[180] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1737, p. 575.

[181] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 39.

[182] Methodist Magazine, 1842, p. 657.

[183] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 44.

[184] Ibid. vol. xi., p. 455.

[185] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 24.

[186] Methodist Magazine, 1808, p. 490.

[187] Ibid. 1798, p. 358.

[188] Ibid. 1855, p. 426.

[189] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 324.

[190] Methodist Magazine, 1844, p. 922.

[191] These facts concerning Causton are taken from “A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia,” published in 1741, by a number of colonists living on the spot, and all of whom were unfriendly to Wesley.

[192] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 23.

[193] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol ii., p. 15.

[194] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol i., p. 312.

[195] “The Progress of Methodism in Bristol.” 1743.

[196] “A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia.” 1741.

[197] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 23.

[198] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[199] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 118.

[200] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 30.

[201] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[202] Wesley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 154.

[203] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792, p. 24; and Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[204] Ibid.

[205] Moore’s life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 326.

[206] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[207] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 327.

[208] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[209] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[210] Ibid.

[211] “The Progress of Methodism in Bristol.” 1743.

[212] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[213] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[214] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[215] Wesley’s unpublished journal.

[216] Ibid.

[217] Ibid.

[218] “A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia. By W. Stephens, Esq.” 8vo: 2 vols.

[219] Ibid.

[220] “Journal of Proceedings in Georgia.” 8vo: 2 vols.

[221] It is a remarkable fact that, though Savannah is the chief city in the state of Georgia, Methodism hardly has an existence in it. Wesley left it in 1737; and three years after, Whitefield founded his Savannah Orphan House, which has long since crumbled into ruins. Nothing more was done until 1790, when Hope Hull was sent to Savannah and preached a few times in a chairmaker’s shop, but met with more mob violence than spiritual success. Ten years later, John Garvin tried to collect a society; but the attempt was a failure. The South Carolina Conference, held in 1806, appointed Samuel Dunwody, and he succeeded in forming the first Methodist society in Savannah since the breaking up of that formed by Wesley seventy years previously. Dunwody’s society consisted of twelve members, five of them white and seven coloured. After hard toiling a chapel was erected in Savannah in 1812, and was opened by Bishop Asbury; but, to the present day, the opposition to Methodism is most decided, and the Methodist society and congregation are extremely poor and meagre. (See Dr. Dixon’s “Methodism in America,” p. 282.)

[222] It is right to add that Mr. Stephens, the trustees’ secretary, who, upon the whole, evinces a friendly spirit towards Wesley, gives a somewhat scurvy character of Wesley’s companions. One of them, Coates, a constable, had been one of the principal fomenters of mischief, a busy fellow, going from house to house with idle stories to fill people’s heads with jealousies, and distinguishing himself by a most inveterate opposition to all the rules of government. He was greatly in debt, and had never improved one foot of land since his arrival in the province. Gough, a tithingman, was an idle fellow, pert and impudent in his behaviour, always kicking against the civil power, and making it his business to inflame sedition. He also was in debt; and left behind him a wife and child, who scarce grieved at his departure, for he used to beat them more than feed them. Campbell, a barber, was an insignificant loose fellow, fit for any leader that would make a tool of him, and whose only motive for going off was to escape his creditors.

There can be little doubt that this is true; but it by no means follows that these vagabonds were Wesley’s friends. They seem to have been fugitives as well as he. Misfortune makes a man acquainted with strange bedfellows; still, leaving in such company was an ugly fact, and was used to Wesley’s disadvantage. Mr. Stephens writes: “As I was always ready and willing, in conversation or otherwise, to make allowance for Mr. Wesley’s failings in policy, and was careful not to run hastily into a belief of all I heard against him, I was now asked, in a sneering way, what my sentiments were of him? ‘Noscitur ex sociis’ was the common byword; and all I had to say was that he must stand or fall by himself, when his cause came before the trustees.”

[223] See Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 76; and Errata to vol. xxvi. of his collected works, published in 1774.

[224] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 190.

[225] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 320.

[226] Whitefield’s Journal.

[227] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 347.

[228] Whitefield’s journal and letters.

[229] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1738.

[230] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 18.

[231] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 18.

[232] See original letter, Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 1089.

[233] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 22.

[234] Ibid. vol vii., p. 189.

[235] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 95.

[236] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., pp. 86, 96.

[237] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 86; and C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 85.

[238] Priestley’s Letters, p. 65.

[239] Methodist Magazine, 1821, p. 439.

[240] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 95.

[241] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 27.

[242] Methodist Magazine, 1854, p. 687.

[243] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1738, p. 608.

[244] Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 344.

[245] Methodist Magazine, 1797, p. 149.

[246] From a “Memorial of William Law, by Christopher Walton,” printed for private circulation in 1854.

[247] C. Wesley’s Journal; and Priestley’s Letters.

[248] Priestley’s Letters.

[249] This letter was written after Wesley’s visit to Germany, which will be noticed shortly.

[250] Priestley’s Letters, p. 83.

[251] Priestley’s Letters, p. 88.

[252] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 108.

[253] Ibid. p. 109.

[254] Ibid. p. 111.

[255] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 112.

[256] Wesley’s Works, vol. v., p. 107.

[257] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 106.

[258] Holmes’s History.

[259] Priestley’s Letters, p. 82.

[260] Hutton’s Memoirs.

[261] Holmes’s History, etc.

[262] Methodist Magazine, 1856, p. 1028.

[263] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., p. 51.

[264] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 50.

[265] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 365.

[266] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 133.

[267] Warburton’s Life, p. 523.

[268] Rules of Band Societies, 4th edit., 1744.

[269] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 794.

[270] See Wesleyan Times, Dec. 2, 1861.

[271] Since writing the above, we have met with one of Wesley’s letters in Rawlinson’s Continuation of Wood’s “Athenæ Oxoniensis,” in which he states that he published “A Collection of Psalms and Hymns,” in 1736. Is this date an error?

[272] The Weekly Miscellany for February 10, 1739, and in subsequent numbers, states that there was considerable chicanery practised in securing Whitefield the pulpit of St. Margaret’s. It was pretended that a friendly society desired him to preach for the benefit of their funds; but the treasurer of the society, and four of its six trustees, signed and published a document contradicting this assertion. Of the two remaining, one was from home at the time, and the other was a Mr. Bennett, who assisted the crowd in pushing Whitefield into the pulpit. There can be little doubt that Whitefield was deceived by Bennett, and that it was a mistake for him to preach at St. Margaret’s when he did. In the same weekly journal, it is asserted that Charles Wesley had been guilty of the same illegal act, by taking possession of the pulpit at Bloomsbury. His friends asked the pulpit for him; the request was refused; and yet he came into the preacher’s pew; sat next the door; and, as soon as prayers were over, went into the pulpit and preached, to the great surprise of the clergyman, who intended to preach himself. We have no means of either confirming or refuting this.

[273] His congregation, including horses and coaches, covered three acres (Gentleman’s Magazine, 1739).

[274] Whitefield’s Journal.

[275] Ibid.

[276] Whitefield’s Journal.

[277] Ibid.

[278] C. Wesley’s Journal.

[279] This is worth noting. Wesley, in his History of England, vol. iv., p. 188, tells us that “a severe frost began at Christmas, and continued till the latter end of February. The Thames was covered with such a crust of ice that a multitude of people dwelled upon it in tents, and a great number of booths were erected for the entertainment of the populace. The navigation was entirely stopped; the fruits of the earth were destroyed; many persons were chilled to death; the price of all sorts of provisions rose almost to a dearth; and even water was sold in the streets of London.”

[280] Whitefield’s Journal.

[281] Whitefield’s Journal.

[282] Whitefield’s Journal.

[283] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 240.

[284] Ibid. vol. viii., p. 109.

[285] Taylor’s “Wesley and Methodism.”

[286] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 42.

[287] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 292.

[288] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 472.

[289] In the same year, Trapp preached another sermon, On Religious Zeal, before the Oxford university, and the judges presiding at the Oxford assizes. This, at their request, he published, octavo, thirty-two pages. One extract may suffice. Speaking of the Methodists, he describes them as “our modern enthusiasts, pretending to be the only true believers; and by whom the Established Church and clergy had been outraged with unparalleled virulence and malice, insolence and contempt.”

[290] Methodist Magazine, 1863, p. 908.

[291] See “Life of Whitefield. By an Impartial Hand.” 1739.

[292] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 470.

[293] Doddridge’s Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 381.

[294] Priestley’s Letters, p. 99.

[295] Methodist Magazine, 1815, p. 457.

[296] Ibid. 1828, p. 382.

[297] See a full account of them in “The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A.”

[298] See Priestley’s Letters, p. 102.

[299] Methodist Magazine, 1849, p. 165.

[300] Whitefield’s Journal.

[301] Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 179.

[302] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 314–316.

[303] Priestley’s Letters, p. 107.

[304] “Life and Diary of Rev. Ralph Erskine,” p. 293.

[305] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 184.

[306] Ibid.

[307] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 127.

[308] “Life and Times of Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. ii., p. 358.

[309] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 236.

[310] Weekly Miscellany, Nov. 11, 1738.

[311] Whitefield’s Journal.

[312] Ibid.

[313] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 237.

[314] Ibid. vol. xiii., p. 150.

[315] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 125.

[316] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 37.

[317] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 245. Wesley evidently thought, that all are, or ought to be, equal in the house of God. His arrangements for the Foundery congregation were carried out in the whole of his London chapels until four years before his death, when, greatly to his annoyance, the lay authorities at City Road set aside his policy.

[318] Watchman, 1838, p. 401.

[319] Jobson’s “Chapel and School Architecture,” p. 48.

[320] Jackson’s Life of C. Wesley, vol. ii., p. 536.

[321] Life of Silas Told, p. 74.

[322] Methodist Magazine, 1787, p. 101.

[323] Cennick’s Autobiography.

[324] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 264.

[325] Myles’s History, p. 15.

[326] The writer is aware that Wesley says, “Joseph Humphreys was the first lay preacher that assisted me in England, in the year 1738.” (Wesley’s Works, vol. iv., p. 473.) But this was before Wesley went to Bristol, and, doubtless, in connection with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane.

[327] Methodist Magazine, 1822, p. 783.

[328] Wesley’s Works, vol. viii., p. 259.

[329] Ibid. vol. vii., p. 404.

[330] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 76.

[331] Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 126.

[332] Whitefield’s Journal.

[333] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 189.

[334] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 213.

[335] Ibid. p. 219.

[336] This is true. Hence the following, taken from a sermon published by Annesley in 1661:—“There are believers of several growths in the church of God: fathers, young men, children, and babes; and as, in most families, there are more babes and children than grown men, so in the church of God there are more weak, doubting Christians, than strong ones, grown up to a full assurance. A babe may be born and yet not know it; so a man may be born again, and not be sure of it. Sometimes they think they have grounds of hope, that they shall be saved; sometimes they think they have grounds of fears, that they shall be condemned. Not knowing which might be most weighty, like a pair of balances, they are in equipoise.”

[337] Clarke’s “Wesley Family,” vol. ii., p. 119.

[338] Priestley’s Letters, p. 108.

[339] Priestley’s Letters, p. 96.

[340] Wesley’s Works, vol. xi., p. 355.

[341] Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 331.

[342] Robert Ramsey did not long escape the hand of justice. About the Christmas of the year following, he was arrested for another crime, tried and condemned to die; and on January 14, 1741, with eleven other malefactors, was executed at Tyburn. While lying under sentence of death in Newgate prison, he requested Wesley to visit him; and twice his old master went, but was refused admittance. (London Magazine, 1742, p. 47; and Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 331.)

[343] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 251.

[344] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 242.

[345] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 264.

[346] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 50.

[347] Original letter, published in Wesleyan Times.

[348] Hutton’s Memoirs, p. 48.

[349] Hutton’s Memoirs.

[350] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 222.

[351] C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i., p. 221. Hymn 92, in the Methodist Hymn-book, is an abridgment of it.