Chapter XIX: Letters—1725–1735 (2)

“Their names are, Mr Aaron Man, one of the most substantial yeomen in
my parish, reckoned worth about £100 a-year; a married man, with five
grown-up children. He has long haunted a widow here of a character
scarce better than his own. Her name is Sarah Brumby, with whom he has
been seen both day and night, till at last she proved with child, and
told several persons, who are ready to witness it, that he was the
father of it. Notwithstanding this, he is so impudent and cunning that
nobody doubts but he will do all he can to baffle justice, and even
prevail upon Brumby to retract her confession, and lay it upon some
other. He threatens any one who says he is the father, to put him into
the spiritual court, or bring an action against him.

“Your advice, what steps to take in order to bring these criminals to
public justice, would be very obliging and serviceable to me, and to
the best of my parish. Our opinion is, that, being guarded with his
_impenetrable brass_, he will obstinately deny the fact; and, when he
is presented, will refuse public penance. Perhaps he might be willing
to commute, though we are inclined to believe that he would stand an
excommunication, which we know he does not value, though a capias
carried to an outlawry, we believe, would make him bend.

“I would not willingly be baffled in this matter, because I look upon
the whole exercise of discipline, in my parish, in a great measure to
depend upon this event.—I am, my most worthy friend, your entire
friend and servant, SAMUEL WESLEY.”

The next letter, written six weeks afterwards, relates the steps which Mr Wesley took in this curious business. It was addressed “To the Worshipful Mr Chancellor Newell, at Lincoln:”—

“EPWORTH, _Feb. 15, 1731_.

“SIR,—I received yours, together with the order of penance for
Benjamin Becket and Elizabeth (then) Locker; and have got them both to
perform it at Epworth and Haxey, on the days appointed; but the woman,
being weakly, was so disordered by standing with her naked feet, that
the women, and even a midwife, assured me that she would hazard her
life if she went to perform it the third time at Belton in the same
manner.

“I could therefore do no more than send the man thither at the day
appointed, who performed it the third time, according to order, as is
certified by myself, Mr Hoole, Mr Morrice, and our churchwardens, on
the instrument you sent us; which is ready to be returned at the
visitation, or when you please. If you don’t think it proper to remit
the woman’s doing penance the third time, which I entreat that you
would, I shall, upon your order in a letter, oblige her to perform it
to the full extent. She appeared the modestest w—— that I have met
with on such an occasion, and is now an honest married wife, for I
married them last Friday.

“As soon as this case was over, I fell at my second couple, having
prepared the way by my addresses to a justice of the peace; and by
disposing some of the best of my parishioners to join with me, on
account of the charge that this illegitimate child of Sarah Brumby
might bring upon the parish.”

Mr Wesley then proceeds to narrate the proceedings which took place before the magistrate. Sarah Brumby confessed that her child was illegitimate, but refused to tell who was its father. A witness, “one Mary Jackson, who had been guilty of fornication herself, and had then a bastard of about six feet high, had told Wesley that she had heard Brumby say that Aaron Man was the father, but when brought before the magistrate to give evidence, she denied all that she had said. Two other witnesses, however, Elizabeth Piers, and Elizabeth Dawson, the midwife, declared that they had heard Brumby frequently declare that the father of the child was Aaron Man.” Mr Wesley then concludes his letter thus:—

“This is the evidence we have got. If we may ground a presentment on
these proofs, in the taking which we have exactly followed the
direction you were so kind to prescribe us, I believe I shall be able
to induce my churchwardens to present both Aaron Man and Sarah Brumby,
as soon as you will be so good as to teach us how we may proceed,—I
am, honoured sir, your very obliged humble servant, SAMUEL
WESLEY.”

Mr Wesley pursued this strange business during the whole of the year 1731. It appears that the churchwardens, William Watkins and Richard Samson, had neglected to present Aaron Man and Sarah Brumby for prosecution; and that Mr Chancellor Newell had threatened to proceed against them for such neglect of duty. Meanwhile, another case had sprung up. Some years before, Eliza Hurst had been delivered of an illegitimate child, but refused to name the father. The Epworth churchwarden, for the time being, presented her, but no prosecution followed. Mr Wesley often wrote to the officials respecting her, but without effect. At length the woman came to him, and earnestly desired she might perform penance for her offence, whenever the court should order it. Wesley informed the Chancellor of this, and here the matter stuck. Since then, Hurst had cohabited with Thomas Thew, and was likely to have another child. She had wished to marry Thew, but Mr Wesley refused to perform the ceremony, until she had done penance for her former fault. It so happened, however, that there was “a strolling villain in the parish, called John England, and he coupled them together in a hemp-kiln, on Saturday, January 22, 1732, they having confessed to him their fornication, and he having absolved them for it.”

In consequence of all this, Wesley found himself in an unpleasant position, and wrote to Chancellor Newell a complaining letter, dated “February 2, 1732,” and which he concluded by subscribing himself, “Your much aggrieved friend and servant, SAMUEL WESLEY.”

On the day following, he wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln:—

“EPWORTH, _Feb. 3, 1732_.

“MY LORD,—I received the high honour and favour of your lordship’s,
dated Bugden, Christmas-eve. I ever thought it my duty, since I have
been the minister of any parish, to present those persons who were
obnoxious in it, if the churchwardens neglected it, unless where the
criminal was so sturdy, and so wealthy, as that I was morally certain
I could not do it, without my own great inconvenience or ruin, in
which cases God does not require it of me.”

He then refers to the case of Aaron and Brumby, and his unfaithful churchwardens, and asks—

“What must I do with the two churchwardens, if they offer themselves
to receive the sacrament? Ought I not to repel them from it, being
satisfied in my own mind that they are notoriously perjured, and have
thereby given great scandal to the congregation? One of them, Richard
Samson, offered himself at the communion at Christmas, but I sent my
clerk to desire him privately to withdraw, because I had written to
your lordship about his case, and had not received your directions.

“Begging your lordship’s blessing, and a line of answer, I remain,
your lordship’s ever devoted and most humble servant,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[301]

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Footnote 301:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_.

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These are curious letters, and are inserted here, not as a vindication of public penances, but simply to show Samuel Wesley’s stern fidelity. They furnish a sketch of ecclesiastical discipline in the Church of England, at the time that Samuel Wesley’s sons, John and Charles, were beginning their Methodist career at Oxford University. John Wesley tried to enforce the same sort of church discipline in Georgia; and all clergymen are bound, by their engagements, to do as Wesley did, that is, act according to the canons of their Church. Canon-law might need revision; no doubt it did; but, because Samuel Wesley had bound himself to observe these ecclesiastical decrees, he was far too conscientious a man to treat them as though they did not exist. His stern, perhaps unwise, fidelity, often brought him into trouble; but, in the midst of all, his “rejoicing was this, the testimony of his conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, he had his conversation in the world.”

During the year 1731, Samuel Wesley met with a most serious accident. Mrs Wesley gives a graphic account of it in the following letter to her son John:—[302]

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Footnote 302:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_, vol. i. p. 309.

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“_July 12, 1731._

“DEAR JACKY,—The particulars of your father’s fall are as follows:—On
Friday, June 4th, I, your sister Martha, and our maid, were going in
our waggon to see the ground we hire of Mrs Knight, at Low Millwood.
He sat in a chair at one end of the waggon, I in another at the other
end, Matty between us, and the maid behind me. Just before we reached
the close, going down a small hill, the horses took into a gallop; and
out flew your father and his chair. The maid seeing the horses run,
hung all her weight on my chair, and kept me from keeping him company.
She cried out to William to stop the horses, and that her master was
killed. The fellow leaped out of the seat, and stayed the horses, then
ran to Mr Wesley, but, ere he got to him, two neighbours, who were
providentially met together, raised his head, upon which he had
pitched, and held him backward, by which means he began to respire;
for it is certain, by the blackness in his face, that he had never
drawn breath from the time of his fall till they helped him up. By
this time, I was got to him, asked him how he did, and persuaded him
to drink a little ale, for we had brought a bottle with us. He looked
prodigiously wild, but began to speak, and told me he ailed nothing. I
informed him of his fall. He said he ‘knew nothing of any fall. He was
as well as ever he was in his life.’ We bound up his head, which was
very much bruised, and helped him into the waggon again, and set him
at the bottom of it, while I supported his head between my hands, and
the man led the horses softly home. I sent presently for Mr Harper,
who took a good quantity of blood from him; and then he began to feel
pain in several parts, particularly in his side and shoulder. He had a
very ill night, but, on Saturday morning, Mr Harper came again to him,
dressed his head, and gave him something which much abated the pain in
his side. We repeated the dose at bed-time, and, on Sunday, he
preached twice, and gave the sacrament, which was too much for him to
do; but nobody could dissuade him from it. On Monday he was ill, and
slept almost all day. On Tuesday the gout came; but, with two or three
nights taking Bateman, it went off again, and he has since been better
than could be expected. We thought at first the waggon had gone over
him; but it only went over his gown sleeve, and the nails took a
little skin off his knuckles, but did him no further hurt.”

Mr Wesley was now in his sixty-ninth year, and the effects of such an accident, of course, were serious and lasting. He had held the Epworth living for about five-and-thirty years; but being now, to a great extent, disabled, he proposed to resign it, if his son Samuel could use sufficient influence to be appointed his successor. The Wroot Rectory he had held not longer than about seven years, and, as John Whitelamb had recently become his curate, and had married his daughter Mary, he applied to the Lord Chancellor to have that living transferred to him. The following letters refer to these intended resignations, and to other matters:—

“_Feb. 28, 1733._

“DEAR SON SAMUEL,—For several reasons, I have earnestly desired,
especially in and since my last sickness, that you might succeed me in
Epworth, in order to which I am willing and determined to resign the
living, provided you could make an interest to have it in my room.

“My first and best reason for it is, because I am persuaded you would
serve God and his people here better than I have done. Though, thanks
be to God, after near forty years labour among them, they grow better,
I having had above one hundred at my last sacrament, whereas I have
had less than twenty formerly.

“My second reason relates to yourself. You have been a father to your
brothers and sisters, especially to the former, who have cost you
great sums in their education, both before and since they went to the
University. Neither have you stopped here, but have showed your pity
to your mother and me in a very liberal manner, wherein your wife
joined with you, when you did not overmuch abound yourselves, and have
even done noble charities to my children’s children. Now, what should
I be if I did not endeavour to make you easy to the utmost of my
power, especially when I know that neither of you have your health in
London?

“My third reason is from honest interest; I mean, that of our family.
You know our circumstances. As for your aged and infirm mother, as
soon as I drop, she must turn out, unless you succeed me; which, if
you do, and she survives me, I know you will immediately take her then
to your own house, or rather continue her there, where your wife and
you will nourish her, till we meet again in heaven, and you will be a
guide and stay to the rest of the family.

“There are a few things more which may seem to be tolerable reasons to
me for desiring you to be my successor. I have been at very great and
uncommon expense on this living. I have rebuilt from the ground the
parsonage barn and dovecote; leaded, and planked, and roofed, a great
part of my chancel; rebuilt the parsonage house twice when it had been
burnt, the first time one wing, the second time down to the ground,
wherein I lost all my books and MSS., a considerable sum of money, all
our linen, wearing apparel, and household stuff, except a little old
iron, my wife and I being scorched with the flames, and all of us very
narrowly escaping with life. This, by God’s help, I built again,
digging up the old foundations, and laying new ones. It cost me above
£400, little or nothing of the old materials being left; besides the
cost of new furniture from top to bottom, for we had now very little
more than what Adam and Eve had when they first set up housekeeping. I
then planted the two fronts of my house with wall fruit the second
time, as I had done the front of the previous house, for the former
all perished by the fire. I have set mulberries in my garden, which
bear plentifully, as also cherries, pears, &c., and, in the adjoining
croft, walnuts, and am planting more every day. And this I solemnly
declare, not with any manner of view that any of mine should enjoy any
fruit of my labour, when I have so long outlived all my friends; but
my prospect was for some unknown person, that I might do what became
me, and leave the living better than I found it.

“And yet, I might own, I could not help wishing, that all my care and
charge might not be utterly lost to my family, but that some of them
might be the better for it, though I despaired of it, till, some time
since, the best of my parishioners pressed me earnestly to try if I
could do anything in it.

“All I can do is to resign it to you, which I am ready frankly and
gladly to do, scorning to make any conditions, for I know you better.

“I commend this affair, and you and yours, to God, as becomes your
affectionate father, SAMUEL WESLEY.”[303]

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Footnote 303:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_, vol. ii. p. 256.

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Samuel Wesley, jun., declined his father’s offer; and, as we shall soon see, the same proposal was afterwards made to John. Meanwhile, the venerable rector still kept plodding at his work on the Book of Job. To the Rev. Mr Piggot, Vicar of Doncaster, he wrote respecting this, and respecting his late serious accident, as follows:—

“EPWORTH, _Feb. 22, 1733_.

“DEAR SIR,—Many thanks for your civil letter. I cannot wonder that any
should think long of Job’s coming out, though it is common in books of
this nature, especially when the author is absent from the press, and
there are so many cuts and maps in it, as must be in mine. However, I
owe it to my subscribers, and indeed to myself, to give some farther
account of this matter.

“Now, if Job’s friends have need of patience, at seeing him lie so
long on the dunghill, or, which is much the same, the printing-house,
how much more has Job himself need of it, who is sensible his
reputation suffers more and more by the delay of it; though, if he
himself had died, as he was lately in a very fair way to it, having
been as good as given over by three physicians, there would have been
no manner of doubt to any one who knows the character of my son at
Westminster, that every subscriber would have had his book.

“But I cannot be satisfied with this though I have lost the use of one
hand in the service; yet, I thank God, _non deficit altera_, and I
begin to put it to school this day to learn to write, in order to help
its lame brother. And when it can write legibly, I design, if it
please God, to go to London myself this summer, to push on the
editing, by helping to correct the press both in text and maps, and to
frame the indexes, more than which I cannot do.

“Very many have forgot their large promises to assist me in it, so
that I hardly expect to receive £100 clear for all my ten years’ pains
and labours; but if you will be so kind as to communicate this to any
of my subscribers, who may fall in your way, it may perhaps give some
satisfaction to them, while it will be but a piece of justice to your
most obliged friend and brother,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[304]

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Footnote 304:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_.

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Mr Wesley was naturally a humane man, and was always on the alert where benevolence was needed. The following letter is illustrative of this trait in his character:—

“EPWORTH, _March 27, 1733_.

“MR PORTER,—Dorothy Whitehead, widow, lately died here, leaving four
small children, and all in her house not sufficient to bury her, as
you will see by the oath of her executor added to the will; for a will
she would have to dispose of a few roods of land, lest her children
should fall out about it. The bearer, Simon Thew, who is her brother,
consented to be her executor, that he might take care of her children.
I gave him the oath, as you will see, as strictly as I could, and am
satisfied it is all exactly true. They were so poor that I forgave
them what was due for it, and so did even my clerk for the burial. If
there be any little matter due for the probate of the will, I entreat
and believe you will be as low as possible; wherein you know your
charity will be acceptable to God, and will much oblige, your ready
friend,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[305]

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Footnote 305:

_Ibid._

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As intimated in a previous letter, Mr Wesley went to London towards the end of the year 1733. Whilst there, he addressed the following letter “to the Lord Chancellor, for John Whitelamb, now curate of Epworth”:—

“WESTMINSTER, _Jan. 14, 1734_.

“MY LORD,—The small rectory of Wroot, in the diocese and county of
Lincoln, adjoining to the Isle of Axholme, is in the gift of the Lord
Chancellor, and more than seven years since was conferred on Samuel
Wesley, rector of Epworth. It lies in our low levels, and is often
overflowed. During the four or five years that I have had it, the
people have lost the fruits of the earth to that degree that it has
hardly brought me in £50 per annum, _omnibus annis_; and some years
not enough to pay my curate there his salary of £30 a-year. This
living, by your lordship’s permission and favour, I would gladly
resign to one Mr John Whitelamb, born in the neighbourhood of Wroot,
where his father and grandfather lived, when I took him from among the
scholars of a charity school, (founded by one Mr Travers, an
attorney,) brought him to my house, and educated him there, where he
was my amanuensis for four years, in transcribing my ‘Dissertations on
the Book of Job,’ now well advanced in the press; and was employed in
drawing my maps and figures for it, as well as we could by the light
of nature. After this, I sent him to Oxford to my son, John Wesley,
Fellow of Lincoln College, under whom he made such proficiency, that
he was, the last summer, admitted by the Bishop of Oxford into
deacon’s orders, and placed my curate in Epworth, while I came up to
town to expedite the printing of my book.

“Since I was here, I gave consent to his marrying one of my seven
daughters, and they are married accordingly; and though I can spare
little more with her, yet I would gladly give them a little glebe land
at Wroot, where I am sure they will not want springs of water. But
_they_ love the place, though I can get nobody else to reside on it.

“If I do not flatter myself, he is indeed a valuable person, of
uncommon brightness, learning, piety, and indefatigable industry,
always loyal to the king, zealous for the Church, and friendly to our
Dissenting brethren; and for the truth of this character I will be
answerable to God and man.

“If, therefore, your lordship will grant me the favour to let me
resign the living unto him, and please to confer it on him, I shall
always remain, your lordship’s most bounden, most grateful, and most
obedient servant,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[306]

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Footnote 306:

_Wesley Family._

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In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for February 1734, p. 108, the following announcement is made, in the list of ecclesiastical preferments:—“Mr Whitelamb to the rectory of Wroot, Lincolnshire.”

Mr Wesley’s two sons, John and Charles, were still at Oxford, and, with the other members of “the Holy Club,” were receiving the sacrament once a week, were practising the fasts of the English Church, visiting prisoners in the gaol, and the destitute in the city, and were abridging themselves of all the superfluities, and of many of the conveniences of life, for the purpose of relieving the distress with which they met. In December 1731, Samuel Wesley visited his two sons at Oxford, to see for himself the good they were doing, and to obtain direct information respecting their temper and spirit. In a letter to his wife, he says he “was well paid both for his expense and labour by their _shining piety_.” During the course of the ensuing summer, in 1732, John Wesley made two visits to Epworth; and two others in January and in June 1733. His father’s health had been seriously affected ever since his sad accident in June 1731; and as Samuel Wesley, jun., had declined to become his father’s successor at Epworth, the same proposal was now made to John,[307] and a long correspondence followed, which lasted till the end of 1734.[308] In a long letter to his father, written at this period, John Wesley assigns his reasons for declining the proposal. At Oxford he always had at hand half a dozen friends like-minded with himself; he was free from idle and trifling visitors, except once a month when he invited some of the students to breakfast with him; he was free from cares, and had the opportunity of attending public prayer twice a day; he could be holier and usefuller at Oxford than anywhere else; and the care of two thousand souls at Epworth was a greater weight than he had ability to bear.

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Footnote 307:

_See_ Moore’s _Life of Wesley_, vol. i. pp. 174–210.

Footnote 308:

_See_ _Original Letters_, published by Priestley, pp. 20–48.

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His father replied to many of these objections in the following letter:—

“_Nov. 20, 1734._

“DEAR SON,—Your only argument is this: ‘The question is not whether I
could do more good to others there or here, but whether I could do
more good to myself; seeing wherever I can be most holy myself, there
I can most promote holiness in others. But I can improve myself more
at Oxford than at any other place.’

“To this I answer—

“1. It is not dear self but the glory of God, and the different
degrees of promoting it, which should be our main consideration in the
choice of any course of life.

“2. Supposing you could be more holy yourself at Oxford, how does it
follow that you could more promote holiness in others there than
elsewhere? Have you found many instances of it, after so many years
hard pains and labour? Further, I dare say, you are more modest and
just than to say, there are no holier men than you at Oxford; and yet
it is possible they may not have promoted holiness more than you have
done; as I doubt not but you might have done it much more, had you
taken the right method. For there is a particular turn of mind for
these matters—great prudence as well as great fervour.

“3. I cannot allow austerity or fasting, considered by themselves, to
be proper acts of holiness, nor am I for a solitary life. God made us
for a social life; we are not to bury our talents; we are to let our
light shine before men, and that not barely through the chinks of a
bushel, for fear the wind should blow it out. The design of lighting
it was, that it might give light to all that went into the house of
God. And to this academical studies are only preparatory.

4. You are sensible what figures those make who stay in the university
till they are superannuated. I cannot think drowsiness promotes
holiness. How commonly do they drone away life, either in a college or
in a country parsonage, where they can only give God the snuffs of
them, having nothing of life or vigour left to make them useful in the
world.

“5. We are not to fix our eye on one single point of duty, but to take
in the complicated view of all the circumstances in every state of
life that offers. Thus in the case before us, put all circumstances
together. If you are not indifferent whether the labours of an aged
father, for above forty years in God’s vineyard, be lost, and the
fences of it trodden down and destroyed; if you consider that Mr M——
must in all probability succeed me if you do not, and that the
prospect of that mighty Nimrod’s coming hither shocks my soul, and is
in a fair way of bringing down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave;
if you have any care for our family, which must be dismally shattered
as soon as I am dropt; if you reflect on the dear love and longing
which this poor people have for you, you may perhaps alter your mind,
and bend your will to His, who has promised, if in all our ways we
acknowledge Him, He will direct our paths.”[309]

Footnote 309:

_Original Letters_, published by Priestley, p. 48.

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A large portion of the correspondence on this momentous business was carried on during Samuel Wesley’s sojourn in London, at the commencement of the year 1734. On the 30th of March, John Brown set out from Epworth to London, to accompany the venerable rector to his home.[310] On his arrival, he wrote as follows to Dr Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln:—

“EPWORTH, _May 2, 1734_.

“MY LORD,—I thank God I got well home, and found all well here. My
son-in-law, Mr Whitelamb, is gone with his wife to reside at Wroot,
and takes true pains among the people. He designs to be inducted
immediately after visitation.

“At my return to Epworth, looking a little among my people, I found
there were two strangers come hither, both of which I have discovered
to be Papists, though they come to church, and I have hopes of making
one or both of them good members of the Church of England.”[311]

-----

Footnote 310:

_Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 38.

Footnote 311:

_Wesley Family._

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Mr Wesley was always brimful of benevolence, and, as soon as he was at home again, he showed it. Hence the following characteristic letter:—

“EPWORTH, _May 14, 1734_.

“MR STEPHENSON,—As soon as I heard from John Brown that your kinswoman
Stephenson had writ to you for her son Timothy, and that you had
desired her to send for him up, I spoke to several of my best
parishioners, Mr John Maw, Mr Barnard, and others, that we might be as
kind to him as we have been to others, who have been put apprentices
at the public charge, which could be done but meanly at £5, though his
mother should be able to provide a few shoes and stockings besides for
him. I went twice, on your account and his, to a public meeting at the
church, before I had seen the mother or the boy, but the highest sum
we could bring our people to, in order to make a man of him, was no
more than £3, which I knew was far short of the requisite amount. On
Sunday last I went and talked to Mr John Maw and Mr Barnard, and we
resolved to make up the rest by a private contribution among
ourselves. The next day, I sent for the lad and his mother to my
house, and accordingly they came. I found he was a lad of spirit, and
that he would please you. I encouraged them both, and told his mother
that she might depend on £5, besides what she herself could do to set
him out. This was all that I could do for him, and if herein I have
been over-officious I hope you will, at least, excuse it from your
obliged friend, SAMUEL WESLEY.”[312]

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Footnote 312:

_Wesley Family._

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At this period, General Oglethorpe had become a man of mark in England. After finishing his education at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was appointed secretary and aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene, under whom he acted at the famous siege of Belgrade. While on the Continent, a prince of Wirtemberg, with whom he was at table, took up a glass of wine, and threw a portion of its contents into his face. “That’s a good joke, my prince,” said young Oglethorpe, smiling, “but we do it much better in England;” and so saying he dashed a glass full of wine at his Serene Highness in return. Returning to England about 1722, Oglethorpe became member of the House of Commons for Haslemere, which he represented in five successive parliaments, from 1722 to 1754. In 1729, having found a friend suffering most barbarous treatment in the Fleet Prison, and taking the precedence of John Howard, he called the attention of the House of Commons to the fact, and was appointed chairman of a committee to examine into the state of prisons, where cruelties of the most revolting description had long been practised. About the same period, some charitable person bequeathed to Oglethorpe and others a large some of money in trust, to procure the discharge of poor debtors; and Oglethorpe, soon afterwards, obtained a grant of £10,000 from government, and also a very liberal public subscription, to enable the liberated insolvents to emigrate to Georgia. He proceeded to that country at the head of such a body of settlers about the year 1733, and returned to England in 1734, bringing with him some Indian chiefs, who were presented to the king.

Immediately after his arrival,[313] Mr Wesley addressed to him the following letter respecting his “Dissertations on the Book of Job;” and it is possible that this letter was the first of a series of causes, which, in 1735, led John and Charles Wesley to accompany the general to his newly-formed colony:—

“EPWORTH, _July 6, 1734_.

“HONOURED SIR,—May I be admitted, while such crowds of our nobility
and gentry are pouring in their congratulations, to press, with my
poor mite of thanks, into the presence of one who so well deserves the
title of Universal Benefactor to mankind. It is not only your valuable
favours on many occasions to my son, late of Westminster, and to
myself, when I was not a little pressed in the world, nor your more
extensive and generous charity to the poor prisoners; it is not only
this that so much demands my warmest acknowledgments, as your
disinterested and immovable attachment to your country, and your
raising a new country, or rather a little world of your own, in the
midst of almost wild woods and uncultivated deserts, where men may
live free and happy, if they are not hindered by their own stupidity
and folly, in spite of the unkindness of their brother mortals.

“Neither ought I to forget your singular goodness to my little scholar
and parishioner, John Lyndal. Since he went over, I have received some
money for him; and it seems necessary that he should make a slip
hither into Lincolnshire, if you could spare him for a fortnight or a
month, to settle his affairs with his father’s creditors, which I hope
he may now nearly do, and then he will have a clear estate left of
about £6 a-year, to dispose of as he pleases. I hope he has behaved
with such faithfulness and industry, since he has had the honour and
happiness of waiting upon you, as not to have forfeited the favour of
so good a master.[314]

“I owe you, sir, beside this, some account of my little affairs since
the beginning of your expedition. Notwithstanding my own and my son’s
violent illness, which held me half a year, and him above a
twelvemonth, I have made a shift to get more than three parts in four
of Job[315] printed off, and both the printing, paper, and maps
hitherto are paid for. My son, John, at Oxford (now his elder brother
is gone to Tiverton) takes care of the remainder of the impression in
London; and I have an ingenious artist here with me, in my house at
Epworth, who is graving and working off the remaining maps and figures
for me, so that I hope, if the printer does not hinder me, I shall
have the whole ready by next spring, and by God’s leave be in London
myself to deliver the books perfect. I print five hundred copies, as
in my proposals, whereof I have above three hundred already subscribed
for; and among my subscribers, fifteen or sixteen English Bishops,
with some of Ireland.

“I have not yet done with my own impertinent nostrums. I thank God I
find I creep up hill more than I did formerly, being eased of the
weight of four daughters out of seven, as I hope I shall of the fifth
in a little longer.

“When Mr Lyndal comes down, I shall trouble you by him with a copy of
all the maps and figures which I have yet printed, they costing me no
more than the paper since the graving is over.[316]

“If you will please herewith to accept the tender of my most sincere
respect and gratitude, you will thereby confer one further obligation
on, honoured sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
SAMUEL WESLEY.”[317]

-----

Footnote 313:

Oglethorpe arrived on the 16th of June.

Footnote 314:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_.

Footnote 315:

General Oglethorpe subscribed for nine copies of the “Dissertations on
the Book of Job,” a greater number than was subscribed for by any
other person.

Footnote 316:

Clarke’s _Wesley Family_.

Footnote 317:

_Methodist Magazine_, 1824, p. 810.

The following letter was written to a friend, and shows his anxiety for the spiritual welfare of all with whom he was acquainted:—

“EPWORTH, NEAR GAINSBOROUGH, _July 11, 1734_.

“DEAR FRIEND,—Though I have not been worthy to hear from you, or to
have seen any letter of yours since I saw you last, yet I cannot but
retain the same warmth of Christian affection for you which I
conceived at our first sight and acquaintance, as I believe you did
the like for me and mine. Your friend of Queen’s, whom we call
Nathaniel, and who brought us the last good news of your health, is
gone to his relations in Yorkshire, but promises to return and meet
you here, when you and your friends come down to see us at our fair,
in August next. If Charles is short of money, pray tell him he is
welcome to twenty shillings here to make him easier in his journey.
But I think I can tell you of what will please you more; for last
Sunday, at the sacrament, it was darted into my mind that it was a
pity you and your company, while you are here, should be deprived of
the benefit of weekly sacraments which you enjoy where you are at
present; and I therefore resolved, if you desire it, while you are
here, to have the communion every Sunday; and, lest some of the parish
should grumble at it, the offerings of us who communicate will defray
the small expense of it. If there be anything else which you can
desire, and which is in my power to grant or procure, you are hereby
already assured of it. If I could write anything kinder, my dear
friend, I would; and I shall see by your acceptance of it, and
compliance with it, whether you believe me, your sincere friend, and
half-namesake, SAMUEL WESLEY.”[318]

-----

Footnote 318:

_Wesley Family._

-----

The following letter to General Oglethorpe evinces the intense interest he felt in the colony of Georgia, for which his two sons, John and Charles, embarked eleven months afterwards:—

“EPWORTH, NEAR GAINSBOROUGH, _Nov. 7, 1734_.

“HONOURED SIR,—I am at length, I thank God, slowly recovering from a
long illness, during which there have been few days or nights but my
heart has been working hard for Georgia, and for my townsman, John
Lyndal. It is in answer to the favour of yours, and of his last, that
I write these to both. I am extremely concerned lest an inundation of
ruin should break in upon your colony, and destroy that, as it has
almost done some others. But I have some better hopes, because I hear
you do not design to plant it with canes, but with some more innocent,
and I hope, as profitable produce, any of which, whether mulberries or
saffron, I should be glad to hear were begun in Georgia. I confess I
cannot expect God’s blessing, even on the greatest industry, without
true piety and the fear of God. I had always so dear a love for your
colony that if it had been but ten years ago, I would gladly have
devoted the remainder of my life and labours to that place, and think
I might before this time have conquered the language without which
little can be done among the natives, if the Bishop of London would
have done me the honour to have sent me thither, as perhaps he then
might, but that is now over. However, I can still reach them with my
prayers, which I am sure will never be wanting.

“My letter to Mr Lyndal relates to his own particular affairs here in
the country; for though his effects are not large, they ought by no
means to be neglected, and I have given him the best advice I am able;
but if your wisdom should think otherwise, I desire the letter may be
sunk, or else go forward to him by the next opportunity.

“With all the thanks I am capable of, I remember your kindness to my
son, formerly of Westminster, to myself, and to my parishioner Lyndal;
and am, with the truest respect and gratitude, your honour’s most
obliged and most humble servant,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[319]

-----

Footnote 319:

_Wesley Family._

-----

The following is the letter to Mr Lyndal:—

“EPWORTH, NEAR GAINSBOROUGH, _Nov. 7, 1734_.

LYNDAL,—I have not been a little concerned for the unsettledness of
your affairs at Wroot. I have somewhat above £10 of yours in my hands,
and think the best and the honestest way you could do, would be to pay
that money, as far as it will go, towards the interest of what your
father had taken up upon his estate while he was living. Mr Epworth
has brought me a letter from his mother, wherein she says there was a
bond of £10, and a note of £20, as I remember, due to Mr Epworth’s
father. She desired you would pay off the £10 with interest, and they
would stay for the £20. I told him that could not be done, because
there was so little money amongst us all, and therefore I thought the
fairest and wisest way was to divide the money I had in my hand, to
pay the interest proportionally as far as it would go.

“As for your estate, which is in the tenure of Robert Brumby, I
suppose about £5 or £6 a year, I think it would be best for you to fix
two or three trustees, and make him yearly accountable to them. If you
like it, I will be one of them myself as long as I live; my son,
Whitelamb, would be another; and we think we could persuade Mr Romley,
the schoolmaster, to be the third, who so well understands the whole
matter.

“I find your father owed your uncle, John Barrow, £4, 10s., and Goody
Stephenson £5. John Barrow is willing to take it when you can pay him,
without interest, and so should Stephenson, too, but only she is poor,
and therefore I will give her five shillings on your account, if you
think fit. Let me hear from you as soon as you can after the receipt
of this.

“And now I have some little inquiries to make of your new country.
Whether any of our ministers understand their language, and can preach
to them without an interpreter? Whether they speak the same language
with those Indians who are near them, of Saltsburg and Carolina; or of
those of New England, who, I know, have the Bible translated into
their language? Whether your Indians have the Lord’s Prayer in their
own language? which, if they have, I desire you would send me a copy
in your next. In all which, especially in loving God and your
neighbour, you would exceedingly oblige, your sincere friend,

“SAMUEL WESLEY.”[320]

-----

Footnote 320:

_Wesley Family._

-----

These two letters to Oglethorpe and Lyndal were written six days after the burial of Mrs Whitelamb, Mr Wesley’s daughter.[321] Poor Whitelamb was exceedingly distressed by his sad bereavement, and, in the depth of his grief, wished to go to Georgia. Hence the following letter to Oglethorpe, which was written exactly a month after the former one:—

“EPWORTH, _Dec. 7, 1734_.

“DEAR SIR,—I cannot express how much I am obliged by your last kind
and instructive letter concerning the affairs of Georgia. I could not
read it over without sighing, when I again reflected on my own age and
infirmities, which made such an expedition utterly impracticable for
me. Yet my mind worked hard about it; and it is not impossible but
Providence may have directed me to such an expedient as may prove more
serviceable to your colony than I should ever have been.

“The thing is thus:—There is a young man, who has been with me a
pretty many years, and assisted me in my work on Job; after which I
sent him to Oxford, to my son, John Wesley, Fellow of Lincoln College,
who took care of his education, where he behaved himself very well,
and improved in piety and learning. Having got him into deacon’s
orders, I sent for him down, and he was my curate in my absence in
London; when I resigned my small living of Wroot to him, and he was
instituted and inducted there. I likewise consented to his marrying
one of my daughters, there having been a long and intimate friendship
between them. But neither he nor I were so happy as to have them live
long together; for she died in child-bed of her first child. He was so
inconsolable at her loss, that I was afraid he would soon have
followed her; to prevent which, I desired his company here at my own
house, that he might have some amusement and business, by assisting me
in my cure during my illness.

“It was then, sir, I just received the favour of yours, and let him
see it for his diversion; more especially, because John Lyndal and he
had been fellow-parishioners and school-fellows at Wroot, and had no
little kindness one for the other. I made no great reflection on the
thing at first; but, soon after, I found he had thought often upon it,
was very desirous to go to Georgia himself, and wrote the enclosed
letter to me on the subject. As I knew not of any person more proper
for such an undertaking, I thought the least I could do was to send
the letter to your honour, who would be so very proper a judge of the
affair; and, if you approve, I shall not be wanting in my addresses to
my Lord Bishop of London, or any other, since I expect to be in London
myself at spring, to forward the matter, as far as it will go.

“As for his character, I shall take it upon myself to say, that he is
a good scholar, a sound Christian, and a good liver. He has a very
happy memory, especially for languages, and a judgment and
intelligence not inferior. My eldest son at Tiverton has some
knowledge of him, concerning whom I have writ to him since your last
to me. My two others, his tutor at Lincoln, and my third of Christ
Church, have been long and intimately acquainted with him; and I doubt
not but they will give him, at least, as just a character as I have
done.

“And here I shall drop the matter, till I have the honour of hearing
again from you, and shall either drop it or prosecute it, as appears
most proper to your maturer judgment; ever remaining, your honour’s
most sincere, and most obliged friend and servant, SAMUEL
WESLEY.”[322]

-----

Footnote 321:

_Methodist Magazine_, 1845, p. 151.

Footnote 322:

_Wesley Family._

-----

These are remarkable and important letters, and doubtless served as links, in the chain of cause and effect, which led to the selection of John and Charles Wesley for the mission in Georgia. The missionary spirit was a passion in the Wesley family, when Christian missions to the heathen scarce existed. John Wesley, after being ejected from his church living, in 1662, longed to go as a missionary, first to Surinam, and afterwards to Maryland. Samuel Wesley, his son, when a young man of between thirty and forty years of age, formed a magnificent scheme to go as a missionary to India, China, and Abyssinia; and, in the last year of his life, most feelingly laments that he was not young enough to go to Georgia. His sons, John and Charles, now at Oxford, caught his spirit, and, within twelve months after the date of the last letter, actually went. John Whitelamb, his son-in-law, wished to go; but, for some unknown reason, was kept at home.

As already stated, Oglethorpe went to Georgia in 1733, with a number of released debtors, who were the first settlers in the colony. These were joined by a number of persecuted Protestants, who had been driven from Salzburg, a city of Bavaria, by the archbishop of the place. On October 14, 1735, six months after Samuel Wesley’s death, Oglethorpe re-embarked for Georgia, with five hundred and seventy adventurers, among whom were one hundred and thirty Highlanders, and one hundred and seventy Germans, of whom a considerable number were Moravians.[323] The trustees of the colony requested John Wesley and some of his friends to accompany the emigrants. Wesley consulted his widowed mother. Her answer was: “Had I twenty sons, I should rejoice they were all so well employed, though I should never see them more.”[324] The thing was settled, and away Wesley went, his brother Charles, and their Oxford friends, Benjamin Ingham and Charles Delamotte, going with him.

-----

Footnote 323:

_Wesley Family_, vol. ii. p. 175.

Footnote 324:

Moore’s _Life of Wesley_, vol. i. p. 234.

-----

Samuel Wesley strongly wished his son John to be his successor at Epworth; but John, four months before his father’s death, decisively declined the proposal. He was resolved to remain at Oxford, because he imagined he could be holier at Oxford than he could be anywhere else. The rector died, and then his son changed his mind, and set out on the very mission upon which his father had set his heart, and to be engaged in which he would, if he had been ten years younger, have gladly relinquished Epworth Church. The following letter refers to John Wesley’s final refusal of his father’s proposition. It was written to Samuel Wesley, jun., four months previous to Mr Wesley’s decease:—

“EPWORTH, _Dec_. 4, 1734.

“DEAR SON,—Having pretty many things to write to you, and those of no
small moment; and being for the most part confined to my house by pain
and weakness, so that I have not yet ventured to church on a Sunday, I
have just now sat down to try if I can reduce my thoughts into any
tolerable order. Though I can write but few lines in a day, yet being
under my own hand, they may not be the less acceptable to you.

“I shall throw what I have a mind you shall know, under three heads—1.
What most immediately concerns our own family. 2. Dick Ellison, the
wen of my family, and his poor insects that are sucking me to death.
3. J. Whitelamb;—and, perhaps, in a postscript, a little of my own
personal affairs, and of the poor.

“1. Of our family. Your brother John has at last writ me, ‘that it is
now his unalterable resolution not to accept of Epworth living, if he
could have it;’ and the reason he gives for it in these words:—‘The
question is not whether I could do more good to others _there_ or
_here_, but whether I could do more good to myself; seeing wherever I
can be most holy myself, there, I am assured, I can most promote
holiness in others. But I am equally assured there is no place under
heaven so fit for my improvement as Oxford. Therefore,’ &c.

“Thus stands his argument. Though I am no more fond of the gripping
and wrangling distemper than I am of Mr Harper’s[325] boluses and
clysters, (for age would again have rest,) I sat myself down to try if
I could unravel his sophisms, and hardly one of his assertions
appeared to me to be universally true. I think the main of my answer
was, that he seemed to mistake the end of academical studies, which
were chiefly preparatory, in order to qualify men to instruct others.

“He thinks there is no place so fit for his improvement as Oxford. As
to many sorts of useful knowledge, it may be nearly true; but surely
there need be a knowledge, too, of men and things (which has not been
thought the most attainable in a cloister) as well as of books, or
else we shall find ourselves of much less use in the world.

“But the best and greatest improvement is in solid piety and religion,
which (in Oxford) is handy to be got, or promoted, by being hung up in
Socrates’ basket. But allowing that austerity and mortification may
either be a means of promoting holiness, or, in some degree, a part of
it, why may not a man exercise these in his own house as strictly as
in any college, in any university in Europe, and, perhaps, with less
censure and observation? Neither can I understand the meaning or drift
of being thus ever learning, and never coming to a due proficiency in
the knowledge and practice of the truth, so as to be able commendably
to instruct others in it.