returned.
A NOVEMBER CONFERENCE
1. Let him be recommended to us by the Assistant to whose Society he belongs. z. Let him read and carefully weigh the Conferences, and see whether he can agree to them or no.
3. Let him be received as a Probationer, by having a book given him inscribed thus:
' You think that it is your duty to call sinners to repentance.
Make full proof that God has called yon hereto, and we shall be glad to act in concert with you.'
4. Let him come to the next Conference, and after examination, fasting, and prayer, be received as a Helper, by having a book given to him inscribed thus:
'So long as you freely consent and earnestly endeavour to walk according to the following rules we shall rejoice to go on with you hand in hand.
We are, yours affectionately, 5. Let a new book be given at every Conference, and the former returned.
We presume that by 'the Conferences' the Doctrinal and the Disciplinary Minutes are meant, as they were the only printed collections of the Minutes in existence at that time.
It seems to have been Wesley's intention to revise these pamphlets, and to add to them year by year the new regulations of the Conference concerning doctrine and discipline.
That intention, if entertained, was not carried into effect.
The manner of ' receiving a new helper' has changed since that far-off time; but the delivery of the Summary of Methodist
Law and Discipline to newly ordained ministers, containing a well-known inscription, still serves to perpetuate an ancient and necessary custom.
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WHEN the last year of the first half of the eighteenth century opened many people in England were harassed by the conviction that a great catastrophe was at hand.
Not a few brooded over the mysterious contents of the closing book of the Bible, and sought to understand its teaching concerning the two periods of one thousand years.
Some hoped that the bright millennial reign of Christ was about to begin; others were convinced that the time had arrived when 'Satan would be let loose for a season'; not a few believed that the end of the world would come.
This condition of the public mind in England recurs at intervals, and we have grown accustomed to it; but in 1750 it produced distraction and alarm. Through all the terror the Wesleys went on with their work.
Conscious of the uneasiness that then prevailed, we take up a small penny pamphlet of eleven pages which is entitled
Hymns for New Year's Day, 1750.
It had been printed in Bristol by Felix Farley, and it contained seven hymns prepared by Charles Wesley for the eventful day. We see the little book in the hands of people who are assembling in the 'New Room' in Bristol at four o'clock on that Monday morning.
The 'Room' fills until it is 'excessively crowded.'
Charles Wesley is the preacher, and his theme is ' The Gospel Year of Jubilee.'
In turning over the leaves of the hymn-book we note that four of the hymns celebrate the arrival of the year of release.
They are full of the gladness that comes to a man when he realizes that Christ has ransomed him and set him free.
Listening to the singing of one of the seven hymns we seem to catch the sound of familiar words.
In that dimly-lighted 'Room' on that dark winter morning they are singing, 'Come, let us anew our journey pursue' ; singing, we think for the first time, that hymn known to every Methodist; that hymn which, like the British
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drum-beat, has gone round theworld.
Across the wide expanse of intervening years there comes to us its call to action. Whatever the future may hold, 'Come, let us anew our journey pursue; and never stand still till the Master appear.'
It does not sound like a sharp, military marching-order.
There _ 1s a promise of companionship and fellowship that will smooth the roughness of the way ; there is a whisper that tells us of One who is waiting for us at the close of our journey.
That thought arrests us as the singing rises and falls.
Then we listen to words that arouse us:
O that each in the day Of His coming may say,— "I have fought my way through ; I have finished the work Thou didst give me to do!'
It seems impossible that such a prayer can be answered.
We think that perhaps we may 'fight our way through' ; but the thought of ' unfinished work' checks our song.
But, after all, we remember that the final Judge of our actions is 'infinitely kind'; and so we listen eagerly to the closing prayer of the singers in the far distance :
O that each from his Lord May receive the glad word,— "Well and faithfully done ; Enter into My joy, and sit down on My throne.'
And so the singing fades away ; and in the silence we think of the wonderful influence of that Christian song.
Then the congregation disperses.
Let us hope that, as the worshippers went on their homeward way, the winter sky was bright with stars. ?
Early in 1750 the third volume of John Wesley's Sermons on Several Occasions was published.
In the first advertisement of the series, which appeared in 1745, we note that it was intended that only three volumes were to be issued ; but under pressure Wesley, in 1760, added another volume.
It contained seven sermons; and, in order to 'make up' the book, six tracts were added.
It is certain that two of these 1The earliest Methodist watch-nights commonly concluded with the singing of the hymn, ' Hearken to the solemn voice.'
'Come, let us anew' soon took its place, and is still sung, in Methodist watch-nights, in the first moments of the new year.
See John Wesley and the Methodist Socvettes, 67.
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e tracts were not written by Wesley ; two, as Mr. Green says, were ' probably' written by him.
Only a small proportion of the tracts can be assigned to him as their author without hesitation.
Leaving the fourth out of our consideration for the present, we will fix our attention on the three volumes.
In examining them we notice that they contain thirty-six sermons, and that, with only two exceptions, all the texts are taken from the New Testament.
It is significant that thirteen of the number are expositions of ' The Sermon on the Mount.'
It will therefore be seen that the sermons rest almost entirely on a New Testament basis.
The two which are founded on Old Testament texts are well known.
They are entitled The Means of Grace and Catholic Spirit.
In the former discourse Wesley says that the chief 'means of grace' are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures, which implies reading, hearing and meditating thereon; and receiving the Lord's supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Him.
He states his belief that these means have been ordained of God, 'as the ordinary channels of conveying His grace to the souls of men.'
But he takes pains to guard himself against misunderstanding.
He lifts the whole subject into © the light and atmosphere of the New Testament.
At the outset of his sermon he allows that the whole value of the means depends on their actual subservience to the end of religion, that, consequently, all these means, when separate from the end, are less than nothing, and vanity; that if they do not actually conduce to the knowledge and love of God they are not acceptable in His sight ; yea, rather they are an abomination before Him ; He is weary to bear them.
Then follow words which arraign the formalists of the eighteenth century before the bar of Justice.
He continues, ' Above all, if they are used as a kind of commutation for the religion they were designed to subserve, it is not easy to find words for the enormous folly and wickedness of thus turning God's arms against Himself ; of keeping Christianity out of the heart by those very means which were ordained for the bringing of it in.'
In these words we hear the trumpet-call of the Methodist Revival.
Those who think that while the churches of the eighteenth century needed to be aroused by such a warning, but that the necessity for its utterance has passed, are nursing a delusion.
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It is not necessary to urge the Christian character of the sermon on Catholic Spirit.
It sets before us a lofty ideal at which most people glance with approval.
And yet who has not read with some reproach of conscience the os words of os discourse ?
A man of a catholic spirit is one who, in the manner above mentioned, gives his hand to all whose hearts are right with his heart:
One who knows how to value, and praise God for, all the advantages he enjoys with regard to the knowledge of the things of God, the true scriptural manner of worshipping Him, and, above all, his union with a congregation fearing God and working righteousness:
One who, retaining these blessings with the strictest care, keeping them as the apple of his eye, at the same time loves—as friends, as brethren in the Lord, as members of Christ and children of God, as joint partakers now of the present Kingdom of God, and fellow-heirs of His eternal
Kingdom—all, of whatever opinion, or worship, or congregation, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ; who love God and man; who, rejoicing to please and fearing to offend God, are careful to abstain from evil, and zealous of good works.
He is the man of the truly catholic spirit, who bears all these continually upon his heart; who, having an unspeakable tenderness for their persons, and longing for their welfare, does not cease to commend them to God in prayer as well as to plead their cause before men; who speak comfortably tc them, and labours, by all his words, to strengthen their hands in God.
He assists to the uttermost of his power in all things, spiritual and temporal.
He is ready to spend and to be spent for them, yea to lay down his life for their sake.} If we add Wesley's sermon 'A Caution against Bigotry ' to his great plea for ' Catholic Spirit ' we shall see that, in the dreary desert of the eighteenth century he was a herald of teaching that is beginning to prevail in some of the Christian Churches.
When trying to detect the sermons in ' the first three volumes' which are strictly theological discourses we find ourselves in a difficulty.
We cannot include ' The Nature of Enthusiasm,' for that is clearly ' apologetic,' inasmuch as it is a defence of the Methodists against a frequently repeated charge.
But in what category shall we place the sermons preached before the University in St. Mary's, Oxford?
They are entitled ' Salvation by Faith,' 'The Almost Christian,'
' Awake, Thou that Sleepest,' and 'Scriptural Christianity.'
Are those sermons, that roused the anger of the University authorities, 1 Wesley's Works, v. 188, 503-504, 8vo ed.
ie'
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Ae only sedate theological treatises?
After calm exposition they became ardent appeals to those who were present to practise the neglected duties of the Christian life.
The same may be said of the remainder of the Sermons.
In the' Preface' to the first volume, published in 1746, John Wesley writes:
' The following sermons contain the substance of what I have been preaching for between eight and nine years last past.
During that time I have frequently spoken in public on every subject in the ensuing collection : and I am not conscious that there is any one point of doctrine, on which I am accustomed to speak in public, which is not here, incidentally, if not professedly, laid before every Christian reader.'
We have followed him from place to place, and have listened to his sermons in St. Mary's, Oxford, in the churches where he was permitted to speak, in his preaching-houses, and in the open air.
In his early morning services we have heard the expositor of a wide range of doctrine.
Everywhere we have heard the teaching which pervades the published Sermons. That teaching — was direct and clear ; it went to the conscience and heart of the crowd.
It concerned doctrines to which men who were convinced of sin and longing for salvation listened with pathetic eagerness.
When they entered into the experience of assured pardon the teaching of Wesley led them to the path traced by apostolic hands in the pages of the New Testament— the path on which shone the beauteous light of holiness.
The preacher explained and enforced the doctrines of the Master, and insisted on the necessity and the blessedness of imitating and obeying Him.
In justification of his teaching he pointed to the Bible as his standard of appeal.
It is now admitted that the evangelical doctrines he taught changed the tone of the religious life of England.
And the doctrines which effected that marvellous change in the public mind and character are to be found in the Sermons, which still hold their high place in the Methodist Church.
They are not a mere standard of orthodoxy, which is apt to vary in accordance with the change of fashion in religious belief; they are expositions of doctrines which must be constantly proclaimed.
An event occurred in January, 1750, which now calls for record.
The writer of The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon mentions it, but does not state all the facts of the case.
Those facts were obscured by clouds in the past;
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in recent times the sky has cleared.
On August 2-3, 1749, John and Charles Wesley held an important conference with George Whitefield and Howell Harris in the 'New Room,'
Bristol.
In John Wesley's Journal there is a considerable gap at this point, but Charles Wesley gives us a little light.
He says: 'Our Conference this week with Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Harris came to naught ; I think through their flying off.'
We are left for a time to exercise our imagination on the question of the object of this meeting and the meaning of 'flying off.'
But at last light has reached us.
- It is furnished in an important document that once belonged to Dr. James Dixon; afterwards it came into the possession of Mrs. Aykroyd of Harrogate, and was published in the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society.
Tyerman, in his Life of Whitefield, made a good guess 'at the object of the _ meeting ' when he asked, 'Was this another attempt toamalgamate Wesley's and Whitefield's Societies?'
He nearly hit the mark.
The MS. is in the handwriting of John Wesley ; it is endorsed by Charles Wesley, ' Aug. 2, 1749.
Vain agreement.'
A reason for the obscurity that has veiled this incident may be found in the fact that at the close of the meeting it was agreed that 'in order to facilitate an Union in carrying on the Work of God,' each member of the little company should take a copy of the minutes of the Conference in order that he might read them, as he found occasion, to some of the preachers and to a few 'prudent persons' of his flock. But he was not to suffer any copy to be taken, nor allow his own copy to go out of his hands.
With such safeguards it is surprising that John Wesley's own copy should have survived.
We can understand that, in the circumstances of the time, the publication of the ' minutes' would have been injudicious ; but in the present day the embargo has lost its force.
When we read the report of the ' conversations ' we see that the meeting was an attempt to bring the Wesleys, Whitefield, and Harris closer together in affection and judgement ; and 'in jointly carrying on the work of their common Master.'
It was unanimously agreed:
'1. To believe no evil of each other, till the accused has answered for himself.
2. To speak no unkind or slighting word of each other, and to defend one another against any that do speak so. 3. Not willingly to 1W.H.S. Proceedings, v. 108-110.
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" aS speak of each other's opinions in such a manner as to make him either odious or contemptible.'
This olive-branch being accepted by all, a successful attempt was made to reach a united decision on the nature and cause of Justification.
The next day the question of Predestination came under consideration.
Each man seems to have held fast his own convictions on this subject.
The outcome of the conversation on this point was marked by the spirit of compromise.
The Arminians and Calvinists retained their several positions, but it was agreed:
'1. Not to preach controversially either for or against Absolute Election, Irresistible Grace, or Final Perseverance.
2. To avoid in preaching the use of any such terms as naturally tend to revive the controversy.
3. To confine ourselves to the very language of Scripture as far as possible.
4. To use each other's expressions, mixed with our own, as far as we can honestly.
5. Continually to maintain that man's whole salvation is of God, and his whole damnation of himself.'
When we read these conclusions we get some light on Charles Wesley's phrase ' flying off.'
A compromise between men who hold contrary convictions on vital truths is generally the starting point of new discussions.
Sooner or later the sovereign voice of conscience speaks, and then compromise disappears.
The last subject of discussion was the manner in which the doctrine of Perfection was to be preached.
The subject is placed in the class of ' points where we do not think alike,' but the decisions do not reveal any sign of condemnation of the doctrine itself.
It was agreed not to preach controversially either for or against the doctrine ; and to drop the expressions,
'Sinless Perfection' and the 'Inbeing of Sin."
We know that John Wesley had a strong objection to the first phrase.
The danger of the second is evident.
If sin is a substance that can be removed from a man, as by an operation, the temptation to wild enthusiasm is apt to become irresistible.
The little company expressed its determination to exhort all to press on to Perfection in the Holy Law of Love ' by universal inward and outward conformity to the life and death of Christ.'
That points to the place where the most earnest Christian people of all Churches will meet.
Charles Wesley's endorsements of documents do not always describe their contents with precision.
We have given an
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illustration of the fact when dealing with the licence of the newly-built ' Room' in the Horsefair, Bristol.1
The character of the handwriting in that case creates a suspicion not easily allayed ; but it is clear that he endorsed the report of the conference we have described with the words ' Vain agreement.'
Whatever may be said of the failure of the compromises on disputed points of doctrine, it cannot be doubted that John
Wesley and George Whitefield were drawn nearer together in affection by the conversations that took place in August,
1749, in the ' New Room,' Bristol.
We hold that the greatest power in effecting the ultimate reconciliation of the two men was not argument, but the return of an old affection.
It came back with a strength that silenced their disputes.
It was a triumph of the ' King of Love.'
After the Conference in Bristol, in 1749, John Wesley began that journey to the North of England which we have described.
He was accompanied by Grace Murray.
Whitefield stayed for a time in Bristol; then he set off to the West of England, and afterwards visited London, staying there for a short time.
Then he journeyed to the North of England.
He reached Newcastle, and on October 3, was present at the marriage of John Bennet and Grace Murray.
The next day he was in Leeds and saw John Wesley, who was prostrated with grief.
Whitefield did his best to comfort him.
In that distressing interview the two men found each other once more.
Whitefield's sympathy touched Wesley's heart ; the old misunderstandings were forgotten ; the strong mutual affection returned.
What was the result?
It must be remembered that Charles Wesley, after hurrying on the marriage of John Bennet and Grace Murray, went through a process of enlightenment.
His natural impetuosity was not controlled by perfect knowledge ; he spoke words of ' high disdain and insult to his heart's best brother.'
Then the clouds began to drift away.
He listened to explanations.
On October 8, 1749, he wrote a surprising letter to Ebenezer Blackwell, of London.
In it he says, ' George Whitefield, and my brother, and I, are one—a threefold cord which shall no more be broken.
The week before last I waited on our friend George to our house in Newcastle, and gave him full possession of our pulpit and people's hearts, as full as was in my power to give....
At 1See ante, 56.
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ay Leeds we met my brother, who gave honest George the right hand of fellowship, and attended him everywhere to our societies.
Some in London will be alarmed at the news ; but it is the Lord's doing, as they, I doubt not, will by and by acknowledge.'
When John Wesley returned to Newcastle, a few days after this letter was written, he says in his Journal,
'I was now satisfied that God had sent Mr. Whitefield to Newcastle in an acceptable time; many of those who had little thought of God before, still retain the impressions they received from him.'
From these facts it is evident that in 1749 the reconciliation of the Wesleys and Whitefield was complete, and that sympathy and affection played a conspicuous part in the healing of the breach that had divided them.
The facts we have stated show that the reconciliation of the Wesleys and Whitefield took place in 1749.
We have produced them in order to correct an impression that has been made by a statement in the well-known Lzfe of the Countess of Huntingdon, written by Aaron Crossley Hobart Seymour, who describes himself on the title-page of the book as ' A member of the Houses of Shirley and Hastings,'
The book contains much valuable information, but some of its statements awake the vigilance of a cautious reader.
Describing the relations of the Wesleys and Whitefield at the close of 1749, the biographer says that Lady Huntingdon 'determined on an endeavour to heal the differences that then existed between these great and good men.
For this benevolent purpose she wrote to Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, urging on them to love as brethren, to let controversy alone, and to labour more zealously for the service of their Lord and Master.
This advice seems to have had the desired effect.'
On January 12, 1750, Whitefield replied to Lady Huntingdon's letter, and told her that he had offered John Wesley to assist occasionally at his chapel.
That offer was accepted.
On Friday, January 109, Whitefield preached at West Street, and on the next Sunday
John Wesley preached in the Tabernacle.
The following morning Howell Harris preached at the Foundery to "an overflowing auditory.'
The biographer sums up the effects of Lady Huntingdon's efforts at pacification by saying, ' From this time those two great men always spoke of each other in 1Tyerman's Life of Whitefield, ii. 236.
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the most affectionate manner, and assisted each other in their labours wherever they providentially met; and kept up a correspondence by letter while Mr. Whitefield lived.'?
Lady Huntingdon was delighted with the result of her work as a peace maker.
But the stern voice of duty compels us to 'say that it is clear she did not know that the reconciliation between John Wesley and George Whitefield had been effected before she made her appeal, and that Whitefield had already preached in the Orphan House in Newcastle.
The biographer's picture of 'the reconciliation' is interesting, but it does not strictly observe the laws of perspective.
We have noticed the fact that many people in England were disturbed by the conviction that 1750 would be a year when this country would be overtaken by terrible calamities.
Watching the signs in the heavens and on the earth, they soon found reasons for dread.
In January a very remarkable Aurora Borealis appeared in the sky to the north-east.
Smollett, in describing it, says that it was of ' a deep and dusky red colour, like the reflection of some great fire, for which it was by many people mistaken ; and the coruscations, unlike those that are generally observed, did not meet in the zenith, but in a point some degrees to the southward.'
He also tells us that February was ushered in by terrible peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and such a tempest of wind, hail, and rain as overwhelmed the inhabitants of Bristol, where it chiefly raged, with fear and consternation.
But more terrifying events were to follow.
February 8, 1750, was a day long remembered by the eighteenth-century citizens of London and Westminster.
In Smollett's Continuation of the History of England, published in 1760, there is a vivid account of the earthquake which shook many houses with great violence.
The shock extended through the cities of London and Westminster, and was felt on both sides of the Thames, from Greenwich to the westward of London.
In the present day we have become so familiar with the destructive force of earthquakes in some parts of the world that we should look upon such a slight movement of the earth in England as only a matter for interesting conversation.
But we cannot understand its effect on the people of the eighteenth century if we constantly measure their capacity
1 Life of the Countess of Huntingdon, i, 117-119.
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a for terror by our own standards.
On March 8, 1750, between five and six o'clock in the morning, the people of London were affrighted by a more violent shock.
Smollett says that it was 'abundantly more alarming.
. It was preceded by a succession of thick, low flashes of lightning, and a rumbling noise, like that of a heavy carriage rolling over a hollow pavement.
The shock itself consisted of repeated vibrations, which lasted some seconds, and violently shook every house from top to bottom: yet no life was lost, and no house overthrown by this concussion, though it was so dreadful as to threaten an immediate dissolution of the globe.
The circumstance, however, did not fail to make a deep impression upon ignorant, weak, and superstitious minds, which were the more affected by the consideration that the two shocks were periodical ; that the second, which happened exactly one month after the first, had been the more violent ; and that the next, increasing in proportion, might be attended by the most dismal consequences.'?
It was at this point, when nerves were becoming seriously 'exalted,' that 'a fanatic soldier' made his appearance in the streets of London.
He called men to repentance ; he warned them that on the same day of April an earthquake would totally destroy the cities of London and Westminster.
Many believed that his prophecy would be fulfilled.
The terror mounted high.
' The churches were crowded with penitent sinners: the sons of riot and profligacy were overawed into sobriety and decorum.
The streets no longer resounded with execrations, or the noise of brutal licentiousness ; and the hand of charity was liberally opened.'
The roads from London were encumbered with the horses and carriages of people who were flying from the devoted city ; and, as the time for the fulfilment of the prophecy approached, the open fields that skirt London began to be filled with people who were afraid to remain in their houses.
We are able to quote the testimony of an eye-witness.
Writing to a friend on April 5, Charles Wesley says:
' Yesterday I saw the Westminster end of the town full of coaches, and crowds flying out of the reach of divine justice, with astonishing precipitation.
Their panic was caused by a poor madman's prophecy : last night they were 1Smollett's Continuation of the History of England, i. 78.
TT bid a 708
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all to be swallowed up.
The vulgar were in almost as great consternation as their betters.
Most of them watched all night : multitudes in the fields and open places : several in their coaches.
Many removed their goods.
London looked like a sacked city.
A lady, just stepping into her coach to escape, _ dropped down dead.
Many came all night knocking at the Foundery door, and begging admittance for God's sake.
Our poor people were calm and quiet, as at another time.'!
On April 8, supposed by many to be the fatal day, Hyde Park and other open spaces were crowded with an incredible number of people assembled in chairs, in chaises, and coaches, as well as on foot, who waited in most fearful suspense, until morning and the return of day disproved the truth of the dreaded prophecy.
'Then,' says Smollett, 'their fears vanished: they returned to their respective habitations in a transport of joy : they were soon reconciled to their abandoned vices, which they seemed to resume with redoubled affection, and once more bade defiance to the vengeance of heaven.'
And so the failure of mere terror to effect moral revolution was once more illustrated.
Through the reign of terror the Wesleys pursued their work.
Charles Wesley began to preach once more 'with the old power.'
The great thunderstorm in Bristol finds a record in his Journal.
On Wednesday, January 31, he says, ' We were waked at two by a clap of thunder, unusually loud and terrible.
My partner was much frightened.'
The next day we see him and his wife hurrying through the rain to see Dr. Middleton, their friend and physician.
It was some time before Mrs. Charles Wesley recovered from the consequences of the shock.
Her husband took her to Ludlow when she had recovered strength for her journey ; then, on March 1, he arrived in London, and Edward
Perronet supplied him with a lodging.
The city was seething with excitement, but he devoted himself to visiting the sick and preaching to the people.
The dreaded day, March 8, was approaching ; but, as we follow him on Monday, March 5, we seem to forget the threatening peril.
He is making his way to the house of one of his sisters.
She is at the point of death.
We saw her standing in the room at the Foundery when her mother passed away ; and we thought that we heard her voice when John Wesley and his sister obeyed the request,
'Children, as soon as I am released sing a psalm of praise to 4 Journal, ii. 70
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ay God.'
No one of the singers in that room had greater reason to rejoice in the hope of ' release.'
Let us read Charles Wesley's entry in his Journal on March 5, 1750: 'I prayed by my sister
Wright, a gracious, tender, trembling soul; a bruised reed, which the Lord will not break."
On March 14 we see him once more by her bedside.
She is ' very near the haven, yet still in darkness, doubts and fears ; against hope believing in hope.'
A week later he called again at the house, 'a few minutes after her spirit was set at liberty.'
In the evening he explained at West Street Chapel those solemn words, ' Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself ; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.'
Those who were present listened in the silence of a great sympathy.
They seemed partakers both of his sorrow and his joy.
We scarcely recognize his sister under the name of Mrs. Wright.
We always think of her as Hetty Wesley.
On March 26 Charles Wesley followed her to her quiet grave, and 'wept with them that wept.'
Both before and after the greatest shock of the earthquake Charles Wesley continued his work.
He was in full sympathy with the varying experiences of his people.
The psalms and the prophecies gave up new meanings as he read and expounded them at the Foundery, West Street, and Snowsfields.
In times of national peril our Bibles seem to open naturally at Psalm xlvi.
It was so during the Great War.
We note that Charles Wesley, on March 9, the day after the greatest shock of the earthquake, preached at West Street from that psalm.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.'
He tells us that he preached 'with very great awakening power.'
We can see the brightening faces of the congregation when he cried, ' The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.'
But Charles Wesley was not content with preaching; he set the people singing.
He wrote hymns exactly suited to such a time.
One of them, which lingers in The Methodist Hymn-Book, has not lost its inspiration.
It turns our thoughts away from 'a tottering world' to our "steadfast mansion ; built immovably secure; built eternal in the skies.' ?
1 John Wesley and the Methodist Societies, 81.
*Hymn 847.
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Towards the end of April Charles Wesley left London.
On April 20 he reached Ludlow, and rejoiced to find his wife restored to health.
He stayed there ten or eleven days, preaching every night and morning at Ludlow or Leominster.
On May 2 he was in Bristol ; on May 15 he set out with Mrs.
Vazeille and others for Ludlow.
At a later stage we shall have more to say about this lady ; we will now content ourselves by recording the facts that, during her nine days' stay, the Gwynne family ' showed her all the civility and love that they could show : and she seemed equally pleased with them'; and that, in June, Charles Wesley and his wife ' took up their quarters ' for eight or nine days at her house in London.
We must now follow John Wesley as he passes through this eventful period.
He was in London on Thursday, February 8, when the first shock of the earthquake threw the city into a panic.
On February g he held a watch-night at West Street Chapel.
At about eleven o'clock he suddenly remembered that it was 'the very day and hour when, forty years ago,' he was taken out of the flames at Epworth Rectory.
He stopped, and gave a short account of his escape.
The congregation was deeply moved, and 'the voice of praise and thanksgiving went up on high.'!
On February 27 John Wesley, with much reluctance, left London, and on March 2 reached Bristol.
Six days afterwards, when the second earthquake shook London, he held what has been called 'a conference' in Bristol.
Myles records it ; and in the revised edition of the first volume of the Minutes of Conference, and in the Standard Edition of John Wesley's
Journal, in a note, it is.so styled.
John Wesley's own entry in his Journal is: ' Thurs. 8.
I desired all the preachers that were in Bristol to meet me at four in the afternoon ; and so every day while I was in the town.'* As he did not leave Bristol until March 19 we think that considerable verge must be given to the word ' conference.'
It is probable that he called the preachers together, not only for consultation, but for other purposes, such as the studying of books that would help them to enlarge their theological knowledge.
His work in Bristol was soon interrupted by serious news he received from Ireland.
He was convinced that it was his duty to go there as soon as 1 The actual date of the Epworth fire was February 9, 1709.
See John Wesley's Journal, iii. 454 note.
3 Journal, iii. 456.
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AS possible ; so he set out with a companion on March 19 for the New Passage.
We look upon that companion with special interest.
We have seen him before in Newcastle.
For about three years he had been one of Wesley's trusted lay preachers.
Until 1802, when he died, he bore an honoured name among the Methodist people.
Even in the present day all who are intimately acquainted with the history of early Methodism remember the faithful service of Christopher Hopper.
In his ' Journal' in Early Methodist Preachers there are notes of this visit to Ireland.* It was not until April 6 that John Wesley and his companion landed at Dublin.
Tempestuous weather detained them in Wales.
When he arrived in Ireland Wesley at once began to examine certain reports which had reached him.
He found that they had been much exaggerated, and for a moment he was inclined to regret he had left England.
But he soon found his presence in Ireland was needed at this crisis.
On April 4 Jonathan Reeves came from Cork and gave him descriptions of the reign of terror that had existed there for many months.
In Wesley's Journal and in the first volume of Crookshank's History of Methodism in Ireland full particulars of the outrageous conduct of the Butler mob and the local magistrates will be found. * ; At this point we are concerned with John Wesley's personal experiences.
From them he gained an idea of the rough road along which the Cork Methodists had travelled during his absence from Ireland.
We agree with Mr. Crookshank when he says, ' For duration and intensity it may be doubted whether the annals of Methodism supply anything like a parallel to these infamous riots.'* Wesley, who was an authority on mob violence, evidently was of the same opinion.
On May 19, 1750, he rode to Cork to see for himself.
He was entertained by Alderman Pembroke, who had been mayor of the city in 1733.
Thenext day being Sunday, Wesley preached to a large and deeply attentive congregation on Hammond's
Marsh.
Having heard that the Mayor of Cork intended to hinder his preaching there again in the evening, he sent two messengers to him to inquire into the correctness of the rumour.
The mayor said to them plainly ' I will have no more preaching ; 1ji, 202-204.
® See Crookshank's History, chapters iii, and iv.
® History, i. 51.
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and, if Mr. Wesley attempts to preach, I am prepared for him.'
Mr. Crookshank shall continue the story.
Wesley, unwilling to give offence, therefore relinquished his purpose of preaching out of doors, and conducted the service in the room held by the Society; but no sooner had he commenced than the mayor came with the city drummers and an immense rabble, and continued drumming outside as long as Wesley continued preaching.
On leaving Wesley was hemmed in by the mob.
Observing one of the .serjeants standing by, he desired him to keep the King's peace: but the civic officer replied, 'Sir, I have no orders to do that.'
And so, amid a shower of missiles, the servant of God had to make his way through a brutish mob to the house of a Mr. Jenkins.
Here a stout Romanist stood at the door to hinder his entrance; but she received a blow, intended for Wesley, that brought her to the ground, and thus he passed in.
But many of the congregation were more roughly handled, particularly Mr. Jones, who was covered with dirt, and by a merciful
Providence escaped with his life.
The main body of the mob then went to the preaching-room, and for at least the third time brought out the seats, pulled down the doors and window-frames, tore up the floor and whatever woodwork remained, part of which they turned to their own account, and the rest they burned in the open street.
It is worthy of note that one of the rioters, having died soon after, was buried in a coffin made of two of the benches thus stolen from the Methodists.
Wesley left Cork the next day, and the riots were continued.
Just a week after he had gone he received news which proved to be a gleam of light from a dark sky.
Once more the soldiers in Ireland come into our view.
Many of them who were quartered in Cork had attended the Methodist services and had come under the power of the gospel.
Through their influence the mob was at last intimidated.
The mayor interviewed the colonel, but got no encouragement from him.
The colonel told the mob that they must make no riots ; and Mr. Crookshank says, 'Thus the first stand for peace was taken in this long-distracted city.'
Wesley visited Cork again and preached at the barrack gate to a large congregation of serious people, the mob standing about one hundred yards off.
At the close of the service the soldiers, who had kept together near the gate, took their position in front and rear of the Methodists, and guarded them as they walked through a great crowd to Alderman Pembroke's house.
These soldiers kept the mob in check during the rest of the term of the mayor's year of 1 History, i. 64-66.