preached seven evenings in succession preaching thus became a service of great danger; and it is worth while to record, that itinerancy was very different from what it would be in the present day, for then there were no turnpikes in England, and no stage-coach which went farther than York. In many parts of the northern counties, neither coach nor chaise had ever been seen, and Wesley usually travelled on horseback, accompanied by one of his preachers, and reading as he rode. Some idea of the hardships endured may be gathered from the following extract. from the tombstone of his father at Epworth, and the historian says "Some remarkable circumstances attended Wesley's preaching in these parts. Some of his opponents in the excess of their zeal against enthusiasm, took up a whole waggon load of Methodists, and carried them before a justice. When they were asked what these persons had done, there was an awkward silence; at last one of the accusers said, Why, they pretended to be better than other people; and, besides, they prayed from morning till night.' The magistrate asked if they had done nothing else. "Yes, Sir,' said an old man,an't please your worship, they have convarted my wife. Till she went among them she had such a tongue! and now she is as quiet as a lamb !'-Carry them back, carry them back,' said the magistrate, and let them convert all the scolds in the town.' "Methodism, as we have just stated had assumed form and consistence. Meeting-houses had been built, societies formed and disciplined, funds raised, rules enacted, lay preachers admitted, and a regular system of itinerancy begun. Its furious symptoms had subsided, the affection had reached a calmer stage of its course, and there were no longer any of those outrageous exhibitions which excited scandal and compassion, as well as astonishment. But Wesley continued, with his constitutional fervour, to preach the doctrines of instantaneous regeneration, assurance, and sinless perfection." The populace however began to persecute the new sect; and, though frequently protected by the local magistracy, and by the laws, some instances occurred in which the former forgot their duties, and the latter were outraged. Wesley himself, kad more than once very narrow escapes with life and limb; and his followers were often treated with great brutality. As the rebellion of 1745 approached, they suffered in proportion to the belief that they were disaffected and dangerous. In Cornwall, especially, the founder was maltreated; and Nelson, Maxfield, and others, were pressed, imprisoned, and ill-used. Field 6 "At the commencement of his errantry, he (Wesley) had sometimes to bear with an indifference and insensibility in his friends, which was more likely than any opposition to have abated his ardour. He and John Nelson rode from common to common, in Cornwall, preaching to a people who heard willingly, but seldom or never proffered them the slightest act of hos pitality. Returning one day in autumn from one of these hungry excursions, Wesley stopt his horse at some brambles, to pick the fruit. Brother Nelson,' said he, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty of blackberries, for this is the best country I ever saw for getting a stomach, but the worst that I ever saw for getting food. Do the people think that we can live by preaching?" They were detained some time at St. Ives, because of the illness of one of their companions; and their lodging was little better than their fare.All that time,' says John, Mr. Wesley and I lay on the floor; he had my greatcoat for his pillow, and I had Burkett's Notes on the New Testament for mine. After being here near three weeks, one morning,about three o'clock, Mr. Wesley turned over, and finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying, Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer, I have one whole side yet; for the skin is off but on one side."" · ་ It is worth adding, that Wesley was finely alive to the effects of natural situation in the spots which he selected for his preaching; insomuch that some of his landscapes are drawn with all the enthusiasm of a feeling and skilful artist. "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 journies 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, But, after all, what a flat contradiction It may be supposed that the Method- he was addressing those of a lower ist labours were most effectual among rank. * * * the middle and lower orders. Wesley, "writing to some Earl, who took a lively interest in the revival of religion, which, through the impulse given, directly or indirectly, by Methodism, was taking place, he says, To speak rough truth, I do not desire any intercourse with any persons of quality in England. I mean, for my own sake. They do me no good, and, I fear, I can do none to them.' To another correspondent he says, 'I have found some of the uneducated poor who have exquisite taste and sentiment; and many, very many of the rich, who have scarcely any at all.'-'In most genteel religious people there is so strange a mixture, that I have seldom much confidence in them. But I love the poor; in many of them I find pure genuine grace, unmixed with paint, folly and affectation.' And egain, "How unspeakable is the advantage in point of common sense, which middling people have over the rich! There is so much paint and af. fectation, so many unmeaning words and senseless customs among people of rank, as fully justify the remark made 1700 years ago, Sensus communis in illá fortuna rarus." "Tis well,' he says, 'a few of the rich and noble are called. Oh! that God would increase their number. But I should rejoice, were it the will of God, if it were done by the ministry of others. If I might choose, I should still, as I have done hitherto, preach the gospel to the poor.' Preaching in Monk-town church, (one of the three belonging to Pembroke,) a large old ruinous building, he says, 'I suppose it has scarce had such a congregation in it during this century. Many of them were gay genteel people; so I spake on the first elements of the gospel: but I was still out of their depth. Oh, how hard it is to be shallow enough for a polite audience!' Yet Wesley's correspondence with the few persons over whom he obtained any influence in higher life, tho' written with honest and conscientious freedom, is altogether untainted with any of that alloy which too frequently appeared when · O quando faba, Pythagoræ cognatu, simulque Oh the happiness of eating beans well Was Horace in his senses when he talked thus? or the servile herd of his imitators? Our eyes and ears may convince us that there is not a less happy body of men in all England than the country farmers. In general their life is supremely 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." At this era of Methodism, "even where it 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 is career he took the trouble of enquiring 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-of-England-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 farther 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 spirituous 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." The aid of lay-preachers was very unpalatable to Wesley at first; but it was forced upon him by circumstances, and in the individual cases zeal was the only qualification which he required. "If the aspirant possessed no other requisite for his work, and failed to produce an effect upon his hearers, his ardour was soon cooled, and he withdrew quietly from the field; but such cases were not very frequent. The gift of voluble utterance is the commonest of all gifts; and when the audience are in sympathy with the speaker, they are easily affected ;* the understanding makes no demand, provided the passions find their food. But, on the other hand, when enthusiasm was united with strength of talents and of character, Wesley was a skilful preceptor, who knew how to discipline the untutored mind, and to imbue it thoroughly with his system." "No founder of a monastic order ever more entirely possessed the respect, as well as the love and admiration of his disciples; nor better understood their individual characters, and how to deal with each according to the measure of his capacity. Where strength of mind and steadiness were united with warmth of heart, he made the preacher his counsellor as well as his friend: when only simple zeal was to be found, he used it for his instrument as long as it lasted. An itinerant who was troubled with doubts respecting his call, wrote to him in a fit of low spirits, requesting that he would send a preacher to supersede him in his circuit, because he believed he was out of his place. Wesley replied in one short sentence, Dear brother, you are indeed out of your place; for you are reasoning, when you ought to be praying.' And this was all. Thus tempering his authority, sometimes with playfulness, and always with kindness, he obtained from his early followers an unhesitating, a cheerful, and a devoted obedience. One of them, whom he Sewel relates, with all simplicity and sincerity, in his History of the Quakers, that his mother, a Dutch woman, preached in her native language to a congre gation of English Friends, and that though they did not understand a single word, they were nevertheless edified by the discourse.-A man returned from at tending one of Whitfield's sermons, and said it was good for him to be there: the place, indeed, was sa crowded, that he had not been able to get near enough to hear him; " but then," "I saw his blessed wig!" had summoned from Bristol to meet him at Holyhead, and accompany him to Ireland, set out on foot, with only three shillings in his pocket. It is a proof how confidently such a man might calculate upon the kindliness of human nature, that, during six nights out of seven, this innocent adventurer was hospitably entertained by utter strangers, and when he arrived he had one penny left. John Jane (such was his name) did not long survive this expedition he brought on a fever by walking in exceeding hot weather; and Wesley, recording his death in his journal, concludes in this remarkable manner :- All his clothes, linen and woollen, stockings, hat, and wig, are not thought sufficient to answer his funeral expences, which amount to 1l. 17s. 3d. All the money he had was 1s. 4d.Enough for any unmarried preacher of the gospel to leave to his executors!" Mr. Southey gives us here brief epitomes of the Experiences' of some of the early coadjutors in Methodist proselytism, such as John Oliver, John Pawson, Alexander Mather, Thomas Olivers, John Haime, Sampson Staniforth, George Story, &c. whose lives present considerable variety, and amusing biographical incident. The wives of itinerant preachers came to be allowed 4s. per week, during the absence of their husbands, and 17. per quarter for each child. When the husband was at home, 1s. 6d. a day was allowed for his board, at the rate of 6d. for dinner, and 4d. for breakfast, tea, and supper. When invited out, the allowance was deducted. In 1748, Kingwood School near Bristol, was also, through the bounty of Lady Maxwell, established for the education of fifty boys, and some very small provision was made for the preachers themselves. The annual conferences began in 1744, when J. Wesley, C. Wesley, four other clergymen, and four lay co-operators, met for the first time on the affairs of the society. From the New Monthly Magazine. ORIGINAL ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PERSONS. GEORGE III. THE HE munificence of the King was noble as it was discriminating. During his illness in 1789, a committee was appointed to examine the state of the privy purse. When out of an income of £60,000 per annum, it was found that his Majesty never gave a way less than £14,000 a year in charity! The first morning the king was at Worcester, which was in August, 1788, he went down the street incog. He was soon recognized, and when he came upon the bridge, he turned round to the people and said This, I suppose, is Worcester New Bridge?'- Yes, please your majesty,' said a cobler. Then,' said he, my boys, let's have a huzza!' His majesty set the example, and a fine shout there was. Afterwards they continued huzzaing him all the way to the palace. The second morning the king was out at half after five. He went to the lodgings of Col. Gwynn and Col. Digby. The maid-servant was cleaning the door. The girl threw down her' mop, and ran away to the bell. The King stopped her, and desired her to show him where the fellows slept. The girl obeyed, and his majesty went himself and called them up. The Colonels leaped out of their beds as if surprised in camp by an enemy, but the king was off, and they were obliged to run over the town to find him. The virtue of humanity was one which his majesty was always particularly careful to instil into the minds of his children. On one occasion at breakfast, while the king was reading a news paper, one of the younger branches of the family, looking up in the queen's face, said, Mamma, I can't think what a prison is! Upon its being explained, and understanding that the prisoner were often half starved for want, the child replied, That is cruel, for the prison is bad enough without starving; but I will give all my allowance to buy bread for the poor prisoners!' Due praise was given for this benevolent intention, which was directed to be put in force, together with an addition from their majesties. In the severe winter of 1784-5, his majesty, regardless of the weather, was taking a solitary walk on foot, when he was met by two boys, the eldest not eight years of age, who although ignorant that it was the king, fell upon their knees before him, and wringing their little hands, prayed for relief." The smallest relief," they cried, " for we are hungry, very hungry, and have nothing to eat."-More they would have said, but a torrent of tears checked their utterance. The father of his people raised the weeping supplicants, and encouraged them to proceed with their story. They did so, and related that their mother had been dead three days, and still lay unburied; that their father, whom they were also afraid of losing, was stretched by her side on a bed of straw, in a sick and hopeless condition; and that they had neither money, food, nor firing at home. This artless tale was more than sufficient to excite sympathy in the royal bosom: his majesty therefore ordered the boys to proceed homeward, and followed them until they reached a wretched hovel. There he found the mother dead, apparently through the want of common necessaries, the father ready to perish also, but still encircling with his feeble arm the deceased partner of his woes, as if unwilling to survive her.. The sensibility of the monarch betrayed itself in the tears which started from his eyes; and leaving all the cash which he had with him, he hastened back to Windsor, related to the queen what he had witnessed, and sent an immediate supply of provisions, clothes, coals, and every thing necessary for the comfort of the helpless family. Revived by the bounty of his sovereign, the man soon recovered; and the king, to finish his good work, educated and provided for the children. 66 His majesty asked lord Denbigh, after the civil list debate in the house of lords, who were the principal speakers? He was told that lord Talbot shone more than any one else, especially in stating the great expense which his majesty was at from having such a number of children. This made the king laugh heartily. The next levee lord Talbot was present at, the king went immediately up to him. So, Talbot, I find I have offended you most egregiously, and that you have abused me by bell, book and candle.' The old lord, struck half dumb, faltered out, Sir-your majesty-sir, I hope-surely," &c. Upon which the king, laughing still more, said, 'Why, my lord, you are very angry I find at my presuming to have so many children.' "Lord, sir!" ejaculated his lordship. It is very true, my lord, I assure you: you complained heavily the other day in the house of lords at the number of tables necessary upon account of such an unconscionable number of children." "Indeed, your majesty has-I protest, sir, I-" Nay, my lord, don't deny it; and you said farther, that if I was a booby of a lord I might have so and so, but being a king, I ought to know better.' The poor lord was then perfectly agitated to conceive who should have made such reports; and this made the good natured monarch laugh ten times more, who enjoyed lord Talbot's confusion for some time before he undeceived him. When the late king visited Portsmouth in 1789, in order to be present at the grand review, he was much pleased with the following bon mot of lord Lothian. A boy mounted aloft with such agility as to surprise every spectator. The king said to his lordship, Lothian, I have heard much of your agility; let us see you run up after that boy.' "Sir, it is my duty to follow your majesty." When his majesty was about to return thanks to the Almighty in public, after his happy recovery in the year 1789, he was advised to keep himself very warm when he visited St. Paul's cathedral for that purpose. I hope,' replied he, I shall never feel cold at church.' |