The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 3 (of 3)

Mr. Bush acted upon Wesley’s advice; became the leader of the Midsomer Norton society, and a local preacher; and died a faithful Methodist in 1845.⁠[417]

There are other unhappy marriages besides those contrary to the fifth commandment. Wesley’s was one. For thirty years, he paid a fearful penalty for his rash act in 1751; but now his matrimonial misery ended. Leaving Bristol on October 7, and preaching on his way at Devizes, Sarum, Winchester, and in the Isle of Wight, he arrived in London on October 12, and, under the same date, wrote in his journal: “I was informed my wife died on Monday.” (October 8.) “This evening she was buried, though I was not informed of it till a day or two after.”

Mourning for such a wife would have been hypocrisy. Three days after, on October 15, the widower set out to visit his societies in Oxfordshire. On a similar errand, he went off to Norfolk. On November 5, he began meeting the London classes, and says: “I found a considerable increase in the society. This I impute chiefly to a small company of young persons, who have kept a prayer-meeting at five every morning.” He then set out on his tours through Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, and Kent, and concluded the year in London.

The war still raged; English disasters were multiplied; the ministry was tottering, and soon after fell; with which fall the conflict in America concluded. It was at this period, that a rumour gained credence, that the administration intended to propose the embodying of the militia, and their being exercised on Sundays. Wesley was an ardent friend of the ministry of Lord North; and, of course, a staunch defender of the sanctity of the sabbath. Accordingly, towards the close of 1781, he addressed the following letter to a nobleman, then high in office.

For some reason, no such bill was introduced into parliament. A few months later, Lord North and his colleagues tendered to the king their resignation, and peace negotiations were commenced.

Before concluding the present year, it only remains to notice Wesley’s publications in 1781.

1. “An Extract of a Letter to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount H——e, on his Naval Conduct in the American War.” 12mo, 27 pages.

2. “A Concise Ecclesiastical History, from the Birth of Christ to the Beginning of the present Century. In four volumes.” 12mo. The proposals for printing this work by subscription are now before us; from which it appears, that the price of the four volumes, to subscribers, was ten shillings, and that booksellers, subscribing for six copies, should have a seventh gratis. The book, in fact, is Wesley’s abridgment of Mosheim, to which is added, “A Short History of the People called Methodists,” filling 112 printed pages, and dated “London, November 16, 1781.”

3. The Arminian Magazine. 8vo, 688 pages. In his preface, Wesley says: “I dare not fill up any publication of mine with bits and scraps, to humour any one living. It is true, I am not fond of verbose writers, neither of very long treatises. I conceive, the size of a book is not always the measure of the writer’s understanding. Nay, I believe, if angels were to write books, we should have very few folios. But, neither am I fond of tracts, that begin and end before they have cleared up anything.”

Besides six original sermons, the principal article, in the magazine of 1781 is Wesley’s own translation of Castellio’s Dialogues on Predestination. There is a long and interesting account of Kingswood school. Wesley writes:—“I love the very sight of Oxford; but my prejudice in its favour is considerably abated: I do not admire it as I once did; and, whether I did or not, I am now constrained to make a virtue of necessity.” He then refers to the expulsion, and exclusion of students, because of their being Methodists; and continues: “I am much obliged to Dr. Nowell and others, for not holding me longer in suspense, but dealing so frankly and openly. And, blessed be God! I can do all the business, which I have in hand, without them. Honour or preferment I do not want, any more than a feather in my cap; and I trust, most of those who are educated at our school are, and will be, of the same mind. As to the knowledge of the tongues, and of arts and sciences, with whatever is termed academical learning, if those who have a tolerable capacity for them do not advance more at Kingswood in three years, than the generality of students at Oxford and Cambridge do in seven, I will bear the blame for ever.” He then meets the objection, that young men could not have at Kingswood the advantages they would have at the university, from professors, tutors, public exercises, and company. He maintains, that it would be no loss to the universities if all their professorships were abolished. Some of the tutors, he admits, were worthy of all honour, but many were utterly unqualified for the work they had undertaken. As to the public exercises, he himself had never “found them any other than useless interruptions of useful studies.” As to company, he writes: “It is most true, that the moment a young man sets his foot either in Oxford or Cambridge, he is surrounded with company of all kinds, except that which will do him good; with loungers and triflers of every sort; with men who no more concern themselves with learning than with religion. Company, therefore, is usually so far from being an advantage to those who enter at either university, that it is the grand nuisance, as well as disgrace, of both; the pit that swallows unwary youths by thousands. I bless God! we have no such choice of company at Kingswood; nor ever will, till my head is laid. There is no trifler, no lounger, no drone there; much less any drunkard, sabbath breaker, or common swearer. Whoever accounts this a disadvantage may find a remedy at any college in Oxford or Cambridge.”