THE POET PREACHER A BRIEF MEMORIAL OF CHARLES WESLEY THE EMINENT PREACHER AND POET

1 09 098

CHARLES WESLEY AND THE ABCHBTSHOP.

POET PREACHER:

of

CHARLES WESLEY,

THE EMIITENT PEEAOHER AWD POT5T.

BY OHABLES ADAMS.

FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS.

JXtm Dork:

PUBLISHED BY OAELTOIT & POETEB,

BU2TOAY-80HOVI, TOIOIT, SCO inTEBB

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
BY OiRLTOff & PORTER,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern
District of New York.

PEEEACE.

THIS unpretending compilation is designed
to supply a want in our Sabbaih-school litera-
ture. It has seemed to me that a memorial
of Charles "Wesley, canvassing the main and
important facts of his career, drawn up with
appropriate brevity and sprightliness, and in
a shape to attract youthful readers, would be
of positive use to the Church,

The English biography by Jackson, which
was republished at New York in 1842, and
from which this little volume is principally
compiled, has its value as a book for minis-
ters, and for the study; but is quite too
voluminous and cumbersome for common

6 PREFACE.

readers. la fact, the spirit of the age and
the American taste require that authors who
would "be read must be brief, and earnest,
and "to the point." They must be chary of
side-issues, characters, and reflections; deal
sparingly in generalities, keep the subject of
their pencilings as vividly as possible before
the eye, and cease their touches as soon as
the picture is finished.

Such has been the endeavor in the little
volume hereby submitted to the public. The
story of Charles Wesley is highly instructive,
and, for the most part, greatly beautiful; and
it is hoped that the present version of it may
not be unwelcome to the youth of the land.

THE EDITOR.

CONTENTS.

FAOX

EARLY DAYS 9

COLLEGE LEFK '..... 15

THE SOCIETY. * 19

MISSION TO GEORGIA 26

HOMEWARD VOYAGE 82

RELIGIOUS STATE 8T

SEARCH FOE FAITH 42

SUCCESS 60

EARLIEST RESULTS 55

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 6$

HELD PREACHING 68

OPPOSITION 7T

INCIDENTS 85

PERSECUTIONS 91

THE GWYNNES 108

MARRIAGE 108

THE EARTHQUAKE 118

CORRESPONDENCE 118

SORROWS ''.. 128

METHODISM AND THE CHURCH 129

PAINFUL SOLICITUDE 186

RETIREMENT f 148

8 OOITCENTS.

MAS

149

LETTERS

LETTEBS COftTlfl UJED 158

EEMOVAL AND EFFOETS M*

THE FAMILY CHABLES, JHNIOB 170

THE FAMILY SAMUEL 178

THE FAMILY SABAE 182

ASSOCIATES 187

THE VESLE YAff OEDINATIONS 182

CHABLES "WESLEY A POET 201

POETICAL SPECIMENS 207

PEEACHING AND SCHOLAESHIP 216

SOCIAL CEABACTEB -.. 222

BEATS 226

Illustrations,

PACtB

CHASLBS WBSLBT AJOT> THE AEOHBISHOP 2

SOHOOI. 11

69

CH&BLES WBSUET or jk MOB 94

teTM CHAKUBT AT THE PIANO 172

THE POET PEEACHEB.

EAELY DATS.

CHARLES WESLEY was born December 18,
1708. He was the youngest son of Kev. Samuel
"Wesley, rector of Epworth, and five years
younger than his brother, the celebrated John
Wesley, the founder of Methodism.

His mother, Susanna "Wesley, was a more
than ordinary woman, being characterizecfcby
sincere piety, a strong and well cultivated mind,
elevated views of parental duly and responsibil-
ity, and uncommon talent and energy as a Chris-
tian mother.

Under her tuition all her children were sever-
ally placed, and all were trained in accordance
with the most careful rules of instruction and

10 THE POET PBEAOHEB.

discipline. Never, perhaps, were children more
blessed in a mother than Charles Wesley and
his brothers and sisters ; and never did children
receive more faithful attention and care with a
view to their growing up in true knowledge
and wisdom* Nor can it be reasonably doubted
that maternal influence upon the Wesleys had
much to do with shaping their future character
and destiny. "They were trained to habits of
regularity, diligence, order, self-denial, honesty,
benevolence, seriousness, and devotion, and well
did they, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, reward
the pious toil of their accomplished preceptress."

At eight years of age Charles was sent to
"Westminster School, and was placed under the
care of his brother Samuel, then an usher in the
establishment. Here he became an excellent
classical scholar, while at the same time, under
the influence of his brother, he imbibed strong
High Church views.

While at Westminster Garret Wesley, Esq.,
a gentleman of large fortune, residing in Ire-
land, offered to adopt Charles and make him

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.

EABLT DAYS. 13

*

his heir if he would leave England and reside
with him in Ireland. But Charles declined the
offer. "A fair escape 1" wrote his brother John,
in alluding to this circumstance.

Such are Hie pivots on which turn life's great
destinies, and the destinies, too, of that great
eternity to which we hasten.

It seemed a brilliant and captivating offer
which was thus made to Charles, and the world
would be inclined to pity him for declining it.
Yet had he accepted it he would doubtless have
walked another path from the one he actually
traveled ; lived for this world rather than for a
better, and received his portion here rather than
there. " There is a way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death."

The sequel of the above-named matter was
curious. Charles having declined the offer of
Garret "Wesley, the latter adopted a kinsman,
on condition of his receiving the name of We&-
ley. This young man was afterward raised to the
peerage, under Hie title of Baron Mornington,

14 THE POET PEEAOHEB.

and was the grandfather of the great Duke of
Wellington.

This case is finely summed up by Mr. Jackson
as follows :

" Had Mr. Charles "Wesley accepted the pro-
posal that was made to him, he would have been
&r removed from the religious friends who were
the instruments of his conversion and subse-
quent piety, and Kichard Oolley would never
have possessed the property of Garret Wesley.
According to all human calculation, therefore,
the world would never have enjoyed the benefit
of Charles Wesley's ministry; his incomparable
hymns would never have been written ; the ex-
tension of the British empire in India, under the
administration of the Marquis Wellesley, might
not have taken place; and the general who con-
quered Napoleon Bonaparte, and thus overthrew
one of the greatest tyrannies that ever existed,
might never have been born. What a thought,
that events so immensely important, and involv-
ing the temporal and spiritual interests of mil-
lions, should have been contingent upon the

COLLEGE LIFE. 15

volition of an impetuous boy, who was left to
decide whether he would remain in England,
with the prospects of poverty and labor before
him, or go to Ireland to enjoy the luxuries and
honor of wealth ! That the hand of God was in
the determination, none but an infidel can
doubt. The youth decided under the secret
guidance of Divine mercy, exercised not only
toward him but toward the world."

COLLEGE LIFE.

AT eighteen years of age Charles passed from
"Westminster School to the University of Oxford.
Here, though correct in his deportment and of
highly agreeable manners and spirit, yet, for
some months, he was far from being diligent in
his studies. He improved, however, in this
respect, but remained careless about his spirit-
ual interests ; and when his brother John, who
had preceded him at Oxford, would sometimes
address him on religious affairs, Charles would

It) TH h! POET PREACHES.

reply, "What! would you have me be a saint
all at once?"

Tet after John had left the university to
assist his father in the curacy of Wroote, Charles
became much more serious, and apparently,
too, without any special means being used for
such a result In this state of mind he writes
to his brother as follows :

" God has thought fit (it may be to increase
my weariness) to deny me at present your com-
pany and assistance. It is through him strength-
ening me, I trust to maintain my ground till we
meet. And I hope that 'neither before nor after
that time I shall relapse into my former state
of insensibility. It is through your means, I
firmly believe, that God will establish what he
hath begun in me ; and there is no one person I
would so willingly have to be the instrument of
good to me as you. It is owing, iif great measure,
to somebody's prayers, (my mother's most likely,)
that I am come to think as I do ; for I cannot tell,
myself, how or when I awoke out of my lethargy,
only that it was not long after you went away."

COLLEGE LIFE. 17

Nor was Charles alone in his seriousness.
Being solicitous for the spiritual good of others
as well as of himself, he soon succeeded in lead-
ing two or three other young men to become
interested, like himself, for the salvation of
their souls.

These thoughtful young men being conscien-
tiously diligent and methodical in their pursuit
of study, and in the improvement of their time
generally, and being very regular withal in
their attention to their religious duties, thus ac-
quired the name of Methodist, and were known
by this appellative all over the university.

Just about this time, 1729, John Wesley, at
the earnest solicitation of a friend, resigned the
curacy which he held under his father, and re-
turned to Oxford. Charles and his companions
were greatly rejoiced at his arrival, and they
immediately formed themselves into a society
under John's superintendence. The object of
the association was to promote, in a manner
more regular and systematic than ever, their
intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvement

THE SOCIETY. 19

will make the whole both pleasing and delight-
ful to you. But for all that yon must find time
every day for walking, which you know you
may do with advantage to your pupils ; and a
little more robust exercise, now and then, will
do you no harm. You are now launched fairly,
Charles. Hold up your head, and swim like a
man ; and when you cuff the wave beneath you,
say to it, much as another hero did,

But always keep your eye fixed above the polar
star; and so God send you a good voyage
through the troublesome sea of life, which is the
hearty prayer of your loving father*"

THE SOCIETY.

THE litfle society of Methodists increased,
though slowly. Several pupils became con-
nected with it, and among others James Her-
* " Thou earnest Charles, and Charles's fortune."

20 THE POET PfiEACHEE.

vey, author of the "Meditations," and two 01
three years afterward, George Whitefield, who
subsequently became so celebrated as a preacher
of Christ One or two extracts from White-
field's correspondence at this time will interest
the thoughtful.

He writes : "The young men, so called, were
then much talked of at Oxford. I had heard of
and loved them before I came to the university ;
and so strenuously defended them, when I heard
them reviled by the students, that they began
to think that I also in time should be one of
them. 5 '

[Receiving an invitation from Charles Wesley
to breakfast with him, he writes : "I thankfully
embraced the opportunity ; and, blessed be God,
it was one of the most profitable visits I ever
made in my life. My soul, at the time, was
aihirsfc for some spiritual friends to lift up my
hands when they hung down, and to strengthen
my feeble knees. He soon discovered it, and,
like a wise winner of souls, made all his dis-
courses tend that* way."

THE SOCIETY. 21

" God soon showed me," lie adds, "that true
religion was a union of the soul with God, and
Christ formed within us."

The following extract presents a summary
of the efforts of this college society for benefit-
ing themselves and others :

"They carefully avoided all superfluity of
personal expense, that they might have the
more to give to the poor; they supported a
number of destitute and neglected children at
school; they instructed the ignorant, and re-
proved the wicked at all opportunities ; and for
this end went into the cottages and garrets of
the poor, urging them to attend the public wor-
ship of God, and supplying them with Bibles,
prayer books, the " Whole Duty of Man," and
other religious publications ; they regiilarly vis-
ited the prisoners in the common jail, for the
purpose of prayer and religious Instruction, Mr.
John Wesley preaching to them every. Sflbfcath;
they assisted each other in their studies, ,and
watched over each other's spiritual interests
with affection and fidelity. At the same time

22 TTTBi P03ST PEEAOHER.

they aimed at an elevated standard of holiness,
feeling that they ought to be entirely devoted to
God. That they might attain to this state they
used frequent fasting, and availed themselves of
all the means of grace, particularly the Lord's
supper, which they attended every week, re-
gardless of public opinion and example, and
unmoved either by the laughter of the profane,
or the scorn of infidelity. In going to the week-
ly sacrament at Christ Church, and in returning
from that sacred service, they often had to make
their way through a crowd of people who as-
sembled for the purpose of treating them with

insult and ridicule."

Ridicule and persecution are indeed no more
than what might have been expected under the
circumstances. It was an age of infidelity, and
Christianity was regarded by multitudes as a
fable. Hence the new society was censured and
many reproaches fell upon those zealous young
men; their pious efforts reflected discredit upon
the less zealous clergy, and their conduct was
condemned as presumptuous and irregular.

THE SOCIETY. 23

Under these circumstances the father of the
"Wesleys was applied to for counsel, as well as
one or two other clergymen of age and experi-
ence. The father exhorted his sons and their
associates to persevere in their benevolent
efforts. " As to your designs and employments,"
he says, " what can I say less of them than
Vcdde prdbo f (" I greatly approve,") and that
I have the greatest reason to bless God that he
has given me two sons together at Oxford, to
whom he has given grace and courage to turn
the war against the world and the devil, which
is the best way to conquer them? .... My
daily prayers are that God would keep you
humble ; and then I am sure that if you continue
to * suffer for righteousness sake,' thought it be
but in a low degree, 'the Spirit of glory and of
God' shall, in some good measure, rest upon you.

" Be never weary in well-doing, Never look
back, for you know the prize and the crown are
before you ; though I can scarce think so mean-
ly as that you would be discouraged with ' the
crackling of thorns under a pot.'

24 r PH v. POET

" Be not high-minded, but fear. Preserve an
equal temper of mind under whatever treatment
you meet with from a not very just or well-
natured world,

" Bear no more sail than is necessary, but
steer steady. The less you value yourselves for
these unfashionable duties, (as there is no such
thing as works of supererogation,) the more all
good and wise men will value you, if they see
your actions are of a piece; or, which is infinite-
ly more, He by whom actions and intentions are
weighed will both, accept, esteem, and reward
you."

Who may calculate the worth to a son of a
pious and intelligent father! The influence of
such a parent is next to omnipotent, not only to
sway a child toward righteousness, but also to
retain him there and stimulate and encourage
him in the paths of good. " For I know him,"
said God of Abraham, " that he will command
his children and his household after him, and
they shall keep the way of the Lord to do jus-
tice and judgment"

THE SOdETT. 25

It was not long after (1735) that this excel-
lent father died. Charles was present, and also
his brother John, to perform the last offices of
kindness to the venerable parent, and to receive
fresh spiritual strength from his dying words.
His sky was clondless as the sun of life hastened
to its setting, and he was then far in the advance
of his sons in spiritual understanding and expe-
rience. "The inward witness, son," he says to
John, " the inward witness ! This is the proof,
the strongest proof of Christianity." The sons
understood all this well in after time, though
not now. " Te shall know, if ye follow on to
know the Lord."

Some of the expressions of this dying father
startle us like the music of prophetic voices.
"He oft," said Charles, "laid his hand npon my
head," saying, "Be steady 1 The Christian faith
will surely revive in this kingdom, yon shall see
it, though I shall not," To one of his sisters he
said, "Do not be concerned at my death; God
will then begin to manifest himself to my
family."

26 TUT POET PREACHER.

And thus the good old man passed away to
heaven; and the great "manifestation" came,
and the family became greatly distinguished
among the families of the earth, and the name
of Wesley is written high on the registry of eter-
nal fame.

MISSION TO GEORGIA.

AT about twenty-seven years of age Charles
"Wesley, accompanied by his brother John, em-
barked for Georgia, then a newly established
colony. They arrived in the Savannah river on
the 5th of February, 1Y36. After remaining
together during a few weeks, the brothers
separated, John remaining at Savannah, and
Charles removing to Frederica in St Simon, an
island of the coast some leagues further south.
Here % Mr. Oglethorpe, governor of the colony,
had established his residence, and Charles seems
to have acted in the double capacity of mission-
ary and the governor's private secretary.

Both of these missionary efforts of the "Wes-

MISSIOK TO GEORGIA. 2?

leys appear to have been failures, and neither of
them were of very long continuance. The rad-
ical and main difficulty lay in the missionaries
themselves. The truth is, neither of them
had, as yet, become savingly acquainted with
the great Christian scheme. They were deeply
religions, as has been already sufficiently illus-
trated. They were earnest in prayer and devo-
tion ; they were zealous in good works ; they were
intent on being crucified to the world with its
affections and lusts, and on working out their
salvation. Under the influence of such instruc-
tion as that of Mr. Law, in his " Serious Gall to
a Holy Life," they had long labored for salva-
tion and peace by the performance of good
works, rather than by simple and naked faith in
Christ. "According to their apprehensions,
true holiness is attained principally by v means
of sufferings, mental and bodily; and hence they
adopted this mode of life, resolved to do and
suffer whatever it should please God to lay upon
them. Their theological views were not only
defective, but erroneous. They understood not

TJtLhi POET PBEAOHER.

the true nature of a sinner's justification before
God ; nor the faith by which it is obtained ; nor
its connection with sanctification. Holiness of
heart and life was the object of their eager pur-
suit, and this they sought, not by/^A, but by
worlca, and personal austerity, according to the
misleading doctrine of Mr. Law. * Our end in
leaving our native country, 3 says Mr. John
Wesley, c was not to avoid want, (God having
given us plenty of temporal blessings,) nor to
gain the dung and dross of riches or honor, but
singly this to save our souls, to live wholly to
the glory of God.'"

Thus, of course,- these sincere and zealous
young men failed of the peace, the purity, and
the joyous hope which spring from a full and
lively faith in the atonement of Christ. In
these great respects they were privileged to ob-
serve the difference between themselves and
the humble Moravian believers who were with
them in the same ship, on their voyage to settle
themselves in the new colony. In the midst of
an awful storm, when it appeared that the ship

MISSION TO GEORGIA. 29

would founder in mid ocean, the two brothers
watched the Moravian Christians and received
instruction. "I had long "before observed,"
says John, " the great seriousness of their be-
haviour. Of their humility they had given a
continual proof, by performing those servile
offices for the other passengers which none of
the English would undertake; for which they
desired and would receive no pay, saying it was
good for their proud hearts, and their loving
Saviour had done more for them. And every-
day had given them occasion of showing a
meekness which no injury could move. If they
were pushed, struck,, or thrown down, they rose
again and went away; but no complaint was
found in their mouth. There was now an op-
portunity of trying whether they were delivered
from the spirit of fear, as well as from that of
pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of the
psalm wherewith their service began, the sea
broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered
the ship, and poured in between the decks, as
if the great deep had already swallowed us up.

SO THE POET PREACHER.

A terrible screaming began among the English.
The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of
them afterward, { "Was you not afraid V

"I thank God, no.'

"I asked, 'But were not your women and
children afraid?'

"He replied mildly, 'No; our women and
children are not afraid to <lie. 3 "

But the voyage was finished, and Charles Wes-
ley was at his mission in Frederica. There he
was punctual, diligent, self-denying, and faithful.
2Sfo Pharisee could be more exact as to outward
observances. But, alas ! " the glory that excell-
eth" was not there. The missionary preached,
and his preaching reproved vice and sin with
desperate severity; it held up the standard of
holiness ; it denounced vengeance upon all who
came short of it. It was Sinai instead of Mount
Zion. It was dark clouds intermingled with no
genial sunshine.

The people of Frederica were unsettled.
"They were under continual alarms from the
Spaniards; many of them were without moral

MESIOK TO GEORGIA. 31

principle, regarded his ministry as an attack
npon private character, and acted toward him
as spies and informers, with little respect for
either truth or probability; his health was not
good ; he was destitute of almost every personal
accommodation, living in a hut, mostly lying
upon the ground; conducting public worship
some times in the open air, under the shade of a
tree, and at other times in the place where the
public stores were kept; while, at the same time,
the governor was capricious, passionate, and
under the influence of wicked people."

Such was Charles's unpleasant situation
while at this mission. But it was happily of
short continuance. He was soon called to Sa-
vannah, and after a few weeks, having resign-
ed his secretaryship, he embarked for England.

82 TEE POET PBEACHEB.

HOMEWAED VOYAGE.

THE voyage was perilous and dreadful.
Charles describes the captain as "the most
beastly man I ever saw: a lewd, drunken,
quarrelsome fool praying, yet swearing contin-
ually. The first sight I had of him was upon
the cabin floor, stark naked and dead drunk."

Hence, but for the skill and fidelity of the
mate, in all probability the ship and all its
helpless inmates would have perished* In the
midst of much peril, after a terrible storm, the
pumps being choked, and the ship leaking
badly, the following conversation took place
between the captain and his mate :

Mate. Captain Indivine, what would you
have us do? what course would you have us
steer to-night?

Captam. Even what course you will; we
have a fair wind.

M. Tes, sir; and it drives us fall upon the
land, which cannot be many leagues off.

HOMBWABD VQYA0E. 33

O. Then, I think, you had better keep for-
ward.

If. Would you have us go on all night
and venture running upon the land ?

O. I do'nt know. Go on.

M. But there are shoals and rocks before us.

0. Why, then, have a good look-oat.

M. But you can't see twice the ship's length.
What would you order me to do ?

0. These rebels and emissaries have excited
you to come to ask for orders; I don't know
what you mean.

M. Sir, nobody has excited me ; I come, as it
is my duty, to my captain for directions.

O. Have you a mind to quarrel with me?

M. I have a mind to know what you
will do.

O. Nay, what will you do, if you come to
that?

M. Am I your captain, or you mine ?

O. I am your captain, and will make you
know it, Mr. Man. Do what I order you; for
you must and shall

34 THE POET PBEAOHEB*

M. Why, sir, you order me nothing.

O. You would not have me come on deck
myself, sure ?

Jf. If you did, I should not think it would
be much amiss. Some captains would not
have stirred off deck a moment in such a night
as this. Here you lie, without so much as ever
once looking out to see how things are.

O. Yes, I have been upon deck this very
day.

J But you have taken no account of any-
thing, or given yourself the least trouble about
the ship, for many days past

0. It is all one for that. I know where we
are exactly.

1C. How far do you think we may be from
land?

0. Why, just thirty-five leagues. I am sure
of it

M. How is that possible? you have taken no
observation this fortnight; nor have we got one
these four days.

O. No matter for that, I know we are safe.

HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 35

Jf. Sir, the most skilful saalor alive cannot
know it. Be pleased only to declare what you
would have done. Shall we sail on ? shall we
lie by ? shall we alter our course 3 shall we stand
in or off?

He went on repeating such questions again
and again ; but as to giving an answer, the cap*
tain chose to be excused, till the mate, quite out
of patience, having waited an hour to no pur-
pose, left him ; and the captain concluded with,
" Jack, give me a dram."

The ship put into Boston, where Mr. "Wesley
sojourned about a month, waiting an opportunity
to sail for England, He was ill during all his
stay, yet he seems to have found sympathizing
friends who ministered to his wants. He at
length re-embarked in the same ship which had
brought him from the South, the vessel having
undergone repairs and shipped another captain.
But the ship was doomed to encounter another
terrific storm, and continual pumping could
hardly keep her above water. " In this perilous
hour," said Charles, " I rose and lay down by

36 THE POET PREACHER.

turns, but conld remain in no posture long.
I strove vehemently to pray, but in vain ; I per-
sisted in striving, yet still without effect I
prayed for power to pray, for faith in Jesus
Christ, continually repeating his name till I felt
the^yirtue of it at last, and knew that I abode
under the shadow of the Almighty."

The storm passed, yet other storms succeeded,
and much of the voyage was tempestuous and
dismal. Yet the gales subsided at length, and
sunny days and favoring breezes crowned the
conclusion of the voyage; and on the 3d of De-
cember, 1736, the weary voyager set his foot
again upon his native soil, and under the strong
influence of grateful feeling kneeled upon the
ground, and offered thanks to God for his preser-
vation by land and water, and in pain and
sickness.

His numerous friends received him with open
arms, and almost as one who had been raised
from the dead. His brother John presently fol-
lowed him to England, and thus ended the mis-
sion of these two brothers to this country.

EELIGHOTJS STATE. 37

EELIGIOUS STATE.

Thus Charles "Wesley and his brother John
are again at home. They had been abroad upon
a foreign mission, while as yet neither of them
seemed to have come into possession of that faith
which justifies the soul, and which gives peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ The
seventh chapter to the Bomans pictured forth
their spiritual experience, rather than the eighth.
They had not, all this while, become freemen in
Christ Jesus, and knew not what it was so to
believe on him as to rejoice with joy unspeak-
able and full of glory. They were deeply re-
ligious, but jiheirs was rather a religion of law
than of ffospel. They were striving for the
"righteousness of the law," rather than for the
" righteousness of God," the righteousness which
is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe.

Thus, of course, they were in bondage, instead
of rejoicing amid the freedom and the peace of
the children of God,

38 THE POET PEEACHEB.

It was in this state of mind that Charles,
shortly after his arival from America, composed
the following somber, yet beautiful poem, en-
titled, " Hymn for Midnight :"

" While midnight shades the earth overspread,

And vail the bosom of the deep,
Nature reclines her weary head,

And care respires, and sorrows sleep :
My sonl still aims at nobler rest,
Aspiring to her Saviour's breast.

" Aid me, ye hovering spirits near,

Angels, and ministers of grace ;
Who ever, while you guard us here,

Behold your heavenly Father's face I
Gently my raptured soul convey
To regions of eternal day.

"Fain wouldl leave this earth below,

Of pain and sin the dark abode ;
Where shadowy joy, or solid woe,

Allures or tears me from my God;
Doubtful and insecure of bliss,
Since death alone confirms me his.

" TKH then, to sorrow bom, I sigh,

And gasp and languish, after home ;
Upward I send my streaming eye,

Expecting till the Bridegroom come :
Come quickly, Lord I thy own receive ;
Now let me see thy face, and live.

BEHGIOUS STATE. 89

" Absent from thee, my exiled soul

Deep in a fleshly dungeon groans ;
Around me clouds of darkness roll,

And laboring silence speaks my moans :
Come quickly, Lord I thy face display,
And look my midnight into day.

" Error and sin and death are o'er,

If thou reverse die creature's doom ;
Sad Rachel weeps her loss no more

If thou, the God, the Saviour, come:
Of thee possess 7 d, in thee we prove
The light, the life, the heaven of fove,"

The youthful reader will be careful to detect
a cold and false theology lurking amid this
elegant poetry. ' While it sings of a deliverance
from sin and wretchedness, it discerns no other
escape than through the doors of death. All is
bondage here, and must be till the soul departs
" to regions of eternal day." In after days,
when his brother John had learned that/0&A is
the substance of things hoped for, he substituted
that mighty word for the word death in the
third stanza, and thus rendered it as evangelical
as it is beautiful.

Yet while the young man thus " waited in
darkness," and was " under the law" rather than

40 THE POET PEEAOHEB.

" under grace," he exhibited a religions zeal
which might shame many who profess to have
received a greater light. "When he traveled
in stage-coaches he read pious boots to his
fellow-passengers, endeavored to convince all
people that religion is an inward and divine
principle, and that every one shonld make it his
first and great concern. In private companies
he pursued the same course, and often with the
happiest results."

Various members of his own family also
shared in his solicitude and faithfulness; and
here, too, he was not unsuccessful.

It was about this time that Charles visited
Kev. William Law for the purpose of receiving
some special instruction from a teacher whom
he had so long and so greatly revered. Indeed
it might almost be said that upon the writings
of "William Law he had meditated day and
night ; and it was mainly through the'influence
of these same writings that both Charles and
John Wesley had been so long and so sadly mis-
guided in respect to the true way of salvation.

EEUGIOUS STATE. 41

The interview was well, and was doubtless
beneficial to Charles, though in a way lie never
anticipated.

Being introduced to Mr. Law, he beholds " a
tall, thin, bony man, of a stern and forbidding
countenance ; sour and repulsive in his spirit and
manner, resembling, in this respect, the religion
which he taught."

Charles unfolds, in full, his spiritual state to
Mr. Law.

Mr. Law. Eenounce yourself and be not
impatient

Charles. "With what comment shall I read
the Scriptures?

L. None.

0. What do you flunk of one who dies un-
renewed while endeavoring after it?

L. It concerns neither you to ask nor me
to answer.

O. Shall I write once more to such a
person ?

Z. No.

O. But I am persuaded it will do him good.

42 TH Hi POET PEEAOHKE.

Z. Sir, I have told you my opinion.

O. Shall I write to you?

L. Nothing I can either speak or write will
do you any good.

Thus ended the interview ; and the last gruff
response of Mr. Law contained much more truth
than falsehood. He was quite unqualified to
give counsel, by pen or speech, to an inquirer
after the way of life. His religion, like his
name, was Law: he seems never to have un-
derstood the great scheme of the atonement,
and " he set his pupils upon the hopeless task of
attaining to holiness while they remained in a
state of guilt, and while the regenerating Spirit
was therefore uncommumcated."

SEAEOH FOR FAITH.

But a brighter day was rapidly approaching
for Charles Wesley, and by the door of faith he
was soon to enter into the rest of salvation.

In February, 1738, he made the acquaintance

SEABGH FOE, FAJTH. 43

of Peter B6KL&r^ who had just been ordained
by the Moravian bishop, Count Zinzendorf, as
a missionary to Georgia. Mr. Bohler was a
young man of deep and enlightened piety. He
was also a man of sound learning, having been
educated at the University of Jena.

B6hler arrived in England early in February,
on his way to Georgia, and spent several months
in London in studying the English language.
He was also very active, during this interval, in
efforts to do good. In this work he made the
best use of his opportunities, and his labors
were crowned with great success. "It was
under his instruction, more than that of any
other man, that the two "Wesleys were made
acquainted with the evangelical method of a
sinner's justification before God, and deliverance
from the power of his evil nature." In company
with John Wesley, Bohler visited Oxford ; and
it was here that Charles first met him, and be-
came his tutor in the English language.

Presently Charles is taken dangerously ill,
and BpWer is summoned to visit him. " I asked

44 r rH HI POET PBEAOHER.

Mm to pray for me," writes Charles. "He
seemed unwilling at first, but beginning very
faintly, lie raised his voice by degrees, and
prayed for my recovery with a strange con-
fidence. Then he took me by the hand and
calmly said, ' You will not die now.' He asked
me, c Do you hope to be saved?' c Yes.' c For
what reason do yon hope it?' ' Because I have
used my best endeavors to serve God*' He
shook his head and said no more. I thought
him very uncharitable, saying in my heart,
'Whatl are not my endeavors a sufficient
ground of hope? I have nothing else to
trust to. 3 "

This sickness of Charles seems to have been
a pleurisy, and came near proving fatal. In in-
forming his brother John of his illness, he writes,
in the language of Dr. South: "7 have leen
witJwn, the jwos of death, tut he was not suf-
fered to shirt his mouth upon me?

As he began to recover, the following fiije
effusion, descriptive of his state of heart,
dropped from Jus trembling pen ;

SEARCH FOB FAIEBT. 45

Peace, fluttering son! 1 the storm is o'er,

Ended at last the doubtful strife ;
Bespizing now, the cause explore,

That bound thee to a wretched life.

" When on the margin of the grave,

Why did I doubt my Saviour's art!
Ah I why mistrust his will to savef

What meant that faltering of my heart?

" 'Twas not the searching pain within

That filled my coward flesh with fear;
Kor conscience of unoanoel'd sin ;

Nor sense of dissolution near.

" Of hope I felt no joyful ground,

The fruit of righteousness alone;
Naked of Christ my soul I found,

And started from a God unknown.

" Corrupt my will, nor "half subdued,

Could I his purer presence bear?
Unchanged, unhallow'd, unrenew'd,

Could I before his face appear ?

" father of mercies, hear my call !

Ere yet returns the fatal hour,
Eepair my loss, retrieve my fall,

And raise me by thy quick'ning power.

" My nature re-exchange for thine ;

Be thou my life, my hope, my gain ;
Arm me in panoply divine,

And death shall shake "Ms dart in vain*

46 THE POET PREACHES.

" When I thy promised Christ have seen,
And clasp' d him in my soul's embrace,

Possess'dof thy salvation, then-
Then let me, Lord, depart in peace 1"

"Until this sickness Charles appears to have
fully cherished the purpose of returning to
Georgia as a missionary ; but his physicians for-
bade the undertaking. He returned to London,
and immediately suffered a relapse of his terri-
ble disease. He had been much averse to the
doctrine of a full and present salvation by faith,
as taught by Peter Bohler; but he was now
led to review this important matter, and further
conversations of Bohler led him to see, far more
clearly than ever before, "the nature of that
one true living faith whereby alone, through,
grace, we are saved."

From this time, and when prostrate on his
bed of sidmess, he earnestly sought for this
faith. "I have not now the faith of the Gos-
pel" was his solemn declaration and conviction,
and he would not rest without it.

A few brief extracts from his private journal,

SEA-ROB: FOB FAITH. 47

" will best portray the man in this momentous
crisis of his history.

" May 12. 1 waked in the same blessed temper,
hungry and thirsty after God. I began Isaiah,
and seemed to see that to me were the promises
made. I found myself more desirous, more
assured I should believe. This day, and indeed
my whole time, I spent in discoursing on faith,
either with those that had it or those that
sought it, in reading the Scriptures, and in
prayer.

" May 13. I waked without Christ, yet still
desirous of finding him. ... At night I
received much light and comfort from the
Scriptures.

" May 17. To-day I first saw Luther on the
Galatians. We began and found him nobly fall
of faith. My friend (Mr. Holland) in hearing
him was so affected as to breathe out sighs and
groans unutterable. . . . Who would believe
that our Church had been founded upon this
important article of justification by faith
alone! ... I labored, waited, and prayed

48 THE POET PEEACHER.

to feel, "Who loved me> and gave himself
for me."

" May 19. Mrs. Turner came, and told me I
should not rise from that bed till I believed. I
believed her saying, and asked, ' Has God then
bestowed faith upon you V ' Yes, he has.'
'Why, have you peace with God?' * Yes,
perfect peace,' ' And do you love Christ above
all things ?' c I do ; above all things incompara-
bly.' 'Then, are you willing to die?' 'I am;
and would be glad to die this moment ; for I
know all my sins are blotted out ; the hand-
writing that was against me is taken out of the
way, and nailed to the cross. He has saved me
by his death ; He has washed me with his
blood ; He has hid me in his wounds. I have
peace in him, and rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory.'

" Her answers were so full, to these and to
the most searching questions I could ask, that I
had no doubt of her having received the atone-
ment, and waited for it myself with a more as-
sured hope. Feeling an anticipation of joy on

SEARCH FOE FAECH. 49

her account, and thanking Christ as I could, I
looked for him all night, with prayers, and
sighs, and unceasing desires."

" Such," adds Mr. Jackson, " was the manner
in which Mr. Charles Wesley waited upon God
for that great changein his state and character,
upon which he felt that his peace and safety
both in time and eternity depended. He was
humble, penitent, teachable, and persevering.
He read the Holy Scriptures; studied the
promises of God ; was diligent in prayer, both
social and private ; and almost daily received
the Lord's supper. In obedience to the divine
direction, he continued asking, that he might
receive; seeking, that he might find; knocking
at the door of mercy, that it might be opened ;
laboring to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the earnest hope that tHe Holy Spirit would im-
part the full power of faith, and then witness
his adoption, and purify his heart."

50 THE POET PEGEACHEK.

SUCCESS.

ON Sunday morning, May 21, 1738, as Charles
Wesley was praying on his sick bed, having
pleaded the great promises, and endeavoring
to rely upon them, he was composing him-
self to sleep.

At that moment a female voice spoke at the
door of his chamber, and said : " In the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, arise and believe, and thou
shalt be healed of all thine infirmities."

The sick man lay wondering, and the words
struck him to the heart, and he sighed deeply,
and whispered to himself: "O that Christ
would but speak thus to me !" His heart sank
within him, and he hoped that it might be
Christ indeed, and began tremblingly to say to
himself, "I believe I I believe!"

It seems that the above message, which had
so startled him, was uttered by the pious Mrs.
Turner mentioned in the preceding chapter.
She knew his condition, and his earnest strife

SUCCESS. 51

after saving faith ; yet feeling her own weakness,
she shrank from approaching a scholar and a
clergyman, and speaking to him face to face.

At the same time she appears to have had a
deep and solemn conviction that she onght thus
to address the afflicted penitent who was weep-
ing 'and praying for pardon and peace, and she
obeyed her convictions.

"I never," said Charles, "heard words ut-
tered with like solemnity. I rose and looked in-
to the Scriptures. The words that first presented
were, * And now, Lord, what is my hope ? Truly,
my hope is even in thee.' I then cast down my
eye, and met : 4 He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our God.
Many shall see it, and fear, and shall put their
trust in the Lord.'

"Afterward I opened upon Isaiah xl,l: * Com-
fort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry
unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that
her iniquity is pardoned : for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.'

52 r rn M POET PREACHER.

" I now found myself at peace with God, and
rejoiced in hope of loving Christ. My temper,
for the rest of the day, was mistrust of my own
great, bnt before unknown, weakness. I saw
that by faith I stood ; and the continual support
of faith, which kept me from falling, though of
myself I am ever sinking into sin. I went to
bed still sensible of my own weakness, (I hum-
bly hope to be more and more so,) yet confident
of Christ's protection."

Thus did Charles Wesley, for the first time,
believe with a heart unto righteousness. Yet
his early faith was weak, and he held the
Saviour " with a trembling hand." But as he
prayed, conversed, and studied the Holy Scrip-
tures, his confidence increased, and his evidence
of the divine favor became increasingly distinct
and vivid.

On the following Wednesday, May, 24, 1738,
John Wesley obtained " the like precious
faith.' 7 He, like Charles, had been earnestly
searching for saving faith, and was greatly
couraged by Charles's happy experience.

SUCCESS. 58

At a meeting on the evening of the day al-
luded to, he was listening to some one reading
Luther's "Preface to the Epistle to the Bo-
mans." "About a quarter before nine," he
writes, " while he was describing the change
which God works in the heart through faith in
Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I
felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for
salvation; and an assurance was given me
that he had taken away my sins, even
mine, and saved me from the law of sin and
death."

Thus in almost the same hour came forth
these two brothers from the darkness and strug-
gles of a merely legal religion, into the peaceful
world of faith. They ceased to trust in good
works for salvation and rest, and began to trust
in Christ alone. "They saw with increasing
clearness that the Christian faith, which is de-
scribed in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the
apostolic Epistles, is not mere assent to the
general truth of the Gospel, nor a mere belief

of it essential doctrines, but a personal trust in
4

54 'J'H M POET PBEAGEQEB.

the sacrificial blood of the Son of God, exercised
in a penitent state of heart, and productive both
of peace of conscience, and of inward and out-
ward holiness. This became the principal topic
of their ministry ; and while its truth was to
them matter of personal consciousness, they saw
it exemplified in the character of thousands of
their spiritual children. It was, in fact, under
God, the great secret of their power, both as
preachers and writers. Tinder the divine sanc-
tion and blessing they received this truth, and
were qualified to preach it to all men, out of
the fullness of a heart purified by faith from its
guilt and natural corruption."

As Charles "Wesley emerged from his long
darkness into God's marvelous light, he took
his beautiful harp from the willows, and swept
it in such strains as these:

c Where shaft my wondering soul begin!

How shall I all to heaven aspire f
A slave redeem' d from death and sin,

A brand pluck' d from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumph raise
Or sing my great Deliverer's praise f

EARLIEST EESTJLTS. 55

<*0 how shall I the goodness teH,
Father, which thou to me hast show'df

That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should "be call'd a child of God,

Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,

Bless' d with this antepast of heaven !

" Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast "bound in sin and nature's night ;

Thine eye diffuseda qniok'ning ray ;
I woke ; the dongeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and follow 1 d th.ee.

" No condemnation now I dread ;

Jesus, and all in VT } ig mine I
Alive in him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th' eternal throne,
And claim the crown through Christ my own."

EARLIEST EESULTS.

day," says Mr. Jackson, "on which
Mr. Charles "Wesley came to Christ, weary and
heavy laden, and fonnd rest to his soul, was un-
questionably the most important period of his
existence. He then felt that he passed from
death unto life. His spiritual enjoyments now

5& THE POET PEEAOHEE.

began, in all their richness and depth, and he
entered upon a course of ministerial usefulness
of which, np to this period, he had no con-
ception."

It appears that his health now rapidly im-
proved, so that in a few days he was able to go
abroad. He dwelt much and jdeeply with the
Scriptures, wherein he meditated day and night.
He went from house to house, and ceased not
daily to teach and preach Jesus Christ " In
private companies, where many resorted to
him, he read' the Scriptures, sang hymns, related
his religious experience, and urged upon all the
duty and privelege of an immediate application
to Christ, in faith, for pardon, and peace, and
holiness. Never did he forget the bright and
joyous days which immediately followed his
espousal to Christ ; and every remembrance of
them was refreshing to his heart."

Some specimens of these early exercises and
efforts cannot fail to edify as well as interest
thoughtful and pious hearts.

In a company of serious persons it was par-

EAEUEST BESTTLTS. 57

tieularly asked in prayer that some one might
receive the atonement. One gentleman found
power to believe, and rose, telling Charles that
his prayer was heard and answered in him, and
all were full of joy and thanksgiving. A day
or two afterward another received faith while
Charles was praying, though he did not then
confess it.

At the same time he speaks of Dr. Byrom, a
poet, who received the doctrine of faith with
wonderful readiness.

Then he makes an excursion to Blendon, and
as he rides is full of delight, and seems moving
and expatiating in a new heaven and a new
earth. He and his traveling companion go
praying, singing, and shouting, all the way.

He visits Rev. Mr. Piers, a minister of the
Established Church, tells him his experience
with great simplicity. The good man listens
eagerly, makes no objection, and confesses it is
what he never experienced. At length he is
greatly moved longs to find Christ. The next
day they pray earnestly with tad for him,

58 TH ic POET PBEAGB3BR.

while Mr. Piers struggles for the blessing of
faith. Soon he believes, and is filled with joy
unspeakable.

He visits the Delamottes, a wealthy and re-
spectable family residing at Blendon, and com-
prising the father and mother, two daughters,
Hetty and Betsy, and several sons. They are
all religions, bnt have not learned the faith in
Christ. He finds the daughters at home, and
prays that salvation may come to the house im-
mediately. Betsy soon hears a voice whisper-
ing to her, " Go thy way, thy sins are forgiven
thee!" and is filled with joy unspeakable.
Hetty strives earnestly, and Charles strives in
her behalf, till at length, in singing, he ob-
serves her join with mingled fear and joy.
Presently she declares that she could not
but believe that Christ died for her, even
for her.

The maid also, hearing him read how that
"He hath made Christ to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the right-
eousness of God in him," is filled with conso-

EAEUEST EBSULTS. 59

lation, and believes tliat Christ died for her,
and i'eels that her sins are forgiven.

A day or two afterward Jack Delamotte
calls upon Charles, in London, 'and tells him
that when he was at Blendon, and singing,
one day, of Christ,

" Who for me, for me hath, died,"

he found the words sink into his soul, and he
could have sung them forever, and was full of
delight and joy.

Charles feels much for William Delamotte,
who is a student at Cambridge, and^now on a
visit home. He discourses with him on faith
and free grace ; William objects. They walk to
church together, and Charles again tells him of
the glad tidings of salvation. William is heavy
and miserable. "We are justified freely by
faith alone," is a saying he cannot receive. He
calls on Charles the next day ; tells him he had
been writing against the doctrines of faiih, but
having written two sheets, he, in searching for
texts, read, "Not by works of righteousness

60 TTTR POET PJKBAOHEE.

which we have done, but according to his
mercy lie saved us." And this spoiled all, and
convinced him of his error.

They proceed to pray, and Charles pleads
the promises for him with great earnestness.
Three days after he recieves a note from "Wil-
liam, telling him that God had heard his prayers.
"O my friend!" he exclaims. "I am free in-
deed 1 1 agonized some time between darkness
and light; but God was greater than my heart,
and burst the cloud, and broke down the parti-
tion wall, and opened to me the door of faith."

While Charles was praying for William De-
lamotte, as just related, a poor man, Heather by
name, came in to talk with him.

Heather. I heard and liked your sermon on
faith.

Wed&y. Have you faith?

W. Have you the forgiveness of sins ?
-KNo.

W. Can there be any good in you till you
believe?

EARLIEST EESHLTS. 61

S. NO.

W. But do yon think that Christ cannot give
you faith and forgiveness in this hour?
H. Tes; to be sure he can.
W. And do you believe his promise, that
where two of his disciples shall agree upon
earth as touching anything they shall ask of
him, he will give it them ?
JET. I do.

W. Why, then, here is your minister, and I
agree with him to ask faith for you.

H. Then I believe I shall receive it before I
go out of this room.

To prayer they went; and rising and asking
him whether he believed, he replied, "Tes, I do
believe with all my heart. I believe Christ
died for my sins ; I know they are all forgiven.
I desire only to love him. I would suffer any-
thing for him ; could lay down jny life for him
this moment."

Mrs. Delamotte proved a more obstinate
case. At first she was civil Charles preached
faith in her hearing. The next day, he calls on

62 TTHB POET PBEACHEB.

her at her house. She falls abruptly upon the
sermon for its false doctrine. Much dispute
ensues. At length she starts up and runs out
of the house, protesting she could not" bear the
conversation. After a time her daughter Betsy
prevails upon her to return.

A week afterward Charles hears that Mrs.
Delamotte is convinced of unbelief, and much
ashamed of her treatment of him. Presently
she sends for him, explains her conduct, hears
him further concerning the faith in Christ, and
is thoroughly convinced. At length she becomes
completely humbled, and Charles continued in-
stant in prayer and intercessions in her behalf.

Eour days after the above interview with
Mrs. Delamotte, he receives a letter from her
son William, wherein were the following words
concerning his mother :

"She continued agonizing all the evening.
But how can I utter the sequel? The first
object of her thoughts the next morning was
Christ. She saw him approaching ; and seeing,
loved, believed, adored. Her prayers drew

FUBTHEB DEVELOPMENTS. 63

him still nearer, and everything she saw con-
curred to hasten the embrace of her Beloved.
Thus she continued in the Spirit till four; when,
reading in her closet, she received the kiss of
reconciliation. Her own soul could not con-
tain the joys attending it. She could not for-
bear imparting to her friends and neighbors
that she had found the piece which she had
lost"

Such is a specimen of the zeal and the suc-
cess of Charles Wesley in his earliest efforts to
awaken and promote the faith which brings a
present salvation. It was an auspicious morn-
ing of the brilliant and glorious day that was
to succeed.

ITJRTEEK DEVELOPMlLOTS.

IT was now the autumn of 1738, and Charles
Wesley "began to be about thirty years of
age. 5 ' Himself and his brother John had of
late obtained the " precious faith" which saves

64 THK 1P03ST PBEAOHEB.

from sin, and is the root of all true righteous-
ness. John had been spending some months in
Germany, on a visit to the Moravians, and had
learned mnch from their goodly discipline and
order, and from their deep and sound Scriptural
experience.

On his return the two brothers began to co-
operate with each other for the .advancement of
true religion. Their plan was to preach in
such churches as were open to them, and hold
"meetings for conversation, prayer, singing,
mutual .exhortations, and Scriptural exposi-
tion."

Up to this time Charles had always read his
sermons from the pulpit. But he now began to
exercise himself in extemporary speaking, and
thus acquired a boldness and facility of speak-
ing, and a self-command which surprised him-
self as well as others, and thus it was that he
became at length one of the most fluent and
impressive preachers of his age.

The influence of his preaching, as well as
that of his brother, began now to be felt among

FUETHEE DEVELOPMENTS. 65

the more openly profligate and wicked. Many
of these were brought to repentance, the genu-
ineness and sincerity of which were evinced by
a reformed life.

But neither of the brothers had, at this time,
the slightest intention of departing from the es-
tablished order of the Church of which they
were ministers. Hence, when unfavorable re-
ports of their proceedings reached the ears of the
higher officers of the Church, they lost no time
in waiting upon these dignitaries, for the pur-
pose of defending themselves, and also of solicit-
ing episcopal advice and sanction. They con-
ferred with the Bishop of London and the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, by both of whom they
seem, to have been treated, at first, with kindness.

But Charles's ardent spirit, and especially his
doctrine of salvation by faith alone, gave great
offense, and provoked much opposition. He
preached at Bexley, in the church of the good
Mr. Piers, already mentioned. A part of the
congregation retire from the church while he is
preaching, and the vicar is alarmed.

66 THE POET PEEAOHBB.

At the request of Mr. Stonehouse, vicar of
Islington, Charles became his curate. But he
met with the most determined opposition in the
discharge of his clerical duties. The bishop had
not given his sanction to the arrangement be-
tween the curate and the vicar, and this
-strengthened the opposition. The church-ward-
ens would meet him in the vestry, before the
commencement of divine service, and annoy
him by asking to see the bishop's license to his
curacy. At another time, and in the same place,
they would proceed to revile him, telling him
that he was full of the devil, and all others who
thought with him. Having failed to drive him
away by these means, they proceeded to greater
extremes, and took their position at the foot of
the pulpit stairs, so that when, after prayers, the
preacher attempted to ascend the pulpit, they
forcibly prevented him, regardless of the pres-
ence of the congregation, as well as of all de-
cency. The matter was presented to the Bishop
of London, who justified the church-wardens in
their conduct.

FUBTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 67

Thus was Charles compelled to seek other
fields for the exercise of his ministry than the
pulpits of his Church. He was literally expelled
by violence, and that violence received the
sanction of the diocesan.

Similar treatment awaited his brother John.
It soon transpired that for the most part, when
he had preached in a church, he was notified, at
the conclusion of the service, that he most oc-
cupy that pulpit no more.

Mr. Whitefield met the same fate. He had
just returned from a missionary excursion to
Georgia, and was making collections in behalf
of an orphan asylum in that foreign land. At-
tempting to present his cause in Bristol, it was
not long before he was excluded from every
pulpit in that city connected with the Estab-
lished Church.

"What was the matter with these men ? There
were two difficulties. One was that they
preached the offensive doctrine of salvation by
faith alone; and the second was, that such
multitudes flocked to hear the preaching that

68 THE POST PREACHER.

the pew-holders were subjected to serious incon-
venience. So much heat and crowding were
too irksome and vexations to be borne !

But God had his eye upon all this, and he
had his great and wise designs in permitting so
disgraceful and wicked an outrage. We shall
see forthwith the interpretation. Clergymen
and church-wardens may lock up their pulpit
doors against God's ministers, and bishops may
uphold them in such conduct. Nevertheless,
"the earth is the Lord's and the fUllness
thereof"

FIELD PBEAOEEKra

FIELD PREACHING was the result of excluding
Whitefield and the Wesleys from the pulpits of
the Established Church.

Whitefield led the van in this novel and
great enterprise. John Wesley follows with
equal steps. "I could at first scarcely reconcile
myself," he says, "to this strange way of preach-
ing in the fields, of which he set me an example

FIELD

PBEAGHINX3 p 71

on Sunday. Having been all iny life (till very
lately) so tenacious of every point relating to
decency and order, I should have thought the
saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been
done in the church."

And Charles was not behind. A fanner
wants him to preach in his field, and he com-
plies. Then a Quaker presses him to preach in
the street, and he preaches to about a thousand
persons. The next day he preaches again, and
many are moved under the word. Then he
preaches in Moorfields to ten thousand people,
and invites them to come to the Saviour and
find rest. Presently he preaches at Kennington
Common to "multitudes upon multitudes,"
calling upon them to "repent and believe the
Gtospel ;" and he writes that the Lord was his
" strength, and mouth, and wisdom." He con-
tinues preaching at Moorfields and Kennington
Common to immense assemblies, and to the
great joy and spiritual benefit of many.

He is at this time in labors more abundant,

visiting prisoners, praying with penitents, ex-
5

72 THE POET PEEAOHEB.

pounding the Scriptures in private houses, and
often preaching in the open air, sometimes to
twenty thousand persons. If it be asked how
he was enabled to accomplish so much, he him-
self distinctly answers that " he received assist-
ance from above. He lived in the spirit of
prayer ; he laid hold upon the strength Divine by
a mighty faith, and he realized the fulfillment
of the promise, I am with you always."

For some years from this time, Charles
Wesley is represented as a prince of preachers,
surpassed by no other man since the apostolic
times in power and efficiency, and the people
everywhere fell under his word like grass under
the scythe of the mower.

Here we have a picture of one of these great
assemblies, drawn by the minister :

"Thousands," writes Charles, "stood in the
churchyard. It was the most beautiful sight I
ever beheld. The people filled the gradually
rising area, which was shut upon three sides by
a vast perpendicular hill. On the top and
bottom of this hill was a circular row of trees*

HELD PEEACHING. 73

In this amphitheater they stood, deeply at-
tentive, while I called upon them, in Christ's
words, c Oome unto me all that are weary.' The
tears of many testified that they were ready to
enter into that rest. God enabled me to lift up
my voice like a trumpet, so that all distinctly
heard me. I concluded with singing an invita-
tion to sinners. It was with difficulty we made
our way through this most loving people, and
returned, amid their prayers and blessings, to
Ebley."

Here we have a picture of a similar scene,
drawn by another than the minister, "by a Oal-
vinist Dissenter :

"Hearing that Mr. Charles Wesley would
preach in the afternoon just out of the city, I
got a guide, and went to hear him. I found
him standing upon a table, in an erect posture,
with his hands and eyes lifted up to heaven in
prayer, surrounded with, I guess, more than a
thousand people ; some few of them persons of
fashion, both men and women, but most of them
of the lower rank of mankind. I know not

74 M'H M POET PREACHER.

how long he had been engaged in the duty be-
fore I came, but he continued therein, after my
coining, scarcely a quarter of an hour, during
which time he prayed with uncommon fer-
vency, fluency, and variety of proper expres-
sion. He then preached about an hour, from
2 Oor. v, 17-21, in such a manner as I have
seldom, if ever, heard any minister preach;
that is, though I have heard many a finer ser-
mon, according to the common taste, yet I have
scarcely ever heard any minister discover such
evident signs of a most vehement desire, or
labor so earnestly to convince his hearers that
they were all by nature in a state of enmity
against God, consequently in a damnable state,
and needed reconciliation to God ; that God is
willing to be reconciled to all, even the worst
of sinners, and for that end hath laid all our sin
on Christ, and Christ hath borne the punish-
ment due to our sins in our nature and stead ;
that, on the other hand, the righteousness and
merits of Christ are imparted to as many as be-
lieve on him ; that it is faith alone, exclusive

entirely of any works of ours, which applies to
us the righteousness of Christ, and justifies us in.
the sight of God ; that none are excluded but
those who refuse to come to him as lost, un-
done, yea, as damned sinners, and trust in him
alone, that is, in his meritorious righteousness
and atoning sacrifice, for pardon and salvation.
These points he supported all along, as he went
on, with many texts of Scripture, which he ex-
plained and illustrated ; and then freely invited
all, even the chief of sinners, and used a great
variety of the most moving arguments and ex-
postulations, in order to persuade, allure, in-
stigate, and, if possible, compel all to come to
Christ, and believe in him for pardon and
salvation.

" Nor did he fail to inform them thoroughly,
how ineffectual their faith would be to justify
them in the sight of God, unless it wrought by
love, purified their hearts, and reformed their
lives ; for though he cautioned them, with the
utmost care, not to attribute any merit to their
own performances, nor in the least degree rest

Y6 THE POET PEEACHEK.

upon any works of their own ; yet, at the same
time, he apprized them that their faith is bnt a
dead faith if it be not operative and productive
of good works, even all the good in their power."

The same hand describes, as follows, a subse-
quent evening meeting of one of the societies,
when Charles Wesley prayed and expounded :

"Never did I hear such praying, or such
singing never did I see and hear such evident
marks of fervency of spirit in the service of God
as in that society. At the close of every sin-
gle petition, a serious amen, like a rushing
sound of waters, ran through the whole society ;
and their singing was not only the most har-
monious and delightful I ever heard, but, as Mr.
Whitefield writes in his Journals, they 'sung
lustily, and with a good courage.' I never so
well understood the meaning of that expression
before. Indeed, they seemed to sing with melo-
dy in their hearts. It is impossible for any man
to try another's heart; neither would I dare to
invade the Divine prerogative ; but this I will
venture to say : such evident marks of a lively,

OPPOSITION.

genuine devotion, in any part of religious wor-
ship, I never was witness to in any place, or on
any occasion. If there be such a thing as
heavenly music upon earth, I heard it there.
If there be such an employment, such an attain-
ment, as that of a heaven upon earth, numbers
in that society seem to possess it. As for my
own part, I do not remember my heart to have
been so elevated in prayer and praise, either in
collegiate, parochial, or private worship, as it
was Jhere and then."

OPPOSITION.

THE extraordinary career in which Charles
Wesley and his brother John were now fully
launched failed not to excite stern opposition,
and that, too, from various sources. Their field-
preaching, and their more private assemblies for
worship, and for the revival of religion, came
Titfder the ban of the Church authorities, as
being iir-egidar and unlawful. At the same time,

78 THE POET PREACHER.

the great central doctrine of salvation ly faith
seemed equally distasteful to theologues and
carnal professors. Also their pungent and
powerful addresses in preaching, and the earn-
estness and fervor with which they pressed tho
necessity of regeneration in order to salvation,
kindled fierce opposition among the high and
the low. Still further, the multiplication of con-
verts, and the spirit of religious inquiry that was
awakened in various places, provoked opposition
from not a few.

One or two "brief illustrations may, perhaps,
entertain the reader.

Charles is summoned into the presence of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. He is proceeding
to make a statement.*

Archbishop. I do not dispute. What call
have you?

Charles. A dispensation of the Gospel is com-
mitted to me.

A. That is, to St. Paul ; but I do not dispute,
<md will not proceed to eoDcomvwmicate yet,

* See Frontispiece,

OPPOSITION. 79

0. Your grace has taught me, in your book
on Church government, that a man unjustly ex-
communicated is not thereby cast off from com-
munion with Christ.

A. Of that I am the judge.

O. Is not Mr. Whitefield's success a spiritual
sign, and sufficient proof of his call

The archbishop's reply to this question is
not given, but he dismisses Charles from his
presence with every mark of displeasure.

This dark and threatening interview was
on Thursday. Charles returned from the pal-
ace in peace, and on the very next Sabbath
preached in the open air at Moorfields to
ten thousand sinners. This was in the
morning. In the afternoon, on Kennington
Common, he preached again to an immense
multitude.

We are here reminded of the apostle, as in
view of threatening perils he exclaimed : " None
of these things move me, neither count I my
life dear unto myself so that I may finish my
course with joy, and the ministry I have re-

80 THE POET PEEAOHER.

ceived of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of
the grace of God."

The archbishop talked of excommunication ;
"but," says Mr. Jackson, "he reconsidered the
subject, and wisely forbore to execute his threat
Perhaps he recollected that the Son of God
preached upon a mountain, and on a plain, and
addressed multitudes on the sea-shore as he sat
in a fishing-boat ; and that the apostle of the
Gentiles preached Jesus and the resurrection to
the inquisitive Athenians as he stood upon
Mars' hill. It would indeed have been an un-
seemly thing for a man invested with ecclesias-
tical authority, and professing to derive that
authority from the Lord Jesus, in a direct line
from the apostles, to impose silence upon Chris-
tian ministers, and even expel them from the
congregation of the faithful, for doing that
which the Lord himself, and the holy apostles
under his direct sanction, had recommended by
their daily practice. The Protestant Church of
England was preserved from the deep Dishonor
of an act so thoroughly antichristjan."

OPPOSITION. 81

The following presents a specimen of opposi-
tion of a somewhat different character :

Charles goes to Bengeworth and calls for his
friend, Mr. Seward. He being sick, sends his
brother Henry in his stead, who, coming into
Charles's presence, charges him with the down-
fall of his brother, picking his pockets, ruining
his family, and proceeds to call him a scoundrel
and rascal, and threatens to whip him. Much
other disturbance and abuse follow from this
impudent young man, when, on a subsequent
visit to the place, Charles and Henry meet
again.

Hervry. Please step into the Crown.

Charles. I do not frequent taverns.

H. What business have you with my brother?

O. Can you imagine, if I have any business
with him as a Christian, I shall communicate it
to you?

H. Why not to me?

O. Because you are a natural man.

H. Why are not you a natural man, as
well as I?

82 THE POET PEEACHEB.

C. You are a mere natural man, in your
sins, and in your blood.

B. "What do you mean by that? I say,
have you any particular business ?

0. I have business at present somewhat
different from talking with you.

Thus ended the interview, and the next day
the two met again, when Henry apologized
for his past behavior, and excused himself
by saying that anger was rooted in his
nature.

Henry. But indeed, sir, you are the down-
fall of my brother Benjamin. He has certainly
been out of his senses.

Charles. Yes, and so have I been before
now in a fever.

JET. O, but we all really think him mad,
through means of you.

0. Yefy likely you may; and if it should
ever please God to make you a Christian, you
will be thought mad too.

J3. God make me a Christian 1 I am a better
Christian than you are.

OPPOSITION. 83

<Z You was once in the way of being one,
but you have stifled your convictions.

JS. I say I am a better Christian than you
are. I have good ministers and the Scriptures
to teach me.

O. Yes; and those Scriptures say a man that
loves money is no more a Christian than an
adulterer.

JZ What, sir, must not a man love money ?
How shall he go to market without it ? Not that
I value it, not I. But what do you mean by
making divisions in our family? You come
now to get money.

O. Indeed, sir, you know not what I come for ;
you judge me by your own standard ; money is
your God, and you think I come to rob you of it

H. You are a rascal, a villain, and a pick-
pocket

But Charles was compelled to encounter
opposition of a much more painful character.
We have seen, in the pages preceding, how
great a blessing his ministry had proved to the
Delamotte family.

84 TH K POET PREAOHEE.

Will it be believed that all of these, under
the influence of the German quietism, had turn-
ed aside from the ordinances and the faith of
the Gospel? Charles visited them at Blendon,
with some feint hope of reclaiming them to their
first faith and love. As he endeavored to rea-
son with the deluded mother and daughters,
they repeatedly bade him be silent. At length
Charles said : " Do you therefore, at this time,
in the presence of Jesus Christ, acquit, release,
and discharge me from any farther care, concern,
or regard for your souls ? Do you desire I would
never more speak unto you in his name V Bet-
ty frankly answered, c Tes.' Mrs. Delamotte
assented by her silence. 4 Then hero/ said I,
* I take my leave of you, till we meet at the
judgment-seat 1' With these words I rendered
up my charge to God.

"'Then,' said I, after leaving them, * I have
labored in vain ; I have spent my strength for
naught : yet surely my judgment is with the
Lord, and my work with my God. Surely this
is enough to wean and make me cease from

INCIDENTS. 85

man. "With Blendon I give up all expectation
of gratitude upon earth. Vanity of vanities, all
is vanity ; even friendship itself 1' "

Such are but a specimen. It was emphati-
cally true of the Wesleys, that a great and
effectual door was opened unto them, but there
were many adversaries.

INCTOE1STS.

YET amid all opposition Charles is not dis-
couraged; his earnest and buoyant spirit towers
above discouragements, and glides over tumults
and obstacles as easily as the floating sea-bird
rises over the waves of the surging ocean.

Sprightly and pleasant are the notices drop-
ping from his pen of his preachings and varied
exercises and movements.

One summer day he preached five times in as
many different places, and writes that " preach-
ing five times a day, when God calls me to it,

86 THE POET PREACHES.

no more wears the flesh than preaching once."
One of these sermons was at Bath. "Satan
toot it ill," he says, " to be attacked in his
own quarters that Sodom of our land. While
I was explaining the trembling jailer's question,
he raged horribly in his children. They went
out and came back again, and mocked, and at
last roared, as if each man's name was Legion.
Jly power increased with the opposition."

He preached in Porthkeny, in Wales. " God
was among us," said he, " and a mighty tempest
was stirred up round about him. Never hath
he given me more convincing words. The poor
simple souls fell down at the feet of Jesus."

He encounters a clergyman, Mr. Game, who
is offended at the multitude that flock to
Charles's preaching. He stands up during all
the sermon of two hours, and is compelled to
see the great company of mourners, and the
abundance of tears under the sermon. After
service he says to Charles : " Sir, you have got
very good lungs, but you will make the people
melancholy. I saw them crying throughout

INCIDENTS. 87

the church." Then Game turned to the gen-
tleman that entertained Charles, saying : " Ton
will make yourself ridiculous all over the coun-
try by encouraging such a fellow."

He goes to a revel in a certain town, and en-
deavors to dissuade them from what they deem
their innocent diversions. An old dame of
threescore falls down under the stroke of the
hammer, who could never before be convinced
of the harm of dancing.

He preaches to some prisoners under sen-
tence of death. The most hardened one, of
which he had the least hope, appears truly
justified, and declares that he has no fears of
death, and no ill-will toward his persecutors.
"But have you not had any fear of death!"
"Yes," he replied, "till I heard you preach;
then it went away, and I have felt no trouble

ever since.'

He visits a magistrate at Kingswood, who
was the most forward of all the adversaries
there, and had threatened seizure of their school

for the colliers.

6

88 TTTR POET PBEACHEB.

Charles. I came to wait upon you in respect
to your office, having heard that yon were of-
fended at the good we were doing to the poor
colliers. I should be sorry to give you any just
cause of complaint.

Justice. Tour school here would make a good
work-house.

O. It is a work-house already.

J. Aye, but what work is done there ?

0. We work the works of God, which man
cannot hinder.

e/1 But yon occasion the increase of our poor.

0. Sir, you are misinformed ; the reverse 01
1|at is true. Hone of our society is chargeable
to you; even those who were so before they
heard us, who spent all their wages at the ale-
house, now never go there at all, but keep their
money to maintain their families, and have to
give to those who want Notorious swearers
have now only the praises of God in their
mouths. The good done among them is indis-
putable : our worst enemies can't deny it. None
who hear us continue either to swear or drink

INOTDENTS. 89

J. If I thought so I would come and hear yon
myself.

O. Come ! the grace of God is as sufficient for
you as for our colliers.

J. I shall not at all concern myself, for if
what you do you do for gain, you have your
reward ; if for the sake of God, he will recom-
pense you. I am of Gamaliel's mind : " If this
work be of men it will come to naught."

O. " But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow
it; lest, haply, ye be found to fight against
God." Therefore follow Gamaliel's advice:
"Take heed to yourselves; refrain from these
men, and let them alone."

"He seemed determined so to do," adds
Charles; "and thus, through the blessing of
God, we parted friends."

At St. Ives, Charles hears the rector preach.
The application of his sermon is downright rail-
ing at the "new sect, 55 "the enemies of the
Church, seducers, troublers, scribes and phari-
sees, hypocrites." Charles keeps a quiet heart
and steady countenance.

90 THIS POET PREACHER.

At TFednock he hears a curate preach, and
his test is "Beware of false prophets " "I stood
over against him," writes Charles, "within two
yards of the pulpit, and heard such a hotch-
potch of railing, foolish lies, as Satan himself
might have been ashamed of. I had asked that
my countenance might not alter, and was kept
in perfect peace* The poor people behaved
very decently, and all followed me to hear the
true word of God. I stayed, and mildly told
the preacher he had been misinformed. 'No,'
he answered; 'it was all truth.' 'Sir,' said I,
4 if you believe what you preach you believe a
lie.' c You are a liar,' he replied. I put him in
mind of the great day, testified my good-will,
and left him."

PEESECUTIO^S. 91

PEESECUTIOlSrS.

FIVE years had now passed since the Wesleys
had obtained the precious faith of the Gospel,
and had entered upon their peculiar ministry,
proclaiming earnestly and in multitudes of
places the great salvation by Christ We have
seen that opposition had already arrayed itself
against them, and it is a most significant and
melancholy fact that this opposition commenced
in the heart of the Church of which they were
accredited ministers. They were soon excluded
from most of the pulpits of the Established
Church, while in many places the clergy were
not satisfied with withdrawing from them all
ministerial courtesy, but were concerned, in
connection with magistrates, in stirring up the
rabble to the most violent and disgraceful
opposition.

Charles Wesley, for example, is at "Walsal.
He walks through the town amid the noisy
greetings of enemies. As he preaches, stand-

92 THE POET PBEAOHEB.

ing on the steps of the market-house, "the
floods lifted up their voices and raged horribly.
The streets were full of fierce Ephesian beasts,
who roared, and shouted, and threw stones in-
cessantly. Many struck without hurting me.
I besought them in calm love to be reconciled
to God in Christ While I was departing a
stream of ruffians was suffered to bear me from
the steps* I rose, and having given the blessing,
was beaten down again."

In Sheffield the clergy had succeeded in in-
flaming the public mind, so that during his
stay a mob assembled and pulled down the
Methodist chapel, which had been erected by
the liberality of a poor people,

He goes to the society house to preach, and
"hell from beneath is moved to oppose him.
No sooner does he eater the desk than the
floods lift up their voice. An officer contra-
dicted and blasphemed The preacher takes no
notice of him, but sings on. Meanwhile the
stones fly on, hitting the desk and people. The
notice that lie will preach in the

CHABLE8 WESLEY IN A MOB,

PERSECUTIONS. 95

open air; and as he goes out the whole army
of aliens follow him, and he preaches the Gospel
with much contention, the stones often hitting
him in the face while he is speaking. The ser-
mon being finished, Charles prays for sinners as
servants of their master, the deviL ^flAereupon
the officer rushes upon him with great fory,
threatening revenge, draws his sword and
points it at tide Breast of the minister. "My
breast was immediately steeled. I threw it
open, and fixing mine eye on his, smiled in his
face, and calmly said, 'I fear God, and honor
the king.' TTfe countenance fell in a moment ;
he fetched a deep sigh, put up his sword, and
quickly left the place."

They followed Charles to his lodgings, and
greater outrages succeeded thraigh the night.
"They pressed hard," said Charles, "to break
open the door, I would have gone out to them,
but the brethren would not suffer me. They
labored aJl night for their master, and by morn-
ing had pulled down one end of the house. I
could compare them to nothing but the men of

96 yHM POET PEEAGHER.

Sodom ; or those coming out of the tombs, ' ex-
ceeding fierce.' Their outcries often waked me
in the night: yet I believe I got more sleep
than any of my neighbors."

The next day this undaunted soldier of Christ
propose^to preach in the heart of the town, and
went forth nothing doubting. As he goes, he
hears the enemy shouting from afar. - He stands
up in the midst of the multitude and proclaims,
" If God be for us, who can be against us." He
adds: "God made bare his arm in the sight of
the heathen, and so restrained the fierceness of
men, that not one lifted up hand or voice
against us,"

After preaching he retires to his lodgings
through the open street, with the multitude at
his heels. As he passes he sees the preaching-
house, with "not one stone upon another," and
as he looks he reminds himself that "the foun-
dation of God standeih sure," and thinks of the
house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.

All is quiet till he enters his lodgings. Then

PEESECUTIOKS. 97

the mob renew their violence, threatening to
level the house to the ground ; the windows are
smashed in an instant, and the poor owner, in
his fright, seems " ready to give np his shield."
Yet the rebels were overawed; one of the stur-
diest of them was captured, and carried into the
house, and in a few minutes the hated and de-
spised minister was wrapped in sweet sleep, in
the very room which the mob had just disman-
tled. " I feared no cold," he said, " but dropped
asleep with that word, { Scatter thou the people
that delight in war. 3 "

Thence Charles goes to Thorpe, having been
notified that the people of that place were ex-
ceeding mad against him. Approaching the
town, an ambush of rowdies suddenly arose
from their concealment, and assault him with
stones, eggs, and mud. With much difficulty
he and his traveling companion force their
way through the mob. Returning to them, he
asks the reason a clergyman may not pass with-
out such treatment. At first they scatter ; then
their captain, rallying them, answers with horri-

98 THE* POET PREACHER.

We imprecations, and stones that would have
killed both man and beast, had they not been
turned aside by an unseen hand.

Charles's horse takes fright and runs away
with him, the rabble following with hideous
shoutings. Yet he finds a place of refuge,
"meets many sincere souls assembled to hear the
word of God. Never have I known a greater
power of love. All were drowned in tears, yet
very happy, . . . We rejoiced in the God of
oar salvation, who hath compassed ns about
with songs of deliverance." About six weeks
afterward Charles is at St Ives, walking to-
ward the market-house for the purpose of
preaching to the multitudes. When we came
to the place of batfle the enemy was ready, set
in array against us. I began the hundredth
psalm, and they beating their drums and
shouting. I stood still and silent for some time,
finding they would not receive my testimony.
I then offered to speak to some of the most
violent ; but they stopped their eare and ran
upon me, crying, I should not preach there,

PERSECUTIONS. 99

and catching at me to pull me down. They
had no power to touch me. My soul was calm
and fearless. I shook off the dust of my feet,
and walked leisurely through the thickest of
them, who followed like ramping and roaring
lions. But their mouth was shut "We met
the mayor, who saluted us, and threatened the
rioters. I rejoiced at my lodgings in one al-
mighty Jesus."

One specimen more must suffice, and it shall
be given in Charles's own words :

" I had just named my text at St Ives, * Com-
fort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God I > when an army of rebels broke in upon us,
like those at Sheffield or Wednesbnry. They be-
gan in a most outrageous manner, threatening
to murder the people if they did not go out
that moment They broke the sconces, dashed
the windows in pieces, bore away the shutters,
benches, poor-box, and all but the stone walls.

"I stood silently looking on, but my eyes
were unto the Lord. They swore bitterly I
should not preach there again ; which I imme-

100 THE POET PKEAOHEB.

diately disproved T>y telling them Christ died
for them all Several times they lifted up their
hands and clubs to strike me ; but a stronger
arm restrained them. They beat and dragged
the women about, particularly one of a great
age, and trampled on them without mercy.

"The longer they stayed, and the more they
raged, the more power I found from above. I
bade the people stand still and see the salvation
of God, resolving to continue with them and see
the end.

" In about an hour the word came, 4 Hitherto
shalt thou come, and no further.' The ruffians
fell to quarreling among themselves, broke the
town clerk's (their captain's) head, and drove
one another out of the room.

"Having kept the field, we gave thanks for
the victory, and in prayer the Spirit of glory
rested upon us."

Thus it was that for a series of years the
"Wesleys, in the strong evangelical career which
they had undertaken, were doomed to encoun-
ter opposition and persecution worthy of the

101

gloom and fanaticism of the dark ages. Spirit-
ual religion in the Establishment, and among
Dissenters, was at a low ebb. The land seems to
have been greafly given np to drunkenness, riot-
ing, and violence. Police regulations and restric-
tions were loosely and partially administered;
and in most cases the ministers of justice were
enemies of the evangelical movement, and often
took sides with the mob, and refused to defend
the oppressed ministers and people.

" I preached," writes Charles, " near Pen-
zance, to the little flock, encompassed by
ravening wolves. Their minister rages above
measure against this new sect, who are spread
throughout his four livings. His reverend
brethren follow his example- The grossest lies
which are brought them they swallow without
examination, and retail the following Sunday.
One of the society, James Duke, went lately to
the worshipful the Rev. Dr. Borlase for justice
against a rioter who had broken open his house
and stolen his goods. The doctor's answer was :
* Thou conceited fellow 1 art thon turned relig-

102 THE POET PBEACHEB.

ions ? They may burn thy house if they will.
Thou slialt have no justice. 3 With these words
he drove him from the judgment-seat."
Under date of next day, he writes again :
" One of our sisters complained to the mayor
of some who had thrown into her house stones
of many pounds weight, which fell on the
pillow within a few inches of her sucking child.
The magistrate cursed her, and said, ' You shall
have no justice here. You see there is none for
you at London, or you would have got it before
now. 5 With this saying he drove her out of his
house."

But enough of these sickening details. Yet
it is well that the young should have some
view, though it be but a glimpse, of the terri-
ble and constant opposition and the multiplied
sufferings under which the Wesleyan Ref-
ormation arose, and against which it triumphed
gloriously.

TEE G-WY2ENT3B. 103

THE GWYUNES.

CHAKT.ES WESLET was now forty years of
age, and was as yet unmarried. Ten years he had
been occupied, in connection with his brother
John, in a most arduous and prosperous minis-
try ; yet a ministry of such a peculiar character
as to appear to render it inexpedient to encum-
ber themselves with families.

"I have always had a fear," said Charles,
" but no thought of marrying for many years
past, even from my first preaching the Gospel."

He immediately adds, however : " But within
this twelvemonth that thought has forced itself
in : c How know I whether it be best for me to
marry or no Certainly better now than later ;
and if not now, what security that I shall not
then ? It should be now or not at all."

Far away in "Wales, amid a beautiful and
charming retreat, lived Marmaduke Gfaoywne,
JSsq.} a gentleman of family and fortune, who
had been greatly benefited under the ministry

104 THE POET PBEACHEE.

of the celebrated Howell Harris. He was " a
man of fine spirit, deeply pious, kind to his
tenantry, beneficent to the poor, and exemplary
in all the relations of life."

His establishment was large and princely.
His wife was one of six heiresses, each of whom
had a fortune of $150,000, and each was mar-
ried into a family of rank. She was a lady of
large understanding and generous impulses, yet
of a proud heart. Greatly averse, at first, to
Mr. Harris and the religious influence he ex-
erted upon her husband, she subsequently laid
aside her prejudices, was induced to read and
hear for herself, and became a friend and par-
taker of spiritual Christianity.

ISTine sons and daughters, twenty servants, a
chaplain, and nurse constituted the establish-
ment of the Gwynnes. The Church service,
both for the morning and evening, was daily
read. More or less guests, of great respectability,
were almost always present ; and altogether it
was one of those magnificent and lovely homes
for which England is so much distinguished.

THE GWTNNES. 105

Sarah Owynne was one of the daughters of
this bright home. She was beautiful in person,
and of genial temper and peaceful manners;
moreover she possessed deep and genuine piety,
and had renounced the world, with its gayeties
and ' pleasures, for the sake of Christ and
salvation.

The ministry of Harris had been of special
benefit to Sarah, as also that of the Wesleys, who,
in their extensive travels, had been received
at her father's mansion as the angels of God.

It was delightful to this young lady to accom-
pany, with her father, these evangelists in their
preaching excursions in the adjoining country;
and both father and daughter had made a long
visit to the "Wesleys, at the Foundry, in London,
and had witnessed the vast congregation, and
been delighted with the spirituality and earnest-
ness of the worship there, and with the evident
reality and greatness of the work of God of
which the two devoted brothers had been the
chief instrumentality.

It is needless to add that this was the beauti-

106 THE POET PBEAOHEE.

ful and excellent young lady who had won flie
heart of Charles Wesley.

Tet nothing had been disclosed to her, or any
of the family, on the subject Every successive
visit had served to strengthen his attachment,
and his persuasion that, in the event of his mar-
rying, Sarah would be the most suitable object
of his choice.

"When Charles and his brother returned
from Georgia, they entered into an agreement
that neither of them would marry, or take any
direct step toward marriage, without the knowl-
edge and consent of the other. On his arrival
in London, in November, 1748, he fulfilled his
part of the covenant by informing his brother
that . it was his intention to offer himself as
the future husband of Miss Gwynne. He
was agreeably surprised to find that his brother
not only offered no objection, but had actually
anticipated his wishes in this aflfair. John had
entertained the thought of recommending to
Charles three young ladies of their acquaint-
ance, any one of whom he deemed suitable for

THE GWYMTES. 107

Charles's wife; and Miss Gwynne was one of
the number, so that he decidedly approved the
choice which Charles had made. They consult-
ed together concerning every particular, and
were of one heart and mind in all things."

Thus encouraged, Charles immediately pro-
ceeded to Wales, to solicit the heart and hand
of Miss Gwynne. " It was an understanding
between him and his brother that a refusal from
the yonng lady, or even one of her parents,
should be regarded as an absolute prohibition,
and the suit should be forever abandoned.

"Happily for him, his former attentions to
Miss Gwynne, and the sterling excellences
which she had long seen in him, had already
won her affections. The matter was then dis-
closed to the mother by Itfiaa Becky Gwynne,
another of the daughters, who was also in favor
of the match.

"Mrs. Gwynne answered, *I would rather
give my child to Mr. Wesley than to any man
in England.' She afterward spoke to him
with great friendliness, and said that she had

108 Tma POET PEEAOHEE.

c no manner of objection but the want of
fortune. 9

"At the same time Mr. Gwynne gave his
free and unhesitating consent, and left; all the
arrangements to his wife, who was well qualified
for the task by her natural shrewdness and
business habits."

Delighted with his success, the happy lover
took a friendly leave of the Gwynnes, and re-
turned to London to receive the congratulations
of his brother for his prosperous journey.

MAKKIAGE.

HA.VING, by the kind assistance of his brother
John, secured the required annuity of one hun-
dred pounds, Charles Wesley set out with a
light and glad heart for "Wales. His brother
and another friend accompanied him.

"When the party arrived at Garth, they
found Mr. Howell Gwynne, the eldest brother
of Sarah, visiting the family, and vehemently

MABEIA0E. 109

opposed to the union of his sister with a Me-
thodist clergyman. The mother expostulated
with him, and Miss Becky told him point blank
that he ought to consider the offer of his sister's
suitor an honor done to himself as one of
the family."

It is added, however, that this brother was
soon divested of his hostility, and became as af-
fable and friendly as the rest of the family.

On this visit the necessary preliminaries were
definitely settled, and it was agreed that the mar-
riage should be solemnized within two months.

"During this interval Mr. Charles Wesley
applied himself to his ministerial labor with un-
abated diligence and zeal; and at the same
time he carried on a correspondence with Miss
Gwynne, remarkable for its piety. A consider-
able part of his letters to her were written in
verse a vehicle in which his thoughts flowed
in the most natural manner, especially when
his feelings were excited.

" These compositions are exceedingly animated,
and breathe the most pure and fervent devo-

110 TH M POET PREACHER.

tion. They call upon the object of his affection,
to whom he now stood in so tender a relation,
to unite with him in an unreserved dedication
of herself to their common Savionr; and ex-
press many fears lest the love of the creature
should at all interfere with that supreme love to
God which is the yery end of the command-
ment, and therefore the soul of religion. Never
was wedded love more strong and decided than
that which he cherished, and never was it more
thoroughly sanctified by a perfect and constant
reference to God, who has instituted marriage
for purposes connected with his own glory."

The eighth day of April, 1749, was the mar-
riage day of Charles Wesley. He, in company
with his brother, had arrived at the mansion
of the Gwynnes several days before, and all
matters had been arranged satisfactorily. John,
it appears, had entertained some scruples touch-
ing the possible effect of his brother's marriage
upon his usefulness as an itinerant preacher,
and was not without fear that he might thus be
deprived of Charles's assistance in the great

MARRIAGE. Ill

revival of religion that was now spreading itself
over the land.

His doubts and scruples were, however, re-
moved, and in his Journal, under the above date,
we notice the characteristic entry following :

" I married my brother and Sarah Gwynne.
It was a solemn day, such as became the dignity
of a Christian marriage."

Charles' own entry is equally characteristic:

"Saturday, April 8th, 1749.

" ' Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so "bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky.'

"Not a cloud was to be seen from morning
till night. I rose at four, spent three hours and
a half in prayer, or singing, with my brother,
with Sally, and with Beck. At eight I led my
Sally to church. Her father, sisters, Lady
Budd, Grace Bowen, Betty "Williams, and, I
think, Billy Tucker and Mr. James, were all the
persons present Mr. Gwynne gave her to me
under God. My brother joined our hands. It
was a most solemn season of love ! I never had
more of the Divine presence at the sacrament.

112 THE POET PREACHER.

My brother gave out a hymn. He then prayed
over us in strong faith. We walked hack to the
house and joined again in prayer. Prayer and
thanksgiving was onr whole employment. We
were cheerful without mirth serious without
sadness. A stranger that intermeddleth not
with our joy, said it looked more like a funeral
than a wedding. My brother seemed the hap-
piest person among us."

The account adds that the happy bridegroom
remained about two weeks with the Gwynnes
after his marriage, preaching every morning
and evening, either in the mansion of his father-
in-law or in the neighboring towns and villages.
He then resumed his itinerant ministry. Under
date of April 29, three weeks after his marriage,
he writes of severe illness having been caused
by an extreme eagerness to prosecute his minis-
try. "I was," he says, "too eager for the work,
and therefore believe God checked me by that
short sickness."

THE EABTHQUAKFl US

THE EARTHQUAKE.

CHAKLEB WESLEY was eminently fortunate and
happy in his marriage, and bright and blissful
days now shone over him. He seems to have
craved nothing save the glory of God in the'
salvation of men.

Soon after his marriage he rented a small
house in Bristol and commenced housekeeping.
It seems to have been such an abode as suited
" a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth." " I saw
my house/' he writes, " and consecrated it by
prayer and thanksgiving. ... At six our first
guests passed a useful hour with us. I preached
on the first words I met, Bom. xii, 1. The
power and blessing of God were with us. At
half past nine I slept comfortably in my own
house, yet not my own."

Meanwhile his Journal of these days speaks
of tears, amid his retired walks, in view of the
Divine goodness. He tells of being greatly
blessed in his private devotions. " In a word,"
he says, "whatsoever I do prospers."

r rH K POET PEEACHEE.

Yet while lie was signally blessed in his min-
istry, he seems to have been, at times, subject
to strong mental depression. " To this, indeed,
he was constitutionally prone, and from this
period to the end of his life he was more or less
afiected by it. When he was daily employed
in preaching and in traveling from place to
place, he was carried above all feelings of de-
spondency, and lived in a state of high spiritual
enjoyment But when he sat down in domestic
quiet, those feelings often returned in unabated
power.

On the eighth of February, 1T50, the Wes-
leys both speak of an earthquake in London.
Just one month afterward another shock was
felt, far more violent than the first. Charles
was just naming his text for preaching at the
Foundry, when. the building shook so violently
that every one supposed it would fall upon
their heads. A great tumult ensued, when the
preacher cried out: "Therefore will not we
fear though the earth be removed, and the hills
be carried into the midst of the sea; for the

THE EABTHQTJAKE. 115

Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is
our refuge." He adds: "The Lord filled my
heart with faith, and my mouth with words,
shaking their souls as well as their bodies. 9 '

This earthquake appears to have been felt
specially in London and Westminster. It was
a strong and jarring motion, attended with a
rumbling noise, like that of distant thunder.
Many houses were much shaken, and some
chimneys thrown down, but without any further
hurt. The alarm which it occasioned, as might
be supposed, was deep and general, many ap-
prehending a return of the calamity in a more
destructive form."

Touching the same event Charles "Wesley
writes thus to his wife :

"My dearest, dearest Friend Grace and
peace be multiplied upon you and yours, who
are mine also.

"One letter a week does not half satisfy me
under your absence. I count the days since we
parted, and those still between us and our next
meeting. Yet I dare not promise myself the

116 TH tfl POET PREACHEK.

certain "blessing, so many are the evils and acci-
dents of life. Accidents I should not call them ;
for God ordereth all things in heaven and
earth.

" Who knows His will concerning this wicked
city ? or how near we may be to the fate of
Lima or Portugal ?

"Blessed be God, many consider this day of
danger and adversity. The Bishop of London
has published a seasonable, solemn warning.
Our churches are crowded as at the beginning."

It was at this time that Charles preached the
discourse entitled, " Cause and Cure of Earth-
quakes," published in the first volume of the
American edition of "Wesley's Sermons.

He also composed several hymns under the
title of " Hymns occasioned by the Earthquake,
March 8th, 1750." These breathe a spirit simi-
lar to that of the sermon, describing in strong
and glowing terms the power and sovereignty of
God, his merciful and righteous government
over men, national and personal sins, the di-
vine forbearance and long-suffering, the uncer-

THE EABTHQTJ^EEL 117

tainty of life, and of all earthly possessions, and
the durable nature of the joys which are con-
nected with Christian godliness, both in time
and eternity."

In opposition to a letter that had been pub-
lished concerning the earthquake, referring the
event to second causes merely, and ignoring
any agency of God in the matter, Charles
Wesley thus sings :

" From whence these dire portents around,
That strike us with unwonted fear 3

Why do these earthquakes rock the ground,
And threaten our destruction near ?

Ye prophets smooth the cause explain,

And lull us to repose again.

" Or water swelling for a vent,

Or air impatient to get free,
Or fire within earth's entrails pent,"

Yet all are order 3 d, Lord, by thee;
The elements obey thy nod,
And nature vindicates her God.

" The pillars of the earth are t
And them hast set the world thereon ;

They at thy threatening look incline,
The center trembles at thy frown;

The everlasting mountains bow,

And God is hi the earthquake rune.

118 THift POET PREACHEB.

" Now, Lord, to shake a guilty land
Thou dost in indignation rise ;

We see, vre see thy lifted hand,
Made bare a nation to chastise,

When neither plagues nor mercies move

To fear thy -wrath, or court thy love.

" Therefore the earth beneath us reels,
And staggers like our drunken men ;

The earth the mournful cause reveals,
And groans our burden to sustain ;

Ordain' d our evils to deplore,

And fall with us to rise no more."

CORRESPONDENCE.

CHAKLES "WESLEY'S itinerant labors became,
after his marriage, more circumscribed than
formerly. At length his ministry was confined
mostly to the important points of London, and
Bristol

It was at the latter city that he had taken up
his residence, and this involved his absence
from his family so much of the time as he was
occupied in London.

During his separation from his wife, his
Utters to her were very frequent and were

COEEESPONDENCB. 119

strongly marked by that deep and tender affec-
tion which ever characterized him as a hus-
band. They also indicate his zeal and faithful-
ness as an embassador of the Lord Jesus.

The following brief extracts are culled from
the pages of this correspondence :

" Your illness would quite overwhelm me
were I not assured that it should work together
for your good, and enhance your happiness
through eternity. How does this assurance
change the nature of things 1

* Sorrow is joy, and pain is ease,
If then, my God, art here. 9

The slightest suffering received from Him is
an inestimable blessing, another jewel added to
your crown. Go, then, my faithful partner,
doing and suffering His blessed will, till out of
great tribulation we both enter his kingdom,
and his joy, and his glory everlasting."

" May the choicest blessings of God go along
with these lines, and meet you well at Ludlow!
On Friday I trust he will grant me my heart's

120 THE POET TBEACHEB.

desire, even the sight of one I love next to
himself."

" My strength is as my day. George White-
field has taken off great part of my labor. I
let him preach yesterday at the chapel, reserv-
ing myself for the watch-night. In considera-
tion whereof we had service this morning an
hour later. These things I mention in proof of
my great carefulness, and in hope you will
follow a good example."

" My dearest partner, abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Let us trust him for each
other. He never faileth them that seek him ;
and whoso putteth his trust in the Lord, mercy
embraceth him on every side."

" Mr. Fletcher read prayers again in the after-
noon. I testified, 'If the Son shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed. 3 Our chapel was
crowded as on Fast-day. Lady Huntingdon,
Lady Gertrude, Mrs. Cartaret, and a multitude
of strangers attended. I continued my discourse
for a whole hour, the Lord being my strength,
and giving me utterance."

CORRESPONDENCE. 121

"I passed two useful hours at 3Iiss Bosan-
quet's, [afterward Mrs. Fletcher.] Eight or-
phans she has taken to train up for God."

" Can I threaten my bosom friend with any
evil ? No ; but I sometimes mind her of that

blessed day when we shall put off these taber-

nacles. But I do not think we shall be long
divided. Tet if it gives you pain, I shall en-
deavor to forbear."

" Yours of August 13th has just now brought
me the mournful news of your increasing
illness. Tet would I say, 'It is the Lord;
let him do what seemeth him good !' Still my
hope of you is steadfast, that hereby you shall
be partaker of his holiness, who, in kindest love,
chastens you for your good ; and you may be
bold to say, 'When he hath tried me I shall
come forth as gold.'"

" I am come from preaching to a most attent-
ive multitude. This place seems quite subdued
to our Lord. Their hearts are all bowed before
him. He gives me uncommon strength. A

very great door is opened. The poor people
8

122 THE POET PREACHER.

have got in their harvest, and are now at leisure
to be gathered in themselves. The heavens
smile upon us, and the weather seems made on
purpose for preaching. "

" My bodily strength increases the more I use
it for the Lord. Every day brings its blessings,
both to me and to those that hear me. It is
pleasant traveling with such an errand. Noth-
ing but the company of my true yokefellow
could make it pleasanter. The next time you
hinder me in my work will be the first time. . . .
Let us join with greater earnestness than ever
to seek the kingdom of God together."

" Who is your chaplain ? When none is near,
you should read prayers yourself, as my mother
and many besides have done. Ee much in
private prayer. What the Lord will do with
me I know not; but am fully persuaded I shall
not long survive my brother. Farewell."

SOEROWS. 123

SORKOWS.

THE last sentence of the preceding chapter
alludes to a desperate illness of Mr. John Wes-
ley, with which he was seized toward the close
of 1753. He and all his friends supposed it to
be a settled consumption, and his case was gen-
erally thought to be hopeless. " His symptoms
were those of confirmed consumption, being a
cough, pain in the breast, fever, with loss of
strength."

It may well be supposed that Charles Wesley
was very deeply affected at the heavy tidings
concerning his brother. He thus addresses his
absent wife upon the subject :

" But first you expect news of my brother.
He is at Lewisham, considerably better, yet
still in imminent danger, being far gone and
very suddenly in a consumption. I cannot
acquit my friends of unpardonable negligence,
since not one of them sent me word of his
condition, but left me to hear it by chance. I
hasten to him to-morrow morning.

124 i'H re POET PEEACHEE.

" I found him," he writes again, " with my
sister, and 3rs. Blackwell, and Dewal. I fell
on his neck and wept. All present were alike
affected. Last Wednesday he changed for the
better, while the people were praying for him
at the Foundry. He has rested well ever since ;
his cough is abated, and his strength increased.
Tet it is most probable he will not recover, being
far gone in a galloping consumption, just as my
elder brother was at his age. I followed him to
his chamber with my sister, and prayed with
strong desire and a good hope of his recovery.
All last Tuesday they expected his death every
hour ; he expected the same, and wrote his own
epitaph :

"'Here lieth the body of John Wesley, a
brand plucked out of the fire. He died of a
consumption, in the fifty-first year of his age,
leaving, after his debts were paid, not ten
pounds behind him ; praying, Cfod le merciful
to me an ur^profitabU servant!' He desired
this inscription, if any, should be put upon his
tombstone. 3 '

SORROWS. 125

A day or two afterward, Charles again writes
to his wife as follows :

" I hope you have recovered your fright My
brother may Jive if he hastens to Bristol.
Prayer is made daily by the Church to God
for him."

And these prayers were answered ; and John
Wesley came up from his consumption, and for
nearly 'forty years longer preached most ear-
nestly, diligently, and successfully the Gospel
of Christ

A few days after his brother John began to
recover, Charles received the mournful intelli-
gence that his beloved wife was seized with the
small-pox. He immediately left London for
home, and arrived on the afternoon of the
following day.

" I found my dearest friend," he writes, " on
a restless bed of pain, loaded with the worst
kind of the worst disease She had ex-
pressed a longing desire to see me just before I
came, and rejoiced for the consolation. I saw
lier alive, but how changed! c The whole

126 THE POET PBEACHEB.

head is sick, and the whole heart faint ! From
the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is
no soundness in her; but wounds and putri-
iying sores,'

"Yet under her sorest burden she blessed
God that she had not been inoculated, receiving
the disease as immediately sent from God. I
found the door of prayer wide open, and entire-
ly acquiesced in the divine will; I would not
have it otherwise. God choose for me and
mine in time and eternity."

Twenty-two days did Mrs. "Wesley hang be-
tween life and death under this most terrible
disease.

"A part of this anxious time her husband
was compelled to spend in London, supplying
the chapels there, his afflicted brother being
still laid aside from his ministry. He preached
comfort to others while his own heart was sad,
daily apprehending that the next post would
bring the intelligence that his wife was no
more."

At length, however, she also arose from her

SOBBOWS.

sick bed ; but arose to grapple, together with
her husband, with still deeper sorrows.

A little son had been born to them, who was
now abont sixteen months old. He was their
only and darling child, and was born with such
a strange precocity in respect to song that he
could sing a tune and beat the time at the age
of twelve months. He bore the honored name
of John W&ley.

As his mother recovered, this sweet child
sickened with the same frightful disorder. The
father was away in London, attending to the
arduous duties of his ministry, and soon receives
the sad news touching his little lovely boy. He
reads how that he "has the distemper very
thick," and that the prospect is dark and uncer-
tain. The fond mother adds that the doctor " is
daily here to see our dear Jackey. My heart
yearns for him, so that I wish I could bear the
distemper again instead of him. But he is in
our great Preserver's hands, who cares for him.
Farewell!"

His father never looked upoij this little boy

128 THE POET PBEAOHBE.

again; when he returned, the beautiful form
was buried, and the sweet music of his little
voice had died away, and the itinerant's home
was desolate.

Labeled upon a little neat package, and in
elegant letters traced by the bereaved mother's
hand, he read :

"My dear Jackey Wesley's hair, who died of
small pox on Monday, Jan. 7, 1753-4:, aged a
year, four months, and seventeen days. I shall
go to him, but he never shall return to me."

Then Charles "Wesley looked npon his wife,
heretofore so beautiful, and lo ! a dreary change
had gone over her once lovely features. It is
said that her most intimate friends did not
recognize her by looking upon her countenance,
so deep and fatal was the impress which the
malady had left of its virulence. She appeared
no longer young, but there was a seeming of
many yeare having been all suddenly added to
her life.

"Will her husband love her now that her
beauty is so suddenly and so sadly departed?

METHODISM AND THE CHURCH. 129

If at first she trembled under the influence of
such dismal fears, they were soon dismissed to
the winds, for her true and good husband was
wont to declare, in the tenderness and strength
of his affection, that he now admired her more
than he had ever done before.

METHODISM AND THE OHUEOH.

JOHN and OHAELES WESLET, up to the time
of their conversion, (1738,) were Churchmen
" of the straitest sect," and exceeded even the
bishops in their high church notions and
prejudices.

Also after their conversion they continued
strongly attached to the Establishment, and
were reluctant to indulge anything that ap-
peared like innovations upon the usages of the
Church with which they were connected.

Hence these good men were deeply shocked
when, as the result of the great revival which
had commenced under their ministry, some of

130 THE POET PBEACHER.

their own sons in the Gospel began to preach,-
and they resolved at once to silence them.

Thus when the news of Thomas Maxfield's
preaching at the Foundry reached John Wesley,
he was much offended, and hastened back to
London to arrest the evil. His mother, then
residing at the Foundry, cautioned him to be-
ware. "John," said she, "you know what my
sentiments have been. You cannot suspect me
of favoring readily anything of this kind ; but
take care what you. do with respect to that
young man, for he is as surely called of God to
preach as you are. Examine what have been the
fruits of his preaching, and hear for yourself."

John accordingly heard M. axfield preach, and
at once yielded his approbation ; and when, after
several years, he requested the Bishop of Deny
to ordain Maxfield, the good bishop complied,
and on receiving him for ordination, addressed
him, saying: "Sir, I ordain you to assist that
good man, John Wesley, that he may not work
himself to death."

The case of Maxfield was but a specimen.

METHODISM A2O> THE CHCRCH. 131

Many good men arose, the fruits of the great
awakening, men of devout spirit, and "whose
ministrations were sanctioned by the divine
blessing, and the conversion and salvation of
multitudes.

" Hence the brothers were not only reconciled
to this innovation, bnt defended it, and rejoiced
in it as a means which Christ himself had pro-
vided for extending his kingdom in the world ;
and they were the more satisfied because the
preachers and their converts attended the relig-
ious services of the Established Church. For
a time it was not difficult to preserve this state
of things, because the societies and preachers
were few in number, and were continually
under the eye of the brothers, to whose judg-
ment and authority every one paid the most
profound deference,"

It is added, however, that serious difficulties
at length arose, and the question of separation
from the Established Church, and of the admin-
istration of the sacrament by the preachers,
came to be seriously agitated.

132 THE POET PBEACHEB.

John and Charles Wesley were united
against any separation of the Methodists from
the Church of England.

Many of their preachers, on the other hand,
favored a separate organization, and the admin-
istration of the ordinances among themselves,
independently of the Church ministers.

It cannot he denied that they had reasons of
no small weight for desiring such a change.
These reasons may be generally summed up
as follows :

While in London and Bristol, the two princi-
pal points of Methodism, the Lord's Supper was
regularly administered by clergymen, in most
other places both the preachers and the socie-
ties were expected to attend this ordinance in
their several parish churches.

In many instances the clergy . who officia-
ted in the parish churches were destitute of
piety; and hence doubts arose whether such
men, though ordained, were true ministers
of Christ.

John Wesley, at Epworih, the parish of his

METHODISM A2TD THE CHUECH. 133

own father, was repelled from the Lord's table,
and assaulted before the whole congregation by
the clergyman, who was notoriously drunk at
the time.

The doctrine taught in the churches was
deemed not only defective but positively
erroneous, especially where justification by
faith, and the work of the Spirit, were peremp-
torily denied and opposed.

Several of the clergy, as has been noticed in
the preceding pages, were directly concerned
in instigating riotous proceedings against the
Methodists, whereby their property was de-
stroyed, and their lives endangered. And it
was urged that if it were the- duty of the suf-
ferers to forgive these injuries, it was too much
to expect that they would contentedly receive
the memorials of the Saviour's death at the
hands of such men. It was urged that " if John
Nelson could profitably receive the holy com-
munion from the minister who, by bearing false
witness against him, had succeeded in tearing
him away from his family and sending him

134 TH v. POET PREACHER.

into the army, every one had not John's meek-
ness and strength of mind."

Not a few of the clergy absolutely refused to
administer the Lord's Supper to Methodists.
" "When these people approached the table of
the Lord, they were singled out among the
communicants, and denied the sacred emblems
of their Kedeemer's body and blood."

Thus, in many instances, the Methodists
" were compelled either to receive the Lord's
Supper at the hands of their own preachers, or
in the dissenting chapel, or to violate the com-
mand of the Lord, who has charged all his dis-
ciples to ' eat of this bread, and drink of this
cup.'"

These, and the like considerations, failed not
to excite much uneasiness among the preachers
and societies, and there were much agitation
and searchings of heart in various directions.

Among the preachers disaffected toward the
Establishment were those who were among the
most gifted and pious of the brethren.

There was Joseph CowTdey^ whom John "VTes-

METHODISM AND THE CHUBCH. 135

ley pronounced one of the best preachers in
England.

There were the Perronete, sons of the vener-
able Yicar of Shoreham, both of them men of
education and talent, as well as of unquestion-
able piety.

And there was Thomas Walsh, a most re-
markable man, an Irishman, and educated for
the Romish priesthood ; to whom John Wesley
bears the following testimony :

."I knew a young man, about twenty years
ago, who was so thoroughly acquainted with
the Bible that if he was questioned concerning
any Hebrew word in the Old, or any Greek
word in the New Testament, he would tell,
after a little pause, not only how often the one
or the other occurred in the Bible, but what it
meant in every place. Such a master of bibli-
cal knowledge I never saw before, and never
expect to see again."

All the above-named preachers, as well as
some others, generally "absented themselves
from the service of the Established Church, and

136 THE POET PBEACHEB.

they occasionally administered the Lord's Sup-
per to the people who were like-minded with
themselves, and also to one another."

PAINFUL SOLICITUDE.

CHARLES WESLEY was a zealous Churchman,
and the growing tendency of the Methodist
preachers against the Establishment, as noticed
in the preceding chapter, greatly distressed and
troubled him. He is at first jealous of his
brother, having fears that he secretly encour-
aged the irregular proceedings, though he after-
ward confesses his suspicions to be unfounded.

His earnestness and spirit in the matter
under consideration may be best discerned in a
few extracts from his correspondence about
this time.

To Rev. NT. Sellon he writes that his brother
believes a separation quite lawful, though not
expedient ; that the preachers are indefatigable
in urging John to go so far that he may not be

PAESTTJL SOLICITUDE. 137

able to retreat; that Mr. Sellon must be at the
ensuing Conference if alive ; and that the sound
preachers must be qualified for ordination.

Again he writes : " What a pity such spirits
should have any influence over my brother!
They [certain preachers] are continually urging
him to a separation : that is, to pull down all he
has built, to put a sword in our enemies' hands
to destroy the work, scatter the flock, disgrace
himself, and go out like the snuff of a candle. . .

" Charles Perronet, you know, has taken upon
him to administer the sacrament for a month
together to the preachers and twice to some of
the people. Walsh and three others have fol-
lowed his vile example. The consequence you
see with open eyes. O that my brother did
so too !"

Again : " There is no danger of my counte-
nancing them, but rather of my opposing them
too fiercely. It is a pity a good cause should
suffer by a warm advocate. If God gives me
meekness, I shall, at the Conference, speak and
spare not, .... We must know the heart of

138 THE POET PBEACHER.

every preacher, and give them their choice of
the Church or the meeting. The wound can no
longer he healed slightly; those who are disposed
to separate had best do it while we are yet alive."

" These letters," observes Mr. Jackson, "are
particularly valuable, not only as exhibiting the
state of feeling among the Methodist preachers
in those times, but for the light which they shed
upon Charles Wesley's character. With the
real difficulties of the case he did not attempt to
grapple. He does not show how the scruples of
such men as Cownley, Walsh, and the Perronets
could be removed ; nor how the spiritual wants of
the societies were to be met in those places where
they were repelled from the table of the Lord.

" Such was his impetuosity that he could see
nothing in the scruples of these men but pride ;
and he was resolved to force all the people to
an attendance upon their several churches, what-
ever they might hear there, and though they
went with the certainty of being driven from
the holy communion.

" Such a course was not suited to the occasion.

SOUCTTUDE. 139

The persons concerned were not children, either
in years, understanding, or piety. They were
rebuked but not convinced, and left to utter
their complaints in all directions. To treat them
in this manner was only to restrain the evil for
a time. It was not removed.

"John Wesley pursued a different course.
He also was anxious to preserve the people and
preachers in communion with the Established
Church, but he would not, even for the attain-
ment of this object, dismiss from the itinerant
ministry men of whose uprightness, piety, and
usefulness, he had the fullest evidence. Nor
would he deal harshly with men whom he
thought to be in error, when he saw that con-
science was concerned."

With the result of the Conference alluded to
Charles Wesley appears to have been but very
partially satisfied. The two brothers expressed
their minds freely and strongly, and every one
was invited to declare his views without
restraint.

" Mr. Walsh and his friends engaged to desist

140 TEE POET PBEACHER.

from the administration of the Lord's Snpper ;
such was their deference to the judgment of
their brethren, and especially to the Wesleys,
who were over them in the Lord.

"With ihis general conclusion Mr. John
Wesley appears to have been satisfied. The
practical object which he had in view was
gained, and he would not interfere with the
workings of private conscience, except in the
way of reasoning and persuasion.

"Not so his more ardent brother. Charles
perceived that many of the preachers were un-
convinced, so that future agitations would in all
probability arise, and obstruct the harmony
which, for the present, was established. The
permanent maintenance of strict Churchman-
ship he saw to be more than questionable.

"Early, therefore, in the morning of the day
after the debate was closed in the conference,
he left Leeds, without even, informing his brother
of his intention, and returned to London."

John Wesley, in writing his brother Charles,
endeavors to modify his zeal for outward con-

PAINFUL SOLICITUDE. 141

formity, and gives him more practical views
of their calling. His words are strongly char-
acteristic :

" Do not yon understand that they all prom-
ised, by Thomas Walsh, not to administer even
among themselves ? I think that A hnge point
given up, perhaps more than they could give
up with a clear conscience. They showed an
excellent spirit in this very thing. Likewise
when I (not to say you) spoke once and again
with sufficient authority, when I reflected on
their an s were I admired their spirit and was
ashamed of my own.

"The practical conclusion was, not to sep-
arate from the Church. Did we not all
agree in this? Surely either yon or I must
have been asleep, or we could not differ so
widely in a matter of fact. Here is Charles
Perronet raving because his friends have
given up all; and Charles "Wesley, because
they have given up nothing; and I in the
midst, staring and wondering both at the one
and the other."

142 THE POET PREACEEB.

A few days afterward John again writes to
Charles as follows :

" Wherever I have been in England, the so-
cieties are far more firmly and rationally at-
tached to the Church than they ever were be-
fore. I have no fear about this matter. I only
fear for the preachers' or people's leaving, not
the Church, but the love of God, and inward
and outward holiness. To this I press them for-
ward continually. I dare not, in conscience,
spend my time and strength on externals. If,
as my lady says, all outward establishments are
Babel, so is this Establishment. Let it stand
for me. I neither set it up nor pull it down.
But let you and I build up the city of God."

Thus closed up with Charles "Wesley the
eventful year of 1755. His anxieties were pro-
found and incessant, yet he continued the exer-
cise of his ministry with his wonted energy and
success, and his ever active mind poured forth
its feelings in sacred verse. Nothing could sep-
arate him, either in labor or affection, from
his brother, notwithstanding their diversity of

RETIREMENT. 143

opinion in respect to the national Church, and
the certain prospect of their future collision on
the -same subject."

REIIEEMENT*

ABOUT 1756, when Charles Wesley was forty-
eight years of age, he seems to have mostly
ceased his itinerant career. Gradually his
journeys became fewer and more limited, until
his ministrations were chiefly confined to Lon-
don and Bristol.

There were, doubtless, several reasons for this
which operated with Charles. His marriage,
together with an increasing family, may be
reckoned as one reason, At first his wife was
wont to accompany him extensively in his
preaching excursions. Yet this soon became
inconvenient, and regard for the feelings and
society of his wife, together with the care of his*
children, very materially contributed to detain
him at home.

144 THE POET PBEACHER.

" Yet the principal cause of his settlement, in
all probability, was the state of feeling which
existed in many of the societies and preachers
with regard to the national Church. He deem-
ed it a matter of absolute duty that they should
all remain in strict communion with her.

" His brother thought separation highly in-
expedient; but he could not view it in that
heinous light in which it appeared to Charles.
In reference to this subject he was therefore in-
clined to moderate counsels, and satisfied himself
with gentleness and persuasion in dealing with,
those who were disaffected toward the Estab-
lishment, while Charles was prepared for the
adoption of strong and compulsive measures.

"Here was, therefore, an obvious difficulty.
Charles could not visit the principal societies in
Great Britain and Ireland as a mere friend, or
as one of the preachers. He must appear as
possessing a co-ordinate authority with his
brother; ftp<J as their views differed so very
materially, tUey could not, in regulating the
affairs of tjie societies, act in perfect concert.

145

" Hence, he appears to have thought it the
best conrse for him to retire, and leave the
people and preachers generally in the hands of
John, whose talents for government were of the
highest order. Charles could write hymns with
a facility and power which no man of his age
could equal ; and few could surpass him as an
awakening and effective preacher, but he had
no aptitude for controlling and harmonizing
the discordant spirits of men. For the mainte-
nance of discipline in cases of difficulty, his
faculties and habits were not at all suited. His
uprightness, generosity, and the kindness of his
heart were unquestionable ; but his impetuosity
created prejudice, and left a soreness in the
minds which his brother could easily conciliate
and direct.

" Though he ceased to travel, his union with
the Methodists remained to the end of his life ;
and he rendered most important service to the
cause of true religion, though in a more limited
sphere than he had been accustomed to occupy.
He still cultivated his talent for poetry ; and

146 T.H **- POET PBEA.GHEB.

the numerous publications which he sent forth
into the world possessed a rich and substantial
yalue.

" The societies in London and Bristol were
highly favored in retaining the ministrations of
such a man. But the loss to the other societies
was great, for he usually carried a blessing
with him wherever he went. Few men in mod-
ern times have more fully exemplified the
peculiar characteristics of the eloquent Apollos.
He was, indeed, c fervent in spirit 9 and mighty
in the Scriptures ; and by the resistless energy
of his preaching he * mightily convinced' the
adversaries of Christ, with formalists and tri-
fiers of eveiy description. TTia power in prayer
was equally striking."

It is said, however, that the effect of his
retiring from the itineracy was far from being
favorable in its influence upon himself. " His
mind was naturally inclined to view things in a
gloomy and discouraging aspect. But amid the
excitement, the change, and the toil of the itin-
erant ministry, he had no time to be melanr

EETJDBEMEXT. 14 1 ?

choly, however he might be constitutionally
disposed to indulge that morbid feeling. The
manifest success which attended his preaching
filled him with unutterable gratitude, and while
all his powers were engaged in his work, he
enjoyed a heaven upon earth.

"When he ceased to travel he was at leisure
to cherish his painful forebodings. Croakers
and busybodys tormented him with letters,
complaining of the ambition of the preachers,
and of the alienation of the people from the
Church ; and the pernicious leaven of mysticism
which he had imbibed at Oxford, and from
which his mind had never been thoroughly
purged, regained its ascendency over him, so
as often to interfere with his spiritual enjoy-
ments. Yet his piety and integrity of purpose
were unimpeachable.

" Often was he in agonies of fear lest the
Methodists should leave the Church when he
and his brother were dead ; while John was as
happy as an angel, flying through the three
kingdoms, sounding the trumpet of the world's

148 THjd POET PREACHER.

jubilee, and joyfully witnessing, every success-
ive year, the steady advancement of the work
of God."

About this period John published a pamphlet
entitled, " Reasons against a Separation from
the Church of England."

These " Reasons " were twelve in number,
and were proposed in a spirit the most mild
and conciliatory. He introduces the discussion
by saying: "Whether it be lawful or no, it is
by no means expedient for us to separate from
the Church of England."

Charles, in indorsing this pamphlet, assumes
higher ground, and affixed thereto the post-
script following: "I think myself bonnd in
duty to add my testimony to my brother's. His
twelve reasons against our ever separating from
the Church of England are mine also. I sub-
scribe to them with all my heart Only with
regard to the first ; I am quite clear that it is
neither escpedient nor lawful for me to separate,
and I never had the least inclination or tempta-
tion so to do. My affection for the Church is

LE1TEBS. 149

as strong as ever, and I clearly see my calling,
which is to lire and die in her communion.
This, therefore, I am determined to do, the
Lord being my helper."

LETTEES.

Ax occurrence very alarming to Charles
"Wesley followed soon. It was that Paul Green-
wood, John Martin, and Thomas Mitchell, the
three preachers stationed at Xorwich, overcome
by the importunity of some members of the
society, had undertaken to administer the sac-
rament of the Lord's supper. They did this
without consulting either of the Wesleys.

Charles immediately addressed a letter to his
brother, and several of the older preachers, on
the subject.

Some extracts from these letters will evince
sufficiently his apprehensions of the calamitous
consequences of such a step.

To his brother John he writes thus :

150 THE POET PEEACHEB.

" DEAB BEOTHEB, We are come to the Ru-
bicon. Shall we pass, or shall we not ? In the
fear of God (which we both have) and in the
name of Jesus Christ, let us ask. Lord, what
wonldest ihou have us to do ?

"The case stands thus: three preachers
whom we thought we could have depended
upon, have taken upon them to administer the
sacrament without any ordination, and without
acquainting us (or even yourself) of it before-
hand. Why may not all the other preachers
do the same if each is judge of his own right
to do it ? And every one is left to act as he
pleases, if we take no notice of them that have
so despised their brethren.

" That the rest will soon follow their example
I believe ; because, 1. They think they may do
it with impunity. 2. Because a large majority
imagine they have a right, as preachers, to
administer the sacraments. So long ago as the
conference at Leeds, I took down their names.
3. Because they have betrayed an impa-
tience to separate. The preachers in Cornwall,

LETTERS. 151

and others, wondered it had not been mention-
ed at our last conference

" Upon the whole, I am fully persuaded
almost all our preachers are corrupted already.
More and more will give the sacrament and set
up for themselves, even before we die ; and all,
except the few that get orders, will turn Dis-
senters before or after our deaths.

" You must wink very hard not to see all
this. You have connived at it too long. But
I now call upon you to consider with me what
is to be done, first, to prevent a separation ;
secondly, to save the few uncorrupted preach-
ers ; thirdly, to make the best of those that are
corrupted."

To Mr. Nicholas Gilbert Charles writes as
follows:

"You have heard of Paul Greenwood, John
Murlin, and Thomas Mitchell's presuming to give
the sacrament at Norwich. I am the more
afflicted thereat because I had as great a love
for, and confidence in them, as in any of our sons

152 THE POET PKEACHER.

in the Gospel. They never acquainted their fel-
low-laborers, no, not even my brother, of their
design. They did it without any ordination,
either by bishops or elders, upon the sole author-
ity of a sixpenny license ; nay, all had not that*
Do you think they acted right? If the other
preachers follow their example, not only separa-
tion, but general confusion must follow.

" I shall tell you my mind plainly, because I
love you. My soul abhors the thought of
separating from the Church of England. You
and all the preachers know, if my brother
should ever leave it, I should leave him, or,
rather, he me. While ye have any grace
remaining ye can never desire to part us whom
God hath joined. You would rather waive
your right, if you had it, (which I absolutely
deny,) of ordaining yourselves priests, than
occasion so great an evil.

"Indeed, you must become at last either
Church ministers or Dissenters. Such as addict
themselves thereto, God will make a way for
their regular ordination in the Church. With.

LETTEBS. 153

these I desire to live and die. If you are of
the number I look upon you as my brother,
iny son, and owe you all I can do for you as to
soul, body, and estate- I never proposed a
friendship and proved false to iny profession.
I never (that I know) forgot a kindness done
me. Tour fidelity to the Church of England,
although your duty, I shall accept as the great-
est kindness you can possibly show me, beyond
any personal benefit whatsoever.

" Xow consider, and speak your mind. TFill
you take ine for your father, brother, friend? or
will you not?"

He writes as follows to John Nelson :

MY DEAR BEOTHEK, I think you are no
weathercock. "WTiat think you, then, of licens-
ing yourself as a Protestant Dissenter, and
baptizing and administering the Lord's snpper,
and all the while calling yourself a Church of
England man? Is this honest? consistent?
just ? Yet this is the practice of several of our

sons in the Gospel, even of some whom I most
10

154 TH us POET

loved and most depended upon. Who would
have thought that Paul Greenwood could be
carried away by such dissimulation ? He and
Johu Murlin, and Thomas Mitchell, and now, I
suppose, Isaac Brown, give the sacrament at
Norwich. My brother suffers them. Will not
all the rest follow their example? And will
not separation, yea, and general separation,
ensue 2 And must not the work of God, so far
as we are concerned, be thereby destroyed ?

" John, I love thee from my heart ; yet
rather than see thee a Dissenting minister, I
wish to see thee smiling in thy coffin.

" What can be done to save our preachers 3
Let all things be done in love, and meekness,
and the spirit of prayer."

To the Rev, Mr. Grimshaw, a clergyman and
a Methodist, he thus writes :

"I am convinced things are come to a
crisis. We must now resolve either to separate
from the Church, or to continue in it the rest of
oar days. If pride and the enemy did not

LETTERS. 155

precipitate them, our preachers would infalli-
bly find the door into the outward ministry
opened to them soon. Such, as addict them-
selves to the service of the Dissenters, we
should let depart in peace. Such as dare trust
in God, and venture themselves in the same
bottom with us, we should cherish them as
sons, and do our utmost for them as to soul,
body, and estate.

" But this I insist upon, every preacher must
know his own mind and his brethren's; must
be able to answer, What will become of me
after our fathers are gone? Must not I be-
come either a Dissenting or Church minister?
Which would I choose ?

" To have them and things as they are, is to
betray our charge, to undermine the Church,
and, as far as in us lies, to destroy the work of
God.

" I have read the ' Eeasons ' to the society
here, and their hearts are as the heart of one
man. Will you not join hand and heart with us
in confirming the souls of the disciples? I

156 'I'M K POET PREACHER*

anticipate your answer; for I know you pray
for the peace of Jerusalem, and you prosper
because you love her. 5 '

These letters are sufficient They show where
stood the good and zealous Charles Wesley.
He seems to have forgotten how far he had
himself dissented from the rules of the Church
of England, and that he and his brother, with
all their attachment to the Church, and resolu-
tion never to leave it, were as positive innova-
tors upon its customs as any of the preachers
whom they superintended. His shocking decla-
ration to John Nelson, that he would rather see
him in his coffin than a Dissenting minister,
bespeaks the blinded bigot a hundred fold more
than it does the enlightened evangelist.

John Wesley had a loftier and purer vision.
He loved the Church, but he loved the conver-
sion of multitudes of souls better ; and hence
his beautiful sentiment addressed to Charles:
" Church or no Church, let you and me build
up the city of God !"

LETTERS.

Happily for the cause of evangelism, John
Wesley was in his full strength in this great
crisis, and was enabled to keep a single eye.
" The fact is," says Mr. Jackson, " Mr. Charles
"Wesley was a poet and a preacher ; hut he had
not, as he himself confessed, the practical wis-
dom which waa requisite to superintend and
conduct an extensive work of God like that
with which he was connected.

" Happily for the Methodists and the world,
the preachers had entire confidence in the
judgment of his brother, who kept them steadily
engaged in the work of saving souls. In the
exercise of a noble faith, they persevered in
their original calling. They sought not the
clerical office for a morsel of bread, and God in
his providence took care of their temporal
interests."

158 THE POET PREACHER.

LETTERS C01STJUN UKD.

AT this point of time, 1765, we view John
"Wesley at the age of sixty-two, and Charles at
fifty-seven.

The health of Charles is delicate, and his
strength is decaying, and he has a solemn im-
pression that his snn of life is rapidly hastening
to its setting.

John seems to have thought that Charles had
become too much, domesticated, and did not
sufficiently exert his remaining strength in the
great work of God. He accordingly sits down
and addresses to Charles the following charac-
teristic letters :

" DEAR BBOTHER, "We must, we must, yon
and I at least, be all devoted to God. Then
wives, and sons, and danghters, and everything
else, will be real invalnable hlessings. c Come,
bestir yourself, and lay aside delay.' Let us
this day use all the power we have ! If we

LETTEES. 159

have enough, well; if not, let ns this day
expect a fresh supply.

" How long shall we drag on thus heavily,
though God hath called us to be chief conduct-
ors of such a work ? Alas ! what conductors !
If I am, in some sense, the head and you the
heart of the work, may it not be said, c the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart is
faint P

" Come, in the name of God, let us arise and
shake ourselves from the dust! Let us strength-
en each other's hands in God, and that without
delay. Have senes sexagenarii [old men of
sixty years] any time to lose? Let you and
me, and our house, serve the Lord in good
earnest May his peace rest on you and yours !
Adieu."

After a few months he addresses Charles
again:

"I think you and I have abundantly too
little intercourse with each other. Are we not
old acquaintance ? Have we not known each

160 THE POET PREACHER.

other for half a century? And are we not
jointly engaged in such a work as probably no
two other men upon earth are ?

" Why, then, do we keep at such a distance?
It is a mere device of Satan. But surely we
ought not, at this time of day, to be ignorant of
his devices. Let us therefore make a full use
of the little time that remains. We, at least,
should think aloud, and use to the uttermost the
light and grace on each bestowed. We should
help each other

* Of little life the best to make,
And manage wisely the last stake.'

O insist everywhere on full redemption, receiv-
able now by faith alone I consequently to be
looked for now. - You are made, as it were, for
this very thing. Just here you are in your
element In connection I beat you, but in
strong, short, pointed sentences, you beat me.
Go on in your own way, what God has pecu-
liarly called you to. Press the instantaneous
blessings ; then I shall have more time for my
peculiar calling, enforcing the gradual work."

LETIEBS. 161

Charles is laboring at London, whence he
thus writes to his wife at Bristol :

"My work, I very well know, keeps me
alive more than it wears me out. That
and my life will probably end together. It
is superfluous, yet I cannot help caution-
ing you about Charles, (and Sally too,) to
take care he contracts no acquaintance with
other boys. Children are cormpters of each
other.

" My brother, I presume, will look in upon
you on "Wednesday se'nnight, in his flight to
Land's End. He is an astonishing youth ! and
may be saluted like the Eastern monarchs : ' O
king, live forever P

"Last night my brother came. This morn-
ing we spent two blessed hours with George
Whitefield. The threefold cord, we trust, will
never more be broken. On Tuesday next my
brother is to preach in Lady Huntingdon's
chapel at Bath. That and all her chapels (not
to say, as I might, herself also) are BOW put into
the hands of us three."

162 THft POET PREACHER*

]Sot long after the above letters were written,
Charles Wesley receives from his wife the
sad news of the death of an infant boy. He
retnrns the following answer to his sorrowing
partner :

" 4 Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.'

" Let my dearest companion in trouble offer
up this prayer with as much of her heart as she
can ; and God, who knoweth whereof we are
made, and consideretli that we are but dust,
will, for Christ's sake, accept our weakest, most
imperfect desires of resignation. I know the
surest way to preserve our children is to trust
them with him, who loves them infinitely better
than we can do.

"I received your trying news at nine this
morning ; walked directly with my sympathiz-
ing friend P. to take a place. All foil but the
Bath coach to-morrow morning. I shall come
thereby somewhat later to my beloved Sally,
and Charley, and his sister. But the Lord is
with you already. The Lord is with you always.

165

This has been a solemn day. You must not
deny my love to my sweet boy, if I am enabled
to resign him for his heavenly Father to dispose
of. I cannot doubt ins wisdom or goodness.
He will infallibly do what is best, not only for
his own children, bat for us, in time and eternity.
Be comforted by this assurance. Many mourn
with and pray for you and your little ones.

"I shall tread on the heels of my letter if
the Lord prosper my journey. He comes with
me. Let us confidently expect him, the great
Physician of soul and body.

" Peace be with you ! May the Lord Jesus
himself speak it to your heart: 'My peace I
give unto you!'"

The above letter is followed soon by another,
that tells of his intention to remove his family
to London. "Our preparation," he writes,
"could not save the first Jackey, because
God had prepared a better thing for him.
The means maj keep Samuel with us. Let us
be thankful that he still holds up. If he should
have the distemper soon, I believe it will only

164 THE POET PREACHER.

lessen his beauty. I long to see him and yon ;
but I fear I mnst be detained another week in
town.

"On Monday Mr. Zemp, and Beck, and I
go to see a house at Hackney, and another at
Xewington, either of which, he thinks, will
snit ns exactly. If Beck and I are of the same
judgment we shall take it. ... My brother
himself is quite pleased with our having a
house near London; so are all the people,
which I need not tell you."

EEMOYAL AND EFFORTS.

IT was in the year 1771 that Charles Wesley
changed his residence from Bristol to London.

A lady of fortune, who was a friend of Charles
and his wife, handed over to him the lease
(which had twenty years to run) of her hand-
some town residence. The house was richly
furnished, and completely prepared for occu-
pancy, and was altogether a most eligible resi-

REMOVAL AND EFFORTS. 165

deuce, with the exception that it was three
miles from the Foundry, the residence, of John
"Wesley when in London.

After his settlement in London Charles served
the congregations and societies there with great
acceptance and efficiency. He is said to have
cherished still that spirit of prayer by which
he had ever been distinguished since he had
obtained the vital faith in Christ.

There were seasons when he was specially
drawn out in prayer for particular friends.
Thus, on a Sabbath day in the year 1772, re-
marking the arduous controversy in which Mr.
Fletcher of Madeley was engaged, Charles, with
deep feeling, commended that good man to the
especial care and blessing of God. He after-
ward mentioned the subject in a letter to
Mr. Fletcher, from whom he received the fol-
lowing remarkable answer: "You asked me in
one of your letters how I found myself the Sun-
day before. [This was the Sunday alluded to.]
Your question surprised me so much the moro,
as I had spent some time that day in wonder-

166 THE POET PREACHER.

ing how I was inwardly loosed, and how prayer
and praise came from a much greater depth
than usual in my heart, which, glory be to
God ! hath, in general, remained with me ever
since, together with greater openings of love,
and clearer views of Christian simplicity and
liberty."

On one occasion, being absent from London
during several weeks, he addressed the following
interesting and valuable letter to his daughter,
who was at school :

a Mr DEAB SALLY, Tour friends and ours at
the Common have laid us under great obliga-
tions. I wish I could return them by persuad-
ing her to seek till she finds the pearl, which is
constant happiness ; and by persuading him to
give himself entirely to One whose service is
perfect freedom, and whose favor and love is
heaven in both worlds.

" I never thought the bands would suit you ;
yet many of them possess what you are seeking.
You also shall bear witness of the power, and

EBMOVAL AffD EFFORTS. 167

peace, and blessedness of heart religion. You
also shall know the Lord, if you follow on to
know him. Other knowledge is not worth your
pains. Useful knowledge, as distinguished from
religious, lies in a narrow compass, and may
soon be attained if your studies are guarded
and directed. We must have a conference on
this subject We may also read your verses
together ; they want perspicuity, which should
be the first point ; but they are worth correcting.

" All your powers* and faculties are so many
talents, of which you are to give an account.
Tou improve yonr talent of understanding
when you exercise it in acquiring important
truths. Tou use your talent of memory aright
when you store it with things worth remember-
ing, and enlarge by using and employing it
Tou should therefore be always getting some-
thing by heart Begin with the first book of
Prior's Solomon The Vanity of Knowledge.
Let me see how much of it you can repeat
when we meet

" Miss Hill is likely now to have a good for-

168 THE POET PEEA.CHEB.

tune. You need not envy her, if you are a
good Christian. 'Seek first the kingdom of
God, and all these things shall be added unto
you.' Charles has a turn to generosity, Sam. to
parsimony. You must balance them both ; or
you may follow your mother's and my example,
and keep in the golden mean.

" There are many useful things which I can
teach you if I live a little longer. But I dare
never promise myself another year. . . . Prob-
ably I have taken my last leave of Bristol
Certainly I shall never more be separated eight
weeks from my family. ... I am nourishing
myself up for a journey with my philosophical
brother."

Charles Wesley was still as much as ever
troubled about ihe relation of Methodism and
the Methodist societies to the Church. He
deprecated any separation from the Establish-
ment as one of the greatest calamities.

John "Wesley, on the other hand, was less
careful in this matter. His vision, as already

EEMOVAL A1ST) EFFORTS. 169

remarked, was clearer and more extended, and
his spirit was more joyous and hopeful. He
still persisted, with nndiminished zeal, in his
career of evangelism, rejoicing with the liveliest
gratitude in the prosperity of the work of God.
He saw not, as yet, how the societies could
be kept together after his death; but he left
the whole thing with the Lord, not doubting
that he would take care of his own cause.

"Unless the preachers declared themselves to
be decided Churchmen, Charles eyed them with
alarm. If they were zealous for God, and
labored with all their might for the conversion
of sinners, John loved them, and encouraged
them in their work. He resolved to do what he
could to prevent them and the societies from
leaving the Church ; but their continuance in it
was with him a subordinate object His great

concern was to save souls from sin and hell. 91
11

POET PEEAOHEE*

THE FAMTLT OHAKLES, JUNIOK.

IT is time to notice more particularly the
family of Charles Wesley.

We have seen that this marriage was an
eminently happy one. His wife proved a true
and excellent helpmate, and performed her
part with great propriety, and to the full satis-
faction of her husband.

Eight children were born to them, of whom
five died in their infancy.

JOHN, their first-born, already died of small-
pox, 1754, aged sixteen months.
MAJBTHA MAEIA, died 1755, aged one month.
SUSANNA, named for her honored grandmoth-
er, died 1761, aged eleven months.

SEUNA, named for the Countess of Hunting-
don, died 1764, aged five weeks.
JOHN JAMES, died 1768, aged seven months.
" When this fifth death among her children
occurred, Mrs. Wesley was deeply distressed,
and earnestly besought the Lord, if it were his

LITTLE CHARLEY AT TEE PIANO,

THE FAMILY CHAELES, JTOIOB. 173

will, that she might be spared the pain of fol-
lowing another of them to the grave." Her
request was granted, and her other children
lived to a good old age. The remaining chil-
dren were, Charles, born 1757; Sarah, born
1759; and Samuel, born 1766.

Charles Wesley, Junior, seems to have been
a musical prodigy. Among the private papers
left by his father are the following notices of
this child :

" He was two years and three-quarters old
when I first observed his strong inclination to
music. He then surprised me by playing a
tune on the harpsichord readily, and in just
time. Soon after he played several, whatever
his mother sung, or whatever he heard in the
streets. From his birth she used to quiet and
amuse him with the harpsichord ; but he would
not suffer her to play with one hand only,
taking the other and putting it to the keys
before he could speak. When he played him-
self, she used to tie him up by his backstring
to the chair, for fear of his falling. What-

174 THE POET PEEAOHML

ever tune it was, he always put a true base
to it.

" From the beginning he played without study
or hesitation, and, as the masters told^perfectly
welt Mr. Broadrip, organist at Bristol, heard
him in petticoats, and foretold he wonld one
day make a great player. "Whenever he .was
called on to play to a 'stranger, he would ask,
in a word of his own, c Is he a musicker V and if
answered, 'Yes,' he played with the greatest
readiness. He always played with spirit.
There was something in his manner above a
child, which struck the hearers, learned and
unlearned."

" Mr. Rogers, the oldest organist in Bristol,
was one of his first friends. He often set him
on his knee and made him play to him, declar-
ing he was more delighted in hearing him than
himself."

" After hearing him play (at ten years of age)
he charged him to have nothing to do with any
great master, c who will utterly spoil you, and
destroy anything that is original in you.' "

THE FAMILY CHARLES, JOnOB. 175

The lad was placed under the instruction of
Mr. Kelway, a most accomplished teacher of
music. The following are some of Mr. Eel-
way's notices of Charles, who was now about
twelve years of age :

" I never saw one cany his hand so well. It
is quite a picture. It is a gift from God. How
would Handel have shaken his sides if he could
have heard him !"

"You will be an honor to me. Handel's
hands did not lie on the instrument better than
yours do."

" "Were you my own son I could not love you
better. Go on, and mind none of the musicians
but Handel. You have a divine gift."

" One cannot hear him play four bars with-
out knowing him to be a genius."

" I will maintain before all the world that
there is not a master in London that can play
this sonata as he does. The king would eat up
this boy. I must carry him some morning to
St. James."

" His very soul is harmony, Not one of my

176 THE POET PEEACHEB.

scholars could learn that in a year which he
has learned in ten lessons."

" I loved music when young, but not so well
as he does. One would think he had been the
composer of this. He gives the coloring, the
nice touches; the finishing strokes are all his
own. I love him better and better. He has it
from God. He is a heaven-born child. What
coloring! What lights and shades! I could
cry to hear him.

" He is an old man at the instrument. He
is not a boy. He is the greatest genius in
music I have ever met with.

" They say I cannot communicate my skill ;
but I dare maintain there is not such another
player as this boy in England, nor yet in
Prance, or Spain, or Italy.

"If I was without the door, and did not
know he was dead, I should aver it was Handel
himself that played."

Charles enjoyed the advantages of a classical
education, but appears to have been incapable
of excelling in anything but music, in which he

THE FAMILY CHARLES, JTTSIOR. 1T7

seemed all but inspired. "He was affable,
kind, good humored and easy buried in music
vain of his abilities in the science to which
his knowledge was in a great measure limited.

" In his manners he had all the ease and ele-
gance of a courtier; but it is doubtful whether,
through the entire course of his life, he was
able to dress himself without assistance. If left
to himself, he was almost sure to appear witb
his wig on one side, his waistcoat buttoned
awry, or the knot of his cravat opposite one o!
his shoulders.

" His morals were correct, and his respect fo]
his parents most tender and reverent ; but ii
early life his mind was not deeply impressed
with the solemn truths of religion."

Charles seems to have been a great favorite
wifii the king, George HL, who was passionate!;
fond of Handel's music,

"After the king had lost his sight, Mi
Giarles Wesley was one day with his majest
alone, when the venerable monarch said : MJ
We^ey, is there any body in the room but yo

178 THE POET PEEACHER.

and me?' c STo, your majesty,' was the reply.
The king then said: 'It is my judgment' Mr.
"Wesley, that your uncle, and your father, and
George "WTiitefield, and Lady Huntingdon have
done more to promote true religion in the
country than all the dignified clergy put to-
gether, who are so apt to despise their lahors.'"
An important testimony this ; let it be re-
membered!

THE FAMILY SAMUEL.

SAMUEL WESLET was nine years younger than
his brother Charles. His musical genius, as
well as that of his older brother, was wonderful.
He did not, as a performer, excite so much at-
tention in very early life; yet he surpassed
Charles in musical composition. In this latter
his precocity was extraordinary.

" The first thing that drew our attention,"
said his father, " was the great delight he took
in hearing his brother play. Whenever

THE FAMILY SAMUEL. 179

Kelway came to teach him, Sam constantly at-
tended, and accompanied Charles on the chair.
Undaunted by Mr. Kelway's frown, he went
on ; and even when his back was to the harpsi-
chord, he crossed his hands on the chair, as the
other did on the instrument, without ever miss-
ing a time." He was between four and five
years old when he got hold of the Oratorio
of Samson, and by that alone taught him-
self to read. Soon after he taught himself to
write.

" From this time he sprung up like a mush-
room, and when turned of five could read per
fectly well, and had all the airs, recitatives
and choruses of Samson and the Messiah, both
words and notes, by heart.

"Before he could write he composed much
music. His custom was to lay the words of an
Oratorio before him, and sing them all over.
Thus he set (extempore for the most part) Ruth,
Gideon, Manasses, or the Death of Abel. ... I
have seen him open the Prayer-book, and sing
the Te Deum, or an anthem from some psalm,

180 THE POET PBEACHER.

to his own music, accompanying it with the
harpsichord.

" Several companies he entertained for hours
together with his own music ; as quick as his in-
vention suggested, his hand executed it. The
learned were astonished. Sir John Hawkins
cried out, 'Inspiration! Inspiration I 9 An old
musical gentleman hearing him, could not re-
frain from tears."

" If he loved anything better than music, it
was regularity. Nothing could exceed his
punctuality. No company, no persuasion,
could keep him up beyond his time. He never
could be prevailed on to hear any opera or
concert by night. The moment the clock gave
warning for eight, away ran Sam, in the midst
of his most favorite music. Once he rose up
after the first part of the Messiah, with ' Come,
mamma, let us go home, or I sha'nt be in bed by
eight/ When some talked of carrying him to
the queen, and, to try him, asked if he was
willing to go, 'Yes, with all my heart,' he an-
swered ; * but I won't stay beyond eight.'

THE FAMILY SAMTEL. 181

"The praises bestowed so lavishly on him
did not seem to affect, mnch less to hurt him ;
and whenever he went into the company of his
betters, he wonld mnch rather have stayed at
home. Tet when among them he was free and
easy, so that some remarked he behaved as
one bred np in a court, yet without a courtier's
servility." Indeed, this youth seems to have
been everywhere as much admired for his
behavior as for his playing.

Yet his character appears to have differed
very considerably from that of his brother
Charles. " He was possessed of great intellect-
ual power and acuteness. His mind was truly
Wesleyan, quiet, shrewd, and penetrating. He
was mostly educated by his father, especially in
Latin. His knowledge was extensive ; his conver-
sation elegant, agreeable, instructive, and varied,
and he was capable of excelling in any science
or profession to which he might apply himself.

"Tet his natural disposition was not so harm-
less and kindly as that of Charles ; nor did he
cherish that deep filial affection by which his

182 Tflra POET PREACHER.

brother was always distinguished. The father's
principal concern respecting Charles was, that
he did not give his heart to God. Samuel,
even in his y outh, showed a waywardness of tem-
per that cost his father many a pang of sorrow."
These two "brothers, when grown up, estab-
lished a series of concerts in their father's house,
which were continued through several years,
and were attended by many persons of quality.

THE FAMILY SAKAH.

" Miss SARAH WESLEY," says Mr. Jackson,
" was younger than her brother Charles, and a
few years older than Samuel.

"She was born in Bristol, as were all the
other children. For some time she attended
the school of Miss Temple, in that city; but
was taught Latin by her father, as was her
brother Samuel also.

"Like both her parents and her brothers, she
was little of stature. She bore a striking re-

THE FAMILY SABAH. 183

semblance to her father in her features, and
especially in her profile.

"In mature life she was remarkable for the
acuteness and elegance of her mind, as well as
for the accuracy and extent of her information,
so that she was qualified to move with advant-
age in the highest literary circles. Miss Hannah
More, Miss Benger, Miss Hamilton, Miss Por-
ter, Miss Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld, Dr. Gregory,
and many other persons of distinction, were her
personal friends, and none of them hpd any
reason to be ashamed of her companionship.

"Her love and esteem for her father were
very strong, and his regard for her was tender
and enduring. He took great pains in the cul-
tivation of her intellect, and his numerous
private letters to her, written when he was
separated from his family, show the affection-
ate interest which he took in her spiritual im-
provement It was the intense desire of his
heart that she should be a Christian indeed.

"One day, during her childhood, when she
was repeating her Latin lesson to Mm before

184 THE POET PEEACHEB.

she had sufficiently mastered it, he said, some-
what impatiently, { Sarah, you are as stupid as
an ass.' She said nothing, but lifted up her
eyes with meekness, surprise, and imploring
affection. On catching her look, he instantly
burst into tears, and finished the sentence by
adding, * and as patient.'

, Miss "Wesley, possessing the true philosophic
spirit, had considerable influence over the mind
of her faithful brother Charles. Once when he
was sojnewhat dejected, feeling that his talents
had not been adequately rewarded, he came to
her, bringing some of his beautiful compositions,
apd requesting that she would tie them up for
him. 4 All my works,' said he, c are neglected.
They were performed at Dr. Shepherd's in
"Windsor, but no one minds them now.'

" She answered in a sprightly tone, c What a
fool you would be to regret such worldly dis-
appointments ! You may secure a heavenly
crown, and immortal honor, and have a thous-
and blessings which were denied to poor Otway,
Bnfler, and other bright geniuses. Johnson

THE FAMILY SABAH. 185

toiled for daily bread till past fifty. Pray think
of your happier fate!'

"' True,' saidhe, meekly ; and took away his pro-
ductions with sweet hnmility. Having recorded
this anecdote, she adds: c Lord, sanctify all these
mundane mortifications to him and to ine! The
view of another state will prevent all regrets.' "

We here subjoin a characteristic letter from
their uncle John to Sarah and her brotherCharles,
on the occasion of their wayward brother Sam-
uel's having attached himself to the Roman
Church. He commences by alluding to their
trouble, because Samuel had changed his religion.

"ETay," he continues, "he has changed his
opinion and mode of worship; but that is not
religion ; it is quite another thing.

" * Has he then,' you may ask, 4 sustained no
loss by the change?' Yes, unspeakable loss,
because his new opinion and mode of worship
are so unfavorable to religion that they make it,
if not impossible to one who once knew better,
yet extremely difficult

What, then, is religion f It is happiness in

186 THE POET PEEAOHEB.

God, or in the knowledge and love of God. It
is faith working by love, producing righteous^
ness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. In
other words, it is a heart and life devoted to
God; or communion with God the Father and
the Son, or the mind which was in Christ Jesus,
enabling us to walk as he walked.

" Now either he has this religion or he has
not If he has he will not finally perish, not-
withstanding the absurd, nnscriptnral opinions
he has embraced, and the superstitions and
idolatrous modes of worship. But these are so
many shackles which will greatly retard him in

running the race set before him . Therefore

you and my dear Sarah have great need to
weep over him; but have you not also need to
weep for yourselves ? For have you given God
your hearts ? Are you holy in heart ? Have you
the kingdom of God within you! righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ? the only
true religion under heaven.

" cry unto Him that is mighty to save for
this one thing needfuL Earnestly and diligent-

ASSOCIATES. 187

ly use all the means which God hath pnt plenti-
fully into your hands ! Otherwise, I should not
at all wonder if God permit you also to be
given up to a strong delusion.

" But whether you were or were not, whether
you are Protestants or Papists, neither you nor
he can ever enter into glory unless you are now
cleansed from all pollution of flesh and spirit,
and perfect holiness in the fear of God."

ASSOCIATES.

FROH the time that Charles Wesley removed
to London he seems to have been honored, not-
withstanding his Methodism, with the friend-
ship of several distinguished persons.

"He had free intercourse with Lord Mans-
field, whom he had befriended in his boyhood
at Westminster school. He sometimes con-
sulted his lordship on questions affecting the
Methodists in their relation to the Established

Church : and that eminent lawyer declared his
12

188 THE POET PREAOHEB.

readiness to render any service in his power to
him and his brother.

Dr. Boyce, one of the fathers of modern
Chnrch music, and Mr. Kelway, the mnsical
tntor of Queen Charlotte, were frequent visitors
of the family in Chesterfield-street

"Lord Dartmouth cultivated the friendship
of Mr. Charles Wesley on a religious account ;
and Dr. Johnson mentions him as a person with
whose views and habits he was familiar. . . .

u Among Charles's papers are two notes in
the hand-writing of the doctor; one addressed
to the father, and the other to the daughter,
inviting them to dine with him. He first of
these is as follows:

" c Sis, I beg that you, and Mrs. and Miss
Wesle\', will dine with your brother and Mrs.
Hall, at my house in Bolt Court, Fleet-street,
to-morrow. That I have not seat sooner, if you
knew the discordant state of my health, you
would easily forgive me. I am, sir, your most
humble servant, SAM, JOHNSON*'

u 'WEDNESDAY.'"

ASSOCIATES. 189

"Writing to Miss "Wesley, the doctor says:

" MADAM, I will have the first day that you
mention, my dear, on Saturday next; and if
you can, bring your aunt with you, to your

most humble servant,

"' SAM. JOHNSON.'
' OCT. 28, 1783.'

" Among Mr. Charles "Wesley's friends may
also be ranked the late Mr. Wilberforce, then a
young statesman just rising into life.

" Their first interview took place at the house
of Mrs. Hannah More, and is thus described by
that pious and philanthropic man : ' I went, I
think, in 1786, to see her, and when I came into
the room Charles "Wesley rose from the table,
around which a numerous party sat at tea, and
coming forward to me, gave me solemnly his
blessing. I was scarcely ever more affected.
Such was the effect of his manner and appear-
ance that it altogether overset me, and I burst
into tears, unable to restrain myself. 5 "

At the same time his early religious asso-
ciates were soon rapidly disappearing by death.

190 THTg POET PBEACHER.

Thus it was that his tenderest friendships were
fast dissolving, and a new generation was rising
up around him.

Kev. Henry Piers, the pious vicar of Bexley,
died in 1769. He was Charles Wesley's son in
the Gospel, shared in the glorious dishonor of
early Methodism, a timid and gentle spirit, and
was faithful unto death.

Under date of August M, 1782, John Wesley
thus writes: "My brother and I paid our last
visit to Lewisham, and spent a few pensive
hours with the relict of our good Mend, Mr.-
Blackwell. We took one more walk around
the garden and meadow which he took so much
pains to improve. Upward of forty years this
has been my place of retirement, when I could
spare two or three days from London. In that
;time, first Mrs. Sparrow went to rest, then Mrs.
Dewal, then good Mrs. Blackwell, and now Mr.
Blackwell himself. Who can tell how soon we
may follow them V 9

In 1785 died also in great peace Perronet,
the excellent vicar of Shoreham, always the

ASSOCIATES. 191

fast friend and confidential adviser of tho
Lesleys.

"When the (Methodist) preachers visited
Shoreham, Mr. Perronet's house was their
home ; and in a room which he fitted np under
his own roof, they regularly ministered the
word of life. In his spirit and manners he was
a perfect gentleman and a Christian, and a
more spotless and upright character has seldom
adorned any section of the universal Church.

"Within three months after the death of Per-
ronet, the great and good Fletcher, another un-
wavering fiiend of the Wesleys, passed in
triumph from earth to heaven. Few men have
ever excelled him in piety, and perhaps no one
was ever more honored in death.

" Being indulged with the richest manifesta-
tions of God's mercy in Christ, he called upon
all around him to unite in the loudest ascrip-
tions of praise. Such was the fullness of his
spiritual joy, that he expressed a desire for a
gust of praise that should go to the ends of the
earth. Having the most elevated and im-

192 THE POET PEEAOHEB.

pressive views of the atonement of Christ, he
often exclaimed :

( Jesus' blood through earth and skies,
Mercy free, boundless mercy cries I'

and added, in the fall exercise of appropriating
faith:

1 Mercy's full power I soon shall prove,
Loved with an everlasting love 1'

Thus Charles Wesley, now Charles the aged,
was entering deeply into that monrnful expe-
rience of old age, the loss of early friends. One
after another they were dropping around him,
to be seen on earth no more, and he will soon
follow!

THE WESLETAN ORDINATIONS.

THE flame of Methodism had crossed the
Atlantic, and spread itself, to a considerable
extent, in this country, while the "Wesleys were
yet living.

THE WESLEYAN OBDINATION& 193

At the close of the war of Independence, and
when the great political separation had taken
place between England and the American colo-
nies, there was already a membership of about
eighteen thousand souls. Several preachers
had been sent over by Mr. Wesley, and their
labors had been blessed in the conversion of
many.

John "Wesley deemed it his duty to provide
the sacraments as well as the ministry of the
word for this increasing multitude. Accord-
ingly, on the morning of September 1, 17S4:,
he, with the assistance of one or two clergymen,
solemnly ordained Dr. Coke as superintendent
of the American Methodists, with the under-
standing that the doctor should proceed to
America, and ordain Francis Asbury an asso-
ciate superintendent with himself.

At the same time Mr. Wesley ordained
Messrs. Whatcoat and Yasey as elders for the
American work. Also, in the following year,
he ordained three preachers to minister the
sacraments in Scotland.

194 THIS POET PREACHEE.

"Nothing that Mr. Jolin Wesley ever said
or did gave his brother half so much offense as
these ordinations. Charles adhered to the prin-
ciple of 'apostolical succession/ and of the divine
appointment of three orders of ministers. Yet
he conld bear with patience to hear his brother
assail these principles in theory, if he only kept
the Methodists in union with the Established
Church. Whereas he imagined that from these
ordinations separation was inevitable.

"The Church of England did not, indeed,
exist either in the United States of America or
in Scotland ; but the principle of presbyterian
ordination among the Methodists was recog-
nized; and the men who had received such
ordination from his brother, he saw, could,
after his brother's death, if not even before,
ordain their brethren, and thus introduce the
sacraments into the chapels generally, and draw
away the societies from their parish churches.

* He had little confidence in Dr. Coke's dis-
cretion, and thought that, on his return from
America, he might, by possibility, ordain the

THE WESLETAN ORDINATIONS. 195

whole body of the preachers. The elements of
separation appeared to him to be BOW officially
adopted and at work ; the professions of union
with the Church, which he and his brother had
reiterated through life, he thought were vio-
lated ; their strenuous and persevering efforts to
resist the spirit of dissent were given up and neu-
tralized, the work of God irreparably injored,
and the name of Wesley dishonored forever!

" Such were Charles's extreme views on the
occasion, and he mourned that he had not died
before the arrival of that day."

About the same time, alluding to his brother
John, Charles Wesley writes as follows to a
brother clergyman :

"After having continued friends for above
seventy years, and fellow-laborers for above
fifty, can anything but death part us? I can
scarcely yet believe it, that in his eighty-second
year, my brother, my old, intimate fiiend and
companion, should have assumed the episcopal
character, ordained elders, consecrated a bishop,
and sent him to ordain our lay-preachers in,

196 THE POET PBEACHEB.

America ! I was then in Bristol, at his elbow ;
yet he never gave me the least hint of his in-
tention. How was he surprised into so rash an
action ? He certainly persuaded himself that it
was right.

" Lord Mansfield told me last year that ordi-
nation was separation. This my brother does
not, and will not see, or that he has renounced
the principles and practices of his whole life ;
that he has acted contrary to all his declarations,
protestations, and writings, robbed his friends
of their boasting, and left an indelible blot on
his name as long as it shall be remembered.

" Thus oar partnership here is dissolved, but
not our friendship. I have taken him for better
for worse, till death do us part ; or rather, re-
unite us in love inseparable. I have lived on
earth a little too long, who have lived to see
this evil day. Bat I shall very soon be taken
from it, in steadfast faith that the Lord will
maintain his own cause, and carry on his own
work, and fulfill his promise to his Church, ' Lo,
I am with you alway, even to the end V"

THE WESLEYAN ORDINATIONS.

In a postscript to the same letter Charles
prophesies of the "poor Methodists w in Am-
erica as follows :

" After my brother's death, which is now so
near, what will be their end ? They will lose
all their influence and importance ; they will
turn aside to vain janglings ; they will settle
again upon their lees, and, like other sects of
Dissenters, come to nothing !"

Events have proved that the good Charles
"Wesley was more of a poet than a prophet.
The " poor Methodists " of America, under the
organization established by John Wesley, in-
stead of " coming to nothing," have multiplied
so as to be counted by hundreds of thousands,
and are the most numerous and the wealthiest
Church in the nation.

In reference to the ordinations, he addresses
the following earnest letter to his brother :

" DEAE BEOTHEE, I have been reading over
again your 'Reasons against a Separation,'
printed in 1758, and your Works, and entreat

198 TH'M POET PEEACEER,

yon, in the name of God, and for Christ's sake,
to read them again yourself with previous
prayer, and stop and proceed no further till
you have an answer to your inquiry, 'Lord,
what wouldst thou have me to do?' Every
word of your eleven pages deserves the
deepest consideration, not to mention my testi-
mony and hymns. Only the seventh I could
wish you to read, a prophecy which I pray
may never come to pass. *

"Near thirty years since then you have
stood against the importunate solicitations of
your preachers, who have scarcely at last pre-
vailed. I was your natural ally and faithful
friend, and while you continued faithful to
yourself, we two could chase a thousand. But
when once you began ordaining in America,
I ]pew, and you knew, that your preachers
here would never rest till you ordained them.
You told me they would separate by and by.
The doctor tells us the same. His Methodist
Episcopal Church in Baltimore was intended
to beget a Methodist Episcopal Church here.

THE WESLEYAI* OBDESTATKETS. 199

You know he comes armed with your authority
to make us all Dissenters. One of your sons
assured me that not a preacher in London
would refuse orders from the doctor,

"Alas ! what trouble are you preparing for
yourself, as well as for me and for your oldest,
truest, best friends! Before you have quite
broken down the bridge, stop and consider ! If
your sons have no regard for you, have some
regard .for yourself. Go to your grave in
peace ; at least suffer me to go first, before this
ruin is under your hand.

" So much I think you owe to my father, to
my brother, and to me, as to stay till I am

taken from the evil. I am on the brink of the

*

grave. Do not push me in, or embitter my
last moments. Let us not leave an indelible
blot on our memory, but let us leave behind us
the name and character of honest men.

" This letter is a debt to our parents, and to
our brother, as well as to you, and to your
faithful friend."

The following is a part of John's reply:

200 THE POET PEEAOHER.

" All these reasons against a seperation from
the Church, in this sense, I subscribe to stilL
"What, then, are you frightened at? I no more
separate from it now than I did in the year
1758. I submit still (though sometimes with a
doubting conscience) to * mitered infidels.' I do
indeed vary from them in some points of doc-
trine, and in some points of discipline; (by
preaching abroad, for instance, by praying ex-
tempore, and by forming societies ;) but not a
hair's breadth further than I believe to be meet,
right, and my bonnden duty. I walk still by the
same rule I have done for between forty and
fifty years. I do nothing rashly. It is not likely
I should. The heyday of my blood is over. If
you will go on hand in hand with me, do. But
do not hinder me if you will not help. Perhaps
if you had kept close to me, I might have done
better. However, with or without help, I creep
on ; and as I have been hitherto, so I trust I shall
always be, your affectionate friend and brother."

There was other correspondence on the same
subject between the brothers, but it ended

CHABLES WESLEY A FOOT. 201

amicably. "Their love for each other was
strong and tender, and if anything could have
restrained John from performing his acts of or-
dination, it was his regard for Charles. Bat
such was his conviction of duty, that he chose
rather to grieve the dearest friend he had in
the world than refrain from doing that to which
he believed himself providentially called in the
peculiar exigency of his spiritual children."

CHAELES WESLEY A POET.

CHARLES WESLEY stood in the first rank as a
devotional poet " In the composition of
hymns adapted to Christian worship, he cer-
tainly has no equal in the English language,
and is perhaps superior to every other unin-
spired man that ever lived. It does not ap-
pear that any person besides himself, in any
section of the universal Church, has either
written so many hymns, or hymns of such sur-
passing excellence. Those which he published

202 THTTB POET PREACHER.

would occupy about ten ordinary sized duodeci-
mo Volumes ; and the rest, which he left in man-
uscript, and evidently designed for publication,
would occupy at least ten more. It would be
absurd to suppose that all these are of equal
value ; but, generally speaking, those of them
which possess the least merit, bear the impress
of his genius."

He was well trained in classical learning,
which he cultivated through life. His famili-
arity with the great poets of antiquity gave him
a perfect knowledge of the laws of versification.
He possessed at once the true poetic spirit and
genius, and the art of poetic expression.

He seems to have written with great ease and
freedom, as well as with singular simplicity
and variety. "Many of his stanzas are as elo-
quently free inr their construction as even the
finest paragraphs of Addison's prose.

" While his sentiments and language are ad-
mired by the most competent judges of good
writing, his hymns are perfectly intelligible to
the common people, thousands of whom, po&-

CHAELES WESLEY A POET. 203

sessed of spiritual religion, feel their breadth and
power, and sing them with rapturous delight.

"His meters are very numerous, perhaps
more so than those of any other English writer
whatever; and it is difficult to say in which of
them he most excelled. There are twenty-six
meters in the Wesleyan collection in general
use, and several others occur in the volumes
which Charles published in bis own name.

"This variety renders the reading of his
books exceedingly agreeable. His cadences
never fall on the ear, and never weary the
attention. Like scenes in nature, and the best
musical compositions, they are perpetually
varying, and charm by their novelty."

The same writer adds that " one of the most
striking peculiarities of Charles Wesley's poetry
is its energy. He always writes with vigor, for
he is always in earnest As he felt deeply,
and had a singular command of language, he
expresses himself with great force. K"ever
does he weaken his lines by unnecessary epi-
thets, or any redundancy of words; and he
13

204: THE POET PEEAOHBB.

evidently aimed more at strength than smooth-
ness. Yet he had too fine an ear ever to be
rugged ; and whenever he chose he could rival
the most tuneful of his brethren in the liquid
smoothness of his numbers.

" But the crowning excellence of his hymns
is the spirit of deep and fervent piety which
they everywhere breathe.

Every feeling of the heart, from the first
communication of light to the understanding,
producing conviction of sin, and desires after
God and Christ, tilVsalvation from sin is attained,
the conflicts of the spiritual warfare are ended,
and the sanctified believer enters into the
heavenly paradise, is embodied in his hymns.
The sorrows of penitence, the confidence of
faith, the joys of pardon, holiness, and hope ;
the burning ardor of divine love, the pleasured
of obedience, the warmth of universal benevo-
lence, and the anticipations of future glory, he
has not merely described, but expressed, and
that in all their fullness and depth. . . .

"The poetical talent that was committed to

CHAELES WESLEY A POET. 205

the trust of Mr. Charles Wesley involved a
responsibility the fall extent of which it would
be impossible to estimate. He was endued
with a power which scarcely any other man has
been called npon to wield a power of promot-
ing the spiritual benefit, not only of the multi-
tudes whom his living voice could reach, bnt
of millions whom he never saw.

"During the last fifty years few collections
of hymns, designed for the use of evangelical
congregations, yrhether belonging to the Estab-
lished Church or the Dissenting bodies, have
been made without a considerable number of
his compositions, which are admired in propor-
tion as the people are spiritually minded. His
hymns are therefore extensively used in secret
devotion, in family worship, and in public re-
ligous assemblies. Every Sabbath-day myriads
of voices are lifted up, and utter, in the hal-
lowed strains which he has supplied, the feelings
of penitence, of faith, of grateful love, and joyous
hope with which the Holy Ghost, the Lord and
Giver of life, has inspired them, and are thus in

206 TTTR POET PREACHER.

a course of training for the more perfect wor-
ship of heaven.

"Faithfully did he consecrate his talent to
the Lord ; and the honor which the Lord hath
conferred upon his servant is of the highest
order, an honor widely extended, and increas-
ing with every successive generation. As long
as the language in which they are written is
understood, and enlightened piety is cherished,
the hymns of this venerable man will be used
as a handmaid to devotion. They were not
* obtained by the invocation of Dame Memory
and her syren sisters, but by devout prayer to
that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all
utterance and knowledge, and sends out his
seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar to
purify the lips of whom he pleases.' They are
perfectly free from aU, sickly sentimentality,
especially that which modern poets affect, by a
perpetual reference to consecrated places, sacred
vestments, holy water, and the trumpery of
papal Rome, as if religion were a mere matter
of the imagination, and Christians were still

POETICAL SPECEMTEXS.

under the Jewish law. His hymns are as
rational and manly in sentiment, as they are
pure and elegant in composition. Their the-
ology is thoroughly Scriptural."

POETICAL SPECIMENS.

"WE have already, in the preceding pages,
inserted a specimen or two of Charles Wesley's
poetry. We shall now, as illustrative of state-
ments submitted in the preceding chapter, pre-
sent a few other specimens.

In the following a lost soul is personated,
sinking to ruin in spite of proffered mercy. It
is a striking example of the poet's boldness and
spirit:

" Hear an incarnate devil preach,
Nor throw, like me, your souls away,

While heavenly bliss is in your reach,
And God prolongs your gracious day.

" Whom I r^ect do you receive ;

The Saviour of mankind embrace ;
He tasted death for aB ; believe,

Believe, and ye are saved by grace.

208 M'H B POET PREAOTQER,

" Ye are, and I was once forgiven ;

Jesus's doom did mine repeal ;
I might rath you have come to heaven,

Saved through the grace from which I feB.

" A ransom for my soul was paid ;

For mine, and every soul of man,
The Lamb a foil atonement made,

The Itamb for me and Judas slajp,

44 Before I at his bar appear,
Thence into outer darkness thrust,

The Judge of all the earth I clear,
Jesus the merciful, the just.

"By my own hands, not Ms, I Ml;

The hellish doctrine I disprove ;
Sinners, Ms grace is free for all;

Though I am damn'd, yet God is love I"

The two stanzas following are part of a
hymn composed upon the road, in behalf of
the Irish Koman Catholics :

* e If thou wilt work a work of grace,

Who shall the hinderer be !
Shall all the human, hellish race

Detain thy own from thee *
Shall Satan keep, as lawful prize,

A nation in his snare?
Hosts of the living God arise,

And try the force of prayer I

POETICAL SPECIMENS. 20

" The prayer of faith hath raised the dead,

The infernal legions driven,
The slaves from Satan's dungeon freed,

And shut and opened heaven.
Our faith shall cleave the triple crown,

Shall o'er the beast prevail ;
And turn his kingdom upside down,

And shake the gates of helL"

The beginning of the year 1756 was a dar
time in the national affairs of England, and
day of public fasting and humiliation was pro
claimed by government. It was on this occs
sion that Charles Wesley composed the follow
ing sublime hymn :

" Stand the omnipotent decree ;

Jehovah's will be done ;
Nature's' end we wait to see,

And hear her final groan.
Xiet this earth dissolve* and blend

In death, the wicked and the just ;
Let those ponderous orbs descend,

And grind us into dust;

" Bests secure the righteous man ;

At his Bedeemer's beck,
Sure to emerge and rise again,

And mount above the wreck.
Lo I the heavenly spirit towers,

Like fames o'er Nature's ftmeral pyre ;

210 THE POET PREACHER.

Triumphs in immortal powers,
And claps his wings of fire.

Nothing hath the just to lose,

By worlds on worlds destroyed ;
Par "beneath his feet he views,

With smiles, the flaming void j
Sees this universe renew'd,

The grand TmHfipnial reign began ;
Shouts, with all the sons of God,

Around the eternal throne.

"Besting in this glorious hope

To be at last restored,
Yield we now our bodies up

To earthquake, plague, or sword ;
Listening for the call divine,

The latest trumpet of the seven,
Soon our soul and dust shall join,

And both fly up to heaven."

In 1759 Charles "Wesley published the fourth
edition of his "Funeral Hymns."

The following effusion is as energetic and ele-
gant as it is expressive of towering faith and
adoring gratitude :

"MerciM God, thyself proclaim,

In this polluted breast; *
Mercy is thy distinguish' d name,

Which suits a sinner "best;

POETICAL SPECIMENS. 211

Our miseiy doth for pity call,

Our sin implores thy grace ;
And them art merciful to all

Our lost apostate race.

" Thy causeless, unexhausted love,

Unmerited and free,
Delights our evil to remove,

And help our misery.
Thou waitest to he gracious still,

Thou dost with sinners hear,
That, sav'd, we may thy goodness feel,

And aU thy grace declare.

" Thy goodness and thy truth to me,

To every soul abound ;
A vast unfathomable sea,

Where all our thoughts are drown'd,
Its streams the whole creation reach,

So plenteous is the store ;
Enough for all, enough for each,

Enough for evermore.

Faithful, O Lord, thy mercies are,

A rock that cannot move ;
A thousand promises declare

Thy constancy of love ;
Throughout the universe it reigns,

Unalterably sure;
And while the troth of God remains,

The goodness must endure."

The mournful stanzas following were occi
sioned by the defection of his youngest so

212 THE POET PBEAOHEE.

Samuel to Romanism. It is said that of all his
sorrows, none had ever touched him so heavily
as this. His feelings arose to agony. He re-
garded his son as lost to him and to the rest of
the family, and the very sight of him caused
the father's heart to bleed afresh :

" Farewell, my all of earthly hope,
My nature's stay, my age's prop,

Irrevocably gone !
Submissive to the will divine,
I acqaiese, and make it mine

I offer np my son 1

" Bat give I God a sacrifice

That costs me naught ? my gushing eyes,

The answer sad express ;
My gashing eyes and troubled heart,
Which bleeds with its beloved to part,

Which breaks through fond excess.

" Yet since he from my heart is torn,
Patient, resigned, I calmly mourn

The darling snatched away ;
Father, with thee thy own I leave ;
Into thy mercy's arms receive,

And keep I to that day.

"Keep, for I nothing else desire,
The bosh unborn'd amid the fire,
And freely I resign

POETICAL SPECIMEN'S. 213

My child, for a few moments lent,
(My child no longer!) I consent
To see Ms face no more !

M But hear my agonizing prayer,
And 0, preserve him, and prepare

To meet me in the sMes,
When thronedin bliss the Lamb appears,
Repairs my loss and wipes the tears

Forever from my eyes I "

The following hymn, " Wrestling Jacob," is
the one which Dr. Watts considered "worth
more than all the verses he had written :"

" Come, O thon traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see ;

My company before is gone,

And I am left alone with thee :

With thee all night I mean to stay,

And wrestle till the break of day.

" I need not tell thee who I am ;

My sin and misery declare ;
Thyself hast caH'd me by my name ;

Look on thy hands, and read it there.
But who, I ask thee, who art thon f
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

" In vain thon strogglest to get free ;

I never wiH unloose my hold :
Art thon the man that died for me ?

The secret of thy love unfold :
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

214 THE POET PEEAOHER,

" Wilt thoa not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable name ?

Tell me, I stall beseech thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am :

Wrestling, I will not let thee go,

Till I thy name, thy nature know.

** What though my sh'rfofrfog flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long !

I rise superior to my pain :
When I am weak, then I am strong:

And when my all of strength shall fail,

I shall with the God-man prevail.

" Yield to me now, for I am weak,

But confident in self-despair ;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak ;

Be conquered by my instant prayer:
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name be Love.

"'TSsLove! 'tis Love! thou diedst for me ;

I hear thy whisper in my heart ;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee ;

Pore, universal Love thou art :
To me, to aH, thy bowels move ;
Thy nature and thy name is Love*

" My prayer hath power with God; the grace

Unspeakable I now receive ;
Through faith I see thee face to face ;

I see thee face to fece, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove ;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

POETICAL SPECIMENS. 215

* I know thee, Saviour, wlio thou art-
Jesus, the feeble sinner's Friend :

Nor -wilt thou with the night depart,
But stay and love me to the end:

Thy mercies never shall remove ;

Thy nature and thy name is Love.

u The Sun of righteousness on me

Hath risen with healing in his wings:
Withered my nature's strength, from thee

My soul its life and succor brings :
My help is all laid up.above ;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

" Contented now, upon my thigh

I halt, till life's short journey end ;
All helplessness, all weakness, I

On thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from thee to move ;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

"Lame as I am, I take the prey ;

Hell, earth, and sin, with ease overcome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,

And, as a bounding hart, fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and thy name is Love I' 9

216 THE POET PEEACHER.

PREACHING AOT) SOHOLAESHIP.

CEAJRLES WESLEY excelled as a preacher, not
so much in the greatoesa, as in the efficiency of
his preaching.

" There was nothing artificial in his sermons.
To a strictly logical arrangement, and the arts
of secnlar oratory, he was indifferent His dis-
courses were the effusions' of the heart, rather
than the offspring of the intellect, or of the
imagination. They were not characterized by
abstract reasoning or by showy ornament.

tt Of the Bible he was a diligent and enrap-
tured student; and its facts, doctrines, language,
and imagery were indelibly engraven upon his
mind*

" In the delivery of God's word he expected
and received the promised aid of the Holy
Spirit, and under the divine unction he spoke
with irresistible power and authority.

"His heart was inflamed with zeal for the
honor of Christ, and yearned over the souls of

PEEAOHING- AOT) SCHOLABSHIP.

the people ; the tears ran down his cheeks, his
tongue was loosed, and he poured forth the
truth of God in the very phraseology of inspira-
tion, with an effect that was overwhelming.

" He gave such views of the evil of sin, and
of the certain damnation of the impenitent and
nnregenerate, as terrified the consciences of the
nngodly and the sinner, who fell down upon
their knees, and in bitter anguish called upon
God for his mercy.

" At the same time he expatiated upon the
perfect sacrifice of Christ, the efficacy of his
blood, the tenderness of his compassion, and
the freeness of his grace, with such a power of
conviction as to induce those whose spirits were
contrite even then, to believe to the saving of
their souls. He generally delivered his message
in short, pointed sentences, which all could un-
derstand, and all could feel.

" When his own heart was deeply impressed,
he not unfreqnently extended his sermon to the
length of two hours, and even more ; for he felt
that he had a work to accomplish the people

218 'i'H M POET PBEACOEDSR.

were ignorant and wicked, they needed instrnc
tion, conversion, salvation. To turn tham from
sin to Christ was the very end of his preach-
ing; and he knew not how to close the service
and dismiss the poor, guilty souls around him
until this great design of the divine mercy was
fulfilled.

" Often was his heart gladdened by success.
Under his ministry many a hardened sinner
began to pray ; and from the religious services
which he conducted, even in the open air,
many a penitent publican went to his house
justified.

"In the latter years of his life he was so
enfeebled by age, disease, and sorrow, that his
preaching was rather deliberate and tender,
than powerful and awakening. Yet, on some
occasions, to the end of his life, it partook of
the vehemence and energy which characterized
it in his earlier years."

We have the following particular account of
his preaching in his last days :

"If his thoughts did not flow freely in the

PEEAOHIN0 AND SOHOLAESHTP. 219

pulpit he was very deliberate, making long
pauses, -as if waiting for the promised com-
munication of divine influence. In such cases
he usually preached with his eyes closed; he
fumbled with his hands about his breast, leaned
with his elbows upon the Bible, and his whole
body was in. motion.

"He was often so feeble as to be under a
necessity of once or twice calling upon the con-
gregation to sing, in the course of his sermon,
that he might partially recover himself, and be
able to finish his discourse. When he had
strength, and his mind was under peculiar
excitement, as it often was, he expressed him-
self with fluency and power.

" His sentences were short and pointed,
charged with the most weighty truths, and the
language was such as all understood and
felt His sermons were the effusions of a
heart overflowing with divine truth and love.
They were rich in Scripture sentiment and in
Scripture phraseology, 'as it were a paved work
of sapphire.'

14

220 THM POET PREACHER.

"In prayer he was copious and mighty,
especially npon sacramental occasions, when
he seemed to * enter into the holiest of all by
the blood of Jesus.'

" Greatly was he enfeebled by age and dis-
ease; yet he continued his public religious
services, in this spirit and manner, till within
a few months of his death. 51

"We have the following notice of his scholar-
ship : " His attainments as a scholar were wor-
thy of the advantages which he enjoyed, as a
pupil of Westminster school, and a member of
the university of Oxford. With the Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, and French languages he was well ac-
quainted. His son Samuel believed that he read
German; but his daughter, when questioned
on the subject, spoke doubtingly. In a letter
addressed to him at Oxford by his fether, he is
urged to persevere in the study of Arabic, and
of the mathematics; but it is probable that, after
he left the university, he paid little attention to
either of these branches of learning. Classical
and Biblical literature he cultivated to the end

PEEAGHOTG- A3STD SOHOLABSHEP. 221

of his protracted life. His exact and critical
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures is strikingly
manifest in his hymns. Among the Romans,
Horace and Virgil were his favorite authors.
Large portions of the JSneid he had committed
to memory, and occasionally repeated them,
with unrivaled taste and spirit, for the grati-
fication of his friends."

"Considering his scholarship, taste, and ge-
nius, there can be no donbt that, had he devoted
himself to secular literature, he would have
taken a high rank among the poets of Great
Britain. He would have rivaled Dryden him-
self, whom he greatly resembles in fluency,
copiousness, and power."

Like his brother John, Charles Wesley was
small of stature. He was short-sighted, abrupt
and singular in his manners, so that when at
college John is said to have dreaded his visits.
" He would run against his brother's table, dis-
arrange his papers, ask several questions in
quick succession, and often retire without even
waiting for answers."

222 THE POET PBEAOHEE.

SOCIAL CHARACTER:

CHAELES WESLEY was eminently a social
being, and his soul was formed for friendship.
" He possessed such a frankness of disposition,
combined with such warmth of affection and
integrity of purpose, as at once commanded the
esteem and love of all who were likeminded.
His sympathies were deep and tender, so that
his friendship was felt to be of inestimable
value, especially in seasons of affliction, when
help is most needed. He was, indeed, a
brother born for the benefit of those who are in
adversity, and possessed great power to soothe
and cheer. The pain and sickness in which
much of his life was spent, the successive deaths
of five children, added to the natural and gra-
cious tenderness of his heart, enabled him so to
enter into the views and feelings of the sorrow-
ful, that th*$J|ere at once strengthened and en-
couraged, a&ttblessed God for the consolation
of which he inade his servant the instrument."

SOCIAL OHABACTEB. 223

He ever maintained an inviolable friendship
for his brother John. As already noticed, he was
deeply grieved' with some of his brother's acts,
and widely differed 'from him in some of his
views ; yet his warm affection and friendship
never declined. If he sometimes, himself, cen-
sured John, he would allow no one else to do it.

" Lady Huntingdon attempted to alienate
him from his brother, by telling him, in a pri-
vate letter, that John was a teacher of 'heresy'
and c popery.' But deeply as he was indebted
to her kindness, he rebuked her for her unseem-
ly bigotry, and declared that death itself should
never separate him from the brother of his
heart He was linked to him by no selfish
feeling, or mere instinct of nature, but by the
c love that never faileth;' and his generous
friendship was returned by his brother with
equal fidelity and warmth.

"In the various domestic relations the con-
duct of Charles Wesley was most exemplary.
His filial reverence and affection toward both
his parents, were as profound as they were

224 THE POET PEBAOHBE.

justly merited. Toward both his "brothers, and
all his sisters, he was an example of fraternal
kindness. They witnessed through life his read-
iness to serve them as much as lay in his power.

"What he was as a husband the preceding
narrative declares. To his wife he disclosed the
secrets of his heart with perfect confidence
and unreserve ; and in her society he sought
for solace when troubled with the affairs of the
world and the Church. His concern for her
comfort, his sympathy with her in affliction,
and, above all, his pious solicitude for her spirit-
ual improvement, are attested in the whole of
his correspondence with her, of which many
specimens have been given.

Several of his hymns were originally written
for her use and benefit. They were acts of sup-
plication in times of necessity and sorrow, of
resignation under bereavements, or of adoring
gratitude for divine mercies. He received her
as a gift from God ; he regarded her as his best
earthly friend ; and he ever treated her as an
heir with himself of etenud life,

SOCIAL CHABA.CTEE. 225

" Often did lie remind her that the most im-
portant end of their union was their mutual
improvement in personal holiness ; and most
assiduously did he labor to bring her into
increasing union with Christ their living head.

" In a letter which he addressed to her when
he felt his strength decay, he says: c My best
of friends, I am going the way of all the earth ;
and what shall I do for you before we part? I
can only pray, and very imperfectly, that the
providential end of our meeting may be answer-
ed upon you in both worlds. You married me
that you might be holier and happier to all eter-
nity. If you have received less spiritual good
than you expected, it is chiefly my fault. I
have not set you the pattern I ought. For the
same reason I have been of so little use to my
children. But it is too late to Attempt it now ;
my night cometh, or rather is come. I leave
you to the God of all grace, who ig ready to sup-
ply ail your wants. Time fails me for the rest
I may have another opportunity, I may not.
The Jjord be yom-s $nd your children's portion I'

226 TFTR POET PEEAOHBE.

" Such were the humbling views which this
Christian husband and parent entertained con-
cerning himself !"

" His children were mostly educated by him-
self; and the letters which he addressed to
them when they were from home, many of
which have been preserved, express the tender-
ness of his love, and his yearning desire for
their salvation."

DEATH.

In the month of February, 1788, commenced
the last sickness of Charles Wesley. He was
then reduced to great weakness, though still
able to go abroad occasionally.

On the 18th of this month he received such a
letter as ther following from his brother John :

BEOTHBR, You must go out every
day or die. Do not die to save charges ; you
certainly nepd not w^t anything as long f&

DEATH.

Shortly after this, John left London on an
itinerating excursion, and saw his brother no
more. He seems not to have suspected that
Charles was so near to die ; but strongly looked
for him to rally, and still labor in the Gospel.

" The decree, however, was gone forth, and
no means conld avail for the preservation of his
life. While he remained in the state of ex-
treme feebleness to which the letter of John re-
fers, having been silent and quiet for some time,
he called Mrs. Wesley to him, and requested
her to write the following lines at his dictation :

Who shall a sinful worm redeem 1
Jeans, my only hope thou art,
Strength of my failfog flesh and heart ;
O could I catch a smile from thee,
And drop into eternity 1'

"For fifty years Christ as the Redeemer of
men had been the subject of his effective min-
istry and of his loftiest songs, and he may be
said to havo died with a hymn to Christ upon
his lips. He lingered till the 29th of March,
1788, when he yielded up his spirit into the

228 THE POET PBEAGHEB.

hands of his God and Saviour, at the advanced
age of seventy-nine years and three months."

On the same day, Miss Sarah "Wesley ad-
dressed her Uncle John as follows :

" DBAS Aim HOJSTOBED UNCLE, We were all
present when my dear respected father de-
parted this life. His end was, what he particu-
larly wished it might be, peace ! For some
months past he seemed totally detached from
earth. He spoke very little, nor wished to hear
anything read bat the Scriptures. He took a
solemn leave of all his friends. I once asked if
he had any presages that he should die. He
said, ( ]STo ;' but his weakness was such that he
thought it impossible he c should live through
March. 5 He kindly bade me remember him,
and seemed to have no doubt but I should meet
him in heaven.

" All his prayer was, ' patience, and an easy
death ! ' He bade every one who visited him to
supplicate for these ; often repeating, ' an easy
death I * He told my mother, the week before

DEATH. 229

he departed, that no fiend was permitted to ap-
proach him; and said to us all, C I have a good
hope /' When we asked if he wanted anything,
he frequently answered, c Nothing but Christ P
Some person observed that the valley of the
shadow of death was hard to be passed. * Not
with Christ,' replied he.

" On March 27th, after a most uneasy night,
he prayed, as in an agony, that he might not
have many such nights. c my God,' said he,
* not many/ 9 It was with great difficulty he
seemed to speak About ten days before, on
my brother Samuel's entering the room, he
took hold of his hand, and pronounced, with a
voice of faith, 'I shall bless God to all eternity
that ever you were born. I am persuaded I
shall ! ' My brother Charles also seemed much
upon his mind. 'That dear boyl' said he,
c God bless him 1' He spoke less to me than to
the rest, which has since given me some pain.
However, he bade me trust in God, and never
forsake him; and then he assured me that
he never would forsake me*

230 T T mg POET PBEAGHER.

" The 28th, my mother asked if he had any
thing to say to us. Kaising his eyes, he said,
c Only thanks I love ! blessing P

"Tuesday and Wednesday he was not en-
tirely sensible. He slept much, without re-
freshment, and had the restlessness of death for,
I think, the whole week. He was eager to de-
part ; and if we moved him, or spoke to him,
he answered, * Let me die ! let me die !' A
fortnight before he prayed, with many tears,
for all his enemies, naming Miss Freeman. ' I
beseech thee, Lord, by thine agony and
bloody sweat,' said he, c that she may never feel
the pangs of eternal death. 5 When your kind
letter to my brother came, (in which you affec-
tionately tell him that you will be a father to
lika and my brother 'Samuel,) I read it to our
father. 6 He will le lewd to you? said he,
* wlien I am gone. I am certain your uncle
will be Jsmd to all of you,'

"He last morning, which was the 29th of
Mardi, being unable to speak, my mother en-
treated Mm to press her hand if he knew her,

DEATH. 281

which he feebly did. His last words which I
could hear were, 'Lord my heart my God I'
He then drew his breath short, and the last so
gently, that we knew not exactly the moment
in which his happy spirit fled. His dear hand
was in mine for five minutes before, and at the
awful period of his dissolution. It had often
been his desire that we should attend him to the
grave ; and though he did not mention it again
(which he did the place of his burial) during
his illness, we all mean to fulfill his wish,
trusting we shall be supported, as we have been
hitherto, in our afflicting situations.

" My dear, honored uncle, my mother pre-
sents you her respectful love, and my brothers
join with me in duty, begging your prayers
for the widow and the fatherless ! I am your
afflicted and dutiful niece."

John Wesley replied to his niece as follows :

DBAS S^LLT, I ihank you for the ac-
count you have given me. It is ML and satis-

232 THE POET PBEAOHEB.

factory. You describe a very awfiil scene. The
time, I doubt not, was prolonged on purpose
that it might make the deeper impression on
those that might otherwise soon have forgotten
it. What a difference does one moment make
when the soul springs out of time into eternity I
What an amazing change I "What are all the
pleasures, the business of this world, to a disem-
bodied spirit ? Let its therefore be ready, for the
day is at hand ! But the comfort is, it cannot
part you long from, dear Sally, yours invariably.^'

On Saturday, April 5th, Charles Wesley was
buried, according to his desire, in the churchyard
of St. Mary-le-bone, near his residence. The pall
was supported by eight clergymen of the Church
of England. On the following day his funeral
sermon was preached "in West-street, at the
new chapel, to an inconceivable concourse of
people, of every description, from 2 Sam. iii, 38 :
'A prince and a great man is fallen this day
in Israel 5 "

On a neat marble tablet in City Road Chapel,
London, is inscribed the following epitaph:

DEATH. 233

" God buries his workmen, but carries on his work."

to t

THE KEV. CHARLES WESLEY, A.M.,

Educated at Westminster School,
and some time Student at Christ Church, Oxford.

As a Preacher,

he was eminent for ability, zeal, and usefulness,

being learned without pride,

and pious without ostentation;

to the sincere, diffident Christian,

a son of consolation ;
but to the vain boaster, the hypocrite, and profane,

a son of thunder.

He was the first who received the name of Methodist;
and, uniting with his brother, the Bev. JOHN WESLET,

in the plan of itinerant preaching,
endured hardships, persecution, and disgrace,

as a good soldier of Jesus Christ;

contributing largely, by the usefulness of his labors,

to the first formation of the Methodist Societies

in these kingdoms.

As a Christian Poet he stood unrivaled ;
and his Hymns will convey instruction and consolation

to the faithful in Christ Jesus
as long as the English language is understood.
He was born the xviii of December, MDCCVHJ,
and died the *rri-r of >frfr > MDCCLXXXVUI,
a firm and pious believer in the doctrines of the Gospel,
and a sincere Mend to the Church of England.

234 TH M POET PREA.GHEB.

It only remains that we add the following
record :

Mrs. Wesley, having survived lier husband
about thirty-four years, died December 28,
1822, at the advanced age of ninety-six.

Sarah died at Bristol, when on a visit to
that city, on the 19th of September, 1828,
aged sixty-eight years.

Charles died in London, May 23, 1834, in
the seventy-seventh year of his age.

Samuel, also, died in London on the llth
of October, 1837, in the seventy-second year
of his age.

Charles and Sarah were never married.
They were both members of the Methodist
Society. Samuel left several children, who
are now living.