INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS.

A

B

C

D

E

F.

G.

H.

I

J.

K.

L.

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y.

BALLANTYNE, ROBERTS, AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

Footnotes

[1]. The Solemn League and Covenant was a contract agreed to by the Scots, in the year 1638, for maintaining their religion free from innovation. In 1643 it was brought into England; and on February 2, of that year, it was enacted, by a joint ordinance of both Houses of Parliament, “that the League and Covenant should be solemnly taken and subscribed, in all places throughout the kingdom of England and dominion of Wales, by all persons above the age of eighteen.” Accordingly, it was signed by most of the members of the two houses of legislature, by all the principal officers of the rebel army, by all the Divines of the Assembly then sitting at Westminster, and by a large number of the people in general. Two of the principal vows were—1. That the party taking and subscribing the Covenant would endeavour to “bring the Churches of God in all the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, and form of church government, as the Directory prescribes for worship and catechising.” And, 2. That he would “endeavour, without respect of persons, to extirpate Popery and Prelacy—that is to say, church government by archbishops and bishops.”

[2]. And yet, perhaps this is hardly true. A most pitiful picture might be drawn of the clergymen who, twenty years previously, had been expelled from the same churches by the ipse dixit of Oliver Cromwell, whom Bishop Hackett represents as regarding neither parliaments nor patents—neither canons nor scriptures—“in comparison of some new light shining in the lantern of his own head.” Men of learning and religion were in many instances succeeded by “mere rhapsodists and ramblers,” “cried up as rare soul-saving preachers.” Not a few venerable and worthy ministers, expelled by the rough hand of violence, “lingered out their lives, laden and almost oppressed, worried, and worn out with fears, anxieties, necessities, rude affronts, and remediless afflictions.” A great deal may be said on both sides of the question.

[3]. Baxter estimates the number of the ejected and deprived as from 1800 to 2000. Calamy gives it at 2400. A catalogue in Dr Williams’s library gives 2257. A manuscript, by Oliver Heywood, gives 2500.

[4]. Wesley’s Works, vol. ii. p. 297.

[5]. Ibid., vol. xi. p. 37.

[6]. Gent. Mag., 1785, p. 427.

[7]. Ibid.

[8]. Wesley’s History of England, vol. iii. p. 230.

[9]. Gent. Mag., 1785, p. 487.

[10]. It will be seen, from the above dates, that two days only elapsed between the issuing of the warrant against John Wesley and the commencement of the assizes. No wonder that he was not prepared for trial.

[11]. Calamy says Wesley was arrested in the beginning of 1662.

[12]. Sandford’s Joseph Alleine, &c.

[13]. Mr Dolling became master of Dorchester School in 1664, and held the office until 1675. He was LL.B of Wadham College, Oxford; and translated “The Whole Duty of Man” into Latin. The work, a copy of which is in the Dorchester School Library, was licensed in 1678.—Hutchin’s History of Dorsetshire.

[14]. Dryden’s Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. notes, p. 54. 1760.

[15]. Macaulay.

[16]. Wesley’s Letter from a Country Divine. Third edit. London: 1706.

[17]. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1790, p. 63, &c.

[18]. The £10 exhibition was one of upwards of twenty more, left by Dr G. for the benefit of young scholars designed to be ministers.

[19]. S. Wesley’s Letter from a Country Divine. Third edit. 1706.

[20]. For the titles of the poems, see [Appendix A].

[21]. Edition 1729.

[22]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[23]. Anthony Wood.

[24]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p. 7.

[25]. Knight’s History of England.

[26]. See Ellis’s Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 4.

[27]. I have examined a large number of pamphlets published at this period, hoping to find the “first defence” of Samuel Wesley. A list of some of these will be found in [Appendix B]. I incline to think that Mr Wesley’s is in that list, but I am not sure.—L. T.

[28]. Ency. Brit., “Great Britain.”

[29]. John Wesley says of him:—“He was in every respect a consummate hypocrite, equally void of piety, mercy, honesty, and gratitude. Under a cover of gentleness he was cruel and revengeful to a high degree. He was abandoned to all vices. A worse man never sat on the English throne.”—Wesley’s History of England, vol. iii., p. 316.

[30]. Macaulay.

[31]. Knight’s Pictorial History

[32]. Baxter’s Life and Times.

[33]. Macaulay.

[34]. Ibid.

[35]. Poems by S. Wesley, jun., London, 1736.

[36]. Vol. ii., p. 60.

[37]. The following is John Wesley’s character of King James: “He appears to have been proud, haughty, vindictive, cruel, and unrelenting; and though he approved himself an obedient subject, he certainly became one of the most intolerable sovereigns that ever reigned over a free people. He could have no true religion, at least while in England, as he made no conscience at all of adultery. He is said afterwards to have been a new man. Probably the loss of his crown was the saving of his soul.”—Wesley’s History of England, vol. iii., p. 348.

[38]. About the year 1720, Samuel Annesley, strangely enough, employed his brother-in-law, Samuel Wesley, to act as his agent in England; and the result was a serious quarrel. Annesley charged him with having received sums of money for which he had never accounted, and for having laid out moneys contrary to explicit orders. Mrs Wesley took up the matter, and, in a long letter, defended her husband against the attacks of her brother. She says, Mr Wesley has orders for the money laid out; and that, though his expenses had been great, they were honest. Mr Wesley, in attending to Mr Annesley’s business, had been compelled to be much from home, and, therefore, had been compelled to hire a curate to supply his place. Besides, Annesley had promised him a commission for business done on his account during the three years Wesley sat in Convocation, but the commission had not been paid. Mrs Wesley proposed to refer all their disputes to arbitration; and says, that if Mr Wesley is found to be in Mr Annesley’s debt, both she and her husband are quite willing for him to sequester the Epworth living in payment. Annesley had alleged that the Epworth living was worth £300 a-year, and that, on account of the difference in the cost of maintenance, this was equal to a living of £ 1000 a-year in London and its immediate neighbourhood. Mrs Wesley says, “it may full as truly be said that the Epworth living is £10,000 as £300; and even were it £300, there is no such difference in the price of provision as to justify” Annesley’s computation. In fact, the living did not yield them, in clear money, more than £130 a-year; and, all things considered, it was quite as costly to live at Epworth as it was to live in London. Mrs Wesley then declares that her husband challenges the whole world to prove him a knave; that she conceals the wants of her family from him as much as possible, because, if he were made acquainted with each particular, he would hazard his health, perhaps his life, in riding to borrow money, rather than his wife and his children should be so distressed. She adds—“He hath not deceived you; and, to say the truth, among all his wants sincerity is none. I have not reason to complain of his being deceitful, but have often blamed him for speaking his mind too freely. You think him too zealous for the party he fancies in the right, and that he has unluckily to do with the opposite faction. Mr Wesley is not factious. He is zealous in a good cause, as every one ought to be; but the furthest from being a party man of any man in the world.” The whole of this very long and painfully-interesting letter may be read in the Wesleyan Times for January 15, 1866.

[39]. History of the County of Lincoln.

[40]. Mr Kirk says the living of South Ormsby now brings in more than five times that amount.

[41]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iv. p. 69.

[42]. Dryden’s Mis. Works, vol. i., notes, p. 67, 1760.

[43]. It has been said that Matthew Wesley was a member of the Athenian Society; but, after a careful examination of the evidence alleged in proof of this, I strongly doubt it.

[44]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iv. p. 26–7.

[45]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 260. 2d Edition.

[46]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 418.

[47]. In Notes to his Life of Christ, p. 221.

[48]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 178.

[49]. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 111.

[50]. Ibid., vol. i. p. 58.

[51]. Athenian Oracle, vol. ii. p. 101.

[52]. Ibid., vol. iii. p. 531.

[53]. Ibid., p. 260.

[54]. Ibid., p. 531.

[55]. Ibid., vol. iv. p. 140.

[56]. Ibid., vol. i. p. 455.

[57]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 455.

[58]. Ibid.

[59]. Ibid., p. 456.

[60]. Ibid., vol. iii. p. 531.

[61]. Ibid., p. 460.

[62]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 3.

[63]. Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 165.

[64]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iii. p. 382.

[65]. Ibid., p. 97.

[66]. Ibid., p. 76.

[67]. Ibid., vol. iv. p. 76.

[68]. Ibid., p. 67–73.

[69]. The titles of these works will be found in [Appendix C].

[70]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iv. p. 56.

[71]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[72]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iv. p. 60, 61.

[73]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[74]. Athenian Oracle, vol. iv. p. 65.

[75]. The edition of the “Dunciad” in which Wesley appeared was a surreptitious one. The following were the lines printed:—

“How all the suffering brotherhood retire,

And ’scape the martyrdom of jakes and fire;

A Gothic library of Greece and Rome,

Well purged; and worthy Wesley, Watts, and Brome.”

The author of “The Life and Times of Dr Isaac Watts” affirms that Watts remonstrated with Pope, and, in consequence, his name was deprived of the undesirable distinction. He also adds, that “the elder Wesley’s name was probably omitted owing to the interposition of his son Samuel, who corresponded with Pope, and was highly esteemed by him,” (Watts’ Life, p. 436.) There may be some truth in this. In an edition of the “Dunciad” now lying before us, and published in 1729, the last line is printed—

“Well purged, and worthy Withers, Quarles, and Blome.”

And to this is appended the following note:—“It was printed in the surreptitious editions, ‘W—ly, W—s,’ who were persons eminent for good life; the one writ the ‘Life of Christ’ in verse; the other some valuable pieces in the lyric kind on pious subjects. The line is here restored according to its original.”

[76]. Wesley’s Defence of his Letter on Education of Dissenters.

[77]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[78]. Ibid.

[79]. William tried to put down the practice, and yet, as late as Lent, in 1712, Dr Johnson was “touched” by Queen Anne.

[80]. Macaulay.

[81]. Knight’s History of England.

[82]. Knight’s History of England, and Macaulay’s History.

[83]. See Lathbury’s History of Convocation.

[84]. Lathbury’s History of Convocation, and Knight’s History of England.

[85]. Macaulay.

[86]. Wesley’s Works, vol. xiv., p. 342.

[87]. Gent. Mag., 1785, p. 247.

[88]. Wesley’s History of England, vol. iii. p. 221.

[89]. The reader will find another article, even more explicit, in the Athenian Oracle, vol. iii. p. 511.

[90]. Macaulay.

[91]. Knight’s History of England.

[92]. Macaulay.

[93]. In the fourth volume of the Athenian Oracle Wesley vindicates his charges against the Quakers by quotations from their writings, and sums up the matter thus:—“Quakerism is a compendium of all heresies, some of which we shall name—Pharisees, Sadducees, Ebionites, Gnostics, Eucratites, Marcionites, Cainites, Manichees, Jacobites, Acephalae, Tritheites, Adamites, Helcecaites, Marcocites, Colorbalites, Sabellians, Samosatenians, Macedonians, Arians, Donatists, Priscillians—cum multis aliis,” (p. 366.)

[94]. Macaulay.

[95]. Macaulay.

[96]. Knight’s History of England.

[97]. Wesley’s History of England, vol. iv., p. 41.—Dr Adam Clarke says that Samuel Wesley was one of King William’s chaplains, but on what authority I know not.

[98]. Wesley’s Answer to Palmer.

[99]. Wesley’s Life of Christ.

[100]. Thus the name is spelt in the letter; but there can be no doubt that Wesley is meant.

[101]. Birche’s Life of Tillotson.

[102]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[103]. Dryden’s Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. Notes, p. 60, 1760.

[104]. Wesley’s Works, vol. xii. p. 165.

[105]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[106]. Stonehouse’s History of Axholme.

[107]. See Clarke’s Wesley Family. Note, vol. ii. p. 136.

[108]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 75.

[109]. Arminian Magazine, 1778, p. 718.

[110]. See C. Wesley’s Journal.

[111]. Arminian Magazine, 1778, p. 235.

[112]. As a specimen of Mehetabel’s wit, we subjoin the following riddle respecting a pen, published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1734, and subscribed by her usual signature in that periodical, “Sylvius:”—

“A RIDDLE.

“I am an implement that’s common,

Much occupied by man and woman;

Not very thick, nor very long,

Yet tolerably stiff and strong.

If inches twelve may give content,

That measures much about my stent.

Sometimes I’m only used for pleasure,

And then I’m jaded out of measure;

If a young, vigorous bard employs me,

Egad, e’en to the stumps he tries me;

A parson to get one in ten

In private plies me now and then;

The lawyer, and the doctor too,

For fees will wear me black and blue.

I have a dribbling at the nose,

Which leaves a stain where’er it goes,

And yet the fairest nymph will use me,

The queen herself will not refuse me.

I’m used by numbers of all arts,

Who would be reckon’d men of parts;

And none esteems a lady polish’d

Who has not often me demolish’d;

And let me tell you, by the by,

A minute’s labour drains me dry;

I’m now exhausted, so have done;

Now who, or what I am make known.”

[113]. See Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[114]. Timothy Rogers was a Nonconformist preacher; a good man, to whom Samuel Wesley, in a subsequent letter, acknowledges himself greatly indebted. Besides his voluminous funeral sermon for Mrs Dunton, he published a book, entitled, “Fall not out by the Way; or, A Persuasion to a Friendly Correspondence between the Conformists and Nonconformists.” Judging from the funeral sermon now before us, he was a man of great vivacity, wit, and mental vigour. He was also imbued with a thoroughly catholic and Christian spirit. “The way to agreement of all parties,” he writes, “is not to bring men to be of one opinion, but to be of one mind; which we may be, not by thinking the same things, but by thinking well one of another, endeavouring to preserve charity as carefully as to preserve truth. Carnal zeal may put us on disputing, but true zeal will put us upon prayer. For my part, I had rather be a quiet ploughman than a fiery philosopher.”

[115]. This indicates that Samuel Wesley did not remove to Epworth until the spring, or early summer of 1697.

[116]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[117]. Written by Defoe.

[118]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[119]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[120]. Chadwick’s Life of Defoe, p. 214.

[121]. Wesley’s Works, vol. vi., p. 140.

[122]. Bishop Burnet states that there had formerly been societies of this description both among the Puritans and Dissenters; but the societies which now sprung up belonged to the Established Church. He adds, they were chiefly conducted by Dr Beveridge and Dr Horneck. Some disliked them, and were afraid they might give birth to new factions; but wiser and better men thought it was not fit to check a spirit of devotion at such a time. After the Revolution, these societies became more numerous; and, by means of their collections, maintained clergymen to read prayers at so many places, and at so many different hours, that devout persons might avail themselves of the privilege of joining in sacred worship at every hour of the day. There were constant sacraments in many churches every Sabbath; and there were greater numbers present at both prayers and sacraments than had been observed in the memory of man. The societies began to inform the magistrates of swearers, drunkards, Sabbath-breakers, and adulterers; and, because of this, they were called Societies of Reformation. Some of the magistrates encouraged them, but others treated them roughly. Some of the societies set themselves to raise charity schools; others printed books, and distributed them over the nation; and were, therefore, called societies for propagating Christian knowledge. In many places of the nation the clergy met together to confer about matters of religion and learning. And, last of all, a corporation was created by King William for propagating the Gospel among infidels, and for settling schools in our plantations.—Burnet’s History of his own Time, 1st edition, vol. ii. p. 318.

[123]. For most of these facts, and for many that follow, the writer is indebted to “An Account of the Rise and Progress of the Religious Societies in the City of London, &c., and of their endeavours for Reformation of Manners,” by Josiah Woodward, D.D. The sixth edition. London, 1744.

[124]. This article was written about 1691, and probably by Samuel Wesley.

[125]. We have before us a pamphlet with the following title:—“Proposals for a National Reformation of Manners, Humbly Offered to the Consideration of our Magistrates and Clergy. Published by the Society for Reformation. London: Printed for John Dunton, 1694.” In the preface it is stated, that “Atheism and profaneness never got such an ascendancy as at this day. A thick gloominess hath overspread our horizon, and our light looks like the evening of the world.” After dwelling on the sins of the nation, it is recommended—1. “That there be a solemn fast, without any appearance of ornament among us, from the highest to the lowest.” 2. “That care be taken to establish justice and judgment unto the poor and needy, the destitute, and the oppressed.” 3. “That there be a yearly allowance for defraying the necessary expenses of carrying on this work of Reformation of Manners.” 4. “That the King and Queen be supplicated to suppress play-houses.” 5. “That great care be taken to put a difference between the clean and unclean in the visible Church, and not to admit all sorts of loose professors to the Holy Communion.”

[126]. Meth. Mag., 1814, p. 729.

[127]. Calamy says: “The foundation of the Society for Reformation of Manners was laid in 1692; and the Dissenters were, from the first, as ready to encourage and assist in it as any.”—Calamy’s Life and Times.

[128]. See Wesley’s Works, vol. vi. p. 145.

[129]. The person who was the principal means of resuscitating the Society for the Reformation of Manners was W. Welsh; but John Wesley was a personal friend of W. Welsh, and probably gave him counsel and encouragement.—See Wesley’s Journal, February 2, 1766.

[130]. Wesley’s Works, vol. vi. p. 140.

[131]. Wesley’s Journal, Nov. 4, 1764.

[132]. Wesley’s Works, vol. iii. p. 230, and vol. vi. p. 157.

[133]. Wesley’s Works, vol. viii. p. 334.

[134]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i. p. 40.

[135]. Ibid., Vol. i. p. 84.

[136]. Ibid., p. 149.

[137]. Ibid., p. 153.

[138]. Ibid., p. 174.

[139]. Ibid., p. 176.

[140]. Ibid., p. 192.

[141]. Ibid., p. 211.

[142]. Ibid., p. 214.

[143]. Ibid., p. 254.

[144]. Ibid., p. 351.

[145]. Wesley’s Works, vol. viii. p. 240.

[146]. Ibid., p. 299.

[147]. Ibid., p. 259.

[148]. Meaning his banker.

[149]. Newcombe’s Life of Sharpe.

[150]. Wesley’s Works, vol. vi. p. 69.

[151]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[152]. Methodist Mag., 1784, p. 606.

[153]. Kirk’s Mother of the Wesleys.

[154]. Three years previous to this, Thomas Firmin, a famous citizen of London, had died; a man held in high esteem for his charities of all sorts, private and public. Firmin, in early life, sat under the ministry of John Goodwin, but was afterwards converted to Socinianism by John Biddle, already mentioned in this history. Firmin was a man of great wealth, and promoted the printing of books against the Trinity, and distributed them freely over the nation, to all who would accept of them. The result was, the greatest mysteries in religion became the common topic of discourse, and were treated as the contrivances of priests to bring the world into blind submission to their authority. This raised a great outcry against Socinianism; and, as Tillotson and some of the bishops had lived in great friendship with Mr Firmin, (because of his charitable temper, which they thought it became them to encourage,) books like “Essays on the Balance of Power,” began to be put in circulation—(See Burnet’s History of His Own Time. 1st Edit., vol. ii. p. 212.)

[155]. Macaulay writes:—“Queen Anne had no will, no judgment, no conscience, but those of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. To them she had sacrificed affections, prejudices, habits, interests. In obedience to them, she had joined in the conspiracy against her father. She had fled from Whitehall in the depth of winter, through ice and mire, to a hackney coach. She had taken refuge in the rebel camp. She had consented to yield her place in the order of succession to the Prince of Orange. While a large party was disposed to make her an idol, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough regarded her merely as their puppet, and no person, who had a natural interest in Anne, could observe, without uneasiness, the strange infatuation which made her the slave of an imperious and reckless termagant.”

[156]. Knight’s History of England.

[157]. Life of Queen Anne, London, 1721.

[158]. Life of Queen Anne.

[159]. Wesley’s History of England.

[160]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[161]. This is taken from Clarke’s Wesley Family; but it seems to be a mistake to say that the letter consisted of 15 pages. The third edition, published by Clavel, in 1706, is now before us, and consists of only 8 pages 4to.

[162]. James II.

[163]. Calamy’s Life and Times.

[164]. Burnet, in his History of His Own Time, (folio ed., vol. ii. p. 247,) mentions some other important facts belonging to this period. He says, the Dissenters had quarrels and disputes among themselves. The Independents were raising the old Antinomian tenets, and the Presbyterians were accusing the Baptists of giddiness. One Asgil, a member of Parliament, published a book to prove that since believers recovered in Christ all that they lost in Adam, they are now rendered immortal by Christ, and not liable to death. George Keith, who, for thirty-six years, had been the most learned man among the Quakers, now discovered that the Quakers were Deists, and treated the Christian religion as allegorical; upon which he opened a new meeting to convince the Quakers of their errors; and, having failed in doing so, he was reconciled to the Established Church, and entered into holy orders. The clergy also were much divided. Those who were now called the High-Church party, had all along expressed a coldness to the present settlement, and now began to complain about the grievances of the clergy, and the danger the Church was in. Atterbury, who by his great ability and eloquence, had become one of their leaders, attacked the supremacy of the crown in ecclesiastical affairs, and the hot men of the clergy readily entertained his notions.

[165]. Dunton’s Life and Errors.

[166]. History of Dissenting Churches in London, by Wilson.

[167]. Inquiry into Occasional Conformity, by Defoe.

[168]. Sacheverell’s Sermon, pp. 6, 7.

[169]. Defoe’s Dissenters’ Answer to the High Church Challenge.

[170]. Defoe’s Letter to John Howe.

[171]. Defoe’s Inquiry into Occasional Conformity.

[172]. Ibid.

[173]. Defoe’s Dissenter Misrepresented.

[174]. Defoe’s Challenge of Peace.

[175]. Chadwick’s Life of Defoe, p. 144.

[176]. Defoe’s Mock Mourners.

[177]. Inquiry into Occasional Conformity.

[178]. Defoe’s Challenge of Peace.

[179]. Defoe’s Dissenters’ Answer.

[180]. Kirk’s Mother of the Wesleys, p. 89, 90.

[181]. Wesley’s History of England.

[182]. Whitehead’s Life of John and Charles Wesley.

[183]. Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 391.

[184]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 667.

[185]. Pious Communicant, p. 189–193.

[186]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 50.

[187]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 53.

[188]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 251.

[189]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 253.

[190]. Wesley’s Reply, p. 154.

[191]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 575.

[192]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 576.

[193]. This is taken from Clarke’s Wesley Family, but it is not correct; for, in her twenty-fourth year, she was at Epworth, where she was courted by her father’s curate, John Romley; and, at Christmas, 1723, when the Romley courtship was broken off, her father removed her to a situation in the family of Mr Grantham, of Kelstern.—See original letter in Wesleyan Times, Jan. 29, 1866.

[194]. Westminster Magazine, 1774.

[195]. See also the Journals of J. and C. Wesley; also, Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[196]. Whitehead’s Life of J. and C. Wesley, vol. i. p. 75.

[197]. Journal, vol. ii. p. 272.

[198]. C. Wesley’s Life, vol. ii. p. 493.

[199]. Methodist Magazine, 1846, p. 1087.

[200]. C. Wesley’s Life, vol. ii., p. 495.

[201]. Moore’s Life of J. Wesley, vol. i. p. 112.

[202]. Stonehouse’s History of Axholme.

[203]. Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 148.

[204]. Moore’s Life of J. Wesley, vol. i. p. 565.

[205]. Life of Dr Clarke, by a member of his family, vol. ii. p. 402.

[206]. Burnet’s History, vol. ii. p. 542.

[207]. Wesley’s History of England, vol. iv. p. 75.

[208]. It is entitled, “The Speech of Henry Sacheverell, D.D., upon his impeachment at the bar of the House of Lords, in Westminster Hall, March 7, 1710. London, 1710.” It was published by Sacheverell himself, and is a small octavo of twenty-four pages.

[209]. Complete History of the Affair of Dr Sacheverell. London, 1711.

[210]. Wesley’s History of England, vol. iv. p. 76.

[211]. Life of Queen Anne; also, Lathbury’s History of Convocation.

[212]. At this time, says Bishop Burnet, there appeared an inclination in many of the clergy to a nearer approach to the Church of Rome. Hicks, who was now at the head of the Jacobite party, had, in several books, promoted the notion that there was a proper sacrifice made in the eucharist. He also openly condemned the supremacy of the crown in ecclesiastical affairs, and the method in which the Reformation was carried. One Brett preached a sermon, in several of the pulpits of London, which he afterwards printed, in which he said no repentance could serve without priestly absolution, and affirmed that the priest was vested with the same power of pardoning that our Saviour himself had. Another conceit was the invalidity of lay baptism, and that, as dissenting teachers were laymen, they and their congregations ought to be rebaptized. Dodwell left all who died without the sacraments to the uncovenanted mercies of God; and maintained that none had a right to give the sacraments except the apostles, and, after them, bishops and priests ordained by them. The bishops thought it necessary to put a stop to such doctrines, and agreed to a declaration against the irregularity of all baptism by persons not in holy orders; but yet allowing that, according to the practice of the primitive Church, and the constant usage of the Church of England, no baptism ought to be reiterated. Archbishop Sharpe (the friend of Samuel Wesley) refused to sign the declaration, pretending that it would encourage irregular baptisms. The Archbishop of Canterbury, with most of the bishops of his province, submitted the matter to the convocation. It was agreed to in the Upper House, but the Lower House refused even to consider it, because it would encourage those who struck at the dignity of the priesthood. This was all that passed in the convocation of 1712.—(Burnet’s History of His Own Times, 1st edit., vol. ii. p. 605.)

[213]. Methodist Magazine, 1781, p. 313.

[214]. Methodist Magazine, 1781, p. 313.

[215]. Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, p. 54.

[216]. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1788.

[217]. Ibid., 1785, p. 411.

[218]. Methodist Magazine, 1784, p. 608.

[219]. Ibid., p. 654.

[220]. Methodist Magazine, 1784, p. 656.

[221]. Priestly, p. 139.

[222]. Ibid., p. 140.

[223]. See Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 286.

[224]. Wesleyan Times, March 7, 1864.

[225]. Wesley Family.

[226]. Methodist Magazine, 1784, p. 606.

[227]. Priestley’s preface to Original Letters by John Wesley, &c., p. 14.

[228]. Wilberforce’s Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 390.

[229]. Southey’s Life of Wesley.

[230]. Priestley, p. 138.

[231]. Priestley’s Letters, p. 135.

[232]. Wesley’s Works, vol. xiv. p. 276.

[233]. Wesley’s Works, vol. iii. p. 108.

[234]. Southey’s Life of Wesley.

[235]. Knight’s History of England.

[236]. Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 327, and Everett’s Methodism in Sheffield, p. 7.

[237]. Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes.

[238]. Clarke’s Wesley Family, and Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 548.

[239]. Nicholl’s Ibid.

[240]. Chambers’s Biographical Dictionary.

[241]. Clarke’s Wesley Family and Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 110.

[242]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i. p. 354.

[243]. Ibid., p. 384.

[244]. Ibid., p. 465.

[245]. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 99.

[246]. Ibid., vol. viii. p. 29.

[247]. Wesley’s Works, vol. ii. p. 221.

[248]. Ibid., vol. xii. p. 6.

[249]. Ibid., p. 22.

[250]. Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 183.

[251]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i. p. 356.

[252]. Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 185.

[253]. Ibid.

[254]. Methodist Magazine, 1778, p. 185.

[255]. Ibid., 1845, p. 151.

[256]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[257]. Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 151.

[258]. Stonehouse’s History of the Isle of Axholme.

[259]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[260]. The rector of Epworth was under considerable obligations to Lord Oxford, as appears from the dedication of his son Samuel’s poems to that nobleman. He writes:—“Neither obscurity of condition, nor distance of place, could prevent your lordship from distinguishing and encouraging a worthy clergyman, my father, in his indefatigable researches after truth, and his unfashionable studies in divinity; which, perhaps, might have been left unfinished without that encouragement.”—Poems on Several Occasions, by S. Wesley, London, 1736.

[261]. Priestley’s Original Letters, p. 56.

[262]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[263]. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1785, p. 246.

[264]. Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes.

[265]. In reality, it was much more than this.

[266]. Nicholl’s Literary Anecdotes.

[267]. The editor of Dr Clarke’s Wesley Family has thrown out the hint that it is not improbable that the “Clergyman’s Vade Mecum” was written by Samuel Wesley; but I can find no evidence of this. The third edition of this work, published, in 2 vols., in 1709, is now before me. The full title of the first volume is, “The Clergyman’s Vade Mecum; or, an Account of the Ancient and Present Church of England; the Duties and Rights of the Clergy, and of their Privileges and Hardships; containing full Directions relating to Ordination, Institution, Induction, and most of the Difficulties which they commonly meet with in the Discharge of their Office.” The title of the second volume is, “The Clergyman’s Vade Mecum, Part II.; containing the Canonical Codes of the Primitive, Universal, Eastern, and Western Church, down to the year of our Lord 787. Done from the Original Greek and Latin; omitting no Canon, Decree, or any part of them that is curious or instructive. With explanatory Notes, a large Index, and a Preface showing the usefulness of the work; with some Reflections on Moderate Nonconformity, and the Rights of the Church.”

[268]. In an article in the Athenian Oracle, vol. i. p. 459, on the use of extempore prayer, Samuel Wesley seems to be in favour of a medium between the use of extempore prayer and a form of prayer. This he calls “premeditated prayer;” that is, premeditated not in reference to words but things. At the same time he says—“There are very few who have command of words enough to express themselves as they ought on such an occasion, and therefore a form is the safe way.”

[269]. Methodist Magazine, 1798, p. 35.

[270]. Mr Kirk says the living of Wroot is now worth £400 a year with residence.

[271]. Stonehouse’s History of Axholme.

[272]. Ibid.

[273]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[274]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 149.

[275]. Probably Dr Morley, Rector of Lincoln College. John Wesley, at this time, was embarrassed for want of money. Three weeks before, his father had sent him £5, and had promised further kindness. (MS. letter; see also Wesley’s Works, vol. xii. p. 16.)

[276]. John Wesley was now thinking of entering into deacon’s orders. He was ordained deacon in the month of September following.

[277]. This letter is copied from a manuscript copy of the original, in the hand-writing of John Wesley. Part of it was published in the Arminian Magazine, for 1778, p. 29; and also in Coke and Moore’s Life of Wesley, p. 47; but the reader will perceive, that, in the letter as now given, there are several interesting facts and statements[statements], omitted in both the works just mentioned.

[278]. The letter from which this is taken, I believe, has never been published.

[279]. MS. letter.

[280]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 134.

[281]. MS. letter.

[282]. Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 22; also Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 296.

[283]. MS. letter.

[284]. His right hand was already palsied.

[285]. MS. letter.

[286]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 139.

[287]. MS. letter.

[288]. Probably Lewis Fenton. See Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 149.

[289]. MS. letter.

[290]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[291]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[292]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[293]. Charles had been idle. He says, “My first year at college I lost in diversions; the next I set myself to study.”—Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 153.

[294]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[295]. Mr Morgan.

[296]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i. p. 8.

[297]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 171.

[298]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[299]. The “Testimonia Arianorum,” and the Appendix, mentioned in this letter, were not published. It is evident that Samuel Wesley, jun., had the completion of the “Dissertations on the Book of Job.”

[300]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[301]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[302]. Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 309.

[303]. Clarke’s Wesley Family, vol. ii. p. 256.

[304]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[305]. Ibid.

[306]. Wesley Family.

[307]. See Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. pp. 174–210.

[308]. See Original Letters, published by Priestley, pp. 20–48.

[309]. Original Letters, published by Priestley, p. 48.

[310]. Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 38.

[311]. Wesley Family.

[312]. Wesley Family.

[313]. Oglethorpe arrived on the 16th of June.

[314]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[315]. General Oglethorpe subscribed for nine copies of the “Dissertations on the Book of Job,” a greater number than was subscribed for by any other person.

[316]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[317]. Methodist Magazine, 1824, p. 810.

[318]. Wesley Family.

[319]. Wesley Family.

[320]. Wesley Family.

[321]. Methodist Magazine, 1845, p. 151.

[322]. Wesley Family.

[323]. Wesley Family, vol. ii. p. 175.

[324]. Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 234.

[325]. His son-in-law, who was a doctor at Epworth.

[326]. Samuel Wesley, jun., wrote to his brother John the day after he received this letter from his father; and a sharp correspondence was carried on between the two brothers, until the 4th of March 1735, which was within two months of their father’s death. John, however, at that time, remained as firmly convinced as ever that he could serve God and his Church better at Oxford than he could if he removed to Epworth.—Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 231.

[327]. This was the rich man who married Sukey Wesley, and whom Mrs Wesley spoke of as being little inferior to the apostate angels in wickedness.

[328]. This again shows the high importance which Samuel Wesley attached to the mission in Georgia; and is proof sufficient that had he been alive, the going of his two sons, John and Charles to that colony, would have had his hearty approval.

[329]. The Duke of Newcastle was at this time Secretary of State, and had probably been requested to obtain the consent of Queen Caroline to allow Mr Wesley to dedicate to her his “Dissertations on the Book of Job.”

[330]. Wesley Family.

[331]. Wesley Family.

[332]. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 324.

[333]. C. Wesley’s Journal, vol. i. p. 59.

[334]. “This is a sly hit at Matthew Wesley, who is supposed to have been a Dissenter, and who was thought by some to be indifferent to all forms of religion.”—See Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 86.

[335]. This shaft seems to be levelled against the Duke of Newcastle, or perhaps Sir Robert Walpole.

[336]. The value of the Epworth living, during the time that Mr Wesley held it, was never more than £200 per annum. Mr Kirk states that the same living is now worth £952 per annum.

[337]. Wesley Family, vol. i. p. 239.

[338]. Wesley Family.

[339]. Wesley Family.

[340]. “This letter was written during a controversy with Secker, respecting the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit.”—Wesley’s Works, vol. xii. p. 93.

[341]. Wesley’s Works, vol. vii. p. 475.

[342]. From this, good old Henry Moore deduced the inference that he now, for the first time, received the witness of the Spirit; and that, until now, “this good man had laboured in the fear of God through a long legal night of nearly seventy years.” Absurd nonsense!

[343]. Strange words these, and gloriously fulfilled.

[344]. Another remarkable utterance, remarkably fulfilled.

[345]. Original Letters, published by Priestley, p. 55.

[346]. The following appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1735:—“Died, April 25, at Epworth, in Lincolnshire, the Rev. Mr Samuel Wesley, M.A., rector of that parish, a person of singular parts, piety, and learning; author of several poetical and controversial pieces. He had for some years been composing a critical ‘Dissertation on the Book of Job,’ which he has left unfinished, and almost printed. He proved, ever since his minority, a most zealous asserter of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.”

[347]. Wesley Family.

[348]. Some writers have been disposed to think that this poem was at least, in part, the production of Mehetabel Wesley, but John Wesley always declared that it was written by his father.—Moore’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 48.

[349]. Wesley Family.

[350]. Wesleyan Times for March 28, 1864.

[351]. Wesley’s Works, vol. xii. pp. 231, 232.

[352]. Ibid., vol. viii. p. 296.

[353]. Ibid., p. 312.

[354]. Whitehead’s Life of Wesley, vol. i. pp. 21 and 32.

[355]. This is true only in part. Some of the wits and critics, as Garth, ridiculed Wesley; but others very highly extolled him.

[356]. Hampson’s Life of Wesley, vol. i.

[357]. We doubt the correctness of the statement that Wesley “was of a short stature.” The likeness referred to, of which the portrait in this volume is a faithful copy, does not convey this idea.

[358]. Once more we protest against this. What were High Church principles and politics? Bishop Burnet, who flourished at the time when the names of High Church and Low Church were first introduced, shall answer. He writes, (History of Own Times, vol. ii. p. 347:)—“All that treated the Dissenters with temper and moderation, and were for residing constantly at their cures, and for labouring diligently in them; that expressed a zeal against the Prince of Wales, and for the Revolution; that wished well to the present war, and to the alliance against France, were called Low Churchmen.” If such was a Low Churchman, of course, a High Churchman was just the opposite. Who, in the face of this, will pretend to say that Samuel Wesley was “of High Church principles, and High Church politics?”

[359]. Clarke’s Wesley Family.

[360]. Wesley’s Works, vol. i., p 356.

[361]. Original Letters, published by Priestley, p. 40.

Transcriber’s Note

On p. [126], there is a quotation from Macualay which is an abridgement of the original, including a passage from a footnote, which resulted in a confusion of quotation and embedded quotation marks. These have been sorted out.

On pp. [144–145], there is a series of citations from the Athenian Oracle, which are sometimes paraphrased or elided. It seems the printer had no firm grasp on the boundaries of the various citations. An apparently spurious opening quotation mark has been removed on p. [145].

On p. [200], in the recounting of Mr Wesley’s children, several birthdates are given in the wrong century (1794 and 1795, rather than one hundred years earlier).

There was no footnote marker for was is now footnote [336] on p. [441]. One was placed where it seemed most pertinent.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.

[24.26]thou art an old knave[.]Restored.
[62.31]became the p[r]atronessesRemoved.
[89.22]and inevitably lo[o]se everythingRemoved.
[93.3]but when James ignominously fledInserted.
[106.34]At F[e/a]versham he embarkedReplaced.
[136.24]a tincture of e[u/n]thusiasmInverted.
[144.34]or by damning him undeservedly.[”]Added.
[145.2]the differences [“]arising out of the doctrinesRemoved.
[145.36][“]We are savedAdded.
[168.26]the result of this abando[n]mentInserted.
[186.27]in a blaze with[ with] innumerable wax-lightsRemoved.
[200.2]They were baptized December 3, 1[7/6]94Replaced.
[200.3]was born in 1[7/6]95Replaced.
[208.23][“/‘]Heaven will ... to God betimes![’]”Nested.
[229.12]his brother-in-law[-/, ]Samuel Annesley,Replaced.
[232.10]to take such child[r]en as apprenticesInserted.
[286.6]raised by his probocis.Inserted.
[289.22]in their own opinions.[”]Added.
[293.5]the seceders from its communion.[”]Added.
[302.10]the general election of 17[6/0]5Replaced.
[316.23]caressed at their houses,[”] (p. 65.)Removed
[316.33]than their predecessors[”]Added.
[319.8][“]He adds,Removed.
[349.23]in the doc[t]rine of apparitions.Inserted.
[372.1]De la Valle, Pentinger[,] BochartAdded.
[373.29]soft, smooth, tunefu[l] voiceAdded.
[376.18][“]In memory of John WhitelambAdded.
[382.17]The points upon[ upon] whichRemoved.
[392.n277.5]facts and tatements,Added.
[400.3]prudence[,] simplicity, sincerityAdded.
[429.8][“]Mr Lyndal>,Added.