Before accompanying Wesley on his way back to England, we insert another letter, which is abridged in Wesley’s collected works. Adam Clarke was in the isle of Jersey; but Wesley wished him to remove to Dublin, on account of the disturbed state of the society in that city. His old friend, the Rev. Edward Smyth, was now one of his bitter enemies. Hence the following.

It has been already stated, that Wesley embarked for England on July 12. William Myles was with him, and says: “We had a pleasant passage; Mr. Wesley preached, and we sang hymns most of the way.”⁠[687] The passage lasted about six-and-thirty hours.

After holding services at Chester and Northwich, Wesley made his way to Manchester, where he and Coke administered the sacrament to about twelve hundred communicants. At Dewsbury, where John Atlay had taken both the Methodists and their chapel, Wesley preached out of doors, in a drenching rain. He then proceeded to Leeds for the purpose of holding his annual conference; and, on the day before it began its sessions, preached from what would be a good conference text at the present time: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.”

As usual, Wesley, besides conducting the business of the conference, preached every day during its sittings; and his texts throughout were equally well timed, namely: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it.” “We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.” “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” “Well, Master, Thou hast said the truth; for there is one God; and there is none other but He.” “I have a message from God unto thee.” “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.”⁠[688] Here was a word in season for every one. Rare was the treat to attend a conference like this. On the conference Sunday, Wesley seems to have devolved the preaching upon others; but the day was not an idle one. He writes: “with the assistance of three other clergymen, I administered the sacrament to fifteen or sixteen hundred persons.” When and where are such sacramental services held at present?

What may be called the conference sermon was preached by a local preacher, perhaps the only instance of the kind in Methodism’s history. James Hamilton, M.D., was the preacher; his text, “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.” His sermon was printed, and was sold “at the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s preaching houses in town and country,” with the following title: “A Sermon preached at Leeds, July 29, 1789, before the Methodist Preachers, assembled in Conference, and a large body of the people in connection with them; and now published at the request of many of the Hearers.”

This also was a sermon for the times, and evidently had Wesley’s approbation. Its gist may be gathered from a few brief extracts.

After dwelling on the functions of the priests and scribes of the Jewish church, the preacher said:

Dr. Hamilton then proceeded to argue, that Methodist preachers bore some analogy to these special messengers of God in ancient times; and after an affectionate allusion to the two Wesleys, and to Whitefield, continued:

Then proceeding to address the assembled conference, the preacher added:

Hamilton’s sermon, to say the least, was ingenious; and referring as it does to the great topic of the day, separation from the Church, these extracts will not be regarded as out of place.

Wesley says, there were about a hundred preachers present at the conference; Atmore says, about a hundred and thirty;⁠[689] be that as it may, one hundred and fifteen of them signed a declaration, that they entirely approved of Methodist chapels being settled on the conference plan; and, among these, were several who, soon after, distinguished themselves as Methodist reformers, namely, William Thom, Henry Taylor, and Alexander Kilham.

The principal subjects discussed are thus referred to in Wesley’s journal.

Besides these, some other points were decided; namely, that the preachers should read the rules of the society in every society once a quarter; that no person should be admitted to lovefeasts without a society ticket, or a note from the assistant; that every watchnight should be continued till midnight; that the collections at lovefeasts should be most conscientiously given to the poor; that preachers should not go out to supper, and should be home before nine at night; that preachers’ children should dress exactly according to the band rules; that only one preacher should come in future to the conference from Scotland, except those that were to be admitted into full connexion; and that no books should be published without Wesley’s sanction, and that those approved by him should be printed at his press in London, and be sold by his book steward.

We give these legislative enactments as we find them. The last bore hardly on strong minded writers, like Thomas Taylor and Joseph Benson.

The day after the conference concluded, Wesley set out for London, and thence, for the last time, to Cornwall. His first day’s journey was seventy miles, and his second eighty, and to this amount of labour was added preaching. One day in London was devoted to business; on the next, which was Sunday, the patriarchal preacher delivered two sermons in the chapel in City Road, set out at seven o’clock, p.m., travelled all night, and reached Bristol about noon on Monday. Without delay, he hurried on to Plymouth, preaching at Taunton, Collumpton, and Exeter. At Plymouth there had been, what he calls, a “senseless quarrel”; but he administered the sacrament to six hundred people, and preached to an enormous congregation out of doors.

Arriving at St. Austell, he says: “I knew not where to preach, the street being so dirty, and the preaching house so small. At length, we determined to squeeze as many as we could into the preaching house; and truly God was there.” At Truro, the street, leading to the chapel, being blocked up with starving tinners demanding an increase to their wages, and a troop of soldiers who were keeping peace, Wesley was obliged to preach “under the coinage hall.” Forty years had elapsed since he was last at Falmouth, and then he was “taken prisoner by an immense mob, gaping and roaring like lions; now high and low lined the street, from one end of the town to the other, out of stark love and kindness”; and he preached to the largest congregation he had ever seen in Cornwall, except in or near Redruth. The same sort of scenes awaited him at Helstone, St. Just, Newlyn, and Penzance. In Gwennap pit his congregation was calculated at five-and-twenty thousand. This remarkable spot was first used by Wesley, as a place for preaching, in 1762, on account of the wind being so boisterous as to prevent him occupying his usual stand in the town itself. “At a small distance,” says he, “was a hollow capable of containing many thousand people. I stood on one side of this amphitheatre, toward the top, with the people beneath, and on all sides.” Many since then had been the marvellous scenes he had witnessed in this “the finest natural amphitheatre in the kingdom.” There can be little doubt, that the estimated numbers were sometimes greater than the real; but still, it was here, on this Cornish common, that Wesley had the largest congregations to whom he ever preached. The place is now one of the “sights” of Cornwall. Here an annual service has been held ever since Wesley’s death; and now, on every Whitmonday, thousands wend their way, in every style of conveyance, from the donkey cart of the poor peasant to the dashing carriage of the wealthy squire, and assembling within the area and around the banks of this consecrated hollow, join in one vast act of worship, offered to the God of heaven. Here we have Methodism’s yearly pilgrimage, made by hosts of Cornish Methodists, not to honour man, but to commemorate the mercies of their fathers’ God, and to ask His help and blessing on behalf of themselves and their posterity.

Eleven days were spent in Cornwall, during which Wesley preached, at least, seventeen times, nine of which were in the open air. “There is,” says he, “a fair prospect in Cornwall, from Launceston to the Land’s End.”

On his way back, we find him preaching at Tavistock, Plymouth, Exeter, Tiverton, Halberton, Taunton, Castle Carey, Ditcheat, and Shepton Mallet, eleven sermons, in seven days, besides the travelling from Cornwall to Bristol. No wonder that the venerable traveller sometimes started at three o’clock in the morning!

Bristol was the centre of Wesley’s labours from September 5 to October 5. On one of the Sundays, he preached twice in his own chapel, and once in Temple church; but writes: “It was full as much as I could do. I doubt I must not hereafter attempt to preach more than twice a day.”

On October 5, he started from Bristol at four o’clock in the morning, for London. Arriving in town, he wrote:

Having spent five days in London, he set out for Norfolk. The remainder of the year was employed, as usual, partly in London, and partly in his long accustomed preaching tours to the surrounding counties. On the last Sunday in the year, he occupied the pulpit of St. Luke’s, his parish church. “The tables are turned,” says he; “I have now more invitations to preach in churches than I can accept of.”

One of his London retreats was, what he calls, “the lovely family at Balham.” This was, doubtless, the family of George Wolff, Esq., one of his executors,—a merchant, and also consul general to the court of Denmark,—a gentleman of unassuming manners, deeply pious, and one of the most liberal of the metropolitan Methodists,—for many years the confidential friend of Wesley, and who died at Balham, in 1828, at the age of ninety-two.⁠[690]

Before concluding the year, we insert a further selection from Wesley’s letters.

The first was to his nephew, Samuel Wesley, the musical genius, now twenty-three years of age, and is strikingly characteristic of the venerable writer.

The next beautifully illustrates the benevolence of Wesley, and the faithfulness of his friendship. Mr. Salmon, at the time referred to, was not a member of the Methodist society, but only an occasional hearer; and, yet, the instance of his liberality, which Wesley mentions, was not the only one which does honour to his character. In 1762, Wesley opened a new chapel at Shepton Mallet, with a mudden floor; and, in this state, it was occupied for years, when Mr. Salmon gave the stewards £40 to improve the floor, and to supply back rails to the benches.⁠[692] Richard Rodda, to whom the following was addressed, now filled the office of assistant at Manchester.

The following letter is now, for the first time, published. The Liverpool Methodists were about to build their Mount Pleasant chapel. An expenditure of £1100 startled Wesley. What would he have said to the expenditure of as many thousands? And yet Liverpool Methodism does the one now with as much nonchalance as it did the other then. The letter was addressed to Mr. Lawrence Frost.

The next, which was written to William Black, in Nova Scotia, is interesting as containing a reference to Wesley’s labours, and his professed adherence to the Church.

Thirty-two years before, Wesley preached his first and last sermon in Bideford. For long it had been a barren soil, but, in 1788, was made a circuit town; and now simple minded, sanctified Samuel Bardsley was labouring with great success. “I am glad,” says Wesley to this godly man, “to hear so good an account of the work of God at Bideford. It had held out long, and seemed to bid defiance to the gospel.”⁠[695] Bardsley was all alone; and Michael Fenwick, fond of meddling, wrote to him: “Dear Sammy,—Write a pressing letter every post, until Mr. Wesley sends you another preacher. It is cruel to let you be all alone in that great wide circuit; and I will tell Mr. Wesley so. I am glad, that Col. Buck is the reigning mayor with you. Pray, when you see him, give my Christian respects to him, and tell him, I am glad he is raised to be the first magistrate in Bideford.” Fenwick was without an appointment, and was resident at Hexham. Wesley took him at his word, and sent him to Bideford. Poor Michael seems to have been a stormy petrel. No sooner was he come, than there was serious trouble. Hence the following.

The above not only furnishes a glimpse of Methodist affairs at Bideford, but casts light on the following letters, which Wesley sent to Bardsley.

All must admire this advice. During this year of storm and tempest, the Bideford Methodists increased from eighty-three to one hundred and forty.

We insert one more letter. In the Isle of Man there were 2569 Methodists, within five hundred of the number there are at present. Then there was one circuit; now there are four: then there were three itinerant preachers; now there are ten. George Holder was assistant; and to him Wesley addressed the following.

Wesley would take no step to gratify the linguistic folly of the Manx Methodists; but he was still actively employed in supplying books to his English readers. His publications, in 1789, were:

1. “The Life of Mr. Silas Told.” 18mo, 113 pages.

2. “A Short Account of the Life and Death of Jane Newland, of Dublin.” 12mo, 12 pages.

3. “An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley’s Journal, from September 4, 1782, to June 28, 1786.” 12mo, 134 pages.

4. “Minutes of Several Conversations between the Rev. Mr. Wesley and others. From the year 1744, to the year 1789.” 12mo, 51 pages.

5. His chief publication, of course, was his Arminian Magazine, 8vo, 679 pages.

As usual, it contains six of his own sermons. Those on Man, Faith, and the Omnipresence of God, are among the ablest he ever wrote. That on the Rich Man and Lazarus is a powerful exposition of the text, which Wesley believed to be, not merely a parable, but a history. The sermon on Riches is boldly faithful, and must have made the rich Methodists of that period wince and tremble; as, indeed, it ought to make such Methodists wince and tremble at the present day. The following, addressed to rich men, are the concluding paragraphs.

Nothing can be plainer than that, for several of the last years of his life, Wesley regarded the growing riches of the Methodists as one of their greatest dangers. His magazines, to say nothing of his letters and his journals, are full of this. Hence, his eighteen lengthy extracts on the Surest Way of Thriving, running through the whole of the magazine of 1788, and part of that for 1789. Hence, the solemn warning, contained in his brief article on “The Origin of Image Worship among Christians”; an article meriting the serious thought of those wealthy Methodists, who are adorning (?) their chapels with painted windows and emblematic pulpits. Citations might be multiplied, all tending to show that, rightly or wrongly, Wesley regarded the growth of riches among Christians, not as a good to be desired, but as a necessary evil, and a serious danger.

The only sermon, which remains unnoticed, is that on God’s Vineyard,—a sermon on the doctrine, spiritual helps, discipline, and outward protection of Methodism. He tells us that, notwithstanding the assistance they received from Peter Bohler, he and the other Oxford Methodists “were never clearly convinced, that we are justified by faith alone, till they carefully consulted the homilies of the Church of England, and compared them with the sacred writings, particularly St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans.” He propounds the principle, which Dr. James Hamilton enlarged upon in his conference sermon, already mentioned, that for the Methodists to have become a separate sect, like the Moravians, “would have been a direct contradiction to the whole design of God in raising them up, to spread scriptural religion throughout the land, among people of every denomination, leaving every one to hold his own opinions, and to follow his own mode of worship.” Having shown the great advantages that the Methodists had enjoyed, his early hopes concerning them, and how these hopes had hardly been realised, he concludes with the following address to the rich members of the society.

There are other contributions by Wesley, in the Magazine for 1789, which ought to have attention. There is an exquisitely drawn up article on “The Nature of Inspiration, clearly explained and enforced, as applicable to the Old and New Testament”; and also his piece “On the Manners of the Times”; neither of which has been included in Wesley’s collected works. And there are also his “Thoughts on Separation from the Church,” and his “Thoughts upon a late Phenomenon;” both of them really on the same subject. After showing how revivals of religion have generally ended in the formation of separate sects, and thereby rarely lasted, according to Luther’s dictum, “longer than a generation, that is, thirty years,” Wesley remarks: