[152] _Methodist Magazine_, 1835, p. 804.
[153] “Encyclopædia Britannica,” article “Slavery.”
[154] Manuscript; and _Methodist Magazine_, 1835, p. 494.
[155] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 167.
[156] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 43.
[157] Messrs. Romaine and Madan.
[158] _Methodist Magazine_, 1780, p. 546.
[159] _Methodist Magazine_, 1788, p. 217.
[160] Mrs. Rogers’ manuscript journal.
[161] Manuscript.
[162] _Methodist Magazine_, 1842, p. 728.
[163] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 129.
[164] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 169.
[165] Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 449.
[166] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 369.
[167] “Memoir of Mrs. Mortimer,” p. 37; and Wesley’s Works,
vol. iii., p. 449.
[168] “Methodism in Halifax,” p. 121.
[169] _Methodist Magazine_, 1808, p. 482.
[170] _Irish Evangelist_, April, 1864.
[171] Wesley justly appends a note to this: “Let the
unbiased reader judge, whether Mr. Fletcher has made
use of groundless arguments or bitter invectives.”
[172] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 336.
[173] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 357.
[174] Mr. George Mackie has the credit of founding this
society. He died in 1821, after being a member
of the Methodist society more than fifty years,
and a zealous and respected local preacher for
forty.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1821, p. 939.) The
rules of the Christian Community, published in
1811, required, that, “in order to admission, every
candidate must have been a member of the late Rev.
John Wesley’s society twelve months; a man of strict
piety and irreproachable character; and having a gift
for prayer and exhortation.”
[175] The number of services held, indoors and out, during
the year 1867, was 6558, and the number of addresses
given 7524.
[176] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 390.
[177] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., pp. 130, 131.
[178] Toplady writes, November 27, 1772: “I am informed,
that inveterate troubler in Israel, Mr. John Wesley,
has lately published a fourth squib against Mr. Hill.
What a mercy it is, that the enemies of the gospel,
amidst all their plenitude of malice, have little
skill and less power! Mr. Wesley, considered as a
reasoner, is one of the most contemptible writers
that ever set pen to paper!” (Toplady’s Posthumous
Works, 8vo, 1780, p. 330.)
[179] Rowland Hill’s Life, p. 428.
[180] Besides the above, there were also published, at this
period, the two following pamphlets, by Jonathan
Warne, of Southwark: “Arminianism, the Back Door to
Popery:” price one shilling. And “The Downfall of
Arminianism; or Arminians tried and cast, before the
Right Honourable the Lord Chief Justice Truth, for
holding and propagating false opinions concerning the
five following points, viz.: (1) Absolute election;
(2) Particular redemption; (3) The efficacy of God’s
grace in conversion; (4) The impotency of man’s will
in conversion; (5) The final perseverance of the
regenerate.” 8vo, 145 pages.
[181] The _italic_ words are emphasized in the original.
[182] Sir Richard Hill did not obtain his title till the
death of his father, in 1783.
[183] Life of Wesley, vol. iii., p. 160.
[184] To understand some of the allusions, in these two
political tracts, it is necessary to remember that,
in 1772, a petition was presented to parliament,
signed by about 250 of the clergy, and a considerable
number of the members of the professions of civil law
and physic, praying to be relieved from the necessity
of subscribing to the thirty-nine articles of the
Established Church; and that a bill was passed, in
the House of Commons, annulling that part of the Act
of Toleration which authorised the infliction of
heavy penalties upon the ministers, schoolmasters,
and private tutors of Dissenters, unless they
subscribed to all the _doctrinal_ parts of the
thirty-nine articles. The bill passed the Commons
triumphantly; the Lords, by a _large majority_,
rejected it!
1773.
Age 70
The year 1773 will always be memorable in English annals. It was now
that the embryo rebellion in the American colonies broke out into overt
acts. Insults were offered to the British flag; a British ship of war
was boarded and burnt; and the cargoes of tea, which Lord North had
allowed to be exported from England, duty free, were seized by rioters
and sham Indians, and were discharged into the ocean with the utmost
jubilation. Endless debates took place in the English parliament; and
fearful fights were fought on the coasts, and in the wilds and prairies
of America. George Washington was made commander in chief; and “The
Congress of the Thirteen United Colonies” was organised. For long
years, the one great absorbing care of the British parliament was the
war in the western world.
Wesley’s health was still seriously affected; and, hence, he spent his
leisure hours, in the beginning of 1773, in examining his letters and
other manuscripts, so as to determine what he should leave behind him.
He writes: “I made an end of revising my letters; and could not but
make one remark,--that, for above these forty years, of all the friends
who were once the most closely united, and afterwards separated from
me, every one had separated himself! He left me, not I him. And from
both mine and their own letters, the steps whereby they did this are
clear and undeniable.”
We have already seen, that Wesley thought of making Fletcher of
Madeley his literary executor; but he now did more than this. Hence
the following letter, sent to Fletcher in January 1773, and written at
Shoreham, doubtless at the venerable Perronet’s, with whom Wesley had
gone to take counsel.
“DEAR SIR,--What an amazing work has God wrought in these kingdoms,
in less than forty years! And it not only continues, but increases,
throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland; nay, it has lately spread
into New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. But
the wise men of the world say, ‘When Mr. Wesley drops, then all this
is at an end!’ And so surely it will, unless, before God calls him
hence, one is found to stand in his place. For Ουκ αγαθον
πολυκοιρανια. Εις κοιρανος εστω. I see, more and more, unless there
be one προεστως, the work can never be carried on. The body
of the preachers are not united; nor will any part of them submit to
the rest; so that, either there must be one to preside over all, or
the work will indeed come to an end.
“But who is sufficient for these things? qualified to preside both
over the preachers and people? He must be a man of faith and love,
and one that has a single eye to the advancement of the kingdom of
God. He must have a clear understanding; a knowledge of men and
things, particularly of the Methodist doctrine and discipline; a
ready utterance; diligence and activity, with a tolerable share
of health. There must be added to these, favour with the people,
with the Methodists in general. For unless God turn their eyes and
their hearts toward him, he will be quite incapable of the work.
He must, likewise, have some degree of learning; because there are
many adversaries, learned as well as unlearned, whose mouths must be
stopped. But this cannot be done, unless he be able to meet them on
their own ground.
“But has God provided one so qualified? Who is he? _Thou art the
man!_ God has given you a measure of loving faith; and a single eye
to His glory. He has given you some knowledge of men and things;
particularly of the whole plan of Methodism. You are blessed with
some health, activity, and diligence; together with a degree of
learning. And to all these He has lately added, by a way none could
have foreseen, favour both with the preachers and the whole people.
Come out, then, in the name of God! Come to the help of the Lord
against the mighty! Come while I am alive and capable of labour!
Come, while I am able, God assisting, to build you up in faith,
to ripen your gifts, and to introduce you to the people! _Nil
tanti._ What possible employment can you have, which is of so great
importance?
“But you will naturally say, ‘I am not equal to the task; I have
neither grace nor gifts for such an employment.’ You say true; it is
certain you have not. And who has? But do you not know _Him_ who is
able to give them? Perhaps not at once, but rather day by day; as
each is, so shall your strength be.
“‘But this implies,’ you may say, ‘a thousand crosses, such as I feel
I am not able to bear.’ You are not able to bear them _now_; and they
are not _now_ come. Whenever they do come, will _He_ not send them
in due number, weight and measure? And will they not all be for your
profit, that you may be a partaker of His holiness?
“Without conferring, therefore, with flesh and blood, come and
strengthen the hands, comfort the heart, and share the labour of your
affectionate friend and brother,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[185]
This was a momentous proposal. Why was it not made to Wesley’s brother?
We cannot tell; but the following is Fletcher’s answer.
“MADELEY, _February 6, 1773_.
“REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,--I hope the Lord, who has so wonderfully
stood by you hitherto, will preserve you to see many of your sheep,
and me among the rest, enter into rest. Should Providence call you
_first_, I shall do my best, by the Lord’s assistance, to help
_your brother_ to gather the wreck, and keep together those who are
not absolutely bent upon throwing away the Methodist doctrine or
discipline. Every little help will then be necessary; and, I hope, I
shall not be backward to throw in my mite.
“In the meantime, you stand sometimes in need of an assistant to
serve tables, and occasionally to fill up a gap. Providence visibly
appointed me to that office many years ago; and, though it no
less evidently called me here, yet I have not been without doubt,
especially for some years past, whether it would not be expedient
that I should resume my place as your deacon; not with any view of
presiding over the Methodists after you, (God knows!) but to save
you a little in your old age, and be in the way of receiving, and
perhaps of doing, more good. I have sometimes considered how shameful
it was that no clergyman should join you, to keep in the Church the
work which the Lord had enabled you to carry on therein; and, as
the little estate I have in my native country is sufficient for my
maintenance, I have thought I would, one day or other, offer you and
the Methodists my _free_ services.
“While my love of retirement, and my dread of appearing upon a
higher stage than that I stand upon here, made me linger, I was
providentially called to do something in Lady Huntingdon’s plan; but,
being shut out there, it appears to me, I am again called to my first
work.
“Nevertheless, I would not leave this place, without a _fuller_
persuasion that the time is quite come. Not that God uses me much
_now_ among my parishioners, but because I have not sufficiently
cleared my conscience from the blood of all men, especially with
regard to ferreting out the poor, and expostulating with the rich,
who make it their business to fly from me. In the meantime, it shall
be my employment to beg the Lord to give me light, and make me
willing to go anywhere or nowhere, to be anything or nothing.
“I have laid my pen aside for some time; nevertheless, I resumed it
last week, at your brother’s request, to go on with my treatise on
Christian perfection. I have made some alterations in the sheets you
have seen, and hope to have a few more ready for your correction,
against the time you come this way. How deep is the subject! What
need have I of the Spirit, to search the deep things of God! Help me
by your prayers, till you can help me by word of mouth.
“I am, reverend and dear sir, your willing, though unprofitable,
servant in the gospel,
“JOHN FLETCHER.”[186]
At the beginning of July, Wesley had an interview with Fletcher at
Madeley, and, on reaching London, sent him the following hitherto
unpublished letter.
“LEWISHAM, _July 21, 1773_.
“DEAR SIR,--It was a great satisfaction to me, that I had the
opportunity, which I so long desired, of spending a little time
with you. And I really think it would answer many gracious designs
of Providence were we to spend a little more time together. It
might be of great advantage both to ourselves and the people, who
may otherwise soon be as sheep without a shepherd. You say indeed,
‘whenever it pleases God to call me away, you will do all you can to
help them.’ But will it not then be too late? You may then expect
grievous wolves to break in on every side; and many to arise from
among themselves, speaking perverse things. Both the one and the
other stand in awe of me, and do not care to encounter me; so that
I am able, whether they will or no, to deliver the flock into your
hands. But no one else is. And it seems, this is the very time when
it may be done with the least difficulty. Just now the minds of the
people in general are, on account of the Checks, greatly prejudiced
in your favour. Should we not discern the providential time? Should
we stay till the impression is worn away? Just now, we have an
opportunity of breaking the ice, of making a little trial. Mr.
Richardson is desirous of making an exchange with you, and spending
two or three weeks at Madeley. This might be done either now, or in
October, when I hope to return from Bristol. And till something of
this kind is done, you will not have that στοργη for the people
which alone can make your labour light in spending and being spent
for them. Methinks ’tis pity we should lose any time; for what a
vapour is life!
“I am, dear sir, your affectionate friend and brother,