been for this temporary disturbance, Wesley and his associates might have been merged in the Moravian body,16 and assuredly not with the advantages which have resulted to the world from the distinct organization of Methodism. Wesley had previously secured the foundry in Moorfields, a building which the government had used for the casting of cannon, but which was deserted and dilapidated. At the invitation of two strangers he preached in it, and at their instance, and by their assistance, opened it for regular public worship on the 11th day of November, 1739, some eight months before his separation from the Fetter-lane Society. This date has been considered the epoch of Methodism, for thenceforward the Foundry was its head-quarters in London. In his "Church History," Wesley assigns it other dates, as the formation of "the Holy Club," at Oxford, in 1729; and the meeting of himself and others, by the advice of Peter Böhler, in Fetter-lane, May 1, 1738; but in his introduction to the "General Rules of the Society," he says: "In the latter end of the year 1739 eight or ten persons came to me in London and desired that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come; this was the rise of the UNITED SOCIETY." This," he tells us, was soon after the consecration of the Foundry.' Twelve came the first night, forty the next, and soon after a hundred.17 Though he continued in fraternal relations with the Moravians till the separation of July 20, 1740, the society formed the preceding year was organized and controlled by himself, and has continued in unbroken succession down to our day.18 The date of its origin was celebrated with 66 16 At a later period Charles Wesley was deterred from joining the Moravians, and adopting their English Quietism, only by the strenuous remonstrances of his brother and Lady Huntingdon. Jackson attempts to disprove the fact, but Smith successfully corrects him. Jackson's Charles Wesley, chap. 8: Smith's Hist. of Methodism, II, 2. 17 Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, chap. 7. 18 Dr. Smith (History of Wesleyan Methodism, II. 2,) argues in favor of the date of the separation from the Moravians in 1740. His reasons do not, however, justify such a deviation from the acknowledged opinion of centenary solemnities by all the Methodist communities of the world in 1839. It was signalized not only by the organization of the Society, and by the opening of the Foundry for worship, but by the erection at Bristol of the first Methodist chapel, by the organization of "Bands” in that city, and by the publication by the Wesleys of their "Hymns and Sacred Poems," the beginning of that Method istic psalmody which has since been of inestimable service to the denomination wherever it has extended.19 The purely accidental, or, rather, providential manner in which Methodism had reached this stage of its progress, is too obvious to need much remark. Excluded from the churches, and with "Bands" of converted men in London, Bristol, and Kingswood under his care, Wesley was compelled to provide places for their assemblies and regulations for their government. He did so only as the necessity was thrust upon him, not knowing what result would follow. Neither at this period, nor indeed at any subsequent time, did he think of deviating from the national Church. It was the practical and summary philosophy of his life to do the duty nearest to him, assured that all others would come in their due order. His least partial biographer has justly said, that whither his plans at this time were to lead he knew not, nor what consistence the societies he was collecting would take, nor where he was to find laborers as he enlarged his oper There can hardly be a dis- all Methodist bodies throughout the world. pute respecting the real epoch of Methodism. not be made, however, respecting the locality of its origin. "Bands' were formed by Wesley, and the "New Room," or chapel, was commenced at Bristol, some months before the opening of the Foundry and the formation of the "Society" in London. Myles (Chronological History of the Methodists, chap. 1) says: "The first preaching-house was built in Bristol; the first which was opened was in London." The italics are his own. 19 At their return from Georgia they published a similar work, but it was less adapted to public use. The two volumes issued in 1739 spread rapidly among the new "Societies." Two editions were issued during the first year; they introduced that popular church- music which has ever since been characteristic of Methodism, and one of the most potent means of its success. ations, nor how the scheme was to derive its financial support. But these considerations troubled him not. God, he believed, had appointed it, and God would always provide means for His own ends.20 English Methodist writers have deemed it desirable to defend him against imputations of disregard for the authority and "order" of the national Church. The task is not difficult, as will be seen in the course of our narrative; but it may hereafter be a more difficult one to defend him, before the rest of the Christian world, for having been so deferential to a hierarchy whose moral condition at the time he so much denounced, and whose studied policy throughout the rest of his life was to disown, if not to defeat him. 20 Southey's Life of Wesley, chap. 9. CHAPTER II. THE WESLEYS ITINERATING IN ENGLAND; WHITE FIELD ITINERATING IN AMERICA. Susanna Wesley-Her Counsels and Encouragements to her SonBeginning of the Lay Ministry- David Taylor-Mobs - Charles Wesley itinerating - Is mobbed in Wales-Whitefield itinerating in America - Effects of his Preaching in Philadelphia - Princeton College-His Reception in Boston-His triumphant Passage through the Colonies. DURING these important events Susanna Wesley was providentially still at hand, though in extreme age, to counsel and encourage her son. She had approved his field-preaching, and accompanied him to Kennington Common, where she stood by his side amid twenty thousand people.1 Her son Samuel Wesley, with whom she had resided at Westminster since the dispersion of the family from Epworth, remonstrated against her sanction of the irregular labors of his brothers; but she saw the overruling hand of God in the inevitable circumstances which compelled them to their extraordinary course. A consultation was held in her presence respecting their separation from the Fetter-lane So-. ciety, and she approved that necessary measure. She had been led, about this time, by a clearer faith, to sympathize more fully than ever with their new views of the spiritual life. John Wesley records a conversation with her on the subject, in which she remarked that till lately she had rarely heard of the present conscious forgiveness of sins, or the Witness of the Spirit, much less that it was the common privilege of true believers. "Therefore," she said, "I 1 Wesley's Journal, Anno 1739. never durst ask for it myself. But two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall, in delivering the cup to me, was pronouncing these words: 'The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee,' they struck through my heart, and I knew that God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven me all my sins." Wesley asked whether her father (Dr. Annesley) had not the same faith, and if she had not heard him preach it to others. She answered, he had it himself, and declared, a little before his death, that for more than forty years he had no darkness, no fear, no doubt at all of his being "accepted in the Beloved;" but that, nevertheless, she did not remember to have heard him preach even once explicitly upon it; whence she supposed he also looked upon it as the peculiar blessing of a few, and not as promised to all the people of God.2 Doubtless she had enjoyed before this time & genuine Christian experience; her writings incontestably prove this; her misgivings related to the degree of confidence which attends a true faith. The doctrine of Assurance, or the Witness of the Spirit, as Wesley called it, had always been admitted by the Puritan divines of both Old and New England; but, as she remarked, it had not been considered the privilege of all true believers. It was a logical consequence of the Calvinistic theology, that it should be assurance of eternal as well as of present salvation, and the perilous liabilities of such an inference rendered it a rare and almost esoteric opinion in Calvinistic Churches. Arminianism alone could therefore safely restore this precious truth as a common privilege to the Church. And herein is seen the providential necessity of Arminianism as the theological basis of the Methodistic movement; for what would Methodism have been without its most familiar doctrine, the "Witness of the Spirit" as the common right and test of Christian experience? Under the stirring events of these times the aged mother of Wesley was, after a long and faithful pilgrimage, enabled, * Journal, Sept. 3, 1739. |