1751 Age 48 remove; and, therefore, says he, "let the living oracles decide. If these speak for us, we neither seek nor want further witness." He clearly shows, that Calvinists constantly avail themselves of two fallacies. "1. They perpetually beg the question by applying, to particular persons, texts which relate only to the church in general; and some of them only to the Jewish church and nation, as distinguished from all other people. 2. They take for granted, as an indisputable truth, that whatever our Lord speaks to, or of His apostles, is to be applied to all believers." 6. Eleven volumes of the "Christian Library," from Vol. II. to Vol. XII. inclusive, and making altogether three thousand two hundred and fifty 12m0 printed pages. Vol. II. contains a continuation of John Arndt's "True Christianity." Vols. III. to VI., inclusive, are occupied with an abridgment of Fox's Book of Martyrs; and Vols. VII. to XII. with extracts from the works of Bishop Hall, Robert Bolton, Dr. Preston, Dr. Sibbes, Dr. Goodwin, William Dell, and Dr. Manton. THE HE year 1752 is skipped by the whole of Wesley's biographers; and yet it was not devoid of incident. Charles Wesley was now on terms of intimate friendship with the Countess of Huntingdon, and frequently preached and administered the sacrament in her ladyship's house, to personages of great distinction.1 Whitefield arrived from America in the month of May; in June set out on a tour to Wales and the west of England; and in August to the north and to Scotland. The last six weeks of the year he spent in London, and began to take steps towards the erection of the Tabernacle in Moorfields. He was considerably annoyed at the publication of Wesley's tract on final perseverance, and, on February 5, wrote as follows: "Poor Mr. Wesley is striving against the stream. Strong assertions will not go for proofs with those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit even unto the day of redemption." Several of Wesley's itinerants began to be disloyal to their chiefs; and this led to the following document being signed with the names appended. "January 29, 1752. It is agreed by us whose names are underwritten, "1. That we will not listen, or willingly inquire after any ill concerning each other. "2. That, if we do hear any ill of each other, we will not be forward to believe it. "3. That, as soon as possible, we will communicate what we hear, by speaking or writing to the person concerned. "4. That, till we have done this, we will not write or speak a syllable of it, to any other person whatever. "5. That neither will we mention it, after we have done this, to any other person. 1 "Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon," vol. ii., p. 380. 2 Whitefield's Works, vol. ii., p. 428. 1752 Age 49 1752 Age 49 "6. That we will not make any exception to any of these rules, unless we think ourselves absolutely obliged in conscience so to do. Seven weeks later, another document, dated March 16, 1752, was drawn up and signed, chiefly through the influence of Charles Wesley.2 "WE whose names are underwritten, being clearly and fully convinced, (1) That the success of the present work of God does in great measure depend on the entire union of all the labourers employed therein; (2) that our present call is chiefly to the members of that Church wherein we have been brought up ;—are absolutely determined, by the grace of God, (1) To abide in the closest union with each other, and never knowingly or willingly to hear, speak, do, or suffer anything which tends to weaken that union; (2) never to leave the communion of the Church of England without the consent of all whose names are subjoined. "CHARLES Wesley, JOHN WESLEY, WILLIAM SHENT, JOHN JONES, JOHN DOWNES, These are curious and important papers, showing that, to a great extent, suspicion had taken the place of confidence, and that Methodism was in danger from "false brethren." On Sunday, March 15, Wesley set out from London, on his long northern journey, which, with his tour to Ireland, occupied his time for seven months. All the way to Manchester, which he reached on March 26, he encountered a continued succession of storms of wind and snow, but was not deterred from preaching, even in the open air. At Manchester, he went, on Good Friday, to the cathedral, where his old friend, Mr. Clayton, read the prayers "more distinctly, solemnly, and gracefully" than he had ever heard them read. He spent three days in a searching examination of the members of the Manchester society, and found reason to believe, "that there was not one disorderly walker therein." 1 Jackson's Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 576. 2 Life of Rev. S. Walker, p. 201. Methodist Magazine, 1847, p. 869. A Rough Reception at Hull. 139 At Birstal, he preached out of doors, and was surprised to find, that those of the congregation who were a hundred and forty yards distant, distinctly heard him. At Leeds, he preached in the new chapel. At Wakefield, in the church, and writes: "Who would have expected to see me preaching in Wakefield church, to so attentive a congregation, a few years ago, when all the people were as roaring lions; and the honest man did not dare to let me preach in his yard, lest the mob should pull down his houses?" At Sheffield, he preached "in the shell of the new house"; and says, "All is peace here now, since the trial at York, at which the magistrates were sentenced to rebuild the house which the mob had pulled down." At Epworth, he found his coarse, ignorant, wicked brotherin-law, Richard Ellison, who had farmed his own estate, reduced to poverty. All his cows were dead, and all his horses, excepting one. For two years past, all his meadow land had been flooded; his money and means were gone; and Wesley recommended him to Ebenezer Blackwell, as a fitting object to be relieved out of the funds disposed of by Mr. Butterfield. Nine years afterwards, Charles Wesley buried him. On landing at Hull, the quay was covered with people, inquiring, "Which is he? Which is he?" But, for the present, they only stared, inquired, and laughed. At night he preached, "a huge multitude, rich and poor, horse and foot, with several coaches," being gathered together at Mighton-Car. Thousands gave serious attention; "but many behaved as if possessed by Moloch. Clods and stones flew on every side." A gentlewoman invited Wesley and his wife into her carriage, in which were six persons, besides herself, already. Wesley writes: "There were nine of us in the coach, three on each side, and three in the middle. The mob closely attended us, throwing in at the windows whatever came next to hand; but a large gentlewoman, who sat in my lap, screened me, so that nothing came near me." On arriving at his lodgings, the windows were smashed, and, till midnight, he and his host were, more or less, saluted with oaths, curses, stones, and 1 Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 165. 1752 Age 49 1752 brick-bats. This was a rough reception, and Wesley did not Age 49 repeat his visit for seven years. From Hull, Wesley and his wife proceeded to Pocklington, where he had been announced to preach, though there was no society, and scarcely a converted person in the town. The room, which had been provided for the preaching, was five yards square, which Wesley reasonably enough thought too small. A yard was looked at, but it was plentifully furnished with stones, and Wesley's experience taught him that these might be dangerous artillery in the hands of the "devil's drunken companions." At last, a gentleman offered a large commodious barn, in which Wesley had the most blessed season of refreshing that he had had since his leaving London. At York, a magistrate had stuck up in public places, and distributed in private houses, part of Lavington's Papists and Methodists Compared; and hence, as soon as Wesley and his spouse passed through the city gates, they were saluted with bitter curses. At Osmotherley, he visited a scoffer at all religion, who was either raving mad, or possessed of the devil. The woman told him, that the devil had appeared and talked to her for some time, the day before, and had leaped upon, and grievously tormented her ever since. Wesley says: "We prayed with her. Her agonies ceased. She fell asleep, and awoke in the morning calm and easy." Osmotherley tradition says, that the name of this maniac was Elizabeth Whitfield. Wesley reached Newcastle, the centre of his northern peregrinations, on April 30. At Sunderland, he "found one of the liveliest societies in the north of England. This," says he, "is the effect of their being so much under the law, as to scruple, one and all, the buying even milk on a Sunday." He preached at Alemouth, and made this remarkable entry in his Journal: "How plain an evidence have we here, that even our outward work, even the societies, are not of man's building! With all our labour and skill, we cannot, in nine years' time, form a society in this place; even though there is none that opposes, poor or rich; nay, though the two richest men in the town, and the only gentlemen there, have done all which was in their power to further it." |