A Scathing Poem. The dupes of sly, Romish, itinerant liars, 191 1754 Age 51 The spawn of French Prophets, and mendicant friars ; Such were some of the choice epithets heaped upon Wesley and his helpers by this refined and accomplished son of Æsculapius. On September 27, Wesley thought he "had strength enough to keep a watchnight, which he had not done before for eleven months;" but, at eleven o'clock, he almost lost his voice; and, the next evening, at Weavers' Hall, Bristol, it entirely failed. He now set out for London, halting at Salisbury on the way. While here, he walked to Old Sarum, "which," says he, "in spite of common sense, without house or inhabitants, still sends two members to the parliament." On October 4, he arrived in London, where he seems to have continued during the remainder of the year. It was a year of great feebleness and affliction; but Wesley, though an invalid, crowded into it as much work as would have been done by any ordinary man in the best of health. What were the works he published? 1. "An Extract of the Rev. John Wesley's Journal, from November 25, 1746, to July 20, 1749." 12mo, 139pages. 2. "An Answer to all which the Rev. Dr. Gill has printed on the Final Perseverance of the Saints." 12mo, 12 pages. This is a poem of thirty-seven stanzas of eight lines each, many of which are scorchingly sarcastic. The tract is now extremely scarce, and hence we give the following lengthened quotations. The devil, addressing the elect, is made to say "God is unchangeable, And therefore so are you, And therefore they can never fail, In part perhaps you may, You cannot wholly fall, Cannot become a castaway, 1 "Methodism in Frome," p. 11. Wesley's Publications in 1754. 193 1754 Age 51 They shall not vex it so, By bidding it take heed; Still bowing down your head. Your griefs and fears reject, Only believe yourself Elect, And all the work is done." The above will give the reader an idea of this rare and curious tract. 3. During the year 1754, Wesley also published eight additional volumes of his "Christian Library," from Vol. XXXIV. to Vol. XLI. inclusive, and containing invaluable extracts from the works of Dr. Goodman, Archbishop Leighton, Dr. Isaac Barrow, Dr. Samuel Annesley, Dr. Henry More, Dr. Stephen Charnock, Dr. Edmund Calamy, Dr. Richard Lucas, Bishop Reynolds, Richard Baxter, Madame Bourignon, and others. VOL. II. 1755 Age 52 A1 1755. T the commencement of 1755, Wesley complied with the wish of his old friend, the Rev. James Hervey, and began a revision of Hervey's greatest work, which, soon after, was published, in three octavo volumes, with the title "Theron and Aspasio; or, a Series of Dialogues and Letters upon the most important and interesting subjects." Wesley's revision, however, was not to Hervey's taste. The manuscript of the first three dialogues (which make 129 printed pages) was sent, and was returned "with a few inconsiderable corrections." Hervey was not satisfied with this, and told Wesley, that he was not acting the part of a friend unless he took greater liberties in literary lopping. On Wesley promising that he would, the manuscript was a second time submitted for the purpose of being pruned. Wesley's alterations were now of a more important character; and Hervey was as much dissatisfied with the excessive as he had been with the insufficient parings. Wesley's work was ended. He was not again consulted. He had revised only 129 pages out of more than 1300; but even that was more than he got thanks for doing. Hence the following, which Hervey addressed to Lady Frances Shirley, to whom the book was dedicated. "WESTON, January 9, 1755. “... Mr. John Wesley takes me very roundly to task, on the score of predestination; at which I am much surprised. A reader, ten times less penetrating than he is, may easily see that this doctrine (be it true or false) makes no part of my scheme; never comes under consideration; is purposely and carefully avoided. I cannot but fear, he has some sinister design. Put the wolf's skin on the sheep, and the flock will shun him; the dogs will worry him. I do not charge such an artifice, but sometimes I cannot help forming a suspicion. If I live to do myself the honour of writing again to your ladyship, I hope you will give me leave to relate the whole affair, as it stands between Mr. Wesley and myself."2 1 Wesley's Works, vol. x., p. 305. 2 Hervey's Letters to Lady Frances Shirley, 1783, p. 222. On the 1st of April, Wesley set out, from Bristol, on a 1755 three months' journey to the north of England. Birmingham Age 52 is described as "a barren, dry, uncomfortable place. Most of the seed," he writes, "which has been sown for so many years, the 'wild boars' have rooted up; the fierce, unclean, brutish, blasphemous antinomians have utterly destroyed it. And the mystic foxes have taken true pains to spoil what remained, with their new gospel." At Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, he formed a society of eighteen persons, one of whom was "Miss Beresford,-a sweet, but short lived flower," who, two years afterwards, exchanged earth for heaven. At Hayfield, Wesley was the guest of the Rev. William Baddiley, a sort of second Grimshaw,-a clergyman, who had formed a number of irregular societies, and who had committed the audacious act of employing laymen to assist him. A few hours before Wesley's arrival, Mr. Baddiley's favourite daughter died, and it was Wesley's task to bury her, and to preach to such a congregation as could scarcely have been expected in the Peak of Derbyshire. In the course of his sermon, Wesley had occasion to refer to the text in Ecclesiastes, stating that there is "a time to dance," and observed, "I know of no such time, except it be a time analogous to that in which David danced before the ark." "Be careful," he added, "that you don't dance yourselves into hell." This gave great offence to some of his auditors, who had dancing proclivities; and, as if to defy the itinerant parson, a dancing master was immediately engaged, and a school opened for teaching Mr. Baddiley's parishioners the art of gracefully tripping, on light fantastic toe, the downward path to the place of horrors with which Wesley had dared to threaten them. The dancing was in an alehouse. The alehousekeeper had an only child, whom the fiddling and the dancing exceedingly distressed. The child cried, and said, "I'll not stay here: I'll go home." He ran into the fields, and, being asked by some one whither he was going, answered, "Home." At the next dancing party, he was put 1 Methodist Magazine, 1779, p. 375. |