“Wickedness is grown to such a head in the world,—immorality
and profaneness are become so epidemical among us, that, it is
much to be feared, nothing but discipline and wholesome rigour
can prove a cure for it. The infection of vice is extended so
far and wide, and the contagion of sin spreads so prodigiously
fast, that it seems necessary to use severe methods towards the
corrupted parts, if we hope either to recover them, or to save
those that are as yet untouched with the disease. God knows,
the flagrant impiety of our days, the excessive corruption of
these dregs of time,—this rust of the iron age, into which
we are fallen,—is such as every good man must complain of,
and for which charity itself can find no sufficient excuse or
extenuation” (p. 7).
Advocates of political expediency may object to these high-toned
sentiments; but there are still a few who have old-fashioned hardihood
enough to exclaim with the Psalmist, “Who will rise up for me against the
evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”
(Psalm xciv. 16).
The friendship between Clayton and the Wesley brothers was unbroken until
the latter departed from Church usages, and became out-door evangelists.
In 1735, when urged by Oglethorpe and others to go to Georgia, Wesley,
not only sought advice from his brother Samuel and William Law, but
went to Manchester to consult with Clayton and others whose judgment he
respected; and, six weeks after his return from the Georgian colony, we
find him spending several days with his old Oxford friend. He writes:—
“1738. March 15. I set out” (from Oxford) “for Manchester,
with Mr. Kinchin, Fellow of Corpus Christi, and Mr. Fox, late
a prisoner in the city prison. _Friday_, the 17th, we spent
entirely with Mr. Clayton, by whom, and the rest of our friends
here, we were much refreshed and strengthened. Mr. Hoole, the
Rector of St. Ann’s church, being taken ill the next day, on
Sunday, 19th, Mr. Kinchin and I officiated at Salford chapel
in the morning, by which means Mr. Clayton was at liberty to
perform the service of St. Ann’s; and, in the afternoon, I
preached there on those words of St Paul, ‘If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature.’”[38]
Two months after the date of this extract from his journal, Wesley,
ceasing to rely on the merit of his own good works, and trusting solely
for salvation in the infinitely meritorious sacrifice of Christ,
experienced an amazing change. His own words must be quoted. After
relating that, for “above ten years,” he had “dragged on heavily,”
“trusting to his own works and his own righteousness,” “in a refined way,
zealously inculcated by the mystic writers,”[39] he remarks:—
“1738. May 24. In the evening I went very unwillingly to a
society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s
preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before
nine, 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.”[40]
This was the turning point in Wesley’s history. Hitherto, like his friend
Clayton, he had hoped to be saved by works; now he was saved by faith.
This new experience confirmed his new conceptions of gospel truth, and he
began to preach accordingly. He insisted upon good works as much as ever;
but he henceforth taught, that man is saved, not by these, but by faith
in Christ only. His new doctrine was the means of his being shut out of
churches; and this led to his preaching in the open air; and the whole
resulted in a rupture of the friendship between him and Clayton, who, so
far as there is evidence to show, went on to the end of life, as he and
Wesley had begun at Oxford,—a sincere, earnest, self-denying, devout,
and laborious Pharisee, trusting in his own righteousness, instead of
trusting solely in Christ Jesus.
After the date of Wesley’s conversion, we hear of no further friendly
meetings. Clayton’s death did not occur till 1773, but, during this long
interval of thirty-five years, though Wesley’s visits to Manchester were
numerous, there is no mention made of any interview between the two
Oxford Methodists. No proof exists, that Clayton ever ranked himself
among Wesley’s opponents and slanderers; but, from this period, he ceased
to be one of Wesley’s friends. Coldness sprang up, and separation. In
1756, Charles Wesley spent nearly a fortnight among the Manchester
Methodists, the object of his visit being to prevent their seceding from
the Established Church. He himself attended the Church services, and took
with him as many of the Methodists as he could. He heard Clayton preach
“a good sermon on constant prayer,” and, at the same service, by the
senior chaplain’s invitation, went “with the other clergy” present to
the communion table, and received the sacrament; but even this was not
enough to regain Clayton’s favour; and, hence, the following entries in
Charles’s journal:—
“1756. Tuesday, October 26. My _former_ friend, Mr. Clayton,
read the prayers at the Old Church, with great solemnity.”
“Saturday, October 30. I dined with my candid friend and
censor, Dr. Byrom. I stood close to Mr. Clayton in church (as
all the week past), but not a look would he cast towards me;
“So stiff was his parochial pride,”
and so faithfully did he keep his covenant with his eyes, not
to look upon an old friend when called a Methodist.”
It has been already shown, that Clayton was an intimate friend of Dr.
Deacon, the non-juror; and there can be no doubt that, substantially, the
ecclesiastical and political opinions of both were identical. Hence, it
is not surprising that both were implicated in the rebellious proceedings
of 1745.
Charles Edward Stuart, a young man of twenty-five, with a few attendants,
five or six hundred broad-swords, about two thousand muskets, and rather
less than £4,000 in cash, set out from France, to overturn the government
of Great Britain, and, on behalf of his father, to demand its throne.
Such was his success, that, on September 16th, he entered Edinburgh.
Three days afterwards, the battle of Preston Pans was fought; and,
immediately, the handsome Young Pretender began, as prince regent, to
exercise various acts of sovereign authority. He appointed a council;
ordered regiments to be levied for his service; and held drawing-rooms,
which were, for the most part, brilliantly attended, and generally ended
in a public supper and a ball. On the last day of October, Charles Edward
quitted Edinburgh, at the head of six thousand men; and, in a fortnight,
took Carlisle. On November 29th, he and his troops reached Manchester;
and then proceeded, by regular marches, to Derby, where they arrived on
December 4th. This was their nearest approach to London. Before the year
was ended, they were hastily retreating to Carlisle, Glasgow, Stirling,
and the Highlands.
There we leave them, and return to Manchester. A local authority[41]
has stated, that, previous to the rebellion of 1745, Charles Edward had
passed several weeks at Ancoats Hall, the seat of Sir Oswald Moseley;
and, that, the leading inhabitants, the clergy of the Collegiate Church,
together with Dr. Deacon and his followers, were all warm adherents of
the cause of the exiled Stuarts, and recognised, as their political
leaders, Colonel Townley, Dr. Byrom, Mr. Dickenson, and others; who were
accustomed to hold their meetings in a public-house, contiguous to
Jackson’s Ferry, near Didsbury.
To what extent Clayton was associated with these sympathising and
plotting Jacobites, it is impossible to determine; but, when the prince
marched through Salford, in 1745, this high churchman, with more
hardihood than prudence, fell upon his knees before him, and prayed for
the blessing of God on the adventurous Chevalier.[42] Charles Edward made
the “Palace” hostelry, in Market Street Lane, his residence; and hither
Jacobites of both sexes flocked to welcome him. Three sons of Dr. Deacon,
true to their father’s principles, enlisted beneath the Pretender’s
banner; Charles Deacon being placed at the head of the recruiting
department, and Thomas and Robert Deacon being made Lieutenants.
The results were disastrous. Charles, Thomas, and Robert Deacon fell
into the hands of the Royalists, at Carlisle; were tried, condemned,
and executed in London, in July, 1746; the head of the eldest, together
with that of Adjutant Siddal, being sent to Manchester, and fixed on the
Exchange. Townley, the colonel of the Manchester Jacobinical regiment,
was hanged on Kennington Common, had his bowels torn out, and his heart
cast into a fire; and eight of his officers and men were treated in the
same barbarous manner.[43]
Great excitement followed. People on both sides were roused. Whitworth’s
_Manchester Magazine_, the only newspaper published in the town, took
the part of the Government; Dr. Deacon, Dr. Byrom, Clayton, and others,
were obliged to send all their attacks, replies, and other Jacobite
outpourings to the city of Chester, where they obtained insertion in
the _Chester Courant_. For two years, this paper warfare was continued;
and, in 1749, the whole of what had been printed, both in Manchester and
Chester, was collected and published, in a 12mo volume of 324 pages,
entitled, “Manchester Vindicated; being a complete Collection of the
Papers lately published in Defence of that Town in the _Chester Courant_,
together with all those on the other Side of the Question, printed in
the _Manchester Magazine_, or elsewhere, which are answered in the said
_Chester Courant_, Chester, 1749.”