JULY 1, Tues.- The Vicar again read prayers at eleven; and I preached on those words in the Second Lesson, ‘Lord, are there few that be saved?’ I spoke as plain as possibly I could; but God only can speak to the heart.

 

The gentleman at whose house I was to lodge coming from Louth to meet me, his headstrong horse crushed his leg against a gate, with such force that both the bones were broke and came through his boot. The horse stood by him till some countryman came, put him into a cart, and brought him home. It is doubt­ful whether he will recover; but death is no terror to him.

 

I preached in Louth at six, in the preaching-house; but perhaps I had better have been in the market-place. At five in the morning the room was filled; and I spoke as doubting whether I should see them any more. At eleven I preached at that lovely spot, Langham Row.[1] Although Mr. Robinson has made the chapel twice as large as it was, yet it would hardly contain the congregation; and most of these are in earnest to save their souls; as well as himself, and his wife, and his sixteen children.

 

JULY 1, Tuesday

 

4 Prayed, Journal, letters; 8 tea, visited some; 11 prayers, Lu. xiii. 23! Dinner; 1 visited; 1.30 chaise; 4.30 Louth, tea, prayed; 6 Jo. v. 8! society, supper; 8 within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 2

 

4 Prayed, I Cor. x. 12, letter; 7 tea, conversed, prayer; 8 chaise; 11 Lan[gha]m Row, Lu. xix. 42! dinner, conversed; 1.30 Journal, texts; 4 prayed, tea, Mag.; 6.30 Hab. ii. 3, society, Mag., supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thur. 3. - I was going to preach at Alford, near the end of the town; but the gentry sent and desired me to preach in the market-place[2]; which I accordingly did, to a large and attentive congregation, on ‘It is appointed unto men once to die.’

 

Thence we went to Raithby; an earthly paradise! How gladly would I rest here a few days: but it is not my place! I am to be a wanderer upon earth. Only let me find rest in a better world![3]

 

At six I preached in the church to such a congregation as I never saw here before; but I do not wonder if all the country should flock in hither, to a palace in the midst of a paradise.

 

Fri: 4. -I set out early from Raithby, and at eight preached in Horncastle. My design was to have preached seriously; for which purpose I chose that text, ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved’; but I was turned, I know not how, quite the other way, and could preach scarce anything but consolation. I believe this was the very thing which the people wanted, although I knew it not.

 

We reached Lincoln about twelve. A very numerous congregation of rich and poor were quickly assembled. I preached below hill, in Mrs. Fisher’s[4] yard; a large and com­modious place.

 

Thursday 3

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 8 tea, conversed, chaise; 10 Alford, Heb. ix. 27, chaise, Raithby, dinner, writ Mag.; 4 walk, tea, prayed; 6 Jo. iv. 24! 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 4

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 6 chaise, Hornca[stle], tea; 8 Jer.viii.20! 9 chaise; 12 Lincoln, Isa. Iv. 6, dinner; 2 chaise; 5.30 Gainsborough; 6 tea, 2 Cor. vi. 2, supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

From the quietness of the people one might have imagined that we were in London or Bristol. Indeed the dread of the Lord was on every side; and surely His power was present to heal.

 

In the evening I preached in our new house at Gains­borough, which was crowded sufficiently. I spoke strong words on ‘Now is the accepted time’; which seemed to sink deep into the hearts of the hearers.       .

 

Sat. 5. -In the evening I preached at Owston, to such a congregation, both for number and seriousness, as I hardly ever saw here before. Afterwards I took a view of what was lately the glory of the town-the great mansion-house built by the late Mr. Pindar’s father,[5] when I was a little child. His grand­son has left it desolate and without inhabitant, has taken away all the pictures and furniture, blocked up the windows, and cut down the fine rows of trees which formed the avenue!

 

So fleets the comedy of life away.[6]

 

Sun. 6.[7]-At eight we had such another congregation as that in the evening; to which I expounded that comfortable scripture, the former part of Rev. xiv.

 

Saturday 5

 

4 Prayed, Heb. iv. 9, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, F [-] G.! [cipher]*, letters; 10.15 chaise; 12.30 Owston, walk; 1.15 dinner, writ narrative; 4 prayed, tea, conversed, writ narrative; 6.30 Jo. vii. 37! walk; 8 supper, conversed, prayer, on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 6

 

4 Prayed, letters, tea; 8 Rev. xiv. I, chaise; 10 Epw[orth], prayers, com­munion; 12 letters; 1 dinner, sleep, letters, prayed; 4 Rom. vi. 23! society, walk; 6 letter; 8 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.15.

 

I came to Epworth before the church service began; and was glad to observe the seriousness with which Mr. Gibson read prayers, and preached a plain useful sermon; but was sorry to see scarce twenty Com­municants, half of whom came on my account. I was informed likewise that scarce fifty persons used to attend the Sunday service. What can be done to remedy this sore evil?

 

I fain would prevent the members here from leaving the church; but I cannot do it. As Mr. G[ibson][8] is not a pious man, but rather an enemy to piety, who frequently preaches against the truth, and those that hold and love it, I cannot with all my influence persuade them either to hear him, or to attend the sacrament administered by him. If I cannot carry this point even while I live, who then can do it when I die? And the case of Epworth is the case of every church where the minister neither loves nor preaches the gospel. The Methodists will not attend his ministrations. What then is to be done?

 

At four I preached in the market-place, on Rom. vi. 23; and vehemently exhorted the listening multitude to choose the better part.

 

Mon. 7. -Having taken leave of this affectionate people, probably for the last time, I went over to Finningley; and preached at eleven, on that verse in the Second Lesson, Luke xix. 42. After dinner we walked over Mr. H[arvey]’s domain[9] the like to which I never saw in so small a compass. It contains a rabbit-warren, deer, swans, pheasants in abund­ance, besides a fish-pond and an elegant garden. Variety indeed! But is there no danger that such a multitude of things should divert the mind from the ‘one thing needful’?

 

Monday 7

 

4 Prayed, Isai. lvii. i. 2! visited some; 7 tea, conversed, prayer; 7.45 chaise; 9.15 Finn[ingle ]y, within; 11 prayers, Lu. xix. 42! within; 1.30 dinner, walk; 3 chaise; 4 Donca[ste]r, tea, in talk; 5.30 prayed; 6 Job. xxii. 21! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

In the evening I preached at Doncaster.[10] I never before saw this house so filled, much less crowded; and it was, in a manner I never knew before, filled with the presence of God, while I earnestly enforced that advice, ‘Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.’ One fruit of this was that the congregation at five in the morning was larger than it ever was before in the evening; and God again made bare His arm, and uttered His voice, yea, and that a mighty voice. Surely those who now heard will be without excuse, if they do not know the day of their visitation!

 

We were much distressed at Rotherham for want of room, the rain driving us into the house. However, we stowed in it as many as we possibly could; and God bore witness to His word.

 

Wed. 9. -After dining with that lovely old man, Mr. Sparrow,[11] I went on to Sheffie1d.[12] The house was much crowded, though one of the largest in England; but all could hear distinctly.

 

Tuesday 8

 

4 Prayed, 1 Pet. i. 3! within to A. N[aylo]r; 8 tea, conversed, prayed; 9.30 chaise; 11.30 Rot[herha]m, letter, Journal; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, 3 Journal, prayed, tea, conversed; 6 Heb. xi. I; 7 society, 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 9

 

4 Prayed, Heb. iii. 3! select society, Mag.; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Mag., tea, chaise; 12 Tin[s]ley, conversed, dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 chaise; 3.30 Sheff[ield], letters; 4.30 tea, conversed, prayed; 6 Mark iv. 3, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

In the morning, Thursday the 10th, at five we had an evening congregation; and the people seemed to devour the word. Here and at Hull are the two largest morning congregations which I have seen in the kingdom.

 

Fri. 11. -We set out early for Derby. About nine, within about a mile of the Peacock, suddenly the axletree of my chaise snapped asunder, and the carriage overturned. The horses stood still till Jenny Smith[13] and I crept out at the fore-windows. The broken glass cut one of my gloves a little, but did us no other damage. I soon procured another chaise, and went on to Derby, where I preached in the evening; and at five in the morning on Saturday the 12th,[14] and then went on to Nottingham.[15]

 

Sun. 13. -I began the service at ten; but I knew not how I should get to the end, being almost exhausted when I had finished my sermon; when Mr. Dodwell[16] came, who, though very weak through the ague, assisted me in administering the Lord’s supper to a very large number of communicants. 

 

Thursday 10

 

4 Prayed, Jo. vi. 6, 28! select society, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, visited; 10.30 letters; 1 dinner, conversed, letters; 5 tea, conversed; 6 I Pet. iv. 7, society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 11

 

3.30 Coffee; 4 chaise; 9 chaise, Peacock, chaise; 12 Derby, read narrative; 1 dinner, within; 2.30 read, prayed, visited, prayed; 5 tea, conversed; 6 I Cor. xiii. I, society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 12

 

4 Prayed, Lu. xx. 34! letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 chaise; 12 Nottingha[m], letters; 1.30 dinner, conversed; 2.30 letters; 4.30 tea, prayed; 6 Jam. ii. 22, read; 8 supper, prayer, on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 13

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 7.30 tea, prayer, Mag.; 10 read prayers, Psa. xiv. 1, communion; 2 dinner; 2.30 Mag.; 4 prayed, tea; 5.30 Psa. xiv. I, society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

After ­preaching in the evening, I made a collection for Kingswood School. To-day I had just as much work as I could do.

 

Mon. 14. - The mail-coach being full, I crossed over to Newark, and had the satisfaction of seeing in the evening, not only a numerous, but likewise a serious and deeply attentive congregation. 

 

Wed. 16.[17] -I consulted with a few friends concerning the state of things[18]; which was better than I expected. The society is increased, and the ordinary hearers in all parts of the town not diminished. Meantime there is reason to hope the work of God goes on, though by slow degrees. On the following days I looked over my books and papers, and set them in order as far as I could.

 

Monday 14

 

4 Prayed, Josh. xxiv. 15, on business; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 chaise; 12 Newark, letters; 1.30 dinner, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Isai. Iv. 6! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 15

 

 12 Coach, sleep, within; 9 Bugden, tea, coach; 2 Stevenage, dinner; 3 coach; 8 London, supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 16

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 within; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 at T[homas] R[ ankin’s], within; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 letters; 4 prayed; 5 tea, within; 7.30 in talk at Mr. Colli[n]son’s! 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 17

 

4 Prayed, on business, writ narrative; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters; 11 corrected Tunes; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 writ letters; 5 tea, conversed; 6 letters; 7 prayed, visited; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 18

 

4 Prayed, on business; 9 walk, at Mr. Ro[-], visited; 12 the females, on business; 2 dinner, conversed; 3 prayer, letters; 4.30 prayed, tea, conversed, prayer; 5.45 visited; 6 prayer, within; 8 supper, E. Ritc[hie]; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Sat. 19. - I spent an hour in Chesterfield Street with my widowed sister and her children. They all seemed inclined to make the right use of the late providential dispensation.[19]

 

Saturday 19

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative, walk; 8 Chest[erfiel]d Str[eet], tea, conversed prayer, walk; 9.30 at home, writ narrative; 10 conversed to E. R[itchie], on business, walk; 1 at brother Collinson’s, dinner within, walk; 4.30 prayed, tea, conversed, on business; 7.45 Supper, conversed, prayer, on business; 9.30.

 

Sun. 20. -Both in the morning and evening I preached at the new chapel, crowded sufficiently, on Heb. v. 12: ‘Ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.’

 

Mon. 21. -I retired to Highbury Place, and spent the residue of the week in answering letters, revising papers, and preparing for the Conference.[20]

 

Sunday 20

 

4 Prayed, read narrative; 8 the preachers, prayed; 9.30 prayers, Heb. v. 12, communion; 1

 

       dinner; 2 sleep, prayed; 3 the leaders; 4 tea, prayed; 5 prayers, Heb. V.12,society, on business; 8 supper, 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 21

 

4 Prayed, Heb. viii. I! select society; 7 E. R[itchie], on business; 8 tea, within, prayer, on business; 9.30 walk; 10 Highb[ury] Place, Mag., letters; 2 dinner, writ narrative; 5.30 tea, conversed; 6 prayed; 7 read narrative; 9.30 supper, together, prayer; 9.45.

 

Sun. 27. -In the morning I preached at West Street; and in the afternoon in Bethnal Green church, on part of the Gospel for the day-our Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem. I believe the word did not fall to the ground. I preached at the new chapel every evening during the Conference,[21] which continued ­nine days, beginning on Tuesday the 29th, and ending on Wednesday, August 6. And we found the time little enough; being obliged to pass over many things very briefly which deserved a fuller consideration.

 

Tuesday 22

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7 tea, conversed, prayer, writ sermon; 12 garden; 1.30 dinner, letters; 5.15 tea, conversed; 8 walk, read Adams on            Electricity, supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 23

 

4 Prayed, letters: 7 tea together, prayer; 8 sermon; 1 garden; 2 dinner, conversed; 3 walk, coach; 4 at home, on business, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, on business, prayed; 7.30 M[olly] S[-], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 24

 

4 Drest, sleep; 5 prayed; 6 letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayed; 9 T. R[ankin]; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 T. R[ankin], Conf[erence]; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6 conversed, prayed, on business; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 25

 

4 Prayed, letters; 9 T. R[ankin], Conf[erence]; 12 the females, read letters; 2.30 dinner, conversed, prayer; 5 on business, tea, conversed, prayer; 6 prayed, corrected Charles' verses; 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 26

 

4 Prayed, letter; 6 at T. R[ankin's], Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed, prayed; 9 Conf[erence]; 1.30 letters; 2 dinner; 3 Conf[erence]; 5 tea, read narrative, prayed, conversed, letters; 8 supper, conversed, prayer, on business; 9.30.

 

 Sunday 27

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative, walk; 8 Chapel, the preachers, prayed; 9.30 prayers, Heb. viii. I; 11.30 communion, coach; 1.15 at Mr. Wilm., dinner, conversed; 3 prayers, Lev. ix. 42; 5 prayed, read narrative; 6.30 society, Confer[ence], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 28

 

4 Prayed, I Sam. vii. 12, T. R[ankin]; 8 tea, conversed; 9 letters; 1 dinner, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayed, letters; 6.30 I Sam. xii. 24, T. R[ankin]; 8 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 29

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, on business; 9 Conf[erence]; 12 on business; 1 dinner; 2 Conf[erence]; 4.45 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Jo. vi. 28! T. R[ankin], supper, in talk; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 30[22]

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed, letters; 9 Con­f[erence]; 12 letters; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters; 5 tea, prayed, within; 6.30 Acts xxvi. I8! 7.30 writ narrative; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 31

 

4 Prayed, Conf[erence]; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, T. R[ankin]; 9 Con­f[erence], T. R[ankin]; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 Conference; 4.30 tea, within, prayed; 6.30 Heb. v. 4, within; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

---

 

[1] This was one of the earliest asylums of Methodism in Eastern Lincolnshire, a secluded hamlet of about a dozen houses. George Robinson was for many years one of the stewards of the Grimsby circuit. Every Sunday great companies from Hogsthorpe, Anderby, Mumby, Cumber­worth, came to Langham Row, to hear the word. The last time Wesley visited the place crowds came to hear him.

 

Many stood around the door; he gave out the hymn, with emphasis, ‘I thirst, Thou wounded Lamb of God.’ The organ annoyed him. After the first verse he said, ‘Let that organ stop, and let the women take their parts.’ ‘They cannot Sing without, sir,’ replied Mr. Robinson. ‘Then,’ he retorted, ‘how did they do before they got one?’ Wesley did not assist the people in singing the hymn, but from the motion of his hand, and the glancing of his eye, it appeared that his whole soul was responding. The sermon was a combination of terror and tender­ness. But for an occasional lifting of his right hand, he might have been a speak­ing statue. His hearers were motionless; many sat gazing with open mouths on the venerable form. He performed the entire service. At its close a crowd flocked around him, invoking blessing upon him. A dissipated youth came to laugh, but never forgot the impressive countenance of the preacher, which haunted him as a personification of virtue. In 1850 he was the leader of a Primitive Methodist class. (Rev. Henry Kendall in the Prim. Meth. Mag. March 1850; W.H.S. vol. vii. p. 131.)

 

[2] A Methodist named Twigg, who lived at South Thoresby, was coming to hear Wesley, and, afraid of being too late, ran at full speed and leaped the toll­gate. He reached the market-place in time. On the outskirts of the crowd missiles were hurled, which enraged the listening people. An old lady snatched a bone out of her stays and assailed the disturbers with vigorous blows. The Rev. Marmaduke Riggall well remembers old Mr. Bryant of Alford, who lived to the age of 100 years, and who was one of the youths that heard Wesley in the market­place. (W.H.S. vol. vii. p. 132.)

 

[3] Mr. Brackenbury, the owner of Raithby Hall, was at this time residing

 

on his estate in Jersey, and was stationed as a preacher in the circuit. See Minutes.

 

[4] She rented a house in Lincoln in order to receive the preachers there, about 1787. See Watmough’s  Meth. in Lincoln. A further account is given in Coppins’ Meth. in Grantham, pp. 217-6; and W.M. Mag. 1825, p. 290, says that Mrs. Fisher was well-to-do, had leisure, and wanted a sphere of usefulness. Sally Parrott, a poor woman of Bracebridge, suggested Lincoln to her.

 

[5] See above, vol. vi. p. 32. The last of the Pindars, having no male descend­ant, pul1ed the house down to save it from being the home of an old aunt, to whom he bore mortal enmity. He left the property to the Hon. Mr. Lygon, afterwards Earl Beauchamp.

 

[6] Altered from Walts’s Casimiri Epig., 100. On ‘St. Ardalio,’ a martyr, and a quondam stage-player (W.H.S., vol. v. P.157).

 

[7] He wrote to Samuel Bradburn (Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 546). He is travelling through Doncaster and Sheffield to London. His itinerary was altered by difficulties of travel. (Blanshard’s Life of Bradburn, P.292.)

 

[8] Joshua Gibson, the curate of Epworth. See above, vol. vi. p. 287. For a more favourable notice of him, see below, July 4. 1790. He was curate of Epworth forty-six years, and died April 5, 1808, aged 68 years (W.H.S. vol. v. p. 204).

 

[9] Of Finningley Park. The lordship of Finningley formerly belonged to the Frobishers, ancestors of the great navigator. Wesley's host was lord of the manor of Wroot, and owner of Ickwell Bury (Beds.) as well as of Finningley Park. 

 

[10] From 1802 to 1868 the Rev. William Naylor was a well-known and greatly respected Methodist preacher. His father, Thomas Naylor, had identified himself with the Methodists of Doncaster from very early times, and was for many years on terms of intimate friendship with Wesley. His eldest son, Thomas, appears to have been converted under Wesley’s preaching, and served Methodism in Doncaster for many years as a layman. He was a local preacher as well as an able financier. (WM. Mag.

 

1828, p. 740.)

 

[11] See above, vol. vi. p. 523.

 

[12] Where he was the guest of Francis Hawke. Everett, in his Meth. in Sheffield, p. 224, gives an interesting account of the conversion and subsequent career of this remarkable man, who in answer to his prayers was spared to see the building of Carver Street chapel in 1804, and the Conference which was held in it July 1805. Two or three weeks later his own funeral sermon was preached in the chapel for the completion of which he had so fervently prayed.

 

[13] His wife’s granddaughter.

 

[14] He wrote from Sheffield to Miss Hannah Ball. See Meth. Rec. Dec. 30, 1897.

 

[15] At Nottingham during this visit Wesley wrote 7 Thoughts on a late Phenomenon (Arm. Mag. 1789, p. 46), which is dated July 13, 1788. (Works, vol. xiii. p.264.)

 

[16] Rector of Welby. See Meth. In Grantham, pp. 291-300; R. Watson’s Life, pp. 120, 405; and above, vol. vi. p.328.

 

[17] He wrote from London to Jasper Winscom (Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. p. 546); also to Mr. Wrigley, Blackburn, warning him against a ‘snake in the grass,’ and against the ‘continual dividing and subdividing of circuits’; also to Henry Moore: ‘I expect to finish my course within a year.’ (New ed. Wesley Letters.)

 

[18] In London  (see Diary). For the character of the London society see Life of Mrs. Mortimer, pp. 114, 116.

 

[19] He refers, of course, to the death of his brother.     It has been remarked as strange that for nearly four months after his brother's death John makes no men­tion of it in this Journal, and that his sister-in-law, who was dependent on him for the £100 a year of her marriage settlement, had her first interview with him when she had been a widow four months less ten days. The letters, how­ever, published above (see pp. 359, 363, 364), and the story of his great preach­ing-tour in the North, sufficiently explain the apparent silence. In a letter to her written from Manchester, April 12, he reveals the tender and yet faithful con­cern he felt for the welfare of his brother’s bereaved family: ‘If I may take upon me to give you a little piece of advice, it is to keep little company. You have handsome occasion of contracting your acquaintance, and retaining only a small select number, such as you can do good to and receive good from.’ Many had been of late years attracted to Charles Wesley’s house by the marvellous musical genius of his sons, and by the concerts which they gave. That John Wesley shared the influence of this attraction is evident from the stately visits he himself paid occasionally to the concerts (see above, vol. vi. p. 303). But this meant not only domestic expense which he, remem­bering the many claims upon his resources, was not in a position to meet, but also, to him, the far more serious question of the influence upon his nephews and his niece of so much fashionable and worldly company. Writing again to his sister in-law from Blackburn on April 21, he remarks,  ‘I am easier now that I know you are joined with honest John Collinson . . . he will spare no pains in doing for you what you wish to be done; so that I shall hardly be wanted among you, as he will supply my lack of service.’ John Collinson was executor of Charles Wesley’s will. Anticipating the dates, we may here add that on Dec. 21, five months after his first interview, Wesley wrote to Mrs. Charles with a distinct reference to her annuity, and to the profits of his Book-Room as her security, as follows: 

 

I supposed that when John Atlay [Book Steward] left me, he left me one or two hundred pounds beforehand; on the Contrary, I am one or two hundred pounds behindhand, and shall not recover myself until after Christmas, Some of the first moneys I receive I shall set apart for you, and in everything that is in my power you may depend on the willing assistance of, Dear Sally, 

 

Your affectionate friend and brother 

 

Thomas Jackson, who had the private papers of the family before him, assures us in his Life of Charles Wesley that the annuity due to his brother’s widow ‘was duly paid by Wesley while he lived, and that he made provision in his will for its payment to her to the end of her life.’ Jackson adds the following: ‘After the death of John Wesley, Mrs. Wesley and her family, thinking the annuity uncer­tain, requested the payment of the principal, and proposed to relinquish all future claims. Instead of purchasing another annuity with this money, or lending it on better security, Mrs. Wesley and her family lived upon it until it was all expended.’ By ‘the principal’ no doubt Jackson meant the estimated capitalized value of the annuity. To this a most inaccurately worded reference is made in the Minutes of Conference, 1795, in the ‘Address to the Methodist Societies.’ In accounting for the funds of the Book-Room, it is stated:

 

It is true that at his death Mr. Wesley owed to the widow and children of his brother Charles £1,600. It is equally true that. . . to secure the widow and children of the said Charles Wesley and free them from all uneasiness, the above £1,600 should be paid into the hands of Mr. John Collinson as acting executor for them; which was done sometime about November 1793, or as soon after as the money could be raised. (Octavo Minutes, vol. i. p. 335.)

 

This same blundering statement is made by Myles in his Chronological History 0f Methodism.

 

The real facts are that Wesley did not owe a farthing of her annuity to his brother’s widow when he died; and that the £1,600 must have been the capita­lized sum which Mrs. Charles Wesley and her children proposed to take after John Wesley’s death, in lieu of all future claims upon her annuity. She died in 1822 at the age of ninety-six years, and was helped to the last by Methodist friends and funds, especially by the trustees of City Road Chapel. William Wilberforce and two of his friends settled an annuity upon her for many years (Life, vol. iii. p. 511).

 

[20] On July 22 he wrote from London to W. H. Kilbairn ‘at the preaching­house in Norwich,’ promising help (new ed. Wesley Letters); on the 23rd from near London to Walter Churchey-a literary letter: ‘My brother has left a translation of the book of Psalms; and verses enough to make up, at least, six volumes in duodecimo’ (Works, vol. xiii. p. 166); also to Alexander Suter, whose life was in danger (new ed. Wesley Letters); on the 25th to Mrs. Charles Wesley, a tender, delicate letter of warning against one of his own confessed weaknesses, ‘an open hand’ (Jackson's Life 0f Charles Wesley, vol. ii. p. 448) ; and to Miss Warren (probably) of Haverfordwest, arranging for a journey into South Wales after Conference; the next day to Adam Clarke (Wesleyan. Times, 1863).  .

 

[21] The forty-fifth conference

 

[22]  On July 30 he wrote to the Dewsbury Trustees, and on Aug. 2 to the Societies (Tyerman’s Life of Wesley, vol. iii. pp. 555, 550); also on Aug. 2 to Miss Taylor (Wesley Banner, vol. i. p. 273).