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
Upon the whole, Wesley was well satisfied with the work in Ireland.
He writes: “I had the satisfaction of observing how greatly God had
blessed my fellow labourers, and how many sinners were saved from the
error of their ways. Many of these had been eminent for all manner of
sins. Many had been Roman Catholics; and I suppose the number of these
would have been far greater, had not the good protestants, as well as
the popish priests, taken true pains to hinder them.”[99]
Wesley’s “fellow labourers,” however, gave him trouble as well as
joy. Dr. Whitehead has inserted, in his Life of Wesley, the following
extracts of letters, written to Edward and Charles Perronet, during the
present year. They seem somewhat testy, and, we incline to think, were
written in a querulous frame of mind, to which all men are, more or
less, liable. We give them as we find them.
“I have abundance of complaints to make, as well as to hear. I have
scarce any one on whom I can depend, when I am a hundred miles off.
’Tis well if I do not run away soon, and leave them to cut and shuffle
for themselves. Here” [in Ireland] “is a glorious people; but oh!
where are the shepherds? The Society at Cork have fairly sent me
word, that they will take care of themselves, and erect themselves
into a Dissenting congregation. I am weary of these sons of Zeruiah:
they are too hard for me. Charles and you _behave_ as I want you to
do; but you cannot, or will not, preach _where_ I desire. Others can
and will preach _where_ I desire; but they do not _behave_ as I want
them to do. I have a fine time between the one and the other. I think
both Charles and you have, in the general, a right sense of what it
is to serve as sons in the gospel; and if all our helpers had had the
same, the work of God would have prospered better, both in England
and Ireland. I have not one preacher with me, and not six in England,
whose wills are broken to serve me thus.”[100]
This is a dark picture; but we still think, that, though Wesley’s first
helpers were far from perfect, his complaint concerning them is too
strongly worded. Biliousness makes even the best men fretful, and it
may be fairly supposed that Wesley himself was not free from this.
Wesley’s passage from Dublin to Bristol was stormy and dangerous. There
was a combination of wind, thunder, rain, and darkness. The sea ran
mountains high. The ship had no goods, and little ballast, and rolled
most fearfully. He and Christopher Hopper began to pray; the wind was
hushed; the sea fell; the clouds dispersed; and, on July 24, they
arrived in safety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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