OCT. 2, Mon. - I went to Chatham, and had much comfort with the loving, serious congregation in the evening, as well as at five in the morning.

 

OCT. 1, Sunday

 

7 Prayed, on business; 8 the preachers; 9.30 prayers, i Cor. xii. communion; 1dinner, conversed, prayer, sleep; 3 the leaders; 4 tea, prayed; 5 prayers, Eph. iii. 14, society, conversed, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 2

 

4 On business, tea; 5 coach, History, conversed; 11.15 Chatham, letters 1.15 dinner; 2 letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 1 Chro. iv. 10! supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tues.3.-We then ran down, with a fair, pleasant wind, to Sheerness. The preaching-house here is now finished, but by means never heard of. The building was undertaken a few months since by a little handful of men, without any probable means of finishing it; but God so moved the hearts of the people in the Dock that even those who did not pretend to any religion, carpenters, shipwrights, labourers, ran up, at all their vacant hours, and worked with all their might, without any pay. By this means a large, square house was soon elegantly finished, both within and without; and it is the neatest building, next to the new chapel in London, of any in the south of England.[1] I preached in the evening on ‘Stand in the old paths’ to a lovely congregation; and then showed the society of how great importance it was that their light should shine before men. And indeed it does shine: they are of one heart and of one mind, striving for the hope of the gospel.

 

I preached at Chatham on Thursday evening, and the next day, Friday the 6th, returned to London.

 

Tuesday 3

 

4 Prayed, Matt. xii. 43! sermon, tea, conversed, prayer; 8.30 in the boat, read, prayer; 10.30 Sheerness, sermon; 12.30 walk; 1 at Mr. Great­he[ad’s], dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 sermon; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayed ; 6.30 Jer. vi, 16! society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 4

 

4 Prayed, Mark iv. 26! sermon; 8 tea, conversed, visited some; 10 walk, Queenbo[rough]; 11 Rev, xx. 12! visited, walk; 1 dinner, sermon 4 prayed; 5 lovefeast! Eccl. ix. 10, communion; 8.30 supper, con­versed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 5

 

4 Prayed, Mark ix. 23, tea, conversed, prayer; 7.30 in the boat, read , prayer; 10.30 Chatham, sermon; 12.30 dinner, sermon; 2 visited; 4 sermon, tea, conversed, prayer, prayed; 6.30 Lu. x. 34! communion, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

at Lynn, I thought it best to go while the good weather Con­tinued. I had ordered two places to Tues. 10.-Having promised to preach in their new house at Lynn, I thought it best to go while the good weather continued. I had ordered  two places to be taken in the coach, which would have reached Lynn on Tuesday noon; but my messenger, mending my orders, took them in the diligence, which came in between nine and ten at night. By this means I lost one of three evenings which I proposed to spend there.

 

I spent Wednesday and Thursday with much satisfaction, with a very loving and lively people, increasing in grace as well as in number, and adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour

 

Friday 6

 

4 Prayed, Mark ix. 23, tea; 6.30 coach, Smollet[t], tea, conversed; 11.30 at home; 12 the females, letters; 2 dinner, prayer, letters; 5 tea, within; 5.30 prayed, letters, audit; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 7

 

4 Prayed, sermon, read, [cipher] *; 8 tea, conversed, on business; 10 writ narrative; 11 chaise; 12 garden with Charles; 1 dinner, conversed; 2 writ narrative, prayed; 4 visited, tea, conversed; 6 read prayers,         2 Cor. vi. 16; 7 communion, supper, Pim[ry] on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 8

 

4 Prayed, letters, chaise, the preachers, prayed; 9.30 prayers, I Cor. xii. 31! communion; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, sleep, prayed; 3 the leaders, prayers, 2 Cor. vii. I, society, tea, society; 7 on business, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 9[2]

 

4 Prayed, I Pet. v. 1-4, select society, on business; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, chaise, visited! 10 letters; 11 visited, on business; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, letters; 5 tea, conversed, prayed, letters; 8 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 10

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5 diligence, Ware, tea, diligence;  Cambridge, dinner; 2 diligence: 9 Lynn, supper, prayer; 10.30.

 

Wednesday 11

 

4 Prayed, Lu. x. 34, Life; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Life; 1 dinner, conversed, prayed, Life; 4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 I Cor. xii. 31, society!; 8.30 supper, conversed; 9 prayer; 9,30.

 

2 Cor. vi. 16. 

 

Thursday 12

 

4 Prayed, Mark ix. 25, Life; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Life, read narra­tive; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 in talk, letters; 4.30 prayed, tea, conversed, prayer; 6.30 2 Cor. iv. I8!; 7.30 communion, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

­I had appointed to preach Mrs. Shewell’s[3]  funeral sermon at Barnet,[4] on Friday evening; and, as we had only two light persons in the diligence, and no baggage, I hoped we should have come in time. But they were vain hopes; we did not reach Hoddesdon till after sunset. I then took a post-chaise; for the diligence went the other road. But, as we had a rough by-road across the country, without either moon or stars, we could not reach the chapel till half an hour after seven. About half the congregation were gone away, an officious man having informed them I would not come. With the other half, which pretty well filled the house, we had a solemn opportunity.

 

So I have lived to see the large family at Hadley, two brothers and three sisters, all removed. So does ‘the earth drop its inhabitants, as the tree its leaves.’

 

Friday 13

 

4 Prayed, tea; 5 diligence, read Whiston, Ely, tea, diligence, Royston; 1 dinner, diligence; 5.30 Hoddes[d]on, chaise; 7.30 Barnet, Eccl. ix. 10, Hadley, supper, prayer; 10.

 

Saturday 14

 

4 Prayed, Life; 7 tea, within, prayer; 8 chaise; 9.45 at home, letters; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2 letters, Life, prayed; 5 tea, conversed; 6 prayers, 2 Cor. xiii. 10! communion; 8 supper, Pen[ry], on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 15

 

4-45 Prayed, letters; 8.15 Sp[italfiel]ds; 9.30 prayers, Lu. i. 72! c[ommunion]; 1.30 dinner, conversed; 3.30 the leaders; 4 tea, prayed, 5 Deut. v.6, society; 7 letter; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 16

 

4 Prayed, coffee; 5 chaise; 7 Barnet, tea, conversed; 8 chaise; 9.30 Hatf[ield]; 10 the House; 11 Miss Harv[ey]; 11.30 chaise; 3 Hinx­w[orth), dinner, within, prayed; 6.15 2 Cor. iv, 18! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Mon. 16.-I went to Hinxworth, and preached in the evening to a more numerous congregation than I ever had seen there before. At length Miss Harvey sees some fruit of all the pains she has taken.

 

Tues. 17.-I met her poor children in the morning, twenty of whom she keeps at school in the vi1lage, as she is unwearied in doing good. In the evening I preached in Mr. Hicks's church at Wrestlingworth. I have not seen such a congrega­tion there for many years: neither have I found so much of the power of God. Surely all our labour here will not be in vain.

 

Thur. 19.-I returned to London. In this journey I had a fun sight of Lord Salisbury’s[5] seat at Hatfie1d.[6] The park is delightful. Both the fronts of the house are very handsome, though antique. The hall, the assembly-room, and the gallery are grand and beautifu1. The chapel is extremely pretty; but the furniture[7] in general (excepting the pictures, many of which are originals) is just as I should expect in a gentleman’s house of five hundred a year.

 

Tuesday 17

 

4 Prayed, Life; 6.30 Matt. xxv. I, etc.; 7.30 tea, conversed, Life; 10.30 garden; 11.30 Life; 12.30 dinner, conversed, Life; 3 chaise; 5 Wrestli[ng]w[orth], tea, conversed; 6 prayers, Gal. iii. 22! together, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 18

 

4 Prayed, Life; 7.30 tea, prayer; 9 chaise; 11.30 Hink[s]wo[r]th, Life; 1.30 dinner; 2.30 letters; 4 walk; 4.45 prayed, tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Life, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 19

 

4 Prayed, Life, Matt. xxv. I, etc., 7, tea, conversed, prayer, Life; 1.30 dinner, conversed, Life; 5 tea, prayed, Life; 6.30 Rev. vii. 8! Life, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 20

 

4 Prayed, Life; 7 2 Cor. vi. 2, tea, prayer, Life; 12 walk; 2 dinner, con­versed, prayer; 4 chaise, at home, on business, tea; 6 the Trustees; 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Sun. 22.-I preached at West Street, morning and afternoon, and at Allhallows Church in the evening. It was much crowded; and God gave us so remarkable a blessing as I scarce ever found at that church.

 

Tues. 24.-I met the classes at Deptford, and was vehemently importuned to order the Sunday service in our room at the same time with that of the church. It is easy to see that this would be a formal separation from the Church. We fixed both our morning and evening service, all over England, at such hours as not to interfere with the Church; with this very design-that those of the Church, if they chose it, might attend both the one and the other. But to fix it at the same hour is obliging them to separate either from the Church or us; and this I judge to be not only inexpedient, but totally unlawful for me to do.[8]

 

Saturday 21[9]

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters; 12 garden; 1 dinner, conversed, prayer, visited; 5 tea, conversed; 6 within, letters; 7.45 supper, Pen[ry], on business; 9.30.

 

Rev. vii. 8, etc.; 2 Cor. xiii. 10; Deut. v. 6.

 

Sunday 22

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 Chapel; 9.30 prayers, Eph. iv. 30! communion, dinner, conversed, sleep; 3 the leaders; 3.30 prayers, Eph. ii. 12, society, coach, tea; 6.30 Allhallows; 7 Eph. ii. 8! supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 23[10]

 

4 Prayed, I Pet. v. 1-5, select society, tea, Life; 12 select society; 1.30 dinner, conversed; 2.30 Life; 3 the children, Life, prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, prayed; 6.15 prayers, Dan.. vi. 18! supper; 8 the bands, Life ; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 24

 

4 Prayed, Jam. ii. 22 ; letter, Life; 7 tea, conversed, prayer, walk; 8 at home, letters, Life; 12 chaise, at brother Dornf[ord’s], dinner, Life; 4 class, tea, class; 6.30 Eph. ii. 8; 7.30 letters! at sister Philips’, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wed. 25.[11] -I went to Brentford, but had little comfort there.

 

The society is almost dwindled to nothing. What have we gained by separating from the Church here? Is not this a good lesson for others?

 

Thur. 26.-Mr. Holbrook carried us to Hampton Court,[12] far the finest palace which the King of England has. The build­ings are a little town; and nothing can be pleasanter than the park. But, above all, the three fronts of the house, the staircase, and the furniture and pictures in the apartments, are worthy of a king, and not equalled by any in the king­dom, in some respects; not by Blenheim itself, which exceeds it only in its front, in tapestry, and in shockingly immodest pictures. 

 

In the evening I preached to a large and serious congrega­tion at Wandsworth. I think it was about two in the morning that a dog began howling under our window, in a most un­common manner. We could not stop him by any means. Just then William Barker[13] died.

 

Wednesday 25

 

4 Prayed, Life; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9 Life; 12 walk; 12.30 dinner, prayer, chaise; 2.30 at home; 3 on business; 3.30 chaise; 5 Brent­f[ord], tea, within, prayed; 6 Dan. vi. 20; 7 class, prayed; 8 supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thursday 26

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6    ; 7 tea, within, letters; 10 chaise; 2 at Mr. Hol­b[rook’s]; 2.30 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.45 chaise; 4.45 Wands­w[orth], tea, prayed; 6 Ho. xiv. 4; 7 society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Fri. 27.[14] -I preached once more at Barnet, probably for the last time.

 

Sun. 29.[15]-After preaching at West Street, I went directly to St. Giles’s, where I preached before I went abroad, two or three and fifty years ago.[16] And are they not passed as a watch in the night? My subject was the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth; and truly God confirmed His word. Many seemed to be partakers of that joy, and a solemn awe sat on the whole congregation.

 

Monday the 30th, and the ensuing days, I visited the classes.

 

Friday 27

 

4 Prayed, read; 6 Heb. xii. 13, at Mr. Bark[ers], tea, prayer, chaise; 9 letters; 12 the females; 12.30 letters; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer; 3 chaise; 5 Barnet, tea, within; 6 Ecc. vi. 12! class, at brother Fou.; supper, at brother Pa.; 9 prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 28

 

4 Prayed, chaise; 6.45 at brother Brigs’s, class; 8 tea, class, Life; 11 class, 12 letters; 1 dinner; 2 class; 4 visited, tea, conversed, prayed; 6 read prayers, Phil. ii. 5, etc., communion, society; 8 supper, on business; 9.30.

 

Sunday 29

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 tea, conversed, chaise; 9.30 prayers, Eph. v. 15! St. Giles; 12 Lu. xv. 7! coach, at sister Box’s, dinner, conversed, prayer, the leaders, tea, prayed; 5 Phil. iii. 13, society, lovefeast, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 30

 

4 Prayed. Jam. ii. 22, select society; 7 class, tea, class; 1 dinner, class; 5 tea, class, read prayers, Phil. iv. 4, etc., society, class, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 31

 

4 Prayed, letters; 6 class, tea, class; 1 dinner, class; 4.30 tea, prayer, on business, prayed; 6.30 read the letters, the leaders, supper, within, prayer; 9.30.

  

---

 

[1] Erected on a plot of ground exactly opposite the pier and for many years known locally as the white chapel. On Wesley’s nine visits to Sheerness he stayed with Mr. Edward Smith, a leading rigger, whose house stood next to the Chapel. (Jottings of six-core years of Methodism at Sheerness, by Rev. James Fletcher. See also Meth. Rec. Jan, 25, 1912.)

 

[2] On Oct. 9 he wrote from London to Mr. Merryweather of Yarm (Works, vol. xii. p. 271).

 

[3] Probably widow of Mr. John Shewell, whose funeral sermon he had preached fifteen years before (above, vol. v. p. 437).

 

[4] Dr. Leifchild’s father was a leading Methodist in Barnet at this time. Dr. Leifchild, long after, writing the story of this visit, says: ‘He [Wesley] drove to my father’s house; and, when the door of his carriage was opened, he came out arrayed in his canonicals. Childlike, I ran to lay hold of him, but my father pulled me back; upon which, extending his hand, he said: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

 

(Life, p. 5.)

 

[5] This was James, seventh Earl and first Marquis of Salisbury.

 

[6] Pepys saw ‘the house, the Chappell, with brave pictures, and above all the gardens, such as I never saw in all my life.’

 

[7] Wesley was difficult to please in furniture and pictures. See above, for instance, his criticism on the furniture in Durham Castle, Harewood, and else­where. The furniture he left behind at City Road, if scanty, was choice.

 

[8] See the sequel of this agitation below, pp. 232, 241.

 

[9] On Oct. 21 he wrote from London to Thomas Carlill, who had been appointed to the Derby circuit, advising with refer­ence to certain Deeds (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[10] On the 23rd he wrote from London to Jasper Winscom (new ed. Wesley Letters).

 

[11] He wrote to the Rev. Mr. L- ­to whom he wrote on at least one other occasion. Mr. L-- owed his whole education to Wesley, ‘in effect your ordination, your curacy, your school, and your wife.’ Two letters to Theophilus Lessey which follow do not help the identification. (Works, vol. xiii. p. 135.)

 

[12] See Macaulay’s account of Hampton Court, as improved by William III.

 

Evelyn greatly admired the gardens. ‘Capability’ Brown declined to attempt their improvement. Had not William III declined to carry out the whole of Wren’s design, the front would not have been inferior to Blenheim.

 

[13] The Wandsworth parish registers (printed) give, under ‘Burials,’ William Barker, aged fifty-six, buried Oct. 31.

 

[14] He wrote from London to Jasper Winscom respecting the new chapel built at Winchester. He deals with the finance of the scheme, and forbids the employment of an attorney His advice was disregarded, with what result will appear below, Sept. 30, 1788 See Dyson’s Meth. in the Isle of Wight, p. 149.

 

[15] He wrote from London to John Valton a remarkable disciplinary letter (Works. vol. xii P.490).

 

[16] See above, vol. ii. p 139, text and diary. If this service was in his mind we might conclude that his memory was at fault; but when the still earlier diaries (in the Colman Collection and possibly elsewhere) have been fully deciphered, it will probably be seen that he preached in St. Giles’s Church at a much earlier date. It should always be remembered that there is a still earlier period than that which begins with the Journal in 1735, and that during that period Wesley was not only a college tutor and for many months his father’s curate, but also an itinerating preacher.