“Saturday, May 24.—I went to the room at Preston Pans; and I had it all to myself; neither man, woman, nor child offered to look me in the face; so I ordered a chair to be placed in the street. Then forty or fifty crept together; but they were mere stocks and stones; no more concerned than if I had talked Greek.”
“Monday, May 26: Edinburgh.—I spent some hours at the meeting of the National Assembly. I am very far from being of Mr. Whitefield’s mind, who greatly commends the solemnity of this meeting. I have seen few less solemn. I was extremely shocked at the behaviour of many of the members. Had any preacher behaved so at our conference, he would have had no more place among us.”
“Thursday, June 5: Dundee.—I took occasion to repeat most of the plausible objections which had been made to us in Scotland. I then showed our reasons for the things which had been objected to us; and all seemed to be thoroughly satisfied. The sum of what I spoke was this: I love plain dealing. Do not you? I will use it now. Bear with me. I hang out no false colours; but show you all I am, all I intend, all I do. I am a member of the Church of England; but I love good men of every church. My ground is the Bible; yea, I am a Bible bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small. Therefore—1. I always use a short private prayer, when I attend the public service of God. Do not you? Why do you not? Is not this according to the Bible? 2. I stand, whenever I sing the praise of God in public. Does not the Bible give you plain precedents for this? 3. I always kneel before the Lord my Maker, when I pray in public. 4. I generally in public use the Lord’s prayer, because Christ has taught me, when I pray, to say, ——. I advise every preacher connected with me, whether in England or Scotland, herein to tread in my steps.”
“Sunday, June 8.—Knowing no reason why we should make God’s day the shortest of the seven, I desired Joseph Thompson to preach, at Aberdeen, at five. At eight, I preached myself. In the afternoon, I heard a strong, close sermon, at Old Aberdeen; and afterwards preached in the college kirk, to a very genteel, and yet serious congregation. I then opened and enforced the way of holiness, at New Aberdeen.”
“Sunday, June 15: Edinburgh.—Our room was very warm in the afternoon, through the multitude of people; a great number of whom were people of fashion, with many ministers. I spoke to them with the utmost plainness, and, I believe, not in vain. It is scarce possible to speak too plain in England; but it is scarce possible to speak plain enough in Scotland. If you do not, you lose all your labour, you plough upon the sand.”
“Wednesday, June 18: Glasgow.—What a difference there is between the society here, and that at Dundee. There are about sixty members there, and scarce more than six scriptural believers. Here are seventy-four members, and near thirty among them lively, zealous believers; one of whom was justified thirty years ago, and another of them two-and-forty; and several of them have been for many years rejoicing in God their Saviour.”
“Monday, June 23.—At Thorny Hill, I met with Mr. Knox’s ‘History of the Church of Scotland.’ And could any man wonder, if the members of it were more fierce, sour, and bitter of spirit, than some of them were? For what a pattern have they before them! I know it is commonly said, ‘The work to be done needed such a spirit.’ Not so! the work of God does not, cannot, need the work of the devil to forward it. A calm, even spirit goes through rough work far better than a furious one. Although, therefore, God did use, at the time of the Reformation, some sour, overbearing, passionate men, yet He did not use them because they were such, but notwithstanding they were so. And there is no doubt, He would have used them much more, had they been of an humbler and milder spirit.”
Wesley terminated his Scottish tour at Dumfries, and, in reaching Solway Frith, had a somewhat dangerous adventure. He writes: “June 24.—Designing to call at an inn by the frith side, we were directed to leave the main road, and go straight to the house which we saw before us. In ten minutes, Duncan Wright was embogged: however, the horse plunged on, and got through. I was inclined to turn back; but Duncan telling me I need only go a little to the left, I did so, and sunk at once to my horse’s shoulders. He sprung up twice, and twice sank again, each time deeper than before. At the third plunge, he threw me on one side, and we both made shift to scramble out. I was covered with fine, soft mud, from my feet to the crown of my head; yet, blessed be God, not hurt at all.”
Wesley was again in England; and, after visiting Whitehaven, rode, on June 30, more than seventy miles, through a rough, mountainous region, on his way to Barnard castle, where he says: “At six, I preached in an open space, adjoining to the preaching house. As the militia were in town, the far greater part of them attended, with a large congregation from town and country. It rained most of the time I was speaking; but, I believe, hardly six persons went away.”
On July 2, he preached in Weardale, and says: “Here a poor woman was brought to us, who had been disordered several years, and was now raving mad. She cursed and blasphemed in a terrible manner, and could not stand or sit still for a moment. However, her husband held her by main strength, although she shrieked in the most dreadful manner; but, in a quarter of an hour, she left off shrieking, and sat motionless and silent, till she began crying to God, which she continued to do, almost without intermission, till we left her.”