On the mornings of this and the following week I ex­pounded the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; such a compendium of true religion as none but the Author of it can give. The evening congregations were exceeding large, as well as deeply attentive.

 

APRIL 3, Fri.-I preached at Bethesda; and with much liberty of spirit.

 

Sat. 4. -I preached in Gravel Walk House[1] so filled as I never saw it before; and they all seemed to hear as if for life. It was a comfortable night.

 

APRIL 1, Wednesday

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii. I, writ narrative; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, writ narrative, within to many; 12 visited some, communion; 2 dinner, conversed; 3 read, visited [-], conversed, prayer; 5.30 on business

 

prayed, Lu. viii. 17, the leaders, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 2[2]

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii. 2, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, at L. M. [pro­bably Lord and Lady Moira; see above, note to March 29], visited; 2 dinner, within, prayer, prayed, tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Gen. xxii. I, 2, select society! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 3

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii. 3, letters, writ narrative; 12 prayers, within; 1.30 at Mr. Smy[th’s]; 2.30 dinner, in talk; 3.30 Mag.; 5 tea, together; 6 prayers, [-] xxi. 22! coach; 8.30 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 4

 

4.30 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters, writ narrative: 12.30 visited, walk; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.30 prayed; 5 tea, con­versed, prayer; 6.30 Gravel Walk, Heb. ix. 27! 8 supper, conversed prayer; 9.30.

 

....

 

Sun. 5. -I preached in the new room at seven. At eleven I went to the cathedral. I desired those of our society who did not go to their parish churches would go with me to St Patrick’s. Many of them did so. It was said the number of communicants were about five hundred; more than went there in the whole year before the Methodists were known in Ireland.

 

Mon. 6. - To-day, and for some days following, I was so overborne with letters, that I had hardly time to do anything but to read and answer them.[3]

 

Wed. 8. -I visited and administered the sacrament to our poor widows, four-and-twenty of whom are tolerably provided for in our Widows’ House. The forwardness and stubbornness of some of these was, for a time, a grievous trial to the rest; but this is past. They are all now of a better spirit, and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.

 

Sunday 5

 

4 Prayed, sermon; 7 2 Cor. v. 19, tea, sermon; 11 prayers; 2 dinner together, prayer; 3.30 sleep; 4 prayed; 4.30 tea, conversed; 5.30 Heb. vii. 25! lovefeast; 8.15 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 6[4]

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii. 3, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, sermon; 1 walk; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer, within; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6,30 Gen. ix. 27! on business, supper, within, prayer; 9.15.

 

Tuesday 7

 

4.30 Prayed, letters; 7 Marlb[orough] St[reet], Lu. xx. 34! tea, conversed, prayer, letters, walk; 2 dinner, conversed, prayed; 5 tea, conversed,   prayer; 6.30 Eph. ii. 5! the bands, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 8

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii. 6, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters; 12 visited women; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3 Widows, communion; 4 prayed; 5 tea, within, prayer; 6.30 I Cor. xiii. 9, etc., the leaders; 8.30 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thur. 9. -In, the evening I met, for the second time, the bands. I admired them much. They are more open than those either in London or Bristol; and I think here is a greater number of those that are now clearly perfected in love than I now find even in London itself.

 

APRIL 10 (being Good Friday). -I accepted of the pressing invitation of Mr. Smyth,[5] and preached at Bethesda both morning and evening; in the morning on the New Covenant, as it is now given to the Israel of God; and in the evening on Heb. ix. 13, 14, ‘If the blood of bulls,’ &c. At both times we had a brilliant congregation, among whom were Honourable and Right Honourable persons; but I felt they were all given into my hands; for God was in the midst. What a mercy it is, what a marvellous condescension in God, to provide such places as Bethesda, and Lady Huntingdon’s chapels, for these delicate hearers, who could not bear sound doctrine if it were not set off with these pretty trifles![6]

 

Thursday 9

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xiii., within, sleep; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, sermon, visited [-]; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 Dr. Percival,[7] con­versed; 5 prayed, tea, prayer; 6.30 1 Cor. xiii. 13! select society; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 10

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7     ; 11.15 prayers, Heb. viii. 10; 2 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 3.30 sleep; 4 prayed; 5 Bethesda, tea, conversed;   6.30 prayers, Heb. ix. 13! 8 at home, supper, conversed, prayer; 10.

 

APRIL 12 (being Easter Day). -We had a solemn assembly indeed; many hundred communicants in the morning, and in the afternoon far more hearers than our room would contain, though it is now considerably enlarged. Afterwards I met the society, and explained to them at large the original design of the Methodists, viz. not to be a distinct party, but to stir up all parties, Christians or heathens, to worship God in spirit and in truth; but the Church of England in particular, to which they belonged from the beginning. With this view, I have uniformly gone on for fifty years, never varying from the doctrine of the Church at all, nor from her discipline, of choice, but of necessity. So, in a course of years, necessity was laid upon me (as I have proved elsewhere), (1) to preach in the open air; (2) to pray extempore; (3) to form societies; (4) to accept of the assistance of lay preachers; and, in a few other instances, to use such means as occurred, to prevent or remove evils that we either felt or feared.

 

We set out early on Monday the 13th,[8] and about twelve reached Clonard,[9] five-and-twenty Irish miles from Dublin. Three or four times as many as the house could contain met together at five o’clock.

 

Saturday 11

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, within, prayer; 9.30 letters, writ Journal, letters; 2 dinner, together; 4 sleep, on business, prayed; 5 Barracks, tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 Rev. xx. 12! conversed, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30 on business.

 

Sunday 12, Easter Day

 

4 Prayed, Journal; 7 prayers; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, writ narrative, prayed; 1.30 Lu. xxiv. 25! communion; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.30 sleep, prayed; 4.30 tea; 5.30 Rom. viii. 30, society, supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 13

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5 chaise; 8.30 Kilcock, tea, conversed, prayed; 9.15 chaise, L. Cairn; 12 within, garden; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.30 read     prayer; 5 Isa. iv. 6 t walk; 8 supper, conversed; 9.30.

 

The power of God was remarkably present, when divers were cut to the heart; and perhaps none more so than the master of the house. We had another good opportunity at seven in the morning, Tuesday the 14th, which we closed with a serious, pointed conversation, and then went on to Tyrrell’s Pass.

 

Though the wind was piercing cold, the multitude of people obliged me to preach abroad in the evening; after which I gave them all a plain account of the design of Methodism, namely, not to separate from the Church, but to unite together all the children of God that were scattered abroad.

 

Wed. 15. -About ten I preached to a small congregation in the court-house in Mullingar. We had a far different con­gregation, both as to number and spirit, in Longford court­house in the evening. It was a beautiful sight. Great part of them came again at seven in the morning, and seemed to relish those words, ‘He that doeth the will of God, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.’

 

Thur. 16. -Heavy rain came on in the evening; yet the preaching-house at Keenagh would not contain the people.

 

Fri. 17.[10]-I came to my old friends at Athlone; but, to my surprise, I found them heaps upon heaps.

 

Tuesday 14

 

4.30 Prayed, sermon; 7 Mark i. 15! tea, conversed; 9 chaise; 12 Tyr[ r]ell’s [Pass], writ narrative, within; 2.30 dinner, conversed; 3.30 prayed;     5 tea; 6 Matt. xx. 16! 7 society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

.                Wednesday 15

 

4 Prayed, Mal. iii. I, communion, tea; 7.30 chaise; 9 Mu1[l]ing[ar], tea, conversed, prayer; 10 Heb. x. 32, chaise; 2.30 Gos[-]; 3 dinner, conversed, chaise, Longf[ord]; 5 tea, conversed; 6 Psa. xxxiii. I! society; 8 supper together, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 16

 

4 Prayed, read sermon; 7 Mark iii. 35, tea, conversed; 9 chaise; 10.30 Abidar [Abbeyderg], conversed; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.30 letter; 4 prayed; tea, conversed, chaise, Ke[e]nagh; 62 Cor. v. 19, society, prayed; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 17

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7 Matt. xii. 6, tea, conversed; 10 chaise; 1 Athlone, on business; 2 dinner: conversed, prayer; 5 prayed; 6 Isai. lviii. I, within! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

­ 

 

I hastened to hear the contending parties face to face; and was amazed to find how much matter a little fire kindles. Some of the leaders had causelessly taken offence at the assistant.[11] He called on Mr. R., and warned him against imbibing the same prejudice; telling him, if he did, he must beware of the consequence; meaning thereby the mischief it would do among the people. Misunderstanding this word, he grew very angry. Others took part with him, and the society was in an uproar. I talked with him till I was tired but in vain: one might as well have talked to the north wind. So I gave him up to God, and only endeavoured to quench the flame among the people. Saturday the 18th[12] was a day of peace.

 

Sun. 19. -The commanding officer sending to offer me the use of any part of the barracks, I preached at five in the riding­house, a very spacious, building, to a multitude of people, on ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’ I think the word did not fall to the ground.[13]

 

Saturday 18

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative; 6 Eph. iv. 30! letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, J A! [cipher] *, letters; 12 visited, writ narrative, chaise; 2 at brother Meech[am], dinner, prayed; 4.30 tea, conversed; 5 chaise, prayed; 6 Gen. ix. 27! the leaders; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Sunday 19

 

4 Prayed, sermon, tea; 8, I Jo. v. 11, sermon; 11.30 prayers, sermon; 2.30 dinner, conversed; 3.30 sleep; 4 prayed, tea; 5 Acts xvi. 31! society; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 20

 

4 Prayed, Rev. xiv. 1-3, tea, conversed; 7 chaise; 10 Ballinaslo[e], Lu. xiv. 23! chaise; 12 Fairfield, conversed, sermon; 2 dinner, sermon, prayed; 4.30 tea; 6 Mark iii. 35! conversed; 7.30 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Rev. xiv. 13.

 

Mon. 20. -I preached about eleven at B[allinasloe], and at six in the church at Aughrim. It was much fuller than when I preached here before[14]; and many Papists were there, who, as the minister informed me had attended the church ever since I was there before.

 

Tues. 21, -About ten I preached in Eyre Court church, so filled as, I suppose, it never was before; and many of the hearers seemed to feel the word. Thence we went on to Birr. How is the scene changed here! One of the dullest places[15] in Ireland is become one of the liveliest! But I could not preach abroad in the evening, by reason of the rain; so we made all the room we could in the room and in the yard; and a most solemn opportunity we had.

 

Wed. 22.[16]-About noon I preached in the beautiful new court-house at Tullamore. Deep attention sat on the rich as well as the poor; as it did likewise at Coolalough in the evening. Thursday the 23rd,[17] being the Thanksgiving Day for the recovery of His Majesty’s health, I preached in the courthouse at Portarlington, as soon as the church service ended. The congregation was exceeding well dressed, but exceeding careless and ill-behaved. At six I preached in the church at Mountmellick, exceedingly crowded with hearers of quite another kind. They were all attention, and in the morning filled the preaching-house.

 

Tuesday 21

 

4 Prayed, sermon; 6 I Pet. iv. 7, tea, prayer; 7.30 chaise, Eyre Court; 10.15 Mark ix. 44! chaise; 1.45 Birr, dinner, conversed; 4 prayed; 6 Mark xii. 32! society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 22

 

4 Prayed, Heb. ii, I, tea; 8.15 chaise, Frank[ford], chaise; 11 .30 Tulla[more]; 12 letters, Psa. xxxiii. 1! walk; 2 dinner, chaise; 4.30 Cool[a]loug[h] ; 5 tea, prayed, 6 Heb. ix. 37; within, supper; 10. 

 

Thursday 23

 

.4 Prayed, texts, tea, prayer; 6.15 chaise; 8.15 Tullam[ore], tea, conversed, prayer; 9 chaise; 12 Portarl[ington], letter; I Isai. Xxxviii.1, dinner, conversed; 3 chaise; 4.15 M[oun]t Mel[lick];5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6 Eph. v. 14! 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

.

 

Fri. 24. -The church at Maryborough was far larger, and one of the most elegant that I have seen in the kingdom. It was thoroughly filled in the evening, although many of the hearers looked as if they had not been in a church before. But in half an hour they were serious as death; and in the morning, Saturday the 25th, the lower part of the church was well filled. Surely many will remember that day. In the evening I preached in our preaching-house at Carlow,[18] where, that I might not overshoot the congregation, I preached on ‘So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.’

 

Sun. 26.[19]-I preached in the morning, and at five in the evening. The people were very civil, and many of them atten­tive; but 1 think the time of Carlow is not yet come.

 

Mon. 27. -I reached Enniscorthy about noon, and presently after, as it had continued to rain, I preached in the place prepared for me, which was a large, though not very elegant, cow-house. However, God was there; as likewise in the assembly-room at Wexford, where I preached to a large congregation in the evening.

 

Friday 24

 

4 On business, sleep; 6 Rom. xi. 13! sermon; 7.30 tea, conversed, sermon; 10 chaise; 11 Maryborou[gh], sermon; 2.15 dinner, conversed, sleep; 4 sermon, prayed, tea, within; 6 I Sam. xx. 3! supper, together, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 25

 

4.30 Prayed; 6 Rom. xii. I! tea, prayer; 7.45 chaise, Athy, chaise; 1.30 Carlow, on business; 2.30 dinner, conversed; 4 letters, prayed, tea; 6 Psa. xc. 12; 7 sermon, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Sunday 26

 

4 Prayed, sermon, letters; 6 I Pet. ii. 11! sermon, within; 12 prayers, visited; 2 dinner, tea, prayer; 3 sleep, prayed; 4.30 tea, conversed; 5 Num. xxiii. 10! society; 7 conversed, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 27

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5 chaise; 8 Bunklody, tea, within, prayer; 9 chaise; 12.15 Inniscorthy, Isai. xxxv. 8! dinner; 2 chaise; 5.45 Wexford, tea; 6 Rev. iii. 17! conversed, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tues. 28. -About noon we reached the ferry, on the west side of which Mrs. Deaves was waiting. She pressed me much to go with her in the chaise, and, at least, to dine at her house; saying Mr. Deaves[20] was willing to settle the house in any way that I desired! The same thing he said to me himself; so I hoped all things would end well. In the evening I preached to a numerous congregation on Mark iii. 35. The God of peace and love was in the midst of us, and seemed to affect the whole assembly.

 

Wed. 29.[21] - We had a large congregation in the morning. At breakfast and at tea, on these two days, I met all the society (eight or ten excepted) and we greatly confirmed our love to each other. In the evening I preached to a larger congregation than before on  ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ’ Afterwards I strongly exhorted them all to rehearse no past grievances, and only to provoke one another to love and good works.

 

Tuesday 28

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5 chaise; 8 Fawke’s Mills [Foulkesmill]; 9 chaise; 12 Ferry, boat; 2 chaise with sister Deaves, in talk; 3 Waterf[ord], dinner, in talk with Ja[mes] Deav[es]; 5 tea, conversed; 6 Mark iii. 35, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 29

 

4 Prayed, Heb. ii. I, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, christened, visited;     10 letters; 2.15 dinner, conversed; 3.30 letters, prayed; 5 tea, within, prayed; 6.30 Rom. i. 16, society; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 30

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative; 6 Heb. xiii. 22, sermon; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters; 2 dinner, prayed; 3.30 letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, prayed; 6.30 [-], supper, in talk, prayer; 9.30.

---

 

[1] Now Blackhall Place. See above, pp. 259, 261.

 

[2] On April 2 he wrote from Dublin to Miss Lewis (Works, vol. xiii. p. 116)

 

[3]Immediately after Wesley’s arrival in Ireland the Dublin Chronicle (April 7, 1789) published an advanced plan of what was destined to be his last itinerary in Ireland. See W.H.S. vol. v. p. 78, where it is set out in full. This may be compared with his Diary.       

 

[4] He wrote from Dublin to Mrs. Cock (Works, vol. xiii. p. 109)

 

[5] Rev. Edward Smyth.

 

[6] On April 11 he wrote to the three itinerant preachers stationed in the New­castle circuit. The letter is an example of Wesley’s peremptory manner. Just as rebellion broke out in Dublin, Dews­bury, and elsewhere, trouble threatened at Shields. The point in dispute was Wesley’s insistence on his right to appoint preachers, and to delegate this right after his death to the Conference. See W.H.S. vol. iv. pp. 223-30, and Tyer­man’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 573. On the same day he wrote to L. Harrison (Watmough’s Meth. in Lincoln, p. 26), to Rev. Peard Dickinson, and to Alex­ander Knox. (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[7] This may possibly have been the Dr. Percival in whose home at War­rington young Jabez Bunting spent four years during the formative period of his life. Dr. Bunting bestowed the name on his own eldest son and biographer. Dr. William Magee, afterwards Arch­bishop of Dublin, married Dr. Percival’s niece, and ‘paid a just tribute to his memory in the Monthly Magazine, 1804.’ It is therefore quite likely that he visited Dublin occasionally.

 

[8] His companion on this journey was Joseph Bradford.

 

[9] At Clonard he was the guest of Mr. Tyrrell. The place was once the seat of a bishopric. Here Tyrrell, a Methodist, at the head of twenty-four yeomen and three boys, discomfited the Wicklow rebels, three thousand strong. He prayed with his men while the enemy approached. The name mentioned by Wesley was that of one of the Tyrrells. Among those cut to the heart were lads named Hughes, one of whom became a class-leaner, and was the father of the Rev. John Hughes. Other descendants of the Hughes and Tyrrell families are still numbered with the Methodists.

 

[10] He wrote from near Longford to Henry Moore (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[11] John Dinnen.

 

[12] He wrote from Athlone to Zechariah Yewdall (Works, vol. xiii. p. 17).

 

[13] Some of the gentry, especially, who attended this service out of mere curiosity, were deeply impressed with the appear­ance of the venerable preacher, and declared that there seemed to be some­thing superhuman about him.

 

[14] But it was full then. See above, p.266.

 

[15]             See above, vol. iii. pp. 350,405, 469.

 

[16]             He wrote from Tullamore to Mrs. James Armstrong, Athlone (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[17] He wrote from Portarlington to Arthur Keene, near Dublin, who is ‘doing much harm by disputing’; also a fragment, probably about the same date, deprecating controversy (W.H.S.  vol. viii. p. 96)

 

[18] Built in 1787, it was the Methodist sanctuary for a hundred and eleven years.

 

[19] He wrote to Samuel Bardsley (Works, vol. xii. p. 504).

 

[20] Some difference of opinion had existed between Wesley and James Deaves as to the settlement of the Wex­ford chapel (of which Deaves was pro­bably lessee) in accordance with the Deed Poll (W.H.S. vol. ii. p. 143; see also the Arthur Keene correspondence above, and W.H.S. vol. viii. pp. 95, 97).

 

[21] He wrote from Waterford to Miss Ingram (Works, vol. xiii. p. 1I8).