Volume 8 Events

DAYS OF HONOR

JANUARY 8, 1788, to DECEMBER 26, 1789

Wesley felt in these years the added responsibility for the use of every hour. His brother died on March 29, 1788, and the last letters to him and those of his widow and children have peculiar tenderness. His own life was nearing its bourn, and his visits were everywhere regarded as opportunities which might never be repeated. That did not prevent the Methodists of Dublin from adding grievously to his cares and burdens by their criticism of the action taken as to hours of service. Some words of Dr. Coke were misrepresented , and 'set all Ireland in a flame.' Wesley says on July 14, 1789, 'It has brought a flood of obloquy upon me.'

His keen interest in the love affairs of Mrs. Wesley's granddaughter and in other engagements and marriages prove that whilst he drew nearer to heaven he did not lose interest in the happiness of his preachers and friends. There is much plain speaking in the communications to John Atlay his traitor Book Steward, and the leader of the disloyal company at North Shields, who robbed him of his property. The letter to Henry Moore about Atlay's presence in London is a fine piece of satire. That to Francis Asbury on September 20, 1788, is not so easy to justify but the assumption of the title 'bishop' and the setting up of Cokesbury College seemed to the veteran to be lacking in humility, and he was uneasy as to the effect of such a spirit on the future of Methodism in the New World.

PRINCIPLE EVENTS

THE CLOSE OF A GREAT CORRESPONDANCE

JANUARY 2, 1790, TO FEBRUARY 24, 1791

In this section of Wesley's long and wonderful correspondence we realize that the end is drawing steadily nearer every day. He says on February 13, 1790: 'My sight is so far decayed that I cannot well read a small print by candlelight; but I can write almost as well as ever I could: and it does me no harm but rather good to preach once or twice a day.' He is stronger on the whole than in the previous autumn and issues a plan of his journeys for March, April, and May 1790, which ranges from Stroud to Aberdeen. A year later he does not venture to make elaborate arrangements, and the few appointments he mentions Death prevent him fulfilling. Yet the old fires burned brightly in the veteran's soul. He is as zealous as ever for the spiritual life of his correspondents and especially solicitous for his brother's children. His letters to the Bishop of Lincoln and the one in July 1790 to William Wilberforce show how vigilantly he watches over the rights of worship for Methodists. He inspires his preachers with his own spirit: 'You have only to go on calmly and steadily, and God will arise and maintain his own cause.' Adam Clarke, Henry Moore, and others received loving encouragement from their father in the Gospel. He events of the time were keenly followed. He is deeply distressed at the prevalence of suicide. He expresses warm approval to the 'blessed work' being done by Sunday Schools. And his last word is a trumpet call to Wilberforce to go on with his 'glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature.'

PRINCIPLE EVENTS

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