Volume 3 Events

SIX CRITICAL YEARS

FEBRUARY 4, 1751, TO DECEMBER 22, 1756

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

The six years from 1751 to 1756 include Wesley's marriage, the serous illness which led him to write his own epitaph, the publication of his Notes upon the New Testament and the anxious debars as to the administration of the Sacraments and separation from the Church of England. The letter to Samuel Walker of Truro dated September 3, 1756 shows that for several years Wesley had been considering what steps should be taken to put Methodism on such a footing as he might wish it to be after his death.

Mrs. Wesley appears in her best light in these years, sharing some of her husbands journeys, and helping him greatly by her skill and attention to his Book-Room affairs in London. The rift in the lute is visible in some jealousy and suspicion. Wesley makes a confidant of his staunch friend Ebenezer Blackwell. Charles Wesley' s unreadiness to work in harness with his broker added much to John’s anxieties; but Charles did memorable service in the tour of inspection he made after James Wheatley had tried to cloak his own sin by defaming his brethren.

The period includes some important controversial letters; and the correspondence with Samuel Furly and others proves how sane and stimulating a councilor Wesley was to his friends and preachers.

GROWING RESPONSIBILITIES

JANUARY 8, 1757, TO JANUARY 10, 1758

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

Wesley began this period with renewed physical strength ; and he needed it His brother’s active itinerancy was practically finished in 1756. Wesley was almost the only clerical itinerant on the field, and the calls on his thought and labor were wellnigh overwhelming.

Some of the most important letters of this time (addressed to Samuel Walker, Vicar of Truro, and others) deal with the relation of Methodism to the Church of England. The letters to his wife are poignant. That of October 27, 1758, is very happy; but the poison had long been at wok, and his dream of domestic peace faded away. There can be no doubt that Mrs. Wesley’s conduct points to mental unsoundness; the whole story is tragic. The one compensation was that Wesley’s time and strength were more and more concentrated on his growing parish. His relations with his preachers were his constant solace. Such men as Christopher Hopper enjoyed his absolute confidence and the growing band of loyal workers were spreading Methodism through England and Ireland. He was deeply thankful for the progress of the work. He tells a correspondent on September 20, 1757: ‘The longer I am absent from London and the more I attend the service the Church in other places the more I am convinced of the unspeakable advantage which the people called Methodists enjoy; I mean even with regard to public worship, particularly on the Lord’s Day.’

The year had a full share of controversy, and Wesley’s letters go straight to the mark, and have a pungency and vivacity all their own. It is remarkable how he found time to deal with Samuel Furly's questions and to write letters of counsel to men and women in all parts of the country.

John Fletcher went straight from his ordination at Whitehall to help Wesley in his sacramental service at West Street, and became henceforth a constant source of strength. The death of Thomas Walsh, the Irish saint and scholar, was a sore bereavement. Weslyy was always quick to recognize the gifts of his preachers, and Walsh was one of the noblest of them all.

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