Editor's Introductory Notes: 1760

[1] This letter shows Wesley's care to give account of his stewardship and to find out worthy recipients for money sent to him. It appeared in the issue for February 22. See letter of October 20, 1759. The Foundery was in Windmill Street, so called after three windmills, erected in Elizabeth's reign on more than a thousand cartloads of bones removed from the charnel of Old St. Paul's when the charnelhouse was destroyed in 1549 by order of the Duke of Somerset. See Cunningham's Handbook of London, p. 557.

[2] Furly was at Kippax, near Ferry Bridge, about twelve miles from Leeds, where Wesley arrived on the day mentioned, 'sufficiently tired; but I forgot it as soon as I began to preach.' Furly probably knew William Dodd through Mrs. Lefevre. See Journal, iv. 371-2; and letters of February 3 and 5, 1756.

[3] This is the first of thirty-seven letters described in the Works as 'To a Member of the Society.' In the last, dated December 10, 1777, Wesley closes with 'My dear Miss M.' That of April 16, 1760, seems to imply that she was living at Eltham; and on May 13, 1762, and October 13, 1764, Wesley refers to her 'band.' Miss Mary Thornton says that before her marriage in 1773 to Charles Greenwood, of Stoke Newington, she lived as friend and companion with Miss March, 'a lady of fortune and piety.' Maxfield declined in December 1761 to meet at Mrs. [Miss] March's house, where Wesley hoped his conduct might be explained. On Monday morning, September 3, 1764, John Valton was taken by a friend to Miss March's meeting for Christian communion. The friends gave their experience, and at the close Maxfield, who had been ordained, administered the sacrament. Thomas Jackson adds a note: 'Miss March was a lady of good education; and, having a small independent fortune, devoted her life and all she had in doing good. She sometimes made excursions to Bristol and other parts of the country, where she met classes, &c.' In August 1774 she is at Bristol during the Conference, and probably stayed with Wesley at Miss Johnson's. Wesley couples their names together in 1783, when he says the pious people of Holland 'dress as plain as Miss March did formerly and Miss Johnson does now.' If these letters were to Miss March, four others, addressed 'To Miss J. C. M.' on January 30, 1762, June 24, 1764, June 3,1774, and May 30,1776, must be added. See Journal, v. 5, vi. 427; Methodist Magazine 1805, P. 37; Wesley's Veterans, vi. 21; and for Miss Johnson, letter of December 15, 1763.

[4] This letter is given in the Works as to Mr. Blackwell. It is not, however, in Wesley's style of writing to his friend. It was probably addressed to someone in authority in the Excise whom he met at Mr. Blackwell's at Lewisham and to whom he wrote on Vine's behalf. Wesley refers to the mob at Northwich in the Journal, iv. 522. See W.H.S. iv. 213.

[5] Lady Elizabeth Hastings, eldest daughter of the Countess of Huntingdon, married in 1752 Lord Rawdon, who succeeded to the Earldom of Moira in 1761. They were friendly to Methodism at Moira, where Wesley preached on May 12, 1760. The trouble in which her 'tender parent' was involved was that caused by her cousin Earl Ferrers, who was executed on May S. 1760. See C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 228, 233-7; Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, i. 401-9 ; Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 364~6; and letter of May 18.

[6] Wesley was married in February 1751. His wife left him in 1758, but returned. His letter of October 23, 1759, shows how utterly uncongenial the marriage proved. He could not call even his study or his bureau his own. Squabbling for almost these ten years is a pitiful comment on his wife's conduct.

[7] The ship should have sailed for Dublin on the 29th, but it was delayed by fog. They embarked next day about nine, and got under sail at noon. See Journal, iv. 373-4.

[8] John Berridge became Vicar of Everton in 1755, and 'fled to Jesus alone for refuge' in 1756. Wesley visited him at his request in November 1758, and on March 1 and August 5, 1759. He pays a high tribute to him in a letter to Lady Huntingdon on March 10, 1759. Berridge published in 1760 A Collection of Divine Songs, in the Preface to which he says: 'All the hymns have been revised, and many of them almost new made. The greatest and best part of them has been selected from the hymns of the Revs. Mr. John and Charles Wesley.' He delayed his answer till November 22, 'that I might not write in a spirit unbecoming the gospel.' He says he discouraged the reading of any books except the Bible and Homilies, because 'I find they who read many books usually neglect the Bible, and soon become eager disputants, and in the end turn out Predestinarians. At least, this has so happened with one. If my sentiments do not altogether harmonize with yours, they differ the least from yours of any other.' See Journal, iv. 291, 300, 344; Methodist Magazine, 1797, P. 305; W.H.S. xi. 169-74.

[9] On February 21, 1760, 'Thurot, one of the most enterprising commanders in the service of France, succeeded in escaping from Dunkirk, and, with three frigates, surprised Carrickfergus. His success, however, ended there. There was no rising whatever in his favour. A large body of volunteers from Belfast marched to attack him; and after holding the town for five days, he was compelled to re-embark, was overtaken by the English fleet, and lost his life in the combat.' (Lecky's Ireland, i. 470-I.) See Journal, iv. 379-83.

[10] Furly evidently wished to leave his curacy under the Rev. Henry Crook, who was both Vicar of Kippax and Perpetual Curate of Hunslet, near Leeds. John Newton told Lord Dartmouth on May 12, 1759, that his scruples and difficulties about Episcopal ordination were so far removed by conversation with Mr. Crook, that he determined to apply. Not long after, he accepted a title from Crook, who wanted a curate. See Overton and Relton's History of the English Church, p.184.

[11] This was an anxious time for the Wesleys; for Greenwood, Murlin, and Mitchell had begun to administer the sacraments at Norwich without consulting them. The Conference was held at Bristol on August 29 and 30. The preachers had been waiting two or three days for Wesley, who was becalmed in his passage from Ireland. It is a relief to read that 'their love and unanimity was such as soon made me forget all my labour.' Charles Wesley tells his wife on March 17: 'I read the Reasons against leaving the Church, enforcing each; then my hymns; and then prayed after God. A spirit of unanimity breathed in all or most of our hearts.' This was at Spitalfields Chapel, where he went 'still under my burden; but there it left me, after I had delivered my own soul.' See Journal, iv. 405-6; C. Wesley's Journal, ii. 229; Jackson's Charles Wesley, ii. 179.

In 'the Sussex affair' Wesley probably refers to the fine of £20 imposed under the Act of Charles II on the preacher who had conducted service in the house of Thomas Osborne at Rolvenden. Osborne was also fined (£20. £43 10s. was paid to the magistrate on March 29, The Quarter Sessions confirmed the convictions; but the Court of King's Bench quashed them both in Trinity term. Rolvenden is in Kent, but only three miles from the Sussex border. See Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 359.

[12] Charles has this note at back of letter: 'Wants to be found fault with, doubts whether to leave the Church. Dreads the Blatant Beast.'

[13] A Collection of William Law's letters had been published with his consent and through the instrumentality of his enthusiastic London friends Thomas Langcake (a clerk in the Bank of England) and George Ward. Wesley's letter to Law is given under the date of January 6, 1756. The A d dress to the Clergy was published the same year. Wesley, however, doubts whether Law had seen it. See Works, x. 480-500; Overton's Law, pp. 365-7; and letter of September 28. Wesley here shows his unfailing regard for the teacher to whom he owed so large a debt at Oxford, and the letter reveals the contrast that had gradually grown up between the two men. Law died on April 9, 1761.

[14] 'Philodemus,' the 'very angry gentleman' of this letter, suggested the establishment of 'a Court of Judicature to detect the cunning cant and hypocrisy of all pretenders to sanctity and devotion.' He painted the Methodists in no friendly colours. See Tyerman's Wesley, ii. 377; and letter of December 1. Spirat tragicum satis, et feliciter audet. [Horace's Epistles, II. i. 166: 'He breathes sufficiently the tragic spirit, and is successfully daring.']

[15] The Sermons of John Downes, Rector of St. Michael's, Wood Street, are answered in the letter of November 17, 1759. The tract by a clergyman in the county of Durham is 'A Friendly and Compassionate Address to all serious and well-disposed Methodists; in which their principal Errors concerning the Doctrine of the New Birth, their Election, and the Security of their Salvation, and their notion of the Community of Christian Men's goods, are largely displayed and represented.' By Alexander Jephson, A.B., Rector of Craike, in the County of Durham See Green's Anti-Methodist Publications, No. 297.

The third tract is 'The Principles and Practices of the Methodists Considered. In some Letters to the Leaders of that Sect. The first addressed to the Reverend Mr. B[erridg]e.' Signed 'Academicus.' This was Dr. John Green, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge 1748-56, Dean of Lincoln 1756, Bishop of Lincoln 1761-79. A further letter to Whitefield was published in 1761. (See Green, Nos. 294, 315.) The quotations referred to are,--a. 'If, as Mr. Wesley represents the matter, it is shed abroad in men's hearts, even like lightning falling from heaven' (Wesley's Sermons, vol. I.). b. 'Mr. W. tells us, A behaviour does not pretend to add the least to what Christ has done; it is spoiled by being added to.' 'Behaviour' is corrected to 'believer' in the second edition of the pamphlet. c.' You must never trust to your polemical skill in any of the carnal weapons which are now in use.'

For A Caveat against the Methodists, which was published anonymously, see letter of February 19, 1761.

[16] This letter was sent to the London Magazine in 1760, where it appears on page 651, and also to the London Chronicle, dated December 26. The Country Minister's Advice was studied by the Holy Club at Oxford and read in Georgia. The account of the Oxford Methodists and of Wesley's books and medical work is of special interest. In 1755 some of the preachers administered the Lord's Supper to those who felt unable to take it at church. At the Leeds Conference the same year all fully agreed that to separate from the Church of England was in no way expedient. In 1758 Wesley published his Reasons against a Separation from the Church of England. Two years later three preachers commenced to administer the sacraments. See Journal, i. 282, Viii. 267; Green's Bibliography, No. 201; Telford's Wesley, pp. 305-6; letters of November 17 and December I, and also that of June 23.

 

 

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