Editor's Introductory Notes: 1769

[1] Benson was at this time classical master at Kingswood. In the manuscript Life his son speaks of the difficulties that arose. Benson's strength was not equal to the burdens, and Wesley seems to have complained that 'the school had not been kept in exact order, and that sufficient attention had not been paid to the boys' spiritual improvement.' A story got abroad to Benson's disadvantage, and Wesley wrote to the school for information. Benson thought of resigning his position. Thomas Simpson was Head Master from 1770 to 1783; John Parkinson was a master.

[2] Hopper was at Birstall, with Lee and Bumstead as colleagues; Cownley was the Assistant at Newcastle. Bumstead afterwards entered into business in London and died in 1797. See Atmore's Memorial, pp. 69-70.

New York needed preachers, and in 1768 Thomas Taylor, one of the officers of the Society there, appealed to Wesley for help; and there was much discussion as to who should go. see Stevens's American Methodism, p. 43; Wesley's Veterans, iv. 43; and letter of February 6.

[3] Robert Costerdine was now Assistant in Sheffield. The letter was from Thomas Taylor. Wesley mentioned the need of New York at the Conference in Leeds on August 3, when it was resolved to send 50 and two preachers to help on the work there. See Journal, v. 330-1; and letter of January 5.

[4] Edward Bolton and his sister resided at Blandford Park, near Witney. It became one of Wesley's favourite homes. Bolton was a local preacher, and often travelled with Wesley. He died in 1818, at the age of seventy-one. See Journal, v. 44n; letter of February 13, 1768.

[5] The nineteen letters originally printed as 'To a Young Disciple ' are to Miss Philothea Briggs, daughter of William Briggs, Wesley's Book Steward at the Foundery, who was in the Customs House and afterwards in the Ordnance Office at the Tower. She was granddaughter of Vincent Perronet, the Vicar of Shoreham; and became the wife of the first Missionary Treasurer, William Thompson, the Hull banker and Member of Parliament. She tells Wesley: 'When I was about ten years old, the Lord began to work on my soul. I was justified, when I was between twelve and thirteen, in 1766.' She was now a girl of fifteen or sixteen. The correspondence shows how much Wesley was concerned in the spiritual life of the youngest member of the Perronet circle. See Arminian Magazine, 1784, p. 445; and letter of March 30, 1771, to her.

[6] Valton had gone to Painswick on October 10, 1768, and returned on November 7, 'after some hard contests for my Master, as well in the troy as on the coach.' He remained at Purfleet till 1775, when he became one of Wesley's preachers. See Wesley's Veterans, vi. 56-7; letters of January 31, 1764, and March 23, 1769: and for Valton's letters to Wesley about this time, Arminian Magazine, 1783, pp. 159-61; 1784, pp. 111-12.

[7] Lady Maxwell had suffered much 'on account of the death of a sincere friend. A sword has pierced through my soul in this dispensation; and yet I have felt such an acquiescence in the will of God as I cannot easily express. I have great cause to adore His condescension for the solace I enjoy, from a conviction that my departed friend is happy--unutterably happy.' See Life, p. 43.

[8] Wesley inserted this letter in the Arminian Magazine for 1784, pp. 165-7, and put 'To Mr. S. at Armagh.' It has been thought this means Hugh Saunderson, who was just entering on his work as a preacher. More probably it was sent to his colleague, Richard Steel, who was then at Armagh. The strictures are perhaps not personal, but intended to show what Wesley had felt most important for a preacher in Ireland to observe. See W.H.S. xiii. 42-4; and letter of June 13, 1770.

[9] The Life and Letters of Pelham Dale says: 'Apparently Molly's marriage was the trial Peggy had to endure. The sisters had given up the world and devoted themselves to good works, and Molly fell away--into matrimony. Peggy, who had been firmer, felt her sister's defection, with perhaps an undercurrent of regret that she had always been so firm, since she was now left alone.' 'Molly ' is evidently an error for 'Anne.' Molly did not marry (see heading to letter of June 1, 1765). Peggy married Edward Avison in 1773. The Life and Letters, p. 10, is also mistaken in saying Anne died in 1766. She married John Collinson on April 23, 1769, and removed to London. The Newcastle Courant of April 29 describes her as Miss Dale, of Northumberland Street, 'a most agreeable young lady, endowed with every qualification to render the marriage state happy, with a fortune of 2,000.' Miss Ritchie, who visited London in 1788, says on August 17 that the previous week she spent a little time with Mrs. Collinson, 'one of the early seals to the Wesleyan ministry at Newcastle, and an intimate friend of Mr. Wesley.' 'My soul has fed on heavenly manna while we have conversed and read and prayed together. Her sweet simplicity of spirit did me good. We strove to help each other to draw nearer to our centre; and, forgetting things behind, to take a stronger hold on Israel's Strength.' See Bulmer's Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Mortimer, pp. 115-16.

[10] Wesley had been at Limerick on May 13-17. Mrs. Bennis wrote on the 25th: 'I have found my soul much quickened by your late visit; but am not satisfied till I feel restored all that I have lost. . . . I feared, when you left this for Cork, I should again lose all my earnestness and sink down where I was before.' Her letter begins: 'Dear Sir, Since the Lord first called me by His grace to partake of His mercy, He has given me to esteem and love you as a dear parent; but my own littleness and your great worth created such an awe in me as caused me to keep a painful distance, notwithstanding your kind and loving solicitations to the contrary (I hope this will not appear as flattery; it is indeed the truth of my heart); but have now resolved by divine assistance this shall not be the case in future.'

[11] John Dillon was Assistant at Cork. He fought at Dettingen and Fontenoy, became a preacher in 1765, and died in 1770. See Journal, iv. 505n; Atmore's Memorial, pp. 105-8.

[12] Wride had been in Devonshire, and the friendly appeal which called forth Wesley's reply may have come from John Furz, the Assistant. For the name Langdon at Exeter, see Journal, iv. 326, and heading to letter of February 14, 1771. The Conference met et Leeds, and Wride was appointed to Haworth.

[13] This letter is to be read in connexion with that of September 3, 1768, to James Morgan. The lady's name does not appear. On April 23 and the two following days Wesley heard the preachers face to face, and endeavoured to remove their little misunderstandings. See Journal, v. 307.

[14] This letter is to be read in connexion with that of September 3, 1768, to James Morgan. The lady's name does not appear. On April 23 and the two following days Wesley heard the preachers face to face, and endeavoured to remove their little misunderstandings. See Journal, v. 307.

[15] On July 13 Mrs. Bennis writes: 'I have been grievously exercised since I put my papers into your hands; when you asked for them I found a satisfaction in gratifying you, but have since been much tempted both to pride and shame.' She desires him to return them by the new preacher, and says, 'Mr. Bourke's visit here has proved a blessing to my soul and to his also.

[16] Miss Bolton had written on July 26 an account of her sister's wonderful recovery from the verge of death and her earnest appeals to all around her for decision. On October 17 Wesley was at Witney, 'where we have now a large and commodious house.' See Arminian Magazine. 1784, p. 167.

[17] This letter (written out by a helper) was sent by Wesley to his brother Charles from Galway on May 12, with this note in his own hand: 'Dear Brother, Send me your thoughts on the foregoing articles, with as many amendments and additions as you please. Adieu.' The letter shows how Wesley's mind was already exercised as to the continuance of Methodism after his death, though his thoughts did not take practical shape till 1784, when the Deed of Declaration was executed.

[18] Robert Wilkinson, converted in 1767, was admitted on trial as a preacher at the Leeds Conference, which began on August 1, and was appointed second preacher in the Augher Circuit. He died of fever at Grimsby in 1780, after a devoted and fruitful ministry, leaving a wife and two children. See Atmore's Memorial, pp. 502-6.

[19] Wesley's letter to her on November 12, 1768, is addressed 'To Mrs. Woodhouse, at Mr. Hutton's, in Epworth.' It is evident that trouble had drawn her and Mrs. Hutton more closely together. John Ellis took the place of Shaw as second preacher in the Lincoln West Circuit. Rankin speaks of him and another colleague as 'worthy, steady, and useful men.' See Wesley's Veterans, vi. 161; and for Shaw, letter of April 13, 1768.

[20] Wesley spent an agreeable hour on March 25, 1782, with the Misses Yeoman at their boarding-school at Sheriffhales, near Shifnal in Shropshire, and says, 'I believe they are well qualified for their office. Several of the children are under strong drawings.' See Journal, vi. 345; and letter of February 5, 1772.

[21] Combe Grove is about two miles from Southstoke, of which parish Edward Spencer was Vicar from 1769 to 1771. For Wesley's opinion of him, see letter of June 20, 1770.

[22] In September Wesley writes in his Journal, v. 341: 'Sat. 23.-- I rode to Pill and preached in the street (the only way to do much good there) to a more numerous and more attentive congregation than I have seen there for many years.'

[23] Wesley's inquiry in this fragment of a letter concerning his brother-in-law and old pupil is of special interest. John Whitelamb, born near Wroot, transcribed Samuel Wesley's Dissertations on the Book of Job for the printer. He was sent to Oxford chiefly at the cost of the Rector's family, where John Wesley described his new pupil at Lincoln College as 'a valuable person, of uncommon brightness, learning, piety, and industry; and as possessing a very happy memory, especially for languages, and a judgement and intelligence not inferior.' He became Samuel Wesley's curate, and married Mary Wesley in January 1734. Samuel Wesley resigned the rectory of Wroot in his favour. Mary Whitelamb and her first child were buried together on November 1, 1734. She was deformed through an injury in infancy. Whitelamb heard Wesley preach on his father's tombstone. He was buried on July, 29, 1769. A stone records his age, &c., with the words, 'Worthy of imitation.' Wesley printed a letter from him after Whitelamb heard him preach at Epworth, and another to Charles Wesley, in the Arminian Magazine for 1778, pp. 183-6, with a note, 'At that time, and for some years later, he did not believe the Christian revelation.' See letter of June 11, 1731, to his father.

[24] Wesley preached at Henley on October 16. Miss Ball tells Miss Ray, of Cookham: 'Last Monday evening and Tuesday morning I had the happiness to hear the Rev. Mr. Wesley preach at Henley: it was a delightful season to my soul; and would no doubt have proved a blessing both to you and Miss North, had you condescended openly and with sincerity of heart to meet the dear despised children of God, who, though poor in this world, are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of glory.' See Journal, v. 345; Memoir, p. 37.

[25] Miss Bishop had a school in Bath. Her health failed for a time in 1774; but about 1781 she set up school at Keynsham, where Wesley visited her. The whole place was transformed by the spirit and behaviour of the children in her school and in Mr. Simpson's. See Journal, vi. 336, 451d; vii. 331-2.

This letter is the beginning of a very intimate correspondence. The letters were annotated and additions made to them by the Rev. Henry J. Foster from the collection of thirty-eight letters in the possession of Mrs. Alfred Hall, now in the Wesley Museum at City Road, London. Extensive additions and revisions have since been made from the autographs.

[26] Professor Liden was a Swede visiting England. He had attended the services on October 15 at Spitalfields and the Foundery, and asked Wesley various questions, here answered. The letter was found transcribed in Liden's Journal (in 1843), sent to him by 'aelkswarde Mr. Wesley,' in reply to questions addressed to him with regard to his system and mode of administration. The Journal had been deposited in the Library at Upsala, with instructions that it should not be opened till after his death. Liden was Professor of History in Lund. See Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1889, pp. 118-20.

[27] In Dale's Life and Letters this letter is prefaced by the statement: 'The last letter in the packet shows us Peggy returned to her work and prayer-meetings, and reproaching herself that she does not speak or pray with sufficient boldness. There is no more question of doubt or reason, only a desire for service; and Wesley encourages her to persevere. He has had always a high opinion of Peggy's influence with others.' The Life adds: 'The rest of Peggy's history is a blank. If she outlived her twenty-third year, it was by very little.' The writer was not aware that she married Edward Avison in 1773 and died in 1777. See heading to letter of June 1, 1765; and for Wesley's approval of her marriage, letter of March 21, 1773.

[28] Benson replied in as candid a spirit--a notably frank letter. He had expressed his opinion that he ought to go to Trevecca. As to being 'ruffled, &c.,' he says: 'The story was not invented of me particularly. On the contrary, I have reason to think I was very little concerned in it. For though Mr. Borks' letter did not mention any one's name, yet by the letters the Trimbottoms wrote, and what I heard from Mr. Whitehead and others concerning the reports in Bristol, I have reason to think I was not the person accused--at least, so they told me when I asked them. And so you intimated in your letter to Mr. Lewis, desiring him to inquire of me particularly which letter he bluntly read before Mr. Hind, who thence inferred you thought him a person of no veracity. I leave, therefore, you to judge what temptation I had to be " ruffled." . .

'I knew you were not well reconciled to me when you left Bristol; and, farther, it occurred to my mind in what manner you had parted with most of the masters, who I find have generally gone away with offence. And, in particular, how disrespectfully you spoke of Mr. Wh-- in the public Society, which I can assure you grieved me much, as I know it did many beside me, who heartily love you and the cause wherein you are engaged. I had also just heard what method you took to tell Mr. Henderson your mind, &c....

'You think " honour and power have done me no good." I should think you mentioned honour by way of irony, and as for power I am puzzled to find where I have had any, unless you mean over a few children.'

He ventures to tell Wesley: 'But so it is, and so it always has been: you have had the misfortune to mistake your friends and enemies. Whoever has made it a point (in order to gain your favour) to contradict you in nothing, but professed implicitly to follow your direction and abide by your decision, especially if they added thereto the warmest expressions of regard for you and told you a tale of their being saved from sin and perfected in love, they never failed to gain your favour in an high degree, and, what is worse, have often used it to a bad purpose, by filling your ear with insinuations against others. And such have generally gained credit with you.... On the other hand, whoever, from a conviction that all men are fallible and that implicit obedience is due to God alone, could not in conscience acquiesce in your bare ipse dixit, but have believed it their duty to call in question some things you have advanced, and perhaps made bold to take notice to yourself of what appeared to them amiss;--if, added to this, their modesty would not permit them to tell you how sincerely they loved you or how much they were devoted to God,-- such persons have in general stood low in your esteem, and had the misfortune and discouragement to find you set light by their services and put a misconstruction on their whole conduct; and yet they were all the while your most faithful and affectionate friends, who would tell to your face what they would not even intimate behind your back, and would notice to yourself weaknesses and mistakes (et humanum est errare) which they would by all means conceal from the world.'

He quotes Wesley's 'If you will go, you must go'; and asks: 'Is this all the answer I must have, when, after stating the case and showing you the necessity, I asked your advice in an affair of such importance These are all the thanks I must receive for putting myself to so many inconveniences to serve you After exhausting my spirits from morning to night in a school where you are sensible I should have had an assistant, especially for these twelve months last, to the prejudice of my spiritual proficiency, to say nothing (for they are not worth mentioning) of temporal inconveniences And why should I not take you at your word No, I have too much love for the children, too much regard for their parents, and (whether you will believe it or no) too much sense of my duty to God and respect for yourself, to leave things in such confusion.'

For Wesley's reply, see letter of December 3.

[29] This circular letter, signed by Wesley but with the PS. in another hand, was sent to various friends. The effort to raise 12,000 to pay all the chapel debts had thus far yielded about 7,000. The letter is given in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1845, pp. 578-9.

[30] The deed of the preaching-house at Dawgreen, in the parish of Dewsbury, dated November 1, 1762, contains the names of John Greenwood and Titus Fozard (Fazzard) among the trustees. On April 19, 1774, Wesley stayed with Mr. Greenwood, who was thought to be dying of gout in the stomach. Wesley was convinced that it was angina pectoris, and recommended electrical treatment, which gave immediate relief. See Journal, vi. 16-17.

[31] Valton received this letter on November 23, his thirtieth birthday. He says: 'It is not easy to conceive what dejection of spirit I was thrown into by this letter. I could neither think nor pray. But can God require me to make bricks without straw Oh no, Lord! Thou art not an austere man. Besides, my weakness, my timidity, and want of gifts are to me proofs that I am not called. Nor have I the least intimation that it is the will of God. Oh what a dreadful apprehension of such an undertaking! It almost deprives me of life when I think of being thrust out!--Suffice to say, I gave Mr. Wesley my reasons; which for the present satisfied his mind, as appears from his reply' in December. See Wesley's Veterans, vi. 60-1; and letter of December 2 to him.

[32] Wesley's letter of November 16, which has no signature and no 'Dear Sir,' had evidently been replied to on the 24th.

[33] Robert Bell was in the Excise. Wesley visited Longtown, 'the last town in England,' on April 14, 1770, where he preached 'in a large broad entry, with a room on either hand,' and again on April 23, 1784. Tyerman says Bell introduced Methodism into Carlisle about 1767, where the first place of worship was a cart-shed. Bell had been converted under Grimshaw. Wesley once met his class, and exclaimed, 'Glory be to God for Mr. Bell; he has certainly been a very useful man.' See Journal, v. 362, vi. 498; Tyerman's Wesley, iii. 63; Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1847, p. 768.

[34] Wesley's first two preachers reached America on October 24, and found the people eager for the gospel. Wesley himself cherished the idea of going over, but was never able to do so.

Sellon was preparing an answer to A Practical Discourse of God's Sovereignty, by Elisha Coles, a clerk to the East India Company, who died in 1688. See Journal, v. 361.

Toplady's two tracts, The Church of England Vindicated from the Charge of Arminianism and The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination Stated and Asserted, translated in great measure from the Latin of Jerom Zanchius, were both issued in 1769. Wesley published an abridgement of the latter in Toplady's own words, with the closing paragraph: 'The sum of all is this. One in twenty (suppose) of mankind is elected; nineteen in twenty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved, do what they will; the reprobate shall be damned, do what they can. Reader, believe this or be damned. Witness my hand, A--T-- .' Toplady's rejoinder was 'a scurrilous and undignified performance.' Tyerman says: 'A more impious piece in the garb of piety was never published than his Zanchius. . . Augustus Toplady, a stripling twenty-nine years of age, is a pope infallible; and all who hold opinions different from his are reprobate knaves or fools.' 'Toplady's blood was up, and the bitterness of his attack has scarcely a parallel in religious history. He piled contempt upon contempt, invective on invective; he dragged to light all Wesley's weaknesses. See Tyerman's Wesley, iii. 54-5; Wright's Toplady, pp. 85-8; Green's Bibliography, No. 261.

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