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1752

At Wickham, he met with a remarkable case. Mrs. Armstrong, before whose house he preached, was an old lady of Age 49 more than fourscore years of age. From childhood, the Bible had been her companion; but recently, on mounting her spectacles, she was not able to see a word. She took them off; looked again; and could read as well as her daughter could. "From that hour, she could not only read without spectacles, but sew, or thread the finest needle, with the same ease as when she was thirty."

At Barnard Castle, the mob was numerous and loud. The rabble fetched out the fire engine to play upon the congregation; but John Monkhouse, great grandfather of the late Rev. Thomas Monkhouse, seized the pipe, and diverted the stream from Wesley, so that, as he remarks, "not a drop fell on him." 1

From Barnard Castle, Wesley made his way to Whitehaven, intending to embark for Ireland; but the master of the ship set sail without him. Upon this, he made an excursion into Lancashire and the west of Yorkshire. He spent two days with his clerical friend, the Rev. Mr. Milner, at Chipping, and preached in the parish church to "such a congregation as was never seen there before."

At Heptonstall, "an attorney endeavoured to interrupt, by relating low and threadbare stories; but the people cut him short" in his harangue, "by carrying him quietly away."

At Todmorden, Wesley found the clergyman "slowly recovering from a violent fit of the palsy, with which he was struck immediately after he had been preaching a violent sermon against the Methodists." The following items appear in the Todmorden circuit book. "1752, June 9.-Received of Mr. Grimshaw towards the maintenance of Mr. Wesley and others, in all, six shillings." As further curiosities of Methodism we give other extracts from the same book for 1752. "April 20.-For William Darney, foreside of his waistcoat, 7s." "For trimming for his coat, 9s. 11d." "To him for his wife, 20s." "May 5.-For friends at quarterly meeting, Is. 3d." "June 9.-Paid to James Heanworth for Mr. Wesley and others, in all, 12s. 2d." " August 14-Paid to

1 "Memoir of Rev. T. Monkhouse," p. 4.

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William Marshall when in a strait, 5s." " December 14.-For Age 49 writing paper, ¿d.”

At Mellar Barn, Wesley's bedroom served "both for a bedchamber and a cellar. The closeness was more troublesome at first than the coolness; but he let in a little fresh air, by breaking a pane of paper in the window; and then slept sound till morning."

As a specimen of Wesley's itinerant troubles, we give the following extract from his Journal.

"1752, June 15.—I had many little trials in this journey, of a kind I had not known before. I had borrowed a young, strong mare when I set out from Manchester; but she fell lame before I got to Grimsby. I procured another, but was dismounted again between Newcastle and Berwick. At my return to Manchester I took my own; but she had lamed herself in the pasture. I thought, nevertheless, to ride her four or five miles to-day; but she was gone out of the ground, and we could hear nothing of her. However, I comforted myself that I had another at Manchester, which I had lately bought; but when I came thither, I found one had borrowed her, and rode her away to Chester."

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By some means, he rode to Chester on June 20, where "a poor alehouse keeper seemed disgusted, spoke a harmless word, and run away with speed." While preaching “in the square," a man screamed and hallooed as loud as he could, but none regarded him. A few of the rabble, most of them drunk, laboured much to make a disturbance; but the far greater part of the congregation, the gentry in particular, were seriously and deeply attentive." A few days afterwards, however, the mob made the Methodist meeting-house a heap of ruins. On July 10, Wesley and his wife got back to Whitehaven.

In the midst of these labours and journeyings, Wesley wrote as follows, to his friend, Mr. Ebenezer Blackwell.

"NEWCASTLE, May 23, 1752.

"DEAR SIR,-I want your advice. T. Butts sends me word that, after our printers' bills are paid, the money remaining, received by the sale of the books, does not amount to £100 a year. It seems, therefore, absolutely necessary to determine one of these three things:—either to lessen the expense of printing, which I see no way of doing, unless by printing myself; or to increase the income from the books, and how this can be done I know not; or to give up those eighty-six copies, which are specified in my brother's deed, to himself, to manage them as he pleases.

Wesley and his Wife in Ireland.

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Age 49

"The people in all these parts are much alive to God, being generally plain, and simple of heart. Here I should spend the greatest part of my life, if I were to follow my own inclinations. But I am not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.

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"I am, dear sir, your ever affectionate servant,
"JOHN WESLEY."1

Wesley set sail, from Whitehaven, for Dublin, on July 13, and, after a passage of four days, arrived in safety. The new chapel was ready, and he describes it as "nearly of the same size and form" as that at Newcastle, with the exception, that on three sides it had deep galleries. The society consisted of about four hundred and twenty members, many of whom "were much shaken, chiefly by various opinions, which some even of his own preachers had propagated."

The following extract from a letter, written three days after his arrival in Dublin, may be acceptable :

"DUBLIN, July 20, 1752.

"DEAR SIR,-Finding no ship ready to sail, either at Bristol or Chester, we at length came back to Whitehaven, and embarked on Monday last. It is generally a passage of four-and-twenty hours; but the wind continuing contrary all the way, we did not reach this place till Friday evening. My wife and Jenny were extremely sick, particularly when we had a rolling sea. They are already much better than when they landed.

"Last month, a large mob assaulted the new house here, and did considerable damage. Several of the rioters were committed to Newgate. The bills were found against them all, and they were tried ten days since ; but, in spite of the clearest evidence, a packed jury brought them in, Not guilty. I believe, however, the very apprehension and trial of them has struck a terror into their companions. We now enjoy great quietness, and can even walk unmolested through the principal streets in Dublín." 2

Shortly after, he wrote as follows to his brother Charles.

66 "ATHLONE, August 8, 1752. "DEAR BROTHER,-Some of our preachers here have peremptorily affirmed, that you are not so strict as me; that you neither practise, nor enforce, nor approve of, the rules of the bands. I suppose, they mean those which condemn needless self indulgence, and recommend the means of grace, fasting in particular; which is well-nigh forgotten throughout this nation. I think it would be of use, if you wrote without delay, and explain yourself at large.

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They have, likewise, openly affirmed, that you agree with Mr. White

1 Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 165.

2 Ibid. vol. xii., p. 166.

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Age 49

field touching perseverance, at least, if not predestination too. Is it not highly expedient, that you should write explicitly and strongly on this head likewise?

"Perhaps the occasion of this latter affirmation was, that both you and I have often granted an absolute, unconditional election of some, together with a conditional election of all men. I did incline to this scheme for many years; but of late I have doubted it more and more: First, because all the texts which I used to think supported it, I now think, prove either more or less; either absolute reprobation and election, or neither. Secondly, because I find this opinion serves all the ill purposes of absolute predestination; particularly that of supporting infallible perseverance. Talk with any that holds it, and so you will find.

"On Friday and Saturday next is our little conference at Limerick. We join in love.” 1

No one reading Charles Wesley's hymns will, for a moment, entertain the accusation, that he sympathised with the Calvinian tenets of his friend Whitefield; and yet, remembering, that he and the Countess of Huntingdon were now living in terms of the most intimate friendship; and, that he was frequently preaching and administering the sacrament in her ladyship's house, it is not surprising, that such a report should have become current. As to the other point, that Charles Wesley did not approve of and enforce some of the rules of the society, we incline to think, that this was true; and that there was already an amount of shyness between the brothers, which soon afterwards threatened to become something serious.

The Limerick conference (the first in Ireland) was held on the 14th and 15th days of August. Oddly enough, there are in existence two manuscripts, written by preachers present at the conference, and containing its minutes and appointments. One of them, in my own possession, was given by an aunt of Philip Guier, to the Rev. Samuel Wood, who published a copy of it in the Irish Methodist Magazine for 1807. The other manuscript is in the handwriting of Jacob Rowell, and is now possessed by Mr. John Steele, of Chester. It is from Rowell's manuscript that the editor of the new edition of the minutes, published in 1862, printed the minutes of the Limerick conference contained in that volume.

From these important documents we learn, that there was

1 Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 106.

Irish Conference in 1752.

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a general decay of the societies in Ireland, partly occasioned by the teaching of antinomian and Calvinian doctrines; partly Age 49 by the want of discipline; and partly by the misbehaviour of preachers. All the itinerants present (ten in number) declared, that they did not believe in the doctrine of absolute predestination; but three of them added: "We believe there are some persons absolutely elected; but we believe, likewise, that Christ died for all; that God willeth not the death of any man; and that thousands are saved that are not absolutely elected. We believe, further, that those who are thus elected cannot finally fall; but we believe other believers may fall, and that those who were once justified may perish everlastingly."

Let Wesley's letter to his brother be read in the light of this extract from the Limerick minutes, and the one will help to explain the other. We have here an instance of Wesley tolerating a difference in doctrine among his preachers, so long as fundamental truths were not impugned. This might be wise or it might not; but the fact itself is a fact worth noticing.

It was resolved, however, that, in future, no man should be received as a fellow labourer unless he thoroughly agreed to both Methodist doctrine and discipline; and that, if any preacher revolted from this agreement, letters should be sent to all the societies, disowning him.

It was, also, decided, that if a man was not able to preach twice a day, he should be only a local preacher; that, of the two, it was better to give up the evening preaching in a place than the morning; that the congregations must constantly kneel in prayer, and stand both in singing and while the text was read, and be serious and silent while the service lasted, and when coming and going away. Persons not having band tickets were not to be permitted to be present at the public meeting of the bands, for this would make the tickets cheap, and would discourage those who had them. Preachers were to be allowed £8, at least, and if possible £10 a year for clothing; and £10 a year were to be allowed for the support of each preacher's wife. The preachers were to preach frequently and strongly on fasting; and were to practise it every Friday, health permitting. Next to luxury, they were to

VOL. II.

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