1765 deserved the eulogium on his monument in Portland chapel, Age 62 Bristol: "Brave, active, courageous, faithful, zealous, and successful."

Wesley left Bristol on October 21, and reached London three days afterwards. On October 28, he writes: "I breakfasted with Mr. Whitefield, who seemed to be an old, old man, being fairly worn out in his Master's service, though he has hardly seen fifty years; and yet it pleases God, that I, who am now in my sixty-third year, find no disorder, no weakness, no decay, no difference from what I was at five-and-twenty; only that I have fewer teeth, and more grey hairs."

During the first week in December, Wesley paid a visit to the societies at Canterbury, Dover, Margate, and Faversham. At Canterbury, he found all the members, without exception, "upright and blameless in their behaviour." At Dover, where the Methodists met in a cooper's shop, some had formerly indulged in smuggling, but they had ceased to "rob the king," and were now in prosperity.

At Margate, the society were "earnestly opposed" by the parson of the parish, who thought he was "doing God service." At Faversham, says Wesley, "the mob and the magistrates had agreed together to drive Methodism out of the town. After preaching, I told them what we had been constrained to do by the magistrate at Rolvenden; who, perhaps, would have been richer, by some hundred pounds, had he never meddled with the Methodists; concluding, 'Since we have both God and the law on our side, if we can have peace by fair means, we had much rather; but if not, we will have peace.'"

From a manuscript, written by Miss Perronet, we learn that, five months before Wesley's visit to Faversham, Mrs. Pizing had gone to Canterbury, to consult with Charles Perronet, respecting her husband, who had been threatened with expulsion from the situation he held, if he continued to attend the Methodist services at Faversham, or entertained the preachers at his house. The mob, also, were determined to assault the congregation, and to punish them with vengeance. Charles Perronet exhorted Mrs. Pizing and her husband to continue faithful; and Miss Perronet went to visit them. During her stay, many of the female members, as

sisters Butler, Godfrey, Pizing, Clark, Whitehead, and 1765 Rigden, found peace with God; and there was, what Miss Age 62 Perronet designates, "a blessed work of God among them." These were some of the poor Methodists threatened by the mob and magistrates of Faversham.

Wesley's friendship with the Perronet family was of long standing, and was unabated. On December 15, he buried the remains of Henry, one of the vicar's sons, who "had been a child of sorrow from his infancy," but who died in hope and happiness. Wesley spent some days at the Shoreham parsonage, endeavouring to comfort his old and faithful friend; he himself suffering at the time from a serious accident, which occurred to him while he was on his way to the house of mourning. In riding through Southwark, his horse fell, with Wesley's leg under it. A gentleman picked him up, and took him into an adjoining shop, where he was exceeding sick, but was relieved by hartshorn and water. After a brief rest, he called a coach, and proceeded on his journey, but soon found himself severely bruised in his right arm, his breast, his knee, his leg, and ankle, all of which were greatly swollen. Arriving at Shoreham, he applied treacle plasters twice a day; and, within a week, was able to return to London in a carriage, where, to the treacle applications, he added electrifying every morning and every night. He gradually improved; but, for many months afterwards, he was a serious sufferer, though he refused to permit his pain to interrupt his work. "I am not quite free," he wrote, on May 6, 1766, "from the effects of my fall at Christmas, and perhaps never shall be in this world. Sometimes my ankle, sometimes my knee, and frequently my shoulder, complains. But, blessed be God, I have strength sufficient for the work to which I am called. When I cannot walk any farther, I can take a horse, and now and then a chaise; so that, hitherto, I have not been hindered from visiting any place which I purposed to see before I left London."1

Comparatively speaking, there was, in 1765, a cessation of the printed attacks on Methodism. There was one, however, which must be mentioned: "Mumbo Chumbo: a Tale

1 Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 179.

1765

written in antient manner. Recommended to modern DevoAge 62 tees." 4to, 19 pages. The title page of this precious morsel is adorned with Mumbo Chumbo's picture-a sort of humanised monster, with hair on end, hands and fingers long and bony, eyes glaring, and mouth belching fire on a crowd of women and little children; while, just behind, stand two persons in parsonic costume, and also a drawing of Whitefield's tabernacle, in Tabernacle Row. Of course Mumbo Chumbo means Methodism. The following is the last verse but two in this disgraceful production, and may be taken as a fair sample of all the rest. Addressing women, in reference to Methodist preachers, the Mumbo Chumbo poet sings:

"Still let them rave, and their loud throats uprear,
As if the walls they 'd crack, and split the doors;
Be not dismayed, nor aught give way to fear,

Only think this-that Mumbo Chumbo roars."
Wesley's publications, during the year 1765, were as
follows.

1. "The Scripture Way of Salvation. A Sermon on Ephesians ii. 8." 12mo, 22 pages. Wesley's text, in this instance, was the same as the one he took when he preached, twenty-seven years before, his famous sermon before the Oxford university. The divisions also are substantially the same; but the discourses are different. There are no contradictions; but there are further elucidations. The sermon published in 1738 was exactly adapted to the times; and so was the sermon published in 1765. During that interval, controversies had sprung up respecting faith, repentance, and Christian perfection. Sandemanianism had become rampant, and it was become necessary to define, with great exactness, the nature of saving faith, and also the nature of repentance, and in what sense it is essential to salvation. The fanatical theories of Thomas Maxfield and George Bell had thrown all the Methodist ideas of entire sanctification into confusion; and it was of the highest importance, that Wesley should state most distinctly, not only what he meant by being entirely sanctified, but, how such a state was to be attained. These are questions which the second sermon discusses; and, in that respect, it is a most important

Wesley's Publications in 1765.

551

appendix to the first. Thoroughly to understand Wesley's 1765 doctrine, the two must be read together.

2. "The Lord our Righteousness. A Sermon preached at the chapel in West Street, Seven Dials, on Sunday, November 24, 1765." 8vo, 36 pages. This, also, was a sermon for the times. The controversy respecting Hervey's notions of imputed righteousness had attracted great attention. Wesley was misrepresented, and misunderstood; and the object of his sermon is to correct the errors in circulation concerning him. His two divisions are: 1. What is the righteousness of Christ? 2. When, and in what sense, is it imputed to us? Wesley most conclusively shows, that the accusations respecting his having changed his opinions are unfounded; and that, really, the difference between him and men like Hervey is merely verbal. He wrote in his journal, on the day he preached the sermon: "I said not one thing which I have not said, at least, fifty times within this twelvemonth; yet it appeared to many entirely new, who much importuned me to print my sermon, supposing it would stop the mouths of all gainsayers. Alas! for their simplicity! In spite of all I can print, say, or do, will not those who seek occasion of offence find occasion?" Well might Wesley write thus; for, though his sermon is written in language the most explicit and unmistakable, no sooner was it published than a sixpenny octavo pamphlet was issued with the title,-"A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, concerning his inconsistency with himself. Occasioned by the publication of his sermon, entitled 'The Lord our Righteousness."" The spirit of the letter may be surinised from the motto on the title page: "Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.”

3. "Thoughts on a Single Life." 12mo, 11 pages. This is a queer tract; and the less said about it the better. A man holding such sentiments had no right to have a wife; and yet Wesley declares: "My present thoughts upon a single life are just the same they have been these thirty years, and the same they must be, unless I give up my Bible."

About the same time, another tract, of the same size, was written with the title, "Jesus altogether lovely; or, a letter to some of the single women of the Methodist society"; but, though it was sold at Wesley's "preaching houses, in town and

Age 62

1765 country," it is far from certain that Wesley was its author. Age 62 Still, it is not unlikely that one was connected with the other.

At all events, both substantially aim at the same thing, namely, to show that, though marriage is not sinful, it is a high state of perfection, and the result of a great gift of God, to be able to live a single life.

In 1765, also was published, "The Christian's Pocket Companion: consisting of select Texts of the New Testament, with suitable observations in prose and verse. By John Barnes, Carmarthen." 372 pages. The preface to this Welsh production was written by Wesley, and is as follows:

"To the Reader. Perhaps few books, lately published, have been more useful, to serious and pious readers, than that entitled 'The Golden Treasury. It will be easily observed, that this is wrote on the same plan, containing a short exercise of devotion for every day of the year. The chief difference, between the one and the other, I apprehend, is this,—they do not only contain the first principles of religion, repentance towards God, and faith in Christ, the doctrine of justification, and the new birth; but likewise the whole work of God in the soul of man, till being rooted and grounded in love he is able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and to-be filled with all the fulness of God.

"PEMBROKE, July 30, 1764.

“John WesleY.”

4. In Lloyd's Evening Post, for June 5, 1765, appeared the following advertisement.

"On Thursday the 1st of August will be published, price 6d., Number I. of Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament. By John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln college, Oxford. Conditions. 1. That this work will be printed in quarto, on a superfine paper. 2. That it will be comprised in about 60 numbers (as near as can be computed) making two handsome volumes. 3. That each number will contain three sheets of letterpress, printed on a new type. 4. That the first number will be considered as a specimen, and, if not approved of, the money paid for it

1 Dr. Adam Clarke, in the general preface to his commentary, says that Wesley's notes on the Old Testament are "meagre and unsatisfactory"; and, that Wesley himself told him, that this was owing to "Mr. Pine, the printer, who having set up and printed off several sheets in a type much larger than was intended, it was found impossible to get the work within the prescribed limits of four volumes, without retrenching the notes, or cancelling what was already printed. The former measure was unfortunately adopted." It is difficult to reconcile Clarke's statement with Wesley's advertisement.