great blessings to me and my dear wife. The Lord has inclined us to receive the preachers most freely and joyfully." Mr. Chapman was not an episcopalian; but he was a Christian, and, on December 7, Wesley went to visit him. He writes: "Mr. Chapman, who loves all that love Christ, received us gladly. At six, the congregation, gathered from many miles round, seemed just ripe for the gospel; so that, contrary to my custom in a new place, I spoke merely of 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" Immediately after Wesley's return to London, Mr. Chapman wrote him as follows. "STAPLEHURST, December 10, 1763. "REVEREND SIR,-You shall be always most heartily welcome to the best part of my house, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose you are, and whom you serve. Whatever preachers you send, we shall joyfully receive, be their opinions what they may. I would like those best, who are most like Christ. I very greatly approve of the rules of the society, and very fervently love you; and I trust never to let a day pass without praying for you. I make no doubt, the lay preachers are sent by our Lord as extraordinary messengers; and that His design is, that they should go about calling poor sinners to repent and believe the gospel, and consequently that they are not to settle anywhere. This is a very difficult office. The Lord strengthen them for the arduous undertaking." "2 Mr. Chap The friendship, thus begun, was long continued. man's house and chapel were open to the Methodist preachers. He himself became a member of the Methodist society, and was as docile and humble as though he had been one of the most illiterate among the people. His stipend was £80 per annum; he lived on £20, and gave away the rest in charity. He almost, if not entirely, used a vegetarian diet, and principally for the purpose of being able to relieve the necessities of his poorer brethren. He survived Wesley; and when visited by Robert Miller, about the year 1790, gave him the heartiest welcome, saying: "I have entertained the preachers for seven-and-twenty years, and hope they will never forsake me while I live." Mr. Miller adds: “Mr. Chapman was one of the best men I ever knew";3 and good old 'Methodist Magazine, 1782, p. 550. 3 Ibid. 1801, p. 194. 2 Ibid. 1782, p. 667. 1763 1763 John Reynolds testified: "Of all the men of God, with Age 60 whom I have had the happiness to be acquainted, in a life of more than threescore years, I have never known one who appeared to possess so much of the mind of Christ as Mr. Chapman." The world is full of changes. Man's circle of acquaintance alters in character, though not materially in size. New friends spring up on earth; but old friends are removed to heaven. Thus it was with Wesley. In 1763, he became acquainted with Mr. Chapman; in the same year, he was bereaved of Dr. Byrom. Byrom was the son of a linen draper, and born at Kersal, near Manchester, in 1691. After being educated in his native town, and at the Merchant Taylors' school in London, he was, at the age of sixteen, admitted a pensioner of Trinity college, Cambridge. In 1714, he was elected fellow of his college, and, in the same year, became a contributor to Addison's Spectator. Two years later, he resigned his college preferment, and went to Montpelier, to study physic. On his return to England, he assumed the office of teacher of shorthand writing, of which he was preeminently a master. On the death of his brother, he came into possession of the family estate, at Kersal, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of domestic and social felicity. He was a profound admirer of the great English mystic, William Law; but was also a man of unaffected piety. At a time when much obloquy was attached to the name of Methodist, he was not ashamed of being known as the particular friend of Wesley. He died September 28, 1763.2 His only son died ten years afterwards.3 In many respects, Byrom was a remarkable man. In stature, he was one of the tallest men in England; so that, in the course of fifty years, he appears to have met only two others taller than himself. In stenography, he was the greatest proficient then existing. The extent, variety, and accuracy of his literary studies were amazing, as is shown by his manu 1 Methodist Magazine, 1821, p. 883. 2 Life of Byrom, prefixed to his Poems. scripts still extant. There seems hardly to have been any "God bless the King, and bless the Faith's Defender; Why, bless us all, that's quite another thing." "2 Wesley inserted not a few of his poems in the old Arminian magazines; and writes: "It cannot be denied, that he was a man of uncommon genius, a man of the finest and strongest understanding; and, yet, very few even of his countrymen and contemporaries have so much as heard his name." "He has all the wit and humour of Dr. Swift, together with much more learning, and, above all, a serious vein of piety. A few things, in the second volume of his poems, are taken from Jacob Behmen; to whom I object, not only, that he is obscure, and not only, that his whole hypothesis is wholly unsupported either by Scripture or reason; but also, because the ingenious madman over and over contradicts Christian experience, reason, Scripture, and himself. But setting these things aside, we have " [in Dr. Byrom's poems,] "some of the finest sentiments that ever appeared in the English tongue; some of the noblest truths, expressed with the utmost energy, and the strongest colours of poetry." 4 One or two other matters, belonging to this period of Wesley's history, must be mentioned. The increase of Methodism was one of Wesley's difficulties, as well as his great encouragement. His societies, especially the larger ones, naturally wished to receive the sacrament in their own chapels: but as Wesley had no clerical helper, entirely devoted to the work, except his brother; and as he himself was almost always itinerating, it was physically impossible to meet the demands of London, Bristol, and other 1 Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 777. 3 Wesley's Works, vol. xiv., p. 272. 2 Ibid. p. 599. 4 Ibid. vol. iii., p. 475. 1763 Age 60 1763 places. Neither of the Wesleys was prepared to allow the unordained preachers to administer, and they themselves were Age 60 utterly unable to attend to the reasonable claims of all that wanted them. Hence the difficulty. Hence the difficulty. This was partly met, when Thomas Maxfield received ordination from an Irish bishop. For several years, Maxfield was stationed in London, to read the liturgy and to administer the sacrament in Wesley's absence. But now Maxfield had left him, and his embarrassment was greater than ever. One of his principal helpers was John Jones, a man of considerable learning, of good abilities, and of deep piety, and who, for seventeen years, had faithfully acted the part of an itinerant preacher. Just at this juncture, Erasmus, a bishop of the Greek church, visited London; and, as it was impossible to obtain ordination, for the Methodist preachers, from the bishops of the English Church, it occurred to Wesley, that it might be expedient to apply to Erasmus to ordain Mr. Jones. Previous, however, to doing this, Wesley felt it necessary to satisfy himself, that Erasmus really was a bishop. By his direction, Jones wrote to the patriarch of Smyrna on the subject; and received an answer, stating that Erasmus was bishop of Arcadia in Crete. To this was added the testimony of several gentlemen who had met the eastern prelate in Turkey. Wesley says, "he had abundant unexceptionable credentials as to his episcopal character." Being fully satisfied of this, Wesley requested him to set apart Mr. Jones, to assist him in administering the sacrament to his societies. Erasmus did so; and, if the matter had ended here, the thing would hardly have deserved further notice. No sooner was it known, however, that one of the itinerants had been ordained, than several others applied to the good tempered bishop for the same episcopal favour. The following appeared in Lloyd's Evening Post, for December 7, 1764. "To the article in the papers relating to three tradesmen being ordained by a Greek bishop, another may be added, a master baker. And two celebrated Methodist preachers made also an application to the same bishop, to consecrate one or both of them bishops; but the Greek told Wesley's Works, vol. x., p. 432. Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia. 487 them, it was contrary to the rule of his church for one bishop to make another yet, notwithstanding all he said, they very unwillingly took a denial." Whether this was strictly true, we can hardly tell; but certain it is, that John Jones, Samson Staniforth, Thomas Bryant, and others were ordained. The result was, Charles Wesley took huge offence; and, shortly after, Mr. Jones was obliged to leave the connexion; Samson Staniforth had to refrain from exercising his priestly functions; and Thomas Bryant put on a gown, and made a rent in the Methodist society of Sheffield.1 The unpleasantness did not end even here. In 1771, Augustus Toplady, one of Wesley's bitterest opponents, published "A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley," in which he revived the thing. With his unenviable scurrility, he called Erasmus "a foreign mendicant"; and said: "to this day, the Greek church in Amsterdam believes him to be an impostor." He also supplied a certificate, written in Greek, of which the following is a translation. "Our measure from the grace, gift, and power of the All-holy and Lifegiving Spirit, given by our Saviour Jesus Christ to His Divine and holy apostles, to ordain subdeacons and deacons; and also, to advance to the dignity of a priest; of this grace which hath descended to our humility, I have ordained subdeacon and deacon, at Snowfields chapel, on the 19th day of November, 1764, and at Wells Street chapel on the 24th of the same month, priest the reverend Mr. W. C. according to the rules of the holy apostles, and of our faith. Moreover, I have given to him power to minister and teach, in all the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbidding him in the church of God. Wherefore, for that very purpose, I have made this present letter of recommendation from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W. C. for his certificate and security. "Given and written at London, in Britain, November 24, 1764. Toplady proceeds to ask Wesley four insinuating questions. 1. Did you get him to ordain several of your lay preachers according to the Greek ritual? 2. Did not these preachers both dress and officiate 1 "Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon," vol. i., p. 331; "Methodism in Sheffield," p. 185; and manuscript letter of John Pawson. Was this William Crabb, who left the itinerancy in 1764? 7763 Age 60 |