a fair prospect. The congregations were very numerous; many were cut to the heart; and several joined together in a little society."

May 15. Mr. Wesley came to Leeds. Here he held a conference with about thirty of the preachers. He inquired particularly into their qualifications, as to their grace and gifts; and into the fruits of their labors; and tells us he found no reason to doubt, except of one only.

Mr. Wesley had now been married upwards of three months: and June the 1st he resigned his fellowship. His letter of resignation was, I believe, in the words of one of the established forms of the college, for that purpose. It was as follows. "Ego Johannes Wesley, Collegii Lincolniensis in Academia Oxoniesi Socius, quicquid mihi juris est in prædicta Societate, ejusdem Rectori et Sociis sponte ac libere resigno: illis universis et singulis, perpetuam pacem, ac omnimodam in Christo felicitatem exoptans."

CHAPTER III.

OF MR. WESLEY'S MINISTERIAL LABORS, AND THE SPREAD OF METHODISM, till the conFERENCE IN 1770: WITH AN EXTRACT FROM THE LARGER MINUTES; GIVING A VIEW OF VARIOUS REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE PREACHERS, &c. &c.

THE materials for this life are so abundant, without having recourse to Mr. Wesley's printed works; and the present volume begins to fill up so very fast, that I shall be obliged in future to take but little notice of the journies of this laborious and successful minister of Christ. Many papers have been put into my hands since the first volume of this work was published. I shall not therefore be able to do more in the remaining part of this volume, than print such extracts from the materials before me, as may exhibit to our view the most striking features of this great man's character, and of the work in which he was engaged.

It has been stated above,* that Mr. Charles Wesley, in the course of the present year, went into Yorkshire, with a commission to inquire more particularly into the character and moral conduct of the preachers in their several stations. He found one or two, who did not walk worthy of the gospel; and several more whom he thought utterly unqualified to preach. In the execution of his commission, Mr. John Wesley wrote to him very frequently. The following are extracts from some of his letters on this occasion.

July 17. "I fear for C. S- and J. C more and more. I have heard they frequently and bitterly rail against the church."On this Mr. Charles Wesley puts the following query: "What assurance can we have, that they will not forsake it, at least when

* Vol. i. page 195.

we are dead? Ought we to admit any one for a preacher, till we can trust his invariable attachment to the church?"

July 20. "The societies both must and shall maintain the preachers we send among them, or I will preach among them no more. The least that I can say to any of these preachers, is, 'Give yourself wholly to the work, and you shall have food to eat, and raiment to put on.' And I cannot see that any preacher is called to any people, who will not thus maintain him. Almost everything depends on you and me: let nothing damp or hinder us: only let us be alive, and put forth all our strength."

July 24. "As to the preachers, my counsel is, not to check the young ones without strong necessity. If we lay some aside, we must have a supply; and of the two, I prefer grace before gifts.”— Mr. Charles puts a query. "Are not both indispensably necessary? Has not the cause suffered, in Ireland especially, through the insufficiency of the preachers? Should we not first regulate, reform, and bring into discipline, the preachers we have, before we look for more? Should we not also watch and labor, to prevent the mischiefs which the discarded preachers may occasion?"

July 27. "What is it, that has eaten out the heart of half our preachers, particularly those in Ireland? Absolutely idleness; their not being constantly employed. I see it plainer and plainer. Therefore I beg you will inquire of each, 'How do you spend your time from morning to evening?' And give him his choice, Either follow your trade, or resolve before God, to spend the same hours in reading, &c. which you used to spend in working." August 3. "I heartily concur with you, in dealing with all (not only with disorderly walkers, but also trifers, μαλακός, πολυπραγμονας, the effeminate and busybodies, as with M. F. I spoke to one this morning, so that I was even amazed at myself."

August 8. "We must have forty itinerant preachers, or drop some of our societies. You cannot so well judge of this, without seeing the letters I receive from all parts."

August 15. "If our preachers do not, nor will not, spend all their time in study and saving souls, they must be employed close in other work, or perish."

August 17. "C. S pleads for a kind of aristocracy, and says you and I, should do nothing without the consent of all the preachers; otherwise we govern arbitrarily, to which they cannot submit. Whence is this?"

August 24. "O that you and I, may arise and stand upright! I quite agree with you: let us have but six, so we are all one. I have sent one more home to his work. We may trust God to send forth more laborers; only be not unwilling to receive them, when there is reasonable proof that he has sent them."

Augugt 21, Mr. Wesley wrote thus to a friend. "I see plainly the spirit of Ham if not of Corah, has fully possessed several of our preachers. So much the more freely and firmly do I acquiesce in the determination of my brother, 'That it is far better for us to have ten, or six preachers who are alive to God, sound in the faith, and of one heart with us and with one another, than fifty of whom we have no such assurance.'"

437

In August, Mr. Charles Wesley wrote to his brother under great oppression of mind, and in very strong language. Wherever he saw some things wrong, his fears suggested to him that there might be many more which he did not see; and the natural warmth of his temper, led him to use expressions abundantly more severe than the case required. But the preachers against whom he had no material charge, but want of qualifications for their office, had nothing more to do, than write to Mr. John Wesley, a letter of humiliation and entire submission, and the matter was settled with him, and he would give them fresh encouragement. This conduct of Mr. John Wesley made his brother appear as an enemy to the preachers and himself as their protector and friend; which was another means of weakening the union that had long subsisted between them.

Being returned to London, the two brothers went down to Shoreham, in November, and talked the matter over in the presence of Mr. Perronet. They both expressed their entire satisfaction in the end which each had in view; namely, the glory of God, and the salvation of souls. They both acknowledged their sincerity in desiring union between themselves, as the means to that end; and after much conversation, they both agreed to act in concert with respect to the preachers, so that neither of them should admit or refuse any, but such as both admitted or refused.-About six weeks afterwards, they were at Shoreham again, and then signed the following articles of agreement:

"With regard to the preachers, we agree,

1. "That none shall be permitted to preach in any of our societies, till he be examined, both as to his grace and gifts; at least by the assistant, who sending word to us, may by our answer admit him a local preacher.

2. "That such preacher be not immediately taken from his trade, but be exhorted to follow it with all diligence.

3. "That no person shall be received as a travelling preacher, or be taken from his trade, by either of us alone, but by both of us conjointly, giving him a note under both our hands.

4. "That neither of us will re-admit a travelling preacher laid aside, or without the consent of the other.

5. "That if we should disagree in our judgment, we will refer the matter to Mr. Perronet.

6. "That we will entirely be patterns of all we expect from every preacher; particularly of zeal, diligence, and punctuality in the work: by constantly preaching and meeting the society; by visiting yearly, Ireland, Cornwall, and the north; and in general by superintending the whole work, and every branch of it, with all We agree to the above the strength which God shall give us. written, till this day next year, in the presence of Mr. Perronet. "JOHN WESLEY, "CHARLES WESLEY."

*This and several other articles that will be inserted in this volume, have been transcribed from Mr. Charles Wesley's papers written in short-hand; which were put into my hands after the first volume was published.

Mr. John Wesley was prevailed upon, with some difficulty, to sign these articles. But though he did at length sign them, they produced no good effect. Mr. Wesley would not submit to any control in admitting preachers into the connexion, in appointing them to the different circuits, or in governing the societies. It appears to me, that after the first difference with his brother, who disappointed his intended marriage, he made up his mind not to suffer either a superior or an equal in these respects. From that time he seemed determined to be, aut Cæsar aut nihil. Mr. Charles, perceiving his brother's determination, and finding that the preachers became more and more prejudiced against him, thought it most prudent to withdraw from the active situation he had hitherto held amongst them; reserving to himself, however, the right of speaking his mind freely to his brother in a friendly correspondence, on various occasions through the remaining part of life.

About this time Mr. Wesley received a letter from the Reverend Mr. Milner, who had been at Chester, and writes as follows, on the temper of the bishop towards the Methodists. "The bishop," says he, "I was told, was exceeding angry at my late excursion into the north in your company. But found his lordship in much better temper than I was bid to expect by my brother Graves, who was so prudent, that he would not go with one so obnoxious to the bishop's displeasure, and all the storm of anger fell upon him. When he told me how he had been treated, for speaking in your defence, I was fully persuaded all the bitterness was past, and accordingly found it.-I told his lordship that God was with you of a truth; and he seemed pleased with the relation of the conversion of the barber at Bolton: and with your design of answering Taylor's book on Original Sin.-I have made no secret of your manner of proceeding, to any with whom I have conversed, since I had the happiness of being in your company. And to the bishop I was very particular in telling him, what an assembly of worshippers there is at Newcastle: how plainly the badge of Christianity, love, is there to be seen. When his lordship talked about order, Í begged leave to observe that I had nowhere seen such a want of it, as in his own cathedral; the preacher so miserably at a loss, that the children took notice of it: and the choristers so rude, as to be talking and thrusting one another with their elbows. At last I told him, there was need of some extraordinary messengers from God, to call us back to the doctrines of the reformation; for I did not know one of my brethren in Lancashire, that would give the church's definition of faith, and stand to it.-And alas, I had sad experience of the same falling away in Cheshire; for one of his son's curates would not let me preach for him because of that definition of faith."

In the ensuing year, Mr. Wesley continued his labors and travels, with the same vigor and diligence, through various parts of England and Ireland. February, 1753, he makes the following observations. "I now looked over Mr. Prince's history. What an amazing difference is there, in the manner wherein God has carried on his work in England and in America! There above an hun

dred of the established clergy, men of age and experience, and of the greatest note for sense and learning in those parts, are zealously engaged in the work. Here, almost the whole body of aged, experienced, learned clergy, are zealously engaged against it: and few but a handful of raw, young men engaged in it, without name, learning, or eminent sense! And yet by that large number of honorable men, the work seldom flourished above six months at a time, and then followed a lamentable and general decay, before the next revival of it: whereas that which God hath wrought by these despised instruments, has continually increased for fifteen years together: and at whatever time it has declined in any one place, it has more eminently flourished in others."

In April, he set out again for Scotland; not indeed for Musselborough, but to Glasgow, to which place he was invited by the pious and laborious Mr. Gillies, minister at the college-kirk. He staid here five days, preaching to very large and attentive congregations. Soon after he left Glasgow, Mr. Gillies wrote to him as follows:"The singing of hymns here, meets with greater opposition than I expected. Serious people are much divided. Those of better understanding and education, are silent; but many others are so prejudiced, especially at the singing publicly, that they speak openly against it, and look upon me as left to do a very wrong or sinful thing. I beg your advice, whether to answer them only by continuing in the practice of the thing, with such as have freedom to join, looking to the Lord for a blessing upon his own ordinance: or, if I should publish a sheet of arguments from reason, and Scripture, and the example of the godly.-Your experience of the most effectual way of dealing with people's prejudices, makes your advice on this head of the greater importance.

"I bless the Lord for the benefit and comfort of your acquaintance: for your important assistance in my Historical Collections, and for your edifying conversation and sermons in this place. May our gracious God prosper you wherever you are. O my dear sir, pray for your brother, that I may be employed in doing something for the advancement of his glory, who has done so much for ine, and who is my only hope."

In July, after one of the preachers had been there for some time, Mr. Wesley crossed over from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight. From Cowes, they went forward to Newport, the chief town of the Isle. Here they found a little society in tolerable order: several of whom had found peace with God, and walked in the light of his countenance. At half an hour after six he preached in the market-place to a numerous congregation: but many of them were remarkably ill-behaved. The children made such noise: and many grown persons were talking aloud most of the time he was preaching. "There was," says Mr. Wesley, "a large congregation again at five in the morning: and every person therein, seemed to know that this was the word whereby God would judge him in the last day. In the evening the congregation was more numerous, and far more serious than the night before: only one drunken man made a little disturbance, but the mayor ordered him to be taken away. In October, I visited them again,