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Title: The Journal of John Wesley
Creator(s): Wesley, John (1703-1791)
Print Basis: Chicago: Moody Press, 1951
Rights: Public Domain
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THE TYNDALE SERIES OF GREAT BIOGRAPHIES, THE JOURNAL OF JOHN WESLEY
With an Introduction by HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A., Appreciation of the Journal
by AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, K.C.Edited by PERCY LIVINGSTONE PARKER, CHICAGO,MOODY PRESS,1951
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EDITOR'S NOTE
When John Wesley prepared his Journal for publication he prefaced it
with the following account of its origin:
"It was in pursuance of an advice given by Bishop Taylor, in his Rules
for Holy Living and Dying, that, about fifteen years ago, I began to
take a more exact account than I had done before, of the manner
wherein I spent my time, writing down how I had employed every hour.
"This I continued to do, wherever I was, till the time of my leaving
England for Georgia. The variety of scenes which I then passed through
induced me to transcribe, from time to time, the more material parts
of my diary, adding here and there such little reflections as occurred
to my mind.
"Of this Journal thus occasionally compiled, the following is a short
extract: it not being my design to relate all those particulars which
I wrote for my own use only, and which would answer no valuable end to
others, however important they were to me."
Rev. John Telford, one of Wesley's biographers, says that "the earlier
parts of the Journal were published in the interest of Methodism, that
the calumny and slander then rife might be silenced by a plain
narrative of the facts as to its founding, and its purpose. The
complete Journals, still preserved in twenty-six bound volumes, have
never been printed. Copious extracts were made by Wesley himself, and
issued in twenty-one parts, the successive installments being eagerly
expected by a host of readers."
The published Journal makes four volumes, each about the size of the
present book. But though I have had to curtail it by three-quarters I
have tried to retain the atmosphere of tremendous activity which is
one of its most remarkable features.
Mr. Birrell, in his "appreciation," has focused in a very striking way
the interest, actuality, and charm of Wesley's Journal, and all I have
had to do was to select those portions which best illustrate them.
The wonder is that it has not been done before. Edward FitzGerald
once wrote to Professor Norton, "Had I any interest with publishers I
would get them to reprint parts of it," for he was a great lover of
the Journal.
Writing to another friend about Wesley's Journal, FirzGerald said, "If
you don't know it, do know it. It is curious to think of this diary
running coevally with Walpole's letters--diary--the two men born and
dying too within a few miles of one another, and with such different
lives to record. And it is remarkable to read pure, unaffected,
undying English, while Addison and Johnson are tainted with a style
which all the world imitated."
Macaulay's estimate of Wesley may also be recalled. Wesley, he said,
was "a man whose eloquence and logical acuteness might have made him
eminent in literature, whose genius for government was not inferior to
that of Richelieu, and who, whatever his errors may have been, devoted
all his powers in defiance of obloquy and derision, to what he
sincerely considered as the highest good of his species."
Wesley is one of the most strenuous ethical figures in history, and
literature has no other such record of personal endeavor as that
contained in these pages. To make that record accessible to every one
is the object of this edition.
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INTRODUCTION
by the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, M. A.
He who desires to understand the real history of the English people
during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries should
read most carefully three books: George Fox's Journal, John Wesley's
Journal, and John Henry Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua.
As Lord Hugh Cecil has recently said in a memorable speech, the
religious question cannot be ignored. It is the question; in the
deepest sense it is the only question. It has always determined the
course of history everywhere. In all ages the skeptical literary class
has tried to ignore it, as the Roman historians, poets, and
philosophers ignored Christianity until the time when Christianity
became triumphant and dominant throughout the Roman Empire.
But, however much ignored or boycotted by literary men, the growth or
decline of religion ultimately settles everything. Has not Carlyle
said that George Fox making his own clothes is the most remarkable
event in our history? George Fox was the very incarnation of that
individualism which has played, and will yet play, so great a part in
the making of modern England. If you want to understand "the
dissidence of Dissent and the Protestantism of the Protestant
religion," read the Journal of George Fox.
Then came John Wesley and his "helpers." They were the first
preachers since the days of the Franciscan Friars in the Middle Ages
who ever reached the working classes. In England, as in France,
Germany, and everywhere else, the Reformation was essentially a
middle-class movement. It never captured either the upper classes or
the working classes. That explains its limitations.
As Dr. Rigg has shown, Wesley's itineraries were deliberately planned
to bring him into direct contact neither with the aristocracy nor with
the dependent or poverty-stricken poor, but with the industrious
self-supporting workmen in town and country. The ultimate result was
that "the man in the street" became Methodist in his conception of
Christianity, whatever his personal conduct and character might be. A
profound French critic said, fifty years ago, that modern England was
Methodist, and the remark applies equally to the United States and to
our colonies. The doctrines of the Evangelical Revival permeated the
English-speaking world.
Then Newman appeared on the scene and a tremendous change began. The
Anglican Church revived, and revived in Newman's direction. We witness
today on every side the vast results of the Newman era. Many of these
results are beneficial in the extreme; others cannot be welcome to
those who belong to the schools of George Fox and John Wesley.
The whole future of the British Empire depends upon this question of
questions--Will George Fox and John Wesley on the one hand, or John
Henry Newman on the other, ultimately prevail? And the best way to
arrive at the true inwardness of the issue is to read, ponder, and
inwardly digest Wesley's Journal and Newman's Apologia.
It is a great advantage that Mr. Parker has secured permission to
republish Mr. Augustine Birrell's "Appreciation." That brilliant
writer demonstrates that there is no book in existence that gives you
so exact and vivid a description of the eighteenth century in England
as Wesley's Journal. It is an incalculably more varied and complete
account of the condition of the people of England than Boswell's
Johnston. As Mr. Birrell says, Wesley was himself "the greatest force
of the eighteenth century in England. No man lived nearer the center
than John Wesley. Neither Clive nor Pitt, neither Mansfield nor
Johnson. No single figure influenced so many minds, no single voice
touched so many hearts. No other man did such a life's work for
England." Wesley has demonstrated that a true prophet of God has more
influence than all the politicians and soldiers and millionaires put
together. He is the incalculable and unexpected element that is always
putting all the devices of the clever to naught.
I do not understand what Mr. Birrell means by saying that "as a writer
Wesley has not achieved distinction. He was no Athanasius, no
Augustine; he was ever a preacher." It is true that Wesley's main
business was not to define metaphysical theology, but to cultivate
friendly relations with Christians of all schools, and to save living
men from sin. But he gave a deathblow to the destructive dogma of
limited salvation with which the names of Augustine and Calvin will be
forever associated.
No doubt, like Oliver Cromwell, Wesley was essentially a "man of
action," and he deliberately sacrificed the niceties of literary taste
to the greater task of making Englishmen on both sides of the Atlantic
real Christians. Even so, the style of some of his more literary
productions is a model of lucidity and grace.
But my main point here is to echo Mr. Birrell's final statement, that
"we can learn better from Wesley's Journal than from anywhere else
what manner of man Wesley was, and the character of the times during
which he lived and moved and had his being." My co-religionists and
all who love the most characteristic qualities of modern English life
are under a deep debt of obligation to my friend Mr. Parker and His
publishers for giving them an opportunity of studying the eventful
eighteenth century of English history at its center and fountainhead.
The fact that this edition of the work has been condensed is no
drawback. The Journal, as originally published, was itself condensed
by Wesley....For popular purposes Mr. Parker's edition will answer all
important ends, and will give English readers for the first time an
opportunity of reading in a handy form one of the most important,
instructive, and entertaining books ever published in the English
language.
Of course Mr. Parker alone is responsible for the selection of the
portions of the Journal which appear in this volume.
HUGH PRICE HUGHES
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AN APPRECIATION OF JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL
by augustine birrell, king's counsel
JOHN WESLEY, born as he was in 1703 and dying as he did in 1791,
covers as nearly as mortal man may, the whole of the eighteenth
century, of which he was one of the most typical and certainly the
most strenuous figures.
He began his published Journal on October 14, 1735, and its last entry
is under date Sunday, October 24, 1790, when in the morning he
explained to a numerous congregation in Spitalfields Church "The Whole
Armor of God," and in the afternoon enforced to a still larger
audience in St. Paul's, Shadwell, the great truth, "One thing is
needful," the last words of the Journal being "I hope many even then
resolved to choose the better part."
Between those two Octobers there lies the most amazing record of human
exertion ever penned or endured.
I do not know whether I am likely to have among my readers anyone who
has ever contested an English or Scottish county in a parliamentary
election since household suffrage. If I have, that tired soul will
know how severe is the strain of its three weeks, and how impossible
it seemed at the end of the first week that you should be able to keep
it going for another fortnight, and how when the last night arrived
you felt that had the strife been accidentally prolonged another seven
days you must have perished by the wayside.
Contesting the Three Kingdoms
Well, John Wesley contested the three kingdoms in the cause of Christ
during a campaign which lasted forty years.
He did it for the most part on horseback. He paid more turnpikes than
any man who ever bestrode a beast. Eight thousand miles was his annual
record for many a long year, during each of which he seldom preached
less frequently than one thousand times. Had he but preserved his
scores at all the inns where he lodged, they would have made by
themselves a history of prices. And throughout it all he never knew
what depression of spirits meant--though he had much to try him, suits
in chancery and a jealous wife.
In the course of this unparalleled contest Wesley visited again and
again the most out-of-the-way districts--the remotest corners of
England--places which today lie far removed even from the searcher
after the picturesque.
Today, when the map of England looks like a gridiron of railways, none
but the sturdiest of pedestrians, the most determined of cyclists can
retrace the steps of Wesley and his horse, and stand by the rocks and
the natural amphitheaters in Cornwall and Northumberland, in
Lancashire and Berkshire, where he preached his gospel to the heathen.
REV. JOHN WESLEY
Grandfather of John Wesley
REV. SAMUEL WESLEY
Father of John Wesley
Exertion so prolonged, enthusiasm so sustained, argues a remarkable
man, while the organization he created, the system he founded, the
view of life he promulgated, is still a great fact among us. No other
name than Wesley's lies embalmed as his does. Yet he is not a popular
figure. Our standard historians have dismissed him curtly. The fact
is, Wesley puts your ordinary historian out of conceit with himself.
How much easier to weave into your page the gossip of Horace Walpole,
to enliven it with a heartless jest of George Selwyn's, to make it
blush with sad stories of the extravagance of Fox, to embroider it
with the rhetoric of Burke, to humanize it with the talk of Johnson,
to discuss the rise and fall of administrations, the growth and decay
of the constitution, than to follow John Wesley into the streets of
Bristol, or on to the bleak moors near Burslem, when he met, face to
face in all their violence, all their ignorance, and all their
generosity the living men, women, and children who made up the nation.
A Book of Plots, Plays and Novels
It has perhaps also to be admitted that to found great organizations
is to build your tomb--a splendid tomb, it may be, a veritable
sarcophagus, but none the less a tomb. John Wesley's chapels lie a
little heavily on John Wesley. Even so do the glories of Rome make us
forgetful of the grave in Syria.
It has been said that Wesley's character lacks charm, that mighty
antiseptic. It is not easy to define charm, which is not a catalog of
qualities, but a mixture. Let no one deny charm to Wesley who has not
read his Journal. Southey's Life is a dull, almost a stupid book
which happily there is no need to read. Read the Journal, which is a
book full of plots and plays and novels, which quivers with life and
is crammed full of character.
Wesley's Family Stock
John Wesley came of a stock which had been much harrassed and put
about by our unhappy religious difficulties. Politics, business, and
religion are the three things Englishmen are said to worry themselves
about. The Wesleys early took up with religion. John Wesley's
great-grandfather and grandfather were both ejected from their livings
in 1662, and the grandfather was so bullied and oppressed by the Five
Mile act that he early gave up the ghost. Whereupon his remains were
refused what is called Christian burial, though a holier and more
primitive man never drew breath. This poor, persecuted spirit left two
sons according to the flesh, Matthew and Samuel; and Samuel it was who
in his turn became the father of John and Charles Wesley.
Samuel Wesley, though minded to share the lot hard though that lot
was, of his progenitors, had the moderation of mind, the Christian
conservatism which ever marked the family, and being sent to a
dissenting college, became disgusted with the ferocity and bigotry he
happened there to encounter. Those were the days of the Calf's Head
Club and feastings on the twenty-ninth of January, graceless meals for
which Samuel Wesley had no stomach. His turn was for the things that
are "quiet, wise, and good." He departed from the dissenting seminary
and in 1685 entered himself as a poor scholar at Exeter College,
Oxford. He brought f 2 6s. with him, and as for prospects, he had
none. Exeter received him.
During the eighteenth century our two universities, famous despite
their faults, were always open to the poor scholar who was ready to
subscribe, not to boat clubs or cricket clubs, but to the Thirty-nine
Articles. Three archbishops of Canterbury during the eighteenth
century were the sons of small tradesmen. There was, in fact, much
less snobbery and money-worship during the century when the British
empire was being won than during the century when it is being talked
about.
Samuel Wesley was allowed to remain at Oxford, where he supported
himself by devices known to his tribe, and when he left the university
to be ordained he had clear in his pouch, after discharging his few
debts, f 10 15s. He had thus made f 8 9s. out of his university, and
had his education, as it were, thrown in for nothing. He soon obtained
a curacy in London and married a daughter of the well-known ejected
clergyman, Dr. Annesley, about whom you may read in another
eighteenth-century book, The Life and Errors of John Dunton.
Wesley's Mother
The mother of the Wesleys was a remarkable woman, though cast in a
mold not much to our minds nowadays. She had nineteen children and
greatly prided herself on having taught them, one after another, by
frequent chastisements to--what do you think? to cry softly. She had
theories of education and strength of will, and of arm too, to carry
them out.
She knew Latin and Greek, and though a stern, forbidding, almost an
unfeeling, parent, she was successful in winning and retaining not
only the respect but the affection of such of her huge family as lived
to grow up. But out of the nineteen, thirteen early succumbed. Infant
mortality was one of the great facts of the eighteenth century whose
Rachels had to learn to cry softly over their dead babes. The mother
of the Wesleys thought more of her children's souls than of their
bodies.
A Domestic Squall
The revolution of 1688 threatened to disturb the early married life of
Samuel Wesley and his spouse.
The husband wrote a pamphlet in which he defended revolution
principles, but the wife secretly adhered to the old cause; nor was it
until a year before Dutch William's death that the rector made the
discovery that the wife of his bosom, who had sworn to obey him and
regard him as her over-lord, was not in the habit of saying Amen to
his fervent prayers on behalf of his suffering sovereign. An
explanation was demanded and the truth extracted, namely, that in the
opinion of the rector's wife her true king lived over the water. The
rector at once refused to live with Mrs. Wesley any longer until she
recanted. This she refused to do, and for a twelvemonth the couple
dwelt apart, when William III having the good sense to die, a
reconciliation became possible. If John Wesley was occasionally a
little pig-headed, need one wonder?
The story of the fire at Epworth Rectory and the miraculous escape of
the infant John was once a tale as well known as Alfred in the
neat-herd's hut, and pictures of it still hang up in many a collier's
home.
John Wesley received a sound classical education at Charterhouse and
Christ Church, and remained all his life very much the scholar and the
gentleman. No company was too good for John Wesley, and nobody knew
better than he did that had he cared to carry his powerful
intelligence, his flawless constitution, and his infinite capacity for
taking pains into any of the markets of the world, he must have earned
for himself place, fame, and fortune.
Coming, however, as he did of a theological stock, having a saint for
a father and a notable devout woman for a mother, Wesley from his
early days learned to regard religion as the business of his life,
just as the young Pitt came to regard the House of Commons as the
future theater of his actions.
"My Jack is Fellow of Lincoln"
After a good deal of heart-searching and theological talk with his
mother, Wesley was ordained a deacon by the excellent Potter,
afterward Primate, but then (1725) Bishop of Oxford. In the following
year Wesley was elected a Fellow of Lincoln, to the great delight of
his father. "Whatever I am," said the good old man, "my Jack is Fellow
of Lincoln."
* * * *
Wesley's motive never eludes us. In his early manhood, after being
greatly affected by Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Dying and the
Imitatio Christi, and by Law's Serious Call and Christian Perfection,
he met "a serious man" who said to him, "Sir, you wish to serve God
and go to heaven. Remember you cannot serve Him alone. You must
therefore find companions or make them. The Bible knows nothing of
solitary religion."
He was very confident, this serious man, and Wesley never forgot his
message. "You must find companions or make them. The Bible knows
nothing of solitary religion." These words forever sounded in Wesley's
ears, determining his theology, which rejected the stern individualism
of Calvin, and fashioning his whole polity, his famous class meetings
and generally gregarious methods.
Therefore to him it was given
Many to save with himself.
We may continue the quotation and apply to Wesley the words of Mr.
Arnold's memorial to his father:
Languor was not in his heart,
Weakness not in his word,
Weariness not on his brow.
If you ask what is the impression left upon the reader of the Journal
as to the condition of England Question, the answer will vary very
much with the tenderness of the reader's conscience and with the
extent of his acquaintance with the general behavior of mankind at all
times and in all places.
No Sentimentalist
Wesley himself is no alarmist, no sentimentalist, he never gushes,
seldom exaggerates, and always writes on an easy level. Naturally
enough he clings to the supernatural and is always disposed to believe
in the bona fides of ghosts and the diabolical origin of strange
noises, but outside this realm of speculation, Wesley describes things
as he saw them. In the first published words of his friend, Dr.
Johnson, "he meets with no basilisks that destroy with their eyes, his
crocodiles devour their prey without tears, and his cataracts fall
from the rocks without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants."
Wesley's humor is of the species donnish, and his modes and methods
quietly persistent.
Wesley's Humor
"On Thursday, May 20 (1742), I set out. The next afternoon I stopped a
little at Newport Pagnell and then rode on till I over took a serious
man with whom I immediately fell into conversation. He presently gave
me to know what his opinions were, therefore I said nothing to
contradict them. But that did not content him. He was quite uneasy to
know `whether I held the doctrines of the decrees as he did'; but I
told him over and over `We had better keep to practical things lest we
should be angry at one another.' And so we did for two miles till he
caught me unawares and dragged me into the dispute before I knew where
I was. He then grew warmer and warmer; told me I was rotten at heart
and supposed I was one of John Wesley's followers. I told him `No. I
am John Wesley himself.' Upon which
Improvisum aspris Veluti qui sentibus
anguem Presset---
he would gladly have run away outright. But being the better mounted
of the two I kept close to his side and endeavored to show him his
heart till we came into the street of Northampton."
What a picture have we here of a fine May morning in 1742, the unhappy
Calvinist trying to shake off the Arminian Wesley! But he cannot do
it! John Wesley is the better mounted of the two, and so they scamper
together into Northampton.
The England described in the Journal is an England still full of
theology; all kinds of queer folk abound; strange subjects are
discussed in odd places. There was drunkenness and cockfighting, no
doubt, but there were also Deists, Mystics, Swedenborgians,
Antiomians, Necessitarians, Anabaptists, Quakers, nascent heresies,
and slow-dying delusions. Villages were divided into rival groups,
which fiercely argued the nicest points in the aptest language.
Nowadays in one's rambles a man is as likely to encounter a grey
badger as a black Calvinist.
England in Wesley's Day
The clergy of the Established Church were jealous of Wesley's
interference in their parishes, nor was this unnatural--he was not a
Nonconformist but a brother churchman. What right had he to be so
peripatetic? But Wesley seldom records any instance of gross clerical
misconduct. Of one drunken parson he does indeed tell us, and he
speaks disapprovingly of another whom he found one very hot day
consuming a pot of beer in a lone ale-house.
When Wesley, with that dauntless courage of his, a courage which never
forsook him, which he wore on every occasion with the delightful ease
of a soldier, pushed his way into fierce districts, amid rough miners
dwelling their own village communities almost outside the law, what
most strikes one with admiration, not less in Wesley's Journal than in
George Fox's (a kindred though earlier volume), is the essential
fitness for freedom of our rudest populations. They were coarse and
brutal and savage, but rarely did they fail to recognize the high
character and lofty motives of the dignified mortal who had traveled
so far to speak to them.
The Mobs He Met
Wesley was occasionally hustled, and once or twice pelted with mud and
stones, but at no time were his sufferings at the hands of the mob to
be compared with the indignities it was long the fashion to heap upon
the heads of parliamentary candidates. The mob knew and appreciated
the difference between a Bubb Dodington and a John Wesley.
I do not think any ordinary Englishman will be much horrified at the
demeanor of the populace. If there was a disturbance it was usually
quelled. At Norwich two soldiers who disturbed a congregation were
seized and carried before their commanding officer, who ordered them
to be soundly whipped. In Wesley's opinion they richly deserved all
they got. He was no sentimentalist, although an enthusiast.
Where the reader of the Journal will be shocked is when his attention
is called to the public side of the country--to the state of the
gaols--to Newgate, to Bethlehem, to the criminal code--to the
brutality of so many of the judges, and the harshness of the
magistrates, to the supineness of the bishops, to the extinction in
high places of the missionary spirit--in short, to the heavy slumber
of humanity.
Wesley was full of compassion, of a compassion wholly free from
hysterics and like exaltative. In public affairs his was the composed
zeal of a Howard. His efforts to penetrate the dark places were long
in vain. He says in his dry way: "They won't let me go to Bedlam
because they say I make the inmates mad, or into Newgate because I
make them wicked." The reader of the Journal will be at no loss to see
what these sapient magistrates meant.
Wesley was a terriby exciting preacher, quiet though his manner was.
He pushed matters home without flinching. He made people cry out and
fall down, nor did it surprise him that they should.
* * * *
Ever a Preacher
If you want to get into the last century, to feel its pulses throb
beneath your finger, be content sometimes to leave the letters of
Horace Walpole unturned, resist the drowsy temptation to waste your
time over the learned triflers who sleep in the seventeen volumes of
Nichols, nay even deny yourself your annual reading of Boswell or your
biennial retreat with Sterne, and ride up and down the country with
the greatest force of the eighteenth century in England.
No man lived nearer the center than John Wesley. Neither Clive nor
Pitt, neither Mansfield nor Johnson. You cannot cut him out of our
national life. No single figure influenced so many minds, no single
voice touched so many hearts. No other man did such a life's work for
England.
As a writer he has not achieved distinction, he was no Athanasius, no
Augustine, he was ever a preacher and an organizer, a laborer in the
service of humanity; but happily for us his Journals remain, and from
them we can learn better than from anywhere else what manner of man he
was, and the character of the times during which he lived and moved
and had his being.
augustine birrell
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
"So fine an old man I never saw! The happiness of his mind beamed
forth in his countenance. Every look showed how fully he enjoyed `the
gay remembrance of a life well spent.'"
alexander knox of john wesley
Like the others of the Epworth family, John Wesley was small in
stature. Barely five feet six and weighing only one hundred and
twenty-two pounds, he was yet muscular and strong. Bright hazel eyes,
fine features, an aquiline nose, a fine forehead, and a clear
complexion combined to make his face arresting. Contemporaries have
said that his eyes retained their bright and penetrating quality even
to his last years. Meticulous as to personal appearance and habits, he
never appeared other than neatly dressed--narrow plaited stock, coat
with a small upright collar, and three-cornered hat. "I dare no more
write in a fine style," said he, "than wear a fine coat." "Exactly
so," remarked Canon Overton, "but, then, he was particular about his
coats. He was most careful never to be slovenly in his dress, always
to be dressed in good taste....It is just the same with his style; it
is never slovenly, never tawdry."
Henry Moore, who lived with Wesley in his latter years, says that he
never saw a misplaced book or a scrap of paper lying about in Wesley's
study. His exactness and punctuality made it possible for him to carry
the tremendous burden of work that fell to his lot, and to do it with
perfect poise. He carefully weighed the value of his time and was
never hurried in mind or manner. "He had no time to mend anything that
he either wrote or did. He therefore always did everything not only
with quietness, but with what might be thought slowness." (Henry
Moore)
Himself a delightful companion, Wesley disliked having people around
who were in a bad humor, and if he did find himself in such company,
he did his utmost to soothe ruffled tempers. "Wherever Wesley went he
diffused a portion of his own felicity. Easy and affable in his
demeanor, he accommodated himself to every sort of company and showed
how happily the most finished courtesy may be blended with the most
perfect piety. In his conversation we might be at a loss whether to
admire most his fine classical taste, his extensive knowledge of men
and things, or his overflowing goodness of heart. While the grave and
serious were charmed with his wisdom, his sportive sallies of innocent
mirth delighted even the young and thoughtless; and both saw in his
uninterrupted cheerfulness the excellency of true religion. No cynical
remarks on the levity of youth embittered his discourses. No
applausive retrospect to past times marked his present discontent. In
him even old age appeared delightful, like an evening without a cloud;
and it was impossible to observe him without wishing fervently, `May
my latter end be like his!'" (Knox)
Once when Wesley and one of his itinerant preachers were taking lunch
at a wealthy home, an incident occurred which showed the great man's
tact. The daughter of the house, a beautiful girl, was much impressed
with Mr. Wesley's preaching. While conversing with the young lady,
Wesley's itinerant noticed that she was wearing a number of rings;
holding her hand up for Mr. Wesley to see, he said, "What do you think
of this sir, for a Methodist's hand?" (Wesley's aversion for the
wearing of jewelry was well known.) The girl blushed and no doubt felt
ill at ease, but with characteristic poise Wesley only smiled and
said, "The hand is very beautiful." The young lady appeared at the
next service without her gems, and became a devoted Christian.
Robert Southey, one of Wesley's biographers, gives us a glimpse of his
love for children. "I was in a house in Bristol where Wesley was. When
a mere child, on running downstairs before him with a beautiful little
sister of my own, whose ringlets were floating over her shoulders, he
overtook us on the landing and took my sister in his arms and kissed
her. Placing her on her feet again, he then put his hand upon my head
and blessed me, and I feel as though I had the blessing of that good
man upon me at the present moment."
We are indebted to the daughter of Charles Wesley for the following
glimpses of the man in his family relationships. She was aware that
her famous uncle had been represented as stern and stoical. "It
behooves a relative to render this justice to his private virtues and
attest from experience that no human being was more alive to all the
tender charities of domestic life than John Wesley. His indifference
to calumny and inflexible perseverance in what he believed his duty
have been the cause of this idea...."
His nephew was attracted in early life to an amiable girl of low
birth. This was much opposed by his mother and her family, who
mentioned it with concern to John Wesley. Finding that this was the
chief objection, Wesley observed, "Then there is no family, but I hear
the girl is good." "Nor any fortune, either," said the mother, "and
she is a dawdle." Wesley's niece continues, "He made no reply, but
sent my brother fifty pounds for his wedding dinner, and, I believe,
sincerely regretted he was crossed in his inclination (as she married
another). But he always showed peculiar sympathy to young persons in
love."
In April, 1749, after the marriage of Charles Wesley to Miss Sarah
Gwynne, daughter of a Welsh magistrate, his brother writes, "It was a
solemn day, such as became the dignity of a Christian marriage." At
this time, John Wesley was himself looking forward to a happy
marriage. During August of the previous year, while he was preaching
at Newcastle, he had been nursed through a brief illness by Grace
Murray, a widow thirty-two years of age and an outstanding Christian
woman. She was a native of Newcastle, but had moved to London. There
she met and married a sailor, the son of a prominent Scotch family.
Sorrow over the death of her young child had led Mrs. Murray to hear
the Methodist preachers. At first her husband strongly opposed her in
her new belief, but she succeeded in winning him to the same faith.
After her husband's death at sea in 1742, Grace Murray returned to
Newcastle, where she later took charge of the Orphan House. Her
willingness to expend herself in looking after the hundred members in
her classes, meeting a "band" every day of the week, and traveling to
the nearby hamlets to read and pray with people, called forth John
Wesley's high praise: "[She was] indefatigably patient and
inexpressibly tender; quick, cleanly, and skillful; of an engaging
behavior, and of a mild, sprightly, cheerful, and yet serious temper;
while, lastly, her gifts for usefulness were such as he had not seen
equaled."
When he proposed to her in August, 1748, she answered, "This is too
great a blessing for me; I can't tell how to believe it. This is all I
could have wished for under heaven." Since she did not want to be
separated from him, he took her with him on a trip through Yorkshire
and Derbyshire, where "she was unspeakably useful both to him and to
the societies." But she remained for a time in John Bennet's circuit,
at Bolton. Bennet was also in love with Grace Murray, so much so that
she wrote Wesley that she thought it her duty to marry Bennet.
However, she later went to Ireland with Wesley and was not only a
worker among the women--forming women's bands, visiting the sick, and
praying with the penitent--but was also an adviser to Wesley in
matters of his own behavior. Daily his love and esteem for her
increased, and when in Dublin they made definite plans to be married.
Back in England again, they found they could not lightly dismiss John
Bennet and his concerns. Bennet presented himself to Wesley at Epworth
saying that Grace Murray had sent him all Wesley's letters. Being
convinced then that she should marry Bennet, Wesley wrote her to that
effect; but she vacillated again and declared that Wesley was the one
she really loved. They might have married then, but Wesley wanted
first to satisfy Bennet, gain Charles' approval, and tell the
Methodist societies of his plan. Charles Wesley was perturbed by the
thought of his brother's marrying one who had been a servant; he first
hastened to persuade John from a course which he said would cause
their preachers to leave them and the societies to be scattered. John
assured him that he was not marrying Grace for her birth, but for her
own worth. Unsuccessful in changing his brother's mind, Charles
determined to persuade the lady herself. Meeting her at Hineley Hill,
he greeted her with, "Grace Murray, you have broken my heart!" He
prevailed upon her to ride with him to Newcastle; there she fell at
Bennet's feet and begged forgiveness for treating him so badly. Within
a week she married him.
The loss of Grace Murray was Wesley's deepest personal sorrow. The
following letter reveals his heart:
"Leeds, October 7, 1749
"My dear Brother,---Since I was six years old, I never met with such a
severe trial as for some days past. For ten years God has been
preparing a fellow laborer for me by a wonderful train of providences.
Last year I was convinced of it; therefore I delayed not, but, as I
thought, made all sure beyond a danger of disappointment. But we were
soon after torn asunder by a whirlwind. In a few months the storm was
over; I then used more precaution than before and fondly told myself
that the day of evil would return no more. But it too soon returned.
The waves rose again since I came out of London. I fasted and prayed
and strove all I could; but the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for me.
The whole world fought against me, but above all my own familiar
friend. Then was the word fulfilled, `Son of man, behold, I take from
thee the desire of thine eyes at a stroke; yet shalt thou not lament,
neither shall thy tears run down.'
"The fatal, irrevocable stroke was struck on Tuesday last. Yesterday I
saw my friend (that was) and him to whom she is sacrificed. I believe
you never saw such a scene. But `why should a living man complain, a
man for the punishment of his sins?'
"I am, yours affectionately,
"John Wesley"
Wesley did not see her again until 1788. Bennet separated from him
shortly after his marriage, speaking bitterly of him and even accusing
him of popery. He became pastor of a Calvinistic church at Warburton,
where he died at the early age of forty-five.
Again we refer to Henry Moore for a word about the last meeting of
Wesley and Mrs. Bennet: "The meeting was affecting; but Mr. Wesley
preserved more than his usual self-possession. It was easy to see,
notwithstanding the many years which had intervened, that both in
sweetness of spirit, and in person and manners she was a fit subject
for the tender regrets expressed in his verses. The interview did not
continue long, and I do not remember that I ever heard Mr. Wesley
mention her name afterward."
Had Wesley married Grace Murray, he would have escaped the matrimonial
disaster that overtook him when he married Mrs. Vazeille, wealthy
widow of a London merchant. The most charitable construction that can
be placed on her malicious, unreasonable behavior is that she was at
times mentally unbalanced. She took papers and letters from his desk,
changed the wording in his letters, then put them into the hands of
his enemies or had them published in the newspapers. She is known to
have driven a hundred miles in a jealous rage to see who was traveling
with him. One of Wesley's preachers, John Hampson, said, after
observing one of her tantrums, "More than once she laid violent hands
upon him, and tore those venerable locks....."
One of Charles Wesley's biographers, Jackson, states that Wesley's
letters to his wife show "the utmost tenderness of affection, such as
few female hearts could have withstood; and justify the opinion that,
had it been his happiness to be married to a person who was worthy of
him, he could have been one of the most affectionate husbands that
ever lived. Those who think that he was constitutionally cold and
repulsive utterly mistake his character."
Even in his domestic trials, the man who "did not remember to have
felt lowness of spirits for one quarter of an hour since he was born"
saw the bright side. He believed that even this worked out for his
good: had Mrs. Wesley been a delightful companion, he says, he might
have neglected his work at times to please her.
Always believing the best of his fellow men, he was many times sadly
disappointed in their behavior. Incapable of malice, he was quick to
forgive even his cruelest enemies.
Alexander Knox, among others, has proved that there was no taint of
ambition, pride, selfishness, or personal gratification in Wesley's
motives. His ability to rule men Wesley himself considered a trust,
and he never abused it.
Perhaps the best estimate of Wesley's character and career was given
by Bishop Asbury in his Journal: "When we consider his plain and
nervous writings, his uncommon talent for sermonizing and
journalizing....his knowledge as an observer; his attainments as a
scholar; his experience as a Christian; I conclude his equal is not to
be found among all the sons he hath brought up, nor his superior among
all the sons of Adam he may have left behind."
_________________________________________________________________
The Journal of John Wesley
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Chapter 1. Wesley as a Missionary to Georgia
The first entry in Wesley's Journal is that of October 14, 1735. But
the following letter, which Wesley published with the first edition of
his Journal, precedes it, as it describes the incidents which led to
the formation of the Holy Club and to the social activities from
which, as the Journal shows, Methodism has evolved.
The letter was written from Oxford in 1732 to Mr. Morgan, whose son is
mentioned. It runs thus:
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Wesley Begins his Work
In November, 1729, at which time I came to reside at Oxford, your son
[Mr. Morgan], my brother, myself, and one more agreed to spend three
or four evenings in a week together. Our design was to read over the
classics, which we had before read in private, on common nights, and
on Sunday some book in divinity. In the summer following, Mr. M. told
me he had called at the gaol to see a man who was condemned for
killing his wife; and that, from the talk he had with one of the
debtors, he verily believed it would do much good if anyone would be
at the pains of now and then speaking with them.
This he so frequently repeated that on August 24, 1730, my brother and
I walked with him to the castle. We were so well satisfied with our
conversation there that we agreed to go thither once or twice a week;
which we had not done long before he desired me to go with him to see
a poor woman in the town, who was sick. In this employment too, when
we came to reflect upon it, we believed it would be worth while to
spend an hour or two in a week; provided the minister of the parish,
in which any such person was, were not against it. But that we might
not depend wholly on our own judgments, I wrote an account to my
father of our whole design; withal begging that he, who had lived
seventy years in the world and seen as much of it as most private men
have ever done, would advise us whether we had yet gone too far and
whether we should now stand still or go forward.
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Origin of the Holy Club
In pursuance of [his] directions, I immediately went to Mr. Gerald,
the Bishop of Oxford's chaplain, who was likewise the person that took
care of the prisoners when any were condemned to die (at other times
they were left to their own care); I proposed to him our design of
serving them as far as we could and my own intention to preach there
once a month, if the bishop approved of it. He much commended our
design and said he would answer for the bishop's approbation, to whom
he would take the first opportunity of mentioning it. It was not long
before he informed me he had done so and that his lordship not only
gave his permission, but was greatly pleased with the undertaking and
hoped it would have the desired success.
Soon after, a gentleman of Merton College, who was one of our little
company, which now consisted of five persons, acquainted us that he
had been much rallied the day before for being a member of the Holy
Club; and that it was become a common topic of mirth at his college,
where they had found out several of our customs, to which we were
ourselves utter strangers. Upon this I consulted my father again.
* * * *
Upon [his] encouragement we still continued to meet together as usual;
and to confirm one another, as well as we could, in our resolutions to
communicate as often as we had opportunity (which is here once a
week); and do what service we could to our acquaintance, the
prisoners, and two or three poor families in the town.
* * * *
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Wesley Sails for America
1735. Tuesday, October 14.--Mr. Benjamin Ingham, of Queen College,
Oxford; Mr. Charles Delamotte, son of a merchant, in London, who had
offered himself some days before; my brother, Charles Wesley, and
myself, took boat for Gravesend, in order to embark for Georgia.
Our end in leaving our native country was not to avoid want (God
having given us plenty of temporal blessings) nor to gain the dung or
dross of riches or honor; but singly this--to save our souls; to live
wholly to the glory of God. In the afternoon we found the "Simmonds"
off Gravesend and immediately went on board.
Friday, 17.--I began to learn German in order to converse with the
Germans, six-and-twenty of whom we had on board. On Sunday, the
weather being fair and calm, we had the morning service on
quarterdeck. I now first preached extempore and then administered the
Lord's Supper to six or seven communicants.
Monday, 20.--Believing the denying ourselves, even in the smallest
instances, might, by the blessing of God, be helpful to us, we wholly
left off the use of flesh and wine and confined ourselves to
vegetables food--chiefly rice and biscuit.
Tuesday, 21.--We sailed from Gravesend. When we were past about half
the Goodwin Sands, the wind suddenly failed. Had the calm continued
till ebb, the ship had probably been lost. But the gale sprang up
again in an hour, and carried us into the Downs.
We now began to be a little regular. Our common way of living was
this: From four in the morning till five each of us used private
prayer. From five to seven we read the Bible together, carefully
comparing it (that we might not lean to our own understandings) with
the writings of the earliest ages. At seven we breakfasted. At eight
were the public prayers. From nine to twelve I usually learned German,
and Mr. Delamotte, Greek. My brother wrote sermons, and Mr. Ingham
instructed the children. At twelve we met to give an account of one
another what we had done since our last meeting, and what we designed
to do before our next. About one we dined.
_________________________________________________________________
Life on Board
The time from dinner to four we spent in reading to those whom each of
us had taken in charge, or in speaking to them severally, as need
required. At four were the evening prayers; when either the second
lesson was explained (as it always was in the morning), or the
children were catechized and instructed before the congregation. From
five to six we again used private prayer. From six to seven I read in
our cabin to two or three of the passengers (of whom there were about
eighty English on board), and each of my brethren to a few more in
theirs.
At seven I joined with the Germans in their public service, while Mr.
Ingham was reading between the decks to as many as desired to hear. At
eight we met again to exhort and instruct one another. Between nine
and ten we went to bed, where neither the roaring of the sea nor the
motion of the ship could take away the refreshing sleep which God gave
us.
Friday, 31.--We sailed out of the Downs. At eleven at night I was
waked by a great noise. I soon found there was no danger. But the bare
apprehension of it gave me a lively conviction what manner of men
those ought to be who are every moment on the brink of eternity.
Saturday, November 1.--We came to St. Helen's harbor, and the next day
into Cowes road. The wind was fair, but we waited for the man-of-war
which was to sail with us. This was a happy opportunity of instructing
our fellow travelers.
Sunday, 23.--At night I was awakened by the tossing of the ship and
roaring of the wind, and plainly showed I was unfit, for I was
unwilling, to die.
Wednesday, December 10.--We sailed from Cowes, and in the afternoon
passed the Needles. Here the ragged rocks, with the waves dashing and
foaming at the foot of them, and the white side of the island rising
to such a height, perpendicular from the beach, gave a strong idea of
"Him that spanneth the heavens, and holdeth the waters in the hollow
of His hand!"
1736. Thursday, January 15.--Complaint being made to Mr. Oglethorpe of
the unequal distribution of the water among the passengers, he
appointed new officers to take charge of it. At this the old ones and
their friends were highly exasperated against us, to whom they imputed
the change.
Saturday, 17.--Many people were very impatient at the contrary wind.
At seven in the evening they were quieted by a storm. It rose higher
and higher till nine. About nine the sea broke over us from stem to
stern; burst through the windows of the state cabin, where three or
four of us were, and covered us all over, though a bureau sheltered me
from the main shock. About eleven I lay down in the great cabin and in
a short time fell asleep, though very uncertain whether I should wake
alive and much ashamed of my unwillingness to die. Oh, how pure in
heart must he be, who would rejoice to appear before God at a moment's
warning! Toward morning, "He rebuked the winds and the sea; and there
was a great calm" [Matt. 8:26].
_________________________________________________________________
Memorable Atlantic Storms
Friday, 23.--In the evening another storm began. In the morning it
increased so that they were forced to let the ship drive. I could not
but say to myself, "How is it that thou hast no faith?" being still
unwilling to die. About one in the afternoon, almost as soon as I had
stepped out of the great cabin-door, the sea did not break as usual,
but came with a full, smooth tide over the side of the ship. I was
vaulted over with water in a moment, and so stunned that I scarcely
expected to lift up my head again till the sea should give up her
dead. But thanks be to God, I received no hurt at all. About midnight
the storm ceased.
Sunday, 25.--At noon our third storm began. At four it was more
violent than before. At seven I went to the Germans. I had long before
observed the great seriousness of their behavior. 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 an 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 opportunity 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. A
terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sang
on. I asked one of them afterward, "Were you not afraid?" He answered,
"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 die."
Friday, 30.--We had another storm, which did us no other harm than
splitting the foresail. Our bed being wet, I laid me down on the floor
and slept soundly till morning. And, I believe, I shall not find it
needful to go to bed (as it is called) any more.
Sunday, February 1.--We spoke with a ship of Carolina; and Wednesday,
4, came within soundings. About noon, the trees were visible from the
masts and in the afternoon from the main deck. In the evening lesson
were these words: "A great door, and effectual, is opened." Oh, let no
one shut it!
Thursday, 5.--Between two and three in the afternoon, God brought us
all safe into the Savannah river. We cast anchor near Tybee Island,
where the groves of pines, running along the shore, made an agreeable
prospect, showing, as it were, the bloom of spring in the depth of
winter.
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Wesley Arrives in Georgia
Friday, 6.--About eight in the morning, we first set foot on American
ground. It was a small uninhabited island, over against Tybee. Mr.
Oglethorpe led us to a rising ground where we all kneeled down to give
thanks. He then took boat for Savannah. When the rest of the people
were come on shore, we called our little flock together to prayers.
Saturday, 7.--Mr. Oglethorpe returned from Savannah with Mr.
Spangenberg, one of the pastors of the Germans. I soon found what
spirit he was of and asked his advice with regard to my own conduct.
He said, "My brother, I must first ask you one or two questions. Have
you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness
with your spirit that you are a child of God?" I was surprised, and
knew not what to answer. He observed it and asked, "Do you know Jesus
Christ?" I paused and said, "I know He is the Saviour of the world."
"True," replied he; "but do you know He has saved you?" I answered, "I
hope He has died to save me." He only added, "Do you know yourself?" I
said, "I do." But I fear they were vain words.
Saturday, 14.--About one, Tomo Chachi, his nephew, Thleeanouhee, his
wife Sinauky, with two more women, and two or three Indian children,
came on board. As soon as we came in, they all rose and shook us by
the hand; and Tomo Chachi (one Mr. Musgrove interpreted) spoke as
follows:
"I am glad you are come. When I was in England, I desired that some
would speak the great Word to me and my nation then desired to hear
it; but now we are all in confusion. Yet I am glad you are come. I
will go up and speak to the wise men of our nation; and I hope they
will hear. But we would not be made Christians as the Spaniards make
Christians: we would be taught, before we are baptized."
I answered, "There Is but One, He that sitteth in heaven, who is able
to teach man wisdom. Though we are come so far, we know not whether He
will please to teach you by us or no. If He teaches you, you will
learn wisdom, but we can do nothing." We then withdrew.
Thursday, 19.--My brother and I took boat, and passing by Savannah,
went to pay our first visit in America to the poor heathens.
_________________________________________________________________
Begins His Ministry at Savannah
Sunday, March 7.--I entered upon my ministry at Savannah, by preaching
on the epistle for the day, being the thirteenth of First Corinthians.
In the second lesson (Luke 18) was our Lord's prediction of the
treatment which He Himself (and, consequently, His followers) was to
meet with from the world. "Verily I say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or friends, or brethren, or wife, or children,
for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in
this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting."
Yet, notwithstanding these declarations of our Lord--notwithstanding
my own repeated experience--notwithstanding the experience of all the
sincere followers of Christ whom I have ever talked with, read or
heard of; nay, and the reason of the thing evincing to a demonstration
that all who love not the light must hate Him who is continually
laboring to pour it in upon them; I do here bear witness against
myself that when I saw the number of people crowding into the church,
the deep attention with which they received the Word, and the
seriousness that afterward sat on all their faces; I could scarcely
refrain from giving the lie to experience and reason and Scripture all
together.
I could hardly believe that the greater, the far greater part of this
attentive, serious people would hereafter trample under foot that Word
and say all manner of evil falsely of him that spake it.
Monday, 15.--Mr. Quincy going for Carolina, I removed into the
minister's house. It is large enough for a larger family than ours and
has many conveniences, besides a good garden.
Tuesday, 30.--Mr. Ingham, coming from Frederica, brought me letters,
pressing me to go thither. The next day Mr. Delamotte and I began to
try whether life might not as well be sustained by one sort as by
variety of food. We chose to make the experiment with bread; and were
never more vigorous and healthy than while we tasted nothing else.
_________________________________________________________________
"I Walked under Water"
Sunday, April 4.--About four in the afternoon I set out for Frederica
in a pettiawga--a sort of flat-bottomed barge. The next evening we
anchored near Skidoway Island, where the water, at flood, was twelve
or fourteen feet deep. I wrapped myself up from head to foot in a
large cloak, to keep off the sandflies, and lay down on the
quarterdeck. Between one and two I waked under water, being so fast
asleep that I did not find where I was till my mouth was full of it.
Having left my cloak, I know not how, upon deck, I swam around to the
other side of the pettiawga, where a boat was tied, and climbed up by
the rope without any hurt, more than wetting my clothes.
Saturday, 17.--Not finding as yet any door open for the pursuing our
main design, we considered in what manner we might be most useful to
the little flock at Savannah. And we agreed 1) to advise the more
serious among them to form themselves into a sort of little society,
and to meet once or twice a week, in order to reprove, instruct and
exhort one another; 2) to select out of these a smaller number for a
more intimate union with each other, which might be forwarded, partly
by our conversing singly with each and partly by inviting them all
together to our house; and this, accordingly, we determined to do
every Sunday in the afternoon.
Monday, May 10.--I began visiting my parishioners in order, from house
to house; for which I set apart the time when they cannot work because
of the heat, namely, from twelve till three in the afternoon.
Thursday, June 17.--An officer of a man-of-war, walking just behind us
with two or three of his acquaintance, cursed and swore exceedingly;
but upon my reproving him, seemed much moved and gave me many thanks.
Tuesday, 22.--Observing much coldness in M ----`s behaviour, I asked
him the reason of it. He answered, "I like nothing you do. All your
sermons are satires upon particular persons, therefore I will never
hear you more; and all the people are of my mind; for we won't hear
ourselves abused.
"Besides, they say, they are Protestants. But as for you, they cannot
tell what religion you are of. They never heard of such a religion
before. They do not know what to make of it. And then your private
behaviour: all the quarrels that have been here since you came, have
been `long of you. Indeed there is neither man nor woman in the town
who minds a word you say. And so you may preach long enough; but
nobody will come to hear you."
He was too warm for hearing an answer. So I had nothing to do but to
thank him for his openness and walk away.
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Talks to the Indians
Wednesday, 30.--I hoped a door was opened for going up immediately to
the Choctaws, the least polished, that is, the least corrupted, of all
the Indian nations. But upon my informing Mr. Oglethorpe of our
design, he objected, not only the danger of being intercepted or
killed by the French there; but much more, the inexpediency of leaving
Savannah destitute of a minister. These objections I related to our
brethren in the evening, who were all of opinion, "We ought not to go
yet."
Thursday, July 1.--The Indians had an audience; and another on
Saturday, when Chicali, their head man, dined with Mr. Oglethorpe.
After dinner, I asked the grey-headed old man what he thought he was
made for. He said, "He that is above knows what He made us for. We
know nothing. We are in the dark. But white men know much. And yet
white men build great houses, as if they were to live forever. But
white men cannot live forever. In a little time, white men will be
dust as well as I." I told him, "If red men will learn the Good Book,
they may know as much as white men. But neither we nor you can
understand that Book unless we are taught by Him that is above: and He
will not teach you unless you avoid what you already know is not
good." He answered, "I believe that. He will not teach us while our
hearts are not white. And our men do what they know is not good: they
kill their own children. And our women do what they know is not good:
they kill the child before it is born. Therefore He that is above does
not send us the Good Book."
Monday, 26.--My brother and I set out for Charleston, in order to his
embarking for England; but the wind being contrary, we did not reach
Port Royal, forty miles from Savannah, till Wednesday evening. The
next morning we left it. But the wind was so high in the afternoon, as
we were crossing the neck of St. Helena's sound, that our oldest
sailor cried out, "Now everyone must take care of himself." I told
him, "God will take care for us all." Almost as soon as the words were
spoken, the mast fell. I kept on the edge of the boat, to be clear of
her when she sank (which we expected every moment), though with little
prospect of swimming ashore against such a wind and sea. But "How is
it that thou hadst no faith?" The moment the mast fell, two men caught
it and pulled it into the boat; the other three rowed with all their
might, and "God gave command to the wind and seas"; so that in an hour
we were safe on land.
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Fearless of Rains and Dews
Monday, August 2.--I set out for the Lieutenant Governor's seat, about
thirty miles from Charleston, to deliver Mr. Oglethorpe's letters. It
stands very pleasantly on a little hill with a vale on either side, in
one of which is a thick wood; the other is planted with rice and
Indian corn. I designed to have gone back by Mr. Skeen's, who has
about fifty Christian negroes. But my horse tiring, I was obliged to
return the straight way to Charleston.
I had sent the boat we came in back to Savannah, expecting a passage
thither myself in Colonel Bull's. His not going so soon, I went to
Ashley Ferry on Thursday, intending to walk to Port Royal. But Mr.
Belinger not only provided me a horse, but rode with me himself ten
miles, and sent his son with me to Cumbee Ferry, twenty miles farther;
whence, having hired horses and a guide, I came to Beaufort (or Port
Royal) the next evening. We took boat in the morning; but, the wind
being contrary and very high, did not reach Savannah till Sunday, in
the afternoon.
Finding Mr. Oglethorpe was gone, I stayed only a day at Savannah; and
leaving Mr. Ingham and Delamotte there, set out on Tuesday morning for
Frederica. In walking to Thunderbolt I was in so heavy a shower that
all my clothes were as wet as if I had gone through the river. On
which occasion I cannot but observe that vulgar error concerning the
hurtfulness of the rains and dews of America. I have been thoroughly
wet with these rains more than once, yet without any harm at all. And
I have lain many nights in the open air and received all the dews that
fell; and so, I believe, might anyone, if his constitution was not
impaired by the softness of a genteel education.
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Desires to Go Among the Indians
Tuesday, November 23.--Mr. Oglethorpe sailed for England, leaving Mr.
Ingham, Mr. Delamotte, and me at Savannah, but with less prospect of
preaching to the Indians than we had the first day we set foot in
America. Whenever I mentioned it, it was immediately replied, "You
cannot leave Savannah without a minister."
To this indeed my plain answer was, "I know not that I am under any
obligation to the contrary. I never promised to stay here one month. I
openly declared both before, at, and ever since, my coming hither that
I neither would nor could take charge of the English any longer than
till I could go among the Indians." If it was said, "But did not the
trustees of Georgia appoint you to be minister of Savannah?" I
replied, "They did; but it was not done by my solicitation: it was
done without either my desire or knowledge. Therefore, I cannot
conceive that appointment to lay me under any obligation of continuing
there any longer than till a door is opened to the heathens; and this
I expressly declared at the time I consented to accept of that
appointment."
But though I had no other obligation not to leave Savannah now, yet
that of love, I could not break through: I could not resist the
importunate request of the more serious parishioners, "to watch over
their souls yet a little longer, till someone came who might supply my
place." And this I the more willingly did, because the time was not
come to preach the gospel of peace to the heathens, all their nations
being in a ferment; and Paustoobee and Mingo Mattaw having told me, in
terms, in my own house, "Now our enemies are all about us, and we can
do nothing but fight; but if the beloved ones should ever give us to
be at peace, then we would hear the great Word."
Wednesday, December 23.--Mr. Delamotte and I, with a guide, set out to
walk to the Cowpen. When we had walked two or three hours, our guide
told us plainly he did not know where we were. However, believing it
could not be far off, we though it best to go on. In an hour or two we
came to a cypress swamp, which lay directly across our way; there was
not time to walk back to Savannah before night, so we walked through
it, the water being about breast high.
By the time we had gone a mile beyond it, we were out of all path; and
it being now past sunset, we sat down, intending to make a fire and to
stay there till morning; but finding our tinder wet, we were at a
stand. I advised to walk on still; but my companions, being faint and
weary, were for lying down, which we accordingly did about six
o'clock; the ground was as wet as our clothes, which it being a sharp
frost, were soon frozen together; however, I slept till six in the
morning. There fell a heavy dew in the night which covered us over as
white as snow. Within an hour after sunrise, we came to a plantation,
and in the evening, without any hurt, to Savannah.
_________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2. Troubles in Georgia; Return to England; Peter Bohler; "I Felt my
Heart Strangely Warmed"
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Begins to Learn Spanish
1737. Friday, March 4.--I wrote the trustees for Georgia an account of
our year's expense, from March 1, 1736, to March 1, 1737; which,
deducting extraordinary expenses, such as repairing the parsonage
house and journeys to Frederica, amounted, for Mr. Delamotte and me,
to f 44/4s. 4d.
Monday, April 4.--I began learning Spanish in order to converse with
My Jewish parishioners; some of whom seem nearer the mind that was in
Christ than many of those who called Him Lord.
Tuesday, 12.--Being determined, if possible, to put a stop to the
proceedings of one in Carolina, who had married several of my
parishioners without either banns or license and declared he would do
so still, I set out in a sloop for Charleston. I landed there on
Thursday, and related the case to Mr. Garden, the Bishop of London's
commissary, who assured me he would take care no such irregularity
should be committed for the future.
Sunday, July 3.--Immediately after the holy communion, I mentioned to
Mrs. Williamson (Mr. Causton's niece) some things which I thought
reprovable in her behavior. At this she appeared extremely angry; said
she did not expect such usage from me; and at the turn of the street,
through which we were walking home, went abruptly away. The next day
Mrs. Causton endeavored to excuse her; told me she was exceedingly
grieved for what had passed the day before and desired me to tell her
in writing what I disliked; which I accordingly did the day following.
But first I sent Mr. Causton the following note:
"Sir,
"To his hour you have shown yourself my friend; I ever have and ever
shall acknowledge it. And it is my earnest desire that He who hath
hitherto given me this blessing would continue it still.
"But this cannot be, unless you will allow me one request, which is
not so easy a one as it appears: do not condemn me for doing, in the
execution of my office, what I think it my duty to do.
"If you can prevail upon yourself to allow me this, even when I act
without respect of persons, I am persuaded there will never be, at
least not long, any misunderstanding between us. For even those who
seek it shall, I trust, find no occasion against me, `except it be
concerning the law of my God.'
"July 5, 1737."
Wednesday, 6.--Mr. Causton came to my house, with Mr. Bailiff Parker
and Mr. Recorder, and warmly asked, "How could you possibly think I
should condemn you for executing any part of your office?" I said
short, "Sir, what if I should think it the duty of my office to repel
one of your family from the holy communion?" He replied, "If you repel
me or my wife, I shall require a legal reason. But I shall trouble
myself about none else. Let them look to themselves."
_________________________________________________________________
Warrant for Wesley's Arrest
Sunday, August 7.--I repelled Mrs. Williamson from the holy communion.
and Monday, [July] 8, Mr. Recorder, of Savannah, issued out the
warrant following:
"Georgia. Savannah ss.
"To all Constables, Tithingmen, and others, whom these may concern:
"You, and each of you, are hereby required to take the body of John
Wesley, Clerk:
"And bring him before one of the Bailiffs of the said town to answer
the complaint of William Williamson and Sophia, his wife, for defaming
the said Sophia, and refusing to administer to her the sacrament of
the Lord's supper in a public congregation without cause; by which the
said William Williamson is damaged one thousand pound sterling; and
for so doing, this is your warrant, certifying what you are to do in
the premises. Given under my hand and seal the 8th day of August,
Anno. dom. 1737.
Tho. Christie."
Tuesday, 9.--Mr. Jones, the constable, served the warrant, and carried
me before Mr. Bailiff Parker and Mr. Recorder. My answer to them was
that the giving or refusing the Lord's supper being a matter purely
ecclesiastical, I could not acknowledge their power to interrogate me
upon it. Mr. Parker told me: "However, you must appear at the next
Court, holden for Savannah." Mr. Williamson, who stood by, said:
"Gentlemen, I desire Mr. Wesley may give bail for his appearance." But
Mr. Parker immediately replied: "Sir, Mr. Wesley's word is
sufficient."
Thursday, 11.--Mr. Causton came to my house and, among many other
sharp words, said: "Make an end of this matter; thou hadst best. My
niece to be used thus! I have drawn the sword and I will never sheath
it till I have satisfaction."
Soon after, he added: "Give the reasons of your repelling her before
the whole congregation." I answered: "Sir, if you insist upon it, I
will; and so you may be pleased to tell her." He said, "Write to her,
and tell her so yourself." I said, "I will"; and after he went I wrote
as follows:
"To Mrs. Sophia Williamson
"At Mr. Causton's request, I write once more. The rules whereby I
proceed are these:
"'So many as intend to be partakers of the holy communion, shall
signify their names to the curate, at least some time the day before.'
This you did not do.
"'And if any of these have done any wrong to his neighbors, by word or
deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended, the curate shall
advertise him that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lord's
table until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented.'
"If you offer yourself at the Lord's table on Sunday, I will advertise
you (as I have done more than once) wherein you have done wrong. And
when you have openly declared yourself to have truly repented, I will
administer to you the mysteries of God. style="#_ftn1"
name="_ftnref1">[1]
"John Wesley
"August 11, 1737"
Mr. Delamotte carrying this, Mr. Causton said, among many other warm
sayings: "I am the person that is injured. The affront is offered to
me; and I will espouse the cause of my niece. I am ill used, and I
will have satisfaction, if it be to be had in the world."
Which way this satisfaction was to be had, I did not yet conceive; but
on Friday and Saturday it began to appear; Mr. Causton declared to
many persons that "Mr. Wesley had repelled Sophy from the holy
communion purely out of revenge, because he had made proposals of
marriage to her which she rejected, and married Mr. Williamson."
_________________________________________________________________
The Jury's Charge against Wesley
Tuesday, 16.--Mrs. Williamson swore to and signed an affidavit
insinuating much more than it asserted; but asserting that Mr. Wesley
had many times proposed marriage to her, all which proposals she
rejected. Of this I desire a copy. Mr. Causton replied: "Sir, you may
have one from any of the newspapers in America."
On Thursday and Friday was delivered out a list of twenty-six men, who
were to meet as a grand jury on Monday, the twenty-second. But this
list was called in the next day, and twenty-four names added to it. Of
this grand jury (forty-four of whom only met), one was a Frenchman,
who did not understand English; one a Papist, one a professed infidel,
three Baptists, sixteen or seventeen other Dissenters, and several
others who had personal quarrels against me and had openly vowed
revenge.
To this grand jury, on Monday, 22, Mr. Causton gave a long and earnest
charge "to beware of spiritual tyranny, and to oppose the new, illegal
authority which was usurped over their consciences." Then Mrs.
Williamson's affidavit was read; after which, Mr. Causton delivered to
the grand jury a paper, entitled:
"A List of grievances, presented by the grand jury for Savannah, this
day of August, 1737."
This the majority of the grand jury altered in some particulars, and
on Thursday, September 1, delivered it again to the court, under the
form of two presentments, containing ten bills, which were then read
to the people.
Herein they asserted, upon oath, "That John Wesley, clerk, had broken
the laws of the realm, contrary to the peace of our Sovereign Lord the
King, his crown and dignity.
"1. By speaking and writing to Mrs. Williamson against her husband's
consent.
"2. By repelling her from the holy communion.
"3. By not declaring his adherence to the Church of England.
"4. By dividing the morning service on Sundays.
"5. By refusing to baptize Mr. Parker's child, otherwise than by
dipping, except the parents would certify it was weak and not able to
bear it.
"6. By repelling William Gough from the holy communion.
"7. By refusing to read the burial service over the body of Nathaniel
Polhill.
"8. By calling himself Ordinary of Savannah.
"9. By refusing to receive William Aglionby as a godfather, only
because he was not a communicant.
"10. By refusing Jacob Matthews for the same reason; and baptizing an
Indian trader's child with only two sponsors." (This, I own, was
wrong; for I ought, at all hazards, to have refused baptizing it till
he had procured a third.)
Friday, September 2.--Was the third court at which I appeared since my
being carried before Mr. P. and the Recorder.
I now moved for an immediate hearing on the first bill, being the only
one of a civil nature; but it was refused. I made the same motion in
the afternoon, but was put off till the next court-day.
On the next court-day I appeared again, as also at the two courts
following, but could not be heard, because (the Judge said) Mr.
Williamson was gone out of town.
The sense of the minority of the grand jurors themselves (for they
were by no means unanimous) concerning these presentments may appear
from the following paper, which they transmitted to the trustees:
To the Honorable the Trustees for Georgia.
"Whereas two presentments have been made: the one of August 23, the
other of August 31, by the grand jury for the town and county of
Savannah, in Georgia, against John Wesley, Clerk.
"We whose names are underwritten, being members of the said grand
jury, do humbly beg leave to signify our dislike of the said
presentments; being, by many and divers circumstances, thoroughly
persuaded in ourselves that the whole charge against Mr. Wesley is an
artifice of Mr. Causton's, designed rather to blacken the character of
Mr. Wesley than to free the colony from religious tyranny, as he was
pleased, in his charge to us, to term it. But as these circumstances
will be too tedious to trouble your Honors with, we shall only beg
leave to give the reasons of our dissent from the particular
bills....."
Friday, October 7.--I consulted my friends as to whether God did not
call me to return to England. The reason for which I left it had now
no force, there being no possibility as yet of instructing the
Indians; neither had I, as yet, found or heard of any Indians on the
continent of America who had the least desire of being instructed. And
as to Savannah, having never engaged myself, either by word or letter,
to stay there a day longer than I should judge convenient, nor ever
taken charge of the people any otherwise than as in my passage to the
heathens, I looked upon myself to be fully discharged therefrom, by
the vacating of that design. Besides, there was a probability of doing
more service to that unhappy people in England, than I could do in
Georgia, by representing, without fear or favor, to the trustees the
real state the colony was in. After deeply considering these things,
they were unanimous that I ought to go, but not yet. So I laid the
thoughts of it aside for the present; being persuaded that when the
time was come, God would "make the way plain before my face."
_________________________________________________________________
Why Wesley left Georgia
Thursday, November 3.--I appeared again at the court, holden on that
day; and again, at the court held Tuesday, November 22. On which day
Mr. Causton desired to speak with me. He then read me some affidavits
which had been made September 15, last past; in one of which it was
affirmed that I then abused Mr. Causton in his own house, calling him
liar, villain, and so on. It was now likewise repeated before several
persons, which indeed I had forgotten, that I had been reprimanded at
the last court, for an enemy to, and hinderer of, the public peace.
I again consulted my friends who agreed with me that the time we
looked for was now come. And the next morning, calling on Mr. Causton,
I told him I designed to set out for England immediately. I set up an
advertisement in the Great Square to the same effect and quietly
prepared for my journey.
Friday, December 2.--I proposed to set out for Carolina about noon,
the tide then serving. But about ten, the magistrates sent for me and
told me I must not go out of the province; for I had not answered the
allegations laid against me. I replied, "I have appeared at six or
seven courts successively, in order to answer them. But I was not
suffered so to do, when I desired it time after time." Then they said,
however, I must not go, unless I would give security to answer those
allegations at their court. I asked, "What security?" After consulting
together about two hours, the recorder showed me a kind of bond,
engaging me, under a penalty of fifty pounds, to appear at their court
when I should be required. He added, "But Mr. Williamson too has
desired of us that you should give bail to answer his action." I then
told him plainly, "Sir, you use me very ill, and so you do the
trustees. I will give neither any bond nor any bail at all. You know
your business, and I know mine."
In the afternoon, the magistrates published an order, requiring all
the officers and sentinels to prevent my going out of the province and
forbidding any person to assist me so to do. Being now only a
prisoner at large, in a place where I know by experience that every
day would give fresh opportunity to procure evidence of words I never
said and actions I never did; I saw clearly the hour was come for
leaving this place: and as soon as evening prayers were over, about
eight o'clock, the tide then serving, I shook off the dust of my feet
and left Georgia, after having preached the gospel there (not as I
ought, but as I was able) one year and nearly nine months.
Saturday, 3.--We came to Purrysburg early in the morning and
endeavored to procure a guide to Port Royal. but none being to be had,
we set out without one, an hour before sunrise. After walking two or
three hours, we met with an old man who led us into a small path, near
which was a line of blazed tees (that is, marked by cutting off part
of the bark), by following which, he said, we might easily come to
Port Royal in five or six hours.
_________________________________________________________________
Lost in the Woods
We were four in all; one intended to go to England with me, the other
two to settle in Carolina. About eleven we came into a large swamp,
where we wandered about till near two. We then found another blaze
and pursued it till it divided into two; one of these we followed
through an almost impassable thicket, a mile beyond which it ended. We
made through the thicket again, and traced the other blaze till that
ended too. It now grew toward sunset; so we sat down, faint and weary,
having had no food all day, except a gingerbread cake, which I had
taken in my pocket. A third of this we had divided among us at noon;
another third we took now; the rest we reserved for the morning; but
we had met with no water all the day. Thrusting a stick into the
ground, and finding the end of it moist, two of our company fell
a-digging with their hands, and, at about three feet depth, found
water. We thanked God, drank, and were refreshed. The night was sharp;
however, there was no complaining among us; but after having commended
ourselves to God, we lay down close together and (I at least) slept
till near six in the morning.
Sunday, 4.--God renewed our strength, we arose neither faint nor
weary, and resolved to make one trial more, to find out a path to Port
Royal. We steered due east; but finding neither path nor blaze, and
the woods growing thicker and thicker, we judged it would be our best
course to return, if we could, by the way we came. The day before, in
the thickest part of the wood, I had broken many young trees, I knew
not why, as we walked along; these we found a great help in several
places where no path was to be seen; and between one and two God
brought us safe to Benjamin Arieu's house, the old man we left the day
before.
In the evening I read French prayers to a numerous family, a mile from
Arieu's; one of whom undertook to guide us to Port Royal. In the
morning we set out. About sunset, we asked our guide if he knew where
he was; who frankly answered, "No." However, we pushed on till, about
seven, we came to a plantation; and the next evening, after many
difficulties and delays, we landed on Port Royal island.
Wednesday, 7.--We walked to Beaufort, where Mr. Jones, the minister of
Beaufort with whom I lodged during my short stay here, gave me a
lively idea of the old English hospitality. On Thursday Mr. Delamotte
came; with whom, on Friday, 9, I took boat for Charleston. After a
slow passage, by reason of contrary winds and some conflict (our
provisions falling short) with hunger as well as cold, we came thither
early in the morning, on Tuesday, 13.
_________________________________________________________________
Farewell to America
Thursday, 22.--I took my leave of America (though, if it please God,
not forever), going on board the "Samuel," Captain Percy, with a young
gentleman who had been a few months in Carolina, one of my
parishioners of Savannah, and a Frenchman, late of Purrysburg, who was
escaped thence by the skin of his teeth.
Saturday, 24--We sailed over Charleston bar, and about noon lost sight
of land.
The next day the wind was fair, but high, as it was on Sunday 25, when
the sea affected me more than it had done in the sixteen weeks of our
passage to America. I was obliged to lie down the greatest part of the
day, being easy only in that posture.
Monday, 26.--I began instructing a Negro lad in the principles of
Christianity. The next day I resolved to break off living delicately
and return to my old simplicity of diet; and after I did so, neither
my stomach nor my head much complained of the motion of the ship.
1738. Sunday, January 1.--All in the ship, except the captain and
steersman, were present both at the morning and evening service and
appeared as deeply attentive as even the poor people of Frederica did,
while the Word of God was new to their, ears. And it may be, one or
two among these likewise may "bring forth fruit with patience."
Monday, 2.--Being sorrowful and very heavy (though I could give no
particular reason for it), and utterly unwilling to speak close to any
of my little flock (about twenty persons), I was in doubt whether my
neglect of them was not one cause of my own heaviness. In the evening,
therefore, I began instructing the cabin boy; after which I was much
easier.
I went several times the following days, with a design to speak to the
sailors, but could not. I mean, I was quite averse to speaking; I
could not see how to make an occasion, and it seemed quite absurd to
speak without. Is not this what men commonly mean by, "I could not
speak"? And is this a sufficient cause of silence, or no? Is it a
prohibition from the Good Spirit? or a temptation from nature, or the
evil one?
Saturday, 7.--I began to read and explain some passages of the Bible
to the young Negro. The next morning, another Negro who was on board
desired to be a hearer too. From them I went to the poor Frenchman,
who, understanding no English, had none else in the ship with whom he
could converse. And from this time, I read and explained to him a
chapter in the Testament every morning.
_________________________________________________________________
The Voyage to England
Friday, 13.--We had a thorough storm, which obliged us to shut all
close, the sea breaking over the ship continually. I was at first
afraid but cried to God and was strengthened. Before ten, I lay down:
I bless God, without fear. About midnight we were awakened by a
confused noise of seas and wind and men's voices the like of which I
had never heard before. The sound of the sea breaking over and against
the sides of tile ship I could compare to nothing but large cannon, or
American thunder. The rebounding, starting, quivering motion of the
ship much resembled what is said of earthquakes.
The captain was upon deck in an instant. But his men could not hear
what he said. It blew a proper hurricane; which beginning at
southwest, then went west, northwest, north, and, in a quarter of an
hour, round by the east to the southwest point again. At the same time
the sea running, as they term it, mountain-high, and that from many
different points at once, the ship would not obey the helm; nor indeed
could the steersman, through the violent rain, see the compass. So he
was forced to let her run before the wind, and in half an hour the
stress of the storm was over.
Tuesday, 24.--We spoke with two ships, outward bound, from whom we had
the welcome news of our wanting but one hundred and sixty leagues of
the Land's End. My mind was now full of thought; part of which I wrote
down as follows:
"I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall convert
me? who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of
mischief? I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay, and
believe myself, while no danger is near; but let death look me in the
face, and my spirit is troubled. Nor can I say, 'To die is gain!'
I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shorel
"I think, verily, if the gospel be true, I am safe: for I not only
have given, and do give, all my goods to feed the poor; I not only
give my body to be burned, drowned, or whatever God shall appoint for
me; but I follow after charity (though not as I ought, yet as I can),
if haply I may attain it. I now believe the gospel is true. `I show my
faith by my works' by staking my all upon it. I would do so again and
again a thousand times, if the choice were still to make.
"Whoever sees me, sees I would be a Christian. Therefore `are my ways
not like other men's ways.' Therefore I have been, I am, I am content
to be, 'a by-word, a proverb of reproach.' But in a storm I think,
'What, if the gospel be not true? Then thou art of all men most
foolish. For what hast thou given thy goods, thine ease, thy friends,
thy reputation, thy country, thy life? For what art thou wandering
over the face of the earth?--A dream! a cunningly devised fable!'
"Oh! who will deliver me from this fear of death? What shall I do?
Where shall I fly from it? Should I fight against it by thinking, or
by not thinking of it? A wise man advised me some time since, 'Be
still and go on.' Perhaps this is best, to look upon it as my cross;
when it comes to let it humble me and quicken all my good resolutions,
especially that of praying without ceasing; and at other times to take
no thought about it, but quietly to go on `in the work of the Lord.'"
_________________________________________________________________
Lands at Deal
We went on with a small, fair wind, till Thursday in the afternoon;
and then sounding, found a whitish sand at seventy-five fathom; but
having had no observation for several days, the captain began to be
uneasy, fearing we might either get unawares into the Bristol Channel,
or strike in the night on the rocks of Scilly.
Saturday, 28.--Was another cloudy day; but about ten in the morning,
the wind continuing southerly, the clouds began to fly just contrary
to the wind, and, to the surprise of us all, sank so under the sun so
that at noon we had an exact observation; and by this we found we were
as well as we could desire, about eleven leagues south of Scilly.
Sunday, 29.--We saw English land once more; which, about noon,
appeared to be the Lizard Point. We ran by it with a fair wind; and at
noon the next day made the west end of the Isle of Wight.
Here the wind turned against us and in the evening blew fresh so that
we expected (the tide being likewise strong against us) to be driven
some leagues backward in the night; but in morning, to our great
surprise, we saw Beach Head just before us, and found we had gone
forwards near forty miles.
Toward evening was a calm; but in the tight a strong north wind
brought us safe into the Downs. The day before, Mr. Whitefield had
sailed out, neither of us then knowing anything of the other. At four
in the morning we took boat, and in half an hour landed at Deal; it
was Wednesday, February 1, the anniversary festival inGeorgia for Mr.
Oglethorpe's landing there.
It is now two years and almost four months since I left my native
country in order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of
Christianity. But what have I learned myself in the meantime? Why
(what I the least of all suspected), that I who went to America to
convert others was never myself converted to God. [1] "I am not mad,"
though I thus speak; but "I speak the words of truth and soberness";
if haply some of those who still dream may awake and see that as I am,
so are they.
_________________________________________________________________
[1] I am not sure of this.
_________________________________________________________________
In London Again
Wednesday, February 1.--After reading prayers and explaining a portion
of Scripture to a large company at the inn, I left Deal and came in
the evening to Feversham.
I here read prayers and explained the second lesson to a few of those
who were called Christians, but were indeed more savage in their
behavior than the wildest Indians I have yet met with.
Friday, 3.--I came to Mr. Delamotte's, at Blendon, where I expected a
cold reception. But God had prepared the way before me; and I no
sooner mentioned my name than I was welcomed in such a manner as
constrained me to say: "Surely God is in this place, and I knew it
not! Blessed be ye of the Lord! Ye have shown more kindness in the
latter end than in the beginning."
In the evening I came once more to London, whence I had been absent
two years and nearly four months.
Many reasons I have to bless God, though the design I went upon did
not take effect, for my having been carried into that strange land,
contrary to all my preceding resolutions. Hereby I trust He hath in
some measure "humbled me and proved me, and shown me what was in my
heart" [Deut. 8:2]. Hereby I have been taught to "beware of men."
Hereby I am come to know assuredly that if "in all our ways we
acknowledge God, he will," where reason fails, "direct our path" by
lot or by the other means which He knoweth. Hereby I am delivered from
the fear of the sea, which I had both dreaded and abhorred from my
youth.
Hereby God has given me to know many of His servants, particularly
those of the Church of Herrnhut [the Moravians]. Hereby my passage is
opened to the writings of holy men in the German, Spanish, and Italian
tongues. I hope, too, some good may come to others hereby. All in
Georgia have heard the Word of God. Some have believed and have begun
to run well. A few steps have been taken toward publishing the glad
tidings both to the African and American heathens. Many children have
learned "how they ought to serve God" and to be useful to their
neighbor. And those whom it most concerns have an opportunity of
knowing the true state of their infant colony and laying a firmer
foundation of peace and happiness to many generations.
Saturday, 4.--I told my friends some of the reasons which a little
hastened my return to England. They all agreed it would be proper to
relate them to the trustees of Georgia.
Accordingly, the next morning I waited on Mr. Oglethorpe but had not
time to speak on that head. In the afternoon I was desired to preach
at St. John the Evangelist's. I did so on those strong words, "If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature" [II Cor. 5:17]. I was
afterward informed many of the best in the parish were so offended
that I was not to preach there any more.
Monday, 6.--I visited many of my old friends, as well as most of my
relations. I find the time is not yet come when I am to be "hated of
all men." Oh, may I be prepared for that day!
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Wesley Meets Peter Bohler
Tuesday, 7.--(A day much to be remembered.) At the house of Mr.
Weinantz, a Dutch merchant, I met Peter Bohler, Schulius Richter, and
Wensel Neiser, just then landed from Germany. Finding they had no
acquaintance in England, I offered to procure them a lodging and did
so near Mr. Hutton's, where I then was. And from this time I did not
willingly lose any opportunity of conversing with them while I stayed
in London.
Wednesday, 8.--I went to Mr. Oglethorpe again but had no opportunity
of speaking as I designed. Afterward I waited on the board of trustees
and gave them a short but plain account of the state of the colony; an
account, I fear, not a little differing from those which they had
frequently received before, and for which I have reason to believe
some of them have not forgiven me to this day.
Sunday, 12.--I preached at St. Andrew's, Holborn on "Though I give all
my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" [I Cor. 13:3]. Oh, hard
sayings! Who can hear them? Here, too, it seems, I am to preach no
more.
Friday, 17.--I set out for Oxford with Peter Bohler, where we were
kindly received by Mr. Sarney, the only one now remaining here of many
who, at our embarking for America, were used to "take sweet counsel
together" and rejoice in "bearing the reproach of Christ."
Saturday, 18.--We went to Stanton Harcourt. The next day I preached
once more at the castle in Oxford, to a numerous and serious
congregation.
All this time I conversed much with Peter Bohler, but I understood him
not; and least of all when he said, "My brother, my brother, that
philosophy of yours must be purged away."
Monday, 20.--I returned to London. On Tuesday I preached at Great St.
Helen's on "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross daily, and follow me" [Luke 9:23].
Sunday, 26.--I preached at six, at St. Lawrence's; at ten, in St.
Catherine Cree's Church; and in the afternoon, at St. John's, Wapping.
I believe it pleased God to bless the first sermon most, because it
gave most offense; being, indeed, an open defiance of that mystery of
iniquity which the world calls "prudence," grounded on those words of
St. Paul to the Galatians, "As many as desire to make a fair show in
the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should
suffer persecution for the cross of Christ" [Gal. 6:12].
Monday, 27.--I took coach for Salisbury and had several opportunities
of conversing seriously with my fellow travelers.
Tuesday, 28.--I saw my mother once more. The next day I prepared for
my journey to my brother at Tiverton. But on Thursday morning, March
2, a message that my brother Charles was dying at Oxford obliged me to
set out for that place immediately. Calling at an odd house in the
afternoon, I found several persons there who seemed well-wishers to
religion, to whom I spake plainly; as I did in the evening both to the
servants and strangers at my inn.
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Wesley's Four Resolutions
With regard to my own behavior, I now renewed and wrote down my former
resolutions.
1. To use absolute openness and unreserve with all I should converse
with.
2. To labor after continual seriousness, not willingly indulging
myself in any the least levity of behavior, or in laughter; no, not
for a moment.
3. To speak no word which does not tend to the glory of God; in
particular, not to talk of worldly things. Others may, nay, must. But
what is that to thee? And,
4. To take no pleasure which does not tend to the glory of God;
thanking God every moment for all I do take, and therefore rejecting
every sort and degree of it which I feel I cannot so thank Him in and
for.
Saturday, March 4.--I found my brother at Oxford, recovering from his
pleurisy; and with him Peter Bohler; by whom, in the hand of the great
God, I was, on Sunday, the fifth, clearly convinced of unbelief, of
the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved.
Immediately it struck into my mind, "Leave off preaching. How can you
preach to others, who have not faith yourself?" I asked Bohler whether
he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered, "By no means." I
asked, "But what can I preach?" He said, "Preach faith till you have
it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith."
Accordingly, Monday, 6, I began preaching this new doctrine, though my
soul started back from the work. The first person to whom I offered
salvation by faith alone was a prisoner under sentence of death. His
name was Clifford. Peter Bohler had many times desired me to speak to
him before. But I could not prevail on myself so to do; being still,
as I had been many years, a zealous asserter of the impossibility of a
deathbed repentance.
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Incidents on the Manchester Road
Tuesday, 14.--I set out for Manchester with Mr. Kinchin, fellow of
Corpus Christi, and Mr. Fox, late a prisoner in the city prison.
About eight, it being rainy and very dark, we lost our way; but before
nine, came to Shipston, having ridden over, I know not how, a narrow
footbridge, which lay across a deep ditch near the town. After supper
I read prayers to the people of the inn and explained the second
lesson; I hope not in vain.
The next day we dined at Birmingham; and, soon after we left it, were
reproved for our negligence there, in letting those who attended us go
without either exhortation or instruction, by a severe shower of hail.
In the evening we came to Stafford. The mistress of the house joined
with us in family prayer. The next morning one of the servants
appeared deeply affected, as did the hostler, before we went. Soon
after breakfast, stepping into the stable, I spoke a few words to
those who were there. A stranger who heard me said, "Sir, I wish I
were to travel with you"; and when I went into the house, followed me
and began abruptly, "Sir, I believe you are a good man, and I come to
tell you a little of my life." The tears stood in his eyes all the
time he spoke; and we hoped not a word which was said to him was lost.
At Newcastle, whither we came about ten, some to whom we spoke at our
inn were very attentive; but a gay young woman waited on us, quite
unconcerned: however, we spoke on. When we went away, she fixed her
eyes and neither moved nor said one word but appeared as much
astonished as if she had seen one risen from the dead.
Coming to Holms Chapel about three, we were surprised at being shown
into a room where a cloth and plates were laid. Soon after two men
came in to dinner, Mr. Kinchin told them, if they pleased, that
gentleman would ask a blessing for them. They stared and, as it were,
consented; but sat still while I did it, one of them with his hat on.
We began to speak on turning to God, and went on, though they appeared
utterly regardless. After a while their countenances changed, and one
of them stole off his hat; laying it down behind him, he said that all
we said was true; but he had been a grievous sinner and not considered
it as he ought; but he was resolved, with God's help, now to turn to
Him in earnest. We exhorted him and his companion, who now likewise
drank in every word, to cry mightily to God that He would "send them
help from his holy place."
Late at night we reached Manchester.
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Companions on Horseback
Friday, 17.--Early in the morning we left Manchester, taking with us
Mr. Kinchin's brother, for whom we came, to be entered at Oxford. We
were fully determined to lose no opportunity of awakening,
instructing, or exhorting any whom we might meet with in our journey.
At Knutsford, where we first stopped, all we spake to thankfully
received the word of exhortation. But at Talk-on-the-hill, where we
dined, she with whom we were was so much of a gentlewoman that for
nearly an hour our labor seemed to be in vain. However, we spoke on.
Upon a sudden, she looked as one just awakened out of a sleep. Every
word sank into her heart. Nor have I seen so entire a change both in
the eyes, face, and manner of speaking of anyone in so short a time.
About five, Mr. Kinchin riding by a man and woman double-horsed, the
man said, "Sir, you ought to thank God it is a fair day; for if it
rained, you would be sadly dirty with your little horse." Mr. Kinchin
answered, "True; and we ought to thank God for our life, and health,
and food, and raiment, and all things." He then rode on, Mr. Fox
following, the man said, "Sir, my mistress would be glad to have some
more talk with that gentleman." We stayed, and when they came up,
began to search one another's hearts. They came to us again in the
evening, at our inn at Stone, where I explained both to them and many
of their acquaintance who were come together, that great
truth--godliness hath the promise both of this life and of that which
is to come.
Tuesday, 21.--Between nine and ten we came to Hedgeford. In the
afternoon one overtook us whom we soon found more inclined to speak
than to hear. However, we spoke and spared not. In the evening we
overtook a young man, a Quaker, who afterward came to us, to our inn
at Henley, whither he sent for the rest of his family, to join with us
in prayer; to which I added, as usual, the exposition of the second
lesson. Our other companion went with us a mile or two in the morning;
and then not only spoke less than the day before but took in good part
a serious caution against talkativeness and vanity.
An hour after we were overtaken by an elderly gentleman who said he
was going to enter his son at Oxford. We asked, "At what college?" He
said he did not know, having no acquaintance there on whose
recommendation he could depend. After some conversation, he expressed
a deep sense of the good providence of God; and told us he knew God
had cast us in his way in answer to his prayer. In the evening we
reached Oxford, rejoicing in our having received so many fresh
instances of that great truth, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and
he shall direct thy paths" [Prov. 3:6].
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Preaches in Oxford Castle
Thursday, 23.--I met Peter Bohler again, who now amazed me more and
more by the account he gave of the fruits of living faith--the
holiness and happiness which he affirmed to attend it. The next
morning I began the Greek Testament again, resolving to abide by "the
law and the testimony"; I was confident that God would hereby show me
whether this doctrine was of God.
Monday, 27.--Mr. Kinchin went with me to the castle, where, after
reading prayers and preaching on "It is appointed unto men once to
die," we prayed with the condemned man, first in several forms of
prayer and then in such words as were given us in that hour. He
kneeled down in much heaviness and confusion, having "no rest in" his
"bones, by reason of" his "sins." After a space he rose up, and
eagerly said, "I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my
sins; and there is no more condemnation for me." The same composed
cheerfulness he showed when he was carried to execution; and in his
last moments he was the same, enjoying a perfect peace, in confidence
that he was "accepted in the Beloved."
Sunday, April 2.--Being Easter day, I preached in our college chapel
on "The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of
the son of God: and they that hear shall live" [John 5:25]. I preached
in the afternoon, first at the castle, and then at Carfax, on the same
words. I see the promise, but it is afar off.
Believing it would be better for me to wait for the accomplishment of
it in silence and retirement, on Monday, 3, I complied with Mr.
Kinchin's desire and went to him at Dummer, in Hampshire. But I was
not suffered to stay here long, being earnestly pressed to come up to
London, if it were only for a few days. Thither, therefore, I
returned, on Tuesday, 18.
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Talks with Bohler
I asked P. Bohler again whether I ought not to refrain from teaching
others. He said, "No; do not hide in the earth the talent God hath
given you." Accordingly, on Tuesday, 25, I spoke clearly and fully at
Blendon to Mr. Delamotte's family of the nature and fruits of faith.
Mr. Broughton and my brother were there. Mr. Broughton's great
objection was he could never think that I had not faith, who had done
and suffered such things. My brother was very angry and told me I did
not know what mischief I had done by talking thus. And, indeed, it did
please God then to kindle a fire, which I trust shall never be
extinguished.
On Wednesday, 26, the day fixed for my return to Oxford, I once more
waited on the trustees for Georgia; but, being straitened for time,
was obliged to leave the papers for them, which I had designed to give
into their own hands. One of these was the instrument whereby they had
appointed me minister of Savannah; which, having no more place in
those parts, I thought it not right to keep any longer.
P. Bohler walked with me a few miles and exhorted me not to stop short
of the grace of God. At Gerard's Cross I plainly declared to those
whom God gave into my hands the faith as it is in Jesus: as I did next
day to a young man I overtook on the road and in the evening to our
friends at Oxford. A strange doctrine, which some who did not care to
contradict yet knew not what to make of; but one or two, who were
thoroughly bruised by sin, willingly heard and received it gladly.
In the day or two following, I was much confirmed in the "truth that
is after godliness" by hearing the experiences of Mr. Hutchins, of
Pembroke College, and Mrs. Fox: two living witnesses that God can (at
least, if He does not always) give that faith whereof cometh salvation
in a moment, as lightning falling from heaven.
Monday, May 1.--The return of my brother's illness obliged me again to
hasten to London. In the evening I found him at James Hutton's, better
as to his health than I expected; but strongly averse to what he
called "the new faith."
This evening our little society began, which afterward met in Fetter
Lane.
Wednesday, 3.--My brother had a long and particular conversation with
Peter Bohler. And it now pleased God to open his eyes so that he also
saw clearly what was the nature of that one true living faith, whereby
alone, "through grace, we are saved."
Thursday, 4.--Peter Bohler left London in order to embark for
Carolina. Oh, what a work hath God begun since his coming into
England! Such a one as shall never come to an end till heaven and
earth pass away.
Sunday, 7.--I preached at St. Lawrence's in the morning, and afterward
at St. Katherine Cree's Church. I was enabled to speak strong words at
both; and was therefore the less surprised at being informed that I
was not to preach any more in either of those churches.
Sunday, 14.--I preached in the morning at St. Ann's, Aldersgate; and
in the afternoon at the Savoy Chapel, free salvation by faith in the
blood of Christ. I was quickly apprised that at St. Ann's, likewise, I
am to preach no more.
Friday, 19.--My brother had a second return of his pleurisy. A few of
us spent Saturday night in prayer. The next day, being Whitsunday,
after hearing Dr. Heylyn preach a truly Christian sermon (on "They
were all filled with the Holy Ghost." "And so," said he, "may all you
be, if it is not your own fault"), and assisting him at the holy
communion (his curate being taken ill in the church), I received the
surprising news that my brother had found rest to his soul. His bodily
strength returned also from that hour. "Who is so great a God as our
God?"
I preached at St. John's, Wapping at three and at St. Bennett's,
Paul's Wharf, in the evening. At these churches, likewise, I am to
preach no more. at St. Antholin's I preached on the Thursday
following.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I had continual sorrow and heaviness
in my heart.
Wednesday, May 24.--I think it was about five this morning that I
opened my Testament on those words, "There are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the
divine nature" [II Peter 1:4]. Just as I went out, I opened it again
on those words, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God" [Mark
12:34]. In the afternoon I was asked to go to St. Paul's. The anthem
was, "Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my
voice. Oh, let Thine ears co
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection
