1767 "Richard Bourke, John Dillon, and one or two more in this kingdom, are truly devoted men; and so are a few of the preachers in England. Age 64 Si sic omnes! What would be able to stand before them? "How go you on in London? How is Mr. Whitefield, and my lady, and Mr. Madan, and Romaine, and Berridge? Do you converse with those that are most alive, and sparingly and warily with them that are dead while they live? "I hope Sally and your young ones are well. train up children for heaven! Peace be with you Oh what a work it is to This is far from being a bright and cheering letter; but there can be little doubt of its being true. Wesley was always manly enough to look even the darkest facts fairly in the face. He had no notion of crying " Peace, Peace!" when it was salutary to sound the trumpet of alarm. Neither the Methodists nor their preachers, in his judgment, were so pious as they once had been, and as they ought to be; and to this, -not to the want of talent, or of learning, or of chapels, or of money, or of patronage,-but to this, he attributed the want of such success as they ought to have. Let modern Methodists learn a lesson here. Notwithstand-ing all their financial and outward prosperity, without holiness they will fail in converting sinners; and, without this success, all the rest is frivolous. An extract from another letter, written whilst in Ireland, may be inserted here. It was addressed to Lady Maxwell, who was out of health, and gives us a glimpse of Wesley's carriage, his wife, and some of his Newcastle friends. "CORK, June 4, 1767. "MY DEAR LADY,-My belief is, that a journey to England might be of great service to your health; and it is not improbable, you might receive much benefit from the water of the Hotwells near Bristol. In August, I hope to be at Bristol; and again in the latter end of September. My chaise and horses are at Bristol, which, you would oblige me much, if you would please to use as your own during your stay there; for you should, if possible, ride out daily. My wife, who is at Newcastle, will be exceeding glad to wait upon you there; and, if you choose to rest a few days, I should be happy if you would make use of the Orphan House. You would be pleased with the Miss Dales, and they with you. You and they have Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 125. 1767 drank into one Spirit. Miss Peggy is one of the holiest young women that I have any knowledge of. You will be so kind as to let me know Age 64 when you expect to be at Newcastle, and, possibly, I may meet you there. “I am, my dear lady, your most affectionate friend, "JOHN WESLEY.” 1 Another letter deserves attention; for, though it does not contradict, yet, to some extent, it qualifies the letter to his brother, which has just been given. It also concerns the Edinburgh society, of which Lady Maxwell was a member, and animadverts on the behaviour of one of the ministers of her friend, Lady Glenorchy. The Rev. Joseph Townsend, fellow of Clare hall, Cambridge, and rector of Pewsey, in Wiltshire, had been sent, by the Countess of Huntingdon, to Scotland, and, for a time, had preached, alternately with Wesley's preachers, in Lady Glenorchy's chapel, Edinburgh. He had now removed to Pewsey, where Wesley addressed to him the following. "EDINBURGH, August, 1767. "DEAR SIR,-When I saw you here some years since, I could not but admire you; such was your simplicity and godly sincerity. You knew the poor little flock, though a proverb of reproach, were a living people of God. You knew their preachers were messengers of Christ; and you espoused their cause in the face of the sun. You returned to London. You conversed with Mr. Madan and others, most of whom owe the Methodists their own souls also. You came to Edinburgh again. But you did not know the Methodists, unless one or two honourable ones. You had no fellowship with them; you neither joined with them in public, nor strengthened their hands in private. You stood aloof from them, as though they would have infected you. Nay, you preached just by them, at the very hour of their preaching. You lessened their congregations; you threw many of the society into vain reasonings; you opened many mouths against them; you exceedingly grieved the spirit of the preachers, and caused their hands to hang down. Was this well done? Was it of a piece with your former conduct? Did it do any honour to the gospel? Did it do any real good? Did it cherish any Christian temper in Mr. Walker or Dr. Erskine? Was it a proof of love to me? Was it a means of increasing the knowledge or love of God in your own soul? Alas, my brother! I know you would do well; but, surely, herein you have mistaken your way. Do you say, 'Nay, but I have acted right; for the Methodist people are a fallen people, and the preachers preach only dry morality. They 1 Wesley's Works, vol. xii., p. 320. 2"Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon," vol. ii., p. 159; vol. i., p. 411. Wesley Defending the Methodists. 605 are in grievous error, denying election, perseverance, and the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, their work is at an end, and the work of God, which is now wrought, is wrought by the awakened clergy. If I had preached in their chapels, I should thereby have abetted all their errors.' "This is home to the point. Convince me of this, and I have done with the Methodists, and with preaching. But is it the true state of the case? Let us consider it, point by point. "1. Are the Methodists a fallen people? Blessed be God, they are not there never were more, there never were so many of them, either in England, Scotland, or Ireland, standing fast in loving, holy faith, as at this day. "2. But the preachers preach only dry morality.' With what ears must they hear who think so? With the same as the honest predestinarian at Witney, who, when I had been enforcing Galatians vi. 14 (and indeed with uncommon freedom of spirit), said, 'It was a pretty moral discourse.' My brother, distrust yourself; you may possibly mistake. I think we likewise have the Spirit of God. I think even I, to speak as a fool, can judge a little of preaching the gospel, perhaps as well as either Mr. Madan or Romaine. "3. But they deny election and perseverance, and the righteousness of Christ.' They are not Calvinists; but they no more deny the righteousness of Christ than they do the Godhead of Christ. Let this never be said more; it is a shameless slander. They deny only the vile abuse of that precious truth. "4. "But they teach perfection.' They do exhort believers to go on unto perfection; and so do you, if you speak as the oracles of God. "5. Their work is at an end.' Far from it; sinners are still convinced and converted throughout the land. "6. "The work of God is now wrought by the clergy.' The more the better; but where, and by whom? How many has any one of them convinced or converted since Whitsuntide? I fear, when we come to particulars, there will be small room to boast. If you put things on this issue, . Whose word does God now bless?' the matter will soon be determined. "7. "My preaching in your chapel would have been in effect to tell the people of Edinburgh, that the Methodists did not deny the Calvinist doctrines.' Amazing! Did Mr. Gillies tell them so, when he preached in our house? Just the contrary. He told them: 'In some opinions, I do not agree with the Methodists; but I know they are a people of God: therefore, I wish them good luck in the name of the Lord.' Might not you have done the very same? May you not still? Can you be clear before God without doing it? If you can receive "I have now told you all that lay upon my mind. it, I shall rejoice, for your sake, and for the people's. If not, I have delivered my own soul. For many years, I have been labouring for peace, though I have had little thanks for my pains. However, my record is above, and my reward with the Most High. It is but a little while that I have to endure the contradiction either of sinners or good men. May 1767 Age 64 1767 Age 64 God enable you, that stand up in my stead, to labour more successfully! "JOHN WESLEY."1 We left Wesley in Ireland. On July 29, he embarked, at Donaghadee, for Scotland; and, on August 6, reached Newcastle, having preached at Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dunbar, as he proceeded. He spent nearly a week at Newcastle and in its neighbourhood, preaching, among other places, in Mr. Goodday's church, in Sunderland, and making arrangements with Mr. Lewen, of Durham, for the payment of his daughter's legacies. One entry in his Journal, while at Newcastle, is memorable, and worth pondering by all the Methodists and missionary societies of the present day. "Saturday, August 8. At the request of Mr. Whitaker, of New England, I preached, and afterwards made a collection for the Indian schools in America. A large sum of money is now collected; but will money convert heathens? Find preachers of David Brainerd's spirit, and nothing can stand before them; but without this, what will gold or silver do? No more than lead or iron. They have indeed sent thousands to hell; but never yet brought a soul to heaven." Wesley was right. It is doubtless a cause of joyous thanksgiving, that the incomes of missionary societies have grown to so high a figure; but money without men is worthless. Half-a-dozen men of the same stamp as Brainerd, Hunt, and others who might be mentioned, would be of infinitely greater value than all the money raised, in a single year, by all the missionary associations of the present somewhat boastful generation. Men like these, however, cannot be procured by money, nor be made by professors; they are the gift of God; and, to get them, the church must pray for them. It has generally been stated, that the first Methodist missionary collection was made at the conference in Leeds, in 1769; but this is obviously incorrect. The first collection of the kind was made, by Wesley himself, at Newcastle, on Saturday, the 8th of August, 1767; but was made with some misgiving. Wesley evidently had more faith in the gospel plan of missionaries going forth, at the hazard of their lives, without purse and without scrip, than he had in making large 1 Methodist Magazine, 1861, p. 985. First Methodist Missionary Collection. 607 collections to furnish them with both. And, perhaps, he 1767 was not so far from being right as some imagine. At all Age 64 events, it was thus the first Christian missionaries began their work; and, though no one can exonerate the church from her present missionary givings, all will admit, that missionaries' going out as the first missionaries went, and as George Piercy went to China in modern times, would place them beyond the reach of mean, mercenary suspicion. Let the young men of the Christian church become filled with zeal for God, love for souls, and faith in the power of prayer, as Wesley was, and they will refrain from hastily condemning an idea which Wesley seemed to have. The best agents the church has ever had have been profoundly religious volunteers, rushing to the work, not because they wished or hoped for riches and for rank, but because of an inward impulse which they felt to be irresistible, and which made them willing to endure not only hunger, cold, and privation, but even death itself, for the sake of the Saviour whom they rejoiced to serve. It is a curious coincidence that, in the very year when Wesley made the first Methodist missionary collection, the first Methodist missionary place of worship was opened in New York. "They write," says Lloyd's Evening Post, of September 11, 1767,-"They write from New York, that a large chapel has lately been built there for a congregation of Methodists, who already exceed two thousand persons." The "large chapel," somewhat erroneously said to have been built for the Methodists, was "a rigging house," sixty feet in length, and eighteen in breadth, which was taken by Philip Embury, Captain Webb, and their Methodist companions, for Methodist services. Embury, Barbara Heck, and other Palatine Methodists from Ireland, had begun to hold meetings; Captain Webb became their regimental preacher; a large congregation was gathered; a society was formed; and the result was the opening of the sail loft, which the London newspaper describes as "a large chapel." But more about this anon. On the 12th of August, Wesley took coach at Newcastle, and in two days arrived in London, for the purpose of holding his annual conference. He writes: "Tuesday, August 18. |