occurred in 1752. If we accept that year, we come to the
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was written on Saturday, July 25, and the postscript on July 26.
These dates of day and month agree with those that occurred in 1752.
If we accept that year, we come to the conclusion that three years before the Leeds Conference of 1755 was held Charles Wesley was ready to consider an offer of a 'living' in the Church of England.
Writing to his wife, he says, 'I breakfasted this morning with M. Gumley, who made me an offer of Drayton living, in Oxfordshire, the drunken incumbent being near death.
I neither refused nor accepted it ; for I had not 'consulted you.'?
Attempting to understand Charles Wesley's position, there is another fact we must bear in mind.
In John Wesley and the Methodist Societies we described the furious riots at Sheffield in May, 1743, when Charles Wesley was mobbed and stoned.
Reaching Leeds, he went to 'the great church.'
He was conducted to 'the minister's pew,' was asked to assist in the administration of the sacrament, and gladly consented.
The courtesy of the Leeds clergy made a deep impression on him, but in his Journal he says, ' I dreaded their favour more than the stones in Sheffield.'
During the interval of twelve years his fear of the favour of the clergy gradually diminished.
He met a number. of them who treated him with respect.
He gained the affection of some of them, and a desire of their friendship took the place of the fear of their favour.
These influences, acting together, had confirmed his Churchmanship and had brought him nearer to his old position.
On Monday, April 28, John Wesley met his brother in Birstall, and on the following Wednesday and Thursday they were closely engaged in considering the important question that was to be discussed at the approaching Conference.
We judge the nature of their conversation from the fact that on these days they read together a tract. written by Micaiah
Towgood, a Dissenting minister who lived in Exeter.
The tract was in the form of three letters to John White, B.D., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Vicar of Ospringe, near Faversham, who had written a defence of the Established
Towgood entitled his tract A Gentleman's Reasons for his Dissent from the Church of England.
John Wesley 1C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 212. _ :
2 John Wesley and the Methodist Societies, 122.
See John Wesley's Journal, iv. 114 note.
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describes it as 'an elaborate and lively tract,' and says that 'it contains the strength of the cause.'
It was seriously considered by the brothers.
John Wesley, in his Journal entry on Thursday, May 1, makes mention of Richard Baxter; from which we conclude that he talked with his brother about the new information he had derived from the book on Church
Councils.
Speaking of Towgood, he says, 'In how different a spirit does this man write from honest Richard Baxter!
The one dipping, as it were, his pen in tears, the other in vinegar and gall.
Surely one page of that loving, serious Christian weighs more than volumes of this bitter, sarcastic jester.'
The result of reading and conversation was that the brothers agreed that Towgood's tract did not yield them one proof that it was lawful for them, much less their duty, to separate from the Established Church.
On Tuesday, May 6, the Conference began in Leeds.
It was held in the new chapel, Wesley living for the week in the preachers' house in Boggard Close.
We regret that we have not been able to find a full account of the business transacted.
In the Appendix to the first volume of the Minutes of Conference there is a brief account, but it is somewhat inaccurate, and in one particular it is misleading.
It opens by saying that the Conference was held on May 22, 1755.
On that date we know that John Wesley was in Newcastle.
Then it says that sixty-three preachers were present. A little farther on it gives us a list of the preachers who were then in association with the Wesleys.
There were thirty-four itinerants, twelve half-itinerants, and fifteen chief local preachers; that is, counting the Wesleys and William Grimshaw, there were sixty-one Methodist preachers in England, Ireland, and Wales at that time, if we include the half-itinerants and the chief local preachers.
It is not likely that John Wesley would take away the preachers from three countries to attend this conference.
If he had done so, and sixty-three preachers were present, the decisions of the Conference would possess extraordinary authority.
We are not able to say how many preachers were present at this Conference ; but, in addition to the Wesleys, we note that William Grimshaw was there.
A rumour was stirring in the Societies concerning him which caused uneasiness.
He knew that the principal subject that was to be discussed at the
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Conference was the question of separation from the Church, and it was alleged that if the Conference decided to leave the Church he would leave the Methodists.
Before the Conference met Charles Wesley had tried to persuade another clergyman to attend its sittings.
He had undertaken to secure Walter Sellon's admission, relying on him to throw the weight of his influence into the scale against secession; but there is no record of his attendance, and it is improbable that he accepted
Charles Wesley's personal invitation.
In the absence of a full report of the discussions on the vital question which occupied so much time at the Leeds Conference we must search for light from other sources.
The report in the Minutes says that the question, 'Ought we to separate from the Established Church ?
' was considered at large ; and, 'after a free and full debate, continued for several days, it was agreed that we ought not.'
Charles Wesley at the end of the discussion left the Conference abruptly.
Writing to his wife on May 16, he told her he ' left the brethren in Conference.'
He says that he took ' a French leave,' and set out from Leeds without saying farewell to his brother and Mrs. John Wesley.
He evidently thought that the discussion had resulted in a temporary truce, for he says, ' All agreed not to separate ; so the wound is healed slightly.
We shall have to turn to John Wesley if we are to get guidance.
The supreme question that demands an answer concerns his opinions on the result of the deliberations of the Conference.
In John Wesley and the Methodist Societies we mentioned the name of Samuel Walker, of Truro.* In 1746 he resigned the vicarage of Lanlivery and removed to the curacy of St.
Mary's, in Truro.
A great change came over his spiritual experience ; his preaching was filled with evangelical truth and fervour, and it resulted in the conversion of many of his hearers.
His biographer says that the succession of ' inquirers' became so numerous that he was obliged to rent two rooms at a distance from his lodging in the town in order to hold spiritual intercourse with them in private.'
Going along a pathway of experience previously trodden by the Wesleys, he found it advisable to gather his converts into Societies which bore some resemblance to the Religious Societies formed on Dr.
1 Minutes, i. 710.
2C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 202.
4 See Sidney's Life and Ministry of the Rev. Samuel Walker, 19.