[419] _Methodist Recorder_, Aug. 16, 1867.
[420] It was doubtless at this time that he had a youthful
hearer, who afterwards became the renowned Sir Walter
Scott. In a letter to Southey, dated Abbotsford,
April 4, 1819, Scott writes: “When I was about twelve
years old, I heard Wesley preach more than once,
standing on a chair, in Kelso churchyard. He was a
most venerable figure, but his sermons were vastly
too colloquial for the taste of Saunders. He told
many excellent stories. One I remember, which he
said had happened to him at Edinburgh. ‘A drunken
dragoon,’ said Wesley, ‘was commencing an assertion
in military fashion, G----d eternally d----n me,
just as I was passing. I touched the poor man on the
shoulder, and when he turned round fiercely, said
calmly, You mean, _God bless you_.’ In the mode of
telling the story, he failed not to make us sensible
how much this patriarchal appearance, and mild yet
bold rebuke, overawed the soldier, who touched his
hat, thanked him, and, I think, came to chapel that
evening.”--(“Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott,” by J. G.
Lockhart, Esq.)
[421] _Methodist Magazine_, 1854, p. 184.
[422] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 138.
[423] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 140.
[424] The copy before us is addressed “To Mr. Thompson, at
the Methodist chapel, Hull,” and is signed by Wesley
in his own handwriting.
[425] Coke’s manuscript letter.
[426] Manuscript letter.
[427] Ibid.
[428] For the manuscripts that have been used, I am
indebted to the kindness of Mr. Clapham, of Birstal.
[429] _Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 307.
[430] Ibid. 1790, pp. 106, 163.
[431] Both clergymen.
[432] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 475.
[433] Myles’s History.
[434] _Methodist Magazine_, 1826, p. 794.
[435] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 309.
[436] _Methodist Magazine_, 1782, p. 468.
[437] Ibid. 1798, p. 492; and 1780, p. 448.
[438] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 13.
[439] _Methodist Magazine_, 1790, p. 557.
[440] Everett’s “Methodism in Sheffield.”
[441] Dyson’s “History of Methodism in the Isle of Wight.”
[442] In 1783, this sermon was reprinted, in a separate
form, without Wesley’s knowledge, by a gentleman of
Cambridge, in 12mo.
[443] Walton’s “Memorial of W. Law,” p. 91; and Brooke’s
Life, p. 194.
1783.
Age 80
One of the first entries in Wesley’s journal, in 1783, is the
following. “Friday, January 10--I paid one more visit to Mr. Perronet,
now in his ninetieth year. I do not know so venerable a man. His
understanding is little, if at all, impaired; and his heart seems to
be all love. A little longer, I hope, he will remain here, to be a
blessing to all that see and hear him.” This is beautiful, after an
unbroken friendship of about forty years.
Another entry, equally deserving of being noted, was as follows:
“Sunday, January 19--I preached in St. Thomas’s church in the
afternoon, and at St. Swithin’s in the evening. The tide is now
turned; so that I have more invitations to preach in churches than I
can accept of.” What a contrast between 1783 and 1739!
Wesley was an unendowed clergyman; but was not unsupported. The funds,
raised for his purposes, were large; but his own appropriation from
them, not equal to the poor parson’s, who was “passing rich on £40 a
year.” In reference to the London annual audit, he writes: “Friday,
February 21--At our yearly meeting for that purpose, we examined our
yearly accounts, and found the money received, (just answering the
expense,) was upwards of £3000 a year. But that is nothing to me: what
I receive of it, yearly, is neither more nor less than £30.”
Wesley was an old man; but he was still an outdoor preacher: for
five-and-forty years he had been branded as a schismatic and a
Dissenter; but he was still an ardent Churchman. Hence the following,
addressed to Joseph Taylor, one of his itinerant preachers.
“LONDON, _January 16, 1783_.
“DEAR JOSEPH,--I am glad to hear so good an account of
Marazion. You must endeavour to hire a larger room at Truro. We
shall not build any more in haste. I often preach abroad, in
winter as well as summer.
“In my journals, in the magazine, in every possible way, I have
advised the Methodists to keep to the Church. They that do this
most prosper best in their souls; I have observed it long. If
ever the Methodists in general were to leave the Church, I must
leave them.
“I am, dear Joseph, your affectionate friend and brother,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[444]
An extract from another letter may be inserted here, showing that,
rightly or wrongly, the Methodist preachers of the present day have
departed from one of the principles of their founder. Ministerial
classes are now almost general. Hear what Wesley had to say, on this
subject, to John Cricket, then stationed, with Henry Moore, at
Londonderry.
“LONDON, _February 10, 1783_.
“MY DEAR BROTHER,--You must immediately resume the form at
least of a Methodist society. I positively forbid you, or any
preacher, to be a leader; rather put the most insignificant
person in each class to be the leader of it. And try if you
cannot persuade three men, if no more, and three women, to meet
in band.
“Hope to the end! You shall see better days! The plainer you
speak, the more good you will do. Derry will bear plain
dealing. I am just as well as I was forty years ago.
“I am, yours affectionately,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[445]
The hale old man soon found himself in a different plight. On March 2,
he set off for Bristol, in the neighbourhood of which he spent the
next twelve days, preaching and meeting classes. He then became
seriously unwell; but, for two days longer, continued preaching, when
he was obliged to take his bed. He had a deep tearing cough; was weak
and heavy, and in a fever. He had fixed the next morning for
commencing his journey to Ireland, and had sent notice to Stroud, and
various other places, of the days wherein he purposed to visit them.
Fortunately, the Rev. Brian Collins was at hand, and undertook to
supply his appointments as far as Worcester. Accordingly, Mr. Collins,
in the morning of March 17, set out to preach at Stroud; but Wesley,
finding himself better, in the afternoon, imprudently set out after
him, and actually gave a short exhortation to the Stroud society. For
the next three days, he was dangerously ill. The whole nervous system
was violently agitated. His cough was most distressing. He was seized
with cramp. He was bereft of strength, “scarce able to move, and much
less to think.” Before leaving Bristol, he wrote the following
unpublished letter to Miss Hester Ann Roe, afterwards Mrs. Rogers.
“BRISTOL, _March 16, 1783_.
“MY DEAR HETTY,--It has frequently been on my mind of late,
that my pilgrimage is nearly at an end; and one of our sisters
here told us this morning a particular dream which she had two
months ago. She dreamt, that the time of conference was come,
and that she was in a church expecting me to enter; when she
saw a coffin brought in, followed by Dr. Coke and Mr. Fletcher,
and then by all our preachers walking two and two. A fortnight
ago, she dreamt the same dream again. Such a burying I have
ordered in my will, absolutely forbidding either hearse or
coach.
“I intended to have written a good deal more. For a few days, I
have had just such a fever as I had in Ireland a few years ago.
But all is well. I am in no pain; but the wheel of life seems
scarcely able to move. Yet, I made a shift to preach this
morning to a crowded audience, and hope to say something to
them this afternoon. I love that word, ‘And Ishmael died in the
presence of all his brethren.’
“I am, in life or death, my dear sister, yours affectionately,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[446]
What was the result? The news of Wesley’s being dangerously ill flew
far and wide. A number of the preachers met together to pray for a
further prolongation of his life; and, from that time, he rapidly
recovered.[447] For three days he lay at Stroud, in great danger. On
the morning of the fourth day, he wrote: “A violent fit of the cramp
carried the fever quite away; and, perceiving this, I took chaise
without delay, and reached Worcester in the afternoon. Here I overtook
Mr. Collins, who had supplied all my appointments, with a remarkable
blessing to the people; and, the next morning, I gave a short
exhortation, and then went on to Birmingham.” At Birmingham, he was
electrified, and “ventured to preach three quarters of an hour.” He
then made his way to Hinckley, where, for three days, he preached
morning and evening, “to a serious and well behaved people.” He then
visited other societies on his way to Holyhead, and reached Dublin on
April 13.
For three weeks, he was the guest of Mr. Henry Brooke, and was
employed in healing serious divisions in the Dublin society.[448] Four
days were spent in holding a conference with his Irish preachers, at
which, he says, “all was peace and love.” “I wish,” he writes, “all
our English preachers were of the same spirit with the Irish, among
whom is no jarring string. I never saw such simplicity and
teachableness run through a body of preachers before.”[449] This was a
high compliment paid to Thomas Rutherford, Andrew Blair, Zechariah
Yewdall, Richard Boardman, Thomas Barber, Henry Moore, John Cricket,
John Crook, and their twenty-six colleagues in Christian enterprise
and labour.
Wesley embarked for England on the 8th of May, and, after preaching at
Warrington, Liverpool, Wigan, Bolton, and other places, reached
Manchester nine days afterwards. Here he had an enormous sacramental
service, at which thirteen or fourteen hundred communicants were
present: “such a sight,” says he, “as, I believe, was never seen in
Manchester before.” “I believe,” he adds, “there is no place but
London where we have so many souls so deeply devoted to God.”
Leaving Manchester, he proceeded to Macclesfield, where a week never
passed “in which some were not justified, and some renewed in love.”
He preached, for the first time, at Buxton, where John Knowles and his
wife were almost the only Methodists, and frequently rode on horseback
to Stockport, a distance of sixteen miles, to hear the Methodist
preachers.[450] Here he married a couple of his friends, and preached
in the parish church. He arrived in London on May 31.
On June 11, accompanied by Messrs. Brackenbury, Broadbent, and
Whitfield, he set out for Holland. For more than forty years, Wesley
had been incessantly at work forming Methodist societies. Up to the
present, he had never indulged in the luxury of a ministerial holiday;
and we are not sure, that his trip to Holland should be regarded in
such a light as that. Still, there was a difference between this
journey and others. In other instances, his object was to institute
Methodist societies, or to strengthen those already formed; in this
instance, that was no part of the object at which he aimed. He went,
says Mr. Moore, “partly for relaxation, and partly to indulge and
enlarge his catholic spirit, by forming an acquaintance with the truly
pious in foreign nations.” The fact is, one of his own local
preachers, whom he highly esteemed, Mr. William Ferguson, had removed
to Holland, and, by his earnest piety, had attracted the attention of
the public generally, including many of the principal inhabitants and
persons in authority. He spoke much of Wesley and of the Methodists,
and distributed Wesley’s sermons among his friends. The result was a
general wish to see the veteran evangelist, and to hear him for
themselves. One difficulty, however, was in the way. Wesley was
acquainted, to a greater or less extent, with the Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin, the English, French, German, and Spanish languages; but he knew
nought of Dutch. This objection was surmounted by Mr. Ferguson’s son,
Jonathan, offering to act as his interpreter.[451] Accordingly, off
Wesley went, accompanied by the three preachers above mentioned.
His visit was eminently pleasant. Ministers of religion welcomed him;
and persons of high rank showed him honour. At Rotterdam, he preached
twice, in the episcopal church, to large congregations, and says:
“Were it only for this, I am glad I came to Holland.” At the Hague, in
the house of a lady of the first quality, he met a dozen ladies and
two military gentlemen, expounded the first three verses of the
thirteenth of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and prayed,
Captain M---- interpreting sentence by sentence. Wesley writes: “I
believe, this hour was well employed.” He held a sort of service in
the passenger boat between Haarlem and Amsterdam. That is, he and his
friends began to sing a hymn; the people listened; Wesley talked;
Ferguson interpreted; “and all our hearts,” says Wesley, “were
strangely knit together, so that, when we came to Amsterdam, they
dismissed us with abundance of blessings.”
At Utrecht, Wesley wrote: “June 28--I have this day lived fourscore
years; and, by the mercy of God, my eyes are not waxed dim, and what
little strength of body or mind I had thirty years since, just the
same I have now. God grant I may never live to be useless! rather may I
‘My body with my charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and live!’”
On the same day, he made a short excursion. Hence, the following
extract from the diary of the Moravian congregation at Zeyst:
“1783, June 28.--We kept the children’s prayer day. The Rev.
John Wesley, the well known Methodist minister, arrived here in
the afternoon, with several other ministers. After visiting his
old friend, Brother Anton, he paid a hurried visit to the
brethren’s house, and sisters’ house; and then attended a
children’s lovefeast, at three o’clock; on which occasion, as
it happened to be his eightieth birthday, the children sang a
few benedictory verses for him; the congregation closing the
service by singing ‘The grace of our Lord be with us all!’ At
4.30 p.m. he and his companions returned to Utrecht, where he
had preached the day before.”
Wesley spent altogether seventeen days in Holland, and was delighted
with his visit. He writes: “I can by no means regret either the
trouble or expense, which attended this little journey. It opened me a
way into, as it were, a new world; where the land, the buildings, the
people, the customs, were all such as I had never seen before. But as
those with whom I conversed were of the same spirit with my friends in
England, I was as much at home in Utrecht and Amsterdam, as in Bristol
and London.” “There is a blessed work at the Hague, and many other of
the principal cities; and, in their simplicity of spirit, and
plainness of dress, the believers vie with the old English Methodists.
In affection, they are not inferior to any. It was with the utmost
difficulty we could break from them.”[452] “Two of our sisters, when
we left the Hague, came twelve miles with us on the way; and one of
our brethren, of Amsterdam, came to take leave of us to Utrecht, above
thirty miles. I believe, if my life be prolonged, I shall pay them a
visit at least every other year. Had I had a little more time, I would
have visited our brethren in Friesland, and Westphalia likewise; for a
glorious work of God is lately broken out in both these provinces.”[453]
Wesley got back to London on July 4. Ten days later, he set off to his
conference at Bristol. “I expect,” says he, “a good deal of difficulty
at this conference, and shall stand in need of the prayers of you and
your friends.”[454] His apprehension was realised; hence the following
entry in his journal: “July 29--Our conference began, at which we
considered two important points: first, the case of Birstal house;
and, secondly, the state of Kingswood school. With regard to the
former, our brethren earnestly desired, that I would go to Birstal
myself, believing this would be the most effectual way of bringing the
trustees to reason. With regard to the latter, we all agreed, that
either the school should cease, or the rules of it be particularly
observed: particularly, that the children should never play, and that
a master should be always present with them.”
We need not recur to the first of these points, except to add, that
the Birstal chapel case, no doubt, led to the adoption of the
following resolutions:
“_Question 21._ What houses are to be built this year?
“_Answer._ None that are not already begun.
“_Q. 22._ Has not the needless multiplying of preaching houses
been a great evil?
“_A._ So it appears.
“_Q. 23._ How may this be prevented?
“_A._ By permitting none for the future to beg for any house,
except in the circuit where it stands.
“_Q. 24._ What can be done to get all our preaching houses
settled on the conference plan?
“_A._ Let Dr. Coke visit the societies throughout England, as
far as is necessary for the accomplishment of this end; and let
the respective assistants give him all the support in their
power.”
Such was the commission given to Dr. Coke, a weary and worrying one.
Kingswood school, however, was as great a bore as Birstal chapel. It
had now existed for five-and-thirty years; it had been to Wesley a
source of almost ceaseless trouble, and was now in a worse state than
ever. Nevertheless, it was a far famed institution; and, besides the
sons of itinerant preachers, it had, at this very time, _parlour
boarders_ from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the West Indies. None of
the scholars however, were remarkable for piety or learning; and the
_young gentlemen_, just mentioned, had spoiled the discipline of the
school. Thomas Simpson, M.A., was head master; Mrs. Simpson
housekeeper; Cornelius Bayley was English teacher, with a salary of
£12 per annum and his board; Vincent de Boudry was occasional French
teacher; and C. R. Bond a sort of half boarder, and assistant to
Bayley.[455]
“My design in building the house at Kingswood,” says Wesley,
“was to have therein a Christian family; every member whereof,
(children excepted,) should be alive to God, and a pattern of
all holiness. Here it was that I proposed to educate a few
children, according to the accuracy of the Christian model. And
almost as soon as we began, God gave us a token for good, four
of the children receiving a clear sense of pardon. But, at
present, the school does not, in any wise, answer the design of
its institution, either with regard to religion or learning.
The children are not religious: they have not the power, and
hardly the form of religion. Neither do they improve in
learning better than at other schools; no, nor yet so well.
Insomuch, that some of our friends have been obliged to remove
their children to other schools. And no wonder that they
improve so little either in religion or learning; for the rules
of the school are not observed at all. All in the house ought
to rise, take their three meals, and go to bed at a fixed hour.
But they do not. The children ought never to be alone, but
always in the presence of a master. This is totally neglected;
in consequence of which, they run up and down the wood, and
mix, yea, fight with the colliers’ children. They ought never
to play: but they do, every day; yea, in the school. Three
maids are sufficient; now there are four; and but one, at most,
truly pious.
“How may these evils be remedied, and the school reduced to its
original plan? It must be mended or ended: for no school is
better than the present school. Can any be a master, that does
not rise at five, observe _all_ the rules, and see that others
observe them? There should be three masters, and an usher,
chiefly to be with the children out of school. The head master
should have nothing to do with temporal things.”[456]
This was a dark picture; doubtless the result of bad management. Easy,
good tempered Mr. Simpson was a scholar; his wife, the real governor,
was an ogress. A woman that rubbed Adam Clarke with the “infernal
unguent” to cure him of an imaginary itch; thrust him into a solitary
room, with a wretched old bedstead, and left him there without book or
fire; and from whom Adam, when he heard her voice, was disposed to run
in the utmost fright, was not the woman to manage Kingswood school.
“She was probably very clever,” says Clarke; “all stood in awe of her;
for my own part, I feared her more than I feared Satan himself. The
school was the worst I had ever seen, though the teachers were men of
adequate learning. It was perfectly _disorganised_; and, in several
respects, each did what was right in his own eyes. There was no
efficient plan pursued; they mocked at religion; and trampled under
foot all the laws. The little children of the preachers suffered great
indignities; and, it is to be feared, their treatment there gave many
of them a rooted enmity against religion for life. The parlour
boarders had every kind of respect paid to them, and the others were
shamefully neglected. Scarcely any care was taken either of their
bodies or souls.”
Poor Kingswood! Could all this be strictly accurate? Probably it was;
for the following, given as a fact, prepares the mind for almost
anything in the form of stupidity, and ignorant confusion. “At the
table,” writes Adam Clarke, “every person when he drank was obliged to
run the following gauntlet. He must drink the health of Mr. Simpson,
Mrs. Simpson, Miss Simpson, Mr. Bayley, Mr. De Boudry, all the foreign
gentlemen, then all the parlour boarders, down one side of the long
table, and up the other, one by one, and all the _visitors_ who might
happen to be there: after which it was lawful for him to drink his
glass of beer.”[457]
Wesley was quite right. No school at all was better than such a school
as this. It was high time to mend it or end it. In his magazine, for
the very month in which the conference of 1783 was held, Wesley
published an article, by his own pen, entitled, “A Thought on the
Manner of Educating Children,” in which he strongly maintains, that
all education ought to be religious; but adds, probably with the state
of Kingswood in his eye,--“Even religious masters may still be
mistaken with regard to the manner of instilling religion into
children. They may not have the spirit of government, to which some
even good men are utter strangers. They may habitually lean to this or
that extreme, of remissness or of severity. And if they either give
children too much of their own will, or needlessly and churlishly
restrain them; if they either use no punishment at all, or more than
is necessary, the leaning either to one extreme or the other may
frustrate all their endeavours. In the latter case, it will not be
strange, if religion stink in the nostrils of those that were so
educated. They will naturally look on it as an austere, melancholy
thing; and, if they think it necessary to salvation, they will esteem
it a necessary evil, and so put it off as long as possible.”
Wesley was not the man to hesitate in changing his officials when
change was necessary. Mr. Simpson was dismissed; Thomas McGeary, A.M.,
a young man of twenty-two, took his place.[458] Cornelius Bayley had
previously made up his mind to leave, in order to enter the ministry
of the Established Church;[459] and Thomas Welch, an assistant in a
school at Coventry, applied to be appointed his successor. Wesley
wrote to him as follows.
“BRISTOL, _August 15, 1783_.
“DEAR THOMAS,--You seem to be the man I want. As to salary, you
will have £30 a year; board, etc., will be thirty more. But do
not come _for money_. (1) Do not come at all, unless purely to
raise a Christian school. (2) Anybody behaving ill, I will turn
away immediately. (3) I expect you to be in the school eight
hours a day. (4) In all things, I expect you should be
circumspect. But you will judge better by considering the
printed rules. The sooner you come the better.
“I am, your affectionate brother,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[460]
Mr. Welch was a young man of twenty-three. Two years before, he had
become a Methodist. The Coventry society, then extremely feeble, was
loath to lose him; and some of its members succeeded in persuading him
to remain where he was. He wrote to Wesley to this effect; and Wesley
answered: “You use me very ill. I have turned away three masters on
your account. The person, who gives you this advice, is wanting either
in common sense or common honesty.”[461] Mr. Welch became a valuable
local preacher, and lived and died a Methodist. Thomas Jones took the
place that he declined, and, for three years, retained it, when he was
ordained a clergyman of the Church of England.
This was Wesley’s last complaint of Kingswood. Twelve months
afterwards, the school and family were visited with a gracious
outpouring of God’s good Spirit. In 1786, he says: “I found the school
in excellent order.” “It is now one of the pleasantest spots in
England. I found all things just according to my desire; the rules
being well observed, and the whole behaviour of the children showing,
that they were now managed with the wisdom that cometh from above.” In
1787, he expressed himself to the same effect, as, in fact, he did to
the end of life. The last entry in his journal, in reference to this
memorable place,--a child, always with him a pet, though often
troublesome,--was this: “1789, September 11--I went over to Kingswood:
sweet recess! where everything is now just as I wish. But
‘Man was not born in shades to lie!’
Let us work now; we shall rest by-and-by. I spent some time with the
children; all of whom behaved well: several are much awakened, and a
few rejoicing in the favour of God.”
We must now bid a final adieu to dear old Kingswood school, the sacred
scene of so many Methodistic memories, and turn to other matters
connected with the conference of 1783.
The number of members was reported to be 45,955; but all these were
Methodists within the limits of the United Kingdom. No account was
taken of the 13,740 Methodists in America. No mention was made of
Antigua, where nearly 2000 persons had joined John Baxter’s society;
and where, in this very year, the first Methodist chapel in the torrid
zone was completed.[462]
Nova Scotia also is not noticed; though it had been the scene of a
most blessed work, and William Black had written to Wesley, urgently
asking him to send them preachers. The following were Wesley’s
answers.
“LONDON, _February 26, 1783_.
“MY DEAR BROTHER,--I did indeed very strongly expostulate with
the Bishop of London, concerning his refusing to ordain a pious
man, without learning, while he ordained others that, to my
knowledge, had no piety, and but a moderate share of learning.
“Our next conference will begin in July; and I have great
hopes, we shall then be able to send you assistance. One of our
preachers informs me, he is willing to go to any part of Africa
or America. He does not regard danger or toil; nor, indeed,
does he count his life dear unto himself, so that he may
testify the gospel of the grace of God, and win sinners to
Christ. But I cannot advise any person to go alone. Our Lord
sent His disciples two and two. And I do not despair of finding
another young man, as much devoted to God as he.
“Of Calvinism, mysticism, and antinomianism, have a care; for
they are the bane of true religion; and one or other of them
has been the grand hindrance of the work of God, wherever it
has broke out.
“I am, my dear brother, yours affectionately,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[463]
The second letter to William Black was as follows.
“LONDON, _July 13, 1783_.
“MY DEAR BROTHER,--It is a rule with me, to answer all the
letters which I receive. If, therefore, you have not received
an answer to every letter which you have written, it must be,
either that your letter or my answer has been intercepted.
“I do not wonder at all, that, after that great and
extraordinary work of God, there should be a remarkable decay.
So we have found it in almost all places. A swift increase is
generally followed by a decrease equally swift. All we can do
to prevent it, is continually to exhort all who have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, to remember our Lord’s words, ‘Watch
and pray that ye enter not into temptation.’
“The school at Kingswood is exceeding full; nevertheless there
shall be room for you. And it is very probable, if you should
live to return to Halifax, you may carry one or more preachers
with you. I hope you will live as brethren, and have a free and
open intercourse with each other.
“I am, my dear brother, affectionately yours,
“JOHN WESLEY.”[464]
Such was the wish of William Black; and such was Wesley’s intention;
but it was not until 1785, that Nova Scotia appeared in the minutes of
conference as a Methodist circuit. “The harvest truly was great; but
the labourers were few.” And yet all that offered were not accepted.
At the conference of 1783, there was present a young Welshman, of
middle stature, thin and delicate, with a somewhat elongated face, an
eye of genius, and a capacious forehead, who offered himself as an
itinerant preacher, but whom Wesley and his brethren, from the
delicacy of his health and the feebleness of his voice, thought not
equal to the arduous labours of the itinerant office. He had been
converted under the preaching of Samuel Bardsley, and, soon after his
offer was declined by Wesley, was ordained by Bishop Horsley, and
became vicar of Llanbister. The vicarage had a parlour, with a slab
stone floor, an open chimney, and a hearth on which burnt a fire of
wood and turf. It had a kitchen, and two upper rooms of the same
humble character. For many a long year this was the home of the Rev.
David Lloyd, “a philosopher, a poet, and a divine,” says Dr. Dixon,
“who seemed to enjoy, with unmixed contentment, the inheritance given
him by Providence.” For fifty years, his wife was a Methodist, and his
parsonage a Methodist preachers’ home. Besides poetical works of
considerable merit, the good vicar became the author of a large octavo
volume of very valuable essays, entitled “Horæ Theologicæ.”[465] Mr.
Lloyd was a perfect enthusiast on the missionary question, and gave a
subscription of £10 a year to the Methodist and Church missionary
societies respectively; presented each with a donation of £500; and
left the residue of his property, after other demands had been
satisfied, to be equally divided between these two institutions. He
also built a Methodist chapel on his estate, and secured it to the
connexion by deed. Thus, as a diligent clergyman of the Church of
England, and the friend and host of Methodist preachers, lived and
died the good vicar of Llanbister,--a candidate rejected by the
conference of 1783.[466]
In the midst of this conference, Wesley was again seized with an
alarming illness. Dr. Drummond attended him twice a day. His friends
thought, that his end was come; and he himself apprehended that the
cramp would probably reach his stomach, and occasion sudden death. “I
have been reflecting on my past life”, said he to his faithful nurse,
Joseph Bradford; “I have been wandering up and down between fifty and
sixty years, endeavouring, in my poor way, to do a little good to my
fellow creatures; and, now, it is probable that there are but a few
steps between me and death; and what have I to trust to for salvation?
I can see nothing which I have done or suffered, that will bear
looking at. I have no other plea than this:
‘I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.’”[467]
For eighteen days, Wesley hung between life and death, when, finding
himself somewhat better, and “being,” as he says, “unwilling to be
idle,” he spent an hour with the Bristol penitents. The day following,
he preached twice, and, the day after that, on Monday, August 25, set
out again on his much loved gospel ramblings. Death itself, to Wesley,
was more desirable than life without work.
Preaching on his way at Gloucester, Worcester, and Birmingham, he
came, on August 29, to Stafford, where he writes: “I preached, for the
first time, to a large and deeply attentive congregation. It is now
the day of small things here; but the grain of mustard seed may grow
up into a great tree.”
Four years before this, Dr. Coke was passing through Stafford, and,
while dining at the inn, sent the bellman round to announce to the
inhabitants that he would preach in the market place. Jeremiah
Brettell, his companion, took a table from the hostelry; the doctor
mounted; the people came; all listened with deep attention; and some
expressed a wish for the visit to be repeated. Soon after, a little
society was formed,[468] which, in 1784, consisted of sixteen members,
Henry Robinson being leader.[469]
From Stafford, Wesley made his way to Macclesfield, where he preached
twice in the Rev. David Simpson’s church, and had a sacramental
service, at which seven hundred communicants were present.
He was now proceeding to Birstal, to effect the settlement with the
Birstal chapel trustees, as already related. The journey occupied
sixteen days; the distance was five or six hundred miles; according to
his wont, he preached all the way there and back; and yet, the old
man, who a month before had been on the very verge of death, returned
to Bristol on the 13th of September, almost as vigorous as ever.
An unpublished letter, belonging to this period, may be welcome here.
It was addressed to John Atlay, his book steward.
“LEEDS, _September 3, 1783_.
“MY DEAR BROTHER,--The schoolmasters for Kingswood are fixed,
and expected there every day. Mr. Simpson’s sister is the
housekeeper, who is come hither in her way to Bristol. Let no
man or woman go to West Street chapel without my appointment.
It is a matter of deep concern. The building or not building,
at Birstal, does not depend upon me, but the trustees. J.
Fenwick is to correct the press chiefly, in the absence of Dr.
Coke, and to transcribe tracts for me. And he may receive his
little salary, at least, till I return to London.
“I am, with love to sister Atlay, your affectionate brother,
“JOHN WESLEY.”
Wesley remained in the neighbourhood of Bristol till October 6, and
employed the interval, not only in preaching, but in begging money to
relieve the distresses of the destitute, and in visiting the poor
recipients at their own houses. “I was surprised,” says he, “to find
no murmuring spirits among them, but many that were truly happy in
God; and all of them appeared to be exceeding thankful for the scanty
relief which they received.”
No wonder, that such a man was popular; and no wonder, that his
presence was a loadstone drawing the poor around him. Sometimes,
however, their absence would have been more welcome than their
company. A month after this, Wesley was at Norwich, and, when leaving,
had a whole host of poverty stricken people about his carriage. His
purse was low, containing only what was necessary to take him back to
London; and the clamour of the mendicant crowd, for once, disturbed
his temper. Somewhat sharply he said: “I have nothing for you. Do you
suppose I can support the poor in every place?” At the moment, he was
entering his carriage; his foot slipped; and he fell upon the ground.
Feeling as though God Himself had rebuked him for his hasty words, he
turned to Joseph Bradford, and, with subdued emphasis, remarked: “It
is all right, Joseph; it is all right; it is only what I deserved; for
if I had no _other_ good to give, I ought, at least, to have given
them good words.”[470]
The concluding months of the year were employed, as usual, partly in
London, and partly in the surrounding counties.
Considering Wesley’s advanced age, his labours are without parallel.
Here we have,--not a man of Herculean frame, big, brawny, and heavy,
fed on the daintiest diet, and stimulated with the costliest
wines,--but a man small in stature, his weight eight stones and ten
pounds (exactly the same as it was fourteen years before), his age
eighty, without indulgences, feeding, for eight months in every year,
chiefly at the tables of the poor, sleeping on all sorts of beds and
in all sorts of rooms, without a wife, without a child, really without
a home; and yet a man always cheerful, always happy, always hard at
work, flying with all the sprightliness of youth throughout the three
kingdoms, preaching twice every day, indoors and out of doors, in
churches, chapels, cottages, and sheds, and everywhere superintending
the complex and growing interests of the numerous societies which had
sprung into buoyant being through the labours of himself and his godly
helpers. The man was a marvel, such as the world sees only now and
then. Once show him the path of duty, and with a dauntless step he
trod it. Nothing frightened him; nothing could allure from the post
assigned to him by Providence. However arduous the work, and however
great the privations and the dangers, if his Master bid him go, he
went, trusting in his Master’s power for defence and help. “My brother
Charles,” he once remarked, “amid the difficulties of our early
ministry, used to say: ‘If the Lord would give me wings, I would fly.’
I used to answer, ‘If the Lord bid me fly, I would trust Him for the
wings.’”[471]
One of the last acts of this youthful octogenarian, in 1783, was to
pay a pastoral visit to another of the most remarkable men of that
period,--Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was now suffering his last illness,
and died twelve months afterwards.
Wesley’s publications, in 1783, were the following.