Teaching in Public

CONFUSION as to dates was very common in the early part of the eighteenth century. From force of habit people computed their time according to the Old Style ; but on formal occasions, or when they thought of it, the New Style was adopted. This may probably account for the fact that the Rector of Ep worth is said to have left behind him an unsatisfactory locum tenens when he went to Convocation in November 1710, but that the correspondence it led to between himself and his wife is dated February 1712.

The incident has hitherto been treated by every biographer of the Wesley family in a purely religious light, and the case has been stated as though the curate left to do duty in the church and parish had been a formalist of the driest order, and the congregation has invariably been described as longing to hear the " full Gospel " to which it had been accustomed when the Rector himself occupied the pulpit. This savours very much of the phraseology of " the people called Methodists," and, indeed, of the party who in later times have styled themselves Evangelical. But when we read that the curate, who was named Inman, preached perpetually to the flock on the duty of paying their debts and behaving well among their neighbours, it is impossible to forget that Mr. Wesley had not always been able to pay his debts, and was at that very moment terribly hampered by them; that unseemly brawls had at exciting times disturbed tbe peace of the little town ; and that for political reasons, added to perpetual impecuniosity, the Wesleys were not over-popular in the parish. The better disposed among the people very possibly complained that the curate's preaching was not in good taste, and it cannot have been pleasant to Mrs. Wesley that her family and servants should be obliged to listen to him. This is at least as likely as that his ministrations were considered " barren," and the flock oraved for " fuller privileges." Whichever explanation of the situation be accepted, certain it is that Mrs. Wesley began to hold a service every Sunday evening in the rectory kitchen for the benefit of her own children and servants. A serving-man told his parents, who asked permission to come ; others followed their example till forty or fifty assembled ; and, whether the motive were mere curiosity, or an ardent desire to participate in the instruction given, it is said that the numbers increased so rapidly that, by the end of January 1711, two hundred were present at the home service, and many were obliged to go away because there was not even standing room. This is the universally received account, based on Mrs. Wesley's own statements in a letter to her husband.

Good woman though she was, perhaps she exaggerated a little, or perhaps when her congregation became so large she adjourned to the barn or granary, or some other roomy outbuilding. Certain it is that the rectory kitchen remains the same size as it always was ; and a very ardent Wesleyan, who has spent his life in collecting particulars respecting the various members of the Wesley clan, recently stood in it, and expressed his opinion that it could not have accommodated even forty persons. In summer-time, with open windows, many might have stood outside, and joined in the service going on within ; but in the depth of winter that was impracticable. The story goes that when Mr. Wesley returned, his parishioners complained of the curate's shortcomings, and he thereupon requested him to prepare a sermon for the following Sunday morning on the text, " Without faith it is impossible to please God," saying that he should make a point of being present to hear it. Sunday came, and Mr. Inman began : " Friends, faith is a most excellent virtue, and it produces other virtues also. In particular it makes a man pay his debts." In this strain he proceeded for a quarter of an hour, and the Rector considered the case fully proven. Possibly this conduct was intentional impertinence ; possibly, as cash was scarce, Mr. Inman's stipend was in arrears ; but the situation was an extremely unpleasant one for all parties. Mrs. Wesley took matters into her own hands in conducting her home services, at which she always read a sermon, and she distinctly told her husband that reading the account of the Danish mission to Travancore stirred her up to endeavour to do something more for the parishioners as well as for her own family. He certainly wrote from London remonstrating with her, and her reply is characteristically clear and lucid : — "Epworth, February 6th, 1712. " I heartily thank you for dealing so plainly and faithfully with me in a matter of no common concern. The main of your objections against our Sunday evening meetings are, first, that it will look particular; secondly, my sex ; and lastly, your being at present in a public station and character ; to all which I shall answer briefly.

" As to its looking particular, I grant it does ; and so does almost everything that is serious, or that may anyway advance the glory of God, or the salvation of souls, if it be performed out of a pulpit, or in the way of common conversation ; because, in our corrupt age, the utmost care and diligence have been used to banish all discourse of God or spiritual concerns out of society, as if religion were never to appear out of the closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much as of professing ourselves to be Christians.

" To your second, I reply that as I am a woman, so I am also a mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, as head of the family, and as their minister, yet in your absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care as a talent committed to me, under a trust, by the great Lord of all the families of heaven and earth. And if I am unfaithful to Him, or to you, in neglecting to improve these talents, how shall 1 answer unto Him when He shall command me to render an account of my stewardship ?

" As these and other such-like thoughts made me at first take a more than ordinary care of the souls of my children and servants ; so, knowing that our most holy religion requires a strict observation of the Lord's day, and not thinking that we fully answered the end of the institution by only going to church, but that likewise we are obliged to fill up the intermediate spaces of that sacred time by other acts of piety and devotion, I thought it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to and instructing my family, especially in your absence, when, having no afternoon service, we have so much leisure for such exercises ; and such time I esteemed spent in a way more acceptable to God than if I had retired to my own private devotions.

"This was the beginning of my present practice ; other people coming in and joining us was purely accidental. Our lad told his parents — they first desired to be admitted; then others who heard of it begged leave also; so our company increased to about thirty, and seldom exceeded forty last winter ; and why it increased since I leave you to judge, after you have read what follows."

Here comes in the account of finding the book about the Danish Missions, and the result of perusing it which have been previously quoted.

" With those few neighbours who then came to me I discoursed more freely and affectionately than before. I chose the best and most awakening sermons we had, and I spent more time with them in such exercises. Since this our company has increased every night, for I dare deny none that asks admittance. Last Sunday I believe we had over two hundred, and yet many went away for want of room.

" But I never durst positively presume to hope that God would make use of me as an instrument in doing good ; the farthest I ever durst go was, ' It may be : who can tell? With God all things are possible.

I will resign myself to Him ' ; or, as Herbert better expresses it : — Only, since God doth often make, Of lowly matter, for high uses meet, I throw me at His feet ; There will I lie until my Maker seek For some mean stuff whereon to show His skill ;

Then is my time.

" And thus I rested, without passing any reflection on myself, or forming any judgment about the success or event of this undertaking.

" Your third objection I leave to be answered by your own judgment. We meet not on any worldly design. We banish all temporal concerns from our society ; none is suffered to mingle any discourse about them with our reading or Singing; we keep close to the business of the day, and as soon as it is over they all go home. And where is the harm of this ? If 1 and my children went a-visiting on Sunday nights, or if we admitted of impertinent visits, as too many do who think themselves good Christians, perhaps it would be thought no scandalous practice, though, in truth, it would be so. Therefore, why any should reflect upon you, let your station be what it will, because your wife endeavours to draw people to the church, and to restrain them, by reading and other persuasions, from their profanation of God's most holy day, I cannot conceive. But if any should be so mad as to do it, I wish you would not regard it. For my part, I value no censure on this account. I have long since shook hands with the world, and I heartily wish I had never given them more reason to speak against me.

" As for your proposal of letting some other person read, alas ! you do not consider what a people these are. I do not think one man among them could read a sermon without spelling a good part of it ; and how would that edify the rest ? Nor has any of our family a voice strong enough to be heard by such a number of people.

" But there is one thing about which I am most dissatisfied; that is, their being present at family prayers. I do not speak of any concern I am under, barely because so many are present, for those who have the honour of speaking to the great and holy God need not be ashamed to speak before the whole world ; but because of my sex, I doubt if it be proper for me to present the prayers of the people to God.

" Last Sunday, I fain would have dismissed them before prayers ; but they begged so earnestly to stay, I durst not deny them.

" SUSANNA WESLEY/' A letter from Mr. Ininan, requesting the Rector to stop his wife's meetings, and saying that more people attended them than came to church, must have followed close on this epistle from Mrs. Wesley. The reply of the rector to his wife does not seem to have been preserved, but it must have been sent almost immediately, for before the end of the month she again wrote to him, but had evidently waited several day& after the receipt of his answer before doing so : — "Epworth, "DEAR HUSBAND, February 25th, 1712.

"Some days since, I received a letter from you, I suppose dated the 16th instant, which I made no great haste to answer, because I judged it TEACHING IN PUBLIC.

necessary for both of us to take some time to consider before you determine in a matter of such great importance.

" I shall not inquire how it was possible that you should be prevailed on by the senseless clamour of two or three of the worst of your parish to condemn what you so lately approved. But I shall tell you my thoughts in as few words as possible. I do not hear of more than three or four persons who are against our meeting, of whom luman is the chief. He and Whiteley, I believe, may call it a conventicle ; but we hear no outcry here, nor has anyone said a word against it to me. And what does their calling it a conventicle signify ? Does it alter the nature of the thing? Or do you think that what they say is a sufficient reason to forbear a thing that has already done much good, and may, by the blessing of God, do much more ? If its being called a conventicle, by those who know in their conscience they misrepresent it, did really make it one, what you say would be something to the purpose ; but it is plain in fact that this one thing has brought more people to church than ever anything did in so short a time. We used not to have above twenty or twenty-five at evening service,, whereas we now have between two and three hundred, which are more than ever came before to hear Inman in the morning.

" Besides the constant attendance on the public worship of God, our meeting has wonderfully conciliated the minds of this people towards us, so that now we live in the greatest amity imaginable, and, what is still better, they are very much reformed in their behaviour on the Lord's Day, and those who used to be playing in the streets now come to hear a good sermon read, which is surely more acceptable to Almighty God.

" Another reason for what I do is that I have no •other way of conversing with this people, and therefore have no other way of doing them good ; but by this I have an opportunity of exercising the greatest and noblest charity, that is, charity to their souls.

" Some families who seldom went to church, now go constantly, and one person who had not been there for seven years is now prevailed upon to go with the rest.

" There are many other good consequences of this meeting which I have not time to mention. Now, I beseech you, weigh all these things in an impartial balance : on the one side the honour of Almighty God, the doing much good to many souls, and the friendship of the best among whom we live ; on the other (if folly, impiety, and vanity may abide in the scale against so ponderous a weight), the senseless objections of a few scandalous persons, laughing at us, and censuring us as precise and hypocritical ; and when you have duly considered all things, let me have your positive determination.

" I need not tell you the consequences if you determine to put an end to our meeting. You may easily perceive what prejudice it may raise in the minds of these people against Inman especially, who has had so little wit as to speak publicly against it. I can now keep them to the church ; but if it be laid aside I doubt they will never go to hear him more, at least those who came from the lower end of the town. But if this be continued till you return, which now will not be long, it may please God that their hearts may be so changed by that time that they may love TEACHING IN PUBLIC.

and delight in His public worship so as never to neglect it more.

" If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that you desire me to do it, for that will not satisfy my conscience ; but send me your positive command, in such full and express terms as may absolve me from all guilt and punishment for neglecting this opportunity of doing good, when you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ.

" SUSANNA WESLEY/' This wise and temperate letter shows plainly that there was no personal partisanship about its writer. She was not anxious that the people should come to her service instead of going to hear Mr. Inman, but earnestly desired that they should go to the services, conducted by him, for the honour of God and the Church ; and also regarded herself as a stewardess, keeping the flock together till such time as the Rector could return. And it must be remembered that Mr. Wesley was acknowledged to be one of the readiest and best preachers of his day, so that his hearers were somewhat spoilt, and resented having an inferior man set over them during his absence. Whatever may have been the motive that first led Mrs. Wesley to hold private services, or that made the neighbours wish to attend them, it is evident that closer contact with the earnest high-souled woman, who held on her stedfast way through evil as well as good report, called forth a feeling of deep respect which ripened in many instances into affection. All difficulties ceased when Convocation rose, and Mr. Wesley returned home to resume his ministrations in the parish and in his own household.

The next event in Mrs. Wesley's life was the parting with her son John, who was placed at the Charterhouse through the good offices of the Duke of Buckingham, to whom his father and the circumstances of the family were well known. The mother does not appear to have corresponded with him so anxiously or frequently as with her elder son, or at all events, if she did so, none of her letters have been preserved. It is possible that she trusted him to some extent to the fostering care of his brother at Westminster, who was frequently able to see him, or perhaps she did not think his disposition called for such continual attention on her part. His father bade him run three times round the garden every morning, and he is said to have obeyed him dutifully, and he was probably not less careful to observe his mother's instructions as to his daily conduct and devotions. He did not need any stimulus to study, for the love of learning was part and parcel of his nature.

No letters written by Mrs. Wesley to her son Samuel during the year he spent at Oxford are forthcoming, nor is there any record of her feelings and sympathies when he married in 1715. His wife was the daughter of the Rev. John Berry, one of the masters at Westminster, who took some of the scholars as boarders. He loved her very dearly, and, being by that time established as an usher in his old school, probably felt justified in taking a wife. It is not likely that his mother did not show a warm interest in this change in his life, and it is well known that he continued to be a most affectionate son, while his wife showed the utmost kindness and right feeling to his young brothers and to her mother-in-law. Samuel, junior, was as fond of writing rhyme as his father had been TEACHING IN PUBLIC. Ill before him, and doubtless he described the nutbrown maiden of his choice as eloquently in his letters home as in the lines which describe her as one who " Made her little wisdom go Further than wiser women do " ;

or more at length when he says :

" Her hair and skin are as the Berry, brown ;

Soft is her smile, and graceful is her frown ;

Her stature low, 'tis something less than mine ;

Her shape, though good, not exquisitely fine.

Though round her hazel eyes some sadness lies, Their sprightly glances can sometimes surprise.

But greater beauties to her mind belong :

Well can she speak, and wisely hold her tongue.

In her, plain sense and humble sweetness meet :

Though gay, religious ; and though young, discreet.

Such is the maid, if I can judge aright, If love or favour hinder not my sight.

Perhaps you '11 ask me how so well I know ?

I 've studied her, and I '11 confess it too.

I 've sought each inmost failing to explore ;

Though still the more I sought, I liked the more.

Oh, to see my Nutty smiling, Time with amorous talk beguiling, Love, her every action gracing, Arms still open for embracing, Looks to mutual bliss inviting, Eyes delighted and delighting, Spotless innocence preventing After-grief and sad repenting ;

Neither doubting, both believing, Transport causing and receiving ;

Both with equal ardour moving, Dearly loved, and truly loving. Long may both enjoy the pleasure Without guilt and without measure !

Only two children were born to the young couple, the former of whom was named Samuel, after his father and grandfather. Being the first grandchild, he was thought a great deal of, and much grief was felt when he died shortly before what would have been his twenty-first birthday. The daughter was a great favourite with her uncles, and attached herself especially to Charles Wesley. She was known in the family as " Phil."