DEC. 2, Tues.[1]-I went to Chatham, and preached in the evening on ‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’[2] 

 

Wed. 3. -I went to Sheerness, where the society is consider­ably increased since I was here before.

 

Thur. 4. -At noon I preached at Faversham, where, after a long winter, the seed seems to be springing up. The congrega­tion was very large, and deeply attentive. In the evening I preached in the new house at Brompton. I had not preached there between thirty and forty years,[3] and there is now a fair prospect here also.

 

Fri. 5. -I returned to London.[4]

 

DEC. 1, Monday

 

4 Prayed; 5 Isai. i. 3, select society, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayed, letters; 12 visited; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 writ narrative; 4 tea, prayed, writ narrative, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 2

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5.30 chaise, Dartf[ord]; 9 chaise; 11.45 Chatham, letter; 1.30 dinner, prayer; 2.30 letters, prayed; 5 tea, within, prayer, Journal; 6 2 Cor. v. 7! communion; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 3

 

4 Prayed, Journal, 6 Gen. xvii. I, Journal, tea, Journal; 9 chaise; 12.15 Sheerness; 12.30 dinner, within, [-]; 6 2 Cor. v. 17, etc., communion; 8 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 4

 

4 Prayed, sermon, tea; 7.30 chaise; 11 Faversham, within; 12 Heb. ix. 27! 1 within, dinner; 2 chaise; 4.45 Brompton, tea; 6 2 Cor. vi. I, chaise; 8 Chatham, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 5

 

4 Prayed, tea, prayer; 5.30 chaise, Dartford, tea; 9 chaise; 12 at home, on business, the females; 1 letters; 2 dinner, prayer, on business, letters, tea; 5 Book Committee; 6 Committee; 7.30 read; 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 6

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, visited; 10 letters; 1 dinner, prayer; 2 letters; 5 tea, conversed; 5.30 prayed; 6 letters, supper, Pen[ry], on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 7

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, on business; 9.30 prayers, Isai. v. 4, communion; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 sleep, prayed; 3 the leaders, tea, prayed; 5 prayers, Heb. xiii. 22, society married men, within, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Mon. 8. -I had the pleasure of meeting an old friend, who            gave me a pleasing account of the glorious death of his mother, which had made so deep an impression upon him that he Was almost persuaded to be a Christian. Wednesday the l0th, and the following days, I corrected my brother’s posthumous poems; being short Psalms (some few excepted), [hymns] on the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. They make five volumes in quarto, containing eighteen or nineteen hundred pages. They were finished April 25, 1765.

 

The revisal finished, April 24, 1774.

 

A second revisal finished, January 26, 1777. 

 

A third revisal finished, February 20, 1780.

 

A fourth revisal finished.

 

A fifth revisal finished.

 

A sixth revisal finished.

 

A seventh revisal finished.

 

The last revisal finished, May 1787.

 

Many of these are little, if any, inferior to his former poems, having the same justness and strength of thought, with the same beauty of expression; yea, the same keenness of wit on proper occasions, as bright arid piercing as ever.

 

Monday 8

 

4 Prayed, Gal. v. I, select society, Journal; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters; 12 select society, dinner, conversed; 2.30 Journal; 3 in talk; 4.30 tea, within; 6 on business, prayed; 6.30 prayers, Jam. i. 27! supper, the bands; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 9

 

4 Prayed, Gal. v. I, within, read, narrative; 7 tea, conversed, prayer;    8 walk; 9 at home; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 letters, tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 Jam. ii. I4! the leaders, supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 10

 

5 Prayed, letters, tea, conversed, prayer; 8 on business; 11 chaise; 12 at sister Ford’s, Charles’s Poems; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 Poems; 5 tea, conversed, prayed, Poems; 8 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 11

 

4 Prayed, Poems; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Charles’s Poems; 12 walk; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 Poems; 4.30 tea, conversed, Poems; 6.30 2 Cor. v. 7! 8 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

                        Ro. xiii. 6.

 

­Mon. 15.[5]-In the evening I preached at Miss Teulon’s school in Highgate.[6] I think it was the coldest night I ever remember. The house we were in stood on the edge of the hill, and the east wind set full in the window. I counted eleven, twelve, one, and was then obliged to dress, the cramp growing more and more violent. But in the morning, not only the cramp was gone, but likewise the lameness which used to follow it.

 

About this time I was reflecting on the gentle steps whereby age steals upon us. Take only one instance. Four years ago my sight was as good as it was at five-and-twenty. I then began to observe that I did not see things quite so clear with my left eye as with my right; all objects appeared a little browner to that eye. I began next to find some difficulty in reading a small print by candle-light.

 

Friday 12

 

4 Prayed, Charles’s Poems; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters, Poems; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3 chaise; 4 at home, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, prayed, letters; 8 supper; 8.30 prayer; Psa. lxxiii. 19, coffee, prayer; 12.45.

 

Saturday 13

 

7.30 On business, tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Poems; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters, Poems; 3 prayed; 4 visited, tea, conversed, prayer; 6 prayers, I Pet. i. 16, communion, supper, Pen[ry]; 9 on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 14

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 the Chapel; 9.30 prayers, Rom. xiii. 8, communion, dinner, sleep, prayed; 3 the leaders; 4 prayers, I Pet. ii. 2! society, coach, society, married, within; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 15

 

4 Prayed, 1 Jo. i. 9, select society, Poems; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 writ narrative; .10 coach, at Sister Teulon’s, Poems; 1 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 2.30 Poems; 5.30 tea, conversed, Poems; 6.30 1 Cor. vi. I, Poems, supper, conversed, prayer.

 

Tuesday 16

 

5.30 Prayed, Poems; 8.30 tea, conversed, prayer, Poems; 9.30 chaise; 10.30 writ letters; 12 Poems; 1 at brother Ba[ll’s], dinner, conversed, prayer, letters; 7.30 the leaders, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

A year after I found it in reading such a print by daylight. In winter, 1786, I could not well read our four-shilling hymn-book, unless with a large candle; the next year I could not read letters, if wrote with a small or bad hand. Last winter a pearl appeared on my left eye, the sight of which grew exceeding dim. The right eye seems unaltered; only I am a great deal nearer-sighted than ever I was. Thus are ‘those that look out at the windows darkened’: one of the marks of old age.[7] But I bless God ‘the grasshopper is’ not ‘a burden.’ I am still capable of travelling, and my memory is much the same as ever it was, and so, I think, is my understanding.

 

This week[8] I dedicated to the reading over my brother’s works. They are short poems on the Psalms, the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles.[9] Some are bad, some mean, some most excellently good.

 

Wednesday 17

 

4.30 Prayed, Poems, tea, prayer, Poems; 1.30 dinner, within, prayed, tea; 6 prayers; I Pet. v. 10, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 18

 

4 Prayed, Poems, tea, prayer, Poems; 1 Mrs. G., dinner, conversed,   Poems; 5 tea, conversed; 6 2 Cor. v. 17! Poems, supper, con­versed, prayer; 10.

 

They give the true sense of Scripture, always in good English, generally in good verse; many of them are equal to most, if not to any, he ever wrote; but some still savour of that poisonous mysticism with which we were both not a little tainted before we went to America.

 

Friday 19

 

4.30 Prayed, Poems; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Poems; 1.30 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 3 chaise; 4 at home, letters, tea, conversed, prayed; 5 tea, within; 7.30 prayed, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 20

 

4 Prayed; 5 Poems; 7.30 tea, conversed, prayer, Poems; 1 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 2 Poems; 3 letters, prayed; 4 visited, tea, con­versed, prayer; 6 prayers, Mat. v. 48; 8 supper, Pen[ry], on busi­ness; 9.30.

 

Sunday 21

 

5.30 Prayed, letter; 8 Spi[talfields]; 9.30 prayers, Phil. iv. 7, communion; 1 dinner, conversed; 2.30 sleep, prayed, letters; 3.30 tea, prayer; 5 prayers, Phil. iv. 8, general lovefeast, supper, prayer; 9.30

 

Monday 22

 

4 Prayers, Matt. v. 48, select society, on business; 8 chaise, tea, con­versed, prayer; 9.30 at brother Beardmore’s, Poems; 1 dinner; 2 Poems; 5 tea, conversed, prayed, Poems; 8 supper, prayer; 9.45.

 

Tuesday 23

 

4 Prayed, Poems; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Poems; 11 letters; 1.15 dinner, conversed; 2.45 letters; 4.30 tea, 

 

         conversed; 5.30 Rom. viii. 33! writ narrative; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 24

 

        4 Prayed, sermon; 8 tea, conversed, read narrative; 9.45 chaise, read narrative; 11 prayed, tea, letters, writ 

 

         narrative, no dinner; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

This gave a gloomy cast, first to his mind, and then to many of his verses: this made him frequently describe religion as a melancholy thing: this so often sounded in his ears, ‘To the desert,’ and strongly persuaded in favour of solitude.

 

Thur. 25 (being Christmas Day).[10]-We began the service as usual, at four in the new chapel. Notwithstanding the severe frost, which had now lasted a month, the congregation was uncommonly large. I preached here again in the evening; about eleven in the chapel at West Street. This was a com­fortable day, as were also the two following.

 

Sun. 28.-I preached at Allhallows church,[11] on those words

 

Christmas Day

 

3.30 Prayed; 8 prayer, 5 Haggai ii. 7; 6 Journal, chaise; 10 Chapel [West Street], prayers, Heb. i. 1-4, communion; 1 at brother Brann’s, dinner, conversed, prayer, coach; 3.15 sleep, prayed, tea, conversed, prayed; 5 prayers, Isai. xix. II, society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 26

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7.30 tea, conversed, prayer, Journal; 9 chaise; 10 prayers, Prov. xxviii. 14! communion; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.30 letters; 4 visited! communion, tea, conversed, prayed; 6 prayers, Acts vii. 55, writ narrative; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 27

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7.30 tea, conversed, letters; 10 prayers, John xxi. 21! communion, writ narrative; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, letters, at Mr. Perks, tea, conversed, prayer, prayed; 6 prayers, Rev. xxii. 17, communion, supper, Pen[ry], on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 28

 

4.45 Prayed, letters; 8 Chapel; 9.30 prayers, Isa. xxxvii. 3, communion; 1 dinner, conversed; 3 Allhallows Church, prayers, I Jo. v. 3! tea; 5.30 prayed, society, single women; 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

­in the Service, ‘His commandments are not grievous.’ The congregation was exceeding large, and seemed to taste the good word.

 

Tues. 30. - The frost continued severe, yet the congregation was uncommonly large in the evening, and God warmed many hearts.

 

Wed. 31. -A numerous company concluded the old year with a very solemn watch-night. Hitherto God hath helped us, and we neither see nor feel any of those terrible judgements which it was said God would pour out upon the nation about the conclusion of the year.

 

For near seventy years I have observed that, before any war or public calamity, England abounds with prophets, who confidently foretell many terrible things.[12]  They generally believe themselves, but are carried away by a vain imagina­tion. And they are seldom undeceived, even by the failure of their predictions, but stil1 believe they will be fulfilled some time or other.

 

Monday 29

 

4 Prayed, Rev. xxii. 17, communion, writ narrative, tea, prayer; 8.30 chaise, Painter! walk; 10.30 writ letters; 12 select society; 1.15 dinner, conversed, prayer, visited; 4 writ narrative, tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 prayers, 2 John 2; 8 supper, the bands, read narrative; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 30

 

   4 Prayed, Rev. xxi. 17! communion, within; 7 tea, conversed, prayer, walk, Journal; 1.30 dinner, prayer, letters; 4.30 tea, conversed,           prayer, prayed; 6.30 Psa. cxlvii. 3! the leaders, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 31

 

4 Prayed, read Journal; 7.30 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 read Journal, within to some; 1.15 at brother Urling’s, dinner, conversed; 2.30 letters; 4.30 at M. M[an]li’s (?), tea, conversed, prayed, prayer; 6 Committee; 7.45 supper, conversed; 8.30 prayer, I Pet. iv. 7! prayer; 10.

  

---

 

[1] On Dec.- he wrote from London to E. Coates, with reference to the shield affair, insisting on ‘the Methodist plan’ as the only possible basis of settlement for ‘the house’ (W.H.S. vol. iv. P. 229). On Dec. 2, he wrote from Chatham to Henry Moore, praying him to write strongly to Dr. Coke with reference to Mr. Heath, whom they had taken ‘from his livelihood, and (whether he has behaved well or ill) we are obliged in honour and conscience to bring him home. I will give fifty pounds towards it. Tell him of “Caesar and Pompey”’ (new ed. Wesley Letters)

 

[2] In December he wrote to Joseph Benson in a reply to a letter in which Benson had given a growing account of the new chapel in George yard, Hull, which took the place of the Manor Alley Chapel. Wesley wrote:

 

Dear Joseph,- I greatly rejoice in the erection of your new preaching-house and the tokens of divine presence with which you and the people were favoured at the opening; but, if it be all equal to the  new chapel in London, I will engage to eat it. I am yours affectionately, JOHN WESLEY.

 

See W.M. Mag. 1836, p. 492.

 

[3] See above, vol. iv. p. 87.

 

[4] On Dec. 6 he wrote from London to Walter Churchey (Works, vol. xii. p. 437).

 

[5] He wrote from Canterbury to Miss Sarah Mallet, advising her as a preacher not to be at every one’s call; nor to Continue a service above an hour at once, and not to scream (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[6] See above, p. 347.

 

[7] In Feb. 1790, writing to Mrs. Jane Cock, nee Bisson, he says:

 

My sight is so far decayed that I cannot well read a small print by candle-light; but I can write almost as well as ever I could, and it does me no harm but rather good to preach once or twice a day (Works, vol. xiii. p. 111).

 

[8] On Dec. 21 he wrote to Mrs. Charles Wesley, referring to a common report that he and his brother were ‘well paid for our labours. And, indeed,’ he added, ‘so we were, but not by man’ (Tyerman's Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 530).

 

[9] Charles Wesley’s Poetical Version of the Psalms never saw the light until 1854, when they were published by Rev. Henry Fish, M.A. (1823-79), who had dis­covered the manuscript in a second-hand bookshop, whence it had found its way from the library shelves of an unnamed college. The book-plate of the Countess of Huntingdon shows that it had pre­viously been in her possession. See Fish’s Introduction and W.M. Mag. (abridged) 1855, p. 96. On Charles Wesley, not only as the Poet of Methodism, but of the Evangelical Revival, many have written; but no one in so few words and with such perfect sympathy and dis­crimination has excelled Canon Overton, who contributed the article on the Wesley Family, from the hymnologist’s point of view, to Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, P.1258. See also the Rev. John Telford’s Life of Charles Wesley, p. 252, where the passage is quoted. ‘Charles Wesley,’ he says, ‘was perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn writer of all ages.’ In summing up, he adds: As a hymn-writer Charles Wesley was unique. He is said to have written no less than 6,500 hymns, and though, of course, In so vast a number some are of unequal merit, it is perfectly marvellous how many there are which rise to the highest degree of excel­lence. His feelings on every occasion of importance, whether private or public, found their best expression in a hymn. His own conversion, his own marriage, the earthquake panic, the rumours of an invasion from France, the defeat of Prince Charles Edward at Culloden, the Gordon riots, every festival of the Christian Church, every doctrine of the Christian faith, striking scenes in Scripture history, striking scenes which came within his own view, the deaths of friends as they passed away one by one before him-all­ furnished occasions for the exercise of his divine gift. Nor must we forget his hymns for little children, a branch of sacred poetry in which the mantle of Dr. Watts seems to have fallen upon him. It would be simply im­possible, within our space, to enumerate even those of his hymns which have become really classical. The saying that a really good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley; for hymns, which are really good in every respect, followed from his pen in quick succession, and death alone stopped the course of the perennial stream.

 

[10] On the 26th he wrote from London to Miss Mallet:

 

You do not expect to go through life with­out crosses; and some will fall upon you on my account; for my taking notice of you may bring envy upon you. But in your patience possess your soul. Please God, and it is enough.

 

(Taft’s Holy Women). On, the 27th he wrote to Mrs. Jeannie Cock (new ed. Wesley Letters).   

 

[11] See above, p. 233, and vol. vi. p. 96; also Tyerman’s Wesley, vol. iii. p: 563.

 

[12] e.g. Richard Brothers, a notorious ‘prophet’ of the period, for whom see Old and New London, vol. ii. p. 333, and Southey’s Letters from England, vol. ii. chs. lxviii.-Ixix.