place' the name of William Darney appears. Wesley must
ADVANCE IN THE NORTH
The visitation of Darney's Societies made the Wesleys well acquainted with them.
The effect is shown in the Minutes of the Conference that was held in London on Monday, June
15.
In the list of the preachers ' who assist us in only one place' the name of William Darney appears.
Wesley must have looked with some concern on the sudden enlargement of his sphere of work.
We can imagine his relief when, in August, he received William Grimshaw's letter offering to bear the burden of the supervision of the newly-added Societies.
His proposal had far-reaching effects.
From that time Grimshaw became Wesley's trusted ' Assistant' in the North of England.
Ill
LONDON AND THE WEST
In his Walks in London Augustus J. C. Hare tells us that Little Britain was once as great a centre for booksellers as Paternoster Row is now.
The modern explorer will be surprised at the statement.
Sixty years ago we passed along the street for the first time, and found only one bookshop there.
Since then we have wondered why John and Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems, published in 1739, were to be obtained at ' Mr. Bray's, a brazier, in Little Britain.'
The wanderer among the historic sites of London should possess a wide horizon.
In the seventeenth century Little Britain was haunted by book-lovers.
We look at one of them.
He is turning over the books on counter or stall.
Then he picks up one and dips into it after the manner of his kind.
Suddenly something he has read brings the light of gladness into his eyes, and the book is bought.
We recognize him.
He is Lord Buckhurst, soon to be the Earl of Dorset.
We hear the bookseller telling him that, if he approves of the book, he will be obliged if he will recommend it to his friends.
He confesses that the copies on his hands are only 'so much waste paper.'
The buyer takes his purchase home, reads the book carefully, and thinks that Dryden should see it.
He sends it to him.
Dryden reads it and returns it, with the message:
'This man cuts us all out; and the ancients too!'
He might well say so, for the book was Milton's Paradise Lost.t Recalling the memories of our first visit to the neighbourhood, we think of the moment when, passing through Little
Britain, we caught sight of the expanse of Smithfield.
Looking towards the houses on the right hand, we saw something that fixed our attention.
It was the arch of a gateway.
Its 1 The bookseller was probably T. Helder, whose shop, in Little Britain, bore the sign of ' The Angel.'
* Hare's Walks in London, 199, sixth ed.
LONDON AND THE WEST
simplicity and beauty proclaimed that it belonged to the Early English style of architecture.
The hand of Time had pressed upon it.
The dog-tooth ornaments between the mouldings had been worn down by wind and weather; but they retained the charm that style possesses inthe eyes of those who are sensitive to the appeal of the past.
We opened the gate, went through the passage under the houses, and found that we were in one of those abandoned burial-grounds then so common in London.
The dreariness of the graves and the crumbling tombstones added a new horror to death.
If some one had whispered that we were walking along the site of the nave of a famous church, the ghastliness of that strip of graveyard would have made the fact seem impossible.
We found refuge in the church.
The archaeologist tells us that it is only the choir of the old monastic church, with the first bay of the nave and fragments of the transepts; but every one who visited it in those distant years must have felt its impressiveness.
We found that we were in the presence of pillars and arches whose quiet strength subdues the spirit of a man who can read their meaning.
We were in the church of St. Bartholomew.
We moved about among the monumental tombs.
We saw the tomb of Rahere, who died on September 20, 1144.
Two kneeling monks, one on either side of the recumbent figure of the founder, keep guard.
One of them holds a Bible in his hands.
It is open at Isa. li., and these are the prophetic words he is supposed to be reading:
' The Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places ; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.'?
Another tomb arrests us.
It makes us think of years that followed long after the death of Rahere.
It brings to mind the days of the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
It is the tomb of Sir Walter Mildmay.
He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, and the founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
The Queen did not approve _ of his strong leaning towards Puritanism.
When he presented himself at Court, after founding the college, she said to him,
1 It is supposed that the text was chosen as having special reference to the change effected by the erection of the church.
The spot selected for its site was a mere marsh, for the most part covered with water. A portion, which was dry, was occupied by the common gallows.
LONDON AND THE WEST
'Sir Walter, I hear you have made a Puritan foundation.'
He replied, 'No, madam, far be it from me to countenance anything contrary to your established laws; but I have set an acorn which, when it becomes an oak, God knows what will be the fruit thereof.'
The reply was diplomatic.
Later, Fuller tells us, he lived 'in a Court-cloud, but in the sunshine of his country and a clear conscience.'
Turing away from the far-off days of our first visit to St. Bartholomew's, it is well known that great changes have been made in its interior and surroundings.
The hands of reverent restorers have been at work.
The ' waste places' have disappeared, and now the devout pilgrim finds ' joy and gladness' when he rests in the beautiful church.
But we must think of its eighteenth-century condition as we recall the fact that on December 24, 1738, John Wesley preached there in the morning.
At that time a few churches in London received him as a preacher ; but, one by one, they were closed.
In 1747 the only church that would admit him, his brother, and Whitefield, to its pulpit was St. Bartholomew's.
Why was this exception made?
The answer is to be found in the character and religious experience of its rector,
Richard Thomas Bateman.
In order to trace the stream of influence that had told on Bateman's life we should have to remind ourselves of a fact which is sometimes forgotten.
The great revival of religion that came to this country in the eighteenth century had more than one spring-head.
Before John and Charles Wesley began their mission both Scotland and Wales had come under the vivifying power of the preaching of converted men.
In Wales the names of Griffith Jones, Daniel Rowlands, and Howell Davies, and of Howell Harris, the lay preacher, still shine brightly as the morning stars of the reformation in that country.
Let us look at the stream of influence.
In addition to his parish work Griffith Jones kept a school, and Howell Davies was one of his pupils.
He was converted through the ministry of his tutor.
Determining to become a clergyman, he was ordained to the curacy of Llysyfran, in Pembrokeshire.
His preaching raised strong opposition among some of the more influential parishioners, and through their means he was dismissed from his cure.
Being set free, he preached in other parts of the county.
The little churches of Pembrokeshire
LONDON AND THE WEST
could not contain the communicants who flocked to the Table of the Lord.
On some occasions crowds stood outside waiting their turn, and the church had to be filled twice or thrice before all had received the Sacrament.
He had a great influence in the county, and the effect of his preaching was shown in the changed lives of many people.
Among the number was Richard Thomas Bateman, who had a living in Wales, and who was also the rector of St. Bartholomew's in Smithfield.
At first Bateman had a dislike of Methodism, but increasing knowledge of the people in Wales and England led him to associate himself closely with the Calvinistic
Methodists, and with John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Lady Huntingdon.
It is no wonder that in 1747 he achieved the high distinction of being the only clergyman in London who would permit the Wesleys and Whitefield to preach in his church.
Towards the close of May, 1747, John Wesley met Bateman in London.
They had been friends at the University.
Bateman asked him to preach in St. Bartholomew's, and he consented.
On Sunday, May 31, he read prayers and preached there.
We note that Charles Wesley followed his example in June.
From time to time they also assisted the rector in the administration of the Lord's Supper.
As we see these references in their Journals we wonder what the congregations thought of their presence in the pulpit.
The people in general flocked to hear them, but the point that interests us concerns the attitude of the official mind.
The evidence before us shows that the churchwardens had their own opinions concerning their rector's conduct.
They objected to the invitations given to the Wesleys and Whitefield, and they carried their complaints to the Bishop of London.
Dr. Gibson had given strict injunctions to the clergy of his diocese to exclude all Methodist preachers from their pulpits, and the injunction had been obeyed.
The revolt of Bateman gave the bishop great offence, and proceedings were commenced against him.*
The next year Dr. Gibson died.
The complaints continued.
An inspection of the registers of St. Bartholomew's Church reveals the fact that so late as 1750 the churchwardens were still complaining.
But the See of London was then occupied by an exceptionally strong man, who knew that the principal
1The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, i. 93.