The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The life and times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., founder of the Methodists. Vol. 2 (of 3)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Methodism; Wesley, John, 1703-1791
This is a truthful outline of the history of this remarkable man. To
fill it up would require a volume. His preaching, up to the time of his
conversion, had been useless; since then, it had been full of power.
Three months before Wesley’s visit, his ministry had been blessed to
the Rev. Mr. Hicks, a clergyman at Wrestlingworth, about four miles
from Everton, who became his companion in his itinerant tours, and
was greatly useful. In learning, Berridge, it is said, was inferior
to very few of the most celebrated sons of science and literature
in the Cambridge university. From his entrance at Clare Hall to his
acceptance of the vicarage of Everton, a period of twenty-one years, he
regularly studied fifteen hours a day. His understanding was strong;
his wit almost without parallel. In stature, he was tall, but not
awkward; lusty, but not corpulent. His voice was deep, but not hoarse;
strong, but not noisy; his pronunciation distinct, but not broad. In
his countenance there was gravity, without grimace: his address was
solemn, but not sour; easy, but not careless; deliberate, but not
drawling; pointed, but not personal; affectionate, but not fawning. He
would often weep, but never whine. His sentences were short, but not
ambiguous; his ideas collected, but not crowded. His itinerant circuit
embraced the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, Essex, Hertford, and
Huntingdon. In this circuit, for more than twenty years, he preached,
upon an average, from ten to twelve sermons every week, and frequently
rode a hundred miles. In some places, from ten to fifteen thousand
persons composed his congregations. People came to hear him from a
distance of twenty miles, and were at Everton by seven o’clock in the
morning, at which early hour he preached. Four sermons on a Sunday were
his regular work. His usefulness was great. During the first year after
his conversion, he was visited by a thousand persons, under serious
impressions; and it was computed, that, during the same space of
time, about four thousand were awakened to a concern for the welfare
of their souls, under his own and the joint ministry of Mr. Hicks.
Magistrates, country squires, and others, furiously opposed him. The
_old devil_ was the only name by which he was distinguished among them
for above twenty years; but, in the midst of all, the brave hearted,
eccentric vicar steadily pursued his work. Houses and barns were rented
for preaching; lay preachers were employed and maintained; his church
income and the fortune inherited from his father were appropriated
to the support and extension of his work; and even his family plate
was converted into clothing for his itinerant preachers. For nearly
thirty years, he spent about three months annually in London, preaching
in Whitefield’s Tabernacle, in Tottenham Court chapel, and in other
places. At his funeral, six neighbouring clergymen attended to bear
his pall, while an immense concourse, from all parts of the country,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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