JULY 3, Fri.[1]-Our little Conference began in Dublin, and ended Tuesday the 7th. On this I observe (1) I never had between forty and fifty such preachers together in Ireland before; all of them, we had reason to hope, alive to God, and earnestly devoted to His service; (2) I never saw such a number of preachers before, so unanimous in all points, particularly as to leaving the Church, which none of them had the least thought of. It is no wonder that there has been this year so large an increase of the society.

 

JULY 1, Wednesday 4

 

4 Prayed; 5 Jo. iii. 25 etc., sermon; 8 tea, conversed; 9 Conf[erence]; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, visited; 3.30 letters, prayed; 5 tea, con­versed, prayer; 6.30 writ narrative; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 2

 

5 Prayed, writ sermon; 8 tea, conversed; 9 sermon, Conf[erence], letters; 1 visited; 2 dinner, in talk; 3.30 writ; 4 Conf[erence], prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 Rom. xi. 24 I select society; 8 supper, within; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 3

 

4 Prayed, read narrative; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 writ narrative; 9 Conf[erence]; 2 dinner, conversed; 3 Conf

 

[erence] ; 5 tea, within, prayed ; 6.30 Matt. xiii. 33! on business, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Sun. 5.[2]-I desired as many as chose it of our society to go to St. Patrick’s, being the first Sunday in the month. The Dean[3] preached a serious, useful sermon, and we had such a company of communicants as, I suppose, had scarce been seen there together for above a hundred years.[4] Our house would not contain them that came in the evening, many of whom being little awakened, I preached on ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ On Monday[5]  and

 

Saturday 4

 

4 Prayed, letter; 6 Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed; 9 Conf[erence]; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.30 letters; 5 tea, within, letters; 7 prayed; 8 supper, conversed, prayer, on business; 9.30 lay down; 12 ill.

 

Sunday 5

 

5 Sleep, on business, prayed; 7 Eph. iii. 14! 8 tea, conversed; 9 letters, prayed; 11 prayers, communion; 2.30 dinner, conversed, prayer, sleep; 4.45 prayed, tea; 5.30 Heb. x. 31! Lovefeast; 8.15 supper

 

conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 6

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 Conf[erence]; 9 tea, letters, Conf[erence], letters; 2 dinner, conversed, Conf[erence]; 5 tea, conversed, letters, prayed; 6.30 1 Pet. iv. 11, 12, within; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday we settled the rest of our business, and on Wednesday morning we parted in the same love that we met.[6]

 

I had much satisfaction in this Conference, in which, con­versing with between forty and fifty travelling preachers, I found such a body of men as I hardly believed could have been found together in Ireland; men of so sound experience, so deep piety, and so strong understanding. I am convinced they are no way inferior to the English Conference, except it be in number.

 

Friday the l0th we observed as a day of fasting and prayer, chiefly for the increase of the work of God. This was concluded with a very solemn watch-night, wherein the hearts of many were greatly comforted.

 

Sun. 12. -At seven I preached in Marlborough Street, where (though it rained all the morning) we had a full congregation of serious people. We met at the new room at half-hour past nine; and truly God was with -us. We had never so many communicants before; but as my day, so was my strength.

 

Tuesday  7

 

4 Prayed, letter, sermon; 6 Conference; 8 tea, conversed, Conf[erence]; 1 writ narrative; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.15 writ narrative; 4 Con­f[erence]; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Gen. i. 27! the bands, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 8

 

4 Prayed, Conf[erence], communion; 8 tea, conversed, prayed; 9 letters;     2 dinner; 3.30 letter, prayed, conversed; 3 Neckar!, prayed, tea;5.30 prayed, 6.30 Matt. v. 48, select society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 10

 

4 Prayed, Matt. vi. 17, sleep, read narrative; 1 prayed; 2 dinner, visited; 4 sleep, on business; 5 tea, conversed; 6 prayed, writ narrative, supper; 8.30 Jer. viii. 22! 10.

 

Saturday 11

 

5 Prayed; 6 letters! 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 read narrative; 12 visited many; 2.15 dinner, conversed, prayer, sleep, prayed; 5 tea, con­versed, prayer; 6.30 Rev. xiv. 1! on business; 8 supper, conversed, Mrs. Tighe, prayer; 9.45.

 

Sunday 12

 

5 Prayed, writ narrative, walk; 7 Marlb[orough] Str[eet], Acts (?), tea, coach, prayed; 11 Acts xxi. 6, communion, dinner, coach; 3.45 Princess Royal, within, tea, within; 8 supper, together; 9.15.

 

About two we left Dublin, and hastened down to the ship, the Princess Royal, of Parkgate, the neatest and most elegant packet I ever saw.[7] But, the wind failing, we did not get out of the bay till about twelve. We had exceeding agreeable company, and I slept as well as if I had been in my own bed.

 

Mon. 13. - The sea being smooth, I shut myself up in my chaise, and read over the life of the famous Mr. George F[itz­gerald],[8]one of the most extraordinary men (if we may call him a man) that has lived for many centuries. I never heard before of so cool, deliberate, relentless a murderer! And yet from the breaking of the rope at his execution, which gave him two hours of vehement prayer, there is room to hope he found mercy at last.

 

Monday 13

 

5 Prayed, read Fitzgerala; 7 tea, Fitzg[erald]; 1 dinner, Fitzg[erald], within; 5 tea, within, prayed; 6 Fitzg[erald]; Heb. vii. 29 [error for ix. 27], supper, within; 9.15.

 

In the evening we sang a hymn upon deck, which soon drew all the company about us. I then, without any delay, began preaching on ‘It is appointed unto men once to die.’ I believe all were a little affected for the present. We were then con­strained to slacken sail, and to lie by for some hours, not having water to pass the bar. However, we landed between four and five in the morning, Tuesday the 14th, and, after resting an hour, I went to Chester.[9] I lodged at T. Brisco’s, a lovely family indeed, just such another as Miss B[ishop]’s at Keynsham. The children, indeed, are not quite so genteel, but full as much awakened, and, I think, the most loving I ever saw. The house was thoroughly filled in the evening (it being the fair­time), as well as the following.

 

Thur. 16. -When I took my leave of the family, they came all in tears. It is long since I saw the like. About noon I preached to a large and much-affected congregation at Northwich. A flame is lately broke out here, such as never was seen here before. In the evening I preached at Manchester.

 

Tuesday 14

 

5 Boat, Parkgate, tea, within, prayer; 6.30 chaise; 9 Chester, tea, letters, within; 12 at Dr. Coke’s, dinner, conversed; 2.30 letters, prayed, conversed; 7 Mark xii. 32! 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 15[10]

 

4.30 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters; 11 the children! letters; 12 walk; 1 dinner, conversed, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Heb. x. 31, society; 8 supper, together; 9 prayer; 9.40.

 

Thursday 16

 

4 Prayed, Gen. xix. I! tea, prayer; 7 chaise: 10.30 Northwich, prayed; 12 Ecc: ix. 10! 1 dinner; 1.30 chaise, Buckly hill, chaise; 5.30 tea, conversed; 6.30 Psa, xxxiii. I, on business, supper; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Sat. 18.-I consulted Dr. Easton, finding my thirst and fever much increased. His medicine immediately took place, and I was so much better in the morning, Sunday the 19th, that I preached, and, with Dr. Coke’s assistance, administered the sacrament to eleven or twelve hundred communicants. I preached again in the evening, but it was too much for me, and brought back my fever.

 

Mon. 20. -I went on to Halifax,[11] where, in the evening, I preached to a noble congregation, and afterwards spent near another hour in exhorting the society.

 

Tues. 21.[12]-I hid myself at Otley and prepared for the Conference.

 

Friday 17[13]

 

6 III, writ letters, Conf[erence]; 12 visited; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 Conf[erence]; prayed; 5 tea,    

 

         conversed; 6.30 I Jo. v. 12! the   bands; 8 supper, conversed, prayer, ill! 9.30.

 

Saturday 18

 

6 III, within to some, Dr. Easton! 12 chaise; 1 writ narrative, ill; 3 writ Conf[erence]; 5.30 prayed, within, read Fo[r]ster, ill, within, on busi­ness; 9.15.

 

Sunday 19

 

5 Prayed, within, writ narrative, tea, chaise; 9 writ narrative; 10 prayers, Jo. vii. 37! communion; 1 dinner, conversed; 2.30 sleep; 3 prayed, tea; 5 Gen. ix. 27, society, letters; 8.15 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.45.

 

Monday 20

 

4 Prayed, tea; 6 coach; 12.30 Halifax; 2 letters, dinner, conversed, on business, prayed, letters; 4.30 tea, conversed; 5 on business, prayed; 6 Isai. xxxviii. 1-5, society, within; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 21

 

4 Prayed, writ Journal, tea, conversed, prayer; 7 chaise, Fo[r]ster; 9 Brad­forth, tea, within, prayer; 10 chaise, Fo[r]ster; 12 Otley, within with E[lizabeth] Ritchie; 12.00 writ narrative; 1.15 dinner, conversed; 2 letters, sleep; 4 prayed ; 5 tea, conversed, writ narrative, Fo[r]ster; 7 conversed; 8 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Fri. 24.-I preached to a lovely congregation, on Eph. iv. 14­

 

Sat. 25. -I preached in Dewsbury[14] in the evening on Rev. xiv. 1-4. It rained all the time. I and several more people were wet to the skin. I lodged in Joseph Taylor’s house[15] at Gomersal, who labours for peace, and would fain reconcile Christ and Belial.

 

In this journey I employed some part of my leisure time in reading Mr. Forster’s Voyage Round the World. In many parts of this one would think he was almost persuaded to be a Christian. But how is it, then, that he says (vol. i. p. 136), We listened to our boat’s crew, who recited a number of dull

 

Wednesday 22

 

5.30 Prayed, writ narrative; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 writ letters, within; 12 visited; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 brother Mather’s, read letters, S. Crosby, Collins, etc., tea, conversed; 5.45 prayer, read letters; 6.45 Fo[r]ster, prayed; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 23

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 letters, Fo[r]ster; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters; 4.30 tea, conversed; 5.30 chaise, con­versed; 6.30 at home, prayed; 7.30 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 24

 

4 Prayed, writ sermon; 10 letters ; 11 J[ohn] Pawson, T[homas] Rankin, etc.; 12 within; 1.30 dinner,  

 

         conversed, prayer; 3 within; 4 prayed; 6 Eph. iv. 14, etc., society, walk, supper, prayer; 9.45.

 

Saturday 25

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, sermon; 12 dinner, conversed, prayer; 1 chaise; 5 Dewsbury, tea; 6 Rev. xiv. I, etc., rain; 7.30 chaise; 8.45 Gomersal; 9.15 supper, conversed, prayer; 10.

 

stories, intermixed with hearty curses, oaths, and indecent ex­pressions, &c. (obscenity), but seldom without real humour’? Now, what need of mentioning these ‘hearty curses and oaths’ with such profound indifference, if it were not to screen himself from the imputation of believing the Bible?[16] 

 

Sun. 26. -I preached at noon in Birstall house, to as lively a congregation as ever was seen there; and at five preached on the education of children.

 

Mon. 27.[17]-Being not well able to preach in the morning, through the heat and dryness of my mouth, in the evening I preached on I Tim. vi. 20.

 

Sunday 26

 

4.45 Prayed, conversed, prayer, chaise; 8 Birstall, tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Psa. xc. 12! 10.30 chaise; 12 Leeds, Com[mittee]; 1 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 2 Com[mittee]; 3 sleep; 4 tea, prayed; 5 Prov. xxii. 6! society, Com[mittee], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 27

 

4 Prayed, Com[mittee]; 8 tea, letters; 1 dinner; 2 letters, sleep; 4.30 tea, conversed, prayed; 6 I Tim. vi. 20; 7 Jo[hn] Pa[wson], W[illiam] Co[llins], Jo[hn] Pe[acock]! 8.30.

 

Tuesday 28

 

4 Prayed, Com[mittee]; 6 Conf[erence], tea, Conf[erence]; 1 dinner; 2 Conf[erence]; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6 Gal. v. 5! Com[mittee], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 29

 

4 Prayed, Com[mittee]; 6 Conf[erence], tea, Conf[erence]; 1 dinner, conversed, Conf[erence], Com[mittee], tea, conversed, prayed; 6 Matt. xviii. 7! Com[mittee], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 30[18]

 

4 Prayed, Com[mittee], Conf[erence]; 8 tea, Conf[erence]; 1 dinner; 2 Conf[erence], Com[mittee]; 4.30 tea, prayed; 6 I Cor. ix. 25, letters supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tues. 28. - The Conference began. About a hundred preachers were present, and never was our Master more emi­nently present with us. The case of separation from the Church was largely considered, and we were all unanimous against it.

 

Friday 31

 

4 Sleep; 5 prayed, letters; 6 Conf[erence], letters, Conf[erence]; 12 letters; 2 dinner; 3 letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6 Mark xii. 32!  letters; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

---

 

[1] The twentieth Irish Conference.

 

[2] He wrote from Dublin to Mrs. and Miss Ingram (Works, vol. xiii. pp. 117 and 118).

 

[3] The Very Rev. William Cradock, son of Rev. Thomas Cradock, prebendary of Wolverhampton, and nephew of John Cradock, Archbishop of Dublin. He died in Edinburgh, Sept. 1793, and is buried in Greyfriars churchyard (W.H.S. vol. v. p. 75).

 

[4] Wesley was placed near the Dean, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Boon beside Wesley and all the other preachers in most con­spicuous scats. Hymns were sung to tunes in which the whole congregation joined, so that it was very clear that the Observer’s pains to prejudice the clergy against Mr. Wesley were quite useless. (Unpublished Journal of Mr. Stewart.)

 

[5]On July 6 he wrote from Dublin to Arthur Keene. He refuses to dispute with James Deaves, ‘for he has ten words to my one’ (new ed. Wesley Letters). 

 

[6] On July 9 he wrote from Dublin to the Rev. Peard Dickinson, City Road.

 

[7] In his History of Methodism, the Rev. C. H. Crookshank (vol. i. pp. 462, &c.) gives other details of this memorable occasion-Wesley’s farewell to Ireland. The Conference just closed had been a milestone in the very remarkable history of Methodism in Ireland. Ten candidates for the ministry were admitted on trial. The increase in membership during the year amounted to one thousand eight hundred. The ‘Pastoral Address’-the first ever written-was signed by Wesley and subsequently adopted verbatim by the British Conference. The majority of the English brethren had retired from the country. The Conference consisted chiefly of Irishmen of whom Wesley entertained the highest opinion. At the close of his farewell sermon on Sunday, July 12, he gave out the hymn ‘Come, let us join our friends above,’ telling the people it was the sweetest hymn his brother ever wrote. (So Dean Stanley thought.) After administering the Lord’s Supper he dined in the house of Mr. R. D‘Olier. He commended the family to God in prayer ‘and proceeded to the packet, accompanied by several members of the household and other friends who were joined by a multitude at the quay. The scene here was most touching as Wesley bade adieu to Ireland forever. Before going on board he gave out a hymn, and the crowd joined him in singing. He then knelt down, and asked God to bless them and their families, and especially Ireland. Shaking of hands followed, many wept, and not a few fell on his neck and kissed him. He went on deck, the vessel moved, and then, with his hands still lifted in prayer, the winds of heaven wafted him from an island which he dearly, loved, and the Irish Methodists saw his face no more. Some of the London leaders regretted that Wesley and his brother should spend so much time in Ireland, and send so many preachers there. History, however, has fully justified Wesley’s reply, ‘Have patience, and Ireland will repay you.’

 

[8] The elder son of Lady Mary Fitz­gerald, an account of whom is given above, p. 497.                         

 

[9] On July 14 he wrote from Chester to Henry Moore. He summarizes the dis­pute in Ireland thus: ‘Not anything which Dr. Coke has said or done, but the vile, wilful misrepresentation of it, had set all Ireland in a flame.’ He expects to see himself, Rankin, and Whitfield at Conference, or at Otley a day or two before it. ‘We shall have some points of deep importance to consider’ (New ed. Wesley Letters.)

 

[10] On July 15 he wrote from Chester to Freeborn Garrettson (Works, vol. xiii. p: 73). On the same day (in the Works the date, doubtless in error, is July 5, when he was in Dublin) he wrote from Chester to Henry Eames (Works, vol. xii. P.456).

 

[11] This was the last visit recorded in the Journal. See Meth. in Halifax, p. 178.

 

[12] He wrote from Otley to Samuel Bardsley; and at the same time to Richard Bunt (Works, vol. xii. pp. 505, 524).

 

[13] He wrote from Manchester to Henry Moore respecting the meeting of the ‘cabinet,’ as Wesley elsewhere calls it, at Otley, preparatory to the Conference (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[14] From the steps in Ward’s Fold. The place then used by the preachers was called sarcastically ‘Squeezem,’ because so many more attended than could conveniently find room. It rained so hard that Mr. Wrigley held an umbrella over Wesley. (The shambles of the Roundabout House was temporarily used at that time by the Methodists.) When Wesley had finished his sermon he announced that Dr. Coke would preach in the market-place next day at 2 p.m. and Dr. Hamilton at 4 o’clock. Dr. Hamilton made strong remarks on the narrow spirit of those who prevented such a man as Mr. Wesley preaching in their places of worship. See J. Riley Robinson’s Early Meth. in Dewsbury, p.68.

 

[15] Joseph Taylor’s son, of the Red House, was the original of Mr. Yorke in Shirley. Charlotte Brontë calls the house Briarmains.

 

[16] George Forster’s Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop ‘Resolution,’ commanded by Captain James Cook, during the years 1772-5. London 1777, 2 vols. It was chiefly devoted to scientific and philosophical subjects.

 

 [17]  He wrote from Leeds to Miss Bolton, in Witney (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[18] He wrote from Leeds to Mr. – dealing in his usual peremptory manner with the affairs in Worcester (new ed. Wesley letters)