the matter to Mr. Perronet.
GATHERING STORMS
5. That if we should ever disagree in our judgement, we will refer the matter to Mr. Perronet.
6. That we will entirely be patterns of all we-expect from every Preacher ; particularly of zeal, diligence, and punctuality in the work ; by constantly preaching and meeting the society ; by visiting yearly
Ireland, Cornwall, and the North; and in general by superintending the whole work, and every branch of it, with all the strength which God shall give us.
We agree to the above written, till this day next year, in the presence of Mr. Perronet.?
The good points in this agreement will be seen at once; as will the wisdom of the limitation clause.
When we remember that Charles Wesley was gradually retiring from the itinerant work, the picture of him as a ' General Superintendent ' raises conflicting thoughts.
Soon the whole burden of responsibility would rest on the shoulders of his brother.
John Wesley saw that fact clearly, and we do not wonder that he signed the agreement with reluctance.
On Sunday, August 7, we catch sight of Thomas Mitchell, whose 'talents for the ministry were but small.'
Charles Atmore says, 'He was a very plain, honest, pious man.'
He spent nearly forty years in the ministry.
'The Lord was with him, and proved to the comfort and salvation of many that He had sent him.
He was born in the parish of Bingley, a town now well known as ' The Throstle-nest of England.'* When he was twenty years old he enlisted for a soldier at the time when the landing of the Young Pretender filled the country with terror.
In 1746, when the scare was over, he obtained his discharge.
Hearing William Grimshaw preach, his eyes were opened to the need of salvation, and he learned that it was to be obtained by faith.
He sought the Saviour and found Him.
Then he was filled with a passion for the salvation of others, and rejoiced with the exceeding joy of the man who leads sinners to Christ.
Grimshaw encouraged him to preach.
Speaking to him, and to Paul Greenwood, a preacher who is described by Atmore as 'a man of great simplicity and uprightness of heart,'
Grimshaw one day said, ' If you are sent of God to preach His gospel, all hell will be up in arms against you.
Prepare for the battle, and stand fast in the good ways of God.'
The prophecy was fulfilled.
On August 7 Thomas Mitchell was at 1 Whitehead's Life of John Wesley, ii. 269-270.
See Mr. Halliwell Sutcliffe's By Moor and Fell in West Yorkshire, 97.