The religious societies, begun in 1677, continued to exist until after John Wesley had instituted his Methodist societies. Wesley’s first society was formed at Oxford in 1729, and consisted of himself, his brother Charles, Mr Morgan, and Mr Kirkham, who spent some evenings every week, in unitedly reading the Greek Testament.[[133]] The second was formed at Savannah in 1736, where he met a select few in his own house after evening prayers, and read and conversed with them, and concluded the meetings with a psalm.[[134]] On his return to England, we find him attending the meetings of the old religious societies which were still existing. On Sunday, April 26, 1738, he “went to a society in Oxford, where, as his manner then was at all societies, after using a collect or two and the Lord’s prayer, he expounded a chapter in the New Testament, and concluded with three or four more collects and a psalm.”[[135]] In September of the same year, we find him attending and taking part in society meetings in Bear Yard, in Aldersgate Street, and in Gutter Lane, London.[[136]] On the 15th of November following, he expounded at three societies in Bristol.[[137]] In April 1739, in Bristol, he began “expounding our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount to a little society, which was accustomed to meet once or twice a week in Nicholas Street;”[[138]] and later on, in the same month, and in the same city, while “at a little society in the Back Lane, the floor of the room gave way, and fell down with a great noise.”[[139]] In June 1739, he “went to a society at Wapping, where many began to call upon God with strong cries and tears.”[[140]] On September 9th, he “went to a society at Fetter Lane, and exhorted them to love one another;”[[141]] and two or three weeks afterwards “went as usual to the society at St James’s;” and also to a society at Deptford.[[142]] In April, 1740, we find him at “a little society at Islington, which had stood untainted from the beginning;”[[143]] and in the month of May following, he met with the “members of a religious society at Newcastle-on-Tyne, which had subsisted for many years, had a fine library, and to whom their steward read a sermon every Sunday.”[[144]]
All this affords ample proof that the old religious societies, begun in 1677, still existed; and there cannot be a doubt that it was a knowledge of their usefulness that led John Wesley to institute his united societies in 1739. He tells us that, about that time, persons who had been awakened to a sense of their sin and danger, by the preaching of himself and his brother Charles, came to them for religious counsel and consolation. He writes:—“We advised them: ‘Strengthen you one another—talk together as often as you can, and pray earnestly with and for one another, that you may endure to the end, and be saved.’ They replied, ‘But we want you likewise to talk with us.’ So I told them, ‘If you will all of you come together every Thursday evening, I will gladly spend some time with you in prayer, and give you the best advice I can.’ Thus,” he adds, “arose what was afterwards called a society; a very innocent name, and very common in London, for any number of people associating themselves together. They united themselves in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they might help each other to work out their salvation.”[[145]] A few days after this society was formed, some of the members expressed a determination to make a quarterly subscription to assist Wesley to pay for the lease of the Foundry, and a steward was appointed to receive the money;[[146]] and very soon after that, the society was divided into smaller companies called “classes,” consisting of about twelve persons each, and one of whom was styled “the leader.”[[147]]
Such is John Wesley’s own account of the rise of his “United Societies.” In all this, we see an exact repetition of what was done by Beveridge, Horneck, and Smithies sixty-two years before. The religious societies instituted by them were the pioneers of the Methodist societies, and prepared their way. Their origin and number indicate the existence of a large amount of experimental and earnest piety, even in the midst of abounding wickedness. They were immensely useful, and were the means of conferring great benefits both upon the members themselves and upon others. They were instrumental in beginning and establishing about one hundred schools in London and its suburbs, in which thousands of poor children were taught gratuitously, and were carefully educated in good manners. Their rules required, that every member should be a member of the Church of England; that the members should meet together once a week to encourage each other in practical holiness; that all controversial and political discussions should be avoided at their meetings; that every member should give a weekly contribution towards the public stock for pious and charitable uses; that every one absenting himself from four meetings in succession, without just cause, should be looked upon as disaffected to the society; that none should be admitted as new members without due notice, and without inquiry concerning their religious purposes and manner of life; and that all the members should pray many times every day, receive the Lord’s Supper at least once a month, keep a monthly fast, and pray for the whole society in their private devotions.
We have seen John Wesley’s connexion with these societies. What about his father? Was he acquainted with them, and did he give them his approbation and sympathy? Happily these are questions which can be answered. “A Letter concerning the Religious Societies,” was published by Samuel Wesley in 1699. After giving a description of the societies, Mr Wesley proceeds to argue that, so far from being any injury to the Church of England, they would greatly promote its interests. He expresses a wish that such societies might be formed in all considerable towns, and even in populous villages. He writes—“There are a great many parishes in this kingdom which consist of several thousands of souls. Now what one man, or two, or three, is sufficient for such a multitude? Those who have but one or two thousand will find their cares heavy enough, especially now they have neither the catechists of the ancients to assist them, nor those clerks which are mentioned in the rubric.” He then goes on to state, that, in such cases, the religious societies would be of immense service. Acting under the authority and direction of the clergy, “they would be as so many churchwardens, or overseers, or almost deacons under them; caring for the sick and poor, giving an account of the spiritual estate of themselves and others, persuading parents to catechise their children and to fit them for confirmation, and discoursing with those who have left the church to bring them back to it. This assistance would conduce as much to the health of the minister’s body, by easing him of many a weary step and fruitless journey, as it would conduce to the satisfaction of his mind, in the visible success of his labours. Such societies, so far from injuring the Church, would be so many new bulwarks against its enemies, and would give it daily more strength, and beauty, and reputation.”
He then proceeds to show that the institution of such societies was not a novelty; that the Church of Rome was indebted for most of the progress that it had made in recent times to the several societies it had nourished in its bosom; and that the Marquis de Renty in France had formed, as early as 1640, many societies of devout persons, who, in their weekly meetings, consulted about the relief of the poor, engaged in united prayer, sang psalms, read books of devotion, and discoursed together of their own spiritual concerns.
Wesley then argues that such societies are really necessary, on the ground, that, without them, the members of the Church have no opportunity for that “delightful employment of all good Christians,” pious conversation. He concludes thus:—“The design of these societies is not to gather churches out of churches, to foment new schisms and divisions, and to make heathens of all the rest of their Christian brethren; but to promote, in a regular manner, that which is the end of every Christian, the glory of God, included in the welfare and salvation of themselves and their neighbours. It cannot be denied that there may and will be some persons in these societies of more heat than light, of more zeal than judgment; but where was ever any body of men without some such characters? But since the very rules of their institution do strictly oblige them to the practice of humility and charity, and to avoid censoriousness and spiritual pride, the common rocks of those who make a more than ordinary profession of religion, I see not what human prudence can provide any farther in this matter.”
These extracts are important, inasmuch as they afford ample evidence that Samuel Wesley (the High Churchman, as Mr Watson and others erroneously call him) was as much in favour of Christian fellowship, such as Methodists now hold in classes, as was the founder of the Methodists himself; and they also further prove that, when John Wesley employed lay agents to assist himself and his brother, and to promote the glory of God in the salvation of men, he did nothing more than what had been earnestly advocated and recommended by his father nearly half a century before. In employing lay-agents, John Wesley was a-head of his age; but he only did what his father had urged to be done in 1699, and what the Church of England itself, at this present moment, is wishing to have accomplished—viz., the employment of a Sub-Diaconate to co-operate with the regular ministry.
CHAPTER XII.
DEBT AND DILIGENCE—1700–1704.
When Mr Wesley removed to Epworth he turned farmer, and took the management of his tithes into his own hands. The rector’s domestic necessities were increasing every year, and it was natural that he should wish to make his glebe as profitable as he could. To commence farming, however, was a serious mistake. First of all, Mr Wesley was without capital to begin; and to attempt to farm without capital, or to borrow capital and pay large interest for it, is not the way for a poor man’s prospects to be made better; and then, in the second place, the great and the good-hearted rector, notwithstanding his genius, his learning, and his diligence, seems to have had no aptitude for business, “He is not fit for worldly business,” wrote his brother-in-law, Samuel[brother-in-law, Samuel] Annesley, who had employed him to transact some of his affairs in England, whilst he was absent in India; to which his wife, Susannah Wesley, answered:—“This I assent to, and must own I was mistaken when I thought him fit for business. My own experience hath since convinced me that he is one of those who, our Saviour saith, are not so wise in their generation as the children of this world.”
The good man had no knowledge of the farming business; he had no money to begin it; and, to say the least, his ardent love of books, and his long-established literary habits, were not friendly to it. It was a great mistake for the learned and studious rector to turn farmer, and no wonder that such a step led to debt and serious embarrassment. Perhaps this is the most fitting place to introduce the letters following, all of which were written to Archbishop Sharpe:—