Like most geniuses, John Henderson was eccentric. When he first went to Oxford, his clothes were made in a fashion peculiar to himself; he had no stock or neckcloth; and he wore his hair like that of a boy at school. His mode of life was singular. He generally went to bed at daybreak, and rose in the afternoon, except when he was obliged to attend the morning service of the college chapel. Before he retired to rest, he frequently stripped himself naked to the waist, took his station at a pump near his rooms, sluiced his head and the upper part of his body, pumped water over his shirt, and then, putting it on, went to bed. This he jocularly called “an excellent cold bath.” He became an ardent admirer of the nonsense of Jacob Behmen’s wild philosophical divinity; studied Lavater’s “Physiognomy;” and attained to a considerable knowledge of magic and astrology; and declared the possibility of holding correspondence with the spirits of the dead, upon the strength of his own experience.
He died at Oxford, on November 2, 1788, and was buried at St. George’s, Kingswood. His father was so painfully affected by the loss of his affectionate and only child, that he caused the corpse to be taken up again, several days after the interment, to satisfy himself that his son was really dead.[[177]]
Wesley had great love and respect for poor Henderson’s father, and, a few months after the young man’s untimely death, he wrote:—
“1789, March 13.—I spent some time with poor Richard Henderson, deeply affected with the loss of his only son; who, with as great talents as most men in England, had lived two-and-thirty years, and done just nothing.”[[178]]
This, however, was scarcely true. Henry Moore, in his “Life of Wesley,”[[179]] relates an anecdote which is worth preserving, and which must conclude this lengthened notice of the child professor at the Countess of Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca. In reference to Wesley’s entry in his Journal, Mr. Moore remarks:—
“Not a vestige of Mr. Henderson’s writings remains. This is owing to what some would call a cross providence. He used to visit his father at Hannam, near Bristol, in the summer vacation. He there studied intensely, and wrote largely. His MSS. he stored in a large trunk without a lock. Returning home, some time before his last illness, he flew to his treasure, but found the trunk empty. He enquired of Mrs. Henderson, who called up the servant, and asked for the papers in the trunk. The girl, who had been hired that year, replied with great simplicity, ‘La! ma’am, I thought they were good for nothing, and so I lighted the fire with them during the winter.’ Mr. Henderson looked at his excellent mother-in-law for some time, but spoke not a word. He then went into his study, and was never known to mention the subject more.”
“Oh! Diamond, Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!” said Sir Isaac Newton to his favourite little dog, who, by upsetting a taper on his desk, had set fire to the papers which contained the whole of his unpublished experiments, and thus reduced to ashes the labours of many years. Poor Henderson, in his misfortune, “spoke not a word.” Newton lived thirty years after his great loss, but made no important addition to his scientific discoveries; Henderson died soon after his sad calamity; and hence Wesley’s disparaging remark concerning him: “With as great talents as most men in England, he lived two-and-thirty years, and did just nothing.” Wesley must have been ignorant of the fact related by Mr. Moore; for, on no other ground can an apology be framed for his unfair remark.
It is time to return to Fletcher. Wesley was not present at the opening of Trevecca College, in 1768, but he took part in the religious services held at the first anniversary in 1769. Whitefield was unavoidably absent, for he was preaching farewell sermons, and administering farewell sacraments, to his London congregations, and, a week afterwards, set out on his final visit to America. But, even without him, the Methodist gathering at Trevecca was one of the most remarkable recorded in old Methodist history. Besides Wesley and Fletcher, there were present Howell Harris, the founder of the Welsh Methodists; the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, rector of Llangeitho, with a salary of £10 a year, a preacher whose eloquence was overwhelming, and whose meetings among the Welsh mountains can never be forgotten; the Rev. William Williams, curate of Lanwithid, a brave-hearted man who had met violent persecution without flinching, and a member of the first Conference of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales, in 1743; Howell Davies, rector of Prendergast[Prendergast], an intimate friend of Whitefield, a preacher whom thousands upon thousands flocked to hear, in fields, and on commons and mountains, and the attendance at whose monthly sacraments was so great that his church had to be emptied several times over to make room for the remaining communicants waiting out of doors; the Rev. Peter Williams, another itinerant clergyman of the Established Church, who joined the Methodists as early as the year 1741; and the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, brother of the notorious Earl Ferrers, first cousin of the Countess of Huntingdon, converted under the ministry of Venn, and now an earnest minister of Christ; to whom must be added Lady Huntingdon, the Countess of Buchan, Lady Anne Erskine, and Miss Orton, and also the first students of Trevecca, headed by their juvenile master, John Henderson.
The services were held daily for a whole week, from the 19th to the 25th of August inclusive. Fletcher, Rowlands, and William Williams arrived at the College on Friday, the 18th, and next morning Rowlands preached in the chapel to a crowded congregation, from the words, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” In the afternoon, the Lord’s Supper was administered, Fletcher addressing the communicants and spectators, and Williams giving out a hymn, which was sung with great enthusiasm. At night, Howell Harris preached to a large congregation assembled in the court from the text, “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” During the day, Walter Shirley and several lay preachers arrived at Trevecca.
On Sunday, August 20, at ten in the morning, Fletcher read the Liturgy in the court, and Shirley preached on, “Acquaint thyself now with Him, and be at peace.” At one, the Lord’s Supper was administered in the chapel, and Rowlands, Fletcher, and Williams gave addresses. During the afternoon, Fletcher preached in the court to an immense congregation, from, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” When his sermon was ended, Rowlands, in the Welsh language, addressed the crowd from, “It is appointed unto men once to die.”