N Bristol, England, close to the shortly before his death, encouraging
Tue WEsLEYS—IN PicturE AND Story
1664. YE LLANDOGER TROW, BRISTOL
N Bristol, England, close to the wharf of the Severn River is this old building that could tell much of the days when the slave trade was at shortly before his death, encouraging him to carry on till slavery would be banished from the earth.
He knew something of the baneful influence of slavery in the United States and exhorted his preachers here to cry out against it. But what would have been his exhortation if he had seen it in its awfulness of the later years, before it was forever banished from our shores! its height, if it had a voice and could utter all that it knew. Here in this building trading in slaves took place.
In this basement are the old runways through which, it is said, the undesirable slaves were carried out to sea and destroyed. Be that as it may, of this we are sure that Bristol was in the days of the Wesleys a port of entry and departure for slave ships, and the trade carried on by its people greatly enriched many of its citizens and helped build the fine houses of that day.
He never ceased to preach against all forms of sin whenever and wherever it showed itself. He preached against lawlessness and violence, against swearing and smuggling; he preached to the lower classes against drunkenness and low living; he preached to the upper classes against luxury and selfishness; he preached against sin in all its forms, and continually held up Christ as the remedy for all sin. Not the law, but the Gospel was Wesley's medicine to heal the hurt of God's people. Faithfully he administered it, and effectively it worked.
From the first, John Wesley was against the whole slavery business, and doubtless in his soul determined, Lincoln-like, that "when he had a chance to hit that business, he would hit it hard." Wesley called it, "The sum of all villainies''. He wrote to Wilberforce,
Tue WeESLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
A BIT OF THE OLD PRISON IN BRISTOL
suppose, exceed or even equal, Newgate. If any reign of terror could exceed it a few years ago, Newgate in Bristol did.
So great was the filth, stench, misery, and wickedness, that HIS entrance gate and bit of wall shown in the picture is all that is left of that once famous prison of Bristol.
Perhaps no two men have done more to help those who were imprisoned than John and Charles Wesley. Surely few have done more than John Wesley to reform prison life. From the days at Oxford to the time of their death, these brothers labored to help those in need.
They prayed with the prisoners and pointed them to Christ and helped them find Him to the saving of their souls.
They went with them to the gallows and comforted them as they were hurried into eternity. Those were the days when men, women and children were sentenced to death for almost any and every offense.
John went to London in behalf of the Newgate Prison of Bristol, in 1761, and reported to Parliament, 'Of all the seats of woe, this side of hell, few, I it shocked all who had a spark of humanity left."
Some years later he reports, '""How was I surprised at the change that has come, when I was there a few weeks ago."
A real reform came to prison life in Bristol-London through the preaching and ministry of these men. There had come not only a reformation, but a regeneration, that worked its way up through the lives of men and out into all forms of society. One cannot but be glad for the service rendered to the poor, broken, condemned and dying criminals to whom the Wesleys so faithfully ministered, as their journals vividly declare.
Tue WeEsLEYS—iIN PictuRE AND STORY
s the youngest . Samuel Annesley DD. eje of uniformity from the Rectory.
Cripplegate. Aug. 24. 166
She was the Mother of nineteen Chi of whom the most eminent were Revs. JOHN axp CHARLES WES 'the former of whom was under God Founder of the Societies of the People _ called Methodists.
TRANSLATION OF THE
MOTHER OF THE
WESLEYS In sure and certain hope fo rise . and claim her mansion in the skies. a Christian here her flesh laid down — the cross i eens for a crown.
LL through the years Susanna Wesley was a tower of strength, of wisdom and of counsel to her preacher sons. Again and again they had turned to her for help in settling many of the problems that vexed them and she never failed them. Now she was coming down to the close of a very eventful life in her rooms in the Foundery in London.
Both John and Charles knew of the approaching end and they were present when it came. John tells the story in his own splendid way and we quote his words. "I left Bristol in the evening of Sunday, July 18th, (1742) and on Tuesday reached London. I found my mother on the borders of eternity. But she had no doubt or fear; nor any desire but (as soon as God should call) to depart and be with Christ.
Friday the 23rd about three in the afternoon I went to my mother, and found her change was near. I sat down on the side of the bed.
Her look was calm and serene, and her eyes fixed upward, while we commended her soul to God. From three to four, the silver cord was loosing, and the wheel breaking at the cistern; and then without any struggle, or sigh, or groan, the soul was set at liberty.
We stood round her bed and filled her last request, uttered a little before she lost her speech: 'Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of praise to God.'
Sunday August 1st, Almost an innumerable company of people being gathered, about five in the afternoon, I committed to the earth, the body of my mother.
It was one of the most solemn assemblies I ever saw, or expect to see on this side eternity."
The body was laid to rest in the Bunhill Fields Cemetery, just across the street from the Wesley Chapel in City Road, London. This slab marks her grave and the chiseled words tell in brief form the record of a great life.
Few women have done as much for the world, through the ministry of their sons, as has Susanna, the mother of the Wesleys, and thus the mother of Methodism.
Tur WESLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
WESLEY AT ST. MARY'S OXFORD, 1744
deliver his own soul, but he must press home the Word of God to these men who stood so close to the youth of that day. He has beautifully concluded the whole matter in these words, "The Beadle came to me afterwards and told me the Vice-Chancellor had sent him for my notes. I sent them without delay, not without admiring the wise providence of God. Perhaps few men of note would have given a sermon of mine the reading if I had put it into their hands, but by this means it came to be read, probably more than once, by every man of eminence in the University." Very severe criticisms were voiced by many, and yet they knew that Wesley was right.
OOKING past some of the college walls we catch this view of a part of old St. Mary's of Oxford.
John Wesley was made Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and as such he was under obligation to take his turn in preaching in St. Mary's or pay three guineas for a substitute. Wesley loved to preach too well to hire another to do it for him, if he was within reach of Oxford. He preached there in 1738 and 1741, and now his turn has come again on Friday, August 24, 1744, and he plans to fill this engagement, though as it happened it was his last at St.
Mary's.
Charles Wesley, Mr. Piers, and Mr.
Meriton had come with John to stand with him in this trying ordeal.
He needed all the support they could give.
The University's moral standards were at a very low ebb at this time, and John felt that he must not only Adam Smith said of Wesley, "He was never more faithful, more tender, or more scriptural in his teaching than in the sermon which led to his exclusion from the pulpit of the University."
THe WESLEYS—IN PicTURE AND STORY
eee
WESLEY AND THE BIBLE
ESLEY was a lover of the Word of God. The Bible to him was a sacred book and had been from his youth up.
It was a text book in the rectory at Epworth.
In the hands of Susanna, the mother, it became a living entity. He fell in love with it early in life and his love for it never grew cold. As in the picture, we seldom see him without his faithful friend near at hand.
Hear him speak his own thoughts about it in these words. "I am a Creature of a day passing through end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does anything appear dark and intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of Lights: 'Lord, is it not Thy word? Thou hast said, "If any be willing to do Thy will, he shall know." I am willing to do; let me know Thy will!' I then search therein, with all the attention of which my mind is capable. If any doubt remains I consult those who are experienced in the things of God; and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach." life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit from God and returning to God. I want to know one thing—the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore.
God has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven.
He hath written it down in a Book. O give me that Book! At any price, give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be HOMO
UNIUS LIBRI. Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone. Only God is here. In His presence I open, I read His Book; for this
He was fairly saturated with the Word of God. If you have read his sermons you have been convinced of that fact. As Jesus brought forth, out of the Old Testament, the Word that drove Satan out from his refuge of lies, so Wesley went back into both the Old and the New Testament, and brought forth the Word that helped him overthrow the power of Satan in his own life and in the lives of others.
Tue WESLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
WESLEY'S CHAPEL, CITY ROAD, LONDON
Here on April 21, 1777, Wesley laid the corner stone of the new building. It was a stormy day, and yet the multitudes were so great that Wesley had great difficulty in passing through to lay the first stone.
He stood on this stone and preached for a half hour from the text, '""According to this time,
HIS picture was taken May 24, 1938, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Wesley's heart-warming.
The Foundery had continued to be the meeting place for Methodist worship in London for forty years, but it was now wearing out, and besides, the lease had nearly expired, and something must soon be done. John Wesley was not worn out nor was his natural strength abated, although half a century had passed since he began his ministry. He must carry on and permanent quarters must be secured for his
New Foundery, or, as it came to be called, his "New Chapel"! To this end he leased an acre of the field that lay across from the Bunhill Fields Cemetery where his mother was buried.
This field had formerly held windmills which ground the corn that was brought up the Thames to make London's bread.
In Wesley's day, the site was in rural lane and open fields where the gayer and rougher elements of the crowded city of London held their rendezvous. it shall /be said, What hath God wrought?"
Money was scarce, and it was with difficulty that the work went forward.
Wesley collected money wherever it was possible to get it. It is related that at Keighley, after preaching, Mr. Wesley stood on one side of the path and Mr. Taylor on the other, and with their hats in their hands, collected upwards of seven pounds for the "New
Chapel" at City Road.
The building was dedicated a little more than one year later and became at once the headquarters for the whole Society. To this Chapel John Wesley returned again and again after his tours to find healing and inspiration, and to preach the unsearchable riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tue WEsLEYs—in Picture AND Story
Cae a INTERIOR OF WESLEY'S CHAPEL, City Road, London O SIT in the Wesley's Chapel and let the mind, in meditation, run back over the years is to worship in a very true sense.
It is very beautiful, both in its architecture and in its history therein portrayed, as the above picture reveals. by Mr. Wesley from the Deptford dockyard by direct permission of King George the Third, and were masts made from the wooden walls of old England."
Within the sanctuary are six memorial tablets.
On the North side are those in honor of John Wesley, John Fletcher, and Joseph Benson; while on the South side are those of Charles Wesley, Thomas Coke, and Adam Clarke.
Several changes have been made during the years, but the greatest was that after the fire in December of 1879 when great havoc was wrought upon the Chapel. In the restoration, a strictly conservative spirit was followed.
The old features were restored as far as possible, as they were before the fire.
The Rev. Percy Boyl:ng says, "At the Centenary gatherings in March, 1891, The many beautiful windows throughout the Chapel include such subjects as The Adoration of the Magi, The Apostolic Commission, Come Unto Me, and The Conversion of the Wesleys.
Services were held in the Chapel May 21st and May 24th, 1938, commemorating the 200th anniversary of John Wesley's conversion, or what is known as his '"'Heart Warming." The Pastor, Rev. Percy Boyling, presided and addresses and sermons were given by Bishop Wade of America, Dr. Luke Wiseman, Dr. Lidgett and others. The closing service on Wednesday night was outstandingly impressive. it was decided to raise a sum of money for the complete renovation of Wesley's Chapel.
The foundations were set in concrete. Oak seats were put in.
The Irish Church, the Canadian, the American Methodist Episcopal, North and South, the Australian, the South African, and the West Indian Churches, each sent one of the seven monoliths of French jasper which replaced the pillars which had been obtained
Tue WESLEYS—IN PicTURE AND STORY
a nnn nee SU
UUEE EEE UE UUn DSSS EES SSS
THE STATUE OF JOHN WESLEY
precincts, having worshipped in the Chapel with those who love the Christ; having stood at the tomb of the great Wesley, at the rear of the Chapel; having looked upon and handled some of the furnishings and memorials of the days of long ago, in the home that was his for a time; one turns to go and that same hand seems to be lifted in a gracious benediction.
N THE forecourt of the entrance to the Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London, stands this statue of John Wesley, the work of the sculptors, Adams-Acton.
It was erected at the Centenary of his death (1891) and was paid for by the subscriptions of the children of Methodism throughout the world. This is a beautiful memorial to a great man, who left the impress of his love not only upon the children of his day, but upon the unborn multitudes who will rise up and call him blessed.
It is difficult to build a monument to a great man. He has a way of building his own monument.
It has been said of Christopher Wren, who built Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, "If you would see his monument, look about you."
So it might be said of John Wesley, but with a different interpretation, for he builded, not in stone and marble alone, but in the characters of men and women created in the image of God.
As one enters the Court, coming from the busy, bustling City Road thoroughfare, with its passing crowds and heavily laden trucks, there is a sense of approaching quietness, and the uplifted hand of the figure in bronze seems to extend a welcome.
When one passes out from those sacred
Tire WeEsLEYS—IN PiIcTURE AND SToRY
WESLEY'S PRAYER ROOM, WESLEY HOUSE, LONDON
HIS picture, a Methodist print, shows us the inner sanctuary of prayer so often used by Wesley when in London. sion where he says, "Before I went out I opened my Bible on these words, 'Thou, art not far from the kingdom.' "
He was a great believer in prayer in connection with the difficult experiences of the days as they came to him.
He tells in his Journals how, when the mobs gathered about him and it seemed as if they would kill him, he prayed and scarcely any harm came to him. He relates experience after experience when either his men, or his horses, or himself were able to go on after prayer when it was impossible to do so before prayer. He then records, "Let men interpret as they will, but I give the glory to God who heals both man and beast."
John Wesley and prayer were always good friends. He learned how to pray at his mother's knee when he was a very small boy, and he never outgrew the habit. St. Mark 1:35 says of Jesus, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Wesley was always an early riser and he rose early that he might use the morning for prayer. Of course the Greek testament was always a large factor in his devotions. He often opened the New Testament and the scripture that he found thus became for him the message of God to his soul.
This is evidenced in his record of his experience on the day of his converThe prayer room in the Wesley House in City Road is a very small room, but when one enters he feels that he is in the presence of the spirit of a man of prayer. Let us pray.
Tue WeESLEYS—IN PicruRE AND STORY i
JOHN FLETCHER OF MADELEY
versy and came to Wesley's aid again and again, defending him when he could not defend himself.
NE of the most saintly of men was John Fletcher of Madeley, a very intimate friend of John Wesley.
He was a native of Switzerland, born in Nyon, about fifteen miles north of Geneva, in 1729, and bore the name Jean Guillaume de la Flechere.
Quite early in life he came to England for study and research.
In 1757, at the time of his ordination, he decided to remain in England and Anglicized his name, calling himself John Fletcher.
Southey says of him, "Fletcher of Madeley was a man of whom Methodism may well be proud, as the most able of its defenders; and whom the Church of England may hold in honorable remembrance, as one of the most pious and excellent of her sons. Fletcher in any communion would have been a saint."
In 1773 Wesley writes to Fletcher with the hope that he would take his place as leader when he would lay down the work. His letter said, 'Has God provided one so qualified?
Who is he?
Thou art the man.
Without conferring with flesh and blood, come and strengthen the hands, comfort the heart, and share the labour of your affectionate friend and brother."
But Fletcher died before Wesley.
He was a student of Philology and Philosophy, a master of French, German, Latin, Hebrew and Greek, and yet withal he was a saintly follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1760 and made a rector of Madeley.
Later he espoused the cause of Wesley and became a mighty helper to him.
He had marvelous power in contro-
Tue WESLEYS—IN PicTuRE AND Story
————eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ee
THE OLD GRAVEL WALK CHURCH, DUBLIN
IRELAND HIS old building was erected in preached there to a large gathering.
1770 and was called "The Gravel Walk Church," but it is now called "The Blackhall Place Methodist Church."
It was dedicated by John Wesley and he frequently returned here to preach. The building, though old, is well preserved, and the people have a great pride in pointing out the factors that link it up with the past.
Wesley's first visit to Ireland was in When the Wesleys came into Ireland they had a very difficult place to fill as Protestant ministers. The laws of England gave to Protestantism the power of persecution, which the Government exercised with a vengeance.
Religion had largely gone to hate and persecution.
The Catholic hated and slew the Protestant and the Protestant retaliated in like measure.
Into this atmosphere came the Wesleys with a new Gospel, a Gospel of truth and of love, that soon won its way. Here were men who suffered persecution rather than inflicted it, and the Irish responded gladly.
Methodism came with a cure for Ireland, not so much a political as a spiritual cure.
It brought a Gospel of salvation from sin to its people that afterward helped save Ireland from itself. It gave the people Christ, and Christ gave them life.
1747, and during his long life he crossed the Irish Sea more than forty times.
He frequently records in his Journal the difficulties he had in crossing, due to the storms that would arise, but he seldom failed to meet his appointments and was glad to meet them.
He had a message for Ireland that was a spiritual message and he was eager to deliver it. He reached Dublin in the morning of August 9th, attended service at St. Mary's, and that evening
Tur WeESLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
Pe eee
OXMANTOWN GREEN, DUBLIN
ance given him by the soldiers in this case, he made it a requirement in the "Old Gravel Walk Chapel," which he dedicated a few years later, that the Church should always be open and free to the soldiers who might attend. Wesley tells of his frequent services in Oxmantown Green and the splendid attention given and the fine responses made to the Gospel's appeal.
REQUENTLY when he was in Dublin John Wesley preached in Oxmantown Green and in Skinner's Alley, which adjoined the Green. The Alley in the picture with its large group of boys and girls in the foreground, that came out of nowhere and everywhere on Sunday afternoon, May 29,
1938, within about five minutes' time, might well typify the mob as to numbers only, that gathered at this point during one of Wesley's services.
He In a letter written to Blackwell July 21, 1750, Wesley gives us a picture of Ireland as he saw it at that time. He says, "I have had so hurrying a time tells us how the mob set upon him and beat him with all manner of throwable things, and how he might easily have been killed had it not been for the coming of the sold-ers, added to those who were already there. They routed the mob and stood with him till he had finished his service. He loved the soldiers, not only these, but wherever he found them, and many were converted through his efforts. He had several lay and ordained soldier preachers among his helpers. As a result of the assistfor two or three months as I scarce ever had before; such a mixture of storms and clear sunshine, of huge applause and huge opposition.
Indeed, the Irish in general keep no bounds.
I think there is not such another nation in Europe so impetuous in their love and in their hate. That any of the Methodist preachers are alive is a clear proof of an overruling providence; for we know not where we are safe."
Tue WESLEYS—IN PicturE AND Story 9Y ————
ENNISKILLEN AND TONYLOMAN, IRELAND
this section of Ireland and further south, but they did not cease their work among the people. Many of these towns and hamlets were very dear to the heart of John Wesley, such as Enniskillen, Swanlinbar, Tonyloman, Sidaire and others within a radius of thirty miles.
'HE picture shows the home in Tonyloman, about seven miles from Enniskillen, where Wesley lodged and in the yard of which he frequently preached.
It was then occupied by a Methodist and still is after 179 years.
It took a lot of courage for any man to go into Ireland in the days of the Wesleys, unless he belonged to the Catholic Church, the ''Whiteboys," or other groups, who lived there.
The Wesleys did not lack for courage; they had it in abundance—a sort of sanctiA very interesting statement is made by Wesley in his Journal of May 3rd, 1769, where he says "I preached in the market-place at Enniskillen, once inhabited only by Protestants.
But it has lost its glorying, having now at least five Papists to one Protestant.
I then rode seven miles to Tonyloman where there was a congregation of quite another kind. Many of them already believed, and many others soon found Christ." fied courage that linked them with the Eternal.
The Wesleys and fear had separated long before 1750. Unafraid they labored here until they changed the spiritual atmosphere greatly. Wesley and his preachers were mobbed in
Tur WresLEYS—IN PIcTURE AND STORY AM EE
ADAM CLARKE, FRIEND OF WESLEY
preachers, learning of his ability as a preacher, sent word to John Wesley, commending his work. Wesley asked him to come to Bristol. He started by way of Liverpool with very little money or food, and after much privation reached Bristol. What a meeting that must have been!
Clarke, a youth of twenty-two, and Wesley, now seventy-nine, greeted each other. "Brother
Clarke," says Wesley, "do you wish to devote yourself entirely to the work of God?" Clarke replied, "Sir, I wish to do and be what God pleases.""
Wesley laid his hands upon Clarke's head in blessing, offered a prayer for God's blessing upon the young man, and sent him to preach. He rendered an outstanding service to Christianity in his production of his commentaries of the Bible.
DAM CLARKE was born at Moybeg in County Londonberry, Ireland, 1760. His mother taught him to pray, to fear God, and to revere the Bible.
He first came into vital contact with God through a sermon preached in a barn by a Methodist Minister.
He would rise at four o'clock in the morning to do his studying, that he might attend these services. A minister named Barber did more to make Jesus real to Clarke than any other man.
After a talk with Barber, Adam went out to plow, and the spirit of prayer came upon him, and while he prayed Christ revealed Himself to his hungry soul.
He soon began to say a good word for Jesus Christ and led several of his friends, together with his sister, to God.
John Bredin, one of Wesley's
THe WEsLEYS—IN Picture AND Story
THE HOME AT DERRIAGHY, NEAR BELFAST, IRELAND
BOUT the middle of June, 1775, that was called The Prophet's Chamthere came an experience to John
Wesley that was most trying and almost proved fatal.
He was carrying a heavy load as to his whole work in the United Kingdom, and besides the war was on in the American Colonies, which gave him great concern. ber. The home, as one sees it in the picture, still stands as a witness to a beautiful ministry rendered to Wesley by the Gayers long ago.
Into this home he came a welcome guest, but a sick man.
For three days he was helpless as an infant. The GayHe had journeyed from Clones, Ireland, by way of Londonderry, to Lisburn, reaching there Saturday, June ers watched over him as if he was a father to them, and indeed he was, spiritually.
One day during his illness Thomas Payne, one of his preachers, with a few 17, 1775. He sent for Dr. Laws who advised him to stop work. This Wesley felt he couid not do, so he went on to Derriaghy to the home of Edward Gayer, clerk to the Irish House of Lords.
Mrs. Gayer and her daughter Mary had been converted in Methodist meetings in Lisburn some three years before. A year later Mr. Gayer was so impressed by the culture and spirit of Mr. Wesley that he accepted him and his Gospel. He set apart a room in his home for Wesley and his preachers, friends prayed earnestly that God would prolong the life of His servant, and, as in the case of Hezekiah, add to his days fifteen years.
Mrs. Gayer suddenly arose from her knees and exclaimed, '"'The prayer is answered."
It is interesting to note that Wesley survived from June, 1775, until March, 1791, a period of fifteen years and nine months.
THe WesLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
THE YEW TREE AT DERRIAGHY, IRELAND
answer it gave to the camera on June HIS old yew tree still stands in the front of the home in Derriaghy, Ireland, where John Wesley lay at the point of death for several days in 1775.
Here again and again he came and, standing under this old tree, preached the Gospel to the crowds that assembled to hear him. He has just come from Downpatrick on the 15th of June, 1, 1938.
He is now seventy-five years of age, and adds, "I do not find myself, blessed be God, any weaker than I was at five and twenty. This also hath God wrought."
William Black gives us a picture of Wesley in action at this time, that is of especial interest.
'"'Wesley preached from Luke 20:36
'For neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are the sons of God, being sons of the resurrection,' and when he came to speak on the second clause he repeated it several times
—'For they are equal unto the angels'
—and, his soul being so filled with rap1778, and we hear him say, ''Afterwards I went to my old lodging at Derriaghy, one of the pleasantest spots in this kingdom; and I could relish it now!
How does God bring us down to the gates of death and bring us up again.
The next day I preached at eight to a lively congregation under the old yew, supposed to have flourished in the reign of King James, if not of Queen Elizabeth."
Wesley calls it, "The old yew" in his day, 160 years ago, and yet this is the ture that he could not proceed, he burst into saying, 'Let us pray.' " tears,
THE WESLEYS—IN Picturr AND SToRY
AS THE TWIG IS BENT
EAR Lisburn, Ireland, about ten land to be broken. How much of symbol there might possibly be in this union we can only surmise, but of this we are sure that "as the twig is bent the tree is inclined." miles from Belfast is a small grove, and in it is this odd tree.
The old homestead of Mary Gayer Wolfenden, daughter of the Gayers who befriended John Wesley in his crucial sickness in 1775, is near here. As one goes up this avenue, he finds still growing an old beech tree, called to this day
"Wesley's Tree." This is not a freak of nature, as at first sight might appear to be the case, but rather two trees growing as one.
The story runs that when Wesley visited at the home of Mary in 1788, he found two trees growing close together, and as he stood in the grove that day he united their branches.
There they stand as one tree, gnarled and rugged, without beauty but with much strength.
Not far from this place is Crome Hill and Lambeg Church.
In the adjoining cemetery lie the bodies of two of Wesley's most honored preachers:
John Johnston who lived for many years in Lisburn and acted as the Methodist Bishop of Ireland; and John Breden who had been a drunken, hopeless, Roman Catholic schoolmaster, but finding Christ to the saving of his soul, became a great force for righteousness, both in Great Britain and in Ireland.
It was he who introduced Methodism into West Cork and who brought Adam Clarke into contact with John Wesley. This latter service was not only beneficial to these two men, but to Methodism and the world.
To some, these two trees, growing as one, suggest a symbol of the fact that Wesley never wished the union of Methodism with the Church of Eng-
Tur WESLEYS—IN PIcTURE AND STORY
nc UNE DESUSUESESSSSESES SS
WESLEY AND WELLINGTON
The Castle Walls LMOST twenty miles south of Drogheda, Ireland, stand these old grim walls, without a voice to utter secrets that might be worth hearing.
Could they speak they might tell us interesting facts concerning the relationship of the Wesleys, on the one hand, and the Wellingtons, on the other. At any rate this picture shows us a part of the ruins of the "Old Dangan Castle,' formerly the home of the Wellesleys. In this old castle lived one
Garrett Wellesley, or Wesley, who was the proud master of the castle and the expansive grounds surrounding it.
Looking to the future for the perpetuation of his name and his castle, about had been poverty and hard going to be replaced with riches and political preferment.
Samuel Wesley left the decision of the matter to son Charles, who declined the proposal. Another kinsman was chosen by Garrett, named Richard Colley, who assumed the name of Wesley, and in due time was raised to the peerage as Baron Mornington, and became the grandfather of the Duke of Wellington.
Up to 1805 the famous British soldier appears in the Army list as "Arthur Wesley," after that year the name is changed to Wellesley.
There might have been a great soldier in the family that came out of Epworth Rectory, but Methodism and the world would have been poorer for having lost not only an evangelist of no mean power, but one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hymn writer, of all ages.
1720, he wrote a letter to Samuel Wesley at Epworth, inquiring if he had a son named Charles and, if so, he would like to adopt him and make him his heir. What a boon this at first seemed to be!
Here was a chance for what
Tue WesLEYs—IN Picrurr AND STORY
DROGHEDA, TRIM, AND KELLS, IRELAND
ESLEY was at Drogheda and Dublin in 1750 during his second visit to Ireland, but at that time he seemed to be surveying the ground Book of Kells, written in the sixth and seventh centuries, a manuscript copy of the Gospels, marvelously wrought, is kept in the Trinity College, Dublin.
Wesley must have delighted in this small ancient town of Kells. for future visits when he would establish Methodism among the Irish peoples, as he afterwards did. He visited
Back and forth Wesley moves through all of this eastern part of Ireland, preaching in every city, hamlet, and country-side, wherever an opportunity offered, and wherever there was a possible chance of doing good. In Drogheda several times during 1773 and after. He preached at Trim and Kells, small towns to the West of Drogheda and was able to accomplish something worth while for the kingdom in these communities.
1785, June 17th, we find him again at Drogheda. He says, "Many of our friends from Dublin gave us the meeting at Drogheda, a large, handsome town, which seemed to me to be little inferior to Waterford. After much opposition a small society was formed here."
Not far from this ancient sculptured cross, near which Wesley stood when he preached here, is the Kells round the tower, built in the twelfth century.
The town of Kells is said to have originated in a monastery founded in the sixth century by St. Columba. The
Tur WeESLEYS—IN PICTURE AND STORY
DOWNPATRICK GROVE, NEAR BELFAST, IRELAND
hinder me at all. It was a glorious opportunity.
The whole congregation seemed to drink into one spirit." On Sunday, June 14, he records, "In the evening the congregation in the Grove exceeded that at Belfast (in the morning); and I verily believe all of them were almost persuaded to be Christians."
HIS picture comes to us through the courtesy of The Northern Whig of Belfast. John Wesley was very fond of the country and of the people in and around Belfast, Ireland. To the North of Belfast, a few miles from the city, is a grove in which Wesley preached frequently during the later days of his ministry. This is located near the small town of Downpatrick.
His Journal shows that on the 12th, Downpatrick is the oldest town in Ulster. Here are buried St. Patrick and 13th, and 14th of June,
he preached at the spot in the grove indicated by the marker erected to his memory many years ago. Standing on a pedestal from which a statue of St.
Patrick had fallen, he says, "I took my stand in the middle of the grove, the people standing before me on the gradually rising ground, which formed a beautiful theatre; the sun just glimmered through the trees, but did not St. Columban. Wesley speaks of the Abbey as a noble ruin, "and is far the largest building that I have seen in the kingdom." He grows eloquent over what he calls the Grove. Hear him.
"Adjoining to it [the Abbey] is one of the most beautiful groves which I ever beheld with my eyes; it covers the sloping side of the hill, and has vistas cut through it every way."