though written with honest and conscientious freedom, is altogether untainted with any of that alloy which too frequently appeared when he was addressing those of a lower rank. Those favourite topics are not brought forward, by which enthusiastic disciples were so easily heated and disordered; and there appears an evident feeling in the writer, that he is addressing himself to persons more judicious than his ordinary disciples. But though Wesley preferred the middling and lower classes of society to the rich, the class which he liked least were the farmers. "In the little journeys which I have lately taken," he says, "I have thought much of the huge encomiums which have been for many ages bestowed on a country life. How have all the learned world cried out, O fortunati nimium, bona si sua norint, Agricolæ ! But, after all, what a flat contradiction is this to universal experience! See the little house, under the wood, by the river side! There is rural life in perfection. How happy, then, is the farmer that lives there!-Let us take a detail of his happiness. He rises with, or before the sun, calls his servants, looks to his swine and cows, then to his stable and barns. He sees to the ploughing and sowing his ground in winter or in spring. In summer and autumn he hurries and sweats among his mowers and reapers. And where is his happiness in the mean time? Which of these employments do we envy? Or do we envy the delicate repast which succeeds, which the poet so languishes for? O quando faba, Pythagoræ cognata, simalque Oh the happiness of eating beans well greased with fat bacon; nay, and cabbage too! Was Horace in his senses when he talked thus? or the servile herd of his imitators? Our eyes and ears may convince us there is not a less happy body of men in all England than the country farmers. In general their life is su premely dull; and it is usually unhappy too; for, of all people in the kingdom, they are the most discontented, seldom satisfied either with God or man." Wesley was likely to judge thus unfavourably of the agricultural part of the people, because they were the least susceptible of Methodism. For Methodism could be kept alive only by associations and frequent meetings; and it is difficult, or impossible, to arrange these among a scattered population.Where converts were made, and the discipline could not be introduced among them, and the effect kept up by constant preaching and inspection, they soon fell off. "From the terrible instances I met with," says Wesley, "in all parts of England, I am more and more convinced that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half awakened, and then left to themselves to fall asleep again. Therefore I determine, by the grace of God, not to strike one stroke in any place where I cannot follow the blow." But this could only be done in populous places. Burnet has observed, that more religious zeal is to be found in towns than in the country, and that that zeal is more likely to go astray. It is because men are powerfully acted upon by sympathy, whether for evil or for good; because opinions are as infectious as diseases, and both the one and the other find subjects enough to seize on in large cities, and those subjects in a state which prepares them to receive the mental or bodily affection. * "As for the men of trade and business, they are, generally speaking, the best body in the nation-generous, sober, and charitable: so that, while the people in the country are so immersed in their affairs that the sense of religion cannot reach them, there is a better spirit stirring in our cities; more knowledge, more zeal, and more charity, with a great deal more of devotion. There may be too much of vanity, with too pompous an exterior, mixed with these in the capital city; but, upon the whole, they are the best we have. Want of exercise is a great prejudice to their health, and a corrupter of their minds, by raising vapours and melancholy, that fills many with dark thoughts, rendering religion, which affords the truest joy, a burden to them, and making them even a burden to themselves. This furnishes prejudices against religion to those who are but too much disposed to seek for them." Burnet's Conclusion to the History of his Own Times, But even where Methodism was well established, and, on the whole, flourishing, there were great fluctuations, and Wesley soon found how little he could depend upon the perseverance of his converts. Early in his career he took the trouble of inquiring into the motives of seventy-six persons, who, in the course of three months, had withdrawn from one of his societies in the north. The result was curious. Fourteen of them said they left it because otherwise their ministers would not give them the sacrament :-these, be it observed, were chiefly Dissenters. Nine, because their husbands or wives were not willing they should stay in it. Twelve, because their parents were not willing. Five, because their master and mistress would not let them come. Seven, because their acquaintance persuaded them to leave it. Five, because people said such bad things of the Society. Nine, because they would not be laughed at. Three, because they would not lose the poors' allowance. Three more, because they could not spare time to come. Two, because it was too far off. One, because she was afraid of falling into fits:-her reason might have taught Wesley a useful lesson. One, because people were so rude in the street. Two, because Thomas Naisbit was in the Society. One, because he would not turn his back on his baptism. One, because the Methodists were mere Church-ofEngland-men. And one, because it was time enough to serve God yet. The character of the converts, and the wholesome discipline to which they were subject, is still further exhibited, by an account of those who, in the same time, had been expelled from the same Society:-they were, two for cursing and swearing, two for habitual Sabbath-breaking, seventeen for drunkenness, two for retailing spiritous liquors, three for quarrelling and brawling, one for beating his wife, three for habitual wilful lying, four for railing and evil-speaking, one for idleness and laziness, and nine-and-twenty for lightness and carelessness. It would be well for the community if some part of this discipline were in general use. When Wesley became accustomed to such fluctuations, he perceived that they must be, and reasoned upon them sensibly. In noticing a considerable increase which had taken place in one of his societies in a short time, he says, "Which of these will hold fast their profession? The fowls of the air will devour some, the sun will scorch more, and others will be choked by the thorns springing up. I wonder we should ever expect that half of those who hear the word with joy, will bring forth fruit unto perfection.""How is it," he asks himself," that almost in every place, even where there is no lasting fruit, there is so great an impression made at first upon a considerable number of people? The fact is this: every where the work of God rises higher and higher, till it comes to a point. Here it seems, for a short time, to be at a stay, and then it gradually sinks again. All this may easily be accounted for. At first curiosity brings many hearers; at the same time God draws many, by his preventing grace, to hear his word, and comforts them in hearing: one then tells another; by this means, on the one hand, curiosity spreads and increases; and, on the other, the drawings of God's Spirit touch more hearts, and many of them more powerfully than before. He now offers grace to all that hear, most of whom are in some measure affected, and more or less moved with approbation of what they hear-desire to please God, and good-will to his messenger. These principles, variously combined and increasing, raise the general work to its highest point. But it cannot stand here; for, in the nature of things, curiosity must soon decline. Again, the drawings of God are not followed, and thereby the Spirit of God is grieved: the consequence is, He strives with this and this man no more, and so his drawings end. Thus both the natural and supernatural power declining, most of the hearers will be less and less affected. Add to this, that, in the process of the work, it must be, that offences will come. Some of the hearers, if not preachers also, will act contrary to their profession. Either their follies or faults will be told from one to another, and lose nothing in the telling. Men, once curious to hear, will now draw back: men once drawn, having stifled their good desires, will disapprove what they approved before, and feel dislike, instead of goodwill, to the preacher. Others, who were more or less convinced, will be afraid or ashamed to acknowledge that conviction; and all these will catch at ill stories (true or false) in order to justify their change. When, by this means, all who do not savingly believe, have quenched the Spirit of God, the little flock goes on from faith to faith; the rest sleep on, and take their rest. And thus the number of hearers in every place may be expected, first to increase, and then decrease." 0000 CHAPTER XVI. WESLEY'S LAY-COADJUTORS. WHEN Wesley had once admitted the assistance of lay-preachers, volunteers in abundance offered their zealous services. If he had been disposed to be nice in the selection, it was not in his power. He had called up a spirit which he could not lay, but he was still able to control and direct it. Men were flattered by being admitted to preach with his sanction, and sent to itinerate where he was pleased to appoint, who, if he had not chosen to admit their co-operation, would not have been withheld from exercising the power which they felt in themselves, and indulging the strong desire, which they imputed to the impulse of the Spirit: but had they taken this course, it would have been destructive to the scheme which was now fairly developed before him. Wesley had taken no step in his whole progress so reluctantly as this. The measure was forced upon him by circumstances. It had become inevitable, in the position wherein he had placed himself: |