mother from 
Limerick in Ireland, he says. My mother, being 

G 



98 JOHN WESLEY 

infirm, did not survive this long ; she died the spring 
following ; and I fear my disobedience hastened her 
departure. After he enlisted his first thought was, 
Now I have done for soul and body, so impossible 
did it seem to him for a soldier to be religious. 

The moral atmosphere of the barrack-room was 
then very low, but Wright was not disposed to sink 
to the degraded level of his associates. I therefore 
bought and borrowed all the plays, novels, and 
romances I could lay my hands upon, he says ; 
reading late and early. When, however, a comrade 
reproved him for reading so much trash he took to 
religious books, and soon after became associated 
with the Methodists. He came in contact with 
Wesley himself ; he became a zealous evangelist in 
the army, but found that he could not carry on that 
kind of work without some opposition and consequent 
suffering, terrible as the need for such labours was. 
Were the chaplains men of real piety and courage, 
much good might be done in the army, it is said ; 
but the chaplaincy is generally a kind of sinecure, 
and the care of souls is left to any worthless wretch 
that will do it at an easy rate. When we lay in one 
city, the care of four or five regiments was left to an 
unhappy man who was an object of common ridicule 
among the soldiers for his perpetual drunkenness. 

In the remarkably genial weather in the early 
spring of 1766, Duncan Wright accompanied Wesley 
on the road. Writing on March 17, the latter says: 
1 Seventeen such days in the beginning of March, I 
suppose few men have known. Then it turned cold. 
On the 1 9th Wesley adds : We called at a little inn, 



WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 99 

about sixteen miles from Eversham. But as Duncan 
Wright and I had our hoods on, the good woman 
was frighted, and did not care to take us in. So we 
rode a mile or two further to another house, where 
we came in season. The woman in this house was 
sufficiently courageous to entertain them, and also to 
converse about her affairs. Before I married, I used 
to kneel down in the cowhouse, to pray to God for 
all I wanted, she said: but now I am encumbered 
with worldly cares ; and yet God has not forgotten 
me. Last winter, when my husband lost the use of 
all his limbs, I prayed to God for him, and he was 
well. Wesley adds, that This woman knew nothing 
about the Methodists ; but God is nigh to all that 
call upon Him. 

As one who had an adventure with the army of 
Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, 
Alexander Mather may be included among Wesley s 
military hero friends. When he was about twelve 
years of age, out of a childish frolic, he followed 
the rebel army. Many mighty ones fell on Culloden 
Heath, and in the way to Inverness, and indeed on 
every side ; yet I was mercifully preserved. His 
craven-hearted father refused to admit him ; but his 
mother, having more of the heroine in her, conducted 
her little fugitive son some miles across the country 
to the house of her brother ; and the adventures of 
the two show what the state of Scotland at the time 
of the last civil war was. After showing how he was 
nearly drowned through a mishap to a boat, Mather 
and his mother travelled eighteen miles across the 
country. But we could not travel without much 



ioo JOHN WESLEY 

danger, he says, as the country was full of parties, 
both horse and foot, who abused all the strangers 
they met with, and often took them prisoners. When 
we came near a town, we inquired of one we met 
where we could have a quiet lodging. She said she 
could recommend us to no inn ; for they would inform 
the soldiers of us, who were very rude to all strangers, 
especially to women ; but if we would put up with 
the house of a poor man, she knew one that she 
thought would receive us. So she conducted us to a 
little cottage, where we found the man engaged in 
family worship. When it was ended he looked upon 
my mother and said, " Good wife, I have no place fit 
to entertain you, who appear to have a good home 
somewhere. Neither can I protect you, if the soldiers 
hear you are in my house. But if you please to sit 
by the fire with a little straw for the lad to He on, you 
are welcome." They then gave us something to eat 
and drink, which we received with thankfulness to 
God. The good woman then laid me down on the 
straw, and sat by my mother till the morning ; when, 
having been commended to God by our host in prayer, 
we went on our journey. 

The child s uncle was willing to take charge of 
him. but his aunt being afraid, he was soon told, 
You must go hence. So I set off, with one to 
guide me across the mountains. He then left me to 
find my way as I could, to a place and a person I 
had never heard of before. After staying there and 
elsewhere until November, he thought to return 
home ; but when I came, my father would not let 
me come into his house, adds Mather. Nay, he 



WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 101 

went and made information against me to the com 
manding officer; and I should have been sent to 
prison, had not a gentleman of the town interfered 
for me, and procured leave for me to lodge at my 
father s house. When we consider that Mather 
was considerably below our present school age, 
his adventures do not afford us any very agree 
able notion either of the times or the government of 
George II. 

He settled as a working baker in London in due 
time, and becoming associated with Wesley at the 
Foundery, he became a recognized preacher, after 
wards taking to the work of a circuit Until he left 
his baking he tried his strength to the utmost, thus 
showing by what rare zeal the early Methodist 
preachers were animated. I had no time for preach 
ing but what I took from my sleep, he says, so 
that I had frequently not eight hours of sleep in a 
week. This, with hard labour, constant abstemious 
ness, and frequent fasting, brought me so low, that 
in a little more than two years I was hardly able 
to follow my business. My master was often afraid 
I should kill myself ; and perhaps his fear was not 
groundless. 

Thomas Payne, who died at the age of forty-two 
in 1783, was a quondam soldier who also served as 
a travelling preacher under Wesley. He was a native 
of Gloucestershire, and his parents were godly people. 
He came to London, and appears to have been asso 
ciated with Whitefield s congregation ; but naturally 
having an inclination to see the world, he enlisted 
in the service of the East India Company, and was 



102 JOHN WESLEY 

stationed at St. Helena. He bears testimony to the 
general profligacy which prevailed. 

At the foreign station he met with one who had 
been educated at Wesley s Foundery School, and 
with one other they were a company of three who 
desired to walk in the Christian pathway. In con 
nection with this little society he relates what will 
be to many another incredible adventure. 

My companions and I were greatly strengthened 
by an uncommon trial that befel us soon after. We 
frequently went out at night to pray by the side of 
a mountain. One night as we were walking together, 
and talking of the things of God, I heard a noise, and 
something in the form of a large bear pursuing me 
closely. My hair stood on end, and, as we were walk 
ing arm in arm, I suddenly pulled both my companions 
round with me. They both saw him, and one of 
them fainted away. It then reared itself upon its 
hind legs into the air. I said, " Satan, we are come 
hither to serve God ; and we will do it, in spite of 
thee, and all the devils in hell." Instantly it sunk 
into the earth ; we then prayed upon the very spot, 
and soon found ourselves strong in the Lord, and in 
the power of His might. 

In England and Ireland, Thomas Payne laboured 
as one of the most valued preachers of the Revival. 
At the time of his death, his friend, Charles Boone, 
called him, this Christian hero, this valiant soldier 
of Christ ; who counted not his life dear to him, so 
that he might finish his course with joy. Still more 
emphatic was the testimony of Wesley himself: 
Mr. Payne, who had been in the army for many 



WESLEY S SOLDIER FRIENDS 103 

years, was a plain, honest, zealous man ; fearing 
neither men nor devils. And as he bore down all 
opposers while he lived, so in death he triumphed 
over his last enemy, being more than conqueror 
through Him who hath loved him." 

Sampson Staniforth, 1720-1799, was a native of 
Sheffield, who, having no religious advantages in the 
way of training in youth, entered the army and served 
in the Continental campaign, but returned to England 
when the Young Pretender appeared in the north. 
Before he left for foreign service at all he was 
quartered at Edinburgh, where he arrived shortly 
before the Great Frost, as it came to be called, of 
1740. I was drafted into one of the companies 
that lay in the castle, he says ; and his experience 
shows what were the hardships of a soldier s life in 
those days. There were no barracks then, but we 
lay upon straw in the vault, and throughout the 
winter had but one fire for seventy men. On the 
Continent he missed the battle of Dettingen, but 
stood for some hours the hottest fire at Fontenoy. 

After beating about in the north hoping to catch 
the rebel army, he was quartered at Greenwich at 
Christmas, 1745, and at that time Stainforth was no 
longer the wild young fellow he had been of old, and 
his experience affords us an insight into the workings 
of early Methodism. 

On Christmas Day we went to church, and spent 
the evening at Brother Giles s, in singing and prayer, 
he says. We lay here till April, 1746, but had 
orders not to go above a mile from our quarters. 
Hearing these orders read, I went to the commanding 



io 4 JOHN WESLEY 

officer, who said, " Well, Sampson, what do you 
want ? " I said, " Leave, sir, if you please, for two or 
three of us to go to London twice or thrice a week." 
He said, " For what ? " I answered, " To hear 
preaching." " What ! " said he, " cannot you go to 
church ? " I said, " Yes, sir ; and I count it both my 
duty and privilege so to do. But I am much united 
in affection to the Rev. Mr. Wesley, and I want to 
see and hear him, and be joined with him and his 
people." He looked at me and said, " Well, thou art 
the same honest man as before." He immediately 
wrote an order for me and one or two more to pass to 
and from London as often as we pleased. He added 
that he knew Mr. Wesley, and was glad I had made 
so good a choice. 

After his discharge from the army he laboured 
as a preacher for half a century, and then died, much 
respectM and greatly regretted. 



CHAPTER IX 

WORK AND PROGRESS A SERIOUS 
ILLNESS 

DURING the year 1746, Wesley left off the use 
of tea, and believing it to be hurtful to the 
constitution, he advised others to follow 
the example. After twelve years, however, 
Dr. Fothergill recommended him to resume its use. 
It was then, also, that as one who had acquired some 
competent knowledge of medicine, he established a 
dispensary at the Foundery and another at Bristol 
for the poor ; a surgeon and an apothecary were 
employed, difficult or complicated cases being left to 
be dealt with by qualified physicians. The experi 
ment succeeded so well that Wesley was able to 
write, Within six weeks, nine in ten of them who 
had taken these medicines were remarkably altered 
for the better, and many were cured of disorders 
under which they had laboured for ten, twenty, forty 
years. More was done for the poor in other ways 
a house for widows was set up at the Foundery, while 
the first stone was laid of the boarding-school at 
Kingswood, Bristol. A loan society was also estab 
lished. It was now, also, that he sent forth the first 

105 



io6 JOHN WESLEY 

of the four volumes of sermons, which with the New 
Testament notes became a text-book of theology for 
his preachers. 

Although the disorders in certain places did not 
cease, the progress of religion was manifest in all 
directions. There was some persecution at Devizes 
and Grimsby, the enemy in Cornwall still growled a 
little ; but of that county itself Wesley said in July, 
1747, There is such a change within these two years 
as has hardly been seen in any other part of England. 
Wherever we went, we used to carry our lives in our 
hands, and now there is not a dog to wag his tongue. 
It was now also that the preacher s voice was first 
heard in Manchester. A first visit to Ireland was 
also undertaken, and a fortnight was spent in Dublin. 
Charles Wesley and other preachers continued the 
work in Ireland, and a large room for preaching was 
secured in Dublin, and in 1752 a freehold chapel in 
a good situation was erected. From the capital, in 
the face of some persecution, the Word spread to 
some country towns. The preaching adventures of 
Charles Wesley in Ireland afford materials for a 
striking story, and the work done by the younger 
brother in 1747, was well followed up by the elder 
in the following year. Some of his followers in 
London regretted that so much time and attention 
should be given to the Emerald Isle, but Wesley s 
reply was, Have patience, and Ireland will repay 
you. 

Wesley s most famous friend in the north of 
England was William Grimshaw, the incumbent of 
Haworth, the friend of Lady Huntingdon, and as 



WORK AND PROGRESS 107 

ardent a preacher of the Word as Wesley himself. 
Grimshaw was the apostle of the district in which his 
lot was cast ; he was content to work hard and to 
fare hard, either at home or on his travels for the 
sake of giving the Gospel to the people. His bleakly 
situated and lonely parsonage in a wild corner of the 
West Riding of Yorkshire, was the same which in 
after years was associated with the Bronte family. 
William Grimshaw at Haworth and Vincent Perronet, 
Vicar of Shoreham, the latter being of Swiss extrac 
tion, were equally ardent in the cause of the Revival, 
their aid and sympathy being greatly valued by the 
Wesleys. Some called the incumbent of Haworth 
Mad Grimsfiaw, but they could not but admire his 
abundant labours. He had his own circuits in which 
he preached over thirty times a week ; and when 
Wesley or Whitefield visited the parish, a platform 
was set up in the churchyard for the preacher, though 
the prayers would be read in the church. Grimshaw 
had many eccentric habits ; he would leave the 
church while the psalm before the sermon was being 
sung to look after loiterers who could be brought into 
the service ; he would sleep in a hayloft when his 
own bed could be given up to one or two travelling 
preachers ; and to ensure the Gospel being preached 
at Haworth after his death, he erected at his own 
cost a chapel and dwelling-house. He had a travel 
ling companion in Thomas Colbeck of Keighley, who 
also carried the Gospel message throughout the 
surrounding district, his house being also a resting- 
place for Wesley or his preachers. Did space permit 
details might be given of some rough adventures on 



io8 JOHN WESLEY 

the road, and in preaching, which Grimshaw and 
Wesley had in company. 

The year 1/49 was remarkable for many things in 
the history of the Wesleys. While travelling in Wales 
Charles Wesley had been entertained by the Gwynne 
family, and one of the daughters became his wife on 
April 8. John Wesley was also hoping to marry 
Grace Murray, a young widow employed at the 
Newcastle Orphan House, and one who was devoted 
to the work of the Church, while she was fascinatins: 

o 

in her person. When Wesley asked Grace to become 
his wife, she was greatly moved by the honour he 
proposed to confer upon her. Meanwhile, attentions 
were paid to her by one of the preachers named John 
Bennet ; but when Wesley plainly asked, Which will 
you choose ? her answer was, I am determined, by 
conscience as well as by inclination, to live and die 
with you. Charles Wesley was against the match, 
because Mrs. Murray had been a domestic servant, 
and her poor origin would prevent her commanding 
the respect due to his brother s wife. If Wesley was 
in danger of making a mistake, he was saved by Mrs. 
Murray marrying Bennet, who, however, died about 
ten years afterwards, his widow surviving him by 
about forty-four years. Mr. Tyerman does not think 
that Grace was such a perfect character as Wesley 
believed her to be. She was a woman of energy, of 
dauntless resolution, and of a certain sort of religious 
zeal ; and late in life she seems to have been a loving, 
lovely Christian ; but at the period of her dualistic 
courtship she was uneducated, vain, fickle, selfish, and 
presuming. Wesley is reported to have said to her 



WORK AND PROGRESS 109 

just before her dishonourable marriage, Grace 
Murray, you have broken my heart. Nearly forty 
years later Mrs. Bennet and the great man, who had 
too highly valued her, met in London, and the 
interview is said to have been affecting. 

The year 1749 was characterized by some disturb 
ances by anti-Methodist mobs, though the most 
disgraceful riots were at Cork. Still ever busy with 
his pen, Wesley, among other things, prepared books 
for the Kingswood School, in which the children of 
some of the local preachers were now educated. He 
also commenced the issue of his Christian Library 
consisting of extracts and abridgments of the choicest 
pieces of Practical Divinity, which have been published 
in the English tongue, in fifty volumes. We find 
Wesley mentioning this project to his friend, and the 
Lombard Street banker, Mr. E. Blackwell, to whom 
the founder of Methodism was indebted for money 
for the poor, and at whose pleasant house at Lewisham 
he did much of his literary work. I should print 
only a hundred copies of each, wrote Wesley to this 
friend, Brother Downes would give himself up to 
the work ; so that whenever I can procure a printing- 
press, types, and some quantity of paper, I can begin 
immediately. These volumes were afterwards all 
revised. 

The earthquakes in London on February 8 and 
March 8, 1750, were memorable occurrences ; for not 
only were the shocks violent, but the credulity of the 
Londoners in believing the prediction of a crazy 
soldier that the visitation would be repeated in April 
was more remarkable than the earthquake itself. 



no JOHN WESLEY 

Sherlock, Bishop of London, issued a pamphlet 
addressed to the Londoners, in which he called atten 
tion to prevailing sins, and tens of thousands were 
rapidly sold. The rich hurried away from London, 
and thousands who could not remove remained all 
night in the open air before the expected final shock, 
the women being clothed in warmer clothing or 
earthquake gowns ! Whitefield preached in Hyde 
Park at midnight to a vast crowd. Wesley turned 
the excitement to good account by preaching special 
sermons, and a discourse by Charles Wesley, as well as 
some hymns suitable to the occasion, were published. 
In the midst of the commotion Wesley set out 
for Bristol, and in reference to his labours at this 
time Henry Moore remarks, He generally preached 
three or four, and sometimes five, times in the day, 
and sometimes rode thirty or forty, sometimes fifty, 
miles. Thus did he labour while he could ride on 
horseback ; nor do we believe there could be an 
instance found, during the space of forty years, 
wherein the severest weather hindered him for one 
day. Then, although the temper of the rough 
populace had greatly improved in many places, mob 
violence in others caused the preachers to feel that 
they carried their lives in their hands. At the same 
time some of the adventures met with were almost 
comical. Thus at Shepton Mallet we find Wesley 
wondering what was become of the mob/ which in 
reality was searching for him at one end of the town, 
while the great evangelist was preaching quietly at 
the other end. After finishing and getting indoors 
the preacher himself tells us what followed. 



WORK AND PROGRESS m 

One of their captains, in his great zeal, had 
followed us into the house, and was now shut in with 
us. He did not like this, and would fain have got 
out, but it was not possible. So he kept as close to 
me as he could, thinking himself safest when he was 
near me. But staying a little behind (when I went 
up two pair of stairs, and stood close on one side, 
where we were a little sheltered) a large stone struck 
him on the forehead, and the blood spurted out like 
a stream. He cried out, " Oh, sir, are we to die 
to-night? What must I do? What must I do?" 
I said, " Pray to God. He is able to deliver you 
from all danger." He took my advice, and began 
praying, I believe, as he had scarce ever done before. 

Being cool and collected, as he always was in a 
crisis of this kind, Wesley and a companion walked 
out at the back door while the mob broke in at the 
front, and they went on to Oakhill. I was riding 
on in Shepton Lane, it being now quite dark, when 
he cried out, " Come down ! Come down from the 
bank ! " says Wesley. I did as I was desired ; but, 
the bank being high, and the side almost perpendicu 
lar, I came down all at once, my horse and I tumbling 
over one another. But we both rose unhurt. In less 
than an hour we came to Oakhill, and the next 
morning to Bristol. 

Adventures of this kind diversified his adventures 
with the mob. Many of these are vividly described 
by Wesley himself, and while interesting in them 
selves, they illustrate the preacher s unwavering trust 
in God. Take this example 

I took horse in Bristol for Wick, where I had 



ii2 JOHN WESLEY 

appointed to preach at three in the afternoon. I was 
riding by the wall through St. Nicholas Gate (my 
horse having been brought to the house where I 
dined) just as a cart turned short from St. Nicholas 
Street, and came swiftly down the hill. There was 
just room to pass between the wheel of it and the 
wall ; but that space was taken up by the carman. 
I called to him to go back, or I must ride over him. 
But the man, as if deaf, walked straight forward. 
This obliged me to hold back my horse. In the 
mean time the shaft of the cart came full against his 
shoulder with such a shock as to beat him to the 
ground. He shot me forward over his head, as an 
arrow out of a bow, where I lay, with my arms and 
legs, I know not how, stretched out in a line close to 
the wall. The wheel ran by close to my side, but 
only dirtied my clothes. I found no flutter of spirit, 
but the same composure as if I had been sitting in 
my study. When the cart was gone I rose. Abund 
ance of people gathered round, till a gentleman 
desired me to step into his shop. After cleaning 
myself a little I took horse again, and was at Wick 
at the time appointed. I returned to Bristol (where 
the report of my being killed had spread far and 
wide) time enough to praise God in the great con 
gregation, and to preach on " Thou, Lord, shaft save 
both man and beast" 

Part of the spring and summer were spent in 
Ireland, where, despite the dangers which still attended 
field-preaching, Wesley was, on the whole, satisfied 
with the progress made. As regards Bristol itself, 
there was some cause for disappointment. He was 



WORK AND PROGRESS 113 

grossly libelled by the local press ; the members of 
the society showed some decline ; and a bad boy 
who had attempted to corrupt all his fellows was 
expelled from Kingswood school. In London several 
chapels were now held in trust, and Wesley and his 
followers were becoming more and more widely 
separated from the Moravians. 

The unhappy marriage of Wesley and Mrs. Vizelle, 
a widow, belongs to the year 1751. When first met 
with, this lady, as Henry Moore tells us, seemed 
truly pious, and was very agreeable in her person and 
manners. She conformed to every company whether 
of the rich or the poor ; and she had a remarkable 
facility and propriety in addressing them concerning 
their true interests. Under the peculiar conditions, 
Wesley might well have preferred still to live in a single 
state ; but, as it was, the opinion seems to be correct 
that, had he searched the British Isles, he could hardly 
have found one more unsuited to his requirements 
than the woman he chose. Henry Moore adds, She 
travelled with him for some time, but afterward she 
would fain have confined him to a more domestic life; 
and having found by experience that this was impos 
sible, she unhappily gave place to jealousy. This 
entirely spoiled her temper, and drove her to many out 
rages. She repeatedly left his house, and was brought 
back by his earnest importunities. At last she seized 
on part of his Journals, and many other papers, which 
she would never afterwards restore ; and taking her 
final departure, left word that she never intended to 
return. This was in 1771, and Wesley said, I have 
not left her ; I have not put her away : I will not 

H 



ii4 JOHN WESLEY 

call her back. He kept to that decision, and ten 
years later, and ten years before her husband s death, 
Mrs. Wesley passed away at Camberwell. 

The progress which the Revival had made in 1751 
is well indicated in one of Wesley s references to 
Birmingham. The last time I preached at Birming 
ham, the stones flew on every side, he said. If any 
disturbance were made now, the disturber would be 
in more danger than the preacher. Equally en 
couraging was the confession of a barber who shaved 
Wesley at Bolton. When you were at Bolton last, 
I was one of the greatest drunkards in the town ; but 
I came to listen at the window, God struck me to the 
heart, and twelve months ago I was converted. At 
Leeds, in 1752, he had the satisfaction of preaching 
in a new chapel ; and peace reigned at Sheffield 
because at York assizes the magistrates were sentenced 
to rebuild the chapel which the mob had destroyed. 
Then of Wakefield Wesley was able to ask, Who 
would have expected to see me preaching in Wakefield 
Church, to so attentive a congregation, a few years 
ago, when all the people were as roaring lions ; and 
the honest man did not dare to let me preach in his 
yard, lest the mob should pull down his houses. 
The reception was still rough at Hull and York, 
however, and at Chester the meeting-house was 
destroyed. Wesley left London in the middle of 
March, and returned in November. He moved about 
the North of England, visited Scotland for the first 
time, and gave twelve weeks to Ireland. Volumes of 
his Christian Library continued to appear, but their 
publication entailed a loss. 



WORK AND PROGRESS 115 

While labouring in London, in the early part of 
I 753> Wesley visited the Marshalsea Prison, which is 
described as a nursery of all kinds of wickedness, 
and the condition of which shows what was the kind 
of life led in English gaols at that date. I found 
some in their cells underground, he says. Others 
in their garrets, half starved with cold and hunger ; but 
I found not one of them unemployed, who was able to 
crawl about the room. While thus caring for the 
poor in one direction, he was carefully watching Dr. 
Franklin s experiments in electricity, which Wesley 
called a thousand medicines in one, and hoped 
would prove a vast boon to certain classes of patients 
who came to the Foundery dispensary. 

Towards the end of 1753 Wesley suffered from 
the most alarming illness which ever interfered with 
his great work. Otherwise his abundant labours 
showed no falling off, while the results were as strik 
ing as ever. When he made his northern tour in the 
early part of the year, he wrote to his friend Blackwell 
concerning the fewness of the labourers to gather in 
the great harvest. Some parts of England were 
visited for the first time. Thus at Leicester he 
preached to a great open-air congregation which 
astonished him by its quiet and serious behaviour. 
He also visited the Isle of Wight for the first time, 
and went down into Cornwall. His health had not 
been so good as usual for some time previously, and 
while in Essex, towards the end of the year, he caught 
cold, which soon developed into what was supposed to 
be a galloping consumption. Whitefield felt confident 
that his friend s work was done, and that he was 



n6 JOHN WESLEY 

going home. I pity the Church, I pity myself, but 
not him/ wrote the great evangelist. We must stay- 
behind in this cold climate, while he takes his flight 
to a radiant throne. Happily, Wesley consulted the 
Quaker physician, Dr. Fothergill, the first medical 
man of his age, who insisted on his patient leaving 
London at once, adding, If anything does thee good, 
it must be the country air, with rest, asses milk, and 
riding daily. Wesley retired to the mansion of his 
friends, the Blackwells, at Lewisham, where all that 
wealth, good nursing, and attention could do was 
done. In the opening days of 1754, he was able to 
proceed to Bristol ; and being altogether interrupted 
during four months in preaching, Wesley worked hard 
at his Notes on the New Testament. He had for long 
hoped to accomplish this, but would probably never 
have done it if he had not been too weak to travel, 
and yet strong enough to sit for twelve hours a day at 
literary work. Though he recommenced preaching in 
the spring, and got through some amount of travelling, 
the year 1754 has to be regarded as a time of some 
continued weakness. Nevertheless, eight volumes 
were added to the Christian Library, while several 
other works were issued in addition to what was 
done in preparing the Notes on the New Testament. 
Thus, in quite as complete a sense as the term was 
ever applied to Richard Baxter, Wesley was for the 
time being an industrious invalid. 

As months passed by, however, strength returned, 
and the great evangelist was able to carry on his 
work as he had done in preceding days. A first 
visit to Liverpool was made in April, 1755, and the 



WORK AND PROGRESS 117 

sea-port is described as one of the neatest and best 
built towns in the country, the streets were straight, 
while the place itself was twice the size of Chester, 
and two-thirds had arisen since the death of Queen 
Anne. If it continue to increase in the same pro 
portion, in forty years more it will nearly equal 
Bristol, it is added. The people in general are the 
most mild and courteous I ever saw in a sea-port 
town ; as, indeed, appears by their friendly behaviour, 
not only to the Jews and Papists who live among them, 
but even to the Methodists. The chapel was even 
larger than the one at Newcastle, and among the 
notable converts was a tailor named Timothy, whose 
wife so hated her husband s new ways, that she even 
tried to drive a number of pigs into the chapel during 
service time. Instead of entering the building, 
however, the pigs ran off in another direction, and 
this suggested to the stout mistress of the wash-tub 
Mrs. Timothy being a laundress that she might 
gratify curiosity by just crossing the threshold her 
self, to see what was done, and hear what was said. 
The result was, that the truth reached the woman s 
heart, and she became a changed character, one who 
was valiant for the cause. 



CHAPTER X 

OUR CHIEF TOWNS AS WESLEY 
FOUND THEM 

ON Sunday, December 13, 1767, Wesley was 
thinking of an engagement he had made 
to be at Sheerness on the Wednesday 
following. Other matters had also engaged his 
thoughts on that day. He had been asked to preach 
a funeral sermon for one who had come to London 
thirty years before, and who had prospered; but though 
he was a good man, his money was a great clog to 
him, and hindered growth of character. On that 
same Sunday he also became unwell. I found a little 
soreness on the edge of my tongue/ which the next 
day spread to my gums and lips ; but though I 
knew a little rest would cure all, it was out of the 
question to think of taking it, for I had appointed 
to be at Sheerness on Wednesday, the i6th. If 
strength allowed he did not consult his own feelings 
at such times, and accordingly he started long before 
sunrise on the winter morning, and twelve hours later 
his horse carried him into the town. 

The governor of the fort proved to be such a good 
friend that he allowed the use of the chapel for the 
service ; but when overcrowded this place became 

118 



SHEERNESS IN 1767 119 

hot as an oven, while the air without was exceeding 
sharp ; and as going from one to the other affected 
Wesley s voice, the good governor cut the knot, by 
arranging for another room, in which we had a 
comfortable hour. 

The old town of Sheerness, as Wesley found it, 
had its houses chiefly of wood ; and sixty or seventy 
years later house accommodation was still so scarce 
that numbers of families actually lived on the water. 
The population is now something like 15,000; but 
in the sixties of the eighteenth century, the number 
of inhabitants was considerably below a thousand. 
Speaking of the place and the people as he found 
them, Wesley says 

Such a town as many of these live in, is scarce 
to be found again in England. In the dock adjoining 
the fort there are six old men-of-war. These are 
divided into small tenements, forty, fifty, or sixty in a 
ship, with little chimneys and windows ; and each of 
these contain a family. In one of them, where we 
called, a man and his wife and six little children 
lived. And yet all the ship was sweet and tolerably 
clean ; sweeter than most sailing ships I have been 
in. 

Among the towns which distinguished themselves 
by violent opposition to the preachers, Devizes had a 
first place. When Wesley arrived there on January 
13, 1747, the town was in an uproar from end to 
end, as if the French were just entering ; and abund 
ance of swelling words we heard, oaths, curses, and 
threatenings. Innys, the curate of the parish church, 
was the chief agent who fomented a riot ; but the 



120 JOHN WESLEY 

inconvenience fell chiefly on Charles Wesley and 
those who were with him, who came on the scene 
rather more than a month later. As the efforts 01 
the Anglican clergyman were seconded by the chief 
gentlemen of the town, a battalion of hardy ruffians 
was not wanting to do anything that was required of 
them. In work of this kind the curate was a skilful 
organizer, and both in and out of the pulpit he was 
not backward in telling lies about those to whom he 
was opposed. Charles Wesley was attacked in his 
lodgings by a fire-engine, the house being damaged and 
the furniture spoiled. Nevertheless, the hired mob 
showed less energy in this kind of business than those 
above them. When he had again preached in the 
town prior to his brother s visit, Wesley found that 
the mob-raisers could not get their men to enlist. 
I found that much pains had been taken again to 
raise a mob ; but it was lost labour. Half a century 
later, or in 1772, how changed was the outlook! I 
preached very quietly at the Devizes. Scarce one 
of the old persecutors is alive. Very few of them 
lived out half their days : many were snatched away 
in an hour when they looked not for it. 

The condition of Norwich in the year 1772 reveals 
the fact that the eighteenth century was far from 
being the ideal period which has sometimes been 
pictured in the popular imagination. The great 
advance in the cost of living, and in the amount of 
taxes which had to be paid, had not yet set in ; but 
times were very hard, and though people were in 
blissful ignorance of what was in store for them, 
something far worse was on before. Norwich was a 



NORWICH IN 1772 121 

great centre for the manufacture of shawls, worsted 
stuffs, silken goods, etc., but in the year just noted 
all seems to have been under a cloud. At noon on 
October 26, Wesley set out in the stage coach, and 
in the evening came to Norwich. As the distance 
is 108 miles, that must have been remarkably good 
travelling for those times. The general outlook 
of the following morning was far from cheering. 
Finding abundance of people were out of work, 
and consequently in the utmost want (such a general 
decay of trade having hardly been known in the 
memory of man), I enforced in the evening, "Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added unto you. " The 
pinchings of want in this instance seemed to have the 
effect of making the suffering people more willing to 
receive the preacher s message. 

At this time, Colchester was also in a similar 
plight to Norwich. The society increased in some 
degree, but most of them were hard beset with 
poverty. They had been a poor folk from the 
first ; but in the fall of 1772 they were in greater 
want than ever through scarcity of business. It is 
even added, Few of our societies are rich ; but I 
know none in the kingdom so deplorably poor as 
this. 

When Wesley was at St. Albans in August, 1770, 
when the heat was as great as I remember in 
Georgia, he characterized the abbey as one of the 
largest, as well as one of the most ancient buildings 
in the kingdom, near a thousand years old. As is 
well known, the abbey church is the place of 



122 JOHN WESLEY 

sepulture of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who 
was regarded as a martyr by those who were his con 
temporaries 323 years before, or in the middle of the 
fifteenth century. While speaking of St. Albans 
Abbey Church as he found it, Wesley adds : Near 
the east end is the tomb and vault of good Duke 
Humphrey. Some now living remember since his 
body was entire. But after the coffin was opened 
so many were curious to taste the liquor in which it 
was preserved that in a little time the corpse was left 
bare, and then soon mouldered away. A few bones 
are now all that remain. How little is the spirit 
concerned at this ! Would not this be incredible if 
it was not so well attested ? Surely it would now 
be impossible to get people to drink liquid from 
a coffin which had lain in the vault for more than 
three centuries ! 

One thing has to be put down to the credit of the 
townsfolk of the eighteenth century which appears 
now to be obsolete it was possible to gather an early 
morning congregation even in bitter winter weather. 
Such services appear to have been a survival of 
lectures in London of the preceding century, which 
attracted good assemblies at six o clock a.m. 

The severe weather of an exceptionally severe 
winter would naturally be a temptation to linger in 
some comfortable, old-fashioned town, but preachers 
were not expected to yield to it. Thus, when he was 
at Bury St. Edmunds in January, 1761, we find Wesley 
remarking, I would gladly have stayed a day or two 
here, had it been only on account of the severity of 
the weather ; but I had work to do elsewhere. Thus, 



YARMOUTH IN 1761 1*3 

after preaching, and in the still early morning, as 
bitter a one as most I have known, he and a com 
panion set out to reach their next halting-place at 
Norwich at three in the afternoon. I never felt so 
piercing a wind as that which met us in riding out of 
the gate at daybreak/ he says. To think of looking 
up was a vain thing : I knew not whether I should 
not lose one of my eyes. The miserable roads, 
which almost obliged travellers to use saddle-horses, 
of course completed the discomfort. 

At the commencement of the reign of George III., 
when we find Wesley at Yarmouth, the town would 
still be famous for its herring fishery, but something 
was also done in the way of silk throwing and 
winding. 

In the year 1761, however, Yarmouth was chiefly 
remarkable for the extraordinary violence with which 
the people threatened and opposed the preachers of 
the Methodist Revival. To Wesley, Yarmouth was 
a large and populous town, and as eminent both for 
wickedness and ignorance as any sea-port in England. 
Those who had attempted to teach them better had 
done so at the hazard of their lives. Under such 
conditions the town might have been left to itself, 
the people being allowed to go their own way ; but 
that would not have been in accordance with the 
custom of the preachers of either camp, Calvinist or 
Arminian. It happened in the course of God s 
providence that ju^t when the outlook was so bad 
that, according to appearances it could not be worse, 
Howel Harris, the Welsh evangelist who had made 
heroic efforts for the reclamation of his native land 



i2 4 JOHN WESLEY 

visited Yarmouth, when a new era seemed to open 
When Harris commenced his work, Wales was sunk 
in dense moral darkness, and was afflicted with all of 
the evils which arise from ignorance. There seemed 
to be none who had any true knowledge of God. A 
universal deluge of swearing, lying, revelling, drunken 
ness, fighting, and gaming had overspread the country 
like a mighty torrent Night after night Howel 
Harris preached with such power and earnestness 
that he proved to be just the man for Great 
Yarmouth, none daring to oppose him, says Wesley, 
who afterwards visited the town ; and as the preacher 
was accompanied by the regiment in which he was an 
officer, the fisher-folk and herring-curers might have 
found it too risky to pelt the preacher. The way 
was so well prepared for others to follow, that when 
Wesley himself went to Yarmouth, the house was 
presently more than filled ; and, instead of the tumult 
which was expected, all were as quiet as at London. 
At Sibsey, on the edge of the Fens, we find that 
there were still a few wild colts in the fall of 1761. 
The main part, however, were serious and deeply 
attentive. So also were most of the congregation 
even at Boston, though much astonished, as not 
being used to field preaching. They were greatly 
reformed, when compared with what they were, how 
ever ; for the assistant preachers Michell and Mather 
had found their characteristics something akin to 
those of wild beasts. At that time the town was the 
largest in the county after Lincoln, and Boston 
Stump/ which Wesley ascended, was supposed to be 
by far the highest tower in the kingdom. A good 



BOSTON IN 1761 125 

congregation was attracted, many being much 
affected. Instead of a raging mob, there was now a 
friend to invite the preacher to dinner, and to offer 
the use of a paddock for the afternoon service ; and 
when the weather was unfavourable, the Baptist 
minister as readily offered the use of his meeting 
house, which was a large one. What we have to take 
note of is, that to a large proportion of the people 
whom he addressed the Gospel was a strange thing. 
1 Most of the chief persons in the town were present ; 
and many of these seemed utterly amazed. In other 
respects the outlook showed a great transformation 
for the better. Formerly this town was in the Fens ; 
but the Fens are vanished away : great part of them 
is turned into pasture, and part into arable land. 

Guisborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire 
was at that time a place where an open-air preacher 
would be made to realize that his calling had 
occasional drawbacks, such as a monk of the Middle 
Ages would not have taken very much account of. 
It was there, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, that 
alum works were first established in England ; but as 
Sir Thomas Chaloner had brought workmen from 
Italy, he was excommunicated by the Pope. 

Though midsummer had hardly arrived, the 
weather was exceedingly warm ; but as an accommo 
dating cloud kept off the sun s glare, a gentleman 
who wished that Wesley should preach in the market 
place, had a table placed for him. Greatly as the 
Gospel was needed, the place at once proved itself 
to be a bad neighbourhood in more than one 
sense. There was so vehement stench of stinking 



i 2 6 JOHN WESLEY 

fish, as was ready to suffocate me, and the people 
roared like the waves of the sea. The Gospel 
message was irresistible, however ; for presently the 
crowd as a whole seriously attended while the 
preacher spoke of Jesus Christ, made of God unto 
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and 
redemption. 

After such a conquest through the power of the 
Word, the preacher would have no doubt about his 
reception in the evening. At five o clock he again 
took his stand near the same place, but probably 
far enough away to be aside from the effluvia from 
the stale stock of the fish-dealers. Numbers who 
attended had been present in the morning ; yet 
they were not the same. The change might easily 
be read in their countenance. 

It was just about this same time that Wesley 
paid one of his memorable visits to his friend Grim- 
shaw at Haworth. On such occasions the church 
was so far too small to contain the people who came 
that the service, after prayers, became an open-air one, 
the preacher being accommodated on a platform fixed 
against one of the windows. 

What is said about some other places is noteworthy, 
as showing the general state of the provincial towns 
at the opening of the reign of George III. Not very 
long before Colne was inaccessible to the Gospel, 
but in 1761 a large and orderly congregation could 
be gathered. Padiham, not far away, seems to have 
been still eminent for all manner of wickedness. 
A large crowd assembled, including some of the 
most impudent women I ever saw. It actually 



SHEFFIELD 127 

seemed, however, that even these may have been 
affected for good. 

As regards Sheffield, a chief object of interest 
towards the end of the eighteenth century was the 
fine chapel erected by the Duke of Norfolk, a large 
part of the land on which the town was built being 
the estate of the Howard family. As regards the 
chapel, Wesley supposed that there was no other 
like it in the British Isles, or even in the wide world. 
1 It is a stone building, an octagon, about eighty feet 
diameter. A cupola, which is at a great height, gives 
some, but not much, light. A little more is given by 
four small windows under the galleries. The pulpit 
is movable, it rolls upon wheels ; and is shifted once 
a quarter, that all the pews may face it in their turns ; 
I presume the first contrivance of the kind in Europe. 

At Bingham, in the Nottingham district, the 
evangelist could not but admire the exquisite 
stupidity of the people/ who gaped and stared 
during a discourse on Death and Judgment, as 
though the matter was altogether new to them. The 
assembly included two surly, ill-mannered clergy 
men, who seemed to be hardly more enlightened 
than their parishioners. At Loughborough the con 
gregation was as large and as attentive as it had been 
at Nottingham ; and at Leicester a man who was 
commissioned to cry fresh salmon found the freak 
to be a failure. In the last year of his life, Wesley 
supposed Birmingham to be three times the size that 
it was when he commenced his travels as an evange 
list half a century before. 

One may also see what were the characteristics 



i28 JOHN WESLEY 

of certain West of England towns. Wesley preached 
in the great Presbyterian meeting-house in Taunton, 
in 1775, when he acquitted himself with much more 
freedom than he would have thought to be possible 
before so brilliant a congregation. Later on the 
same day he also conducted a service in the dreary 
preaching-house at Tiverton ; but there the outlook 
was more discouraging, the people appeared as dull 
as the place. 

Wesley did some good work in Edinburgh in 
1768, preaching in the High School yard and on the 
Castle Hill. He was interested in Holyrood Palace, 
which through being utterly neglected was swiftly 
running to ruin/ as was also the case with the 
palace at Scone. Speaking of the former in 1768, 
he says : The tapestry is dirty and quite faded ; 
the fine ceilings dropping down ; and many of the 
pictures in the gallery torn or cut through. This 
was the work of good General Hawley s soldiers (like 
general like men !), who, after running away from the 
Scots at Falkirk, revenged themselves on the harm 
less canvas ! It was the Young Pretender who 
defeated Hawley at Falkirk Muir, January 17, 1746. 

While Wesley was pleased with Inverness, the 
people showing a seriousness not to be matched else 
where, he was quite unable to reach the hearts of the 
people of Perth. The tedium of the road while 
riding to that town was relieved by the reading of 
that ingenious tract, Dr. Gregory s Advice to his 
Daughters. What was the cause of the townsfolk 
being so unimpressionable ? The generality of the 
people here are so wise that they need no more 



ST. ANDREWS IN 1776 129 

knowledge, and so good that they need no more 
religion ! Who can warn them that are brimful of 
wisdom and goodness to flee from the wrath to 
come ? But though a town might present such an 
outlook, poor dead Berwick being on the Border, 
the people of the house at every inn in Scotland very 
willingly attended at morning and evening family 
prayer when invited to do so. 

Wesley naturally found St. Andrews to be one of 
the most interesting sites in Scotland. The Univer 
sity is the most ancient in the country ; it has 
memories of Scottish Parliaments, and of Cardinal 
Beaton and his victim Wishart, whose martyrdom 
hastened on the Reformation. At midsummer, 1776, 
this was the outlook 

I paid a visit to St. Andrews, once the largest 
city in the kingdom. It was eight times as large as 
it is now, and a place of very great trade. But the 
sea rushing from the north-east, gradually destroyed 
the harbour and trade together. In consequence of 
which whole streets (that were) are now meadows 
and gardens. Three broad, straight, handsome streets 
remain, all pointing at the old cathedral, which, by 
the ruins, appears to have been above three hundred 
feet long, and proportionately broad and high. So 
that it seems to have exceeded York Minster, and to 
have at least equalled any cathedral in England. 
Another church, afterwards used in its stead, bears 
date 1124. A steeple standing near the cathedral 
is thought to have stood thirteen hundred years. 

St. Leonard s College was only a heap of ruins ; 
but two others remained. Of one of these it was 

I 



i30 JOHN WESLEY 

observed that all the windows were broken, the 
facetious custom being for the students to stone them 
before leaving for their summer vacation. Wesley 
naturally asks, Where are their blessed governors in 
i he mean time ? Are they all fast asleep ? There 
were about seventy students, and it was supposed 
that neither Edinburgh nor Glasgow could boast of 
more than a hundred each. So four Universities 
contain three hundred and ten students ! The five 
months ending in May was the time for study. So 
they may study five months in the year, and lounge 
all the rest ! adds Wesley, in astonishment. Oh 
where was the common-sense of those who instituted 
such colleges? In the English colleges every one 
may reside all the year, as all my pupils did ; and I 
should have thought myself little better than a high 
wayman if I had not lectured them every day in the 
year but Sundays. 

The Isle of Man was then shut out from the 
world in a way which we who are living at the 
present day can hardly realize. There was some 
difficulty in reaching the island at all ; for we find 
that Wesley embarked on board the packet-boat at 
Whitehaven, on a Wednesday, and landed at Douglas 
on Friday morning. There was preaching in the 
market-place of the town in the evening, the main 
part of the hearers being seriously affected, though 
the crowd had a mixture of giddy young women. 
The natural characteristics in some respects differed 
from those of the mainland. In England we 
generally hear the birds singing morning and even 
ing ; but here thrushes and various other kinds of 



DOUGLAS 131 

birds were singing all day long. They did not 
intermit even during the noon-tide heat, where they 
had a few trees to shade them. 

Bishop s Court, where good Bishop Wilson 
resided near three-score years, was one of the most 
interesting sites. There was something venerable, 
though not magnificent, in the ancient pilace ; and it 
is undoubtedly situated in one of the pleasantcst 
spots of the whole island. Wilson was Bishop of 
Sodor and Man from 1698 to 1755; his biography 
was written by Keble ; and when Wesley visited the 
island there would be many who remembered the 
bishop, who was ever solicitous for the religious and 
moral welfare of the islanders, though disposed to be 
somewhat high-handed in his rule. 

Wesley was very well pleased with the general 
outlook, and with the twenty-two preachers who 
went the round of the Douglas Circuit. I never saw 
in England so many stout, well-looking preachers 
together, he said. If their spirit be answerable to 
their look, I know not what can stand before them. 
The services would be carried on in Manx or English. 
The Douglas Circuit was unique ; there was no other 
like it in the British Isles. It is shut in from the 
world, and having little trade is visited by scarce 
any strangers. Here are no Papists, no Dissenters 
of any kind, no disputers. Here is no opposition 
from the governor (a mild, humane man), from the 
bishop (a good man), or from the bulk of the clergy. 
As regarded the natives, they were a plain, artless, 
simple people, unpolished, that is, unpolluted ; few 
of them are rich or genteel, ttur fir greater part 



i3* JOHN WESLEY 

moderately poor ; and most of the strangers that settle 
among them are men that have seen affliction. 
Wesley s notes refer to the year 1781 ; and a century 
later the population was still only about fifty-four 
thousand ; but instead of the island being visited by 
scarce any strangers/ the number of visitors is now 
about one hundred and thirty thousand annually. 

A century and a quarter ago, it was about as 
difficult to get away from the island as it was to reach 
it from the mainland. The wind had to be favourable ; 
if north-east, no boat could get to sea. After leaving 
the harbour they became becalmed, and Wesley not 
only gave a sermon on board, he had time to read 
what Dr. Johnson and Tennant had to say about 
their adventures in Scotland. 

Wesley s visit to Ireland, in 1778 was in some 
respects a memorable one. He speaks of Sligo as 
this sink of wickedness, but he was cheered to find 
that even there, there had been for some time a 
revival of religion. It was a good symptom that 
1 most of the gentry of the town attended the 
preaching, and for the most part the large con 
gregation was remarkably serious and attentive. 

Among the interesting allusions he makes to the 
history of Ireland there occurs a reference to what is 
called the famous massacre of Sligo, and accepted as 
being reliable. A little before the Revolution, one 
Mr. Morris, a Popish gentleman, invited all the chief 
Protestants to an entertainment ; at the close of which, 
on a signal given, the men he had prepared fell upon 
them, and left not one of them alive. As soon 
as King William prevailed he quitted Sligo. But 



BELFAST 133 

venturing thither about twenty years after, supposing 
no one then knew him, he was discovered, and used 
according to his deserts. 

In 1778, Belfast was said to contain thirty 
thousand souls; at the present time the total is 
probably something like three hundred thousand. 
4 The streets are well laid out, are broad, straight, and 
well built, remarks Wesley. The poor-house stands 
on an eminence, fronting the main street, and having 
a beautiful prospect on every side over the whole 
country. The old men, the old women, the male and 
female children, are all employed according to their 
strength ; and all their apartments are airy, sweet, 
and clean, equal to anything of the kind I have seen 
in England. 

As one of the most ancient towns of Ulster, great 
interest was attached to Downp itrick. In old times 
the place had been much larger, and had consisted of 
two towns, one for Protestants and one for Roman 
Catholics, the former being encompassed with a 
wall, and a deep ditch filled with water. The abbey 
was an extensive and noble ruin ; and close by, 
Wesley found an open-air cathedral in which to 
prc ich. Adjoining to it is one of the most beautiful 
groves which I ever beheld with my eyes. It covers 
the sloping side of the hill, and has vistas cut through 
it every way. In the middle of it is a circular space, 
twenty or thirty yards in diameter." The rising ground 
formed a beautiful theatre. and while the sun just 
glimmered through the trees, it was a glorious 
opportunity. 

Armagh, the ancient metropolis of Ireland, and at 



i 3 4 JOHN WESLEY 

one time one of the chief seats of learning in Europe, 
had been greatly improved by the primate, who then 
had the see, so that Armagh is at length rising out 
of its ruins into a large and populous city. 

In comparing the palace at Armagh with that of 
the English Bishop of Durham, we have one of those 
eighteenth-century contrasts which never failed to 
interest an observer like Wesley. The house of the 
Irish primate was elegantly, but not splendidly, 
furnished, the house itself being handsome, but 
not magnificent. The castle at Durham, in which 
the bishop resided, was finely situated, while many of 
the rooms were large and stately/ but the furniture 
was mean beyond imagination. It is added, In the 
largest chambers the tapestry is quite faded, beside 
that, it is coarse and ill-judged. Take but one 
instance in Jacob s Vision you see on the one side 
a little paltry ladder, and an angel climbing it, in the 
attitude of a chimney-sweeper ; and on the other side 
Jacob staring at him, from under a large silver-laced 
hat. 

Then the vivid little word-picture of the Welsh 
town of St. Davids is characteristic of the eighteenth 
century. The surrounding country was pleasant and 
fruitful ; but the town itself was a melancholy 
spectacle, quite as woe-begone as the Durham 
tapestry. I saw but one tolerable good house in it, 
says Wesley. The rest were miserable huts indeed. 
I do not remember so mean a town even in Ireland. 
The cathedral has been a large and stately fabric, far 
superior to any other in Wales. But a greater part 
of it is fallen already ; and the rest is hastening 



OUR CHIEF TOWNS 135 

into ruin. One blessed fruit (among many) of bishops 
reading at a distance from their see. 

The brief references of this chapter will enable 
readers to realize in some measure what the towns of 
these three kingdoms were like when they were visited 
by Wesley as a chief evangelist of the Revival. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOME OF WESLEY S CHIEF 
HELPERS 

IN addition to the head-quarters at the Foundery, 
there were now quite half a dozen buildings in 
London which were used as preaching-stations, 
and sixteen preachers were employed, the help of 
such assistants being found to be quite indispens 
able. These itinerants were in many instances 
remarkable men, having preaching talents of a high 
order, and though not regularly educated for the 
ministerial office, they showed by the success of their 
labours that they had not undertaken a service to 
which they had not been called. 

Though they were few in number, Wesley s 
friends and sympathizers among the clergy of the 
Established Church, to which he himself belonged, 
were all choice spirits who are still remembered with 
honour. His brother Charles did not continue to be 
such a travelling preacher after his marriage that he 
had been before ; but his influence was still great, 
and his hymns became a priceless legacy to the 
Church. Henry Venn, of St. Matthew s, London, 
was a Cambridge man who had been famous as a 

136 



THOMAS MAXFIELD 137 

cricket-player ; but having given that up because 
he would not have it said, Well struck, parson, 
he became a Methodist, the term being then 
applied to all who showed any serious regard for 
the Gospel. Grimshaw of Haworth, and Perronnet 
of Shoreham, have been mentioned ; but there was 
William Baddiley, Vicar of Hayfield in the Peak of 
Derbyshire, who in some respects may have resembled 
the Yorkshire vicar ; and then there were Romaine, 
Madan, Berridge, who leaned more to Whitefield s 
views of theology ; and Fletcher of Madeley, who, had 
he lived, might have become Wesley s recognized 
successor, and whose wife ranks as one of the model 
women of those times. 

Thomas Maxfield, a Bristol convert, was regarded 
by Wesley as the first lay-preacher who volunteered 
to assist him as a son in the Gospel ; and at one 
time he was a kind of overseer in London while 
John Cennick remained at Bristol. These two 
afterwards separated from their old associates, on 
account of theological differences, Wesley represent 
ing the Arminian and Whitefield the Calvinist section 
of the Methodist Revival. John Nelson a worthy 
comrade of the early preachers, has already been 
mentioned. 

Southey is of opinion that Wesley never took any 
step more reluctantly than this of appointing lay- 
preachers ; but having committed himself, he was not 
able to draw back, while the converts would have 
preached whether he chose to give his sanction or 
not. Southey adds, that no founder of a monastic 
order ever more entirely possessed the respect, as 



138 JOHN WESLEY 

well as the love and admiration of his disciples, or 
better understood their individual characters, and 
how to deal with each according to the measure of 
his capacity. This may be saying merely in other 
words, that Wesley was a shrewd observer of human 
nature, and could in his way instinctively take a 
man s measure at a glance. 

A representative character among the early 
preachers was John Oliver, the son of a shopkeeper 
at Stockport, and educated in the Grammar School 
of that town. When quite a lad, young Oliver was 
attracted by the Methodists, though they were much 
spoken against in his father s house and among the 
friends of the family. Young and impressionable as 
he was, however, he judged for himself; he attended 
the meetings, and his heart was so far touched that 
he desired to go again. Though he was a member 
of the Church of England, the elder Oliver became 
quite enraged at his son s showing such a disposition ; 
but whether the means were severe or gentle, they 
altogether failed to turn the youth from his purpose. 
Friends pleaded or advised with him equally in 
vain. When Wesley first met with him, Oliver had 
really passed through a tragic kind of experience 
in his own family, his spiritual experience being 
also of a striking kind. In time he became one 
of the most laborious and successful of Wesley s 
helpers. 

Though almost a namesake of the above, the 
Welshman, Thomas Olivers, was not related to him. 
He lost his father at an early age, and being brought 
up by a relative on a farm, he lapsed into a profane 



THOMAS OLIVERS 139 

and immoral character, notwithstanding that he 
attended the Church services and learned the cate 
chism and prayers. He went on until he was 
regarded as the worst boy who had been known in 
that part of Montgomeryshire for many years. After 
he left his native country, the odium of bad conduct 
followed him, and even after conveision the memories 
of evil followed him. At length young Olivers, being 
at Bristol, heard Whitefield preach on the text, Is 
not this a brand plucked from the burning? 1 The 
words struck home, so that that service marked a new 
era in the young Welshman s life. After his con 
version, Olivers returned to Wales to receive some 
small property due, and he had no sooner got 
possession of the money than he went in many 
directions to pay the debts his now astonished 
creditors had never expected to receive. He did 
this after suffering from a very severe attack of small 
pox. When all was paid he was too poor to buy 
another horse ; but he was presented with one, which, 
during the succeeding quarter of a century, carried 
Olivers over a hundred thousand miles of ground. 
When Wesley s<iw this man, he at once formed a 
correct estimate of him ; and, as Southey remarks, 
The daring disposition, the fiery temper, and the 
stubbornness of the Welshman, were now subdued 
and disciplined into an intrepidity, an ardour, and a 
perseverance which were the best requisites for his 
vocation. After serving as a preacher for a number 
of years, Olivers became a kind of superintendent or 
sub-editor of Wesley s publications in London ; but 
being less successful in this than in preaching, he 



140 JOHN WESLEY 

had at length to be suspended on account of the 
many errors he overlooked in the proofs. 

On one memorable occasion Alexander Mather, 
who has been already mentioned, proved to be a 
match for a lawyer at Wolverhampton who had 
headed the mob which destroyed the Methodist 
cn.ipel. The lawyer was told to choose bet-\ecn 
taking his trial for the then capital offence, or n - 
building the meeting-house at his own expense. The 
man of law chose the latter alternative. Morally, 
Wolverhampton was then in a terrible condition. 
1 None had yet preached abroad in this furious town, 1 
remarks Wesley, in 1761 ; but I was resolved, with 
God s help, to make a trial, and ordered a table to be 
set in the inn yard. Such a number of wild men I 
have seldom seen ; but they gave me no disturbance, 
either while I preached, or when I afterwards walked 
through the midst of them. 

John Pawson was the son of a small land-owner 
at Thorner, Yorkshire, who farmed his own land, and 
also followed the building trade. The family were 
of good moral and even religious standing according 
to the notions of that day, but all were much grieved 
when John was attracted by the Methodists. All the 
means used to dissuade him were of no avail, how 
ever, and before long another son in the family was 
affected in a similar manner. The two brothers 
prayed together ; at last both father and mother 
joined in these devotions, then attended the services, 
the result at last being that all the family became 
converted. In due course Pawson became an itinerant 
preacher and a leading member of the Conference. 



GEORGE STORY 141 

George Story, a native of Harthill, Yorkshire, who 
did eminent service as an itinerant preacher for about 
thirty years, was a man of strong mind and wide 
reading. Though well brought up, he followed the 
ways of the world as regarded its pastimes or 
pleasures for many years, and when he first heard 
Whitefield preach he was merely entertained by his 
unrivalled powers, as he would have been at a theatre. 
He could dispute about the Gospel and the objections 
to it by the hour ; and it was after one of these some 
what profitless discussions that one asked him, 4 Are 
you happy ? As happiness had been the goal of his 
desire for many a long year, the question arrested 
him, and that, with some other things which were 
said, led to his conversion. 

If circumstances favoured such a step, Wesley 
harboured no objection to such preachers as these 
joining the regular clergy of the Established Church. 
Thus when Maxfield took holy orders on Wesley s re 
commendation, Dr. Barnard, Bishop of Londonderry, 
said, Sir, I ordain you to assist that good man, that 
he may not work himself to death. The now veteran 
leader, on the whole, found his men to be a source of 
great comfort, though of course the men naturally 
showed great inequality as regarded capacity and in 
the results of their service. Now and then one might 
leave the battalion through some differences arising ; 
or one might turn aside from his original simplicity 
to indulge in vagaries of his own. George Bell was a 
notable example of this latter failing, and at last, 
through thinking that certain impressions on his 
mind came direct from God, he turned prophet by 



M2 JOHN WESLEY 

predicting, about a month previously, that the world 
would come to an end on the last day of February. 
1763. So much alarm was created that Wesley had 
to speak both in the pulpit and through the press. 
When the day arrived, he preached at Spitalfields 
in the evening on " Prepare to meet thy God," thus 
turning to religious profit the terror which had seized 
upon many, Henry Moore tells us. After expound 
ing the passage, he largely showed the utter absurdity 
of the supposition that the world would be at an end 
that night. But, notwithstanding all he could say, 
many were afraid to go to bed, and some wandered 
about in the fields, being persuaded that if the world 
did not end, at least London would be swallowed up 
by an earthquake. Having warned the people of 
their folly, Wesley himself was fast asleep at ten 
o clock. 

Meanwhile, Wesley was as industrious an itinerant 
as ever, and the characteristics of the people among 
whom he moved are often noted, as are also the 
effects of the spread of the Gospel among those who 
at the opening of the Revival had seemed to be wild 
and uncivilized, the men in some places being still 
wild-looking. It was in Scotland that the preacher 
found it hardest of all to make an impression. As 
regarded England, the common people would not 
have given much trouble if they had not been led on 
by others, and once we find Wesley recording that 
many of these were cut down by death at unexpected 
times. In and about Sheffield the preachers were 
not interfered with after certain leading persecutors 
were thus removed. He says, Some time since, a 



WESLEY S CAPACITY FOR WORK 143 

woman of Thorpe often swore she would wash her 
hands in the heart s blood of the next preacher that 
came ; but before the next preacher came she was 
carried to her long home. A little before John 
Johnson settled at Went worth, a stout, healthy man, 
who lived there, told his neighbours, After May 
day we shall have nothing but praying and preach 
ing ; but I will make noise enough to stop it. But 
before May-day he was silent in his grave. A 

servant of Lord R was as bitter as he, and told 

many lies purposely to make mischief ; but, before 
this was done, his mouth was stopped ; he was 
drowned in one of the fish-ponds. This shows how the 
open-air preachers persevered and conquered. What 
marvel the devil does not love field -preaching ? 
Neither do I, wrote Wesley, when he was attracting 
large outdoor congregations at Newcastle in 1759. 
I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, and a 
handsome pulpit ; but where is my zeal if I do not 
trample all these under foot in order to save one more 
soul ? 

While Wesley was thus moving about and show 
ing the earnestness of an apostle, we must not 
suppose that he was not interested in the ordinary 
business of the world. He got through an immense 
amount of reading, not only in divinity, but in general 
literature. He had an eye, too, for the beauties of 
Nature, and would turn aside to see any old-time 
monument or curiosity that promised to repay sucli 
attention. He even found his curiosity in such things 
increase as he grew older. As from first to last he 
must have travelled a greater distance than that 



144 JOHN WESLEY 

which intervenes between the earth and the moon, he 
must have known the British Isles better than any 
man of his time ; and he moved about for a purpose 
indeed, when his forty thousand sermons, given in all 
parts of the empire, are taken into account. 



CHAPTER XII 

SOME NEW FRIENDS-ENCOURAGx 
ING OUTLOOK 

WESLEY S travelling-companion in 1758, when 
he again made the tour of the North of 
England and visited Ireland, was Francis 
Okeley, who had also been educated at the Charter 
house. Before setting out from London, Wesley 
retired to his loved retreat, the house of his friend 
Blackwell at Lewisham, to prepare the assize sermon 
he preached at Bedford on March 10. While the 
discourse was published at the request of the High 
Sheriff of the county, the judge, Sir Edward Clive, 
would have had the preacher dine with him, but 
Wesley had to hurry northward, and after visiting 
Epworth and some other places, to embark for Ireland. 
On June 5, he wrote to his friend Blackwell : I have 
now gone through the greatest part of this kingdom, 
Leinster, Ulster, and the greater part of Connaught. 
Time only is wanting. If my brother could only take 
care of England, and give me but one year in Ireland, 
I think every corner of this nation would receive the 
truth as it is in Jesus. 

The truth was, that Charles Wesley had practically 
ceased to be an itinerant since his marriage, and now 

145 K 



146 JOHN WESLEY 

chiefly resided at Bristol with his devoted wife, who 
was one of those charming characters who rank even 
as model women among the most excellent of their 
sex in the Christian Church. As a gifted woman 
herself, Mrs. Charles Wesley was well matched with 
her accomplished husband, who, though he differed in 
many respects from his greater brother, was yet one 
of the most distinguished evangelists of his time, as 
well as the chief poet of the Revival. 

While he still valued his older friends, Wesley 
continued to make new ones, some of whom bear 
very familiar names in the Christian Church. During 
his visit to Liverpool, in 1758, he first became ac 
quainted with John Newton, then a tide-waiter at 
the port, and who was afterwards successively curate- 
in-charge at Olney and the friend of Cowper, and 
Vicar of St. Mary Woolnoth, London. It was about 
the same time that Wesley first met with that choice 
man, John Berridge, Vicar of Everton, who in the 
epitaph he wrote for himself before his death suc 
cinctly sums up his life : I was born in sin, February, 
1716. Remained ignorant of my fallen state till 1730. 
Lived proudly on faith and works till 1754. Ad. 
mitted to Everton Vicarage 1755. Fled to Jesus 
alone for refuge 1756. Dying in 1793, Berridge 
survived Wesley ; and for over twenty years Everton 
Vicarage was as a lighthouse for the diffusion of 
Gospel truth in the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, 
Essex, Herts, and Hunts, their wide area being the 
vicar s circuit. The first of his four home services on 
Sundays was at seven in the morning, and he was 
an itinerant preacher throughout the week, at times 



SOME NEW FRIENDS 147 

commanding an open-air congregation of over ten 
thousand persons. Under this ministry thousands 
were awakened, and large numbers called at Everton 
Vicarage for religious counsel. Besides the preachers 
employed, for whose support Berridge gave his own 
money, and even disposed of his family plate, Mr. 
Hicks, of Wrestlmgworth, as a clerical convert, joined 
in the itinerant work. In common with others who 
were like-minded, they were content to endure hard 
ship and ridicule for the Gospel s sake. It was to 
wards the end of the year that Wesley first preached 
in Everton Church, and both then and at some of 
Berridge s or Hicks s own services, the phenomenon 
of stricken cases, which had characterized the opening 
of the Revival, again occurred. In many instances 
numbers were heard crying for mercy at the same 
time ; and thousands were awakened to seek the 
salvation of their souls. 

It was now also that Wesley began to correspond 
with Toplady, who, like Berridge, was a Calvinist, 
inclining more to the teaching of the Countess of 
Huntingdon s Connexion. Conyers, Vicar of Helms- 
ley, who invited his parishioners to join in his family 
prayer ; and the Hon. Walter Shirley, cousin of the 
Countess of Huntingdon, who had meetings of the 
Methodist leaders at his own house, were other clergy 
men with whom Wesley became acquainted about 
this same time. 

The success at various great centres continued to 
be very encouraging, and when cases of discipline had 
to be dealt with, Wesley was ever careful that no 
injustice should be done. I desire the leaders may 



i 4 8 JOHN WESLEY 

know their places, and not stretch themselves beyond 
their line, we find him writing to Leeds. At Nor 
wich, Newcastle, and Gateshead the success was very 
marked, while a beginning was being made at Sunder- 
land. The last year of the reign of our last foreign 
king, George II., was a time of such unrest that 
prayer-meetings, which Wesley attended, were held 
at the Countess of Huntingdon s town house to pray 
for Divine protection from French invasion. The 
accession of George III., in 1760, was like the open 
ing of a new era ; and it might have been that 
especially for Ireland, if Wesley s prescription had 
been acted upon viz. that the chief want of Ireland 
was faithful Gospel preachers. He continued his visits 
to that beautiful land, although, on account of his 
brother having practically ceased to be an itinerant 
evangelist, the burden weighed more heavily on the 
shoulders of the elder brother. How uncomplainingly 
he accepted his lot, however, may be inferred from the 
fact that, during his Cornwall tour in 1760, he preached 
thirty times in eleven days without thinking that any 
extraordinary effort had been made. The only reward 
sought being the welfare of the people by the dif 
fusion of pure religion was incredible to many on 
lookers, who judged the preacher by their own lower 
standards. In 1760 an anonymous writer accused 
him of fleecing the poor to build his chapels. Don t 
you know, sir, those houses are none of mine ? I made 
them over to trustees long ago. I have food to eat, 
and raiment to put on ; and I will have no more, till 
I turn pope or pagan. Such was the devoted dis 
interestedness of the man who sought no greater 



SOME NEW FRIENDS 149 

earthly reward for preaching oftentimes more than 
three times a day, in addition to meeting the classes 
and exhorting the societies. When he gave up riding 
on horseback in his later years, he travelled in what 
is called a lumbering old carriage with a bookcase 
inside of it a veritable travelling study, but not an 
over-comfortable one, when the bad condition of the 
roads is taken into account. The coachman appears 
to have been a man of sympathy, who understood his 
master s notions and prejudices. On one occasion 
this man was found rolling about on a bed which had 
been set apart for his master, his explanation being 
that Mr. Wesley would not sleep on such a bed until 
it was made as hard as possible. 

Wesley s adventures as an itinerant continued to 
be varied, and the wide experience he gained made 
his advice to his preachers ot" great value. His desire 
was that there should be no controversy introduced in 
the public assemblies. I have preached twenty years 
in some of Mr. Whitefield s societies ; yet, to this day,. 
I never contradicted him among his own people, 
wrote Wesley to one of his preachers. I did not 
think it honest, neither necessary at all. I could 
preach salvation by faith, and leave all controversy 
untouched. Then the advice is given : Keep to 
this : repentance towards God, faith in Christ, holiness 
of heart and life, a growing in grace and in the 
knowledge of Christ, the continual need of His atoning 
blood, a constant confidence in Him, and all these 
every moment to one s life s end. One of the early 
converts and preachers of Methodism was John. 
Macgowan, who in youth fought for the Pretender at 



150 JOHN WESLEY 

Culloden. He afterwards wrote The Dialogues of 
Devils, and became pastor of the old Baptist con 
gregation at Devonshire Square, London. 

Wesley s power over the crowds which continued 
to gather in the open air was still as great as when 
the mobs had been more riotous. In the neighbour 
hood of Whitby a large cat jumped out of a window 
and ran along on the shoulders of the people, who, 
however, took no more notice of the occurrence than 
if the cat had been a butterfly. Such a cat was 
neither a persecutor nor an enemy. Then the pigs, 
already mentioned, which refused to disturb a meeting, 
were well matched by the ass, which the mob drove 
into the chapel at Rotherham during the preaching 
of the opening sermon. This animal was described 
by Wesley as his most attentive hearer ; for the 
docile animal stood in the aisle, lifted up its eyes 
to the preacher, remained quiet till the sermon was 
ended, then turned round and walked leisurely away, 
without making the disturbance that the mob 
expected. By the time that he reached his sixtieth 
year, disturbances in the north of England became 
more and more rare, while the conquest of Cornwall 
was so far complete that it was said that both popular 
tumult and persecution seemed to be forgotten. One 
of Wesley s anecdotes, however, related to a time 
when he was arraigned in Cornwall for irregular pro 
ceedings before a clerical magistrate who was an old 
Oxford acquaintance. While in the act of censuring 
Wesley, the floor of the room gave way, the magistrate 
was hurled from his seat, the table was overturned, 
the people screamed, and all was confusion. Well 



SOME NEW FRIENDS 151 

sir, shall we proceed further in this business ? asked 
the preacher, when order was restored. No, no ; 
go your way, Mr. Wesley, was the reply, " Sufficient 
unto the day is the evil thereof." 

Many of his adventures at inns or in private 
houses were characteristic of the times. Thus, on 
one occasion in Ireland, we find Wesley giving a 
guinea to a poor travelling player, besides satisfying 
the demands of an angry landlady, who threatened 
to sell the player s belongings and to turn him out- 
of-doors. You serve the stage, young man, said 
Wesley. Would I could teach you to serve your 
God ; you would find Him a better Master. One 
who was present remarked that he supposed the 
gentleman was a clergyman. A clergyman? Not 
he, indeed! cried the landlady. It s only John 
Wesley, the Methodist, that goes preaching up and 
down, and draws all the idle vagabonds of the country 
after him. 

The outlook continued to brighten after the 
accession of George III. Referring to the year 1762 
Wesley says, Such a season I never saw before. 
Such a multitude of sinners were converted, in all 
parts, both of England and Ireland, and so many 
were filled with pure love. At the same time dis 
cussions concerning Christian doctrines and Church 
discipline became more frequent and earnest. As 
regards the doctrine of Christian Perfection, which 
was one of the things in dispute, Wesley modified 
his opinions somewhat as he grew older, and he never 
himself professed to have attained to that condition. 

The progress of the work was attended by many 



is* JOHN WESLEY 

trials and anxieties. Wesley desired that all the 
clergy of the Established Church who were in sym 
pathy with him should be banded together in union, 
but the applications made ended in disappointment. 
The occasional falling away of a small proportion of 
the members was also a source of trouble. So also 
were the debts on the chapels, which in 1766 
amounted to nearly 12,000, a comparatively in 
significant sum when the members are counted by 
hundreds of thousands, but a formidable item when 
the total was only about twenty-five thousand. 
We shall all be ruined if we go on thus, said 
Wesley. Another cause of perplexity was the per 
sistency with which many people clung to bad 
habits or dishonest customs, which, in the course of 
generations, had almost ceased to be considered 
sinful at all. Hence warnings and advice would be 
given which in these days it would be unnecessary 
to offer to a Christian society. In prospect of a 
general election, in 1764, the members at Bristol 
were urged to beware of bribery. On no account 
take money, or money s worth. Keep yourselves 
pure. Give, not sell, your vote. Touch not the 
accursed thing, lest it bring a blight upon you and 
your household. Then there was the temptation to 
smuggle. Have nothing to do with stolen goods, 
said Wesley. Neither sell nor buy anything that 
has not paid the duty. No, not if you could have 
it at half price. Defraud not the king any more 
than your fellow-subject. Never think of being 
religious unless you are honest. What has a thief 
to do with religion ? The inhabitants on the coast 



SOME NEW FRIENDS 153 

of Cornwall especially needed similar advice. The use 
of snuff, tobacco, and ardent spirits was in all cases 
to be discouraged. It was because the leader desired 
above all things that his preachers should be good 
patterns and advisers of others, that he took such pains 
in advising them. His advice to these itinerants was, 
Spend all the morning, or at least five hours in 
twenty-four, in reading the most useful books, and 
that regularly and constantly. " But I read only the 
Bible." Then you ought to teach others to read only 
the Bible, and, by parity of reason, to hear only the 
Bible. . . . This is rank enthusiasm. If you need 
no book but the Bible, you are got above St. Paul. 
He wanted others too. As many of the preachers 
were uneducated men in the strict sense, their leader 
supplied them with an answer to the question, Who 
are the Methodists? Those who remain with Mr. 
Wesley are worthy Church of England men, it is 
said in A Short History of Methodism issued in 
1764. They love her Articles, her Homilies, her 
Liturgy, her discipline, and unwillingly vary from it 
in any instance. All who preach among them declare, 
" We are all by nature children of wrath. But by 
grace we are saved through faith saved both from 
the guilt and the power of sin." They endeavour to 
live according to what they preach, and to be plain 
Bible Christians. 

Wesley never wished his followers to practise 
self-denial which he did not practise himself; his 
example was in advance of what he could expect 
them to show. He regarded himself as merely the 
steward of what he possessed, so that everything 



154 JOHN WESLEY 

beyond what was needed for his own bare wants was 
distributed in charity. When Miss Lewen, who 
established an Orphanage at Leytonstone, left him 
1000, in 1786, Wesley is supposed to have possessed 
more money than he ever had before of his own. 
His sister, Mrs. Hall, being in need through having 
married a worthless man, who had deserted her, was 
almost too late in asking for a gift. Dear Patty, 
you do not consider money never stays with me ; it 
would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands 
as soon as possible, lest it should find a way into my 
heart. This charity to the poor shown by himself and 
his followers found many ways of expressing itself. In 
severe wintry weather there were then, as now, many 
famishing people in London, and the Foundery may 
possibly have had the first soup-kitchen of its kind 
established, where pease-soup and broth were served 
out to the hungry. The travelling preachers were 
also expected to be kind to their horses by avoiding 
hard riding, and to take notice at an inn that the 
beast was well rubbed, fed, and bedded. 

As years passed by the opposition and persecu 
tion of mobs, frequently encouraged by those in 
authority, abated ; but this was owing not only to 
the spread of religion, but to some wholesome 
lessons which the rioters were taught in the Court of 
King s Bench, and even to accidents which befell the 
rioters themselves. In one instance a notorious mob- 
leader at Sheffield was drowned in the river Don, his 
last words being, Another dip, and then for a bit 
more sport with the Methodists. Stalbridge in 
Dorset was long the seat of war, by a senseless, 



SOME NEW FRIENDS 155 

insolent mob, encouraged by their betters ; but after 
the Court of King s Bench prescribed for them in a 
way that proved there was law for the preachers, the 
opposition ceased, and then Wesley himself would 
preach to a large and attentive assembly. South 
Shields was also a seat of war, but there a cock-pit 
was turned into a chapel. 

A man who travelled as much as Wesley was 
sure to have his share of accidents, and when he was 
over sixty years of age these may have been harder 
to bear. While on his way to Shoreham, in December 
1765, he was severely shaken and bruised through his 
horse falling ; and about six months later we find 
him meeting with a perilous adventure in a bog near 
Solway Firth. At the third plunge, he (the horse) 
threw me on one side, and we both made shift to 
scramble out, says Wesley. I was covered with 
fine, soft mud, from my feet to the crown of my 
head ; yet, blessed be God, not hurt at all. 



CHAPTER XIII 

REMARKABLE PERSONS NOTED IN 
WESLEY S JOURNAL 

DID space allow, mention might be made of 
all Wesley s preachers. Thus John Prickard, 
1744-1784, was a devoted man, who in his 
brief life sa\v much of adventure among Welsh moun 
tains, in Ireland, and in England. Jonathan Maskew, 
1713-1793, only ten years younger than Wesley him 
self, became one of the veterans of the band ; and 
although he took such a serious view of life that he 
was never seen even to smile, felt in death all the 
dawning transports of the ethereal visions. Matthias 
Joyce, 1754-1814, a man of a most loving and peaceful 
disposition, persevering and successful as a preacher, 
was a convert from Romanism, and in early life, while 
engaged in the printing trade, he was famous for 
leading a wild life. 

It is known by all who have given the work due 
attention that Wesley s Journal is one of the most 
remarkable works of its kind in the language. It is 
comprised in four substantial octavo volumes ; but 
notwithstanding its length tne interest never flags, 
and the picture presented of eighteenth-century life 
in these kingdoms is tolerably complete. Religion, 

156 



REMARKABLE PERSONS 157 

social manners, and customs, men and books, all in 
turn come in for notice, showing that Wesley was an 
omnivorous reader of fine discerning critical powers. 
That his carefully annotated copy of Shakespeare 
should have been destroyed because the preacher John 
Pawson thought that the publication would become 
a scandal, is a matter for lasting regret 

It is to be feared that villainies of various kinds 
were much more easily practised during the eighteenth 
century than in our own day ; and here and there 
the Journal affords us a glimpse of what was 
possible. Take this example 

About this time (March, 1737), Mr. Lacy of 
Thunderbold called upon me, when observing him to 
be in a deep sadness, I asked what was the reason of 
it ; and a terrible one indeed he gave, in the following 
relation: In 1733, David Jones, a saddler, a middle- 
aged man, who had for some time before lived at 
Nottingham, being at Bristol, met a person there, 
who, after giving him some account of Georgia, asked 
whether he would go thither, adding, his trade (that 
of a saddler) was an exceeding good trade there, 
upon which he might live creditably and comfortably. 
He objected his want of money to pay his passage 
and buy some tools, which he should have need of. 
The gentleman (Captain W.) told him he would 
supply him with that, and hire him a shop when he 
came to Georgia, wherein he might follow his busi 
ness, and so repay him when it suited his convenience. 
Accordingly to Georgia they went, where, soon after 
his arrival, his master (as he now styled himself) sold 
him to Mr. Lacy, who set him to work with the rest 



158 JOHN WESLEY 

of his servants in clearing land. He commonly 
appeared much more thoughtful than the rest, often 
stealing into the woods alone. He was now sent to 
do some work on an island, three or four miles from 
Mr. Lacy s great plantation. Thence he desired the 
other servants to return without him, saying he would 
stay and kill a deer. This was on a Saturday. On 
Monday they found him on the shore, with his gun 
by him, and the forepart of his head shot to pieces. 
In his pocket was a paper book ; all the leaves 
thereof were fair, except one, on which ten or twelve 
verses were written. 

" Death could not a more sad retinue find ; 

Sickness and pain before, and darkness all behind." 

Thus an ordinary tradesman could be persuaded 
to emigrate from Bristol which grew rich on the 
slave trade and being tempted by fair offers, could 
be sold as a slave on his arrival ! 

At the outset of the Revival Wesley was made 
the subject of the most absurd reports. In 1741 it 
was openly declared that he had been convicted for 
selling spirits without a license, that he kept Romish 
priests in his house, and that he was mixed up in a 
scheme to restore Popery in these islands. 

The success attending the dispensing of medicine 
was not a little remarkable in that age when surgeons 
too often did not only do no good, but were a source 
of positive danger to weakly patients. When, in 
December, 1746, a beginning was made at the 
Foundery in London, the number who came soon 
increased from thirty to three hundred. Through 



REMARKABLE PERSONS 159 

the blessing of God, it is said, many who had been 
ill for months or years were restored to perfect 
health. Lending money to the poor for trading 
purposes was also a benefit, and an eminent deist 
was one who supplied funds for this purpose. 

One of the first members of the society in 
London was a man named Abraham Jones, a serious, 
well-living person, growing wise in his own eyes ; he 
saw this and the other person wrong, and was almost 
continually offended. He then grew colder and 
colder, till at length, in order to renew his friend 
ship with the world, he went (which he had refused 
to do for many years) to a parish feast, and stayed 
there till midnight Returning home perfectly sober, 
just by his own door he fell down and broke his 
leg. When the surgeon came, he found the bone 
so shattered in pieces that it could not be set. Then 
it was, when he perceived he could not live, that the 
terrors of the Lord came about him. I found him 
in great darkness of soul, owing to the just hand of 
God. We prayed for him in full confidence that 
God would return ; and He did in part reveal Him 
self again. This providence made a profound 
impression on the society in London. 

The self-denial and persevering devotion of many 
of the early preachers, some of whom may have 
found no biographers, were beyond what one might 
expect flesh and blood to endure. Under the date 
of September, 1750, we find an account of one of 
these. 

John Jane was never well after walking from 
Eoworth to Hainton on an exceeding hot day, which 



160 JOHN WESLEY 

threw him into a fever. But he was in great peace 
and love, even to those who greatly wanted love to 
him. He was some time at Alice Shadforth s house, 
with whom he daily talked of the things of God. 
He was never without the love of God, spent much 
time in private prayer, and joined likewise with her 
in prayer several times in a day. On Friday, August 
24, growing as she thought stronger in body, he sat 
in the evening by the fireside ; about six he fetched a 
deep sigh, and never spoke more. He was alive till 
the same hour on Saturday, at which, without any 
struggle, or any sign of pain, with a smile on his 
face, he passed away. His last words were, "I find 
the love of God in Christ Jesus." All his clothes, 
linen and woollen stockings, hat, and wig, are not 
thought sufficient to answer his funeral expenses, 
which amount to 1 i/j. ^d. All the money he had 
was one shilling and fourpence. Enough for any 
unmarried preacher of the Gospel to leave to his 
executors. 

After preaching at Osmotherley on April 27, 1752, 
Wesley met with a singular character. I was 
desired to visit a person who had been an eminent 
scoffer at all religion ; but was now, they said, " in a 
strange way." I found her in a strange way indeed, 
either raving mad or possessed of the devil. The 
woman herself affirmed that the devil had appeared 
to her the day before ; and after talking some time, 
leaped upon and grievously tormented her ever 
since. We prayed with her. Her agonies ceased. She 
fell asleep, and awaked in the morning calm and 
easy. 



REMARKABLE PERSONS 161 

In 1756 the wife of a silversmith at Cork a 
person of piety and veracity gave Wesley an 
account of something which happened to her in early 
life : 

About thirty years ago I was addressed by way 
of marriage, by Mr. Richard Mercier, then a volunteer 
in the army. The young gentleman was quartered 
at that time in Charleville, where my father lived, who 
approved of his addresses, and directed me to look 
upon him as my future husband. When the regiment 
left the town, he promised to return in two months 
and marry me. From Charleville he went to Dublin ; 
thence to his father s, and from thence to England ; 
where, his father having bought him a cornetcy of 
horse, he purchased many ornaments for the wedding ; 
and returning to Ireland, let us know that he would 
be at our house in Charleville in a few days. On 
this the family was busied to prepare for his recep 
tion, and the ensuing marriage ; when one night, my 
sister Molly and I being asleep in our bed, I was 
awakened by the sudden opening of the side-curtain, 
and, starting up, saw Mr. Mercier standing by the 
bedside. He was wrapped in a loose sheet, and had 
a napkin, folded like a nightcap, on his head. He 
looked at me very earnestly, and lifting up the 
napkin, which much shaded his face, showed me the 
left side of his head, all bloody and covered with his 
brains. The room meantime was quite light. My 
terror was excessive, which was still increased by his 
stooping over the bed and embracing me in his 
arms. My cries alarmed the whole family, who came 
crowding into the room. Upon their entrance he 

L 



i6a JOHN WESLEY 

gently withdrew his arms, and ascended, as it were, 
through the ceiling. I continued for some time in 
strong fits. When I could speak, I told them what I 
had seen. One of them, going a day or two after to 
the postmaster for letters, found him reading the 
newspapers, in which was an account that Cornet 
Mercier, going into Christ Church belfry in Dublin, 
just after the bells had been ringing, and standing 
under the bells, one of them, which was turned bottom 
upwards, suddenly turned again, struck one side of 
his head, and killed him on the spot. On further 
inquiry, we found he was struck on the left side of 
his head. 

In June, 1765, Wesley received an account of 
her late husband from a woman named Prudence 
Nixon : 

1 In November last, on a Sunday evening, he was 
uncommonly fervent in prayer, and found such a 
desire as he never had before to depart and to be 
with Christ. In the night she awaked, and found 
him quite stiff, without either sense or motion. 
Supposing him to be either dying or dead, she broke 
out into a vehement agony of prayer, and cried 
for half an hour together, " Lord Jesus ! Give me 
George! Take him not away!" Soon after he 
opened his eyes, and said earnestly, "You had better 
have let me go ! " Presently he was raving mad, and 
began to curse and blaspheme in the most horrid 
manner. This he continued to do for several days, 
appearing to be under the full power of an unclean 
spirit. At the latter end of the week she cried out, 
" Lord, I am willing ! I am willing he should go to 



REMARKABLE PERSONS 163 

Thee." Quickly his understanding returned, and he 
again rejoiced with joy unspeakable. He tenderly 
thanked her for giving him up to God, kissed her, lay 
down and died. 

On Monday, March 10, 1788, Wesley visited a 
wax-work exhibition at Spring Gardens, and as there 
were life-size models of the then reigning monarchs 
he gives a note respecting them. It exhibits most 
of the crowned heads in Europe, and shows their 
characters in their faces, he says. Sense and 
majesty appear in the King of Spain; dulness and 
sottishne.ss in the King of France ; infernal subtlety 
in the late King of Prussia (as well as in the skeleton 
Voltaire) ; calmness and humanity in the emperor, 
and King of Portugal ; exquisite stupidity in the 
Prince of Orange ; and amazing coarseness, with 
everything that is unamiable, in the Czarina. 

The house of Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell at Lewisham 
was a favourite retreat of the brothers Wesley from 
the time of the early years of the Methodist Revival 
until their latter years. They took their farewell 
of the place on Wednesday, August 24, 1782 ; e.g.: 
My brother and I paid our last visit to Lewisham, 
and spent a few pensive hours with the relict of our 
good friend, Mr. Blackwell. We took one more 
walk round the garden and meadow, which he took 
so much pains to improve. Upwards of forty years 
this has been my place of retirement, when I could 
spend two or three days from London. 



CHAPTER XIV 
WESLEY S LATER DAYS 

THE great Scriptural doctrines of the Revival, as 
preached by Wesley or Whitefield, continued 
to be so unfashionable or contrary to the 
taste of many scholars or professors, that in 1768 
half a dozen students were expelled from the 
University of Oxford for holding Methodistical tenets 
and living accordingly. This act of persecution 
occasioned much commotion throughout the country, 
and many pamphlets were published in favour of the 
young men or against them. It was naturally thought 
that as these six gentlemen were expelled for 
having too much religion, it would be very proper 
to inquire into the conduct of some who had too 
little. 

But while the heads of houses and others at the 
University thus endeavoured to check the great 
movement, Wesley about this time had a hundred 
and twenty preachers, and the members of his societies 
throughout the country were nearly thirty thousand. 
The catholic-minded Whitefield could rejoice in such 
success as much as those who were supposed to be in 
another theological camp ; and this may remind us 

164 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 165 

that in September, 1769, Whitefield, who was about 
to cross the Atlantic for the thirteenth time, took 
final and loving farewell of his friend. About twelve 
months later the great field-preacher passed away to 
his reward, his last sermon of two hours in length 
being one of his most amazing efforts. Long years 
before, the two Evangelical leaders had agreed that 
the longest liver of the two should preach the other s 
funeral sermon. Wesley fulfilled this agreement on 
November 18, 1770, by preaching first in Tottenham 
Court Chapel, and in the evening at Moorfields 
Tabernacle, on the appropriate words, Let me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like 
his. The people who crowded both chapels showed 
an extraordinary eagerness to hear while Wesley paid 
his tribute to his friend s worth, and urged that the 
doctrines of the New Birth and Justification by 
Faith should still be preached. Keep close to these 
good, old, unfashionable doctrines, how many soever 
contradict and blaspheme," said the preacher. Go 
on, my brethren, in the name of the Lord, and in the 
power of His might. Let brother no more lift up 
sword against brother ; rather put ye on, as the 
elect of God, bowels of mercies, humbleness of mind, 
brotherly kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, for 
bearing one another in love. In his will Whitefield 
left John and Charles Wesley each a mouining-ring, 
in token of my indissoluble union with them, in 
heart and Chribtian affection, notwithstanding our 
differences in judgment about some particular points 
of doctrine. 

As coming just before some rather bitter and 



166 JOHN WESLEY 

prolonged discussions on matters of doctrine which 
followed, this act of Whitefield seemed to come as a 
gracious reminder from the other world that those 
who preach the cardinal truths of the Gospel are one 
in Christ. A few months later, when the press was 
sending forth pamphlets from opposing theological 
camps, Wesley clearly proved, in a letter to Fletcher 
of MaHeley, how he had endeavoured to preach the 
Gospel : I always did, for between these thirty 
and forty years, clearly assert the total fall of man 
and his utter inability to do any good of himself; 
the absolute necessity of the grace and Spirit of God 
to raise even a good thought or desire in our hearts ; 
the Lord s rewarding no work, and accepting of none 
but so far as they proceed from His preventing, 
convincing, and converting grace through the Beloved ; 
the blood and righteousness of Christ being the sole 
meritorious cause of our salvation. The great 
evangelist then asks, with some show of reason on 
his s;de, Who is there in England that has asserted 
these things more strongly and steadily than I have 
done? 

Notwithstanding that Charles Wesley had for 
some time practically ceased to be an itinerant, thus 
leaving to his brother the formidable labour of visiting 
the societies throughout the country, Wesley now 
thought of giving part of his time to the American 
Colonies. Whitefield had left his mark in many of 
the sea-ports of the New World, but now travelling 
preachers were much wanted. In the back parts, 
which are now grown populous, the inhabitants are 
still in a state of deplorable ignorance, wrote a friend 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 167 

at New York. If some zealous and able teachers 
would engage heartily in the work of their conversion, 
how soon might rivers spring forth in the desert, and 
then owls and dragons of the wilderness give honour 
to God. If this visit to America was really enter 
tained, it showed extraordinary enterprise on the part 
of one who was nearly seventy years of age. Partly 
m consequence of a painful affection which yielded 
to medical treatment, the preacher began to show 
signs of wear, which moved his friends to provide him 
with a carriage, so that horseback travelling might be 
given up. He had become so acclimatized to rough 
weather, to wet clothes, to standing bareheaded in 
piercing winds, to lying on the grass where inclination 
prompted, etc., that nothing seemed to harm him ; 
but, now that age was coming on, the sheltered seat 
of a coach might well supersede the saddle. 

The year 1772, when Wesley entered upon his 
seventieth year, was a time of distress, partly brought 
on by a succession of harvests below the average, but 
more the result of war and bad government. Harrow 
ing accounts of the starved condition of the poor 
appeared in the newspapers ; and while the Common 
Council of London petitioned that the ports should 
be opened for the admission of breadstuff s, one of 
Wesley s prescriptions was that the waste of grain 
by distillation should be prohibited. His reckoning 
that 25,000 quarters of corn were used in London 
alone for this purpose seems to be incredible, showing 
that the drinking customs of the people were far in 
excess of what we have to deplore to-day. Have 
we not reason to believe/ he adds, that half the 



1 68 JOHN WESLEY 

wheat produced in the kingdom is every year con 
sumed, not by so harmless a way as throwing it into 
the sea, but by converting it into deadly poison 
poison that naturally destroys, not only the strength 
and life, but also the morals of our countrymen ? 
In writing thus he was not speaking as a teetotaler, 
however, that crusade not yet having been suggested 
by any reformer ; but when he asks, Why are 
thousands of people starving, perishing for want, in 
every part of England ? his answer affords a lurid in 
sight into the misery of multitudes, when the era of 
cheap living was changing into one of dearness and 
difficulty, when the resources of the nation would be 
wasted in exhausting and foolish wars. Concerning 
the distress, Wesley adds, I have seen it with my 
eyes in every corner of the land. I have known those 
who could only afford to eat a little coarse food every 
other day. I have known one picking up stinking 
sprats from a dunghill, and carrying them home for 
herself and her children. I have known another 
gathering the bones which the dogs had left in the 
streets, and making broth of them, to prolong a 
wretched life. Such is the case, at this day, of multi 
tudes of people, in a land flowing, as it were, with milk 
and honey ; abounding with all the necessaries, the 
conveniences, the superfluities of life. Wesley not 
only wrote about such things to excite the interest of 
others, he and his people did what they were able to 
relieve the poor. A band was now organized to 
visit the London workhouses. 

If possible, the times became more and more 
gloomy, and when the American War drew on, Wesley, 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 169 

in departing from his usual rule of letting politics 
alone, gave some offence by giving advice to the 
colonists. There were other troubles or perplexities. 
When he took his carriage to Ireland in 1773, the 
custom-house authorities would not allow the vehicle 
to be landed ; but when it was found that, had it gone 
on shore, it would have been spoiled, either by accident 
or by the mobs, the preacher became obliged to the 
Commissioners. Then the Foundery book-steward, 
Samuel Franks, in a fit of insanity hanged himself; 
and soon after Wesley had to undergo a painful 
operation. Writing at this time concerning his book 
business, he says, I have laboured as much as 
many writers ; and all my labour has gained me, in 
seventy years, a debt of five or six hundred pounds." 

When Wesley was at Newcastle at midsummer, 
1774, he providentially escaped death by accident; 
and as he says, I am persuaded that both evil and 
good angels had a large share in this transaction, 
the account may be given in his own words. In 
driving to Horsley, he was accompanied by a Mr. 
Hopper, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and two little girls : 

About two miles from the town, just on the brow 
of the hill, on a sudden both the horses set out, with 
out any visible cause, and flew down the hill like an 
arrow. In a minute John fell oft the coach-box. The 
horses then went on at full speed, sometimes to the 
edge of the ditch on the right, sometimes on the left. 
A cart came up against them ; they avoided it exactly 
as if the man had been on the box. A narrow bridge 
was at the foot of the hill. They went directly over 
the middle of it. They ran up the next hill widi the 



170 JOHN WESLEY 

same speed ; many persons meeting us, but getting 
out of the way. Near the top of the hill was a gate 
which led into a farmer s yard. It stood open. They 
turned short and ran through it, without touching the 
gate on one side, or the post on the other. I thought 
the gate which is on the other side of the yard, and 
is shut, will stop them ; but they rushed through it, as 
if it had been a cobweb, and galloped on through the 
cornfield. The little girls cried out, " Grandpapa, save 
us !" I told them, " Nothing will hurt you ; do not be 
afraid ;" feeling no more fear or care than if I had been 
sitting in my study. The horses ran on till they 
came to the edge of a steep precipice. Just then 
Mr. Smith, who could not overtake us before, galloped 
in between. They stopped in a moment. Had they 
gone on ever so little, he and we must have gone 
down together. 

Wesley s freedom from excitement in such a crisis 
probably arose more from trust in God than from 
strength of nerve. At the same time he accounted 
his mode of life early rising, constant travelling and 
preaching, and frugality in living as the most health 
ful that mortal could follow. Speaking of himself at 
seventy-one years of age, he says, I find just the same 
strength as I did thirty years ago. That my sight is 
considerably better now, and my nerves firmer, than 
they were then. That I have none of the infirmities 
of old age, and have lost several I had in youth. 
About three years later, he says, Though I am always 
in haste, I am never in a hurry ; I never undertake 
any more work than I can go through with perfect 
calmness of spirit. What he was at seventy, Wesley 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 171 

continued till the last ; and speaking of him in 1783, 
Tyerman says : Here we have a man, his age eighty, 
without indulgences, feeding for eight months in every 
year chiefly at the tables of the poor, sleeping on all 
sorts of beds in all sorts of rooms, without a wife, with 
out a child, really without a home ; and yet a man 
always cheerful, always happy, always hard at work, 
flying with all the sprightliness of youth throughout 
the three kingdoms, preaching twice every day, indoors 
and out-of-doors, in churches, chapels, cottages, and 
sheds. 

The distress of the poor seemed to increase while 
the American War continued, and such a crisis 
naturally moved the sympathy of a man like Wesley, 
who habitually visited the suffering in their own 
homes, and collected money for their relief. Many 
characteristic anecdotes of his charity might be given. 
One day he had been dining with a friend near Black- 
friars, where a well-known artist had prevailed upon 
him to accept of ten guineas for a cast of his face. 
After leaving the house he came on an auctioneer 
who was selling the goods of a dying man. What s 
the debt ? asked Wesley, and on hearing that it was 
ten guineas, he at once handed over the money, and 
then confessed to his companions that he saw why 
God had sent it. When about to leave Norwich in 
1783, with a light purse, he spoke rather hastily to a 
crowd of beggars who surrounded him, and then, when 
stepping into his coach, he slipped and fell. It s all 
right ; it is only what I deserved, he said ; for if I 
had no other good to give, I ought at least to have 
given them good words. If he had had the money 



172 JOHN WESLEY 

he would have given to them willingly. And yet 
this was the man who was officially ordered in 1/76 
to make a return of his plate on account of the tax ! 
I have two silver spoons at London, and two at 
Bristol, replied Wesley. This is all the plate which 
I have at present ; and I shall not buy any more, 
while so many round me want bread. His charity 
also extended to ending feuds whenever possible. 
Thus, while he was at the house of a local preacher 
near Bristol, who kept a school, two boys who had 
been fighting were brought to him. Wesley told 
them to shake hands, and then to kiss each other. 
Now, come to me, he added, folding some bread- 
and-butter, and desiring each to take a part. Now 
you have broken bread together," he said ; and placing 
a hand on each head, he blessed them. The boys 
became friends, and never forgot their adventure. 

In April, 1777, Wesley laid the foundation-stone 
of the present City Road chapel, which took the 
place of the Foundery, where the meetings had been 
held for over a third of a century ; and on November 
i in the following year he opened the building, and 
in 1779 first occupied the new house in which he died 
in 1791. While this was in course of erection he 
several times visited Dr. Dodd in Wood Street 
Compter, and also in Newgate previous to his execu 
tion at Tyburn for forgery. It had been Wesley s 
lot to visit many remarkable prisoners, but he had 
never seen such a one as this, although he was quite 
satisfied that Dodd was in a penitent state. After 
the Anti-Popery riots of 1780, Wesley also passed an 
hour with Lord George Gordon in the Tower, when 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 173 

the conversation was on Popery and true religion. 
During the riots enormous havoc was committed in 
London by the mobs, and a large number of lives 
were lost. Wesley himself had often been absurdly 
charged with being a Romanist in disguise ; but in 
point of fact he rather thought that the system of the 
Pope was dangerous to liberty. Some time since, a 
Romish priest came to one I knew ; and after talking 
with her largely, broke out, " You are no heretic 1 
You have the experience of a real Christian ! " "And 
would you," she asked, "burn me alive?" He said, 
"God forbid, unless it were for the good of the 
Church ! " 

Wesley was ever making additions to his mental 
stores, after the manner of one who intermeddled with 
all knowledge ; but as regarded the cardinal truths of 
the Gospel he was at the close of his life just about 
where he was at the opening of the Revival. Forty 
years ago, he said, at the age of seventy-five, I 
knew and preached every Christian doctrine which I 
preach now. As supplementary to his preaching, 
his efforts to enlighten his followers by the press knew 
of no alatement through his advance in years. Soon 
after he nad become an itinerant the idea of issuing a 
monthly magazine had been suggested, but such a 
monthly serial was not commenced until January i, 
1778, the name being The Arminian Magazine^ while 
the size was 80 pages, 8vo, on fine paper, at a shilling 
All along, the Book Room at the Foundery had been 
busy with its issues; but in 1779, the Naval and 
Military Bible Society, which had for its object the 
supplying of the Scriptures in a pocket size to soldiers 



174 JOHN WESLEY 

and sailors, sent forth the first parcel of Bibles from 
Wesley s Chapel in West Street. A little later, or in 
1782, there was instituted a society for Distributing 
Religious Tracts among the Poor, each member of 
which had to subscribe not less than half a guinea, 
for which tracts were to be sent. I cannot but 
earnestly recommend this to all those who desire to 
see true Scriptural Christianity spread throughout 
these nations, said Wesley. Men wholly unawakened 
will not take pains to read the Bible. They have no 
relish for it. But a small tract may engage their 
attention for half-an-hour ; and may, by the blessing 
of God, prepare them for going forward. Much 
about the same time, or in 1780, the Methodist 
H>mn-book, which has been in use till the present 
time, was also published. 

Meanwhile, writing in 1784, Wesley was able to 
say, The work of God goes on with a steady pace in 
various parts of England. But still the love of many 
will wax cold, while many others are continually 
added to supply their place. In the West of England, 
in Lancashire, and in Yorkshire, God still mightily 
makes bare His arm. He convinces many, justifies 
many, and many are perfected in love. The times 
seemed to be last changing for the better, so far as 
preaching the Gospel was concerned. Dr. Lowth, the 
then Bishop of London, paid the utmost deference to 
Wesley when the two met at dinner at the house of 
Mr. Blackwell, of Lewisham ; while, instead of being 
mobbed and repelled, the evangelist s services were 
sought in all parts of the country. What Wesley 
said of Preston might have been said of many other 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 175 

places, all the old prejudice seemed to be wearing 
away. At the same time, new circuits of great 
promise, one being the Isle of Man, would be under 
taken, while a favourite preaching place, where 
twenty thousand hearers would assemble, was Gwen- 
nap Pit, in Cornwall. The change was most apparent 
where in former days the opposition had been most 
violent. The unflagging zeal of Wesley himself was 
quite phenomenal in a man eighty years old. He 
even spent seventeen days in Holland in the summer 
of 1783. During that same summer illness overtook 
him, until both the preacher and his friends thought 
that the end was come; but God ordered otherwise. 
It was destined that he should crowd an immense 
deal of service into his very last years. From time 
to time, more particularly on an anniversary of his 
birthday, we find him taking note of his growth in 
years, and his general freedom from the ordinary in 
firmities of age. When he was eighty-five, however, 
some of the symptoms of advanced age appeared. 
Old age, by whatlhe called gentle steps, was stealing 
upon him ; But I bless God, he added, " the grass 
hopper " is " not a burden." I am still capable of 
travelling, and my memory is much the same as ever 
it was ; and so, I think, is my understanding. The 
inevitable trial of very old people, that of having their 
friends fall around them, of course fell to Wesley s lot. 
He visited Dr. Johnson a short time before the doctor s 
death ; but a greater trial was the passing away, a 
few months later, of Perronet of Shoreham, and 
Fletcher of Madeley, the two friends to whom Wesley 
probably opened his heart more than to any others. 



176 JOHN WESLEY 

He had hoped, indeed, that Fletcher would become 
his successor ; but in the strict sense of the word a 
man like Wesley could really have no successor. He 
laid the foundations of a work which would abide, 
but such a general in the field was no more to be 
found. 

Wesley was always a happy man ; according to 
his own confession he dared not to fret ; but if the 
last ten years of his life had been his happiest, it 
would not have been without reason, for it was during 
that period that he was encouraged by seeing such fruit 
of his labours as has rarely indeed fallen to the lot 
of any other Christian teacher. Physically, Wesley 
continued to be a wonder to himself, and firmly be 
lieved that his continued capacity to travel and preach 
came direct from God who had called him to His 
work. But, as he wrote in 1788 : May we not impute 
it, as inferior means : First, to my constant exercise 
and change of air ? Second, to my never having lost 
a night s sleep, sick or well, at land or sea, since I was 
born ? Third, To my having sleep at command ; so 
that whenever I feel myself almost worn out, I call it, 
and it comes, day or night ? Fourth, to my having 
constantly, for above sixty years, risen at four in the 
morning? Fifth, to my constant preaching at five in 
the morning, for above fifty years ? Sixth, to my 
having had so little pain in my life, and so little 
sorrow, or anxious care ? 

In his old age he had the happiness of seeing the 
seed he had for so long sown spring up in all direc 
tions into an abundant harvest. Not only had perse 
cution seemed to have quite died out, but Wesley 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 177 

was generally cordially welcomed, and instead of 
having the churches closed against him, the invita 
tions to preach were more numerous than could be 
accepted. His journeys were now a sort of triumphal 
progress in which the clergy and others vied with 
each to honour the preacher. On the occasion of his 
last visit to Cornwall, in 1789, his congregation at 
Gwennap Pit, said to be the finest amphitheatre of" 
its kind in Great Britain, was estimated at over 
twenty thousand ; and now, on every successive 
Whit-Monday, a commemorative service is still held 
there. The increase of members during the year 
1787 was nearly four thousand throughout the king 
dom, while striking accounts concerning the number 
of conversions came from the United States. In. 
1790 the preaching circuits throughout the world 
were 240, an increase of 156 in ten years. In the 
same period the 541 itinerant preachers showed an 
increase of 328, while the 134,549 members showed 
an increase of 82,215. Wesley might well say, The 
tables are turned. His disinterestedness or self- 
denial was shown till the end, for he continued to 
receive only 30 a year from the circuit fund. His 
income from his books was now close upon ^800 a. 
year, or even more ; but beyond a trifling outlay 
for clothes, the whole was given to the cause or to. 
the poor. 

Some of the adventures of his old age were quite 
as diverting as those of his younger days, and, for the 
most part, were far more pleasant. His two nephews,. 
Charles and Samuel, made their mark as musical 
geniuses, attracting the patronage of the first 

M 



i 7 8 JOHN WESLEY 

personages in the land. Concerts were given at the 
house of their father, Charles Wesley, at which eighty 
persons, more or less distinguished, would sometimes 
be found. I spent an agreeable hour at a concert of 
my nephews, wrote Wesley, in 1781; but I was 
a little out of my element among lords and ladies. 
I love plain music and plain company best. If his 
host was not equal to supplying company to his taste, 
Wesley, on paying a visit, was quite equal to taking 
his company with him. Sir Robert Peel, grandfather 
of the Prime Minister of the same name, once told 
an anecdote of the preacher s resources in this direc 
tion. I asked Mr. Wesley, at one of his Conferences, to 
come and breakfast with me ; and he agreed, on con 
dition that he might bring some of his children with 
him. Of course I consented, and he came, accom 
panied by six and thirty of his itinerant preachers. 

Well aware of his own advantages, Wesley 
was disposed to make allowances for young men, 
like his nephews, who had their way to make in 
the world. You are now, as it were, on the crisis 
of your fate, just launching into life, and ready to fix 
your choice, whether you will have God or the world 
for your happiness, he wrote to young Charles 
Wesley. You cannot avoid being very frequently 
among elegant men and women that are without God 
in the world ; but, as your business, rather than your 
choice, calls you into the fire, I trust that you will not 
be burnt. The two musicians were still quite young 
men when their father, Charles Wesley, passed away 
in 1788, but their uncle continued to be interested in 
their welfare. 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 179 

On the last Sunday of the year 1788, Wesley 
preached at All Hallows, Lombard Street, on behalf 
of a society for benefiting poor children. While 
putting on his gown, Wesley said to the attendant, 
Sir, it is above fifty years since I first preached in 
this church ; I remember it from a particular circum 
stance. I came without a sermon, and, going up the 
pulpit stairs, I hesitated, and returned into the vestry, 
under much mental confusion and agitation. A 
woman who stood by, noticed my concern, and said, 
"Pray, sir, what is the matter?" I replied, " I have 
not brought a sermon with me." Putting her hand 
on my shoulder, she said, "Is that all? Cannot you 
trust God for a sermon ? " This question had such 
an effect upon me, that I ascended the pulpit, preached 
extempore, with gieat freedom to myself and accept 
ance to the people, and have never since taken a 
written sermon into the pulpit. 

Such an adventure as that seemed to be almost 
providential ; for had Wesley continued to be the 
slave of a manuscript in the pulpit, he could not have 
become the great open-air evangelist of the eighteenth- 
century Revival. To this it may be added that he 
could not have done what he did if he had not oeen 
a very careful economist of his time. John Wesley s 
conversation is good, but he is never at leisure, said 
Dr. Johnson to Boswell. He is always obliged to 
go at a certain hour. This is very disagreeable to a 
man who loves to fold his legs and have his talk out, 
as I do. As Moore remarks, Wesley did as he did 
not so much from having no leisure, but because he 
was under the law to Christ When thr^u^h his 



i8o JOHN WESLEY 

sister, Mrs. Hall, Wesley first visited Dr. Johnson, 
and dined with him, the doctor conformed to Mr. 
Wesley s hours, and appointed two o clock ; the 
dinner, however, was not ready till three, as Moore 
tells us. They conversed till that time. Mr. Wesley 
had set apart two hours to spend with his learned 
host. In consequence of this, he rose up as soon as 
dinner was ended and departed. The doctor was 
exceedingly disappointed, and could not conceal his 
chagrin. Mrs. Hall said, "Why, doctor, my brother 
has been with you two hours ! " He replied, " Two 
hours, madam ? I could talk all day, and all night, 
too, with your brother." It is well known that John 
son harboured great esteem for Wesley s unfortunate 
sister, Mrs. Hall. It was surprising, said Charles 
Wesley, how he would listen to, and bear her in 
terrogations, and sometimes even her venturing to 
differ from him. 

When this great evangelist was in the last days of 
his life, Europe was sustaining the first violent shocks 
of the first French Revolution. That great upheaval, 
which seemed to shake the world, did not divert 
Wesley from his life-work in any way, however ; but 
at the opening of the year 1790 he seemed to expe 
rience more than he had ever done before the infirmi 
ties of age. I am now an old man, decayed from 
head to foot, he wrote. My eyes are dim ; my 
right hand shakes much ; my mouth is hot and dry 
every morning. I have a lingering fever almost 
every day. My motion is weak and slow. However, 
blessed be God, I do not slack my labour. I can 
preach and write still. Henry Moore, who was with 



WESLEY S tLATER DAYS 181 

Wesley when the above was written, intimates that 
he would never have judged from appearances that 
the case was thus with his leader. He still rose at 
his usual hour, four o clock, and went through the 
many duties of the day, not, indeed, with the same 
apparent vigour, but without complaint, and with a 
degree of resolution that was astonishing. 

This is literally true ; for during 1790 the last 
complete year he was to spend on earth the daily 
work of this man of eighty-seven showed no abate 
ment. After going through a full round of service in 
London and the suburbs, he set out as usual on his 
northern tour at the beginning of March. He visited 
a large number of towns, and at Newcastle preached 
to Sunday-school scholars, the entire sermon consist 
ing of short and familiar words, no word of three 
syllables or more being used. He pressed forward 
even into Scotland, great crowds attending his services 
as he progressed through the North of England. Re 
turning through Bristol, he went on to Portsmouth 
and the Isle of Wight, reaching London on October 2 
in good health and spirits. Two or three days later 
he set off for Rye and Winchelsea, and before the 
month was out he preached at Norwich and other 
towns in Norfolk. When he reached the opening 
days of 1791 he planned his tour of the country as 
usual, although in the last letter he sent to the United 
States on February I, he said, Those that desire to 
write or to say anything to me have no time to 
lose, for time has shaken me by the hand, and death 
is not far behind. On February 23 he rose at four 
o clock as usual, and, accompanied by a friend, went 



i82 JOHN WESLEY 

to Leatherhead, where he preached his last sermon 
from the words of the evangelical prophet : Seek ye 
the Lord while He may be found. On the follow 
ing day he wrote the last letter he ever penned, 
and this was addressed to William Wilberforce, the 
abolitionist, with whose friend, William Pitt, when 
Prime Minister, Wesley had also corresponded. To 
Wilbenorce he now said, Go on, in the name of God, 
and in the power of His might, till even American 
slave iy, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish 
away before it. 

The day on which that letter was written was 
spent with a friend at Balham, when Wesley appeared 
to be about as well as usual ; but immediately after 
his return to his house, adjoining City Road Chapel, 
it became apparent that his work was done. He 
seems to have suffered no pain, and on March i, after 
a somewhat restless night, he sang in bed, All glory 
to God in the sky. He got up, and while being 
dressed, and while seated in his chair, he sang favourite 
lines. Many offered prayer in his room, and knowing 
that he was dying, Wesley shook hands with each, 
and bade each farewell. A little after, a person 
coming in, he strove to speak, but could not, says 
Henry Moore. Finding they could not understand 
him, he paused a little, and with all the remaining 
strength he had, cried out, " THE BEST OF ALL IS, 
GOD IS WITH US ! " then, lifting up his dying arm in 
token of victory, and raising his voice with a holy 
triumph not to be expressed, he again repeated the 
heart-reviving words, " THE BEST OF ALL IS, GOD IS 
Wl l H US ! " When his sight failed, he asked, Who 



WESLEY S LATER DAYS 183 

are these ? Sir, answered one, we are come to 
rejoice with you ; you are going to receive your 
crown ! It is the Lord s doing, replied the dying 
preacher, and marvellous in our eyes. He died on 
Wednesday, March 2, 1791, and his remains were 
placed in the vault which Wesley had already pre 
pared for himself and his preachers who might die in 
London, at City Road Chapel. 

Thus lived and died John Wesley, one of the 
greatest evangelists who ever carried the Gospel to 
the common people. Like other men, he had his 
faults, he made mistakes, his judgment may some 
times have been wrong ; but, taking him as a whole, 
he was an exemplar to his times, a benefactor to his 
race, a workman who needed not to be ashamed. In 
an age when mere rhetoric and stilted language were 
common in preaching and writing, he set the example 
of a style remarkable for its force and clearness. 
This struck discerning persons of his own age ; it 
will charm the reader of to-day, more than a century 
after the preacher s death. Is this the great Mr. 
Wesley ? asked a lady at Lincoln, after hearing a 
sermon on The One Thing Needful ! Why, the 
poorest person in the chapel might understand him ! 
What more valuable encomium could be conferred 
on a preacher? In his Literary Anecdotes, Nichols, 
who was for long editor of the Gentleman s Magazine. 
said of Wesley, Though his taste was classic, and 
his manners elegant, he sacrificed that society in 
which he was peculiarly calculated to shine ; gave 
up those preferments which his abilities might have 
obtained, and devoted a long life in practising and 



i8 4 JOHN WESLEY 

enforcing common duties. Instead of being "an 
ornament to literature," he was a blessing to his 
fellow-creatures ; instead of being " the genius of the 
age," he was the servant of God. 

Thus we remember John Wesley, not only as a 
great Englishman, but as one of the most earnest 
Christian workers of the eighteenth century. While 
to the last he remained a devoted member of the 
Anglican Church, he cordially gave the right hand of 
fellowship to all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity. 



IN DEX 



ADDISON, Joseph, 30 

All Hallows, Lombard Street, 
179 

American War, distress caused by, 
171 

Annesley, Dr., 10 

Ardent spirits and tobacco for 
bidden, 91 

Armagh, 134 

A<s, as a most attentive hearer, 
an, 150 

DOEHLER, Peter, 43 

Baddiley, William, 137 

Bad government and short har 
vests, 167 

Barnard, Bisuop of Londonderry, 
141 

Beau Nash, 50 

Belfast, 133 

Bell, George, 141 

Bennet, John, 108 

Berridge, John, 137, 146, 147 

Bible distribution, 174 

Bingham, 127 

Birmingham, 114, 127 

Blackwell, Ebenezer, 109, 145, 

174 

Bristol and the Slave Trade, 158 
Buckingham, Duke of, 18 
Burton, Dr., 40 
Bury bt. Edmunds in 1761, 122 



CAT S adventure at a service, 150 

Cennick, John, 137 

Chaloner, Sir Thomas, 125 

Chester, 114 

Christian Library, the, 109 

Clayton, John, 33 

Clive, Sir Edward, 145 

Colbeck, Thomas, 107 

Colchester in 1772, 121 

Common people, low moral state 

of, 1 6 

Cork, riots at, 109 
Cornwall, reformation in, 106 

DEBTS on the chapels, 152 
Defoe, Daniel, 10, 30 
Dettingen, battle of, 95 
Devizes, 106 
Dodd, Dr. William, the execution 

of, 64 
Downpatrick, 133 

EARTHQUAKE in London, 109 

Edict against impiety, 31 

End of the world predicted in 

1763, 142 

Epworth rectory, fire at, 13 
Everton, 146 



F LKTCHF.R of Madeley, 137 
Fothergill, Dr., 105 



185 



i86 



INDEX 



Foundery, account of the, 54 
Franks, Samuel, suicide of, 169 
French invasion, prayer for protec 
tion from, 148 
French Revolution, 180 



GAMBOLD, JOHN, 34 

Gauson, Sir John, enforces the law 

against rioters, 85 
Gay, John, 30 
George II., moral deadness in the 

reign of, 29 ; death of, 148 
George III., accession of, 148, 

IS* 

Good Duke Humphrey, 122 
Gregory s, Dr., Advice to his 

Daughters, 128 
Grimsby, 106 
Grimshaw, William, 106 
Guisborough, 125 
Gwennap Pit, 175, 177 
Gwynne family, the, 108 



HAIMR. account of, 94 

Harris, Howel, 55, 123 

Hawley, General, 128 

Haworth, 106, 126 

Hervey, James, 35 

Hicks, of VVrestlmgworth, 147 

Holy Club, The, 28 

HOT>~"- r hristopher, some account 

Huiu.i. & ^u, Countess of, 148 



INGHAM. Benjamin, 34 



JAC t. Tvter, some account of, 75 
Jacouue nuts in London, 19 



Johnson s opinion f Wesley, 179 
Jane, John, 159 
Jones, Abraham, 159 
Jones, David, tragic story relating 
to, 157 



K.EMPIS, Thomas i, 23 
Kirkham, Elizabeth, 33 
Kirkham, Robert, 33 



LAW, William, 23 
Leicester, 127 
Loughborough, 127 
Louis XIV., effects of the death of, 
20 



MACGOWAN, John, 149 

Madan, Martin, 137 

M rshalsea prison, 115 

Mary, Queen, 8 

Mather, Alexander, and the Young 

Pretender, 99 ; account of, 100 
Maxfield, Thomas, 137, 141 
Mercier, strange story concerning, 

161 
Methodism included all evangelical 

believers, 7 
Mitchell, Thomas, some account of, 

72 
Moore, Henry, refers to Wesley at 

Oxford ; describes the condition 

of the clergy under George II., 

30 
describes Wesley s daily work, 

no 
his character of Mrs. Wesley, 

"3 

his account of Wesley s last hours, 
182 



INDEX 



187 



Morgan, W., 33 

Morley, Dr., Rector of Lincoln Col 
lege, 3 2 
Murray, Grace, 108 



NKI.SON, John, some account of, 

66 

he travels with Wesley in Corn 
wall, 90 
Newspaper comments on The 

Holy Club, 33 
Newton, John, 146 
Newcastle Orphanage, 108 
Nixon, Prudence, strange story of, 

162 

Norwich, condition of, in 1772, 
120 



OAKHITL, in 

Oglethorpe, James Edward, found 
ing of the Colony of Georgia, 39 
he asks Wesley and Dr. Burton 

to remove to Georgia, 40 
returns to London with some 
native Indians, 40 

Oliver, John, 138 

Olivers, Thomas, 138 

Oxford Methodists, the first, 34 

Oxiord Methodists in 1764, 104 



PA \VSON, some account of, 140 
Payne, Thomas, account of, 101 
Perronet, Vincent, 107 
Perth, 128 

Player, a travelling, 151 
Pope, Alexander, 30 
Potter, Bishop of Oxford, 26 
Pretender, the James III., 19 



KEVIVAL, the Great, beginning of, 

47 
not originated by the Wesleys, 

_ 4 8 
simultaneous outbreak in many 

centres, 48 
Outward signs," 52 
Romaine, William, 137 
Rye, 181 



DAINT Albans in 1770, 121 

Saint Davids, 134 

Scotland, Revival not wanted 

in, 7 
Seward, William, proto-martyr of 

the Revival, 77 
Sheerness in 1767, 118 
Sheffield, Duke of Norfolk s chapel 

at, 127 

Shepton Mallet, no 
Sherlock, Bishop of London, no 
Shirley, Hon. Walter, 147 
Shoreham, 107 
Sibsey, 124 

Singular character, a, 160 
Sligo, massacre of, 132 
Small-pox at Epworth, 21 
Southey, Robert, 25, 5 ; 
Staniforth, Snmson, account of, 103 
Storm, the Great. 8 
Swift, Jonathan, 

TAUNTON, 128 
Taylor, Isaac, 53 
Taylor, Jeremy, 23 
Taylor, John, 80, 82 
Tillotson, Archbishop, 8 
Timo:hy, Mrs., her pigs, 117 
Tii he, paying in kind, 13 
Tiverton, 128 



i88 



INDEX 



Told, Silas, his first attendance at 
the Foundery, 55 

his account of his early days, 58 

his school at Stnpleford Tawney ; 
comes in contact with an in 
fidel curate, 60 

his life in London, 62 

becomes master at the Foundery 
School, 62 

begins to visit Newgate, 63 

remarkable histories, 65 
Toplady, Augustus, 147 

VENN, Henry, 136 

Vindictive Epworth parishioners, 14 

\VAKEFIELD, 114 
Walsh, Thomas, 76 
Wellington, Duke of, 25 
Wesley, Charles, a patron pays for 
his education, 25 

refuses a brilliant offer ; remark 
able consequences of his re 
fusal to settle in Ireland, 25 

founds The Holy Club, 28 

employed as a tutor, 31 

he and his coterie called Metho 
dists, 32 

becomes secretary to Oglethorpe, 
and goes out to Georgia, 40 

returns to England through perse 
cution, 41 

taught by Peter Boehler, 43 

rough experience at Bath, 77 

hymns and discourse on the 
earthquake, IIO 

his sons Charles and Samuel, 177 
Wesley, Emilia, her advice to her 
brother John, 24 

references to her father s poverty, 
24 



Wesley, John, how misunderstood 
7 

rescue of, at the rectory fire, i< 

at the Charterhouse School, 18 

becomes formal in religious duty, 
20 

removes to Christ Church, Oxford, 
21 

his classic attainments, 21 

his letters to his mother on life at 
the University, 22 

aims at pharisaic attainments, 24 

ordained deacon, 26 

elected Fellow of Lincoln Col 
lege, and Greek Lecturer, 26 

returns to Epworth, 27 

attracted by The Holy Club, 
32 

his early sacramentarianism, 37 

his habit of reading on horse 
back, 37 

goes out to Georgia, 40 

settles at Savannah, and is in love 
with Sophia Hopkey, 41 

returns to England, 42 

enlightened by Peter Boehler, 
43 

his famous Oxford sermon, 44 

his letter to William Law, 45 

visits Herrnhuth, 46 

adventure with Beau Nash, 51 

his custom in regard to the Foun 
dery, 55 

collects for the poor at Bristol, 
56 

he separates from the Moravians, 

57 
he is compelled to countenance 

lay preaching, 78 
plain teaching needed, 80 
awakening at Newcastle, 80 
great crowds at open-air services 

in London, 81 



INDEX 



189 



\Veslev, John, contf*mrd 
preaches at Epworth, 82 
new chapel at Newcastle, and one 

of the first Sunday schools in 

England started, 84 
riots in Staffordshire, .5 
rouh adventure at Wednesbury, 

86 

on the road in Cornwall, 90 
accused of favouring the Pre 
tender, 91 
he preaches in a Roman Catholic 

chapel, 92 
corresponds with Archbishop 

Seeker ; he leaves off drinking 

tea, 105 

his first visit to Manchester, 106 
his first visit to Ireland, 106 
he proposes marriage to Grace 

Murray, 108 
special sermons concerning the 

earthquake, HO 
accident in the dark, ill 
thrown from his horse in Bristol, 

112 

marries Mrs. Vizelle, 113 

he visits the Marshalsea prison, 

115 

a serious illness, 115 
his Notes on the New Testament, 

116 

first visit to Liverpool, 116 
ascends Boston Stump, 124 
visits Holyrood Palace, 128 
account of St. Andrews, 129 
visit to the Isle of Man, 130 
visits Durham Castle, 134 
finds it hard to impress the Scots, 

142 

a diligent reader, 143 
his assize sermon at Bedford, 145 
his answer to anonymous libels, 

148 



Wesley, John, continued 

his travelling carriage in late* 

days, 149 

his advice to electors, 152 
his self-denial, 154 
meets with accidents, 155-165 
false reports, 158 
dispensary at the Foundery, 15$ 
he visits Spring Gardens Wax 
work Exhibition, and speaks of 
contemporary celebrities, 163 
farewell to the house at Lewis- 
ham, 163 
he preaches funeral sermon for 

Whitefield, 165 

letter to Fletcher of Madeley, 166 
proposes to revisit America, 167 
protests against wasting corn for 

distillation, 167 
describes the condition of die 

poor, 1 68 

remarkable carriage accident, 169 
at seventy-one years of age, 170 
ordered to make a return of his 

plate, 172 
he lays the foundation stone of 

City Road Chapel, 172 
he starts The Arminian Afagaztiui, 

173 

dines with Louth, Bishop of Lorn- 
don, 174 

old age, 175 

growth of the work in his la* 
days, 177 

attends his nephews concert, 178 

his last visit to Portsmouth aa4 
the Isle of Wight, 181 

his last days, and death, 182 

mentioned by Nichols in Literary 
Anecdotes, 183 

one of the most earnest workers 

of his time, 184 
Wesley, Mehetabel, 27 



i go 



INDEX 



Wesley, Samuel, Epworth parson 
age, 8 

his youthful perseverance, 9 

rebukes a swearer, 10 

gratitude for his children s rescue 
from the burning rectory, 15 

adheres to King William and the 
Revolution, 16 

sees the benefit of his wife s 
Sunday meetings, 17 

Dr. Morley s high opinion of him, 

32 
he is pleased with The Holy 

Club, 32, 36 
wishes his son John to succeed at 

Epworth, 37 
his death, 39 
his work on Job, 39 
Wesley, Samuel, junior, his work 

at Westminster, 25 
concerned on account of the 

change in his brother s views, 

45 
Wesley, Susannah, mother of John 

and Charles Wesley, reckons 

up her signal mercies," 10 
her method of educating children, 

ii 

her home discipline, 12 
not inferior to her husband in 

learning, 15 
her sympathy for the Stuart royal 

line, 16 



Wesley, Susannah, continued 
her Sunday meetings ; her advice 
to her son John at Oxford, 
21 

change in religious views, 53 
Whitby, 150 
Whitelield, George, his object in 

joining The Holy Club, 35 
preaches in and about London 

and Bristol, 49 
preaches at midnight in Hyde 

Park, no 
he anticipates Wesley s early 

death, 115 
his catholicity, 164 
last departure to America, 165 
Widow, tragic story concerning a 

poor, 97 

Wigs as costly as watches, 23 
Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 

131 

Winchelsea, 181 

Wolverhampton, lawyer has to re 
build the wrecked chapel at, 
140 

Wreckers in Cornwall, 89 

Wright, Duncan, account of, 97 



YARMOUTH opposes the preachers, 

123 
Young, Edward, 30