Volume 6 Events

DEVELOPMENTS IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA

JANUARY 8, 1774 to DECEMBER 1776

PRINCIPLE EVENTS

These three years of increasing labor and widespread influence may be regarded as the middle period in Wesley's life. In 1777 he laid the foundation-stone of City Road Chapel and entered on the crowing years of his work. 1774 was marked with the removal of a hydrocele, and 1775 by the severe illness in Ireland. The papers announced he was dead and John Fletcher wrote urging Charles Wesley to fill his brother's place if he was removed.

Methodism in America was growing more influential, and providence kept Francis Asbury at his post when Wesley recalled him. Wesley's Calm Address is mentioned in several of the letters, which will appeal to students of the period and to American readers in particular. The letters to Lord North and the Earl Dartmouth show Wesley as the patriotic Englishman deeply concerned in all that affected the well-being of his country and wide awake to the danger of any conflict with America. His Majesty's Ministers must have felt the force and sanity of his counsels.

Wesley's relations with his preachers give much interest to the letters to Benson, Hopper, Bradburn, and others. They show how vigilantly he watched over the work and guided them at critical points. Such a man as Thomas Wride (to whom he wrote 'You bite like a bull-dog; when you seize, you never let go') caused him much anxiety. His care for his friends is seen in his suggestion to Ann Bolton: 'At all hazards get an electric machine. It is your bounden duty. You are at no more at liberty to throw away your health than to throw away your life.' Two years latter he tells her: 'I desire Mr. Valton or one of the preachers who will be so kind as to got to the Foundry and bring my gray horse down from Witney.' He adds a postscript, 'If possible you should ride every day.' The friendships with Elizabeth Ritchie and Hester Ann Roe, which did so brighten his later years, began at this period. Both were present at his death-bed. The care of Alexander Knox was not less beautiful. The letters to his wife and to his brother give added interest to this section of his correspondence. Nor we forget the Excise collector and Wesley's four silver spoons: 'This is all the plate which I have at present and shall not buy any more while so may around me want bread."

CONSOLIDATION AND ADVANCE

JANUARY 11, 1777, TO DECEMBER 29, 1779

PRINCIPLE EVENTS

The building of City Road Chapel gave Methodism a new status not only in the metropolis but also in the three kingdoms. Wesley laid the foundation-stone on April 21, 1777, and preached the opening sermon on November 1, 1778. He found that a new chapel meant almost a new congregation, and was well repaid for the constant anxiety and financial strain of the time. The letters show how heavy these burdens were and with what faith and courage he faced them. A new era of chapel-building set in all over the country, which repeated the success of City Road and gave fresh life to Methodism in many centers. At City Road also Wesley built a preacher' house in 1779, where he spent some of the happiest days of his bright old age, and where he died on March 2, 1791. The other great event of the time was the publication in January 1778 of the first number of the Arminian Magazine, which has been a storehouse of Methodist life and history ever since.

The period brought angry opponents; but Wesley told Christopher Hopper, 'It is my determination to answer none, but to go straight on my way.' Amid the constant strain it is interesting to note Wesley's diligent inquiry into the experience of many who were perfected in love. His zeal in repressing smuggling among his people, his loyalty to the Throne, and his interest in public affairs were conspicuous. A notable accession was made to the ranks of his helpers. He writes on June 25, 1777: 'Dr. Coke promises fair, and gives us reason to hope that he will bring forth not only blossoms but fruit.' Wesley's interest in the daily life of his friends gives a rare tenderness and charm to many letters. He seems to have been consulted on all the love affairs of the Connection, and the tragedy of his own marriage, which is seen in one or two final letters to his wife, made him the more anxious for the domestic well-being of his friends.

THREE CROWDED YEARS

JANUARY 6, 1780, TO MARCH 12, 1780

PRINCIPLE EVENTS

Wesley never showed more wonderful zeal than in these crowded days, which brought him within ten years of the close of his ministry. He tells Mrs. Bradburn on October 30, 1782: 'My disorders are seldom of long continuance; they pass off in a few days, and usually leave me considerably better than I was before.'

The letter describing his visit to Lord George Gordon in the Tower brings us into touch with one of the memorable events of the time, and the one to Earl Shelburne shows how wisely he could interpose in questions the4 affected public affairs. His appeal to Bishop Lowth on August 10, 1780, is evidence of his deep concern for religion in America, and helps us to understand the action he took in 1784.

Above all, these letters show how intimately he was concerned in the life of his friends. The ill-health of Alexander Knox, Ann Bolton, and Elizabeth Ritchie moved him deeply. He is their best comforter. No one rejoiced more than he in the happy marriage of John Fletcher. His letters to Charles Wesley's son and daughter are peculiarly tender and wise.

His wife died in October 1781; but that leaves no ripple on the correspondence. His preachers are very near to his heart, and he never forgets their education. 'I allow you to give any books you please to any preacher to the value of forty shillings,' he tells Thomas Rutherford on October 19, 1782.

How deeply the action of the trustees at Bitstall distressed him is seen in his letters to Benson and Valton in November and December 1782. 'Here conscience is very deeply concerned. What I do I do unto the Lord. The question is, in the last resort, Methodism or no Methodism!' Alive to all duty and opportunity, he is also sensitive to invisible things. 'I have myself since her death found a wonderful union of spirit with Fanny Cooper, and have sometimes suddenly looked on one or the other side, not knowing whether I should not see her.'

Edited by Michael Mattei 2003 Wesley Center for Applied Theology. All rights reserved. No for-profit use of this text is permitted without the express, written consent of the Wesley Center for Applied Theology of Northwest Nazarene College, Nampa, Idaho 83686 USA. Direct all inquiries to the webmaster.