THE JOURNAL OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, A.M.

SOMETIME FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD

ENLARGED FROM ORIGINAL MSS., WITH NOTES FROM UNPUBLISHED DIARIES, ANNOTA­TIONS, MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS

STANDARD EDITION

EDITED BY NEHEMIAH CURNOCK

ASSISTED BY EXPERTS

VOLUME VII

A BICENTENARY ISSUE 1938

THE EPWORTH PRESS

[EDGAR C. BARTON]

25—35 CITY ROAD, LONDON, E.C.I

   

All rights reserved

First published in 1916

Reprinted 5938

 

We have to acknowledge, with thanks, the courtesy of the Rev. T. Hardwick Mawson, Governor of Headingley College, for permission to reproduce Henry Moore’s ordination certificate; and of Sir Charles C. Wakefield, and the Revs. T. E. Brigden and W. Wakinshaw, who have supplied original illustrations.

CONTENTS

PART THE TWENTIETH—(continued)

FROM JULY 18, 1784, TO JUNE 28, 1786

 

PART THE TWENTY-FIRST

Issued in 1791 another edition, 1794
 FROM JUNE 29, 1786, TO OCTOBER 24, 1790

 

NOTES

On the Ordinations for America

On the Last ‘Extract’ of the Journal

 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

JOHN WESLEY (FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE ROMNEY)   Frontispiece

FACSIMILE OF DR. COKE’S ORDINATION CERTIFICATE.

THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN WESLEY’S DAY

SPECIMENS OF EARLY METHODIST CLASS-TICKETS AND

SCRIPTURE PLAYING-CARDS

A GROUP OF WESLEY’S LATER PREACHERS: SAMUEL BRADBURN, THOMAS HANBY, JONATHAN CROWTHER, JOHN PAWSON, ADAM CLARKE, HENRY MOORE, JAMES ROGERS, JOSEPH BENSON 

‘ELECT LADIES’ OF EARLY METHODISM: ELIZABETH RITCHIE,  MARY FLETCHER, SOPHIA BRADBURN, HESTER ANN ROGERS

MRS. OWEN’S SCHOOL AT PUISLOW 

WENTWORTH HOUSE, NEAR ROTHERHAM 

FOUR OF WESLEY’S LATER CLERICAL FRIENDS AND HELPERS: DAVID SIMPSON, PEARD DICKINSON, JAMES CREIGHTON   CHARLES SIMEON 

SOME LONDON CHURCHES IN WHICH WESLEY PREACHED DURING THE PERIOD COVERED BY THIS VOLUME 

OLD GRAVEL WALK CHAPEL, DUBLIN: ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL,  DUBLIN 

 EARLY METHODIST OVERSEA PIONEERS: FRANCIS ASBURY, RICHARD WHATCOAT, FREEBORN GARRETTSON, WILLIAM BLACK 

MON PLAISIR GUERNSEY, IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; THE CHAPEL OF NOTRE DAME DE PAS, THE FIRST PREACHING-PLACE IN JERSEY 

NO. I, GREAT CHESTERFIELD STREET, MARYLEBONE; CHARLES WESLEY IN OLD AGE; CHARLES WESLEY’S GRAVE IN MARYLEBONE OLD CHURCHYARD

List of Illustrations

VIEW OF WHITBY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: WESLEY CHAPEL, WHITBY 

ADMIRAL VAUGHAN’S HOUSE AT TRECWN 

LLWYNYGWAIR, THE HOME OF THE BOWENS 

FACSIMILE PAGE FROM CHARLES WESLEY’S POEMS ON THE GOSPEL OF ST.MARK, WITH JOHN WESLEY’S CORRECTIONS 

FACSIMILE PAGE OF DIARY, SHOWING ENTRIES OF WILBER­FORCE’S VISIT AND THE ORDINATIONS OF MOORE AND     RANKIN 

FACSIMILE OF HENRY MOORE’S ORDINATION CERTIFICATE

   

PART THE TWENTIETH

(Continued)

Wesley’s chief anxiety at this time was the organization, and therefore the protection and perpetuation, of Methodism in the United States of America. The States were now separated from Great Britain. The authority of the English law, ecclesiastical as well as civil, had ceased. The Bishops had no control. The Sacraments to which the people had been accustomed were no longer administered. Even the ablest and most revered preachers, holding appointment under the authority of Wesley himself, could not administer the rites of the Church, and he was too loyal a churchman to advise his people in the American Societies to countenance any violation of ecclesiastical law and order.

After prolonged and anxious consideration, Wesley deter­mined to solve the problem by acting on a theory which he had held for many years—namely, that there was no dis­tinction between presbyters (or elders) and bishops. He himself, his brother Charles, and all fully ordained presbyters in connexion with the Conference—men like John Fletcher, Dr. Coke, James Creighton, and others—were duly ordained ministers of the Church of Jesus Christ, having authority not only to preach the Word, but also to baptize, to administer the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and to ordain deacons and elders for the service of the Church, transferring to them the rights and privileges which they themselves enjoyed.

Wesley’s action in relation to the United States of America, of course, settled the question also with reference to Methodism everywhere. But of this nothing at first was said. The reticences of John Wesley on questions of highest importance are among the remarkable features of the Journal. With reference to the ordinations generally, if we only had the Journal to direct us, we should often be in difficulty. Happily, we now have the Diary, in this volume and the next, transliterated into plain English, so that he who runs may read. Even while the task has been in progress Dr. John S. Simon, in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Wesley Historical Society, has expounded the significance and unique interest of many of the entries. Our own editorial notes should also be carefully studied. See ‘W.H.S.’ vol. ix. p. 145; also Tyerman’s ‘Life of Wesley,’ vol. iii. -p. 331, 427, and Telford’s ‘Life of Wesley,’ p. 383.