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FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 

REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY   OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


Divide* 

Section       <SC^b 

27</7 

v.3 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/hismethodi03hurs 


THE 

HI  STO  R  Y 

OF 

METHODISM 

JOHN   FLETCHKR   HURST,    D.D.,  LLD. 

A    Bishop   of   the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church 

Chancellor  of  the  American  University 
Sometime  President  of  the  American  Church  History  Society 
Author  of  "A  History  of  the  Christian   Church,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


BRITISH 
METHODISM 


VOLUME 
THE   THIRD 


New     York 
EATON     &     MAINS 

M  DCCC  CI  I 


Copyright  by 

EATON  &  MAINS, 

1902. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  III 


CHAPTER  1AGE 

CX.  The  Rise  of  the  SUNDAY  School 993 

CXI.  .Methodist  Melodies 

CXII.  The  Old  Songs  and  the  New 

CXI II.  The  Chief  Chorister 

CXIV.  The  Swan  Song  of  Charles  Wesley 

CXV.  The  Outposts  of  the  British  Isles 

CXVI.  The  Father  of  Methodist  Missions 

CXVII.  A  Polyglot  from  Patrick's  Isle 

CXVIII.  Some  Typical  Irishmen' 

CXIX.  Wesley,   the  Traveler,   Preacher,  and   Philan- 
thropist  

CXX.  A  Pioneer  of  Popular  Literature 

CXXI.  A  Venerable  Apostle 

CXXII.  The  Death  of  the  Founder  of  Methodism 

CXX  I II.  The  Manhood  of  Wesley 

CXXIV.  Critics  and  Caricaturists 

CXXY.  Methodism  in  Eighteenth  Century  Literature.. 
CXXVI.  John   Newton,   of   Olney,    and   the  Later  Evan- 
gelicals  

CXXVII.  The  Rising  Tide  of  Philanthropy 

CXXVIII.  The  World-wide  Results  of  the  Revival 

CXXIX.  Revolution  or  Evolution  ? 

CXXX.  The  Expanding  Church 

CXXXI.  The  First  Secession  and  Sapling  Church 

CXXXII.  Exuberant  Offshoots  

CXXXIII.  Some  Master  Minds  of  the  New  Century 

iii 


002 

OI3 
023 

035 
048 
057 
067 

077 

085 
101 
1 12 
125 
136 
H9 
158 

166 

177 
184 
196 
211 
218 
230 
244 


Contents  of  Volume  III 

CHAPTER  1'AGE 

CXXXIV.  The  Hibernian  Harvesters 1262 

CXXXV.  The  Tongue  of  Fire 1273 

CXXXVI.  Typical  Lay  Preachers 1282 

CXXXVII.  Dinah  Morris  and  the  Methodist  Sisterhood 1295 

CXXXVHI.  The  Great  Tribune  and  the  Pulpit  Prince 1307 

CXXXIX.  The  Educational  Era  and  Its  Men  of  Mark 1317 

CXL.  The  First  Centenary  Celebration 1332 

CXLI.  The  Queen  and  the  People 1345 

CXLII.  In  the  Turbulent  Times  of  the  Chartists 1357 

CXLIII.  Migrating  Methodists 1365 

CXLIV.  In  the  Service  of  the  Nation 1379 

CXLV.   A  New  Era  for  the  Laity 1389 

CLXVI.  Links  with  Literature  and  Art 1405 

CXLVII.  The  Modern  Methodist  Ministry 1413 

CXLVIII.  The  Forward  Movement  in  Education  and  Phi- 
lanthropy    1427 

CXLIX.  Wesley's  "  Parish  "  in  the  Opening  Century 1438 

Index 1461 

iv 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHOTOGRAVURES 
Jabez  Bunting,  D.D Frontispiece 

PAGE 

ADAM  Clarke,  LL.D.,  F.A.S Facing  1067 

Wesley  at  Gwennap  Pit Facing  1093 

John  Wesley Facing  11 13 

Death  of  John  Wesley Facing  11 25 


TAGE 

Chapter  Head  "  Education  "., , .     993 

Fragment  of  a  Letter  Written  by  Hannah  Ball 994 

Fragment    of    a    Letter    from    John    Wesley    to    Hannah 

Ball   996 

Robert  Raikes 997 

Birthplace  of    Robert   Raikes.     House  of    Robert  Raikes, 

Gloucester 999 

Robert  Raikes    and    the  Curate    in    Hare   Lane,  Glouces- 
ter     1001 

The  Old  Parish  Clerk 1004 

Title-page  of  Wesley's  First  Tune  Book 1006 

John  Frederick  Lampe.    1007 

Wesley's  Favorite  Tune,  by  Lampe 1008 

John  Christopher  Pepusch,  M  us.  Doc 1010 

A  Page  of  Wesley's  Pocket  Diary 1018 

Facsimile    Half    Page    from    Wesley's    Manuscript     Hymn 

Book 1021 

Charles  Wi  sley 1024 

V 


Illustrations 

PAGE 

Part  of  One  of  Charles  Wesley's  Hymns  in  His  Own  Hand- 
writing    1030 

Charles  Wesley's  London  Home 1036 

Obituary  Notice  of  the  Preachers 1042 

Grave  of  Charles  Wesley 1044 

Fragment  of  a  Letter  to  Charles  Wesley  from  Sarah,  His 

Wife 1045 

Charles  Wesley,  Jr 1047 

John  Crook 1049 

Joseph  Sutcliffe 1049 

Arreton  Churchyard 1054 

Robert  Carr  Brackenbury 1056. 

Dr.  Coke's  First  Plan  of  Missk  ins,  1784 1063 

Facsimile  of  Cook's  Letter  to  Fletcher,  1784 1064 

William  Warrener 1065 

Adam  Clarke 1068 

Thomas  Simpson,  A. M 107 1 

John  Bredin 1071 

John  Wesley's  Study,  Bristol 1072 

Mux  Plaisir,  Island  of  Guernsey 1074 

Jean  de  Queteville.     The  De  Queteville  Homestead.     The 

Chapel  at  St.  Aubyn's 1076 

Ibrahim  Ben  Ali 1076 

Rev.  William  Nyles :o8i 

Rey.  Walter  Griffith , 1081 

Rev.  Henry  Moore 1081 

Advertisement  of  a  Stage  Line,  1731 1086 

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, 

Cradi.ey 1089 

The  High  Church,  Hull 1091 

John  Wesley  Preaching  at  Gwennap  Pit 1093 

Pulpit  of  St.  Paul's,  Bedford 1096 

Wesley's  Scarf  Pin.     One  of  Wesley's  Silver  Spoons 1099 

A  Characteristic  Preface  in  Wesley's  Handwriting 1 102 

Proof  with  Wesley's  Marks 1105 

Cover  and  Contents  of  the  First  Number  of  the  Arminian 

Magazine ino 

Wesley's  Editorial  Salutatory mo 

George  Whitffield : IUI 

Contemporary  Portraits  of  John  Wesley 1 1 13 

James  Hamilton,  M.D lll7 

Dr.  James  Hamilton,  Rev.  John  Wesley,   Rev.  Joseph  Cole,  as 

seen  walking  in  Edinburgh,  1790 1119 


Illustrations 


PAGE 
I  20 

121 
122 


Facsimile  of  Wesley's  Signature,  1790 

Wesi  ey's  Tree,  Win(  hi  1  sea 

Oni  of  Wesley's  Last  Letters  

The  House    \  r  Leatherhead  in  which  John  Wesley  Preached 

His  Last  Sermon 

Wesley's  Last  Hymn 

J(  ihn  Wesley's  Deathbed 

Key  to  the  Painting  "  John  Wesley's  Deathbed  " 

TOMB  OF  THE  Key.  John  Wesley 

Wesley's  T  \bi.et  in  City  Road 

John  Wesley 

The  Last  En  iky  ix  Wesley's  ACCOUNT  Book 

Lakh  a  1  ire  of  Whi  tefield    

Con  rEMPORARY  Portraits  of  Wesley 

John  Wesley 

W  \i  1  iK  Scott,  Aged  Six  Years 

A  Group  of  Evangelicals:  Rev.  John  Newton,  Rev.  Thomas 
Scott,  Rev.  Richard  Cecil,  Rey.  Isaac  Milner,  Rev.  Henry 

Venn.  John  Thornton 

Chapter  Head,  "  Philanthropy  " 

Wilker  force  

blr  1hpi.ace  of  wllberforce,  at  hull 

Chapter  H lad,  "  Progress  " 

Mary  Jones's  First  Welsh  Bible.  Old  Bible  House,  London. 
Thames  Street  House,  where  the  Bible  Society  was 
Formed.     Present  Building  of  British  and  Foreign  Bible 

Society 11 86 

Rev.  Thomas  Charles,  of  Bala 1 188 

David  Bogue   1190 

Rev.  Charles  Simeon 1192 

Seal  of  John  Wesley 1 195 

Wesley  s  Field  Bible,  with  Case  1197 

The  Ti  ill-page  of  Wesley's  Field  Bible 11 99 

Fly  Leaves  of  Wesley's   Field  Bible 1201 

Facsimile  of"  A  Plan  for  Grimsley  Circuit,  1782" 1204.  1205 

The  Seal  of  the  Conference  .    1207 

Ebenezer  Chapel,  King  Street,  Bristol,  1895 1208 

Five  Early  Presidents  of  the  Conference  :  William  Thomp- 
son, Alexander   Mather,  John  Pawson,  Joseph  Bradford, 

Thomas  Taylor   1212 

Dr.  Coke's  Port  of  Departure 121 4. 

Ha  1  ton  Garden 1216 

Firsl  Mission  HOUSE 12 16 

Rev.  Alexander  Kii.ham  1219 

Rev.  William  Thom 1223 

vii 


124 
128 
129 
■3' 
132 
i34 
'37 
'47 
'5' 
153 
159 
163 


169 
177 
179 
181 
184 


Illustrations 

Ranmoor  College,  Sheffield 

Former  Leaders  of  the  New  Connection  :  James  Stagey,  D.D., 
William  Cooke,  D.D.,  Rev.  Samuel  Hulme 

Representative  Men  of  the  New  Connection:  Rev.  J.  C. 
Watts,  Rev.  W.  J.  Townsend,  Rev.  J.  S.  Clemmens. 

A  Group  of  Primitive  Methodist  and  Bible  Christian  Lead- 
ers: Rev.  Hugh  Bourne,  Rev.  James  Thorne,  Rev.  William 
Antliff,  Rev.  William  Clowes,  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Bourne 

Rev.  William  Bryan 

Lake  Farm  House 

Rev.  James  Thorne 

Shebbear  College: 

Rev.  Henry  Moore 

Rev.  Samuel  Bradburn 

Rev.  Joseph  Benson  

Rev.  Richard  Watson 

Adam  Clarke,  LL.D.,  F.S.A 

Mrs.  Mary  Clarke 

The  Clarke  Memorial  Church,  Portstewart 

Havdon  Hall 

Old  Woodhouse  Grove  School,  "  Wesleyan  Academy,"  1812  .. . 

Three  Early  Conference  Presidents:  Rev.  John  Barber,  Rev. 
Charles  Atmore,  Rev.  James  Wood 

R  ev.  Gideon  Ouseley 

Rev.  William  Graham  Campbell    

Rev.  William  Bramwell 

Rev.  David  Signer 

Rev.  Duncan  McAllum 

Rev.  Hodgson  Casson  

Thomas  Collins 

William  Carvosso  

Three  Great  Lay  Preachers:  Samuel  Drew,  Edward  Brooke, 
Timothy  Hackworth   

Dick  Hampden 

William  Dawson 

Sammy  Hick's  Smithy,  Micklefield 

Three  Eloquent  Laymen:  Jonathan  Saville,  Charles  Rich- 
ardson, Sammy  Hick 

The  Old  Chapel,  Derby,  1765 

Memorials  of  "  Dinah  Morris  "  :  Old  Arminian  Chapel,  Wirks- 
worth;  Memorial  Tablet  in  Wesleyan  Chapel,  Wirks- 
worth  ;  Wesleyan  Chapel,  Wirksworth;  Bede  Cottage, 
Wirksworth,  Home  of  Elizabeth  and  Samuel  Evans 1298 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Tomi.inson  Evans 1300 

Mrs.  Taft  (Mary  Barritt) 1302 


Illustrations 

p  U.I'. 

Rev.  John  Barritt 1302 

Rev.  Zacharias  Taft 1 30 J 

11  vrissa  Christian 1304 

Anne  Lutton  1305 

Cow's  Flack,  Chequer  Alley 1306 

Rev.  Jabez  Bunting,  D.D 1309 

Facsimile  of  Rev.  j  w,\u  Bun  unci's  Writing 1312 

Birth plac  1  of  Robert  New  ion 1315 

Easingwold  Churchyard 131 5 

A  Group  of  Presidents  of  the  Conference:  Rev.  John 
Crowthf.r,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edmondson,  Rev.  John 
Gaulter,  Rev.  George  Marsden,  Rev.  r.  Treffry,  Rev. 
J.  Townley,  Rev.  J.  Stephens,  Rev.  G.  Morley,  Rev. 
S.  Jackson,  Rev.  Edmund  Grindrod,  Rev.  Joseph  Tay- 
lor, Rev.  John  Scott,  Rev.  C  Prest,  Rev.  William 
Atherton,  Rev.  Jacob  Stanley,  Rev.  John  Beecham, 
Rev.  Isaac  Keeling,  Rev.  John  Lomas,  Rev.  John  Far- 
rar,  Rev.  John  Rattenbury,  Rev.  John  Bowers,  Rev. 
Francis    A.    West,     Rev.    Robert    Young,     Rev.    Robert 

Newton 1319 

Rev.  John  Hannah 1322 

Wesley  an  Theological  Institutions:  Richmond,  Heading  ley, 

Didsbury,  Handsworth 1323 

Abney  House,  Stoke  Newington 1326 

James  Dixon,  D.I) 1328 

Leading  Welsh  Preachers:  Rev.  Isaac  Jenkins,  Rev.  Robert 
Jones,  Rev.  John  Evans,  Rev.  Thomas  Aubrey,  Rev.  Edward 
JONES,  Rev.   Richard   Roberts,  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  Rev. 

Hugh  Jones,  Rev.  David  Young 1329 

Oldham  Street  Chapel,  Manchester 1334 

Speakers  \i  the  First  Missionary  Meeting:  Rev.  George 
Morley,  Rev.  John  Braithwaite,  Rev.  James  Wood,  Rev. 
Jabez   Bunting   (aged   25),  Rev.  William  Warrener,   Rev. 

Charles  Atmore 1335 

Rev.  Theophilus  Lessey 1338 

Rev.  Jabez  Bunting 1339 

Two    Distinguished    Conference    Presidents:    Rev.    Joseph 

Entwisle,  Rev.  Richard  Reece 1342 

Wesley  an  Centenary  Hall,  London,  1839 1343 

The  Old  Wesley  an  Book  Room,  London,  1842  1344 

Interior  of  Exeter  Hall 1348 

Richard  Oastler  and  His  House  at  Thirsk 1353 

"  The  Poor  Man's  Friend,"  M.  T.  Sadler,  M.P 1355 

Thomas  Cooper 1358 

James  Sigston 1367 


Illustrations 

PAGB 

Representative  Men  of  the  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  1369 

Ashville  College 1 373 

James  Duckworth,  M.P 1375 

Henry  T.  Mawson,  Esq .  1375 

Sir  William  McArthur,  K.C.M.G  1384 

McArthur  Hall,  Belfast 1385 

Wesleyan  Soldiers'  Homes  and  Churches 1386 

Three  Army  Chaplains 1387 

Samuel  Dousland  Waddy,  D.D 1 390 

Rev.  James  H.  Rigg,  D.D 1390 

A  Group  of  Distinguished  Wesleyan  Laymen 1391 

John  Fernley 1 395 

The  Allan  Library  Building 1396 

Wesleyan  Chapels,  Old  and  New  1 397 

T.  B.  Smithies 1399 

Wesleyan  School  and  Colleges 1401 

John  Jackson,  R.A 141  o 

James  Smetham 141 1 

Rev.  William  F.  Moulton,  D.D 141 5 

Rev.  W.  Morley  Punshon.  LL.D 141 5 

The  Modern  Kingswood  School,  Bath 141 9 

The  Leys  School,  Cambridge 1421 

Rev.  John  D.  Geden,  D.D 1422 

Rev.  Samuel  Coley 1422 

Rev.  Benjamin  Hellier 1422 

A  Group  of  Conference  Presidents 1423 

Two  Wesleyan  Theologians 1428 

Rev.  Dr.  W.  H   Dallinger,  F.R.S 1429 

A  Group  of  Wesleyan  College  Professors 1431 

Three  Leaders  of  Modern  Wesleyan  Methodism 1435 

Princess  Alice  Orphanage —   1436 

Children's  Home,  Bonner  Road,  London.  ..; H36 

A  Group  of  Modern  Wesleyan  Leaders 1439 

A  Group  of  Irish  Ministers J443 

The  Wesley  Tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey 1447 

Rejected  Addresses,  Cartoon  from  Punch 145° 

Rev.  William  L  Watkinson H51 

Rev.  Frederic  W.  Macdonald '45' 

A  Group  of  Preachers  and  Writers M53 

Rev.  George  Osborn,  D.D ■•■   *453 

The  Wesleyan  Centenary  Statue,  City  Road,  London 1456 

Rev.  Thomas  Allen H58 

X 


CHAPTER  CX 

The  Rise  of  the  Sunday  School 

"I  Reverence  the  Young."— The  Patriarch  and  the  Children. — 
Some  Obscure  Pioneers.  —  Hannah  Bale  and  James  Hey. — 
Wesley  and  Robert  Raikes.— Heroes  in  Hard  Times. — The 
First  Unpaid  Teachers.— The  Children's  Song-worship. 

AT  Wesley's  last  Conference  some  of  his  preachers  asked 
him  what  he  would  recommend  for  perpetuating  that 
revival  of  religion  which  he  had  commenced.  "  Take 
care,"  he  replied,  "  of  the  rising  generation."  "  I  reverence 
the  young,"  he  once  said,  "  because  they  may  be  useful  after 
I  am  dead."  Many  entries  in  his  Journal  reveal  his 
love  for  children  and  their  love  for  him.  We  get  a 
touching  picture  of  the  apostle  of  fourscore  years  as  he 
descended  from  the  pulpit  at  Stockton-on-Tees  in  1784.  "  I 
was  inclosed  by  a  body  of  children;  one  of  whom,  and  an- 
other, sunk  down  upon  their  knees,  until  they  were  all  kneel- 
ing. So  I  kneeled  down  myself  and  began  praying  for  them. 
Abundance  of  people  ran  back  into  the  house.  The  fire  kin- 
dled and  ran  from  heart  to  heart,  till  few,  if  any,  were  un- 
affected. Is  not  this  a  new  thing  in  the  earth  ?  God 
begins  his  work  in  children.  Thus  it  has  been  also  in  Corn- 
wall, Manchester,  and  Epworth.  Thus  the  flame  spreads  to 
1;:;  993 


994  British  Methodism 

those  of  riper  years ;    till  at  length  they  all  know  him  and 
praise  him,  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest." 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Sunday  school  system  during  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life  filled  Wesley's  heart  with  new 
hope  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  There  had  been  Sunday 
schools,  here  and  there,  for  over  a  century.  Joseph  Alleine, 
the  friend  and  fellow-sufferer  of  Wesley's  Nonconforming 
grandfather,  had  conducted  one  at  Bath  until  he  was  stopped 
by  the  bishop.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Mrs.  Boevey,  the  "perverse  widow"  alluded  to  in  the  Spec- 
tator, gathered  the  children  of  the  Forest  of  Dean   together 


16/        it*-*-*. 


4 


FRAGMENT   OF   A    LETTER    WRITTEN    BY    HANNAH    BALL. 

and  taught  them  in  her  own  hall.  Wesley  himself  had 
formed  Sunday  schools  in  Georgia,  and  had  taught  in  the  one 
at  Savannah  as  early  as  1736.  But  the  spread  of  the  Revival 
created  a  new  interest  in  child-life,  and  before  the  Sunday 
school  became  a  recognized  institution  of  the  Churches  of 
England  earnest  Methodists  were  at  work  in  several  places. 

In  1769,  eleven  years  before  the  famous  Robert  Raikes 
formed  his  school  at  Gloucester,  Hannah  Ball  commenced 
one  at  High  Wycombe,  and  sent  an  account  of  it  to  Wesley. 
"  The  children  meet  twice  a  week,  on  Sunday  and  Monday. 
They  are  a  wild  little  company,  but  seem  willing  to  be  in- 
structed. I  labor  among  them  earnestly,  desiring  to  promote 
the  interest  of  the  Church  of  Christ."     She  was  a   saintly 


Robert  Raikes  995 

Methodist.  A  fragment  of  one  of  her  letters,  to  an  unknown 
correspondent,  and  one  of  Wesley's  letters  to  her  on  the  cul- 
tivation of  her  own  spiritual  life  are  here  reproduced. 

Another  pioneer  was  James  Hey,  locally  known  as  "Old 
lammy  o'  th'  Hey,"  a  bobbin  winder  of  Little  Lever,  near 
Bolton.  In  1775  we  find  him  beating  a  brass  pestle  and 
mortar,  in  lieu  of  a  bell,  to  call  together  a  number  of  poor 
••  draw-boys,"  for  teaching,  twice  on  a  Sunday.  A  well-to-do 
manufacturer,  attracted  by  the  strange  bell,  looked  in  upon 
old  Jammy,  who  knew  not  whether  he  had  acted  "  reet  or 
wrano- "  in  starting  such  work.  But  the  wealthy  Mr. 
Crompton  sent  the  old  teacher  books,  and  a  "bannock,"  or 
oatmeal  loaf,  once  a  week,  and  later  provided  forms  and 
more  teachers  at  a  shilling  a  day.  Three  branch  schools  soon 
shot  forth  from  this  parent  stock. 

The  city  of  Gloucester,  in  Wesley's  day.  was  the  chief  pin- 
making  place  in  England,  and  hundreds  of  women  and 
children  were  employed  in  the  industry.  Dibdin's  old  bal- 
lad says  that  the  ladies 

In  former  times  had  only  thorns 

And  skewers  to  stick  their  clothes  on. 

No  damsel  then  was  worth  a  pin, 
Whate'er  it  might  have  cost  her, 

Till  gentle  Johnny  Tilsby 
Invented  pins  in  Gloucester. 

The  pin  makers  lived  in  poor  and  crooked  streets,  where 
on  Sundays  a  throng  of  unkempt,  untaught  children  played 
with  much  noise  and  riot.  A  young  Methodist  lady,  Sophia 
Cooke,  was  one  of  several  friends  (and  is  said  in  her 
memoir,  in  the  Methodist  Magazine  of  1834,  to  have  been 
the  first)  to  suggest  to  Robert  Raikes,  the  editor  of  the 
Gloucester  Journal,  that  the  children  should  be  taught  to 
read   and  be   taken   to   church.     She  marched  with   Robert 


996 


British  Methodism 


IS 


Raikes  at  the  head  of  his  troop  of  ragged  urchins  on  the  first 
Sunday  they  were  taken  to  church.    The  crowd  in  the  streets 

was  vastly  amused  with  the 
unpromising  appearance  of 
the  children,  but  the  phi- 
lanthropist and  his  Metho- 
dist helper  were  undaunted. 
Miss  Cooke  afterward  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  Samuel  Brad- 
burn,  and  lived  to  see  her 
eloquent  husband  president 
of  the  Conference. 

To  Robert  Raikes  belongs 
the  imperishable  honor  of 
raising  the  Sunday  school 
system  into  a  national  insti- 
tution. Carlyle  says,  "A 
preaching  friar  .  .  .  builds  a 
pulpit,  which  he  calls  a  news- 
paper." From  such  a  pul- 
pit Raikes  preached  the  na- 
tional need  of  Sunday 
schools,  and  roused  many  to 
systematic  work.  The  new 
movement  was  fiercely  at- 
tacked from  the  pulpits  of 
another  order,  for  the  power- 
ful Bishop  Horsley  de- 
nounced the  schools,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
called  his  clergy  together  in  much  alarm  at  this  teaching 
by  laymen.  In  Scotland  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  opposi- 
tion to  the    movement    became   very   strong,   and   in    1799 


•; 


I 


^ 


« 


£ 


•>£ 


i 

w4 


Wesley  and  Raikes 


997 


the  sheriff  of  Paisley  pronounced  the  work  illegal,  and  sum- 
moned the  teachers  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  before  the 
magistrates.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Paley — of  evidential 
fame — tried  to  disabuse  the  clergy  of  their  prejudice,  and 
some  of  the  evan- 
gelicals who  had  felt 
the  fire  of  the  Great 
Revival  became 
ardent  supporters  of 
the  work. 

Raikes  published 
an  account  of  his 
plan  in  his  paper  in 
1784.  and  sent  a  copy 
of  it  with  a  letter  to 
Wesley,  who  in- 
serted the  entire 
article  in  the  Ar- 
minian  Magazine  for 
January,  1785,  ex- 
horting his  people  to 
adopt  the  scheme. 
Before  this,  Wesley 
had  written  in  his 
Journal,  after  preaching  at  Bingiey  in  July,  1784:  "I 
stepped  into  the  Sunday  school,  which  contains  two  hundred 
and  forty  children,  taught  every  Sunday  by  several  masters, 
and  superintended  by  the  curate.  So,  many  children  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 


JFE  BY  DRuMMOND. 


EnGRAVEO  BY  BROMLEY. 


ROBERT    RAIKES. 

From  the  portrait  in  the  Kuropean  Magazine,  17 


998  British  Methodism 

knows  but  some  of  these  schools  may  become  nurseries  for 
Christians  ?  " 

But  a  serious  danger  threatened  the  new  movement.  The 
first  teachers  in  Raikes's  school  were  paid.  At  the  close  of 
the  century  hard  times  set  in,  funds  declined,  and,  even  in 
Gloucester,  in  a  few  years  the  schools  died  out.  The  high 
distinction  of  commencing  the  gratuitous  system  belongs  to 
the  Methodist  operatives  of  Oldham.  "Lads,"  said  their 
class  leader,  Mr.  Scholes,  "  let  us  do  it  ourselves;  we  must 
all  come  and  try  what  we  can  do ;  and  if  you'll  do  so,  we  can 
have  a  Sunday  school."  The  bright  idea  spread  throughout 
Methodism,  and  the  year  before  his  death,  after  Wesley  had 
preached  at  Newcastle  to  six  or  seven  hundred  children,  he 
wrote :  ' '  None  of  our  masters  or  mistresses  teach  for  pay ; 
they  seek  a  reward  that  man  cannot  give."  As  the  result  of 
the  Oldham  operative's  suggestion,  as  Sir  Charles  Reed  has 
pointed  out,  "Sunday  schools  became  a  voluntary  institu- 
tion." After  visiting  one  of  these  schools  at  Bolton  Wesley 
said,  "  I  verily  think  these  Sunday  schools  are  one  of  the 
noblest  specimens  of  charity  which  have  been  set  on  foot 
since  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror." 

Richard  Rodda,  one  of  the  preachers,  records  that  in  1786 
he  formed  a  Sunday  school  in  Chester  and  soon  had  nearly 
seven  hundred  children  "under  regular  masters."  Wesley 
wrote  to  him  in  the  beginning  of  1787  :  "I  am  glad  you 
have  taken  in  hand  the  blessed  work  of  setting  up  Sunday 
schools  in  Chester.  It  seems  these  will  be  one  great  means 
of  reviving  religion  throughout  the  nation.  I  wonder  Satan 
has  not  yet  sent  out  some  able  champion  against  them."  In 
1788  Wesley  preached  at  Wigan  "a  sermon  for  the  Sunday 
schools,"  and  "the  people  flocked  from  all  quarters  in  a 
manner  that  never  was  seen  before."     The  year  before   his 


Fletcher's  Sunday  Schools  999 

death  he  wrote  to  Charles  Atmore,  an  itinerant  preacher:  "  1 

am  glad  you  have 
set  up  Sunday 
schools  at  New- 
castle. This  is 
one  of  the  best 
institutions  which 
has  been  seen  in 
Europe  for  some 
centuries." 

Fletcher,  of 
Madeley,  "  lately 
hearing  of  Sunday 


schools,  thought 
much  upon  them, 
and  then  set  about 
the  work."  He 
soon  had  three 
hundred  children 
under  instruction, 
and  diligently 
trained  them  till 
his  last  illness. 
He  drew  up  pro- 
posals for  six  such 
schools  in  Coal- 
brook  Dale, 
M  ad  e  ley,  and 
Madeley    Wood,    and    wrote    an  essay    on    "the    advantages 


DRAAN    BY    J.   P     DAVIS- 

BIRTHPLACE   OF    ROBERT    RAIKES. 

HOUSE  OE  ROBERT  RAIKES,  GLOUCESTER. 


1000  British  Methodism 

likely  to  arise  from  Sunday  schools."  Rowland  Hill  intro- 
duced them  into  London  in  1786,  and  in  the  same  year  Fran- 
cis Asbury  commenced  the  first  Methodist  Sunday  school  in 
the  New  World. 

If  the  Sunday  schools  had  not  adopted  the  gratuitous  prin- 
ciple, they  could  not  have  lived  through  the  years  of  distress 
which  followed.  England  was  soon  at  war  with  France  and 
Holland  ;  Ireland  was  in  rebellion,  and  popidar  discontent  was 
at  its  height.  The  carriage  of  King  George  III  was  pelted  by 
a  mob,  as  he  went  to  open  Parliament,  amid  cries  of  "  Give 
us  bread!"  "No  war!  No  famine!"  Wheat  rose  to  one 
hundred  and  five  shillings  and  ten  pence  a  quarter.  A  quar- 
tern loaf  cost  one  shilling  and  ten  pence.  Industrial  dis- 
turbances were  rife,  and  "scarcity  riots"  were  common  in 
every  large  town.  The  poverty  of  the  poor  was  the  wealth 
of  the  landowners,  who  kept  on  raising  rents,  and  Parliament 
was  persuaded  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  corn  except  at 
famine  prices.  In  the  early  reports  of  the  Methodist  schools 
there  are  touching  references  to  the  poverty  of  the  parents, 
"  many  of  whom  have  hardly  the  necessaries  of  life." 

Before  Robert  Raikes  died  the  schools  he  established  in 
Gloucester  became  entirely  extinct.  In  18 10  six  Methodist 
young  men  gathered  round  a  post  within  twenty  yards  of  the 
spot  where  Hooper  was  martyred,  and,  joining  hands,  vowed 
to  reestablish  Sunday  schools  in  the  city.  They  raised  fifteen 
shillings  among  themselves,  and  with  that  set  to  work  and 
founded  the  first  school  with  unpaid  teachers  in  Gloucester. 
Similar  schools  were  earl)-  established  by  the  Methodist  socie- 
ties in  Ireland,  and  the  Dublin  Conference  of  1794  advised 
their  formation  "  as  far  as  possible  in  all  the  towns  in  this 
kingdom  where  we  have  societies."  It  was  not  until  1808 
that  the  schools  engaged  the  formal  attention  of  the  English 


A  Singing  Sunday  School 


1001 


Conference,  which  required  that  all  the  traveling'  preachers 
should  be  members  of  the  committees,  and  the  superintend- 
ents preside  in  their  meetings. 

The  Sundav  schools  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  song  wor- 
ship of  the   Methodist  Church.      Wesley  had  evidence  of  this 


PAINTED     B»     COWLING. 

ROBERT   RAIK.ES   AND   THE  CURATE   IN    HARE    LANE,  GLOUCESTER. 

before  he  died.  On  his  first  visit  to  the  Bolton  school  he 
was  entranced  by  the  singing  of  the  children.  On  his  second 
visit  he  found  a  ' '  hundred  such  trebles,  boys  and  girls  se- 
lected out  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  accurately  taught,  as 
are  not  found  together  in  any  chapel,  cathedral,  or  music 
room  within  the  four  seas.  Besides,  the  spirit  with  which 
they  all  sing,  and  the  beauty  of  many  of  them,  so  suits  the 
melody  that  I  defy  any  to  exceed  it;  except  the  singing  of 
angels  in   our  Father's  house." 


20000COCOCX100CCCO 


CHAPTER  CXI 


Methodist  Melodies 

The  Revival  of  Sacred  Song.— The  Old  Parish  Clerks. — The 
Musical  Friendships  of  the  Wesleys.— The  First  Tune  Books. 
—  Lampe  and  Handel.— Pithy  Precepts  for  Singers. —  The 
Spiritual  Power  of  Song. 

WITHIN  half  a  century  the  new  song  which  burst 
from  the  lips  of  the  Wesleys  at  their  Pentecost  had 
become  the  mighty  chorus  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  Methodists.  The  Great  Revival  of  personal  re- 
ligion and  Primitive  Church  fellowship  was  also  a  revival  of 
social  worship  and  sacred  song. 

As  in  apostolic  days,  "psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual 
songs  "  were  used  for  the  awakening  and  expression  of  the 
deepest  emotions  of  the  new  life.  Every  evangelical  revival 
had  been  accompanied  by  an  outburst  of  holy  music.  The 
Moravians,  whose  melodies  Wesley  heard  in  the  Atlantic 
storm,  echoed  the  earlier  songs  of  the  followers  of  Huss. 
Luther,  Hans  Sachs,  and  a  noble  band  of  singers  had  made 
all  Germany  ring  with  the  stirring  chorals  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. "  The  psalm  singing  of  the  Huguenots,"  says  Quick's 
Synopticon,  "  contributed  mightily  to  the  downfall  of  popery 
and  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  France."     In  England, 

Bishop  Burnet  tells  us,  "psalms  and  hymns  were  sung  by 

1 002 


A  Revival  of  Spiritual   Song  1003 

all  who  loved  the  Reformation ;  it  was  a  sign  by  which  men's 
affections  to  it  were  measured,  whether  they  used  to  sing 
them  or  not."  Bishop  Jewel  speaks  of  "six  thousand  peo- 
ple singing  together'"  at  Paul's  Cross,  which  "was  very 
grievous  to  the  papists."  And  Methodism,  intensely  Prot- 
ectant, antisacerdotal,  and  claiming  for  every  man  the  right  of 
personal  and  social  worship,  awakened  a  multitude  of  singers 
with  new  melody  in  their  hearts  and  voices. 

A  revival  of  spiritual  song  was  sorely  needed.  Church 
music  was  probably  at  its  worst  about  the  time  of  the  first  two 
Georges.  The  Spectator  complains  that  all  solemn  thoughts 
were  driven  out  of  his  head  by  the  merry  jig  notes  which 
followed  on  the  organ  ;  and  Jeremy  Collier  refers  to  similar 
performances  when  he  says:  ■•  Church  music  must  have  no 
voluntary  maggots,  no  military  tattoos,  no  light  and  galliard- 
izing  notes.  Religious  harmony  must  be  moving,  but  noble 
withal,  grave,  solemn,  and  seraphic;  fit  for  a  martyr  to  play 
and  an  angel  to  hear." 

The  parish  clerk  was  a  great  personage,  and  had  charge  of 
the  singing  in  most  country  churches.  Wesley  loved  the 
Church  too  much  to  caricature  its  services,  but  he  pictures 
the  typical  clerk  as  "  a  poor,  humdrum  wretch,  who  can  scarce 
read  what  he  drones  out  with  such  an  air  of  importance," 
and  refers  to  the  "  screaming  boys,  who  bawl  out  what  they 
neither  feel  nor  understand,"  and  "  the  scandalous  doo^erel 
of  Hopkins  and  Sternhold."  He  condemns  the  custom  of 
taking  "two  staves"  of  a  psalm  without  regard  to  the  ap- 
propriateness of  the  words,  and  describes  the  congregation 
"  lolling  at  ease,  or  in  the  indecent  posture  of  sitting,  drawl- 
ing out  one  word  after  another." 

Even  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Hartley  Cole- 
ridge   describes  the    clerks    in    churches  untouched   by  the 


1004 


British  Methodism 


Revival  selecting  tunes  and  verses  that  make  the  psalmody 
as  distracting  and  irrational  an  episode  as  the  jigs  and  coun- 


DRAWN    AND  ENGRAVED   BY   YVM.    HOGARTH, 


THE    OLD    PARISH    CLERK. 
Hogarth's  "Sleeping  Congregation." 


try  dances  scraped  between  the  acts  of  a  tragedy,  and  render- 
ing the  liturgy  "wholly  ludicrous  by  all  imaginable  tones, 


A  Methodist  Composer  1005 

twangs,  drawls,  mouthings,  wheezings,  gruntings,  snuffles, 
and  quid- rollings ;  by  all  diversions  of  dialeets,  cacologies, 
and  cacophonies;  by  twistings,  contortions,  and  consolida- 
tions of  visage,  squintings,  and  upcastings  of  eyes."     It  is  not 

surprising-  that  Wesley  "with  honest  pride  triumphantly  con- 
trasted the  practice  oi  his  own  people  in  this  respect  with 
that  of  the  parish  churches."' 

In  the  preface  to  a  reprint  of  John  Wesley's  first  hymn  book 
of  1737  and  first  tune  book  of  1742  Dr.  Osborn  says:  "The 
first  Methodists  at  Oxford  sang  psalms  in  proportion  to  their 
earnestness  in  religion.  When  they  declined,  and  shrank 
from  the  reproach  of  serious  godliness,  the  psalm  singing  in 
their  little  meetings  was  given  up.  After  their  da}' of  Pente- 
cost had  come,  at  Whitsuntide,  1738,  the  habit  of  singing  was 
revived,  as  the  biographies  abundantly  testify.  And  when 
hundreds  more  had  their  lips  opened  by  the  sense  of  pardon- 
ing mercy,  obtained  under  the  preaching  of  the  two  brothers, 
the  revival  of  singing  in  England  became  very  marked  and 
general,  and  tune  books  as  well  as  hymn  books  came  into 
request.  John  Wesley  supplied  his  people  with  four  tune 
books,  and  appears  to  have  permitted,  if  he  did  not  encour- 
age, the  use  of  two  others." 

We  have  already  given  specimens  of  the  Moravian  tunes 
which  Wesley  introduced  into  his  first  tune  book.  Four  years 
later  Methodism  had  its  own  distinctive  music  and  its  own 
composer.  Charles  Wesley's  son  Samuel  tells  us:  ''The  late 
J.  F.  Lampe,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  an  accomplished 
musician,  at  the  solicitation  of  my  father,  who  had  an  ex- 
treme regard  for  him,  furnished  an  admirable  set  of  tunes 
fitted  to  several  of  the  meters  which  in  the  author's  time 
were  in  high  estimation  and  general  use."  In  1745  John 
Wesley  wrote  in   his    journal,  "I  spent  an   hour  with    Mr. 


1006 


British  Methodism 


Lampe,  who  had  been  a  deist  for  man)-  years,  till  it  pleased 
God  by  the  '  earnest  appeal '  to  bring  him  to  a  better  mind." 
And  Charles  Wesley  writes  a  year  later:  "I  spent  the  after- 

. -. .-  . .     noon  at  Mrs.   Rich's, 

A 


T 


where  we  caught  a 
physician  by  the  ear, 
through  the  help  of 
Mr.  Lampe  and  some 
of  our  sisters.  This 
is  the  true  use  of 
music."  Lampe  gave 
twenty-four  tunes  to 
early  M  e  t h  o  d  i  s  m. 
Among  these  John 
Wesley's  favorite  was 
• '  Wednesbury,  "which 
carries  the  name  of 
that  once  riotous  vil- 
lage. In  an  old  manu- 
script, written  by  an 
eyewitness,  his  last 
visit  ' '  to  his  children 
at  Whitehaven "  is 
described  :  ' '  After  the 
sermon  he  gave  out 
'  Lift  up  your  hearts  to 
thinofs  above, 'to  which 
he  raised  "  Wednes- 
bury,"  and  finding  we 

could  join   him,    he   said,    '  I   am  glad  to  find   that  you  can 

sing  my  favorite  tune.'  " 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  the  first  bassoonist  of  the  a<re 


COLLECTION 

O  F 

U     N     E     S,' 

Set    to    MUSIC. 

As  they  pre    commonly  S  i   n  a  a.t  the 
F  O  U  N  I)  E  R  Y 


^ 


L  0  ND  O  N: 

Printed  "by  A.  Pearson,  and  fold  by 
T.  Harris,  at  the  Lzeking-Gfafi  and  fiiblr. 
on  Lmd'.n-  Bridge;  T,  Tkye,  ix.  Graft*  Inn- 
Gaii.  Hilbarn;  and  at  the  Fouudtrj,  near  Upper- 
Alcerfiilds.    MDCCXLIl. 


TITLE-PAGE   OF   WESLEY  S    FIRST 
TUNE    BOOK. 


Lady  Huntingdon's  Hymnists 


100; 


Lttracted  to  the  Wesleys,  and  rendered  them  good  serv- 
two  other  gifted  foreigners.  F.  Giardini,  the  famous  violin- 
ist, and  his  countryman,  Giordini,  the  composer,  came  under 


ORAWh  BY   W     fi    OA 


!   THE   PORTRAIT   B» 


JOHN    FREDERICK    LAMPE. 

the  gracious  influence  of  Lady  Huntingdon.  They  composed 
tunes  for  the  hymns  used  in  her  congregations,  including  the 
well-known  "Moscow,"  "  Pelham,"  and  ••Cambridge."  We 
have  already  noticed  the  friendship  of  the  Wesleys  with  Dr. 


1008 


British  Methodism 


Pepusch,  of  the  Charterhouse,  who  on  his  harpsicord  enter- 
tained them  with  the  stilted  music  of  the  ancients,  discoursed 
in  broken   English  on  the  geometric  music  of   the  Greeks, 


WESLEY  S    FAVORITE   TUNE,    BY    LAMPE. 

with  its  apotones,  lemmas,  and  endless  obscurities;  and 
lamented  that  "the  art  of  music  is  lost."  He  regarded 
Handel  as  a  good  "  practical  "  musician,  and  Handel  in  turn 
regarded  him  as  a  mere  pedant. 

John  Wesley  heard  Handel's  "Messiah"  in  Bristol  Cathedral 
in  1758,  and  wrote:  "  I  doubt  if  that  congregation  was  ever 
so  serious  at  a  sermon  as  they  were  during  this  performance. 
In  many  parts,  especially  several  of  the  choruses,  it  exceeded 
my  expectations."  At  the  house  of  Mr.  Rich  the  Wesleys 
frequently  met  Handel,  and  the  master  musician  set  three  of 
Charles  Wesley's  hymns  to  music.  The  manuscripts  in 
Handel's  own  handwriting  are  in  the  library  of  the  Fitzwil- 
liam  Museum,  Cambridge.  For  many  years  the  "  Messiah  " 
was  rendered  on  Christmas  Day  morning  at  7  o'clock,  in  the 
morning  chapel,  City  Road. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  under  such  influences  the  musical 


Pithy  Advice  1009 

taste  of  the  Wesleys  was  of  a  high  order,  and  that  the  Min- 
utes of  Conferenee  contain  many  instructions  on  singing. 
"  Preach  frequently  on  singing;  suit  the  tune  to  the  words;" 
"  Do  not  suffer  the  people  to  sing  too  slow  ;"  "  Let  the  women 
sing  their  parts  alone;  let  no  man  sing  with  them  unless  he 
understands  the  notes  and  sings  the  bass  ;"  "  Exhort  everyone 
in  the  congregation  to  sing;  in  every  large  society  let  them 
learn  to  sing;"  "Recommend  our  tunc  book  everywhere.' 

The  preface  to  the  .Sacred  Harmony  of  1781  contains  much 
pithy  and  practical  advice.  "  Sing  all.  Sing  lustily  and  with 
a  good  courage,"  not  "  as  if  you  were  half  dead  or  half  asleep, 
but  lift  up  your  voice  with  strength.  Be  no  more  afraid  of 
your  voice  now,  nor  more  ashamed  of  it  being  heard,  than 
when  you  sung  the  songs  of  Satan.  Sing  modestly.  Do  not 
bawl,  so  as  to  be  heard  above  or  distinct  from  the  rest  of  the 
congregation,  that  you  may  not  destroy  the  harmony,  but 
strive  to  unite  your  voices  together,  so  as  to  make  one  clear, 
melodious  sound.  Sing  in  time,  and  take  care  you  sing  not 
too  slow.  This  drawling  way  naturally  steals  on  all  who  are 
lazy,  and  it  is  high  time  to  drive  it  out  from  among  us,  and 
sing  all  our  tunes  just  as  quick  as  we  did  at  first.  Above  all, 
sing  spiritually.  Have  an  eye  to  (rod  in  every  word  you 
sing.  Aim  at  pleasing  him  more  than  yourself  or  any  other 
creature.  In  order  to  do  this,  attend  strictly  to  the  sense  of 
what  you  sing,  and  see  that  your  heart  is  not  carried  away 
with  the  sound,  but  offered  to  God  continually;  so  shall  your 
singing  be  such  as  the  Lord  shall  approve  of  here,  and  reward 
when  he  cometh  in  the  clouds  of  heaven." 

The  new  song  of  Methodism,  bursting  from  hearts  throb- 
bing with  the  energy  of  a  new  life,  attracted  crowds  to  the 
services,  and  was  a  great  evangelizing  force.  The  singing 
often   preceded   preaching   in  the  awakening  of  the  uncon- 

04 


1010 


British   Methodism 


verted.  John  Berridge  wrote  to  Wesley  in  1759:  "As  soon 
as  three  or  four  receive  convictions  in  a  village  they  are  de- 
sired to  meet  together  two  or  three  nights  a  week,  which  they 


JOHN    CHRISTOPHER    PEPUSCH,    ML'S.    DOC. 

readily  comply  with.  At  first  they  only  sing,  afterward  they 
join  reading  and  prayer  to  singing,  and  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  is  greatly  with  them.  Let  me  mention  two  instances. 
At  Orwell  ten  people  were  broken  down  in  one  night,  only 
by  hearing    a  few    people   sing    hymns.     At  Grandchester, 


The  Use  of  Gospel  Song  1011 

a  mile  from  Cambridge,  seventeen  people  were  seized  with 
strong'  convictions  last  week,  only  by  hearing  hymns  sung. 
When  societies  get  a  little  strength  and  courage  they  begin 
to  read  and  pray,  and  then  the  Lord  magnifies  his  love  as 
well  as  power  among  them  by  releasing  souls  out  of 
bondage.'' 

The  Arminian  Magazine  of  1781  gives  ;i  curious  story  of 
the  power  of  the  Methodist  singing,  told  by  one  of  the  Irish 
preachers.  At  Wexford  the  s<  >ciety  was  persecuted  by  Papists, 
and  met  in  a  closed  barn.  One  of  the  persecutors  had  agreed 
to  conceal  himself  within  it  beforehand,  that  he  might  open 
the  door  to  his  comrades  after  the  people  were  assembled. 
He  crept  into  a  sack  hard  by  the  door.  The  singing  com- 
menced, but  the  Hibernian  was  so  taken  with  the  music  that 
he  thought  he  would  hear  it  through  before  disturbing  the 
meeting".  He  was  so  much  gratified  that  at  its  conclusion  he 
thought  he  would  hear  the  prayer  also;  but  this  was  too 
powerful  for  him  ;  he  was  seized  with  remorse  and  trembling, 
and  roared  out  with  such  dismay  as  to  appall  the  congrega- 
tion, who  began  to  believe  that  Satan  himself  was  in  the  sack. 
The  sack  was  at  last  pulled  off  him,  and  disclosed  the  Irish- 
man, a  weeping  penitent,  praying  with  all  his  might.  Southey 
remarks  that  "  this  is  the  most  comical  case  of  instantaneous 
conversion  that  was  ever  recorded ;  and  yet  the  man  is  said 
to  have  been  thoroughly  converted.'' 

Whitefield  as  well  as  Wesley  proved  the  power  of  sacred 
song.  In  1745  the  Weymouth  association  of  ministers  se- 
verely condemned  his  "practice  of  singing  hymns  in  the 
public  roads  when  riding  from  town  to  town."  But  they 
could  not  silence  him.  We  see  him  riding  from  Evesham  to 
Tewkesbury,  escorted  by  a  hundred  horsemen  and  six  thou- 
sand people,  on   a    fine   Sunday  evening,  the  welkin  ringing 


1012  British  Methodism 

with  psalms  and  spiritual  songs.  Cennick  introduced  into 
some  of  the  societies  "praise  meetings"  for  training  the 
people.  The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists  have  developed  a 
worship  music  of  their  own,  rich  in  bold,  plaintive  melodies, 
often  in  the  impressive  minor  key.  They  still  preserve  a 
custom  of  the  early  Methodists  in  repeating  the  last  four  lines 
of  a  hymn  with  growing  fervor  from  three  even  to  eight 
times.  "Then  it  is,"  says  Curwen,  "that  the  strong  emo- 
tional nature  of  the  Celt  is  stirred.  Women  sing  with  eyes 
fixed  upon  vacancy,  wholly  lost  in  spiritual  ecstasy,  the  tears 
filling  their  eyes,  their  bodies  swaying  to  and  fro.  The  men, 
though  they  conceal  it,  are  no  less  deeply  touched."  Their 
singing  "  plays  upon  the  spirit  like  a  storm  or  cataract." 


CHAPTER  CXII 


The  Old  Songs  and  the  New 


The  Old  Metrical  Psalms.— I'm  Hymns  of  Wesley's  Boyhood. — 
The  Father  of  English  Hymnody. — The  Treasury  of  German 
Song.— John  Wesley,  Poet-Translator. — Songs  and  Singers  of 
the  Revival. 


B 


CRN  in  a  house  full  of  poets,'*  the  Wesley  brothers 

were  under  training  from  their  childhood  for  their 

work  as  choristers  of  the  Church  universal.     Their 

father's  metrical  version  of    Psalm    114  Avon    the    unstinted 

praise  of  Addison,  and  the  rector  was  in  advance  of  his  age 

in  his  desire  for  a  reformed  psalmody.      In  liis  letter  to  his 

curate  he   laments   "the   present  parochial  way  of  singing," 

but  fears  they  must  be  content  with  "  Grandsire  Sternhold  " 

for  the  present.     He  agrees  with  Beveridge  that  the  common 

people  would  understand  it  better  than  the  new  version  of 

Tate  and  Brady,  "for,"  he  adds  caustically,  "  they  have  a 

strange  genius  at  understanding  nonsense."     The  Wesleys 

were     probably    acquainted    with    old     Fuller's     remark    on 

Sternhold  and   Hopkins,  "They  were  men  whose  piety  was 

better  than  their  poetry,   and  they  had  drunk  more  of  the 

Jordan  than  Helicon."     The  gravity  of  the  sprightly  young 

Wesleys  must  have   been    sorely    tried    when    their  father's 

1013 


1014  British  Methodism 

clerk,  with  the  huge  bushy  wig,  gave  out  with  the  orthodox 
drawl  Psalm  xxii,   12  : 

So  many  buls  do  compass  mee 

that  be  full  strong  of  head  ; 
Yea,  buls  so  fat,  as  though  they  had 

in  Basan  field  beene  fed. 

"  The  merit  of  faithful  adherence  to  the  original,"  says  Mont- 
gomery, ''  has  been  claimed  for  this  version,  and  need  not  be 
denied ;  but  it  is  the  resemblance  which  the  dead  bear  to  the 
living."  John  Wesley,  as  \vc  have  observed,  called  it  "scan- 
dalous doggerel,"  and  in  1775  Romaine  said,  "  The  wits  ridi- 
culed it ;  the  profane  blasphemed  it ;  good  men  did  not  defend 
it."  Yet  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  it  is  to  this  version 
we  owe  the  strong  psalms, 

All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 

and 

The  Lord  descended  from  above. 

At  the  meetings  in  the  rectory  kitchen  Mrs.  Wesley  would 
probably  feel  free  to  use  the   New  Version  of  the   Psalms, 

containing 

As  pants  the  hart  for  cooling  streams, 

and  she  would  welcome  the  collection  by  Samuel  Bary,  pub- 
lished in  1 70 1 ,  for  family  use.  Some  of  her  husband's  psalms, 
and  perhaps  his  hymn  rescued  from  the  fire  in  1709, 

Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind, 

would  be  used.  Her  son  John  inserted  this  hymn  in  his  first 
hymn  book,  as  well  as  his  father's  fine  rendering  of  the 
Hymn  of  Eupolis.  Some  of  her  favorite  George  Herbert's 
poems  she  certainly  often  read,  if  she  did  not  sing  them, 
with  Ken's  Morning  and  Evening  Hymns,  Baxter's 

Lord,  it  belongs  not  to  my  care, 
and  others  by  Samuel  Grossman,  John   Austin,  John  Mason, 


Watts's  Hymns  and  Whims  1015 

and  Henry  More — whose  hymn  on  the-   Holy  Spirit  was  also 
•/ted  in  her  son's  first  collection.      Dryden's 

Infinite  God  !  to  thee  we  raise, 
and 

Creator  Spirit,  by  whose  aid. 

would  be  well  known  at  the  rectory.  While  John  was  at  the 
Charterhouse,  as  we  have  noted.  Addison's  hymns  appeared 
in  the  Spectator,  and  twenty  years  later  Wesley  was  the  first 
to  introduce  them  into  use  for  public  worship. 

In  1 7 1 9.  the  year  Addison  died.  Isaae  Watts,  the  "father 
of  English  hymnody,"  as  Sir  Roundell  Palmer  calls  him, 
published  his  Psalms  of  David  imitated  in  the  language  of 
the  Xew  Testament;  and  because  thev  were  evanq-elical 
imitations,  and  not  literal  versions,  they  were  really  hymns, 
introducing  a  new  style  of  Christian  lyrical  poetry,  free  from 
the  fetters  of  the  old  Jewish  psalmody.  Watts  was  the  first 
to  overcome  the  prejudice  against  the  use  of  hymns  in  public 
worship — a  prejudice  expressed  by  Romaine,  who  said  he 
objected  to  Dr.  Watts's  ••whims."  His  work,  like  that  of 
most  facile  writers,  was  unequal  in  quality.  "  How  could 
any  man  write  six  hundred  religious  poems  and  produce 
quality  in  proportion  to  quantity  save  in  an  inverse  ratio?  " 
asks  Dr.  George  MacDonald  in  his  England's  Antiphon.  But 
many  of  his  hymns  were  of  surpassing  excellence,  as  John 
Wesley  testified  by  including  twenty-seven  of  them  in  his 
first  hymn  book.      One  of  them, 

I'll  M.iker  while  I've  breath, 

is  associated  forever  with  Wesley's  last  hours.  Wesley  was 
not  the  only  famous  man  who  passed  away  with  Watts's 
words  on  his  lips.  When  Daniel  Webster  lay  dying  the  last 
words  which  fell  from  the  eloquent  lips,  which  had  so  often 


1016  British  Methodism 

moved  the  Senate  with  overwhelming  power,  were  the  words 
of  Dr.  Watts's  fifty-first  Psalm : 

Show  pity,  Lord  ;  O  Lord,  forgive  ; 
Let  the  repenting  rebel  live  ! 
Are  not  thy  mercies  large  and  free? 
May  not  a  sinner  trust  in  thee  ? 

And  the  gravestone  of  the  great  missionary,  William  Carey, 
in  Bengal,  contains,  besides  the  name  and  date,  only  that 
final  confession  of  his  faith,  in  Watts's  lines: 

A  guilty,  weak,  and  helpless  worm, 
Into  Thy  hands  I  fall. 

John  Wesley's  knowledge  of  the  German  language,  acquired 
on  his  first  Atlantic  voyage,  opened  up  to  him  the  splendid 
treasury  of  German  hymnody.  For,  as  Dr.  Philip  vSchaff  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 
immortal."  "  John  Wesley,"  says  Dr.  Schaff,  "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.  Twenty-two  are  now  in  use.  One, 
hitherto  unpublished,  appeared  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Wesley  Historical  Society  for  1897,  with  an  account  of  Wes- 
ley's Manuscript  Pocket  Journal  of  1736-7,  in  which  some  of 
the  original  translations  are  found.  "  They  are  probably  the 
finest  translations  in  the  English  language,"  says  Garret 
Horder.      ' '  The}-  are   so  good   that  they  read  like  original 


Wesley  as  a  Translator  1017 

English  compositions."  Professor  Hanks  places  at  their  head 
the  fine  rendering  of  Rothe's 

Now  1  have  found  the  ground  wherein, 
and  Tersteegen's 

Thou  hidden  love  of  God,  whose  height 
(Verborgne  Gottesliebe  dm;  and 

I.o!  (lod  is  here!  let  us  adore 

(Gott  ist  gegenwartig).     Two  lines, 

My  heart  is  pained,  nor  can  it  be 
At  rest  till  it  finds  rest  in  Thee, 

are  a  perfect  reproduction  of  St.  Augustine's  famous  saying, 

"  Inquietum  est  cor  nostrum,  donee  requiescat  in  Te."  The 
others  of  the  thirty  arc  of  scarcely  inferior  merit.  Richard 
Cobden  is  said  to  have  repeated  with  his  last  breath  Wesley's 
rendering-  of  Scheffier: 

Thee  will  I  love,  my  joy.  my  crown. 

Thee  will  I  love,  my  Lord,  my  God  ; 
Thee  will  I  love,  beneath  thy  frown 

Or  smile,  thy  scepter  or  thy  rod. 
What  though  my  Mesh  and  heart  decay  : 

Thee  shall  I  love  in  endless  day  ! 

"There  is  a  freshness  and  spirit  in  handling  the  original," 
says  Professor  J.  Taft  Hatfield,  "  which  makes  these  hymns 
masterpieces  of  translation  not  unworthy  to  be  compared 
with  Luther's  versions  of  the  Hebrew  Psalms.  As  an  orig- 
inal poet  Wesley's  chief  trait  is  loftiness,  majesty;  the  'great 
style'  at  its  full  height,  never  becoming  florid  or  bombastic. 
Again  and  again  we  mark  the  swelling  of  the  deep  Miltonian 
organ  tone,  where  the  original  shows  a  much  less  exalted 
strain." 

In  Wesley's  curious  Manuscript  Pocket  Journal,  written  in 


1018 


British  Methodism 


Georgia,  of  which  a  facsimile  page  is  here  given,  the  con- 
tracted note  in  the  eleventh  line  should  be  read  thus:    "  3 

visited.  (Read)  Mme. 
Bourignon's  French 
MS."    Her  hymn, 


5- 


IP*" 


5-^U^.A^         y 


i~JZ*;, 


s. 


i---,^-^* 

J> 

3<>£  C 

>?-/ 

t?  ' 

/i  *y 

5-*l-      A     - 

Come,  Saviour,  Jesus,  from  above, 

was  probably  translated 
by  Byrom  and  revised  by 
Wesley.  One  of  Wesley's 
translations  from  the 
Spanish  is  a  sublime  ren- 
dering of  Psalm  63  : 

O  God,  my  God,  my  all  thou  art. 


John  Wesley's  modesty 
has  made  it  difficult  to 
distinguish  his  original 
hymns  from  those  of  his 
brother.  His  paraphrase 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  to 
which  his  name  is  at- 
tached, is  one  of  the  finest 
in  the  English  language. 
His  severer  taste  pruned 
his  brother's  hymns  of  luxuriances,  and  on  comparing  those 
which  John  edited  with  the  originals  it  will  be  found  that 
they  gained  much  by  his  unsparing  censorship.  John  Wes- 
ley 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 : 


A  PAGE  OF  WESLEY  S   POCKET   DIARY. 


Wesleyan   Song   Books 


10)9 


\>    WRITTEN    BY    W  \  ITS. 

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  storm)  sky, 
And  calms  the  roaring  seas. 


After  their  spiritual  Pentecost  of  1738  the  two  brothers  co- 
operated, both  as  authors  and  editors,  and  issued  fifty-four 
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  Methodists,  and 
contained  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  hymns  selected  from 
twenty-one  previous  publications.  The  following  list,  with 
the  number  of  hymns  taken  from  each  previous  collection, 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  genesis  of  the  existing  Methodist 
hymn  books,  and  of  the  rich  fountain  of  sacred  song  which 
was  unsealed  by  the  evangelical  conversion  of  the  brothers : 


Hymns  included  in  the 

Large  liook  of  1780. 

i.  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1737,  '38,  '41,  '43 9 

2.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 739 41 

3-        "        '740 45 

4.  Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  1741 17 

5.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742 91 

6.  A  Collection  of  Moral  and  Sacred  Poems,  1744 1 

7.  Funeral   Hymns  (First  Series,  pp.  24),  1746 5 

8.  Hymns  for  the  Nativity,  1746 3 

9.  Hymns  for  Times  of  Trouble  and  Persecution,  1744 1 

10.  Hymns  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745 8 

11.  Hymns   of    Petition   and  Thanksgiving    for   the    Promise   of  the 

Father  (Hymns  for  Whitsuntide"),  1 746 3 

12.  Hymns  for  Those  that  Seek  and  Those  that  Have  Redemption  in 

the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1 747 20 

13.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  (2  vols.,  by  C.  W.).  1749 131 


14.  Hymns  for  New  Year's  Day,  1750 

15.  Hymns  Occasioned  by  the  Earthquake,  Parts  I  and  II,  1750.    . 

16.  Hymns  for  the  Year  1756,  1756 


1020  British  Methodism 

Hymns  included  in  the 
'  Large  Book  of  1780. 

17.  Hymns  of  Intercession  for  all  Mankind,  1758 6 

18.  Hymns  on  Short  Passages  of  Holy  Scripture  (2  vols.),  1762 84 

19.  Hymns  for  Children,  1763 16 

20.  Hymns  for  Families,  1767 24 

21.  Hymns  on  the  Trinity,  1767 13 

525 
Only  one  copy  of  the  first  hymn  book,  published  at  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  is  known  to  exist,  but,  as  we  have  noted,  a  fac- 
simile reprint  of  this  was  published  in  1882.  Its  value  in 
the  book  world,  and  as  the  "first  hymn  book  published  for 
use  in  the  Church  of  England  "  (Julian),  is  indicated  by  the 
curious  fact  that  the  little  volume  was  sold  at  auction  at 
Sotheby's  Rooms,  London,  in  1889,  for  £20  10s.  The 
edition  of  1738  is  excessively  rare,  only  two  copies  being- 
known  to  exist. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  relics  of  Wesley  is  his  manu- 
script hymn  book,  which  he  carried  with  him  on  his  journeys. 
He  was  seventy-five  when  he  wrote  it,  in  1778.  It  is  in  long 
shorthand,  the  hymns  occupying  one  hundred  and  sixty-six 
pages  with  index.  A  facsimile  of  a  portion  of  one  hymn  is 
here  given.  The  precious  volume  is  in  the  book  steward's 
safe  at  City  Road,  London. 

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 


Molther  to  Wesley  1021 

thoroughly  practical,   never  losing  sight  of  active  Christian 

morality." 

In  the  library  of  1  [eadingley  College  there  is  a  letter  of  i  740 


____ 


1 


J73 


•  <V_  rx»>. 


£~  j*-s*^>  3<**-  -  <*/^.*^{?Z'.  A2->~+^^'s  A£f?fZ?s  *^j/ . 

S^_^y"- *.  *f>v~^  ^^^  «.t^-^*,  2*.^.. 


FACSIMILE  HALF-PAGE  FROM  WESLEY  S  MANUSCRIPT  HYMN  BOOK. 

by  P.  II.  Molther,  a  Moravian,  to  John  Wesley,  in  reference 
to  his  translation  of  Rothe's  hymn : 

Ich  habe  nun  den  Grund  gefunclen 

(Now  I  have  found  the  ground  wherein).  Molther  writes : 
"  I  return  many  thanks  to  you  for  sending  me  the  translation 
of  the  German  hymn  I  desired.  You  have  done  it  perfectly 
well,  except  one  expression  in  the  last  two  lines  of  the  second 


1022  British  Methodism 

verse,  which  I  think  much  mure  emphatical  in  the  German 
than  they  are  expressed  in  the  English : 

Dem  allemal  das  Herze  bricht, 
Wir  kommen  otler  kommen  nicht. 

(Whose  heart  breaks  always,  we  may  come  or  not.)  How- 
ever, I  like  it  better  than  any  other  hymn  I  have  seen  in 
English." 

From  Molther's  first  sentence  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred 
that  he  first  brought  Rothe's  hymn  to  Wesley's  knowledge, 
and  desired  him  to  translate  it.  Of  the  justness  of  the  criti- 
cism as  to  the  two  lines  quoted  we  may  judge  by  comparing 
with  them  the  corresponding  words  of  Wesley : 

Father,  thine  everlasting  grace 

Our  scanty  thought  surpasses  far  : 
Thy  heart  still  melts  with  tenderness ; 

Thy  arms  of  love  still  open  are 
Returning  sinners  to  receive, 
That  mercy  they  may  taste  and  live. 

The  German  hymn  is  a  very  fine  one,  but  it  comes  far  behind 
the  translation  in  force,  pathos,  and  melody,  Portions  of  this 
noble  hymn  were  among  the  last  words  of  Fletcher,  of 
Madeley.  John  Andreas  Rothe  (1688-1758)  was  a  friend  of 
Count  Zinzendorf,  whose  hymn  in  Wesley's  version, 

Jesu,  thy  blood  and  righteousness, 
expresses  the  Methodist  doctrine  of  universal  redemption  so 

forcefully : 

Lord,  I  believe  were  sinners  more 
Than  sands  upon  the  ocean  shore, 
Thou  hast  for  all  a  ransom  paid, 
For  all  a  full  atonement  made. 


CHAPTER"  CX11I 
The  Chief  Chorister 

The  Poet  of  the  Spiri  nu.  Life.— A  Critic  \i.  Review.— A  Master  of 
Meter  and  RhyThm. —Some  Favoriti  Hymns.— Sparkling  Spon- 
rANEiTY. — Revival  SongS.— National  Events.— The  Praise  of 
Christendom. 

IT  has  been  truly  said  that  Charles  W.esley  would  have 
been  universally  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest 
poets  that  ever  sang  but  for  the  fact  that  he  not  only 
was  purely  and  intensely  religious,  but  preeminently  the 
poet  of  religion,  of  religious  revival,  and  of  the  loftiest 
and  the  deepest  spiritual  life.  Isaae  Taylor  affirms  that 
"  there  is  no  principal  element  of  Christianity,  no  main  ar- 
ticle of  belief  as  professed  by  Protestant  Churches,  there  is 
no  moral  or  ethical  sentiment  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the 
Gospel,  no  height  or  depth  of  feeling  proper  to  the  spiritual 
life,  that  does  not  find  itself  emphatically  and  pointedly  and 
clearly  conveyed  in  some  stanza  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns." 
Mr.  T.  H.  Gill,  himself  a  hymn  writer  of  great  merit,  says: 
"  It  is  as  the  utterer  of  the  soul's  special  needs  and  special 
states,  of  its  highest  flights  and  topmost  heights — in  other 
words,  as  the  poet  of  a  revival — that  he  stands  alone.  The 
longing  for  full  forgiveness  and   full  sanctification,  the  joy 

of  conversion,  the  rapture  of  assurance,  the  marvels  of  all- 

1023 


i024 


British   Methodism 


withstanding,  all-subduing,  all-accomplishing  faith,  its  victory 
over  the  world  and  the  grave,  the  triumph  and  the  transport 
of  the  soul,  have  never  been  so  sung  as  by  Charles  Wesley." 
In    his   great    Dictionary  of   Hymnology,  Julian    assigns  to 

Charles  Wesley 
the  same  unique 
p o sition  as  a 
hymn  writer. 

Viewed     from 
the  purely  liter- 
ary standpoint, 
however,  the  ex- 
cellence   of     his 
lyrical  poetry  has 
not  been    unrec- 
ognized.    One  of 
the    latest  critics 
of  eighteenth 
century  literature, 
Professor  Ed- 
mund   Gosse,    of 
Trinity    College, 
Cambridge,    says 
that   ' '  there  can 
be  little  question  that  the  sacred  songs  of  Charles  Wesley, 
most  of  them  called   'hymns  of  experience,'  reach  at  their 
noblest   the  highest  level  of    Protestant  religious  poetry  in 
this    country    since    the    days    of    George    Herbert.      His 
'Wrestling  Jacob'  is  his  masterpiece,  and  is  inspired  by  a 
genuine   dramatic  passion."     This  is  the  celebrated  hymn, 
beginning: 

Come,  O  thou  Traveler  unknown. 


FRCM    A   COPPERPLATE    ENGRAV<NG. 

CHARLES   WESLE"Y. 

The  portrait  published  in  the  Arminian  Magazine,  May,  1792. 


Tributes  to  Wesley's   Hymns  1025 

When  Dr.  Watts  read  this  hymn,  with  a  noble  modesty  he 
said,  •'  That  single  poem  is  worth  all  the  verses  1  have  ever 
written  !"  Watts  was  right  in  calling  this  a  poem  rather  than 
a  hymn. 

John  Wesley  thought  that  the  funeral  hymn. 

Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above, 

was  the  sweetest  of  all  his  brother  ever  wrote.     Dean  Stanley 

prized  most  of  all  the  verses  on  "Catholic  Love,"'  which  were 

first  printed  at  the  elose  of  his  brother's  sermon  on  "Catholic 

Spirit  :" 

Weary  of  all  this  wordy  strife. 

These  notions,  forms,  and  modes,  and  names, 
To  thee,  the  Way,  the   Truth,  the  Life, 

Whose  love  my  simple  heart   inflames, 
Divinely  taught,  at  last  I  fly, 
With  thee  and  thine  to  live  and  die. 

My  brethren,  friends,  and  kinsmen  these 

Who  do  my  heavenly  Father's  will ; 
Who  aim  at  perfect  holiness, 

And  all  thy  counsels  to  fulfill ; 
Athirst  to  he  whate'er  thou  art, 
And  love  their  God  with  all  their  heart. 

For  these,  howe'er  in  flesh  disjoined, 

Where'ei  dispersed  o'er  earth  abroad. 
Infeigned  unbounded  love  I  find, 

And  constant  as  the  life  of  God  ; 
Fountain  of  life,  from  thence  it  sprung. 
As  pure,  as  even,  and  as  strong. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  declared  :  "I  would  rather  have  written 
that  hymn  of  Wesley's, 

Jesus.  Lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly, 

than  to  have  the  fame  of  all  the  kings  that  ever  sat  on  the 

earth.     It  is  more  glorious.      It  has  more  power  in  it."     When 
65 


1026  British  Methodism 

his  own  eminent  father,  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  lay  on  his  death- 
bed, the  last  sign  of  life  was  given  in  response  to  these 
blessed  lines. 

A  keen  literary  critic  and  master  of  style,  Dr.  Gregory, 
considers  that  Charles  Wesley  ' '  owes  much  of  the  compact- 
ness, the  precision,  the  grace,  the  ease,  and  music  of  his  verse 
to  his  familiarity  with  the  best  classic  models.  No  other 
English  poet  has  such  a  variety,  few  have  such  a  mastery  of 
meter." 

In  the  iambic  common  meter,  the  meter  of  the  old  English 
ballad  and  carol — of  ' '  Chevy  Chace"  and  ' '  God  rest  you,  merry 
gentlemen" — it  was  impossible  to  surpass,  it  was  glorious  to 
come  up  to,  Watts  at  his  very  best ,  whether  in  impetus  and 
bound,  as  in 

My  God,  the  spring  of  all  my  joys  ; 

or  in  gravity  and  grandeur,  as  in 

O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past; 

or  in  breezy  sweep,  as  of  "the  wafture  of  a  world-wide 
wing,"  as  in 

Father,  how  wide  thy  glory  shines  ; 

or 

Eternal  Wisdom,  thee  we  praise. 

In  this,  Watts,  if  he  were  not  so  unequal,  would  be  quite  un- 
equaled.  In  the  iambic  long  meter  Charles  Wesley  bears  the 
palm  for  stateiiness  of  structure  and  majesty  of  movement. 
Of  this  his  "  Hymn  to  be  Sung  at  Sea  "  is  a  fine  example. 

In  its  cheery,  tripping  form — that  of  Marlowe's  "Come  dwell 
with  me,  and  be  my  love" — he  is  equally  at  home,  as  in 

Come,  sinners,  to  the  Gospel  feast. 

In  "  6-8's,"  at  least  in  his  favorite  form  of  it,  Charles  Wes- 
ley is  unrivaled ;  witness 

Come,  O  thou  Traveler  unknown. 


Charles  Wesley's  Meters  1027 

In  fact  he  and  his  brother  (in  his  translations  from  the  Ger- 
man) lifted  that  meter  from  the  popular  pathos  of  "Sweet 
William's  Farewell"  and  "All  in  the  Downs  the  fleet  was 
moored,"  or  the  descriptive  humor  of  Shakespeare's  "When 
icicles  hang  on  the  wall,"  to  a  grand  spiritual  elevation. 

In  the  second  form  of  "6-S's"  he  has  Dryden's  energy  and 
loftiness,  with  none  of  Dryden's  roughness.  Take  as  proof 
his  majestic  version  of  the  Te  Deum  : 

Thee  all  the  choir  of  angels  sings, 
The  Lord  of  hosts,  the  King  of  kings ; 
Cherubs  proclaim  thy  praise  aloud, 
And  seraphs  shout  the  triune  God  ; 
And  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,"  cry, 
"Thy  glory  fills  both  earth  and  sky." 

His  short  meter,  too,  has  a  ringing  resonance  and  a  mighty 
march  which  have  never  been  outdone ;  for  example : 

Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise  ! 
And  put  your  armor  on. 

Sometimes  he  makes  its  elastic  feet  to  spring  and  clang  "like 
hinds'  feet  on  the  high  places,"  as  in  his 

We  shall  our  time  beneath 

Live  out  in  cheerful  hope  ; 
And  fearless  pass  the  vale  of  death, 

And  gain  the  mountain  top. 

In  the  management  of  trochaic  meters  Charles  Wesley  is 
equally  deft.  Of  the  meter  "  7's"  he  brings  out  all  the  varied 
capability.      In  the  universally  adopted 

Jesus,  Lover  of  my  soul, 

the  chosen  death  song  of  a  multitude  of  the  redeemed,  and  in 

Depth  of  mercy  !  can  there  be 
Mercy  still  reserved  for  me  ? 

is    felt    all    its  flowing,    flutelike   sweetness,   all   its  aptitude 


1028  British  Methodism 

for  pleading  plaint,  for  absolute  abjection,  and  for  passive 
trust. 

In  the  meter  "6-7's"  he  comes  up  to  his  highest  models; 
Shakespeare's  "  Take,  O  take  those  lips  away,"  and  Ben  Jon- 
son's  "Queen  and  huntress,  chaste  and  fair."  Take  as  a  speci- 
men one  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns  which  has  received 
recognition  as  a  Christian  lyric ;  that  with  which  George 
Eliot  represents  Seth  Bede,  the  village  Methodist,  as  singing 
down  all  his  griefs,  perplexities,  and  cares,  as  he  strode  across 
the  lonely  Derbyshire  moors  on  a  bright  Sunday  morning : 

A    MORNING    HYMN. 

Christ,  whose  glory  fills  the  skies, 

Christ,  the  true,  the  only  Light, 
Sun  of  righteousness,  arise, 

Triumph  o'er  the  shades  of  night ; 
Dayspring  from  on  high,  be  near ; 
Day-star,  in  my  heart  appear. 

It  may  be  well  to  place  side  by  side  with  this  the  other 
morning  hymn,  which  George  Eliot  describes  another 
country  Methodist,  Dinah  Morris,  as  singing,  beneath  the 
same  heart-bruising  sorrow,  as  she  lights  her  fire  and  dusts 
her  little  cottage  room.  The  words  breathe  a  "  peace  which 
passeth  all  understanding,"  and  "  a  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory  ;"  in  powerful  contrast  with  the  profound  unrest,  the 
melancholy  misgiving,  and  the  prevailing  mental  and  moral 
malaise  to  which  unbelief  had  doomed  the  great  agnostic 
novelist  and  poet : 

Eternal  Beam  of  Light  divine, 

Fountain  of  unexhausted  love, 
In  whom  the  Father's  glories  shine 

Through  earth  beneath  and  heaven  above  ; 

Jesus,  the  weary  wanderer's  rest, 

Give  me  thy  easy  yoke  to  bear  ; 
With  steadfast  patience  arm  my  breast, 
With  spotless  love  and  lowly  fear. 


The  Death  of  a  Tradition  1029 

Speak  to  my  warring  passions,  "  Peace  !  " 

Say  to  my  trembling  heart,  "  Be  still ! " 
Thy  power  my  strength  and   fortress  is, 

For  all  tilings  serve  thy  sovereign  will. 

Charlotte  Bronte  incidentally  alludes  in  Shirley  to  the 
strange  blending'  of  wailing-  pathos  with  exultation  in  some 
of  Wesley's  hymns.  She  describes  the  effect  of  overhearing, 
as  she  passed  the  door  of  a  Yorkshire  eottage  where  a  Meth- 
odist meeting  was  being  held,  the  impassioned  singing  of 
the  hymn : 

O,  who  can  explain  this  struggle  for  life  ! 

This  travail  and  pain,  this  trembling  and  strife! 

Plague,  earthquake,  and  famine,  and   tumult,  ami  war, 

The  wonderful  coming  of  Jesus  declare. 

$  $  *  #  **** 

Yet  God  is  above  men,  devils,  and  sin  ; 
My  Jesus's  love  the  battle  shall  win ; 
So  terribly  glorious  his  coming  shall  be. 
His  love,  all-victorious,  shall  conquer  for  me. 

The  tradition  that  the  hymn, 

Lo,  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 

was  written  at  Land's  End,  Cornwall,  has  been  exploded  by 
the  discovery  of  a  letter  which  Charles  Wesley  wrote  in 
1736  to  Lady  Oglethorpe  from  Jekyl  Island,  on  the  coast  of 
southeim  Georgia,  where  her  husband,  the  general,  resided. 
This  lady  was  visiting  Savannah  when  Charles  Wesley  wrote  : 
"  Last  evening  I  wandered  to  the  north  end  of  the  island 
and  stood  upon  the  narrow  point  which  your  ladyship  will 
recall  as  there  projecting  into  the  ocean.  The  vastness  of 
the  watery  waste,  as  compared  with  my  standing  place,  called 
to  mind  the  briefness  of  human  life  and  the  immensity  of  its 
consequences;  and  my  surroundings  inspired  me  with  the 
inclosed  hvmn,  beginning: 

Lo,  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
Twixt  two  unbounded  sea>  1  stand, 


1030 


British  Methodism 


which  I  trust  may  pleasure  your  ladyship,  weak  and  feeble 
as  it  is  when  compared  with  the  songs  of  the  sweet  psalmist 
of  Israel." 

Lady  Oglethorpe,  in  a  letter  to  her  father-in-law,  wrote: 
"  The    Secretary    of    the    Colony,    Charles    Wesley,    dwells 


</-<r>-  v***m*Z**yp. 


?c£)  &&£>? 


fc/Jfc^A, 


-  ff    /  *  -  /■/■■/-  ' 


#>-v> 


PART   OF   ONE  OF   CHARLES   WESLEY'S   HYMNS. 
In  his  own  handwriting. 


with  us  upon  the  island,  and  is  zealous  to  save  the  souls 
of  the  Indians  who  come  hither  to  fish  and  hunt.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Wesley  has  the  gift  of  verse,  and  has  written  many 
sweet  hymns,  which  we  sing."     This  was  two  years  before 


Sparkling  Spontaneity  1031 

Charles  Wesley's  Day  of  Pentecost,  and  the  prayer  of  the 

hymn, 

O  God!  my  inmost  soul  convert, 

has  therefore  a  touching-  significance. 

With  "sparkling  spontaneity"  Charles  Wesley  celebrated 

almost  every  striking  incident  of  his  life  and  of  the  Great 
Revival  in  ever- varying  verse.  He  gives  ns  fragments  of 
family  history  in  his  exultant  birthday  hymns.  After  his 
recovery  from  sickness,  in  173S.  he  wrote: 

To  Thee,  benign  and  saving  Power, 
I  consecrate  my  lengthened  days. 

His  conversion  brought  a  rapturous  outburst  of  praise  in  the 

epochal  hymns  already  quoted.     The  fervent  response  of  the 

Newcastle  crowds,  who  forgot  the  sharp  frost  as  they  listened 

and  worshiped,  and  the  blazing  furnaces  which  illuminated 

the  sky  supplied  the  occasion  and  imagery  for  the  animated 

hymn : 

See  how  great  a  flame  aspires, 
Kindled  by  a  spark  of  grace  ! 

And  after  a  sermon  to  the  colliers  in  the  same  place  he  wrote 
the  spirited  appeal : 

Ye  neighbors  and  friends  of  Jesus,  draw  near. 

In  Cornwall,  he  tells  us,  "  he  expressed  the  gratitude  of  his 
heart  in  the  thanksgiving : 

All  thanks  be  to  God, 

Who  scatters  abroad, 

Throughout  every  place, 
By  the  least  of  his  servants,  his  savor  of  grace, 

Who  the  victory  gave, 

The  praise  let  him  have, 

For  the  work  he  hath  done : 
All  honor  and  glory  to  Jesus  alone !  " 

The  miracles  of  grace  among  the  Kings  wood  colliers  in  1740 
inspired  his  hymn: 


1032  British  Methodism 

The  people  that  in  darkness  lay, 

In  sin  and  error's  deadly  shade, 
Have  seen  a  glorious  Gospel  day 

In  Jesu's  lovely  face  displayed. 

Thou  only,  Lord,  the  work  hast  done, 
And  bared  thine  arm  in  all  our  sight ; 

Hast  made  the  reprobates  thine  own, 
And  claimed  the  outcasts  as  thy  right. 

And  preaching;  among  the  Portland  quarries  with  such  success 
that  ' '  the  rocks  were  broken  and  melted  into  tears  on  every 
side,"  he  wrote : 

Come,  O  thou  all-victorious  Lord, 

Thy  power  to  us  make  known ;   ' 
Strike  with  the  hammer  of  thy  word, 

And  break  these  hearts  of  stone  ! 

Interrupted  by  some    half-tipsy  sailors,   who    roared   the 

favorite  song,  "  Nancy  Dawson,"  his  quick  ear  caught  the  air 

and  meter,  and  he  challenged  them  to  come  again  and  sing  a 

new  song  to  their  tune.     In  the  evening  the  tars  rolled  up  to 

hear  him  sing  to  their  rattling  melody  his  stirring  lines  on 

music : 

Music,  alas  !  too  long  has  been 

(Why  should  a  good  be  evil  ?) 
'Listed  into  the  cause  of  sin, 

Pressed  to  obey  the  devil. 
Drunken,  or  lewd,  or  light,  the  lay 

Flows  to  the  soul's  undoing; 
Widens  and  strews  with  flowers  the  way 

Down  to  eternal  ruin. 

Come,  let  us  try  if  Jesu's  love 

Will  not  as  well  inspire  us  : 
This  is  the  theme  of  those  above, 

This  upon  earth  shall  fire  us. 
Jesus  the  soul  of  music  is  ; 

His  is  the  noblest  passion. 
Jesus's  name  is  life  and  peace, 

Happiness  and  salvation. 


Hymns  for  Several  Occasions  1033 

Who  hath  a  right  1  ike  us  to  sing, 

Is  whom   his  mercy  rais 
Merry  our  hearts,  (or  Christ  is  King. 

Cheerful  are  all  our  faces. 
Who  of  his  love  cloth  once  partake. 

I  [e  evermore  rejoices  : 
Melody  with  our  hearts  we  make, 

Melody  with  our  voices. 

His  Hymns  of  God's  Everlasting  Love  were  fanned  into 
intensity  by  the  Calvinistic  controversy.      "  How  can  you  say 

von  will  not  dispute  with  me  about  election,"  said  Whitefield, 
••  and  yet  print  such  hymns?  " 

Father,  whose  everlasting  love 

Thy  only  Son  for  sinners  gave  ; 
Whose  grace  to  all  did  freely  move, 

And  sent  him  down  the  world  to  save: 

Help  us  thy  mercy  to  extol, 

Immense,  unfathomed,  unconfim 
To  praise  the  Lamb  who  died  for  all, 

The  general  Saviour  of  mankind. 

When  the  Moravians  disparaged  the  means  of  grace  by  their 
doctrine  of  "  stillness"  he  wrote: 

Still  for  thy  loving-kindness.  Lord, 
I  in  thy  temple  wait. 

His  "  earthquake  hymns."  and  those  written  for  the  na- 
tional fast  when  a  threatened  French  invasion  created  a 
panic,  have  been  referred  to.  Southey  pronounced  one  of 
these  the  finest  lyric  in  our  language.      It  begins: 

Stand  the  omnipotent  decree; 
Jehovah's  will  be  done. 

The  day  after  the  house  and  library  of  his  old  schoolfellow, 

Lord  Mansfield,  were  destroyed  by  fire,  in  the  Gordon  Riots 

of  i  "80,  he  wrote  : 

"  Havoc  !  "  the  infernal  leader  cries: 
"  Havoc!  "  the  associate  host  replies  : 
The  rabble  shouts,  the  torrent  pours. 
The  city  sinks,  the  flame  devours.' 


1034  British  Methodism 

A  short  hymn,  entitled  "  Upon  notice  sent  one  that  his  House 
was  Marked,"  seems  to  show  that  Wesley  himself  was  in 
danger. 

His  funeral  hymns  enshrine  the  memory  of  his  personal 
friends  and  represent  his  best  work ;   among  them  are  : 

Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above, 
and 

How  happy  every  child  of  grace. 

One  of  his  Hymns  for  Children, 

Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and  mild, 

as  Telford  well  says,  "has  become  a  household  prayer  for 

Christendom." 

His  lyrics  for  the  Christian  festivals  have  entered  into  the 

worship    of   the    Church    universal.     The    first  lines  of  his 

Christmas  hymn  were  altered  by  Whitefield  and  Madan  ;   the 

original  is : 

Hark  how  all  the  welkin  rings ! 
Glory  to  the  King  of  kings; 
Peace  on  earth  and  mercy  mild ; 
God  and  sinners  reconciled. 

Nearly  one  in  ten  of  all  Church  hymns  in  the  best  collec- 
tions are  by  Charles  Wesley — a  larger  proportion  than  in  the 
case  of  any  other  writer.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  "the 
measure  of  their  influence  on  the  Christian  song  of  the  world." 
In  his  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  John  Richard 
Green  says  that  "a  new  musical  impulse  was  aroused  in  the 
people  which  gradually  changed  the  face  of  public  devotion 
throughout  England." 


CHAPTER  CXIV 

The  Swan  Song  of  Charles  Wesley 

Worthy  of  Every  Good  Man's  Love." — Glimpses  of  Oglethorpe 
and  wllberforce.— soise  famous  friends. — in  the  church  and 
the  Pulpit.—"  In  Age  and  Feebleness  Extreme." — The  Last 
Verse. — Charles  Wesley's  Musical  Sons. 


CHARLES  WESLEY,  who,  as  the  sturdy  schoolboy 
Captain  of  Westminster,  had  fought  in  defense  of 
the  little  Lord  Mansfield,  was  of  somewhat  stouter 
build  than  his  brother  John,  though,  like  him,  he  was  below 
the  middle  stature.  He  was  shortsighted,  abrupt  and  un- 
affected in  manner,  and  when  the  "fine  frenzy"  was  high 
would  run  into  his  brother's  room  at  Oxford  and  greatly  dis- 
turb the  fraternal  don  by  jolting  the  table,  scattering  the 
papers  and  books ;  and  after  repeating  some  poetry,  and  ask- 
ing questions  in  quick  succession  without  waiting  for  a  reply, 
he  would  leave  the  room  as  suddenly  as  he  had  entered. 
John,  who  was  all  method  and  order,  bore  it  with  wondrous 
patience.  Yet  Charles  was  not  desultory  in  his  general  hab- 
its, for  his  handwriting  was  always  neat,  as  our  facsimiles 
show,  and  to  the  end  of  life  he  kept  his  personal  accounts 
with  exactness. 

His  natural  impetuosity  was  revealed  at  one  of  the  early 

1035 


1036 


British  Methodism 


Conferences,  when,  indignant  because  a  preacher  took  tip  the 
time  relating  his  experience,  he  cried,  "  Stop  that  man  from 
speaking;  let  us  attend  to  business."  The  preacher  still 
went  on.     "Unless  he  stops  I'll  leave  the  Conference,*'  said 

Charles.  John,  ever 
calm  and  self-pos- 
sessed, effectively- 
checked  the  outburst 
by  saying,  ' '  Reach 
him  his  hat." 

Yet  he  was  generous 
and  affectionate, 
'  •  with  a  soul .  formed 
for  friendship,"  and, 
as  Overton  says,  thor- 
oughly worthy  of 
every  good  man's  love. 
His  varying  moods 
made  him  more  de- 
pendent on  the  pres- 
ence and  sympathy  of 
his  friends  than  John, 
and  during  his  seven- 
teen years  of  residence 
at  i  Great  Chesterfield 
Street,  Marylebone,  he 
greatly  appreciated  the 
social  intercourse  which  a  settled  life  afforded,  although  here 
he  was  subject  to  greater  extremes  of  high  spirits  and  de- 
pression than  in  his  itinerant  days. 

Marylebone  was  still  a  pleasant  rural  retreat  in  1771,  al- 
though Hogarth's  description  of  thirty  years  before  could  not 


Br   P     E     FLINTOFF 


1    PHOTOGRAPH 


CHARLES   WESLEY  S    LONDON    HOME. 

Charles  Wesley  lived  seventeen  years  in  this  dwelling 
1  Great  Chesterfield  Street,  Marylebone. 


The  Old  House  in   Marylebone  1037 

now  be  so  well  applied  to  it:  "  The  Rake's  Wedding  was  at 
Marylebone,  a  rural  village  on  the  outskirts  of  London."  But 
the  old  church  was  standing,  and  still  stands  as  depicted  in 
Hogarth's  print.  Green  fields  then  stretched  from  White- 
field's  Tabernacle  in  Tottenham  Court  Road  to  Charles  Wes- 
ley's house.  The  house  was  rebuilt  about  thirty  years  ago. 
A  present  tenant  of  it  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  old  house 
— on  the  same  site — which  projected  farther  over  the  roadway 
than  the  present  building.      It  stands  near  St.  James's  Chapel. 

To  Charles  Wesley's  house  came  Dr.  Johnson. 

••I  understand,  sir,"  he  said,  "your  boys  are  skilled  in 
music;  pray  let  me  hear  them." 

When  they  began  to  play  Johnson  took  up  a  book  and  be- 
gan "  reading  and  rolling."  As  soon  as  the  music  ceased  he 
seemed  to  wake  from  a  trance.      He  simply  said: 

"Young  gentlemen,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,"  and 
walked  off.  Some  of  his  letters  to  Charles  Wesley  and  to  his 
daughter  Sarah  have  been  preserved. 

Earl  Mansfield,  afterward  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England, 
often  came  from  Bloomsbury  Square  to  see  his  old  school- 
fellow. The  Earl  of  Mornington,  father  of  the  Duke  of  Wei- 
lington,  also  came  to  seek  the  Methodist  clergyman's  counsel, 
and  a  letter  he  wrote  in  177s  shows  his  appreciation  of 
Charles  Wesley's  spiritual  help.  He  breakfasted  occasionally 
for  many  years  with  the  poet  and  his  family,  and  practiced 
with  the  musical  sons,  Charles  and  Samuel,  on  various  in- 
struments. The  venerable  General  Oglethorpe,  now  more 
than  eighty  years  old,  but  fresh  and  vigorous,  was  another 
welcome  visitor,  and  would  talk  over  the  events  of  forty-five 
years  before,  in  the  early  history  of  Georgia.  It  is  said  that 
about  this  time  the  aged  general,  meeting  John  Wesley, 
kissed  his  hand  and  showed  him  every  mark  of  respect. 


1038  British  Methodism 

Wilberforce,  then  a  rising  young  statesman,  gives  an  ac- 
count of  an  interview  with  Charles  Wesley,  in  1786,  at  the 
house  of  their  friend,  Mrs.  Hannah  More :  ' '  When  I  came 
into  the  room  Charles  Wesley  arose  from  the  table,  around 
which  a  numerous  party  sat  at  tea,  and,  coming  forward,  gave 
me  his  solemn  blessing.  I  was  scarcely  ever  more  affected. 
.Such  was  the  effect  of  his  manner  and  appearance  that  it  al- 
together overset  me,  and  I  burst  into  tears,  unable  to  restrain 
myself." 

A  pleasant  picture  of  Charles  Wesley  in  old  age  is  given 
by  Henry  Moore.  Clothed  for  winter  even  in  summer,  he 
rode  every  day  upon  a  little  horse  gray  with  age.  When  he 
mounted  his  horse,  if  a  subject  struck  him,  he  proceeded  to 
expand  it  and  put  it  in  order.  He  had  a  card  and  pencil  in 
his  pocket,  and  wrote  a  hymn  in  shorthand.  He  often  rode 
to  the  City  Road  Chapel  house  and  entered,  crying  out :  "  Pen 
and  ink!  Pen  and  ink!"  Supplied  with  these,  he  wrote  the 
hymn  he  had  been  composing.  This  done,  he  would  look 
around  on  those  present  and  salute  them  wTith  much  kindness, 
ask  after  their  health,  give  out  a  short  hymn,  and  thus  put 
all  in  mind  of  eternity.  Frequently  on  such  occasions  he 
would  give  out : 

There  all  the  ship's  company  meet 
Who  sail'd  with  the  Saviour  beneath  ; 

With  shouting,  each  other  they  greet, 
And  triumph  o'er  sorrow  and  death. 

The  voyage  of  life's  at  an  end, 

The  mortal  affliction  is  past ; 
The  age  that  in  heaven  they  spend 

Forever  and  ever  shall  last. 

We  have  seen  that  in  theory  Charles  Wesley  was  a  more 
rigid  Anglican  Churchman  than  his  brother  John.  In  his 
practice  he  was  much  more  flexible.      "  He  talked  with  im- 


A  Flexible  Anglican  1039 

posing  emphasis  of  the  canons  of  the  Church,  but  he  broke 
them  as  he  listed.  He  recognized  in  words  and  arguments 
the  episcopal  jurisdiction  over  the  clergy,  but  in  conduct  dis- 
avowed its  control.  He  was  ready  to  suffer  martyrdom  for 
the  true  episcopal  succession,  but  he  lampooned  its  living 
representatives." 

He  was  the  first  to  preach  in  church  hours  and  administer 
the  Lord's  Supper  in  a  Methodist  place  of  worship,  and  he 
did  this  without  the  sanction  of  his  brother.  Thomas  Jack- 
son says  that  he  did  more  than  any  other  man  whatever  to 
create  among  the  societies  generally  a  desire  for  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments  by  their  own  preachers,  and  thus 
prepared  the  way  for  the  free  Church  organization  of  Meth- 
odism, although  nothing  could  be  further  from  his  thoughts 
and  purpose.  His  conversation  with  the  Primate  of  Ireland, 
Dr.  Robinson,  already  recorded,  shows  that  he  was  as  warm 
a  defender  of  lay  preaching  as  his  brother. 

In  one  of  his  private  letters  he  states  that  the  difference 
between  him  and  his  brother  was  that  his  brother's  maxim 
was,  •-  First  the  Methodists,  then  the  Church;"  whereas  his 
was,  "  First  the  Church,  then  the  Methodists;"  and  that  this 
difference  arose  from  their  natural  temperament.  "My 
brother,"  said  he,  "  is  all  hope  ;  I  am  all  fear."  This  is  true  ; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  he  had  an  overmastering  passion  for 
the  spiritual  life  and  fellowship  of  Methodism.  Many  of  its 
people  were  his  own  spiritual  children,  who  were  devotedly 
attached  to  him.  He  was  bound  to  them  by  a  tie  which  his 
ecclesiastical  theories  failed  to  sever.  Moore  states  that  a 
living  of  the  value  of  £500  a  year  was  offered  to  him,  which 
he  declined,  choosing  to  serve  the  Methodist  congregations, 
with  a  scanty  income,  rather  than  accept  a  preferment  and 
tear  himself  away  from  his  old  friends. 


1040  British  Methodism 

He  was  a  soul-stirring  preacher.  In  his  earlier  ministry 
he  wrote  carefully,  but  his  later  preaching  was  mostly  extem- 
pore, and  as  his  moods  varied  he  was  not  always  at  his  best. 
Dr.  Osborn's  father  recorded  Mr.  Moore's  reminiscences  of 
the  poet  preacher  :  "  He  preached  just  as  it  happened.  When 
not  at  liberty  he  strung  texts  together  till  his  sermon  was  all 
Scripture."  Mr.  Moore  gave  illustrations  of  texts  connected 
by  a  word,  and  added:  '•  I  have  heard  him  preach  thus  by 
the  hour,  all  being  delivered  with  a  peculiar  intonation,  a 
sort  of  singing.  He  leaned  his  arms  on  the  book  and  kicked 
the  back  of  the  pulpit  meanwhile.  He  never  studied  a  ser- 
mon.     I  believe  he  had  a  conscientious  scruple  about  it." 

One  night  Charles  Wesley  said  to  Mr.  Moore:  "Now  I 
knew  that  George  Whitefield  was  waiting  in  Moorfields  for 
my  congregation  from  the  Foundry,  so  I  determined  that  as 
he  had  turned  Calvinist  he  should  not  have  them ;  and  I  kept 
them  till  nine  o'clock.  With  my  texts  I  could  do  that  easily  ; 
but  what  would  my  brother  have  done,  with  his  'first,' 
'  second,'  and  '  third,'  think  you?  " 

Joseph  Sutcliffe,  the  commentator,  described  him  as,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  discourse;  the  most  deliberate,  slow-speak- 
ing, and  pause ful,  but  toward  and  at  the  close  the  most  im- 
petuous, impassioned,  vehement,  irresistible  orator  he  ever 
heard.  Many  passages  of  the  Journals  show  that  "where 
only  God  and  conscious  sinners  were  before  him  it  seemed  as 
if  nothing  could  withstand  the  wisdom  and  power  with  which 
he  spake;  to  use  the  expression  of  a  pious  man,  '  It  was  all 
thunder  and  lightning:."'  Even  in  later  life  Moore  had  known 
him  so  mighty  in  proclaiming  Christ  that  he  would  not  have 
been  surprised  to  see  the  whole  congregation  on  their  knees, 
or  prostrate  on  their  faces  before  God,  crying  for  mercy. 

John  Wesley  marked  the  difference  between  his  own  and 


••In  Age  and   Feebleness  '  1041 

his  brother's  preaching  with  his  usual  discrimination.  "O, 
insist  everywhere  on  full  redemption,  receivable  now  by  faith 

alone!  consequently  to  be  looked  for  now.  You  are  made,  as 
it  were,  for  this  very  thing*.  Just  here  you  are  in  your  ele- 
ment. In  connection  I  beat  you  ;  but  in  strong-,  short,  pointed 
sentences  you  beat  me.  Go  on,  in  your  own  way,  what  God 
has  peculiarly  called  you  to.  Press  the  instantaneous  bless- 
ings: then  I  shall  have  more  time  for  my  peculiar  calling, 
enforcing-  the  gradual  work."  When  Henry  Moore,  who 
knew  both  the  brothers  intimately,  was  asked  to  describe 
their  preaching,  he  replied,  "John's  preaching  was  all  prin- 
ciples; Charles's  was  all  aphorisms.'' 

Five  months  before  Charles  Wesley's  death  the  brothers 
both  preached  in  the  Temple  Church,  at  Bristol,  and  thus 
closed  their  united  ministry  in  that  city.  In  February,  1788, 
it  became  evident  that  the  poet's  work  was  almost  done. 
John  cheered  him  with  reports  of  the  affectionate  inquiries 
of  the  people,  and,  ever  hopeful,  urged  him  to  go  out  an  hour 
a  day  and  he  would  be  well  in  a  month.  "  Never  mind  ex- 
pense. I  can  make  that  up.  You  shall  not  die  to  save 
charges.   .   .   .   Peace  be  with  all  your  spirits." 

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  tiesh  and  heart ; 
O  could  I  catch  a  smile  from  thee, 
And  drop  into  eternity  ! 

This  was  the  last  verse  he  wrote. 

Samuel  Rradburn,  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 


1042  British   Methodism 

no  fiend  was  permitted  to  approach  him,  and  that  he  had  a 
good  hope.  When  asked  if  he  wanted  anything,  he  replied, 
"  Nothing  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. 

5.  Mr.  Charles  Wejl^.y,  who  after  fpending  fourfcore  years?: 
with  much  farrow  and  pain,  quietly  retired  into  Abraham's 
bofom.  He  had  no  difcafe ;  but  after  a  gradual  decay  of 
fome  months 

"  The  weary  wheels  of  life  flood  dill  at  lafl." 
His    leaf!   praife    was,  his  talent  for   Poetry:    although  Dr. 
Watts  did  not  fcruple  to  fay,  That  "  that  finglc  poem,  JFrefiling 
Jacob,  is  worth  all  the  vcrfes  which  I  have  ever  written." 

6.  John  Mealy.,  worn  out  in  the  fervice  of  his  Mailer.  He 
fuffered  much  in  his  laft  illnefs,  and  died  triumphant  in  the 
Lord. 

7.  John  Burnet,  a  very  pious,  devoted,  ufeful  young  man. 
He  continued  through  a  long  illnefs  in  a  very  triumphant  flate 
of  mind,  and  departed  this  life  in  extraordinary  triumph. 

OBITUARY    NOTICES  OF  THE    PREACHERS. 
From  the  Arminian  Magazine,  November,   1788,  including  the  notice  of  Charles  Wesley's  death. 

It  was  found,  by  a  careful  comparison  of  the  time,  that  as 
he  passed  to  join  the  host  above,  John  Wesley  and  his  con- 
gregation in  Shropshire  were  singing  one  of  his  brother's 
funeral  hymns : 

Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above 

That  have  obtained  the  prize, 
And  on  the  eagle  wings  of  love 

To  joys  celestial  rise  : 


Mrs.   Charles  Wesley  in   Old  Age  1043 

Let  all  the  saints  terrestrial  sing 

With  those  to  glory  gone; 
For  all  the  servants  of  our  King, 

In  earth  and  heaven,  are  one. 

A  fortnight  later,  when  at  Bolton,  John  Wesle}-  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." 

Charles  Wesley  was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  the  old 
Marylebone  Church.  Eight  clergymen  bore  the  pall,  and  his 
wife  and  children  followed  him  to  the  grave.  The  obelisk 
now  in  the  quiet  churchyard  replaced  the  decayed  tombstone 
fifty  years  ago,  and  also  marks  the  burial  place  of  Mrs. 
Charles  Wesley  and  her  two  musical  sons. 

Mrs.  Charles  Wesley  was  ninety-six  when  she  died,  in  1822, 
at  Nottingham  Street,  Marylebone.  She  was  a  pious,  cheer- 
ful, hospitable  woman.  Her  daughter  records  that  her  only 
failing  was  her  extreme  indulgence  toward  her  children.  The 
Methodist  Conference  cared  for  her  generously,  and  William 
Wilberforce  and  his  friend  Thornton  supplemented  her  al- 
lowances. She  left  some  charming  letters  of  Wilberforce, 
written  when  sending  her  his  gifts.     The  concluding  lines 


1044 


British  Methodism 


of  one  of  her  letters  to  her  husband  are  here  reproduced. 
Her  daughter  Sarah- shared  the  Wesley  poetic  gifts,  sprightli- 
ness  and  intelligence,  and  supplied  the  Methodist  biographers, 


DrtAWN    BY    ^V      B.    DAVIS- 

GRAVE  OF  CHARLES  WESLEY. 


Dr.  Adam  Clarke  and  Thomas  Jackson,  with  many  facts 
concerning  her  father  and  her  uncle  John,  with  whom  she 
was  a  great   favorite.      For  some  years  she  worked   for  the 


The  Musical  Wesleys 


1045 


press  as  a  translator  of 
foreign  letters,  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  George 
Gregory.  Her  brother 
Charles  lived  with  her  till 
her  death,  at  Bristol,  in 
[828.      lie    was    "as  help- 

ss  as  a  child  in  all  things 
except  music,  so  that  he 
sorely  missed  her  watchful 
care.*' 

Charles  Wesley,  Jr.,  is 
described  in  Sir  F.  A.  Gore 
Ouseley's  edition  of  Xau- 
mann's  History  of  Music 
as  "a  well-known  and 
much  -  admired  organist 
and  composer,"  and  the 
tutor  of  his  brother,  the 
"great  English  composer, 
Samuel  Wesley.'"  His  gen- 
ius was  manifested  early. 
As  a  baby  he  would  have 
his  mother  play  to  him 
with  both  hands.  At  two 
years  and  three  quarters 
he  played  a  tune  on  the 
harpsichord.  Later,  tied 
in  his  chair  lest  he  should 
fall,  he  would  play,  putting 
a  true  bass  to  his  tunes! 
lie  early  created  quite  an 


V     >* 


1046  British  Methodism 

excitement  by  his  performance  of  Handel*s  music,  and  he 
was  a  great  favorite  with  George  III.  When  he  was  about 
eighteen  years  old  the  queen's  page  came  to  Chesterfield 
Street  to  summon  him  to  Buckingham  House  that  night  at 
seven.  "My  heart,"  he  says,  "  went  pitapat."  Kelway, 
the  organist  of  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  whose  voluntaries 
delighted  Handel,  said  :  "  One  cannot  hear  him  play  four  bars 
without  knowing  him  to  be  a  genius.  It  is  a  divine  gift." 
Dr.  Boyce  came  several  times  to  Chesterfield  Street  to  hear 
him  play.  Dr.  Arnold,  Dr.  Arne,  and  Giardini  recognized 
his  genius.  He  was  simple  and  unaffected  in  manners,  and 
quaint  in  his  dress.  For  thirty  years  he  wore  a  large  blue 
overcoat  which  his  father  had  worn  before  him.  In  the  win- 
ter of  1822  it  was  stolen  from  the  lobby  of  14  Nottingham 
Street,  and  the  owner  felt  he  had  lost  "a  real  friend."  He 
played  until  within  two  days  of  his  death,  in  1834.  On  his 
deathbed  he  hummed  Handel's  music,  and  fancied  himself 
at  his  harpsichord,  made  by  Tschudi,  which  had  been  Handel's. 

Samuel  Wesley,  the  younger  brother,  "  has  laid  all  English 
musicians  under  a  deep  obligation, "  says  Naumann,  ' '  by  being 
the  first  of  our  countrymen  who  made  known  to  us  the  works 
of  John  Sebastian  Bach.  He  was  admitted  to  be  the  best  or- 
ganist of  his  day,  and  he  excelled  specially  in  the  (now  neg- 
lected) art  of  fugal  extemporization."  At  the  age  of  eight 
he  composed  and  wrote,  in  boyish  scrawl,  an  oratorio  called 
' '  Ruth."  One  day  Dr.  Boyce  called  at  Chesterfield  Street  and 
told  his  father  that  he  understood  that  he  had  got  an  English 
Mozart  in  the  house.  Samuel  showed  him  his  oratorio. 
His  verdict,  after  careful  examination,  was  very  flattering: 
' '  These  airs  are  some  of  the  prettiest  I  have  seen ;  the  boy 
writes  by  nature  as  true  a  bass  as  I  can  by  rule  and  study." 

These  two  gifted  brothers  gave  a  series  of  concerts  in  their 


Charles   Wesley's  Grandsons 


1047 


father's  house  in  Chesterfield  Street  which  were  attended  by 
the  Bishop  of  London,  Lord  Dartmouth,  Lord  Barrington, 
Lord  and  Lady  De  Spencer,  the  Danish  and  Saxon  ambas- 
sadors,   and    many   others.       Samuel    Wesley   died   in    1837. 


FROM  THE    PAisTihG  6"   RUSSELL. 


CHARLES   WESLEY,   JR. 

Among  his  sons  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wesley,  subdean  of  the 
Chapels  Royal,  and  Samuel  Sebastian  Wesley,  organist  of 
Gloucester  Cathedral.  The  latter  inherited  his  father's 
power  of  fugal  extemporization,  and  supplied  a  connecting 
link  between  the  old  and  new  schools  of  English  ecclesias- 
tical music. 


"I  LOOK  UPON  ALL  the  world  as  my  parish- 


CHAPTER   CXV 

The  Outposts  of  the  British  Isles 

In  Mona's  Isle.— Some  Manx  Worthies. — Fifteen  Leagues  in  a  Gale. 
— The  Islands  of  the  South. — The  Dairyman's  Daughter.— 
A  Missionary  Squire. 


BEFORE  the  death  of  Wesley  Methodism  had  touched 
all  the  islands  that  gem  the  coast  of  Britain,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Shetlands,  in  the  far  north  of  Scot- 
land. Midway  between  Ireland  and  the  north  of  England 
lies  the  Isle  of  Man,  with  a  resident  population  to-day  of 
fifty-five  thousand,  and  visitors  who  annually  number  one 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand.  The  Manx  novelist,  Hall 
Caine,  remembers  among  the  old  Methodist  local  preachers 
"some  of  the  sweetest,  purest,  truest  men  that  ever  walked 
the  world  of  God." 

It  was  a  Liverpool  local  preacher,  John  Crook,  who  preached 
the  first  Methodist  sermon  in  the  island,  in  1775,  and  the 
apostolic  succession  has  been  well  maintained.  A  Manxman 
invited  John  Crook  to  Douglas;  an  Irishman  entertained  him 
the  first  day,  and  a  Scotchman  sheltered  him  the  next.  On 
the  first  Sunday  evening  he  preached  in  a  ballroom  at  Castle- 
town.     The  next  evening  the  crowd  was  so  great  that  he  was 

1048 


John  Crook  and  the  Manxmen  1049 

compelled  to  address  the  people  in  the  open  air,  his  hearers 
holding  candles  in  their  hands.  The  picturesque  scene  and 
powerful  sermon  excited  great  attention,  and  next  Sunday 
the  lieutenant-governor  and  the  clergymen  of  the  town  were 


JOHN   CROOK..  JOSEPH    St    rCLIFFE. 

The  apostle  of  the  Me  of  Man.  Who  gathered  the  first  Society  in  the  Scilly  I>les. 

among  Crook's  hearers.     At   Peel  the  fishermen   bade   him 
farewell  with  tears  and  blessings. 

But  opposition  had  been  aroused,  and  on  his  second  visit 
from  Liverpool  John  Crook  found  a  notice  posted  at  the  quay 
warning  the  people  against  "  the  hypocritical  field  preacher 
who  had  lately  crept  in  among  them  to  subvert  the  Church." 
He  read  the  homilies  in  every  service,  to  show  that  he  was 
no  iconoclast,  but  in  vain.  Nevertheless,  Castletown  was 
visited  with  "overwhelming  showers  of  saving  grace." 
"Many  were  so  convinced  of  sin  as  to  cry  aloud  in  the 
disquietude    of    their  hearts;    while  others   rejoiced   in  God 


1050  British  Methodism 

their  Saviour  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  Nor 
was  Satan  idle.  A  fiddle  was  brought  to  the  preaching- 
house,  and  the  rabble  shouted  mightily,  but  nothing  could 
shake  the  steadiness  or  divert  the  attention  of  the  congre- 
gation." 

The  bishop  commanded  all  ' '  rectors,  vicars,  chaplains,  and 
curates  to  warn  the  people  against  the  preaching,  and  to  re- 
pel from  the  Lord's  table  every  such  teacher."  This  de- 
lighted the  rabble,  and  Crook  suffered  much  from  their  stones 
and  clubs.  But  the  governor  would  not  allow  the  bishop's 
notice  to  be  read  in  his  own  chapel,  and  his  chaplain  openly 
gave  Crook  the  Communion.  The  governor  and  his  family 
sat  by  the  gates  of  their  residence,  where  Crook  preached. 
The  society  fasted  and  prayed,  the  storm  passed,  and  the 
Church  grew  strong.  Wesley  came  in  1777  and  preached  in 
churchyards,  markets,  and  fields  to  vast  assemblies.  Four 
years  later  he  came  again ;  the  hostile  bishop  was  dead,  his 
successor  was  friendly,  and  the  whole  island  came  under  the 
influence  of  the  Revival. 

"The  natives,"  wrote  Wesley,  "are  a  plain,  artless, 
simple  people  ;  unpolished — that  is,  unpolluted  ;  few  of  them 
are  rich  or  genteel ;  the  far  greater  part  moderately  poor ; 
and  most  of  the  strangers  that  settle  among  them  are  men 
that  have  seen  affliction.  The  local  preachers  are  men  of 
faith  and  love,  knit  together  in  one  mind  and  one  judgment. 
They  speak  either  Manx  or  English,  and  follow  a  regular 
plan  which  the  assistant  gives  them  monthly.  The  isle  is 
supposed  to  have  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  Allowing 
half  of  them  to  be  adults,  and  our  societies  to  contain  one  or 
two-and- twenty  hundred  members,  what  a  fair  proportion  is 
this !  What  has  been  seen  like  this  in  any  part  either  of  Great 
Britain  or  Ireland?  "     At  his  death  there  were  two  thousand 


On  Mona's   Isle  1051 

five  hundred  Methodists  on  the  island.  John  Crook  entered 
the  ranks  of  the  itinerancy. 

A  recent  writer,  Corlett  Cowell,  describing  the  island  be- 
fore the  invasion  of  the  excursionists,  says:  "  Nothing  was 
more  remarkable  than  the  way  in  which  the  Sabbath  was 
kept.  It  was  a  delightsome  day,  truly  '  the  bridal  of  the 
earth  and  sky.'  No  clatter  of  vehicles  was  heard  ;  no  fishing 
boat  put  to  sea.  A  bay  alive  with  shoals  of  herring  or  mack- 
erel could  not  tempt  the  hardy,  bronzed  fellows,  who  were 
half  fishermen  and  half  farmers,  to  grasp  an  oar  or  shoot  a 
net.  The  tidy  lugger-rigged  craft  might  be  seen  on  Satnr- 
day  making  for  harbor  that  they  might  rest  with  furled  sails 
beside  the  ancient  quays  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  permit  their 
crews  to  join  in  Christian  worship  in  church  or  chapel — 
chiefly  chapel. 

"  Even  when  Sabbath  observance  became  somewhat  less 
strict  in  certain  parts  of  the  island,  as  visitors  began  to  pour 
in  some  forty  years  ago,  a  party  that  had  driven  to  Ramsay 
were  trying  to  induce  some  boatmen  to  let  them  a  boat  for 
hire,  and  employing  the  argument  that  they  could  get  a  boat 
in  another  town,  and  why  not  there?  were  answered  by  a 
bluff  sailor,  'Why?  Because  we  are  sixteen  miles  nearer 
heaven  here.'  The  blend  of  the  Icelander  with  the  Celt, 
which  is  peculiar  to  Mona,  has  resulted  in  a  temperament  in 
which,  in  religious  worship,  fervor  of  white  heat  is  subdued 
by  the  highest  reverence.  The  Methodist  chapels  in  town 
and  country  were  well  filled,  and  the  solemnity  of  the  service 
was  illumined  and  gladdened  by  holy  song,  for  the  Manx  are 
a  musical  race." 

••  Mr.  Hall  Came,"  says  the  Methodist  Manxman,  "loves 
his  native  island,  has  a  keen  eye  for  character  and  characters, 
employs  ethical  balances  that  are    perfectly   true,   and   his 


1052  British  Methodism 

genius  and  high  purpose  are  unquestionable ;  but  he  does  not 
understand  how  deep  and  pure  and  sweet  was  much  of  the 
piety  of  the  old  Manx  Methodist  worthies.  Seeing  from  the 
outside  mainly  or  wholly,  alive  to  superficial  faults  and  the 
blemishes  which  have  their  roots  in  ancient  superstitions  and 
hereditary  tendencies,  he  has  never  pierced  to  the  heart  of 
the  religion  of  his  countrymen." 

Much  more  true  is  the  picture  given  by  William  Kinnish, 
m  his  Mona's  Isle  and  Other  Poems,  of  the  gray-haired  sire 
of  the  Methodist  family  around  whom  children's  children 
gathered  "  with  reverence  profound,  to  hear  his  wisdom  and 
his  pious  lore:"  of  the  mother  who  "  spun  the  fibered  flax," 
and  taught  her  boys  the  lofty  lessons  and  "  heavenly  law" 
of  noble  living.  William  Kinnish  was  one  of  the  men  whose 
characters  were  molded  by  Methodism.  He  developed  re- 
markable inventive  genius  as  a  naval  engineer.  After  many 
years  of  service  in  the  British  navy  he  entered  the  service  of 
the  United  States.  Among  other  things  he  made  the  first 
survey  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  for  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment, with  a  view  to  the  construction  of  a  canal.  His 
poems,  written  when  he  was  about  fifty  years  of  age,  show 
that  he  was  a  profoundly  religious  man,  and  often  he  attrib- 
utes his  godliness  to 

That  heavenly  law 
That  was  established  in  my  youthful  heart 
And  nurtured  'neath  a  parent's  watchful  eye 
Whose  care  was  to  prepare  me  for  the  sky. 

The  Scilly  Isles  lie  off  the  coast  of  Cornwall.  As  early  as 
1743  Wesley  paid  them  a  flying  visit,  accompanied  by  John 
Nelson.  "  It  seemed  strange  to  me,"  he  writes,  "  to  attempt 
going  in  a  fisher  boat  fifteen  leagues  upon  the  main  ocean, 
especially  when  the  waves  began  to  swell  and  hang  over  our 


Joseph   Suteliffe  in  the  Scilly   Isles  1053 

heads.      But  we  all  joined  in  singing  lustily,  and  with  a  good 

courage : 

When  passing  through  the  watery  deep 

I  ask  in  faith  his  promised  aid  ; 
The  waves  an  awful  distance  keep 

And  shrink  from  my  devoted  head ; 
Fearless  their  violence  I  dare  : 
They  cannot  harm  — for  God  is  there. 

About  half  an  hour  after  one  we  landed  on  St.  Mary's. 
We  immediately  waited  upon  the  governor  with  the  usual 
present,  namely,  a  newspaper.  I  desired  him,  likewise,  to 
accept  of  an  Earnest  Appeal.  The  minister  not  being  willing 
1  should  preach  in  the  church,  I  preached  at  six,  in  the  street, 
to  almost  all  the  town  and  many  soldiers,  sailors,  and  work- 
men, on  'Why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel?'  It  was  a 
blessed  time,  so  that  I  scarce  knew  how  to  conclude.  After 
sermon  I  gave  them  some  little  books  and  hymns,  which  they 
were  so  eager  to  receive  that  they  were  ready  to  tear  both 
them  and  me  to  pieces." 

In  1788  Joseph  Suteliffe,  then  stationed  at  St.  Ives,  was 
told  by  a  Cornish  Methodist  that  his  men  had  agreed  to  fore- 
go a  night's  fishing  in  order  to  take  the  minister  to  the  islands, 
where  the  people  were  hungering  for  the  word.  So  Mr. 
Suteliffe  embarked,  and  preached  there  from  the  steps  of  an 
inn,  and  afterward  in  the  church  and  courthouse.  He  made 
a  deep  impression  by  his  holy  life  and  self-denying  labors, 
and  on  his  third  visit  formed  a  societ)'  of  thirty  members. 
Joseph  Suteliffe  became  known  as  a  devotional  commentator, 
and  was  preeminent  for  "sociable,  serviceable  sainthood." 
In  later  years  "  a  deep  and  mellow  luster  glowed  upon  his 
face,  as  of  a  calm  autumnal  eventide." 

The  Isle  of  Wight,  in  the  English  Channel,  is  now  well 
known  as   "the   garden   of   England "    and   the   residence  of 


1054 


British  Methodism 


royalty.  Wesley  formed  a  society  there  in  1753.  An  un- 
named Methodist  preacher  had  been  before  him.  He  preached 
in  the  market  place  at  Newport  on  this  and  subsequent  occa- 
sions. In  1782  he  writes,  "This  place  seems  now  ripe  for 
the  Gospel ;  opposition  is  at  an  end."  The  opposition  had 
taken  the  form  of  bell-ringing,  drum  and  kettle  beating, 
rotten  egg,  stick,  and  stone  throwing;  sparrows  flying  among 


!■■"       ^%^°^> 


DRAWN     BT     P      €      FL1NTOFF. 


FROM     A     WOODCUT 


ARRETON    CHURCHYARD. 
Where  the  "  dairyman's  daughter"  was  buried. 


the  candles ;  a  covering  for  the  chimney  pot  and  a  fastening 
on  the  door,  to  stifle  and  imprison  the  worshipers.  But  they 
survived  the  stoning  and  smoking. 

Among  Wesley's  hearers  and  converts  was  Robert  Wall- 
bridge,  who  became  a  Methodist  local  preacher.  Elizabeth 
Wallbridge,  his  sister,  was  now  a  light-haired,  ruddy-faced, 
and  merry-hearted  girl  of  twelve.  Of  scholastic  learning  she 
had  a  slender  share,  and  had  to  earn  her  bread  as  a  household 


The  Dairyman's  Daughter  1055 

servant.  She  had  a  high  flow  of  spirits,  vanity,  and  ready 
wit.  and  was  inordinately  fond  of  dress.  She  was  converted 
under  the  ministry  of  James  Crabbe,  a  Methodist  preacher, 
and  became  a  Methodist  herself.  She  died  in  the  year  1S01. 
The  Rev.  Legh  Richmond,  the  curate  of  Arreton,  visited  her 
in  her  last  moments,  and  afterward  wrote  her  life,  with  the 
title  of  The  Dairyman's  Daughter,  omitting  to  state,  how- 
ever, that  his  heroine  was  a  Methodist.  Her  life,  obscure 
in  itself,  has  become  historical  in  its  results.  Her  memoir 
has  been  translated  into  thirty  languages,  and  circulated  by 
millions,  and  forty  years  ago  it  was  known  to  have  been  the 
means  of  the  conversion  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 
No  history  of  Methodism  would  be  complete  which  did  not 
contain  some  reference  to  this  girl-saint,  the  type  of  multi- 
tudes who  have  witnessed  to  the  lofty  mission  of  Methodism 
among  the  lowly.  Her  biographer  will  come  before  us  again 
in  our  account  of  the  later  evangelical  clergy. 

The  Channel  Islands,  off  the  coast  of  France,  are  the  only 
remnants  of  the  French  dominions  of  the  English  crown. 
They  include  Jersey,  Guernsey,  Alderney,  and  Sark.  Pierre 
le  Sueur,  a  native  of  Jersey,  first  brought  the  holy  fire  of  the 
Revival  from  Newfoundland,  where  on  a  journey  he  had  been 
awakened  by  the  preaching  of  Lawrence  Caughland,  a  mis- 
sionary friend  of  Wesley  and  Lady  Huntingdon.  Another 
convert  from  Newfoundland,  John  Fentin,  guided  Le  Sueur 
and  his  wife  into  the  way  of  peace ;  twelve  more  united  with 
them  in  fellowship,  and  the  visit  of  a  good  sea  captain,  with 
some  soldiers  who  had  been  converted  under  Captain  Webb, 
confirmed  them  in  the  faith. 

Their  united  appeal  for  a  preacher  reached  Wesley,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  1783,  and  Robert  Carr  Brackenbury,  the  noble 
squire  of   Raithby  Hall,    Lincolnshire,    devoted   his  strength 


1056 


British   Methodism 


and  his  fortune  to  the  evangelization  of   the  islands — began- 
ning  at  Jersey.      Although  his  name  was  on  the  Minutes,  he 

was  not  a  minister,  and  his 
dying  request  that  he  might 
not  be  the  subject  of  human 
panegyric  was  characteristic  of 
this  devoted  and  useful  squire. 
Montgomery  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing lines  for  his  tablet : 

Silent  be  human  praise  ! 

The  solemn  charge  was  thine  ; 
Which  widowed  love  obeys, 

And  on  thy  lowly  shrine 
Inscribes  the  monumental  stone 
With  "  Glory  be  to  God  alone  !  " 


^«^rfS»*.  ^**^«t^. 


The  missionary 


Dr.  Coke,  accompanied  by 
Jean  de  Queteville,  a  converted 
Jersey  farmer,  whom  he  afterward  ordained,  visited  Guern- 
sey in  1785.  They  were  welcomed  by  Jean  Malay,  the  first 
local  preacher  in  the  island.  Dr.  Coke  organized  a  society, 
ordained  Jean  Mahy,  and  thus  gave  an  impetus  to  the  spiritual 
work  which  has  supplied  a  succession  of  men  for  missionary 
work  in  France.  We  shall  meet  with  De  Queteville  again  in 
our  record  of  Adam  Clarke's  work  in  the  islands.  Bracken- 
bury  compiled  the  first  French  hymn  book,  and  in  1795  De 
Queteville  translated  some  of  Wesley's  hymns  into  French. 
Some  of  these  in  a  revised  form  are  retained  in  the  later  hymn 
books  now  used  by  the  three  thousand  eight  hundred  church 
members. 

Methodism  had  now  reached  the  outposts  of  the  British 
islands,  and  Dr.  Coke  was  evolving:  his  great  scheme  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  CXVI 

The  Father  of  Methodist  Missions 

At  Jesus  College,  Oxford. — Chiming  out  the  Curate. — Liquid  Ar- 
tillery.— The  Father  of  Methodist  Missions.— The  First  Mis- 
sionary Circular.  -A  Providential  Storm. — The  West  Indies 
and  the  Castaway  Missionaries.— Coaxing  a  Captain.— Win- 
ning a  Wife. 


THE  name  of  Dr.  Thomas  Coke  has  already  come  to  the 
front  in  our  account  of  Wesley's  ordinations  and  the 
genesis  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Amer- 
ica, and  he  alone  has  such  relations  to  all  three  of  the  sec- 
tions of  this  history  that  his  name  must  figure  conspicuously 
in  them  all.  The  world  was  his  parish  in  a  more  literal 
sense  than  in  the  case  even  of  Wesley  himself. 

Thomas  Coke  was  born  at  Brecon,  Wales,  in  1747.  His 
father  was  a  medical  man  and  chief  magistrate,  the  beloved 
and  honored  patriarch  of  his  borough,  as  his  epitaph  in  the 
priory  church  tells.  Thomas  was  a  small  boy,  and,  like  the 
Wesleys,  never  attained  average  stature;  but  he  was  bright, 
vivacious,  comely,  with  shining  black  eyes,  a  brow  as  white 
as  alabaster,  rosy  cheeks,  and  black  clustering  curls.  From 
the  local  grammar  school  he  was  entered  at  sixteen  as  a  gen- 
tleman commoner  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford.     Henry  Vaughan, 


67 


1057 


1058  British  Methodism 

"the  Silurist"  religious  poet;  James  Usher,  the  learned 
Archbishop  of  Armagh;  Charles  "  of  Bala,"  the  organizer  of 
the  Calvin istic  Methodist  Churches  and  one  of  the  fathers  of 
the  Bible  societies,  and  in  our  own  day  John  Richard  Green, 
the  historian,  have  brought  glory  to  the  college  where  the 
father  of  Methodist  missions  took  his  degrees  of  B.A.,  M.A., 
and  LL.D. 

But  Thomas  Coke  found  his  college  a  sorry  school  of  faith 
and  of  morals.  The  expulsion  of  the  Methodist  students  had 
not  elevated  the  tone  of  the  university.  The  vice  chancellor 
attained  his  end  in  banishing  students  who  dared  "to  pray  ex- 
tempore ;"  but,  as  Bishop  Ryle  remarks,  "  to  swear  extempore 
brought  an  Oxford  student  into  no  trouble."  At  midnight 
revels,  Coke  told  a  friend  in  after  years,  he  frequently  wit- 
nessed scenes  of  depravity  which  were  not  to  be  described. 
Southey,  who  was  at  Balliol  later  in  the  century,  wrote  in  a 
letter  of  "a  flagitious  state  of  morals."  "Temperance,"  says 
he,  "  is  much  wanted  ;  the  waters  of  Helicon  are  far  too  much 
polluted  by  the  wine  of  Bacchus  ever  to  produce  any  effect. 
With  respect  to  its  superiors,  Oxford  only  exhibits  waste  of 
wigs  and  want  of  wisdom  ;  with  respect  to  undergraduates, 
every  species  of  abandoned  excess.  As  for  me,  I  regard 
myself  too  much  to  run  into  the  vice  so  common  and  de- 
structive. I  have  not  yet  been  drunk,  nor  mean  to  be  so.  .  .  . 
Never  shall  child  of  mine  enter  a  public  school  or  university. 
Perhaps  I  may  not  be  able  so  well  to  instruct  him  in  logic  or 
languages,  but  I  can  at  least  preserve  him  from  vice." 

Coke  was  well-nigh  caught  in  the  maelstrom  of  utter  infi- 
delity.  Drifting  from  the  faith  of  his  parents,  and  distressed 
in  his  soul,  he  one  day  heard  a  sermon  which  touched  him 
and  appeared  to  promise  a  friend  in  the  preacher.  So  he 
opened  his  mind  to  the  clergyman.      He  was  appalled  to  find 


Coke  Meets  Wesley  1059 

his  seriousness  treated  with  levity,  and  to  be  told  by  the 
clergyman  himself  that  the  sermon  was  only  official ;  that  he, 
the  preacher,  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it.  "  Is  that  whither 
infidelity  leads'"  mused  honest  young'  Coke.  '-Then  the 
sooner  1  have  done  with  it  the  better."'  After  taking  his  de- 
gree of  B.A.  he  returned  to  Brecon  and  became  mayor  of  his 
native  town. 

When    he    was  ordained  priest,  at   Abergwilly   in  1772,  he 
heard  the  musie  of  the  solemn  invocation, 

Come,  Holy  Ghost,  Creator,  come, 

Inspire  these  souls  of  thine, 
'fill  every  heart  which  thou  hast  made 

Is  tilled  with  grace  divine. 

but  he  was  conscious  that  he  did  not  possess  the  peace  and 
joy  of  the  indwelling  .Spirit.  Becoming  curate  of  South 
Petherton,  Devon,  he  earnestly  sought  fitness  for  his  work, 
conversed  with  Thomas  Maxfield,  one  of  Wesley's  early  lay 
preachers  and  now  a  clergyman,  and  found  a  true  friend  in 
a  laboring  man  who  was  a  class  leader.  The  curate  and  his 
ministry  were  transformed,  and  in  conducting  a  cottage  serv- 
ice he  found  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  his  heart.  His 
preaching  now  attracted  multitudes  to  the  church.  When 
the  vestry  refused  to  erect  a  new  gallery  he  built  one  at  his 
own  expense,  for  he  possessed  an  ample  fortune.  He  read 
Wesley's  Sermons  and  Fletcher's  Checks,  and  at  last  met 
Wesley  himself,  having  ridden  twenty  miles  to  obtain  the 
interview.  Wesley  advised  him  to  remain  in  his  curacy  for 
the  present,  "  doing  all  the  good  he  conld,  visiting  from  house 
to  house,  omitting  no  part  of  his  clerical  duty,  and  avoiding 
every  reasonable  ground  of  offense." 

But  the  curate's  awakening  ministry  drew  upon  him  the 
wrath  of  some  influential  parishioners.     As  the   bishop  re- 


1060  British  Methodism 

fused  to  interfere  they  besieged  the  vicar,  and  persuaded  the 
timid  man  to  announce  at  the  close  of  a  service  that  the  curate 
was  dismissed.  Then,  in  high  glee,  they  ordered  a  discord- 
ant peal  to  be  rung  from  the  tower,  and  to  this  rough  music 
the  curate  left  the  church.  He  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
in  the  open  air  to  a  vast  crowd,  who  protected  him  from  the 
stones  of  a  hired  mob.  Years  after  he  revisited  South  Peth- 
erton.  The  people  had  missed  his  faithful  preaching,  the 
poor  his  bounty,  and  the  troubled  his  sympathy.  Even  the 
parochial  magnates  had  relented,  and  gave  permission  for  a 
peal  of  welcome  on  the  church  bells.  ' '  We  chimed  him  out," 
said  they,  "now  we'll  ring  him  in." 

Dr.  Coke  joined  Wesley  at  the  Conference  of  1777,  where 
he  met  Fletcher.  "  This  fanned  the  spark  already  glowing 
in  his  soul."  In  his  thirtieth  year  he  went  to  London,  preach- 
ing at  the  Foundry,  West  Street  Chapel,  and  in  the  fields. 
Thus  he  became  Wesley's  right-hand  man ;  and  Thomas 
Jackson  tells  us  that  Wesley  often  observed  that  Coke  was  to 
him  a  second  Thomas  Walsh.  In  promoting  the  settlement 
of  chapels,  and  in  preparing  the  Deed  of  Declaration,  as  we 
have  noted,  he  was  able  to  render  most  valuable  service. 

He  suffered  his  share  of  the  mob  violence  which  still  con- 
tinued in  some  parts  of  the  country  when  the  Methodists 
appeared  on  new  ground.  Under  the  old  wych-elm,  in  the 
village  of  Ramsbury,  Wilts,  as  he  stood  up  to  preach,  a  mob, 
headed  by  the  vicar  of  the  parish,  assailed  him  with  sticks 
and  stones,  tearing  his  gown  in  shreds.  Nothing  daunted 
he  continued  the  service.  ' '  Bring  out  the  fire  engine, "  called 
the  vicar;  and  before  the  "well-directed  fire  of  this  liquid 
artillery  "  the  preacher  and  his  congregation  were  compelled 
to  retire.  As  he  left  the  village  Coke  turned  and  remarked 
to  the  people  that  there  were  other  uses  for  the  fire  engine, 


"The  Father  of  Methodist  Foreign  Missions"        1061 

as  Providence  might  some  day  teach  the  leaders  of  the  out- 
rage. "  False  prophet!"  they  shrieked.  But  within  a  fort- 
night, to  their  horror,  a  fire  did  break  out  which  destroyed  a 
large  part  of  the  village  street.  Some  farmers'  sons,  who  had 
been  astonished  by  the  courage  and  patience  of  the  preacher, 
and  had  shielded  him  from  worse  violence,  were  converted, 
became  members  of  a  society,  class  leaders,  and  local  preach- 
ers, and  succeeded  in  planting  Methodist  churches  in  several 
of  the  country  places  in  the  Salisbury  Circuit. 

In  the  eventful  year  1784  Dr.  Coke  not  only  assisted  Wes- 
ley in  framing  the  Deed  of  Declaration,  and  became  the  first 
bishop  of  the  American  Methodist  societies,  but  he  presided 
for  the  third  time  over  the  Irish  Conference,  which  was  grati- 
fied by  the  enrollment  of  the  names  of  eleven  Irish  preachers 
on  Wesley's  Deed  Poll.  For  many  years  Dr.  Coke  presided 
in  Ireland  at  the  Conferences.  He  organized  the  missions 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  peasantry  by  means  of  their 
native  tongue,  and  one  of  his  first  missionaries  was  the  famous 
Gideon  Ouseley. 

In  the  same  year  Dr.  Coke  entered  upon  the  work  which 
won  for  him  the  high  distinction  of  being  "the  father  of 
Methodist  foreign  missions."  Although  the  organization  of 
the  Missionary  Society  was  not  completed  until  18 18,  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  society  ' '  was  the  legatee  of  the 
herculean  toils,  the  princely  liberality,  and  the  heroic  enter- 
prise of  Thomas  Coke."  "  He  was  a  good  and  noble  man," 
says  Gregory,  "  who  devoted  three  fortunes  and  all  his  time, 
faculties,  and  energies  to  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of 
God ;  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  that  behoof  eighteen  times, 
before  steam  was  applied  to  locomotion,  and  traversing  Eng- 
land, Wales,  Ireland,  and  the  United  States,  preaching  and 
organizing,  and  begging  and  dispensing  thousands  of  pounds. 


1062  British  Methodism 

His  labors  and  achievements  were  such  as  skeptical  criticism 
will  pronounce  mythical,  should  skeptical  criticism  survive 
two  hundred  years." 

He  issued  a  Plan  of  the  Society  for  the  Establishment  of 
Missions  among  the  Heathens,  of  which  we  give  a  facsimile. 
The  name  of  Fletcher  of  Madeley  appears  in  the  list  of  sub- 
scribers printed  on  the  second  page,  and  we  reproduce  a  letter 
in  Coke's  handwriting  which  accompanied  a  copy  of  the  cir- 
cular which  he  sent  to  Fletcher.  The  first  meeting  of  the 
committee  was  held  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  January,  1784,  in 
West  Street  Chapel. 

Dr.  Coke  set  his  heart  upon  a  mission  to  the  East,  but  so 
many  doors  were  opening  nearer  home  that  in  1786  he  says, 
"  Mr.  Wesley  thinks  it  imprudent  at  present  to  attempt  this, 
when  so  large  a  field  of  action  is  afforded  us  in  the  countries 
to  which  we  have  so  much  easier  admittance."  Thus  Coke 
anticipated  Carey  in  his  scheme  for  a  mission  to  India. 

In  William  Carey's  Inquiry  into  the  Obligations  of  Chris- 
tians to  Use  Means  for  the  Conversion  of  the  Heathens,  which 
was  published  in  1792,  he  says,  "  The  late  Mr.  Wesley  made 
an  effort  in  the  West  Indies,  and  some  of  their  ministers  are 
now  laboring  among  the  Caribs  and  negroes,  and  I  have  seen 
pleasing  accounts  of  their  success."  In  a  document  of  1786 
Coke  reports  the  great  success  of  Methodism  in  Antigua, 
where  the  noble  layman,  Nathaniel  Gilbert,  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Assembly,  had  been  at  work.  After  Mr.  Gilbert's 
death  two  negro  slaves  kept  the  society  together  until,  in 
1778,  John  Baxter,  a  local  preacher,  came  to  the  island.  In 
1 786  Coke  reports  that  eleven  hundred  negroes  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  societies.  On  Christmas  Day  in  the 
same  year,  as  John  Baxter  was  on  his  way  to  preach  in  the 
rude  chapel  which  he   had  built  chiefly  with  his  own  hands, 


Dr.  Coke's   Plan  1063 


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1064  British  Methodism 

he  unexpectedly  met  four  weather-beaten  travelers  who  had 
just  landed  from  a  half- wrecked  vessel.  One  of  the  four  was 
Dr.  Coke  himself.  Three  months  before  he  had  set  sail,  with 
three  missionaries,  for  Nova  Scotia,  but  storms  drove  the  vessel 

fa  Irvy  'it**/*' 

<h/<.  bun.  Kfl)  Vt  in^rx.  IrrKltsfiJ  0tvtk*lvnr«   /f  tC  J/iir^TU-  &<- 

Utn^r  tr^ee^f^C^M  9rlu3  f  /bruits 

FACSIMILE  OF  COKE'S  LETTER  TO  FLETCHER,   1 7§4- 

from  its  course  and  it  drifted  to  the  West  Indies.  The  storm- 
beaten  traveler  was  soon  in  the  pulpit  preaching  with  won- 
derful energy  to  one  of  the  <<  cleanest"  audiences  he  ever 
saw.  There  was  no  resisting  the  importunate  people,  and 
the  three  missionaries,  Warrener,  Hammet.  and  Clarke,  re- 
mained in  the  West  Indies.  William  Warrener,  who  had 
been  ordained  by  Wesley,  took  charge  of  Antigua,  to  the 
great  delight  of  brave  John  Baxter.      Warrener  lived  to  take 


"A  Missionary  Greatheart  " 


1065 


part  in  the  first  missionary  meeting  of  British  Methodism, 
held  at  Leeds  in  1813,  when  he  thrilled  his  audience  with 
his  stories  of  the  suffering  and  the  heroism  of  the  Methodist 
slaves. 

Between  his  first  and  second  voyages  to  America,  as  we 
have  noted,  Dr.  Coke  visited  the  Channel  Islands.      He  saw 
what  history  has  proved, 
that   the_\'  offered   a    key 
to    missionary    work     in 
France. 

We  cannot  follow  in 
detail  the  career  of  this 
missionary  Greatheart.  , 
The  record  of  his  trans- 
atlantic work  belongs  to 
our  American  chapters, 
and  the  pathetic  story  of 
his  death  on  the  way  to 
Ceylon  must  be  told  later. 
Like  Wesley,  he  main- 
tained his  habits  of  read- 
ing throughout  life.  On 
his  first  voyage  we  find 

him  entranced  by  a  copy  of  Spenser's  poems,  for  which  he 
had  given  twenty  shillings.  "With  such  company,"  he 
says,  "I  think  I  could  live  comfortably  in  a  tub."  He 
loaded  his  carriage  with  books  for  his  English  pilgrim- 
ages. His  administration  was  sometimes  faulty;  his  zeal 
sometimes  outran  his  discretion ;  he  did  not  fully  appreciate 
the  difficulties  of  his  American  brethren  in  dealing  with  the 
question  of  slavery  ;  but  his  faults  were  those  of  an  impulsive, 
large-hearted,  unworldly  man. 


ME    ENGRAVING    By     RiDlEr 


WILLIAM    WARRENER. 
The  first  missionary  to  Antigua. 


1066  British  Methodism 

There  was  no  resisting-  his  personal  appeals  for  help  for  his 
missions. 

"  Pray,  sir,"  said  a  captain  of  a  man-of-war  to  a  gentleman 
at  Plymouth,  "do  you  know  anything  of  a  little  fellow  who 
calls  himself  Dr.  Coke,  and  who  is  going  about  begging 
money  for  missionaries  to  be  sent  among  the  slaves?  " 

"  I  know  him  well,"  was  the  reply. 

"He  seems,"  rejoined  the  captain,  "to  be  a  heavenly 
minded  little  devil ;  he  coaxed  me  out  of  two  guineas  this 
morning." 

In  looking  for  missionary  funds  Dr.  Coke  found  an  estimable 
wife.  In  1805  Mr.  Eawson  introduced  him  to  a  lady  at  Bris- 
tol who  promised  him  ^100  if  he  would  call  on  her  at  Brad- 
ford, Wilts.  When  he  called  she  gave  him  ,£200,  and  the 
friendship  then  formed  resulted  in  their  happy  marriage. 
The  devoted  couple  journeyed  together,  residing  almost  for 
four  years  in  a  great  traveling  carriage  laden  with  the  doctor's 
books  and  documents.  After  Wesley's  death  we  shall  find 
him  twice  president  of  the  British  Conference. 


Adam  Clarke,  LL.D..  F.S.A. 
The  Author  of  Clarke's  Commentaries  on  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER  CXVII 

A  Polyglot  from  Patrick's  Isle 

The   Dunce  ok  Moybeg  School. — A  Regnant  Will  and  Brain.— 

"This    is    THE     DOCTRINE    OF    THE     REFORMERS."— ADAM     CLARKE 

at  Kings  wood  School. — In  the  Apostolic  Si  c<  ession. — Adven- 
tures in  the  Norman  Isles. 

"T  FEEL  a  simple  heart;  the  prayers  of  my  childhood 
are  yet  precious  to  me,  and  the  simple  hymns  which 
I  sang  when  a  child  I  sing  now  with  unction  and  de- 
light." So  wrote  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  seven  weeks  before  his 
death,  when  he  had  become  famous  in  Church  and  State  for 
his  genius  and  learning. 

His  father  was  the  schoolmaster  of  .Moybeg,  in  Ulster, 
Ireland;  a  stalwart,  grave  Master  of  Arts  of  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity, who  eked  out  his  scanty  living  by  farming  the  family 
acres.  About  1767,  when  Adam  was  seven  years  old,  the 
land  fell  into  the  hands  of  strangers.  "  I  well  remember," 
he  said  in  after  years,  "  the  time  when  the  last  farm  went 
out  of  the  family,  and  our  ancient  boast  was  lost  forever. 
The  weeping  and  wailing  that  morning  .  .  .  still  live  in  my 
remembrance.  We  neither  fared  sumptuously  every  day 
nor  was  our  clothing  purple  and  fine  linen."     Adam  worked 

hard  in   the   fields  as  well  as  in   his  father's   school,  and  at 

1067 


1068 


British  Methodism 


twelve  was  set  to  guide  the  plow.     He  was  skillful  at  sheep- 
shearing  and  peat  cutting,  and  could  swim  like  a  fish. 

But  at  learning  Adam  Clarke  was  pronounced  to  be  a  griev- 
ous dunce.  His  father  was  thoroughly  disappointed.  Lilly's 
Latin  Grammar,  with  its  appalling  definitions,  drove  the  lad 
to  despair.      In  vain  the  master  threatened,  "  If  you  do  not 


ADAM  CLARKE,  AGE  27. 


ADAM  CLARKE,  AGE  33. 


speedily  get  that  lesson,  I  shall  pull  your  ears  as  long  as 
Jowler's  [the  farm  dog],  and  you  shall  be  a  beggar  till  the  day 
of  your  death." 

One  day,  as  a  gentleman  was  inspecting  the  school,  Adam's 
teacher  pointed  to  his  boy  and  remarked,  "  That  is  a  griev- 
ous dunce;  I'm  afraid  we  will  make  nothing  of  him."  The 
kind  visitor  saw  distress  in  Adam's  face,  and,  patting  him  on 
the  head,  said  encouragingly,  "  Never  fear,  sir;  this  lad  will 
make  a  good  scholar  yet."  Despair  fled,  and  hope  sprang  up 
in  Adam's  heart. 


The  Awakening  of  Adam   Clarke  1069 

Shortly  after,  distressed  beyond  endurance  by  the  taunts 
and  ridicule  of  the  lads  around  him,  he  said  to  himself. 
••  What!  shall  1  ever  be  a  dunce  and  the  butt  of  my  school- 
fellows' insults  ?  "  He  took  up  his  book  and  learned  lesson 
after  lesson,  till  the  master  was  wearied  by  his  repeated  re- 
turns to  recite,  lie  says.  "  I  felt  as  if  something  had  broken 
within  me." 

From  this  time  he  made  rapid  progress,  though  he  tells  us 
that  he  always  ••  found  an  initial  difficulty  to  comprehend 
anything  "  until  he  could  grasp  "the  reason."  His  mother 
was  a  Presbyterian,  and  for  her  religious  teachings  he  tells 
us  he  had  "endless  reasons  to  bless  his  Maker."  To  her 
theological  training  he  always  attributed  that  fear  of  the 
divine  majesty  which  kept  him  from  taking  pleasure  in  sin. 
But  neither  mother  nor  son  had  as  yet  any  conception  of  the 
peace  and  joy  of  the  Spirit.  One  day,  however,  they  heard 
that  there  was  to  be  a  preaching  at  a  neighboring  barn. 
Adam  went,  and  for  the  first  time  set  eyes  on  a  Methodist 
preacher — a  tall,  thin  man,  with  a  serious  countenance  and 
long  hair.  This  was  John  Brettell,  whose  labors  and  those 
of  his  successor,  Thomas  Barber,  were  greatly  blessed  in  that 
part  of  Ireland.  Mrs.  Clarke  was  induced  to  attend  the 
preaching,  and  at  once  affirmed,  "  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
Reformers ;  this  is  true  and  unadulterated  Christianity."  She 
opened  her  house  for  the  preachers  and  joined  the  newly 
formed  society.  Adam  was  for  some  time  in  great  distress 
of  soul.  One  morning  he  had  gone  out  to  his  work  in  the 
field,  but  could  not  proceed  on  account  of  his  intense  anguish. 
He  knelt  and  prayed,  then  rose  and  tried  to  go  on  with  his 
work,  but  both  mental  and  physical  strength  had  deserted 
him  ;  he  could  neither  believe  nor  plow.  After  prolonged 
agony,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  autobiography,  he   "  felt  strongly 


1070  British  Methodism 

in  his  soul,  '  Pray  to  Christ;'  another  word  for  '  Come  to  the 
Holiest  through  the  blood  of  Jesus."  He  looked  up  confi- 
dently to  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  His  agony  subsided ;  his 
soul  became  calm.  A  glow  of  happiness  thrilled  through  his 
frame;  all  guilt  and  condemnation  were  gone,  and  he  gained 
an  experience  which  helped  him  greatly  in  his  future  min- 
istry. 

He  joined  the  Methodist  society,  and  in  later  years  he 
wrote:  "I  have  been  a  traveling  preacher  for  twenty-four 
years,  and  yet  I  feel  the  class  meeting  as  necessary  as  when 
I  first  began.  I  meet  regularly  once  a  week.  I  find  it  a  great 
privilege  to  forget  that  I  am  a  preacher  and  come  with  a 
simple  heart  to  receive  instruction  from  my  leader."  To  a 
captain  in  the  navy,  a  member  of  the  Philosophical  Society, 
he  wrote,  "Use  every  means  of  grace,  and  do  not  neglect 
your  class."  One  man  whom  he  took  to  task  for  nonattendance 
declared  he  could  not  go  while  a  certain  person  attended, 
whom  he  named. 

"  I  have  been  to  class  when  a  worse  than  he  was  there," 
said  Adam. 

"  Never!"  exclaimed  the  man. 

"  But  I  have,"  Adam  insisted  ;  "  I  have  been  to  class  when 
the  devil  was  there;  but  God  was  there  too,  and  he  is  greater 
than  the  devil." 

He  held  that  without  the  class  meeting  Methodism  would 
have  been  a  rope  of  sand. 

His  conversion  quickened  his  interest  in  Bible  study,  and 
he  commenced  to  address  village  meetings.  In  1782  John 
Bredin,  the  preacher  of  the  Londonderry  Circuit,  wrote  to 
John  Wesley  about  him,  believing  that  he  was  called  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  Wesley,  ever  alert,  offered  to  take  him 
into  Kingswood  School.     The  shabbily  clad  youth  reached 


Clarke  at  Kingswood 


1071 


Kingswood  with  a  Bible.  Concordance,  Prideaux's Connection, 

Young's  Night  Thoughts,  a  Creek  Testament,  and  three  half- 
pence in  cash.     The  head  master  and  his  wife  were  not  pre- 


THOMAS    -  -   IN,    A.M. 

Ma*  x>d  School  when  Adam 

ipiL 


JOHN    BREDIN. 
-.iperintendent  who  wrote  to  Wesley 
in  praise  of  Adam  Clarke. 


possessed  with  his  appearance,  and  after  repeated  grum- 
blings, and  mutterings  that  Kingswood  was  not  meant  for  such 
as  he.  Adam  was  banished  to  a  cheerless  room  and  kept  on 
poor  fare  until  Wesley,  who  was  absent  for  a  fortnight,  should 
return.  Clarke  compared  the  master's  wife  to  a  Bengal  tiger. 
■  She  was  probably  very  clever."  says  he:  "all  stood  in  awe 
of  her.  For  my  own  part.  I  feared  her  more  than  I  feared 
-  tan  himself."  He  came  into  conflict  with  her  by  refusing 
to  drink  her  health  when  he  was  admitted  to  the  household 
table;  but  he  tells  us  he  "  preserved  a  whole  conscience  at 
the  expense  of  a  dry  stomach."  Digging  one  day  in  the  gar- 
den, he  found  a  half  guinea,  and.  Mr.  Simpson  refusing  to 


1072 


British   Methodism 


receive  it,  he  bought  with  it  a  much-coveted  Hebrew  gram- 
mar. At  last  Wesley  returned  to  Bristol,  and  Adam  tells  the 
story  of  the  eventful  interview  : 

"  I  went  into  Bristol,  saw  Mr.  Rankin,  who  took  me  to  Mr. 
Wesley's  study,  off  the  great  lobby  of  the  rooms  over  the 
chapel  in  Broadmead.  He  tapped  at  the  door,  which  was 
opened  by  this  truly  apostolic   man.     Mr.   Rankin   retired. 

Mr.  Wesley  took  me 
kindly  by  the  hand, 
and  asked  me  how 
long  since  I  had  left 
Ireland.  Our  con- 
versation was  short. 
He  said,  'Well, 
Brother  Clarke,  do 
you  wish  to  devote 
yourself  entirely  to 
the  work  of  God  ? '  I 
answered,  '  Sir,  I 
wish  to  do  and  be 
what  God  pleases.' 
He  then  said :  '  We  want  a  preacher  for  Bradford,  in  Wilt- 
shire; hold  yourself  in  readiness  to  go  there.  I  am  going 
into  the  country,  and  will  let  you  know  when  you  shall  go.' 
He-  then  turned  to  me,  laid  his  hands  upon  my  head,  and 
spent  a  few  moments  in  praying  to  God  to  bless  and  pre- 
serve me  and  to  give  me  success  in  the  work  to  which 
I  was  called.  I  departed,  having  now  received,  in  addition 
to  my  appointment  from  God  to  preach  his  Gospel,  the  only 
authority  I  could  have  from  man  in  that  line  in  which  I  was 
to  exercise  the  ministry  of  the  divine  word."  He  heard  Mr. 
Wesley  preach  the  same  evening,  and  two  days  afterward  saw 


JOHN    WESLEY  S   STUDY,    BRISTOL. 
Here  Adam  Clarke   first   met  Wesley  (1782). 


Clarke's  First  Circuit  1073 

Mr.  Charles  Wesley.  On  September  26  he  received  instruc- 
tions to  repair  to  his  first  circuit,  which  covered  three 
counties — Wiltshire,  Somerset,  and  Dorset. 

He  was  a  gaunt,  plain-featured  youth  of  five  feet  ten,  in 
seedy  long  coat  with  brass  buttons,  short  breeches  tied  below 
the  knees,  and  painfully  conscious  of  his  unprepossessing 
appearance.  But  he  soon  became  famous  as  "the  boy 
preacher,"  and  there  was  a  light  in  his  eyes  and  a  resolute, 
refined  expression  in  his  face  when  he  was  preaching  which 
told  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  fires  within. 

In  Cornwall  he  was  the  instrument  in  the  conversion  of 
Samuel  Drew,  of  St.  Austell,  the  young  shoemaker  who 
became  one  of  the  greatest  metaphysicians  of  his  day,  and 
who  never  forgot  the  scene  when  the  young  preacher  was 
compelled  to  get  in  through  one  of  the  windows  of  the 
crowded  chapel,  "  borne  along  upon  the  hands  and  heads  of 
the  people,  without  touching  the  floor,  until  he  was  safely 
landed  in  the  pulpit."  Clarke  rode  two  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  in  the  saddle  every  three  weeks,  slept  in  a  "  pestiferous 
room  "  where  a  preacher  lay  ill  of  a  fever,  studied  the  stars 
through  the  chinks  of  wretched  hovels,  carried  a  hammer,  a 
sheet  of  brown  paper,  and  tacks  to  nail  up  the  holes  through 
which  the  frosty  wind  and  snow  came  in,  and  was  "passing 
rich  "  on  £\2  a  year. 

Adam  Clarke's  knowledge  of  French  led  to  his  appointment 
to  the  Channel  Islands  in  1786.  At  Guernsey  he  found  a 
delightful  retreat  with  a  family  in  the  Mon  Plaisir  farmhouse, 
and  here  also  Jean  de  Queteville,  the  first  French  minister, 
found  a  wife  in  a  lady  who  was  the  first  class  leader  of  the 
French  society. 

De  Queteville  was  a  valiant  missionary.    "A  sort  of  pagan," 

said  a  good  farmer,  when  asked  what  he  thought  of  the  Meth- 
68 


1074 


British  Methodism 


odist ;  others  did  not  say  much,  but  set  to  work  to  drive  away 
this  heretic.  In  1787,  as  Jean  de  Queteville  was  going  to 
preach  in  the  kitchen  of  M.  Pierre  Ogier,  of  the  Ville  Beaudu 
• — a  right  good  Methodist  house  to  this  day — he  was  met  by  a 


"3p%fa 


Sf. 


-  y;';t.| 


»•«* 


-jm^^sm^:^^. 


0RA*N     BY     P.     E      FLINTOFF.  FROM     *    WOODCUT. 

MON    PLAISIR,    ISLAND   OF   GUERNSEY. 

party  of  valiant  men,  armed  with  guns  and  bottles  of  brandy, 
waiting  for  the  preacher.  They  surrounded  him  and  dragged 
him  through  the  stones  and  slime  of  what  was  then  a  piece 
of  seashore,  the  Braie  du  Valle,  and  pushing,  pulling,  pinch- 
ing, striking,  and  shouting,  they  brought  him  to  a  deep  ditch 
of  running  water.      "  We  shall  let  you  go  if  you  promise  not 


In   the   Channel    Islands  1075 

to  come  again  ;  if  not,  in  you  go."  "  Do  as  you  like,"  said  the 
preacher,  "  but  I  hope  to  be  soon  back  again."  A  gentleman 
came  that  way  and  scolded  the  persecutors  away.  But  it  was 
many  years  before  that  petty  sort  of  mob  tyranny  ceased  in 
the  island.  De  Queteville  was  once  taken  before  the  bailiff, 
or  chief  judge,  in  the  old  courthouse,  and  accused  by  a  woman 
of  making  her  husband  mad  by  causing  him  to  pray  and  weep 
about  his  sins ! 

When  Adam  Clarke  went  to  Jersey  he  soon  became  a  power 
in  the  parish,  and  the  parish  priest  decided  to  stop  that.  The 
mayor  of  the  parish  lent  his  influence,  and  one  day  the  little 
meeting  room  was  surrounded  bv  a  crowd  of  roughs  who  this 
time  had  the  police  force  on  their  side.  Adam  Clarke,  find- 
ing that  the  place  was  untenable,  walked  out  at  the  head  of 
his  little  flock,  and  the  rioters  made  way  for  them  with  the 
submission  that  true  courage  always  secures  in  such  cases. 
The  rioters  vented  their  ra<>e  on  the  store,  and  gutted  it. 

But  Adam  Clarke  was  not  to  be  balked ;  he  began  open-air 
services  on  the  quay.  Then  the  chief  of  the  police  came  with 
a  drummer  and  a  crowd  and  led  away  the  preacher  to  the 
tune  of  the  "  Rogue's  March,"  the  crowd  beating  time  on  the 
shoulders  of  Adam  Clarke,  who  felt  the  physical  consequences 
of  the  affray  for  several  weeks,  but  did  not  give  up  preaching 
in  St.  Aubyn's.  The  rioters  had  a  very  curious  theolog- 
ical and  ecclesiastical  motto  that  tells  its  own  story : 

A  tout  pecheur  misericorde, 
A  tout  Methodiste  la  corde. 

(Mercy  for  every  sinner;  a  rope  for  every  Methodist.) 

An  attack  of  illness  left  Adam  Clarke,  as  he  says,  "  little 
else  (considered  abstractly  from  my  spirit)  than  a  quantity 
of  bones  and  sinews  wrapped  up  in  none  of  the  best  colored 
skins."     But  he  found  opportunities  for  study,  and  was  de- 


1076 


British  Methodism 


lighted  to  discover  Walton's  Polyglot  in  the  public  library  at 
Jersey.  He  acquired  knowledge  of  Syriac  and  Chaldee  and 
of  the  Samaritan  alphabet.  Some  unknown  friend  sent  him 
£10  to  buy  a  copy  of  Walton,  and  to  this  timely  act  of  kind- 
ness and  his  previous  discovery  of  the  half  guinea,  devoted 
to   the    purchase  a^^^s^  of    a    Hebrew 

grammar,    he  //^^p^ftTxx  often    gratefully 

referred  as   hav-         J     M      ™\  Yv  ing  laid  the  foun- 

dation of  his  re-        f  :if^ri     \li)  markable    ac- 

quirements  in  U  ''JHiS^J^lJJi  oriental  learning 
and   Biblical    lit-    (^^M'M^.'jRim}/^)       erature.       Later, 


Jf^Wf^ 


DRAWN   BY  W.    B.    DAVIS. 


AFTER    A    PRINT    AND    PHOTOGRAPHS. 


JEAN    DE   QUETEVII.LE. 
THE  DE  QUETEVILLE  HOMESTEAD.  THE   CHAPEL    AT    ST.    AUBYN'S. 

at  Dublin,  he  entered  himself  as  a  student  in  Trinity  Col- 
lege, and  attended  lectures  on  medicine,  anatomy,  and 
chemistry.  His  knowledge  of  Arabic  and  Spanish  attracted 
the  attention  of  a  Mussulman,  Ibrahim  ben  Ali,  and  he  had 
the  joy  of  instructing  this  Turkish  janizary  in  Christian  truth 
and  translating  the  service  into  Spanish  for  his  baptism. 

His  marriage  brought  him  the  help  of  a  wife  who  for  half 
a  century  was  "the  light  of  his  eyes."  She  trained  a 
family  of  six  boys  and  six  girls,  and  yet  found  time  to 
transcribe  her  husband's  manuscripts  for  the  press. 


CHAPTER   CXVIII 
Some  Typical  Irishmen 

i\  the  Year  of  Grattan's  Parliament.— Wesley's  Love  for  Ire- 
land.—The  Muster  Roll  op-  Erin's  Heroes.— The  Adventures 
wi>  Conversion  of  Matthias  Joyce. — The  Mission  of  Metho- 
dism to  the  Prodigal.— A  Group  of  Hibernian  Presidents.— 
The  Friend  and  BIOGRAPHER  OF  Wesley. 

1  T  AM  now  to  address  a  free  people,"  said  Henry  Grattan, 
the  great  Irish  patriot  and  orator,  in  his  famous  speech 
of  1782  in  the  Parliament  at  Dublin.  A  few  months 
later  the  Irish  Parliament  became  independent  and  was  free 
to  make  any  law  it  pleased  for  Ireland.  It  did  not  realize 
the  patriotic  dreams  of  its  founder.  It  was  defective  in  its 
representation  of  the  people,  and  was  dominated  by  corrupt 
lords  and  powerful  landowners,  who  commonly  sold  the  seats 
for  cash  at  election  times.  Rents  remained  exorbitant ;  land- 
lords still  encroached  upon  the  commons  of  the  impoverished 
and  uneducated  peasantry.  Smoldering-  discontent  revived 
the  secret  oath-bound  societies  which  aimed  at  the  redress  of 
grievances  by  force.  There  were  "White  Boys"  in  the  south, 
"  Peep-o'-day  Boys"  in  the  north,  and  "  Defenders"  up  and 
down  the  land,  who  passed  beyond  their  original  functions 
and  often  committed  terrible  cruelties. 

In  the  memorable  year  of  Grattan's  first  Parliament,  as  we 

1077 


1078  British  Methodism 

have  seen,  the  first  regularly  constituted  Methodist  Confer- 
ence was  held,  with  Dr.  Coke  as  president.  Through  the 
stormy  years  of  the  closing  century  Wesley's  itinerants  pur- 
sued their  work  of  philanthropy  and  peace,  often  suffering 
severely  at  the  hands  of  contending  factions,  but  ever  daunt- 
less, compassionate,  hopeful. 

The  Wesleys  and  Dr.  Coke  had  a  special  love  for  the  Irish 
people,  spending  weeks  and  months  at  a  time  in  itinerancy 
among  them ;  and  when  the  London  leaders  expressed  their 
dissatisfaction  at  their  long  absence  from  the  metropolis 
Wesley  uttered  his  memorable  saying,  "  Have  patience,  and 
Ireland  will  repay  you.''  Dr.  Coke,  as  Stevens  observes, 
"  was  practically  more  the  bishop  of  Irish  than  of  American 
Methodism,"  presiding  at  all  except  four  of  its  Conferences 
for  twenty-two  years  after  the  death  of  Wesley,  and  "  lavish- 
ing his  money  on  its  suffering  preachers  and  churches." 

The  most  sanguine  hopes  of  Wesley  and  Coke  were  early 
realized.  From  among  the  Irish  people  themselves  there 
sprang  up  a  race  of  preachers  whose  names  stand  high  on  the 
muster  roll  of  Methodist  heroes.  Thomas  Walsh  and  Adam 
Clarke  have  passed  before  us — both  scholar-saints  and  preach- 
ers of  a  lofty  type. 

Matthias  Joyce  was  an  Irishman  of  another  sort.  Rollick- 
ing, adventurous,  mercurial,  in  early  life  he  became  a  drunken 
desperado.  The  printer  to  whom  he  was  apprenticed  shivered 
an  oaken  staff  upon  his  head,  but  Matthias  declared  he  would 
not  submit  to  him  if  he  beat  him  dead.  He  nearly  murdered 
his  master's  son  with  a  pair  of  shears.  He  ran  away  to  enlist 
on  board  a  man-of-war,  but  changed  his  mind,  and,  getting 
drunk,  would  have  killed  himself  had  not  the  knife  been 
wrested  from  his  hands.  He  roamed  the  land  with  gypsies 
and  joined  a  company  of  begging  vagabonds,   but  would  not 


Matthias  Joyce  1079 

sin gr  song's  for  bread,  as  they  did — his  pride  preferring  an 
empty  stomach.  Near  Chester  he  fainted  from  fatigue  and 
hunger,  and  almost  crawled  into  the  city,  where  a  poor  man 
pitied,  lodged,  and  fed  him.  He  sold  his  waistcoat  for  three 
shillings,  by  the  help  of  a  poor  woman,  who  washed  his  feet 
and  gave  him  a  loaf.  At  Liverpool  he  reembarked  for  Dub- 
lin with  ten  pence  in  his  pocket.  A  furious  storm  alarmed 
the  passengers;  some  attempted  to  pray,  "  while  I,  hardened 
wretch,"  he  says,  "was  highly  diverted."  But  the  fury  of 
the  storm  increased  until  even  he  was  terrified,  and  he  crept 
upon  his  knees  into  a  corner  to  utter  "a  few  heartless  pe- 
titions." 

His  master  took  him  back  again  on  a  security  of  £4.0 
from  his  father's  friends.  He  treated  his  father  cruelly,  and 
his  violence  toward  his  fellow-apprentices  led  his  master  to 
horsewhip  him.  He  became  a  gambler,  and  a  rope  ladder 
was  contrived  by  which  he  and  others  who  stole  the  printer's 
money  could  descend  from  a  back  window  to  reach  a  gaming 
house.  Drunkenness  brought  on  pleurisy,  but  on  his  recovery 
he  flew  again  to  the  bottle.  His  master  pronounced  him 
utterly  irreclaimable;  "and  well  he  might,"  says  Joyce,  "if 
there  were  no  God,  for  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  man  to 
turn  the  stream  of  my  affections." 

On  a  Sunday  morning  in  1773  Wesley  preached  in  Dublin, 
and  curiosity  led  this  prodigal  to  go  and  hear  him.  ' '  As  soon 
as  I  saw  him,"  he  says,  "  my  heart  clave  to  him;  his  hoary 
hairs  and  grave  deportment  commanded  my  respect  and 
gained  my  affections.  What  endeared  him  still  more  to  me 
was  seeing  him  stoop  to  kiss  a  little  child  that  stood  on  the 
stairs."  But  Matthias  was  so  iitterly  in  darkness  that  he 
could  not  at  first  understand  even  Wesley's  plain  language. 
But  he  went  again   to  the   Methodist   meetings  and   learned 


1080 


British  Methodism 


that  if  he  remained  a  companion  of  fools  he  "must  inevitably 
be  destroyed."  In  a  few  months  he  was  on  his  knees  on  the 
stairs  of  the  printing  office  calling  upon  God  in  prayer.  "The 
Lord  God,"  he  says,  "appeared  in  terrible  majesty,  and 
Mount  Sinai  seemed  to  be  in  a  flame.  His  voice  thundered 
from  the  dreadful  mount,  and  spoke  in  terror  to  my  inmost 
soul,  which  made  me  tremble  exceedingly.  The  Holy  Ghost 
showed  me  the  spirituality  of  the  law  in  such  a  manner  that 
I  saw  and  felt  my  inward  parts  were  very  wickedness.  For 
some  time  I  was  quite  dumb,  and  wondered  that  I  was  so 
great  a  monster.  O  what  heart  can  conceive  the  exquisite 
distress  of  my  soul  at  this  moment !  I  groaned,  being  bur- 
dened with  a  deep  sense  of  the  wrath  of  God.  I  saw  myself 
just  on  the  brink  of  hell.  I  thought  I  was  undone  forever, 
and  despaired  of  ever  being  saved." 

After  many  weeks  of  "  heart-piercing  convictions,"  during 
which  he  read  every  book  he  could  lay  hold  of  that  explained 
saving  faith,  "there  came  a  man  from  the  country,  an  old 
professor,  who  was  very  fond  of  encouraging  those  who  were 
of  a  doubtful  mind,"  and  who,  on  first  seeing  the  young  con- 
vert, "took  a  liking  to  him."  "I  believe,"  said  the  old 
Methodist,  "you  do  not  doubt  that  God  is  able  to  save 
you;  but  you  do  not  believe  he  is  willing."  As  soon  as  he 
uttered  these  words  "the  power  of  God,"  writes  Joyce, 
"rested  upon  me  in  a  remarkable  manner;  all  my  doubts 
and  fears  vanished,  and  I  was  filled  with  faith  and  love.  I 
could  now  no  more  contain,  but  immediately  cried  out,  'O 
yes,  I  believe  he  is  willing  to  save  me !  and  I  see  so  much 
love  in  his  heart  toward  me  that  I  should  be  the  most  un- 
grateful wretch  in  the  world  if  I  doubted  his  love  any  longer.' ' 
And  so  a  moral  miracle  was  wrought.  The  highest  mission 
of  Methodism  was  illustrated.     The  profligate  toiled  hard, 


Myles  the  Chronicler 


1081 


paid  his  debts,  and  became  a  saint,  student,  and  preacher. 
Ten  years  later  Wesley,  having  tested  his  worth  as  a  local 
preacher,  sent  him  to  the  Limerick  Circuit.  For  thirty  years 
(1783-18 14)  he  labored,  "a  man  of  a  remarkably  loving  and 
peaceful  disposition,"  said  his  brethren  in  their  Minutes;  "  a 


REV.  WILLIAM  MYLES. 


KEV.  WALTER  GRIFFITH. 


REV.   HENRY   MOORE. 


wise,  acceptable,  successful  preacher  ...  an  Israelite  indeed, 
in  whom  was  no  guile." 

The  first  preacher  received  into  full  connection  by  the  first 
Irish  Conference  (1782)  was  William  Myles,  who  did  useful 
work  as  a  chronicler  of  what  he  calls  "  the  first  race  of  Meth- 
odist preachers."  He  tells  us  that  of  two  hundred  and 
eighteen   preachers   no   less  than   one  hundred  and  thirteen 


1082 


British  Methodism 


desisted  from  traveling ;  not  from  lack  of  zeal,  but  from  lack 
of  physical  strength  to  endure  the  severe  labors  and  priva- 
tions of  the  early  period.  Some  of  them  took  charge  of  Dis- 
senting congregations,  and  others  entered  the  Established 
Church.  Myles  wrote  a  Chronological  History  of  Methodism, 
of  much  value  for  its  accuracy.  He  accompanied  Wesley  on 
some  of  his  journeys,  and  at  a  sacramental  service  at  Dublin 
in  1 789  Wesley  employed  him  as  an  assistant.  As  Myles  was 
not  episcopally  ordained,  this  gave  rise  to  a  newspaper  con- 
troversy. The  Dublin  Evening  Post  declared  "that  the 
Church  was  in  danger,"  and  called  upon  the  archbishop  to 
use  his  authority  to  repress  ' '  the  greatest  innovation  that  had 
been  witnessed  for  these  fifty  years!" 

Ireland  gave  to  British  Methodism  its  first  Conference 
president  after  the  death  of  Wesley,  the  Conference  of  1 791 . 
William  Thompson  was  a  native  of  Fermanagh,  and  became 
an  itinerant  preacher  in  1757.  Atmore  tells  us  that  "he 
shared  the  general  persecution."  He  was  flung  into  prison, 
and  several  of  his  hearers  were  taken  on  board  a  transport 
for  compulsory  man-of-war  service.  Lady  Huntingdon,  how- 
ever, used  her  influence  with  the  government  and  the  Meth- 
odists were  liberated.  An  action  was  brought  against  the 
persecuting  clergyman,  and  if  Mr.  Thompson  himself  had 
not  intervened,  he  would  have  been  reduced  to  poverty. 
Brought  up  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  Thompson  had  well 
studied  the  system  of  Presbyterian  Church  government,  and 
was  thus  prepared  by  special  knowledge  as  well  as  fine  quali- 
ties of  character  to  render  valuable  service  in  organizing  the 
Methodist  Church  in  Great  Britain. 

Another  Irish  president  was  Walter  Griffith,  who  came 
under  the  influence  of  Pilmoor,  the  comrade  of  Boardman, 
of  American  fame.      His  native  courtesy  and  charm  of  man- 


Henry  Moore  1083 

ncr  were  united  with  strength  and  dignity  of  character,  lie 
was  one  of  a  band  of  young  men  who  began  the  live  o'clock 
morning  prayer  meetings  in  Dublin,  which  Edmund  Grind- 
rod  says  were  "  made  of  God  instrumental  of  eternal  good  to 
thousands  of  immortal  spirits."  He  became  president  of  the 
English  Conference  in  1813. 

Henry  Moore,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Wesley,  and 
president  in  1804  and  1 S23,  was  also  an  Irishman,  of  Dublin, 
born  in  175 1.  When  Samuel  Bradburn  was  at  Dublin  in 
1777  no  small  stir  was  made  in  the  Irish  Church  by  the  ejec- 
tion of  a  young  clergyman,  Edward  Smyth,  for  praying  ex- 
tempore, holding  services  in  cottages  and  neighboring 
parishes,  and  for  privately  admonishing  "the  great  man  of 
the  parish"  for  notorious  immorality.  Henry  Moore  was  at 
this  time  a  voung  artist  leading  a  restless  and  Bohemian  life, 
a  great  playgoer  and  a  worshiper  of  Garrick.  He  went  to 
the  Methodist  chapel  at  Dublin  out  of  curiosity  to  hear  Mr. 
.Smyth  preach,  but  was  greatly  chagrined  when  the  plainly 
clad  youth,  Samuel  Bradburn,  ascended  the  pulpit  instead  of 
a  clergyman  in  gown  and  bands.  He  started  up  to  leave  the 
chapel,  but  lingered  to  hear  the  text:  "The  blind  receive 
their  sight.  .  .  .  And  blessed  is  he  whosoever  shall  not  be 
offended  in  rrre."  The  sermon  proved  the  means  of  turning 
the  whole  current  of  a  powerful,  active  life  which  lasted  for 
well-nigh  a  century.  He  joined  the  Methodist  society,  found 
peace  with  God,  visited  the  prisons  and  city  slums,  'and  be- 
came a  preacher,  solid,  experimental,  practical,  sometimes 
pointed,  piquant,  and  indulging  in  keen  strokes  of  sarcasm. 
He  became  friendly  with  the  devout  and  scholarly  Alexander 
Knox.  Wesley  soon  discovered  his  worth,  and  when  the 
young  preacher  was  contemplating  marriage  to  Miss  Nancy 
Young  he  wrote,  with  his  customary  sympathy,  "  I  consider 


1084  British  Methodism 

you  and  Nancy  as  belonging  to  my  family,  and  I  will  take 
care  you  shall  not  want ;  and,  if  I  were  under  the  earth,  that 
word  is  yours,  '  Dwell  in  the  land  and  do  good,  and  verily 
thou  shalt  be  fed.'  " 

After  several  years  of  happy  labor  in  his  native  land  Wes- 
ley called  him  to  England.  His  aged  friend,  much  against 
his  wish,  appointed  him  to  London  in  1784.  Here  he  lived 
"in  the  Chapel  House,  City  Road,"  and  had  as  his  circuit 
the  whole  of  London  with  twenty  miles  around.  "  Mr.  Wes- 
ley," he  says,  "  had  never  treated  me  as  merely  his  assistant 
in  the  work ;  his  spirit  and  conduct  had  a  kindness,  with 
such  an  appearance  of  friendship,  notwithstanding  the  dis- 
parity of  years,  as  sometimes  surprised  me,  and  I  often 
thought  of  Parnell's  Hermit : 

Thus  stands  an  aged  elm  with  ivy  bound  ; 
Thus  youthful  ivy  clasps  an  elm  around. 

But  from  this  time  specially  he  seemed  to  wish  to  do  nothing 
without  me.  We  were  seldom  asunder.  He  expected  me  in 
his  study  at  five  o'clock  every  morning.  (He  constantly  rose 
at  four.)  I  read  all  his  letters  to  him,  and  answered  many  of 
them ;  he  invariably  declining  to  look  at  my  answers.  In 
many  respects  I  was  useful  to  him.  He  had  very  much  for- 
gotten his  French,  which  was  still  fresh  with  me,  and  he  re- 
ceived many  French  letters.  I  traveled  with  him  what  might 
be  called  his  home  circuit,  the  counties  of  Norfolk,  Kent, 
Oxford,  etc.,  during  the  winter,  and  was  never  absent  from 
him  on  those  excursions  night  or  day.  He  had  always  books 
with  him  in  the  carriage,  and  used  sometimes  to  read  his  own 
'excerpta'  of  the  classics  to  me." 


CHAPTER  CXIX 
Wesley,  the  Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist 

Itinerating  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. — Wesley's  Preaching: 
its  Simplicity  and  Power.— Wesley's  Philanthropy  and  Per- 
sonal Charity.— Prisons,  Slavery,  and  the  Spirit  Trade.— 
The  Use  of  Money. 

A  MODERN  journalist  who  has  canonized  Wesley  as 
"the  St.  John  of  England — a  good  human,  saint 
though  he  was" — declares  that  not  even  his  great 
genius  would  have  left  so  deep  and  broad  an  impress  upon 
the  history  of  the  world  "  without  that  marvelous  body,  with 
muscles  of  whipcord  and  bones  of  steel,  with  lungs  of  leather 
and  the  heart  of  a  lion.  Wesley  was  always  in  fighting  trim, 
without  an  ounce  of  superfluous  flesh  on  his  bones."  It  is 
certain  that  he  could  not  have  brought  his  magnetic  influence 
to  bear  upon  multitudes  all  over  the  British  Isles  if  he  had 
not  possessed  extraordinary  physical  endurance.  As  he  told 
Lord  North  in  1775,  he  traveled  four  or  five  thousand  miles 
every  year,  and  conversed  with  more  persons  of  every  sort 
than  anyone  else  in  the  tln-ee  kingdoms. 

The  roads  of  Wesley's  day  were  execrable.  Although  four 
hundred  and  fifty-two  acts  for  their  improvement  were  passed 
from    1764  to    1774,   road  engineering  remained  a  dead  art 

until  the  close  of  the  century.     In   1760  the  coach  took  six- 

1085 


1086 


British  Methodism 


teen  days  for  the  journey  from  Edinburgh  to  London,  and  for 
a  considerable  part  of  the  way  there  was  no  turnpike,  only  a 
narrow  causeway  with  soft,  unmade,  packhorse  paths  by  the 

side — slush  in  winter, 
dust  in  summer.  In 
Lancashire  in  1788  Wes- 
ley described  the  roads 
as  ' '  wonderful ;  sufficient 
to  lame  any  horse  and 
shake  any  carriage  to 
pieces.  Holes  and 
sloughs  abounded,  felons 
hung  in  chains  at  cross- 
roads, highwaymen 
lurked  in  the  woods." 

Wesley  was  a  sturdy 
pedestrian.  He  main- 
tained that  four-  or  five- 
and-twenty  miles  was  an 
easy  and  safe  day's  jour- 
ney   afoot,     summer    or 


BIRMINGHAM 
STAGE-COACH, 

In  Two  Days  and  a  half;   begins  May  the 
24th,   1731. 

SETSout  from  the  Swan-Inn  in  Birmingham, 
every  Mondays  fix  a  Clock  inthe  Morning, 
through  WarwuY.,  Banbury  and  Alesbury, 
to  the  Red  Lion  Inn  in  Alderfgat*  ftreH,  London, 
every  Wednefdoy  Morning:  And  returns  from 
the  faid  Red  Lion  Inn  every  Iburjday  Morning 
at  five  a  Clock  the  fame  Way  to  the  Swan-Inn 
in  Birmingham  every  Saturday,  at  1 1  Shillings 
each  PalTenger,  and  1 8  Shillings  from  Warwick, 
who  has  liberty  tocarry  1  ^.Pounds  in  Weighr, 
and  all  above  to  pay  One  Penny  a  Pound. 
Perform  d  (if  God  permir) 

By  Nicholas  Rothwell. 

The  Weekly  Wjroon  <eo  om  every  TmfJ^i  frtm  iht  Mi/hHml  in  it  i 

Bmn^h.rn.  „  .iTgcd  Ll0,  fan  „;.r,/W,  every  WAj  ,„i  ,„*•«       Winter.  H  e    1 1"  a  111  p  e  Q 

fnm  Ik JdJ /** nctf  Mi*dt},lflhtM^i-hu4m  irmimktm ntiy 

iw^h  from  Oxford  to  Lpworth 

Note.  Jy/Ae/iy  Nichols  Rotn»eIla»  Warwick,  WPtrfmitm  kt  Ik*  ,    -  ....  1 

lifxd^M,,,  Bjdxth.  cwirt .OmfiwHtaf,,  •»**,  aw^  cwa    in   his  student  clays,  and 

end  sill  Htrtn.  Mjuy  Pvtej  Crfl  £tutic  M  rt^MaJu  Row:    Afi 

°t/°s*idjtMrffukk*L  the  year  before  he  went 

advertisement  of  a  stage  line,  1731.  to  Geoi'gia  he  walked  one 

thousand  five  hundred 
miles  to  preach  in  the  villages  round  Oxford.  Most  of  his 
continental  traveling  was  on  foot.  If  the  road  was  uninter- 
esting, he  found  reading  easy  as  he  walked  ten  or  twelve 
miles.  In  his  old  age  he  usually  set  out  on  foot  if  his  horse 
or  chaise  was  not  readv. 


The  Great  English  Traveler  1087 

Before  1773  he  made  most  of  his  long  journeys  on  horse- 
back and,  regardless  of  grace,  rode  with  loose  rein,  reading 
historv,  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  had  some 
wonderful  escapes.  On  one  occasion  he  was  riding  through 
St.  Nicholas  Gate,  Bristol,  when  a  cart  came  swiftly  down  the 
hill,  the  cartman  walking  by  the  side  and  filling  the  narrow 
space.  As  he  took  no  heed  of  Wesley's  shout,  the  latter  held 
in  his  horse  to  avoid  riding  the  man  down.  The  shaft  of  the 
cart  struck  his  horse's  shoulder  and  threw  it  down,  and  Wes- 
ley was  shot  over  its  head  and  lay  stretched  out  against  the 
wall,  he  knew  not  how,  as  the  heavy  cart  wheel  grazed  him. 
He  was  much  bruised,  but  some  "warm  treacle,"  he  says, 
took  away  the  pain  in  an  hour,  and  the  lameness  in  a  day  or 
two.  A  report  spread  that  he  was  killed,  so  that  when  he 
returned  from  Wick  to  Bristol  in  time  to  preach  there  was 
great  rejoicing.  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  sur- 
prisingly few  falls ;  and  he  recommends  the  use  of  a  loose 
rein  to  all  travelers. 

His  winter  journeys  were  often  very  perilous.  We  have 
referred  to  his  rough  journey  over  Gateshead  Fell  in  the  ter- 
rible winter  of  1745.  Xext  year,  on  the  way  to  Stafford, 
across  the  moors,  a  man  told  him,  "  'Tis  a  thousand  pounds 
to  a  penny  that  you  do  not  come  there  to-day."  But  he 
successfully  faced  the  blinding  storm,  which  crusted  man  and 
horse  with  ice.  In  the  Scotch  highlands  he  was  brought  to 
a  stand  in  the  snowdrifts  where  three  young  men  were  buried 
and  lost,  but  he  dismounted  and  pushed  on  to  Inverness. 

When  his  friends  insisted  upon  providing  him  with  a  chaise 


1088  British  Methodism 

he  showed  the  same  determination  to  fulfill  every  appoint- 
ment. The  old  sexton,  Peter  Martin,  of  Helstone,  used  to  tell 
how,  when  he  was  ostler  at  the  inn,  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  cap- 
tain 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.  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  be  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,  he  says,  was  "  to  see  me  comfortably  lodged  at  the 
tavern;"  he  secured  warm  clothing,  good  fire,  and  refresh- 
ment 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.  Two  excursions  to 
Holland — the  only  "  preacher's  holiday"  he  appears  to  have 
indulged  in — are  described  in  1783  and  1786  with  great 
vivacity.  He  notes  the  cleanliness  of  the  streets  and  houses, 
the  beauty  of  women  and  children  with  an  inexpressible  air 
of  innocence  in  their  faces ;  the  Swiss  guards  at  The  Hague, 
who  all  wear  large  whiskers,  which  they  keep  as  black  as 
their  boots ;  the  shady  serpentine  walks  of  the  palace  grounds, 


DRAW*    B*    P     £      FLIHTOFF. 


FROM   PRINTS. 


SOME  OF  WESLEY  S  PREACHING  PLACES. 


A  »  ottage  i  hapel,  John  Clarke's. 

The  double-decked  chapel,  Nottingham. 


Preaching  room  at  John  Clarke's. 
Where  Wesley  preached,  Cradley 


G9 


1090  British  Methodism 

and.  the  poor  in  the  workhouse  at  Amsterdam,  knitting,  spin- 
ning, and  weaving — an  object-lesson  to  British  guardians. 
He  was  welcomed  by  men  and  women  of  all  ranks,  and,  as 
Moore  says,  "indulged  and  enlarged  his  catholic  spirit  by 
fellowship  with  the  truly  pious  of  all  nations." 

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  spin- 
ners, artisans  and  laborers,  formed  the  backbone  of.  his  so- 
cieties, with  a  strong  contingent  of  commercial  men  and  a 
few  doctors  and  lawyers. 

The  fashionable  circles  of  London  he  left  mainly  to  Lady 
Huntingdon  and  her  chaplains.  He  had  the  worst  opinion 
of  the  professedly  intellectual  and  higher  classes,  so  called. 
"O  how  hard  it  is,"  he  once  exclaimed,  "to  be  shallow 
enough  for  a  polite  audience!"  "  I  have  found  some  of  the 
uneducated  poor  who  have  exquisite  taste  and  sentiment,  and 
many,  very  many,  of  the  rich  who  have  scarcely  any  at  all." 
"I  love  the  poor;  in  many  of  them  I  find  pure,  genuine 
grace,  unmixed  with  paint,  folly,  and  affectation."  And  yet 
he  was,  as  Dr.  Rigg  says,  "  as  true  and  thorough  an  English 
gentleman  as  Wyclif,  the  hero  and  reformer  of  his  own 
university,  whose  breeding  and  lineage  seem  to  be  reflected 
in  the  kingliness  of  his  features  and  his  person ;  but,  unlike 
Wyclif,  who  was  a  doctor  among  scholars  and  a  preacher 
and  witness  before  nobles  and  statesmen,  but  not — perhaps 
for  want  of  opportunity — a  preacher  to  the  people,  Wesley 


Wesley's   Personality 


1091 


was  as  much  a  preacher  to  the  multitude,  whether  of  town  or 
country,  as  Hugh  Latimer  himself,  the  man  of  yeoman  birth  ; 
although,  herein  unlike  Latimer,  he  never,  in  his  plain  words 
to  the  plainest,  the  poorest,   the  least  instructed,  employed 


FROM    A    PHOTOGR 


1  HK    HIGH    Clll'KCH.    HULL 


When  nearly  eighty-three  years  old  Wesley  preached  here  twice  to  throngs.  Next  day  lie  rode 
seventy-six  miles,  preached  thrice,  and  at  night  was  "no  more  tired  than  when  I  rose  in 
the  morning." 

any  other  language   than   would    have   been   suitable   for  a 
gentleman  to  use  in  addressing  educated  men." 

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  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 


1092  British  Methodism 

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  deep- 
est attention  ;  none  speaking,  stirring,  or  scarce  looking  aside." 
On  subsequent  visits  he  speaks  of  preaching  to  "a  plain, 
simple-hearted  people."  "  I  stood  on  the  wall  in  the  calm, 
still  evening,  with  the  setting  sun  behind  me,  and  almost  an 
innumerable  multitude  before,  behind,  and  on  either  hand. 
Many,  likewise,  sat  on  the  little  hills,  at  some  distance  from 
the  bulk  of  the  congregation."  Then  came  a  wide  contrast, 
when  the  people  were  driven  away  for  fear  of  a  "  great  com- 
pany of  tinners,  made  drunk  on  purpose,"  coming  to  disturb 
them.  And  anon  he  says:  "At  noon  I  preached  in  Redruth, 
and  in  the  evening  in  Gwennap.  It  blew  hard,  and  rained 
almost  without  ceasing ;  but  the  congregation  stood  as  if  it 
had  been  a  fair  summer's  evening."  It  was  here  that,  after 
preaching,  he  "  saw  a  strange  sight — a  man  that  is  old  and 
rich,  and  yet  not  covetous."  At  a  service  in  1773  "  the  peo- 
ple both  filled"  the  natural  amphitheater  "and  covered  the 
ground  round  about  to  a  considerable  distance  ;  so  that,  suppos- 
ing the  space  to  be  four  score  yards  square,  and  to  contain  five 
persons  in  a  square  yard,  there  must  be  above  two-and-thirty 
thousand  people — the  largest  assembly  I  ever  preached  to. 
Yet  I  found  upon  inquiry  all  could  hear,  even  to  the  skirts  of 
the  congregation !  Perhaps  the  first  time  that  a  man  of 
seventy  had  been  heard  by  thirty  thousand  persons  at  once." 
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 


John  Wesley  Preaching  at  Cleanup  Pit. 

trom  the  painting  by  W.  O.  Geller. 


Wesley's  Preaching  1095 

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.  lie  "reasoned  of  sin 
and  righteousness  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-con- 
trol, to  crowds  swayed  by  feelings  which  found  expression  in 
sobs  and  tears  and  outcries  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.  He  said  that  once,  as  a  young  man, 
he  preached  to  a  country  congregation  a  highly  finished  ser- 
mon, to  which  the  people  listened  with  open  mouths.  He 
saw  they  did  not  understand  him,  and  reading  his  sermon  to 
an  intelligent  servant,  asked  her  to  stop  him  at  every  word 
too  hard  for  her.  Betty  cried  "  Stop,  sir,"  so  often  that  he 
grew  impatient,  but  persevered,  found  a  plain  word  for  every 
hard  one,  then  he  preached  again  and  found  he  was  under- 
stood. His  first  extempore  sermon  was  preached  in  All 
Hallows  Church,  Lombard  Street,  London.  In  1788  he  told 
the  attendant,  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  cir- 
cumstance.     I  came  without  a  sermon,  and  going  up  the  pul- 


1096 


British  Methodism 


pit  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 

ft 


said,  'Is  that 
Jb&g^  all?  Cannot  you 
trust  God  for  a 
sermon  ? ' '  Her 
question  went 
home ;  he  spoke 
with  freedom, 
and  from  that 
time  he  w  a  s 
independent  of 
manuscript. 

Sometimes,  as 
we  have  seen,  he 
preached  at 
great  length  to 
hearers  who 
never  wearied. 
vSometim.es  he 
brought  forth 
the  treasures  of 
ancient  philoso- 
phy and  interwove  classical  passages  of  point  and  beauty 
into  his  sermons,  as  in  his  sermon  on  The  Great  Assize, 
preached  before  the  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  at  Bedford. 
His  sermon  on  Free  Grace  reveals  his  power  of  combining 
"  doctrinal  argument  with  declamatory  invective  of  the  most 


DRAWN    BY   J.    D     WOODWARD,    AFTER  A  PHOTOGRAPH. 

PULPIT   OF   ST.    PAUL'S,    BEDFORD. 

Standing  here.  Wesley  preached  his  famous  sermon  on 
The  Great  Assize,  1758. 


Wesley  as  a   Philanthropist  1097 

scathing  terribleness."  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  rilled  with  love  and  my  month 
with  arguments.  They  were  amazed  ;  they  were  ashamed  ; 
they  were  melted  ;    they  devoured  every  word." 

Wesley  was  a  pioneer  philanthropist.  Of  his  schools  for 
the  poor,  his  Orphan  House,  prison  mission,  labor  home, 
dispensary,  poor  man's  loan  offiees  and  bank  we  have  already 
given  some  account.  He  and  his  comrades  maintained  their 
prison  visitation  to  the  last.  He  took  the  deepest  interest  in 
prison  reform,  wrote  pungent  criticisms  on  the  state  of  the 
jails,  and  greatly  encouraged  John  Howard  by  a  sermon  he 
preached  at  the  philanthropist's  seat  in  Bedfordshire  on 
"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 
Howard  wrote  to  Alexander  Knox:  "  I  was  encouraged  by 
him  to  go  on  vigorously  with  my  own  designs.  I  saw  in  him 
how  much  a  single  man  might  achieve  by  zeal  and  persever- 
ance, and  I  thought,  Why  may  not  I  do  as  much  in  my  way 
as  Mr.  Wesley  has  done  in  his,  if  I  am  only  as  assiduous  and 
persevering?  And  I  determined  that  I  would  pursue  my 
work  with  more  alacrity  than  ever." 

In  1787  Wesley  writes:  "  I  had  the  pleasure  of  a  conversa- 
tion with  Mr.  Howard,  I  think  one  of  the  greatest  men  in 
Europe.  Nothing  but  the  mighty  power  of  God  can  enable 
him  to  go  through  his  difficult  and  dangerous  employments." 
In  1789,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Russia,  Howard  left 
for  Wesley  at  City  Road  a  copy  of  his  latest  work  on  prisons. 
Wesley  wrote  to  a  friend,  "God  has  raised  him  up  to  be  a 


1098  British  Methodism 

blessing  to  many  nations."  Seven  months  later  Howard  fell 
a  victim  to  fever. 

Sixty  years  before  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  British 
dominions  Wesley  denounced  the  trade  as  "  that  execrable 
sum  of  all  villainies."  This  was  in  the  year  1772,  when 
Granville  Sharp  began  to  take  up  the  subject,  and  fifteen 
years  before  the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade 
was  founded,  of  which  —  besides  Sharpe  —  Clarkson  and 
Wilberforce  were  leaders.  In  1774  Wesley  published  his 
Thoughts  upon  Slavery.  Into  a  few  pages  he  crowded  a  re- 
markable summary  of  history  and  argument  written  with  a 
pen  of  fire.  We  shall  find  that  the  last  letter  he  ever  wrote 
was  addressed  to  Wilberforce,  encouraging  him  in  his  mag- 
nificent mission. 

To  William  Pitt,  prime  minister,  he  wrote  his  remarkable 
letter  on  the  spirit  traffic  which  was  cursing  England.  ' '  Have 
not  the  spirits  distilled  this  year  cost  twenty  thousand  of  his 
majesty's  liege  subjects?  Is  not  the  blood  of  these  men  vilely 
bartered  for  /20,00a?  not  to  say  anything  of  the  enormous 
wickedness  that  has  been  occasioned  thereby,  and  not  to  sup- 
pose that  these  poor  wretches  have  any  souls!  To  say  noth- 
ing of  many  millions  of  quarters  of  corn  destroyed,  which,  if 
exported,  would  have  added  more  than  £20,000  to  the  revenue, 
be  it  considered  '  dead  men  pay  no  taxes.'  .  .  .  You  are  a 
man.  You  have  not  lost  human  feelings.  You  do  not  love 
to  drink  human  blood.  You  are  a  son  of  Lord  Chatham. 
Nay,  if  I  mistake  not,  5fou  are  a  Christian."  And  so  does 
Wesley  go  on  to  urge  the  suppression  of  the  traffic,  anticipat- 
ing every  main  argument  of  the  temperance  reformers  of  the 
present  century.  There  is  another  terrible  indictment  of  the 
spirit  trade  in  his  sermon  on  The  Use  of  Money. 

The  story  of  Wesley's  personal  charity  would  fill  a  volume. 


Wesley's    Benevolence 


1099 


Moore  tells  us  that  he  distributed  more  than  £30,000  during 
his  lifetime.  This  was  mostly  derived  from  the  profits  on 
his  books.  He  was  content  with  an  allowance  of  X30  a  year 
from  the  London  society.  When  the  commissioners  of  ex- 
cise,  supposing-  that  he   must  be  wealthy,    peremptorily  de- 


WESLEY  S   MWKF   PIN. 


ONE   OF    WESLEYS    SILVER    SPOONS. 

manded  that  he  "make  due  entry"  of  his  plate,  that  duty 
might  be  levied  on  it,  he  wrote:  "  Sir,  I  have  two  silver  tea- 
spoons 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  round  me  want  bread." 

Of  course  he  was  beset  by  beggars  of  all  kinds.  Moore 
told  Dr.  Osborne's  father:  "One  day  a  fellow  came  who 
called  himself  Major  Machavini.  However,  he  spoke  Latin, 
and  brought  a  Latin  letter  for  the  'Rev.  Dr.  Wesley.'  I  took 
it  up  stairs;  Wesley  put  five  shillings  into  his  pocket  and 
came  down.  He  began  to  give  the  man  good  advice  ;  but  the 
man  did  not  relish  it,  supposing  that  Mr.  Wesley  had  not  read 
the  letter,  and  did  not  know  of  his  conversion  from  popery. 

••  •  Domine,  Protestantus  sum,'  he  cried;  '  non  Catholicus 
sum.' 


1100  British  Methodism 

"  '  Domine,'  said  Mr.  Wesley,  '  malus  Protestantus  pejor 
est  quam  malo  Catholico.' 

"  However,  he  gave  him  a  crown.  He  never  sent  any- 
empty  away,  except  once.  That  was  on  a  Sunday  morning. 
He  was  going  to  preach  at  City  Road,  after  the  local  preach- 
ers had  breakfasted.  Tommy  Tennant  went  with  him  across 
the  [chapel]  yard,  which  was  full  of  beggars.  He  had  no 
money,  and  as  they  crowded  round  him,  elbowed  them  away. 

' '  '  What ! '  said  he,  '  am  I  to  keep  all  the  poor  of  the  parish  ?  ' 

"  It  was  a  frosty  mornings  and  he  slipped  and  fell  at  full 
length  on  his  back. 

"  '  There,'  said  he,  '  Tommy,  I  have  got  my  payment!  I 
ought  to  have  given  them  good  words  at  least.' 

"  It  was  his  habit  to  raise  his  hat  to  any  poor  person  who 
thanked  him  for  his  kindness." 

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 
recollected  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  shil- 
ling, 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  practiced  what  he  preached.  His  philanthropy  and  cath- 
olicity found  utterance  in  the  printed  sermon  on  A  Catholic 
Spirit,  which  so  deeply  touched  the  heart  of  Dean  Stanley. 


CHAPTER  CXX 
A  Pioneer  of  Popular  Literature 

••Always  in  Haste,  Never  in  a  Hurry."-  Wesley's  Literary  Style. 
— Some  Modern  Cri  nciSMS.— The  Value  of  the  Journal.  -Cm-  \r 
Books  for  the  People.— The  First  Tract  Society.  The  Notes, 
Sermons,  and  Appeals.— Educational  Books.— Tin:  old  Akmin- 
ian  Magazine. 

HOW  did  a  man  who  traveled  five  thousand  miles  a  year, 
preached  forty  thousand  five  hundred  sermons,  and 
organized  a  great  Church  find  time  to  write  or  edit 
more  than  four  hundred  publications  and  become  a  pioneer 
of  popular  literature?     Let  Wesley  himself  tell  us. 

"  You  do  not,"  he  writes  in  1777,  "  understand  my  manner 
of  life.  Though  I  am  always  in  haste,  I  am  never  in  a  hurry, 
because  I  never  undertake  more  work  than  I  can  go  through 
with  perfect  calmness  of  spirit.  It  is  true  I  travel  four  or 
five  thousand  miles  in  a  year.  But  I  generally  travel  alone  in 
my  carriage;  and  consequently  am  as  retired  ten  hours  in  a 
day  as  if  I  was  in  a  wilderness.  Other  days  I  never  spend  less 
than  three  hours  (frequently  ten  or  twelve  1  in  the  day  alone. 
Yet  I  find  time  to  visit  the  sick  and  poor — a  matter  of  abso- 
lute duty."  Before  he  was  compelled  to  take  to  a  chaise  he 
read  on  horseback  or  when  walking.  Detained  by  the  tide, 
on   one  occasion,    he   tells  us   lie  -'sat   down  in  a   cottagfe    for 


1102  British  Methodism 

three  or  four  hours  and  translated  Aldrich's  Logic."     Moore 
tells  us  that  he  wrote  very  slowly. 

Wesley's  style  bears  no  traces  of  "hurry."  Even  his 
familiar  letters  are  never  slovenly.  Leslie  Stephen,  in  his 
History  of  English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  says: 


k  W:  i$±oL^  t 

J(_Z- ****  *-^r-f    A-V*    /^0^.f-cz-JyC~y^-j    -j      tf^C-^-v^, 


J cr'^^ 


A    CHARACTERISTIC    PREFACE    IN    WESLEVS    HANDWRITING. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  letters  more  direct,  forcible, 
or  pithy  in  expression.  He  goes  straight  to  the  mark  with- 
out one  superfluous  flourish.  He  writes  as  a  man  confined 
within  the  narrowest  limits  of  time  and  space,  whose  thoughts 
are  so  well  in  hand  that  he  can  say  everything  needful  within 
those  limits. "  John  Wesley's  style  cannot  be  better  described 
than  in  his  own  words:  "What  is  it  constitutes  a  good  style? 
Perspicuity,  purity,  propriety,  strength,  and  easiness  joined 
together.    ...   As  for  me,  I  never  think  of  my  style  at  all, 


John  Wesley's  Style  1103 

but  just  set  down  the  words  that  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  keen  critic,  Edward  Fitzgerald — -the  cherished  friend 
of  Thackeray,  Carlylc.  the  Tennysons  and  Lord  Houghton,  and 
the  translator  of  Omar  Khavam — in  urging  a  friend  to  read 
Wesley's  Journals,  writes:  "It  is  curious  to  think  of  this 
diary  of  his  running  almost  coevally  with  Walpole's  Letter 
Diary;  the  two  men  born,  and  dying,  too,  within  a  few  years 
of  each  other,  and  with  such  different  lives  to  record.  And 
it  is  remarkable  to  read  pure,  unaffected,  and  undying  Eng- 
lish, while  Addison  and  Johnson  are  tainted  with  a  style 
which  all  the  world  imitated."  But  Wesley's  style  was  the 
outcome  of  the  intensely  practical  character  of  his  mind. 
The  last  thing  of  which  he  was  ambitious  was  literary  fame, 
although,  as  Leslie  Stephen  says,  "he  shows  great  literary 
power." 

The  value  of  his  Journal  is  now  generally  recognized.  Mr. 
Augustine  Birrell,  0.  C,  M.  P.,  the  editor  of  Robert  Brown- 
ing's works,  in  a  recent  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institution,  de- 
scribes the  Journal  as  "the  most  amazing  record  of  human 
exertion  ever  penned  by  man ;  .  .  .  a  book  which  ought  to 
be  kept  in  mind  as  a  means  of  knowledge  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  just  as  much  as  Tom  Jones  is  a  means  of  knowledge, 
or  as  Hogarth  is.  As  one  reads  his  Journal  one  is  constrained 
to  admire  the  magnificence  Of  the  vigor,  the  tremendous  force 
of  the  devotion  and   the   faith  which   kept   John   Wesley  in 


1104  British  Methodism 

perpetual  motion  for  more  than  half  a  century ,  and  one  feels 
glad  to  be  able  to  place  that  Journal  beside  Walpole's  Letters 
and  Boswell's  Johnson,  and  to  know  that  in  it  there  are  some 
aspects  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  cannot  be  found  else- 
where. ...  In  his  Journal  he  never  exaggerates,  or  never 
seems  to  do  so.  The  England  he  describes  is  an  England 
full  of  theology  and  all  sorts  of  queer  vague  points,  and 
strange  subjects  are  discussed  in  all  places — of  some  of  them 
the  very  phraseology  is  now  as  extinct  as  the  wolf,  or  at  least 
as  rare  as  the  badger.  .  .  .  What  really  shocks  the  reader  of 
his  Journal  is  his  description  of  what  may  be  called  the  public 
side  of  the  country ;  the  state  of  its  jails,  or  its  criminal  code  ; 
the  callous  indifference  of  the  magistracy,  and  the  indifference 
of  the  clergy  to  missionary  effort." 

As  a  pioneer  of  popular  literature  Wesley  holds  a  high 
place  in  national  history.  The  traveling  peddlers,  or  ' '  chap- 
men," 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  facsimiles  of  some  of  the  most  harmless  show.  Wesley 
stored  his  preachers'  saddlebags  with  penny  books  of  a 
wholesome  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  afterward  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  read- 
ing among  the  people.  His  cheap  books  had  an  enormous 
circulation,  and  Watson  justly  observes  that  "  he  was  prob- 
ably the  first  to  use  on  any  extensive  scale  this  means  of 
popular  reformation." 


Wesley  and   Religious   Literature 


1105 


J/J?" 


Wesley  and  Coke  formed  the  first  tract  society  in  1782, 
seventeen  years  before  the  formation  of  the  Religions  Tract 
Society  of  London,  and  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  circu- 
lated broadcast.  He  did 
much  by  his  cheap  abridge- 
ments 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  entombed. 
His  Christian  Library,  in 
thirty  volumes  (1749- 1755), 
was  his  greatest  effort  in  this 
direction,  but  by  this  he  suf- 
fered a  loss  of  .£100.  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  Young's  Night 
Thoughts,  and  even  the  Pil- 
grim'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 — 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,    would    fill    a    volume 
The  most  complete  Wesley  bibliography  was  published  by 


Of  xheVtub  of  Ch  :. 
fcivjt  God  requited  of  them,] 

prrlViin  £  it  w  is  by  him  [  to- 

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l1     ':.:        11  Brethien  (licmlclrcs  (gc- 
awaUy,;  io  that,  in  c-V-'  it  oe  tuppofed,  thje 
.  «-t  the  llrrivcffalicy  fin  a  nnmii'f,and  a  (mill 
remnant  only  excepted,)  of  mankind,  rot- 
'\vitlmaridir.g  iny  ftrArt-or  benefit  received 
by  the  ficond  Adjii,  in,  nr  tlmmgjRfus 
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1   ■  i     :  1.:  .  I 

the  bodies  ..I  .the  Saint-,  will  be,  by  being 
:.  fed  up  from  the  ,:  .,'•  at  iim 

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f&>* 


.1  r<  .    iini    rniinii  ■  mi   ■!  ■■  - ■  r  ■■  i 

This  \x,-  mentollb  is  f  fnh.i 

n:Q  Objcddoiis, 


PROOF   WITH   WESLEY  S    MARKS. 


1106  British  Methodism 

Professor  Richard  Green,  of  Didsbury  College,  England, 
in  1896. 

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  188 1  in  his  use  of  paragraphs,  the  omission  of 
chapter  headings,  and  in  a  large  number  of  renderings.  The 
first  seven  chapters  of  Matthew  show  one  hundred  and  thir- 
teen alterations  made  by  Wesley  which  agree  in  whole  or  part 
with  those  found  in  the  new  revision.  Of  these  three  are  in 
the  margin  of  the  revision,  thirty-seven  are  in  the  spelling, 
and  seventy-three  in  the  text.  This  is  a  revelation  of  the 
critical  skill  and  judgment  of  Wesley,  and  of  the  value  of  his 
Notes. 

His  first  fifty-three  sermons,  referred  to  above  as  part  of 
the  doctrinal  standards  of  Methodism,  were  published  in  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 
characteristic  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 


"Homo  Unius   Libri  "  1107 

been  the  inmost  thoughts  of  my  heart.  I  have  thought,  I 
am  a  creature  of  a  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  eter- 
nity! I  want  to  know  one  thing:  the  way  to  heaven  ;  how  to 
land  safe  on  that  happy  shore.  God  himself  has  condescended 
to  teach  the  way;  for  this  very  end  he  came  down  from 
heaven.  lie  hath  written  it  down  in  a  book.  ()  give  me 
that  book  !  at  any  price,  give  me  the  book  of  God  !  I  have  it ; 
here  is  knowledge  enough  for  me.  Let  me  be  homo  unius 
libri.  Here,  then,  I  am  far  from  the  busy  ways  of  men.  I 
sit  down  alone;  only  God  is  here.  In  his  presence  I  open,  I 
read  his  book,  for  this  end — to  find  the  way  to  heaven.  Is 
there  a  doubt  concerning  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 
npbraidest  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  medi- 
tate thereon  with  all  the  attention  and  earnestness  of  which 
my  mind  is  capable.  If  any  doubt  still  remains,  I  consult 
those  who  are  experienced  in  the  things  of  God,  and  then  the 
writings  whereby,  being  dead,  they  yet  speak.  And  what  I 
thus  learn  that  I  teach." 

These  written  and  printed  sermons,  as  we  have  noted,  do 
not  represent  his  preaching,  and  must  be  regarded  rather  as 
careful  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.      As 


1108  British  Methodism 

he  wrote  one  of  his  last  sermons,  The  Wedding  Garment,  in 
1790,  he  said,  "My  eyes  are  now  waxed  dim;  my  natural 
force  is  abated.  However,  while  I  can  I  would  fain  do  a 
little  for  God  before  I  drop  into  the  dust." 

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.  Doddridge  wrote  to  him 
in  1746,  "  I  have  been  reading  (I  will  not  pretend  to  tell  you 
with  what  strong  emotion)  .  .  .  your  Further  Appeals.  .  .  . 
I  have  written  upon  the  title-page,  '  How  forcible  are  right 
words.'  " 

Of  his  poetical  and  musical  publications  we  have  already 
given  an  account.  In  addition  to  a  large  number  of  religious 
books,  too  numerous  to  be  recorded  here,  he  prepared  for 
children  A  Token,  Instructions,  Lessons,  and  Prayers,  to- 
gether with  schoolbooks  which  included  English,  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew  grammars,  nine  books  of  Latin  prose,  and 
a  Roman  and  an  English  history.  Nor  did  he  omit  science, 
as  The  Desideratum ;  or,  Electricity  Made  Plain  and  Useful, 
and  A  Survey  of  the  Wisdom  of  God  in  Creation  ;  or,  A  Com- 
pendium of  Natural  Philosophy,  published  in  two,  three,  and, 
afterward,  five  volumes,  show.  He  issued  extracts  from 
medical  works  in  three  different  volumes,  as  well  as  his  Prim- 
itive Physic.  He  spent  much  time  upon  A  Concise  History 
of  England,  in  four  volumes;  A  Concise  Ecclesiastical  History 


The    Arminian    Magazine  1109 

from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  the  Beginning  of  the  Present  Cen- 
tury, and  his  Complete  English  Dictionary,  in  which  he  de- 
fines a  Methodist  as  "  one  that  lives  according  to  the  method 
laid  down  in  the  Bible."  He  also  wrote  a  Compendium  of 
Logic,  and  a  tract  On  Pronunciation  and  Gesture,  His 
Collected  Works,  in  thirty-two  volumes,  were  published 
177 1- 1 774.  All  this* work  was  done  from  what  Dr.  Osborne 
describes  as  his  "  intense  determination  to  popularize  litera- 
ture, 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." 

The  Arminian  Magazine,  commenced  in  1778,  realized  a 
purpose  which  had  been  moving  Wesley's  busy  brain  for  forty 
years.  He  announced  it  in  the  preface  of  the  first  number 
as  designed  to  take  the  place  of  the  Christian  Magazine, 
which  had  collapsed,  and  to  oppose  the  Spiritual  Magazine 
and  the  Gospel  Magazine,  the  organs  of  higher  Calvinism. 
It  was  avowedly  polemic.  Wesley  declared  in  a  letter  to 
Thomas  Taylor  that  his  object  was,  "not  to  get  money,"  but 
"  to  counteract  the  poison  of  other  periodicals."  But  it  also 
supplied,  by  means  of  lives  and  letters,  "  the  marrow  of  ex- 
perimental and  practical  religion."  It  was,  after  all,  "a 
chapel  in  the  style  of  a  citadel:  templum  in  modo  arcis." 
Poetry,  science,  travel,  and  even  fiction  were  represented. 
Not  only  was  the  "truth  of  God  defended,"  the  "word  of 
God  illustrated,"  but  the  "grace  of  God  manifested"  in 
Christian  biography,  and  the  "works  of  God  displayed  "  in 
devout  and  scientific  papers.  The  memoirs  and  obituaries 
which  for  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  have  lent  to  the  maga- 
zine "  the  odor  of  Scriptural  sanctity  are  not  mortuary  tablets 
on  the  walls  of  dimly  lighted  catacombs,"  says  a  later  editor, 


1110 


British  Methodism 


"  but  speaking  family  portraits,  enlivening  the  long  corridors 
of  the  palace  home  of  Faith."  We  reproduce  (see  page  1042) 
a  portion  of  a  page  from  the  number  for  November,   1788, 


T    II     E 


Arminian  Magazine, 

Number     I. 

For  JANUARY    1778. 


This    NUMBER   Contains, 

The  Introduction,  defcribing  the  genera!  Defign  of  the 
Work  —  —  — 

The  Life  of  Arminius        ■ — 

An  Account  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  —  — 

LETTERS. 

Letter  1.  From  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Wclley,  Rector  of 
Epwonti,  Lincolnfliire.  On  the  pruper  Requihics  for 
entering  into  Holy  Orders  —  — 

Leitcr  II.    From  die  fame.     On  the  Folly  of  Youthful 

Letter  III.  From  the  fame.     On  the  Athanafun  Creed 
Letter  IV.    From  Mis.  Sufaiinali  Wcfley:    giving  an  Ac 

count  of  a  remarkable  Deliverance  fiom  Fire  — 

Lcllcr  \\  From  the  fame:    (hewing,  That  the  Happincfs 

or  Mifery  of  All  Men  depends  on  ihemfehes,  .and  not 

on  any  Abfojutc  Decree  —  

Letter  VI.    From  the  fame-    The  Doclrincs  of  Elcdioji 

and  Predeflination  clearly  Rated         —  — 

LcucrVII.    From  the  tame;   (hewing,  how  faT  Taking 

Thought  ior  the  Morrow  is  allowable  

POETRY. 
EupohYs  Hymn  to  the  Creator.     The  Occafmn  :    bcin* 

Part  of  a  Dialogue  between  Plato  and  Eupolis        — 
The  Hymn  —  —  — 

Hymn.     Salvation  depends  not  on  Abfolute  Dcerccs 
Hymn  on  Umvcifal  Redemption         — ■  — 


Page 

3 
9 
J7 


:  •  y^mm®m^m€zm-sm$m 


T  Q    T  H  E 

READER. 

IT'  is'  ufunl,  I  am  informed,  for  the  com- 
pilers of  Magazines,  to  employ  the  outfide 
Covers,  in.  acquainting  the  courteous  reader, 
!-with  the  Beauties  and  Excellencies  of  what  he 
■will  find  within.  I  beg  him  to  excule  me  from 
this  trouble:  from. writing  a  panegyric  upon 
myfelf  Neither  can  I  delire  my  Friends  to  do 
it  for  me,  in  their  recommendatory  Letters.  I 
am  content  this  Magazine  fhould  (land  or  fall, 
by  its  own  intrinfic  value.  II  it  is  a  compound 
of  Fnlfhood,  Ribaldry,  and  Nonfcnle,  let  it 
link  into  -  oblivion.  If  it  contains  only  the 
words  of  truth  and  fobernefs,  then  let  it  meet 
"with  a  favourable  reception, 

It  is  tibial  likewife  with  Magazine  Writers, 
to  fpeak  of  themfclves  in  the  plural  number ; 
"  We  will  do  thus."  And  indeed  it  is  the  ge- 
neral Cullom  of  Great  Men  lo  to  do.  But  I 
am  a  little  one.  Let  me  then  be  excufed  in 
this  alfo,  and  permitted  to  fpeuk  as  lam-aC- 
cu  Homed  to  do. 


LEWI  SHAM, 
I     Nov,  =],  1777. 


John  Wefley, 


LONDON: 
Primed  by  J.  TRY  ud  Co.  and  Sold  al  Iht  Founder)' 

[f.ulSii-1. 


:  Jt  will  rafily  U  nUervcct,  TJm  tills  Maraime  «ont 

ins  fewer"  Articles  (Tun  any   "\ 

OUicf..   Ihjs  tin*  by  accident,  Ui<Uf>gn.     1  ha 

vc  ircqurmlv  been  dilgiiftca 

by  the  many  bit*  and  frrapi  o(  vsnoo;  -kjnJs,  wt 

ch,  njifc.c  upa  grc.11.p4rt  of 

ine.fl  publications  of  this  nature  "Before  one  hn 

mcU.  ciKtrcd  bt>on  any  Uih-     ■ 

Jett,  ilv/,*wVane:>d.  and  referred  (e)  ih«-  nfM  N 

uhber:  a  mere  tuck  10  etc-    , 

cov  ike  reader,  to  t>uy  .mother  and  anoiiioi  N'um!. 

-r.vO'ilhecciutnrviintaU     j 

pndrtveur  to  bepn  and  conclud.- av  rojmy  .ihtnn 
p»d  with  r<g*rd  to  Uhm^  lH«  NunibtTs  ifut  tjlo 

s  jw.fbMe  in  each  mmtbtr  ■     , 

v,  la  every  Ro<Ut  ufc  Jus,  '{ 

0*0  DJ-.-n.mil, 

J 

COVER    AND    CONTENTS    of    THE    FIRST 

NUMBER  OF  THE  ARMINIAN    MAGAZINE. 


WESLEY'S    EDITORIAL    SALUTATORY. 
In  the  first  number  of  the  Arminian  Magazine. 


which  gives  John  Wesley's  brief  Conference  obituary  of  his 
brother  Charles  (in  reply  to  the  question,  "  Who  have  died 
this  year?  ").  In  1798  the  title  was  altered  to  The  Methodist 
Magazine,  its  controversial  warfare  having  been  accom- 
plished,  and  in  1821  the  word  Wesleyan  was  prefixed  by  Jabez 


The    Old    Book    Room 


1111 


Bunting.  The  magazine  added  seriously  to  the  labors  of 
Wesley,  but  he  accomplished  his  work  by  snatching-  up  frag- 
ments of  time  and  literal  windfalls  of  leisure.  Detained  by 
contrary  winds,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  in  a  crowded 
Dutch  inn  at  Helvetsluys,  he 
serenely  "took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  writing  a  sermon 
for  the  magazine." 

For  forty  years  Wesley  had 
a  bookstore  at  the  Foundry. 
In  1777  the  business  was  re- 
moved to  the  house  adjoining 
the  new  morning  chapel  at 
City  Road,  where  Joseph 
Benson  lived.  In  1808  the 
premises  in  City  Road  were 
taken.  Thomas  Olivers,  the 
poet,  was  the  first  editor,  and 
sorely  troubled  Wesley  by 
his  lack  of  accuracy.  John  Atlay  was  the  first  book  steward, 
and  proved  a  sorry  business  man.  He  afterward  left  Metho- 
dism. A  lesser  George  Whitefield  held  the  office  of  steward 
from  1779  till  1804.  Thus  began  the  great  "Book  Con- 
cerns" of  world-wide  Methodism,  which  have  done  so  much 
for  the  circulation  of  its  literature  and  the  assistance  of  its 
funds. 


GEORGE    Will  II  II  I  l.l'. 
Book  steward,  1779- 1804. 


wsP^sm^t 


¥^ir^^M^^^J^\ 


CHAPTER  CXXI 

A  Venerable  Apostle 

A  Marvelous  Old  Age.— Farewell  to  Ireland.— The  Last  Tour  in 
Cornwall.— Preaching  to  the  Children.— A  Last  Appeal  to 
an  Intolerant  Prelate. — The  Last  Conference.— The  Last 
Open-air   Service.— The   Last  Letter  to  America. — The  Last 

Sermon. 

ON  the  verge  of  fourscore  Wesley  wrote :  "I  entered 
into  my  eightieth  year,  but,  blessed  be  God,  my 
time  is  not  labor  and  sorrow.  I  find  no  more  pain 
nor  bodily  infirmities  than  at  five-and-twenty.  This  I  still 
impute  (i)  to  the  power  of  God,  fitting  me  for  what  he  calls 
me  to;  (2)  to  my  still  traveling  four  or  five  thousand  miles  a 
year;  (3)  to  my  sleeping,  night  or  day,  whenever  I  want  it; 
(4)  to  my  rising  at  a  set  hour;  and  (5)  to  my  constant  preach- 
ing, particularly  in  the  morning."  To  these  he  added: 
"lastly,  evenness  of  temper.  I  feel  and  grieve,  but,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  I  fret  at  nothing.  But  still,  'the  help  that  is 
done  upon  earth  he  doeth  it  himself.'  And  this  he  doeth  in 
answer  to  many  prayers." 

It  was  not  until  he  was  eighty-five  that  he  began  to  feel 
that  he  was  not  "quite  so  agile  as  in  times  past,"  and  that 
his  sight  was  "  a  little  decayed."     But  he  did  not  even  then 

cease  to  labor,  and  his  cheerfulness  was  irrepressible. 

* 
The  days  of  persecution   for  him  were  past,   and  he  was 

1 1 12 


John  IVesh 

From  ihe  painting  by   J.  Jackson,  R.A. 


CONTEMPORARY    PORTRAITS   OF  JOHN    WESLEY. 


Drawn    and    engraved    by    T.     Holloway.     Pub- 
lished March  I,  1792. 

Ridley'*  engraving,  from  a  miniature. 


Wesley  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  probably  by  John 

Russell,  R.A. 

Ridley's  engraving,  from  the  drawing  by  Edridge, 

Published  March   1,  1792. 


Last  Visit  to  Ireland  1115 

crowned  with  honor  wherever  he  went.  A  year  after  his 
brother's  deatli  he  paid  his  last  visit  to  Ireland,  where  he  re- 
mained for  nearly  four  months.  The  mayors  of  Dublin  and 
Cork  accorded  him  civic  honors,  and  he  was  everywhere  a 
coveted  guest.  The  traditions  of  his  prayers  are  cherished 
in  many  an  Irish  family  to-day.  After  preaching  in  the 
castle  yard  at  Enniskillen  he  was  entertained  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Wilson  at  Moyle.  Shortly  after  family  worship  Dr. 
Wilson  said  to  him  : 

••  My  wife  was  so  delighted  with  your  prayer  that  she  has 
been  looking  in  the  Prayer  Book,  bat  cannot  find  it;  I  wish 
you  would  point  it  out  to  me." 

••  My  dear  brother,"  said  the  venerable  evangelist,  "  I  can- 
not ;  because  that  prayer  came  down  from  heaven  and  I  sent 
it  back  again." 

When  he  was  about  to  leave  one  home,  he  tells  us,  "one 
and  another  fell  on  their  knees  all  round  me,  and  most  of 
them  burst  out  into  tears  and  earnest  cries  the  like  of  which 
I  have  seldom  heard,  so  that  we  scarce  knew  how  to  part." 

He  took  a  nine  weeks'  tour  from  Dublin  through  sixty 
towns  and  villages,  preaching  a  hundred  sermons;  six  times 
in  the  open  air,  and  once  in  a  place  which  he  says  was  "  large 
but  not  elegant — a  cow  house."  "I  was  delighted,"  says 
Alexander  Knox,  "to  find  his  cheerfulness  in  no  respect 
abated.  It  was  too  obvious  that  his  bodily  frame  was  sink- 
ing; but  his  spirit  was  as  alert  as  ever,  and  he  was  little  less 
the  light  of  the  company  he  happened  to  be  in  than  he  had 
been  three-and-twenty  years  before,  when  I  first  knew  him. 
Such  unclouded  sunshine  of  the  breast,  in  the  deepest  winter 
of  age  and  on  the  felt  verge  of  eternity,  bespoke  a  mind 
whose  recollections  were  as  unsullied  as  its  present  sensation- 
were  serene." 


1116  British  Methodism 

I 
Dining  with  an  officer  in  Sligo  barracks,  in  the  presence  of 

a  large  assembly  of  friends,  the  happy  old  man,  near  the  gates 

of  heaven,  suspended  the  feasting,  clasped  his  hands,  and  gave 

out  and  sang,  with  great  animation : 

And  can  we  forget, 

In  tasting  our  meat, 
The  angelical  food  which  ere  long  we  shall  eat ; 

When  enrolled  with  the  blest, 

In  glory  we  rest, 
And  forever  sit  down  at  the  heavenly  feast! 

* 

All  felt  the  naturalness  of  this  beautiful  and  spontaneous  ex- 
pression of  joy. 

He  presided  over  his  last  Irish  Conference  (1789),  and 
wrote:  "I  found  such  a  body  of  men  as  I  hardly  believed 
could  have  been  found  together  in  Ireland ;  men  of  so  sound 
experience,  so  deep  piety,  and  so  strong  understanding.  I 
am  convinced  they  are  no  way  inferior  to  the  English  Con- 
ference, except  it  be  in  number." 

Wesley  closed  his  farewell  service  in  Ireland  with  his 
brother's  hymn,  "Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above,"  pro- 
nouncing it  the  sweetest  hymn  his  brother  ever  wrote.  Be- 
fore going  on  shipboard  the  vast  crowd  on  the  quay  again 
joined  him  in  singing.  He  then  knelt  down  and  asked  God 
to  bless  them  and  their  families,  the  Church,  and  their  coun- 
try. Not  a  few  fell  upon  his  neck  and  kissed  him.  As  the 
ship  moved  from  the  shore  the  Irish  people  saw  the  patriarch's 
hands  still  uplifted  in  prayer  for  the  land  he  loved  so  well, 
and  "  they  saw  his  face  no  more." 

The  Leeds  Conference  of  1789  was  remarkable  for  a  sermon 
preached  by  a  layman,  Wesley's  friend  and  physician,  Dr. 
Hamilton,  of  Edinburgh.  The  day  after  the  Conference' 
concluded  Wesley  set  out  for  his  last  visit  to  Cornwall.  He 
is  filled  with  gratitude  as  he   sees  the  grace  of  God  at  Fal- 


The  Changes  of  Forty  Years 


1117 


mouth.  "The  last  time  I  was  here,"  he  writes,  "above  forty 
years  ago.  1  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  great  mob  gaping  and 
roaring  like  lions.  But  how  is  the  tide  turned!  High  and 
low  now  lined  the  street  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the 
other,  out  of  stark  love  and  kindness,  gaping  and  staring  as 
if  the  king  were  going  by. 
In  the  evening  I  preached 
on  the  smooth  top  of  a 
hill,  at  a  small  distance 
from  the  sea,  to  the 
largest  congregation  I 
had  ever  seen  in  Corn- 
wall, except  in  or  near 
Redruth.  And  such  a 
time  I  have  not  known 
before  since  I  returned 
from  Ireland.  God 
moved  wonderfully  on  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  who 
all  seemed  to  know   the 

JAMES    HAMILTON,    M.D. 
day  Of  their  Visitation.  Wesley's  physician  and   friend,  who  preached   the  Con- 

M.  ■,  c  ference  sermon  at  Leeds  in  1780. 

ore  than  twenty-five 

thousand  assembled  at  the  famous  Gwennap  pit.  He 
preaehed  nine  times  in  the  open  air  to  enthusiastic  crowds, 
and,  reviewing  the  work  in  Cornwall,  exclaims,  "Surely 
forty  years'  labor  has  not  been  in  vain  here !  " 

He  wrote  on  January  i,  1790:  "  I  am  now  an  old  man,  de- 
cayed from  head  to  foot.  My  eyes  are  dim  ;  my  right  hand 
shakes  much ;  my  mouth  is  hot  and  dry  every  morning ;  I 
have  a  lingering  fever  almost  every  day;  my  motion  is  weak 
and  slow.  However,  blessed  be  God,  I  do  not  slack  my  labor  : 
I  can  preach  and  write  still."      He  continued  to  rise  at  four, 


FROM   THE   ENGRAVING   BT    HiDlE*. 


1118  British  Methodism 

and  astonished  Moore,  who  now  lived  with  him,  by  his  intense 
devotion  to  his  work.  He  preached  to  the  children  in  West 
Street  Chapel,  and  says,  "  They  nocked  together  from  even- 
quarter,  and  truly  God  was  in  the  midst  of  them  applying 
these  words,  '  Come,  ye  little  children,  hearken  unto  me,  and 
I  will  teach  you  the  fear  of  the  Lord.'  " 

At  Newcastle  he  repeated  his  sermon  to  children,  which, 
as  Atmore  says,  "was  literally  composed  and  delivered  in 
words  of  not  more  than  two  syllables."  The  "  heavenly 
looking  ancient  man  with  silvery  locks"  was  an  object  of 
wonder  and  delight  to  all  the  children  that  came  near  him. 

He  paid  one  more  visit  to  Scotland.  "His  strength  was 
almost  exhausted,"  says  the  resident  preacher  of  Glasgow; 
"  his  sight  was  much  decayed,  so  that  he  could  neither  read 
the  hymn  nor  text.  The  wheels  of  life  were  ready  to  stand 
still,  but  his  conversation  was  agreeably  edifying,  being  mixed 
with  the  wisdom  and  gravity  of  a  parent  and  the  artless  sim- 
plicity of  a  child." 

A  month  later,  on  his  last  birthday,  June  28,  he  thinks  his 
strength  "probably  will  not  return  in  this  world.  But  I  feel 
no  pain  from  head  to  foot;  only  it  seems  nature  is  exhausted, 
and,  humanly  speaking,  will  sink  more  and  more  till  the 
weary  springs  of  life  stand  still."  Tyerman  truly  observes, 
"  No  weary  ehild  of  innocence  ever  went  to  its  welcome  couch 
with  greater  serenity  than  Wesley  went  down  the  steps  lead- 
ing to  his  sepulcher." 

But  the  veteran  takes  up  his  pen  once  more  in  defense  of 
some  persecuted  Methodists,  and  writes  a  pathetic  letter  to 
an  intolerant  bishop,  who  must  have  had  a  heart  of  stone  if 
he  did  not  yield  to  the  aged  apostle's  appeal.  The  letter 
closes:  "O,  my  lord,  for  God's  sake,  for  Christ's  sake,  for 
pity's  sake,  suffer  the  poor   people  to  enjoy  their  religious  as 


A    Final    Appeal 


1119 


well  as  civil  liberty  !      I  am  on  the  brink  of  eternity.     Perhaps 
so  is  your  lordship  too!      How  soon  may  yon  also  be  ealled  to 


I.   DR.  JAMES  HAMII.TOX.      2.   REV.   JOHN  WESLEY.      3.  REV.  JOSEPH  COLE. 
\^  seen  walking  in  Edinburgh,  1790. 

give  an  account  of  your  stewardship  to  the  great  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  our  souls!  May  he  enable  both  yon  and  me  to 
do  it  with  joy!  So  prays,  my  lord,  your  lordship's  dutiful 
son  and  servant.  John  Wesley. 

"  Hull.  June  26,   1790." 


&- 


1120  British  Methodism 

He  preached  at  Epworth  Market  Cross  to  the  largest  con- 
gregation ever  seen  there,  and  companies  of  people  went  with 
him  from  village  to  village,  men  walking  on  one  side  of  the 
road  and  women  on  the  other,  singing  as  they  walked,  guard- 
ing their  precious  charge.  His  salutation  to  the  crowds  as 
he  passed  was  in  the  words  of  his  favorite  apostle,  "  Little 
children,  love  one  another." 

The  last  Conference  he  attended  was  held  at  Bristol.     In 

England    there    were   now    71,463    members  of   society,   in 

x?         America  43,260,  and  on  the  mission 

j-'Jt^V^    fields,  5,350.     The  results  during  the 

fl         last  ten  years  of  Wesley's  life  were 

more  than  double  the  united  results 

of  the  forty  years  preceding.     "  The 

Conference  business  over,  its  vener- 

/   r-^^^  able    head — who  for   seventy   years 

had   directed    its    deliberations — at- 

FACSIMILE    OF   WESLEY'S 

signature,  1790.  tached    his    signature.       The    auto- 

From  the  ms.  record  of  Bristol       graph — preserved  now  as  a  precious 

Conference  Minutes.  ..  .       , . 

relic — too  clearly  indicates  that  his 
eyes  were  dim,  and  that  his  hand  had  forgot  its  cunning." 

But  still  he  traveled,  and  preached  in  Wales;  in  Bristol 
and  other  towns  in  the  west  and  south ;  in  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
whose  "  poor,  plain,  artless  society"  delights  him.  Then 
companies  of  the  brethren  come  out  to  meet  him  as  he  returns 
to  London. 

His  last  open-air  service  was  held  under  an  ash  tree  in  the 
churchyard  at  Winchelsea,  Sussex,  on  October  6,  1790.  He 
preached  at  noon ,  that  the  people  who  were  at  work  might  hear. 
He  stood  on  a  large  oak  dining  table,  and  spoke  from  the  words, 
"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand;  repent  ye,  and  believe 
the  gospel."     One  who  was  present  said,  "The   word    was 


Wesley's  Tree 


1121 


with  mighty  power,  and  the  tears  of  the  people  flowed  in 
torrents."  The  ash  was  long  known  as  "  Wesley's  tree."  and 
the  vicar  of  the  parish  has  hard  work  to  protect  it  from  relic  - 
hunting  pilgrims. 

Henry  Crabb  Robinson,  the  first  war  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times  and  one  of  the  founders  of  London  Univer- 


&&'     '-■'  &'..& 


DRAWN   BV  J.   0.    WOODWARD. 


WESLEY  S   TREE,   WINCHELSEA. 
Under  which  T   hn  Wesley  preached  his  last  open-air  sermon. 

sity,  heard  Wesley  preach  at  Colehester,  and  says  that  he 
stood  in  a  wide  pulpit  and  on  each  side  of  him  was  a  min- 
ister, the  two  holding  him  up.  His  voice  was  scarcely 
audible,  and  his  reverend  countenance,  with  the  long  white 
locks,  formed  a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten.  "  Of  the  kind, 
I  never  saw  anything  comparable  to  it  in  after  life."  After 
the  people  had  sung  a  verse  Wesley  rose  and  said  :  "  It  gives 
me  a  great  pleasure  to  find  that  you  have  not  lost  your  sing- 
ing, neither  men  nor  women.  You  have  not  forgotten  a 
single  note.  And  I  hope,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  which 
enables  you  to  sing  well,  you  may  do  all  other  things  well." 
A  universal  "Amen"  followed.     A  little  ejaculation  or  prayer 

71 


1122 


British  Methodism 


of  three  or  four  words  followed  each  division  of  the  sermon. 
After  the  last  prayer  Wesley  "rose  up  and  addressed  the 


o<£.Lf2&S- 


^f- Cr*~J~ 


Cr 


'i£jp&£&& 


V Cf  *f 


&s< 


farsjfi.   jtr. 


■*"  A 


* 

i 


ONE   OF   WESLEY  S    LAST    LETTERS. 
Alluding  to  the  Bath  journey,  which  he  did  not  live  to  take. 


people  on  liberality  of  sentiment,  and   spoke  much   against 


Last  Public  Appearances  1123 

refusing  to  join  with  any  congregation  on  account  of  differ- 
ence in  opinion."  A  few  days  later  the  poet  Crabbe  heard 
the  patriarch  preach  at  Lowestoft,  and  was  greatly  touched 
by  the  way  he  quoted  Anacreon's  lines  with  an  application  of 
his  own  : 

Oft  am  I  by  woman  told, 

Poor  Anacreon!  thou  grow'st  old ; 

See,  thine  hairs  are  falling  all : 

Poor  Anacreon  !  how  they  fall! 

Whether  I  grow  old  or  no 

By  these  signs  I  do  not  know; 

But  this  I  need  not  to  be  told, 

Tis  time  to  live,  if  I  grow  old. 

In  these  last  days  his  constant  prayer  was,  ' '  Lord,  let  me  not 
live  to  be  useless;"  and  James  Rogers  tells  us  that  he  often 
closed  family  prayers  in  the  preachers'  home,  City  Road,  with 
the  verse : 

O  that  without  a  lingering  groan 

1  may  the  welcome  word  receive  ; 
My  body  with  my  charge  lay  down, 

And  cease  at  once  to  work  and  live! 

He  writes  his  last  letter  to  America  on  February  i,  1791  : 
"  Those  that  desire  to  write  ...  to  me  have  no  time  to  lose, 
for  time  has  shaken  me  by  the  hand,  and  death  is  not  far 
behind.  .  .  .  Lose  no  opportunity  of  declaring  to  all  men 
that  the  Methodists  are  one  people  in  all  the  world,  and  that 
it  is  their  full  determination  so  to  continue, 

Though  mountains  rise,  and  oceans  roll, 
To  sever  us  in  vain." 

He  arranged  for  another  journey  to  Bath,  and  thence  north, 
but  that  journey  was  never  taken.  He  preached  for  the  last 
time  in  City  Road  Chapel  on  Tuesday  evening,  February  22. 
Next  day  he  preached  in  a  magistrate's  house  at  Leatherhead, 


1124 


British   Methodism 


eighteen  miles  from  London.  The  text  was,  "Seek  ye  the 
Lord  while  he  may  be  found ;  call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is 
near."     This  was  Wesley's  last  sermon. 


AFTER  PHOTOGRAPHS. 


THE    HOUSE   AT    LEATHERHEAD    IN    WHICH    WESLEY    PREACHED 
HIS    LAST     SERMON. 


Old  oaken  staircase. 


The  main  entrance. 


The  rear  entrance. 


Death  of  John  Wesley. 

Prom  the  painting  by   Mnr^b.tU  Ctaxton 


CHAPTER  CXXII 


The  Death  of  the  Founder  of  Methodism 

\\i  sle\  's  Le  i  ri  r  to  Wilberforce.  -The  Last  Songs  and  Savings.— 
■•The  best  of  vli  rs,  God  is  with  us."— The  Funeral  of  Wesley. 
—Dean  Stanley  and  the  Consecrated  Cemetery. 

TO  the  very  last  Wesley  kept  himself  in  touch  with  the 
life  of  the  day.  and   threw  himself  with   all   the  ardor 
of  youth  into  every  new  scheme  of  philanthropy.     The 
veteran  hailed  with  delight  every  young  warrior  on  the  held, 
and  his  last  letter  was  a  fittin<>-  and  beautiful  close  to  his  long: 
correspondence.      A  week  before  he  died  he  wrote  to  William 

Wilberforce  : 

London.  February  24.  1791. 

My  DEAR  Sir:  Unless  the  divine  Power  has  raised  you  up  to  lie  as  Atha- 
nasius,  contra  mundum,  I  see  not  how  you  can  go  through  your  glorious  enter- 
prise m  opposing  that  execrable  villainy,  which  is  the  scandal  of  religion,  of 
England,  and  of  human  nature.  Unless  Cod  has  raised  you  up  for  this  verj 
thing,  you  will  he  worn  out  by  the  opposition  of  men  and  devils;  but  if  God  be 
for  you,  who  can  be  against  you  ?  Are  all  of  them  together  stronger  than  God  ? 
O  "  be  not  weary  in  well-doing."  Go  on,  in  the  name  of  God,  and  in  the 
power  of  his  might,  till  even  American  slavery,  the  vilest  that  ever  saw  the  sun, 
shall  vanish  away  before  it. 

Reading  this  morning  a  tract,  wrote  by  a  poor  African,  1  was  particularly 
struck  by  that  circumstance— that  a  man  who  has  a  black  skin,  being  wronged 
or  outraged  by  a  white  man,  can  have  no  redress,  it  being  a  law  in  our  colonies 
that  the  oath  of  a  black  against  a  white  goes  for  nothing.  What  villainy  is  this  ! 
That  he  who  has  guided  you  from  your  youth  up  may  continue  to  strengthen 
you  in  this  and  all  things,  is  the  prayer  of,  dear  sir,  your  affectionate  servant, 

John  Wesley. 
1 125 


1126  British  Methodism 

On  the  morning  after  he  wrote  this  letter  Wesley  returned 
to  City  Road,  and  at  noon  was  helped  to  bed.  On  Sunday 
morning  he  rose  again,  and,  sitting  in  his  chair,  cheerfully 
quoted  from  his  brother's  hymn  : 

Till  glad  I  lay  this  body  down, 

Thy  servant,  Lord,  attend  ; 
And  O,  my  life  of  mercv  crown 

With  a  triumphant  end  ! 

In  the  afternoon  he  said:  "  There  is  no  need  for  more  than 
what  I  said  at  Bristol.      My  words  then  were: 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me." 

In  the  evening  he  got  up  again,  and  the  same  thought  seemed 
to  return  as  he  said :  "  How  necessary  it  is  for  everyone  to  be 
on  the  right  foundation  ! 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me. 

We  must  be  justified  by  faith,  and  then  go  on  to  full  sanc- 
tification." 

The  next  day  he  was  weaker.  In  a  low  voice  he  repeated 
several  times,  "  There  is  no  way  into  the  holiest  but  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus."  After  a  very  restless  night,  on  Tuesday 
morning  he  began  to  sing  another  of  his  brother's  hymns: 

All  glory  to  God  in  the  sky, 

And  peace  upon  earth  be  restored  ; 
O  Jesus,  exalted  on  high, 

Appear,  our  omnipotent  Lord  ; 
Who,  meanly  in  Bethlehem  born, 

Didst  stoop  to  redeem  a  lost  race, 
Once  more  to  thy  people  return, 

And  reign  in  thy  kingdom  of  grace. 


"God  is  with  Us"  1127 

O  would  St  thou  again  be  made  known, 

Again  in  thy  Spirit  descend  ; 
And  set  up  m  each  of  thine  own 

A  kingdom  that  never  shall  end  ! 
Thou  only  art  able  to  bless, 

And  make  the  glad  nations  obey. 
And  bid  the  dire  enmity  cease, 

And  bow  the  whole  world  tti  thy  sway. 

His  voice  failed  at  the  end  of  the  second  verse,  and  after 
resting  a  while  he  asked  Mr.  Bradford  for  pen  and  ink.  The 
pen.  was  placed  in  his  hand  and  the  paper  laid  before  him. 

"I  cannot,"  he  said. 

Miss  Ritchie  suggested,  "  Let  me  write  for  yon,  sir;  tell 
me  what  you  would  say."' 

••  Nothing,"  he  replied,  "  but  that  God  is  with  us." 

In  the  afternoon  he-  rallied,  and  said  he  would  get  up. 
While  his  clothes  were  being  brought  he  astonished  his  friends 
by  singing  with  great  vigor  the  last  verses  he  had  given  out 
in  City  Road  Chapel  a  week  before : 

I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath, 
And  when  my  voice  is  lost  in  death 

Praise  shall  employ  my  nobler  pow-ers 
My  days  of  praise  shall  ne'er  be  past 
While  life,  and  thought,  and  being  last, 

Or  immortality  endures. 

Then  he  was  laid  on  the  bed  from  which  he  rose  no  more. 
He  begged  the  friends  who  had  gathered  round  him  to  ' '  pray 
and  praise,"  responding  with  a  fervent  "Amen"  to  their  pe- 
titions. He  grasped  their  hands  and  said,  "  Farewell,  fare- 
well." As  others  entered  the  room  he  tried  to  speak,  but 
finding  they  could  not  understand  him,  he  summoned  all  his 
remaining  strength  and  cried  out,  "The  best  of  all  is,  God 
is  with  us."  Then  lifting  up  his  dying  arms  in  token  of 
victory,  and  raising  his  feeble  voice  with  a  holy  triumph  not 


1128 


British  Methodism 


m 


Sr 


II3l.h  PfalmTtme 


w+TH-w<t 


111  praife    my      Maker  while    I've 
-My     Days     of  Praifefhall  ne'er  be 


^Q^hM^-rlU-rlU^ 


Breathy     And  when  my    Voice   is   loft  in 
paft  ;      While  Life   and  Thoughtand  Being 


Death,       Praife  fhall    employ'   my  nohler 


I  a  ft. 


*3r 

m 


Or      Imraor  _  ta  -  li  _  ty    en  - 
Q  i  Q    Q 


S 


i— o — e 


to  be  expressed,  he  again  repeated  the  heart-reviving  words, 

"  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us." 

When  Mrs.  Charles  Wesley  moistened  his  lips  he  repeated 

the  thanksgiving  which 
he  had  always  used  after 
meals,  "We  thank  thee, 
(J  Lord,  for  these  and  all' 
thy  mercies;  bless  the 
Church  and  king  ;  and 
grant  us  truth  and  peace, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  forever  and  ever." 

During  the  night  he  was 
often  heard  to  say,  "  I'll 
praise — I'll  praise."  Next 
morning,  about  ten  o'clock, 
Joseph  Bradford,  his  faith- 
iPw-  ful  companion  and  nurse, 
prayed  at  the  bedside, 
where  eleven  of  Wesley's 
friends  were  assembled.''- 
The  dying  patriarch  was 
heard  to  say,  "Farewell;" 
then  as  Bradford  was  re- 
peating, "Lift  up  your 
heads,  O  ye  gates ;  and  be 
ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting 
doors;  and  this  heir  of  ■ 
glory  shall   come   in!"    he 


Powers 

dures . 


Happy  the  Man  whofe  Hopes  re- 

"11-11°  ll'l  '|Mig 


ly  On   Jfrael's  GOD:He  made  the 


S 


And    Earth  and   Seas     with    all 


"*  *  1^  f> \  r  TV iin   ' 


-e 


i 


a 


their  Train*     His  Truth   for      e.verftands 

e 
fecure;      Hefavesth'oppreft.Hefeedsjf, 

m 


^^M 


w=& 


XX 


•Poo  r,     A  nd  none  fhall  find  his  Promffe vain 


WESLEY'S    LAST    HYMN. 

With  the  Huguenot  tune  to  which  it  was  sung.     From 
the  Tune  IJook  of  1742. 


entered,  "without  a  lingering  groan,"  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord. 


*  The  familiar  representation  of  the  scene  by  Claxton  (page  1129)  introduces  several  indi 
iduals  whose  presence  was,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful. 


Deathbed   Scenes 


1131 


His  friends  standing  around  sang: 

Waiting  to  receive  thy  spirit, 

Lo,  the  Saviour  stands  above  . 
Shows  the  purchase  of  his  merit. 
Reaches  out  the  crown  of  love. 

Then  they  knelt  down,  and  Mr.  Rogers  led  them   in  prayer 
"  for  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  us,  and  all  who  mourn 


KEY  TO  THE  PAINTING  "JOHN   WESLEY  S  DEATHBED. 


I,  Rev.  John  Wesley,  A.M. 

j.  Rev.  Beard  Dickinson,  A.M. 

3.  Rev.  Joseph  Bradford. 

4.  Miss  Sarah  Wesley, 

5.  Medical  Assistant  to  I  >r  Whitehead 

6.  Mrs.  Charles  Wesley. 

7.  Rev.  Thomas  Rankin. 

S.  Mrs.  Hester  Ann  Rogers 

o.  Miss  Ritchie  (Mrs.  Mortimer). 

10.  Rev.  James  Rogers. 


11.  Rev.  James  Creighton,  A.M. 

12.  Master  Rogers. 

13.  Robert  Carr  Brackenbury,  I 

14.  Rev.  Thomas  Broadbent. 

15.  Rev.  John  Broadbent. 

16.  John  Horton,  Esq. 

17.  Rev.  Alexander  Mather. 

18.  <  '.eorge  Whitefield 

ifj.  Rev.  Jonathan  Edmondson. 
jo.   Dr.  Whitehead. 


the  loss  the  Church  militant  sustains  by  the  removal  of  our 
much-loved  father  to  his  great  reward." 

John  Wesley  died  on  Wednesday,  March  2,  1 791 ,  in  his 
eighty-eighth  year.  The  day  before  his  funeral  his  body  was 
laid  in  City  Road  Chapel,  and  ten   thousand  persons  passed 


1132 


British  Methodism 


through  the  building  to  take  a  last  look  upon  his  face.  The 
poet  Rogers  was  one  of  the  number,  and  was  wont  to  speak 
of  the  peace  and  beauty  of  the  face,  on  which  there  lingered 
a  heavenly  smile." 

To  lessen  the  dangers  of  a  vast  crowd  it  was  thought  de- 
sirable  for  the  funeral  to  take  place  in  the  early  morning  of 


ORA*N     B»     J-     BH 


ROM     A    COPPFR 


TOMB    OF   THE    REV.   JOHN    WESLEY. 

Wednesday,  March  9.  The  service  was  read  by  the  Rev. 
John  Richardson,  one  of  the  clergymen  who  had  helped 
Wesley  for  nearly  thirty  years.  When  he  came  to  the 
words,  "  Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  take 
unto  himself  the  soul  of  our  dear  brother,"  and  substituted, 
with   profound    feeling,    the  word    "father,"    the   throng   of 


The  Century's  Consecration  1133 

people  were  deeply  affected,  and   loud  sobs  look  the  place  of 
silent  tears. 

In  one  ^i  his  American  addresses  ^(  [878  Dean  Stanley 
said  :  "On  visiting  in  London  the  City  Road  Chapel,  in  which 
John  Wesley  ministered,  and  the  cemetery  adjoining,  in 
which  he  is  buried,  I  asked  an  old  man  who  showed  me  the 
cemetery — I  asked  him,  perhaps  inadvertently,  and  as  an 
English  Churchman  might  naturally  ask — '  By  whom  was  this 
cemetery  consecrated?'  And  he  answered,  '  It  was  conse- 
crated by  the  bones  of  that  holy  man.  thai  holy  servant  oi 
God,  John  Wesley.'  " 

Methodism,  as  Wesley  left  it,  was  a  rapidly  growing  eon- 
federation  of  churches,  with  live  hundred  and  forty  ministers 
and  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  members  on 
two  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  While  he  lived  Wesley's  pervasive 
personality  had  tempered  and  cemented  the  British  soeieties: 
but  "the  Elijah  of  the  eighteenth  century  left  behind  him  no 
ha."  He  had,  however,  carefully  provided  that  his  death 
should  not  involve  the  dissolution  of  Methodism.  He  sacri- 
ficed his  Church  theories  for  the  sake  of  the  highest  purpose 
for  which  the  Church  exists.  He  acted  on  his  own  maxim, 
"  Church  or  no  Church,  souls  must  be  saved!"  Despite  his 
lifelong  love  for  the  Established  Church,  and  his  protests 
against  separation,  he  had,  with  guileless  inconsistency  and 
consummate  statesmanship,  provided  for  the  organization  of 
a  free  Church  with  a  pastorate  that  was  at  once  a  real  Pres- 
bytery and  a  primitive  Episcopacy.  John  Pawson,  who  was 
president  of  the  Conference  in  1793,  says  Wesley  "  foresaw 
that  the  Methodists  would,  after  his  death,  soon  become  a 
distinct  people;  in  order,  therefore,  to  preserve  all  that  was 
valuable  in  the  Church  of  England  among  the  Methodists- 
he   ordained    Mr.  Mather  and    Dr.  Coke    bishops.      These   he 


1134 


British  Methodism 


undoubtedly  designed  should  ordain  others.  Mr.  Mather 
told  us  so  at  the  Manchester  Conference  ;  but  we  did  not  then 
understand  him."     Henry  Moore  and  John  Murlin  confirmed 


wesley's  tablet  in  city  road. 


this,  and  the  former  wrote  to  the  Conference  of  1837,  "  I  am 
the  only  person  now  living  that  Mr.  Wesley  committed  that 
power  to — that  is,  the   power  to  ordain — and   I  know  that  he 


Last  Words  to  the  Brethren  1135 

committed  it  for  the  purpose  that  it  should  become  a  common 
thing"  whenever  it  should  be  judged  by  the  Conference  best 
to  adopt  it." 

At  the  first  Conference  after  Wesley's  death  Joseph  Brad- 
ford produced  a  sealed  letter,  which  Wesley  had  charged  him 
to  deliver  to  the  president,  containing  his  last  counsels  to  the 
Conference.  It  was  dated  1785,  and  stated  that  some  of  the 
traveling  preachers  had  expressed  a  fear  lest  those  who  were 
named  in  the  Deed  of  Declaration  should  exclude  their 
brethren  "either  from  oreaching  in  connection  with   you  or 

J.  O  J 

from  some  other  privileges  which  they  now  enjoy.  I  know 
no  other  way  to  prevent  any  such  inconvenience  than  to  leave 
these,  my  last  words,  with  you.  I  beseech  you.  by  the  mercies 
of  God,  that  you  never  avail  yourselves  of  the  Deed  of  Decla- 
ration to  assume  any  superiority  over  your  brethren,  but  let 
all  thinsrs  <jo  on  amonof  those  itinerants  who  choose  to  remain 

to  to  to 

together  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  when  I  was  with  you, 
so  far  as  circumstances  will  permit.  In  particular,  I  beseech 
you,  if  you  ever  loved  me,  and  if  you  now  love  God  and  your 
brethren,  to  have  no  respect  for  persons  in  stationing  the 
preachers,  in  choosing  children  for  the  Kingswood  School,  in 
disposing  of  the  yearly  contribution  and  the  preachers'  fund, 
or  any  other  public  money.  But  do  all  things  with  a  single 
eye,  as  I  have  done  -from  the  beginning.  Go  on  thus,  doing 
all  things  without  prejudice  or  partiality,  and  God  will  be 
with  you  even  to  the  end."' 


CHAPTER  CXXIII 


The  Manhood  of  Wesley 


His  Appearance. — Portraits. — Habits, — Character. 


OUR  portraits  of  Wesley  give  some  idea  of  his  appear- 
ance from  early  manhood  to  old  age.  The  noblest 
portrait  of  all  is  by  George  Roiriney,  the  rival  of 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  "  Wesley  is  in  his  well-known  clerical 
garb.  The  face  has  a  calm,  devout  dignity,  which  befits  the 
ideal  Wesley,  combining  all  the  traditions  concerning  him  as 
a  scholar,  a  divine,  a  true  gentleman,  and  a  saint.  The  beau- 
tiful, cloudless  face  tells  not  its  tale  of  fourscore  years  and 
six.  None  of  the  Psalmist's  prediction  concerning  "labor 
and  sorrow"  frets  the  serenity  of  his  countenance,  or  makes 
"his  cheek  the  map  of  days  outworn."  Yet  when  Wesley 
sat  to  Romney  he  was  within  two  years  of  his  decease,  and  in 
those  lineaments  of  beatitude  "life's  shadows  were  meeting 
eternity's  day." 

Wesley's  hazel  eyes  are  said  to  have  been  bright  and  pene- 
trating, even  to  the  last.  In  youth  his  hair  was  black,  and  in 
old  age  silvery  white.  In  height  he  was  not  quite  five  feet 
six  inches,  and  weighed  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  pounds  ; 

his   frame   was   well  knit,   muscular,    and    strong.      He    was 

1 1 36 


JOHN     WESLEY. 
Tiie  noblest  portrait  of  all.' 


A   "^Methodist"   in  All  Things  1139 

scrupulously  neat  in  his  person  and  habits,  and  wore  a  nar- 
row-plaited stock,  a  coat  with  a  small  upright  collar,  buckled 
shoes,  and  three-cornered  hat.  "  I  dare  no  more,"  he  said  in 
his  old  age,  "write  in  a  fine  style  than  wear  a  fine  coat." 
"  Exactly  so."  remarks  Overton,  "  but  then  he  was  particular 
about  his  coats.  lie  was  most  careful  never  to  be  slovenly  in 
his  dress,  always  to  be  dressed  in  good  taste.  ...  It  is  just 
the  same  with  his  style;    it  is  never  slovenly,  never  tawdry." 

In  his  habits  of  order,  account-keeping,  and  punctuality 
he  was  literally  a  "methodist."  "Sammy,"  said  he  to  his 
nephew,  "be  punctual.  Whenever  I  am  to  go  to  a  place  the 
first  .thing  I  do  is  to  get  ready ;  then  what  time  remains  is  all 
my  own."  In  old  age,  as  he  stood  waiting  for  his  chaise  at 
Haslingden,  he  remarked,  "  I  have  lost  ten  minutes,  and 
they  are  lost  forever."  But  John  Rishton  used  to  tell  that 
when  Wesley  bade  him  adieu  "his  face  was  as  the  face  of 
an  angel."  Every  minute  had  its  value  to  him  for  work  or 
rest.  "  Joshua,  when  I  go  to  bed  I  go  to  bed  to  sleep,  and 
not  to  talk,"  was  his  rebuke  to  a  young  preacher  who  once 
shared  his  room  and  wished  to  converse  at  sleeping  time. 

Dr.  Johnson  once  said  to  Boswell :  "John  Wesley's  conver- 
sation is  good,  but  he  is  never  at  leisure.  He  is  always 
obliged  to  go  at  a  certain  hour.  This  is  very  disagreeable  to  a 
man  who  loves  to  fold  his  legs  and  have  his  talk  out,  as  I  do." 
On  another  occasion  he  said,  "  I  hate  to  meet  John  Wesley: 
the  dog  enchants  you  with  his  conversation,  and  then  breaks 
away  to  go  and  visit  some  old  woman."  In  1784  Wesley 
dined  with  the  doctor,  having  set  apart  two  hours  for  the 
purpose.  But  dinner  was  an  hour  late,  and  Wesley  had  to 
leave  as  soon  as  it  was  over.  Johnson  was  disappointed, 
and  his  friend,  Mrs.  Hall  (Wesley's  sister),  tried  to  soothe 
him,  saying,  "Why,  doctor,  my  brother  has  been  with  you 


1140  British  Methodism     * 

two  hours."  He  replied,  "Two  hours,  madam!  I  could 
talk  all  day,  and  all  night,  too,  with  your  brother."  In  Wes- 
ley's Journal  for  February  18,  1784,  there  is  this  touching 
entry:  "I  spent  two  hours  with  that  great  man,  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  is  sinking  into  the  grave  by  a  gentle  decay." 

Yet  Wesley  was  never  hurried  in  mind  or  manner.  "  He 
had  no  time,"  says  Henry  Moore,  "to  mend  anything  that 
he  either  wrote  or  did.  He  therefore  always  did  everything 
not  only  with  quietness,  but  with  what  might  be  thought 
slowness."  His  perfect  calmness  of  spirit  was  only,  attained 
by  self-discipline  and  prayer.  He  tells  us:  "  When  I  was  at 
Oxford,  and  lived  almost  like  a  hermit,  I  saw  not  how.  any 
busy  man  could  be  saved.  I  scarce  thought  it  possible  for  a 
man  to  retain  the  Christian  spirit  amid  the  noise  and  bustle 
of  the  world  ;  God  taught  me  better  by  my  own  experience. 
I  had  ten  times  more  business  in  America — that  is,  at  inter- 
vals— than  ever  I  had  in  my  life ;  but  it  was  no  hindrance  to 
silence  of  spirit."  Once,  when  Wesley  was  busily  writing, 
Mr.  Bolton,  of  Blandford  Park,  Witney,  tried  to  draw  him 
into  conversation  by  saying  how  much  pleasanter  it  was  to 
live  in  the  country  than  in  the  town.  "All  is  silent,  all  re- 
tired, and  no  distracting  noises  of  the  busy  multitude  intrude 
themselves."  "True,  Neddy,"  said  Wesley,  "but  noisy 
thoughts  may."  Mr.  Bolton  took  the  hint  and  allowed  his 
busy  guest  to  finish  his  work. 

*Dr.  Adam  Clarke  maintained  that  Wesley's  "  deep  intimacy 
with  God"  was  the  secret  of  a  tranquillity  more  remarkable 
even  than  Fletcher's,  when  we  consider  the  amazing  labor 
Wesley  had  to  undergo,  "the  calumnies  he  had  to  endure, 
his  fightings  without,  the  opposition  arising  from  members 
of  society  within,  and  his  care  of  all  his  churches." 

Wesley  was  a  delightful  companion,  and  his  comrades  on 


Wesley's   Habitual    Cheerfulness  1141 

the  mad  and  friends  in  the  home  witness  to  his  cheerfulness, 
courtesy,  kindness,  and  wit.  "  Sour  godliness  is  the  devil's 
religion."  was  one  of  his  sayings.  lie  told  Mr.  Blackwell 
that  he  could  not  bear  to  have  people  about  him  who  were  in 
ill  humor,  and  he  did  his  best  to  cure  them.  "  If  a  dinner 
HI  dressed,  a  hard  bed,  a  poor  room,  a  shower  of  rain,  or  a 
dirty  road  will  put  them  out  of  humor,  it  lays  a  burden  upon 
me  greater  than  all  the  rest  put  together.  By  the  grace  of 
God,  I  never  fret-  I  repine  at  nothing;  I  am  discontented  at 
nothing.  And  to  have  persons  at  my  ear  fretting  and  mur- 
muring at  everything  is  like  tearing  the  flesh  off  my  bones. 
I  see  God  sitting  upon  his  throne  and  ruling  all  things  well." 
Knox,  as  we  have  seen,  was  charmed  with  Wesley's  habit- 
ual cheerfulness.  When  he  first  met  him  he  tried  to  form  an 
impartial  judgment  of  his  character,  and  wrote:  "  So  fine  an 
old  man  I  never  saw !  The  happiness  of  his  mind  beamed 
forth  in  his  countenance.  Every  look  showed  how  fully  he 
enjoyed  'the  gay  remembrance  of  a  life  well  spent.'  Wher- 
ever Wesley  went  he  diffused  a  portion  of  his  own  felicity. 
Easy  and  affable  in  his  demeanor,  he  accommodated  himself 
to  every  sort  of  company,  and  showed  how  happily  the  most 
finished  courtesy  may  be  blended  with  the  most  perfect  piety. 
In  his  conversation  we  might  be  at  a  loss  whether  to  admire 
most  his  fine  classical  taste,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  men 
and  things,  or  his  overflowing  goodness  of  heart.  While  the 
grave  and  serious  were  charmed  with  his  wisdom,  his  sportive 
sallies  of  innocent  mirth  delighted  even  the  young  and 
thoughtless:  and  both  saw  in  his  uninterrupted  cheerfulness 
the  excellency  of  true  religion.  No  cynical  remarks  on  the 
levity  of  youth  embittered  his  discourses.  No  applausive  re- 
trospect to  past  times  marked  his  present  discontent.  In  him 
even  old  age  appeared  delightful,  like  an  evening  without  a 


1142  British  Methodism 

cloud ;  and  it  was  impossible  to  observe  him  without  wishing 
fervently,  '  May  my  latter  end  be  like  his!'  " 

Wesley  and  one  of  his  preachers  were  once  taking  lunch 
with  a  gentleman  whose  daughter  had  been  greatly  impressed 
by  Wesley's  preaching.  The  itinerant,  a  man  of  very  plain 
manners  and  little  tact,  was  conversing  with  the  young  lady, 
who  was  remarkable  for  her  beauty.  He  noticed  that  she 
wore  a  number  of  rings,  and  taking  hold  of  her  hand,  he  raised 
it,  and  called  Wesley's  attention  to  the  sparkling  gems. 
"What  do  you  think  of  this,  sir,"  said  he,  "  for  a  Methodist's 
hand?"  The  girl  turned  crimson,  and  the  question  was 
awkward  for  Wesley,  whose  aversion  to  all  display  of  jewelry 
was  so  well  known.  But  the  aged  evangelist  showed  a  tact 
Chesterfield  might  have  envied.  With  a  quiet,  benevolent 
smile  he  looked  up,  and  simply  said,  "The  hand  is  very 
beautiful."  The  young  lady  appeared  at  evening  service 
without  her  jewels,  and  became  a  decided  Christian. 

Of  Wesley's  love  for  children  we  have  already  given  in- 
stances. To  a  troubled  mother  at  Exeter,  whose  baby  dis- 
turbed the  company  at  dinner,  he  said,  "  Hand  him  to  me, 
my  sister,  and  I'll  quiet  him!"  He  received  the  child,  but 
alas!  he  who  was  usually  so  successful  with  the  turbulent 
found  that  he  had,  for  once,  overestimated  his  powers.  The 
infant  who  made  so  much  noise  that  even  Wesley  could  not 
quiet  him  was  Theophilus  Lessey,  famous  for  his  eagle  eye 
and  soaring  eloquence,  who  in  1839  was  a  successor  of  Wes- 
ley in  the  presidency  of  Conference. 

Robert  Southey  says:  "  I  was  in  a  house  in  Bristol  where 
Wesley  was.  When  a  mere  child,  on  running  down  stairs 
before  him  with  a  beautiful  little  sister  of  my  own,  whose 
ringlets  were  floating  over  her  shoulders,  he  overtook  us  on 
the  landing  and  took  my  sister  in  his  arms  and  kissed  her. 


Wesley  and  Children  1143 

Placing  her  on  her  feet  again,  he  then  put  his  hand  upon  my 
head  and  blessed  me,  and  I  feel  as  though  1  had  the  blessing 
of  that  good  man  upon  me  at  the  present  moment."  As 
Southey  spoke  the  last  words  his  eyes  glistened  with  tears, 
and  his  voice  showed  what  deep  emotion  the  memory  of  that 
scene  of  his  childhood  awakened. 

One  fact  which  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with  Wesley's 
kindness  to  children  is  the  severity  of  his  rules  for  the  man- 
agement of  Kingswood  School.  In  this,  it  must  be  admitted, 
he  was  too  much  influenced  by  the  educational  methods  of  his 
century,  which  were  hard  and  scmimonastic.  As  to  his  re- 
striction of  the  boys'  play,  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  as 
Dr.  Rigg  has  pointed  out,  that  public  schools  in  Wesley's 
time  were  "rude  and  harsh  Spartan  republics,  where  play 
meant  coarse  violence,  and  where  free,  unfettered  intercourse 
among  the  boys  meant  mutual  barbarizing  and  demoraliza- 
tion." Of  this  he  had  had  bitter  experience  at  the  Charter 
House. 

That  Wesley  was  not  such  a  stern  ascetic  as  some  of  his 
critics  represent  there  is  abundant  evidence.  His  broken 
courtships  reveal  a  very  tender  side  to  his  manhood.  His 
niece  Sarah  told  Adam  Clarke  that  no  human  being  was  more 
alive  to  all  the  tender  charities  of  domestic  life.  He  rose  at  four 
and  preached  at  five,  but  he  would  not  allow  her  to  be  called  up 
so  earh',  and  on  a  journey  in  her  company  the  aged  man  would 
accept  no  comfort  which  she  did  not  share.  She  states  that 
"he  always  showed  peculiar  sympathy  to  young  persons  in 
love."  A  fellow  feeling  made  him  wondrous  kind,  as  love- 
stricken  Samuel  Bradburn  proved  when  Wesley  appealed  to 
Miss  Betsy  Xangle's  reluctant  guardian,  whose  reverence  for 
Wesley  could  not  allow  a  positive  refusal,  and  quickly  married 
the   happy  couple  before  breakfast  on  a  bright  midsummer 


1144  British   Methodism 

morning.  Having  heard  that  Bradburn  was  in  straits,  he  forth- 
with inclosed  in  the  following  letter  five  one-pound  notes: 

"  Dear  Sammy  :  '  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good ;  so  shalt 
thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed.'  Yours 
affectionately,  John  Wesley." 

To  this  Bradburn  answered  : 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir:  I  have  often  been  struck  with  the 
beauty  of  the  passage  of  Scripture  quoted  in  your  letter,  but 
I  must  confess  that  I  never  saw  such  useful  expository  notes 
upon  it  before.  I  am,  reverend  and  dear  sir,  your  obedient 
and  grateful  servant,  S.  Bradburn." 

Of  Wesley's  wit  and  humor  instances  abound  in  his  Jour- 
nals and  letters.  Fenwick,  a  brother  of  very  humble  gifts, 
once  in  an  evil  hour  complained  that,  although  he  traveled  so 
much  with  Wesley,  he  was  never  mentioned  in  the  published 
Journals.  He  had  no  reason  to  complain  when  the  next 
Journal  was  published.  "I  left  Epworth,"  writes  Wesley, 
"with  great  satisfaction,  and,  about  one,  preached  at  Clay- 
worth.  I  think  none  were  unmoved  but  Michael  Fenwick, 
who  fell  fast  asleep  under  an  adjoining  hayrick."  His  anec- 
dotes and  racy  savings  often  supplied  a  toiiic  much  needed 
by  some  of  his  itinerants.  Indeed  Thomas  Walsh,  who  was 
given  to  extreme  asceticism,  once  wrote  to  Wesley  complain- 
ing, "Among  three  or  four  persons  that  tempt  me  to  levity, 
you,  sir,  are  one,  by  your  witty  proverbs."  Wesley's  wit 
finds  literary  expression  in  his  Appeals  in  the  form  of  irony 
and  satire,  and  his  preface  to  his  dictionary  is  a  masterpiece 
of  pungent  writing.  Carlyle's  description  of  Jean  Paul  Rick- 
ter's  humor  might  well  be  applied  to  Wesley's.  Its  essence 
is  "  sensibility,  warm,  tender  fellow-feeling  with  all  forms  of 
existence."  If  Wesley  could  pierce  with  his  wit,  he  could 
also  heal  with  his  humor. 


"  In  Whom  is  No  Guile  "  1145 

He  was  naturally  quick-tempered,  and  sometimes  said  sharp 
things,  but  he  was  yet  quicker  to  apologize  it"  he  felt  he  had 
spoken  too  hastily  and  in  anger.  He  was  incapable  of  malice, 
and  was  marvelously  ready  to  forgive  his  most  cruel  traducers 
and  bitterest  opponents.  We  find  him  receiving  the  sacra- 
ment from  Bishop  Lavington  and  sitting  down  to  a  cozy 
breakfast  with  his  old  Irish  antagonist.  Father  O'Leary. 
Toward  the  end  of  his  life  his  character  began  to  be  better 
understood  by  some  of  the  clergymen  and  bishops  who  had 
opposed  or  stood  aloof  from  him.  There  is  a  pleasant  story 
of  his  meeting-  Bishop  Lowth  at  dinner.  The  bishop  refused 
to  sit  above  Wesley  at  the  table,  saying.  "  Mr.  Wesley,  may 
I  be  found  sitting  at  your  feet  in  another  world."  Wesley 
still  declining  to  take  precedence,  the  bishop  asked  him  as  a 
favor  to  sit  above  him,  as  he  was  deaf,  and  desired  not  to  lose 
a  sentence  of  Mr.  Wesley's  conversation.  'Wesley  fully  appre- 
ciated the  courtesy,  and  wrote  in  his  Journal:  "  Dined  with 
Lowth,  Bishop  of  London.  His  whole  behavior  was  worthy 
of  a  Christian  bishop — easy,  affable,  and  courteous — and  yet 
all  his  conversation  spoke  the  dignity  which  was  suitable  to 
his  character." 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Wesley  was  sometimes  too  ready 
to  believe  the  marvelous,  and  that  his  guileless  trustfulness 
of  his  fellow-men  betrayed  him  into  practical  errors  during 
his  half  century  of  labor.  "  My  brother,"  said  Charles  Wes- 
ley. ••  was.  I  think,  born  for  the  benefit  of  knaves."  He  was 
too  prone  to  take  men  and  women  at  their  own  estimates. 
He  attributed  to  the  immediate  interposition  of  Providence 
events  which  might  reasonably  be  attributed  to  natural  causes, 
lie  was  too  ready  to  regard  the  physical  phenomena  of  the 
early  years  of  the  revival  as  spiritual  signs,  though  he  checked 
them  when  he  was  convinced  of  their  imposture. 


1146  British  Methodism 

He  was  biased  by  the  prejudices  of  his  Church  training. 
But  it  must  be  remembered,  as  Adam  Clarke  observes,  that 
his  prejudices  to  a  remarkable  extent  gave  way  to  the  force 
of  truth.  There  is  a  marked  change,  also,  in  his  judgments 
as  to  himself  and  others  in  his  later  years.  His  severity 
toward  imperfect  but  sincere  Christians  became  softened,  and 
his  sermons  and  the  notes  in  the  late  editions  of  his  Journals 
show  that  he  modified  his  severe  estimate  of  his  own  early 
religious  experiences.  "No  man,"  says  Telford,  "had  a 
more  candid  mind  than  Wesley.  He  learned  from  everyone, 
and  was  learning  till  the  last  day  of  his  life."  Dr.  Rigg  has 
shown  that  Wesley  ' '  was  one  of  the  keenest  and  most  skep- 
tical of  historical  critics ;  and  that,  although  he  was  eminently 
a  man  of  action,  he  was  by  no  means  wanting  either  in  the 
taste  or  capacity  for  philosophic  study  and  reflection." 

Southey,  as  we  have  seen,  was  convinced  by  Knox  of  his 
error  in  regarding  selfish  ambition  as  a  leading  feature  in 
Wesley's  character.  Canon  Overton  truly  says  that  "Knox 
knew  Wesley  intimately;  Southey  did  not."  Knox,  who 
united  wide  culture  with  ardent  piety,  but  who  differed  from 
Wesley  in  some  of  his  opinions,  speaks  thus  of  his  motives : 
"The  slightest  suspicion  of  pride,  ambition,  selfishness,  or 
personal  gratification  of  any  kind  stimulating  Mr.  Wesley  in 
any  instance,  or  mixing  in  any  measure  with  the  movements 
of  his  life,  never  once  entered  into  my  mind.  That  such 
charges  were  made  by  his  opponents  I  could  not  be  ignorant. 
But  my  deep  impression  remains  unimpaired — that  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  there  has  not  been  a  human  being  more 
thoroughly  exempt  from  all  those  frailties  of  human  nature 
than  John  Wesley."  "And  this,"  says  Overton.  "  is  the  un- 
varying strain  of  those  who  knew  Wesley  best.''  He  was  a 
born  ruler  of  men,  but  he  used  his  extraordinary  power  for 


The  Patriarch   of   his   People  1147 

no  selfish  ends.  1  [e  ruled  preachers  and  people  with  absolute 
authority,  but  he  was  no  despot.  He  was  the  patriarch  of  his 
people,  and   they  knew  he  spoke  the  truth  when   he  said  : 


^ 

,^7-  < 


+^*<7' 


fib.fi,   ty~~*2*  ^^ 

c/  _  ______ _ 

THE    LAST    ENTRY    IN    WESLEY'S   ACCOUNT    HOOK. 

The  concluding  lemark  is  to  be  read  thus: 

NB  h'i  upwards  ot  eighty-si.\  years  [Tyerman  queries  'sixty-eight"]  I  have  kept  mv  accounts 
exactly.  I  will  not  attempt  it  any  longer,  being  satisfied  with  the  continual  conviction  that  I  save  all 
I  can,  and  give  all  1  can — that  is,  all  I  have. 

"  The  power  I  have  I  never  sought;  it  was  the  unexpected 
result  of  the  work  which  God  was  pleased  to  work  by  me.  I 
therefore  suffer  it  till  I  can  find  some  one  to  ease  me  of  my 
burden."  When  he  heard  that  men  said  he  was  "shackling 
freeborn  Englishmen,"  "making  himself  a  pope,"  and  exer- 


1148  British  Methodism 

cising  arbitrary  power,  he  replied  with  characteristic  artless- 
ness:  "If  you  mean  by  arbitrary  power  a  power  which  I 
exercise  singly,  without  any  colleague  therein,  this  is  certainly 
true;  but  I  see  no  harm  in  it.  Arbitrary  in  this  sense  is  a 
very  harmless  word.  I  bear  this  burden  merely  for  your 
sakes."  He  possessed,  as  Macaulay  says,  "  a  genius  for  gov- 
ernment." Matthew  Arnold  ascribes  to  him  "a  genius  for 
godliness."  Southe\T  considered  him  "a  man  of  great  views, 
great  energies,  and  great  virtues;  the  most  influential  mind 
of  the  last  century;  the  man  who  will  have  produced  the 
greatest  effects  centuries  or  perhaps  millenniums  hence." 

In  America  the  irritation  caused  by  Wesley's  expression 
of  his  opinions  during  the  Revolution  had  passed  away  before 
he  died.  Bishop  Asbury  in  his  Journal  (April  29,  1791)  refers 
to  the  death  "  of  that  dear  man  of  God,"  and  gives  what  Dr. 
Buckley  well  calls  "probably  the  best  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter and  career."  It  is  worth  quoting  here  as  well  as  in  a 
later  connection:  "When  we  consider  his  plain  and  nervous 
writings,  his  uncommon  talent  for  sermonizing  and  journal- 
izing; that  he  had  such  a  steady  flow  of  animal  spirits;  so 
much  of  the  spirit  of  government  in  him ;  his  knowledge  as 
an  observer:  his  attainments  as  a  scholar;  his  experience  as 
a  Christian  ;  I  conclude  his  equal  is  not  to  be  found  among  all 
the  sons  he  hath  brought  up,  nor  his  superior  among  all  the 
sons  of  Adam  he  may  have  left  behind." 


CHAPTER  CXXIV 
Critics  and  Caricaturists 

The  Journalism  of  the  Century.— Hogarth's  Cartoons. — Change 
in  Public  Opinion.— Some  Famous  Magazines.— A  Virulent 
Drama. 

THE  century  that  witnessed  the  rise  of  [Methodism  was 
notable   for   the  development   of  the   newspaper,    the 
magazine,    the  essay,  and  the   novel.      We   can   only 
briefly  glance  at   the   references  to  Methodism  'in  the  public 
journals  and  the  more  permanent  prose  and  poetical  litera- 
ture of  the  day. 

The  first  daily  newspaper,  the  Post  Boy,  of  1695,  had  only 
a  brief  existence.  The  first  to  be  successfully  established 
was  the  Daily  Courant  of  1702 — the  year  before  Wesley  was 
born.  The  following  half  century  saw  a  remarkable  exten- 
sion of  journalistic  enterprise,  notwithstanding  the  duty  im- 
posed by  the  government,  and  7,411,757  newspaper  stamps 
were  issued  in  1753  for  a  population  estimated  at  about 
6,200.000.  The  news-writer — Johnson's  ' '  man  without  virtue, 
who  writes  lies  at  home  for  his  own  profit" — could  greatly 
influence  public  opinion,  not  only  in  London,  but  in  the  pro- 
vincial towns.  Gossip,  satires  on  fashion,  poetry,  and  a  very 
few  reviews  and   leaders  made  up  much  of  the  "copy,"  and 

the  letters  of   correspondents  occupied  an   important   place. 

1 149 


1150  British  Methodism 

Wesley,  as  we  have  seen,  was  wide  awake  to  the  possibilities 
of  journalism  for  good  or  evil,  and  some  of  his  most  powerful 
writing  on  public  and  social  questions  is  found  in  his  letters 
to  public  journals,  especially  in  Lloyd's  Evening  Post  and 
the  Leeds  Mercury. 

The  journalistic  attacks  on  Methodism  commenced  in 
Fogg's  Weekly  Journal  in  1732,  and  two  months  later  the 
first  defense  of  Methodism  ever  published  appeared  in  pam- 
phlet form  as  a  reply.  When  the  Great  Revival  began  the 
daily  and  weekly  press  often  contained  scurrilous  letters  and 
reports  which  were  tissues  of  falsehood.  Wesley  occasionally 
replied  to  them.  In  the  Westminster  Journal,  1761,  Meth- 
odism was  represented  as  "an  ungoverned  spirit  of  enthusi- 
asm, propagated  by  knaves  and  embraced  by  fools."  By  it 
••the  decency  of  religion  had  been  perverted,  the  peace  of 
families  had  been  ruined,  and  the  minds  of  the  vulgar  dark- 
ened to  a  total  neglect  of  their  civil  and  social  duties. "  Wesley 
says:  "I  am  almost  ashamed  to  spend  time  on  these  thread- 
bare objections,  which  have  been  answered  over  and  over. 
But  if  they  are  advanced  again,  the)'  must  be  answered  again, 
lest  silence  should  pass  for  guilt."  The  Weekly  Miscellany 
of  1 74 1  described  Wesley  as  "a  grand,  empty,  inconsistent 
heretic;"  and  for  three  months  it  had  a  series  of  articles  of 
abuse  so  foul  that  it  cannot  be  quoted.  The  Craftsman  in 
1745  said  the  Methodists  were  an  "  unaccountably  strange 
sect,  whose  religion  is  founded  on  madness  and  folly,"  and 
so  forth.  At  the  urgent  request  of  his  friends  Wesley  replied 
to  the  Craftsman  in  a  letter  preserved  in  his  works. 

The  most  virulent  abuse  was  reserved  for  Whitefield,  whose 
humble  origin  and  the  occasional  improprieties  of  his  language 
made  him  a  better  target  for  the  jesters  than  Wesley.  The 
caricaturists,  whose  art  came  into  vigorous  play  for  political 


Hogarth's   Satire 


1151 


purposes  in  the  days  <  >f  the  Georges,  followed  the  example  of 
the  journals.  One  of  them  represents  Whitefield  preaching 
in  the  open  air,  inspired  by  Satan,  with  Lady  Huntingdon 
by  his  side.  Even  Hogarth, 
whose  pictured  satires  w 

rule,  on  the  side  of  virtue 

nst  vice,  utterly  mis- 
understood, and.  therefore, 
misrepresented,  Methodism. 
His  picture  entitled  Cre- 
dulity, Superstition,  and  Fa- 
naticism representsWhitefield 
in  the  desk,  with  a  couplet 
from  a  "  Hymn  by  G.  White- 
field" — really  by  Wesley. 
A  thermometer  representing 
the  various  degrees  of  "en- 
thusiasm      in   a    Method:-    - 

brain  adorns  the  right-hand  corner  of  the  picture.  The 
barometer  rests  on  Wesley's  Sermons  and  Glanvil  on  Witch 
••  A  new  and  correct  Globe  of  Hell — by  Romaine.'"  forms  part 
of  the  chandelier.  The  Jesuits,  the  Jews,  the  Moslems,  and 
the  Woman  Impostor,  Tofts  of  Godalming.  all  form  part  of 
the  medley.  For  once,  at  least,  the  censor  of  folly  and  sin, 
whom  Thackeray  well  calls  "  painter,  engraver,  philosopher.  ' 
departed  from  the  edict  of  his  own  rhyme,  to  which  mos:  : 
his  great  works  were  true : 

Think  not  to  find  one  meant  resemblance  here; 
•     We  lash  the  vices,  but  the  persons  spare. 

Prints  should  be  prized,  as  authors  should  be  read, 
Who  sharply  smile  prevailing  folly  dead. 
So  Rabelais  laughed,  and  so  Cervantes  thought; 
So  nature  dictated  what  art  has  taught. 


CARICATURE    "F    WHITEFIELD. 


1152  British  Methodism 

-It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  in  one  of  Hogarth's  car- 
toons, depicting- the  Idle  and  Industrious  Apprentices,  Thomas 
Idle  is  being-  carried  to  his  doom  at  Tyburn  in  a  cart,  with 
Wesley  by  his  side  exhorting  him  to  repentance.  The  word 
"Wesley"  is  inscribed  upon  a  book  held  in  the  preacher's 
hand.  This  tribute  to  Wesley's  philanthropy  is  more  worthy 
of  the  great  satirist,  who,  to  have  been  accurate,  should  have 
depicted  Wesley's  noble  helper,  Silas  Told,  in  the  cart,  and 
the  Wesley  brothers  in  a  prison  doing  their  self-sacrificing 

work. 

To  return  to  the  news-writers  :  it  is  only  fair  to  observe  that 
during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  their  estimate  of  Wes-   • 
ley  and  Methodism  reflected  the  more  just  and  favorable  view 
which  prevailed.     On  the  morning  after  his  death  the  Public 
Advertiser  printed   a   eulogistic   article   on   the   "celebrated 
minister  and  reformer  whose  eminent  abilities  in  every  branch 
of  polite  and  sacred  literature,  being  directed  by  the  grace  of 
God  to  the  most  important  and  valuable  ends,  not  only  ren- 
dered him  the  ornament  of  his  own  age  and  country,  but  will 
also   endear  his  name  to  the  latest  posterity.    ...   It  may 
likewise  be  highly  pleasing  to  his  numerous  friends  to  acquaint 
them   that  in  his  last   moments  he  bore  the  most  unshaken 
testimony  to  the  evangelical  truths  he  had  maintained  in  the 
long  course  of  his  laborious  ministry."     On  the  following  day 
the  same  paper  said  that  "Wesley  was  distinguished   for  his 
efforts  to  enforce  an  obedience  to  the  relative  duties  by  show- 
ing what  constitutes  civil  society,  and  how  far  each  individual 
who  composes  it  is  interested  in  the  common  welfare."     On 
the  same  day  the  Morning  Chronicle  summarized  the  chief 
events  of  Wesley's  life,  and  concluded:  "Whatever  maybe 
the  opinions  held  of  Mr.  Wesley's  divinity,  it  is  impossible  to 
denv  him  the  merit  of  having  done  infinite  good  to  the  lower 


CONTEMPORARY    PORTRAITS   OF   WESLEY. 


Portrait  engraved  by  Rromlev  for  the   European 

M agazine    April  i,  1791. 
Reputed   portrait  of  Wesley  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five. 
1 3 


!      key.     Published  April  2,  1791. 

t  painted  from  life  by  Robert  Hunter,  1765. 
\  himself  called  it  "  a  striking  likene 


A  Change  of  Tone  1155 

class  of  people.  Abilities  he  unquestionably  possessed,  and 
a  fluency  which  was  highly  acceptable  and  well  accommodated 
to  his  hearers.  His  history  if  well  written  would  certainly 
be  important,  for  in  every  respect,  as  the  founder  of  the  most 
numerous  sect  in  the  kingdom,  as  a  man,  and  as  a  writer,  he 
must  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  charac- 
ters this  or  any  age  has  produced." 

On  the  following'  Monday  the  Morning- Chronicle  announced  : 
"Though  John  Wesley  was  a  thin  man,  his  bones  will  afford 
good  picking  to  the  biographers,  a  legion  of  whom  are  now 
brandishing  their  gray-goose  quills  about  his  life.  Neither 
eloquence  nor  accuracy  is  at  all  requisite ;  the  whole  depends 
upon  expedition,  for  the  first-  oars  will  be  sure  of  a  silver 
badge." 

The  same  change  of  tone  is  noteworthy  in  the  leading 
magazines,  the  most  famous  of  which  was  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  started  by  Edward  Cave  in  1 73 1 .  It  was  not  un- 
like the  Review  of  Reviews  of  our  own  day,  collecting  and 
summarizing  the  best  essays  and  articles  from  the  London 
and  provincial  press.  Its  rival,  the  London  Magazine,  ad- 
mitted a  number  of  violent  letters  describing  Methodism  as 
"a  spurious  mixture  of  enthusiasm  and  blasphemy,  popery 
and  Quakerism."  Both  periodicals,  however,  gave  Methodist 
writers  full  opportunity  to  defend  themselves  against  the  al- 
most incredible  ignorance  and  prejudice  displayed  by  their 
critics. 

When  Wesley  died  the  European  Magazine  published  an 
excellent  portrait  of  him,  of  which  we  give  a  copy,  and  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  printed  an  able  review  of  his  work, 
worthy  of  a  permanent  place  in  literature : 

••Where  much  good  is  done  we  should  not  mark  every 
little  excess.     The  great  point  in  which  his  name  and  mission 


1156  British  Methodism 

will  be  honored  is  this :  he  directed  his  labors  toward  those 
who  had  no  instructor ;  to  the  highways  and  hedges ;  to  the 
miners  in  Cornwall  and  the  colliers  in  Kingswood.  These 
unhappy  creatures  married  and  buried  amongst  themselves, 
and  often  committed  murders  with  impunity,  before  the 
Methodists  sprang  up.  By  the  humane  and  active  endeavors 
of  him  and  his  brother  Charles  a  sense  of  decency,  morals, 
and  religion  was  introduced,  into  the  lowest  classes  of  man- 
kind. The  ignorant  were  instructed,  the  wretched  relieved, 
and  the  abandoned  reclaimed. 

' '  He  met  with  great  opposition  from  many  of  the  clergy 
and  unhandsome  treatment  from  the  magistrates.      He  was, 
however,  one  of  the  few  characters  who  outlived  enmity  and 
prejudice,  and  received  in  his  latter  years  every  mark  of  re- 
spect from  every  denomination.   ...   On   a   review  of    the 
character  of  this  extraordinary  man  it  appears  that,  though  he 
was  endowed  with  eminent  talents,  he  was  more  distinguished 
by  their  use  than  even  by  their  possession ;  though  his  taste 
was  classic  and  his  manners  elegant,  he  sacrificed  that  society 
in  which  he  was  particularly  calculated  to  shine,  gave  up  those 
preferments  which  his  abilities  must  have  obtained,  and  de- 
voted a  long  life  in  practicing  and  enforcing  the  plainest 
duties.      Instead  of  being  'an  ornament  to  literature,'  he  was 
a  blessing  to  his  fellow-creatures;  instead  of  the  '  genius  of 
the  age,'  he  was  'the  servant  of  God ! '  ' 

It  is  painful  to  turn  from  this  eloquent  tribute  to  the  refer- 
ences to  Methodism  in  the  dramatic  literature  of  the  period. 
Many  of  these  are  so  foul,  profane,  and  slanderous  as  to  be 
unfit  for  quotation.  Samuel  Foote  satirized  Whitefield  in  his 
comedy  "The  Minor,"  representing  the  Methodists  generally 
as  "  the  most  immoral  of  any  class,"  and  in  his  "  Devil  upon 
Two  Sticks  "  the  devil  proposes  to  a  young  man  a  number  of 


The  Stage  and  Methodism  1157 

trades  in  which  he  might  succeed.  After  several  refusals 
he  says:  "  What  say  you,  then,  to  a  little  spiritual  quackery? 
.  .  .  How  should  you  like  mounting  a  cart  on  a  common  and 
becoming  a  Methodist  preacher?  ...  If  I  was  not  the  devil, 
I  would  choose  to  be  a  Methodist  preacher." 

Archbishop  vSecker  protested  against  the  performance  of 
••The  Minor"  at  Drury  Lane.  Lady  Huntingdon  besought 
the  lord  chamberlain  to  suppress  it,  and  had  an  interview 
with  Garrick,  who  professed  to  be  offended  with  the  comedy, 
vet  permitted  it  to  be  acted  in  his  own  theater.  Even  the 
Monthly  Review,  then  unfavorable  to  Methodism,  raised  a 
protest,  declared  the  satire  on  Whitefield  to  be  unjust,  and 
said,  "  The  impudence  of  our  low,  dirty,  hedge-publishers  is 
risen  to  a  most  shameful  height."  The  Rev.  Martin  Madan 
wrote  a  powerful  pamphlet,  A  Letter  to  David  Garrick,  Esq., 
in  which  he  said,  "  I  blush  for  my  countrymen  when  I  recol- 
lect that  this  vile  stuff  was  attended  in  the  Haymarket  by 
crowded  audiences  for  above  thirty  nights,  and  that  with  ap- 
plause, whereas  it  was  dismissed,  with  deserved  abhorrence, 
after  being  one  night  only  offered  to  the  people  of  Ireland  at 
one  of  their  theaters."  In  the  Edinburgh  theater  its  inde- 
cency so  shocked  the  audience  that  only  ten  women  ventured 
to  appear  at  its  second  performance.  Its  performance  at 
Drury  Lane  left  a  stain  on  the  otherwise  honorable  name  of 
David  Garrick.  Wesley  respected  Garrick's  gifts,  and  when 
he  read  a  story  of  his  throwing  a  copy  of  Charles  Wesley's 
hymn  book  into  the  sea,  wrote:  "I  cannot  believe  it.  I 
think  Mr.  G.  has  more  sense.  He  knew  my  brother  well; 
and  he  knew  him  to  be  not  only  far  superior  in  learning,  but 
in  poetry,  to  Mr.  Thomson  and  all  his  theatrical  writers  put 
together;  none  of  them  can  equal  him,  either  in  strong, 
nervous  sense  or  purity  and  elegance  of  language." 


CHAPTER  CXXV 


Methodism  in  Eighteenth  Century  Literature 

Horace  Walpole's  Letters.— From  Pope  to  Cowper.— Essayists  and 
Novelists. — "  Poor  Doctor  Smollett." 

IT  could  hardly  be  expected  that  Methodism  could  find 
much  more  favor  with  the  literary  epicure  and  sparkling- 
letter- writer,  Horace  Walpole,  than  it  did  with  the  cari- 
caturists and  playwrights.  But  the  brilliant  worldling  must 
not  be  taken  too  seriously.  "  His  features  were  covered  by 
mask  within  mask,"  says  Macaulay.  "When  the  outer  dis- 
guise of  obvious  affectation  was  removed  you  were  still  as  far 
as  ever  from  seeing  the  real  man."  He  treated  Hannah  More 
with  wondrous  courtesy,  and  he  laughed  at  her  behind  her 
back  as  "  Holy  Hannah."  We  have  seen  him  among  White- 
field's  aristocratic  hearers.  In  1766  he  heard  Wesley  in  the 
Countess  of  Huntingdon's  chapel  in  Bath,  and  describes  him 
as  "  a  clean,  elderly  man,  fresh-colored,  his  hair  smoothly 
combed,  but  with  a  little  soupcon  of  curl  at  the  ends."  Parts 
of  the  sermon  he  regarded  as  very  eloquent,  but  toward  the 
end  the  preacher  "  exalted  his  voice  and  acted  very  ugly  en- 
thusiasm, decried  learning,  and  told  stories."  In  a  later  letter 
Walpole  puts  Calvin,  Wesley,  and  the  pope  on  a  level.     Power 

and  wealth,  he  says,  are  their  objects,  and  he  abhors  them  both. 

1 1 58 


TEO   BV   J.   JAC*SOs 


ESGRAVEO    BY  J     COCHRAN 


JOHN"     WESLEY. 


The  Lampooning  Poets  1161 

Among  the  poets,  Pope,  in  the  Dunciad,  led  the  way  in 
satirizing-  Whitefield: 

So  swells  each  windpipe  :  ass  intones  to  ass, 

Harmonic  twang  !  of  leather,  horn,  and  brass: 

Such  as  from  laboring  lungs  the  enthusiast  blows, 

High  sounds  attempered  to  the  vocal  nose; 

*  >!  such  as  bellow  from  the  deep  divine  : 

There,  Webster !  pealed  thy  voice,  and,  Whitefield  !  thine. 

Pope  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  could  not  be  expected  to  be 
much  in  sympathy  with  Methodism,  though  his  friendship 
witli  Samuel  Wesley,  Jr.,  and  his  admiration  of  the  rector  of 
Epworth's  book  on  Job  may  have  restrained  his  attacks  on 
the  Wesleys. 

The  brilliant  debauchee  and  clergyman,  Charles  Churchill, 
Hogarth's  "Wilkes's  toad  echo,"  might  have  been  expected 
to  lampoon  Whitefield,  whom  he  styles  "the  canting  taber- 
nacle brother!"  Poor  Thomas  Chatterton  also,  in  1769, 
wrote  a  long  poem  in  which  he  describes  the  whining  piety 
of  the  Methodists  generally,  and  the  cant,  vulgarity,  and  in- 
terestedness  of  Whitefield  in  particular.  In  his  poem  called 
The  Methodist  are  the  following  lines : 

Tis  very  odd, 
These  representatives  of  God, 
In  color,  way  of  life,  and  evil, 
Should  be  so  very  like  the  devil. 

It  is  pleasanter  to  note  that  after  this  he  wrote  his  matchless 
Ballade  of  Charitie,  and,  sad  to  remember,  that  in  1770,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen,  this  "  prodigy  of  genius,"  penniless, 
starving,  yet  too  proud  to  accept  the  meal  his  landlady  offered 
him,  died  by  his  own  hand,  and  was  buried  in  the  paupers' 
pit  of  the  Shoe  Lane  Workhouse. 

We  have  already  seen  George  Crabbe  listening  to  Wesley 
at  Lowestoft,   and  admiring  his  impressive  quotation  from 


1162  British  Methodism 

Anacreon.  Byron,  Scott,  Tennyson,  Swinburne,  all  admired 
the  poet  of  East  Anglia.  "  Though  nature's  sternest  painter, 
yet  the  best,"  was  Byron's  verdict  upon  him.  His  greatest 
work,  The  Borough,  belongs  properly  to  the  next  century. 
In  an  unusually  dramatic  style  he  mildly  satirizes  the  two 
schools  of  Methodists,  the  Calvinian  and  the  Arminian,  in 
passages  too  long  for  quotation  here.  The  strenuous  labor 
and  fervor  of  the  Methodists  did  not  recommend  them  to  the 
gentle  country  clergyman,  who  loved  a  quiet  life — botanizing 
and  fossil-hunting,  with  an  occasional  visit  to  London  and  its 
best  society. 

John  Byrom,  the  friend  of  the  Wesleys,  may  almost  be  re- 
garded as  a  Methodist  poet,  although  his  devotion  to  the 
later  mysticism  of  William  Law  and  the  fascination  of  Jacob 
Behmen  estranged  him  from  his  old  comrades.  In  175  i  he 
versified  the  views  of  Law  in  an  essay  in  heroic  rhyme,  en- 
titled Enthusiasm.  Professor  Gosse  considers  him  "one  of  the 
most  interesting  provincial  figures  of  the  time."  His  Journal, 
his  poems  in  the  Spectator,  his  hymn,  "  Christians,  Awake!" 
in  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Hymn  Book,  and  his  system  of 
shorthand,  adopted  by  the  Wesleys,  are  his  chief  memorials. 

William  Cowper,  whose  first  poems  were  among  the  Olney 

Hymns,  with  John  Newton's,  is  preeminently  the  evangelical 

poet  as  well  as  the  father  of  a  new  school  of  nature  poetry. 

His  lines   on  Whitefield   have   been   quoted.      He   describes 

Wesley  as 

A  veteran  warrior  in  the  Christian  field, 
Who  never  saw  the  sword  he  could  not  wield ; 
Grave  without  dullness,  learned  without  pride, 
Exact,  yet  not  precise,  though  meek,  keen-eyed ; 
A  man  that  would  have  foiled  at  their  own  play 
A  dozen  would-be's  of  the  modern  day  ; 
Who,  when  occasion  justified  its  use, 
Had  wit  as  bright  as  ready  to  produce ; 


The  Preacher  in  Kelso  Churchyard 


1163 


Could  fetch  from  records  of  an  earlier  age, 

Or  from  Philosophy's  enlightened  page, 

His  rich  materials,  and  regale  your  ear 

With  strains  it  was  a  privilege  to  hear: 

Yet  above  all,  his  luxury  supreme 

And  his  chief  glory,  was  the  Gospel  theme. 

There  he  was  copious  as  old  Greece  or  Rome; 

His  happy  eloquence  seemed  there  at  home; 

Ambitious  not  to  shine  or  to  excel, 

But  to  treat  justly  what  he  loved  so  well. 


A  truer  description  of  Wesley's  preaching  was  never  penned. 
Sir   Walter   Scott   was   fretting   his   heart   in    his    father's 

••  weary  office"  when      _ 

Wesley  died,  and  his 
literary  work  belongs 
to  a  later  period  ;  but 
he  heard  the  great 
evangelist,  and  gfives 
an  interesting  rem- 
iniscence in  a  letter 
to  Southey  in  1819: 
"When  I  was  about 
twelve  years  old  I 
heard  Wesley  preach, 
more  than  once, 
standing  on  a  chair 
in  Kelso  churchyard. 
He  was  a  most  vener- 
able figure,  but  his 
sermons  were  vastly 
too  colloquial  for  the  taste  of  Saunders.  He  told  many 
excellent  stories ;  one  I  remember  which  he  said  had  hap- 
pened to  him  at  Edinburgh.  'A  drunken  dragoon,'  said 
Wesley,  'was  commencing  an  assertion  in  military  fashion 


EN&RAVEO    BY   J.    HQHSBURGH. 


WALTER    SCOTT,   AGED  SIX    YEARS. 


1164  British  Methodism 

.  .  .  just  as  I  was  passing.  I  touched  the  poor  man  on  the 
shoulder,  and  when  he  turned  round  fiercely,  said  calmly, 
"  You  mean,  God  bless  you."  In  the  mode  of  telling  the  story 
he  failed  not  to  make  us  sensible  how  much  his  patriarchal 
appearance  and  mild  yet  bold  rebuke  overawed  the  soldier, 
who  touched  his  hat,  thanked  him,  and,  I  think,  came  to 
chapel  that  evening." 

Among  the  greater  prose-writers,  Samuel  Johnson,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  an  admirer  of  Wesley's  powers  as  a  conversa- 
tionalist. He  disliked  Whitefield,  though  he  admitted  he  had 
done  good,  and  he  perversely  defended  the  expulsion  from  St. 
Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford,  of  the  six  Methodist  students  in  1763. 

Goldsmith  had  the  common  prejudice  against  the  "enthu- 
siasm" of  the  Methodists,  so  called.  He  could  not  have 
known  much  of  the  Wesleys,  Fletcher,  and  Romaine  or  he 
would  not  have  felt  it  necessary  to  wish  for  them  that  they 
had  been  "bred  gentlemen,"  endued  with  "even  the  mean- 
est share  of  understanding."  But  in  one  of  his  essays  he 
says:  "Our  regular  divines  may  borrow  instruction  even 
from  Methodists.  .  .  .  Even  Whitefield  may  be  placed  as  a 
model  to  some  of  our  young  divines ;  let  them  join  to  their 
own  good  sense  his  earnest  manner  of  delivery."  In  Junius's 
Letters  reference  is  made  to  the  "  whining  piety"  of  White- 
field. 

The  evolution  of  the  novel  was  a  chief  literary  feature  of 
the  century.  Among  the  greater  novelists  was  Richardson,  who 
objects  to  the  Methodists  as  "overdoers,"  who  "  put  under- 
doers  out  of  heart."  Fielding  makes  his  Parson  Adams  con- 
trast his  own  preaching  favorably  with  Whitefield's,  though 
he  was  "once  his  well-wisher.  ...  I  am  myself  as  great  an 
enemy  to  the  luxury  and  splendor  of  the  clergy  as  he  can  be. 
Surely  those  things  which  savor  so   strongly  of   this   world 


"Poor  Doctor  Smollett!"  1165 

become  not  the  servants  of  One  who  professed  his  kingdom 
was  not  of  it.  .  .  .  But  when  Whitctiekl  began  to  call  non- 
sense and  enthusiasm  to  his  aid  ...  I  was  his  friend  no 
longer."  Smollett  satirizes  the  Methodists  in  his  picture  of 
the  footman  in  Humphrey  Clinker. 

Smollett,  as  an  historian,  writes  of  Methodism  in  his  His- 
tory ot  England  ( 17661:  "  Imposture  and  fanaticism  still  hang 
upon  the  skirts  of  religion.  Weak  minds  were  seduced  by 
the  delusions  of  a  superstition  styled  Methodism,  raised  upon 
the  affectation  of  superior  sanctity  and  pretensions  to  divine 
illuminations."'  Wesley's  comment  upon  this  is  characteristic. 
■•Poor  Doctor  Smollett!"  he  exclaims,  "thns  to  transmit  to  all 
succeeding-  generations  a  whole  heap  of  notorious  falsehoods!" 

Tindal,  in  his  Continuation  of  Rapin's  History  (1763),  re- 
cords that  "this  year  {  1739)  was  distinguished  by  the  institu- 
tion of  a  set  of  fanatics  under  the  name  of  Methodists,  of  which 
one  Whitefield  (sic),  a  young  clergyman,  was  the  founder." 

It  was  left  to  Sir  James  Stephen,  Maeaulay,  Green,  and 
Lecky,  in  the  succeeding  century,  to  assign  to  Methodism  a 
more  just  and  honorable  place  in  history,  and  Anglican  writ- 
ers of  different  schools,  like  Canon  Overton,  Bishop  Ryle,  and 
Dean  Spcnce,  fully  recognize  the  close  connection  between 
Methodism  and  evangelicalism  in  the  Established  Church. 

" The  Wesleyan  movement  made  little  impression  on  the 
literary  circles  to  whom  Bolingbroke,  Hume,  and  Gibbon  had 
communicated  their  gospel  of  nature.  The  poets  continued 
to  sing,  the  essayists  to  write,  and  the  philosophers  to  specu- 
late, in  a  world  peculiarly  their  own.  They  shut  themselves 
quite  in  from  the  itinerant  'helpers  of  Wesley.'  Those  who 
stood  aloof  from  all  ecclesiastical  organizations,  and  failed  to 
see  any  higher  cause  of  the  revival  than  mere  'enthusiasm,' 
were  the  persons  whom  these  writers  still  influenced." 


CHAPTER   CXXVI 
John  Newton,  of  Olney,  and  the  Later  Evangelicals 

Henry  Venn's  Eventide. — The  Romance  of  Newton's  Life. — Cowper 
and  His  Influence.— Scott  the  Commentator,  Milner  the  His- 
torian, and  Their  Friends. 

IN  our  chapter  on  the  "Evangelical  Pioneers"  we  have 
touched  upon  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  between 
"Methodists"  and  "evangelicals"  during  the  lifetime 
of  Wesley,  and  before  the  Methodist  Church  system  was  fully 
organized.  There  is  no  difficulty  with  the  clergy  like  Dr. 
Coke,  who  abandoned  parochial  work,  and  others  who  min- 
istered at  City  Road  Chapel.  Fletcher  and  Grimshaw  re- 
mained in  their  parishes,  but  they  built  chapels  and  formed 
Methodist  societies  which  remain  to  this  day.  Grimshaw, 
like  Charles  Wesley,  protested  vehemently  against  separation 
from  the  State  Church,  but,  like  the  poet,  he  practically 
separated  by  preaching  in  meetinghouses,  adopting  the  circuit 
"  round,"  and  visiting  the  Methodist  societies. 

But  there  were  others  whose  position  was  less  clearly  de- 
fined, and,  as  Canon  Overton  says,  to  the  very  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  Methodists  and  evangelicals  were  so  inex- 
tricably mixed  up  that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  one  from 
the  other.  The  attempt  on  the  part  of  some  later  evangeli- 
cals or  "Low  Churchmen  "  to  disavow  their  Methodist  ances- 

1166 


Henry  Venn  1167 

try  merited  the  rebuke  of  Sir  James  Stephen :  ' '  The  con- 
sanguinity is  attested  by  historical  records  and  by  the  strongest 
family  resemblance.  The  quarterings  of  Whitefield  are  en- 
titled to  a  place  in  the  '  evangelical '  escutcheon  ;  and  they 
who  bear  it  are  not  wise  in  being  ashamed  of  the  blazoning. 
.  .  .  They  were  the  sons,  by  natural  or  spiritual  birth,  of  men 
who,  in  the  earlier  days  of  Methodism,  had  shaken  off  the 
lethargy  in  which  till  then  the  Church  of  England  had  been 
entranced." 

"  Before  the  close  of  the  century,"  says  Lecky,  "  the  evan- 
gelical movement  had  become  dominant  in  England,  and  it 
continued  the  almost  undisputed  center  of  religious  life  till 
the  rise  of  the  Tractarian  movement  in  1830.  But,  beyond 
all  other  men,  it  was  John  Wesley  to  whom  this  work  was 
due." 

Henry  Venn,  who  died  six  years  after  his  friend  Wesley, 
has  already  been  noticed  as  an  author  and  evangelist.  His 
son  and  biographer,  John  Venn,  a  type  of  the  later  evangel- 
ical, betrays  the  weakness  of  his  school  by  writing  apologetic- 
ally: "Induced  by  the  hope  of  doing  good,  my  father,  in 
certain  instances,  preached  in  unconsecrated  places.  But 
having  acknowledged  this,  it  becomes  my  pleasing  duty  to 
state  that  he  was  no  advocate  of  irregularity  in  others." 

Bishop  Ryle  tells  a  beautiful  story  of  old  Henry  Venn  tak- 
ing to  his  heart  and  home  a  motherless  child  of  three.  The 
first  thing  he  found  out  was  that  the  child  was  afraid  of  the 
dark ;  so  that  very  evening  he  took  him  by  the  hand  into  his 
study,  and,  with  his  arm  around  him,  told  the  timid  boy  so 
wonderful  a  story  out  of  the  Bible  as  to  make  the  child  forget 
all  beside.  "  To-morrow,"  said  the  venerable  man,  "you  will 
like  to  sit  by  me  in  the  dark  without  holding  my  hand."  This 
point  gained,  a  separate  seat  was  chosen  the  next  night,  and 


1168  British  Methodism 

by  the  close  of  winter  the  child  had  entirely  forgotten  his 
fears  of  the  dark,  nor  did  they  ever  return  to  him;  and  in 
after  life  his  own  children  and  grandchildren  heard  him  re- 
peat, scores  of  times,  the  saying  of  Henry  Venn,  "  Remember, 
little  John,  if  anything  could  make  heaven  not  heaven  to  me, 
it  would  be  the  not  having  you  with  me  there."' 

A  man  of  widely  different  training,  but  equally  tender- 
hearted, was  John  Newton  ;  who,  says  Sir  James  Stephen, 
"held  himself  forth,  and  was  celebrated  by  others,  as  the 
greatest  living  example  of  the  regenerating  efficacy  of  the 
principles  of  his  school" — just  as  Venn  was  their  systematic 
teacher  of  "complete  duty,"  Scott  their  interpreter  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  Milner  their  ecclesiastical  historian. 

John  Newton's  mother  had  prayed  from  his  infancy  that  he 
might  become  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  but  she  "died  in 
faith,  not  having  received  the  promise."  He  had  little  school- 
ing, for,  when  a  boy  of  eleven,  he  joined  his  father,  who  was 
master  of  a  trading  ship,  and  sailed  under  him  for  six  years. 
Then  he  was  pressed  into  the  naval  service  on  board  a  man- 
of-war,  and  was  made  a  midshipman.  Under  the  influence 
of  a  stray  volume  of  Shaftesbury's  Characteristics  and  a  skep- 
tical companion  he  "plunged  into  infidelity"  and  became 
reckless  in  conduct.  For  an  attempt  to  desert  his  ship  he 
was  placed  in  irons,  publicly  whipped,  and  degraded  from  his 
rank.  Near  Madeira  he  was,  by  a  mere  accident,  exchanged 
for  another  sailor  from  an  African  trader.  Then  he  entered 
the  service  of  a  slave  dealer,  and  landing  on  the  West  Coast, 
he  became  himself  practically  a  slave  to  this  brutal  master. 
Prostrated  with  fever,  he  suffered  from  the  cruelty  of  a  black 
woman  who  was  the  slaver's  mistress.  His  appetite  return- 
ing, he  crawled  by  night  into  the  plantations,  pulling  up  roots, 
and  eating  them  raw  upon  the  spot  for  fear  of  discovery.     The 


A   GROU1 
Rev.  John  Newton. 
Kev.  kn  11  \rd  Cecil. 
Kev.   IIenrv  Venn. 


Kev.  Thomas  Si  ott, 
Rev.  Isaac  Milnbr, 

John  Thornton. 


The  Story  of  John  Newton  1171 

"black  slaves  of  the  chain"  pitied  him  and  secretly  relieved 
him. 

He  had  one  book — Barrow's  edition  of  Euclid.  "  It  was 
always  with  me,"  he  writes,  "and  I  nsed  to  take  it  to 
remote  corners  of  the  island,  by  the  seaside,  and  draw  my 
diagrams  with  a  stick  upon  the  sand."  He  thus  mastered 
the  first  six  books  of  geometry.  His  father  at  last  heard  of 
his  condition  and  arranged  with  a  friendly  captain  for  his  re- 
turn to  England.  On  the  voyage  home  he  challenged  his 
companions  to  a  drinking  competition  in  gin  and  rum.  Danc- 
ing on  the  deck,  like  a  madman,  he  lost  his  hat  overboard 
and  tried  to  spring  into  the  ship's  boat  to  recover  it.  The  boat 
was  twenty  feet  from  the  ship,  it  was  night,  the  tide  was 
running  strong,  his  companions  were  drunk,  and  the  rest  of 
the  ship's  company  were  below.  At  the  critical  moment  a 
rough  hand  caught  him  by  the  neck  and  he  was  dragged 
back  on  the  deck. 

Among  the  few  books  on  board  was  Stanhope's  Thomas  a. 
Kempis.  He  carelessly  took  it  up,  and  as  he  glanced  at  its 
contents  the  thought  occurred  to  him,  "What  if  these  things 
should  be  true !"  A  terrible  storm  arose  and  a  cry  was  raised 
that  the  ship  was  sinking.  Rushing  on  deck,  he  met  the  cap- 
tain, who  sent  him  below  for  a  knife.  Another  man  who  ran 
up  to  take  his  place  was  instantly  washed  overboard.  For 
four  weeks  the  vessel,  almost  a  wreck,  was  at  the  mercy  of 
the  winds  and  waves.  Provisions  ran  short  and  the  weather 
was  bitterly  cold.  The  sailors  regarded  Newton  as  their 
"Jonah,"  and  threatened  to  throw  him  overboard.  While 
standing  at  the  wheel  at  midnight  his  past  life  rose  up  before 
him  and  he  was  led  to  cry,  "My  mother's  God,  the  God  of 
mercy,  have  mercy  upon  me!"  Before  reaching  port  he  re- 
nounced his  infidelity  and  his  swearing  and  dissolute  habits. 


1172  British   Methodism 

He  next  sailed  to  Guinea  and  the  West  Indies  as  mate  on 
a  Liverpool  slaver.  While  yet  a  lad  he  had  conceived  a  ro- 
mantic affection  for  a  young  girl,  the  daughter  of  friends  of 
his  mother.  All  through  his  life  of  adventure  he  had  cher- 
ished the  hope  of  making  her  his  wife,  and  in  1750  they  were 
married.  A  captain  taught  him  more  clearly  the  way  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  he  kept  a  diary  which  opened  in  these  words : 
"  I  dedicate  unto  thee,  most  blessed  God,  this  clean,  unsullied 
book,  and  at  the  same  time  renew  my  tender  of  a  foul, 
blotted,  corrupt  heart." 

In  1755  Newton  left  the  sea  and  became  a  tide-surveyor  at 
Liverpool.  He  had  become  a  diligent  student,  obtained  some 
knowledge  of  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  found  increas- 
ing delight  in  the  Scriptures.  He  says:  "  I  thought  I  was, 
above  most  living,  a  fit  person  to  proclaim  that  faithful  say- 
ing, that  '  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  the  chief 
of  sinners;'  and  as  my  life  had  been  full  of  remarkable  turns, 
I  was  in  hopes  that  perhaps  sooner  or  later  he  might  call  me 
to  his  service." 

Newton  became  a  hearer  and  friend  of  Whitefield,  and  cor- 
responded with  Wesley,  who  took  up  his  cause  when  he  sought 
to  enter  the  Church.  In  this  step  he  was  opposed  by  bishops 
and  clergy,  who  disliked  his  "Methodism."  He  commenced 
his  ministry  among  the  Congregationalists  at  Warwick,  but 
receiving  the  offer  of  the  curacy  of  Olney  from  Lord  Dart- 
mouth, he  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  For  six- 
teen years  he  was  curate  of  Olney,  and  was  then  presented 
by  Mr.  John  Thornton  to  the  living  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoth 
in  London. 

Newton  will  ever  be  remembered  as  the  friend  of  Cowper. 
Southey  has  charged  him  with  aggravating  the  poet's  morbid 
tendencies.     But  this  is  unjust  to  the   rugged  but  tender- 


Newton  and  Cowper  1173 

hearted  sailor  man,  whose  sense  of  humor  and  robust  char- 
acter made  his  companionship  a  wholesome  tonic  for  the 
gentle  poet.  He  was  a  Calvinist,  but  he  had  never  "swal- 
lowed Calvin  whole,  at  a  mouthful,"  and  there  is  not  the 
slightest  evidence  that  his  Calvinism  troubled  Cowper. 

Some  of  Xewton's  Olney  Hymns  are  found  not  only  in 
hymnals  of  the  evangelical  type,  but  in  those  so  widely  sepa- 
rated in  doctrine  as  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  and  Dr. 
Martineau's  Hymns  of  Praise  and  Prayer.      His  best  known 

hymn  is 

How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds, 

which  some  have  thought  must  have  been  suggested  by 
Bernard's  Jesu  dulcis  memoria.  In  all  probability  Newton 
did  not  know  of  the  earlier  hymn  of  the  saintly  monk  of 
Clairvaux,  but  wrote  prompted  solely  by  ardent  love  to  Jesus 
Christ. 

Newton's  prose  works  (Omicron's  Letters  and  Cardiphonia) 
are  but  little  read  to-day,  but  his  vigorously  written  Authen- 
tic Narrative  of  Some  Interesting  and  Remarkable  Particulars 
in  his  Own  Life  is  worthy  of  a  place  not  far  away  from  Bun- 
van's  Grace  Abounding  and  Augustine's  Confessions.  "He 
had,"  says  Leslie'  Stephen,  "no  dread  of  the  world's  judg- 
ment, which  leads  most  men  to  shrink  from  uttering  their' 
darkest  and  holiest  secrets."  Richard  Cecil,  Jay  of  Bath, 
Joseph  Milner,  and  William  Wilberforce  all  owed  much  to 
"Newton  of  Olney." 

William  Cowper  (1731-1800)  has  been  quoted  as  the  great- 
est poet,  in  the  wider  literary  sense — as  distinguished  from 
Charles  Wesley  the  greatest  religious  lyrist — of  the  closing 
century.  He  was  avowedly  an  evangelical,  and  his  best  work 
is  never  merely  "art  for  art's  sake."  His  poetry,  as  we  have 
noted,  not  only  marks  a  great  change  in  its  relation  to  the 


1174  British  Methodism 

subject  of  nature  ;  its  relation  to  the  subject  of  man  is  equally 
great.  He  is  the  noble  herald  of  the  humanitarian  poets, 
himself  a  worthy  chief  among  them.  "All  the  social  ques- 
tions of  education,  prisons,  hospitals,  city  and  country  life, 
the  state  of  the  poor  and  their  sorrow,  the  questions  of  uni- 
versal freedom  and  of  slavery,  of  human  wrong  and  oppres- 
sion, of  just  and  free  government,  of  international  intercourse 
and  union,  and,  above  all,  the  entirely  new  question  of  the 
future  destiny  of  the  race  as  a  whole,  are  introduced  by  Cow- 
per  into  English  poetry." 

His  influence  on  the  philanthropic  leaders  of  the  new  age 
was  very  marked,  and  the  Anglican  historian  of  the  century 
truly  says  that  he  convinced  the  world  that  the  evangelical 
system  was  not  incompatible  with  true  genius,  ripe  scholar- 
ship, sparkling  wit,  and  a  refined  and  cultivated  taste. 

John  Thornton,  merchant  and  philanthropist,  the  friend 
and  patron  of  Newton,  was  one  of  the  group  of  wealthy  lay- 
men who  rendered  noble  service  to  the  evangelical  cause. 
His  son,  Henry  Thornton,  as  a  member  of  Parliament  asso- 
ciated with  Wilberforce,  must  be  noted  later. 

Thomas  .Scott  the  commentator  (1746-182  i)  was  the  spirit- 
ual son  and  successor  of  Newton  in  the  curacy  of  Olney.  His 
Force  of  Truth  describes  the  mental  struggle  through  which 
he  passed  from  Socinianism  to  evangelical  faith.  His  Com- 
mentary had  an  immense  sale  in  England,  and  larger  still  in 
America,  but  he  lived  and  died  a  poor  man,  wronged  by  his 
publishers  and  unpopular  with  his  parishioners.  He  pro- 
tested in  heroic  style  against  the  perversions  of  Calvinism, 
both  at  Olney  and  afterward,  as  chaplain,  at  the  London 
Lock  Hospital.  Newton  had  been  sorely  troubled  by  the  way 
in  which  Calvinists  had  "  learned  to  abuse  Gospel  notions  to 
stupefy  their  consciences."     Scott  did  not  possess  the  humor 


The  Great  Evangelicals  1175 

and  geniality  of  Newton,  and  had  a  dull  style  of  preaching- 
and  writing-.  ' '  Some  things,"  he  writes,  ' '  requisite  for  popu- 
larity, I  would  not  have  if  I  could,  and  others  I  could  not  have 
if  I  would."  But  he  warred  a  good  warfare  for  Christian 
morality  against  all  who  made  the  doctrines  of  grace  a  cloak 
for  evil  living. 

Richard  Cecil  (i  748-1810)  was  the  friend  of  Newton  and 
Scott,  and  the  biographer  of  the  former.  He  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  refined,  dignified,  and  liberal-minded  of  all  the 
evangelical  clergy.  His  Remains  show  him  to  be  master  of 
a  style  the  opposite  of  Scott's.  He  writes:  "Both  food  and 
medicine  are  injurious  if  administered  scalding  hot.  The 
spirit  of  a  teacher  often  effects  more  than  his  matter.  Benevo- 
lence is  a  universal  language,  and  it  will  apologize  for  a  mul- 
titude of  defects  in  the  man  who  speaks  it."  It  was  Cecil 
who  said,  "Attend  to  the  presence  of  God;  this  will  dignify 
a  small  congregation  and  annihilate  a  large  one." 

Joseph  Milner,  the  Church  historian  (i744-i/97),was  a  close 
friend  of  Wesley's,  whom  he  welcomed  to  his  pulpits  and  de- 
fended against  the  objecting  bishop,  declaring  that  he  knew 
not  a  single  clergyman  in  Lancashire  "that  would  give  the 
Church's  definition  of  faith  and  stand  to  it."  He  told  the 
bishop  of  the  Bolton  barber  who  said  to  Wesley:  "Sir,  I 
praise  God  on  your  behalf.  When  you  were  at  Bolton  last  I 
was  one  of  the  greatest  drunkards  in  the  town  ;  but  I  came  to 
listen  at  the  window,  God  struck  me  to  the  heart,  and  twelve 
months  ago  I  was  converted." 

Milner's  Church  -  History,  heavy  in  style,  but  excellent  in 
plan,  was  completed  by  his  brother,  Isaac  Milner,  the  only 
early  evangelical  who  was  permitted  to  attain  high  ecclesi- 
astical position,  except  Bishop  Porteus,  who  was  not  so  pro- 
nounced a  "  Methodist."     At  Cambridge  Isaac  Milner  became 


1176 


British  Methodism 


president  of  Queen's  College,  and,  finally,  Dean  of  Carlisle. 
He  may  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Cambridge  evan- 
gelical school,  of  which  Charles  Simeon  became  the  best 
known  representative,  as  another  chapter  must  tell. 

The  scholarly  Thomas  Robinson,  of  Leicester  (1749-18 13), 
roused  great  opposition  by  his  "  Methodistical "  views.  His 
tutor  and  friend,  Mr.  Postlethwaite,  besought  him  to  beware, 
and  to  consider  what  mischief  the  Methodists  were  doing 
and  at  what  a  vast  rate  they  were  increasing.  "Sir,"  said 
Robinson,  "what  do  you  mean  by  a  Methodist?  Explain, 
and  I  will  tell  you  whether  I  am  one  or  not."  This  caused  a 
puzzle  and  a  pause.  At  last  the  tutor  said:  "  I'll  tell  you. 
I  hear  that  in  the  pulpit  you  impress  on  the  minds  of  your 
hearers  that  they  are  to  attend  to  your  doctrine  from  the  con- 
sideration that  you  will  have  to  give  an  account  of  them,  and 
of  your  treatment  of  them,  at  the  day  of  judgment."  "  I  am 
surprised  to  hear  this  objected,"  rejoined  Robinson.  "It  is 
true."  The  tutor  made  no  further  explanation,  but  remarked 
that  the  increase  of  Methodism  was  an  alarming  thing! 

These  evangelicals  and  their  successors,  as  we  shall  see, 
not  only  established  a  new  party  within  the  State  Church,  but 
exercised  a  lasting  influence  upon  the  nation,  and  took  part 
in  founding  the  great  societies  which  were  to  sound  the  new 
evano-el  over  the  whole  earth. 


CHAPTER  CXXVII 

The  Rising  Tide  of  Philanthropy 

The  Enlistment  of  the  Laity. — The  Abolition  of  Slavery. — The 
Work  of  Wilberforce  and  the  "Clapham  Sect."— Hannah 
More's  Good  Work. — The  Religious  Tract  Society. — The 
Strangers'  Friend  Society. — The  Effect  upon  the  Nation. 

THE  enlistment  of  the  laity  in  the  service  of  Christ  and 
humanity  was  one  of  the  most  striking  results  of  the 
Methodist  revival.  When  the  Methodist  Church 
emerged  from  the  restrictions  of  Anglican  Church  order  and 
custom  it  reaped  larger  results  from  the  work  of  laymen 
within  its  borders  than  the  awakened  Established  Church  ; 
but  some  of  the  evangelical  laity  who  adhered  to  the  Estab- 
lishment rank  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  race. 

We  have  marked  the  deep  interest  which  Wesley  took  in 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  in  the  early  work  of 
Granville  Sharpe  and  Wilberforce.  Without  forgetting  the 
noble  efforts  of  the  Quakers,  of  Sharpe  and  Clarkson,  of  the 
great  rival  statesmen  Pitt  and  Burke,  of  Lord  Grenville, 
Fowell  Buxton,  Earl  Grey,  and  Henry  Brougham,  it  is  gen- 
erally admitted  that  it  was  to  the  unflagging  energy  of  Wil- 
berforce that  the  final  success  of  the  movement  was  due,  after 

a  struggle  of  twenty  years.     In  Parliament  he  boldly  con- 

1177 


1178  British  Methodism 

fessed  himself  an  evangelical ;  and  his  most  efficient  helper, 
Henry  Thornton,  M.P.,  and  Zachary  Macaulay,  and  their 
circle — jestingly  called  the  Clapham  Sect — were  of  the  same 
school.  The  Abolition  Bill  was  passed  in  1807,  and  put  an 
end  to  the  traffic  in  slaves,  but  it  was  not  until  1833,  when 
Wilberforce  was  dying,  that  the  Emancipation  Bill  was  passed 
and  Parliament  granted  £20,000,000  to  compensate  the  plant- 
ers in  the  colonies  for  the  loss  of  their  slaves.  Thirty  years 
later  slavery  was  abolished  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Wilberforce  influenced  national  sentiment  and  Parliament 
not  only  in  relation  to  the  slave  trade.  He  was  never  to  be 
found  sleeping  when  any  question  trenching  on  public  deco- 
rum or  the  interests  of  religion  came  before  the  legislature. 
He  was  regarded  as  a  vigilant  protector  of  public  morals 
and  public  rights.  A  letter  has  recently  been  published  which 
he  wrote  to  the  under  secretary  of  state  during  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  in  1798,  in  which  he  appeals  on  behalf  of  some  Jer- 
sey Methodists  ' '  who  have  been  treated  with  harshness  not 
more  cruel  than  ill-timed"  because  they  objected  to  being 
drilled  on  Sunday.  "  Many  of  them,"  he  says,  "  men  of  char- 
acter and  substance,  have  been  imprisoned,"  and  "the  states 
of  the  island  are  passing  an  act  to  banish  all  who  will  not 
give  way."  "  I  feel  this  business  to  be  of  such  great  impor- 
tance that  I  would  rather  come  up  to  London  .  .  .  than  that 
it  should  suffer  from  the  want  of  any  assistance  I  could  give 
to  it  if  I  were  on  the  spot." 

In  1 8 12  we  find  Wilberforce  and  James  Stephen  (another 
member  of  the  Clapham  Sect)  supporting  a  bill  for  the  relief 
of  Methodist  local  preachers  from  their  liability  to  suffer 
under  persecuting  laws  of  the  times  of  the  Stuarts,  which 
were  still  in  force.     It  seems  incredible  to  us  now  that  at  one 


Wilberforce  and  His   Friends 


1179 


time  Wilberforce  himself  lived  constantly  in  the  expectation 
— we  will  not  say  fear — of  indictments  for  holding"  prayer 
meetings  and  religions  services  at  his  house  in  Kensington 
Gore.     Lord  Barham,   the  father  of  the  Rev.  Baptist  Noel, 


ENGRAVED  BY   BROWN,    FROM  THE  8TATUE   BY  G.   F.  JOSEPH,   A.R.A. 

WILBERFORCE. 


was  fined  £40  on  two  informations  of  his  neighbor,  the  Earl 
of  Romney,  for  a  breach  of  the  statute  in  like  services. 

The  aim  of  Wilberforce's  famous  book  is  suggested  by  its 
full  title,  A  Practical  View  of  the  Prevailing  Religious 
Systems  of  Professed  Christians  in  the  Higher  and  Middle 
Classes  in  this  Country,  Contrasted  with  Real  Christianity. 
No  one  was  more  astonished  than  Wilberforce's  publisher  at 


1180  British  Methodism 

its  rapid  success.  As  the  work  of  an  eminent  layman,  a 
statesman,  and  parliamentary  debater  it  aroused  intense  in- 
terest, and  its  simple  earnestness  and  modesty  touched  many 
hearts  among  those  who  accepted  the  Christian  creeds,  but 
did  not  lead  the  Christian  life.  It  "fell  like  a  bombshell 
among  these  inconsistent  Christians." 

Dr.  Stoughton  correctly  regards  Wilberforce's  work  as 
supplementing  that  of  Wesley  :  "Wesley's  mission  was  to  the 
poor ;  but  there  was  needed  some  reformer  who  should  raise 
his  voice  in  high  places,  and  do  within  the  Church  and  near 
the  throne  what  Wesley  had  accomplished  in  the  humble 
meetinghouse  and  among  the  multitude." 

Sir  James  Stephen  has  described  the  group  of  evangelical 
philanthropists  who  lived  on  "the  confines  of  the  villa-cinc- 
tured Common  of  Clapham  ;  "  now  a  part  of  Greater  London. 
At  Henry  Thornton's  house,  "  at  the  close  of  each  succeeding 
day,  there  drew  together  a  group  of  playful  children,  and 
with  them  a  knot  of  legislators  rehearsing  some  approaching 
debate,  or  travelers  from  distant  lands,  or  circumnavigators 
of  the  worlds  of  literature  and  science."  Here  they  discussed 
their  cosmopolitan  projects  for  the  good  of  their  fellows,  and 
the  noble  enterprises  of  the  new  century  were  heartily  sup- 
ported by  the  members  of  the  so-called  Clapham  Sect. 

Methodism,  while  not  neglecting  organization,  had  pro- 
claimed the  preeminence  of  personal  religion  over  ecclesi- 
astical order  and  custom.  Out  of  this  idea  arose  another — 
that  men  may  differ  in  their  views  of  Church  order  and  yet 
be  one  in  spiritual  experience.  This  created  a  new  possibility 
for  the  association  of  Christian  men  of  different  Churches  in 
evangelistic  work.  Sacerdotal  Anglicanism,  as  we  shall  see, 
declines  this  form  of  Catholicism,  and  the  modern  High 
Churchman  is  a  rigid  sectary.     But,  from  the  first,  evangelic- 


The  Great  Societies 


1181 


als  and  Methodists  have  united  on  the  platforms  of  the  great 
evangelical  societies. 

Among  these  is  the  Religions  Tract  Society.     A  hundred 
years  before  this  society  was  founded  Dr.  Bray,  the  virtual 


^  ■  -  j> 


|S^^-S^_s==^_. 


-    '  >~   "'I     !  '     ~lLr 


S| '-..ito^^; 


fHT  "\ 


fTT 


i  frTno 
r    hrrls 


_ST'-rrr-1T1 
fpsasl  vi  --r 


*r-^ 


'k'zV 


^      AiLLARO     BONIE. 


NHiti>i»iiuuuaMuAuux 


FROM    A    PHOTOGRAPH 


BIRTHPLACE   OF   WILBERFORCE,   AT   HULL. 

originator  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge, 
is  said  to  have  "sent  to  America  upward  of  thirty-four 
thousand  books  and  tracts  to  be  dispersed  among  the  inhab- 
itants.'* Wesley  and  Coke,  as  we  have  noted,  founded  a 
tract  society  in  1782.  Hannah  More  had  been  doing  good 
work  by  publishing  a  series  of  Cheap  Repository  Tracts,  two 
millions  of  which  were  sold  in  one  year.  One  of  the  best  of 
these  was  the  story  of  the  Methodist  Shepherd  of  Salisbury 
Plain.  Before  she  became  the  "  Holy  Hannah"  of  Walpole's 
wit  she  was  welcomed  in  the  literary  circle  of  Johnson,  Burke, 
Garrick,  and  Reynolds,  who  were  all  her  friends,  and,  indeed, 
after    she    became    "tainted   with    Methodism"    she   was    as 


1182  British  Methodism 

friendly  with  them  as  ever.  Her  later  books  as  well  as  her 
popular  tracts  did  much  to  promote  the  evangelical  movement. 

The  Religious  Tract  Society  was  founded  in  1 799  by  the 
Rev.  George  Burder,  a  CongregatiOnalist  of  Coventry.  The 
Rev.  Joseph  Hughes,  a  Baptist  professor  of  Battersea,  was 
secretary.  Dr.  Steinkopff,  a  Lutheran,  took  up  the  work  on 
the  European  continent.  The  Rev.  Rowland  Hill  was  the 
first  president.  The  first  tract  was  written  by  the  Rev. 
David  Bogue,  whose  name  is  also  associated  with  the  begin- 
ning of  the  London  Missionary  Society.  His  Essay  on  the 
Inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  was  in  the  possession  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  several 
passages  were  marked  by  his  pencil.  The  Rev.  Legh  Rich- 
mond, the  author  of  The  Dairyman's  Daughter,  was  one  of 
the  early  secretaries.  In  1899  the  society  celebrated  its  cen- 
tenary. It  has  proved  true  to  its  first  principles — maintain- 
ing its  evangelicalism,  developing  its  missionary  agencies, 
aiding  all  the  Churches.  The  seed  of  a  century  ago  has  be- 
come a  mighty  tree,  the  leaves  of  which  are  for  the  heal- 
ing of  the  nations.  In  its  first  year  it  only  sent  forth  two 
hundred  thousand  of  thirty-four  different  publications.  In 
the  ninety-eighth  year  of  its  existence  it  issued,  from  the 
various  depositories  throughout  the  world,  nearly  sixty  million 
copies — that  is,  between  one  hundred  and  twenty  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty  every  minute — in  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  different  languages  and  dialects. 

The  Strangers'  Friend  Society,  founded  by  Wesley  and 
Adam  Clarke  in  1789  for  the  relief  not  of  Church  members, 
but  of  the  neglected  sick  and  poor  outside  the  Churches,  still 
continues  its  work  of  mercy,  and  holds  its  annual  meeting  in 
the  Lord  Mayor's  Mansion  House,  London.  It  has  been  the 
model  of  several  other  philanthropic  societies.      ' '  The  noblest 


The  Noblest  Result  of  the  Religious  Revival  1183 

result  of  the  religious  revival,"  says  the  English  historian,  J. 
R.  Green,  "was  the  steady  attempt,  which  has  never  ceased 
from  that  day  to  this,  to  remedy  the  guilt,  the  ignorance,  the 
physical  suffering,  the  social  degradation  of  the  profligate  and 
the  poor."  This  warrants  the  statement  of  the  American 
Methodist  historian,  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  that  those  splendid 
ameliorations  could  not  have  taken  place  without  the  popular 
improvements  introduced  by  Methodism ;  that  the  Methodist 
influence  as  experienced  by  the  good  men  of  Clapham  gave 
them  their  effective  power ;  that  the  reformed  moral  sense  of 
the  nation,  responding  to  the  Christian  appeals  of  these  great 
and  good  men,  secured  the  triumph  and  permanence  of  their 
political  reforms;  and  that  when  the  Church  itself  was  im- 
potent Methodism  effectively  acted,  through  it  and  through 
dissent,  to  reclaim,  if  not  to  save,  the  nation.  To  this  may 
be  added  the  testimony  of  Lecky :  "  The  creation  of  a  large, 
powerful,  and  active  sect,  extending  over  both  hemispheres 
and  numbering  many  millions  of  souls,  was  but  one  of  its 
consequences.  It  also  exercised  a  profound  and  lasting  influ- 
ence upon  the  spirit  of  the  Established  Church,  and  upon  the 
amount  and  distribution  of  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation, 
and  even  upon  the  course  of  its  political  history." 


CHAPTER  CXXVIII 

The  World-wide  Results  of  the  Revival 

The  First  Two  Bible  Societies. — The  Bible  Famine  in  Wales. — 
Tyndale  Redivivus. — Adam  Clarke  as  Translator. — The  Evan- 
gelical Missionary  Societies. — Henry  Martyn  and  Simeon  of 
Cambridge. — High  Anglican  Opposition. 

THE  first  Bible  society  in  Great  Britain  was  founded  in 
1779  by  two  Methodists,  John  Davies  and  George 
Cussons,  members  of  Wesley's  society  at  West  Street 
Chapel,  London.  John  Davies,  who  was  a  marble  carver, 
proposed  to  his  friend  Cussons  "to  distribute  a  small  pocket 
Bible  to  a  few  privates  in  every  company  of  regulars  or 
militia."  John  Thornton  encouraged  the  scheme  and  sent 
£220  toward  it,  by  the  hands  of  William  Romaine,  and  the  idea 
took  shape  as  "  The  Naval  and  Military  Bible  Society."  The 
first  packet  of  Bibles  was  sent  out  from  the  vestry  of  West 
Street  Chapel,  and  in  this  chapel  the  first  collection  for  a 
Bible  society  ever  made  in  England  was  received  after  a  ser- 
mon by  the  Rev.  B.  B.  Collins,  one  of  Wesley's  clerical 
preachers.  His  striking  text  was :  ' '  The  Philistines  were 
afraid ;  for  they  said,  God  is  come  into  the  camp.  .  .  .  Woe 
unto  us!  for  there  hath  not  been  such  a  thing  heretofore." 
During  the  Gordon  Riots  of    1780  the  soldiers  encamped  in 

Hyde  Park  were  supplied  with  Bibles.     John  Newton,  Row- 

1184 


Beginnings  of  the  Bible  Society  1185 

land  Hill,  Bishop  Home,  and  William  Wilberforce  promoted 
the  work,  and  in  later  days  the  Duke  of  Wellington  appeared 
as  president.  Within  twenty  years  from  its  foundation  it  had 
circulated  thirty  thousand  copies  of  the  Bible,  and  it  still  con- 
tinues its  special  work. 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  was  founded  in  1 804 
to  do  for  the  world  at  large  what  the  first  society  was  doing 
for  sailors  and  soldiers.  Its  magnificent  mission  was  also  the 
fruit  of  Methodism.  Its  founder  was  Thomas  Charles,  of 
Bala,  to  whom  we  have  referred  as  the  reorganizer  of  the 
Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  in  Wales.  Like  his  spiritual 
father — Daniel  Rowlands — he  had,  to  his  great  regret,  been 
forced  out  of  parochial  work  in  the  Church  of  England  to 
become  an  agent  in  the  Great  Revival,  and  he  was  now  a 
Methodist  minister.  He  was  distinguished  not  only  for  his 
preaching,  but  for  his  establishment  of  "circulating"  schools 
and  Sunday  schools.  He  had  been  distressed  by  the  scarcity 
of  Bibles  in  Wales,  and  one  incident  which  he  related  at  a 
committee  meeting  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  had  deeply 
touched  him.  Meeting  a  little  girl,  Mary  Jones,  who  was 
one  of  his  flock,  he  asked  if  she  could  tell  him  the  text  from 
which  he  had  preached  on  Sunday.  Instead  of  promptly 
answering  him,  according  to  her  wont,  she  remained  silent; 
and  on  his  pressing  her  she  wept,  but  still  said  nothing.  At 
length,  amid  her  sobs,  she  replied: 

••  The  weather,  sir,  has  been  so  bad  that  I  could  not  get  to 
read  the  Bible." 

Astonished  at  this  unexpected  and  extraordinary  reply,  he 
said : 

"Could  you  not  get  to  read  the  Bible?     How  was  that?" 

He  then  found  out  the  explanation.  As  she  could  not  ob- 
tain the  sight  of  a  copy  among  her  neighbors  and  friends,  she 


b 


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z^f^=^7^^X~^"r  irC.^x^mfr^ ' 


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•JEE1 


DRArtN     Br     P      E.     FLINTOFF 


FROM     PRINTS 


MARY  JONES'S  FIRST  WELSH   BIBLE.         THAMES  STREET  HOUSE,  WHERE   I  HE 

OLD  BIBLE  HOUSE,  LONDON.  BIBLE  SOCIETY  WAS  FORMED. 

PRESENT   BUILDING  OF  BRITISH  AND  FOREIGN    BIBLE  SOCIETY. 


Mary  Jones's   Bible  1187 

had  been  at  the  pains  of  walking  a  distance  of  seven  miles, 

once  a  week,  to  a  place  where  she  could  find  a  Welsh  Bible 
in  which  she  could  read  the  chapter  from  which  the  minister 
had  taken  his  text.  During  the  previous  week  the  weather 
had  been  so  cold  and  stormy  that  she  could  not  take  her 
usual  walk. 

Mr.  Charles  appealed  to  the  committee  of  the  Tract  Society 
for  help  in  forming-  a  Bible  society  for  Wales,  and  it  occurred 
to  the  secretary,  Joseph  Hughes,  "If  for  Wales,  why  not  also 
for  the  empire,  and  the  world!"  A  resolution  was  passed, 
and  a  meeting  was  held  later,  at  which  Granville  Sharpe  pre- 
sided. The  noble  Clapham  Sect  promoted  the  work.  Lord 
Teignmouth,  one  of  their  number,  became  the  first  president. 
Wilberforce  lent  his  powerful  advocacy  at  the  first  public 
meeting-,  and  soon  Mr.  Charles  carried  a  Welsh  edition  of  the 
Bible  through  the  press. 

An  eyewitness  describes  the  reception  of  the  New  Testa- 
ments in  the  town  of  Bala.  "When  the  arrival  of  the  cart 
which  carried  the  first  sacred  load,"  he  says,  "  was  announced, 
the  Welsh  peasants  went  out  in  crowds  to  meet  it,  welcomed 
it  as  the  Israelites  did  the  ark  of  old,  drew  it  into  the  town, 
and  eagerly  bore  off- every  copy  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be 
dispersed.  The  young  people  were  to  be  seen  consuming-  the 
whole  night  in  reading  it.  Laborers  carried  it  with  them  to 
the  fields  that  they  might  enjoy  it  during  the  intervals  of 
their  labor  and  lose  no  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  its  sacred  truths."  "  Tyndale's  heart,  could  he  have 
witnessed  it,  would  have  leaped  for  joy  at  this  scene." 

A  London  Methodist — Joseph  Butterworth,  M.P. — and 
Adam  Clarke  were  soon  placed  on  the  committee.  Dr.  Clarke 
rendered  great  service.  He  constructed  types  of  wonderful 
neatness  and  finish  for  a  Tartar  Xew  Testament,  a  work  for 


1188 


British  Methodism 


which  he  resolutely  declined  any  remuneration.  In  1807  he 
was  allowed  to  stay  in  London,  against  the  usage  of  the  Wes- 
leynn  Conference,  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Bible  Society, 


^^s^TS^^w^) 


ORAWN   Br   W.   6.    OAVIS. 


FROM  THE    ENGRAVING  BY   MARE. 


REV.    THOMAS    CHARLES,   OF    BALA. 

The  founder  of  the  British  and   Foreign  Bible  Society. 

as  his  assistance  was  "  indispensably  necessary  for  furnishing 
various  heathen  and  Mohammedan  nations  with  the  Scrip- 
tures in  their  own  languages."  Since  that  time  Wesleyan 
missionaries  have  done  valuable  work  for  the  society  as  trans- 
lators, collections  have  been  made  throughout  England  and 


Christian  Union  1189 

Ireland,  the  sum  of  ,61,000  was  granted  from  the  Centenary 
Fund,  and  an  annual  sermon  on  behalf  of  the  society  is 
preached  at  City  Road  Chapel.     The  society,   on  the  other 

hand,  has  furnished  the  Wesleyan  missionary  societies  with 
vast  numbers  of  copies  of  various  versions.  In  1842  ten 
thousand  Maori  Xew  Testaments  were  sent  to  New  Zealand, 
and  were  received  by  the  natives  with  acclamations  of  joy. 
The  society  now  issues  nearly  four  millions  of  copies  of  Bibles 
and  portions  each  year,  and  since  its  foundation,  in  1804,  has 
circulated  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  copies. 

The  union  in  this  work  of  Christians  whose  doctrinal  dif- 
ferences had  kept  them  apart  for  ages  would  have  delighted 
the  "catholic  spirit"  of  Wesley  had  he  lived  to  witness  it. 
It  profoundly  impressed  one  evangelical  clergyman  on  the 
first  committee,  John  Owen,  who  says  :  ' '  The  scene  was  new  : 
nothing  analogous  to  it  had  perhaps  been  exhibited  before  the 
public  since  Christians  had  begun  to  organize  amongst  each 
other  the  strife  of  separation,  and  to  carry  into  their  own 
camp  that  war  which  they  ought  to  have  waged  in  concert 
against  the  common  enemy." 

Several  evangelical  missionary  societies  were  the  outcome 
of  the  revival.  We  have  already  recorded  the  commence- 
ment of  Wesleyan  missions  by  Dr.  Coke  in  1784,  when  he 
issued  his  Plan  of  the  Society  for  the  Establishment  of  Mis- 
sions among  the  Heathen.  Two  years  later  he  visited 
Antigua  and  found  eleven  huudred  negroes  who  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  societies.  On  his  return  he  begged 
subscriptions.  More  preachers  were  sent  out,  and  in  1789 
a  missionary  board  was  formed.  Of  the  later  development 
of  the  work  we  must  tell  in  our  next  chapter  and  in  the  sec- 
tion on  "  Farther  Methodism." 

The  London  Missionary  Society  was  founded  in  1795  as  the 


1190 


British  Methodism 


result  of  an  appeal  in  the  new  Evangelical  Magazine  by  Dr. 
David  Bogue.  Its  first  committee  included  Episcopalians, 
Independents,   Methodists,   and  Presbyterians.      Dr.  Haweis, 

already  noticed  in 
connection  with 
Lady  Huntingdon, 
preached  the  first 
sermon  in  Spa  Fields. 
The  early  commit- 
tees met  in  the  quaint 
London  counting- 
house  of  the  first 
treasurer,  Joseph 
Hardcastle,  of  which 
we  have  given  a  pic- 
ture. This  building;, 
by  the  Old  Swan 
Stairs,  near  London 
Bridge,  was  also  the 
nursery,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  the  Tract  and- 
Bible  societies.  The 
society  is  now  supported  mainly  by  the  Congregationalists, 
but  its  fathers  and  founders  were  friends  of  Zachary  Ma- 
caulay,  Thomas  Clarkson,  and  Granville  Sharpe.  The  mis- 
sionary ship,  Duff,  and  the  name  of  Williams,  the  martyr  of 
Erromano'a,  susfgfest  the  earlv  romance  of  the  work;  and 
Vanderkemp,  Moffat,  and  Livingtone  are  among  its  heroes. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  began  its  work  in  1799,  and 
arose  out  of  the  discussions  of  the  Eclectic  Society,  of  which 
John  Newton,  Richard  Cecil.  John  Venn,  Charles  Simeon,  and 
other  leading  evaneelicals  were  members.      It  was   at   first 


FROM    THE     ENGRAVING     BY    THOMSON  . 

DAVID    BOGUE. 


Missionary  Societies  1191 

called  the  Missionary  Society  for  Africa  and  the  East,  but  its 
present  name  was  adopted  in  1812.  The  men  of  Clapham 
were  its  ardent  supporters,  with  Wilberforcc  and  Charles 
Simeon  at  the  front.  The  advance  of  ritualism  has  not  di- 
minished its  intense  evangelical  fervor. 

It  was  through  Charles  Simeon's  influence  that  Claudius 
Buchanan  and  Henry  Martyn  were  appointed  chaplains  of  the 
hast  India  Company,  with  stipends  of  .£1,200  a  year.  Bu- 
chanan had  been  sent  to  Cambridge  at  the  expense  of  Henry 
Thornton,  having  been  previously  brought  to  the  feet  of 
Christ  by  a  sermon  of  John  Newton's. 

The  dramatic  interest  and  intense  devotion  of  Henry  Mar- 
tyn's  life  have  made  his  biography  a  missionary  classic, 
dwennap,  the  scene  of  Wesley's  great  open-air  services,  was 
long  the  home  of  the  Martyns,  but  Henry  Martyn  was  born  in 
Truro.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  a  year  old.  His 
younger  sister  was  the  wife  of  a  Wesleyan  minister,  and 
' '  proved  at  once  sister,  mother,  and  spiritual  guide  to  Christ 
to  her  gifted  brother."  To  her,  who  had  prayed  for  this  very 
thing  all  her  life,  as  Monica  had  agonized  for  Augustine,  the 
news  of  his  conversion  at  Cambridge  brought  intense  joy. 
Lydia  Grenfell,  for  whom  Martyn  cherished  such  intense  de- 
votion, left  the  parish  church  "for  the  then  warmer  evan- 
gelical service  of  the  little  "Wesleyan  chapel  at  Marazion." 
Thus  Martyn  had  two  strong  links  to  Methodism.  His  char- 
acter and  career  have  done  much  to  stimulate  missionary  zeal 
in  all  the  churches.  He  labored  for  the  conversion  of  the 
Mohammedans,  and  was  a  martyr  to  his  work.  He  went  to 
Persia  to  perfect  himself  in  the  language,  and  on  his  way 
home,  in  18 12,  he  sank  into  his  grave  at  Tocat,  where  "men 
were  strangers  to  him  and  to  his  God." 

Charles  Simeon  (1759—1836),  whose  name  has  so  often  oc- 


1192 


British  Methodism 


REV.    CHARLES   SIMEON. 


curred  in  connection  with  the  founding  of  the  evangelical 
societies,  deserves  a  larger  place  in  their  history  than  can  be 
accorded  here.  Touching  is  the  picture  of  John  Venn  intro- 
ducing him  to  ' '  his  own  dear 
and  honored  father,  Henry- 
Venn."  "  In  this  aged  minis- 
ter," he  says,  "I  found  a 
father,  an  instructor,  and  a 
most  bright  example ;  and  I 
shall  have  to  adore  my  God  to 
all  eternity  for  his  acquaint- 
ance." It  has  been  well  said 
that  the  meeting  between 
Henry  Venn  and  Simeon,  the 
evangelical  of  the  generation 
that  was  passing  away  and 
the  evangelical  of  the  generation  that  was  coming  on,  would 
form  a  subject  for  a  painting. 

Simeon's  own  account  in  his  Horae  Homileticae  of  his  meet- 
ing with  Wesley  in  1784  is  not  less  suggestive. 

"  Sir,"  said  Simeon,  "  I  understand  that  you  are  called  an 
Arminian ;  and  I  have  been  sometimes  called  aCalvinist; 
and  therefore  I  suppose  that  we  are  to  draw  daggers.  But 
before  I  consent  to  begin  the  combat,  with  your  permission, 
I  will  ask  you  a  few  questions." 

Permission  being  very  readily  and  kindly  granted,  the 
young  minister  proceeded  to  ask : 

"Pray,  sir,  do  you  feel  yourself  a  depraved  creature,  so 
depraved  that  you  would  never  have  thought  of  turning  to 
God  if  God  had  not  first  put  it  into  your  heart  ?" 

"Yes,"  says  the  veteran,  "  I  do,  indeed." 

"And  do  you  utterly  despair  of  recommending  yourself  to 


The  Calvinist's  Catechism  1193 

God  by  anything  you  can  do ;  and  look  for  salvation  solely 
through  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  Christ?" 

"Yes,  solely  through  Christ." 

"  But,  sir,  supposing  you  were  at  first  saved  by  Christ,  are 
you  not  somehow  or  other  to  save  yourself  afterward  by  your 
own  works  ?" 

••  Xo,  I  must  be  saved  by  Christ  from  first  to  last." 

"Allowing,  then,  that  you  were  first  turned  by  the  grace 
of  God,  are  you  not  in  some  way  or  other  to  keep  yourself  by 
your  own  power?" 

"  Xo." 

' '  What,  then  ;  are  you  to  be  upheld  every  moment  and  every 
hour  by  God,  as  much  as  an  infant  in  its  mother's  arms?" 

"Yes,  altogether." 

"And  is  all  your  hope  in  the. grace  and  mercy  of  God  to 
preserve  you  unto  his  heavenly  kingdom?" 

"  Yes,  I  have  no  hope  but  in  him." 

"  Then,  sir,  with  your  leave,  I  will  put  up  my  dagger  again, 
for  this  is  all  my  Calvinism  ;  this  is  my  election,  my  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  my  final  perseverance;  it  is  in  substance  all 
that  I  hold,  and  as  I  hold  it;  and,  therefore,  if  you  please, 
instead  of  searching  out  terms  and  phrases  to  be  a  ground  of 
contention  between  us  we  will  cordially  unite  in  those  things 
wherein  we  agree." 

When  Simeon  visited  the  heavenly  minded  Fletcher  at 
Madeley  his  host  took  him  by  the  hand,  invoked  a  blessing 
on  him,  and  then  took  a  bell  and  went  through  the  village 
telling  the  people  to  come  and  hear  the  clergyman  from 
Cambridge. 

How  Simeon  as  the  reforming  evangelical  of  Cambridge 
was  opposed  by  churchwardens,  parishioners,  and  afternoon 
lecturers ;   how  after  twelve  weary  years  he  lived  down  all 


1194  British  Methodism 

opposition ;  how  he  began  to  attract  gownsmen  as  well  as 
townsmen  to  Trinity  Church,  where  he  ministered  at  a 
nominal  stipend  ;  how  he  came  to  exercise  a  more  powerful 
influence  over  young  university  men  than  any  other  Church- 
man of  his  day — all  this  is  told  by  his  latest  biographer,  Dr. 
Moule,  the  master  of  Ridley  Hall,  himself  a  modern  evan- 
gelical of  the  noblest  type ;  catholic,  scholarly,  spiritual. 

Opposition  to  evangelicalism  became  bitter  and  deadly  with 
the  rise  of  Puseyism,  about  1833.  The  intense  hatred  of  the 
later  High  Churchmen  for  the  evangelicals  and  all  their 
doings  is  frankly  stated  by  one  of  the  first  Tractarian  leaders, 
R.  H.  Froude,  whose  Remains  were  edited  by  Keble  and 
Newman.  The  editors  express  their  concurrence  with  "  the 
sentiments,  as  a  whole,"  of  this  "witness  to  catholic  views," 
who  visits  the  West  Indies,  and  says :  "I  have  felt  it  a  kind 
of  duty  to  maintain  in  my  mind  an  habitual  hostility  to  the 
niggers,  and  to  chuckle  over  the  failure  of  the  new  system, 
as  if  these  poor  wretches  concentrated  in  themselves  all  the 
whiggery,  dissent,  cant,  and  abomination  that  have  been 
ranged  on  their  side.  .  .  .  Everyone  I  meet  seems  to  me 
like  an  incarnation  of  the  whole  Antislavery  Society."  This 
High  Churchman  says  that  the  thing  that  strikes  him  most — 
to  use  his  own  words — "in  the  cut  of  these  niggers"  is  "  a 
stupid  familiarity  intended  for  civility,  which  prejudices  me 
against  them  worse  even  than  Buxton's  cant  did.  It  is  getting 
to  be  the  fashion  with  everybody,  even  the  planters,  to  praise 
the  emancipation."  But  the  fastidious  "Anglo-Catholic" 
could  not  silence  their  praises. 

In  many  towns  in  England  to-day  the  High  Church  clergy 
decline  to  stand  on  the  evangelical  platform  of  the  Bible  so- 
ciety, and  it  is  becoming  increasingly  rare  to  find  one  of  their 
denomination  present.     Mr.  J.  A.  Froude  has  expressed  the 


The  "  Hawkers'  "   Success 


1195 


1  [igh  Church  attitude  toward  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures, 
unaccompanied  by  Anglican  denominational  teachers,  in  the 
following  style:  "Not  the  devil  himself  could  have  invented 
an  implement  more  potent  to  fill  the  hated  world  with  lies 
and  blood  and  fury.  I  think  certainly  that  to  send  hawkers 
over  the  world  loaded  with  copies  of  this  book,  scattering  it 
in  all  places,  among  all  persons,  not  teaching  them  to  under- 
stand it  [in  the  High  Church  sense],  but  cramming  it  into 
their  hands  as  Cod's  book,  which  he  wrote,  and  they  are  to 
read,  each  for  himself,  is  the  most  culpable  folly  of  which  it 
is  possible  for  man  to  be  guilty." 

It  has  pleased  Cod,  however,  to  honor  greatly  the  work  of 
the  despised  "hawkers,"  and  the  history  of  the  evangelical 
societies  and  missions  gleams  with  illustrations  of  the  way  in 
which  the  simple  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  has  awakened 
inquiry,  prepared  a  path  for  the  missionary,  and  led  seekers 
after  truth  into  the  liuht  when  the  missionarv  was  far  away. 


SEAL   or  JOHN    WESLEY, 


CHAPTER  CXXIX 

Revolution  or  Evolution  ? 

The  French  Revolution. — A  Critical  Era. — Parties  in  Methodism. 
— The  Plan  of  Pacification.— The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church 
Emerges. 

TWO  years  after  Wesley's  death  Europe  and  America 
were  thrilled  by  the  news  of  the  beheading  of  Louis 
XVI  of  France.  Marie  Antoinette  was  guillotined. 
The  Reign  of  Terror  began  :  about  fourteen  hundred  persons 
were  executed  in  five  weeks ;  the  Christian  religion  was 
formally  repudiated  in  France,  the  worship  of  "Reason" 
proclaimed,  and  the  great  principles  of  popular  freedom 
and  progress  were  obscured  by  disastrous  anarchy. 

Colonel  Maurice  once  asked  his  father,  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice,  "  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  England,  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  escaped  a  revolution  like 
that  of  France  ?" 

"O,"  quickly  answered  the  famous  Broad  Churchman, 
"  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  as  to  that;  England  escaped  a 
political  revolution  .because  she  had  undergone  a  religious 
revolution." 

' '  You  mean  that  brought  about  by  Wesley  and  White- 
field?" 

"  Of  course,"  was  the  reply. 

1 196 


England  and  the  French  Revolution 


1197 


Lecky  expressed  a  similar  opinion  when  he  wrote:  "  Eng- 
land on  the  whole  escaped  the  contagion.  Many  causes  con- 
spired to  save  her,  but  among'  them  a  prominent  place  must 
be  given  to  the  new  and  vehement  religious  enthusiasm  which 
was  at  that  very  time  passing  through  the  middle  and  lower 
classes  of  the  people.'"     Canon    Overton  justly  says  that  it 


DRAWN    BY   J     O     NUGENT. 


WESLEY  S    FIELD    BIBLE,  WITH    CASE. 

must  not  be  pretended  that  the  revival  was  the  sole  cause  of 
the  very  different  reception  given  to  the  revolutionary  and 
skeptical  doctrines  of  the  French  encyclopedists,  and  Thomas 
Paine  in  England  and  France.  "  The  very  excesses  which 
they  produced  in  France  caused  here  a  reaction  of  feeling 
among  many  cultured  men  who  were  not  in  the  least  touched 
by  the  revival.  Coleridge,  Southey,  Wordsworth,  and  others 
at  first  deeply  sympathized  with  the  rising  spirit  of  liberty  in 
France  before  it  degenerated  into  license  ;  and  Edmund  Burke, 
though  he  never  showed  so  marked  a  sympathy  with  the  French 
revolutionists,  may  be  fairly  presumed,  from  his  antecedents, 
to  have  been  so  far  in  accord  with  them  as  to  regard  with  a 
favorable  eye  the  first  efforts  against  oppression  and  tyranny 
across  the  channel.     But  all  these  great  men,  when  they  saw 


1198  British  Methodism 

the  reckless  course  which  things  took,  experienced  a  violent 
revulsion  of  feeling  for  which  the  evangelical  revival  was 
assuredly  in  no  degree  responsible.  The  refined  writings 
and  feelings,  however,  of  such  men  as  these  did  not  in  the 
least  affect  the  masses.  And  it  was  of.  incalculable  benefit  to 
the  nation  that  such  a  power  as  Methodism  existed  just  at  the 
time  when  otherwise  the  revolutionary  torrent  would  have 
swept  away  multitudes  in  its  course.  In  fact,  Methodism  was 
a  sort  of  safety  valve  through  which  many  let  off  their  super- 
fluous steam.  Many  a  man  who,  under  different  circumstances, 
would  have  been  haranguing  about  the  Rights  of  Man  was 
happily  preoccupied  with  a  far  more  noble  subject — the  love 
of  God." 

Nevertheless,  England  was  profoundly  influenced  both  for 
evil  and  good  by  the  revolutionary  earthquake.  The  outbreak 
of  war  with  its  famine  prices  gave  rise  to  bread  riots  and 
seditious  pamphlets.  The  wide  circulation  of  Paine's  Rights 
of  Man  and  the  unwise  prosecution  of  its  author;  the  hyster- 
ical fears  of  the  comfortable  classes ;  the  discovery  of  three 
thousand  daggers  in  Birmingham,  and  Burke's  dagger  scene 
in  the  House  of  Commons;  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act ;  the  pelting  of  the  king's  carriage  by  the  starv- 
ing mob,  and  the  Seditious  Meetings  Bill,  which  forbade  any 
public  gathering  of  more  than  fifty  persons  without  previous 
notice  to  a  magistrate — all  this  terror  and  tumult  produced 
as  well  as  betokened  unwonted  national  feverishness,  and 
made  the  work  of  philanthropists  and  church  builders  anxious 
and  critical. 

Among  the  seventy  thousand  Methodists  of  Britain  were 
multitudes  who  had  been  reclaimed  from  the  very  class  who 
recruited  the  dangerous  mobs  of  an  earlier  period.  A  new 
intelligence,  a  new  sense  of  human  equality  and  of  manhood's 


The  Task  of  Wesley's  Successors 


1199 


rights,  had  been  awakened  in  them.  They  felt  the  tremor  of 
the  Revolution,  and  they  could  not  be  indifferent  to  its  traffic 
lessons  both  for  the  aristocracy  and  democracy  of  Britain. 
To  Wesley's  successors  was  committed  the  task  of  organizing-. 
guiding,  and  teaching,  through  this  critical  era,  these  recently 


THE  TITLE-PAGE   OF   WESLEY'S    FIELD    BIBLE. 

This  volume  is  handed  down  from  president  io  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference, 
as  insignia  of  office. 

awakened  and  ardent  multitudes  who  had  received  a  "gift  of 
tongues"  and  formed  part  of  a  great  community  which  now 
covered  the  British  Isles.  Statesmen  were  chanefing-  their 
opinions  and  polity  almost  every  month,  nations  were  in  con- 


1200  British  Methodism 

vulsions,  the  air  was  charged  with  electricity,  and  the  great 
ecclesiastical  statesman,  whose  pervasive  personality  had  given 
unity  to  Methodism,  was  dead!  No  wonder  that  the  itiner- 
ants fasted  and  prayed,  and  that  saintly  Joseph  Entwistle 
wrote,  "  My  soul  trembles  for  the  ark  of  the  Lord." 

There  were  three  types  of  Methodists  when  Wesley  died. 
By  far  the  largest  class  had  been  rescued  from  the  moral 
wilderness.  They  had  not  left  the  State  Church,  for  the 
reason  that  they  had  never  in  any  spiritual  sense  been  mem- 
bers of  it.  They  could  only  be  reckoned  in  the  returns  of  its 
adherents  on  the  same  principle  that  the  statistics  of  that 
Church  are  compiled  to-day — by  returning  all  the  persons  in 
the  army,  the  workhouses,  and  the  jails  as  Churchmen  who 
are  not  avowedly  Nonconformists  or  Roman  Catholics.  As 
one  of  them,  a  Mr.  Thompson,  said  to  a  clergyman  at  Des- 
borough  who  referred  to  him  as  having  "left  the  Church:" 
' '  Sir,  that  was  to  me  impossible  when  I  became  a  Methodist. 
I  had  never  entered  a  church  in  my  life  except  at  a  wedding 
or  a  funeral."  Such  as  these,  even  if  they  were  nominal 
communicants,  had  been  under  no  discipline,  had  experienced 
no  religious  life  or  fellowship,  had  been  indifferent  to  doc- 
trine and  morality.  When  they  became  Methodists  they 
naturally  desired  to  receive  the  sacraments  from  the  hands 
of  those  who  had  been  instrumental  in  their  conversion,  who 
had  introduced  them  into  scriptural  church-fellowship  and 
instructed  them  in  their  chapels  and  societies.  They  knew 
too  well  that  to  be  a  Churchman  did  not  in  their  day  neces- 
sarily involve  religious  character  and  conduct.  Wesley  had 
subordinated  his  own  views  of  Church  order  to  the  necessities 
of  the  work  among  these  rescued  wanderers.  In  1794  John 
Murlin  wrote  to  Joseph  Benson:  "In  the  infant  state  of 
Methodism  the  preachers  only  preached,  and  did  not  admin- 


Methodist  Types 


1201 


ister  the  sacraments;  but  near  thirty-six  years  since  Mr. 
Wesley  sent  me  to  Norwich,  where  I  baptized  their  children 
and  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  for  a  great  part  of  three 
years,  as  also  did  others  who  followed  me ;  till  Mr.  Charles 


JS<~rt  \3^.  /v>-u'/«  A  Q  3<j 
//fC>w/-r  /&/3.  *-'fi~rJ/}-  s^t_»* 

•Sly  /^t/yc  /^Cr-j  r.  At  a^ryk, • 


FLY    LEAVES   OF    WESLEY  S    HELD    IUBLE. 

made  a  great  outcry  and  put  a  stop  to  it  for  a  time.  Poor 
man !  he  was  greatly  distressed,  fearing  we  were  going  to 
invade  the  priesthood  !  " 

A  second  type  of  Methodist  was  represented  by  the  so-called 
"  Church  party,"  who  sympathized  in  part  with  Charles  Wes- 
ley's views  and  wished  to  retain  direct  connection  with  the 
76 


1202  British  Methodism 

Established  Church.  They  emphasized  John  Wesley's  ex- 
pressions of  love  for  the  Church,  and  sincerely  believed  that 
more  good  might  be  done  by  adhering  to  its  offices. 

A  third  party  of  Methodists  leaned  to  pronounced  dissent. 
Among  them  were  some  resolute  and  earnest  men  who  were 
deeply  stirred  by  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  the  new  hopes 
of  freedom  and  progress  awakened  by  the  Revolution,  while 
they  repudiated  the  infidelity  and  anarchy  associated  there- 
with. 

These  conflicting  tendencies  created  great  difficulties  for 
Wesley's  successors.  The  first  president  of  the  Conference 
after  Wesley's  death  was  William  Thompson,  an  Irishman  of 
strong  sense,  with  a  peculiar  genius  for  ecclesiastical  polity, 
and  an  able  speaker  and  moderator  of  assemblies.  Dr.  Coke 
was  chosen  secretary.  The  laymen  of  Hull,  influenced  prob- 
ably by  the  fact  that  the  clergy  in  the  town  of  Wilberforce 
and  the  Milners  were  evangelical,  had  previously  met  to  pro- 
test against  any  further  separation  from  the  Established 
Church,  and  especially  against  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments  in  Methodist  chapels.  Alexander  Kilham,  a 
young  preacher  who  was  to  become  a  leader  of  the  party  of 
dissent,  prepared  a  trenchant  reply  to  a  circular  which  the 
laymen  issued.  Methodism  had  already  been  flooded  with 
pamphlets  on  the  debated  question  when  the  Conference  met 
at  Manchester.  Wesley's  last  letter  to  the  Conference,  al- 
ready referred  to,  was  read,  and  "seemed  like  a  voice  from 
heaven;"  and  in  response  to  it  every  privilege  conferred  by 
his  Deed  of  Declaration  was  accorded  to  every  preacher  in 
full  connection.  The  Conference  decided  to  "follow  strictly 
the  plan  which  Mr.  Wesley  left  us." 

But  opinions  differed  as  to  Wesley's  plan.  Some  main- 
tained that  "the  old  plan  had  been  to  follow  the  openings  of 


^ 


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FACSIMILE    OK    "A    PLAN 

Thomas  Wride's  "  Round,"  with  the  notes  on  his  homes.     The  day 


M*l 


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>RIMSB\    CIRCUIT,  1782." 

:  week  are  in  the  left  margin  of  each  column.      Fifty  place-;  appear. 


"  Trustee  Tyranny  " 


1207 


Providence"  and  to  amend  the  plan  as  was  needful  to  secure 
greater  usefulness,  and  that  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments in  the  chapels  generally  was  now  necessary.  John 
Pawson,  a  coming-  president,  and  many  others  held  this  view. 
The  Church  party  maintained  that  the  sacraments  should  be 
administered  only  in  the  places  where  this  had  been  sanc- 
tioned by  Wesley. 

And  so  the  question  was  debated  among-  the  people  and  at 
successive  Conferences.      Societies  that   unanimously  desired 


DRAAN   BV  J.   0.   NUGENT. 


'1'  H  E   S I  ■:  A  L   OF    III  E   CON  F  E  R  E  N  C  E . 

it  were  granted  the  Lord's  .Supper  in  1793.  Xext  year  the 
names  of  more  than  ninety  of  these  were  printed  in  the 
Minutes.  A  year  later  the  whole  question  was  discussed 
again  at  Bristol.  Matters  were  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the 
action  of  the  trustees  of  the  old  Broadmead  Chapel,  who  were 
of  the  Church  party,  and  refused  to  allow  even  Henry  Moore 
to  occupy  the  pulpit  because  he  had  administered  the  sacra- 
ment. Moore  was  a  resolute  man.  He  refused  to  submit  to 
the  trustees,  as  he  had  been  appointed  by  Conference.  He 
withdrew  from  the  old  building,  a  large  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple following  him.  Ebenezer  Chapel  was  built  by  them,  and 
there  were  loud  cries  against  "  trustee  tyranny." 

The  Conference  of  1795,  over  which  Joseph  Bradford  pre- 
sided, marked  an   epoch   in    Methodist   Church   history.      A 


1208 


British  Methodism 


committee  of  nine  preachers,  representing  different  opinions, 
drew  up  the  Plan  of  Pacification.  It  was  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  Conference.  The  plan  provided  that  the  Lord's 
Supper,  baptism,  the  burial  of  the  dead,  and  service  in  church 
hours  should  not  be  permitted  unless  the  majority  of  the 
trustees,  stewards,  and  leaders  of  a  chapel  approved.    Where 


EBENEZER   CHAPEL,    KING    STREET,    BRISTOL,    1 895. 

the  Lord's  Supper  had  been  peacefully  administered  it  was  to 
be  continued.  The  plan  also  accorded  the  majority  of  the 
stewards  and  leaders  of  any  society  the  right  to  summon  a 
mixed  district  meeting,  consisting  of  preachers  and  lay  offi- 
cers, for  the  trial  of  any  preacher  for  immorality,  erroneous 
teaching,  or  incompetency.  This  provided  a  strong  element 
of  popular  power  for  the  societies. 


Conference  Changes  1209 

The  Conference  of  1795  filled  the  hearts  of  many  with  hope 
that  "the  truce  of  God"  would  prevail.  The  preachers  were 
charged  to  abstain  from  agitation  and  the  circulation  of  pam- 
phlets and  letters  "  without  the  author's  name."  But  Kilhatn 
set  these  resolutions  at  naught.  He  issued  posters  and  pam- 
phlets, some  anonymous,  some  under  feigned  names  of  lay- 
men, in  which  he  traduced  the  preachers.  For  this  he  was  ex- 
pelled from  their  ranks  in  1796.  He  became  the  originator 
of  the  first  Methodist  secession,  of  which  an  account  must  be 
given  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  secession  did  not  arrest  the  growth  of  the  parent 
Church.  The  Conferences  were  remarkable  for  spiritual  in- 
fluence, and  there  was  a  careful  reorganization  of  the  funds 
and  of  Kingswood  School  in  1797.  The  powers  of  trustees 
were  extended,  while  the  rights  of  Conference  were  guarded. 
The  preachers  became  pastors,  though  the  use  of  the  title 
"  Reverend  "  was  not  adopted  in  the  Minutes  till  1818.  Some 
of  the  preachers  ordained  by  Wesley  united  in  ordaining  their 
brethren,  but  the  form  of  "imposition  of  hands"  was  not  in- 
troduced until  1836.  The  leaders'  meetings  became  Church 
courts  for  the  societies.  Quarterly  meetings  became  in  effect 
circuit  synods,  though  their  constitution  was  not  fully  defined 
until  1852.  The  characteristic  new  creation  of  the  Confer- 
ence that  followed  Wesley's  death  was  the  district  meeting 
— the  British  Isles  being  divided  into  twenty-seven  districts. 
The  term  "  synod  "  was  adopted  in  1892  as  better  represent- 
ing- the  relation  of  the  district  meeting  to  the  Conference  and 
Church,  and  defining  their  ecclesiastical  character  as  distin- 
guished from  the  civil  institutions — the  district  councils,  etc. 
— which  have  resulted  from  the  extension  of  local  government 
in  England.  Over  the  whole  the  Conference  held  sway,  with 
its  president  elected  year  by  year. 


1210  British  Methodism 

The  United  Societies  were  thus  consolidated  into  a  connec- 
tion, with  all  the  characteristics  of  a  New  Testament  Church. 
We  have  marked  the  early  use  of  the  term  "Church"  by- 
Vincent  Perronet  and  Fletcher.  The  City  Road  society  was 
referred  to  in  the  early  Minutes  as  the  Mother  Church.  The 
tokens  for  communicants  in  Scotland  in  1787  bore  the  inscrip- 
tion, "The  Methodist  Church."  A  hundred  years  after 
Wesley's  death  ( 1 89 1 )  the  Conference  agreed  to  use  the  same 
designation  in  England.  Professor  Findlay  has  well  said: 
"  We  call  ourselves  now,  and  without  bated  breath,  the  Wes- 
leyan  Methodist  Church.  We  have  not  been  hasty  or  eager 
in  any  way  about  this.  We  have  been  content  for  a  century 
in  the  fact  without  the  name.  Our  societies  have  all  along 
constituted  a  true  fellowship  with  Christ  in  the  Spirit,  as  John 
Wesley  very  plainly  said.  They  have  possessed  a  Church 
life  as  real  as  any  that  exists  upon  earth.  But  if  anyone  pre- 
viously doubted  this,  if  anyone  supposed  that  by  speaking  of 
the  Methodist  Connection,  or  societies,  instead  of  the  Church, 
and  by  calling  our  sanctuaries  '  chapels '  and  not  churches, 
we  confessed  that  our  spiritual  position  was  inferior  to  that 
of  other  Christian  communities  in  this  land,  and  that  we 
could  not  find  in  our  societies  all  that  the  necessities  of  the 
Christian  life  and  the  nourishment  of  the  soul  in  grace  require 
— if  anyone  drew  this  inference  from  our  former  manner  of 
speech,  he  must  now  be  undeceived.  We  quietly  but  firmly 
claim,  as  Methodist  people,  to  constitute  a  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  a  sisterhood  and  confederacy  of  Churches  throughout 
the  world." 


CHAPTER.  CXXX 


The  Expanding;  Church 


Six  Sagacious  Pilot  Presidents.— Dr.  Cork's  Death  on  the  Indian 
Ocean. — The  Evolution  of  the  Missionary  Society. — Metho- 
dism for  the  Race. — Statistics  of  i  hi.  First  Quarter  Century. 

DURING  the  six  critical  years  that  followed  the  death 
of  Wesley  remarkable  wisdom,  equity,  patience,  and 
skill  were  manifested  by  the  presidents — Thompson, 
Mather,  Pawson,  Hanby,  Bradford,  and  Taylor.  William 
Thompson,  as  we  have  noted,  was  an  Irishman.  His  pen 
drew  up  the  Plan  of  Pacification,  and  his  useful  life  closed 
with  the  century.  Alexander  Mather  was  a  Scotchman  whom 
we  have  already  seen  among  the  Jacobite  rebels  of  1745,  and 
later  converted  under  Wesley  and  consecrated  to  valiant  serv- 
ice. Ripe  in  judgment,  conciliatory  and  compassionate,  he 
died  as  the  new  century  opened. 

John  Pawson  was  a  thorough  Englishman  :  intrepid  in  fa- 
cing the  early  mobs,  and  a  pillar  of  Methodism  when  its  foun- 
dations trembled.  He  had  been  ordained  by  Wesley  and 
supported  the  cry  of  the  people  for  the  sacraments.  Preach- 
ing sermons  which  Dr.  Clarke  said  "seemed  just  to  have 
dropped  out  of  heaven,"  his  presence  in  the  sanctuary  and 

I  31  I 


1212 


British  Methodism 


Conference  was  a  benediction.     He  was  the  first  man  who 
was  twice  president  (1793  and  1801).     He  died  in  1806. 

Thomas  Hanby  was  another  veteran  who  had  passed 
through  furious  persecution  in  Staffordshire.  In  the  early 
years  of  the  present  century  old  Methodists  at  Leek  used  to 


FIVE    EARLY    PRESIDENTS   OF    THE    CONFERENCE. 

William  Thompson.  Alexander  Mather. 

John  Pawson.  Joseph  Bradford.  Thomas  Taylor. 

tell  how  Thomas  Hanby's  dinner  at  the  inn  was  interrupted 
by  the  scared  landlord,  who  begged  him  to  leave  lest  the  mob 
should  pull  down  the  house ;  how  the  preacher  rode  through 
the  mob,  who  pelted  him  with  stones  and  dirt,  crying,  "  Kill 
him!  kill  him!"  How,  on  the  next  visit,  a  lawyer  headed 
a  mob  even  more  furious,  and  the  preacher,  seeking  refuge 
in  the  house  of  Hannah   Davenport,  Jacob's  Alley,  was  de- 


Early  Presidents  1213 

fended  by  this  woman,  who  seized  an  ax,  and  taking  her 
stand  in  the  doorway,  declared  that  she  would  cut  down  the 
first  who  dared  approach  ;  how  she  swung  the  deadly  weapon 
over  the  lawyer's  head,  whereat  he  shouted:  "Stand  back, 
lads,  for  she  will  be  as  good  as  her  word!"  and  how  Mr. 
Hanby  escaped  through  a  window  into  the  fields.  He  was 
the  oldest  of  Wesley's  itinerants  when  he  died,  in  1796. 

Joseph  Bradford,  twice  president  (1795  and  1803),  Wesley's 
friend,  traveling  companion,  and  last  messenger  to  Confer- 
ence, was  a  prudent  administrator  and  held  the  scales  evenly 
in  the  critical  debate  on  the  sacraments.  He  entered  into 
rest  in  1808.  Thomas  Taylor,  also  twice  president,  has 
come  before  us  as  an  early  evangelist  in  Wales  and  Scotland. 
Preaching  his  last  sermon,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  should  like  to 
die  like  an  old  soldier,  sword  in  hand!"  and  two  days  later, 
in  1 8 16,  he  was  in  the  presence  of  his  King. 

Dr.  Coke  was  the  first  secretary  of  the  Conference.  It  was 
a  wise  step  not  to  elect  him  as  president  until  seven  years 
had  passed,  as  his  Anglican  training  might  have  produced 
the  impression  that  it  was  a  Church  party  election.  He  was 
president  for  the  second  time  in  1805.  Six  years  later  he 
founded  the  mission  in  Sierra  Leone.  For  many  years  he 
had  been  intensely  interested  in  India.  "  I  am  now,"  he 
wrote  from  Dublin  in  18 13,  "dead  for  Europe  and  alive  for 
India.  God  himself  has  said  to  me,  'Go  to  Ceylon.'  I  am 
so  fully  convinced  of  the  will  of  God  that  methinks  I  had 
rather  be  set  naked  on  the  coast  of  Ceylon,  without  clothes 
and  without  a  friend,  than  not  go  there."  At  the  Conference 
of  that  year  his  India  missionary  scheme  was  at  first  strong- 
ly opposed  ;  the  debate  was  adjourned  ;  Coke  spent  the  night 
in  deep  anguish,  weeping  and  praying;  next  day  he  threw 
all  his  soul  into  his  final  appeal  to  the   Conference,  and  by 


1214 


British  Methodism 


his  impassioned  eloquence  and  generous  financial  offers  car- 
ried the  cause  dear  to  his  heart.  Permission  was  granted 
him  to  "  undertake  a  mission  to  Ceylon  and  Java,"  and  to 
take  with  him  seven  missionaries,  inclusive  of  one  for  South 


'inn,  ■■ 
P.. 


t' 


»•:- 


FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS. 


Africa.  On  Decem- 
ber 30,  1 8 1 3,  the  little 
company  left  England 
for  India,  after  Coke 
had  preached  at  Ports- 
mouth his  last  sermon 
on  shore.  "It  is  of 
little  consequence," 
he  had  said  in  it, 
"  whether  we  take 
our  flight  to  glory 
from  the  land  of  our 

nativity,  from  the  trackless  ocean,  or  the   shores  of  Ceylon. 

.   .   .  God  will  give  us  our  part  in  the  first  resurrection,  that 

on  us  the  second  death  may  have  no  power." 


DR.   COKK's    PORT   of   DEPARTURE. 

The  house  in  which  Dr.  Coke  held  hi-  last  prayer  meeting 
before  sailing.  On  the  Hard,  Portsmouth,  the  spit  where 
Dr.  Coke  took  ship. 


Death  of  Coke  1215 

On  the  voyage  the  indomitable  student  of  sixty-seven  be- 
gan to  learn  Portuguese,  a  language  then  of  much  use  in 
Ceylon.  On  May  3.  18 14,  when  his  servant  knocked  at  his 
cabin  door  in  the  early  morning,  no  reply  was  returned.  He 
entered,  and  found  his  master  dead  on  the  floor.  The  mis- 
sionaries were  stunned  by  the  sudden  blow.  One  of  them 
read  the  office  for  the  burial  of  those  at  sea,  with  choking 
voiee,  and  the  body  of  the  father  of  Methodist  missions  was 
committed  to  the  deep.  "To  no  place,"  says  Dr.  Gregory, 
'•  can  Lyte's  fine  lyric  be  more  truly  applied  than  to  Coke's 
resting  place  in  the  Indian  Ocean  : 

There  is  in  the  lone,  lone  sea 
A  spot  unmarked,  but  holy, 

For  there  the  gallant  and  the  free 
In  his  ocean  bed  lies  lowly. 

Sleep  on,  sleep  on,  thou  mighty  dead  ! 

A  glorious  grave  they've  found  thee  : 
The  broad  blue  sky  above  thee  spread, 

The  boundless  ocean  round  thee." 

The  departure  of  Dr.  Coke  for  India  had  made  it  necessary 
to  place  Wesleyan  Methodist  missions  on  a  firmer  basis.  At 
Wesley's  last  Conference  a  committee  had  been  appointed. 
Wilberforce  and  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  were  among  the  ear- 
liest subscribers,  but  the  main  work  of  raising  funds  had 
rested  with  Dr.  Coke. 

To  sagacious  George  Morley,  minister  at  Leeds  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Conference  in  1830,  belongs  the  distinction  of 
inaugurating  a  new  era  of  progress.  The  first  public  mis- 
sionary meeting  was  held  in  the  old  Boggart  House,  at  Leeds, 
and  the  first  branch  Missionary  Society  was  founded  three 
months  before  Coke  left  for  India.  "  This  blessed  plan,"  he 
wrote,  "will  lighten  my  heart  exceedingly  both  at  sea  and 


1216 


British  Methodism 


in  Asia."  At  the  Leeds  meeting,  Warrener,  the  West  Indian 
missionary  ;  Jabez  Bunting,  the  rising  tribune  ;  "Billy"  Daw- 
son, the  eloquent  local  preacher,  and  others  were  speakers. 

Next  year  the 
fi  r  s  t  London 
meeting  was 
held  in  City  Road 
Chapel,  Dr. 
Clarke  presiding. 


ORAWN    BY    J.     P.     DAVIS. 


AFTER    PHOTOGRAPHS. 


The  regulations  ^ 
for  the  General 
Missionary  So- 
ciety, organized 
on  a  solid  basis 
of  popular  sup- 
port, were  com- 
pleted in  1818, 
with  the  income 
for  the  first  year 
of  £20,331.  Missionaries  were  now  at  work  in  the  West 
Indies,  Sierra  Leone  and  South  Africa,  India  and  Australasia. 
Eight  years  later  there  were  four  thousand  Methodists  in 
Tonga.  Cannibal  Fiji  was  missioned  in  1835,  and  heroic 
John  Hunt  died,  thirteen  years  later,  crying,  "Lord,  for 
Christ's  sake,  bless  Fiji,  save  Fiji."  His  prayer  has  been 
marvelously  answered.      George    Piercy,    afterward    an   ap- 


HATTON   GARDEN.       FIRST    MISSION   HOUSE. 
House  in  which  first  Mission  Committee  was  held. 


The  Expanding  Church  1217 

proved  laborer  among  the  Chinese  in  London,  landed  at 
Hongkong  in  185 1.  Burma  was  entered  in  1887.  We 
have  noted  the  founding  of  American  Methodism  in  1784. 
Affiliated  Conferences  mark  the  rapid  expansion  of  mission- 
ary Methodism.  The  upper  Canadian  Conference,  formed 
in  1834,  to  which  the  missions  of  eastern  Canada  were  trans- 
ferred in  1853,  and  the  final  amalgamation  of  the  various 
Methodist  societies  in  the  Dominion  into  one  great  Church 
in  1883,  is  a  significant  object  lesson.  The  first  French 
Conference  met  at  Nismes  in  1852.  Three  years  later  east- 
ern British  America,  including  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfound- 
land, had  its  own  Conference  president.  The  first  Australian 
Conference  met  at  Sydney  in  1855,  and  the  missions  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands  came  under  its  care.  South  African  and 
West  Indian  Conferences  were  formed  in  1882-4. 

Thus  all  round  the  world  local  resources  have  been  devel- 
oped and  a  great  confederation  of  Churches  established. 
The  detailed  history  of  this  remarkable  expansion  must  be 
given  in  the  chapters  on  Farther  Methodism.  The  following 
figures  show  the  progress  of  Methodism  during  the  twenty- 
five  years  after  Wesley's  death  : 

MEMBERS. 
Great  Britain.  Missions.  United  States. 

179° 7'.463  5-35°  43-6o 

1  <S  1 5 211,066  19,885  211,165 

Increase..    .      139,603  H.535  167,905 

MINISTERS. 
Great  Britain.  Missions.  United  States 

I790 294  19  227 

1 8 1 5    868  74  704 

Increase....        574  55  477 


CHAPTER   CXXXI 
The  First  Secession  and  Sapling  Church 

Turbulent  Times.— Alexander  Kilham.the  Ardent  "Reformer." — 
William  Thom,  the  First  President  of  the  New  Connection. — 
Some  Men  of  Mark. — The  Jubilee  and  Centenary. 

THE  Annual  Register  for  the  year  1800  says  in  its  strik- 
ing- preface:  "A  dreadful  but  salutary  experiment  in 
the  course  of  the  last  ten  years  has  been  made  by  the 
nations.  The  rulers  of  states  and  nations  have  been  taught 
the  danger  of  tyranny  ;  the  people  that  of  anarchy ;  the  finan- 
cier that  even  commercial  advantages  may  be  too  dearly 
purchased;  the  politician  and  statesman  that  durable  power 
consists  not  so  much  in  extended  territory  as  in  compacted 
dominion,  flourishing  population,  and,  above  all,  in  justice — 
justice  in  the  conduct  of  governments,  external  as  well  as 
internal." 

When  we  consider  the  disturbed  state  of  England  during 
these  ten  years — the  reaction  against  reform  which  resulted 
from  the  fear  of  revolution,  the  extreme  doctrines  of  "the 
rights  of  man"  proclaimed  by  excited  orators,  the  association 
of  principles  of  liberty  with  license  and  infidelity,  and  the 
tendency  of  the  nervous  authorities  to  suppress  expressions 
of  opinion  by  force — it  is  not  surprising  that  Methodism  felt 


Methodism  Feels  the  Tremor 


1219 


the  tremor,  and  that  the  evolution  of  its  ecclesiastical  polity 
was  to  some  extent  affected  by  the  national  agitation.  Some 
Methodist  leaders  of  the  first  half  century  showed  a  tendency 
to  reactionary  conservatism — a  few  others  to  extreme  radical- 
ism. This  must  be  borne  in  mind  as  we  glance  at  the  seces- 
sion  Churches  and  re- 
vivalistic  offshoots  of 
Methodism.  In  this 
chapter  we  deal  with 
the  first  secession, 
which  arose  from  dif- 
ferences on  polity ;  in 
the  next  chapter  with 
the  offshoots,  which 
have  been  chiefly  the 
exuberant  growth  of 
irregular  but  noble 
evangelism. 

The  Methodist  New 
Connection  became 
the  name  of  the  first  of 
the  sapling  churches. 
Alexander  Kilham, 
W  i  1 1  i  a  m  T  horn, 
Stephen  Eversfield,  and  Alexander  Cummins  are  regarded  as 
the  fathers  of  the  new  communion,  which  was  organized  in 

1797- 

Alexander  Kilham  was  a  native  of  Epworth  who  was  en- 
gaged as  a  personal  attendant  by  "Squire  "  Brackenbury,  the 
Methodist  preacher,  and,  becoming  a  serviceable  coevangelist, 
was  soon  "no  longer  a  servant,  but  a  brother  beloved,"  and 
afterward  an  able  and  enterprising  itinerant  preacher.      He 


FROM    A   COPPER 


REV.    ALEXANDER    KM  HAM. 


1220  British  Methodism 

was  thirty  years  old  when  Wesley  died.  The  moderate  sacra- 
mental concessions  of  the  Plan  of  Pacification  received  at  first 
his  vote  and  voice,  because,  as  he  said,  "we  have  gained  a 
great  deal  more  than  we  expected.  Our  people  are  not  pre- 
pared for  more  at  present.  In  two  or  three  years  we  shall 
have  all  we  wish."  This  was  on  August  2,  1795.  But  he 
changed  his  attitude  before  a  year  had  passed.  He  had  been 
allowed  to  administer  the  sacraments  for  several  yeai'S,  and 
the  new  plan  permitted  their  administration  in  all  Methodist 
chapels  where  a  majority  of  the  trustees,  leaders,  and  stew- 
ards wished  it.  Mr.  Kilham,  however,  would  have  forced 
the  sacraments  on  societies  the  majority  of  whose  lay  officials 
objected.  His  intense  and  honest  Dissenting  convictions 
made  him  impatient  of  the  more  gradual  severance  from 
Anglicanism  which  many  of  his  brethren  thought  to  be  the 
wiser  course. 

In  the  Jubilee  Volume  of  the  New  Connection  is  the  follow- 
ing reference  to  the  Conference  concessions  in  the  Plan  of 
Pacification,  which  Mr.  Kilham  thought  did  not  go  far  enough. 
We  quote  it  at  some  length,  as  being  the  most  candid  state- 
ment of  the  matter  in  controversy : 

' '  We  are  prepared  to  make  every  allowance  for  their  cir- 
cumstances in  reference  to  their  decisions  respecting  the 
Church  and  sacramental  questions.  In  fact,  they  demand  our 
sympathy  in  some  respects  rather  than  our  censure.  They 
were  beset  with  difficulties  which  were  for  the  time  insur- 
mountable, and  the  probability  is  that  a  decision  to  admin- 
ister the  sacraments  and  hold  service  in  church  hours  in  all 
the  chapels,  though  accompanied  with  a  declaration  of  liberty 
of  conscience  to  all  who  dissented  from  such  a  regulation, 
would  at  that  time  have  caused  a  fearful  schism — a  schism 
of  perhaps  more  than  one  half  of  the  community. 


Kilham's  Radicalism  1221 

"This  is  evident  from  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the  connec- 
tion in  Ireland  ;  for  when  the  Irish  Conference,  about  twenty- 
five  years  afterward,  passed  a  resolution  to  have  preaching 
in  church  hours,  and  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  in  their 
own  chapels  to  such  only  as  desired  it,  leaving  all  who  dis- 
sented from  this  regulation  at  perfect  liberty  to  go  to  church 
as  usual,  there  was  a  schism  of  about  one  half,  or  somewhere 
about  sixteen  thousand  persons,  who  formed  a  distinctive  and 
rival  community  under  the  denomination  of  '  Primitive  Wes- 
leyans,'  or  'Church  Methodists'  (since  reunited  with  the 
parent  Wesleyan  Church). 

"These  facts  clearly  show  that  in  declining  to  legislate  for 
the  introduction  of  the  ordinances  the  Conference  was  con- 
trolled by  the  force  of  circumstances  rather  than  by  its  own 
wishes  and  desires.  Some  few,  no  doubt,  among  the  preach- 
ers as  well  as  among  the  laity  were  influenced  by  a  political 
leaning  toward  the  Establishment,  and  the  hope  of  a  legal 
incorporation  within  its  pale ;  but  the  great  body  of  the 
preachers  were  desirous  that  Methodism  should  exist  as  a 
distinct  community,  enjoying  within  itself  all  scriptural  or- 
dinances, and  no  doubt  deeply  regretted  that  the  prejudices 
of  the  laity  prevented  this  from  being  sooner  accomplished." 

On  some  other  points  Mr.  Kilham  was  before  his  time — as 
in  his  proposals  that  lay  delegates  should  attend  district 
meetings  and  Conferences,  that  quarterly  meetings  should 
have  a  voice  in  the  acceptance  of  candidates  for  the  itinerancy, 
and  that  local  preachers  should  be  examined  at  the  quarterly 
meetings.  These  improvements  were  only  gradually  adopt- 
ed by  the  parent  Church.  Other  proposals  were  more  start- 
ling, especially  his  requirement  that  Wesley's  Notes  and  the 
standard  sermons  should  be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of 
the  societies  throughout  the  land,  and  should  be  altered  in 


1222  British  Methodism 

accordance  with  the  judgments  of  the  majority.  He  also  de- 
manded that  the  exercise  of  discipline  should  be  taken  out  of 
ministerial  hands,  and  the  admission  or  exclusion  of  members 
should  rest  with  the  societies. 

It  is  no  slight  proof  of  Kilham's  sagacity  that  he  antici- 
pated so  many  of  the  successive  developments  of  Methodist 
polity  which  have  been  found  necessary  during  the  last  ninety 
years.  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  his  methods  of  propounding 
his  views  were  so  ill-judged.  He  circulated  one  big  poster 
at  Aberdeen,  which  professed  to  be  the  production  of  two 
laymen,  censuring  the  Conference  for'condemning  his  previous 
anonymous  circular,  and  he  made  the  personated  laymen  say 
concerning  his  pamphlet,  "We  have  read  it  ourselves."  His 
anonymous  pamphlets  were  couched  in  severe  terms:  "None 
can  oppose  this  liberty  but  narrow-spirited  bigots  or  lordly, 
overgrown  bishops."  "The  devil  and  his  angels,  with  all 
their  helpers,  cannot  hinder  the  people,"  etc.  He  professes  to 
write  as  an  outsider  of  "your  connection."  Of  the  election 
of  chairmen  of  the  districts  by  the  Conference,  he  says : 
"  This  disgraceful  limb  of  Antichrist  will  soon  be  torn  from 
us;"  and  more  in  the  same  strain.  He  published  attacks 
upon  the  character  of  the  preachers  wdiich  should  have  been 
brought  before  the  Conference  and  supported  by  evidence. 
He  declared,  "I  would  not  any  longer  be  restrained  from 
printing  anything  whatever." 

In  their  Life  of  Kilham  the  president  and  secretary  of  the 
New  Connection  Conference  make  the  following  frank  ad- 
missions concerning  him  :  "  He  was  certainly  in  many  cases 
too  precipitate  .  .  .  and  did  not  make  proper  allowance  for 
the  sentiments  of  others.  Some  of  his  complaints  had  the 
appearance  of  personal  abuse,  others  as  if  produced  only  for 
the  purpose  of  defamation."     It  was  this  which  led  to  his 


The   First  President 


1223 


exclusion  from  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  ministry,  much  to 
the  regret  of  many  who  appreciated  his  past  evangelism,  his 
strong  convictions,  and  his  marked  ability.  One  significant 
rule  (101)  of  the  New  Connection  is  as  follows:  "A  minister 
desirous  of  issuing  any  publication  or  addressing  a  circular 
or  pamphlet  to  the  connection,  or  to  any  part  thereof,  con- 
troverting our  principles 
and  rules,  shall,  before 
publishing,  submit  the 
work  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Annual  Committee, 
and  abide  by  its  de- 
cision; or,  if  he  publish, 
he  shall  be  dealt  with 
as  in  the  judgment  of 
Conference  the  case  may 
require." 

Mr.  Kilham  was  the  first 
secretary  of  the  New  Con- 
nection Conference,  but 
he  died  at  the  aQfe  of 
thirty-six,  worn  out  by 
excitement  and  exer- 
tion, having  survived  his 
breach  with  Wesleyan  Methodism  little  more  than  two  years. 

William  Thorn  was  the  first  president  of  the  New  Connec- 
tion, and  must  be  regarded  as  the  chief  founder  of  the  Church. 
He  became  a  Methodist  in  the  same  year  as  Samuel  Bradburn 
and  James  Rogers,  and  Wesley  counted  his  name  worthy  of  a 
place  among  the  Hundred  of  the  Deed  of  Declaration.  He 
was  a  well-educated,  courteous  Scotchman,  a  consistent  friend 
of  religious  liberty,  a  thoughtful  preacher,  a  serious,  spirit- 


FROM   THE   ENGRAVING   IN   THE   METHOOlST   NEW   CONNECTION   MAGAZINE. 

REV.    WILLIAM    THOM. 
The  first  president  of  the  Methodist   New  Connection. 


1224  British  Metnodism 

ually  minded  man.  An  extract  from  the  letter  in  which  he 
tendered  his  resignation  to  the  Wesleyan  Conference  throws 
a  pleasant  light  upon  his  character: 

Although  I  came  to  the  Conference  fully  determined  to  continue  in  union 
with  my  brethren,  if  I  could  act  in  sincerity  of  heart,  yet  I  now  feel  myself 
obliged  to  declare  that  I  must  withdraw,  and  act  in  union  with  those  of  the 
people  whose  sentiments  agree  with  my  own.  I  feel  no  desire  to  reflect  on  any 
of  the  brethren  who  differ  from  me;  I  believe  they  act  in  sincerity  with  their 
own  principles,  and  may  be  useful  to  those  who  agree  with  them.  I  love  and 
respect  many  of  them  with  whom  I  have  long  been  acquainted,  and  part  with 
great  reluctance.  I  am  determined  neither  to  make  the  pulpit  nor  the  press  the 
vehicle  of  abuse;  but  if  I  should  be  called  upon  to  speak  to  the  point  in  contro- 
versy among  us,  I  shall  press  into  the  service  of  the  cause  arguments  drawn 
from  Scripture  and  the  primitive  customs  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Praying 
that  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  may  bless  the  members  of  his  mystical  body 
in  every  part,  and  unite  us  all  in  him  in  the  cords  of  the  divine  love,  I  remain, 
dear  brethren,  Yours  affectionately,  W.  Thom. 

He  died  in  1811,  and  was  buried  in  one  of  the  vaults  under 
Bethesda  Chapel,  Hanley,  near  to  his  friends  Smith,  Meigh, 
and  the  Ridgways — eminent  laymen  of  the  Church  in  their 
day.  It  is  significant  of  the  later  friendly  feeling  existing  be- 
tween the  New  Connection  and  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  that 
the  first  Fernley  Lecture  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Osborne  in  this 
noble  chapel  at  Hanley  where  William  Thorn's  body  lies. 

About  five  thousand  members  seceded  to  the  New  Connec- 
tion out  of  a  membership  of  ninety-five  thousand.  For  many 
years  the  new  denomination  made  slow  progress,  and  the 
preachers  suffered  much  privation.  The  work  was  extended 
to  Ireland  in  1799.  The  "  Paternal"  and  "  Beneficent"  Funds 
were  originated  four  years  later  for  the  support  of  the  preach- 
ers' children  and  the  relief  of  the  aged  and  widows.  Home 
missions  were  commenced  in  18 16,  and  a  mission  to  Canada 
in  1837  proved  very  successful,  with  the  Rev.  John  Addyman 
and  Dr.  Crofts  as  pioneers.  In  1875  the  Canadian  mission 
was  united  to  the  other  branches  of  Methodism  in  Canada. 


Leaders  of  the  New  Connection 


1225 


The  jubilee  of  1846,  celebrated  at  Manchester,  was  a  time 
of  great  rejoicing,  and  the  membership  in  England  was  re- 
ported to  be  15,610;  Ireland,  932;  Canada,  3,460. 

A  training  college  was  opened  at  Ranmoor,  Sheffield,   in 


1  Br  J.  p.    da. is. 


RANMOOR   COLLEGE,    SHEFFIELD. 


1864,  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Thomas  Firth,  and  fifteen 
years  later  the  philanthropic  Mark  Firth  presented  £1,000  to 
the  Endowment  Fund.  Mr.  Mark  Firth,  who  had  endowed 
almshouses  and  a  college  for  higher  education  for  the  town 
of  Sheffield,  died  in  1880,  perhaps  the  most  eminent  of  New 
Connection  laymen. 

Among  the   ministers  a  goodly  number  have  attained   to 
more  than  denominational  eminence.     Thomas  Allin  (1784- 

1866)  was  one  of  the  greatest  pulpit  orators  of  his  time,  whose 
"every  sentence  was  a  truth,  winged  with  lightning,  aimed 
directly  at  the  conscience  and  the  heart."  William  Cooke, 
D.D.  ( 1 806-1 884),  was  a  catholic-spirited  warrior  "for  the 
truth  upon  the  earth;"  the  opponent  on  the  platform  of  an 
ex-minister  of  the  connection,  Joseph  Barker,  who  made 
great  havoc  by  his  erroneous  teaching  and  ultimate  atheism. 


1226  British  Methodism 

Barker  became  a  colleague  of  Mr.  Bracllaugh.  There  are  few 
sadder  pages  in  modern  literature  than  those  in  Barker's 
Autobiography  in  which  he  relates  his  experiences  during 
those  dark  days  when  he  had  lost  all  faith  in  God  and  immor- 
tality. After  years  of  wandering  he  recovered  his  early  faith, 
and  Dr.  Cooke  welcomed  his  return  to  Christianity  with 
brotherly  affection.  Thrice  president  of  the  Conference,  an 
able  theological  professor,  and  the  author  of  some  noble  books 
— The  Deity,  and  Christian  Theology— Dr.  Cooke  must  be 
regarded  as  the  master  mind  of  his  Church. 

A  man  of  kindred  spirit  and  gifts,  with  a  more  entrancing 
literary  style,  was  James  Stacey,  D.D.  (1818-1891).  For 
twenty-three  years  he  was  engaged  in  training  young  men 
for  the  ministry.  Dr.  Gregory  describes  him  as  'a  preacher 
and  writer  whose  vigorous  and  subtle  intellect,  always  under 
the  control  of  sobriety  and  reverence,  would  adorn  any  Church 
in  Christendom."  His  Life,  by  Dr.  W.  J.  Townsend,  another 
eminent  president  and  writer,  is  a  biographical  gem. 

Samuel  Hulme  was  a  gifted  preacher  and  scholar.  Ralph 
Waller,  who  died  in  1848,  is  regarded  as  the  Thomas  Walsh 
of  the  denomination  ;  and  P.  J.  Wright,  who  has  had  scatit 
justice  done  him  in  the  Life  of  Mrs.  Booth,  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  was  a  powerful,  logical  preacher,  who  turned  many 
to  righteousness,  and -contributed  largely  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  Church  of  which  he  was  president  in  1852.  The  Confer- 
ence of  1880  was  remarkable  for  its  record  of  the  deaths  of 
six  prominent  ministers:  P.  T.  Gilton,  William  Baggaly,  Dr. 
Crofts,  John  Taylor,  Charles  Mann,  and  B.  B.  Turnock, 
B.A.  The  four  first  named  had  been  presidents  of  the  Con- 
ference. Dr.  Stacey  published  in  1862  a  memoir  of  Mr.  John 
Ridgway,  "who  had  been  so  prominent  and  influential  that 
his  life  might  be  justly  considered  a  chapter  of  the  connec- 


New  Connection   Literature 


1227 


tion's  history."     Dr.  J.  C.  Watts  is  a  preacher  and  editor  of 
note. 

The    New   Connection    Magazine  and    Book    Room    have 
existed  since  1798.      Dr.  Cooke  and  Dr.  Stacey  have  enriched 


FORMER    LEADERS    OF    THE   NEW    CONNECTION. 


James  Stacey,  D.D. 


William  Cooke,  D.D. 


Rev.  Samuel  Hulme. 


the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine  by  their  contributions. 
Richard  Watson,  who  wrote  a  classic  memoir  of  James  Parry, 
was  connected  with  the  body  for  eight  years,  and  they  claim 
the  honor  of  bringing  him  out  of  obscurity.  He  earnestly 
advised  Methodists  to  join  them  who  preferred  their  method 
of  Church  government.  Their  doctrines  are  Wesleyan,  and 
their  polity  does  not  now  differ  so  widely  from  that  of  the 


1228  British  Methodism 

older  body  as  it  did  before  1877,  when  laymen  were  admitted 
to  the  representative  sessions  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference. 

The  foreign  missionaries  have  labored  chiefly  in  Australia 
and  China.  The  mission  churches  at  Adelaide  and  Melbourne, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Conference  of  1888,  united  with  the 
Bible  Christians  and  Wesleyans. 

The  celebration  of  the  centenary  in  1897  (when  the  valiant 
missionary  the  Rev.  John  Innocent  was  president)  was  re- 
markable for  a  series  of  gatherings  at  Leeds  and  in  Wesley's 
chapel,  City  Road.  Dr.  Parker,  of  the  City  Temple,  preached 
in  the  historic  chapel,  and  representatives  of  the  "old  body" 
of  Wesleyan  Methodists  took  part  in  the  meetings  and 
addressed  the  Centenary  Conference  at  Sheffield.  The 
president  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference,  Dr.  Randies,  in  his 
greeting  said  of  the  New  Connection:  "Its  intelligent  and 
self-denying  fidelity  to  Christian  doctrine  and  its  promotion 
of  holy  living  have  proved  it  one  of  the  great  forces  for 
moral  and  spiritual  good  during  this  nineteenth  century. 
While  in  secondary  matters  your  methods  may  have  varied 
from  those  of  other  Churches,  your  trumpet  has  given  no  un- 
certain sound  as  a  witness  for  God  and  his  saving  truth ;  nor 
have  you  failed  to  stand  firmly  for  religious  and  civil  liberty." 

The  Methodist  New  Connection  in  1899  reports  41,558 
members,  208  ministers,  1,179  lay  preachers,  and  84,682 
Sunday  scholars.  Suggestions  for  the  reunion  of  the  con- 
nection with  the  other  Methodist  bodies  have  been  made  in 
recent  years,  but  questions  of  polity  and  finance  have  ob- 
structed the  way.  Proposals  of  organic  union  do  not  yet  meet 
with  general  acceptance,  but  cordial  fraternity  and  coopera- 
tion for  Christian  objects  already  exist  between  all  the  Meth- 
odist Churches. 

The  Jubilee  Volume  of   1846  closes  with  a  passage  which 


Harmony 


1229 


has  gathered  force  during  the  last  fifty  years :  "Most  of  those 
men  who  were  engaged  in  the  disputes  which  convulsed 
Methodism  from  center  to  circumference,  and  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  New  Connection,  have  finished  their  course. 
They  have  met  in  a  purer  clime,  where  the  understanding, 


REPRESENTATIVE    MEN    OF   THE    NEW    CONNECTION. 

Rev.  W.  J.  Townsend. 
Rev.  J.  C  Watts.  Rev    J.  S.  Ci.emmens. 

full  of  light,  is  ever  in  unison  with  a  heart  of  love.  .  .  .  We 
hail  the  advancing  spirit  of  concord,  and  pray  that  this  spirit 
may  extend  its  healing  influence  till  every  breach  is  repaired 
and  we  are  made  perfect  in  one." 


CHAPTER  CXXX1I 
Exuberant  Offshoots 

The  Camp  Meeting  on  Mow  Cop.— Some  Noble  Irregulars.— The 
Primitive  Methodist  Connection.— The  Romance  of  the  Early 
Ranters.— The  Conversion  of  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon. — 
The    Bible  Christians. 

NORTHWEST  of  the  heart  of  England  is  a  populous 
district,  about  twelve  miles  in  diameter,  known  as 
"the  Potteries."  Forests  of  lofty  chimneys  rise 
amid  colossal  bomblike  furnaces  and  stacks  of  warehouses. 
Long  rows  of  potters'  dwellings  link  together  the  dozen  black 
and  busy  towns  which  lie  under  the  pall  of  smoke.  Here  the 
Wedgwoods,  the  Mintons,  and  their  successors  created  a 
center  of  ceramic  art,  and  here  Enoch  Wood,  of  Burslem, 
molded  his  famous  busts  of  Wesley  and  other  celebrities. 
Many  a  critical  industrial  question  has  been  threshed  out 
and  many  a  socio-religious  problem  has  been  painfully  solved 
by  the  hard-headed,  warm-hearted,  impulsive  potters  and 
miners  of  this  unique  and  fiery  land  of  clay  and  iron  and  coal. 
A  great  ridge  of  millstone  grit,  called  Mow  Cop,  stands  up 
one  thousand  feet  high  on  the  north,  and  under  the  shade  of 
this  grim  hill,  in  the  lea  of  a  grove  of  smoke-browned  fir 
trees,  the  famous  camp  meeting  was  held  in  1807  which  led 

to  the   formation  of  the  fervent  and  flourishing  Primitive 

1230 


Revival   Fires  in  the  Potteries  1231 

Methodist  Connection.  Hugh  Bourne  and  William  Clowes 
were  the  founders  of  this  noble  evangelistic  Church. 

Hugh  Bourne  (1772-1S52)  was  living  in  his  father's  house 
at  Bemersley,  amid  collieries  and  ironworks,  when  a  sermon 
by  Wesley  and  a  book  by  Fletcher  led  to  his  conversion. 
Soon  after  he  joined  the  Methodist  society.  The  Primitive 
Methodist  historian,  Petty,  tells  us  that  he  was  a  man  of  in- 
domitable energy,  and  of  too  stern  and  unbending  a  nature 
to  be  turned  aside  by  trifles  from  what  he  conceived  to  be  the 
way  of  Providence.  This  his  portrait  betokens  by  every  line 
and  curve. 

William  Clowes  was  born  at  Burslem  in  1780.  He  learned 
the  potter's  trade  under  his  uncle,  Joseph  Wedgwood,  and, 
being  a  clever  workman,  he  earned  high  wages,  which  he 
spent  in  riotous  living.  At  a  revival  meeting  he  found  new 
life,  but  fell  again,  and  was  restored  some  years  later  at  a 
prayer  meeting.  Henceforth  revivals  and  prayer  meetings 
were  his  delight.  Bourne  and  Clowes  became  fast  friends, 
and  each  fired  the  other  with  zeal.  One  of  Bourne's  relatives 
was  Daniel  Shubotham,  a  boxer,  a  poacher,  and  a  ringleader 
in  crime.  Bourne,  whose  heart  was  moved  by  his  misery, 
pleaded  with  him  and  led  him  to  Christ.  Others  soon  fol- 
lowed ;  cottage  prayer  meetings  sprang  up  in  all  directions, 
and  there  were  scenes  of  blessed  excitement  of  which  the 
converting  furnaces  of  clay  around  them  seemed  fitting  sym- 
bols to  the  ardent  people.  Their  zeal  was  unquenchable,  and 
the  meetings  were  prolonged  for  hours.  The  Burslem  min- 
ister appears  to  have  missed  his  opportunity  of  enlisting  these 
fervent  men  in  any  regular  form  of  evangelism.  At  one  of 
the  long  prayer  meetings  Daniel  Shubotham,  failing  to  dis- 
perse the  people,  had  uttered  an  unwitting  prophecy:  "  You 
shall  have  a  meeting  on  Mow  some  Sunday,  and  have  a  whole 


1232  British  Methodism 

day's  praying,  and  then  you  will  be  satisfied."  The  words 
arrested  Bourne's  attention,  and  he  mused  on  them  until  his 
heart  kindled. 

The  flame  was  fanned  into  a  blaze  when  Bourne  and  Clowes 
read  in  the  Methodist  Magazine  an  account  of  the  American 
camp  meetings.  "  Their  imaginations,"  says  Dr.  Stoughton, 
"became  filled  with  pictures  of  forest  trees  hung  with  lamps, 
a  wide  space  encircled  with  tents,  and  a  preacher  addressing 
thousands  of  people  called  together  day  by  day  at  the  sound 
of  a  trumpet."  While  their  imaginations  were  aglow  with 
these  pictures  Lorenzo  Dow,  the  American  revivalist,  visited 
England  and  preached  at  many  places,  including  Burslem 
and  Harrisea  Head.  At  the  latter  place  he  asserted  that 
"occasionally  something  of  a  pentecostal  shower  attended 
camp  meetings ;  and  that  as  much  good  had  been  done  at 
them  in  America  as  at  all  other  meetings  put  together." 

The  fervent  friends  felt  the  idea  burning  in  their  brains. 
Why  should  they  not  "transform  Mow  Cop  into  a  Carmel, 
and  there,  Elijah-like,  plead  with  God  until  he  sent  a  great 
rain?"  So  at  the  time  of  the  yearly  wakes,  or  revels,  when 
the  Potteries  went  wild  in  brutal  dissipation,  on  the  last  day 
of  May,  1807,  they  hoisted  a  flag  on  the  hilltop  and  gathered 
a  vast  crowd  by  the  fir  grove  below.  Hugh  Bourne  thus  de- 
scribes the  closing  scenes :  ' '  Thousands  were  listening  with 
solemn  attention ;  a  company  near  the  first  stand  were  wrest- 
ling in  prayer  for  mourners,  and  four  preachers  were  preach- 
ing with  all  their  might.  This  extraordinary  scene  continued 
until  about  four  o'clock,  when  the  people  began  to  retire,  and 
before  six  they  were  confined  to  one  stand.  About  seven 
o'clock  a  work  began  among  children,  six  of  whom  were  con- 
verted before  the  meeting  broke  up.  About  half-past  eight 
this  extraordinary  meeting  closed,  a  meeting  such  as  our  eyes 


The  Camp   Meeting  on  Mow  Cop 


1233 


have  never  beheld  ;  a  meeting  for  which  many  will  praise  God 
both  in  time  and  eternity.  Such  a  day  as  this  we  never  be- 
fore enjoyed.  It  was  a  day  spent  in  the  active  service  of  God, 
a  Sabbath  in  which  Jesus  Christ  made  glad  the  hearts  of  his 


A   GROUP   OF    PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    AND    BIBLE   CHRISTIAN    LEADERS. 

Rev.  Hugh  Bolrne.  Rev.  William  Clowes. 

Rev.  William  Antliff. 
Rev.  James  Thorne.  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Bourne. 


saints  and  sent  his  arrows  to  the  hearts  of  sinners.  The 
propriety  and  utility  of  camp  meetings  appeared  to  everyone. 
So  real  was  the  work  effected  that  the  people  were  ready  to 
say,  'We  have  seen  strange  things  to-day.'" 

For  the  next  camp  meetings  tents  were  secured,  that  there 
might  be  an  encampment  day  and  night.  Then  the  fears  of 
the  Macclesfield  and  Burslem  ministers  were  aroused.     They 


1234  British  Methodism 

feared  the  perils  of  these  concourses  of  people  gathered  in 
the  shelters  for  the  night.  They  had  failed  to  guide  the 
movement  at  an  earlier  stage,  now  they  became  alarmed. 
They  issued  handbills  disclaiming  all  connection  with  the 
meetings.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  entered  into  friendly 
counsel  with  the  enterprising  evangelists.  Hugh  Bourne 
wavered  for  a  moment,  but  finally  decided  to  hold  the  camp 
meeting  at  all  costs.  The  Conference  of  1807  disclaimed 
connection  with  the  meetings  as  "  likely  to  be  productive  of 
considerable  mischief."  Hugh  Bourne  took  out  a  license  for 
himself  as  a  "Protestant  Dissenting  minister,"  although  the 
Conference  of  1803  had  forbidden  private  members  of  society 
to  do  this  without  the  permission  of  the  superintendent ;  and 
so  the  breach  widened.  Bourne  and  his  helpers  ignored  all 
regulations,  and  went  through  the  country  holding  camp 
meetings.  At  first  all  the  converts  were  advised  to  join  the 
Methodist  societies. 

In  1808  Hugh  Bourne  was  excluded  from  the  society,  and 
two  years  later  William  Clowes,  who  was  a  local  preacher, 
refusing  to  promise  compliance  with  the  rules,  became,  as  he 
expresses  it,  "unchurched."  A  Wesleyan  writer  in  the 
London  Quarterly  Review  confesses:  "Doubtless,  having  re- 
gard to  the  letter  of  the  law,  the  action  of  the  Burslem  super- 
intendent can  be  vindicated ;  still  in  that  action  we  are  not  so 
much  impressed  by  the  delicate  poise  of  the  balance  of  justice 
as  with  the  exceeding  sharpness  of  her  sword." 

Mr.  Bourne  and  his  comrades  had  formed  a  preaching  plan 
of  their  own  in  1 809.  A  year  later  they  formed  their  first 
society,  and  they  gathered  into  its  membership  their  converts, 
most  of  whom  had  never  been  connected  with  any  Christian 
community.  As  Professor  Slater  says :  "This  body  of  Chris- 
tian laborers  did  not  enter  upon  other  men's  labors,  but  went 


The  "  Ranters"  1235 

to  the  ungodly  masses.  The  new  society,  therefore,  was  not 
so  much  a  secession  as  an  exuberant  offshoot  of  the  older  tree 
of  Methodism.  In  1812  this  offshoot  assumed  the  name  of 
the  "Primitive  Methodist  Connection."  In  18 18  a  Deed 
Poll  was  drawn  up  and  a  new  Church  definitely. founded.  The 
rough  voice  of  the  world  called  the  fervent  singers  and  preach- 
ers "Ranters." 

The  fact  that  their  first  leaders  were  laymen  is  impressed 
upon  the  constitution  of  their  connection.  Lay  delegates 
attend  the  Conference  and  district  meeting  in  the  proportion 
of  two  to  each  minister  present.  The  first  Conference  was 
held  at  Hull  in  1820;  its  statistics  show  8  circuits,  48  preach- 
ers, 277  local  preachers,  7,842  members.  Next  year  the 
membership  had  doubled. 

The  shameful  persecution  which  the  "  Primitives"  suffered 
resembled  that  endured  by  the  early  Wesleyans.  At  West- 
minster the  publicans'  agents  attired  themselves  as  devils, 
with  horns,  wings,  and  tails,  and  rushed  in  upon  the  affrighted 
congregation.  The  old  device  of  turning  a  bull  loose  upon 
the  open-air  gatherings  was  resorted  to.  "Turn  out  the 
Ranters"  was  the  war  whoop  of  many  mobs,  incited  to  vio- 
lence by  the  sympathy  of  clerical  magistrates.  Clergymen 
caused  the  bells  to  be  rung  to  drown  the  preachers'  voices ; 
dogs  were  set  fighting  and  drums  were  beaten.  The  clergy- 
men at  Newark  employed  the  fire  engine  to  quench  the 
Ranters'  zeal,  as  in  the  days  of  John  Cennick.  "You  can- 
not quench  the  fire  within  !  "  cried  the  preacher,  Lockwood  ; 
and  some  friendly  boatmen  cut  the  hose  to  pieces  with  their 
knives.  The  boatmen  were  charged  with  the  damage  before 
the  magistrates,  who,  to  their  honor,  in  this  case  made  the 
parson  pay.  Many  a  poor  laborer  was  turned  out  of  his  cot- 
tage by  his  landlord  and  had  to  camp  out  at  night  by  the 


1236  British  Methodism 

roadside  or  on  the  moors.  The  poorly  paid  itinerants  supped 
on  cabbage,  slept  under  haystacks,  and,  says  one,  "I  was 
awakened  by  the  singing  of  the  birds,  and  I  arose  and  went 
into  the  town  and  preached  again  at  five  to  many  people. 
To-day  I  was  glad  to  eat  a  few  pea  husks  as  I  walked,  but  I 
bless  God  that  much  good  has  been  done." 

"  Brother  Russell"  was  entrapped  by  the  Jesuitical  trick  of 
the  Chaddleworth  clergyman  who  induced  a  policeman  to 
purchase  a  hymn  book  of  the  preacher,  and  then  clapped  the 
Ranter  into  jail  for  selling  without  a  hawker's  license.  He 
was  sent  to  work  at  the  Avheel  until  his  hands  bled.  Released 
through  the  interposition  of  some  gentlemen,  he  was  met  at 
the  jail  gates  by  his  friends,  who,  after  singing  a  hymn, 
marched  with  him  to  the  market  place,  where  he  preached 
from  the  words,  ' '  Whom  when  Paul  saw,  he  thanked  God 
and  took  courage." 

Some  Cambridgeshire  country  clergy  in  1845  were  sorely 
grieved  when  the  churchwarden  and  constables  who  were  sent 
to  disperse  the  Ranters  were  converted  and  became  stanch 
supporters  of  the  local  chapels.  Robert  Hall,  the  eloquent 
preacher  of  Leicester,  vigorously  defended  the  irregularities 
of  the  fervent  evangelists,  saying:  "Was  not  our  Lord's  re- 
buking the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  driving  the  buyers  and 
sellers  out  of  the  temple,  very  irregular?  Was  not  almost  all 
that  he  did  in  his  public  ministry  very  irregular?  Was  not 
the  course  of  the  apostles,  and  of  Stephen,  and  of  many  of  the 
evangelists  very  irregular?  Were  not  the  proceedings  of 
Calvin,  Luther,  and  their  fellow-workers  in  the  Reformation 
very  irregular — a  complete  and  shocking  innovation  upon  all 
the  quiescent  doings  of  the  papists?  And  were  not  the  whole 
lives  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley  very  irregular  lives,  as  you 
view  such  things?     Yet  how  infinitely  is  the  world  indebted 


Fifty  Years  of   "Irregularity"  1237 

to  all  these  !  No,  sir !  there  must  be  something  widely  dif- 
ferent from  mere  irregularity  before  I  condemn." 

It  was  at  Leicester  that  these  "irregulars"  built  a  chapel 
with  their  own  hands.  Visiting  the  brickyards,  for  every 
thousand  bricks  they  bought  they  begged  a  thousand  more. 
An  eccentric  gentleman,  whom  they  asked  for  a  donation, 
said,  "  I  will  give  you  a  large  ash  tree  on  condition  that  you 
drag  it  to  Leicester  with  human  strength."  They  accepted 
the  challenge,  put  the  timber  on  a  pair  of  wheels,  dragged  it 
in  front  of  the  donor's  house,  and  a  preacher  climbing  on  the 
prostrate  mammoth  tree,  delivered  a  sermon  from  the  words, 
"  Now  also  the  ax  is  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree,"  etc.  They 
sold  the  timber  for  £j,  and  therewith  bought  windows  for 
their  chapel.  A  year  afterward  the  General  Missionary  Com- 
mittee was  formed. 

In  1 83 1  eight  preachers  went  to  the  United  States,  and  a 
mission  was  extended  to  Canada.  In  the  latter  country  the 
membership  had  reached  nine  thousand  when  it  was  amalga- 
mated with  the  Canadian  Methodist  Church. 

The  jubilee  of  the  connection,  in  i860,  gave  an  oppor- 
tunity for  a  review  of  the  inspiring  traditions  of  earlier  hard- 
ship. Ten  thousand  people  assembled  at  a  camp  meeting  at 
Tunstall,  where  the  first  chapel  had  been  built,  and  Thomas 
King,  the  oldest  of  the  veterans,  preached.  Funds  were  re- 
organized and  the  Book  Room  placed  on  a  better  footing. 
The  Primitive  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  for  many  years 
under  the  editorship  of  C.  C.  McKechnie,  has  taken  high 
literary  rank.  A  college  at  Rusholme,  Manchester,  for  the 
training  of  ministers  has  an  able  principal  in  Dr.  Parkin. 
Professor  A.  S.  Peake,  M.A.,  was  the  first  Nonconformist  to 
gain  by  open  competition  a  theological  fellowship  in  Oxford 
University.     J.  Flesher,  eloquent  and  versatile ;  the  popular 


1238  British  Methodism 

W.  Harland,  Dr.  Antliff,  the  historian  of  the  body,  W. 
Petty;  R.  Fenwick,  Dr.  Watson,  H.  Phillips,  John  Smith, 
Rev.  Joseph  Odell,  the  present  president,  and  others,  have 
been  worthy  successors  of  Bourne  and  Clowes. 

Dr.  Rigg  testifies :  "At  the  first  Ecumenical  Methodist 
Conference,  held  in  London  in  1 88 1 ,  the  masterly  ability,  the 
clear-cut  thought,  the  tempered  boldness  of  several  of  their 
ministers  were  conspicuous.  Few  abler  men  or  men  with 
clearer  insight  into  the  needs  of  the  times  were  found  among 
the  whole  assembly."  "  There  has  for  many  years  past  been 
a  very  friendly  feeling  between  the  old  Wesleyan  Connection 
and  the  Primitive  Methodists." 

Proposals  have  been  considered  for  the  union  of  the  body 
with  the  Bible  Christians,  but  the  latter  have  a  majority  in 
favor  of  equal  representation  of  ministers  and  laymen  in  their 
Church  courts,  and  this  has  hitherto  prevented  amalgamation. 
A  "  forward  movement"  in  evangelism  has  commenced,  and 
a  bold  step  has  been  taken  in  purchasing  the  chapel  of  the 
late  George  Dawson,  the  eloquent  Unitarian  of  Birmingham, 
for  a  central  mission  in  that  city.  The  foreign  missions  find 
their  record  in  our  volumes  on  World-Wide  Methodism.  The 
Primitive  Methodists  are  well  represented  in  civil  life,  having 
H.  Broadhurst,  G.  Doughty,  J.  Fenwick,  J.  Wilson,  and 
Joseph  Arch  in  Parliament,  the  last  three  being  the  chosen 
representatives  of  labor. 

A  well-verified  story  reveals  the  debt  which  the  whole 
world  owes  to  a  Primitive  Methodist  local  preacher  named 
Robert  Eaglen,  whose  sermon  led  to  the  conversion  of  the 
late  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon,  the  renowned  Baptist  pastor 
of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  London.  Mr.  Spurgeon 
himself  related  in  a  sermon  of  1856:  "I  resolved  to  visit 
every  place  of  worship  in  Colchester,  that  I  might  find  out 


Spurgeon's  Awakening  1239 

the  way  of  salvation.  I  felt  willing  to  be  anything  and  to  do 
anything  if  God  would  only  forgive  me.  At  last,  one  snowy 
day — it  snowed  so  much  that  I  could  not  go  to  the  place  that 
I  was  determined  to  go  to,  and  I  was  obliged  to  stop  on  the 
road,  and  it  was  a  blessed  stop  for  me — I  found  rather  an 
obscure  street,  and  turned  down  a  court,  and  there  was  a 
little  chapel.  I  wanted  to  go  somewhere,  but  I  did  not  know 
this  place.  It  was  the  Primitive  Methodists'  chapel.  I  had 
heard  of  these  people  from  many,  and  how  they  sang  so 
loudly  that  they  made  people's  heads  ache ;  but  that  did  not 
matter.  I  wanted  to  know  how  I  might  be  saved,  and  if 
they  made  my  head  ache  ever  so  much,  I  did  not  care. 

"So,  sitting  down,  the  service  went  on,  but  no  minister 
came.  At  last  a  very  thin-looking  man  came  into  the  prdpit 
and  opened  his  Bible  and  read  these  words:  '  Look  unto  me, 
and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.'  Just  setting  his 
eyes  upon  me,  as  if  he  knew  me  all  by  heart,  he  said,  '  Young 
man,  you  are  in  trouble.'  Well,  I  was,  sure  enough.  Said 
he,  '  You  will  never  get  out  of  it  unless  you  look  to  Christ.' 
And  then,  lifting  up  his  hands,  he  cried  out,  as  only  I  think 
a  Primitive  Methodist  could  do,  'Look,  look,  look!'  'It  is 
only  look,'  said  he.  I  at  once  saw  the  way  of  salvation.  O 
how  I  did  leap  for  joy  at  that  moment !  I  know  not  what 
else  he  said;  I  did  not  take  much  notice  of  it,  I  was  so  pos- 
sessed with  that  one  thought.  Like  as  when  the  brazen 
serpent  was  lifted  up,  they  only  looked  and  were  healed.  I 
had  been  waiting  to  do  fifty  things,  but  when  I  heard  this 
word  '  Look,"  what  a  charming  word  it  seemed  to  me!  O  I 
looked  until  I  could  almost  have  looked  my  eyes  away,  and 
in  heaven  I  will  look  on  still  in  my  joy  unutterable.  I  now 
think  I  am  bound  never  to  preach  a  sermon  without  preach- 
ing to  sinners.      I  do  think  that  a  minister  who  can  preach  a 


1240  British  Methodism 

sermon  without  addressing  sinners  does  not  know  how  to 
preach." 

In  1864  the  pastor  of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  preached 
in  the  chapel  at  Colchester  in  which  he  was  converted.  He- 
took  for  his  text  the  memorable  words,  "  Look  unto  me,  and 
be  ye  saved,"  etc.,  and  said,  "  That  I  heard  preached  from  in 
this  chapel  when  the  Lord  converted  me;"  and  pointing  to  a 
seat  on  the  left  hand,  under  the  gallery,  he  said,  "  I  was  sit- 
ting in  that  pew  when  I  was  converted."  This  honest  con- 
fession produced  a  thrilling  effect  upon  the  congregation. 

The  last  statistics  of  the  Primitive  Methodists  record 
198,930  members,  1,102  ministers,  16,617  local  preachers, 
4,985  chapels,  467,884  Sunday  scholars. 

The  Bible  Christians  owe  their  origin  to  an  outbreak  of 
evangelistic  ardor  similar  to  that  which  o-ave  rise  to  Primi- 
tive  Methodism.  "Both  of  these,"  says  Dr.  Rigg,  "were 
irregular  outgrowths  from  Wesleyan  Methodism,  founded  by 
lay  preachers  who  did  not  find  within  the  liberties  of  "Wes- 
leyan Methodism,  as  regulated  by  the  Minutes  of  Conference, 
free  or  adequate  scope  for  their  own  methods  or  the  working 
out  of  their  own  ideas. "  "  During  the  first  twenty  years  of 
the  present  century,"  writes  J.  S.  Simon  in  the  London  Quar- 
terly Review,  "  the  rcvivalistic  spirit  developed  a  centrifugal 
force  which  threatened  to  fling  off  into  space  innumerable 
ecclesiastical  fragments." 

The  founder  of  the  Bible  Christian  Connection  was  "William 
Bryan  (1778- 1868),  a  fervid  Cornishman  of  Irish  descent, 
and  his  chief  coadjutor  was  James  Thorne  (1 795-1 872),  a  man 
of  Devon.  Bryan's  irregular  evangelism  led  to  his  exclusion 
from  the  Methodist  society  in  1810.  "It  may  be  admitted," 
says  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Bourne,  a  recent  Bible  Christian  presi- 
dent, "that  some  of  Mr.  Bryan's  movements  were  not  wise, 


The  Bible  Christians 


1241 


nor  was  the  conduct  of   his  friends  either  considerate  or  ju- 
dicious.   ...    If  his  efforts  were  irregular,  they  were  glorious 
rev.  william  bryan.  irregularities.      If  he  erred,  he 

erred,  as  Robert  Hall  arsrued, 
in  the  best  of  company."  The 
first  Bible  Christian  society 
was  formed  at  the  Lake  Farm 
House,  Shebbear,  Devon, 
on  October  9,   18 15. 


The  first  Conference  was  held 
in  18 19,  at  which  Bryan  presided, 
with  Thorn e  as  secretary,  and 
twelve  preachers.  A  missionary 
society  was  formed  two  years 
later,  and  the  name  Bible  Christian,  affixed  to  them  at  first  by 
outsiders,  was  formally  adopted.      In  1829  Bryan,  "claiming 


REV.   JAMES    THORNE. 


1242 


British  Methodism 


the  continued  exercise  of  patriarchal  powers  which  the  Con- 
ference would  no  longer  concede,"  seceded  from  the  Church 
he  had  founded,  and  in  1835  embarked  for  the  United  States, 
where  he  once  more  originated  a  society.    The  leadership  then 


DRAWN    BY    P.    E.    FUNTOFF 


AFTER     A     PHOTOGRAPH. 


SHEBBEAR   COLLEGE. 


devolved  on  James  Thorne,  who  was  five  times  president.  He 
was  a  strong,  sympathetic,  catholic-spirited  man,  with  much 
mental  force,  whose  name  is  held  in  high  honor  throughout 
the  West  of  England,  where  his  Church  has  its  stronghold. 
The  centenary  of  his  birth  was  celebrated  in  1895,  when  his 
son  came  from  Australia  to  take  part  in  the  festival,  and  was 
elected  to  the  presidential  chair  for  a  year.  Good  work  has 
been  done  by  the  Bible  Christians  in  Australia,  Canada,  and 
New  Zealand.  The  ministers,  who  now  number  291,  shep- 
herd 34,961  members,  with  1,872  local  preachers  and  57,451 
Sunday  scholars.  Colleges  have  been  founded  at  Shebbear 
and  Edgehill,  and  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Horwill,  M.A.,  opened  the 
discussion  on  "  Higher  Education"  at  the  Washington  Ecu- 
menical Conference  of  1891,  "being  assured  by  the  example 


The  Church  of  the  Future  1243 

of  our  founder  that  it  is  possible  to  blend  refined  scholarship 
with  simple  faith  and  fervent  zeal."  The  Rev.  F.  W.  Bourne, 
then  president  of  his  Church,  closed  the  Ecumenical  Confer- 
ence with  an  address  on  "The  Church  of  the  Future,"  affirm- 
ing that  "the  present  trend  of  thought,  the  stream  of  ten- 
dency among  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the  world,  is  in  the 
direction  of  a  Church  of  which  the  main  features  will  be  a 
fearless  love  of  truth,  a  nobler  catholicity  of  spirit,  a  wider 
and  more  practical  sympathy,  and  a  bolder  and  more  aggres- 
sive evangelism." 


?^*e)v 


mtmrzzv^t 


CHAPTER  CXXXIII 

Some  Master  Minds  of  the  New  Century 

Joseph  Benson,  the  "Whirlwind"  Preacher. — Samuel  Bradburn, 
the  S<hl-saving  Orator. — Henry  Moore,  the  Sagacious  Vet- 
eran.— Adam  Clarke,  the  Savant,  Saint,  and  Herald  of  the 
"Divine  Benevolence." 

RP2TURNING  to  the  history  of  the  twenty-five  years 
that  followed  the  death  of  Wesley,  Ave  find  among 
the  presidents  some  men  of  striking  individuality 
and  diversified  gifts.  Their  views  on  details  of  polity  differed 
as  widely  as  their  personality,  and  their  election  shows  that 
the  Wesleyan  Methodist  system,  whatever  its  defects,  did 
not  crush  out  individuality  or  force  even  its  officials  into  one 
ecclesiastical  mold.  Four  master  minds  gave  distinction  to 
the  presidency — Benson,  Bradburn,  Moore,  and  Clarke. 

Joseph  Benson  (president  1798  and  18 10)  saw  "more  clear- 
ly than  most  of  his  contemporaries  that  the  true  and  all- 
absorbing  subject  of  solicitude  was  not  the  framework  and 
polity  of  Methodism,  but  its  preservation  as  a  great  agency 
for  converting  the  souls  of  men."  There,  then,  he  stood 
before  his  people,  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  a  pale  and  slen- 
der man,  of  a  presence  melancholy  and  all  but  mean,  with  a 
voice  feeble  and,  as  he  raised  it,  .shrill,  and  with  a  strange 

accent,  caught  in  his  native  Cumberland  ;   his  body  bending, 

1244 


Joseph  Benson 


1245 


as  beneath  "the  burden  of  the  Lord,"  his  gesture  uncouth 
and   sometimes   grotesque,    the    general    impression    of    the 


KtV.  HENRY  MUOKK. 
REV.  SAMUEL  BRADBURN.  REV.  JOSEPH  BENSON. 

whole  scarcely  redeemed,  at  first  sight,  by  the  high,  clear 
forehead,  firm  nose,  and  steady  eye  which  his  portraits  have 
preserved  to  posterity.     But  the  man  was  seen  no  more  when, 


1246  British  Methodism 

having  announced  his  message,  he  proceeded  to  enforce 
it.  Dr.  Chalmers  once  said  concerning  a  plain  Methodist 
preacher,  "I  like  your  George  Thompson,  he  goes  about 
saving  souls  in  such  a  businesslike  manner."  Benson,  in 
higher  degree,  had  this  habitual  purpose  and  faculty.  "  He 
was  a  sound  and  learned  expositor  of  Holy  Scripture.  Mak- 
ing the  best  use  of  this  prime  advantage,  he  explained, argued, 
and  taught;  but  he  also  warned,  remonstrated,  entreated,  and 
wept  until,  often,  throwing  down  the  weapons  his  spent 
strength  could  wield  no  longer,  he  fell  on  his  knees  and 
vented  his  full  heart  in  fervent  prayer,  while  vast  congrega- 
tions quailed  or  melted  under  the  spell  of  this  last  appeal  to 
a  resistless  Energy,  and,  as  with  one  voice,  cried — but  not 
aloud — for  instant  mercy." 

Early  in  1795,  when  the  strife  at  Bristol  had  grown  so 
fierce  that  his  very  position  as  a  Methodist  preacher  was 
threatened,  Benson  went  into  Cornwall  and,  after  a  long  suc- 
cession of  sermons,  found  himself  so  pressed  one  day  by  an 
eager  crowd  of  outdoor  listeners  that  he  begged  those 
already  converted  to  stand  far  off,  and  those  as  yet  unsaved 
to  come  within  hearing !  But  all  stood  still,  with  feet  planted 
more  firmly  than  before,  and  with  eyes  fastened  on  him  as 
though  he  had  been  the  angel  sent  from  heaven  to  put  in  his 
sickle  and  to  reap  the  ripe  harvest  of  the  earth.  "What!" 
he  cried,  "  all  unconverted!"  In  a  moment  the  terrible  con- 
viction of  sin,  guilt,  and  danger  ran  like  fire  through  the 
multitude,  and  conscience-stricken  sinners  fell  by  hundreds 
as  if  slain  by  these  two  words ;  while  round  them  thronged 
the  godly,  pouring  into  their  wounds  "  oil  and  wine." 

Benson  spent  eight  years  upon  his  Commentary ;  a  practical, 
devotional  work,  less  diffuse  and  more  exact  in  exegesis 
than  Scott's,  and  admirable  in  its  terse  expression  of  Armin- 


Samuel  Bradburn  1247 

ian  Methodist  doctrine.      He  died  in    1821,   leaving  behind 
him  a  host  of  spiritual  children. 

Samuel  Bradburn,  president  in  1799,  differed  widely  from 
Benson  in  physique  and  style.  He  was  endowed  by  nature 
with  the  temperament  and  gifts  of  the  genuine  orator,  pos- 
sessing a  "conscious  dignity  in  his  mien,  a  graceful  move- 
ment of  his  person,  benign  radiancy  in  the  eye,"  and  a  res- 
onant, musical  voice  which  he  knew  well  how  to  modulate. 
Benson  was  often  as  the  whirlwind,  terrific  in  his  denuncia- 
tion of  sin,  thrilling  in  his  appeals  to  the  sinner's  sense  of 
fear.  Bradburn  was  less  severe  and,  while  he  did  at  times 
exercise  his  powerful  imagination  in  depicting  the  sinner's 
danger,  more  frequently  won  his  heart  by  the  charm  of  holy 
oratory  and  persuasion.  Entwisle  describes  the  overwhelm- 
ing effect  with  which  he  often  gave  out  the  hymns.  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke  was  admittedly  even  greater  as  a  preacher  than 
as  a  commentator,  and  he  had  been  Bradburn's  colleague  in 
.Manchester.  His  testimony  is:  "I  never  heard  his  equal. 
I  can  furnish  you  with  no  adequate  idea  of  his  powers  as  an 
orator ;  we  have  not  a  man  among  us  that  will  support  any- 
thing like  a  comparison  with  him.  Another  Bradburn  must 
be  created."  Jabez  Bunting,  who  after  Bradburn's  death 
was  acknowledged  for  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  to  be 
the  most  powerful  preacher  of  the  time,  and  had  enjoyed  the 
benefit  of  Bradburn's  ministry,  was  wont,  during  the  first 
year  of  his  probation,  to  walk  fourteen  miles,  from  Oldham 
to  Manchester  and  back,  to  hear  Bradburn's  Saturday  evening 
sermons.  For  intellectual  and  imaginative  sublimity  and 
splendor  Richard  Watson  was  universally  recognized  as,  be- 
yond compare,  the  mightiest  man  in  Methodism  during  the 
generation  which  succeeded  Bradburn's,  and  he  walked 
twenty  miles   to  hear  him   preach,  and  thus    described   the 


1248  British  Methodism 

effect :  "I  am  not  a  very  excitable  subject,  but  Mr.  Brad- 
burn's  preaching  affected  my  whole  frame.  I  felt  the  thrill 
to  the  very  extremity  of  my  fingers,  and  my  hair  actually 
seemed  to  stand  on  end." 

Of  Bradburn's  daring,  genial  humor  many  stories  are  told. 
He  had  a  quiet  and  ingenious  way  of  silencing  self-praise. 
Once  a  brother  was  dilating  on  his  own  popularity  in  the  cir- 
cuit where  he  was  stationed  at  the  time.  "  Aye,"  said  Brad- 
burn,  "what  a  mercy  it  is  that  some  old  women  like  us 
wherever  we  go!"  He  made  rich  fun  of  men  who  bragged 
of  the  sacrifices  they  had  made  for  Methodism.  When  one 
boasted  in  his  presence,  ' '  I  have  given  up  all  for  Methodism," 
Bradburn  solemnly  replied,  "  I  can  beat  that;  I  gave  up  two 
of  the  best  awls  in  Methodism."  His  spiritual  son,  Samuel 
Bardsley,  a  man  of  behemoth  bulk,  was  a  devoted  friend. 
Bradburn  used  to  call  him  "a  great  lump  of  love"  and  a 
"  heavenly  apple  dumpling."     Bradburn  himself  was  portly. 

Bardsley,  foreseeing  a  great  crush  to  hear  Bradburn's  Con- 
ference sermon  and  the  difficulty  he  himself  should  have  in 
forcing  his  way  through  a  Yorkshire  crowds  besought  his 
old  friend  to  let  him  sit  behind  him  in  the  pulpit ;  not  un- 
willing also,  possibly,  to  remind  the  public  of  the  tender 
spiritual  relationship  between  them.  "  O,"  said  Bradburn, 
"  that  would  never  do;  they  would  call  us  the  two  babes  in 
the  wood."  His  obituary  notice  records,  "  His  peculiar 
vivacity  had  frequently  been  a  source  of  temptation  to  him." 

Bradburn  was  enthusiastically  active  in  philanthropic  en- 
terprises, national  and  local.  He  and  Dr.  Adam  Clarke 
founded  the  Strangers'  Friend  Society  in  Manchester,  on  the 
plan  of  that  of  which  Great  Queen  Street  Chapel,  London, 
was  the  center.  He  was  also  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
earnest  of  English  abolitionists.     In   1792  he  published  An 


AFTER    COCHRAN'S    ENGRAVING     FROM    THE     PAINTING    8Y    JACKSON. 

REV.   RICHARD   WATSON. 


Henry  Moore  1251 

Address  to  the  Methodists  on  the  Slave  Trade.  Bradburn 
was,  what  above  all  he  strove  to  be,  "wise  to  win  souls." 
Mr.  T.  P.  Bunting  says,  "  He  never  trod  the  pulpit  floor  but 
with  the  assured  air  of  an  habitual  conqueror."  His  eloquent 
voice  was  silenced  by  death  in  1816. 

Henry  Moore,  born  in  the  very  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  lingered,  "a  venerable  relic  of  early  Methodism," 
till  near  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  (1844).  He  was  one 
of  the  three — Drs.  Coke  and  Whitehead  being  the  other  two 
— to  whom  Wesley  left  all  his  manuscripts,  "  to  be  burned  or 
published  as  they  see  good."  And  when  Whitehead  finally 
determined  to  publish  his  Life  of  Wesley  independently  of 
the  Book  Room  the  Book  Committee  requested  Moore  and 
Coke  to  prepare  a  memoir  to  be  published  for  the  benefit  of 
the  connection.  Accordingly  they  speedily  issued  a  joint 
Life,  in  the  preparation  of  which  Moore  appears  to  have  had 
the  principal  share,  and  which  he  subsequently  enlarged  and 
published  in  two  volumes  in  1824-5.  His  intellectual  powers 
were  of  a  high  order.  His  perception  was  quick,  his  under- 
standing clear,  acute,  and  vigorous,  his  judgment  cool  and 
deliberate,  and  his  decision  prompt  and  firm.  This  last 
characteristic  occasionally  brought  him  into  painful  collision 
with  his  brethren,  by  whom  the  sententious,  sagacious,  grim- 
ly humorous,  sturdy  veteran  was,  nevertheless,  greatly  be- 
loved. "Thank  God!"  he  would  say  to  them,  "Thank 
God  !  we  have  everything  necessary  and  a  little  more.  It 
was  not  always  so.  I  remember  when  I  first  came  to  London 
and  had  not  a  second  coat,  nor  could  I  procure  another.  We 
had  a  tailor  among  the  local  preachers  and  I  wore  his  coat 
while  he  turned  mine.  And  at  that  time  I  was  in  Mr.  Wes- 
ley's house  as  his  assistant.  He  used  to  say  sometimes, 
'  Henry,  you  don't  treat  me  like  a  friend :  you  never  tell   me 


1252  British  Methodism 

of  anything  you  want.'  '  Indeed,  sir,'  I  said,  '  I'd  be  loth  to 
rob  a  poor-box.'     I  knew  he  gave  awTay  all  he  had." 

Of  the  influence  of  Wesley's  condensed  editions  of  books 
he  said :  ' '  All  the  world  are  getting  into  Mr.  Wesley's  view, 
sir.  Even  the  great  appear  to  think  fiiya  BiQXiov,  fieya  kokov 
(great  book,  great  bore).  Yes,  sir;  Mr.  Wesley  often  said 
to  me,  'Ah,  Henry,  if  angels  were  authors,  we  should  have 
few  folios.'  " 

Speaking  of  the  multiplication  of  penny  publications,  Mr. 
Mcore  said,  "  It's  all  served  up  an  oyster  at  a  time  now,  sir." 

His  reminiscences  of  the  older  preachers  were  vividly  told 
in  the  social  circle:  "Andrew  Blair,"  said  he,  "was  very 
zealous,  but  a  rough,  noisy  preacher.  A  friend  once  took  a 
child  to  hear  him,  and  the  boy  afterward  said,  on  being 
asked,  that  he  did  not  like  the  preacher  at  all — he  cursed  and 
swore  so !  I  heard  Mr.  Wesley  tell  this  story  once  when 
preaching  at  the  Conference  from  the  text,  '  If  any  man 
speak,  let  him  speak  as  the  oracles  of  God.'  He  said :  'No 
man  can  be  bullied  into  heaven,  or  ever  was.  You  would 
not  like  to  be  counted  cursers  and  swearers.' 

' '  Captain  Webb  was  a  red-hot  preacher.  He  took  some 
text  about  the  Holy  Ghost  out  of  one  of  the  epistles  and 
went  on  to  this  effect :  '  The  words  of  the  text  were  written 
by  the  apostles  after  the  act  of  justification  had  passed  on 
them.  But  you  see,  my  friends,  this  was  not  enough  for 
them.  They  must  receive  the  Holy  Ghost  after  this.  So 
must  you.  You  must  be  sanctified.  But  you  are  not.  You 
are  only  Christians  in  part.  You  have  not  received  the  Holy 
Ghost.  I  know  it.  I  can  feel  your  spirits  hanging  about  me 
like  so  much  dead  flesh.' 

"  Some  of  our  very  useful  men  in  that  day,"  said  Mr. 
Moore,  "  were  men  of  very  little  talent.     There  was  Tommy 


FROM    THOMPSONS    ENGRAVING    OF    THE    PORTRAIT    BY    JENKINSON. 

ADAM    CLARKE,   LL.D.t    F.S.A. 


Table  Talk  of  Moore 


1255 


Mitchell  with  his  checked  handkerchief,  which  a  man  nowa- 
days would  hardly  pick  out  of  a  kennel,  always  wiping  his 
face  with  one  hand  and  scratching  his  head  with  the  other ! 
He  was  a  very  useful  man,  and  obtained  the  name  of  '  the 
poor  man's  preacher.'  Bradburn  told  me  that  he  learned  a 
great  lesson  when  he  and  Mitchell  traveled  in  Bradford  to- 
gether. It  was  then  a  very  large  circuit.  One  wet  day 
Mitchell  had  to  come  through 
Bradford  to  preach  at  a  place  ten 
miles  beyond,  in  the  country.  Pie 
came  soaked  through.  So  Brad- 
burn  offered  to  take  his  turn  and 
let  him  stop  and  preach  in  the 
town.  He  did  so,  and  Bradburn 
rode  in  the  rain  till  the  water  ran 
out  of  his  boots.  When  he  came 
to  the  house  he  knocked  at  the 
door  with  his  whip ;  the  place  was 
full.  The  master  looked  ttp  at 
him,  'What!  is  it  nobbut  ye?  We 
looked  for  Mr.  Mitchell.'  Brad- 
burn .said  afterward  he  was  hum- 
bled in  the  dust,  and  trusted  never 
to  forget  it." 

Such  are  the  fragments  of  the 
table  talk  of  Henry  Moore,  who  was  "  mettlesome  and  sturdy 
as  an  Irish  horse,  and  was  just  as  sturdy  and  as  good  at 
need."  He  twice  occupied  the  presidential  chair,  in  1804 
and  in  1823. 

The  far  more  famous  Irishman,  Adam  Clarke,  ranked 
among  the  greatest  scholars  and  savants  in  Christendom ; 
"yet    ever   mightier  with   the    voice    than    with   the    pen,  a 


MRS.    MARY    CLARKE. 

The  wife  of  Adam  Clarke,  at  the  age  of 

se\  enty-one. 


1256 


British  Methodism 


greater  preacher  than  expositor  by  many  bright  degrees,  and 
yet  nobler  still  as  a  man  of  stainless  honor  and  a  faithful 
man  of  God."  "  A  member  of  almost  all  the  learned  socie- 
ties in  Britain,  and  the  cherished  guest  of  royal  dukes, 
chosen  by  his  majesty's  Commissioners  of  Public  Record  as 
the  most  competent  man  then  living  for  the  Titanic  task  of 
editing   the   state    papers   of   the  empire,   and    in    the   front 


mwt 


v:^ 


DRAWN     Br     J      0       AOOO'ARO  FROM    A     *OODCUT 

THE   CLARKE    MEMORIAL   CHURCH.    PORTSTEWART. 

The  edifice  crowns  the  high  ground  in  the  distance. 

rank  of  philanthropists  and  archaeologists,  he  was  yet  as  sim- 
ple as  a  saint." 

Dr.  Gregory  considers  Clarke  the  most  genial  and  entran- 
cing preacher  of  the  "divine  benevolence"  which  his  age 
produced.  An  old  Bolton  Methodist,  who  was  never  tired  of 
talking  of  the  great  preachers  of  the  first  half  century  after 
Wesley's  death,  was  asked  which  of  them,  on  the  whole,  he 
thought  the  very  best.  After  a  reflective  pause  he  answered, 
"  Well,  I  think  Adam  Clarke."  When  asked,  "Why?"  He 
simply  answered,  "  Because  he  always  gave  God  such  a  good 
character."  Aye!  that  was  the  secret  of  Adam  Clarke's 
Samsonian  might  as  a  glorious  gospeler.      He  had  the  firm- 


Dr.  Clarke  at  Leeds  1257 

est  heart-hold  and  the  surest  head-hold  of  the  great  Johan- 
nean  truth,  "  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that 
he  loved  us,  and  gave  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins,"  He  did  not  shear  of  his  healing  beams  the  full-orbed 
Sun  of  Righteousness  by  stopping  short  of  that  refulgent 
clause,  "And  gave  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 
Dr.  Gregory  vividly  recalls  the  personal  appearance  of  this 
trulv  orreat  man  w]ien  the  bovs  from  "Woodhouse  Grove 
School  were  admitted  to  the  Leeds  Conference  gallery  in 
1830:  "  Before  the  addresses  to  the  preachers'  sons  were 
delivered  it  was  announced  that  the  committee  for  drawing 
up  the  resolutions  against  negro  slavery  in  the  British  do- 
minions must  meet  during  the  'open  session.'  Foremost 
amonsf  the  members  of  this  committee  was  Dr.  Clarke. 
Thereupon  up  rose  a  figure  that  could  not  possibly  be  mis- 
taken, if  only  by  reason  of  the  '  purple  tinge  '  of  his  sea-blue 
drapery.  He  stood  carefully  collecting  and  sorting  a  number 
of  papers  which  lay  upon  the  desk  before  him.  When,  six 
years  afterward,  I  read  of  his  surpassing  skill  in  scrutinizing 
and  collating  manuscripts  I  could  not  but  recall  his  critical 
and  searching  look  as  he  stood  among  his  peers  in  Brunswick 
Chapel  and  held  up  to  the  light,  and  '  sought  out  and  set  in 
order,'  a  pile  of  seemingly  important  documents.  That  was 
not  an  unimportant  moment  in  Methodist  history.  Dr. 
Clarke  communicated  the  resolutions  to  Wilberforce.  These 
resolutions  were  followed  up  by  petitions  to  both  houses  of 
Parliament  '  from  every  society  and  congregation  in  the 
Lnited  Kingdom,  signed  bv  at  least  a  million  of  names  of 
honest  men.'  So  for  every  individual  slave  there  was  at 
least  one  Methodist  appellant.  At  this  time  Dr.  Clarke  would 
be  in  his  seventy-first  year,  and  had  but  two  more  years  to 
live  on  earth.      He  looked  elderly,  but  not  at  all  infirm.      He 


1258 


British  Methodism 


was  slightly  above  the  middle  height,  well  shaped  and 
strongly  built,  and  in  good  condition.  His  features  were  not 
nearly  so  striking  as  those  of  many  of  his  brethren." 

The  Duke  of  Kent,  the  father  of  Queen  Victoria,  attended 
City  Road  Chapel  to  hear  Dr.  Clarke  preach  on  behalf  of  the 
Royal   Humane  Society.     The   Duke  of  Sussex,    a  man    of 


«!&£ 


HAYDON   HALL. 
Residence  of  Dr   Adam  Clarke. 


learning  and  taste,  became  an  appreciative  friend  of  the 
scholarly  Methodist  divine,  who  was  invited  by  the  royal 
duke  to  Kensington  Palace,  where  he  met  Dr.  Parr  and  other 
celebrities  at  dinner.  The  duke  visited  Dr.  Clarke  more 
than  once  at  Haydon  Hall— where  he  lived  after  he  had 
ceased  to  itinerate — and  the  two  students  spent  many  pleasant 
hours  over  a  set  of  Hebrew  manuscripts  which  Dr.  Clarke  had 
purchased  in  Holland.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  duke  went 
to  City  Road  Chapel  to  hear  Dr.  Clarke,  he  utilized  the  time 
before  the  opening   of  the  service  by  examining  the  hymn 


Royalty  in  City  Road 


1259 


book.  Opening-  on  the  section  headed  "  For  Believers  Fight- 
ing," he  turned  to  a  gentleman  by  his  side  and,  pointing  this 
out  to  him,  observed,  "You  see  they  are  not  like  the 
Quakers;   they  do  allow  their  people  to  fight."     When  Dr. 


DRAWN    BY    P.     E.     FLINTOFF. 


FROM     A     WOODCUT- 


OLD   WOODHOUSE   GROVE    SCHOOL,    "  WESLEYAN    ACADEMY,"    l8l2. 

Clarke  gave  out  the  hymn  "  For  the  King,"  the  duke  said, 
"  See,  it's  in  the  book;  it's  not  just  brought  in  for  the  occa- 
sion ;   here  it  is  already." 

We  have  referred  to  Dr.  Clarke's  work  as  a  translator  for 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  to  his  ten  years  of 
labor  on  the  state  papers — in  continuation  of  Rymer's  Fce- 
dera.  His  best  known  work  is  his  Commentary,  on  which 
he  was  engaged  for  thirty  years. 

To  the  last  he  preached  with  fervor.     Thrice  he  was  elected 


1260 


British  Methodism 


president,  1806,  1 8 14,  1822.  In  1832  he  fell  a  victim  to  the 
cholera  epidemic.  "It  is  impossible,"  says  Dr.  Gregory, 
' '  to  forget  the  thrill  which  shook  the  Methodist  community 
when  the  intelligence  passed  through  it,  '  Dr.  Clarke  is  dead !' 


THREE    EARLY    CONFERENCE    PRESIDENTS. 
Rev.  John  Barber. 


Rev.  Charles  Atmore. 


Rev.  James  Wood. 


What  an  awe  it  cast  on  us  wild,  brave  Grove  lads  when  his 
friend  and  fellow-laborer,  the  fine  old  governor,  George 
Morley,  announced  to  us  just  before  family  worship,  in  trem- 
ulous and  saddened  tones,  '  Boys,  I  have  to  tell  you  Dr. 
Clarke  is   dead.'     All    Methodism   put  on   mourning   for  its 


Three  Early  Presidents  1261 

famous  man.  .  .  .  Whatever  spark  of  holy  high  ambition  for 
sacred  scholarship  and  worthy  service  for  the  cause  of  God  and 
man  might  glow  in  any  schoolboy's  bosom  was  fanned  into 
a  flame.  Philanthropists  and  scholars  and  all  the  friends 
of  evangelistic  enterprise  and  the  devoutest  men  in  all  the 
churches  of  the  saints  '  made  orreat  lamentation  over  him.'  " 

Three  more  presidents  of  the  first  quarter  century  deserve 
more  prominence  than  can  be  accorded  them  here.  John 
Barber  (1807  and  18 15)  was  distinguished  by  his  noble  frank- 
ness, manly  independence,  and  fearless  decision  of  character. 
James  Wood,  coeval  with  Henry  Moore,  had  for  eighteen 
years  labored  with  Wesley.  He  twice  filled  the  chair,  in 
1800  and  in  1808,  and  was  an  early  governor  of  the  Wood- 
house  Grove  School,  for  ministers'  sons,  opened  in  18 12.  •  In 
his  seventy-seventh  year  his  "glory  was  fresh  in  him,  and  his 
bow  was  renewed  in  his  hand."  Charles  Atmore,  president 
at  Sheffield  in  181 1,  was  converted  under  Joseph  Pilmoor  of 
American  renown.  His  Methodist  Memorial,  sketching  the 
lives  and  characters  of  the  early  preachers,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1 80 1,  reveals  his  charitable  judgment  and  his 
fervent,  affectionate  character. 


CHAPTER  CXXXIV 
The  Hibernian  Harvesters 

In  the  Days  of  the  Rebellion.— A  Gideon  of  Galway. — Vernac- 
ular Power  and  Pathos. — At  the  Wake  and  by  the  Wayside. — 
"The  Blessed  Virgin's  Advice." — The  Ulster  Revival. — Cos- 
mopolitan Irish  .Methodists. 

ALTHOUGH,  as  \ve  have  seen,  there  were  a  few  ear- 
nest revivalists  who  did  not  find  the  administration 
of  the   older    Methodism   flexible  enough   for   their 
"glorious  irregularities,"  there  were  many  more  who  found 
that  its  polity  provided  ample  scope  for  the  most  enterprising 
evangelism. 

Ireland,  as  Wesley  had  prophesied,  became  a  fruitful  field 
for  a  race  of  native  harvesters.  Wesley's  friend  and  cham- 
pion, Alexander  Knox,  was  secretary  to  Lord  Castlereagh, 
Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  Rebellion  of 
1798.  He  wrote  of  the  Methodist  preachers,  "  These  are  the 
men  that  can  create  a  soul  beneath  the  ribs  of  death."  Even 
during  the  political  tornado  the  spiritual  work  went  on.  The 
Irish  Conference  address  of  1798  reports:  "  Some  of  us  were 
imprisoned  for  weeks  by  the  rebels,  exposed  also  to  fire  and 
sword  in  the  heat  of  battle,  and  carried,  surrounded  by  hun- 
dreds of  pikes,   into  the  enemy's    camp,  and    plundered   of 

1262 


Three  Irish  Evangelists  1263 

almost  everything  valuable."  But  they  sowed  the  seeds  of 
the  Gospel  "  in  the  furrows  made  by  the  plowshare  of  war." 

The  Irish  Conference  at  Dublin  in  1799  marked  a  new 
epoch  in  Methodism,  for,  urged  by  Dr.  Coke,  it  appointed 
three  Irish-speaking  evangelists  to  work  among  the  masses : 
James  McQuigg,  Charles  Graham,  and  Gideon  Ouseley. 

McQuigg  was  an  able  Irish  scholar  and  was  employed 
by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  editing  the  Irish 
Bible.  He  revised  the  second  edition  of  Bedell's  original 
manuscript  in  the  library  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Dublin. 

Graham  is  still  venerated  as  the  apostle  of  Kerry.  He  was 
a  local  preacher  when  Dr.  Coke  first  asked  him  if  he  could 
preach  in  Irish. 

"  No,"  he  replied. 

"  Why  not?  "  asked  the  doctor.      "  You  can  speak  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Graham,  "  but  can  every  good  man  who  talks 
in  English  preach  in  it?  " 

The  doctor  was  silenced,  but  Graham  was  set  on  fire,  and 
soon  preached  in  the  vernacular.  For  thirty-four  years  he 
uttered  his  powerful  appeals  to  multitudes  who  heard,  trem- 
bled, wept,  and  rejoiced  before  him.  The  gray-headed  vet- 
eran of  seventy-four  fell  on  his  horse's  neck  in  fatal  illness 
as  he  rode  to  Athlone  in  1824. 

Gideon  Ouseley  (1 762-1 839),  of  Dunmore,  Galway,  had 
been  exhorting  in  his  native  tongue  for  six  years  when  saga- 
cious William  Hamilton  told  the  Conference  of  his  power  and 
promise.  It  was  Hamilton  who,  in  1843,  closed  a  preaching 
career  of  fifty-six  years  exclaiming:  "  If  I  could  shout  so  that 
the  world  might  hear,  I  would  tell  of  the  love  of  God  my 
Saviour.  Not  a  cloud  !  Not  a  cloud  !  Victory  over  death  ! 
The  sting  is  taken  away  ;   glory,  glory  to  God ! 

Ouseley  was  one  of  a  distinguished  family,  his  brother  be- 


1264 


British  Methodism 


ing  General  Sir  Ralph,  and  his  cousins  the  Orientalists,  Sir 
William  and  Sir  Gore  Ouseley.  A  learned  priest  had  well 
drilled  his  vigorous  brain  in  Latin  and  mathematics.  The 
accidental  discharge  of  a  gun  during  a  frolic  quenched  the 

light  of  one  eye  forever, 
and  set  him  thinking. 
The  manly  appeal  of  a 
Methodist  officer  of  dra- 
goons, quartered  at  Dun- . 
more  Inn,  led  him  to  cry, 
"  I  submit !  Lord,  I  sub- 
mit!" and  then  he  tells 
us,  "I  saw  Jesus  the 
Saviour  for  me ;  my 
heart  melted  at  the  sight 
of  his  love,  and  I  knew 
that  God  had  forgiven 
me  all  my  sins.  My  soul 
was  filled  with  gladness 
and  I  wept  for  joy." 

This  was  the  experi- 
mental Gospel  which 
henceforth  fell  from  his  lips  in  the  pathetic  language 
which  was  matchless  music  to  all  Irish  ears  and  hearts. 
Gideon  one  day  was  passing  a  wake  house  where  mass 
was  being  celebrated  before  the  funeral  started.  Alight- 
ing from  his  horse,  he  joined  the  congregation,  who  were 
listening  to  a  service  in  Latin,  not  a  word  of  which  they 
could  understand.  As  the  priest  proceeded,  Gideon  trans- 
lated into  Irish,  sentence  by  sentence,  those  passages  of 
the  service  which  had  a  Scriptural  bearing  or  a  good 
moral    tendency,   exclaiming  at    the  end  of  each  sentence, 


FROM     A     COPPERPLATE. 


REV.    GIDEON    OUSELEY. 


Anecdotes  of  Ouseley  1265 

"Listen  to  that!"  The  hearers  were  struck  with  astonish- 
ment and  much  affected,  and  the  priest  was  overawed,  as 
if  a  messenger  from  another  world  had  appeared  among 
them.  At  the  close  of  the  service  he  addressed  the  people 
with  deep  pathos,  mixing  Gospel  truth  with  solemn  warnings 
against  sin,  avoiding  all  allusions  of  a  controversial  kind. 
Then  remounting  his  horse,  with  an  affectionate  farewell  to 
the  crowd — gratefully  responded  to  by  them — he  disappeared 
as  mysteriously  as  he  came  and  acted. 

"  Musha,  father,  who  is  that  strange  gintleman?  Who  is 
he  at  all?" 

"  'Deed  I  don't  know,  sure  he's  not  a  man  at  all  at  all, 
that  can  do  what  he's  done ;  sure  he's  an  angel !  " 

Some  time  after  this  he  overtook  a  peasant  on  the  road  who, 
with  unusual  warmth,  saluted  him  with : 

"  God  bless  yer  honor!  "  to  whom  the  horseman  replied  : 

"  The  same  to  you,  honest  man  !  "  and  then  asked,  "Would 
you  like  to  have  God's  peace  in  your  heart,  and  stand  clear 
before  the  great  Judge  when  he  comes  to  judge  the  world?  " 

"O,  sir,"  replied  the  peasant,  "glory be  tohis  holy  name,  I  have 
his  peace ;  and  I  praise  him  that  I  ever  saw  yer  honor's  face." 

"You  have  this  peace?"  said  Ouseley.  "How  did  you 
get  it?  and  where  did  you  see  me?  " 

"  Do  ye  mind,  sir,  the  day  at  the  berrin'  (burying),  whin 
the  priest  was  saying  mass?  " 

"  I  remember  the  day  well ;   what  about  it?  " 

"  O,  good  gintleman,"  answered  the  peasant,  "  you  tould 
us  thin  plainly  the  way  to  get  the  peace,  and  I  wint  at  wanst 
to  Jesus  Christ  my  Saviour,  and,  blessed  be  his  holy  name, 
I  got  it,  and  it's  in  me  heart  iver  since." 

Among  those  with  whom  he  conversed  on  his  journeys  was 
"a  pilgrim  of  the  Reek" — that  is,  of  Croagh  Patrick,  the 


1266  British  Methodism 

majestic  mountain  which  overlooks  Clew  Bay,  and  with  which 
superstition  connects  the  patron  saint  of  Ireland.  To  its 
summit  devotees  make  pilgrimages  for  the  good  of  their  souls 
and  the  expiation  of  their  sins.  After  the  friendly  salutation 
of  Gideon,  "Good  morrow!  "  and  the  reply  of  the  peasant, 
"  Good  morrow  kindly,"  there  followed  the  question,  "  Where 
have  you  been,  honest  man?  " 

"Sure,  sir,  I  was  at  the  Reek." 

"  And  what,  poor  man,  were  you  doing  there?  " 

"  I  was  looking  for  God,  yer  honor." 

"  Looking  for  God  !      Where  is  God?  " 

"  Sure  he  is  everywhere,"  answered  the  man. 

"When  the  sun  shines  in  at  your  own  cabin  door,  where 
would  you  go  to  find  the  daylight?  Would  you  go  forty 
miles  to  look  for  it?""  asked  Ouseley.' 

"O,  sir,  the  Lord  help  us!      I  wouldn't." 

"Then  why  go  forty  miles  on  your  feet  to  look  for  God, 
when  you  can  find  him  at  your  own  door?" 

"O,  then,  gintleman,  the  Lord  pity  us;  it's  thrue  for  ye ! 
it's  thrue  for  ye  intirely  !  " 

When  he  was  traveling  with  Henry  Deery  in  the  North  of 
Ireland,  about  1815,  they  heard  the  voices  of  young  girls 
blithely  singing,  and  through  the  open  doorway  saw  them 
"scutching"  flax  (stripping  off  the  husk  from  the  fiber). 
After  courteous  greeting,  merrily  responded  to,  Gideon  asked 
curious  questions  about  the  flax.  "And  what  is  all  this 
lying  about  the  floor?  "  he  asked,  pointing  to  the  "shows," 
or  husks,  at  their  feet,  and  "  What  do  you  make  of  them  ?  " 

"  Make  of  them,  sir?"  laughed  the  girls.  "  Why,  nobody 
could  make  anything  of  them." 

"And  weren't  they  a  part  of  the  flax  a  while  ago?" 
asked  he. 


The  Blessed  Virgin's  Advice  1267 

"To  be  sure,  sir;  but  they're  good  for  nothing  now,  ex- 
cept to  be  burned;   and  a  bad  fire  they  make." 

"  O,  I  understand,  I  understand,"  said  the  preacher,  and 
then  very  solemnly  went  on:  "And,  children  dear,  just  so 
will  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  (and  here  every  head  was  bowed) 
' '  come  one  day  with  all  his  holy  angels,  and  he  will  '  scutch  ' 
the  world,  and  he  will  gather  together  all  that  is  good,  every 
one  that  is  fit  for  his  kingdom,  and  take  them  to  himself: 
and  the  rest — the  shows,  the  chaff — he  will  cast  into  un- 
quenchable fire !  " 

"  The  Lord  save  us!  "  was  whispered  around. 

"Amen  !  "  said  the  preacher ;    '.'  let  us  pray." 

All  were  promptly  on  their  knees,  while  Mr.  Ouseley,  in 
fervent  petitions,  pleaded  for  the  salvation  of  the  young 
workers.  Rising,  he  blessed  them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  away,  leaving  them  hardly  sure 
that  an  angel  had  not  visited  them. 

These  are  typical  instances,  out  of  many,  of  Ouseley's  tact 
in  the  use  of  the  Irish  language,  in  dealing  with  Roman 
Catholics,  and  in  winning  souls  by  the  wayside.  "I  want  to 
tell  you  about  the  Blessed  Virgin,"  he  would  cry  to  a  hostile 
mob.  "What  do  the  likes  of  you  know  about  her?  "  was  the 
inquiry.  Then  followed  the  story  of  Cana,  and  how  there 
was  plenty  for  the  feast  and  enough  left  to  help  the  young 
couple  to  set  up  housekeeping.  "  All  that,"  continued  Ouse- 
ley, "came  of  following  the  Blessed  Virgin's  advice,  '  What- 
soever he  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  The  stone-throwing  ceased  ; 
the  hushed  crowd  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  the  narra- 
tive which,  probably,  some  of  them  heard  then  for  the  first 
time  in  their  lives.  The  preacher,  however,  kept  sending 
home  the  Virgin's  words,  "Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you, 
do  it."      "  Follow  the  Holy  Mother's  advice,"  said  he,  "and 


1268  British  Methodism 

do  not  be  wheedled  by  any  drunken  schoolmaster,  who  will 
only  put  wickedness  into  your  heads."  "  It's  thrue  for  ye; 
it's  thrue  for  ye  intirely !  "  exclaimed  an  old  man.  "  If  ye're 
tellin'  lies  all  your  life,  it's  the  thruth  ye're  spakin'  now." 
Then  followed  many  of  the  sayings  of  Christ,  each  followed 
by  the  Blessed  Virgin's  advice. 

Ouseley  and  his  companion  missionaries  were  violently 
opposed  by  the  priests.  At  Tralee  they  stirred  up  the  people 
and  succeeded  in  creating  such  an  uproar  that  Graham,  in 
writing  of  it,  says,  "  You  would  have  imagined  that  hell  was 
let  loose."  At  Skibbereen  the  common  people  heard  them 
gladly  until  a  priest  came  "riding  furiously  through  the 
crowd,  lashing  with  his  whip  on  every  hand."  Some  of  the 
people  ran,  but  others  of  them  stood  their  ground,  and  said 
("writes  Graham)  "they  could  follow  us  throughout  the 
world."  William  Hamilton  was  Ouseley's  companion  in 
travel  and  tribulation,  and  says:  "Such  a  year  of  persecu- 
tion I  never  had.  'Cruel  mockings'  are  nothing,  and 
showers  of  stones  and  dirt  are  but  play,  but  bloodshed  and 
battery  are  no  joke.  Last  Christmas  we  were  waylaid  and 
robbed  of  our  books.  Ouseley  was  hurt,  and  lost  his  hat  in 
the  fray."  At  Loughrea,  in  his  native  county,  Ouseley  and 
William  Reilly,  afterward  his  biographer,  were  subjected  to 
most  unprovoked  ill-treatment.  Riding  toward  the  town, 
Ouseley  suddenly  reined  up  his  horse  and  said  to  his  friend, 
in  a  way  unusual  for  so  fearless  a  man:  "I  feel  as  if  the 
atmosphere  were  crowded  with  devils ;  we  shall  be  attacked 
in  the  town."  And  so  it  proved,  for  a  mob  came  upon  them 
with  hideous  yells  and  they  had  to  escape  to  the  guardhouse 
from  the  flying  missiles. 

Ouseley  had  friends. among  the  Irish  clergy  and  aristocracy. 
At  the  houses  of  the  Earl  of  Roden,  the  Earl  of  Farnham, 


A  Glorious   Harvest  1269 

Lord  Castlemaine,  and  Lord  Lorton  he  was  sometimes  a 
guest,  and  at  the  street  preaching  in  Athlone  Lord  and  Lady 
Castlemaine  stood  by  him ;  the  last  mentioned  being  a 
daughter  of  good  Archbishop  Trench  of  Tuam.  This  excel- 
lent prelate  was  an  admirer  of  Ouseley  and  his  work  and  of 
the  Methodist  Evangelical  Revival  generally.  When  he  was 
rector  of  Ballinasloe,  with  Garbally,  the  seat  of  his  father, 
the  Earl  of  Clancarty,  close  by,  he  held  divine  service,  by 
permission,  in  the  Methodist  chapel  while  the  parish  church 
was  undergoing  repairs,  and  occupied  the  pulpit  alternately 
with  the  Methodist  preachers.  After  hearing  one  preach  he 
said,  "  It  is  not  surprising,  if  all  of  them  preach  like  that,  if 
all  the  world  runs  after  them." 

The  Irish  missionaries  reaped  a  glorious  harvest.  In  one 
year  they  gathered  in  5,000  members.  At  Dr.  Coke's  first 
Conference  (1782)  6,000  members  were  reported  ;  at  the  last  at 
which  he  presided  (18 13)  there  were  28,770.  Ouseley's  visits 
to  England  were  remarkably  fruitful,  and  one  of  his  converts 
was  Thomas  Collins,  who  must  be  noted  later  as  a  wonderful 
"fisher  of  men."  Space  fails  us  for  recording  the  blessed 
romance  of  Irish  evangelism  or  even  naming  all  its  heroes 
— such  as  Andrew  Taylor,  who  entered  the  rebel  camps  and 
was  six  times  in  bonds,  but  who  faced  the  captain,  saying,  "I 
am  a  Methodist."  "Ay,"  responded  the  rebel,  amazed  at  his 
pluck;  "you  wouldn't  tell  a  lie."  He  was  everywhere  re- 
ceived as  an  angel  of  God. 

W.  Graham  Campbell,   D.D.   (1805-188 5),  carried  on  the 

evangelical  succession  from  the  days  of  Graham  and  Ouseley 

to  our  own  times  with  quenchless  zeal.     It  was  under  his 

preaching   at   Antrim    in    1857    that   a   young   man    named 

McQuilkin  was  converted,  and  returning  to  Connor,  gathered 

a  few  others  in  a  schoolhouse  for  prayer  during  the  same 
80 


1270 


British  Methodism 


month  that  the  first  noonday  meeting  was  held  in  New  York. 
Reports  reached  Ireland  of  the  revival  in  America  and 
aroused  a  spirit  of  inquiry  and  hope.     Converts  from  Connor 


PHOTOGRAPH    B 


FROM     THE     ENGRAVING     BY     COCHRAN. 


REV.    WILLIAM    GRAHAM    CAMPBELL. 


began  to  witness  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  over- 
whelming power,  and  scenes  of  holy  fervor  followed  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  whole  world.  The  Rev.  Wil- 
liam  Arthur  visited   his   native  place,  where  the  work  orig- 


The  Results  of  Irish  Methodism  1271 

inated,  and  recorded  his  conviction  of  its  genuineness,  and 
the  Rev.  F.  A.  West,  president  of  the  Conference  in  1857, 
in  a  letter  to  a  London  paper  wrote :  "Physical  phenomena 
may  accompany  moral  causes,  and  serve  to  arrest  attention 
and  attest  moral  facts.  Sudden  moral  changes  from  ill  to 
good  are  none  the  worse  for  being  sudden." 

The  work  spread  through  all  the  churches,  and  in  1859 
forty  thousand  persons  assembled  in  the  Belfast  Botanic 
Gardens,  where  twenty  different  companies  were  addressed 
by  ministers  of  all  the  Protestant  churches.  It  was  no  un- 
common thing  for  operatives  in  the  mills  to  be  stricken  at 
their  work.  Night  and  day  the  voices  of  agonized  prayer  or 
jubilant  praise  could  be  heard  in  the  streets.  In  Ballymena 
business  was  practically  suspended ;  the  spiritual  wave  bore 
down  all  before  it.  It  reached  Londonderry,  where  for  six 
weeks  in  succession  the  evangelical  ministers  united  and 
hundreds  were  born  of  God.  It  spread  to  Lisburn,  Lurgan, 
Armagh,  Moy,  and  Donegal,  and  the  moral  results  of  the 
great  Ulster  revival  were  manifest  and  permanent.  In  the 
little  town  of  Banbridge  nine  dealers  in  spirits  abandoned 
their  calling,  and  in  many  places  drunkenness  and  profanity 
almost  entirely  disappeared.  Methodism  received  a  powerful 
impetus,  recovering  the  ground  it  had  lost  during  the  years 
of  famine  and  emigration  ;  for  in  fifteen  years  ten  thousand 
members  were  reported  as  having  left  for  America. 

The  Irish  historian,  Charles  H.  Crookshank,  M.  A.,  speaking 
at  Exeter  Hall  in  1887,  justly  said:  "  It  would  be  possible 
to  trace  the  results  of  Irish  Methodism  in  every  land,  in  many 
of  the  towns  and  cities  of  Great  Britain,  in  France,  in  Spain, 
in  Italy,  in  Germany,  in  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  in 
Southern  Africa,  in  India,  in  China,  in  Australia,  and  in  the 
islands  of  the  South  Seas.      In  Australasia  the  first  Methodist, 


1272  British  Methodism 

the  first  class  leader  and  local  preacher,  the  first  to  conduct  a 
Methodist  service  in  that  vast  continent,  was  a  young'  man 
who  had  been  converted  to  God  through  the  divine  blessing 
on  the  labors  of  the  Methodists  of  Cork ;  and  this  young  man 
was  the  first  to  receive  and  welcome  Samuel  Leigh  when  he 
came  to  Sydney,  and  to  render  him  important  aid  in  the 
Gflorious  mission  in  which  he  eng-aQ-ed.  In  the  British  Do- 
minion  of  Canada  and  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
especially,  the  fruit  of  Irish  Methodism  is  amazing ;  and  I 
think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  there  is  no  city  or  town,  no 
village  or  hamlet,  in  the  whole  of  North  America,  in  which 
Methodism  has  obtained  a  footing,  in  which  the  result  of  our 
labors  is  not  to  be  found." 


CHAPTER  CXXXV 

The  Tongue  of  Fire 

The  British  Revivalists. — Sanctified  Originality. — William  Bram- 
well  and  his  methods. — david  stoxer's  scythelike  sermons. — 
John  Smith,  whose  "life  was  a  great  belief." — Hodgson  Cas- 
son"s  Holy  Audacity. — The  Fragrant  Life  of  Thomas  Collins. 


I 


XDIVIDUALITY  must  be  maintained  and  cultured ; 
not  indeed  by  the  indulgence  of  crotchets  and  the  love 
of  oddities,  but  in  originalities  of  beneficence,  manful- 
ness  of  testimony,  and  personal  effort  to  save  souls."  Metho- 
dism in  England  as  well  as  in  Ireland  has  been  blessed  with 
sons  and  daughters  of  marked  individuality,  who,  baptized 
with  pentecostal  fire, have  maintained  the  revivalistic  succes- 
sion. Nearly  all  the  ecclesiastical  leaders  of  Methodism  who 
have  shaped  its  polity,  originated  its  institutions,  and  contrib- 
uted to  its  literature  have  been  successful  soul-winners,  and 
some  of  them,  like  Benson,  Lessey,  Robert  Young,  Ratten- 
bury,  McAulay,  and  others,  have  been  powerful  "  revivalists." 
Hundreds  of  the  rank  and  file  have  witnessed  the  kindling  of 
revival  fires,  and  it  is  only  possible  here  to  name  a  few  whose 
work  has  found  record  in  the  hagiography  of  Methodism. 

William  Bramwell  (1759-1818)  was  one  of  these.     His  very 
form  and  features  ' '  left  an  impression  upon  the  mind  like  the 

stamp  of  a  seal ;  his  hair  raven  black,  his  firm  under  lip,  his 

1273 


1274  British  Methodism 

eye  like  a  dagger,  dark  and  searching."  Like  Luther,  he 
emerged  from  awful  struggles  with  the  powers  of  darkness, 
retaining  vivid  convictions  of  their  personality.  His  strong 
passions  were  brought  under  rigorous  control,  and  he  was 
almost  as  ascetic  as  Fletcher.  His  charity  was  unbounded  ; 
he  would  strip  himself  of  raiment  to  give  to  a  more  needy 
brother.  Tender  of  the  reputation  of  others,  compassionate 
for  weakness,  he  yet  rebuked  sin  with  the  withering  effect  of 
fire  from  heaven.  Next  to  Benson,  he  was  the  most  terrific 
prophet  of  his  day  in  proclaiming  the  doom  of  the  impenitent ; 
yet  he  could  be  as  winning  as  a  mother  over  her  children,  as 
he  pleaded  for  the  penitent's  immediate  acceptance  of  Christ. 
His  marvelous  power  in  public  prayer  was  the  outcome  of 
long  hours  of  private  devotion.  He  often  quoted,  as  he  ever 
realized,  the  saying  of  his  ideal,  Fletcher:  "  It  is  the  unction 
that  makes  the  preacher." 

Yet  Bramwell's  counsels  to  his  young  comrades  show  that 
he  did  not  neglect  the  secondary  methods  of  success  in  preach- 
ing. "  Rise  early.  .  .  .  Read  much,  but  write  whenever 
you  read ;  have  a  book  on  purpose.  .  .  .  Labor  for  something 
fresh  every  sermon,  and  yet  nothing  but  strong  Gospel." 
"  Write  something  every  day,  and  never  lose  one  idea  which 
the  Lord  in  mercy  gives  you."  "  Never  be  stiff,  tiresome. 
The  English  cannot  bear  this.  Never  be  tedious;  yet  do  not 
be  too  short.  Let  them  have  all  from  you,  but  '  much  in 
little.''  "  Read  the  Scriptures  without  a  comment,  to  find 
out  the  breadth  and  length,  depth  and  height,  by  digging. 
prayer,  and  receiving  light  from  God.  .  .  .  Examine  a  com- 
ment after  your  own  labor,  to  see  the  difference,  but  never 
before  it.  ...  Be  clear  and  strong.  .  .  .  Be  neat  and  clean 
in  all  your  clothes;  never  foppish  or  fine."  If  you  have  no 
end  in  view  but  bringfins:  souls  to  God,  this  will  cure  almost 


Bramwell's  Preaching 


1275 


everything."  "  Live  with  Abraham  in  believing,  with  Elias 
in  prayer,  with  Daniel  in  courage,  with  John  in  love,  with 
Paul  in  feeling  for  the  world ;  remember — this  was  '  night 
and  day  with  tears.'  " 

The  visible  results  of   Bramwell's  preaching  were  pente- 


REV.  WILLIAM    BRAMWKLL. 


REV.    DAVID    STONER. 


REV.    DUNCAN    M  ALLUM. 


costal.  Twelve  hundred  members  were  added  to  the  Shef- 
field society  during  his  first  year's  labor  there.  Hundreds  of 
soldiers  surrendered  to  his  appeals.  "  Such  a  work  of  God  in 
the  army  I  have  never  seen,"  said  Moses  Dunn  ;  "  lions  turned 


1276  British  Methodism 

into  lambs;  seventy  meet  in  class  in  Sunderland."  Skeptical 
deists  fell  before  him  as  if  struck  by  lightning,  and  one  of 
them  cried,  "  I  will  proclaim  it — I  will  write  it  with  my  right 
hand — that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God." 

David  Stoner,  who  labored  from  1814  to  1826,  was  another 
' '  stalwart  reaper  amid  the  thick-standing  corn.  His  sermons 
were  scythes,  whetted  to  resistless  keenness  by  study  and  by 
prayer,  flashing  with  theirswift  and  steady  sweep,  laying  down 
multitudes  at  once."  Fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  it  was  a  rare 
thing  to  attend  a  love  feast  within  the  populous  district  be- 
tween Leeds  and  Craven  without  hearing  the  testimony  of 
one  or  more  whom  he  had  "saved  with  fear,  pulling  them 
out  of  the  fire." 

Stoner  was  tall,  gaunt,  ghostly,  hollow-cheeked,  with  a 
long,  deep,  and  apparently  tear-worn  depression  stretching 
diagonally  from  the  eye  across  the  face ;  with  a  Baxterian 
expression  of  countenance,  and  hair  combed  and  clipped  with 
conscientious  precision,  and  brushed  down  over  his  brow  as 
if  to  hide  its  intellectuality.  His  eyebrows  hung  closely  over 
his  eyelids,  as  if  they  had  been  drawn  down  by  habits  of  self- 
seclusion  and  world  exclusion  and  spiritual  abstraction.  His 
colleague,  Daniel  McAllum,  M.D. ,  himself  a  masterly  preacher, 
testifies  of  Stoner:  "His  style  was  not  meager,  but  enriched 
with  the  purest  and  most  classical  terms  which  the  example 
of  the  best  writers  has  sanctioned  among  us, "  but  ' '  the  hearer 
was  never  allowed  to  think  of  the  preacher  or  the  composi- 
tion ;  all  his  thoughts  and  concern  were  forced  in  upon  him- 
self. .  .  .  Appeal  following  appeal  lightened  up  the  con- 
science, revealing  at  once  the  darkness  and  the  light;  .  .  . 
bolt  succeeded  bolt.  .  .  .  Spiritual  profit,  the  utmost  profit, 
and  present  profit,  was  the  thing  aimed  at.  The  vehement 
thirst  of  his  soul  was  to  do  good.     The  zeal  of  the  Lord  ate 


John   Smith,   Revivalist  1277 

him  up;  it  was  a  fire  in  his  bones;  it  was  a  torrent  on  his 
lips. "  His  taciturnity  in  company  led  Everett  to  describe  him 
as  "a  mute  in  social  life;  an  Apollos  in  the  pulpit."  After 
twelve  years  ministry  he  passed  away  with  the  characteristic 
prayer  on  his  lips,  ' '  Lord,  save  sinners !  Save  them  by  thou- 
sands !     Subdue  them  !     Conquer  them  !  " 

John  Smith,  "  the  revivalist,"  was  born  in  the  same  year, 
and  died  five  years  after  his  friend  Stoner,  whom  he  much 
resembled  in  everything  except  intellectual  culture.  His 
Life  by  Richard  Treffry,  Junior,  with  a  remarkable  essay  by 
Dr.  Dixon,  is  a  Methodist  classic.  In  early  life  he  had  been 
an  adept  and  enthusiast  in  vice,  glorying  in  the  awful  dis- 
tinction which  an  athletic  body  and  a  desperate  mind  gave 
him  among  his  associates.  His  muscular  frame  early  suc- 
cumbed, like  Stoner's,  to  his  consuming  spiritual  zeal.  He 
excelled  his  friend  in  his  marvelous  success  as  a  pastor,  fish- 
ing for  individual  souls  with  rare  skill.  He  seldom  gave 
offense  by  this,  but  a  wealthy  lady  resented  it  with  some 
asperity.  "  Madam,"  said  he,  "you  cannot  prevent  me  lov- 
ing your  soul."  The  arrow  entered,  and  her  spirit  was  trans- 
formed. "  His  Christian  individualism  was  complete,"  says 
Dr.  Dixon;  "he  was  a  true  original."  His  most  remark- 
able characteristic  wras  his  faith.  "His  soul,  his  life,  was  a 
great  belief.  It  affected  his  entire  being.  He  seemed  to 
hold  nothing  as  impossible  which  was  found  in  the  promises 
of  God."  His  sixteen  years  of  ministry  was  one  continual 
harvest  of  souls.  "  The  solemnity  of  his  manner,  the  vehe- 
mence of  his  appeals,  the  thunders  of  his  stentorian  voice, 
the  force  of  his  language,  the  deep  pathos  of  his  tones,  the 
skill  by  which  he  individualized  and  made  every  person  feel 
that  he  was  the  man,  the  point  and  force  by  which  he  touched, 
as  by  Ithuriel's  spear,  all  which  lodges  deepest  in  the  soul, 


1278 


British  Methodism 


whether  of  fear  or  hope — all  this  made   his  messages  like 
those  of  a  prophet  from  the  invisible  world." 

Hodgson  Casson  was  another  "original."  Converted  under 
the  first  Benjamin  Gregory,  his  ministry  commenced  in  1815. 
He  was  a  contrast  to  Stoner  and  Smith  in  his  daring  humor 

and  eccentricity. 
Among  the  coal- 
heavers,  bargemen, 
and  sailors  of  Gates- 
head and  Newcastle  he 
witnessed  miracles  of 
grace.  Tall,  big- 
boned,  with  nerves  of 
steel  and  lungs  of 
leather,  he  could  enter 
a  tavern,  ascend  to 
the  dancing  room,  and 
startle  the  revelers  by 
his  authoritative 
tones  :  ' '  You  have  had 
dancing  enough  for  a 
while,  let  us  pray. 
Down  upon  your 
knees,  every  man  and  woman  of  you!"  The  entire  group 
seemed  deprived  of  all  power  to  resist  him,  the  piping 
and  dancing  ceased,  Casson's  powerful  voice  was  heard  in 
prayer,  the  publican  retreated,  penitents  cried  and  groaned, 
the  drunken  crowd  below  slunk  away.  Casson  remained  the 
livelong  night,  praying  and  exhorting  until  many  of  his 
strange  congregation  had  obtained  mercy  and  went  home 
new  creatures.  And  this  was  no  isolated  instance  of  his  au- 
dacity, rendered  sueeessful  only  by  his  singleness  of  purpose 


r> 

8  &** 

4L    3 

\ 

*^v^2SE»»» 

. 

^y.' 

^^*—  -■4jj. 

1 

FROM  A  COPPERPLATE. 

REV.    HODGSON    CASSON. 


"I  Mean  to  Live  Forever"  1279 

and  earnest  prayer.  In  Kilmarnock  lie  went  through  the 
streets  with  a  chair  upon  his  shoulder,  crying.  "A  lotlp!  a 
loup!"  (Scotch  for  a  sale)  and.  gathering  a  great  crowd, 
preached  from  ''Come,  buy  wine  and  milk  without  money." 

In  the  pulpit  his  humor  was  sometimes  reckless,  but  his 
fervid  appeals  went  home,  and  his  own  father  and  many  of 
his  early  companions  in  revelry  were  among  his  converts. 
He  often  "rose  a  great  while  before  day"'  for  prayer,  and 
this  was  one  open  secret  of  his  success.  He  preached  with 
intense  passion.  A  tender-hearted  surgeon  followed  him 
into  the  vestry  at  Sunderland,  after  an  exhaustive  service, 
and  asked  warningly,  "Mr.  Casson,  how  long  do  you 
mean  to  liver"  ••(),  sir."  gasped  Casson  with  a  heavenly 
smile.  ••  I  mean  to  live  forever."  An  injury  to  his  head, 
caused  by  the  murderous  blows  of  a  band  of  papists  who 
attacked  him  on  his  lonely  way  home  one  Sunday  night, 
brought  on  the  epilepsy  which  cut  short  his  ministry  of 
twenty-four  years,  and  silenced  the  melodious  tenor  voice 
which  he  frequently  used  for  sacred  solos  and  outbursts  of 
praise. 

Thomas  Collins  (i 8 10-1864 1  began  his  ministry  the  year 
after  John  .Smith  died,  and  gloriously  maintained  the  succes- 
sion. His  Life,  by  Samuel  Coley,  is  a  masterpiece — epigram- 
matic, quaintly  tesselated,  and  richly  inlaid  with  gems  of 
sparkling  wisdom.  It  reveals  a  character  of  striking:  orio-i- 
nality  and  force.  His  "childhood  shows  the  man."  Of  his 
Warwickshire  school  days  he  says :  "  I  crossed  the  hill  over 
which  I  had  so  often  gone  to  school.  The  slope  that  descends 
from  its  brow  was  in  those  days  firmly  believed  by  me  to  be 
the  entrance  of  the  Valley  of  Humiliation.  On  reaching  that 
point  it  was  my  custom  to  draw  and  open  a  clasp  knife,  al- 
lowed me  for  dinner  purposes,  and  which  had  been  carefully 


1280 


British  Methodism 


rubbed  on  the  edge  of  a  brick.     Brandishing  this  formidable 
weapon,   I  ran  through  the  hollow  way,  singing  in  defiance 


THOMAS    COLLINS. 
The  likeness  is  from  a  photograph  taken  during  his  last  illness. 

of  Apollyon,  whom  I  verily  expected  some  day  to  meet  there, 
Bunyan's  verse : 

But  blessed  Michael  helped  me,  and  I 

By  dint  ol  sword  did  quickly  make  him  fly." 

This  boy,   with  his  Apollyon-defiance  and   brain    full  of 


"Three  Capital  Things"  1281 

strange  queries,  "found  peace,"  as  we  have  noted,  under 
Gideon  Ouseley,  at  the  age  of  nine.  He  developed  a  remark- 
able personality,  "learned  to  take  hold  on  God,"  and  preached 
with  great  felicity  of  diction  and  imagery.  He  heard  Spur- 
geon  preach  in  1856,  and  wrote:  "  He  did  three  capital  things: 
he  spoke  vital  truth,  he  spoke  out,  and  he  spoke  home." 
This  also  Collins  himself  did,  and  in  his  Journal  he  was  able 
to  write :  "  I  have  seen  sinners  converted  every  day  for  some 
time.  Sinners  of  all  grades  have  been  saved.  I  have  only 
to  abide  with  God  in  the  closet,  receive  him,  and  then  go 
among  the  people  and  break  the  alabaster  box ;  they  know 
the  odor  and  love  it."  He  was  a  man  of  great  self-denial, 
and  his  liberality  often  made  glad  the  hearts  of  the  poor. 
His  latter  days  were  in  harmony  with  a  life  so  devoted.  He 
peacefully  breathed  his  last  in  his  daughter's  arms,  December 
27,  1864. 

Probably  no  two  books  have  done  more  to  fan  the  flame  of 
evangelism  in  the  hearts  of  the  present  generation  of  minis- 
ters than  Coley's  Life  of  Collins  and  Arthur's  Tongue  of  Fire. 
But  ministers  have  not  been  the  only  instruments  used  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  revivals  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVI 
Typical  Lay  Preachers 

The  Cornish  Class  Leader. — The  Metaphysician.— The  Methodisi 
Historian.— The  Eloquent  Farmer.— The  Blacksmith. — The 
Squire.  — The  Dwarf.— The  Thrasher. — The  Engineer. 

u  *  i  ^  H  E  tongue  of  fire,"  observes  William  Arthur,  "rested 
upon  each  disciple,  and  all  spoke  with  a  superhuman 
utterance.  Not  the  twelve  only,  the  Lord's  chosen 
apostles  ;  not  the  seventy  only,  the  commissioned  evangelists  ; 
but  also  the  ordinary  believers,  and  even  the  women."  And 
Methodism,  as  a  revival  of  primitive  Christianity,  did  not 
leave  the  ordinary  believers  as  mere  spectators,  to  see  the 
spiritual  work  of  the  Lord  committed  wholly  to  the  selected 
ministry.  It  did  recognize  a  high  and  solemn  ministry, 
but  from  that  ministry  it  swept  away  all  seeming  of  priest- 
hood.     The  evangelistic  work  of  the  laity  illustrates  this. 

William  Carvosso,  a  skillful  Cornish  farmer,  was  converted 
in  1 77  i  and  became  a  leader  of  eleven  classes.  He  was  not 
a  preacher,  but  for  over  sixty  years,  in  the  intervals  of  farm- 
ing1, he  went  about  the  villages  winning  hundreds  of  souls  bv 
prayer  and  conversation.  In  his  old  age  he  learned  to  write, 
that  he  might  counsel  his  numerous  converts.  He  saw  the 
Cornish  membership  increase  from  two  thousand  three  hun- 
dred to  eighteen  thousand  during  his  career,  and  his  marvel- 

1282 


"Sixty  Years  a  Class  Leader" 


1283 


ous  personal  influence  contributed  largely  to  this,  for  wher- 
ever he  went  revivals  occurred.  He  lived  "in  an  extraor- 
dinary manner  under  the  realizing  light  of  faith,"  says  one 
who  knew  him  well.  "  He  spoke  with  awe  of  the  majesty  of 
God,  and  of  his  con- 
sciousness of  being 
surrounded  by  the 
divine  presence. 
Sound  speech  was  the 
common  dress  of  his 
thoughts.  He  was  no 
captive  of  wild  en- 
thusiasm. His  charm 
lay  in  a  simplicity,  a 
sweetness,  a  pathos, 
a  d i v ine  unction 
which  led  men  to  call 
h  1  m  'a  lay  Saint 
John.'" 

Samuel  D  r  e  w , 
M.A.,  was  a  Cornish- 
man  of  another  type. 
He  was  the  skeptical 
shoemaker  who  saw 
Adam  Clarke  borne  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd,  through 
the  window  of  St.  Austell  Chapel,  till,  without  touching 
the  floor,  he  was  landed  safely  in  the  pulpit.  A  sermon 
of  Dr.  Clarke's  in  1785  led  Drew  into  the  light  of  sacred 
truth,  to  which  he  bore  testimony  as  a  local  preacher  and 
writer  until  his  death,  in  1833.  He  was  a  vigorous  thinker, 
and  a  student,  first  of  astronomy,  then  historv.  and  finally 
of    philosophy    and    theology.      Milton,    Pope,   Cowper,    and 


FROM    A    COPPERPLATE 


WILLIAM    CARVOSSO. 
The  most  celebrated  of  Methodist  class  lender^. 


1284  British  Methodism 

especially  Goldsmith — whose  Deserted  Village  he  committed 
to  memory — provided  him  with  a  good  vocabulary.  In- 
dustry and  economy  in  business  brought  him  increasing 
leisure,  and  he  published  a  Refutation  of  Paine's  Age  of 
Reason,  an  Essay  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality 
of  the  Soul,  and  a  Treatise  on  the  Being  and  Attributes 
of  God.  In  1 8 19,  becoming  editor  of  the  Imperial  Maga- 
zine, he  quitted  business,  removing  to  Liverpool  and  aftei"- 
ward  to  London.  His  thoughtful  and  argumentative 
preaching  riveted  attention  by  skillful  illustrations  and 
intense  fervor.  The  leaders  of  Methodism  were  among 
his  cordial  friends — Coke,  whom  he  assisted  in  literary  work ; 
Clarke,  Watson,  Treffry,  and  Jackson.  In  his  earlier  years 
we  see  him  seated  on  his  cobbler's  stool,  in  his  later  life  he 
is  offered  the  Chair  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of 
London;  he  begins  work  as  "  Sammy  the  Shoemaker,"  he 
ends  as  Samuel  Drew,  M.A.,  the  metaphysician,  of  Marischal 
College,  Aberdeen.  He  was  no  abstracted  recluse,  but.  a 
charming  converser.  His  wife  died  during  his  editorial 
term,  and  he  never  recovered  from  the  blow.  "When 
she  died  my  earthly  sun  set  forever,"  he  said;  and  four  years 
later  his  loneliness  was  increased  by  the  death  of  his  lifelong 
friend,  Adam  Clarke.  "The  metaphysician"  entered  into 
everlasting  light  exclaiming,  "  I  have  the  fullest  hope  and 
the  most  unshaken  confidence  in  the  mercy  of  God,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  "O  glorious  sunshine!  Yes, 
blessed  be  God,  when  the  door  is  opened  I  shall  enter  in!" 

A  third  type  of  Cornishman — quaint,  humorous,  eccentric 
— was  represented  by  Billy  Bray,  the  Bible  Christian,  whose 
Life  has  been  written  by  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Bourne.  He  de- 
lighted to  be  known  as  "the  King's  son,"  and  was  famous 
for  his  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer.     Another  original  was 


Great  Lay  Preachers 


1285 


Richard  Hampden,  or  "  Foolish  Dick;"  half-witted  in  every- 
thing but  the  art  of  soul-winning.  Many  a  tradition  lingers 
of  the  immediate   saving  effects  of  his  appeals  and  fireside 


THREE    GREAT    LAV    PREACHERS. 
Samuel  Drew. 


Edwauu  Brooke. 


I'lMOTHV     H  \CK\VORTH 


talks.     Mr.  Spurgeon  was  deeply  moved  by  reading  his  Life 

by  Christophers. 

In    striking   contrast    with    these    sanctified   oddities   was 

George  Smith,  LL.D.,  F.A.S.,  of  Camborne,   the  Methodist 

historian,  whose  "noble  presence,"  says  Mark  Guy  Pearse, 

"  and  massive,  resolute  face  were  lit  up  by  such  goodness  and 
81 


1286 


British  Methodism 


grace  that  it  always  seemed  to  me  like  the  shining  of  the  sea 
upon  our  Cornish  granite — strength  and  beauty;  the  pillar 
crowned  with  lily-work  as  in  the  temple  of  old — such  were 

my  thoughts  when  as  a 
lad  I  looked  at  him." 
Dr.  Rigg  describes  him 
as  a  self-made  man,  a 
working  man,  an.  inven- 
tor, an  employer,  a  man 
of  property,  a  man  of  im- 
mense influence.  "Few 
men  had  more  influence 
in  the  west  of  Cornwall 
than  he  had  as  a  business 
man.  But  he  was  much 
more  than  a  man  of  busi- 
ness— he  was  a  student  of 
principles ;  a  student  of 
Scripture  and  of  histoiy. 
He  was  an  historian  of 
his  country  and  his 
county;  he  was  a  lay 
preacher,  and  in  every 
sense  a  leader  in  his  own 
Church,  a  great  man  in 
our  Methodist  Israel. 
He  understood  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  Church,  and  in  an  admirable  work  wrote  its 
history.  Beside  him  stands  Thomas  Garland,  as  graceful 
and  finished  a  speaker  as  Methodism  ever  produced.  And 
completing  the  trio  is  Captain  Charles  Thomas,  of  Dolcoath 
Mine." 


DICK    HAMPDEN. 
A  successful  lay  preacher. 


"  Billy  Dawson"  1287 

Yorkshire  Methodism  has  produced  some  famous  local 
preachers.  William  Dawson,  a  yeoman  farmer  (i  773-1 841), 
attained  almost  national  celebrity.  "  The  blaze  of  his  popu- 
lar eloquence,"  says  one  hearer  {Dr.  Gregory),  "  has  cast  too 
much  into  the  shade  his  marked  superiority  as  a  theologian 
and  expositor,  and  the  almost  feminine  tenderness  of  heart 
that  beat  in  his  stalwart  active  frame."  When  he  preached 
in  Great  Queen  Street  Chapel,  London,  a  fortnight  before  his 
death,  his  hearers  were  yet  more  impressed  by  his  doctrinal 
and  exegetic  power  than  by  the  vividness  of  his  imagination 
and  his  wonderful  dramatic  energy.  A  Lancashire  hearer 
describes  him  as  "a  square-shouldered  man  with  knee- 
breeches  and  top  boots.  Keen,  glowing  eyes  shine  under  his 
overhanging  brows ;  false  hair,  which  he  will  often  adjust 
with  both  hands  as  he  speaks,  half  hides  his  broad,  lofty, 
prominent  forehead.  'All  God's  children  have  much  the 
same  tale  to  tell  of  the  way  he  has  led  them,'  says  he.  '  Let 
us  call  some  of  them  up  to  speak.  Now,  Adam  Clarke,  you 
can  speak  sixteen  languages;  tell  us  about  your  conversion.' 
And  the  great  doctor,  by  the  lips  of  the  preacher,  speaks  of 
patient  waiting  on  God,  merciful  forgiveness  and  redemption. 
Then  the  call  is,  '  Barnabas  Shaw !  you  are  a  missionary — 
some  of  your  converted  Africans  speak  in  a  love  feast.  What 
can  they  say?'  The  converted  heathens  say  just  what  the 
learned  doctor  said!  'Now,'  goes  on  the  preacher,  'you 
have  had  a  great  revival  here.  One  of  you  drunkards  and 
swearers  that  were  saved,  tell  us  how  it  was  with  you.'  Then 
in  trembling  tones  the  subdued  English  rebel  tells  how  he, 
who  seemed  lost  forever,  has  been  rescued  by  the  Almighty 
Saviour.  It  is  the  same  story!  'Now,'  says  Mr.  Dawson, 
'  what  does  a  king  say?  "  I  waited  patiently  for  the  Lord, 
and  he  inclined  unto   me,  and  heard  mv  cry.     He  brought 


1288  British  Methodism 

me  up  out  of  a  horrible  pit."  Ah!  what  pit  more  dreadful 
than  that  where  a  sinner  lies  in  the  darkness  of  a  guilty  con- 
science!  The  king  knew  what  it  was  to  lie  in  that  pit;  and 
there  was  no  way  out  of  it  for  him  but  the  way  that  all  whom 
we  have  heard  to-night  have  taken.  There  is  a  chain  let 
down  into  the  black,  horrible  pit !  It  reaches  down  very  near 
to  hell — and  up  not  only  to  the  gate  of  heaven,  but  to  the  very 
throne !  See  the  links  of  that  chain  :  one  is  God's  love,  one 
his  mercy,  one  his  grace,  one  his  truth — they  are  past  count- 
ing; but  the  chain  is  long  enough — it  is  strong  enough — it 
hangs  within  thy  very  reach  !  Seize  it,  poor,  despairing  sin- 
ner— hold  fast  to  it,  and  thou  shalt  rise!  Fear  not,  for  see 
how  all  these  who  are  now  saints  of  God  have  risen,  clinging 
to  this  chain ;  it  has  lifted  them  out  of  the  horrible  pit — 
doubt  not  but  it  can  save  thee  !  But  refuse  to  trust  it — and 
thou  art  lost  forever  ! '  " 

John  Angel  James  witnesses  to  Dawson's  "  force  of  genius 
and  command  of  striking  illustrations,"  and  another  eminent 
Congregationalist,  Dr.  Stoughton,  who  describes  him  as  "  elo- 
quent and  histrionic,  too,"  remembers  his  famous  missionary 
'  •  telescope  speech,"  in  which  he  rolled  up  his  resolution,  put  it 
to  his  eye,  and  described  what  he  saw,  in  imagination,  of  the 
coming  millennium  of  Isaiah's  prophecies.  His  humor  was 
sometimes  hilarious,  but  his  earnest  spiritual  purpose  won 
many  souls  besides  David  Stoner's..  He  died  in  1841,  leaning 
back  in  his  chair,  grasping  his  staff,  and  repeating: 

Let  me  in  life,  in  death, 

Thy  steadfast  truth  declare; 
And  publish  with  my  latest  breath 

Thy  love  and  guardian  care. 

Another  Yorkshireman  of  note  was  Sammy  Hick,  the 
village  blacksmith  of  Micklefield,  who  had  earned  and  saved 


WILLIAM     DAWSON. 


Sammy  Hick 


1291 


enough  at  the  anvil  to  devote  himself  in  1826  to  evangelizing 
neglected  districts.  His  racy  sayings,  powerful  prayers,  and 
beneficent  visits  are  among  the  family  traditions  of  the  labor- 
ing people,  while  cultivated  minds  appreciated  his  genius  and 
unique  character.  At  Burnley  he  found  the  mills  stopped, 
the  people  starving,  and  a  hungry  child  eating  potato  peelings 
from  an  ash  pit.  He  said  he  could  not  stay  in  the  town  un- 
less the  people  were  fed.      He  went  alone  to  the  mansion  of 


SAMMY    HICKS    SMITH  V,  MICK  I. EFIELD. 

H  The  village  smithy  became  a  temple  where  the  God  of  Israel  was  glorified  in  the 
solvation  of  sinners." 

a  great  Roman  Catholic  landowner  named  Townley  and  told 
the  tale  of  misery  so  effectively  that  he  came  away  with 
£100,  which  was  distributed  in  food.  The  people  laughed 
and  wept  under  the  teaching  of  this  Greatheart,  whose 
bluish-gray  eyes  sparkled  with  wit  and  love,  and  whose  six 
feet  of  bone  and  muscle,  shoulders  round  from  sledge-ham- 
mer work,  and  broad  dialect,  all  contributed  to  the  force  of 
his  well-forged  sermons. 


1292  British   Methodism 

"Squire"  Edward  Brooke,  of  Honley,  near  Huddersfield 
(1799- 1 871),  came  from  a  higher  social  circle  than  the  black- 
smith. He  was  a  robust  sportsman,  famed  for  his  horseman- 
ship, fond  of  his  dogs,  born  to  a  fortune.  In  1821  a  Primi- 
tive Methodist  preacher,  Thomas  Holladay,  met  him  on  the 
moors,  shooting,  respectfully  saluted  him,  and  said  with  pity- 
ing earnestness,  "  Master,  you  are  seeking  happiness  where 
you  will  never  find  it."  The  sportsman  himself  went  home- 
ward, wounded.  A  revival  was  in  progress  at  the  time.  He 
stood  spellbound  by  a  cottage  door  listening  to  prayers  and 
songs,  went  home  to  wrestle  for  salvation,  and  at  four  in  the 
morning  roused  two  praying  men  of  the  village  to  tell  them 
Christ  had  saved  him.  For  forty  years  he  preached  in  un- 
conventional style  in  Huddersfield  district,  and  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  were  converted.  At  his  first  love  feast  he 
told  the  people,  "The  camel  has  got  through  the  needle's 
eye." 

At  the  other  end  of  the  social  scale  was  Jonathan  Saville, 
who  began  life  as  a  workhouse  boy  and  a  parish  apprentice 
in  a  pit.  He  was  so  brutally  treated  that  he  became  a  de- 
formed dwarf  for  life,  limping  with  a  broken  thigh.  Con- 
verted under  Benson,  he  became  a  local  preacher  in  1803. 
Among  his  many  converts  was  the  daughter  of  the  workhouse 
overseer — the  woman  in  whose  house  he  had  been  maimed. 
"  O,  Lord!"  he  cried,  "now  thou  hast  repaid  me  for  all  my 
sufferings  in  this  house."  Dr.  Gregory,  who  knew  him,  says 
that  his  quaint  form,  his  massive  head  and  kindly  face,  in  the 
deep  lines  of  which  the  sprite  of  humor  seemed  always  to  be 
flitting  to  and  fro,  might  have  suggested  the  nucleus  of  a 
thrilling  novel  to  a  romantic  genius  such  as  George  Eliot  or 
Currer  Bell;  and  indeed  the  bright  dwarf's  life  was  as  full 
of  wonderment,  though  not  of  weirdness,  as  that  of  the  orig- 


"The  Lincolnshire  Thrasher" 


1293 


inal  of  Scott's  Black  Dwarf.     But,  better  still,  this  lame  pe- 
destrian philanthropist  could  sing : 

Contented  now,  upon  my  thigh  I  halt.  .  .  . 

Lame  as  I  am,  I  take  the  prey. 

*  *  ^  =5=  *  *  * 

I  leap  for  joy,  pursue  my  way, 
And,  as  a  bounding  hart,  fly  home. 

As  a  soul-winner  he  was  mighty.      "The  bow  of  Jonathan 


DRAWN    Br    W.    6.    OAVIS. 


THREE   ELOQUENT    LAYMEN'. 

Jonathan  Saville. 


Charles  Richardson, 
1  The  Lincolnshire  Thrasher.'; 


Sammy  Hick, 

"  The  Consecrated  Smith." 


turned  not  back.'*     On  the  platform  he  was  still  more  popular 
than  in  the  pulpit. 

"The  Lincolnshire  Thrasher,"  Charles  Richardson  (1791- 
1864),  was  a  typical  peasant  preacher,  wearing  a  white  smock 
frock  until  a  coat  of  broadcloth  was  presented  to  him,  which 
lasted  twenty  years.  By  turns  he  was  thatcher  as  well  as 
thrasher,  hedger  and  ditcher,  whitewasher  and  woolwinder, 
shepherd  and  sheep-shearer,  butcher,  gardener,  and  carpenter ; 
and,  finally,   his  master's  counselor  and  friend.     For  years 


1294  British  Methodism 

he  was  chaplain  in  his  family,  conducting  household  worship 
morning  and  evening.  He  thought  out  his  sermons  as  he 
labored.  "  I  can  think  and  thrash,"  said  he.  Whole  villages 
were  turned  to  God  by  this  sturdy  laborer.  Thomas  Bush 
was  another  rural  revivalist — a  well-to-do  farmer  who  went 
about  Berkshire  preaching,  planting  chapels,  building  up 
Methodism,  and  almost  idolized  by  the  people  among  whom 
he  labored  until  1847. 

Among  English  railway  engineers  Timothy  Hackworth 
holds  a  high  place  as  an  associate  of  the  Stephensons,  man- 
ager of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  railway  from  1825,  and 
an  inventor.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  intelligent,  te- 
nacious, manly  engineer,  and  excelled  in  the  blended  strength 
and  tenderness  of  his  preaching. 

Dr.  Fairbairn,  in  his  Religion  in  History  and  in  Modern 
Life,  notices  the  effect  of  lay  preaching  on  the  working  classes 
of  England.  "  It  is  the  local  preacher  rather  than  the  secu- 
larist lecturer  who  has,  while  converting  the  soul,  really 
formed  the  mind  of  the  miner  and  laborer."  "  Methodism 
in  all  its  several  branches,"  says  this  principal  of  Mansfield 
College,  Oxford,  "  has  done  more  for  the  conversion  and  rec- 
onciliation of  certain  of  the  industrial  classes  to  religion  than 
any  other  English  Church." 


CHAPTER  CXXXVII 
Dinah  Morris  and  the  Methodist  Sisterhood 

George  Eliot's  Adam  Bede.—  The  Originals  of  Dixah  Morris  and 
Hetty  Sorrel.—"  My  Methodist  Aunt  Samuel.  '—Fact  and 
Fiction.— Mary  Taft.— Women  Preachers.— "Neither  Aster- 
isks nor  Asteroids." 

AMONG  the  prophesying-  daughters  of  Methodism  of  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  two  famous 
preachers.  One  of  these  was  the  Dinah  Morris  of 
George  Eliot's  Adam  Bede.  Her  name  was  Elizabeth  Tom- 
linson.  She  was  born  at  Newbold,  Leicestershire,  in  1775, 
and  lost  her  mother  in  infancy.  When  she  was  a  lace- 
mender  at  Nottingham  her  skill  brought  her  good  wages, 
and  cards,  dancing,  and  the  theater  delighted  her,  until  she 
grew  weary  of  such  pleasures  and  went  to  a  Methodist  serv- 
ice. She  fainted  under  the  excitement  of  deep  conviction, 
but  her 'conversion  was  complete,  and  her  new  life  was  man- 
ifested in  philanthropic  service.  Visiting  a  family  sick  with 
typhus,  she  caught  the  fever.  After  her  recovery  she  visited 
Derby,  and  in  the  old  chapel  where  Wesley  had  preached 
she  related  her  experiences. 

At  Nottingham  Assizes,  in   1801,  a  girl  named  Mary  Voce 
was  sentenced  to  death  for  child  murder,  and  Miss  Tomlin- 

son  was  permitted  to  visit  her  and  to  spend  the  night  with 

1295 


1296 


British  Methodism 


her  in  the  cell.  The  poor  girl  was  brought  to  penitent  con- 
fession. It  was  this  story,  told  to  her  niece  "George  Eliot" 
(Mary  Ann  Evans),  which  suggested  to  the  novelist  the  char- 
acter of  Hetty  Sorrel.  The  real  Hetty  was  not  reprieved. 
George  Eliot  writes :  ' '  The  germ  of  Adam  Bede  was  an 
anecdote  told  me 


by  my  Methodist 
Aunt  Samuel 
(the  wife  of  my 
father's  younger 
brother);  an  an- 
ecdote from  her 
own  experience. 
We  were  sitting 
together  one 
afternoon  during 
her  visit  to  me 
at  Griff ,  probably 
in  1839  or  1840, 
when  it  occurred 
to  her  to  tell  me 
how  she  had  vis- 
ited a  condemned  criminal,  a  very  ignorant  girl,  who  had 
murdered  her  child  and  refused  to  confess;  how  she  had 
stayed  with  her  praying  through  the  night,  and  how  flie  poor 
creature  at  last  burst  into  tears  and  confessed  her  crime.  My 
aunt  afterward  went  with  her  in  the  cart  to  the  place  of 
execution ;  and  she  described  to  me  the  great  respect  with 
which  this  ministry  of  hers  was  regarded  by  the  prison 
officials.  The  story,  told  by  my  aunt  with  great  feeling, 
affected  me  deeply,  and  I  never  lost  the  impression  of  that 
afternoon  and  our  talk  together." 


DRAWN    BY    G. 


LAUD    BONTE. 


THE   OLD    CHAPEL,    DERBY,    1765. 
Where  Dinah  Morris  told  her  experience. 


The  Young   "George  Eliot"  1297 

Elizabeth  Tomlinson  was  married  to  Samuel  Evans  at  St. 
Mary's  Church,  Nottingham,  in  1 804.  He  was  a  local  preacher 
and  class  leader  and  first  heard  Elizabeth  preach  at  Ash- 
bourne. "  Her  doctrine,"  he  writes.  "  was  sound  and  plain. 
Simplicity,  love,  and  sweetness  were  blended  in  her.  Her 
whole  heart  was  in  the  work."  He  long  pressed  his  suit  be- 
fore she  yielded,  but  their  marriage  was  a  happy  one.  Sam- 
uel was  the  Seth  of  the  novel.  "Most  people  in  reading 
Adam  Bede,"  writes  Mr.  Cooper  of  Derby,  "feel  that  Seth 
and  Dinah  were  intended  for  each  other,  and  undoubtedly  it 
was  an  ill  su<><»estion  of  George  Lewes  which  made  it  other- 
wise.  The  fact  is  finer  than  the  fiction  from  any  point  of 
view." 

At  Roston.  on  the  Dove,  Derbyshire,  and  afterward  at 
Derbv,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Evans  united  in  the  work  of  religious 
revival.  At  Derby,  Elizabeth  Fry  recognized  a  sister  philan- 
thropist in  Mrs.  Evans.  Some  years  later  they  removed  to 
Wirksworth,  and  in  their  cottage  by  the  mill  they  were  vis- 
ited by  George  Eliot.  Their  names  appeared  as  local 
preachers  on  the  Cromford  Circuit  plan  up  to  1832,  when  the 
Conference  decided  that  women  preachers  should  not  be  en- 
couraged. Dr.  Bunting  advised  the  superintendent  to  indi- 
cate Mrs.  Evans's  appointments  by  an  asterisk  only.  To  this 
Mrs.  Evans  did  not  consent,  and  for  a  few  years  she  and  her 
husband  joined  a  little  society  of  "  Arminian  Methodists," 
but  they  afterward  returned  to  the  Wesleyan  society. 

In  1837,  when  George  Eliot,  a  girl  of  eighteen,  was  her 
father's  housekeeper  at  Griff,  she  wrote  to  her  Methodist  aunt, 
begging  for  a  letter:  "  I  will  be  as  grateful  to  you  for  a 
draught  from  your  fresh  spring  as  the  traveler  in  the  Eastern 
desert  is  to  the  unknown  hand  that  digs  a  well  for  him. 
'  Unstable  as  water,  thou   shalt   not  excel,'  seems  to   be   my 


1298 


British  Methodism 


character,  instead  of  that  regular  progress  from  strength  to 
strength  that  marks,  even  in  this  world  of  mistakes,  the  peo- 
ple that  shall   in   the  heavenly  Zion  stand  before  God."     A 


DRAWN     BY    P.     E.     FLINTOFf. 


AFTER    PHOTOGRAPHS. 


MEMORIALS    OF    "DINAH    MORRIS. 


Old  Arm i man  Chapel,  Wirksworth, 
Memorial  tablet  in  Wesleyaii  Chapel, 
Wirksworth. 


Wesleyaii  Chapel,  Wirksworth,  where  the 
Evans  worshiped. 
Bede  cottage,  Wirksworth,  home  of  Elizabeth 
and  Samuel  Evans. 


month  later  she  writes:  '*  You  were  very  kind  to  remember 
my  wish  to  see  Mrs.  Fletcher's  Life.  I  only  desire  such  a 
spiritual  digestion  as    has    enabled  you  to    derive  so  much 


"Dinah  Morris"  1299 

benefit  from  its  perusal.  I  feel  that  my  besetting  sin  is  the 
one  of  all  others  most  destroying,  as  it  is  the  fruitful  parent 
of  them  all — ambition  ;  a  desire  insatiable  for  the  esteem  of  my 
fellow-creatures. " 

George  Eliot's  own  account  of  her  aunt  and  her  relation  to 
the  character  of  Dinah  Morris  is  very  interesting :  "I  was 
glad  to  see  my  aunt,"  she  writes.  "Although  I  had  only 
heard  her  spoken  of  as  a  strange  person,  given  to  a  fanatical 
vehemence  of  exhortation  in  private  as  well  as  public,  I  be- 
lieved that  I  should  find  sympathy  between  us.  She  was  then 
an  old  woman — above  sixty — and,  I  believe,  had  for  a  good 
many  years  given  up  preaching.  A  tiny  little  woman,  with 
bright,  small,  dark  eyes,  and  hair  that  had  been  black  but 
was  now  gray — a  pretty  woman  in  her  youth,  but  of  a  totally 
different  physical  type  from  Dinah.  The  difference,  as  you 
will  believe,  was  not  simply  physical ;  no  difference  is.  She 
was  a  woman  of  strong  natural  excitability,  which,  I  know 
from  the  description  I  have  heard  my  father  and  half-sister 
give,  prevented  her  from  the  exercise  of  discretion  under  the 
promptings  of  her  zeal.  But  this  vehemence  was  now  sub- 
dued by  age  and  sickness ;  she  was  very  gentle  and  quiet  in 
her  manners — very  loving — and  (what  she  must  have  been 
from  the  first)  a  truly  religious  soul,  in  whom  the  love  of 
God  and  love  of  man  were  fused  together.  .  .  .  Though  she 
left  the  society  when  women  were  no  longer  allowed  to 
preach  .  .  .  she  retained  the  character  of  thought  that  be- 
longs to  the  genuine  old  Wesleyan.  I  had  never  talked  with 
a  Wesleyan  before,  and  we  used  to  have  little  debates  about 
predestination,  for  I  was  then  a  strong  Calvinist.  Here  her 
superiority  came  out." 

"Dinah  Morris"  died,  after  a  lingering  illness,  in  1849, 
preaching,  even  in  her  delirium,  sermons  as  eloquent  as  any 


1300  British  Methodism 

she  had  delivered  on  Roston  Green — sermons  like  those  which 
the  great  novelist  wrote   "with   hot  tears."     The  memorial 


DRAWN    BY    W.    B      OAViS. 

MRS.    ELIZABETH   TOMLINSON    EVANS. 
The  aunt  of  George  Eliot  and  the  original  of  the  "  Dinah  Morris"  of  Adam  Bede. 

tablet   in  Wirksworth  Wesleyan   Chapel  shows  that  Samuel 
Evans  died  nine  years  later. 


A  Famous  Preaching  Woman  1301 

We  need  not  tell  here  how  the  brilliant  niece  roamed  far 
away  from  "  the  fresh  spring"  of  which  she  wrote  so  touch- 
ingly  to  her  Wesleyan  aunt.  It  will  suffice  to  quote  the 
words  of  a  literary  man  who  was  not  a  Methodist,  Air.  R.  H. 
Hutton,  of  the  Saturday  Review:  "  It  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  the  pervading  melancholy  of  her  tales  is  at  least  in  some 
degree  due  to  the  false  step  which  she  herself,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  negative  school  of  human  thought,  had  deliber- 
ately taken  when  she  sacrificed  her  own  life  to  the  ends  of  a 
connection  out  of  which  most  of  the  joy  and  all  the  sacred- 
ness  were  taken  by  the  unnatural  and  morally  humiliating 
circumstances  under  which  she  entered  it.  ...  In  story 
after  story  she  attempted  to  impress  upon  others  the  absolute 
sacredness  of  the  relations  to  which  her  own  action  had  ap- 
parently shown  her  to  be  indifferent."  Two  Methodist 
Fernley  lecturers — the  Revs.  W.  L.  Watkinson  and  T.  G. 
Selby — have  dealt  with  George  Eliot's  life  and  teaching. 
The  former  finds  in  her  life  evidence  of  the  moral  impotence 
of  mere  philosophy  and  culture ;  the  latter  considers  that, 
"with  all  her  drawbacks  of  creed  and  character,  the  testi- 
mony she  bears  to  much  that  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
religion  is  scarcely  less  precious  than  her  contributions  to 
literature." 

Another  famous  preacher  was  Mary  Barritt,  born  at  Hay, 
Lancashire,  in  1772.  She  married  Rev.  Zacharias  Taft. 
Her  father  was  bitterly  opposed  to  all  religion,  and  to  Meth- 
odism especially ;  and  when  her  brother  became  one  of  Wes- 
ley's preachers  he  had  to  sacrifice  the  farm  which  his  father 
offered  him  as  a  bribe  to  remain  at  home.  When  Mary  Bar- 
ritt began  to  conduct  services  as  well  as  to  visit  she  met  with 
much   opposition,  but   the   remarkable   success   of   her  calm, 

powerful  addresses  removed  many  prejudices.     Her  brother 
82 


1302 


British   Methodism 


allowed  her  to  work  in  his  circuit  at  White  Haven,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  persons  were  added  to  the  Church.  At  Not- 
tingham five  hundred  joined  the  societies  in  three  months. 


MRS.    TAFT    (MARY    BARRITT). 
REV.    JOHN    BARRITT.  REV.    ZACHARIAS    TAFT. 

Two  future  Conference  presidents  were  among  her  converts, 
Joseph  Taylor  and  Thomas  Jackson. 

Dr.  Gregory  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taft  in  the  Ilkeston  Circuit 


"I  Dare  Not  Oppose  Her"  1303 

in  1842,  and  says  that  the  "  Lancashire  lass,"  as  she  was 
called,  was  recognized  by  everyone  who  heard  her,  gentle  or 
simple — and  that  despite  the  most  cherished  prejudice — as 
one  of  the  mightiest  and  most  successful  preachers  of  her 
time.  Joseph  Benson  had  not  heard  her,  but  he  wrote  a 
caustic  letter  to  her  husband,  and  thought  that  Mrs.  Taft 
should  decline  ascending  the  pulpits  of  the  chapels  in  Dover 
"  unless  Mr.  Sykes,  Mr.  Rogers,  and  you  be  less  sufficient  for 
your  work  than  the  Conference  supposed  you  to  be."  The 
superintendent,  Mr.  Sykes,  wrote  in  her  defense:  "I  dare 
not  oppose  her.  .  .  .  More  than  a  year  and  a  half  ago  Mary 
Barritt  was  strongly  pressed  by  our  Hull  friends  to  visit 
them ;  the  elders  of  the  society  sat  in  counsel  on  the  subject ; 
the  conclusion  was  not  to  admit  her  into  the  pulpit,  but  to 
allow  her  to  stand  by  a  little  desk  in  the  chapel.  But,  after 
once  hearing  this  ram's  horn,  prejudice  fell  down  like  the 
walls  of  Jericho,  the  pulpit  door  gave  way  and  this  King's 
daughter  entered.  The  chapel  could  not  contain  the  people  ; 
hundreds  stood  in  the  street.  She  then  preached  to  thou- 
sands, and  solemn  reverence  sat  on  their  countenances  to  the 
very  skirts  of  the  huge  assembly." 

The  sagacious  ex-president,  John  Pawson,  and  Bramwell, 
the  revivalist,  encouraged  her.  Even  Dr.  Bunting  suggested 
that  her  appointments,  like  Mrs.  Evans's,  might  be  indicated 
by  an  asterisk.  Dr.  Gregory  pungently  comments:  "The 
elect  ladies  were  neither  asterisks  nor  asteroids,  but  stars  of 
the  first  magnitude ;  and  the  great  mass  of  Derbyshire  hear- 
ers preferred  workmanly  preaching  from  the  lips  of  a  woman 
to  effeminate  effusions  from  the  lips  of  a  man."  "  The  lady 
whom  it  seems  most  natural  to  compare  with  Mrs.  Taft  is 
Mrs.  Booth.  They  were  alike  in  their  masculine  self-posses- 
sion and  self-consciousness,   in   their  sedate,  decorous,  ma- 


1304 


British  Methodism 


tronly  demeanor,  in  simplicity  of  dress  and  speech,  and  in 
a  solid  basis  of  intelligence — but  Mrs.  Taft  was  far  more 
fluent  than  Mrs.  Booth." 

The  venerable  Thomas  Jackson,  her  spiritual  son,  describes 
her  preaching  as  "  methodical,"  dealing  with  great  funda- 
mental Gospel  truths,  and  aimed  directly  at  the  conversion 
of  her  hearers.  "  It  was  a  happiness  to  converse  so  freely 
with  this  saintly  heroine  in 
her  declining  days,  when 
her  gray,  sober-suited  morn 
of  hardy  outdoor  toil  and 
her  fervid  noon  and  after- 
noon of  brave  and  eloquent 
evangelism  had  softened 
into  the  mellow  luster  of  a 
tranquil  eventide.  I  never 
heard  from  those  lips  which 
had  so  often  glowed  with 
'  a  live  coal  from  the  altar' 
one  word  of  detraction  or 
of  egotism,  of  boasting  or 
censoriousness;  but  all  was 
love  and  joy  and  peace." 

Many  other  Methodist  women  deserve  a  place  in  history. 
There  was  Clarissa  Christian,  of  Hinde  Street,  London,  who 
died  in  1847  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  one,  after  eighty 
years  of  service  to  the  poor  and  sinful  as  devoted  as  that  of 
the  modern  sisters  in  the  great  missions.  Miss  Tooth  was 
another  noted  lady  leader,  who  tested  the  gravity  of  doughty 
Dr.  Dixon  by  her  ready  reply  when  he  expressed  his  sur- 
prise at  finding  her  name  on  the  class  book  as  Miss  Tooth — 
instead  of  the  usual  plain  Christian  name.      "  I  thought  it 


CLARISSA    CHRISTIAN. 

Of  Hmde  Street  Chapel,  aged  ioj. 


Miss  Toot 


1305 


out  of  order,"  said  the  doctor,  "and  so  I  read  loudly,  '  Miss 
Tooth,  Miss  Tooth,'  purposely  emphasizing  the  Miss,  to 
show  that  I  thought  it  a  peculiar  and  irregular  style  for  a 
class  book.      'Yes,  sir,'  sharply  replied  the  lady,    'yes,  sir, 


ANNE    LUTTON. 


Miss  Tooth  !  More  shame  to  the  gentlemen  that  it  should  be 
Miss  Tooth  still.'  What  could  I  say  to  this?  I  pocketed 
my  share  of  the  shame  and  said  nothing.  It  was  no  use  to 
reason  with  a  woman  like  that."  But  women  like  that  kept 
their  class  meetings  alive.  Another  remarkable  lady  was 
Anne  Lutton,  of  Moira,  Ireland,  latterly  of  Bristol  (i  791— 
188 1);   a  linguist,  musician,  philanthropist,  saint,  the  Memo- 


1306 


British  Methodism 


rials  of  whose  consecrated  life  contain  selections  from  her 
diary,  letters,  and  poems.  And  there  was  Mary  McCarthy, 
the  "Angel  of  Chequer  Alley,"  near  City  Road;  an  Irish 
forewoman  in  a  lace  factory,  who  also  anticipated  the  sancti- 


W*-  HLtIW8iHr3sp^  PS 


■  «§f 


.  <j£s-,=,~=5i.-' ; 


COWS    PLACE,    CHEQUER    ALLEY. 
Scene  of  Mary  McCarthy's  mission,  near  City  Road,  1836-1866. 

fied  ingenuity  of  modern  missions  and  gathered  seven  hun- 
dred members  into  church  fellowship  from  among  the  most 
helpless  and  degraded  denizens  of  the  London  slums.  And 
besides  these  was  a  host  of  true  "  sisters  of  the  people"  to 
whom  as  yet  that  honorable  title  was  unknown. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVIII 

The  Great  Tribune  and  the  Pulpit  Prince 

Dr.  Jabez  Bunting,  the  Ecclesiastical  Statesman.— His  Place  in 
Methodist  History. — His  Personality,  Preaching,  and  Polity. 
—  Dr.  Robert  Newton,  the  Evangelical  Orator.— His  Visit  to 
America.  — His  Noble  Aim  and  Character. 

THE  greatest  ecclesiastical  statesman  of  the  middle  age 
of  Methodism  was  Jabez  Bunting.  For  forty  years 
the  legislation  of  Conference  bore  the  impress  of  his 
mind,  and  the  history  of  Methodist  institutions  follows  the 
lines  of  his  personal  history.  To  other  Churches  and  the 
general  public  he  was,  next  to  Adam  Clarke,  the  best  known 
representative  of  the  Methodism  of  his  day,  and  men  like  Dr. 
Chalmers  and  the  fathers  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  recog- 
nized in  him,  to  use  their  own  words,  "a  prince  and  a  great 
man." 

Mary  Redfern  married  a  Derbyshire  tailor,  William  Bunt- 
ing, who  had  settled  at  Manchester,  where  their  son  Jabez 
was  born  in  1779.  The  child  received  Wesley's  blessing, 
heard  him  preach,  and  saw  him  depart  from  Manchester  for 
the  last  time  in  1 790.  The  lad  was  surrounded  by  an  atmos- 
phere of  pious  refinement  in  his  lowly  home,  and  at  sixteen 
had  been  well  grounded  at  school  in  mathematics,  the  Septu- 

agint  and  Greek  Testament,   Greek  and  Latin   classics,  the 

1307 


1308  British  Methodism 

Hebrew  Psalter,  and  much  besides.  He  called  Joseph  Ben- 
son his  spiritual  father.  Under  the  eminent  Dr.  Percival, 
F.R.S.,  he  became  a  medical  student.  He  relinquished  bril- 
liant professional  prospects  to  become  a  Methodist  minister 
in  1799,  walking  to  his  first  circuit,  Oldham,  with  a  pair  of 
saddle  bags  over  his  shoulder  containing  all  his  possessions — 
including  fourteen  skeleton  sermons.  His  uncle,  who  was 
also  his  class  leader,  walked  with  him.  The  old  man's  heart 
was  full,  and  at  a  lone  spot  by  the  wayside  they  knelt  down, 
he  asked  God's  blessing  and  gave  his  own,  and  they  parted. 
Thus  began  a  ministerial  course  of  well-nigh  sixty  years. 

Bunting  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  his  great  contem- 
porary, William  Pitt.  Like  the  statesman-orator  he  early  be- 
came eminent.  Assistant  secretary  of  Conference  in  1806, 
and  president  in  1820,  he  was  the  youngest  man,  excepting 
Coke,  ever  so  honored.  As  with  Pitt,  his  transcendent  speak- 
ing power,  his  self-possession  and  self-control,  his  perfect 
mastery  of  economics  and  finance,  were  manifest  from  the 
first.  "  Both  were  firm  and  ardent  friends  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty,  yet  both  counseled  stringent  measures  for  the 
maintenance  of  law  and  order."  As  Pitt  was  "the  greatest 
master  of  parliamentary  government  that  ever  existed,"  so 
"  Bunting  was  the  greatest  master  of  Connectional  Church 
government."  He  even  more  resembled  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, the  great  American  statesman,  whom  Guizot  describes  as 
"the  genius  who  most  powerfully  contributed  to  introduce 
into  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  elements  of  order, 
force,  and  duration." 

Bunting  was  not  only  an  ecclesiastical  statesman,  he  was  a 
powerful  preacher.  His  early  maturity  was  as  remarkable  in 
the  pulpit  as  on  the  platform.  At  the  close  of  his  probation 
he  was  sent  to  London,  and  at  once  took  his  place  among  the 


COCHRAN'S  ENGRAVING.  FROM  THE  PAINTING  BV  W,   GUSH. 

REV.    JABEZ    BUNTING,    D.D. 


Bunting's   Genius  1311 

pulpit  princes,  they  themselves  being  judges.  Dr.  Leifchild, 
whom  the  eloquent  Judge  Talford  pronounced  one  of  the 
greatest  orators  of  the  age,  seized  every  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing young  Bunting,  and  was  struck  with  his  "  flow  of  strong, 
manly  sense  that  held  the  audience  in  breathless  attention." 
His  imposing,  erect,  yet  flexible  form,  free  from  all  drilled 
attitude ;  his  perfect  simplicity  of  manner,  blue-gray  eye, 
comely  though  not  handsome  face,  commanding  voice,  digni- 
fied delivery,  and  consummate  elocution  were  in  accordance 
with  his  simplicity  and  strength  of  style  and  thought.  Those 
who  went  to  hear  him  as  a  brilliant  orator  were  quickly  unde- 
ceived. He  lacked  originality,  the  plans  of  his  sermons  pre- 
sented no  novelty  or  ingenuity.  The  rhetorical  Dr.  Beau- 
mont declared  that  Bunting  "  never  had  an  original  idea  in 
either  hemisphere  of  his  brain."  He  lacked  the  superb 
imaginativeness  of  his  friend  Watson.  His  illustrations  were 
few.  But  his  preaching  was  redeemed  from  tameness  and 
insipidity  by  what  his  son  calls  its  "sincerity  .  .  .  the  man- 
ifestation of  the  truth  with  manifest  truth  of  purpose;"  its 
keen  incisiveness,  its  authoritativeness,  its  earnestness  and 
energy,  and,  above  all,  by  its  heart-searching  application. 
Dr.  Osborn  says,  "  The  whole  audience  was  made  to  feel  that 
God  is  speaking  by  this  man."  It  was  at  the  request  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Conference  of  1812  that  he  preached  his 
celebrated  sermon  on  Justification  by  Faith. 

A  bare  record  of  Bunting's  administrative  work  would  fill 
a  volume.  He  saved  the  Book  Room  from  financial  ship- 
wreck, he  drafted  plans  of  connectional  finance,  he  took  a 
leading  part  in  organizing  the  Missionary  Society  in  1813; 
the  next  year  he  was  elected  into  the  Legal  Conference  on 
the  sole  ground  of  his  manifest  capacity ;  it  was  he  who  led 
the  Conference   to   decide  that  every  fourth   election  to  the 


1312  British  Methodism 

Hundred  should  be  on  the  ground  of  fitness,  and  not  of  sen- 
iority.    He  was  elected  secretary  of  the  Conference  in  1814; 


J&^^ax^-    s46*S?-S*4?. 


FACSIMILE    OF    REV.   JABEZ    BUNTINGS    WRITING. 

in  the  same  year  he  proposed  the  formation  of  the  General 
Chapel  Fund,  and  four  years  later  the  Children's  Fund.  In 
18 18  he  became  senior  Missionary  Secretary,  and  three  years 
later  he  was  editor  of  the  magazine.  He  was  the  foremost 
advocate  of  the  educational  training  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry  and  for  the  development  of  lay  cooperation  with  the 
ministers.  "The  two  poles  of  his  policy  were  'pastoral 
rights  and  responsibilities,'  on  the  one  hand,  and  'popular 
rights  and  responsibilities,'  on  the  other.  His  aim  was  to 
develop  both,  simultaneously  and  symmetrically."  During  his 
first  presidency  (1820)  he  drew  up  the  famous  Liverpool 
Minutes,  which  present  the  ideal  Methodist  preacher  and 
his  work  and  are  solemnly  read  in  every  district  synod  to-day. 
For  years  he  advocated  not  only  an  adequate  training  and 
probation,  but  a  public  and  solemn  ordination  to  the  ministry, 


Cincinnatus  and  Washington  in  One  1313 

and  in  the  year  of  his  third  presidency  he  saw  this  consum- 
mated at  the  Birmingham  Conference  in  1836.  He  was  the 
first  man  to  be  elected  to  the  presidential  chair  four  times, 
and  the  only  one  so  honored  except  his  friend  Robert  Newton. 
He  was  a  born  speaker,  financier,  administrator,  and  debater. 
He  never  sought  office,  it  was  the  office  that  sought  him.  In 
rising  to  the  top  he  simply  found  his  level. 

Dr.  Gregory,  who  claims  to  have  no  rival  in  "  affectionate 
admiration  and  in  all  but  filial  reverence"  for  Dr.  Bunting, 
who  says,  "  He  was  in  fact  our  Cincinnatus  and  our  Washing- 
ton," admits  "  one  cardinal  defect  "  in  this  truly  great  man. 
His  own  designation  of  it  was  "  impetuosity."  But  the  flaw 
in  the  diamond  is  more  aptly  indicated  by  the  fine-pointed 
pen  of  his  filial  biographer,  T.  P.  Bunting:  he  was  congeni- 
tally  "masterful."  The  actual  government  of  Methodism  at 
this  period  was  an  autocracy  strengthened  by  an  oligarchy. 
It  cannot  be  denied,  to  use  his  son's  words,  that  "  he  and  a 
few  others,  influenced  by  him,  managed  the  affairs  of  the 
connection."  This  is  the  impression  produced  by  his  biog- 
raphy on  outsiders.  Thus  the  article  in  the  Schaff-Herzog 
Encyclopaedia,  whose  one  authority  is  this  tasteful,  truthful 
memoir,  affirms,  "  His  word  was  law."  This  is  an  exagger- 
ated notion,  but  happily  the  other  sentence  in  the  summing 
up  is  absolutely  impregnable  :  ' '  He  used  his  influence  for  no 
personal  ends,  and  withal  kept  his  heart  pure  and  humble." 

The  council  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  also,  in  a  resolution 
already  quoted,  "could  not  but  account  him  a  prince  and  a 
great  man ;  lie  was  at  the  same  time  as  a  little  child  in  the 
midst  of  them,"  and  they  feel  that  their  tribute  would  be 
most  imperfect  were  they  not  to  bear  their  testimony  to  "  the 
uniform  humbleness  of  mind  and  modesty  of  demeanor  which 
characterized  their  venerable  friend."     The  great  Scotchmen 


1314  British  Methodism 

who  were  founders  of  the  Free  Church  were  just  as  strongly 
impressed  with  Dr.  Bunting's  true  greatness  and  simplicity 
when  he  visited  Edinburgh  in  1846-7. 

This  imperial  Methodist  statesman  finished  his  course  in 
1858,  in  his  eightieth  year;  having  done  more  than  any  other 
man  since  Wesley  died  to  mold  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
societies  into  a  fully  equipped  Church. 

Robert  Xewton  (1 780-1 854)  was  for  half  a  century  the 
most  popular  Methodist  preacher  in  Britain.  He  entered 
the  ministry  the  same  year  as  his  friend  Bunting,  and,  like 
him,  was  four  times  president.  Bunting's  son  well  says  that 
Xewton's  renown  rests  upon  qualities  which  do  not  fairly  bring 
him  within  the  range  of  comparison  with  his  friend  or  with 
Richard  Watson.  He  stood  alone — the  prince  of  preachers 
to  the  common  people.  On  the  platform  of  missionary  and 
Bible  societies  he  was  supreme.  His  brethren  ungrudgingly 
recognized  his  popular  gifts,  and  he  was  appointed  to  central 
circuits  from  which  he  could  find  coaches  to  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land. In  1836  Dr.  Wilbur  Fisk,  the  American  representa- 
tive at  Birmingham,  suggested  the  appointment  of  Newton  as 
representative  to  America  in  1840.  The  American  Metho- 
dists hailed  Newton  as  the  most  popular  English  orator  since 
Whitefield.  He  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  in  Bedford  Street,  New  York.  He 
preached  before  the  General  Conference  and  also  in  the 
"Grand  Hall"  at  Washington  before  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. His  sermons  and  addresses  were  triumphs  of 
natural  oratory,  and  marked  by  the  rich  unction  which  was 
the  outcome  of  his  manly  and  fervent  piety.  His  final  leave- 
taking  was  like  the  departure  of  an  apostle. 

The  Philadelphia  Saturday  Evening  Post  described  Newton 
as  "tall,  well-knit,  with  broad  shoulders,  massy  head — no  bad 


Dr.    Robert   Newton 


1315 


representative  of  his  nation  so  far  as  air  and  figure  are  con- 
cerned. He  glances  boldly  and  fearlessly  around  upon  his 
hearers."  Everyone  admired  "the  richness  of  his  voice, 
whose  every  word  is  music  and  whose  lower  tones  we  have 
never  heard  surpassed. 
Its    compass    is    almost 


DRAWN    BY   W.     6.     PRICE. 


EASING  WOLD    CHURCHYARD. 
Where  Dr.  Newton  lies  buried. 


BIRTHPLACE   OF    ROBERT 

NEWTON. 

Farmhouse  at  Roxby,  York. 

unequaled.  Now  ringing 
out  clear  and  silvery,  now 
mellowed  into  the  softest 
music,  and  now  sinking 
into  a  deep,  rolling,  sonor- 
ous bass."  He  is  "simple  even  to  severity.  He  seems  to  have 
but  one  aim  in  view:  to  convince  his  audience.  On  that  he 
fixes  his  eye ;  to  it  he  addresses  every  nerve;  and,  like  the 
ancient  Greek  in  the  race,  he  casts  off  everything  that  will 
impede  his  progress ;  regardless  of  all  if  he  can  only  win  the 
goal." 

It  was  this  intense  sincerity  of  purpose,  which  struck  even 
the  piofessional  reporter,  that  made  men  forget  the  orator 
in  his  evangelical  message.  Sagacious  Thomas  Jackson,  his 
biographer,  who  never  exaggerated,  declared  that  during  an 
acquaintance  of  half  a  century  he  was  unable  to  detect  a  flaw 


1316  British  Methodism 

in  Newton's  character.  His  indescribable  grace  of  manner, 
his  "big  brotherliness,"  his  infectious  joy  and  charity,  and 
his  unaffected  sanctity  captivated  the  hearts  of  his  brethren 
and  the  masses  of  the  people  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
"  He  would  never  betray  a  trust;  he  would  never  be  faith- 
less to  a  friend ;  he  would  never,  for  the  sake  of  expediency, 
sacrifice  righteousness  and  truth.  He  had  no  whims,  no  ec- 
centricities, no  singularities,  no  affectation.  A  true  Wesley- 
an,  he  was  the  friend  of  all  and  the  enemy  of  none.  From 
the  pulpit  he  often  addressed  words  of  kindness  and  sympa- 
thy to  his  "brethren  upon  the  free  seats;  "  and  it  was  most 
gratifying  to  see  poor  men  and  women  surrounding  him,  when 
he  retired  from  the  chapels  where  he  had  been  preaching, 
requesting  a  shake  of  his  hand,  and  telling  him  of  some 
members  of  their  families  at  distant  places  who  had  been 
converted  under  his  ministry." 


CHAPTER  CXXXIX 
The  Educational  Era  and  Its  Men  of  Mark 

"Can  We  Have  a  Seminary ?  "— D«.  Wilbur  Fisk,  the  American 
Representative.— Richard  Watson,  the  Theologian. — The 
First  Professors.— A  Group  of  "  Liberals."— Dr.  Bunting  "a 
Kilhamite  !  "— Some  Mighty  Preachers. 

AT  his  first  and  second  Conferences  Wesley  asked,  "  Can 
we  have  a  seminary  for  laborers?"  but  the  answer 
was,  "  Not  till  God  gives  us  a  proper  tutor."  Some 
of  his  preachers,  however,  received  preliminary  training  at 
Kingswood  School,  and  all  of  them  were  urged  to  hard  read- 
ing by  their  ubiquitous  chief,  who  compiled  his  Christian 
Library  for  their  benefit.  Thomas  Olivers  strove  with  all 
his  might,  but  strove  in  vain,  to  secure  a  seminary.  Adam 
Clarke  in  1806  wrote  an  impassioned  letter  on  the  subject, 
which  the  Conference  published.  In  1823  the  Conference 
directed  J.  Gaulter  (president  in  18 17),  J.  Bunting,  T.  Jack- 
son, and  R.  Watson  to  prepare  a  report  on  the  subject.  Wat- 
son wrote  the  report ;  the  Conference  approved  of  its  princi- 
ples, but  its  proposals  were  thought  to  be  impracticable,  and 
the  first  theological  institution  at  Hoxton  was  not  opened 
until  1834,  with  Bunting  as  president,  Entwisle  as  house 
governor,  and  John  Hannah  as  theological  tutor.  A  seces- 
83  l*l 


1318  British  Methodism 

sion  of  the  opponents  of  the  movement,  led  by  Dr.  Warren, 
followed  a  year  later. 

The  presence  of  Dr.  Wilbur  Fisk,  the  American  represent- 
ative, at  the  Birmingham  Conference  of  1836  was  most  op- 
portune. He  had  inaugurated  the  educational  era  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  the  most  effective  "  ad- 
vocate of  a  rich,  sound,  solid  training  for  the  evangelic  pas- 
torate." He  was  just  in  time  to  encourage  the  British  Con- 
ference in  its  educational  proposals.  This  same  Conference 
sanctioned  the  foundation  of  Wesley  College,  Sheffield,  for 
the  sons  of  the  laity.  It  also  decided  on  the  ordination  of 
ministers  by  imposition  of  hands,  and  Dr.  Fisk  assisted  in 
the  first  ceremony.  Dr.  Gregory  describes  him  as  the  most 
graceful  speaker,  both  in  language  and  elocution,  he  had  ever 
listened  to.  "  He  had  been  trained  for  the  bar,  his  eloquence 
was  forensic  in  its  conciliatoriness.  He  stood  before  us  the 
apostle  of  Christian  culture.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  that 
persuasive  rhetoric  and  that  nice  sense  of  suitability  in  which 
Americans  so  much  excel."  He  did  much  in  the  British  Con- 
ference to  promote  a  good  understanding  in  relation. to  the 
complicated  question  of  slavery.  Two  years  later  his  sonor- 
ous voice  was  silenced  by  death. 

Richard  Watson  (1796— 1833)  was  the  greatest  theological 
thinker  and  teacher  of  his  day.  Dr.  Clarke  surpassed  him  in 
versatile  scholarship,-  but  not  in  intellectual  power.  Dr.  Bunt- 
ing possessed  greater  capacity  for  the  management  of  men 
and  the  conduct  of  affairs.  But  Bunting's  filial  biographer 
truly  says:  "  Watson  trod  daily,  with  stately  yet  familiar  air, 
the  highest  walks  of  truth ;  and  not  seldom  presumed  into  the 
heaven  of  heavens  itself  and  breathed  empyreal  air,  so  that 
he  often  spake  rather  as  one  haunted  by  the  memories  of 
things  which  he  had  heard,  but  which  it  was  not  lawful  for 


A   GROUP    OF   PRESIDENTS   OF   THE   CONFERENCE. 

Rev.Jona.Crowther.    Rev.  Jonathan  Edmondson.   Rev.  John  Gaulter.    Rev.  George  Marsden. 

Rev.  R.  Treffry.    Rev.  J.  Towxlev.    Rev.  J.  Stephens     Rev.  G.  Morlev.    Rev.  S.  Jackson. 

Rev.  Edmund  Grindrod.    Rev.  Joseph  Taylor.    Rev.  John  Scott.    Rev.  C.  Prest. 

Rev.  William  Atherton.     Rev.  Jacob  Stanley.     Rev.  John  Beecham. 

Rev.  Tsaac  Keeling.    Rev.  John  Lomas.    Rev.  John  Farrar.     Rev.  John   Rattenbury, 

Rev,  John  Howers.    Rev.  Francis  A.  West.    Rev.  Robert  Young.    Rev.  Robert  New  ion. 


Watson  and  Hannah  1321 

him  to  utter,  than  as  one  yet  in  the  body.  .  .  .  His  heart 
was  full  of  sympathies,  but  they  were  with  ideas  and  with 
things  rather  than  with  men  ;  for  his  was  a  proud  spirit  and 
had  been  bruised  at  a  time  when  it  could  hardly  bear  any 
touch  but  that  of  Him  who  made  it.  Yet  how  vivid  is  the 
recollection  of  that  lip,  now  curling  with  scorn  and  now, 
quickly,  composed  into  placidity,  and  relaxing  into  a  heavenly 
smile !  " 

Richard  Watson  stood  six  feet  two  inches.  He  was  very 
thin.  His  forehead  was  immense,  but  exquisitely  molded, 
and  as  if  elaborately  modeled.  His  eyes  were  dark,  but 
flashing.  ' '  His  long,  shapely,  cogitative  nose  gave  a  Grecian 
cast  to  a  face  strongly  expressive  of  his  genius  and  his  char- 
acter," and  "sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought." 
His  voice  was  deep,  mellow,  musical,  and  well  modulated. 
Byron's  description  of  the  Coliseum  at  Rome  portrays  in  one 
line  the  great  Richard  Watson  as  he  was  two  years  and  a  half 
before  his  death:  "Simple,  erect,  august,  severe,  sublime." 
Watson's  collected  works  fill  twelve  volumes.  His  Theoloof- 
ical  Institutes  did  much  to  mold  the  ministry  of  a  race  of 
strong  preachers  like  Dixon,  Hannah,  Treffry,  Jobson,  Far- 
rar,  Thornton,  Osborn,  Gregory,  and  Perks.  Watson  effect- 
ively vindicated  Methodism  and  its  founder  in  his  Observa- 
tions on  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley.  He  was  president  at 
Liverpool  in  1826.  He  died  only  a  year  before  the  first 
theological  institution  was  opened. 

The  first  theological  tutor,  John  Hannah,  D.D.  (1792-1867), 
lectured  for  thirty-three  years.  He  was  twice  president  of 
Conference,  and  for  nine  years  secretary.  He  accompanied 
Richard  Reece  in  1824,  and  Dr.  Jobson  in  1856,  as  represent- 
ative to  America.  The  bust  by  Adams  well  represents  him 
in  later   life,  when  his  dark  eyes  were  deeply  sunk  under 


1322  British  Methodism 

thick,  shaggy  brows,  and  his  earlier  rugged,  ungainly  mass 
of  manhood  was  softened  into  peaceful  and  reverential  re- 
pose. The  published  outlines  of  his  Theological  Lectures 
are  of  permanent  value  for  their  lucid  definitions  and  care- 
ful scriptural  proofs ;  typical  of  the  old  tutoral  style  at  its 
best.      His  successor  at  Didsbury  College,  Dr.  W.  Birt  Pope, 

says  that  in  Dr.  Hannah's  later 
years  "the  foundations  of  sys- 
tematic theology  were  shifting; 
Christian  evidences  were  under- 
going what  amounted  to  a 
revolution  ;  biblical  criticism  was 
beginning  afresh ;  and  the  Intro- 
duction to  the  Bible  was  almost 
rewritten."  Hannah  did  not  live 
to  complete  his  intended  revision 
of  his  lectures.  He  was  the  em- 
rev.  johx  hannah.  bodiment  of  integrity  and  charity. 

After  the  bust  taken  in  1867  by  John  Adams.      Dr     Jobson    expressed    a    COmniOll 

sentiment  when  he  preached  his  funeral  sermon  from  the 
text,  "The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved;  "  and  in  a  beautiful 
memoir  Dr.  Pope  tells  how  his  old  tutor  had  caught  the  spirit 
of  St.  John's  doctrine  and  devotion.  He  "blended  mascu- 
line energy  with  feminine  intensity  and  childlike  simplicity." 
Thomas  Jackson  (17S3-1873)  was  theological  tutor  at  Rich- 
mond College  for  nineteen  years  after  its  opening,  in  1842. 
Like  Dr.  Hannah,  he  lacked  creative  genius,  but  his  Lives  of 
John  Goodwin,  Charles  Wesley,  The  Early  Methodist  Preach- 
ers, Watson,  Newton,  and  his  editorship  of  the  Standard 
Edition  of  John  Wesley's  Works  witness  to  his  untiring  in- 
dustry. For  nineteen  years  he  was  connectional  editor,  and 
ably  defended   Methodism  against  the  attacks  of  Dr.  Pusey 


FROM   THE   ENGRAVING   Hi   BAKER. 


life 


DRAWN   Br  J.    P.   DAVIS.  *FTEB  WOODCUTS. 

WESLEYAN   THEOLOGICAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

Richmond. 
Headingley. 


Didsbnry. 
Handsworth. 


The  Scholars  of  Methodism  1325 

and  others.  He  was  twice  president  of  Conference.  When 
he  was  eighty-nine  he  attended  the  London  Conference  with 
William  Tranter,  who  was  ninety-four,  and  they  were  called 
the  two  "boys"  of  the  Conference.  His  old  students  ven- 
erate his  memory. 

His  successor  was  John  Lomas,  who  was  removed  to  Head- 
ingley  College  in  1868  ;  a  man  of  Watson's  type,  whose  com- 
manding intellect  controlled  a  rich  imagination.  He  gained 
the  truth  he  taught  through  much  inward  conflict.  He  was 
president  of  Conference  in  1853.  In  1839  John  Farrar 
was  appointed  classical  tutor  and  governor  at  Abney 
House — the  old  mansion  in  which  Dr.  Watts  had  died 
ninety  years  before.  Later,  as  governor  of  Woodhouse 
Grove  School  and  then  of  Headingley -College,  as  secretary 
of  Conference  and  twice  president,  John  Farrar  was  dis- 
tinguished by  a  rare  judiciousness  and  a  fine  old-time  dignity 
of  manner. 

A  theologian  who  wrote  some  standard  treatises  was  Rich- 
ard Treffry,  who  was  president  of  Conference  in  1833.  Sam- 
uel Jackson,  the  brother  of  Thomas  Jackson,  was  an  early 
governor  of  Richmond  College  and  Conference  president  in 
1847.  He  was  in  advance  of  his  brethren  in  advocating  Wes- 
leyan  day  schools,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  intense 
interest  in  the  baptized  children  of  the  Church.  As  he  was 
dying  his  daughter  asked  him  what  was  the  subject  of  his 
thoughts.      "  The  children,"  was  the  veteran's  reply. 

An  eminent  educationalist  who  was  twice  Conference 
president  was  John  Scott  (1792- 1868);  the  first  principal  of 
the  Westminster  Normal  Training  College,  opened  in  1852. 
Thomas  Galland,  M.A.  (Cambridge),  was  from  183 1  to  1842 
a  distinguished  classical  examiner  of  the  connectional  schools. 
He  criticised  the  committees  and  Dr.  Bunting  when  they  op- 


1326 


British  Methodism 


posed  Lord  Melbourne's  scheme  of  national  education  on  the 
o-round  of  its  latitudinarian  look.     An  accomplished  scholar, 


URAWN   BY  J.   0     WOODWARD. 


AFTER   A  WOODCUT. 

ABNEY    HOUSE,    STOKE   NEWINGTON. 
This  building,  in  which  Dr.  Isaac  Watts  died,  was  used  as  a  Wesleyan  college,  1839. 

a  wide  reader,  a  faithful,  fervid  preacher,  a  warm  philanthro- 
pist, he  passed  away  in  mid-life. 

A  group  of  "  liberals  "  of  the  same  school  as  Galland,  who 


Dr.   James  Dixon  1327 

never  hesitated  to  cross  swords  with  Bunting  in  debate,  in- 
cluded Joseph  Fowler,  secretary  of  Conference  in  1848,  "  one 
of  the  princes  of  the  Wesleyan  pastorate  both  in  the  pulpit 
and  out."  His  son,  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Henry  Fowler, 
has  attained  imperial  reputation.  Joseph  Fowler's  Notes  on 
the  Conference  Debates  from  1827  to  1852  form  the  basis  of 
Dr.  Gregory's  Sidelights  on  the  Conflicts  of  Methodism. 
The  first  of  Mr.  Fowler's  principles  was  freedom  of  speech 
and  discussion  in  Conference  and  connectional  committee, 
and  the  absolute  right  to  the  use  of  this  freedom.  There  was 
a  secret  feeling  among  some  that  Bunting  must  not  always 
have  his  own  way.  The  battle  of  free  speech  was  fought  by 
J.  Fowler,  W.  Arthur,  S.  R.  Hall,  T.  Vasey,  J.  H.  Rigg,  B. 
Gregory,  and  a  few  others. 

Joseph  Beaumont,  M.D.,  was  a  fearless  debater,  often  in 
combatant  opposition  to  Dr.  Bunting,  with  whom  he  was  un- 
equally matched,  but  by  whom  he  was  never  silenced.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  popular  pulpit  orators  of  his  clay,  some- 
times florid,  but  often  electrifying  his  congregations  by  mar- 
velous outbursts  of  eloquence.  He  died  suddenly,  in  the 
pulpit  of  Waltham  Street  Chapel,  Hull,  in  1855,  as  he  was 
giving  out  the  lines,  with  deep  pathos  and  quivering  lips : 

Thee  while  the  first  archangel  sings 
He  hides  his  face  behind  his  wings. 

A  Conference  president  who  was  preeminently,  and  in  the 
noblest  sense,  one  of  the  grandest  men  and  preachers  of 
his  time  was  James  Dixon,  D.D.  ( 1 788—1871).  His  eloquence 
was  rich  in  close,  deep  thought  no  less  than  in  burning  dec- 
lamation. He  was  famous  as  a  speaker  against  slavery,  a 
lecturer  against  popery,  an  advocate  of  foreign  missions. 
' '  In  person  he  was  singularly  noble.     A  finer,  more  luminous 


1328 


British  Methodism 


face  was  never  seen  than  his.  His  head  was  altogether  Jove- 
like, and  the  pure  white  flowing  and  curling  locks  which 
festooned  his  noble  head  were  an  unrivaled  feature  in  his  ap- 
pearance." 

There  are  other  notable  faces  among  the  portraits  of  the 
presidents.     George  Morley  was  a  chief  founder  of  the  Mis- 


JAMES   DIXON,    D.D. 

sionary  Society,  the  venerated  governor  of  Woodhouse  Grove 
School,  and  the  president  of  the  Conference  of  1 830.  Jonathan 
Crowther,  who  preceded  Bunting  in  his  first  presidency,  was 
considered  one  of  the  most  advanced  men  among  the  early 
preachers,  yet  the  march  of  ideas  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that, 
when  Bunting  was  advocating  the  cause  of  the  laymen  in 


LEADING    WELSH    PREACHERS. 

Rev.  Isaac  Jenkins.  Rev.  Thomas  Aubrey.  Rev.  Samuel  Davies. 

Rev.   Robert  Jones.  Rev.   Edward  Jove-.  Rev.  High  Jones. 

Rev.  John  Evans.  Rev.  Richaud  Roberts.  Rev.   David  Young. 


Dr.   Bunting   "a  Kilhamite "  1331 

Conference,  it  was  Crowther  who  rose  and  said,  "I  always 
suspected  Mr.  Bunting  of  being  secretly  inclined  to  Kilham- 
itism,  but  now  I  am  confirmed;  he  is  a  Kilhamite!  "  Dr. 
Townley  as  a  scholar,  E.  Grindrod  as  administrator,  were 
men  of  mark.  Theophilus  Lessey  was  almost  equal  to  New- 
ton as  an  orator.  Robert  Young  and  John  Rattenbury  were 
noble  revivalists.  William  Atherton  was  an  original,  pungent, 
forceful  preacher  who  lived  to  see  his  son  become  solicitor- 
general  for  England.  Isaac  Keeling  was  another  man  of  sharp- 
ly defined  individuality,  a  keen  critic,  a  unique  preacher  to  the 
conscience.  Dr.  Stamp  and  Charles  Prest  rendered  invalua- 
ble service  in  connectional  affairs  ;  the  latter,  as  the  organizer 
of  home  missions,  ought  to  be  honored  as  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  modern  forward  movement.  Prest  was  followed  in  his 
presidency  of  1862  by  the  fearless,  conservative,  venerable 
George  Osborn,  who  lived  to  preside  at  the  first  Ecumenical 
Conference  (1881). 


CHAPTER  CXL 
The  First  Centenary  Celebration 

Social  Storm-clouds. — Fellowship  and  Finance. — Hilarious  Giv- 
ing.—Platform  Echoes. —Tales  of  the  Grandfathers.— The 
Offerings  of  the  People. 


IN  an  encyclical  of  1839  the  P°pe  called  the  attention  of 
all  Roman  Catholics  to  Methodism  by  declaring  that  the 
"  heretics"  were  putting  to  shame  the  offerings  of  the 
"faithful."  A  hundred  years  had  passed  since  Wesley 
founded  his  societies  for  Primitive  Church  fellowship,  and 
the  Methodists  were  commemorating  the  event  by  thank 
offerings  amounting  to  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  pounds. 
The  preparations  for  the  centenary  commenced  at  a  period 
in  national  affairs  which  seemed  most  unpropitious  to  any 
such  outburst  of  spiritual  enthusiasm  and  jubilant  giving. 
England  was  carrying  on  the  disgraceful  opium  war  with 
China  and  a  disastrous  campaign  in  Afghanistan.  Canada 
was  in  revolt.  Bread  riots  had  again  broken  out  in  the  large 
towns.  John  Bright  and  Richard  Cobden  were  heading  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  League.  Ebenezer  Elliot's  corn-law  rhymes 
were  being  sung  by  excited  crowds  of  half-famished  laborers. 
The  Chartists  were  beginning  to  agitate   for  the  "political 

rights  of  the  people."     The  Anglican  Church  was  rent  by 

1332 


The  Hundredth  Birthday  of  a  Church  1333 

Tractarianism.  The  Free  Church  movement  was  stirring 
Scotland.  Many  Methodists  were  awaking  to  a  new  concep- 
tion of  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  When  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  centenary  celebration  commenced,  in  1837,  the 
Methodist  Church  itself  was  under  a  cloud :  the  evolution  of 
its  polity  had  been  too  slow  for  some  ardent  reformers, 
changes  had  been  made  too  late  to  avert  discord  and  seces- 
sion, and  there  was  a  decrease  of  members. 

But  a  day  was  set  apart  for  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer. 
Deep  seriousness  pervaded  the  gatherings.  Fervent  supplica- 
tions for  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  answered. 
The  clouds  broke,  showers  descended,  and  chapels  were  so 
thronged  that  many  new  buildings  had  to  be  erected  all  over 
the  land.  A  revival  of  spiritual  fervor  was  the  open  secret 
of  the  success  of  the  celebration. 

This  fervor  was  intensified  by  the  central  idea  of  the  move- 
ment. It  had  been  suggested  in  1 824  that  Wesley's  ordination 
should  be  commemorated,  but  this  had  not  met  with  general 
acceptance.  Now  it  was  decided  that  the  founding  of  the 
United  Societies  in  1739,  after  Wesley's  heart  had  been 
"strangely  warmed"  and  his  experience  transformed  by 
"  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,"  should  be  the  inspiring  event. 
This  appealed  with  electric  force  to  the  Methodist  heart. 
It  was  the  celebration  of  the  hundredth  birthday  of  a  Church 
founded  on  a  divine  life,  doctrine,  and  fellowship. 

A  committee  meeting  of  ministers  and  laymen  at  Manches- 
ter in  1838  was  refnarkable  for  the  flame  of  holy  feeling 
which  it  kindled.  The  offering  of  .£1,000  by  a  widow  whom 
God  had  prospered  in  business  was  followed  by  many  more  in 
thanksgiving.  The  students  in  the  Hoxton  Institution  caught 
the  flame  and  "  it  went,"  said  one  of  them,  William  Arthur, 
"  like  fire  from  study  to  study."     The  London  meeting  lasted 

84 


1334 


British   Methodism 


from  morning  until  evening  and  took  the  form  of  a  love  feast. 
The  sainted  dead  were  honored  by  gifts  connected  with  their 
names,  and  Joseph  Butterworth,  M.P.,  who  had  suggested  the 
movement  in  1824,  but  had  since  passed  to  his  rest,  was  not 
forgotten. 

At  Redruth,  Cornwall,  Thomas  Jackson,  president  of  Con- 
ference in    1838,  saw  "a  solid  sea  of  human  faces"  in  the 

great  chapel.  While 
he  was  referring  to 
the  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the 
rise  of  Methodism  a 
supernatural  influ- 
ence fell  upon  the 
assembly  and  many 
were  in  tears.  Simi- 
lar scenes  were  wit- 

oldham  street  chapel,  Manchester.         nessed  all    over  the 

land.  Notes  sent  to 
the  platform  aroused  deep  interest.  At  Dublin  Jackson  read 
from  one,  "  A  convert  from  popery  sends  two  and  sixpence, 
and  wishes  to  return  thanks  to  God  that  her  friends  are  not 
paying  it  for  the  pretended  redemption  of  her  soul  out  of  pur- 
gatory." In  the  same  meeting  a  good  man  who  had  men- 
tioned the  amount  of  his  intended  gift  caught  his  wife's  eye 
and  at  once  increased  the  amount,  saying,  "  I  perceive  from 
my  wife's  countenance  that  the  sum  is  not  sufficient ;  "  and 
Jackson  turned  to  Lessey  with  a  quotation  from  Prior : 

That  eye  dropped  sense  distinct  and  clear 
As  any  muse's  tongue  could  speak. 

The  play  of  sanctified  wit  often  relieved  the  strain  of  pro- 
longed   meetings.      At  City  Road  Dr.   Beaumont,'  speaking 


rflitiMllikt$M 


DRAWN    Br    G     *.    PiCKNEl 


SPEAKERS   AT   THE   FIRST   .MISSIONARY    MEETING. 
Rev.  George  Morlev.  Rev.  James  Wood.  Rev.  William  Warrener. 


Rev.  John  Braithwaitb. 


Rev.  Jabez  Bunting,  aged  25. 


Rev.  Charles  Atmore. 


Thread  and  Needle  1337 

of  Wesley's  mind,  said,  "  If  Mr.  Wesley  was  deficient  in  any 
mental  quality,  it  was  in  imagination  ;  he  lacked  the  play  and 
fire  of  fancy."'  An  aged  supernumerary  who  had  known 
Wesley  rose  to  say  that  Dr.  Beaumont  was  mistaken  in  say- 
ing that  Mr.  Wesley  had  no  fire.  The  doctor  replied :  "  The 
only  mistake  which  has  been  made  to-night  has  been  made 
by  my  venerable  friend  Mr.  Jenkins.  I  did  not  say  that  Mr. 
Wesley  had  no  fire,  but  that  he  lacked  the  play  and  fire  of  the 
imagination.  Mr.  Wesley  no  fire  !  Why,  his  thoughts  were 
fire  ;  his  words  were  truth  ;  his  heart  was  love  :  and  his  feet 
were  like  the  feet  of  a  roe  on  the  mountains  of  Israel.  His 
preaching  in  this  country  acted  like  a  sevenfold  peal  of  thun- 
der ;  its  tones,  its  vibrations,  and  its  reverberations  have  not 
yet — no,  nor  ever  will  cease  until  wrapped  up  in  the  blast  of 
the  archangel's  trumpet."  Dr.  Bunting  then  came  forward 
and  said,  "  I  am  happy  in  the  belief  that  if  Mr.  Wesley  were 
deficient  in  imagination,  his  sons  in  the  Gospel  will  make  up 
for  him." 

Dr.  Gregory  relates  that  at  a  later  meeting  Dr.  Bunting — 
alluding  to  Mr.  Jackson's  centenary  text,  "  Xot  many  wise 
men  after  the  flesh  .  .  .  not  many  noble,"  etc. — had  touched 
upon  his  own  humble  parentage  and  earliest  prospects  as  the 
son  of  a  working  tailor,  and  himself  at  first  looking  forward 
to  the  same  vocation.  This  led  him  into  meandering  mem- 
ories of  his  vouno-  religious  life  till,  finding  that  his  time  was 
gone,  he  suddenly  broke  off,  saying:  "Well,  I've  lost  the 
thread  of  my  discourse,  so  I  had  better  make  way  for  the 
next  speaker."  Mr.  Thomas  Percival  Bunting  was  then 
called  for.  He  began,  "  The  man  who  so  soon  let  slip  the 
needle  may  well  be  apt  to  lose  the  thread." 

President  Jackson's  speeches  were  replete  with  anecdotes 
of  old  Methodism.     At  Leeds  he  told  how  Samuel,  the  son 


1338 


British  Methodism 


of  Charles  Wesley,  came  to  open  the  organ  in  Brunswick 
Chapel,  and  when  he  played  the  Hundredth  Psalm  tune  the 
congregation  sang  with  such  power  that  they  took  the  tune 
completely  out  of  his  hands,  and  the  organ  could  not  be  heard. 
To  a  musical  friend  he  remarked,  "  I  have  come  all  the  way 

from  London  to  open 
this  organ,  and  here  I 
am  playing  second  fid- 
dle." Jackson  hoped 
the  Leeds  people 
would  serve  the  com- 
mittee as  they  served 
the  nephew  of  John 
Wesley,  and  take  the 
joyful  celebration  out 
of  their  hands.  This 
they  soon  did  with  im- 
mense enthusiasm  as 
the  offerings  poured 
in.  with  love-feast  tes- 
timonies, amid  tears 
and  shouts  and  songs. 
Jackson  rendered 
splendid  service  by  his 
centenarv  volume  and  sermon.  "The  Laureate  of  the  Com- 
memoration was  James  Montgomery,  of  Sheffield,  whose 
centenary  ode,  'A  Hundred  Years  Ago,' was  scarcely  equal  to 
the  occasion  or  to  his  own  genius." 

Theophilus  Lessey  presided  at  the  Centenary  Conference 
at  Liverpool.  The  secretary,  Dr.  Newton,  writing  to  his 
daughters,  said  :  "  This  has  been  a  glorious  year:  seventeen 
thousand  members  have  been  added  to  our  societies.     To 


ENGRAVED  I 


PAINTED  BY  Vi     GUSH 

REV.    THEOPHILUS   LESSEY. 
President  of  the  Conference  in  1839. 


\ 


REV.   JABEZ    BUNTING. 

Four  times  president  of  the  Conference. 


Survivors  of  Wesley's  Day  1341 

God's  name  be  all  the  praise.  We  have  also  one  hundred 
and  eighteen  candidates  for  our  ministry.  We  have  glorious 
news  from  the  mission  stations,  especially  New  Zealand  and 
Africa."     The  holy  feeling  was  overwhelming. 

Thirty-two  survivors  from  the  days  of  Wesley  were  on  the 
Minutes  of  Conference.  Richard  Reece,  president  in  1816 
and  1835,  was  one  of  these.  He  holds  a  place  in  Sir  J.  E. 
Burke's  Royal  Descents  of  England  as  the  descendant  of  a 
line  of  kings.  "Alike  in  physique,  in  countenance  and  char- 
acter, he  would  have  added  dignity  to  any  line  of  monarchs, 
yet  he  was  far  more  like  some  handsome,  majestic  commoner 
of  the  type  of  Pitt  and  Peel.  He  would  have  made  a  noble 
figure  standing  on  the  floor  of  the  House  addressing  the 
Imperial  Parliament  with  his  commanding  voice  and  his 
strong,  apt,  manly  English.  He  had  a  richly  florid  English 
complexion,  and  an  imposing  stateliness  of  figure  and  de- 
meanor which  arrested  attention  and  commanded  admiration 
as  he  strode  along  the  streets."  He  was  the  last  Methodist 
preacher  to  keep  up  the  private  bands  and  the  five  o'clock 
morning  service,  though  he  could  not  always  persuade  his 
colleagues  to  sustain  them.  When  he  was  S.  D.  Waddy's 
superintendent  in  Sheffield  he  said  to  him:  "O  Mr.  Waddy, 
if  you  would  attend  the  five  o'clock  preaching  every  morning 
it  would  lengthen  your  days."  "Of  course  it  would,  sir,"  he 
replied;  "but  then  it  would  proportionately  shorten  my 
nights."  Reece  was  the  first  representative  of  the  British 
Conference  to  the  American  General  Conference  (1823),  and 
Dr.  Stevens  testifies  that  his  visit  did  much  to  enkindle  mis- 
sionary enthusiasm  in  America.  The  veteran  startled  the 
first  centenary  meeting  by  his  audacious  proposal  to  aim  at 
£200,000,  but  the  result  proved  his  sagacity. 

Joseph  Entwisle,  president  in  18 12  and  1825,  and  governor 


1342  British  Methodism 

of  the  theological  institution  for  four  years,  was  another 
venerable  figure.  It  is  he  and  Joseph  Sutcliffe  whom  Dr. 
Gregory  describes  as  ' '  the  two  saintliest  looking  men  my 
eyes  have  ever  rested  on.     Yet  there  was  naught  about  them 


TWO    DISTINGUISHED    CONFERENCE    PRESIDENTS. 
Rev.  Joseph  Entwisle.  Rev.  Richard  Reece. 

of  the  ascetic  or  the  mystic ;  they  were  the  very  symbols  of  a 
comely,  comfortable,  social,  serviceable  sainthood."  And 
that  Entwisle  was  as  saintly  as  he  looked,  his  Life,  by  his 
son,  beautifully  witnesses.  His  face  and  his  letters  testify 
that  "to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  One 
neighbor,  whose  house  he  passed  almost  every  day,  attributed 
her  conversion  to  the  deep  impression  as  to  the  joy  of  re- 
ligion made  upon  her  mind  by  the  uniformly  happy  expres- 
sion of  his  countenance.  The  Methodist  people  revered  the 
hoary  saint  and  listened  spellbound  as  he  told  them  how  he 
heard  Wesley  prophesy:  "  Some  people  say,  when  my  head 


The  Centenary  Offering 


1343 


is  laid  all  this  work  will  come  to  nothing.  But  it  is  not  the 
work  of  man  ;  it  is  the  work  of  God ;  and  it  will  spread  more 
and  more  till  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

The  offerings  of  British  Methodists  amounted  to  ,£208,089; 
and     Ireland,    though    oppressed    with    poverty,   contributed 


WESLEYAN    CENTENARY    HALL,  LONDON,   1839. 

.£14,500.  In  America  £120,000  ($600,000)  was  raised;  its 
own  special  centenary  being  celebrated  in  1866,  twenty-seven 
years  later.  This  made  a  grand  total  of  £342,589.  About  a 
tenth  of  the  whole  amount  came  from  the  ministers.  As  a 
result  of  this  thanksgiving  two  theological  colleges  were 
built.  The  London  Tavern  was  bought  and  transformed  into 
a  Centenary  Hall,  which  became  the  Foreign  Mission  House. 


1344 


British  Methodism 


A  missionary  ship  was  purchased;  mission  schools  and 
chapels  were  built  in  Ireland;  debts  were  cleared  off;  the 
pinching  allowances  of  worn-out  ministers  and  ministers' 
widows  were  increased;  other  funds  were  aided,   and  £1,000 


MO   ENGRAVED   BY  J     SR 


THE   OLD   WESLEYAN   BOOK    ROOM,   LONDON,   1842. 

was  given  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Sister 
Churches  were  stimulated,  and  a  new  era  in  the  annals  of 
Christian  liberality  was  inaugurated. 

The  membership  of  "Wesleyan  Methodism  in  1839  through- 
out the  world  was  1, 1 12,5  19,  with  4,957  ministers.  Metho- 
dism in  all  its  branches  reckoned  more  than  1,400,000  mem- 
bers. 


CHAPTER  CXLI 

The  Queen  and  the  People 

Addresses  to  Queen  Victoria. — "Educating  the  People." — Albert 
the  Good.— A  Great  Antislavery  Meeting.— The  Queen  and 
the  Methodists. — The  White  Slaves  of  England. —Richard 
Oastler  and  Thomas  Sadler,  Methodist  Politicians. 

THE  first  Conference  held  after  the  accession  of  Queen 
Victoria  had  presented  a  congratulatory  address  to 
her  majesty  which  Lord  John  Russell  assured  the  pres- 
ident was  very  graciously  received.  The  Coronation  cere- 
mony followed,  in  1838,  and  the  Methodist  Conference  ad- 
dress contained  the  following  reference  to  the  young  queen  : 
"We  wish  to  commend  to  your  very  earnest  prayers  the  sov- 
ereign of  this  realm.  Called  in  such  early  life  to  sustain  so 
weighty,  a  charge,  she  needs  in  no  ordinary  degree  the  wis- 
dom that  is  from  above.  .  .  We  beseech  you  to  pray  earnest- 
ly and  constantly  for  the  queen  and  all  that  are  in  authority; 
and  to  fulfill  all  our  various  duties  as  members  of  civil  society 
in  habitual  reference  to  the  will  of  God."  These  were  the 
first  of  man}-  similar  patriotic  addresses  presented — on  the 
queen's  marriage  ;  on  her  escape  from  assassination,  in  1843  ; 
on  the  death  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent ;  on  the  births  of  her 
children  and  grandchildren  ;  on  the  deaths  of  the  Prince  Con- 
sort, the  Emperor  Frederick,  the   Princess  Alice,  and  Prince 

1345 


1346  British  Methodism 

Leopold  ;  on  the  close  of  the  Crimean  War ;  on  the  Diamond 
Jubilee,  and  on  other  occasions. 

In  a  Coronation  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Sydney  Smith  gave 
utterance  to  what  appears  now  to  be  almost  a  "prophetic 
aspiration:"  "What  limits  to  the  glory  and  happiness  of 
our  native  land  if  the  Creator  should  in  his  mercy  have  placed 
in  the  heart  of  this  royal  woman  the  rudiments  of  wisdom 
and  mercy ;  and  if,  giving  them  time  to  expand  and  to 
bless  our  children's  children  with  her  goodness,  he  should 
grant  to  her  a  long  sojourning  upon  earth  and  leave  her 
to  reign  over  us  till  she  is  well  stricken  in  years?  "  The 
practical  appeal  which  followed  apparently  reached  the 
royal  ear :  ' '  First  and  foremost  I  think  the  new  queen 
should  bend  her  mind  to  the  very  serious  considei'ation  of 
educating  the  people.  ...  It  presents  the  best  chance  of 
national  improvement." 

To  this  work  of  "educating  the  people"  Methodism  had 
already. given  an  impulse.  The  first  building  which  John 
Wesley  erected  in  England  after  his  return  from  Georgia  was 
a  day  school  which  he  began  to  build  in  1739,  "  in  the  mid- 
dle of  Kingswood,"  for  the  children  of  the  colliers.  His 
followers  commenced  Sunday  schools  before  Robert  Raikes 
organized  the  noble  work  with  which  Wesley  was  in  such  in- 
tense sympathy.  The  promoters  of  the  early  Sunday  schools 
found  it  necessary  to  teach  reading,  spelling,  and  writing  in 
almost  every  school.  Methodists  contributed  to  many  of  the 
thirteen  thousand  day  schools  opened  by  the  British  and 
National  School  Societies  between  181 1  and  1841.  The 
Wesleyan  Education  Committee  appointed  in  1836  had  ascer- 
tained the  existence  of  Wesleyan  day  schools  with  an  attend- 
ance of  eight  thousand  two  hundred  scholars.  The  opening 
of  the  Wesleyan  Proprietary  School  at  Sheffield  (afterward 


The  Wesleyans  and  Education  1347 

Wesley  College)  in  1836  manifested  a  new  sense  of  the  impor- 
tance of  secondary  education. 

In  1839  the  government  constituted  a  Board  of  Education 
for  the  first  time.  The  board  was  especially  charged  with 
the  formation  of  normal  schools,  and  £30,000  was  voted. 
The  lords  hastened  to  condemn  the  new  scheme  in  an  address 
to  the  crown.  Their  lordships,  however,  received  a  courte- 
ous rebuke  from  the  throne  and  the  scheme  was  vigorously 
carried  out.  The  existence  of  the  new  Wesleyan  Education 
Committee  and  a  grant  from  the  Centenary  Fund  prepared 
the  Methodist  Church  to  avail  itself  of  government  aid  and 
to  take  its  part  in  the  educational  movement.  The  Wesleyan 
normal  institutions  and  schools  have  won  the  highest  com- 
mendation of  government  inspectors,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rigg, 
who  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first  London  School  Board, 
is  regarded  by  all  parties  as  one  of  the  leading  British  educa- 
tionists of  his  century. 

During  the  Methodist  centenary  year  the  queen  was  be- 
trothed to  Prince  Albert  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  The  royal 
marriage  took  place  in  1 840,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  ' '  spoke  the 
simple  truth  "  when  he  stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  that 
it  was  a  "marriage  founded  on  affection." 

Prince  Albert  slowly  won  the  hearts  of  the  English  people. 
He  presented  an  example  of  that  deepening,  softening,  and 
strengthening  of  character  which  has  been  described  as  the 
special  fruit  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  among  those  peo- 
ples which  have  really  assimilated  its  principles.  Methodists 
could  well  appreciate  his  deeply  religious  character  revealed 
in  his  letter  to  the  queen  in  1839,  when  he  was  about  to  take 
the  sacrament  at  Coburg:  "  God  will  not  take  it  amiss  if  in 
that  serious  act,  even  at  the  altar,  I  think  of  you ;  for  I  will 
pray  to  him  for  you  and  for  your  soul's  health,  and  he  will 


1348 


British  Methodism 


not  refuse  his  blessing."  He  was  wholly  free  from  narrow- 
ness and  bigotry,  and  always  in  favor  of  religious  toleration. 
He  took  an  interest  in  all  movements  for  the  spread  of  edu- 
cation, the  encouragement  of  art,  and  ihe  promotion  of  in- 
dustrial science. 

Prince  Albert's  first  public  appearance  was  at  a  great  anti- 
slavery  meeting  in  Exeter  Hall  on  June   i,  1840,  when  he 


AFTER     A     PHOTOGRAPH. 


INTERIOR   OF    EXETER    HALL. 

Where  the  anniversaries  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  are  held. 

took  the  chair.  Mr.  T.  F.  Buxton,  Archdeacon  Wilberforce, 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Chichester, 
and  Dr.  Jabez  Bunting  were  among  the  speakers.  Dr. 
Dixon  (president  of  Conference  in  1841)  was  also  present,  as 
one  of  the  representatives  of  Methodism,  and  in  a  letter 
home  the  next  day  he  says:  "  We  had  a  grand  meeting,  un- 
exampled in  the  history  of  such  assemblies  as  to  rank  and 


In  Caesar's  Household  1349 

numbers.  There  was  the  presence  of  the  prince — he  is  a 
fine  man,  and  was  deeply  interested  in  the  best  parts  of  the 
meeting;  the  appearance  and  speech  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who 
was  received  with  more  enthusiasm  than  I  ever  witnessed. 
The  shouting  and  waving  of  hats  were  tremendous.  His 
speech  gave  me  such  an  idea  of  the  perfection  of  oratory  as  I 
never  possessed  before."  Dr.  Bunting,  speaking  as  a  Meth- 
odist, said:  "  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  a  religious  body 
which  was  among  the  first  to  think  of  the  negro,  and  which 
during  the  last  fifty  years  has  made  a  larger  expenditure  both 
of  money  and  valuable  missionary  life  for  Africa  and  her  in- 
jured race  than  many  others  have  had  the  opportunity  of  do- 
ing— it  would  be  strange  indeed  should  they  prove  indiffer- 
ent to  a  plan  which  promises  not  only  to  deliver  Africa  from 
the  worst  of  human  evils,  but  also  to  confer  upon  her  the 
greatest  amount  of  positive  good." 

In  all  antislavery  movements  the  Methodists  continued  to 
take  an  active  part,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  American 
Church  arising  out  of  the  slave  question  called  forth  much 
sympathy  from  the  successive  representatives  of  the  English 
Conference,  who  were  all  strong  Abolitionists. 

An  incident  revealing  the  queen's  freedom  from  bigotry 
was  reported  in  the  newspapers  of  1842,  and  greatly  interested 
the  Methodists.  A  lady  of  the  queen's  household  dismissed 
a  young  woman  from  her  majesty's  service  on  account  of  her 
religion.  She  had  ventured  to  unite  herself  with  the  Metho- 
dists. The  circumstance  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
queen,  who  sent  for  the  lady  and  found  it  was  true  that 
the  young  servant  had  been  dismissed  "  because  she  was  a 
Methodist."  The  queen  expressed  her  displeasure  and  sor- 
row, and  said  that  it  would  "  pain  her  exceedingly  were  any 

class  of  her  subjects  to  suffer  on  account  of  religion,  more 
85 


1350  British  Methodism 

particularly  if  such  should  be  the  case  in  her  own  household." 
The  lady  was  told  that  her  own  services  would  no  longer  be 
required,  and  the  Methodist  was  restored  to  the  royal  house- 
hold. The  mental  distress  consequent  upon  her  dismissal 
had  affected  the  young  woman's  health,  and  the  report  of  her 
case  appears  to  have  reached  the  queen  through  a  kind- 
hearted  physician. 

Two  German  musicians,  who  were  regular  attendants  at 
the  Windsor  Wesleyan  Chapel  and  earnest  tract  distributors, 
were  members  of  the  queen's  private  band.  One  of  them, 
Mr.  vSchrader,  the  finest  trombone  player  in  the  kingdom, 
had  been  brought  to  England  by  George  IV,  who  summoned 
the  band  of  the  Life  Guards  to  hear  him.  He  was  accus- 
tomed to  sing  in  the  choir  of  the  old  Wesleyan  Chapel,  and 
there  are  those  who  still  remember  his  deep  bass  voice.  When, 
in  the  early  days  of  Victoria,  he  and  his  comrade  were  ordered 
by  the  bandmaster  to  attend  a  Sunday  practice  of  secular 
music  they  refused,  and  were  promptly  dismissed.  The 
queen  missed  them,  and  learning  the  reason  of  their  dis- 
missal, at  once  ordered  them  to  be  reinstated,  directing  that  no 
dismissal  on  such  grounds  should  ever  occur  again.  No  man 
or  woman  was  ever  refused  a  situation  in  the  royal  house- 
hold on  the  ground  of  Nonconformity.  Many  of  the  queen's 
most  faithful  servants  have  been  loyal  Wesleyans.  Her  majesty 
has  always  caused  it  to  be  understood  that  reasonable  facilities 
for  worship  and  perfect  religious  liberty  must  prevail  in  her 
household.  The  recent  Wesleyan  presidents  have  been  pre- 
sented at  court,  and  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  has  been 
officially  represented  at  the  Queen's  Jubilee  celebrations. 

Turning  from  the  palace  and  Parliament  to  the  people,  we 
find  that,  early  in  the  century,  the  condition  of  multitudes  of 
English  workers  in  mines  and  factories  had  become  in  some  re- 


Labor  Agitation  1351 

spects  far  worse  than  that  of  the  majority  of  the  negro  slaves 
of  America.  The  early  results  of  the  factory  system  were  de- 
plorable. Persons  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  were  collected 
together  in  huge  buildings,  under  no  moral  control,  and  with 
no  provision  for  health,  comfort,  or  decency.  There  was  a 
sudden  growth  of  wealth  and  industry  accompanied  by  selfish 
capitalism  and  underpaid  and  excessive  labor. 

The  apprentice  system,  by  which  overseers  of  the  poor 
were  enabled  to  supply  pauper  children  to  factories,  led  to 
fearful  cruelties.  Mill  owners  in  search  of  "  hands  "  came  on 
appointed  days  to  examine  the  strength  and  height  of  the 
children  exactly  as  slave  dealers  did  in  the  American  market. 
Agents  who  provided  child  workers  for  factory  districts  kept 
them  in  dark  cellars  and  back  yards  until  they  could  obtain 
their  price  for  them.  In  order  to  get  rid  of  idiots  parish 
authorities  arranged  that  one  imbecile  should  be  taken  with 
every  twenty  sane  children.  They  were  often  worked  sixteen 
hours  a  day,  by  day  and  by  night,  in  stifling  rooms,  where 
labor  was  enforced  by  the  blows  of  merciless  overlookers. 
They  were  fed  upon  the  coarsest  food,  slept  in  filthy  beds 
that  were  never  cool,  and  were  chained  if  they  attempted  to 
run  away.  "One  does  not  trust  oneself,"  says  Gibbins  in 
his  Industrial  History,  "to  set  down  calmly  all  that  might  be 
told  of  this  awful  page  in  the  history  of  industrial  England." 
Southey  writes  to  Mr.  May,  in  1833,  "  The  slave  trade  is  mercy 
compared  to  it." 

The  earliest  champion  of  the  mill  hands  was  the  first  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  the  father  of  the  statesman  whose  eloquence  so 
delighted  Dr.  Dixon.  The  elder  Sir  Robert  Peel  is  men- 
tioned by  John  Wesley  in  his  Journal,  July  27,  1787:  "I 
was  invited  to  breakfast  at  Bury  by  Mr.  Peel,  a  calico  printer, 
who  a  few  years  ago  began  with  /500  and  is  now  supposed 


1352  British   Methodism 

to  have  gained  £50,000.  O  what  a  miracle  if  he  lose  not  his 
soul!"  Probably  Wesley  would  have  rejoiced  to  believe 
that  the  miracle  did  occur,  for  the  earliest  relief  for  the  fac- 
tory sufferers  came  through  his  host — one  of  the  very  class  by 
whom  they  were  so  grievously  oppressed.  But  the  early  acts 
secured  by  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Sir  John  Hobhouse  were  scan- 
dalously evaded,  chiefly  through  the  lack  of  a  system  of  inspec- 
tion, and  it  was  not  until  two  Methodist  local  preachers  took 
up  their  cause  that  the  factor}-  hands  obtained  effective  re- 
lief. Lord  Shaftesbury,  reviewing  the  history  of  the  move- 
ment in  1874,  said,  "The  question  was  taken  up  by  Mr. 
Oastler  and  Mr.  Sadler — marvelous  men  in  their  generation — 
and  without  whose  preceding  labors  nothing  could  have  been 
effected,  at  least  by  myself." 

Richard  Oastler's  father  was  disinherited  for  his  Metho- 
dism, and  it  was  in  his  house  that  Wesley  stayed  at  Thirsk. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  induced  Wesley  to  write  the  famous 
letter  intrusted  to  John  Bradford  to  be  read  at  the  first  Con- 
ference after  Wesley's  death.  On  Wesley's  last  visit  he  took 
Richard,  then  a  child,  in  his  arms  and  blessed  him.  The 
boy  was  educated  at  the  Moravian  school  at  Fulnek.  He  be- 
came a  local  preacher,  and  "  his  style  was  characterized  by 
exquisitely  simple  and  faithful  sketches  of  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  humble  life  and  labor;  realistic  touches  of  the 
spiritual  and  ethical  picturesque,  and  of  healthy  human  feel- 
ing." He  became  a  popular  politician  of  great  power  and 
influence. 

Dr.  Gregory  writes :  "  Though  Oastler's  powerful  person- 
ality added  greatly  to  his  effectiveness  as  a  speaker,  yet  his 
speeches  always  read  well ;  insomuch  that  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington cultivated  a  personal  intimacy  with  him,  and  was  his 
constant    correspondent.       In    1833   his    royal    highness  the 


Oastler's  Speeches 


1353 


Duke  of  Sussex,  moved  by  the  speeches  of  the  two  West 
Riding  Methodists,  Sadler  and  Oastler,  called  a  meeting  at 
the  London  Tavern  (soon  afterward  the  Wesleyan  Mission 
House)  and  sent  for  Oastler  to  tell  his  tale  in  person.  And 
a  piteous   tale    it    was,    and    powerfully    told.      When    John 

Smetham  and  I  were  young  men, 
studying  the  English  language  in 
its  finest  models,  we  read  with 
avidity  and  admiration  the  deliver- 
ances of  Richard  Oastler  as  the 
richest      gems       of       contemporary 


BARREN    9      DA#tS. 


FROM   PHOTOGRAPHS 


RICHARD    OASTLER    AM)    HIS    HOUSE    AT    1HIRSK. 
In  this  house  Wesley  was  often  a  gue>t. 

speech  reported  in  the  Leeds  Mercury.  And  if  anyone 
compares  the  extant  speeches  of  Oastler  with  those  of 
Stephens  and  O'Connor,  and  even  Thomas  Cooper,  he  must, 
I  think,  give  Oastler  the  gold  medal  for  manly,  heart-affect- 
ing eloquence." 


1354  British  Methodism 

He  was  powerfully  built  and  had  a  commanding  presence. 
His  voice  was  stentorian  in  its  power,  and  yet  flexible.  His 
enemies  nicknamed  him  "the  factory  king;"  he  accepted 
the  name  and  became  known  by  it  throughout  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire.  "From  1830  to  1847  ^e  devoted  himself 
especially  to  stopping  the  oppression  of  children  in  factories, 
till  he  caused  the  Factories  Regulation  Acts  to  be  passed." 

Michael  Thomas  Sadler,  M.P.  for  Newark,  was  the  leader 
of  the  movement  in  the  House  of  Commons.  "  He  who  truly 
earned,"  says  Fraser,  "and  without  the  least  descent  into 
cant  or  affectation,  the  title  of  the  poor  man's  friend."  In- 
stead of  coming  to  Parliament,  like  many  others,  with  an 
empty  head,  a  voluble  tongue,  and  party  audacity,  Sadler 
came  there  with  his  heart  overcharged  with  schemes  for  the 
good  of  the  working  classes.  Politics,  properly  so  called,  did 
not  occupy  a  tithe  of  his  time  or  his  thoughts.  He  was  ever 
brooding  over  some  scheme  for  the  relief  of  the  Irish  poor, 
or  the  bettering  the  state  of  our  agriculturists,  or  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  infant  slaves  of  our  factories.  His  range  of 
topics  was  entirely  his  own;  and  as  they  were  ever  crossing 
and  thwarting  the  common  current  of  daily  politics,  it  was  no 
wonder  that  he  became  reckoned  by  the  dandies  of  the 
House  as  an  odd  and  impracticable  sort  of  fellow. 

"  His  manner,  too,  of  dealing  with  these  topics  had  the 
fault  of  Burke  and  of  Mackintosh — it  was  the  style  and  man- 
ner of  a  student;  of  one  who  had  gone  to  the  bottom  of  his 
subject  and  who  insisted  on  taking  with  him  even  those  care- 
less or  reluctant  hearers  who  had  hardly  patience  to  skim  the 
surface  for  a  few  moments."  He  succeeded  in  getting  a 
Parliamentary  committee  appointed.  The  question  of  Parlia- 
mentary reform,  however,  threw  everything  else  into  the 
background.      The  first  Reform  Bill  was  passed,  Newark  was 


Young  Philanthropy 


1355 


disfranchised,  and  the   band  of  children's   friends   was   de- 
prived of  its  leader. 

Lord  Shaftesbury,  then   Lord  Ashley,  was  appealed  to  to 


'J/Mj&f 


FROM     THE     OrtAAING     Br     MACLISE. 


"THE   POOR   MAN'S   FRIEND,      M.   T.   SADLER,    M.P. 

take  up  the  cause.  "I  can  perfectly  recollect,"  he  said  in 
later  years,  "  my  astonishment  and  doubt  and  terror  at  the 
proposition."  He  laid  the  matter  before  his  wife.  "It  is 
your  duty,"  she  said,  "  and  the  consequences  we  must  leave 


1356  British  Methodism 

to  God.  Forward !  and  to  victory !  "  The  meeting  at  the 
London  Tavern,  already  referred  to,  was  the  first  at  which 
Lord  Ashley  presided. 

The  great  antislavery  meeting  of  1 840  was  held  in  a  building 
which  has  become  known  to  world-wide  Methodism.  Built 
in  1 83 1  on  the  sites  of  the  famous  Burleigh  House  and  Exeter 
'Chancre,  Exeter  Hall  was  becoming  a  national  institution, 
"a  type  of  energetic  activity  on  the  part  of  evangelical  re- 
ligion." Thousands  returned  to  tell  their  friends  of  the  vast 
sea  of  heads  before  the  speakers.  Some,  who  might  have 
kuown  better,  indulged  in  ridicule.  "  O  antislavery  conven- 
tion, loud-sounding,  long-eared  Exeter  Hall!"  exclaimed 
Thomas  Carlyle;  who  had,  however,  the  grace  to  add,  ''but 
in  thee  too  is  a  kind  of  instinct  toward  justice."  This  charac- 
teristic apostrophe  did  not  rouse  so  much  indignation  as  did 
the  allusion  of  Macaulay  to  "  the  bray  of  Exeter  Hall;  "  the 
indecorousness  of  his  language  being  aggravated  by  a  known 
association,  through  his  father  and  others,  with  the  so-called 
Clapham  Sect. 

In  1880  the  committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation acquired  Exeter  Hall  at  a  cost,  including  alterations, 
of  £46,000.  Toward  this  Mr.  George  Williams  and  three 
others  gave  £5,000  each.  Mr.  Williams  was  the  draper's 
assistant  in  whose  sleeping  apartment,  in  1844,  was  born  the 
infant  association  which  has  now  attained  such  magnificent 
proportions.  The  venerable  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  presided  at 
the  reopening  in  1 88 1 .  The  annual  meetings  of  the  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Society  have  been  held  here  since  1832. 


CHAPTER  CXLII 

In  the  Turbulent  Times  of  the  Chartists 

Social  Earthquakes.— Cooper,  the  Chartist  Poet. — TheHorncastle 

Glory. — The  Prison  Cell. — Joseph  Rayner  Stephens. — A  Debate 
on  the  State  Church.— Charles  Kingsley. 

THE  ten  years  that  followed  the  Methodist  centenary 
celebration  was  a  period  of  intense  national  excite- 
ment. Revolutionary  upheavals  on  the  European 
continent,  famine  and  insurrection  in  Ireland  and  riots  in 
the  large  English  towns  charged  the  air  with  thunder.  Louis 
Philippe  escaped  from  Paris  and  landed  in  England  under 
the  name  of  "Mr.  Smith;"  the  pope  fled  from  Rome  in  the 
disguise  of  a  footman ;  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King 
of  Naples  became  refugees  from  the  fury  of  their  subjects. 
In  England  the  Anti-Corn- Law  League  agitated  for  cheap 
bread  and  the  Chartists  for  political  power;  for  the  Reform 
Bill  of  1832  had  not  gone  far  enough  for  them.  In  1848  the 
Chartists  designed  to  march  through  London  with  their  great 
petition  and  compel  Parliament  to  hear  their  cry.  The  gov- 
ernment enrolled  a  quarter  of  a  million  special  constables, 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  posted  soldiers  and  guns ;  but  there 
was  division  in  the  Chartist  councils,  and  they  ended  with  a 

harmless  demonstration  on  Kennington  Common. 

1357 


1358 


British  Methodism 


Among  the  few  Methodist  local  preachers  who  joined  the 
Chartists  Thomas  Cooper  is  best  known,  through  his  fascinat- 
ing biography,  his  friendship  with  Charles  Kingsley  and  Dr. 
F.  J.  Jobson,  and  his  prison  rhyme,  "The  Purgatory  of  Sui- 
cides." Carlyle  saw 
."  the  energy  of  a  Ti- 
tan working  through 
the  weird  phantasies" 
of  Cooper's  poem.  It 
was  Cooper  and  his 
fellow-Chartists  who 
were  addressed  by 
Kingsley  under  the 
pen-name  of  "Parson 
Lot." 

Cooper's  autobiog- 
raphy enables  us  to 
follow  the  boy  scholar 
from  the  shoemaker's 
bench  to  the  school- 
master's chair ;  thence 
to  the  newspaper 
office,  and  on  to  the 
march  in  chains  through  the  dreary  streets  to  the  cold 
prison  cell.  A  portrait  of  him  appeared  in  Howitt's 
Journal,  with  "eyes  deep  set  and  questioning,  glowing 
with  a  fierce  fire ;  large,  heavy  forehead  that  seemed  to 
force  the  chin  into  the  breast  by  its  overtoppling  majesty ; 
long  black  hair  that  fell  like  a  woman's  about  the 
shoulders."  His  friend  F.  J.  Jobson  was  Wesleyan  book 
steward  for  fifteen  years,  representative  to  America  in  1855, 
and   later   president   of  the    Conference.     Cooper  writes  of 


THOMAS   COOPER. 
The  Chartist  poet  and  agitator. 


• '  The  Horncastle  Glory ' '  1359 

him:  "Those  who  know  how  changeful  my  life  has  been 
will  be  sure  that  we  did  not  always  agree  in  sentiment  and 
opinion ;  and  that  my  friend  did  not  fail  to  tell  me  when  I 
was  wrong — grievously  wrong.  But  he  told  me  always  in 
sorrow,  never  in  anger.  One  occasion  of  our  meeting  is  often 
spoken  of  in  Lincolnshire  to  the  present  time.  We  always 
called  it  'the  Horncastle  glory.'  It  had  been  a  custom  for 
some  years  to  hold  a  love  feast  on  New  Year's  Day.  People 
came  from  distant  villages,  the  chapel  was  crowded,  and 
spiritual  good  was  ever  the  result.  In  1833  my  friend  and 
myself  were  among  the  local  preachers,  and  three  of  us  were 
requested  to  preach  in  succession.  I  led  the  way  with  the 
grand  text,  'All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.' 
Jobson  followed  with  the  grandest  of  all  texts,  '  God  so  loved 
the  world,'  etc.  The  excitement  reached  spiritual  white 
heat  under  Jobson's  sermon.  Then  followed  the  prayer 
meeting.  The  Rev.  D.  Cornforth,  a  hearty  Cornishman,  said: 
'  The  Lord  is  here !  Lads,  conduct  the  meeting  your  own 
way.'  So  we  conducted  it  in  what  we  knew  would  have  been 
John  Smith's  way:  stepping  from  pew  to  pew  talking  to 
sinners  and  getting  them  to  seek  for  pardon,  and  singing  a 
verse  of  praise  when  they  had  found  it.  Four-and-twenty 
times  we  had  to  sing  such  praise  ;  for  so  many  souls  professed 
to  find  peace  before  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the 
meeting  broke  up.  We  had  often  a  like  experience  in  those 
days.  Jobson's  prospects  were  bright  for  success  as  an  artist, 
but  he  resolved  to  sacrifice  them  all  for  Christ. 

"  I  must  not  enter  on  the  causes  of  my  leaving  Methodism. 
It  was  an  evil  day  for  me.  My  dear  friend  came  over  to  Lin- 
coln and  found  me  and  my  distressed  wife  in  the  midst  of 
our  trouble.  His  heart  was  wrung  with  anguish,  and  he 
burst  into  an  agony  of  tears.     However,  I  could  not  be  per- 


1360  British  Methodism 

suaded  to  go  back,  although  I  loved  Methodism  with  an  un- 
speakable love.  I  paid  dearly  for  forsaking  it — losing  the 
best  years  of  my  life,  partly  in  backsliding  and  partly  in 
skeptical  error.  My  friend  protested  against  my  Chartism. 
When  I  fell  into  the  errors  of  Strauss,  and  gave  up  belief  in 
the  divinity,  miracles,  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  remaining 
simply  a  worshiper  of  his  moral  beauty,  my  friend  had  great 
sorrow  of  heart,  and  often  solemnly  charged  me  to  consider 
the  peril  I  was  running,  not  only  for  myself,  but  in  misteach- 
ing  others;  yet  he  always  believed  I  should  get  right. 

"At  length  came  the  blessed  time  of  my  restoration  to 
Christian  belief.  It  was  God's  work  only.  I  had  the  help  of 
my  dear  friend  and  of  noble  Charles  Kingsley  when  the 
work  had  begun.  When,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty-four  years, 
I  stood  once  more  in  a  pulpit  beside  my  friend  he  spoke  of  it 
with  tears  of  joy.  During  the  twenty-two  years  which  have 
followed,  whenever  we  met,  he  and  I  and  his  pious  wife  were 
seldom  many  moments  before  we  were  on  our  knees  suppli- 
cating the  divine  blessing,  as  in  the  days  of  our  early  friend- 
ship." 

In  1888  Mrs.  Jobson  visited  Cooper  and  found  him  engaged 
in  the  recital  of  chapters  of  the  Greek  Testament.  In  1892 
he  "  breathed  his  life  away  quietly  as  a  child."  Represent- 
atives of  all  Churches  and  men  of  every  shade  of  politics 
gathered  round  his  grave  and  heard  the  Rev.  A.  O'Neill  tell 
how,  on  that  day  fifty  years  ago,  he  and  Thomas  Cooper  stood 
together  on  the  platform  before  twenty  thousand  people  in 
Wednesbury .  Their  next  meeting  was  in  Stafford  jail.  There 
they  were  chained  together — Cooper  ill,  and  shrinking  at  the 
touch  of  his  cold  bracelet.  Mr.  O'Neill  told  how  he  and  his 
fellow-prisoners  listened  to  "The  Messiah"  in  the  night  as 
Cooper's  grand  voice  rehearsed  it  in  his  gloomy  cell.     It  was 


Joseph  Rayner  Stephens  1361 

O'Neill  who  suggested  that  he  should  sing  the  "  Paradise  of 
Martyrs"  asarelief  to  his  Dantesque  "Purgatory  of  Suicides." 

Another  Chartist  of  note  was  Joseph  Rayner  Stephens,  an 
ex-Wesleyan  minister.  He  was  second  son  of  an  ex-president 
of  the  Conference,  John  Stephens,  who  is  said  to  have  been, 
next  to  Dr.  Bunting,  the  most  unbending  champion  of  author- 
ity that  the  Methodist  Church  could  produce.  J.  R.  Stephens's 
elder  brother  was  the  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate  (Lon- 
don), the  first  political  Methodist  newspaper,  and  of  a  very 
pugnacious  type.  Claiming  to  be  the  organ  of  Methodism, 
this  paper  assumed  a  general  censorship  of  the  churches,  and 
bitterly  attacked  the  London  Missionary  Society.  The  Con- 
ference passed  two  resolutions  disclaiming  any  connection 
with  it.  The  paper  was  denounced  by  the  leading  liberals 
of  Methodism.  It  then  became  an  instrument  of  connec- 
tional  agitation,  and  was  afterward  merged  in  the  Patriot,  an 
organ  of  political  Dissent. 

J.  R.  Stephens  was  "a  well-endowed  and  fascinating  person- 
ality, but,  like  his  journalizing  brother,  he  was,  by  tempera- 
ment and  habit,  hot,  heady,  hazardous,  restless,  and  intract- 
able. These  qualities  had  been  nurtured  into  revolutionarv 
passion  by  four  years'  residence  at  Stockholm  as  the  solitary 
Methodist  missionary  in  Sweden,  where  he  had  formed  very 
heterogeneous  friendships  with  adventurous  men  of  genius. 
This  circle  was  enlarged  on  his  return  by  several  romantic 
natures,  such  as  Harrison  Ainsworth,  the  novelist."  He  be- 
came the  secretary  of  a  society  for  the  separation  of  the 
Church  from  the  State.  He  was  then  minister  at  Ashton- 
under-Lyne,  and  caused  a  great  stir  and  division  among  the 
societies  by  announcing  the  public  meetings  from  the  pulpit, 
in  spite  of  the  protest  of  his  superintendent. 

The  Conference  of  1834  discussed  the  matter  for  two  full 


1362  British  Methodism 

days.  The  whole  question  of  the  relation  of  Methodism  to 
the  Establishment  came  under  debate.  Dr.  Bunting  asked: 
"Must  Wesleyan  ministers  arm  themselves  with  pickaxes 
and  pull  down  the  house  in  which  our  father  was  born?" 
William  Atherton  (president  in  1846)  contended  for  strict 
neutrality,  but  demurred  ' '  to  the  statements  of  the  obliga- 
tions we  owe  to  the  Church."  "What  has  it  done  for  Meth- 
odism?" he  asked.  "  It  gave  us  Wesley,  but  not  as  a  boon. 
It  cast  him  out  as  a  pestilent  fellow.  We  might  as  well  say 
that  we  are  indebted  to  the  Church  of  Rome  for  Luther." 
He  requested  neutrality  on  both  sides.  Dr.  Dixon  protested 
against  political  Dissent.  "  Mr.  Wesley,"  said  he,  "  did  not 
propel  his  boat  from  the  Church,  but  abreast  of  her.  Xot  an 
inch  nearer  to  the  Church.  We  Methodists  stand  in  the 
noblest  position  between  the  two." 

Dr.  Beaumont  objected  "  to  be  tacked  on  to  the  Established 
Church,"  and  thought  that  "Wesley,  like  a  strong  and  skill- 
ful rower,  looked  one  way  while  everv  stroke  of  his  oar  took 
him  in  an  opposite  direction."  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Stephens 
ought  "  to  give  up  his  secretaryship."  Thomas  Galland  bore 
high  testimony  to  the  character  of  J.  R.  Stephens,  but  agreed 
that  he  ought  to  give  a  pledge  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  his 
work  as  a  Methodist  preacher.  Thomas  Jackson,  editor, 
spoke  for  an  hour  on  the  "advantages  we  derived  from  ab- 
stention from  aggressive  political  Dissent,  as  a  community," 
and  urged  the  preservation  of  the  "distinctively  spiritual 
character  of  our  work." 

The  Conference  heard  Mr.  Stephens's  eloquent  and  acute 
defense,  and  unanimously  required  from  him  a  pledge  "not 
in  reference  to  any  private  opinion,  but  of  his  willingness  to 
consult  the  peace  of  the  connection  by  refraining  from  public 
work  for  the  Anti-State-Church  Society."     He  declined  to  do 


A  Chartist  Leader  1363 

this,  and  asked  leave  to  resign  his  ministry.  This  was  con- 
ceded, and  he  honorably  withdrew.  About  seven  hundred 
members  of  the  society  at  Ashton  seceded  with  him,  and  he 
became  their  pastor. 

The  position  of  the  Conference  was  well  expressed  in  a 
later  Minute  which  "recognizes  on  the  one  hand  the  indi- 
vidual freedom  of  the  ministers  as  Christian  citizens,  and  on 
the  other  hand  their  responsibility  to  each  other  and  the 
Conference  as  members  of  a  nonpolitical  body,  and  confides 
in  their  loyalty  and  honor  so  to. regulate  their  public  action 
as  not  to  imperil  the  unity  of  the  Methodist  brotherhood  or 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  connection." 

The  subsequent  action  of  J.  R.  Stephens  finds  a  place  in 
English  history.  ' '  He  gave  the  government  more  trouble 
than  he  ever  gave  the  Conference."  He  became  a  leader  of 
the  physical  force  section  of  the  Chartists,  and  was  arraigned 
at  the  Chester  Assizes  in  1839  for  using  seditious  language. 
He  defended  himself  in  a  speech  of  five  hours'  duration,  but 
was  sentenced  to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment.  In  his 
later  years  he  greatly  modified  his  views,  and  we  find  him 
kindly  received  at  "Woodhouse  Grove  School  jubilee  in  1862. 
He  had  great  abilities  as  a  speaker  and  writer,  was  a  linguist 
of  no  mean  order,  and  in  Scandinavian  literature  was  a  spe- 
cialist. He  died  in  1879.  His  whole  career  and  the  Con- 
ference debate  on  his  action  throw  an  important  side  light 
on  the  difficulties  of  steering  Methodism  through  the  turbu- 
lent times  of  the  Reform  Bill,  Corn  Law,  and  Chartist  agita- 
tions. 

In  judging  the  Chartists  of  1 838-1 848  it  is  necessary  to 
remember  the  miserable  condition  of  the  laboring  classes,  the 
lack  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  many  religious  men  with 
reforms  which  involved  political  movement,  and  the  nervous 


1364  British   Methodism 

dread  of  any  repetition  of  French  revolutionary  horrors. 
Much  of  Chartism  is  now  embodied  in  English  law,  and  all 
of  it  was  worthy  to  form  the  theme  of  peaceful  and  temperate 
discussion.  It  was  the  threat  of  an  appeal  to  physical  force 
by  oppressed  and  starving-  men  that  created  the  gravest  diffi- 
culty. "Thank  God,"  writes  Dr.  Stoughton,  in  recording 
his  own  memories  of  this  period,  "thank  God  that  lawless- 
ness and  violence  were  kept  in  check  at  home  by  the  direct 
and  indirect  influence  of  religion  !  For,  while  it  wrought 
immediately  on  the  minds  of  many,  it  touched  the  minds  of 
more  by  early  example  and  education.  .  .  .  Happily,  while 
France  and  Germany  were  rocked  from  end  to  end  by  social 
earthquakes,  and  one  throne  after  another  and  one  constitu- 
tion after  another  fell  to  the  ground,  England  stood  steady 
amid  the  commotion." 

Dr.  Rigg's  sympathetic  memoir  of  Charles  Kingsley  reveals 
the  attitude  of  a  modern  Methodist  leader  of  balanced  judg- 
ment toward  constitutional  social  reforms.  "When  the 
Chartist  agony  was  over,"  he  writes  in  1877,  "  Kingsley  did 
not  cease  his  endeavors  to  mitigate  the  social  evils  he  saw 
around  him.  .  .  .  Since  he  took  his  part  as  a  Christian  So- 
cialist the  convictions  of  men  and  the  course  of  legislation 
have  justified  the  general  attitude  which  he  assumed  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  callous  school  of  economists.  Morally  and 
socially  protective  legislation  has  imposed  many  restraints  on 
the  operation  of  competition,  especially  in  the  labor  market. 
At  the  present  moment  appeals  are  being  made  to  the  gov- 
ernment against  that  '  sweating'  system  which  in  some  of  its 
earlier  and  worst  forms  was  so  searchingly  exposed  in  Alton 
Locke." 


CHAPTER  CXLI1I 


Migrating  Methodists 

The  Church   Methodist   Secessions  and  the   Irish   Reunion. — A 
Costly    Organ.— The    Protestant    Methodists    of    1827.— The 
College  Controversy.— The  "Grand  Central  Association. "- 
In  the  Court  of  Chancery.  — A  Paper  War. — The  United  Meth- 
odist Free  Churches  of  1857. 

WE    have  noticed   the  first   Methodist  secession  and 
the  two  later  "offshoots,"  forming  the  New  Con- 
nection (1797),   the   Primitive   Methodist  Connec- 
tion (1797),  and  the  Bible  Christians  (18 15). 

We  also  observed  a  "Church  Party"  within  Methodism  at 
the  death  of  Wesley,  anxious  to  retain  union  with  the  Estab- 
lishment and  objecting  to  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments by  Methodist  ministers.  In  Ireland  the  "Church 
Methodists"  seceded  (18 16),  and  formed  the  Primitive  Meth- 
odist Society — a  very  different  body  from  the  Primitive  Meth- 
odist Connection  in  England.  When  the  Anglo-Irish  Church 
was  disestablished,  in  1870,  this  society  found  its  basis  dis- 
solved, and  in  1878  its  sixty  ministers  and  four  thousand  out 
of  its  seven  thousand  members  reunited  with  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists.  "On  that  memorable  occasion,  when  the  stal- 
wart form  of  the  Rev.  J.  Kerr,  president  of  the  Primitive 
Conference,   ascended   the  platform,    and   was   warmly  wel- 


8G 


'365 


1366  British  Methodism 

corned  by  Dr.  Pope,  the  cultured  theologian  representing  the 
Wesleyans,  might  we  not  say  that  in  the  combination  of  bluff 
Evangelicalism  and  saintly  learning  embodied  in  the  two 
presidents  there  was  an  indication  of  the  dual  forces  that 
were  henceforth  to  engage  in  winning  this  land  for  Christ?" 

The  Church  Methodists  in  England  seceded  in  1825,  but 
their  society  soon  vanished.  Their  secession  abolished  the 
party  within  Methodism  and  led  to  an  important  manifesto 
by  Richard  Watson — who  ' '  in  effect  nailed  the  thesis  to  the 
door  of  every  chapel " — ' '  we  are,  in  the  proper  sense,  a  Church 
of  Christ,  according  to  the  scriptural  model." 

Two  years  later  the  Protestant  Methodist  secession  oc- 
curred. A  growing  democratic  party  found  its  occasion  in  the 
granting  by  the  Conference  of  the  request  of  the  trustees  of 
Brunswick  Chapel,  Leeds,  for  permission  to  erect  an  organ. 
The  leaders'  meeting  had  objected  to  the  instrument,  the 
district  meeting  had  decided  that  it  was  undesirable  under 
the  circumstances,  but  the  Conference,  asserting  its  suprem- 
acy, supported  the  trustees,  and  the  organ  was  built.  A  strong 
body  of  local  preachers,  led  by  Mr.  Sigston,  the  biographer 
of  Bramwell,  plunged  into  the  anti-organ  war,  and  held  un- 
constitutional meetings.  Some  sincerely  regarded  the  organ 
as  perilous  to  the  simplicity  of  worship,  but  questions  of 
Church  government  complicated  the  dispute,  which  ended  in 
the  secession  of  one  thousand  members,  who  organized  them- 
selves into  a  body  called  "  Protestant  Methodists." 

The  Theological  Institution  Controversy,  already  referred 
to,  led  to  the  next  secession.  Many  honest  Methodists  feared 
that  collegiate  training  would  produce  a  dull  uniformity  in 
the  preachers,  and  create  a  race  intellectual  and  literary  rather 
than  spiritual  and  evangelistic.  Their  dismal  forebodings 
were  expressed  in  a  letter  which  the  Rev.  J.  Everett  wrote  to 


The  Theological   Institution  Controversy 


1367 


Dr.  S.  Warren  in  1834:  "All  is  dark.  Methodism  is  ruined. 
I  see  in  vision  the  fine  natural  orator  lost,  and  instead  of  a 
bold,  hale,  original,  and  powerful  ministry,  there  is  the  refined 


FROM   WOOLNOTH'S   ENGRAViNG  OF   THE     PA 


G  ST   FREDERICK. 


JAMES   SIGSTON. 
First  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Protestant  Methodists. 

sentimentality  of  some  other  denominations — all  form,  all 
system  ;  a  shadow  of  the  past ;  the  ghost  of  a  primitive  Meth- 
odist preacher ;  the  moon  in  her  frosty  brightness  instead  of 
the  sun  going  forth  in  his  might.-' 

Dr.  Warren,   here  addressed,  was  a  prominent  Wesleyan 
minister  of  thirty  years'  standing.     He  had  at  first  approved 


1368  British  Methodism 

of  the  general  plan  for  an  institution,  but  later  he  objected  to 
the  designation  of  the  officers.  In  a  pamphlet  he  argued  that 
the  entire  project  was  a  scheme  for  investing  Dr.  Bunting 
and  his  adherents  with  the  supreme  power  in  Methodism. 
Then  he  organized  an  agitation  which  led  to  his  suspension 
by  a  special  district  meeting. 

A  "Grand  Central  Association"  was  formed  for  opposing 
the  institution  and  effecting  changes  in  Methodist  polity,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  no  contributions  should  be  made  to  con- 
nectional  funds  until  the  concessions  were  granted.  Dr. 
Warren  appealed  to  the  court  of  chancery  against  his  suspen- 
sion by  the  district  meeting.  Vice  Chancellor  Shadwell  de- 
cided against  him,  and  this  decision  was  confirmed  by  Lord 
Chancellor  Lyndhurst.  This  involved  a  review  of  the  whole 
legal  constitution  of  Methodism  by  the  most  powerful  judicial 
mind  of  the  age.  Lord  Lyndhurst  severely  rebuked  the  in- 
temperate language  and  personalities  into  which  Dr.  Warren 
had  been  betrayed.  At  the  Conference  Dr.  Warren  refused 
to  express  any  regret,  and  the  sentence  of  expulsion  was 
carried  unanimously.  About  a  thousand  members  joined  the 
"Grand  Central"  or  "  Wesleyan  Methodist"  Association. 
The  "  Protestant  Methodists"  and  a  small  body  of  "  Arminian 
Methodists"  coalesced  with  them.  Dr.  Warren,  their  first 
president,  soon  left  them,  obtained  episcopal  ordination,  and 
passed  into  obscurity  as  a  clergyman  of  the  State  Church  in 
Manchester.  The  historians  of  the  "reformers"  say  that  he 
was  never  at  heart  a  true  democrat.  "  He  was  the  figure- 
head rather  than  the  helm." 

The  Rev.  James  Everett  was  the  most  active  literary  op- 
ponent of  the  theological  institution.  His  style  was  clever 
and  caustic.  About  a  year  after  the  centenary  celebration  an 
anonymous  volume  appeared,  entitled  Wesleyan  Takings,  or 


REPRESENTATIVE    MEN    OF    THE    UNITED    METHODIST    EREE    CHURCHES. 
Rev.  Thomas  Hacking. 

Rev.  Joseph  Kir  op. 
Samuel  Warren,  LL.D 


Rev.  Edward  Boaden. 
Rev.  James  Everett. 


Rev.  Richard  Chew. 
Rev.  \V.  Griffith. 


Rev.  James  Everett  and  the  "  Fly  Sheets  "  1371 

Sketches  of  Ministerial  Character.  Some  of  the  pen  portraits 
were  genial  and  kindly;  others  were  bitter  and  offensive 
caricatures  of  personal  defects  and  mannerisms.  In  later 
years  Everett  claimed  the  authorship.  This  volume  was  fol- 
lowed in  1 846- 1 848  by  a  series  of  Fly  Sheets,  without  author's 
or  printer's  name,  in  which  the  private  character  of  leading 
ministers  and  the  Missionary  Committee  and  the  "  Conference 
Party"  were  assailed. 

At  the  Conference  of  1849  Messrs.  Everett,  S.  Dunn,  and 
W.  Griffith  were  questioned  respecting  their  complicity  with 
the  authorship  of  the  Fly  Sheets.  They  refused  to  answer 
the  questions  or  to  desist  from  attacking  the  Conference  in 
newspapers.  They  were  expelled,  and  found  themselves  at 
the  head  of  a  large  number  of  sympathizers,  who  were,  as 
Everett  said,  "borne  away  from  the  institution  to  the  con- 
stitution." The  association  of  1835  joined  them  in  1857.  and 
together  thev  formed  ' '  The  United  Methodist  Free  Churches" 
with  forty-one  thousand  members.  In  1863  they  numbered 
sixty-three  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-four. 

Mr.  Kirsop,  in  his  history  of  the  Methodist  Free  Churches, 
says  frankly:  "I  am  not  anxious  to  defend  the  Fly  Sheets. 
I  condemn  anonymous  attacks  on  character."  As  to  the  cry 
of  "Stop  the  supplies,"  he  confesses:  "Certainly  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  such  a  policy  can  be  justified  on  the  part  of  those 
who  seek  to  continue  in  the  Church."  "It  should  be  con- 
fessed," says  the  "Wesleyan  Dr.  Gregory,  "  that  on  our  side, 
in  the  mode  in  which  the  three  ministers  were  expelled  and 
in  the  way  in  which  these  expulsions  were  contrived  and 
brought  about,  there  was  much  that  seemed  questionable  and 
exasperating  in  the  eyes  of  simple-minded,  honest-hearted 
Methodists,  who  loved  the  Methodist  ministers  without  re- 
spect of  parties." 


1372  British  Methodism 

In  order  to  avoid  what  Mr.  Kirsop  calls  "the  baleful  prin- 
ciple of  pastoral  supremacy,"  the  Annual  Assembly  of  the 
United  Methodist  Free  Churches  consists  only  of  represent- 
atives, lay  or  clerical,  elected  by  the  circuits,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  four  connectional  officers  appointed  by  the  preceding 
Assembly.  Laymen  may  be  elected  presidents.  The  fact 
that  only  elected  ministers  can  attend  the  Assembly  or  preside 
at  circuit  meetings  has  been  one  hindrance  to  union  with  the 
Methodist  New  Connection,  the  ministers  of  the  latter  body 
being  unwilling  to  surrender  their  privileges.  Although  the 
ministry  is  itinerant,  there  is  no  fixed  term  of  residence.  The 
system  aims  at  uniting  connectionalism  with  Congregation- 
alism. The  disciplinary  power  of  each  society  over  its  mem- 
bers is  "absolute  and  final."  There  is  no  right  of  appeal  to 
a  higher  court.  The  Assembly  deals  with  the  ministers,  but 
cannot  interfere  with  the  decision  of  local  courts  on  matters 
of  internal  administration. 

A  book  room  and  connectional  funds  were  early  organized. 
Foreign  missionary  and  educational  committees  were  formed 
in  i860.  A  college  for  ministerial  training  was  opened  in 
Manchester  in  1872,  with  the  Rev.  T.  Hacking  as  tutor. 
Three  years  later  Ashville  College,  Harrogate,  was  opened 
as  a  high  school.  The  foreign  missions  are  in  Australasia, 
Jamaica,  China,  and  East  and  West  Africa. 

The  most  prominent  figure  in  the  early  councils  of  the 
connection  was  Robert  Eckett.  When  he  died,  in  1862,  the 
Assembly  said  "  the  cause  of  Christian  liberty  lost  one  of  its 
most  enlightened  friends  and  one  of  the  most  gifted  of  its 
advocates."  He  took  an  active  part  in  promoting  the  union 
of  1857,  in  molding  the  constitution  and  the  missions.  H. 
Breeden  was  an  ardent  revivalist.  J.  H.  Roebuck,  when 
quite  a  stripling,  distinguished  himself  as  a  disputant  against 


Free  Methodist  Leaders 


1373 


Owenism.  Samuel  Sellars  was  the  quaint  preacher  who  at 
one  Assembly  was  asked  to  explain  a  decrease  in  his  circuit. 
He  walked  into  the  aisle  and  said,  "  Behold,  a  sower  went 
forth  to  sow ;    .   .   .  some  seeds  fell  by  the  wayside,  and  the 


ASHVILLE   COLLEGE. 

fowls  came  and  devoured  them  up."  He  repeated  the  entire 
parable  and  without  another  word  resumed  his  seat.  He 
was  a  most  original  and  successful  soul-winner. 

Of  the  leaders  of  1849- 1857  James  Everett,  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  United  Assembly,  was  the  most  prominent.  His 
memoirs  of  Dawson,  Hick,  Clarke,  and  Isaac  enshrine  his 
best  pen-work.  His  large  library  and  museum,  after  his 
death,  in  1872,  were  secured  for  the  theological  college. 
William  Griffith  did  not  itinerate,  but  was  minister  at  Derby 
for  nearly  thirty  years.  He  was  a  man  of  wide  sympathies, 
and  survived  all  asperity  toward  the  Church  of  his  youth. 
At  the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  1 88 1  he  and  others  received 
the  sacrament  from  the  hands  of  Dr.  Osborn.     He  thought 


1374  British  Methodism 

that  gathering  "the  nearest  approach  to  millennium  happi- 
ness he  should  ever  know  on  earth."  He  died  two  years 
later. 

Richard  Chew  was  for  thirty-five  years  a  chief  pilot  of  the 
churches;  a  cool,  clear-headed,  far-seeing  statesman,  a  de- 
bater of  the  first  rank,  a  strong,  instructive  preacher,  a  wise 
president,  a  man  of  gracious,  sterling  character.  His  noble 
and  successful  work  ended  on  Good  Friday,  1895.  "  How 
comforting  to  know,"  he  said,  "  that  the  Church  is  in  Christ's 
hands;"  and  his  last  word  expressed  his  one  ground  of  hope : 
"  Other  refuge  have  I  none." 

John  Mann,  of  shrill  voice  and  shrewd  wit,  was  a  popular 
lecturer;  J.  Myers,  a  president  strong  in  body  and  brain; 
R.  Bushell,  an  active  Church  builder  and  mission  secretary. 
His  biographer  was  S.  S.  Barton,  another  much-loved 
official,  whose  "letters  were  a  means  of  grace  to  mission- 
aries." He  also  wrote  the  Life  of  Charles  New,  the  African 
mission  martyr  of  1875.  G.  Turner  was  a  popular  preacher 
and  president ;  R.  Abercrombie,  once  a  quartermaster  ser- 
geant, had  taken  part  in  the  revival  in  Gibraltar  garrison 
(1824- 1 834).  In  Dublin,  with  drawn  sword,  he  defended  Lo- 
renzo Dow,  the  American  evangelist,  from  the  mob.  He 
became  a  stalwart  preacher,  and  gave  two  sons  to  the  min- 
istry. The  Rev.  E.  Boaden,  now  the  eldest  official  in  full 
work,  has  seen  the  chapels  increase  from  1,034  to  i>58o  dur- 
ing his  thirty  years'  secretaryship. 

John  Guttridge,  endowed  with  popular  gifts,  public  spirit, 
and  infectious  zeal,  was  in  request  throughout  all  the  churches 
for  a  quarter  century,  and  during  his  last  ten  months  traveled 
nearly  ten  thousand  miles  in  their  service.  He  died  in  1886. 
Marmaduke  Miller  was  a  preacher  and  lecturer  of  another 
type.     A  careful  student  of  the  art  of  sacred  oratory,  he  ran- 


The  Laymen  Presidents 


1375 


sacked  his  immense  library  for  all  that  bore  on  his  subject, 
fused  together  the  ideas  gathered  from  all  sources,  \Vrote  and 
rewrote  with  great  skill,  and  spoke  with  fine  elocution  and 
spiritual  fire.  As  secretary,  editor,  and  president  he  served 
his  Church,  mastered  national  problems,  and  addressed  vast 


JAMES    DUCKWORTH,    M.P. 
Second  layman  president. 


HENRY   T.    MAWSON,   ESQ. 

First  layman  president. 


audiences  on  public  questions.  Marshall  Mather  and  the 
brothers  Hocking,  Silas  K.  and  Joseph,  are  well-known  con- 
tributors to  popular  literature. 

Among  the  laity  J.  B.  Sharpley,  thrice  mayor  of  Louth, 
"was  a  tower  of  strength"  for  twenty  years.  Charles  Cheet- 
ham,  J. P.,  was  another  early  connectional  treasurer.  W. 
H.  Cozens  Hardy,  J. P.,  of  Holt,  rendered  valuable  legal 
service  in  the  formative  years  of  the  churches.  The  laymen 
presidents  have  been  H.  T.  Mawson  (1883),  who  succeeded 
Mr.  Cheetham  in  his  treasurership,  and  J.  Duckworth,   ALP. 


1376  British  Methodism 

(1894),  to  whom  the  enlargement  of  the  theological  institute 
is  largely  due. 

The  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  report  91,717  mem- 
bers and  436  ministers  (1900).  They  are  to  the  front  in 
temperance  work,  and  have  Forward  Movement  missions  in 
London,  Leeds,  Manchester,  and  other  towns;  a  training 
home  for  deaconesses,  and  some  mission  cars. 

Some  of  the  reformers  of  1850  did  not  coalesce  with  the 
Free  Churches,  and  their  Wesleyan  Reform  Union  reports 
7,619  members.  There  are  some  Independent  Methodist 
Churches  federated  with  them,  with  8,705  members.  These 
bodies  sent  representatives  to  the  Ecumenical  Conferences  of 
1 88 1  and  1891. 

It  was  not  until  1856  that  Wesleyan  Methodism  began  to 
recover  from  the  disastrous  effects  of  agitation  and  the  loss 
of  100,000  members.  In  1845  the  British  membership  was 
about  340,000;  in  1855  it  was  260,000.  During  the  next 
forty  years  the  numbers  rose  to  433,000.  The  rate  of  increase 
during  the  forty  years  was  not  so  large  as  in  the  prosperous 
period  between  1825  and  1845,  but  it  was  steady,  and,  con- 
sidering the  highly  organized  rivalry  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land during  this  later  period,  it  was  satisfactory.  Better 
still,  the  spiritual  tone  has  been  recovered,  constitutional  re- 
forms secured,  peace  restored,  and  a  great  "forward  move- 
ment" inaugurated. 

The  Salvation  Army  must  be  regarded  as  an  outgrowth  of 
Methodism,  although  it  has  not  been  represented  at  the  Ecu- 
menical Conference,  and  does  not  profess  to  be  based  on 
ecclesiastical  principles  or  make  any  provision  for  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments.  The  founder,  "General "  Wil- 
liam Booth,  and  his  sainted  wife  were  at  one  time  members- 
of  the  Methodist  Church.     Mr.  Booth  was  proposed  as  a  can- 


The  Origin  of  the  Salvation  Army  1377 

didate  for  the  Wesleyan  ministry  by  the  Rev.  John  Hall, 
supported  by  his  colleagues,  the  revivalistic  T.  Nightin- 
gale and  Luke  Tyerman,  the  biographer  of  Wesley.  But  the 
lay  members  of  the  Lambeth  quarterly  meeting  rejected  him, 
not,  as  has  been  stated,  from  prejudice  against  open-air  work 
— in  which  some  of  them  in  fact  were  dili^entlv  en^a^ed — 
but  on  other  grounds.  Neither  is  it  true  that  "the  Confer- 
ence passed  a  resolution  excluding  Mr.  Booth  from  any  Wes- 
leyan chapel."  His  case  never  came  before  the  Wesleyan 
Conference.  He  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  New 
Connection,  but  the  Church  regulations  were  not  adapted  to 
his  genius  for  generalship.  He  retired  and  formed  a  separate 
Christian  mission.  In  1 878-1 879  he  organized  his  society  into 
an  Army.  Of  the  substitution  of  the  democratic  side  of 
Methodism  by  the  military  autocracy  into  which  the  Army 
grew,  he  writes:  "  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  adopt  some 
particular  form  of  organization';  and  not  knowing  much  of 
any  that  had  in  the  past  been  adapted  to  the  control  of  a  re- 
ligious movement  among  the  poor  other  than  that  of  Meth- 
odism, I  tried  to  apply  that  system.  I  soon  found,  however, 
that  the  'new  wine'  could  not  be  stored  in  'old  bottles.'  I 
saw  that  the  application  of  all  sorts  of  examinations,  voting 
and  committeeing,  appointments,  and  the  like,  to  men  and 
women  the  majority  of  whom  could  only  read  with  difficulty, 
and  who  could  not  discuss  without  risk  of  quarreling,  must 
needs  produce  either  a  discouraging,  obstructive  result  or 
lead  to  division  and  disturbance.  So,  after  more  than  enough 
experience,  I  just  dropped  all  that  system  of  management  in 
favor  of  the  'military'  regime." 

Mrs.  Booth,  the  "mother  of  the  Salvation  Army,"  who 
died  in  1890,  was  the  greatest  woman  preacher  of  the  cen- 
tury;   the  "Saint  Catherine"  of  the   fervent   "soldiers,"  the 


1378  British  Methodism 

spiritual  genius  of  the  movement.  In  1890  Mr.  Booth  pub- 
lished his  book,  In  Darkest  England,  in  which  he  sketched 
his  scheme  for  the  employment  of  the  lapsed  masses,  and  a 
farm  colony,  shelters,  food  depots,  with  other  philanthropic 
agencies,  have  been  developed.  There  are  about  five  thou- 
sand British  "officers,"  and  seven  thousand  five  hundred 
"  officers"  are  working  among  forty  different  races,  countries, 
and  colonies.  The  Army  is  Methodistic  in  doctrine,  in  its 
meetings  for  testimony,  and  its  popular  evangelism.  "  The 
Salvationists,  taught  by  Wesley,"  said  the  late  Bishop  of 
Durham,  "have  learned,  and  taught  to  the  Church  again,  the 
lost  secret  of  the  compulsion  of  human  souls  to  the  Saviour." 
Its  social  schemes  resemble  some  of  Wesley's,  and  the  farm 
colony  seeks  to  do  for  adults  what  Dr.  Stephenson's  success- 
ful farms  in  England  and  Canada  have  done  for  children 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 


£S 


CHAPTER   CXLIV 

In  the  Service  of  the  Nation 

Methodists  in  Parliament. — A  Nobly  Combative  Committee. — 
Lords  Russell,  Palmerston,  and  Beaconsfield.— Praying  with 
a  Premier.— A  Talk  with  Gladstone.— Sir  William  McArthur, 
K.C.M.G. — Methodism  in  the  Army  and  Navy. 


THE  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  is  the  most  unpolitical 
of  all  the  larger  British  Churches.  As  a  community 
it  has  studiously  kept  aloof  from  party  movements, 
although  it  has  taken  vigorous  action  in  regard  to  parlia- 
mentary measures  affecting  the  cause  of  religious  liberty,  of 
morals,  of  popular  education,  of  humanity,  and  of  Protes- 
tantism. Wilberforce,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  stanch  ally 
of  Methodism,  and  from  the  first  Methodist  members  of 
Parliament,  J.  Butterworth  and  Thomas  Thompson,  who 
represented  Dover  and  Hull,  to  the  present  Methodists 
have  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  To-day  they  number 
about  thirty.  Sir  H.  H.  Fowler  attained  cabinet  rank, 
and  on  Mr.  Gladstone's  retirement  became  secretary  of 
state  for  India. 

The  Wesleyan  Conference  Committee  of  Privileges,  con- 
sisting of  ministers  and  laymen,    including  from   the   first 

several  members  of  Parliament,  has  been  a  strong  safeguard 

1379 


1380  British  Methodism 

of  Methodist  liberties.  In  1803  it  began  by  securing  exemp- 
tion from  Sabbath  drill  for  conscientious  objectors  in  the 
regular  army  and  militia.  In  181 1  it  assisted  in  opposing 
Lord  Sidmouth's  intolerant  bill,  intended  to  curtail  the  free- 
dom of  lay  preachers,  and  it  organized  numerous  petitions 
which  were  presented  by  Lord  Erskine,  who  eloquently  sup- 
ported the  objections  of  the  Methodist  people.  The  bill  was 
defeated,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  the  free  Churches.  In  1843 
Sir  James  Graham  introduced  a  bill  which,  in  effect,  handed 
over  the  education  of  children  in  factory  districts  to  the 
Anglican  clergy.  The  committee  again  cooperated  with 
Nonconformists  in  successfully  opposing  this.  It  also  ren- 
dered effective  service  in  regard  to  the  Maynooth  Endow- 
ment Bill  in  1845;  the  Charitable  Trusts  Bill  in  1846;  the 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill  in  1851;  the  Burials  Law  Amend- 
mend  Act  of  1880;  and  bills  relating  to  places  of  worship, 
marriages,  chaplaincies  in  the  army  and  public  institutions, 
and  the  rights  of  British  subjects  in  Malta,  Guernsey,  and 
elsewhere.  It  has  dealt  with  cases  of  clerical  persecution  in 
rural  districts.  It  has  not  yet  been  successful  in  efforts  to 
secure  relief  for  Wesleyan  ministers  from  the  electoral  dis; 
advantages  which  result  from  their  itinerancy. 

Lord  John  Russell,  the  great  Whig  chieftain,  is  said  to 
have  been  defeated  in  his  candidature  for  Bedford  in  conse- 
quence of  his  disdainful  attack  upon  Methodism  in  his 
Memoirs  of  the  Affairs  of  Europe  (1824);  but  he  showed  a 
favorable  change  of  feeling  in  1845,  when  he  attended  Great 
Queen  Street  Chapel  and  heard  Dr.  Gregory  preach,  by  direc- 
tion of  the  Conference,  on  religious  education.  At  that  time 
he  found  the  Methodists  on  his  side  on  the  education  question.. 
A  politician  of  a  very  different  type  was  Daniel  O'Connell ; 
who  attacked  the   Methodists  in   the  newspapers   of    1839, 


Lord  Palmerston  and  the   Methodist  1381 

declaring  that  Wesley  was  an  accessory  to  the  Gordon  riots  of 
1780.  The  eloquent  but  ill-informed  Irishman  was  effectively 
answered  by  the  Revs.  G.  Cubitt  and  D.  Macafee. 

The  most  popular  of  prime  ministers,  Lord  Palmerston, 
once  had  a  remarkable  interview  with  a  Methodist.  The 
master  sweep  of  the  houses  of  Parliament  was  a  class  leader, 
Mr.  Day.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  employ  machine  sweep- 
ing in  lieu  of  the  boy  sweeps.  Lord  Palmerston  met  Day  in 
one  of  the  lobbies,  and  with  characteristic  affability  stopped 
and  humorously  congratulated  Day  on  the  lightness  of  his 
duties  and  the  fewness  of  his  working  hours  as  compared  with 
his  own. 

"Lord  Palmerston,"  said  the  class  leader,  always  on  the 
alert  to  give  to  conversation  a  religious  turn,  "  I  pray  for 
you  every  day  of  my  life." 

"  I  thank  you,  Day,"  said-he;    "I  believe  in  prayer." 

Thereupon  Day  expressed  a  wish  that  he  could  pray  with 
him  as  well  as  for  him.     - 

Said  the  premier,  "  Well,  come  with  me." 

He  led  him  to  a  private  room,  locked  the  door,  and  knelt 
with  bowed  head  while  the  master  chimney  sweep  poured  forth 
his  soul  with  his  own  childlike,  manly  earnestness,  invoking 
the  divine  blessing  on  the  heavy-laden  statesman.  When 
they  rose  Lord  Palmerston  thanked  him  warmly,  and  said, 
"  I  have  had  many  a  bishop  as  my  guest,  but  you  are  the 
first  man  that  has  ever  prayed  with  me  and  for  me  per- 
sonally." 

Lord  Beaconsfield  in  his  early  life  came  into  connection  with 

Methodism.  At  a  country  missionary  meeting  in  1832  the  Rev. 

William  Naylor,  one  of  the  five  founders  of  the  Missionary 

Society,  met  on  the  platform  an  orator  described  in  his  diary 

as  "  a  handsome,   dashing,   clever  young   man,    who    spoke 
87 


1382  British   Methodism 

effectively  on  behalf  of  Wesleyan  missions."  That  young  man 
was  Benjamin  Disraeli. 

We  have  already  quoted  from  Mr.  Gladstone's  writings  in 
dealing  with  the  evangelical  revival.  Mr.  R.  W.  Perks,  next 
to  Sir  H.  H.  Fowler  the  most  prominent  Methodist  of  recent 
days  in  Parliament,  relates  a  suggestive  talk  he  had  with  the 
great  statesman  in  or  about  1888  : 

"  '  You  are  a  Methodist,  Mr.  Perks;  are  you  not?' 

"  '  Yes,  I  am,  Mr.  Gladstone,'  I  replied. 

1 '  '  Do  you  belong  to  the  old  body  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  I  belong  to  the  original  foundation  of  Mr.  Wesley; 
but,  Mr.  Gladstone,'  said  I,  smiling,  '  we  call  it  a  Church,  and 
not  a  body.' 

"  '  Ah,'  he  replied,  heaving  a  deep  sigh,  '  that  raises  an  issue 
which  has  perplexed  all  Christendom.  But  now,'  said  the  old 
man,  resting  his  elbow  on  the  table  and  placing  his  hand  to  his 
ear,  'tell  me,  Mr.  Perks,  how  many  sections  there  are  of  your 
Methodist  Church  (smiling  as  he  used  the  word  as  though  he 
thought  he  was  pleasing  me) ;  and  then  tell  me  what  were  the 
causes  of  the  various  secessions ;  and  then  tell  me  what  are 
their  doctrinal  differences;  and  then  explain  to  me  their  vari- 
ous distinctive  ecclesiastical  usages.' 

"  I  was  alarmed  at  the  long  vista  which  the  question  opened 
up,  but  there  was  Mr.  Gladstone  waiting  with  his  hand  to  his 
ear,  expecting  from  a  Methodist  layman,  then  less  than  half 
his  age,  an  instantaneous  and  complete  answer.  So  I  plunged 
right  into  the  absorbing  subject.  I  explained  the  rise  of  the 
New  Connection,  the  birth  and  growth  of  Primitive  Metho- 
dism, the  origin  of  the  Bible  Christians,  the  sad  conflicts  which 
led  to  the  splitting  away  of  the  Free  Methodists  and  the  Re- 
formers. Mr.  Gladstone  listened  intently,  saying  very  little. 
At  length  he  said  : 


A  Methodist  Lord  Mayor  1383 

"  '  Now,  Mr.  Perks,  we  will  leave  the  past  and  deal  with  the 
present.     What  are  your  doctrinal  differences? ' 

"  '  We  have  none,  Mr.  Gladstone,'  I  replied. 

' '  '  Would  to  God, '  said  the  aged  statesman .  '  that  my  beloved 
Church  could  say  the  same.'  " 

Sir  William  McArthur,  K.  C.  M.  G.  |  1809-18971,  was  a  Meth- 
odist member  of  Parliament  who  was  distinguished  for  his 
attention  to  colonial  policy.  It  was  due  chiefly  to  him  that 
Fiji  became  part  of  the  British  empire.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
Wesleyan  minister,  and  from  first  to  last  was  devoted  to  his 
Church.  Beginning"  commercial  life  as  a  tradesman,  he  be- 
came a  munificent  and  philanthropic  merchant  prince  in  part- 
nership with  his  like-minded  brother,  Alexander  McArthur, 
who  in  the  colonial  legislature  of  Australia  served  an  honor- 
able apprenticeship  for  the  British  Parliament.  Irish  Metho- 
dism never  lost  its  heart-hold  upon  the  brothers.  They  gave 
£3,000  to  Wesley  College,  Belfast,  of  which  in  1865  William 
McArthur  laid  the  foundation.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Lord 
Mayor  of  London.  It  was  characteristic  that  one  of  the  ban- 
quets of  his  mayoralty  was  given  in  honor  of  the  heroic  mis- 
sionary, Moffat.  It  is  illustrative  of  the  width  of  his  sympa- 
thies that  he  entertained  at  the  Mansion  House  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  the 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute  and  the  International  Medical  Con- 
gress. He  also  made  a  great  feast  for  colonial  notabilities, 
the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 
being  among  the  guests ;  the  latter  expressing  his  gratifica- 
tion in  being;  entertained  bv  a  Lord  Mayor  of  London  who 
had  visited  his  own  distant  kingdom.  He  will  ever  be  reck- 
oned among  the  worthies  of  the  historic  city  of  Londonderry, 
in  which  he  began  business  life  and  of  which  he  was  an  alder- 
man many  years  before  he  was  Lord  Mayor  of  London.      He 


1384 


British  Methodism 


was  a  genuine  man  of  Ulster,  blending  finely  Scottish  energy, 
enterprise,  shrewdness,  and  thrift  with  Irish  openness,  impul- 


Sometime  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 


siveness,  and  generosity.      His  biography,   by  the  Rev.  T. 
McCullagh,  reveals  the  habits  of  private  devotion  which  gave 


In  Army  and  Navy 


1385 


such  purity  and  strength  to  the  character  of  one  of  the  noblest 
sons  of  Methodism  and  servants  of  the  empire. 

In  the  army  and  royal  navy,  since  the  days  of  John  Haime 
and  Captain  Webb,  Methodism  has  had  a  remarkable  history 
of  persecution,  spiritual  victories,  and  prolonged  but  finally 


c       BALOING. 


M  ARTHUR    HALL,    BELFAST. 

successful  struggle  for  rightful  recognition  by  the  War  Office 
and  the  Admiralty.  In  1803  two  corporals  in  Gibraltar  re- 
ceived two  hundred  lashes  each  for  attending  Methodist  serv- 
ices, and  were  degraded;  in  1898-9  we  find  the  governor  of 
Gibraltar  opening  a  new  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Home,  and  in 
England  members  of  the  royal  family,  the  secretary  of  state 
for  war,  and  the  commander  in  chief  have  taken  part  in  sim- 
ilar ceremonies.  W.  H.  Rule,  D.D.  (1 802-1 890),  and  C.  H. 
Kelly  (president  of  Conference  in  1889)  were  pioneers  in  the 
effort  to  secure  for  Methodist  soldiers  and  sailors  their  rights 
to  the  services  of  their  own  ministers  in  worship,  hospitals, 
prisons,  and  war.  An  order  issued  by  General  Lord  Hill  in 
1839  secured  partial  freedom.     Dr.  Rule  had  a  hard  struggle 


1386 


British  Methodism 


for  its  enforcement.    In  1862  the  Wesleyan  chaplains  obtained 
recognition  from  the  War  Office.      Thev  have  served  in  all  re- 


*JJH!H 


*  "■  "S3      —  - 


^m, 


i 


U  U  U f  Sf  ^! 


-■.^ 


4MiC« 


ratlfeji 


it  f "  MIS" 


DRAWN  BV  P.  E.  FLINTOFF.  AFTER    PHOTOGRAPHS. 

WESL1  VAN    SOLDIERS'    HOMES    AND    CHURCHES. 


Soldiers1  Home.  Buckingham  Palace  Road, 
London. 
Soldiers1  Home,  Floriana,  Malta. 


Chatham  Garrison  Church. 

r'irst  Soldiers'  Home,  Aldershot,  1862. 


cent  campaigns,  including  the  Soudan  and  South  Africa,  and, 


Soldiers'  and   Sailors    Homes 


1387 


in  the  words  of  Sir  Herbert  Kitchener's  Omdurman  dispatch, 
••have  won  the  esteem  of  all  by  their  untiring  devotion  to 
their  sacred  duties  and  by  their  unfailing-  and  cheerful  kind- 
ness to  the  sick  and  wounded  at  all  times."  In  1898  there 
were  24.132   declared  Wesleyans  in  the  army  and  navy;   200 


THRFK    ARMY    CHAPLAIN-. 
Rev.  Ch\kles  H.  Kelly.  Rev.  YV.  H.  Rile.  Rev.  Richard  \V    Allex. 

ministers  and  chaplains.  Twenty-nine  homes,  built  at  a 
cost  of  ,£34,000,  are  centers  of  successful  social  and  spiritual 
work,  which  has  beeu  greatly  developed  under  the  secretary- 
chaplain.  Richard  W.  Allen.  The  chaplain  at  Portsmouth 
has  more  than   one  thousand   sailors  under  his   care.      The 


1388  British  Methodism 

missionary  aspect  of  the  work  is  notable,  for  soldiers  and 
sailors  were  foremost  helpers  in  founding  churches  in  the 
United  States,  Canada,  Tasmania,  the  West  Indies,  South 
Africa,  and  China.  At  Secunderabad  the  first  missionary 
was  a  sergeant.  "Be  strong  in  your  great  military  and 
naval  centers,"  said  the  late  Dr.  Punshon,  "and  if  there  is 
any  value  in  the  records  of  the  past,  you  will  hasten  forward 
the  conversion  of  the  world." 


I     ■  _____  ^y^^'j7*" 


-5  . 


«E 


.. 


CHAPTER  CXLV 
A  New  Era  for  the  Laity 

The  First  Laymen  at  Conference. — Some  Groups  ok   Represent- 
atives.—Methodism  in  the  Metropolis.— Knights,  Mayors,  and 

Magistrates. —  Patriarchs    and    Preachers.  — Distinguished 
Daughters. 


THE  Bradford  Conference,  1878,  marked  a  new  epoch  in 
Wesleyan  Methodism.  It  was  the  first  Conference  at 
which  representative  laymen  were  present. 
Since  1801  laymen  had  taken  part  in  the  financial  business 
of  district  meetings.  In  1803  they  formed  one  half  of  the 
committee  appointed  "to  guard  our  religious  privileges  in 
perilous  times."  Mainly  through  Dr.  Bunting's  influence 
they  were  placed  on  mission  and  chapel  committees.  Since 
1 86 1  representative  committees  of  review,  preparatory  to 
Conference,  had  strongly  influenced  the  course  of  legislation, 
and  this  conjoint  action  of  ministers  and  laymen  had  worked 
so  well  that  in  1875  the  Conference  considered  methods  of 
securing  to  the  laity  "  a  more  direct,  adequate,  and  formal 
participation  in  administration  not  purely  pastoral." 

A  system  of  lay  representation  was  proposed  at  the  Not- 
tingham Conference,  1876.      Among  its  advocates  were  Drs. 

Punshon,  Rigg,    Stephenson,   Gregory,   Jenkins,   Stamp  and 

1389 


1390 


British  Methodism 


Gervase  Smith,  W.  Arthur,  and  G.  T.  Perks.  Its  most  power- 
ful opponent  was  Dr.  G.  Osborn.  The  proposal  was  earried 
by  369  votes  against  49  ;  and  one  who  was  present  says  :  ' '  The 
profound,  solemn,  and  most  expressive  silence  with  which 
the  announcement  of  the  voting  was  received  after  such  a 


SAMUEL    DOUSLAND   WADDV,    D.D. 


REV.    JAMES   H.    R1GG,    D.D. 


lengthened  period  of  solicitous  excitement  was  very  striking 
and  impressive,  one  might  almost  say  sublime.  A  hallowed 
hush  pervaded  the  assembly.  Xot  a  murmur  of  satisfaction 
or  disappointment  escaped  the  lips  of  a  solitary  brother. 
Everyone  seemed  awed,  as  in  the  presence  of  a  great  event. 
A  dignity  and  a  devoutness  worthy  of  such  a  body  of  minis- 
ters at  such  a  crisis  held  the  whole  Conference  under  absolute 
control."  The  minority  acquiesced,  and  cooperated  loyally 
in  the  subsequent  working  of  the  principle;  not  a  minister  or 
member  seceded. 


A   GR'UP  OF   DISTINGUISHED   WESI  EVAN    LAYMEN. 


IXC 

.  dce  Waddy,  Q.C..  M.P. 


- 

Hen:-v  H .  :•        .  -  ...  M.P. 

- 


- 


RoBEr-  .  M.P. 


Lay  Representation  1393 

In  1878  Dr.  J.  H.  Rigg  presided  at  the  first  Conference 
which  was  both  pastoral  and  representative.  Dr.  Rigg's  life- 
long study  and  luminous  expositions  of  Methodist  polity,  his 
early  suggestions  of  the  expansion,  his  mastery  of  business, 
and  his  balanced  liberalism  rendered  him  the  most  .fitting 
man  for  such  a  trust.  The  Conference  now  consisted  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  ministers  and  two  hundred  and  forty  lay- 
men. The  pastoral  session  was  held  first,  and  the  repre- 
sentative session  met  in  the  third  week;  but,  this  proving 
inconvenient,  in  1891  the  representatives  met  in  the  second 
week.  In  1898  it  was  decided  that  the  representative  session 
should  meet  first. 

Lay  representation  in  the  district  meeting  (termed  synod, 
1892)  has  also  advanced.  In  1893  circuits  were  allowed  to 
send  elected  laymen  to  the  synod,  in  addition  to  the  circuit 
stewards,  for  the  transaction  of  business  "not  purely  pas- 
toral." One  layman  is  elected  where  the  circuit  has  one 
minister,  and  two  where  there  are  three  or  more. 

At  the  Anglican  Church  Congress  of  1898  the  Bishop  of 
Glasgow  said  :  "Of  all  Church  reform,  the  one  that  now  seems 
to  be  recognized  as  of  primary  importance  is  the  restoration 
to  the  laity  of  their  primitive  rights — the  right  of  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  proclamation  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ ;  of 
assisting  in  the  election  of  the  officers  of  the  Church ;  of 
bearing  a  share,  as  the  laymen  did  at  Corinth,  in  the  admin- 
istration of  Church  discipline ;  of  a  recognized  place  in  the 
Church's  councils."  In  the  London  Quarterly  Review  for 
January,  1899,  W.  L.  Watkinson  justly  points  out  that  "these 
very  rights  and  privileges  are  already  conceded  in  Metho- 
dism. .  .  .  The  popular  element  has  existed  in  Methodism 
from  the  beginning ,  a  Methodist  class  meeting  is  the  ideal 
democracy ;  and  slowly  and  surely,  as  befits  a  large  corpora- 


1394  British  Methodism 

tion,  the  laity  has  proceeded  all  through  the  century  to  a  more 
commanding  share  in  the  government  of  their  Church.  Meth- 
odism has  about  solved  the  problem  that  the  Anglican  Church 
is  beginning  to  attack."  And  this  has  been  done  by  Wes- 
leyan  Methodists  without  any  infringement  on  pastoral  rights 
and  responsibilities. 

We  can  only  name  a  few  of  the  laymen  who  have  helped 
to  mold  Methodism  since  its  centenary.  James  Wood,  of 
Manchester,  the  early  friend  of  Bunting,  was  the  centenary 
treasurer,  and  a  warm  advocate  of  the  theological  institution. 
Thomas  Farmer  (died  1861 )  was  a  like-minded  man — a  large- 
hearted,  sagacious  counselor.  James  Heald,  M.P.,  of  Stock- 
port, was  for  half  a  century  as  successful  as  a  class  leader  as 
he  was  in  all  philanthropic  labors  in  town  and  state.  Foreign 
missions  and  theological  colleges  were  for  forty  years  his 
special  objects  of  regard.  His  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Wood,  of 
Southport,  who  attended  him  in  his  last  illness,  1873,  was 
associated  with  many  noble  movements.  J.  Robinson  Kay, 
of  Summerseat  (1S05-1872),  was  a  leading  promoter  of  day 
schools,  and  a  lay  founder  of  the  London  Quarterly  Review. 
John  Howard,  mayor  of  Bedford,  born  a  month  before  Wes- 
ley died,  became  the  oldest  living  local  preacher.  The  patri- 
arch of  eighty-eight  preached  in  a  village  pulpit  a  month  be- 
fore he  died,  in  1879. 

John  Fernley  (1 796-1 874)  threw  his  whole  soul  into  re- 
ligious and  benevolent  enterprises  of  almost  princely  charac- 
ter. He  was  a  well-read  theologian  and  a  keen  critic.  He 
founded  the  Fernley  Lecture  with  the  object  of  securing  an 
annual  expression  of  the  Conference  on  some  topic  of  theol- 
ogy. A  succession  of  valuable  treatises  on  divinity  and  ethics 
has  been  the  result,  including  the  great  monograph  by  Mr. 
Fernley's   biographer,    Dr.   W.    B.    Pope,   on   the  Person   of 


The  Intellectual  Side 


1395 


Christ.      Another  institution   designed  to  promote  the   intel- 
lectual life  of  Methodism  is  the  Allan  Library,  which  Mr.  T. 

R.  Allan,   son  of  the  Wesleyan   lawyer  who  was  one  of  the 

Ifirst  members  of  the  Committee   of   Privileges,   gave  to  his 

Church    in    1884.       It 

was  the  collection    of 

a  lifetime,  and   is  rich 

in   literary    curiosities 

and  biblical  treasures. 
Thomas     Percival 

Bunting,  the  son  and 

biographer     of     Dr. 

Bunting,  died  in  1885. 
For  more  than  half  a 

century  this  [Methodist 
lawver  devoted  his  ver- 
satile gifts  to  Church 
work,  taking  a  leading- 
part  in  the  Centenary, 
the  Relief  and  Exten- 
sion, the  Missionary 
Jubilee  (1863)  and  the 
T  h  a  n  k  s  g  i  v  i  n  g  -  f  u  n  d 
movements.  He  pos- 
sessed genuine  literary  gifts,  and  was  a  pungent,  effective 
speaker.  John  Beauchamp  (died  1 891),  like  the_  two  Mc- 
Arthurs,  was  the  son  of  an  Irish  minister,  who  came  to  Lon- 
don and  became  identified  with  metropolitan  Methodism. 
He  was  one  of  many  thousands  who  regarded  City  Road 
Chapel  with  loving  veneration  as  their  spiritual  birthplace. 
He  was  of  noble  character,  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  litera- 
ture of  Methodism,  and  was  a  kingly  giver. 


FROM    I  ME    E\G«AV  NG     BT   J     n     OAlCR 

JOHN     FERNLEY. 
Founder  of  the  Fernley  Lectureship. 


1396 


British  Methodism 


City  Road  Chapel  in  the  mid-century  was  rich  in  laity  who 
were  at  the  front  in  every  holy  enterprise.  There  was  Thomas 
Marriot,  local  preacher,  Chapel  Fund  treasurer,  and  anti- 
quarian, who  bequeathed  large  sums  to  Methodist  funds; 
Launcelot  Heslop,  who  succeeded  Butterworth  in  the  mis- 
sionary treasury ;   the  Scarlets,  the  Howdens,  and  the  Tooths 


DRAWN    Br    J     P     DAVIS.  FRO*    THE   ARCHITECT'S  DRAWING. 

THE    ALLAN"    LIBRARY   BUILDING. 

— -whose  well-filled  pew  was  known  to  wags  as  "the  jaw- 
bone;" and  the  Gabriels,  a  noted  couple  who  gave  a  family 
to  Methodism,  one  of  their  sons,  Christopher  Gabriel,  becom- 
ing the  first  Methodist  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

A  famous  London  citizen  and  sheriff  was  Sir  Francis  Ly- 
cett.  During  his  shrievalty  he  had  to  visit  Paris  with  Sir  S. 
Waterlowto  present  an  address  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III, 
who  fixed  Sunday  to  receive  the  address.     But  the  British 


Progress  in  Chapel  Architecture 


1397 


i-M 

JBS 

#? 

^^                  6TA  rre^o 

._^*.. 

^ 

t 

1 

r 
f 

w% 

i_% 

-   :-  5 

I* 

-~?  ~.- 

' '  "^^ —  . 

W**+T1m&t 


flflMlfe 


I'll' 


i  -jfi^^f'^^^M^?— 


-In J  L1JIJ     1 


^    9V    P.    E.   FUNTOFF. 

WESLEYAX    CHAPELS.    OLD    AND    NEW. 

Great  Queen  Street.  London,  1817.  Hepstonstall  Octagon,  1797. 

Great  Queen  Street,  London,  1841.  Stafford.  1 

Hinde  Street  Church,  London,  1S99. 


1398  British  Methodism 

sheriff  declined  Sunday  business,  and  another  day  was  chosen. 
Born  in  1803,  Sir  Francis  lived  to  take  part  as  a  lay  repre- 
sentative in  Conference  in  1880,  and  died  two  months  later. 
The  remarkable  growth  of  London  Methodism  is  largely  due 
to  his  munificent  support  of  the  Metropolitan  Chapel  Building 
Fund,  established  in  1862.  He  gave  ,£50,000  on  condition 
that  an  equal  amount  should  be  raised  throughout  Methodism, 
and  that  ten  chapels,  each  seating  one  thousand,  should  be 
built  in  ten  years.  He  left  .£24,000  to  the  fund  at  his  death, 
besides  large  legacies  to  other  objects.  More  than  ninety 
chapels  have  been  built  in  London  since  the  fund  was  estab- 
lished. Before  1862  there  were  only  three  important  chapels 
south  of  the  Thames ;  now  there  are  nearly  forty,  and  the 
spiritual  work  has  become  correspondingly  progressive. 

Thomas  B.  Smithies,  the  founder  and  editor  of  the  British 
Workman  (1855),  completely  transformed  illustrated  period- 
icals for  the  people,  and  enlisted  some  of  the  first  artists  of 
the  day  in  his  service.  By  able  platform  advocacy  in  every 
department  of  social  reform ;  by  special  work  among  the 
criminal  classes,  the  intemperate,  and  the  deserving  poor;  by 
labors  of  love  among  postmen,  policemen,  cabmen,  sweeps, 
soldiers,  sailors,  and  railway  employees  of  all  kinds ;  by  prac- 
tical sympathy  with  young  men,  many  of  whom  he  helped 
into  good  positions  in  life  ;  by  constant  efforts  to  gladden  the 
hearts  of  children,  whom  he  intensely  loved ;  and,  notably, 
by  persistent  labor  for  the  preservation  of  the  sanctity  of  the 
Lord's  day  and  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals,  he 
did  immense  good.  His  office  in  Paternoster  Row,  London, 
was  a  council  chamber  for  philanthropic  reformers,  and  when 
the  beloved  editor  died,  in  1883,  multitudes  mourned  their 
loss. 

John   Napier  was  associated  with   Manchester  Methodism 


Wesleyan  Philanthropy 


1399 


from  1 8 17  until  he  fell  asleep,  in  1890,  "  with  his  ninety  years 
lying  lightly  upon  him."  "  In  his  family,  in  the  Church,  as 
a  citizen,  and  as  a  man  of  business,"  said  F.  W.  Macdonald, 
"he  lived  to  the  very  finish:"  a  successful   class  leader  for 


FROM    A    PMOTOGRAP 


T.    B.   SMITH  IIS. 
Founder  and  editor  of  the  British  Workman. 


sixty-three  years ;  treasurer  of  Didsbury  College  for  a  quarter 
century;  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Central  Hall  of  the  mod- 
ern mission ;  for  fifty  years  a  director  of  the  City  Mission  and 
Bible  Society,  and  a  patriarch  of  Conference. 

A  famous  local  preacher,  who  died  in  1898,  was  J.  Barritt 


1400  British  Methodism 

Melson,  an  M.D.  of  Cambridge,  in  his  time  a  distinguished 
physician  and  the  senior  magistrate  of  Birmingham.  While 
professor  of  natural  philosophy  and  hygiene  in  the  medical 
school  he  had  among  his  pupils  the  late  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury and  Dr.  Westcott,  the  present  Bishop  of  Durham. 
He  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  Birmingham  photography, 
electroplating,  and  telegraphy.  During  thirty-six  years  he 
preached,  on  an  average,  a  hundred  sermons  a  year,  and  for 
twenty-five  years  at  least  it  was  his  practice  to  read  the  Old 
Testament  through  once  a  year,  the  New  Testament  three, 
and  the  Psalter  twelve,  times. 

In  the  domain  of  science,  J.  T.  Slugg,  F.R.A.S.,  of  Man- 
chester, John  Potts,  F.G.S.,  of  Macclesfield,  and  others,  have 
also  done  original  work.  John  Birchenal,  of  Macclesfield, 
was  a  "  beloved  physician"  of  saintly  life,  whose  memoir  has 
been  well  written  by  A.  J.  French,  B.A. 

To  these  honored  names  might  be  added  many  others,  such 
as  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  H.  H.  Fowler,  already  noticed; 
theLidgetts;  the  Eastmans;  the  Corderoys ;  theVanners;  the 
Pococks;  the  Aliens;  the  Hills,  of  York;  the  Holmeses,  of 
Hull ;  Sir  G.  H.  Chubb  ;  Sir  Clarence  Smith  ;  Sir  J.  Falshaw ; 
Sir  George  Smith,  and  his  brothers,  W.  Bickford  Smith,  M.P., 
and  H.  A.  Smith,  M.A.,  sons  of  the  Methodist  historian  ;  Sir 
Isaac  Holden,  M.P. ;  H.  T.  Atkinson,  M.P.  ;  the  Shillingtons, 
of  Ireland;  Lewis  Williams  and  T.  Owen,  M.  P.,  of  Wales; 
the  Mewburns,  of  Banbury  ;  the  Barnsleys  and  Parkes,  of  Bir- 
mingham ;  John  Hall,  of  Leek  ;  the  Budgetts,  Mays,  and  Gard- 
ners, of  Bristol ;  the  Stotts,  of  Haslingden ;  Morgan  Hervey, 
the  missionary  treasurer;  W.  H.  Stephenson,  of  Newcastle, 
and  thirty  Methodist  mayors,  with  a  host  of  magistrates  and 
chairmen  of  district  councils,  whose  administrative  abilities 
render  high  service  in  synods  and  Conferences. 


I 


liTIkiip!*"  «IS3H  . 

i 


^#  wi 


CORNWALL  WESLEYAN    METHODIST    SCHOOLTRURO 


WESLEYAN    SCHOOL    AND    COLLEGES. 


A  Few  of  Many  Names  1403 

Five  of  the  fathers  of  the  first  representative  Conference 
were  at  the  Conference  of  1898:  Alexander  McArthur,  W. 
Mewburn,  W.  Tunstill,  W.  Vanner,  and  Judge  Waddy,  Q.C., 
one  of  the  many  distinguished  alumni  of  Wesley  College, 
Sheffield,  of  which  his  father,  Dr.  S.  D.  Waddy,  was  a  founder 
and  successful  governor.  T.  G.  Osborn,  M.A.,  also  of  Sheffield 
College,  is  a  famous  schoolmaster  and  mathematician,  who 
did  much  to  raise  Kingswood  School  to  its  high  position  among 
the  public  schools  of  England. 

James  Smetham,  the  artist,  Charles  Mansford,  B.A.,  H.  A. 
Reatchlous,  M.A.,  have  added  distinction  to  the  Westminster 
Training  College,  of  which  Dr.  Rigg  has  been  principal  from 
1868.  J.  H.  Cowham,  J.  Bailey,  and  R.  Dunstan,  Mus.  Doc. 
(Cambridge),  have  written  educational  manuals. 

Percy  W.  Bunting,  M.A.,  editor  of  the  Contemporary  Re- 
view, has  taken  part  in  every  educational  movement,  the 
Leys  School  at  Cambridge  being  a  standing  monument  of  his 
services,  as  well  as  the  middle-class  schools  established  all 
over  England.  The  liberalism  of  the  grandson  of  Dr.  Bunt- 
ing "is  a  standing  argument  against  any  doctrine  of  political 
heredity."  He  contributed  a  noteworthy  essay,  on  the  In- 
fluence of  Scientific  Progress  on  Religious  Thought,  to  the 
Ecumenical  Conference  of  1 89 1 . 

Christian  women  have  done  much  to  develop  the  spiritual 
and  philanthropic  work  of  Methodism.  A  sensational  event 
at  the  Conference  of  1894  was  the  appearance  of  a  lady  elected 
by  a  London  synod.  Next  year  it  was  determined  that  women 
are  not  eligible  for  election  to  Conference,  but  their  names 
appear  in  the  Minutes  as  members  of  committees  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Home,  Evangelistic  Missions,  and  the  Women's  Aux- 
iliary of  Foreign  Missions.  Every  town  mission  has  its  sis- 
ters.    In  1895   a  deaconess  institute  with  one  hundred  and 


1404  British  Methodism 

twenty  members  was  sanctioned  by  the  Conference.  Miss 
Frances  E.  Willard,  of  the  United  States,  was  publicly  wel- 
comed by  the  London  ministers  in  1892,  and  her  visits  gave 
an  impulse  not  only  to  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  of  which  she  was  president,  but  to  all  the  social  and 
philanthropic  work  of  her  British  Methodist  sisters,  who  deeply 
mourned  her  death  in  1898. 

During  the  last  half  century  Methodist  women  have  taken 
active  part  in  educational  movements,  and  a  few  writers  have 
come  to  the  front.  Matthew  Arnold  found  in  the  letters  and 
poems  of  Emma  Tatham  "a  sincere  vein  of  poetic  feeling,  a 
genuine  aptitude  for  composition,"  but,  characteristically,  he 
is  repelled  by  what  he  calls  the  "  bare,  blank,  narrowly  Eng- 
lish setting  of  Miss  Tatham's  Protestantism."  A  literary 
woman  of  note,  who  died  in  1898,  was  Mrs.  Everett-Green, 
who  was  engaged  for  forty  years  under  the  master  of  the 
rolls  in  editing  state  papers  in  the  record  office.  Edith 
Waddy,  Annie  E.  Keeling,  Dora  M.  Jones,  Adeline  Sergeant, 
and  the  Misses  Edith  and  Ellen  Thorneycroft  Fowler  are 
among  the  later  literary  daughters  of  Methodism. 


CHAPTER   CXLVI 

Links  with  Literature  and  Art 

Carlvle's  Methodist  Hero.— Tennyson's  Honest  Methodists. — 
Dora  Greenwell,  and  the  Secret  of  the  Strength  of  Metho- 
dism.— Some  Eminent  Artists. 

THE  attention  of  several  famous  writers  besides  George 
Eliot  has  been  arrested  by  the  revelation  of  strength 
and  beauty  in  the  lives  of  obscure  Methodists  who  were 
unconscious  heroes  and  saints.  Thomas  Carlyle,  in  his  Past 
and  Present,  storms  at  Methodism  as  he  catches  a  distorted 
view  of  it,  "with  its  eye  turned  inward,  asking  itself  with 
torturing  anxiety  of  hope  and  fear:  'Am  I  right?  Am  I 
wrong?  Shall  I  be  saved?  Shall  I  be  damned?'  What  is 
this  at  bottom  but  a  new  phasis  of  egoism  stretched  out  into 
the  infinite;   not  always  the  heavenlier  for  its  infinitude." 

Carlyle  said  to  Dr.  William  H.  Milburn  :  "  We've  a  queer 
place  in  this  country  called  the  Derbyshire  Peak.  I  was  there 
some  years  ago  and  went  on  the  Lord's  day  to  the  Wesleyan 
chapel ;  and  a  man  got  up  and  preached  with  extraordinary 
fluency  and  vehemence  and  I  was  astonished  at  his  eloquence. 
They  told  me  that  he  was  a  nail  maker ;  that  he  wrought  six 
days  in  the  week  with  his  own  hands  for  his  daily  bread,  and 

preached  upon  the  seventh  without  charge.     When  he  had 

1405 


1406  British  Methodism 

ended  another  man  came  forward  and  prayed;  and  I  was 
greatly  moved  by  the  unction  of  his  prayer.  And  they  told 
me  that  he  was  a  rope  maker,  and  that  he  toiled  as  the  other." 
But  Carlyle  disliked  the  preachers'  doctrine  of  assurance 
and  retribution,  and  told  Milburn  that  "  Wesleyans  make  cow- 
ards." With  an  inconsistency  that  needs  no  comment  it  is  Car- 
lyle himself,  in  his  Life  of  John  Sterling',  who  tells  the  follow- 
ing story  of  a  miner  whom  he  calls  "  this  Methodist  hero:" 
"  In  a  certain  Cornish  mine,  said  the  newspapers,  duly  speci- 
fying it,  two  miners,  deep  down  in  the  shaft,  were  engaged 
putting  in  a  shot  for  blasting  ;  they  had  completed  their  affairs 
and  were  about  to  give  the  signal  for  being  hoisted  up  ;  one  at 
a  time  was  all  their  coadjutor  at  the  top  could  manage,  and  the 
second  was  to  kindle  the  match  and  then  mount  with  all  speed. 
Now  it  chanced  while  they  were  both  still  below  one  of  them 
thought  the  match  too  long ;  tried  to  break  it  shorter ;  took  a 
couple  of  stones,  a  flat  and  a  sharp,  to  cut  it  shorter;  did  cut 
it  of  the  due  length,  but,  horrible  to  relate,  kindled  it  at  the 
same  time,  and  both  were  still  below!  Both  shouted  vehe- 
mently to  the  coadjutor  at  the  windlass,  both  sprang  at  the 
basket;  the  windlass  man  could  not  move  it  with  both.  Here 
was  a  moment  for  poor  miner  Jack  and  miner  Will !  Instant 
horrible  death  hangs  over  both  ;  when  Will  generously  resigns 
himself:  '  Go  aloft,  Jack,'  and  sits  down  ;  '  away;  in  one  mo- 
ment I  shall  be  in  heaven  !  '  Jack  bounds  aloft,  the  explosion 
instantly  follows,  bruises  his  face  as  he  looks  over.  He  is  safe 
above  ground — and  poor  Will !  Descending  eagerly,  they  find 
Will,  too,  as  if  by  miracle,  buried  under  rocks,  which  had 
arched  themselves  over  him,  and  little  injured;  he  too  is 
brought  up  safe,  and  all  ends  joyfully,  say  the  newspapers. 
Such  a  piece  of  manful  promptitude  and  salutary  human 
heroism  was  worth  investigating.     It  was  investigated  ;  found 


"Old  News,  and  Good  News,  and  New  News"         1407 

to  be  accurate  to  the  letter — with  this  addition  and  explana- 
tion :  that  Will,  an  honest,  ignorant,  good  man,  entirely  given 
up  to  Methodism,  had  been  perfect  in  the  '  faith  of  assurance  ;' 
certain  that  he  should  get  to  heaven  if  he  died,  certain  that 
Jack  would  not ;  which  had  been  the  ground  of  his  decision 
in  that  great  moment." 

Lord  Tennyson  wrote  to  Miss  Sellwood  from  Mablethorpe, 
in  1839:  "I  am  housed  at  Mr.  Wildman's,  an  old  friend  of 
mine  in  these  parts ;  he  and  his  wife  are  two  perfectly  honest 
Methodists.  When  I  came  I  asked  her  after  news,  and  she 
replied  :  '  Why,  Mr.  Tennyson,  there's  only  one  piece  of  news 
that  I  know — that  Christ  died  for  all  men.'  And  I  said  to  her, 
'  That  is  old  news,  and  good  news,  and  new  news ;'  wherewith 
the  good  woman  seemed  satisfied.  I  was  half  yesterday  read- 
ing anecdotes  of  Methodist  ministers,  and  liking  to  read  them 
too ;  .  .  .  and  of  the  teaching  of  Christ,  that  purest  light  of 
God."  With  the  Wesleyan  doctrine  of  free  will  Tennyson  was 
in  full  accord.  Free  will  was  "  undoubtedly,"  he  said,  "  the 
main  miracle.  Apparently  an  act  of  self-limitation  by  the 
Infinite,  and  yet  a  revelation  by  himself  of  himself."  "  Take 
away  the  sense  of  individual  responsibility  and  men  sink  into 
pessimism  and  madness."  He  wrote  at  the  end  of  the  poem 
"Despair:"  "In  my  boyhood  I  came  across  the  Calvinist 
creed,  and  assuredly,  however  unfathomable  the  mystery,  if 
one  cannot  believe  in  the  freedom  of  the  human  will  as  of  the 
divine,  life  is  hardly  worth  the  living."  The  famous  line 
from  "  In  Memoriam  "  is  suggested  : 

Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine. 

On  the  last  Sunday  of  1886  a  veteran  local  preacher,  Isaac 
Porter,  went  through  a  furious  gale  to  preach  at  Freshwater, 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight.     Feeling  faint,  the  old  man  turned  in 


1408  British  Methodism 

by  the  gateway  of  Heathfield  Lodge  and  there  fell  dead.  "At 
that  moment  Lord  Tennyson  and  Professor  Ralston,  who  was 
Lord  Tennyson's  guest,  were  approaching.  A  good  woman, 
well  knowing  how  such  a  sight  as  that  would*  shock  the  sensi- 
tive nature  of  the  poet,  who  was  just  recovering  from  the 
sorrow  occasioned  by  the  death  of  his  son  Lionel,  called  Pro- 
fessor Ralston  aside  and  advised  him  not  to  go  further  in 
that  direction,  explaining  her  reason.  Tennyson,  overhearing 
the  conversation,  at  once  demanded  to  be  taken  to  the  spot 
without  delay.  With  his  own  hands  he  helped  to  carry  Mr. 
Porter's  body,  .  .  .  and  took  charge  of  his  watch,  notes  of 
sermons,  and  other  papers.  The  poet  laureate  was  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  circumstance  that  the  two  texts  selected 
for  that  day's  sermons  were,  '  And  Enoch  walked  with  God  : 
and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him ;  '  and,  '  The  Lord  God  is 
a  sun  and  shield.'" 

"What  a  noble  thing,"  said  Professor  Ralston,  "  thus  to 
die  at  the  post  of  duty." 

The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine  for  January,  1899,  gives 
a  facsimile  of  the  letter  which  Tennyson  wrote  to  the  local 
preacher's  nephew. 

When  Tennyson  himself  was  "crossing  the  bar"  interces- 
sion was  made  for  him  in  almost  every  Methodist  church  in 
Britain,  and  thankfulness  expressed  that  he,  like  Robert 
Browning,  had  found  the  lofty  inspiration  and  profound  peace 
of  a  true  conception  of  the  living  God,  and  of  everlasting  life 

in  the 

Strong  Son  of  God,  immortal  Love. 

The  most  philosophic  woman  poet  and  devotional  writer  of 
the  century,  Dora  Green  well  (182 1-1 882)  has  ministered  richly 
to  the  inner  life  of  thoughtful  Methodists.  Whittier,  who 
prefaced  the  American  edition  of  her  Patience  of  Hope,  ranked 


Dora  Greenwe::  1409 

her  work  with  that  of  Augustine,  a  Kempis.  Tauler.  Fenelon. 
and  Wool  man.  Although  she  was  not  a  Methodist,  she  pene- 
trated the  secret  of  all  that  is  best  in  Methodism.  ' '  Do  you 
not  think."  she  writes.  "  that  the  secret  of  the  extraordinary 
hold  of  Methodism  upon  the  English  poor  lies  in  the  sti 
and  intimate  communion  which  forms  so  essential  a  part  of  it? 
.  .  .  Methodism  is  eminently  social ;  its  idea  is  that  of  jour- 
neying Zionward  in  companies,  gathering  as  they  go;  hus- 
bands, wives,  friends,  servants,  little  ones,  "leaving  not  a 
hoof  behind  ;'  its  activities  are  ever  aggressive,  its  sympathies 
ever  widening." 

We  weep  for  those  who  weep  below. 

And.  burdened  for  the  afflicted,  sigh 
The  various  forms  of  human  woe 

Attract  our  softest  sympathy. 

Dora  Greenwell  marks  ••  another  secret  of  the  strength  of 
Methodism" — its  ''directness:  bringing  a  soul  into  a  felt 
relation  with  its  God ;  making  the  first  step  in  spiritual  prog- 
re  ss  to  consist  in  a  real  conscious  transaction  between  the  soul 
and  him."  "It  brings  the  great  and  comforting  reality  of 
pardon  and  acceptance,  the  love  and  peace  and  joy  of  believ- 
ing, into  far  stronger  relief  than  is  generally  done  in  Church 
teaching." 

••When  we  consider  the  state  of  our  lapsed  masses,  the 
great  onilf  their  modes  of  life  and  thought  have  fixed  between 
them  and  all  methods  of  resoilar  instruction  and  gradual  train- 
ing.  we  learn  to  bless  a  teaching  that  applies  such  powerful 
stimulants,  such  strong  consolations  to  the  soul :  that  rouses 
it  from  the  deadly  lethargy  of  sense  and  sin  and  sends  it  out 
perhaps  to  weep  in  solitary  places,  t  wrestle,'  as  the  poor 
Methodist  expresses  it,  with  ::?  God;  that  lifts  it  from  the 
conflict  into  the  clear  sunshine  of  peace  and  hope  and  rejoi- 


1410 


British  Methodism 


cing ;  that  leaves  it  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  saying,  '  I  have  found 
him  whom  my  soul  loveth.' 

"  Sudden  conversions,  with  the  ecstatic  warmth  of  feeling 
that  follows  upon  them,  are  derided,  but  only  by  those  who 


PAINTED     BY     HIMSELF.  FROM     THE     COPPERPLATE     BY    THOMPSON. 

JOHN   JACKSON,   R.A. 

The  Methodist  portrait  painter. 

know,  even  as  regards  natural  things,  little  of  the  secret 
powers,  the  reserved  forces  of  the  human  spirit,  and  are  un- 
aware that  in  the  depth  of  ignorant,  of  hardened  and  weary 
and  .distracted  souls,  there  is  still  a  strength,  blind  and  fet- 
tered like  that  of  Samson,   needing  a  shock  to  set  it  free. 


The  First  Methodist  Academician 


1411 


'  The  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force.'  Methodism  has  entered  into  the  heart  of 
this  saying." 

Several  of  the  portraits  in  this  volume  are  from  paintings 


FROM    A    WOODCUT. 


JAMES    SMETHAM. 
Artist  and  diarist. 

I  by  the  first  Methodist  Royal  Academician,  John  Jackson,  who 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  century  was  an  active  worker 
at  Hinde  Street  Chapel,  London.      "  Probably  few  readers  of 


1412  British  Methodism 

the  Methodist  Magazine,"  says  W.  G.  Beardmore,  "when  they 
saw  inscribed  beneath  the  monthly  portrait,  '  Painted  by 
Jackson,'  had  any  idea  of  the  splendid  achievements  of  the 
man,  who  had  climbed  high  enough  in  his  vocation  to  write 
his  name  in  the  same  grade  of  academic  honors  as  Reynolds, 
Lawrence,  Romney,  and  Hoppner."  To  Jackson's  name 
must  be  added  J.  Clarke  Hook,  R.A.,  whose  grandsire  was 
Dr.  Adam  Clarke;  Marshall  Claxton,  a  minister's  son;  James 
Smetham,  another  son  of  the  prophets ;  G.  P.  Everett-Green, 
Stephen  Chesters,  J.  Adams- Acton,  sculptor;  and  Arthur  T. 
Nowell,  also  the  son  of  a  minister.  Sir  Edward  J.  Poyn- 
ter,  president  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  Sir  Edward  Burne- 
Jones  found  their  talented  and  accomplished  wives  in  the 
Wesleyan  parsonage  at  Chelsea  which  honored  the  late  Rev. 
George  B.  Macdonald  as  its  paternal  head,  and  another  of 
that  distinguished  Methodist  sisterhood  was  the  wife  of  the 
artist  Lockwood  Kipling,  and  the  mother  of  his  more  dis- 
tinguished son. 

Probably  no  book  relating  to  a  Methodist,  except  Southey's 
Life  of  Wesley,  has  been  welcomed  with  such  unanimity  of 
appreciation  in  purely  literary  circles  as  the  Letters  of  James 
Smetham.  The  poet,  painter,  art  critic,  and  devoted  Metho- 
dist class  leader  won  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  Ruskin 
and  Rossetti.  Ruskin  writes  of  Smetham's  death,  "One  of 
the  most  deeply  mourned  losses  to  me  among  the  few  friends 
with  whom  I  could  'take  counsel.' ' 


^3 


^^^zz^jfi^mes; 


=    "..Q^n  u^^: 


CHAPTER  CXLVII 

The  Modern  Methodist  Ministry 

Some  Features  of  the  New  Age.— The  Unbroken  Continuity  of 
doctrink.~wli.liam  morley  punshon,  orator  and  adminis- 
trator, --wl  1. 1. 1  am  flddiax  moulton,  scholar,  head  master, 
Saint.— Theology;  Biblical  Scholarship;  Science. 

SUCH  marvelous  changes  have  taken  place  in  national 
life  during  the  last  half  century  that  it  would  be 
strange  indeed  if  Methodist  ministers  had  not  been 
influenced  to  some  extent  by  their  environment.  Their 
close  association  from  the  begfinningf  of  their  career  with  a 
peculiarly  alert  laity,  actively  identified  with  national  inter- 
ests and  trained  for  public  work  by  Methodism  itself,  has 
done  much  to  make  the  ministers  men  of  their  age.  Some  of 
the  movements  which  have  affected  the  preachers'  habits  of 
thought,  the  form  of  their  teaching,  and  their  methods  of 
work  have  already  been  noticed,  such  as  the  rise  of  the  de- 
mocracy since  the  extension  of  the  franchise,  the  industrial 
revolution,  the  reforms  in  the  conditions  of  life  and  labor, 
the  march  of  education,  and  the  entrance  of  a  growing  host 
of  Free  Churchmen  into  public  life  and  Parliament. 

Methodist  literature,  both  in  its  periodical  and  more  per- 
manent   forms,    reveals  that   the  modern  ministerial  brain 
89  J4i3 


1414  British  Methodism 

has  been  exercised,  even  more  directly,  on  questions  raised 
by  the  sacerdotal  revival  in  the  Established  Church,  the  de- 
velopments in  systematic  theology  and  Biblical  scholarship, 
the  advance  in  physical  and  philosophical  science,  the  growth 
of  popular  literature,  the  new  facilities  for  intellectual  train- 
ing, and  the  new  ideals  of  social  reform.  In  the  London 
Quarterly  Review,  which  under  Dr.  Rigg's  editorship  has 
for  many  years  registered  the  high-water  mark  in  the  tide  of 
Methodist  thought,  one  writer  of  1894  justly  observes  that 
"with  Wesley  the  work  of  saving  souls  included  the  applica- 
tion of  Christian  morality  in  the  work  of  social  reform.  .  .  . 
and  one  function  of  the  Christian  Church  in  her  prophetic  or 
teaching  office  is  to  show  how  the  precepts  of  Christ  bear 
upon  the  new  questions  which  are  constantly  arising  in  the 
complex  life  of  modern  society." 

But  the  theological  creed  of  Methodism  remains  unchanged, 
and  the  Conference  of  1898,  in  its  annual  address,  was  able  to 
declare :  "While  every  age  seeks  to  express  truth  in  its  own 
forms  of  speech,  and  may  sometimes  succeed  in  improving 
on  the  phraseology  of  the  past,  there  is  no  sign  of  any  change 
in  our  attitude  toward  the  foundation  doctrines  of  the  faith. 
.  .  .  We  are  not  haunted  by  misgivings  lest  the  truth  which 
has  sanctified  multitudes  should  not  be  tauerht  to  our  children 
and  to  our  children's  children.  The  doctrinal  continuity  of 
the  religious  movement  of  which  we  are  children  and  heirs  is 
absolutely  unbroken,  although  we  need  to  pray,  as  will  every 
fresh  generation,  for  the  passionate  conviction  of  our  fore- 
fathers. That  cannot  be  acquired  by  heredity  or  tradition, 
and  must  be  sought  anew  through  every  day  of  our  history." 

William  Morley  Punshon,  LL.D.  (1 824-1 881),  stood  alone  as 
the  religious  orator  of  his  day.  In  his  own  province  he  has  had 
no  peer,  but  his  style  and  life-work  mark  a  transition  period. 


Punshon,   the  Orator 


1415 


He  had  been  only  seven  years  in  the  ministry  when  he  ap- 
peared for  the  first  time  on  the  platform  of  Exeter  Hall, 
London,  in  1853,  as  a  speaker  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.     Other  speakers  were  Dr. 


REV.  WILLIAM  F.  MOULTON,  D.D.  REV.  \V.  MORLEY  PUNSHON.  LL.D. 

Hannah,  the  Right  Honorable  Joseph  Napier,  M.P.,  John  Rat- 
tenbury,  Gibson  McMillen,  from  Ireland  ;  E.  J.  Robinson,  from 
Ceylon,  and  the  renowned  orator  of  the  middle  age  of  Metho- 
dism, Dr.  Xewton.  An  interest  attaches  to  the  meeting 
which  only  time  could  bring  to  light.  It  was  Robert  Xew- 
ton's  last  appearance  at  the  anniversary,  and  Morley  Pun- 
shon's  first.  "  For  the  first  and  last  time  they  stood  together 
in  the  cause  with  which  their  names  must  always  be  linked. 
The  elder  handed  the  torch  to  the  younger,  and  passed  away. 
That  May  morning  divides  the  earlier  from  the  later  period 
of  missionary  advocacy.  The  name  of  Xewton  may  stand 
for  one,  the  name  of  Punshon  for  the  other." 


1416  British  Methodism 

The  next  year  Punshon  lectured  in  the  same  hall,  on  "  The 
Prophet  of  Horeb,"  to  nearly  three  thousand  people.  ' '  There 
was  the  stillness  and  solemnity  of  death.  You  might  have 
heard  a  feather  fall  in  that  vast  assembly;  and  when  the  last 
sentence  had  fallen  from  his  lips  the  whole  audience  rose 
and  cheered  till  it  could  cheer  no  more."  This  was  the 
first  of  many  similar  triumphs  achieved  in  Britain,  Canada, 
and  the  United  States.  When  he  delivered  his  second  Exe- 
ter Hall  lecture,  on  "  John  Bunyan,"  atone  of  his  magnificent 
climaxes  the  vast  concourse  of  people  sprang  tumultuously  to 
their  feet ;  some  shouted  "Bravo!"  some  "Hurrah!"  some 
"  Hallelujah!"  others  "  Glory  be  to  God!"  and  a  tornado  of 
applause  swept  through  the  building. 

Punshon's  brilliant  biographer,  F.  W.  Macdonald  (presi- 
dent of  Conference  in  1899),  does  not  find  "  the  secret  of  the 
spell"  by  which  the  orator  held  vast  multitudes  in  thrall  in 
any  originality  of  plan,  or  special  critical  insight,  or  in  the 
lessons  enforced,  which  were  "familiar  even  to  triteness." 
"  Nevertheless  there  is  originality  from  first  to  last."  "By 
temperament  and  cast  of  mind  he  was  an  orator."  As  he 
composed  his  lectures  within  the  chambers  of  his  heart  and 
brain  invisible  audiences  assembled.  "  They  were  with  him 
as  he  thought  and  read  and  wrote."  The  structure  of  his 
orations,  the  marvelous  climaxes,  the  skillful  changes  of  key, 
the  subtle  modulations  of  language,  "  the  genial  sense  of  kin- 
ship, which  makes  a  thousand  pulses  beat  like  one,"  and  his 
consummate  elocution,  all  contributed  to  his  power.  "Not 
an  intonation  was  wanting  that  could  give  expression  to  his 
meaning  or  add  a  beauty  to  stately  language.  There  was  a 
rhythmic  beat  in  his  tones  that  wrought  upon  the  ear  like  a 
spell." 

Between  1854  and  18S1  Punshon  lectured  six  hundred  and 


What  Punshon  Did  for  Canada  1417 

fifty  times,  to  audiences  ranging  from  five  hundred  to  five 
thousand  persons,  and  raised 'fifty  or  sixty  thousand  pounds 
for  various  branches  of  Christian  work  ;  but,  far  beyond  that, 
he  gave  to  tens  of  thousands  of  persons  a  mental  and  moral 
stimulus  which  led  in  numberless  instances  to  higher  and  more 
fruitful  life.  His  lectures,  in  effect,  were  glorious  sermons, 
and  he  never  forgot  that  he  was  first  of  all  a  preacher.  On 
the  platform  he  once  pointed  to  the  pulpit  and  cried  out,  with 
flashing  eye  and  ringing  voice,  "That,  sir,  is  my  throne!" 
and  thereupon  broke  forth  into  a  passionate  and  eloquent 
declamation  on  the  peerless  glory  of  the  pulpit  and  the  more 
than  imperial  power  of  the  preacher  of  ' '  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified." 

The  account  of  Punshon's  work  as  president  of  the  Cana- 
dian Conference  (1867- 1873)  belongs  to  the  history  of  world- 
wide Methodism.  When  Sir  William  McArthur  asked  John 
Macdonald,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Toronto,  "What  did 
Punshon  do  for  you  when  he  was  out  here?"  Mr.  Macdonald 
replied,  "  Do  for  us?  why,  he  pushed  us  on  half  a  century." 
In  1874  Dr.  Punshon  was  elected  president  of  the  British 
Conference.  In  1875  he  became  a  secretary  for  foreign  mis- 
sions. His  consummate  administrative  powers  .surprised 
those  who  had  only  known  him  as  an  accomplished  orator. 
' '  He  was  loved  for  his  nobility  not  less  than  he  was  admired 
for  his  greatness."  In  188 1  he  was  brought  home  from 
Genoa  to  die,  and  on  an  April  morning,  just  after  exclaim- 
ing, "  Christ  is  to  me  a  bright  reality.  Jesus!  Jesus!"  there 
was  a  smile  as  of  kindling  rapture,  and  William  Morley  Pun- 
shon entered  into  rest. 

William  Fiddian  Moulton,  M.A.  Lond.  and  Cantab.,  D.D. 
Edin.,  born  at  Leek  in  1835,  was  the  most  distinguished 
scholar  of  modern   Methodism.     His  grandfather  and  father 


1418  British  Methodism 

were  ministers.  His  brothers,  J.  Fletcher  Moulton,  O.C., 
F.R.S.,  a  well-known  scientific  counsel;  Professor  R.  G. 
Moulton,  of  Chicago  University,  and  the  Rev.  J.  Egan  Moul- 
ton, principal  of  Newington  College,  Sydney,  all  prove  the 
extraordinary  capacity  of  the  family  for  scholarship.  Dr. 
Moulton  was  educated  at  Woodhouse  Grove  School  and  Wes- 
ley College,  Sheffield.  At  the  latter  place,  in  1852,  he  at- 
tained, after  long  seeking,  the  personal  knowledge  of  salva- 
tion. 

In  London  University  he  took  his  M.A.  decree,  winning 
the  gold  medal  for  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy*: 
This,  however,  only  showed  one  side  of  his  varied  knowledge, 
for  he  afterward  carried  off  the  prizes  for  Hebrew,  Greek, 
and  Christian  evidences;  the  most  distinguished  student  who 
ever  passed  in  those  subjects.  He  was  called  to  the  ministry 
in  1858,  and  for  sixteen  years  was  a  tutor  at  Richmond  Col- 
lege. His  earliest  colleagues,  Alfred  Barrett  and  Benjamin 
Hellier,  exercised  an  enduring  influence  on  his  character. 

In  1870  Dr.  Moulton  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Revision  of  the  New  Testament.  Dr.  Ellicott, 
then  a  professor  of  theology  at  Cambridge,  persuaded  him  to 
undertake  what  is  perhaps  his  greatest  work  in  theological 
scholarship,  the  English  edition  of  Winer's  Grammar  of  the 
Greek  Testament.  It  attracted  the  immediate  notice  of  schol- 
ars and  laid  the  foundation  of  Dr.  Moulton's  great  reputation. 
The  work  of  the  Revision  Committee  brought  him  some  of 
the  happiest  friendships  of  his  life.  He  met  there  the  bril- 
liant trio  of  Cambridge  scholars,  Drs.  Lightfoot,  Westcott, 
and  Hort,  who  remodeled  the  divinity  teaching  of  that  uni- 
versity and  gave  it  an  unrivaled  position. 

Dr.  Moulton  was  remarkable  in  the  Revision  Committee 
for  his  exact  and  ready  knowledge.      Bishop  Westcott  wrote 


Moulton,  the  Scholar 


1419 


of  him  after  his  death:  "Close  and  constant  intercourse  in- 
creased my  admiration  for  his  scholarship,  and  to  this  was 
added  a  personal  affection  which  has  grown  deeper  through 
all  the  years  that  have  followed." 

"I  have  worked  with  other  scholars,"  continues  Bishop 
Westcott,  "whose  attainments  were  as  consummate  as  Dr. 
Moulton's,   and  who  were  bolder  and 
more  adventurous,  but  I  have  never 


ARD    BONTE 


FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH. 


THE  MODKRN   KINGSWOOD  SCHOOL,  BATH. 


known  one  more  alert  or  of  more  balanced  judgment. 
Dr.  Moulton  seemed  to  me  to  take  an  impartial  account 
of  every  elernent  in  a  critical  problem,  and  to  strive  with 
unwearied  patience  to  give  to  it  just  weight.  One  thing 
which  always  touched  me  "most  deeply  was  his  spirit  of  abso- 
lute self-sacrifice  and  self-forgetfulness.  He  was  wholly  un- 
affected by  the  thought  of  recognition  or  recompense.  No 
labor  was  .too  great  if  he  could  contribute   anything  to  the 


1420  British  Methodism 

completeness  of  another's  work.  The  sense  of  thoroughness 
in  the  work  itself  was  his  reward,  though  the  workman  was 
unnoticed.  It  was  in  vain  to  protest,  as  I  often  did,  against 
what  I  held  to  be  an  excess  of  care  in  the  fulfillment  of  his 
share  in  our  common  task.  He  could  not  be  satisfied  with 
anything  which  he  felt  able  to  improve  or  to  make  more  sure. 
One  signal  fruit  of  such  loving,  patient,  and  minute  labor,  in 
which  even  I  could  not  blame  his  untiring  and  scrupulous 
care,  will,  I  trust,  soon  enrich  the  student  of  Holy  Scripture. 
About  a  fortnight  before  his  death  he  wrote  to  me,  '  I  hope 
in  a  few  weeks  to  be  able  to  tell  you  that  the  marginal  refer- 
ences to  the  New  Testament  are  complete.'  Through  these 
references  I  believe  that  Dr.  Moulton  will  lead  many  genera- 
tions of  students  to  recognize  with  a  personal  conviction  the 
unity  and  the  variety  of  the  Bible.  No  memorial  of  his  life 
could  be  more  appropriate,  or,  I  think,  more  welcome  to  him- 
self." Since  Dr.  Moulton's  death  this  "  memorial"  has  been 
published. 

Another  great  work  of  Dr.  Moulton's  life  was  the  founding 
of  the  Leys  School,  Cambridge,  in  1874.  He  was  appointed 
the  head  master.  In  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  school  ha,s 
risen  to  an  honorable  place  among  the  public  schools  of  Eng- 
land. The  Right  Honorable  A.  J.  Balfour,  M.P.,  speaking 
at  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  school,  said:  "It  has 
already  proved  that  it  can  inspire  in  those  who  have  passed 
their  school  days  here  that  warm  affection  and  that  patriotism 
for  their  school  which  all  the  great  public  schools  of  this 
country  have  so  notably  shown." 

When  Dr.  Moulton  was  elected  president  of  the  Conference, 
in  1890,  men  were  astonished  to  discover  that  the  self- sup- 
pressing scholar  was  a  man  of  affairs  and  an  ideal  moderator. 
He  was  in  full  sympathy  with  an  enterprising  and  aggressive 


John   Drury  Geden 


1421 


Methodism.  His  preaching  was  deeply  expository  and  ex- 
perimental, tender,  and  faithful.  He  walked  before  God 
with  a  humility  that  deepened  to  the  end.     And  the  end  came 

with  startling  suddenness.  On  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1898,  as  he  returned  from 
visiting:   a    sick    friend,    in    a    few 


drawn  ay  J.  P.  DAV 


AFTER  A  WOODCUT. 


THE  LEYS  SCHOOL,  CAMBRIDGE. 


moments  the  busy  and  watchful  servant  passed,  without  a 
sigh  or  the  "sadness  of  farewell,"  to  the  presence  of  his 
Lord. 

John  Drury  Geden,  D.D.  (1822-1886),  was  for  twenty-seven 
years  classical  tutor  at  Didsbury  College.  His  repute  as  a 
biblical  and  oriental  scholar  led  to  his  election  to  the  Com- 
pany for  the  Revision  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  for  many 
years  he  attended  its  bimonthly  sittings  in  the  Jerusalem 
Chamber  at  Westminster.     He  was  an  ideal  tutor,  possessing 


1422 


British  Methodism 


not  only  stores  of  learning,  but  a  remarkable  power  to  com- 
municate knowledge. 

Benjamin  Hellier  was  for  twenty-five  years  a  classical  tutor 
at  Didsbury  and  Richmond,  and  for  ten  years  the  revered 


REV.  JOHN  D.  GEDEN,  D.D. 


REV.  SAMUEL  COLEY. 


REV.   BENJAMIN  HELLIER. 


governor  of  Headingley  College.  During  this  period  nearly 
seven  hundred  students  were  brought  under  his  noble  per- 
sonal influence.  Dr.  Moulton,  his  intimate  friend,  said, 
"  Mr.  Hellier  furnished  as  fine  a  type  of  Christian  manliness 
as  it  has  ever  been  my  privilege  to  witness."  His  Life  and 
Teaching,  edited  by  his  children,  is  a  biographical  treasure. 
Samuel   Coley  succeeded   John    Lomas   in   the   theological 


A    GROUP    OF   CONFERENCE    PRESIDENTS,    1864-1894. 

Rev.  Joseph  Bush.        Rev.  John  Bedford.        Rev.  F.  J.  Jobson.        Rev.  George  T.  Perks. 

Rev.  Willhii  L.  Thornton.        Rev.  Alexander  McAulay.        Rev.  William  Shaw. 
Rev.  ErenezerE. Jenkins.  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Hall.  Rev.Luke H.Wiseman.  Rev.Frederic  Greeves 
Rev.  Walford  Green.     Rev.  R.  Newton  Young    Rev.  John  H.  James.    Rev.  Richard  Roberts. 
Rev.  Gervase  Smith.    Rev.  Thomas  McClllagh.     Rev.  John  Walton.    Rev.  Benjamin  Gregory. 


The  Conference  Dead  1425 

chair  at  Headingley  College  in  1873.  He  was  not  only  a  theo- 
logian, and  a  special  student  of  the  schoolmen,  but  a  master 
of  the  best  popular  style  of  preaching,  sparkling  with  ideas 
— Anglo-Saxon,  like  Bunyan's  ;  illustrative,  like  Guthrie's ; 
piquant  and  sententious,  like  Arnot's. 

"The  years  1 880-1 881  will  ever  be  memorable  for  the 
number  of  illustrious  names,  both  of  ministers  and  laymen, 
recorded  in  the  roll  of  its  dead.  The  loss  in  the  previous 
year  of  two  such  princes  in  Israel  as  John  Bedford  and  John 
Rattenbury  was  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows.  In  quick  and 
startling  succession  the  names  of  Samuel  Coley,  Francis 
Lycett,  F.  J.  Jobson,  W.  M.  Punshon,  and  W.  O.  Simpson 
were  added  to  the  mournful  list — some,  it  is  true,  in  the 
hallowed  and  tranquil  evening  of  their  life,  but  others  while 
it  was  yet  day."  The  writer  of  these  words,  Dr.  R.  N. 
Young,  president  of  Conference  in  1886,  was  another  dis- 
tinguished classical  tutor,  the  master  of  a  well-nigh  perfect 
literary  style,  who  died  in  1898. 

Among  the  contemporaries  of  Dr.  Punshon  was  Luke  H. 
Wiseman,  M.A.,  who  before  entering  the  ministry  was  the 
private  secretary  of  Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton,  and  acted  as 
his  amanuensis  in  preparing  some  of  his  antislavery  litera- 
ture. He  was  a  fine  expository  preacher,  and  had  a  rare 
power  of  adapting  himself  to  hearers  lowly  or  lofty.  His 
native  dignity,  command  of  speech,  and  catholicity  of  spirit 
made  him  a  welcome  advocate  of  the  great  evangelical  socie- 
ties and  a  noteworthy  president  of  Conference  (1872). 

G.  T.  Perks,  president  of  Conference  in  1873,  like  Wise- 
man, was  a  missionary  secretary,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  of  singularly  well-balanced  character.  Gervase  Smith, 
D.D.,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Punshon,  whom  he  suc- 
ceeded in  the  presidency.     In  1874  he  was  British  represent- 


1426  British  Methodism 

ative  to  the  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church 
in  Canada,  and  two  years  later  to  the  Australasian  Confer- 
ence. For  twelve  years  he  was  a  sagacious  coworker  with 
Sir  Francis  Lycett  in  his  metropolitan  work. 

A  distinguished  missionary  president  was  William  Shaw, 
the  veteran  of  South  Africa,  who  died  in  1872.  India  and 
Ceylon  have  been  nobly  represented  by  William  Arthur, 
M.A.,  and  Dr.  E.  E.  Jenkins,  who  are  still  spared  to  their 
Church,  and  by  John  Walton,  who  was  also  president  of  the 
Heald  Training  Institution,  Graham's  Town,  for  eight  years, 
and  of  the  South  African  Conferences  of  1 883-1 884.  These 
are  a  few  only  of  the  men  of  manifold  gifts  who  represent 
the  many-sided  Methodism  of  the  last  half  century.  Of 
others  our  next  chapter  must  tell. 


CHAPTER   CXLVIII 


The  Forward  Movement  in  Education  and  Philanthropy 

The  Master  Theologian.— A  Group  of  Professors.— An  Eminent 
'  Man  of  Science.— Elementary  Education.— The  Young  Life  of 
Methodism.— Progressive   Local   Preachers.— Temperance  Re- 
form.—The  Children's  Homes. 


M 


OST  of  the  Church  leaders  mentioned  in  the  last  chap- 
ter have  passed  to  their  rest ;  some  of  those  now  to 
be  named  have  almost  finished  their  life-work,  and 
others  are  likely  to  mold  the  Methodism  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

The  greatest  master  of  systematic  theology  British  Metho- 
dism has  produced  is  William  Burt  Pope,  D.D.  His  trans- 
lations of  Haupt's  St.  John  and  Stier's  Words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  (1852)  early  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  among  stu- 
dents in  Britain  and  America,  and  his  monumental  Com- 
pendium of  Christian  Theology  was  completed  in  1879.  His 
Fernley  Lecture  on  The  Person  of  Christ,  his  Prayers  of  St. 
Paul,  and  his  published  Sermons  have  ministered  to  all  that 
is  deepest  not  only  in  the  theological  thought  but  in  the 
spiritual  experience  of  modern  Methodists.  He  was  president 
of  Conference  in  1877. 

A  translator  and  theologian  of  note  is  Professor  J.  S.  Banks. 

1427 


1428 


British  Methodism 


Dr.  M.  Randies,  president  of  the  Conference  in  1896;  Dr.  H. 
W.  Williams  (died  1898),  and  J.  R.  Gregory  have  written  mono- 
graphs. Dr.  Rigg's  Modern  Anglican  Theology,  dealing 
specially  with  the  Coleridgean  Broad  Church  theories,  and  his 


TWO    WESLEYAN  THEOLOGIANS. 

Rev.  William  Hurt  Pope,  D.D.  Rev.  William  Arthur. 

Oxford  High  Anglicanism  are  likely  to  maintain  a  permanent 
place  in  literature.  Since  William  Arthur  became  known  to 
the  Church  universal  as  the  author  of  The  Tongue  of  Fire  he 
has  written  on  Theistic  Theories  and  Philosophy,  and  pub- 
lished his  Fernley  Lecture  on  Physical  and  Moral  Law. 
Among  biblical  students  who  live  to  carry  forward  Dr. 
Moulton's  work  in  criticism  and  exegesis  are  Professors  J.  A. 
Beet,  W.  T.  Davison,  G.  G.  Findlay,  R.  W.  Moss,  W.  F. 
Slater,  and  a  group  of  younger  writers,  including  sons  of  Dr. 
Moulton    and    Dr.  Geden.     Dr.    W.    Nicholas,   president  of 


Dallinger,  the  Scientist 


1429 


Belfast  College,  and  James  Chapman,  principal  of  Southlands, 
have  dealt  with  present-day  questions  in  their  Fernley  Lec- 
tures, and  W.  Spiers  with  Old  Testament  criticism. 

A  scientist  of  national  repute  is  Dr.  W.  H.  Dallinger,  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  since  1880.  As  president  of  the 
Royal  Microscopical  Society,  in  succession  to  a  long  dynasty 
of  eminent  men,  he  de- 
livered a  pathetic  elo- 
eium  on  the  death  of  his 
predecessor,  Dr.  Carpen- 
ter, whose  literary  work 
he  has  developed  to  al- 
most cyclopedic  dimen- 
sions. The  publication 
of  the  results  of  Dallin- 
ger's  and  Drysdale's  in- 
vestigations into  the  his- 
tory of  minute  life  or- 
ganisms marked  an  epoch 
in  biological  science  and 
exploded  Dr.  Bastian's 
theory  of  spontaneous 
generation.  Huxley  and 
Tvndall  concurred  with  Dallingfer's  verdict,  that  the  organ- 
isms  originated  in  spores  and  germs  which  were  "  fertilized 
by  a  genetic  process,  like  all  the  higher  and  more  complex 
forms  above  them."  And  Dr.  Dallinger  sums  up,  "The  con- 
viction to-day  of  the  largest  number  by  far  of  the  most  com- 
petent biologists  is  that  down  to  the  uttermost  verge  of 
organized  existence,  out  to  its  very  edge,  and  in  its  lowliest 
condition,  it   is  yet    true  that  only  that  which  is  living  can 

.produce  that  which  shall  live." 
90 


REV.  DR.  W.  H.  DALLINGER,  F.R.S. 


1430  British  Methodism 

To  rare  intellectual  gifts  Dr.  Dallinger  adds  wonderful 
manipulative  and  artistic  skill,  and  a  power  of  popular  ex- 
position and  eloquence  of  speech  in  sermon  and  lecture  which 
keeps  him  in  touch  with  his  fellow-men.  For  eight  years  he 
was  governor  of  Wesley  College,  Sheffield.  He  retains  his 
status  as  a  Wesleyan  minister,  but  without  pastoral  charge. 
He  delivered  the  Fernley  Lecture  in  1887  on  "  The  Creator, 
and  What  We  May  Know  of  the  Method  of  Creation."  No 
more  potent  voice  is  raised  from  the  ranks  of  science  on  behalf 
of  the  supernatural  in  nature  than  that  of  Dr.  Dallinger. 

It  is  unnecessary  at  this  stage  in  history  to  refute  the  libel 
that  Methodism  is  antagonistic  to  culture.  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dism has  sometimes  suffered  for  the  mistakes  of  the  early 
evangelicals  of  the  Establishment,  "  from  whose  works  pas- 
sages in  depreciation  of  learning  might  be  quoted  in  scores," 
says  the  Spectator.  But  that  organ  of  broad  and  advanced 
thought  justly  adds,  "  John  Wesley,  be  it  remembered  to  his 
honor,  had  ever  the  highest  respect  for  learning,  and  was 
always  eager  to  add  to  his  acquirements." 

The  majority  of  Wesley's  successors  have  been  too  busy  in 
evangelizing  the  world,  in  civilizing  a  cannibal  Fiji,  or  saving 
the  rising  democracy  of  Britain  to  write  many  learned  books, 
but  they  have  shown  that  they  agree  with  Mr.  J.  Fletcher 
Moulton,  Q.  C,  who,  at  the  unveiling  of  a  bust  of  his 
brother,  Dr.  Moulton,  in  City  Road  Chapel,  1899,  said: 
"  Growth  of  education  there  must  be  if  this  kingdom  is  to 
keep  its  place  among  the  nations.  Because  it  is  so  united 
and  widespread  a  body  Methodism  is  specially  fitted  to  pro- 
mote education  of  a  higher  kind  in  England.  If  Methodism  is 
afraid  of  the  growth  of  education,  it  is  not  worthy  of  its  high 
mission." 

The  Wesleyan  Conference  has  not  only  been  energetic  in 


A   GROUP   of    WESLEYAN   COLLEGE   PROFESSORS. 

Rev.   \V.   F.   Slater.  Rev.   Joseph  Agar  Beet. 

Rev.   John   Shaw  Hanks. 

Rev.  George  G.   Findlay. 


Rev.  W.  Theophilus  Davison. 


Wesleyanism  and  Learning  1433 

promoting  secondary  and  higher  education,  it  has  established 
747  day  schools,  which  the  statesman  Mundella  once  said  "  are 
the  best  schools  in  the  country."  These  schools,  with  159,396 
scholars,  are  of  special  importance  in  rural  districts,  where 
Methodists  have  no  alternative  to  the  compulsory  attendance 
of  their  children  at  Anglican  schools.  In  1899  there  were 
8,000  parishes  in  England  where  there  were  none  but  Anglican 
schools,  in  many  cases  under  the  sway  of  aggressive  priests. 
The  Wesleyan  training  colleges— for  masters,  at  Westminster, 
and  mistresses,  at  Southlands — have  done  much  to  protect 
young  Methodists  from  the  attempt  to  coerce  them  into  Angli- 
canism as  the  condition  of  entering  the  teaching  profession. 

The  Conference  of  1891  declared  that  "the  primary  ob- 
ject of  Methodist  policy  is  the  establishment  of  school  boards 
everywhere,  acting  in  districts  of  sufficient  area,  and  the 
placing  of  a  Christian  unsectarian  school  within  reasonable 
distance  of  every  family;"  but  it  emphasized  the  importance- 
of  Wesleyan  day  schools  in  those  localities  where  it  is  impos- 
sible to  establish  such  school  boards.  In  1899  Dr.  D.  J. 
Waller — secretary  for  education  since  1881,  president  of 
Conference  in  1895 — reported  a  general  forward  movement 
in  all  educational  affairs. 

A  Sunday  School  Union  was  established  in  1875,  largely  as 
the  result  of  John  Clulow's  labors,  and  under  the  secretary- 
ships of  C.  H.  Kelly  and  R.  Culley  it  has  done  much  to  im- 
prove the  literature  and  methods  of  the  work  among  the 
young.  In  1875  the  British  Sunday  schools  numbered  5,893, 
with  700,210  scholars;  in  1898  there  were  7,196  schools  and 
962,788  scholars.  The  Wesley  Guild  was  formed  in  1896, 
and  three  years  later  reported  1,016  guilds  with  a  member- 
ship of  70,295.  Guilds  have  also  been  formed  in  India  and 
in  Ceylon,  and  the  idea  has  also  taken  vigorous  root  in  South 


1434  British  Methodism 

Africa  and  the  West  Indies.  The  Guild  is  affiiliated  to  the 
National  Home  Reading  Union  and  promises  much  good  for 
the  young  life  of  Methodism. 

A  forward  movement  among  local  preachers  began  in  1894 
in  the  appointment  of  a  connectional  committee  for  guiding 
their  studies  and  arranging  for  voluntary  examinations.  The 
Local  Preachers'  Association  celebrated  its  jubilee  at  Bir- 
mingham in  1899.  It  unites  local  preachers  of  all  Methodist 
churches  in  a  benefit  society  of  7,470  members.  Honorary 
members  number  2,577.  It  provides  for  necessitous  brethren, 
and  its  annual  meetings  have  become  inspiring  spiritual  fes- 
tivals for  Conference  and  preaching.  "  The  local  preacher," 
said  the  jubilee  president,  J.  Barnsley,  "  is  the  man  who  must 
uphold  the  standard  of  the  cross  in  hundreds  of  villages  cursed 
by  a  bastard  papacy,  with  churches  in  which  no  Protestant 
can  worship.  He  must  be  the  leader  in  the  battle  for  evan- 
•gelical  freedom;  he  it  is  who  must  bring  the  people  face  to 
face  with  the  Gospel  of  salvation." 

Temperance  work  has  advanced  since  1870,  when  the  Con- 
ference passed  its  first  resolution  in  favor  of  a  reform  in  the 
licensing  system.  A  committee  was  formed  five  years  later, 
but  a  secretary  whose  whole  time  could  be  devoted  to  the  work 
was  not  appointed  till  1891.  In  the  meantime  undenomina- 
tional societies  had  grown  rapidly,  absorbing,  as  they  still  do, 
a  large  proportion  of  Methodist  abstainers.  The  general 
secretary,  G.  A.  Bennetts,  B.A.,  reports  1,564  societies  and 
4,730  Bands  of  Hope.  The  temperance  veteran  of  British 
Methodism  is  the  beloved  Charles  Garrett,  president  in  1882. 
"  I  recollect,"  he  says,  "  when  as  a  lad  in  a  round  jacket  I 
went  to  hear  John  Cassell.  I  have  the  bill  at  home  now — 
one  of  the  most  sacred  things  I  have — announcing  that  John 
Cassell,  the  Manchester  carpenter,  would  address  a  meeting 


The  Temperance  Work 


1435 


on  temperance.  I  went  and  signed;  I  returned  and  told 
my  leader,  and  met  with,  the  same  treatment,  I  dare  say,  as 
many  others.     He  said  : 

"  '  You  don't  know  what  you  have  been  doing-. ' 


THREE   LEADERS    OF    MODERN    WESLEVAN    METHODISM. 


Rev.  Charles  Garrett. 


T.  Bowman  Stephenson,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


Rev.  I).  J.  Waller. 


"  '  Well,'  I  replied,  '  I  have  only  promised  never  to  touch 
anything'  that  will  make  people  drunk.' 

"  '  That's  not  it,'  he  answered  ;  '  it's  a  Manchester  trick  to 
upset  the  throne.  Depend  upon  it,  it's  a  scheme  of  those 
Radicals.  You  don't  know  what  these  men  are  up  to.  You 
had  better  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,' 


1436 


British  Methodism 


"My  experience  was  the  experience  of  many.  I  shall 
never  forget  when  the  total  abstinence  movement  was  adopted 
in  the  Conference  and  became  an  integral  part  of  the  Metho- 
dist organization.  When  that  vote  was  passed  some  of  us 
went  home  and  wept  like  children." 

Among  the  "  men  of  Preston  "  who  were  the  first  public 
advocates  of  total  ab- 
stinence J.  Teare  and 
T.  Whittaker  were 
Methodists,  as  well  as 
T.  B.  Smithies,  James 
Barlow,  and  W. 
Hoyle,     the     statisti- 


PRINCESS    ALICE 
ORPHANAGE. 


DRAWN    BY    W.     B.     PRICE. 


cian  of  the  movement. 

The    children's 

homes,     for     destitute 

and    orphan    children, 

CHILDREN'S  HOME,  BONNER  ROAD,  LONDON.      fOUna^e(J    by    Dr     T       B 

Stephenson,  represent  a  glorious  advance  in  organized  phi- 
lanthropy. The  work  began  in  1869  in  London,  where 
it  still  has  its  headquarters.  The  Edgeworth  branch, 
near  Bolton,  Lancashire,  provides  a  unique  object-lesson 
for  social  and  economic  reformers;  for  there,  in  twenty- 
five  years,  a  piece  of  wild  moorland  has  been  transformed 
into  a  '•  garden  of  the  Lord  "  and  a  colony  of  homes,  mainly 
by   the  labor    of    rescued   boys    under  the    direction  of   the 


The  Children's  Homes  1437 

skillful  governor,  A.  W.  Mager.  There  are  also  branches 
in  Birmingham,  Ramsey,  Alverstoke,  a  reformatory  school 
near  Gravesend,  and  an  emigration  depot  in  Canada.  The 
Twentieth  Century  Fund  provides  for  further  developments. 
[More  than  4,300  children  have  been  rescued,  and  1,177  chil- 
dren were  resident  in  the  homes  in  1898.  The  ordinary 
expenditure  is  £25,000  a  year.  Dr.  Stephenson,  who  was 
born  in  the  centenary  year,  was  president  of  the  Conference 
in  1 89 1. 

The  now  famous  phrase,  "The  Forward  Movement,"  was 
first  used  by  James  Ernest  Clapham  (died  1897),  the  Home 
Mission  secretary,  during  a  memorable  debate  at  the  London 
Ministers'  Meeting  in  1885.  He  justly  protested  against  the 
error  that  the  modern  advance  in  evangelistic  and  social  work 
was  "a  new  departure,"  and  maintained  with  intense  fervor 
that  it  was  but  the  onward  march  along  the  same  track  which 
the  Methodist  fathers  had  opened. 


CHAPTER  CXLIX 
Wesley's  "Parish"  in  the  Opening-  Century 

The  Great  Town  Missions. — Enterprise  in  the  Provinces. — Ireland 
and  Wales. — A  Fully  Equipped  Church. — Historic  Celebra- 
tions.—Ecumenical  Conferences.— The  Outlook  for  the  Twen- 
tieth Century. 

THE  great  town  missions  represent  the  latest  effort  of 
Methodism  to  deal  with  the  problems  arising  out  of 
the  vast  growth  of  urban  populations.  For  thirty 
years  successful  work  had  been  done  in  East  London  by 
Alexander  McAulay  and  others  when,  in  1875,  Charles  Gar- 
rett commenced  the  Liverpool  mission,  which  has  now  one 
thousand  members  meeting  in  class.  J.  E.  Clapham,  the 
Home  Mission  organizing  secretary;  H.  J.  Pope,  the  Chapel 
Committee  secretary  and,  later  (1893),  president  of  the  Confer- 
ence ;  and  Walford  Green,  his  immediate  successor  in  the  Con- 
ference chair,  were  active  promoters  of  an  effort,  in  1885,  to 
deal  on  a  large  scale  with  the  difficulties  arising  out  of  migra- 
tion to  the  city  suburbs  of  the  more  wealthy  congregations. 
The  Manchester  mission  was  at  once  commenced  under  S.  F. 
Collier,  and  in  thirteen  years  it  had  twelve  centers  of  work 
with  more  than  fourteen  thousand  persons — mostly  of  the  non- 
ehurchgoing  class — attending  the  evening  services,  and  four 

thousand  church  members. 

1438 


A    (.ROUP    OF    MODERN    WESLEYAN    LEADERS. 
Rev.  Mark  Guv  Pearse.  Rev  J.  Ernest  Clapham.  Rev.HenrvJ  Pope.  Rev  Thomas  Champness 
Rev.  Peter    [hompson  Rev.  Hugh  Prick  Hughes.  rev    John  Bond 

Rev.  Wiluah  D.Walters.   Rev   Marshall  Hartley.   Rev.  Albert  Clayton.    Rev   R   Ci, ley 


The  Great  Town  Missions  1441 

The  London  mission  began  with  Peter  Thompson  as  pioneer 
in  the  east,  Edward  Smith  in  the  center,  H.  P.  Hughes,  M.A., 
and  Mark  Guy  Pearse  in  the  west,  and  J.  H.  Hopkins  in  the 
south.  In  1898  the  missioners  were  preaching  to  twenty 
thousand  souls  in  halls  and  chapels,  and  shepherding  seven 
thousand  members.  Each  branch  mission  has  its  special 
adaptation  to  the  varying  types  of  population.  The  central 
(Clerkenwell),  now  under  J.  E.  Wakerley,  gathers  a  crowd 
of  artisans ;  a  most  difficult  class  to  reach,  but  who,  once  won, 
form  a  solid  working  church.  The  dreary  miles  of  unwhole- 
some streets  and  courts  in  East  London  demand  the  utmost 
self-sacrifice  from  the  missioners  and  sisters  who  live  amid 
the  squalid  poverty.  In  West  London,  behind  the  palatial 
houses,  are  overcrowded  dwellings  and  criminal  haunts,  while 
the  great  business  houses  employ  a  host  of  young  people  who 
find  many  perils  but  no  home  life  in  the  city.  The  forms  of 
social  service  are  therefore  manifold,  while  the  spiritual  aim 
is  never  forgotten,  and  conversions  are  as  frequent  as  in  the 
ancient  days.  Mr.  Hughes's  service  at  St.  James's  Hall  pro- 
vides a  popular  center  for  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

In  1890  J.  Scott  Lidgett,  M.A.,  was  made  warden  of  the 
Bermondsey  settlement,  and  a  year  later  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  buildings.  This 
is  part  of  a  scheme  adopted  by  Wesleyan  members  of  the 
Universities  of  Oxford,  Cambridge,  Edinburgh,  and  London, 
and  includes  educational  work  in  its  philanthropic  program. 
It  is  a  modern  "  Holy  Club,"  facing  new  social  problems,  and 
taking  an  increasing  part  in  municipal  administration  and  all 
local  enterprises  for  the  good  of  the  people.  Several  of  the 
London  missioners  and  sisters  are  guardians  of  the  poor. 
The  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  visited  Clerkenwell  in  1897 
on  the  occasion  of  a  dinner  for  the  poor.     The  South  London 


1442  British  Methodism 

mission  gave  fifty  thousand  breakfasts  to  needy  children  in 
the  winter  of  the  following  year. 

A  successful  seamen's  mission,  with  a  chapel  near  the 
docks,  has  done  good  work  for  twenty  years.  Many  of  the 
old  London  circuits,  such  as  Hinde  Street,  Great  Queen  Street, 
Westminster,  and  Lambeth,  maintain  vigorous  mission  work. 
The  Hinde  Street  Church  parlor  has  provided  a  social  center 
for  young  people  in  West  End  business  houses.  The  historic 
City  Road  circuit  has  its  '•'  North  London  mission." 

A  German  Methodist  mission  church  has  existed  in  London 
since  1864,  and  worships  in  the  Peter  Bohler  Memorial  Chapel, 
Commercial  Road.  Anarchists,  infidels,  and  Romanists  have 
been  reached  by  the  devoted  missionaries.  Two  Conference 
presidents,  A.  McAulay  and  H.  J.  Pope,  were  among  the 
early  promoters  of  this  unique  work,  the  latter  administering 
the  first  sacrament  in  German.  Five  German  converts  have 
entered  the  ministry. 

The  increase  of  Methodism  in  London  has  largely  exceeded 
the  increase  of  population  during  the  last  hundred  years. 
The  increase  of  population  has  been  sixfold ;  from  about 
900,000  to  5,000,000.  The  increase  in  Methodist  members 
has  been  tenfold;  from  3,200  to  34,000.  Dr.  Rigg  justly  ob- 
serves that  "  this  is  the  more  satisfactory,  as  during  the  last 
half  century  the  uprising  of  many  other  forms  of  Christian 
enterprise  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  and  not  least  in 
London,  has  tended  to  diminish  the  ratio  of  Methodist  in- 
crease." Much  is  due  to  the  Metropolitan  Chapel  Building 
Fund,  already  noticed,  of  which  John  Bond  has  been  since 
1880  the  energetic  secretary. 

Town  missions  have  rapidly  developed  in  Birmingham, 
Nottingham,  Hull,  Leicester,  Newcastle,  Sunderland,  Leeds, 
Cardiff,  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  and  other  towns.     The  "Joy-. 


A    GROUP   OF    IRISH    MINISTERS. 


Rev.  William  Crook.  Rev.  William  P.  Appelbe. 

Rev.  James  Donnellv.  Rev.  Gibson  McMillen.  Rev.  Robinson  Scott. 

Rev.  Joseph  W.   Mi  Kav.  Rev.  Wallace  McMullen. 

Rev.  Oliver  McCutcheon.  Rev.  William  Nicholas.  Rev.  Wesley  (Icakd. 

Kev.  William  Guard  Price.  Rev.  Thomas  A,   McKee, 


Gains  in  Ireland  1445 

ful  News  "  lay  evangelists,  trained  and  sent  out  by  the  Rev. 
T.  Champness,  have  done  successful  work  in  the  villages. 
The  connectional  evangelists  have  witnessed  thousands  of  con- 
versions. Twelve  "Gospel  cars"  convey  colporteur  preach- 
ers, and  the  Home  Mission  Fund  assists  in  maintaining  four 
thousand  preaching  places  in  needy  districts.  Never  was 
Methodism  more  blessedly  fulfilling  its  mission  to  the  masses. 

In  Ireland,  according  to  the  census  for  the  decade  1881- 
189 1,  the  Methodist  Church,  the  only  community  which  had 
increased,  gained  thirteen  per  cent,  and  in  spite  of  the  declin- 
ing population  the  increase  is  maintained.  Educationally 
Irish  Methodism  stands  in  the  front  rank.  Wesley  College, 
Dublin,  where  the  late  Dr.  Hollingsworth  was  principal;  Bel- 
fast College,  under  Dr.  W.  Nicholas,  and  the  new  McArthur 
College  are  of  recognized  efficiency,  and  there  are  representa- 
tives in  the  Senate  of  the  Royal  University  and  the  Board  of 
National  Education.  Our  group  of  portraits  represents  a  few 
of  the  Irish  leaders  since  the  centenary.  The  death  of  Dr. 
McMullen,  in  1899,  was  as  great  a  loss  to  Irish  home  missions 
as  the  death  of  J.  E.  Clapham,  the  year  before,  was  to  the 
English  work.  C.  H.  Crookshank,  M.A.,  the  historian  of 
Irish  Methodism,  succeeded  the  veteran  Dr.  W.  Crook  in  the 
Legal  Hundred. 

Belfast  mission  is  under  the  care  of  Dr.  R.  C.  Johnson. 
Other  missions  flourish  at  Dublin  and  Londonderry,  and  a 
central  Irish  mission  to  the  fairs  and  markets  has  been 
crowned  with  blessing.  In  1900,  Ireland  had  253  ministers 
and  28,276  members. 

In  Wales,  since  Edward  Jones  (Bathafarn)  inaugurated  a 

Welsh-speaking  mission  (1800),  some  mighty  preachers  have 

enriched   both  the  Welsh  and   English   ministry.      Richard 

Roberts,   Conference  president   in   1885;    the  late  eloquent 
91 


1446  British   Methodism 

John  Evans,  and  the  historian,  David  Young,  have  brought 
their  Cambrian  fire  into  the  English  pulpit.  An  historic 
event  of  1899  was  the  meeting  of  the  first  Welsh  Wesleyan 
Assembly,  which  it  is  anticipated  will  give  new  unity,  hope, 
and  opportunity  to  the  Welsh  churches.  The  native  mem- 
bership is  20,632,  with  106  ministers.  The  Cardiff  and 
Swansea  English  districts  in  Wales  have  12,833  members, 
making  a  total  for  the  principality  of  33,465.  The  Cardiff 
mission  has  gathered  into  church  fellowship  "American, 
German,  French,  colored  men  of  various  countries,  sailors  of 
all  seas,  and  desperate  characters  of  all  kinds." 

In  Scotland  also  there  is  a  forward  movement.  In  1881 
W.  F.  Slater,  M.A.,  prophesied:  "If,  in  Edinburgh,  with 
its  three  hundred  thousand  people,  where  we  have  now  but 
one  minister,  another  could  be  sustained  for  special  work,  like 
that  done  in  Liverpool  by  Mr.  Garrett,  and  by  Mr.  McAulay 
in  the  East  End  of  London,  there  is  little  fear  but  he  would 
soon  gather  a  church.  The  same  thing  might  be  said  of 
Glasgow."  The  experiment  has  been  made  with  marvelous 
success.  George  Jackson,  B.A.,  preaches  to  vast  congrega- 
tions in  Edinburgh  ;  the  large-hearted  Scotch  clergy  and  the 
lord  provost  encourage  the  work,  and  a  great  central  hall  is 
being  erected.  Glasgow  also  has  its  mission.  A  noteworthy 
book  of  1898  by  a  Scotch  clergyman,  D.  Butler,  M.A.,  deals 
with  Wesley  and  Whitefield  and  the  influence  of  the  Oxford 
Methodists  on  Scottish  religion.  The  writer  says  that  Wesley 
and  his  successors  "have  been  witnesses  against  a  religion 
of  opinion  and  for  a  deep  spiritual  Christianity ;  they  have 
influenced  Scottish  religion  for  over  a  century  by  living  centers 
of  spiritual  light  and  life,"  and  their  work  "is  broadening 
and  not  lessening." 

Several  memorials,  celebrations,  •  and  thanksgivings  have 


The  Wesleys  in  Westminster 


1447 


given  an  impetus  to  modern  Methodism.  The  missionary- 
jubilee  of  1864  raised  £180,000  for  foreign  missions.  Two 
years  later  British  Metho- 
dists felt  the  thrill  of  the 
celebration  of  the  centenary 
of  American  Methodism. 
National  interest  in  Wes- 
ley's work  was  revived  in 
1876  by  the  unveiling  of 
the  Wesley  monument  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  when 
Dean  Stanley  described  the 
representation  of  Wesley's 
preaching  on  his  father's 
tomb  as  "  a  parable  which 
represented  his  relation  to 
our  own  national  institu- 
tions. He  took  his  stand 
upon  his  father's  tomb — 
on  the  venerable  and  an- 
cestral traditions  of  the 
country  and  the  Church." 
Lady  Stanley  had  recently 
died,  and  with  intense 
pathos  the  dean  referred  to 
his  great  bereavement   by 

quoting  a  verse  from  Charles  Wesley's  hymn  on  ' '  Wrestling 
Jacob,"  in  which  are  the  lines, 

My  company  before  is  gone, 
And  I  am  left  alone  with  Thee. 

The  introduction  of  lay  representatives  into  the  Conference 
without  the  estrangement  of  a  single  minister  or  the  loss  of  a 


ADAMS-ACTON,    SCULPTOR. 


C-      BALDING,    ENGRAVER 


THE  WESLEY   TABLET   IN  WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY. 


1448  British  Methodism 

member  was  felt  to  be  a  matter  for  devout  gratitude.  This 
found  practical  expression  in  a  Thanksgiving  Fund  amount- 
ing to  £297,500.  The  meetings,  extending  over  two  years, 
were  rich  in  spiritual  power.  Much  of  the  success  of  the 
effort  was  due  to  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  the  president,  Dr. 
Rigg.  Foreign  missions  were  relieved  of  debt,  colleges  and 
schools  were  remodeled,  the  burdens  of  the  Home  Mission 
Fund,  the  Education  Fund,  the  Sunday  School  Union,  and 
the  Children's  Home  were  removed ;  the  Princess  Alice 
Orphanage  at  Birmingham  was  built ;  a  Fund  for  Necessitous 
Local  Preachers  was  established,  the  temperance  work  was 
aided,  and  the  whole  financial  machinery  of  Methodism  was 
righted  and  strengthened. 

During  the  last  half  century  Methodist  Church  principles 
have  been  more  clearly  defined  and  asserted,  until,  as  we 
have  noted,  "the  people  called  Methodists"  have  learned  to 
use  "without  bated  breath"  the  term  "Church"  instead  of 
"connection."  This  has,  in  part,  been  a  defensive  protest 
against  the  narrow  assumptions  of  High  Churchmen  and  some 
well-meant  proposals  for  the  absorption  of  Methodism  into 
the  Establishment.  In  1841  Dr.  Pusey,  in  a  published  letter 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  accused  the  Methodists  of 
"heresy"  and  "  antinomianism,"  and  was  effectively  an- 
swered by  Thomas  Jackson.  In  1868,  however,  letters  by 
clergymen  appeared  in  the  newspapers  suggesting  the  amal- 
gamation of  the  Wesleyan  "body"  with  "the  Church  "  on 
the  condition  of  the  reordination  of  the  Methodist  ministers, 
and  Dr.  Pusey  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Conference  through 
John  Bedford,  the  ex-president,  which  became  the  subject  of 
a  cartoon  in  the  London  Punch,  accompanied  by  a  set  of 
amusing  verses.  We  reproduce  the  cartoon  on  page  1450. 
The  verses  were  as  follows : 


Plans  of  Reunion  1449 

REJECTED  ADDRESSES  ; 

OR,    THE   OLD    DON    AND    THE    YOUNG    DISSENTER. 

(Respectfully  dedicated  to  Dr.  Pusey  and  the  Methodist  ministry  in  Conference  assembled.) 

"Where  are  you  going,  my  pretty  maid  ?" 
"  I'm  going  to  Conference,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  :-aid — 
"  I'm  going  to  Conference,  sir,"  she  said. 

*'  Shall  I  write  you  a  letter,  my  pretty  maid  ?  " 
"Just  as  it  pleases  you,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  said — 
"Just  as  it  pleases  you,  sir,"  she  said. 

"Shall  we  make  one  of  it,  my  pretty  maid?" 
"  Name  your  conditions,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  said — 
"  Name  your  conditions,  sir,"  she  said. 

"  How  about  Oxford,  my  pretty  maid  ?  " 
"  The  less  on't  the  better,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  said — 
"  The  less  on't  the  better,  sir,"  she  said. 

"  As  'twixt  me  and  Coleridge,  my  pretty  maid  V" 
"  Of  the  two,  Mr.  Coleridge,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  said — 
"  Of  the  two,  Mr.  Coleridge,  sir,"  she  said. 

"  Then  I've  nothing  to  say  to  you,  my  pretty  maid." 
"  Nobody  asked  you,  sir,"  she  said — 

"  Sir,"  she  said — 
"  Nobody  asked  you,  sir,"  she  said. 

London,  August  29,   1868. 

Twenty  years  later  a  committee  of  Anglican  bishops,  with 
the  best  intentions,  suggested  a  scheme  of  reunion  based  on 
four  Articles,  referring  to  the  Scriptures,  the  creeds,  the  sac- 
raments, and  the  "  historic  episcopate."  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  corresponded  with  the  Wesleyan  president,  Joseph 
Bush,  and  his  letters  were  read  to  the  Conference  at  which 
Dr.  Moulton  presided,  in  1890.  The  Conference  replied  in 
courteous  terms,  expressing  its  deep  desire  for  spiritual  unity 
among  all  Christian  communities  and  its  conviction  "that 
the  true  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ  does  not  necessarily 
require  the  corporate  union  of  the  several  Churches,  or  their 
acceptance  of  any  form  of  polity  and  government."     It  was 


1450 


British  Methodism 


also  "of  opinion  that  the  Articles  presented  as  a  basis  for 
possible  reunion  (especially  the  fourth,  which  relates  to  the 
historic  episcopate)  do  not,  in  the  absence  of  fuller  informa- 
tion and  more  exact  definition,  provide  a  practical  ground 

for  the  discussion 
of  the  subject."  As 
early  as  1866  Dr. 
Rigg  affirmed  that 
there  is  not  the  re- 
motest possibility 
of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church 
ever  being  ab- 
sorbed in  the 
Church  of  England. 
A  melancholy 
volume  might  be 
written  on  the  petty 
persecutions  en- 
dured by  village 
Methodists  at  the 
hands  of  the  more 
bigoted  clergy  —  a 
story  of  ' '  boycot- 
ted "  tradesmen, 
te  rr  or  i  zed  chil- 
dren, and  insulted 
mourners  in  the  parish  graveyards — but  we  forbear.  The 
notorious  "tombstone"  case  of  1875,  in  which  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  supported  the  Owston  vicar  in  his  refusal  to 
allow  the  title  "  Rev."  to  appear  on  the  gravestone  of  a 
Wesleyan    minister's    daughter,   excited    the    indignation  of 


REPRODUCED    FROM    THE    CARTOON     in    PUNCH,    1868. 

REJECTED    ADDRESSES. 

Dr.  Pusey. — "  And,  my  dear  young  lady,  if  I  could  induce  you 
and  your  friends  to  look  kindly  upon  my  proposal — " 

Miss  Methodist.—"  But  you  can't,  sir.  I  don't  want  to  go  to 
church  at  all ;  and  if  I  did,  I'm  sure  I  wouldn't  go  with  you.'1 

11  Dr.  Pusey  appeals  for  sympathy  to  the  Wesleyan  Conference. 
His  sincerity  and  earnestness  encountered  a  harsh  rebuff." — Times, 


"Impenitent  and   Incorrigible  Protestants 


1451 


the  entire  public  press  of  England.  The  Anglican  sacerdo- 
talism has  led  to  a  revival  of  assertive  Protestantism  in  the 
Methodist  Church.  F.  W.  Macdonald  told  the  friendly  evan- 
gelical clergy  of  Hull,  in  1898,  "  We  are  impenitent  and  in- 


REV.    WILLIAM    L.    WATKINSON. 
Conference  president,  1897. 


REV.    FREDERIC    W.    MACDONALD. 

Conference  president,  1898. 


corrigible  Protestants;"  and  on  his  election  to  the  presidency, 
the  following  year,  he  stated  the  position  of  the  Methodist  pas- 
torate when  he  said  :  ' '  Our  Church  system  seems  to  me  to  hold 
in  happy  balance  different  elements  of  polity  on  whose  equi- 
librium stability  depends.  The  theory  and  practice  of  the 
ministry  among  us  are  as  far  removed  from  sacerdotalism  as 
from  anarchy,  and  we  have  no  intention  of  going  further  in  the 
direction  of  Rome  on  the  one  hand  or  Plymouth  on  the  other 
hand.  Our  laity  are  neither  the  slaves  nor  the  taskmasters 
of  the  ministers,  but  fellow-laborers  with  Christ's  servants." 
Among  contributors  to  the  church  literature  of  Methodism, 


1452  British  Methodism 

besides  many  already  quoted,  must  be  included  Professor  R. 
Green,  Dr.  Lelievre,  the  French  biographer,  and  the  writers 
on  polity:  W.  Peirce,  Dr.  Beauchamp,  Dr.  Williams,  Dr. 
Waller,  J.  S.  Simon,  and  C.  E.  Wansbrough.  The  inspiring 
lives  of  the  famous  missionaries,  W.  O.  Simpson,  of  India; 
James  Calvert,  of  Fiji,  and  David  Hill,  of  China,  whose  labors 
are  recorded  in  the  section  upon  World-Wide  Methodism, 
rouse  missionary  zeal.  The  Life  of  Peter  Mackenzie  per- 
petuates the  memory  of  one  of  the  most  original  and  popular 
preachers  and  lecturers  of  the  century,  a  man  of  audacious 
and  sanctified  humor.  Of  different  types  are  the  published 
sermons  of  the  foremost  living  preachers — Jenkins,  Wat- 
kinson,  Selby  —  and  the  late  John  Burton  and  J.  Lewis. 
T.  Woolmer,  a  former  governor  of  Kingswood  School,  and 
book  steward  for  many  years,  has  been  succeeded  at  the 
Book  Room'  by  C.  H.  Kelly.  Two  newspapers  spread  tidings 
of  Methodism :  the  Methodist  Times,  edited  by  Hugh  Price 
Hughes,  and  noted  for  his  pungent  and  powerful  editorials, 
and  the  Methodist  Recorder,  the  successor  of  the  stately 
Watchman,  the  family  record  of  Church  life,  edited  by  Nehe- 
miah  Curnock. 

Two  Ecumenical  Conferences  have  represented  the  world- 
wide "parish"  of  Methodism.  The  first  was  held  in  the 
mother  chapel  at  City  Road,  London,  in  1 88 1 .  Four  hundred 
delegates  attended,  from  the  seven  sections  of  British  and 
Irish  Methodism,  and  from  the  United  States,  Canada,  South 
America,  the  West  Indies,  Africa  and  Australia,  from  France, 
Germany,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Norway  and  Sweden,  from  India 
and  China,  and  other  mission  fields.  They  represented  from 
twenty-three  to  twenty-five  millions  of  adherents.  Bishop 
Simpson  preached  the  opening  sermon  at  a  sacramental  serv- 
ice, and  the  venerable  president  of  the  British  Conference, 


^  f*> 


A    GROUP   OF   PREACHERS    AXD  WRITERS. 

Rev.  Thomas  (',.  Selbv. 

Rev.  Francis  J.  Sharr.  rbv.  William  O.  Simpson. 

I'ev.  Thbophilus  Woolmer.     Rev.  1'eteii  Mackenzie.  Rev.  Nehemiah  Curnock. 

U'bv.  John  Telford.  Kev.  Matthew  Lblirvre. 

I-'ev.  Rich  ird  Green, 


International  Methodism 


1455 


Dr.  Osborn,  gave  the  opening  address.  The  Methodist  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  Sir  William  Mc Arthur,  welcomed  the  dele- 
gates at  a  stately  reception  in  the  Mansion  House.  The  re- 
ports of  the  papers  and 
discussions  form  a  valu- 
able addition  to  Pan- 
Methodist  literature. 

A  notable  event  at  this 
Ecumenical  Conference 
was  the  arrival  of  a  tele- 
graphic report  of  the  death 
of  General  Garfield,  the 
President  of  the  LTnited 
States.  The  American 
delegates  sent  a  message 
of  condolence  to  "the 
noble,  faithful  wife,  Mrs. 
Garfield,  who  has  given 
to  the  world  a  higher 
suggestion  of  Christian 
strength  and  wifely  de- 
votion." The  Conference  closed  with  an  address  from 
Bishop  Simpson,  in  which  he  said  that  "both  nations 
had  stood  around  the  dying  bed  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  their  tears  had  mingled,  their  prayers 
had  been  blended ;  .  .  .  sympathy  in  sorrow  had  per- 
fected their  friendship,  strengthened  their  bonds,  and 
now  they  were  going  back  .  .  .  telling  the  people  every- 
where that  the  heart  of  England  was  in  sympathy  with 
the  heart  of  America.  .  .  .  Methodism  was  one  of  the 
bonds  of  the  brotherhood  of  nations.  .  .  .  They  had  been 
a    congress   upon  almost  everything   that  was  calculated  to 


ENGRAVED  BY  H.  C.  BALDING  FRCM  A  PHOTOGRAPH. 

REV.  GEORGE   OSBORN,  D.D. 

President  of  the  Conference,  1863. 


1456 


British  Methodism 


raise    humanity    higher  and    to  broaden    the    thoughts  and 

sympathies  of  men." 

The  celebration  of  the  centenary  of  Wesley's  death,  at  City 

Road  Chapel,   1891,    brought  together  representatives  of  all 

the  evangelical 
churches  in  Eng- 
land. A  .statue  of 
Wesley  was  un- 
veiled, and  Dr.  F. 
W.  Farrar,  then 
canon  of  West- 
minster, gave  an 
address  in  which 
he  feelingly  in- 
dorsed the  esti- 
mate of  one  who 
said  that  almost 
everything  in  the 
religious  history 
of  modern  days 
was  foreshadowed 
by  John  Wesley. 
' '  Wesley  was  the 
first  man  who  re- 
vived the  spirit  of 
religion  among  the 
masses  of  the 
people,  and  who 
roused  the  slum- 
bering    Church. 

His  was  the  voice  that  first  offered  the  great  masses  of  the 

people  hope  for  the  despairing  and  welcome  to  the  outcast ; 


]■■  -i  nf  « 


J.  ADAMS-ACTON,   SCULPTOR. 

THE   WESLEYAN    CENTENARY    STATUE,    CITY 
ROAD,  LONDON. 

Erected  March  2,  1891, 


The  Twentieth  Century  Fund  1457 

and  his  work  is  continued  under  changed  forms,  not  only  in 
the  founding  of  the  great  Wesleyan  community,  but  also  in 
the  evangelical  movement  in  the  Church  of  England  itself." 

The  second  Ecumenical  Conference  was  held  in  1891  at 
Washington.  The  account  of  its  proceedings  belongs  to  the 
history  of  American  Methodism. 

The  third  Ecumenical  Conference  was  held  in  London  in 
September,  1 90 1 .  The  principal  sessions  were  held,  as  before, 
in  Wesley's  Chapel,  in  City  Road,  and  the  spiritual  sons  of 
Wesley  gathered  about  the  old  hearthstone  from  England, 
Europe,  America,  Africa,  Asia,  and  Australia. 

Wesleyan  Methodism  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  begins 
the  new  century  with  2,457  ministers,  20,554  la7  preachers, 
500,337  members  and  probationers,  7,652  Sunday  schools, 
with  1,126,134  officers,  teachers,  and  pupils.  The  other 
Methodist  sects — Methodist  New  Connection,  Independen, 
Methodist  Churches,  Primitive  Methodists,  Bible  Christians, 
Wesleyan  Reform  Union,  and  United  Methodist  Free 
Churches — would  add  to  these  figures  2,036  ministers, 
23,314  lay  preachers,  379,541  members  and  probationers, 
7,040  Sunday  schools,  with  about  one  million  officers,  teach- 
ers, and  pupils  on  the  roll.  Methodism  in  the  British  Isles 
is  still  growing  more  rapidly  than  the  population. 

The  nineteenth  century  closed  with  another  Methodist 
eucharist,  the  Twentieth  Century  Fund,  which  successfully 
raised  one  million  guineas  from  one  million  British  Methodists 
for  the  development  of  the  work  of  the  Church  in  the  new  cen- 
tury. We  may  fittingly  close  this  volume  with  the  wise  words 
of  the  scholar  president,  Dr.  Moulton,  uttered  at  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  centenary  of  Wesley's  death :  "  It  would  be  a  task 
of  deepest  interest  and  lasting  importance  to  inquire  how 
John  Wesley's  life,  from  first  to  last,  stood  related  to  the  life 


1458 


British  Methodism 


of  the  eighteenth  century.  We  have  a  harder  task  before  us 
— a  problem  not  to  be  solved  in  this  brief  hour,  but  to  be 
worked  out  by  us  all ;  for,  even  if  it  be  in  spite  of  ourselves, 


FROM  A  PMOTOG 


REV.   THOMAS    ALLEN. 
Conference  president,  1900. 


we  must  be  makers  of  history :  How  may  the  lessons  of  John 
Wesley's  life  be  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live?  It  is  idle  to  exclaim  that  they  may  be  adopted 
without   change ;  that  we  may  imitate   as  a  faithful  copyist 


The  Mission  of  Methodism  1459 

reproduces  the  manuscript  before  him.  We  live  in  an  age 
whose  novel  characteristics  have  hardly  yet  lost  their  power 
to  surprise. 

"  We  are  men  of  action,  women  of  action.  The  future 
waits  for  us  who  are  the  living-  Methodists  of  to-day — depends 
upon  us,  must  be  molded  by  us.  In  so  far  as  we  apprehend 
and  make  our  own  the  living  influences  around  us  and  within 
us  shall  we  be  a  source  of  living  power  for  the  years  that  are 
not  yet  born." 

END    OF    VOLUME    III. 


INDEX 

BRITISH  METHODISM,  VOLS.   I,  II,  AND  III 


Aberdeen,  Methodism  in,  735,  737. 

Abraham,  John,  in  City  Road  Chapel,  987. 

Absolute  Decrees,  The,  439. 

Abstinence,  557,  1436. 

Act  of  Toleration,  The,  361,  829,  977. 

Act  of  Uniformity,  The,  55,  600. 

Adam  Bede,  170,  919,  1296. 

Adams-Acton,  J.,  R.  A..  1412. 

Adams,  The  Rev.  Mr.,  612,  614. 

Admiralty,  The,  and  Methodism,  1385. 

Afghanistan,  The  campaign  in,  1332. 

Akroyd,  The  Rev.  Thomas,  663. 

Albigenses,  698. 

Alcock,  Sir  John,  725. 

Aldersgate  Street,  Meeting  in,  307. 

Aldgate,  London,  332. 

"  All  hail  the  power,"  668. 

All  Hallows  Church,  London,  1095. 

Allan  Library,  The,  1595. 

Allan,  T.  R.,  1395. 

Alleine,  Joseph,  47;  imprisoned,  59  ;  works 
of,  264  ;  Sunday  school  of,  994. 

Alleine,  Richard,  Covenant  of,  384. 

Allen,  Mary,  West  Indian  slave,  801. 

Allen,  Richard  W.,  1387. 

Aliens,  The,  1400. 

Allin,  Thomas,  1225. 

Almost  Christian,  The,  596. 

Almshouse  and  Grammar  School,  123. 

Alphabet  Party,  The,  94. 

Alton  Locke,  Kingsley's,  1364. 

America,  Wesley's  experience  in,  289  ;  asks 
for  preachers  from  England,  802  ;  mission 
begun,  805 ;  missionaries  appreciated, 
Sio;  a  circuit  of  the  British  Conference, 
811;  her  first  Conference,  923;  Metho- 
dism's organization  in,  971,  1217;  her  ap- 
preciation of  Wesley,  1148;  camp  meet- 
ings, 1232  ;  Reece  visits  the  Conference, 
1341- 

American  Bible  Society,  The,  758;  politics 
and  the  war,  789,  838,  938,  955. 

Amphitheater  at  Gwennap,  The,  1092. 

Amsterdam,  317,  1090. 

Analogy,  Butler's,  397. 

Ancaster,  The  Duchess  of,  268,  623,  630,  640. 

"Angel  of  Chequer  Alley,"  The,  J306. 

Anglesea,  Earl  and  Countess  of,  61,  67. 

Anglican  and  Methodist  schools,  1433;  the 
Church  and  the  laity,  1394 ;  suggested 
scheme  for  reunion,  14491  views  of  Wes- 
ley's acts,  981,  1165. 

Annesley,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel,  61,  64,  69,  85, 
162,  385;  Elizabeth,  71,  75;  Judith,  Lely's 
Portrait  of ,  75  ;  Susanna,  64,75,  77.  fam- 
ily ancestry,  78. 

Anti-Corn-Law  League,  The,  1332. 

92  I4<51 


Anti-High  Churchman,  410. 
Antinomianism,  435,  673,  767,  792,  856. 
Anti-State  Church  Society,  The,  1362. 
Antliff,  Dr.,  1238. 
Antrim,  Dr.  Campbell  in,  1269. 
Apostolical  Constitutions,  The,  188  ;  succes- 
sion, 574. 
Appeals,  Wesley's,  1144. 
"  Araspes,"  776. 
Arch,  Joseph,  M.P.,  1238. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  261,  400,  996,  1449. 
ArchPTishop  of  Dublin  and  Wesley,  701. 
Archbishop  of  the  Methodists,"  664. 


Arch-Methodist,  The,  695. 

Armagh,  The  Bishop  of,  419 ;  success  in, 


721 : 


revival  in,  1271. 

Arminian  Confession,  The,  441. 

Arminian  Magazine,  494;  Robert  Raikes  in 
the,  997;  a  stor}'  from  the,  ion  ;  purpose 
of  the,  noy. 

Arminian  Methodists,  1297,  1368. 

Arne,  Dr.,  1046. 

Arnold,  Frederick,  describes  Oxford,  158. 

Arnold.  Dr.  Thomas,  1046. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  1148. 

Arthur,  William,  on  the  Deed  Poll,  972,  977; 
visits  Connor,  1270;  as  a  student  at  Hox- 
ton,  1333  ;  in  India,  1426  ;  The  Tongue  of 
Fire,  1281,  1428,;  at  Washington,  1457. 

Asbury,  Francis,  volunteers  and  sails  for 
America,  811,  953;  tells  of  the  Orphan 
House  fire,  825  ;  comments  on  Wesley's 
views  of  the  war,  960  ;  meets  Coke,  970  ; 
Sunday  schools  in  America,  1000;  esteem 
for  Wesley,  1148. 

Ashbourne,  Elizabeth  Tomlinson  in,  1297. 

Ashley,  Lord,  appealed  to,  1355. 

Ashton-under-Lyne,  1361. 

Asliville  College^  Harrogate,  1372. 

"Aspasia,"  Mrs.  Delany,  776. 

Assistants,  four  present  at  the  first  Confer- 
ence, 563  ;  three  grades  of,  584  ;  list  of  the, 
in  1746,  590. 

Association  of  Christians  for  Work,  1180. 

Association  of  Welsh  Methodists,  The,  752. 

Assurance,  The  doctrine  of,  65. 

Athanasian  Creed,  932. 

Athenian  Gazette,  The,  69,  83. 

Athenian  Oracle,  The,  20,  106. 

Atherton,  William,  1331,  1362. 

Athlone  atrocities  and  improvements,  704, 
705  ;  Graham's  death  at,  1263. 

Atkinson,  H.  T.,  M.P.,  1400. 

Atlay,  John,  as  book  steward,  im. 

Atmore,  Charles,  ordained  for  Scotland,  980  ; 
his  Sunday  schools,  999  ;  describes  Wes- 
ley's sermon  to  the  children,  1118;  con- 
verted under  Pilmoor,  1261  ;  Methodist 
Memorial,  1261. 


1462 


Index 


Attaway,  Mrs.,  a  preacher,  895. 

Atterbury,  Francis,  Dean   of  Westminster, 

135,  136,  146. 
Austin,  John,  Hymns  of,  1014. 
Australasia,    exploration,   798 ;  missionaries 

in,  1216;  the  first  Methodist  in,  1272. 
Australian  Conference,  The  first,  1217. 
Axholme,  The  Isle  of,  90. 


Badcock's  description  of  John  Wesley,  164. 

Baggalv.  William,  1226. 

Bailey,  J.,  1403. 

Ball,  Miss  Hannah,  921,  994. 

Ballinasloe,  Archbishop  Trench  in,  1269. 

Ballingran  Schoolmaster,  The,  729. 

Balliol  Hall,  Oxford,  160. 

Ballymena,  Cennick  in,   417;  the  revival  in, 

1271. 
Banbridge,  The  revival  in,  1271. 
Bancroft    quotes  Wesley's    letter    to    Lord 

North,  957. 
Band  meeting,  The,  381  ;  band  leaders  in  the 

Conference,  573. 
Bandon,  713,  718. 
Bands  of  Hope,  The,  1434. 
Bangorian  controversy,  The,  135. 
Bank,  A  Poor  Man's,  557. 
Banks,  Professor  J.  S.,  1017,  1427. 
Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  referred  to,  797. 
Baptists,  The,  39,  59. 
Barber,  John,  980,  1261. 
Barber,  Thomas,  1069. 
Barclay,  Robert,  84. 
Bardsley,  Samuel,  916,  1248. 
Barker, Joseph,  1225. 
Barker,  T.,  401. 
Barlow,  James,  1436. 
Barnsley,  J.,  quoted,  1434. 
Barnsleys,  The,  of  Birmingham,  1400. 
Barrett,"  Alfred,  1418. 
Barritt,  Mary,  Mrs.  Taft,  1301,  1303. 
Barrow,  Isaac,  79,  120. 
Bateman,  Richard  Thomas,  669. 
Bates,  Dr.  William,  86. 
Bath,     the     Pump    Room,  25;    the    Abbey 

Church,  268 ;    Kingswood    near    to,    348 ; 

Thackeray's    description  of.    355  ;    Lady 

Huntingdon's  chapel  in,  630;   note  from 

the  earl  of,  634 ;  Fletcher  in,  696. 
Baxter,  John,  in  Antigua,  1062. 
Baxter,    Richard,     86;    works,     264;    as   a 

preacher,  337  ;  in  Fetter  Lane,  373  ;  hymn 

quoted,  1014. 
Beard,  Thomas,  524. 
Beardmore,  W.  6.,  1412. 
Beauchamp,  John,  1395,  1452. 
Beaumont,   Joseph,    M.D.,    1311,    1327,     13341 

1362. 
Beau  Nash,  25,  268,  356. 
Bede,  The  venerable,  451. 
Bedford,  John,  1448. 

Bedford  Street  Church,  New  York,  1314. 
Beecher,  B.  W.,  1025  ;  Lyman,  1026. 
Beet,  Professor  J.  A.,  1428. 
Behmen,  Jacob,  189,  212,  313. 
"  Bel  and  the  Dragon,"  56. 
Belcher,  Hon.  Jonathan,  821. 
Belfast,  unresponsive  to  early  efforts,  721 ; 

Wesley    in,    727,    728 ;    Botanic    Gardens 

meeting,  1271  ;  College,  1383,  1445. 
Bell,  George,  794. 
Bell  Inn,  The,  265. 
Bell,  Thomas,  802. 
Benefit  Society,  A,  552. 


to 


Bennet,  John,  541,  563,  565,  582,  590,  648,  778. 

Bennetts,  G.  A.,  B.A.,  1434. 

Benson,  Bishop,  264,  336,  540. 

Benson,  Joseph,  at  Trevecca,  643,  697 ;  in 
Brecon  Chapel,  763  ;  defends  the  minute, 
839  ;  consults  with  Wesley,  884  ;  writes  to 
Fletcher,  928 ;  Fletcher's  influence  on, 
136;  with  Fletcher  at  Bristol,  946 -,  in  Citv 
~oad,  mi  ;  referred  to,  1200  ;  account  of, 
1244  ;  writes  to  Mr.  Taft,  1303. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  25. 

Berkelev,  Bishop,  makes  plans  for  missions, 
18  ;  for  dealing  with  the  Irish,  699. 

Bermonds  Church,  339. 

Bermondsey  Settlement  work,  1441. 

Bermuda  College,  19;  Whitefield  visits,  820. 

Berridge,  William,  50,  106,  642  ;  account  of, 
673 ;  with  Fletcher,  689,  881 ;  views  on 
marriage,  813;  resembles  Hill,  880;  de- 
scribes a  village  meeting,  1010. 

Berry,  Rev.  John,  Si,  147. 

Besant,  Walter,  83. 

Beveridge,  Bishop,  247,  1013. 

Bexley,  The  Vicar  of,  329,  400. 

Bible  bigots,  194,  738. 

Bible  Christians,  225,  1228,  1238,  1240,  1365. 

Bible  moths,  194. 

Bible  societies,  541,  1184  ;  work  of,  1189. 

Bible  stud}',  201. 

Biddle,  John,  71. 

Bingley  Sunday  school,  997. 

Birchenall,  John,  of  Macclesfield,  1400. 

Birrell,  Mr.  Augustine,  569,  1103. 

Birstall,  482,  483,  484,  494. 

"  Bishop  of  Moorfields,"  935. 

Bishops  Castle,  Richard  Rodda  in,  764. 

Black  Country,  The,  495. 

Black,  William,  of  Malone,  728. 

Blackheath,  344,  363,  730. 

Blackstone, William,  of  All  Souls',  599,  601,  602. 

Blackwell,  Mr.,  of  Lewisham,  701,  787,  791, 
795,  796,  1106,  1141. 

Blair,  Andrew,  anecdote  concerning,  1252. 

Blandford  Park,  Witney,  1140. 

Blendon,  the  home  of  the  Delamottes,  294, 
303,  328. 

Blomheld;  Bishop  of  London,  sermons 
heard  by,  38. 

Blundell's  school  at  Tiverton,  155,  235,  386. 

Boaden,  Rev.  E.,  1374. 

Boardman,  Richard,  referred  to,  421,  762,  767, 
803  ;  offers  for  America,'  805  ;  account  of, 
807;  in  America,  810,  811;  referred  to, 
1082. 

Bocardo,  prison  at  Oxford,  158,  206. 

Bodmin,  Wesley  and  Nelson  in,  487. 

Boevey,  Mrs.,  teaches  a  Sunday  school,  994. 

Boggart  House,  The,  at  Leeds,  804,  1215. 

Bogue,  Rev.  David,  1182. 

Bohler,  Peter,  useful  to  Gambold,  212  ;  with 
the  Wesleys,  283,  284  ;  farewell  visit,  297  ; 
on  the  nature  of  faith,  304  ;  sails  for  Car- 
olina, 305  ;  referred  to,  327 ;  last  sermon 
of,  373  ;  visits  Nelson,  482. 

Bolingbroke,  views  on  religion,  33  ;  hears 
Whitefield,  633. 

Bolton  Cross,  509 ;  Sunday  school  in,  998  ;  a 
sad  service,  1043. 

Bolton.  Miss  Nancy,  922;  Mr.,  of  Blandford 
Park,  1 140. 

Bolzius,  Mr.,  and  Wesley  in  Georgia,  244.  274. 

Bond,  John,  1442. 

Bond,  Mark,  529,  531. 

Book  Room  profits  and  dividends,  771 ;  at 
Foundry,  1111J  Bunting  in  the,  1311. 

Books  for  Georgia,  238. 


Index 


1463 


Booth, Mrs. Catherine,  and  Mrs.Taft,i3o3  ;  Mr. 
Booth  not  excluded  by  Conference,  1377. 

Bosanquet,  Miss  Mary,  account  of,  895,  902, 
916,  952. 

Boston,  England,  250,  622. 

Boston,  Mass.,  Whitefield  in,  429;  his  influ- 
ence in,  818. 

Boswell,  James,  20,  112  ;  anecdote  of  Ogle- 
thorpe, 229 ;  glimpses  of  Mrs.  Hall,  473 ; 
quoted,  1139. 

Boulton  and  Watt,  798. 

Bowne,  Hugh,  1231,  1233  ;  Rev.  F.  W.,  1240, 
1243 ;  Life  of  Billy  Bray,  1284. 

Boyce,  Mrs.  (Miss  Mallet),  916. 

Brackenbury,  Robert  Carr,  992,  1055,  1219. 

Bradburn,  Mrs.  Samuel,  996. 

Bradburn,  Samuel,  in  West  Street  Chapel, 
547  ;  influenced  by  Fletcher,  936  ;  com- 
ments on  the  ordinations,  q8o ;  with 
Charles  Wesley,  1041 ;  preaches  in  Dub- 
lin, 1083;  married  by  Wesley,  1143  ;  de- 
scribed, 1247. 

Bradbury  and  the  Schism  Bill,  132  :  in  Fetter 
Lane^  373  ;  lampoons  Whitefield,  401. 

Bradford  jail,  Nelson  confined  in,  488. 

Bradford,  Joseph,  in  Brecon  Chapel,  763  ;  at 
Wesley's  deathbed,  1127,  1128 :  brings 
Wesley's  last  counsels  to  Conference, 
1135 ;  Conference  president,  1207  ;  ac- 
count of,  1213. 

Bradlaugh,  Charles,  M.P.,  1226. 

Brady,  Dr.  Nicholas,  at  Oxford,  120. 

Braithwaite,  Mr.  Bevan,  853. 

Bramwell,  William,  account  of,  1274  ;  en- 
courages Mrs.  Taft,  1303 

Bram wells  of  Penzance,  The,  662. 

Bray,  "Billy,"  1284. 

Bray,  Dr.,  sends  tracts  to  America,  1181. 

Bray,  Rev.  Thomas,  329. 

Bray,  the  brazier  ot  Little  Britain,  298. 

Brechin,  in  Forfarshire,  620. 

Brecknockshire,  Wales,  322,  762. 

Brecon,  Coke's  birthplace,  763,  1057. 

Bredin,  John,  at  Londonderr}-,  1070. 

Breeden,  H.,  1332. 

Breedon  Church,  696. 

Brettel,  John,  in  Ireland,  1069. 

Bridgewater,  John  Westley  in,  58. 

Bright,  John,  and  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League,  1332. 

Brighton,  chapel  at,  642  ;  evangelicals,  697. 

Bristol,  generosity  of  the  Marquis  of,  38. 

Bristol,  Whitefield  in,  339;  Cabot's  birth- 
place, 358 ;  Nelson  buried  in,  494 ;  Con- 
ferences in,  362,  802  :  the  Bridewell,  403  ; 
suffering  in,  404  ;  the  Wesleys  in,  407,  484  ; 
the  upstart  Methodists,  517;  the  dispen- 
sary, 553;  Fletcher  in,  696;  home  of 
Charles  Wesley,  771  ;  the  society  in,  787  ; 
discussions  at,  1207. 

British  American  Methodism,  1217. 

British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  541,  758, 
1185. 

British  Workman,  The,  and  its  editor,  1398. 

Broadhurst,  H.,  M.P.,  1238. 

Broadmead  Chapel,  Bristol,  946. 

Broadoaks,  Essex,  344. 

Bronte  family,  The,  655  ;  Rev.  Patrick,  662  ; 
Charlotte  hears  Wesley's  hymns,  1029. 

Brooke,  "  Squire,"  1292. 

Brougham,  Henry,  1177. 

Broughton,  Thonias,  206,  212,  223,  267,  275. 

Brownists,  89. 

Bruges,  Haime  preaching  in,  529. 

Brunswick  Chapel,  Leeds,  opened,  541  ; 
erects  an  organ,  1366. 


Bryan,  William,  1240. 

Buchanan,  Claudius,  1191. 

Buckingham,  Duke  and  Duchess  of,  98,  118, 
119,  232,  268. 

Buckle,  H.  T.,  on  Wesley,  90. 

Buckley,  J.  M.,  quoted,  958,  959,  114S. 

Budgell,  in  the  Spectator,  120. 

Budgett,  The  Messrs.,  of  Bristol,  1400. 

Bunhill  Fields  burying  ground,  85,  462. 

Bunker's  Hill,  The  battle  of,  956. 

Bunting,  Jabez,  and  the  Methodist  Maga- 
zine, 1111  ;  at  the  Leeds  meeting,  1216  ; 
admires  Bradburn,  1247 ;  Mrs.  Evans's 
appointments,  1297;  Mrs.  Taft's,  1303; 
account  of,  1307  ;  on  the  Seminary  Com- 
mittee, 1317  ;  a  Kilhamite?  1331 ;  at  Ex- 
eter Hall,  1348. 

Bunting,  Mrs.  Thomas  Percival,  describes 
Bradburn,  1251  ;  his  father's  biographer, 
1313  ;  on  R.  Newton,  1314  ;  describes  Wat- 
son, 1318  ;  apt  remark  by,  1337  ;  death  of, 
1395- 

Bunting,  Percy  W.,  M.A.,  1403. 

Bunting,  William,  father  of  Jabez,  1307. 

Bunyan,  John,  55,  69,  85,  337  ;  his  grave  in 
Bunhill   Fields,   462  ;   Grace  Abounding, 

527- 

Burder,  Rev.  George,  1182. 

Burials  Law  Amendment  Act,  The,  1380. 

Burke,  Edmund,  18,  1197. 

Burkitt's  works,  264  ;  a  new  use  for  his 
Notes,  487. 

Burleigh,  Lord,  89. 

Burma  entered  by  missionaries,  1217. 

Burne-Jones,  Sir  Edward,  1412. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  quoted,  37,  38,  82,  128,  1003. 

Burslem  ministers,  The,  1233. 

Burton,  John,  Sermons  of,  1452. 

Bury,  St.  Edmunds,  38. 

Bush,  Thomas,  1294. 

Bushell,  R.,  1374. 

Butler,  Bishop,  19,  28,  32,  34,  398. 

Butler,  D.,  M.A.,  and  the  Oxford  Methodists, 
1446. 

Butler,  Nicholas,  707,  708,  723. 

Butterworth,  Joseph,  M.P.,  1187,  1334,  1379. 

Buxton,  Sir  Thomas  Fowell,  134S,  1425. 

Byrom,  John,  23,  235,  297,  306,  331,  618,  619;  ac- 
count of,  620,  1018,  1 162. 


Cabot,  John,  referred  to,  358. 

Caerleon,  Seward  stoned  at,  523. 

Calm  Address  to  the  American  Colonies, 
Wesley's,  959. 

Calvert,  James,  of  Fiji,  1452. 

Calvinism,  Wesley's  view  of,  174;  Grim- 
shaw's,  674  ;  Henry  Venn's,  681 ;  Harris's, 
761  ;  Fletcher's  views  on,  685 :  at  Swan- 
sea, 767  ;  discussed  in  Conference,  857  ; 
summed  up  by  Wesley,  876. 

Calvinistic  Methodists,  The  Welsh,  368  ;  sep- 
aration from  the  Wesleyans,  435 ;  first 
association  held,  751  ;  points  discussed, 
760,  761  ;  publications,  1109. 

Cambridge  (England)  University,  installa- 
tion of  the  chancellor  of,  29  ;  "Methodists 
in,  642  ;  evangelicals  opposed,  1193. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  Indian  college,  233  ; 
Whitefield  in,  429. 

Cambuslang,  Sacramental  occasion  at,  445. 

Camisards,  353. 

Campbell,  Sophia,  801. 

Campbell,  W.  Graham,  D.D.,  1269. 

Camp  meetings  on  Mow  Cop,  1232. 


1464 


Index 


Canada  Conferences,  1217;  Punshon  as  pres- 
ident, 1417. 

Canterbury,  Perronet's  death  in,  669 ;  Miss 
Wesley  visits,  879 ;  Archbishops  of,  261, 
400,  996,  1449. 

Capper,  Mary,  904. 

Cardiff,  Whiteheld  and  Harris  in,  325  ;  Wes- 
ley in,  402,  759  ;  English  district  in,  1446. 

Cards,  Losses  at,  25  ;  for  Methodists,  548. 

Carey,  William,  1016,  1062. 

Caricaturists,  1151. 

Carlisle,  Dr.,  at  the  Washington  Conference, 
•457- 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  33,  996,  1144,  1405,  1406. 

Carolina,  Wesley  sails  from  Charleston,  256  ; 
Whitefield  passes  through,  427. 

Carpenter,  Mary,  348. 

Carrickfergus,  "French  troops  and  fleet  in, 
728,  786. 

Carvosso,  William,  1282. 

"  Cases  of  Conscience,"  theCripplegate  Lec- 
tures, 62. 

Casson,  Hodgson,  1278. 

Castletown,  Isle  of  Man,  1048-1049. 

Casuistical  Mercury,  The,  83. 

"Catholic  Love,"  C.  Wesley's  verses  on,  1025. 

Caughland,  Lawrence,  801,  1055. 

"Cause  and  Cure  of  Earthquakes,"  The, 
783. 

Cave,  Edward,  553,  1155. 

Cavignac,  General,  and  John  Wesley  meet, 
786. 

Cecil,  Rev.  Richard,  681,  1173,  1175,  1190. 

Cennick,  John,  superintendent  of  Kings- 
wood,  348,  410,  415;  hymns  by,  418;  op- 
poses the  Wesleys,  43*5  ;  Christmas  ser- 
mon, 702,  752  ;  introduces  "  praise  meet- 
ings," 1012. 

Centenary  Hall  and  Mission   House,  66, 1343. 

Centenary  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  death,  893  ; 
of  British  Methodism,  1332;  of  American 
Methodism,  1447  ;of  John  Wesley's  death, 
1456. 

Chalmers,  Thomas,  1246,  1307. 

Champness,  Rev.  T.,  1445. 

Channel  Islands,  The,  1055. 

Chap-books,  The,  26. 

Chapel-en-le-Frith,  Excitement  at,  355. 

Chaplains,  Wesleyan,  1386. 

Chapman,  James,  at  Southlands.  1429. 

Charitable  Trusts  Bill,  The,  1380. 

Charity  schools,  18,  552. 

Charles  I,  The  times  of,  90  ;  Oxford  Parlia- 
ment, 163. 

Charles  II,  44,  396. 

Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  282. 

Charles,  Rev.  Thomas,  of  Bala,  757, 1058,  1185. 

Charleston,  S.  C,  Wesley's  first  book  of 
hymns  published  at,  253,  1020  ;  sails  from, 
256;  Whitefield  in,  427,  428;  Rankin  in, 
734- 

Charnock,  Stephen,  47,  69,  79. 

Charterhouse,  The,  John  Wesley  enters.  112, 
118;  description  of,  122,  123;  Pounder's 
Day,  138;  the.  Magazine,  138,  601;  the 
boys  grown  up,  599. 

Chartist  Agitation,  The,  1332,  1357,  1363. 

Chatham,  Lord,  18,  889,  955,  956. 

Chatterton,  Thomas,  1161. 

Checks,  Fletcher's,  856,  857,  937. 

Cheetham,  Charles,  J.  P.,  1375. 

Cheshunt  College,  892. 

Chester  Assizes,  J.  R.  Stephens  arraigned  at 
the,  1363. 

Chesters.  Stephen,  1412. 

Chew.  Richard,  1374. 


Child  labor  in  England,  1351. 

Children,  Wesley  interested  in,  993 ;  pre- 
pares books  tor,  1108. 

Chippendale,  Matthew,  804. 

Christ  Church  College,  137,  163 ;  eminent 
men  of,  166. 

Christian,  Clarissa,  1304. 

Christian  Library,  The,  50,  1105,  1317. 

Christian  Magazine,  The,  1109. 

Christian  Pattern,  The,  170. 

Christian  Perfection,  188,  395. 

Christmas  hymns,  620. 

Chubb,  Sir  G.  H.,  33,  1400. 

Chudleigh,  Miss,  355. 

Church  Missionary  Society,  The,  1190. 

Church,  The  Methodist,  380,  562  ;  principles 
of,  574  ;  in  1762  665  ;  Church  party  in,  1201, 
1221,  1365,  1366  ;  system  described,  1451  ; 
the  term,  1210. 

Church,  William,  763. 

Churchey,  Walter,  of  Brecknock,  763,  764. 

Churchill,  Charles,  1161. 

Circuit,  Mr.  Berridge's,  675  ;  all  Ireland  one, 
720 ;  Adam  Clarke's  first,  1073  ;  the 
"round,"  1166;  synods,  1209;  City  Road, 
1442. 

Circuits,  The  country  divided  into,  590. 

Circulating  schools,  Griffith  Jones's,  752. 

City  missions  anticipated,  552. 

City  Road  Chapel,  364, -368,  982,  984,  986,  987, 
mi,  1131,  1392  ;  the  circuit,  1442. 

Clapham,  J.  E.,  1437,  1438,  1445. 

Clapham  sect,  The,  1178,  1187. 

Clarke,  Adam,  on  Airs.  Wesley's  text-books, 
95 ;  his  journey  from  Epworth,  121 ;  de- 
scribes Charles  Wesley,  362  ;  tribute  to 
Mrs.  Weslej',  468  ;  on  Mrs.  Hall,  472  ;  ac- 
count of,  1067;  his  mother,  1069;  at 
Kingswood,  1071  ;  meets  Wesley,  1072,  in 
the  Channel  Islands,  1073;  in  Jersey, 
1075;  comments  on  Wesley,  1140;  in  the 
Bible  Society,  1187,  1188  ;  London  Mission- 
ary Society",  1190;  in  City  Road  Chapel, 
1216  ;  describes  Blackburn,  1247  ;  account 
of,  1255  ;  death  of,  1260  ;  in  St.  Austell, 
1283 ;  appreciation  of,  1307 ;  compared 
with  Richard  Watson,  1318. 

Clarke,  Eliza,  quoted,  114,  472. 

Clarke,  John,  with  Coke  in  the  West  Indies, 
1064. 

Clarke,  Samuel,  Scripture  Doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.  146. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  1098,  1190. 

Class  meetings,  374,  1070. 

Claxton,  Marshall,  46,  1129,  1412. 

Clayton,  John,  188,  205,  206,  208,  235,  617. 

Clements,  William,  530,  616. 

Clerkenwell  Mission,  The,  1441. 

Clifford,  John,  39. 

Clifton,  George,  504. 

Clippingdale,  Mrs.,  921. 

Clowes,  William,  1231,  1234. 

Clulow,  John,  1433. 

Coal  brook  Dale,  692. 

Cobbe,  Lady  Betty,  633. 

Cobden,  Richard,  1017,  1332. 

Cobham,  Ladj',  268,  623,  630. 

Coke,  Thomas,  esteems  Bohler,  284  ;  in  West 
Street  Chapel,  547 ;  Brecon  his  birth- 
place, 762  ;  at  Antigua,  801,  1063  ;  plan  for 
missions,  938,  948,  1061,  1062,  1 189;  dines 
with  Washington,  960;  ordination  of,  963, 
964;  in  Barratt's  Chapel,  970;  in  City 
Road,  987;  visits  Guernsey,  1036;  ac- 
connt  of,  1057  ;  meets  Wesley,  1059  ;  as- 
sists Wesley,  iofc  ;  at   the   Irish  Confer- 


Index 


1465 


ence,  1061 ;  marriage  of,  1066  ;  bishop  of 
American  societies,  1061,  1133;  Confer- 
ence secretary,  1202 ;  closing  years  of, 
1213  ;  his  death",  1215. 

Coleman,  Rev.  Dr.,  429. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  in  sympathy  with  France, 
1 197. 

Colev,  Samuel.  1279,  1422,  1425. 

Collett,  Mrs.,  a  preacher,  918. 

Colley,    Mr.     Richard,    Baron    Mornington, 

155- 

Colley,  Sir  Henry,  44. 

Collier,  Jeremy,  on  church  music,  1003. 

Colliers,  The,  at  Kingswood,  342 :  riot 
averted  by  Charles  Wesley,  407 ;  on  the 
Tyne,  452. 

Collins,  Anthony,  33. 

Collins,  Rebecca,  a  preacher,  894. 

Collins,  Rev.  P.  B.,  1184. 

Collins,  Thomas,  1260,1279. 

Comenius,  John  Amos,  281. 

Communion  once  a  week,  202. 

Complete  Duty  of  Man,  Venn's,  680. 

Composers  of  tunes  for  the  Methodists,  1007. 

Compton,  Dr.,  ordains  Samuel  Wesley,  73. 

Conan,  Mr.,  of  Truro,  653. 

Conference,  The  first,  held  in  London,  562  ;  of 
1769,  804,  806;  of  1784,  948;  held  in  City 
Road  Chapel,  9S8  ;  Wesley's  last  message 
to,  1135  ;  concession  in  1807  to  the  Bible 
Society,  1188  ;  Bunting's  sermon  in  1812, 
1311. 

Confession,  Wesley's  views  on,  247. 

Confirmation  a  "rousing  ordinance,"  896. 

Connaught,  Walsh  preaches  in,  712. 

Conventicle  Act,  The,  57  ;  threatened,  324  ; 
applied  to  Fletcher,  695  ;  Wesley's  re- 
marks on,  977. 

Conversion  of  John  Weslev,  256,  304 ;  of 
Charles,  300;  of  John  Haydon,  351  ;  of 
Thomas  Coke,  1059  ;  of  Matthias  Joj-ce, 
1080. 

"Conversion  of  the  elements,"  The,  187,  247. 

Cooke,  Sophia,  assists  Robert  Raikes,  995. 

Cooke,  William,  D.D.,  1225. 

Cooper,  Miss  Fanny,  452. 

Cooper,  Mr.,  of  Derby,  quoted,  1297. 

Cooper,  Thomas,  1353  ;  account  of,  1358. 

Corderoys,  The,  1400. 

Cork,  C.  Wesley  in,  707,  rioters  abetted,  718; 
honors  to  Wesley,  723. 

Cornforth,  Rev.  D.,  "quoted,  1359. 

Cornish  banner,  The,  579. 

Cornwall,  a  record  for  violence,  505  ;  Wesley 
in,  614,  1116;  honors  to  Wesley,  1117. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  at  Gibraltar,  801 ;  at  York- 
town,  956. 

Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  73. 

Council  of  Constance,  The,  277. 

Court  Mattrass,  731. 

Covenant  renewal  service,  384. 

Covent  Garden  Theater,  143,  548. 

Cownley,  Joseph,  administers  the  sacra- 
ment, 575;  on  the  "northern  round," 
721 ;  ordained  in  Scotland,  980. 

Cowper,  William,  at  Westminster.  152;  al- 
ludes to  Whitefield,  844  ;  describes  Wes- 
lev, 1162;  compared  with  Charles  Wes- 
ley,  1 1 73. 

Crabbe,  George,  hears  Wesley  at  Lowestoft, 
1123  ;  satirizes  the  Methodists,  1161. 

Crabbe,  James,  preacher,  1055. 

Cradoc's  work  in  Wales,  759. 

Craftsman,  The,  1150. 

Creighton,  Rev.  James,  669,  964,  987. 

Crompton,  Mr.,  in  Sunday  school  work,  995. 


Cromwell,  Oliver,  his  chaplain,  47;  his  vice 
chancellor,  48;  his  "triers,"  51  ;  appoints 
Annesley,  65. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  85,  86. 

Crook,  Dr.  W.,  731,  1445. 

Crook,  John,  in  Douglas,  1048. 

Crookshank,  Rev.  C.  H.,  M.A.,  699,  1271,  1445. 

Crosby,  Mrs.  Sarah,  S09,  909,  qi6. 

Cross  Hall,  Yorkshire,  902,  928. 

Crosse,  Rev.  John,  825. 

Crossman's  hymns,  1014. 

Crowther,  Jonathan,  1328. 

Crowther,  Robert,  952. 

Cubitt,  Rev.  G.,  1381. 

Cudworth,  Ralph,  50. 

Cudworth,  William,  673,  739,  747. 

Culley,  R.,  in  Sunday  School    Union  work, 

1443- 
Cummins,  Alexander,  1219. 
Curnock,  Nehemiah,  1432. 
Cussons,    George,   of    West  Street  Chapel, 

1 184. 
"Cyrus,"  776. 

D 

Daily  Courant,  The,  1149,  1152. 

Dairyman's  Daughter,  The,  1055. 

Dale,  R.  W.,  on  the  weakness  of  the  Free 
Churches,  40 ;  at  City  Road  Chapel,  41  ; 
on  Wesley's  conversion,  309;  on  class 
meetings,"  379 ;  on  the  defect  in  the  re- 
vival, 855. 

Dales,  Hopper's  home  in  the,  587  ;  Methodism 
in  the,  744. 

Dallinger,  W.  H,  investigations  and  verdict 
of,  1429. 

Darien,  Ga.,  234,  428. 

Darlaston,  the  mob,  495;  the  clergyman,  504. 

Darney,  William,  and  the  Guiseley  mob,  5 ;.; 
at  Haworth,  657  ;  at  the  Dunbar  meeting, 

733- 
Dartmouth,  Lord,  helps  Lady  Huntingdon, 

640;  patron  of  Dartmouth  College,  N.  H., 

890  ;  Wesley's  letter  to,  957  ;  subscribes 

to  Methodist  missions,  1215. 
David,  Christian,  281,  317. 
Davies,  Howell,  751,  756. 
Davies,  John,  of  West  Street  Chapel,  1184. 
Davies,  Rev.  Samuel,  823. 
Davison,  Professor  W.  T.,  1428. 
Dawson,  George,  of  Birmingham,  1238. 
Dawson,  William,  1287. 
Deaconesses,  Training  home  for,  1376. 
Deal,  The  Wesleys  in,  256, 257  ;  Whitefield  in, 

272. 
Debtors'  prison,  The,  230,  231. 
DeCourcy,  Rev.  Richard,  828,  886. 
Deed  of  Declaration,  The,  361 ;  enrolled,  573  ; 

alluded  to,  577,  762,   948  ;  explained,  971  ; 

approved  in  the  House  of    Lords,  975  ; 

Coke's  help  in  framing  the,  1061 ;  in  Wes- 
ley's last  message,  1135. 
Defoe,  Daniel,  18,  27  39,  62,  66  69,  S5. 
Deistic  principles,The  spread  of,  in  England, 

22. 
Delamotte,  Charles,  236,  243,  254,  274. 
Delamotte,  Jack,  303. 
Delamottes,  The,  at  Blendon,  294,  328. 
Delany,  Mrs.,  Wesley's  correspondent,  627, 

775- 
De  Putron,  Mrs.,  a  preacher,  918. 
De  Queteville,  Jean,  1056. 
De  Quincey,  Thomas,  referred  to,  189. 
Devauden  Hill,  Wales,  Wesley  preaches  at, 

759- 


1466 


Index 


Dewsbury,  William,  in  Warwick  jail,  55,  84. 

Diamond  Jubilee,  The,  1346. 

Dickinson,  Rev.  Peard,  669,  987. 

Didsbury,  Professor  Green,  01,548;  Dr.  Pope 
at,  1322  ;  treasurer  of,  1399  ;  Hellier  a  tu- 
tor at  1422. 

Discipline,  Wesley's  views  of  its  importance, 

592- 

Disestablishment  and  Irish  Methodism,  1365. 

Dispensaries  founded  by  Wesley,  553. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  1382. 

Dissenters,  first  public  ordination  of,  66 ; 
Whitefield  friendly  with  the,  270; 
alarmed  by  Methodism,  401 ;  Wesley 
practically  belongs  to  the,  977. 

District  meeting,  The.  1209. 

Dixon,  Dr.,  principal  of  St.  Edmund's  Hall, 

643- 

Dixon,  Dr.  James,  in  Brecon  Chapel,  763 ; 
essay  by,  1277  ;  anecdote  of,  1304  ;  account 
of,  1327  ;  quoted,  1349. 

Doddridge,  Philip,  19,  39,  401,  614,  648,  829,  1108. 

Donegal,  The  revival  in,  1271. 

Donnington  Park,  450,  628. 

Doolittle,  Rev.  Thomas,  69. 

Dorchester,  Westley  imprisoned  at,  59. 

Dorsetshire,  43,  69. 

Doughty,  G.,  M.P.,  1238. 

Douglas,  Dr.,  at  the  Washington  Conference, 
1457- 

Dover,  Mrs.  Taft  in,  1303. 

Dow,  Lorenzo,  1232,  1374. 

Downes,  John,  with  J.  Nelson,  487;  pressed, 
524  ;  in  West  Street,  54.7  ;  Wesley's  tribute 
to,  563  ;  his  genius,  564,  565  ;  in  Lincoln  jail, 
611. 

Dragoon  Methodists  in  Ireland,  704  ;  in  Scot- 
land, 733. 

Dram  drinking,  554. 

Dramatic  Literature,  20;  notices  of  Metho- 
dism, 1156. 

Draper,  Daniel  J.,  in  Brecon  Chapel,  763. 

Drew,  Samuel,  1073  ;  account  of,  1283. 

Dryden,  John,  a  Westminster  boy,  152 ; 
hymns  referred  to,  1015;  compared  with 
Charles  Wesley,  1027. 

Drysdale,  Dr.,  on  Methodism,  68  ;  his  investi- 
gations, 1429. 

Dublin,  Cennick  in,  417  ;  the  bay,  700  ;  a  riot, 
701 ;  Wesley  in  St.  Patrick's,  723  ;  his  ad- 
venture at  the  quay,  726. 

Duckworth.  James,  M.P.,  1375. 

Duff,  The,  1190. 

Hummer,  Hampshire,  215,  267. 

Dunbar,  the  birthplace  of  Rankin,  733. 

Dundee,  Wesley  in,  738  ;  Methodism,  748,  749. 

Dunn,  Moses,  quoted,  1275. 

Dunn,  S.,  questioned  at  Conference,  1371. 

Dunstan,  R.,  Mus.  Doc,  1403. 

Dunton,  Elizabeth,  85,  121. 

Dunton,  John,  20,  67,  69  ;  account  of,  71,  72  ; 
eulogizes  Bishop  of  Rochester,  73  ;  serv- 
ices to  literature,  83  ;  at  the  Sign  of  the 
Raven,  121. 


Earnest  Appeals,  Wesley's,  rio8. 

Earthquake  hymns.  The,  782,  784,  1033. 

East  London  mission  work,  1438. 

Easter  Day  at  Oxford,  595. 

Ebenezer  Chapel  built,  1207. 

Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill,  1380. 

Eclectic  Society,  The,  1190. 

Ecumenical  Conference,  988,  1242, 1373,  1452. 

Edgehill,  college  at,  1242. 

Edgeworth,  Miss,  referred  to,  914. 


Edinburgh  Review,  The,  851. 

Edinburgh,  Whitefield  in,  444 ;  Wesley  in, 
737,  739  ;  Taylor,  748  ;  theater  audience 
shocked  by  anti-Methodist  plav,  1157 ; 
Dr.  Bunting  visits,  1314 ;  scope  for  mis- 
sions in,  1446. 

Education  under  the  Schism  Act,  131 ;  of 
preachers'  children,  589  ;  and  preachers, 
643  ;  Lord  Melbourne's  scheme  opposed, 
1326  ;  under  Methodism,  1346,  1430. 

Edward  VI,  Times  of,  163,  364. 

Edwards,  John,  on  the  "northern  round," 
721. 

Ed wards.Jonathan,  320;  meetsWhitefield,  429. 

Edwards,  Richard,  687. 

Edwin,  Lady  Charlotte,  623,  634. 

Eldon,  Lord,  27,  28,  541. 

Election  riots  in  Wesley's  day,  786. 

Election,  The  doctrine  of,  431. 

Electrical  machine,  Wesley's,  553,  554. 

Emancipation  Bill  passed,  1178;  Froude's 
views  on,  1194. 

Embury,  Philip,  729,  731,  850. 

Emory,  John,  on  Wesley's  views  of  the  war, 

959- 

Enlistments,  Forcible,  610. 

Enniskillen,  Wesley  in,  1115. 

"Enthusiasm,"  395. 

Entwisle,  Joseph,  1200;  describes  Bradburn, 
1247  ;  at  Hoxton,  1317  ;  at  the  Centenary 
Conference,  1342. 

Epitaph  on  himself,  Berridge's,  678  ;  Wes- 
ley's, 791. 

Epworth  League,  The,  88  ;  the  motto,  680. 

Epworth,  S.  Wesley  rector  of,  87  ;  described, 
88 ;  John  and  Charles  walk  to,  from  Ox- 
ford, 221 ;  Wesley  visits  and  works  in, 
453,  458  ;  Nelson  in,  484;  John  Jane  in,  586; 
Mather  on  the  circuit,  622  ;  Wesley's  last 
sermon  at,  1120  ;  the  church,  91,  92  ;  me- 
morial church,  117  ;  the  rectory  burned, 
78,  98  ;  rebuilt,  services  in,  104,  895  ;  the 
ghost,  112;  the  modern,  114;  important 
visit  of  Wesley  to,  235  ;  compared  with 
Frederica,  Ga.,  248  ;  father  of  the  house- 
hold, 106. 

Erasmus,  Greek  bishop,  573. 

Erastianism,  370. 

Erskine,  Ebenezer  and  Ralph,  442 ;  preface 
to  Hervey's  pamphlet,  739. 

Erskine,  Lady  Anne,  892. 

Erskine,  Lord,  1380. 

Essentials  of  Methodism,  592. 

Established  Church,  The,  36,  79;  in  America, 
962  ;  and  Methodism,  1362. 

Ethical  teachings  of  Wesley  and  Fletcher, 
787,  856. 

Eucharist,  A  Methodist,  1457. 

European  Magazine,  The,  1155. 

Evangelical  Alliance,  The,  1313. 

Evangelical  Magazine,  The,  1190. 

Evangelical  movement,  The,  672. 

Evangel ist,The  Irish,  729 ;  the  New  York,  592. 

Evangelization,  Plan  for,  591. 

Evans,  John,  529,  531,  1446. 

Evans,  Mary  Ann,  "  George  Eliot,"  1296. 

Evans,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel,  1297,  1300. 

Evans,  Mrs.,  a  preacher,  918. 

Everett,  James,  1367,  1368,  1371,  1373- 

Everett-Green,  Mrs.,  1404 ;  C.  P.,  1412. 

Everton,  The  Vicar  of,  674. 

Exeter  College,  Oxford,  71, 162. 

Exeter  Hall,  1271,  1348,  1356. 

Exeter,  N.  H.,  Whitefield  preaches  in,  839. 

Extempore  prayer,  290 ;  preaching,  Wesley's 
first,  1095. 


Index 


1467 


"  Factory  king,"  The,  1354. 

Fair  bairn,  Dr.,  on  theeftectof  lay  preaching, 
1294. 

Falkirk,  616,  748. 

Falmouth,  510. 

Farmer,  Thomas,  1394. 

Farnham,  The  Earl  of,  1268. 

Farrar,  Dean,  35  ;  in  City  Road  Chapel,  1456. 

Farrar,  John,  1325. 

Farther  Appeal,  Wesley's,  396. 

Fasting',  608,  747,  787. 

Fellowship  meeting  in  1739,  37°- 

Fennell,  Mr.,  662. 

Fentin,  John,  1035 

Fenwick,  J.,  M.P.,  1238. 

Fenwick,  John,  on  the  "northern  round," 
721  ;  his  subscription,  803. 

Fenwick,  Michael,  complains,  1144. 

Fenwick,  R.,  1238. 

Fermanagh,  W.  Thompson's  birthplace,  1082. 

Fernley  lecturers,  578,  855,  1224,  130:,  1394, 
1429,  1430. 

Ferrer's  History  of  Limerick,  730. 

Fetter  Lane  society,  The,  334/363,  372,  373; 
meetings  in,  629. 

Field  preaching  in  America,  809. 

Fielding's  works,  20,  914;  his  comment  on 
Whitefield,  1164. 

Field-pulpit,  Whitefield's,  340. 

Fiji,  Missionaries  in,  1216. 

Finances  of  itinerants,  585  ;  chapel  building, 
591;  difficulties  faced,  802. 

Findlay,  Professor  G.  G.,  1210,  1428. 

Firth,  Messrs.  Mark  and  Thomas,  1225. 

Fisk,  Wilbur,  1314,  1318. 

Fitzgerald,  E.,  on  Wesley's  English,  1103. 

Fitzgerald,  Lady  Mary,  909,  910,  911,  916. 

Fitzwilliam  Museum,  Cambridge,  1008. 

Five-mile  Act,  The,  57. 

Flavel,  John,  86. 

Fleet  Prison,  Marriages  in,  35  ;  mismanage- 
ment in,  230. 

Flemming,  Richard,  founder  of  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford,  178. 

Fletcher,  John,  in  West  Street,  545,  547  ; 
president  of  Trevecca,  643  ;  account  of, 
683  ;  appeal  to  his  parishioners,  693  ;  in- 
fluences Walsh,  716  ;  in  Brecon  chapel, 
763 ;  in  Wesley's  circle,  795  ;  his  ethical 
enthusiasm,  856;  resigns  from  Trevecca, 
859;  his  mastery  of  English,  862-,  meets 
Hill  and  Berridge,  8S1  ;  meets  Venn  and 
Shirley,  882  ;  romance  and  marriage,  905  ; 
invited  to  succeed  Wesley,  923  ;  his  let- 
ter, 928;  his  influence  on  the  preachers, 
936;  Church  preferment  offered,  939 
writes  to  Lord  North,  939;  with  Mrs. 
Fletcher  in  Ireland,  943;  at  the  Confer- 
ences, 946,  948  ;  his  illness  and  death,  050  ; 
his  Sunday  schools,  999;  approva'  of 
Coke's  plan,  1062;  an  evangelical,  1K.6; 
his  introduction  of  Simeon  at  Madeley, 
1 193. 

Fly  Sheets,  The,  1371. 

Fogg's  Weekly  Journal,  1150. 

Foote's  "TheMinor,"  1156. 

Foreign  missions,  18,  106,  107  ;  missionary  so- 
ciety begun,  948 ;  the  mission  house, 
1343;  of  the  United  Methodist  FTee 
Churches,  1372. 

Fort  William,  Ga.,  attacked  by  Spanish 
ships,  449. 

Forward  Movement,  The,  1376,  1437. 

Fothergill,  Dr.,  791. 


Founder's  day  at  the  Charterhouse,  129. 

Foundry,  Explosion  at  the  old,  137 ;  the 
Church,  364,  365  ;  Mrs.  Wesley's  home  at 
the,  586;  account  01",  534  •■  the  schoolmas- 
ter, 536:  during  the  earthquake  panic, 
783  ;  removal  from,  982. 

Fowler,  Joseph,  1327. 

Fowler,  Sir  H.  H.,  1379,  1382,  1400 

Fowler,  The  Misses,  1404. 

Fox,  George.  84,  415. 

Foxe,  John,  65,  8g. 

Fiancke,  Professor,  at  Halle,  282;  his  orphan 
house.  317. 

Franklin  and  Whitefield  meet,  425  ;  experi 
ments  in  electricity,  553  ;  he  begs  for  a 
college,  82:  ;  member  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania,  his  letter  to 
Whitefield,  822. 

Frederica,  Ga.,  248,  428,  449. 

Free  Church  movement  in  Scotland,  The, 
■333- 

Free  grace,  Wesley's  sermon  on,  435,  1096 ; 
Charles  Wesley's  hymn,  435. 

Free  thinking,  146. 

Free  will  and  divine  sovereignty,  431. 

French  Conference,  The  first,  1217. 

French  Prophets,  The,  353,  363. 

F"rench  Revolution  felt  in  England,  40. 

Friendly  Union  Benefit  Society,  A,  552. 

Friends',  The  Society  of,  39;  Barclay  referred 
to,  84. 

Froude,  J.  A.,  on  circulating  the  Scriptures, 
1195. 

Froude,  R.  H.,  Keble's  pupil,  211 ;  on  eman- 
cipation, 1194. 

Fuller,  Thomas,  51,  73,  145,  1013. 

Fry,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  536,  904,  1297. 


Galland,  Thomas,  M.  A.,  1325,  1362. 

Gambler,  Robert,  ordained  and  licensed, 
979- 

Gambold,  John,  199  ;  account  of,  211. 

Garden,  Ensign,  512. 

Gardiner,  Lady,  739. 

Gardners,  The,  of  Bristol,  1400. 

Garland,  Thomas,  1286. 

Garrett,  Rev.  Charles,  1434. 

(iarrick,  David,  633,  888,  1157. 

Gaulter,  J.,  1317. 

Geden,  J.  D.,  D.D.,  1421  ;  his  sons,  1428. 

(ieier,  Philip,  710,  729. 

General  Chapel  Fund,  1312. 

General  Missionary  Society,  Regulations  for 
the,  1216. 

General  Rules.  1743,  376. 

Gentleman's  Magazine,  The,  406,  553,  1155. 

Georgia,  74,  225,228,  231,234;  results  of  the 
mission  to,  250,  272;  Whitefield  collects 
money  for,  344;  his  third  voyage  to,  751  ; 
Wesley's  love  affair  in,  776;  colony  op- 
posed to  slavery,  827;  Wesley's  Sunday 
school  in,  994  ;  his  Journal  in, '1018. 

Gerhardt,  Paul,  130. 

German  hymnody,  1016. 

German  Methodists  in  London,  1442. 

Ghost  field  at  Leeds,  The,  804. 

Ghost,  The  Epworth,  112. 

Gibbon  mentioned,  18,  20,  27,  28,  33,  161. 

Gibraltar,  Whitefield  at,  273  ;  Methodism 
in,  801,  1374. 

Gibson,  Di.  Edmund,  392. 

Gilbert,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  888. 

Gilbert,  Mrs.  Ann,  a  preacher,  918. 

Gilbert,  Nathaniel,  800,  1062, 


1468 


Index 


Gillies,  Rev.  John.  Whitefield's  biographer, 

847. 
Gillray's  caricatures,  20,  26. 
Gilpin,  Rev.  John,  945. 
Gladstone,   Mr.,  on  the  Wesleys,  116 ;  views 

on  the  Evangelical  Movement,  672  ;  his 

retirement,  1379;  his  talk  with  Mr.  Perks 

1382. 
Glasgow  a  good  mission  field,  1446;  Taylor 

in,  745  ;   the  Bishop  of,  on  the  rights  of 

the  laity,  1393. 
Glenorchy,  Lady,  886. 
Gloucester,  The   Bishop  of,   127;  Whitefield 

in,  216,  264,  265  ;  mob  in,  405  ;  the  assizes, 

521  ;   societies  in,   542  ;   its  industry,  905  : 

Sunday  schools,  1000 ;  cathedral  organist, 

S.  S.  Wesley,  1047. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  19,  1164. 
Goliath  Slain,  Sir  R.  Hill's,  872. 
Goodwin,  John,  1322. 
Goodwin,  Thomas,  50. 
Gordon  Riots,  The,  1033,  1184. 
Gospel  Magazine,  The,  415,  668  ;  attacks  Wes. 

lev,   858;   Topladv's   portrait   from,    872, 

S75. 
Ciosse,    Edmund,    on    C.    Wesley's    poetry, 

1024. 
Grace  Abounding,  Bunyan's,  475,  527. 
Grace  during  meat,  11 16. 
Grace,  Wesley's  doctrine  of,  397. 
Graces,  gifts  and  fruit  required,  54. 
Graham,  Charles,  1263. 
Graham,  Sir  James,  1380. 
Grain    of    Mustard    Seed,    Order   of    the, 

282. 
Grand  Central  Association,  The,  1368. 
Grattan,  Henry,  1077. 
Gray,  Thomas,  18,  19,  27,  28. 
"Great  Assize,"  1096. 
Great  Awakening,  Whitefield's  share  in  the, 

S20. 
Great  Otieen  Street  society,   The,  543,  551  ; 

the  mission  work,  1442. 
Green,  J.  R.,  on  the  revival,  21,  40;  on  expul- 
sion for  nonconformity,  57  ;  on  G.  Wesley. 

90,   1034;  on  Whitefield's  preaching,  852; 

his    Oxford   College,   1058;    Methodism, 

1165;  results  of  the  revival,  1183. 
Green,  Mr.,  curate  at  Shoreham,  666. 
Green,  Professor  Richaid,  369,  370,  3S5,  584, 

812,  1106,  1452. 
Green,    Walford,    in    town    mission    work, 

1438. 
Greenfield,  Edward,  511. 
Greenwell,  Dora,  1408. 
Gregory,  Dr.  George,  1045. 
Gregory,  J.  R.,  1428. 
Gregory.  Rev.  Benjamin,  916,  1278. 
Gregory  the  Great,  23. 
Grenfell,  Lydia,  1191. 
Grenville,  Lord,  1177. 
Grey  Sisters,  The,  748. 
Griff,  George  Eliot's  letters  from,  1297. 
Griffith,  John,  502. 
Griffith,  Walter,  1082. 
Griffith,  William,  1371,  1373. 
Grimsby,  Nelson  in,  484. 
Grimshaw  of  Haworth,  573,646;  account  of, 

655,  671,  673,  1166. 
Grindrod,  Edmund,  108;,  1331. 
Grub  Street  Journal,  The,  35. 
Guernsey,  Mob  in,  1074. 
Guthrie,~Thomas,  620. 
Guttridge,  John,  1374. 
Gwennap,  509,  1092,  1117,  1191. 
Gwynnes,  The,  of  Garth,  330,  570,  768. 


H 

Habersham,  James,  444,  449,  824. 

Hackworth,  Timothy,  1294. 

Haime,  John,  527,  573,  616. 

Hali,  John,  of  Leek,  1400 

Hall,  Robert,  1236. 

Hall,  Westley,  334;  Mrs.  Westley  Hall,  112, 

473,  1139. 
Hamilton,      Alexander,    as    a     statesman. 

1308. 
Hamilton,  Dr.  James,  325. 
Hamilton,  Lady  Archibald,  623. 
Hamilton,  William,  1263,  1268. 
Hammet,  William,  980,  1064. 
Hampden,  "Foolish  Dick,"  1285. 
'  Hampson,  John,  538,  780,  890. 
Hampton    Common,    Whitefield's    sermons 

on,  850. 
Hanby,  Thomas,  739  ;  account  of,  748,  1242  : 

ordained  for  Scotland,  980,  985. 
Handel,  143;  C.  Wesley  meets,  548;  George 

III  appreciates,  773  ;  Pepusch  comments 

on,  1008;  his  music  and  C.  Wesley,  Jr., 

1046. 
Handsworth,  Staffordshire,  953. 
Hannah,  Dr.  John,  1317,  1321,  1415. 
Hardcastle.  Joseph,  1190. 
Hardy,  Spence,  655,  662. 
Harlan,  W.,  1238. 
Harleian  Collection,  The,  148. 
Harper,  Mr.  Joseph,  Conference  messenger 

to  Sarah  Mallet,  917. 
Harris,    Howell,    Sketch   of,   322 ;    Hughes's 

Life  of,  325,  344,  367,  417,  439,  441,  523,  573, 

647,  75i,  755,  762,  763.  768. 
Hastings,  Lady  Margaret.  628,  671. 
Hatfield,  J.  Taft,  1017. 
Haughton,  John,  720. 
Huwke's  victory,  786. 
Haworth,  655. 
Hayden,  John,  351. 

Headingley,   the  library,  563,  1021 ;   the  col- 
lege", 1325;  Hellier  governor  at,  1422. 
Heald,  James,  M.P.,  1394. 
Healey,    John,    610;    injured    at     Athlone, 

704. 
Hearne,  Tom,  the  antiquary,  156. 
Heck,  Barbara,  732,  801,  922. 
Hellier,  Benjamin,  1418,  1422. 
Henry,  Matthew,  71 ;  his  commentary,  264. 
Henry,  Philip,  47,  86. 
Henry  VIII,  123,  163. 
Hepw;orth  moor,  The  mob  at,  492. 
Herbert,  George,  87,  152,  469,  1014. 
"  Heretics  "  and  the  "  faithful,"  1332. 
Heriot's  Hospital,  Edinburgh,  445. 
Herring,    Thomas,     Archbishop    of     York, 

401. 
Herrnhut,  242,281,  317,  328. 
Hervey,  James,  206.  212,  649 ;  account  of,  654, 

739,  747.  830. 
Hervey,  Morgan,  1400. 
Heslop,  J.,  803. 
Heslop,  Launcelot,  1396. 
Hey,  James,  995. 
Heylyn,  Dr.,  306. 
Hick,  Sammy,  1288. 
Hicks,  Rev.  Mr.,  675. 
High  Church,  asceticism  of  J.  Wesley,  175  ; 

views   in    America,  244  ;    modified,    247 ; 

mob,  373. 
"  High  heads  "  condemned,  27. 
Hill,  David,  of  China,  1452. 
Hill,  Mr.  Thomas,  686. 
Hill,  Rev.  Charles,  of  Tavistock,  649. 


Index 


1469 


Hill,  Rowland,  828,  834,  871,  S80,  1382,  1000,  1182. 

Hill,  Sir  Richard,  643,  871,  876. 

Hills,  The,  of  York,  1400. 

Hinchinbrooke,  Lady,  632. 

Hinde  Street  Society,  543 ;  mission  work, 
1447. 

History,  oC  Methodism,  17  ;  of  the  English 
Church  b}T  Abbey  and  Overton,  21  ;  of 
the  Orphan  House,  Dr.  Stamp's,  538. 

Hoadlev,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  135. 

Hobhoiise,  Sir  John,  1352. 

Hocking,  Joseph  and  Silas  K.,  1375. 

Hodges,  John,  of  Wenvo,  Wales,  563,  669. 

Hogarth's  cartoons,  20,  30,  35,  231,  1037,  1151, 
1152. 

Holden,  Sir  Isaac,  II. P.,  1400. 

Holder,  Mrs.,  a  preacher,  918. 

Holladay,  Thomas,  1292. 

Holmeses  of  Hull,  The,  1400. 

Holy  Club,  The,  40,  183,  194,  200,  201,  206,  218, 
225,  237,  327,  594  ;  a  modern,  1441. 

"Holy  Hannah,  '  1158,  1181. 

Holy  Living  and  Dying,  Taylor's,  170,  172. 

Holyoake,  President,  817. 

Home  mission  work,  106;  the  fund.  1445. 

Hook's  view  of  Methodist  bishops.  284. 

Hope,  Lady,  887,  9091 

Hopkey,  Miss,  776. 

Hopkins,  J.  H.,  1441. 

Hopper,  Christopher,  453,  524,  587,  722,  735, 
739  ;  account  of,  742,  802. 

Horder,  Garret,  1016. 

Horncastle  glorv,  The,  1359. 

Horwill.  Rev.  W.  H.,  M.A.,  1242. 

Hospital,  almshouse,  123;  first  for  the  sick, 
unendowed,  147. 

Howard,  John,  his  predecessor  in  prison  re 
form,  230,  536,  538,  992,  1097. 

Howard,  John,  mayor  of  Bedford,  1394. 

Howdens,  The,  1396. 

Howe,  John,  47,  86. 

Howey,  James,  184. 

Hewitt's  Journal,  1358. 

Hoxton  Institution,  The,  1317,  1333. 

Hugh,  John,  763. 

Hughes,  Hugh  Price,  M.A.,  20,  174,  310,  325, 
1441, 1452. 

Huguenot  refugees  in  England,  322,  543,  983  ; 
in  Dublin,  944 ;  influence  of  their  music, 
1002. 

Hull,  Wesley,  preaches  in  the  parish  church, 
1091 ;  the  laymen  of,  1202  ;  Mary  Barritt 
invited  to,  1303. 

Hulme,  Samuel,  1226. 

Hume,  David,  33,  633,  851. 

Humphreys,  Joseph,  410,  413,  752. 

Hunt,  John,  missionarv  to  Fiji,  1216. 

Huntingdon,  Selina,  Countess  of,  260,  336, 
339.  45°,  452*  5*7i  623,  628,  634,  640,  642.  671, 
676,  679,  688,  697,  753,  772,  858,  892,  1082. 

Hurrell,  Miss,  a  preacher,  918. 

Hus,  John,  277. 

Hutchins,  Richard,  335. 

Hutton,  James,  262,  278,  294,  334,  373. 

Hutton,  Mr.  R.  H.,  of  the  Saturday  Review, 
1301. 

Hutton,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Westminster,  297. 

Hymn  book,  Wesley's  first,  253,  1005. 

Hymn,  old  Moravian,  291. 

Hymns,  written  for  the  Spectator,  135  ;  com- 
posed at  sea  by  Charles  Wesley,  251  ; 
Wesley's  first  book  of,  253  ;  of  S.  Wes- 
ley, 387,  1014 ;  occasioned  by  the  earth- 
quake, 784;  read  in  City  Road  Chapel 
by  Wesley,  986 ;  collection  of,  1019 ;  in 
Wesley's  last  moments,  1126. 


Imitation  of  Christ,  The,  170. 

Imperial  Magazine,  The,  1284. 

Imposition  of  hands,  1209. 

"In  Darkest  England,"  1378. 

Independents,  The,  39. 

India  mission  proposed,  1062  ;  missionaries 
in,  1216. 

Indians  in  Georgia,  The,  232;  vocabulary  of 
their  language,  619;  employed  by  Eng- 
land in  the  war,  956. 

Ingham,  Benjamin,  206,  211,  236;  in  Georgia, 
248,  travels  with  Wesley,  316;  at  Fetter 
Lane,  334  ;  his  teaching,  452  ;  with  Nelson, 
482:  Indian  vocabulary,  619:  usefulness 
of,  629  ;  account  of,  670. 

Innocent,  Rev.  John,  1228. 

Inquiry,  Carey's,  1062.  ■ 

Ireland,  C.  Wesley  asked  to  live  in,  155 ; 
Cennick  in,  417;  intemperance  in,  557; 
malicious  rumois  in,  718;  in  Wesley's 
journals,  723;  Shirley  in,  882;  honoTs 
Wesley,  1115;  a  fruitful  field,  1262  ;  the 
Methodist  Church  in,  1445. 

Irish  Wesleys.  The,  43  ;  the  Channel  and  the 
country  and  people,  609,  700,  706,  726; 
Confetences,  729,  1116;  Sunday  schools. 
1000  ;  languages,  711,  713,  723,  1263  ;  Metho- 
dism, 1271  ;  missionaries,  1269;  preachers, 
1078  ;  an  instantaneous  conversion,  ion. 

Islington,  133.  331,  537. 


Jackson,  George,  B.A.,  1446. 

Jackson,  John,  R.A.,  1411. 

Jackson,  Samuel,  1325. 

Jackson,  Thomas,  quoted,  152,  155,  431,  700, 
1304,  1362;  Newton's  biographer,  1315: 
conversion  of,  1302;  on  the  seminary 
committee,  1317  ;  account  of,  1322. 

Jacobite  sermons,  38;  intrigues,  146;  rebel- 
lion, 136,  620;  Oxonians,  156,  208,  391,  617. 

Jaco,  Peter,  524. 

James,  John  Angel,  1288. 

Jane,  John,  586. 

Jav,  William,  of  Bath,  1173 

Jekyl  Sound,  Ga.,  449;  suggests  a  hymn  to 
C.  Wesley,  1029. 

Jenkins,  Dr.  E.  E.,  1426,  1452. 

Jennings.  Sarah,  630. 

Jersev,  Island  of,  1055,  1075 ;  Methodists  in, 
1178. 

Jewel,  Bishop,  1003. 

Jewett,  Jedidiah,  841. 

Jews  approached  by  Walsh,  714. 

Job,  Samuel  Wesley's  book  on,  1161. 

Jobson,  Dr.  F.  J.,  1321,  1322,  1358,  1425. 

Jobson,  Mrs.,  1360. 

John  Street  Chapel,  New  York,  801. 

John  Street,  Waterford,  Ireland,  725. 

Johnsoa,  R.  C,  1445. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  18,  19,  27;  opinion  of  Buck- 
ingham, 119;  on  Oxford  ways,  161  ;  on 
Law's  Call,  189;  leaves  college,  217; 
friend  of  Oglethorpe,  229;  a  Pembroke 
man,  262  ;  friend  of  Mrs.  Hall,  472  ;  not 
a  sycophant,  848  ;  at  Tunbridge  W'ells, 
888;  a  dictator,  955;  with  Wesley,  959, 
1037,  1139,  1140 ;  some  opinions,  1164. 

Jones,  Dora  M.,  1404. 

Jones,  Edward,  1445. 

Jones,  John,  M.D.,  573. 

Jones,  Rev.  Griffith,  325,  344,  752. 

Jones,  Theophilus,  881. 


1470 


Index 


Jones,  T.  Wvnne,  763. 

joss,  Torial,  828,  833,  834. 

Journal,  Wesley's,  139;  important  in  litera- 
ture, 172,  609;  in  Ireland,  722-,  quoted, 
256,  257,  258,  705,  730,  876,  997,  1097,  1144, 
1351  ;  commended  tor  style,  1103-,  White- 
field's,  333. 

Joyce,  Matthias,  1078,  1081. 

Jubilee,  The  missionary,  1447. 

Julian,  John,  hymnology,  1016 ;  on  C.  Wes- 
ley's hymns,  1024. 

Jumpers,  The,  in  Wales,  355. 

Junius's  Letters,  789,  797,  1164. 

Justification  by  faith.  225,  275,  395,  858,  861. 

n. 

Kay,  J.  Robinson,  1394. 

Kead,  Thomas,  721. 

Kebles,  The,  211. 

Keeling,  Annie  E.,  907,  1404. 

Keeling,  Isaac,  1331. 

Keighley,  Joshua,  q8o. 

Kelly,  Rev.  C.  H.,  203,  968,  1385,  1433,  1452. 

Ken,  Bishop,  216,  1014. 

Kennicott,  Benjamin,  599,  600,  1091. 

Kerr,  Rev.  J.,  1365. 

Kilham,  Alexander,  1202,  1209,  1219,  1222. 

Kilhamite  secession,  the,  1202, 1209. 

Kilsyth,  445,  748;  Rev.  James  Robe,  the  min- 
ister, 326. 

Kinchin,  Charles,  dean  of  Corpus  Christi, 
215,  1286 ;  at  Dummer,  267 ;  at  Fetter 
Lane,  335;  at  Oxford,  416. 

King,  Chancellor,  influences  Wesley,  574. 

King,  John,  811. 

King,  Thomas,  1237. 

King's  College,  Aberdeen,  736. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  1358. 

Kingswbod,  the  colliers,  340;  watch  night, 
383;  improvement  in,  403;  the  school, 
416,  589,  658,  850;  A.  Clarke  at,  1071,  1090, 
1209,  1403. 

Kmnish,  William,  1052. 

Kipling,  Lockwood,  1412. 

Kirk,  Rev.  John,  465. 

Kirkham,  Mrs.,  405 ;  Miss  Betty,  207,  775 ; 
Mr.  Robert,  of  Merton,  207. 

Kitchener,  Sir  Herbert,  1387. 

Kitely,  Mrs.,  919. 

Knight,  Charles,  495. 

Knowle,  French  prisoners  in,  785. 

Knox,  Alexander,  579,  775,  1083,  1097,  1115, 
1141,  1146,  1262. 

Knox,  John,  451. 

Knox,  Miss  Sally,  775. 


Lackington,  Mr.,  558. 

Lady   Huntingdon's    Connection,    642,    654, 

679-  _. 

Lake  Farm  House,  Devon,  1241.  . 

Lambert,  Mrs.,  472. 

Lambeth  Palace,  640  ;  the  quarterly  meet- 
ing, 1377;  mission  work,  1442. 

Lampe,  J.  F.,  548,  1005  ;  conversion  of,  1108. 

"  Lancashire  lass,"  The,  1303. 

Lancaster,  John,  hanged,  537. 

Lang,  Andrew,  160. 

Lardner,  Nathaniel,  39. 

Large  Book,  The,  1019. 

Latimer's  prison  at  Oxford,  158;  sermon  at 
St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  339;  com- 
parison with  Wesley,  1091. 

Lavington,  Bishop,  258,  651,  848,  1145. 


Law,  William,  19,  50;  Whyte's  lecture  on, 
135  ;  works,  170,  188  ;  a  mystic,  189,  205, 
217,221;  Wesley  consults  with,  235;  Dr. 
Heylyn's  curate,  306;  defective  teach- 
ing, 312  ;  a  nonjuror,  391. 

Lawrence,  Sarah,  at  Madeley,  907. 

Lay  preacher,  Howell  Harris  the  first  Meth- 
odist, 324  ;  the  high  sheriff  one,  596.. 

Lay  preachersat  work,  450  ;  martyrs  among. 
523;  self-supporting,  562,  567,  583  ;in  Ire- 
land, 700,  707. 

Laymen  at  Conference,  571,  1177,  1389  ;  re- 
sults, 1448. 

Leatherhead,  Wesley's  last  sermon  preached 
in,  1123. 

Lecky  quoted,  21,  34,  40;  describes  Ogle- 
thorpe, 229  ;  on  Wesley's  conversion,  311  ; 
on  the  religious  revolution,  569,  1165, 
1167,  1183,  1196. 

Leeds,  Nelson  imprisoned  in,  488;  confer- 
ences held  at,  573,  575,  577,  591, 671, 954, 1116, 
1257  ;  the  mob,  614  ;  first  chapel  in,  804  ; 
newspapers,  806,  1150 ;  first  missionary 
meeting  held  in,  1215  ;  stories,  1337. 

Legal  Conference,  The,  361,  948,  972,  131 1. 

Leigh,  Samuel,  1272. 

Leith,  Whitefield's  landing  at,  445- 

Lelievre,  Dr.  M.,  586,  1452. 

Lessey,  Theophilus,  1142,  1331,  1338. 

Le  Sueur,  Pierre,  1055. 

Lewes.  George  H.,  1297. 

Lewis,  J.,  Sermons  of,  1452. 

Leys  School,  The,  1403. 

Leytonstone,  Essex,  895  898,  952. 

Liddon,  Canon,  944. 

Liden,  John,  798. 

Lidgett,  J.  Scott,  M.A.,  1441  ;  the  family, 
1 40c. 

Life  of  God  in  the  Soul  of  Man.  The,  219. 

Life,  Walk,  and  Triumph  of  Faith,  The,  679. 

Limerick,  709,  710;  Walsh  preaches  in,  712  ; 
Conference  in,  1752,721  ;  Wesley  preaches 
in,  728. 

Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  165,  178,  185. 

Lincoln,  The  Bishop  of,  17b;  J.  Downes  in 
the  jail,  611  ;  Fletcher  lost  on  the  hill, 
942. 

"Lincolnshire  Thrasher,''  The,  1293. 

Lisburn,  Ireland,  721,  728,  1271. 

Little  Britain,  298,  305. 

Little  St.  Helen's.  66. 

Liverpool,  The  Bishop  of,  on  Berridge,  676; 
on   Whitefield's    sermons,   the    mission, 

1438. 

Llangeitho  rectory,  754. 

Llangollen,  943. 

Lloyd's  Evening  Post,  806,  1150. 

Local  Preachers'  Association,  The   1434. 

Locke,  John,  166,  185,  894. 

Lockwood's  Western  Pioneers,  807. 

Lomas,  Rev.  John,  918,  1325,  1422. 

London,  A  bishop  of.  61  ;  in  Wesley's  day, 
133  ;  the  wall,  364  ;  watch  night,  1742,  383 ; 
interesting  places,  543  ;  the  earthquake 
panic  in,  783;  slums,  1306;  mission  work 
in.  1441  the  missionary  scci&t*  890,110s, 
1189,1215;  the  tavern.  1343  1353;  the  Chris- 
tian Advocate,  1361  ;  the  Magazine,  1155  ; 
Quarterly  Review,  852,  1234,  1240,  1393 , 
Punch,  1449. 

Londonderry,  1271,  1383. 

Long  Lane,  Tumult  at,  519. 

Long  Parliament,  The,  64. 

Lopez,  Gregory,  921. 

"Lord  President  of  the  North,"  803. 

Lorton,  Lord,  1269. 


Index 


1471 


Lotteries,  State,  25. 

Love  feast  in  Fetter  Lane,  334. 

Ludgate  jail,  212. 

Lunnell,  Mr.,  701. 

Luther,  Martin,  262,  277,  302,  308,  337. 

Lutton,  Anne,  ot"  Moira,  1305. 

Lycett,  Sir  Francis,  1396,  1425. 

M 

McArthur,  Alexander,  M.P.,  1383,  1403. 

McArthur,  Sir  William,  1383,  1455;  the  col- 
lege, 1445. 

McAulav,  Alexander,  143S,  1442. 

McCarthy,  Marv,  1306. 

McCullagh,  Rev.  T.,  1385. 

McKechnie,  C.  C,  1237. 

McMillen,  Gibson,  1415. 

McMullen,  Dr.  \\\,  1445. 

McCjuigg,  James,  1263. 

McQuilkin's  conversion,  1269. 

McTyeire,  Bishop  H.  N.,  75,  958,  959,  988. 

MacAfee,  Daniel,  1381. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  referred  to,  20,  29,  73,  90, 
373.  569.  s56.  "47.  1158,  1165- 

Macaulay,  Zachary,  11 78,  1190. 

Macclesfield  ministers,  The,  1233. 

Macdonald,  F.  W.,  quoted,  310,  399,  868,  877, 
1399,  1416,  1451. 

Macdonald,  Rev.  George  B.,  1442. 

Macdonald,  John,  1417. 

Mackenzie,  Peter,  1452. 

Madan,  Rev.  Martin,  referred  to,  673,  681, 
689,  1157  ;  account  of,  883. 

Madeley,  691  ;  the  curate,  907 ;  the  converts, 
946. 

Maggots,  Poems  by  S.  Wesley,  71. 

Mallet,  David,  33. 

Mallet  Miss  Sarah,  qi6. 

Man,  Isle  of,  1048,  1050,  1051. 

"  Man  of  one  book,"  A,  201. 

Manchester,  Wesle}-  visits,  235,  289,  1307 ;  the 
coach,  297  ;  church  and  chapel,  20^,"  Meth- 
odism, 332,  591,  1202  ;  Prince  Charles  in, 
616,  618  ;  Strangers'  Friend  Societv,  1248  ; 
centenary  meeting,  1333;  John  Cassell, 
1434  ;  the  mission,  1438. 

Manifesto,  Wesley's,  856;  R.  Watson's,  1366. 

Mann,  Charles,  1226. 

Mann,  John,  1374. 

Mansion  House,  London,  1383. 

Maori  New  Testaments,  1189. 

Marrat,  Jabez,  748,  749. 

Marriage  Law,  The,  35. 

Marriott,  Thomas,  1396. 

Marston,  Mrs.,  of  Worcester,  811. 

Martyn,  Henry,  1191. 

Maryland,  427";  Strawbridge  in,  801 ;  White- 
field  in,  819. 

Marylebone,  133,  448,  850,  1037. 

Maskew,  Jonathan,  532. 

Massey.  Miss,  916. 

Mather,  Alexander,  621,  695,  763,  980,  1133, 
1211. 

Mather,  Marshall,  1375. 

Maurice,  Colonel  and  F.  D.,  1196. 

Mawson,  H.  T.,  1375. 

Maxfield,  Thomas,  410,  418,  524,  545,  563,  795. 

Maxwell,  Lady,  8S7,  909,  911,  916. 

Maynooth  Endowment  Bill.  The,  1380. 

Meditations,  Hervey's,  212,  649. 

Member's  Ticket,  The,  592. 

Meriton,  John,  514,  563,  596,  650,  669. 

"Messiah,  The,"  Wesley  hears,  1008.- 

Methodism.  50  ;  begins.  ;,o4.  319,  ;?8  :  extends, 
450,551,560;  fashionable,  633;  attitude  of. 


720  ;  in  Ireland,  700,  1445  ;  in  Wales,  757  ; 
growth  foreseen,  770;  described  by  Wes- 
ley, 799  ;  in  America,  934,  957,  971 ;  in  the 
Isle  of  Man,  104S  ;  firm  basis  of,  1133  ;  re- 
viled in  print,  1150;  the  stage,  1156;  in 
politics,  1198;  record,  1294;  first  centenary 
of,  1332 ;  and  the  establishment,  1362 ; 
skillfully  steered,  1363. 

Methodist  Church,  The,  361,  934,  1210,  1382  ; 
the  movement,  20,  187 ;  the  name,  194, 
934  ;  local  preachers,  1178. 

"Methodist  Close,"  Dundee,  749. 

Methodist  Magazine,  The,  1110,  1232;  Me- 
morial, Atmore's,  1261 ;  Recorder,  918, 
1452  ;  Times,  1452-. 

Methodist  New  Connection,  The,  and  Mr. 
Booth,  1377. 

Methodist  tutor,  A,  687. 

Methodists,  in  Oxford,  206 ;  suspected  of 
poperj-,  391 ;  in  Wednesbury,  495 ;  in 
parish  councils,  581;  at  St.  Mary  s,  599; 
a  loyal  people,  609 ;  evangelicals,  647, 
673,  1166;  in  Wales,  751. 

Metropolitan  Chapel  Building  Fund,  The, 
1398,  1442. 

Milner,  Joseph  and  Isaac,  68i,  880,  1173,  1175. 

Milton,  John,  62,  65,  147,  163. 

Minories,  The,  332. 

Mintons,  The,  1230. 

Minutes  of  Conference,  563  ;  provoke  contro- 
versy, 857. 

Missionaries  at  Professor  Francke's,  282 ; 
at  Spitalfields  Chapel,  808  ;  the  first,  890. 

Missionary  meeting  at  Leeds,  1215  ;  the  ship, 
the  Duff,  1190;  the  society,  1061,  1311  ;  for 
Africa  and  the  East,  1191 ;  the  spirit,  227. 

Missions,  Foreign,  106,  107;  begun  by  Dr. 
Coke,  1189;  of  Wesleyan  Methodists, 
1215  :  of  the  New  Connection,  1224;  in 
Ireland,  1445. 

Mitchell,  Thomas,  532,  1255. 

Miter,  The,  by  E.  Perronet,  668. 

Mobs  on  the  track  of  the  Wesleys,  495,  496, 
498,  518,  1074,  1075,  1097. 

Moderator  of  classes,  Wesley  a,  185. 

Moderators  in  Methodism,  933. 

Mohammedans,  Work  for  the,  1191. 

Mohican  Bible,  The,  233. 

Moira,  727,  1305  ;  Countess  of,  635,  637. 

Molther,  P.  H.,  372,  1021. 

Mon  Plaisir,  1073. 

Montague,  Lady  Mary  Wortley,  623. 

Montgomery,  James,  1014,  1338. 

Monthly  Review,  The,  1157. 

Monyash,  Nelson  in,  483. 

Moore,  Henry,  quoted,  510,  75s.  04;;  ordained 
by  Wesley,  980;  describes  C.  Wesley, 
1038  ;  account  of,  1083 ;  quoted,  1090,  1099  ; 
1133,  1140;  referred  to,  1106,  m8,  1251  ; 
withdraws,  1207. 

Moore,  John,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  261. 

Moorfiekls,  137,  344,  345,  364;  C.  Wesley 
preaches  in,  400;  Whitefield's  tabernacle 
in,  440,  478. 

Moravian  Messenger.  The,  370. 

Moravians,  Gambold  joins  the,  212;  their 
teaching,  226  ;  martyrs  among  the,  235  ; 
on  the  Simmonds,  238,  240  ;  consulted  by 
Wesley,  255  ;  encampment,  281  ;  emi- 
grants' song,  282 ;  hymn,  291,  292 ;  a  society 
of,  334  ;  Cenwick  joins  the,  348  ;  love  feast 
of.  in  Georgia,  382  ;  Ingham  with  the,  452  ; 
in  Dublin  riots,  702  ;  in  Wales,  755  ;  tunes 
of,  in  Wesley's  book,  1005  ;  comment  on 
Wesley's  translation  of  Rothe's  hymn, 
1022. 


1472 


Index 


More,  Hannah,  262,  775,  1038,  1181. 
Morgan,  William,  202,  204,  207,  211,  714,  717. 
Morley,  George,  1260,  1328. 
Morning  Chronicle,  The,  1152,  1153  ;  the  Post, 

879. 
Morning  hymns  by  C.  Wesley,  1028. 
"  Morning  Star  "  of  the  revival  in  Wales,  752. 
Mornington,  Lord,  155,  1037. 
Moulton,  Dr.  William  F.,  1418,  1428,  1449,  1457- 
Moulton,  J.  F.,  Q.C.,  F.R.S.,  1418,1430. 
Moulton,  Professor  R.  G.,  1418. 
Moulton,  Rev.  J.  E.,  1418. 
Mow  Cop,  1230. 
Mundella,  Mr.,  1433. 
Murlin,  John,  898,  1134,  1200. 
Murray,"  Grace,  541,  563,776,  778. 
Myles,"William,  1081. 
Mysticism,  Errors  of,  313  ;  Wesley's,  189. 
Mystics,  The,  619. 

N 

Xapier,  Right  Honorable  J.,  M.P.,  1415. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  15s,  797,  11S2. 

Naval  and  Military  Bible  Society,  1184. 

Navlor,  Rev.  William,  1381. 

Necessity  and  Benefits  of  Religious  Society, 
Whitefield's  sermon  on  the,  265. 

Nelson,  John,  410,  450,  452  ;  account  of,  475, 
478,  480,  481 ;  in  London,  484  ;  pressed,  488  ; 
at  Hepworth  Moor,  492  ;  in  Cornwall,  507, 
524  ;  at  Conference,  573  ;  his  trade,  587, 
804  ;  at  Birstall,  610  ;  at  Haworth,  656  ;  his 
preaching,  793,  856 ;  in  the  Scilly  Islands, 
1052  ;  quoted,  1091,  1095. 

Nelson,  Robert,  146. 

New  birth,  The,  202. 

New,  Charles,  1374. 

New  Connection,  Jubilee  Volume,  1220;  The, 
1224,  1365 ;  Magazine,  1227 ;  Book  Room, 
1227  ;  missionaries,  1228. 

New  Inn  Hall,  Oxford,  46,  162. 

"New  Lights,"  The,  273,  818. 

Newcastle  on  Tyne,  451 ;  orphan  house  at, 
534,  776,  780;  \Vesley  in,  611;  expects  the 
Pretender,  614  ;  Sunday  schools  at,  999. 

Newgate  prison,  329,  404. 

Newington  College,  Sydney,  N.  S.  W.,  1418. 

Newlands,  744. 

Newman,  Bishop  J.  P.,  1457. 

Newman,  Cardinal,  211,  315. 

Newspaper,  The  first  Methodist,  441 ;  misin- 
formation, 806  ;  the  first  daily,  1149. 

Newswriter,  The,  1149. 

Newton,  Dr.  Robert,  1313  ;  account  of,  1314, 

I338i  !4I5- 
Newton,  John,  655,  659,  681,  844,  1162,  1172  ;  ac- 
count of,    1 168 ;    in    Church    Missionary 

Society,  1190,  1191. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  18,  25,  90,  565. 
New  York,  Whitefield  in,  423,  428;  objects  to 

taxation,  797;    first  chapel  in,  801;  help 

secured  for,  805. 
Nicholas,  Dr.  W.,  1428,  1445. 
Nicodemus's  Corner,  Bath,  633  ;    his  Room, 

London,  544. ' 
Nightingale,  T.,  128,  1377. 
Nitschman,  David,  238,  281. 
Nitschman,  Hans,  281. 
Noel,  Rev.  Baptist,  1179. 
Normal  schools,  1347- 
Normanbv,  Marquis  of,  81,  no. 
North  London  Mission,  The,  1442. 
North,  Lord,  Wesley's  letter  to,  957. 
Northampton,  Whitefield    in,    429 ;  Wesley 

visits  Doddridge  in,  614. 


Norwich,  The  Bishop  of,  643  ;  J.  Wheatley 
in,  793- 

Notes  on  the  New  Testament,  Wesley's,  792, 
1106. 

Nottingham,  Nelson  in,  490 ;  chapel  de- 
stroyed, 503;  Assizes,  1293;  St.  Mary's 
Church  at,  1297  ;  Conference,  1389. 

Nyon,  birthplace  of  Fletcher,  698,  941. 


O 

Oastler,  Richard,  1352. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  1381. 

O'Connor,  F.  G.,  1353. 

Odell,  Joseph,  1238. 

Ogier,  Pierre,  1074. 

Oglethorpe,  General  James  Edward,  108 ; 
founder  of  Georgia  colony,  229,  231,  234, 
239 ;  at  Frederica,  24S,  272,  283,  428,  449 ; 
views  on  slavery,  827 ;  guest  of  C.  Wes- 
ley, 1037. 

Oglethorpe,  Lady,  Letter  to,  1029  ;  letter  of, 
1030. 

Oldham,  998,  1308. 

O'Leary,  Father,  and  John  Wesley,  1145. 

Olivers,  Thomas,  524;  hymn  writer,  587; 
account  of,  749,  860,  870,  873,  mi,  1317. 

Olnev  Hymns,  The,  1162,  1173. 

O'Neill,  Rev.  A.,  1360. 

( (nions,  Michael,  942. 

Onslow,  Arthur,  the  speaker,  at  Tunbridge 
Wells,  888. 

Oracle,  The  Athenian,  83. 

Ordinations,  bv  Ingham,  671  ;  proposed  in 
America,  963  ;  by  Wesley,  980;  Bunting's 
views  on,  1312. 

Orphan  house  at  Newcastle,  The,  534,  538, 
1090  ;  in  Georgia,  228,  272,  274,  339,  422,  427- 
444,  449,  820;  in  Ladv  Huntingdon's  hands, 
825,  838. 

Osborn,  Dr.  George,  at  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference, 378,  1331.  1373,  1455 ;  finds  a  Wes- 
lev  letter,  798;  quoted,  975,  1005,  1311 ; 
Fernley  lecturer,  1224  ;  opposed  lay  rep- 
resentation, 1390. 

Osmotherly,  612,  614. 

Ouseley,  Gideon,  1061,  1263. 

Ouseley,  Sir  Gore  and  Sir  Ralph,  1264. 

Overton,  Canon,  quoted,  21,  37,  38,  112 ;  at 
Epworth,  115;  Life  of  Wesley,  117,  146, 
151,  194,  255,  309,  312  ;  on  the  physical  phe- 
nomena, 352  ;  Wesley's  object,  369 ;  fury 
of  the  mob,  391,  432,  436  574,  634,  673,  690, 
776,  792,  827,  848,  940,  968,  981, 1139,  1146, 1165, 

Owemsm  opposed,  1373. 

Owen,  John,  vice  chancellor  at  Oxford,  46, 
48,  50,  51,  11S9. 

Oxford,  Lord,  26;  gardens  and  walks,  28; 
reforms  needed  at,  49 ;  James  II  at,  72  ; 
Wesley  at,  157,  158,  163 ;  Holy  Club's 
work,  204,  225,  252,  262,  285,  297  ;  University 
sermon,  328  ;  Nelson  in,  484  ;  race  week, 
599  ;  value  of  the  training  to  Wesley,  594  ; 
beauties  of,  602  ;  expulsions,  643  ;  in  the 
time  of  Coke,  1058. 


Paine,  Thomas,  1197. 
Palatines,  The,  729,  730. 
Palmer,  Sir  Roundell,  1015. 
Pan-Methodist  Conference,  A,  1457- 
"  Paradise  of  Martyrs,"  The,  1361. 
Parish  Priest,  The,  147. 


Index 


1473 


Parker,  Dr.,  in  City  Road  Chapel,  1228. 

Parker,  Thomas,  Esq.,  1064. 

Parkes,  The,  of  Birmingham,  1400. 

Parks,  Joan,  502. 

Parry,  James,  Watson's  Life  of,  1227. 

Parsons,  Rev.  Jonathan,  of  Newburyport, 
841. 

Pawson,  John,  at  Leeds,  901  ;  anecdote  told 
by,  920  ;  ordained  for  Scotland,  980,  985  t 
on  Wesley's  foresight,  1133  ;  onadmimv 
tering  the  sacraments,  1207  ;  account  of, 
1211 ;  encourages  Mrs.  Taft,  1303. 

Pearse,  Mark  Guy,  647,  1285,  1441, 

Pease,  Edward,  853. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  1348  ;  the  first  Sir  Robert, 

1351- 

Peirce,  W.,  1452. 

Pendarves,  Mrs.,  623,  627,  775. 

Penn,  William,  47,  166,  415. 

Pepusch,  organist  of  the  Charterhouse,  143, 
548,  1008. 

Percy,  chaplain  to  Washington,  828. 

Perfection,  The  doctrine  of  Christian,  395. 

Perks,  G.  T.,  1425. 

Perks,  R.  W.,  M.P.,  shows  the  deed  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  975  ;  explains  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  1382. 

Perronet,  Charles,  514,  575,  666,  66q,  701  ;  Ed- 
ward, 575,  668;  Vincent,  573,  646;  account 
of,  664  ;  C.  Wesley  confides  in,  769  934. 

Persecutions  of  Puritans,  45;  of  United 
Brethren,  278 ;  marvelous  escapes,  281  ; 
of  Methodists,  611,  707, 1050,  1450;  of  Prim- 
itive Methodists,  1235. 

Pescod,  Joseph,  948. 

Peters,  Sarah,  in  Newgate,  919. 

Petty,  W.,1231, 1238. 

Philadelphia,  Whitefield  in,  421,  428;  Pres- 
byterian Church  in,  426;  missionaries  in, 
809;  Conference  in,  955;  newspaper  de- 
scription of  Newton,  1314. 

"  Philalethes  "  advises  Wesle)',  875. 

Philanthropy,  Wesley's,  284,  534,  1097. 

Piercv,  George,  missionary  in  China,  1217. 

Piercy,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Charlestown,  825,  888. 

Piers,  Henry,  Vicar  of  Bexley,  297,  329;  at 
Lambeth  with  C.  Wesley,  400,  563  ;  at  St. 
Mary's  with  Wesley,  596 ;  at  Shoreham, 
664,  669. 

Pietas  Oxoniensis,  872. 

Pietism,  282. 

Pilgrim  Street  Gate,  Newcastle,  615. 

Pillion,  The,  777. 

Pilmoor,  Joseph,  421 ;  in  Wales,  762,  763  ;  his 
diary,  767  ;  offers  for  America,  805  ;  Lat- 
imer's description,  807  ;  at  the  Foundry, 
808;  in  America.  809,  811;  influence  on 
Griffith,  1082. 

Pitt,  Mr.,  356;  Wesley  writes  to,  556,  1098; 
Lord  Chatham,  674, 1177,  1308. 

Plain  Account,  Weslej-'s,  664. 

Platonic  Puritan,  The,  47. 

Plan  of  Pacification,  The,  1208,  1211. 

Plea  for  Religion,  A,  915. 

Pocket  Companion,  The,  for  Oxford,  157. 

Pococks,  The,  1400. 

Political  patronage  and  literature,  29;  cor- 
ruption, 30  ;  dissension  at  Epworth,  96  ; 
Weslev's  protest,  787,  789. 

Poll  Deed,"  The,  071. 

Polyglot  Bible,  Samuel  Wesley's,  103. 

Poole,  John,  561. 

I'ope,  Alexander,  18  ;  bust  of,  at  Bath,  25  ; 
friend  of  S.  Wesley,  149;  quoted,  358, 
441,  620  ;  lashes  Lord  Hervey,  919  ;  satir- 
izes Whitefield,  1161. 


Pope,  Dr.  W.  Birt,  quoted,  792,  1322,  1366 ; 
Fernley's  biographer,  1394 ;  works  of, 
1427. 

Pope,  H.  J.,  1438,  1442. 

Post  Boy,  The,  1149. 

Potter,  Bishop,  ordains  Wesley,  176;  Gam- 
bold,  211  ;  Archbishop  of  "Canterbury, 
282,  336,  400. 

Potts,  John,  F.G.S.,  1400. 

Prayer  Book  forms  compulsory,  55  ;  revised 
by  Weslej-,  932. 

Preachers,  pressed  for  soldiers,  524  ;  some  of 
the  best,  799  ;  in  Whitefield's  tabernacle, 
828  ;  "preachers  of  the  Gospel,"  977  ;  in- 
fluenced by  Watson's  works,  1321. 

Preaching,  Wesley's  style  of,  478  ;  advice 
about,  585;  G'rimshaw's,  660;  "for  a 
crown,"  756;  in  meetinghouses,  1166 ; 
Mr.  Bourne's,  1234. 

Predestination,  174,  432,  685. 

Presbyterian  body,  The,  39  ;  church  in  Phil- 
adelphia, 426. 

Press  gang,  The,  at  Bath,  402  ;  pressed  men, 
524. 

Prest,  Charles,  1331. 

Preston,  Westley  dies  at,  59 ;  the  men  of, 
1436. 

Price,  Mary,  Conversion  of,  545. 

Price,  Dr.,  Views  of,  on  taxation  of  the  colo- 
nies, 939. 

Primitive  Methodist  Connection,  The,  1230, 
1235;  General  Missionary  Committee 
formed,  1237  ;  statistics,  1239  ;  in  Ireland, 
i365- 

Primitive  Physic,  Wesle}-'s,  553,  1108. 

Primitive  Wesleyans,  1221. 

Princeton  College,  424,  821,  823. 

Prohibition,  275,  556. 

Protestant  Methodists,  The,  1366,  1368. 

Psalm  singing,  1002 ;  metrical  version  of 
Psalm  114,  1013. 

Public  Advertiser,  The,  789,  1152. 

Pulpit  of  the  Old  Foundry,  36S ;  of  Bristol 
Chapel,  362;  St.  Mary's,  Oxford,  595;  at 
Kinsale,  Ireland,  723. 

Punctuality,  Wesley's,  1139. 

Punshon,  William  Morley,  quoted,  469,1388; 
at  Exeter  Hall,  1415;  account  of,  1416 ; 
Conference  president,  1417  ;  contempora- 
ries, 1425. 

"  Purgatory  of  Suicides,"  The,  1358. 

Puritan  influences,  39 ;  Oxford,  Harvard, 
Yale,  49  ;  the  rabbi,  50  ;  Puritan  blood  in 
the  Wesleys,  68,  187. 

Puritanism,  restraints  of,  22  ;  Dr.  Stough- 
tonon,  39,  87;  reaction  against,  391. 

Pusey,  Dr.,  979, 1194,  1322,  1448. 


Quarterly  Meeting,  The,  591  ;  plan,  590;  Re- 
view, quoted,  757. 
"Queen  of  the  Methodists,"  The,  628,  635. 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  62,  162,  664. 
(Jueteville,  Jean  de,  1073. 

R 

Raikes,  Robert,  994,  996. 

Rambler,  The,  20. 

Rankin,  Account   of,  733;  sails  for  America, 

954  ;  ordained  by  Wesley,  980  ;  his  death, 

988,  1072. 
Ranters,  The,  1235,  1236. 
Ratcliffe  Library,  The,  28. 
Rattenbury,  John,  1331,  1415. 


1474 


Index 


Reader,  Rev.  Thomas,  of  Taunton,  943. 
Redfern,  Mary,  Mrs.  Bunting,  1307. 
Redruth,   Mrs.    Gilbert   in,   918  ;  Wesley   in, 

1092  ;  centenary  meeting  in,  1334. 
Reece,  Richard,  825  ;  in  America,  1321,  1341. 
Reeves,  Jonathan,  720,  744. 
Reformation  of  Manners,  Society  for   the, 

107. 
Reform  Bill  of  1832,  The,  1357. 
Regeneration,  in    baptism,    202 ;    preaching 

of,  326. 
Reilly, "William,  biographer  of  Ouseley,i268. 
Rejected  Addresses,  1449. 

Religious  Tract  Society.  The,  1105,  1181,  1182. 
Remonstrant  Confession,  The,  441. 
Renty,  Mr.  De.  Life  of,  921. 
Representative  session,  The,  1393. 
Rescue  work,  1437. 
Resurrection  body,  Johnston's  views  on  the, 

473- 

Revision  Committee,  The,  1419. 

Revival,  Great,  New  songs  of  the,  301 ;  in 
Scotland,  326,  444  ;  in  Cornwall,  505  ;  need 
for  the,  560. 

Reynolds,  Dr.,  893. 

Rich,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  143,  548,  1006,  1008. 

Richard  Smith,  Conviction  and  conversion 
of,  520. 

Richards,  Thomas,  563. 

•  Richardson,   Charles,   1293  ;  Rev.   John,  662, 
987,  1132,  1164. 

Richmond  College,  1322,  1325,  1422. 

Richmond,  Rev.  Legh,  1055,  1182. 

Ridley,  Bishop,  158,  451. 

Ridgway,  Mr.  John,  1226. 

Rigg,  Dr.,  quoted,  21,  78,  107,  172,  208,  247,  289, 
310,  315,  385,  522,  541,  627,  683,  693,  773,  932, 
934,  941,  948,  1090,  1143,  1146,  1238,  1240,  1286; 
leading  educationist,  1347;  memoir  of 
Kingsley,  1364  ;  president  of  Conference, 
1393 ;  Training  College  principal,  1403 ; 
literary  work  of,  142S  ;  the  Thanksgiving 
Fund,  1448. 

Rioters  at  Bristol,  403  ;  not  reformers,  521. 

Riots  in  St.  Ives  and  Wednock,  506,  507 ;  at 
Bolton,  509;  at  Falmouth,  510;  at  Shore- 
ham,  666;  at  Dublin,  701 ;  at  Levtonstone, 
898. 

Rishton.  John,  1139. 

Ritchie,  Elizabeth,  909,  910,  1127. 

Ritualism,  John  Wesley's,  187. 

Rivington,  the  bookseller,  208,  297. 

Robe,  Rev.  James,  326. 

Roberts,  Richard,  1445 ;  Robert,  524. 

Robinson,  E.  J.,  1415 ;  Henry  Crabb,  1121 ; 
Thomas,  1176. 

"  Rock  of  Ages,"  874. 

Rodd,  Lady,  470. 

Rodda,  Richard,  764,  998. 

Roebuck,  J.  H.,1372. 

Rogers,  Rev.  Daniel,  841  ;  James,  916,  947, 
1123,  1131,  1303 ;  Mrs.  Hester  Ann,  549, 
909,  916  ;  Professor,  quoted,  569  ;  Samuel, 
3132. 

Romaine,  William,  50,  642,  671,  673  ;  account 
of,  679,  697,  856,  857 ;  on  the  versified 
Psalms,  1014  ;  on  Watts's  "  whims,"  1015  ; 
assists  the  Bible  work,  1184. 

Romley,  Mr.,  curate  at  Epworth,  453,  459. 

Romney,  George,  Wesley's  portrait  by,  165, 
1 1 36. 

Rosebery,  Lord,  on  George  III,  788. 

Roweil,  Jacob,  803. 

Rowlands,  Daniei,  751,  752,  1185. 

"  Royal  Scots,"  The,  801. 

Royal  Society,  The,  49,  553. 


Rule,  W.  H.,  D.D.,  1385. 

Rules,  for  those  who  visit  the  poor  and  sick, 

535  ;  of  the  United  Societies,  541,  562  ;  of 

an  assistant,  567 ;  of  Kingswood  School, 

1143. 
Rusholme,  College  at,  1237. 
Ruskin,  John,  166,  1412. 
Russell,  Lord  John,  1345,  1380. 
"Ruth,"  oratorio  by  S.  Wesley,  1046. 
Ryan,  Mrs.,  905,  909.' 
Kyle,    Bishop,   37,    166,   676,   753,  849,  874,   885, 

940,  1058. 


Sacheverell,  Dr.,  73  ;  Wesley's  visit  to,  132  ; 
the  riots,  361,  373,  601,  938. 

Sacrament  in  the  preaching  rooms,  385  ;  re- 
fused by  the  clergy,  459,  575  ;  cups  used 
by  Wesley,  545  ;  administered  by  laymen, 
575  ;  an  impromptu,  947  ;  in  Madeley  and 
City  Road,  985  ;  from  unfit  clergy,  963 ; 
discussions  on  the  administration  of  the, 
1207. 

Sacramentarians,  194. 

Sacred  Harmony,  The,  1009. 

Sadler,  Michael  Thomas,  M.P.,  1352,  1354. 

"Saint  Paul  of  the  Nonconformists,"  The, 
61. 

"  Saints  of  Methodism,"  709,  1342. 

Salvation  Army,  The,  695,  1376,  1377. 

Salvation  by  faith,  262,  286,  289 ;  Wesley's 
sermon  on,  596. 

Salzburghers,  The,  234,  244. 

Sanctification,  The  doctrine  of,  592  ;  examples 
of,  669  ;  spread  of  the  work,  795. 

Sandemanian  controversy.  The,  671. 

Sanderson,  Sir  William  and  Lady  Frances, 
623,  624,  631. 

Saturday  Evening  Post,  The,  1314  ;  the  Re- 
view quoted,  396,  397,  1301. 

Savage,  Richard,  339. 

Saville,  Jonathan,  1292. 

Savannah,  228,  234,  243,  254. 

Scarlets,  The,  of  London,  1396. 

Schism  Act,  The,  131. 

Scilly  Isles,  The.  1052. 

Scotch,  Highlanders,  234;  Conference  presi- 
dent, 622 ;  interest  in  Princeton,  823 ; 
ordination  of  Bishop  Seabury,  936;  found- 
ers of  the  Free  Church,  1314. 

Scotland,  Revival  in,  326  ;  Whitefield  visits, 
442,  S33  ;  roads  and  inns  in,  740 ;  Princeton 
helped  by,  823  ;  preachers  ordained  for, 
980;  Wesley 'slast  visit  to,  1118;  forward 
movement  in,  1446. 

Scott,  Rev.  Thomas,  188,  681,  1174 ;  Sir  Gil- 
bert, 162 ;  Sir  Walter,  29,  1163 ,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.,  541,  623 ;  Rev.  John,  1325. 

Scriptural  Christianity,  Wesley's  sermon 
on,  607. 

Seabury,  Bishop,  ordained.  963. 

Secession  of  Lady  Huntingdon,  679,  888;  the 
first,  1209,  1219";  of  William  Bryan,  1242. 

Seeker,  Archbishop,  19,  37,  1157. 

Selby,  Rev.  T.  G.,  1301,  1452. 

Sellars,  Samuel,  1373. 

Sellon,  Rev.  Walter,  575,  696,  810,  811,  871. 

Selwvn,  Ladv,  264. 

Separation  from  the  Established  Church 
begins,  385  ;  not  intended,  562  ;  discussed, 
575*  653 ;  dreaded,  591,  646 ;  anticipated, 
665,  888,  934,  1166. 

Sergeant,  Adeline,  1404. 

Seven  Dials,  London,  543,  352. 

Seward,  William,  of  Badsey,  523,  762. 


Index 


1475 


Shadford,  George,  954,  960. 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  33,  1352. 

Sharpe,  Granville,  1098,  1187,  1190. 

Shebbear,  Devon,  1241. 

Sheffield  society,  The,  1275. 

Shent,  William^  587. 

"Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain,"  The,  1181. 

Shirlev.Hon.  and  Rev.Walter,  82S,  860,  8S2,883. 

Shorthand,  Dr.  Byrom's  system  of,  61S. 

Shrubsole,  William,  668. 

Shubotham.  Daniel.  1231. 

Sierra  Leone,  Mission  at,  S93,  1216. 

Sigston,  Mr.,  1366. 

Simeon,  Charles,  683,  1190,  1191,  1192. 

Simon,  Rev.  J.  S.,  665,  1240,  1452. 

Simpson,  Bishop  Matthew,  145.',  14^5. 

Simpson,  Rev.  David,  915. 

Simpson,  W.  ()..  1425.  1452. 

Sisterhoods  in  Methodism,  1403. 

"  Sisters  of  the  people,"  1306. 

Sitch,  William,  502. 

Slater,  Edward,  502. 

Slater,  W.  F.,  quoted,  1234,  1428,  1446. 

Slaughterhouse,  The  old,  Belfast,  729. 

Slavery,  Oglethorpe  and  Whitefield's  views, 
232,  275  ;  Wesley's,  1098,  1177;  discussed, 
1318,  1349. 

Sligo,  1116. 

Slocomb,  John,  610. 

Slugg,  J.  T.,  F.R.A.S.,  1400. 

Smetham,  James,  1403,  1412;  John,  1353. 

Smith,  Adam,  28 ;  Sir  Clarence,  1400 ;  Rev. 
Edward,  1441  ;  Dr.  George,  81,  380,  957, 
1285;  Sir  George,  1400;  Dr.  Gervase, 
1425;  Goldwin,  28,  49,  182;  H.  A.,  M.A., 
1400 ;  Jarrit,  787  ;  John,  50,  123S,  1277  ;  Rev. 
Sydney,  397,  1346;  W.  B.,  M.P.,  1400. 

Smithies,  Thomas  B.,  106,  139S,  1436. 

Smollett's  writings,  20,  914,  1165. 

Smuggling,  Wesley's  views  on,  592. 

Smyth,  Rev.  Edward,  1083. 

Social  schemes,  Wesley's,  557  ;  uprisings, 
1357  ;  methods  of  work,  552. 

Society,  The,  376 ;  the  Room  at  Bristol,  363. 

Society,  The,  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  18,  213,  221,  1181 ;  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  iS ;  for  the  Reformation  of  Man- 
ners, 18,  37,  107  ;  for  the  Suppression  of 
the  Slave  Trade,  1098  ;  for  the  Separation 
of  Church  and  State,  1361 . 

Some  Observations  on  Liberty,  Wesley's 
pamphlet,  959. 

Soup  kitchen  in  West  Street,  A.  552. 

South  Africa  Mission  and  Conference,  1216, 
1217. 

South  Leigh  and  Wesley's  first  sermon,  178. 

South  Ormsby,  Lincolnshire,  81,  84. 

South  Petherton,  Devon,  938,  1059,  1060. 

South,  Robert,  47,  79,  211. 

South  Sea  Bubble,  The,  25,  136. 

Southey,  Robert,  81,  152,  159,  189,  233,  337,  475, 
478,  527,  579,  676,  709,  813,  869,  880,  940,  1058, 
1142,  1146,  1172,  1197. 

Spa  Fields  preachers  and  chapel,  668,  888. 

Spangenberg,  Moravian  pastor,  241,  283,  284, 
373- 

Spectator,  The,  quoted,  20,  50,  69, 119, 1003,1430. 

Spencer,  John,  787. 

Spener,  "  Father  of  Pietism,"  282. 

Spiritual  Magazine,  The,  1109. 

Spital  Yard,  The,  64. 

Spitalfields,  384,  791. 

Sprat,  Dr.  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  47, 
73,  146. 

Spurgeon,  C.  H.,  Conversion  of,  1239,  1281. 


Stacey,  James,  D.D.,  1226. 
Staekhouse,  John,  Works  of,  914. 
Staffordshire,  495;  the  circuit,  695;  the  jail, 

1360. 
Stamp  Act,  The,  789. 
Staniforth,  Samson,  529,  531. 
Stanley,    Dean,    135,    1025,    1100,    1133;    Lady 

Stanley,  1447. 
Stanton,  Harcourt,  212. 
Statistics  of  Methodism  in  1839,  1344;  of  the 

Salvation    Army,    1378;    of    the    United 

Methodist  F"ree  Churches,  1376;  of  Wes- 

leyan  Methodism  in  Britain,  1457. 
Steele,  Richard,  18,  120,  127,  135. 
Stephen,    Sir   James,   quoted,   340,   851,  1165, 

1168,  1180;  Sir  James  Fitz-James,  quoted, 

396 ;  Leslie,  569. 
Stephens,  John,  1361  ;   Joseph  Raynor,  1353, 

1361,  1362. 
Stephenson,   George,  referred   to,  853  ;  Dr. 

T.  B.,   1378,   1436;  W.  H.,  of  Newcastle, 

541,  1400. 
Sternhold  Psalms,  The,  106,  hi,  1003,  1013. 
Stevens,    Abel,   quoted,   Si,   92,  319,   392,  536, 

670,   730,   758,  812,  825,  869,  979,  11S3,  1341  ; 

Mrs.  Sarah,  a  preacher,  918. 
Stonehouse,  Rev.  Mr.,  331. 
Stoner,  David,  1276,  1288. 
Stoughton,  Dr.,  quoted,  21,  35,  50,  87,  337.  569, 

887,  977,  1 180,  1232,  12SS,  1364. 
Strangers'  Friend  Society,  The,  1182,  1248. 
Straw-bridge,  Robert,  801. 
St.  Al ban's  Church,  336. 
St.  Aldate's.  218. 
St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  73,  133. 
St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  596,  607. 
St.  Dunstan's,  Fleet  Street,  679. 
St.  Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford,  643,  1164. 
St.  Gennys,  Cornwall,  647. 
St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  65. 
St.  Helen's,  Bishopsgate,  212,  272,  275. 
St.  Ives,  4S7,  506,  1088. 
St.  James's  Church,  Westminster,  107. 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  872. 
St.  Just,  Nelson  and  Wesley  in,  487,  614. 
St.  Lawrence's  Church,  2S6. 
St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westminster,  339. 
St.  Mary  de  Crypt,  217;  Redcliffe,  268,  339; 

le-Strand,  306;  Woolworth,  1172. 
St.    Mary's,    Oxford,    595,   597,   599,   600;    the 

hall,  "324;  Dublin,  700. 
St. Michael's,  Oxford, 205;  Day  at  Madeley,694. 
St.  Nicholas  Gate,  Bristol,  1087. 
St.  Patrick's,  Dublin,  148,  702. 
St.  Paul's,  London,  133,  307,  365,  896;  the  bell, 

982. 
St.  Peter  Chapel  at  the  Tower,  267. 
St.  Peter's  Monastery,  152. 
St.  Sepulcher's  Church,  London,  630. 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Bristol,  268. 
Sullivan,  Daniel,  708. 
Sunday  school,  An  early,  541  ;  growth  of  the 

system,    994 ;    in    the   Conference,    1000, 

1346,  1433. 
Sunday  service.  The,  932. 
Superannuated  preachers,  592  ;  supernumer- 
ary, Fletcher,  a,  950. 
"Superintendent,"  Wesley's  word,  969. 
Sutcliffe,  Joseph,  1040,  1053,  1342. 
Sutton,  Sir  Thomas,  90,  123. 
"  Swaddlers,"  702. 
Swift,  Jonathan,  18,  20,  26,  27,  148. 
Swindells,  Robert,  711,  721. 
Sydney,  Edwin,  8S0  ;  Sir  Philip,  166. 
Sydney,  N.  S.  W.,  Conference  held  in,  1217. 
Synod!  The,  1209,  1393. 


1476 


Index 


Tabernacle,  Whitefield's,  440,  634 ;  the  soci- 
ety, 448,  697  ;  Wheatley's,  793. 
Taft,  Rev.  Zacharias  andMrs.,  918,  1301. 
Talgarth,  Wales,  322. 
Tanfield  Cross,  Newcastle,  735,  742. 
Tartar  New  Testament,  The,  1187. 
Tate  and  Brady,  1013. 
Tatham,  Emma,  1404. 
Tattler,  The,  20,  69. 
Taverner,  Rev.  Mr.,  596. 
Taxation  no  tyranny,  959. 
Taylor,  Andrew,  1269;  David,  513,  Isaac,  61, 

79)  I27.  272.  345)  4671  522)  940;  Jeremy,  170, 

172 ;  John,  452,  454  ;  Joseph,  980,  985,  1302  ; 

Rev.  Mr.,  496  ;  Samuel,  563,  679  ;  Thomas, 

745>  763,  764,  1109,  1213 ;  Rev.  \V.,  888. 
Teare,  J.,  1436. 
Teignmouth,  Lord,  1187. 
Telford,   Rev.   John,  quoted,  331,  545,   1034, 

1 1 46. 
Temperance,  Wesley's,  555 ;  the  work,  1434. 
Tennent,  William  and  Gilbert,  422,  823. 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  90,  167,  1407. 
Tersteegen,  Gerhard,  1017. 
Theological  Institutes,  Watson's,  1321. 
Theology  of  Methodism,  The,  1414. 
Theron  and  Aspasia,  Hervey's,  212. 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  abridged  by  Wesley, 

932. 
Tholuck,  Professor,  quoted,  379,  940. 
Thorn,  William,  1219,  1223. 
Thomas,   Barnabas,  762 ;    Captain    Charles, 

1286. 
Thompson,  Rev.  George,  647,  1246  ;  Mr.,  1200  ; 

Peter,  1441  ;  Thomas,  1379  ;  William,  1082, 

1202,  1211. 
Thorne,  James,  1240,  1242. 
Thornton,  John,  1043,  1172,  1174,  1184  ;  Henry, 

M.P.,  856,  1178,  1180,  1191  ;  Mrs.  Ann,  909. 
Thorold,    Bishop    of    Winchester,  297;    the 

squire,  264,  297. 
Thoughts  on  Slavery,  Wesley's,  1098. 
Tickets  of  membership,  379,  592. 
Tillotson,  Archbishop,  38,  79,  86. 
Tiverton  Grammar  School,  80,  145,  222,  235, 

298,  587. 
Toland,  John,  mentioned,  33. 
Told,  Silas,  Account  of,  536,  538,  552,  1152. 
Tomlinson,  Elizabeth,  1295,  1297. 
Tomo-chi-chi,  233,  242,  274. 
Tonga,  Missionaries  to,  1216. 
Tongue  of  Fire,  The,  1428. 
Tooke,  Andrew,  128. 
Tooths,  The,  1304,  1396. 
Toplady,  Augustus  Montague,  872,  876,  885, 

935' 

Tottenham  Court  Road,  Whitefield's  taber- 
nacle in,  697,  808,  836,  843. 

Tract  Society,  The  first,  1105. 

Tractarianism,  1167,  1333. 

Training  college  at  Southlands,  1433 ;  at 
Westminster,  1403. 

Tranquebar  missionaries,  292. 

Tranter,  William,  1325. 

Treffry,  Richard,  1277,  1325. 

Trembath  John,  701. 

Trevecca  College,  322,  643,  697,  762 ;  letter 
from,  756  ;  students,  825,  892. 

Trinity  Sunday,  543. 

Tripp,  Miss,  909. 

Trustees,  361  ;  own  the  chapels,  591  ;  Lady 
Huntingdon's,  892  ;  tyranny  of,  1207. 

Tuam,  Archbishop  Ryder,  of,  S82. 

Tullamore,  Ireland,  704,  706. 


Tunbridge,  French  prisoners  at,  689;  the 
Wells,  887. 

Tunes  and  tune  books,  1005,  1007. 

Tunstall,  Jubilee  camp  meeting  at,  1237. 

Turner,  G.,  1374  ;  Rev.  Mr.,  540. 

Turnock,  B.  B.,  B.A.,  1226. 

Twentieth  Century  Fund,  The,  1457. 

Twickenham,  Pope's  villa  at,  148. 

Tybee  Island,  Ga.,  241. 

Tyerman,  Rev.  Luke,  quoted,  130,  172 ;  on 
Clayton,  208;  on  Whitelield,  267,  313,  335, 
372,  541 ;  conversion  of,  613  ;  on  Walter 
Churchey,  764;  on  G.  Murray,  777,  810; 
on  Whitefield's  marriage,  814,  823,  948: 
on  Wesley's  last  das^s,  1118  ;  and  General 
Booth,  1377;  Elizabeth,  612. 

U 

Ulster,  720,  727  ;  the  revival  in,  1271. 

Underhill,  John,  83. 

Unitarianism,  Drift  toward,  79. 

Unitarians,  English,  71. 

United  Brethren,  The,  278. 

United  Methodist  Free  Churches,  The,  1371, 

1376- 
United  Societies,  The,  1210,  1333. 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  The,  426,  822. 
University  sermon,  Wesley's,  595,  596. 
University  Settlements,  1441. 
Usher,  Archbishop,  1058. 

V 

Vanderkemp,  John  T.,  1190. 

"  Varan  ese,"  207,  775. 

Vasey,  Thomas,  964,  987. 

Vaughan,  Henry,  1057. 

Vazeille,  Mrs.,  547,  778. 

Venn,  Henry,  50,  188,  642  ;  at  Grimshaw's  fu- 
neral, 662,  673  ;  account  of,  680,  683,  689, 
697,  882,  891 ;  meets  Simeon,  1192  ;  John, 
1167,  1190,  1192. 

Victoria,  Queen,  her  father,  1258 ;  accession 
of,  1345  ;  freedom  from  bigotry,  1349. 

Voce,  Mary,  and  Hetty  Sorrel,  1296. 

W 

Waddy,  Edith,  1404 ;  Judge,  Q.C.,  1403  ;  Dr. 

S.  IX,  1341,  1403. 
"  Wake  Sunday,"  694. 
Wakerly,  J.  E.,  I44i. 
Waldenses,  The,  278. 
Wales,  the  Prince  of,   634;  Howell   Harris's 

success  in,  324 ;  Whitefield,  344  ;  Calvin- 
ism, 757;     Wesley's  last    visit   to,    1120; 

Bibles  needed,  1185  ;  preachers,  1445. 
Walker,    Samuel,   of    Truro,    652,  653  ;    Dr. 

Thomas,  1271. 
Walker's  Pennv  Weekly  Journal,  237. 
Wallbridge,  Elizabeth  and  Robert,  1054. 
Waller,  Dr.  D.  J.,  549,  1433,  1452  ;  Ralph,  122ft. 
Walpole,  Horace,  20,  22,  30,  132,  355,  632,  633, 

635,  1158 ;  Sir  Robert,  18,  24,  392. 
Walsall,  495,  406,  498. 
Walsh,  Thomas,  547,  573,  575,  688  ;  account  of, 

709,  717,  721,  1078,  1144. 
Walton,    Grace,    900;    John,    of    Graham's 

Town,  1426. 
Warburton,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  34,  396. 
Ward,  Francis,  in  Walsall  riots,  497  ;  James, 

portrait  of  Johnson  by,  29. 
Warren,  Dr.  Samuel,  763,  1367. 
Warrener,  Rev.  William,  918,  980,  1064,  1065, 

1216. 


Index 


1477 


Washington,  George,  955,  960. 

Watchman,  The,  1452. 

Watch  nights,  The,"3S2,  783. 

Watkinson,  Rev.  W.  L.,  1301,  1393,  1452. 

\Vatson,  Richard,  on  the  Checks,  868 ;  on 
Wesley's  mutilated  letters,  879,  952;  on 
Wesley's  ordinations,  969;  on  Wesley's 
cheap  books,  1104,  1227,  1238,  1248,  1314, 
1317,  1318,  1321. 

Watt,  James,  798. 

Watts,  Dr.  Isaac,  19,  39,  85,  253,  401,  648,  829, 
1015,  1025  ;  Dr.  J.  C,  1227. 

Webb,  Captain  Thomas,  801,  954,  1252. 

Wednesbury,  the  cockfight,  495 ;  the  riot, 
497 ;  the'  mob,  S02  ;  C.  Wesley  in,  503  ; 
name  of  Wesley's  favorite  tune,  1006. 

Wedgwoods,  The,  1230. 

Weekly  History,  The,  441. 

Weekly  Miscellany,  The,  1150. 

Wellesleys,  The,  43,  895. 

Wellington,  The  Duke  of,  43,  155,  1352. 

Welsh  revival,  The,  325;  apostle  of  educa- 
tion, 752  ;  societies  leave  the  Church  of 
England,  757 ;  Wesleyan  church  in 
Brecon,  763  ;  Calvinistic  Methodist  music, 
1012 ;  Bible  printed,  11S7;  speaking  mis- 
sion, a,  1445;  Wesleyan  Assembly,  the, 
1446. 

Wesley,  Charles,  boyhood  and  youth,  90,  118, 
134,  151  ;  escapes  a  fortune,  152 ;  at  Ox- 
ford, 155,  160,  188,  191,  193 ;  Gambold's 
description,  199 ;  with  Kirkham,  207 ; 
meets  Whitefield,  218  ;  secretary  to  Ogle- 
thorpe, 236 ;  Georgia,  248,  249,  250,  267,  274 ; 
Moravians,  283,  286,  297;  first  "Metho- 
dist," 294  ;  Little  Britain,  298  ;  conversion, 
300;  at  Blendon,  303,  313,  328,  329  ;  curacy, 
331 ;  field  preacher,  344,  354,  362, 367,  398  ;  at 
Lambeth,  400,  405,  406, 407,  420,  435,  436,  453, 
483,  495,  503,  506,  512,  570;  High  Church- 
man, 575;  at  St,  Mary's,  596,  600;  before 
the  justices,  610,  617,  620;  Lady  Hunting- 
don's letter  to,  636,  630,  657,  665,  666,  694  ; 
in  Ireland,  701,  702,  707,  708 ;  in  Wales, 
755,  760,  763.  769 !  marriage,  771,  779,  792, 794, 
796,  804,  808,  835  ;  death  of  Whitefield,  843, 
860,  878,  891 ;  on  the  ordinations,  964  ;  too 
often  in  City  Road  pulpit,  987  ;  as  a  poet, 
1023;  Georgia  life  of,  1029,  1030;  account 
of,  1035;  last  days,  1041,  1042,  1073,  1145; 
Mrs.  Charles,  account  of,  630,  762,  768,  772, 
794  ;  last  days  of,  1043,  1128  ;  sons,  Charles, 
Jr.,  773,  1043;  Samuel,  1046,  133S ;  grand- 
sons, Rev.  Dr.  and  S.  S.,  1047  ;  daughter 
Sarah,  128,  878,  1045,  1143. 

Wesley,  Garrett,  seeks  an  heir,  155. 

Wesley,  John,  Thackeray  on,  24;  Green's 
estimate  of,  41  ;  described  by  his  mother, 
112;  by  Badcock,  164  ;  by  Gambold,  200; 
by  Kennicott,  599 ;  by  Linden,  798  ;  by  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  1163  ;  by  Horace  Walpole, 
1158  ;  ancestry,  42,  895  ;  influences,  50 ;  his 
birth,  87  ;  training,  94  ;  Charterhouse,  90, 
118,  127,  130,  138,  140;  Oxford,  137,  155,  165, 
I75.  l83i  i87,  19°,  286,  328,  602  ;  Latin  and 
Greek,  164,  185  ;  ordination,  168,  176,  177 ; 
first  convert,  175  ;  ritualistic,  173,  187,  289, 
313,  409,  562  ;  curacy,  1S8,  221 ;  principles, 
186  ;  character,  565  ;  Journal,  172,  785  ; 
Holy  Club,  202  ;  America,  73,  74,  225,  236, 
241,  243,  244,  247,  253  ;  leaves  Georgia,  256  ; 
Queen  Caroline,  221,  235;  Moravian  influ- 
ence, 293;  conversion,  304,  305;  on  the 
Continent,  316,  317,  331 ;  preaching,  332, 
343.  346,  348,  356,  363.  453.  478  ;  chapels,  361, 
366;  object,  369  ;  class  meetings,  376,  402, 
93 


404,410,430;  1742  itinerary,  450,  452  ;  sepa- 
ration, 392,  459,  481,  483,  495,  497,  490,  501,  502, 
5°5>  5°7.  575.  577  i  George  II,  519,  528  ;  Con- 
ference, 533;  funds,  536  ;  West  Street,  107, 
546,  786 ;  electrical  machine,  553 ;  bank, 
557  ;  use  of  liquors,  555  ;  clothing  scheme, 
552  ;  methods  commended,  561,  570,  578, 608, 
609,  612,  613,  616;  attachments,  627,  778; 
earthquake  excitement,  642,  652,  653,  657, 
664,  680,  685,  783  ;  Ireland,  699,  700,  704,  713, 
716,  718,  722,  723,  727,  728,  928,  1116;  Scot- 
land, 734,  735,  737,  738,  740,  741,  1118  ;  Wales, 
759,  763.  767;  marriage,  547,  773,  778,  782, 
783,  789,  790,  795  ;  health,  165,  637,  791,  792, 
796,  928  ;  ethics,  794,  798,  799;  "mend  them 
or  end  them,"  802;  Leeds  Conference, 
806,  810,  811,  835  ;  Whitefield's  death,  843, 
852,853  ;  Calvinistic  controversy,  739,  860- 
878,  883,  895,  917,  932;  Deed  of  Declaration, 
948,  954,  957,  964  ;  ordinations,  963,  972  ; 
presidency,  975,  983,  993, 998, 1016,  1017, 1021; 
in  Scilly  Isles,  1052;  Coke's  usefulness, 
1060 ;  A.  Clarke,  1070,  1072  ;  Moore,  1084 ; 
journeys,  10S5  ;  Holland,  1088,  1091,  1092, 
1095,  1098,  1099;  old  age,  1088,  1112,  1115, 
1118 ;  at  Epworth,  1120,  1121,  1123,  1125, 
1126,  1135,  1202;  deathbed,  1128,  1131 ; 
funeral,  750,  986,  1132,  1181,  1192,  1337,  1352  ; 
relation  to  the  Established  Church,  1362; 
appearance  and  dress,  1136,  1138,  1139; 
characteristics  broad,  680;  cheerful,  114  ; 
candid,  1146;  brave,  601,  1088;  quick- 
tempered, 1145;  forgiving,  1145  ;  forbear- 
ing, 432;  liberal  leader,  582;  notambitious, 
578  ;  patriotic,  785  ;  no  despot,  1147  ;  trust- 
ful, 1145;  a  genius  for  government,  114:  ; 
knows  the  people,  782  ;  not  avaricious, 
1099, 1100, 1104  ;  a  statesman,  570  ;  linguist, 
164,  185,  1016;  fine  English,  1091, 1095,  1102, 
1103,  1106;  wit  and  humor,  1144;  inner 
life,  1140;  as  a  preacher,  1091 ;  advices 
about  preaching,  5S5,  793;  training  of  the 
preachers,  972  ;  purity  in  the  member- 
ship, 592  ;  interest  in  the  young,  993,  998, 
1118;  hymns,  1021 ;  incidents,  1139,  1142, 
1157,  1337,  1351 ;  work  described,  1152; 
Journals,  233,  785,  1016,  1017 ;  works,  1105, 
1108,  1109  ;  revised  Prayer  Book  and  Sun- 
day Service,  932 ;  dwelling  house,  982, 
9S8  ;  preaching  places,  1090 ;  annual  dis- 
tances, 1085;  value  of  time,  mo,  1139; 
first  extempore  sermon,  1095 ;  first  po- 
litical pamphlet,  789 ;  advice  to  Mrs. 
Crosby,  890;  to  Miss  Mallett,  917;  com- 
ment on  his  marriage,  781 ;  on  Brad- 
burn's,  1144 ;  on  journalistic  attacks, 
1150;  on  Smollett,  1165;  letters,  some  re- 
cently published,  370 ;  correspondence 
with  Law,  312;  tampered  with,  779;  letter 
to  a  Newcastle  bully,  612 ;  to  Fletcher, 
923  ;  to  Shadford,  954  ;  last,  1098,  1125,  1202; 
estimate  of  his  brother  Charles,  1157; 
views  on  slavery,  1098 ;  on  the  spirit 
traffic,  1098;  compared  with  Newman, 
315;  Edwards,  320;  Wyclif,  1090;  White- 
field,  1095  ;  Mrs.  John, "779,  878. 

Wesley,  Matthew,  the  surgeon,  60,  121. 

Wesley,  Samuel,  18,  69,  70,  71,  72,  73  ;  marries 
Susanna  Annesley,  74  ;  at  S.  Ormsby,8i ; 
literary  work,  82,  83,  84, 106, 109, 148,  330 ;  at 
Epworth,  87  ;  at  convocation^";  in  jail, 97, 
98  ;  care  for  his  mother,  60,  106 ;  in  Lon- 
don, 107  ;  sons  to  enter  school,  118  ;  advice 
to  his  sons  at  Oxford,  73,  204  ;  last  hours, 
224,  227  ;  hymn  by,  330  ;  Mrs.  Susanna,  an- 
cestry, 61,  75,  78,  95 ;  holds  services,  104, 


1478 


Index 


113,  144,  165,  169,  236  ;  at  the  Foundry,  365, 
385  ;  on  Maxfield's  preaching,  419";  last 
days  of,  461, 469,  895,  909  ;  sons,  Samuel,  58, 
60,  80,  90,  in  ;  at  Oxford  and  Westmin- 
ster, 118,  135,  138,  144, 145,  286  ;  friends  and 
work  of,  146,  147,  148,  207,  1161  ;  tastes, 
151  ;  at  Tiverton,  155,  235,  352  ;  death,  387 ; 
John,  see  supra ;  Charles,  see  supra ; 
daughters,  Anne,  472 ;  Emilia,  95,  165, 
187,  224,  247,  470;  Kezia,  473  ;  Martha,  112, 
472  ;  Mary,  215 ;  Mehetabel,  95,  98,  472 ; 
Susanna,  471. 

Wesley  College,  Belfast,  1383  ;  Dublin,  1445  ; 
Sheffield,  1318, 1430. 

Wesley  Guild,  The,  1433. 

Wesley  Historical  Society,  The,  550,  563,  1016. 

Wesley  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
1447 ;  at  City  Road,  1456. 

Wesleyan  and  Calvinistic  Methodists,  435. 

Wesleyan  Education  Committee,  1346;  Maga- 
zine, mo,  mi  ;  Methodist  Magazine,  798, 
1408 ;  Mission  House,  553 ;  Missionary 
Society  meetings,  1356  ;  takings,  1371. 

Wesleys,  The,  geneaology  and  name,  42,  73  ; 
home  training,  92  ;  the  brothers,  118,  199, 
202,  968,  1013 ;  Georgia,  231,  235,  249 ;  at 
Fetter  Lane  love  feast,  334  ;  before  the 
bishop,  392 ;  the  magistrates,  609 ;  in 
Cornwall,  649 ;  useful  works  of,  771  ; 
loyalty,  787  ;  m  Ireland,  1078. 

West  Indies,  Missions  in  the,  800,801,1216; 
Conference  formed,  1217. 

Westley,  Bartholomew,  44,  45,68;  Sir  Her- 
bert and  Lady,  44  ;  the  elder  John,  48,  60 ; 
John,  45,  46,  51,  52,  54,  227;  Mrs.  John,  60, 
106,  145  ;  sons,  Matthew  and  Samuel,  60. 

Westminster  Assembly,  The,  51,  64 ;  the 
Abbey,  C.  Wesley  preaches  in,  331 ;  mob 
at,  1235;  the  Journal,  611,  1150;  mission 
work,  1442 ;  Normal  Training  College, 
1325  ;  poets,  152  ;  the  school,  80. 

West  Street  Chapel,  Seven  Dials,  107,  543 ; 
Telford's  description  of,  545,  594,  622,  633, 
688,  714,  1118. 

Whatcoat,  Richard,  763,  964. 

Wheatley,  James,  793. 

White  Chapel,  London,  543. 

White,  Jeremy,  57,  58 ;  Rev.  John,  51,  64. 

Whitefield,  George,  20,  24,  50,  188,  159,  206 ; 
account  of,  216,  219,  220,  261,  264,  265,  267, 
270;  at  Gibraltar,  273;  in  America,  274, 
421,  427  ;  in  England,  275,  297,  321,  325,  334, 
430 ;  ordained,  336,  346,  363 ;  at  Black- 
heath,  413,  416  ;  Scotland,  442,  443,  444,  445, 
446,  449.  523.  oG1.  fe9.  733 !  itinerating,  646, 
649,  658,  673;  in  Wales,  751,  755,  763,  783, 
784  ;  last  voyage  to  America,  808,  812,  837  ; 
with  Finnev,  841  ;  domestic  relation,  813, 
817,  821,  823,  824,  826;  Tabernacle,  828; 
last  sermons  in  England,  835,  836 ;  in 
Georgia,  83S  ;  last  days,  838  ;  death  notice, 
820;  his  will,  825 ;  personal  traits,  269, 
449,  814,  824,  845,  ion  ;  portrait,  271 ;  views 
on  separation,  830  ;  connection  with  the 
Wesleys,  256,  436,  440,  792,  834  ;  on  C.  Wes- 
ley's hymns,  1033 ;  interests  in  America, 
228,  817,  824,  825  ;  approval  of  slavery,  826  ; 
interest  in  American  politics,  838 ;  Jour- 
nals, 3^,  398;  work,  421,  832;  sermons, 
849 ;  contrasted  with  Wesley,  263 ;  in 
literature,  24,  1150,  1156,  1164. 

Whitefield,  George,  book  steward,  1111. 


Whitefield  Methodists,  573. 

Whitehead,  Coke,  and  Moore,  1251. 

Whiteland,  John,  215,  458. 

Whitsunday,  1738,  299,  304  ;  at  Moorfields,  446. 

Whittaker,  T.,  1436. 

Whole  Duty  of  Man,  The,  680. 

Wight,  The  Isle  of,  1053. 

Wilberforce,  William,  39  ;  antislavery  senti- 
ments, 827 ;  Journal  quoted,  856,  1038, 
1043,  1098;  Wesley's  letter  to,  1125,  1173, 
1177,  1179,  1191,  1215,  1348,  1379. 

Wildman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  of  Mablethorpe,  1407. 

Wilkes,  John,  M.P.,  789,  797. 

Wilks,  Matthew,  828. 

Willard,  Miss,  in  London,  1403. 

Williams,  Daniel,  D.D.,  67,  132  ;  Mr.  George, 
1356;  Dr.  H.  W.,  1428,  1452;  J.,  183;  John, 
of  Erromanga,  1190 ;  Joseph,  describes 
C.  Wesley,  406 ;  Lewis,  of  Wales,  1400 ; 
Peter,  756;  Robert,  811;  Thomas,  700; 
William,  hvmnist,  751,  752,  756,  762. 

Wilson,  J.,  M.P.,  1238 ;  Thomas,  Bishop  of 
Sodor  and  Man,  282  ;  Dr.,  of  Moyle,  1115. 

Winchelsea,  Weslej-'s  service  in,  1120;  tree 
at,  1121. 

Winter,  Cornelius,  813,  846. 

Wirksworth,  1297,  1300. 

Wiseman,  Luke  H.,  1425. 

Witness  of  the  Spirit,  The,  173,  225. 

Women,  in  Methodism,  573,  899,  909,  916,  918, 
1403  ;  in  the  world's  work,  894  ;  friends  of 
Wesley,  774. 

Wood,  Antony  a,  49,  62,  596;  Enoch  of  Burs- 
lem,  1230:  James  of  Manchester,  1394  ;  Dr., 
of  Southport,  1394;  Samuel,  724,. 763. 

Woodhouse  Grove  School  boys  in  the  Con- 
ference, 1257  ;  the  school,  1325. 

Woolmer,  T.,  1452. 

Woolston,  Thomas,  33. 

Woolwich,  Royal  arsenal  at,  137. 

Word  of  God, The,  on  Church  government, 574. 

"Word  to  a  Sabbath- breaker,"  1105. 

"Word  to  a  Smuggler,"  Wesley's,  1105. 

"Word  to  a  Swearer,"  1105. 

Worn-out  preachers,  The,  592. 

Wrangel,  Dr.,  asks  for  preachers,  801. 

Wren,  Christopher,  47,  163. 

Wright,  Mrs.,  472  ;  Duncan,  741,  750  ;  Richard, 
811  ;  P.  J.,  1226. 

Wroote,  The  Wesleys  in,  164,  178,  187  ;  White- 
lamb,  the  rector,  215  ;  visited  bv  Wesley, 
458. 

Wyclif,  John,  159,  162,  163,  277;  his  Bible,  182  ; 
his  preachers,  23,  337 ;  the  heresy,  181  ; 
Wvclifites  upheld  by  Bishop  Fleming,i78. 


York,  The  Archbishop  of,   98,  108,  400,  661  ; 

Nelson  in  the  jail,  489. 
Yorkshire,  Methodism  in,  211,  483,  542,  795. 
Young,   David,   759,  761,  767,  1446;    Edward, 

Night  Thoughts,  24;  Miss  Nancy,.  1083; 

Robert,  of  Newcastle,  612;  Robert,  as  a 

revivalist,  1331  ;  Robert  Newton,  1425. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,The,i356. 


Zanchius  on  Predestination,  876. 
Zinzendorf.  Count,  2S1,  282,  1022. 
Ziska,  Count,  278.