Wesley began the year 1785, by spending five days in walking through London, often ankle deep in sludge and melting snow, to beg £200, which he employed in purchasing clothing for the poor. He visited the destitute in their own houses, “to see with his own eyes what their wants were, and how they might be effectually relieved.” Besides preaching in his own chapels, he preached in Spitalfields, St. Ethelburga’s, and Stepney churches. As usual, he met the London classes, from which he received, as ticket money, £48 7s., out of which he was paid his quarter’s salary, £15.⁠[532] His activity was unabated and marvellous.

He wrote as follows, to Mr. Stretton, in Newfoundland.

At the previous conference, Wesley had appointed William Moore to Plymouth. Moore was an itinerant of ten years’ standing, and was dissatisfied with Wesley’s deed of declaration; and, instead of serving Wesley, as he had done formerly, he dissevered the connection. He hired a room, drew away about forty of the Plymouth Methodists, and formed a society of his own. He issued “An Appeal to the Inhabitants of the Town of Saltash,” 8vo, 8 pages; telling the people, that he preached none other doctrines than those contained in the articles, homilies, and prayers of the Church of England; that he coveted no man’s silver, gold, or apparel; and that he was actuated only by a sincere desire to serve them. Moore was evidently a man of education, courage, and Christian zeal; and might have occupied a superior position among his brethren. But Wesley’s seeming partiality, in the constitution of his conference, led to Moore’s secession; and here, at Plymouth, he had become a somewhat formidable rival. Wesley was summoned, and, in a most bitter frost, off he went, on February 28, to put wrong things right. Here he spent six days, and left the society “confirmed in the truth more than ever.”

Leaving Plymouth, Wesley came to Bristol, where he employed a fortnight in visiting and preaching to neighbouring societies.

On March 21, he started off to Ireland, preaching all the way to Liverpool, and, notwithstanding frost and snow, and bitter cold, frequently in the open air. He arrived at Dublin on April 11, and found “two such preachers,” James Rogers and Andrew Blair, “with two such wives as he knew not where to find again.”

Having spent a week in Dublin, he set out for the provinces. He often preached in churches, and not unfrequently in the open air. Everywhere, with one or two exceptions, the people welcomed him; congregations were large, and societies, in general, were lively. Two months were occupied in this employment. His labours were almost incredible. All over Ireland he went, preaching every day, and often twice or thrice a day, not only in Methodist meeting-houses, but in churches, presbyterian chapels, in factories, in bowling greens, in assembly rooms, in courthouses, in barns, in “sloping meadows,” in “shady orchards,” in groves and avenues, in linen halls, in churchyards and streets, everywhere, where he had a chance. We know, with certainty, that, minute as are the details of Wesley’s journals, he, by no means, mentions every sermon that he delivered, and every society that he visited; and yet, in this two months’ Irish provincial tour, he records the names of not fewer than between fifty and sixty towns, in which he preached, collectively, about fourscore discourses.

At Prosperous, he found a town built within the last five years, by Captain Brooke, who employed two thousand people in the manufacturing of cotton; a Methodist society of fifty members had been formed; and Wesley preached to two crowded congregations. On his way to Cork, he was met by about thirty horsemen, who escorted him to the city, where he met a society of about four hundred members, considerably more than there are at the present time. At Kinsale, “all behaved well, but a few officers.” He adds: “the poor in Ireland, in general, are well behaved; all the ill breeding is among well dressed people.” At Limerick, he assisted at a service, in the cathedral, which lasted from eleven o’clock till three. At Killchrist, he was the guest of Colonel Pearse; but says, “the house being full of genteel company, I was out of my element; there being no room to talk upon the only subject which deserves the attention of a rational creature.” At Ballinrobe, he visited the charter school, the children of which were ragged and dirty. “The schoolroom was not much bigger than a small closet:” three beds had to serve for fifteen boys, and five for nineteen girls; and five farthings a day were allowed the master for the sustenance of each of the hunger bitten pupils. Wesley was so disgusted with the thing, that he reported the case to the commissioners for charter schools in Dublin.

On June 18, he got back to Dublin, where he spent his birthday, on the 28th, and wrote: “By the good providence of God, I finished the eighty-second year of my age. Is anything too hard for God? It is now eleven years since I have felt any such thing as weariness: many times I speak till my voice fails, and I can speak no longer; frequently I walk till my strength fails, and I can walk no farther; yet, even then, I feel no sensation of weariness, but am perfectly easy from head to foot. I dare not impute this to natural causes; it is the will of God.”

Having held the Irish conference he set sail for England, on July 10, leaving, says he, “the work of God increasing in every part of the kingdom, more than it has done for many years.” “Here is a set of excellent young preachers; nine in ten of them are much devoted to God. I think, number for number, they exceed their fellow labourers in England.”⁠[534]

The following letter refers to the same subject, and is too interesting to be omitted. It was addressed to Miss Ritchie.

A letter, from Wesley to Mr. Stretton, has been already given, announcing that preachers were about to be sent to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. This was already done; and Freeborn Garretson and James Cromwell were labouring, in the former country, with great success. Wesley, while in Ireland, wrote to Garretson as follows.

Thus was Methodism spreading. We find it firmly planted throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. Its members in America were counted by thousands. It had its societies in the West Indies. It had taken root in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. And, besides all this, it was beginning to exert indirectly a benign influence on other lands, where, since then, religion has been extensively revived. The Methodist mission to Sweden, begun by Joseph Rayner Stephens, in 1826, was facilitated by Methodist feeling, imbibed from Wesley, in 1785. Hence the following letter, from an aged clergyman of the established church of Sweden, written in 1827, and addressed to Mr. Stephens.

While Wesley was forming new friendships, old ones were being severed by death. It was in 1785, that he thus lost two of the most valuable and valued friends that he ever had,—Vincent Perronet, and John Fletcher, the vicars of Shoreham and Madeley. The former was in the ninety-second year of his age, and died, while Wesley was in Ireland, on the 9th of May. Charles Wesley buried him, and preached his funeral sermon. For the last twenty years, he had enjoyed such a degree of fellowship with God as rarely falls to the lot of man in the present world. He lived chiefly in his library; but, when he mingled with his friends, was always cheerful. His favourite study was the fulfilment of prophecy, and the second coming and visible reign of Christ on earth.⁠[538]

While Perronet was the oldest, Fletcher was the most valuable friend that Wesley had. No man had rendered, to Methodism and its founder, the service that the vicar of Madeley had. Compared with the vicar of Shoreham, he was young; but his life was fraught with incalculable blessings to the church of Christ. Only four years before his death, he had married Miss Bosanquet, who, for thirty years, revered his memory, and remained his widow, till the two were reunited in a better world than this. As we have already seen, he was present at Wesley’s last conference, in Leeds; and it was chiefly by his almost angelic interposition and services, that the results of that conference were not much more disastrous than they were. His wife was with him, and writes: “O how deeply was he affected concerning the welfare of his brethren! When any little disputes arose among them, his inmost soul groaned beneath the burden; and, by two or three in the morning, I was sure to hear him breathing out prayer for the peace and prosperity of Zion. When I observed to him, I was afraid it would hurt his health, and wished him to sleep more, he would answer, ‘O Polly, the cause of God lies near my heart!’”⁠[539]

Twelve months afterwards, this seraphic man expired, some of his last words being: “O Polly, my dear Polly, God is love! Shout! shout aloud! I want a gust of praise to go to the ends of the earth!” He died August 14, 1785, having, on the previous sabbath, read prayers, preached, and administered the Lord’s supper, in his parish church. Wesley, at the time, was in the west of England, and unable either to see him, or to attend his funeral; but, as soon as possible, he published a sermon in memory of him, taking the same text as his brother Charles had taken at the death of Perronet: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.” Wesley writes:

Wesley arrived in London, from Ireland, on July 14; and, on the following Sunday, preached, morning and evening, on the education of children. The next morning, at five o’clock, he met the children of the congregation at City Road, the morning chapel being full of juveniles, and many standing in the larger chapel. The service was unique. When, either before or since, was there such a congregation at such an hour?

Wesley writes: “July 26, Tuesday—​Our conference began; at which about seventy preachers were present, whom I had invited by name. One consequence of this was, that we had no contention or altercation at all; but everything proposed was calmly considered, and determined as we judged would be most for the glory of God.” The deed of declaration was again discussed; and seventy preachers present signed documents, that they approved of it. Eight preachers left the connexion, including William Moore and the two Hampsons. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Antigua, for the first time, appeared in the list of circuits. It was declared, that it was improper to sell books, to employ hairdressers, or to talk of worldly things, on Sundays; and that it was entirely wrong to send Methodist children to dancing schools, and for dancing masters to be admitted into Methodist boarding schools.

The conference was closed on August 3, and, five days afterwards, Wesley set out for Cornwall;⁠[540] and on September 3 got back to Bristol, where he wrote: “Sunday, September 4—Finding a report had been spread abroad, that I was going to leave the Church, to satisfy those that were grieved concerning it, I openly declared in the evening, that I had no more thought of separating from the Church than I had forty years ago.”

Here, and in the neighbourhood, he spent a month. On October 3, he returned to London; and, the next day, set out for Hertfordshire. A week later, he was off to Oxfordshire; and the week after that, to Norfolk. He writes: “October 22—I returned to Norwich; and, in the evening, spoke home to an uncommonly large congregation; telling them, ‘Of all the people I have seen in the kingdom, for between forty and fifty years, you have been the most fickle, and yet the most stubborn.’ However, our labour has not been lost, for many have died in peace; and God is able to say to the residue of these dry bones, ‘Live!’”

Querulous and quarrelsome Thomas Wride was, at this time, the assistant in Norwich circuit, and, from a large mass of his manuscripts in the author’s possession, the following facts are gleaned. A monument to the memory of Mr. Turner had been erected in the chapel, on which were chiselled certain “doggrel verses,” with which Wride was greatly dissatisfied. He had told the society, on September 4, what they might expect from him, in reference to meeting in class, showing tickets, etc.; and says “the terror of his countenance had awed them, and several had owned that they were afraid of him.” He had received a quantity of sermons for sale, and, among others, Dr. Coke’s sermon, preached in Baltimore, at the ordination of Asbury; which, he says, he is reluctant to put into circulation. He writes: “It amounts to a formal separation from the Church of England, and, in the end, will tear up Methodism by the roots. Whatever may be said of America, I cannot think it right, for us here, to declare ourselves independent of the Church of England, while we enjoy the privileges we have always done. I dread the consequence; for, if we are independents, hardly any will come to us, but such as choose to change their religion; whereas, those to whom the Methodists have been mainly useful had no religion to change.” Wride was also dissatisfied with his colleagues; for J. McKersey would sing a hymn between the first prayer and the sermon; and James McByron would permit the congregations to sing anthems. McKersey also refused to preach at five in the mornings; for though, as he said, he could rise soon enough, he was not able to preach till he had had his breakfast; and, in consequence, Wride had advised him to take his breakfast to bed with him. Wride acknowledges, that the Methodists at Norwich had not been used to morning preaching. The rich would not attend; and, as the poor did not begin to work till eight o’clock, and could not afford to burn a fire, they were reluctant to rise so early. Hence, when he himself had preached, his congregation consisted only of his wife and two others. Mr. McKersey, further, had neglected the select band; and had declared he would “rather go twelve miles than meet the children.” Wride multiplies complaints against the leading singers, and against the leaders, Messrs. Booty, Best, James and George Hay, Kilburn, Senior, Flegg, and Johnson; and declares that a preacher, sent to Norwich circuit, ought to combine in himself the qualities of “the lion, the lamb, the dove, the serpent, and the ox.”

Poor Wride! The contention continued, and, early in 1786, Wesley had to remove him to another post of duty; but, before doing so, he addressed to him the following letters, which have not before been published.

Tommy Wride was not the only preacher that gave Wesley trouble. For twelve years, Michael Moorhouse had been one of his itinerants, and had had his share of persecution. In 1778, while preaching in the marketplace at Melton Mowbray, he was pulled down by a ruthless mob, and, with three other peaceable men, dragged to the Black Hole, where means were used to impress him for the army.⁠[541] Moorhouse now was discontented, and, in 1785, published a broadsheet of sixteen columns, in small type, entitled “An Appeal to Honest Men,” and full of petty grievances, particularly with regard to the influence of John Crook and Wesley, and respecting his own appointments to inferior circuits. At the conference of 1786, he left the work; and then embodied the wailings of his Appeal in an octavo volume of 128 pages, with the title, “Defence of Mr. Michael Moorhouse, written by himself.” He bitterly complains of Wesley for suffering some of the wives of his preachers to dine on potatoes and buttermilk, while others were pampered with good cheer; and for allowing their husbands to wear great coats, and to use umbrellas on a rainy day. The Monthly Review, in noticing poor Moorhouse’s notable production, quietly remarks: “The labourer is certainly worthy of his hire, but, in adjusting the hire to the labourer, a good deal must depend on the workman’s skill; and, if we are to judge of Master Michael Moorhouse’s preaching abilities, from his illiterate and silly performance, we do not see how his master could have afforded him higher wages: perhaps he might fare better, if he were to return to his lawful occupation.”

These were among the petty annoyances of Wesley’s busy life. He had, in all conscience, enough to do without these; but, in his position, such vexations were inevitable.

Returning from Norfolk, Wesley spent the rest of the year in London, and in preaching tours through Northamptonshire and Kent.

Before proceeding to notice his publications, it is right to say that, at this time, an important pamphlet of twelve pages was issued with the following title: “Free Thoughts concerning a Separation of the People called Methodists from the Church of England, addressed to the Preachers in the Methodist Connexion, by a Layman of the Methodist society.” The pamphlet may be taken as an echo of the opinions then prevalent, and a brief account of it may be useful.

The writer states, that the arguments, used in favour of separation, are, not that the government, service, and doctrine of the Church are unscriptural, but, that the clergy are not converted men; that Methodism loses many of its members through the sacraments not being administered; that the Church of England is a fallen church; that the time is fully come when the Methodists ought to be an independent body; that the good effects of separation are already seen in the continent of America; and that separation will probably take place at Mr. Wesley’s death.

Having endeavoured to refute these arguments, the author proceeds to give his reasons against separation: namely (1) many of the Methodists are zealous for the Church of England, and would be offended; (2) separation implies ordination, which would be a bone of contention, an apple of discord, among the preachers, as to who should be ordainers; (3) these “gownsmen or ordainers would have the government of the body more and more devolved upon them, and, instead of being itinerants, would become resident in one place, the itinerant plan thereby becoming gradually weakened, or continued only by raw lads on trial.”

The arguments, pro and con, are given as we find them; and merely to show the grounds taken by the opposing parties in 1785.

Excepting Fletcher’s funeral sermon, 8vo, 32 pages, Wesley’s publications were only four in number.

1. “A Pocket Hymn Book for the use of Christians of all Denominations.” 24mo, 208 pages.

2. “An Extract from the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Journal, from August 9, 1779, to August 20, 1782.” 12mo, 92 pages.

3. “A Call to the Unconverted. By R. Baxter.” 12mo, 76 pages.

4. The Arminian Magazine. 8vo, 668 pages.

The Arminian Magazine contains extracts from Dr. Whitby’s Discourses on the Five Points, and from Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem. There are biographical accounts of William McCormick, Martha Rogers, Nancy Bissaker, James Creighton, Ann Roylands, John Pritchard, and many others. There are more than thirty letters, and as many poetic pieces. There is Wesley’s sermon on his favourite text, 1 Corinthians xiii. 1–3. Also his sermon on perfection, in which his most matured views, on this momentous subject, are stated with his wonted lucidity. The sermon on Hebrews xiii. 17 is remarkable. The point he endeavours to establish is, that, “It is the duty of every private Christian to obey his spiritual pastor, by either doing or leaving undone anything of an indifferent nature; anything that is in no way determined in the word of God.” In applying the principle to himself and the Methodists, he asks: “Do you take my advice with regard to dress? I published that advice above thirty years ago; I have repeated it a thousand times since. I have advised you to lay aside all needless ornaments: to avoid all needless expense: to be patterns of plainness to all that are round about you. Have you taken this advice? Are you all exemplarily plain in your apparel? as plain as quakers or Moravians? If not, you declare hereby to all the world, that you will not obey them that are over you in the Lord.” Wesley’s doctrine may be disputed; but the practical use to which he puts it deserves attention. There are three more of his original sermons—​on John i. 47; Philippians ii. 12, 13; and Revelation xxi. 5—which are well worth reading.