Transcriber’s Notes Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. All other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. Italics are represented thus _italic_. [Illustration: JOHN WESLEY, M.A. AGED FORTY. From a scarce Engraving published in 1743. Engraved by J. Cochran.] THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, M.A., Founder of the Methodists. BY THE REV. L. TYERMAN, AUTHOR OF “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF REV. S. WESLEY, M.A.,” (_Father of the Revds. J. and C. Wesley_). IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. [Illustration] NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1872. PREFACE. Six Lives of Wesley have been already published, besides sketches almost innumerable. What then justifies the present writer in publishing another? Hampson’s, ready for the press when Wesley died, is extremely meagre, and was the work of an angry writer. Coke and Moore’s, issued in 1792, was a hasty publication, written _currente calamo_, to get possession of the market; and, like most things done in haste, was exceedingly imperfect. Whitehead’s, dated 1793-6, was composed in the midst of disgraceful contentions, and was tinged with party feeling. Southey’s, printed in 1820, has literary charms; but, unintentionally, is full of errors, and, for want of dates and chronological exactitude, is extremely confusing. Moore’s, published in 1824, is the fullest and most reliable; but, to a great extent, it is a mere reprint of Whitehead’s, given to the public about thirty years previously. Watson’s, issued in 1831, was not intended to supersede larger publications, but was “contracted within moderate limits, and” avowedly “prepared with special reference to general readers.” These are the chief Lives of Wesley. Smaller ones are too numerous to be mentioned; and, besides that, they are not _lives_, but _sketches_. The publications of Hampson, of Coke and Moore, of Whitehead, and of Moore, have long been out of print. Two Lives are still on sale,—Southey’s and Watson’s; but the former is defective in details, and is incorrect and misleading; and the latter, as already stated, was never meant to occupy the place of a larger work.