WESLEY 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 1: 1^ 1 #> 'S M THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Carle ton Shay ■»^:. /^ -1 .•■$>' CDPYRIEHT. rga John Wesley. From the painting by J. W. L. Forster. John Wesley the Methodist A Plain Account of His Life and Work By a Methodist Preacher With One Hundred Portraits, Views, and Facsimiles New York: Eaton & Mains Cincinnati : Jennings & Pye Copyright by EATON & MAINS 1903 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A Race ok Preachers. The \Yesley Ancestry. — The First John Westley. — Samuel Wesley, Poet and Preacher. — Susanna Annesley. — Piety and Culture. . Page ii CHAPTER H. The Epwokth Household. Epworth in Lincolnshire. — The Wonderful Mother. — Pecuniary Diffi- culties. — "A Brand Plucked from the Burning." 25 CHAPTER in. The Gownbov of the Charterhouse. A Friendly Duke. — The Charterhouse School. — John's School Days. — The Epworth Ghost. — The Brothers at Westminster 39 CHAPTER IV. The Crisis at Oxford. A Freshman of Christ Church. — No Religious Friends. — Letters from Home. — Choosing a Profession. — The First Convert. — Fellow of Lincoln. — Curate at Wroote 51 CHAPTER V. The Holy Club. Charles Wesley Begins It. — " Methodists." — John Wesley Its Father. — "Men of One Book." — Works of Mercy and Help. — The Oxford Methodists.— Whitefield.— Death of the Epworth Rector.— Re- served for a Better Appointment 68 4 Contents. CHAPTER VI. To America and Back. The Missionary Spirit. — Oglethorpe's Philanthropic Colony.— John Wesley, Missioner to Georgia. — The High Churchman at Savan- nah. — Moravian Influences. — The First Methodist Hymnal. — An Unhappy Ending Page 83 CHAPTER Vn. The New Birth. Whitefield's Revival Fire. — Peter Bohler's Influence. — Charles Wes- ley's Happy Day. — John Wesley's Heart " Strangely Warmed."— A Spiritual Revolution 95 CHAPTER VIII. Revival Pkeachixc. "Jesus, the Sinner's Friend, Proclaim." — "By Grace Are Ye Saved." — A Happy New Year. — Whitefield Calls Wesley Out of Doors. — Shouts in the Camp. — The Old Room at Bristol. — The Foundry for Gospel Artillery. — Wesley's Chapel in City Road. — Wesley's House 105 CHAPTER IX. Society and Class. No Solitary Religion. — The First Society. — A Layman's Notion. — An Unspeakably Useful Institution. — The General Rules. — Quar- terly Tickets. — Mother and Son. — "Jack May Excommunicate the Church." — Braving the Bishops. — " I Look upon All the World as My Parish." — Preaching from His Father's Gravestone. — Death of Stisanna Wesley 121 CHAPTER X. Lay Helpers. Wesley's "Irregularities." — "Soul-saving Laymen." — Cennick, Hum- phreys, Maxfield. — "He is as Surely Called of God to Preach as You Are." — John Nelson, of Birstall. — The Extraordinary Call of Women. — Mary Bosanquet and Others 142 Contents. 5 CHAPTER XI. Two Sorts of Methodists. Whitefield's Calvinism. — Arminians. — " The Queen of the Metho- dists." — Trevecca College. — Lady Huntingdon's Connection. — Time Heals the Wounds. — Whitefield's Candle Burns to the Socket Page 153 CHAPTER XH. Wesley Faces Mobs. The Wednesbury Riots. — Before the Magistrate. — A Noble Champion. — "Always Look a Mob in the Face."— Stoned at the Market Cross. — Causes of the Disturbance. — Quieter Times 169 CHAPTER XHL In Conference with the Preachers. An Ecclesiastical Statesman. — The First Conference. — Notable Con- ferences. — One-man Power. — "Christian Democracy." — Early Discipline. — Circuits 182 CHAPTER XIV. Doctrinal Wars. Antinomianism. — The Minute of 1770. — Fletcher's Checks. — The Hills, Toplady, and Berridge.— Wordy Wars 199 CHAPTER XV. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Island Visits.—" The Dairyman's Daughter." — Irish and Irish-Amer- ican Methodism. — Shamefully Treated. — The Palatines.— Wesley in Scotland. — A Dash into Wales 212 CHAPTER XVI. The Work Beyond the Sea. Methodism in 1769.— An American Offshoot. — Shall Wesley Go? — Political Pamphlets. — Wesley to Lord North. — A Calm Address. — A Methodist Episcopal Church for America 223 6 Contents, CHAPTER XVII. Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. Wesley's Travels. — His Preaching Power. — The Last University Sermon. — A Pioneer of Benevolence. — Temperance. — Sunday Schools. — The Press. — Hymns and Tunes Page 239 CHAPTER XVIII. Setting His House in Order. "Thou Art the Man! "—Methodist Clergy. — The Swiss Recruit. — Fletcher's Proposals. — The Deed of Declaration. — The Ordina- tions. — The Rubicon Crossed 267 CHAPTER XIX. The Passing of John Wesley. An Active Octogenarian. — Welcomed in Ireland. — Triumphal Prog- resses. — "I Do not Lack for Labor." — Last Open-air Sermon. — The Last Text— A Last Letter.— "The Best of All is, God is with Us !" 285 CHAPTER XX. The True John Wesley. John Wesley's Appearance. — His Habits. — His Temperament. — His Tact. — His Love of Children. — His Unhappy Matrimonial Expe- rience. — His Wit and Humor. — His Freedom from Selfish Ambi- tion. — Asbury's Tribute 303 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. John Wesley. After the Portrait by J. W. L. Forster. Photograxnire. Frontispiece Rev. John Westley, M.A Page 13 Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A., Rector of Epworth 15 Susanna Annesley, before her marriage to Rev. Samuel Wesley 17 Birthplace of Susanna Wesley 20 A Part of Lincolnshire 23 Church of St. Andrew, Epworth 26 Glimpses of Epworth 28 The Gateway of Lincoln Castle 31 The Brand from the Burning 33 The Present Epworth Rectory from the Garden 36 Sheifield, Duke of Buckingham 40 The Charterhouse 42 The Great Dining Hall, Charterhouse 44 A Gownboy 45 Staircase to the " Haunted " Chamber 47 Entrance to the Charterhouse 49 A Letter from John Wesley at Oxford to the Treasurer of the Char- terhouse 52 The Front of Christ Church College. Oxford 54 Transcript by Adam Clarke of a MS. Record Written by Samuel Wesley 61 Wesley's Rooms, Lincoln College, and the " Wesley Vine " 63 Sketches of Lincoln College 65 Rev. John Wesley and His Friends at Oxford 71 Bocardo, the Prison, Oxford 74 A Lesson for the Holy Club 77 Grave of Samuel Wesley, Sr., in Epworth Churchyard 81 The Newspaper Notice of the Wesleys' Departure for America 85 Memorials of the Wesleys in Georgia 88 A Fragment of Romance 92 Peter Bohler 98 Streets Associated with the Conversion of the Wesleys 100 Nettleton Court, off Aldersgate Street 102 8 • List of Illustrations, View of Herrnhut Page io6 Plan of Holborn 107 Hannam Mount, Kingsvvood 108 Scenes about Old Kingswood no The " Old Room in the Horsefair " 112 The Foundry Chapel, Moorfields, London , 114 Vicinity of City Road and Foundry in Eighteenth Century 115 Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London 117 Interior of City Road Chapel 118 Wesley's House, City Road, London 119 A Quarterly Ticket 123 A Quarterly Ticket, 1764 125 A Quarterly Ticket, 1765 126 A Quarterly Ticket, 1789 127 The Rev. Samuel Wesley, Jr 129 Wesley Preaching on His Father's Tomb in Epworth Churchyard 133 Methodism in Wesley's County, A. D. 1903 138 Monument to Susanna Wesley, City Road, London 140 Grave of Susanna Wesley, Bunhill Fields, London 140 John Nelson 146 John Nelson's Birthplace 147 Mrs. John Fletcher (Mary Bosanquet) 149 Cross Hall 151 The Rev. George Whitefield, A.M 155 Selina, Countess of Huntingdon 159 The Last Resting Place of Lady Huntingdon 162 Trevecca Farmhouse, Trevecca College 164 The Whitefield Cenotaph 167 John Wesley, the Founder of Kingswood 172 Wesley Preaching at Bolton Cross 177 The Press Gang. 180 The Rules of an Assistant 184 " The Hole in the Wall " 186 The Old Chapel, Derby, 1765 188 Barnard Castle Chapel, 1 765 190 William Shent's House 192 The Modern Kingswood School, Bath 193 John Wesley's Study, Bristol 194 Facsimile of an Agreement Made by the Preachers in 1752 197 J. Fletcher, Madeley 202 Contemporary Portraits of Wesley 203 Rev. Augustus Montague Toplady 207 Rev. Rowland Hill 209 Poor Old Ireland 214 Views in Aberdeen 217 House in Carnarvon 220 List of Illustrations. 9 The Old Boggart House, Leeds Page 225 Wesley Chapel, " Old John Street Church," New York 227 The First Methodist Chapels in Maryland 229 Title-page of Wesley's " Calm Address " 232 The Ordained Missionaries to America 235 John Wesley Preaching at Gwennap Pit 241 Pulpit of St. Paul's, Bedford 245 Glimpses of St. Mary's, Oxford 247 The Broad Walk, Christ Church, Oxford 249 West Street Chapel, London. 251 The Orphan House, Newcastle 253 Some of Wesley's Preaching Places 255 Cover and Contents of the First Number of the Arminian Magazine. . 257 Wesley's Editorial Salutatory 258 John Wesley's Shorthand Writing 260 Title-page of Wesley's First Tune Book 262 Wesley's Favorite Tune, by Lampe 263 Rev. Charles Wesley, A. M 265 John Wesley at the Age of Sixty-three 269 Shoreham Church 272 The Birthplace of John Fletcher, Nyon, Switzerland 275 Madeley Church and Vicarage 277 Part of a Letter from John Wesley to John Fletcher 279 Certificate of Robert Gamble as Elder 281 Contemporary Portraits of John Wesley 283 The High Church, Hull 286 Wesley's Study 287 The Last Entry in Wesley's Cash Account 289 The House at Leatherhead in which Wesley Preached His Last Sermon 290 One of Wesley's Last Letters, February 5, 1791 291 Furniture which Belonged to John Wesley 293 Wesley's Last Hymn 294 John Wesley's Deathbed (from the Painting by Parker) 296 Key to the Painting " John Wesley's Deathbed " 297 Mask of John Wesley 299 Tomb of the Rev. John Wesley 300 Wesley's Tablet in City Road 301 John Wesley (from the Painting by Jackson) 305 Wesley's Field Bible, with case 308 The Title-page of Wesley's Field Bible 309 Mrs. Pendarves 3" Mrs. John Wesley 314 Memorial Tablet to John and Charles Wesley in Westminster Abbey. 316 The Wesleyan Centenary Statue, City Road, London 318 Seal of John Wesley 319 You are the heirs of great traditions. You stand in a noble succession. But— ' ' They who on glorious ancestry enlarge Produce their debt instead of their discharge." You have done so much that you are under awful responsibilities to the nations in which your societies are already planted, and to the nations to which you have still to make known the unsearchable riches of God's grace. Keep faith with your fathers ; keep faith with Christ ; keep faith with your children and your children's children; transmit to coming generations the Gospel which has already won such splendid triumphs. — From the address by the Rev. Robert IV. Dale, of Birmingham, in City Road Chapel, at the centenary memorial of the death of John Wesley. JOHN WESLEY THE METHODIST. CHAPTER I. A Race of Preachers* The Wesley Ancestry.— The First John Westley.— Samuel Wesley, Poet and Preacher. — Susanna Annesley. — Piety and Culture. " ^^O far as I can learn, such a thing has scarce been for 1^^ these thousand years before, as a son, father, grand- father, ataviis, tritai'iis, preaching- the Gospel, nay, the genuine Gospel, in a line." Thus wrote John Wesley to his brother Charles, thirty years after the date of organized Methodism, concerning their an- cestry. He could have said with equal truth that his female ancestors were as distinguished as their husbands — his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother being renowned for their gifts of genius, for their intense interest in ecclesiastical life, and for their suffering in obedience to conscience. The founder of Methodism was not fully acquainted with the particulars of his remarkable ancestry. But in those rare moments when even the busiest of men naturally inquire about their forefathers he was profoundly impressed that Providence had favored his own household in a singular way. The ances- tral line ot the Wesleys revealed the fact that the principles of intellectual, social, and religious nobility were developing and maturing into a new form of pentecostal evangelism. On the southwestern shore line of England is the county of 12 John Wesley the Methodist. Dorset, a part of which was called "West-Leas," lea signifying a field or farm. In Somerset, adjoining Dorset, there was a place called Welswey, and before surnames were common we have Arthur of Welswey, or Arthur Wellsesley (Wellesley), and John West-leigh, and Henry West-ley. There were land- owners in Somerset named Westley in the days of Alfred the Great, in the ninth century. Sir William de Wellesley was a member of Parliament in 1339. His second son. Sir Richard, became the head of the Wesleys in Ireland, from whom descended Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, the con- queror of Napoleon at Waterloo. We step out on firmer ground and get nearer home in stating that a grandson of Sir William, Sir Herbert, now called West- ley, was the father of Bartholomew Westley, and great-grand- father of our own John Wesley. Bartholomew Westley was about seven years old when James I came to the throne. He entered Oxford as the first on the list of coming students bearing the name of Wesley. After completing the classical course he graduated in " physic," which was his means of livelihood for some years to come. In 1620, at the age of twenty-five, he married the daughter of Sir Henry Colley, of Castle Carberry, Kildare, Ireland, by whom he had one son named John. Having taken *' holy orders, " Bartholomew Westley became a Puritan clergyman in the Established Church. In 1640 he was appointed rector of Charmouth, on the English Channel. When the Puritan rectors were ejected by Charles Stuart after the Restoration of 1660 he lost his parish, but continued to preach as a Nonconformist pastor of a portion of his old parishioners. The Royalists stigmatized him as a "fanatic" and a " puny parson," because of his small stature, but he was much beloved by his flock, and much lamented at his death, in 1680, being then about eighty-five years old. A Rack of Preachers. 13 John Westley, son of Bartholomew and Ann, was born in 1636, and was consecrated to the ministry in his infancy. He was educated at New Inn Hall, Oxford University, and was an Rev. John Westley, M.A. This likeness of the grandfather of Rev. John Wesley is the earliest known portrait of any member of the Wesley family. exceptional student. After graduation he began preaching as minister of a congregation at Whitchurch, and as a Noncon- formist strenuously defended his right to do so without episco- pal ordination. He suffered sorely in the persecuting times of 14 John Weslf.y the Methodist. the Restoration, being driven from his pulpit and thrown into jail. He had married a daughter of Rev. John White, of Dor- chester, one of the most celebrated of the Puritan divines, and to them v^as born, at Whitchurch, in 1662, a son, Samuel. Westley died in 1678 at Preston, being then forty-two years of age, and having suffered many things for his principles of religion and ecclesiastical order. His widow survived him for forty years, and was lovingly cared for by her sons — Matthew, a surgeon of London, and Samuel, the rector of Epworth. Samuel Wesley was born in 1662, in Dorsetshire, four months after the English St, Bartholomew's Day, upon which his father and his grandfather were ejected from their livings for Nonconformity. His father dying when he was a lad, his education was cared for by his mother, and in 1678 some friends of his family sent him to a Nonconformist academy in London. Here he made the acquaintance of the eccentric book- seller and literary man, John Dtmton, afterward the editor of the Athenian Gazette, a precursor of the Tatler and Spectator. Here also he obtained entry, as the son and grandson of distin- guished confessors, into the best Nonconformist circles, of which one of the leading families was that of a Rev. Dr. Annes- ley. One of his schoolfellows was Daniel Defoe. He heard Stephen Charnock and John Bunyan preach, made notes of many sermons, and wrote some verses and unwise lampoons. He was about twenty years of age when he was asked to answer some strictures made upon the Dissenters, and while studying the subject he decided to leave Nonconformity and go over to the Established Church. With that quick impulse w^hich distinguished all his subsequent life, he rose early one morning and started afoot for Oxford University, entering Exeter College as a servitor, with only two pounds and five shillings in his pocket. The young collegian met his expenses partly by teaching JOHN WESLEY From the painting by Frank O. Salisbur> By kind permission of the Wesley Museum A Race of Preachers. 15 and partly by his pen. He collected his poetical pieces, which were published under the title of Maggots; or Poems on sev- eral subjects never before handled, by a Scholar, London. Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A., Rector of Epworth. Detail from the copperplate frontispiece of his Latin Commentary on Job, published in London, 1736. The claim to novelty for "several subjects" is sustained by the titles of the pieces: The Grunting of a Hog, A Cow's Tail, A Hat Broke at Cudgels, The Tobacco Pipe, The Tame Snake in a Box of Bran. This curious book is extremely scarce. It was i6 John Wesley the Methodist. published by that odd John Dunton, with whom, as we know, Wesley was acquainted before he went to Oxford. Dunton had married Elizabeth Annesley, the sister of Susanna, who six years afterward became Wesley's wife. At Oxford Samuel Wesley's character ripened. There was awakened in him a true pastoral feeling of compassion and responsibility by visiting the prisoners in the castle ; as his sons did fifty years later, when he wrote to them, " Go on in God's name in the path your Saviour has directed and that track wherein your father has gone before you; for when I was an undergraduate at Oxford I visited them in the castle there, and reflect on it with great satisfaction to this day. " As quaint old Fuller says, " Thus was the prison his first parish; his own charity his patron presenting him to it; and his work was all his wages." He took his degree of B. A. in 1688, signing his name Wes- ley instead of Westley. He received his M. A. degree later from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Returning to Lon- don, he was ordained deacon by the time-serving but able Bishop of Rochester, Dr. Thomas Sprat, whom Dunton eulo- gized thus: Nature rejoiced beneath his charming power ; His lucky hand made everything a flower. On earth the king of wits (they are but few), And, though a bishop, yet a preacher too ! Twelve days after the Prince and Princess of Orange were proclaimed as King William III and Mary, Samuel Wesley was ordained a priest of the Church of England by Bishop Compton, of London, in St. Andrew's Church, Holborn. Samuel Wesley became "passing rich " on ^28 a year as a London curate, then obtained a naval chaplaincy, commenced his metrical Life of Christ, and in 1689 married Dr. Annesley's accomplished daughter Susanna on another London curacy of Susanna Annesley, before Her Marriage to Rev. Samuel Wesley, From a photograph of the original painting in the Wesleyan Book Room, London. A Race of Preachers. 19 ;^3o a year. The young couple commenced their married life in Holborn, in lodgings somewhere near the quaint old houses still standing opposite Gray's Inn Road. Susanna Wesley, the mother of Methodism, was the daugh- ter of a Puritan minister, who has been called "The St. Pavil (jf the Nonconformists." Her father, Samuel Annesley, nephew of the first Earl of Anglesea, was born at Haseley, in the Shakespeare country, in 1620, and educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He enjoyed great prominence as a preacher until the Restoration drove him from his pulpit in vSt. Giles, the largest congregation in London. His means saved him from distress, and made him a blessing to many of his dissenting brethren. He gathered a flourishing congregation in London and minis- tered to it for many years. Annesley was tall and dignified, and of robust constitution. He had an aquiline nose, a short upper lip, wavy brown hair, and a strong and penetrating eye. Severe persecutions did not disturb the geniality and cheerfulness of his Christian life. When John Wesley had set the Churches of England aflame with the doctrine of Assurance he asked his mother whether her father had ever preached it. She replied that he person- ally enjoyed it and confessed it for many years, but did not recol- lect hearing him preach upon it in particular. She therefore presumed he regarded it as a high privilege of a few. How well he lived and died let these words witness: "Blessed be God! I have been faithful in the work of the ministry above fifty-five years." - PivM^ <^ Shortly before his departure from this world, December 2>^y \fs . /n A 1696, Dr. Annesley said: "Come, my dearest Jesus! the Y nearer the more precious, the more welcome!" "I cannot express the thousandth part of the praise that is due to thee. ... I will die praising thee. ... I shall be satisfied when I awake with th}Mikeness! Satisfied! Satisfied!" 20 John Wesley the Methodist. Dr. Williams, who founded the library now in Gordon Square, preached his funeral sermon, and exclaims: "O how many places had sat in darkness, how many ministers had been starved, if Dr. Annesley had died thirty-four years since ! The Gospel he ever forced into ignorant places, and was the chief instrument in the education as well as the subsistence of sev- eral ministers." The second wife of this leading London divine was a daugh- Birthplace of Susanna Wesley. Spital Yard, London. ter of John White, a member of the Long Parliament, and a man of the highest repute. She was a woman of rare accom- plishments and remarkable piety. The youngest of her chil- dren, Susanna, who became the mother of John and Charles Wesley, was born on January 20, 1669, in Spital Yard, between Bishopsgate vStreet and vSpital Square, London. Her home was probably in the last house, which blocks up the lower end of the yard. Here Susanna Annesley spent her girlhood, studied Church controversies, and asserted her personal deci- A Race of Preachers. 21 sion, and hence she went forth to her wcddinj^ with vSanniel Wesley. "How many children has Dr. Annesley ?" inquired a friend of Thomas Manton, who had just baptized one of the family. "I believe it is two dozen, or a quarter of a hundred," was the startling reply. Susanna, the youngest, was perhaps tlie most gifted of the many beautiful and well-educated daughters. Her sister Judith was a very handsome and sturdy-minded woman, whose portrait was painted by Sir Peter Lely; Eliza- beth, who married John Dunton, was lovely in person and character, and Susanna shared largely in the family gift of beauty. She was slim and graceful, and retained her good looks and symmetry of figure to old age. The best authenti- cated portrait of her is one that was taken in her old age and engraved under the direction of her son John. It shows "deli- cate aquiline features, eyes still vivid and expressive under well-marked brows; a physiognomy at once benignant and expressive." Her letters reveal "a perfect mistress of English undefiled," some knowledge of French authors, and a logical mind well read in divinity. The secret of her deep spirituality is revealed in one of her letters to her son: "I will tell you what rule I observed in the same case, when I was young, and too much addicted to childish diversions, which was this — never to spend more time in any matter of mere recreation in one day than I spent in private religious duties." Bishop McTyeire's eloquent tribute to her virtues, graces, and gifts does no more than justice to this remarkable woman: fiijfi "When I was in Milan I visited the church where Ambrose /ii^liAAJLiA-t^ preached and where he was buried; but I thought more of his patroness, the pious Helena, than of him. I thought of Augus- tine, and of that mother whose prayers persevered for his sal- vation; and in the oldest town on the Rhine I could not help being interested in the legend of Ursula and her eleven thou- 22 John Wesley the Methodist. sand virgins. But greater than Helena, or Monica, or Ursula, there lived a woman in England, known to all Methodists, and of whom in the presence of those I have mentioned it might be said, ' Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou hast excelled them all. ' I mean the wife of the rector of Epworth, and the conscientious mother of his nineteen children; she that transmitted to her illustrious son her genius for learn- ing, for order, for government, and I might almost say for godliness; who shaped him by her councils, sustained him by her prayers, and, in her old age, like the spirit of love and purity, presided over his modest household; and, when she was dying, said to her children, ' Children, as soon as the spirit leaves the body, gather round my bedside and sing a hymn of praise.' " Susanna Annesley, at the age of thirteen, was interested in the ecclesiastical and doctrinal controversies of the day. With remarkable independence she made up her mind to renounce Dissent and enter the Established Church, one year after Samuel Wesley had come to the same decision. It is possible that the two ecclesiastical conversions were not unconnected. Young Wesley was seven or eight years older than his future bride, and the friendship had already begun which was to ripen into love. In one of her later private meditations she mentions it among her greatest mercies that she was " married to a religious orthodox man; by him first drawn off from the Socinian heresy." The same feeling is expressed in the words of the epitaph from her pen inscribed on Samuel Wesley's tomb at Epworth: "As he lived, so he died, in the true Catholic faith of the Holy Trinity in Unity; and that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, and the only Saviour of mankind. " It was natural that the thought- ful, fervent girl should be strongly influenced by one by whom she had been settled in a belief of such vital importance. ' ' If the Puritans," says Dr. Rigg, "could not transmit to her lover and A Race of Preachers. 23 herself their ecclesiastical principles, at least they transmitted a bold independence of judgment and of conduct." The girl of thirteen expressed her opinions against the Church of her distinguished father, however, with such tact and sweetness of spirit as to win his consent to her confirmation at St. Paul's. She was at once so decided and gentle, and he GERMAN OCEAN muno/i/>£ '^^"'^rm^smmm A Part of Lincolnshire. Showing the location of South Ormsby, Epworth, and Scrooby (the village of the Plymouth pilgrims). SO tolerant, that the love between the father and daughter never lost its strength and charm. "The Puritan movement in which she had been reared," says Buoy, "went with her into the Church of England. She entered it es.sentially a Puritan, and that stern, heroic faith, softened by the grace of God, held her all her life. There was a providence leading this woman back to Anglicanism as plain as that which led the mother of Moses back to the court of Egypt, 24 J"HN Wesley the Methodist. and she, like Joehebed, had her ministry — to train a child who should set the people free." "The Wesley's mother," says Isaac Taylor, "was the mother of Methodism in a religious and moral sense; for her courage, her submissiveness to aiithority, the high tone of her mind, its independence and its self-control, the warmth of her devotional feelings, and the practical direction given to them, came up, and were visibly repeated in the character and conduct of her sons. " We left the young curate and his wife in their lodgings in London, where they "boarded without going into debt." Here their son Samuel was born, who became the poet and satirist of Westminster School and master of Tiverton Grammar School, In the autumn of 1690 the Marquis of Normanby presented Wesley to the living of South Ormsby, in Lincolnshire, worth ^50 a year, Wesley himself describes the parsonage as "a mean cot, composed of reeds and clay." His family increased "one additional child per annum." Again his pen came to the rescue, and Wesley published his Life of Christ, dedicating it to Queen Mary. At South Ormsby Wesley also published his treatise on the Hebrew points. Here also he wrote much for "The Athenian Gazette; or Casuistical Mercury, resolving all the nice and curious questions proposed by the ingenious." One third of the Gazette at this time was from Wesley's pen. About the beginning of 1697 Samuel Wesley was presented to the living of Epworth, in Lincolnshire, "in accordance with some wish or promise of the late queen;" here he continued for thirty-eight years, and here John Wesley was born on June 17, JStkAjO a\ 1 703? O- ^'■> ttie fifteenth of the rector's nineteen children. John f\ n \lj,g Benjamin appears to have been his full name when christened, (Ly*y\s^^^^^l but he never used the middle name or initial. %utL The Epworth Household. 25 CHAPTER II. The Epworth Household* Epworth in Lincolnshire. —The Wonderful Mother. — Pecuniary Diffi- culties. — " A Brand Plucked from the Burning." *Y* INCOLNSHIRE, the county of "fen, marsh, and wood," I ( has, perhaps, been the most assertive of all the seething counties of the eastern coast of the British Isles. In almost every great crisis of English history we find leaders from Lincolnshire. For at least seven hundred years it has been represented in the high places of English life by some illustrious son. The old market town of Epworth stands on a piece of land once inclosed by five rivers, and called the Isle of Axholme. Its poptilation remains abotit the same as in the days of the Wesleys, when the parishioners numbered two thousand. They live, for the most part, in the one street that stretches out for two miles From the time of Charles I down to the first quar- ter of the eighteenth century the "stilt walkers" had fiercely resisted every effort to drain the fens, and when the work was accomplished by new settlers the older Fenmen burned the crops, killed the cattle, and flooded the lands of the intruders. The turbulent spirit of the Fenmen lingered still among the villagers of Epworth, who were also profligate and vicious in their habits — as vSamuel Wesley discovered to his cost dimng his first twelve years among them. The exterior of Epworth Church remains much the same as in Wesley's day. Porches, walls, buttresses, and towers have not been materially altered in the two centuries. Within, the 26 John Wesley the Methodist. pews, organ, and decorations are new, the rood screen has been removed, the aisles have been reroofed, and six bells have been hung in the tower. The first home of the Wesleys at Epworth was a typical country parsonage of the seventeenth century, a homely frame structure, plastered within and roofed with straw. Parker's well-known painting of John Wesley's deliverance from the fire Church of St. Andrew, Epworth. Where Rev. Samuel Wesley was rector, 1696-1735, and where John and Charles Wesley- were christened. provides a partially imaginary picture of the house. An old document thus describes it: "It consists of five bayes, but all of mud and plaster, the whole building being contrived into three stories, and disposed in seven chief rooms, kitchen, hall, parlour, butterie, and three large upper rooms, and some others of common use; a little garden empailed between the stone wall and the south, a barn, a dove coate, and a hemp kiln." Let us take a look into the interior of the Epworth rectory, for in this household we have, as Stevens well says, the "real The Epwokth Household. 27 origin" of Methodism. ]\Irs. Wesley's education in the splen- ^j4k.t.crtrt-<>^^ did religious environment of the twenty years' life in her /cla-<2-<-^ [Jb~eAJuu^ the same moment the roof fell in. The boy was put into his " mother's arms. The rector, in his search for his wife, found her holding the child, who by this time he had thought was burned to ashes. He could not believe his eyes imtil several times he had kissed the boy. Mrs. Wesley said to him, "Are your books safe?" "Let them go, " he replied, "now that you and all the children are preserved." He called on those near him to praise God, saying, "Come, neighbors, 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." To John Wesley for more than fourscore years this event was the initial of his vivid reminiscences. There was no place found in his thought from that time onward for a doubt of a Supreme Being whose mercy interposes in moments of danger. The mother's escape was as miraculous as that of her celebrated son. In later years he caused a vignette to be engraved of a burning house, beneath his portrait, and these words under- scored: "Ls not this a brand plucked from the burning? " 36 John Wesley the Methodist. The rectory was soon rebuilt in a more substantial manner and on a more commodious plan. While the rector is attend- ing- the Convocation in London the good mother holds service with her children on Sabbath afternoons in the kitchen, reading good books and sermons. Neighbors ask the privilege of coming to hear, and there are soon as many as thirty attending ~-=sf='*'*.5^^ The Present Epworth Rectory from the Garden. regularly. The rector, though displeased with the news, is delighted with the plan on his retiirn. The next year he has a conceited curate, who writes him words of bitter complaint against the sermon-reading wife. She tells her husband of the good work, and that as many as two hundred come to hear. The curate writes him strong words of a "conventicle" — a pestiferous gathering of Dissenters — and the rector in reply The Epworth Household. 37 urges his wife to discontinue the meetings. The defense of the mother of Methodism is in these noble words: It is plain, in fact, tliat this one thing has brought more people to church than ever anything did in so short a time. We used not to have above twenty or twenty-five at evening service, whereas we have now between two and three hundred, which are more than ever came before to hear Inman in the morning. Besides the constant attendance on the public worship of God, our meeting has wonderfully conciliated the minds of this people toward us, so that now we live in the greatest amity imaginable ; and, what is still better, they are very much reformed in their behavior on the Lord's day; and those who used to be playing in the streets now come to hear a good sermon read, which is surely more according to the will of Almighty God. . . . I need not tell you the consequences if you determine to put an end to our meeting. ... If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience; but send me your positive command, in such full and express terms as may absolve me from guilt and punishment for neglecting this opportunity of doing good when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ. The marvelous service continued to shed its light abroad, for who could resist the words and work of that matchless heroine of the spacious Epworth kitchen ? The fire sadly interfered with the school in the home. The children were received into friendly families until the rectory could be rebuilt, and when they returned their mother had a difficult task to restore order and good manners. She was deeply impressed by John's escape, and two years afterward we find her meditating in the eventide, and writing: "I do intend to be more particularly careful of the soul of this child that thou hast so mercifully provided for than I ever have been, that I may do my endeavor to instill into his mind the principles of true religion and virtue. Lord, give me grace to do it sincerely and prudently, and bless my attempts with good success." Much as the Epworth children owed to their mother, they 38 John Wesley the Methodist. owed not a little also to their father, "a learned man, a com- prehensive thinker, a racy writer and speaker, a brave worker, a manly soul, hasty, impetuous, hot, but loving, liberal, and true. " He gave a good example to his own children by his self-sacrificing care for his widowed Nonconformist mother. He never failed, amid all his distress, to make up an annual ^lo for her. His letters to his sons at school and college show that he was their friend and teacher. When he was not at Convocation he taught them the rudiments of classics. He imparted to his sons his own love of books, for he was a biblio- maniac of pronounced type. He encouraged his children in a wide range of reading. He criticised the " sorry Sternhold Psalms," and in the same letter expressed his love for music as "a great help to our devotion." In two of his many enterprises in the press and the pulpit the vigorous rector notably anticipated the principles of his Methodist sons; he was the apologist of the "religious societies" of his day, and he was the advocate of "a broad and compre- hensive scheme " of foreign missions. Indeed, he was to the year of his death disposed, could the way be made clear, to go out himself as a missionary to heathen lands. The Gownboy of the Charterhouse. 39 CHAPTER III. The Gownboy of the Charterhouse. A Friendly Duke. — The Charterhouse School. — John's School Days. — The Epworth Ghost. — The Brothers at Westminster. QRS. WESLEY gives a characteristic glimpse of her boy John in a letter to her husband in London in 17 12: "Jack has bore his disease bravely, like a man, and indeed like a Christian, without any complaint, though he seemed angry at the small pox when they were sore, as we guessed by his looking sourly at them, for he never said any- thing. " When John was a child his father once said to him: "Child, you think to carry everything by dint of argument; but you will find how very little is ever done in the world by close reason." "Very little indeed," was John's comment in after years. Mrs. Wesley trained the children to refuse food between meals, and little John's characteristic and polite reply to all kindly offers was, "I thank you; I will think of it." "One pictures John Wesley at Epworth, " wrote the present rector, Dr. Overton, "as a grave, sedate child, always wanting to know the reason of everything, one of a group of remarkable children, of whom his sister Martha was most like him in appearance and character; each of them with a strong individ- uality and a very high spirit, but all well kept in hand by their admirable mother, all precise and rather formal, after the man- ner of their day, in their language and habits." As soon as the sons of the Wesley s were old enough to leave home arrangements were made for carrying on their education 40 John Wesley the Methodist. / .^ tember 19, 1725, and priest on September 22, 1728. His ^x^X.^^^'^-'^^jfr^^'^V^^ sermon was preached at South Leigh, in Oxfordshire, in 1725. '^^^'^ ^jj-^^'i-^x Of the fruitlessness of all this early preaching he wrote long flibfiA/'-''^-^^^^''^^ afterward: "Preaching was defective and fruitless, for 'from 1725 to 1729 I neither laid the foundation of repentance nor of preaching the Gospel, taking it for granted that all to whom I preached were believers, and that many of them needed no ' "ih'uierrfU, ykKctx-5. \^X3. •^W ^<^ M) /U //^ ^Mr^t Facsimile in the handwriting of Adam Clarke, who adds these words: "Transcribed literatim from Mr. J. Wesley's certificate which seems to have been drawn up & sent to Bp Potter, to ascertain Mr. J. Wesley's age previously to his being ordained. "A. Clarke." repentance. From 1729 to 1734, laying a deeper foundation of repentance, I saw a little fruit. But it was only a little — and no wonder; for I did not preach faith in the blood of the covenant. " There was great rejoicing in the rectory at Wroote on March 17, 1726, when John Wesley was elected a fellow of Lincoln College. His father had only ^5 to keep his family from March until after harvest, but he wrote in high spirits: "What will be my own fate, God knows, before this sum- mer is over — srd passi graviora [but we have suffered 62 John Wesley the Methodist. heavier troubles]. Wherever I am, my Jack is a fellow of Lincoln." For more than a quarter of a century Wesley was connected with Lincoln College, and its name appears on the title pages of all his works. The college was founded in the fifteenth century by two Bishops of Lincoln, who were bent on extirpat- ing the Wyclifite heresies and other opinions dangerous to the Church. Goldwin Smith says: "The two orthodox prelates would have stood aghast if they could have foreseen that their little college of true theologians would one day number among its fellows John Wesley, and that Methodism would be cradled within its walls." Wesley's Lincoln apartments are the second-floor rooms on the right, or south, side of the first quadrangle opposite the clock tower. In these rooms the " Holy Club" met in 1729. Hundreds of visitors ramble into this quiet quadrangle to-day, many of them from the colonies and America. They pluck a leaf from the vine, look into the study of the man whose parish was the world, visit the chapel, with its windows of rich stained glass, stand in the pulpit from which Wesley preached, and gaze upon his portrait by Williams, in the dining hall. Wesley found the moral tone and discipline of Lincoln superior, on the whole, to that of other colleges, and the fellows " both well-natured and well-bred." He was soon appointed Greek lecturer and moderator of the classes. It became his duty to lecture weekly in the college hall to all the undergradu- ates on the Greek Testament. The Greek text was the basis of the lecture, but the main object was to teach divinity, not merely a language. As moderator of the classes he presided over the disputations, held every day except Sunday. The disputants argned on one side or the other; the moderator had to listen to the arguments, and then to decide with whom the victory lay. John Locke, at Christ Church seventy years The Crisis at Oxford. 63 before, lamented the "unprofitableness of these verbal nice- ties; " but Wesley writes, " I could not avoid acquiring there- by some degree of expertness in arguing, and especially in dis- covering and pointing out well-covered and plausible fallacies. I have since found abundant reason to praise God for giving me this honest art. " He became a hard and wide student, and, indeed, continued such all his life. Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, logic, ethics, Wesley's Rooms, Lincoln College, and the "Wesley Vine." metaphysics, natural philosophy, oratory, poetry, and divinity entered into his weekly plan of study. He obtained the degree of Master of Arts in 1727, acquiring much reputation in his disputation for his degree. His financial struggles were over, but he was rigid in his economy and was able to help his father and his family to the end of life. He saved about £2 a year by allowing his hair to grow long, in spite of the protest of his mother, thus escaping the expense of a wig. In a letter to his brother Samuel occurs his well-known sentence: jf' Leisure and 7h,^.f/-Li 64 John Wesley the Methodist, ■OtriA^^UA^ I have taken leave of one another. I propose to be busy as long as I live, if my health is so long indulged me," /O I 00 His brother Charles came tip from Westminster School to ^ i a yi^t^t^jL ^-^I'i^^ Church soon after John Wesley's removal to Lincoln. ' ./ 'y/'' When John spoke to him about religion he said, " What, would you have me to be a saint all at once?" and would hear no more. But the heart of John was set upon saintliness. He courteously broke off acquaintanceships which hindered him, after fruitless attempts to bring his companions to his own serious view of life. He now began the system of early rising, which he contimied to the end of life. He could say, after sixty years, that he still rose at four o'clock. His father was now sixty-five years of age, and in feeble health. To fill the small living of Wroote in addition to that of Epworth, he needed a curate. A school in Yorkshire had been offered John, with a good income, and he was attracted by the seclu- sion it promised, but his mother saw that God had better work for him to do, and, again following her advice, he declined it. He went to Lincolnshire and acted as his father's curate for two and a quarter years, returning at intervals to Oxford. This was the only experience he ever had in parochial work. Wroote was surroitnded by fens, and often had to be reached by boat. During one journey, in 1728, Wesley narrowly escaped drowning, the fierce current driving the boat against another craft and filling it with water. The small brick church in which he preached at Wroote was taken down a century ago and the material used for paving the streets of Epworth. One incident of this period is worth preserving, as it bears upon the organized fellowship of the Methodists. He tells us that he traveled several miles to converse with a "serious man" who said to him, "Sir, you wish to serve God and go to heaven. Remember you cannot serve him alone; you must therefore find companions or make them ; the Bible knows nothing of The Crisis at Oxford, 65 solitary religion." He was recalled to Oxford by the rector of his college in 1729, and found the Methodist movement com- menced by his brother Charles. Wesley was becoming an earnest ascetic ritualist. He held Sketches of Lincoln College. Arms of Lincoln College. The chapel, Lincoln College. The pulpit in Lincoln Chapel. that water should be mixed with the wine in the daily Holy Comraimion. He advised something near akin to confession, as a racy letter from his sister Emelia shows: To lay open the state of my soul to you, or any of our clergy, is what I have no inclination to do at present ; and I believe I never shall. I shall 66 John Wesley the Methodist. not put my conscience under the direction of mortal man as frail as myself. To my own Master I stand or fall. Nay, I scruple not to say that all such desire 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. The old Puritan spirit comes out in the letter of this sister, who had the Puritan blood in her veins. Her brother was teaching almost all that a High Anglican of to-day teaches, except that he does not appear to have held to the " conversion of the elements" in the Eucharist. A little later, under the influence of his friend Clayton, he left the gitidance of the Bible to follow that of tradition, or such pretended tradition as the Apostolical Constitutions, He says of himself that he " made antiquity a coordinate rule with Scripture." The strict High Churchman also sought rest for his heart in mysticism. He first read AVilliam Law's Christian Perfection and Serious Call in 1728 or 1729, These two powerful devo- tional treatises did not contain the mystical errors of Law's later teaching. Although in later years Wesley diverged widely from Law, he never lost his admiration for the Serious Call. A very short time before his death he spoke of it as a " treatise which will hardly ever be excelled, if it be equaled, in the English tongue, either for beauty of expression or for justice and depth of thought." He owned that Law's two books sowed the seed of Methodism. Later Law went astray into the fields of mysticism. Wesley visited him at Putney in 1732, and from that period began to read the German mystics. Their noble descriptions of union with God and internal religion deeply impressed him, but he never followed Law into the "unfathomable confusions " of Behmen. He never accepted the theories which deny the necessity of the means of grace. He appears to have extri- cated himself from the meshes of mysticism during his sojourn The Crisis at Oxford. 67 in Georgia, and writes to his brother Samuel: " I think the rock on which I had the nearest made shipwreck of the faith was the writings of the mystics ; under which term I comprehend all and only those who slight any of the means of grace. " He asks his brother to give him his thoughts upon the scheme of their doctrines which he has drawn up, and thinks they ma}- be of consequence "not only to all this province, but to nations of Christians yet unborn," Thus this Christian knight was delivered from this "wandering fire;" he never passed "into the silent life," and we must return with him to Oxford to practice the counsel of the "serious " countryman who told him that " the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion." 68 John Wesley the Methodist. CHAPTER V. The Holy CI«b. Charles Wesley Begins It. — " Methodists." — John Wesley its Father. — " Men of One Book." — Works of Mercy and Help.— The Oxford Methodists. — Whitefield.— Death of the Epworth Rec- tor. — Reserved for a Better Appointment. aHARLEvS WESLEY came up to Christ Church, m 1726, a bright, rollicking- young fellow, "with more genius than grace." He had objected to becoming "a saint all at once." But the rebuff did not estrange the brothers, and soon after John went to Wroote, Charles wrote to him in a very changed mood, seeking the counsel which before he had spurned. Lamenting his former state of insensibility, he declared: "There is no one person I would so willingly have to be the instrument of good to me as you. It is owing, in great measure, to somebody's prayers (my mother's most likely) that I am come to think as I do; for I cannot tell myself how or why I awoke out of my lethargy, only that it was not' long after you went away." He not only gave him- self with zest to his studies, but began to attend the weekly sacrament and induce others to unite with him in seeking true holiness. He and his companions adopted certain rules for right living, and apportioned their time exactly to study and religious duties, allotting as little as possible to sleeping and eating, and as much as possible to devotion. This precise regu- larity caused a young gentleman of Christ Church to say deris- ively, " Here is a new set of Methodists sprung up." Charles Wesley says that the name of Methodist ' ' was The Holy Clur. 69 bestowed upon himself and his friends because of their strict conformity to the method of study prescribed by the univer- sity." John Wesley, in an address to Georg-e II, designates his societies " the people in derision called Methodists," and in his English Dictionary makes good use of the word. He^ defines a Methodist as ' ' one that lives according to the method laid down in the Bible. " g^*ihtje:tA pardoned for remarking with satisfaction that Lincoln had /'^T'*''*''*'^' "^ ''/ nothing to do with the feeble jokes which were made upon ^"'^^^'^ (^t-tt-^-tx^ these good earnest youths. Christ Church and Merton must divide the honor between them. The Holy Club, Bible Bigots, Bible Moths, Sacramentarians, Supererogation Men, Methodists— all these titles were invented by the fertile brains of ' the wits ' to cast opprobrium, as they thought, but really to confer honor upon a perfectly inoffensive band of young men who only desired to be what they and their oppo- nents were alike called — Christians. An Oxford man may, indeed, blush for his university when he reflects that these young men could not even attend the highest service of the Chiirch without running the g'auntlet of a jeering rabble, prin- cipally compo.sed of men who were actually being- prepared for the sacred ministry of that Church." When John Wesley returned to Oxford he at once became Qir^v^ the leader of this little band formed by his brother. His age, ''^ '■ ' his genius for generalship, his position in the university, his superior learning, made this a matter of course. And Charles rejoiced in this. A more perfect instance of real brotherhood it would be difficult to find in history. The elder always spoke of the work which was being done as their joint work. "My brother and I," is the expression he constantly used in describ- ing it. Charles was by no means the mere " man Friday " of P 70 John Wesley the Methodist. his brother, as some have supposed. He would not have been a Wesley if he had not given proof of magnificent individ- uality. It must be remembered that he was the first Metho- dist. He was to take his full share in the work of the great revival, not only as a poet, but as a preacher. But John Wes- ley was nicknamed " the Curator of the Holy Club," or, some- times, "the Father of the Holy Club." The old rector of Epworth, hearing of John's new title, wrote: "If this be so, I am sure I am the grandfather of it ; and I need not say that I had rather any of my sons should be so dignified and distin- guished than to have the title of ' His Holiness.' " Gambold says: "Mr. John Wesley was always the chief manager, for which he was very fit; for he not only had more learning and experience than the rest, but he was blest with such activity as to be always gaining ground, and such steadi- ness that he lost none. What proposals he made to any were sure to charm them, because they saw him always the same. What supp orted this uniform vigor was the care he took to consider well of every affair before he engaged in it, making all his decisions in the fear of God, without passion, humor, or self-confidence; for though he had naturally a very clear apprehension, yet his exact prudence depended more on humanity and singleness of heart. To this I may add, that he had, I think, something of authority on his countenance, though, as he did not want address, he could soften his manner and point it as occasion required. Yet he never assumed anything to himself above his companions. Any of them might speak their mind, and their words- were as strictly regarded by him as his were by them." The first work of the Holy Club was the study of the Bible. The new movement was spiritual, humanitarian, but, first and strongest of all, scriptural. The searching of the Scriptures was earnest, open-minded, devout, unceasing. Wesley him- The Holy Club. 73 self said: "From the very beginning^ — from the time that four young men imited together — each of them was homo iinius libri ; a man of one book. . . . They had one, and only one rule of judgment. . . . They were continually reproached for this very thing, some terming them in derision Bible Bigots; others, Bible Moths; feeding, they said, upon the Bible as moths do on cloth. . . . And indeed, unto this day, it is their constant endeavor to think and speak as the oracles of God."] This fundamental fact in the history of Methodism must never be lost to view. At first the friends met every Sunday evening; then two evenings in every week were passed together, and at last every evening from six to nine. They began their meetings with prayer, studied the Greek Testament and the classics, reviewed the work of the past day, and talked over their plans for the morrow, closing all with a frugal supper. They received the Lord's Supper weekly, fasted twice a week, and instituted a searching system of self-examination, aiming in all things to do the will of God and be zealous of good works. The first flower of the study of the Bible was a new philan thropy. William Morgan, of Christ Church, visited a con demned wife murderer in the castle jail ; Morgan also conversed T with the debtors in prison, and was convinced that good might a..->., be done among them. On August 24, 1730, the brothers Wes- O ley went with him to the castle, and from that time forward the prisoners became their special care. Morgan also began the work of visiting the sick. John Wesley wrote to his father for counsel, and received an inspiring letter: "I have the highest reason to bless God that he has given me two sons together at Oxford, to whom he has given grace and courage to turn the war against the world and the devil, which is the best way to conquer them." The Bishop of Oxford gave the young men his approval, and 74 John Wesley the Methodist. the visiting was extended to poor families in the city. Chil- dren were also taught. One of these, a poor girl, called upon Wesley in a state of great destitution. He said to her, ' ' You seem half starved; have you nothing to cover you but that thin linen gown?" She replied, "Sir, this is all I have." Wesley put his hand into his pocket, but found it nearly empty. The walls Bocardo, the Prison, Oxford. Where the Oxford Methodists did works of "mercy and help." of his chamber, however, were hung with pictiires, and they seemed to accuse him. "It struck me," he sa}^s, " ' Will thy Master say, "Well done, good and faithful steward"? Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O Justice! O Mercy! Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid? ' " The Holy Clui 75 It was the practice, he says, of all the Oxford Methodists to give away each year all they had after providing for their own necessities. He himself, having thirty pounds a year, lived on twenty-eight, and gave away two. The next year, receiving sixty pounds, he still lived on twenty-eight and gave away thirty-two. The third year he received ninety pounds and gave away sixty-two. The fourth year he received one hun- dred and twenty pounds, and still lived on twenty-eight as before, giving to the poor all the rest. While the number of the Methodists was only four at first, in the following year two or three other students desired the liberty of meeting with them, and these were joined by one of Charles Wesley's students. In 1732 Benjamin Ingham, of Queens; Thomas Broughton, of Exeter; John Clayton, of Brazenose; James Hervey, and two or three others, were admitted to the club, and in 1735 George Whitefield, of Pem- broke, became a member. The numbers fluctuated, and when the Wesleys sailed for Georgia the Holy Club had thirteen members. In 1733 there were twenty-seven Methodist com- municants. During one of Wesley's absences at Epworth the number dwindled to five, but it rallied again when its leader was once more at the front. Of these early Methodists three were tutors in colleges and the rest were bachelors of arts or undergraduates. All were strictly orthodox in doctrine, or counted themselves so; and practically they had all things in common; that is, no one was allowed to want what another was able to spare. It would be interesting to follow, if space allowed, the sub- sequent career of the Oxford Methodists. The sympathetic Morgan died of consumption in 1732. Robert Kirkham, whose sister Betty was probably Wesley's first sweetheart, became an Anglican curate. John Clayton became a High Church cler- gyman, and a powerful preacher, but refused to recognize the io-^M/jU^^jJ 76 John Wesley the Methodist. Wesleys after they broke away from Church usages and preached in the open air. Benjamin Ingham's friendship was of better metal. He followed them to Georgia and joined in their later labor. John Gambold, after a brief experience as an Anglican rector, became a Moravian bishop, and wrote many hymns. James Hervey became a charitable country parson of Calvin- ist creed, who wrote the once popular " Meditations." Thomas Broughton was curate at the Tower of London, and for the better part of his life secretary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Charles Kinchin became dean of Cor- pus Christi College. He was a liberal Churchman, and main- tained a close friendship with the Wesleys through life. John Whitelamb, a protege of Rev. Samuel Wesley, Sr. , became his curate, and married his daughter Mary. He was greatly afflicted and spent a life of obscurity as rector of the starveling parish of Wroote, adjoining Epworth. The Holy Club had one member whose fame in some respects surpassed them all — George Whitefield. He was the son of an innkeeper at Gloucester, and drew ale for the cus- tomers until he was fifteen years of age. At the school to which he was sent he made a little stir with his talent for ora- tory and acting, read Thomas a Kempis, and began to dream of being a minister. At eighteen he entered Pembroke Col- lege, Oxford, as a servitor, for which his bartending experience served him well. He was drawn to the Holy Club, but in his poverty dared not join these young gentlemen, though he often gazed at them with deep emotion as they passed through a jeering crowd to receive the sacrament at St. Mary's. At length he made the acquaintance of Charles Wesley, who gave him religious counsel and helpful books, which brought him a powerful religious experience. He learned that true religion did not consist in going to church, or faithfulness in any external duties, but was a union I J id / /k (T^ X^ as " 'J jr C^ 7^'^^<'^nri1u/' f^ ^ ly u^dC ai-a-^ a^ioL 0-a^. 6 i A, r^hi ^ &L ca^//L4it~ ale £^ <9i*^ u od a d^- t/C^t A Lesson for the Holy Club. Facsimile of a page of John Wesley's notes on the third chapter of St John's ^osnel SrcS/irs ?. K^eS S tn^r '^-'-''' -'- ^' - -^ post" :n^oTS The Holy Club. 79 of the soul with God; and that he must be a new creature. It was an era in his history. He says; "I found and felt in myself that I was delivered from the burden that had so heavily oppressed me. The spirit of mourning was taken from me, and I knew what it was truly to rejoice in God my Saviour. The day-star arose in my heart. I know the place; it may perhaps be superstitious, but wdienever I go to Oxford I cannot help running to the spot where Jesus Christ first revealed himself to me and gave me a new birth. " This was "^ i735» when he was in his twenty-first year. He was the first of the Holy Club to come into this divine experience. That he did not at once communicate it to the Wesley brothers, who for three years still groped in the twilight of legalism, may be partly owing to the difference which, on account of their superiority in learning and social position, would keep him from presuming to teach them, but still more was it due to the fact that they became at this time separated from him by their preparations for departure to America. The Father of the Holy Club remained in residence at Lin- coln College until 1735. For a time in 1730 he held a curacy near Oxford. He now^ began to converse in Latin with his brother, a habit which became lifelong. They walked to Epworth, seventy-five miles, on foot, in 1731, and John visited London in that year and the next, calling on William Law, and joining the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In 1734 his horseback journeys aggregated one thousand miles, and he formed the habit of reading in the saddle. At London he supervised the printing of his father's ponderous treatise on the book of Job. The aged rector of Epworth w^as fast failing in health, and looked to one of his sons to succeed him in the living and fur- nish a home for their mother and sisters. The- son Samuel thought he could not resign his post as headmaster of Tiver- 8o John Wesley the Methodist. ton Grammar School. They both turned to John. He had twenty-six reasons against it, but they were all reducible to two; namely, that he thought he could be more holy and more useful at Oxford. He says: "Another can supply my place at Epworth better than at Oxford, and the good done here is of a far more diffusive nature. It is a more extensive benefit to sweeten the fountain than to do the same to particular streams. " However, in spite of all this, he seems to have yielded ulti- mately to the earnest pleadings of his father and brother, and, no doubt, also the united appeals of his mother and sisters, who would otherwise lose their home. He consented to accept the living if it could be procured. But for some reason, probably the reports of his extreme strictness, the application was unsuc- cessful; the living of Epworth was given to a clergyman who appears never to have resided there, and the work was trans- ferred to a curate. God had something more important for John Wesley. The good old rector, who had had such a hard struggle all through life, finished his labors April 25, 1735, at the age of seventy-two. His sons were by his side during his last hours. His mind was at rest. He said to John, " The inward witness, son, the inward witness— this is the proof, the strongest proof, of Christianity." But it was some years before this son knew much about that. The day before his death he told Charles, " The weaker I am in body the stronger and more sensible sup- port I feci from God." To the question, "Are you in much pain?" he replied: "God does chasten me with pain, yea, all my bones with strong pain. But I thank him for all, I bless him for all, I love him for all." Laying his hands upon the head of Charles, he said : "Be steady. The Christian faith will surely revive in this kingdom ; you shall see it, though I shall not." To his daughter Emilia he said, " Do not be con- The Holy Club. 8i cerned at my death ; God will then begin to manifest himself to my family. " So he peacefully passed away, just before sunset, and was buried "very frugally, yet decently, in the churchyard, according to his own desire." Little did he think to what strange uses his modest tombstone would be put in after years. Grave of Rev. Samuel Wesley, Sr., in Epworth Churchyard. The tombstone has a place in Methodist history, since it served John Wesley for a pulpit when he was forbidden to preach in his father's church. John Wesley again returned to Oxford, whence he was, within a few montlis, to be removed to a widely different sphere of action. The group of earnest Christians who had composed the Holy Club was soon dispersed. "In October, 1735, John afid Charles Wesley and Ingham left England, with a design to go and preach to the Indians in Georgia ; but the rest of the gen- tlemen continued to meet till one and another were ordained 6 82 John Wesley the Methodist. and left the university. By which means, in about two years' time, scarce any of them were left." Whitefield had some oversight of them until, in February, 1738, he also embarked for Georgia. Kinchin, Hutchins, Kirk- ham, and others were more or less at Oxford subsequently, and rendered valuable service in the outside work ; but there was not continuously a sufficient number to maintain the frequent meetings, and the society was thus gradually dissolved. The influence of it remained a while as a sweet savor in Oxford, and was distributed widely by those who left. After Wesley's return from Georgia he met some of them, and wrote: "Soon after I returned to England I had a meeting with Messrs. Ing- ham, Stonehouse, Hall, Hutchins, Kinchin, and a few other clergymen, who all appeared to be of one heart as well as of one judgment resolved to be Bible Christians at all events, and, wherever they were, to preach, with all their might, plain old Bible Christianity." The main purpose of these Oxonian Methodists had been to save their own souls and the souls of others. Though the Ht- tle society passed away, yet through the lives of these three sons of genius and of grace, John and Charles AVesley and George Whitefield, first a university was aroused, then a king- dom was set in a blaze, and the nations beyond the seas felt the glow of the divine fires whose new enkindlings had occurred in the Holy Club. To the two Wesleys, however, the great doctrines of justifi- cation by faith and the witness of the Spirit were not yet experi- mental verities. And they were to learn their practical force not from the voice and pen of any great teacher within their own Church, but from the lips of a humble Moravian preacher, and from the glowing • commentaries of the great German reformer. To America and Back. 83 CHAPTER VI. To America and Back. The Missionary Spirit. — Oglethorpe's Philanthropic Colony. —John Wesley, Missioner to Georgia. — The High Churchman at Savannah. — Moravian Influences. — The First Metho- dist Hymnal. — An Unhappy Ending. *-^ ONG before the dawn of the great societies the mission- I r ary spirit was the heritage of the Wesley family. That • sturdy Nonconformist, the first John Westley, had a burning desire to go to Surinam or Maryland. His son Samuel, the Epworth rector, had sympathies that overleaped all paro- chial boundaries. He devised a great mission for India, China, and Abyssinia, and a year before his death lamented that he was too infirm to go to Georgia. Now the imagination of his Methodist sons is fired with the idea of evangelizing the In- dians, and the recently widowed "Mother of Methodism" titters her famous missionary saying. A royal charter had been granted in 1732 for the establish- ment of a colony, named after the king, ' ' in that part of Caro- lina which lies from the most northern part of the Savannah River all along the seacoast to the southw^ard." The founder was General James Edward Oglethorpe, an energetic and humanitarian member of Parliament, who was intent upon reforming the condition of the debtors' prisons and providing a new home in a new world where the released prisoners might find a hopeful refuge. The two Wesleys, father and son, and many of like mind, took deep interest in the plans for Georgia, which was to be 84 John Wesley the Methodist. not only an anti-slavery colony, but which was to be a center of missionary effort among the Indians. Oglethorpe took out his first expedition to Savannah early in 1733. Other distressed people, Salzburghers, German Protestants, and a company of Highland Scots, found settlement there. Certain Moravians, seeking " freedom to worship God," were the fourth to arrive. The Wesleys came with the fifth migration. When the Georgian trustees were looking for a missionary, some one suggested the name of the zealous young fellow of Lin- coln. Oglethorpe liked the idea, but John doubted whether his widowed mother could spare him. He finally went home to ask her. "Had I twenty sons," was her noble reply, 'I should rejoice that they were all so employed, though I should never see them more. " Charles decided to go as the general's secre- tary, and Ingham, of the Holy Club, and a young Londoner joined the mission, for such they considered it. Wesley's motives are best learned from his own candid words in a letter to a friend. The apparent selfishness of his first motive must be judged in the light of his frank confession of his need of the first qualification for his mission and the higher altruism of his second motive : " My chief motive," said he, " is the hope of saving my own soul. I hope to learn the true sense of the Gospel of Christ by preaching it to the heathen. They have no cominents to construe away the text ; no vain philosophy to corrupt it ; no luxurious, sensual, covetous, ambi- tious expounders to soften its unpleasing truths. . . . They have no party, no interest to serve, and are therefore fit to receive the Gospel in its simplicity. They are as little children, humble, willing to learn, and eager to do the will of God." " I then hope to know what it is to love my neighbor as my.self, and to feel the powers of that second motive to visit the hea- then, even the desire to impart to them what I have received — a saving knowledge of the Gospel of Christ ; but this I dare To America and Back. 85 not think on yet. It is not for me, who have been a grievous sinner from my youth up, ... to expect God should work so great things by my hands ; but I am assured, if I be once con- verted myself, he will then employ me both to strengthen my brethren and to preach his name to the Gentiles. " James OgletTiorp, Efq; Member of Par- L'ament for Hailemexe In the County of Surrey, embarks oji board the Simmonds^ Capt. CornUh, for Georgia, thi? Day, 'Tu^fday Morning James Oglethorpe^ Efq^fet out hy Land for Grave fend ^ and the Re-O. Mr. John WeJIey, Student of Lincoln College^ Oxon j the Rev, Mr. Charles WeJIey^. Student of Qhrijl- Church-College^ and the Rev. Mr. In- gram of ^een's^ in order to eml^arh for Georgia* '^herew'ere fent along with thefe Gen- tlemen, as a Benefa^ion of fever ul wor- thy Ladies and Gentlemen^ 550 of the Btjbop of Man's Treatifes on the Sacra- ment, and his LorJJhip's Principles and Duties of Chrifiianity, for the ufe of the Englijh Families fettled in Georgia. The Newspaper Notice of the 'Wesleys' Departure for America. Facsimile from Walker's Weekly Penny Journal, London, October i8, 1735. The party of "missioners" embarked with Oglethorpe, Octo- ber 18, 1735, o^ t^^G Simmonds, a vessel. of two hundred and twenty tons. Twenty-six Moravians, under their bishop, David Nitschman,and eighty English colonists were fellow-passengers. Although they started from Gravesend in October, it was De- cember before they left England, and many weeks were spent at 86 John Wesley the Methodist. Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, where they had to wait for the man- of-war that was to be their convoy. This gave time for the Methodists to plan their days as carefully as at Oxford. From four to five every morning was spent in private prayer ; then for two hours they read the Bible together, comparing it with the Fathers. Breakfast and public prayers filled two hours more. From nine to twelve Charles Wesley wrote sermons, John studied German, Delamotte read Greek, and Ingham taught the emigrants' children ; and the remainder of the day was as carefully mapped out, all uniting with the Germans in their evening service. One event of the eight wrecks' voyage made a deep impres- sion on John Wesley. On several occasions there were storms, and he felt restless, and afraid to die. He had made friends with the Moravians and was charmed by their sweet spirit and excellent discipline. He now found that they were brave as well as gentle. One evening a storm burst just as the Germans began to sing a psalm, and the sea broke, split the mainsail in shreds, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks as if the great deep were swallowing them up. The English began to scream with terror, but the Germans calmly sang on. Wes- ley asked one of them afterward : " Were you not afraid ? " "I thank God, no," was the reply. " But were not your women and children afraid ? " *' No," he replied mildly, " our w^omen and children are not afraid to die. " At the close of the day's Journal Wesley writes, " This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen." On February 6, 1736, the Simmonds landed her passengers in Georgia. One of Wesley's first acquaintances was Spangen- berg, a Moravian pastor, whose advice he sought. The Ger- man said ; To America and Back. 87 "My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions: Have you the witness within yourself ? Does the vSpirit of God witness with your spirit that you are a child of God ? " Wes- ley knew not what to answer. The preacher, seeing his hesi- tation, asked : " Do you know Jesus Christ ? " " I know," said Wesley, "he is the Saviour of the world." " True," replied he, "but do you know he has saved you ? " Wesley answered, " I hope he has died to save me." Spangenberg only added, " Do you know yourself ? " " I do," was the reply; but in his Journal he wrote, " I fear they were vain words." Such a spiritual probing Wesley had never before received. The conversation was worth the jour- ney across the ocean. The flash of lightning left him in dark- ness. He asked Spangenberg many questions about the Mora- vians of Herrnhut. Tomo-chi-chi, the chief, and other Indians called on him and expressed their friendly greeting, but the way of approach to these heathen was for the time so hedged up that Wesley could devote little attention to their needs. John Wesley found Savannah, with forty houses, built on a blufE forty or fifty feet above the bend of the river, which here was about a thousand feet across. He began his ministry with a sermon on " Charity" (i Cor. xiii), and described the death- bed of his father at Epworth. The courthouse, which served as church, was crowded, and the mission began with great promise. Ten days later a ball had to be given up, for the church was full for prayers and the ballroom empty! A lady told him when he landed that he would see as well-dressed a congregation on Sundays as most which he had seen in London. He found that she was right, and he preached on the subject of dress with such effect that gold and costly apparel disap- peared, and the ladies came to church in plain linen or woolen. 88 John Wesley the Methodist. Memorials of the Wesleys in Georgia. Wesley Church, Frederica. Ruins of Fort at Frederica. The Wesley Jlonumental Church, Savannah. "Wesley's Oak," St. Simon's Island. Wesley Window, in Monumental Church. To America and Back. 89 He established day schools, teaching one himself and placing Delamotte in the other. Some of Delamotte's boys who wore shoes and stockings thought themselves superior to the boys who went barefoot. To cure their pride Wesley changed schools with his friend and went to teach without shoes and stockings. The boys stared, but Wesley kept them to their work, and before the end of the week he had cured the lads of their vanity. The Sunday appointments were many. He divided the pub- lic prayers, reading the morning service at five, having the sermon and Holy Communion at eleven, and the evening serv- ice at three. There was a meeting at his own house for reading, prayer, and praise. At six o'clock he attended the Moravian service. He catechised the children at two o'clock, and during the latter part of his stay he had service for the Italians at nine and for the French at one. In two neighbor- ing settlements he read prayers on Saturday in German and French, and he even studied Spanish in order to converse with some Spanish Jews. All might have gone on well if, as Southey says, he could have taken the advice of Dr. Burton, to consider his parish- ioners as babes in their progress, and to feed them with milk. But "he drenched them with the physic of an intolerant dis- cipline." His High Churchmanship manifested itself in all the irritating forms common to the sectarian bigots who domineer over timid villagers in some of the rural parishes of England to-day, except that he did not resort to the modern cruelty of depriving the poor and sick Dissenters of relief from public charities. He refused the Lord's Supper to all who had not been episcopally baptized ; he re-baptized the children of Dis- senters, and he refused to bury all who had not received Anglican baptism. He insisted also on baptism by immersion. He refused the Lord's Supper to one of the most devoted go John Weslev the Methodist. Christian men in the colony, Bolzius, the pastor of the Salz- burghers, because he had not been baptized by a minister who had been episcopal ly ordained. Many years afterward he made this comment on his action: "Can anyone carry High Church zeal higher than this ? And how well have I been since beaten with mine own staff! " No w^onder was it that a plain speaker said to Wesley at this time: "The people say they are Protestants, but as for you they cannot tell what religion you are of; they never heard of such a religion before, and they do not know what to make of it." At the same time, as Rigg has pointed out, Wesley was "inwardly melting, and the light of spiritual liberty was dawn- ing on his soul." He attended a Presbyterian service at Darien, and, to his great astonishment, heard the minister offer a devout extempore prayer. He was impressed by the simple beauty of the life of the Moravians, and they sent him to the New Testament. He read Bishop Beveridge's Pandectce Can- omtvi Concilioriim, w^hich sent him to the Scriptures again as a higher authority than tradition or councils. He thus expresses to Wogan his opinion as to the innermost nature of religion: ' ' I entirely agree with you that religion is love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; that, as it is the happiest, so it is the cheerfulest thing in the world ; that it is utterly inconsistent with moroseness, sourness, and indeed with whatever is not according to the . . , gentleness of Christ Jesus. " Charles Wesley, who had accompanied Oglethorpe to Freder- ica, a new settlement, one himdred miles to the southward, had no better success in winning the sympathy of those to whom .he preached. His faithful preaching at the sins of his par- ishioners gained him enemies, who lied about him, and even attempted his life, until at a funeral service he "envied the corpse his quiet grave." In 1736 he was sent home to England To America and Back. 91 with dispatches from the i^overnor, and saw no more of Georgia. While he was in Georgia, John Wesley published his first col- lection of Psalms and Hymns. It w^as printed " at Charles- Town " (Charleston, vS. C), and the title-page is dated 1737. In a preface to a reprint of this volume Osborne says: " It has been supposed that this Collection of Psalms and Hymns was the first published in our language, so that in this provision for the improvement of public worship . . . AVesley led the way. " His father's hymn rescued from the Epworth fire, Addison's hymns, and some of his own noble translations from the Ger- man are included in the collection. The incident which terminated John Wesley's usefulness as a missionary has a somewhat romantic interest. He fell deeply in love with Miss Sophia Hopkey, the attractive niece of the chief magistrate of Savannah. On the advice of his Moravian friends he suddenly decided not to marry her, and she soon married another. The attachment must have been very strong, for in his old age he wrote of the disappointment: "I was pierced through as with a sword. " But the matter did not end here. Later Wesley felt it his duty to rebuke the lady for inconsistency of life and to refuse her the Communion. He was prosecuted by her husband for so doing, but, as a High Churchman, refused to recognize the authority of a civil court. Then the storm burst. The colo- nists found many grievances against their rigid clergyman, and to end the matter, on the advice of his friends, he decided to leave Georgia. So with a heavy heart, on December 2, 1737, Wesley took boat with three friends for Carolina, on his way to England. After a trying journey of ten days they reached Charleston, and went on board the Samuel. After a stormy voyage Wes- ley rejoiced to see "English land once more; which, about g- John Wesley the Methodist. noon, appeared to be the Lizard Point," and the next day they landed at Deal, only a day after Whitefield had sailed out. Whitefield afterward declared : ''The good Mr. John Wesley has done in America is inexpressible. His name is very pre- n ^j J^'i^Tr^, A Fragment of Romaace. Facsimfle of a passage in Wesley's MS. Journal, written in Georgia, relating to the engagement and marriage of Miss Sophia Hopkey. cious among the people ; and he has laid a foundation that I hope neither men nor devils will ever be able to shake. O that I mav follow him as he has followed Christ ! " On his voyage home, and just after he landed, Wesley poured To America and Back. 93 out his soul in language which in after years he modified in some of its expressions. He wrote in his Journal: " I went to Amerioa to convert the Indians, but, O ! who shall convert me ? who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief ? I have a fair summer religion ; I can talk well, nay, and believe myself, while no danger is near; but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled. Nor can I say, to die is gain ... I show my faith by my works, by staking my all upon it. I would do so again and again a thousand times, if the choice were still to make. Whoever sees me sees I would be a Christian. . . . But in a storm I think. What if the Gos- pel be not true ? . . . O who will deliver me from this fear of death ? . . . Where shall I fly from it ? " The day that he landed in England, February i, 1738, there was another gloom}' entry in his Journal, but he ends it with his face toward the light : ' • This, then, have I learned in the ends of the earth, that I ' am fallen short of the glory of God ; ' that my whole heart is ' altogether corrupt and abominable ; ' . . . that my own works, my own sufferings, my own right- eousness, are so far from reconciling me to an offended God, . . . that the most specious of them need an atonement them- selves; . . . that. ' ha^-ing the sentence of death ' in my heart, ... I have no hope . . . but that if I seek, I shall find Christ, and ' be found in him, not ha^-ing my own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.'" "I want . . . that faith which enables every one that hath it to cry out, 'I live not; . . , but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live, I live bv faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. ' I want that faith which none can have without knowing he hath it; [when] 'the Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit, that he is a child of God.' "' ^lany years later when republishing his Journals he added 94 John Wesley the Methodist. four short notes: On the original statement, "I, who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted," he remarks, ' ' I am not sure of this. " "I am a child of wrath, " was his early record; "I believe not," was his later note. And in another note he says : "I had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son " — a distinction upon which he dwells in one of his sermons. In a touching passage in a letter to Bishop Lavingtou, written in 1752, he says that the passages in the Journal were written "in the anguish of my heart, to which I gave vent between God and my own soul." But the anguish was soon to pass away, and he was to know the full joy of sonship in the family of God. The mission to Georgia never fulfilled the ideal of the ardent young ritualists and mystics who were its apostles. It was diverted from its noble and romantic purpose of founding a primitive and perfect Church in a new world and among unsophisticated Indians. But it was not an utter failure. It brought the missionaries themselves priceless lessons, which they had the grace and manliness to learn. It developed the Moses-like meekness which was blended with strength in the character of the coming leader. It drew Whitefield across the Atlantic to preach a Gospel greater than his later Calvinistic creed. It did much to mold the men who were to be the founders of a catholic missionary Church. It gave to the hymnology of the great Revival ' ' the wafture of a world-wide wing." It prepared the way for a theology radiant with the light of a new spiritual experience, and broad as the charity of God. The New Birth. 95 CHAPTER VII. The New Birth. Whitefield's Revival Fire. — Peter Bohler's Influence.— Charles Wesley's Happy Day. — John Wesley's Heart " Strangely Warmed." — A Spiritual Revolution. m: *HILE the Wesleys were in America their young Oxford companion, George Whitefield, had set the world to talking. vSuch preaching was never heard. The parish churches were crowded to the doors when he was to preach, (jI/AaM^'^-*^^^^^ even on week days. He preached thirty times a month, some-^-jD^^j/^^/,.,^.,.,^ times four sermons on a Sunday, and weeping hearers followed him out into the streets to get a word with him. He says of a notable sermon: " The doctrine of the new birth and justifica- tion by faith in Jesus Christ (though I was not so clear in it as afterward) made its way like lightning into the hearers' consciences." All classes for the first time now heard from a tongue of fire the Gospel of Christ. The mighty doctrines of justification and regeneration leaped forth in living power. Heaven and hell were realities in awful contrast. Of course the people were moved. They felt that Whitefield was one of them. His illustrations, drawn from common life and spiced with humor, deepened the popular interest. ' ' Even the little improprieties, " remarked Wesley, "both of his language and manner, were the means of profiting many who would not have been touched by a more correct discourse or a more calm and regular manner of preaching." To all must be added the power arising out of the divine 96 John Wesley the Methodist. transformation of the man and the eloquence of the Spirit. The God before whom he stood was to him so glorious in majesty that Whitefield would throw himself prostrate on the grround and offer his soul as a blank for the divine hand to write on it what he pleased. Mabie says that when Corot in his peasant blouse went out into the fields at four o'clock with his easel before him, and studied the dawn, ' • the day broke for him as if it had never come out of the sky before ; as if he were the first man seeing the first day." So to Whitefield evervday seemed the first day on which God had sent the Gospel to men and commissioned him to put the vital truth on the tablets of the hearL An urgent letter from John Wesley turned Whitefield's atten- tion to Georgia. His heart leaped at Wesley's words: " What if thou art the man, Mr. Whitefi.eld? Do you ask me what you shall have? Food to eat, and raiment to put on; a house to lay your head in, such as your Lord had not ; and a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Whitefield offered himself to the authorities of the Georgian Mission, was accepted, and voyag- ing westward his vessel passed that of John Wesley homeward bound. His apostolic joumej'ings and splendid ser\nces on both sides of the Atlantic transcend the scope of this biography, though we shall from time to time meet the flaming evangelist as we follow the person and work of the head of the ^lethodist movement. For several years after their return from Georgia the Wes- leys were thrown much in contact with certain Moravians whose creed kept alive the old doctrine of justification by faith. Peter Bohler, the ^loravian, wrote to Count Zinzendorf at Hermhut of his acquaintance with them : I traveled with the two brothers, John and Charles Weslej-. from London to Oxford. 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 The New Birth. 97 brother, with whom you often conversed a year ago, is at present verj- much distressed in his mind, but does not know how he shall begin to be acquainted with the Saviour. Our mode of belie\nng in the SaN-iour is so easy to 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 tr>- to prove their faith by their works, and thus so plague and torment themselves that they are at heart verj- miserable. Bohler put himself under Charles Wesley's care, at Oxford, to learn English. The pupil taught his teacher a 3-et nobler lesson. When he fell ill and seemed on the point of death Bohler asked him, "Do you hoj^e to be saved?"' Charles answered, '*Yes." "For what reason do you hope it?" "Because I have used my best endeavors to serve God." Bohler shook his head and said no more. " I thought him \ery uncharitable," wrote Charles at a later day, "saying in my heart, "Would he rob me of my endeavors? I have nothing else to trust to." The sad, silent, significant shake of Peter Bohler's head shattered all Charles Wesley's false foundation of salvation by endeavors. On Sunday, March 5, 1738, John Wesley wrote: "I was, in the hand of the great God, clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved." In later years he adds, in parenthesis, " (With the full Christian salva- tion.)" To the question whether he should cease preaching his friend replied, " By no means." " But what can I preach?" asked Wesley. ' ' Preach faith till you have it, and then because you have it you will preach faith. " And so on Monday morn- ing he offered salvation by faith to a man under sentence of death in Oxford Castle. He was deeply moved when the condemned man he again visited rose from prayer exclaiming eagerly, " I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins, 7 98 John Wesley the Methodist. and there is no more condemnation for me." So he died in peace. On the Sunday after this affecting scene Wesley took a step of no little importance in the history of Methodist worship. Peter Bohler. The Moravian who instructed the Wesleys. He writes in his Journal of April i: "Being- in Mr. Fox's society, my heart was so full that I could not confine myself to the forms of prayer which we were accustomed to use there. Neither do I propose to be confined to them any more, but to The New Birth. 99 pray indifferently, with a form or without, as I may find suit- able to particular occasions." Rigg has well observed how strikingly this illustrates the main principle of Wesley's ecclesiastical course, of using what- ever methods clearly promised to do the most good. He enters into no abstract controversy as to praying with or without forms. Probably his experiences in America, where he heard the Presbyterian minister pray, and yet more his intercourse with the Moravians, had helped to loosen the bonds of servile ecclesiasticism in this respect. He never condemned forms of prayer, which would have precluded not only the liturgy, but the Lord's Prayer and many hymns, but he found free prayer rich in blessing, and henceforth he held himself at liberty, according to occasion, to pray without forms. "The ritualist was already greatly changed. Already the manacles had dis- solved from the hands of devotion; soon the fetters would be broken which bound his feet from running in the evangelical way." On the following Easter Sunday morning, after thus com- mencing the use of extempore prayer in social worship, he preached "in our college chapel" of Lincoln, and closed the day with the entry, " I see the promise; but it is far off." Again Bohler came to his help by bringing together some friends to relate their experience in his hearing. As they testi- fied with clearness and fervor to the joy of faith, John Wesley and his companions were "as if thimderstruck. " An old Moravian hymn, "My soul before thee prostrate lies," was sung. John Wesley thus sums up the result of his conversations with Bohler, the testimony of the Moravians, and the singing of this old hymn: " I was now thoroughly convinced; and, by the grace of God, I resolved to seek it unto the end: (i) By absolutely renouncing all dependence, in whole or in part, upon loo John Wesley the Methodist. my own works or righteousness ; on which I had really grounded my hope of salvation, though I knew it not, from my youth up. (2) By adding to the constant use of all the other means of grace continual prayer for this very thing, justifying, saving faith, a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in him as my Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemption." Charles Wesley was the first of the Wesley brothers to receive the name of Methodist, and he was also the first to experience joy and peace through believing. "While John was entering this Bethesda pool Charles stepped in before him. One Mr. Bray, a brazier, of London, a poor ignorant mechanic, who knows nothing but Christ, yet by knowing him knows and discerns all things," finds him sick and spiritually perplexed, and invites him to lodge with him in Little Britain, that he may help him to spiritual health. Here the sick man foimd Luther's Commentary on Galatians, and was greatly edified by its views of the work of faith. He spent much time in reading, meditation, converse, and prayer, and on Whitsunday, in 1738, The New Birth. ioi he found peace. A poor woman, the brazier's sister, herself a recent convert, had been moved to address him with the words: "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities. " She spoke the words tremblingly, and fled. Bray reads, " Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered," and the hearer, laying hold on the atonement by simple faith, finds himself at peace with God. Opening his Bible, his eye falls on the words, "and now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in thee. He hath piit a new song in my mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our God; many shall see it and fear, and shall put their trust in the Lord." Thus Charles Wesley learned the new song of the great revival, and found his life- long inspiration. On the following Tuesday he began the hymn which links his conversion with that of his brother: Where shall niy wondering soul begin? How shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeemed from death and sin, A brand plucked from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, Or sing my great Deliverer's praise? On that Whitsunday which brought joy to Charles Wesley's soul his brother John attended the Church of vSt. Mary-le- Strand. He was still grieving because 'he had not the assur- ance of acceptance. "Let no one deceive us by vain words," he wrote to a friend, "as if we had already attained this faith. By its fruits we shall know. Do we already feel peace with God and joy in the Holy Ghost? Does his vSpirit bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God? Alas! with mine he does not. O, thou Saviour of men, save us from trusting in anything but thee ! Draw us after thee. Let us be emptied of ourselves, and then fill us with all peace and ^-pO-i^^A^^'p^C-^ John Wesley the Methodist. r. n joy in believing, and let nothing separate ns from thy love in time or eternity." His prayer was heard. On Wednesday, May 24, at five in the morning, he opened his Testament to these words: "There 0<77/t-.t,.€/t- "* in the Church of England, and he had profited by the fellow- ship meetings of the Moravians. In April, 1739, and a little later in London, he mentions fellowship meetings among the newly won converts. He took the names of the three women at Bristol who " agreed to meet together weekly," and also the ©"'-'^^ names of the four men who agreed to do the same. " If this ^^'^-^^'^^''^ (vvv-*"-^ work be not of God, let it come to naught. If it be, who can hinder it ? " He dates, however, the actual commencement of organized Wesleyan Methodism a few months later in the same memorable year of "First things." His account was first pub- lished in 1743 as preface to that most important of early Meth- odist documents. The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies, in London, Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle- tipon-Tyne : " In the latter part of the year 1739 eight or ten persons, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin and earnestly groaning 122" John Wesley the Methodist. for redemption, came to Mr. Wesley in London. They desired, as did two or three more the next day, that he would spend some time with them in prayer and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continually hanging- over their heads. • That he might have more time for this great work he appointed a day when they might all come together; which from thenceforward they did every week, namely, on Thursday, in the evening. To these and as many more as desired to join with them (for their number increased daily) he gave those advices from titne to time which he judged most needful for them; and they always concluded their meeting with prayer suited to their several necessities. This was the rise of the United Society, first in London, and then in other places." Wesley took down their names and places of abode in order to call upon them at their homes. He was moving in the same path as the apostles. " In the earliest times," says he, " those whom God had sent forth preached the Gospel to every crea- ture. And the body of hearers were mostly Jews or heathens. But as soon as any of these were so convinced of the truth as to forsake sin and seek the Gospel salvation they immediately joined them together, took an account of their names, advised them to w-atch over each other, and met these catechumens (as they w^ere then called) apart from the great congregation, that they might instruct, rebuke, exhort, and pray with them, and for them, according to their several necessities. " "Thus arose, without any previous design on either side, whatw^as afterward called a society; a very innocent name, and very common in London for any number of people associating themselves together." When this society at the Foundry was beg-un — the first soci- ety under the direct control of Wesley — the society in Fetter Lane was still attended by the Methodist converts, but they Society and Class. 123 seceded from it on account of internal dissensions on July 20, 1740. About seventy-two of the members adhered to them, joining the new society at the Foundry. Wesley describes the next step in the organization of Meth- odism with characteristic simphcity: "The people were scat- tered so wide, in all parts of the town from Wapping to West- minster, that I could not easily see what the behavior of each person in his own neighborhood was; so that several disorderly walkers did much hurt before I was apprised of it. At length, while we were thinking of quite another thing, we struck upon Late tlie 17. v. 5 Lord, iiicreafc ocir Faith. Jail I il55./!Pu^^, /^^Uo'^/^JP July 2 /^ 0^0. 1. n4^^^ A "Quarterly Ticket." a method for which we have cause to bless God ever since." This was the method of the class meeting, which was first adopted at Bristol in 1742. There still remained a large debt on the meetinghouse built in the Bristol " Horsefair " three years before, and Wesley called together the principal men for consultation. How should the debts be paid ? Captain Foy said, *' Let every member of the society give a penny a week till all are paid." Another answered, *' But many of them are poor, and cannot afford to do it." "Then," said Foy, "pvtt eleven of the poorest with me, and if they can give anything, well; I will call on them weekly, and 124 John Wesley the Methodist. if they can give nothing, I will give for them as well as for myself. And each of you call on eleven of youi neigh- bors weekly, receive what they give, and make up what is wanting." "It was done," says Wesley. "In a while, some of these informed me, they found such and such an one did not live as he ought. It struck me immediately, 'This is the thing; the very thing we have wanted so long. ' " The layman conceived the idea that solved the financial prob- lem, and that quickened in the preacher's mind the plan by which the spiritual welfare of every member might be secured. Wesley called together all the leaders of the classes — as they were now termed — and desired each to make particular inquiry into the behavior of those he visited. This was done, and " many disorderly walkers were detected." Some turned from the evil of their ways ; others were put out of the society. Thus was found a plan by which discipline might be maintained, the unworthy admionished or dismis.sed, and the consistent encouraged. On Thursday, April 25, Wesley called together in London several earnest and sensible men, told them of the difficulty of knowing the people who desired to be under his care, and after a long conversation they adopted the new plan of classes. " This was the origin of our classes at London," writes Wesley, " for which I can never sufficiently praise God; the unspeak- able usefulness of the institution having ever since been more and more manifest." It was soon found impracticable for the leader to visit each member at his own house, and so it was agreed that the mem- bers of each class should come together at some suitable place once a week. Wesley writes: "It can scarce be conceived what advantages have been reaped by this little prudential regulation. Many experienced that Christian fellowship of Society and Class. 125 which they had not so much as an idea before. They began to bear one another's burdens, and naturally to care for each other's welfare. And as they had , daily a more intimate acquaint- ance, so they had a more endeared affection for each other." After the division of the society into classes there came the institu- tion of weekly leaders' meetings. The leaders were untrained men, and the objection was raised that they had neither gifts nor graces for such a divine employment. Wes- ^yK...{Jt/J^/(^^t-^ such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus." A further evidence of sincerity was to be shown by " doing good of every possible sort, and as far as is possible, to all men." The third evidence of desire for salvation was by "attending on all the ordinances of God," such as public wor- ship, the ministry of the word, the Lord's Supper, family and private prayer, searching the Scriptures, and fasting or absti- nence. Thus in well-built sections was laid the broad platform of Methodism. The quarterly visitation of the classes by Wesley and his ^fp^n^ (g'jf preachers and the use of a ticket of membership, appear to have begun in 1742. Soon a voluntary subdivision of the class, called the "band," was instituted. There were bands for married men, mar- ried women, single men, and single women. The love feast, the agape of the early Christians, was revived by Wesley, and celebrated quar- terly. At first band mem- bers, and, later, all members of society holding class tick- ets, were admitted. "A little plain cake and water" were par- taken of as a sign of fellowship, and the service consisted of a joyous testimony of Christian experience. Another institution pecuHar to Methodism was the watch night. The colliers at Kingswood had heretofore given many a night, and especially the last night of the year, to drunken revels and song. When they became Christians their social customs underwent a transformation, and they met as often as yiP-n^^^, jkP-^^/C^ A Quarterly Ticket, 1765. Society and Class. 127 March 17S9. ^ 3» 5» If we deny him, he will deny us. aTim il. i2. B possible, and spent the greater part of the night in prayer and praise. Objectors arose, and Wesley was urged to stop the meetings. He remembered that the early Christians spent whole nights in prayer, giving to them the name vigilicz, and he saw in them an agency for good. vSohe sent the members word that on Friday night nearest full moon (that there might be light) he would watch with them and preach. He began the meeting between eight and nine, and continued it until after twelve, " a little beyond the noon of night," as Wesley remarked. The first meet- ing at the end of the year was held at Kingswood, on Wednesday, De- cember 31, 1740. The first watch night in London was held on Friday, April 9, 1742. The custom ex- tended to other places. The meetings in time ceased to be monthly, and were held quarterly, but in recent years they have been confined to New Year's Eve. CharlesWesley wrote some tri- umphant hymns for use on these occasions, including the song in which every English watch-night service concludes to-day, "Come, let us anew our journey pursue." Another service of which Wesley made much was one ' ' for renewing the covenant. " Very soon Wesley was driven, ' ' sorely against his own will, " _ says Dr. Rigg, to make a distinct separation of his societies in^M'^Y^*''^^ wiM^, London and Bristol from the Church of England. The clergy not only excluded the Wesleys from their pulpits, but in 1740 repelled them and their converts from the Lord's table. At Bristol especially, in that year, this was done with much harsh- ness. The brothers, therefore, administered the sacrament in their own preaching rooms. The practice having been estab- A Quarterly Ticket, 1789. 128 John Wesley the Methodist. lished at Bristol, the London society at the Foundry claimed the same privilege. Thus full provision was made for the spiritual wants of the societies quite apart from the services of the Church of England, although for many years many of the Methodist members attended the communion service of the Anglican Church. Susanna Wesley was providentially at hand to counsel and encourage her son when he was laying the foundation of organ- ized Methodism. She stood by his side when he preached at Kennington Common to twenty thousand people. She was present when the question of separation from the Fetter Lane society was discussed, and approved of the withdrawal of the members to the Foundry. About this time she was brought into fuller sympathy than ever with her son's views of the pos- sibility of conscious forgiveness. John Wesley records a con- versation in which she said that until recently she never dared ask this blessing for herself. "But two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing these words in delivering the cup to me, ' the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee,' the words struck through my heart, and I knew God for Christ's sake had forgiven me all my sins." " I asked her," says Wesley, "whether her father (Dr. Annesley) had not the same faith, and whether she had not heard him preach it to others. She answered: ' He had it himself, and declared a little before his death that for more than forty years he had no darkness, no fear, no doubt at all of his being accepted in the Beloved. ' But that, nevertheless, she did not remember to have heard him preach, no, not once, especially upon it; whence she supposed he looked upon it as the peculiar blessing of a few; not as promised to all the people of God." At the Foundry Mrs. Wesley enjoyed the society of her sons and several of her daughters, and attended all the meetings of the infant Methodist Church. Society and Class. 129 But Samuel Wesley, at Tiverton, was greatl}^ distressed by the doctrinal and the ecclesiastical irregularities of his younger brothers. He declared in a letter to his mother shortly before his death, November 6, 1739, that he would "much rather have them picking straws within the walls than preaching in The Rev. Samuel Wesley, Jr. The print was published after his death ; the legend is, "late master of the grammar school at Tiverton, elder brother of the Rev. John Wesley." the area of Moorfields " — alluding to the lunatic asylum. " It was with exceeding concern and grief I heard you had counte- nanced a spreading delusion so far as to be one of Jack's con- gregation. Is it not enough that I am bereft of both my brothers, but must my mother follow too? I earnestly beseech the Almighty to preserve you from joining a schism at the close of your life, as you were unfortunately engaged in one at the 9 130 John Wesley the Methodist. beg-inning of it. . . . As I told Jack, I am not afraid the Church should excommunicate him, discipline is at too low an ebb, but that he should excommunicate the Church. . . . He only who ruleth the madness of the people can stop them from being a formed sect in a very little time." This letter faithfully pre- sents the views of many a clergyman of the time. Although some Anglican and Methodist writers have stated that Wesley did nothing that was inconsistent with the laws of the Established Church, it must be granted that his "irregu- larities" were calculated to alarm the "orderly " prelates of his day. When he organized his societies, built and registered meetinghouses for worship, and, later, ordained ministers not only to preach, but to administer the sacraments, he practically separated from the State Church in the eyes of orderly clergy. His brother Samuel, as we have seen, very early called his action "schismatic. " A recent Methodist newspaper observes that there could be no more curious illustration of the way in which our wishes can destroy our logic than the fact that Wes- ley persuaded himself to the end that he had not separated from the Church of England. Abel vStevens, breathing the free air of the New World, has said that English writers have deemed it desirable, and have not found it a difificult task, to defend Wesley against imputations of disregard for the author- ity and "order" of the State Church, " but it may hereafter be more difficult to defend him before the rest of the Christian world for having been so deferential to a hierarchy whose moral condition at the time he so much denounced, and whose studied policy throughout the rest of his life was to disown if not to defeat him. " Within five weeks of John Wesley's return from Germany he and his brother Charles were summoned before the Bishop of London, Dr. Edmund Gibson, and questioned with great strictness. When the Wesley brothers appeared before him, charged with Society and Class. 131 preaching an absolute assurance of salvation, he heard them fairly, and said: " If by assurance you mean an inward persua- sion whereby a man is conscious in himself, after examining- his life by the law of God and weighing his own sincerity, that he is in a state of salvation, and acceptable to God, I don't see how any good Christian can be without such an assurance. " To the charge of preaching justification by faith only, the Wesleys replied: "Can anyone preach otherwise who agrees to our Church and the Scriptures ? " John Wesley inquired if his read- ing in a religious society made it a conventicle. The bishop warily replied: " No, I think not. However, you can read the acts and laws as well as I. I determine nothing " But in 1739 the bishop issued a pastoral letter in which he charges the Metho- dists with " enthusiasm," or " a strong persuasion in their mind that they are guided in an extraordinary manner by immediate impulses and impressions of the vSpirit of God." They were guilty of " boasting of sudden and surprising effects, wrought by the Holy Ghost, in consequence of their preaching." He supported the churchwardens of Islington against their vicar and excluded Charles Wesley from the pulpit. We find John Wesley again facing the bishop in 1740. What did he mean by perfection ? was the question. When Wesley had replied the bishop said, " Mr. Wesley, if this be all you mean, publish it to the world." And Wesley gladly obeyed by publishing his sermon on Christian Perfection. But a little later the rise of the societies and the field-preaching, with its sensational accompaniments, again alarmed the bishop. He wrote a pamphlet against this ' ' sect, " in which he charged them with "having had the boldness to preach in the fields and other open places, and inviting the rabble to be their hearers," in defiance of a statute of Charles II. Wesley replied in his Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion. He declares that the clergy, who will not suffer him to preach in the 132 John Wesley the Methodist. churches, are accountable for his preaching in the fields. Be- sides, " one plain reason why these sinners are never reclaimed is this, they never come into a church. Will you say, as some tender-hearted Christians I have heard, ' Then it is their own fault; let them die and be damned ! ' I grant it may be their own fault, but the Saviour of souls came after us, and so we ought to seek to save that which is lost. " The able and sincere Bishop Gibson could not shake himself free from the prejudices and Church " order " which stood in the way of the salvation of the despised " rabble," and in another of his pastorals he classes the Methodists with "deists, papists, and other disturbers of the kingdom of God." Bishop Butler, author of the great Analogy, summoned Wesley, and after a conversation on justification by faith, for which the Methodist claimed the support of the Anglican Hom- ilies, said: "You have no business here; you are not commissioned to preach in this diocese. Therefore I advise you to go hence." " My Lord, my business on earth is to do what good I can," replied Wesley. "Wherever, therefore, I think I can do most good, there must I stay so long as I think so. At present I think I can do most good here ; therefore here I stay. .... Being ordained a priest, by the commission I then JMy/) (I^^AJ^/ received I am a priest of the Church universal; and being 'J^JJh ordained as fellow of a college, I was not limited to any partic- ular cure, but have an indeterminate commission to preach the word of God in any part of the Church of England. I do not, therefore, conceive that in preaching here by this commission I break any human law. When I am convinced I do then it will be time to ask, ' Shall I obey God or man ? ' But if I should be convinced in the meanwhile that I could advance the glory of God and the salvation of souls in any other place more ^K Society and Class. 135 than in Bristol, in that hour, by God's help, I will go hence; which till then I may not do." Wesley took his own time and did not leave Bristol until per- suaded that it was his duty to labor elsewhere. There was a deluge of pamphlets and articles against the Methodists, in which Wesley was branded as "a restless deceiver of the people," " a newfangled teacher setting up his own fanatical conceits in opposition to the authority of God," " a Jesuit in disguise," and, worst of all, "a Dissenter." The Methodists were denounced as "young quacks in divinity," " buffoons in religion," "bold movers of sedition, and ring- leaders of the rabble." The magazines and newspapers con- ducted a hot crusade against them, "stirring up the people," writes Wesley, " to knock these mad dogs on the head at once; " and we shall find that mob violence soon followed these appeals of the press and censures of the prelates. In answer to a clergyman who forbade his preaching in his ^ parish, Wesley gave utterance to the famous saying which appears on the Wesley tablet in Westminster Abbey. He wrote : "God in Scripture commands me, according to my power, to instruct the ignorant, reform the wicked, confirm the virtuous. Man forbids me to do this in another's parish; that is, in effect, not to do it at all, seeing I have now no parish of my own, nor probably ever shall. Whom, then, shall I hear, God or man ? j . . . I look upon all the 7uor Id as my parish; thus far I mean' that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear\ the glad tidings of salvation. This is the work which I know \ God has called me to, and sure I am that his blessing attends it. " In 1742 John Wesley began to occupy a larger portion of his boundless parish. During the year he spent about twenty-four weeks in London, fourteen in Bristol and its neighborhood, one in Wales, and 136 John Wesley the INIeihodist. thirteen in making two tours to Newcastle-on-Tyne, the metrop- ohs of the busy North. His own account of his Newcastle visit is graphic. He had never seen and heard before in so short a time so much drunk- enness, cursing, and swearing — even from the mouths of little children. He writes: At seven I walked down to Sandgate, the poorest and most contemptible part of the town, and, standing at the end of the street with John Taylor, began to sing the looth psalm. Three or four people came out to see what was the matter, who soon increased to four or live hundred. I suppose there might be twelve or fifteen hundred before I had done preaching, to whom I applied those solemn words, " He was wounded for our transgres- sions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and by his stripes we are healed." Observing the people, when I had done, to stand gaping and staring upon me with the most profound astonishment, I told them: " If you desire to know who I am, my name is John Wesley. At five in the evening, with God's help, I design to preach here again." At five the hill on which I designed to preach was covered from the tojD to the bottom. I never saw so large a number of people together, either in Moorfields or at Kennington Common. I knew it was not possible for the .one half to hear, although my voice was then strong and clear ; and I stood so as to have them all in view, as they were ranged on the side of the hill. The word of God which I set before them was, " I will heal their back- sliding, I will love them freely." After preaching the poor people were ready to tread me under foot, out of pure love and kindness. It was some time before I could possibly get out of the press. I then went back another way than I came ; but several were got to our inn before me, by whom I was vehemently importuned to stay with them, at least a few days, or, however, one day more. But I could not consent, having given my word to be at Birstall, with God's leave, on Tuesday night. Four months before his mother's death Wesley revisited his birthplace, Epworth. The curate was now Mr. Romley, who had been schoolmaster at Wroote, had been assisted by Wesley's father in preparing for Oxford, and had been his amanuensis and curate. On Sunday morning Wesley offered to assist Mr. Romley either by preaching or reading the prayers, but the curate would have none of his help. In the afternoon Wesley took his seat in the church, which was crowded in consequence Society and Class. 137 of a rumor that he would preach. Romley preached a florid and rhetorical sermon against "enthusiasm " with evident ref- erence to Methodism. But the people were not to be disappointed. As they came out John Taylor announced that Mr. Wesley, not being per- mitted to preach in the church, would preach in the churchyard at six o'clock. At that hour he stood on his father's tombstone and preached to the largest congregation ever seen in Epworth. " The scene was unique and inspiriting — a living son preaching on a dead father's grave because the parish priest would not allow him to ofificiate in a dead father's church." "I am well assured," writes Wesley, "that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit." He could not resist the appeal to remain a few days longer, and on eight evenings he preached from the tomb-pulpit. In the daytime he visited the surrounding villages. He waited on a justice of the peace, and writes of him as " a man of can- dor and understanding; before whom (I was informed) their angry neighbors had carried a whole wagonload of these here- tics. But when he asked what they had done, there was a deep silence; for that was a point their conductors had forgot. At length one said, ' Why, they pretended to be better than other people; and, besides, they prayed from morning to "'^^ night.' Mr. S. asked, ' But have they done nothing besides.^' ^7-^/%^^. 'Yes, sir,' said an old man; ' an't please your worship, they have convartcd my wife. Till she went among them she had such a tongue! And now she is as quiet as a lamb.' 'Carry them back, carry them back ! ' replied the justice, ' and let them convert all the scolds in the town.' " The churchyard services were attended with amazing power. On the Saturday evening Wesley's voice was drowned by the cries of penitents, and many then and there found rest for 138 John Wesley the MethodisTo their souls. His last service at Epworth lasted three hours, and "yet," says Wesley, "we scarce knew how to part. O Methodism in Wesley's County, A. D. 1903. The heavy black dots represent the location of Wesleyan chapels in Lincolnshire at the present day. let none think his labor of love is lost because the fruit does not immediately appear! Near forty years did my father labor here; but he saw little fruit of all his labor. I took some pains Society and Class. 139 among this people, too, and my strength almost seemed spent in vain ; but now the fruit appeared. There were scarce any in the town on whom either my father or I had taken any pains formerly, but the seed sown long since now sprung up, bring- ing forth repentance and remission of sins." The next year Wesley again visited Epworth, and, it being a place under heaven where this should befall me first as my father's house, the place of my nativity, and the very place where, "according to the straitest sect of our religion," I had so long "lived a Pharisee." It was also fit, in the highest degree, that he who repelled me from that very table where I had myself so often distributed the bread of life should be one who owed his all in this world to the tender love which my father had shown to his as well as personally to himself. Methodism in Lincolnshire owes its organized churches to the service of Wesley in his father's churchyard. During the forty-eight years that followed Wesley made many visits to his native county, preaching in nearly all its towns and many of its villages. In 1761 he writes, "I find the work of God increases on every side, but particularly in Lincolnshire, where there has been no work like this since the time I preached on my father's tomb." His last visit to Epworth was paid just eight months before his death, when he preached in the mar- ket place to a large crowd on "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? " At the centenary of his death, in 1 89 1, the Wesleyan Methodist societies of his native county reported a membership of twenty thousand, or one twentieth of the entire membership of the societies in England and Wales; and this in a county the entire population of which is considerably under half a million. Susanna Wesley, "the mother of the Wesleys " and the "mother of Methodism," lived to see England awakening at the call of her devoted sons, and in the metropolis, the west. 140 John Wesley the Methodist. and the North of Eng- land she heard of mul- titudes quickened by the new life and en- rolled in the new fel- lowship. The records of her closing days are brief. In the last letter she is known to have written she is rejoicing in the clear assurance which came to her so late in life: "He did by his Spirit apply the merits of the great atonement to my soul, by telling me that Christ died for me. . If I do want anything without which I cannot be saved (of which I am not at present sensible), then I believe I shall not die before that want is supplied. " Grave of Susanna Wesley, Bunhill Fields, London. Society and Class. 141 Her son John was at Bristol when he heard that she was failing fast, and after preaching to a large congregation on Sunday evening, July 18, 1742, he rode off hurriedly to Lon- don. He reached the Foundry on the 20th, and wrote in his Journal, " I found my mother on the borders of eternity; but she has no doubt or fear, nor any desire but, as soon as God should call her, to depart and be with Christ. " Fifteen years before, she had told John that she did not wish her children to weep at her parting from them, but if they "were likely to reap any spiritual advantage " by being present at her depar- ture, she would be glad to have them with her. Charles was absent from London, but her five daughters were present, as well as John. On the following Friday they saw that her end was near. John read the solemn commendatory prayer, as he had done seven years before for his father. It was four o'clock when he left her side for a moment to " drink a dish of tea," being , faint and weary with watching and emotion. "One called 7 ^'^''^^^ ^ me again to her bedside," he says. "She opened her eyes'p^ '-^'^-^''^''""^^^ wide and fixed them upward for a moment. Then the Hds ' ' ' f ' dropped and the soul was set at liberty without one struggle or groan or sigh. We stood around the bed and fulfilled her last request, uttered a little before she lost her speech, ' Chil- dren, as soon as I am released sing a psalm of praise to God! She was buried in "the great Puritan necropoHs," Bunhill Fields. A witness records: "At the grave there was much grief when Mr. Wesley said, ' I commit the body of my mother to the earth! ' " Then a hymn was sung, and standing by the open grave Wesley preached to a vast congregation which he describes as " one of the most solemn assemblies I ever saw, or expect to see on this side eternity." His sub- ject was "the great white throne" of the Book of the Revelation. 142 John Wesley the Methodist. CHAPTER X. Lay Helpers. Wesley's "Irregularities." — "Soul-saving Laymen." — Cennick, Hum- phreys, Maxfield. — " He is as Surely Called of God to Preach as You Are." — John Nelson, of Birstall. — The Extraordinary Call of Women. — Mary Bosanquet and others. m: 'ESLEY had already become a radical anti-High Church- man. Four departures from conventional church "order "evidence this. He had organized a system of religious societies altogether independent of the parochial clergy and of episcopal control, and the "rules" of his socie- ties contained no requirement of allegiance to the State Church. This was a distinct step toward a separate communion. A year later he had built meetinghouses, licensed and settled on trus- tees for his own use. The next year he began, with his broth- er, to administer the sacraments in these houses. Now he took another step in the same direction by calling out lay preachers, wholly devoted to the work of preaching and visitation. When this last step was challenged he met it in a style which showed how resolutely he was " casting off the graveclothes " of sacer- dotalism. "I do assure you this at present is my embai"rass- ment. That I have not gone too far yet I know, but whether I have gone far enough I am extremely doubtful. . . . Soul- damning clergymen lay me under more difficulties than soul- saving laymen." The step cost him a severe struggle. " To touch this point," he says, "was to touch the apple of mine eye." But in his First Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion he triumphantly Lay Helpers. 143 justifies lay preaching by vScripture, Chtircli history, and Chris- tian common sense. "God immediately gave a blessing thereto. In several places, by means of these plain men, not only those who had begun to run well were hindered from drawing back unto perdition, but other sinners also, from time to time, were converted from the error of their ways. ... I know no Scripture which forbids making use of such help in a case of such necessity. And I praise God who has given even this help to these poor sheep when their own shepherd pitied them not." The " plain men " who head the host of Wesley's lay preach- ers are John Cennick, Joseph Humphreys, Thomas Maxfield, and John Nelson. John Cennick was the grandson of persecuted Quakers. He had turned from a reckless youth to deep seriousness and so to a joyous Christian experience. He made the acquaintance of the Methodist leaders, and was engaged to teach the Kingswood school. Here, with Wesley's approval, he began "expound- ing " the word to the assembled colliers. Later he left the Methodists and joined the Moravians, doing nobly the work of an evangelist amid mobs and sore abuse. He died in 1755, if it be well to speak of him as dead who wrote those living hymns, " Children of the heavenly King " and " Thou dear Redeemer, dying Lamb." Joseph Humphreys, who began to assist Wesley at the Foun- dry in 1740, had been trained for the ministry in a Dissenters' school. Having been awakened by hearing the Methodist preachers, he began to read sermons, then to exhort briefly, and finally to preach, in spite of jeers and maltreatment. After his work with Wesley he joined Whitefield's following, later the Presbyterians, and died a regularly ordained clergyman. Thomas Maxfield was one of the first converts at Bristol. He went up to London with Charles Wesley, and was helpful 144 John Wesley the Methodist. as a personal worker at the Foundry meetings. By the usual stages he went on from exhortation to preaching in John Wes- ley's absence. Wesley at first considered this preaching of sermons, as dis- tinguished from the informal exhortations of a leader, an irregularity, and hastened back to London to check it. He arrived with an anxious look upon his face. His mother in- quired the reason of his concern and displeasure. "Thomas Maxfield has turned preacher, " was his abrupt reply. " John," said Mrs. Wesley, " you know what my sentiments \ S^^,^^j,,yi^JlfJlj^ I have been. You cannot suspect me of favoring readily any- / thing of this kind. But take care what you do with respect to that young man ; for he is as surely called of God to preach as i you are. Examine what have been the points of his preaching, and hear him yourself." Wesley heard Maxfield preach, and was satisfied. " It is the Lord!" he exclaimed; "let him do what seemeth him good. What am I that I should withstand God ? " His last scruples about employing unordained preachers yielded to his mother's argument, and the woman apostle of the old rectory kitchen, who had alarmed her good husband by the "irregularity" of her fireside services, gave an impetus to the work of the lay preachers which is felt to-day over the whole earth. The way was now prepared for the extension of Methodism throughout the country, and for the growth of the " circuit " system. But Wesley's enlistment of laymen roused afresh the fears of the English prelates. When Robinson, the Archbishop of Armagh, met Charles Wesley at the Hot-wells, Bristol, he said : " I knew your brother well; I could never credit all I heard respecting him and you ; but one thing in your conduct I could never account for — your employing laymen." Lay Helpers. 145 "My Lord," said Charles, "the fault is yours and your brethren." " How so ? " asked the primate. " Because you hold your peace, and the stones cry out." "But I am told," said the archbishop, "that they are unlearned men." "Some are," said the sprightly poet; "so the dumb ass rebukes the prophet." John Wesley's defense of these " unlettered " men was, per- haps, more to the point. He wrote: "I am bold to affirm that these unlettered men have help from God for that great work — the saving of souls from death. . . . Indeed, in the one thing which they profess to know, they are not ignorant men. I trust there is not one of them who is not able to go through such an examination in substantial, practical, experimental divinity as few of our candidates for holy orders, even in the university, are able to do." John Nelson, the prince of lay preachers, was a giant York- shire stonecutter, whose great body held a soul tormented by uncertainty. " Surely God never made man to be such a riddle to himself, and to leave him so," he wrote, in the era of his spiritual conflicts. ' ' I was like a wandering bird cast out of the nest till Mr. John Wesley came to preach his first sermon in Moorfields. O that was a blessed morning to my soul! As soon as he got upon the stand he stroked back his hair and turned his face toward where I stood, and, I thought, fixed his eyes upon me. His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me, before I heard him speak, that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock, and when he did speak I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me. When he had done I said, ' This man can tell the secrets of my heart ; he hath not left me there, for he hath shown the remedy, even the blood of Jesus. ' " 10 146 John Wesley the Methodist. Conversion made John Nelson a new creature. His Birstall neighbors were curious to know the cause of the change, and from telling them he was soon preaching to them. " If it be my Master's will, I am ready to go to hell," said he, "and preach to the devils." He could hardly have fared worse had John Nelson he been taken at his word. The parish clergy were enraged to see a stone mason assuming to teach people the way to heaven. They used every means foul and fair to silence him and dis- perse his meetings. Wesley saw the greatness of the man and called him to London. Together they traversed Cornwall, preaching and enduring opposition and privation. He was cast into prison, impressed as a soldier, but after three months Lay Helpers. 147 was released. He continued to preach in the market places, submitting to all indignities rather than defend himself by his strength. Once he was felled by a brute who had sworn to kill him. His assailant leaped upon him several times, till he was breathless, and the renewed bleeding from his morning wounds left him unconscious. The bully then seized one of the Methodists who was near and flung him against a wall, breaking two of his ribs. He then went to the gentleman who ^'"W'te'M 'M. John Nelson's Birthplace ' At Birstall, Yorkshire. had hired him and boasted, "I have killed the preacher; he lies dead in the croft. " As Nelson lay bleeding on the ground " the parson's broth- er " and about twenty others came to see if he were really dead. They cursed him soundly, dragged him into the street as con- sciousness returned, and one after another struck him till he was down again. Eight times he struggled to his knees, and eight times they knocked him down. Then taking him by his long hair, they dragged him over the stones, kicking him fiercely. Six of them got on his body and thighs, " to tread 148 John Wesley the Methodist. the Holy vSpirit out of him," they said. One exclaimed, "I have heard that a cat has nine lives ; bnt I think he has nine- score. " Another said, "If he has, he shall die this day.'" The "gentlemen" then dragged him to the village well and attempted to put him in, but a woman intervened and resisted them, and at last some "gentlewomen from the city called the gentlemen by their names," who looked as men confounded at being discovered in this dastardly work. Some friends helped him into a house, and the next day he met Wesley and "found his word come with power " to his soul, and was constrained to cry out : " O Lord, I will praise thee. . . . Thou hast brought me out of the jaws of death." It was with men of such mettle to carry the proclamation that John Wesley organized his itinerant ministry. We have seen that Susanna Wesley became a lay preacher in the rectory of Epworth and saw the fruit of her labor. Her meetings formed part of that providential training which made her not only the mother of the Wesleys, but also the "mother of Methodism." We cannot wonder that John Wesley, en- riched by the influence of his gifted mother and sisters, should have recognized the freedom and power of woman in the work of extending and deepening the Evangelical Revival and its philanthropic ministry. Mary Bosanquet, who became the wife of Fletcher of Made- ley, is the most eminent of the daughters of Methodism who received what Wesley called the "extraordinary call" to ad- dress mixed public congregations. She was the daughter of wealthy worldly folk, and it was from a Methodist maidservant that Mary first heard of the peace that comes with believing. Before she was twenty her father drove her from home because she would not promise to refrain from trying to convert her brothers. With her own means she opened an orphanage. She and Mrs. Sarah Crosby, one of her helpers, began to ad- Lay Helpers. 149 dress the members of society. Many were present, and the two women were in effect preaching before they knew it. In 177 1 Mrs. Crosby wrote a letter to Wesley to ask his advice and direction for Miss Bosanquet on the same point. Mrs. John Fletcher (Mary Bosanquet). One of the women who were " called to preach." With the sound judgment and calm, good sense which distin- guished her she argues that from the Scriptures it is clear that occasionally women had an extraordinary call to preach. For (J^jj^j-^ Wj^^J(^ herself she concludes, " If I did not believe I had an extraor- dinary call, I would not act in an extraordinary manner." Wesley's reply expresses his mature and final opinion: 150 John Wesley the Methodist. " My Dear Sister: I think the strength of the cause rests there; on your having an extraordinary call. So I am per- suaded has every one of our lay preachers; otherwise I could not countenance his preaching at all. It is plain to me that the whole work of God termed Methodism is an extraordinary dis- pensation of his providence. Therefore I do not wonder if several things occur therein which do not fall under ordinary rules of discipline. St. Paul's ordinary rule was, ' I permit not a woman to speak in the congregation.' Yet in extra- ordinary cases he made a few exceptions; at Corinth, in particular. " I am, my dear sister, your affectionate brother, 'John Wesley." Mrs. Crosby traveled widely through Yorkshire after this letter, and her labors w^ere owned of God. Mary Bosanquet was asked by many, "If you are called to preach, why do you not do it constantly, and take a round as a preacher?" She answered, "Because that is not my call. I have many duties to attend to, and many cares which they know nothing about. I must therefore leave myself to his guidance who hath the sole right of disposing of me. " Again, she tells us, they asked, "Why do you not give out, * I am to preach?' Why call it meeting ? " She answered, "Because that suits my design best. First, it is less ostentatious. Secondly, it leaves me at liberty to speak more or less, as I feel myself led. Thirdly, it gives less offense to those who watch for it." Thus she uses her gifts with discretion, as tenderly sensitive to inward impressions, which she believed were wrought by the Holy Spirit, as the saintly Quaker women like Elizabeth Fry and Mary Capper. For thirteen years she toiled at Cross Hall, sometimes in great financial straits, sometimes slandered, but comforted by her friendships, and ever praying, " Only make Lay Helpers. 151 me what thou wouldst have me to be, and then lead me as thou wilt." We have seen that Wesley reeognized the "extraordinary call " of Sarah Crosby and Mrs. Fletcher as preachers. Later we find him giving even more decided encouragement to Miss Mallet (afterward Mrs. Boyce), whom he met at Long Stratton, in Norfolk, and of whose remarkable experience he gives an '^, [i ifi i ^ **■**lu«.^s;^^^^^*5^ Cross Hall. The Home of Mary Bosanquet Fletcher. account in his Journal. He became to her, as she well says, "a father and a faithful friend." Her own Journal is so sug- gestive and terse that it must tell its own story: "When I first traveled I followed Mr. Wesley's counsel, which was to let the voice of the people be to me the voice of God, and where I was sent for, to go, for the Lord had called me thither. To this counsel I have attended unto this day. But the voice of the people was not the voice of some preachers. Mr. Wesley soon made this easy by sending me a note from the Conference 152 John Wesley the Methodist. by Mr. Joseph Harper, which was as follows: 'We give the right hand of fellowship to Sarah Mallet, and have no ob- jection to her being a preacher in our connection so long as she preaches the Methodist doctrine and attends to our discipline.' This was the order of Mr. Wesley and the Conference of 1787. From that day I have been little opposed by preachers." Another of the prophesying daughters of Methodism was Mrs. Ann Gilbert, who consulted John Wesley, about 177 1, as to her public work. He took her by the hand, saying only, " vSister, do all the good you can." One minister, who heard her preach in Redruth Chapel to fourteen hundred people, said that she had a torrent of softening eloquence which occasioned a general weeping through the whole congregation ; and, what was more astonishing, she was blind, and had been so for many years. The Rev. W. Warrener, the first missionary to the West Indies, was converted under the preaching of another good woman. Miss Hurrell; and Mrs. Holder, Mrs. E. Collett, Mrs. De Putron, and Mrs. Sarah Stevens, all of them ministers' wives, were preachers. Two Sorts of Methodists, 153 CHAPTER XL Two Sorts of Methodists. Whitefield's Calvinism. — Arminians. — "The Queen of the Methodists. Trevecca College. — Lady Huntingdon's Connection. — Time Heals the Wounds. — Whitefield's Candle Burns to the Socket. at HILE John Wesley was organizing societies and building preaching houses in England, George White- field was ranging through the American colonies kindling the old churches into new zeal by his flaming elo- quence. He returned to England in March, 1741, prepared to take issue with his former leader on the doctrine of election. His intercourse with the New England Calvinists had made him a militant opponent of the doctrine of universal redemption as taught by the Wesleys. Some of the new societies had already split upon this rock, even John Cennick, the schoolmaster at Kingswood, having seceded and urged Whitefield to return from America in order to defend the doctrine. To Wesley's intensely practical mind the main reason for opposing the Calvinistic theories was what he considered to be their tendency to antinomianism. To check the progress of what he felt to be dangerous error, he preached and published his famous sermon on Free Grace — the third sermon that he had published. On reading this sermon and Charles Wesley's appended hymn, Whitefield attacked it in a pamphlet " Letter to John Wesley," which was disfigured by the personalities and bad logic of the overmatched debater. About six weeks before his arrival in England some one obtained a copy of an abusive private letter he had sent to 154 John Wesley the Methodist. Wesley in 1740 and circulated it at the doors of the Foundry. Wesley heard of this, and having procured a copy, tore it in pieces before the assembled congregation, declaring that he believed Whitefield would have done the same. In two min- utes the whole congregation had followed his example, and all the copies were torn to tatters. When Whitefield reached England, in March, 1741, and preached at Kennington Common, he was greatly distressed to find that his letters to Wesley had alienated many of his friends. He did not refrain, however, from preaching against the Wes- leys, by name, at Moorfields. His old friends, nevertheless, invited him to preach at the Foundry, but with Charles Wesley by his side he there proclaimed the Absolute Decrees in the most offensive manner, and it was evident, as Wesley says, that "there were now two sorts of Methodists — those for particular and those for general redemption. " It is not necessary to enter into all the details of the painful but important controversy. It is far pleasanter to record that in course of time the personal breach between the evangelists was entirely healed, although both held fast their own opinions, and the living stream of Methodism was divided into two cur- rents. " One branch," says Bishop McTyeire, " after refresh- ing and enriching a dry and thirsty land, is absorbed and lost ; the other, with well-defined and widening banks and deepening current, flows on." Howell Harris, the warm-hearted Welsh Calvinist, and Lady Huntingdon found Wesley ready to forgive Whitefield's impet- uous personal abuse, and one of the noblest characteristics of Whitefield was revealed in his willingness to confess his faults. He wrote to Wesley in October, 1741: "May God remove all obstacles that now prevent our union; may all disputings cease, and each of us talk of nothing but Jesus and him crucified. This is my resolution. I am without dissimulation. I find I The Rev. George Whitefield, A.M. Chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon. Two Sorts of Methodists. 157 love you as much as ever, and pray God, if it be his blessed will, that we may all be united together. " Later Wesley's pardon was asked for the unnecessary and offensive taunts of the widely circulated letter. In a pamphlet of some years later Whitefield made the following frank con- fession: "It was wrong in me to publish a private transaction to the world, and very ill-judged to think the glory of God could be promoted by unnecessarily exposing my friend. For this I have asked both God and him pardon years ago, and though I believe both have forgiven me, yet I believe I shall never be able to forgive myself; my mistakes have been too many and my blunders too frequent to make me set up for infal- libility. But many and frequent as my mistakes have been or may be, as I have no part to act — if I know anything of my heart — but to promote God's glory and the good of souls, as soon as I am made aware of them they shall be publicly acknowl- edged and retracted." Whitefield soon regained his popularity. Evangelical Calvin- ists, mostly Dissenters, rallied round him and built his first tabernacle in Moorfields not far from the Foundry. It was only a large, rough wooden shed, but for twelve years it was Whitefield's metropolitan cathedral and was the scene of great spiritual victories. A few months later Whitefield sent Cennick a contribution of ^20, from a lady, toward a chapel at Kingswood, which still stands. Like Wesley, he began to employ lay evangelists. Howell Harris was soon preaching in the Moorfields tabernacle. The Wesleyan Methodists now became distinguished from the followers of Whitefield as Arminians. The Arminian or, rather, Remonstrant, Confession arose in Holland about the beginning of the seventeenth century as a protest against Cal- vinism. The principle of the Arminian type of doctrine was the universality of the benefit of the atonement and the restored 158 John Wesley the Methodist. freedom of the human will. The Wesleyan Methodists, how- ever, rejected the teaching of the immediate successors of Arminius, who were tinged with Socinianism and rationalism, and Wesleyans, as Pope says, were Arminians as opposed to Calvinists, but in no other sense. The pillar and prop of Whitefield and his Calvinistic follow- ers was Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, one of the most notable figures in Methodist history, the woman who won from her fashionable friend, Horace Walpole, the half-ironical title, " Queen of the Methodists." This peeress, the daughter of the Earl of Ferrars, was four years younger than John Wesley. Being naturally of a serious mind, her impressions were deep- ened by the experience of her sister. Lady Margaret Hastings, who had been converted by Ingham, the Oxford Methodist. She, too, experienced the joy of full acceptance in Christ, became a hearer of Whitefield and an attendant at the Foundry. Although she sided with Whitefield in the Calvinistic contro- versy, she was largely instrumental in bringing about the recon- ciliation of the leaders, and became a devoted friend of Mrs. Charles Wesley. It required much more courage to face the prejudices and ridicule of her class, but it is to the credit of the nobility that they learned to respect Lady Huntingdon's character and motives, though only a few followed her example. She suc- ceeded in persuading the most distinguished men and women of her day to meet in her drawing-room at Chelsea, or her chapel at Bath, or in Whitefield's Tabernacle itself, to hear her favorite preachers. The lists of illustrious persons given by her biographers make some pages look like a court directory. There is evidence that even in the corrupt court of the second George it was felt that Lady Huntingdon had chosen the better part. One day at court, we are told, the Prince of Wales inquired where Lady Huntingdon was, that she so seldom Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Called "The Queen of the Methodists." Two Sorts of Methodists. i6i visited the circle now. Lady Charlotte Edwin replied with a sneer, "I suppose praying with her beggars." The prince shook his head and said, " Lady Charlotte, when I am dying I think I shall be happy to seize the skirt of Lady Huntingdon's mantle to lift me up with her to heaven." Lady Huntingdon's personal character deserved and won the deepest respect. An Anglican writer has well said that the moral courage which enabled a lady, brought up among all the traditions of an aristocracy such as the aristocracy was in the reigns of George II and George III, to cast aside all the prejudices of her order, and brave all the contempt and ridicule of those with whom she would naturally be most brought into contact, and cast in her lot openly and without reserve with the despised Methodists, is admirable. If she seems at times to adopt a somewhat imperious air toward her proteges, we must remember that a countess was a countess in those days, and that she was certainly encouraged in the line she took by the extravagant homage paid to her by Whitefield and others. John Wesley, indeed, was never dazzled by her grandeur; on the contrary, he took upon him more than once to rebuke the imperiousness of ''that valuable woman." Berridge, of Ever- ton, rebelled in his own laughing way against her authority; and there is not the slightest trace of undue subserviency in the clergy, like Romaine and Henry Venn and others, who acted with rather than under her. But the majority of those who were connected with her could not fail to be dazzled by the honor of the connection; and not only submitted, but courted, the authority which she was not slack in assuming over them. But she used that authority for the highest purposes. She was as far removed as John Wesley from any love of power for power's sake. She devoted her fortune to her new work. The .sale of her jewels contributed to the building of a chapel at 11 l62 John Wesley the Methodist. Brighton. She erected or pvirchased buildings in many places, appointing ministers as she thought fit — revoking such appoint- ments at her pleasure. The united congregations were called The Last Resting Place of Lady Huntingdon. Church of St. Helen's, Ashby. The Huntingdon Family Tombs. "Lady Huntingdon's Connection." Over the affairs of this connection she ruled with much tact until her death, appoint- ing committees of laymen to superintend secular business. Two Sorts of Methodists. 163 There was a great stir at the universities in 1767. A little band of Methodists had been formed in Cambridge under Row- land Hill. At Oxford, Halward, of Worcester College, formed an evangelical " Holy Club," with the result that six students of St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, were expelled, after due trial, " for holding Methodist tenets, and taking upon them to pray, read, and expound the Scriptures in private houses." The Oxford authorities as well as the public journals accused Lady Huntingdon of "seducing ^^oung men from their respective trades and avocations and sending them to the university, where they were maintained at her expense, that they might after- ward skulk." The resolute countess had already consulted Wesley about a scheme for the education of preachers, and she decided at once to build a college of her own. On the site of an old castle in South Wales she built Tre- vecca College. It was opened in 1768, John Fletcher, the saintly Methodist clergyman of Madeley, was president, and Joseph Benson was head master, until the Calvinistic sympathies of the countess led to their retirement. She resided at the col- lege for many months in the year, and " stationed" the students; some going to Ireland, others to America, but the greater number supplying her chapels in Great Britain. Lady Huntingdon maintained her leadership of her con- nection with undiminished vigor. Her chapels at Bath and Brighton were always full. About the middle of the eigh- teenth century Tunbridge Wells became a more popular resort than either of these places, and she forthwith built a chapel there which Whitefield opened with one of his thrilling sermons. Lady Huntingdon's societies, like Wesley's, drifted away rather than separated of set purpose from the Established Church. She was compelled to become a practical Dissenter 164 John Wesley the Methodist, in the interests of her noble evangelistic work. The crisis in her case, however, came earlier than in Wesley's. The step was not taken hastily, but after repeated provocations, legal 'mSkm^i^f^fi^),u^i't^.^i£^ Trevecca Farmhouse. Trevecca College. Here John Wesley, John Fletcher and Opened by Lady Huntingdon, 1768, George Whitefield stayed when they now controlled by the Cal- went to open Trevecca College, 1768. vinistic Methodists. decisions, and with a pure desire to secure the preaching of the Gospel, The clergymen who preached in her chapels were silenced by the Anglican authorities in 1781, and she was forced Two Sorts of Methodists. 165 with bitter pain to withdraw from the Church to which she had been so loyal. It is gratifying to record that Lady Huntingdon lived to regret the spirit of the Calvinistic controversy. She survived Mr. Wesley about five months. After his death a small tract was published containing the particulars of his last illness, and the expressions to which he then gave utterance. Lady Hun- tingdon read it with great interest, and sending for Joseph Brad- ford, asked him if this account was true, and if Mr. Wesley really died acknowledging his sole dependence upon the meri- torious sacrifice of Christ for acceptance and eternal life. He answered her ladyship that this was so, and that from his own knowledge he could declare, whatever reports to the contrary had been circulated, that the principles which Mr. Wesley recognized upon his deathbed had invariably been the subject of his ministry. She listened with eager attention to this state- ment, confessed that she had believed that he had grievously departed from the truth, and then, bursting into tears, expressed her deep regret at the separation which had in con- sequence taken place between them. She died at the age of eighty- four, in the Chapel House, Spa Fields, June 17, 1791, and was buried at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, clothed with the white silk dress in which- she opened the chapel in Goodman's Fields. "I long to be at home. I shall go to my Father; can he forget to be gracious? Is there any end of his loving-kindness? My work is done. I have nothing to do but goto my Father, " were among her last words. Dr. Haweis, his wife, Lady Anne Erskine, and a lay gentle- man were appointed trustees of the chapels, houses, and other effects of Lady Huntingdon's Connection; and they were to appoint successors. For thirty-one years, from the date of his conversion (1739) to his death, in 1770, Whitefield traveled and preached with i66 - John Wesley the Methodist. such consuming energy that the attempt to follow him produces a sensation of breathlessness. In 1744 he made his third visit to America, remaining four years; his fourth visit was in 1751, less than one year; the fifth in 1754, a little over a year; the sixth in 1763, lasting about two years; his last in 1769. Whitefield's Tabernacle, in Tottenham Court Road, London, was opened in 1756. Beneath it were vaults, "where," White- field used to say to his somewhat bigoted congregation, ' ' I intend to be buried, and Messrs. John and Charles Wesley shall also be buried there. We will all lie together. You will not let them enter your chapel while they are alive. They can do you no harm when they are dead." He continued to do the work of an evangelist to the last in England, Scotland, and America, besides conducting an enormous correspondence. During the last four years of his life in England Whitefield's friendship with the Wesleys became very warm. John Wesley breakfasted with him, and sadly writes of him as "an old, old man, fairly worn out in his Master's service, though he has hardly seen fifty years;" and a month later: "Mr. Whitefield called upon me. He breathes nothing but peace and love. Bigotry cannot stand before him, but hides its head wherever he comes." And in a letter to his wife Charles Wesley wrote of two happy hours he and his brother spent with their old friend. "The threefold cord we trust will never more be broken. " In 1769 he made his last voyage, and after revisiting the scenes of his Gospel triumphs from Georgia to New England, died at Newburyport, Mass., September 30, 1770, "suddenly changing, " as the quaint epitaph has it, ' ' his life of unparalleled labors for his eternal rest." In compliance with Whitefield's expressed wish, John Wes- ley preached his funeral sermon in Tottenham Court Road Chapel, and Charles Wesley, who had introduced the humble Two Sorts of Methodists. 167 Oxford servitor to the Holy Club years before, wrote an elegy full of tender feeling upon the death of his friend. What is probably the true version of a story concerning Wesley's warm friendship for Whitefield was sent to the editor The Whitefield Cenotaph. In the South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Mass. of the Contemporary Review, in 1S91, by Mr. Bevan Braith- waite, che venerable representative of the Society of Friends at the centenary celebration of Wesley's death. Mr. Braith- waite heard it from Edward Pease (the friend and early patron of George Stephenson), who died in 1857 at the advanced age 1 68 John Wesley the Methodist. of ninety-two. He was fond of relating how in early manhood he had stolen into a chapel to hear Wesley preach, and had a distinct recollection of his personal appearance and earnest solemnity of manner. The following was his story: "One day, after Whitefield's decease, John Wesley was timidly approached by one of the godly band of Christian sis- ters who had been brought under his influence, and who loved both Whitefield and himself: " ' Dear Mr. Wesley, may I ask you a question?' " 'Yes, of course, madam, by all means.' " 'But, dear Mr. Wesley, I am very much afraid what the answer will be. ' " 'Well, madam, let me hear your question, and then you will know my reply.' "At last, after not a little hesitation, the inquirer trem- blingly asked, ' Dear Mr. Wesley, do you expect to see dear Mr. Whitefield in heaven?' "A lengthy pause followed, after which John Wesley replied with great seriousness, ' No, madam. ' "His inquirer at once exclaimed, 'Ah, I was afraid you would say so.' "To which John Wesley added, with intense earnestness, ' Do not misunderstand me, madam ; George Whitefield was so bright a star in the firmament of God's glory, and will stand so near the throne, that one like me, who am less than the least, will never catch a glimpse of him.' " Wesley Faces Mobs. 169 CHAPTER XIL Wesley Faces Mobs* The Wednesbury Riots.— Before the Magistrate. —A Noble Champion.— "Always Look a Mob in the Face."— Stoned at the Market Cross. —Causes of the Disturbance.— Quieter Times. • HE Wesleys had been censured by bisliops, cursed by High Church clergy, and slandered by a host of pam- phleteers. But this stormy course of violent words was only the prelude to the ferocious attacks of the mobs which came, like wild beasts, howling on their track in the moral wil- derness of England. The " Black Country," in the northern part of Staffordshire, was the scene of one of the earliest and most violent persecu- tions. The towns of Wednesbury, Walsall, and Darlaston had won for themselves an unenviable notoriety for lawlessness. The brutal sports of these towns reflected the moral condition of the people. Btill baiting and cockfighting provided scenes of riotous delight. Charles Wesley was the first Methodist who preached at Wednesbury, in November, 1742. John soon followed, and a society of one hundred members, increased to more than three hundred by the following May, was speedily formed. The storm soon broke. Charles preached in May at Walsall from the steps of the market house, the mob roaring, shouting, and throwing stones incessantly, many of which struck him, but none hurt him. Soon after this the rioters of the three towns turned out in force and smashed windows, furniture, and houses. People 170 John Wesley the Methodist. were promiscuously struck and bruised. The magistrates, on being appealed to by the Methodists for protection, told them they were themselves to blame for the outrages, and refused all assistance. Wesley, in London, received a full account of this terrible six-days' riot, and thus writes: " I was not surprised at all; neither should 1 have wondered if, after the advices they had so often received from the pulpit as well as from the episcopal chair, the zealous High Churchmen had risen and cut all that were Methodists in pieces! " Wesley proceeded at once to the scene to render what assist- ance he could. But no redress could be obtained. In October he went again to this den of wild beasts. While he was writ- ing at Francis Ward's the mob beset the house and cried, "Bring out the minister; we will have the minister!" Wes- ley asked some one to take their captain by the hand and lead him in. After a few words the lion became a lamb. Wesley now asked him to bring two of the bitterest opponents inside. He soon returned with a couple who "were ready to swallow the ground with rage ; but in two minutes they were as calm as he." Then, mounting a chair in the midst of the mob, he demanded, " What do any of you want with me? " Some said, amid the clamor, "We want you to go with us to the justice." " That I will," said Wesley, "with all my heart." The few words he added had such an eiTect that the mob shouted, "The gentleman is an honest gentleman, and we will spill our blood in his defense. " Some dispersed to their homes, but Wesley and the rest, some two or three hundred, set out for the magistrate's house. Darkness and heavy rain came on in about half an hour, or by the time they had walked a mile, but they pushed forward another mile, to the justice's house at Bentley Hall. Some of Wesley Faces Mobs. 171 the advance guard told that officer, Mr. Lane, that they were bringing Wesley. "What have I to do with Mr. Wesley?" quoth the magis- trate. " Take him back again. " When the crowd came up and knocked for admission the magistrate declined to see them, sending word that he was in bed. His son came out and asked their business. A spokes- man answered, "To be plain, sir, if I must speak the truth, all the fault I find with him is that he preaches better than our parsons." Another said: " Sir, it is a downright shame; he makes peo- ple rise at five in the morning to sing psalms. What advice would your worship give i\s? " "To go home," said young Lane, "and be quiet." Not getting much satisfaction there, they now hurried Wes- ley to Walsall, to Justice Persehouse. Although it was only about seven o'clock, he also sent word that he had gone to bed, and refused to see them. Yet these very magistrates had recently issued an order calling on all officers of justice to search for and bring before them any Methodist preacher found in the district. At last they all thought it wise to make their way home, and some fifty of the crowd undertook to convey Wesley back to Wednesbury. But they had not gone a hundred yards when the mob of Walsall burst upon them. They showed fight, but, being wearied and greatly outnumbered, were soon overpow- ered, and Wesley was left in the hands of his new enemies. Some tried to seize him by the collar and pull him down. A big, lusty fellow just behind him struck at him several times with an oaken club. If one of these blows had taken effect, as Wesley says, "it would have saved all further trouble. But every time the blow was turned aside, I know not how, for I could not move to the right hand or left.** Another, rushing 172 John Wesley the Methodist. through the crowd, Hfted his arm to strike, but on a sudden let it drop and only stroked Wesley's head, saying, "What soft John Wesley, the Founder of Kingswood. The original is preserved in the dining hall o£ the new Kingswood School, Bath. hair he has! " One man struck him on the breast, and another on the mouth with such force that the blood gushed out; but he felt no more pain, he affirms, from either than if they had Wesley Faces Mobs. 173 touched him with a straw; not, certainly, because he was over excited or alarmed, for he assures us that from the beginning to the end he was enabled to maintain as much presence of mind as if he had been sitting in his study, but his thoughts were entirely absorbed in watching the movements of the rioters. When he had been pulled to the west end of the town, seeing a door half open — which proved, strangely enough, to be the mayor's, though he did not know it — he made toward it to go in ; but the owner, who was inside, would not suffer it, saying the mob would pull the house down to the ground. However, Wesley stood at the door, and raising his voice to the maddened throng, asked, " Are you willing to hear me speak?" Many cried out, "No I No! Knock his brains out! Down with him! Kill him at once!" Others said, "Nay, but we will hear him first! " Then he spoke a while, until his voice sud- denly failed. Now the cry was: "Bring him away! Bring him away ! " Recovering his strength, ne began to pray aloud. Then the ruffian who had headed the rabble, a prize fighter at the bear garden, stnick with awe, turned and said: "Sir, I will spend my life for you! Follow me, and not one soul here shall touch a hair of your head ! " Others of his companions joined with him in this new departure. An honest butcher also interposed and thrust away four or five of the most violent assailants. The people fell back to the right and left, and in the charge of his new-found protectors Wesley was borne through the infuriated crowd and escorted to his lodgings at Wednesbury, having lost only one flap of his waistcoat and a little skin from one of his hands. He says concerning it: "I took no thought for one moment before another; only once it came into my mind that, if they should throw me into the river, it would spoil the papers that were in my pocket. For myself, I did not doubt but I should swim across, having but a thin 174 John Wesley the Methodist. coat and a light pair of boots." " I never saw such a chain of providences before ; so many convincing proofs that the hand of God is on every person and thing, overruling all as it seem- eth him good. " In the midst of all these perils four brave Methodists- William Sitch, Edward Slater, John Griffith, and Joan Parks- clung fast to Wesley's side, resolved to live or die with him. None received a blow save William, who was knocked down, but soon got up again. When Wesley asked William Sitch what he expected when the mob seized them he answered with a martyr's spirit, " To die for him who died for us. " And when Joan Parks was asked if she was not afraid she said: " No, no more than I am now. I could trust God for you as well as for myself." When Wesley reached Wednesbury the friends were praying for him in the house from which he had started. His suffer- ings awoke general sympathy. Next morning, as he rode through the town, he says, " Everyone I met expressed such a cordial affection that I could scarce believe what I saw and heard." Charles Wesley met him at Nottingham. He says his brother "looked like a soldier of Christ. His clothes were torn to tatters." Charles went straight from Nottingham to the scenes of the rioting, boldly bearding the lions in their den. He was constitutionally a timid man, as he often confesses, but there was nothing he feared so much as to offend his own conscience. He arrived at Wednesbury five days after the miraculous escape of his brother, and found the Methodists "standing fast in one mind and spirit, in nothing terrified by their adver- saries. " He writes: "We assembled before day to sing hymns to Christ as God. As soon as it was light I walked down the town and preached. . . . It was a most glorious time." The clergyman at Darlaston was so struck with the meek behavior Wesley Faces Mobs. 175 of the Methodists in the midst of suffering that he offered to join the Wesleys in punishing the rioters. As for ' ' honest Munchin, " the nickname for George Chfton, the captain of the rabble, who had rescued Wesley, he was so impressed with Wesley's spirit that he immediately forsook his godless, profli- gate gang, and was received on trial into the Methodist society by Charles. The latter asked him, ' ' What think you of my brother ? " "Think of him ? " was the answer, " That he is a mon of God ; and God was on his side, when so mony of us could not kill one mon." Clifton lived a good life after this, and died in Birmingham, aged eighty-five, in 1789, two years before Wesley. He was never weary of telling the story of that night when he might have taken life, had not God stayed his hand. It was John Wesley's rule, confirmed, he says, by experi- ence, ''always to. look a mob in the face." An indescribable dignity in his bearing, a light in his eyes, and a spiritual influ- ence pervading his whole personality often overawed and cap- tured the very leaders of the riots. At St. Ives, in Cornwall, when the mob attempted to break up his meeting, he says: " I went into the midst, and brought the head of the mob up with me to the desk. I received but one blow on the side of the head, after which we reasoned the case, till he grew milder and milder, and at length undertook to quiet his companions. " A similar incident is recorded a few years later when a lieutenant at Plymouth-dock, with his reti- nue of soldiers and drummers, headed a raging crowd. ' ' After waiting about a quarter of an hour," says Wesley, "perceiving the violence of the rabble still increasing, I walked down into the thickest of them and took the captain of the mob by the hand. He immediately said: ' Sir, I will see you safe home. Sir, no man shall touch you. Gentlemen, stand off ! give back ! I will knock down the first man that touches him ! ' We walked 176 John Weslev the Methodist. on in great peace, my conductor, a very tall man, stretching- out his neck and looking round to see if any behaved rudely, till we came to Mr. Hide's door. We then parted in much love. I stayed in the street, after he was gone, talking with the peo- ple who had now forgot their anger and went away in high good humor." Sometimes the rioters themselves were the chief sufferers from the missiles and clubs so freely used. Wesley gives a striking instance of this at Bolton, Lancashire, when he preached at the Cross. One man was bawling just at Wesley's ear, " when a stone struck him on the cheek, and he was still." A second was forcing his way to assault Wesley, when another stone hit him on the forehead, "the blood ran down, and he came no farther." A third stretched out his hand, and in the instant a sharp stone came upon the joints of his fingers, and he was "very quiet " during the rest of the discourse, which was finished in peace. A year later, in the same town, Wesley was followed " full cry " to the house where he stayed. A rag- ing crowd filled the street and took possession of every room in the house. One friend who ventured out was thrown down, rolled in the mire, and thrust back in such a state that "one could scarce tell who he was." Wesley called for a chair and quietly stood upon it. "The winds were hushed, and all was calm and still. My heart was filled with love, my eyes with tears, and my mouth with arguments." In a few hours the entire scene was changed, and none opened their mouths unless to bless or thank the Methodists! When Wesley was preaching at Gwennap two men raging like maniacs rode furiously into the midst of the congregation and began to lay hold upon the people. Wesley commenced singing, and one man cried to his attendants, " Seize him, seize him, I say; seize the preacher for his majesty's service." Cursing the servants for their slowness, he leaped from his Wesley Faces Mobs. 177 horse, caught Wesley by the cassock, crying, "I take you to serve his majesty. " Wesley walked with him three quarters of a mile, when the courage of the bravo failed, and, finding he Wesley Preaching at Bolton Cross. was dealing with a gentleman, he offered to take him to his house, but Wesley declined the invitation. The man called for horses and took Wesley back to the preaching place. 12 178 John Wesley the Methodist. The next day at Falmouth more serious perils awaited him. The rioters attacked the house where he was staying, and the noise was like "the taking of a city by storm." The outer door was forced; only a wainscot partition was between them and the object of their rage. Wesley calmly took down a large looking-glass which hung against the partition. The daughter, Kitty, cries out, " O, sir, what must we do?" "We must pray," he replied. " But, sir, is it not better for you to hide yourself ?" " No," said Wesley. " It is best for me to stand just where lam." The crews of some privateers, to hurry matters, set their shoulders to the inner door, and cried, "Avast, lads, avast! " and the door gave way. Wesley stepped forward at once and said: " Here I am. Which of you has anything to say to me ? To which of you have I done any wrong ? To you ? Or you ? Or you ? " He walked on as he talked until he came to the middle of the street, when, raising his voice, he cried with great dignity : * ' Neighbors, countrymen ! Do you desire to hear me speak ? " " Yes, yes," they answered; " he shall speak." The captains of the mob, admiring his courage, commanded silence while he spoke, and afterward conducted him in safety to another house I The reasons assigned by the rioters themselves for their opposition to Methodism were very various and curious, but they often echoed the pulpit cries of the day, or were the out- come of passing popular and unreasoning excitement ready to seize on any excuse for violence. When Wesley visited St. Ives the second time, in 1744, he found the mob had pulled down the preaching house " for joy that Admiral Matthews had beat the Spaniards Such is the Cornish method of thanks- Wesley Faces Mobs. 179 giving. I suppose, if Admiral Lestock had fought too, they would have knocked all the Methodists on the head." The violence of the clergy was not any more intelligent. The bigoted rector of Penzance had several Methodists committed to prison, among them Edward Greenfield, a tanner, who had a wife and seven children. Wesley asked what objection there was to this peaceable man, and the answer came: "The man is well enough in other things ; but his impudence the gentle- men cannot bear. Why, sir, he says he knows his sins are forgiven! " The main responsibility of these riots lay with the clergymen and "gentlemen" who stirred up the excitable people, and cannot be attributed to any illegal or rash actions of the Wesleys. Miss Wedgwood, who is far from being a Methodist, says, concerning John Wesley: "Nothing that could form the flimsiest pretext for the treatment received by his followers can be brought home to him. He does not appear to have separated families; he never went where he had not a perfect right to be ; he addressed those whom he regarded as beyond his pale in courteous and modern language ; he never thrust his exhortations on anybody. The attacks of enemies, and even the accounts of alienated disciples, may be read without ex- tracting a single anecdote that we should think discreditable to him; indeed, it is from this source that we derive much valuable, because unconscious, testimony to the good influence of his code on secular life. We cannot, then, admit that Wes- ley's errors of judgment or limitations of sympathy had even the slightest share in producing the popular fury of which in- stances have just been given." It is noteworthy that, while Wesley's persecutors passed quickly away, nearly all who took patiently the spoiling of their goods lived long and peaceful lives. Wesley notes the i8o John Wesley the Methodist. sad end of many persecutors. Egginton, the Vicar of Wednes- bury, who delivered a sermon against the Methodists which Wesley pronounced the most wicked he ever heard, and who was responsible for the violence of the mob, died in a few months. At Bristol, in 1743, a clergyman preached terrible sermons in several city churches against the upstart Meth- odists, and was about to do so in the Church of St. Nicholas, The Press Gang. After the cartoon by Gilray. when, after announcing his text, he was seized with a rattling in the throat, fell backward in the pulpit, and expired the fol- lowing Sunday. In some instances those who planned the death of the preachers were themselves wounded, and even killed, by their companions. The Methodists were not driven out; they more and more became masters of the situation, and after 1757 peace reigned almost everywhere. It was due largely to Wesley's good Wesley Faces Mobs. i8i generalship, his perfect command of his forces, and the noble example which he himself set. Isaac Taylor's verdict is, " When encountering' the ruffianism of mobs and of magis- trates, he showed a firmness as well as a guileless skill, which, if the martyr's praise might admit of such an adjunct, was graced with the dignity and courtesy of the gentleman. " Wes- ley was always the gentleman and the scholar. As Rigg says : "It was contrary alike to his temper and his tactics, to his courtesy and to his common sense, to say or do anything which might justly offend the taste of those with whom he had to do. . . . Wesley's perfect, placid intrepidity, his loving calm- ness and serenity of spirit, amid whatever rage of violence and under whatever provocations and assaults, must always remain a wonder to the historian. His heroism was perfect; his self- possession never failed him for a moment ; the serenity of his temper was never ruffled. Such bravery and self-command and goodness, in circumstances so terrible and threatening, were too much for his persecutors everywhere. He always triumphed in the end." i82 John Wesley the Methodist. (D CHAPTER XIII. In Conference with the Preachefs, An Ecclesiastical Statesman.— The First Conference.— Notable Conferences.— One-Man Power.- "Christian Democ- racy." — Early Discipline. — Circuits. Y brother Wesley acted wisely. The souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in societies, and thus preserved the fruit of his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand." Thus White- field, the evangelist, spoke of John Wesley, the ecclesiastical statesman. It was Wesley's aim to bind together with links of steel not only individual members, but all the new societies from Land's End to Newcastle. And he did this at first with- out any intention to form a separate Church from the Estab- lishment. With a sole desire to shepherd these souls, but against his own ecclesiastical sentiments, in spite of his own protests, and with a curious obliviousness to the final results of his action, Wesley step by step organized a great New Testa- ment Church, which after his death was to drift away from the State Establishment and become one of the Free Churches of the world. It was not Wesley but Wesley's Christ who, as Head of his Church, overruled Wesley's Anglicanism that Methodism might become cosmopolitan. During his first five years of itinerancy, from 1739 to 1744, forty-five preachers, including three or four clergymen, had gathered round Wesley. The lay preachers maintained them- selves by working at their secular callings in the intervals of their journeys. There is no record of the total membership in In Conference with the Preachers. 183 England, but in London alone there were two thousand mem- bers. The class meeting was fully developed, the Rules of the United Societies printed and enforced, the quarterly visitation of the classes arranged for, lay preaching instituted, places of worship secured, and the sacraments administered. And all this had been done apart from episcopal authority or control. Five years after the formation of the first society class the first Conference was held in London, in 1744. Its purely inci- dental character is indicated by the quiet record in Wesley's Journal, where "Conference" is spelled with a small "c": "Monday, August 25, and the five following days, we spent in conference with many of our brethren, come from several parts, who desire nothing but to save their own souls and those that hear them." "That little conclave of 1744 in the Foundry," said Dr. Gregory in 1899, " was the first of a series which has already ex- tended over a hundred and fifty-five years, with many offshoots and affiliations, directing and administering to thoiisands of churches, in almost every nation under heaven. " There were present the two Wesleys and four other clergymen: John Hodges, rector of Wenvo, Wales; Henry Piers, Vicar of Bex- ley; Samuel Taylor, Vicar of Quinton in Gloucestershire; and John Meriton, from the Isle of Man. The four lay "assist- ants" present were Thomas Richards, Thomas Maxfield, John Bennet, and John Downes. The Conference considered three points: i. What to teach. 2. How to teach. 3. How to regu- late doctrine, discipline, and practice. For two days they con- versed on such vital doctrines as the Fall, the Work of Christ, Justification, Regeneration, Sanctification. The answer to the question " How to teach ? " was fourfold: i. To invite. 2. To convince. 3. To offer Christ. 4. To build up. And to do this in some measure in every sermon. In the light of later history the questions relating to the 184 John Wesley the Methodist. Church of England are of great interest. It was agreed to obey the bishops "in all things indifferent," and to observe the r 1. Be diligent, never be unemplpyed a moment, never be triflingly employed, [never while away time,] spend no more time at any place than is strictly necessary. 2. Be serious. Let your motto be, Holiness unto the Lord. Avoid all lightness as you would avoid hell-fire, and laughing as you would cursing and swearing. 3. Touch no woman; be as loving as you will, but hold your hands off 'em. Custom is nothing to us. 4. Beheve evil of no one. If you see it done, well ; else take heed how you credit it. Put the best construction on every thing. You know the judge is always allowed [supposed]! to be on the prisoner's side. 5. Speak evil of no one ; else your word especially would eat as- j doth a canker. Keep your thoughts within your [own] breast, ' till you come to the person concerned. j 6. Tell everyone what you think wrong in him, and that plainly, ! and as soon as may be, else it will fester in your heart. Make ! all haste, therefore, to. cast the fire out of jour bosom. j 7. Do nothing as a gentleman : you have no more to do with this | character than with that of a dancing-master. You are the ' servant of all, therefore ■ 8. Be ashamed of nothing but sin : not of fetching wood, or drawing water, if time permit ; not of cleaning your own shoes or your neighbour's. 9. Take no money of any one. / If they give you food when you are hungry, or clothes when you need them, it is good. But not silver or gold. Let there be no pretence to say, we grow rich by the Gospel. 10. Contract no debt without my knowledge. 11. Be .punctual: do everything exactly at the time; and in • general do not mend our rules, but keep them, not for wrath but for conscience sake. 12. Act in all things not according to your own will, but as -a son in the Gospel. As such, it is your part to employ your time in the manner which we direct : partly in visiting the flock from^house to house (the sick in particular) ; partly, in such a course of Reading, Meditation and Prayer, as we advise from time to time. Above all, if you labour with us in our Lord's vineyard, it is needful you should do that part of the work [which] we prescribe [direct]* at those times and places which we judge most for His glory. The Rules of an Assistant. Reproduced from the notes of the first Conference, as recently printed by the Wesleyan Historical Society. canons "so far as we can with a safe conscience." The charge of schism was anticipated thus : In Conference with the Preachers. 185 " Q. 12. Do not yon entail a schism on the Church? that is, Is it not probable that your hearers after your death will be scat- tered into sects and parties? Or that they will form themselves into a distinct sect? "A. I. We are persuaded the body of our hearers will even after our death remain in the Church, unless they be thrust out. 2. We believe, notwithstanding, either that they will be thrust out or that they wall leaven the whole Church. 3. We do, and will do, all we can to prevent those consequences which are supposed likely to happen after our death. 4. But we can- not with good conscience neglect the present opportunity of saving souls, while we live, for fear of consequences which may possibly or probably happen after we are dead. " It was decided that lay assistants should be emplo}'ed "only in cases of necessity." The rules of an assistant are terse: ' ' Be diligent. Never be triflingly employed. Be serious. . . Speak evil of no one; else your word, especially, would eat as doth a canker." The remainder of these rules appear in our facsimile pages of the recent edition of Bennet's Notes. It was decided that the best way to spread the Gospel was "to go a little and little farther from London, Bristol, St. Ives, Newcastle, or any other society. So a little leaven would spread with more effect and less noise, and help w^ould always be at hand. " It is evident that the towns here named were regarded as the centers of Methodism in that year. The belief was expressed that the design of God in raising up the preach- ers called Methodists was "to reform the nation, particularly the Church, and to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land." During its session Lady Huntingdon invited the Conference to her London mansion in Downing Street, and Wesley preached from the text, "What hath God wrought." This was the first of the household services which afterward, under i86 John Wesley the Methodist, Whitefield, almost transformed that aristocratic mansion into a chapel. The second Conference was held at Bristol, in the Horsefair preaching room. London and Bristol were the meeting places /, 1 1 ' * • > "The Hole in the Wall." The entrance from the Horsefair, Bristol, to the chapel where the second Conference was held. until 1753, when Leeds was added; in 1765 Manchester was visited, and these became the four Conference towns for the rest of Wesley's lifetime. A layman was present at the second Conference, as well as In Conference with the Preachers. 187 seven lay preachers. This layman was Marmaduke Gwynne, a magistrate of Garth, whose daughter Charles Wesley mar- ried. In 1749 the question was asked, "Who are the properest persons to be present at any Conference of this nature?" The answer was: " i. As many of the preachers as conven- iently can. 2. The most earnest and most sensible of the Band Leaders where the Conference is. 3. Any pious and judicious stranger who may be occasionally in the place." It is evident that the early Conferences were very mixed in their membership. It was not imtil 1784, when Wesley's famous "Deed of Declaration " was enrolled, that the Confer- ence received a legal definition, and the governing body of one himdred preachers was appointed. And it was not until 1797 that "the Band Leaders" and " pious and judicious stran- gers" were formally excluded, and preachers only declared eligible to attend. Later legislation has again opened the door to the laity. The Church principles aimed at and acted on at Wesley's Conferences are clearly stated. The leading principle is that every ecclesiastical obligation, including obedience to bishops and observance of canons, must be subordinated to the salva- tion of souls. We have seen this expressed at the first Confer- ences; it was reaffirmed later. In 1746, after he had read Lord (Chancellor) King's account of the Primitive Church, Wesley finally renounced the doctrine of apostolical succession. He never swerved from his conclusion, and in a letter to his brother Charles many years after he spoke of "the uninter- rupted succession "as "a fable, which no man ever did or can prove." The Leeds Conference of 1755 was confronted by the fact that some of the lay preachers, upon their own responsi- bility, had begun to administer the sacraments. Sixty-three preachers assembled — an unprecedented number. Many views i88 John Wesley the Methodist. were advocated, but John Wesley's prevailed. He succeeded in persuading the Conference that, whether it was lawful or not, it was no way expedient to separate from the Church. He admitted that he could not answer the arguments for secession, but he wrote: " I only fear the preachers or people leaving not the Church, but the love of God and inward or outward holi- ness. ... If , as my lady [Huntingdon] says, all outward Estab- The Old Chapel, Derby, 1765. An example of early Wesleyan building. ILshments are Babel, so is this Establishment. Let it stand, for me; I neither set it up nor pull it down. But let you and I build up the city of God." " Church or no Church," he again wrote, •' we must attend to the work of saving souls. " He felt that separation at this time would not help the main work. Walsh and his associates consented, for the sake of peace, to cease to administer the sacraments. So here, for a season only, the question was shelved, not as the result of any ecclesiastical opinion held by John Wesley, In Conference with the Preachers. 189 ' ' but of that expediency which with him was always a moral law." At the Leeds Conference of 1769, memorable, as we shall tell later, for the appointment of the first preachers to America, Wesley read a paper in which he advised the preachers what to do after his death. It was signed by all the preachers at the Conferences of 1773, 1774, and 1775, and was afterward super- seded by his Deed of Declaration, but it is worthy of note here as showing that at the age of sixty-six he felt that Methodism would be compelled, sooner or later, to take an independent and permanent form. During his lifetime John Wesley was recognized as the living center of his united societies. He was the president of every Conference. He was felt to be the father of this new people, w^ho before were "not a people," but "a rope of sand." A Fernley lecturer has well said that nothing but his personal influence— spiritual, moral, and intellectual, brought to bear on each part of the wide connection by his visitation and his facile, firm, yet flexible and gentle pen, which gave him a kind of con- nectional ubiquity— could possibly have held together and molded the vast and locally scattered multitude w^hich was pul- sating with a new life. At the Conference of 1766 he frankly faced the question: " What power is this w^hich you exercise over both the preach- ers and the societies ? " After tracing step by step the won- derful history of the societies, he affirms, " It was merely in obedience to the providence of God, for the good of the people, that I first accepted this power which I never sought; it is on the same consideration, not for profit, honor, or pleasure, that I use it this day." ' ' Does not Methodism . . . represent Christian democracy within the Church, in opposition to the supremacy of a few great ones ? " says the Lutheran Church historian, Hagenbach. Con- 190 John Wesley the Methodist. trasting Wesley with Zinzendorf, "who could never lay aside the count, " this German onlooker observes of Wesley : " Nature had made him a man for the masses, and, notwithstanding all that native nobility and dignity by which he impressed every- body, there was in him a true absence of everything that savored of haughtiness." Although, inspired by the purest motives and for the good of the people, he maintained his lead- Barnard Castle Chapel, 1765. ership to the last, no leader of men was ever more willing to take counsel with others. With aristocratic blood in his veins, he founded the most democratic Church in Christendom. He encouraged the utmost freedom of discussion in his Confer- ences. He would have no man muzzled. It is surely not without reason that so many Methodist class leaders and local preachers have been elected to the various local government boards which now abound in England. In many rural districts their training in the conduct of Church In Conference with the Preachers. 191 business has fitted them above all others to serve the com- munity in these local boards. Uninteresting and complicated as Methodist polity and the doings of "Conference" may appear to the casual observer, to those who follow its devel- opment the history has national significance. It was in 1747 that the qualifications of lay preachers were set down in this wise : " Q. How shall we try those who believe they are moved by the Holy Ghost and called of God to preach ? "A. Inquire, i. Do they know in whom they have believed ? Have they the love of God in their hearts ? And are they holy in all manner of conversation ? 2. Have they gifts (as well as grace) for the work ? Have they (in some tolerable degree) a clear, sound understanding ? Have they a right judgment in the things of God ? Have they a just conception of the salva- tion by faith ? And has God given them any degree of utter- ance ? Do they speak justly, readily, clearly ? 3. Have they success ? Do they not only so speak as generally either to con- vince or affect the hearts ? " The territorial division of the country early necessitated a gradation of office among the preachers. In the most inci- dental "common-sense manner" a primitive episcopacy of the purest type was thus formed, without the name. The preacher in charge of a circuit was called an assistant (to Wesley), and his colleagues were helpers, both to the assistant and Wesley, At the third Conference we also find the third office, exhorter, recognized. The religious life of the preachers of each grade was the primary qualification, but from the first their intellec- tual training was provided for, as the lists of books in the early Minutes show. " Read the most useful books," was a minute at Leeds in 1766. " Steadily spend all the morning in this employ, or at least five hours in twenty-four. . . . ' But I have no taste for reading. ' Contract a taste for it by use, or return 192 John Wesley the Methodist. to your trade. " This applied especially to the itinerants, for whom a better financial provision was made about this time. Wesley's common sense is evident in the crisp sentences of the "smaller advices about preaching " in 1746. After advising that assistants should never preach more than twice a day, unless on Sunday or special occasions, the minute enjoins: " I. Be sure to begin and end precisely at the time appointed. 2. Sing no hymns of your iCTu ItHJliii'i. William Shent's House. The site and probably the house in which the first Methodist sermon in Leeds was preached, 1743. Shent was barber and preacher. own composing. 3. En- deavor to be serious, weighty, solemn, in your whole de- portment before the con- gregation. 4, Choose the plainest text you can. 5. Take care not to ramble from your text, but keep close to it, and make out what you undertake. 6. Al- ways suit the subject to the audience. 7. Beware of al- legorizing or spiritualizing too much. 8. Take care of anything awkward or af- fected, either in your gesture 9. Tell each other if you observe anything or pronunciation. of this kind. " A question of intense interest to all who, like Wesley, are engaged in evangelizing the masses also occurs at this third Conference : "Q. What sermons do we find by experience to be attended with the greatest blessing? "A. I. Such as are most close, convincing, and practical. 2. Such as have most of Christ the Priest, the Atonement. In Conference with the Preachers. 193 3. Such as urge the heinousness of men hving in contempt or ignorance of him. " The early preachers did not take a vow of poverty on enter- ing the itinerancy, but the Frenchman, Lelievre, in his charm- ing Life of Wesley, has well said, ' ' They practiced a voluntary course of self-renunciation that was never excelled by the fol- The Modern Kingswood School, Bath. lowers of St. Francis. " One of the rules was, "Take no money of anyone. If they give you food when you are hungry, or clothes when you need them, it is good, but not silver or gold. Let there be no pretense to say we grow rich by the Gospel. " Receiving their daily supplies from the society, they were only paid, in money, enough to cover their traveling expenses, and these were very small, most of them walking long distances. One faithful preacher, who died in harness, left but one shilling 13 194 John Wesley the Methodist. and four pence. "Enough," says Wesley, " for any unmarried preacher of the Gospel, to leave his executors. " Married preachers like John Nelson, stone mason, and Wil- liam Shent, barber, had to work at their trade for support. In 1752 the Conference fixed ;j^i2 as the sum which the societies should pay annually to each preacher. It was a much-breached rule. In 1769 an allowance of £,10 was made for the wife of a married preacher. And the next year we find a preacher's house in the principal Methodist centers. In 1774 the rule was made that ' ' every circuit shall find the preacher's wife a p ^""^"^^ '■^■^^^^^ it s -X}\> ''^^ii n J" P^Hmil r* HH ■ * r ' ^'^BH^^P HH \l , "'' ''■llrWHiM y i ^^M ^^^^^^Kks^R ■u^HH n ^^fc^ _^^^^ John Wesley's Study, Bristol, Here Adam Clarke first met Wesley (1782). lodging, coal, and candles, orp^i5 per year" to procure them for herself. An allowance of £4 a year was made for each child. The question of the education of the preachers' children occupied the Conference of 1748. The school at Kings wood was enlarged, with the help of ;^8oo received from some un- known lady, and a schoolroom, separate from that used for the colliers' school, was provided. A very elaborate plan, ex- tending to the very details of diet, was drawn up by Wesley, and the stringent rules suggest the reflection that Wesley was In Conference with the Preachers. 195 never blessed with any children of his own. The course of study was encyclopaedic; the discipline severe. But Kings- wood School was a marvelous advance upon any school in the kingdom, for boys of from six to twelve years old, in the range and quality of its teaching. The division of the kingdom into " circuits " first appears in the Conference Minutes of 1746. The circuits and appoint- ments for the next quarter were thus arranged, the initials in- dicating the names of the preachers: ' ' Q. How are these places to be supplied for this quarter ? " A. As far as we can yet see, thus: Circuit. June. July. August. I.London. J.W. J.R. T.R. J.W. To.M. J.R. C.W. Jo.B. Jo.D. 2. Bristol. J.M. T.Md. J.W. C.W. T.R. T.H. T.R. T.J. 3. Cornwall. C.W. T.Mk. J.Tr. Jo.Tr. T.R. F.W. 4. Evesham. J.W. Ja.Jo. Ja.J. T. Jo.Co. Jas.Co. S.Yorkshire. To. Ha. To. W. J.H. J.B. Ja. W. J.T. Jo.N. Ja.W. 6. Newcastle. Ja.W. Jo.R. J.N. T.We. S.L. S.L. T.W. Jo.W. 7. Wales. Mr.M. T.R. J.W. The chapels were legally settled upon trustees in 1749, and at the Manchester Conference of 1765 a secretary was ap- pointed to examine the deeds and see that vacancies among trustees were filled. The regular annual publication of the Minutes also began at this latter Conference, and the first provision for the " worn-out preachers" having been made two years previously, the title of " vSuperannuated Preachers" ap- pears in the Minutes for the first time. At this session the Member's Ticket was permanently adopted. The Methodist preachers were required to exercise over each other the most faithful vigilance, and at every Conference after 1767 the question was asked: "Are there any objections to any of the preachers ? " who were named one by one. This practice is still maintained. Wesley regarded the maintenance of doctrine, experience, right conduct, and discipline as essen- iq6 John Wesley the Methodist. * tial to the permanency of Methodism, and held that they must not be separated. ' ' The first time I was in the company of the Rev. John Wesley," once wrote a correspondent of the New York Evangelist, ' ' I asked him what must be done to keep Methodism alive when he was dead. To which he immediately answered: "The Methodists must take heed of their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their discipline. If they attend to their doctrines only, they will make the people anti- nomians ; if to the experimental part of religion only, they will make them enthusiasts ; if to the practical part only, they will make them Pharisees; and if they do not attend to their dis- cipline, they will be like persons who bestow much pains in cultivating their garden, and put no fence round it to save it from the wild boars of the forest' " a, C-zTei^L^^r-f^C^ c^Ul^Ck t o' «-^ /^St^- /c_i.c jn. ^i>e_ «^o- 'ts e'er , C'^-J^-r^-U/ fi/ U/li-r^ Jo • /^o v>/^ /^ (V f l:' ^739f on the little green at the foot of the Devauden Hill near Chepstow. Wesley's first convert was a poor woman who had walked six miles to hear him, and followed him to Aberga- venny, Usk, and Pontypool, found peace, and stood by his side at Cardiff, the wave-sheaf of an abundant harvest. At Cardiff he preached in the shire hall, and on later visits in the castle yard. As he explained the last six beatitudes he tells us that his heart was so enlarged that he knew not how to give over, so he ' ' continued three hours. " At 'Cardiff was formed the mother church, and here Wesley opened his first chapel in Wales on May 6, 1743. The Calvinistic wing of Methodism, led by such splendid evangelists as Howell Harris and George Whitefield was first in the field and has always been predominant in Wales. The Work beyond the Sea. 223 CHAPTER XVI. The Wof k beyond the Sea. Methodism in 1769. — An American Offshoot. —Shall Wesley Go?— Politi- cal Pamphlets. — Wesley to Lord North. — A Calm Address — A Methodist Episcopal Church for America. H DOZEN years ago there came to light a letter written by John Wesley in 1769 to John Liden, a professor in Lund University, in Sweden, and giving in orderly arrangement the condition of Methodism as it existed in that year. The sixth paragraph alludes to the work in America : ' ' There are only three Methodist societies in America: one at Phila- delphia, one at New York, and one twelve miles from it. There are five preachers there ; two have been at New York for some years; three are lately gone over. Mr. Whitefield has pub- lished a particular account of everything relative to the Orphan House (in Georgia)." The first societies in New York and Maryland were the result of the independent labors of emigrants who had been converted in Ireland. Appeals came from the new societies urging Mr. Wesley to send them regular Conference preach- ers. In the Leeds Conference of 1769 Question XIII is as fol- lows : ' ' We have a pressing call from our brethren at New York (who have built a preaching house) to come over and help them. Who is willing to go ? " A young man, apparently far gone in consumption, rose up in his place in the gallery and said, " If you will send me, sir, I will go in the name of the Lord. " Immediately another 224 John Wesley the Methodist. young man, also in the gallery, got np and said, "Sir, if you will send me, I will go with Brother Pilmoor. " This second volunteer was Richard Boardman Then came Question XIV: "What can we do further in token of our brotherly love ? " Answer: " Let us now make a collection among ourselves." (This was immediately done.) Question XV: "What is the w^hole debt remaining?" Answ'er: "Between five and six thousand pounds." So with a heavy debt on one hand and no reserve for contingent ex- penses on the other, the great American Mission began in the British Conference. Lloyd's Evening Post, of May 26, 1769, had some fun at the expense of this departure. The public were sarcastically informed that the following promotions in the Church were about to be declared: "The Rev. G. Whitefield, Archbishop of Boston, Rev W. Romaine, Bishop of New York; Rev. J. Wesley, Bishop of Pennsylvania; Rev. W. Madan, Bishop of the Carolinas; Rev. W, Shirley, Bishop of Virginia; and Rev. C. Wesley, Bishop of Nova Scotia." Wesley w^as greatly moved by the reports which came to him from the American envoys, Boardman and Pilmoor. He wrote : " It is not yet determined if I should go to America or not. I have been importuned for some time ; but ;/// sat firvii video. I must have a clear call before I am at liberty to leave Europe." Referring to this period, Mr. Tyerman remarks: " Wesley had nearly arrived at the age of threescore years and ten; but if his way had opened, he would have bounded off across the Atlantic with as little anxiety as he w-as accustomed to trot to the hospitable Perronet home at Shoreham." The obstacles, however, were insurmountable. There was no one during his absence to take his place as superintendent general of the societies in Britain, and to this must be added the strong objections of the people to let him go. The Work beyond the Sea. 225 "If I go to America," said he, "I must do a thing which I hate as bad as I hate the devil." " What is that ? " asked his friend. "I cannot keep a secret," he answered; meaning that he must conceal his purpose, otherwise his societies would inter fere and effectually prevent his going. Twelve months later he wrote to Mrs. Marston, of Worces- ter: "If I live till spring, and should have a clear, pressing The Old Boggart House, Leeds. Where the Conference of 1769 was held, in which the first Wesleyan missionaries volunteered for America. call, I am as ready to embark for America as for Ireland. All places are alike to me. I am attached to none in particular. Wherever the work of our Lord is to be carried on, that is my place for to-day. And we live only for to-day. It is not our part to take thought for to-morrow." Rumors spread, both in America and England, that Wesley had decided to go and "turn bishop;" and he wrote later to Walter Sellon: "Dear Walter, you do not understand your information right. Observe, ' I am going to America to turn bishop.' You are to understand it in scnsti composito. I am 15 226 John Wesley the Methodist. not to be a bishop till I am in America. While I am in Europe, therefore, you have nothing to fear; but as soon as ever you hear of my being landed in Philadelphia it will be time for your apprehension to revive. It is true some of our preachers would not have me stay so long, but I keep my old rule : Fcs- tifia lente. " For several years the Conference continued to appoint volun- teers to America. In 1770 the name of young Francis Asbury was read out — the man who, under God, was to lay the foun- dations of the Methodist Episcopal Church, when the troubles between the king and the colonies should have led to the War of Independence. It was Wesley's way to maintain a deep interest in all events which touched the national life. When the kingdom was agitated by fears of a French invasion, in 1756, Wesley, ever practical, proposed to raise five hundred volunteers, supported by contributions, ready to act for a year in case of invasion. They were to be supplied with arms from the Tower and to be drilled by one of the king's sergeants. The offer does not appear to have been accepted. During the Seven Years' War the Methodists observed the national fasts and united in con- stant intercession. The parliamentary elections of the day were often riotous. We find Wesley "hastening to Bristol on account of the elec- tion" in 1756. He called all the freemen of the society together after preaching, and "enlarged a little on his majesty's charac- ter, and the reasons we had to spare no pains in his service," with a view to persuading some of them to vote for John Spen- cer, who was opposing Jarrit Smith, a suspected Jacobite. This at least reveals the loyalty of the Wesleys to King George. "The whole city is in confusion," writes Wesley to Mr. Black- well. " O what a pity there could not be some way of managing elections of every sort without this embittering of The Work beyond the Sea. 227 Englishmen against Englishmen, and kindling fires which can- not be quenched in many years! " About 1764 he wrote a letter to the societies at Bristol in which he utters a noble protest against political corruption: "For God's sake, for the honor of the Gospel, for your coun- try's sake, and for the sake of your own souls, beware of bribery. Before you see me again the trial will come at the gen- eral election for members of Parliament. On no account take money or money's worth. Keep yourself pure. Give, not sell, ^- .,.<-::^-S?K Wesley Chapel, " Old John Street Church," New York. The preaching house, which stands back from the street, was built in 1768. your vote. Touch not the accursed thing, lest it bring a blast upon you and your household. " He asserts that this political morality is essential "to your retaining the life of faith, and the testimony of a good conscience." Such was the ethical teaching of the leader of the Great Revival. Wesley's first political pamphlet was directed against John Wilkes, M.P., the editor of the North Briton, whose blundering arrest by the government made him a popular hero. Wesley says of himself that politics were beyond his province, but he 228 John Wesley the Methodist. uses "the privilege of an Englishman to speak his naked thoughts." " I have no bias, one way or the other. I have no interest depending. I want no man's favor, having no hopes, no fears, from any man." We may question if Wesley were unbiased, but of his disinterestedness there can be no doubt. He defends the character of the king, though later we find him opposed to his American policy. He sees that the rule of "King Wilkes" means the rule of "King Mob." Wesley's pamphlet was published in 1768. Next year the celebrated Letters of Junius appeared in the Public Advertiser, and polit- ical excitement rose to fever heat. The attempt to tax the American colonies by the notorious Stamp Act — an infringe- ment of the principle "no taxation without representation" — and the imposition of other obnoxious duties after its enforced repeal, were producing the ferment which resulted in the Amer- ican War of Independence. The scenes and passions of the American Revolution are now viewed by Englishmen in lengthening perspective and in clear- er light. But many of the most honest Christian Englishmen of that day could not see through the smoke of fratricidal war and party fnry, as the little band of Methodist preachers in America proved to their cost. Even Wesley's vision became dim in the thick of the storm. During the first two years of the Revolution he was in sympa- thy with the colonists. On June 15, 1775, he wrote his now famous letter to Lord North and the Earl of Dartmouth. This letter was consigned to an official pigeonhole, and was first printed in full nearly a century later by Dr. George Smith. It has often been quoted since, notably by Bancroft, who, how- ever, was misled as to its place in the story of Wesley's political change of view. "In spite of all my long- rooted prejudices," writes Wesley, " I cannot avoid thinking, if I think at all, that an oppressed people asked for nothing more than their legal The Work beyond the Sea. 229 rights, and that in the most modest and inoffensive manner that the nature of the thing would allow. But waiving this, The First Methodist Chapels in Maryland. Bush Chapel and Stone Chapel, where Robert Strawbridge preached the Gospel. waiving all considerations of right and wrong, I ask, Is it com- mon sense to use force toward the Americans ? Whatever has been affirmed, these men will not be frightened; and it seems 230 John Wesley the Methodist. they will not be conquered so easily as was at first imagined. They will probably dispute every inch of ground, and, if they die, die sword in hand. Indeed, some of our valiant officers say, ' Two thousand men will clear America of these rebels. ' No, nor twenty thousand, be they rebels or not, nor perhaps treble that number. They are as strong men as you; they are as valiant as you, if not abundantly more valiant, for they are one and all enthusiasts — enthusiasts for liberty; and we know how this principle breathes into softer souls stern love of war, and thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death. We know men, animated with this spirit, will leap into fire or rush into a cannon's mouth. * But they have no discipline. ' Already they have near as much as our army, and they will learn more of it every day, so in a short time they will understand it as well as their assailants. * But they are divided among them- selves.' So you are informed. So, doubt not, was Rehoboam informed concerning the ten tribes. So, nearer our own times, was Philip informed concerning the people of the Netherlands. No, my lord, they are terribly united. Not in the province of New England only, but down as low as the Jerseys and Penn- sylvania. The bulk of the people are so united that to speak a word in favor of the present English measures would almost endanger a man's life. Those who informed me of this, one of whom was with me last week, lately come from Philadel- phia, are no sycophants ; they say nothing to curry favor. But they speak with sorrow of heart what they have seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. "These men think, one and all, be it right or wrong, that they are contending /r^ aris et focis ; for their wives, children, and liberty. What an advantage have they herein over many that fight only for pay! none of whom care a straw for the cause wherein they are engaged ; most of whom strongly dis- approve of it. Have they not another considerable advantage? The Work beyond the Sea. 231 Their supplies are at hand and all round about them. Ours are three thousand miles off! Are we then able to conquer the Americans, suppose they are left to themselves; suppose all our neighbors should stand stock-still and leave us and them to fight it out? But we are not sure of this. Nor are we sure that all our neighbors will stand stock-still." The statesmen did not heed Wesley's warning. "His sol- emn predictions were fulfilled. " *' To-day his letter reads like a history rather than a prophecy, " are the comments of Buck- ley and McTyeire, as they look down the vista of the century. But Wesley's view of the question between England and her colonies changed after he had read Dr. Samuel Johnson's Tax- ation no Tyranny, published in the autumn of 1775. He was convinced by that pamphlet that the colonists should be con- tent with the military and naval protection of the mother coun- try, and with obedience to its laws, without a vote in lawmak- ing and administration. Wesley published an abridgment of Dr. Johnson's pamphlet, under the title of A Calm Address to our American Colonies, naming the source of his tract only in a second edition. Johnson wrote to Wesley thanking him for his "important suffrage to my argument on the American question. To have gained such a man as yourself may justly confirm me in my own opinion. What effect my paper has upon the pviblic I know not; but I have no reason to be discouraged. The lecturer was surely in the right who, though he saw his audience slink- ing away, refused to quit the chair while Plato stayed." Next year Wesley published another pamphlet, entitled Some Observations on Liberty. The able American editor of Wesley's works, John Emory, expresses in a footnote the strong and decided American disapprobation of Wesley's views. Dr. Buckley regards Wesley as ' ' absolutely honest, but his training and mode of thought made it impossible for him to sympathize 232 John Wesley the Methodist. with the colonists from the moment they determined upon rev- olution, and his horror of war intensified his feelings." Bishop ADDRESS T O •0 U,Ji. AMERICAN COLONIES. By 70//.V rVSSLEi; M. A, > ViRC.It, A NEW EDITION-, CORRLCTiD, A»D ENLASCEC* LONDON, rriuKti by RosF.KT Hawes, the Corner of ^ DerfnStrrei, Crifpin-Strecr, Spiialfidjf, And fvU at Uit FxuuJry, Afiorf c:Jj. ,-a Title-page of Wesley's "Calm Address." Which embittered American feeling against his preachers. McTyeire well remarks on the extreme infelicity of the case that, while the letter to Lord North lay buried in the state The Work beyond the Sea. 233 archives for nearly a century, the Address to the Colonics was published by tens of thousands of copies, creating serious diffi- culties for the American preachers. With characteristic wisdom and charity Asbury thus com- ments on an "affectionate" letter which he received from Wesley: " I am truly sorry that the venerable man ever dipped into the politics of America. My desire is to live in love and peace with all men ; to do them no harm, but all the good I can. However, it discovers Mr. Wesley's conscien- tious attachment to the government under which he lives. Had he been a subject of America, no doubt but he would have been as zealous an advocate of the American cause. But some inconsiderate persons have taken occasion to censure the Methodists in America on account of Mr. Wesley's political sentiments." The independence of America brought Wesley face to face with a new problem. The American Methodists were left without an ordained ministry capable of administering the sacraments. They looked to Wesley as their "father," and asked what they should do. The crisis was reached in 1784. Thirty-eight years earlier, as we have seen, Wesley had renounced the High Church dogma of apostolic succession, and had been convinced that in the primitive Church ' ' bishops and presbyters were of the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain." He now proceeded to exercise that right. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke, a presbyter of the Established Church, had been for six years a Methodist preacher. In his study at City Road, London, Wesley first asked Dr. Coke to accept episco- pal consecration at his hands and become "superintendent" (or bishop) of the societies in the United States. Coke asked for time to consider this innovation on the order of the Anglican Church. Wesley cited the example of the ancient 234 John Wesley the Methodist. Alexandrian Church, which for two hundred years had pro- vided its bishops through ordination by its presbyters. Two months passed before Coke wrote to Wesley accepting his proposal, though still suggesting delay. But on September I, 1784, the momentous step was taken at Bristol. Richard Whatcoat thus records it in his Journal: "September i, 1784, Rev. John Wesley, Thomas Coke, and James Creighton, presbyters of the Church of England, formed a presbytery and ordained Richard W^hatcoat and Thomas Vasey deacons, and on September 2, by the same hands, etc., Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey were ordained elders, and Thomas Coke, LL. D., was ordained superintendent for the Church of God under our care in North America." The ordination took place in Mr. Castleman's, 6 Dighton vStreet. Wesley commissioned Dr. Coke to ordain and consecrate Francis Asbury as "joint superintendent" on his arrival in America, and wrote a letter for circulation among the socie- ties, which concludes with the significant words: "As our American brethren are now totally disentangled both from the State and from the English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again either with the one or the other. They are now at full liberty simply to follow the Scriptures and primitive Church; and we judge it best that they should stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has so strangely made them free." Charles Wesley was shocked by what he considered to be a breach of Church order. He wrote to his friend Dr. Chandler: " I can scarcely yet believe it, that in his eighty- second year my brother, my old and intimate companion and friend, should have assumed the episcopal character, ordained elders, consecrated a bishop, and sent him to ordain our lay preachers in America. Lord Mansfield told me last year that ordination was separation." He wrote to his brother begging The Ordained Missionaries to America. Rev. Thomas Vasey. Rev. Richard Whatcoat, Rev. Thomas Coke, D.C. L. The Work beyond the Sea. 237 him, before he had quite broken down the bridge, to stop and consider. But his brother had considered the question for forty years, and the extraordinary need of America was not the only ground of his action. He based it upon Scripture, history, and reason. "I firmly beHeve," he replied, "that I am a scriptural cpiscopos as much as any man in England, or in Europe; for the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable which no man ever did or can prove. " Canon Overton, a Churchman who considers Wesley's action to have been utterly wrong, says with honorable candor: "It has been said that John Wesley's mental powers were failing when he began to 'set apart' his preachers; and Charles Wes- ley himself has countenanced the idea by exclaiming, ' 'Twas age that made the breach, not he! ' But there really appear to be no traces of mental decay in any other respects." Wesley used the Latin designation "superintendent" rather than "bishop," the more accurate rendering of the Greek cpis- copos. The latter w^ord was associated in England with too much secular pomp to satisfy his simple tastes. It was not his, wish to multiply bishops of the Anglican type. He desired al more primitive Church order; as Dr. Gregory has expressed it, ■ "not prelatical, but presbyterial ; not hierarchical, but evan- i gelistic; not diocesan, but 'itinerant.'" The term bishop, in this primitive sense, was afterward adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wesley raised no objection to the designa- tion "Episcopal," though he clung tenaciously to his term ' ' superintendent. " The history of the Methodist Episcopal Church shows that Wesley's fear of the hierarchical use of the more simple and exact term "bishop " was groundless. Watson has well stated Wesley's position. He "never did pretend to ordain bishops in the modern sense, but only according to his view of primi- tive episcopacy . . . founded upon the principle of bishops and 238 John Wesley the Methodist. presbyters being of the same degree ; a more extended office only being assigned to the former, as in the primitive Church. For, though nothing can be more obvious than that the primi- tive pastors are called bishops or presbyters indiscriminately in the New Testament, yet at an early period those presbyters were, by way of distinction, denominated bishops, who pre- sided in the meetings of the presbyters, and were finally invested with the government of several churches, with their respective presbyteries; so that two offices were then, as in this case, grafted upon the same order," The Methodist bishops, says Watson, "have in practice as well exemplified the primi- tive spirit as in principle they were conformed to the primitive discipline." Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 239 CHAPTER XVII. Traveler, Preacher^ and Philanthropist* Wesley's Travels.— His Preaching Power.— The Last University Ser- mon. — A Pioneer of Benevolence. — Temperance.— Sunday Schools. — The Press. — Hymns and Tunes. HT seventy-two John Wesley could truthfully say to Lord North that he traveled four thousand or five thousand miles a year and conversed with more persons of every sort than anyone else in the three kingdoms. Bad as the roads were he was a sturdy pedestrian, good for his five and twenty miles a day, reading as he walked. Before 1773 he made most of his long journeys on horseback, and, regardless of grace, rode with loose rein, reading history, poetry, or philosophy from the book in his uplifted hand. One June day in 1750 he rode ninety miles and was twenty hours in the saddle, using two horses. He rode with a slack rein for above one hundred thousand miles, and except with two horses, that he says would fall "head over heels" anyway, he had surprisingly few falls; and he recommends the use of a loose rein to all travelers. When his friends insisted on providing him with a chaise he showed the same determination to fulfill every appointment. The old Cornish sexton, Peter Martin, of Helstone, used to tell how, when he was ostler, he had driven Wesley to St. Ives. When they reached Hayle the sands which separated them from St. Ives were covered by the rising tide. A captain of a vessel came up and begged them to go back at once. Wesley said he must go on, as he had to preach at a certain hour. 240 John Wesley the Methodist, Looking out of the window, he shouted, "Take the sea! Take the sea! " Soon the horses were swimming, and the poor ostler expected every moment to bj drowned; but Wesley put his head out of the window— his long white hair was dripping with the salt water. "What is your name, driver ? " he asked. " Peter," said the man. " Peter," he said, "fear not; thou shalt not sink." At last the driver got his carriage safely over. Wesley's first care, ho says, was "to see me comfortably lodged at the tavern; " he secured warm clothing, good fire, and refreshment for his driver, then, totally unmindful of himself, and drenched as he was with the dashing waves, he proceeded to the chapel, where he preached according to appointment. He was then in his eighty- third year. Although he read as he traveled, nothing seemed to escape his observation. His journals are alive with critical notes on men and manners, nature and art. Wesley's headquarters for England were London, where he spent several months every year; Bristol, in the west, with the neighboring Kingswood School as his home in later life; and Newcastle, with the hospitable Orphanage House, in the north. He itinerated by a careful plan, to avoid all waste of labor. He concentrated his preaching on the most thickly populated parts of England, though he visited many villages by the way. Miners and colliers, weavers and spinners, artisans and labor- ers, formed the backbone of his societies, with a strong contin- gent of commercial men and a few doctors and lawyers. Wesley as a preacher possessed many natural advantages, as the accounts of him by John Nelson and Dr. Kennicott have shown us. His expressive features, his vivid eye, his clear voice, and manly, graceful carriage made his hearers either forget his small stature or wonder that a frame so slight should Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 243 enshrine a manhood so sturdy. When he preached at Hull in his old age, in the largest parish church in England, he was well heard. In the open air his voice reached the outskirts of the vast crowds. One of his favorite preaching places was in Cornwall, the natural amphitheater at Gwennap — "the finest I know in the kingdom." At one of his early annual services there it is supposed there were ten thousand people. The service continued until the darkness of night covered the vast assembly, yet there was " the deepest attention; none speaking, stirring, or scarce looking aside." Wesley's extraordinary power as a preacher was due to his simplicity, his force of argument, his grip upon the reason and conscience, his transparent sincerity, his spirituality. He was not an impassioned and dramatic orator, like Whitefield He did not, like his brother Charles, melt his hearers by his deep emotion and pathetic appeals. He " reasoned of sin and right- eousness and judgment." John Nelson witnesses to his power of making the "heart beat like the pendulum of a clock; I thought he spoke to no one but me." "This man can tell the secrets of my heart; he hath not left me there, for he hath shown the remedy, even the blood of Jesus." After his "day of Pentecost " his whole man was "kindled and inspired by a divine conviction and force, and he preached as one inspired," with solemn intensity and perfect self-control, to crowds swayed by feelings w^hich found expression in sobs and tears and out- cries of prayer or praise. St. John's First Epistle was his model of style. " Here," he says, "are simplicity and sublimity together, the strongest sense and the plainest language. How can anyone that would speak as the oracles of God use harder words than are found here ? " He advised all his young preachers to make St. John their master. His first extempore sermon was preached in All Hallows 244 John Wesley the Methodist. Church, Lombard Street, London. In 1788 he told the attend- ant, as he was putting on his gown to preach again in the same place, "Sir, it is above fifty years since I first preached in this church ; I remember it from a particular circumstance. 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 ? ' " Her question went home; he spoke with freedom, and from that time he was independent of manuscript. Sometimes, as we have seen, he preached at great length to hearers who never wearied. Sometimes he brought forth the treasures of ancient philosophy and interwove classical passages of point and beauty into his sermons, as in his sermon on The Great Assize, preached before the Judges of the Common Pleas at Bedford. But his printed sermons as a rule do not represent the energy and directness of his extempore preaching when vast crowds hung upon his lips. How he preached in the open air, face to face with a raging mob, is better suggested by one of the many entries in his Journal: " I called for a chair. The winds were hushed, and all was calm and still. My heart was filled with love and my mouth with arguments. They were amazed; they were ashamed; they were melted; they devoured every word." On St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1744, Wesley was called to Oxford to take his turn as university preacher. According to the terms of his fellowship he must deliver a sermon in St. Mary's Church once in three years or forfeit three guineas. He had preached in 1738 and 1741, but now he had become a notable figure, and great interest was felt in what he would say. The church is filled with univ^ersity dig- Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 245 nitaries and townspeople. William Blackstone, an old Charter- house boy, like the preacher, listens and makes note and comment as he did later on the Common Law. An observant undergraduate in the gallery remembers that "his black hair, i>»-t=^ Pulpit of St. Paul's, Bedford. Standing here, Wesley preached his famous sermon on The Great Assize. 1758. quite smooth and parted very exactly, added to a peculiar com- posure in his countenance, showed him to be an uncommon man. His prayer was short, soft, and conformable to the rules of the university. His text (Acts iv, 31), 'And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. ' He spoke the text very slowly and with an agreeable emphasis." 246 John Wesley the Methodist. Then followed the beautiful description of scriptural Chris- tianity, and afterward the practical application which gave such dire offense. The dignitaries in the body of the church grew angry and restless, although the touching appeal to " the venerable men " who were responsible for the guidance of the young life of Oxford was based on facts to which every leading Oxford man of that centur}^ bears painful witness. John Wesley notes in his Journal that it was St. Bartholo- mew's Day, and, of course, the anniversary of the ejectment of two thousand ministers from the National Church by the Act of Uniformity. He adds: " I preached, I suppose, the last time at St. Mary's. Be it so. I am now clear of the blood of these men. I have delivered my own soul. The beadle came to me afterward and told me the vice chancellor had sent him for my notes. I sent them without delay, not without admiring the wise providence of God. Perhaps few men of note would have given a sermon of mine the reading if I had put it into their hands; but by this means it came to be read, probably more than once, by every man of eminence in the university." Blackstone also wrote of the sennce in a letter dated August 28, 1744: "We were yesterday entertained at Oxford by a Curious Sermon from Wesley Ye Methodist. Among other equally modest particulars, He informed us: ist. That there was not one Christian among all ye heads of Houses. 2ndly. That Pride, Gluttony, Avarice, Luxury, Sensuality and Drunkenness were ye General Characteristics of all Fel- lows of Colleges, who were useless to a proverbial uselessness. Lastly, that ye younger part of ye University were a genera- tion of triflers, all of them perjured, and not one of them of any Religion at all. His notes were demanded by ye Vice Chancellor, but on mature deliberation, it has been thought proper to punish him by a mortifying neglect. " Wesley visited Oxford many times afterward, preaching only Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 247 ■ ^ . _,. ^^m^_^^p^_ Glimpses of St. Mary's, Oxford. Porch, with statue of the Virgin. The undergraduates' gallery. The pulpit. 248 John Wesley the Methodist. in a room or chapel, the authorities preferring to pay for a sub- stitute rather than sit again under his searching preaching. He went up to vote for a member of Parliament on a bitter day in January, 1 751, at the request of the rector of his college, for whom he cherished warm affection. The university now was changing its attitude toward Wesley, and he says: " I was much surprised wherever I went at the civility of the people, gentlemen as well as others. There was no pointing, no call- ing of names, no, not even laughter. What can this mean ? Am I become the servant of men? Or is the scandal of the cross ceased?" In the same year, on Friday, June i, after enjoying his fellowship for twenty-six years, he resigned it of his own free will. This severed his official connection with the university, but he loved it to the last, and wrote in 1778: " Having an hour to spare, I walked to Christ- Church, for which I cannot but still retain a peculiar affection. What lovely mansions are these I What is wanting to make the inhabitants happy? That with- out which no rational creature can be happy, the experimental knowledge of God." Two years later he said, "I love the very sight of Oxford;" and when he was eighty he walked through the city, which was "swiftly improving in everything but religion." The hall at Christ Church, the Meadow, Mag- dalen Walks, and the White Walk still filled the old man with admiration, and he declared them finer than anything he had seen in Europe. In 1744 and 1745 England was panic-stricken over the rumors of a French invasion to place the exiled Stuart " pretender" on the throne. "Papists" were proclaimed as especially per- nicious foes of the king, and the Methodists fell under such suspicion of popery that John Wesley had to go before a magis- trate and take the oath of loyalty — as no one could do with better conscience. Even in this period of unrest he did not Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 249 cease from his journeyings up and down the kingdom from Cornwall to Newcastle. John Wesley was a pioneer on more than one line of phi- lanthropy. The colliers' school at Kingswood and the orphan house at Newcastle were early manifestations of his love for his fellows. The activities which centered in the Foundry remind the modern reader of that very modern thing " the institutional church. " At the Foundry clothes were received from all who could The Broad Walk, Christ Church, Oxford. spare them, and were distributed among the poor. The society room was actually turned into a workshop for four months, where the poorest members were employed in carding and spinning cotton. Soon after, all the women who were out of work were employed in knitting, for which they were paid the ordinary price. A gratuity was added to the earnings in cases where the family need was great. Twelve persons were appointed to inspect the work and to visit the sick. In 1743, 250 John Wesley the Methodist. in the great London society, Wesley appointed forty-six visitors whom he judged to be sympathetic and capable for this deli- cate work. They were selected from a company of volunteers. Dividing the metropolis into twenty-three districts, they went two by two into the homes of the sick three times a week, relieving their wants and inquiring concerning their souls. Their accounts were presented weekly to the stewards. Four plain rules were laid down: i. Be plain and open in dealing with souls. 2. Be mild, tender, and patient. 3. Be clean in all you do for the sick. 4. Be not nice. Here was the golden law: "If you cannot relieve, do not grieve the poor; give them soft words, if nothing else; abstain from either sour looks or harsh words. Let them be glad to come, even though they should go empty away. Put yourself in the place of every poor man, and deal with him as you would God should deal with you." Wesley showed characteristic prudence in handling none of the funds himself. The Newcastle Orphan House, begun in 1742, and built by faith and prayer, became a preaching house, a children's home, a place of rest for workers, a school where Wesley taught rhetoric, moral philosophy, and logic to his young preachers, and a cen- ter of evangelism for the North of England. The West Street Chapel in London was another center of philanthropic effort. A Friendly Union Benefit Society was formed. The front par- lor of the house was used as a soup kitchen. There was also a charity school similar to that of which vSilas Told was master at the Foundry. Methodist women prepared linen for the children to wear, and formed what would be called to-day "a household salvage corps," collecting cast-off clothing and food for the poor. There are touching stories of outcast women rescued by the early Methodists. But the boldest step was the founding of Wesley's medical dispensaries at the Foundry, West Street, and Bristol. The Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 251 sufferings of the sick poor stirred his heart, and " I thought," says Wesley, " of a kind of desperate expedient; I will prepare and give them physic myself." For six or seven and twenty years he had made anatomy and physic the diversion of his leisure hours. When preparing for the mission to Georgia he studied medicine; now he applied himself again. " I took into my assistance an apothecary and an experienced surgeon; West Street Chapel, London. resolving not to go out of my depth, but to leave all difficult and complicated cases to such physicians as the patients should choose." In six months six hundred cases were treated in London, The Bristol dispensary soon had two hundred patients. In 1780 we find a medical man in attendance twice a week, for three hours each day, at the chapel house of West Street. Between 1746 and 1780 medical science and surgery in England had made more advance than in all the previous 252 John Wesley the Methodist. part of the century, but when Wesley commenced both were in a very poor condition. A twenty-third edition of his Primitive Physic was published in the year of his death, in which many of the early prescriptions were discarded, but some of the reme- dies appear very " primitive " and amusing in the present day. Quick to perceive the practical usefulness of electricity as a therapeutic agent, he gave electric treatments to many as early as 1756. We can hardly claim for him the honor of founding aseptic practice, but certainly the man who said " cleanliness is next to godliness " was not far from it. In -a dram-drinking age he was an enemy of alcohol. Even of the medicinal value of liquors he said: "They maybe of use in some bodily disorders, although there would rarely be occasion for them were it not for the unskillfulness of the practitioner." In general his condemnation of the use of beer, ale, wines, and spirits was far in advance of public opinion. Of the traffickers in liquor he said: "All who sell spirituous liquors in the common way, to any that will buy, are poisoners general. They murder his majesty's subjects by wholesale. They drive them to hell, like sheep. And what is their gain ? Is it not the blood of these men ? " He advocated prohibition of the spirit traffic. In 1773, when bread was at famine price, and great poverty prevailed, one remedy he suggested was "prohibiting forever, by making a full end of distilling." " What will become of the revenue ? " shrieked economists. Wesley wrote: " True, the traffic brings in a large revenue to the king, but is this an equivalent for the lives of his subjects ? Would his majesty sell one hundred thousand of his subjects yearly to Algiers for ;^4oo,ooo? Sure- ly, no. Will he, then, sell them for that sum to be butchered by their own countrymen ? O tell it not in Constantinople that the English raise the royal revenue by selling the flesh and blood of their countrymen ! " Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 253 In 1746 John Wesley established a "poor man's bank," col- lecting by public appeal a small capital to lend out to the indus- trious poor. He started with some ^30, out of which he made The Orphan House, Newcastle. Wesley's attic study, old Newcastle Orphanage. The Old Orphan House, 1742. The New Orphan House and Wesleyan School. loans of twenty shillings each to two hundred and fifty-five persons in eighteen months. The loans ran three months, and were repaid by weekly installments. One, Lackington, who was 254 John Wesley the Methodist. thus enabled to stock a book stall, worked up to a business of ^5,000 a year in London. Prison work had been begun by Wesley in his Oxford days. His Foundry schoolmaster, Silas Told, carried it nobly forward in London. Before there was an antislavery society Wesley had described the trade in men as "that execrable sum of all villainies." It was the burden of his letter to Wilberforce, the last he ever penned. Personally Wesley was the most lib- eral of givers. In his lifetime he lived on some ^^o a year, and gave away the ^30,000 profits of the book business. When the excise men supposing him to be wealthy — as he might have been — demanded that he "make due entry" of his plate, that duty might be levied on it, he wrote: " Sir, I have two silver teaspoons here in London and two at Bristol. This is all which I have at present ; and I shall not buy any more while so many rotmd me want bread. " Some of the wealthy men of Manchester told Wesley that he did not know the value of money. He took no notice, but bit his lip and let them talk on. When he was preaching he rec- ollected it, and began to talk of it immediately. " I have heard to-day," said he, " that I do not know the value of money. What! don't I know that twelve pence make a shilling, and twenty-one shillings a guinea.'' Don't I know that if given to God, it's worth heaven — through Christ ? And don't I know that if hoarded and kept, it's worth damnation to the man who hoards it? " Wesley's doctrine of Christian stewardship is summed up in his sermon on The Use of Money, with its three points: "Gain all you can; save all you can; give all you can; " and he prac- ticed what he preached. " I reverence the young," said John Wesley, " because they may be useful after I am dead," and at his last Conference, when asked what he would recommend for perpetuating that Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 255 Some of Wesley's Preaching Places. A cottage chapel, John Clarke's. Preaching room at John Clarke's. The double-decked chapel, Nottingham. Where Wesley preached, Cradley. revival of religion which he had commenced he said, "Take care of the rising generation." He had encouraged Methodist 256 John Wesley the Meihodist. Sunday schools before Robert Raikes made his conspicuous suc- cess at Gloucester. His presses gave Raikes's experiment the widest publicity. His Journal entry at Bingley in July, 1784, remarks: "I stepped into the Sunday school, which contains two hundred and forty children, taught every Sunday by sev- eral masters, and superintended by the curate. So, many chil- dren in one parish are restrained from open sin, and taught a little good manners at least, as well as to read the Bible. I find these schools springing up wherever I go. Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians? " "Though I am always in haste," said Wesley, " I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit." This perfect self- control, and the ability to turn to advantage every minute of spare time enabled him, in addition to his travels of five thou- sand miles a year and his forty thousand. sermons, to edit and write four hundred books, and become the pioneer in publish- ing cheap and good books for the people. His style bears no trace of "hurry." He has described it: "What is it consti- tutes a good style ? Perspicuity, purity, propriety, strength, and easiness joined together. . . . As for me, I never think of my style at all, but just set down the words tliat come first. . . . Clearness in particular is necessary for you and me. . . , When I had been a member of the university for about ten years I wrote and talked much as you do now; but when I talked to plain people in the castle or town I observed they gaped and stared. This obliged me to alter my style. . . . And yet there is dignity in this simplicity which is not disagreeable to those of highest rank."- That-Journal which flows on with such copiousness, variety, and interest to the end of his life is, says Birrell, "the most Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 257 amazing record of human exertion ever penned by man." Social historians have learned to go to it for observation and comment of the rarest value. As a pioneer of popular literature Wesley holds a high place in national history. The fr~:—'- — : . ■ — -— 1 ■^ THE Arailiiian Magazine, N U M B E R I. For JANUARY 1778. This NUMBER Contains. — 29 T!ic InlrodiiSion, defciibing ihc general DeHgn of tlie The Life ofAmiimus ' — An Accouiif of tlic Synod of Dort — ' — LETTERS. Letter I. From ilie Rev. Mr. Samuel Wcflcy, Rcaor of Epwonb, Lincolnihirc. On the proper RequifiLCs for cntciing into Holy Orders — Leiicr II. From die fame. On the Folly of Yoiilhful Eryovnncnls — Letter 111. From the fame. On the Atlianafian Creed Lcilcr IV. Fiom Mis. Siifjnndli Wedey : giving jn Ac. comu of a remarkable Deliverance fiom Kirc Letter V.Fjom the fame: fiiowing, That the Happincfs or Mifciy of All Men depends on themfehcs, and not on any AbfoUitc Dorrcc — • Letter VI. From the f.nnc. The DoHrincs of Elcaioii and Pre.lellm.uion cle.uly (Ijied — — LcttciVIl. From tlicfjmer fhewing, how far Taking Thought ior the Morrow, is allowable POETRY. Eiipolis's Hymn to the Creator. The Occafion ; hcinj Part of a Dialogue between Plato and Eu])oIis • — The Hvnni _ _ _ II)!nn. Salvation depends not on Abfuluie Deerecs Hvmn on Un.vcifal Reaemplioa — — Page traveling peddlers, or " chapmen," were the only purveyors of cheap books before Wesley did his work, and their ' ' cheap books," sold for a few pence, were of little or no value from an educational standpoint, as our fac- similes of some of the most harmless show. Wesley stored his preach- ers' saddlebags with penny books of a whole- some sort. ' ' Two and forty years ago," he writes, "having a desire to furnish poor people with cheaper, shorter, and plainer books than any I have seen, I wrote many small tracts, generally a penny apiece, and after- ward several larger. Some of these have such a sale as I never thought of; and by this means I became unawares rich." What he did with the wealth we shall learn later. He created an appetite for reading among the people. His cheap books had an enormous circulation, and Watson justly observes that "he 17 — 5b. LONDON: primed by J. TRY lod Co. and SolJ ji il.c rou>,Jjty, ■ : [,r»mSi..i-r ti,ci.2 xUfrcr-MotineU Cover and Contents of the First Number of the Arminian Magazine. (Reduced facsimile.) 258 John Wesley the Methodist. was probably the first to use on any extensive scale this means of popular reformation." Wesley and Coke formed the first tract society in 1782, seventeen years before the formation of the Religious Tract , \ _ , Society of London, and T Q T H E forty years before this thousands of copies of Wesley's Word to a Smuggler, Word to a Sabbath-breaker, Word to a Swearer, and other tracts were circulated broadcast. He did much by his cheap abridgments to bring stores of useful literature within the reach of those who were short of money to buy and time to read the ponderous folios and quartos in which much of the best writing was en- tombed. His Christian Library, in thirty volumes ( 1 749-1 7 55). ^^'as his great- est effort in this direction, but by this he suffered a loss of ^100. Milton's Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts, and even the Pilgrim's Progress were merci- lessly condensed, and though to-day this may be regarded as vandalism, the needs of the poverty-stricken multitudes whose intellects were awakened by the revival condone the deed. The list of Wesley's original works, from the first of 1733 — READER, IT' IS' urual, I am informed, for the com- -pilcrs of Magazines, lo employ the ouifide | Covers, in. acquainting tlic courteous reader,^! ■with the Boaitties and ixcetlcncies of ^^■hat he ■will find within. I bog liim to cxcufe me from this troul)lc : from writing a pnncg^ric upon niyfclf Neither can I delire my Friends to do it ior me, in their recommendatory Letters. I am content this Magazine (hould ftand or fall, by its own intrinfic value. If it is a connpound of FaHhood, Ribaldry, and Nonfenlc, let it fink into- oblivion. If it contains only the words of trutii ancl foberncfs, then let it meet ■\viih a favourable reception. It is lifual likewife with Magazin.e Wn'tcrs, to fpeak of themfclvcs in the plural number ; ■" Wf. will do thus." And indeed it is the gc- jieral Cullom of Great Men lb to do. Uut 1 am a little one. Lei me then be excufed in this alfo, an J permitted to fpeak as lain-aC- cullomed to do. John Wefley, LEWI. SHAM, Nov, 2^( 1777. : tomaitu fewer* Artida tlitn any nthcr. . 1 his r» noi by accMlciii, fcut (fjfijn. I hivt Irtqufnily btfii dilguftr j by lh< many bit* :.n>j friapi nl various kjnds. which nial^e "pa grcrftpirt of inoil publu-iiioni udhii njiuic. * Bcloic cnc hji well. eu;citd u>>on any fjh. y&, A w.'S.Jt m end, oiij rrrcrrrd lo the next Niuiiber : 3 mere nkl, ij <]c. coy Ike rtjdrr, Lo buy iiiythef and anothef NumNcf.vOn the coutrar,* 1 ftiall endeaveui lo ticjin in.l toiKludc ai nijny lh.n« at polTitle in eafh nunibir ; »i ihal SjKjw, la e»ery Keiilcl uft lu( owq J^^rcittioo. Wesley's Editorial Salutatory. In the first number of the Arminian Magazine. Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 259 a Collection of Forms of Prayer, for the use of his pupils— to the last revision of his Notes on the New Testament, fifty-seven years later, v^ould fill a volume. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament (constituting with his first fifty-three sermons the doctrinal standards of Meth- odism) appeared in 1755. The notes he made "as short as possible, that the comment may not obscure or swallow up the text, and as plain as possible, in pursuance of the main design. " His brother Charles, who was an excellent critic, assisted him. He took great pains to secure a correct Greek text, using chiefly the Gnomon Novi Testamenti of Bengel— "that great light of the Christian world." He anticipated the revision of 1 88 1 in his use of paragraphs, the omission of chapter headings, and in a large number of renderings. His first fifty-three sermons, referred to as part of the doc- trinal standards of Methodism, were pubHshedin 1746 and 1760. Henry Moore states that Wesley felt the need of preparing some concise, clear, and full body of divinity to guide his preachers and people. Retiring to the house of his friends, the Blackwells, at Lewisham, and taking only his Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament with him, "My design," he says in his preface, " is in some sense to forget all that I have ever read in my life." One portion of this preface is so character- istic of the man and his methods that no review of his work would be complete without it. He writes: "To candid, reasonable men I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of the day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till, a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing: the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach 26o John Wesley the Methodist. the way; for this very end he came down from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book ! at any price, give me the book of God ! 1 have it ; here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be Jiomo tiniiis libri. Here, then, I am far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone ; only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his book, for this end — to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning -vo(J/ Vryxi-r-l.-t Ul^ JZ^ AC. w-^ i/^. CA-n -.^ (<^^. ^n.A-^ (1a^ i \r ^ s' nMJf/^ John Wesley's Shorthand Writing. Slightly reduced facsimile. the meaning of what I read ? Does anything appear dark or intricate ? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights. ' Lord, is it not thy word, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God ? Thou givest liberally and upbraidest not. Thou hast said if any man be willing to do thy will, he shall know. I am willing to do; let me know thy will.' I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I meditate thereon with all the atten- Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 261 tion and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God, and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn that I teach." These written and printed sermons, as we have noted, do not represent his preaching, and must be regarded rather as care- ful statements of his doctrines intended for thoughtful reading. His later sermons were prepared for his magazine, and are more varied in style and literary illustration. His Earnest Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion (1743 and 1745) contain some of his most trenchant and powerful work. They were not only a vindication of Methodism, but of the Christian religion, and answered their purpose to a remarkable degree. They were fruitful, as we have seen, in the conversion of deists like Lampe, and Wesley tells of sev- eral like "Dr. W , a steady, rational infidel," whom "it pleased God to touch " as they read. They did more to melt the hearts of the more reasonable of Wesley's clerical oppo- nents than anything else he wrote. Wesley wrote or compiled or edited schoolbooks, histories, condensations of great literary works, in great number and variety. His Collected Works, in thirty- two volumes, were published 1771-1774. All this work was done from what Dr. Osborne describes as his "intense determination to popularize literature, and by means of cheap extracts and abridgments to bring good books within reach of his societies, most of whom had neither time to read nor money to buy much more than he supplied to them." In 1778 he put forth the first number of the Arminian Maga- zine, which is still issued under another title. It was aimed to counteract the effect of the Calvinist magazines. Wesley declared in a letter to Thomas Taylor that his object was, "not to get money," but "to counteract the poison of 262 John Wesley the Methodist. A COLLECTION O F N E S. U U S 1 c. T U Set to As they arc comn^onlv S t; n g a.t tlitr F C) U N D E R Y other periodicals." But it also supplied, by means of lives and letters, " the marrow of experimental and practical religion." For forty years Wesley had a store, "The Book-Room," at the Foundr}^ In 1777 the business was re- moved to the new chapel in City Road. Thus began the great Book Concerns of world-wide Method- ism, which have done so much for the cir- culation of its litera- ture and the assist- ance of its funds. Music had a power- ful charm for all the Wesleys, and John was no exception. Scarcely less than his brother, whose poetical gift sur- passed his, was his fondness for good singing. He heard the Messiah sung in Bristol Cathedral in 1758, and frequently met the composer Handel in London. His tune books caught the popular ear, and the good singing of the Methodists became proverbial. John Wesley's knowledge of the German language, acquired Z N D N: Printed by A. Pe a r so>', and fold by T. Harris, ai tlie Uchvr.CUfi anJ nihh, on [.(.>iJ',n- Bridge; T. Trye, i.t Cray s- Inn- Gat,, H:lhorn\ and at tlic Fouiiderjy near L/fJvr MoorfiiUs. MDCCXLII. Title-page of Wesley's First Tune Book. Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. J 63 on his first Atlantic voyage, opened up to him the splendid treasury of German hymnody; for, as Dr. Philip Schaff has well said in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, the "church hymn, in the strict sense of the term, as a popular religious lyric in praise of God, to be sung by the congregation in public worship, was born with the German Reformation." Ten thousand German hymns have become more or less popular, and have enriched the hymn books of Churches of other tongues, and nearly a thousand are "classical and ^ik^g ^T^^^fe ^ ^g ^^^^^^^^fe fej^^ ^^^ Wesley's Favorite Tune, by Lampe. immortal." "John Wesley," says Dr. vSchaff, "was one of the first English divines who appreciated their value." He translated at least thirty hymns, five of which appeared in his first hymn book. He translated Psalm Ixiii from the Spanish version, and at least revised Mme. Bourignon's French hymn, "Come, Saviour, Jesus, from above." John Wesley's modesty has made it difhcult to distinguish his original hymns from those of his brother. His paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, to which his name is attached, is one of the finest in the English language. His severer taste pruned his brother's hymns of luxuriances, and on comparing those 264 John Wesley the Methodist, which John edited with the originals it will be found that they gained much by his unsparing censorship. John Wesley strongly objected to any "mending" of his own hymns, but he mended the hymns of others with a clear conscience, and with what success one example of his handling of the famous hymn writer, Watts, will suffice to show: AS WRITTEN BY WATTS. The God that rules on high, And thunders when he please, That rides upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas. AS REVISED BY WESLEY. The God that rules on high, And all the earth surveys, That rides upon the stormy sky, And calms the roaring seas. After their spiritual Pentecost of 1738 the two brothers cooperated, both as authors and editors, and issued fifty-four musical publications, making on an average one every year until the death of John. The year after City Road Chapel was opened the Large Book was advertised in the Arminian Magazine, and it was published in 1780. It was entitled A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Metho- dists, and contained five hundred and twenty-five hymns selected from twenty-one previous publications. John Wesley calls the hymns "a body of experimental and practical divinity. " They were not only intended for congre- gational use, they were a compendium of theology and a manual of private devotion; and when the voices of the preachers were stilled the hymns remained for the deepening of the spiritual life of the people, the elevation of their wor- ship, and the development of their character. " It is a great recommendation to the hymns of both Wesleys," says an Anglican historian, " that, although they are often mystical in tone, and appeal persistently to the feelings, they are thoroughly practical, never losing sight of active Christian morality." But, after all, the Poet of the Revival was Charles Wesley, whose hymns are now sung in every branch of Christianity. Traveler, Preacher, and Philanthropist. 265 Charles, though younger than John, died before him. He had been residing in London for nearly a score of years, preaching frequently in City Road, and living in happiness with his good wife and his musically remarkable children. The friendship Rev. Charles Wesley, A.M. The portrait published in the Arminian Magazine, May, 1792. of the brothers was not broken by their differences of opinion on ecclesiastical policy. A few days before his death Charles Wesley called to his wife and requested her to write down the following lines: In age and feebleness extreme, Who shall a sinful worm redeem ? Jesus, my only hope thou art, Strength of my failing flesh and heart: O could I catch a smile from thee, And drop into eternity! This was the last verse he wrote. 266 John Wesley the Methodist. Samuel Bradburn, then stationed in London, who sat up with him the last night of his life but one, says, " His mind was as calm as a summer evening. " He told his wife that no fiend was permitted to approach him, and that he had a good hope. When asked if he wanted anything, he replied, " Noth- ing but Christ." Some one said that the valley of the shadow of death was hard to be crossed. He exclaimed, ' ' Not with Christ." All his family was present. He pressed his wife's hand, when too feeble to speak, to assure her that he knew her. After his last words, " Lord — my heart — my God! " he quietly fell asleep, on Saturday, March 29, 1788. A fortnight later, when at Bolton, John Wesley attempted to give out as his second hymn, "Come, O thou Traveler unknown," but when he came to the lines. My company before is gone, And I am left alone with Thee, he sank beneath the sorrow of his bereavement, burst into a flood of tears, sat down in the pulpit, and hid his face with his hands. The crowded congregation well knew the cause of his speechless sorrow; singing ceased, and "the chapel became a Bochim. " At length the aged preacher recovered, and went through a service which was never forgotten by those who were present. His love for his brother is expressed in his own words: " I have a brother who is as my own soul.." Setting His House in Order. 267 CHAPTER XVni. Settingf His House in Order* "Thou Art the Man !" — Methodist Clergy. — The Swiss Recruit.— Fletcher's Proposals. — The Deed of Declaration. — The Ordinations. — The Rubicon Crossed. ^VOHN WESLEY completed his seventieth year in 1773. 1 His health was apparently failing", and the great itiner- ant began to feel the necessity to set his house in order as one who goes on a long journey. He had been revising his manuscripts for his literary executor, but was concerned for the future conduct of the complex system of work which had resulted from his labors. "What an amazing work has God wrought in these king- doms in less than forty years! " he writes. " And it not only continues, but increases, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay, it has lately spread into New York, Pennsyl- vania, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. But the wise men of the world say, ' When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this is at an end. ' " And Wesley himself fears this, ' ' unless, before God calls me hence, one is found to stand in my place. ... I see more and more, unless there be one npoearcdg, the work can never be carried on." At present he fears the preachers will not submit to one another. A leader they must have. " But who is suffi- cient for these things ? " Then, after describing the type of leader needed, Wesley declares to John Fletcher: " Thou art the man ! " Fletcher stands easily foremost among the clergy of the Church of England who became identified with the Methodist 268 John Wesley the Methodist. movement. Some of these gave up parochial work in the Church of England and became itinerant preachers like White- field. Others continued in their church livings and were at the same time Methodist assistants (superintendents) and had a Methodist circuit extending far beyond their own par- ishes, like Grimshaw, of Haworth. A third class attended the Conferences, welcomed the Meth- odist leaders to their homes and pulpits, and assisted them in the administration of the sacraments, without leaving or extending their parochial work, like Vincent Perronet, of Shoreham, to whom Wesley addressed his Plain Account of the People Called Methodists, and Henry Venn, of Clapham, to whom Wesley wrote in 1765 the spirited letter in which the motto of the Epworth League is found: *' I desire to have a league offensive and defensive with every soldier of Christ. We have not only one faith, one hope, one Lord, but are directly engaged in one warfare. We are carrying the war into the devil's own quar- ters, who therefore summons all his hosts to war. Come, then, ye that love him, to the help of the Lord — to the help of the Lord against the mighty! I am now well-nigh miles emeritus sen ex, sexagenarius [an old soldier who has served out his time and is entitled to his discharge — a sexagenarian] ; yet I trust to fight a little longer. " But of all the evangelical clergy who, with or without their consent, were classed as Methodists the vicar of Madeley stands preeminent for saintliness, learning, and as a defender of the faith. Jean Guillaume de la Flechere, for so he was christened, was a Swiss, born at Nyon of excellent family in 1729. Though educated for the Reformed ministry, he rejected its Calvinistic creed and turned to a life of adventure. A train of remark- able providences landed him in England, where he was coach- ing the sons of a member of Parliament when in 1754 he fell John Wesley at the Age of Sixty-three. Setting His House in Order. 271 in with the Methodists and joined class at the Foundry. Wes- ley's Journal helped him to understand his spiritual needs and the way of salvation, and on January 23, 1755, he recognized himself "a new creature" in Christ Jesus. He entered the ministry of the Church of England, and performed his first min- isterial service in assisting Wesley with the sacraments in Snowsfield Chapel. "How wonderful," wrote Wesley, "are the ways of God! When my bodily strength failed, and none in England were able and willing to assist me, he sent me help from the moun- tains of Switzerland, and an helpmate for me in every respect; where could I have found such another ? " Fletcher's charming personality and rare spiritual gifts gained him immediate adoption into the little group of the clergy who favored the revival work. In 1760 he was appointed to the living of Madeley, and in that rural parish of miners and col- liers he preached and lived the Gospel for twenty-five years. His converts were formed into classes on the Wesleyan plan, and his parish was administered according to Wesley's ideal. Such was Fletcher of Madeley when, in 1763, John Wesley, looking about for a successor, said: "Thou art the man! God has given you a measure of loving faith and a single eye to his glory. He has given you some knowledge of men and things, particularly of the old plan of Methodism. You are blessed with some health, activity, and diligence, together with a degree of learning. And to all these he has lately added, by a way none could have foreseen, favor both with the preachers and the people. Come out, in the name of God! Come to the help of the Lord against the mighty ! Come while I am alive and capable of labor ! . . . Come while I am able, God assist- ing to build you up in faith, to ripen your gifts, and introduce you to the people ! Nil tanti. What possible employment can you have which is of so great importance ? " 272 John Wesley the Methodist. Fletcher did not definitely decline Wesley's proposal, but he stated that he "needed a fuller persuasion that the time is quite come " to leave his work at Madeley. He hopes that Siiulclialli Cliuixli. The parish church of Wesley's friend, Vincent Perronet. Wesley may outlive him, but he promises, " Should Providence call you first, I shall do my best ... to help your brother to gather the wreck, and keep together those who are not abso- Setting His House in Order. 273 lutely bent on throwing away the Methodist doctrines and dis- cipline." Six months later the call was repeated without success. Thirteen years afterward Wesley still doubted if his friend had done right in remaining in his parish. ' ' I can never believe," says he, "it was the will of God that such a burning and shining light should be hid under a bushel. No; instead of being confined to a country village it ought to have shone in every corner of our land." Although Fletcher did not accept "Wesley's commission of lieutenancy, and was survived by him, he is known as his "designated successor." That he gave deep thought to the problem of Methodism after Wesley we know from a compre- hensive statement of his conclusions in a letter written to Mr. Wesley in August, 1775, in which he exhorts his correspondent as an Englishman, a Christian, a divine, and an extraordinary messenger of God, to take positive steps toward the reforma- tion of the Church of England, " which I love, " says Fletcher, ' ' as much as you do, but I do not love her so much as to take her blemishes for ornaments." Some of the leading points in the program of reform are thus stated : " (i) That the growing body of the Methodists in Great Britain, Ireland, and America be formed into a general society— a daughter Church of our holy mother. (2) That this society shall recede from the Church of Eng- land in nothing but in some palpable defects, about doctrine, discipline, and unevangelical hierarchy. (3) That this society shall be the Methodist Church of England, ready to defend the as yet unmethodized Church against all the unjust attacks of the Dissenters— willing to submit to her in all things that are not unscriptural— approving of her ordination, par- taking of her sacraments, and attending her service at every convenient opportunity. (4) That a pamphlet be published containing the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, rectified according to the purity of the Gospel, together with some needful alterations in the liturgy and homilies, such as the expunging of the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed, etc. (5) That Messrs. Wesley, the preachers, and the most substantial Methodists in London, in the name of the societies scattered through the kingdom, would draw up a petition and present it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, informing his grace, and by him the bench of the bishops, of 18 274 John Wesley the Methodist. this design ; proposing the reformed Articles of Religion, asking the protec- tion of the Church of England, begging that this step might not be consid- ered as a schism, but only as an attempt to avail ourselves of the liberty of Englishmen and Protestants to serve God according to the purity of the Gospel, the strictness of primitive discipline, and the original design of the Church of England, which was to reform, so far as time and circumstances would allow, whatever needed reformation. (6) That this petition contain a request to the bishops to ordain the Methodist preachers which can pass their examination according to what is indispensably required in the can- ons of the Church. That instead of the ordinary testimonials the bishops would allow of testimonials signed by Messrs. Wesley and some more clergymen, who would make it their business to inquire into the morals and principles of the candidates for orders. And that, instead of a title, their lordships would accept of a bond signed by twelve stewards of the Methodist societies, certifjnng that the candidate for holy orders shall have a proper maintenance. That if his grace, etc. , does not condescend to grant this request, Messrs. Wesley will be obliged to take an irregular (not une- vangelical) step, and to ordain upon a Church of England independent plan such lay preachers as appear to them qualified for holy orders." Then follow suggestions as to the trial of candidates and the exercise of discipline, and under (9), " that when Messrs. Wes- ley are dead the power of ordination be lodged in three or five of the most steady Methodist ministers, under the title of mod- erators, who shall overlook the flocks and the other preachers as Mr. Wesley does now. " Under (10-12) the Prayer Book is to be revised, confirmation is to be performed with the utmost solemnity by Mr. Wesley or the moderators, and (13) enjoins that the doctrine of grace shall be preached against the Socini- ans, the doctrine of justice against the Calvinists, and the doc- trine of holiness against all the world. The letter closes with a proposal that Kingswood School shall be used for the training of candidates for ''Methodist orders," the education of the preachers' children, and as a home for worn-out ministers. It will be seen that Fletcher thought that Wesley might secure the much-needed reform "without perverting;" that Methodism might exist in ecclesiastical form as a Church with- in a Church, or as a Church branch of the Mother Church, but Setting His House in Order. 275 with a power of expansion to Ireland, the colonies, and the work beyond ; the Articles and Prayer Book might be purged from unevangelical elements, to meet the scruples of many Methodists, and the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed might be omitted. The Methodist superintendent preachers might be episcopally ordained presbyters, and their helpers deacons. If the bishops would not ordain, let the Wesleys do so. Wesley did not see his way to do more than very partially to act upon Fletcher's very striking and comprehensive proposals. He did partially act upon them in some important respects. He drew up a revised Prayer Book or Sun- day Service for the independent Meth- odist Church, after- ward the Methodist Episcopal Church of America. In this book the Thirty-nine Articles are reduced to twenty-four, the Athanasian Creed disappears, the Psalms are abridged. All is adapted to a new people in a homely, pastoral country. Provision is made for independent Meth- odist ordination of deacons, presbyters, or elders, and the set- ting apart of superintendents, or "bishops," to use the word which early became current in America and which has almost displaced the other designation. The suggestion (9) in regard to moderators was an extension of that which Wesley had himself proposed in 1 7 69. It resembles more closely the American plan of general superintendence. Both Fletcher (1759) and Perronet (1762) had previously described the Methodist society as the "Methodist Church." The Birthplace of John Fletcher, Nyon, Switzerland. 276 John Wesley the Methodist. And Wesley himself was now using- the term, so that this was not a new departure. But "what was new was the frank boldness with which Fletcher would one hundred and twenty years ago have spread before the world and all the churches of the world the fact that by the labors of the Wesleys and their fol- lowers a new great Church — for not one nation, but all nations, something greater in its idea and its potentiality than a mere national Church — had actually been created ; and that it was destined to prevail until it had replenished the earth. Here the independent race and nationality — the independent churchly ideas also — of the Swiss Reformed Churchman found voice and utterance. To Fletcher, Methodism was already a great Church, potentially the greatest Church of the world." All accounts agree that Fletcher was a man of exceptional purity of character. Canon Overton, the High Churchman, writes: "Never, perhaps, since the rise of Christianity has the mind which was in Christ Jesus been more faithfully copied than it was in the vicar of Madeley. " The philosophic critic, Isaac Taylor, concludes that "the Methodism of Fletcher was Christianity, as little lowered by admixture of human infirmity as we may hope to find it any- where on earth. " " In a genuine sense he was a saint; . . as unearthly a being as could tread the earth at all. " Yet the Protestant saint was no recluse. John Fletcher's pure and lofty heavenly mindedness did not alienate him from his age. His asceticism, as Mr. Macdonald has remarked, was "the asceticism of love, and not of bondage or of fear." He was a Methodist of the Methodists, and he was delighted when Wesley succeeded in persuading the converts at Madeley to meet in class. He built a Methodist meetinghouse in his vil- lage, and regarded Christian fellowship as essential to a New Testament Church. He greeted the lay preachers as brethren, and his appearance at Wesley's Conferences produced the same Setting His House in Order. 277 remarkable spiritual impression on them as it did on his visitors and hearers elsewhere. At one of the most important Conferences Wesley ever had Fletcher was present (1784). Dr. Coke had just begun the Foreign Missionary Society, and Wesley had just signed his famous Deed of Declaration constituting the Legal Conference. When Fletcher preached at seven on the Sunday morning, Madeley Parish Church and Vicarage. Where Rev. John Fletcher was vicar. Henry Moore records, "The shadow of the divine presence was seen among us, and his going forth was in our sanctuary, " The Conference was a critical one, and for seven days the new "deed" was debated. Fletcher was at prayer at two or three every morning. Turbulent brethren appealed against Wesley, but Fletcher acted as mediator. To Wesley, now eighty-one years of age, he said, ' ' My father ! my father ! they have offended, but they are your children." To the disputing preachers, " My brethren ! my brethren ! he is your father ! " Then he fell 278 John Wesley the Methodist. upon his knees and prayed until many were in tears and sobbed aloud. Fletcher's last sermon was preached in Madeley Church, August 7, 1785, and after the service he was carried fainting to his room. A week later he died, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. " I was intimately acquainted with him," says John Wes- ley, "for about thirty years. I conversed with him morning, noon, and night, without the least reserve, during a journey of many hundred miles; and in all that time I never heard him speak one improper word nor saw him do an improper action. Many exemplary men have I known, holy in heart and life, within fourscore years; but one equal to him I have not known ; one so inwardly and outwardly devoted to God. So unblam- able a character in every respect I have not found either in Europe or America, and I scarce expect to find such another on this side of eternity." "A pattern of all holiness, scarce to be paralleled in a century!" His widow, Mary Bosanquet, continued for many years as an evangelist and loving benefac- tress of her kind. Fletcher's refusal to assume the responsibilities of the work left John Wesley without an apparent successor. But in 1784 he promulgated his plan for perpetuating the Methodist organ- ization. This was the Deed of Declaration — sometimes named in legal phrase the Poll Deed — which he executed February 28, 1784. It legally defined the " Conference of the people called Methodists, " and declared "how the succession and identity thereof is to be continued." Wesley's Poll Deed contained the names of a hundred preachers who were to be in the eye of the law what Wesley himself had been for forty years in relation to his societies and trust property. He had been carefully training his preachers for his responsibility. In a letter dated 1780 he had written, "I chose to exercise the power which God had given me through Setting His House in O RDER. 279 X ^"^ y^^rv~> jC\a~-ty^^ — xv^;. Part of a Letter from John Wesley to John Fletcher. the Conference — both to avoid ostentation, and gently to habit- uate the people to obey them when I should be taken from their head." This Wesley now carried out more fully by merging his own authority in that of the Legal Conference. 28o John Wesley the Methodist. The Conference was to meet annually, fill np vacancies in its number, elect a president and secretary, station the preachers, admit preachers on trial and into full connection, and maintain the discipline and general oversight of the societies. The term of appointments for itinerant preachers was limited to three years. The deed was not kept in reserve until Wesley's death, as some writers have assumed, but five months after its execu- tion it was acted upon at the Conference by the election of two preachers to fill vacancies in the Hundred, and by the formal signing of the Minutes. Wesley was chosen president year by year until his death. Five or six preachers who were annoyed by the omission of their names from the Hundred severed their connection with Wesley, but at the Conference of 1785 all the preachers present signed a document approving both of the substance and design of the deed. "Viewed in the light of outward appearances," wrote Wil- liam Arthur, " the enrollment of the Deed Poll of John Wesley would be one of the most commonplace of events. Viewed in the light of the attention given to it at the time by men of thought, of taste, or of affairs, it would rank as one of the most insignificant; not of more consequence than the execution of his will by an ordinary proprietor, or that of his deed of donation by the founder of some local charity. Viewed in the light of its moral intent, however, it rose to the rank of acts noble and wise. Viewed in its relations to Christianity as a collective body of Churches, it belonged to the category of great ecclesiastical events; and viewed in the light shed back upon it to-day by its historical results, as developed up to the present time, it must be placed among those pregnant acts in human affairs to which in successive generations other preg- nant acts have to trace up their own origin." Three years later (November, 1787) Wesley took another step by which, as Dr. Stoughton observes, "he became practically a Setting His House in Order. 281 Dissenter, " however strongly he might repudiate the term. He decided that the safest way to safeguard his work was to secure legal licenses for his chapels and preachers, "not as Dissenters, " he says, "but simply as preachers of the Gospel." By his repeated ordinations of preachers to minister the sacraments "according to the usages of the Church of England," he finally broke with the Church, though he insisted to the end that he remained within the pale. After quoting many of Wesley's appeals to the Methodists /(ftiTU d^ ?flu< 4u '^A^^ c^?ty