“John Wesley.”[517]
On the 16th of May, two months later than usual, Wesley left London for the north.[518] By travelling in postchaises, he reached Newcastle in three days, and in three more came to Edinburgh, where he had an interview with his old friend Whitefield. He writes: “Humanly speaking, he is worn out; but we have to do with Him who hath all power in heaven and earth.”
At Edinburgh, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland were holding their annual conference, and many of the ministers, nobility, and gentry flocked together to hear Wesley preach in the High School yard, at seven a.m. He says: “I spake as plain as ever I did in my life. But I never knew any in Scotland offended at plain dealing. In this respect, the north Britons are a pattern to all mankind.”
One of Wesley’s hearers, on this occasion, was Lady Frances Gardiner, the widow of the renowned Colonel Gardiner, who fell at the battle of Preston Pans. A month afterwards, this Christian lady wrote to him, congratulating him on sending Mr. Hanby and Mr. Roberts to Edinburgh, where their labours had been greatly blessed; and then adding: “I have never, I own, been at the preaching house in a morning yet, as they preach so early; but I ventured to the High School yard the morning you left Edinburgh; and it pleased God, even after I got home, to follow part of your sermon with a blessing to me.”[519]
A year later, Wesley formed an acquaintance, at Edinburgh, with Lady Maxwell, who about the year 1761 had been left a widow, at nineteen years of age. She now became a Methodist; and, in 1770, for the purpose of affording a Christian education to poor children, she established a school in Edinburgh, which she liberally sustained for forty years; and, at her death, made provision for its existence to the end of time.[520] In the same year, Wesley was introduced to Lady Glenorchy, who also, a few months afterwards, became a widow at the age of thirty-one, and opened a chapel, which had been a popish church, for the supply of which Wesley obtained the services of the Rev. Richard de Courcy; the agreement being that, while this young minister of the Church of England should take the principal duties of the chapel, one night in the week should be set apart for the preaching of Wesley’s itinerants; and that liberty should be given to any presbyterian clergyman, who might be willing occasionally to officiate.[521] The plan was utopian, and was soon a failure.
Of the Methodist chapel which, during the year 1763, was built in Edinburgh,[522] we know nothing; but, in 1788, a second was erected, under the auspices of Zechariah Yewdall,[523] which Valentine Ward described as “a dirty, damp, dark, dangerous hole, seating six hundred people;[524] and which, twenty-seven years afterwards, was bought by the Edinburgh commissioners, for the sum of £1900, in order to build the bridge from Shakespeare Square to Calton Hill.[525]
During his present stay in Scotland, Wesley also preached at Dunbar, where, eleven years before, a company of English dragoons held a prayer-meeting, at which Andrew Affleck was converted; became a member of the Methodist society, which was then formed; and, for fifty-nine years, lived the life of an earnest Christian, and then expired, saying, “Dying is hard work, but the grace of God is sufficient for me.”[526]
Wesley returned to Newcastle on the 1st of June, preaching at Alnwick and Morpeth on his way. In a few days, he proceeded to Barnard castle, where there was a remarkable revival of religion. A few months before, the societies throughout “the dales,” or Barnard castle circuit, had been exceeding lifeless. Samuel Meggot recommended them to observe every Friday with fasting and prayer. The result has just been stated. Twenty in Barnard castle had found peace with God, and twenty-eight had been sanctified.
For sixteen years, Methodism had existed in this small country town, and here, as in other places, had been baptized in suffering. Many a time had Catherine Graves, one of the first members, been hunted by the rabble, and been pricked with pins for the purpose of drawing blood, and thereby depriving her of the power of sorcery; but now the Barnard castle Methodists, comparatively speaking, were no longer a feeble folk. They built themselves a chapel; and became the head of perhaps the widest Methodist circuit then existing. They were pious, but they were poor, and contributed, upon an average, not more than a farthing per member per week; and, of course, their circuit allowances were upon a corresponding scale. The following is a verbatim et literatim extract from their stewards’ book, for the quarter ending Midsummer, 1768.
| To Diner and Letters | £1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mr. Rowell and Family | 5 | 15 | 0 |
| Mr. Bramer and Wife | 5 | 15 | 0 |
| Mr. Hunter and Wife | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Mr. Fenwick | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Mr. Rowell to the Conference | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Intrist | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Mr. Bramer for the dockter | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mr. Rowell balance for his horse | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| Mr. Bramah’s House Rent | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Quarter’s Expenditure | £27 | 7 | 0 |