JOHN WESLEY, SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR: SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE IN WESLEY'S LETTERS

JOHN WESLEY, SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR:
SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE IN WESLEY'S LETTERS

by
Wesley D. Tracy

Spiritual direction, or more accurately, spiritual guidance was an essential element in the success of the eighteenth century Methodist revolution. Much of the spiritual guidance occurred in the arenas of the classes and bands. Mutuality was its keynote. It was not as hierarchical as the classical director-directee relationship typical in Roman Catholic tradition and practice. Yet beyond the mutuality of the classes, bands and select societies John Wesley and his Methodists practiced a one-on-one spiritual guidance that usually gets lost in the wings as the class meeting hogs the center stage spotlight of the Wesley scholar's work. In this essay, however, the emphasis will be placed upon the spiritual direction of Wesley, particularly as it appears in his letters, and even more particularly as it appears in his letters to Ann Bolton.

We discover in his personal correspondence John Wesley, the spiritual guide. We might even use the term spiritual director, for Wesley appears to fulfill the requirements set forth in the literature of spiritual direction.

A spiritual director, according to Alan Jones, is "God's usher.''1 This usher practices the "art of arts," spiritual guidance. God's usher needs to be both "loving and learned." He or she should be characterized by love, tender respect, holiness, detachment, and theological competence. He or she should possess the gift of discernment, much patience, practice utter frankness and honesty and be available to God the Holy Spirit.2

Kenneth Leech describes the spiritual guide as a- "soul friend." This is derived from the language and lore of the ancient Celtic saints who taught that "anyone without a soul-friend is a body without a head."3 Leech summarizes the qualities of the good spiritual director in six statements.

"1. A person possessed by the Spirit.

"2. A person characterized by holiness of life and closeness to God.

"3. A person of experience-in prayer and life.

"4. A person of learning-particularly in the scriptures and the patristic writings.

"5. A person of discernment who can read the signs of the times and the writing on the wall of the soul.

"6. A person who gives way to the Holy Spirit."4

These roles and qualities, along with those cited by Gilbert Shaw, Henri Nouwen, Augustine Baker, and Gregory Carlson, rather accurately describe John Wesley's spiritual direction in the Letters.

In early Methodist practice we see spiritual counsel thriving in two forms: director-directee and mutual guidance. Sometimes a "babe" in Christ would be assigned to a "father." In other cases "twin souls" as Wesley called them would be joined to serve as "companions on the way to the New Jerusalem." Wesley was convinced that spiritual guidance was essential for all. He repeatedly warned his people, both fledglings and veterans, that they could not keep warm alone. "I believe there is no saint on earth whom God does not teach by man,"5 he told the much married but much reformed Sarah Ryan. To Mary Bosanquet he wrote, "You have need of a steady guide, and one that knows you well."6 His letter to Ann Bolton, July 8, 1785, shows Wesley's idea of both the necessity of a spiritual guide, and the qualities he expected in a good spiritual guide:

My Dear Nancy,-It is undoubtedly expedient for you to have a friend in whom you can fully confide that may be always near you or at a small distance, and ready to be consulted on all occasions. The time was when you took me to be your friend; and (to speak freely) I have loved you with no common affection. I "have loved you"-nay, I do still; my heart warms to you while I am writing. But I am generally at too great a distance, so that you cannot converse with me when you would. I am glad, therefore, that a good Providence has given you one whom you can more easily see and correspond with. You may certainly trust her in every instance; and she has both understanding, piety and experience. She may therefore perform those offices of friendship which I should rejoice to perform were I near you. But wherever you can, give me the pleasure of seeing you.7

The utter urgency of having spiritual guides, or companions on the way as Wesley called them, is seen in a letter to Frances Godfrey. He addresses her as "my dear Fanny" and says, "It is a blessed thing to have fellow travellers to the New Jerusalem. If you cannot find any you must make them; for none can travel that road alone."8 Even wealthy bankers like Ebenezer Blackwell needed a spiritual guide. "I am fully persuaded," Wesley wrote, "if you had always one or two faithful friends near you who would speak the very truth from their heart and watch over you in love, you would swiftly advance.... "9 Hundreds of such examples are to be found in Wesley's correspondence.

Early in the Methodist revival Wesley found the role of spiritual guide forced upon him. "In every place people flock to me for direction in secular as well as spiritual affairs," Wesley wrote to a friend, "and I dare not throw ... this burden off my shoulders.... "10 It was a role that Wesley came to value, a role he willingly, even eagerly claimed. "I am . . . desirous to help you forward who are in the morning of life,''11 he wrote to the young Ann Bolton. After urging Elizabeth Morgan to seek to "recover the whole image of God" Wesley added, "If I can in any degree assist you in this, it will be an unspeakable pleasure. . . "12 To Peggy Dale he said, "I do not see how you could possibly avoid . . . loss without a free intercourse with me both in writing and speaking."13

Most of the persons whom Wesley served as spiritual director by mail were devout women, frequently new converts. The direction carried on over the years by correspondence could hardly have been conducted in person. Wesley traveled almost constantly and was simply not available. Further, the intimate and personal relationship carried on by letter could hardly have been conducted in long individual sessions without being criticized as violations of Christian propriety.

Characteristics of John Wesley's Spiritual Guidance as Found in the Letters

Affection

The first quality one notices in Wesley's letters is his unabashed love and affection for his correspondents. His language sounds a lot like Paul's words to the Thessalonians: "With such yearning love we chose to impart to you not only the gospel of God but our very selves, so dear had you become to us" (I Thess. 2:8 NEB). To Peggy Dale Wesley says, "I thought it was hardly possible for me to love you better than I did.... But your artless, simple, undisguised affection exceedingly increased mine."14 To Mrs. Bennis he writes, "I think of you every day; indeed, I do not know that I ever loved you so well as since I was at Limerick last."15 To Ann Bolton: "I cannot tell you how much I love you; you are exceeding near and dear to me. "16 Of Elizabeth Baker he asks: "What is that sympathy that often unites our hearts to each other?"17 Miss Clarkson is told: "I love you because I believe you are upright of heart and because you are a child of affliction."18 To Ann Loxdale, with whom Wesley had corresponded but never met, he writes: "Your heart seems to be just as my heart. I cannot tell that I ever before felt so close an attachment to a person I had never seen. Surely it is the will of our gracious Lord that there should be a closer union between you and yours in tender affection, John Wesley."19 "I have always loved you since I knew you," Wesley tells to Mrs. Knapp, "but lately more than ever, because I believe you are more devoted to God and more athirst for his whole image."20 William Holland is told, "Our Lord . . . has given us to each other, that we may strengthen each other's hands in Him.''21 "Excuse me if I write just as I feel," Wesley said to Mary /Bosanquet) Fletcher. "I have not for a long season felt so tender an affection for you as I have done in reading your last lletter]. I love you much for the care you have taken of my dear Miss Ritchie. " 22

Hundreds of such expressions of uncommon affection punctuate Wesley's letters of spiritual guidance. One must believe that no model of spiritual guidance which does not emphasize love could be accurately called Wesleyan.

Reciprocal Openness

Repeatedly Wesley told his correspondents that persons who love each other should speak without reserve. To his friend, critic, and banker Ebenezer Blackwell Wesley wrote, "You have never spoken to me with more freedom than was agreeable to me. Your freedom is the best proof of our friendship."23 Mrs. Bennis was advised, "When we love one another, there is no need of either disguise or reserve."24 "At any time you should speak to me without reserve just what arises in your heart," Wesley told Mrs. Woodhouse.25 Kitty Warren was informed, "I do not desire there to be any ceremony between us; but as much love as you please." To John Downes Wesley said, "Your letter is a picture of your heart. It is honest and upright."26 "I love you for your freedom and openness," Wesley wrote to Elizabeth Ritchie, "at all times it is of use to have a friend to whom you can pour out your heart without any disguise or reserve."27

Wesley's openness could take the form of confrontation or rebuke when the occasion demanded it. To a correspondent identified only as an Irish Lady Wesley gives the following food for thought, "Should you not earnestly strive and pray against thinking highly of your own understanding or attainments in religion?"28 His friend, convert, and counselee Sarah Ryan he confronts charging,

You seem to think too highly of yourself, and (comparatively) to despise others . . . you appear to be above instruction . . . you appear to think . . . that none understands the doctrine of Sanctification like you . . . you appear to undervalue the experience of almost every one in comparison of your own.29

There was, however, a reciprocity of openness in Wesley. He allowed his people to be open in their confrontation of him. He gave guidance, but also received and sought it at the hands of his directees. When Wesley's harsh words about certain mystical writers offended Henry Brooke the latter confronted Wesley with his "excess." Wesley responded to Brooke in these words.

Dear Harry,

Your letter gave me pleasure and pain too. It gave me pleasure because it was written in a mild and loving spirit; and it gave me pain because I found it had pained you, whom I so tenderly love and esteem. But I shall do it no more: I sincerely thank you for your kind reproof; it is a precious balm-and will, I trust, in the hands of the Great Physician, be a means of healing my sickness. I am so sensible of your real friendship herein that I cannot write without tears. The words you mention were too strong and they will no more fall from my mouth.

My dear Harry, cease not to pray for your obliged and affectionate brother. John Wesley.30

To Emma Moon he confessed, "I often feel a feebleness of soul, a languor of spirit, so that I cannot as I would press forward toward the mark. . . help me forward, my friend, by your prayers.''31 In responding to his banker friend Ebenezer Blackwell, Wesley said

. . . you do well to warn me against "popularity, a thirst of power and applause, . . . against an affected humility, against sparing from myself to give to others from no other motive than ostentation." I am not conscious to myself that this is my case. However, the warning is always friendly . . . always seasonable, considering how deceitful my heart is and how many the enemies that surround me.32

Repeatedly, Wesley models the proper way to receive spiritual direction. The unlearned Sarah Ryan gave guidance to him. Wesley said to her, "I cannot think of you without thinking of God . . . you bring me straight into His presence."33 Jane Bisson, Elizabeth Ritchie, Joseph Benson and Mrs. Crosby were also among those who served Wesley as spiritual guide. Reciprocal openness throughout the ranks was one of the secrets of the success of early Methodist spirituality.

Encouragement

Wesley was quick to encourage his correspondents with exhortations that a God was ready to help them. When Peggy Dale thought she was on her death-bed Wesley wrote to her about his prayers that she would have "many years to glorify Him in the body before He removes you to the world of Spirits. The comfort is, that life or death, all is yours, seeing you are Christ's."34 Miss March was urged, "Dare to believe! Look up and see thy Savior near."35 Jenny Lee who wrote to Wesley about perfection was cheered on, "You have faith: hold it fast. You have love: let it not go. Above all you have Christ! Christ is yours! He is your Lord, your love, your all."36 To Jane Hilton, a new Christian in great temptation, Wesley wrote, "Christ is yours; and He is wiser and stronger than all the powers of hell. Hang upon Him . . . lean on Him with the whole weight of your soul."37

Accountability

Wesley strongly believed that it was the duty of Christians to hold each other spiritually accountable. One reason he broke away from the Moravians was that he met in their societies himself "full of sin" and was not once reproved. The mutual accountability that occurred in the classes and bands was a powerful factor in the success of Methodism. But we see Wesley calling his correspondents to accountability as well. We see the accountability factor at work repeatedly in Wesley's twenty-nine year correspondence with Ann Bolton. On March 30, 1771 Wesley told Damaris Perronet that he had examined Ann Bolton carefully and found in all her actions "sanctity and love." He added, "I marked her every word and almost every meaning; but could find nothing to reprove."38 However, on September 16 of the same year Wesley is alarmed that Ann has not returned his letters. "Nancy, Nancy! Why do you forget your friends? Why do you tempt me to be angry? . . . Do not delay to write."39 On November 7, 1771 he writes "I want a particular account of your inward and outward health."40 By January 29,1772, Wesley is writing urgently:

Nancy, Nancy! What is the matter? Not a line yet! Are you trying whether I can be angry at you? Or are you fallen into your old temptation, and so care not whether I am pleased or displeased? You give me concern. I have many fears concerning you. Tell me without delay how your soul prospers.41

On July 6,1772 things are much better. Wesley writes, "I do not observe anything to reprove in the account you now give me."42 By December 5,1772 Wesley tells his directee, "Perhaps I shall find faults in you that others do not; for I survey you on every side. I mark your every motion and temper, because I long for you to be without spot or blemish."43 By February 18, 1773 Wesley was able to say to Ann, "I do not find any fault in you at present; only I am afraid you are not careful enough of your health."44 On December 12, 1773 he writes saying to Ann, "I want to find you exactly right in all things. I wish you to be wise and good as an angel!"45 Perhaps Wesley's hopes were too high for Ann Bolton-or anyone else. But the principle of spiritual accountability to a soul friend is strikingly demonstrated in this case and in several others in the Letters.

Other characteristics of Wesley's spiritual guidance could be cited, but we turn instead to a case study which demonstrates rather than describes Wesley as spiritual guide.

The Bolton Correspondence

Wesley's 93 extant letters to Ann Bolton allow us to examine his spiritual guidance more closely. Doubtless Wesley was aware of the long tradition of spiritual guidance by letter. This 29-year correspondence is typical of Wesley's spiritual guidance by post.

Ann Bolton (whom Wesley called, "Nancy") lived her whole life in Witney, Oxfordshire. She was converted at age 18 or 19. In her early 20's she was on the verge of marrying a man Wesley regarded as a "non-believer." Wesley intervened in her life and persuaded her not to become "unequally yoked." Feeling then a sense of responsibility he took a personal interest in her life. Over a period of 29 years he wrote her some 130 letters of spiritual guidance. He taught her many things-we shall focus on what he taught her of sanctification, suffering, and service.

SANCTIFICATION

Entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, was the central theme in Wesley's preaching and teaching. We are, therefore, not surprised that his letters of spiritual guidance are also saturated with this theme. His correspondence with his young friend Ann Bolton reveals his purpose of leading her into sanctifying grace and then growth in holiness.

In his very first letter to Ann he says, "The best and most desirable thing of all is that you should live and die wholly devoted to God . . . studying one thing-to be holy both in body and spirit, an whole burnt offering of love." (Feb. 13, 1768).46 Two months later he gently tells her, "He has already given you the faith of a servant. You want only the faith of a child." He urges her to reach up by faith to receive sanctifying grace. "Look up, my sister, my friend! Jesus is there! Doubt not His love! Forget yourself. . . . But look unto Jesus! See the Friend of Sinners! Your Friend; your ready and strong Savior.''47

But Ann wrote back saying she feared she was far away from holiness. Her soul friend replied, "How far are you from holiness? Nay, rather think how near you are to it! You are no farther from it than you are from faith, than you are from Christ. And how far is He from you? Is He not nigh? Is He not just now knocking at the door of your heart? Hark! The Master calleth you!" (May 9, 1768).

Two years later, however, we find Wesley writing, "To see even the superscription of a letter from you always gives me pleasure. I am glad you are still waiting for the kingdom of God: although as yet you are rather in the state of a seruant than of a child (Emphasis added). But it is a blessed thing to be even a servant of God!48 A month later Wesley tells her not to think "too little" of the almighty works of grace in her life.49 Two weeks later he writes and asks her to read A Plain Account of Christian Perfection.50 She is to be "nursed as a child," but is seriously to seek to be perfected in love.

But in the following Spring Ann is still doubtful. She wrote in her own journal on May 9, 1771:

I went to meet the Rev. Mr. Wesley at Broad Marston, this visit was made a blessing to my soul. I saw clearer into the nature of sanctification and saw it more to be my privilege. But altho the Lord had given me many promises and did so encourage my soul to go on yet I often doubted and was fearful to call myself a child of God, which kept me back from pressing earnestly after full salvation.51

Two June letters in 1771 tell her that her current afflictions are part of the gradual aspect of sanctification, that God is purging away "dross." In August,1771 Wesley writes telling Ann: "O how I long . . . that you may be perfect in Him...."52 The following November 7 Wesley writes again about perfect love.53

By February 1772 Ann Bolton had come into an experience of sanctifying grace. She writes to Wesley reporting that seven persons have "received a clear witness that the blood of Jesus hath cleansed them from all sin." Apparently Ann was among the seven for in Wesley's reply he says, " I rejoice over others, but over you above all."54

On March 13, 1772 Wesley warns Ann about going too far in self-denial. Self-surrender must not be made into "self-emptiness" or "self-annihilation" for this is "self-contradiction."55

Over the next several months Wesley writes to Ann about several aspects of the sanctified life. He warns Ann about going too far in self-denial. He refers her to two published sermons: "Sin in Believers" and "The Repentance of Believers." In October he counsels her about perfect love as seen in the Sermon on the Mount and in I Corinthians 13. In November he writes more about love. On December 5, 1772, Wesley writes that he submits her to unusual examination because he longs for her to be "without spot or blemish."56 No spot or blemish is named but Wesley prays that God will pour more love into her heart than He has ever done before.

On February 18, 1773, Wesley writes that he finds no fault in her. 57 On August 8, 1773,he encourages her to exhort others to go on to "salvation into the whole image of God" and not to decline in her own zeal for it.58 Wesley writes on the same theme on February 8, 1775.59

Showing that he truly believed that there is no perfection that does not "admit of continual increase" Wesley urges Ann onward in perfect love. On August 15, 1775, he writes, "I want you to [be] all a flame of holy love! I want you now to do His will as angels do in heaven! To be all life, all fire all light in the Lord!"60 On April 24, 1777, Wesley's letter includes a poem about "the stamp of perfect love."61 On September 27 of that year, he celebrates her "ten thousand blessings," the greatest of which is "Christ in a pure and spotless heart! Beware of ever admitting any doubt or [evil]reasoning concerning this! Whereunto you have attained hold fast! And use all the grace you have received . . . exhort everyone especially those who groan after full salvation."62 A June 22, 1780, letter celebrates Ann's further progress. "Your letters are always welcome to me. But none more welcome than your last. It gives me very much pleasure to hear . . . that God . . . has established your soul in pure love and given you the abiding witness of it." In the same letter he refers Ann to two other women (Hannah Bell and Patty Chapman), who "have the same deep experience." Ann was to converse with them that "each might be profited by the other."63

In the years that follow, Ann Bolton' s chronic ill health becomes worse. Wesley had always told her that these afflictions were "God's school," God's refining furnace, and God's will for her. Ann, logically, as the afflictions continue, wonders if these sufferings indicate that she is not yet sanctified. In several letters Wesley says that they do not indicate sin on her part but that they will add greatly to her reward in heaven.

In 1785 Ann rededicated herself to the holy life. She wrote in her journal

Wednesday 2 . . . Mr. Wesley preached from "Let us go on to perfection" a most blessed lively discourse attended with power to many hearts. He afterwards administered the sacrament. . . . I was enabled to renew the offering I had made of myself, all the powers of body and soul unto God. I think more consciously and unreservedly than ever before.64

In the case of Ann Bolton we see again Wesley's practice of spiritual guidance succeeding. He took a small town girl who was on the verge of becoming "unequally yoked" and led her from the state of a "babe in Christ" to "Christian perfection."

SUFFERING

Does one ever need a spiritual companion, a soul friend, any more than during times of suffering? Ann Bolton suffered severely from several ailments during the time of her correspondence with John Wesley. Most persistent was sinus or migraine headaches. She also suffered through her brother's near bankruptcy. He was a devout Christian, but a terrible farmer. She also suffered grief-she outlived her parents, her sister and her three brothers-as one by one she buried each of her loved ones.

John Wesley, perhaps the busiest man in England, did not fail Ann during these times of trouble, grief, and sickness. He was God's usher escorting her into His presence during these trying times. Ann's soul friend taught her several things about suffering.

1. John Wesley taught Ann that God frequently calls His own to follow in the steps of Jesus, His Son, who walked the path of suffering before us. To Ann he wrote, "It has seemed good to our Lord . . . to lead you in a rough and thorny way.65 "It is given to you . . . to suffer with Him, to drink a little of the cup which He drank of."66 Regarding Ann's "afflictive circumstances." which had hounded her since childhood, Wesley wrote, "He that made the Captain of your salvation perfect through sufferings has called you to walk in the same path.... "67 "You are not called," Wesley wrote her, "to desire suffering. Innocent nature is averse to pain; only as soon as His will appears yours is to sink down before it."68

Such submission is sometimes difficult and several times Wesley reminded his friend that, "Happy are they that do His will, and happier still they that suffer it."69 Our call, Wesley taught Ann Bolton, is both to do and to suffer God's will.

2. Ann also learned from her spiritual guide that God's call to suffer did not mean that God was against her. God is good and "good is the will of the Lord," he told her on Sept. 9, 1781.70 "And, whatever clouds may interpose between, His banner over you is love."71 Though "it seems good to our Lord to try you as by fires . . . Iook up to Him that loves you. Tell Him as a little child all your wants. Look up . . . He hears the cry of your heart."72 "What if . . . Wesley asks, "Satan should sift you as wheat? Still you have a Friend before the throne above...."73 During one of Ann's illnesses Wesley prescribed chewing bark, eating all the red currants she could and remembering the love of God. "That is your point. Jesus loves you! He is yours. Be not so unkind as to distrust Him! Cast your soul at His Feet."74

Ann's spiritual guide himself seemed drawn closer to her because of her afflictions: "One effect of your trials is to unite me more closely to you as 'pity melts the mind to love.' "75 Again he told her "I feel much sympathy with you in your troubles which endear you to me exceedingly."76 When Wesley was 85 years old he wrote to Ann: "I love you the more because you are a daughter of affliction. I suppose you are still in God's school. But you still remember He loveth whom He chasteneth."77

3. Wesley also taught Ann the art of always looking for the redemptive aspect in every painful event, every tragedy, every trial. There was danger, Wesley advised, in failing "to see the hand of God" (March 28, 1785) in such events.78 God has a way, Wesley coached, of "extracting good out of the infirmities, follies, [even] ... sins of men...." The "wise end" is that through such sufferings we "may be the more largely partakers of His holiness."79

God's redemptive work in our suffering will eventually come to light, Wesley counseled. "O how you will praise Him by-and-by for His wise and gracious visitation." Wesley told Ann during that difficult summer of 1771, "He is purging away all your dross, that you may be a vessel meet for the Master's use."80 Wesley frequently used this metaphor with his suffering friend: "He has proved you in the furnace of affliction; and when you have been tried you shall come forth as gold."81 "You shall lose nothing but your dross."82 "You shall be purified, not consumed."83 "God is on your side . . . you are still kept above the billows.... But you are in God's school and He will teach you one lesson after another till you have learned all His holy and acceptable will."84 Therefore, "sufferings are the gift of God to you. "85

Ann learned well for she wrote to Wesley about experiencing the peace of God even during great grief. Wesley wrote back, "That you speak of feeling the peace of God in the midst of the most exquisite sufferings does not surprise me at all"86 (Jan. 14, 1780). About a year and a half before Wesley died he wrote to Ann who had just buried her only sister. "It hath pleased God to lead you in the way of suffering from your youth up until now. For the present this is not joyous, but grievous; nevertheless it has yielded peaceable fruit. Your soul is still as a watered garden, as a field which the Lord hath blessed."87

Ann Bolton also learned from her spiritual guide that suffering does not last forever. A few weeks before he died Wesley wrote to her: "Many of your sufferings~ perhaps the greatest part, are now past. But your joy is to come! Look up my dear friend, look up! and see your crown before you! . . . adieu."88

How was Ann to know when a short time later she attended the funeral of John Wesley that the happiest years of her life were yet to come?

SERVICE

John Wesley led Ann Bolton, as we have seen, step by step into sanctifying grace and through the hazards of sorrow and suffering. He led her also into outstanding Christian service.

Ann loved the quiet countryside around Witney where she spent most of her life. She was reticent, self-conscious and slow to speak. But Wesley recognized a nascent leadership ability. He urged her to be zealous and active in classes, bands, and prayer meetings. "Use your every grace, stir up the gift of God that is in you.... Speak for God wherever you are."89

Ann became, as Wesley called her, the "nursing mother" of all the bands, classes, and prayer meetings in her region. Though she would have preferred to simply serve in her village of Witney, Wesley had other ideas. "I am not content that you should be pinned down to any one place. That is not your calling. Methinks I want you to be (like me) here and there and everywhere. Oh what a deal of work has our Lord to do on the earth! And we may be workers together with Him!90

Thus as a sort of special assistant Ann went to work. Wesley kept her challenged by such exhortations as this:

You give me a pleasing account of the work of God which seems to be dawning about Tavistock. It is probable you was (sic) sent thither for this. Redeem the time; buy up every opportunity; and never be discouraged, although many fair blossoms shall fall off and never ripen into fruit.91

But Ann saw many flowers ripen to full fruitfulness. For example she wrote to Mrs. Trembury Feb. 10, 1772, about "my select band," "my dear companions and fellow travellers to Sion." She wrote:

We are now 11, about a month ago we were 5.... Glory be to God we have had such a blessed opportunity I believe I may say as we never before experienced instead of 11 [tonight] we had 15. Four who had not a full assurance of God's sanctifying power on their hearts, but one of these cried out "praise God on my behalf Brs. (brothers) and sisters he has filled my heart with his love." My dear-who was another of the four held the blessing with a trembling hand, the other two Br. T and sister T. went home panting and thirsting for compleat (sic) salvation. 92

Besides shepherding classes and bands, Ann was sent by her spiritual guide to counsel particular persons. When Philothea Briggs lost her testimony to sanctifying grace, which she had struggled so hard to find, it was Ann Bolton who was sent to restore her.93 When lady evangelist Sarah Mallet was in need of both "comfort and quickening," Wesley sent Ann Bolton. When Ally Eden's life with a wicked husband became bitter and miserable, Wesley sent Ann Bolton to help. Ally Eden had gone against the advice of all her Christian friends in marrying an unbeliever. When her life fell apart, Wesley wrote to Ann Bolton, "Do not forget poor Ally Eden. She has need of comfort; so we will not reprove her."94

Ann served so well that Wesley called her "a mother in Israel," a "repairer of waste places," "a guide to the blind," "a healer of the sick," "a lifter up of the hands which hang down."94

It is no wonder that Wesley wrote to Ann's pastor, Francis Wolfe:

She has all Hannah [Ball'sl grace with more sense. See that she is fully employed. You have not such another flower in all your gardens. Even Patty Chapman does not equal her.95

Nor is it any wonder that Wesley declared that when he contemplated Ann's sanctified example, patient suffering and energetic service he was "often ready to cry out, 'Thou perfect pattern of true womanhood.' "96

Less than three weeks before he died, on March 2, 1791, Wesley wrote his final letter to Ann Bolton, who was then 47. He told her, "I feel no pain, but only weakness, which . . . must increase till the pins of this tabernacle are unloosed, and the dust returns to dust." He went on to tell her that he was glad to hear that her own health was improving. He encouraged her not to think of herself, "but merely on the mercies of God." Curiously enough he added a postscript: "P.S. Give up your Friends to God, and He will given (sic) them you again."97

When Ann learned that her friend had died, she journeyed to London immediately. She wrote in a letter to her friend an account of that sad journey. She wrote, in part,

Tuesday night 10 o'clock Miss Ritchie and myself spent about 1/2 an hour with the dear remains in the room by ourselves and with my whole heart, I blessed my God for the many gracious helps I had enjoyed thro him (kneeling down by his coffin) and offered up our petitions for future mercies. It was a season not to be forgotten, and so affects my heart and eyes I can hardly see my paper now (March 12, 1791)998

In her journal Ann wrote an account of Wesley's funeral. In part she wrote:

My soul was sweetly solemnized and very tenderly affected with my loss. The signs of mourning, the pulpit, galleries and stairs hung with black and such a vast concourse of people all cloathed (sic) in appendages of mourning and woe had a peculiar effect on my heart and I mourned. I mourned my own loss among the thousands of Israel.99

Who would not so mourn the loss of such a "soul friend," such a companion on the way to Jerusalem?

Ann Bolton lived on to serve until June of 1822. She was buried a few days before what would have been her 79th birthday. Wesley had been dead for some 31 years. The Arminian Magazine carried a notice under the heading RECENT DEATHS:

Lately, at Witney, at a very advanced age, Mrs. Conybeare (formerly Miss Bolton) an old friend and correspondent of the Rev. John Wesley.100

Surely Ann would have been happy to be so remembered, but if she could have written the notice herself she might have added something of the "many gracious helps" she received through John Wesley, spiritual guide.

NOTES

1ALAN JONES, Exploring Spiritual Direction (New York: Seabury Press, 1982). p. 80.

2Ibid., pp. 77-79.

3Kenneth Leech, Soul Friend (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1977) p. 50.

4Ibid., pp. 88-89.

5John Wesley, The Letters of the Reverend John Wesley, A.M. 8 vols ed. John Telford (London: Epworth Press, 1960) June 28, 1766.

6Ibid., p. 187, March 26, 1770.

7Letters, 7:278.

8Letters, 8:158, Aug. 2, 1789.

9Letters, 3:94-95, July 20, 1752.

10Ibid., p. 216, May 28, 1757.

11Letters, 6:9, Jan. 15, 1773.

12Ibid, p. 381, Feb. 20, 1780.

13Letters, 5:9, April, 1766.

14Ibid., p. 62.

15Ibid., p. 150, Sept. 18, 1769.

16Letters, 8:9, Sept. 18, 1787.

17Ibid., 181, Oct., 29, 1789.

18Letters, 7:56, Apr. 5, 1781.

19Ibid., p. 59, Apr. 19, 1781.

20Ibid, p. 52, Mar. 25, 1781.

21Letters, 2:115, Feb. 6, 1748.

22Letters, 7:340, Sept. 6, 1786.

23Letters, 4:58, Mar. 12, 1759.

24Letters, 5:56, July 25, 1767.

25Ibid., p. 12, May 17, 1766.

26Letters 3:85, Dec. 28, 1751.

27Letters, 6:239, Nov. 12, 1776.

28Letters, 5:140, June 22, 1769.

29Letters, 5:17, June 28, 1766.

30Letters, 7:174, Apr. 21, 1783.

31Letters, 4:195, Nov. 5, 1762.

32Letters, 3:103, June 27, 1753.

33Letters, 4:4, Jan. 20,1758. See also Sarah Ryan's letter to Wesley, Letters, 8:240.

34Letters, 4:319.

35Ibid., p. 270

36Ibid, p. 183, June 7, 1762.

37Letters, 5:87, July 13, 1768.

38Ibid., p. 233

39Ibid., p. 278.

40Ibid., p. 287.

41Ibid., p. 301

42Ibid., p. 325.

43Ibid., p. 349.

44Letters, 6:18.

45Letters, 7:319.

46Letters, 5:80-81, Feb. 13, 1768.

47Ibid., p. 86, April 7, 1768.

48Ibid., p. 208, Nov. 16, 1770.

49Ibid., p. 213, Dec. 15, 1770.

50Ibid., pp. 215-216, Dec. 29, 1770.

51John Banks, Nancy, Nancy (Leeds: Penwork Ltd., 1984), p. 15.

52Letters, 5:275.

53Ibid., pp. 286-287

54Ibid., p. 309.

55Ibid., p. 313-160

56Ibid., p- 349

57Letters, 6:17-18.

58Ibid., pp. 37-38.

59Ibid., p. 36.

60Ibid., p. 174.

61Ibid., pp. 261-2

62Ibid., p. 281

63Letters, 7:24-25.

64Banks, p. 19.

65Letters, 8:117-118, Feb. 20, 1789.

66Letters, 5:256, June 8, 1771.

67Letters, 7:45-46, Jan. 2, 1781.

68Letters, 5:240, May 2, 1771.

69Ibid., p. 258, June 15, 1771. See also letter of July 17, 1789 and Aug 1. 1789.

70Letters, 7:83.

71Ibid., p. 263

72Letters, 5:258, June 15, 1771.

73Ibid., p. 256, June 8, 1771.

74Ibid., pp. 92-3, June 7, 1768.

75Letters, 7:142, Sept. 15, 1782.

76Letters, 6:261-263.

77Letters, 8:84, Aug. 15, 1788.

78Letters, 7:263. March 28, 1788.

79Letters, 6:345, May 18,1779 (See also letters of Dec. 20, 1189 and May 2, 1773).

80Letters, 5:258, June 15, 1771.

81Letters, 7:142, Sept. 15, 1782.

82Ibid, pp. 223-224

83Letters, 5:256, June 8, 1771.

84Letters, 7:215, April 1, 1784.

85Letters, 6:382, Feb. 26, 1780.

86Ibid, p. 373, Jan. 14, 1780.

87Letters, 8:157-158, Aug. 1, 1789.

88Ibid pp 250-1, Dec. 15, 1791.

89Letters, 5:286-7, Nov. 7, 1771. (See also letter of April 15, 1771).

90Letters, 6:85, May 13, 1774.

91Ibid.

92Banks, p. 24

93Letters, 7:17-18, May 8, 1780.

94Letters, 8:246, Nov. 4, 1790.

95Banks, p. 7.

96Letters, 6:144, March 15, 1775.

97Banks, p. 9.

98Ibid., pp. 92-93.

99Ibid., pp. 93.

100Ibid., p. 151.

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