CHAPTER XXX.

WESLEY IN OLD AGE.

"LEISURE and I," said Wesley, "have taken leave of one another. I propose to be busy as long as I live, if my health is so long indulged to me.' This resolution was made in the prime of life, and never was resolution more punctually observed. "Lord, v let me not live to be useless!" was the prayer which he uttered after seeing one whom he had long known as an active and useful magistrate, reduced by age to be "a picture of human nature in disgrace, feeble in body and mind, slow of speech and understanding." He was favoured with a constitution vigorous beyond that of ordinary men, and with an activity of spirit which is even rarer than his singular felicity of health and strength. Ten thousand cares of various kinds, he said, were no more weight or burden to his mind, than ten thousand hairs were to his head. But in truth his only cares were those of superintending the work of his ambition, which continually prospered under his hands. Real cares he had none; no anxieties, no sorrows, no griefs which touched him to the quick. His manner of life was the most favourable that could have been devised for longevity. He rose early, and lay down at night with nothing to keep him waking, or trouble him in sleep. His mind was always in a pleasurable and wholesome state of activity, he was temperate in his diet, and lived in perpetual locomotion: and frequent change of air is perhaps, of all things, that which most conduces to joyous health and long life.

The time which Mr. Wesley spent in travelling was not lost. "History, poetry, and philosophy," said he, "I commonly read on horseback, having other employment at other times." He used to throw the reins on his horse's neck; and in this way he rode, in the

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course of his life, above a hundred thousand miles, without any accident of sufficient magnitude to make him sensible of the danger which he incurred. His friends, however, saw the danger; and in the sixtyninth year of his age, they prevailed upon him to travel in a carriage, in consequence of a hurt which had produced a hydrocele. The ablest practitioners in Edinburgh were consulted upon his case, and assured him there was but one method of cure. "Perhaps but one natural one," says he, "but I think God has more an one method of healing either the soul or the body." He read, upon the subject, a treatise which recommends, a seton or a caustic, "but I am not inclined," said he, "to try either of them; I know a physician that has a shorter cure than either one or the other." After two years, however, he submitted to an operation,* and obtained a cure. A little before this, he notices in his Journal, the first night that he had ever lain awake; "I believe," he adds, "few can say this; in seventy years I never lost one night's sleep.'

He lived to preach at Kingswood under the shade of trees which he had planted; and he outlived the lease of the Foundery,† the place which had been the cradle of Methodism. In 1778, the head-quarters of the society were removed to the City Road, where a new chapel was built upon ground leased by the city. Great multitudes assembled to see the

"Mr. Wathen performed the operation, and drew off something more than a half pint of a thin, yellow, transparent water; with this came out (to his no small surprise) a pearl of the size of a small shot, which he supposed might be one cause of the disorder, by occasioning a conflux of humours to the part."-Journal, xvii. p. 8.-What an extraordinary relie would this pearl have been, had it been extracted from a Romish saint! I know not whether there be any other case recorded of physical Ostracism.

Silas Told describes this in the year 1740 as "a ruinous place, with an old pantile covering, a few rough deal boards put together to constitute a temporary pulpit, and several other decayed timbers, which composed the whole structure." No doubt it was improved afterwards. Mr. Wesley's preaching hours, when he began there, were five in the morning and seven in the evening, for the convenience of the labouring part of the congregation. The men and women sate apart, and there were no pews, or difference of benches, or appointed place for any person.

ceremony of laying the foundation, so that Wesley could not, without much difficulty, get through the press to lay the first stone, in which his name and the date were inserted upon a plate of brass: "This was laid by John Wesley on April 1, 1777.” "Probably," says he, "this will be seen no more by any human eye, but will remain there till the earth and the works thereof are burnt up." Charles, having long ceased to itinerate, used to officiate here, and the lay preachers, who were always jealous of him, were greatly offended, because he excluded them from the pulpit by serving the chapel twice on Sundays, when John was not in town. They complained of this as invidious and derogatory to themselves, and Wesley so far yielded to their importunities as to promise that one of their body should preach when Charles could not, an arrangement which preferred them to the clergymen in the Connexion.— Charles was hurt at this concession of his brother's, and with good reason. He represented that many persons, who had subscribed towards the building of the chapel, and were friends to Methodism, were yet not members of the society, but true churchmen; and that, from regard to them and to the Church, not out of ill will to the preachers, he wished the Church service to be continued there; for this also was made a matter of complaint against him. Next to his brother, he affirmed, he had the best right to preach there; and he used it because he had so short a time to preach any where. "I am sorry," said he, "you yielded to the lay preachers: I think them in the greatest danger through pride. They affect to believe that I act as a clergyman in opposition to them. If there was no man above them, what would become of them! how would they tear one another in pieces! Convince them, if you can, that they want a clergyman over them to keep them and the flock together. But rather persuade them, if you can, to be the least, not the greatest, and then all will be right again.You have no alternative but to conquer that spirit, or be conquered by it. The preachers do not love the Church of England. What must be the con

sequence when we are gone? A separation is inevitable. Do you not wish to keep as many good people in the Church as you can? Something might be done to save the remainder, if you had resolution and would stand by me, as firmly as I will by you."

This ill temper in the preachers produced a schism in the connexion. An Irish clergyman, being at Bath on account of his wife's health, was desired by Mr. Wesley to preach every Sunday evening in the Methodist chapel, as long as he remained there. As soon as Wesley had left that city, a lay preacher, by name N° Nab, raised a sort of rebellion upon this ground, saying it was the common cause of all the lay preachers, for they were appointed by the Conference, not by Mr. Wesley, and they would not suffer the clergy to ride over their heads. This touched Mr. Wesley where he was most sensitive. He set out for Bath, summoned the society, and read to them a paper* which he had drawn up many years before, upon a somewhat similar occasion, and which had been read to the Conference of 1766. He observed that the rules of the preachers were fixed by him before any Conference existed, and that the twelfth rule stated, "above all, you are to preach when and where I appoint." This fundamental rule Mc Nab had opposed, and therefore he expelled him. But the mutinous preacher had "thrown wildfire among the people, and occasioned anger, jealou sies, judging each other, back biting, and tale bearing without end:" strange weeds to spring up in the gar den of Christian perfection!

On this occasion, as on all others, when his authority was invaded, Wesley acted with promptitude and decision. He had great talents for government; and even when it was necessary, to conform to circumstances which he could not control, be understood how important it was that he should never ap pear to yield. But though, by his presence of mind

* The substance of this paper has been previously given, Vol. ii. pp.

145-148.

and skill in directing the minds of men, he contrived in difficult circumstances to save himself from any sacrifice of pride, he was not always so successful on the score of principle; for his attachment to the Church was sacrificed to the desire of extending and preserving his power. Contented if he could stave off the separation as long as he lived, he took measures which prepared for it, just as he provided a system by which the constitution of his society should become republican after his death, satisfied with maintaining his authority over it as a monarch during his life.

The remarkable talents with which the Wesley family were endowed, manifested themselves in the third generation as strikingly as in the second. One of the nieces of Mr. Wesley, named Mehetabel, after her mother, was that Mrs. Wright who attained to such excellence as a modeller in wax, and who is said to have acted with great dexterity in conveying treasonable intelligence to the Americans during the war. The two sons of Charles were among the most distinguished musicians of their age. Their father, perceiving the decided bent of their genius, very properly permitted them to follow it, and make the science of music their profession. In a letter to his brother, he said, "I am clear, without doubt, that my sons' concert is after the will and order of Providence." When John printed this letter after his brother's death, he added, in a note, "I am clear of another mind." Dr. Coke also looked upon the concerts which were performed in Charles Wesley's own house as being highly dishonourable to God, and considered him as criminal "by reason of his situation in the church of Christ." But upon mature consideration the Doctor saw reason to alter this severe opinion. "It has established them," said Charles, "as musicians, in a safe and honourable way. We do not repent that we did not make a show or advantage of our swans. They may still make their fortunes if I will venture them into the world; but I never wish them rich: you also

also agree