Trials and Troubles

THE Rector of Epworth was not remarkably popular in his own parish ; perhaps a very poor clergyman never is. He had great difficulty in repairing and rebuilding the part of his house that had been destroyed by fire ; and when his son John was about seven or eight months old Mr. Wesley suffered a fresh loss, as his crop of flax was set fire to and demolished under circumstances that looked very much like incendiarism. He was also involved in a controversy that caused a deal of ill-feeling and bad blood in consequence of a letter, or rather pamphlet, which he had written in his youth, before he removed from London to South Ormsby, after attending a meeting of the Calves Head Club, a body of violent political Dissenters. Very much disgusted, Wesley went home, and, while his heart was hot within him, wrote off a long letter, and, after writing it, went to bed about five in the morning. A friend — probably his landlord, Robert Clavel, a bookseller and then Master of the Stationers' Company — came in while he slept, took possession of the MS., and, after reading, dissuaded Wesley from sending it to the person to whom it was addressed, but contrived to keep it in his own hands. Twelve years afterwards, without the author's consent, he published it, under the title of " A Letter from a Country Divine to his Friend in London concerning the Education of Dissenters in their Private Academies in several parts of this Nation : Humbly offered to the consideration of the Grand Committee of Parliament for Religion now sitting." The temper of the House at that moment was one of extreme hostility to Dissenters and eagerness for their suppression.

The strife waxed quite furious as pamphlet succeeded pamphlet, and angry passions arose on all sides. Mr. Wesley's special antagonist was a Rev. Samuel Palmer, who, of course, had his adherents, and to such an extent did this wordy warfare go that Daniel De Foe, who took his full share in it, was committed to Newgate in July 1703. Mr. Wesley might, perhaps, have had the same fate had he lived in London ; for so universal was the contention that, according to Dean Swift, the very cats and dogs discussed it, whilst fine ladies became such violent partizans of the Low and High Church parties " as to have no time to say their prayers/' The Rector of Epworth, with his sharp tongue and hot temper, was far more likely to make enemies than friends at such a time, and no doubt a great deal of prejudice and ill-feeling was aroused against him in Lincolnshire, and his wife, as well as himself, had to bear the brunt of it.

It was a great trial to her to part with her firstborn son, Samuel, who in 1704 was placed at Westminster, though she would have been the last woman to have stood in the way of her child's advancement. The boy went to London with his father, probably riding before him on the same horse, and speedily won the favour of his new tutors and governors. He had also several friends in London ; his paternal grandmother was still alive, and his uncle Matthew was a surgeon and apothecary in good circumstances, while another uncle, Timothy Wesley, and an aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Dyer, his father's only sister, also lived in the city. They all appear to have shown the boy the kindness to be expected by a nephew, and were most likely proud of his talents and rapid progress. His mother's aniious affection for him was so great that she devoted many hours, and also many sheets of foolscap, to writing him a series of letters, which were neither more nor less than treatises on Revelation and the law of reason. The first is dated March llth, 1704, and is very long, and, to say the truth, dry, unrelieved by a scrap of home news or gossip. She, no doubt, in writing it and successive epistles, fulfilled what she felt to be a conscientious duty, but was aware that they were beyond the boy's comprehension at that period, as she told him to keep them till he was older and better able to understand them. A letter written towards the close of the summer seems more natural, and better suited to a school-boy's comprehension : — " DEAR SAMMY, " Epworth, August 4th, 1704.

" I have been ill a great while, but am now, I thank God, well recovered. I thought to have been with you ere this, but I doubt if I shall see you this summer; therefore send me word particularly what you want.

" I would ere now have finished my discourse begun so long ago, if I had enjoyed more health ; but I hope I shall be able to finish it quickly, and then have you transcribe all your letters; for they may be more useful to you than they are now, because you will be better able to understand them. I shall be employing my thoughts on useful subjects for you when I have time, for I desire nothing in this world so much as to have my children well instructed in the principles of religion, that they may walk in the narrow way which alone leads to happiness. Particularly I am concerned for you, who were, even before your birth, dedicated to the service of the sanctuary, that you may be an ornament of that Church of which you are a member, and be instrumental (if God shall spare your life) in bringing many souls to Heaven. Take heed, therefore, in the first place, of your own, lest you yourself should be a castaway.

" You have had great advantages of education ; God has entrusted you with many talents, such as health, strength, a comfortable subsistence hitherto, a good understanding, memory, &c. ; and if any one be misemployed or not improved, they will certainly one day rise up in judgment against you.

" If I thought you would not make good use of instruction, and be the better for reproof, I would never write or speak a word to you more while I live, because I know whatever I could do would but tend to your greater condemnation. But I earnestly beg of God to give you His grace, and charge you, as you will answer for it at the last great day, that you carefully 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,' lest you should finally miscarry.

" You say you do not know how to keep a secret without sometimes telling a lie. I do not know what secrets you may have : I am sure nobody with you has authority, however, to examine you ; but if any should be so impertinently curious to do it, put them civilly off, if you can ; but, if you cannot, resolutely tell them you will not satisfy their unreasonable desires ; and be sure you never, to gain the favour of any, hazard losing the favour of God, which you will do if you speak falsely. To God's merciful protection I commit you.

" SUSANNA WESLEY."

The next letter is not dated, but was written either during the same or the following year : — SAMMY, " ' Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.' " Examine well your heart, and observe its inclinations, particularly what the general temper of your mind is; for, let me tell you, it is not a fit of devotion now and then speaks a man a Christian, but it is a mind universally and generally disposed to all the duties of Christianity in their proper times, places, &c. For instance, in the morning or evening, or any other time when occasion is offered, a good Christian will be cheerfully disposed to retire from the world, that he may offer to his Creator his sacrifice of prayer and praise, and will account it his happiness, as well as his duty, so to do. When he is in the world, if he have business, he will follow it diligently, as knowing that he must account with God at night for what he has done in the day, and that God expects we should be faithful in our calling as well as devout in our closets. A Christian ought, and in the general does, converse with the world like a stranger in an inn : he will use what is necessary for him, and cheerfully enjoy what he innocently can ; but at the same time he knows it is but an inn, and he will be but little concerned with what he meets with there, because he takes it not for his home. The mind of a Christian should be always composed, temperate, free from all extremes of mirth or sadness, and always disposed to hear the still small voice of God's Holy Spirit, which will direct him what and how to act in all the occurrences of life, if in all his ways he acknowledge Him, and depend on His assistance. I cannot now stay to speak of your particular duties; I hope I shall in a short time send you what I designed.

" In the meantime, I beg of you, as one that has the greatest concern imaginable for your soul : I exhort you, as I am your faithful friend : and I command you, as I am your parent — to use your utmost diligence to make your calling and election sure, to be faithful to your God ; and after I have said that, I need not bid you be industrious in your calling.

" Sammy, think of what I say, and the blessed God make you truly sensible of your duty to Him, and also to me. Renew your broken vows ; if you have wasted or misemployed your time, take more care of what remains. If in anything you want counsel or advice, speak freely to me, and I will gladly assist you. I commit you to God's blessed protection.

" SUSANNA WESLEY."

While the mother was writing to her absent .boy, and keeping school with her other children, her husband was in his study writing rhyme as fast as it would flow from brain and pen. The Duke of Marlborough was the hero of the hour, he had gained the battle of Blenheim in August 1704, and struck such terror into the French nation, as long found echo in the refrain Marlbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre. The nation delighted to honour the soldier-statesman, whose victory justified Queen Anne's confidence in him, both Houses of Parliament publicly thanked him, the City of London entertained him at a civic feast, the nation gave the Manor of Woodstock to him and his heirs for ever, and built for him that Blenheim Palace but just now despoiled of the art treasures he collected during his successful campaigns against the power of the Grande Monarque. Policy and patriotism both tended to inspire Mr. Wesley's muse, and he achieved a poem of five hundred and ninety-four lines, entitled, Marlborough, or the Fate of Europe. Archbishop Sharpe took poem and author under his fostering wiug, and brought them under the Duke's notice. The least that the hero could do in return was to give Mr. Wesley the chaplaincy to Colonel Lepelle's regiment ; and so pleased was another peer with the poem that he sent for its writer, and tried to procure him a prebend's stall. But, alas !

The best laid schemes of mice and men Gang aft agley !

and the very means by which the poet-parson sought to serve his patrons and strengthen his position caused him to lose all that he had gained, as well as all he hoped for.

Early in May 1705, Mrs. Wesley gave birth to another son, but, between worry and weakness was unable to nurse it, so it was given into the charge of a woman who lived opposite the rectory. Epworth was greatly disturbed on account of a contested election, and the street was so noisy one night that the nurse could not get to sleep till between one and two in the morning, and then slept so soundly that she overlaid and killed the child.

It was small wonder that Mrs. Wesley should have been worried both before and after her confinement ; for Queen Anne had dissolved Parliament on the 5th of April, and it was well known that the contest between Whigs and Tories would be keen. No Romanist is so zealous or so bigoted as a "convert," and no Churchman is so ' ' high " as one who was born and brought up in the bosom of Dissent. Thus it was perfectly natural that the Rector of Epworth should be a Tory of the first water, and throw all his weight and personal influence into the scale against Colonel Whichcott and Mr. Albert Bertie, the candidates who favoured Presbyterianism and had the Dissenters on their side, and who contested the representation of Lincolnshire with the previous members, Sir John Harold and " Champion " Dymoke. No doubt the Tory party, already friendly to him, would have remembered, and in some manner rewarded the zealous clergyman who had espoused their cause with all his might and main, had they been successful ; but the Whigs carried the day, and he was consequently insulted by the mob, and was in some danger of maltreatment. His opponents speedily deprived him of his chaplaincy to Colonel Lepelle's regiment, so that he suffered in purse as well as in local popularity and reputation. His own account of the state of affairs is found in a letter he wrote to Archbishop Sharpe as soon as the hubbub had a little subsided.

« Epworth, June 7th, 1705. " I went to Lincoln on Tuesday night, May 29th, and the Election began on Wednesday, 30th. A great part of the night our Isle people kept drumming, shouting, and firing of pistols and guns under the window where my wife lay, who had been brought to bed not three weeks. I had put the child to nurse over against my own house : the noise kept his nurse waking till one or two in the morning. Then they left off, and the nurse, being heavy to sleep, overlaid the child. She waked and finding it dead, ran over with it to my house, almost distracted, and calling my servants, threw it into their arms. They, as wise as she, ran up with it to my wife, and before she was well awake, threw it cold and dead into hers. She composed herself as well as she could, and that day got it buried.

" A clergyman met me in the Castle yard, and told me to withdraw, for the Isle men intended me a mischief. Another told me he had heard near twenty of them say, ' if they got me in the Castle yard, they would squeeze my guts out/ My servant had the same advice. I went by Gainsbro', and God preserved me.

" When they knew I was got home, they sent the drums and mobs, with guns, &c. as usual, to compliment me till midnight. One of them passing by on Friday evening, and seeing my children in the yard, cried out, ' O ye devils ! we will come and turn ye all out of doors a-begging shortly.' God convert them and forgive them !

"All this, thank God, does not in the least sink my wife's spirits. For my own, I feel them disturbed and disordered ; but for all that I am going on with my reply to Palmer, which, whether I am in prison or out of it, I hope to get finished by the next session of Parliament, for I have no more regiments to lose.

" S. WESLEY."

But his worst trials were yet to come, and the manner in which they affected his wife and family are best told by himself. He was in debt to one of the people he had angered by his zeal at the recent Election, and, as he had not the wherewithal to pay, was speedily arrested, and sent to Lincoln jail. Here is the account given by his own hand to the Archbishop of York : — 4f MY LORD, " Lincoln Castle, June 25th, 1705.

" Now I am at rest, for I am come to the haven where I 've long expected to be. On Friday last (June 23rd), when I had been, in christening a child, at Epworth, I was arrested in my churchyard by one who had been my servant, and gathered my tithe last year, at the suit of one of Mr. Whichcott's relations and zealous friends (Mr. Pinder), according to their promise when they were in the Isle before the Election. The sum was not thirty pounds, but it was as good as five hundred. Now they knew the burning of my flax, my London journey, and their throwing me out of my regiment, had both sunk my credit and exhausted my money. My adversary was sent to where I was on the road, to meet me, that I might make some proposals to him. But all his answer (which I have by me) was, that I must immediately pay the whole sum or go to prison. Thither I went with no great concern for myself, and find much more civility and satisfaction here than in brevibus gyaris of my own Epworth.

I thank God, my wife was pretty well recovered, and churched some days before I was taken from her ; and hope she '11 be able to look to my family, if they don't turn them out of doors, as they have often threatened to do. One of my biggest concerns was my being forced to leave my poor lambs in the midst of so many wolves. But the great Shepherd is able to provide for them, and to preserve them. My wife bears it with that courage which becomes her, and which I expected from her.

" I don't despair of doing some good here (and so long I shan't lose quite the end of living), and, it may be, do more in this parish than in my old one ; for I have leave to read prayers every morning and afternoon here in the prison, and to preach once a Sunday, which I choose to do in the afternoon when there is no sermon at the minster. And I 'm getting acquainted with my brother jail-birds as fast as I can; and shall write to London, next post, to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, who, I hope, will send me some books to distribute amongst them. I should not write these things from a jail if I thought your Grace would believe me ever the less for my being here ; where if I should lay my bones, I 'd bless God and pray for your Grace. Your Grace's very obliged and most humble servant, " S. WESLEY."

Archbishop Sharpe's kind heart must have warmed to the man who could be so cheery in such a position, strive to help his " brother jail-birds " without repulsion, and look upon them as the flock committed to his charge for the time being. He immediately wrote him a sympathetic answer, told him the reports he had heard, and asked for a statement of his affairs. Mr. Wesley was able to explain all satisfactorily, and, after detailing the falsehoods fabricated and spread by his opponents, adds : — " My debts are about £300, which I have contracted by a series of misfortunes not unknown to your Grace. The falling of my parsonage barn, before I had recovered the taking my living ; the burning great part of my dwelling-house about two years since, and all my flax last winter ; the fall of my income nearly one half by the low price of grain ; the almost entire failure of my flax this year, which used to be the better half of my revenue ; with my numerous family ; and the taking this regiment from me, which I had obtained with so much expense and trouble : have at last crushed me, though I struggled as long as I was able. Yet I hope to rise again, as I have always done when at the lowest ; and I think I cannot be much lower now."

How Mrs. Wesley and the family fared at home, he tells in a letter written on the 12th of September : — " Concerning the stabbing my cows in the night since I came hither, but a few weeks ago ; and endeavouring thereby to starve my forlorn family in my absence, my cows being all dried by it, which was their chief subsistence ; though, I hope, they had not the power to kill .any of them outright.

" They found out a good expedient, after it was done, to turn it off, and divert the cry of the world against them ; and it was to spread a report that my own brawn (boar) did this mischief, though at first they said my cows ran against a scythe and wounded themselves.

" As for the brawn, I think any impartial jury would bring him in not guilty on hearing the evidence. There were three cows all wounded at the same time, one of them in three places ; the biggest was a flesh wound, not slanting but directly in towards the heart, which it only missed by glancing outwards on the ribs. It was nine inches deep, whereas the brawn's tusks were hardly two inches long. All conclude that the work was done with a sword by the breadth and shape of the orifice. The same night the iron latch of my door was turned off, and the wood hacked in order to shoot back the lock, which nobody will think was with an intention to rob my family. My house-dog, who made a huge noise within doors, was sufficiently punished for his want of politics and moderation, for the next day but one his leg was almost chopped off by an unknown hand. 'Tis not everyone could bear these things ; but, I bless God, my wife is less concerned with suffering them than I am in the writing, or than I believe your Grace will be in reading them. She is not what she is represented, any more than me. I believe it was this foul beast of a worse than Erymanthean boar, already mentioned, who fired my flax by rubbing his tusks against the wall ; but that was no great matter, since it is now reported I had but five pounds loss."

Whether the Archbishop of York went to Epworth to see the state of affairs for himself, or whether Mrs. Wesley met him at Lincoln or elsewhere, during her husband's imprisonment, is not known, but certain it is that they had an interview, at which, among other questions, he asked, "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, whether you ever really wanted bread?" "My Lord/' said she, " I will freely own to your Grace that, strictly speaking, I never did want bread. But then I had so much care to get it before it was eat, and to pay for it after, as has often made it very unpleasant to me. And, I think, to have bread on such terms is the next •degree of wretchedness to having none at all." " You are certainly right/' replied the Archbishop, who the next day gave the much-tried rector's wife a handsome present in money.

When Mr. Wesley had been in prison about three months, some of his clerical neighbours and some of Jbis political friends assisted him by paying off about half his debts, and arranging for the liquidation of others. The joyful intelligence speedily produced a very grateful letter, in which he told the Archbishop what had occurred, and mentioned another touching manifestation of his wife's devotion : — " MY LORD, « Lincoln Castle, Sept. 17th, 1705.

" I am so full of God's mercies that neither my eyes nor heart can hold them. When I came hither my stock was but little above ten shillings, and my wife's at home scarce so much. She soon sent me her rings, because she had nothing else to relieve me with ; but I returned them, and God soon provided for me. The most of those who have been my benefactors keep themselves concealed. But they are all known to Him who first put it into their hearts to show me so much kindness ; and I beg your Grace to assist me to praise God for it, and to pray for His blessing upon them.

" This day I have received a letter from Mr. Hoar, that he has paid ninety-five pounds which he has received from me. He adds that ' a very great man has just sent him thirty pounds more ' ; he mentions not his name, though surely it must be my patron.

1 find I walk a deal lighter, and hope I shall sleep better now these sums are paid, which will make almost half my debts. I am a bad beggar, and worse at returning formal thanks, but I can pray heartily for my benefactors ; and I hope I shall do it while I live, and so long beg to be esteemed your Grace's most obliged and thankful, humble servant, " SAM. WESLEY."

Shortly after this, Mr. Wesley was released and returned home, where he lived with a lighter heart in the bosom of his family, and engaged in a voluminous correspondence with his eldest son at Westminster School.