This year also, upon the field of battle, Whitefield fell, Wesley's great coadjutor, and the only man of the century who equalled him. Wesley alone now fills the circle of vision, with as valiant a heart as ever carrying on his great life-work through the last decade of a green old age.
See THE EVENING OF LIFE.
(1770—1791.) CHAPTER I.
WESLEY'S VIGOROUS OLD AGE.
WestxEy had now reached old age. Right bravely did he bear his threescore years and ten: that which for many is the period of repose was for him a period of activity; and though his snow-white locks showed plainly that the winter of life had set in, yet his warm and genial spirit still gave proof that for such a man life is a perpetual spring. |
Marvellously endowed in point of physical vigour, he enjoyed in advanced old age a degree of health which is too often denied to those that exceed the ordinary limits of earthly existence. Two illnesses which he had during this decade appear to have left no permanent effects upon his general health. One of these attacks was occasioned by a fall from his horse ;_ the other by a cold caught when he was in-Ireland from sleeping at noon in an orchard, a habit which he had been accustomed to indulge in at times throughout his itinerant life. In both cases, medical skill and careful tendance warded off consequences which, in a 186 The Evening of Life. man of his years, might easily have proved fatal. On his seventy-first birthday he was able to say, "I find just the same strength as I did thirty years ago." Two years later, he again wrote in his journal, "Iam seventy-three years old, and far abler to preach than I was at three and twenty." His voice was as strong as ever: his sight was better : his power of work had vastly increased. "I have none of the infirmities of old age," he says, '' and have lost several I had in my youth." This astonishing physical vigour he attributes to several causes. "The grand cause is," he says, "the good pleasure of God, who doeth whatsoever pleaseth Him. The chief means are: 1. My constantly rising at four for about fifty years. 2. Mygenerally preaching at five in the morning ; one of the most healthy exercises in the world. 3. My never travelling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles in a year."
These incessant journeyings were not only essential to the prosperity of the work in which he was engaged: they had become a necessity of his own existence. Occasionally, we find him casting a momentary and pensive glance at the pleasures of a sedentary life. "Ispent a useful and agreeable evening," he says in his journal, 'in the midst of friends who are among the excellent of the earth.
I was disposed to say, 'It is good for me to abide here.'
But no! The voice of God says, 'Go thou, and preach the Gospel.'" In his seventy-sixth year he writes, "I rested here.
[Newcastle.] Lovely place, and lovely company! But I believe there is another world; therefore I ' must arise, and go hence.'" Such regrets were, however, very rare. His habitual frame of mind was a perfect serenity, which nothing could disturb. 'I feel and grieve," says he,
"but, by the grace of God, I fret at nothing." Nothing is more stimulating than the courageous activity of this venerable man, undismayed by the disappointments of life, and pursuing his labours with all the enthusiasm of youth.
Wesley's Undiminished Popularity. 187
Throughout this last period of his life, Wesleywas still as heartily received as ever. His success was not an ephemeral blaze: it had lasted thirty years, and was continually increasing. The grey-headed preacher knew how to retain the sympathy which he had won in his earlier days. A new generation had grown up around him, and the children learned to revere the man of whose zeal and sufferings they had heard their fathers talk. The news of his approach was enough to ensure a vast multitude of hearers, gathered from all qua@ters. The so-called "pit" at Gwennap was always filled when he preached in it ; and the voice of the septuagenarian still commanded audiences that reached to many thousands. At Birstal and Leeds, as wellas in the metropolis, he addressed multitudes as vast as those of former times. '" I preached in Moorfields," he says in 1775, "to a larger congregation than usual. Strange that their curiosity should not be satisfied yet, after hearing | the same thing near forty years." Though his journeys were generally arranged beforehand, yet he preached a great deal as opportunity offered, in addition to his fixed appointments. He was frequently stopped on his journey and asked to preach: sometimes he found that a multitude of people had assembled of their own accord, and were waiting for him. When he had done, it was not always easy to escape from his audience : they refused to go away, and would have him to converse with them a little longer. 'Whatever men may say," he writes, "as long as people show such an eagerness to hear, it is very clear that the time for open-air preaching is not past."
With such audiences, it is no wonder that Wesley felt himself at home. "I was a little tired," he says in his journal, "before I came to Portsmouth, but the congregation soon made me forget my weariness. Indeed, the people in general here are more noble than most in the south of England.
They receive the Word of God, 'with all readiness of mind.'"
188 'The Evening of Life.
Wesley's preaching always retained those characteristics which had contributed solargely to its success : it penetrated the souls of his hearers, aroused them from their torpor, and inspired a profound sense of their spiritual misery. Though no longer accompanied by those external manifestations which were so common at first, the work of conversion proceeded as vigorously as ever, as is witnessed by the records of the journals.
At Gwennap, one who had denied the faith and turned his batk upon his brethren, wag convinced of his sin under Wesley's preaching, and restored to the church which he had disgraced by his fall. At St. Agnes, after a sermon a young female followed him into the house, " weeping bitterly, and crying out, 'I must have Christ ; I will have
Christ. Give me Christ, or else Idie!'" The old missionary pointed her to her Saviour ; and while he was praying with her she was " filled with joy unspeakable, and burst out, 'O let me die! Let me go to Him now! How can
I bear to stay here any longer ?'"
The power of Wesley's faith was displayed as much in his prayers as in his preaching. On one occasion, while he was praying in public, his mind suddenly reverted to a backslider, whose fall had created great scandal. He broke out abruptly, "Lord, is Saul also among the prophets? Is James Watson here? If he be, show Thy power." The poor man was there: he dropped down
"like a stone, and began crying aloud for mercy."
Apart from the work of conversion, there were moral and fnaterial transformations everywhere wrought through the influence of Methodism, which Wesley could not but note in his progress through the country. The workingclasses had been raised to a higher level of existence : the colliers were completely transformed. As he journeyed through the North, and admired the cottages embosomed in verdure, and everything wearing the appearance of Moral and Material Transformations. 189 comfort and happiness, he could not but reflect that '" three out of four, perhaps nine out of ten, had been built since Methodism had made its appearance in the country."
Methodism itself was everywhere rapidly spreading.
Though Wesley had some sources of anxiety, they only served to set off the fair scenes of prosperity which offered themselves to his view. 'To the grand and irresistible outburst of the first days of the Revival had succeeded, almost universally, a work of internal edification which showed the strong hold its principles had taken on the minds of the people. Wesley's journals show us how skilfully he laboured to sustain this upward movement of the Societies.
In Cornwall, he met with the same encouragement as in former days. 'Very few," he says, "of our old Society are now left: the far greater part of them are in Abraham's bosom. But the new generation are of the same spirit; serious, earnest, devoted to God, and particularly remarkable for simplicity and Christian sincerity." Wales received
Wesley's visits with all the enthusiasm of former times, and its Societies were prospering greatly. The same may be said of England generally. Of Shoreham, where his old friend Perronet was still living, he writes, "'How is the last become first! No Society in the country grows so fast as this, either in grace or number. The chief instrument of this glorious work is Miss Perronet, a burning and a shining light." In the parish where another of his old friends had laboured, he says, " What has God wrought since Mr. Grimshaw and I were seized near this place by a furious mob, and kept prisoners for some hours! The sons of him that headed that mob now gladly receive our saying." The Nottingham society called forth the following observation : "There is something in the people of this town which I cannot but much approve of : although most of our Society are of the lower class, chiefly employed in the stocking manufacture, yet there is generally an uncom190 The Evening of Life. mon gentleness and sweetnessin their temper, and something of elegance in their behaviour, which, when added to solid, ° vital religion, make them an ornament to their profession."
At Weardale, in the North, there occurred a remarkable awakening in the midst of a population composed chiefly of lead-miners. Numerous conversions took place, and the whole country was moved. Wesley describes this model
Society in the following terms :—"In two respects this Society has always been peculiarly remarkable : the one, they have been the most liberal in providing everything needful for the preachers : the other, they have been particuiarly . careful with regard to marriage. They have in general married with each other; and that not for the sake of money, but' virtue. Hence... they assist each other in training up their children ; and God has eminently blessed them therein. For, in most of their families, the greatest part of the children, above ten years old, are converted to God."
Wesley visited Scotland several times during this period, and his preaching was appreciated both by rich and poor, though it did not meet with the marked success which attended it in other parts of Great Britain. The pulpits of the Established Church were everywhere open to him : the inhabitants of Perth conferred on him the freedom of their city. Wesley could not but congratulate himself on this friendliness: yet he complained of the cold and unimpressive manner in which they received the truths of the Gospel. He was a problem to them, and they to him.
Treland was a far more fruitful field; and here his success was as great as ever. Not satisfied with visiting the principal centres of population, he penetrated the farthest recesses of the mountainous districts, in order to proclaim the good tidings of salvation to the ignorant and neglected inhabitants. The scenes he witnessed were such ag recalled the early years of his missionary life. Here, we
The North. Ireland. 191 find him preaching in a wood, under the shade of an old oak, while the rays of the setting sun played among the branches. There, he takes his stand in a public garden, while the crowd sit on the greensward on every side.
Yonder, a tent is erected in the courtyard of an old castle, and from its shelter he addresses a regiment of soldiers, who listen with enthusiasm to his energetic and almost martial utterances.
The Irish people were generally so well disposed toward their favourite preacher, that they would at any time leave their business in order to hear him. His arrival at Cork one market-day was the signal for all to leave their merchandize, and they did not return to it till the preaching was finished. While he was preaching at Blackpool, it began to rain, but both preacher and hearers were equally undaunted, and none stirred till the sermon was ended.
Once or twice the crowd, excited by the priests, indulged in a little hooting and stone-throwing ; but these aggressions were soon stopped, and order completely restored.
In fact, the Irish work was in full prosperity : the number of members increased continually, and in many places large and commodious chapels were built through the liberality of the Societies. While he rejoiced in these abundant proofs of prosperity, however, Wesley was alive to the dangers it involyed. At Athlone, he says, "There is now no opposition either from rich or poor. The consequence of this is, there is no zeal, while the people ' dwell at ease.' O what state upon earth is exempt from danger! When persecution arises, how many are offended! When it does not arise, how many grow cold, and leave their 'first love!' Some perish by the storm, but far more by the calm. 'Lord, save, or we perish !'"
In Great Britain, the mob was everywhere conquered, and opponents durst not show their faces, so changed were the sentiments of the people toward Wesley. If at any
192 The Evening of Life. time a few reprobates meditated mischief, they soon had meted out to them a full and impartial measure of justice.
His defenders sometimes offered him more protection than he required. One scapegrace, who interrupted the preaching with his shouts, found a warm reception, and retired from the scene of action covered with mud.
Another, a drunkard whose outrageous behaviour disturbed the congregation, was taken to task by his wife, who seized him by the collar, and after administering salutary chastisement, marched him home amid the cheers of the people. Often, the multitude displayed a stronger sense of justice, and, instead of taking the law into their own hands, contented themselves with giving up the agents of mischief to the neighbouring magistrates. The magistrates themselves latterly acted like honourable men. One exception alone is recorded throughout this decade: a mayor sent two constables to prevent Wesley's preaching in the market-place ; but they were ashamed of their errand, and preferred to obey their consciences rather than their master.
The ascendency that Wesley thus gained over the minds of the people was owing to his personal character. This is proved by the fact that at this very time other preachers suffered greatly from the violence of the multitude.
William Darney was roughly handled, dragged through the mud, and trampled under foot by a mob stirred up by an intolerant priesthood. John Oliver was thrown into prison for preaching the Gospel. Nelson, Mather, Taylor,
Rodda, who ranked among Wesley's most efficient auxiliaries, endured similar treatment. But Wesley knew how to control the evil passions of the populace : the power of his word and the prestige of his long service vanquished prejudice : it stood rebuked in the presence of that serene figure, crowned with locks of snowy whiteness.
This influence he wielded, not only where he was well known, but also in places that he visited for the first time.
Behawiour of the People. 193
At Redmire, he met with but a chilling reception. "As I rode through the town," he says, " the people stood staring ' on every side, as if we had been a company of monsters. ip preached in the street, and they soon ran together, young and old, from every quarter. I reminded the elder, of their having seen me thirty years before, when I preached in Wensley Church ; and enforced once more, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' When I rode back through the town, it wore a new face. The people were profoundly civil: they were bowing and courtesying on every side. Such a change in two hours I have seldom seen."
Although such an improvement had taken place in the dispositions of the people, it is only fair to acknowledge that it was not taught by the upper classes to the lower : on the contrary, it was the latter who set the example of tolerance and moderation. For a long time, those who by social position and intelligence should have been qualified to inspire the masses with a proper regard for order, forgot all self-respect, and behaved most indecorously in the presence of a plebeian gathering whose orderly and dignified bearing might well have put them to shame.
Wesley complainsstrongly, in divers instances, of these "men whom English politeness calls gentlemen, but who behave worse than sailors or colliers." More than once these disturbers of the peace received well-merited rebukes from those who, though their inferiors in point of education, surpassed them in good sense and common decency. "Do you think I have need to be taught by a chaise-boy ?" said one who had been making use of bad language to a groom who reproved him. "Really, Sir, I think you do," said the lad, and the " gentleman " stood confounded.
The clergy had in great measure lost their ancient prejudices against Wesley. If one bishop still laid his interdict upon the Methodists by denying them the sacraments,
0) 194 Wesley's Vigorous Old Age. as was the case in the Isle of Man, others recognized the nobleness of their achievements, and showed sincere respect to their great leader. The pulpits, once resolutely closed against him, were one by one thrown open, and the churches proved too small to hold the immense congregations that assembled to hear beneath their roofs that voice which, for more than forty years, had been awaking the echoes of the streets and the woods.
Wesley's journeys were so many visits of inspection designed to keep him acquainted with the real state of the work of God. For this spiritual episcopate he was admirably fitted ; and it possessed a far greater reality, and embraced a much vaster area, than that of the Anglican bishops. He possessed not only the comprehensive vision of the military general, who with one glance takes in the whole field of battle, but the still rarer faculty of minute investigation, which suffers no details to be neglected.
In his visitation of the Societies he had regard not only to their general and collective interests, but also to those that were more special and local. He often had to act the part of a mediator between opposing parties, and this he did with so much impartiality, as well as so much prudence and tact, that he very seldom failed in accomplishing his end.
The Societies were, in fact, still agitated by questions of internal discipline, and it taxed Wesley's skill to prevent this agitation from becoming open rupture. He still, however, depended on Providence for a solution of these difficulties, and was always solicitous to impress on his
Societies the practical character of the mission of Methodism.
"Observe," says he to his preachers in 1778, "it is not ' your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that Society, but to save as many souls as you can ; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness — without which no man can see the Lord."
Wesley as a Pastor. 195
Wesley's excellence as a preacher was perhaps even surpassed by his skill in the cure of souls. His larger meetings seemed to him to have been almost resultless, except as they paved the way for close and personal conference with those who had received spiritual impressions. His pastoral labours were to him the necessary complement of his pulpit efforts.
The class-meeting was one of those creations of his organizing genius which gave so much stability and permanence to the work. He was fully alive to its importance, and everywhere endeavoured to promote the orderly working of this part of the Methodist machinery. Wherever he went, he visited the classes, and instituted a personal examination into the state of each of the members. Notwithstanding his innumerable engagements, he constantly devoted himself to pastoral visitation, and, at regular intervals, saw at their own homes all the members of his larger
Societies at London, Bristol, and Newcastle. The sick had their place in his sympathies; his wide reading having furnished him with stores of medical knowledge, so that he could minister to their physical as well as spiritual necessities ;and in London. he established a dispensary, where medicine was gratuitously distributed to the poor.
In the course of these pastoral visits he was often the eyewitness of great misery. "I began visiting," he says in 1777, "those of our Society who lived in Bethnal-Green hamlet. Many of them I found in such poverty as few
- ean conceive without seeing it. O why do not all the rich that fear God constantly visit the poor! Can they spend part of their spare time better? Certainly not....
'Such another scene I saw the next day in visiting another part of the Society. Ihave not found any such distress, no, not in the prison of Newgate. One poor man was just creeping out of his sick bed to his ragged wife and three little children, who were more than half naked, and the 196 Wesley's Vigorous Old Age. very picture of famine; when one bringing in a loaf of bread, they all ran, seized upon it, and tore it in pieces in an instant. Who would not rejoice that there is another world ?"
Toward such misery Wesley's heart ever overflowed with sympathy. His frugal life and simple tastes enabled him to devote a considerable part of his resources to works of benevolence. On one occasion, when in Ireland, his carriage stuck fast in a bog: while the men were endeavouring to extricate it, a poor man passed by, and Wesley, observing his profound dejection, inquired the cause. The man told him that he was in danger of being turned out of house and home, his landlord having threatened to eject him for arrears amounting to twenty shillings. Wesley put a sovereign in his hand, and the poor man fell on his knees, crying out, ' Now I shall have a house to shelter me," and began to pray for his benefactor with all his might. 'I believe," says Wesley,
"'God answered his prayer by helping us out of the bog."
He was still a zealous visitor of the prisons, and more than once had the happiness of leading condemned criminals to that Saviour who pardoned the penitent malefactor. In 1767, he had had a somewhat sharp controversy with Dr. Dodd, an Anglican preacher of some renown, and a clever writer, who, like many others, wished to break a lance with the founder of Methodism. Ten years rolled away, and Wesley had almost lost sight of his old antagonist, when he received a message begging him to come to him immediately. The brilliant preacher of former days was in prison on a charge of forgery. He was convicted of having counterfeited the handwriting of Lord Chesterfield, a former pupil of his, for the purpose of obtaining money ; and, according to the stringent legislation of those days, the penalty was death. Smitten with remorse and desirous of making his peace with God, the unfortunate
Death of Dr. Dodd. 197 man sought the advice of Wesley, thus doing sincere homage to the piety of the man whom he had once so violently assailed. In the interviews that Wesley had with him, he showed all the signs of genuine repentance.
Two days before his execution he paid him another visit, and was present while his wife took her leave of him. It was a touching scene. "QO Sir," said he, in reply to the encouragements that Wesley offered him, "it is not for such a sinner as me to expect any joy in this world. The utmost I can desire is peace; and, through the mercy of God, that I have." "On Friday morning," continues
Wesley, "all the prisoners were gathered together when he came down into the court. He seemed entirely composed. But when he observed most of them lifting up their hands, praying for him, blessing him, and weeping aloud, he was melted down, burst into tears too, and prayed
God to bless them all. When he came out of the gate, an innumerable multitude were waiting, many of whom seemed ready to insult him. But the moment they saw him their hearts were changed, and they began to bless him and pray for him too.... One of his fellow-prisoners seemed to bein utter despair. Dr. Dodd, forgetting himself, laboured to comfort him, and strongly applied the promises. After some time spent in prayer, he pulled his cap over his eyes, and, sinking down, seemed to die in a moment. I make no doubt but in that moment the angels were ready to carry him into Abraham's bosom."
Though Bristol was at first the headquarters of Methodism, it was not long before London, as if by right, assumed that position. There Wesley kept up his largest establishment, and thence he started on his missionary travels. At the commencement of the present period theF'o undery Chapel, opened in 1739, was still the principal Methodist sanctuary, and it could indeed boast a great history. In 1778, it was replaced by a more spacious and commodious chapel in 198 Wesley's Vigorous Old Age.
City-Road, the funds for the erection of which were raised by an appeal to the whole Connexion. City-Road Chapel, which is still a principal Methodist place of worship in London, was then the finest ecclesiastical edifice in the capital beyond the pale of the Anglican church ; and it will always be a structure admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was built.
From his printing-establishment in London, Wesley continued to issue innumerable publications, the literary labour in connection with which would alone have sufficed to employ the time of an active man. In 1773, he published an edition of his works in twenty-three volumes. In 1778, he commenced the publication of a monthly periodical, the "' Arminian Magazine," which he edited to the end of his life, and which is still continued, under the title of the " Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.' Among the productions of his busy pen we may mention certain political pamphlets called forth by the revolt of the American colonies, in which he views the subject from a thoroughly
English standpoint. At the same time, in an eloquent letter to the prime minister, Lord North, he argues powerfully against the use of violent measures, and pleads for a policy of conciliation.
Before concluding this chapter we must spend a few words on the great controversy which broke out in 1770 between the followers of Wesley and those of his late great fellow-labourer, Whitefield, on the peculiar tenets of Calvinism. In this controversy, Wesley was only indirectly involved. It had its origin in a re-affirmation, by the Conference of 1770, of the original doctrinal principles of Methodism, in which the preachers were' especially warned against Antinomian errors. The " Minutes," which embodied, perhaps in too concise a form, the views of the Conference, unfortunately revived grave questions which for many years had been permitted to sleep. Whitefield's
Calvinistic Controversy. 199 disciples regarded the document as an attack upon themselves, and, wresting the natural sense of his words, declared that Wesley had become the advocate of Pelagianism. To - this statement the whole of his past life was a contradiction ; but for peace' sake he consented to explain the sense of the Minutes, and declared himself as much opposed as ever to the errors laid to his charge. These explanations were, however, powerless to check the tide of religious
'strife, and for a long time books and pamphlets in relation to it were multiplied. Wesley did not himself descend into the arena, but he found an able champion in his friend
Fletcher. Had this controversy had no other result than that of unfolding the remarkable talents of this devotedman, it would have served a worthy end. But it served further to establish the decried Arminian doctrine upon solid foundations, and to prove to its adversaries that it was far from being the unsubstantial dream of mere enthusiasts.
The general cessation throughout the country of strife upon these subjects, and the gradual abandonment on the part of the Calvinists of extreme views, are in great measure due to the polemical labours of this period.
While these discussions were a source of anxiety to many minds, they did not hinder the development of Methodism.
This decade was emphatically a period of progress, and yielded a clear increase of 14,651 members and 52 itinerant preachers. The total number of members in England and America rose, in the year 1780, to 52,334 ; while the number of itinerant preachers amounted to 213, besides several hundreds of local preachers. In America the work had made wonderful strides, so much so as to compel Wesley to execute one of the most remarkable movements of his ecclesiastical course.
The body of preachers had been largely developed and strengthened in the course of these ten years. Among the new recruits were Francis Asbury, the father of American
200 Wesley's Vigorous Old Age.
Methodism, and one of its first bishops; Joseph Benson, the commentator, who, expelled from Oxford for holding Methodist views, became one of the great lights of the Connexion ;—Samuel Bradburn, the Demosthenes of Methodism, of whom Dr. Clarke said that he never heard his equal ;—James Rogers, the ardent evangelist ;—John
Valton, a young Frenchman, who, after having celebrated the mass as a chorister in his native country, became one of Wesley's choice companions and the instrument of several revivals ;—Henry Moore, the first biographer of Wesley, who during a ministry among the Methodists of sixty-five years was one of their most influential leaders ;—and lastly,
Dr. Coke, who, having sacrificed a good position in the Church in order to identify himself with Methodism, became one of its brightest ornaments, and the founder of its great missionary enterprise.
Such accessions gave a higher status to Wesley's preachers, and formed a guarantee for the future of the body. That future was, indeed, already safe: the great work of the Revival was now being devolved on men whose piety and intelligence ensured its continuance after Wesley's death.
On this point he was himself fully satisfied, as is shown by the hopeful strain in which he thus wrote to a friend :— "The remark of Luther, 'that a revival of religion seldom continues above thirty years,' has been verified many times in several countries. But it will not always hold. The present revival of religion in England has already continued fifty years. And, blessed be God, it is at least as likely to continue as it was twenty or thirty years ago. Indeed, it is far more likely ; as it not only spreads wider, but sinks deeper, than ever; more and more persons being able to testify that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. We haye, therefore, reason to hope that this revival of religion, will continue, and continually increase, till the time when all Israel shall be saved, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come."