JULY 1, Sat.-I went on to Bramley, about four miles from Sheffield,[1] where a gentleman has built a neat preaching-house for the poor people, at his own expense.[2] As the notice was short, I had no need to preach abroad. The congregation was deeply serious, while I explained what it was to build upon a rock, and what to build upon the sand. In the evening I spoke very plain to a crowded audience at Sheffield on ‘Now it is high time to awake out of sleep.’ One of the hearers wrote me a nameless letter upon it. But he could remember nothing of the sermon, but only that ‘the rising early was good for the nerves!’

 

Sun. 2.[3]-I read prayers, preached, and administered the Sacrament to six or seven hundred hearers; It was a solemn season.

 

JULY 1, Saturday

 

4 Prayed, Matt. v. 6, select society, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters, visited; 10.30 chaise; 12 Bramley, Matt. vii. 24! at Mrs. Spenc[er’s], dinner together; 3 chaise; 5 Sheff[ield], tea; 6 Rom. xiii. 11! on business, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Sunday 2

 

 4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, letter; 9.30 read prayers, Lu. xiv. 17, communion; 2 dinner, sleep, 

 

        letter; 3.45 prayed; 4.30 tea, [-]; 5 Lu. xv. 7, society, letter; 8 supper, together, prayer; 9.30.

 

I preached soon after five in the evening on ‘There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.’ Afterwards I gave an account of the rise of Methodism (that is, old scriptural Christianity) to the whole congregation; as truth will bear the light, and loves to appear in the face of the sun.

 

Mon. 3.-We had our Quarterly Meeting, followed by a love feast, at which many spoke without reserve, and several of them admirably well; showing that with the fear of the Lord is understanding.[4]

 

Tues. 4.-I met the select society, most of them walking in glorious liberty. Afterwards I went to Wentworth House, the splendid seat of the late Marquis of Rockingham.[5]

 

Monday 3

 

4 Prayed, Psa. 1. 23! letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, sermon; 12.45 Quarterly Meeting, dinner; 1.30 Mag.; 3 lovefeast; 4.30 tea, con­versed, visited, communion; 6.30 2 Tim. iii. 5!; 8 prayed, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 4

 

4 Prayed, 1 Jo. ii. 1-5! select society, on business, tea; 8 chaise; 10 Went­worth, walk in the house, [-] walk; 12.45 Thorpe, Mark iii. 35 chaise; 2.15 at Mr. Spar[row’s]; 2.30 dinner, conversed, prayer; 4 chaise, on business, tea, prayed; 6.30 Mark ix. 23, society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

He lately had forty thousand a year in England, and fifteen or twenty thousand in Ireland. And what has he now? Six foot of earth.

 

A heap of dust is all remains of thee!

 

'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.[6]

 

The situation of the house is very fine. It commands a large and beautiful prospect. Before the house is an open view; behind, a few acres of wood; but not laid out with any taste. The greenhouses are large, but I did not observe anything curious in them. The front of the house is large and 

 

magnifi­cent, but not yet finished. The entrance is noble, the saloon exceeding grand, and so are several of the apartments. Few of the pictures are striking.[7] I think none of them to be compared with some in Fonmon Castle. The most extra­ordinary thing I saw was the stables; a square, fit for a royal palace, all built of fine stone, and near as large as the old Quadrangle at Christ Church in Oxford. But for what use were these built? To show that the owner had near three­ score thousand pounds a year!

 

­

 

Oh how much treasure might he have laid up in heaven, with all this mammon of un­righteousness! About one I preached at Thorpe to three or four times as many as the preaching-house would have contained; and in the evening to the well-instructed and well-behaved congregation at Sheffield. Oh what has God wrought in this town! The leopard now lies down with the kid.

 

Wed. 5.-Notice was given, without my knowledge, of my preaching at Belper,[8] seven miles short of Derby. I was nothing glad of this, as it obliged me to quit the turnpike road, to hobble over a miserable common. The people, gathered from all parts, were waiting. So I went immediately to the market-place, and, standing under a large tree, testified, ‘This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’ The house at Derby was thoroughly filled in the evening. As many of the better sort (so called) were there, I explained (what seemed to be more adapted to their circumstances and experience), ‘This only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have found out many inventions.’

 

Wednesday 5

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xv. 58, tea; 6.45 chaise; 9.15 Chesterf[ield], tea; 10 chaise, visited; 1 Belper, Jo. xvii. 3, dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.15 chaise; 4.30 Derby, within, tea; 5.30 prayed; 6.30 Ecc. vii. 29! society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thur. 6.-In going to Ilkeston[9] we were again entangled in miserable roads. We got thither, however, about eleven. Though the church is large, it was sufficiently crowded. The vicar[10] read prayers with great earnestness and propriety: I preached on ‘Her ways are ways of pleasantness,’ and the people seemed all ear. Surely good will be done in this place, though it is strongly opposed both by the Calvinists and Socinians.

 

We went on in a lovely afternoon, and through a lovely country, to Nottingham. I preached to a numerous and well­ behaved congregation. I love this people: there is something wonderfully pleasing, both in their spirit and their behaviour.

 

Fri. 7. - The congregation at five was very large, and convinced me of the earnestness of the people. They are greatly increased in wealth and grace, and continue increasing daily.

 

Sat. 8.-I walked through the General Hospital. I never saw one so well ordered. Neatness, decency, and common sense shine through the whole. I do not wonder that many of the patients recover. I prayed with two of them. One of them, a notorious sinner, seemed to be cut to the heart. 

 

Thursday 6

 

4 Prayed, Rev. ii. 5, society, within, letter, tea, prayer; 8.30 chaise, visited; 11.30 Il[ke]ston, prayers, Prov. iii. 17, within, dinner; 3 chaise; 4.30 Nott[mgham], tea; 5 prayed; 6 letter; 7 Dan. ix. 24, the bands; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 7

 

4 Prayed, Matt xx. 15, letters; 11 on business; 12.30 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3 on business, conversed, prayer; 4.30 prayed, tea, con­versed, prayer; 6.30 Matt. xx. 16, the leaders; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 8

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. xi. 28, letters, accounts; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, writ Journal, on business; 12 chaise; 1 at brother Hall’s, conversed, dinner, prayer; 2.30 chaise; 3 Nott[ingham], on business, prayed; 4 Infirm[ary]! 5.30 tea, conversed, prayer, conversed; 7 I Pet. i. 18! conversed to many, supper, prayer, [cipher] *; 10.

 

­The case of the other was quite peculiar.[11] Both her breasts have been cut off, and many pins taken out of them, as well as out of her flesh in various parts. ‘Twelve,’ the apothecary said, ‘were taken out of her yesterday, and five more to-day.’ And the physicians potently believe she swallowed them all; though nobody can tell when or how! Which is the greater credulity? To believe this is purely natural? Or to ascribe it to preter­natural agency? 

 

In the evening many felt

 

                   The o’erwhelming power of saving grace:

 

and many more on Sunday the 9th, when we had the largest number of communicants that ever were seen at this chapel, or perhaps at any church in Nottingham. I took a solemn leave of this affectionate congregation at five in the morning, Monday the 10^th, not expecting to meet another such (unless at Birmingham) till I came to London.

 

About nine I preached at Mount Sorrel; and, though it was the fair-day, I saw not one drunken person in the congregation. It rained most of the way to Leicester, and some were afraid there would be no congregation. Vain fear! The house was extremely crowded with deeply attentive hearers, while I applied our Lord’s words to the centurion, in effect spoken to us also, ‘As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.’ In the afternoon we went on to Hinckley. It rained all the evening; yet we had more hearers than the house could contain, and hardly a trifler among them. A more serious, well-behaved people I have seldom seen.

 

This evening (I believe before I had done preaching) a remarkable instance of divine justice appeared.

 

Sunday 9

 

4 Prayed, letters, Mag.; 8.30 tea, conversed, prayer; 9.30 prayers, Lu viii. 18, communion; 1.30 dinner, conversed; 2.30 Mag.; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed; 5.30 Lu. viii. 18 I society; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 10

 

4 Prayed, I Thes. v. 23, tea; 6 chaise; 9 M[ount] Sorrel, Ro. i. 16, chaise; 11.30 Leic[este]r, dinner; 1 Matt. viii. 13! chaise; 4.30 Hinckl[ey], tea, prayed; 6.30 Matt. vii. 24; 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

A man in the street was grievously cursing another, and praying God ‘to blast his eyes.’ At that instant he was struck blind; so (I suppose) he continues ever since.[12]

 

Tues. 11. - The poor little flock at Coventry[13] have at length procured a neat, convenient room [14]; only it is far too small. As many of the people as could get in were all attention. How is the scene changed here also! I know not but now the Cor­poration, if it had been proposed, would have given the Use of the town-hall to me rather than to the dancing-master[15]! In the evening I went on to Birmingham, and found the usual spirit in the congregation. They are much alive to God, and consequently increasing in number as well as in grace.

 

Wed. 12.-At noon I preached in the new chapel at Deritend.[16] To build one here was an act of mercy indeed, as the church would not contain a fifth, perhaps not a tenth, of the inhabitants. At six I preached in our chapel[17] at Birming­ham, and immediately after took coach to London.

 

Tuesday 11

 

4 Prayed; 5 Jud. i. 27, Mag., tea; 9 chaise; 11 Coventry, on business; 12 Matt. xxii. 4! dinner; 2 chaise; 4 Birm[ingham], tea, conversed; 5 on business, prayed; 6.30 Jo. iv. 24, the bands, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30,

 

2 Cor. iv. 7.

 

Wednesday 12

 

4 Prayed, 2 Cor. iv. 7! letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters; 11 read narrative; 12 Der[ite]n[d], 2 Cor. iv. 18; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer, at sister Philips’s, prayed, tea; 6 I Cor. xiii. 8, etc., post coach.

 

Thur. 13.-We reached the town at two, and settled all our business on this and the two following days.

 

Sun. 16.-My heart was greatly enlarged in exhorting a very numerous congregation to ‘worship God in spirit and in truth.’ And we had such a number of communicants as we have not had before since the covenant-night. I suppose fifty, perhaps a hundred of them, never communicated before. In

 

the afternoon I buried the remains of Thomas Parkinson (who died suddenly two or three days before), one of our first members, a man of an excellent spirit and unblameable con­versation.

 

Mon. 17.-After preaching at West Street, where many were impressed with a deep sense of the presence of God, I took coach for Bristol. We had a delightful journey; but, having the window at my side open while I slept, I lost my voice, so that I could scarce be heard across a room.

 

Thursday 13

 

4 Read [-], axon, tea; 5 coach; 2 London, dinner, on business, prayer; 5 tea, prayed, on business; 6.30

 

       I  Thess. v. 23, the bands, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 14

 

4 Prayed, 2 Cor. iv. 7! brother Moore, etc.; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 brother Moore, etc.; 12.30 walk; 1 dinner, conversed, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6 letters, prayed; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 15

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative; 6 brother Moor[e], etc.; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters; 11 on business; 12 Journal, garden; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters; 3.30 prayed, walk, tea, conversed; 6 prayers, 2 Thes. ii. 13, communion, Mag., supper, Pen[ry], on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 16

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 8 the preachers, prayed; 9.30 prayers, Jo. iv. 24! communion; 1.30 dinner, conversed, prayer, sleep; 3 the leaders, buried T[homas] Park[inson], tea, prayed; 5 prayers, 1 Sam. xvii. ! society, lovefeast; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 17

 

4 Prayed, Psa. Ixxxiv. 1! select society, writ narrative; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, walk; 10 Chapel; read narrative; 12 select society, within, dinner, conversed, visited some; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, visited; 6.15 prayers, 1 Tim. i. 5! supper; 8.30 mail coach, on business; 10.

 

But before Wednesday morning (by applying garlic as usual) it was instantly restored.

 

Thur. 20.-I preached at the new room on ‘We have this treasure in earthen vessels.’ And the hearts of many, who had been vexed with needless scruples, were mightily refreshed.

 

Fri. 21.[18] I walked over to Kingswood School,[19] now one of the pleasantest spots in England. I found all things just according to my desire, the Rules being well observed, and the whole behaviour of the children showing that they were now managed with the wisdom that cometh from above.

 

Tuesday 18

 

4 Read, conversed; 9.30 Bath, tea, coach; 12 on business; dinner, conversed, writ letters; 5 tea, conversed, hoarse! prayed, letters; 8 supper, conversed, prayer, applied garlic; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 19

 

4.30 Prayed, Conf[erence], conversed; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, writ for Conf[erence], within to many, in talk; 2.15 at Mr. Durbin's, dinner, within, prayer; 3.30 Conf[erence], prayed; 5.30 tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 writ Conf[erence]; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 20

 

4 Prayed, Conf[erence], in the [-], Con.; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Conf[erence]; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, on business; 6.30 2 Cor. iv. 7! the bands, within to some; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 21

 

4 Prayed, read letters; 6 in the [-] ; 7 read letters, writ Conf[erence]; 10 writ letters; 2.30 dinner, walk; 5 at the school, within, tea, walk, prayed; 7 letters, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 22

 

Prayed, letters, the children, letters, walk; 8 at brother Rhodes’s, tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters; 12 Dr. C[oke], etc., within; 1.30 Cottom [Cotham] together; 2 dinner, within, walk; 4.30 letters; 5 tea, conversed; 6 letters; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Jer. xlviii. 10.

 

­Sun. 23.-I preached in the morning on those words in the Second Lesson, ‘Lazarus, come forth[20]; and I believe many that were buried in sin heard the voice of the Son of God. In the evening I preached abroad on Matt. v. 20. In the middle of the sermon it began to rain, but not many went away. This put me in mind of that remarkable circumstance respecting the late pope. On that solemn day when the Pope rides on horse­back to St. Peter’s a violent storm scattered his whole retinue.[21] When it abated His Holiness was missing; but they soon found him sitting quietly in the church. Being asked how he could ride through such a storm, he very calmly replied, ‘I am ready to go, not only through water, but through fire also, for my Lord’s sake.’ Strange that such a man should be suffered to sit two years[22] in the papal chair!

 

Tues. 25.-0ur Conference began.[23] About eighty preachers attended.

 

Sunday 23

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, on business; 9.30 Charles read prayers, Jo. xi. 43! communion; 1 at brother Ewer’s, dinner, within, prayer; 2.45 sleep, prayed; 4 at sister Stafford’s, tea, conversed, prayed; 5 Matt. v. 20! society, read letters; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 24

 

4 Prayed, Mr. Pawson, etc.; 6 writ letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 writ letters; 11 within to many, letters; 1 at brother Cross’s, dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters, within to many; 4 letter, prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 1 Cor. x. 32! within to many; 8 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 25

 

4 Prayed, brother Pawson, etc.; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Conf[erence]; 12 writ narrative; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 Con­f[erence]; 4 brother Pa[wson’s], etc.; 5 tea, conversed; 6 prayed; 6.30 Jer. xlviii. 10! writ narrative, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

We met every day at six and nine in the morning, and at two in the afternoon. On Tuesday and on Wednesday morning the characters of the preachers were considered whether already admitted or not. On Thursday in the afternoon we permitted any of the society to be present, and weighed what was said about separating from the Church. But we all determined to continue therein, without one dissenting voice; and I doubt not but this determination will stand, at least till I am removed into a better world. On Friday and Saturday most of our temporal business was settled.[24]

 

Wednesday 26

 

4 Prayed, brother Paws[on], etc.; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Conf[erence]; 12 writ narrative; 1 dinner; 2 Conf[erence]; 4 brother Pawson, etc.; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6 writ narrative, letters; 8 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 27 

 

4 Prayed, Committee; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Conf[erence]; 12 writ narrative; 

 

       1 dinner; 2 Conf[erence]; 4 Committee; 5 tea, conversed, visited; 6 prayed, Eph. v. 25! the bands;   

 

       8.15 supper, together, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 28

 

Prayed, ordained J. K [Joshua Keighley], W. War [William Warrener], W. Ha [William Hammet]; 6 Conf[erence]; 9 prayer; 10 Conf[erence];12.30 writ narrative; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.30 letters, prayed;  5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6 prayed, letters, supper; 8.30 Eph. iv. II, prayer; 10.

 

Sun. 30.[25] – I preached in the room morning and evening; and in the afternoon at Kingswood, where there is rather an increase than a decrease in the work of God.

 

Mon. 3.-The Conference[26] met again, and concluded on Tuesday morning. Great had been the expectations of many that we should have had warm debates; but, by the mercy of God, we had none at all. Everything was transacted with great calmness, and we parted as we met, in peace and love.

 

Saturday 29

 

4 Prayed, ordained![27] Conf[erence] ; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Conf[er­ence]; 12.30 on business; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 Conf[erence]; 3 letters; 5 tea, within; 6 on business, within; 7.30 prayed, supper, conversed, prayer, on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 30

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, on business; 9.30 prayers, Rom. vi. 23, com­munion, coach; 1.30 at the school; 2 dinner; 2.30 Psa. cxlvi. 4, coach, prayed, tea; 5 Heb. ii. 3! Society; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30

 

Monday 31

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, within, Conf[erence]; 12 writ Conf[erence]; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 Conf[erence]; 4 letter, visited some, tea; 6 prayed, Heb. i. 1, in the [-], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Eph. iv. II, etc.; v. 25; I Cor. x. 32; Heb. xi. 40.

  

---

 

[1] This is an inaccuracy which would doubtless have been corrected if Wesley had lived to prepare copy for the press or to read the proofs. Bramley is ten miles from Sheffield and four miles from Rotherham.

 

[2] Mr. Matthew Waterhouse had built the preaching-room opposite his own house in 1785. It was opened on Dec. 11of that year by Joseph Benson. Mr. Waterhouse and his family went over to hear Wesley at Owston on the 26th of June, and invited him to Bramley to preach in the new chapel. After the service the preacher went to Bramley Grange, where Madame Spencer lived, to lunch, before proceeding to Sheffield. See S. J. Russell’s Methodism in Rother­ham, pp. 33, 34.

 

[3] He wrote from Sheffield to Adam Clarke respecting his next appointment (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[4] In Sheffield Wesley baptized the infant daughter of Joseph Benson. The story of her, brilliant career was written by her brother, the Rev. Samuel Benson, in the W.M. Mag. 1836, p. 165. She was trained by her father as a scholar, and married Mr. Robert Mather, of Sun Street, Bishopsgate. After preach­ing in Sheffield, crowds followed, Wesley to his lodging, the streets were lined, and the windows of the houses thronged with eager hut respectful gazers, Wesley all the while emptying his pockets in scatter­ing gifts among the poor. A vast concourse assembled on the green, at the front of Mr. Holy’s house. Wesley walked into the midst of them, knelt down, and asked God to bless them.

 

The place became a Bochim; the crowd wept and literally wailed at the thought of losing him; he prayed again, and then darted into Mr. Holy’s dwelling, and hid himself. This description might be multiplied indefinitely. Wesley, by his dauntless courage and loyalty to lofty ideals, had conquered the mob; the parish churches were open to him, and the people everywhere received him with enthusiasm. (Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 475.)

 

[5] This was not Wesley’s first visit. When Samuel Wesley, sen., was writing his Dissertations on the Book of Job, he requested permission to consult the library at Wentworth House. The Marquis of Rockingham not only con­sented but invited him and any of his sons to reside in the house as long as he might wish to read and make extracts from the books. In 1733 he took his son John, who was then his curate, to the house as his amanuensis. They remained there nearly a fortnight. During the visit John Wesley preached in Wentworth church. Samuel Birks, then a boy of about eight years, went with his father and a neighbour, John Duke by name, and heard the sermon preached by Samuel Wesley’s curate-son. John Duke, on their return from church, passed an encomium and noticed, as Mr. Birks distinctly recollected, an appro­priate quotation, in the course of the sermon, from the works of Archbishop Usher. The subsequent career of the young curate fastened this recollection on the minds of Duke and Birks. Two additional reasons led to the preserva­tion of this early tradition. John Duke’s grandson, of the same name, was after­wards a local preacher in the Rother­ham circuit. Samuel Birks of Thorpe, who, with his father, also heard the sermon, lived to extreme old age. In his hundredth year he gave the infor­mation to the Rev. George Morley, who wrote it in an album. Tradition says that Wesley, on the occasion of this visit, was accompanied by Mr. Birks of Thorpe, who when they were leaving asked Mr. Hall, the steward, if it would be agreeable for Mr. Wesley to pray with the family before he left. The household were summoned, and again John Wesley’s voice was heard in prayer in the house in which he had spent a fortnight so long before. See W. W. Stamp’s Meth. in Bradford, &c., p. 4, note; Everett’s Meth. in Sheffield, p. 7; W.M. Mag. 1825, p.718, 1837, p. 391 ; Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 475; C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i. p. 350.

 

[6] Incorrectly quoted from Pope’s Elegy To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Pope wrote ‘A heap of dust alone re­mains of thee.’ (W.H.S. vol. v. pp. 115 and 156.)

 

[7] The pictures include some of Van Dyck’s finest works.

 

[8] It was probably Thomas Slater­- ‘Parson Slater,’ so-called-of Shottle, who introduced Methodism into Belper about 1770. Francis Asbury, in the early days of his missionary zeal, preached in his farm kitchen, as did Thomas Olivers and others from 1766, and the same farmhouse has entertained the preachers continuously for a century and a half. The first preaching-house in Belper was a cottage in Chapel Street, followed by a butcher’s shop in Wellington Court. After preaching in the market-place near the Angel Inn on an earlier unrecorded occasion, Wesley, walking arm-in arm with Thomas Slater and taking his child Mary by the hand, headed a procession to the site of the chapel then in course of erection, where he preached. Mary, afterwards Mrs. John Goodwin, lived eighty-five years afterwards to tell the story. The chapel was opened in 1782. Mr. Slater gave the land, which, the chapel being superseded in 1807, is now part of the garden of the chapel-house. Mr. Slater was the means of the conversion of Joseph Taylor, who became one of Wesley’s preachers in 1777, and Presi­dent of the Conference in 1802. See G. A. Fletcher’s Methodism in Belper, p. 26, and Meth. Rec., April 2, 1903.

 

[9] The train of circumstances which led to this invitation is given in the Memoirs of Dr. Taft, pp. 6, 7, note. See also Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. P. 475.

 

[10] Rev. George Allen.

 

[11] The peculiar case was that of Kitty Hudson. See Rev. G. Lester’s letter to Nottingham Guardian, quoted in W.H.S. vol. v. p. 163.

 

[12] For the sequel see below, Feb. 12, 1787.

 

[13] The cause for many years was very low because of the ‘unjustifiable conduct of J. W. (probably James Wheatley), who was there in the beginning of it, and fixed a stigma upon it which is scarcely wiped off until this very day (1817). See Memoir of Thomas Welch, Meth. Mag. 1817, p. 326.

 

[14] An auction room in the Women’s Market. See W.H.S. vol. ix. pp. 121 and 167.

 

[15] See above, vol. vi. p. 245.

 

[16] Anciently a hamlet embodying the since-formed Bradford Street, by which the chapel is known. The demolition of Cherry Street Chapel in 1886 leaves it the oldest Methodist building in the city. The house as it was in 1786 was a small building standing far back from the road, the front being used as a grave­yard. It was enlarged in the time of Joseph Entwisle’s superintendency, he laying the stone. An examination of the old pillar pulpit some years ago showed that it rested upon the arch of a vault. (Sheldon’s Early Meth. in Birmingham. P.35.)

 

[17] i.e. Cherry Street Chapel,

 

[18] He wrote from Bristol to Sally McKim, and on the 22^nd a postscript to his tract of Separation from the Church (Works, vol. xiii. p. 257).

 

[19] The head master was Thomas McGeary, M.A. With him were Richard Dodd, William Winsbeare, and probably Samuel Green. See Hist. of Kingswood School, p. 80.

 

[20] In the New Room at 9.30 a.m. After the sermon the sacrament was ad­ministered to several hundreds. See Atmore’s 

 

Journal.

 

[21] Clement XIV. (Ganganelli), 1769­-74.

 

[22] Is this a press error for five years?

 

[23]       The forty-third annual Conference, and the third under the Deed of Declaration. It is clear that several members of the Legal Hundred were absent. Wesley’s account of this Con­ference, written in this paragraph (Tues­day, July 25), and in one below (Monday. July 31) is important so far as it enables us to realize (1) the hours of session, (2) the order and form of business, and (3) the spirit and temper of the proceedings. It is also important because of studied omissions, which yet are not, strictly speaking, omissions. From the Diary, confirmed by statements elsewhere, we learn that

 

Wesley ordained three preachers, whose initials are given, but not in Conference hours. See Dr.

 

Simon’s article on Wesley’s Ordina­tions,’ W.H.S. vol. ix. p. 145.

 

[24] On July 29 he wrote from Bristol to the Mayor of Liverpool (Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii.

 

 p. 486). The letter was addressed to Mr. Lawrence Frost, of Liverpool, with a request that it might be handed to the mayor. One of Wesley’s preachers had been interrupted while preaching. Wesley wrote thus:

 

SIR,-Some, preachers in connexion with me have thought it their duty to call sinners to repentance even in the open air. If they have violated any law thereby let them suffer the penalty of that law. But, if not, whoever molests them on that account will be called to answer it in his Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench. I have had a suit already in that Court, with a magistrate (Heap), and, if I am forced to it, am ready to commence another.

 

                                                          I am, sir,

 

                                                                                           Your obedient servant,

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  JOHN WESLEY.

 

The letter was effectual.

 

[25] He wrote from Bristol to Mr. Terry, at Hull (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[26] William Warrener was appointed for Antigua at this Conference. See Smith's Hist. of Methodism, vol. iii. p. 102, and Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. P.441.

 

[27]This probably was the ordination of the three deacons (July 28) to the higher order of presbyters or elders. There seems to be no doubt that at or about this time Charles Atmore was ordained. And it is just possible that Edward Bur­beck, who, with Joshua Keighley, was appointed at this Conference to the Inver­ness Circuit, may also have been ‘set apart’ to administer the sacrament in Scotland. For the weird story of the death of Keighley and Burbeck-both excellent men-see Atmore’s Memorial, pp. 227 and 229; also Arm. Mag. 1778, 123, repeated in Meth. Mag. 1818. p. 206.